G-ym, G-etting in shape, Butterfly Life, Curves, 123 Fit yada yada

Following my resolution to begin an exercising schedule & my failed attempt at exercising to music, I found this neat little place to start my exercising after trying out many such fitness centers. They were gracious enough to let me try out their center for a whole week and offered significant discounts to get me to enroll in their center. All the fitness centers I tried prior to trying this place out turned out good but was too specific and boxed for my liking. This place I felt gave me the flexibility to pursue a couple of different avenues each day and not have to stick to the same regimen day in and day out. The next decision was to sign myself for a two year contract to this fitness center. It is an extremely difficult task for me to keep up with my exercise routine when life comes in the way. It is typically easier for me to get into a program when the kids are off from school in summer but once the chaos of school resumes, the membership typically turns out to be a charitable contribution to a thriving business. After much deliberation the decision to enroll was made.

The girl at the fitness center walked me through all the different equipments and showed me the routine and a typical workout. I was then at liberty to modify it to my taste/preference. The past few months have been a test of my endurance and ability to keep up with my resolution. I have gathered the enthusiasm & motivation to haul my a$$ each evening to the said fitness center and subject self to intense torture in the name of physical well being. Grandma, a fitness freak herself has helped immensely in reinstating guilt when I an ready to give in to the luxuries of the couch every evening. We even talked the owner of the fitness center into letting grandma workout at the facility during her stay here. Grandma gets ready each day with significant enthusiasm to try out the mini trampolines and strength training equipment.

After a month of inflicting self to such a schedule, you can imagine the dispair I went into when I attempted to weigh self at the center a couple of days back. After just over a month of working out, I wasn’t expecting to shed a whole lot of pounds but to watch the scale inch it’s way in the other direction was enough to plunge me into the deepest corners of depression. Much convincing from the fitness center supervisor that such occurrences were common given that muscle gain happens much faster than fat loss wasn’t enough to pull me out of the hole I had crawled into. I could hear her voice echoing to me to find the strength in myself to keep going and not to lose hope now. She explained that would be the worst I could do to myself and that all I had to do was continue the routine to start seeing the results in the direction I was looking for. As I search my brain for some explanation to this freak weight gain, I understand having my mom feed me each day like she is stocking me up for when she leaves has a small part to play in the overall weight gain, but it still doesn’t explain the number of pounds gained.

Being the eternal optimist, I convinced myself that even if I don’t shed a single pound going forward, a more fit & strong me is better than a skinnier and unhealthy me. If this workout schedule can help alleviate some of the back pain I suffer and give me more energy to get through my day, that in itself is worth my time and effort. The workout itself helps me feel fresher and by the time I eventually get to bed, I am so exhausted that I have the most blissful sleep compared to the days I don’t work out. So for now, I will continue in the hope that some day in future I will look and feel good all at the same time…

F-amily

Announcing the arrival of the lovely baby girl who completes the V family of first generation grandchildren. Lil sister’s baby. Baby Anjali was born July 30th (same date across 3 timezones spanning 3 continents.) She has been an absolute angel for one whole night *antijinx here please*

Proudly presenting…

Anjali

Name: Anjali

Time: 10:40 pm (Wednesday)

Weight: 8.15 pounds (3.7 kilos)

Length: 20.9 inches (53 cms) long.

Zodiac: Leo (The first Leo girl in the family to give Raul company.)

E-ducation

School is back in session in our neck of the woods. *drum roll please* The kids are back doing something constructive. The days of endless TV, non-stop Wii, non-stop computer games & hand held gaming devices are a thing of the past. So are the days of shoving junk food down the throat and driving grandma & grandpa crazy by fighting their rules to the hilt in the absence of mom & dad. Peace reigns once again in the residence after the flurry of early morning activities trying to get kids out of the house & to the bus stand.

The house now has an eerie silence all day which is absolutely blissful when I am working from home. Not to be disturbed/disrupted a million times a day does wonders to productivity of actual work getting done. School supplies/backpacks/clothes/socks and all the miscellaneous items have been purchased in preparation for start of school. The OH & I are excited this year for the first time to have both Meg & Raul in the same school. What does this mean to us, you ask? This means no more school drop off and pick up. Meg will escort Raul to school and back what with her being big sister et al. All we will have to do is drop them off at the bus stop that is pat outside our community gate. They will walk back home in the evening to be greeted by grandma who after almost 10 years is back to the duty of awaiting the return of the grandkids, this time around from school. Hot chocolate is waiting to be consumed as is the snack that the kids love to nibble on after an exhausting day at school. Grandma, a glutton for punishment is already complaining on how empty the house feels without the kids harassing her every minute. It is now to Z, our lab retriever to fill grandma’s day with excitement and she does an amazing job of making up for the kids absence. She follows grandma through every nook & corner of the house lest the old lady disappear on her.

