What did you get for Valentine's?

Happy belated Valentine's Day to all! Hope you all have got some really nice gifts or bouquets from your other half.

Good news! My sis managed to sell quite a few bouquets, considering that she started out so late. And the single rocher wand was a hit!! So happy for her.

As for my own Valentine's Day, we didn't celebrate, cos we've already did during our weekend stay at the hotel. I did tell Bob I wana go out with Tara and him cos I will be away for the weekend and I wana spend more time with them. On my way back from work, I saw the traffic jam on the highway to town was horrendous, so we decided to go to good 'ol Jurong Point again.

It's super crowded at Jurong Point. And there are long queues outside all the restaurants. What's with dinner at restaurants on Valentine's Day huh? Anyway, we decided to go for Mos Burger instead. Although there isn't any queue at the counters, the place is full and Bob didn't wana waste time waiting for tables so we decided to get the necessities first.

When we were outside NTUC, Bob told me to go in first, he wanted to buy something and brought Tara along with him. While I was getting the trolley, I thought maybe he's getting something for me! Pretty excited but I acted nonchalant when he came looking for me. I took a peep the pram and saw no bouquets leh. So I guess Bob didn't went off to get me a surprise gift. Well.. that's Bob. A little disappointed but it's okay, cos he already treat me to a meal at the hotel.

While we were getting the diapers, he shoved something into my hand.

Bob: Eh, for you. Happy valentine's day.
Me: Huh? What's this? Thai Baht!!!!?
Bob: Yah loh, your valentine's day gift.
Me: Who would give Thai Baht as a gift?
Bob: You going Bangkok mah. I only managed to change now cos just now no time.
Me: Okay, at least tie it with a nice ribbon lah. But why you wana give me money in the first place?
Bob: Give you spending money for your trip loh.

Cute eh? That's my husband. The very practical sort of person. Actually, I think he made a very wise choice. Even though flower bouquet is nice and romantic, but I can only look at it right? At least the money I can spend and buy things I like in Bangkok.

Sometimes, this guy really do unexpected things. Cute.

Exasperated!!

Can someone tell me how to discipline a toddler?

Tara is so impossible sometimes. Whenever she did something really naughty, I would give her a stern look but she would continue doing what she was doing, while looking at me straight in the eye. Then I tried telling her 'no' with the stern look but she simply don't care and still carry on doing what she want. So I tried smacking her on her palm, from soft slap to a painful hard smack but she just refused to stop! She even offer me her palm when I told her I'm gonna smack her for being naughty, and go back to doing all the nonsense again. Exasperated, is the only word that can describe how I feel.

Are there any other methods to discipline her?

Gosh, it's so difficult being a parent.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DEAREST HUSBAND, BOBBY!

It's my hubby's birthday today! 34 years ago, he decided he didn't want to have his birthday on Valentine's day and get only 1 pressie for both occasions, so he chose to pop out one day before.

There was once, I prepared 2 pressies for him, and I would give it to him at the last minute of 13th, and once the clock strike 12, I would whipped out the other pressie for 14th, Valentine's Day.

But this year, I decided to treat him to a night's stay in a hotel over the weekend.

Happy birthday to my lao gong, hope you stay pui pui and cute cute forever!

Sad...

The husband of someone I knew, passed away yesterday morning.

Reaction was shock. Usually that's the reaction when you hear about someone, or someone's someone passed away. But this is a speechless-for-5-minutes kind of shock.

She was married to this man only 2 months ago. And this was one man who sincerely doted and appreciated her but fate is cruel.

It's not her first marriage, but I guess it's her happiest. She didn't have a smooth love life, but she's a very strong woman. When we spoke this morning, she sounded like her usual self, but I guess, deep down inside, she's breaking into pieces. I mean, they are newly weds! And now, she's now a widow of her new husband. How cruel is that!

Everyone felt so sad for her, so sad.

The irony thing was, just now, I was tidying my table, I saw the tag from their wedding favours lying beneath my pile of barang. 10th December 2005. Husband & wife for only 2 months and 2 days. I guess their honeymoon to Israel was for a reason. They are devout Christians.

She spoke of her wedding as though it's her first. she told me how happy her mum was on that day. She got drunk and was really wild, even sabo-ed the wedding couple.

I will be going to the wake in the afternoon. Bob wanted to go with me, but I told him no. It's his birthday today.

Deepest condolences to her. Hope she will stay strong.

Bought something for your loved one?

Valentine's around the corner, if you or anyone you know hasn't bought anything for their loved ones, you all ought to be shot.

But fret not, Fairy Godmother is here to help. Just email them this link, and tell them to email tangerinz.etc@gmail.com for orders and inquiries.

What can I say? I'm such a nice person. Eh, I heard someone puking.

Pictures!

6 wands!

It's nice, isn't it? My sis did them all. So proud of her. Must support her okay? Let me know if you manage to help get someone to gao guan, I'll personally buy a wand for you.. Muacks.

It's the season to share love.

Tara’s Milestone @ 14 months

Development
1) She has 7 teeth now. 5 on top, 2 at the bottom.
2) Started walking on 10th January.

New vocabulary
Shower She would go “how-wer”.
Hello Used to be only “lo”.
Popo Sounds more like “papa” sometimes.
No more Follow by the infamous turning of hands.
Watch She will point to a watch and go “wat”

New commands
Take off your shoes We will tell her that whenever we stepped into the house, she will sit down and tried to pull off her shoes. Now she will do it herself, without us telling.
Close the door
Stand up
Sit down
Cover your head Mum taught her this. Whenever the sun is too glaring, she will auto place her hand on her head.
Baobao (Stomach full) She will touch her tummy.
Mummy hold your hand She will let me hold her hand.
Give She will stretch out her hand and give what she's holding. She passed me all her ang baos when I told her to. Received many praises that she so well-behaved (duh..).

Other things
1) She's been learning about "cause and effect" before she turned 1. Everytime she does something, I will try not to give any reaction. I will simply ignore or maybe give a gentle word of caution. If I'm going to raise my voice or laugh when she does, for example, pinch me, pull the newspaper or doing free fall on the bed, she will do it over and over again, and laughing while she did it. Nothing can stop her.
2) She was watching the "Hi-5" the other day and when Tim was singing the song about cows, I saw her bending over and doing a biting action. Then I remembered the 2nd part of this song, the other Hi-5 members would act as cows and a part of the dance had them bending and "nibbling on the grass". But when she did this action, it's not even that part of the song yet. She must have watched the same VCD too many times, that she actually remembered. And recently I noticed she would sing to the "Yoodle-lo-dle-yeah-hee". Hilarious.

Chinese New Year - Day 3

We've done all the visitings in 2 days, hence, there wasn't any programs on the 3rd day. Not wanting to stay home, we went to Marina Square to roam around.

Bob wasn't the window-shopping kind so after walking for a while, we went to Carl's Junior for our dinner. Finally! After weeks of waiting, I get to taste the burgers from the infamous restaurant. I ordered a Portobello Mushroom burger while Bob ordered a BK Whopper taste-alike and spicy beef fries and coke to share. Bob wasn't impress, saying the burger tasted just like BK. I admit I was a little disappointed too, cos it didn't really tasted fantastic. Or maybe we didn't ordered the right flavours?

Before we eat that burger, let's do some breathing exercise! Breathe in.. Breathe out...

