Ok ok ..

I'll blog about our amazing cruise in December next time .. But first ..

It's my birthday today! Yea! 39 years old. And our 15th wedding anniversary to my beloved best friend of a hubby.

He was so sweet. He brought me out for dinner and surprised me with an amazingly beautiful diamond ring from Tiffany and Co.

Awesome ! The Flower Ring set in platinum. Here's a pic.

It's really beautiful! Love it !! Thank you my dear husband for all your love and devotion to me and the girls.

Wish list

I have a couple of things I would like for Christmas. Or my birthday. By and by I will get around to buying them myself soon. Especially a compact camera. Ok, so who doesn't like the Sony's
NEX 6? Haha. But that's a compact
DSLR. And super ex. Love it tho.

But first, I would get a small Canon compact to keep in my bag for the everyday shots.

Then there is jewelry. Have u seen this ad by Tiffany? V pretty rings. Bet they cost the earth as well. Haha. Ok, so it doesn't have to be Tiffany. A good friend long ago gave me a diamond ring .. With 7 small diamonds. I love it. And wear it everyday. Not Tiffany. But v pretty. Yes, I am a jewelry person. Haha.

Hmmmm, what else? .. I like one of the Canon printers. The teeny ones that can print stickers and photos. That's pretty affordable. About S$200. Think I might get that first.

I'd like a nice decent watch. A Swatch maybe ? I've walked into the store a dozen times and walked out without buying. Hahaha.

So what's on your wish list?

After YEARS ..

I finally went for a concert. Yes, it's been YEARS. Ok, when I was pregnant with one of my girls a few years back, Linkin Park came to Singapore but I was heavily pregnant. The Hubby pointed out that a big, pregnant Aunty bopping up and down to Linkin Park wouldn't look cool .. So I didn't go. Lol.

This time, it was Rick Price .. Yes, the dude from Australia. He had a couple of hits back in the early 90s. I was a teen then, so of course, when The Best Friend spotted some promo postcard with his concert details two weeks ago, we decided we HAD to go. Hahaha. She has been a long supporter of his. Every time, she says she's fragile (lol) .. His song automatically plays in my head.

The concert was held last night at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music Concert Hall (It's in NUS). It was an acoustic session so it was just him and his guitar and piano.

It was a lovely evening. Very very happy we went.

This is one of my favourite songs by him "Heaven Knows"
See more of his videos here

Have I blogged about this yet?

Ok, I like handbags as much as the next woman. And man, how is it the ones I like end up being the expensive ones as well? Why can't I like that Perlini (I think that's the brand name - they sell it in Metro) bag instead of the lovely red leather shopping tote from Prada? Why?

I did try once to buy a no brand name bag .. I carried it around like once then chucked it aside ..

My bestie says I am snooty about brands. I am most certainly not. I usually carry Coach bags which hardly qualifies as an upmarket brand .. Hahaha. The Hubby travels up to the States a few times a year so I get him to buy a bag or 2 for me while he's there. I provide PICTURES of course. I shudder to think what he'll buy me if he doesn't have pictorial examples. Lol.

And I can't ask him to buy some other brand. The man is against spending thousands on a handbag. Damn.

Here is the bag I am currently drooling over. And it's red leather. *sigh* - The Prada Vitello Daino Shopping Tote.

Happy Birthday to The Hubby

For a month or so in the year .. The Hubby and I are the same age .. He turned 38 yesterday and I'm 38 now. After Christmas, I'll be freaking 39 .. Until then, we are the same age. Lol.

I decided to bake a cake for him instead this year. Nigella Lawson's Devil's Food Cake. A really decadently chocolate cake. Turned out decently too. Claudia helped me and together we did a good job. Here are pics !!

And Happy Birthday to my darling husband .. U are the love of my life .. :)

Pretty?

She's my birthday present to myself. Haha. Ok, I love dolls .. I haven't really been collecting them for a number of years but yes, I love dolls. I used to collect Barbie dolls (not the ones kiddies play with) .. But I would kill to own a Blythe doll. This is the closest I come to .. A Pullip doll from Magma Heritage. One day I will buy a Blythe.

Why oh why ..

I just don't seem to have any luck with hairstylists. I swear.

I have a wonderful nail place I go to. Cheap and good. And they don't try to chat me up. And they speak in sing song Vietnamese. And their tv is switched onto channel 5. Yay. And it's a big ass tv .. Double yay!

But hair place? Oh just SHOOT me, will ya? I cannot seem to find a decent hairstylist that doesn't piss me off or do my hair right ..

What. The. Hell.

