Tuggs

Phew! Crazy December.. I have to put up a more comprehensive list of cruelty free bath, body, kitchen, house items and also include a list of vegan options. I did manage to make part of the list and wrote to a couple of companies to clarify on their animal testing policies. But this is going to take time and having an untrained foster puppy does take up almost all of the time!!

Tuggie/Tuggle/Tuggs is our second foster. He is a super cute 7 month old rescue pekingese chihuahua mix puppy. He was rescued from a Puppy Mill in Tacoma along with 20 other puppies and several older adults. The older adults are still being rescued 10 or 20 at a time every weekend. He was very skinny and starved when we got him, but he has already put on some healthy fat and muscle. His coat is shinier and softer and he smells great too!.

He is a very mellow dude. He doesnt mind getting roomed or bathed. He gets along very well with dogs,cats and all people. He is not a yapper, does not bite, does not chew on anything except bones, and is a cuddler. He will sit and cuddle and watch the whole movie with you! Here is a video of the cutie !! http://www.dogster.com/video/1086749/our_foster_dog_tuggie

He loves running in the yard and loves being with other dogs. He has an adorable under bite. He looks more like a chihuahua and has a pekingese jaw structure with the underbite and long floppy ears. He looks like Yoda from StarWars when he lifts his ears to listen to you :)

Because of this huge selection of similar looking puppies and adults, the adoption of each of them is taking time. If you or anyone you know are interested in Tuggs, please do contact me. Please do share and forward this around. Lets get some real use of the viral web!

Happy Holidays from all of us!

Ginger's Pet Rescue presents....

"Our 2009 Christmas Dog"

"Meet Princess Grace !"

* Christmas Day is almost here & even on holidays we never stop our 24/7 rescue work !

Here is a wonderful Christmas Miracle for a lucky dog named Grace ~ a 9 year old Black and White Chihuahua.

Grace was found lost in the raging 800 acre San Bernadino Forest Fires.

A firefighter found her shivering against a tree and brought her to the local shetler.

The shetler immediately wanted to euthanize her because of her ugly teeth and

her age being 9 yrs old and they also felt she was unadoptable and no one would ever want or love her.

Our rescue team saw the beauty in this adorable little girl felt the urgent need to save her !

We had her vetted, added Princess on to her name & had her transported up to Seattle!

Now the good news is Princess Grace just got adopted out today!

Joan the foster mom has decided to adopt Grace & give her a forever

wonderful home for the rest of her life !!!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

This past year, Ginger's Pet Rescue have taken in so many special need dogs that are deaf, blind,

one eyed, 3 legged and many senior dogs with huge medical issues.

They all required special care while our vet bills continue to grow !

For the Holidays ~ if you can you help donate $ 5.00 or $ 10.00 to help us to save

more special need dogs ~ we would be so grateful !!!

* You can either PayPal us on our website: www.gingerspetrescue.org

Or mail your donation 322 North 105th * Seattle, WA 98133.

This would be the best Christmas gift anyone could ever give us !

* Thank You and Happy Holidays ~ From Ginger & all the Dogs.

Simo, our first foster dog

It is so natural to just take the easy way out of everything. People who can ignore that urge are the ones who can actually make a difference!

Everytime I had a single stupid thought about how difficult fostering is and maybe I should volunteer to do something easier, I thought of Ginger and Laura. Ginger started Gingers Death row rescue and Laura started People united for pets, 2 small rescue groups in and around Seattle who do great work by rescuing so many dogs each year. They have their lives and families and plans too, but they run the rescue everyday, each day of the year, come rain , come shine, come exhaustion.

We got our first foster dog at home last Sunday. His name is Simo and he is a super sweet white and tan parti pomeranian. He was rescued form the California Wild fires and was not adopted from the overcrowded shelter at san bernardino.He was scheduled to be euthanized soon but He along with lots of others was transported here by Gingers Death row rescue and came to our house as a foster and now is awaiting adoption into a loving family he can call his! Its been crazy for him to move from the pound to a 3 day road trip to seattle and to a new house which is also temporary.

The first few days are always tough when you take up such an endeavor. You dont know anything much about him, how he will react, how many things in your house he will pee on or chew, etc etc. (and that does not really matter) and how attached you will get to the sweetie!.

Doing something good and selfless is never easy. It is additional work to figure out vacations, weekend plans, other day today plans and so on. It is additional work getting up in the middle of the night to take the dog out if he has an upset stomach. It is additional work of loving and training the dog. It is additional unconditional love that you get in return... It is additional heartbreak that you deal with when you let him go to his own forever home and hope that he has a happy life and a loving family.

