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Tuesday, November 08, 2005

My Christmas Wish List

This is my third post today. I'm catching up on loss time, since I didn't blog for the past 10 days.

For anyone and everyone who knows me, and agrees that I've been a good girl this year, and decides to buy me a Christmas present as a nice reward, I have come up with a wish list.

Hehe.. make my Christmas happy yah! Thanks..

Tagged Again - Weird and Random Facts

Was tagged by Eileen sometime back. Hey gal, sorry that I can only do this now. Busy lah..

Rules of the game:
Post 5 Weird and Random Facts about you, then at the end list the names of 5 people who are next in line to do this:


1. I hate mangoes; the smell reminds me of a wet rag, left in a dark corner of a cupboard for days. Yucks!

2. I must read something when I do my “business”, something, anything! Even town council newsletter is better than nothing.

3. I can yak non-stop with friends and acquaintances but go tongue-tied in front of crowds of strangers. Presentations freak me out!

4. For the benefit of those who always like to judge me, yes, I can cook and yes, I can do sewing, knitting and embroidery, thank you.

5. I can watch the most horror shows without batting an eyelid but go all shaking and shivering when it comes to “Crime Watch”. Funny? You tell me.

I won’t be tagging anyone because the last time I did, both ignored it. And both are the only 2 friends I can tag.

Bitten by the book bug

In 4 weeks, I read 3 books. I'm a believer by Jessica Adams, Spellbound and Mr Maybe, both by Jane Green. I have a penchant for chick-lit novels, they are very entertaining, makes me laugh. I used to read thrillers and stuff but after Sidney Sheldon – which I’ve read every single book he wrote before I got my ‘O’s – I decided that now, I need something for a change, I need something girlish and relaxing.

Came across “I'm a believer” at MPH and decided to borrow from the library (I don’t usually buy my books, unless its $6 a piece). Oh man, I had a hard time finishing it! Remember I mentioned I read 3 books in 4 weeks? I spent a wasted 3 weeks on this book alone! The storyline was interesting, but the flow of writing was pretty rough, not captivating enough. In fact, I will yawn once every 3 pages. But I happen to be the kind of person who MUST finish a book once I’ve read past the acknowledgements. Darn the principles, and I’m stuck with a boring book while the 7 others waited in one dark corner, till they are almost overdue and I had no choice but to return them.

As for Jane Green, she’s a goddess. She’s so funny that sometimes, I felt so stupid laughing alone, with nobody else beside me, and holding just a book. “Mr Maybe” is so darn close to reality and super funny; I finished it in 3 days straight.

Yesterday, I went on a book-borrowing frenzy. Well, Jane Green doesn’t write that many books to keep me entertained for long right? So I go against my usual “practice” and decided to scour for some nice books. I took every book that has a girlish cover, and with small printed fonts that says "best-selling”. Well, if it’s not best-selling means it’s not “discovered” yet or it’s total crap, and thus shall be ignored.

I went home happily with 5 books, on top of the other 2 I borrowed last week. Thanks to National Library’s “Drop everything and read” campaign, I can borrow up to 8 books, till January 2006. Happy!

Friday, October 28, 2005

Finally..

It's been quite a while since I've last touched the home computer. There's lots of stuff I need to do; Tara's website, new template for my blog, upload images, download fonts etc. The past a week or two, I will be asleep by 11.30pm and I kind of felt pretty bad, for putting off all these stuff and succumb to the comfort of my pillows and duvet instead.

Anyway, in 3 hours and 30 minutes, I (only) managed to do the following:

  1. Create a new banner for Tara's website (yet to launch), after making about 5230 amendments. I quite like it now.
  2. Some little stuff for the sidebar, which I presume I will still make 10,000 changes.
  3. Downloaded tons of fonts from Font Foundry

Talk about productive or what.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Karen Cheng

I spent the last few days reading Karen’s blog from the beginning. I’ve been following her blog everyday since June but only recently, I decided to go right to the start. She blogs about happenings on her daily life; shifting into a new house, attending parties and weddings, hubby surviving cancer, her obsession with earrings, taking care of Callum (first born) and giving birth to Sean. It’s very interesting.

Just like Karen, I love to cook too. And sometimes the things that happen to Callum happened to Tara too. I dreamt of growing herbs in my backyard if I have one, but staying in Singapore means it’s not that possible, unless I’m staying in a landed property. And reading about Karen’s nice little garden of rocket lettuce, tomatoes and herbs just makes me so, so envious.

I started to dream, of staying in Australia, where life is not as hectic, houses are bigger and during weekends, there are nice places to bring your kids to. Singapore is pretty boring, I would say. There are not many places to let your kids explore. I’m planning to bring Tara to Animal Farm, Zoo, Bird Park, Botanic Gardens and West Coast Park for picnics. And where else can I go? Shopping? Makan? Oh man!

I felt that life is boring here. Bob prefers to chill out at home every weekend, while I prefer to go somewhere, in fact, anywhere! Even Jurong Point seems like a better option than staying home.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Signs that tells me I've attained Auntie-hood

  • Don't bother to visit the hair salon, although hair is in complete mess.
  • Stepped out of the house without nail polish on toes, but wearing open-toes.
  • Shaving legs became an annual event, unless there are other IMPORTANT occasions when I need to wear a skirt.
  • Using my left foot to scratch my right leg, or vice versa. (Gawd, I can't believe it either, especially when I used to hate people doing that).
  • Talking when my mouth is full of food.
  • Talking way too much, and quite loudly.
  • Gossiping alot.
  • Wearing shoes and carrying bags that don't coordinate with the rest of my outfit one bit.
  • Rummaging through mountains of on-sale items, with glee.

Get-together

Had a wonderful gathering with the old-timers yesterday. I had the chance to cook curry chicken since the gathering was held on a Sunday. The verdict on the dish was quite good, thanks to the killer curry powder which Mum swears by.

Angela prepared sumptuous but “evil” kong ba pau. Guess I gotta run at least 5km to lose all that calories! But it’s so delicious, I couldn’t resist. Jaime brought along more fattening food, durian cake and blueberry cake! Wow, we really know how to enjoy ourselves! Sis took over my “standard” item and bought topshell, but preparations by Jaime, shame shame on her. Haha. Cindy was the only health conscious one yesterday; she bought fruits, not-so-ripe papaya, watermelon and grapes.

We enjoyed a few hours of yak before sis’ “suppliers” came to intro and do some demo for a certain brand of skin care product. As an ex-beauty sales promoter, I’ve learnt to be skeptical whenever someone tried to sell me something and telling me how good it is. Hence, it’s usually someone else trying it for a certain period of time, and it shows obvious results, before I will “invest” in it. Anyway, had fun with the demo.

Cyrus was, as usual, going around and making other kiddos cry. Javier was hit with a phone by Cyrus twice; the 2nd time was more serious, blue-black marks on Javier’s temple. Looking at Cyrus made me think of how Tara will be at this age, and it made me cringe. Nothing can tame him, except the cane. To care for such a child, it will take lots of patience, and I think Cindy is losing hers soon. Or maybe she had lost it already. Just hope that Cyrus will grow out of it soon.

After the gals left, I spent the next 3 hours washing up, doing laundry and some house chores. Without Bob around, it’s pretty tough to care for Tara alone. But I’m coping, and thanks to high 5. I have no choice but to let High 5 “babysit” Tara. Yes, I’m another victim of the “TV nanny”.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Wow! I passed 8th Grade Math!

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!


Being really bad in Math (and I mean really bad), I'm so surprised I got a 10/10 in one try! Try it here!

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Emails from Bob

On Sunday, I was clearing out some stuff from the study and chanced upon some floppy disks. Who uses floppies nowadays? So I decided to retrieve the files and toast into CD-roms instead.

