Mothers, esp with small kids will be so able to relate to this...the number of times we need to do the bed. The sheets just wouldn't stay in place...coz, the kids are all over it....under it...above it....
Fitted sheets work best, in such cases, but again...many a times, we have to give up on those lovely bed-speads jsut coz, they are flat, and not fitted.
Sharing here a simple tip that works just great for me, to convert flat sheets to fitted.
Take the four corners of the bed -spread
tie knots at the corners as shown above.
Lay the bed-sheet and pull down the corners below the mattress.
Adjust the position of the knots so that the sheet stays perfectly fitted to the mattress.
(hey ! you noticed the date ? 2012 2013 ! Two years together. ;) )
The Tree is up..the Crib is set...my lill LED snowmen and Santas are out...our
home is up for our "last" Christmas. Well..by last.i mean, its our last, in this flat where we are right now. Moving to better premises by next month..so, definitely want this to be special.
Some images of our home...
Hark Now Hear....the Angels sing....
The crib .Alright..alright...Baby Jesus just landed a few days prior...on demand by my little one.
Our tree...at night. (sorry for the bad quality)
Typing up this post from the study desk...its big time shouts, laughter and cheers, rising from our living room. Real celebrations for dH and his College Allumini Cricket Team. It was the finals today..and they won the match !!! and this win..is indeed special.
Well...theirs "IS" a strong team; have been reaching the finals for the last 7 yrs and was winning too...except for last 3 years. The same oponents all yest years, and compared to the men in late 30's and 40's thats us... the other team on the other hand are more younger blood, more bachelors. We kept losing to them, in the finals. And now..the trophy is back !..Time to rejoice !!!!
The first round of celebration is what is ongoing now...at our home, while typing this down (God knows, when this will be posted thou) . Now, its just the men... the team alone. Next goes..with team members and family, on a larger scale. Yet to take place.Looking forward to it.
Some hand-assemled/home -made Chrsitmas decor.
Wrapped the greens around an inverted yogurt cup and placed the candle on top.
These candles just wouldn't stay perfectly straight..yet..fine enough.
A makeover for the corner flower pot
Door wreath - Cut a ring out of card board and stitched the greens and decorations atop.
Some edible Christmas art ? Pop onto my cook-ie space Quick Picks for the details.
Baby, you're a firework Come on, let your colors burst Make 'em go "Oh, Oh, Oh" You're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe
(a bit from the FIREWORKS lyrics by KATY PERRY)
St. Raphael's Church, Thykoodam, Kochi, Kerala.
Born to a very pious mother, church services, daily family
prayers, St. Antony’s novena on Tuesdays… were all a never miss for us as kids.
Staying close to our Parish, we were pushed to go (walk) to church not just on
Sundays, but on Saturdays ..and any other holidays as well. And one of the most
memorable “like’s” of those yesterdays was the Church Festivals.
view of our Thykoodam Parish Church Festival Eve celebrations
In googlemaps..its zoom in as : Asia, India, Kerala, Kochi,
Vyttila, Thykoodam – St. Raphel’s Church - one of the biggest parishes of the Archidiocese of Verapoly. This year, Sunday, the 6th of October 2013, was the Feast of the heavenly patron . Wanted to make this post then, but got late.
Had I been home today..it would have been a great time for all the Christians around the area... getting ready for the grand festive mass...celebrations...
the band set playing the latest bolly/molly/tollywood numbers and yes...devotional hymns too.
I reaaallllly missing those days.....wallah !!!!
Saturday, The eve of the Church Feast have the Holy Services in the evening, followed by the procession, and the best part of it all was the Fireworks, to the very end.
Green to the right….red to the left….didn’t know what they were exactly called….so, we named them rockets,parachutes…and umbrellas !!! We would be there...few giggly girlies... right in front of the crowd to watch the colourful sparkles that lit up the sky….the loud booms , bangs…..
The fireworks !!!
Minutes of hyper excitement.
My mother would never stay
back to watch the fireworks and rush back home after the procession, coz most of the times, our uncles would have
come over and so, she had to be there to be serving all the lovely dishes she
had prepared – appam, mutton stew, duck roast, cutlets….my ! I terribly miss
those days. And for me……i was definitely not leaving…or…well..i will put it
like this…either I stay back at church till the entire fireworks show was over and
reach back home very late …or make a dash to my house before the fireworks
began, run up the stairs to my terrace to be there, to watch the sky getting
lit. Either way, it was fine with me..as
long as I saw the colours bursting with a bang out of the darkness...
and it
made the girlie in me very very happy.
