Covid day 44 - Finished another show!

Two nights of binge watching - finished four more shots season 2! Oohhhhhh found a hottie to crush on! Samir Kochhar - played shashank Bose! Wooohoooo! At first I didn’t really liked him but his role kinda grew on me and I really enjoyed him 😋

That apart - i really liked this season more than season 1. The connection among characters was stronger, story writing was better, showed these women as being more powerful than in season 1. Overall loved it! The last episode got back some of my rough memories but I wept and carried on! Can’t believe that happened a few times today! Such shows steal my heart cuz I connect with them. Nice show! Signing off!

Covid day 42 - Four more shots

Season 2 is on prime! Started watching it today. Yet another mind numbing show 😏

Had a weird day today. I had a presentation for a VP, a 10 minute update on something I spearheaded a few weeks ago, which btw was a success, and I got chewed at the end. It was frustrating and my infields reaction to it was tears in my eyes. But I stayed strong and moved on. I know that It was not directed at me but it still stung. I’ll be over it! 

Had hanuman Chalaalisa chanting today for A’s mom. Prayed for her health. I was hoping to lead it but eventually ended up following my mom. I feel I’m always in her shadows and it sometimes feels bad. I got feedback that the chanting session could’ve been better. Yet another disappointment for today. So I think I’m done for now. I’ll WSU’s up tomorrow morning and keep going on cuz that’s what I do!! 

Covid day 40 - There is hope...

....for my hair 😛

I washed my hair and followed the Curly Girl method instructions more carefully. And I think I’m getting the hang of this - really slowly! Well, I took 2-3 years to figure out my straight hair regime, it's unreasonable to expect curly hair regime taking any less! Figuring out that the key is having hydrated hair, and applying gel at the right time when hair is still damp but not soaking wet. I’ll plan this more carefully the next time. It’s about time I start expiring products, change shampoo conditioner etc. 

Overall a good day today. Poori pitla for breakfast, beetroot curry and rasam for lunch, didn’t catch a nap, folded laundry, watched HIT - so far so good! 

Here’s a pic of my hair btw - just to track as a journal 

Covid day 39 - Backyard is clean!

Cleaned up the back yard With the Help of the guys! Washed down outdoor furniture, dusted off pillows, rearranged sofas in the backyard....looks gorgeous now! Had a nice evening sitting outside chatting with hukka drinks and great good. Enjoyable evening. 

Will start working on ari potty training from tomorrow! Feeling guilty he regressed because of us. And we are punishing him instead of being patient. Things gotta change! 

Covid day 38 - happy bday Veena!

Veena’s bday today. Another covid lockdown bday bites the dust without a proper party 😕 had a video chat with girls though! Felt good. 

After an intense workout and seating mike a dog, I finally gave in to my temptation to ‘do my hair’. I used a flat iron on my hair after more than a month! I only ironed the front sections a bit and I felt human again! Ironed and Wore a cotton kurti, had a few glasses of wine and enjoyed my evening/night. 

Work was ughh but who cares now?! 😏

Covid day 37 - Done with Riverdale!!

Oh my god! We are done watching Riverdale! Finally!! It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my brain!! It was such a lame show but for some reason it kept meengaged by throwing tidbits here and there! It was like a breadcrumb trail and I totally fell for it. And binge watched and binge watched and binge watched till my head hurt with the stupidity! Oh well, it’s finally over, so I hope I can sleep in peace now 😊

Good night Riverdale, and sweet dreams! 

Covid day 37 - Boxed in

Today it feels like my head is in a box. It feels heavy and claustrophobic. I think the monotony of this situation is getting to me. Waking up at the same time everyday at 7-7.15, working through the day, working out in the evening, dealing with Ari, feeding him, making him sleep, watching Riverdale, writing the blog. GOD the same things over and over and over again. It feels like there’s no end to this. I just want some quiet time, just not doing or seeing or processing anything! K has an idea - instead of leaving A in Anna’s house, why not I go work from there? Hmmmm interesting idea. I might just take him up on his offer! I even canceled my day off on Friday because I’m not able to get much done at work either. Was a weird day at work too, I couldn’t focus much at work this morning. I was ok in the afternoon but just jumping from meeting to meeting to meeting, context switching over and over and over again is so damn exhausting!! I hope tomorrow is a better day. I really hope it is. 