Having one almost grown-up baby had it’s advantages. Meg is almost self sufficient and takes care of most her chores (after being reminded on a every minute basis.) At least now the only work is for our vocal chords. Meg who still officially too young to be left alone at home attended a baby-sitting class over summer break. Apparently she is old enough to watch a young child under the supervision of us parents (Go figure that one) She much enjoyed learning all about feeding, burping, changing baby diapers plus a little bit of CPR & Heimlich Maneuver. The OH & I are far from giving her any babysitting responsibility any time soon. The paranoid folks that we are, we won’t even let them stay at home by themselves for an hour after school once grandpa and grandma leave for India. Steph, our neighbor’s daughter will be summoned upon to watch them kids in our absence.

Now where was I going with this whole education title? This year Raul starts his accelerated program in 3rd grade and the homework is already making it’s way home fast & furiously. Now here is a kid that wants to do his college online (so he can stay with mom & dad). He came to me with the “Do I have to go to school tomorrow?” question after enjoying a two month break. The devious me sent him his dad’s way knowing he would get a good chunk of the OH’s mind (yes, I am mean that way;) A much quieter kid came my way a few minutes later. I then sat him down for a painful lecture that education was not an option or choice in life. Am sure some day down the road he will revisit the days of mom nagging him to study when he is all grown up and has his own life.

Meg went through the same program but has always been very independent and diligent about finishing her homework with little help. She knew to come to us when she needed help but we never had to sit with her to complete her homework each day. She planned her work and got it done with little to no supervision from us parents. Raul, as you’ve guessed by now is a different beast altogether. A good chunk of last evening was spent helping him with his homework. It isn’t so much that he needs help as it is to get him to not procrastinate till the n th hour. I see a revision of all school lessons coming my way. Time to brush up on those wonderful lessons spent years memorizing and agonizing over. It school years revisited except in this case with my babies. Maybe it’s time to start watching the Are you smarter than a fifth grader shows or the Indian version by Shahrukh Khan. Issue there I am sure is that more attention will be paid to SRK himself than any questions he poses to his contestants

Yesterday was research time on various flags and what they represented in honor on the coming Olympics. 300 pages of reading needs to be completed. Can’t wait for the more fun research projects in the horizon. This will get all the more challenging & an exercise on time management skills when swimming, soccer and tennis begins in the next few weeks. Bring them on. I see crazy times round the corner.

D-rumstick – a plenty

Growing up in the city and in a flat (as they are called in India) doesn’t give much opportunity for gardening. We were lucky to have a small patch of land for gardening when we were young. My mom toiled on the piece of land to grow everything that would cater to her culinary skills & her religious needs. So this little garden of ours had a bounty of coconuts, plantain, papaya, henna, hibiscus, jasmine and many many more flowers. In the midst of it all grew the drumstick tree. It stood proud near the tanks that housed our daily supply of water and the pump that moved the said water supply from the tank below to the tank in the terrace above to eventually cater to our needs. Mom would send us girls each evening to water the plants with a bucket in the early days followed by a hose in a few years. We would watch these plants grow and spend our morning picking flowers for mom’s prayers and in the evening would religiously pick the jasmine buds and string them together to later adorn our hair with in the evenings.

The drumstick tree gave us more than the needed supply of drumsticks and the initial euphoria of eating the drumstick wore off. Too much of something makes you sick of it and that is exactly what happened to me with the drumsticks. Soon the daily menu at home included some version of the drumstick or it’s leaves. Initially fear for mom would force us to eat the drumstick each day and as we grew up I learned to eat the drumstick dish but leave out the drumstick from the plate. Neighbors would scare us not to go too close to the drumstick tree for fear of “kambli poochi” (am not sure what this ugly insect is called in English). They said the only treatment to a tree infected by this insect was to burn it. We did see a few of these crawl around the drumstick tree but never did it have to be burnt. Then as teenagers, I remember giggling with friends when there were the famous Bhagyaraj movie that led one to believe that this vegetable was a good aphrodisiac.

