35 weeks pregnant

Yay!!! 2 more weeks until I reach full term.  I can't wait any longer.  My last pregnancy also I was getting impatient towards the end. Did you also felt the same?

Somehow this pregnancy seems to have gone by fast... maybe as my inlaws or my parents were with me the whole time. It definitely helped. I am so so thankful to them. Me at 35 weeks :))))

• Craving: anything sweet, milk, yougurt, cold apple slices.
• Symptoms: backache, heartburn, difficulty sleeping, feet swelling.
• Weight gain: 30 pounds :(

My pregnancy must haves

Like most women, I got morning sickness, weight gain, stress marks etc.. in both my pregnancies. Few of the things I found that helped me this time around are listed below.

Morning sickness:

• Sea Band- its an acupressure band that helps with morning sickness. Its available over the counter in any drugstore. More details can be found here
• Sea Band ginger chewing gum
• Yogi Lemon Ginger tea
• Vitamin B6- This was prescribed by my doctor. Please talk to your doctor before taking it.

Tight clothes:

• Bella Band- Its a tube of elastic fabric to be worn over the top of your regular pants with the fly undone. Because the bella belt is elastic, it hold your pants up while still being comfortable. Because of this band I could wear my regular pants longer. I got mine from Target departmental store.

Uncomfortable sleep position:

• Wedge cushion pillow - Its is recommended to sleep on your left side during pregnancy. For me it was so uncomfortable until I start using Wedge cushion pillow. I got mine from Babiesrus. More details can be found here.

Stress mark:

• Coca butter formula massage lotion for stress marks - helps with itchy skin and stress marks.
• Coca butter formula tummy butter - helps with itchy skin and stress marks.
• Basq Citrus Sugar Body Polish -This was a trial product I got from Destination maternity. It works pretty well.

Please note: The above listed items that worked for me need not work for you. Please do your research before using any.

Trip to LA Auto Show 2013

LA Auto Show is a yearly event that takes place every november/early december in LA downtown. More information regarding LA Auto Show and 2013 Auto Show can be found at LA Auto Show-Wikipedia

My son is a fan of cars since he was a toddler. His favorite movie when he was a toddler was Disney Pixar's CARS. He has watched and made us watch the movie n number of times.

 He is fascinated with Cars. He can discuss cars non stop. This year he visited LA Auto show with his grandpa and daddy. It seems he was not ready to come out of the show without looking at all the cars displayed in the show. He was super excited that day. Below are few photos from the Auto Show.

Few of my son's favorite cars are Bugatti,  Maserati and Ferrari.  He wants to discuss all about them with me. Poor him, his mommy has least interest in cars. I came to know of Bugatti,  Maserati only from him. He tries hard to make his mommy understand the differences between various cars. 

Our house is full of Hot Wheel cars. I have asked my son if we can donate his Hot Wheel cars now that he has grown up, but he is very much emotionally attached to them and would not let me do it.

I get annoyed sometimes when I see Hot Wheels lying all around the house. My son can play with them for hours.  I don't understand how someone can be so interested in cars. My husband tells me its boys thing and that I will not understand :(

Interesting Center Piece idea using crayons and pencils

If you have kids at home  you will understand how messy the house can get with crayons and pencils lying all around.

I found an interesting center piece arrangement  in one of the magazine that uses crayons and pencils. Its a good way of organizing crayons, pencils...etc.

The crayons and pencils would be easily accessible to you kids whenever they need then and if you show them once they will also get into a habit of putting them back when they are done using them.

Following are needed:

• Artificial flowers (if you like you can use fresh ones as well)

• Glass flower vase

• Extra drinking glasses

• A large glass plate to hold the vase and drinking glasses.

• Crayons and pencils

Arrange all as shown in the picture above.

You can create your own version with different household items. Below is my version that I created with things I already had at home:

Leave a comment below if you like this article. Thank you.

My morning time skin care routine

My morning time skincare routine is very simple. As my skin is acne prone, I need to be extra careful of the products I use.

Below is a list of products that are my current favorite and they don't breakout my skin:

1) I wash my face with mild cleanser like Cetephil. This you get in any drugstore.

