Obsessivemom

23/02/201515/04/2017

Friends and Fitness

These past two weeks have been crazy with even crazier busier weekends. Just as I was thinking I’d sleep in over the weekend I got a call from one of my gym buddies. She has recently got herself a Zumba license. Now where does a newly minted instructor look for students to practice on? Of course right at her exercise buddies. That was how I found myself all excited and awake at the ungodly hour of 6 am on a weekend morning.

What??? 6 am IS ungodly for a weekend.

A little later, there I was with a bunch of friends and the brand new instructor. She was quite a pro and no I’m not saying that because she’s a friend. The best part – her mom came along to cheer her and shook a leg with the rest of us. And, just as moms are wont to do, she brought along a breakfast treat for all of us – tea, cookies and the freshest, softest, most delicious chutney sandwiches ever.

Now this is a session I like!

Friends and fitness do make for great companions. Not for nothing are group fitness sessions so much fun. There are days when my freelancing work piles up or when the housework can no longer be ignored or I have a meeting at the kids’ school or simply when the laziness monster comes visiting – those are the times when exercise seems like a chore but the lure of a few good laughs with friends pulls me to the gym.

If you find exercising a bore too, look out for a group or enlist a buddy. They are seriously useful when you need that well-aimed kick in your backside to get going.

Linking to Mel’s # Microblog Mondays.

Also, linking to ABC Wednesday where I’m squeezing in the F for ‘Friends and Fitness’ even as G breathes down my neck.

15/02/201515/04/2017

The rendezvous

8pm.
‘They’re late’, thought she as she laid the table. Impatiently she glanced at
the clock. ‘I’ll be late… again’. She hated to be late. But then, a smile lit
her face as she thought about her nightly tryst with her … ‘friend’ well yes,
friend, love, companion. She relived that heady feeling; that touch of the
evening breeze on her skin – cool and refreshing in the summer, arctic crisp in
the winter; the intoxicating scent of summer tube roses that kept them company
or the Chrysanthemums that filled the winter nights with their fragrance. And
there was music, ah yes, the music had to be just right.

She
smiled to herself then shook her head to dispel the image – later, she told
herself firmly, it’ll have to wait. Only after dinner could she give in to her
passion. First, she was a mum, a wife.

As
if on cue, the kids rushed in.

‘Hurry
hurry’, said she. ‘Wash and change. Dinner’s at the table’. Half an hour later
as the Husband settled down to the day’s news before the telly, she tucked the
kids in and kissed them good night.

Free
at last, she walked out of her apartment, out in the open air for her nightly
rendezvous – that one hour of pure, selfish happiness – hers and hers alone –
with her love, her friend. She sniffed the fresh air with pleasured
anticipation then reached for her iPod. Her friend was before her, waiting. ‘I’ve
come,’ said she breathlessly, as the road stretched ahead – silent, inviting,
encouraging.

She
ran then, the pounding of her feet matched by the hammering of her heart,
drowning herself in the pure pleasure of the adrenalin rush of her run,
forgetting everything else – just she and the road, her love for all seasons.

So do you have a secret hobby too? Or maybe not a secret, but something special that you do ONLY for yourself? To unwind, to have fun – just fun? Do share here.

Linking to Blog-A-Rhythm’s Wordy Wednesday.

13/02/201515/08/2017

Where did my babies go?

Warm cuddly nights

A tiny hand wrapped around my finger

Baby hands reaching out for me
A spark of recognition in a bright pair of eyes
A toothless smile

Uncertain feet staggering around

A lisped out ‘mama‘

A tight hug after the first day at school

An invisible hurt that needed a caress

The best of time.

Then they grew up and all of that seemed a dream.‘I can make my own ponytail,’ she insists.
‘No hugs at the bus stop, please mama,’ says he.
‘You don’t need to watch us while we play,’ they roll their eyes!
No longer do they follow me around.
No longer am I needed all the while.

Where did my ‘babies’ go?

And then I see..

A half tucked in t-shirt needing attention.

‘Combed’ hair that refuses to sit.
A small hand tightening in mine as a dog strays too close

The call of ‘Come na ma‘ as they dance to crazy music

A ‘You have to read this one, mama.‘
A ‘just like that’ hug when I least expect it

That’s when I find them again.

Yes they’ll need me –
For cheering at the football match
For clapping at their graduation

For blowing up when they stay out late

For celebrating their first jobs
For crying at their weddings
For pampering their children

For that hug they’ll want but might not ask forYes they’ll need me always

and they’ll remain … my babies.Always!

