Nourish-n-Cherish

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20827350/

Senator sues God. The news item states it is an attempt to show how frivolous the lawsuit culture is.

So, God is summoned to the witness stand, and you just feel a cool breeze. The judge is leaning towards declaring contempt of court for filaure to appear, and a huge voice thunders from above

“GOD IS OMNIPRESENT. YOU MAY PROCEED”

Well….okay. Please take an oath in the name of God

ON WHAT?

The Bible

If it is on one of the books written on me, shouldn’t you bring all the titles: Geeta, Koran and anything remotely religious?

You have to swear on God

I am God…..what use would an oath on myself do?

You would die if you lie

I don’t live and I don’t die. I am God

Well… are you refusing to take the oath ??

At this point thunder strikes the courtroom, and God is held to task.

Did you make thunder?

Yes that was me spattering in exasperation.

And so it goes ..

Did you know that
(a) The gas-station 76 was named after the fact the Brits got kicked out of the US in 1776?
(b) Route 66 used to run from Chicago to LA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Route_66)

Dec 6th, Sep 11th, Aug 6th have all become dark days in our lives thanks to the thoughtless actions harming thousands of people. Yet, the wars we wag that have daily death tolls nearing Dec 6th and Sep 11th are unheeded.

History…please enlighten us to learn from you!

Another milestone in the life of her first-born.

She started school. She seems to be enjoying it. The mother was having difficulty leaving her daughter to cope in the unfamiliar classroom.

As she took the 3 mile drive home, she was disoriented. She stopped at green lights, got honked at by peevish office-goers heading grumpily to work after the long week-end. In her defense, visibility was poor. (The visibility factor was later clarified by her husband as being clouded by tears, not fog as she wanted to believe.)

Here is wishing her daughter the best for the exciting life that lies ahead – school stories, new friends, a lifetime of learning.

I think this is the rough schedule for the day:

8:30-9:00: settling in time. They can play with the puzzles and toys while settling in.
9:00 – 9:30: some songs I think
9:30-9:45: snack time.
9:45-11:45: rigorous work! They have S.M.A.R.T (simple math, art & reading time) I think they also sing songs and dance at this time.
11:45 – 12:05: lunch time. They have to eat on their own
12:05 – 1:30: nap time. they have to take out their sheets, sleep and clean up after themselves.
1:30 – 2:30: they play in the playground outside. There is a silly train, slides, bicycles, sand box and swings
2:30 – 3:30: another round of S.M.A.R.T before heading back home. BTW, each of these activities have a restroom break in between. So, you can imagine how much actually gets done during the day!

Any comments may be sent without inhibitions to her mail_id. I am hoping that with the amount of money we are dishing out, she will learn to read eventually!

Here is a pet peeve of mine. People make choices – what irks me is the justification for these choices. When there is a choice, a person takes what works for them better – period.

You could be a person who analyzes everything to death or be someone who makes a choice rather quickly, and lets life unfold. Whatever it maybe, I don’t like the approach of : “I take the high road because I am smarter”

Some choices turn out to be smart ones, some don’t. The important thing is to feel comfortable with the choice when the option to choose is given to you.

I was reading this morning about parenting, and again got me thinking. Guess what? I am not an ideal mother. I am irritable, I sometimes take shortcuts with my child’s food (soup is enough I declare – but that’s only because I don’t have the energy that day to get her to eat spinach and rice!). But overall, I am okay. My child and I enjoy each other’s company – well….let’s leave it there shall we? Did I make a highly intelligent choice when I initiated my daughter into reading? No! I just did what I enjoyed doing, and did it with her. Consequently, she started liking books. Instead of saying this, I could ramble on about the research that proves reading makes the brain more stimulating – guess what? I just alienated myself! Sometimes, we all make choices that may not prove to be ideal.

I hate the way parents obsess about the colds their children catch from other kids, the share and play mentality, the gentle approach – the swim class, the dance class. I may take my daughter to dance and swim classes in the future, and if she likes it, and sticks to it long enough, why not? But if at that point, you catch me talking about what a wise choice I made with the swim and dance classes – do me a favour and stop me will you? This sort of thing is infectious and the more I meet mothers, the better the chances are that I start talking like this!

I headed home from work with such a determined mind that day, that I was going out for dinner. This happens often, but what else I had made my mind about was the fact I was not going to set foot in the kitchen that lovely Friday evening! Dinner plans were made, and we set out amidst certain excitement that comes with getting your child to stop cycling outside, and wearing something nice.

