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!