My Inner Shakti

finding strength in everyday things

Weekend Recap – Father’s Day 2020

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Friday

Friday, like every day, started off with a little Kaiden time. I love cuddling with him on the couch. Then I went grocery shopping. For some reason, I ended up with like 8 bags which meant four round trips to get all our stuff upstairs. I was so tired afterwards!

After putting everything away, I took a call with my boss and did some work.

The rest of the day involved a short nap (for Kaiden), some Frozen (because I just couldn’t say no to his sweet request), and pizza for dinner.

I’m sharing the ‘recipe’ on my IG page today!

Saturday

Saturday was interesting because I definitely fell asleep on the couch the night before and only made my way to our bed at 1 am. Where was Vishnu you may be wondering? He was working a moonlighting shift at the hospital. This is what happens when he isn’t home! This totally messed me up because I woke up at 6 totally exhausted and unable to fall back asleep. On top of that, I started my period. Recipe for disaster!

BUTTT…it ended up ok, other than all of us being tired. I was a little out of it most of the day. Kaiden didn’t nap, which left him cranky by the end of the day. And Vishnu was exhausted from his 14 hour shift as well.

We did end up having fun goofing around the house. Kaiden may have asked for Frozen again to which I said N.O. Ha! Luckily, he understood!

Other than that, the day was kinda…normal. Kaiden has been moving into threenager territory lately, and while it’s annoying, I still think he’s the sweetest little boy ever. I could do with a little less whining, fewer meltdowns, and no bedtime shenanigans (i.e. calling me back into his room at least 3x). But I LOVE HIM TO PIECES!

SUNDAY

Sunday, Father’s Day, started with breakfast. We then got ready to head outside to kick the soccer ball around and hunt for sticks (K’s fav thing to do right now).

We then came home and ate breakfast for lunch – hash browns, biscuits, and scrambled eggs – because our dad loves breakfast foods! A huge hit!

The rest of the day was pretty low-key. We talked to our own dads and hung out at home reading books, kicking balls, and generally wreaking havoc. HA!

I did manage to squeeze in a little nap that was much needed. Don’t know why, but even after a full night’s rest, I was EXHAUSTED!

Anyways, that was our Father’s Day 2020 weekend in a nutshell.

For those of you who may be new readers, I share a lot of our weekends in a recap style post for two reasons – 1. I’m selfish and love having a written recollection of our days with Kaiden and 2. To show that not everyone lives a glamorous life. Normal is beautiful and normal is good and normal is magical in its own way. Remember that!

Weekend + COVID-19 Thoughts

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I’m pretty sure most of us experienced a similar kind of weekend. We stayed inside almost the entire time. It was tiring and frustrating at times, but I also felt lucky that I have a well stocked pantry and fridge I can access as well as just a safe space to be right now. Not everyone is so lucky.

Anyways, here’s our weekend in a nutshell…

Weekend

Friday – grocery shopping (circled TJ’s parking lot 4x before heading to Mariano’s which was fine but lots of aisles were near empty if not completely bare); random stuff around the house; sister and BIL came over and we ordered in dinner from Irazu.

Made some yummy treats to help cope with some of this stress!

Saturday – Vishnu worked a 24 hour shift so he left the house at 6:30 am; Kaiden woke up at 7 (hallelujah!); the rest of the day was spent trying not to go nuts; Kaiden whined and cried A LOT which pressed all kinds of buttons for me, but I gently reminded myself that if this becomes our new normal for a bit, I need to find a way to deal and help him process his emotions better.

Sunday – Vishnu came home and slept until lunchtime; we played and watched some TV; I caught up on laundry; we had tacos for dinner (always fun with a toddler…ha!).

Who says parents can’t have fun?!

COVID-19 Thoughts

You guys, I’m not a doctor or a medical professional in any sense of the word, so please don’t take my words as advice. These are just the things rattling around in my head over the past week or so, and I need to get them out. Writing and sharing on here really helps me, so here I am.

First and foremost, I’m one of those people who went from thinking this wouldn’t impact us as much as other countries to now thinking oh s***, COVID-19 is scary and we need to act now.

