Over the past couple of weeks

Its been a long while now. Not that my life is not sweet anymore. It is just busy! My job keeps me busy during the day and once home cooking and other things keep me even busier. Phew, I just wait to get the chores done and lie down on the bed. Crafting also is slow. Gardening involves only watering the plants now. I have not been planting anything new. Reason - we will be going out of town for a week. I have made a temporary arrangement to get my plants watered for a few days. So didn't want to plant anything new during this phase.

And when I say out of town, it obviously means going down to Kerala. Its been some time now that we visited our families. So we are just eagerly waiting for it to be the weekend and hoping that the next week goes sloooowly. Though we know that what awaits us there is the hot humid climate, lots of travels, and tiredness. But still we love all those when in Kerala :-)

Here, over the past few weeks we had been doing some shopping. Yarn shopping topped the list. I did purchase two bagfulls of yarn while I went to Commercial and Raja Market. Next on our list was baby girl dresses for my husband's brother's kid. We often get exhausted shopping for her because all baby dresses are cute and we have a tough time deciding the best ones. On one of my ventures to the Commercial street I found some cute aprons which I readily picked up. They looked like the Cath Kidson aprons and there were a lot with floral prints and pleasant colors. Some baking supplies also came along - cute measuring spoons and silicon cup cake moulds and oven spreads. Those would have to wait until I am back to be used though. Then I did a little bit of fabric shopping as well. Well, I have improved a bit on my sewing front. I have been successful in stitches a couple of kurtis for myself and now hubby agrees for fabric shopping also without a change in expression ;-) I don't remember what else we shopped for. I just know that my travel bag is almost full now. Need to dump in our clothes more, and we are good to go.

The next few days will be even more hectic for me. Finishing off all the perishables in the kitchen, shifting the pots to a shady location, cleaning the house, making a list of essential things to do before going, paying off the bills for the month, doing the last bit of shopping, laundering, folding, ... phew!

A day at Home

Yesterday was a slow day for me. I did not go to work and got to spend the whole day at home relaxing. Hubby had been to work and there was food so that I didn't have to cook (and waste time ;-)). My time was spent in the following order till evening - reading, crochet, reading, crochet, sleeping, crochet, and reading. Whoa! I just loved it.

In the evening, an idea suddenly struck me - Swiss Roll. I love this thing and had been wanting to make it from a long time. And the day arrived yesterday. I was happy that all the required ingredients were there in the kitchen. I browsed through a couple of recipes and started on the process quickly. Within half an hour, the Swiss Roll was ready. The only improvement required, as I felt, was that I had to beat the eggs a little more to have made the cake softer. But that's fine; Next time! And I was really thrilled with the result. I didn't have the patience to even photograph it. Bro, hubby, and me finished it within no time!

Reading and Reading

This weekend, we spent it completely at home. The climate is changing and the days are usually very cold these days. So the whole of Saturday and Sunday we spent at home - under the blankets or in the sunlight available. Cooking took a very back seat. I made easy stuffs as I didn't want to stand in the cold kitchen. Even worse was while doing the dishes. The water was also cold. And on Sunday I did all the laundry and sweeping the rooms. The rest of the time I spent in reading.

Now that my Twilight collection has arrived, it is very difficult to close the book and do some other chore with a clear mind. Within a day and a half I completed reading the second book of the series - New Moon. And yesterday evening I started with the third - Eclipse. I like the descriptive nature of the books.

Additionally I did a little bit of crochet also. Though I am not progressing much, I would like to finish the Big Pink Blanket before the end of this year. Hopefully I'll be able complete it soon.

Planning

Day seems to be a bit dull today - its cold and gloomy. I have been in bed for very long, thinking whether to get up or not. Finally I did. Husband is not in town, so I am thinking of planning my to-do things today. And unlike always, today's list does not include any cooking, cleaning, or washing. I am planning things that I want to do.

I want to make some progress on the reading I have been doing, continue working on my crochet (Big Pink Blanket), take out some time alone for myself, and finally catch up on a little bit of sleep I lost, if possible. So these are what I have planned.

Though these are planned, born as a girl I am, I have to do or help around with the household work, especially cooking. And cooking is what I hate the most at times. But, can't help. So let me see how the day goes.

Next 2 days...

