Like mother, like daughter

In the car tonight, Aver was crying for milk. It was not possible to nurse her as I was sitting in the front while my mother and Ash were at the back with her.

Aver cried relentlessly and no matter how both of them tried to pacify her, she refused to be pacified.

Then Ash blurted out in desperation,"Stop! Give you milk in the afternoon, you don't want to drink that is your problem. Now you cry also no use."

That was a lightbulb moment... she sounded like me.

I would always tell Ash that if she chose not to do a certain thing and had to suffer the consequence that would be her problem.

So I really need to be more conscious of what comes out of my mouth as they get digested by these two intelligent brains.

"Huh? What were you saying, Mummy?"

The importance of water

The water pipes for our block of flats are to be changed and the water supply will be disrupted.
So we had to store some water in pails.
However, Superpig had the impression that the water supply would be back at 1 p.m. so he filled two pails of water.
The water supply is scheduled to be back at 5 pm instead.
By the ime we realised that it was already too late.
With just two pails of water to last for most of the day, I realised that I have to be very prudent in using water.
And then I realised the importance of water.

My firstborn has grown

Today, something important arrived in the mail - documents for Ash's primary one orientation.
Seeing them made me realised that Ash is no longer a "baby".

Then I observed her with her little sister.
She really has grown so much.
She has been a really good big sister helping me take care of Aver when there is a need to.
She has been a great sister too who patiently play Aver's game of dropping her toys from the highchair.
Aver drops them, Ash picks them up over and over again.
She has been a good help with the housework too.
She mops the three bedrooms thoroughly, even more thorough than myself.

My firstborn - my precious angel from God.

I must learn to be more patient and observe her goodness.

I LOVE YOU, ASH.

Conversation after dinner

Sometimes when I am in the mood the things that I say can be rather crazy and it cracks Superpig up.

Today, it's one of that crazy mood days so the following was what happened after dinner.

Ash was happily chanting away,"Oh Ah Pay Ah Som..." (a variation of Scissors, Paper, Stone game). She just went on and on. Since she was free, I asked her to clean the dining table, thinking that she would stop. However, she continued and it kind of getting stuck in my head. I could hear myself joining her in my head.

I said,"Please stop it. And don't even think of it in your head."

Superpig overheard it in the kitchen and started snickering away.

Then as I was giving Aver a bathe and Ash was still cleaning away at the dining table. That was not because the table was very dirty ...

I said,"Miss Tan, what is taking you so long?"

Ash replied,"I am still cleaning."

I retorted,"The table is transparent, no matter how hard and long you scrub it will not turn as white as snow."

Superpig snickered again.

When she finally came into the kitchen, Superpig asked,"So is the table as white as snow?"

Ash replied,"NO!"

"Why?" Superpig asked her again.

"How to become as white as snow? It is transparent." Ash replied.

Sometimes, Ash gets a little frustrated with me because of my craziness.

This was the "castle" that Ash built while cleaning the table.

Hence the long time needed.

Ashlyn's Mary Jane

I managed to complete one of the many projects I posted earlier.



Ashlyn's Mary Jane... she wears these to sleep at night to keep her feet warm. She is not a blanket lover and will always kick it away eventhough she is cold.



And there will be more to be made as Superpig thinks that it is cute and useful.
Please visit For Parents and Babies for details if you are interested in getting a pair.

Time for exercise

Superpig and myself decided that we should visit the gym to help ourselves slim down. So we did that the day before.

My brother have moved into his new condo and it is not very far from our home. So we decided to go to the gym there are work out. Of course, in order for me to be able to exercise, I must engage the help of my mother. She looks after Aver and watches over Ash, who will be frolicking in the waddling pool.

The nice part of the gym is that it overlooks the pool and we can see them too.

First time on the treadmill after 7 years, it sure was not easy. I could only do a twenty minutes fast walk... It was fast walk in Superpig's view... he was walking at the same pace which I was jogging.

However, I am not giving up. I hope my mother will continue to help so that we can visit the gym on a regular basis.

Updating my project list - October

There are many projects at hand, some for my girls and some for the little shop.

1) Ash's quilt (yes, it is still waiting patiently but I am not putting it off anymore.)
2) Ash's mary janes (so that her feet was kept warm when she sleeps)
3) Ash's hooded poncho
4) Ash's princess gown for her upcoming birthday
5) Diaper cosies
6) Aver's mary janes

Let's hope that all these can be completed by end of October.

From my point of view

Just thought it would be fun to get pictures of what I see when I sit at the back of the car.

Precious Moments

Today was the Precious Moments event...I would not want to talk about the event as it is quite lousy compared to the previous years.

Reasons?

...crowd control = weak! There were so many people and so little space.

...queue system = none! There were about four different queues and no signs to show which one was which.

...sales assistants = clueless!

