A mad rush again!

This time again, its the last minute rush! 

I am reminded of many sayings in Tamil 
- yevalo kuppara vizhundhaalum meesaila man ottradhu dhaan ottum
-chattiyil irundhaa dhaan aapail avarum 
and so many others. (non-Tamizhians, please excuse me. All these roughly means that  basically that you need to have inherent talent in you in the first place to do well and that I am trying out stuff (art) that does not come easily to me and it shows :) ! )

However, not stopping with the March entry, I have gone ahead with April and here's our entry to April month's Artsy crafty challenge! And today is the last day !

There will be some words which you will be familiar with, but will not know great details about it. Do you know of any such words? "Papier mache" was one such word for me. Knew it, but didn't know much about it as well ! As usual, google became the "Aabath baandavan!"

So, this is my first attempt at papier mache and did the basic stuff for the first time!

So, here's the papier mache chair!

I prepared the form for the chair using just card board strips. Cut out appropriate lengths of cardboard and stuck them together to form the chair.
This was followed by 2 layering of papers. I wanted to do 4, but due to lack of time, stopped with 2. 
After allowing to dry, I used acrylic paint to color the chair!

Recipe for papier mache paste : Mix 1 cup flour with 1 cup (may be even less) water to glue consistency without forming any lumps.

There are still lots of rough edges in the corners and they need to be smoothened out! But one has only so much patience at midnight :) That was the only time I could manage and the result shows :)  It took me 1 hr for preparing the chair and 1 hr each for the 2 layers of paper mache and 1 more hr for painting. The rest of the time was basically for drying

Now that I have completed one, hoping to try out more and come up with better ones than these hopefully!

I actually wanted to make beads and a necklace/bracelet out of them as a second attempt and then present that to the challenge, but didn't find enough time for that ! But anyways planning to try it out in leisure.

Dear Jillu,

You are 2 yrs and 3 months old and you are growing up too fast for me! Crossing each milestone too fast as well ! While I enjoy each and every thing that you do, I find that I need to grow up as well along with you and these are my thoughts at this point in time 

http://a-peep-into-my-world.blogspot.com/2010/04/dear-jillu.html

Jillu Talkies - Humor 3

Paati is watching her one of those serials and Jillu is happily lying on her lap.


The Scene in TV :
The camera first focuses on Lord Venkateshwara. Its a big picture of him and then goes to reveal that its a pic hanging on the wall of a house. Jillu is avidly watching this. Next, in comes a mid-aged man (a parental character in the serial, obviously), positions himself partially in front of the picture and then starts talking on his mobile


And my dear lovely Jillu says :


"hey nagaru. naan ummachi paakanum " (Hey, move. I need to see the God!)

Celebrations time !!!

Wonder what all the noise is about ?? Can you guess ? Its actually double celebration time!


First, Jillu has been awarded :) Yes !
AJCL has awarded the beautiful blogger award to this blog :). and I am thrilled for Jillu. Chotu's mom is known for her beautiful writing and her words always has a beautiful and soothing effect on me. So, I am even more thrilled to get such an award from her and all credit goes to Jillu as this blog is totally driven by her alone:)
Thank you, Chotu's Mom :)

I pass on the award to
Satish : His poems in Tamil are so very beautiful and I love reading them.
AJCL : I wish to award you too, as I already said, I love your writing. (Is there any rule saying you cant pass on the award to the one who passed it to you ? If so, please ignore it :) )
Swaram : Her blog always cheers me up :). She has a way of writing that makes me feel as though she is standing in front of me and talking to me in person. Each one of her posts has something good and something to make me smile :)


Second, I have been awarded too. Want to know what it is ?

I would display this in my other space as well :)
Thank you, again AJCL.  I am so glad to have known you and am just waiting to meet you guys :).


And I pass on the award to
CG, ssstoryteller, Varun's Mom, L_R, Pattu's Mom, Swetha

Last night

@Dinner...

My dad was having his dinner and she was as usual all over him and troubling him. At the same time, she's her most hospitable self when he is having dinner, encouraging him to have more, urging me to serve him more, instructing him how to eat and so on and so forth. 

Last night saw a lot of stuff in addition to the above :)

At first, she offered to feed him :). We somehow managed to convince her otherwise :) 

Then, she was standing on the chair (my dad was sitting ) behind him and generally making a nuisance. We told her to get down and let him be in peace.

She got down, stood near the chair, held one of the chair legs and told my dad

" Naan unna pidichikaren. Nee labakku nu saapiduviyaan. yenna ? " (I will hold you and you will gobble up the food. Ok ?) as though he was throwing tantrums for eating :)

"Yeh thaathaa, nee yen mammu ondi saapidra ? kaai thottundu saapidu" (Why are you having only rice ? eat along with veggies)

After he finished eating,

"Nee yenna paduthaama saaptiyaa?" (Did you eat without troubling me ?") My highly amused Dad said "Ofcourse"

"Nee good girl la saaptiyaa ? " (Did you eat like a good girl?) to which the rejoinder was "Naa good boy yaa saapten " (I ate like good boy)

Cricket fever

If you hear Jillu saying "Wooooowwwwwwwwwwww" (Yep, thats how elongated it is :) ) when she is watching TV, 

• There are sure shot chances that she is indeed watching cricket in the TV (Yes, the IPL season has got to her as well !). 
• However, there are no sure shot chances that it is a 4 or a 6. The "Wooow" could be for anything, even for a dot ball :). But if you ask her how the umpire will signal a 4 or a 6 or an out, you will be surprised, for she will show you those correctly :). She learnt these many months back.

When I was about to flip the channel for a moment last night , she (loudly) tells me

"Naan cricket paakanum. Maathaadhe" (I want to watch cricket. Don't change!). Sounds as though she is very knowledgeable right ? Appidiye yennamo cricket laiye oorinaa maadhiri oru pechu :)

and then when the game is on, she asks me,

"Naama anga polaamaa? "(This question is being asked for everything she sees in the TV these days. Temple, cricket, boating etc.) So cricket cannot claim exclusive rights for this :)

No title is going to do justice...

Jillu, lately, has been up to crazy things. Regular readers of Jillu will know that she is getting to be really independent and wants to do everything herself. But no one (including me) could believe that she could go to such extent.

The other day, I was sitting in front of my PC and doing my usual stuff that I do. You have the right to ask:  "what  stuff?" as I have not even updated her blog for so many days! But if you do ask, I may not know the answer :) 

Jillu, these days, can be left alone for a couple of minutes away from my prying eyes and as I said, I had just sat down at the PC. I was doing my stuff and I could hear her doing her stuff in the hall with her play things. And in the background, I heard the cooker blow the first whistle. Me thinks, OK 3 more to go. 

Half a minute goes by. 

Jillu comes running to me and says

"Cooker whistle vandhudhu. Adhaan" (The cooker whistle came. Thats why)

Me : (distracted) hmmmm

Jillu : (looking seriously at me) cooker whistle vandhudhu. Adhaan (The cooker whistle came. Thats why)

Something in her tone made me look at her this time and what i read in her face raised alarm bells all over my head (and body) 

Me : "Adhaan ? yena panne ? (Thats why ? so what did you do ?)

I didn't wait for her reply but rushed to the kitchen to see that the gas stove has been switched off after the first whistle !!!

Edited to add : Now, she has taught me that I cannot leave her alone even for half a minute. A bitter lesson to learn, I tell you. And it is so scary !!! My mind conjures up thousand and one images and scenarios that could go wrong when she is near the gas ! My whole body just shudders thinking about it ! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr..........