Christmas Tree is Up!

I love Christmas!!

I guess I really need to attend a "How to decor your Christmas Tree?" course. My Christmas tree is so ugly. Very messy too. And I'm using the decorations from 2 Christmas-es ago.

I'm going to get new decor and a new tree next year. And if there's really a course to learn how to decor a Christmas tree, I'm going to sign up too.

Yikes!

Tara's 2nd Birthday Bash!

A small one actually. We decided to throw a small birthday party for Tara cos we felt little kids deserve to have their birthdays celebrated. But this year, we only invited family. No friends at all. Not even relatives. Not counting Bob's ones cos he has only a few close knitted relatives in Singapore, and they are considered family to him.

Actually, I don't really have any mood to make the preparations as Mum was admitted to hospital just days before. The day I ordered Tara's cake, it was in between trips from work to hospital. Bob told me not to go ahead with the party cos he knows I was feeling really down. But I thought all the more I should go ahead, to liven things up. And there, I proceeded to order a 1.5kg "Empress Dowager" flavoured one from The Patissier. It cost quite a bomb. But I told Gene it's to make up for the ugly cake I bought for Tara on her first birthday.

Food for the party consisted of just fried noodles, red eggs and make-it-yourself popiah. Mum was supposed to cook more dishes but she couldn't. Initially I thought the food were too simple for a party, even for a small one. I was wrong. The make-it-yourself popiah is actually a good way to get guests involved in making their own food! It's quite fun actually.

Mum told me Tara needs to wear new clothes on her birthday for symbolic reasons. But I was shuttling between work and hospital everyday, and simply have no time to do anything else, less to say shop for clothes. So on the day itself, I pulled out an Osh'Kosh jumpers my BIL bought for her almost a year ago. And there, new clothes. Not even washed! Very new!



The cake! I thought Tara will like the cute little animals sitting on the lawn in front of the cute house. Boy am I right! She was really excited to see the cake, and I can see she loved it a lot. Well, the $$ I spent is worth it after all.

Noticed the "Tara is 2". The scrapping mummy ensure that her scrap projects goes every where, even on top of the cake. It's for a reason though. There's actually a piece of white chocolate that says the same words but the chocolate fell flat during the trip back from the bakery, and the words were smeared. You can see the smearing on the left side of the candle. And because of the smearing, it becomes "Tara is 0". Not only that, the house was so heavy and it keeled over. I removed the plastic pipe that is not doing a good supporting job and just pressed the whole house into the cake. There. Done.

As for the wordings, it took me 20 mins and a whole lot of effort to make so you must see the zoom in picture of it. Hehe.



And the birthday girl. She struck this pose when I said I'm going snap a pic of her. She's a girlish girl after all!



The make-it-yourself popiah. Forgive the bad lighting



Tara eating her cake.



I'm glad Tara enjoyed herself. She loved the cake too. Even her armpit loved it. Since that part of her t-shirt got smeared by the greenish cream. I would guess so.

Little Golfer

Just before we leave for KL. A little video clip for you peeps to watch.

Updates!

Thanks to all you kind souls out there for leaving me a message and sending me sms-es the past weeks, perking up my otherwise gloomy mood. It has been a roller coaster ride these few weeks for me and my family. From Tara's little accident to Mum's stroke. It definitely brought me and my family closer and that's a good thing. Mum's incident also made me realised that I should not take anything or anyone for granted.

Okay, updates on the both of them. Tara first.

Kids do have an amazing healing ability. Now the scar on her head is not even that obvious, unless you take a closer look. And till this day, she still remembers that she hurt her head and has never fails to remind every single one of us everyday. She will point to her scar and said "头", at least 10 times a day.

Okay, recent picture of the little girl.



As for my Mum, she's recovering really well too. Less than 2 weeks ago, she was fully confined to bed and and require full assistance on her basic needs. Now, she can walk, feed and also attend to her toilet needs by herself, though she require some assistance in moving around as she's still feeling mild giddiness.

Mum can be discharged from NUH but has to stay in a rehab hospital for 1 - 2 weeks or until she's fully recovered and able to function as before. We can see that she doesn't want to go but she understands that it's the best for her. The medical social worker said she will be able to recover faster as compared to recovering at home and shuttling to and fro the hospital for physiotherapy.

