Dinner smells divine

It was a crazy morning. I thought the post office was playing a trick on me today. I had to keep the box around 4lbs so it would cost $25 to mail to Africa. I removed some things and got it under 4 pounds. I then stepped aside to fill out the customs form and wrap up my box. It was a hard cider box and they said unless it was covered I could not use it. Okay Dahhh! I was planning on covering it up.

I spent a lot of time wrapping and sealing this box. The lady behind the counter reminded me that it needed to be taped extra good. GGGRRRRRR!!!!!!! I used about half a roll of tape and finally waited in line again. I needed a sharpie to write the address with and then tape over the writing in case it got wet. Okay she asked me to step aside. I could feel my brown cheeks turn red. AAHHHHH!!!

I step aside and write on it and wait very patiently in line. This whole time I have Priyasha clingy to my pant leg. i was only hoping that she did not pull my pants down. I am wearing a yoga toye pants. Boy that would traumatise all the others in line. The lady then weighs my box again and what do you know.... I am 4 ounces over. Okay I say fine and she says it will cost be $52 or $65 just for a few days faster. Well if I was at $4 it would cost $25. That did not make any sense. It was because I wrapped it and all the tape weighed 4 ounces. I also had to buy another roll of tape. She charged me for the tape as I decided to go to the UPS office and buy a box that i would not have to cover. She suggested I use one from the post office and skip the drive to the other place. I took another 10 min to rip the wrapping and tape of that took me 25 min to put on. GGGRRRRR!!!!I was pulling out my hairs by this point. Priyasha drank all her water and ate all her snack. Luckiliy for me she was hunting for a sticker she lost somewhere and was occupied.

I used a smaller box and finally needed to tape over the address. The tape did not peel right and I was getting small slivers out at a time. I handed her my credit card as I tried desperately to rip the tape. The line grew longer and I got stares from people that waited in line for what 5 min. Okay poeple I have been here for an hour already and I did not see why I needed to feel pressure to scoot along. I took a deep breath and relaxed. Another checker came out to help which was good. The box was now under $4. It was more than double for 4 more ounces. Insane I tell you. If not I would have let it go. I then spent the rest of the morning at a friends house. That was a nice break. On my way home I stopped at the school to talk about what happened with the boys yesterday. That is another story.

Here are pics that I promised on the dinner. Here is what it looks like when you stick it on the oven. I decided to add carrots and potatoes.

Priyasha has always been afraid of the blender ever since was a baby. I explained to her what I was doing and asked her to cover her ears. She was doing good but then she got scared again. I only had another few seconds to go so I snapped a few shots. I then gave her a treat and a hug.

Delicious Dinner today

Okay it is not even 9am and I have dinner prepared for tonight. I got Pravan onto the bus and then went on tape hunt. I was looking for clear tape to seal a box I am sending to my mom in South Africa. Before she left she recorded her voice saying goodnight to the kids. This recorder was stuffed into a build a bear from the build a bear workshop. Priyasha's no longer works as she over used it. It is only good for 1000 pushes. I wish it had batteries. Now I have to mail two new ones to my mom so she can send it back to me.I will then record her voice from one recorder onto another and use the duplicate in the bears. I will store the original in a keepsake box.Next trip is to the post office. So for dinner I bought a beef brisket a day or two ago. I made a rub and the meat will marinate for six hours. I have never tried this recipe but will keep you posted on how it tastes. 2 Tbsp minced garlic 1 cup red wine 2 tbsp paprika ( I used chipolte rub ) 2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper 1/4 cup brown sugar 4 large onions sliced in a bowl mix 1/2 cup wine, paprika, brown sugar, salt, pepper. Rub onto brisket and put in a ziplock bag for 6 hours Preheat oven to 325 F ( i60 degrees Celsius ) for my buds on the other side of the ocean. Grease roast pan and place meat on there. Add onions, wine and cover with foil. Bake for 3 hours undisturbed. uncover and continue to bake for another hour basting occasionally. Wallla ! You are done. Not much work. Delicious !!!! I will serve with mash potatoes for hubby and for kids I will serve steamed veggies and bread. They do not like mash. Well I will take pictures later today and add to this post. I am off to the post office now. I have a cub scouts meeting tonight from 5:30 - 7:00 pm and then I am off to wine tasting to celebrate a friends birthday. That is at 7pm so I will be late. The kids will be dropped off at home with hubby and I am not sure when I will eat dinner. It is a busy day.