This week is a pretty good one. We are having tomorrow and day after as company holidays owing to Ganesha Chaturthi and Ramzan. And then one working day on Friday and then the weekend is here. I actually feel that all weeks should be like this :-D

So what do I plan to do during the next two days? Well, I may have to crochet a lot. If that doesn't happen, and if everyone at home is in good health we may plan an outing, not too far. Somewhere close-by only. It is actually long since we all went out together for an outing. Reason - all were falling sick over the past few weeks. And now that all at home are recovering, I am feeling feverish since yesterday night. But still it doesn't look as scary as it was last time when I fell sick.

Mittu is the laziest one at home now - he wakes up, has his pre-breakfast snacks, sits by the window side for time and then sleeps off. Wakes up in time for breakfast, has food till his tummy is full, and then goes into his cosy cage by himself and sleeps till noon. On waking up, comes out, stays here and there for some time, again has his lunch and takes his afternoon naps. In the evening he has two cashew nuts, a little bit of tea and if possible little bit of a biscuit also. Then will be awake and busy loittering around till late in the evening. Again sleeps off till dinner is ready. After dinner he makes a dash to his cage and is busy sleeping again! What a life! But when I am around, I make it a point to disturb him every 15 minutes so that he doesn't sleep properly. And if it is not raining in the evenings after I reach home, and if he isn't that sleepy, I take him onto the terrace. There he sits and watches the birds flying home and sometimes tries to make noises along with them.

Well, I don't know how Mittu's topic came in. But however, that is the story of the laziest parrot these days.

I have been...

...hooking

Watching my plants grow

Loving the cloudy sky

Enjoying the rain

Loving the sunsets

and baking

February 2011

Back after a long time again! Well it is almost the end of February and I have not blogged about anything this month. That does make me sad, but in my defense, I was way toooo busy (as always ;-))

Well, my work was a bit too hectic, household chores took a bit more priority, crochet, weekend travels, being with family and friends, and watching movies took all my time in the world. Now I am a bit free and found in a slot to type out something here.

Crochet is progressing well. I have completed a few small itty-bitty crochety stuff. Will be putting up the pictures soon on my Crafty Days blog. Do check it out.

Gardening also is going on pretty good. Most of my roses were in bloom over the past few weeks. I had shades of yellow, whites, oranges, reds, and pinks in the pots. Lovely! Some veggies also are coming up. I already harvested some tomatoes. But small black ants are causing great trouble. I need to find a solution to shoo them away.

Then we watched quite a lot of movies. Went out with friends and family all over the weekends, that I hardly had any time to relax. Meanwhile I am also reading a book and would write out the review soon at my My Space blog.

An year!

On Monday (Jan 31st), we celebrated our first year of a wedded life. It was amazing to turn back and look at all those events of the past and how soon an year flewwww by. It was a great year. Hubby was the best thing that happened in my life :-)

We had our celebrations on Sunday (the day before). With family and friends we went out for dinner and spent some good time with them. And right at the stroke of 12, wished each other :-)

Monday, both of us took a day off from work and spent time to being all by ourselves. Started the day by being lazy and waking up a bit late. We went out, had a small brunch and headed off to the Commercial Street. And guess what - he bought me a biiiggg bag full of YARN. I was way too happy and excited. We roamed around for a while more, came home, took rest for a short while, and headed off to a movie.

In the evening, went to the temple and spent some time happily in the calm premises. The day went forward by being with our cousins, a late, but wonderful dinner, and then ended the day blissfully and wonderfully :-)

A Quick Peep

Hello all, I came in to say a quick Hi to you all. I have certainly been away from Blogland for a while, but did think of my blogs very often. I really find very less time for self these days. My days start very early as I take the company transportation. Evenings are spent with my plants and flowers. Then starts cooking, proceeds to dinner, and finally to cleaning. The days almost comes to a close, I watch television with hubby for some time, and finally go off to bed. There ends a lovely day. I often wish I could blog when I watch television. But I am often too lazy or tired to switch on the system and start typing. Apart from the fact that time is flying off, everything else is good and fine at my end.

Weekends often fly off with double the speed. We are either at home, doing household work or we go out. This weekend is another one I am waiting eagerly to arrive. Reason: We have family coming over. Yes, my in-laws are visiting this weekend and I am looking forward to the hustle and bustle in the house. I really love it when we have family at home.

