Wall Decor

I absolutely love displaying photos all over the house. Got this pretty wall decor last year, and stuck several 4R photos on the spiral coil but the coil couldn't hold the photos well and kept falling off the decor. Besides that the photo curled up and collected tons of dust too.

So one fine day, I finally did something about it, I cleaned up the dust, dump the faded and curled up photos, sat down and spent a few hours using my scrap stuff and made this.



Until the mood comes again, or until I got tired of looking at this collage, it will be up beside my TV for the next 1 year. At least.

Tara's 3rd Birthday Part 2

We held a party for Tara the next day after the school's celebration. This one was held at home and only family and Bob's close relatives were invited. We wanted to keep it small.

One month before her birthday, I had already started sourcing around for cakes. And I got cupcakes for her home party. Actually, it wasn't my initial intention to buy cupcakes. I wanted to get the cupcakes for her school's party actually, but after looking at various websites, I realised that a nice cupcake would cost me quite a bit for a class of 27, 4 teachers and 2 helpers, so I thought of getting for her home party instead.

And the cupcakes, oh man, they are so pretty! I got them from Cupcake Momma by the way.

Pictures first:


The cupcakes, still in the box.


The birthday banner painstakingly made by me, my fingers almost went numb trimming the paper off the greyboard.


The food. Almost the same as last year, but with a touch of my comfort food, cooked by my Mom. The noodles and popiah fillings all cooked by my dear Bob, with the help of the experts though.


Me with my little girl.


Goodie bags for the kids. I got the same bags for Tara's friends in school. The cousins got some extra stuff though.


The cupcakes sitting on the 2 tier stand I made out of grey board. It doesn't turn out as pretty as I thought.


Tara with her birthday cupcakes.


Tara holding on to the knife waiting to cut her cake while we were all singing the birthday song. This year, I made the "candle" myself, using my usual scrap stuff, I stuck the candle at the back of the number 3 and adhered a satay stick.


The little girl going around giving out the cakes, Bob made sure she gave out the cakes all by herself, it's a way of thanking of the guests for gracing her little party and for the gifts.


Tara eating her cake. When she first started giving out the cake, she kept holding on to this particular one on her left hand, while giving out the cupcakes one by one with her right hand. She was trying to "chope" her favourite cupcake!


I had thought this will be her favourite! It's mine, no doubt!


Turns out that this was her favourite! She liked the little worm sitting on the grass.


The only non-monetary gift she got for her birthday. My bro and his wife-to-be bought this for her. A musical instrument set, with harmonica, recorder and many other instruments inside. By the end of the day, almost all of us were playing with the set, doing an orchestra performance, albeit a out of tune one.

Tara absolutely loved her cake! And I'm so glad. When I wanted to order, I was so worried that she will throw a prissy fit when I opened up the cake box and she didn't like what she see. The little kids loved the cakes too!

Bob commented I enjoyed the preps this year and was also much happier. Of course, last year, one of the important person in my life wasn't able to celebrate with us.



Yep, my dear Mom. She got a mild stroke and was in a rehab hospital when we celebrated Tara's 2nd birthday. I still remembered how down I felt when I ordered Tara's birthday cake from Patissier. Time really flies, one year has passed. My Mom cooked 3 dishes for the party too, and when she was slicing up the pork in the kitchen, I looked at her and had this overwhelming feeling. Very happy, and very touched that I almost had to sniff back my tears.

Alright, I will end the part 2 of Tara's birthday entry with a video of her, blowing the candle and cutting the cake.

Tara's 3rd Birthday Part 1

Tara's birthday is on the eleventh day of the eleventh month. We held 2 parties for her, one at her school and one at home. We couldn't bear not celebrating for her in school cos it's the first time that she knew so many small little friends and besides, she has been celebrating other kids' birthdays since the start of this year, so it's finally her turn and we definitely have to celebrate for her.