Covid day 36 - long long day!

Back to back to back to back meetings today! Half hour, one hour, half hour, one hour - soooo much of context switching! Was just really exhausting. Tomorrow looks more of the same. And I do have things to get done but barely any time to do them! 

Had a good workout today too. K and I decided to split up and work out separately. He took A for a walk and I fed him dinner while K worked out. Hopefully we are being more conscious about giving him attention and spending more 1:1 time with him this way. But I do miss the adrenaline rush of working out with K. He really motivates me to push harder and harder. I got through it because it wasn’t too brutal. If it was like yday I would’ve just given up 😐

Another day and Another night bite the dust. When is this going to end?!!!! 

Covid day 35 - Brutal workout

Oh my god, what the hell was that workout! Even looking at it was brutal, forget getting through it! I was really really apprehensive but good lord I got through it. Jeez! The killer was this: 

50-40-30-20-10

Abmat sit-ups

Mountain Climbers

Directly into

5-10-15-25

Kettlebell swings

Medball cleans

Towards the very end I was just dying. K stopped short of the last round cuz A was acting up. Anyway, all in all, it was brutal today. My back pain got worse. And then I cooked 🤦‍♀️ Have nothing around to eat!! Super super lazy right now, trash to crash and burn. Hope I don’t have a bad work day tomorrow - fingers crossed!! 

Covid day 34 - Light at the end of the tunnel...

...or is it a train coming in the opposite direction? Texas governor announced phased reopening of businesses  starting April 24th. Which sounds like a good sign, maybe we are over the hump and the worst is over? Seems like a glimmer of hope. But I’m apprehensive. What if this attempt to phase reopening causes a surge in cases? That would just negate all the sacrifices people did by shutting themselves away for more than a month - thought out the world! Feels unfair in a way. But I do understand why they’re doing this. Knock on wood our jobs are safe so we don’t have to worry about paying our bills. But there’s millions of people who live pay check to paycheck and what if the only earning member of the family lost his/her job? What happens then? I can’t imagine. Can’t imagine anyone living in that fear while we are worried about where to order Sunday night’s dinner from so we end the weekend with a bang. Weird na. 

I just hope, for everyone’s sake, that this phased reopen will continue to keep social distancing measures in place while boosting economy. We can get creative, can’t we? Let’s hope for the best! 

And as far as how my day went - whew felt long!! Had a long long long video chat with my cousins group. I really mean my nieces and nephews 😛. was fun! It was great to have everyone make the effort to show up and participate. We went from house party app back to good ole zoom! Was a lil chaotic, without any agenda of course, but was fun! These video chats are exhausting for some reason. Can’t tell why! And not like I had a glass of wine to give me company 😛

Another weekend went by, just like that! Will eagerly wait for another one!! ✌️ 

Covid day 33 - Panchayat

Interesting show! Kinda slow moving but a feel good show. 

Had an interesting day today. Video chatted with quite a few folks today! Cousins, friends etc. Planning a big group chat with a cousins group tomorrow morning. Should be fun. Looking forward to it! I haven’t met most of them in a while, will be great to catch up! 

Thanks to covid lockdown, getting a chance to catch up family and friends. Didn’t think I’d be able to attribute anything positive to covid, but this is one of those! Bringing family and friends together! 😊

Covid day 32 - A month of staying at home!

Can you believe it’s been a month since this whole ‘stay at home’ thing started? Feels like it’s been waaayyy more than a month now!! That means I’ve been blogging without fail for a month now!! That’s an achievement in itself! Damn sleepy now, the wine went straight to my head - will catch up later. 

