Leave poor Britney alone

Each day when I switch on the TV, I find the media gleefully relating some ‘juicy’ story or the other about Britney Spears. I'm pained to hear about her so called escapades day in and day out. Seeing the paparazzi hounding her like she's some demigod really gets my goat. Society is so driven by sensation that everyone is out to make a fast buck from her travails. Can’t you see, the anguished girl desperately needs some privacy? If this continues, I’m afraid she may meet the same fate as Princess Diana, another tortured soul.
I know Britney spells big business, but she really ought to be left alone. Why make her larger than life only to intensify her suffering? After all she is a mere human. Because of her mental health issues, the poor lost soul needs help and she probably needed it long before it ever got to this point. She is often criticized about mishandling her children. Who are we to be judgemental? For all you know, her weird actions may be a manifestation of her strong maternal instinct which is making the loss of custody of her children extremely painful for her. Probably, I would’ve reacted the same way too had I been in her shoes. It’s a good thing that her parents have taken charge of her now and are trying to cajole her into quitting show biz. Rather than criticize her, we should pray that she regains her mental sanity so that she is able to turn her life around not only for herself, but for her precious little kids as well.
Paparazzi lay your hands off her for God’s sake.

Better be safe than sorry

Here are some pearls of wisdom for young ladies on the brink of matrimony.
Before tying the knot, ask yourselves the following questions.

• Are we really on the same wavelength?
• Are our values in sync with each others?
• Are both of us aware of each other’s financial status?
• Are we prepared to make compromises during the initial teething phase?
• Would he be cool with my desire to work after marriage/kids?
• Can he put up with my relatives and can I put up with his?
• Have we discussed our own and our family health histories?
• Have we discussed whether we want kids and if so how many and how we want to raise them?
• Do I know how he’ll feel if I keep my last name?
• If I had problems with his parents, would he stand up for me or would I have to fight for myself?
• Do we plan on having separate bank accounts or creating one that we will share?
• Do I feel comfortable marrying into his social circle and he into mine?
• Do we have similar ideas on what quality leisure time is and how our vacations should be spent?
• Does he take responsibility for his mistakes or does he just stonewall me?
• Is my commitment strong enough for me to still be with him say fifty years from now?

If your answers convince you that everything is hunky dory, go right ahead and take the plunge, if not, then you have to give your relationship a serious rethink for it is always better to be safe than to be sorry.

Feed the world with Free Rice

A friend of mine told me about this interesting site, http://freerice.com/. It has a vocabulary game and for every right answer that you click, you help donate 20 grains of rice through the United Nations to feed the world's poor and hungry.

What do you get out of it? Well, its fun and stimulates your brain, it makes you smarter. It may also improve your speaking, writing, thinking, grades, job performance etc. etc...So now I'm having a great time, improving my vocabulary and helping wipe out the world's hunger ! Go ahead and try it. It's enjoyable and absolutely free.

Do something different this Valentine’s Day

Here are some suggestions on how you can break the strangle-hold of consumerism on Valentine's Day and let your own heart do the talking.
• Instead of the prosaic red roses, why not be a little imaginative and get a potted plant with a pretty flower or some wild flowers collected from a meadow or a park?
• Words sound much better when they are heartfelt and come from within. Speaking out what you feel will be cherished by your loved one. However, if you are really keen on giving a card, fashion one yourself. All the love that you pour into it while making it is well worth the pain and is much more valuable than those false, over priced, mushy, readymade cards.
• A candlelit dinner in a restaurant, on every Valentine’s Day, sounds so cliché and boring. Here’s a tip you’ll never tire of thanking me for. Why not ‘cook’ up a storm at home? Put on your aprons, whip up a meal of the dishes both of you love, set a table for two with candles, romantic music, champagne n all and see how the magic unfolds. The fun and excitement of cooking together, the disasters in the process and the efforts at salvaging the meal, the laughter, the friendly banter and the ribbing will all add to the enchantment and make the day a memorable one.

