Resurrected!

(I have been having some problems with blogger.

My drafted posts were mysteriously being deleted!? While I managed to salvage some, one post, however, was not so 'fortunate'. It was dealt with an untimely 'death' when, through some technical glich in blogger's system, the contents of the post got deleted! You open up the post to edit it and zilch...there is NOTHING AT ALL! What makes me so peeved is that I had spent a few days slowly piecing the post together, and then just like that it was ALL GONE! AAAARGH!!!! >.<

Oh well, KY reminded me that the things of this world are just so transient...for all I know, one day maybe this whole blog may be deleted! For a moment that thought gave me a lot of angst. If something like that happens, all that effort that has gone into this blog will just amount to nothing! ;oP But then when I reflect on the reasons why I am maintaing this blog, I realise that as long as the blog fullfills that purpose, whatever happens to it, so be it...this blog while it is an outlet and in a way an extension of my consciousness, it is not my everything. So I can deal with all these ghost deletion ;o)

Anyway, as one of the thought-for-the-day on my inspirational desktop calender says, "Laugh a lot! Laughter is good medicine and an important COPING tool - especially during TOUGH times" [emphasis mine] Good advise no matter how u define "tough"! Haha! ;o)

Ok Ok...enough with the lamenting already. Here's the post 'revived' ! Rewritten from what I can recall of the post that once was)

My Birthday Weekend

I lurve birthdays with capital L.

I luuuurve that tingling feeing I get few days before my birthday. I feel like I'm on a high for days. Nothing can faze me. Everything just seem brighter and there's like magic in the air. Oooooh I lurve birthdays ;o)

Even as I turn 28 (like so old liao! @.@), I wait for my birthday like how some children will wait impatiently for Christmas to come. Presents, good food, cake and memorable times spent with family and friends will all be at hand! Woohoo!

This year's birthday celebrations had everything I was looking forward to and more ;o)

4 May 2007, Friday

I think it befitting to at this point give special mention to a zany group of friends I have in office. They never fail to make each birthday (be it mine or someone else) a unique experience. You see, among us, we take great pleasure in organising some kind of 'surprise' birthday celebration for the birthday boy/girl. We can spend days scheming and plotting to come out with the best idea how to throw a cake (not always literally) at the person when he least expects it. Furthermore, each cunning plan that is formulated is and can never be used ONCE. So its quite a challenge, but I think we do it not only just to celebrate but also cos we get a kick out of seeing that priceless expression, which swings from bewildered to elation in a split second, on the person's face. Hehehe...

This year was no exception. At first I was content to just let this birthday go by quietly. Afterall, being older and more mature (*ahem*), must try be more restained. Also, all of us have, of late, been very very busy with work, didn't want them to pull too much hair over this. So I rather deviously decided to take Monday off at the last minute. That might leave them no opportunity to plan any surprise. Or so I thought. Obviously, they proved to be pros at organising surprises and won't let a 'minor' setback ruin whatever plans they might have been planning. With some quick thinking, fast actions and a (pathetic) story of a bunch of misplaced keys, they managed to lure me to the pantry upstairs where they (genuinely) surprised me with a Brownie Cheesecake!

Sorry no pix of the cake...all that's left of the yummy cake is just the box it came in! haha

Well, Aileen, Shi Wei, Lil Jenny, Yi Hong and Mr Swee...a big THANK YOU for taking the time and effort to make this birthday (and others) so so so special. You guys ROX!

5 May 2007, Saturday

Friday's little fiasco certainly set the mood (and stomach) for the weekend of non-stop feasting and celebrating with friends and family ;o)

In the afternoon, we went to the Soup restaurant at T2 to celebrate my birthday with Kin Yew's parents, Dawn and CT ;o) Not only was the chinese cuisine superb, the ICE CREAM CAKE which KY's mom bought from Gelare was exquisite! *slurp*

Although I was full with Samsui Chicken, Beggar's Rib, Lotus Root Soup, scallops, noodles and other yummy stuff, I still managed to chomp down a fairly big slice of the purely chocolate ice cream cake! Thinking about it now still makes me salivate ;oP After the cake, I was really stuffed. I think I share everyone's sentiments. Except for Janine, who seems to exhibit more self control then everyone present by choosing not to finish her lunch so she could have more ice cream. Lol.

Later that evening, after leaving Janine with KY's mom and Dawn (for some hands on training! haha), we met our bible study CG for dinner and to catch the latest Spiderman3 at Junction 8. Now, the movie was great, but I think our dinner at the foodcourt was top notch as well.

