Tuesday 13 February 2018

February Half Term Week 2018

# Just before the half term week we had our Parent Teachers Meeting and for me will be the most memorable one so far.. Ni's teacher Miss Lotts began by saying that " Lovely Ni - why I can't have 30 of her in the class. Whatever work is given to her it is understood that she will finish it to the highest standard. She is the ideal child to have in class. Mathematics is her strong point. She is sociable and very much popular in class. She has the elements of showing depth in her studies which generally only 10% of the class can achieve.
# Aa's teacher Mrs Giddy said there is a considerable improvement in his handwriting and now he takes a lot of pride in his presentation of his work. He needs to raise his hand and say he does not understand any concept in Maths. He goes very well with Mrs Bains and they both have share a good bond.
# As and Aa left for India on Friday via Amsterdam. Unfortunately their luggage is misplaced and waiting for it to arrive. Luggage arrived finally on Sunday night.
# Saturday began with my Gym session of cardio and little bit of strength training ( chest and leg press). After that I went for a luxury facial for an hour and picked up Ni from her art class at Fairkytes centre. We were joined by Ja and her daughter at Wimpys Hornchurch for lunch. I had cheese and tomato toasties and black Americano and Ni had chicken nuggets with fries. We all four chatted and left after 2 hours from the restaurant.
# Other good news which happened this half term was that Ni was given an all clear for her vision. She no longer requires to wear glasses and her vision is perfect. She will be seen again in 9 months.
# Watched " Padmavat" at  Vue Cinema Romford with Uma. Glad I watched it finally!!
# Sunday morning I took appointment with Out of Hours GP for my rash and was prescribed a cream. This rash was causing me a lot of grief and glad that I found some relief after applying cream couple of times.
# We all went for " Paddington 2 " and enjoyed the movie. This was more funnier than the first one.
After the movie we went for lunch at Pizza Express with Ni's friend and her family.
# We all browsed few stores in The Brewery and bought a laundry basket / a rainbow slinky gifted by Ni's friend and then was dropped home by them.
# Did my Gym session of 1 hour 30 minutes.
# Monday - play date at my place / work from home / Ni's workshop / bought a brand new shiny rug / few potted indoor plants / made cabbage with peas.
# Tuesday - work from home / made Panchmel daal / bought two bright red cushions / Ni attended x 2 workshops in Explore Learning /
# Wednesday - Back to work / Ni and her friend attended the Explore Learning and then Ni spent the entire day with her / attended a soft launch party of my friend starting tea business.
# Thursday - work again / Ni's friend came over for couple of hours / Ni attended Phoenic Screener and Kip McGrath / came late from work / trip to Tesco /
# Friday - woke up at 5 am and logged in at work / Ni's 4 friends came over for play date/ 

Monday 5 February 2018

Notes - Psychologies March 2016

This issue focused on learning to be confident - stop feeling small, start being brave.

* If we use these words " justs,sorry,thinks and feels " then it gives a hint to recipient that we are unsure of ourselves lessening their confidence in our ideas.

* Fill your basket with joy, not things. - our lives are becoming ever more complex due to the amount of information we deal with daily,and the number of decisions we are faced with.By removing some of these decisions, we can free up more of our minds to focus on the good stuff.It is estimated that an adult makes approximately 35,000 decisions a day. That does not leave much headspace for the rest of our day to day existence. By consuming less, we will hopefully realise how much time we spend distracted by buying that aren't important to our quality of life. For four consecutive days, do not buy anything beyond food and water. Doing something beneficial for ourselves by spending less means we are also doing something positive for everyone. Buy things in a medical emergency, and travel costs are a given, but cut out all the decisions that create white noise in your head and you might be struck by how free you feel.

* Ask someone younger...sometimes we are so busy looking at those who have gone before us that we forget about those leading from behind. The idea of reverse mentoring gives you fresh thinking about the insights or experiences that you can offer your mentor.

