3rd Quarter 2011

Playing catch up here. School started off to a great start for Rutha(6th grade) and Rohun(1st grade). But middle school can be challenging even for somebody as well organized as Rutha! Missed and lost items, completed homework that doesn't get turned in etc. Rohun brought in a homework project about my favorite things one Wednesday-handed it to me and declared, "Mama please finish this tomorrow its due on Monday!"

Struggling to keep it all together, little things that I took for granted when my Mom was with me were a challenge to manage. Prayerfully I have started to learn to manage my expectations, emotions and time.
This time of the year I always feel stressed about planning for the holidays, organizing things from the year and starting afresh for the next year. To that effect I am planning to use the GTD techniques more aggressively.
My parents went on a trip to Israel, Egypt and Jordon leaving Bombay on October 23 and returning on Nov 2nd. They had a great time there!
My company went through a big round of layoffs - a trying time for all - just the emotions... My job is safe for now. Although NOBODY was left unaffected! Did feel that this experience "grew" me in many ways. There was a peace that I can attribute to my faith coupled with a lot of prayer support, a resilience and maturity that I guess comes with age ... ha ha!
The kids now have a new piano & violin teacher - it was hard to say goodbye to the previous one. The new one is a Mr. Jerry Yochelson, must be in his late 60s I guess - but oh so knowledgeable and electronically savvy! Rutha is also in his Scout Band - all thanks to her BFF Vicki. She plays the flute & the fife in the Band & they got to recently play at Rosedale Park (where the Battle of Rosedale happened) at a Boy's Scout Camping event. All the band was dressed in civil war costumes - thanks to the Cranbury Historic Society. It was a beautiful day & an enjoyable performance on Oct 23, 2011.

Summer 2011

It really flew by!!!
Kids off from school on June 21. Kids & Mom in Toronto - Pramod dropped them off & we drove them back here. Then Mom left for Poona on July 13th, Pramod & the kids left on July 22nd. I flew to Miami for JSM in the last week of August. Oral presentation at JSM. Did not like Miami in general - although a fresh fruit market on Sunday was great! Returned on Aug 3rd & left for Pune on Aug 4th. Direct flight was awesome! Plane landed at 3:45 - hit the runway & at 4:30 am I was home! Poona was all that it was meant to be for me - meeting family & friends, good food, walking around the city - shopping away. Only in moderation this time!
Was thrilled that all my health numbers had improved. Did Panchkarma - the massages initially hurt - was black and blue in some places but then in general the benefits were good - great looking hair - skin glowing and relaxed! Of course you never get to do all that you wanted to do, eat all that you wanted to eat, meet everyone that you wanted to meet. The comfort lies in knowing that you will be back again - God-willing!
Met interesting people, did interesting things...

Half of summer 2011

A very busy summer so far... School ended June 21st. Play dates and birthday parties ensued. Kids had a blast in Toronto with my sister Sunita. Its fantastic that they can shore up lovely memories of their time together! They visited museums, parks, libraries, cinemas, science center, besides hanging out with cousins.
Pramod & I went to PSU for a reunion - it was a fabulous time to see our friends after years - just connect right away & have major catchup time. Part of growing older with the cohort of friends who literally were uprooted from all over India a couple decades ago and just happened to land in the same school - went through similar struggles and triumphs! Met Ganesh & Anju who traveled from Bangalore with their lovely daughters Aaina & Ishira; SP & Sukhdeep with their handsome sons Karan & Manu from York PA; Shefali & Nikhil with their sweet kids Anusha & Viraj from Virginia; Girish & Bhawna with their cute kids Mohit & the enticing Naina (everybody wanted a picture with this cutie! Umesh who flew down California. And last but not the least the warmest hosts Jayashree & Nagesh Sonti with J's Mom!!
We chatted late into the night & the next day Girish, Ganu & us drove in tandem all the way to Buffalo, NY. Then we drove on to Toronto. This was major catch-up trip - chatted with my high school friend Rabia Khan who recently moved to Toronto!
Watched Harry Porter final movie in 3D in NYC the day before its official release.
Mom left for Poona (sad sad for me...) - she was my huge support here! Of course my Dad was happy - you could hear it in his voice for days before she arrived!
Work pressures are tremendous - have done my best to keep the anxiety of the uncertainty at bay but sometimes it surfaces - to be quickly clamped down with the trust that I have in God & in His plans for me & my family.
Rest of the family is off to India tomorrow!

