So April says goodbye today, and I'm glad to report that I've not done badly (as I feared mid April). Although I have fallen behind on the "Things to buy" category, I have done well on my "To do" list. I will cut myself some slack for the "Things to buy" category because we are planning to go to India in second week of May, so we have spent the budget allocated for bed and GPS on gifts for our loved ones. Although trip to India is going to be a big, big expense...I am not too worried about it because I'll be seeing my family after such a loooong time.
So over to my list -
1) documents for lawyers - it turned out to be trickier than I had guessed but finally on April 28 I could submit them the dcoument in the format they had wanted. They still need a few improvements and I'm working on it, but this is like 80% achieved. Given the complexity of task it was a big achievement.
2) Organise the bookshelf - Check
3) Henna - Done and then some - I could henna my hair twice this month, and now my hair feels..ummm...so good.
4)Plow the soil and grow some plants - couldn't do much there, a couple of times when I tried, the soil was too hard for that. Now I don't want to do it, because we'll be gone in May anyway, the plants would have died, even I had grown them.
5) Change the address on my insurance policy - negative, couldn't do it earlier and now realize that there's no need to do it anymore, I'll be closing this account once I get back to India.
Okay, so now it looks like I did slip a bit on my "To do" list as well. The biggest factor was this unplanned trip to India, I knew we were going to go soon, I just didn't know that we'll be going as early as May. And ohh..it reminded me of another change that has occurred in our plans...we are planning to buy a house in India, as opposed to our earlier plan to buy one in US. That is our biggest goal for May, lets see how it goes.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Imprisoned!
Yes, I have been caught up, in a novel. I went to my offices' book club to return an earlier read book, and this book tagged along on my way back. I thought what the heck, I don't like stories by every novelist...so I just opened it to sample it, with the good intention of returning it back to the rack very next day. And then it happened, the book caught me, ok, my attention...but you get the drift.
So, for last 3 days I have been coming home from office, changing, and reading...reading till late in night. BEB was irritated beyond words, and he showed immense patience. Finally, yesterday, I was able to finish it and then it left me for good. Needless to say, the cleaning and laundry has taken a major hit. And cooking was done just enough to not feel hungry while savoring the story, that is, until BEB thought enough is enough, and took the responsibility of fixing dinner yesterday. And to tell you the truth, the dinner yesterday was yummy! :D
Does it happen to you? Do you get so engaged in a book or some other activity that you just push other tasks away, let things slip?
Jokes apart, there was still one good thing that came out of all this, I realized that we don't need to do quite that much work to run home after all. If I take it light, and don't pay too much attention to things lying around or home being a little bit unorganized, its ok too. As long as me and BEB are happy we don't have much to complain.
So, for last 3 days I have been coming home from office, changing, and reading...reading till late in night. BEB was irritated beyond words, and he showed immense patience. Finally, yesterday, I was able to finish it and then it left me for good. Needless to say, the cleaning and laundry has taken a major hit. And cooking was done just enough to not feel hungry while savoring the story, that is, until BEB thought enough is enough, and took the responsibility of fixing dinner yesterday. And to tell you the truth, the dinner yesterday was yummy! :D
Does it happen to you? Do you get so engaged in a book or some other activity that you just push other tasks away, let things slip?
Jokes apart, there was still one good thing that came out of all this, I realized that we don't need to do quite that much work to run home after all. If I take it light, and don't pay too much attention to things lying around or home being a little bit unorganized, its ok too. As long as me and BEB are happy we don't have much to complain.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Positive changes I had made this year!
Today is earth day so I thought I would just list the positive changes I made in my lifestyle this year, which would hopefully help mother earth.
-Started taking a grocery bag to stores, instead of coming back with plastic bags.
Nowadays, I even carry the clear plastic bags from my earlier trips to keep produce, so that I can reuse them.
-Stopped throwing food waste in my office bin, which prompted the janitor to change the plastic liner often. I guess she's also happy that she's one less waste-basket to line. My office waste-basket liner hasn't been changed in, like, 2 months.
-Started line drying some of the clothes, so we don't have to use dryer that often. Since we have a pay per wash machine, its easy on my pocket-book too. Of course this has been possible since we moved to an apartment with a yard.