* The art of losing things - it may feel like a disaster at the time, but all is not actually lost when something precious vanishes.Losing things - the props of your life - can force you to embrace change in a way that can be hugely positive.We define ourselves by what we buy. Losing things can be an opportunity to re-evaluate who we think we are.

* 7 habits to build your confidence
    Assess yourself
    Keep learning
    Develop your Willpower
    Talk about your positive experiences
     Tone down your worst thoughts
     Ditch thinking for doing
    Adopt good posture
   
* Dancing with the bogey man - there is nothing as pointless in this life as hatred, although there are, of course, times when that sour emotion hits us so Hard in the solar plexus that we are left with indigestion, which repeats and repeats until we are acid with poison. It is difficult to deal with such toxic emotions and we all wrestle with them. Use a mental process called " parking" . If a thought about someone or something makes me feel terribly distressed I park it behind my left shoulder. I am not saintly enough to sprinkle those dark thoughts with shiny peace dust and send them off with a blessing , but I am human enough to know I need to remove them from the immediate vicinity of my head. 

Sunday 4 February 2018

Domestic Diva

  • Friday evening i went straight to Aa cricket session at Becket Keys Sports Hall.Once finished we picked up Ni and headed straight to our usual place for dinner “ Delhi Live”.We had among ourselves Dal tadka / Mix Veg / Tandoori Chicken / Rice and Naan.Kids had a scoop each of their favourite bubble gum ice cream.
  • Saturday morning I dropped Ni to her art class and went to my gym.Did 1 hr and 20 minutes of cardio and burnt 1200 calories.
  • Came home for lunch and then sent Ni to Explore learning while I pottered around the house. Once she finished her session we went to our coffee place Harris + Hoole.I ordered hot chocolate for her and green tea for myself.
  • Since As and Aa were not due back home early I headed for Brewery to browse HomeSense, a home decor store.Somehow the store disappointed me this time.I felt there was nothing substantial but all junk stuff in the store.Anyways I bought a flower vase made in Poland for £4 and a felt Easter theme basket and a medium sized fabric tub to keep small toy figurines and books respectively.
  • For dinner Ni had quorn chicken nuggets and I had store bought falafel wraps.We all slept by 9 pm as I was super tired and with all day's running around.. 
  • Since I slept early I woke up early too.. I found myself awake at 4am but got out of bed at 6.It's very rare I get a chance for a lie in and so i grabbed it with both hands๐Ÿ˜„. 
  • I cooked Panchmel daal / runner beans with potatoes / paneer with carrots / bell peppers / carrots / beans - perfect rainbow vegetable.
  • Vacuumed the full house and ironed the clothes and managed to put another load of washing and prepared pack lunches for 2 days for me and kids. 
  • Took Ni to Explore learning and I ventured into my high street for some retail therapy.. Bought a vintage looking gramophone from British Heart Foundation and stocked up on provisions like Green& Blacks dark chocolate bars/Valentine heart chocolates / tulip chocolate flowers / bottled green chillies / frozen green beans / candles.
  • After picking Ni up from tuition centre we went to Starbucks and had hot chocolate topped with cream and marshmallow twizzle for her and green tea for me.I also started reading psychologies magazine from my old stash...
  • Came back home and did usual evening bits - took out uniforms and my outfits for Monday / packed the school bags and As did his packing for India trip. 
  • On my bed at 8:30 pm and hoping to catch some good ๐Ÿ’ค๐Ÿ’ค๐Ÿ’ค

Friday 2 February 2018

Midweek Rambles

This week so far

  • Read about Ann Lee Hussey  - on her personal mission to eradicate Polio ( Real Simple June 2012) 
  • Set a reminder for myself - relax and enjoy simple rituals. 
  • Browsed LinkedIn Daily Rundowns - love bite size news specially “ Idea of the Day”. 
  • Cooked and eaten Matar Paneer, Dahi wale Aloo, Mushrooms with Cashews curry, yellow lentils ( my fav) 
  • Indulged in back massage and a facial at my local beauty academy.
  • Dreaming about my holiday to India and making mental notes about what to shop and eat. Following Instagrammers for inspiration... 
  • Researching on restaurants which i can book for As birthday in August this year. 

