photo challenge

I recently stumbled upon a photo chalenge blog. http://photochallengeblog.blogspot.com/ I actually saw it on Kristin's blog http://kristinmosbargerphotography.blogspot.com/ I loved what I saw and decided to leap in and take these challenges. At first I did not like the idea of capturing texture but on my weekend trip I saw several opportunities to participate and this is what I came up with for a previous framing challenge and well as the current one on texture. Please let me know what you ladies think. I am very new at this and I am hoping to learn more about photography.

You can see these better at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sausa

San Fransisco getaway

Hope you all had a great July 4th. We packed the car and went on a spontaneous trip to see the Golden gate bridge. The kids were all dressed in red, white and blue and they each had their own flag. Priyasha kept saying " Ameriann flag " every time she spotted one. It is so adorable the way she says it.We had a great weekend. I feel like I spent a lot of time visiting different bathrooms. Priyasha is a prissy little thing. We stopped at this gas station the one time and when walked into the bathroom she said " mama smells yucka pooka " Her way of saying smells nasty and it did. It was in an okay condition though. I pulled her pants down and as I was going to hold her over the potty, she buckled her legs and said " no, no " She refused to go and when we got back to the car she wanted to go. I then had her use the portable potty I carry in the car along with wipes and hand sanitizer. I could not believe her behavior.

We got to see the crookedest street in the world and Pravan loved that. Priyasha walked up most of the steps on her own. This is a really cool site to see. This was not my first visit but I still love it.

We made a quick stop in China town as well and I found a tropical fruit called lychee's. It was so delicious. We had lunch in Sausalito right on the water and had a wonderful view of the bay bridge. The kids are fascinated by bridges and this was a great trip. We drove back to see the golden gate bridge and it was spectacular.

We took a scenic route and we had a wonderful opportunity to see wildlife. We saw some deer that were very tame and let me get up very close. It was very busy on the bridge and extremely windy. We had planned on walking the 1.7 mile across it but is was too windy for the kids. We did walk a short way on it though. Pravan off course had to try and climb the rails and that threw us in a panic. Daring little boy.

The fog over the bridge made a perfect picture.

We would love to go back and ride the trolley and walk the bridge and off course shop more. Hope you like the pictures. I will be uploading more to http://www.flickr.com/photos/sausa/

A cat has nine lives

or so they say. My mom is doing very well. She is now home resting. I finally got a chance to talk to her and she sounded great. That is all I have to go by since we are over 10 000 miles away. Being given the chance to talk with her again felt like I was reaching the surface and was able to gasp and take one more breath. I know she feels the same way. She has another chance. I swear that woman like a cat has nine lives. She is strong and a wonderful sweet lady. I have been so crazy lately and have not posted any pictures. I need to upload my camera and I will post more.

Today I took a break from cleaning the house ad made sweet sweet memories with my kids. Live this day like it is your last and enjoy the moment.

Getting it done

A quick update on my mom. The last conversation with my brother who lives in South Africa was a sad one. A very real one for most older people. Making a decision on how to care for a parent. I am only 32 and I feel I am so young to be going through this. Wow ! for the first time I am in the show that I know other people have worn. My mom is doing better. She developed pneumonia which is now cured and the minor heart attack was scary. My mom is so strong and feels like she is a cat with nine lives. The last time she gave us a scare like this she pulled through and made a trip to America. I may have to make a trip back home but I am not sure if it will be possible. I finally finished a ton of important things that needed to be taken care of. I found an easier way to burn copies of the slide show and I am happy with that. Today hubby took the morning off and we went to the post office and applied for Priyasha's passport. It should take 4- 6 weeks to arrive. I have Keara today and she is in a happy mood. It was not so bad having three kids to do this errand but we did get some stares. Keara is part Korean, I am Indian and my husband is Caucasian. My kids are a beautiful mixture so keara threw people off. It was funny. Now all three of my kids are asleep. I am resting and enjoying the peace. The last few days have been an emotional roller coaster and today I feel better. Just trying to grab life by the horns and deal with things the best I can. Putting things into perspective lately and been thinking about why I bitch the way I do. There is so much to be grateful for and I am realizing that. The most trivial thing that seems like the end of the world is what matters the least. So today I hugged and kissed the kids,spoiled them with ice-cream and enjoyed the moments. I have a ton of pictures to upload and will try to do that in the next day or two.

Sad news and a heavy heart

Today I had a great day and all was well until now. I read some e-mails and came across one from South Africa. It was from a dear family friend and the news in it was not good. I learned that my mother is very ill and is in the ICU in South Africa. My heart immediately started pounding and I frantically reached for the phone to call my brother who is the only sibling I have that my mother lives with. We are about nine hours of them and it was about 8pm here. I could not even think straight never mind do the math to see what time it was there.

I called anyway and it was 5am there. My brother was awake and getting ready for his day and a visit to the hospital. He was unable to give me very many details so I had to call the hospital. I quickly learned that my mother has hypoglycemia and hypothermia. She been insulin dependent for many years now and something went wrong and her sugar levels dropped. This also caused her to have a mild heart attack. My brother discovered her unresponsive in the morning and had to call a friend to take my mom to the hospital. It is so sad to think about as most of us here have not just one car but two. In South Africa there is a whole other economy made up of bartering, trading and exchanging favors. It is fortunate that it is a tight community and my mom was able to get the help she needed.