One of the floppies was some saved text copies of Bob’s email to me when he was going after me and when we first started dating. I almost forgot how lovely that feeling was. When you constantly received emails from someone who’s very interested in you and hoping you will consider him, and when he profess his undying love to you. It’s so sweet when you first fall in love.

When we started dating, he had already contemplated about getting married with me! Talk about fast or what. And he was saying if we have kid, the kid will look like him or me? And also how nice it is to have a place of our own, blah blah blah. It’s so nice when you thought of it in the past, when you are in it, well, it’s totally different.

Anyway, it’s good to reminisce once in a while. It kind of rekindles the almost diminishing passion. Of course I love my Bob, very much in fact, but the passionate feelings you felt when you first dated is almost no longer there. What a pity.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Wow! I’m tagged!

I got tagged for the first time, thanks to Eileen *wink*.

10s that will bring me moments of joy:
1) Bob bringing me and Tara out for our family day, just the 3 of us.
2) Booked a hotel room for a relaxing overnight stay.
3) Tara kissing me when I ask her to.
4) My mum cooking my favorite dishes.
5) After cleaning up the house (happy at the achievement and enjoy the tidiness)
6) Being busy at work.
7) Receiving my commission on the 15th every month.
8) Listening to super romantic songs when driving at night.
9) Going to my favorite restaurants for meals.
10) When both Bob and Tara smiling and hugging me when I reach home from a stressful and tired day at work.

I’m supposed to tag another 5 to complete this, but how? I do not have many friends with blogs. So I’ll just tag 2:
- Cindy
- Janice

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Bloody Infection

Saw my company doctor yesterday afternoon. Actually, I hate going to company doctors because I always thought they are trying to “entertain” us only, and always thinking that we are there for one reason, MC (Medical certificate).

Just as I expected, the doctor gave me a couldn’t-be-bothered look when I’m trying to tell him the symptoms. I had a hard time describing. I felt giddiness but I don’t feel the whole place spinning.

Anyway, the doctor did some random checks; checked my throat which was okay, took my temperature, and I’m running a slight temperature 37.8. I was surprised as I don’t feel unwell at all, as in the kind of weak feeling I would usually get when I have a fever. I told the doctor and he said “Weell.. the machine don’t lieeee.” Arggh!

After which, he took my blood pressure and check both my ears, and everything was fine. Until he told me to stand up, with my arms up (like Chinese zombie type) and close my eyes. Immediately, I feel giddiness and feel myself swaying.

Doctor asked me a few other questions and decided that it might be some infection which is don’t know inside which part of my body now, hence causing the fever and the giddiness. I was prescribed antibiotics for the infection and medicine for the giddiness. Doctor also told me he had a friend, who was affected by some virus and suffered from imbalance (drowsiness) for 2 years, and couldn’t drive or even walk straight without support. Even though he recovered from the infection, he suffered the after effects for 2 years!

He also advised me to drive carefully, as I’m often behind the wheels. Till now, as I write this, I’m still running a temperature, but feeling perfectly alright, except for a few occasions of giddiness. I’m supposed to go back either on Thursday or Friday for further checks if the giddiness is still there.

Monday, October 10, 2005

New dish - Pork Ribs with Bitter Gourd

I always cook on Sundays, when my in-laws not staying over my place. Yesterday, I decided to try my mum’s yet another yummy dish. Pork Ribs with Bitter gourd.

Yesterday morning, we went to Tiong Bahru Market for brunch, as well as to get the ingredients for last night’s dinner. While Bob was queuing for the infamous Lor Mee, I called Mum for some quick instructions on how to cook the dish; in fact, I only learnt it in 5 mins! Smart can?

It’s pretty easy to cook but as usual, my mum always say “agar lah” when I ask her how much ingredients I should use. So it’s also “agar-agar”, trial and error, when I cook. The amount of ingredients I use are usually based on the amount of the main ingredient, in this case the pork ribs. But I never cooked with ‘tau see’ (salted black bean) before, hence I really don’t know how to gauge. I’m supposed to fry the tau see with the garlic and small onions before I fry the ribs and bitter gourd. Then I’m supposed to simmer the stuff for an hour or so. During the simmering part, I realized that the tau see was not enough, I had to keep adding and eventually, I added one whole packet!

Fortunately, the taste was pretty good. Almost mum’s taste. I’m very happy! I love to eat this dish and now I can cook it myself whenever I have cravings. Bob was very happy too. He loves to eat, and he loves it that I love cooking as well, and he’s extremely happy to see me learning new dishes (sad for him, I refused to learn those Kelantan dishes). While I was cooking yesterday, he walked into the kitchen, with a wide grin on his face and commented on the nice aroma. His verdict on the dish? Good! And my verdict on the dish? Good! (I’m trying to be humble here).

Saturday, October 08, 2005

I think something’s wrong with me

I don’t know why, I’ve been feeling giddiness every night, even when I’ve already lie down on the bed. I don’t know what causes it but I hope it’s not something serious. Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, the giddiness is still there. Sometimes there will be a bit of nausea feeling.

It’s time I see the doctor.

Friday, October 07, 2005

It’s Christmas already?!

EBIL (elder Brother-in-law) came back from US a couple of nights ago. Last night, he came to our house to see Tara, his favorite niece.

We felt so bad. He bought so many things for us! A Hard Rock café t-shirt each for me and Bob; Another T-shirt for Bob, as he’s worried Bob might not fit into the hard rock one, hahaha. And some golfing stuff which I don’t know what it’s called.

Tara has the most gifts. She got something like a rattle made from some animal skin. EBIL said it’s a mini version of some kind of drum used for bi(4) xie(2). Cute. EBIL also bought her a jumper dress and a sleeping suit from Osh Kosh. The size indicates 18mths, but they look like they will only fit Tara when she’s 5 years old! It’s so BIG! Anyway, it’s so nice of him.

EBIL also bought us one box of super yummy chocolates! My favorite! It comes in a nice tin box with assortment of flavours. I gobbled 2 immediately. And he helped us to get Desitin Creamy – the 4 oz packing ones – 6 tubes! I remembered a few days before he’s back, he said he only managed to get 3 tubes. It seems that this diaper cream is also very popular in US, and it’s always out of stock. EBIL had to go around a number of pharmacies to get it. And it seems that the prices weren’t standardized. Some pharmacies are selling at $3.99, and some at $5.99. Strange.

Oh yah, he also bought us (YES! There’s still more!) shooters glasses from Hard Rock – which we are collecting - and also a small whiskey glass from don’t know where.

Aww… so sweet of him. I felt like it was Christmas already!

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Breakfast cum Lunch = Brunch, Lunch cum Dinner?

2 Saturdays ago, we visited June, Guowei and their lovely first born, Aloysius at Gleneagles. Aloysius was big, 3.6kg or 3.8kg at birth. Congrats to June and Guowei!

After the visiting, we decided to go Tanglin mall for lunch / dinner. I wonder how to call that. Breakfast cum lunch is called a brunch, how about lunch and dinner? Do we call it a lun-ner? Or a dinch?

Anyway, we decided to go Spageddies. I wanted so much to eat the Aglio Olio but Bob wanted to eat too and told me to get something else (funny him, we can order the same thing what!). I ordered a Vongole Spaghetti. The garlic bread was super yummy! But my spaghetti was not as fantastic. I should have stuck to the Aglio.

After the “dinch”, we went to the supermarket down the basement for our groceries. Wow, it’s pricey!

Another short family day….

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

2nd Wedding Anniversary

It’s our 2nd wedding anniversary. 2 years ago, we held our wedding dinner at M Hotel and had our wedding photo shoot at Raffles Marina. It was a very memorable day for us, despite some minor hitches we had. I still reminisce fondly even till now. I would flip through our wedding albums and watch our video montage once in a while.

Bob asked me yesterday where I wish to have our dinner. I told him Lawry’s. I’ve only been there once but I can’t forget the infamous Spinning Bowl Salad.