Apart from these things, I am really glad that I have few plants with flowers on them. My roses have bloomed and there are yet a lot of rose buds waiting to bloom. They are in different colours and I just love them. Last week I plucked my first tomatoes. They were big, round, and red. Now four more tomatoes are coming up again. Really thrilled! Last week when we went shopping, I bought seeds of a flowering plant. Name - I forgot. The pic of the flowers on the cover took me by awe and I ended up buying the seeds. I planted the seeds and spotted the lovely sprouts yesterday. Eagerly waiting for them to start flowering.

Crafting is taking a very slow pace or rather no progress at all. I am too lazy to move my fingers after a busy day's work. But I hope to start all over again. Now I have even stopped browsing through my favourite craft blogs. Reason - I will feel guilty and uncomfortable when I see the lovely pics on their blogs. Plan to resume my crochet soon.

Apart from all these things, we had some lovely moments in our life over the past few weeks. We celebrated our first Diwali after marriage. Bursted crackers. Not many, but yes, did join the crowd. I stuck to the sparklers and flower pots while the boys bursted the risky one. I enjoyed the show. We enjoyed the rains, the breeze, walks at nights, the late night movie shows, and all small pleasures of life. Loving my life!

New Beginning!

A lot of new things are happening in our lives now. We have shifted into a lovely house. It has lots of space, balcony, and a terrace with lots of plants. Mmmm.. do you remember how I had to leave my plants back at the old house? I was really sad then. So here I have some potted lovelies.

Here I can sit in the kitchen and blog (I mean it is not too a congested kitchen), can crochet sitting at the balcony or terrace, and do a lot more. It is a well ventilated and brightly lit house. Has two bedrooms upstairs (does that mean that climbing up and down will help me bring down my weight. I guess not ;-)) Well, I'll update you more on the house later.

I'll be joining my new company next Monday. This Thursday (19th August) was my last working day at Sasken. And something good happened. Re-instated some old lost friendships and left. Really felt good after doing that though I didn't take the initiative ;-) So have a week's gap to start afresh. We'll be traveling today to Kerala today evening to celebrate Onam.

And even hubby has got a new job. He'll joining the new company by mid September. So everything looks like starting new and good.

Looking forward to all good things to come our way and yours too! :-)

Do you love your weekends?

Weekends are my favourite days of the week now. Earlier I never liked weekends. Weekends meant - cleaning, washing, cooking, and lots of idle time loafing around. But now its no more like that. Now weekend means - Cleaning, washing, cooking, lots of crochet, watching movies, evening hangouts, and ice creams! I just love my weekends.

This weekend was a rather long one. Monday was a work-from-day and as I had no pending work, it was more of a crochet-sleep day. We watched 4 or 5 movies over the weekend. You can read the latest updates here. Our days started at around 9 to 10 am and ended at around 2 to 3 am. We did go out twice or thrice, for shopping, simply, lunch, and to cafes. On Sunday one of my schoolmate visited us and my thoughts lingered on my school days for a long time in the evening. We also took a small walk around our nearby park on Sunday night. It was lovely! Cool breeze and almost none was to be seen anywhere. I loved the walk a lot and especially because I could use my scarf.

And after this long, lovely weekend, who would like to come to office? I had to. So looking forward to my next lovely weekend again!

Update

I am still very much alive. It is the other things going around which prevented me from updating my bloggy little world.

I had two good weekends at a stretch, not too hectic (or rather smooth) working days in between, lots of happy hooking hours with my Big Pink Blanket and Big Granny Square, some private time with my green lovelies, some good cooking, and lots and lots of good times. Well, I am not a sporty person, so football is a no-no for me. I may or may not watch. If I do watch, I cannot watch it for more than 10 minutes at a stretch. But hubby is a big fan. And that's how I get all those long hours to crochet now. He keeps watching the matches till late night. Before the match starts, he spreads out the mattress on the floor of our living room. This way I can lay on the bed and see the television and fall asleep. Oh yes, it also gives me the opportunity to fall asleep crocheting. It is such a pleasure :-)

It's 12 am-ish over here. So I am off to my bed to start work on my lovely Big Pink Blanket. And when hands get tired, I read Collected Stories by Anita Desai.

