Home again, home again, jiggity-jog

The Sharmas are back home. They had an easy, pleasant trip. They did not try to get out too much but enough to have agood time. Apparently India is not all that wheelchair friendly.

Another one bites the dust.....

now the washing machine is dead. Once again I can't truthfully say that I'm sorry. I hated it even more than the dishwasher and I was already planning to replace it.... but not this week. Really I'm aiming for late February. I guess I will go back to schlepping our clothes up and down the stairs. I've gotten spoiled very quickly by having the second laundry room upstairs.

Snake Encounters

Another rainy day cancelled soccer practice on Tuesday so went to the PTA meeting instead. I'm not a fan of the PTA meetings. Very little productive happens because the attendance is too high. Attendance is high because they plan something fun for the kids so that the kids will drag the parents to the meetings. Part of the school's ratings are based on how active the PTA is which is shown by meeting attendance and overall sign up rate. You get a school directory for free if you join or you can buy one later but the price is the same as joining.

Tonight's entertainment was a visit by Critterman (or the Snake Guy). He brought with him a few dozen of his favorite snakes and was very entertaining. The kids got to "pet" his largest snake on the way out.

Top 30

I made the list of top 30 workout women (or whatever) at the gym.  Based on my 1133 points for last week I ranked 30^th in my dedication to the cause.

Merry Christmas to me!

Sid bought me a pot rack for Christmas. The one that I got last year I returned after he threatened to hang it with steel cabling instead of the decorative chains. I'll add a green plant up top be very pleased with the whole effect.

Dinner with Friends

Brenda, Jeremy and Jaden came over for dinner last night. We don't get to see them very often. Though Brenda and I have lunch at least once a month. Jaden is two and a half and completely besotted with trains. Our kids have an incredible collection of wooden track and train cars. Sunil and Jaden had a great time. Sheela was at a sleep over.

It was very nice and completely low stress. The house was already clean and dinner wasn't anything too fancy.

IC Festival

Sheela's DI team attended an Instant Challenge Festival yesterday. They had to complete four different challenges and were able to watch another team complete those same four challenges. They weren't given their point scores but they did get feedback from the appraisers (which is much more useful).

I took Sunil, Seema and Nita to watch but we quickly figured out that it was too chaotic to be worth it. There were 16 teams (5-7 kids per team), their 16 team managers and at least 32 appraisers all in the cafeteria working at the same time. The nieces went back to their shopping spree, and Sunil went with Sid to take care of some rental stuff. I bought a dishwasher.

For their challenges:
They built a tower out of straws, cups and coffee stirrers. The tower had to be built on top of a basketball but could not be connected to the ball. They had three minutes and it had stand unsupported for at least 10 seconds. Points were awarded for each inch of height, teamwork and creativity.

Write and perform a skit about a book. I don't remember the details on this one but book was called The Green Potato and Sheela played the part of a bookshelf. Again points for teamwork and creativity, also for presentation and clarity.

Write and perform a skit about three creative uses for glass. Their three uses were: a portal to another dimension, a lava lamp and a clone mirror. One of the girls went in to an antique glass shop and accidentally touched the portal. When she arrived in the other dimension she was in a lava lamp store. While choosing her lamp, she decided to fix her hair in a mirror. When she looked in to the mirror it cloned her. The only thing her clone could say was, "Do you want a donut?" They both returned through the portal. There was a time when I would have said that a portal was creative, but it appears in almost everything this team has done for the last four months.

The fourth challenge was another skit. In this one they were supposed to make a funny TV show, I didn't catch the nuances. Their show was about science and accidentally shrinking some one's dog then accidentally turning it into a ferocious beast.

Behold the Quiet Series III

Here Sid puts on the final pieces of the ultra quiet trim kit for the new dishwasher. Instead of running out and buying a new one the day the other died I ran out and attempted to buy one but was so turned off by the poor quality of the displays that I came home to stew about it for a day. Really, at both of our two local mega-fix-it-up stores either doors didn't open, didn't close or the racks would fall out of more than half of the display models. Even after I knew which one I wanted I couldn't bring myself to fork out the money. I figured I'd be over it by lunchtime on Monday and I bring one home from work with me. But I ended up not working Monday, or Wednesday because of the ice. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday I had lunch meetings. So we washed dishes by hand for a whole week (the horror!). I was definitely ready to spend the money by Saturday and Sid even put it for me that same day. I love that man.