Sunday 28 January 2018

Weekend do’s


  • This friday i was working from home and so like usual i do school drop off and pick up of kids. Once i dropped them to school i prepared our lunch which was chole tikki ( tikki was store bought of Haldirams).
  • After cleaning up kitchen and intermittently checking my work emails i headed off to Gym. I did 1 hour and 20 minutes of cardio and burnt 1200 calories. 
  • Straight after gym i finished my lunch and got ready to pick up kids from school.
  • Came home and after an hour everyone except me and Ni left for Brentwood for evening cricket and i headed to Starbucks coffee shop. We finished reading and spellings in between sipping hot chocolate / americano and eating a very light and tasty salad of couscous / courgette / brocolli smeared with tomato sauce. Ni had a sticky marshmellow twizzle. 
  • Prepared for next day’s outfits for Nishka and myself - all neatly laid on the bed. 
  • Saturday morning i quickly made Bread Upma in flat 20 mts. A & A left for Shenfield and i dropped Ni to her Art Class for two hours.
  • I headed straight to do my gym session for 1 hour and 30 mts and burnt 1000 calories. 
  • Picked up Ni from her art class and went home to finish lunch / get ready for birthday party / lay out the outfits for evening pooja and also putting a load in the washing machine and dishwasher.
  • It was Ni’s very close friend Si’s 6th Birthday party. Sipped black coffee and chatted away time with other mums. 
  • Dashed off to home to change for the pooja for all of us and reached Mandir on time at 6 pm.
  • After dinner at temple we all came home and kids went to sleep straightafter.
  • Me and A watched Dirty Money documentary on Netflix. 
  • Sunday i woke up to finish ironing for the week and then we all went out for brunch at Healthy Roots in Upminster where kids had pancakes topped with Syrup along with hot chocolate. Me and A had the same Avocado smash with poached egg and brown toast.
  • A & A then headed to their cricket coaching and me and Ni came home to finish homework and then went out for another birthday party of one of her classmates. 
  • Finished my evening with 60 mts of gym and laying outfits for school / work.

Friday 26 January 2018

Resolutions 2018


  • Loose weight and keep fitness a priority throughout the year. My short term goal is to loose 5 kgs by end of march and further 5 by end of the year. 
  • Eat sensibly most of the time. Think what i am putting in my body and watch calories like a hawk.
  • Update this blog diligently.
  • Work front - carve a niche for myself in the team. I want to become a go to person and want to get a strong performer rating this year.
  • Read and maintain a thought catalog so that i can go back and remember them.
  • Talk wisely and softly with my kids and atleast give a thought to their perspective.
  • Not to loose patience...
  • Not to get disappointed with situations and should learn how not to blame others for your happiness.

Tuesday 23 January 2018

Weekend Musings


  • Watched “ The Coronation” on BBC 1 while doing my gym session.I was expecting a lot more input from the Queen but actually there was very less of it.
  • Our customary Friday evening dinner was at Delhi Live where we stuffed ourselves with Simple yellow daal / Gobhi Aloo / Rice for me and Tandoori Chicken for Aayush and Ashish.
  • Made Paneer Makhani and Stuffed Bellpeppers - followed Veg Recipes of India recipes which are always comes out perfect.
  • Gym session was fabulous - Saturday 80 mts of cardio and Sunday 1 hour 30 mts which was a new record for me. 
  • Some me time at Harris + Hoole coffee shop with Nishka. Had Americano with Strawberry Oat  cookies for myself and Nishka had hot chocolate.
  • Wrapped presents for birthdays next week - Nishka’s classmates.
  • Finishing my old Real Simple magazines so that i can stock up on some new health / interior Decor / lifestyle magazines from India. 
  • Bought electric toothbrushes for all of us - Oral B Junior Frozen and Starwars for kids and for us Oral B Pro 2 2000N. 
  • Saw below recipe in Tesco Magazine and it looks attractive- will give it a try someday.

Sunday 21 January 2018