Dad called me early this afernoon, and said that Mum had a wonderful appetite today. She wolfed down a packet of chee cheong fun my Dad bought this morning. Before that, a few mouthfuls of food and she would feel nauseous, so today's a big improvement. I can hear the happiness in my Dad's voice. He's been so worried about my Mum the past week.

So everything's almost back on track. I'm glad.

Bob is in KL for business till Thursday but has extended his stay till Sunday so that Tara and I can join him for a short stay there. I've booked air tickets for this Friday. Now the only problem I have is, how to handle the little active kiddo all by myself, during the flight. Just to keep her seated during take-off is a major challenge. And it's a mere 45mins flight.

Anyone has portable DVD player to borrow? At least I can try playing her favourite Hi-5 VCDs and hope for the best that she can behave. I'm also thinking of bring onboard, lots of food and drinks and maybe colour pencils, crayons and paper for her to doodle. Hope I can survive the flight.

Pray pray.

4D

Tara: 7766.. 7766

Mummy: 哇！ 你在报号码啊？

Tara: 7766..

Mummy: 要不要买？

Tara: 要!

And there... More money wasted on 4D.

Now it's my Mum

2 weeks after Tara's little accident, I'm back at NUH A&E again. This time, it's my Mum.

It happened on Saturday midnight. Dad told me he heard noise coming out from the hall and went out to see my Mum leaning on the sofa and complaining of giddiness. She told my Dad she was feeling really terrible and wanted him to call the doctor. Dad thought it was better to send for the ambulance.

It's one of those rare occasions that Bob and I both off our handphones and my Dad, Sis and Bro could not reach us. Both of us were also too tired and was sound asleep, thus didn't hear our house phone ring. It's only when my BIL came pounding on our door before we realised something had happened Mum. Initially we didn't dare to open the door cos we thought it's some hooligan out there. Even after we knew that it's my BIL, we also dare not open the door. It's a scenario that was never expected as we never thought will happen and so didn't know how to react. My BIL was literally pounding the door (my door bell spoilt), shaking the gate and even threw objects at our kitchen window and that was scary, especially if it happens in the middle of the night!

BIL sent me to the hospital while Bob stayed home to look after the soundly asleep Tara. I realised I was trembling all over even though I wasn't cold. In my heart, I was praying really hard that nothing serious will happen to my mum. I reached the hospital at 2.30am to see my Dad standing at the entrance of the A&E and smiling at me. He told me it's nothing serious and said my Sis shouldn't have called me. He said Mum was semi-conscious and was able to talk to him throughout.

My Dad and I waited at the A&E till 7am before we managed to see our Mum. Nobody spoke to us and we were only told to follow my Mum to the ward. My Dad who was trying hard to act cool the whole night went all nervous and kept asking the nurses about my Mum's condition.

We weren't given any answers until about 8am, one really young lady doctor came to ask my Mum and us a series of questions. She told us they need to observe and check her throughly before they can tell us what happened.

To cut the long story short, my Mum had a stroke. A mild one. The doctor told my Mum this morning. The stroke is not enough to paralysed her but she wasn't able to open her eyes for long cos she will get really giddy. They did quite a lot of tests but can't seem to explain the cause of Mum's giddiness. This morning, she was sent to the Neurology ward where they keep her under close observations. From the time she was warded till now, she was lying on the bed throughout. It was such a heart wrenching sight. My Mum is a very active person and she can't even sit still for long (unless playing mahjong), lest to say confined to the bed completely.

Any chance I have, I will rush to the hospital to see her. I just went during my lunch time. Before I left, one of my Mum's close friend was singing to her and it was the first time in these 2 days that I saw her smile. It almost brought tears to my eyes.

I know that all humans will get old and fall sick but I refused to think that when it comes to my own parents. To me, they are always young, strong and very healthy. And nothing will happen to them. What happened to my Mum jolted me to reality, that she and my Dad will leave us one day.

Now I just pray and hope that nothing serious will happen to my Mum. This Sat, we are celebrating Tara's 2nd birthday and I really hope by then, she will be discharged from the hospital and will be able to attend Tara's little birthday party. I wish that it will also be a celebration for Mum's recovery.

Tara's hurt

Just one day after I updated her 23 months picture on the blog.

