MY NOW...

Outside my window: Hi, I have decided that I will be writing about my week gone by and what I am doing right now on Mondays (if possible...”smiles**” and today it is possible to do so , and so, here I am)

It’s 10.30 at night and I have just finished up cleaning up after dinner, a little early compared to the other days as I normally finish after 11.00.

Off course its dark outside and I am in my son’s room as he is out for work and my hubby is watching an action movie out in the living room.

I am thankful... That my annual eye check up is finally done and that I have only a slight increase in my reading No.

I am wearing... Blue kurti and my grey leggings (I am still in the same dress that I wore in the evening for my eye checkup and then a round in the mall.

I am wondering... If I will get back to reading my never-ending pile of books and magazines that have been lying unattended for a very long time .I had been experiencing discomfort while reading on the computer and my books, and hence got my eyes checked to find that my reading no has changed and that I will need new glasses.

I am reading... For the last couple of days I have been reading sites which tell me more about India in the 1920’s, 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. I have always loved to know about old India and how it was living in those times. But I could not find much on that subject but recently I have found some very good sites that tell me more about the daily lives of people in olden India.

I am watching: As I said I have been watching more than reading in the last few months.

I am watching some nice serials on TV which are family dramas.

I have been also watching my favorite you tube channels mostly hauls.

I have started watching REVENGE SEASON 3 which my son downloaded for me. I love this serial and only the first two seasons have been telecast in India.

I am hoping... To start reading again the way I used to especially, books as there are so many which I have purchased but not yet read.

Last week: Nothing special, just clearing and cleaning up after my brother and family left back for the US.

Invited my husband’s doctor friends over for dinner on Saturday night, had good fun with them.

COOKED: I menu for the day was

              Palak Masoor tonak, French beans vegetable, paneer butter masala,chicken tikka masala(heritage), roasted corn salad, and vegetable pulao/ Biryani.

With chicken tikka, reshmi kabab, vegetable chilli for starters.

 Around the house... There is a lot of cleaning and organizing to be done as the festival of lights DIWALI is just round the corner.

One of my favorite things: I loved the cool lassi (sweet yogurt drink) which I had when I was with my hubby on a hot humid afternoon.

Enjoying eating apples which are in season right now in India.

A few plans for this week:

 Lots and lots on my to do list.. Priority being

CLEAN, CLEAN AND CLEAN

                         Read some old magazines and discard a few.

Today’s menu:

Breakfast: egg fry and toast

Lunch: Tomato dal and papdi vegetable rice and roti

Dinner: French beans vegetable

Today was one of the simplest menus that I could ever make.

TODAY...

For Today

OCTOBER 7^TH 2014

Outside my window: Sunny and humid morning … Its 10.35 am and I am just taking a little break which means a little change from my morning routine. I love such small breaks although to some it might look like I am distracted and might take a little more time to complete what I am doing, but frankly these small breaks keep me going and give a spring to my step whenever I start again.

I am thankful... For the 24 hour water supply that we get in our society while there are so many buildings in our society who get water only for about 4 hours a day.

I am wearing... polka dot pajama pants with a blue colour T-shirt.

I am creating... A “SIMPLE PLEASURES” scrapbook using pictures that I cut from magazines or download from around the web.

I plan to go to. In Mumbai where I stay “station road” is a place for doing some simple day to day and reasonable shopping and I love visiting such places as you can find some really good items for a very small price..I plan to go to a place called Malad for my station road fixation.

I am wondering... Will I use my pile of downloads to be used for home binders.. I always go on downloading  interesting” to do lists” or such templates for my home binder but finally write on a blank paper to suit my convenience.

  I am reading... Reading books has taken a back seat as I have to get my eyes checked for my reading number. But that does not stop me from reading some blogs which I get my daily inspiration from.

I have been on a look out of blogs that are motivational and which help me improve my day to day life.

I am watching: As I said I have been watching more than reading in the last few months.

I am watching some nice serials on TV which are family dramas.