The latest fiasco is my hair color. He colored it a shade too dark I feel. I hate that. It looks weird. Too dark. Yes, I have tons of white hair but my natural hair colour isn't THAT dark so it kinda looks harsh against my skin colouring.

Damn. It. To. Hell.

I am this close to completely giving up on ever finding a decent hair stylist. One that doesn't cost the sun and the moon but still does a good job.

Frankly speaking, my hair now reminds me of that chick in The Ring, Sadako.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Just look at it.

First to die during wartime ...

The Hubby declared that to me. He was referring to me of course. not himself. Haha.

I will be the first to die in a war, or if stranded on a deserted island, or in zombie apocalypse. I swear.

Why? Because I NEED all the things that come with day to day living today. Running water, electricity, my car, the Internet .. My iPhone.

We had a situation in our condo last weekend. Some blocks including mine were without running water for 2 whole bloody days. It was a nightmare. No running water meant no hot showers. And no flushing toilets. My immediate response was to abandon our home and live out of a hotel suite till the problem was rectified. The problem being a burst underground pipe running under our block.

But of course, there was no way The Hubby was going to spring for 2 nights at Marina Bay Sands so I sped to the nearest hardware store and bought 4 ginormous pails for hauling water - the condo management had arranged for water points to be set up at various spots in the condo. And lucky for us, we had one right at our lift lobby.

Of course, big ass pails meant that once they were filled to the brim with water, no one could actually lift the pail for any distance at all .. But here's where our trusty Radio Flyer wagon came in damn handy. We have the one that's really hardy made of metal and has a maximum weight limit of 60 kg. It can and did easily hold 2 pails filled with water. Awesome .. No hauling at all except for lifting the pails out of the wagon. Yay! We were the envy of our neighbors. Hahaha.

And we manually filled up the toilet cisterns so we could flush. And we boiled hot water for showers. We managed ok. No cooking, no cleaning .. We let the clothes pile up for awhile and thankfully managed to do laundry after the 2 days.

Although we survived the crisis, I hafta to say .. It still sucked to have no running water. Lol. I was just thankful it wasn't electricity. Less baths I can handle .. No air con, I'd just die. Lol.

E-books are da bomb

Especially, on my iPhone. Have I mentioned that already? My eldest dotty has a Kindle Fire .. That is actually the perfect size for reading an e-book but my iPhone is always with me so it makes sense to read off it.

I finished the entire Fifty Shades trilogy on my iPhone.

I don't get what the big fuss is about .. Aside from the guy being into BDSM and having a truckload of psychological issues, it's just like any other romance novel. Really. And come on, how many times can you read a sex scene ?? How many ??! And there is plenty of that in the books, believe me. I dunno how they are gonna make the books into a movie. What kind of rating would it get? Lol.

Funny thing is, Christian Grey .. Has eerie similarities to The Hubby. And NOT the BDSM part (Hahahah!) .. And also not the psychological issues (thank God) And not the billionaire part either (DAMMIT to hell) ..

But I understand his need for control over Ana. I was reading the book and going .. "Oh, no .. He won't like that" and I turn the page and voila, I am right.

Huh.

It has taken The Hubby 15 years of marriage to get to where we are today. And I still cannot buy a chest of drawers without him okay-ing it or meet a male friend .. Even if its just my insurance agent. Lol. Lets not even talk about going on holiday without him. The man threw a fit when I brought the girls to MBS for an overnight stay when he was out of the country. Lol.

He's plain lucky I love him so much to accede to his possessiveness and manic control freaked-ness. Most times. I still buy pieces of furniture now and then without him okaying it. Lol. From Ikea ok?! Not some expensive piece.

So yes, in case you're wondering, I have no male friends. Well, just that one and he's my insurance agent (lol) and he's an old friend so he understands The Hubby .. I do have male friends on Facebook, but I don't meet up w them or chat w them at all. Cos I know he doesn't like it.

My eldest dotty is reading The Hunger Games trilogy on her Kindle. Must ask her how that is going.

So e-books .. If you haven't gotten into them, start now! Cheaper than actual books and u save space storing them. Plus, u can take it everywhere with you. Especially, on your iPhone. Really convenient.

I'm still here

So .. I survived the whole Bugaboo Bee episode. Ok, I still feel bad that I went against his wishes buying the stroller. It is rather expensive and Charlotte IS already 20 months old.

But ..

The stroller is awesome. Having used other similar prams in the same price category before, it is a dream to handle. And not heavy like the Phil and Teds Dash. I've sold 2 of my prams so far .. Another 2 to go. Haha.

I reckon I can use the Bee for another year or so then sell it off. No regrets buying it at all.

It's already coming to end of Sept. another 90 odd days till Christmas. My favourite holiday of the year ! I have done a bit of shopping here and there but I really must get a move on.