I had this lovely family friend of ours…she was atleast 10 years older to me…Jenny chechi (name slightly changed)..and my ! she was one lively fun-loving character. I loved being with her, she had an ever-ready smile and could crack instant wits out of nothing. She had a great sense of humour. And I personally, prefer to be in the company of such people…coz, they radiate their positiveness onto you as well.I could only remember myself to be always laughing whist she was around.
I get to meet her only during the church service. Even though we are in the same neighbourhood, we both moves to opposite sides of the church…so, it was customary that we stay there at the junction where we part ways and be chatting and giggling..at the same time. Be it “Way of the Cross” procession on Good Friday…the Christmas midnight mass…to watching the fireworks and shouting….yeaaahhhh….she was my church company.
I still cherish her deeply.
You are deeply missed…Jenny chechi. !!!
And now…coming to the present, is this new band gone
viral across social media-
Thaikkudam
Bridge.
A group of very young fresh talents taking the place by storm with the beautiful music, mostly the oldies with a new fresh touch.And the best part, it all started for them , packed ina room near the“Thykoodam Bridge” (which is right in front of my home)...where they used to meet and jam !
for the Keralites, this is one of the best from them (acoording to me, that is)
for the Indian audience...this is great !!! .."Haq-Allah.. !"
and on international audience..a fresh rendition of "The Beat it..."
Small world...indeed !!!
And..am I not pleasantly surprised, that i could dig apicture fromm googly of the foot of the Thykoodam Bridge and on the right hand side of this image, you see a 2 floor building in blue and red, and a mango tree just next it ??.
That's my dearest tree..my HOME !!! SWEET HOME !!! BACK HOME !!!
Proud of my homeplace “Thykoodam”..you
are rocking!!!!
"Doe..a deer...a femal deer.".. the TV to my back is singing. (love that movie !!!)
It's lunch time ongoing...very much ongoing...and my smallest can take ages to get his tiny portion of food move down from his mouth to his even slimmer tummy. Feeding the younger ones with my right..the left hand didn't have much to do...so, decided to be writing something down.
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You wind up a Friday with so many plans to do the next day, and top n line was to take the boys out to the park or nearby beach to be trying out the various settings of my new DSLR in bright daylight. That was for the plan for last saturday..and today as well....but...damn...all hopes in the drain...
My maid doesn't turn up...AGAIN !!!
well..she's being doing this for quite some time now....scooting jog on Saturday, when am having a day off. And, its the very day that I have so much to do at home...some major cooking, grinding batter for dosa/appam...whatever, for breakfasts the next days...in between the homework, regular sunday tests for our elder.... and this scenario made me really crap.
I was to pick Shayne back from his Maths Abacus class, so without the maid, had to grab the little ones too along with me. Missed the road to his classes, missed the second road too..and ended up going round the entire area getting back to track.
What a great start for a new day !
Wondered, if the badness of Friday, the 13th just reached Middle-East, a day late. Saturday, the 14th.....Humm.
On a positive note, the boys got an early morning ride straight from bed, in their sleep wear...teeths not brushed.hair not done.....either !
(think positively...think positiveeellyyy...that's all you can say to yourself anyways)
Back home..and beign a SAHM for about 3 years, i knew exactly well how my day was gonna be.
Prepare breakfast, feeding..cleaning..by then, it would be time to think abt lunch.
Prepare lunch, feeding, cleaning...
Kids nap time, and other miscellaneous .... browsing, facebook, blog...goes somewhere in between
Prepare dinner, feeding, cleaning.
And not to forget the laundry pile. I dont do laundry on fridays..so its 2 piles for saturday to wash, and the leftover pile from thursday to fold. I hate "this" part of the clothes, the most.
But...somewhere..things just didnt turn that bad as I thought. "Good ! I liked it !!!"
Listening to the "Pista song" from the moview NERAM while giving breakfast, was just like taking a full dose of an extra-active energizer drink.
It's soo full of energy...you are up .....
and ready to be ..on the go !!!!
A very good movie, from the perspective that its the directorial debut of Mr. Alphonse Putharen along with his friends whom he used to meet at a coffee shop in Aluva, Kerala...all with a passion and a dream to make a movie...some day !
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Alright ! get back to work ! ..its 11:00 am already.."What's For Lunch, Mommie"..would be the next question in about 2 hrs time. ooh..well.... :/
The rest of the day was just music..some soft, some bold, some nostalgic ..playing from my laptop on top of the kitchen counter, that I ended up making "fish-biriyani" for lunch !
One which particularly caught attention was the title name - Maula Mere Maula/Pink Floyd mix, and i was like...Oh my God ! This would be like combining vanilla milk shake with some kerala style spicy salmon-fry".
Hindi music fans knows where"maula mere maula" stands - its way up there ! one of the best songs ever.
And Pink Floyd - for english rockers and psychedelic musci lovers..this group is way up there as well !
