Snippets from a play date.

Ashus best friend G came home last week for a play date.

(G trips and falls on top of Antu.)

G - Oops! Sorry Antu.
Ashu - Its OK, G. I fall on her and squish her ALL the time!!

----

(They are playing Candy Land.)

G - I don't want to play this anymore.
Ashu - Why? You said this is your favorite game.
G - Yes but I don't want to play now. I want to play with your laptop.
Ashu - OK. Clean this up first.

-----

(They are eating a snack.)

G - Yay! I finished first.
Ashu - (sticks out her tongue at G)
G - If I did that, my mom would tell me that I cant have a play date in a long, long time.
Ashu - I DON'T want a play date in a long, long time. OK?

----

G - Ashu said that Antu wont play with me. But I want to play with Antu.
Me - Antu will like to play with you, G. Don't worry. *glares at Ashu*
Ashu - I just thought that Antu is still sleepy and tired after her nap, Amma.
Me - Yeah right!

-----

G - Ashu is screaming in my ears.
Ashu - No I did nt do it, Amma.
G - She did.
Ashu - No, I did nt.
G - You did.
Ashu - No.
G - Yes.
Ashu - No.
G - Yes.
.
.
.
(Boo leaves the room)

----

(3 hours later)

G - Bye Ashu. *hugs and kisses*
Ashu - Bye.
G - I love you.
Ashu - See you tomorrow.

----

The Rabbit and the Chipmunk.

It has been a long time since Ashu told a story for me. Remember the one with the wolf? That was two years ago and the Ashu-almost 5.0-version is a lean, mean story machine. Heres the one she told me last night before her bed time. This time entirely in English.

There were two chipmunks living in a tree house. They both went to visit another city. Then a rabbit started living in the house. The chipmunks came back and saw the rabbit and said, "Its our house". But the rabbit said, "its my house"! They both kept on saying the same thing. Then a girl came there with a knife and killed one of the chipmunks!! (No. there was no warning for me either!!) She did nt do anything to the rabbit because he was her friend. One day, the rabbit and the girl were sleeping. The chipmunk planned something and went to their house. He saw two small bunnies. He killed one. So the girl started sleeping in the dead bunnies cot after that! (don't ask!) One day the rabbit wanted to go to the market. But the girl said no. So he went when she was sleeping. She got up and saw there was no rabbit. So she left the house and went to another country. The rabbit came home and saw that the girl was not there. So he went to a shop and snatched all the food and stored it in the house. There was no food for anyone else in that city. Then he caught a plane and went to another country. Now the girl came back to the house and saw the rabbit was not there. So she went on a plane to London. But the rabbit was not in London. He was in South Africa! So she went there and killed the rabbit. Now she had two houses. (huh?) She came back to rabbits house and gave all the food back to the shop. Took all the nuts from the shop and went to see the chipmunk and gave him all the nuts. She saw the bunny there. But he was not a clever bunny. So she taught him this and taught him that. Then she took him to her house and they lived happily ever after.

The End.

If I add some choice swear words here and there, you think may be I can send this story to Tarantino?

Getting Crafty.

Its only fair to contribute to Shrutis Artsy Craftsy March challenge after all the inspiration (read as stealing!) I got from the Artsy Craftsy finger painting challenge. I googled and found this simple craft from YouTube. So easy that Ashu saw it once and made it all by herself. With absolutely no help from me. The house of Boo is proud to present,

The Paper plate Puppet.

All you need is a paper plate, scissors and scotch tape. Thanks Shruti for inspiring me to try the land of puppets. :)

ps.

Meanwhile, the resident toddler can run away with the scotch tape and use the almost entire tape trying to stick the pillow to the bed. Beware!

Birthday Musings.

Its nice when the birthday falls on a weekend. Especially if its your 32nd!! :) Decided to forget the fact that I'm getting old(er) and went to Flums to do some sledging. Poor man's Skiing, I call it. :) Theres a 3 km sledge run there which I ve been wanting to go for a long time. So after an hour drive, a 20 min cable car ride, a 10 mins bus ride and another 5 mins cable car ride, Ashu and I reached the top. Rented a huge wooden sledge and weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! We tumbled, we fell, we rolled, we were scared but we survived. Ashu swore she ll never ever sledge ever again! We both took charge of Antu while Hd went to sledge. He came back in 10 mins saying he had a blast! I was tempted to go solo. So after a hearty lunch, I went again. This time it was much more fun because I was nt worried that I ll kill my own child! But in my defense, I saw 5 year olds sledding in their own sledges unaccompanied. And overtaking me! I also saw a guy who went past me, hit the barrier on the right, flew up and fell on the other side. Thankfully, he was OK. But I had my heart in my mouth the rest of the way. Towards the end, the slopes merge and the skiers and the snowboarders and us were all using the same run and it was scary, to say the least. But then whats the fun if its not? :)