See you all and have a lovely sleepy night.

Happy Me!

Its been raining most of the evenings here out in Bangalore. Some days it got really cloudy and dark and became really cool. The moisture laden winds were what I loved the most. It was wonderful to ride my two wheeler when it was about to rain! Bliss! Along with the rains I have been enjoying a lot recently. Wondering what all made me happy?

I love being in the company of my husband, parents, and Mittu. It really feels great when I reach home everyday. It would be a bit depressing when my parents go back to Kerala. But still I am happy that my husband is along. Wondering how quickly we got together! :-)

I have sowed a couple of seeds. All of them have started sprouting. Every morning the first thing I do now is water the sprouts. It gives me immense pleasure to see the green foilage. But one shallot's leaves have started yellowish. I guess that one container has water in excess. Should check it out.

I have started crocheting my to-be blanket again. Its been a long time since I worked on it. And I have rolled out all my yarn heaps which were kept pushed towards a corner. More happiness, as I have a storage place for my crafty items now.

I have come across a lot of new craft and gardening blogs recently. The photos and posts inspire and make me happy everyday.

And last but not the least, the wind has started blowing again. It may rain in a few minutes! :-) Hope you all have a lovely evening.

Just Like That

Last week we had our family visiting. My bro-in law n sis visited us. They were with us for around 5 days and I tell you it was great fun. There was lot of noise and activities going on in the house. Even my cousin sis also kept coming on and off. But now that they all have left we are left to being the two loners again!

Now I devote a lot of time to my crafts (pspss, that's why my kitchen and room are always a mess and never tidy). My place for crafts is right in front of the television and no wonder the room looks like an attic always. We sit until midnight, watching movies, and me multi-tasking. Cooking is always done in a hurry so that I can return to my sewing and crocheting soon. Somedays I am in so much mood that I keep apart all my craft and turn to cooking, cleaning, and washing. Now that reminds me that my laundry basket is full! :-(

Work at office was a bit hectic till last week. But now it has come back to normal and I feel a lot more relaxed. So altogether, I am enjoying life now and looking forward to our next trip to Kerala. Missing all of them so much. Especially my Mittu! :-)

Where have I been?

Well, I have been around here only. But was a bit lazy and busy as well. You must be wondering what was there to keep me busy. No, its not the household work this time. This time it was my new addiction - Watching Movies! Seriously I have become a movie addict and a fan of Denzel Washington! :-)

So saying more about the movies I watched, I ll just give you a small list of the names I remember now - The Inside Man, Bone Collector, Taking of Pelham 123, Cast Away, Untraceable, Rescue Dawn, Behind Enemy Lines, Sahara, The Kingdom, Green Mile, and the list goes on. :-) I have got so addicted to movies that I watch sometimes even 2 to 3 at a stretch and get restless when I don't any for a day or two. Heights of addiction I guess!!!

And my crochet also is progressing. It keeps me occupied before I go to bed. I sit and crochet until my fingers ache and I am damn sleepy. It gives my ultimate pleasure to watch the stitches progressing and the yarn taking its shape into what I want. Sometimes I regret for not having started crochet long before itself.

Christmas is around the corner! Just two days away. Hippie... How I used to wait for my Christmas holidays when I was in school and college! Even this time I am going home for a few days :-) And yes, when I say about Christmas, there is always the memory of Secret Santa associated with it. Right from school days, we used to play the Secret Santa. And this time too we played it last week. I was happy gifting a few small gifts wrapped in a gift paper to my friend. Even I got a small gift - a small chess set :-) Looks cute but sad part is that I don't play chess. May be I can start playing :-)

So now off to do my project work :-(

Days are short!

No this is not any geography class but in fact days seem shorter to me than nights now. There is very little time I get to spend on small activities of my own. Mornings are a hurry. I often reach office late and I know there are many eyebrows raising on this. But I am somehow not able to help it. Something or the other delays me each day. It can be the household work, rains, traffic, and sometimes even my laziness. I know I must learn to be more punctual. Everyday I say this to myself. Perhaps from tomorrow I might be a bit more early to office :-)

Evenings are even more tiring and fast. Reach, relax a bit, cook (sometimes I just don't ;-)), wash, clean, and its already too late. My eyelids become heavy and body numb. But somehow I manage to sit for another 20 or 30 minutes and do my crochet work. Sometimes I feel sad that I am not able to spend more time on this newly developed hobby. And the moment I fall on the bed I am fast asleep :-D

Weekends are even more quick. I just don't realize how can two days go together that fast! Again today will end soon and my hectic week schedule will start.

