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About me

Hello

I started this blog just before the pandemic began in January of 2020. After two years of  posting very little, I became active last December and I have found joy blogging.  So I decided to edit my about me page and thought why not make it as a new post.

I am Ganga and I live in Pittsburgh USA with my husband and two boys. Its been exactly 25 years I have been in this country and technically I have lived equal number of years in India and USA.  A bit more here in US than India now.

I grew up in a very orthodox brahmin family in Chennai , married and moved to USA when my oldest son was 4 months old.

My oldest is severely autistic who  is now an young adult and my younger one is a teen   a Senior in High School!

Growing up I was a religious person and throwing autism in the equation has turned me into a spiritual person.

After being a homemaker for many years I became a part time worker to be a habitat aide for my son so he could attend many non traditional programs. I love this work and though it wasn’t my life goal I really love doing this.  What I thought would be temporary, with the pandemic has turned into long term work.

My blog wouldn’t solely be about autism though it cannot be avoided since it is part of my life, it can be anything interesting that happens that day or a thought process that goes through my mind.

My pass time now is learning a bit of music and learning a lot of Hindu scriptures and the foundation of it the Sanskrit language.  With the onset of pandemic and online classes, I have now enrolled in one too many classes and I would say I am enjoying them.  I have learnt Devi Mahatmya and memorized the entire Bhagavad Gita in the past two years. But this is just a drop in the bucket of scriptures I want to learn. So the learning will continue.

I also love to binge watch on Netflix,  I would call that my stress reliever.  This is much easier than reading  a book given my current situation of handling a very busy family.

I had no interest in cooking but I have 3 men in the house which has forced me to become a decent cook .So watch out I may throw in some good recipes once a while.

As my blog progressed this year, I learnt that I am doing a lot of interesting things with my special one and not only  that I too am doing a lot on my own.  My goal being,  a parent of special needs person do not need to sacrifice themselves.  I feel, I am trying to find a balance between being a person and Special Mom, since I am also a wife, daughter, sister and a Mother to an adorable typical boy.  That is all for now!

Here I go……

Cyber Monday!

The work week has began. I think it is going to be lot of work for the amazon employees with all the cyber monday shopping 😊that I did. The past two months have been me searching craft work for my boy and amazon showed up all the deals for me today.

My Aunt gifted me the mug on her last visit. So kind of her.

I have never been a fan of tailoring. But I have ordered some craft pieces that need sewing. Anything to teach my boy a skill I am ready to do now. I have to engage him in a purposeful way. If I successfully finish my sewing craft with boy I think I may become eligible for the super mom mug. Gifts like these encourage me to keep going, though some days are harder than the other.

I still don’t know if all the cyber monday deals are really good deals but if I make a habit of purchasing my stuff only during this period I should be saving money by not spending the rest of the year. Oh, I do not want to commit myself to this. Online shopping has become a lifeline for all of us.

Anyhow amazon employees, me and my boy all have work ahead of us…

FOWC with Fandango : Work

My weekend!

Entire November I have been trying to write to other blogger’s prompts. Wow there are so many and in this process I have read poetry, stories and had seen the work of so many photographers. So as the month ends, here is one for Weekend Coffee Share, Hosted by Natalie the Explorer 

I had nothing planned for this Thanksgiving weekend until Monday. When I checked up the weather, (last week was really cold), I was surprised the Saturday looked beautiful. We then decided to go for a drive to a temple in Maryland for some personal prayer services and of course for the good food there. But what I did not know was the prayer service was at 7pm and not in the morning. So we decided to find something else to do in the morning and we spent it at Harper Ferry National Historical Park.

The Shenandoah and the Potomac rivers come together in this place and within few minutes we were in three states, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. Downtown Harper Ferry was really hilly and we did roam around trying to find a rental bike shop only to be disappointed that it was closed. Later we walked on a part of the Appalachian Trails. My younger was talking to me how wonderful it would be for him to bike along the path when we met an old couple with a huge backpack. We were so curious if they were walking all through the trail and yes we went and asked them. They said they had started from Georgia and that they took a car from Virginia upto Connecticut and that they were walking back down from the North Eastern Trail of the Appalachian. Wow, we felt so happy to have talked to a couple with so much energy. We would have taken pictures but my special one had to have a meltdown at that time and I had to take leave of them. They also said nearly 6000 people try to walk the Trail and only one in six would complete them.

The park was really crowded. I think many took advantage of the beautiful weather to be out in the open. Later we did drive to the temple just forty five minutes from there and had our prayer services and dinner. We spent the night at a hotel. Sunday morning was much more relaxed and we did not push ourselves to drive home. We had lunch at Fredrick, Maryland and had a peaceful drive home. It was a foggy wet day but this was also a beauty that we enjoyed.

Hands or plate full!!! #Socs Nov 26

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “on your/myplate.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

My autistic son was 7 when I had my second kid. As soon as my parents left for India after helping me for nearly four months, I was left alone with a severely autistic kid, a newborn, a new townhouse and a new school district with new teachers for my boy. I think that is when in my whole life I had my hands full or my plate full😊. The first time I took my kids to the mall was when I realized my full potential. I managed both the kids, finished some shopping and came back home all of us as a whole without missing any parts😃! Looking back, I think my young age was one of my strengths and that I cared very less about the future and lived in the moment helped live through it🙂.

Nostalgia

The day began with my friend sharing a picture of her in front of my school. I had to travel back in memory as I remembered my school days. More than thirty years since I graduated High School and yet it looks like yesterday I was walking to school with my friends.