Dinner started off as a simple affair. We met, sat down, quickly ordered our food, chowed down and were getting ready to make our way to the cinema. Out of the blue, Clarice appears with a cake in hand, places it in front of me and the whole group broke out in a rather loud (and embarressing) "Happy Birthday" chorus! ;o)

My my...I certainly wasn't expecting this ;oP Usually, my CG is rather 'open' about celebrating birthdays. Not much 'drama' is involved. So this time, they really outdid themselves ;o) Actually, their little surprise almost got shot to pieces when Clarice somehow lost us in the throng of people and ended up walking around the foodcourt (with cake in hands) to find us. And then just before Clarice made her 'grand entrance', Julian and KY started acting funny. They were giving each other a weird and talking in codes that didn't sound dota-ish. Very fishy kind of behaviour. But Julian managed to deflect my questions and distracted me long enough for Clarice (and cake) to find us. Anyhow, it was a surprise well done. Kudos to Living Waters CG! ;o)

6 May 2007, Sunday

Coincidentally, my cousin Justin and I share the same birthday too. I have always been thrilled to have a someone share the same birthday as me. Which is wierd, especially when you take into consideration that I can't stand it if someone has the same clothes as me ;oP

As this year is his 21st, he celebrated it in a BIG way with a big eat out session at his home. There were 21 kinds of food/dishes (serious! we counted and my aunty confirmed it!) and to top it all off, a humongous soccor field cake for the Man U fanatic!

The thing about May babies is that birthday parties are a pretty big deal for them. Serious. The number of birthday parties that I have had can be counted on ONE hand. The same goes for my cousin. And I blame our educational system for this. For most of our school going years, the school examinations ALWAYS fall in May. Even if we did throw a party, I doubt any of our friends would be allowed to come since they would be stuck at home mugging. pppppffft! So, when May babies throw a party, they do it in a BIG way. Probably to make up for those years we 'lost' ;oP

This party was also like a 2-in-1 party. Not only did the extended family "cut cake" with Justin, they also "cut cake" with me. In particularly, they "cut cake" with the "cake" (a peach strudel) that I had brought and which was ORINGINALLY meant to be dish no. 22. Funny eh, cutting my own cake @.@ I am definitely not going to be forgetting this sometime soon! Haha!

7 May 2007, Monday (Today!)

THE day! and what did I do first? I went for language class. How boring ;oP What to do? Duty to our nation calls first. Haha...Well, at least I got the afternoon off so once class was over I zipped off to the East to join KY for lunch at White Sands ;o)

With only an hour's lunch break to play around, we could't afford to go to those romantic kind of restaurants. Then again, I didn't want to spend my birthday lunch with him at some hot and stuffy hawker centre/coffeeshop. So we settled for lunch at Swensons ;o) Not too bad a choice especially since they gave the birthday gal a "Firehouse Special" (a dish with 3 scoops of ice cream and lots of topping, sauces and whip cream! *slurp*). Hehehe...it was a very very good lunch. Of course the COMPANY made a difference too ;o)

After lunch, KY went back to school and I went on a mini shopping spree! Hehehe...Ok lah...I only bought ONE thing for myself (a pair of shoes) but it was nice to be by myself for once. For an hour or so, I could shop leisurely without worrying about a bored husband or keeping an active toddler from smashing something. It was bliss ;o)

Dinner was even better ;o) KY made a reservation at Friends, a restuarant owned and run by a fellow church member at Jelita, for my parents, Janine and I. I had imagined the restuarant to be somewhat like Blooies. It turned out to be a pretty posh restaurant that served very very very good food! It was truly a wonderful dining experience. The food looked and tasted first rate and the service was fantastic too. I mean, every funny thing that we requested was meant with a smile and they know how to cut cake and serve it for you ;o)

Anyway, to round up the day, I went home and did some HOUSEHOLD CHORES! lol KY had insisted that I should just leave it for tomorrow (or some other day) but being the neat and cleanliness freak in the family, I just couldn't close my eyes to the pile of laundry that was slowly growing ;oP

This birthday has been really memorable...the party, surprises, gorging myself and indulging in lots and lots of chocolate! I've had so much fun. But what I luuurve most is not the presents, the good food or the yummy cakes that I got to eat...it was the time I could spend with family and friends on my special day. And because of this I feel so blessed.

THANK YOU ALL for making this birthday such a special and memorable one ;o)

Paper wallet

This is really cool.

I was reading my friend Shiwei's blog and one of her post was on how to make a paper wallet. And as the name suggests, its made entirely from PAPER.

She got it from this website and it shows u (quite) step by step how to make your own paper wallet. Its a bit of origame and you also need to use a bit of the scissors.

