Yet another hobby

Beading! As in beaded jewelery making. Last weekend I went to the Gem and Jewelery Show and bought a bunch of gems, beads, pearls etc. Now, what should I do with those..lets see..Ofcourse, lets make jewelery! I have actually made 2 pairs of earrings so far. I'm loving this! I am very motivated when results are instant. So ofcourse everything else takes a back seat for now. I did read 2 books this month as well, but mostly I'm taking out the beads every night and planning what to do with them. And with Mehul right beside me, it means he wants to touch them as well. He has selected one particular strand of rectangular Agate that he pretends is the Black Train. Heee

So no wonder blogging and scrapping are taking a back seat. My online time is consumed in searching cheap sources for beading. I've found Fire Mountain Gems and placed an order with them last night for the materials needed to make jewelery - wire, crimp beads, clasps, metal beads, etc. I can hardly wait for the stuff to get here so I can get going on making matching necklace/bracelets. This site is great for instructions with pictures.

In other news, I did get to watch the 'Bee' last weekend as well. AWESOME movie. Definitely getting this one on DVD, but then, we enjoy animated movies more than normal people would LOL!

Lastly, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Bee was not to be...

I don't think I've mentioned it here, but I've been trying to watch the Bee movie. Since my birthday (Nov. 17th), I've been trying to watch it. So, I went out with some girl friends on the 16th for a girls night out and watched a *different* movie, because we thought this movie was better to be seen with kids. On the actual day, we had the potluck so that day was out. Since then, something *always* comes up whenever we make plans. Oh, including last weekend when DH complained of having pain and buzzing in his right ear due to ongoing sinus issue.
Sometime last week, DH called another friend whom we haven't met in a while, and planned to finally go the coming sunday (yesterday). So, we all got there. Somehow, we managed to be late by around 10 minutes. We entered the hall 11 (which will be significant later) and settled in, the movie had already started. Within less than 5 minutes, they asked everyone to go out as there was a gas leak in the theater. I believe I actually said "Seriously!! This is not happening." Everyone was thrown out of the theater within a matter of minutes. Mehul and J were veryyy happy to see the firetrucks though. We were issued refund tickets to come back anytime.

We had lunch and then headed to our place to sit and catch up with them. DH called the theater about an hour later and was informed that they're open and playing the movies again. In the meantime I told my friends how long I've been trying to watch the movie and it's jinxed for me (and them too now hehe) They said they'll make sure I see the movie today and we went back to the theater for the 4:30 show. *Now* we were informed we couldn't watch Bee because that very hall #11 is closed, every single other one was open. Sigh. I won't every try again and just wait for the DVD. LOL!

But we watched Enchanted instead. I liked this movie. DH is not really into fairy tales so he thought it was ok. It is PG rated but there is really only one scene that might have scared Mehul. He was fine and enjoyed the movie and I believe the 6 yr old daughter of our friend enjoyed it much more.

Just busy

I've been busy busy busy for many reasons. I had a work deadline which is now done. We are getting our basement built. The contractors started last weekend. We've been gathering ideas for the kitchen/bar area we wish to make there. Been to Lowe's, Home Depot, Ikea, etc. I loved one of the kitchens in Ikea and that's what we'll go with. We ordered the appliances from Sears on Black Friday and got quite good prices because of the sale. There will of course be pictures when everything is said and done.

I cleaned the play room today. What a disaster area. Ugh. Currently, we're using the living room as the play room and use the family room to entertain the guests. That should change though because I can not handle the toys at the entrance of the house anymore. They are breeding like anything and are completely out of control. I have many ideas for organizing the playroom but lack the time rightnow. Once the basement is done, we'll move the playroom downstairs and then buy some nice furniture for the room. I've even selected what I want.

I started stitching the Angel of Love again. It's coming along really well. I have it in my 101 list as a goal for finishing in 2007. We'll see if that actually happens. I get distracted very quickly LOL!

Life in Software..

Whole day to find a problem.
15 minutes to solve it.

Such is my life..

Thanks for your comments, they mean a lot to me :)

Diwali Pictures rescued from the camera

Thanks for your comment, Fiona :) It helped me put a perspective on the purpose of this blog. That is partly why I started it in the first place, so I have a place to share my side of the world's view with others.