Knitting coming along OK - need to address all the wips! Finished a triangular shawlette (turned out to be too small) for Mummy, a hat for Pritish as he heads off to school in the fall & finally presented Kent with the scarf we made for him!!
Treated myself to some lovely yarn at LYS for my b'day last month - to make things for Pritish, Roanna, Pramod & Bev.

Veg garden & hanging baskets doing great so far - lets hope things don't awry with all our crazy travel schedules!

Rohun's current purpose in life!

Last month when Rohun visited NYC for "take your kids to work day" he quipped loudly as we passed a group of business-clad men & women -- "these people with sticks on fire in their mouths - are they smoking"! He walked around in amazement looking like a country bumpkin seeing the big city for the 1st time. :-)

These days his sole purpose is to compete with his sister - 5 yrs older than him! Last night he was up till 10 am reading several kiddie books to equal her 1 book of 248 pages! His total was barely 145 pages! He would not let me finish my late dinner but was dragging me to find him books to read all the time talking non-stop about how he has to read for the "family" so that Rutha does not win! And would I want that to happen? - he asked! Finally Dad had to declare that the contest would have 2 prizes - 1 for the most books read & 1 for the highest number of pages read!! His teacher was very surprised when I told her about his competitive attitude at home - he does not display it at all in school!

Today he was talking about how if he tries to blow a balloon it could choke him and could cause him to die so when he goes to heaven the babies there will be able to read his name in the Bible. I think he had the Book of Life all confused with the Bible!

Update on the finds!

Found my daughter's glasses - in my knitting bag!
Found my lost earring - was right by my bed - there were 3 pairs of eyes looking for it on at least 6 separate occassions!
Weight loss has temporarily stalled! Hope it jump starts again - but I am not too anxious. Rome was not built in a day & my fat banks will not come down or scientifically speaking experience oxidation in 2 weeks!! But I am keeping to the minimum 3 days of exercise per week for the last 2 weeks. It is so tempting to give in to the urge of skipping.

Read this today...
One of the greatest responsibilities a parent has is helping shape their children’s character. What we say and do, how we live our lives, models character to our children. But sitting down with our children and having conversations with them about their character is even more important.

Our children need to know that the person they become is more important than what they do. We spend so many years preparing our children for their future careers when we should be preparing their character. Why? Because they won’t take their career into heaven, but they will take their character.

So long...

Aarrgh!

Daughter has lost/misplaced 2 pairs of glasses in the last few weeks. She borrowed a DVD from the library on April 23rd & realized this past Sunday that she forgot to return it - so at $1/day the meter was racing!
Then somebody walked off with $25 that I left in a folded paper (make-shift) envelope (somebody sent me this money they owed) along with a certificate from the women's room on my office floor. They left the certificate with my name on it. I've left a note there so hopefuly somebody will realize it was a mistake & return it to me!
I lost an earring at home.
My mom misplaced a pair this Sunday.
What is going on??? Is there a season for losing?

May I say its hard to believe its May!

Last month was a month of ups & downs. The ups first - Rutha's team gets to go to the World level for Odyssey of the Mind; Sunita visited us over Easter - we both egged each other to stay fit & healthy; Mom's BP came down; a new simplification mantra announced at work. The downs - Dad visit had to be cancelled at the last minute due to a health scare. He continues to feel fearful of traveling.

This month I can't seem to be getting my gardening interest back up again :-( Weeds galore outside, potted plants are crying for help! Maybe I should visit a garden center.

The simplification mantra goes like this - we need to reduce the fixed costs - we need to build a presence in the emerging markets - the Europeans are too savvy with their labor laws so Plan B is to let go of some US employees - we need to innovate.
On this last point anybody who is growing is innovating - it goes hand-in-hand.

I made some date chutney last week - evoking memories of friend whose simple & delicious recipe was used! Dates, raisins & tamarind - I tailored the amounts based on what was available & it still turned out to be great!

On my needles right now are 3 projects - the modern quilt wrap, a lacy shawl & a simple scarf!

Time to go for a walk now...

Rainy day

It's April 16th and Princeton feels like a monsoon day in Mahabaleshwar or Poona! Rohun was torn between soccer and chess and of course picked soccer. A chess GM here informs me that Gary Kasporov loved chess and soccer so I ro is ok!! Brought Rutha to the PDS chess tournament.
There are tough choices in life but if one has the faith and remembers to dwell on the Most High there can be peace in the choice you make.
On the topic of peace Rohun was not too pleased that I will not be going with him to India this summer but will be joining them 3 weeks later. He asked me why so I said I wanted some peace and quiet and he goes "why? Why do you need peace, what will you do with it?" what will I do with it! :-)

Rutha my hardworking creative one made us so proud this month - her team won second place in the NJ Odyssey of the Mind finals and will be competing at the worlds next month in Univ of Maryland college park over the memorial day weekend. She brought a lot of creative elements to their team work the simple songs like elmo's world and egypt Egypt and Egypt is the name-o were such hits. We had other team members who were at the regionals saying the songs stuck in their heads for weeks. Rutha also did a lot of heads down hands on work - tirelessly working while many others played around with each other or their gadgets.
I Learnt a lot about people and attitudes too. Shocked to see how some parents can be totally oblivious to their child's behavior.

