A little bit of this and a little bit of that

These past ten days have been pretty eventful…

1. My sister came visiting with my very gorgeous niece.
2. Hrit went down with a bad case of wheezing and recovered sufficiently to get back to school.
3. The maid quit.. just quit.. on a day’s notice.

Since this last event kind of overshadowed everything else, I’ll go in reverse order. I refuse, however, to dwell on it (maybe because I’ve found a stop gap kind of person.. yay!!! yay!!!).

On a happy note.. Hrit’s so much better, though he’s still carrying a wracking cough to school. The wheeze takes ages to go. Sometimes I wonder how he manages almost 8 hours at school and another few hours of play (which he’s not ready to compromise upon) when each breath takes effort. He does all of that and seems not to notice. Aren’t kids just unbelievable?

The most significant fallout of all of the above has been that I didn’t see the face of the gym for 1/3 of the month. Please do note I write ‘didn’t’ not ‘couldn’t’. Despite my sister pushing me to go, I just didn’t. The thing is as soon as my routine is disturbed I miss the gym. Not nice. So much for my September resolution . I guess it’s too much to expect that the weighing scale will be where I’d left it ten days back. Plan to go and check tomorrow.. even if it’s for a tiny while. The new maid needs to be trained and I need to be home with her when I don’t even know how long she’ll be around.

God grant me a good maid… please.

Birthday bumps

A tier for each year.
Pic courtesy: Google pics

You turned six, yesterday and once again I forgot. I have wronged you dear blog, grossly. Never, once in these six years have I acknowledged your birthday. How callous is that! I thought this year would be different. Reading a birthday post at momofrs’ I thought I’d have a bash for you. I even planned a gift — a brand new design or a super colourful header. However that was not to be. Belated happy birthday to you, my best friend, my confidante.

Thank you…
for being there when I needed you
for sitting quietly when I didn’t
for waiting patiently during my summer disappearances
for listening to me uncomplainingly… rants, ramblings, babbles, gushes and all.

and above all,
for connecting me to so many many wonderful people

THANK YOU.

PS: Hope you enjoyed the cake.

Brownies!


Sometime back I’d promised I’d find time each weekend to take up one craft activity with Naisha and try one recipe with Hrit. However I could keep my word only to Naisha. We did some great fun stuff. When it was Hrit’s turn either we ran out of time or I couldn’t find a suitable recipe.. easy yet appealing. And so I fobbed off the poor guy with stuff like peeling boiled eggs and potatoes (basics are very important, I told him) …

 … or post cooking washing (A good chef must learn to clear up).

Yes mums can be pretty crafty.

Sweetheart that he is, he hung around helping me with my chores satisfied if I let him ‘smell the atta’ or gave the names of the spices in the spice box.

Finally this weekend things came together and we decided to try this recipe from cookingandme.com. Chef Hrit took centre stage assisted by Naisha.

First, the ingredients…
Marie biscuits — 20-25
Cocoa powder — 3 tbsp
Roasted nut of choice, we managed walnuts — 1/4 cup
Sugar — 2 tsp
Condensed milk (Milkmaid) — 1/2 of a 400gm tin

Here’s how it goes…

Crush the Marie biscuits.. don’t worry if it isn’t too fine a powder

Add the cocoa powder

Add the sugar and Milkmade and mix. This needs some strength and I had to lend a hand

At which point.. the mixture becomes too yummy to not be tasted..

Add the nuts

Butter a bowl/tray

Spread out the mixture on the tray

Pat it evenly and put it in the freezer.

Call in the assistant to clear up

We left it overnight and the result was great. The brownies in the original recipe
look yummier but ours weren’t bad

For a more accurate account do hop over to the original recipe .

Hrit’s parting line (accompanied with a huge sigh): I wish I were a mama then I could get to cook all kinds of things.

