Shalini's Sewing Space

Yet another hobby Beading! As in beaded jewelery making. Last weekend I went to the Gem and Jewelery Show and bought a bunch of gems, beads, pearls etc. Now, what should I do with those..lets see..Ofcourse, lets make jewelery! I have actually made 2 pairs of earrings so far. I'm loving this! I am very motivated when results are instant. So ofcourse everything else takes a back seat for now. I did read 2 books this month as well, but mostly I'm taking out the beads every night and planning what to do with them. And with Mehul right beside me, it means he wants to touch them as well. He has selected one particular strand of rectangular Agate that he pretends is the Black Train. Heee So no wonder blogging and scrapping are taking a back seat. My online time is consumed in searching cheap sources for beading. I've found Fire Mountain Gems and placed an order with them last night for the materials needed to make jewelery - wire, crimp beads, clasps, metal beads, etc. I can ha

Bee was not to be... I don't think I've mentioned it here, but I've been trying to watch the Bee movie. Since my birthday (Nov. 17th), I've been trying to watch it. So, I went out with some girl friends on the 16th for a girls night out and watched a *different* movie, because we thought this movie was better to be seen with kids. On the actual day, we had the potluck so that day was out. Since then, something *always* comes up whenever we make plans. Oh, including last weekend when DH complained of having pain and buzzing in his right ear due to ongoing sinus issue. Sometime last week, DH called another friend whom we haven't met in a while, and planned to finally go the coming sunday (yesterday). So, we all got there. Somehow, we managed to be late by around 10 minutes. We entered the hall 11 (which will be significant later) and settled in, the movie had already started. Within less than 5 minutes, they asked everyone to go out as there was a gas leak in the thea

Just busy I've been busy busy busy for many reasons. I had a work deadline which is now done. We are getting our basement built. The contractors started last weekend. We've been gathering ideas for the kitchen/bar area we wish to make there. Been to Lowe's, Home Depot, Ikea, etc. I loved one of the kitchens in Ikea and that's what we'll go with. We ordered the appliances from Sears on Black Friday and got quite good prices because of the sale. There will of course be pictures when everything is said and done. I cleaned the play room today. What a disaster area. Ugh. Currently, we're using the living room as the play room and use the family room to entertain the guests. That should change though because I can not handle the toys at the entrance of the house anymore. They are breeding like anything and are completely out of control. I have many ideas for organizing the playroom but lack the time rightnow. Once the basement is done, we'll move the playroom down

Life in Software.. Whole day to find a problem. 15 minutes to solve it. Such is my life.. Thanks for your comments, they mean a lot to me :)

Diwali Pictures rescued from the camera Thanks for your comment, Fiona :) It helped me put a perspective on the purpose of this blog. That is partly why I started it in the first place, so I have a place to share my side of the world's view with others. Here are some of the pictures I promised. Sorry I have none in the sari I wore on Diwali. I just have to make it a habit to wear traditional clothes more often that we have been. And to remember to take pictures in them. LOL! Rangoli It looks better in the pictures - They were taken at night after lighting the diyas (earthen lamps with oil and cotton wicks). A closer look Crackers Diwali Lights Coconut Burfi - Recipe going on my food blog soon. I am in love with my tile flooring. It was so easy to clean it after having the Rangoli there for 5 days. There even was some oil spilled from the diyas. I could never light oil lamps on hardwood flooring. So happy about this choice. Saturday was my birthday. I celebrated by having a girl

Diwali (last post on this topic - promise) This post is long so better sit down for this one :) Ok. So the day started with rain. Not entirely unexpected as there was 60% chance of precipitation. I hadn't decided as of Thursday night where I wanted to make the Rangoli. This actually made the decision easy :) It is usually made at the entrance of the house so my options were either outside the front door (more traditional), or in the Foyer. We have tile flooring so I didn't mind it inside. DH had a meeting in the morning so he had to go in and he dropped Mehul at the daycare. I was working from home and had some stuff to do, so I worked straight through 2PM. Missed my lunch and ate breakfast while working. So then I decided I was getting behind on my to-do list for the Diwali so I took a break from working. I made the Rangoli, then made the sweet dish - Coconut Barfi, and then started thinking about lunch because my stomach was rumbling by then. It was 3, I believe. DH came home

