Week 4 Recap – DOCUMENT | #WordoftheWeek2020

In the spirit of documenting, here’s a day by day recap of the Week 4 of 2020. 🙂

Week 4, Day 1

Wednesday, January 22, 2020.

I was much more relaxed than usual this day right from the time I woke up because Sandeep was home. He had worked on Saturday, so a comp-off was due. Besides, we had a meeting with our interior team that day, so it all worked out pretty well. Most of all, we were excited to have the house to ourselves for 3+ hours while Laddoo was off at school.

It was also Day 2 of Yoga class. I wasn’t used to waking up so early in the morning. I’d sort of fallen out of that habit over the last month or so. Even though I showered at 5:30 AM (recommended by the instructor) I was still so drowsy and sleepy that once Laddoo left for school, Sandeep and I had breakfast and I slept off.

I did wake up later and we took full advantage of the house being child-free, but I was so, so tired.

The Arrivae team was supposed to come in soon and they did just as I took my first sip of coffee. And while we were wrapping up discussions with them, the new maid (let’s call her T) arrived. I had a good feeling about her but as of today, as I write this on Thursday, January 30, I just had another one come in because T has been a no-show since Monday (Jan 27). What is it with maids and not calling/answering calls to say that they won’t be coming in to work?

Anyway, because the meeting went on too long and I slept off in the morning, we headed to the clubhouse to have lunch. Thankfully, Laddoo had dance class in the evening so we got some more time to ourselves and we made most of those 45 Laddoo-free minutes by playing…

BADMINTON!!

We have a sports club in our complex that’s made as per Olympic standards and we really wanted to start using it. And the only ‘sport’ I am decent at is Badminton. So we ordered a couple of racquets and did a little warm-up, not at the sports club, but the little warm-up made me confident enough to try the sports club next time. 🙂

Week 4, Day 2

Thursday, January 23, 2020.

Now, I know I was supposed to ‘Document’ more, but obviously that does not mean keeping a record of every minute of every day. I pretty much spent the morning doing regular mundane stuff. My daily writing tracker says I wrote 1,445 words, so I guess I was at least a little productive. Maybe I cooked too, but I’m not too sure.

But here are two things I’m sure of:

1. Sandeep told me in the middle of the day that there was a pot-luck lunch the following day at his office. Now I vaguely remember him mentioning that it was going to happen, but he didn’t seem too sure of it himself. But apparently it was happening, and I had to make just one dish.

For fifteen people.

Why? As in, why ‘me’? It was his office’s potluck. Shouldn’t he be the one making it for his colleagues? And I guess I could have argued that point had he managed to make it back home in time. But we went from making Aaloo Matar Paneer to Raajma only because the aaloo and matar arrived with sandeep at 11:30 PM and I was in no mood to peel and chop because I had to wake up 5 AM-ish, and shower, which my Yoga instructor insists on. I don’t know if he can tell if I skip it, but I’ll know. So Raajma masala it was.

I managed to soak enough Raajma beans for the whole building before I went to bed just after midnight.

2. In the afternoon, I lettered the word for this week live on Instagram. It was fun, but since Laddoo was around, it took almost an hour and I know that I could have done it within 20 minuted if I were alone.

Week 4, Day 3

Friday, January 24, 2020.

I barely slept for 5 hours the previous night, so once again, I was groggy in Yoga class and was close to falling asleep during class except that the asanas were so, so difficult that my body ached WHILE I was doing them and continued to ache when I was back home.

But I didn’t have the luxury of going to bed, at least not immediately. I had to cook for 15 people. It was just one dish, but the sheer volume was a bit much for me.

I had prepped the onions before I left for class, and that means they were peeled and halved and washed and in the fridge so that they wouldn’t sting my eyes when I chopped them. So I cooked while Sandeep, depsite not actually helping, was offering not-so-helpful suggestions on what I should add and how much. Oh wait. He did help. He made the ginger-chilli-garlic paste.

