A quick bulletin...

Aver is sick AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The doc may start a membership for her ... we do not know how and do not know why but her phelgm and fever came back again after two weeks.

She is again on a whole array of medicine. She ate them tonight without any complaints and even did a little jiggle just to cheer me up.

If you are reading this, please pray for her.

Thank you.

What's up?

I have been rather slow in updating this blog. Not that I am not interested in blogging just that there are many things that require my attention.

So for some updates...

I did a little crafting so you can pop over to Wencrafting to take a look.
(I don't want to repost here... to save some time.)

The school hoilday is here and so I have 4 weeks to spend one on one time with Ash while Aver goes to childcare. She is doing her cross stitch that have been put on hold for a year already. I hope that she can finish it this time round.

The previous Saturday we went to Night Safari and it was a good workout... we walked instead of hopping onto the tram. Tired but satisfying. Aver was excited to see all the animals and she even couragously went to touch a snake. Love her courage. Ash also seemed to enjoyed herself... it has been a long time since she went there.

On Sunday, Ash's violin class was cancelled so we had the morning free. We went for a picnic at the beach. Despite the fact that Aver was not allowed to be near to grass and sand, we decided to go ahead with the fun. Aver loved the tent and the chance to go out and run and have the kind of fun her friends can have. Of course, I slapped on a lot of moisturiser on her to create a barrier between her skin and the nature that will irritate her. She really did enjoy herself. Ash loved it out in the outdoors too.

Simply put... the weekend was well spent. I am nursing aching shoulders and neck (for carrying the big baby most of the time) and also my legs...

(I am having connection problem so will need more time to post the pictures... they will be coming)

Sick again!

Aver is sick again!

She is down with fever, cough with thick thick phlegm and runny nose.

She is on the same medication plus the seretide and ventolin puffs.

On top of that, she has her antibiotics from the dermatologist and the antihistame.

She is so used to all the medicine that she does not make a fuss.

However, enough is enough!

I am sick of feeding her medicine!

Arhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

But, I must thank the GP.

He is very patient and understanding.

He is also very gentle with Aver so she feels at ease with him.

Let's pray that this will be over soon!

Aver's post

Today, I will focus on Aver.

Always ready for some fun.

Spontanously running to where the fun will be.

Love to pretend play.

Love to smile for the camera.

A cook in the making... maybe.

Love to meddle with the pots and the pans.

Time to bring out our own playset so that she can "cook" along with me.

When "cooking" is done, it's time to read.

A lover for books but rarely the time to read.

Mummy, Mummy, time to allocate your time properly.

Always lugging some books around waiting for Mummy to read.

Will do... will do...

Aver is ever ready for the camera.

"Cheese" is her favourite word when the camera is on her.

Coupled with her squinting of her eyes and spreading her mouth spreading wide in a big cheery smile.

Aver is the last born and cheery despite her many ailments.
Praise be in the Lord that she will recover.
Amen!

It is time to re-focus

It is time to stop feeling sorry for myself and stop being depressive over every little thing.

It is time to hand everything to the Lord and let Him know that I am only human.

It is time to unload everything, turn my eyes to the Lord and seek His help and guidance.

It is time to re-focus, re-think, re-look and renew!

So on to happier stuffs...

Ash's exam is over and who cares what is the results for now.

If it falls below her abilities, then we will buck up during the holidays.

Aver's fingers seems to be on the mend but it comes and it goes.... so we are praying.

I managed to d some revision for my Japanese language course and it feels great.

I managed to crochet three piggy heads for handphone dangles and they look great.

Better still, I thought of the pattern me-self!

Proud... show-off...

My old pencil case decided to die on me and I need to sew a new one for myself.

The school holiday is coming up in two weeks and I look forward to it. (though monetary wise, it will not be very healthy but I will let the Lord handle that portion... He feeds the birds so why will He not feed us, His own children! Of course, I should not use this as an excuse to be lazy!)

So I end this post with the four of us looking all cheery... (it's not recent but it shows my happy mood... re-focus)

Sorry, blog

Ash is having her exams and this time, we are not as well prepared. We do not have much time on our hands to do much indepth revision. It has been touch and go. Time is eaten up because of her many issues related to school.

