Waiting

I spend a good part of my life waiting.

Waiting.....

• for the alarm to ring even tho I am awake
• for the milk man to drop the milk
• for the filter to do its magic and my coffee to be ready
• for the pressure cooker to hiss
• for the timer in the gym to go off when i am doing something unbelievably tough 
• for the husband to come home
• for the dog to finish playing so he will agree to walk back home
• for it to be december so my best friend will come to india
• for the summer to eat mangoes
• for me to lose weight / inches or whatever

Prettify your home for the Festive Season

I'm doing a blogging marathon on the cooking blog. Today i tool a detour from all the festive cooking and wanted to share a few simple ideas about adding a little bling and cheer for the festival. I am a list maker, I try to be organised, I try my best to finish stuff on time. Most times I succeed, sometimes I fail. I don't sweat the small stuff. In an earlier life (read - a few years ago) I wanted everything to be perfect ~ the house, the table, kitchen, food, life in general.
Almost having a breakdown over it Good sense prevailed and I live to tell the tale. The house is never perfect, but these days, when we have unexpected guests, I don't scramble around to make it appear like something out of a magazine (which by the way is impossible, because they have teams of people to do that). Living with a domestically challenged K and now a really crazy dog which thinks he owns all the cushions in the house has further drilled down that story!

Last year for Christmas, I did not, for the first time in 8 yrs, put up my tree. Only because we had a young pup in the house and I was paranoid he would swallow the ornaments. yet, I didn't think it was the end of the world, because hey! it isn't. its an artificial tree with baubles....  That said, I almost always use my favourite accessories, dim lights and candles to make everything look pretty.

More than anything, it is friends and family and a warm welcoming home that is of importance. No amount of decor can make up for a home that is not welcoming to people. Our doors are always open for family and friends, we love having people over and sharing food and fellowship with them. Over the years, I have found, the more comfortable you are with yourself, the more comfortable and inviting your home is.

here are some things I do.

Bring out the serial lights and put them up where you can, doorpost, balcony, over the mantel or behind the TV. I put them amongst my plants in the balcony.

Rangoli and oil wicks in earthen lamps. I bought these inexpensive ones from a craft bazar and have been reusing them for 5 years now.

Flowers - even the ones that you grow in a tiny pot. use this as a centerpiece on your table .

Put your shot glasses to use and float a single flower in them. Here I used flowers that I found growing in the yard next to where I live

Use T-lights to avoid messes on your table tops. A Glass jar makes for a beautiful decor addition

Line up a row of diyas on your side tables - please make sure they are not at a level which can cause harm to your children or pets.

Serial Lights again ~ this time inside a glass jar which lights up the bar beautifully

in the next gear

its been a good five months that i began a fitness regimen. it started with going to a gym which you may recall i wrote about here... and being more conscious about what i eat and just being regular with exercise.

the first month, my mother was here... i was eating enough for two including rice at two meals, ghee and a lot of rubbish. amazingly, inches peeled off. i lost enough in that first month to keep me motivated and for people to take notice. I was happy.

Alas that wasnt enough! five months down, am at the same place. yes, people i meet still comment that i have lost weight or slimmed down as they put it... but i dont feel like the five months have borne fruit.

to be fair, i have had a bum knee... some stiffness which made me take a 15 day break and go back to a less intense routine. so there is no more jumping and skipping but a lot of core strength building exercises. and so with the workouts being less intense and the changed time, i have not been as enthused as i was earlier.

for one, the changed timing is just messing my entire day's schedule. i cant eat before the gym, and by the time i am done, am so famished, it takes me an hour to recover. I havent been sleeping enough. no day do i sleep more than 5.5 hours... which is simply not enough.... am writing a food diary and i am so conscious of every morsel of food now... that has'nt really helped.

did the assessment today at the gym. marginally lost a kilo and less than an inch on my waist.

this is simply not enough for me. I need to see better progress. I need better RoI for me to stay focussed and committed. I had a pow wow  with my trainer on this. I gave him (and myself) an ultimatum of 8 weeks, the end of this year...

i want to have visible changes in my appearance, of the good kinds...

so today we kickstarted an intense regimen and a very very strict diet plan which is similar to the paleo. no grains, flour or sugar of any kind, no milk, restricted dairy. carbs from vegetables lots of protein. the diet... is scary... but at this point, its the only thing that i think will work.

cheer me on... 8 weeks is all i have!