Then I got a message which asked me if I am watching World Cup Soccer. I am not watching soccer. In fact I used to watch all sports growing up. My grandfather used to watch cricket and tennis all the time and it was a part of me. I remember watching the world cup soccer finals once with my brother in the middle of the night in a small tv in our upstairs bedroom. So I had followed that too, but right now I am not following any sports. But I live in a house with men and I do hear the scores but I am not so involved. I am still thinking why I lost interest in sports? Maybe the very fact my husband likes is what is making me averse to it? 🤷‍♀️

So the nostalgia did not stop there. My phone reminded me what I was doing last year this time. Was I celebrating Thanksgiving? Nope, I had tested positive for covid and I was very sick. (My son had picture of me curled up on the sofa🙂) .In fact I was more scared than being sick I should say. I had lost my smell and taste, so that had me worried. Really thankful this year, we are all healthy and it looks like covid is in the past. I did make a decent lunch and we do not eat turkey and had a store bought pie which made my children happy. But we did have turkey on the table and here it is.

Turkey and a pie! Happy Thanksgiving 🍁

Later in the day, I was cleaning a shelf and my I found a gerber baby food bottle. I had stored something in it. Oh, it has been nearly 17 years since I have purchased one. Now my thought? Should I keep it or throw it away ? I have no answer now. So it stays.

As I walked down my memory lane, it definitely was not a somber day but a pleasant one. By the way the weather was beautiful too!

For Fandango’s One Word Challenge: somber

Food Mix and match

All November, I have been trying to write to prompts given by another blogger. For today, I am writing to a picture #What do you see? What does this picture inspire me?

I am getting into a schedule with my boy. If he is not engaged, I see lot of issues and my planning certainly helps. There are two things he is really interested. One is music and the other cooking/eating. Every day cooking or teaching cooking is hard for me. I have to take him out into the community for his activities and teaching cooking requires a lot of patience. So we have decided Tuesdays to be our cooking day. He exclusively helps me in the kitchen. Using the scissors to cut packages, measuring food, using the mixer for grinding stuff, washing vegetables and using the instant pot are some of things he gets used to do. I had written a post saying I want to create a digital cookbook for him with recipes that he has made. It is not an easy task, but with practice I hope we can accomplish. So today for lunch he made a mixed vegetable curry called avial and for dinner he made adai, a lentil pancake. This avial and adai is a famous South Indian breakfast dish and technically not a dinner item. It is very heavy, but now we have got used to mix and matching dinner, lunch and breakfast menus. My son loves this combo and he would be having the same for breakfast too. The past few days the picture has been showing off in my feed when other bloggers post on it. So it did inspire me to write about my son’s cooking again today. Here are a few snaps of his work today in the kitchen.

A tiny bloom

The day began a bit dull and depressed. My husband told me not to throw myself a pity party. I may blame it on the weather but it may not be the only reason. I am a bit tired physically (even my husband) as my boy is a bit off. By the end of the evening I have planned his rest of the week activities and that has given me some confidence that both of can get rest without much strain and rejuvenate ourselves in the process. Added to that as I entered the guest room where we have our plants that we got inside for the winter , I smelled the sweetness of jasmine in full bloom. I can’t share the smell, but I can share the bloom. Plants do have the power of healing!

For Cee’s Flower of the Day!

Bibliopole

I must confess, I am no Bibliopole but I do have a lot of books. It is sad the era of physical books is coming to an end and online reading is catching up. A fact to be accepted.

For Sammi’s weekend prompt: Bibliopole : a person who buys and sells books, especially rare ones.

For Fandango’s One Word Challenge: Confess

A coffee story

People have asked me if my husband cooks. My husband can feed me if I am sick, but cannot make a meal on a daily basis. But let me tell you, he makes excellent coffee. If you ask me what kind it is, I do not have an answer. He has the basic ingredients which he uses to make an excellent coffee every morning and since pandemic in the afternoon too. Here is a short clipping of how he does it. My special one helps his Dad and the way they make coffee in the morning is like a dance recital.

The proportion of water and milk, the time it takes to steam, the perfect coffee and sugar combo and the way he mixes it gives this one the taste and smell. Of course there is no love lost.

So during this Thanksgiving week, my heartfelt Thanks to my husband for me making me coffee every morning.

For RDP Saturday: Thanks

If I win a lottery? Fandango’s Provocative Question #190

This November, I am trying to write to other blogger’s prompts. So here is another one: (By the way I have written almost everyday. So check out the November tab if you want to read more)!

You just won a giant lottery jackpot. What are the first three things you’re going to do with the money you won? Fandango’s Provocative Question #190

I am not a big fan of buying lottery since I feel that we should work hard for our money. Since this is a hypothetical situation I thought why not have some fun with it.

1. When my special boy turned 21, we took a cruise. We did not do it alone. We did with an organization called autism on the seas. An amazing organization that helped us onboard with anything and everything and even on our excursions on land. My boy enjoyed the cruise very much and we had services to take care of him. Me and my husband had a lot of time to do things on our own. I was thinking of going on a cruise again and so this would be my first choice as to how I would spend the money.

Our cruise
With the amazing staff

2. There are some therapies we had missed for our son since insurance would not cover so that too would be tried and now that I can afford to pay out of pocket. My son would have unlimited hours of occupational, physical, speech and behavior therapy. Autism therapies are expensive. I think parents need multiple jackpots. Here is the link that shows the cost.

3. There are a lot of special need organizations that I would love to donate. Two organizations my son is participant now are PACC and Miracle League of South Hills. There are many more non profits that would benefit with a jackpot win.

My son being cheered as he gets the medal
PACC’s amazing trunk or treat

If I could have one more choice maybe more funding for autism research and therapies. This too requires multiple jackpots, but hey this is hypothetical so why not one more.😀

Thank you all for stopping by!