Aver is the greatest heartache of all. Despite the fact that she is a very jovial and pretty gal, she seems to be plagued by the most illnesses. Her infected thumb refused to heal and it has spread to other fingers. They itch and she scratch and the infection got worse. We had to make a trip down to the dermotologist at the hospital again. She is now on antibiotic to bring down the infection.

Last week, her cough came back along with her eczema rashes and now she is a confirmed asthmatic patient. She was given the ventolin and seretide puffs and I am so not ready to do this. However, on Sunday she was coughing so badly and continuously that we had to administer the puffs for her. Of course, she screamed the house down!

On Friday, Aver's class baked peanut butter cookies. Behind her teachers' back, she snuck a piece into her mouth. And that is a new round of probem! Her eyes started to water very badly, she rubbed her eyes non-stop and she started to cough! The teacher panic and called to ask for permission to bring her to the clinic but since they do not know her medical history, it is kind of pointless. Plus, she was not having breathing problems. Now, her eyes still have a ring of small red rashes and it just pains me to see her in this manner.

Mothers' Day was yet another heartache. The household sort of forgot about it and I was kind of heartbroken.

I wish I can be like my butterflies, pretty and carefree.

Some randomness for the end of April

It is coming to the end of yet another month and I am quite ashamed with myself.
My cameras have been in cold storage for quite awhile.
The weather has been crazy hot and the sun has been burning down at us very harshly causing me to be in constant pain in the head area...

Anyway, just to make sure that I do not totally disappear from this space, like me indulge in a little randomness...

First, there is this new Indian stall at the coffeeshop that we visit very weekend mornings. Other than the usual prata, this is what it serves also. It is crispy and the chocolate syrup simply makes it even more delicious. However, its prata needs to be a little more crispy to be able to meet my standard.


Second, Aver likes to read and bugs me to read to her. However, I have been putting it off. I have decided not to put this off anymore. My version of homeschooling will have to start soon. She is an eager learner and enjoys going for lessons. Come weekends, she will ask to go for lessons and if does not have lesson on that day, she will sulk. If I tell her that she can have Mummy's lesson, she will reply,"Ok, I wan Mummy's lessson," smiles and walk away satisfied.



Ash had her first ballet exam somewhere last month and she got her result.
I was hoping that she may not do quite well for it so that I can have an excuse to drop ballet from her extra curriculums... but guess I have to wait another year.
Anyhow, I should be proud of her.

There was some fabric shopping over the last weekend and I managed to sew two pieces of clothing for the two princesses... will show photos of it the next time.

Mini Pouchies

I have made these two mini pounches which for the sake of cuteness, I call them mini pouchies.

Mini Sweetie Pouchie

Mini Sweetic Pouchie (back)
Mini Flora Pouchie
Mini Flora Pouchie (back)

They measures approximately 5.5" by 5''.

Inner lining is green (somewhat like the Detol kind of green... lightish green).

Has a ribbon strap at one side which is long enough to allow yoor wrist to slip in.

I can put my Nokia N95 in it and a packet of tissue too.

These pouchies are for sale but I do not know how much to price them at.

Tentatively, I am thinking in the range of S$5 to S$7.

Would you like to suggest a price for it?

Would you be interested in purchasing one?

Thanks for dropping by.

Randomness of life

It had been awhile and this little space is a little neglected.
So... here is just a little randomness around me.

Aver's newest hairstlye...

Ash snoozing away in the car...

Aver got so tired waiting for her favourite soya bean tart...

Another beautiful morning sky...

I have called in sick today as my body and my mind can no longer function properly.

My migraine attacks are more frequent now and I need time to nurse the sore head.

I need a break from all the frustrations and the best way is to be alone at home for a few hours.

Quiet and peace is what I need now.

Just Photos

I took this photo of Aver napping this afternoon when we reached home.

She must had felt that the classic music playing from the radio is too noisy for her.

These groups of photos were taken while on the way to schools in the morning.

If you have noticed, I typed 'schools', in the plural form as it refers to three different schools we are heading to in the mornings.

This particular one is a sunset.