I tried it out and it REALLY works! Here's one I made (from some of Janine's scribblings) ;oP

The end product also looks fairly decent. And apparently its quite durable. The first one my friend Shiwei made lasted her 3 weeks!! Not bad for something made from a flimsy piece of paper.

What I find so cool about it is this:

1. Its economical. The scraps cost u NOTHING. Its like getting a 'new' wallet free. If you dun like the one you made, just do another one at NO EXTRA COST!

2. You are recycling and saving the earth.

3. You can draw/scribble/doodle on it. You can easily personalise it or it can simple act as an alternative avenue to scribble down what you need to get at the supermarket. Good for forgetful people like me! Haha. And when there's no more space to write on or it gets too shabby or you want something new, you just make a new one (which brings us back to point 1)

Of course you don't have to use scraps if you don't want to. You can always use nice pretty paper or, if you are adventurous, transparency (!!) (as the website suggested) or some other plastics for a cool 'see through' wallet. Its really your choice.

My verdict. A simple and fun project to do with children or for (bored) working adults looking for something to stir the creative juices (while at work) ;oD

Classic way to start the day

What a 'great' start to the day!

KY's hp alarm did not go off. So we overslept. By the time we woke up, it was 6.40am. I am suppose to be in office at 7am and KY has an invigilation at 7.30am! If we want to make it, we have to leave the house NOW!

We jumped out of bed and got ready in record time. There just might be a slim chance we can still make it on time! BUT just as we were about to leave, KY realised that he left his car keys in my dad's car the night before when we went to catch Pirates 3 together! And we don't have the spare key! @.@

We have no car. And its already 7am.

We are so so so so late!!! @.@

No choice. I will take the bus to work. KY will have to take a cab to school. Instead of BOTH of us being late, this way KY still had a fighting chance! Thank God he managed to catch a cab once he got outside he made it to school JUST on time. *Phew*

Bleah. I don't think I would ever need to go to the gym. The adrenaline rush from days like this is probably worth a week's worth of pounding on the treadmill! @.@

Mental note to self: set the alarm on OWN HP as well as A FEW OTHER CLOCKS and place them at our bedside tonight (and every night hence)!

La Risonanza IV

MJC Choir held "La Risonanza III", an annual choir concert, at VCH last night. Being the wife of a teacher at MJC, who also happens to be the teacher-in-charge of the choir too, I had the privilege and good fortune to attend the concert...for FREE! Hehehehe :oD

Ok. The singing was not too bad (Hey! They got a GOLD in the recent SYF concert leh) But either VCH probaby doesnt have very good acoustics or the choir wasn't as 'power' as I had hoped they would be. Maybe I just have exceedingly high expectations. Or maybe...

Nonetheless, it was still entertaining, soothing and some pieces were even moving! There was one piece that they sung, the Cantate Domino Canticum Novum (suppose to be a majestic song praising the Lord for His marvelous deeds), that transported me many years into the future and I was envisioning my little Janine walking down the aisle in a resplendant white gown. It brought tears to my eyes ;'o)

Funny how music can draw out your emotions ;oP

Tragic

An excerpt from an article in today's newspaper :o(

"A truck reversing onto a pedestrian walkway ran over an eight-year-old boy yesterday, killing him as he walked home from school.

Jadon Sim, described by his form teacher as a bright and jovial boy, had finished a supplementary Mandarin class at Changkat Primary School at around 3pm and was heading home with his aunt..."

(The Straits Times, 23 May 2007)

Its really heartbreaking when you read news like that. When a young life is so tragically snuffed out by an accident like this, you're heart aches for the family. Especially so when you have you own little one at home, and particularly because this tragedy hits quite close to home.

This young boy happens to be the son of Sim Chin Soon, an officer from the same department as me. The news spread like wildfire in the office and by early morning, everyone had heard of the terrible accident. We were all shocked and grieved over the incident. Everywhere you turned in the office, there would be a small groups of people discussing and analysing the accident in hushed tones.

All us mothers in the office had this urge to go back home right away and give our children a monster hug. I can't bear the thought of Janine being snatched from me like that. I think I may go crazy. So for the time being, the only place she is allowed to run freely is IN THE HOUSE!

Anyway, our thought and prayers are with this family as they grief the loss of their beloved son...

When we asunder part
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again."
—Fawcett

New Driver In Town!

Look out world! There's a new driver in town!

And dun even dare think of intimidating her on the road. She's 'armed' with a octopus hand-held massager and she won't hold back! Road bullies beware!!!

Lol!