Anti-Valentine's Day??

Valentine’s Day has been made into one of the most wasteful occasions around... think about not just where all those gifts are coming from, but how they're packaged, how long they last and how meaningless it is when they're delivered more of out of fear of a backlash from a loved one than because it is something special.
This is what I call “socialized consumerism” unleashed by the media in connivance with the concerned businesses who will have us believe that it is not the little things you do every day that shows you care, but how much green (as in moolah) you surrender.
Since we're falling for it, hook, line and sinker, they're inventing new 'special days' to mop up what's left of our savings.
The concept of Valentine’s Day wasn't much heard of in India a couple of decades back….was the bond of love between couples any less then? Definitely not.
I know my starry eyed daughter will disagree with me totally. Sweetheart, fire away your salvo. I'm all ears (& eyes) !

Overcoming Loneliness

Whenever I am overwhelmed with loneliness and desperately feel the need for company in this cold, desolate foreign land, I find solace in the following prayer.

"Almighty God, enter my heart and mind so that I no longer feel so alone in the world. Let me have patience with myself so that I learn to enjoy my own company. Be the light in my life, so that the darkness of my heart will be illuminated by your love for me. Grant me the hope to know that I will not always be alone. Help me make friends that love me for who I am and not for what I do. Let me grow in wisdom and love for other people so that I can become a light to others. Amen."

Mithais anyone?

I guess, we Indians are a pretty resilient lot and can survive in any condition..
Living in Canada, at a place which is very far away from that part of the town where most South Asians live and where you can find a couple of Indian sweet shops, selling exhorbitantly priced sweets, one does pine for our delectable Indian ‘mithais’. Well, necessity is the mother of invention, you know. When the urge to sample our sweets gets the better of me, I just browse through the net and inevitably find some beautiful site which gives me a blow by blow account of how to go about making these objects of my desire. Yesterday I made a batch of the most divine gulab jamuns on earth and along with that went my New Year resolution. Believe me, they were awesome and no one would have guessed that it was my first shot at making them. I tell you, I'm turning out to be quite a Cordon Bleau ‘halwai’ and may very soon open a ‘halwai ki dukan’ of my own! Then poor ‘Desis’ like me won’t have to go haring across to the other end of the town to satisfy their sweet cravings!

Have to let you on to a little secret; I've also learnt to make the most scrumptious samosas and chat. Isn't that just cool?

Ginger bread house- My stress buster

Strange how sometimes the most innocuous of things can help relieve you of your stress.

Last month, I helped my niece and her friends in making a gingerbread house. Boy! did they have fun?
It was delightful watching the pure joy of the kids as they designed and assembled the house, set up the roof and then decorated the whole thing with candy ornaments.
It was a very messy affair though and the little ones had a hard time not licking the 'glue' which was made of flavoured icing! The house reverberated with their laughter and their excitement was certainly infectious ... I felt a strange kind of exhilaration and joy that I hadn't felt in a long, long time.
The end result was very pretty, colourful and eyecatching and I marvelled at the creativity of these little seven year olds. My niece looked as pleased as punch and proudly showed off her creation to her parents and elder sis.

I felt so light hearted after this and realised that my stress had just miraculously faded away.
On her next birthday, I'm planning to get her a three tiered cake covered with hot pink icing and give her all the paraphernalia required to decorate it so that she and her gang can doll it up to their heart's content.
Wouldn't that be just lovely?
This is what their gingerbread house looked like.

No Monkey Business This!