2) Twice a week  I use Freeman fruit facial mask. Its a peel off mask. This you get in any drugstore.

3) Once a week I use a Queen Helene olive oil hydrating masque.  This you get in any drugstore.

4) After patting my face dry with a towel, I use Eucerin Daily Protection moisturizing face lotion with spf 30. Its unscented and Non-Comedogenic which is good for sensitive and my acne prone skin.

5) If I have to go out somewhere:

• I wear Garnier BB Cream on my face. It gives me some coverage and its not heavy like a foundation. My shade is medium/dark.
• For eyes, I use almay purple kohl pencil.
• For lips, I use Nivea Lip balm,

6) For hand and feet , I like Nivea lotion.

Leave a comment if this information was helpful to you. If anything else works for you do share in the comments below. Would love to try it out.

Do I like being a Working MOM or Stay-at-Home MOM?

I am not sure which one I like to be- a working mom or a Stay-at-Home mom.  I know I can be both anytime when situations arises. We women are strong.... aren't we... :)))

I have to admit that I was lucky to have a good set of colleagues and managers where I was working, who understood the need of a working mom. But still sometimes I did face problems.

Few of the things I faced as a working mom:

• Taking early lunch breaks, rushing to my kid's school to attend a function,  staying for 15 min, waving at him, looking at my watch and rushing back to reach office before lunch break is over.

• Not able to participate in my kid's class activities. Felt sad every time he asked me "Mamma why you never participate in my class activity like other mommies."

• Sending my kid to before and after school programs even when he was sick :( 

• Not able to pick him up at the front gate after school is over, the way he always wanted.

• Avoiding taking leaves when I am sick, so I can take one when needed for my kid.

• Trying to rush so that I can pick my kid from after-school a little early and feel good about it.

• Negotiating with my husband to see if he can take a day off, half day or work from home instead.

• Not able to put my kid in other activities on weekdays. Feeling sad when other stay-at-home moms talk about it.  Its a human nature... I think. You want to do the same for your kid.

• To think how good it would to be a stay-at-home mommy.

• Sometimes had to finish office work at home and not able to give time to my kid.

• Somedays I have tried to be super mom and have failed badly.
  
  
  

One thing that kept going and made me feel I am not doing anything wrong, is whenever my kid hugged me and said "I love you mom" and that I am the best. Well ... I will not lie...I had to sometimes.. I mean most of the time.. had to buy him a toy to hear it. So what...I know he will understand me someday.

Will I be a good Stay-at-Home mom?

With a new addition to the family on the way, I know I will be staying at home for a while to take care of him/her.  I know that its also not easy to be a Stay-at-Home mommy. It has its own sets of emotions.

When I took a career break 6 years back for a year to take care of my kid. Everything was nice for few months. I loved cooking (trying to be the perfect house wife... hope my husband remembers :) ) and taking care of my kid, taking him to park every day.

After few months, I wanted to go back to work. I wanted to be independent, to contribute to family earning and feel good about it.

So, do I like being a working mom or stay-at-home mom? My mom was a stay-at-home Mommy always and she was always happy and content. Then why I can't feel the same.  Maybe because I have the taste of both sides or maybe at her time there were less working moms around to feel the need to work.

I hope this time around it will be different, only time will tell...lets see :)

Share with us in the comments below if you felt the same or different, how did you handle the situations...etc. Thank you.

Yes, I have failed and I don't regret

Yes, I have failed... come on... I am a human being. Most of us have failed in finding the perfect  job, in relationships, as a mother/father, in career ...etc..etc..

I too had my share of failures. I have failed, got depressed and cried , understood and accepted my mistake, worked on it and moved on. It was not easy and it took time. I don't regret any of my failures because in one way or the other they have made me strong.

Sometimes when I feel depressed due to failures, I find solace in remembering/repeating few of my favorite quotes which I have read/heard.. over the course of time. They are not the original versions, whatever I remembered I have penned it down.

Below are my favorite motivational quotes:

• God helps those who helps themselves.

• You can't go back and create a new beginning, but you can begin to change the ending.