Can't wait to shop, shop, shop!

The Hubby will kill me ..

Yes, he will. I'm pretty sure of it. I bought something he explicitly said not to buy.

But, yeap .. I went and bought it anyway.

Sigh.

And now the said item is hiding in my vehicle.

Until the weekend. When he will obviously see it. And I will have to tell him then.

Die la.

I should've told him straight off on Tuesday. But noooooo ..

Now, I'm gonna be dead. Or a divorcee.

Hahaha. So what did I buy ?

A Bugaboo Bee pram. For mah bebe. Look how happy she looks sitting in it. Bestie asked how she looked happier .. I said, ok ok I am happier. Hahaha!

The Hubby is trying to kill me

This I know for sure .. During the one week school holiday, the man was on leave for the last 2 weekdays - Thursday and Friday. He opted to bring us all for a walk. No, not a walk. More like a hike. And once again we weren't prepared. The girls were in dresses and I was in my new pants. Yoga pants .. (not that I do yoga mind you .. I just like the pants cutting) .. And FitFlops. With my handbag. Apparel I can assure you is not suitable for traipsing around in the jungle.

Anyway, we went for the HSBC TreeTop Walk. It was tough for someone like me .. you know, erm, not skinny and more of a air-conditioned mall roaming person.

The hike was tiring. There were steps and slopes. And some parts, I had to carry Charlotte who isn't lightweight either .. Blardy 11.6kg.

When we finally reached the bridge .. It was really very pretty. I wouldn't say it was worth the hike up but it was lovely. Then the worst part came .. Getting back down. I swear I almost just threw myself on the ground and told my kids to go on without me. Hahahaha.I think I made my kids push me up slope at some points .. hahaha .. good times. I told them, it was either they push me or leave me behind. Claudia and Lauren dutifully obliged.

And towards the end on the way down, Charlotte fell asleep in the sling. She became DEADWEIGHT. Bugger baby.I don't know she could sleep in that humidity ...

Anyway, we all really had fun hiking with Daddy .. And spending all that time together. Here are some pics.

We went to Upper Pierce Reservoir first ... love this pic

Here we are about to start the walk ...

This was a LIE .. it wasn't 300m to the TreeTop walk ... A LIE !!

 

FINALLY !!

Daddy with his littlest girl

Love this too !

 

 

Sick as a dog ..

I've never understood that phrase. Sick as a dog ? What dog ? Whose dog? My dogs don't seem to every get sick and they're old now. They don't get the flu or a fever or a cough ..

I've been sick since last Sunday. High fever for 2 days then continued being sick for another few more days .. Sniffling and generally feeling like crap. Then the worse thing happened. My throat became so sore .. I woke up on Wednesday in a lot of pain. It felt like there was a bunch of needles in my throat. The medication I was prescribed worked somewhat but it's already Saturday and while my throat isn't as bad as it was on Wednesday, it's at least better.

Then last night, I started coughing.

Man, I feel like dying. I've been sick since Sunday night .. And it's going to be Sunday night soon ... Making me sick for one whole damn week.

I'm just happy that my kids seem to have escaped this dreaded sickness for now. Hope my throat gets well soon too. I want to eat chilli !!

I had a plan ..

A good one it was too. My wash and wax package for my beloved Odyssey had expired and for awhile now, I was the only dirty vehicle on the road. I kid u not. People here take pride in having shiny ass cars whether it's a Kia or a BMW.

And my poor once shiny black Odyssey had been starting to stick out on the roads like a sore thumb. Hey, it wasn't my fault. Between the kids and my high teas and manicures .. Where on earth was I going to find the time to wash my own vehicle? Why wash on my own instead of renewing the package u ask? Cos it was gonna cost me more than 1k AND my husband told me if I choose to sign up for the package, I'd have to fork out the money myself.

Forget it. I'd rather wash the car myself. Easier said than done apparently. Lol!

The Hubby snorted upon seeing my cache of car cleaning products that I had acquired from a recent trip to the hardware store. And he quickly made it clear that he wasn't going to be involved in any way. I still got him a big yellow washing sponge. Haha. Just because I love him.

So, about 2 weeks ago, we headed to the gas station like we always do after church and lo and behold, they were running some promo and a family vehicle like mine could be washed for a mere 5 bucks !!! -- now at that point my car still hadn't been washed. And she was starting to look like a desert vehicle. Hahaha.

So come on, how could I not take up the offer? 5 bucks for 4 able bodied uncles to wash and wipe dry my Odyssey?? And all I had to do was sit in the vehicle? It was a no brainer.