As the Bhajji-Symonds issue gets messier, there is a new twist in the tale. Apparently Bhajji hurled the Punjabi expletive “maa ki” and not “monkey" on Symonds.
Whereas both these words do not qualify as “racist slurs” in the Indian context, they are expletives all the same and the two players should have refrained from hurling abuses at each other. Mild sledging to a certain extent is acceptable but things should not be blown out of proportion.
Ricky Ponting’s complaint has opened a 'racist can of worms' which is not going to be forgotten in a hurry as it clearly has the makings of an Australia Vs Asia-West Indies showdown. As I see it, it’s going to be the Aussies’ loss all the way if they are boycotted by other cricket playing nations.
All sports should be played in the right spirit and and there ought to be healthy competition between players. And yes, we don't want 'whiners' around...test cricket is a game that ought to be played by sensible adults who know how to settle their differences amicably in the field itself.
Ricky Ponting are you listening?

Cruel Teens

Here is a shocking piece of news I heard the other day. There has been a case of severe animal cruelty perpetrated by a group of 15 year olds who thought it would be fun to break into a private residence and torture the family cat by placing it in a microwave oven and killing it.I was appalled by this utter callousness.
Any normal person cannot help but feel great sorrow for the terror and pain this poor animal experienced.I wonder how these kids would feel if someone stuffed them into a microwave and turned it on.
I think they will be let off lightly as they are minors. This is not right, for those who inflict deliberate pain and suffering on any animal deserve to be treated with no sympathy. Studies have shown that those who commit such horrific acts of cruelty against animals in their younger days usually continue with their violent actions later in life against humans.
I honestly feel that this should be viewed very seriously and the offenders awarded a much heavier penalty. They ought to be publicly humiliated as this would offer their peers and other youth a powerful deterrent in performing similiar senseless crimes.In my opinion,responsibility in such cases lies partially in the hands of the parents. Qualities like kindness, empathy, generosity and compassion must be inculcated in our youth. What are we spawning? A generation of ferocious, barbaric brutes??

Happy Birthday Mama

Today is my mother’s 74th birthday.
Mama,thank you for the sacrifices that you have made for us sisters and for instilling in us such good values.
I realise your worth and understand the greatness of your MKD all the more now that I’m the mother of grown up kids.
Here is a small poem to felicitate you, the BEST mother in the world.

"Mother" is such a simple word,
But for me it is like a keyword,
For everything I am today,
My mother’s love showed me the way.
I’ll love my mother all my days,
For enriching my life in so many ways.
She set me straight and then set me free,
And that’s what the word "mother" means to me.
Thanks for being a wonderful mother, Mama!
I love you with all my heart.

My New Year Resolve: A New ME

Once again, my resolution for 2008 is the same old one of losing weight. I know it’s easier said than done since I’ve been battling a losing battle with my bulges for quite some time now. I’m not as strong as my elder sister who has lost oodles of weight and still manages to keep them off. Oh! How I envy her...wish she could take away some of my pounds...This year, I have set more realistic goals for myself which I have written down on a beautiful piece of paper with the picture of the girl above next to it and have stuck it on my refrigerator with the hope that every day it will give me a kick right where I need it, and motivate me to go to the gym, avoid sweets and eat more fruits and vegetables! Hope this year at least I have the determination to make my weight loss dream come true. I so want to be thin, remain thin and above all, feel thin. Wish me luck...puhleese...

Not without my daughter- A gripping story of a woman's ordeal

Hi there, folks, sorry for the long silence. Hope all of you had a great holiday. With the family at home on vacation, I kind of had my hands full. However, I managed to snatch some time to read this beautiful book by Betty Mahmoody, ‘Not Without My Daughter’. A must read, it is a touching real life tale of grit and determination in the face of extenuating circumstances.
"Moody" is an Iranian doctor living in America with his American wife Betty and their child Mahtob. Wanting to visit his homeland again, he convinces his wife to take a short holiday there with him and Mahtob. Betty is reluctant, as Iran was not supposed to be a pleasant place, especially for an American female. Upon arrival in Iran, it appears that her worst fears are realized;To her horror, she finds herself and her four-year-old daughter, Mahtob, virtual prisoners of a man rededicated to his Shiite Muslim faith, in a land where women are near-slaves and Americans are despised. Moody declares that they will be living there from now on. Betty is determined to escape from Iran, but taking her daughter with her presents a larger problem.
I found this book very inspirational. It reminded me of how one can be faced with situations which really galvanise our strengths and focus our values.It also made me thank my stars that I don't have to ever face what Betty had to.
Go ahead and read the book, it is a gripping page turner. I grade this book as the best one I've ever read. I feel that each mother should gift it to her young daughter. It teaches one to be strong and fight against all odds.It has been made into a movie starring Sally Fields and Alfred Molina. I've posted the trailer above.Don’t miss it too.