I have been also watching my favorite you tube channels mostly hauls ..

I have been also watching documentaries on YouTube about AGATHA CHRISTIE my favorite author.

I am hoping... I will complete my pending TO DO LIST this week.

Last week: It was a very hectic and busy week with my brother who is on a project in the USA came visiting after a year.

There were lots of food being cooked, lots of jokes and lots of eating out too fun and hectic both at the same time.

I am learning... Nothing new as there was lots of work around the house with guests and also with my maids on leave at that very time due to their own problems.

 Around the house... House is a mess with the guests having left and lots of laundry to be done and things being in a disorganized state.

One of my favorite things: I have been loving my mobile case which is in a festive print just apt for the festival season that is on in India.

A few plans for this week: Lots and lots on my to do list..1. As I have to get my house back in order after my brother and family have left to go back to the US.

2. Plan to go out one day for lunch with my friend which has been postponing for the whole of last month.

3. Update my home binder which has not been opened for quite some time now.

4. Organize my clothes cabinet as it really needs looked into before the Diwali festival comes near.

 5. Have to read some magazines and start discarding a few as I have completely used up all the available space for my books and magazines.

SHOPPING ON THURSDAY

Last week I purchased so many things that gave me true pleasure.. It’s not always that your shopping outing is a success. But this time I really found some great things which I love and which are not very expensive.

On last Thursday it was a Public holiday here in India, and hence I decided to go with my parents and my son to the other side of town, which takes about 1 and half hour by train from where I live. But my father being a generous man that he is decided to treat us to a taxi ride to the place and back..

My son was already there at my mom’s house since the day before so I had to go to their house and we all planned to go to the shopping place by cab.

I have to take a train to go to my mom’s house and from the station go by taxi..

We reached crawford market where we were going to shop at around 5.45 which was pretty late

We had only had about 1 and half hour to shop around as we had to go home and then I had to leave to reach back home.

I went round the main market which sells dry fruits , some imported cosmetic items and also things like paper bags , tissues  etc.. there is a great fruit market too…But I was interested in only buying the stuff which I do not get easily near my home so I bought a lovely non stick cake pan, then I bought some dry fruits for my hubby who loves to eat a bunch of dry fruits after his meals and dry fruits at this place are the best.

My major shopping was at the fabric store where I found some awesome prints on kitchen towels, I am a great great fan of kitchen towels and it’s very difficult to find those made of printed material here in Indian we do have those which are cotton and checked prints but not with floral prints etc and I got these which were supposed to be rejects and hence at a very cheap rate.

I picked up some cotton table mats as well which I will use when there are some special guests at my place.

Traveling in traffic is the only things that is a problem here in India and so once you go to such places it’s not likely that I will visit this place immediately .. so I wanted to shop a little more but my parents who are old for such a adventure started getting uneasy and tired and I did not want them to be uncomfortable because I was comfortable shopping for hours together.. If you have to shop at your own pace and time you should come alone.

But I was very happy with what I managed to get in such a short time , It so happens that sometimes you go on for hours searching for the right things but you end up buying things that are a compromise , but today I unexpectedly got things that I love .. I was not expecting that I will shop a lot and hence it gave me happiness to get these little things MY SIMPLE PLEASURES.

We also had some snacks and falooda a rose milk shake with vermicelli and ice cream which this place is famous for...

I will share with you the pictures of my purchases; I have not clicked them as yet but add them as soon as I have them uploaded.

DAY IN MY LIFE...

 

I know I have not been very regular writing on this blog, although  I would love to come up with something to put up here.. There are many things that cross my mind. But I need encouragement from you guys to keep me going . Please come up with comments and what you feel about the post so that we can keep the conversation going and I feel like writing more and more.
So I thought why not write about my day once in a while so that you can know a little more about me and my day.. a little questionnaire type of thing which helps one to write and for you to read what you like.