• Own your mistake, don't try to blame others for your failure.

• Live for today, you don't know what will happen in future.

• Learn to forgive others and yourself.

• Don't live to impress others, its your life.

• Be yourself don't try to be someone that you are not.

• Keep on trying until you succeed.

• Failure is the ladder to success.

• Whatever happens, happens for something good.

Share with us if you know of any other motivational quote that has helped you, in comments below. Thank you.

My struggle with Curly/wavy hair

There is a saying that "grass on other side is always green".  Mostly people with straight hair loves curly/wavy hair and vice versa.

Althought I love my curly/wavy hair, but whoever has curly hair will know my pain. Its hard to maintain people. I get frizzy hair easily. It can be sometimes ... well most of the time hard to manage. I tried n number of products. I even got my hair permanently straightened (rebonding). It worked for 6 months after that it was a problem to manage my half straight half curly/wavy hair :(((( It also looked weird.

I mostly end up flat ironing my hair. But do love to wear my hair naturally sometimes when I don't have the time to flat iron or get lazy. I mostly use drugstore products. 

Following are my current favorite products for curly/wavy hair style:

1) Shampoo & Conditioner

 I use Herbal Essence hello hydration moisturizing shampoo and conditioner to wash my hair.   

2) Deep Conditioner
 I use Aussie 3 minute miracle deep conditioner once a week.

4) Leave In conditioner

After I towel dry my hair , I use Suave keratin infusion heat defense leave in conditioner on my hair.

3) Wide tooth comb

I then comb my hair with a wide tooth comb. 

5) Mousse
Mousse make my hair easy to manage. I use Herbal Essence Tousling Mousse and scrunch my hair.  I love this mousse. Only problem it tangles my hair later, I need to be careful when I comb my hair latter. For more information on how to scrunch hair watch video  3 ways to scrunch hair

6) Heat Protecting

I always use some heat protectant like Aussie heat protecting before drying my hair with a dryer.

7) Diffuser

 I use a diffuser that can be attached to a dryer to dry my curly hair. diffusers are also sold separately.

8) Shine Serum

I then apply Suave keratin infusion smooth & shine serum on my hair with light hands avoiding the roots.

9) Hair Spray
 I spray Aussie instant freeze hair spray on my hair to hold my curls for long.

If you missed article on right hair cut for your face shape do check out The right haircut/hairstyle for your face shape

If the above information was helpful please leave a comment below. If you follow a different routine for your curly/wavy hairs, do share with us in the comments below. Thank you :)

The right haircut/hairstyle for your face shape

Never thought that there can be a relation between face shapes and a haircuts/hairstyles. I always wondered why some hair cut looked flattering on my face and some didn't. I have come across an interesting article right hairstyle for your Face shape and would like to share with you.

Please note I am not an expert in haircuts/styles. I am still trying to find out the right haircuts/hairstyles that suits my face and stick to it. I am sharing this article as I find it interesting. The details are from thehairstyler.com. I did tried one of the cuts/style for my face shape once and it did look flattering on my face.

There are different face shapes and for each shape certain hairstyles/cuts looks flattering.

The idea is that haircut/style should balance the face shape. so, for example, I have a Triangular face (narrow forehead and wide jaw line) and medium hair length, so my haircut should have volume at  the crown and it should be tapering near the jaw line.

You can look at the mirror and find out your face shape or you can watch the video Find your face shape, measurements

Once you found out your face shape click on links below for more information on haircuts/styles that will look flattering on your face.

Oval

Triangular

Oblong

Round

Diamond

Heart

Square

For men, I did find an article The right hair cut for your face shape. Although I don't understand men haircuts. Check it out and see if its useful for you. Do leave a comment about your view on the article.

Please leave a comment if you feel this article was helpful. If you have any other information do share with us in the comments below. Thank you.

Stretching Exercises: Take a Break (Without Leaving Your Desk!)

Sitting at your desk all day may get the work done, but it’s not doing any favors for your health. If you’re stuck in a cubicle most of the day, it’s important to give your body—and your mind—a break.  A few stretches and simple exercises, easily done without leaving your desk, should do the trick.

