Monday, February 25, 2008

tagged!

A book related tag? These days? Luckily there is enough reading fodder littered round the house for me to get out of this with some respectability vis a vis my reading habits.
The closest book I had is 'The World is Flat; a brief history of the twenty first century' by NYTimes staffer Thomas Friedman. I started on the book quite ambitiously but have not yet gotten round to reaching page 123. Let's see what it says...

For a brief time, he (John Seigenthaler Sr.) was thought to have been directly involved in the Kennedy assasinations of both John, and his brother Bobby. Nothing was ever proven.

This is about an entry on wikipedia. One of these days I would eventually finish off this book and start on Freakonomics and Ideas: From Fire to Freud. Intelligent reads that look impressive sitting and gathering dust on the bookshelf. Now whom to tag...I've been out of the blogging scene sooooo long and such a lethargic being these days, even thinking five names is such a task. Can the tag end here please?

Sunday, February 24, 2008

The Tyke's New Clothes

It's strange how you've never paid attention to any baby thing before and now that you're enceinte, you need blinkers every time you go to the mall else you end up at shops selling teeny tiny stuff. Ever since I bought the first two sets of clothing in n/b size December, I can't, simply can't keep myself from being drawn into such shops. First it was Sis and SiL's impending motherhood that had me scouting for stuff. And the first trip to Mothercare. I did a whole lot of reading and researching on the Internet, browsed through any and all baby shops in the malls we visited...and that's a lot of malls in the emirate that has a whole festival planned around shopping! That was before DSF even started. And then came DSF and the whole shopping/whopping discount mania that ensues. The whole of DCC was on sale, crazy sale...we of course had frequented Mothercare enough times already before any sale was announced and when eventually it was announced, went in too late to get any good bargains. But I'll let you in on what we did get...absolutely jaano stuff from Zara Baby, Adam's, Carter's and some basics from BabyShop.
It's a whole different type of obsessive-compulsive shopping that I've gotten hooked onto. Anything tiny and I want it, clothes, shoes, socks, bibs, blankets, vests, towels, pillows you name it, I want it. And all that is when I have a whole list of essentials in my bag all the times, that and a time-line of the tyke's age in 0-3, 3-6 and 6-9 months onwards in months, just to be sure I don't end up buying fleece jackets for a 5 month old and pray it snows in July! Has all that planning helped? Hardly, I have my side of the wardrobe taken over by teeny stuff...not that I have anything that I can actually wear these days to hang in there. So while Amma has to make do with just three joras through her last trimester...the tyke has clothing it can wear when it's 6-9 months, InshaAllah! Actually it's just one tee that I had to get.
The problem is with all those hormones raging inside you and a wait that lasts eight months, you have to do something to keep busy, asides lashing out at Abba and waddling and pottering around the house...and complaining of various aches and wishing some of all that you're going through, not all, just some, let's say 10%, pays a visit to Abba for not a month, but just a week so that he has an idea of what it's like to become a mom...and so that he appreciates his mom more. I know for a fact that now I love Ma more than anything...I may still fight with her and resent her at times, but all the same, thinking she went through all this to get to me and then my siblings later on makes me admire her more than ever.
Mostly during the day when I have nothing else to do, I go to the wardrobe and take out little clothes and measure them against each other (how short is a n/b size when compared to a 3 month size...and how do sizes at Mothercare and Carter's stand up etc.). After Z failed to show the required enthusiasm when I was showing him things he'd seen and bought with me for the 5th time, I decided NOT to include him in my game lest he dampen my spirit with his insouciance. I know the clothes can not have changed overnight in teh wardrobe but need he point it out so?
Now for reviews. When it comes to basics in clothing or even the layette, nothing beats Mothercare in terms io variety, comfort and sizing. It may be dearer than BabyShop but I stil find myself gravitating towards Mothercare. For other essentials, BabyShop is the place to go, be it items like push-chairs and car-seats to changing pads for teh li'l spills that would dictate the better part of next few years of your life. In terms of clothing, I found it boring. Yawn inducing boring. While at Mothercare I may go round and round in circles trying to figure out what to actually get, at BabyShop all I do is wonder why would anyone want to limit their child's dressing from the very beginning, thus damaging its sense of style for the rest of its life.
When it comes to dressing up the baby, Zara Kids, Adam's, Woolworth's and even BHS are good options...but my heart is set on Carter's. Of course it helps that there was sale at these places last month but the kind of clothing they have makes it worth teh while to spend all that money (Abba and the tyke's shopping at Zara amounted the same; teeny stuff costs more...and it needs more creativity to design small clothes you simply can't say no to...)I found myself going bonkers on learning that it was the last day of sale at Carter's two days ago. No other shop can make me drag myself to the mall and back in a cab these days. It's a small cubby-hole of a shop they have here at SCC but enough to make the mind reel. It also helps that their sizes are generous and roomy.
I talk as if I'm an expert in clothing and dressing babies. Honestly, when you look at all the brats and babies around, you can't be sure if they've got their dresses from Carter's or CarreFour...but it gives the parents a sense of well-being and providing well for the kid, I guess, when they frequent such up-scale shops. The tyke may grow up and decide it does not want to be branded by brands, just as its Amma doesn't care much for them. But quality is one thing I am not compromising on and so far, I've only known these retailers and their quality. Once the tyke's a bit grown up and out-grows clothes at a rate more than Abba's paycheck and raises, we'll have to re-think its wardrobe...At the moment Amma and Abba find it fun shopping for the tyke. OK, so Amma finds it more fun, Abba just indulges Amma lest he be subjected to another emotional outburst and a rankling that would spoil his weekend.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Once upon two feet

