what a frenzy month

My dear hubby got himself hospitalised. There was this cyst that is growing on his chest. He turn down the first doc's offer to get the pus out before it became serious. So when it grew too unbearable, he checked himself into the hospital after he sent me to church the sunday before i am due to leave for work trip.
That afternoon, I had to do the groceries real quick, cook some soup for him and prep the kids for school for the week. All these would not have been possible if I had been frustrated or panic during the process. God was definitely with me.

Next day, (16th Apr/Mon)
I was really daze when my RO and I took off to the San franscisco. I forced myself to nap on the flight and halfway thru, i wonder if it was worth it since so much time was wasted travelling. Plus the checks were really stringent. It was worse on domestic flights, shall not indulge in elaborating.

After checking into the nice quiet town in Redwood city, we took off to San Fran city. And as I was not appropriate dressed for 11 degrees celcius, I ended up with a cold sore on my lip. Otherwise, it would have been a real treat that half day at the city. We ventured the shops at Old Navy, Victoria Secrets, took the tram to Fisherman's wharf... The sunset was a beauty.
The place we put up was somewhat like a dorm. Pleasantly peaceful and my room view was the little airport that holds some jet planes.


Marriot townsuite - 15 mins walk to work place in Redwood city


San Francisco city

Next night, Jake and family with Jeff/Wendy arranged dinner at "Yeah", a Malaysian restaurant near our office. Not fantastic food but i really love the company.


yeah!

The winds made the weather really cold although it's suppose to be spring. To talk work will be too boring, Fast forward...

Friday, I packed to get ready for Wendy to pick me up to Dinah's place for dinner. Dinah cooks.. wooo.. hoo.


Dinah the cook

one of the dish

Wendy and Denzel


the dinner

then Wendy prepared a nice bed with a nice little bear to accompany.. It was really nice and comfy.


isn't it lovely

It still felt surreal that nite when i fell asleep at the Lui's place, I think already at that point, I missed my hub and kids a great deal. All set for the next two days of fun.
WE shopped, eat, visited Golden Gate, Sausalito. We also had quite a bit of fun trying to take our own pics.. see this:









Jeff and Wendy also made a trip going up the famous San fran city slope and down the Lombard. I'll always remember that great memory they made.
Million thanks to Jake/Dinah and family and JEff and Wendy. I was genuinely happy to be able to spend time with these old buddies.. we've really come a long way :)

In the BIG APPLE city

Many pictures to post, many things to write, loved the different culture and stuff but no mood to update. Cos I am so home sick. Out too long.

the children we make

On the way to work at 10.30am (that's another story), I witnessed something that was disturbing. A man came up together with a school kid (from St Hilda's secondary school) and was trying to ask him for directions (in Mandarin). They were sitting directly opposite me. The man must have scribbled something on his little notebook and he was pointing at the book and telling the boy that he needs to get to Buona Vista MRT, he wanted to know if it was the right train he had hopped on. The kid had no idea, shrug off to his questions most times, did not even try to see if there was any way he could help but seemed despair. I was on my iPod but I could hear the guy, not that he was loud but I noticed what he was asking. In the end, the man just slump on the chair and gave up. The kid with a nonchalant expression, went back on his earpiece.
I promptly took off my earpiece and said " Sian sheng, ru guo ni yao tao Buona Vista, ni zai tui de che" He was so thankful and immediately sat up.

The immediate thought was: what if it was Nathan or Natasha? I would have so shameful of their little knowledge of singapore and worse, unhelpfulness! this kid could jolly well be like my kids, always being fetched around so they don't really know where does the train lines go. In most cases, parents move nearer to the school their children attends, so that they don't have to travel so *far* and be tired out. We worry so much about children's school results and did not care much about their GK or even allow their survival instinct to run!
when I was younger, I started taking public bus at the age of 8 from Commonwealth to Middle Road. There was this time when me and my sis got lost and we end up at the terminal. The kind bus uncle brought me to another bus and told us where to stop.

Some of my friends argued that it's too dangerous, our time has kind souls but these days, you never know...
Are there too many excuses these days for us to pamper our kids. So much that they are given too much but does not learn how to earn it?
I am as guilty as any parents who pampers but thank God, this is such a good incident that "opened" my eyes to see what is really happening!
Not that I will start to take away lest they suffer withdrawal syndrome, but I would really start to really scrutinise on my givings. It's disastrous to think how painful it'll be for them when they have to vie for themselves and find that they are not at all equipped.

Blessings of God

It's so surreal to think that next Monday at this time, I would be on the flight to San Jose office. I would be visiting New York too!
This is only the first trip, there will be more trips to come. The next one would probably be in October for an event we have to organise.

I would never have imagine such things happening to me at all, if not for God's blessings and intervention. When God provides, He gives the best.

There are times when I could almost go green with envy for those people who has the opportunity to travel for work. I forget that I also had my share .... the first that was given was Bangkok for a workshop, then Malacca several times for presentations to internal colleagues, then to Hong Kong to present to a customer. Maybe it because it's still within Asia.
Now USA! Have not packed for my trip yet and quite lost in planning what to do besides work. Boy, am I glad that there are good pals in west coast to bring me around.

excited.. excited.. excited..

trashing in blog

There were many posts which i did not put up.

Some two weeks ago, hubs and I made memories with the children. We add 3 more badminton rackets to our collection and played a casual game. The children enjoyed it so much and asks why we started so late.

Hubs bought our dog for a "saloon" hair cut and now she's looking so good.

Hubs did his final year for the reservist.

It was hubs birthday (with his mother - lunar calendar) last Thurs. Eunice helped me make a homemade Durian birthday cake for them.

I'm so into Heroes as well as reading heroes of faith (John Bunyan - author of Pilgrim progress).

We (children and I) visited Cole - Anny's second offspring. As cute as a button. It was nice catching up with Anny and teasing Dayne.

Treated myself to an iPOD nano and Nike armband. That should motivate me to do more jogs now. Running 2km is not an issue anymore. I am gonna stretch it further.
Also bought some knee guard to cushion the impacts of runs.

bee-see

On top of the children's and work schedules.. suddenly, there are like added items for me to do.

3rd - hubby has farewell, gotta fetch him home after fetching son from class.
4th - got to buy durian to pass to friend, she will do up the cake for hubby
4th - take over the tab to do up April's birthday celebration for the dept
5th - hubby's and MIL's birthday. collect cake, arrange people to meet, delegate stuff for people to buy and prepare.

6th - want to totally nuah!

Wonderful Morning!

Hubs needed to reach Nee soon camp at 7.30am. We were early when we set out, which is a rare on a Saturday.

The morning view was so beautiful! There was no chance to take any pics as hubs friend arrived... but to describe it a little of what was seen..
The sun shines from the back of some rolling clouds. The dash of orange, yellow rays on the white clouds and the grey blue sky was breathe-taking. The patch of green grass in front of the MRT station had a layer of morning mist.

God says it all. The creator of everything. Thank you Lord for such a beautiful morning with such a sight.

Distorted?

I met up an ex-colleague (about my age) over lunch today. We weren't exactly close before, I was in sales and she was my marketing support. There was more work talk than personal sharing when we were.. well.. together.

She's now with another company and since she's in town, we arranged to meet another colleague and myself for lunch. Over the lunch chat, I soon learnt that she's determined to not be married, not have children and aims to die at the age of 45, if she does not die by then desired age, she will take an injection to end her life. She set this "plans" about 5 years ago which means she is still pretty convicted with her "plans" It didn't seem that she's joking or depressed and I am not a guillable(spelling?) person as well.
What really bothered me was the fact she said it like it's really casual and there is no way anyone would change her mind. And she's accepted Christ. I'm not trying to do any bashing upon religion but it's really disturbing to see someone who has known and loved Christ decide on something she knew would disappoint Him.
It was quite a depressing session. The other colleague who went along for this lunch is having marital problems. Apparently, she's already at the non-speaking stage with her spouse.