We are Maganlal Dresswala

Check this out1. Sher Khan from The Jungle Book
2. Mowgli from The Jungle Book
3. Ladybird (2 sets)
4. Bee
5. Octopus
6. Jelly Fish
7. Air Hostess
8. Pilot
9. A river
10. An astronaut
11. Planet Venus
12. A Russian dancer
13. Spiderman
14. Nurse
15. Baker (2 sets)
16. Queen of Hearts
17. SpiderThat’s our DIY fancy dress inventory. Crazy isn’t it? The kids have worn all of those over the years, of course not counting the ones I’ve rented/borrowed from kind friends. Add to this sets from varied annual day programmes and you’ll know why the kids’ cupboards are overflowing with clothes they do not wear, and this in just the four years since they started school.

I really should host a dress-up party for the kids and their friends.

Getting back to where I left off in my last post — the fancy dress was a grand success. They looked glittery enough and scary enough to each of their complete satisfaction. Here’s how they looked..

A crown, a cape, an apron and a heart worn over a red and white dress.
N painted a thermacol plate with hearts and also made some playdough tarts (which were demolished before they got back home).
I swear I didn’t ask her to show off her cape.

 

That’s the spider. Erstwhile octopus tentacles were covered with black ribbon and poof! they turned into spider legs. H wore them with slings. A piece of black cloth with the web, a hole cut out for the head to go in and tied at the sides with black ribbon, worn over a black T shirt. This one was easy.

 

Obviously, this then is our entry for Shruti’s Artsy Craftsy Challenge .
A glittery Queen of Hearts crown
Scallops cut into some red chart paper.
Paint on fevicol and spread glitter. Shake off the excess (and store for a glittery craft another day).

 

Paint on silver hearts
Add tiny hearts cut out from silver paper.
We’re planning to help N’s friends make similar crowns, the colour preferences are already pouring in. My only reservation is the glitter. It has a nasty habit of spreading itself all over the house. It’s been two days since I finished that crown off and I’m still trying to get it off me.
IT JUST DOESN’T GO.
Even though this was easy enough N didn’t help with it at all so we’ll probably have to have another entry. I had fun, though.

Two updates

The two current worries of my life — the darned fancy dress and my weightloss — seem to have sorted themselves out.

First the fancy dress.. the decision has been made — Queen of Hearts for Naisha (Yesssss!), Incy Wincy spider for Hrit.
Naisha is a real surprise. She’s a great story teller so I tried to sell her the idea of just narrating the story in the rhyme rather than mugging it up and says she, “No mama I’ll learn the rhyme.. look I already know half. Then she proceeded to rattle off  “The Queen of Hearts she made some tarts….” Women I tell you.. most unpredictable. What’s more she has also prepared herself to tell the story if she forgets the rhyme. That’s one kid sorted. SIGH!

Hrit was a no brainer.. anything black and scary and he’s happy.. so a spider he is.

Somehow the task of putting the costumes together seem so much easier than arriving at a decision that makes the kids and me happy.

Now for the weightloss…
BOREDOM ALERT: If you’re not a compulsive fat fighter stop now.

If you are one read on…
Actually, I’m not even sure I should be happy about this one but I am. I did my BCA (body composition analysis) at the gym today. And the results…

The good first.. (me being a wannabe optimist)
— muscle mass has increased
— BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) has increased.

Isn’t that wonderful?


On the flip side
— Weight up by 2 kgs
— Water content down (I need to drink more water. At least 4 ltrs says the instructor. When I started at him incredulously and asked, “Do even you ever drink 4 ltrs?” He replied with a deadpan face, “I drink 8.” So much for being a smart alec).
— Fat percentage up too.

The net result is what the instructor had pointed out earlier… exercise regimen is perfect but the diet….hmmmm.

However, for now, I can’t look beyond the BMR and I am pretty kicked. All I have to do is eat sensibly and all will be well. How tough can that be? I’ve done it before. So two kgs by Spetember end.

Happiness!