Awesome – and me?

Sole sent this tag my way weeks ago and I have been sitting on it for what feels like forever. She I know is exercising all of her patience to not ask me about it. On my part, anything sent me way is like an Action item now on my plate and it eats away at me till the task is complete. If you are wondering why then I haven’t gotten round to it, the answer is simple. I haven’t been able to think up 7 awesome things about me that I can list here. Talking about the kids, friends and family is easy peasy but put me in the limelight and words fail me. Now if the tag was about 7 things I hate about myself, I would have been all over that. I could even come up with a list as long as Lord Hanuman’s tail. But a tag is a tag and has to be honored in my humble opinion. Thus on the lines of those management training sessions we take up at work that makes you list your positives and negatives, much as you hate it, let me give this a try. Another lesson on the fact that not everything we have to do in life is pleasant or easy but at times needs to be done.

I am an awesome person and here is why…

• I make sure the kids are loved, fed, their needs are taken care of , they are never forgotten at school (I say this only because the OH has the distinction of forgetting to pick up Meg when I was travelling for work many years ago but I refuse to let him live that one down!!), they know I am always there for them regardless of where I physically am and the fact that I am responsible for yelling and screaming at them as needed to make sure they do the right thing (someone has to do it and given that one is a sucker to all their requests the other has to step up to the plate!)
• I do the laundry each week and can fold clothes like they have been ironed and save time and money from the actual task of ironing and all the unused electricity. I have succeeded in not letting colors run across clothes and the OH’s shirts have retained their original color except for the one time soon after marriage when a white shirt turned a lovely shade of baby pink.
• I keep track of all the kids activities, bills to be paid, finances to be managed (what there is of it!!), groceries to be done & returns/exchanges for even the stuff the OH buys (since he will be dead before he is spotted in the customer service counter for the same.) I even watch for real sales when buying stuff (the OH is famed for bringing home a big brown bag filled with beans that he claimed cost 50 cents and a look at the receipt much later revealed the true cost to be $6 and the savings to be 50 cents )
• I can easily forgive petty squabbles and accept everyone with their faults. I can even accept that I am far from perfect and if people can live with me then I can do far better at letting go of insignificant issues and enjoying life.
• I never fail to give my 100% to any task on hand. Whether it is planning a vacation or completing a task at work, I make sure I do the necessary research and all the planning that goes with it. I am anal retentive most times but that comes in handy when you have a significant other who believes 100% in delegation versus do-it-yourself!!
• I pride myself of the fact that be it friends or family, they totally believe that they can trust me to get their work done. The very fact that the in-laws will come to me to take care of their little needs and won’t even think of asking their son is pretty cool, don’t you think?
• I love people and have so much to say. When I am in the room, there is never an uncomfortable silence or a pause in the conversation. Sometimes this quality is invaluable especially when the sginificant other is too tired and can fall asleep in the midst of company or when you have a room filled with shy people and the responsibility of entertaining falls squarely on your shoulders!!!

Phew!! There you have it.  Atleast now I have a place I can send future employers when they ask me for my strengths and weaknesses and what makes me a perfect candidate After having mercilessly thrown the OH under the bus in this one, I am now going to have to self tag myself to do the one that has been floating around the blogosphere on how awesome your significant other is to redeem myself…

Edited to add: I forgot the one part of tagging other folks. If you are reading this post consider yourself tagged and please leave me a comment so I can stop by and read about how awesome each of you are!!

Khushi ka formula

 

Amma's yummy homemade chocolate cake with chocolate icing!!

 

 

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swim & sleepover with best friends...

 

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dinner with the whole family at favorite restaurant

 

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favorite treat from Cold Stone Creamery (ohfudge!!)

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an evening at the movie with mom, dad and brother!

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gift from amma & appa (much craved for model!!)

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money from thatha & patti

 =

An awesome day and a happy birthday girl…

Happy B’day Girlie – On completing the last of the pre-teen years!

