FINISHED!!!!

Finally, I managed to finish the peacock !!! As promised, here is the final picture of the completed peacock

Does it not look great!!! I have been holding myself back from posting anything just to update my status, so that my next post shows the last of the peacock.

And guess what, Vaishnavi finally did have the banana muffin . It was only difficult to make her have the first bite. Then, there was simply no stopping her !!!

These days I seem to be baking every weekend (at least every other weekend), so that I can send some home-made snacks to school. Today I baked some chocolate chip cookies. Sorry, I could not take any pictures of those, but they sure are yumm.

Also, with full day school this year, I simply cannot do away with cooking something (at least a sandwich) daily !!! Gone are my happy days . Luckily, she's not a very picky eater, so I can give her (almost) anything for lunch. In fact, she's pestering me to give her rice daily to school for lunch. I could not believe my ears when I heard that . My daughter likes rice!!!! It is personally not my favorite. But, definitely makes life a lot easier.

I definitely have to thank everybody who has kept me going through the making of the peacock. Thanks a ton guys .

Have a great and fruitful week ahead

Updates and a new hobby

Yes, that's right, I have taken up another hobby now. Of course, cross stitch is definitely my favorite any day. My new hobby is making beaded jewellery!!!

My first attemp was to try making a pair of ear-rings. And Voila....

Would I sound extremely conceited if I say I am proud of my own achievement ?? Please say no!!! Vaishnavi wore it to a birthday party and she did look pretty . My next plan is to make a necklace that goes with the ear-rings.

I baked some banana muffins this time for a change.

They turned out real soft and yumm. This has been the yummiest of muffins so far. And guess what, one of my team-mates at work has asked me to bake some banana muffins for her this weekend . Is that not great???

But sadly, DD did not like the muffins . My main idea of baking these were to make her have fruits atleast this way (in a hidden form). Now, what else can a mother do . I am totally at a loss now.

Now, on the much awaited stitchy front, well the only update is that I got much better quality gold thread for the peacock yesterday. Have not done any other stitching. Life has really been getting on the way!!!! I promise that my next update would be to say I have completed the peacock really and post a picture of it!!!

Till then... . Have a great weekend.

P.S: Thanks a lot for keeping me going!!! It is extremely encouraging to read your comments.

Missed you..

I have reaaaalllly missing my blog friends a lot!!! It has been almost a month since I sat down to check my personal mails and to update my blog and get in touch with you all!!!

But then, what have I been doing?? Thinking back, feels like quite a lot. On second thoughts, actually nothing?? Oh, whatever, time really has flown. Ever since DH returned, we have been very busy catching up and spending as much time as possible with Vaishnavi during her holidays. And now, her school re-opens on the 11th. I feel like I am going back to school after my vacations!!!

I have been baking quite a bit of cakes. I tried my hand at some frosting and some decorations. My first attempt with writing something on a cake was SIL's birthday (this was her first bday with our family).

It came out pretty legibly for a first attempt. And this time the cake was nice and fluffy too.

Well, on the stitchy front, you know what? I discovered that all the work I did with the gold metallic thread on the peacock are coming undone!!! So, I have to re-do them now. Fortunately for me, there's not much with metallic thread. I am going to replace it with Gold colour thread from anchor.

So, next time, I promise to post a completed picture of the peacock. Till, then, so long...

Updates Updates

And boy, do I have many updates!!! Let me first start with where I left off (DH's arrival) .

Vaishnavi and I went to airport to pick him up. All of us kept the news of DH's arrival a secret from her as we all wanted to surprise her. Till the end she thought a friend of mine would appear. But when she saw her father walking out, she was shrieking . She was seeing him after almost 6 months.

Don't they look happy

And finally with DH's arrival, so did my stash!!! Now guess who was shrieking with joy . Here they are.

Now when and how I am going to put them to use, I have no idea!!!

Guess what else DH bought for me, BEADS!!! I just love them.

I had asked him to get some of those pre-finished, ready-to-paint magnets too.

Let me see how we fare at painting these .

And I did some baking too, my vacation would not be complete without that right? For a change I decided to bake some cookies. So, tried my hands at oatmeal raisin cookies.

They were a big hit with everybody

And finally, guess what, the peacock is all done !!! I am yet to put in the final back-stitches, which is not much. Unfortunately, the picture I took of the peacock did not come out very well. So, I will post one in my next post.

Today is the last day of my vacation. Back to work from tomorrow !!! But with all these updates, has this not been one great vacation??

See you guys soon with a final picture of the peacock .

Summer vacation

The mercury level is constantly raising and it's getting unbearably hot . With great difficulty I am restricting the usage of air condition to only the night. Neither I nor Vaishnavi have any appetite. And with the onset of the oh so yumm mango season, we are feasting on mango milkshakes .

I have also taken a break from work for about 12 days . And guess what, DH is returning this weekend after successfully completing his assignment too!!! So, guess who's excited!!!! Finally I get all my stash !!! We have not broken the news yet to Vaishnavi, we plan to surprise her by taking her to the airport and see how she reacts .

These holidays, we are trying to revive one of our age old games, called pallankuzhi, by teaching it to Vaishnavi. My mom's the teacher!!!

This game has many benefits physically and mentally.

Physically, it is very good for the nervous system. Coz we have to hold the shells or tamarind seeds (these are used as coins in this game) in the palm and also drop them one each into each of the holes in order.

Mentally, it increases our analytical and calculative skills. Coz the final aim of the game is to accumulate as many shells as possible. The person with maximum shells is the winner. So, we have to calculate which hole to start the game from, so that we have maximum shells.

An amazing game if we know the rules.
Of course, Vaishnavi also has her usual role play games, which she loves to play on her own. Today was one such day, when she played cashier and....

guess who was extremely sleepy . Must have been one big boring day at the store!!!

On the stitching front, I did manage to pull out the peacock and put in a few stitches. But I want to finish my book first. Have always noticed that I just cannot stitch when I have a book to read!!! But have not read a good book for sooo long, so am I excused ?

Ok guys, meet you all soon with updates on my stash .

It's raining...

COCOA!!!!

Ok, first an apology for having disappeared this long. So, here's what has been happening. As you all know, Vaishnavi's hol's are going on now. So, weekends are really busy and filled with activity (nope, nothing cross stitch)!!!

Let me do this in sequence. I bought a cycle for V. Boy, was she delighted . Initially, she was only pedalling it half way, then in a day she gained confidence to go around the apartment on her own.

We then went to the local museum. We just visited the children's hall. We did not want to tire the kids out.

That's one of my best friends with the kids. Don't they (all 3 of them) look cool .

Now, what do all these have to do with cocoa raining ??? I have been baking chocolaty stuff like crazy lately. Last weekend I made this express no-bake "brownie". Everybody just loved it.

This weekend I made chocolate chip muffins and chocolate cake with the frosting et al. I even shaved a few pieces of chocolate on the glacing!!!

Oh chocolate.. hhmmm .

And guess what, I have a new follower !!! Welcome Kim and thank you for joining my blog. Hope I am able to hold your interest.

DH is still not back. I am desparate to get my stuff. And he's refusing to even send me a picture of the parcel. Isn't this cruelty .

It's wednesday, just 2 more days of work and I am all set for my break .

Ok guys, hope to see you all very soon. It's mid-night, let me read my book. Oh I did not tell you that I borrowed Mistress of Spices from the library. So, I am half-way through it. I never knew that our spices had so many powers in them till I read this book. So, let me have my glass of cold cocoa (yes, cocoa again!!!) with my book. Doesn't that sound heavenly. Yes, this definitely is the part of the day I very eagerly wait for!!!

Good night guys and take care.