We decided to bring Tara along. I thought it will make this day even special and meaningful as it’s her 1st year celebrating with us. Once we stepped into the restaurant, Tara received celebrity attention! Tara enjoyed the attention as well, and was smiling, laughing and clapping her hands when the waiters and waitresses played with her.

They served us the Spinning Bowl Salad first. I remember that it used to taste even better, especially with their seasoning pepper.

After the salad, the Chef pushed the cart over and served us our Roast Beef. We ordered a California Cut each with additional cream corn for me and spinach for Bob. At the same time, the waitress served us the Yorkshire pudding which she said, goes well with the beef. The beef was yummy-licious, especially with the added topping of horseradish cream. It tasted so heavenly; I thought I’m in heaven!

On the menu, the California Cut was described as “smaller serving for light appetite”. I wonder why because the portion was so big, I had difficulty trying to finish!

They happen to know that it’s our wedding anniversary and served us a truffle (I think so) with a lighted candle. It’s so sweet of them.

Before the dinner started, I gave Bob his gift. It’s a voucher from St Gregory’s. Over the years, he received almost all the kind of gifts a man will get; wallet, belt, tie, shirt, socks etc. I’ve even bought him a Chinese teapot (which he has a collection) last Christmas. I thought to myself, there’s nothing more he needs, except to relax, that’s why I decided on St Gregory’s. I just hope that I (or he) will be able to top up additional $192 for a Spa Escape for Two Sampler. Anyway, he will be so lonely if he goes alone.

* Photos will be uploaded later*

Monday, October 03, 2005

Tara almost ate a bug!

Babies are known to pick stuff on the floor and shove it into their mouth. I saw her picking hair, bits of paper etc. But that day, she decided she want to taste something different.

I was watching TV on the floor, with her beside me. She was playing with her toys. Seconds after I shift my attention back to her from the TV, I saw her trying to put something into her mouth. And that something have wings attached and was flapping in a desperate attempt to free itself fm Tara's grasp. Fortunately the bug was in between Tara's fingers while she was licking her palm. I can't imagine if the bug should end up in Tara's little tummy.

I watched a classic movie years ago, it's about this man, who swallowed a fly and in the end, he metamorphose into one. It's so gross and so real, that even till now, I still believe that such thing will happen. Eeks. Hope Tara don't swallow any bugs while we not looking.

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Tara's Milestone @ 10 months

The baby finally knows how to crawl properly. Some knocks expected, as she's still trying to learn how to coodinate her limbs. She always wants to start crawling, but unaware that one of her hand is still stuck under her leg. Some crying expected, but it's part of the "learning" process. Last week, she even had 2 bruises on her forehead.

Her crawling also posed another "problem" for me and Bob. We can't sit down and watch TV in peace! Okay, at the most 10 minutes and we will be chasing after her, because she will be rummaging through drawers, tugging at the newspaper or trying to poke her hand into the fan.. it never ends. No amount of toys would keep her occupied. She will be so interested in the surroundings, and especially drawn to the fan. Was telling my mum that a couple of months ago, I'm still wondering why she hasn't start crawling, but now, maybe a bit later is better.

I wonder once she start walking... Whoa! I can't imagine! She also starting to pull herself up to stand. And she would pull at anything. The sofa, the table, our hands, our legs, and embarrasingly, sometimes, my top. I'm talking about loose fitting kind of top where a little tugging is enough to give a free show to anyone who's fast enough to catch a glimpse. And I'm talking about a public place where she always gets some attention (either her big doe eyes or her shiny little head).

The baby also starting to talk in gibberish, alot! I guess she's trying to engaged in a conversation with us, except we don't understand a word she's gibbering. But it's funny sometimes. She's also starting to bite. The day before Bob left for KL, she gave him a "love" bite on his wrist. Bob, was just like a kid, showing me the redness on his wrist, complaining that the baby had bitten him, at the same time trying to hide the grin on his face without success. Funny Daddy, think he's a masochist. I've also got a few bites from her. My shoulder, my hand, my leg.

The baby can now follow simple commands. She will clap hands when we say "pai pai shou" (clap hands), wave bye bye when we say and wave "bye bye", kiss us when we say "kiss", lean herself towards me when I say "hug hug". Sometimes, when she's in a good mood, she will crawl towards me when I beckon her to. When I say "wash hand", she will search around for her purple basin, and when placed next to her, she will put her hand into the water, waiting for me to help her clean. It's so cute.

Another 1.5 months to her first birthday. Time really flies....

What my birthday means....

Your Birthdate: May 22

While sometimes employing unorthodox approaches, you are capable of handling large scale undertakings.
You assume great responsibility and work long and hard toward completion.
Often, especially in the early part of life, there is rigidity or stubbornness, and a tendency to repress feelings.

Idealistic, you work for the greater good with a good deal of inner strength and charisma.
An extremely capable organizer, but likely to paint with broad strokes rather than detail.
You are very aware and intuitive.
You are subject to a good deal of nervous tension.

hmmz.. so untrue! hiak hiak hiak...

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Privilege or Right?

Over the years, I've heard a lot of stories of how children hate or blame their parents for not sending them overseas for further education. Most of the time, the parents wasn't able to afford the high expenses of sending their children overseas, and sometimes, of other reasons.

Their parents brought them to this world, fed them, clothe them, provide them the basic education (up to tertiary at least!). They work really hard to provide for the family and yet, they still get blamed for being unable to send their children overseas? I mean, what's wrong with these people! How ungrateful they are. I really wonder if they will in turn provide the same amount of care and provide for their parents when they get old. They have the cheek to demand and even hate their parents?! These people make me angry.

If they really have the capabilities of going for further studies, they can either get a scholarship, or get a bank loan and pay off themselves when they start working after they got their "toilet paper". Don't demand from parents! Even if they have loads of money, they have the choice of giving it to the child, or keeping it for themselves. What makes him / her think that they can use THEIR money, which him / her have most probably used a lot for the past 18 to 20 years. To me, these people are just spoilt and narrow minded. They are so used to getting what they want. Hello! It's a privilege ok!!

Grrrr... they really make my blood boil. I wonder if they still know what is respect and fillial piety. For those people who are hating their parents, please, one day, if your parents are 6 feet underground, you can sit beside their graves and go on blaming them.

Monday, September 19, 2005

Cheaper

Baby: *Coughing*

Daddy: How I wish I'm the sick one.

Mummy: (Aww...) Why leh? You don't like to see her suffer is it?

Daddy: No lah, I see doctor only $20. She see docter $70 leh!

Mummy: ..............

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Long Awaited Family Day

It's been quite a while since we had our last family day. As in the 3 of us family day. Everytime I saw other young couples bringing their kiddos out, I'm so envious. I was so looking forward to it that I left office as soon as I've done my stuff.

Bob decided to bring us out for high tea and we went Hilton's Checkers cafe. $26++ per person. Variety not much, well, it's $26 after all. But the food quite yummy. The satays especially, taste just like the ones I've had at my favourite stall in Pasir Panjang. Didn't really tasted the cakes because I'm so full, and stomach so bloated, I look like I'm 6 mths pregnant. But I did get to eat a Green Tea Cake and it's so awful! I almost puke man...

Very cranky Tara

We went to Hard Rock to check out the area for Tara's 1st birthday bash, looks pretty good, but my experience with them wasn't that good so far. I hope the service will not be as bad on the day itself. We shop around Forum and saw this red doggie kiddy ride. Tara's first time on a kiddy ride, she had to stand and hold the wheel. It was so cute. Saw a shop with nice baby clothes, will keep it in mind when I go shopping for clothes for Tara's birthday bash.

