A smile a day - 10

 A real long walk with my dear sister, we walked to the city centre from home which was worth 6 kms. We had a cup of coffee to give our legs some rest. Then we shopped a bit. And Lichie mentioned that we had never shopped like this before! To be honest there was very little time we spent with each other as adults. It was such a joy being in her company :) 

A smile a day - 9

 So many reasons to smile over the weekend.

There was a storm so we missed swimming on Saturday, which meant more time to snuggle in the morning.

The storm brought in overnight snow :)

 Went on a cooking rampage and had nearly 8 dishes for lunch!

Made some triple chocolate doughnuts.

Had some delectable chicken curry for dinner.

Planned to eat lunch out on Sunday.

And it snowed! A lot! For a long time! 

Played a lot in the snow :) and  took a pic of myself in snow :)  Probably this is the first time I have a picture of myself in snow :D

Ordered KFC for dinner! 

A smile a day - 8

 My sister got a birthday gift for me. It was a very expensive gift. She was going through her emails wondering why it hadn't been delivered yet and saw the email which claimed that it had been! Nothing was in our hands! I ran to the front door to check for any parcel and there wasn't any. But.... there was a slip which said that it was in our "safe place". Which is our garden waste bin :D 

And there it was my pretty present at the end of a bin on a blanket of grass and twigs :)

A smile a day - 7

 Wow! The seventh post about something that causes the lips to curve in a good way :)

Chiyaa is currently being home schooled because of a rise in Covid-19 cases in her year group. Since she's at home, I try to give her some chores or other so that she is not sitting on the desk constantly. Yesterday I asked her to remove the bedspreads and duvet covers in their room so that I could wash them. 

Iteration 1, the duvet covers got removed and were on the floor. I screamed at her to do it properly. 

Iteration 2, the bedspread was removed. I removed the pillow covers myself and asked her to get the stuff down.

Nothing happened for a while and I screamed again.

After sometime Chiyaa came down holding the duvet! I was in splits! That absent minded silly girl, brought down the entire duvet instead of the covers! God! Shes silly!

A smile a day - 6

Sunday was Karate tournament day. Its a competitive event for all the clubs under the umbrella association under which our club belongs. K, the kids and I were all participating. K and I were in fact participating in the same event, which made us competitors. The category was also for all levels of belts, higher than mine. I was certain, that my participation would be a no winner. I was sure that no matter how much lady luck smiled, there was no way I could beat the 2 black and one brown belt in my category. Being the lowest belt holder, I was called on first too. I gave a good performance, well as good as I could. But not enough to win a prize. But there were 3 people who came up and commended me! So audience votes there :) K had a tie with 2 other people and won the tie breaker to come second in the overall event!! 

Chiyaa has been training for quite some time and we were sure that she would bag some prize or other in the three events she was participating in. We were sure she would do well in the kata events which are more choreography based. And she did! In both the events, even coming first in one! But we had our eyes on the fight event. Shes a bit docile and does not want to hurt people. But she did put up some fight. So much so, she made a competitor cry! That was an immensely gratifying moment for me! She had 3 back to back fights and came on second in the overall event. I could not have been prouder of her.

But the most crucial event was Pumpki's. This was her first public event. Being a tiny 5 year old I was all nerves for her. She too like her sister has a natural knack for some aspects of Karate. She did her kata event and boy did she do well! She was on point, with the correct stances and went on to bag the second prize! Again all eyes were peeled on her fight. In her first round itself she fought a much bigger boy. But she did not go down. She fought! It was a no win from a points perspective. But the three judges had to give points based on technique. Two voted for the opponent and the third voted for Pumpki. So though she lost by a single vote, she was a champion. It was an immensely amazing day and I was a super proud mom :)

A smile a day - 5

 I love wireless earphones. They are just so swell. They help me be hooked to audio books and do a ton of cleaning and ironing. I also find them quite expensive :| So my sister gifted me the last pair of earphones. But I used them without a care in the world, even once dipping them in water by accident. And at last after 3 years, they died.

There are a couple of kiddie ones in the house. But they are headphones. With not so good noise cancellation. Plus being kid-friendly ones, the volume can be increased to a certain level only. That does not help if I am in the mood to go deaf with some Bollywood party mix :) I was left with the wired ones. Which once you have used wireless and not fun. Something like electric tooth brushes. The wired ones really brought down my reading :(

Till last when K as an advance birthday present gave me a pair of ear-pods! Woo hoo! Big smiles all around :D

A smile a day - 4

 Yesterday I was going with Chiyaa to the grocery store. On the way there was a lollipop lady. A lollipop lady is someone who stands near schools to help children and their parents cross roads. Essentially she has a big sign on her hands and when she steps on the road, vehicles stop. Mind you these are small residential roads, so no one is driving at The Fast and the Furious speed. 

So the lollipop lady came in our trajectory and waved her wand. The traffic stopped. It moved again for a bit till she came again. And before she could come and do her magic again, I said " Lets get out of here before she comes again" And for some reason Chiyaa burst out laughing. And so did I :)

 

PS. A lollipop lady :)