Covid day 31 - Still going on!!

31 days into this....and it’s still going on!! Like it’s nobody’s business! How can this even be happening? To the entire world??! It’s mind blowing and shocking! 

Today was sort of a crazy day - got busy all of a sudden. A found a blue pen and scribbled all over the sofa, K used a disinfecting wipe and made the sofa look even worse 🤦‍♀️ AND best of all things, I did not get angry and lose my cool! Pretty brilliant huh! I’m proud of myself!!! 

More Riverdale binge watching going on. I’ve been hearing the word Eldervir throughout the last few episodes and JUST realized today that it’s an anagram for Riverdale!!! Anyway, that’s all I have for now. Chao, see ya later!! 

Covid day 30 - Booboo

A got booboo today 😕 

We bought him the ‘let’s go fishing’ game which is battery operated. He was playing it well, asked me to play with him and then he figured how to manipulate it! He would stick his finger in the fish’s mouth, try to keep it open and then fish 😊 smart huh! But then he put his finger in an empty hole without a fish and that it - his finger got dammed stuck in there!! It was stuck!!! I stopped it from rotating and yanked his finger out. Ouchyyy poor baby!! I almost screamed for help because I thought I would really hurt his finger. And K came walking in as though he heard me! We pulled his finger out, had a cut 😕 wiped it off and put a band aid on. He was screaming, must have pained a lot. He’s sleeping now hope he feels better tomorrow. 

Binge watching more and more of Riverdale though we thought we would sleep early. Gosh! We are getting sucked into this deeper and deeper like the cast does in the G&G game! It’s like we are living in an alternate reality!!! Well, we forced ourselves to stop watching after 3 episodes. So good night and sweet dreams!!! 

Covid day 29 - Great workout!

Great workout - CrossFit Luna style!!!

K and I’ve been working out at home soon after the lock down started. We started off with walks everyday and slowly transitioned to CrossFit style workouts at home. K has been cooking up his own WODs for a few weeks now, good lord! He actually did pretty well to keep up the workout tempo! 

K told me D and his team at CrossFit Luna are publishing WODs daily with videos! Voila! We started following them since yesterday but today was a phenomenal workout - reminded us of good old CrossFit Luna days! Well, not so long ago but it feels so! And waiting for body pains to hit us with a Big Bang tomorrow. 

There’s something about working out like this. I had so much energy later in the night that I did dishes and cleaned up too! That’s what I’m talking about! More CrossFit, more adrenaline and more energy! Can’t wait to get back to working out with the CrossFit family in person! 

Covid day 28 - No season 3?!!

Am I done with Pushpavalli?! There’s no season 3 yet?! Really?! I thought there was! I didn’t think it would end today boohooo 😥

This reminds me of how I felt when Dexter ended! I was sooo confident there was another season that I watched the finale like everything would be alright at the end of the episode, or would get fixed in the next season....until kanth told me it was the finale! I remember just sobbing that the show would be over. Pretty stupid of me but I was just soooo smitten by that show and so connected to Dexter that I just didn’t want it to end!! Especially a show that I despised in the first attempt and almost threw up while watching 😐

Pushpavalli isn’t quite at Dexter’s level for me but is pretty good. I enjoyed the way comedy was interspersed with dark psychotic behavior. Pretty creepy, like a creeper - Pushpavalli!

Until next time Le! 

Covid day 27 - not feeling ok?!

I feel like I’m coming down with something. Good lord I’m freaking out now 😕

I started coughing, feeling like I’m going to get temperature god please no! Please don’t let it be that 😥

I hope I feel ok by tomorrow 

Covid day 26 - Aparna’s bday!

Finally met another family. Yes, despite social distancing norms! Met Aparna and Unni today for dinner. We sat pretty far away from each other but enjoyed each other’s company. I cooked quite a bit today - veg puffs, egg biryani, shrimp curry, raita and Kanth made chicken. Overall it was a good night! 

