For My Husband

Hardworking Public Servant - It's Not a Oxymoron

It's a description of my husband. My husband never takes a break. He comes home after work only in time for dinner. He says he is not entitled to a single day's leave. It's a shocking violation of human rights. It's speially shocking when you consider the fact that he is a poorly paid public servant. Totally different from the stereotype of the lankan public servant. I would have got him to take legal action for human rights violations if I believed him.

He is never at home during weekends because he goes to his village to take care of his family business. He says it's so he can give us a comfortable life. Forget about Poya days, they are for the temple society meetings.

Embarrassed

He is tired when he is at home so he does not want to do anything fun with me and our daughters. On the rare occasion I get to go out with him, like to the neighborhood Food City, I am very excited I think it quite romantic. Then I feel embarrassed. I am not used to sitting in the front passenger seat. I feel like I'm out with an illicit lover. I can hardly look at the Food City employees in the eye. I think " now they know who fathered my daughters".

I feel sorry for my husband

He is missing the best part of life, spending time with his children. In two years time our elder daughter will be an adult and will be leaving home. I enjoy every minute I get to spend with my daughters. I feel lucky to be a full time mum. So actually I am grateful to my husband for enabling me to do so.

So it's happy May Day to my husband and all the other hardworking people especially the public servants because they don't get paid enough.

Shopping With Nerds

Steve Jobs Has Nothing On Me

I can't understand all the fuss about the i pad.. My products, my daughters, are much more useful and smarter than the i pad. They look better too. I don't have to worry about charging batteries. Well the best example for their utility value is when shopping for DVDs.

I can get the following info from Tish

1. The names of the 10 top grossing movies

2. The names of Academy award winning movies

3. The award winning actors and actresses

4. The relationship status' ( actual/speculated) of actors and directors

5. The movies she thinks I'll like

Tish gets all this useful info form E News. Who says watching TV is a waste of time?

I don't have to push a single button to get this info.. My product works on voice recognition. I don't even have to carry her around. The only problem with my invention is getting her to go shopping.

No Time For shopping

It's near impossible to persuade my daughters to go shopping. I expected teen aged girls to love shopping for cloths and accessories. I thought that they loved to hang out at malls. That's how girls are portrayed in movies and sitcoms. I now know that these girls are unrealistic stereotypes.

A conversation with real girls, i.e. my girls, goes like this

Me : Lets go shopping.

Tish: Why?

Me: You need clothes.

Tish: I have clothes.

Me: then why do you go around in rags?

Tish: Ha ... I like my clothes. Then she comes up with an excuse

Following is her usual list of excuses

1. I have to start an unit

2. I have to finish an unit

3. I have to do a paper

4. I have home work

I don't buy these excuses because

1. It's all to do with maths. Girls are not supposed to like math.

2. If she is too busy to go shopping how come she has time for TV and Face Book?

In the Clothing Shop

On the rare occasion I persuade my girls to go shopping there's not much shopping done.

Tish hardly looks at the clothes - she daydreams. When I frown at her she moves the clothes along the rack a bit. Then she says there's nothing that she likes. I wonder how she know that if she doesn't actually look?

If it's a mall I have to take the girls to the bookshop first so that they can read while I look at stuff. I lose all enthusiasm for shopping because they look so bored and unhappy. Then we eat. At least they love to eat out. So though the purpose of the trip is shopping I spend mostly on food. I leave buying CDs tiil the end because the girls want to return home as soon as we buy them so that they can watch them.

Visiting Relatives

During the New Year holidays we visited relatives as tradition dictates. My husband's relatives are old fashioned, prim and proper people living in the Wayamba province. Although we are supposed to wear nice new clothes on these visits my girls were in torn jeans and rubber slippers. They claim this is the latest trend. They must think I am really naive. There's no way that worn-out black Bata slippers could be in fashion.

The relatives love my girls anyway. Maybe it's because they love my husband or maybe it's because my girls get on their knees to worship every relative older than them, on arrival and when leaving. Everybody praises my husband for training the girls so well.

As for the raggedly outfits of the girls.... there's no doubt on who will be blamed for that. These relatives are too polite to mention it so I don't have an opportunity to give excuses.

Beware of Cashew Nuts

This is A Warning

This is about a little known but potent side effect of cashew nuts. This is the season of cashew, the season of fun and relaxation. It's Avurudu time, the time of indulgence. Everybody knows you have to be careful with firecrackers but nobody knows about the dangers of cashew.

Against All Odds

Five of the eight cousins of my husband, on his father's side, were born in January. The probability of this happening is 0.002%. When both our daughters were born in January we tried to figure out the reason behind this phenomenon. My initial assumption was that this happened because people are happy and relaxed during April holidays. This did not make sense as if it is true most Sri Lankans would have their birthdays in January.

Aphrodisiac

Then we heard that Cashew is an aphrodisiac. This explains everything. My husband's village is in a cashew growing area. The cashew is harvested before the Avurudu celebrations. So there is enough and more cashew for everybody to indulge in. The cashew curry made with fresh cashew is a family specialty. It is an unique recipe brought to the family by my husband's grandmother. Cashew is also eaten dried, fried and in sweetmeats.

Our theory for the family baby-booms in January is the consumption of cashew. Maybe there are fertility chemicals in cashew. So consume cashew with caution or take precautions. If it's babies you want go ahead and indulge.

Happy New Year. Subha Aluth Avuruddak.

My Daughters speak Sign Language

My husband speaks it too.. I don't know it and don't want to learn it. It's so boring. My girls enjoy the time they spend with their father. There are many aha moments for them. I feel excluded and jealous. I think it really unfair. I consider my girls my creations.

Its been unfair from the start

I carried them for nine months. It was uncomfortable and I had nausea. Then I gave birth to them the natural way which is not fun. That's risking my life. Both of them them resemble their father. Not fair.

I nursed my elder daughter for hours at end. I was a believer of demand feeding. She was a nocturnal so I stayed up at night. I had to put up with my mother's fussing and criticism. I was in a constant state of fatigue. Well after all this the first smile was to her father. She spoke her first words to her father. Not fair.

I was a full time mum. Took care of my girls with the greatest care. I drove them around and supervised their studies. Whenever the girls did anything well everybody says " like the father". I am sure I am blamed for everything that goes wrong. Not fair.

After all this the father and daughters speak a language I don't understand. It's sine and cos, integration and differentiation and the fun's just starting... I'm dreading it. I would have been interested if it was history or literature.

During term test time I distracted and disturbed them. I know it's stupid. I wonder if fathers feel left out when the kids spend time the mothers... I suppose not. They must be saints like my husband.

( shall edit later have to pick up my girl from school)