It was so beautiful... my photography skill does not do justice to the sunset and Superpig refused to stop the car for me to have a good shot too.

And there were rainbows...

Again, my skill does not do justice to the magnificent view.

The sun was setting and the sky was tinted orange.

There was a slight drizzle and I thought there might be a rainbow...

As I walked out into the corridor, I saw it and was in awe.

The rest of the evening was all joyful as I cannot stop thinking about the beautiful rainbow in the orange tinted evening sky.

Lastly, another digital layout of the girls reading together.

It is a rare sight as Aver will always snatch the books away from her sister.

Or you can hear Aver shouting at her sister...

Towel is is hanging on the pole

I am not alllowed to throw in the towel yet...
At the rate that we are going, I don't think I can throw in the towel anytime soon.

I want to say that this time, the problem is not the institution or the people that I worked with. So my need to quit is more personal.
It seemed that since I have returned to teaching, things at home are not doing very well.
I have been easily tired and easily stressed (because I am a perfectionist and I believe that I can change the world ... which I cannot!) that this has started to affect my two princesses.
It has also started to affect me... I look very different as compared to 2 years ago. My skin is dull and unpleasant and I am usually seen with a frown and not a smile.

At this very moment, I leave the house to go to work with heavy heart.
At the back of my mind is the two princesses.
Hence, I cannot concentrate on my work.

I need to find a way out of this situation but it seems like it will be like that for the next few years.

So... I cannot quit even if I need to.

So... I need to learn to super multitask and multi think!

I am throwing in the towel!

I am typing this at work and I am throwing in the towel.
What happens when the passion for your job is now become a chore, a fear and exreme stress.
I quit 4 years ago and now I am quitting again.
Call me weak but I realised that I am no longer as good as I was before.
I do not want to coninue asking myself what is it that I am not doing right or wht went wrong.
The answer is nothing went wrong!
It just that it is not my path.
This is no longer my calling...
Actually, what is my calling?

Another Digital L/O

Aver is sick and hence I am home with her.

Other than trying to get some rest along with Aver, I decided to do a quick layout.

I kept it real simple by using item from mostly one collection - Valentine 2009 from Scrapbook Flair. (I think... I am lousy, mostly hopeless at keeping records of those scrapbooking kits I downloaded.)

Back to Aver being sick...

Well, if you had been following this blog, you will have known that she has sensitive skin and hence her eczema attacks. For the past year, the eczema raches came and went and along with it she started to have this cough. The cough is prolonged and it usually appears when her rashes appear.

It was finally confirmed that her cough is largely due to her eczema... she developed sensitive airways too. In the recent two months, this cough started to develop into wheezing. She had that last month and I had to be away from work for 4 days to look after her. She got the wheezing again on Saturday and went to see the doctor on Sunday. Today she is kept at home to recuperate. Her wheezing has stopped and now she is nursing the cough and the phelgm.

On top of that, her fingers are badly infected and that is also due to eczema! I would have shown you a picture of her badly infected thumb but it will definitely make you upset.

Let's just pray that she will get better by tonight and we can all go back to our normal routine tomorrow.

Digital Scrapbook Layout

It has been a long time since I last did a digital scrapbooking layout.
I am getting dusty.
Hope I can find some time to do at least one layout a week.

More Stamps!!!

I am sort of hooked on this eraser stamp craft thingy... and Superpig has been very encouraging. He is even willing to sponsor the craving tools but I don't mind waiting a little longer. I like my penknife for now.

So in the span of three days, I made these.




Although they are not very professional looking or even cute enough compared to those I have seen on Flicker but I am willing to keep learning and testing my own skills.

It is a joy to learn something new and it is a even greater joy to perfect this new skill. I have learnt to sew for my daughters and myself, I have learnt to crochet, I have learnt to do digital scrapbooking and now I have learnt to carve my own stamps... in these two years that past, I must say that I am growing slowly in my crafting talent.

Maybe... just maybe, I do have a talent somewhere.

No... I am not being pessimistic. I had always wondered what is my talent. I had always asked God about it. I had grown up thinking that I am a talentless and unintelligent person. (Actually, I still feel this way sometimes.)

Maybe... just maybe ...

I am happy

Buckwheat Wrists Rest

Two posts in one day?