Why does this instantly remind me of cranberry sauce and a monkey? Anyone? Anyone?

Anyway, as soon as it was made and packed, in a new casserole bought especially for transporting such a large quantity by public transport, I pulled a blanket over myself and went to sleep.

The two alarms I’ve set to remind me every day when it’s time to pick Laddoo up came very handy. Once she was back home, I was the laziest mom in the whole world and gave her a snack to munch on, turned the TV on and napped for another 45 minutes because I just couldn’t keep my eyes open.

Once I felt rested enough, we both had lunch. I have no memory of how the rest of the day went because, well, I was super tired.

But, once Laddoo was alseep I spent the rest of the evening watching the replay of @oneupbaby’s webinar about making vision boards (which, I just remembered, I haven’t watched till the end. Got to do that tonight after I post this!) and I smelled perfume again just as I started watching it. The time was past 9:30 PM so there was NO WAY someone was dressing up that time. NO. FREAKING. WAY.

Week 4, Day 4

Saturday, January 25, 2020.

After a hectic week and a non-weekend last weekend, I was glad to have Sandeep and a Bai. And because the maid was going to come in only by 8, I slept in while Laddoo and Sandeep stepped out for a walk. When the maid arrived, I watched some more of the webinar while I had coffee (and took extensive notes!)

Now I really, really, wanted to have a home cooked meal, but I realised I couldn’t make a heavy breakfast AND lunch at home. So we decided to go to the club for breakfast and then I cooked a full meal when we came back home. While at the club, I barely managed to open my laptop for a while but I did get a chance to let Sandeep read a few bits of the World Building Documents I’m working on for Azure, my novel. And after reading two lines, he was suggesting plot-twists. Without even fully knowing the plot.

Men. **eye roll**

I spent the rest of the evening writing/ikea browsing because I was done with cooking for the day. When the daddy-daughter duo stepped out for a walk in the evening, my sister (first cousin, actually, but sister it is) who is in the Netherlands mentioned to me that she was going to Ikea to get some stuff. I asked her if she could video call me when she was there so I could see what it was like. She sent me a video and that was good enough.

I asked her to do something else too and she did that so well. I’ll upload it to my stories, save it in highlights and share/update the link here after I’ve published this post, so watch out for that.

But I wanted a closer look at the cupboard we are looking to get for Laddoo. When I sent Kritika (my sister) the link, she told me that version was available in the store she was going to check out. I asked for a video of the cupboard in which she’d have to open each cabinet and drawer to show me how it really looked on the inside. Then I asked her to stand next to it so that I could estimate how tall it really was and she did ALL OF THAT for me.

I spoke to her on the phone for a bit but had to hang up because I had a BIG DAY the following day.

Week 4, Day 5 (Highlight of the week)

Sunday, January 26, 2020.

This totally deserves a special post, and I WILL WRITE IT, but I was invited to be a part of a wall-painting event (Art therapy) that was organised by MPower and Chal Rang De to create awareness about Mental Health and stamp out the stigma attached to it.

I wanted to go with my friend @whatmysisterwore so that I could have some girl-time, but Laddoo and Papa tagged along at the last minute and we had a blast.

Here’s the short version: Long version in another post.

1. Reading in the train while Laddoo was with her Papa + buying knick-knacks (perks of travelling in a Mumbai Local)

2. Two Breakfasts

3. Painting the walls

4. Lunch at Pizza by the Bay

5. Watching waves crash on the rocks + crabs + sea gull

6. Shopping at Colaba Causeway

7. Coffee and chit chat with Ankita

8. Walking from CCD near Cafe Mondegar to VT Station. In heels. Tiny heels, but heels no less.

9. Spotting TWO separate shootings – one movie and one TV.

10. 17,000+ steps!

This doesn’t even capture half the fun I had. And oh, we clicked sooooo many photos. Writing about this soooonnnn 🙂

Week 4, Day 6

Monday, January 27, 2020.

