Cant believe that the last time I posted was May 23rd!!!

When I got over mom going back home,I decided to visit home for a month and spend time with my grandma who was sick.I did not want to look back and have any regrets.

I had a great visit.Also got to spend some time with my new sister-in-law (well about a year and a half old).

But I'm back and dont plan on getting on a plane in a while!!!

Of Vidalia Onions and the like

Mom is leaving next week so I am trying hard to take her to do stuff that we were not able to do so far.
I will be in a deep depression so please pray for me.I am not sure if I remember how to clean etc!

We went to Vidalia last month and had a great time.We got to bring back tons(about 100 lbs each) of Vidalia onions(per person)
We went to an onion sorting/labelling place and was shown how all that was done and the farmer was kind enough to let us burrow thro his reject pile of onions.The grocery store had rejected his truck load of onions because the Texas onions were in the stores and the Vidalia onions were not yet needed.Not a thing wrong with the onions but he could not do anything with them and was going to throw it in the fields and plough it in.
Also visited the Onion festival there,was neat.My favorite part was the Tumi store that is open to the public at this time of year and I got a $495.00 bag for $40 bucks!

One of the tub of onions that we went thro
The labelling machine
An onion field that has been picked...yes,Picked !
The sizer/sorterOne of the smaller onions

My garden is coming along great.My beanplants have flowers and so do the tomatoes.It may have needed more sunshine and is slow on fruitition part!
I put in cabbages too(from Vidalia,30 plants for 3 bucks).Also Cilantro,basil and oregano
The worst part is the bugs around them.Have to keep dusting it and then worry about all that pesticide!
Of course Frasier has done his utmost to stand in the middle of the vegetables and ponder.
In the front yard,the deer ate all the new growth on the apple trees and all my hosta and lilys.
Any takers for some venison?

Will be back after I get over my depression..............

Time flies

How fast does time fly when you are busy ?
I cant attest to the fact that I am busy as my facebook friends know I spend a lot of time there!
Maybe I can blame FB for a lack in posting!

I have been doing great.We extended moms tickets so she will be going back at the end of May.I think she is morbidly homesick now !
I am in running competitions with strangers on Nike+ challenges.Everybody thinks its funny!I am in an Indian Challenge which is most miles in 2009.Its for Indian runners from all over the world.I am competing with people who are not Indians(I suspect one is Canadian and the other is Dutch),cant do anything but kick their butts in competition

Easter was great.We ate out on the back porch since the weather was so pretty.Its amazing how this weather has not changed as it usually does.It goes into summer heat as soon as April hits but not this year.I have my little vegetable garden all planted and look forward to beans and cucumbers and two types of tomatoes.As long as my dog does not pee on the plants!

A crazy world

Has the world gone crazy or is it just me
Lately I have been looking around me and at the news wondering what on earth is happening?Its in everything and everywhere.
I wont even start with the political part as thats beyond crazy.
I sometimes feel like digging a hole and jumping into it and never coming out.
Surely its time for the end of the world ,right?

My race

I had a great time preparing and running my race.I can check off a half marathon of my to do before I turn 40 list !
Now that its done and behind me I plan on doing a marathon..maybe in November or March.Waiting for my body to recover and then I will start training for the next one.

My Church

My church has a new pastor and he has a differant way of working.I try to give him a chance and end up praying every Sunday morning that God will give me a sweet spirit and take away my judgemental one and help my mind not to stray away during the message.
I thought it was only me until I realised that a lot of older people felt the same way.And we all feel guilty about it so that means we are trying !
But its hard to concentrate when he talks.My husband does not attend church anymore just the Bible Study that follows which he enjoys.I know thats not right for us not to attend together and I love my church a lot.I would hate to change churches.But if my soul does not get a feeding than the rest of me withers and dies.Weight wise i would welcome that but not spiritually.
Selfishly I will pray for the pastor that his preaching will get to me.Or that my mind will not wander

On a differant topic,I will be away in sunny Florida for a few days.Floridians please keep the weather at 60 when I run my race and at 75 degrees when my husband and i ride the bike at Daytona Bike Week

The Oscars

I usually dont watch the Oscars on account of it being filled with pompous actors who love telling me who to vote for and who not to vote for.
This year I had to watch and I blame "Slumdog Millionaire"for it.
The movie was good,very realistic and made me grateful for my very sheltered upbringing!Hubby liked it so much he went back to watch the movies a few more times.
But anyway,back to the Oscars.I was very happy for cast and crew and all that they won.
An Indian movie won for best short documentary too.
So as my husband says"You are finally in fashion"!!!
The only moment I wished I was not watching was when Sean Penn started telling people his political opinions when he won.Which I think was to be expected.
Dont mix entertainment with politics,thats one of the reason most people dont watch stuff like the Oscars etc.Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican you dont want anyones political opinions shoved down your throat.

