Blog Review - The Flirting Kaapi

I decided to participate for the first time in the Indiblogeshwaris "That Tuesday Thingy"....this time it's the "Secret Blog Elves 2013".

The blog I was given to review was "The Flirting Kaapi". I had never read Sneha's blog before, and I was looking forward to reviewing it.

I've been reading her posts on and off for a couple of weeks now :). I must say - so many aspects of Sneha's personality are similar to mine. Like when she says, "I can never come out of a bookstore without buy something - anything" - that is SO me. During the recent thanksgiving long weekend in the US, the only place I really wanted to shop at was Barnes and Noble. When I visit India, the first place I shop at is Crosswords. I knew I would enjoy my time reading Sneha's blog just after reading this one sentence :).

Sneha is (much) younger than me, and all the while I was reading her blog, I wished I started blogging much earlier in my life. She is one lucky duck! I feel sad that my blog has pretty much turned into a mommy blog now, as whatever little time I have to pen down my thoughts, I prioritize penning down my children's lives versus other musings.

Her illustrations are fabulous. She does a really good job of posting freebies for the monthly calendar....do check them out. She also does a lot of giveaways, and that is another aspect that I loved. She should be getting hundreds of comments on her blog, and I wonder why she does not. And I've never done a giveaway here on my blog, so I MUST do one soon!

I have always loved to read writing that makes me think. Sneha's blog definitely makes me think. One of her posts says "Think about the last time you smiled/laughed a lot, and you want to relive that moment again and again"....and when I read that, I looked at my son, who was napping next to me, and remembered him ruffling my hair and giggling non-stop for 15 minutes prior to going down for his nap. It was priceless and precious to hold him and see him so happy. And I will always cherish that moment.

Some of her posts also give me a feeling that she values her solitude, and some of her best creativity happens during that time. I'm kind of that way too....solitude resonates with me. I find large groups of friends stifling...I do best with 1:1 conversations.

Ada's travel tales showed me that she can weave wonderful tales from her travels - whether they are routine or to exotic places. She clicks amazing pictures....and I love that they are not heavily edited. They are the kind I would click, evoking a certain feeling in the viewer, but still presenting a picture as is.

She looks amazing, loves coffee, loves books, loves traveling, is a great illustrator and writer, dreams living out of a backpack, loves music and is a Rahman fan - oh well, if I was a single guy, she would be the girl of my dreams  :) :)!

I hope I've done justice in reviewing "The Flirting Kaapi" - it is sure an inviting place, so DO visit!

Visiting the oldies

Wednesday morning was very stressful for me. I woke up 15 mins later than usual, and the kids decided to be at their crankiest best all morning. Even though our cook aunty came to help me, I was late in getting everything ready for the day. The son was hitting the daughter with a big glass bowl on her head, the daughter was throwing tantrums as I refused tablet time for her, and packing lunches took way longer than usual.

We DID finally get out of the door, even if we were very late. Throughout the chaos, I kept my cool. Not once did I raise my voice, or threaten the kids, or give them timeout, or spank them. I felt quite proud of that. 

After dropping the kids off, I headed to the low-income retirement home in town. I reached "on time" at the venue for a planned visit with a few of my colleagues, which itself was an accomplishment, considering the chaos I went through in the morning. I had the goodies prepped and ready the previous night (again a pat on the back for that :)) so I went in, not knowing what to expect.

The oldies were all waiting for us. They did not know who was coming, and what they were bringing. We planned this visit as a last minute thing for this holiday season, based on an email thread from an employee whose mom lives at this facility. We decided to take "treats" - homemade or store-bought, and a "rose" for each person. 

Once the room was full and we had the table all set up, we greeted everyone. We gave a "rose" along with holiday wishes to each person, followed by cookies, and chocolates, and gingerbread, and other goodies. They were all SO happy and pleased. Some took seconds, some saved chocolates like "ferrero rocher" for eating later in their rooms, some had tears in their eyes on seeing the generosity. 

And, I got to chat with a few people as well - the part I was most looking forward to. 

The first was this beautiful 90-year old lady, who was so worried about her hairdo being PERFECT for pictures. She made us delete so many pictures before approving the one below :). She worked her entire life for the federal government, as a database administrator (so amazing), and is still pretty active for her age. She described herself as an avid reader, and I got a feeling I would get along with her really well. 

The next was this World War II Veteran, who spent most of her army life serving in FIJI. A classic Alzheimer's patient, she kept asking me "where are you from" every couple of minutes. Not once was I bothered by it. She was born in 1923 (according to her) so that makes her 90 years old as well. After retiring from the army, she was a high school teacher in the highly ranked Fullerton School District in LA. She had lots of stories to share from her World War Experience.