   

I found the below interesting and would like to share with you all.  Hope this helps.
More information can be found at Stretching exercises

A Couple More Things…

Take a Walk
We’re all entitled to a break once in while.  Even if you lunch at your desk, take 5 to 10 minutes to walk around the office building, up and down a flight of stairs, or even around the cubicle block. You’ll be surprised how much a short walk can clear the brain.

Give your eyes a rest!
Staring at a computer monitor all day is fatiguing and stressful on your eyes. Optometrists recommend giving your eyes a break every 20 minutes. So if you realize you’ve been staring at the screen too long, consciously look out a window at a far off object, or even a picture on your cubicle wall. Anything that allows your eyes to focus on something more distant will benefit your eye health.

Thanksgiving food for my parents

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!

As my parents are here with us on thanksgiving  for the first time we made them taste Thanksgiving food. So, yesterday on thanksgiving we got food from Boston Market (restaurant).

The Thanksgiving food included Turkey with gravy, chicken, corn, mashed potato, vegetable stuffing, sweet potato, mac and cheese, apple pie, browne and peccan pie.

My mom and dad both liked the food but my mom ....later told me that the Turkey meat if would have been prepared in Indian style would have tasted better :D  :))))

mom will be mom......

My struggle with Sinus

I always had sinus problem since I was in school. If you have/had sinus problem you can understand the pain- headache, tiredness, pressure near ears eyes etc.

I was always dependent on medicine. In India I use to take Sinerest. Its a strong and drowsey medicine. If I would to take the medicine in empty stomach I would end up throwing. But it use to help. I had to almost take the medicine every alternate days.
Showed my problem to a Doctor. She told me that I have something called deviated septum and it needs surgery and that the surgery sometimes doesn't help with sinus. She then again gave me more medicine and also a nasal spray.

I came to US and the sinus problem lingered. Here I tried all sort of medication Sudated Sinus, DayQuil Sinux, NightQuil Sinux and Tylenol Sinus. All worked but then the medicines became a regular. I started getting worried about the amount of medicine I was taking. 
I showed to ENT specialist here and was told the same about having deviated septum and also cold allergy. The surgery will not work due to the allergy. It will aggravate more as after surgery there will more space in my nasal passage for my sinuses to swell.

I then tried natural remedy like netipot(use to rinse nasel passage using water).  It works for most of the people but for me it use to make my problem worse. I tried homeopathy, but I couldn't complete the course.

Finally, I found few things that working for me:

• Vapours- Now we all know about Vapours. I tried it before it never worked. Then I read somewhere one need to take vapours for 10 min. So now anytime I feel I am going to get sinus, I take vapors the first thing. I take vapours in my nose, ears and near my cheeks. I have bought a conair vapourizer and now I seriously take it with me for any vacation.

• Shower- In shower , I would let hot water( the maximum I can tolerate without burning myself) run over my back of the neck and shoulders. This helps.

• Vicks vapourizer- This I rub on my nose and forehead while sleeping.

• Nasal Strip- This is my must have for sleeping at night. There are many kinds available in drugstore. I use the Breath Right one. It opens my nasal passage and helps me to get good sleep. I don't use it regularly but  only when needed badly.

• Acupressure- There are few points (on our forehead, cheeks, near our nasal opening) in our face which when pressed helps in reducing sinus pressure. For more information check the video Acupressure for sinus relief

Few lifestyle changes I had to make due to cold allergy are:

• I make it a point to dry my hair after a hair wash with a dryer every time. Air drying although good for hair is absolute no no for me. I wash my hair twice a week. 

• If I go outside I always carry a light cardigan and a scarf. I use them if there is a breeze. I know it sucks.

If the above information helps do leave a comment. If something different works for you do share in comments below. Thankyou.

Interesting DIY project using Toilet paper rolls

This is an interesting DIY project I have come across. I can't wait to work on it, only thing holding me till now is the use of spray paint. I am avoiding any kind of paints right now. Will surely work on it next year. There are many different DIY projects you can do using paper rolls.