After dinner, we decided to find a cafe for some cuppa, as well as feed Tara her dinner. Bob and I had a nice chat there. I told him it's actually better to bring Tara outside, cos we tend to do our own stuff at home; surfing internet, watching TV etc. We shopped at Giant a bit and Tara was really naughty. She refused to be carried or sit in the pram, preferred to walk around by herself and in the direction she wanted. She's basically going all over the place and didn't want to follow us. When I carried her, she screamed and kicked so violently, people might thought I'm abusing her. I think she's going into her terror 2 phase already! Really had a hard time taming that little padi.

While we were going to the carpark, Bob wanted to use the toilet so we went in to Pan Pac. Both Tara and me were so fascinated by the lanterns decorations in the hotel. The lanterns were hanging down from really high up, it's so beautiful! I applaud the person who did the decor! Good job!!!

When it's my turn to go to the toilet, Tara made a fuss. She refused to let me out of sight. Bob had to bring her to the fountain area and let her play with the water. Her top got wet and worried she might catch a cold, I changed her immediately.

Clockwise from top left- Tara: Hee! Let me show you another stunt of mine, blow bubbles with my nose!, Mummy & Baby Tara, playing with water at Pan Pac, Fascinated with toys at Giant.

On our way back, I told Bob I felt like playing mahjong but Mum wasn't around to take care of the kids that day. So I tried to make Tara sleep and indeed, she fell asleep just before we reach Mum's place. This time round, me and Sis were lucky, both of us won over a hundred. Yippee!

Chinese New Year - Day 2

Tara: Hee! Let me show you how I can do a peace sign and dig my nose at the same time!

Usually this day, Aunt (Dad's elder sis) would come to Dad's place to bai nian. But ever since Grandma passed away, we have been going to her house. It's a respect for the elders, I heard. This year however, we went to Cousin Didi's place instead. Cousin Didi's newborn son was born prematured at 27 weeks and thus the lungs wasn't well developed. My new nephew, Edward, was discharged only recently, after 2 months in the hospital. Even till now, oxygen has to be constantly available cos he might stopped breathing anytime. That's why cousin had to stay home.

We had our routine poker session. And Tara was really fierce, shouting and screaming whenever her demands wasn't met. She definitely didn't leave a good impression with my Aunt and cousins! Hehe..

At cousin's place

Went back to Dad's place for a nap before going to 3rd Aunt's place for dinner. 1st Aunt's daughter, 40s and single, always had to hide whenever Tara was there. Don't know why but Tara would cry really hard when she sees her. Although I thought Tara was being a little ridiculous, but the past 2 nights after seeing her, Tara didn't get a good night sleep. Always wake up in the middle of the night crying. So I thought it's best to avoid seeing her. When I told MIL about Tara crying when she sleeps, she dismissed it as lack of sleep and too much play. I had to tell her it's not that cos she always play a lot and slept little. I thought I saw her felt a little irritated by my comment. But then again, she's only been here for a few days and she's already making assumptions. MIL just likes to make lots of empty assumptions, based on what she thought was right. The last time she was here, she actually argued and was really adamant on the point that xiao long bao is dry on the inside, not watery. My FIL, BIL, Bob and me were telling her there's juice from the meat that makes it a tang bao, but she insist she's right, it's dry. Nobody could change her mind. And she always thought that Tara was sticky to her. And I thought she's really good with her assumptions, to the point I will go speechless, and just put my hands together to applaud her imagination.

We went back early cos Bob and me were simply too tired, but we still managed to take some family pictures.

By the way, the pink piggy beside Bob is not part of the family, i repeat, not part of the family.

Chinese New Year - Day 1

On the first day of CNY, it has always been a routine to gather at one of my uncle's (Mum's brothers) house, they take turns to host the CNY party. Mum had 7 siblings so it's a pretty big gathering. Even though I'm not close to most of them, somehow, I'm already used to spending my CNY with a big bunch of relatives. I have to give out many ang baos, to those little nieces and nephews whom I don't even know by name. Come to think of it, I didn't know the names of my cousins' spouses either! There's too many to remember! 2nd uncle hosted the gathering this year. I went Mum's place to bai nian before we left for uncle's place together.

Tara wasn't fazed by the big crowd. She was walking around the whole time, and refused to stop to let anyone carry. She would flashed her toothy grin, looking so friendly, and giving the wrong idea that she can be carried. Many tried, nobody succeed. Sometimes, not even me. When my Mum is around, I'm her 2nd favourite person. But I'm not jealous at all, because she's my Mum. I wouldn't say the same if it's someone else! Bob is the only other exception.

We went back to Mum's place and decided to have a mahjong session. Dad, Sis, Bob and me. Mum took care of the kids. I'm really lucky to lose only $16, considering that the stakes was 0.50/1.

After the short game, we rushed to 3rd aunt's place. A relative of theirs was waiting for us, or Tara to be exact. When we reached, Tara just woke up from her nap and willingly let the relative's daughter to carry. Tara even rested her head on her! Surprisingly. I saw this daughter only once a year, and every year, she grew more and more pretty. This year, she blossomed, into a ravishing beauty! I guessed there would be countless suitors going after her. I promised to email her the pictures she took with Tara. But I realised all the pictures were gone. Left only a few! Even those taken in the morning were gone! Hence, there weren't any morning photos to show either. I'm so sad!

Tara looking really cute with the mandarin orange carrier

Chinese New Year - Eve

I haven't bought my shoes so I thought I would try my luck on the last day before CNY. 3 places on my agenda; Suntec, Marina Square and Bugis. I'm looking for those peep-toes which I know I would definitely be able to get at Far East or Heeren but I don't think I would wana get caught in the jam there, besides, I need to collect the inflatable castle from ELC, and I need to exchange a pair of pants at Bugis.

I reached Suntec at 11am, the whole place was quite quiet. I remembered I saw a nail salon on the same level as ELC. My badly chipped nails needed some professional sprucing up. To my dismay, it's closed! For new year already! I didn't want to do my own nails, like I did every year, cos I always do it really late and lose precious sleep. My appointment with Lala on Friday had to be cancelled too, as I'm too busy with work.

I proceed to ELC for the castle. I'm supposed to collect it last Monday, but I forgot about it and Tuesday, the day which the staff told me that they will put it back for sale, I was too busy with work. On Thursday, I did went to ELC and couldn't find any stock on the shelves, but I didn't ask about my reserved item either cos I thought they had sold it, I was really disappointed. I only asked the staff if there's any more stock. 2 hours after I left, they called me to remind me to collect the item. They did set aside the item for me! But then said they will put it on the shelves (again) on Friday. I did collect it, on Saturday instead. When I told them my name, they went "Oh!", and immediately, picked out the item without even checking the name on the note. They must have silently scolded me for not picking the item earlier.

Cindy was supposed to meet me at Marina Square, so I thought I would go Bugis to exchange the pants first so we can have more time to shop at MS. When I reached Bugis, I knew Cindy wasn't able to join me so I might as well shop there. I decided to try the nail salons to see if there's any available slot. Lucky me, I managed to get an express manicure at Hollywood Nails. I opt for a red, and realised it look funny. Short nails and red don't go together. So I shopped for a set of nail art while waiting for the nail paint to dry. I had a really fulfilling trip to Bugis, I even get to trimmed my eyebrows, bought a belt and a brooch, 2 pairs of shoes and 4 pcs of undies.