Had a couple of good accomplishments of my own at work. Co-led a team that presented a seminar to the us regulatory agency. The rocky times at work continue just when we thought we were done with layoffs and are ready to get set and move on there is talk of "simplification" and reducing fixed costs aka jobs. Effects of a global economy seem unfairly punishing of the hard working American employee.

Pramod in his characteristically scholarly way is gearing up for the cranbury board of education election. He poured over the budget, the finances of the neighboring school districts, has researched the per child spending in schools in NJ and across the USA, read white papers on education. I think he will definitely make a difference and am praying that he is elected. This town is fairly non-diverse.

I am starting a KAL! Excited but nervous.

A sixth of 2011 is already over!

Is it only me who thinks that this month gone by at warp speed!

Significant events in health life this month have been - I caved & started taking meds for Diabetes; had a DNC and ovarian cyst drained; lost more weight; found out that my Hb count has dropped to 8.3 (explaining my exhaustion!).

Significant events in other areas - our troop sold about 1700+ boxes of cookies (hopefully my last year as cookie mom - serious amount of time required - especially when mothers don't help to keep things straight!); crunched through teaching 2nd graders at Sunday School knowing that ministering to this age group is not my gift; Rutha did very well in her quarterly grades; Rohun... hmmm... lets just say its a different animal altogether!. Ro continues to amuse us - this Wednesday he offered his "batata bhaji" to me saying take it mama its free & then proceeded to raise his hand and announce in Dosa Grill "free batata bhaji here" pointing to his plate!
Kids are also doing very well in their extra-curricular activities - chess, violin, piano, kathak, soccer, Odyssey of the Mind contest preparation, Rutha's go green project, hatrick reading in school, literary magazine club, selling cookies for Juniors.
I have to say my mother is putting phenomenal efforts in preparing for her US citizenship test. The syllabus is so vast - I don't think even half of the Americans who were born and raised here can answer the history & civics questions!
The other good thing here is that Rohun is learning all this stuff with her - he knows how to spell government, president, lincoln, washington etc...
My Dad is doing well - he continues to set an amazing example for us!

Heard a nice & short presentation by Sheryl Sandberg on Ted.com on 3 key points for women to reach the top!
1) Sit at the table
2) Partner with your partner
3) Don't leave before you leave

Continued to test knit the inspired cardigan for Rutha.

Its time to assess!

Time and again my family has told me that I overextend myself in my commitments. I have also found that I have a problem saying No to tasks or people at work. I've been to several "professional development" classes by now to know that experiment where the facilitator demonstrates how to put the big rocks in first & then throw in the sand i.e. know what you can hold. Often I see my DH making the time to rest - regardless of what else needs to be done - sure enough that does make my buzzers go wild!! There are certain things like exercise that are his priority & he makes the time to get that in come what may.
So taking a leaf each from several people's book of life I think I should enter a phase where I assess what I want to do and how much time I have to do it. Run a pilot! Pramod has a simple excel spreadsheet that gives him a high level plan about when to do what - that way he has a clear picture of what more or what less he has to do to achieve a balance. So I am going to use this home-grown tool & do a self-assessment in the next month.

In the meantime - menu for tomorrow - Hema's (my mother) Awesome Rajma Chawal, chapatis, raita & fruit rabdi!

Hema's Awesome Rajma Chawal
Ingredients: Cup size = 8 oz measuring cup
3 cups of dried kidney beans washed & soaked overnight
2 big bay leaves
3 inch stick (roll) of cinnamon
6 green cardomom
2 cups of chopped onions
1.5 cups of chopped tomatoes
4 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
1 tsp tumeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
0.5 tsp garam masala powder
1.5 tbsp ginger & garlic paste

Method:
Heat oil in a large vessel. Add bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Tap the cardomum on the counter in order to crack it open & add to the hot oil. Add the onions and saute till they get translucent, add the tomatoes & keep cooking for 3-4 minutes, add the ginger garlic paste & continue to fry it for another minute. Add the tumeric, red chilli and garam masala & stir it well. Add the soaked beans with the water its soaked in.
Put the entire mixture in a crock pot and cook till the beans are well done - soft & tender. Alternately you can pressure cook the entire mixture.