-Changed most of our lighting to CFL, this has been a very recent change and I am just wondering why it took me so long :-/
Those are the things that I can think of right now. If you have some tips that you think we can implement do let me know in the comments.
-Started taking a grocery bag to stores, instead of coming back with plastic bags.
Nowadays, I even carry the clear plastic bags from my earlier trips to keep produce, so that I can reuse them.
-Stopped throwing food waste in my office bin, which prompted the janitor to change the plastic liner often. I guess she's also happy that she's one less waste-basket to line. My office waste-basket liner hasn't been changed in, like, 2 months.
-Started line drying some of the clothes, so we don't have to use dryer that often. Since we have a pay per wash machine, its easy on my pocket-book too. Of course this has been possible since we moved to an apartment with a yard.
-Changed most of our lighting to CFL, this has been a very recent change and I am just wondering why it took me so long :-/
Those are the things that I can think of right now. If you have some tips that you think we can implement do let me know in the comments.
Slipping...
My former manager once commented:
"Such is life, you keep juggling multiple things and then sometime they fall off, you sit down for a moment pick them up and start juggling again."
I am feeling that I'm at such a point again where the things have fallen off my hand. I'm trying to remember this conversation, in order to focus that not everything is lost by this minor diversion and that we would be bouncing back soon.
Last week I had this pain in my shoulder which bothered me enough to work from home for 2 days. I am trying to be careful not to let it get worse again, so I'm keeping my household business to a minimum, which means a no breakfast preparation, no exercise and not much other extra activity.
I feel bad about this, exercising was a routine that me and Blue Eyed Boy picked up during last christmas holidays, and I have kept at it with all the enthusiasm I could muster. Top this up with a hearty homemade breakfast, and we had the healthiest routine ever.
But now I am just afraid that if I work for long hours or stretched myself too much, this pain may get worse and I don't want to get there. Plus there is a lot of work to finish before first week of May, that I cannot afford to take leave from office. I'm just hoping that I would be able to insert a wee bit of exercise from next week onwards, but this week we are just getting to the office as early as we can and get out in the evening early so that I can get proper rest in the evenings.
Let's hope that I can bounce back to the healthy routine next week.
"Such is life, you keep juggling multiple things and then sometime they fall off, you sit down for a moment pick them up and start juggling again."
I am feeling that I'm at such a point again where the things have fallen off my hand. I'm trying to remember this conversation, in order to focus that not everything is lost by this minor diversion and that we would be bouncing back soon.
Last week I had this pain in my shoulder which bothered me enough to work from home for 2 days. I am trying to be careful not to let it get worse again, so I'm keeping my household business to a minimum, which means a no breakfast preparation, no exercise and not much other extra activity.
I feel bad about this, exercising was a routine that me and Blue Eyed Boy picked up during last christmas holidays, and I have kept at it with all the enthusiasm I could muster. Top this up with a hearty homemade breakfast, and we had the healthiest routine ever.
But now I am just afraid that if I work for long hours or stretched myself too much, this pain may get worse and I don't want to get there. Plus there is a lot of work to finish before first week of May, that I cannot afford to take leave from office. I'm just hoping that I would be able to insert a wee bit of exercise from next week onwards, but this week we are just getting to the office as early as we can and get out in the evening early so that I can get proper rest in the evenings.
Let's hope that I can bounce back to the healthy routine next week.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
April : Half month pulse check
April is proving to be a crazy month, with the money disappearing like snow from Lake Tahoe. I am feeling like we had spent the rest of the year being too frugal, so all of our big ticket expenses have bunched together and they look ominous now. These not the things that we 'need' as in we will freeze to death or starve without them, but the things that both I and BEB think would be nice to have, and we have been thinking this for a while now. The result...
A trip to Ikea, and a decent set of patio furniture lands in our yard, setting us back by about 150 $. This wasnt necessary, but its spring in California and we have recently moved to a house with a yard. Delaying this purchase for a month and letting the beautiful spring go wouldn't have made much sense, so we just got the furniture. Now, how we loaded everything in our midsized 4 door car, is an interesting story, for some other time.
The one thing that I made progress on was buying a sewing machine, I had longed for so long. It took us about 75 $ but I felt so excited reading the manual and trying to thread it and make some demo stitches. Since I didn't get a chance to research it I just decided to go with the most basic model.
