Random thoughts while packing.

… for a weekend away in the UK.

You are never sure of the weather so you end up packing,

- sun screen and swim wear. Just in case the weather god takes pity on you and grants you good weather. This, by the way, never, ever happens to us. With our luck, the sunscreen comes back – untouched, most of the time

- you throw in warm layers, because you never know, in this country!

- you dare not forget that water proof jacket, because you can rest assured that the one time you forget, you can guarantee bad weather.

And you will always have pictures on the beach, wearing multiple layers, with winter hats and boots to boot. That is a different kind of fun too, you know, after all how many people in those warm, sunny countries would have done that?

- The car is full of all sorts of emergency clothing, which we might have thrown in at the last minute, but comes to our rescue when adverse weather hits us.

And finally after all that preparation, some people like us, land in a totally different place for our holiday. That is soon to come in another post

Quirks that haunt..

R’s Mom talks about ‘managing to lock and unlock the main door a million and one times‘ when RD is away. Well, here’s a confession, I do it too. *more than a little shamefaced* And what’s more, I do even more crazy things like that.

For some reason, I can’t be entirely sure that everything has been locked safely.  I am the one locking things normally – whether husband is around or not. For instance when we go out, Husband takes daughter and gets her into the car, while I lock up. And every single time, as soon as I get into the car, he asks me if I have locked the house – and I can never say it with confidence that I have! I would have to run back out to check(husband despairs every time I do this)! Every single time! Just for the record - the house is always locked!

Or locking the house, and then a doubt creeps in – did I really switch off everything? Do I have any option but to go back in – and in the process have to yank off my boots to get inside and check on everything.

Sometimes I have other more dangerous worries. One time I wasn’t sure if I had taken the plug off after using my hair straightener, and we had to go back to confirm. Again for the record – it was unplugged.

Night time checking is by far the worst. I normally do check before going up to bed. But sometimes, every night, just before I doze off, I have these massive doubts. Have I switched off the oven? Have I switched off the gas? Have I locked the door. Sometimes I go down, check and come back. Only for a fresh doubt to grow in my mind. And off I go again – checking and re-checking. Sigh! If only I could get this under control.. Sometimes, I end up going to bed about half an hour later than planned, because of all my doubts. One time I sat up in bed, horrified, smelling something burning. It was only after checking the whole house, that I realized that I must have been dreaming!

While most of the time, my worries have been unfounded, there have been a couple of times when I actually left something on. I forgot to switch off the oven once. I was baking some koftas for dinner. I was back within 20 minutes, but it was still too late to save my koftas All I could do was be thankful that the house did not burn down! And once, I did leave something boiling on the stove – when I rushed out to school in a hurry. That time, there was plenty of water in the bowl, so it was safe, but both these times, I was shaken. That might be why I am so paranoid now.

My affliction increases a wee bit when husband is not around. And now I have come to understand that the only way around this is to have checklists and to check off all my worry points as soon as I have checked it, and, this is very important  - sign it off with a time-stamp. That seems the only way I can avoid checking again, again and again May be one day, some one will come up with a mobile app, that does just that

So tell me, am I the only crazy one? Or do any of you do these as well?

If I got Duplicated…

…I would drive some people crazy(like Husband, for instance) He might decide to stay away in Glasgow during the weekends too

Reading Scribby’s post on Dme(Duplicate Me), my first thought was, ‘Oh what a fun concept!, I should copy this from her’! Reading through her post, I realized that I did not have to copy it – Scribby had already tagged me Thanks dearie! Love this tag

So what would I do is I could duplicate myself! Oh so many things! If I start, I’m afraid I will never stop

1. Get Dme to do all the daily cooking. Let her figure out what to cook, and everything! If there is something I hate – it is everyday cooking. The Ome(Original Me), will just swan into the kitchen and make exotic stuff, and bake

2. Send Dme off to the gym to work off all the calories I put on eating(and lazying around)

3. Send her off to do boring things like grocery shopping, while I nip off into the library or just stay at home and read?

4. Dme could take over vacuuming the three floors of the house, and tidying up as well, while I do other interesting things?

5. I could go back to work, while DMe could stay at home cook, pick up daughter from school, and I could get back home just in time to relax and spend the evening with daughter.

6. I always miss deliveries because I have to step out – even when I know the postman might arrive precisely when I step out – with a Dme – that would be so one less worry!

7. With a Dme, the Dme could work, while the Ome takes off on vacations even when I have no leave at work!

8. I guess I would never ever complain about 24 hours being too less

I could go on and on… After all, who wouldn’t appreciate an extra pair of hands? It would, of course, be useful if Duplicate Me came with a different skill-set rather than exactly the same as mine, you know I don’t want to have to fight with myself over which things I get to do, and which she does A complimentary Me might make more sense But then, beggars can’t choosers, so lets at least get the DMe

So tell me, what would you do if you got to duplicate yourself? I feel too lazy to tag you guys, so please help yourself – anybody reading this – consider yourself tagged

 

There is a right time for everything..