So, I now have a shiny black Odyssey .. And my cleaning products which cost me some 50 bucks or so .. Still remained untouched on the hall sideboard.

Oh well. Guess once the promo for the car wash at the gas station is over, I will try to wash the darn thing myself. With gloves on. Wouldn't want to ruin my manicure.

More to life than nice nails?

Surely you jest, I asked The Hubby. I was lying in bed this morning admiring my manicured long painted nails when he declared that that there were more important things in life than nails. Hahaha!

What was my answer?

Well, I told him that for most of my adult life so far, I haven't had the chance to have long nails or go for a manicure and pedicure. Partly because I had no time and also because I did have a nail biting habit (ok, let me clarify first .. I bit the nails off my FINGERS. Not my toes). So it was hard to have long nails. Haha. And I just never understood HOW a pedicure would make your feet look so much nicer in sandals and FitFlops .. And now that I've had a couple done, man, let me tell you .. My feet look so much more presentable with toe exposing footwear. But I digress.

Yes, having nice nails is important I informed him. And for once I'd like to have them. Before I get old and wrinkly and then nice nails won't do anything for me.

Are they the most important thing? Of course not! That would be facials .. Like duh.

Bigger plate?

Bestie's birthday was way back in June .. Lol ... And I promised her high tea at Rose Veranda .. So finally today, we went ..

Good grief .. The wait staff recognize me .. And one of the kitchen staff .. This short fella .. Very friendly uncle .. Saw me and exclaimed "hi, mam! Nice to see you again!" .. And then he asked, "Would you like a bigger plate? I'll go get one for you"

HAHAHAHAHAHA! Of course, I said "no, thank you" .. I want to say I was mortified .. But I really wasn't. More like amused. Hahaha! Well, the plates are on the small side .. He genuinely just wanted to help me.

Anyway, bestie and me had a wonderful time stuffing our faces. Love love love Rose Veranda !!

Nice ?

I went for a manicure and a pedicure today. The place I go to is about 10 minutes away by car .. And the ladies doing the manicuring are Vietnamese. I think the language is just very sing song like. Charming. And really interesting to listen to.

Anyway, my nails are kinda long now. And seriously, a pain to type on the iPhone. I make A LOT of mistakes cos my nails cause me to misjudge where I'm actually tapping. Blardy pain. And while I am tempted to cut them off, I enjoy seeing them long and painted. So I will suffer awhile longer with it. Then I'll hack them off. Pfffft!

Anyway, so after I had my manicure and pedicure done, I walked back to my car .. First thing that I notice ... Is the car door handle and how it looked impossible to open w my not totally dry nails. Shucks. I had to carefully pry the door open without looking stupid. Wasn't easy. When I finally plonked myself down on the seat, I heaved a sigh of relief. Then I noticed a car waiting to occupy my lot. Damn it. I wasn't about to rush just so he could have my lot and my nails get ruined. Too bad for him.

I had to put my seatbelt on next. And i really looked retarded trying to put it slowly. Blardy, blardy hell. The guy must've either thought I was purposely trying to stall or that I was an idiot the way I was doing it. I'm guessing he thought the latter. Lol.

I got home in one piece. But of course I had to abandon use of the signal indicator as well. I realized it caused me to hit my nails on the steering wheel every time I used it. Haha. Thankfully, it was a really short drive.

Anyway, I'm happy with the colour I chose. And that my nails arrived home all nice and neat. Here they are.

Obsession

Obviously, my obsession with high end strollers .. Is not just with strollers.

It's an obsession w anything on wheels. Lol. A car doesn't count .. Cos it's so mega expensive here to keep on switching cars like underwear. Damn it. Or else I'd be driving the Audi Q7. A nice shiny silver one. Haha!

So I was at the supermarket as usual. And I spot the shopping trolley on sale. Usually, it's about $30 plus .. But it was on offer for $15.90 if I spend $25 on groceries. Like duh, that's not hard to do for me.

So I quickly Whatsapped a pic of it to The Hubby. He didn't reply. Lol. Actually, however spacious and big the shopping trolley is ... It will never be enough for a big family like ours. Which is why we mostly use the kiddies' Radio Flyer wagon to transport our groceries from the car up to the apartment. Plus, sometimes, Charlotte gets to ride in it w the groceries. Haha. The wagon is huge and can take a load of about 70kg. I love that thing.

Anyway, I figured we could use this smaller trolley on the days we don't buy a truckload of things. Doesn't happen often but it does. AND I just wanted the thing. Come on, $15.90 !! I was very happy. Hahaha!

Now .. Next on my list .. The Bugaboo Bee !!!

Adieu!

Last night, I bid farewell to my Phil and Teds Dash ..

Sob.