I thought the school was particular about not having cream cakes for birthday celebrations. Parents were encouraged to think of other "cakes" to replace the usual creamy cakes. Months before Tara's birthday, I've already storming my brain on what kind of cake to get for Tara. I've finally decided to bake muffins and I even tried to bake a few batches, with my colleagues as the guinea pigs. I thought of stacking them up then popping a candle on the top. However, just a week before the party, one of her teacher spoke to me, and prompted me to get a cream cake instead, saying the kids will love the cake! And the more we discussed, the more food I decided to bring, so in the end, the playgroup's lunch was covered by us too. I have no complaints though, anything to make the kids happy.

I woke up early to do the cooking. Bob had to send the little one to school first, then his parents to breakfast so I was all alone working in the kitchen. Lucky I got Mum to help me with the fried beehoon.

My younger BIL was in town too so he was the event's photographer. Alright, pictures!


The school put up this banner for birthday kids. The Hello Kitty helium balloon was a gift from the teachers.


The birthday cake. The kids went "Star.. Star.. Star" when they saw the cake! I didn't want the Happy Birthday wordings to smear the cute cake so I only got the shop to write Tara's name on it.


A photo with her playgroup apple friends.


Here are the playgroup watermelon friends.


Tara blowing the candle.


Cutting the cake.


Queuing for her food. She get to be the first one, since she's the birthday girl.


Enjoying the rare treat of oily but yummy food.


Getting her share of her cake!

Yeah, I know, I don't have a flair for tying pig tails. I got her "party" clothes for her too, cos the teacher wanted her to be the star of the day and told me to dress her up. Even the teachers and aunties changed into nicer set of clothes just for the party! How schweet!

The kids had to go for their performance rehearsal in the morning but the teachers made effort to take the first bus back to the school after the PG group rehearsal so that I can celebrate Tara's birthday before I rush to work in the afternoon. I'm so grateful for that!

And as the food were home cooked, they weren't halal so the school had to take out their set of party utensils which they have labelled specifically for non Halal food. I'm supposed to help out with the cleaning up but the teacher, knowing that I have to rush to work, told me they will help with the cleaning instead. Again, I'm very grateful.

When we left, Tara was enjoying herself pretty much and didn't even fussed when she know we had to leave. I gave the goodie bags to the teacher to help distribute for me.

I wanted to upload the video of the kids singing the birthday song but it took really long to load up so I finally gave up. In the video, Tara was sitting so proper and still during the singing but once the song ended, both English and Mandarin version, she knew what she had to do. Without prompting, she immediately leaned forward to blow the candle, then she picked up the plastic knife, I didn't managed to film this, and cut the cake 3 times. She has been through so many birthday parties during the year and already know the "motions". And that was really funny and amazing to watch!

There, her birthday celebration part 1 comes to an end. I will post the part 2 soon.

Oooh... So Busy!

I haven't been updating much recently because I've been busy! Just a summary of the major things that has been happening these 2 months:

• Bob and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on the 4th of October. We had dinner at Morton's Grill and I tasted the best steak ever! The food portions were humongous that both of us decided to play safe and ordered just one set to share, from the soup to the main course. But still, we didn't managed to finish the steak in the end. Can you imagine?! The next day, I wrote an entry on our dinner but procrastination and procrastination, the entry is still in draft stage. I will post it up soon though.

• Friday nights have officially become my scrapbook night! Jaime (our new kaki), my sis and I will get together after work at either Jaime's place or my sis' place and we will scrap till we get so sleepy before we head home. I really treasured my Friday nights and I always make it a point not to miss any sessions. It's so very therapeutic too!

• I made a journal for my friend's little boy Aidan early this month and I actually have people commissioning me to do one for their little kids too! So far, I've made 1 more last week and I still have 2 journals to complete before I fly off to HK for my hols in mid Dec. Uh oh, 2 more weeks!