And combining these two...? very bold indeed!
But, reading the full title...i went.."aah! so, its him. In that case, I am definitely not surprised. It was by "Bennet and the Band". In here, the transition between the two songs is so so soo smooth, just with the single note of a flute, that i literally had to go back to listen it once again.."when in the world did the lyrics change" ?
Have seen him once, perform live, and indeed was really amazed by the way he blends in extreme lines. After all..the Law says.."Unlike charges attract each other". His music blends keeps proving that.
Thats a picture i have of one of his performances here, live, with Naresh Iyer and Shweta Mohan and one of his bit was such a lovely blend of the old sound track for Titan watches with a hit-tamil number by illayaraja - Ada veetukku veetukku vaasappadi venoo..". It was excellent.
Some others which I ended up listening over and over...
"Ee solomonum...shoshannayum.." brings in that feel of the olden time tradional Christian household. Very solemn a song.
Iktara cover (wake up Sid)
...and so on....
Music Mojo does features some lovely collection, and got to admit, within no time, my Biriyani was ready...kitchen was cleaned..and...
...my graph plot of "crabbiness" vs "time" went down ..just like this.
Well..let me take a forehand bail before I go into this post.
"Your kids spot you doing these in their room - the hand drawings...and that in turn is a guarentee for them to start attacking the walls themselves with colour pencils and paints. So, if having small kids at home, do this when they are asleep, or get your husband to take them out to the playground before you get yourself busy to surprise them with a room makeover. Ideal as a birthday gift".
Am sharing two simple kids-room make over designs here.
The room door.
I did this as a birthday surprise for our eldest son on turning 3...(5 years back, that is).
Printed those letter templates from the HP Activity Room site. A very nice space woth spending some time looking around with lots of free and paid templates. The tag "BABY" had holes punched on it and satin ribbon passed through to hang it onto the sticker hooks.
Went for a simple concept easily digestable for a 3 year old.
Animals, Todd house, baloons...
Brought these animal stickers from the 100 fills shop.
The baloons were cliparts which i printed directly onto plain sticker paper . Cut and glued onto the walls.
The grass, flowers, trees and clouds were drawn using oil pastels.
(and this is why, I warned you right at start..not to be doing this in front of kids. Coz, once they spot you, then there is no turning back. They too will start attacking all the walls with crayons, pencils, pastels, lipstick, eyeliners....coz,if their mom can draw on the walls...then why in the world are they being held back ??? You wont have an answer to that. )
As a base border to the paintings, stuck a floral pattered sticker sheet roll all along, which matched the curtain colour. I also drew the flowers (amongst the animals) similar to the ones on the sticker sheet.
A corner of the room was set as the "Toy Corner". So, printed some smiley clip art faces onto sticker sheets, cut and glued it around that area.
The floral sticker border continues to the other wall too as well. With him being in playschool at that time and just into the basics of ABCD, 123.....decided to have the numeral series in a train concept. I do most of the art layouts in MS Powerpoint. In the insert clipart option, inserted a train boggie image and typed the numbers 1, 2, 3 on each.
Two boggies together, were sized to A3, and printed on plain A3 paper.
The boggie images were then cut to shaped and stuck together one after the other on the walls with fevicol.
The smoke from the train was again with back and grey oil pastel.
For the family touch, there were 3 pictures .. one of him while he was a baby and one each of us with him.
And, to have a unity in the overall layout, did the border of the pictures in the same pattern as the room curtains.
1. Take a picture of the curtain. 2. Scan it in jpg format. 3. Open a plain slide in MS Powerpoint, insert the jpg of the curtain to fill the page as background. 4.Now insert the picture of your choice to a smaller size, so that the previosuly inserted image of the curtain stays as a border for the photograph.
Thats him...the busy chef, in his playpen.
Well..does it sound funny, if I say that I am obsessed with my own possessions?
Did I confuse you ?...
It's just that, he is my first of the lot...and I was really obsessed with him..and used to keep saying..."my! he is soo cute!..he is soo cute...i hope he stays the same" . :)
Nothing makes them more proud that an open display of their artwork.
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2 yrs past..time for next redo.
With the total "little men army" count to three..there was definitely no other option than to have the colour Blue for the walls.
A space theme...with the astronaut landed on the moon. (The surface of the moon gets hand drawn using oil pastels)
...and..the rocket is carrying all his paintings and artworks all the way upto the moon.
Space themed fluorescent stickers for the sky effect...at night.
The rocket heading to the moon.
Clay dough stuff.
Used satin ribbon and plastic dress clips to hang the displays .
Thought this was more handy rather than sticking/nailing all the drawings onto the walls and also, easier to replace the old with the new.