I however declared loudly that they will be in my prayers. As much as I have no idea what to pray for as I will never know what is best for them but I'll definitely ask God to give them a loving touch.

It was a long weekend for me as I was on leave on Friday. The morning half of the day was spent at father's niche. Without a doubt, we all miss him although there was significantly less tears. Mother did a prayer routine and I must say that it is impressive that she has , for the first time in her religion life, been so sincere and hold fast to the faith with God. I firmly believe that father is at rest in peace but mother just wanted to recite the petition prayers to God for the dead.

We headed for lunch at a Pu Tien restaurant. I am assuming that we went to Pu Xin which IMHO is quite outstanding and at $20 per pax, it's satifying. If the Pu Tien Seafood serves much better food, I reckon there's certainly something to look forward to. will upload some pics on lunchlater.

We spend the rest of the afternoon really lazing, nap, surf net for the Japan trip, watch Tee Vee.. then it was dinner at Man Fu Yuan restaurant with hub's parents and eldest sister. The service was first class and out of the many courses of dishes, the steamed Soon Hock is my favourite. the bill came up to be about $40 per person. That is with priviledged card, vouchers discounts.

certainly felt like a glutton for eating so much rich and expensive food. Not sure if there was any relation but I had insommnia on Sat morning... at 8am, I felt so drugged (food intoxication) that it was almost impossible to make me do any runs.

Thank God for partners who motivates. I was literally dragged out of bed, did a 1.8km jog and felt more refresh to conquer the day.

The day saw me through Isaac's birthday, PTN in church and cell meet up till 1am!

As much as I felt concussed, I promptly went to church at 9am to do my SS service. Love the kiddos. They are ever such encouragement to me.

The shopping experience at the new Giant at Tampines left me a really bad taste. It was simply too congested, noisy and dirty to have me talk about any great discounts.

To make up for the poor afternoon, I made fried fish soup for dinner after our walk at the park. That gave some comfort to start the week that is to come.

yay.. i made it

On Mon, I managed to scrap through 1.4km run. I told myself in the mirror that I'll do 1.8km and I clocked 2.4km today!!!!!

but I took 45mins to do that, heh. jia you!

Food adventure

We had been feasting!

Last Saturday, we went to Wild Rocket with our nephews and kids. Hubby volunteered the treat cos he's forever so generous to his nephews and nieces, besides taking care of the children. The place is a bit of a maze to find though and by the time we arrive (after swimming) at 8pm, we were starving.

The verdict:
Talk about fusion food! The soup impressed me the most, it was cream of lotus root with wolfberries. It looked like yam paste but the taste is so comforting. Usually when we double boil the clear broth - lotus root soup with pork ribs, the ingredients are not consumed. The kids took no time to finish up. Good tips for me to start blending soups.

The softshell crab did not leave me much. I'd say the pepper sauce was good.

For the main course, we all gave thumbs up. The interesting orders was prob hubby's Laksa preso which looks italian (spaghetti with some green paste), smells like laksa, taste ... well both Asian and European. And my dish, the squid ink linguine. yep, not the kind of food you'll order with clients. My teeth were all inky aftermath, looking the part of pirates.

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It's oyster night on Tuesdays at Greenwood Fish market and Bistro. We would not have done this dinner on other Tuesdays cos Nathan has classes. Hubby was suppose to treat but since he has to give the best of the crop to God first, this time, I took up the tab. That will give us another excuse to feast next month ;P

Verdict:
The atmosphere reminded us of the Fisherman's wharf in Australia (tassie or Melbourne or Sydney). It's fish market that serves great fresh seafood.

The calamari does us in. It came with very complimentary salad at the bottom of those fried sotong pieces. I almost ordered that as desserts, haha. The corn soup, er, not our type. The oysters at that price and fresh, I could have at least 2 dozens. I had to control myself. We shared 15, I cannot register how many I had, I just take, dig, slurp the whole time. I won't be surprise if I had 10 and hubby had only 5. The pics are little dark as the ambience was suppose to be romantic.



The mains were red miso cod for hubby and lobster linguine for me. The cod with the red miso sauce was great when you start eating but not sustainable.
My dish was tasty, it had a dash of chilli padi in the linguine and the lobster was the size of my palm. Oiishi neh!



the cod (grilled with red miso) and mashed sweet potato



the lobster

surprise!

I did mention that today is the official blog day for me. As I am writing this, Nathan is at the Mediacorp's audition for Spellcast. It's just for the experience, afterall it's gonna be quite fun for him to take a look at their studio.

Okay, now for the surprise news.. *drum rolling* i won 1st prize for a reward programme I was enrolled in... a trip for 2 to Japan!!!!
I've never won anything so grand before and it's really a treat!

things I do when bored.

I resolved one request. today is offical blog day for me!!

hmmm.. hubby's bd is on the 5th of the month. IS that no wonder we are always missing the point by that little bit? my life is a bit of surprises ... good and bad ones.

Your Birthdate: December 31

You don't love lightly. For you, love is always a serious undertaking.However, you are able to love many types of people. You can bring out the best in almost anyone.Love surprises you often. You never know when or where you'll find it next. Number of True Loves You'll Have: 2 Number of Times You'll Have Your Heart Broken: 1 You are most compatible with people born on the 4th, 13th, 22nd, and 31st of the month.

What'>http://www.blogthings.com/whatdoesyourbirthdatemeanforyourlovelifequiz/">What Does Your Birth Date Mean For Your Love Life?

Your Birthdate: April 5

People wouldn't take you for a passionate person - and that's where they'd be wrong.You can develop deep emotions quickly, and you're the type most likely to move in with someone after a few dates. Number of True Loves You'll Have: 5 Number of Times You'll Have Your Heart Broken: 5 You are most compatible with people born on the 5th, 14th, and 23rd of the month.

What'>http://www.blogthings.com/whatdoesyourbirthdatemeanforyourlovelifequiz/">What Does Your Birth Date Mean For Your Love Life?

so uncanny... he made his moves to "steadified" our relationship after 3 dates. And yes, he's a passionate man. Does that mean I'm not so compatible. Aiyah, married liao, too bad.

Meme

Kinda early to blog but I just wanted to take my mind off that Vietnam lead and the RFP that is driving me half nuts.

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1.Is your default picture your natural hair color?
No picture on this blog. but my hair is coloured.
2. Where was your default pic taken?
N.A.
3. What's your middle name?
Don't have one.
5. Honestly, does your crush(s) like you back?
nope, always not successful in that department.
6. What's your current mood?
somewhat tired.
7. What color shirt are you wearing?
Green.
8. What makes you happy, honestly?
Good friends.
9. Are you musically inclined?
I think I can sing quite okay. Can only play one song on Piano.
10. If you MUST be an animal for ONE day- what would you be?
A beautiful cat.
11. Ever had a near death experience?
er... I think so.
12. Something you do a lot?
watch TeeVee.
13. What's the name of the song stuck in your head right now?
Inspired by the cross. By A2J
14. Who did you copy and paste this survey from?
Ickleoriental.
15. Name someone with the same b-day as you?
Mei Yan.
16. When was the last time you cried?
Sunday. I missed my Dad.
17. If you could have one super power what would it be?
Do everything at the speed of lightning. I like to get things done quickly.
18. What's the first thing you notice about the OPPOSITE sex?
Height.
20. What’s your biggest secret?
It'll not be a secret anymore if that was said.
21. What's your favorite color?
yellow... white...
22. When was the last time you lied?
huh?
23. Do you watch kiddy tv shows or movies?
with my kids, yes.
24. Do you have a best friend?
Used to. I thought.
25. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
I'll have a more positive outlook of life.
26. What are you eating or drinking at the moment?
Mineral water.
27. Do you speak any other language?
Mandarin.
28. What’s your biggest regret?
Never thought of it.

how many and much is good...