• Tara celebrated her 3rd birthday in this month. Wow, she's 3! I can't believe it. My baby is growing so fast I can't keep up! We held a small party for her little friends in school and she was really happy, though she didn't show it at the party. I'm supposed to do a healthy and cream-free "cake" aka muffins and prepare some little goody bags for the kids but in the end, after discussions with the teacher, I ended up buying a 2kg cream cake in the shape of a star and provided lunch of fried beehoon, chicken wings, fish fillet and sotong balls! The cake was a hit with the kids! I was wincing away when I saw the little ones spooning the colouring laden cream cake into their mouth! I don't fancy giving food with too much colouring to Tara.

• We held a 2nd party for her at home, with family and relatives this time. She got her 2nd birthday cake, in the form of small pretty cupcakes. The kids love the cup cakes, the little one was so happy, the adults commented that the cupcakes was a good idea, cos there's no need to cut the cake. The week prior to this party, I spent most of my free time doing up the birthday banner and the cake stand for the cup cakes. Tara received many ang baos and she absolutely love the cup cakes. I'm glad everything turned out great!

• Tara performed in her first concert just days after her birthday! My PILs, Bob and I went to watch. She played a small part in the drama but she did a wonderful job! All the little kids did fantastic too! I was so touched by it all that I almost teared. Oh man, I'm getting so emotional nowadays! During the 30 min drama, there wasn't any crying, no little kids running amok, no stage fright kids. It was so perfect! Everyone knew their role, their positions and when they should be on stage, off stage etc. I'm so amazed!

• My sis started an online business selling her craft work! I took pictures of the pegs she made, started the blog for her, made a banner and did some fine tuning to her links and stuff. I'm pretty satisfied with how the photos turned out. Canon cameras are amazing! I didn't even need to do any colour editing on the banner photo! Take a look at her website! Great gifts at affordable prices! She's now filled to the brim with all the Christmas orders! And she also starting to make appearances at fairs and carnivals to sell her stuff. Jaime and I were almost always there to help her out! Hope her business will bring in more moolah for her!

• I've started jogging since 2 weeks ago. Finally, finally the lazy me decided to do something about my distorted figure. So far, I've managed to make 4 trips to the nearby stadium. Each time, I will jog 2.4km and walk 800m before I head back home and climbed the stairs right up to my flat on the 14th floor. I don't think I lose any weight yet, since it's only 4 times but I do feel my hip and calves are firmer than before. Darn about the tummy though, I still look so pregnant that I got someone offered me a seat on the train last night. And I shamelessly took it. I've got my reasons though. Firstly, I'm so tired standing. Secondly, I didn't want to embarress the nice lady cos I've seen a few people, looking rather helpless when they got rejected. Thirdly, I don't want to launch into a lengthy explaination that I'm actually not pregnant and the bulge is just a bloated tummy and not a baby. Anyway, back to the topic, the reason I started to exercise is that I'm hoping I can shed at least 3 kilos before the CNY. So that the relatives can stop asking whether I got pregnant again.

So, that's mostly what I've been busy with the past 2 months, of course, on top of that, doing my duty as a mother and giving the rest of my free hours to my little girl. Will follow up with posts real soon!

Tara's First Sleepover

Ever since she was born, she has never spent any nights without me, well, except for the time I travelled to Bangkok and Taipei last year. Oh yah, and one single night when she decided to sleep in my in-law's room.

But never has she spent the night away from home without me around her. It's her first and my first.

My PILs will usually spend the night at Bob's aunt's on Sundays so that they will not get in the way of the cleaning lady coming in every Monday morning. And since Tara need not attend school today, it just makes sense that Tara spend the night there with them, so that dear Daddy need not chauffeur the little one to Queenstown through the morning peak hour traffic.

Tara left for the aunt's place late morning yesterday. I went to give my sister support. She set up a stall at the carnival near her place to sell her masterpieces. I was occupied and didn't think much about my little girl.

I went home mid afternoon, did some laundry and started to think of her. But I still felt okay cos some Sunday afternoons, we have left Tara at the aunt's place too, so Bob and I can rest at home or catch up some overdue chores.