Below is the things you need:

• Empty Toilet paper rolls
• Glue
• Scissor
• Spray paint (any color you like)

Cut pieces of the paper rolls as shown below.

Glue them together in  a flower patterns.

Glue all the flowers together into desired pattern and spray paint the whole thing.

You can also use an old frame, paint it and glue flower patters to make something like below:

For more details on how to make flower patterns check out the video Flowers using Toilet paper Rolls

Facebook location checkins - how safe is that?

Most of us do facebook checkins. I myself have done it again and again. But sometimes I question myself if it is safe???  Can we trust everyone and all? Have we checked our facebook privacy settings lately if it has changed with new features getting added constantly?

• Airport checkins seems like letting everyone know hey I am not at home but my family is there all alone.

• Restaurant checkins seems like letting everyone know we are out of our house, no one is there right now.

Some people have installed alarms, but do they always work?

Points to ponder....

Invisalign for straightening teeth- My Review

I was always conscious of my teeth while talking/laughing. They were misaligned since my childhood. Although none of my family member nor my husband had problems and its not that I was embarrassed or something but it was definitely lowering my confidence level. 

I thought of using the wired/metal braces but was not sure if I could go to office wearing those. I would look funny. Those I feel were good for school/college going kids. Then I read about Invisalign in a magazine. The first thing I saw was the money involved and I was reluctant to even get more details from a dentist. It costs about $2000+. I left it at that.

Then one fine day me and my husband had to visit a dentist for a tooth fillup. Their we saw Invisalign promotional banners. I consulted the dentist about it. The way she explained how it works got me to think to try it.  Again the same question came to me 2000$ how I am going to spend. I discussed with my husband and he convinced me that I deserve to spend that much, he told me that I have been working since a long time, I do save money and don't spend on unnecessary things, he also showed me some calculations of how I have saved money over the years by doing all household chores/cleaning on my own.... etc. He is so sweet :)
With his support, I started Invisalign last year. I had to wear alignment trays for almost a year. After a year now I feel so much more confident. It works and has made a huge difference for me. I will try to get some before and after pictures of my teeth from my dentist and will post it.

More details can be found at www.invisalign.com

Few important points:

• The cost of Invisalign is $2000+. But finance is available and that amount can be paid in installments. 

• The duration for which you have to wear the alignment trays varies depending on your teeth problems.

• At the start 3-D image of your teeth will be taken and will be send to Invisalign. They will analyze and send your dentist  sets of custom aliment trays for you. You will have to change trays every 2 weeks.

• You will have to visit you dentist every 3-4 weeks.

• Painful, yes a bit for sometime the first time you wear your new set of trays. I think its with any kind of teeth straightening method.

• You can see the difference within 2 weeks.

• You can go to office wearing those and no one will know. The trays are transparent.

• You need to remove the trays to eat and drink except for water. Its easy.

• You might have to wear retainers after 1 year for sometime.

Please consult your dentist for more information.
If you feel this information is helpful please do leave a comment. Thank You.

My Night time skin care routine

Although my grandma and mom had/has beautiful skin, poor me I didn't inherited any of it.

I am in my 30s and am still prone to acne, have uneven skin tone and lately could see fine lines on my forehead :(

Its so much important to take care of your skin at night. I have combination/oily skin. After years of trying out products,  below is the list of items that have finally worked for me to keep my acne in control and fading the fine lines. Its a simple routine with just 4 products.

Please note: if you have acute acne problem, the below will not work. You need to get help from a dermatologist asap. Don't keep trying products on your own. I am saying this from my personel experience. Ok back to my routine .....

This night time skin care routine has become a habit now and if I don't do it at night , seriously you guys I don't get sleep. Ok so here you go:

1) To remove my makeup/ daily moisturizer that I wear at daytime , I use Jojoba oil. This oil you can get in Traders Joe, Mothers Market and sprouts. I am sure you can get in other stores also. I swear by this oil, it removes any kind of makeup be it waterproof. I massage a small amount of the oil on my face, eyes and neck for sometime and with a cotton pad wipe out all dirt.

2) Next I follow with washing my face with mild cleanser like cetephil. This you get in any drugstore.