Here are some of the pictures I promised. Sorry I have none in the sari I wore on Diwali. I just have to make it a habit to wear traditional clothes more often that we have been. And to remember to take pictures in them. LOL!

Rangoli

It looks better in the pictures - They were taken at night after lighting the diyas (earthen lamps with oil and cotton wicks).

A closer look

Crackers

Diwali Lights

Coconut Burfi

- Recipe going on my food blog soon.


I am in love with my tile flooring. It was so easy to clean it after having the Rangoli there for 5 days. There even was some oil spilled from the diyas. I could never light oil lamps on hardwood flooring. So happy about this choice.

Saturday was my birthday. I celebrated by having a girls night out on Friday night - Ira, Monica and I went to watch a Hindi movie - Om Shanti Om - in the theater that only runs Hindi movies here. And we almost hit a deer while returning. We were on the Toll Road. It was just standing there, not moving at all. I saw there was *something* on the road from far but couldn't make out what was it. I asked Monica, who was driving, to change lanes. By then, the dear was clearly visible in headlights. Going at 65 mph there wasn't much time. Thank God there was no one in the next lane or it would not have been very nice start of the birthday (it was almost 12:15 AM). All four were saved, including the deer, who still did not move an inch.

Saturday, Ira had our Potluck group over at her house. We celebrated their housewarming, my birthday, and another girls birthday (was on the 15th). Much fun was had and I didn't have anything to do entire day :) DH made bed-tea, took me (and M) out to lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant, and I treated myself to some knitting stash. Perfect day.

Diwali (last post on this topic - promise)

This post is long so better sit down for this one :)

Ok. So the day started with rain. Not entirely unexpected as there was 60% chance of precipitation. I hadn't decided as of Thursday night where I wanted to make the Rangoli. This actually made the decision easy :) It is usually made at the entrance of the house so my options were either outside the front door (more traditional), or in the Foyer. We have tile flooring so I didn't mind it inside.

DH had a meeting in the morning so he had to go in and he dropped Mehul at the daycare. I was working from home and had some stuff to do, so I worked straight through 2PM. Missed my lunch and ate breakfast while working. So then I decided I was getting behind on my to-do list for the Diwali so I took a break from working. I made the Rangoli, then made the sweet dish - Coconut Barfi, and then started thinking about lunch because my stomach was rumbling by then. It was 3, I believe. DH came home. He had gotten some fast food for himself and he brought Mehul back from daycare. He was running late for lunch too as he had his own list of things to do after work. M had the lunch and nap at the daycare so we're good there.
DH fixed me up with some frozen dosas as I couldn't decide what to eat and kept doing other things like cleaning. LOL. I have a short attention span so that's very normal for me.

Back to the Rangoli - I didn't like the colors at all. When I dyed them, they turned a nice bright color. I added more color because I thought they might lose a bit of the brightness upon drying though I was not expecting the Yellow to turn into cream. The red was better because it had other dye besides the food coloring, but I'm not happy with sand as the medium. Way too dirty (duh!). It kept running off the edges with the slightest movement of air. Mehul, of course, had a lot of fun with the left-over sand in a bag and shovel on the Kitchen floor. So, around 5 I went to Wegman's to get some flowers. I needed to make a border around it because the sand was driving me nuts. The flowers contained it a little better. But still the colors could have been brighter. Pictures are still not downloaded so I'll do those later.

I made the main dish I was supposed to make after lunch. I'm not sure what I did after - probably cleaning. DH finished vacumming the Kitchen and Family room. I dressed Mehul in the dress he wore on his birthday. Shortly after that, he had an accident. O oh! Luckily, I found a pajama-bottom that goes well with the dress and still fits him. I got dressed in Sari and DH wore a traditional Kurta Pajama as well!

It rained the entire day so we couldn't do the fireworks. Friends arrived, everyone had food and drinks, etc. The kids started dropping off to sleep around 10. We then sat down to play cards. Gambling on Diwali night has been a tradition for ages but no one in my side of family practices that. DH says everyone in his family gambles and loses LOL! We each put $5.00 and played with 10 cent at a time (or whatever you call them). They taught me how to play. It was the most fun I've ever had on Diwali night. We played until 3AM.
We played with the fire-crackers (saved from july 4th) on Sunday night. I have pictures, just no time to upload them yet. Mehul has caught another cold, he's not well but we're sending him to daycare. He's miserable at night.