More about moi!

Tagged by little Aaru ... a few more things about Moi!

Last Movie You Saw In a Theater: Superman Returns (last year, few days before my delivery)
What Book Are You Reading: Cannot remember, do reading books to Kutie count… This is so depressing! Note to myself: Find the time to get back into the grove on reading!
Favorite Board Game: Too many ... Cards, Monopoly, Uno .. I love playing!
Favorite Magazine: Entertainment Weekly
Favorite Smells: Soil after the first rain
Favorite Sound: When Kutie calls Amma when he wakes up from sleep - the sleepy voice is oh sooo sweet & the sound of his tiny feet as he runs around the hardwood floors
Worst Feeling In The World: Getting lost
What Is The First Thing You Think Of When You Wake?: Can I go back to sleep, for another 5 mins?
Favorite Fast Food Place: Any chaat house ... if I can get some bhel, pani puris - see you there!
Future Child's Name: No idea!
Finish This Statement. "If I Had A Lot Of Money I'd...”: Travel the world
Do You Drive Fast?: Depends on who you ask! ;)
Do You Sleep With A Stuffed Animal?: Nope
Storms-Cool Or Scary?: Scary
What Was Your First Car?: Toyota
Favorite Drink: H20
Finish This Statement, "If I Had The Time I Would .....”: Travel, Play, Sleep …
Do You Eat The Stems On Broccoli?: Yes
If You Could Dye Your Hair Any Color, What Would Be Your Choice?: Golden brown
Name All The Different Cities/Towns You Have Lived In: Mumbai, Dallas, Bangalore, Bay area
Favorite Sports To Watch: Cricket
One Nice Thing About The Person Who Sent This To You: A little guy he might be, but oh what fun times doth he bring to his Mama and me!
What's Under Your Bed?: Box filled with clothes
Would You Like To Be Born As Yourself Again?: Yes
Morning Person Or Night Owl?: Night owl
Over Easy Or Sunny Side Up?: Eewwee eggs, never my favourite either way!
Favorite Place To Relax: Home with family and friends
Favorite Pie: Anything goes!
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Vanilla, Tuttie-fruite - actually anything except chocolate!
Of All The People You Tagged This To, Who's Most Likely To Respond First?:
Hmm .. no ideas! I think this tag has been around for a while, I have to figure out who to tag first - Swati? Kodi's mom? Rayshma? Anyone else?

Riddle-me-Ree, Who can she be?

Greetings wonderful MTBs!!!
and good work to all of you!
For having solved the riddle before
I give you all this clue.

The letter " B "

Write it down, add it on...
And let’s move on to the next little song.

This lady, strong, poised and staid
Created a furore when she called a maid - a maid
And the trolls rolled in with all their venom
And showed true qualities of their genome.
Angst over the school syndrome, she did go thru
And her Gift of God, she absolutely adores too.

Solve it and you get your lead
Misguess, and you lose your speed
Solve it slow but solve it now
And before you go, take a little bow

Go to 'Comments' and leave me a clue
Tell me which blog you are off to.
Good luck! Good luck! Be on your way.
You have your work, cut out for the day!

---

Edited to add: To anyone who is still wondering what this is all about, no this is no virus attack, just a treasure hunt for some wonderful MTB's (mothers-to-be). A chain event that covers around 50 fellow bloggers, if you go around correctly, you would landed here through Gauri's blog and mine should lead you to Rohini and round and round you would go till you get to a wonderful treasure trove full of love, kind notes and some gyaan.

Thanks Maggie for the wonderful return rhymes, quoting them all here for posterity!

Here is the one from Gauri's blog about Moi! To whoever came up with this ... way cool!
“This bay area gal is a guru of sales
Also the girl next door, she regales
With tales of her son and being a mommy
She says her son is as cute as can be
Miracle of life is a birth
Thus spoke this mom in mirth.”

Maggie's return rhyme:
You've taken us on a merry ride I nearly had my brain fried!
But with the help of the other MTBs We found that the place to go is K3's!


Here is a small one from yours truly!

What a fun ride it was indeed,
New friends and old did I meet
So too everyone blessed be
Thanks and Thanks, for letting me in!