Today, we left Simo at the adoption event. I couldn't stay and watch him sitting in his crate, being looked at by people. But that is the way they get adopted. and he did, and I am sure by a really nice family. I wasn't there when they took him home. I just hope that he has a super happy and nice life after the crazy ordeal he has been through.

Hugs and more hugs to you Simo. Now if only these tears stop rolling......

Cruelty free Body and Bath

Here is the first set of cruelty-free products. This is of course not a complete list. I have also tried to avoid companies which have conflicting information on their sites.

I will keep adding to this post and write more posts about other household items. Please read, keep some brands in mind when you go shopping next time, and make your house cruelty freeee

Save me!

The following are some of the brands i use or have used at home which test on animals so they are Not cruelty free.

Daily body and bath

Bath: Dove, Olay ,Caress

Hair: Dove , Pantene, Johnsons baby, john frieda, head and shoulders, clairol, herbal essence, Aussie, L'Oreal, Neutrogena, Fekkai( has been acquired by PnG), Suave, Redken, Tresemme, Nexxus

Body: Clean and clear, Neutrogena cleansers, Jergens, Vaseline, Cetaphil, dial, Gilette, Nivea, Old Spice

Most are owned by Unilever, or PnG.. Badd.. baad companies!

These are the products which DO NOT test on animals and are cruelty -free!!

Hair: Farouk Chi(Not on my list anymore, only some products are not tested on animals), Avon, John Paul Mitchell, avalon, Organix, Burt Bees, Ahava, Beauty without cruelty(by Avalon), Nick Chavez, Got2b,

Herbal or organic shampoos from whole foods

Bath/Body: Burt Bees, Yes to carrots, Boscia, Philosophy, Dr Bronners, Jolen, LUSH, Arbonne, H2O, Ulta Bath, Avon, Eucerin, Ahava

I love the CHI products and paul mitchell of course. I am going to replace some more bath stuff in the coming weeks and will put up a review for all the new products on the blog as well. Chi products make my hair feel heavenly and they are cruelty free!! The only problem with some cruelty free products is that they can be difficult to find in regular drugstores or grocery stores. For eg, Chi and Paul mitchell products are available in walgreens but usually they are marked too high. I got some great deals online. So it is sometimes an effort to find the products, but how many times a year do we shop for shampoos and conditioners. I feel a 10 minute research for deals on these slightly costlier products, once in 6 months, is not much to ask to help save an animal from a tortured short life!

The caringconsumer site has search filters by product type, so you can search for shampoo, shaving cream, toothpaste etc.

Here is the link

http://search.caringconsumer.com/search.aspx

I just realized that all my teeth care(toothpaste, toothbrush, mouthwash) etc are all by companies owned by Procter and Gamble or Johnson and Johnson!. Phew, need to replace all of those as well.

Other sites to check on companies

• http://www.mymakeupmirror.com/MakeupWithoutCruelty.html
• http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/product.php?prod_id=268
• http://vidacompassion.org/main/list/company.html
• http://vidacompassion.org/main/list/compgood.html
• http://search.caringconsumer.com/search.aspx

Hope this helps!. Please also write to me about your favorite brands and if you find any good cruelty free brands that you have tried and love!

Animal testing!

We humans pretty much test anything and everything we want to ever use, consume or fashion, on animals. Whenever I come across any reference or mention of how cruelly the testing is done, my hearts gets crushed and I feel suffocated. If you are like me, then please do devote some time out of the day today busy schedules to read and take some steps to do something about it.

There are several sub debates under this big debate. Animal testing for medical purposes is one where i sometimes end in a deadlock. But other needless animal testing for cosmetics, body and hair care, lotions, fur, kitchen and home products etc are where i am always on the against side!

It just seems ridiculous to me that a rabbit, chimp or a dog has to have their eyelids stapled and heads immobilized to get some products dropped into the eyes till they go blind or die coz of the pain. There are several such heart wrenching painful examples which I do not want to go into. If you love animals and think that animal testing is cruel, then there are tons of options. It is just a matter of one time research to decide on things you want in your house and where you can get them.

I am trying to replace everything in my house in phases and also devoting some time to this research. I will keep updating the blog about what I replace and what options I find. Please keep reading and make some changes! Everyone can make a difference. Every drop makes an Ocean!

Here are some reference sites, lists of companies that test or Not test on animals.

http://vidacompassion.org/main/issues.html

http://search.caringconsumer.com/

http://www.leapingbunny.org/shopping.php

http://www.mymakeupmirror.com/MakeupWithoutCruelty.html

http://shopcrueltyfree.peta2.com/index.aspx

I cant really go out there and stand in front of those big bad ass companies, testing animals daily and shout out to them yet, but i can definitely stop using their products !

