Don't judge me just because

I have the all seasons' dvd's of "Sex and the City".
I am going on Sunday to watch the movie even if it starts snowing in Arizona.

I do have to make a point(s) here though. Let it be known that I cannot stand Sarah Jessica Parker and think that I have never seen such a horrible actor(she makes me want to like Paris Hilton-the actress;)). I think all her outfits/dresses on the SATC tv show were horrible. Then why do I own the DVD's and why watch the movie? Because I love the other three women on the show and their charecters. If only Dolls was here or I was in NJ. Oh well, can't ask for everything in life now, can we?

Yeah Yeah

I know, it's been a while again :). Chaitu was home for long weekend and we had a good time. I made good food (when do I not?), went shopping and that's pretty much it. We went out to this Indian restaurant on Saturday for lunch. Holy heck, talk about bad food. I hate it when people open restaurants without thinking it through. If you cannot serve proper and decent food, as Padma Lakshmi says, "Pack up your knives and go".

On Monday we dropped both sets of parents at the theater to watch Indian Jones while I cooked lunch. They had fun.

Prabu's parents are leaving this Sunday and we have been busy buying, returning an buying some more stuff :). What? You have never been to India? That's how it works for me. I shop before I go to India, I shop in India and I shop after I come back from India. Even though it's not me this time that's going, we still followed my path.

Work has been crazy busy and I think i cursed few times sitting in my room at the stupidity of some fellows. Let's just leave it at that.

A Hairy Affair

Summer is here and V's hair was growing fast. After many discussions as to whether we should get his head shaved again or to get him a hair cut t the kids salon, we decided to do it at home when he was sleeping. I started it and Prabu finished it. The whole credit goes to Prabu and I think he did a very good job :).

V wants to play in the patio all the time now with "Shamu" (fake fish is called shamu in our house). So I pulled a old rubber-maid box and made it into a swimming pool. Prabu and I actually went shopping to get him a small pool but I decided against it at the last minute. Why? because he will probably never come inside the house ever if I buy that thing :).

Pictures and Videos

Click on the link to your right to see the uploaded pictures. I removed all the videos from Picasa. I am in the middle of uploading them onto google video. Will post a link as soon as it's done uploading th gazillion mini videos :).

And I added recipes to the meal we had last night. Good food, I tell ya.

Weekend with Friends

We went to Saguaro Lake today. By we I don't mean just my huge family but also, The Pareeks and The oh shoot I don't know their last name. Well, we have new neighbors/friends. So all 10 of us with 3 kids in tow decided to go to the lake. It was my brilliant idea to pack a picnic and go have fun as it's also Amma and Appa's wedding anniversary today. It was nice. We took a hour and half boat ride, had amma and appa cut the cake on the boat. It was very nice. But going back, what the heck was I thinking?

It was very hot.102 degrees to be exact. We left at 10 in the morning and by the time we got home it was 4 and everyone just slept till 6 in the evening without saying a word. We were just exhausted from doing nothing. It's like my childhood all over minus the sugar-cane juice.

On the other hand, we did bond with the new neighbors and the kids had fun. I need to find out new and inventive heat-proof picnics from now on. Prabu wants to just have a picnic in the living room next week.

Updates at the other biiloggg

Prabu calls it "Bilog" instead of blog. He is goofy like that. I did update my recipe blog with a yummy chicken dish while watching a tamil movie on the side. I think i am liking Jeyam Ravi in this movie more than Siddharth in the Telugu version. Wait, weren't we talking about recipes? So yeah, I finally updated the blog with some recipes and I should do it more often. I am thinking of going into a Salad Season as the summer here is getting to be tooooooo hotttt.

The Real One Year and Six Months

Yesterday was actually when V turned 18 months. I goofed up last month. It was nothing spectacular. I took V to get his first portraits done and boy was it hard work. The photographer kept asking/requesting him to stand on the red light and he kept walking/running around the light and away from it but not on it. We finally got some good shots and I will find out how good they actually look in person in 2 weeks.