..so they say.. I have come to the conclusion that there certainly is a right time for everything, and a wrong time for everything as well.

- Reading yummy looking food blogs should have a statutory warning – ‘ Do not read if hungry – can lead to disastrous consequences’.

- Grocery Shopping while hungry – same warning should be displayed – in huge letters, preferably. Or they should have a tummy rumbling sensor which bans us from entering. If only those darn supermarkets thought of public service instead of their bottom lines!!!

- The absolutely wrong time to shop is in the run up to Christmas – atleast in this country. The other day, I got stuck in a shopping trolley traffic jam. Too many people, too many shopping trolleys. All I wanted was milk, and I still got stuck!

- While on supermarkets, the sure fire way of ensuring that some thing gets sold out is for me to desperately want it. Once a supermarket was out of eggs! That never happens – but it happened when I had to bake – and then I had to hunt for an egg-less recipe!!!! Sometimes it is our favourite brand of bread – somehow, it gets sold out! Once the lady ahead of me had it!

- The wrong time to start playing monopoly is definitely any time after 8 – for me. It does not finish on time, and even if it does, I stay up half the night thinking what I could have done to win!

- The wrong time to join any exercise class is certainly after the Christmas-New Year break. The whole world and their cousin is out to work away the holiday excess(new year resolutions?). Classes are packed! Forget about classes, even the roads are full of joggers out to make you guilty! And it gets less and less crowded as the new year sets in, and we get used to our extra weight.

- The totally wrong time to bake is when you already have cake at home. And I must be one of those crazy people who think that it is a good idea So now, I know all about freezing cakes. I have two varieties frozen!

Now that I have it all jotted down, I should take a print out and put it on my refrigerator -maybe, that could stop me from doing weird stuff. At the very least, it might stop me from baking when I shouldn’t!

 

Some days we just like to take it easy…

The last few weeks have been busy. For all of us. Husband has been travelling, daughter and I have been busy with our own schedules during the week, and the weekends have been a mad rush with birthday parties, dinners and shopping. I can’t believe that once upon a time, when we first came to this country, I used to complain about the lack of social  life. Now, all I want is a quiet weekend, when the most I do is laze around doing nothing.

Today is a school holiday- thanks to the public sector strike today. I asked daughter what she wanted to do today, and pat came the answer, ‘Can we just stay at home?’. I could hug for that

So all we have done since morning is laze around, read a couple of books in bed, together, ate a leisurely breakfast, played hide and seek together… All I want is more days like this – when we choose to do nothing, when we can just laze around, read, and eat The weather is perfect for us too – cold, grey, sad, making us so happy to stay indoors, warm and snug.

We still will have a busy evening, but that is alright, isn’t it? After a morning of lazing around, the least we can do is have a busy evening? What do you say?

 

 

I wish I could..

..bake this cake. And check out the blog, the way she writes, makes me want to make everything that makes..Coming back to the cake, doesn’t it look just delicious! But I can’t, can’t bake it, because I need friends to share it with Can’t even take the chance of making it and eating it all by myself… And all of us are just too busy this week. Plus, we are off on a short break – I can’t afford to look any fatter than I already am

..sleep during daytime. I never can I can count on my hands the number of times I have slept in the afternoons! I envy people who can, like my husband, who can sleep anytime, anywhere I wake up at 6:00 even on weekends these days. What is the matter with me!!

… Control my appetite. How, how, how do people diet? I can’t stick to anything for even a meal! As I was saying at R’s Mom’s place, forget about fasting, I can’t even skip a meal! How sad is that!

…I wish I could go a for a spa day, and just relax, or read a book while they pamper me.. Husband has been asking me to just book it and go for it, but somehow I never seem to be able to figure out when I will be totally free. Like today, I had an appointment for some fancy cleaning/waxing my car which was to take 4 hours. And it was in the city centre, so I had plans to go shopping in the 4 hours. Right on schedule, daughter fell ill, and I had to cancel it all. So how is that spa day going to work, I wonder..

.. Lose a few extra inches, and gain a flat tummy, in 2 days time! I bought a dress yesterday, only to realize that there is no way I can wriggle into it( I tried, but had to give up) unless I magically lost a few inches.  Just as well that I am not baking that Tres Leches Cake, I guess!

.. Clone myself. To get the extra hands to finish off sorting the laundry, vaccuumming the carpets, cleaning the kitchen, helping daughter with her ‘work’ and one of me gets to curl up and read.. That would be so perfect, don’t you think? If only wishes were horses……

Freebie love

I hadn’t realized how many freebies I had collected over the last few years.