Happy Sunday guys!

Saturday Morning!!!

Back to Bangalore after a good long vacation is my worst nightmare. The silence and lonliness just knocks me down. Then comes those dirty clothes, messy kitchen, dusty frames and items, and all irritating items. It takes me another long week to settle into this boring life again.

But this time when I came back, I had some relief. My cousin sis is wid us now. So she has taken care of a lot of things. Phew! :-) But still this Saturday morning I have loads of work to do and am still stiting lazily here sipping a coffee my brother made ;-)

Planning to wash the clothes, do a bit of crocheting, and then start studying for my approaching exams. I want a pass mark atleast this third time! And about my crochet - its progressing steadily. I made a couple of things like small table mats, mobile pouch, and a glove for my left hand. Currently I have two big projects. One big table mat - red and black mix Granny Squares, and a shawl - baby pink with maroon stripe in between.

So starting my day now! :-) Good day to you all :-)

Over the Week

Another weekend already! Just wondering how this week just flew off. And taking a list of all what I did:

A lil bit of crocheting. Started my new craft blog as well. Interested people can see it here - Crafty Days. I am very pleased with my work (not blowing my own trumpet ;-) )

A bit of cooking. I baked a cake (not my own recipe) with the Pilsbury cake ready mix. It came out well. This time I had bought the Vanilla cake mix. But I prefer the Rich Chocolate cake mix. Its actually tempting. Plan to buy one more :-D

Washing is something which never ends. This week I had two sets to wash. My brother's and mine. Hmm... Done wid that also. Cleaning didn't interest me much. So it is left for this weekend.

So happy weekend!

Lazy Moments

Sometimes I feel so lazy that even moving a finger seems a tiring job. Last week was like that for me. But I would wake up early. Sit and crochet (the only thing I was not lazy about doing) till I realize that I would be late for office. Then waste a lot of time thinking what to cook. And finally end up cooking up something very easy, but which my brother doesn't like. I do this very confidently because I leave home before he wakes up :-) When that part is over, I get lazy about coming to office. Problem is that our office has shifted to Embassy Golf Links Business Park, a place a bit far from mine. Now I have to travel around 14 kms (one way) and is tiring compared to the 4 kms which I had to travel earlier. Riding my rusty, old two-wheeler all through those bumps and gutters make me feel tired even before starting. And when I reach, no parking space :-@ Feel irritated at times. Before shifting itself everything was counted and listed, like how many vehicles and stuff. But now I have to push in my vehicle somewhere. Thanks to the friendly security guy over there. He helps me with this process everyday. After all those troubles I reach my cubicle, log into my system, check my mails, and realize that my Project Manager at Canada has not responded to my query again. Don't know how many days is it since I sent out that query and two reminder mails also followed. How can people act like this!

Then 8 hours spent browsing and helping other project members I finish my day very lazily. And again that boring journey back. The moment I reach home I start with the crochet. Really don't know when my brother is going to break that hook! Kitchen beckons me but I act as if I am so deeply engaged in my crochet. Finally when I hear the sound of my brother's vehicle, I throw the hooks and yarn apart and run into the kitchen and prepare something very quickly. Then dinner, washing the dishes, and crochet again!

But from last Sunday I am regaining my lost energy. I have started cooking, washing, cleaning, crocheting, reading, travelling, shopping, and everything else which was there on my list earlier. Hope I don't become lazy again.

Back after a Long time

I know its a long time since I did some posting. There were so many things which kept me pre-occuppied - work, house-keeping, cooking, and a newly developed passion - Crocheting. I had learned the basic stitches very long back, may be more than ten years now. But never took it forward. Recently I came across a few wonderful crochet blogs, the most wonderful among them is Lucy's attic, http://attic24.typepad.com/. A highly inspirational one! So nowadays I am addicted to my crochet hooks and threads. I did work out few okay patterns as well.

Last week I bought a bag full of yarn from Commercial Street. How I love the pile! Will be working more on it. :-)