Dear Meg,

You turn 12 today. This morning as I walked into your room to wish you a happy b’day I saw sleeping in bed a beautiful girl who reminded me of a 9 pound baby born this day 12 years ago. You had a head full of hair and a calm face. You took the next few weeks in your stride as I drove the household crazy with my innumerable infections and trips to the hospital. You calmly accompanied me and spent the first few weeks of your life in the hospital while I was nursing myself back to health. You were the cynosure of all the nurses eyes in the hospital and they never failed to stop by to play with you. You took the bottle that grandma fed you with little fuss and made raising a newborn seem like a piece of cake.

Soon appa & I realized that you had a mind of your own when it came to food. You made your choices and stuck with it. Life with you was a breeze except for mealtimes and believe it or not you are still that way. They say that eating slow is the key to not adding weight and that seems to be true in your case for sure. Maybe instead of yelling at you for not finishing your food quickly I should eat each meal as long as you do. That would for sure make life intesresting. We would get little else accomplished Buyou will either t it was a pleasure watching you enjoy and try different foods on our recent vacation. And you always have space for anything chocolate placed in front of you. Watching you spend hours watching the Next Food Network Star makes me want to believe that some day you will either be a good cook or a food enthusiast who loves to try new foods…

You were an easy going kid and had no stranger anxiety. Appa and I loved the last minute decision we made to take you with us to Austria. We were both driving back from work to leave for our trip and somewhere along the way we looked at each other and knew what was on each others mind. We both knew we couldn’t leave you behind for a whole week. Just as we reached home, we let thatha & patti know that we were taking you along with us, we threw a suitcase together with your diapers and clothes 3 hours before our flight was scheduled to take off, bought your ticket at the check-in counter, bought your baby food at the London airport and had the most wonderful week as a family. Everyone at Appa’s conference loved you and we were the proud parents flaunting you to one and all. Looking back that was one of the best impromptu decisions Appa & I made

I will never forget the time I sent you to India with thatha and patti. I know you had fun spending time with them all in India but it devastated me when you failed to recognize me 2 months later. You taught me an important lesson. Never send you or Raul away from me for as long as I have the choice. Many a times patti would offer to take you home with her but after that one time, it was not even an option. I just wanted you to have the best care till I was comfortable sending you to the day care and if that meant sending you with thatha and patti for two months, I naively thought it wasn’t such a big deal. But when I saw you at the airport and realized that to you I was all but a stranger, the feeling in the pit of my stomach is one that will haunt me for the rest of my life as will the sight of you in tears when Appa and I left you at the day care on that very first day. The sight of those two moments are indelibly etched in memory and will accompany me to my grave.

Today, you’ve changed all of that. You give me all the love in the world and make me feel like the most important person. There is never a night when you forget to come to my room to kiss me goodnight. I often tell patti and my friends that Appa has so much trust in me that he never thinks to call me when I am out of the house. Not you. You like to know exactly where I am and will call me even if I get a little delayed in coming home. Patti often tells me that it is wonderful to have a daughter since she is the one who always cares and is there to think of mom and dad at any stage in life. I truly couldn’t agree more. You are gentle and loving to everyone (except your brother at times ) You are conscientious with your work and never have to be reminded of your school work. You are extremely creative — something that you didn’t get from either amma or appa. You understand my sarcasm and easily smile away when I tease you endlessly. Someday when you read this I hope you know that appa & I think you are a lovely daughter and we are truly blessed to have you in our life.

When you wonder why you don’t have my eyes or feet like mine, I wish there was a way I could just give them to you. Someone told me last week that your voice sounded just like mine on the phone and that brought a smile to my face. A good friend told me last week that she has seen many kids your age and thinks you are a lovely girl. I honestly can’t take any credit for that. I know how much you want a cell phone but you have never bugged me to get you one in spite of most of your friends owning one. You calmly asked me a few days back if you could have one before you started high school and I couldn’t help but feel proud of you.