I also baked myself a yummy zucchini cake this year. Ashu slipped a birthday card she made under the bathroom door. Antu was clueless. Hd did nt disappoint. I went Wiiiiiiiiiii when I opened his gift. ;) Friends of mine took me to dinner the previous night while Hd was home with the girls. I had a blast. Went to this restaurant called Movie. Stepped into a child unfriendly place after ages. Once in a while, its nice to dine somewhere where they don't have high chairs, you know what I mean? The food was awesome. The ambience was great with studio lights, film roll menu cards, red carpet,.. the whole nine Hollywood yards.

As always, birthday reflections happened. I could nt think of anything I could do to improve my life, so stopped trying! ;) Being content is so under rated these days. So I want to admit that I am content. And I am exactly where I want to be in my life. I think that's the advantage when one is not ambitious. I'm happy being an average Jane. Here's to everyone like me! *clink*

Gym diary.

Today at the gym, I left Antu in the kids care and was filling the form there. The one which asks for our names, check in time, phone number, etc... Theres a column where one has to write the date of birth of the child. While I was writing Antus, my eyes went to the last entry and saw that there was a March 2010. I was shocked. I ve seen infants at the kids care there and the moms taking a break from the work out and breast feeding them in the changing room. Yes, its true. And these are non celebrity women, for your kind information! But I was still shocked and saw the date again and tried to calculate how many weeks old the baby was when it struck me. The mom had, by mistake, written today's date in that column! phew! But you never know. Some mom might hit the gym right after the birth straight from the labor ward! These women just exist to make me feel bad about myself, I tell you.

I am the most over weight person in my gym. Except when this other woman comes to the gym. But I don't see her most days. Guess she waiting for a member fatter than her!

Its like a fashion show out there in my gym. I gotta admire these women. If I look anything like them, I ll sitting at home ODing on chocolate instead of sweating in the gym. And I still do it some days - the ODing on chocolate skipping gym, I mean! ;)

The gyms lake facing and its lovely to look at the water and the ducks and the boats while running in the treadmill. I feel so alive. Cant say the same about the ducks though! Poor things have to watch me run and sweat!

Antu is loving the kids care. Runs inside without even a backward glance at me. I cannot believe shes Ashus sister. Ashu who cried, screamed and yelled for WEEKS before settling down in her play school.

I'm on Week 7 of my C25K programme and jogged for 25 mins for the first time yesterday. Almost collapsed at the end. Oh Eesa kept me going the last few mins. Today it was Dhan te nan.

Ashu asks me everyday, "Did you go to the gym today, Amma?" If I say no, she gives a very disapproving look. So I ve appointed her as my personal trainer.

I have nt lost any considerable weight in these 7 weeks. (Do you even have to wonder why after that chocolate confession I just made?) But my clothes are looser and I feel good about myself. Thats a start, I guess.

Even though the programme says 5 kms, I am able to jog only 3 kms in 30 minutes. So I'm planning to repeat the programme by increasing the speed slowly and trying to achieve the 5 km mark.

My Gym playlist:

Aahun Aahun - Love Aaj Kal
Adiye Kolluthe - Vaaranam Aayiram
Boom boom - Boys
Chiggy wiggy - Blue
Title Song - Delhi 6

Dhan te nan - Kaminey
Dol dol dol - Ayutha Ezhuthu
Excuse me - Kandasamy
Fatak - Kaminey
Honey honey - Ayan

Ibn e Batuta - Ishqiya
Jana Gana mana - Ayutha Ezhuthu
Kodaana Kodi - Saroja
Masakali - Delhi 6
Oh Eesa - Aayirathil Oruvan

Vennilaavin theril Eri - Duet
Yakkai Thiri - Ayutha Ezhuthu

Can you please suggest some songs that really keep you going? I would love to add more to my list.

ps.
Im embarrassed by most of the videos. So dont judge me! Think of the greater good - me getting fit! ;)

Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya.