Reached home at almost 4pm. Cleaned up the kitchen and dining table before we left for Mum's place for our reunion dinner. This year, Bob decided to have the dinner at Mum's place, cos he knows how much I wanted to have it there, on the actual CNY eve. He's such a dear. Steamboat dinner as usual. Left for 3rd aunt's place at about 9pm. Although we are not having dinner there, I thought we should at least be there, even though Bob don't find it necessary.

Went back home, finished my final "grooming" and tidying up. Only managed to settle down to do the nail art at about 2 plus, finally get to sleep at 3 in the morning. And I thought this year I'm very well-organized, having had most stuff done already, and will be able to get to sleep earlier. *shrug*

Accessories Frenzy!

I stumbled upon an accessories shop in Queensway Shopping Centre a couple of days ago. It's a godsend. With earrings at $1.90 a pair and necklaces at $4.90 to $9.90 a piece, I thought I'm in Bangkok!

I went there twice and spent less than $40 both trips. But for $40, which will only get me maybe a necklace and a pair of earrings at other places, I actually got 5 necklaces, 2 pairs of earrings, 4 pieces of rubber hair-tie and 2 pieces of ribbon lanyards for my mobile phone. It's a real bargain, no doubt.

Spring Cleaning & stuff

I've started to spring clean the house since last week. During the weekends, I managed to get Bob to install the new curtains for the soon-to-be-Tara's room. I love the new curtains. It makes the whole room look different. I've got to get rid of the sofa bed, which is extremely under-utilized. I've also cleaned up the dining table, now it looks as good as new! The shoe cabinet have been lined with new anti-bug paper. Last night, I've tidied part of the wardrobe. Just 3 drawers and 2 shelves done and it took me 2 hours! And I've chucked one big bag of thrash. Oh man! I've got so much junk. Tonight, I'm gonna continue with the wardrobe, tidy my dresser, tidy up Tara's clothes cabinet and my bedside tables. Tomorrow I've taken a day's leave, to clean up the kitchen, I reckon I will need 1 full day for it. And I'm sure there will be 5 big bags of trash once I'm finished. If I have enough time, I will tidy the storeroom a little. Tara will be at Mum's place as usual, cos with an inquisitive kid around, I can't do much. Thursday I'll have to clear up the study room and I'm done! Friday I'll just do some light housework cos I wouldn't want to ruin my manicure. *wink*

When I tidied the wardrobe last night, I found 2 $10 Takashimaya vouchers, at 2 different locations. Yeah! I'm gonna go get a new pair of Clarks for Tara with the vouchers. I also found a $10 Paragon vouchers. I wonder if I will find more vouchers or even better, cash money! Oh okay, I'm dreaming.

And the guy who sold me the shoes have replied my email. He promised to refund me the money once I've returned the shoes. But he only mentioned $17 which is what I've paid. Okay, give and take. I'll get him to pay another $1 more as I don't feel right having to pay $2 postage to send back refunded goods.

Rantings!

I'm very troubled, the big job finally got complaints and client asking for settlement. Well, I'll just leave it to my boss on what he wants to do, no matter what, I'm just an employee. I can't elaborate further, the only thing I can say is, I'M SO STRESSED! *urggghh*

And last week, I bought a pair of shoes for Tara on Yahoo Auction. It's stated brand new and in the size I wanted. But when I received the item, I found the shoes to be a little dirty, as if the shoes were left on some shelves for a while. I emailed the seller and he replied that he shoes are totally new which I can see from the soles. He's right, the soles are clean. But if you put brand new, it means it's totally brand, sparkling new right? Like I said, it looks quite dirty, which is the first thing I can't accept. And the second thing, the shoes are in size 5, but on the auction, it's stated size 3. I've got to return the shoes. No doubt I really love the pair of shoes, I can't accept that the seller did not even indicate the description properly. I felt cheated. I've just emailed him that he has to refund me the money, and I will send the shoes back to him. Postage will be paid by him, which I feel it's the right thing to do. If he will refund me, I will not leave any rating. Let's see what he says.

A few things

I've got quite a few things to blog, so I'm gonna just do it in point form, here goes:

1) I went China Square and bought these for Tara. 5 rompers and 2 sets of PJs. And the price? You ready?? $20! Yeah! For everything! Actually to be exact, it's $19.90! What a bargain.. Actually my intention is to get more tops for Tara 'cos I realised that I got 5 bottoms and nil tops for her. I'm talking about short-sleeves-singapore-weather-friendly type. Can someone please tell me where to find nice tops? Zara is out, I couldn't find any there that's why I'm still looking. Fox is out either, I kind of thought the clothes are getting more and more cartoonish.

2) Starting to decorate the house, and the more I look at my new coasters, the more I love them! They are so zen-ish, don't you think? And they cost me only $10, for 3 packs of 6 pcs each.

3) I went Lala and colour my hair today! To a 2 tone brown & ash colour, I can't take picture of it cos my hair style is hideous! Don't be mistaken, it's not that Stella didn't do a good snipping job. My hair texture is really bad. I guess I need lots of hair moisturizer. Can anyone recommend me a good one? And I got my pedicure done at the same time! I love the colour, it's actually a dark brownish kind of red with pink butterflies on it. My favourite butterflies! I'm not showing full pic of my feet cos I don't have nice feet like Gene. I took at least 10 photos but none of them "jian de liao guang".

4) I bought 3 tops from Far East Plaza. Noticed 2 of them are empire cut? Very suitable for someone who still look preggie. Weeks ago, I also bought a bag at FEP too. Melissa will find this bag really familiar. Yup, she has one. I saw it on Talia's birthday party. Hey Melissa, you don't mind me having the same bag as you hor? I thought it's a very nice bag, not too dressy and not too casual as well, just what I need for CNY! It comes with a small pouch and cost me only $35. I wanted a big bag for Tara's stuff and don't intend to carry another small one for my stuff so I might as well get a nice one. Something different from the casual ones I normally carry. But if I need a small bag, I did bought one from MatchGirl just before christmas. I have a white pair of heels which I've never worn before, so if I should have no luck in getting another nice pair, then this will be my reserve. Now I just need 2 bottoms, and a couple more undies and I'm done! I've made appointment to go back Lala for my manicure next Friday. Ahh... I wonder if I've spent a little too much. *frown*

5) I'm not going to buy any ang baos next year. I realised that I will get lots of nice angbaos free. Like those here. Actually I prefer gold angbaos rather than the red ones. I know they won't be called angbaos but gimbaos instead, but nobody will care as long as it's not black right? Those on top are given by my suppliers. It's with pictures of doggies in front and flowers at the back. Really nice and sweet, I'm gonna use this for Dad & Mom's angbao. And special occasions.

6) Tara tore the veil of my wedding kitty. Even though it's not my actually wedding bear, it still has it's own significance. We put it on top of our TV, when kitty dropped on the floor, Bob will say I fell down. Or when I accidentally dropped Daniel, Bob would ask jokingly why I push him onto the floor. I didn't reprimand Tara but I'm quite sad about it.

7) And lastly, guess everyone read the report of the naked salesman in Woodlands. I'm shocked to say that I know him. I won't say how or where, but the couple of times I met him, I actually find him rather decent and ermmm.. good-looking. When I was told that the guy was him, I'm dumbfounded, speechless. It took me a while to register the shocking news. When I saw the pictures, I did not realise it's actually him until someone told me today. Even then, I didn't believe and said the person might haven been mistaken! And finally, I found this report. Yup, it's him...