It finally died... and I couldn't be happier....

Well, it was our old dishwasher and I guess I will be happier when I actually have time to replace it… not to mention hauling its carcass out of the backyard.

Manufacturing Engineering Supervisor

It is now official… I have my new business cards to prove it.

Amaryllis

Every year for Christmas Grammylyn gives each of the kids an amaryllis. Both are blooming right now. Sheela's is almost done with its second round. Sunil's is just getting started with its first round.

Undersea

I spent the better portion of my day today painting the decorations for Sunil's undersea bedroom. I finally have four clown fish, two anemoneas and a star fish ready to hang. The sixgill sawtoothed shark is nearly complete. I still have a dozen large red fish and a few angel fish to go. I have been unable to find a white spray primer and the acrylics that we are using don't cover the brown board very easily. I'm using a ton of white paint (purchased in 2 ounce bottles) to prep the wood.

The t-ball commitment

Sunil signed up to play t-ball this Spring. The season doesn't actually start until the end of March but he's been planning ahead for two years. The season will run until almost the end of June. After all of the build up I hope he's a little bit more interested in going to the practices than he was for soccer. I know that he's 18 months older but catching and throwing are a whole lot harder than kicking the soccer ball and the pace of the game tends to be much slower than the attention span of the players.

Not quite snow

Two days off in the same week. It just doesn't seem possible. I went to the gym this morning when the streets were still clear and the sleet was just starting to fall. On the news they now call that "wintery precip". By the time Sid got back and I was ready to leave for work the roads were getting bad and all of the school districts were closed. I went to the store to by chocolate chips (in case we get bored enough to bake), hot chocolate and some frozen cheese pizzas then slid back home.

100,000 Pounds

As of this morning I have officially lifted over 100,000 pounds since starting our new workout routine.  It is a lot harder for me to want to roll out of bed and head off in to the cold when I know that Sid is still home in bed, but I have been doing it….. except for yesterday.

The freezing rain excuse

I'm warm and dry tucked up in the game room this morning. I did wake up to take the early shift at the gym, but the drive way is like glass and the freezing rain still coming down. I decided to come back in and catch up on some email instead of working out. At least I didn't go all the way back to bed. In 15 more minutes they will post the work/no work verdict on the weather hotline. I'd really like to have a delayed start... or a day off, but this was a casual dress week so I don't want to miss too much of it ;)

SuperBlue North Kicks Off

Because of the increase in soccer popularity here in Texas Sheela's soccer academy has committed to establishing a select soccer team in the Allen and McKinney areas. The 98s will be that first team. Select soccer doesn't start until the U11 year. So we are still a year and a half away. The academy teams feed in to the select clubs much like farm teams feed into minor league baseball. The club that SuperBlue feeds is Sting. Sting has a long and very prestigous history and is known for a very aggressive training regime, strong team discipline and a very strong "sisterhood".

Last year was a spent arranging the team and developing some of the players skills, this year the focus is going to switch to developing the team as a unit. They have been partnered with an older select team in a Big sister-Little sister program. They expect to have social functions monthly: attend baseball games, fun runs for charity, pasta dinners, bounce house parties, things to help them develop friendships. This year they will start every game and every practice with a double column run around the field. Sheela loved the run when they practiced at the Sting complex, it looks good and makes them know that they are part of a team. At the Sting complex they also got to see that it wasn't just a team thing it was a club thing. Every team did it, and they do it all the same way, two columns of girls at a controlled pace. The goal is not to leave the slow girls behind, the goal is to all fall in step. This year they wont be allowed to step on the field if they aren't in the proper uniform (even for practice), with their shirts tucked in and their socks pulled up. This year they will be keeping personal stats, not game stats but speed on a sprint, the number of times they can juggle the ball and shot percentage on an untended goal. This should actually show them theirimprovement over time.

Bait and switch

We needed to have our inspectors come in this weekend to catch up on some of the incoming inspections but someone needs to be here to "Supervise" them. When they asked for volunteers they needed someone for 2-3 hours starting at 9 AM. I was going to be working on some reports at home anyway so I volunteered. I'm sure that I will get more work done here than I would at home on a cold and rainy day with the kids. Almost immediately they switched it to a 7 AM start and a five hour stretch. The good news is all four inspectors showed up so we should be 20 hours ahead by Monday.

