Hello World!

Happy New Year! 2017 is here and I am hoping she will be kinder to all of us. 2016 was full of ups and downs all around and so, I am really hoping, 2017 will give us a chance to catch our breaths.

In our house, SP completed his MBA, MsA has completed Grade4 and MsAn has graduated from Kindergarten and is ready to start big School in 1 month and 5 days! OMG! That one, I am not ready for!

Me – I am still here, enjoying work – keeping up the work life balance and getting over each day as it comes.

This year, I have no plans, no resolutions just two Mottos – YOLO ( you live only once) and Me before you! Yes, that’s  right – Me before You ( where you is anyone, that’s not me!) I know I will struggle with this one, but I am going to try.

This year, I also complete a decade of blogging. So, I am going to focus on my blog baby and aim to write a post/share a photo every day. So, watch this space.

 I leave you with this : 

..again..I don’t even remember why or how, except that first day or two, I was too tired. SP was traveling and pretty much every night,I was ready for bed before the girls were.

December is here..my favorite month of the year! I love the joy and cheer December brings along. Although this year, December started with sickness. First it was MsAn and then me. We spent most of our day today, sleeping, fighting off a feverish haze, cuddling each other, waking up to drink water and going back to sleep till it was time to pick up MsA.

This year we have a visitor – Elfie – Santa’s Elf  and she is entertaining us with her antics. MsA and MsAn are so in awe of her and take her very seriously.

Elfie’s grand entry! 
 Day 2 – Elfie got in to candy stash and then decided to hang out with our Buddha ! 

This is one of those where I put ‘my heart out there’ post. If you have read the blog for some time or even dug into the archives, you will find, that I have been battling my weight for a long time. Having issues like PCOS, asthma & Hypothyroidism doesn’t help the cause. Over the years, I have tried various diets, fallen off the wagon and started again. I have lost weight and I regained some.

I have assessed and reassessed my diet. I have gritted my teeth and smiled, when random strangers, friends, family members have given me diet advice. When I was younger, I would explain to them, till I went blue in the face, that I didn’t drink coke/eat lollies/chips or junk food. Now I am at a stage, where I don’t even bother reacting, when someone tells me to cut out xyz from my diet.

After being on a diet for most of my adult life, I know enough about what’s good for me and what’s not. I know enough about calorie counting, reading labels and portion control to write a novel about  it. After being on a diet for most of my adult life, I also know that the diets that help others lose weight so drastically and quickly that it seems like a miracle, may only help me lose a fraction of that weight in the same amount of time. I have slowly learned to accept that.Not happily, but I have finally made my peace with that.

But, in the last few weeks, I am becoming more and more aware of how much my relationship with food has deteriorated. Whether we are eating out or at home, I always pick healthy and that’s not the problem. The problem is – If I even taste something remotely unhealthy ( like a piece of toast or  little rice), my guilt kicks in.Some might say, that’s a good thing. To me, it’s not.Feeling like a criminal for tasting something not 100% healthy, is wrong. Now, if I was feeling like that for eating junk food, it would be acceptable, in my eyes at least. But for me to feel like that for eating something like a small portion of yogurt-rice or drinking a small cup of freshly squeezed lemonade – that’s just plain wrong.

And then there is the question of setting things right for 2 little girls that watch my every move and look up to me. I cannot expect them to try the foods SP and I grew up eating, when I shake my head for the same foods. They observe more than they let on. A few weeks back, we had gone out for breakfast. And instead of ordering my usual scrambled eggs and toast – that I share with MsAn ( she eats the toast and half of the eggs), I ordered a serve of french toast. The look on their faces was that of confusion. MsA, not one to hold back her thoughts said, ” Mumma, I have never seen you eat French toast or anything sweet for brunch.” Again, it’s not a big deal – it’s just one kind of food , but it is something that I grew up eating, definitely not something that I ate everyday, but as an occasional treat. MsAn has stopped eating rice, because “you don’t eat rice, mumma.”  And there are many more..

I have been extremely exhausted last couple of weeks. I was still going to work, running around with the girls, playing basketball on the days we didn’t have training, feeling dizzy on and off and  crashing in bed almost at the same time as the girls.When I analyzed my diet, for the last couple of weeks, I found two things – 95% of my choices are healthy and wholesome but I wasn’t eating enough.

This weekend, I set myself a challenge, that I will eat what my heart desires and not feel guilty. So, yesterday, I ate half of a wholemeal egg&bacon wrap (MsAn ate the other half), a kid sized portion of maggi, yogurt rice and mixed vegetable stir-fry  for dinner. Today, I ate a roti with my chai, half of a Vietnamese style chicken roll, 3 slices of pizza. Didn’t  really succeed with the not feeling guilty bit – specially after eating the pizza. But, its not the end of the world.