New Book

Yippee! I've finally bought this book! I got it when I fetch Bob from the airport on Monday. Been on the library's waiting list since months ago and still waiting.. Just got my commission, so it's a little treat for myself. Considered a treat as I don't spend much on books. Don't really like to buy books cos I don't like to keep them. Love reading but hate the storage part. If this book is good, then I might consider building a nice bookshelf for it. Now, my next target is Memoirs of a Geisha. Been wanting to read it since years ago. Have picked up and put down this book at bookstores countless times. Hmmz..

Chinese New Year Shopping

I've been buying stuff for Chinese New Year even before Christmas was over. Although I've bought quite a lot, my shopping is still not finished. I haven't bought my clothes and shoes and PJs, Bob's clothes and undies (yup, my job every year) and Tara's shoes. The only stuff I bought for myself are; bag, bras & undies.

Tomorrow I'm going shopping with Cindy, who's gonna be my fashion consultant. I've no fashion sense to start with in the first place so this year, I decided to get some help. Since I can't be slim, at least I'll be stylo-milo right? We will be going to Far East Plaza, crossing my fingers that they will have my size.

Stuff for the house

Today I did quite a bit of shopping too. I went to 3 Aussino outlets before I finally bought my bedsheet and quilt cover set at West Mall. I got 2 packs of bibs at Centrepoint and 1 box of hankies at Great World. Got the most stuff at Great World, I spent $230 in Zara for Tara's clothes, $150 sponsored by my colleagues (her birthday present). I've finally found the cushion covers and bought 2 purple and 2 gold. I really love the purple cushion covers! I also went to Barang to get 2 new cushions. Got my bras & undies at Robinsons Centrepoint too. (Finally!)

Yesterday, I went Ikea to shop for curtains and curtain rods & hooks for Tara's room. We've decided to convert the only guest room for her. Also bought a floor mat, laundry bag and a photo frame for Tara's photo that got her a consolation prize.

Last week, Bob & I went to Chinatown for our CNY shopping. It's the first time we went there together. It's still the rainy season last week so there were passing showers while we were there. It's rather irritating and I hate wet seasons! The only shelter Tara had over her head was the pram canopy and it's cloth. I'm so worried Tara will fall ill. We can't even carry the umbrella properly as the tentage were built pretty low. I managed to get my tissue box holders, coasters and table runnner there, at a really reasonable price of $23! What a bargain. Bob bought lots of tidbits and lap cheung. I also bought 2 set of Espirit towels at Jurong Point for Bob and myself. For Tara, she will use the set I got from Cindy during the christmas gift exchange.

2 weeks before, I went to Ikea and got some glass containers, coasters (yup, I actually bought some already, hehe) and bath mats.

Immediately after Christmas, I bought the ang bao packets and "chun lian" at Bukit Batok while having lunch with dear Cindy. I realised I got the same ones as Gene and Melissa and just like Melissa, I got the ang bao at $1 per packet. I also bought 2 packs of cute ones at Daiso. Those are reserved specially for Tara, my niece and nephew & friends kids. The red ones are for my relatives' kiddos. There are lots of them, and frankly, I can't remember who's who anymore.

I think I went a little over the top at Zara today...

Before Christmas, there was a sale at Takashimaya for Polo Ralph and Guess clothes for baby. I only spent $100 for 3 bottoms from Guess and 1 long sleeve polo tee and 1 denim skirt from Polo Ralph. Really good deal!

Yup, so many shopping trips but I'm still not finished. Gotta get my shopping done soon, tidy up the whole house, colour my hair and find a mani/pedi salon that still has slots for next Friday.

Chinese New Year, the all important occasion, where things have to be new and house has to be spruced up. Another 11 days to go.

Bad Customer Service

Yesterday, I went to Standard Chartered at Anchorpoint at about 2pm to cash my cheque. It’s not really crowded when I reach and I’m the fourth in queue. I reckoned it won’t take longer than 15 mins since there are only 3 blokes before me.

Boy, am I totally wrong! There were 3 counters, 1 is for priority banking, and that leaves 2 other counters. Both service staff took their own sweet time to do the transactions. Okay, to be fair, maybe those transactions really require precise care and attention. The queue started to get longer at this stage. To our (not only mine) surprise, one of the counter staff (let’s call him “the guy”) put up a “queue close” sign. He closed the counter!? When there are so many of us in the queue? I’m not sure what required his immediate attention but he stood there and did some paperwork stuff, trying to look really busy. Another 10 - 15 mins, there are only 2 blokes in front of me now and the queue starting to get impatient. Shuffling of feet, deep sighs, “tsk tsk”, “wah lau” can be heard in the queue. And the best part is, the only counter staff was happily chatting to one bloke while at least 15 of us waited.

We kept looking at the guy, wondering if he will open the counter, but he just continued doing his paperwork, nonchalant of the tension building up in the queue. Finally, there’s only 1 bloke before me and the gal (the only other counter staff) after doing the last transaction, stood up and left her counter! We were not only surprised, we were totally pissed! And one uncle said “One left for the toilet, and the other doing stupid things!” One lady in the queue walked up to the guy and told him to open his counter, as there was a long queue already. The guy said “Okay, opening soon, sorry.” That was it?????

A little hell broke loose. The lady walked back to the queue and said: “These paperwork can do after 3 mah! So many of us queuing!” and the uncle said: “Standard Chartered! Since 1960s.. but…”, “I think they want to go home on the dot loh, that’s why they do their paperwork now”.. blah.. blah.. blah.. I kind of felt embarrassment for the guy, even though I’m quite angry with him too.

If the guy really thought the paperwork required immediate attention, he should not have done it at the counter. No doubt he tried to look real busy, it served nothing but infuriated the people even more. And the gal, aware that the queue was so long, left her work desk! If she really needs to leave, at least tell the guy to open his counter!! Waiting for so long to be served was bad enough, but now there was no one to serve us!! I kind of wondered why the management staff didn’t do something about it. When I left, I saw one lady walked out of the office, asking if anyone wanted to cash their cheques, trying to appease the crowd or something. They took 30 minutes to take action. Really bad!

I came back and told my colleagues and one of them told me Standard Chartered has the worst customer service! Yup, totally agree. It’s time they do something about it.

Fulfilling Sunday

I woke up early yesterday morning, at the soft thud of Tara falling off the bed, she whimpered a little but was fine. I checked her body for any redness but couldn’t see anything visible. Fortunately, she was feeding well hence I didn’t worry a lot.

Since we woke up early, I decided to bring Tara downstairs for breakfast. She sat in her pram beside me, behaving quite well, while I feed her a meat bun. When we reached home, I quickly shower her and put her in the sarong for her morning nap. While she slept, I cooked her lunch, a very healthy combination of organic brown rice, organic carrots, organic spinach and new potatoes. I did the 2nd round of laundry. I have to wash all the curtains and could only do it bit by bit. In total, I did 6 loads of washing! I was so worried the washing machine will just explode in a mist of black smoke and die. Considering out of the 6 loads, I soaked 3 loads for 2 hours each.