SEASON'S GREETINGS

Here's wishing that Christmas brings peace, good health, warmth and much joy to all of you.
Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year !

Of pigs n men

I recently chanced upon these rather interesting Trojan condom ads that made me sit up and I felt I just had to share with those of you who havn't seen them as yet.

They feature a bunch of attractive women unhappily surrounded by a group of pigs. Literally..... Sipping drinks and staring at the wall, the women try their best to ignore the pigs’ pick-up lines, until one of the porkers heads over and buys a condom. Like the classic frog-to-prince transformation, the promise of safe sex turns Mr. Piggy into Mr. Hottie. When he returns to the bar, a fetching blond who had been indifferent, now smiles at him invitingly and he gets the girl.
The commercials are a part of a new ad campaign by Trojan called "evolve.” The message: "Evolve. Use a condom every time."
Some opinions on this-
1. All men are pigs.
2. Men who don't want to use condoms during sex are pigs.
3. If a man goes into a bar looking to get a girl drunk and have "protected" sex
with her, he is a pig, protected or not.
4. These are anti-men ads.
5. These are pro-smart-men ads.

I'd love to hear your take on it...light the spark and fire away!

Santas in Boot Camps!

Santa in a Boot Camp? Whoever heard of that one before? Well that's exactly what is happening. In some countries, Santa Claus has been accused of being a bad role model for children as child obesity rate rises and has been asked to set a good example for children this Christmas by losing weight. He has come under pressure to get rid of the wobbly under his red suit and has been told to attend a month long boot camp with vigorous exercises before he is deemed fit enough to greet children. Poor St. Nicholas would turn in his grave if he ever got to know this.

Kids really don't care that Santa is hugely obese. They, in fact, adore a roly poly Santa even more because his lap is so comfortable to sit on and his hug even warmer!
For centuries kids have identified Santa as a red-suited and jolly, rotund old man who comes all the way from the North Pole in his sleigh bearing wonderful gifts for them. Why deprive them of their dreams and break their illusions?

I, for one, would love innocent children to remember Santa as a chubby grandfather like figure whose belly wiggles like jelly and who spreads the Christmas cheer around with his characteristic 'ho! ho! ho!' What about you?

ETip gloves for iPod lovers

Guess what I bought…special gloves for iPod freaks made by Northface!! It will be a great stocking stuffer for my music crazy son this Christmas. He’s going to be really thrilled. Now with winter in full swing, it is virtually impossible for him to use the click wheel with his gloves on. Called ETip gloves, these which will provide relief to those iPod obsessed fingers from freezing. These black and grey gloves have special tips on the thumb and fore finger that allow static electricity to transmit through the material so that one can control the iPod’s click wheel without exposing one’s hands to the cold. These thin wind resistant gloves’ silicone palms would also offer great grip for opening water bottles or holding a camera. They can be worn on their own on mild winter days or under some warm mitts during a cold snap.

Isn’t that awesome? Great way to have your cake and eat it too.

Baubles for an effort well deserved

Just thought I'd share something quaint that I read in the newspaper today. I'm sure all moms of new borns would love to get 'push- baubles' and 'Caesar-baubles'. Nice concept to market, eh? Why didn't anyone ever think of this when my babies were born?? Guess because mine were priceless gifts which no bauble could match!!