With that being said, I’m sick of people comparing it to the flu. IT’S NOT TO FLU! Follow credible sources, and you’ll see. Read the firsthand reports from other countries that are just a week ahead of us with this thing, and you’ll see. NOT THE FLU! So when I hear people not giving a flying f*** about staying home and social distancing, I get super angry. Like fine, if you don’t care about yourself, that’s one thing. But if you get it, you likely won’t know for about 14 days which means you’ll be walking around interacting with people for 14 days infecting them. And some of those people may be immuno compromised. That’s just a shitty thing to do. Experts from around the world are literally shouting from the rooftops that we need to stay home as much as possible in order to slow this thing down. So stay at home. For the love of God, stay at home.

You guys know I don’t get political on here, but you also know that I’m not a fan of our current administration (and that’s putting it lightly). From what I’ve read and from using common sense, I’ve gleaned that the president didn’t take appropriate actions at the right time. He refused testing kits from the WHO, he had his son-in-law who’s not a doctor ‘researching’ the Coronavirus and advising him, he kept discounting it and saying the flu is a lot worse (it isn’t!), etc. And he did all this to keep the economy afloat because it’s an election year. ARE YOU F’ING KIDDING ME?! You mean to tell me you saw what was happening around the world, and you chose to do nothing?! It’s disgusting. If you look at countries like Singapore and a couple of others, they took early action and really combated the virus by being proactive. And that’s despite being so close to China, the epicenter of COVID-19.

You can’t change the past, I suppose, so we should all focus on what’s happening now. Well, I can tell you that we don’t have enough testing kits and that our healthcare system is overwhelmed. Vishnu and I watched the president’s address on Friday declaring this a national emergency. First of all, no s***. But also, if you listen carefully, Trump basically just touts himself and talks around literally every important detail. Again, are you f’ing kidding me?! The American people need to see their leader take the reins on this thing and declare concrete actions, but instead, we have…Trump. Who doesn’t think we’ll need 5 million testing kits just so you know. UGH!

Ok, glad to get all of that off my back…

Putting all of that aside, my heart aches for so many people right now. People who don’t have access to food. Kids who may not get the two school meals they count on every day. Homeless people. People who can’t work from home. People who may lose their jobs as a result of this. People who are immuno comprised and/or older and at more risk. People who are small business owners. And the list goes on…

When I start to feel myself get stressed out about this, I remind myself that I’m very lucky. Kaiden’s daycare is closed for at least two weeks, so my day-to-day life is going to be insane, but at least I can manage it. The factors in play are somewhat in my control. Others are not so lucky.

I pray and send healthy vibes and strength to anyone who’s already been affected by this virus and anyone who will be. I pray for our healthcare workers who are essentially in the trenches every single day. I pray that people live by one word during this time – kindness. I pray this helps us see the humanity in every single being around us.

I hope you stay safe and healthy during this crazy time. Remember, stay inside, wash your hands, and be kind.

Weekend Report – the One Where We’re All Sick

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Guys! Every single person in our household is man down to some degree right now. Kaiden and I have colds, while Vishnu’s nursing a sore throat. Ick!

With that being said, I’m gong to keep this weekend report to a minimum, only highlighting key details.

Friday

Friday started off pretty typically – drop K off at school, Trader Joe/Target/library run, workout, lunch, A Million Little Things…

And then came the atypical. I went to the salon for highlights and a trim. LOVED the end result! I only go every five months, so it always feels like a little treat. New hair, who dis!?

The rest of the day was ok. Vishnu really didn’t feel good, so the evening was pretty low key. Essentially, we played, we ate, and we went to bed early.

Saturday

Saturday started with haircut for K and a Costco run.

Ummm…Costco was a madhouse. People are stocking up on everything under the sun, including toilet paper. Also, riddle me this – why do we need to stock up on water right now? This isn’t a natural disaster. It’s not like we go crazy every year around flu season. Look, I agree that Coronavirus is scary and unpredictable, but I think we’re all playing into the media frenzy a little too much.

Other highlights include another showing of Coco (yes, again…and yes, again I cried at the end!) and lots of horsing around on mama and dada’s bed.

Vishnu and I also met up with our friends for a fun dinner at Lula Cafe. This is a top rated Chicago restaurant with tons of veggie options. For my main entree, I enjoyed a mushroom and toasted buckwheat dish that came with this delicious sauce and lots of Parmesan. Yum! If you live in the Chicago area, I highly recommend checking this place out.

