Friday, October 26, 2007

Story of a little monster, some pumpkins and some big monsters!

“Mommy look! A spider! I wanna touch it!” screamed Apple.
She was pointing to the huge fake spiders that were part of the Halloween decorations at her school. She was bursting with excitement pointing to the spiders, spiderwebs and pumpkins.
“Mommy I want a spider too!”
“Ok.”
“I want a pumpkin too!”
“Ok”
“And spider web”
“Ok”
“I want three spider. OK?”
“We’ll see if the shop has three”
“I want three pumpkin”
Three is a hot number these days!
So off they went to party city where for the first time in her life, mommy bought Halloween stuff…...spider webs, spiders (Yes three! the little monster wouldn’t budge. She even reasoned that mommy, daddy and she needed to have one each).
Next stop, the pumpkin patch. The little monster chose three pumpkins. Since she wanted to carry the pumpkins but they were too heavy for her, mommy let her buy a couple of mini pumpkins. An excited mommy also bought a wooden sign that said ‘No Tricks’.
Then they spent a perfect breezy Saturday afternoon using their decorating skills (or lack there of) on the front yard. The little monster of course ‘helped’. While mommy was busy trying to untangle the tangled mess that the spiderweb was getting into, she saw the little monster run to the back yard and return with a fistful of dry grass. The little monster spread the grass on the ground and then put her mini pumpkins on top of it.
“What are you doing honey?”
“I making a pumpkin patch”
Mommy thinks she was trying to replicate the haystack on which the pumpkins at her school were placed.
All in all, the monster seemed satisfied with their little Halloween decor. Meanwhile mommy wondered what she was gonna do with all those pumpkins once Halloween was over. Little did she know that she would never get a chance to figure that out. One evening when she returned home, she saw that some real monsters had stolen the pumpkins and the wooden sign. The little monster was heartbroken. All that was left was the rain damaged spider web, three spiders and these pictures for posterity…



Thursday, October 25, 2007

My Very First Award Ever




aa_mom handed me my very first award in the blog world...alright,my very first award in any world unless you count the 'consolation' prizes in grade school!(BTW hate the term!).
Needless to say I'm jumping up and down in excitement. I don't care what this award means or why it was given, I'm just excited to receive it. I have waited for this moment my whole life. In fact I had even prepared an acceptance speech but can't
seem to find it right now. I think it contained a vote of thanks to Apple for supplying me with post fodder, to hubby for not disturbing me while I blog(I can tune out snoring), mom, dad, my neighbour, neighbour's dog(why? because I don't have one) and so on. But instead I think I'll thank aa_mom for considering me worthy of this award and you guys for keeping me addicted to blogging with your wonderful blogs.

Now comes the hardest part... passing on this award. It is hard not because there aren't many worthy souls(in fact there are too many) but because I seem to be the last one to receive this. Pretty much every blogger I know has already received it. Does that mean I get to keep it? (Please say yes!)

Alright, I'll be good and try to pass it along. I'm gonna pass it on to some of my favorite bloggers whose recent few posts did not mention getting a schmooze award. Here they are:
Sanjay
Kiran
Parul
Chandni

I know I'm expected to write some blurbs about these people and why I'm giving them this award. But I'm not good at this schmoozing thing(No, I'm not giving back my award!), so 'I love their blogs' pretty much sums it up.
Now go on and do your victory dance. Do it again for me if you've already done it!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

The Number 4

The insightful Chandni has tagged me to do this tag of four. This is an easy one since the number four has relevance in every aspect of my life. My birthday falls on the fourth, I've had four close friends in my life, I've had four jobs before the current one and 4.00 pm is my favorite time of the day(that's when I leave work to go pick up Apple). So here you go..


Four Jobs I’ve had in my life

* Computer programming tutor – teaching BASIC and FOTRAN to a first year engineering student(I won’t be surprised if he got scarred for life and never touched programming again)
* Market research analyst – asking a bunch of plant engineers questions about the electrical motors they used. (Lasted for 15 days)
* Software Developer (writing programs that surprise you with unexpected features)
* Solutions Consultant (communicating lies back and forth between software developers and customers)


Four TV Shows I love to watch

* Everybody loves Raymond
* Friends
* Dancing with the stars
* ….(Can’t think of a fourth one…I barely watch TV these days)


Four movies I can watch over and over

* Jaane bhi do yaaron
* Chalti ka naam gaadi
* Office Space
* Father of the bride

Four places I have lived

* Nasik
* Bombay
* Harrisburg (Pennsylvania)
* Atlanta

Four places I have been on Holiday ( in the last couple of years)

* Venice (Italy)
* Athens (Greece)
* Mykonos( Greece)
* Split (Croatia)

Four of my favorite dishes

* Chaat ( includes everything from Bhel puri to pani puri)
* Biryani
* Pav bhaaji
* Khichadi

Four Websites I visit daily

* Google ( gmail, blogs etc)
* Yahoo (email)
* NPR
* BBC

Four places I would rather be right now

* On a beach, lying on the sand, a book in hand.
* In Bombay, amongst family.
* On a wildlife safari
* Relaxing in the Jacuzzi.