Had a WhatsApp video call with Kanna, Bannu, Manju. Felt so good talking to them and ‘virtually’ meeting them after soooo long! I haven’t met Bannu in person in almost 11 years since my wedding!! Also looped Ravi into the call. Was interesting 🧐 

Overall, a good long day! Fingers crossed. Hope this break doesn’t cost us 😐

Covid day 25 - Rummikub

And guess what! I won!!! Wooohooooo!!! For the first time since we started playing this game two weeks ago, I WON! I beat the boys!!!! Can you imagine!! It’s been a complex game for me, kinda like understanding the movie Inception 😛 I’m usually in level 1 or 2 at the most and the boys are in level 5 🤦‍♀️ Today I beat them. Sheer luck maybe 😊

Long day, but a good day today. I woke up at 10am 🙄 dropped off A with amma Bapu, made gulab jamun, met my friends (stood 6 feet apart n chatted!) 

Dropping off A with amma Bapu reminded me of his first day drop off in day care 😕 K and I were so apprehensive and we really did miss him. He spent a good day with my parents but apparently started asking for me after a few hours. He refused to go back inside the house anta after amma told him I was coming. As soon as he saw me, he came dashing to me and gave me a huugeee hug! Awwww that was sooo absolutely adorable my love 😍 K missed him a lot too. Made an Amazing memory today 😊😊

Covid day 24 - Pushpavalli!

Found another tv show! Just for me to watch myself! It’s an indian comedy on amazon prime. Pretty funny with a creepy story line. Interesting combination! Binge watched today - all of season 1 and a few episodes in season 2. Tired now 😕

Was a long day again today. But hit five and tomorrow is a day off yayyy!!! I really needed some silence today. 

 My head was exploding between my non stop calls, K’s non stop calls, A’s tv/iPad sound, and him saying mommy mommy.....whew 🤯 Went for over a mile walk/run for 20 mins. No phone no music. Whew felt good! K ordered food again so ate fried rice and had a glass of wine. I would say a good evening. Topped off by binge watching! Happy long weekend!!!! 😊

Covid day 23 - time is stalling

It’s still Wednesday?! Really?! Feels like it should be Thursday or even Friday 😕 

This week feels soooo loooong and boring. I just want it to be over. And to top this off, Riverdale has turned into such a boring show now - I have no clue where this story is going and at this point I’m so so mad at each and every character! My brain doesn’t have any power left to deal with this stupidity anymore!!! Good lord. I think I’m just going to stop watching from tomorrow unless something drastically changes!!! Literally, what the hell is going on 😱🤦‍♀️

Covid day 22 - Hair Type 2B?!

So, just learnt something new....about hair types! Didn’t know there was such a thing! As I posted a few days ago about leaving my hair Au Naturel, I shared it with my girls gang and they asked for a pic. I mustered all my courage and sent them one and was surprised by the comments I got. Beach wavy! Never thought of my hair that way at all! Never ever! 

Growing up since I was a kid, I always hated my hair’s texture. My hair was always healthy and super long but it was so frizzy that for the most part I would have oil in my hair, braided. I always felt jealous looking at other kids in school who had soft silky hair and I always wanted my hair to be like that. Of course amma never let me do anything with it, let some cutting it! It was so long that st one point it grew up to my knees and with a folded braid it would come all the way to my waist! My hair was my mom’s pet project. Never used shampoo till I was 15-16! She always used soap nut mixed with hibiscus leaves. Sunday, the only holiday of the week, was filled with my hair activities. Washing it, drying it, applying oil etc! It’s a ritual I continue on till now. Taking care of my hair is one of my, if not my biggest passions. 

Very soon after  moving to the US, I went for a haircut in a high-end salon and they blow dried my hair. Guess what happened....the inevitable....I loved how my hair and I looked and that was it!!! Almost 15 years now, I wash my hair and suppress my frizz, natural waves under the weight of a hot flat iron! Until now! I’m starting to feel my hair is thinning and I wonder maybe cuz of the way I’ve been treating it! Now I see my close friends with beautiful curls and I feel I can brave it and maybe attempt the same?! 