Happy Deepawali

Diwali Preparations Yes!! Diwali is Friday - Nov. 9th. It is a Hindu Festival but the entire country celebrates it, and Indians abroad celebrate it as well. You can read more about Diwali and it's origins here . So my entire family is getting together in Delhi. My little sister is coming home from college in Alwar, my brother already came back from Chennai last weekend. My big sister lives in Delhi about 20 minutes away from my parents, so they are all there. I am (slightly) getting down, as it happens every year. But I refuse to stay like this. I am doing my own preparations. So what am I doing? I am going to make a Rangoli - a colorful design made on the floor with colors or flower petals. Last night I started making the colors - by dyeing sand with food coloring and Rit Dyes. I designed and cut out a template for the design I'm going to make. It's a peacock! That's all you get for now ;) We'll see how well this plan goes LOL! If it doesn't work, I will fall b

You make me smile Aww Jenni gave me this - And I give it to these fabulous blogs who manage to brighten my day. Sene Melissa Erin Christine Susan Jenni Karin and a few Digiscrappers Buddhini Michelle Coleman I would add Gina Miller here but her blog is no more :( Bad guys got to her and she shut it down.

HomeOffice Makeover Photos Before After I think I'm in love with the wallpaper. I love the look and putting it up wasn't too bad either. Current plan is to do it in Mehul's room, Dining room and possibly, Powder Room. It depends on finding the right paper. If nothing inspires me then we're going with paint.

TGIF DH took me out to lunch today. That's the benefit of working within 10 minutes of each other. We went to Olive Garden . That's a bit of a drive, but it was a slow day at work. I must have gone there after about 2 years! I used to work in the complex where this restaurant is located and would go there often for lunch, but ever since leaving that company, I haven't been back for some reason. It was nice to go back. Two of my friends came home in the evening and while we were chatting, DH made us some potato-tikki sandwiches. He rarely cooks so it really nice gesture on his part. The tikkis were pre-made frozen ones but still. Tomorrow, I am going with them to Diwali Festival. Should be fun! I haven't been to one of those in years. I am looking forward to the chaat (snacks)! And the dresses too. Why is this post all about food? Moving on to some other topic - Mehul is doing well now. That cough was hard to hear! It sounded much worse than it actually felt (as it says

Yes, it is Croup. The pediatrician said we were already doing what she was going to suggest - give him steam, keep the humidifier going to help with the symptoms. We gave a treatment or two of Xopenex via nebulizer to help open up his airways. It's mainly used for lungs but does help with the throat in a pinch. He had immediate relief from the treatment. Thankfully, we already had some Xopenex at home. She wrote another prescription as well. He is doing better today but I kept him home for another day. Karwachowth yesterday was awesome (except the headache from dehydration and caffeine withdrawal LOL!) The three of us (neighbors) who are really close wore saris and did evening puja together. Then we hung around in Monika's place until moon-rise and meanwhile put our husbands and kids on Spot_The_Moon duty. Moonrise was at 8:55 PM yesterday but we didn't see it until 9:30. We cooked together and had tea (an exception I made due to the headache. I normally don't have anyt

Croup? and KarwaChowth Mehul had a low grade fever and trouble breathing last night. His voice became horse and his cough sounded very strange. My instant thought was croup. After some reading this morning, it's almost confirmed. We will take him to the doctor tomorrow as our pediatricians office is closed today. Sadly, there isn't much we can do about it other than try to fix the symptoms. We tried giving him steam but that didn't go very well. He is acting fine and eating well so it can wait till tomorrow. I wasn't well yesterday either. The house is a mess. I don't need anymore illnesses around here, please! Tomorrow is my day-long fast of KarwaChowth. I blogged about this last year . This time there are many Indian neighbors who will be keeping the fast as well, so this should be fun! Last year, when DH took me out looking for the moon, an oncoming car killed a Skunk right in front of us! Please, no smelly killings this time around!