I don’t know where this post is going, except that, my relationship with food is making me uncomfortable. And I need to do something about it. That’s probably why coming across this quote yesterday was so timely …

I suppose, I just need –

• to find and accept my version of healthy.
• To accept that the numbers on the scales and the dress sizes are just numbers. What matters in how I feel.
• I need to lead the girls by an example. I cannot expect them to feel confident in their skin, if I DO NOT show it to them.

On that note, I will stop typing and hit publish.

More later,

Love,
Trish

 

MsAn and her teddy have made themselves at home in our bed.

She ‘really needed‘ this eye mask when we spotted it at the shops the other day. “because it helps me sleep better , mumma” And, since I am a sucker for that cute face and reasoning, I bought it for her.SP rolled his eyes, but really, he is outnumbered in this house..Poor guy, he keeps trying to question why we have to buy random cheap things like these. 

Oh well , he might get it someday…Might!! One can only hope 🙂

… when your sister goes on a holiday and finds things that make you happy! 

We had a long weekend in September. It was the girls’ school holidays too. SP and I planned  short weekend getaway, about 2.5 hours away from home at Rye .  Only we didn’t tell the girls.

SP picked me up from work – we finished packing quickly and then picked up the girls from Holiday care and told them that we are going for a long drive and dinner at a far-away restaurant, to bring in  the long weekend.

As we kept driving, the girls got tired and suggested, that may be we should find a hotel and stay there for the night and then come back the next day. ” No! May be we can go away tomorrow.” SP offered. They were quite happy with that. Finally we reached our destination. We did stop at a gas station and got snacks for the girls, because they were getting hungry. SP pulled into what looked like a shoddy car park. I had to stop myself from having a mini-meltdown because I was actually expecting a fancy resort. The name had the word ‘ resort’ in it! Anyway, I stayed in the car, while SP went to get the keys. He was a little disappointed himself and my shocked face, couldn’t have helped. I told the girls are recorded their reaction. They were excited, there was lot of squealing, screaming. MsAn was even worried about our house and thought for a moment that we were moving there.

Anyway, we went upstairs to our room and it was the cutest, most basic but very well kept unit ever. The girls room had two single beds and they were on the top of the world! Even today, MsAn asked us if we could go back to our little hotel,again. She also said the best thing about the holiday was the cutest little puppy that took a liking to us.As for us, it was a well deserved break. Both SP and I were overworked.His traveling was making me cranky and tired. So, this break was just what we needed.

All the things that made me happy can be summed up in the collage attached – Time to crochet, endless sea-gazing,rock pools and little bookstores. It was a bonus that I found some nice books on sale .

 

It’s been one of those days where I needed  some cheering up.So, I scrolled through the photos on my phone to find something that would cheer me up  and I found this photo.

There are so many things that I love about this photo. We had gone to the shops to get milk and bread and decided to stop at our favorite cafe for coffee . MsAn was hungry so I ordered some breakfast for her as well . 

She loves placing orders at a  restaurant or cafe now. She also loves the color blue, so she requested her babycino in a blue cup. I  love it that the staff at this particular cafe indulge her – until a few days back, she loved the color orange. As soon as we go up to order, they confirm the color and always bring her drink out in a cup of her choice. 

On this particular day, they served our food with a little flower garnish! Totally made MsAn’s day. Although she did say very very politely, “Thank you for my flower, but I can’t eat it!” 

And lastly, this photo was clicked with my Samsung S7 Edge.How awesome is the camera on this phone…Love,love,love it! 

Its been two years to the day we got the keys to our home – a much awaited and anticipated moment.

2 years on, the dust has settled. All the houses on our street are now complete. We still have heaps to do in the house but we are not in a rush. It’s a huge coincidence that today we had to call a plumber in to fix a leak – something that can now be sorted without getting a real estate agent involved. Also, something that we need to sort out and pay for ourselves.

2 years on, the house is all ours. It no longer has the new house smell and shiny walls. MsAn’s room door is ‘decorated’ and I  use the word loosely , with stickers and MsA’s room has handwritten signs everywhere. Let’s just say the house  looks lived in.

It doesn’t look like a display home but its a happy home. At the end of a long tiring day, all 4 of us can’t wait to get back home and I suppose that  is the most important thing .

I love it that the girls still like to call it ‘the new house’ and love it that their excitement is still as it was on the first day. I leave you with pics  of my excited monkeys  on the first day …the first day that the house was officially OURS!

More later ,

Love~Trish

Adrak wali chai( ginger tea)  served in Kulhad was the highlight of my otherwise , lazy, mundane Sunday .

After the busy week we had had, and the tiredness that was brought on by hayfever , we had decided to do absolutely nothing on Sunday .  

A late brunch of Moong, buttered toast, bacon and chai, followed by vegetating on the couch/ floor, getting up to clean the bathroom , do the laundry , back to the couch and watching mindless television – sums up my Sunday . 

How was your weekend ? Do share..

I leave you with a pic of my brunch ..so in love with my ceramic Kulhads! 

Three posts in a day is a bit of overkill but I had to catch up 🙂
More next week . .

Love ~Trish