3) Once my face is clean, I use Palmer skin therapy oil and thats it for my face.

4) I like nivea body lotion for hand and legs.

Tada.... And thats it. Simple right :) I have tried so many products- drugstore/ departmental .... Sadly nothing worked for me.

Leave a comment if this information was helpful to you. If anything else works for you do share in the comments below. Would love to try it out.

Organic food eating habit

Ok, people who know me knows that I love junk food and anything fried :))) yum!!!

We are trying to get into healthy eating habits past 1 year. Frankly speaking ....we are far far behind......I blame my husband and he blames me for the failure. And the story goes on and on....

One of the things we have taken seriously is to buy organic vegetables, dairy products, poultry ... Etc.

One of our good friends hooked us up to organic foods. Also we did some of our own research and found some interesting facts. Well I will not define what is organic food or list down the facts. Its all over the internet.

Organic food is expensive compared to non organic food. And after looking at our monthly grocery bills I get tempted to buying non organic food. However 3 quotes that I read somewhere made me rethink and also stick to eating organic food.

• We earn to live a good life and to give a good life to our children. What is the use of saving if we or our children are not healthy.

• Its better to spend now then to spend in hospitals later.

• If we can spend on clothes why to cut down on food items. Being healthy is more important than looking good.

Share with us your views in the comments below. Would love to read and follow anything interesting.

Investment for kids in USA- Saving for college

I have been doing some research for good investment plan for my kid. Below is some of the options I have found. Click on the option headers below for more details. The informations are from www.babycenter.com. I have given the main points below, in case you are a lazy reader like me :)

1) 529 College savings plans
 Pros:

• 529 plans offer huge tax breaks
• You stay in control of the money
• 529 plans are very flexible
• Can be started with as little as $25

Cons:

• Your investment options are limited to what's offered by the state
• If you don't use the money for school, you'll pay heavy penalties

2) Prepaid tuition plans
Pros:

• Prepaid tuition plans are a virtually risk-free way to pay for college
• Some prepaid tuition plans offer tax benefits
• Prepaid tuition plans don't affect financial aid eligibility

Cons:

• Your child's college choices are limited
• Prepaid accounts may limit your investment growth potential

3) Cover dell education savings accounts (ESA)
Pros:

• It can be used for pre-college education expenses
• You have a wide range of investment choices

Cons:

• To contribute you must meet income restrictions
• You can't contribute more than $2,000 a year per child
• Coverdells have age restrictions
• Fees and penalties could wipe out your gains if you're not careful

4) Custodial accounts
Pros:

• It's easy to set up
• It has few restrictions

Cons:

• Custodial accounts are taxed heavily
• Your child has complete control of the money as an adult
• You can't switch beneficiaries on the account

5) IRA and Roth IRA accounts
Pros:

• You can pool your savings for potentially larger earnings
• You can pull out Roth IRA contributions at any time without penalty
• Roth IRA money isn't restricted to education expenses

Cons:

• There's a limit on how much you can contribute each year
• You're eating away at your retirement nest egg

Let me know if you know of any other ways to invest.

Kids Lunchbox menu Ideas

If you are a mom of a school going kid and you like to pack little lunch for him/her, then every morning you might have to think what to pack for lunch. For me, my kid like varieties and if I repeat the same lunch next day then I need to be ready to hear his complains once he is back from school :) I am sure most of the mom faces the same problem.

I like to pack a side, fruit and a main dish. Below is the list of items my kid likes.

Sides:

• Cookies
• GoldFish
• Boiled & salted Corn
• Boiled & salted Peas
• Popcorn
• Chips
• Boiled Egg
• Almonds/Raisins
• Carrots and Ranch
• Cheese stick

Fruits:

• Oranges
• Apples
• Grapes
• Watermelon
• any other fruits

Main:

• Corn Pilaf
• Broken Wheat  and corn Pilaf (Dhalia)
• Mac n Cheese
• Puri rolls with tomato sauce or sugar
• Bread roll with paneer (Cottage Cheese)/egg filling
• Noodles
• Cheese Quesadia
• Vermicelli Peas
• Spagatti

Let me know if you have any other ideas.