RIGHT NOW:

Sitting at the computer with my mid-morning cup of tea, Its 12.45 in the afternoon a little late for the mid-morning tea but I have Just come from the nearby local market.. Went to buy some fish, the fish was almost over with only a few not so good pieces left over. so had to come back without it.. But purchased other things like.. Leafy vegetable (Radish leaves and spinach) for tomorrow. WIMPY’S DIARY.. A book for my son. Sweet bun for making a sweet bread pudding.. , CORN for probable a corn salad or will make pasta with corn and white sauce. Fresh green grapes.

LOOKING OUT:

 Just came from out I know that its pretty warm outside inspire of being still in February and its supposed tube pleasant.

TODAYS MEAL:

BHENDI OR OKRA DRY VEGE

LEFTOVER CHICKEN CURRY

BEETROOT SALAD

LEFTOVER DRUMSTICK DAL (have to finish off the leftovers as my fridge is overflowing)

DINNER PLANS:

EGG BHURJI WITH BREAD AND SOUP OR COFFEE.

LOOKING AROUND THE HOUSE:

Lots of work to be done, due to my morning out ting, the morning routine did take a beating and there is so much to do.. I can see pile of folded clothes to be sorted and arranged , my to do list for the day has not yet started and that has a important to do item and that’s cleaning my living room extra items shelves which has been pending for a long long time.

WATCHING RIGHT NOW:

There are a few TV serials which seem to catch my interest; I cannot stick to one if the story line deviates from what is realistic. So right now what is working for me is

MAJHE MAN TUZHE ZALE – Marathi serial

TUMHARI PAKHI – A Hindi serial

I Love watching realistic TV and right now there is nothing much. Will watch MASTER-CHEF UK which has started this week but I haven’t yet been able to watch an episode.

I Watch lots of cooking programs on the TLC or fox traveler channels which are reruns so do get irritated sometimes.

READING:

Just got a book yesterday which is a 1993 edition Bollywood related stories book  , I love reading stories of things gone by  or memoirs so this is written by a film journalist who has seen actors in the 40’s and 50’s so it will be interesting for me.

I also read a lot from my huge pile of magazines.

FUN

I read a lot of blogs every day, especially homemaking, decor and food blogs. I am of the type who gets easily inspired by a written word.

With so much inspiration in the blogging world it’s very difficult not to want to do things that one has never done before, and for me that is sewing.. I am a very creative person if I say so myself and love to create things which involve painting, coloring, sticking etc… But I have never ever tried to sew.. Or you can say never ever felt inspired enough to feel like sewing and so I don’t own a sewing machine.. I do have a needle which I use during emergencies.Like a button needed to be fixed, a sudden tear which has to be tackled with..But I won’t call that real sewing.

After looking at the wonderful and colourful quilts on many blogs I had this strong strong  urge  to have a quilt for myself.. But as I said earlier I have to learn the ABC of sewing and making a quilt is like learning to write sentences.. Hehe…

          First cup of tea over chat and chat..

I spoke about this to a friend of mine who is very good at sewing.. and asked her if she could help me make a small placemat ..Which is like a quilt..Being a kind hearted girl she immediately said that she would.. She has never made a quilt before and so making a small one would be better than trying out a huge one.

So off I went to her house the next day.. Armed with guess what?  As I had no time to go to the market to buy new fabric pieces I decided to make one using my old cotton dresses which I no longer used.

                          
                           Squares of the quilt coming together.

At her home, I made my first quilt .I cut the squares and she stitched them together.. She used a whole one colour cloth for the back side of the quilt.

By helping me or making this quilt for me she has given me a lot of pleasure and since then I use in regularly as a dish drainer cloth.

I love my quilt and love to look at the little squares made with my well worn and loved dresses which are re-purposed and used again and will serve me for some more years.

 By helping me or making this quilt for me she has given me a lot of pleasure and since then I use in regularly as a dish drainer cloth.

   can you see the ready quilt with my second cuppa..

 

Her son has a DSLR..I am planning on buying one too, so I took some pictures like the one below with his camera as I wanted to know how they look. I was impressed.