Sunday

With the time change, K was up closer to 7:45a, which was a nice change of pace, even though it didn’t make a huge difference for us (we didn’t go to bed until midnight).

Because we’re all under the weather, we decided to skip soccer altogether. Wanted to avoid any ‘why are you here?’ looks from the other parents!

It’s 1:58 pm as I type this out. So as of right now, our plans for the rest of the day involve a potential trip to the park (or even just a walk around the neighborhood), another movie, and hopefully another early bedtime.

I hope you had a healthier weekend than us!

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Weekend Report – Bombshell, Art Project and an Impromptu Brunch

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I love normal, go with the flow kind of weekends. Not too hectic, no real lulls. And thankfully, this weekend was one of them!

Let’s get right into the details…

Friday

This Friday was a little different from the rest. I ran to TJs, Target, and the Library (of course!). And then I came home and ate an early lunch while catching up on the latest episode of A Million Little Things. SO SO GOOD!

Then I had a work call for about an hour.

And then I went to Costco to get our tires changed. I also shopped a little and got some pictures printed. Man I love that place!

I came home and meal prepped a little bit (creamy orzo and baked chicken) before going to get K from school.

The rest of the evening was pretty routine – play, eat, bath, books, bed.

Once K was down for the night, Vishnu and I settled in to watch Bombshell. OMG! If you haven’t seen this yet, you need to ASAP. This movie was so intense, and it totally fired me up too. Robert Ailes and Fox News are just disgusting (and that’s putting it lightly). I was ranting all the way until I closed my eyes and fell asleep. Even though it made me so mad, I definitely recommend watching it. The acting was spot on.

Saturday

Saturday started a little earlier than I would have preferred. K was up at 5:48, but when I offered to sleep on the floor next to his crib until the ‘yellow light’ came on (7:00), he laid back down. Unfortunately, he didn’t want to wait until then, so he was back up and asking to go outside at 6:20.

We played for a little bit, I made some breakfast, Vishnu woke up, and then V + K headed to the Children’s Museum. I debated going with them, but I had a few big things I wanted to get done, so I stayed home. But don’t worry I went to soccer on Sunday!

While they were away, I worked out, meal prepped, and started on a little art project we’ve been wanting to work on for a while. It’s for Kaiden’s room and involved his daycare artwork from over the past 2 years. I’ll share more in my Friday post, but I love how it all came together!

After Kaiden’s nap, he and I went to Mariano’s to pick up a few groceries I couldn’t find at Trader Joe’s. K’s been asking for chocolate ice cream for a couple of days now, and it’s not a treat we go out for often, so I grabbed Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked for the fam! It has chocolate in it, so K should be satisfied…(P.S. we haven’t opened it yet…but that’s a story for a different day).

The rest of the evening was pretty routine for a Saturday.

Sunday

Sunday morning started at 5:45 again, but this time K didn’t want to stay in his crib for that long, so we were out in the living room a little past 6. The first part of our morning was spent watching Daniel Tiger, playing with our balloons, and eating breakfast.

Then we all got ready for soccer (yes, even me!) and headed out.

Watching K on the field is so fun. His little personality really shines through. I’m excited to see him start the next class even more because that one starts to get into more skill and independent playing.

After soccer, we stood around chatting with our friends (who’s son is in Kaiden’s daycare and soccer class). Vishnu suggested we go to brunch, so the six of us walked to a nearby restaurant for a delicious meal. Surprisingly, our toddlers were fairly well behaved too!

The rest of the day was spent cooking, reading (I finished The Silent Patient – SO GOOD!), and negotiating with our little guy (they should really teach a negotiations class for parents of toddlers).

Anndddd…that was our weekend in a nutshell! Hope you had a good one. 🙂

Weekend Report

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Friday

Friday followed the usual formula with a couple of exceptions.

I made a Trader Joe’s + Marianos run to grab groceries for the week. After coming home and putting everything away, I meal prepped by making some pesto (my own recipe), The Chutney Life crack sauce, and Cookie + Kate enchilada sauce.

I then showered, got ready, and did some work while waiting for Vishnu to get ready. Ready for what you ask?