After marriage, OH & I lived in a small town in Virginia and all thoughts of the drumstick was stashed away in the rarely accessed sections of the brain. Drumstick was unheard of in a town that did not have an Indian grocer. All Indian spices came from a tiny Chinese store and the drumstick was a delicacy that I for one didn’t miss. Then it was time to move to a different city and with the arrival of grandparents the search for Indian vegetables resumed. The OH who didn’t have the overdose of drumstick growing up craved to have a taste of it and the only ones he did get were the occasional frozen packs that the Indian stores stocked.

Just before Raul was born it was time to move yet again. This time we moved to the sunny side of the country with weather similar to what we have back home. We realized that this city was home to many of the plants we had seen growing up viz the oleanders, jasmine, hibiscus, roses, curry leaves, lemons, oranges and the one vegetable that was a delicacy thus far in this country to us, yes the drumstick. It was not long after that grandma found a small shoot at a friends place that she brought over and planted at our home. In a few years we had a fully grown drumstick tree lots and lots of drumstick.

They say life comes a full circle and I guess I have come that full circle when it comes to drumstick. Grandma is here visiting and we are back to the days of having a daily menu comprising of drumstick. The bright side this time around is that the kids and OH love it. So for me it’s once more eating the drumstick dishes sans the drumstick. But as we sit in our patio and enjoy the evening sunset, the sight of the drumstick tree brings with it a gush of childhood memories…

C-hild & C-ar

She eagerly awaits her moment of experiencing the joy the second time around. Much as she enjoys her precious time alone, she can’t wait for a glimpse of her joy. After all the grass is greener on the other side. It can’t be easy dealing with blind spots, nursing colds with no medication and managing a toddler all while she is tired, exhausted and sleep deprived. She knows the ride doesn’t get any easier in a few days when she does get that relief but that memory is now stored in the back of her brain with more important thoughts taking precedence this moment. Friends and relatives have been denied the joy of winning and the suspense continues.

Patience is fast disappearing and waiting for the time is getting harder by the minute. Everything from hours of walking to mopping the floors have been attempted in an effort the speed up the d-day. Each minute feels extra long and the wait all the more exciting and difficult. She savors every moment with her child knowing that this time is going to be cut short significantly when the time comes. She tries hard to do the balancing act between preparing her young one to be away from her for the little time that she needs to get done with the task on hand versus spending every single moment with him ‘coz she knows that life will permanently change once the moment everyone is waiting for arrives.

If you haven’t already guessed we are all eagerly awaiting the arrival of little sister’s second child He/she is due any time now.

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Now for my car. My ever so dependable car that is my lifeline commuting to work. Especially when you live where it is the only mode of transportation when you are not inclined to shell a mini fortune getting a cab. For the first time I was stranded on the highway with a car that had decided to die on me. Ironically, I had taken off early from work to get home and take the kids to meet their new teacher. The kids start school on Monday and they were looking forward to meeting their classmates and their new teacher. As I waited impatiently in the 110 degree heat for help, I silently cursed myself for ignoring the mechanic’s suggestion to change the timing belt. As the sweat drips down my face and back, I debate stepping out of the car while I wait for help but images of the recent accident where a guy who was waiting for help along the side of the highway being knocked over by another car cross my head. The choice was easy. The decision is made to stay in the car and risk dying of sunstroke than being hit by a passing car.

I soon realized the OH was caught up with something at work when I didn’t hear back from him after frantically paging him. Soon the tow truck was summoned and an excruciating 40 minutes later was on my way to drop the car off at the mechanic. Given that all friends were caught up with errands of their own and there was no contact with the OH, it was time to use some charm on the guy driving the tow truck to go the extra mile to drop me home. Two hours later all is well. The car is at the shop and awaiting it’s diagnosis.

After being stranded on the road for the first time, I pray to never again have to go through this situation and for God to give me the strength and courage to get through it if I ever have to any time in the future.

B-reastmilk jewelery – what next?

You don’t have to think much. The answer is here.

Now this one didn’t give me the warm and fuzzy feeling. I wonder what made these wonderful people even attempt something like this? The first thought that came to my mind was why waste it on such experiments when it is so precious and the only source of nourishment for an infant? There is no disputing the fact that breast milk is the best thing a mother can provide to her baby. Research time and time again have given the benefits of breast feeding and breast milk. There are so many people out there I know who stress over not being able to give their baby this option. My friend recently delivered a premature baby and thanks to all the pregnancy and delivery complications, was unable to feed her baby breast milk. She tried pumping and storing just to be able to nurse her baby when he was ready for it, but due to various reasons she was forced to give up. This was exceptionally hard on her and it took her a while to accept the fact and move on.