Still need convincing.. check out some horrid images on this forum http://www.sodahead.com/living/do-you-believe-in-animal-testing-if-no-what-are-your-solutions-for-research-if-yes-please-defe/question-9954/?link=ibaf

and some more links here

http://www.angelfire.com/moon2/lorions_nemed/animaltesting.html

Heres an excerpt from one of the sites above.

T I P 1	What are you trying to accomplish?
	Many companies that test on animals really do not care about what goes on in their labs. You have to look at the one thing they do care about and that comes down to .. money. In other words, how many units of Item A or Widget Z are they selling to what demographic and how can they sell more of them. As long as they are selling Item A, they do not care how many animals are tortured in order to get Item A to market.
T I P 2	How can YOU make a difference?
	Every time you opt not to buy Item A and choose cruelty-free Item B, you are, in essence, voting with your dollars. You are saying "I'm not going to support animal testing" and choosing to give your money to an alternate company that has made a conscious decision not to torture animals. Does one person's decision make a company stand up and take notice? Of course not, but as long as you make that decision and others do their part as well (be sure to inform your friends of their choices too), eventually, a drop in sales may be noticed. In some ways, it is much like voting, your one vote may be meaningless, but you exercising that right is the part that is meaningful, as is you becoming part of the process.
T I P 3	"It's too overwhelming, I can't keep up with everything."
	It's important not to let yourself get too frazzled with all the different products and trying to keep up with every single item that is cruelty-free and which isn't. Even I can't do that every time I find myself at the drug store at 1:00 AM. Don't get discouraged because you come home with a product and later find out that it comes from a pro-animal testing source. The most important event is the time you put a cruel product back on the shelf and choose an animal friendly product over it. At that point, you have made a difference.
T I P 4	The "Little Things" You Can Do
	A) Look through your bathroom, find products that are "replacable" B) Print off the Cruelty/Bad Company Page, take it shopping with you C) Browse through the Good Company List, make a "mental note" of familiar names that you may want to check out next time you go shopping D) Don't get "too" attached to any particular animal right's group list. Unfortunately, at ALL organizations of size, money/influence do enter the picture. Anyone who has L'Oreal or Estee Lauder on their "good" list is highly syspect. One of the few lists I trust other than my own at the present is NatureWatch.
T I P 5	"Isn't this going to be EXPENSIVE???
	Not really. The price difference in products is usually negligible. Sometimes, yes, it can be a bit higher. The reason for that is volume sales. The cruelty-free companies are usually much smaller and don't enjoy the economies of scale that large companies do. But, wouldn't you rather pay an extra 30 cents in order for animals to not be tortured? Also, these smaller companies generally use better ingredients and make a better product anyway (they don't have the economic pressure to shave fractions of cents per unit production in order to realize some significant addition to the bottom line).
T I P 6	ONLINE SHOPPING: Just Use It!
	The proliferation of online shopping has made the task of selecting cruelty-free products so much easier. Almost all companies now have websites. The cost of shipping is negligible in regards to the cost of driving to the store. The "lock" some of the huge cruel companies, like P&G, Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever have on stores shelves (where they pay retailers to keep small competitors products off the shelves) has made online shopping one of the few options left to those in saturated markets. Another benefit, is, you can go to Good Company List and click directly over to the retailers, or open it up in another browser/window while shopping at a consolidated online retailer.
W H Y ?	Why do companies test on animals???
	I'm sure the first thought is, who are these heartless sickos that conduct these unnecessary tests in this day and age when so many companies do not? Sadly, they are people like you and me (well, maybe not just like you and me). In loose terms, two things contribute to the continued use of animal tests. One, large companies are slow behemoths when it comes to change. Enough of us need to stop buying their products to bring such about. Two, the fear of liability is so pervasive, especially for American companies, that changing testing methods makes their legal counsel shudder. Yes, they may be aware that there are much better and more accurate methods of testing out there, other than their antiquated animal tests. But, even if their products are harmful to humans (even though animal tests can not convincingly disprove or prove such), they can stand in court and say, "we've been conducting these same tests for 70 years and nothing would indicate .. blah, blah, blah."

Child Labor! What would you do?

Picture courtesy GMB Akash.

Heres a set of very compelling pictures a friend sent me

http://www.gmb-akash.com/view_gallery_photos.php?album_id=16

I get worked up sometimes when I feel helpless about certain issues feel strongly about. Child labor is one of those. But really, we can make a difference, even if it is just one person we can reach. We decided to get some current situation updates and had this discussion with a bunch of friends in India. According to them, most industrial places now do not have child laborers because of the stringent laws and fines. This is good to hear.. but i am sure there are small scale places which still employ children and what about domestic help?