Welll…while night float sucks, there is the advantage of going on Friday day dates, which is exactly what we did. Vishnu made a reservation at 3 Arts Club Cafe inside Restoration Hardware a couple of weeks ago. You guys, let’s just talk about the space. It’s beautiful and really open and airy. I really felt like we were sitting in a European cafe. The food was equally good. I got a soft scramble plate with avocado and sourdough toast. And I couldn’t pass by on a oat milk latte, so I ordered one of those too!

We then walked around Restoration Hardware designing our future (like waaaay in the future) home. To be honest, most of the furniture didn’t jive with me. Just not my style. Oh well. I guess we’ll have to pretend shop somewhere else. Haha!

After we got home, I headed to my annual doctor’s appointment (all good here)! Then I came back home and watched the latest episode of A Million Little Pieces. Man, I didn’t love this all that much for the first season, but I’m so glad I stuck with it. It’s so so so good!

Then I picked up K and we followed our normal weekday evening routine – play, eat, bath, books, sleep!

I then cleaned up and did the dishes before crashing on the couch!

SATURDAY

Saturday started a little earlier than I hoped – 5:45 am. And nothing could convince K to ‘wait for the yellow light’ [on his alarm clock].

So we started our day, and by the time Vishnu got home, we were almost ready to head out to the Children’s Museum. If you’re thinking, “How can you go to one place so many times?,” you really need to check out your local museum. This place is amazing and has so many different areas to explore. Anyways, because I wanted Vishnu to sleep for a bit, K and I headed out to the museum around 8:45 and stayed until about 11:15.

Once we got home, we played for a bit before eating lunch and going down for a nap (all K!).

While he napped, I did a Barre3 online workout I found on YouTube. It felt so good to move in a different way again. Love me some Barre3!

Once K was up, Vishnu played him so I could prep dinner for the boys…enchiladas! I used Cookie + Kate’s sauce, my own sweet potato + onion filling, and The Chutney Life’s Crack Sauce (as a topping). You guys! This simple dish turned out so so good!

I then headed out to my sister’s place for a belated Galetine’s get together with some of my favs! We talked, we laughed, we ate, and we watched To All the Boys: PS I Still Love You. Such a fun night and a reminder that we need to schedule these more regularly.

I didn’t go to bed until almost 12:30 am. Who am I?!

Sunday

Well that late bedtime didn’t serve me too well come morning. K was up at like 6:04 am. Was really hoping he would sleep until at least 7, but that was a no go.

We spent our morning playing, making pancakes, and generally wreaking havoc until it was time to go to soccer class. Vishnu and K headed out for that while I went down to our gym to work out. I then showered and did laundry.

K was super tired after soccer, so you can only imagine how the next 1.5 hours went. Lots of meltdowns, whining, etc. In fact, I made him this delicious plate of food for lunch, including pineapple, a toasted PB sandwich, and PB + banana bites, and he ate…the pineapple. I decided to put him down for an extra early nap because the crying would not stop and we couldn’t figure out why he was so crank (other than the fact that he was obviously tired). That was the best decision because he passed out immediately.

After nap Kaiden was happy and eager to get to the park since it was a beautiful day in Chicago. Once Vishnu got home from the gym, we made our way over and met our friends who then came over for dinner.

Toddlers are fascinating, I tell ya! Kaiden had a somewhat ‘off’ evening after a great weekend. He wasn’t himself and we have no idea what to attribute that too.

Ah well, tomorrow’s a new day…

Hope y’all had a great weekend!

Weekend Shenanigans

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Oh man! What a weekend. I’m wiped but happy! This one wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, and while there were several ‘I want to pull my hair out’ moments, there were plenty of fun/sweet ones too!

With that, here’s the breakdown of our weekend shenanigans.

Friday

So Friday started as it usually does – Trader Joe’s and the library. I got two new books and am already half way through one. It’s so good…will definitely share more soon!

I came home worked out, made these muffins because I know Vishnu loves them, and made some chicken fingers for V + K. Guess who wasn’t a fan?!

Anyways, Vishnu and I were supposed to grab lunch together on Friday afternoon, but when I went to wake him up (he’s working nights right now), he looked so out of it and tired. I suggested that we cancel and eat lunch at home.

I then watched the latest episode of ‘A Million Little Pieces.’ SO SO SO GOOD!