Tara on the doggie kiddy ride

At Toys R' Us

The little devil

Bob got bored after a while, and was giving me a can-we-go-home kind of look though it's only 2 hours! I mean the hi-tea and the shopping was only 2 hours and he wanted to go home, it was so disappointing. There I was, so happy that this long awaited family day finally arrived and he don't share my sentiments. Pretty pissed also, if it's with his parents, he would happily bring them wherever they want. Sometimes, I really hate going out with him.
Looking pathetically bored

Anyway, we went to Cold Storage to get some groceries for today. I totally love their shopping carts, it comes with a baby seat, which was useful as Tara had fallen asleep so we strapped her on it. Got a little attention from the other shoppers, guess they seldom see a baby sleeping so soundly on a shopping cart before.


Not so happy family day, but it's better than nothing. Just hope that we will have a better one next week. I hope...

Tonight's Dinner


Tonight's dinner, a good mix of meat, spaghetti and vegetables. Taste? 6 out of 10. Guess I've gotta learn how to make a good sauce for the steak.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

13 going on 30

Last week, I had a movie marathon. Started with "Meeting the Fockers", followed by "13 goint on 30" and finally "Ocean Twelve".

"13 going on 30", very enjoyable show. It's about this girl, wishing that she could be 30 years old instead of 13, with bigger boobs and stuff. So on her 13th birthday, after some unhappy events, she made her wish, opened her eyes and found that she indeed had turned 30.

But when she was 30, she found out about the nasty things she had done to gain popularity, fame and $$, and in the end, lose the guy whom she loved. So she wished that she could go back to 13 again.

She reminded me of myself. Many times, I hope I can turn back time. I hope to do those things that should have been done and avoid things that should not have happen. I wish I can go back to schooling days when all I need to worry is my studies. I wish, I wish... but there's no way to turn back time. But then again, I tell myself it's a blessing in disguise. I might not marry my husband if I had not met assholes before. Now I have a very happy family, a loving husband, whom I can always rely on and my sweet darling, whom makes me happy everyday.


Anyway, back to the movie, in the end, the girl wished she would become 13 all over again and how do you think the story end? Well, happily ever after loh.... Very nice show, I don't mind watching it again... hehe..

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

My YBIL - Photoshop and all..

I've been trying to learn photoshop. There's so many photos I need to enhance and edit before I send them for print again. Those photos were scanned from the hardcopy, so you can imagine the quality.

I learnt, I tried, I failed. My colleagues will run miles away when they saw me approaching with glint in my eye. They are sick of me, asking them endless questions on how to use the photoshop. In the end, I gave up, and started doing other stuff instead.

Until one day, my saviour, in the form of my younger brother-in-law (let's call him YBIL) came. He's a graphics design-based guy, but now doing more on directing photoshoot (wow, how cool is that!). He lived in KL but was here doing the weekend visiting his folks, who are staying at my place.

The day he arrived, he brought a super cool Canon camera, those kind that professionals use, and started taking photos of my little girl. That night, I download the pictures, wow! Why do I still need to send my girl to those photo studio, when there's a professional right in front of me.



He also showed me and Bob some of the stuff he did back home. The photos taken were okay quality (as compared to magazines lah) but after his magic hands did the editing, it's so NICE! I grabbed the chance to ask him how to do editing on those photos that I chucked aside.

I chose one, where the face details was overexposed, as in the light was so bright on our faces that we can't see where's our nose. My YBIL just did a rough editing, to show me how it's done and the effect was "WOW"!! Bear in mind it's rough editing leh! But he was too fast with his shortcut keys and the clicking. I can't catch up. Too bad I can't sit down and learn from him that night, as I still need to take care of Tara.


*Top photo before photoshop, bottom after photoshop, notice the size of my mouth? Yup! He made it smaller.. hehe*

Haiz, still have to rely on myself, eventually.......

Monday, September 05, 2005

Pandan - Where my Childhood Memories are..

Brought Tara to Mum's place this morning, as usual, I will meet Mum at the coffeeshop and as usual, I will order a bowl of kuey teow mee soup. But today, I didn't have the appetite so decided to take something light. I sat there for more than 10 mins, not knowing what to order. All the food there are either too oily or too heavy. Looked around and saw the pastry shop. Hey! The last time I ate their pastry curry puffs was years ago! Happily, I walked to the shop. After so many years.. the uncle looked older, and more skinny but still full of energy. The curry puffs selling at 60 cents only. 60 cents! Where else can I find nice and yummy pastry curry puffs at 60 cents? I wonder how the Uncle survived with the little bread he sold everyday. My heart ached for him. Hoping to help, I ask him how many puffs he makes everyday. I ordered 20 and he said I had to place order 2 days in advance. For 20? I can imagine how difficult it is for him to survive. I'm not sure if the money he makes a day or a month is enough for the rent. I arranged to collect the order on Thursday. Uncle did not even give me a receipt, guess there's no need for one, and just told me to remember to collect. I left the shop, promising myself I will try to come back if I should need pastries.

I still remember the Uncle had to help me take the puffs because I was too small then, to reach the rack. Now, the same girl has grown up and a mother of one already. The memories of my childhood came flooding back.

I lived at Pandan all my life. Mum said we've been staying there since I was less than one year old. They always say, how old I am means the number of years we've been living at Pandan. I grew up in a "concrete jungle". Alot of people told me about kampong life, how much fun it was staying at kampong, and some said how hard life was then. They said my life is good, I lived in flats, where water is just a turn of the tap, and heat is just the flick of a switch. I would reply them, how I was brought up, in what kind of environment, is not up to me to choose. Yes, even though I don't have the fun and "freedom" those kampong people have, I do have my own kind of fun and my own set of fond memories.

As I've mentioned, I lived in Pandan all my life, hence my memories revolved around this area. I still remember how I learnt cycling at the walkway down my block, my brother's friend, Gene, taught me. My brother and I would catch rats or other small insects in those small concrete drains. We even named one rat Suzy. I had dislocated my left elbow at the playground. Mum told me even Chinese sinsehs were not willing to treat me, because of my young age. Hence I was sent to the hospital, where the doctor cast it up. One month later, the cast was removed and my arm no longer look the same. I'm not sure if it's a "mistake" on the doctor's part? Did they fixed it back wrongly? It didn't affect my life as a whole, just that it's pretty obvious and lots of people ask me what happen. I had to repeat the story again and again. My dear hubby even call me a "boomerang", how cruel can that be? Years ago, I was attending a tutorial class on the bone structure of the human body. I asked the lecturer about my case and he told me most probably, the doctor could not fix the elbow back, that's why it looks like this now. I'm not convinced but what can I say.

I remember there was once, my brother and I went to the shops a few blocks away to buy some stuff, we were stopped by those Christian Evangelists. They spoke to us for more than an hour, trying to convince us to join their church. We were so young then, we didn't know what to do so we sat there and listen. When we finally reach home, Mum was waiting for us with a cane. She was worried sick when we didn't reach home earlier, of course, we got the caning.

Whenever Mum brought us to the coffeeshop, my brother would always order his "kek huey" (chrysanthemum) and I would order my "dao ni" (soya bean). I'm not sure if we particularly like the drink but it's one of the first hokkien I learnt to speak.

There was once, we were playing in a group, which include my cousin, my brother and my uncle (couple months younger than me, but higher in "rank"). We saw a suitcase at the void deck and playfully, we open it up. To our horror, a snake sprang up and stare at us! And it's a bloody cobra. We ran and hide, and I can't remember what happen later. Initially, I thought it was a dream but I verified with brother and my younger uncle and realised it actually did happen. How dangerous! We are a group of young, ignorant and defenseless kids facing a poisonous cobra. It was lucky that all of us got away unscathed.

