Monday, January 6, 2025

A lot can change in 2 weeks

 



A lot can happen in 2 weeks. Just 2 weeks ago we were winding down for the year. There were plans being made. Plans to continue come to the gym in turns so that we don't undo all the gains. Plans to take the kids on a lot of long walks which we hadn't managed this year. Plans to spend time planning for an upcoming holiday in February. Plans to have family friends over, who we hadn't seen for one reason or another in a long time. There were plans to read a lot, watch lots of shows together, cook, clean, organise. Essentially have a productive time together. 

It started well enough. Chiyaa had an early finish on her last day at school. She came home and chilled for a bit till it was time to pick Pumpki up. Chiyaa accompanied me and it was quite fun walking  back home with both of them. We were to have friends over on the next couple of days. There was a lot of tidying up to do. There was also a lot of food to be prepared. It was an all hands on deck scenario. I loved how everyone came together. Giving their ideas for the menu, helping out on the kitchen chores and cleaning the house. We had a fantastic dinner over the Saturday and the Sunday was spent in the lovely company of another family. 2 more days of work and we were good to bid adiue to the year.

Monday contrary to expectations was quite hectic with work being wrapped up. Plans for a walk came to some fruition and we managed a short one. We seemed to be doing all right when it came to execution of the plans made a few days ago. Morning shows the day and we were quite hopeful that it would indeed be a productive couple of weeks.  

Tuesday our work places called it an early finish since it was Christmas eve. We had plans to venture out but the girls were too busy playing on the consoles. Well it was Christmas eve so no point in being too hard. We decided to let it go and call it a chilled evening. 

The next day was Christmas and time for us to work on our annual lego pieces. We sort of have this tradition of building huge legos over Christmas. Chiyaa, Pumpki and I got busy making our legos. It took the good part of the day with some overflow into the next day. Well our other plans were going for a toss but then it was Christmas time!

Boxing day I started to feel a bit unwell. It started with an itchy throat. I popped some paracetamol and rubbed some pain relief balm on my neck with the hope of feeling better. The next day I was feeling worse! Much much worse. And to make matters worse, it was Pumpki 's birthday the day after. I really wanted to be better for her sake. I was still quite unwell the next day but we somehow managed to celebrate Pumpki 's birthday. It was a good celebration. 

After this I just went further downhill. I totally lost my appetite. I literally went 29th and 30th without any food. Without food my energy was rock bottom too. Thankfully my sister was around and helped with feeding and looking after the rest of the household though she wasn't feeling great herself. With 0 energy the only thing that could be done was watch TV. And we watched a lotttttt of TV. We finished the Harry Potter series and started The Lord of the Rings. We even watched some lesser known shows and movies on Netflix which we still enjoyed a lot.

I was hoping to get better atleast by New Year's Eve. But that was not the case. I was better but still not there. So that was another day of being at home, sitting with the kids and doing nothing much but watch TV. 31st December was quite sedate. We were greeted to some friendly neighbourhood fireworks which brought some spontaneous smiles. 1st January came with some recovery, which enabled me to manage to clean some of the neglected bits of the house. I was still weak but felt the house was in desperate need of cleaning. I did as much as I could manage and then had to plop in front of TV. We were not happy about it, but by this time even the kids were feeling a bit under the weather and we did not want to risk aggravating their condition. I had to take 2nd and 3rd January off sick. I managed some chores around the house but still it was TV which was the primary source of distraction. The kids were coughing and troubled by aches and pains and given the scene at home, it was best to stay in doors.

The last weekend of the holidays brought in snow. And the best excuse to cross the threshold of the house. It was cold but bright. It was wet but magical. The snow seemed a weird twist of fate indicating a turn round the corner. It was finally a new week and things were going to be better.

Friday, January 3, 2025

2024 year end post

 I have not my yearly ritual for last year. I did not do my annual summary which I definitely do before the year turns around. But this year I was very sick to do it. So its late but anyways here it is.


I had absolutely no expectations from 2024. I remember driving back from school one December evening and telling my sister that I had no plans, no excitement for 2024. I had no holidays to look forward to.  The  house extension was still in progress and I had no idea when it would get over and I could have control over a normal house again. My sister very maturely had said go with the flow. I took it as the mantra for the year.

The house extension which had started in October 2023 took upto end of January to get done. The house was just one part. There was getting the furnishings, painting, decorating, carpeting. We also went on to buy new sofa, new dining chairs, repainting the entire house and getting all the curtains redone. It took quite a lot of effort, time, money. But slowly but surely it enhanced the look and feel of the house. The total upheaval made us feel better overall as well.

In the month of April - May Amma  reached our place and my parents reached my sister's place. It was good to have both sets of parents in the same town. 
Around the same time, K decided to volunteer for guide dogs. Going with the the flow this was something we hadn't anticipated would happen in our lives. But we did get accepted and it was a whole different suite of experiences dealing with puppies. Again we had hoped things would go swimmingly,but we saw ourselves not being competent enough to raise puppies given our family and work conditions. So we down graded ourselves to be boarders. We took care of puppies when their original owners were incapable of doing it for some reason. It was  still a very enriching experience and we had unmentionable joy looking after our favorite Imber. 

The weather was very murky for the good part of the year. There was a lot of time spent indoors watching the Olympics, T20 world cup, IPL and   a host of sporting events. Towards October to bid adiue to our parents. We had ventured now where for the entire year. But then an opportunity presented and we decided to go on a holiday in October. It was an immensely relaxing 4 days.  Things started really winding down in the months of November and December.  There were some bad news with respect to jobs for friends for which  I am eternally grateful to God for helping us keep ours. 

This year we have ended up really going with the flow. There were unanticipated travels, unexpected moves at work and unprecedented moments with friends and family. Overall over the year, we are at a much better and improved place from where we started on 1.1.2024 
Here is hoping who ever chances upon this post a year of improvements and extensions and enjoyment of those enhancements. May good things come your way ❤️