 I’m getting a lot of support that I didn’t have ever before so I’m getting excited about this! Maybe it’s time I change my hair ritual and embrace my natural hair! 

So, I got to know about hair types today - mine apparently is a Type 2B. I started researching how to care for my hair. Hopefully there will be more blog posts on this topic!!

Covid day 21 - now it’s borderline boring!

Work has been crazy for the last two weeks or so. I spent most of last week and today almost working 10-11 hours a day, on Saturday and on Sunday. Today I just couldn’t get myself out of bed. It was so so hard to wake up! A woke up in the middle of the night around 3am, wet his bed so K changed his clothes, sheets etc. When my alarm went off at 6.30, which is super duper early for me, I thought it was 3.30! My brain was so foggy that it took me another two rounds of alarm snoozing to come to my senses. And the looong work day began at 7.30, went on till 6. Whew. I have one more day ahead, hope it won’t be that long. Fingers crossed for the activity tomorrow!!

It’s KV’s 40th birthday today! Big milestone! The guys planned a surprise trip to San Diego but obviously the plan fell apart. I wanted to do a drive by with banners but given my crazy day at work I decided to just video chat. Since it’s N’s bday also, three families got on a WhatsApp video call for half hour. For some reason, I feel very distant from them. Especially K and S. We haven’t been hanging out much at all in the recent past. I haven’t even seen S’s tummy yet and she’s 30 weeks along! It was good to catch up though. Hope we get to spend more time in the years to come!! Happy birthday my buddies!!! Lots of love ❤️ 

Covid day 20

Day 20 already! Another milestone in the corona virus ‘stay-at-home’ fun. Was a pretty good day. A had a cute conversation with me today about how he’s happy that he’s with mommy and Nani at home! He’s barely 3.5 and says such stuff - no one will even believe he said that! It was fun and super adorable hearing that. Cooked lunch, worked for sometime, opened one of my boxes to get my old kurtas out - all in all a positive day. Have a long week ahead starting at 7.30 am!! Better gear up for it! Nighty night. 

Covid day 18 and 19 - Really!!

What the hell is going on?! I’m suddenly feeling really low. 

Work has been crazy. Dallas county ‘stay at home’ order extended till May 30th. Our next door chaat place closed 😕

Very grim!! I’m on the verge of crying given a gentle nudge. Last two days have not been my favorite days. Finally I broke through my guilt, went to see amma Bapu. I made gulab jamun yesterday and was feeling really bad I wasn’t sharing with them. So I went over and gave them cake, gulab jamun. Amma gave me two pickles. Though I didn’t go into Anna’s house, it was good to see them. But what a fucked up situation man, not being able to spend time with my own parents! Maybe I’m over analyzing, and maybe it’s ok for me to go over. But I dunno. On my way back from Anna’s house, I drove around for sometime. I drove past a patch of blue bonnets. And drove through a beautiful neighborhood with lots of trees, fountains etc. Loved the view. I saw a huge stork and was so pleased by it. Was wondering how much joy little things give us in this difficult time. It was great to roll the window down and let fresh air in. Didn’t mind though it was drizzling cuz who cares about my hair now? No one, not even me! 😂

Played a game called Ruumikub with S and K. Intense game. My score after 5 rounds was -99 🤪 yes that’s a real score! Not gonna play it no more!!! 

Cucumber Chutney Sandwich

For 1 bottle of mayo (do not use miracle whip, doesn’t taste the same)

Half bunch of cilantro

4-6  green chiles

2-3 cloves of garlic

Grind the garlic, chiles and cilantro to make paste

Add to mayo

Add a pinch of salt, 2 tablespoon of oil (EVOO)

Slice cucumbers (1-2 cucumbers)

Use 1 and a half loaves of bread (regular white bread is good)

Slap and mayo mix  on both sides and put 5-6 slices of cucumbers on each sandwich, cut the edges and there you have it.