Drama Drama

Pravan got home from school on time. As soon as he got off the bus he told me that he wanted a snack. He asked to eat an apple.He also told me that he was hungry as he did not eat his cookie at lunch or drink his chocolate milk. I try my best to give my kids treats as they are usually deprived. Really I almost never give them junk. The one day time I do he did not eat it. I was surprised and asked why he did not eat it. He told me that the raspberries I packed him were smooshed. " I did not want to make you mad so I did not eat my treats. Now I want an apple so I can have my treats after I eat healthy " My heart just melted and I was saddened. that must have taken a lot of will power not to eat the cookie. He could have thrown my berries away and eaten his treats. He made a healthy choice and I was so proud of him. He really believed me when I said " I always know what you are doing at school so don;t ever lie to me " I am really enjoying the power I have over him as I know it won't last for too many more years.

Then my heart sank as he told me that when he was in the bathroom one of the boys asked him friend to pull down his pants. Teh poor kid did as he wwas told and stood in the bathroom in all hi glory. I feel awful for the kids that are bullied.My child is already weird about this naked thing and now this. He did report it to his teacher but forgot to tell her that one boy made the other boy do that. I called the school and talked to them.I also called the mom of the boy who had to pull his pants down. I am friends with that mom and thought she should know what happened. I am glad that Pravan chats like a woman as I always know what is going on and he knows most of the time what is right and what is wrong.Okay we got to finish up homework now.

Picture day at school

This morning I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I totally spaced that I needed to pay for the school pictures online. I took care of that and then got Priyasha dressed to go to a friends house. Liz has a daughter Jaisyn and she and Pravan were in the same kindergarten class. They are in different classes this year. She is one of Pravan's many girlfriends. He was thrilled that she was going to ride with us to school. I dropped Priyasha off and picked up Jaisyn. It was so cute to listen them talk in the backseat. Last night after I made arrangements with Liz Pravan asked to talk with Jaisyn and finally I had to have him hang up. When he hung up he said " I love you " to Jaisyn. It was so sweet but boy this is starting so early. I am sure he said it as he says it to grandma and grandpa on the phone.

Anyway I had to tell the bus driver to leave without Pravan as he was riding with me and promised her he will ride tomorrow. I showed up with a comb, water bottle and hairspray and took care of the kids that had messy hair. They all looked so adorable. I purchased a big package and the cd as well. I like to save the cd's in my fire proof safe for safe keeping. In spite of buying the largest package I took a picture with my camera. The photographer was so sweet and allowed me to do so. It is not the best shot as they were not really in front of a background. She super imposed their picture on the background we chose. Here is the picture I got. Pravan is such a natural in front of the camera. His first shot with the photographer was the one I loved. He understands the importance of pictures and does a wonderful job.

Photochallenge # 20 Colors of nature

http://www.photochallengeblog.blogspot.com/

Okay as you know I complained about the cold. Mother nature finally got a note from all of us whining and the weather will warm up this week. We skipped fall and went to winter. Since it was so cold we drove about 2.5 hours away to Davis California and it was 70 degrees there. Is till did not see much color change until we drove back home and drove through another town Auburn. Davis took us back to summer and I still seem to have missed fall. To all you ladies that got those awesome colors I am jealous. I lived on the east coast and it was the place that attracted all the leaf peepers and now I have become one. Enjoy the display of colors while you can. For this contest I will still enter my snow covered bush but here a few others I did get.My husband promised to install the extra 1gb of ram I got to splurge on yesterday.Later tonight after my laptop is no longer on the operating table I will add pictures from the pumpkin patch. Thanks for looking.