Bob left for a wedding dinner at 6 plus. That's where the thoughts crept in.

I wonder what my little girl is doing. I wonder if she can sleep well over there, whether she will cy for me. She usually slept through the night, so I thought will she wake up in the morning, realised she's in a different place, and start to cry for Mummy?

I contemplate on calling her. But I worried I will miss her even more when I hear her voice. Or she might cry when she hear mine? At about 8.30pm, I couldn't bear the quietness in the house and called. I deliberately chose this time, because Bob's niece and nephew would have left the aunt's place. They usually go there for dinner on Sundays.

Tara picked up the phone, and recognised my voice immediately when I said hello. I asked did she behave. She asked why I wasn't there. I told her she's sleeping over so I'm staying home. I told her to be good and don't cry in the night, she said okay. I told her I will pick her up on Monday and she said okay. Then silence. I said hello again, and I heard the phone clicked.

She hung up.

No crying.

Never wanting Mummy.

I was so sad. I thought my little girl would miss me, and want me but I was so wrong. A lot of people commented that my little girl is very attached to me, so I wonder how come there isn't any bawling when she knows Mummy is not going to sleep with her tonight.

I thought of calling her back.

But I thought, better not.

I'm worried I might just rush down to the aunt's place to pick my baby.

Bob sms-ed me at 10 plus, said he spoke to Tara. She didn't want to go home with Daddy. Bob came back at about 11 plus, I thought he might have brought back Tara but he didn't. He asked me how I feel. I said weird. Yeah, weird. Not hearing her voice and seeing her in the house. Then I asked why didn't he bring her back. Bob just gave me a reply "Kids who stick to mummy don't grow up".

I know there's a certain truth in this statement.

During bedtime, Bob said Tara wasn't around me when I was overseas either. But I told him it's different. I'm at home and everywhere I turned, I can see traces of my little girl. Her toys, her hanky on my dresser. Her clothes in the laudry basket. Her mess of colouring pencils.

Of course I will miss her!

The first few days Tara attended child care, one of the teachers said to me, it's usually the parents who cannot let go, not the children.

Tara was able to let go of Mummy. Mummy wasn't prepared to let go of Tara.

Need HELP!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update:
I've found the clothes already! From Zara! A long sleeve polo top and a pair fleece pants. In plain red. And at an unbelievable price of $29.80 for both. Great bargain. The polo top has fleece lining too! Great for cold weather.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, I thank all of you out there who have rendered your help. Deeply appreciated.

I need to get red long sleeve top and long pants for Tara urgently. I have tried several places including Giant and Carrefour but just couldn't find anything red. Mostly are pinks, whites etc.

Tara will be performing at her school's graduation ceremony next Saturday and I definitely need to get the clothes within the next 2 days.

If anyone of you knows were to get, please let me know. I don't mind getting second hand ones, but they must be priced reasonably and in size 2T only.

If anyone of you going shopping anywhere, can help me keep a lookout? I need plain ones, but a little design is okay too. Preferably in t-shirt material.

Please help! Thanks a million..

Latest Project!

Just out from the oven!

This is a first year journal I made for Aidan, my good friend cum colleague's little boy. I definitely hope she likes this!





The left side is for journaling, and the right side, I used transparencies to create photo sleeves so my friend can just insert the photos.




























I've also created 2 pages, for Daddy and Mummy to pen some words to their little boy.


Just in case they got more things to write, one additional page here.


This is supposed to be a first month gift for Aidan, but as usual, I fell behind schedule. By not much though, only a week. Hehe.

Lookalike Meter

Stumbled upon this on Cindy's blog.



Although a lot of people we know said the kid looks like both Bob and me, I was still hoping that she will look more like me than Bob. And I purposely chose a grumpy photo of Bob!

This meter is telling me to face reality.

Absolutely Frustrating!

