I am sooo PISSED!

Not at anyone. Just MYSELF!

Although I woke up at the same time I normally do (which is already way too early for me), I still ended up half an hour LATE for work because just as I was about to leave the house, I realised my access card was nowhere to be found which would translate into me being unable to get out of the compound. So I wasted like 15 minutes trying to find the darn card which was actually IN MY BAG all this time! (argh)

And then, when I FINALLY got myself through the door and was about to step into the lift, I remembered I left my lunch behind. So I made a detour back home to get my lunch which I find out later when I was already downstairs that it was NOT my lunch that I grabbed from the fridge but a bag of fruits! (argh)

And then when I was in the car about to drive off, I remembered I left my diving book UPSTAIRS at HOME! And so because I will need them when I go for my diving theory lessons later this evening, I made yet ANOTHER another trip back home. (argh)

And then, by the time I FINALLY REALLY drove off to work it was like 7.25am...the perfect time for a jam to form just outside our place because boys nowadays must be made of paper and can't walk an extra cm and need their parents to drop them EXACTLY outside the school gates! (argh)

And then while making a left turn, I think I almost knocked down some poor pedestrian at the zebra crossing because he was blocked by this monster of a bus that was next to my car. (argh)

And then, as if the day couldn't get off to a worser start, because I left my office pass in the car and in the process of retrieving the card from the car, I SCRATCHED MY NEW CAR!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

All this happened in the first 2 hours of waking up today.

I fear for the rest of my life.

Edit: Ok the day didn't end as disastrous as it started. It was Ben & Jerry's FREE CONE DAY TODAY so the afternoon was a much better affair. PLUS, I managed to squeeze in a spot of shopping with my mommy before I went for my dive class ^^. So its NOT all blue today. God MUST have His reasons!

The Princess

As seen through a good friend's (expert) camera lens.

And from the looks of things, she is a "princess" to a tee...from the porcelain complexion right down to the "dao" (lordly) expression! Oh...and don't get me started on how, at this stage, she prefers to be carried around or how her cherry tomatoes/strawberries/grapes must be cut to bite sizes or how she wouldn't tolerate a miniscule grain of sand in her shoe or...!

I think her father and I are going to have our work cut out for us in the years to come O_o

P/S - Yes, the curls are NATURAL (Kin Yew's genes we think). It's NOT permed nor do I sit her down with a curling iron every morning. Its not like she will sit still long enough for something like that (going to a saloon and getting a perm) or, rather, her mommy doesn't have that kind of energy in the mornings or see the necessity to do such "wuliao" (redundant) things. Honestly, there are already so many OTHER things to be done. Curling / Perming my daughter's (if it was straight) hair definitely isn't a priority.

I Scream For Ice Cream

OK lah...I exaggerate. She doesn't exactly scream for ice cream. The princess just repeats her request like 1000000 times until she gets a reaction from you (either getting her ice cream or doing the screaming for her to pipe down). "Mummy! I want ice cream! Ice cream mummy! I wan ice cream. I want ice cream. Iwanicecreamiwanicecreamiwanicecreamiwanicecream..."

And ice cream the princess gets (today) because mummy just luuurves her curly hair and cheeky smile. Actually it's because mummy is out with a with dear old (ok YOUNG!) friend for some good "girls only" time that's why she gets to enjoy the special treat. ^^

Anyway, here she is with MY cup of ice cream because her strawberry ice cream (which she picked herself) was "sour" and she figured mine was better. Sigh! So girl! Lol

Thanks "Aunty" Angela for the nice treat! Best! ^^

The 3 Musketeers

Janine, Zoe and Asher.
(photo courtesy of Aunty Sharon)

Got Milk?

Yes! PLENTY!!!

46 cans (23 big ones, 23 small ones) to be exact.

This is OBVIOUSLY only a FRACTION of our collection.
The rest have been squrrielled away at our parents' houses ^^

All thanks to the Cold Storage's SMALL oh-by-the-way-this-is-on-offer-too advertisement in the newspaper last Friday PLUS Aunty Joyce's discount card ^^.

We had swooped down to Cold Storage (we went to 2 outlets only...pity!) like a pack of hungry lions to fresh meat and amassed the coveted tins of milk. I think we almost wiped out their whole stock! Tsk tsk! What to do? Singaporean what! Hahaha!

With the rising cost of everything these days (property, petrol, flour, and even milk!!! FYI: I used to be able to buy 1 can of Progress Gold for $18.50, now anything at $24 a can is the usual! Madness!), this offer (1 small can for every big can) was a VERY GOOD DEAL!

We joke that these 46 cans will be our (early) Chrismas present to our dear little princess and hopefully they will last her until her next Christmas. My mom is calling me a cheapstake now. Pppfffft! :P

Plaits!

She actually sat still long enough for me to braid her hair!

I just lurve having a little girl...all the hair styling you can subject them to! Mwahahaha...well, at least until she manages to twist herself out of your grip or yank the ribbons, clips or ties out from her hair! :P

Talk About Getting A Head Start

This is really NOT what I had in mind...