Aiyoh >.<

New "stunt" from Janine @.@



Looks like there's no need for me to entertain any thoughts on enrolling her for one of those kiddy gym thingy since she can do it all at home anyway! Good grief!

p/s This kind of stunts aren't just restricted to furniture. Her parents sometimes double up as obstacle courses for her as well.

Shoe woes ;o(

I got 2 new pairs of shoes for my birthday ;o)

One pair I bought for myself ($18) and the other pair a gift (among other pretty stuff which I picked out) from KY ($10).

This post was actually intended for me to muse how long each pair would last and whether the $10 pair would surpass the $18 pair in terms of durability and then whether if both pairs are as
hardy as my more expensive ($50+!!!!) scholl slip-ons (which sadly has been retired to the shoe cabinet because I refuse to pay $12 to hammer a small piece of rubber to the heel).

And what do you know?

Today was Day ONE of the experiment with the $18 pair and the straps on the front of the right shoe SNAPPED! The shoe has FALLEN APART!!! @.@ And mind you I wasn't doing anything more vigourous than taking a WALK to the pantry and the shoe dies one me! tsk tsk...

Aileen says this is probably the fastest shoe experiment ever. lol.

Thankfully, there are people in the office who are more prepared than me for a scenerio such as this. Anna, my indispensable teamie, keeps an extra pair or 2 in office and since our shoe sizes are not that far apart, she has graciously let me borrow one of her extra pairs to potter around for rest the day. Although its a bit small but it beats walking around BAREFOOTED...especially when we are supppose to GO OUT for a team lunch today @.@

Anway, I will be taking the "broken" pair back to the shop to see if they can exhange it for a new one. If not then I will attempt to be a cobbler and do some repair work to salvage the pair. At the same time a certain shop at White Sands is going to lose a customer for selling inferior quality goods and bad customer service ;oP

p/s the $10 pair with its SKINNY straps, which has already been worn on several occasions, is STILL going strong.

Happy Birthday To My Polarbear ;o)

Today KY celebrates his 29th birthday! (only one more to the big 30!)

I have always love the fact that our birthdays are exactly ONE week apart. Maybe that's why I 'die die' must stick to him. Haha...of cos there are OTHER reasons than this lah.

Well, to mark the year just before he turns into avenue 3, we spent the weekend celebrating in the same style as we did last weekend - with family and friends...and A LOT of cake and good food ;oD Any dieting plans we may have been habouring promptly went out the window.

12 May 2007, Saturday

Our CG had a mini celebration for him (after our bible study session) with a delicious Tiramisu cake, courtesy of the cake shop near Marie's place. The cake tasted as yummy as it looked and even though the girls were scrambling for the smaller pieces (in what I think is a futile attempt to save some calories), every last bit of chocolate was licked up (by KY).

We wanted to surprise him by quietly gathering in the kitchen and when the man of the hour walks in, we break into a "Happy Birthday" chorus. However, we only managed to amuse him with our antics cos apparently, he had already guessed what was in the box when Marie had discreetly carried it in.

I must add here that it is almost next to IMPOSSIBLE to plan a surprise birthday celebration for him. The man's uncanny sense of perception (which is heighten even more on the days preceeding his birthday) makes it VERY DIFFICULT to pull off a surprise for him. In the last few years he has already foiled several attempts. And I think he gets a kick out of it. I attribute this 'gift' to playing too much computer games!! Lol

Anyway, I believe KY appreciated the thought and he thoroughly enjoyed himself (the chocolate especially) ;o)

13 May 2007, Sunday

Today is also MOTHER'S DAY! Twice the reason the pig out! Haha!

We joined our CG for lunch after church at CCS. Although there was a scumptious buffet spread at the restaurant, a few of us decided to have our own a la carte buffet and we ended up just as stuffed as those who went for the buffet! @.@

The satisfying lunch was followed by an even more satisfying dinner at Zuko! (next to Jalan Tua Kong) where the whole family celebrated Mother's day and KY's birthday. We had some succulent melt-in-your-mouth beef steaks, squid ink pasta (which gave us a lot of laughs because all of us looked like we were wearing black lipstick and had decaying teeth from the black ink), pizza, escargo (!!)...and the whole meal was pleasantly rounded up with a sinfully rich chocolate cake (Thanks Dawn!) Mmmmmmmmm....