I had my nephews over the whole of 9 days last week. They are 12 and 10. It gave me the chance to see if I could take care of 4 children as if they are of my own. It was all good, as it turns out, they were very obedient and great boys. Meal menu planned, laid down some simple houserules, went through with the 4 kids on their school tests/spelling etc... hey, I'm a pro!
It is not bad an idea to have so many kids in the house, we were able to fill up the monopoly and risk boardgame players. We had more exchanges of ideas on the TV programme we were watching. The house was filled with more laughter and quarrels. But overall, there was more energy filling up the space. But it was still such a short time to access whether it's a joy or pain to have that many children of my own.
I was and am content with just my 2 kids. I'm definitely stopping at 2 and have zero intentions and desires to have more. However, I don't deny that it's a joy to have more kids.. Whatever, God gave us children as like talents. We would need to be good steward over them.

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Nathan had shown some great improvements in doing some discipline work on his own since this week's school break. He read the Bible and did some home assessment without my asking! That's showing really good signs of maturity.

I had some me-me time at the jog but there were some mental block when I did the rounds, I could only wrap up with 1.4km today. I did 1.9km last fri. Somewhat dissappointed that my stamina did not build up since but the goal is to do 2.4km by end of this week.

AT work, though it was planned that my trip to US was gonna be mid April, it might happen earlier.. uh oh. my boss will let me know when I'll be fed to the sharks.
So Jeff, if you are reading this, I may make my appearance earlier than I'm willing to.

Hubby is super stressed for his work but he had some great news to share. He's promoted! Thank God for His providence and blessings!

going for that trip

My RO asked me if I am ready to go USA (alone) office for two weeks this morning. He mentioned this last month but it still felt too soon for me to tackle the tasks alone there.

I started this new portfolio barely two months ago, to be exact, it's only 7 weeks in the job. That is inclusive of the Lunar new year week! He thinks I'm ready, me thinks otherwise. I asked for another 4 weeks, which means I'll be meeting the US folks in April... I am actually both apprehensive and excited.

Apprehensive probably because of home..Although I've discussed this with the family, I'm not really sure if my hubby can cope. Especially now I am doing most of the fetching, guiding, coaching, planning etc. You see, Mums ALWAYS know better.
Besides being at home to make sure things are in place, I am definite going to miss my darlings. During the 4 days when my hubby and I was in Macau last Dec. As much as I enjoyed just being the two of us, I had wished that the kids were with me. I had thoughts of how they would enjoyed the walks, what they would say about the desserts, how their eyes would have delighted if they saw the height from the tower, how they would look in their cold weather clothings, the things we could have taught them... oh but not without the thought of them fighting each other, heh.

Excited cos.. for one, I've never travelled to USA before. And two, it's great learning experience for me. Not that it'll be easy and non-stress though cos I would prob be fed to the sharks of my colleagues there.. haha. It's business and in all honesty, being on a holiday and on work is an entirely different story. nonetheless, I would have mark this as yet another milestone in my career, an achievement for myself. yes, I'm a mum but also that career woman I set out to be when I wanted to finish my business degree.

Now you see, the struggle of women. We are that female who was groom to work in the society, we are also the female who has inclination to be more sensitive to caregiving.

Indonesia Earthquake, Singapore Tremors

Tremors were felt in different parts of Singapore at about 12 noon today.

the first time, I was in the toilet doing the big business. I did not feel anything. The shit did not go anywhere else either.. And if anything would have happened then, it would be totally unglam.

the second tremor, we were discussing over the Nike sports outfit someone bought. Totally distracted by the thought of shopping. Did not felt it too.

But hubby's entire department were evacuated and asked to work from home. They activated the Continuity of Business (COB) process.

I'm still in the office, working.

something to think about..

we were having dinner on Sunday evening when Nathan asked a question all of the sudden.

The question:
Mum.. if we do something which we are not suppose to do. Would (in my head I was thinking he would ask - would God know) it be lying if I did not tell it?

Without a doubt, I said yes. Omission is also lying.
I did not go further into detail that there could be "white lie" which happens when you access the situation. I did not even probe him!

But later that night, I ponder upon this stange question he asked.

- is he hiding something from me?
- have I done something which I'm not suppose to and did not tell it to another person and he somehow know it (I could be unaware.. usually I will tell)
- did he want to tell me something else but I did not probe.

well, I left it open. He is already going to be 10 in October. He is really an intelligent boy who is also sensitive. I really hope that he would have by now develop the habit of telling me things instead of having to probe before sharing.

And this boy was so sweet. there is this debate the arena which I encouraged him to watch. This week's topic is Mother Knows Best. Mothers should stay at home to raise children.

He says that both parents knows best, mum just know better than dad.
Thanks alot for that confirmation son! haha

Busy with what..

These days, I'm glad that exercise is getting to be part of my regime to get back in shape. Mon, Wed and Fri 10pm - runs. Slowly increasing from 1.5K to 2K.. hope to get to the 5K, 10K in 6 to 12 months time.
Alternate fridays for cheong.

Thurs is Pilates. Got to work out those muscles to strengthen back and get that protuding tummy and flabby arms out of the way.

Weekends exercises will need to depend on the children's schedule.
Let's see..both kiddos will be doing Wushu and Ballet on Sat morning respectively. Afternoon will rest a while before going for swim. Oh, oh.. I did 3.5k (wrong), 500m swim. I felt my arms really aching.. and enlarged! But I will continue to do that and try to cut down on eating. all in the name of vanity, heh.

After morning church, we will need some rest after lunch. It will be grocery shopping for the week till 5pm and the kids will have their Jap and English class in the evening after dinner. Perhaps i'll squeeze in a do at home pilates during the evening slot. I'll alternate that with trying out of new recipe.

Well, after penning it down, I feel that life now is more in control. There is more me-time and family time besides office work. Yeah!

Food for thought and stomach

Sat morning, we were at tampines round market for breakfast. Ah girl is having her usual Soya milk with "You tiao" when she blurted, "Mummy look, they sell Sushi here too". I look up and indeed she was not entirely wrong, there it is... if you read the hanyu pinyin that is. in English Tasha says it is: Elephant rich Japanese sushi (heh)

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some time ago, the hubby took pains to queue two hours for this ...

It's really good and at S$1.20, it's such a bargain!

And the indulge before CNY even started.. Toast's chocolate cupcake! although steep at S$3.75, it's a reward food when you need it.

me, the monster or ...

Over the weekend, on Sat nite to be precise, I went into some hormonal rage. I realised that it was due to PMS later really.

After the dinner at Harbour city, well it had already kicked off some sparks between the hubby and I. It was just that my head was flooded with pain and I said things that provoke him, of which I had totally no intentions and did not think it was. Now, that IS a problem issn't it.
Then, in the middle of the night (1.40am) , my headache just grew and turning to him, I asked for the tiger balm that I thought it was at his side of the bed. He flared up and scream at me. I recalled being too hurt by his uncaring reaction and at the same time, afraid that he will hit me out of rage - something he had done before. All possible negative thoughts came all at once. That I did not come from a blessed family (ridiculed by my MIL a few times), that I was not someone who do work, home well. I could not hold friends together. I have no close girlfriend. No one ever replies the emails I send for encouragement etc.......
the thought of growing old with the hubby seems super bleak after I sat down at the living room to recover from the verbal blows. I felt I did not want to continue my marriage life with him at all. I proposed a divorce. Now, to think of it, I was whining for attention but did not know how.

