Sabbatical Final Round Up

...so tomorrow I start work.

It's at my old office, and it's an interesting project, really - it's part time, and not a long-term commitment  Still, it's the official end of the sabbatical. Dead tired as I am right now, I wanted to do one final round up of my sabbatical, which ended up being ...almost ten months long!

So here goes, as I look back over the last few months ( apologies if you've heard some of this before, but this is really a list more for me than anything else)

1. Went on the GM diet and lost a couple of kilos
2. Took up Zumba and been doing it almost throughout, lost the remaining extra kilos. Toyed with the idea of Instructor training, but still toying. In the meantime, can lead the choreos for about a dozen songs. Just for fun.
3. Gave my kids an awesome birthday party, all combined since they're all born in the same month. They turned 5 and 2 respectively.
4. Started and settled the kids into playschool. Made sure I went to drop them and pick them up myself everyday till they were comfortable.
5. Launched my first book - and just found it's in the Top 30 titles of HarperCollins for their 2013 order form. Lots of good stuff around Just Married, Please Excuse.
6. Volunteered for the first time ever at my daughter's school to tell the kids about Eid (!)
7. Hung out with Peanut a lot more - took her places like Mindcafe, Hangout and most importantly to Happy School as my teaching assistant.
8. Volunteered to teach English at the Happy School to a bunch of Class 1 students every Saturday. I hope to continue this one.
9. Hung out with my grandma three days a week, even though she stayed in Noida with my Mom. Lost both grandma and grandpa this January. Features at no. 9 in this list, but is the most important part of my sabbatical.
10.Took guitar lessons for a couple of months. Enjoyed thoroughly. Abandoned soon after because it was all getting too much. No regrets. I continue to play at amateur levels, will do so through my life and have made my peace with it.
11.Filed my tax returns and got our paperwork in *some* semblance of order. It's a start!
12. We shifted house from the third floor to the ground floor and are enjoying the latter thoroughly given that there is no complaint now from the neighbours if the twins bang things around, ride their cycles inside the house or clomp around in my high heeled shoes.
13. Hung out more with my mom, sis and brother than before. We have a whatsapp group called Da-Lal Street. Also known as Duh-Lal street given the quality of the conversation there most days.
14. Looked out for my maids - getting one tuitions in english and math, and opened a bank account for the other one, took one more to the hospital to treat her prolapsed disc. I could tell you more but that would mean telling you how many maids we have, so let's move on.
15. I finally looked up and learnt the meaning of 'sic'. Jesus, this is a weird list.
16. Started and continuing yoga lessons with my father-in-law. Became a fan of the Surya Namaskar.
17. Finally called those two old college friends Amit and Avantika and their families over for a lovely Sunday lunch - this from the woman who hardly ever entertains. Also spent more time with old friends and important family members than ever before; blissful lunches with my retired mother at various places, including a recent picnic with her and the kids at my favourite Lodhi gardens.
18. Experimented with cooking - mostly baking. Currently only make muffins for the children, chocolate and banana at regular intervals.
19. Bought me a desk and a new shelf and created a nice writing corner. My favourite part of the house.
20. Wrote a book and had it accepted. It launches this September.
21. Finished the first draft for ''Still Married, Thank You'' last week. My editor laughed at me and said ''You keep busy.'' Hope to have that out next year.
22. Adopted the colony cafe in December and organized a bunch of activities there, including a book reading, yoga session, Christmas carols and of course, the Zumba. Started a Facebook group to get the community together, and got over a hundred people on it now.
23. Started reading up on meditation - read a whole lot of non-fiction. The fiction list didn't see much movement, but I'll get to that soon.
24. Got some much-pending medical check-ups over with. All is well, glad to report.
25. Got Peanut started on Skating and Piano lessons. The former is fun, the latter is sublime although I have to watch my tendency to over-monitor her.
26. Celebrated a ten-year marriage anniversary with the nicest possible man - different from all the years before.

So these are some of the things that got done...many didn't...many more did but I must sleep now...
Overall, got to know myself better, and who my real friends and family are too.
Worth every single moment.
But it's time now.
Goodnight.