The article claims a milk model of the baby’s head can be used as a pendant. Really? Why would I want to wear my baby’s head on a pendant? Am I the only one who thinks this way, I wonder. I can definitely think of a million other ways to enjoy this little joy & a million other ways to brag about him/her without walking around town displaying their head down my neck.

If you think, that’s the end of it there’s more. “The Duende collective say that it envisages the day when all mothers will be able to send a bottle of their milk to a laboratory to obtain a permanent memento of their pregnancy.” What could be a bigger memento than the child itself that has been placed in your arms for you to care for, play with and enjoy? I don’t need no stinking memento to carry around to remember my pregnancy. Those memories are forever etched in my brain cells and every moment with my children is a memento to cherish for my entire life.

As for the other exhibits which will include dishes for storing – and eating – a human placenta, let’s not even go there.

Anyone out there reading this, please write your thoughts. Would love to hear your opinions and views.

A-nother survey: Politician – now that I wouldn’t have guessed!!

Recently, I came across Orchid’s blog and her attempt at blogging by the alphabets caught my fancy. Wondered if I would be able to come up with a creative entry while restricting myself to a set letter each day. Well, I guess I will never know until I try. So here I go…

I also came across this survey, What Should You Be When You Grow Up? on her site. Presenting to you the results…

Given the options I had, I was equally split between 2 choices. Here is what the first choice said about me…

You Should Be a Politician

Confident, assertive, and dedicated – you know what you want in life and how to get it.
Stubborn and opinionated, you can stand your ground… even if it’s unpopular.
And while you have strong views, you never overwhelm people with your opinions.
A true charmer, you subtly influence people into seeing things your way.

You do best when you:

- Work according to your own rules
- Can change the world with what you do

You would also be a good lawyer or talk show host.

And now what the other choice that was a close second said…

You Should Be a Manager

You’re very organized, motivated, and methodical.
Fair and objective, you can see all sides of a conflict. You are a good mediator.
You are task oriented. You do well with deadlines and schedules.
And while you can be a task master at times, you’re good at managing people and listening to their input.

You do best when you:

- Must have attention to detail
- Are in charge of people

You would also be a good accountant or personal assistant.

Now that made sense once I looked through both ‘coz I think that I am quite a blend of both these choices. Now for those of you who know me, come out and say what you think in my comments

Living with a pre-teen

With each day that passes, we notice a new facet of Meg that is fun, exciting, hilarious, aggravating & annoying, in short what makes her unique in her own way.

Post dinner last night, I cleaned up, watched a bit of TV with grandma, OH & the kids and then headed to bed. Prior to taking off to my room, I asked both the kids to go to their room and spend 30 minutes reading a book of their choice. They had watched a little too much TV for the day and I wasn’t about to let them spend anymore time in front of the idiot box. Meg, of course goes into her room with little to no argument. Raul, being him does not believe in going down sans a fight. He started exercising his negotiation skills, as always. First it was “Can I play cards?” When the answer was an emphatic no, he moved on to “can I lie down with Appa on the couch?” I threw my hands up in the air, warned the OH to not give in to his charms and headed to bed.

A short while after the OH came into the bedroom, Raul followed to say that he had finished reading and that he wanted the OH to play a game of chess with him (and yet again the OH had suckered to Raul’s request.) Well now that the OH was half asleep, he cuddled with Raul for a few and sent him back to his room promising to play a game with him the next day.

Ten minutes later big sis shows up at our bed to know if we had yelled at her kid brother. She said that he was in tears and would not talk to her. I explained to her that we had played with him and that dad was too tired & had told him that he would play a game of chess with him the next day. She walks off in a huff and just before exiting the room comments “Jeez, I need to teach him to control his emotions!” Her tone & the comment combined had the OH & me laughing uncontrollably for the next few minutes. As she hears our giggles, she comes in for an explanation. We told her that we found it rich to hear this statement from her given her temper. She walked away with a sheepish look on her face…