A dogs lunch

According to my mother,this is the face of evil.
She had bought some shellfish from a Farmers market.The Farmers Market is about 45 minutes away and so we hardly go there and when we do,we buy stuff that we normally dont buy.The shellfish was expensive so she just got three.Its the kind that is filled with meat.
She boiled it as soon as we got home and decided to add it to a gravy(Indian style)on Tuesday.
We are banned from cooking anything "fishy" inside the house so she cooks fishy stuff on the grill' s burner.
To show you the makeshift kitchen,I include this picture.
The key point I want to make is the dog sleeping on the chair which to an innocent eye would think,he is enjoying the company and the sun.But the experienced eye would note that the dog is paying close attention to whats being cooked.


Well,she came in to get some salt and was telling me how much meat was on the shell.We walked out together so she could show me and voila!it had vanished.there was just shell without any meat.
The dog had climbed on a chair to get to the table(the chair was really close to the table)and had eaten every last bit of it!
I was laughing so hard,I could have died.Mom was so pissed at the dog,she would not even look at at him!

New Orleans

We went to New Orleans to get on the cruise ship and I had to say how different it is from how the media projects it.
I somehow imagined gangs hanging around street corners waiting to mug people!
We went around the town to see the aftermath of Katrina.Our driver was a man in his 50' s retired from the AirForce and someone who called it as he saw it.
He did not blame FEMA and George Bush and we learnt some inside stories on the crooked mayor!
He told us some horror stories about the cops there and how they reacted at that time and thankfully he mentioned it on the way to the airport as it made my husband really mad.
My opinion is that its a nice town,a little expensive but filled with friendly people.
We had a whole day to spend there and my father-in-law gets a case of the wanderlust when he does not have anything to do so my mother-in-law arranged some swamp tours to keep us all busy.
It was pretty neat.Saw a lot of alligators hanging around the swamp like roaches and turtles everywhere.
Here are some pictures

Back with a tan

Well.....people with my coloring dont need a tan !

I had a great time on vacation.I usually dont like going on a Carnival cruise because it has too many teenagers and kids but suprisingly this time there were more older people on board.It may be the timing...kids are back in school,families with children would rather spend that money on other stuff than a cruise etc

Got hit with two back to back migraine attacks which I was not expecting!So I was not my usual chirpy self.I usually organise everyone into activities and things to do.
It was cool in Mexico about 68 degrees.I have been there when its blazing hot so I wont complain.hence no bikini pictures of me either.

I had actually taken my running shoes and ended up running 9 miles facing the endless span of water.The only problem was that the treadmill was below glass windows and the temps there were a 100 degrees !The rest of the gym was airconditioned but not the treadmill part!
I managed to gain 2 lbs on top of the 4lbs that I gained from a cruise in November which added to the 12 lbs that I was trying to lose so thats a total of 18 lbs !
Cant diet as I have a half marathon coming up but all that extra running should help!

My most favorite part was going to High Tea with the ladies.We had tea with pastries and little sandwiches while a lady played the piano.It was relaxing and I got to spend time with hubbys grandma,my mom and my mother-in-law.

I am not a gambler but those gambling machines just beckoned !I lost 5 bucks !!!
Father-in-law put in 50 cents and won $ 350 and grandma put in 25 cents and won $50.00

Heres some pictures
This is in Cozumel and what I assume is the most touristy part of the city!
This is a Mayan archealogical site in Progreso

What have I been upto?

Lots of celebrating this week.
I celebrated 3 years of being an American citizen on Saturday

Yesterday we had a dinner to celebrate my moms 58 birthday which is actually on February 8th and also to celebrate our wedding anniversary which is on February 7th and we celebrate 7 years of wedded bliss.

We are going on a family cruise next week and are easily embarrassed so we wanted to finish the festivities here instead of a few strangers on a ship singing to us!