Even mother nature makes a mistake

So why I am so hard on myself I do not know. Today mother nature made a mistake and has not yet realized it. The last few days has been 86 degrees and 90 degrees. Last night it was freezing cold. The smoke detectors were beeping as it was so cold. Hubby had to turn the heat on. It has been in the low 30 degrees all day. To top it all it snowed. It looked like Christmas. The snowflakes were huge and Priyasha loved it when it landed on her eye lashes. Reminds me of this song:

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels

Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles

Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings

These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes

Silver white winter that melts into spring

These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites

When the bee stings

When I'm feeling sad

I simply remember my favorite things

And then I don't feel...so bad

Yeah it was that kind of gloomy, cold, gray day. Apart from the great big snowflakes everything about the weather was wrong. What happened to fall. The leaves had just barely started to turn red's and yellow"s and this morning it was snowing. Well here are some pics I took today.The challenge this week on http://www.photochallengeblog.blogspot.com/ was to take seasonal pictures. I may enter the first one in the contest but will wait to see if I get better ones later this weekend.

mystery solved

Okay if you have been following my blog you would know I have mentioned my left arm being able to life 10 pounds and not the right. this morning as I raced into the gym carrying Priyasha I realized that I was carrying her on my left arm. I probably have always carried her on the left. I need my right hand to do other things. So that explains why my left arm is stronger. Just thought I would share my discovery.

Trials of motherhood

Can I pause motherhood ? Maybe not. It is time to fast forward my education and educate myself in different areas. How did my mother deal with all of this when I was growing up. She did not read books about it or talk to the doctor. Here is what happened yesterday. Pravan confided in dad about soemthing very disturbing. I am embarassed to say this but here goes. He has visions in his head of his friends naked. He was so upset and crying. I was all freaked out and had no idea how to handle this. He sees dad and I naked all the time. Well not us together but at different times when we get into the shower etc. He also takes a bath with Priyasha and sees her naked. Okay this morning after dragging myself to the gym for body sculpting class and a good workout on the elptical machine I called the peaditrician. He re-assure me that kids at this age are curious and it was normal. I am still not sure and afraid that he might be gay when he gets older. That is my biggest fear not that being gay is wrong or anything. When he was born I vowed that he would be the most romantic guy int he world and so far I have had to do very littel and he is so compaddionate andthoughtful all on his own. The doctor told me that he should not see either one of us naked or take baths with his sister anymore. Okay so you would think I would forget about this and move on. No! I am obsessive. I called the school and talked with the principal about the kids getting hit and picked on on the playground. Pravan has mentioned that a few kids have cried because they were punched. He told him that if it was brought to the teachers attention then it was dealt with and the kids lost recess or suspended. i felt better and then discussed Pravan's confession. He immediately refered me to the counselor. She called me and we chatted a little. She recommended that I did not bring the topic up again and that it should get better after we do what the paeditrician recommended as well. The I talked with her some more and told her the story about the collider. ( read about it in an older post ). I also told her that he can recite the presidents in order and is a math whiz and can do any math problem.. This kid had no problems with his math homework and all. When mom is still counting and he knows the answer that can mean only two things. either mom is stupid, old and slow or the kid is a genius. Well I am going with he is a genius. The counselor suggested that he get tested for the gifted and talented program. I am thrilled about that and not sure how that will work out. It won't happen until later in the year. So I am feelign challenged with motherhood. Al of this has created a lot thoughts in my head. I told my husband that I was not ready for all of this. He reminded me that it only gets worse and the problems get more serious. How do all you moms do it. I am scared and nervous. What happened to being stressed about him giving up the boob, bottle and learning to walk. That seems hard but now seems like a piece of cake compared to this. Well deep breath. I am going to use resources around me, do the best I know how and hope that he will be a wonderful man when he grows up.Thanks for reading.