My last phone was a Nokia 6300, which I bought in Feb. Nice, sleek and super slim. However, in less than 8 months, I've made 3 trips to the service centre! Screen freezed, phone auto shut off, and all sorts of other nonsense. But even these 3 trips did not fixed the phone, the last couple of weeks, I can't even make calls out or receive any calls because after 5 seconds of talktime, the line will just cut off.

I told everyone that unless they can finish saying what they want to say in 5 seconds, please don't call me. So for 2 weeks, my phone was pretty quiet except for the sms-es, which, thank heavens, was still working.

And on last Saturday, I finally got a new phone. I've given up on Nokia (the 6300 was my last try at Nokia phones) and bought a Sony Ericsson. Before my purchase, I checked around on the stability of Ericsson's phones and was pretty satisfied with what I've heard. So I went ahead and bought this.



Cool phone with all the functions that I want. In a nice red. My first slide phone. I was pretty happy with my new phone and I didn't even care when the screen hang on the first hour I got the phone.

I even tolerated the second screen hang on the second day.

Something drastic happened on the third day. The phone kept restarting by itself. It switches off and on by itself over and over again. The phone will be on for 2 minutes, off for 20 seconds, then on again for 2 minutes and so on. It will go on doing this until the battery is almost flat.

I tried every method I could think of, switching SIM cards, taking out the battery and putting it back again, on and off the phone. I even took out my 2GB memory stick when my gal friend told me it might be the cause of the problem! But still, the phone continue having fun by itself. Going on, off, on, off.

And if I need to sms someone or check on a number, I have to do it in 2 minutes flat. So I'm like an idiot, staring and waiting for the phone to switch itself on again, make a mad dash to type in my sms and press send before it goes off again. There are countless times which I managed to finish typing my sms but couldn't find my contact in time and the whole sms just disappear and I got to do everything all over again!

I called up Ericsson customer service, the guy went through the routine series of questions, whether I downloaded anything, blah blah. I told him I only saved a few songs in the memory stick and that's all. And of course the usual routine of changing a nicer screen saver, wallpaper etc. He suggested that I download a software from their website to upgrade the phone's software. I asked why do I need to do that since it's a new phone? Does he meant to tell me that new phones have to do this extra step? He replied no, but deduced that my phone's software most probably has some problems. If that is the case, isn't it better that I get an exchage for a new phone, I asked. He said no, they don't have exchange policy. So I ask if I upgrade my software, most probably my phone should be working? He said most probably.

Since I had to meet some friends in Orchard, I thought of going to the service centre there and get them to upgrade the software on the spot so I can know if it's really the software problem or it's a faulty handset. But after 1 hour of waiting, I was told that they are not able to do it on the spot, since it will take 3 hours and it was already 8pm. I didn't want to leave the phone there, cos I don't want to give them a chance to repair the phone. If it's really faulty, I want a new set. So I told the lady I will try to upgrade the software at home.

But when I tried to upgrade, I couldn't do it because the software is already upgraded! So how do I upgrade an already updated software? There's no function to remove and re-install software like PCs and so I'm quite stuck with a crappy phone, and once again, I lost touch with the world, almost.

I took Bob's spare Dopod since my new, cool phone is literally useless. But when I tried to read sms-es, or reply them, it will bring me to this blank page and I can't proceed further. Frustration!!!

Anyway, I had intended to bring my swanky new phone to the Ericsson service centre today, but I thought I better checked with SingTel if it's possible to change a new set. Called the Singtel people and they suggest that I bring down the whole set with box and they will check for me.

Now I just pray and hope I can get this settled fast. I think the position of the stars and the sun is not favourable for me these weeks, I guess I'm not suppose to get near any electronical communication device as I bring bad luck to them, or me. Actually, what I want to say is, mobile phones and me, no fate.

You Have Time for That?

I have people constantly asking me this question. Sometimes I even got their ridiculous looks accompanied with the question.

Yes, I have the time. Why not? I don't have enough time, but I managed to squeeze time in between to do my own stuff. I do have a life you know?