Creamy Pasta Recipe

Ingredients:

One yellow pepper

One orange pepper

mushrooms - chopped

sage leaves

one shallot - chopped

2 garlic cloves

heavy cream (around two cups)

Half box of farfalle (or any other pasta)

Veg or chicken broth one cup (optional)

Pasta: Boil with a little olive oil and salt. You can make it al dente or fully cooked

In a pan put olive oil, chopped shallots and garlic and fry for a minute. Then add chopped peppers and mushrooms, add a little salt pepper and fry. then add cream, chopped sage leaves. boil till sauce thickens and reduces to 3/4 the original amount. add pasta to thickened sauce and mix well. If sauce gets too tick or there isn't enough to mix pasta in, add broth. 

Gulab Jamun

What is it about these sweet brown syrupy balls from heaven that I can't stop enjoying them? Hey, hey hold on....I'm talking about Gulab Jamun of course 😜
This popular Indian sweet dish has been my favorite since childhood. Every time mom would make them, that would be the only thing I'd eat for breakfast, lunch & dinner. Was never such a big fan of sweets, this was an exception! After moving to the US, I attempted to eat them at multiple Indian restaurants including anna's - but never liked them anywhere. They were either too hard, not soft enough or too spongy! I tried making them at home with MTR Gulab Jamun mix - nah, the goodness was till missing. I almost gave up hope of eating yummy GJ 😔Until.....I visited by BFF and her friend's husband made them while we were chatting. First of all it was surprising that he made them in the time that it took the girls to chat, and second of all they were DELICIOUS!! I mean REALLY DELICIOUS! That was it, my hope came rushing back and I got the recipe from them. And the end result - sweet brown syrupy balls from heaven!!! Here's the recipe - super simple and easy to make. Results are always consistent.

Ingredients

Sugar 3 cups
Water 3 cups

Milk powder 1 cup
Evaporated milk or  heavy cream 1 cup
All purpose flour 1 cup (you can use Maida flour instead)
Baking powder 1 tea spoon
Oil for deep fry

Preparation

Sugar syrup: Boil sugar and water for about 5 mins till the sugar is dissolved. Get it cooled to room temperature.

Mix flour, milk powder, baking powder, and cream together into a smooth dough . Don't add milk or water, cream is enough to mix properly. Make this dough into small balls.
Heat oil for deep fry and fry these balls to golden brown color. Soak these fried balls in sugar syrup till they are soft and absorb the syrup completely. 

I make small balls so they completely absorb the sugar syrup. For the quantity of ingredients above I get about 30-40 Gulab Jamuns. Enjoy!!!! 

Covid day 16 and 17 - missed a day of blogging!

Covid day 16 and 17 - missed a day!

Missed blogging last night, I just totally forgot 🤦‍♀️

Well, I blogged continuously for 14 days so that’s a win! 

Yesterday was a long long day at work. But it was great because it was my first day playing a QB role in the ITL activity. I think I did a good job. I felt like I controlled everything well. Ended it with a nice update to leaders. I got a kick tail, and an on the spot also wooohoooo! My boss told me I’m doing great as well! So I’m on cloud 900 😜

S came home with Eva, got Cane Russo pizza for dinner. Sooooo yummmm!!! Good day overall! 

Today was a long day at work too. Not as exciting as yesterday because I was kinda passive, not really driving. Gosh that made me go insane today. I was totally bored. Bored out my head. So was A! He tore his coloring book and started eating paper 🤦‍♀️ Must have been his way to get my attention. I spent most of the day around A. After logging off we worked out. A was still acting crazy I’m the evening. Fed him, made him sleep and sat down eating food, watching TV. Riverdale took a turn for the better - badass. Interesting!!

I’ll try to spend more time with A tomorrow 😊 cutie pie. Sorry baby! Love you, muuuahhhhhh!!!