For those of you not in the know .. It's a stroller. A double stroller. The nicest one there is out there IMHO.

Of course now, I can't help but look at NEW strollers. Not a double. But a single.

Yes, I am obsessed with nice strollers and prams. I have no clue why. Ok, for one thing, they are way cheaper than cars. Hahaha.

I've been obsessed with them for most of my child rearing years. And I still am. I was debating getting a Bugaboo Bee Plus - a nice PINK one .. But how to sneak THAT past The Hubby? He will have a screaming fit .. Haha!

I sold my P&T off to a really nice couple. Hope they treat her well. I spent half an hour with them going over everything.

And now, I am busy looking at new strollers. Hahaha. Ok, granted I may not buy one eventually .. I just like looking at them.

Anyway, here is a last photo of my wonderful P&T.

Old friends :)

Had a meet up with some ex-RGS classmates yesterday. I haven't seen one of them since we left school in 1990!

Anyway, we met up in Shel's office in Sime Darby and had loads of fun updating each other on what we've been doing since we left school.

Heh. Gotta do this more often!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the father of my children. Glad you're their dad. Any time any day. Really.

You're always there for them. You've never put your work before our kids. You rush home from work whenever possible to take over ferrying the kids for their lessons (that and you want to save gas la admit it).

You are pretty hands on (once the kiddies got past the diaper age .. Hahaha, I can count on BOTH hands how many times he's changed ANY OF THE 5 GIRLS diapers .. And that's just wet diapers. Poopy diapers .. not a chance!) ..

And you want to be there for every part of their lives (which I use to my advantage by foisting off Parent Teacher meetings to you cos, let's face it, those things are boring. Hahaha) ..

You're there to play with them .. Teach them to roller blade, swim and ride a bike ..

And to also help them with their homework. Especially, Chinese. Hahaha .. I'm not much of a help in that area.

You make sure we go to church every Sunday and we spend lots of time together as a family doing family things like lugging home big pieces of furniture from IKEA and cramming it into our poor MPV .. Together with the kids and I .. Lol ! The girls are going to remember these happy times for all of their lives. I'm sure of it.

15 years of marriage .. 13 years of being a Dad .. And you're getting better at it every year. The girls
adore you. I adore you too. Hope you had a wonderful Father's Day, my love.

Speaking of being delusional ..

Today, while in town .. I chanced upon a sale .. And decided to get myself one of those body shaper things. It pretty much is like a swimsuit but it ain't for swimming. I only mention this cos Emily was standing next to me while I was looking at the thing, and she asked if I was buying a swimsuit.

Lol.

Anyway, don't get me wrong. This body shaper suit isn't to make me look slimmer - nothing can make me look slimmer besides actually losing weight. Hahaha .. It's to keep the jiggly bits from well, jiggling.

So when I wear one of my dresses, at least everything will be held in place and not be so jello-like. Haha.

I tell you it was hell getting into the thing. And you cannot be sticky with sweat if you wanna put it on. It will make things 10 times worse.

It's really like when you're at the economy rice stall at the food court and you over order. The rice plus all the dishes u ordered .. The styrofoam box just won't close properly and the uncle needs to secure it with a rubber band. Ah, that's how you feel wearing this body shaper suit. Hahaha!

But I'm happy with it. I tried it on with my dress and of course, while I'm not magically transformed into a slim model, AT LEAST, my flab isn't wobbling.

Hahahaha!

This is so cute !!

Hmmmmm

The Canon compact camera I've been eyeing is on offer at $399 (down from $499) but only at the PC show. Not bad. A hundred bucks off.

The Canon Digital Ixus 240HS. Only problem is .. The PC show is on now till Sunday. Don't think I will have the chance to go down cos The Hubby will be around tomorrow.

Dammit. There goes my chance.

Reading

Man, after years of NOT reading .. I've picked it up again. On my iPhone. Man, I love it.

Firstly, it means I can read anytime, anywhere. AND I don't accumulate the clutter of actual physical books. That in itself is wonderful. I have my books with me all the time. And yet, I'm not physically carrying them with me. It's awesome.

Of course, the local iBooks store is USELESS. I purchase books using my US iTunes account off the US store. Love it. I've already read a couple of books. It's great cos I get to read while I'm nursing Charlotte in bed or when I'm waiting in the car.

And I've discovered it's easier to spend that money to buy a book if it's an e-book .. Damn. If you're at a bookstore in town, picking up and holding onto a book and walking around for a bit doesn't guarantee you're actually going to BUY the book. It's different when you're looking at it online .. It's just so easy to click "buy now" Hahahaha!