We also found time to visit a couple of folks who could not come to the main greeting room. The lady in maroon pajamas next to me - she turns "100" next month, on January 23rd. She was so humbled and overwhelmed to see us with a "rose" and "treats" when she opened the door for us. She loved our hugs, and was really appreciative of us visiting her. 

The lady in blue, to my left, was the star of the show. Her name is "Carmel" and it felt as if she ruled the place. A leader. She is 82 years old, but honestly, felt quite younger during our conversation with her.  

I only spent an hour here, and it was just TOO short. I'm definitely going back to spend some more time with these folks. There will be so much to listen, and learn from them. 

I have no grandparents alive as of today. Each of these women reminded me of my grandma, who lived with us since I was born, and passed away a month after I came to the US to pursue my higher education. I was fortunate enough to spend 21 years living with her under one roof. I was very close to her. She was a GEM of a person, who really treated my mom as her "daughter" and not a "daughter-in-law". Very forward thinking for her age, and very talented too. She would have been in her late 90's if she was alive, and I really missed her after meeting these wonderful folks. 

What a great visit, that I will cherish for many years to come!

Giving

Hi there....how have all of you been?

Sorry for the disappearance from the blog. Many posts were drafted but not posted. So many pictures have been clicked and are waiting to be shown off :).

And SO much has been going through my mind these last few weeks. Mostly good stuff, which is nice.

To summarize - we traveled, we fell sick, we traveled some more, we fell sick some more, and when we were not traveling or sick, we enjoyed the local holiday outings. I finally have a winter where I'm BAKING quite a bit. We setup our Christmas tree, and are full-on into the Holiday spirit.

Being non-Christians, we don't really have any traditions. And we may form a handful of them, centered around giving, but nothing more. The daughter goes to school and has learnt many Carols. It's fun to listen to her chanting "Jingle Bells" "Rudolph the Reindeer" all day long. She CANNOT wait for Christmas, as she is eager to open her presents. We have wrapped some and put them under our tree.

So, coming back to the title of this post, "Giving" - a lot of what I've been doing this holiday season is centered around it.

Today morning, I brought homemade breakfast for two of my colleagues at work. Leftover "upma" for one, who is north-Indian, and claims "upma" for be his favorite food. He totally enjoyed his surprise breakfast at his desk. The second colleague, who is a Palestinian, got to try my "banana nut bread" which I baked with almond+coconut flour, without using any sugar or butter or white flour. It was healthy, moist, and had a wonderful flavor from the cinnamon and vanilla extract that I added to it. He LOVED his surprise too.

On Wednesday morning, I'm baking cookies to take to the Retirement Home near the city library. We are going as a group from work, and one of our colleagues has a relative who stays there, and told us that they were a very lonely bunch, with no one to talk with and rare visitors. I can't wait to meet them and make them happy, even if it is just for a couple of hours.

As I do every year, I adopted a family this year for Christmas gifts. This time, it was a single mom close to my age, with a 11 year old girl and a 3 year old boy. The girl wanted "Hello Kitty" stuff, whereas the boy wanted "Mickey stuff". The mama, who was practical, wanted a nice jacket for herself, and some home items. I had a great time shopping for all the gifts. The mama got a really nice Columbia jacket (pink, which was her requested color), and an oversized blanket to share. The kids got most of their requested items. I went above my budget to fulfill most of their needs. It is done anonymously, however, they will send me a letter and hopefully a picture (sometimes,  I don't get pictures) of the family opening their presents on Christmas Day. I'm anxiously waiting :)!

We also have a trip lined up to visit the local church who feeds the homeless once a month. We will go in the first week of January, as December did not work out with our schedules. The daughter will join me this time, and I'm curious to see what she thinks of the experience.

For the daughter's preschool holiday party on Friday this week, we have to pick a gift (voluntary) for her teacher. I will go shopping this week....hopefully I can find something that she really wants but won't buy for herself :). A turtle-neck sweater, with a balaclava (I know she wants one) is on my mind.

I also sent a pair of "golite" gloves to my friend A's mom, who is 74 yrs old, and lives in Wales. They are so lightweight and warm, that she will use them all winter long.

And I just sent out an email to my local friends list for Christmas day brunch at our house, where all the families who join will play the "white elephant gift exchange" game. The gift will be $$ limited and it will be interesting to see what each family picks with the given constraints :).

I have never enjoyed the holiday season so much. And there's still 10 more days to go. I've not been a consumerist (we have hardly "bought" stuff for ourselves) but I've still been able to participate in my own ways in the "season of giving".

What have you been upto :)?