A bundle of joy isn’t enough? A ‘mama gift’ comes with it
by Thomas Vinciguerra

When Jena Slosberg of Bedford, New Hampshire, gave birth in March, she endured a labor that lasted 17 hours. But her discomfort was ultimately worth it, quite apart from the arrival of her daughter, Marin. In the recovery room, her husband, Paul, presented her with a pair of diamond earrings.
“I was on cloud nine,” Slosberg said. “It was the perfect present to make a frazzled, sleep-deprived, first-time mommy feel absolutely glamorous.” She added, “I wonder what 17 hours of labor will get me next time?”
In a more innocent age, new mothers generally considered their babies to be the greatest gift imaginable. Today, they are likely to want some sort of tangible bonus as well. This bonus goes by various names. Some call it the “baby mama gift.” Others refer to it as the “baby bauble.” But it’s most popularly known as the “push present.” That’s “push” as in, “I the mother, having been through the wringer and pushed out this blessed event, hereby claim my reward.” Or “push” as in, “I’ve delivered something special and now I’m pushing you, my husband/boyfriend, to follow suit.”
“It’s more and more an expectation of moms these days that they deserve something for bearing the burden for nine months, getting sick, ruining their body,” said Linda Murray, executive editor of BabyCenter.com. “The guilt really gets piled on.”
A recent survey of more than 30,000 respondents by BabyCenter.com found that 38% of new mothers received a gift from their mate in connection with their child. Among pregnant mothers, 55% wanted one. About 40% of both groups said the baby was ample reward. Sandra Miller of Arlington, is not among the 40%. “Women can and do expect a thoughtful token of appreciation,” she said. “It’s a way to honor a mother giving her emotions, body and hormones over to a baby for nine months, culminating in an experience which, when done naturally, redefines the meaning of pain. And when not done naturally, it’s still an act of sacrifice.”
Push presents seem to have taken off within the last decade, particularly in the last couple of years. In 2005 the Southeast-based jewellry chain Mayors marketed diamond earrings with the tag line, “She delivered your first born; now give her twins.” Fortunoff, the jewellry and gift chain with a Fifth Avenue flagship, established a push present registry six months ago. But the push present — unlike the 15-year anniversary ring — is apparently not the invention of the jewellry industry looking for another opportunity to sell goods.
(courtesy NYT NEWS SERVICE)

My daughter turns twenty today

Today is my lovely daughter's twentieth birthday.

I remember the day she was born, like it was only yesterday. My life changed magically the very moment she came into this world. I became the proud mother of my ‘first-born’. She gave me a new life as I brought her to one. When I think about that day, what I remember most vividly is how she looked and what she did during her first moments of life. She was so healthy looking; chubby pink cheeks, a round head of soft brown hair, dark jewel-like eyes and fingers already grasping for a hold. She opened her eyes and looked straight into mine. I have no idea if she could focus yet, but I prefer to think that I was her first image on earth. She was the most beautiful baby in the whole universe and as my equally wondrous husband gently placed her in my arms, I remember myself crooning and whispering the words ‘my little princess’ softly into her little shell-like ear.

The rigours of adolescence and the pressures that all teens go through have not changed her one bit. She is the most beautiful, calm, God-fearing, talented, gentle and compassionate girl I have ever known. Her independent spirit, her eagerness to take challenges, her work ethics, and her willingness to accept people for who they are makes me, on this day especially, an exceptionally proud mother.

Now as she crosses the threshold into womanhood, I know that in a few years time she will get married and leave us to start a new home of her own; till then, I will continue to savour our special mother-daughter bonding, enjoy our shopping sprees, our cooking sessions, watch her pirouetting in her new outfits like a fashion model, willingly be subjected to her motherly fussing when I’m ill, catch a movie together or the times we would just loll around chatting and gossiping about all and sundry. When she was much younger, she used to refer to these as ‘girl-girl things’ as opposed to the 'boy-boy' activities that her father and brother indulged in. These priceless moments were our 'special quality times' together which I will hold close to my heart all my life.