Besides my family and my job, I do have my my own hobbies, things I like to do, things that help me relax and makes me happy. I read, I scrapbook and I do cross stitch. I love to cook too, although I don't cook much.

How do I manage my time? I wouldn't say that I can manage my time very well,
but I will try to make use of whatever time I have and not waste any precious minutes. Oh yeah, I do feel drained out at the end of the day, but at least I accomplished more in the long run.

In actual fact, I do managed to do reading, cross stitch and scrapbook all in one day, albeit only a bit of each at a time.

Every morning, when I take a train to work, I will catch up with reading. My train ride is about 20 minutes, and bus ride about 5 minutes, I always managed to read 2 chapters each train/bus ride. If a book has 20 chapters, I can finish them in 10 days.

When I reach home every night, usually after a dinner outside, about 8.30pm at most. I will sit down for some TV time, at the same time talk to Tara, play with her, attend to her needs, shower her, give her milk and put her to bed, which is about 10.30pm. Besides watching TV, I don't do anything else until Tara goes to bed. Then I will go for my shower.

While waiting for my long hair to dry, I will do my cross stitch and watch TV at the same time. Once my hair dry, then I will go to bed, which is usually about 12.30 to 1am.

As for scrapbook, when I need to do them, I just make sure I go home earlier (maybe about 7.30pm) and during commercial breaks, I will walk into my scrap room and do a bit of something, be it pasting, arranging or matching papers. I can complete a notebook cover, or a hanging board just by doing that.

And can you see that I love to watch TV too? Yep, I never missed my 9pm and 10pm shows on AXN from Monday to Friday.

As for cooking, it's only once a week or bi weekly affair. Almost like my scrapbook, I do it once a week too, if I don't have need to make any gifts.

So do I have the time? Well, yes I do! I don't have a lot of time, but I know how to make time.

Tremors Felt at Home

This morning, while I was applying my make-up and getting ready for work, I felt some movement. Then I looked at my reflection in the mirror and saw myself swaying a little. My watches hanging on the wall were swaying slightly. It was rather surreal to me since I have never felt tremors at home before, the western part of Singapore.

I was sure something drastic had happened in Indonesia again. Only earthquakes there has this effect. But I sort of know this quake must be really serious, since I can even feel the tremors at my place! Usually it's the southern and eastern part of Singapore most affected.

I went back to my dresser and continue with applying my make-up, still feeling the tremors. It went on for quite a while, about a minute or so. All sort of images were running through my mind. People fleeing, children cowering with fear while the earth shook violently around them, screaming, their houses falling apart before them and their lives are falling apart too. And here I was, putting powder on my face while the earthquake was happening.

I drove Tara to school and drove myself to work. Everyone is going on with their lives as usual. Totally unaffected. And I actually felt glad that I'm living in Singapore, away from all the disasters that are breaking up families and ruining lives.

I know there is nothing I can do and I can't stop these things from happening. But I can't help feeling emotional. Sometimes, life can be so cruel.

Scrapping LOs

LOs are layouts. Meaning anything that goes on a flat piece of paper. But now, it doesn't go on just paper, they go on acrylic pieces already. Ok, in any case, LOs are generally able to be slot into plastic protector sheets to be showcased as albums. Just like your general photo albums, but they last much longer.

I haven't been doing a lot of LOs recently. And I almost forgot they are the main reason I started scrapbooking! My objective/goal was to document anything and everything memorable so that my next generation, aka my children, and next, next generation will know about their ancestors, aka me and those before my, aka my parents, in-laws and their parents!

So many a times, we get so caught up with our own lives that we don't bother to talk to or find out more about the old folks, who are so dear to us. Only recently, that my dear Daddy told me he actually had to earn extra pocket money by scoring basketball shots during recess time in his seconday school days! If he doesn't, he can't get any lunch, cos the pocket money he got was only enough for transport. Poor Daddy! (I'm going to scrapbook this REAL soon).