Blog Musings It's all her fault :) She asked me to look over her new blog before the debut. I had been contemplating a blog re-do for my best friend Sene but just didn't hadn't sat down to do it. Well, after looking over Erin's Awesome Blog, I started searching for a new template for Sene. Have you looked recently? OMG! There are so many cool new templates for Blogger available now that weren't when I last looked. I just finished Sene's blog update - take a look at the result if you would like. She asked for pink and she sure got it LOL! Hope you like it, Sene! And I have also started a new Food blog - Ginger and Garlic Blog . Why Ginger and Garlic? Because I don't know how to cook without them LOL. It's going to be my daily kitchen diary. Hope I will be able to keep up with the 2 blogs. I like the simple template for that. The template is in Spanish (which I don't know at all). Regardless of the strangers sometimes trying to talk to *me* in Spani

Pictures! Let's get right to it. You've already seen my first scarf ever. My second scarf. Look how messy my edges are. They are improving now :) Pattern: Knit 4 rows K3 *(K2tog Yo K) repeat from * K3 Mom made this one. It's plain garter stitch. Same pattern as the one above. Only wider. The picture in the background is a Paint-by-Number done by my sister! I like this one the most. This is in Mehul's school colors and my most recent finish. Love it. Excuse the pillow fibers please! They shed more than my hair. LOL! Pattern: K3 *(K2P1) repeat K3 Knit next row The bootie! A bit tight for Mehul but I love it. I'll be making the other one soon. Ran out of the gray yarn. Pattern : here (pdf) . I didn't add the straps because I am having issues with doing them. Still need to make the other one. Dishcloths. Both started by me and finished by Mom. LOL! I don't like the cotton yarn much. Pattern: Feather and Fan. Can't remember what this pattern is called. I star

Anyone need a scarf? Parents are gone. We had a 4 day weekend (no holiday, just vacation time). I have been knitting. A lot. DH is very bored and missing *my* parents more than I am. Does anyone else think there is something wrong with that? Besides me. So, in order to distract myself from the emptiness of the house after my parents left on Friday, I started a scarf for Mehul. And this morning, I put the last stitches (knits/purls?) into it. It's the best one yet. Wait till you see it :D Pictures coming soon. There might be a booty in there as well :D I was watching a hindi movie ( Kabhi Alwida Na Kehna ) and started noticing the scarves the actors were wearing. Instantly, I opened photoshop and noted a lot of the ideas. And came up with a bunch of new ones. Now I'm definitely a knitter, right? Because I'm coming up with scarf ideas :) I have plans to make vertical striped scarf and a boxy scarf. And a black and white very stripy scarf. We'll see how far I get. I usuall

Nooo!!!! Their flight is tomorrow and not Monday!! That's 3 days early than we were thinking. Their travel agent changed the dates and never informed them back! I know they were trying to change the dates BEFORE they ever came here but were told that it can't be done. Arghhh! We only came to know when DH called today to confirm and to set meal choices for them :(

Thanks for the wishes! The party went well. We had to move indoors as it was just too hot out. But other than that, everything went as planned. Everyone loved the food, the kids enjoyed a lot, the adults enjoyed too. Mehul's playroom was the main playground for the kids and by the evening it looked like a tornado had gone through! LOL In the evening as the guests started leaving, the neighbor's kids came right back outside and played on the bouncy. I was so happy to see it getting used as well. I have so many pictures to post but no time this week. Mummy papa are leaving on Monday - 15th October. Yes, Already!! We are going to miss them but Mehul will miss them the most. It will be hard on him for a while. He looks for papa first thing in the morning. It doesn't help that he is supposed to be transitioned to the next class (Gard 3) starting tuesday. We're going to talk with the Director tomorrow when we go to drop him and try to delay the transitioning. Normally we woul