One of the stores here, has offers on and off, giving away tiny samples of their products if we spend more than a certain amount on some of their products. And sucker for such stuff, that I am, I totally totally fall for them. Every single time, I end up buying stuff just to get those goody bags. To be honest, I do use stuff from this store, so I justify it by saying that I just end up buying things I will use, with a bonus gift to go with it.  I was tidying up my stuff, when I realized how much I have been hoarding. Stuff that I never touch. Eye-make-up, lipliners, what was I thinking? And this is after giving away loads. I remember a blue eye-liner, that I gave away to someone who loved it She thought I was crazy to not use it. Some of the stuff I really like – like hand creams, and even some nail paint. A shade that I would have never bought, but tried it because it came free, and loved it! That still did not get me to go and buy that shade again, because it was such an outrageous pink, but that is another story!

Here is my loot, what is left of it. I haven’t picked up a ‘free gift’ in some time. Time to go shopping, don’t you think? Have to replenish stock, don’t I?

When I think about it, what draws me to freebies is not just the contents, but the whole process of it, you know. The gift packs come in a box, or in a little purse or bag. There is something magical about opening a present, an unknown, you know. Yes, it is not totally unknown, but I still love it! Each sample, that is in there, somehow makes me happy – in way things that I buy never do. Is the fact that it is free? I guess, and the whole packaging of it, like a gift, I think that certainly makes me very happy.

I just realized that I have passed on my genes ,those genes that lust for freebies, to daughter. The other day, she wanted ot go to that restaurant, where children get toys( some of her friends had been to MacDonalds – we plan to steer clear of it as long as we can). Apparently she does not want to restaurants where they only give paper and colouring pens – too boring. That free toy, no matter how useless it is, still carries that ‘fun’ element of an unknown gift, I suppose!

While I know that there is no free lunch, that is certainly not stopping me from getting free stuff when I can!

Call it irrational fears or paranoia..

.. but I have my share(or may be even more than my share) of them…

- Every time I go to check my car’s tyre pressure, I have this fear that I will lose the little caps – whatever are they called. To add to my worries, the air and water dispenser is also near a self- car wash. So there are these vents on the ground for water to flow down. I always worry that one day, I would drop my car keys down that. Yes, I worry about this, every single time that I go there. Go on, call me crazy.

- I always jump to all the horrible case scenarios when daughter’s school calls, while she is still at school. Thankfully so far it has been for not-very-scary things. Last week, they called me two times to pick up daughter, because she threw up at lunch time. She has been perfectly fine after that. She has eaten the very same foods tons of times, before and since. So right now, I think she just threw up because she had been talking while eating.

- I feel extremely uncomfortable when I am without my phone. I go crazy, wondering if I should have husband’s numbers written down in my handbag – just in case you know. How, how did I survive in those days before mobile phones came into existence?

- The sight of police cars on the roads psyche me out. Emergency vehicles too. Just the sound of emergency vehicles are enough to scare me! I just hope and hope that they are nowhere near me. One night, I was returning from somewhere, and the road was almost completely blocked by police vehicles. It was then that I realized that most of us on the road were equally scared. We all slowed down, almost to a crawl, and as soon as the police vehicles were out of sight, started zooming again.

One of the things, I am not scared of is living by myself. For some reason,I love having the house to myself. That does not happen much these days. But I love it after daughter is in bed – total quiet, ‘me time’, when I can curl up with a book, or do things like ironing or ‘organizing’ my junk jewellery in my new jewellery ‘organizer’. I spent 2 hours one night on it

Husband adds that I have this irrational fear of people dropping in and finding out how messy it actually is

PS: I am yet to respond to comments on previous posts- last week was a whirlwind of activity – of the non-blogging kind

Life lessons…

… for me to remember..

- Watching TV makes skinning peanuts much easier. Balancing a book and skinning roasted peanuts – not easy at all!

- Getting huge parking tickets makes you immune to little parking fines. I got fined £35 today, and after having paid £200, this felt like small change Husband might not totally agree, though.

- A good gossiping session with a girlfriend is the most therapeutic thing – ever! Even better when you have delicious Cornish clotted cream ice-cream! Yum!

- There is always a first for everything. I managed to ruin a cake today by opening the oven door – which I know is not done And good friends will still eat it with all the enthusiasm possible.

- The happiness that one gets when chocolate covered, white carpets get cleaned – priceless

- The realization of how much I love things like baking and ironing. The deep sense of satisfaction that I get when I painstakingly ironed a sari and baked a cake is difficult to match. Yes, I know, I am sad – very sad

- Google has all the answers I just need to type my question to realize that I am never alone in this wide,wide world! Loads of people, I have never met, have the same questions. Sure makes you feel part of a huge community, doesn’t it?

And finally, dressing up is one great way of having fun, and not just for five year olds!