In between the washings, taking down and hanging up the curtains, I cleaned and wiped the curtain tracks and rods, sweep the floor, tidied and cleaned part of the study room, fed Tara her lunch, one round of milk, her dinner, cooked and ate my own healthy dinner (vegetable soup with Japanese noodles), took a 1 hour nap and even played with Tara, bathed her again and took her to Jurong Point to get some stuff and $$ and then to the pasar malam at night, came home, put her to bed and did this entry, before I finally succumbed to the comforts of duvet at 2am.

Tara at the pasar malam, making funny faces at the uncle sitting beside us, while I feed her and myself some junk.

Tara's healthy brown rice porridge, and a bottle of vegetable fruit juice and my very yummy vegetable soup noodle.

I never knew I could do so much in 1 day. When Bob came back today and I told him the amount of work I did, he said I’m only hardworking when he’s not around. Of course! Usually he will spend his weekends in front of both his laptop and the TV. How hardworking can I be then? So I usually nuah on the sofa and watch TV. Not that I need him to help me with the chores, I’m actually quite happy tidying the house by myself, cos he’s only going to mess things up, throw things I want to keep, and put things in all the wrong places. I can be really disciplined when I want to, you know? *smug*

Yup! A very fulfilling Sunday for me, I’m happy.

Little Miss Scatterbrain

I usually place my car key on the roof of my car, so I won't hurt or scratch Tara when I carry her out from the car seat. This morning, I left the key there for 40 minutes, while I enjoy a leisure breakfast at the coffeeshop near Mum's place.

If I'm not in Singapore or a safe neighbourhood, my car would be gone faster than you say "Go!". It's practically an open invitation to car theives and burglars. I even leave my bag inside can? Although I did put it in an inconspicuous corner.

I've been dubbed Little Miss Scatterbrain by my ex-colleagues, they even bought me the book on my birthday. Well, what can I say? Still as scatterbrain as ever. But now I should be called Madam Scatterbrain or something.... since I'm married with a kid.

Bob went to KL & My Shopping Trip

Bob left for KL this afternoon and will only be back next Monday. As usual, Tara and I sent him off at the airport. We had a quick meal at Burger King before he left in a hurry. Tara and I strolled around the T2 and took the sky train to T1. Barely 20 metres of walking into T1, I decided to leave, what's there to see in Changi Airport besides those travellers coming and going. It only makes me feel envious, and wonder when is my turn. (It's coming soon, yeah!). And the airport has ample space for Tara to totter around.

Towards the end, Tara walked towards me and wanted me to carry and make noise when I didn't.

While we were waiting for the sky train, we saw this couple, taking their wedding photos at the airport. Romantic! Maybe the bride is one of the cabin crew, that's why they decided to take their photos there. Hmmz..

I thought of going to some neighbourhood mall to shop before I go home but I realised that the nearest is Tampines Mall (if I'm not wrong), and Bob said I will definitely lose my way and told me to go Bugis instead. I hate going town on weekends cos it's really crowded and finding parking is difficult. Eventually, I still ended up at Suntec. Fortunately, I managed to find parking pretty easily.

Tara and I went to the Family Link first and I reserved this at ELC (Early Learning Centre), it's on 50% discount, at only $30! I'll just need to go Toys R' Us to get those plastic balls. Hope Tara will be really happy with this new toy. Now, I gotta think of where to put it. *scratch head*

After I've done my shopping at Carrefour, I thought of going to Marina Square to have my dinner Carl's Junior. I've always wanted to try the large burgers there but Bob will cringe when I mention fast food. Besides, the sky cast a dark shade of gray, too risky to walk there and too troublesome to drive so I just thought I will try the restaurants downstairs. When I reached the basement, I glanced to my left and was both astonished and elated to find Carl's Junior right beside. There weren’t any seats so I stood beside this small table, where the occupants were ready to leave. Once they stood up, this very no manners auntie just plonked herself onto the seat! From the look on her face, I know she knew that I was waiting! I was piffed, but I didn’t confront her because even if I did have the seat, I wasn’t sure of how I am going to order since I’m alone with Tara and pushing a pram full of shopping bags. Yes, I’m pushing a pram alone! And this woman, with no sense of shame, decided that she needed the seat more than I do! I stared hard at her anyway and she tried to ignore me. Eventually, I settled for a small Beijing restaurant, where I had xiao long bao and zha jiang mian.

Anyway, spent quite a bit at Suntec. I bought Munchkin suction bowls and straw cup for Tara.Had wanted to get bedlinen, bibs and hankies from Aussino but the shop wasn’t well-stocked. Maybe it’s the sales season. I’d better plan my next shopping trip soon. Still got lots of stuff to get before Chinese New Year.

Kena arrowed (tagged) by Gene

Got tagged by Gene, phew, took me quite a while to finish this!

First, I have to remove the blog in the number one spot from the following list and push everyone up one space. Then add my own blog to the bottom spot.
1. My All
2. Simple Hamtan
3. Princess Diary
4. Mommy Gene To Save The Day!
5. Amy’s Diary

And next, I will have to answer and victimize another 5 persons with the following questions...
1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
2. What were you doing a year ago?
3. 5 snacks you enjoy.
4. 5 songs to which you know the lyrics off your head right now.
5. 5 things you would do if your were a millionaire
6. 5 bad habits
7. 5 things you like doing.
8. 5 things you would never wear, buy or get new
9. 5 favourite toys

Here goes!
1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
10 years ago in January, I’m waiting for school to start. I got into Nanyang Polytechnic, studying nursing. Friends who know me were dumbfounded when they heard. And considering the job I’m doing now, nobody believed that I used to study nursing. I couldn’t believe it either, and dropped out after 10 months. I’ve never been good in taking care of others, and having sickness and death in my face everyday is far too depressing. I decided to quit after 2 attachments and 1 mid year exam. While waiting for my ‘O’s and school to start, I worked part-time as a beauty consultant for YSL. I was given a counter at Paragon to look after, all by myself. Everything was taken care by me, the display, the stock inventory and the samples inventory. It was so much fun! I felt so grown-up! And as for relationships, I was with this guy 9 years older but mentality 5 years younger than me. We still clicked that time, but 5 years on (no longer together), I can’t stand him already, and he was really childish. I’m glad he got married last year, hope he has grown up. *shudder*

2. What was I doing a year ago?
1 year ago, I was desperately trying to find clothes for New Year. The weight I put on during pregnancy did not shed off much. Although I’m slim before preggie, I was the fleshy-slim type. I couldn’t find clothes that fit me, it’s really frustrating! Not that I really mind the extra kilos, but not able to find nice clothes really make me depressed. I’m still trying to lose the weight, 7kg to go. And I’m also trying to cope with a new baby and also my in-laws. I’m so used to, and still am, the life of just me and Bob enjoying our ‘er ren shi jie’. I kinda hate having to get used to so many people at once.

3. 5 snacks I enjoy
1. Calbee potato chips BBQ flavour, but the old version ones.
2. Sapporo
3. Kaka
4. Chicken in a Biscuit
5. Yan Yan Strawberry or Chocolate

4. The 5 songs
1. Almost here by Delta Goodrem & Brian McFadden
2. Superwoman by Karen White (Classic!)
3. Hands to Heaven by Breathe (Another classic)
4. Cool by Gwen Stefani
5. All About Loving You by Bon Jovi (My wedding video song! Always makes me feel warm and fuzzy..)

