Summer update

Well the marigolds are in dull bloom. And I can see tiny green tomatoes hanging from my plants. Success! What a great feeling to see the fruits of your labour !!!
I find happiness and courage in this. It's a hidden message that I must try and find my own happiness. I have learnt to be happy with myself.

It is a new beginning where I do not fear the end.

-xoxo

Babies

When babies are the most important part of your lives..

When they fall sick your heart bleeds to see them in pain.

The fact that they are upset makes you feel bad.

When they grow up and grow out of you..all that is left is a void.

Speech to text

I am posting a copied text of my elder dd's speech to text attempt at texting her father.
if you have the patience to read through the end..you are awesome.

"This phone is not listening to me at all of it because yesterday I was messaging daddy and is not all because it was listening to me and like this is like oh my god what is this even saying like oh my gosh oh my god like oh my goodness oh my god bunny think that Google how to. Cheetah me how can catting tell Mom with my mouth oh ok this phone is not listening to me and I like my oh my god this phone are you the whole thing tomorrow funny funny monkey. Z pack in the butt in the butt the thing ok not listening to me oh my god lighting the messages I mean it like I am thinking 2015 to make stuff and I'm not saying 2015 2016 what I said 20 sings oh my I said 20 things at 20 sings or 20th 2060 oh my God why are you saying things I did not say things I said things and I want you to say things like this message is not making any sense ladies I would you please please please. With me ok you are not making my brother's sense of what I'm saying and I did not say brother since we're lady since I did not say any sense ladies I would with me okay brother sense of what I'm saying we did not better than fluently okay you are not listening to me and this is crazy for you and like you need to tell me why I'm not saying this and you are so just whatever you want to meet up with me how do you want to meet me out in King mod me how changing my me how to change my tongue tongue me how to dunk on you and see how to clean my house oh my god I'm not saying all of that stuff that you were saying and I'm talking to you phone okay so you better listen to me Yahoo so you now you're listening to me that's fine and I did not say Yahoo okay so I did not say stuff that you were saying what are Yahoo it went to be all weekend, that's different you would think the guy who went to before we can do that different you wouldn't either just before oh my god you're not making sense ok yes I am coming over rijght almost okay I'm coming in the spring is like not even wasn't even if I.."

She loves doing this and finds it funny if something else comes up.

Of sowing and reaping - frugal gardening

My new found love...gardening.

Necessity is the mother of all invention holds true. Here the necessity of cleaning up the frontyard and backyard inspired me to do some research on the aspects of gardening and here I am..a newbie in this field. Not only have I been good in cleaning up the flower beds I went ahead and sowed some flower seeds. 

First I planted marigolds, lots of them. I had dried up the flowers from last year's puja and it helped me to do the initial setup. I must say that germination of any kind of plant is the most important part. First I wasn't even sure if the small saplings I saw were marigold so I decided to wait for the first split leaves. Though it was a long wait I am now a proud owner of at least 25 plants. I diligently replanted them. Fortunately all of them survived the root shock. 

I'm waiting for the first buds now.

I would like to spilt and replant the huge Hostas in the front yard. It's a mammoth task and I will have to wait until late fall for that.

Next I replanted the succulents to small tea cups lying in my garage. They decorate my porch windowsill now.

To keep my inner self satisfied..I moved to growing my own vegetables and I successfully germinated some tomato plants. Now, tomato farming is no easy job and I ended up with transplanting them into these containers (see pictures).

Coriander and fenugreek are sowed too and so are the cucumber and gourd vines. All waiting to see the world. When theu germinate I will be the happiest person! 

Worth a wait.

indoor decor

Almost everyone has said that we have been very adventurous and courageous by selecting a white sofa for our living room. Well, with 2 kids it is sure a monstrous task to maintain but I guess we all should take a moment and think about what worse can happen - they can get spoiled, right. But so can any other color. Kids do not differentiate between colors when they want to do something, they will.

Now to interiors, the whole idea of doing it white and turquoise themed was decided even before we bought the house and made it our home. 

The white sofa came an year back and we did quite a few experiments to arrange them in living room. We have a sunken living room - we initially made it a sunken dining and kept it like that for 8 months or so. But somehow it was not going well with the theme and general sync of the house. So we changed it back! And now it seems as if it was meant to be here! I love the present setting.

The lamp - got it from Target Canada ( when it was new), though I was looking for something more elegant, I settled as it fit my idea of providing light where it was required. But the white shade seemed too boring. So I have decided to add a little pop to it. The present theme is spring and aqua colors. I might change the accessories as and when the season change or as per the theme of what I have planned. 

Instead of buying new things, right now I dug up and used what was existing and lying here and there in house. The shoe was a Christmas ornament and the ball is made of paper was part of this big centerpiece. 

I need to put a large wall painting behind the big sofa which I will eventually do - I have something in mind! as well as I might add some bling to the lamp shade :)

I like the occasional red/yellow pop in interior with the two cushions.Work in progress...
More to follow.

persuasive writing

My elder dd needs to learn persuasive writing for her English curriculum. While all she can do is persuade me for everything and present her arguments in every possible manner, she cannot seem to write about it. Not because she cannot but only because she cannot concentrate on the work on hand for more than 2 minutes.
Lack of concentration and distraction from work being done is affecting her ability to do work efficiently.
It concerns me.
For now.

spring

Spring colors! How I am loving the greens and the reds and yellows all around me! The brighter the better! Winter had created this image in my mind where in everything was visualized as black and white or well..Grey :)

What best therapy than to just go out and enjoy the colors while they last in this part of the world.
Trying my hand at some gardening, few pictures of my experiments are posted here. I used the old Ikea bowls for kids which were lying in garage waiting for their turn to go in the recycling bin for different seeds.

 3 more tulips on their way. I might replant the bulbs after the season.

The lone ranger stood tall for 1 week!

 Waiting for germination of more..will post pics.