Dearest daughter….I want you to know that I’ll always cherish the wonder and joy of watching you grow into a beautiful young lady. I am and shall always be proud to announce to the world “This is my lovely daughter”. Thank you for bringing joy to our lives in so many different ways.

Happy birthday sweetheart. Make the most of your twenties for these are the most beautiful years in a woman’s life.
God bless you.

'Juicy' tip of the day!

When is the last time you thought of you?...

Life is short, stop settling for the ordinary you, be a luscious you!...

If women support one another in life and in all its facets, including the importance of feeling luscious, the world will be a better place.

We women can have a career, a partner, a family to care for, and still nurture and treasure ourselves.

So let youself go and make the most of your life ....

Think luscious, Feel luscious, Be luscious!

Girls remember we are gorgeous and always shall be!

All it takes is to only REDISCOVER ourselves one luscious moment at a time.

Winter is here

Brr! Old Man Winter is sure making his presence known this week, with chilly temperatures and snow in the forecast.I got the kids to bundle up before heading outside this morning as the wind chill has plunged to a -25C. The rest of the week looks much the same with flurries and snow dipping the mercury even further.

We'd better clear the driveway when the snow piles up. Shovelling is real hard work so we've just bought a snow blower and the whole family is quite excited about using it this winter.Winters are beautiful in Canada when everything is covered with a frosty icing of snow and it feels like one has virually walked into a Christmas card.

However, I long for the warm comfort of our South Indian winters.

Ah! The Pleasures of Shopping

With Christmas around the corner, the shopping malls are choc a bloc full of a myriad variety of attractively packaged stuff just waiting to be bought off the shelves. Mind you, the bargains and discounts that are on offer are mind blowing. It is time to get started with thejoy of buying gifts for my loved ones this Christmas. Hey…and how about refurbishing the house too! Wouldn’t it be great to give the home a new make-over before the guests arrive for Christmas? Wicked thought isn’t it? Bet my husband will shudder at the prospect of the huge expenses that this venture would involve! Especially since he has already made bookings for that long promised holiday in sun-drenched Hawaii for the New Year.

Like all women, I love (or is it lust?) shopping, be it window shopping where I can spend hours trying on everything on display, feeling and touching without really buying anything (much to the dismay of the sales-assistant, I’m sure) or the real shopping when I really mean business. I don’t think I will ever get over this passion, for it is a primal desire which gushes forth right from within me, it is a real stress buster and infuses me with a warm glow inside. Something like ‘comfort food’ I guess.

Sales are something I just love. I’m oblivious to the crowds milling around me and I’m literally transported to another world as it were. I guess the thrill of shopping comes from spotting an interesting item, desiring it, finally buying it and then flaunting these objects of desire for the whole world to covet! ‘flaunting’? ‘covet’? …no, no…I’m just kidding. I’m actually not all that bad, you know.
The saddest thing that happened to me yesterday was that I sprained my ankle and the doc has rendered me immobile for at least three weeks. Drat, there goes my biggest shopping extravaganza of the season. I was so bugged.
Ever optimistic as I am, what’s a little sprain, I thought. Nothing is going to deter me from my all consuming desire to shop till I drop. If not on foot on a brick-and-mortar structure, why not online was what I gleefully decided.
Thus started my odyssey with cyber shopping and believe me, I’m hooked. It has opened a whole new universe for me. I went to many popular online shopping sites and browsed around for hours without tiring myself out at all. I previewed products, read reviews and recommendations, I spotted objects of interest, desired them after examining two-dimensional images of them, added them into my shopping cart after of course selecting suitable sizes/colours. I went on adding more and more stuff. No crowds, no walking, no aching feet, just moving and clicking my mouse. Boy, did I get crazy! Thought I’d get the carpal tunnel syndrome at the rate I was clicking.
The greatest thing about online shopping is that when you have a shopping cart full of stuff, and all of a sudden you lose the urge to buy anything, all you have to do is go do something else and come back to your cart later on. You can never do that at a real shopping mall. The harried sales assistant is not likely to forget you in a hurry
When you’re ready to part with your money (which you do not see) after your online selection, all you have to do is to click the ‘check out’ button in your shopping cart. You fill in your particulars, including your credit card number and your correct address (you don’t want the goodies delivered to some very lucky bloke). That’s basically it. However, online shopping doesn’t end here. It provides the convenience of the parcels being delivered home and I’m told you get the feeling of being pleasantly surprised as though somebody has sent you a gift. You momentarily forget that it is you who has dished out the money for them. Lovely feeling, that. Don’t you think?
Out of all the sites on the Web, eBay is my favourite place to surf for millions of exciting stuff from online vendors from around the world. It is easy to search for products, navigate pages and select online finds. The website’s buy-it-now or auction-style purchasing, numerous payment choices (including the simple and secure PayPal) and several shipping options is why I love clicking on this shopping wonder of the World Wide Web. CyberMonday, Fabmall, Rediff, Indiatimes and Sify are also other place worth visiting.