For example, another friends family recently replaced their domestic help by a 11-12 year old girl. Reasons for getting that young a girl

- Cheaper labor (she is taking home 1/5 th price of 17-18 yr old)

- young children are more honest, dont necessarily steal and dont keep switching jobs.

Of course that was enough to get me to figure out ways to convince them that it is not the right thing. But then the discussion came up with some more points

- They are also giving her a better place to live, better clothes, better manners, teaching her household work, a little bit of math etc

- She is anyway going to work some place or the other, plus as she gets older it gets more unsafe for her to just work anywhere.

- They got the older girl (previous domestic help) married into a good family, to a man with a stable job. if she was anywhere else, she might have been married off earlier to anyone because her family was always in need of money!

Though, I would have wanted them to also send her to school, but the argument remains that when will she work if she goes to school. I am sure there could be options of a few days a week school, but we were in general losing the argument. She sure is getting a safer home!

What would you do, if faced with a similar situation?

Go Greeeeeen!

We 6 billion humans are clogging up this beautiful planet.. not just with our population and buildings and cars.. but with the GARBAGE! And are using up all the resources in excess like there is no future!!

We, as Indians, have come from a less consumer oriented background. I remember mom always saving evverything from food and water to clothes and bags for reuse. We have always been taught to reuse and never use in excess, hence automatically hardly using things like plastic bags or bottles. After being in this country of excessive consumption and consumerism and accessibility( plastic water bottles everywhere!), I think we have forgotten our roots and all the knowledge that was imbibed in our growing brains just a few years back!

It is high time that we and everyone we can reach, make some changes to save not only our beautiful planet, but ourselves and our future generations!

So here are the things V and me have already done

• Grocery Totes ( we end us getting 5-6 plastic bags each weekend. Thats 312 plastic bags each year per family of our size. Just within our friend circle , that is 5000 non bio-degradable plastic bags, which will end up clogging some beautiful place like the pacific ocean -The Great pacific Dump )
• CFL bulbs: Use 75% less energy and lasts 10 times longer!
• Environmentally friendly Seventh Generation Carpet Stain Remover -( house hold cleaners add toxic materials to the air, water, your house and your body. Some of them have already been connected to autism, brain disorders, allergies, cancer!)
• Simply Green all purpose cleaner for kitchen and bathroom.
• Bio-degradable poop bags for Chewie( he poops twice a day and he has been with us almost 15 months.. Thats 900 plastic bags saved!!! cost: only 8$ for 120 bags on amazon)
• Toilet flush (Added a leak sentry and controlled water flow fill-valve assembly. Half of the world does not have water to drink, and we here waste water in things like a leaky flush or tap and have bubble baths! As the saying goes, A drop at a time will make an ocean. Save Water!! Cost just 6$ more than the usual fill valve)
• Reusable water bottles!- This is the simplest step to eliminate plastic water bottles from daily use!
• Recycle, Recycle: Paper, Cans, plastic!
• This is the current list that comes to mind. Will add more later.

What all we have to do: Working list

• Put in aerators in all taps( Aerators reduce the water consumption of the house, but you will still get good pressure from the taps/shower heads! Reduced water consumption and reduced water heating bill!!
• Change our laundry detergent and dishwasher soap to environmentally friendly brands.
• Bio-degradable Trash bags( once the huge costco set gets over)
• Smart power Strip: it switches off when connected appliances are not in use.75% of the power used in home electronics is used when they are turned off.. the computer, TV, monitor etc!!
• Recycled paper towels, paper napkins
• Biodegradable food storage and cutlery: Whenever we have a party we end up using a lot of plastic disposable plates, cutlery, cups etc. The aim now, is to eliminate as much plastic as possible from the Kitchen!
• Energy efficient appliances: This is a big step, so we have to plan this depending on how long we will be in this house:)
• More to come!

Some more ideas at

http://www.greenhome.com/

http://www.seventhgeneration.com/

http://www.thegreenguide.com/

and lots more.. Bing "go green" or "living green" !!

The blue marble: Picture courtesy NASA

Can we ever go Vegan

(All links are Graphic. Please be advised)

I wear my emotions on my sleeve these days. I always did so, but the sleeves used to be a bit covered up, but now they just sit out there in the open.

It is probably because i am not working. I am not using up my time and energy worrying about work, people, deadlines, and politics. I have time on my hand to click on the some stories I would normally avoid and time to read some too.

There are tons of stories on puppy mills (mass breeding operations http://stoppuppymills.org/ ) and they are heart wrenching. And even more apalling is the lack of action.

Another face of inhuman treatment is factory farming (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_farming ) in the US and the dairy industry in india

http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/india_dairy )(Please dont click the link if your heart is not strong.)