She hit her head on our bed frame on Tuesday 4am in the morning. I didn't know it was so serious and I was even rubbing her forehead cos it was so dark and I couldn't see. Until Bob asked me how serious it was, I on the lights and got the shock of my life. Blood on her face, her pyjamas and my hands. I freaked out!

When Bob wiped the blood away, I told him the wound definitely need stitches cos it's slightly gaping. We rushed her to NUH A&E.

Tara only cried a little when she hit her head and during the trip from home to hospital, she kept pointing to her head and said "头", telling us that she hit her head.

I'm glad I chose to go to NUH cos there's actually a children's A&E there and the waiting time was really short. Bob dropped us at the entrance and a male nurse came forward to attend to us, and cute Tara pointed to her head again and said "头" again. The serious looking nurse break into a smile.

The doctor attending to Tara told us the wound definitely need stitches and explained that we have 2 choices to make, either they drug her with Ketamine and stitch her at the A&E or we can admit her into the hospital and a plastic surgeon will put her on general anaethetic and stitch her up. I asked her is the plastic surgeon going to do a better stitch job? The doctor said it's the same, just that the drug they use will be different. Being put on GA meant that they have more time to carefully stitch up the wound as Ketamine will only "stoned" her for an hour or so.

We chose to let the A&E doctor to stitch her up since it's quite a small wound. But because silly me gave her water to drink on our way there, we had to wait 4 hours before they can inject the drug as they are worried Tara will puke during the op and choke herself. So the doctor covered the wound with a gauze, told us to go home for a short rest. The nurse reminded us not to give her anything. At that time, I was worried cos the little one will ask for milk anytime and I'm worried she would kick up a fuss. So when we reached home, we immediately put her to bed. Fortunately, Tara was really tired and fell asleep very soon.

At about 8am, we got ready to go back to the hospital. Tara was just like her usual active, bubbly self and walked around the room, "surveying" the place. She even willingly let the nurses carried her. Bob and one of the nurse held her while the other nurse injected her with Ketamine. I stood beside, helpless and worried while the little one bawled away. The nurse told me to hold her while the drug took effect. I looked into her eyes, talked to her and even sang a song to her until we saw that she was a little stoned. The drug actually doesn't knock her out, only meant to make her oblivious to the surroundings, so her eyes was opened throughout. What hurts me most was seeing my little one going high on drugs. Her eyes were big and wide, but there's no life in them. I laid her on the bed and left the room.

While waiting outside, silly Bob said something that immediately brought tears to my eyes. He said we should have another child just in case something happen to Tara. What does he meant by just in case. Even if I do have another child, it's not going to replace the one I've lost. But he's always blunt with his words and I know he don't meant to hurt me. But at that point of time, being so worried and sad, the words just pierced me in my heart.

After a while, the nurse told me to go in and the doctor showed me the stitched before he covered her up. I thought it's a really nice job. Cos the stitches were hidden so it's just a clean slit instead of those "centipede" stitches. We went out again.

And after they bandanged her up, the nurse told me to go into the room, sit beside the little one so that when she "wakes" up, I can hold her. But when I went into the room, the little girl was already holding the bed rail struggling to get up. It was such a cute but sad sight. I held her and sang all her favourite songs to her. She was still in a drugged stage but she could even do the actions to the songs.

She kept calling for PaPa so I brought her out of the room. The nurse said once she can walk and sit by herself and drink some water without vomitting, we can bring her home. Tara fell asleep and the nurse said we had to wake her up every 15mins and not let her sleep too long.

After 15mins, we couldn't wake her up at all and I panicked. We tried so many ways, Bob pinched her nose, I gently pat her cheek, I even played her favourite ringtone but she didn't stir. The nurse told me it's okay and the doctor will look at her later. She told us to bring her out for a walk. Outside the A&E, Bob and I tried to wake her again. But she didn't moved a bit. It was until Bob played her favourite song that she suddenly opened her eyes and struggled to sat up. Imagine how relieved we are!

We gave her water to drink and tried to get her to walk. It took a mere 15mins and our little girl was back to her own self again. Active and naughty.

Less than 2 hours after the stitching up, little Tara was already wreaking havoc. While having our brunch at the hospital's canteen, the little one was messing with the food on the table, dipping her butter and kaya toast bread into our duck rice soup etc. I really don't know if I should be happy or frustrated at her!