I'd like to think its because she absolutely LOVES to work the steering wheel and that kept her hopping from one "hot seat" to another and feverishly turning the steering wheel this way and that during the time we spent at the bowling alley after our lunchen yesterday at the Chinese Swimming Club. "Driving! Driving!" she tells you. We almost had to apply the crowbars to peel her fingers away from the steering wheels when it was time to go.

ONE gaming person in this family is more than enough, thank you very much. And I HOPE IT STAYS THAT WAY!!!

And then a friend of mine suggests to me that, given her "prodigious" talent, she probably can join the F1 races when it comes to Singapore next year.

I just rolled my eyes some more.

Sakuraya

The weather was quite good today...no dark clouds threatening to unleash a heavy downpour on us. So Aileen and I decided, instead of frequenting the usual cafeterias around our office, to venture a little further today. We decided on Sakuraya, another Japanese restaurant tucked away on the 2nd storey of the Village Centre along South Bouna Vista Road.

Aileen recommended we go for the Sashimi as the cuts of fish sold at the restaurant are really fresh. So when we arrived there, we wasted to time in choosing a few cuts of salmon, salmon belly and swordfish.

We also ordered some other side dishes to go along with our sashimi platter.

Looks like such small servings right? Well, I was surprisingly stuffed after our satisfying lunch and was quite grateful for the short walk from the Village Centre to the bus stop! This was one meal that has not only met and but exceeded my expectations. The sashimi slices were INDEED very fresh and tasty. And the cooked food selections were equally tasty and well prepared as well. Needless to say, between the 2 of us, we practically cleaned up the plates (yes, even the wasabi...THAT was Aileen @.@) And the price (the MAIN consideration for me) was very reasonable. It was worth every single cent.

I also like the fact that the restaurant, by virtue of the fact that it is also suppose to be like a fish mart, sold other Japanese foodstuff there (miso paste, udon noodles, etc). So convenient.

I am definitely going to come back to sample the yummilicious sashimi again. This time I will bring along my dear, long suffering husband to savour the selection there. Compensation for the non-treat on his birthday perhaps? :P

Big Sister In Training ;)

Here's Janine, after her Mama's (KY's mom) birthday celebratory dinner at the Golden Dragon Phoenix Restaurant located in Novotel Hotel, doggedly pushing baby Caleb in his pram ;o)

She must have decided that on no account should her Mama have to exert herself with the "tremendous" task of pushing Baby Caleb on the day the family is out celebrating Mama's birthday. So the little girl had insisted on taking over the reins of the pram from her Mama and was soon speeding down the lobby with baby Caleb in tow, leaving 3 rather anxious mothers (KY's mom, Dawn and me) to chase after her!

Well, given that Caleb was pretty quiet throughout the little ride she took him on, she must have done a pretty OK job, especially since this is the first time she is pushing a REAL baby in a pram ;o) WELL DONE, my little princess!

Bane Or Boon?

I am so frustrated and disappointed with my present helper that I feel if I don't vent some of the angst SOMEWHERE, I am going to shrivel up from the inside out and die from all the negativity that is being generated if I have not already blown up like a volcano and cause some SERIOUS devastation.

Here is a list of things that she does/has done that has TOTALLY peeved me

1. She is so lazy. She can't be bothered to fold your clothes nicely or put them away your things in the RIGHT place. She'd rather squeeeeeeeze your belongings into whatever small space there is or chuck them somewhere in the house. I have to go treasure hunting for my stuff in my own house. I have found my bag in the kitchen cupboard where the gas canister is, my letters chucked in a box under yet another pile of things she has amassed around the house, mine and KY's clothes all mixed together, our CDs in the drawer where the TV remotes are placed and the list goes one. I am missing more things when she is here than with any other helpers that I have had in my lifetime! OK so I may be anal about my things but wouldn't you feel frustrated too when you can't find something that you know would have been in a particular location if someone hadn't gone and kept them and the person who kept them don't know what you are talking about (or pretends to) or doesn't remembers where she has kept them?

2. She lies. When she has done something wrong or has spoiled any of our things, instead of owning up, she pushes the blame to Kin Yew or Janine or anyone else she can think of. She must think I am blind to what's going on in my household.

3. She has destroyed/spoiled/broken SEVERAL of our things. My slow cooker (that I used to cook Janine's porridge), several clothes items, a photoframe, an EXPENSIVE China vase and not to mention the foodstuff (chopped garlic, pieces of raw meat, etc) that we dispose of on a WEEKLY basis because she has, with her superb housekeeping skill, left them to rot in the fridge. Even with SPECIFIC instructions on how much garlic to use or what portion of meat to cook, she STILL leaves a small fraction behind (maybe for her own consumption at a later day and time), places it in the fridge and completely forgets about it or doesn't tell you what she has squirreled away. It is so bad that it has come to a stage where we would rather do the cooking ourselves (and not as if she possesses ANY cooking skills) so that we don't find "surprises" when we open the fridge and whiff a dead rat.