Oh, and how can i forget the faux faux fur story. The faux fur products you buy here with a made in china label are actually cat and dog fur!! http://www.peta.org/feat/chineseFurFarms/index.asp

It is just amazing what people can do to achieve basic needs as food to completely useless needs of entertainment(dog fights, fur industry).

What can I do? I can atleast take a stand. Raise awareness.

Try to be vegan. I am not sure how successful that will be, since we indians have too much dairy in our diet. Can i give up all the khoya sweets?.

Though the stars are in my favour. I am slightly lactose intolerant since last year. Vegan, here i come.

(note to self) Try to

- Always adopt, never buy a pet

- Think of the animal before thinking meat.

- Fur looks good, but it is usually not fake. There is some animal somewhere who was skinned alive for it.

- Take time out of the busy schedule to think of other things apart from work and home.

- Go Green!

Puppy Mills..A Sad day for the state of washington

Sad week or month is more like it. The puppy mill raids are on the news everywhere. The number of rescued dogs increasing by 100s with every article. And no arrests for the very cruel and evil owners of the business.

Some years back i would have been too enraged and opinionated about it. Seems like maturity has finally set in. It is a very appalling and depressing situation. But sh** like this is everywhere. So instead of getting pained and depressed about it, i have decided to help out. I cannot physically help them out right now, but will surely do when i can. So monetary help it is. And raising awareness it is.

If you happen upon this blog, please do checkout the stop puppy mill site to know more about what exactly goes on in one. http://stoppuppymills.org/

"Puppy mills are mass dog-breeding operations. These canine breeding facilities house dogs in shockingly poor conditions.

Life is particularly bad for "breeding stock," dogs who live their entire lives in crammed cages and are continually bred for years, without human companionship and with little hope of ever becoming part of a family. These dogs receive little or no veterinary care and never see a bed, a treat or a toy. After their fertility wanes, breeding animals are commonly killed, abandoned or sold to another mill. The annual result of all this breeding is hundreds of thousands of puppies, many with behavior and/or health problems."

Also read about the recent raids in the state and how you can help save these very sad eyed dogs.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008665665_puppies24m.html

Let us pray together for a little less cruelty and evil in this world.

20 pounds in 6 months!

The mantra: Eat often and eat less per meal. And of course exercise.

My first tussle with weight happened in 2004 in Chicago. I was working long hours, eating bad and partying hard. And one fine day i realized that i had a bunch of pounds in all the wrong places and i need new clothes. Add to it the fact that i was probably going to have a wedding sometime in 2005. Snap... Thus started the same old American problem and solution game of trying to shed them pounds. That year i hit the gym hard and daily and tried to eat healthy!. My personal trainer helped me to find the right direction. 

Things worked fine and i got healthy but i lost only half of the weight i wanted to. Because the rest of it got converted to muscle. Hmm.. but that wasnt the lean mean look i always had eh.. And all those lost pounds anyway came back with all that food at the wedding!

Cut to 2007. I cant exercise much.. much is also too much a word for it. Plus i am weak and perennially hungry. So add on all u got!. Hit 2008 and i needed a complete new closet and i wasnt feeling very good about it. But this time i couldnt hit the gym and had to take everything very slow.

So i decided on my mantra : Eat often and eat less per meal. I added another small meal between lunch and dinner. So my meals look like breakfast, brunch sometimes, lunch, snack, tea time, dinner. It is difficult to suddenly reduce the quantity if food per meal coz it feels like you are starving. It is a slow process to reduce little amounts over a number of days.

I also started walking more with Chewie. And slowly over the months i did see some change. Finally, it was 20 gone! 

This post is just a reminder to myself that things always work out in one way or the other and i should not fret over them!

Lincoln Park, West Seattle

Happened to find this gorgeous hidden beach and park area in West Seattle . Lincoln Park has a beautiful green blue water long beach ( yes the water is green and very clean on a sunny day!) . It also has a wading pool and nice trails!. we forgot to take the camera with us, but will surely take some breathtaking pics next time. the pictures on the Seattle parks site do not do justice to this beautiful place.

To get another one or not!

I was thinking the other day about Chewie and how we will handle a trip to India. There are 2 options. Take him with us and get worried on the flight and also bug the people we might stop over with, in any of the stop over cities(NY, london). Or leave him with someone here:).

The option of leaving him here for a month is quite heartbreaking, but can be made a bit better by getting him some company. Atleast then they will have each others company and feel at home.But we might have a tough time when we do want to take them to India. 2 dogs on a flight!!