Now, I just hope that the scar will not be so visible, cos she's a girl after all and it won't look pretty.

Okay, pictures:


I took this while waiting for her turn at the A&E. Yah, the blogging mummy never fails to bring a camera around. A very small wound, only about 2cm.


After the op, at the canteen. She was already back to her usual active self. Eating her toasted bread. She called this bandage her "hat".


Taken just yesterday morning, wound is healing well and noticed the thread at the end of the scar? I cringed when I first saw the thread, cos it's just sticking out of her skin like that.

Tara was really great. She didn't tried pulling her bandange or her gauze during the days when she had them. Usually, she can't even stand having a little clip on her hair, less to say the big bandage.

I'm going to get a good cream to lessen the scar marks once the wound healed. I just hope the scar won't be very visible in future.

Tara at 23 months

For those who missed seeing the little girl's pictures.

She will be 2 years old next month. Getting naughtier and definitely more and more unreasonable. But I still love her to bits. What to do? She's my daughter..

And I know I haven't been posting about her updates for a few months now. Not that I didn't want to, or that I'm worried about people saying that I'm making comparisons. It's just that I simply can't find the time to blog nowadays.

Like for now, I can only spare about 30 mins to surf the net. Cos I'm gonna get ready to go out with Bob and Tara.

And on that making comparisons thingy that is making quite a few blogging mummies stop posting updates of their child's milestone, I have to say that I won't stop doing that. It's my own blog, I can post anything I want. If there's someone who wants to make comparison, please go ahead. It's none of my business and it's not going to affect me or the way I teach my little one. If I'm gonna care about these people, then I won't be having an online presence at all.

Photographer in the Making?

Nowadays it's so difficult to take a picture of Tara. Whenever I whipped out the camera, she would grabbed it from me and start shooting anything and everything the lens was pointed at. I need to teach her a few times before she finally learnt that she had to depress the button a little bit longer in order to capture a shot.

All the while, she had been shooting blur photos of the floor, the wall, the trees and half the time, her little finger was blocking the lens. I didn't really like her playing with the camera as I'm worried that she might spoil it one day. But sometimes, when I need something to occupy her, the only thing I have in my bag is the camera so I guess I don't have much of a choice.

Slowly, she started shooting interesting stuff, in a clearer image and she managed to keep it in frame.

She took this picture of her little feet while Daddy and I were watching TV and totally unaware of what she was doing. Before this picture, she was just shooting blur images, of the floor especially, so this photo really surprised me.

Last night, she was fooling around with the camera again. I made a funny face and told her to take a picture of me. She raised the camera, pointed the lens directly in my direction and press the shutter button. Amazed, I looked at her "masterpiece" and saw that my face right in the centre of the frame, and it's so clear even my zits are so visible! (that's why I'm not going to upload it) I thought it's just coincidence and I got her to shoot at more objects. She tried the TV and the fan but her finger was blocking half the image, even though I can see that the object was right in frame. But those that she took of her Daddy, was very clear and right in frame too. From head to feet, no cropped areas!

I'm contemplating of getting a cheaper digital camera for her to play with. If she's really interested with taking photos. I'm going to get her to start shooting objects around the house, and maybe the scenery. And with all the photos, I'm going to make a scrap page.

中秋节快乐!!

Enjoy your lantern and mooncake festival today!

Quite a few things happened the past week. Bob and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on Wednesday. We dressed up Tara for our dinner at a fine dining Italian restaurant. Just before stepping into the restaurant, Tara coughed and puked all over her pretty dress and shoes. In the end, she had her dinner in sandals and t-shirt. Glad I had extras in the car. I got a nice pink watch from Bob, he paid for the dinner. And what I bought for him, nothing. *silly grin*

And we found a childcare centre for Tara! It's the most perfect place for us, and for her of course. The environment is very spacious, very conducive for learning, the teachers are so nice and patient, and Tara love the place! I just need to get her toilet-trained before I can confirm a place for her.

Next week, my big guy will be flying off for a week again. So it's Tara and me alone next week. But this time, I know I can take care of my little girl, all by myself.

Hectic week ahead of me. Birthday party, wedding dinner. Need a shopping trip badly. Hope I have more time to scrap. Lots of projects on hand.