Actually, I thought it wasn't going to be nice reading a book via my iPhone. I thought it would not give me the same experience as actually holding onto a book and flipping the pages. But you know what? It isn't the same BUT seeing as how I'm so used to doing everything on either my iPad or iPhone, things like reading the papers or articles on a news website .. Reading an e-book is really no different.

If you haven't tried it, go on! I urge you to. You can try Kobo. They have a number of free ebooks .. Just download the app on your iPhone and give it a try. Thereafter, you can always buy books off the Kobo website too. I think they use Paypal. Pretty convenient too.

Have fun reading !!

Muahahahah!

Men in Black 3 is another awesome movie. Caught it yesterday with The Hubby. We both enjoyed it immensely. It was for sure much better than the 2nd one .. And actually it even the first.

Anyway, it was nice to watch a movie on a weekday afternoon with The Hubby. Takes us back to the old days when we were teenagers. Hahaha!

Been morose lately over the whole PPS.tv saga. In case I haven't blogged about it, I've been watching all my USA tv series via an app on my iPhone and iPad called PPS.tv. Ok, technically it ain't legal .. Sort of like buying those pirated DVDs (of which I know nothing about cos I only buy ORIGINAL from Amazon.com) .. PPS.tv had every episode of the current seasons of all the series I follow .. Like Revenge, Once Upon a Time, Nikita, Fringe etc.

Then suddenly 2 weeks ago, everything was GONE.

I think I nearly had a panic attack. Hahahahah!

Thankfully, I had been keeping up with the episodes so while there are still many episodes I haven't watched, I
managed to watch quite a lot.

Still sore though.

Damn. And while I CAN pay for a VPN service to access the US TV network websites and watch from there .. I decided not to incur the cost.

So watch Men In Black 3 quick !! It's worth it !!

Mother's Day ..

My sweet girls gave me sweet gifts for Mother's Day :) Claudia got me a plugy for my iPhone and a bar of chocolate, Lauren gave me a "red packet" and the rest drew very sweet cards and pictures for me. Love my girls to bits.

The Hubby ruined it again as usual. I positive hate it when year after year he thinks it's funny to say he doesn't need to celebrate Mother's Day for me because I'm not his mother.

Eh, hallo ... I don't care about that. It annoys me no end to hear him crack that lame ass stupid joke. I'm not looking for a gift. I just thought it would be nice for him to say "thanks for being the mother of my kids - you are doing a decent job" and have a nice lunch or dinner out. Or a card. Or a box of Cadbury chocolates ..

But no. Nothing. Apparently, I'm not worth the effort. So pissed off with him.

Blardy blardy man.

The Avengers

Is an awesome movie .. What's not to like? Good looking superheroes, lots of action, decent storyline (saving the world .. Duh) and humor as well!! Very good!

Went with The Hubby to watch it. Man, it's been awhile since it was just him and me. Holding hands and sharing a Coke and popcorn :)

It's a very entertaining movie. Not really for the younger kiddies I feel. Go catch it if you can.

Disco no more.

Thank goodness. The flickering lightbulb in my bathroom finally blew out properly. So it stopped flickering altogether. Yay!

Coincidentally, The Hubby came home today. Early today at about 4 am. So happy to have him home. He hadn't been well while he was away. Bad flu, sore throat and cough .. So I was glad he was back home. I'm a fierce loyal believer of modern medicine and prescribed drugs in general. Haha! And I KNEW The Hubby being who he is .. Didn't bother to take ANY kind of medication while he was there sick and dying (ok, I'm being melodramatic here) ..

Actually, he had told me he was on the mend .. Guess it was just to alleviate my concern cos by evening time today, the man was hacking away and looked like hell.

I quickly doled out the drugs after he had his dinner. And almost immediately, his hacking stopped .. Yay for Tussidex! Hope the Danzen kicks in too and his throat stops hurting .. I gave him some Panadol to help with the pain too.

Anyway, I have him today and Monday. Hope he gets better by Tuesday when he has to go back to work.

In other news, before The Man fell sick over there, he managed to buy almost everything I had on The Shopping List. Now, this list is important .. Long ago before we had The List, the man would come back with all sorts of things he thought WE would want and like.

Example 1 : he came home this one time from Indonesia with a laser pointer. FOR ME. The housewife who doesn't need to do any kind of PowerPoint presentations at all. Ever. I tried very hard to look happy with said gift. But really .. A laser pointer ???!!

Example 2 : those Science telescope sets .. For Claudia. Not bad what, you say. She was 4 years old I think. To her credit, she tried to look enthusiastic about it cos she knew her Daddy was. But she didn't have a clue what it was or what it did .. Poor girlie. I think a stuffed toy would've been better. Lol.