Then, he was also not forgiving to the fact that I am so insensitive to his sleep routine and threatened that if I leave, he and the children will leave Christian faith.
I felt..... so sad or rather in mandarin 委. Throbbing with headache, not only was I not being understood and taken care of, I was repremanded for kicking a fuss and at the same time threatened.
Then, I swallowed whatever feeling I felt at that point and ask for forgiveness for disturbing him from sleep. I got some medication to treat my headache myself. We were in bed at 2.45am.

He did express his regrets later in the morning and tells me he loves me. I did not answer and it could hurt him alot.
If you ask me now what my feelings are. I am numb. I know it must be Satan's attack but I don't know what to feel towards the hubby. I need no advise for now cos I will snap at any which comes along. That could signify that I still grudge him for treating me that shabbily.

Anyways... it's over right. yeah, it's just once in a bluemoon huge marital fight. Sometimes, it emerge with victory, sometimes, like this one, I emerge more disillusioned ever.

funny how we turned out

15 years ago, when pondorosa was a common place to date. This friend,G, brought me to view the panaromic view of Singapore from Swissotel, then this hotel was by some other name. He asked me if I could be his special girl. I could not recipocate and felt really really really bad telling him I could not. Because he was really a nice guy and gave me tons of encouragements when I was down. No, I never regretted us not being together. And yes, we are still friends after that. Afterall, we really almost grew up in the same family church.

After I move out of that church, there was a few times we met but was not really able to chat. We had the opportunity to stand by the roadside and spend an hour sharing each others lives yesterday. He just finished a project for the company I'm employed and I just returned to the same company after a year out.
There were some mutual friends we brought up during our conversation. And we had to admit that it was strange how some of us took on vocations that is totally..... unexpected.

to digress a little.. it made me recall how I had a huge crush on friend, J that many moons ago. He was then a promising and talented pianist, I loved his humour - I doubt he could share mine cos I was not very vocal at that time. He had lotsa charisma (my opinion) and he also sings really well. Come to think of it, it is easier to swoon girls with great singing skills... right??
Anyhow, he didn't like me the way lovers do, I was just a friend, a good friend. He blatantly tells me that when we are older, we would laugh about how, you know, we did not get together. I did not think it was gonna be that way then. Not that I was bitter.. really. I thought being 30 is old and I'll never reach that age fast enough. haha.
Oh, I still treasure the drawing of a cartoon of me.. He remains now a sweet friend of mine. We were never soulmates anyway. Hope to meet up with him in USA when I visit the place.

there is also M, who is a dear, dear, dear friend of mine. He is so ever cynical and have all sort of weird ideas. We are not so in touch now but i have tons of memories of the way things were.

So there, we have now friends (some may be distant friend) who are pastor, entrepenuer, MNC employee, MOE teacher, SAHM, rich sales person, church worker, designer, lawyer, immigrants in USA/Australia....

some of us who did not know what be inspire, some of us are already what we inspired to be...

edit:

here is the pic which I still have from J.

Lunar New Year

Whee..with the 2 days holiday that is right after weekend, there were 4 full days to rest and not think of work. I liked the way my holidays turned out.

This year, to respect that fact that my dad passed on last March, we intent to keep CNY celebration lowkey... not as if I am in the mood too. I practically left most of the CNY stuff to my hubby, he got some goodies, put up the deco and bought the flowers. He almost bought the tulips just for me.. so sweet of him, but I didn't allow that to happen.

flowers for his mum, 20 roses at 10 bucks!

Friday nite saw me going home at 5.30pm (almost sharp) and we took the kids out for our own nuclear family dinner at soup restaurant at the airport cos it's near. It's the first for the kids and the hubby (cos they are forever tempted by sakae sushi to try others food) and they loved it. The soup has so much goodness, the begger's ribs were finger linking, the chicken and the ginger sauce so refreshing, there were 2nd, 3rd, last helpings to the claypot tofu, the veg if the kids eat chilli would have been great but it was delicious too.. we polished off the dishes and every bit of rice. So satisfying with the capital S that we did not have room to snack on Popeye wings .

We had a round of family boardgame before we hit the z-land.

The next day, the hubby and I were inspired to jog at the nearby park since we had no obligations/classes to rush. it's first for me to run continously for 2km. Nathan who is usually most unkeen to work out, ran with me too. We felt superb-ly refreshed! We promised ourselves that we must do the jog more often.

The reunion dinner with my hubby's extended family was pretty standard. At his mum's place, "free" healthy homecook food (steamboat) - what more can I asked *wink*. No, I am not complaining but every year, I always lament that it did not feel like a reunion dinner as each will take their bowls of rice and veg and sits in front of the Tee Vee. Those who mahjong-ed will rush thru meal so that players can play longer... well, that IS the tradition for their family, I guess.

The following days were bits and pieces of visitations.. there is however one which was memorable cos I almost teared on the spot. We went to my MIL's second's bro's home, he saw my girl (the only grandchild who is willing to pay visits this year) and started pouring play gifts .. poppers, fuzzy yo yo, etc. It reminded me so much of Dad as this is prob something he would have done if he is still around. I really still can't bear the thought that he's not around anymore.

Day 3 was mainly for ourselves. The hubby and I jogged again without the kids, they wanted to laze around in bed. I stretch an extra 500m to add my previous 2km.. (in hopes to rid the accumulated goodies fat). oh, and I managed to get the speakers for my ipod before before heading my mum's place. with that, it wrapped up my New year.

I did not feel like I was dragged in to work on 4th day of lunar year, so that is a good sign. Cheers to the rest of the months to come!

VD outing

Intially, the hubby wanted to bring me to Kusu Island.. It's strange how he came up with this idea.. insisting that the lagoon there is one of the best spot to swim and relag, but apparently I was totally NOT keen. For one, looking at turtles are not really romatic, right? For two, we can always check into Sentosa for some lagoon fun.

So he went along with the idea to have breakfast at Vivocity, then did almost the whole day of shopping. He did try to book a couple spa but the appointment available was at 9.30pm and will have to end the session at 11.30pm. With the thought that those spa-ers will be dog tired by then and the spa-ees (us) may not enjoy the fullest, we did not go for it.

The budget for the spa however did not go to waste.. *hee*

4 beautiful pcs for 200 bucks.

my favourite piece.

3rd level of the mall, there is a pet safari.. and look how some dogs are dressed for CNY.

see those ears on the poooodle

hey, what nice tail you have there Maltese

the retort

We were preparing to watch RENT at 10pm as it was the children's bedtime. My daughter buay-gum-wan that she cannot watch the movie, asked

Tasha: why cannot watch?!?!
Me: it's not suitable for you to watch now..
hubby: when you are 18 years old, we'll let you watch.
Tasha: but the CD would be spoilt by then and I won't be able to watch ANYMORE!!
me+hubby: o_O

Cupcakes

Had free tasting on Mong's cupcakes - a free ride from other people who will be ordering :P.

The chocolate cakes are absolutely beautiful and yummy, did not manage to eat the plain flavour though. The icing are not so sweet.

verdict: die die must try!!

The tarts are soo good too. The photos here does not make much justice cos it's taken with phone camera, I had to quickly take the shots before they are being gobbled.

Happy Valentine's

For many years, 14th Feb is always ignored.

This year, for some reason, the hubby insists that I take leave, which I reluntantly obliged. Cos for one, I am not so sure if I would enjoy the plans he may have.

I got a gift for him though. It shall be his post christmas, valentine's, pre-birthday gift as it costs me quite a bit... *ker ching*

He will be wearing the Oris, F1 skeleton face.

