The Story Of Us

Nothing makes me happier than knowing that I am raising readers. Our initial IKEA spice racks /bookshelves in the boys room were starting to over flow with books to the point that we bought them bookshelves last month.  While I always talk about what I'm reading I thought I'd share with you what the kids are reading right now as well as some of their favorite books.  We as a family are still reading The American Story by David Rubenstein and just finished the chapter on Hamilton.. now we are ready to watch the show! And we have also started as a family to read Harry Potter..  H is currently reading (with my help) his way through some of the Bad Kitty books by Nick Bruel . When asked - here are H's Top 3 Books 1. The Nahrwal Books by Ben Clanton  - His exact words "They are funny. It was so funny when the sea monkey said 789. I liked Narwhal, they are very funny. They have 9 foot long tooth coming out of their forehead." I second his sentiments.. these are the fu...

Where do we start.. the world, common sense, basic kindness, humanity.. everything is just falling apart, we are seeing a lot of peoples true colors and they are not pretty. The news, social media everything is veering to push one over the edge and into a downward spiral. I wonder which dystopian fictional world will be our reality? Too much negativity.. I know.. gotta try to keep things a little positive..  Our quarantine world has opened up a little. We hit the tennis courts a couple of times a week.. sometimes M and I.. sometimes M and D. We have been biking around the neighborhood.. we started to venture out onto a semi main road. The kids and I have taken up jogging in the mornings before breakfast.. we don't get much far.. turns out none of us have much stamina.. something we are working on. Hopefully we'll all come of this quarantine a little bit healthier.  We have also taken up golf.. well at least attempting to. M occasionally plays golf, the rest of us have only eve...

After reading Beartown  I decided I was ready for some lighter reads..  The Love Story of Missy Carmichael by Beth Morrey Synopsis - The world has changed around Missy Carmichael. At seventy-nine, she's estranged from her daughter, her son and only grandson live across the world in Australia, and her great love is gone. Missy spends her days with a sip of sherry, scrubbing the kitchen in her big empty house and reliving her past--though it's her mistakes, and secrets, that she allows to shine brightest. The last thing Missy expects is for two perfect strangers and one spirited dog to break through her prickly exterior and show Missy just how much love she still has to give. Thoughts - I have read a few books with a similar premise.. a person, alone, closed off to life makes an unlikely friendship and then they learn how much better their life can be by letting people in. It was a sweet book but that was about it. I didn't love the character of Missy herself, I didn't ...

Being of South Asian decent.. jewelry to us equates to gold. When you are born your family gives you gold. Have a bar mitzvah like welcome to puberty celebration? Gold. It not always jewelry, it can be gold coins as well. Even boys get gold. It is saved and collected for the big day, our weddings. All those gold coins are then used to make jewelry to give both your daughter and daughter in law when she gets married. This is a big deal, it is often displayed during one of our many many wedding events so that guests can ooh and aah over it. Now I know it sounds very over the top but in most South Asian families women didn't work, many still don't. The tradition of giving gold started as a security net for the girls, if faced with hard times, a cruel husband.. death of a husband.. in the end she would at least have this gold to get her out of a difficult situation. Times may have changed but the tradition for giving gold is still prevalent. All through my youth I hated the idea of...

        1. What is your favorite color? Red 2. What is your favorite toy/game? Roblox 3. What is your favorite fruit?  Raspberries 4. What is your favorite food? Pasta 5. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?  Cookies and Cream 7a. What is your favorite tv show? Pokemon 7b.Favorite Movie? Bruce Almighty 8. What is your favorite animal?  Gorilla  9. What is your favorite song? Bad Guy by Billie Eilish  10. What is your favorite book? The Percy Jackson series 11. Who is your best friend? H.C and AQ 12. What is your favorite city/country?  Budapest 13. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Play Cricket and Basketball 14. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Dentist 15. What is your favorite thing to do with mummy? Playing board games 16. What is your favorite thing to do with baba? playing cricket and tennis 17. What is your favorite thing to do with Hasan? Watching videos 18. What makes you feel sad? Mummy Baba screa...

Friday was the kids last day of school.. hello summer! Now usually I love summer vacation. The kids and I are ready to break out of our routines, we don't do any classes or camps and just try to relax (in a A type personality semi organized manner) lol. But we are in the age of COVID and I have already had three months of way too much kid time.. so let's see how this goes. Tomorrow is D's 10th birthday.. double digits.. so we threw him a surprise party over the weekend. It was a small close friends and kids outdoor backyard party.. we did our due diligence with social distancing, hand washing etc.. It was wonderful seeing everyone after so long.. Not a lot of pictures.. didn't even get one of the cake.. :(  But we had our first pinata Sunday was Father's Day.. the kids made a coupon book for M   Our restaurants are open for outdoor eating but with elderly parents in the house we are still not ready to venture out for a meal so we did what we've been doing for th...

       Beartown by Fredrik Backman Synopsis-  People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys. Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected. Thoughts-  This was probably, emotion...