14 May 2007, Monday (TODAY!)

Unfortunately, because he is a teacher, KY can't just take leave...even if its his birthday ;oP So the poor boy still had to drag himself out of bed in the wee hours of the morning to make it for flag raising ceremony at 7.35am in school. Plus, today, is his most busy day. Timetable was packed with lessons until 4 plus. >.<

It was a seemingly blue start to his special day. However, some of his students remembered (or somehow found out) that today was his birthday and KY received some presents from them and a pleasant surprise when instead of being greeted with the usual 'Gooooood Mooooooorning Mr Liing' when he entered the classroom, it was replaced with a very LOUD and enthusiastic 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!'. His day could only get better ;o)

Well, for dinner (this is begining to look like a food blog!) I decided to take KY out to a nice fancy schmancy restaurant to celebrate. So on the recommendation of my foodie friend Shiwei, I booked us a table for 2 at the Shimizu Japanese restaurant.

It was pretty quiet zen-like restaurant located on the 4th floor of the PSA building and the service was pretty good too. We had a hearty meal of kani tofu (crabstick tofu served with century egg), soft shell crab (KY's favourite), cod fish with fish roe sauce, cold noodles and a beef paperpot (their signature dish...a Japanese-style steamboat only they use a special kind of paper to hold the soup and everything) *slurp*

Ok, the pix doesnt do justice to the food (my camera phone decides to die on me on all days T.T). For a better "view" you can check out clearer shots of the mouth watering spread from Shiwei's post. She took some really fantastic shots. I actually decided on this restuarant cos the food looks so yummy on her blog. Haha!

Remembered how I said I was taking KY for dinner? That means it was my treat right? Well, the birthday boy ended up PAYING FOR HIS TREAT cos the credit card I wanted to use EXPIRED! Whooops! Note. This wasn't done on on purpose 'kay!! Oh well ;oP

Anyway,KY's special day ended with him doing the things that he loves to do during his free time - playing computer games...in particularly DOTA! *roll eyes* He joined the guys for a killing spree on Battelnet. We also managed to catch a few episodes of Naruto (our latest animae craze. Yay!).

Oh yes! Presents! Erm...No its not another baby if u are wondering. I wanted to BUY him something more TANGIBLE and IMMEDIATE. But KY suggested I save up the money that I would be spending on his presents for the next 2 years and get him a PS3 or XBOX @.@ tsk tsk...men and their toys! Janine gave her papa several spirited "MUAHs" over the phone, and THAT, I believe is one present that her papa values more than any present (besides the PS3 or XBOX) .

Well...To YOU who have been loving, caring and patiently bearing (in all sense of the word) with us (Janine and I)...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Hope you had a great weekend ;o)

Love you lots!

*MUAH*

Eager Beaver

While putting away the toys in the wake of hurricane Janine, I found a couple of rather chewed up crayons.

With a little one who puts almost anything into her mouth, it's not hard to guess who's been gnawing away at the crayons...especially when you catch her red handed!

I comfort myself with the knowledge that the crayons are suppose to be NON-TOXIC so I guess she won't get poisoned by ingesting crayon.

But really, the things I catch her trying to shove into her mouth can make my heart stop. She has tried batteries, our TV remote controls, magnets, tissues, envelopes, pamphlets, leaves, string...just to name a FEW. But I think our worst discovery was when we found her trying to chomp on a dead beetle (honestly, we HOPE its a beetle!) which she had picked up from the BATHROOM FLOOR (not exactly THE most hygienic spot in the house @.@) and promptly popped it into her mouth!!!! ARGH!

Here are the remnants of her 'snack' @.@

Nowadays, her pacifier is used not just to lull her to sleep but to stop her from putting something disgusting into her mouth when we aren't looking.

Eeeps!

EEEPs! Someone in office was wearing the SAME skirt as me today! @.@ The 'shocking' discovery was made when I waltz into the pantry to heat up my lunch and caught sight of the familiar flowery patterned skirt swishing around near the micowave!

Cliche as it may sound, but at that moment, I really wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. I should have just turned on my heels and zamooshed but I think there's something wrong with the wiring in my head. My feet kept on walking even when everything in my brain was going "NOOOOOoooo!"

Its tolerable if someone happens to wear the same kind of footwear as you, but its quite unbearable when you bump into someone who is wearing the same clothes, especially so when u are standing less than a feet away from ur clothes twin! It's akin to scratching your fingernails against the blackboard @.@

And I think the other person felt the same way too cos when she realised the little coincidence, she couldn't look me in the eye. It totally didn't help that her friend was laughing (at us) @.@

Oh well, I guess if u choose to buy even a FEW article of clothes from an outlet like This Fashion (which probably has a branch every 10 km throughout Singapore), something like this happening is inevitable ;oP

Anyway, today, I will staying put at my table until its time to go home >.<

Mary Poppins?

She can be such a nenek sometimes. Even though the umbrella is so much taller than her, she insisted on walking with it (like a walking stick) at the playgound and even up on the slide! lol