As you complete 12 years and step into your teen years today, I want to wish you a lovely birthday. I know you want to be as tall as amma and I pray that you grow much taller than amma just like you effortlessly grew out of my shoe size. I have no doubts you will be a gorgeous girl and do us all proud. Just remember to keep your room clean and treat your brother nicely at all times I know that the rough years are on their way (I can already see glimpses…) and am counting on you to help me get through them with you not fighting me all the way!!!

Happy b’day darling!!

Love,

Amma

Out of the mouth of babes err boys…

Morning conversations between four 9 year olds as I chauffer them to their summer camp…

Conversation - First round

Kid A: I do 6th grade math in school (he is a 3rd grader!)

Kid B: I do 4th grade math. I even know the square root of -1.

Kid A: What is it?

Kid B: It is an imaginary number.

At this point, the three other kids are laughing and teasing him. I decided not interject at that point and made a mental note to check on his answer later (’coz I know this kid a little too well!!) Just as expected he was totally right. Learned a lesson on imaginary numbers thanks to Kid A. Me thinks I was dozing in class when this lesson was taught. The rest of the boys for sure owe his an apology this evening.

Conversation – Round 2

Kid C: Did you know there is a number between 15 & 16?

Kid A: What is it?

Kid C: Dirfteen

Kid A: Really??

Now there was a kid pulling a fast one. Considering that kid was mine I decided to probe. Turns out that on the show iCarly, she uses this one to get back at the kid she tutors for being mean to her brother. Who would have thunk? Yet another math lesson err not (I guess more of glimpse into the world of TV they watch) !!

Conversation – Round 3

Kid C: We watched Transformers – Revenge of the Fallen yesterday!

Kid A: Cool. How was it?

Kid C &  B: Awesome! Optimus Prime dies!!!

Kid A: Really?

Kid C & B: Yeah but he comes back to life later!

Really?? I guess it’s not just Indian soaps that revive dead people

Conversation – Round 4

Me (as I drop the boys off at the camp): Boys, can you please drop your lunch sacks here and sign-in?

Kid A: Is it lunch time yet?

Me : huh??????

This week is going to be such a change in routine. Beats having to drive to work all by myself!!!

Price for fun…

enjoying a lovely vacation is PRICELESS

but right on it’s heels comes

• one kid with a mild case of flu
• one kid with a week long sickness diagnosed as mild pnemonia
• one limping dog
• and a hacking adult poised to succumb to the same bug the kids fell victim to!!

Is it too much to ask for a nice vacation followed by a not so stressful return????

Wonder which one is the kid in the house?

Is it the 73 year old who hid the TV remote from the child to stop him from watching TV in his room and accidentally erase all the recordings of sun tv serials in spite of knowing that the said kid was going to be out of town for the whole week?

or

Is it the 9 year old who tattled to grandma that he didn’t watch any TV in their room ‘coz grandpa had hid the remote and he couldn’t find it?