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the whine

Listening to: Jesus is Alive

Tasha is having a flu. cannot breathe... throat really very painful.. she complains.
Poor sweetie, rushed to the pharma to buy the "pipa gao" and strepsils to soothe them a little.
After that, she rattled on to tell me the cry event that happened on the school bus. She then retreat to her room to finish up her work.

Just so please with my darling girl's progress.

All excited... for HIM

Listening to: praise and worship 2

My first love came back. With a vengence... After the teacher's retreat last month, I found my lukewarm attitude disgusting. I am falling in love over again with Christ.
I hope to spread that excitement to my cell group members then so forth. I suppose, it was a year of real test yesteryear where the workplace has totally no believers. At this new workplace, brother Isaac is so ever encouraging. My mentor wants to attend church again (he stopped going for two years now).
All fired up now, I hope to do a little more than I am doing now.
Starting by emailing encouraging experiences, for sometimes over coversation, i may miss out the most important thing - quotation from the Word.

sometime from a couple of week ago:
This morning, a colleague brought breakfast for about20 of us in the department. His reason for doing sowas to accumulate favour/blessings (ji fu) - as inconfucion studies. (kong zi)As Christians, we do not have that above concept whenwe do good deeds. But on what motivations do we actthat deed?Surely, we know that when we are filled with the loveof God and recognise it, it will become our actions. -> let's really be active in putting discipline in ourlove for others, be it the community or even our cellmembers.We discuss last BS on the love of God and one of theparable to illustrate that is the prodigal son.We know that the father in the parable RAN to hisyounger son. Giving him the robe (of righteousness),the gold ring (inheritance) and the shoes/sandals(son).There is also this elder brother who got upset withhis father for doing being so elated over the youngerunfilial son's homecoming. And reinstating all of thebrother's previous status. While all this while, theelder brother thought that he sacrifice and staybehind to work for his father.the father explained "all I have is already yours"God is concern for you, he wants to protect you andgive you all of what is His to you. However, you donot have to sacrifice for Him. In the case of theelder son, he probably was upset that he sacrifice didnot get recognition. Are we sometimes like that?Thinking that we have given the blessings to othersand seemingly has no returns. Then feel tired andupset?-> When you are feeling tired on loving others,remember that your strength comes from God.The experience of Christ love should be spread aroundus. That is a baby step to bring one to know Christ.Let's continue to uphold everyone of us in prayers.

~~~~~~~
last week :A brother in christ is stumbled by a sister in christ's testimony

Galatians 5:25-6:6 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in stepwith the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited,provoking and envying each other. 1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you whoare spiritual should restore him gently. .... 2 Carryeach other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfillthe law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks he is somethingwhen he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 Each oneshould test his own actions. Then he can take pride inhimself, without comparing himself to somebody else, 5for each one should carry his own load. 6 Anyone who receives instruction in the word mustshare all good things with his instructor.

----------
When we ponder upon the brother's (in christ)reaction,it is evident that he is critical of the sister'sactions. Galatians 5:25-6:5 reminds us again that weshould resolve our planks before judging. Test our ownactions but not comparing. Do not let that hinder usfrom obeying the law of Christ.We shall not dwell on the technicalities of the "moralfault" but focus on doing what is right - for thisinstance, be happy for the sister (in Christ) forbeing out of trouble and continual encourage her,gently to strengthen her walk with Christ.Remember how Jesus was different from the teachers ofthe law. Above all laws, LOVE your fellow men. This isyet another huge topic to discuss. AS for whether what the sister had done was morallyright or wrong... you decide :)Lastly, I am no instructor but please share yourinstruction from the word and share all good thingswith all.(galatians 6:6)

Nathan

The children are discouraged to have too much water before going to bed. Bedtime is strictly 10pm. Before 9pm, I make it a point to remind them to have a cup of water.. provided I am always at home by that time.
Somehow, perhaps motivated by some internal defiance, they like to have at least half a cup of water before bed. Tasha still is able to wake up and go to the toilet by herself. Nathan have had three days of bed wetting thrice in a row in Jan. Thank God for helper to clean up. However, it bothered me.
He says that he dreams of the act (going to toilet) thus it happens in reality. But so many times in a week?!
I noticed last night that his tongue has a patch that the Sinseh says that it is not normal. Something to do with his kidney. He did acupuncture on him and there were some apparent help.
Tonight, the hubby is bringing him to the sinseh to check on the condition again... have to remind him to look into his sinus problem too.

ready?

The hair is now short. Not that I am totally displeased with the cut... it's does make me look more mature and I have the tendency to worry about the visible balding patch on top of my head. on top of that, it's been a long time since i had short hair - now presenting.. the fierce look.



small editing:
it's the 2nd day I have survived at work place with my short hair. I don't even recognise myself when I see my own reflection on the windows.
Suddenly, all the MRT commuter's hair is all so much better than mine. I have the urge to buy a wig for myself. I must stand firm on my decisions of not having short hair in future. NO more short hair ever!!

Oh my!

Finally, going to the hairdresser this evening. It badly needs a trim, give the right colour for the white hair (growing old pains) and some treatment to the hair ends. This is my hair now. I will update the "then" in later post. Pics from my current sony ericsson W810i.

work front:

I felt pretty accomplished after getting back the cases to some of the sales people last evening. But this morning, it became crap all over again! And I am so stuck at most cases now, plus communicating over emails with different time zones is just too hard.. urgh. BUT, I am still glad to take a different role now esp having the experience to deal with overseas partners.

home front:

last night, Nathan and Natasha has calls from school friends.

Nathan is starting to want to hide things from moi. I asked him what is the name of the caller, in his exact words "can I don't tell you?" *grasp*, he's 9 going 10 years old and becoming so secretive?

I charmed him to tell me the name (which is Amelia). I did not comment a single thing in case he refuse to share anything with me in future. note to self : not to tease him anymore about girl school friends.

these are a few of my nice things for today...

Our corporate ang bao came in a pouch that is re-usable.. I likey... but not sure what it can be used for except as a pencil case.

last Oct, I brought the children for a studio make over photo shoot, inspired by howMong's macy turn out.

These two pics is currently part of the deco on my office table:)

Con called with USA colleagues this morning for a introductory. People are nice and pleasant but challenging market to tackle, I'll have already done some cases which is so. Thank God for good mentor, hope he'll remain helpful for a long time.

Back breaking experience

Our dept is trying to do a keep fit 2007. Most of them will need to cook up some ideas on what to do for the month. K, our yoga enthuse, put us up into a trial lesson on Kryoga yesterday. There were some last minute shift in timing, we end up joining the intermediate class. My mental state was not really prepared for it, but my body was pushing through. Some of the meditation bits, praying posture, free mind felt really unappropriate personally but I was praying the whole time. Overall it's still fun to do it with colleagues, where everyone could "complain" about the aches together.

Feb is badminton month. Looking forward to some fun.

The hubby and I will be starting on our golf lessons tomorrow. I've got some practices at the range but I always end up hurting my left palm after a few stokes. Hopefully getting the techniques will help to improve that.

some briefs over weekend

before the hubby became seriously sick.. he gave us a treat from his bonus money at Cystal Jade Palace at Ngee Ann City. love the soup.
Bought the children school shoes. The girl says that her school friends are already saying things about her shoes (worn since K2 - but hey, there ain't no hole in shoe yet).
My son says that he wants to go my parent's in law's place. We should have paid a visit but ... the man is sick.

the MC king a.k.a the hubby

Jan alone, the hubby is sick twice. the first was on the 15th when he had severe lao sai.. It was really rather serious, not that he is faking it or something. Then over the weekends, he has this swollen left eye and a large pimple that caused his throat to be scratchy and fever. And he is on sick leave again today. He says his boss is totally unhappy.

Last year, the hubby finished using all the medical entitlement. I wonder if he is going to hit the same record this year. When I cleared the fridge of the out dated medicines, I visited the doc only once last year - wow... I'm a super mum, yeah. AND, I can feel that my MIL not happy with me not taking good care of his son. hrmph.

Perhaps I should make him go into detox programme to kill his sick germs.

R.I.P. while I get my hands on the new one

that's RIP for my 43" LG standing TeeVee. It went into disco crackling mode and all of the sudden, the intestines burst and died.

We now squeeze in the master bedroom for the few shows we catch and we have to go a-TeeVee hunting. With all these plasma, HD, integrated etc etc.. to go for those or to stick to something normal and Toshiba/JVC/phillips... well well.

frustrated...