I'll be bringing Tara to my parent's place tonight. She will be carrying the traditional-candle-type lantern. No cartoons, no light bulbs, no batteries, no music. Just a nice paper lantern to celebrate her 2nd lantern festival.

Eat more mooncakes, you all!

Moisturiser

About 2 weeks ago, I realised the skin on my legs was very dry. It's pretty bad cos my skin was cracked and there's little red bumps on it. And worse of all, it itched like hell.

I guess it might have been the continuous nights of sleeping in air-con room and not making an effort of putting on moisturiser, and thus the dry skin. Or maybe the moisturiser I was using just wasn't moisturising enough.

I remembered I have a trial size moisturiser that's suppose to be quite good cos I've used this same brand before. I was so glad when I found it deep down in my drawer. From then, I started applying it every day and night religiously.

However, after 5 days, I realised my skin condition didn't improve at all, in fact, it got worse. The cracks on my skin was red and swollen. Imagine red, swelling cracks running across my legs. It was hideous!

I thought maybe the moisturiser I'm using is for a different skin type or the trial bottle might have expired, since I don't remember when I bought it, so, I took out the bottle and looked at the label closely.

It says in bold.

"Leave-On Hair Moisturiser".

Breakfast with Tara

For the past few days, I've been trying to wake up early so I can bring Tara for breakfast before going to work. The day before yesterday, I woke up early enough, but when it's time to leave the house, Tara refused to budge. She even said bye bye to me when I told her I'm going off without her. I spent quite a bit of time talking and cajoling her before she's finally willing to leave, and by that time, we were too late for even a quick drink. And yesterday, I couldn't wake up so there goes my plan.

This morning, however, I did managed to get up pretty early. 6.30am. And by the time we were ready to leave the house, it's only 7.35am. Time's a bit tight, but spending time with my little girl is more important than anything else.

We went to this coffeeshop just a short distance away. The soft boiled eggs are always perfect, the toast always nicely done and the drinks are always made the right way.
When we stepped in, all eyes turned our way cos it's an industrial area and having a toddler in tow is not common.

I gave Tara an egg and she was slowly scooping the egg into her mouth with the teaspoon until she saw me sipping it directly from the plate. She picked up her plate and follow suit. The cute part was, she was really careful and sipping really slowly until she finished the whole plate of egg. A group of men sitting beside us was pretty amused. Guess they have never seen a toddler eating eggs like this.

It's such a nice feeling to be able to enjoy breakfast before starting work for the day. And it's even better have Tara with me.

I won't say I hope to do this everyday, cos it's just not possible. Waking up at 6.30am every morning?

You kidding!!

Health Conscious Vainpot

Recently, I've been really conscious of my health and my skin. I've never really cared about eating healthy food or buying super good skincare products cos I've always been blessed with fairly good health and pretty good skin.

Until recently. I realised I've been getting lots of zits on my face and they never seem to go away. On top of that, I realised I got dragon's breath. Almost immediately after I brushed my teeth, the bad breath will be back. Even if I use a minty mouth wash, I will still have some unpleasant taste in my throat. And to top it off, I got a bloated tummy almost everyday.

Then I remember one TV commercial from some time ago. The product is for removing of toxin from the body. It promised to rid bad breath, zits and improve health overall. On the same night, I told Bob I must get the product. So off we went to Chinatown the next day. I couldn't find the product and instead, bought 2 boxes of tea that promised to remove toxins. The sales girl who recommended told me it's really good. Taking her words for it, I bought 2 boxes. Upon closer inspection, I realised the tea is for slimming! I don't want any slimming tea! So I went back to the shelves and asked about that particular product that I wanted, and was told that the product is no longer on retail and is selling as MLM instead.

So I though, since I've spent on the slimming tea, which also remove toxins, I might as well try it.

One week later, and after many trips to the toilet (to remove toxins), I can sense some improvements. No more bloated stomach and no more dragon's breath. I can't say much on the zits though. And just for your info, my weight remains the same.

On top of the tea, I spent quite a bit buying supplements. I've never been a pill popper and I don't really like the idea of consuming pills. But being lazy and impatient by nature, I decided that the fastest and most effective way is to get supplements. I bought enzymes for my bloated stomach and anti-oxidant pills for nice skin and overall health. They are so expensive! I'm only days into using the supplements so, no comments as yet. On top of these 2, I’m also using fish oil and calcium pills. Talk about kiasu.

