Mummy Woes

I have recently shifted to a new place leaving behind the comfort of my home state, Mom, Dad, in-laws, aunts, uncles, etc, etc. You get the drift. With all the attendant heartache (or relief!), I have also left behind the comfort of a domestic help.

It’s a novel experience for me caring for my children all alone and all day. Before this, I always had people to cook and care for the child. So much for the advantages of working out! Working seems so very simple compared to this! You just need to take care of the target and the rest falls into place. Like a fat cheque at the end of the month! You come home at 8 in the evening, cuddle the child, before handing him over to be fed. In the meantime you catch the news and then some cartoon with the toddler.

Now look where I am. It seems my entire life is just planning the next meal and then ensuring that that meal goes where it's intended and not into the dustbin! Just when breakfast is over, lunch needs to be cooked. After running around feeding a cantankerous kid his lunch (it takes roughly around 2 hours, maybe…if one is lucky), its time to plan for the tea time snack and dinner. But I have been cheating on dinner, so far. I’ve been getting it mostly from the local deli. It’s another matter that the man behind the counter asked me yesterday, “no house cooking, ma’am? you work outside?” leaving my husband grinning and me …furious!

Moreover, it is not all cooking too. Clothes, dishes, they all need to be cleaned (only part that’s automated), hung, dried, folded et al. Wipe the table, put aside books, shoes, cds, plates… believe me keeping house is a never ending process. Just when I think I can put my feet up with a mug of tea, I find the apple juice has been spilled. While I wipe that clean, the kid has found a means to climb the TV unit, of course not before tearing the day’s papers to shreds and strewing the neatly folded clothes all over the carpet. And as I run mad clearing up, he manages to break a egg. Well, I hope, the baby will have to have a nap. I can catch a bit of breath, then. Maybe start a novel or, just maybe, if I am lucky, get in a blog. That is the hope I have been nourishing the past fortnight. And it still remains a wistful forlorn hope…for I go to sleep before the kid does!

It reminds me of the story of “Uncle ___ Hangs A Portrait” from Three Men in a Boat! I have never believed that being a home-maker is easy. I am being proved right many times over. Sshh…Don’t wake him. Its 12 AM and he is finally asleep!

All said and done, I don’t think I will trade all these for Office work ever again. Especially when my child whispers to me at night, Mama, please do not go to Office – ever! Its not really tough being a Mom...

How To Clean Your PC

PC users these days start off with the internet unlike in ancient times when PCs were mostly standalone. However with constant use of the Web a lot of junk files tend to get accumulated in the PC and unless cleaned regularly, they really slow down the system.

Here are some basic maintainence steps that have worked very well for me in the last decade for my PC/laptop. You can try them before calling in the experts. The steps are for Windows users

Clean Temporary Internet Files

Go to Internet Explorer/Tools/Internet Options

At Temporary Internet Files
Delete Cookies and delete temp. internet files

Reduce the No. of Days to keep in History to 3. The default option is 20

Clean Temporary Files

Go to Run at the Start Menu
Type %temp% and click ok
Select all the temporary files that appear and send to Recycle Bin

Empty the Recycle Bin

Empty the recycle bin at periodic intervals as it tends to slow up the PC.

Here's another way to clean those temporary internet files and the recycle bin. Use this regularly.

Go to Start / Program / Accessories /System Tools / Disk Cleanup
Run the Disk cleanup

Defragment Disk

Go to Start / Program / Accessories /System Tools / Disk Defragmenter

Analyze and defragment the disk if recommended. This can be carried out once in two months or so.

Last but not the least scan the PC with an antivirus (that has not expired!) regularly.