The Pandan reservoir was a few minutes away from my flat. I ever went there for a run with my neighbours. Hell, it was such a tiring and endless jog. That was the first and last time I made a full round at the reservoir. I even did stupid stuff, being young and ignorant, I profess my undying love for a cute guy who's staying the next block. Together with Suyan and the other friends, we threw this love note into the "sea" (the reservior lah). Jian'an (cute guy) dived in to get the note, I jumped in too, trying to snatch it back. Someone shouted at us to get out of the water and we start running away, we thought he was trying to catch us.

I still remember my "playmates". Windy, Jane and Joy.. my neighbours. I used to sit at the steps of their house and talk to them. Sometimes when I'm lucky, Uncle will let me in to the house to play with them. They owned toys that I don't and I love to play with them. They have since shifted to a condominium when I was in Secondary, I think.

There's lots of other fond memories of staying at Pandan. Though it might not be as fun as the kampong people might say, but it's another kind of enjoyment that the kampong people will not understand. Every shop, every tree, every bench, everything.. has a special place in my heart. I'm no longer living there, shifted out after I got married. Years after I've shifted out, I still feel I'm part of the place. It's the place I grew up, it's the place I call "home"..

Saturday, September 03, 2005

September Gathering

This month's gathering was held at Vivian's house. Simple and nice layout, something I like. Everytime when I look at other people's home and knowing that it's an "er ren shi jie" place, makes me feel so warm, and yet envious at the same time. I know I will not have that kind of "enjoyment" again.

Anyway, Davin (Vivian's hubby) is so friendly and nice. He talked to us quite a bit and even came out of his room to greet Audrey when she came later part of the night. That's nice... How many hubbies can do this kind of thing?

We browse through Vivian's wedding photos. She told us they spent $10k overall!!!! That's a shock man! Even spending $8k is way too much but $10k!! Oh gawd! They are rich, man! But I can guess why. The photos are so well taken! If it's me, I think I would want to buy all the photos too. But guess who will say no?

Cyrus was so mischievous last night, all the other kids received some "nice ones" from him. Tara was slapped by him a few times too. Guess Cindy really find him hard to handle, she finally could not take it no more and gave him a hard slap on his face. Poor Cyrus, it must have been so painful. But as a parent myself, I understand what Cindy is going through. But dear gal, hang on there, I'm sure Cyrus will grow out of this phase very soon. I remember Ron & Jan's boy was like that too, when he was at this age, but the last time I saw him, he was about 3 years old, and have mellowed down a lot.

I gave the gift to Jaime, I'm not sure but I guess she likes it. It's my first "scrapbook". I'm also introducing the craft to sis, who's just like me, very into crafts kind of stuff. I'm sure she will picked the hobby real soon, then I'll have a scrapping buddy! Scrapping alone is pretty boring. There will be a day where I will run out of layout ideas and I will definitely need someone to help me. With a scrap buddy, we can give ideas to each other. So fun!

Anyway, will continue with this entry later, cos Bob driving me today and waiting downstairs now. =). Nice weekend!

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Mummy & Tara

Same eyes, same nose.. Me and my baby girl

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Scrapbook happy, Chevron sad

This morning, received a good news and a bad news on my handphone.

Jane from Pictures to Pages sms me and asked if I wish to go to her house to browse the scrap supplies. She stayed just a few blocks from me! It's so convenient. I had wanted to get some supplies at Plaza Singapura today but was thinking that it's so inconvenient to travel there, and immediately this morning, I received a "call from Angel". In future, it will be so much easier to get supplies. Yay! But it might also be bad news, as it also means $$ will "fly" faster.

Another sms was from Annie, she told me the Chevron chalet was fully booked 6 months ago! It's crazy! I wouldn't have thought of booking that early, Tara was only 3 months old back then and I definitely won't be thinking of how and where to celebrate her 1st birthday! Very disappointed, I was so looking forward to holding the party there. I'm already visualizing on how I want to decorate the place. Guess I got to find somewhere else. I hate to think that my other options are those in the east area. It's so far away!!!!!

Someone tell me other alternatives please..

Tara's Milestone @ 9 Months

Tara's screaming quite a bit lately. Think she's just so impressed by her newfound "skill". I still remember Bob getting irritated by noisy kiddos. But when Tara scream, the proud father would just smile or laugh it off. Talk about double standard..

And nowadays, she will just open her mouth and kiss me even when I didn't ask her to. She even kissed my FIL! Just hope that she did not do the mouth to mouth kiss with my in-laws. I can't imagine..

She's also learning to crawl. Yes, I'm happy about it, but when I first shifted into this house, I never thought of crawling babies. Baby-safety is 0%. No window grills, lots of sharp corners, low power points with lots of wires, low drawers etc. Yesterday, my MIL told me she was opening drawers, and tugging at the wires. I wonder is it too late to "salvage" the situation.

Tara has also finally recognise me as her "mama". The other day (28 Aug to be exact), she was playing in the hall with my in-laws, I walked past her and suddenly she shouted "Mamamamama", she was holding out her arms and wanted me to carry. Boy, was I elated! I'm the first person she know how to call! And not long after, she also recognised her Daddy as her "Dada" she will go "Dadadadada" and look around for Daddy. Quite a few people, including my mum told me she will learn how to talk early, but I didn't expect this early. Just 2 days ago, my FIL was telling her "No, no, no, no" and she went "nonononononono". It was hilarious! And last night, Bob told me she went "Shh", imitating my MIL whenever she tried to make her pee.

Last night, I bought her a set of stacking cups that comes together with a bucket with those holes on the lid for different shapes. I taught her to transfer the shapes into different cups and taught her to put the shapes into the cups. She learnt fast. But babies can be stubborn, she only did once and after that, no matter how i cajoled her, she simply refused to follow my instructions. I kept all the stack cups into the bucket, cover the lid and push it to her. Initially, she put her hand into the holes but realised she could not take anything out. I didn't help her, I just watch and see how she try to take the shapes out. She pull at the handle, nothing happened. Somehow, she managed to yank out the lid. So I covered the lid again and pushed it to her, she just pulled the lid up immediately. She realised that this is the way to open the bucket. Bravo, baby girl, Mummy is proud of you.

She's also becoming a little hard to handle. Everytime I changed her diaper or put her to sleep, I have to wrestle with her for quite a while. She refuse to stay still! I wonder how my MIL can handle her.

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Long Lost Twins??


Hehe, it's actually Daddy Bob on the left and Baby Tara on the right. Look alike right?

Not a rubbish dump



It's just my office table, it's time I tidy up. If you think that's messy? You should have seen the dining table in my house! (not suitable to post as it's proven harzardous to the eyes).

Barney Theme Birthday Party

It's Simon and Sue's little boy, Nicholas' 2nd birthday party today. It's also the first time I saw a theme birthday party, a Barney Theme Birthday Party to be exact.

Every piece of the party stuff has a Barney face on it. The balloons, the decorations. Even the cake is a 3D Barney cake! And cost $157!! See the candles? It's so nice! There's also a big Barney sitting beside the front door, to welcome the guests I suppose. And the kids even get to do face painting. Thought that only happens on D&D.



They even have this don't-know-what-is-it thingy, in the shape of Barney, and once you pull a string, it will go "POP" (like those party poppers) and it will rain confetti and sweets. Wow, am I impressed! I'll be the happiest kid if I can have a birthday party like that. Not Barney of course, maybe Strawberry Shortcake? Or Smurfs? Carebear's not bad too..

Sue even prepared nicely packed "goodie" bags for all the kids. Even my 9 mth old Tara has one, though she had to stay home (because of her fever again!). There's even a name tagged onto each bag. Hey! It's such a nice gift, a good idea for Tara's upcoming 1st birthday bash!



I looked at Bob, after admiring the bag, and before I could utter a word, Bob said "Don't even think! Why do you need these kind of stuff?". "But it's so nice! And I bet it won't cost alot and I don't think there will be many kids right?" Bob rambled on about how Tara wouldn't appreciate all these as she's too young and blah.. blah.. blah.. haiz, why guys are just so boring when it comes to birthday parties? They are more interested in inviting their buddies and drink themselves silly till the wee hours of the morning. To them, this may be the best birthday party.

