15 Marbles

Moments.Musings.Memories. ❤️Gathering little marbles from ordinary days and keeping them for our memory jar. ❤️

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  • Kids Room Makeover-Day 7

    Over the last 2 years,when I was pregnant and then during Ananya’s first year..the room that we set up as Aadya’s room had turned into a big junkyard toy dump.It looked like a toy store just exploded in there.There were toys every where..I had put some toys in boxes and put them on the top-shelf in the cupboard,but there were always new toys-big toys,small toys,broken toys,happy meal toys,dolls,doll-houses,kitchens,kitchen sets,Cars,robots,soft toys,everything!
    I couldn’t even bear to step inside that room..let alone ask her to sleep in there. Bit by bit,I kept sorting through toys,throwing some every few months,donating the good ones,saving some for Ananya.SD says,”yeah right!As if you are not going to buy toys for her!And I realise thats true..we do end up buying toys for her-the ones that she likes and not her sister’s hand-me-downs. I sorted through the toys yet again-threw out two big bags of broken toys,kept aside two baskets full of toys that I could sell or donate.And then gave the room a thorough clean,changed the position of the bed and moved Ananya’s crib in the room!
    I am not brave enough to share the before picture…but this is how the room looks now:
    This is the view from the door:

    This is the view from the other side of the room:

    This is the bookshelf that holds their books,pretend food,dolls and cars.On the sides of the book shelf are -a shopping trolley that holds little toys that Ananya plays with And a doll crib that Aadya plays with.Like the wall decal?

    Lastly this is the wall by the door.The painting is from Aadya’s kinder artwork and that cube is my favorite toy for the kids.It was one of the first toys that we bought for Aadya when we first moved to Australia and it is now Ananya’s favorite toy.Today,Ananya suddenly disappeared somewhere in the house.When I found her,she was playing quietly with the cube.Love the colors on it!

    I want to move the trolley n the crib etc. in the cupboard,so that there is more space for them.That and add some small touches here and there..Like add a rug for instance and may be desk with storage space or may be a bed frame with storage/desk attached,but may be later..for now this will do.
    I’ll be back tomorrow with more Diwali Savories..till then,if you know of any fancy storage solutions for the kids room,then please share here 🙂

    TEXTAREA_ID

  • Namakpara/Mathri-Diwali Savories-Day 6

    Today has been a very productive day for me. While the rest of Melbourne was celebrating Melbourne Cup Day..I spent most of my day,revamping the kids room.What previously looked like an overcrowded toy shop now looks like a lovely kids bedroom.I still want to add some finishing touches..but for now this will do.
    After a late-lunch,I made the first of my Diwali savories or namkeen. SD helped and I feel so proud of myself for having a productive day.

    Namakpara or Mathri as we call it,is one of the easiest snack ever.It was my cousin,Runa’s favorite munchie and whenever they were visiting,my mom made sure that there was big tin full of Mathri ready to welcome her.
    Anyway,now on to the recipe-

    Ingredients:

    1.5 cup All Purpose flour
    1/4 cup oil
    salt -1/4 tsp (or to taste)
    a dash of black pepper
    1 tsp ajwain seeds.
    warm Water for kneading.
    Oil for frying.

    Add all the ingredients,except oil and water to the flour.Pile up the flour and make a well in the center. Add the oil to this well and mix well. Then knead the dough using water.

    Cover the dough with wet paper towels and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

    Divide the dough into 5-6 balls of equal size.Sprinkle some plain flour on the counter or on a wooden board and roll out the dough in to a circle.Then cut vertical strips and then horizontal strips.You should get small rectangle strips in the end.

    Heat oil in a kadhai/deep bottomed pan. Test the oil by dropping a small piece of the dough.If the dough floats up straight away..the temperature is right. You can start frying your mathris now.

    Add small batches at a time.Fry on a medium flame.If the rectangles are sticking to each other,in the kadhai..don’t worry,keep putting oil on them,with your slotted spoon.They should come apart.Even if they don’t..when you take the fried cluster out..you should be able to separate them and fry again.