A Day Late Happy Birthday to my Big Boy! He is 3 as of yesterday! And he got a big boy bicycle. I have started layouts for his first year album. Here is what I have so far.. Credits: Papers from Michelle Coleman, Alpha from Gina Miller, Brushes & Stars from Michelle Coleman, Staple from Jenn Patrick Credits: Papers, Elements from Michelle Coleman, Alpha and Swirl from Miki Ferkul And a recent picture - I know I've cheated and chosen the picture that had my first scarf finish hehe. I loved the colors in this yarn and Mehul named all the colors the first time he saw this. I actually liked another yarn with girlish colors that Jenni very wisely steered me away from LOL! Mehul loves his scarf. Speaking of her, she and I met today for lunch and she taught me baby booties! I can't wait to make a start on those. I am surrounded by pregnant women at the moment and would love to be able to make booties for them. Hopefully. We'll see. I gotta run. I'm making the chutney fo

Amazing how days are flying.. Another weekend gone! Now we just have Mummy papa for 2 more weekends here. This weekend was entirely too busy. Friday was dinner at a friend's place. Visited another friend on Saturday and brunch at yet another friend's on Sunday. I finalized the details of the party this weekend. And gave a test run to a new Jeera Chicken recipe. It's easy, quick and yum (from those who ate it. I don't do chicken.) Somehow the discussion that started with "All food will be catered. Don't Make Anything." ended with "I'm making everything but one dish". LOL!! DH is not talking to me. I finished the purple scarf. So now I have done 3 scarves and mom has done 2. That's too many scarves! I need to learn something else. Jenni and I are meeting for lunch so she can hopefully teach me something else. I'm useless without a teacher.

Planning a party For the little one. He's turning 3 in less than 10 days! Actually, there will be a smaller party at the daycare on the day of, and a bigger party at home where close friends and neighbors are invited the following weekend. I made the invitation card for the party last night. That's pretty much the progress as of now. Oh, and we got the bouncy for the kids from a friend. *Now* I'm getting excited about the party. So far, DH and I were planning on making this birthday a quiet one with just the daycare kids to celebrate at a location other than his daycare (something like Yucky Cheese), but then thought that since my parents are here we should do something. It won't be a big celebration like his first birthday (in India), but fun nonetheless. We don't even know that many people here LOL! Now I need to come up with 2 sets of return gifts, order Cake for the party, cupcakes for the daycare, food and drinks for party at home, tables & chairs to put in

Ah, the fun has ended I was on vacation for the last week. Went to Niagara Falls and New York City with mummy papa. The whole trip was so much fun, but it was lightning fast, specially in NY City. We had a flat tire 30 minutes away from our hotel while arriving that threatened to spoil the vacation, but we hadn't planned on driving in the city anyway. We took the local train couple of blocks from the hotel while the car was at the dealership. All in all, it was a fun, memorable trip. (Luray pics are from August. I just hadn't posted them yet. I also have tons of DC pics to edit. Statue of Liberty island pics are missing from here too.) Now back to reality tomorrow. A new set of enhancements begins tomorrow so I assume I'll be very busy for the next couple of weeks, but I enjoyed the break so can't complain. I've added the pictures in my Flickr album. Click on the pictures to see the entire albums. Niagara Falls Album NY City Album Luray Caverns Album In other news,

My favorite photo Recently, I've taken loads of photos but this one is by far my favorite. This will (hopefully) go as a 20x16 poster in M's room! This was taken at the beach last weekend. I just LOVE the sand on his nose. Mr. M Sorry I'm not finding too much time for blogging. Work is busy as usual, and we're out/doing something almost daily at home. This weekend we're going to hit some museums in DC - Natural History, Air & Space, and probably the National Art Museum. Hopefully, we'll go to the National Zoo as well. Mehul wants to ride on a bus so we'll be taking the Fairfax Connector to the Metro and go by Metro. As far as I can remember, he has never been on a bus!! Except the shuttle at the airport which goes from terminal to terminal. We always drive to the Metro station, or we drive straight into DC. And ofcourse, this will give my parents a chance to see the buses here. This should be fun :) Enjoy the 3-day weekend!