5. 5 things I would do if I am a millionaire
1. Give money to my parents.
2. Revamp and re-renovate my house. And stay in a nice hotel in the meantime. Nope, not going to move to a condo or what, cos I love my current house!
3. Put aside $$ for Tara and the next little one that comes along. Just in case in future no more money to give them
4. Save up a portion of it. For rainy days of course
5. Go slimming after the next little one and buy loads and loads of new clothes. Opps.. now it’s 6 things leh.. can hor?

6. 5 bad habits
1. Too lax. In other words, lazy.
2. Spend too much. Can’t have too much $$ in my wallet, it will be gone in matter of seconds.
3. Constantly procrastinating. Just like Gene, I will leave things around the house and wait for a nice sunny day to I tidy up.
4. Always taking showers late at night. Mum used to nag a lot for this.
5. Over-eating. On a good day, 5 full meals is nothing!

7. 5 things I like doing
1. Reading
2. Craft work
3. Cooking
4. Spending time with Tara & Bob
5. Shopping! Real shopping, window shopping doesn’t count.

8. 5 things I would never wear, buy or get new
1. Too tightly fitted clothes. Oh come on, with my figure now?!
2. Beige bras
3. Haversacks
4. Teva-kinda sandals. I think it’s the worst looking sandals I’ve seen, besides the ah peh type.
5. Everything that has Andy Lau’s face or voice in it. Sorry Andy’s fans, this guy turns me off big time.

9. 5 favourite toys
1. My new camera!
2. My computer, always looking for new photo editing or design programs to play with.
3. I wanted to say my car lah, but I’ve been driving for over a year but I don’t know that there is a Repeat button for my stereo. Before that, if I need to repeat a certain song, I just keep pressing on the “previous” button loh. Someone just told me about that feature couple of weeks ago. And I’m no good driver loh. Keke..

My 5 victims... (I only got 1 leh)
1. Cindy! (Please, do this for me can boh?)

New Digital Camera!

Yippee! Finally got a new camera. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face when Bob bought it. We went to Funan IT Mall on Monday night to get it. We didn't compare prices and Bob, being the very un-lei cheh person, just decided to get it, despite friends telling him there will be another IT show in April, and other shops are selling it at maybe $10 cheaper.

Bob only wanted to get Canon cameras, and since I'm the one who's constantly using it, I asked for a compact one. That leaves us with only 3 choices; IXUS i zoom, IXUS 55 and IXUS 750. I really loved the i zoom, I thought it's really small and the colours are cool, but the 55 and 750 are definitely better in terms of optical zoom, LCD monitor etc. I thought I would settle for 55, since it's almost comparable to 750 except for the megapixel. But Bob got other ideas, he prefered to pay $170 more for the 7.1 megapixel 750. I'm totally fine! Well, he's the one paying right? The sales guy was telling us unless we intend to print up to A3 sizes, a 5 megapixel one will suffice. And 55 is slimmer as compared to 750. But Bob insisted on the 750. We got quite a few freebies; a camera pouch, a LCD screen protector, a 512MB SD card, a SD card reader, an extra battery, total worth at least $150! I hope it's a good deal..

After Bob paid for the camera, the sales guy asked if we wanted to get a personal photo printer (oh man! He can read my mind!), and went on to show us how the Selphy CP-510 works and printed a test-shot photo of Bob and Tara from the new 750. Well, needless to say, Bob bought it. He's so impressed with the quality and the price of the Selphy, and of course the 30 cents price of per piece of photo. The sales guy threw in 2 packets of paper and ink for 36 photos and a carrier bag. Bob bought an additional pack of paper refills and ink for 108 pcs.

Bob saw the look of my face;
Bob: Happy hor?
Me: Of course lah!
Me to Tara: Daddy very rich hor? Hehe..
Bob: Hng...

I really love the new camera! I've been shooting anything and everything with it since I got hold of it. It's more like MY camera than Bob as I'm always the one using it. Don't ask me if the quality is better cos I really can't tell yet. But I can say the functions are much better than the Olympus! And it definitely came at a right time, Tara started walking yesterday!! Actually she walked a little on New Year's eve but had refused to walk again until yesterday. Maybe she preferred Mummy to shoot the moment on the new camera? Hehe..

New Year Eve and New Year Day

I started the first working day of 2006 really stressed up. The big job didn’t go smoothly. Now I’m trying to resolve the issues with my client, crossing my fingers and hope everything will turn out fine. The payment has to come in on time as I’m planning a Hong Kong trip with the commission.

We spent our last day of 2005 at Stella’s shop, Lala (reminds me of sambal lala, yummy), having barbeque, curry chicken and fried bee hoon. It’s a quiet affair, with the staff of the shop, their partners and Stella’s mum and sis, and of course, us and Ronald and family. The whole bunch of Sec school’s buddies (Bob’s) was invited but none of them turned up, except for us and Ronald. We only get to see them during occasions like full month parties or kiddos’ birthdays nowadays. Those were the days where we would meet up almost once a month, on every single occasion. Once babies started coming into the picture, gatherings got lesser and lesser.

Anyway, the small party at Stella’s wasn’t much fun, as I knew none of them except for Ronald & Janice. Janice and I made small talk about kids and work while our kids tottered around. Actually only my kid tottered, because Ryan is three already. He’s really cute. Asked Bob and me our names and called us by our name rather than Aunty Amy or Uncle Bob. After about an hour or so when they reached, Ryan got pretty restless and kept telling his Daddy he wanted to go home. When both his mum and dad just dismissed his requests, he walked over to where I’m sitting and in his cutest tiny voice and saddest puppy eyes; he said to me “Amy, I wanna go home, Amy”. It’s so cute I kept laughing non-stop. Even after a few days, Bob was still harping on how cute the boy is and how much he likes boys like him. He told me whenever I feel stress at work, just think of Ryan, and the way he talked to me that night. Too cute.

Despite my recent recovery from diarrhea, I decided to indulge in the oily and spicy food. 3 days of bland food is enough, I really need something to stimulate my taste buds. I ate everything, from the curry chicken, to the Taiwan mini sausage, to the yummy otahs. Pure indulgence.

At the struck of 12, they lit up sparklers to celebrate. Seconds after, we heard loud booming music from the nearby pub, another few seconds later, we heard the fireworks and another few seconds, we heard a group starting their countdown. Everyone’s start their countdown on a different time; they should have synchronized with the countdown on TV.

Well, the next day, I treated my family to a brunch at Carlton’s Wah Lok Restaurant. I’ve been there twice before, really like the food and the prices, and thus decided to bring my family there. We used to have a monthly brunch of dim sum but that was before I had Tara. It’s pretty nice to have a meal together once a month, we really should do it again.

Halfway through the meal, my tummyache act up again. Just when I thought the bug had gone… After our meal, we went to OG at Chinatown and I practically sprinted to the loo. Yup, I will never listen.

Another late night

Another late night today, have done the following:

1) Created 2 backdated posts for Christmas. Remember to read this and this.

2) Finally! Created an online photo album for the gang's gathering.

3) Search flight and accomodation for Feb trip to Bangkok. YIPPEE!! Holiday!

4) Downloaded Photostylist software from Pixart. Gonna do a coffee table book for Tara soon. Just hope that I have time to do it.

Happy New Year!!