yesterday, between his 4th elder sis and hubby and myself, we had quite a bit of a heated session on whether going the Junior College (JC) route or the polytechnic one is better. To put it simply, there is no right or wrong but the husband and his sister is so mule about it. Now, that's the thing is really pissing me. I turned to my niece (who is the cause of the debate cos she is taking her 'O's this yr), and told her that long term success comes with passion. She is the president in the design and art cca and not to mention that she is really talented in that arena. Her math is really good too. She aims to VJ and she is very confident that she'll get in. Period. It's her choice.

the husband refuse to budge, insisting that what he is trying to prove is that Poly is an alternative, if not, the better alternative. *sigh* anyways, it's just that. I am so dreading the day my son or daughter has to make that choice.

then as we debated on the (same) topic even as we went on to do our weekly grocery shopping at Suntec. Upon the reaching the carpark as we were ready to leave, we found that we were stuck by a total idiot. The way he/she parked illegally made it impossible for us to get out without risking scratches. Stupid stupid toyota corolla owner.

From 5pm to 5.20pm, all I could do is stand there and get the unhelpful stares from the drivers who saw the situation. I was totally exasperated.

the open door is my car, behind my car is the pillar. how dumb can that driver get?!?!

after paging with no response, I suggested to my hubby that he drives and we try to do the reversal exit. no choice. we managed out (wished we could have done it earlier) but no other car could park into that proper lot.

1) do you think going to JC or Poly makes a difference?

2) are some Singaporean driver dense?

the difference

you know, to wake up to a day is just another wonderful day God has given. BUT, why is my body system so strange and is able to differentiate weekday and weekend??!!

Saturday saw me waking up at 7am and could not go back to sleep at all. I was like so caffine alert. Somehow, sweetie hubby could sense that i was wide awake and suggested to roller blade at EC. So we did and it was a good sweat and chill out session. It ended with a delicious morning breakfast at the famous prawn mee at Katong before we start the jam pack day to ferry children for their ballet, swimming. I was totally ALIVE throughout the day till 11pm.

Last night, I was determine to be equally alert (like Sat) when I tried to wake up at 7.15am. The body system didn't listen up. Plus, last night I had to dream peculiar stuff like... I was deliberating to go for an operation but I told them I needed to go to work. I woke at 5.56am and literally forced myself back to dreamland and that irritating dream continued till I force my feet out of the bed at 7.25am. URGH. Now at workplace, the tired eyes is calling me to take 5.. I just kinda feel like going to bed.
AND, I just started out last week at this work so it's still interesting and nice. I like my job scope and all. No reason to feel lethagic at this point!

resolutions for the brand new year

i've got some real updates to do and since i've got time be SAHM with maid at the moment, i really should buck up but well the lazy bone got better of moi.

The new year went by with us zonking out at 11pm.. i was woken up by my neighbours proclaiming with bangs and such that the count down to 2007 was done. Although it was not a wild welcome to the new year for us, at least we had peace, joy and health at the last minute of 2006.

On the 1st day of the year, after hussle and brussle to get Natasha's room done with the Princess theme (she slept in the same room with the brother since she was 6 months old)... we asked each other what is our 2007 resolution.

Hubby - exercise and sign up for gym membership. I told him to do it later cos it'll be "peak" period for at least the first 3 months of the year. I guess it's a common resolution.

Son - to get all band 1 for this year. He had 3 out of 4 subjects band 1 for P3. Chinese was the culprit.

Daughter - she er..... dunch noe. She's started her P1, will update on that soon.

moi- well, as much as i am quite done with setting resolutions ( i did not set any for 2006) . I decided to set a seemingly easy goal but actually idealistic one. NO MSG for home - at least most of the time.
That means - no instant noodles, no snacks that contain MSG. I will really have to do marketing with detail scrutinising on the packing.

so that's that. May 2007 brings pleasant memories with our loved ones.

HDB tai-tai update

As there were so many various plans that may happen - hubby's-still-in-consideration-posting to USA, my desired job pending for official reply (as it is also posting in USA)... My hubby decided to give me a half stamp to stay at home for a while, till our plans are crystalized.

It's kinda weird, i have never never been "out-of-job" status ever since.. Sec 3??? Even when I was doing my diploma and degree, i was working. I've not totally get comfy with the feeling yet but it's prob cos i've got a thousand and one things to settle at home.

Day 1 (13th dec)
woke up at 8am, shoo hubby to work. lie in bed till 8.30am. did MSN, clear songs for my iPod shuffle, load in videos for my iPod (tasks halfdone). Plan to meet sister at 1pm for massage (yippeee). children woke up at 10.30am, ate breakfast with them. brought them to Tampines by train to buy Christmas presents for gift exchange during Sat nite dinner. Came home to assign chinese homework to son and reading task to daughter. Clear cluttered study desks and very untidy drawers of rubbish. "file" my bags, clear up those that i will never use. Off i went for massage and a very stuff-ed meal at Sketches. The evening was just the norm, at my parent's in law's place.. came home and played some majong with kids before revising Nathan's homework.

Day 2 (yesterday)
woke up at 8.30am, shoo hubby to work (hope it will not any later). Checked pple's blogs, MSN, could not resists sending resume for two jobs which looks interesting. Woke the children at 10am.. watched drama serial. Assigned homework again at 11.30am, cannot kick habit of torturing them.. mwahhaha..
Wanted to buy Nathan's books for next year at 1.30pm. Decided to take a nap but alas, the super loud thunder did not allow me to laze. Since it poured super heavy, decided to pack Tasha's room to make space for new furniture. Threw away 2 huge IKEA plastic bags full of misc items.. took 2.5 hrs to do that - phew.
Then took the children for waffle teabreak at ice-cream gallery and then hit parent's in law's place for early dinner.
The usual majong then go through homework with son sessions. oh, i also packed some newspapers and did some cuttings, muz do newspaper filing soon.

Day 3 - today..
plan to buy Nathan's books now, bring children to eat lunch wif daddy, collect my shoes at Pazzion... then we'll see.


arh... one sure can get used to this lifestyle yah :)

some updates

though Tasha's BD was today - 11/12, we decided to hold it almost a month earlier on 14/11 this year cos she wanted to have one with her school friends before they bid farewell. There was the cake cutting (lychee princess cake), snack time but no games cos prob the teachers thought we did not prepare anything.. but the girl sure enjoyed herself and will remember it for a long time (i hope)

So thereafter, the daddy and I did not plan anything at all for home celeb.. prob it so close to Christmas and I have tons of pressie which i have yet to prepare.. *sigh*

tomorrow will be my last day at work. I am officially out of job but it's cos i am still waiting for an answer. There is this Global marketing position which i am really game for but have no experience. And there is this sales job which is all ready for me to take on once i say when to sign the appt letter.

well, well... for any reasons if you're reading this blog.. i need prayers. I know God will answer to my heart's desire but i still need to know His will..

must. back . up . regularly

we came home to a PC that cannot boot up. without question, it's the holiday bug that infected the children and the PC caught it. The daddy was so so mad, he lost all his software. the mum had most of the stuff backed up in an external harddisk but one can never tell what is not most updated.

anyways.. the good thing is that the daddy got it all up and thus the mum is surfing and logging this blog (gladly with all the stuff in tact).

The children understands why from hence on, the PC is out of bounds without supervision. they each got also a stroke of rattan for not listening when we repeatedly told them strictly no downloads to increase bug risk.. *tsk*

And it's Natasha's birthday today. She is officially 6 today.

the one who found rest

One thing led to another, I was catching up with Corrinnemay's latest Christmas album when I read about her granddad's demise.

Her blog reminded me that my Dad was also a bird lover. When we were little, our adventures would be amongst those forest opposite our Telok Blangah hts flat or the coffeeshops which has birds hanging on poles. He will always prepare his bird with clean cages and I remember those cloths he covers the cages meant that he is meeting his bird friends - those covers were also our props (sp?) when we role play our nuns - Jas.. remember?? haha.

From him, I know all the species of the home reared birds, white-eyed ring, long tailed, hua mei. I know the food to feed each, the little porcelein cups that is around. We watched on as our Dad often bathed his birds in those rectacular cages. How he cuts those newspaper into circles and place them under the cages. When we were young, we will never get lost in shopping malls cos his unique whistle will let us know where to go to. We were also his little birds..

During his last days, he could not keep up with the expenses on his birds anymore. he only kept two, one of which was sickly or handicapped, my Dad took care of it till it became stronger. Not sure what happened to the other.

Corrinemay's aptly put across - born free.

I certainly miss him...

Children's Day break

The children these days are really blessed and fortunate.

this is kk and I's pledge:
we the daddy and mummy of Nathan and Natasha, pledge ourselves to make them so happy, that they will not nag us again to bring them to sentosa ...

But it turned out to be a really great 2 hours at the new palawan beach. I am amaze at how Sentosa is doing reno to be a great entertainment island and yet is able to accomodate usual weekday/weekend crowds..

Mama go jogging

It started 3 months ago when we bought the mahjong table with the tiles to entertain guests when we need to.