On my to do list too there's some movement. I tried sending required documents to lawyers but they dont seem to like them ( or is it me). I'm on the verge of giving up and asking them to just go ahead without these documents and pray for me :-/ We'll see how it goes.
About ploughing the small area in the yard, I tried doing that on Sunday, the land was so dry that my spade didn't work. I have decided to water it for a while to make the soil soft and then let my spade loose on the moist soil.
And Henna! Well yeah I soaked Henna last Friday, thinking I would be able to Henna my hair Saturday, it is still in the soaking mug, now I am rooting for tomorrow (Friday), hopefully I'll find
a wedge of time somewhere to do it.
So I am doing miserably on all my goals right now, but April is not over yet. Like the underdog team of a sports movie, just wait and watch out for me. Come May 1st, I'll turn the corner and achieve all my goals and then some. You just wait and watch.
A trip to Ikea, and a decent set of patio furniture lands in our yard, setting us back by about 150 $. This wasnt necessary, but its spring in California and we have recently moved to a house with a yard. Delaying this purchase for a month and letting the beautiful spring go wouldn't have made much sense, so we just got the furniture. Now, how we loaded everything in our midsized 4 door car, is an interesting story, for some other time.
The one thing that I made progress on was buying a sewing machine, I had longed for so long. It took us about 75 $ but I felt so excited reading the manual and trying to thread it and make some demo stitches. Since I didn't get a chance to research it I just decided to go with the most basic model.
On my to do list too there's some movement. I tried sending required documents to lawyers but they dont seem to like them ( or is it me). I'm on the verge of giving up and asking them to just go ahead without these documents and pray for me :-/ We'll see how it goes.
About ploughing the small area in the yard, I tried doing that on Sunday, the land was so dry that my spade didn't work. I have decided to water it for a while to make the soil soft and then let my spade loose on the moist soil.
And Henna! Well yeah I soaked Henna last Friday, thinking I would be able to Henna my hair Saturday, it is still in the soaking mug, now I am rooting for tomorrow (Friday), hopefully I'll find
a wedge of time somewhere to do it.
So I am doing miserably on all my goals right now, but April is not over yet. Like the underdog team of a sports movie, just wait and watch out for me. Come May 1st, I'll turn the corner and achieve all my goals and then some. You just wait and watch.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
April: Goals
Although the title looks ominous, I thought writing down the things I want to achieve this month would give me some perspective and focus. It will also help me put all those things floating in my head undergo a feasibility test. ( Does this line make any sense at all?) So without much ado, here it goes:
Evil first - All things on the buy list:
-GPS
-Bed with Storage drawers (Ok BEB, we have discussed this earlier, The BED is going to HAVE drawers. period.)
-Sewing Machine
To Do list - Some of these I have been putting off like forever
-Send the required papers to lawyers
-Organize the Bookshelf
-Plow the small area in the yard that I have earmarked for gardening, grow some plants
-Henna - my hair is badly in need of some pampering
-Change the address on my Insurance policy - I have been putting this one off for an year - Can't believe it!
-Plan at least 1 trip - May be San Diego
Thats all I can think of right now. See just writing it down made it look so simple.
I'll follow this one up with another post in May first week. Till then I have got some work to do...and..other posts to write about.
PS: Btw, Any suggestions on the sewing machine, I'm sure there are many fantastic artsists here who love to sew. Which is your best pal when it comes to sewing. Please share.
Evil first - All things on the buy list:
-GPS
-Bed with Storage drawers (Ok BEB, we have discussed this earlier, The BED is going to HAVE drawers. period.)
-Sewing Machine
To Do list - Some of these I have been putting off like forever
-Send the required papers to lawyers
-Organize the Bookshelf
-Plow the small area in the yard that I have earmarked for gardening, grow some plants
-Henna - my hair is badly in need of some pampering
-Change the address on my Insurance policy - I have been putting this one off for an year - Can't believe it!
-Plan at least 1 trip - May be San Diego
Thats all I can think of right now. See just writing it down made it look so simple.
I'll follow this one up with another post in May first week. Till then I have got some work to do...and..other posts to write about.
PS: Btw, Any suggestions on the sewing machine, I'm sure there are many fantastic artsists here who love to sew. Which is your best pal when it comes to sewing. Please share.
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