Today is the last day of 2005! We'll be having a BBQ cum countdown party at Stella's new shop. Hope it's fun. Anyway, I wish you all a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR and hope that all the good things will happen to you in the new year 2006.

It's a new year, so I must set my new resolutions:
1) Start buying size M clothes and wear them (slim down first lah!).
2) Learn to manage my own money.
3) Spend more time with my maternal family.

Rest from work

I've been thinking of taking a break from work, maybe one day leave, to rest and spend time with Tara this week, but I couldn't, as I still have my big job to take care of. But my body, knowing that I really need this rest (mentally), programmed itself into "rest" mode and I've got 3 days off work.

Actually, I took leave on the 1st day. Tara woke us up in the middle of the night with her loud belching sounds. Knowing that she was going to puke, I instinctively place my hand under her mouth to hold her vomit. Yup, gross! She fussed a little while I changed and cleaned her and fell asleep soon after. After about 10mins, the belching sounds came again. It went on for a few more times and by the time we can get our rest, it's almost 5 plus in the morning. Tired and beaten, I took leave for the day. Even Bob had runs the whole night, making countless trips to the toilet. We wondered if it's the food we ate at some fish restaurant. Tara ate some fish too.

We brought her to the paeds at Tiong Bahru. I started to feel discomfort, bit of gastric and stomachache but nothing happened till the next morning. Since 7am in the morning till 12 midnight, I went to the toilet 12 times, had a low grade fever, slight gastric pains, mild nausea and severe giddiness. I couldn't even stand up to shower. Went to see Kelly and was given MC for 2 days.

Being the very "outdoor" person I am, being stuck at home for 3 days is a bit too much for me, so we brought Tara to Marina Square last night. Met up with Cindy for dinner (she happened to be at Bugis). I couldn't finish my favourite Chicken with Texas Sauce from Cafe Cartel, and halfway through my dinner, I felt the rumbling feeling again. I thought it's my diarrhea coming back, but luckily it didn't. Well, although I managed to lost 1kg (think it's water), but it's not fun to be stuck in the toilet the whole day.

While we were doing a last hour window shop at Home-Fix, Tara started making loud noises, Bob and me just thought she wanted our attention. While we were ready to go, Bob noticed something on the pram cushion, Tara had pooed! Onto the pram!! In a panic mode, I rushed her to the toilet, while I'm trying to find the baby room, I saw Tara playing with her poo and putting her fingers into her mouth. Eeeuuuurrrrgggg! She was in such a mess that we've got to use the sink to bath her. It was quite cold but we've got no choice. Poor Tara, she caught my diarrhea bug. I just hope Cyrus did not catch the bug from Tara because throughout the dinner, both of them kept kissing each other, lip to lip.

Anyway, I'm back at work today, yes, I work 5.5 days a week. Still feeling weak, but can cope. But the drive to work wasn't that smooth, cos I'm still feeling dizzy spells. But I'll make my way home safely. No sweat.

New layout! Wonderful Christmas

Love the new photo layout I created. Thanks to Melissa for giving me the idea.

Had a wonderful Christmas party at my place yesterday. Enjoyed myself throughly! And this Christmas, I got lots of nice gifts. So very happy! Will blog with photos soon.

Christmas Day & Christmas Gifts

I would always open up my presents on Christmas Eve, because I just can’t wait till Christmas Day.

I made sure that I’ve wrapped up every single present, take a photo of the Christmas tree before I allow Bob and Tara to open theirs.

Tara received 3 gifts from me, and 1 from Bob. Bob got 2 gifts from me and I got 1 from him. A week before, I walked out of the study room and realized there’s an extra present under the tree and saw my name on it. Happy and excited, I knelt in front of the tree to examine the haphazardly wrapped up gift (well, guys). I remembered I told Bob I wanted to get a blue tooth. The small box kind of convinced me that it might be a blue tooth. Although I’m already rejoicing in my heart, I told myself not to hold my hopes too high, because knowing Bob, he’s just one guy whose mind I can’t read and who can’t read mine either.

Bob taught Tara how to tear up the wrappings and cute little Tara was enjoying so much. Every piece of paper she tore, she would pass to Bob. I think she enjoyed tearing up the wrapping rather than getting the gift because even though she can clearly see the toy underneath, she didn’t get excited and was adamant that the present be stripped totally. Very cute.

Tara received a sort-of doggie piano, a toy mobile phone and a set of Mother goose VCD and books from me and a Leapfrog LeapPad from Bob. I’ve always wanted to get the LeapPad for Tara so when I saw the gift, I whooped with joy! Mummy was more excited than the kid!

Bob got a set of Topman boxers and a Polo Ralph polo tee shirt from me whereas I received a box of SKII mask from him. Yup, it’s not the Bluetooth that I thought, but nevertheless, I was thrilled to get the mask too. Bob knew that I was running out of the masks and decided to get it for me. I just hope that he won’t be getting this for me on every single occasion.

This Christmas was the happiest one I had. I love all the gifts I received this year! Cheryl got me 2 books; Life Swap by Jane Green (my wish list!) and Chicken Soup for Every Mom’s Soul. Angela bought me a book by Jamie Oliver (another wish list)! Cindy got me a necklace which I was eyeing for weeks, Sis gave me a set of mask from Forever Living, which I told her I wanted to buy but couldn’t bear to as it’s not that cheap. My Sales Director bought me a cute cushion from Zed & Zee but I can’t seem to find it after the party. I also received a cute key chain from Jaime.

I’m looking forward to next year’s Christmas already!

Christmas Party!

This year, we held the party at my place. Jaime told us we have excess money in our funds and we decided to order turkey and log cake to indulge. Trying to be gung ho, I offered to roast the turkey, since the ordered ones will be too big for the 8 (suppose to be 10, but 2 MIA) to finish, and from what I heard, will be too cold and tough to chew.

1 week before the party, I bought the small turkey and 2 types of stuffing. Actually 1 stuffing will suffice but it's my first time, I don't know which is good. But eventually, I didn't use both, it's a waste of money, and they are now sitting in my fridge, waiting for my next course of action (which is most probably to chuck it). I surfed the internet for recipes to cook the turkey, and I start to panic. I don't know which recipe is good, I don't know how the turkey will turn out and I kind of regret taking up the task. I finally decided on this one, and started buying the ingredients. The other day, I picked up the recipe to read (for the umpteenth time), and heard Bob telling Tara that mummy is nervous already, and go on to tell me to just order a turkey instead of stressing myself out. I put on a brave front and said “It’s just like roasting a chicken what!”, which of course, couldn’t convince even myself.

The morning before the party, I thaw the turkey in the fridge. It takes more than 24 hours to thaw.

On the day of the party, I woke up at 8.40am to prepare the turkey. Preparations didn’t take me long, as I omitted quite a big part of the recipe. By 10am, the turkey was roasting in the oven and I start to chop up the ingredients for the cream of mushroom soup, a recipe I found here.

Sis and Angela arrived first. Sis didn’t know how busy I was and just chucked me with the ingredients for her carrot and potato mash. I haven’t even tidy up the hall! Fortunately, Angela was there to help. She even helped me with the mushroom soup. What an angel! I think that’s why her name is Angela, hehe.

Everyone else arrived by 12.30pm. I told them to leave all the presents under the Christmas tree. Somehow, I believe that presents under the Christmas tree will be blessed.