That is because Aver is in childcare and Ash has been brought out by her paternal grandmother. And I already miss her... I wonder why my mother-in-law never asked me along? I guess in her eyes I am not a good enough mother to my children or a good enough wife to her son...

Anyway, since I am at home alone and feeling depress, I need to work on something. So, I sewn.

I did mentioned somewhere in the past that I had lots of organic buckwheat ... since Superpig had been asking for a wrists rest. I made one ... sorry ...FIVE of them!

Why so many? That is because I want to use up the scrap fabric from the curtains I made yesterday and I am feeling generous (despite fighting the abovementioned depressing thoughts).

So if you want any of it just leave a comment here. Four friends will be picked out at the end of this week. Don't worry about your distance ... I am feeling generous.

Two Noren Curtains and some rubber stamps

It's the school holiday for a week here so I can stay at home with Ash. Ash knows how to entertain herself so I can do my own stuffs. Aver, on the other hand, goes to childcare as usual.

So, I sew and I surfed the web for more inspiration.

We had always wanted curtains at our doorway so that we can open our doors without having to feel shy about the mess inside. We had went to Ikea in the past two weekends and we bought two fabulous fabric from the curtain section and the curtain rod.

Yesterday, I sew the curtains... both of it. I put the first one up and the other went into the storeroom before I took any photos of it. So here is the first one...

As I blog hopped, I got even more inspired by the crafts made by others out there. I had always love rubber stamps and had wanted to try making my own (ha... this sound rather familiar. According to Superpig, I like to try every crafts out there.) This time my inspiration came from Xue-originals. She made beautiful rubber stamps.

At first, I did not have the intention of making my own as that would mean I need to go look for the craving knives and the wood blocks... cost cost cost... At the moment, I am biting my fingers, trying very hard not to buy need craft supplies. But, I chanced upon another blog (which I have lost the link...) which featured some Japanese craft books which involve making your own rubber stamps using erasers.

And TAH....DAH.....

I used those flag erasers (which does not erase pencil marks well...), a pencil (to draw the design...) and a pen knife (to try to carve..). It worked! These may be very simple and amateur but I like the simplicity and these are images that I like. I like the little girl as it resembles my two girls.

Hope you will like them too.

Fun with dough, Sports Day and...

I finally managed to drag out the cold storaged play dough and soft clay for the princesses to play.
Aver did cutting and rolling of play dough with Superpig.
Ash and I tried our hands at the rather-not-so-soft soft clay (it was not kept in air tight condition...)
However, we had no final product to show as Ash and myself have no idea what to do.

And today, it's Ash's Sports Day at school.
She was running in the class relay.
Her group came in second... WELL DONE!
We observed her from a distance whilst she was with her friends.
It was fun to observe her from a distance.
Very much like me, she is a loner and a follower.
But she tried her best to be with her friends and she did enjoy herself also.

Crochet and Sewn

From an ugly transponder to a lovely item to hang on my neck whilst I am at work.

So if anyone is interested in beautifying your transponder drop me an email.

Oh... I am very proud of it because I designed it myself and it is my first very own pattern.

Next is a blouse I had sewn for myself.

After sewing for my princesses and also other non-wearable items, I finally embarked on a blouse for myself.

I like the blouse a lot and the instruction is rather easy to follow.

I believe there will be more blouses for myself in future.

With regard to the Pay It Forward game, the response is weak but as and when you like to join in just drop a comment here.

Ah Fat, your item is in the designing stage... and thanks for responding to that post.

Pay It Forward

I had heard about this movie called "Pay It Forward" and had wanted to watch it but did not got to. Now, a fellow blogger friend had participated in this "Pay It Forward" scheme on blogland and I thought it will be interesting to join in as ...

(1) It will help get myself motivated to craft again.

(2) I like to share

(3) I can think of other things other than work

(4) It is a great de-stresser

So how do you play?

1. You have to have a blog.

2. First 3 commenters on this post will get to have something handmade by me (it is not bound by territory... its international).

3. You will in turn play the Pay It Forward game on your blog and it will go on from there.

4. I have 365 days to prepare the handmade gifts to the 3 commenters.