Anyway, I'm gonna plan a nice birthday party for Tara. It's the first one, I make sure it's the best one.

Tara's Album DONE!!

Yay!!... Finally able to sort out Tara's photos, burn them into the CD-Rom and also selected some to print. I took a total of 1252 photos in the past 9 months! To choose the ones to print was a major headache, because I want them all. In the end, managed to settle for 300 pcs after some tedious selection, which by the way, filled up all the pages of the new album I bought. Cost me $26.90, very expensive (comparing to the 1st one I bought which is $8.90) but I like it so much, I just had to get it. It costs us (ermm.. Bob actually) another $75 to print the photos. Wow, just one album and it's over a hundred bucks. Guess I should split the quantity the next time, so that we won't feel the pinch of spending so much at once.

Anyway, spent about 20 mins to sort out the pix and slot them into the pockets. Another task done. So happy..

Saturday, August 27, 2005

Scrapbook

Yes, another craft thingy that interests me now. I simply love to work with my hands. Gives me a sense of achievement whenever I finish something. But the problem is, I seldom finish anything. Like I've said before, I'm not focused. So usually by the time I can finish on one project, another one will be calling for my attention.

Went "Made With Love" at Plaza Singapura yesterday. Wow! Just the kind of shop I love to visit. I asked the assistant how do I start and she suggest I get an album, some paper stock and glue first. Okay, not much to start with. A black album caught my eye, saw the price and.. gawd!! I almost faint!!! Guess I'll get this some other day, after I get my pay. Everything in the shop are so nice! But so ex.. *bleh* Guess this will be one of the most expensive hobby I will have. There's digital scrapping as well, and it's almost zero cost, but I can't resist the nice trinklets thingy, the ribbons, pretty patterned papers, the foam stamp etc. I'm already thought of how my scrapping library will look like! So very excited!! But I guess I gotta set aside loads for this new hobby of mine. I've bought a few pieces of paper stock, a set of metal embellishments, alphabet stickers and glue to start, and it already cost me over 20 bucks. I've decided on my first project, which is.. my baby's birth story. Yes, my baby practically rule my life now. Ha!



But! I told myself, I must stay focused. Now my next project is to complete the cross stitch piece for Tara's birth. After that it's the cross stitch piece for my wedding. Way behind time... way, way behind.... Giving myself 3 weeks to complete all.

Fever go away! Go! Go!

Can you please leave my daughter alone?
It's okay if you wish to visit her once in a while.
Say once a year?
But 3 times in a month!!

My poor darling has swallowed bottles and bottles of medicine
Yet you still refuse to stay away
You are making my poor baby suffer
As well as her parents worried
And now, her grandparents too

Please, please... Go AWAY!!!!

!*&(*#@$&^@*&#

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Tara Hospitalised

*In case you are wondering, it's actually ice-pack on top of Tara's head

Tara was hospitalised again, this time, it was 4 days. It's so easy for the doctor to brush the diagnosis off as a "viral infection", and leave it as that. Both times Tara was admitted, I would tell Bob of the diagnosis and eerily, both times, the conversation between us was the same (and I wonder why he asked the same thing again).

"What the f*** is viral infection??"

"Infection caused by virus???"

"What f***ing virus is that??"

"Don't know. The doctor didn't say."

"How can the doctor don't know what virus? What the f*** he know then?" (pardon the language of a very anxious father)

"The doctor will need to do alot of specific tests before he will know what!!" *roll eyes*

The thing is, this time round, both me and Bob know that it's pretty serious. Tara did not respond to us well. When we carry her, she will stare blankly at us, no matter what we said and what we did, she would simply ignore. She was so weak, looked so tired and super cranky!

The nurse told me not to carry her. Not that I want to, she would bawled at the top of her weak voice when I moved an inch! And they told me not to cover her with blanket. Which mother in the world would leave their baby shivering and do nothing? Well, although I'm a 1/3 trained nurse (Only trained for 1 year, dropped out after that, but enough training to know basics), that doesn't mean that I can be "tough" and ignore my baby mah... I know it will increase her body temperature, but I just can't stand there and see her shiver. It's heart wrenching, and in my mother's-point-of-view, it's cruel. My friend said I'm stupid, damn, you are the stupid one! You are not a mother ok?

Irregardless, I applaud the team of TMC Level 4. You sincerely care for the patients, and we appreciate the help rendered during our stay there. You are truly the Thomson Angels. Whatever we ask, it was explained to us clearly. Whatever we ask for, you will bring it to us immediately. Even though we asked for Tara's temperature to be taken every half hour (almost!), you never complain and always do it with a smile.

Thanks to Dr Edmund Koh as well, you are always so cheerful, no matter what time of the day.

And thanks to the caterer of TMC, for the lip smacking and saliva-drooling food served nice and hot 6 times a day. YES! 6 times! You guys have truly ruined my diet! No lah, it's actually me, no matter how sad, depressed, worried or stressed, I will also have the appetite for food! I'm thinking of the food already! The very yummy papaya soup and the super delicious mee hoon soto! But no thank you, I don't mind not getting to eat the food anymore. No way I'm going back again. Enough of Thomson "Hotel" stay for me.


Finally, I wish to thank my colleagues as well, for being understanding during my long absence (considered long right?), and helping me to make sure every job run smoothly.

Friday, August 12, 2005

what to say..

i'm sitting here for 5 mins, staring at the screen, stretching and yawning away, wondering what to blog today. i'm starting to make this a habit! good, since i hardly have any good habits so to speak.

but since i don't really have anything to blog on, maybe i should just spend the 5 mins doing some crunches, i made a promise to myself, i MUST do some form of exercise on 9pm everyday. even 10 crunches will do, so that i can answer to myself. ha! my goal is "to lose 6kg by next CNY", which is about 1 kg per month, hey! only 1 kg!! the weight of one spring chicken. i can do that! i shall do that..

anyway, spent my free time (whole of 3 hours) just reading other blogs.. some were really funny and some were really freaky (actually only one.. the jie jie), and some so well-written! it's so bloody entertaining.. reading about other people's life, especially love the 'flaming' parts.. well, i enjoy good shows ya know..

actually there are people that i really wana flame.. cos they are really getting on my freaking nerves.. but i can't do it here.. well, i got my whole wedding album link here.. the whole world will know it's me! and this blog might be read by my dear precious one day.. i wouldn't want her to see her beloved always-trying-to-teach-me-manners mother scolding @&*$^ on public web.. friends who are reading this, please don't "tao chio" yah, you all know i'm not shu nu and this blog has been pretty decent from the start. very boring as compared with my colourful personality? well, let's just say that i gotta keep this clean image for my hubby too. i might start another blog, a "be myself" blog some day.. but i have to be anonymous (how to be myself and anonymous? trying to figure out).. call me coward or whatever you can think of. try being a wife and a mother before you start calling me names.

ok! i shall start one soon.. *wink*

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Book Sale @ Expo

The main reason I went there was to buy more books for tara.. The last book sale I went to was just down my office block. Imagine less than $5 per book.. hard cover ones which could cost up to $25 retail price. Of course, grab and grab man. But this book sale was not what I expected; Lots of books but none suitable for Tara. In the end, grab a few fiction ones for myself instead, and just 2 miserable ones for Tara. It's pretty cheap but there's no good books (as in those authors i like, which is not many either) in the pile loh, and me and sis only reached there 30 mins before closing time (after going the wrong way 3 times). Simply not enough time. Anyway, it's a grab, scan, go thingy.

Funny thing is, I read a lot. But my English never improved. What the...! Maybe i should read some really "knowledgeble" books soon...