Home Remedies Part -1

There are many home remedies out in the internet. Below are the few I have tried and tested. They work pretty well actually:

1) Cough & Cold

• Grind a small piece of ginger and extract its juice. Mix the juice with 1 tps of honey. Take it by mouth.  You can also grind few Tulsi leaves (basil leaves) and extract its juices. mix with above.

• Drink ginger tea. Its very soothing.

• Drinking hot milk with some Turmeric and sugar at night helps in speedy recovery.

2) Dry skin
Apply coconut oil as body lotion. My Grandma used to apply Mustard Oil and I swear she had   beautiful skin. I tried to use it a number of times. Its just the strong smell, I am not able to tolerate. Well may be someday. Also, olive oil works wonders.

3) Hair Conditioner
Massage scalp with coconut oil and leave it for 30 min. Then shampoo and condition hair.
 
4) Hydrating face mask

•  mix yogurt, chickpea flour and lemon/ honey. Apply on your face. avoid the sensitive eye area.  keep it for 10 min and rinse. 

•  boil whole milk. let it cool. remove the cream layer from the top with a spoon. apply all over face. keep it for 10 min and rinse. 

5) Makeup Remover

Use Jojoba oil to remove makeup including the waterproof ones. It works great. Its easily available  

in Traders Joe, sprouts or mothers market.

6) Feet/ Hand scrub
 Take a piece of lemon and dip it in sugar. rub the piece of lemon on your hand and feet.

My son's 7'th Birthday

For my son's 7th birthday, we decided to do it at home and invite only few kids. We choose the theme Transformers. All the decoration items we got from Party city. From goody bags to decorations it was screaming transformers :)

Each kid got a transformer mask and a wrist band on arrival to the party.

We played 3 games: bleyblades competition, pin the autobot sticker on bumblebee and dance/statue. The winners got medels and trophies.

At the end the kids had pizza, chips, juice, fruits and cake.

It was a fun party :)

All Transformer Birthday theme decorations can be found at PartyCity

Ways to keep parents/In laws visiting you in US busy

Most of the Parents/ In Laws who visit us here tend to get bored after sometime. They come here with lots of enthusiasm to meet their kids and grand kids. But after a few days due to to the lifestyle here gets bored and start counting the days to go back.

There are various reasons:

• kid and his/her spouse both working
• Grand kids goes to school
• not knowing how to drive
• minimum friend circle.

Ways to keep them busy:

• request them to help you with Gardening
• open a Netflix account and get them hooked to watching movies
• teach them how to use iPad/laptop
• open their Facebook account and get them hooked up ;)
• have then go for walks
• take them around whenever you can
• book day tours for them
• take them for shopping every weekend
• take them to watch movies in theaters or watch a movie together at home whenever you can
• ask them to maintain a diary
• take them to library
• request them to help you with a daily task
• teach them the driving rules here
• have them talk to their relatives in your naive country frequently over phone
• show them how to talk on Skype 

Let me know if anything else worked for you.

Cloth diaper vs disposable diapers

I always used disposable diapers for my son, but for my next baby I want to use cloth diapers. I have gone through lot of youtube videos on cloth diapers. Those videos give lots of information on different kinds of diapers and how to use them.

Few things I liked about using cloth diapers are:

1) Though the initial investment is little bit high around 400$ but in the long run it will save us tons of money around $2000+.

2)Cloth diapers are environmentally safe.

3)Less rashes for the baby as there is no cemical used unlike disposable diapers.

4) They look super cute. They come in tons of color unlike the disposable ones which are white. 

The ones I am planning on buying are bumgenious 4.0. Below is their link if you are interested.

http://www.bumgenius.com

For more information on how to use it check out the videos Bumgenius and  Cloth Diaper Setup

My worries :(

I am worried that I might do the investment and get lazy later on. Cloth dispers is little bit more work in the sense they have to be washed and dried every other day. Anyone had such experience, let me know.

Organize Jewellery

To organize my Jewellery I used boxes in which we had received Diwali (Indian festival of light) sweets from friends. Its a tradition to exchange sweets with friends on Diwali.