She is stable for now but I am a wreck. There are so many emotions and mixed feelings. I wish I could be there and there are discussions of me returning home. Not the ideal circumstances but there is this void that nothing and no one can fill. An emptiness and a heaviness that cannot be shaken. I want it all to go away and everything to be right. Now it is 10:45pm the kids are in bed , hubby is asleep and the rest of the U.S is falling asleep yet way on the opposite hemisphere the day is just beginning and there are so many issues to be dealt with and decisions to be made. Maybe that is why I am a night owl. It is a longing to live two lives at the same time and yet it is impossible. I wish I did not have to sleep and I had Dorothy's red shoes to click my heels and be home again. Where is home ? Will South Africa always be my home or is it right here with the my kids , my family ? I love them all but being so far away is so painful.

I will call in a while and hope to have a chance to talk with my mom. I have to think positive and hope she makes it through this. Okay I just called the hospital one more time and had a lovely chat with the nurse. My mom is doing great and is back to her fiesty self. She told the nurses that she has no idea why she was brought to the hospital and that she needed to go home as she had washed a lot of clothes and needed to go home to hang it all up. That brought a smile to my face.My sweet sweet mom washes all the clothes on a wash stone outside . rinses each one and rinses again is fabric softner before she hangs them out to dry and and then has to watch them so it does not get stolen. I wish that I can remember that when I complain about my laundry multiplying. I feel better but I feel like I want to just crawl into a corner and cry. Maybe I will.

Making a list, checking it twice ...

Late last night my buddy Suzanne called and we had a lovely chat. I felt relieved that I finally got all the envelopes together and had all my photos sorted into piles to go to different people. Hey I even finished the thank you cards that were overdue from Priyasha's birthday way back in March.

I was happy to share this feeling with Suzanne and then I found a list I had made a while ago. Usually I am a memory person. I remember everything including every ones phone numbers. I almost never look in the contact list on the phone. I dial from memory. Well someone told me that it helps to make a list and that way you feel less overwhelmed. Well I took the advise and it worked. My stress levels kept going down with everything I struck of my list. As I was checking it again I realized I had a few more things I needed to add to the list. Well somehow my list got bigger and bigger. Someone has got to invent birth control for that and my laundry. My to do list, laundry and dishes just seems to multiply day after day. Maybe it would be better not to make a list as the on going list seems to create a different type of stress for me.

Well all the goodies are in the mail including two packages to my mom in South Africa. I could not believe how expensive it was to mail one box to her. It was about $75. No I did not mail that one. I did send her a smaller one with and that was about $11. So much cheaper as it was 4 pounds versus 22 pounds in the other. Today was a very busy day even though my play date was cancelled. I was relieved when the other mom told me that she could not make it. Tomorrow we are planning on going to Donner Lake. I shopped for food and snacks and toys so we should be all set. Although I continuously whine that I have so much to do today I found myself purchasing fabric to sew pillow cases for my kids. Strawberry shortcake for the girl and transformer for the boy. Why do I create more projects. Well it may have to wait for a week or so before I get to it.

Well I am looking forward to the lake and it would be a much better day if all the smoke in Reno was carried away by the wind. There are over 800 fires int he state of California and since the border is only 45 min's away we seem to be covered in smoke. It is amazing how many 100's of mile that smoke has travelled and seems to be taking a rest in Reno. It is the biggest little city after all.

Take care !

Traditions

Every year for the kids birthdays I send out a milestone letter as well as a family picture. Yes we do several family pictures a year. One for each of the kids and then one for christmas. My hubby is a sweetheart but he does not like pictures. He aims to please me and I love him for it. Here is the letter for Priyasha.

Dear Friends and Family,

Our little princess is now two going on twenty. This past year has been an amazing one. She is so full of surprises. You just never know what is going to come out of her mouth. In the past year Priyasha has developed into her own little person and now she and her brother still play very well for the most part. She loves her brother very much and it is a delight to watch them be so close. If Priyasha is in trouble and we yell at her she cries and calls out “ bother , bother “ Pravan immediately runs to her and hugs her and calms her down. There has been times when he was the only that can calm her down and stop the tears. Priyasha like any other little girl is a drama queen and she is very much daddy’s little girl and loves to watch basketball, football and Mad money with daddy. If you ask her whose princess she is, she will say “THE PRINCE’S PRINCESS” Isn’t that smart? She calls me the queen and Todd the king and that makes Pravan the prince. He is the very protective brother and we can only hope that never changes.

