‘Reliance…’

Please don’t take my thingamies! 

(A haiku dedicated to my devices!)

A day without my

Devices, would seem to be

Punishment for me!

Ritu 2015

************************************

Isn’t it awful how reliant we are on our technology nowadays?

Wonderful that we have these amazing gadgets, yet, but terrible how we almost can’t function without them some days!

Take me for example. My phone, she is my everything! My alarm, my calendar, my camera, my music player, my games console, my book, my phone book, my diary, my note book, my access to social media, and of course, a PHONE!

If I was to leave it at home I’d have to go back and get it! The other day I thought I’d left but at work, and was in town with Lil Princess. Shopping was cut short so I could go get it… And in the end it was in my other bag but still… I felt lost for those few moments I was aware it wasn’t with me!

And God forbid if the battery is low!!! These smartphones may sing, dance, do everything but make dinner, but the result of this multitasking? Awful battery life! So I need my chargers… plug ones, USB ones, the portable ones too.

There is a similar dependance on my iPad. It’s not as strong, but there nonetheless. Checking my balances, using the Internet, the various apps I have, are a regular part of my daily life. 

The computer/PC/notebook again, a bit less than the handheld devices,but required for many things still, at home, and at work… And, again, God forbid the network is down at work so all your hard work is inaccessible!!! (Don’t get me started on the interactive whiteboard!)

It’s not just technological things though, look at the kitchen. The variety of devices to make life easier, the bread makers, ice cream makers, rice cookers, slow cookers, various slicing gadgets, grinders, blenders, heck I even have a boiled egg maker! 

Washing machines, tumble dryers, vacuums, electric lawn mowers… TVs in every room, cd/DVD players, games consoles.

The thing is when one if these gadgets goes wrong… How helpless are we?!

What would a day without them be like?

Wake to a normal alarm clock, shower, get ready, wake kids, give breakfast, get ready, school.

At work, use pen/pencil and paper, text books and the use of my own voice, not a video suitable for the kids via YouTube (note, we don’t use them all the time, we do talk a lot too and read stories!)

Use books to research to help with kids homework, listen to them read, make dinner, the old fashioned way. Eat a meal. Bath  n bed time for the kids with a story at the end.

Wash clothes… Prepare lunch for next day.

Sit with hubby and have a conversation, possibly watch something together. In bed, read a book. Sleep.

Actually, that sounds quite relaxed!!!

But to be honest, I don’t think I could handle it for more than a day or two!!!

So now I have discovered that not only am I addicted to Blogging, but the technology rates pretty high on my list of things I NEED too! Uh oh!!

This post was inspired by a post I read on Girl Next Blog, about a day without technology.

Cat Cafe Anyone?

image

Yay!

The kids got excited… Thinking they could take Sonu Singh to a cafe…
Its not quite that, but a place you can go and pet some cats, the house cats, so to speak. Great if you love animals but can’t have a pet! And have a meal there too!

But I Smile Anyway...

My Name’s Ritu and I am an Addict…

…a WordPress addict!

My Hubby dearest thinks so anyway!

But is that true?

I wake in the morning and do the responsible mum things, get lunches ready, breakfast, uniforms out, then, with my cup of tea, I sort through my notifications and have my first read of my Reader…

Then the kids come and spoil that, so I do what I need to do with them.

As they get ready I continue my reading of the reader, and posting possibly, as I am at the moment…

Oops, we’re running late! Quick kids! “Lil Princess, I’ll do your hair whilst driving, hurry up!”

During the day I think “Thank God for technology!”, allowing me to check my blog during the day at work.

I go through the day storing ideas that would make a good blog post.

Oooh! Photo opportunity! That would look great in a post! I whip my phone out to take a pic…

Sometimes I might even post!

If we’re home early I might have a browse of the reader again. Dinner time and I feed the kids, then when I know they are comfortably eating, I rush upstairs to the pc, my only opportunity to use the computer, and update if I need to or write certain posts that need the PC, not a mobile device.

Then it’s kiddie time, homework, bath, reading bedtime and cuddles.

I guess I have to feed Hubby and myself too so after dinner, and any ironing that needs doing, it’s back to the haven of my bed, and iPad, so I can catch up on the reader, and maybe post again…

I won’t put it down until Hubby might have huffed and puffed at least twice… Oops! My Kindle sits there forlornly, looking at me, I appear to have been neglecting it! I mush read a book again soon!

And now my new dilemma, in the summer I get up a bit earlier, as its lighter. Last year I used the opportunity to slot some exercise into my day first thing in the morning… This year I really need to get in the exercise mill again but I fear I will be more grateful of extra blog browsing time…

HELP! This blog is making me FAT!!!!!!

Ideally I need an extra 2-3 hours in the day, the usual 24 for normal life and sleeping… And some extra for me to peruse and use my blog without feeling guilty that I should be doing something else!

