Happy Thanksgiving!

Couple of things I like about thanksgiving:

1. It is one time of the year you spend with your extended family. Even if you are not the kind of person who takes time and effort to meet up with your distant cousins often, this occasion comes as an opportunity to meet all the uncles and cousins. What I said fully applies to only those who have lot of their family here, but I like the idea of meeting and catching up with folks of your kin.
Sometimes, friends are family! Having a thanksgiving meal with friends only shows how much they mean to us in this land away from home.

2. School is off: for my son, it is a whole week time off. Not only that gives the kids a nice break, I am also excited about the reduced traffic and the easier commute to work.

I was able to take one day off tomorrow, so it is so nice to think of the upcoming extra long weekend. I may or may not post anything in the coming days. Here is wishing all of you a wonderful thanksgiving weekend! Make the most of it and be happy!

Pizza talk

Ordering pizza and getting what you expected is really a matter of luck. So says my experience over the years! And I am supposed to be in charge of ordering them always. And something always happens that, in the end, I feel responsible for the goof up!

Couple of years back, we used to have a Donatos Pizza which served a unique Pizza called 'Mariachi'. I was a great fan of that spicy pizza and when I was pregnant, I used to go there super hungry and order that!

Ordering a 'veggie Mariachi' pizza only made them put veggies on top of a Mariachi pizza loaded with meat. When I opened the pizza box, I was disappointed and I returned it and I explained the requirement. And here comes another goofed up pizza as a result. The requirements were not understood right once again! Finally the third try worked. The shop ended up giving as 3 pizza pies to take home! B benefitted from the meat pizzas that we got as a gift!

From then onwards, I learnt to specifically name all the veggies I want as toppings, mention 'No meat' and then say 'add Mariachi spice on top of it'. Lesson learnt!

Anytime, we ordered over the phone, the instructions were misunderstood and something was bound to surprise or shock us. Yesterday something similar happened.

I called Dominoes and had a conversation about what deals they have. The talk fluctuated from medium to large pizzas with and without toppings. I swear I ordered 2 mediums and I put the phone down. The total he mentioned flashed in my mind and I said - this cannot be right, I bet they have 3 large pizzas in the order after all the talks. I called them back to find out, yep, that was what they had put in. I patted my own back on catching this at the right time. I fixed the order back to what I wanted. Phew!

Any interesting experiences from your side?

Forty

One of our friends turned 40 yesterday. And we almost missed the date. B met his wife at Nikhil's swimming class and she mentioned it to us. She had cake ready at home and we could visit them to watch S cut the cake and wish him a Happy Birthday!

B calls me frantically on the way back from swimming - 'Do you have a birthday card for him?'
I replied helplessly - 'How will I have a 40th birthday card in stock?'
He remarked - 'May be we should buy a bunch of them and keep them at home - looks we will need them often'.
And we LOL ed!
Yes, we have been hearing one or two friends turning 40 recently! This is certainly a milestone for them, it also leaves us with a feeling of 'Oh my God, we are also growing old!'.
This is the first time I am wishing a friend 'happy 40th'. The last time I wished anyone for 40th was my DEAR APPA - I gave him a birthday card and a watch ( I think it is a watch that I gave!).

And I chuckled - 'Ya, before we know it, may be will need one for ourselves'.

Well, there is some more time to go before that!

So at 8PM, as soon as kids finished dinner, we started out to visit them and give the birthday 'boy' a surprise. We stopped by at Giant to get a birthday card that had 40 written on it.
We cut the cake, took some pictures, sipped some wine and chatted a while.
Many many happy returns of the day to my friends who are turning forty soon!

Time for myself

Morning goes by making breakfast and making sure kids eat. Day goes by driving to work, work and driving back home. Evening time flies by with dinner and homework and Kumon with Nikhil. In between, there are tiny snippets of fun time with Nithin's pranks and him surprising us with newly learnt words (yesterday he said, correction - a term we use a lot with Nikhil's Kumon work and 'spelling test' pointing to Nikhil's weekly spelling sheet.). If there are more snippets of free time, loading/unloading dishwasher or folding laundry clothes eats them up.

I have been longing to do something for myself - I think of watching a very good movie! I think of picking up my old movie song jot down book and sing aloud! I think of picking up 'Oru Deshathinte Katha' - the Malayalam novel I brought from India and read it. I think of uploading those pictures which friends have been asking for, forever. I think of giving the elliptical a workout! Before I know, my mind wanders into the TODO list again, deviating from the quest for fun to the satisfaction of getting things done. It is always a battle between productive work and relaxation - when you go for relaxation, work piles up and stares at you - 'How could you..?'

And there at bed time, kids want me to lie down with them. Nikhil says it in words and Nithin too, in his own way and his cries. So here I lie down with both kids hugging me from both sides (should confess I love that!) - there is another battle going on at that point. My mind is fully awake and wants to do the things I listed above. My body weakens with each moment. I start yawning in a minute. We have some serious talks about life - Nikhil and me. He shares a secret or two occasionally. And soon he says, 'I want to sleep. No more talking'.

He is fast asleep - while Nithin takes some more time. Each minute in the bed weakens my determination to get up! After all, I am doing B a great favor by putting the kids to bed so he can study peacefully! And every night, I pass one moment where I know both the kids are now asleep, and I am slowly sinking into sleep. I know that if I get up that moment, I can probably enjoy some quiet time with my books/TV. I remember thinking of all this and I am already zzzzz..!

So, what you see in the picture is what I want now!
Tell me what is it that you like to do - to get that feeling that you took care of your mind?

Weekend update

At work, the past few months were enjoyable because I got to do what I know pretty well by now. So I enjoyed being in the comfort zone and checked off item after item in my TO DO List everyday.Even when I had to work late, I enjoyed doing it because I know I am able to deliver! I worked hard - I enjoy it and I do it and at the same time, I try to dismiss the thoughts like 'is it being appreciated, is it being noticed' as useless! I am happy and that is all matters, because I have no control over such matters.

Very soon, we will enter a lull period where I have to do things I am not used to. I will be looking for work to fill up my time sheets. And after that, arriving will be, a whole new era of learning a new product and trying to live with that.It is told to be better than the old product I am using. But I am apprehensive about all the changes and learning curve. Soon I will go to back to my 'should I quit my job' thoughts when I am out of my comfort zone.

Today morning, I dropped my cell phone for the nth time by accident. The battery and body broke into separate pieces which I gathered and put together. Keeping my fingers crossed, I switched it on again. Thank God, it came to life again. If not, I would be in deep trouble as this acts the on-call support number. I could not live without it.

A day with live support issues without much luck! That what this Friday is like for me!
Also my whole office is empty with most of my colleagues on travel. It is going to be so till next Thursday. I am OK with the loneliness, as long as it is quiet and calm on the work front.

Here's wishing you all a wonderful weekend!