    Please do not fry on a high flame.This will just give you crisp on the outside,but soft inside mathris..not fun and they won’t last longer.

    One of the reasons why I chose Mathri as my first snack was that it has a long shelf life..its another thing that they are so yummy and addictive,they don’t last long enough.

    I hope the instructions are clear enough.. Please feel free to contact me,if you get confused.I will try and post a recipe of the baked Mathris too..hopefully before Diwali!

    I hope you enjoy these as much as we do and if you try this recipe,don’t forget to tell me,how you liked it..and if possible send me a picture!

    Xox

    Trish

  • AnanyaTalesDay5

    Ms.Ananya is getting bigger and busier..She amazes me with her understanding of the things around her. She picks up on moods..she tries to be cute when she knows that she is in trouble. She is not one to get scared easily.If we raise our voices around her ..she plain ignores us and goes on with her business. When she sees that she has no escape and needs to face us,she smiles at us, that cute toothy,scrunched up nose smile..If we don’t relent she bats her eye lids or just keeps at the cuteness till we dont give up.
    We were at a friend’s place and she thought it was fun to keep hitting her 18 mo ..hitting ,grabbing her hair…I gave her several warnings and then put her in the high chair..she was distraught..I took her out..and asked her to say sorry..She gently patted her friend’s face-her way of saying sorry and reached for her hair again! I picked her up,put her on the couch and was telling her off-‘blah blah..If you do this again,Mumma will put you back in the high chair..blah blah…’ She looked at me and said,”High Chair?” OMG!I was so excited at the new word..I said yayy and clapped..and she gave me this weird look!!
    And the next day,she wasn’t paying attention..So I started counting,”One,two…” Now normally when I do the count-down with Aadya,she does what is required of her..But,this cheeky,when I said,”One,two..” she said..Theeeeeeee and clapped!!LOL!
    She has a new bedtime routine now. When we tuck in Aadya,Ananya wants to climb up on the bed..sleep next to her,pull the covers up to her neck,like didi..Then,I have to kiss them both g’nite and turn off the lights and leave the room. They huddle up together..Ananya tries to whisper things to her sister..LOL! And then 5 minutes later.. gives her a big kiss..ummmah and leaves…
    She love music,absolutely loves it.I think,she was born to dance-anything remotely musical is enough to make her tap her feet..Oh and she loves singing-tries to copy the tune as much as she can:)
    She can now climb up on the couch herself and get off from the couch and the bed..but its so funny,when we are out,even if the couch is the same height or lower than ours,she needs help!LOL!But I like it how she can just climb up and relax on the couch!
    Her favorite activity is doing “Jai-Jai” with Papa.When SD sits down to pray,she wants to play there.She climbs in and out of his lap,saying Jai-Jai..and he favorite thing in the prayer room is the Red Hanuman Chalisa book.There are tears if she is denied that.
    Taking her to school for pickup is a big pain.She wants to walk alone,no holding hands,no sitting in the pram..just walking straight ahead,not a care in the world..bumping into kids and adults,walking through crowds,while mumma and didi follow,mumma saying sorry to people and didi giggling at her silly sister. And when Mumma tries to hold her hand,she calls out to all the people walking by and says,”Ow!OW!OW!”
    She is soo naughty..she is so adorable..she is so funny..She adds so many smiles and giggles in our life.. Love my little silly billy!

  • Handmade with Love

    It was Aadya’s teacher’s Birthday..sometime in July. She wanted to bring her a present.It was after 7 pm and we were tired from hosting Ananya’s first birthday party that weekend.I needed something quick,something nice..That’s when I thought of the coffee-brown sugar scrub,that a friend had shared with me.
    We had all the ingredients and so quickly made a fresh batch of coffee-brown sugar scrub from here

    Aadya felt so ‘rensponsible’ mixing up the ingredients.(Responsible) is her new favorite word! Now to package it nicely.
    I used an empty Baby food jar-decoupaged the lid with some brown scrap booking paper,cut out a gift tag from the same sheet of paper.Filled the scrub in the jar and finished off with some silver ribbon..
    Ta da.. beautiful gift ready in a jiffy.. 100 % handmade Love!