Anyhow, somewhere along the way, he also decided it was just SIMPLER if he had a list of what to get for the girls and for me. So it was my job to get this list ready. I had to be specific. Preferably with pictures. And where he could go get them. And the price.

He had to just go to the place and find all I wanted on this list. Not as simple as it sounds though. Sometimes, things go out of stock etc. so I have back up items in that list as well.

I think I do a decent job. I put together a list of things that are usually on sale. Hehe. I love doing that. He also added in extra stuff which he thought the girls might like .. And to his credit, the man is getting better at it.

He got me perfume. My favourite one. And a handbag :) also on The List so the design and colour came as no surprise to me. No big deal. I prefer it that way. Back in the days before The List, he would get me what he thought was nice .. And let me tell you, I still have not used those bags. Lol.

So glad and happy he's home. I missed him so while he was away. That and there was no one else to send anyone to whatever class whoever had. Haha. So today, when Emily had a birthday party at some Macs restaurant, guess who took her? Not me. I love my man. Hope he feels better soon :)

The Conspiracy

What conspiracy? The one where the moment your hubby leaves on a trip out of the country, one of the light bulbs in your bathroom starts doing the flickering aka disco aka haunted room w "faulty" light thing.

Damn. It. To. Hell.

And not like it's easy to replace. Although I've watched the man removed the cover .. Ok, scratch that .. That's a lie .. Although I've pretended to watch the man remove the cover, take out the non-usable bulb and replace it .. Truth it, in that million and one times he's done it, I wasn't paying any attention at all.

Why should I? He's around to do it. I just have to casually mention it, and my ever efficient handy husband will get a new bulb and it will be replaced in no time.

Of course, he makes me stand there and help him and presumably he wants me to learn how to do it in case, God forbid, he dies and then I'll really have to do it on my own.

I like to live on the edge. Let's just call it that. If I ever have to fend for myself in this world, my Contact List on my iPhone will certainly contain numbers to every possible person I'll need to get by in life .. A fella to fix my toilet, change bulbs, drill holes in the wall, assemble furniture .. U get the idea.

That or I'll have to finally learn how to do it. Whichever. Until such a time comes (hope it doesn't ever) .. My darling Hubby will always be here to replace that flickering bulb in our master bedroom bathroom.

Now, I just have to put up with the flickering for the next 5 nights. That's not too long. I can do it ! How bad can the flickering get, right ??!

I want to cut my hair ..

BUT .. Having done that a handful of times in my teens, it doesn't come out so well. I look absolutely hideous.

I. Kid. You. Not.

*sigh* why do I suddenly want to chop off my long hair? Cos it's a pain to maintain. To wash and dry. And to colour it. And my hair although it isn't as thick as when I was younger, it's STILL RELATIVELY thick.

Darn it to hell.

Short hair looks so easy to wash and dry. And to colour.

WHY OH WHY was I cursed with a big huge moon face that cannot carry of a short do?? WHY?!

I leave u now with a pic of my moon face with my bebe.

Someday ...

If I ever get to redo my bedroom before I die, I think this is a good idea .. I love this !! Just nice for handbags, accessories, books and knick knacks.

And with the door it's all hidden !! I detest open shelves. Lots of dust and if your stuff is not arranged nicely, it looks horribly messy.

Delighting you always .. Canon!!

I've always been a fan of Canon cameras. Always. I loved my G3 to bits when I first got it way back in 2003. And it's still in working order by the way. I use it when I cannot lug my EOS 7D out .. Except that the G3 is already very old and therefore the picture resolution at 4mp is low and not as sharp as I like.

Was browsing the Canon website and I like the Canon Ixus HS240. And it comes in PINK too!! At 16.1 mp, the pics should turn out sharp as hell. And it's Wifi enabled as well! How cool is that ??

Have a look at the specs on the Canon Singapore website. The price is ok I thought at $449 (RRP) .. Must go down and have a closer look at it. It should fit nicely into my handbag. Heh.

Morning person I am not ..

Today was the first time in a long while that I had breakfast at Macdonalds. I am not a morning person. Generally, I'm up at 9 am (not by choice) to bathe and change and send Emily to school by 11.15am. I sleep late. I need about 7 hours of sleep (any more and I get a headache) so that means I sleep at 2 am or later. What do I do, u ask.

Erm, anything I want. It is absolute bliss to be awake ALONE at that time .. I'm either watching cable tv, or shows on the iPad or surfing the net. I try not to buy stuff online too often (haha) .. and I refuse to clean up or organize things in the dead of night. Besides, I need the light on for that and I can't cos everyone else is asleep.