So… Am I an addict? (I think I might be, just a little one…)

Go on, speak loud and proud if you are part of my little WordPress-a-holics group!

The cure for all ailments…

True words...

True words…

The jolliest people I know look so much younger that their years.  Do you find that?

Those who are able to have a laugh, have a giggle, a good old belly laugh, a guffaw, a titter, you know, all those words, that indicate laughter, and happiness.

In India, they have Laughing Clubs.  Its like the morning walk brigade, but they sit, or stand, in circles just laughing! Great fun! Groups of people, mostly older in age, laughing away, big belly laughs, flailing arms, opening their arms, and so opening their chests, big gulps of air taken in. It’s all oxygen, great for the body and mind!

I want a go… I think I might start my own.  This world doesn’t have enough laughter in it, I think.

We are all so caught up in living life, rushing from one event to another, work to home, cook, clean, look after kids, or going out. In fact we probably don’t even sleep as much as we need, because our time is so precious, we eke out as much as we can… to our detriment though.  We end up starting a day tired, and ratty, irritable, and when you are irritable, when do you fancy a laugh? When you are in that state, sometimes the funniest things do your head in, and you would rather shut the person up, than join in with the giggles.

But this is just it. if you were to laugh, it would probably relieve your tensions more.  My Pops teaches yoga, and the type he teaches has been promoted by Swami Ramdev in India, and to be honest it has been around for aeons… but he has brought it to the forefront of peoples eyes. He was a childhood polio sufferer and by doing various breathing exercises, he really improved his own health. At the end of all his classes, and subsequently at the end of my Pop’s classes, they encourage the whole class to belly laugh for a good few minutes.

I love a laugh.  I cant hold it in to be honest, whether its a child inadvertently saying something inappropriate, or just a genuinely funny joke, I have to laugh!  Maybe that’s why a lot of people think that I don’t look my years.. but on the flip side, I am so tired most of the time, I do get irritated, and find that where I should have laughed, my sense of humour seems to have gone on holiday…oops! I am going to make a conscious effort to laugh more, every day. there is always s something in your everyday life where you can laugh…

So I’m going to challenge you…

Laugh. 😀

Every day. 😀

Find something that makes you openly guffaw. 😀

See whether it makes you feel better. 🙂

I’m going to try it too.. tell me what made you laugh today, and together lets knock a few hundred years off our faces!!!

Watching…



Source

Sometimes I people watch.

Yes me. I don’t always talk to everyone, honestly! Sometimes I like to observe, to see the world around me, and the people sharing it with me. 

It’s an eye opener, sometimes in a wonderful way, sometimes not so great…

The interaction of a mother with her child, hugs and kisses, a look of delight as a surprise ice cream Is deposited in a small chubby hand… But then you get the opposite, the mother screaming at her kids for misbehaving, or even swearing at them, or heaven forbid, giving them a clip round the ear hole… And that one in between where you can see so obviously that mum hasn’t got a clue, or has just given up, as the kids career around causing mayhem for the surrounding crowds!

The beautiful moments observing a family, parents and children together. Amusing when it mirrors your own situation, oh look there is two crazy children, and mummy trying to regain all semblance of control, and there’s daddy, sauntering ahead, oblivious to the havoc being reeked behind him. Or you might see visions of that ‘perfect’ family, where it seems that all is sweetness and light, a child holding the hands of each parent, swinging along happily, no fuss, and smiles abound from each face.

You might observe a couple, and from their demeanour, guess whether they are in the fresh flushes of romance, or past that stage, a bit more jaded, married or just friends… It’s interesting to wonder that their story might be.

I see old people and they can delight me, seeing, perhaps, an elderly couple, still holding hands, or the woman holding the proffered arm of her husband, and they support each other. A true product of the generation who didn’t ‘throw away’ broken things, they ‘mended’ them. Who knows what they might have been through in their lives! Then I see the flip side of the coin, that old person, walking slowly along, possibly with the support of a stick or a frame, and nothing else. No other companion. Looking lonely, needing company. Will they be going home to an empty house? Or is there someone at home waiting for them?

One thing people watching has taught me though is that first impressions can be deceiving… 

You know, that dad who seemed to be oblivious to his child’s tantrums… Actually he came back, with something to help calm the child down. That mum who was giving her child ‘what for’ on the street, hugging her child, as she had only shouted out of worry, he was about to run into the road. That perfect couple looking so in love, then you notice the fella giving other women the eye as he walked past… Not so perfect, eh! Or that elderly old man, turning a corner and greeting someone who looks like a grandchild, and happily taking their hand to walk the rest of the way home.

It gives me hope, sometimes. Sometimes it makes me thankful of what I have. But inevitably it gives me inspiration…



Source

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My interactive peeps!

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