Most of the time I do any decent scrapping, it's mostly the altered stuff. Meaning anything that doesn't go into albums. The lunch boxes, the photo frames, notebooks. All these are altered projects and 80% of the time, these are for other people. Don't get me wrong here! I love doing gifts for my friends and colleagues and seeing the joy on their faces upon receiving my handmade stuff is priceless. But I do know that I have limited free time and I wish to spend most of it documenting what are really important to me, before I pass on.

The other day, I was telling Bob I wanted to do some LOs of his parents. He asked me why. I told him I'm not sure how long more the both of them will be around, so I want to know more about them, scrap about it so that Tara (and my future children) will know about their grandparents. Then I told him not to dumb dumb and burn all my scrapbook albums if I should die before him. I said it in a joking tone, and he laughed. But I'm serious about this and he knows. I told him why I started scrapbooking and if he is going to do that, all my work will go to waste. And if he really want to burn something, he should burn more scrap supplies, so when I go up there, or down there (whatever!), I can still scrap mah! My purpose in scrapbooking also got his 100% support because of this, which I'm so grateful of!

Actually, I started this post to show my 2 new LOs, but I don't know why I babbled so much! Bleh...

Anyway, here they are, after a long.. time.. I finally did some LOs, and I'm absolutely satisfied with them!

Here they are..


This has got to be my favourite LO. And something I've always wanted to do. I'm glad it came out nice!

Details here:


My second LO:


Details here:


Did you see the fabric ruler button on the right side of this pic? I made it! Oh well, with the aid of a button kit though. And I totally love how it turned out! The button kit is so cool! I just need to put a fabric over the button, push it down into a rubber thingy, stuff the excess fabric into the inside of the button, and press another piece of metal thingy and it's done! I'm not sure if you understand what I'm saying though. Anyway, this is one reason I so love paper scrapping! The feel of all these papers, ribbons, embellishments just makes me so happy. A thrill I don't get in digi scrapping, as in scrapping using computers, but don't get me wrong also, I'm thinking of starting digi scrap too, cos paper scrapping is just so expensive to sustain! And not getting the thrill of the feel?? I'll live with it..

After starting on LOs finally, I'm so inspired to make more! My next project will be Tara's super belated first year album. I know... it's so late right? But it's better late than never.

P/S: Just in case you are wondering, I'm in a super cheery mood when I'm writing this post. It usually happens when I managed to do scrapping. Ha!

House Broken Into

Not my house though. It was my PILs house in Kelantan.

2 nights ago, Bob told me about the break-in and said my ILs both lost their phones and my FIL's RM2,000 was gone as well. Actually the last time I was there, I already noticed that their front door's lock was flimsy and it's easy to break into the house, but I thought it's all peace and harmony there that's why the old folks wasn't worried.

But I guess now they will take more precautions and reinforce a stronger lock for their house.

It was night, and both my ILs were sleeping in the bedrooms upstairs. Lucky thing was the burglar (I guess there is only one) only targetted downstairs so both of them were left unhurt and they were totally unaware of the break-in until the next morning. Guess the burglar was happy to have the RM2K lah.

One thing that puzzled me though. Why did my FIL left so much money in the drawers downstairs instead of in his bedroom? Then again, it might be this decision that kept him safe. In any case, I know the pinch he felt for losing the money. RM2K is a lot of money for a retiree.

I'm just glad the old folks are safe and unhurt. That's the most important. Tomorrow we will go search for some cheap and good handphones for the old folks.

Hole in what??

This morning, I received this message from Bob.


And my first thoughts were, huh? Hole in what? And I was thinking hole in his clothes? Hole in his bag? Hole in his golf bag? GOLF BAG?? And then I remembered..

He went in to Malaysia for golf this morning and he got a hole in one!!!!

Hole in one is a big deal in some places, the lucky blokes get to bring home cash money, car etc. But the last time I heard from Bob, hole in one in Malaysia golf clubs only meant a certificate, free meals and maybe free drinks etc.