Sending out warm wishes to everyone on Valentine’s Day. Hope you have a warm and wonderful time with your loved ones.

10/02/201515/04/2017

Girls and boys are good for each other

H is intensely competitive, specially when it comes to N. He likes to think that anything she can do, he can do better. However, at the same time he has quite a dislike for all things he has labelled ‘girly’. So it was with a bit of surprise that I discovered him making loom bands the other day. Apparently his competitiveness won over his dislike for ‘girly’ stuff.

ENGROSSED!!

Even at 8.5 years he is clumsy as ever and can do with some hand-eye coordination practice, as also with a hobby that involves him keeping quiet and sitting in one place for some amount of time (other than watching the telly). I was one happy mum :-).

Linking to Mel’s # Microblog Mondays . Do drop by to see how others are faring after the weekend.

Also, linking to ABC Wednesday for the letter E for Engrossed.

*********

On a somewhat related note I stumbled across this debate here on the Net about whether boys and girls learn best if they are segregated in single sex classrooms.

Research suggests children perform better in single-sex classrooms. Some maintain that the teaching pattern is skewed in favour of girls since sitting in organised classrooms works well for them while boys are better at hands on learning.

However as a mom to a pair of different sex twins I find myself disagreeing. Of course life would be much simpler with same sex kids, just as it would be easier with single sex children in a classroom. However the education we’re aiming at doesn’t have only to do with scores, is it? Boys and girls are different, that’s a fact. Their brains are wired differently, also a fact. Out of the classroom they have to live, love, compete and socialise with each other. The earlier they learn how to do that, the better.

H and N fight. A lot. Yet they have been teaching and learning from each other with no awareness of it. Without going into whether an ability is a ‘boy skill’ or a ‘girl skill, here’s how..

H might continue to be a Barbie destroyer but he has mastered plaiting their hair albeit shabbily, he knows how to make loom bands and, wonder of wonders, often remembers to put down the toilet seat! He makes an effort at drawing, crafting, singing and dancing again thanks to N.

As for N, she’s as girly as girls come but can throw a mean punch, enjoys computer games and is addicted to the outdoors perhaps even more than H.

Together they’re good!

07/02/201515/04/2017

Learnings from the A to Z Challenge

April might not be the next month but the sign up list for this year’s A to Z April Bolgging Challenge is open. You can take a look here. Isn’t that badge really cool?

Last year after much coaxing and deliberation I participated in the Challenge. I shy away from everyday monthly challenges because, well because they require posting everyday for one whole month. By the end of the month you find yourself dying to get out of it and the quality of your blog posts goes down too.

However, the April A to Z Challenge turned out way more fun than I’d imagined.

Sharing some of my learnings from the experience. If you’ve done it before you know them all. If you’re a first timer you might find them useful.

1. If I were to give one single advice to a first timer at the A to Z Challenge it would be SCHEDULE YOUR POSTS. The Challenge isn’t just about writing. It is about visiting and discovering other blogs, about making friends and coming away with a wealth of reading material. If you have your posts all done beforehand you have the luxury of reading and commenting on other blogs.

2. KEEP THEM SHORT.. 300-500 words. This is a toughie for me. I found myself constantly struggling to chop my posts if they exceeded the 500 limit I’d set myself. However people are blog hopping like crazy and have many many posts to read. Keeping it short gives you a better chance of being read.

3. HAVE A THEME. It helps you focus when you’re in the ‘what to write’ phase. Contrary to what it seems, broader the canvas more confused your thoughts. What’s better, like many bloggers, it might result in a book later on. Last year I’d talked about 26 of my favourite authors. Before long people were trying to guess what the next alphabet would bring and then I started leaving clues and began to announce the names of people who’d guessed right each day. It turned out to be fun.

4. STICK TO THE CHARACTER OF YOUR BLOG. Make sure your posts resonate with the character of your blog. That’s one big mistake I made last year. I am essentially obsessivemom here. Of course I also have a passion for reading. People who dropped by only during the A to Z Challenge would assume this was a reading/book related blog. Once the challenge was over and I went back to blogging about the twins with an occasional book review thrown in they had a right to be disappointed. It would make sense not to deviate too far from the original character of your blog.

That’s it. Those are my learnings. I do hope I can push myself to take up the madness this year too. It’s fun in retrospect.

Do share your suggestions please, anything to make it easier, more fun. I could do with help.