The sweet boxes are usually nicely decorated with glitters and beads. Any box that you have at home can be decorated with colored paper, glitters, beads, laces and glue to be used to store Jewellery. Just use only the bottom part of the box.

I cleaned the boxes and used it to store my Jewellerys like bracelets, rings, earrings.. etc.

Pumpkin Patch Trip

Yesterday , I sent my parents along with my husband and kid to go and see a pumpkin patch. This was their first time seeing a pumpkin patch. They came back super excited seeing all the pumpkins and the various sizes. Also there were other activities for kids- face painting, picking pumpkin and decorating, coloring and collecting candies at various stalls. They clicked lots of pictures.

Now they are eagerly waiting to experience Halloween :) Nice to see them getting a hang of holiday season here in US.

Pumpkin Patch

My son with his grandparents

Organizing nail polishes

I had collected quite a few nail polishes over the years. It was getting hard to manage and keep them in one place. So to organize my nail polishes, instead of buying a cosmetic holder, I used an old kitchen spice stand that was of no use for me as I got a new one from costco.  Saved a few bucks :) 

Below is how it looks.

 What say ... out of the box thinking :)

Decorating above kitchen cabinets

If you have space above your kitchen cabinet you can easily decorate by using garlands or decorative pieces. Below is what I have done:

• The vase, plant, buddha, candle holder I got from Ross or TJMaxx. They are affordable pieces.
• 2 figurines are actually trophies my husbands had won in his cricket matches. 
• I had some old Christmas tree Jewels that I put in a Wine glass I got from TGIF restaurant. 
• 2 of the pieces in the lefthand corner are pieces I got from India in my last visit. (see in picture below)

Below is one more view.

Simple over the fireplace decoration

We had a blank wall above the fireplace. We had the option to mount our TV on that wall or get wooden cabinets build on it. But we didn't wanted to invest a ton of  money on it , so this is what we did.

For this you will need the following items:

1) wooden frames (can be easily found at Walmart, Target, Michaels)

2) small decoration pieces

3) picture frames

arrange all in the order you want.

Flower arrangements

A flower arrangement is very easy to do and it makes for a beautiful center piece for a table.

All the material I have used for creating the pieces can be found at Michaels store.

You will need the following:

A glass vase

Artificial flowers

Colored Stones

Assemble all and wala.... You get beautiful and inexpensive center pieces.

Another option, get a beautiful vase and arrange flowers in it :) easy.

I got the above vase as a gift from one of our friends. I had some yellow flowers. I arranged the flowers in the vase and it looks beautiful.

Art of couponing

It seems smart use of coupons saves money..... I nor my husband are good at using coupons. I did tried clipping/storing coupons sometime, but I always forget to use it....I am pretty sure most of us do it :))).  Now that I have some time, I read few articles on ways of efficient couponing. The few tips that I am going to use are:

1) Collect coupons from magazines, newspapers, store mailings, In store

2) Clip all the coupons.

3) Store them in a folder with pockets based on expiry date.

4) Every start of the months take out all the coupons that expires that month and keep it in the car or in the purse, so that I can remember and use them when I go shopping. Also, discard all expired coupons.

I still need to get some ideas on how to use online coupons. If you guys have some ideas would love to hear it. Please post your comments.

Few good articles I found online are:

http://frugalliving.about.com/od/bargainshopping/a/Coupon_Guide.htm

I love HomeOrganizing youtube channel. It has some awesome organizing tips.

http://youtu.be/HYgOez0aDsY

http://youtu.be/FFQNN-PmjBY

Efficient Parenting

As I was always working,  I always felt guilty that I am not able to give time to my son... Although I do my best to give him time. So, now as I have time I now tend to pamper him a lot. I feel like doing everything for him... Dress him up, make him sleep.... Yesterday my husband told me to stop pampering him too much all of a sudden now and that I am creating problem for myself. The new baby is due in Jan 2014 and per him when I will get busy with the baby, my son will then feel neglected. Also that he needs to be independent.  Point to ponder......