I headed to K’s school around 4:30p for Kaiden’s class Valentine’s Day party. It was like most of the others, except this time, K was more social and actually wanted to do the activities. He also ate a ginormous cookie, which totally ruined his appetite for dinner. Ay ay ay!

The rest of the evening was spent doing a little bit of work and reading.

Saturday

The first half of Saturday was a lot of fun. Kaiden and I woke up and hung out for a bit until it was time to leave for the Children’s Museum, where he had an absolute blast! He ran around so much – thankfully, it wasn’t too crowded either. We saw his school buddy Roger there too, and the two of them had so much fun climbing and running around the castle exhibit.

I read some during K’s afternoon nap, which is when Vishnu came home. I told him to stay at my sister’s place after work so he could sleep. Worked out perfectly since my sister and BIL are out of town this weekend.

The rest of the day was spent playing and whining and laughing and crying…rinse and repeat!

Once K was down, Vishnu and I settled down to watch Parasite. You guys! This movie was so good on so many different levels. Definitely a must watch. Vishnu said it was now on his top 5 favorite movie list. It’s THAT good!

Sunday

Sunday looked a lot like Saturday, except sub soccer with the museum!

When K went down for his nap, so did I. I was SO tired…like couldn’t keep my eyes open tired. I think it had something to do with not sleeping well the night before. I remember waking up a few times…and once I was so wide awake, I thought about just going out in the living room and reading some until K woke up. It was 3:45a. Glad I decided to give sleep another chance.

Like I said, this day looked a lot like Saturday. Not much to report!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

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Weekend Tales

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I love reading about people’s weekends. Mainly because it gives me some ideas for how to better structure ours!

I was pretty regular about posting about ours (mainly because I love reading back about how we spent our time), but the Sunday night blogging habit dropped off. I’m hoping to pick it back up whenever I can because I know future Par is really looking forward to these posts!

With that, I present to you our weekend…

Friday

Friday was a pretty productive day. I dropped K off at school, headed to TJs and the library, came home/put away all the groceries, watched A Million Little Things, went to a HIIT class at the gym, showered/ate lunch, went to Costco and Target, napped for an hour, cleaned a bit, and prepped for dinner.

That is Friday in a nutshell!

The rest of the day involved Magnatiles, a spaghetti dinner, and Instant Family

Saturday

Saturday morning started a bit later than usual. Kaiden didn’t wake up until 7:00!!! What a great way to start the day!

Then, before lunch, we had two Care.com sitters coming over to meet us. I’ll share more about the who, what, when where, and why about Care.com, but both sitters were great!

Kaiden attempted to nap for a full hour in the afternoon, but he just wasn’t sleepy enough to actually fall asleep!

Let’s just say the rest of the day was a little hit or miss with Mr. Kaiden. He was either really happy or in a mood.

Vishnu and I debated whether or not we should go to dinner with my sister and BIL as planned because of Kaiden’s mood, and ultimately decided we would because we really wanted to see A&A and we really wanted to try Rickshaw Republic, a new to us restaurant.

Thankfully, dinner turned out fine. K behaved for the most part and even ate some food (ha!). In fact, he was good enough that we walked over to Insomnia Cookie so he could have a coooooookie! You guys should’ve seen him. He was literally in heaven.

My sister and Adarsh came back to our place afterwards where we were all met with Kaiden’s sugar high…they hung out for a couple of hours towards the end of which I fell asleep on the couch (oops!).

Sunday

Sunday was just as if not more relaxing than Saturday. Except Kaiden woke up at 6 am (beats 5 am!). We played and ate and then it was time to go to soccer class. My little soccer player (that’s what he calls himself) got ready and headed out with Vishnu while I used that time to go to the gym and prep our dinner (My Heart Beets Butter Chicken except with tofu).

Then we had our last sitter come by to meet us right before lunch (she was awesome too).

Kaiden ate/played with his lunch and then went down for a nap. Boy was tired – no nap Saturday, earlier wake up time on Sunday + soccer!

The rest of the day was spent indoors since there was a snow storm brewing outside!

Vishnu started his last (at least in residency) 2 weeks of nights, so our days will look and feel a little different for the next 14 or so days, but we’ll get through it!

I hope y’all had a great weekend!

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