To my new friends who don't know much about me.My husband and I met on Christian Cafe.com married after 6 months of talking and emailing.I was in India and he was in the US.The day we actually met was 4 days before our wedding!!!
My dad died a day after the wedding so that was a sad point in our lives
But here we are 7 years later and I still love my husband with a passion.He says that its not flaming(the passion) as it did the day we met but what does he expect?A few million loads of laundry and dirty dishes will definitely kill it!
I ' m just joking.I love my man and am so glad we met.We have our ups and we have our downs but as long as we are there for each other thro it all,nothing else matters

People enjoy us talking to each other as we are very sarcastic like George and Wheezie!!!

I bought my husband a dress watch for our anniversary and he was whining about it not being waterproof(because he is a barber).I failed to see why he would be cutting hair or washing hair in his dress clothes.His mother asked him if he was planning to scuba dive in his suit,to which he replied "No".Then he thought for a moment and said that James Bond scuba dives in his dress clothes and dress watch all the time.
I love my Daniel Craig and my husband but never the twain should meet !!!

President Bush

Have to ask as my husband cant remember:
Was the media circus like this for President Bush?
Did he also do 10 balls?
Did Cheney dance with his wife?

Tagged

Alphabet Meme

Got this meme from Suz
Here's the deal:
Leave a comment on this post and I will assign you a letter.
Write about ten things you love that begin with said letter.
Post the list on your blog.
When people comment on your list, you assign a letter, and the game continues.
I will only assign a letter if you request it, so don't hesitate to comment ...

I was given P- for poo

1)is for Pork-yes I love pork !Especially after McCain went on and on and on about Pork Barrell spending!I started craving it then!
2)is for Poo-I call my dog Poo and you all know how I love him!
3)is for pecans that people give me by the bushel full and that I have to crack and then I dont like it as much till i go to the grocery store and realise how much it costs

I give up...I cant find anything else that I love in P!Who knew it was this hard!
let me know if you want me to tag you

In honor of today and tomorrow

I am going to start this post by mentioning that I am a firm Republican and always will be.I did not believe in what the then Democratic Candidate and now Pres elect Obama had to say and that was the extent of my qualms against him.But being a good American,I will support our new president.But putting aside the politics and concentrating how far we have come is the main topic for this.
Yesterday we went out shopping with in-laws and the topic in the car was how African Americans were treated before.
My f-i-l was from Pittsburg and was based in Columbus,GA at the army base where my m-i-l worked.His best friend was a young black man and they hung out a lot.My m-i-ls family was from Alabama.They lived on the GA/Ala line.They were about 16-17 years old then.She was talking about how scared she was that my f-i-l would bring his friend over for dinner at her house and how her parents would react.But it did not bother them.I personally think they were still trying to digest this Italian rebel type boy their daughter was dating !!!He was into bikes and was very James Dean-ish.
Those were the days were there were seprate drinking fountains etc etc.
Even my husband who is 41 now talks about how there were no Black students in his class.Which amazed me.There were a few Indians though.
They talked about the stuff that people went through and it was scary.Especially since this is the South where prejudices were worse.
I dont think the young people even have a clue what people went through for this freedom.
We' ve come a long way and its about time we had a woman president next!

Weird Friday

I used to do a weird stuff from the local news a long time ago but I will leave you this picture this weekend.

My vicious cycle

I run therefore I get hungry and so I eat so how can I lose weight?
Any tips?
Its worse because mom is now completely in charge of all the cooking and who can resist moms home cooking !

Disillusionment

Monday is Martin Luther King Day and to most children,its just a holiday.Very few know why they are getting a holiday.
Indians love(d) Martin Luther King.Because of the similarities between the circumstances and the way he believed in non violence as Gandhi did.
When I came here and learnt a lot of the background of the King family,I was so disillusioned by it all.
That got me thinking about it...Is it wrong to judge a person by their personal life ?
He fought for freedom and had a huge part in achieving it and thats what i should remember him for.Not what he did in his personal time or why he did.
How can I judge anybody?Especially since I havent done anything worth mentioning.

Every Indian visitor that comes through my home wants to visit the King center and Ebenezer Baptist church and so we go there a lot.There is a memorial outside with water around it.It is very beautiful.well,my husband decided to wash his face in the water and my father-in-law waited till he was done and then informed him thats where some of the homeless people from the shelter come to pee!

Where has time gone?

I realized that its been a week since I last blogged ! And look at the date..
Before you know it ,it will be Christmas again!
Though I think all my time is spent on facebook!Its addicting.
Mom is getting her first taste of cold weather in GA.The high today is 34!
We plan on beating the cold with some spicy chicken and rice !As in she is cooking and I am here....blogging!
On my way to see what you guys are up to....