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Meg got into beading and making necklaces after my sister visited us on vacation. Sis makes wonderful jewelery and Meg was fascinated by her creations. Sis A gave Meg her beginner lessons on making jewelery. Ever since Meg has been making amateur jewelery & gifting it to me. I have worn a few to work just to please her but for the most part they have stayed in my jewel case. This time around, I decided to give her an idea of what I like. She is much better with her hands now & is a lot more proportionate and tidy in the ones she creates. This year for her birthday, my dear friend A gifted Meg this really nice bead set. This set comes with a set of tools, beads, chains, hooks and an instruction booklet with a few design ideas. I requested her to just make a pendant for me that I could then attach to one of the chains I had. This is what she came up with. Proudly presenting…

The picture does not do justice to the real piece…

Advertising to the younger audience

Conversation between Meg and me yesterday morning…

Meg: “Amma, what is pulmonary heart disease?”

Sand: “Not sure Meg. Will need to check.”

Meg: “Can I ask Uncle R?” (Uncle R is my good friend and a cardiologist)

Sand: “You should. That’s a great idea.”

Meg: “Amma, did you take paxin when you were pregnant?”

Sand (now wondering where this conversation was heading): “No Meg, why do you ask?”

Meg: “I watched it on the TV channel and they mentioned that if you had taken paxin during pregnancy, the child is at risk for pulmonary heart disease.”

Ahah! The puzzle falls in place. I convinced her that she had no reason to worry & that no paxin had been consumed by mom during, prior and post her birth (knock on wood). The ability of the mind to connect the dots is amazing and to watch it develop in the kids is an experience in itself.

Wii ing away our time!!

It was early this year that cousin S showed up at our home with his brand new Nintendo Wii. The kids played with it all weekend & have since been bitten by the Wii bug. They have been wanting one of these since then. The OH & I don’t really believe in buying the kids expensive gifts just because they really want it. Something as expensive isn’t given unless it is a special occasion. Given that finding one has been next to impossible, the OH & I decided to watch for it and present it to the kids for their birthday. Given that their birthdays are just 15 days apart we can get away with one gift for both of them since they both were willing to sacrifice even birthday parties to get the Wii as a gift

I was told that in order to get one of these consoles I would have to make frequent trips at god forsaken hours to stores that carried them. These stores typically got a small numbers of these and they were all typically sold within the next few hours. I talked to one of the stores and was told that I would need to call them each day to check if they had received a shipment. If they did have one when I called, it was against their policy to hold one for me till the evening when I got off work. The guy even went on to tell me that they couldn’t hold it for me even if I paid them with a credit card over the phone.

Now of course, the OH & I just aren’t cut out to take that kind of effort to buy one of these things. It simply isn’t that important to us and we are willing to wait our time. When I accidentally came across a console during one of my visits to the game shop, I decided to buy it and stash it in my closet till their birthday. This gave me the luxury of time to spend additional $$$ on those wonderful accessories viz. extra remote, nunchuk, games etc etc. Given that each game costs $50, this turns out to be a fairly expensive proposition.

So it was not till a couple of days back that we gifted the Wii to the kids on Meg’s b’day. Since Raul lost out on the surprise element for his birthday, we plan to get him a game for the Wii that he has been asking for. Ever since the TV, computer and hand held electronic games have been sent to the deep dark corners of their rooms and the Wii has ruled. It’s not just the kids but the parents and grandparents that are hooked to this wonderful contraption. Every waking moment the OH & I spend at home after work is spent playing tennis or bowling or baseball with the kids in this virtual world.

The ultimate bonus has got to be the fact that even grandpa has relinquished the TV remote & sacrificed his cricket watching on the computer to get moving on a Wii game with the grandkids. Grandma, who is a fitness freak, is for ever looking for ideas to get grandpa to work out or go on walks with her. Not one to miss an opportunity she sees the Wii as her weapon to get grandpa on his feet and moving.

Meanwhile the kids are busy spending the last two weeks of their vacation glued to the Wii. Meg is mighty proud of getting herself a sparkling pink bowling ball for reaching a certain level and Raul is getting extremely good at tennis. It was hilarious to watch the OH lose to him consecutively last night. Not one to go to bed a loser, he kept asking Raul to play another round only to lose yet again. He even wondered if his remote was working right before he was ready to accept that the kid was just a tad too good for him Mom being mom had to burst Raul’s bubble that winning on the Wii was nothing akin to playing the real game and that mom would be real proud of him if he could do the same on the real tennis court.

Given our addiction the past few days, this article is an interesting read on the person who created the Wii and some of it’s most popular games.