Fruit Rabdi: Saw this on a blogsite called bhaatukli and improvised it a bit. There wasn't a name used for it - but it reminded me of rabdi!
Ingredients:
1 can (14oz) condensed milk
1 can (12 oz) fat free evaporated milk
1 8 oz slab of cream cheese (1/3 fat)
1 can (15 oz) or so of tropical fruit
1 apple chopped
1 pear chopped
(Could add other fruits to experiment)

Blend the condensed & evaporated milk & cream cheese. Drain & rinse out the fruit & add to the blended mixture along with the chopped fruit. Pour into a baking pan (I used an 8 in round pan) and bake for about 40 mins at 350 degrees F. The top should look "done" as in solidified & together. Cool & refrigerate before eating.

Activities for tomorrow: Church, Violin & Piano classes for the kids, Kathak and Odyssey of the Mind practice for Rutha, catching up on office work for next week and of course the big self-assessment begins tomorrow!
Unbelievable its 1:07 am already! Goodnight!!

Inspired by my Dad

My Dad has inspired us yet again! At 71+ years of age he shows me how well he is managing his diabetes. He brought his HbA1c down from 9.1 to 6.4 in a matter of weeks. Long walks, diet, prayer and medicines. A couple of things he has always kept regimented are his prayer time - reading the bible and praying for all his loved ones by name - and raising his meds in prayer before swallowing them down. Small and big acts of faith.
Can't wait to start back on exercising again. Will give myself a couple more days before walking again. in the meantime will do some yoga without straining myself too much.
My doc (ung) was a surprised at my hb levels down to 8.3. Need to eat some iron rich foods which is a bit hard being mostly vegetarian. Did you know that eating vit c with iron or vit c rich foods with iron-ric foods helps in absorbing the iron. Coffee, soy protein and milk inhibit iron absorption. Can't give up the coffee though.
Department sent a yummy fruit bouquet from edible arrangements today!
Ru and ro were whining in French at the dinner table today and were amused that I didn't "get it" at first.

Check out this websitethat I found on NUpurs blog.

Www.indianfoodforever.com

Its mid february already!

On nutrition: Try to know where thy food comes from! I never could enjoy the boxed false foods - always preferred the wholesome goodness of natural food. We of course smother it with spices & oil - spices are all good though.
I have a hard time documenting what I eat - something that is touted as the tool for wt loss success. Just as a challenge for yourself try to write down everything that you eat in a day - literally everything that crosses those lips! Then try to figure out the calories, carbohydrate, fiber, protein and fat content & add them up. You will be so surprised!! There are many resources available to find out the nutrition contents in all kinds of food. www.thedailyplate.com is one such website that has this information and a neat way to track your daily caloric intake & exercise too.


On humility: An area of my life that I should pay close attention to.

Got to get Rohun to love reading. Did not have to worry about Rutha - her genes clicked - and we can't get her to stop reading or enjoying the feel of a book in her hand. Rohun on the other hand is an electronic junkie - computers, WII and the TV. He actually said to me "Mama whats the point of reading!" He brings home his "book bag" and takes it back to school unopened! Shame on us. Afraid that electronic mediums will desensitize kids of this generation. A saving grace though is his love for soccer and the piano and food including the preparation & presentation of it!

Knitting front: Currently knitting a cardigan for Rutha in cotton yarn. I should document the number of wip projects that I have too.

Cookie sales for Rutha's Junior Troop going strong. Waited in line for 2 hours & 10 mins - since they had problems with delivering cookies this week. First time this season... else it has been pretty smooth getting them from a cookie cupboard. An amazingly kind woman has them stocked in her garage and is very flexible on when I go pick them up.

Whats on my mind today?

Things at work, a sense of satisfaction coming from trying to get things done, a cardigan that I am knitting for my daughter, Rohun's excitement at correctly recalling the type of Girl Scout's cookies his teachers and others picked for us to give them - that he says "Mama I'm loving my brain today"!!! Ha, ha...

The other day he told me that a girl in class (Kayla C) said her mom says that she has eyes at the back of her head - to which he says he replied "Oh that must make her very dizzy"!

He says he didn't spend his entire evening with electronics he also did some "Civis" he meant Civics of course - he is happily learn from the citizenship test that my mother is preparing for!

Rutha did spectacularly well in her 2nd term report card! She is such a sweetheart - totally diligent & works with nearly no help from us in schoolwork.