Then, we thought of polishing up our skills since Nathan learns how to play from his paternal grandfather. But we were in a situation where we lack one player (KK, Nathan and I only).

Tasha was the only logical choice. after a few practices, she is able to "gao" by herself and dunch play play.. she is the "ze moh" queen.. princess. haha...

Ever since then, the children will say "let's play mama go jogging" and we will be at the table.. am I doing something illegal?

see the God of gambler in the makings...

Snapshot of a good rest

The nursed sandy throat has broken into a cough. A chance to take a break and work from home since it's off peak at the moment.

A 2D1N trip to Bintan two weekends ago was refreshing pleasant. We swam twice a day, took a morning stroll collecting seashells, dip our feet in the cold sea waters, watch naked babies/toddlers, breathe fresh air, no calls, no internet, no puters, make foot prints in the sand, had water massage at the jacuzzi pool, eat, eat and eat. haha, the wonder of real holiday.



the highlight for the trip was we were able to catch the turtle hatchlings release to the sea in front of our villa! AMAzing nature.

a third reminder?

The third death this year.

Shortly after my Dad's death. S.L. (hubby's eldest sis's husband)was hospitalised and admitted to ICU. His lungs then was so fill with water that he could not breathe. He was told that it was his chronic high blood that caused it.
It made sense, I recalled in 1998 when my Dad was admitted, the same thing happened and he made it thru till this year.
When S.L. was warded for further investigation, they found a black dot near his lungs but they could not do an oral biotopsy, and S.L. did not want to get cut. Instead of follow thru with the western docs, he saw a series of Chinese sinseh and hoped to find THE miracle. Everytime we discussed about S.L. (without him) during those times, i'll get irritated and told them that if the dot is not determined, how can any persons save him.
Then, his health deterioted within months... sometimes, he'll be so weak that he could not function well. Finally, it became serious enough and they did a CT scan about a month ago. Apparently, he have had brain cancer two years ago and only recently, it spread to his lymnoid, then to his lungs. The earlier detection of the black dot could be that but because it was "new", everyone thought that he was in the early stage of cancer. By then, it was late. The cancer cells also went to his bones.
Two weeks ago, he went for two ops and two Sats ago, we visited hime. Although he seems tired. It seems like God's only comfort to me when i witness his admission to accept Christ. One of my SIL's pastor came over and prayed with him. It was my heart's desire and God protected it and let me saw that thru.
We had all hopes that he will recover. He went home last Tues but his appetite was so bad that he lost a lot of weight.
He was admitted again on sun and this time, the doctors warn that if he can survive these few days, he'll make it. He didn't this evening.

May God receive his soul readily .. Amen.

blog time

M.I.A-ed for a few weeks.. It have been days of enjoying the not so early morning wakes and a trip back from M'sia.
That was a good break, this June school holiday. Away from all the cares and worries. It seems to be a tad too much this earlier half of the year.

a simple fare

My father in law is 67 years old today according to the lunar calendar. Since we (hubby n I) suggested on where to eat the last time for my mother in law's birthday, it was quite a disaster at Chef Chan We did not raise any opinion as to where to go.

So.. as it turns out, my MIL made a simple steamboat set up and storm up some dishes. Then we had an almond choc cake from Cedele.

It was a nice, relax affair where the kids (Nathan, JX, Sihong, sihao) played majong and the adults watched TV and discussed on the plans on end of year trip. . One family plans to go Disneyland , another family wants to go Japan - hokkaido. The singles are heading Tasmania (*wince* I missed that place!).

Us? we are planning a three weeks stay in New Zealand. - read: planning. I hope it'll happen though. *cross fingers*

Tomorrow, one family heads off to Guangzhou for a company's family day.

Three cheers to the bravest boy in the world

At least to me, Nathan is the bravest boy I have ever seen.

We checked in to the surgery centre at 7.30am, earlier in the morning, we did our prep talk again. My boy simply says that he is ready and not afraid, just a little worried.
The ops took an hour and a half but it took him another 3 hours to recover from the GA. Took almost a full day to truly recover from the side effect of the drugs.
He was okay general until about 11pm to 3am. The pain took over full fledge and he tried his best to endure however cannot help but threw out cries and fits. He was given pain killer - injection, brufen. Together we prayed, sang.. the finale was a lullaby and was sung over again for 45mins before he slept thru from 3am till 7.30am. I suspect he woke up in between but he did not want to wake me up.
He is totally okay in the day, Prof came by at 11am and loosen a little of the tight bandage. And Nathan blurted when asked if he is comfortable. I can tell not only is he relieve, he brightened up saying "urm.. now I can play gameboy". His appetite increase and he was able to handle lunch with a full bowl of porridge and fruit.

Daddy will be taking care of him tonight and since the checks on the BP and temp will be 4hourly instead of hourly last night, they should have no problem sleeping.

hubby called: they are making their way to 7-eleven at this hour *roll eyes*

The readiness:


The culprit:


The aftermath:





The brave boy in the recovery:

Salute to you...

http://joanchanshufang.blogspot.com/

http://www.funkygrad.com/think/displayarticle.php?artID=505&subcat=shout

When I read about Joan Chan's demise in ST today, I sob uncontrollably.
It was not because I am sad that she has passed on, she has gone to a better place. I am so touched that she is so brave. The courage to take it all and persevered despite the odds all these months.
The next thing that came to me was "what about her parents?" They have had such a lovely girl whom must have blessed them with her cheerful disposition, her successful academic and yet have to go before them...
I sob even harder.

God's way is not our way. May God bless and guide us.

the ball game

I have these balls to struggle everyday. Work ball, motherhood ball, daughter ball, daughter in law ball, wife ball...

There are two balls here which I find challenging to cope most times. Motherhood ball vs work ball. They clash constantly and I feel like I've produced half baked results on these two balls most times.

I am ever grateful that God has blessed me with a well paid job with reasonable interesting scope. I am at the same time ever grateful that God bestowed unto me two wonderful children whom till now has not given me mega major headache.

But no matter how hard I try, something will slip. I am recently told that I am not at par with key sales persons working for MNC. granted - I was not given any intensive training gerhma. I was also told that I should be more responsive to my phone calls even when I am on leave.. hmmm... how to take calls when I'm stuck at the pool for 4 hours? Or when I am travelling overseas? I'm not paid with auto roaming ..so?? hiyah.. all these trival work rant.
The gist.. not handling this ball great enough.

then, it turns out. The children were giving my MIL heaps of stress and she started to broadcast to the village of bro and sis in law. Who in turn, started to "attack" me on how inappropriately I taught my kiddos and my maid. There are some serious issue with Natasha's behaviour, that I know. I tried my utmost best to control. But hey, I was not the one who pampers her like an empress then suddenly decided to take her priviledges away. I warned them before.. I also..... I defended away...
THEN, it dawn upon me that my MIL is tired of looking after my children. I empathise with her. My two buggers can be quite a handful if they know that they can take advantage of the situation. They bicker almost from the time they got together till we are around, they do not listen to the old pair, they use loads of emotional blackmail on them... etc.

after a short one night of deliberation, It was with consensus that after June holidays, Tasha will be going to after school care direct from kinder school. Nathan will stay at home after school with my maid. The maid will collect Tasha at 5.45pm from the CC to have dinner. I target to be home at 7.30pm. Plus, me gotta do marketing every week to keep food stock up and cook up more nutritious recipes... why is my head spinning urgh. It's a chore to think of menus.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
on a happier note. Nephew baby Isaac is a chubby dude who has now mastered to do as much tentative smiles as tentative cries.

We went for all ladies ( sis, mum and I) spa out yesterday and those knots on my back are definitely feeling the p-a-i-n. But it was great. It's been a long time since my skin felt like satin.

Rooting time

It's fun this year. To be able to attend all these emotionally evoking rallies and stuff. It's clear by the numbers of people attending the rallies. Although it does not neccessarily signifies the number of votes each parties is gonna get but it certainly shout that we need to hear things that are close to us, the heartlanders.
Politics to me is nothing but words.
Say is cheap, be careful of what you say, you might get sued with what you said, people might not like some of the things you say, what you say may not make sense, say what people like to hear, some say their speech so scripted, say, say, say.

I've heard from both parties. Aiyah, at the end of the day, I just want action lah, yeah I am such a simple person. My flat's paint is wearing out and when it rains, there are bits of those peeling off paints staining the corridors. The walk to the bus terminal is so open that it burns into the skin. Not condusive for elderly to stroll to and fro in the day.

So who will be walk the talk? who will take ownership and improve things like they stay here?

Meanwhile, I will continue to try to "enjoy" my working 24 X 7 X 6 days work week, hope to be still alive when I draw my CPF monies at 62... chase that academic paper with my children.... hope not to fall sick as well.

random

slogan for the week:
Life is easy ... with directions.Travel and living Discovery channel.

I like the sketches when they describe the how-to-dos.. It'll be nice to learn how to sketch like that.