See you later. Got some more stuff to buy which I just remembered!

Zofia we are with you

My heart goes out to Zofia Cisowski the Polish immigrant to Canada whose son Robert Dziekanski was tasered to death at Vancouver airport last month. Poor Robert who didn’t understand English spent more than nine hours at the airport “lost, confused, thirsty and hungry”. The manner in which his life came to a catastrophic end chilled me. Imagine what his mother must be going through. She had been to the airport to receive him but had to leave as she was informed that Robert had not even arrived. The day that was to have been the happiest in her life since she would be meeting her dear son after seven long years turned out to be a terribly tragic one. My heart turned cold when I saw the video of his last moments. The intensity of my feelings might not even be an iota in comparison to the pain Zofia must be going through.
May the Almighty give Zofia the courage to overcome her grief.

Age Calculator

It is so easy to find out a person's age. Just try this on yourself... it is simple arithmetics and it worked for me. Bet it'll work for you too.

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to go out to eat. (more than once but less than 10)
2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)
3. Add 5
4. Multiply it by 50
5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1757 ...If you haven't, add 1756. 6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.
You should have a three digit number.
The first digit of this was your original number (i.e., how many times you want to go out to restaurants in a week.)
The next two numbers are
YOUR AGE! (Oh yes, it is!!!!!)
This is the only year (2007) it will ever work.

The Beginning

I’m a stay-at-home Mom of two marvellous teenaged kids who are now old enough not to need me mothering them all the time. With a husband who is so caught up with his work and is away from home on his frequent business trips, I have all the time in the world to indulge in the luxury of my childhood pastime of being cocooned in the quiet ecstasy of my dreamy abstractions.

‘Day-dreamer’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland’ were epithets that I had earned as a little girl. Although now I am on the wrong side of forty, I still am an inveterate thinker and am deeply moved by things happening around me. Politics, religion, reading, surfing the net, sports and fitness, travelling, cookery, parenting, health, environment, music and movies, home and gardening, computers, gadgets and gizmos…. just about everything catches my fancy.I had always wanted to pen my musings to share them with everyone but didn’t quite know how to or where to make a beginning.

It was only yesterday, as we were relaxing after dinner that my children hit upon the idea that I start blogging. “BLOGGING? You’ve got to be joking!” I exclaimed nervously. I for one hadn’t done a jot of creative writing ever since I graduated from High school and that seemed like centuries ago. However, backed by encouragement from my dear, supportive husband and coupled by the enthusiastic cheers of the kids, I got down to the task. Thus was born ‘Panoramic Reflections’.

I’m pretty excited about this new venture of mine and eager to set the pages rolling!
Folks, Wish me luck since I’ve never done anything like this before.
Ciao…Until next time.