Slid off again!

The last few weeks have been extremely busy and I have not spent much time on the computer at all. So I have not been blogging much - hope to start again from today.

March Goals + February Goals Update

So I really messed up in February. I completely didn't get to do most of my goals. Life just caught me up and I just didn't get to most of them.

Update on Mini-Goals for February:

1. Finish setting up the house - Done for the most part. Still need to organize but we've covered the major sections. I still need to get to some boxes in the garage but we're there for the most part. 
2. Walk 30 miles in February  - Didn't get to this at all. 
3. One post a week on the blog - Didn't get to this at all. 
4. Create a facebook page for my blog - Didn't get to this at all. 
5. Read one age-appropriate book to AGirl - Read Super Why! "The Princess and the Pea" to AGirl. 
6. Read 5 books to A2Girl - Tried to read a few books to her but she just wouldn't let me. She loves reading "Sleep baby sleep" book over and over again.
7. Create budget for February and stick to it - Really messed on this one because we had some unexpected expenses come up. 
8. Read 2 books I already own - Didn't get to this at all

Update on Habits for February:

1. Drink 8 glasses of water every day - Didn't get to this at all
2. Shine my sink every day (not necessarily at night but clear it out at least once in a day) - I have been loading the dishwasher every day but not necessarily shining my sink. So still working on this habit

Mini-Goals for March:

1. Walk 30 miles in February
2. One post a week on the blog
3. Create a facebook page for my blog
4. Read one age-appropriate book to AGirl
5. Read 5 books to A2Girl
6. Read 2 books I already own
7. Substitute a smoothie for breakfast 4 times this month (once a week)
8. Organize and get the guest room ready for long-term guests
9. Start a 529 plan for A2Girl 

Habits for March:

1. Drink 8 glasses of water every day
2. Shine my sink every day (actually shine the sink)
3. Exercise 15 mins every day (walk, yoga, anything)

February Goals + January Goals Update

Update on Mini-Goals for January:

1. Setup the new house to a livable state - We have been living in the house for a month and it's mostly livable - only haven't started cooking here yet. So I'm moving this goal to February. 
2. Participate in a cultural event locally (dancing to a song on stage in front of people) - Done. This was a big deal for me as this was my first time ever dancing on stage and I was really scared to do it but I did it. I was very proud of myself. 
3. Walk a total of 40 miles  - Didn't really get to exercise this month, pushing to February
4. One post a week on the blog. - Done
5. Create a facebook page for my blog - Pushing to February
6. Read one age-appropriate book for AGirl that we already have - Done. Read "Hands are not for Hitting, Thump Quack Moo to AGirl"
7. Read 10 books to A2Girl - Didn't quite get to 10, mostly because she doesn't let me finish a book. Probably read the "Sleep Baby Sleep" book 10 times so going to count this as Done. 
8. Create a budget for January and stick to it - Didn't make it this time because we bought flight tickets for the summer and that was quite expensive. Dipped into savings for that one. 
9. Read 2 books I already own - Read 3 books from the library but didn't get to read 2 books I already own. I needed an escape and tend to read romance novels. Read 3 Stephanie Laurens romance novels, so going to count move this to February as well. 

Habits for January:

1. Drink 8 glasses of water every day - Need to work more on this one. Moving to February
2.  Brush my teeth every day at night  - Need to work more on this one. Skipping this habit for now and moving to March. 

Mini-Goals for February:

1. Finish setting up the house
2. Walk 30 miles in February 
3. One post a week on the blog
4. Create a facebook page for my blog
5. Read one age-appropriate book to AGirl
6. Read 5 books to A2Girl
7. Create budget for February and stick to it
8. Read 2 books I already own

Habits for February:

1. Drink 8 glasses of water every day
2. Shine my sink every day (not necessarily at night but clear it out at least once in a day)

Encouraging Male Chauvinism and Mommy Wars

Recently in the last couple of days, I have come across a few articles and messages which made me mad. 