And finally, my skin. Last Sunday, I was casually surfing the net and came across this. Something I definitely need. And within 30 mins of reading about the product, I dashed out of the house with Tara in tow, and went to Jurong Point to get it. Usually, I don't buy products at a whim. If it's some other bloggers recommending the product, I might be skeptical to try. It's either I trust this person, or I'm simply desperate.

Nonetheless, I bought it. And just 1 day of using it, I can feel the difference. Nope, I’m not exaggerating. My skin really does feel smoother and I can see slight improvements on my chin, where most of the whiteheads are. I will comment again in another 9 days, cos it promised visible results in 10 days.

And to top off the healthy beauty regime, I'm drinking 3 to 4 cups of green tea everyday. Green tea is said to be really good for almost everything.

If I'm as diligent in my slimming regime, I might already be buying clothes in size S!

Neglect Tara

I'm always telling people around me; if you can't handle the responsibility of caring for a kid, don't plan for one, or if you don't even want to spend time with your kid, don't bother having one either. I'm the one who spoke these words, yet I'm the one who's guilty of all the above.

After I quit from my last job, I have had the chance to take care for Tara full time for almost 3 weeks. Remember I complained about being too busy and not having enough time for myself? So when my PILs came by, I totally washed my hands off Tara. I didn't bring her down for her morning strolls, didn't cook her lunch for her, didn't shower her, didn't even prepare her milk for her. To put it plainly, I didn't spend any time with her at all. Instead, I hid myself in the room playing PS II, reading, sleeping. When Tara walked into the room looking for me, I told her to go out and look for her grandparents instead. I didn't bother to even talk much to her. At that time, I thought it's justifiable, since I've take care of her for so many days already, it's time for me to take a rest.

I started my new job after more than a week of "rest". And at night, when I reached home, I would be watching TV or doing my own stuff. I don't give Tara the kind attention I used to. When Tara tried to get my attention, she would get on my nerves instead, and I would tell her to go look for her grandparents. So for quite a while, I almost totally neglect her. And when I do give her my attention, it's usually negative. A spanking, a punishment or a scolding from me.

After a week, I realised Tara getting clingy to my MIL, which is not normal. And it finally hit upon me that I'm the cause of it. I'm the one who pushed her away. I got really upset when Tara cries for my MIL instead of me. She resisted and bawled when I tried carrying her from my MIL arms. She prefer my MIL to me.

But still, I didn't do anything about it. Selfishly, I only care for myself, and my precious little "me" time.

Last week, Bob told me he's going outstation yet again, my FIL will be going back home and my MIL will be going to Genting. So for one whole week, I had to take care of Tara alone. Myself. There's no one to "push" the little girl to when I reach home from work. I totally freaked out! I don't think I can handle Tara alone anymore. She's getting really pesky and very cranky, especially these 2 weeks (since I began neglecting her, I realised). I can't imagine the nights when no one is around and I have to face her tantrums myself.

I wasn't too happy. In fact, I was quite depressed.

The first night Tara and I were alone, it didn't went well. She got spanked, scolded and punished. But all these escalated her cries and tantrums instead. I don't know what to do, I got really upset and ignored her instead. I left her in the room, and went out to the hall, sat in the dark and tried hard to hold back my own tears. I don't know how to handle the situation. She came out after a while, stood beside me and bawled till she was so tired and laid her head on the sofa to sleep.

I hate myself for treating her badly.

So the next day, I went back to my usual methods of parenting. Lots of patience and no spanking.

I kept my mood calm and tried explaining rather than just snapped whenever she got unreasonable. It worked pretty well. I even brought her out for lunch and to the library and she behaved quite well too. I find myself enjoying the time I spent with her and my mood was really good for the whole day. She still have her tantrums at night but I managed to keep her under control and bed time was a breeze. I realised the reason for her bad behaviour might be caused by me, so I decided I should change my bad behaviour too.

It will be another 5 days before Bob comes back. But I'm sure I can handle Tara by myself now.

Now I just pray and hope that I don't slip into bouts of depression again.