We are launching multiple new product lines and product upgrades all at the same time. Our whole sales force gets together for a huge meeting once a year and that is the best time to train them all for a big launch. Unfortunately this creates some huge bottle necks in almost all of the support functions.

School Project

Here is a rather poor picture of Sunil showing off his snowman project. He was given almost two weeks to work on it but did it all last night. At least he got it done and I resisted the urges to a) do it for him, b) suggest better materials and c) suggest other features. I'm glad I held back. Sunil did a beautiful job all by himself.

On the day this project was assigned they made Texas Snowmen in class and brought them home. For those you not from 'round here a Texas Snowman is a jar of water with a carrot chunk and some buttons in it.

Pressure changes

I woke up with a headache this morning... this is usually indicative of either a late night or a weather change. Sure enough yesterday was clear, brisk and sunny today is dark, moist and cloudy. The storms aren't due until late tonight but I can feel them coming.

I woke Sunil up this morning too. He actually woke up crying. He is sometimes reluctant to wake but even then he's usually cheerful about it. Apparently his head is hurting too. SO I feel a little bit better knowing it's not just me and a little worse because my baby is suffering. Worse than that a large number of people at work seem to have the same headache so everyone is grumpy. Let's just hope that no one schedules any meetings for today... it could turn ugly fast.

TAKS (Reading) Simulation

Today Sheela has to endure a full day of standardized testing (Reading) and it doesn't even count. Today is just the simulated test. TAKS are, of course, the standardized tests used by the State of Texas to rate the schools, the teachers, etc. In spite of everything that the teachers, and ISD personnel will tell you, they do put WAY too much emphasis on these tests. They cancelled Sheela's DI meeting because they didn't want the kids to be out late the night before the test. Sheela went to soccer instead and didn't get home until 9:00. They send home notes reminding us to feed them a healthy breakfast and send a healthy snack (other days we can feed them whatever we can find). Poor Sunil is even more freaked than Sheela. His class doesn't get tested, but they've been told repeatedly that they can't talk in the halls AT ALL on test days.

We opted out.....

of the Foster Care program today. It was a good experience and we learned a lot. I'm glad that we had the time with Blake that we did and I wish that we could have done more.

The amount of frustration that we endured getting approved in the first place was nothing compared to the frustration of not being utilized once we were there. It just wasn't meant to be and we don't want to go through another 60 hours of training this year with no better chance at a placement. Our placement chances don't go up unless we expand our age range or accept sibling sets. These are not places that we want to go.

The last game - take 3

TFC's team manager just called to let us know that the girls have one more indoor game left in the season. This will be the last game for Sheela with this team. As the title implies we've heard that before... more than once. I'm sure that they mean it this time, the next indoor season starts the following week but Sheela is going back to her regular team. This has been a fun diversion but the time came to either pony up with full academy fees for both teams or make a choice and Sheela chose SuperBlue.

Friday night party girl

Sheela is out again tonight. That's two weeks in a row while I'm staying at home. Somehow I never pictured my kids having a more active social life than mine. Sheela and Anna have gone to a gymnastics studio to spend a few hours on the trampolines and tumbling mats. I'll pick them up about 10:00 PM.

Sunil is hugging my neck and twirling my hair. Soon he will have to get ready for his bath. He and Sheela will go to Longview tomorrow to visit their cousins. Grandma and Grandpa will be in India for their birthdays so they are taking care of things early. Sid and I are staying home to get some stuff taken care of here at the house.

A New Year begins

I'm back at work again already. It seems like I just left for the long weekend. Oh well, there is enough to do that I wont have to spend time lamenting the brevity of the break. It should be a fun day for me. They are supposed to announce my promotion to Mfg Engr. Supervisor today.

Sawtooth Shark

Here Sid is cutting out a sawtooth shark for Sunil's room. This one is to be swimming over Sunil's headboard and looking down at him. We have cut out most of the decorations but haven't started to do any of the painting. We have just one set of seaweed cut (but can do 2-3 more), we have a school of seven large fish (I forget what they are called), one mandarin fish, two different types of angel fish, a few clown fish (with anemones) and a star fish. Excpet for the shark every thing was going to be painted with red, blue, yellow, black and white. I don't have enough black or whait to paint a large shark so I will go buy some gray... and maybe some more red. The large fish are red with blue spots.

The candle

Sheela received a book on candle making for Christmas. She used her Christmas money to buy herself a candle making kit. Here she is burning her first candle.