So i am still thinking!! thinking!!... though there is still time to make that india trip, but i am starting to love the idea of 2 dogs..! more the merrier! thinking .. thinking...

Another blog new direction http://hobbyandmore.blogspot.com/

Vivek told me to just use this blog, but i decided otherwise. My hobby blog is new and is here http://hobbyandmore.blogspot.com/

The theme is completely different and i want to kind of keep them categorized. So i will have both these blogs. Check it out!

some pics from our trip to deception pass -

Chewie and shopping

Chewie got some more new stuff. We got him a detangling spray..( he has tons of hair which gets tangled too often) and toothpaste/toothbrush( his mouth starts stinking once in a while and we want him to smell fresh when cuddled which he is 80% of the day)

He is also getting quite vocal these days and he gets upset if you dont respond. Its like the stage when kids just start speaking and it is hard to understand them, and they get upset if you dont.

I can understand 3 of his barks
1. the hungry bark- he has a peculiar low bark when he wants something to eat or drink
2. the announcement bark- he has a howlly bark when he thinks someone is at the door. and that he thinks quite often, for any sound outside the door on my floor.
3. the irritated bark- he has an angry bark when he gets irritated for any reason like
- i am hungry, why isnt anyone giving me food
- i am bored, why arent you playing with me
- someone is at the door, why are you guys still sleeping :) wake up wake up wake up!

Shopping online is quite addicting. Probably coz i am sitting in my bed, browsing and looking for deals and then ordering things. I end up buying more things than needed. :)

I probably shopped 1 or 2 times online when i was working at Amazon. Now I am usually ordering things every month. I am also planning to try out amazonfresh for my groceries. I guess electricity for using the laptop to shop, is cheaper than the gas to drive to the shops.:) Well the gas is getting guzzled by the delivery vehicles if not by us. But i hope they have lots of packages to split the cost:)

I also have to figure out some hairstyles to help me hide the incision and the bald spots now, since my hair is long enough. Maybe some comb over tips from Trump!

Today, Chewie and I are also angry with Daddy for adding some new scratches to our beautiful TL. I guess the garage people should paint the cement poles Red!!! and add some cushioning as well.

rambling

(Pic: Sign outside a New York pet grooming shop. Courtesy: Selena. Thanks girl!)

Ahh!! we finally got bio-degradable poop bags for chewie! Mr. Chewie poops 2-3 times a day. That means we use those many plastic bags per day, that is 60+ plus bags a month. I was feeling very bad about using so many plastic bags in the interest of saving the planet! Our planet will surely suffocate on plastic!. So I ordered some 100% bio-degradable poop bags and i am feeling pretty good about it.

We watched jaane tu and 2050 this week. Jaane tu is a nice one. Fast paced, light, no melodrama, and full of energy. It reminded me of my college days. Of course the story was a bit same old same old esp the climax, but the movie is made well and has some good performances. And i love the songs!!! A.R.Rahman rocks!! I am sure the current teenage generation will not see any of the problems and Jtyjn will become their cult fim like we had ours.

The songs and the movie put me in a nice romantic song mood. So i am currently making a new playlist. Rose Royce, Robin Thicke, Joe, Richard Marx, neyo... .

2050 on the other hand is a super slow, crybaby, hammy, and a very stupid movie. I dont know how anyone can spend so much on some good special effects and still make such a horrible movie. I watched the whole movie in fast forward mode in 30 mins!.

more later!!

The tale of the clink in the microwave

One fine Sunday afternoon, it was decided that we eat the leftovers from Saturday night carry out, from Taste of India. A freshly washed La-Opala plate from the dishwasher was taken, the Lamb Butter masala and Mango Chicken were lavishly dumped on the plate, and the plate was sent into the microwave for an initial warming of 1 minute.

The sumptuous paneer naan was taken out of the refrigerator while the microwave went about trying to warm the cold and very fatty substance on the plate. About 2 seconds before the minute, a clink was heard from the microwave. Initially the clink was dismissed as a sudden movement of the plate on the round glass holding plate/tray of the microwave. The door of the microwave was opened and a hand reached out to pick up the La-opala opal glass plate, which had all the goods on it.

And viola, the plate that came out had a big hole in it, the hole the size of the goods. A shriek was heard in the house. More investigation revealed that the goods i.e the Lamb and the Chicken were still nicely sitting in the microwave, but hey, they had not spilled on the round microwave tray, they were still hoisted on the weird shaped part of the plate. The whole thing was taken out and the food was dumped into a trash can. The part of the plate which now looked a bit like Australia with a handle, was washed and examined. It seemed to have a perfectly cut edge which was not very sharp! Quite interesting!

The Australia with a handle was saved for decoration purposes and a decision was made to eat something else. Quite an entertaining day that!