So far so good

Ooh, pardon me on the lack of updates. My new job is keeping me busy! Not that I have to OT everyday. It's the working hours that's keeping me away from blogging. Unlike before, I can't go to work as and when I wish. I'm still getting used to my current normal working hours, that is, getting up at 7am in the morning and reaching home at 7pm in the evening.

I have to be in bed latest by 12am, or I'll be a zombie at work the next day. And not like before, I can step out of the office whenever I'm bored or sleepy. Neither can I go for a coffee or run errands at a whim. Now, I'm stuck to my office chair 80% of the time. Very soon, I will have an even bulging tummy for sitting too much.

Everyday when I reach home from work, I prefer to sit and chill in front of the TV, spend some time with Tara, talk to Bob and I'll be getting ready for bed. I'm falling into a mundane routine. But I'm happy so far. Happy that I'm back in a working environment and happy that my work responsibilities are getting more.

The first day of work was really boring though. As usual, newcomers have to sit through 8 hours reading various materials. And I'm not spared from it. What made it worse was, Tara didn't sleep well the night before and I wasn't able to get my much needed rest. I sat through my afternoon briefing session bleary-eyed, dazed and I even dozed off a bit. That was bad for a new staff on her first day. Lucky no one noticed, or so I think.

I'm still getting familiar with the work around here and I hope to get the hang of it very, very soon. It sucks to be so blur about everything. I never liked the first week of a new job but I'm sure time will fly.

It always does.

Everyone I knew commented on my new working hours. How am I going to get used to them and said that I will soon turn up work late. I asked a few of my friends when do they think I will start going to office late and they said one month, almost in unison! Hey! What a morale boost that is! It's my 7th day at work today and I'm proud to say I've never been late till now.

In fact, I'm in early everyday!

I'm gonna prove everyone wrong, that I can be as punctual as I want to be.

We'll see.

Steve Irwin passed away..

I never like this guy. I thought he's too animated and I always changed channels whenever he was on.

But I'm still shocked to hear his passing. Apparently, although he had dealt with crocs, snakes and other dangerous reptiles and animals, he fell victim to a sting ray. A sting ray put a hole in his heart with it's poinsonous barb when he got too close.

I was in the train this morning and the guy standing in front of my seat was reading a copy of Today. I was stunned when I saw his picture and the headlines. My eyes were glued to the story and suddenly the guy flipped his papers, and I realised how stupid I must have looked when I'm holding my own paperback but reading other people's papers.

Poor Steve Irwin.

New Banner is up!!

Clean, no fuss.

My current favourite colours all up.

Did the doodle brackets myself and I love it! Downloaded Rhonna Farrer's free pea kit and used her infamous swirls for the background.

Very happy.

I'm an adventurer

Stumbled upon this test on Audz blog. Most of her results came out true for her, so I thought I'll try and see how accurate this can be. Only need to answer 2 questions and there, my results below:

the Adventurer
Thanks for taking the test !

you chose AX - your Enneagram type is SEVEN.

"I am happy and open to new things"
Adventurers are energetic, lively, and optimistic. They want to contribute to the world.

How to Get Along with Me

• Give me companionship, affection, and freedom. Oh yeah.. true
• Engage with me in stimulating conversation and laughter. Very true. If you were talking to me and I wasn't paying attention, you should change your topic.
• Appreciate my grand visions and listen to my stories. Grand visions?? Do I have any visions in the first place? My stories, yeah, lots of stories to tell.
• Don't try to change my style. Accept me the way I am. Yep, correct.
• Be responsible for youself. I dislike clingy or needy people. I think so..
• Don't tell me what to do. The irony is, I'm always telling people what to do!

What I Like About Being a Seven

• being optimistic and not letting life's troubles get me down Yep!
• being spontaneous and free-spirited So yep!
• being outspoken and outrageous. It's part of the fun. Outspoken? Meaning not giving other people chance to talk? YEP!
• being generous and trying to make the world a better place Generous? Hmmz... And I only try to make MY world a better place.
• having the guts to take risks and to try exciting adventures Not so yep
• having such varied interests and abilities It's so varied, I can't pin point any of my interestes and abilities. So do I have them?
  