photo challenge #19 Potraits

Hello, Ladies here is what I have come up with. I have tons of pictures that I took of the kids but I really wanted to use these. This is a picture of my mother. She lives in South Africa. She was born and raised there. I am fifth generation Indian yet neither my mom or I have travelled to India. My mother has been to America several times to visit me and the kids. She is the strongest woman I have ever known. I really did not have much appreciation of her as a kid as most kid's don't. Today I see her for the greatest mom she was and still is. She is a pure joy to have in my life and there is not a day that goes by that I feel as thought I have abandoned her. I am the black sheep in the family. I have broken every Indian tradition there is. I eat beef, pork and do not follow my culture. I feel guilty yes but I still believe. Isn't that what should count ? On my first trip to the U.S the last words I heard before I got on the plane was " Don't go find a white boy " That would be crossing the boundaries in more ways than one. I grew up with apartheid but not a racist. To do what I did would break the Indian tradition and hurt the elders. Well I did just that. I followed my heart and hoped for the best. Luckily for me the wounds were able to heal for my family.Not only did I meet an American and fall in love with him. He is blonde, blue eyes and Catholic. We married in the catholic church after two years of dating. I kept it a secret the whole time. I never told of the relationship until a year after we were married. All hell broke loose and there were some rough patches. Well long story short all is well now. We got married over again in South Africa the Indian way. ( My life could be a hit Hollywood movie , it really could. This is a very abbreviated version ) My mom grew up with a step mother and worked in the sugar cane fields. She had an extremely hard life. She cannot read or write but can speak 5 different languages. She travelled on a plane half way across the world and has switched planes in major airports without being able to read. ( That is incredible as you know it is a scary thing even when you can read ) She sewed all my clothes when I was a kid as we did not have very much money. Back then fabric was not so expensive. She has travelled half way across the world many times now. She has opened her mind to many things. I am so proud that she tried other types of food like pizza, Chinese food and roasted chicken and turkey. She always eats Indian curries 3 times a day and when she visits me in the U.S she tries her best to fit in. She is even outside in the dead of winter playing in the snow with the kids. There is no snow in Africa. Hot ! hot ! hot ! there. If there ever was a person that never complained it is my mother. The strongest woman I know and love to pieces. She has suffered many losses starting with my dad when I was just four years old. She then lost two of my brothers that had Muscular Dystrophy. If you look at her face you can almost see her story. There is a hidden sadness and pain that nobody should feel. Also you will notice that she has no make up on. On my picture you will see a red dot on my forehead. That symbolizes marriage. A maiden would wear a black dot and it changes to red once you are married. My mother is a widow and has been that way for almost 3o years. She still pines away for her children and the dad I never knew. Everything I am today is because of my mother. Mom , I love you ! I hope you like the portrait.

First digital layout

It is already october.Wow very soon it will be Halloween.I am going to start on the halloween favors soon. Yesterday I did my step aerobics class and today did body sculpting. My left arm is on strike and cannot lift 10 pounds anymore. I went back to 5 pounds. It was a good workout but now I am exhausted. I am home on this cloudy day catching up on chores. Yesterday I found myself a great mentor on the digital scrapbook place site. She will work with me for three months and teach me how to scrap digitally. I did my first page and I am so thrilled. Pravan scored 100 % in his very first spelling bee in kindergarten earlier this year. I finally scrapped his pics. I was fortunate to be in the class and took pictures while he took the test. Silly me. I would not be surprised if he went to Hollywood when he grows up. LOL ! He is so used to the camera. This is my very first digital layout. I hope to learn more techniques. If you scrap digitally check out www.digitalscrapbookplace.com It is a great site with great people and lots of ideas. Thank you Laura for helping me out. Let me know what you think of this.