God's Mercy

Made the decision today - will take whatever help I can get to get my health back on track with God's help. I cannot do this on my own - that is established. God wants me to have a full life. He also does not want me to look behind - a new day a new beginning - His mercies are renewed everyday!!
Realization today - do not be envious of anybody or anything - in thoughts, words or deeds. God has knit me uniquely - He gives me the strength to take on every test that comes my way. These tests are to build my maturity & in God's world they will keep coming until I pass each & every one of them - so I better pass them quick & with excellence!
Love how Rohun plays the piano - don't have to push him to practice!
Shoveled snow today - a ton of it - my upper body workout.

Knitting Pipeline: Episode 28 A Baby Surprise from Elizabeth Zimmerma...

Knitting Pipeline: Episode 28 A Baby Surprise from Elizabeth Zimmerma...: "Listen here or use the Flash Player in sidebar. This show is sponsored by my Longaberger home business.  www.longaberger.com/paula.&n..."elt so relaxed listening to this episode

Felt so relaxed listening to this episode. Thanks! Shaila

Come join me through my journey

I have committed my life (again) to Christ today. Under all that I believe in, trust in, the faithfulness of God that I have seen in my life I am trusting Him to lead me towards a fuller, healthier life. I cannot do this on my own. My aim is to lose 15 pounds by June 17, 2011. Current wt is 159. I need to do this to control 3 huge risk factors that have struck me at age 44. Diabetes, blood pressure and high cholesterol.

I am so blessed to be a part of the lives of my 11 year darling daughter Rutha, my 6 year old amazing son Rohun, my dear husband Pramod, my fantastic parents and dear sister Sunita not to mention a large number of friends who are as close as my family, the rest of my family and the amazing communities that I am a part of at church, work and my village/town!
Want to continue to be a part of them for a long time!

Will commit to posting on my journey as often as possible.

Exercise and wt loss

After weeks of falling off track due to physical and mental reasons I will attempt to get back on track. Started an electronic diary to capture what I ate for the last 2 days. Unfortunately the challenge in the evening hours - poor documentation and sheer gluttony.

Today is a snow day for the kids their first and a delayed opening for me. DH is also working from home. Slept for a total of 8 hours!!

Mommy Sabbatical

Still exhausted from the holidays - a mental & physical strain. I mentioned to a friend just now that I need a Leave of Absence - she heartily agreed & said yeah - a mommy sabbatical!!

Its been crazy but I have learned one valuable lesson. Be honest in all your dealings because you never know which one is a test - actually they all are & I am now convinced that hard times are to teach you a lesson & to build your character.

On the 26th of Dec I went to hallmark for their after christmas sales. The lady gave me 50% off on items that were not marked to be 50% off & in addition she gave me 3 stands & charged me for 2. I did notice but stayed quiet. Later as I was grappling with some health issues & in a lot of pain & tired and exhausted from the pain I decided to push my family to go out on a trip. We went to Williamsburg VA. It was too cold & snowy for my parents to really enjoy it. As we left the place to return I discovered that I left some lovely yarn (midway in the project) and a library book in a bag in the hotel room. Husband refused to turn back, hotel said they could not find it. Kept calling back the hotel kept saying they could reach "housekeeping" as they were on the floor. I lost my cool - made sure peace in my family was disrupted. Was completely baffled by my response to the situation and hurt everyone in my family in the process. I watched myself falling :-( Then I asked God why - why did this have to happen - why couldn't He just get me the bag - it was an easy thing for Him to influence. My conscience then prompted me on the Hallmark incidence. Note that 3 days of daily phone calls later the polite southerners from VA could still not locate housekeeping or my bag. I told myself fine - just do the right thing with Hallmark and count on God to be faithful. There was an inner peace - I did expect the bag to show up based on my affirmation of God's faithfulness but the peace made me feel regardless of the bag I needed to do the right thing. So I schlepped the extra stand to Hallmark. The ladies there were very happy with my honesty - took the extra stand back & told me to keep the extra discount I had mistakenly received! Hold on - one more persistent call to the Marriott & a long explanation later I was overjoyed to receive their call telling me that they found my bag!!!

Well its a small incident and I was able to redeem myself somewhat - just grateful for the chance of redemption which may not always be available!

Overall had a great time with my family - lots of bonding, laughter, a good party at our place on Christmas Day, another relaxing get together with 2 of my school friends and their families etc.

Made fruit cake, white chocolate cherry shortbread, sand tarts, sugar and orange butter cookies this year. I also made some yummy chicken biriyani this year.

Need to stay focused on health this coming year 2011!