We arrived at the haute restaurant and waited for an hour outside clutching out tickets in our hands, waiting for our turn with the menus. We finally went in and sat, and when the waiter busied himself with notepad and pen to take down our orders, we gave him the first order of the evening. A special order – nothing on the menu.

A boiled egg we asked with as much nonchalance as we could muster. The sure footed waiter faltered, he stammered for a response, and said – “a-a b-boiled egg?” Yes, we beamed. I stepped in and comforted him with the assurance that I would be ordering something from the menu. “We love your food“, we told him before he broke out sobbing. I could see the pride in his restaurant shattered in his eyes.

You can take my daughter to the fanciest restaurant with the most fantastic menus, but of late, what satisfies her immensely is a boiled egg. We all ate our favourite dishes, and handed a special tip to our waiter who had gone through considerable difficulty obtaining the boiled egg from the seasoned chef.

Everytime I step into Coldstone Creamery, and order a small plain vanilla icecream, I go through a similar experience. Don’t blame them – check this out!

http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/icecream/original_creations.html

My husband and I talk minimally these days. No, we are not having a row. We are on perfectly good terms.

I finished the 7th Harry Potter book and he hasn’t.

Given my abyssmal track record of keeping secrets, we have mutually agreed to not talk (about it) till he finishes. But talk about it till he finishes became difficult because he is curious, and asks leading questions and before I know it…another oops moment!

So, dear hubby and I love each other, and don’t talk to each other! No one but J.K.Rowling could have done that!

BTW, hubby dear, you do realise we get insecure if we aren’t exercising the jabbering old mouth – so before we become really insecure, READ THE BOOK!

PS: This is also my 100th post.

Brainwaves (husband and co-blogger on our group blog came up with a comprehensive reading list based on KQED’s summer list) I thought I will include a link to his post on this blog, so that readers of this blog can get the list too.

Summer reading list. Bring on your suggestions:

Looking at KQED’s suggested list, some of the things stand out on first glance:
Blink
The Assault on Reason, Al Gore
The Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai
Finding an Angel to Fund Your Business, Joseph Bell

For the comprehensive list given by Brainwaves, please visit:

http://am-kicking.blogspot.com/2007/07/summer-reading-list.html

In general, if you have any suggestions for good books, please suggest. I am bit stuck with books such as Nemo goes to School, Thomas & Friends Nursery Rhymes etc 🙂

My daughter has been terribly excited about starting pre-school। She has been telling everybody who cares to hear that she is going to school. So, I took her to the school one day, just so she can see what she is getting so excited about.

For the first time I realised that my little girl has always been in a protected environment, and I was curious to see how she coped. I let her play with the other children. One girl came up to her, and declared she couldn’t play because she wasn’t enrolled. (Yes….I was shocked too. this statement coming from a 4-year old seemed too much!) My daughter went to another area and started playing. This time too, the older girl followed her and said the same thing. I kept away on purpose. This happened twice more. then my daughter quipped- “But I am also going to school।”

That was brave! I am sure my daughter will have lots of things to talk about, and tons of interesting stories to narrate. I hope she makes lots of friends and enjoys schooling.

I have a unique experience with breakfast everyday.

An experience cannot be unique when it happens everyday. Here’s the thing: it is unique because it probably seldom happens elsewhere.

First of all, I make and eat breakfast at work, in the break room. Most of us do. Our office is in the city, and most of us live in the suburbs. We have some archaic kitchen devices to use. Have you ever seen a plain jane toaster give you the mental satisfaction of making toast, burning toast and making pancakes all at the same time?

Our toaster does it all and more. A judicious mix of perseverance, grogginess and lack of enthusiasm to get to work is what keeps us all going to the poor toaster everyday, though the toaster begs retirement. So, this is how is starts:

1) We pop in the bread, and select the darkness level.
2) Twiddle your thumbs and wait (maybe I’ll time this one day)
3) It pops noisily and the bread slides back into the toaster (yep it does)
4) You lift the toaster and shake it upside down to extricate the slice of bread
5) It is either too light or too dark, and only 1 side is toasted.
6) This is where you get the pancake feeling because you have to flip the toast and wait for the other side to get done!
7) Depending on the result in step (5), you adjust the darkness level
8) Repeat steps (2) through (4)
9) It is either too dark or too light now
10) End result doesn’t matter because the taste would cancel out the burnt portion and not toasted enough sides of the toast

That, with a hot cup of coffe somehow nudges the old brain awake, and I start work!