But for a golfer, all the above don't matter (I think). I guess all golfers' have this one wish to get a hole in one once in their lifetime. It's like a personal achievement of some sort, although luck plays a bigger part than skills.

In any case, I know Bob must be feeling an all time high over there right now. I wonder if I will get a good meal out of this. Hmmz...

Family Sports Day

Tara's day care held their Family Sports Day this morning. The whole school was split into 2 groups, the red and the white. Tara was in the red team and we have to dress her in a red top. Parents were encouraged to dress in the same colour to show support for their children so both Bob and I were decked in red too. I even wore my red shoes to complete the "look".

Even though it was a non working day, all three of us woke up at the same time we usually does on a weekday. We even went for breakfast before we headed off to Tara's school.

We reached 15 mins early and most of the people have yet to arrive. By 9am, the amphitheatre outside Tara's school was crowded with families, and most of them wore the colours that their kid represented.

I brought Tara to the side where the teachers were assembling the children for the games. When I left Tara with her teachers, she went bawling, and was calling out for me. I left after telling her I will be watching out for her at the outside.

I picked up a tambourine in front of the seating area and waited with anticipation. When the teachers led the children out to the open area, the crowd cheered! And the cheers were the loudest when the playgroup children came out at last. Tara was still crying a little when she walked out, and searched the sea of faces for us. Even though she stopped crying after that, her face still looked sulky.


Every single kid is involved. Each level have 2 games to play, starting from Tara's playgroup. And for the first game, she was the first in line to start. The kids were supposed to wear a ring on their head and carry, on each hand, a half filled bottle of water, walked to a red stand, turn around, walked back to the starting point, and give the next person in line a high ten, as a sign to proceed. As the kids were between 2 - 3 years only, this was considered a little challenging.

Tara's eyes were still red when the game started, but she knew what to do. She ambled towards the red stand holding the pet bottles, turned one round and ambled back. It was so cute and funny and I was really proud of her when she completed her task, even though she wasn't as fast as the other team. I turned around to see Bob beaming with pride too.

The second game needed a family member to join in, just as Bob had surmised. Bob took the camera from me and nudged me forward. But when the teachers demonstrated the game, I realised that I wasn't suited to play. In this game, the child had to walked to the end of the line stepping on stools. The parent has to place one stool after another for the kid to step on. The parent/family member is not allowed to hold the child's hand or in any way, aid the child to complete the game faster. Since I'm wearing a skirt, I cannot squat down to place the stools and Bob had to take over.

Tara was the second last to play in this game. She started slow, and at one point, refused to take another step and we had to cajoled her. And in the middle of the track, she took a step closed to the edge of the stool, couldn't get her balance, fell down and hit the side of her waist. Bob was placing the next stool and didn't managed to catch her in time. She cried real loud and clutched her side. Two of her classmates came up to consoled her, real sweet, and one of them was the boy whom Tara didn't really like. And the best (or not) part is, I actually managed to catch this scene on video!



We tried to get Tara to calm down and take the next step, which she simply refused to and kept holding on to Bob and wanted him to carry. And after quite a while, with a lot of encouragement from the teachers, us and her friends, she took a step, and the crowd cheered! I guess it was the cheers that pushed her to finished the game.


I realised one parent whose child is in Tara's class wore pink, and then I found out that Tara's classmate was in the red team (like Tara) but her brother, also in the same day care, was in the white team, so it makes perfect sense for the Mummy to wear pink. Great thinking or what huh?

The sports day ended with a chicken (or chicky?) dance and a song performed by all the kids. Each kid gets to bring home 2 apples too. There isn't any winners for the games because the sports day was held not for this purpose. It was more in the name of fun and also bonding for the families. We did enjoy ourselves but the little girl only managed to warm up at the end of the whole thing. And the weather was so perfect that almost all the photos came out quite nice!
It was definitely a great way to spend our Saturday morning!