4. She doesn't listen. Even after you show or explain the procedure to her for like the umpteenth time, she will STILL do it her way (which is most often the wrong way or the slipshod method). She simply REFUSES to do things the way YOU want it done. When you correct her, she has a thousand and one reasons for you, sometimes she will even glare back at you, or what must be the most nerve grating, she laughs! She doesn't listen not just to instructions but also WHEN we are giving instructions. Before you can even finish your sentence, she is off to do whatever it is she THINKS you want her to do, which of course will be wrong because she didn't get the whole picture. I harbour illusions where I can use a megaphone and SCREAM my instructions into her ear in the hope that maybe volume will help lodge the correct directions in her head.

5. She steals our food. And take this...NOT just our food but Janine's as well! I am so so SO disgusted. And mind you its not that we are NOT feeding her or depriving her of victuals. You should see the MOUNTAIN of rice she/we pile onto her plate at meal times. But then she goes and steals our food. I use the word "steal" because she consumes them WITHOUT asking for our permission and does not even have the decency to tell you she has eaten something of yours. And the best part is, when you confront her, she acts like she doesn't know what you are talking about and only when yuo start blowing your top then she has a light bulb moment and 'fesses up. The icing on the cake is when I find out she has been consuming my daughter's milk powder on the sly!! Every shred of self control I have is stopping me from striking out at her with a mother's instinct to protect her little one.

There is still a whole lot of other things that she has done that has thoroughly annoyed me but those are the top 5.

Honestly, I am at the end of my tether. On our part we have tried EVERYTHING.

1. Initially, we were VERY patient with her. When she first came to us, we were a bit lenient, closing an eye here and there where she made a mistake or done something wrongly. Our rationale is she is new and we need to give her time to settle in and get use to us, our routine and what we need or expect of her. We patiently explain how certain chores are done and even do it for her to show her how we want it done. She started off OK but then became progressively worse. After more than 4 months of working for me, she can still forget to help me cook Janine's porridge, still mixes up my T-shirts with KY's T-shirts or hang wet clothes on top of each other.

2. We made a time table for her. Ok given the language barrier, she may not understand our needs so we have tabled them out for her PRECISELY what is expected of her on a daily basis. We even got Lin, KY's parents' helper, who is also a Myanmarese, to translate and/or explain the timetable to her so she can follow. But for some reason only known to her, she chose NOT to follow the time table and insist on continuing on her own merry way, doing the household chores all wrongly and thus incurring even more work than neccessary for herself to do and our wrath. Only when I finally lost my temper and gave her a major shelling then she decides to be obediant...but even then, she only follows the time table partially.

3. We have held "forum" sessions with her. Together with Lin acting as our translator, we have tried to find out if she there is something bothering her (family matters perhaps) which is causing her to be unable to do her work properly here. Or maybe she just doesn't like us and wants to change employers? I mean, fair enough, I am not the PERFECT employer and if she is unhappy working for me I'd rather she tell me now so I can take the next appropriate step. But talking to her is like talking to a wall. You get NO WHERE. I mean, how DO you help someone who tells you she wants to work but "I don't know why I behave like this"?

4. We called the maid agency to talk to her. That was our last resort. Our trump card. And also to show her we mean business. Unless she doesn't pull up her socks, the likelihood of her being sent back is very high. The effects of the call lasted for about a week. And then slowly, she starts to slip once again.

KY tells me to just write her off as being stupid just so I can cope with all this madness. Because surely she MUST be stupid if she can't follow simple instruction. But she can laugh at a joke I cracked to my mom in Singlish! And she has even managed to make friends with OTHER (Filipino) maids from around my parents' estate! Obviously, she is NOT stupid and apparently, she CAN understand our spoken English reasonably well too...better than what we thought she was capable of!

The thing is you KNOW she can do the job. Its only after we have screamed, ranted, raved, railed at her like some pyscho employer from hell that she will do her work properly and flawlessly. But a few days later, her nonsense will surface and then we start the ugly cycle all over again. I can't be a screaming maniac every other day for the next 2 years can I? Do u know that EVERY sunday I go to church with a heavy heart because I feel so lousy inside?

Nam is suppose to be our domestic HELP, but instead I have even more things to worry about ever since she was around. I appreciate that there IS someone to help me clean the house, do the laundry and be that extra pair of hands to carry my bag and Janine's things when we are out and I am busy running after the little girl. But that is about all that she is doing! I can't trust her to look after Janine. I can't even trust her to do the household chores properly. Instead of relieving us, she is creating more problems for us and giving me tension headaches.

Everyone tells me to just throw her back at the maid agency and just get a new one. I think I should. I really should. For my own sanity. For the emotional, spiritual and physical well being of my family. But why do I hear a small voice telling me to keep her? Maybe I am hearing things...probably the ringing in my ears from my last shouting match or maybe I really have indeed gone mad!

ARGH!

All I can do is just cling on to the verse that says "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1). Surely He is stretching my patience and grace. And surely only He can "deliver" me from all this nonsense and give me the strength mentally to endure!!!