Here is my theory on what happened:
The La-opala plate is opal glass material like Corelle. The plate was warm when taken from the dishwasher. The Lamb and Chicken were quite cold. When in the microwave, the loads of fat in the curry got super heated at the border of the food. So the plate was cold under the food, warm outside and super hot at the edge of the food. Voila glass hot and cold effect and a clink. This has never happened on a ceramic plate..!!
Microwaves are dangerous!!

Chewie is 3 yrs old!!

It was Chewies' birthday on 25th. He is 3 yrs now.. We have to get him a new harness and some nice biscuits this weekend. probably aso his toothpaste and toothbrush.. yes you have to brush their teeth once a week or so.

Vivek says that i am definitely getting better, coz now i have started worrying about my weight and clothes. Of course, you dont care about how your hair looks or if your clothes are funny, when you can't walk from point A to point B without the fear of falling or getting super dizzy.

I just recently sorted through my overfull closet and moved the size 2 clothes into a box. i think i wil be happy getting back to 4 :). still working towards it

Another thing which has changed for good is that i am probaby less of a control freak. i was big one earlier.. one of those who want pretty much everything their way :)..
Can u imagine giving up your kitchen to your husband, who by the way had not touched the place ever.. That is one big lesson in how to let things go:):)

Of course, Chewie cannot be behind in teaching me things. He has peed on our carpet enough number of times that I dont feel bad anymore. The first few days i would go through anger and frustration and would have to calm down before explaining "no pee" to chewie. Now, it just doesnt matter. hes a dog and will aways have accidents!!

Chewie is getting naughtier everyday. He wakes up at 6 in the morning and starts whimpering, not to go out, but to be picked up on the bed. He loves curling up on our bed...

hmm 3

hmm looks like not many ppl are reading my blog...! if you are then leave some comments!

here are some new things happening this side of the world
- summer is almost here, yey! but the weather is still oscillating between warm and cold.. yuck.. not good for my allergies
- my head doesnt seem to have any numb spots anymore.. yey!..that means that now i feel everything that hits my head..
- my eye opens a lot now. probably 80% of its earlier state.. now i have to figure out which angle will work best for a good photograph
- i am finally shedding some of the pounds from last year. moms food + limited exercise = lots of pounds.. though i miss mom and her food:(

hmm 2!

In the pic Mom and Chewie.

It seems like the same old story.. we start writing blogs.. focus on certain topics or ideas and then slowly for some reason we just run out of steam and the blog sleeps

So i am thinking about how to start this up again

I also am thinking of changing the name and changing the direction of this blog.. still in the thinking process though..

In the meantime i have listened to tons of mystery books by authors like crichton, robin cook, dan brown , vince flynn, brad thor, brain haig.. and more recently marcia muller, greg iles and j. a. jance.. (since i ran out of crichton and flynn..)

I tried a bit of non fiction but i usually fell asleep with those:)

ofcourse i cant just post this without chewie update.. he is having a lot of fun. We just gave him a bath today and he smelling all fresh french vanilla!! and getting a bunch of kisses. It feels good to be able to do stuff for another living thing and be responsible for it. i am happy that we rescued him from a shelter and introduced him to a crazy vivek :) and a cuddly me.:)

On the topic of animal rescue. About 6-8 million pets are put to sleep in the US every year. All this because people give up their pets for reasons as serious as owner death to as flimsy as moving to an apartment which does not allow pets .. duh! And the puppy mills keep on producing puppies as everyone wants to adopt a puppy. the dogs used for breeding are often put down as soon as their fertility wanes.

I dont know how to help people understand that pets are not new toys you get from a store and throw away for random reasons. They should be a part of your family and should be treated as one. Anyone considering a pet adoption should surely consider adopting from the various shelters( petfinder.com) and save a pet.

hmm!

Its May and we have a dog!! Chewie, the latest addition to our family has been with us for 2 months now!! and we hope he will continue to stay on..

We have been keeping pretty busy with him., getting to know him and teaching him new things.

He loves to play catch me if you can, esp with Vivek, because he is the only one who can catch him:). he runs like a bullet. i have to fool him with treats if I want to catch him.

He loves attention, so he growls if people just pass him by without saying hello :) He loves to dance too. my mom is visiting and she just has to ask him if he wants to dance and he readily climbs on her and they do the waltz..:):) He loves to cuddle.. and loves the comforter more than his bed .

Chewie is this cute jumping furball and we are trying really hard to not spoil him with too much love:).

Its February!

The other day I was talking to vivek about keeping this blog updated and the problem that i did not have much to write about. He rightly pointed out that it is infact good that I dont have much to write about. Since the blog was mostly about the crazy life around my surgery and recovery, i am surely getting better if i dont have stuff to write. Well time to change the direction of the blog then!