A walk down Memory lane

Timepass tagged me on this one – seemed easy enough but now I have realized that I probably need to write a lot more to take this detour. Anyway, here goes

"Post 5 links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the 5 key words given : family, friend, yourself, your love, anything you like. Tag 5 other friends to do this meme. Try to tag at least 2 new acquaintances (if not, your current blog buddies will do) so that you get to know them each a little bit better."

Family – A poem for Amma & some best wishes for my dad on his birthday

Friend – Not really about a friend, but some things that brought back a lot of memories from my childhood days

Yourself – This is the one that I think has been the most emotional and painful to document

Your love – Hmm, I haven’t written much about my dashing, handsome, knight … have I?. Though he is mentioned on many of my posts, you would think I should have our love story posted at some point. Ok note to myself, but for now here’s one that I wrote on his birthday and on father’s day

Anything you like - My first official Mother’s day


And now to tag my “virtual buddies”
Edappal In hopes that this gets you out of hibernation!
Swati - who is just settling in after a big trip. Here's something more 'to do'! :)
Hiba’s mom - here's a virtual scrapbook for you!
Preethi – A new visitor - how about I tag you? Sorry, if I am not playing nice! But I would to love to know more about you.

A to Z about me!

Tagged by Swati

A - Available? – hmm … maybe ..
B - Best Friend – L, R and a few other good friends
C - Cake or pie – Neither – I prefer “khaara” to “meetha” unless its chocolates! ;)
D - Drink of choice – H20, lemonade
E - Essential thing used everyday - phone, laptop, my bag, car .. too many things to count... I am the Material Girl, please don't judge me!
F - Favorite Color – Brown, Black, Blue
G - Gummi bears or worms – neither, thanks
H - Hometown – technically Kerala, but Bombay for its closer to my heart (my childhood through teen life)
I - Indulgence - ice cream!
J - January or February – neither
K - Kids and names – one (for now), Kutie
L - Life is incomplete without – my family
M - Marriage Date – Sept 3
N - Number of siblings - none
O - Oranges or apples - Apples
P - Phobias or fears – Earthquake after my last experience
Q - Quote - A few here.
R - Reason to smile – my son
S - Season – Summer to play out, Rain if I could stay home, Spring for the flowers and Winter to cuddle up … so all of them.
T - Tag three people – Anyone who stops by and wants to play … (please let me know if you do it, though)
U - Unknown fact about me – hmm, lets just say its best to leave it unknown.
V - Vegetable you don't like – Karela
W - Worst habit – according to mom, I talk too loud! :(
X - X-rays you have had - Chest
Y - Your favorite food – Anything mom makes, especially tomato dal, jackfruit uperi, YUMMY!
Z - Zodiac - Scorpio

Cricket Fever ... where did it go?

There was a time, just a few years back, I loved watching cricket. Keeping scorecards and tallies were part of the normal routine in life. If nothing else, I would watch our neighborhood boys playing from my balcony(patio).

There would be at least 3 to 4 teams playing on the field. The older boys taking the maximum space of the field, the younger boys on a smaller pitch and the little ones on the colony road – my building was at the end of the street so the traffic was very low and from my vantage point atop the fourth floor, the view was fantastic. Of course, we never admitted to the boys that we watched them play, but I am sure they knew that we did. Ah! The tricks they would do to impress us – running around if they caught a ball, yelling at team-mates if someone missed the wicket or did not make that crucial run.

The field being very near the railway tracks, one good hit and the ball would go flying across to the tracks. Then there would be a debate on who should get the ball, often the batsman had to do it (since he threw it). This was great fun to watch too. For I often would have seen exactly where the ball landed. The poor batsman would climb up the wall that created the division between the track and the field and start to carefully look for the ball in-between all the trash that would be piled up on the tracks. (Of course we all new which tracks had trains coming and even roughly the in-between gap between each trains arrivals so no-one ever got hurt.)

Anyway, getting back to the point of cricket, it was a great times. I remember times (summer vacations) when we girls tried our hands on it. We would get the younger boys rounded up and play against them. We would either boss them up by saying that we have never played the game so needed more leniencies or never admit a catch, a six or anything in-between. Looking back, I think we enjoyed the arguments better than playing itself.