Vacation in a nutshell

• Delayed flights–hanging out with the crazy bunch for 3+ hours at the airport–listened to music, played cards, caused a lot of noise–ended up on an all-night flight with only 3 out of 23 who slept the entire way (who are the 3 you wonder, OH & my two babies ofcourse!!)
• 6 nights in a box twice my height in length & breadth. It’s a good thing we didn’t spend much time in there with all the company
• Food, food and more food. Haven’t eaten as much ever before. Ate just ‘coz there was food in our face 24 hours. Indian, Italian, pizzas, ice cream, chilled soups, lip smacking desserts – the list is endless
• For the evening relaxation, there were the smuggled bottles of Guestraminer, riesling, chardonnay, margaritas and vodkas
• Primary occupation & exercise - finding friends on the cruiseship. With no walkie talkies and non-functioning cell phones, we were restricted to our own in-built radars that took a few days to fine tune
• Lovely entertainment – stand-up comedies, music from the golden oldies to the present, dance extravaganzas with amazing costumes, rib tickling cracking game shows with fellow passengers as participants and last but not the least hanging out with friends and laughing the night away
• Backdrop – water, water and more water surrounded by glaciers, snow capped mountains, islands, endless daylight (I believe it was only on 2 out of the 6 days that we actually saw the dark sky in spite of staying up till midnight every single night) Whale watching was another activity as we sat for meals each day…
• Activities – hours in the jacuzzi giggling and being obnoxious, swimming laps in the gorgeous pool trying to burn the calories that was accumulating at a rapid rate, eating, playing tennis and table tennis, trying to learn ballroom dancing (and failing miserably!), seminars on weight loss through algae detoxification, watching culinary demonstrations, learning the art of table decor with linen and working out at the fitness center (treadmill, stretch & tone exercise) with the snow-capped mountains as a back-drop.
• Indulgence – massage & facial appointments
• Excursions – panning for gold at the drudge, an exterior tour of the jewel gardens and a lovely hike up the mountains in Skagway, a leisurely trek to the Mendenhall glacier and waterfall in Juneau and last but not the least, a breathtaking float plane trip to the Misty Fjord National Monument in Ketchikan (what the worst turbulence could not pull off, a tiny float plane did – made me airsick )
• Souvenirs – loads of memories, 500+ photos of indelible moments with friends and family and ofcourse 9 sick kids (thanks to their lovely spirit of sharing!!)

A week of zero planning, no agendas, endless fun, relaxation and bumming with friends – PRICELESS

For everything else there’s MASTERCARD

Off we go!!

Cruising along…

The day is finally here. The bags are packed, confirmations have been printed out, rides have been planned and nails have been done  The much awaited and planned vacation happens today. With 3 more families joining the mix, the excitement has tripled. Taking a week long break to enjoy a wonderful journey with the mad mad crowd. Will be back to tell you all about it in a week.

In the meanwhile have a good weekend and week!!

A quick prayer to the icon who introduced break dancing to the world and gave us some wonderful music. RIP, Michael Jackson.

Random Musings

You know it’s the best you can give the kids when you return home from work to see them enjoying a board game with grandpa and grandma.

You know your baby is not quite all grown up when she says “Amma, the dentist told me she will get my “panasonic” done tomorrow when the actual word is panorex (who cares if she is almost as tall as me, fits into my shoe size & feels all grown up? She is still my baby!!)

You know the little one is breaking rules when he hurries to grab the remote and turn the TV off just as he hears mom’s keys jingle on the door knob. He then proceeds to give her a big hug and attempts to cover up for his mistake by saying, he watched TV for just one extra hour.

You realize how wonderful it is to step into the kids room late in the night when you notice the lights still on, only to find both of them lying on their sides, reading a book each under their cozy comforter.

You are ready to face the day when you tip toe into the room the kids share before leaving for work and see them fast asleep from the warmth of their bodies snuggled together (even though shortly after they wake up they are constantly bickering back and forth!)

Mujhse Dosti Karoge

Friends to me are those who…

• Am most comfortable with
• Love spending time with
• Can say the darnest things without the fear of losing them
• Can drink, eat and live and vacation with at anytime
• Always have the time for and am ever willing to lend a ear and shoulder when in need
• Someone you can trust with your innermost thoughts
• Think of as extended family
• When I call or see them years later can start right where we left off
• One that I can laugh and cry with overs our joys and sorrows
• Share a rant and listen to one as the situation warrants
• and most importantly someone I would love to spend time with day after day, week after week, year and year and still love every moment spent in their company and eagerly look forward to more fun times.

Anything less and that person is all but an acqaintance that I meet as part of life. A random comment over the weekend made me realize that even if you have one such friend, you are truly blessed. It is after all not in the number of acquaintances but depth of friendship that makes true friendship transcend time and last through generations sometimes.