I had a 6 AM Yoga class on this day. But even though I had slept early, the 17,000 steps in heels killed my feet and I couldn’t stand. So I skipped yoga class.

I know! Day 1 of Week 2 (for yoga) and I was alreading bunking. But I had a very, very good reason. Not just my body ache, but Laddoo somehow decided that it would be fun to wake us up at 3:30 AM.

Now I was sleeping on the couch in the living room because my alarm was set for 4:30 AM.

And 4:45 AM.

And 4:55 AM.

And 5:00 AM; you get the drift.

I didn’t want to wake the others so I slept outside. And I had at least another hour before the alarm would wake me up. But this girl hadn’t eaten much the previous day when we were out, she ate quite a bit when she and her Papa reached home at 5 and was alseep at 7, because she was tired.

So at 3:30 AM, her tummy decided to wake her up.

But instead of telling us that she was hungry, she snuggled up to me on the couch, which sounds cute until you realise that I had NOT OPENED the folding couch and there was barely place for one person let alone a toddler who decided that the most comfortable place for her knee was in the middle of my spine.

I got annoyed and asked her to go back to bed. She cried, woke Sandeep up, he gave her milk, I messaged my Yoga instructor at 5:15 AM that I wasn’t going to make it, and we all went back to sleep only to wake up again at 7. This time, a little later than we wanted.

But it was good, I was rested, and there was no way I would waste my alone-time by sleeping because I’d already slept, so I got to work and started writing.

Laddoo came back and there was no sign of the Bai. There were dishes in the sink that were there since Saturday night because we were out the whole day on Sunday. I called her three times, from two different numbers and she didn’t answer. I let it go. I decided I would get to the dishes later and focussed on the other problem at hand.

Laddoo had not slept well the previous night and if I kept her awake, she’d wake up really early even if she goes to bed at her usual time. Around 1:45 PM I asked her if she wanted to nap and she said she did. So she napped for almost 2 hours during which I wrote some more.

As she always is after her day-naps (one of the reasons why I decided to stop them) she got cranky and wailed for no reason. I held her, cuddled her, gave her something to eat and got her excited about her dance class. While she was at class, I had my second cup of coffee that day, in peace.

Because she had woken up close to 4 PM, I took her out to play after dance class because bedtime was far, far away. Read more about that evening here.

Dinner was easy, bedtime took longer than usual and was much later than usual, but by 10 PM she was out.

I meant to do the dishes but I had no energy, so I messaged Sandeep, who said he was going to be very, very late, that I was going to bed. And by 11 PM, I too was asleep.

He came in close to midnight and did ALL the dishes that had been in the sink for the past two days and that made my morning so much easier.

Week 4, Day 7

Tuesday, January 28, 2020.

I had plans to wake up at 5 AM since I’d gone to bed so early but I just couldn’t do it. So I woke up with everyone else and realised I had started my periods. Hello cramps and mood swings. All I did that morning was Laddoo’s hair and because of the icky feeling, I went back to bed. And stayed there till 10 AM ish after which I decided I really wanted coffee.

I tried calling the Bai and the phone rang and she didn’t answer. I was mentally prepared to be help-free on a day where I needed it the most.

Laddoo came back, we coloured, we lazed, we cooked together because an empty sink and a basket full of freshly washed dishes inspired me make something yummy. I made everything – dal, aaloo matar paneer from scratch, rice, and even kneaded the dough for rotis. We all had a full meal that night.

And the following day because, well, I wasn’t going to do it all over again the following day especially if the bai didn’t show up again.

After Laddoo was asleep, I was dreading waking up the following morning at 5 again for Yoga, but then, I got a text that class was cancelled. So I chilled out for a bit and went to sleep relaxed.

The following morning, though, wasn’t as relaxed. And thankfully, that’s not a part of week 4 so I don’t have to relive that.

Phew, that was a LOT! If you made it till here, thank you! I’ve written all of this only for you. And for me too, a little bit.