These days i am just trying to add something new to my daily schedule and move closer to all the things i could do before. I have definitely become a much more emotional and sensitive person after all this( as if i needed to be any more emotional). I can cry buckets over stories like Vick's dogs and their recovery and people going thru some tough times. I am sure it will go away with time.

Ofcourse i am also following the news a lot and mainly the election. Barack and Hillary are both very charismatic people. Its fun watching them talk, debate, present and fight:). I somehow side with Barack. I find Hillary a little less accesible. It feels like Barack speaks from his heart and hillary reads from a book. This is my opinion though and I am not really following each and every issue in the election.

more later!

Happy New Year!!

Happy new year to all!! May this year bring the best.

Its been 13 months and life is slowly getting back on a less rough road. Nothing much happened after the diagnosis of the eye problem. I had to wait an year for the nerves to settle down, we had less frequent visits to docs and fortunately less happening day to day events. The stamina and resistance of the body was slowly coming back and is still on its way up. My eyes still bother me sometimes and i am still dizzy on some days. Hopefully everything will die down in its own time. The prisms did not work out for me, so i am letting my eyes just get better on their own time.

My sis is getting married this Feb and I am hoping to make it to India then. Lets hope the new year brings better health, strength and confidence!

Third cranial nerve repair!

Well, we finally got to meet a neuro-ophthalmologist( there are only 4-5 of the species in the whole of Seattle area ). It took 2 months to see one. And he finally gave us somewhat good description of my eye problem. My third cranial nerve was damaged during the surgery, which is what causes the droopy lid. In most cases the nerve repairs almost completely and the lid function returns. But any nerve repair takes about 6-9 months. In the meantime, this third nerve damage has caused a condition called Exophoria. In simple terms, my right eye does not converge very well when i try to read or do anything which requires convergence of both eyes. This of course causes stress and dizziness.

So on most days i can only spend about 15 minutes at a time reading or online or doing anything which requires concentration . Of cource, i am trying to do all these things without concentrating so much, but u cant do that to read. i can type and probably do some daily activities with minimal eye use, but most are still restricted. The eye convergence can be corrected using prisms on my glasses, but the docs dont want to do that right now, since it might interfere with the nerve repair.

So here i am waiting and waiting for my nerve to heal itself so that i can start doing some things which usually would occupy 75 % of my day.

As i had mentioned in an earlier post that we engineers have a difficult time dealing with such situations without much control and explanations. Most of the the recovery problems do not usually have any explanation. This is true of a lot of medical problems. Along with all of this you have to also deal with the sudden missing independence. I can barely do my daily activities like cooking, reading, driving or anything. It sure is difficult to be suddenly so dependent. Well hopefully all this is temporary.!. Eyes are a very important part of your life for sure!!

Here's wishing my nerves a fast recovery! I am trying to find workarounds for certain activities for sure. Like i am using Key2Speak s/w to write up this blog. Because typing for me is not so concentration intensive, but reading what i typed up is. So this software just reads out whatever iam typing aloud. I can also read mails or webpages with it. So atleast i am not using my eyes so intensively!
I am getting familiar with my kitchen slowly, so that i dont really need my eyes for every small thing. Ahh i miss driving though.

Happy Holi!!

Happy Holi everyone!! (March 4)! Holi is the festival of colours, celebrated in India to celebrate the onset of Spring. It is a day to celebrate, have fun and socialize. We usually don't do much on Holi here in the US, but we have had crazy days when we were back home. Days of trying to scrub off the colors, the ones which would stick to your skin for a couple of days!!!

This year too, we did not do much. We used Haldi( turmeric ) instead of the usual holi colors and we ( vivek mom and me) had a small session of applying a ton of yellow on each other. Turmeric is very good for the skin and is usually an ingredient in many ayurvedic skin concoctions or cosmetics. So Vivek is definitely looking good today!

Recovery Update: My eyes got weird mid Jan, probably because the right eye started to open well and got used a lot. We had a vision field test and the right eye is much better now. The overall vision has gone from 20/40 b4 the surgery to 20/25 now after the surgery. The right eye's peripheral vision on the right side, which was almost blacked out is now getting better and i have a couple of blind spots instead of the complete black right semi-circle. But this also means that the vision in the right eye suddenly changed a lot, so the brain doesnt know what to do with it. Using the right eye started making me very dizzy mid jan and i could hardly read using both the eyes. The brain is slowly adjusting to it though and I can read a bit now and spend some time onine. Yey!!.. ok I cant even get too excited coz that adds to the dizziness.. heh!.

More Later!