So anyway, I had Macdonalds today cos Emily had to go in early cos the kindy is taking them on an excursion. Yay for excursions !! Of course, since I slept at 2.30am and was up by 7.30am .. I was sleepy by 10am. Haha. I kept nodding off on the sofa and finally had a quick nap till it was time to take Lauren to school.

It will be a long time before I have breakfast at Macs again. No way I am getting up at 7.30 am any time soon.

You and me .. we were born to die.

This is currently one of my favourite songs .. this and that song by David Guetta, Titanium :p

This is "Born To Die" by Lana Del Rey .. such a COOL song to drive to.

I is old. I is.

The one thing I absolutely love about my iPhone is that with the 64gb of space I have in it, I have my whole music library wherever I go. And cos I'm always going up and down in my beloved Odyssey .. That is a real handy thing to have with me .. I can play any song that I choose. Provided of course that I have it in my library.

Today on the way home from school after picking Claudia up, I decided to listen to a Phil Collins song ..

My daughter pulls a face and says, "ugh, this sounds like an old song" .. I opened my mouth to instantly deny it, but stopped. I did some mental calculation and realized that shit, it IS AN OLD SONG by her standards. What the hell.

And then it hit me. THIS was how I felt when my Dad would put on his records like Cliff Richard etc. I would think, "ugh, what the hell. Such an old song" HAHAHAHAHA!

And now, sadly, I am the one listening to "old" songs.

*sigh* Aw, come on, there's only so many times you can listen to Lady Gaga and Katy Perry songs. It's nice to listen to songs from the 80s and 90s - songs I grew up with. Justin Bieber is CRAP, ok?! Haha.

Anyway, I did tell one of my daughters once : my car my songs. Next time when you get your own car, you can play whatever songs you like. But for now .. TOUGH.

Lol.

Too good to be true

Last night, Charlotte fell asleep really early. At just past 7pm. I should've known better. But noooooo. I was so happy. I washed up .. Then sat down to enjoy my shows on tv. I think I must've watched a couple of shows on cable tv consecutively .. Nikita (Maggie Q is so darn hot - I don't care if that sounds lesbian-ic), Human Target (that show is action packed but highly entertaining as well) .. And a few other shows.

Then just as I was about to go to bed at about 2am, she woke up. And not that she wanted to drink milk and go back to sleep. After having her fill, she sat up and smiled at me cheekily. I knew that was it. No way I was gonna get to sleep anytime soon.

Darn. I knew it was too good to be true. The girl cannot sleep at 7 plus and be expected to sleep through the night. Dammit.

So there I was at 3 plus in the morning .. Letting her watch some baby videos on my iPhone. And that tells you I was desperate. Generally, my kids are not allowed to handle my iPhone or play games on it. Yes, they may be my kids .. But keep your grubby little fingers off my tech gadget please. Anyway, I let her watch the videos while she was seated on my lap (I was sitting up cross legged on my bed) and I was still able to hold iPhone and run the app. Of course, little Miss Kaypo kept jabbing at the screen w her teeny finger .. And I kept swatting it away. Lol. The music videos were putting me to sleep. Come on, how many times can u watch Twinkle Twinkle Little Star without being bored and falling asleep? Not many I can tell u. What's more it was past 3am. I kept nodding off. The little girl was however, still wide awake. Darn !

I think she finally fell asleep at 4 or past 4. I nursed her to sleep then as I saw her eyes drifting shut .. I zonked out as well.

No more early nights for her then. 9pm should be just right. I'd rather she sleep at 9pm or 10pm, and wake up at 9am (which is my wake up time cos I go to bed at 2pm and I only need 7 hours of sleep) than sleep at 7 plus and wake up earlier.

Ok but check out that cute face .. How to scold her? Lol. She's such a sweetie.

When?

See the little rascal face? She's 13.5 months old .. And I'm still nursing her. She can drink baby juice from a bottle .. And I've tried formula but the little Aunty refuses to really drink it. She still wants me to breastfeed her. She doesn't have a word for it .. She just uses her finger to point and jab at my chest. Lol. And keeps repeating my name "mama .. mama .."

Hehe. I love hearing her call me.

Anyway, back to the boob issue. Hmmm, am wondering when to wean her off for good. She is a really good eater .. And is more or less eating table food now .. She loves rice! I'm so so blessed to have kids that breezed through baby-hood ... No health issues, no hospital stays .. And no food issues or allergies as well. Really grateful to Him.

Maybe I should just leave her to self-wean .. I already don't breastfeed her when we're out .. She is happy to have lunch then her juice then snacks .. She doesn't need her boob fix then. After all, she is my very last baby. Let's see how long it takes before she gives it up. Lol. And I'll just pray that it happens before she turns 2!