What's Hard About Being a Seven

• not having enough time to do all the things I want Very, very yep!!
• not completing things I start Right on yep!
• not being able to profit from the benefits that come from specializing; not making a commitment to a career WAH!! So so accurate YEP YEP!
• having a tendency to be ungrounded; getting lost in plans or fantasies YEP! YEP! YEP!
• feeling confined when I'm in a one-to-one relationship that was before I'm married to Bob. Now I can't be happier!

Sevens as Children

• Often are action oriented and adventuresome Hmmz..
• drum up excitement Double hmmz..
• prefer being with other children to being alone Oh, I'm no loner. But usually I'm still alone, cos other children hates me!
• finesse their way around adults Ooh, I gotta ask the then-adults.
• dream of the freedom they'll have when they grow up Yeah, yep yep! I couldn't wait to grow up, so I can go anywhere I wish.
  

Sevens as Parents

• are often enthusiastic and generous Okay, quite..
• want their children to be exposed to many adventures in life Yep! I don't want my kid to be too sheltered.
• may be too busy with their own activities to be attentive It's unfortunately true. Poor Tara.

Try yours here!

A job!

Ooh, it's really a happy news for me. I found a job! I got a job!!

Oh.. that makes me a really bad mother yeah? I rather work than take care of my kid. Not that I don't like taking care of Tara, I just feel that being able to have a job and earning my own penny gives me a better balance.

Whenever I'm outside, shopping or stolling around with Tara, and I saw those working people, I'm so envious. And I so wana get a job. And there, I found one!

I will start work next Monday. Actually I told them I can start this Friday, since it's the 1st day of the month. Yeah I know, just work for one day and then rest for Sat and Sun and go to work next Monday again. It doesn't matter to me, I'm so looking forward to going to work so starting this Friday or next Monday does not matter to me.

This job is totally different from my last one. I've got no sales target to meet and I don't need to travel all over Singapore. Yeap, it's a deskbound job. I don't earn like I used to but then again, I don't need to pay for a car so, yeah, it's about there. I'm happy.

But I guess there's things I need to get used to, all over again. The new colleagues, the new work place, the new job scope. I need to get some casual work wear too. I saw my new colleagues wearing what I usually wear on a Saturday and I haven't got much casual wear. I'm used to wearing a bit more office-like cos of the clients I have to meet everyday. Then again, I still feel it's better to dress up nicely when going to work so I'm gonna get smart casuals, to fit in the crowd, and not overly casual, i.e. wearing slippers to work.

Okay, I will get used to it. And these few days, I hope to spend more time with Tara. She's still my No. 1. My evenings after work and weekends will still be hers. But I'm happier this way.

Some of my friends told me I'm crazy, and I don't know how to enjoy life. Hmmz, I don't think being at home everyday with a toddler is considered a life to me.

Then again, different strokes for different folks.

On the Creative Side

The projects I've done these 2 months.

These are done at the crop session held at one of the TSL's members abode. I haven't got any idea what to scrap at that time, so these 2 were unplanned ones and I don't really like them.





And the next one was done at a midnight crop held at Made with Love in Plaza Singapura. I like this one better. And it's a very meaningful one cos there's a bit of Tara's hair which I kept in a keepsake holder.





I also managed to do a door hanger for Tara.



And the following 2 layouts are for the SDU class I attended last Thursday. I managed to complete the layouts on yet another overnight crop which I had with my Sis last Friday. Finally did a layout for Bob! And I love it! Just when I thought it's so difficult to scrap for a big guy and the 7 gypsies papers changed it all. The "Lifetime Promise" layout was done on very beautiful Laura Ashley Wedding Collection papers. I'm gonna get more Laura Ashley papers! Heard they are not going to produce anymore so it's gonna be so precious!





And remember sometime back, I offered to sell my excess lunch boxes and to alter it at an additional cost of $2? This is one of them. Morraine emailed me and actually reserved both lunch boxes. I really took my own sweet time to do. Sorry Morraine! The other lunch box will also be ready soon. By this week, I hope. Let me know if you can meet me up next week to collect them! I did something special for Morraine. I did a "First" lunchbox for her girl, Ashley. There's 12 cards in the lunch box, already half completed, she will just need to put in photos and write some journaling and it's done!! Hope you like it ah Morr..





And this one, a mini lunchbox I did to hold my tools supplies for the SDU classes. I'm suddenly crazy over pink and brown, and the combination of them both. Simply love it!



More projects and layouts coming up!