The first was a message in one of the WhatsApp groups I am in and it was a bad joke - a guy does not change the baby's diaper and instead changes the baby in the hospital because the "moral" of the story is that men should not be given work which is not theirs. 

While I understand it is a joke, it is precisely this attitude which makes men feel like they don't need to do any baby or kid related activities because it's not their job. They are not good at it. Utter nonsense! I know plenty of men who have changed diapers and plenty who help with kids too. 

So why then the prevailing misconception that men should not change diapers or that it's not their job? Are only women supposed to change diapers or anything related to kids? When is society going to change their freaking mind on this - that if women can go to work and do everything a man can, a man is perfectly capable of and should do everything a woman can. 

These kinds of jokes implicitly encourage male chauvinism and allow them to feel that they don't need to do these types of work around the house and family because they're not good at it. 

The second was a blog post I read. This mom says she's tired of media saying there are not enough women in stem jobs or CEOs. She says that is because women are choosing to do the most important job which is raising their families and staying at home with them is more important than anything else so media should not say anything about this. Seriously?? 

When did the media say you should sacrifice your family to focus on work? And why on earth can't women take care of their families and work at the same time? Women can work without sacrificing either work or family. It is hard and women are not given enough support in the workplace - which is why not enough women go up the ladder. Women bring a unique perspective to work which we need more of in corporate America. What we as a society need to do is improve the work environment and give more support to men and women so they can take care of family needs. 

It's a woman's right to choose whether she wants to work or stay at home. I don't think anyone disputes that but making it sound like the media is saying that women have to go to work so we get more women CEOs is ridiculous. 

It's very disappointing that these mommy wars are still continuing in so many different ways when we all need to be supporting each other. 

My First Ever Dance Performance!

One of the items on my list of things to do at least once is to get on stage and perform a dance. And I finally did it!

On Saturday, there was a Tamil cultural festival for Pongal, a festival in South India. A lot of performances were there and we (about 14 moms including me) performed a dance to the song "Jimmiki Kammal". We practiced for a few months once a week and it was a great feeling to do it on stage.

The best part of the dance was the camaraderie between all the women and the laughing and fun. I'm going to miss it now that it's over. I feel a sense of great accomplishment that I faced my fears of going on stage and doing the dance without any major missteps.

This was the song to which we danced:

Review: 69 Million Things I Hate About You

Rating: 😀😀😀😀 (4/5)

I saw the book on sale somewhere,  it was only $.99 and it had been a while since I had read a romance novel. So I bought the book and was reading it today afternoon and couldn't put it down. I read the entire book in one go and it's been a while since I did that.

The concept was the same old packaged in a new way - so don't expect anything great there. But it was engaging and amusing. It was an easy read and an escape for a couple of hours.

It's worth the money I paid for it and if you're a romance novel fan like I am, go for it. You won't regret it.

Goals for January 2018

I have a lot of goals and habits for this year that I want to work on but I'm going to try to focus on the most important ones. I realized that goals and habits are two separate things and have their own place. Though I have a master goal and habit list I'm working with, I'm going to start with mini goals for each month and one habit for each month.

Mini-Goals for January:

1. Setup the new house to a livable state. The house should be functional at a basic level of being able to cook, get ready, do homework for the kids, etc. 
2. Participate in a cultural event locally (dancing to a song on stage in front of people)
3. Walk a total of 40 miles 
4. One post a week on the blog. 
5. Create a facebook page for my blog
6. Read one age-appropriate book for AGirl that we already have
7. Read 10 books to A2Girl
8. Create budget for January and stick to it
9. Read 2 books I already own

Habits for January:

1. Drink 8 glasses of water every day
2.  Brush my teeth every day at night

While these mini-goals and habits may seem silly or basic to other people, I believe that by putting it out there, I'm going to try to achieve these. 

Here's to hoping for a great 2018!