Prabu's Parents will be leaving for India in 2 weeks. I have to see how V will do with out them. He's gotten very attached to the grand parents. They have been with him for 7 months now and it will probably be tough for few days for him.

On other news, a new bug bit me. It's called sewing. I dabbled into scrapbooking and it still is my obsession. Since we moved from NJ, I lost my craft space and with V it was getting hard to spend time on it (excuses, I know). Any who, I learned sewing when i was in high school in India and recently I got back into it. With the help of my mom, I made a simple dress. It's not the greatest but it's coming out good. I will try and post pictures of it as soon as it's done so I can get me some validation;).

It is hard work

Raising the kid and taking care of the house that is. I used to wonder why there are articles about how much a woman who takes care of the house and child should be making. And then it hit me when Jaden asked for a $400 raise ;). It is exactly like having a job in a corporate world. Let me explain.

You are doing your job and enjoying it and then your boss comes and promotes you. It's all fun and games in the beginning of the promotion. You are enjoying your new title, your new salary and the perks that come with it and bam, you get with the responsibility that you some how thought you can manage but realize you cannot at times. Same thing in life. You are enjoying your married life, not much responsibility, getting up with a hang-over on Saturday mornings And then you have a baby. Then the project deadlines start. Your kid has to be:

- Potty trained by the time they are two years old
- Stop drinking milk from a bottle by the time they are year and a half
- Count numbers, colors and belch alphabets in sleep by 2.5
- Finish Harry Potter series by the time they are 4

No, I did not make that up. It is definitely true. Ask any mom out there. That's what you will get. We have very strict deadline dates and it's gotta be done by then. The fun part to this: You can not submit your resignation :). You can try but you just cannot. I am counting my blessings that I am no celebrity mom. Other wise V and I would have been here instead and Tom and Katie. Apparently, a gossip magazine can tell you how you should raise your child.

Let me just speak on behalf of most moms out there. We totally understand the reasoning behind doing certain things at a certain age. We are trying and unless we get that raise, we will be doing things at our own pace. We are pretty sure we are doing a great job, otherwise you will be seeing all the kids in college wearing diapers and with a bottle in hand.

Can't last a day without him!

Some days I cannot stand him.

Some days he makes me want to strangle him.

But today I just want to say this (with special thanks to Incubus)

To see you when I wake up
is a gift I didn't think could be real.
To know that you feel the same as I do
is a three-fold, utopian dream.
You do something to me that I can't explain.
So would I be out of line if I said,
I miss you.
I see your picture, I smell your skin on the empty pillow next to mine.
You have only been gone three days, but already I'm wasting away.
I know I'll see you again
whether far or soon.
But I need you to know that I care
and I miss you.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there. Prabu is out with his Parents in Las Vegas. They are coming back tomorrow. I am home with my parents and V :).

I feel weird talking about mother's day. I never knew about it growing up nor after I came here. I picked up on it couple of years after I came to this country. I don't even know why and when it started and what I am supposed to do. May be I should look up wikipedia for it :). Chaitu still refuses to wish me or mom and says to forget it, as he doesn't acknowledge today :).

I guess it's nice to have a special day where the mother's are paid attention to specially instead of all other days through out the year where we take them for granted sometimes (Oh yes we do :)).

I am back, baby

California trip was fun. Viji and Sethu were awesome hosts and they took us to all the fun places. Pardon me for few days while I upload, update and play around with the pictures and videos. Picasa just gave me a hand slap saying I have exceeded my limit;). I have to clean up some stuff to make room and post pictures.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to each and everyone for your call, emails wishing me on my special day. It felt nice to get a call after call whole day :).

I have a 2 page 'to-do' list in front of me, so I better get cracking on that. I will update you all with a nice long post tonight or tomorrow. Till then ciao :).

Weekend at Canyon Lake

Since Prabu was working last weekend, I took the family out to mall on saturday and on Sunday we went to Canyon Lake which was 1.5 hours from our place. V had so much fun playing in water even though it was full of stones and not so clean. I just had so much fun watching him flap his feet in water :). Here is a picture of him in new "water outfit";).



We are off to California today to visit Prabu's cousins. I will see you all on Cinco De Mayo.