We had the most sumptuous and fun Christmas party this year. All the food was yummy and my mushroom soup received rave reviews! The turkey turned out fine. Angela prepared chocolate fondue! How evil is that! Well, she almost always prepares evil stuff which we can’t resist.

For the gift exchange, Audrey got my Mphosis slippers whereas I got a set of towel and purses from Cindy. I bought everyone a bath lily each and received extra presents from Angela, Cindy, Sis and Jaime.

I think the kids are the happiest lot this Christmas, they are showered with so many gifts. Makes me wanna be a kid again. Everyone enjoyed themselves and I’m kind of looking forward to the next Christmas party already!

Talia's Birthday!

A back log post of Talia's birthday!

Gene invited us to Talia's first birthday last Saturday. I had intended to go Jurong Point for the Drypers cum Class 95 event but it's never my habit to turn down an invitation.

When we reached, Talia was walking a little, it's so cute, she's so petite and it's quite fun to watch such a small toddler walking! Surprisingly, Tara wasn't fazed by the new surroundings nor the unfamiliar faces there. She started playing beside Talia, who was busy pushing a little basket of party toys around.

Talia's Strawberry Shortcake birthday cake was so pretty, and really tasty. It's only after everyone had sang the birthday song, did they realised that the candle was not lit. A rather candid but memorable moment. The part when Talia cut the cake was really cute, she held the plastic knife and started sawing away.

We had to buy some Christmas stuff before going to Bob's aunt's place to drive PILs to the train station, thus we left early. Gene told me there's Cold Storage and Kiddy Palace at Compass Point but we wasn't able to go cos the car park was full and a number of cars queueing to get in. Imagine my disappointment! I saw Metro and Mos burger! Seems like a nice place to shop. Anyway, I've told Bob I will bring Tara there during my long CNY break. Yippee! Shopping!! Can't wait...

It's Christmas! Ho ho ho..

My favourite time of the year, Chinese New Year used to be my favourite, until I have to start giving out ang baos. Those I collected last year don't count, cos they don't belong to me. Every single penny goes to my little girl's own savings account.

Anyway, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE! Hope you have a wonderful Christmas with lots of nice gifts.

Stress

I’m sitting on the edge of my seat. I can’t relax. I’m super stressed out now. I don't usually blog about my work, but sitting here doing nothing makes me feel even worse.

I just clinched a major deal and should be really happy, but I’m not. Nothing really went smoothly since day 1. The client kept raising her voice at me, and I got to appease her with a nice log cake. The boss kept pressuring me to get all the important stuff to be done before I can proceed with anything else. I’m stuck in between, and could barely breathe.

My colleagues tried to joke with me as usual, but couldn’t get the normal reaction out of me. I just stared at them blankly and walk away. And I just told one of them to stop joking with me, I can’t laugh at all. I’ve never, ever felt this kind of stress and it leaves me wondering, is it worth it? I was told it’s the biggest job in my company’s history. That didn’t make me smile either. I just hope that the payment comes in on time, at least when I see my commission cheque on the 15th, I will know that it’s worth it and I can pat myself on my back. Well, maybe I’ll just pray first, that the job will be delivered on time.

I’m usually calm when it comes to work. Even if problems cropped up, it won’t faze me at all. I mean, even if you start ranting at anyone and everyone, it will not make things right. But this time, I specifically told the production people NO MISTAKES ALLOWED. Yes, in capital, bold and underlined. It’s this serious. Very serious. One mistake and everything will go in disarray.

Nothing bad must happen. That’s why I’m so stressed.

It’s 6.31pm now. I’m supposed to meet up the client at Orchard later, after the proof is ready. Today will be a long day. Just hope I will be able to see Tara before she sleeps tonight.

Another 2 tasks checked!

Slept at 4am this morning, just to complete 2 tasks:

1) Upload all back log photos for Tara's birthday blog.

2) Post up the birthday decorations used on Tara's birthday for auction.

*Yawn...*

The Other Woman

This book by Jane Green, is oh so good. It tells you that you are not the only person in this world who couldn't get along with your MILs.

For those who can't seem to fathom why there is this hatred (oh too serious), or dislike (that's a better word) towards their MILs, this is the book for you.

Up till now, I still cannot understand why MILs love to get involved in their sons' lives, especially when they are already married and have a family of their own. And the strange thing is, the still single sons, who would have deserve more attention, are the ones being left alone. If the MILs thought that they are the only person in the world that can do a better job than their DILs, then they are oh-so-wrong.

Anyway, read this book. It's really interesting. Ellie is definitely someone I can relate to. My sister, after reading it, told me that it's almost exactly what had happened to me. You want to know what happen? Hmmz.. read the book.

I got a Tag Box!

Thanks to Gene, I found a better alternative to Tagboard, which I encountered lots of problems when I tried to register. Since I don't have a comment box, I guess this is a better alternative to communicate with you all out there. Come on! Send me something!

Some good news to share

This November was a happy month for me. Some good news to share!

First, Jenny from my gang 61 got married! She held her wedding at Holiday Inn Park View. The whole ballroom decor has an old English feel. And they have the funniest first course presentation I've ever seen. The wait staff came in pairs, gal would hook her hand around the guy's arm and each holding the dish on the other hand. The last pair of wait staff was the best-looking of the lot. Just when we thought the presentation was over, the door was closed once again and the song "Macarena" came on, door opened and a chef with a bulging tummy danced into the ballroom! He went around the tables and poked his tummy at the guests. It was hilarious! And it's not the end yet, the chef later went on the stage and together with the best-looking pair of wait staff, started doing the macarena dance, while holding the dish. Oh man, I laugh so hard, I almost fell off my chair. Kudos to the guy who choreographed the presentation. And the couple look so beautiful together. When they walk down the aisle, I feel so touched, I almost tear. Congrats to you once again, Jenny & Chou Nen!


At Jenny's wedding

I enrolled Tara in the Best Photogenic Baby Contest (Held by Parent Pick magazine) and she got a consolation! Angela, Sis, Shermaine and Javier went to support her. It's the first time she won a contest! So happy.



Tara was sleeping when I went on stage to receive the prize


The picture that got her the consolation prize


Prize hamper and a nice trophy

And lastly, end of November means December is coming! My favorite month! The month where Christmas songs, Christmas presents, Christmas Tree and Christmas feast always make me so, so happy! I bought a new Christmas album too, but it's erm, too oldies for my liking. Must get another one. I've already bought 3 gifts for Tara and 1 for Bob, gonna get a couple more for Bob too. Sad, none of the presents under the Christmas Tree belong to me. Anyway, I've also set up the tree and bought a new round round decor which I hang on my front door. So Christmasy! I'm gonna get a few stockings to hang in the house too. The gang will be celebrating Christmas at my place this year.

Miss Hong made my day

Miss Hong really made my day today. This morning, I received an email from her, congratulating me, told me Tara had won the cutest kid contest. I was puzzled, I checked the website and my email but found nothing that says results. I emailed her again, and said there isn't any annoucement. Minutes later, she replied me, saying I'm a blur queen mummy, and told me it's already in the mothercare website.

I scratch my head, Mothercare? Why is Mothercare annoucing the result? So I decided to click on the link she gave me.

I almost fell off the chair! I laugh and laugh until I almost die.

This is the mothercare website with Tara's picture.

And this is the cutest kid contest website with Tara's picture.

I'll be damn if the mothercare Tara is my kid.