~~~~~
okay, I'm blogging cos I "sinned". I peeped. I promised I won't. sigh. at Nathan's private diary.

BUT, there's only 4 entries since Jan. All of which were on positive notes. It was all happy, fun etc. It comforts me to think he's has a cheerful outlook under our roof. He seems and told me he is but I was just not sure before.

~~~
ohh.. I hear the SDA announcing their start of rally. At last, they are making their prescence felt around here. About time.

The wild side

Our eyes lighted up as soon as we saw the place. Though small, it's a great place and I know from now on, almost every weekend will be spent here. The 10mins walk from our flat is a bonus.
The beginner's course is open to public. $400 for 10 lessons on weekday, 45mins each time. $480 on weekends.
Adult gear would cost $250 to own and children's at $198.
Pretty steep...

Nathan enjoyed the pony ride and is very keen to get on to the beginner's course. That was by far, a first for him to ask for lessons.





For those interested, it's at Pasir Ris Park, Singapore. Car Park C.

We had a whale of time at the B.Gardens for a Classics time out.

Hope that the coming long weekend would be as great. zonking out time now.

The green mother

Sis having reality bites and turning kinda green.

The tiny bully is not letting her have any rest.
It did not help when her confinement nanny was not exactly great in helping her to boost her health back.
Plus my bro in law is somewhat between a stone and a bull, stone cos he does not know what to do, bull when told what to do, refuses to do the harder task. Poor sis single-handedly clean the fan, cook and feed herself, wash clothes and dry them, clean the floor and entertain the sleep-less-than-two-hours-bully.

If I weren't there tonight at 9.30, she would not have a chance to take her dinner till erm .. 10plus? No wonder her complexion is green. Gotta check on her every night till her maid comes.

At these times, I really appreciates my hubby so much more. Even though he ain't that best help but he tries his best all the time for the kids.

hmmmm

Not bad Mona, not bad at all.

I realise that I am not very efficient in marking all that assessment I gave Nathan so Agnes tipped me on how to solve this. Simply by asking him to mark it himself. Cool.
This way, he is motivated to finish up the assessment cos he wants to know his results since HE is doing the marking. double cool.
Phew, and I am soooo taking a break since I have already done the roadmap on his study plan and he will do the execution. *cross fingers* Hope that that motivation last a long long time...

Natasha surprises me in leaps. The funny thing about her is that I have to be constantly be reminded of God's blessings. Thank God for such reminders.
When she was 3plus, she could not read to me the right colour. I was desperate as it was vague if it was colour blind or plainly, don't know, cannot register...
suddenly, one day before going to Nursery school, she ask if the door close is the one in red and the door open is green. And she was right. More testing that night confirms she is NOT colour blind.
Then came recognising alphabets. It seems to me that all her peers (and Nathan) was able to recognise those a-z (not to mention, some were able to read words) but she somehow got rather confused. It was again one day before going to K1 class, she got it all right. No sweat.
This year, I expected spelling and "ting xie" to come at later part of the year so this time, I put her in God's hands. However, her teachers started giving some words, and now sentences since Feb. Tasha gave me no hair-pulling session whilst coaching her. WOW.

I have two wonderful kids. thank God and may HE continue to bless.

Review

Just recap some of the many things had happened in a span of 4 months ...



December 05: most memorable was the Korea trip. I get to hear alot of my children's laughter and kiss my fav star.

Other significant events: New job (culture shock and all), Tasha's 5th BD, my 31st BD, fireworks at Espanade. Christmas at our place with home made Bingo.











Jan was pretty uneventful except for my mum's BD makan session. Brought my Dad to TTS hospital for check up.






Feb...
After a belated reunion dinner, we went for K-session. That's when I last saw my dad alive.

Other memorables: Lilies for post Valentines, CNY, Macy's BD at WWW.






Mar this year will be the unforgettable cos it was horrific-ly super peak at work and that resulted in my absence in visting my parents.
Till now, I still cannot rid the idea that my dad is not around anymore. I miss him a great deal.
It was not suppose to be this way cos my sis and I had been planning for his birthday bash since he would have turn 60 today. All we could not decide was the date as my nephew was due in Mar/Apr.

This April saw my mum accepting Christ, devoting her studies in the bible and praying. I can say that moving on is for the living to do and do it well.

finally did it

After three long months of deliberation, we finally did it!! Look at our new baby that will be delivered in Oct 06. Ain't she a babe?

hello time

It's phone home time these days.

Tasha and her friends are starting their phone home sessions. So far there is only Tamara and Chloe. They yak about nothing really but just enjoy calling each other. The fact is... they are only 5plus years old.