Four people I am tagging

* Sunita
* Mad Momma
* Gauri
* Swati

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Apple doesn't mince words

I am convinced that my daughter can give any straight tlking lawyer (if such a thig exists) a run for his/her money. The child can argue. Poor mommy who was never good at arguing anyway has now throw in the towel.


Scene 1:
Dinner time . Mommy has made spicy chicken curry for the adults and a milder version of it for Apple.
Nevertheless Apple complains that it is spicy.
Mommy: Its not spicy honey, I made this specially for you. I din’t make this one spicy.
Apple: It is spicy.(pointing to the food in her mouth) It tastes spicy to me, so it is spicy!
Hmm...how does one argue with that?


Scene 2:
We are at a friend's place for dinner with other friends and their families. All the adults are chatting in the kitchen and family room, older kids are playing upstairs and a some younger kids playing in a room that is full of toys belonging to my friend’s son who’s the same age as Apple. Apple wants to play there but insists that mommy sit next to her. Mommy sits there for a while and notices that Apple has started getting comfortable with the setting. Another friend’s MIL is in the same room watching her twin grandsons. She tells mommy to go ahead and join her friends and that she’ll keep an eye on Apple. Since Apple is not likely to get in trouble, mommy wonders if she can try this.

Mommy: Apple honey, you sit here and play, mommy will go to the other room for sometime. OK?
Apple: No mommy stay!
Mommy: Come on, (pointing to my friends twins) look at N and A . Is their mommy here? But they are playing by themselves, aren't they? Are they asking for their mommy? You can also play with them.
Apple: But their grandma is here. That’s why they are not asking for mommy.
Oh ok. Dint realize that!


Scene 3:
Apple and mommy are ready to go outside so that Apple can ride her tricycle. Its still day time and as mommy approaches the door she realizes that the light outside the front door and the light in the foyer are on. Mommy wonders who left the lights on and switches them off. After a few seconds, Apple comes behind mommy, notices that the lights are off and switches them back on. Ah ! mommy found her culprit! Before mommy could say anything, Apple says ‘ Why did you switch off the lights mommy? I already(that's her new favorite word) switched them on. Now I switch them again. OK? Don’t switch them off next time. OK?
Yeah right!

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Tagged to list my quirks!

I have been tagged to list my quirks by one of my favorite bloggers... the smart and humorous fuzzy. Quirky? Me? Of course not. I was tempted to say I can’t do this post because I don’t have any quirks but instead I decided to take a good look at my habits and pick the ones that could qualify as quirks. I did think of asking my hubby and my brother for help, but then I was sure they would come up with a list so long that blogger would not be able to handle it. So I decided to do this on my own.....assisted of course by my blogger friends with whom I share some of these:

1. Covering my feet: Like fuzzy, I have to have my feet covered when I sleep, even if it is for a short nap in the middle of a hot summer afternoon.

2. Washing my hands: Like Mad Momma, I need to wash my hands hundreds of times a day. I use a paper towel (when available) to open the water faucet in the public rest room sinks. I hate touching anything in those restrooms.

3. Stocking up food: Like Mad Momma, I have to have my fridge/pantry stocked all the time. I always end up buying more groceries than we need for ‘emergencies’ that never occur. As a result we end up wasting some perishables. I keep promising myself that I’ll do better in this area. I really want to.

4. Cannot rest until all my work is done: When I get home from work, I cannot sit even for a minute. I have to first start working on my chores (cooking, cleaning etc) and only after everything is done, can I put my feet up. Hubby and bro, who like to first rest and then get to their tasks, find this very weird. Initially hubby used to tell me to sit for a while but I’d get extremely restless and could not relax knowing that I had things to do. This has changed somewhat with the arrival of Apple in our lives. Now when I get home, I play with her for a couple of hours until hubby comes home (his work schedule is usually couple of hours behind mine). Then I get to my chores and he gets to play with her. But I cannot watch TV or get on the computer until all my chores are done and Apple is fast asleep.

5. Fickle minded shopper: I am very fickle minded when it comes to shopping (especially for clothes). I buy clothes one day, return them the next, then buy same items in different color, then return them…. You get the picture. Whenever I show my hubby something that I have bought, his question is ‘when are you returning it?’.

6. Stocking up clothes for Apple: I love stocking up clothes for Apple. Every few weeks, I organize her closet and check which of the new ones she’s ready to get into. For some reason unknown to me, her clothes feel like treasures to me. That some of these treasures go waste is another story.

7. Handling home finances: I have to handle the bills, bank accounts etc myself. Even though hubby does not mind doing it and does pay bills sometimes, I have to at least check everything. Not that I don’t trust him, I just have a strong need to be involved in these things.

8. Keeping Promises: If I even casually tell people that I’ll do something for them, then I can’t relax until I actually do it. On the flip side if someone casually says to me "we’ll meet at our house for coffee next time” then I seriously wait for an invitation. May be I’m naïve or just plain stupid!

Hmm, the list turned out to be longer than I expected. Looks like I might be able to come up with more quirks if I keep at it or come up with a lot more if I ask my family and friends. But which normal(?) person wants to admit all their quirks? So this is the list I’m sticking with.
Since everyone is alreading floating(or swimming or sinking) in a sea of tags, I am not tagging anyone. But feel free to pick it up.