My Dog-Frasier

I have a Jack Russell called Frasier.
He is very hyper yet sleeps long into the morning piling all the comforters in the bed on top in winter.
He can smell food a mile away or a rustling of a food wrapper 10 miles away.He is a foodie-always eager to try new foods !Is not very picky,the only things he does not like is Buffalo wing sauce and Jello
He loves running with me.If I ever have a lazy moment he drives me crazy when he keeps jumping all over the place.We can run 10 -12 miles and yet when we come home,he follows me around the house like I may decide to run some more and forget to take him.
He loves watching Animal Planet and absolutely does not like me being sweet to any other dog in front of him.
He is my constant companion.
This is a picture of him sneaking a nap on hubbys new bean bag !He always scouts out the best spots.
(My tightwad hubby found a small spot on the bean bag and asked the manager to mark it down for him,and he bought it for 20 bucks !)


This is another picture of him on Christmas day eating a Bar-B-chew corn cob that Santa got him.He absolutely loves them !
He wants a certain blogger friend who has a dog called Abby to get her one too.
He is very sure Abby will love it too!

My mother and me

I have completely forgotten to tell you whats been happening since moms been here.
It just goes to prove how much she adjusted to.... so quickly.
She cooks and she cleans and when there is nothing left to do...she takes the dirty dishes out of the dishwasher and washes them too!
She has been kept busy in a flurry of christmas socials and family get togethers.
So far(she came here on the 16th of December)she has been to Alabama and North Carolina !And theres more travelling to come.
She is not a big dog lover but my dog has attached himself to her side especially when she is eating or cooking
Heres a picture of them cooking lunch together!



Hubby gets to eat like a king.He is spoilt rotten and I will have a tough time bringing him back to normal after she leaves !He cannot get used to the house being so shiny clean !

An Award

WIXY gave me a Top Banana Award.
My category
The I Want to be like Mike Top Banana goes to Frasypoo of This and That fame.
Frasypoo decided that she was too busy to keep up a blog this past summer and decided to retire from blogging. A month and a half later, she did a Michael Jordan on us and started blogging again, finding that blogging is incurable.

Thankyou Cliff !Did I just last a month and I half ?

I am a serial deleter !I like the old gone and the new,nice,shiny and clean.I retired from blogging and deleted all my old blogs.And I had quite a few !
No regrets other than my dog blog.I had some fantastic pictures on it.The most priceless one was of my dog, Frasier kissing a turtle.

But I missed all my blogging friends a lot and lurked around their blogs till I wanted one so badly!Plus it was election time and Cynthia McKinney was running for president.How could I be quiet?

Roll in the New Year........

Its the second day of the New year already!

I have a new look on my blog, a new Nike+ mini me(thats exactly how I look when I run,minus the jacket though),cleaned the sweatshirt section of the closet and found several new ones and so a good start to a new year.If it involves clothes,I' m happy!

I want to start a new year of blogging with a shout out to my favorite people...the Armed Forces who are overseas.Without them we would not be able to do whatever we do today.
A big Thank you to them and their families

I would not be doing justice to my political blogging side without talking about the worst thing to come out of GA.Cynthia McKinney
She was with 16 people aboard a medical supply boat that collided with an Israeli naval ship Tuesday as it tried to enter coastal waters around Gaza.Lady,does the words"closed military zone" mean anything to you ?
It was reported by the ship she was on that the Israeli military fired machine guns into the water in an attempt to stop its progress.
(Taken from fox News)Israel's foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told Reuters that an Israeli vessel and the 60-foot Free Gaza Movement boat did make "physical contact," but only after the aid boat failed to respond to radio contact. He denied any gunfire had occurred, and he said no one was hurt in the incident. He told Reuters the Israeli ship escorted the damaged boat back to Cypriot territorial waters.
Ambassador Reda Mansour is Consul General of Israel to the Southern United States hit the nail on the head when he said "Why take a small boat from Cyprus and sail in the middle of the night and surprise the Israeli navy near the coast of Gaza?" Mansour asks. "The only explanation we could think of is that it was an act of provocation to get some titles in the media," he contends. "It's just unfortunate. We also have to mention when she was escorted outside the Gaza area, instead of coming back to Cyprus she detoured the ship and went to Lebanon where she was received as a hero by Hezbollah leaders."