I love footwear ... and bags. My excuse for buying more chapals, sandals, mules, slip ons, sling-backs etc. is simple, I may have a blue pair of chapals but they are not the right shade for some of my clothes, or the right type for a particular 'look'. The variety of footwear available is staggering there are casuals, formals and smart casuals...my shoe size and preference in heels (or lack thereof) kind of limits my purchase options but I do love my chapals: the ones I'd bought and accumulated pre-nup, the ones I bought with wedding as an excuse, the ones I bought apres marriage each time I visited any market in Lahore, the city world famous for its footwear, and the ones I've bought since I've come landed here. Most of my pre-nup collection was taken over by sis and ma, who are the same shoe size as mine. Couple of real good ones I managed to salvage from the take-over and brought along here...and wore them quite smugly for a while.
So this is what I had here...and going out was fun 'cuz it meant I could dress up to favor my choice of footwear...


But that was a past life of course, I quit wearing the slightest of heels months ago and then early this year I learned that even flats made my life a standing/walking misery and I opted for comfort.
Now, with feet the shape and size as this, I can't even manage to get past my toes in any of my chapals...walking/standing is no longer a misery...my feet shoot pains even at rest...how much abuse can a pair of feet out up with anyways.


So now as I think of how much to accomplish any given standing/walking time I can manage, these are the footwear options I have...of this the yellow one is the latest acquisition after a trip to the mall promised to be a trying affair just as I'd set foot inside...and with what the signs of things, I'd be running out of foot space in these as well.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Good Luck

Luck is returning home with all your bones aching and cursing you to high heavens for the fatigue you put your body through...with a trunk full of grocery...braving a freezing wind that locks your spine into immobility and all vertebrae-tibio-fibula combinely refusing to bugde an inch to drag your weary self into the building entrance...and finding that only one lift/elevator is working in your building. And there is a long, long queue of disgruntled people waiting for it. After a painful wait the lift arrives, people flock in and the signal for excess weight starts blaring in the lift; you haven't even stepped in! Luck is then gathering all your will power and trudging up the stairs to your second floor apartment...sans any grocery bag because of the earlier chill-induced temporary handicap. Good Luck is waiting for an hour, fretting over frozen grocery that might thaw and get spoilt, but waiting out the lift rush and then venturing out to get the stuff...and finding that the only working lift is also now out of order...so walking downstairs, again earning the wrath of your weary body and a back that no longer aches...it's venomously shooting pains all over. Then comes will power...getting slapped by the arctic-close winds...lumbering to the car and picking up grocery bags, bringing them to the stairs, dump them, go back again for the second lot...and slog up the stairs - whose lights are set-up to stay alight for only a minute -landing by landing...finally making it home. And realise there's another trip to make to the car for some more things, and as luck would have it, heavier than the last lot...
That's extremely good luck, 'cuz you live on the second floor, both the lifts are out of order and there are NINE floors in your building!

blogger templates | Make Money Online