Busy Busy Since mummy papa have arrived here, we've been very busy. I don't get as much putter-time as before. We went to the beach on friday and returned yesterday. Visited the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum today. And we've been to Luray Caverns. It has only been 8 days LOL! So much to see, so little time. I'll post some pics later.

Excited Mummy papa land here in 40 minutes! We're off to the airport as soon as everyone is cleaned up and ready to go! There was some snafu with their seats and I'm hoping they got somewhat decent ones assigned at the airport. They're not carrying a cell phone so we couldn't ask. I have been cleaning the house pretty much since morning. The last weekend was spent for work so the house wasn't nearly as clean as I'd like. I'm ready to talk about last week now. I got a lot of appreciation for the work last week. And an out of turn bonus!! I wasn't expecting anything beyond making my co-working whom I substituted for (T), happy. T is extremely thankful as he was able to take his first vacation of the year, and is taking me out to lunch once he gets back from vacation. He said he wouldn't check his email on his vacation, but he did, just to know what happened last week! The work I did was originally assigned to him. He couldn't finish in time because

I'm alive Just have had the week from hell. Everything's fine but I'm just tired and cranky. Not sure I want to bore everyone with details but it is work related again. Few LOs of the Toronto pics I had done earlier.. Top of the World Credits: Papers from Meredith Fenwick Various Elements from Michelle Coleman, Lori Wile, Lie Fhung, Lori Barnhurst Rainforest Cafe Everything from Lie Fhung Soar Evening at Niagara Everything from Lie Fhung

July? Gone? When did that happen? Slow down, summer! So I finished the scarf I was knitting. I had to make a restart when I made a mistake and couldn't fix. I mulled over it for *2 entire days*. Could have finished it 2 days sooner. It was so quick. I initially started it at the stitching GTG last Saturday. I was happy with the restart because in the beginning my tension wasn't even, so the scarf had taken a weird shape. I restarted it with the new Bamboo needles I got from AC Moore. So much lighter than the long steel needles I was using! I'll have a picture up here soon. Mehul loves the new scarf and can name all the colors in it :) Now I need to get new yarn for another scarf. This one might be for me or my younger sister. In other news, my parents are (finally) coming to visit! They are arriving in 12 days from today. I'm so excited. This will be their first visit to the US. I have planned all these trips for the 2 months they'll be spending with us here. I ask

Pink explosion :) Since I was home on a working day i.e. sans_DH_And_DS, I had to keep myself busy. So I managed to do 2 loads of laundry, fold 2 (older) loads, clean the master bath, load dishwasher, and attempted to straighten up playroom. I did take a nap as well. Did 2 layouts and went for a walk in the evening. I wanted the blog to appear clean and fresh after the dark theme I had going since March. I believe this is the longest I've gone without making changes. I do like the pink (though I already think there is too much of it). It is reminding me of Umbridge LOL. As long as there's no lace, we're good!

Weekend ups and downs Stitching GTG at Debby's was good. I learned knitting. I liked it. Until I screwed up. Now I'm unable to fix it. I'm pretty sure it's fixable, but I just don't know how :( Boating on Sunday was great. Our community has a nice sized lake where we can do boating. Only available to members, so it was pretty much like this. "Hey, the weather's nice." while passing the lake "Let's go boating." "Ok. Let's go." Lunch after boating was good too (Love Baja Fresh). Upon reaching home around 4, friends called and said they're dropping by. Sure, I'll just check my work email meanwhile. Hadn't heard anything about how testing was going. They were supposed to start this morning. I had finished all my work on friday and was only supposed to support the testing effort, and stand by to fix issues. Well, that's where the trouble started. After placing a few calls, I made them start testing (not part of my

