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...