...buffet lunch = what lunch? The food was so limited that everyone simply stand by the buffet table to eat so that when the dish is out, they can be the first to the food. Not to mention that some no brianer spilled rice on Aver's pram without even apologising!

I think I was super unhappy because after queing for almost 3 hours to make our purchase, the figurine that we want was sold out!

So to make ourselves feel better we took pictures with the two mascots.

I sacked the cleaning lady

We are in need of watching our expenses so I had been thinking about terminating the cleaning company's service for quite awhile. However, Superpig had assured me that it was alright to continue and it would also ensure that I am not overtired. I am happy that he said that but I also do not want him to be stressed over the expenses.

Other than the above reason, the cleaning company really is not up to my standard. More like they did not fulfill what they had promised. There was supposed to be scheduled window cleaning, steaming of beds and so on but after so many months, nothing was said or done.

So I decided to end our relationship with the company and engage the lady personally. I must say that she clean the house well enough but there are areas that I am not happy with but still willing to tolerate. However, she asked for $280 for 4 hours of work per week... and I am shocked. Market rate is around $160 to $200 for 4 hours work with ironing.

Superpig decided to engage her at $260 for 5 hours work with ironing per week but I still think it is too steep. So I told him that I am only willing to pay $200 and since she is not willing then I have to say goodbye to her.

After saying goodbye, the housework is back on my shoulders. I am most willing to do them and will also draw up a schedule to do them too so as to be more disciplined. Then I rope in Ash too.

She is in-charge of mopping the three bedrooms.

Crochet Poncho

I am in a blogging spree... I don't really like to lump everything in one blog post so. I prefer to make little posts of the different thoughts.

Here is one on the crochet poncho I completed about two weeks ago. I found the pattern Crochetville and decided that it should be easy enough to follow.

I must say that it is quite easy but it was a challenge to keep count of the initial 96 stitches. Then I had to make sure that the chain was not twisted when I joined it together. I think I redid the beginning quite a number of times. However, I am quite happy that I redid it and the result was really good.

Yet again upon completion of the poncho, I realised that the chances of Aver using it in our little sunny island is quite slim. But who cares... I like it, I enjoyed the process of making it and I will take it out along with us in case she gets cold while shopping.

I realised that when she wears the poncho and the leg warmers together she looked like a caveman baby. Ha...

Noise...migraine...help!

After seven years living opposite nobody then recently the house was sold and in come the contractors.

Renovation started three days ago and it also marked the start of my migraine. I had already being trying very hard to live with the massive amount of noise pollution caused by renovation works in the houses opposite my block as they are slowly filling up. Now, I have to deal with the one that is right outside my doorstep.


I can only hope for the renovation work to be completed as soon as possible and my migraine to be gone along with the contractors.



Now I await the moving in of our neighbours.

The world of blogging

I was introduced to blogging by a friend who no longer visit my blog anymore. What's the reason? I don't know either. Think that our friendship just sort of frizzled out but that is another story for another time.

So... back to the world of blogging.

I like to read blogs written by many creative people and I am amazed by the quality of their writing and also the stuff that they do.

Here are some of the blogs that I read and hope to share with you why I read them.

1. riceandsoup
- The author is a friend from church and I like the way she writes.

2. Fluffy Flowers
- I like the little creatures that she make and they way she describes the things around her. It makes me want to get out of this crappy place. And since I cannot ... it spurs me on to create a pleasant living space.

3. Tiny Happy
- I chanced onto her blog when a mother from a forum sewed a shoulder bag based on a tutorial she put up in her blog. I like the items that she sew and really love the baby shoes. I also like her photos.

4. Cuisine Paradise
- A beautiful blog which show the love of a mother through her cooking. I learnt a few dishes from her blog and truly admire her ability to involve her son in many of her baking sessions. It was through her that made me try to bake with Ash too. Now I truly admire her strength as a single mum. My heart broke when I read her blog, finding out about the change in her life. It was like my own sister going through the trials of life. She may not remember me now but we had msn-ed each other years ago.



5. Angry Chicken
- I like her crafts, her ideas and her style of writing.


I noticed that these blogs that I read have very pretty photos and it make my blog pale in comparison. Reading about them also sort of make me think about my life ... its kind of boring.

So, first and foremost, I have to learn to take better photos and I would like to blame it on my camera and hoping for a new one. However, I do have a superb Canon 350D which I threw a big tantrum in order to have it. So there will be no new camera coming, no matter how big a tantrum I am going to throw.

Then, I need to brush up on my writing skills. To think that I was an English teacher ... shame on me.

And, there should be more activities with my family members other than shopping... which I have greatly reduced. However, the weather is too hot for anything except to seek refuge in air-conditioned places.

Lastly, I hope if anyone is reading, please leave comments so that I have the motivation to blog on. I hope to hear from people who read my blog (if there is any...) so that I can improve.