Priyasha loves little babies and she plays mommy. She takes great care of her baby dolls and pretends to change diapers and feed them and put them to sleep. She is my singer and sings all day long. She has actually learned how to spell the color black by singing it to the tune of Bingo. She almost knows how to spell red as well and Pravan is working on teaching her the other colors. She is very intelligent for her age. She knows all her colors, shapes, ABC’s and animal sounds too. Pravan works hard on learning how to spell words and it seems like he has also been teaching her .She can also spell about. It is a random word and one morning I heard her spell it and my jaw dropped. I could hardly believe my ears. She speaks very clearly and almost anyone can understand her. She has mastered almost all the kids’ songs and also knows the songs from Pravan’s kindergarten class. She is always sassy, simply smart, really silly, sweet, stylish, truly unique, affectionate, an absolute joy to have and completely loved. She is very dramatic and shows it when she gets a surprise or present. Most times she places both her hands on her cheeks and mouth wide open and screams out “oh my goodness “in a very delightful voice. It is the funniest thing and yet so adorable.

She looks up to the older girls and loves to play dress up. Last year she was obsessed with Dora and called herself Dora and even was Dora for Halloween. Well a year later she has moved onto the strawberry shortcake shows and dolls and her collection is growing. She is a very happy girl. She enjoys playing tea party and pretends to cook in her little kitchen. She also loves to play transformers and hot wheels with her brother. She loves the camera and also mommy’s credit cards. At the store she insists on paying by swiping my card. I hope that when she is older and earns her own money the offer will still be there. Her biggest accomplishment is that she has mastered how to use the bathroom and is 100% potty trained right when she turned two. She got to pick out different character panties and is very independent and has to pick out her own clothes in the morning. Todd caught her trying on several different outfits the other day. In the mornings she has her own routine and a beauty regimen. She always tells me “mama booty is painful “She loves to brush her teeth and have Dora Chap Stick and lotion. She calls it lipstick and I hope she does not figure out that it really is Chap Stick. She also likes perfume and has her own baby cologne. She asks to have her eyes painted just like mommy and sometimes I play along. She loves the kid make up but we save that for special dress up time. Like all parents out there with wonderful kids we are very proud of our baby girl and all her accomplishments. Here is a recent picture of Priyasha for you to enjoy.

Proud parents, proud big brother, and sweet /sassy girl,
Todd, Easperee, Pravan and Priyasha

Day one of exercise program

Hello,

The busy weekend is over and my crazy week begins.We went to a cool birthday party yesterday and the kids had a blast. Hubby took the morning off and I had the afternoon to myself. He had several things including working out in his time off. I as you may know spent my time at the scrapbook store as well as Michael's. I got to have the afternoon with Suzanne and we had a great time.Speaking of work outs, last week I purchased a work out DVD from those television ads. It is a beach body workout with 5 ten min workouts. It came with a schedule to do at least 3 ten min workouts a day. I am determined to stick to the schedule. I got in 2o mins for the day already and I have 10 more mins to squeeze in by midnight. I am excited and this is the most fun workout I have ever tried.

Today Pravan was at a friends house for the morning and I had Priyasha and Keara. We hung out and blew bubbles before lunch and now they are both napping. Pravan is back and he is playing water guns with himself in the backyard. I have a long night with Keara maybe until 11pm. I look forward to taking her back to her house around 8pm as I have peace and quite and a break from my kids. I am almost done with getting together all the stuff I need to mail out to family and friends. Priyasha's two year letter and Pravan's graduation announcements. I hope to get them in the mail tomorrow. I will then post them on the blog.

Take care !

Slip and slide party

Today Pravan was invited to a slip and slide party at Finn's house. Mrs Brown, Finn's mom had told me that no girls were invited. I then asked Suzanne to watch Priyasha. Since we were at Suzanne's house I took some pictures of Pravan climbing the tree in her front yard. I joined him and decided to be a kid too. I will post pictures later. When I got to Finn's house his mom asked me about Priyasha and told me that I could go and get her if I wanted. I thought that was so sweet. She meant no girls from the kindergarten class. I drove all the way back to Suzanne's and got Priyasha. She loved playing in the water and hanging out with the boys.

Finn is a very lucky boy as he has the best backyard any boy could ask for. They have a huge blue fill up pool and a tree house where the boys can hide out. They have a rope to swing and splash into the pool. If I were to be a kid again I would love to spend my childhood in this backyard. It is so beautiful and it makes you feel like you are hidden in a secret garden away from the rest of the busy crazy world. Thanks Terri for giving us a chance to play in your lovely backyard and home.

After that party Pravan went to Alan's house. He is a social butterfly just like his mother and I am so exhausted keeping up with all these play dates. There are days when I think I would get more rest if I worked a job that paid me money instead of being a domestic engineer and get paid with hugs and kisses. I do love being home and I just need to slow down. Next week is a crazy week so I am not sure when things will calm down. Priyasha is asleep and I am finally done preparing for my class tonight. Last night I was up until midnight working on it and a short while ago the lady at the store called to tell me that there was one more for the class. I scrammed and made another kit.

When the princess awakes I need to go and get the boy and then hopefully my husband will be home on time so I can get to class. The weekend is almost here and I am lookign forward to it. I will post some pics this weekend.

Happy creations to you all.

Thank you Tracey

A big thank you to Tracey who taught me how to add a personal signature. I love visiting her blog. She is so creative and talented. Her blog is http://tj-runningwithscissors.blogspot.com/. Be sure to check it out. Tracey your directions worked. I appreciate the tips.