I am really silly when it comes to certain things. Especially about movies. For no good reason, I would decide not to watch a certain actors movies in the cinemas. Simbu aka Silambarasan is one of them. Or should I say was? Sigh! I gave in and watched his movie last night. Yes, its his movie all the way! I made all kinds of dramatic dialogues like "Let History not say that Boo watched a Simbu movie in the theatre" and "I'm a card carrying member of the I hate Simbu club", etc.. much to Hds asmusement the last couple of days. "You want to watch the movie, don't you?", asked Hd. "Go and watch. I promise I wont tell anyone", he goaded! We could nt watch the movie together anyway and I did nt want to go alone so I decided to let it pass. Then the Universe conspired and a friend called me yesterday and asked if I'm game to watch the movie. The Universe is really jobless, I think. If it had to conspire, cant it do something about my weight loss or that lottery I'm hoping to win? Anyway, so I went with the friend, the friends friend and the friends friends husband(who does nt speak a word of Tamil) for a 11 pm show last night.

To say I LOVED the movie would be an understatement. Now I get what people saw in Vaaranam Aayiram. May be that movie resonated with them in some level and I just was nt able to relate to it. I'm sure there are loads of people who might hate VTV too. Its mushy, its long, its intense, its love love love, its confusing,... But I got zapped into the movie completely. I had a lump in my throat as soon as the movie began. And had it hours after it ended. I came home at 2.15 am after dropping the friends home and could nt sleep for an hour after that. I said all sort of mushy nonsense to a sleeping Hd. Yes, I had gone that crazy! And no, I don't drink.

I think Jessie is one of Goutham Menons fantastic female leads. Never in my life have I ever seen a film where I could totally be in the head of the female character and feel the same way as her. And Simbu as Karthik is such a revelation. I whispered, "Simbu is good" to Hd today morning and added "Oh who am i kidding? He was great okay. He was awesome!" and thankfully Hd was sitting down when I said that! He has played Karthik just perfect. Trisha was good too but its his movie all the way. The ending is what clinched the movie for me. Kudos to Goutham for that ending. You ARE good, dude! I sort of underestimated you after Vaaranam Aayiram and I'm sorry, OK?

AR Rahman - where do I begin? What can I say that has not been said already? Aaromale is so good that I want to drown in that song. Especially after watching the song on screen, I get the now familiar lump in my throat every time I hear it. Sigh! What a hopelessly romantic, mushy person I actually am! I'm embarrassed to admit that. The picturization of the other songs did nt work for me though. Except Mannippaya.

Now lets talk about Jessie - for some who call her immature, confused, b****, etc... etc... and say most modern women are like her - always leading the men on and then breaking their hearts and moving on - Yes, its true. Been there, done that. And whats wrong in that, may I ask? I ve never understood this blanket statement that women are so selfish and they are not in "real love" if they ve any desire of their own. Have nt we seen it in tonnes of Tamil movies where the hero berates the girl for dumping him? "Did nt you know I was poor when you roamed the streets with me? Did nt you know I was a lowly mechanic when you came to repair your scooty? You women are so selfish. You don't ve the guts to leave your family while we leave everything for you"! Yawn! Give me a break! He falling in love at the first sight is nt immature but she trying to see what kind of a person he is by going out with him is? He deciding that she is the woman of his dreams just by seeing her behind is nt stupid but she deciding that he ll be a mechanic all his freaking life and does nt want to be a part of his life is? He, leaving everything behind, is getting a woman of his dreams at the end of the deal. What is she getting out of it? Pregnant and alone when he is off to see some location and being a edupudi to a film director? Why should she settle down? Yes, he makes her head giddy and heart go boom boom, but how long is that going to last? When did being smart and logical become a crime? The only dialogue I did nt agree with Karthik in the movie was when he says that Jessies sister would nt be happy. That shes just acting. I disagree. Women are made of stronger stuff. When we can move on after burying our children, whats something as hormonal as first love? I can hear you ask, "So why get into the relationship in the first place?, Why lead the men on?" Because we want it all. We want our heads to go giddy. Our hearts to go boom boom. We want that first kiss. We want that excitement. We want to see if the guy is worth fighting the world for. Worth leaving the family for. And we can't decide all that based on his posterior. Even if it looks like Brad Pitt's. And as cliched as it might sound, we do believe its better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. And be loved.

ps.
Thanks Gowtham for the fantastic Jessie. And let me tell you one more important thing. Since we ve established the fact that the Universe is pretty jobless, it might conspire again and try to make you think of casting SJ Suryah in your next movie. But I beg you. Don't. Just don't. OK? Promise? Its the least you can do for a woman who left her husband and two little girls at home to watch your movie at the middle of the night. :)