And then there were the real shows – the Indian cricket team play-offs. Discussions would flow on how well they or they did not perform. If it was the world cup or some crucial game no one would be out playing that evening. After the game, there would be discussions on how the team played or not.

Then there were the superstitions – one of the girls claimed that if she watched, the Indian team is sure to lose. She said it often enough that I started to believe it myself … (ah such stupid trivial stuff)

When I moved to US, it was this excitement that I missed. I tried to keep track of the games through the internet. But reading about a game is very different than watching it, living it. Slowly over the years, I kept little to minimum track of the every day plays. I still loved the game, but somehow the former glory disappeared.

A month ago, we moved from Comcast cable to DIRECTV cable and now have 24 hour access to the cricket from all over the world. And can you believe it; I barely tuned in. What have the last 7 years turned me into? Is it the game (I hope not), is it me (I hope not either)?

This also brings up another point – what will my son like a few years from now. If its one of the American sports, could I sit with him and follow it? I probably will need a crash course in understanding all the rules & players for game so I will at least be able to make a decent conversations. The trails of parenthood continues ...

Here's to 2007!

Few weeks remaining in 2007, so what do I do …. Make a list! What else did you expect?

1. 1 year olds – I really (if I had the money) would pay the money for a time machine today. I never thought I would want to go back in time for anything but to see Kutie all over again, would be wonderful. Its with full nostalgia and pride that I tell people that Kutie is big boy now.
2. Buying a home – Ok I have owned a lot of things – books, clothes, appliances, but a house tops all of them.
3. Having parents at home – The joy of having the morning cup of tea ready!
4. Being a mom – Yes I applied and I love the job so far, even for all its downsides.
5. Blank – now we all know why I am so bad at lists! Arrr

New Job Opening

{If anyone thinking of applying for the job and to all parents & grandparents, in appreciation for everything they do on a daily basis.}

POSITION :
Mom, Mommy, Mama, Ma
Dad, Daddy, Dada, Pa, Pop

JOB DESCRIPTION :
... Long term team players needed for challenging
permanent work in an often chaotic environment.

... Candidates must possess excellent communication
and organizational skills and be willing to work
variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends
and frequent 24 hour shifts on call.

... Some overnight travel required, including trips to
primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities!

Travel expenses not reimbursed.

Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

... The rest of your life.
... Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5.
... Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly.
... Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule
and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf.
... Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers.
... Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and
coordinate production of multiple homework projects.
... Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings
for clients of all ages and mental outlooks.
... Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next.
... Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys and battery operated devices.
... Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.
... Must assume final complete accountability for the quality of the end product.
... Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and
janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION :

None.

Your job is to remain in the same position for years without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE :

None required, unfortunately.

On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION:

... Get this! You pay them while offering frequent raises and bonuses.

... A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent.

... When you die, you give them whatever is left.

The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

BENEFITS:

While no health or dental insurance, no pension,
no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and
no stock options are offered; this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth, unconditional love and free hugs and kisses for life if you play your cards right.


FOOTNOTE:
THERE IS NO RETIREMENT -- EVER!!!

I loved this FWD email that I received today, wish I had read it in 2006 :)

Poems for Kutie

No I know I am not a great writer, but I try! :)

My son has a little toy that sings
"One little birdy, singing so sweet, one fluffy cloud and one big tree!
Two little butterflies love to fly, two little butterflies fluttering by.
Three little bumble bees full of fun, three little bumble bees buzz buzz buzz.
Four little flowers pretty as you please, four little flowers flowing in the breeze
Five little lady bugs meet for lunch, five little lady bugs munch and crunch."

Now for my verse
Six little puppies go on a walk, six little puppies love to bark.
Seven little fishes in the pond, seven little fishes go round and round.
Eight little snails try to run, eight little snails have some fun!
Nine little stars in the sky, nine little stars far away.
Ten little fingers on my hand, ten little fingers to play in the sand.

The Hunt is On!!!

Yes, its starting at Amy's blog and I am in!!!

A busy work schedule and a super-active 9 month boy, may not be the best combo to be an active player, but I am hoping to the best I can be!

Lets the Games (and prizes) begin!!!