After that, we crossed over to hall 5 for some bra and panties at the john little sale.

The Bra

"miss, what size you looking for?"

"erm, 80B"

she looked down and looked up "where got so big? you only 75A lah"

"i don't know mah, before i gave birth, it's 80B. just try loh, and other sizes also lah.. so i know which is the right one"

she looked down again "ok lah, i choose a few, you go try, 80A and 75B also"

look at the 80B and said " wah! like very big hor? tink i just go for 80A and 75B first lah"

"there!! i told you already, you not so big lah!"

*roll eyes* wah lau!!

Tara's Milestone @ 8 months

tara seem to understand what i want when i said "kiss mummy, kiss" she will open her mouth, stick out her tongue a little, and lean forward to kiss me... the tongue sticking part pretty gross lah.. but she can finally follow instructions! so happy! bob was holding her just now and i said "kiss daddy, kiss" and she did the same! bob was elated!!...

she's also starting to crawl a little.. don't know is it because she's feeling painful on her knees, cos she will crawl 2 steps and gave up... but at least she's trying! must encourage her more...

and today, she refused to take her nap so i decided to show her the dots card.. but this time, using a method mentioned by one of the glenn doman yahoo group mummy... i picked 2 cards, 3 and 6.. flash at a fast speed and lay both cards in front of her and call for a number to let her choose.. she got the right one! thinking it might be coincidental, i tried again.. and she got it right again.. wow! getting excited.. and i tried flashing the rest of the cards.. and after 4 more.. and her choosing the right card everytime.. i decided to pick at random 2 cards out of the 6 i've flashed and get her to picked.. she got it right 100%!! boy, it's so amazing.. this baby photographic memory ability..

i got so excited that i forgot to stop before she lost interest.. she tried to grab a card towards her mouth.. i snatched it back.. she fussed and from then on.. completely wrong everytime... hmmz... tomorrow i shall remember to stop before she wana stop..

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Happy Birthday Singapore!!

i'm late i know! but it's better late than never right? had been wanting to log on but simply couldn't find the time...

anyway, had a pretty "bleh" national day this year... bob decided to buy a lobster (yeah, the lobster dinner again) to "celebrate".. and we went on a lobster hunt, all over singapore!! ermm.. maybe only half lah, from imm to king albert park, tanglin mall, and lastly great world.. couldn't see no lobster! i guess the rest of singapore also decided to celebrate wif a lobster dinner? *shrug* at least we managed to get some really nice and cheap prawns at imm...

after dinner, i decided to bring tara to jurong east for the fireworks display.. first time in heartland, so near to home and tara's first national day! how can i miss.... bob wasn't keen, but didn't wana miss either.. so off we went! with me and tara decked out in red! hey, we are true singaporeans leh... (bob is a PR.. and he wore white..)


and boy, it's super crowded!! we had a hard time finding place to park, in the end just park by the side in some duno-wat building, luckily only a short walk to the area.. keke

we didn't walk to the marquee area cos it's way too crowded.. anyway, our main objective is the fireworks, so we just settled ourselves by the grass patch on the other side of the library..

told bob to get ready the camera and tried taking a few to see if it require adjustment, so tat we dun ka lang ka bo when the thing start... fed tara a few spoonful of porridge and suddenly the sky lit up!! aiyo, don't know how to describe man.. anyway, pictures say a thousand words...

the funny thing was, when the firework start, bob instinctively put the camera down and picked up tara instead, said he wanted to let tara see..! funny him... anyway, after the fireworks ended, the crowd start to disperse.. from my conrad experience, i know there's a second round, so i waited.. true enough! me smart hor? hehehe.. not as good as the padang one.. but better than nothing man... i really enjoyed myself.. so proud to be a singaporean..

SINGAPORE!! I LOVE YOU!!!

** Anyway, in my excitement, i think i might have fed a bone to tara, she choked and start coughing.. luckily puked everything out.. or else... *choi*

Sunday, August 07, 2005

New Phone!

Finally, got a new phone! a nokia maroon 3230. been eyeing this phone for quite a while. bob used his $500 SingTel voucher, on top of trade in of $200 for the 6230, it's more than enough to pay for the phone.. bob even bought a blue tooth $98. in the end, we only top of cash of $48. New phone, new blue tooth, no contract at $48! worth it man.. thanks SingTel.. for giving my hubby a $500 voucher every year... hehehe...

now i just pray and hope that my new phone will not drop or get any scratches for one month at least... pray pray...

Pak Tor

It's been quite a while since me an bob last 'pak tor'... we always heard that once you have kids, you will not have 'couple time' anymore.. so whenever in-laws in town, we will go for a movie.. well, it might not be a decent date but what else can you do in singapore?

Anyway, bob suggested we watch
Stealth.. i wasn't too keen, maybe because i haven heard any review on this movie.. well, the first part of the movie was a yawn.. i almost fell asleep! it's only after jamie foxx's fighter jet smashed into the cliff that the show began to get more exciting! the part where ben (josh lucas) chased after E.D.I was so kan cheong.. and the part where E.D.I. "sacrificed" itself to save ben and kara was touching...

josh lucas is so cool.... can't stand him initially but after a while... well... anyway, it's a must watch! lucky i did not choose to watch The Island..

anyway, did our household shopping before the show.. bought a non slip bowl and a set of feeding spoon for tara, wana let her learn how to feed herself, i wonder if it's too early... poor little girl, fever had been going up and down since tuesday.. gotta bring her to dr koh on monday if it still doesn't get better...

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Shutterfly

couple of days ago, i decided to use shutterfly to upload my photos.. yes, been procrastinating for almost 2 years.. wow, it's so easy to use and better than the others i've been using! i just drag the photos from my folder directly onto the website and voila! all photos uploaded in less than 5 mins! and it's 98 photos!

but the fun part was you can do effects on the photos directly.. i had fun changing from sepia tones to black and white, add soft tones, put in borders etc.. i even tried to do a coffee table book on the website.. i dare not send it out for print coz i worry about the bill that comes back.. besides, i have not uploaded the rest of the photos! hmmz.. i shall find time to explore this wonderful website again..

Ashworth sales!

went to ashworth sales yesterday! boy, whenever there's sales, there's crowd, irregardess of the time... after grabbing 6 shirts & 2 polos for bob (after 45 mins of intense rummaging), and queuing to pay, i decided to sms bob and double-check on his size (there goes my surprise!).. he told me it's 17!!! i've spent 45 mins getting all the wrong sizes! thank heaven i checked with him.. if not i would have spent for nothing! went back to the ashworth area and start rummaging again... i practically "throw away" my image.. i fell like an ah soh.. after 5 mins, i heard a familiar voice saying "hey auntie! give other ppl a chance leh!".. oh man, the guys nearby turn and stared at me... boy, was that embarrassing... but don't care lah, and continue hunting my treasures.. after a further 15 mins.. finally emerge from the pile of mess with 5 shirts, 2 polos, 1 pack of undies and 2 packs of socks... wow.. to think that all these stuff cost me only $157! worth every penny man... and to those who's thinking it's some fake goods.. well, it's a sale held by the distributor.. i highly doubt it's fake.. considering 2 ashworth polo would have cost me at least $120 in town.. this is definitely good buy!! satisfying.....

had dinner with colleagues at night... we decided to fork out $100 each for a nice dinner at prima revolving tower. the dinner was not as good as expected... except for the shark's fin soup and peking duck.. i don't really enjoy the rest.. well, not worth the money man! i remember the last time i went there (for my post-rom lunch).. it was so YUMMY!! haiz.. i wonder if it's a different chef? anyway, had lots of fun.. would love to do it again but.... no more $100 per pax meal for me... i will also be very happy if the dinner is at some hawker stall.. hehe..

went home with the big bag of clothes for bob, but couldn't sense any excitement from him.. hey! i was hoping for a big hug and lots of kisses and thank yous... haiz... it's ok loh.. anyway, i haven been buying stuff for him for so long... nowadays tara's stuff always comes first.. yes, the last time i bought a decent bra for myself was, hmmz... a year ago? since now i've bought so much for the both of them, i've decided to give myself a good treat (shopping spree!) next month, strictly MY stuff... ermm.. ok.. maybe a couple of nice tops for tara as well... as for bob, i gotta check when is the next ashworth sale... hehehe..