Shoot me! There is a lot of work drama happening that started with my asking a very valid question. Sigh. I did the right thing, but many others are under fire. I might even have to work on Sunday because of all this (their) mess. I refused to work on Saturday because I have to go to the DC Area Stitching GTG that I've tried to attend before (3 years ago!) and couldn't. Mehul had decided to make his appearance that weekend :) Work isn't going to stop me this time around. Now I just have to find the time between now and Saturday to do grocery shopping and make the dish I want to take. The friend I had mentioned here before, the one who was pregnant and separated from her husband, she had her baby girl yesterday. They are both doing well. I hope to get away on Sunday for a little while to see them. The idiot husband has not returned her message about the baby and not visited yet. He's pretty much out of the picture now. Grrrr. I have this LO uploaded that hasn't been

Finished! (no spoilers) The series has ended. I finished reading yesterday afternoon. Didn't want to rush this one so I kept the book down several times. Not through the last couple of chapters, though. Lots happening! I am going to start rereading today. I always find things I'd initially missed.

I can hardly stand it! Harry Potter comes out in less than 14 hours. I wasn't thinking of going to get in line at midnight but I just might. I don't think I can wait until the morning. It's getting hard to concentrate at work! I can't wait for the evening to arrive. I have to read the last few chapters of the book 6 tonight too. So excited.. So there might not be any blogging until I'm done with the book 7 :)

Take Two meme Stolen from Erin. Feel free to snag. Two names you go by: 1. Shalini 2. Mama Two things you are wearing right now: 1. Black top 2. Khaki Pants Two things you want (or have) in a relationship: 1. Fun 2. Understanding Two of your favorite things to do (at the moment they are): 1. Digital Scrapbooking 2. Reading Two things you want very badly at the moment: 1. Vacation so I can finish Harry Potter Book 6 2. Harry Potter Book 7 Two people who will fill this out: 1. No idea! 2. Really no idea! Two things you did last night: 1. Read Book 6 2. Scrapped our 'Rainforest Cafe' photos Two things you ate today: 1. Rye Bread 2. Funyums Onion Rings Two people you last talked to: 1. Mehul ("Bye Mehul! I'll see you in the evening.") 2. DH ("Bye!") Things you're doing this week/weekend: 1. Reading HP7. 2. Scrapping when my eyes get tired but my brain doesn't want to switch off! Two longest car rides: 1. Northern VA to Toronto (9.5 hours). 2. and bac

Busy weekend I took 'Work from Home' day today. There are about 6 loads of laundry to be folded. I didn't get time to do it last weekend. I also need to get to the library at some point today as 2 books are overdue. The weekend activities include - house warming party at a neighbor's, a birthday party at ChuckeCheese for one of Mehul's classmates, and Car puja (rites) for the new car. Busy busy. Work is thankfully very light at the moment so I don't feel guilty about staying home.. This morning, I put Mehul in the new 'Cars' underwear. So far we've been in Training pants and now we're trying the next step! So the conversation went something like this - Me: Mehul, you've got Lightning McQueen on your underwear! Mehul: Lightning McQueen! Kaa-Chow!! LOL! He's so cute. We've been doing ok on Potty Training. He's had one accident at the daycare so far and a few at home. Daycare is much better about regular potty breaks. Whenever he has

Part 2 (contd..) Sunday July 1st, 2007 - Canada Day We slept in this morning as we were still tired from the previous day. Had a late brunch and decided to go to Niagara Falls to watch the fireworks at night. We wanted to go to the CN tower as well so thought we'd do that first and then go to Niagara at night. Plan sounded good at that time not realizing that EVERYONE will be going to see fireworks at Niagara that night. It was Canada Day, afterall. Gawd, the traffic! A 1.5 hour drive took 3 hours. Anyhow, the CN tower looked good :) Visibility was excellent that day. Taken by Sony DSC P73 Taken by Canon Rebel XT Taken by Canon Rebel XT I found it very disheartening that there was a Starbucks but not a Tim Horton's at the CN Tower. That just isn't right ;) Anyhow, we had tea and snacks there and hung around for more time than we should have. We had used our 'Express passes' to get past the crowd downstairs, and were confident we'd be using those. Not so! The p