Thursday, August 04, 2005

You are not focused

Wow, lately been hearing this sentence pretty often...

bob mentioned this a few weeks back, when i told him there's something which i wana do.. kel mentioned it a few times too.. well, i think i'm pretty focused.. i can be very focused in alot of things i do.. like daydreaming, shopping during a sale, just to name a few...

i know what they are trying to tell me, that i'm not focused in my work. yes, i agree.. but how to i stay focused? i'm scratching my head too... maybe the job too boring? hmmz.. i always blame it on my after-birth syndrome.. there's simply too many other things for me to think of, maybe that's why i can't be focused? i guess that's also one of the reason many women chose to give up their jobs (some high flying ones even) in order to focused on bringing up their child. most probably they are like me? cannot juggle work and family? that's why they made a choice to give up career instead.. i wouldn't say mine is a career, it's just a job i guess.. why won't i give up my job then? since i couldn't stay focused? well, lots of reason, my bills, my clothes, my cosmetics, my skin care, my salon visits, tara's clothes, tara's toys and lots of other stuff which i've been paying from my own pocket... will bob pay for them if i should decide to FOCUSED on the child? since obviously i can't do the same on my job...

bob said that i can choose to stay home after he cleared our reno loan... that's 1.5 years more to go.. but would my boss wait that long? would he be tolerant of a staff who can't focus on her job? especially the job is suppose to help bring up the sales turnover? i'm crossing my fingers.. i used really enjoyed working in this company.. because i felt there's no other company that operate this way... and this is the kind of company that suits my character..

but now things are different, someone knocked me on my head and said "hello? don't be so naive, ok?" well, i'm not naive... i may not open my eyes as big as the rest of the people, but doesn't mean i don't see certain things... i just don't like to work in a company where everyone is against someone or someone boycott someone else... i don't like this kind of conflict and that's why i close one eye on alot of things... i try not to think too much on alot of things.. like whether she's with him? and what is her motive of being nice to me? or why she wana care so much on whether i hit my target? she's not my direct superior but i really thought she's being concerned and being helpful.. and they said i'm naive..

yes, i may know alot of things now.. but i don't hate her.. i don't wana boycott her.. she's still a close friend and colleague to me... even though i hear nasty remarks from her.. i still don't hate her... but what they said are true, i should be careful when i'm with her.. so now i tried not to talk too much in front of her... but i feel pretty sad, she's such a nice friend.. of cause minus those dumb stuff that she did.. what does she see in him? she's such a smart girl and she shouldn't be with him.. there's no future with him.. and no happiness.. is it really the money and power factor that's why she wana be with him? if this is true, i really pity her...

well, back to my ability-to-focused... guess i better go to the library and borrow "A Dummy's Guide on How to Stay Focused!".. it's for my own good, i was told...

My Girl... Fever Again

My poor darling... Down with fever again.. So far have not hit 39 deg.. Hope it's what mum said.. teething.. I really hope it's not some case of pneumonia again... my poor girl had suffered enough from that last illness... Just hope that she will be better tomorrow.. Pray for you darling, Love You..

Can't Wait to Get Out of the House

For people who know me, yup! When is the time when I can't wait to get out of my own house? Sometimes there's this dilemma of not wanting to go home but can't wait to go home and see Tara. Anyway, the frustration never end. Just had one this morning.. I must "ren! ren! ren!!"

Ah Kiat was fast! Got my car yesterday afternoon, but spent $310 though. Like Bob said, some money must be spent, so I must remember to send my car in for servicing when mileage is up! I don't wana go through the same fear again.. so scary....

Yesterday, my colleagues, as well as Cindy, commented that I look a pretty face but body cannot make it.. thus my mood today is FAT! I know! I know! I'm not doing much to slim down.. but with my kan cheong spider attitude, anything that I don't see results in a few days I will give up mah.. and slimming down take ages!!! yes, ages!! i do envy those mummies with nice figure and flat tummies. I wonder how they did it hor? Like Cindy, yup, sometimes can see a little tum tum but she's still slim mah.. My weight just stopped at 56.5kg and refuse to go down any further. I tried taking less carbo food and avoid snacking, but it doesn't help!... This morning I was looking the the stadium construction and wonder when will it be ready. I must make my mid year resolution. TO LOSE 6KG BY NEXT CNY! TO LOSE 6KG BY NEXT CNY! TO LOSE 6KG BY NEXT CNY!

Hey! Just by saying that 3 times, i felt better already!! Hmmz, craving for Strawberry Shortcake and Tiramisu now....

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

why i started blogging

i heard that word before, but din really care about it.. it's only when i come across huileng's "sketches of happenings" tat i really got interested. i even emailed huileng to ask how she started this website... well, she happen to have a husband who's extremely gd in IT..

i started finding info on how to set up website and wat program to use etc.. then i realised it's not gg to be easy. and i simply coundn't afford the time! besides, i gotta to learn it slowly, step-by-step.. wah.. it's gonna take so long! i happen to be those kan cheong spider type.. so after a few mths, i gave up! and use blogspot instead. so much easier.. except that i duno how to do the sort of album of photos that huileng have.. hmmz... and i saw fm other bloggers website that they can put in graphics and stuff.. i duno how to either... guess i'll just stick to this first..

the reason i'm so keen to blog? hmmz.. i duno either, i just like it when i saw huileng's website and decided i wana do the same. fm the papers, i know some of the "famous" bloggers like
mr brown, xiaxue and sandralicious. almost all are talking bout stuff happening on their daily life.. and i wonder, why other ppl's life interest other ppl so much? of cos it interest me, cos i always the kpo kind of ppl.. kekeke... and would i be happy IF my blog get so much attention? well, yes and no.. yes cos it's almost celebrity status leh! everyone knows you but you duno them.. and no cos i can't write those things i really wana say.. so many ppl reading it! so wat if i'm complaining bout someone and that person is reading! well... hell break loose loh... but since i decide to publish a blog, i would have expect someone to read rite? well.. dilemma...

tara's milestone

sunday was the first time i saw tara wriggle to a sitting position! so proud of her.

and on monday night, i was singing a lullaby which happen to have lots of "s" in them.. and after a while, she start going ss.. ss.. too! i was so surprised and happy and hugged her! my darling's growing up... and starting to respond.. my pride and joy.. love her to bits...

why....

i duno why she doesn't call me by my name
every time she talk, she will go straight into topic
i wonder if she's talking to me
i wonder why she doesn't call me by my name

why they always don't wait for me
they can go first if they want to
but why they have to take her with them
can't they just leave her here with me
sometimes i wonder if she's mine
sometimes i feel that she's not mine

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

monday blues

nope, i dun feel any blues.. but wasn't feeling chirpy either..

went to ikea during lunch and bought some storage boxes for tara's toys.. spent over $60 bucks for a few boxes! spent the rest of the afternoon doing paperwork and day over.. so boring rite?

i offered to pick in-laws cos i tot bob was still in the office.. picked tara after tat and FIL was so excited, was telling me tat he will carry tara, hinting to me not to put her in the car seat... actually tinking of putting her in the car seat, felt it's safer loh.. but wat to do...

bob went for drinks wif his buddies, didn't wana stay hm either so went to JP wif cindy and cyrus.. just for an hour but gd enough.. better than staying hm... sometimes i wonder why i hate to go hm so much... haiz...