New Year Resolution

Gosh! Year 2008 is coming to an end! What meaningful and worthy achivements have I clocked this year? Could I even remember how I have spent the 365 days? Not exactly.

Every year around this time, everyone will be talking about setting new year resolution(s). I do not have the habit so. I mean not that I do not have any ambition or goals but most of my resolutions are well... on-going like... slimming down and taking better care of myself and my family. I do however, set short term goals where I try to complete within a specific time period. Anything that is dragged for too long, I either forget or loose interest.



I find myself having difficultly keeping up with my postings. Sometimes, I lagged so far behind that I cut-out some events which I wanna post initially. Yes! I am terrible at time management and this has been a teetering problem.

Here's a 'wishlist' that I have drafted. I hope to achieve most. God bless me.

1) (What else?) Have better time management

2) Spring clean my house

3) Inculcate the love of Chinese in Rynae (Very difficult task but I'll try)

4) Have a drastic new hairdo

5) Learn to cook more variety of dishes

Yeah... That's all for now. I'll update as and when I have inspiration. Happy New Year to all!

Metro and Popular Sale

Ah ha! It's another shopping spree for me. After getting wind of Metro and Popular's Back to School Sale at Singapore Expo, I made an arrangement to drop by in hope of catching some good deals. Thank god the crowd for both events was manageable and I need not have to queue up for entry.

Honestly, I do not have much expectation of such sales as I know that it is a dumping ground for companies who wish to get rid of off-season and less popular items. Hence, each trip was like a lucky dip for me.

As the theme implies, Popular's merchandises were mainly stationaries, bags and assesment books in preparation for the new school semester. I tried to control my impulse buys and after much contemplation, I grabbed some thin, saddle-stitched English story books, writing materials and Chinese story books for Rynae. Some were sold at an unbeliveable price of $1!

Boxing Day

Today is Boxing Day. Together with Rynae's Aunt and cousins, we planned for a fun day out at the Singapore Zoo. After watching the Safari Splash show, our gang proceeded to the main attraction - The Rainforest Kidzworld for another good splash. It was supposed to be a happy outing but something disastrious happened - Rynae's cousin slipped, fell and lost 1 front adult tooth. Ouch! With a foul mood, they headed home right after the incident, while we stayed on.

We promised Rynae we would do something different for each zoo trip so this time, we allowed her to ride the carousel for $4 and took free rides on the tram (weekday member privilege). The white tigers are back to their enclosure after many weeks of 'consultation'. However, we noticed that there are more cautionary signages like an emergency number and warnings mounted on the barricades now. Good initiative. But maybe the management should consider the possibility of attempted suicide in the crocodile pond near the main entrance too....

Celebrating Dong Zhi

We don't particularly celebrate Dong Zhi but as it falls on Sunday this year, all of us congregate at Grandma's place for a scrumptious meal of duck, chicken, pork, noodle, curry and Tang Yuan. Mummy wanna let Rynae experience the process of making this traditional dish so I fetched her to grandma's place early in the morning (well, you can see that she's still clad in her pyjamas in the pix). Expectedly... she was more of a hindrance than a help. Most of her Tang Yuan are not yuan and grandma had to re-knead them... She got the 'worst helper of the year' award.

Sweet Orchard Xmas Lighting

Rynae has seen much of daytime Orchard but it's her first visit to a Christmasy and shimmering night Orchard. She was so full of awe when she saw the lollies and sweets hanging down the trees and from the lamp posts. The shopping belt has been coated with much sweetness that it has attracted so many 'ants', especially along Orchard Walkway (fronting Wisma Atria), Paragon and Tangs Building. The crowd was worrisome and photography sessions were a headache.

We travelled on foot from Plaza Sing, where The Christmas Village is, and all the way down to Ngee Ann City. Lightings and performances were concentrated in these 2 areas as the rest of Orchard is still undergoing a major facelift. Our little friend requested for an ice-cream break and she had her wish fulfilled. We sat her on a parapet with a good spot along Orchard Walkway. Daddy and Mummy had our breaks then too. From our privileged spot, we can see the stretch bursting with good news of Christmas in song, dance and drama. Buskers performed for their tips too.

Orchard is indeed the right place to go if you wanna soak in the spirit of Christmas.

Back to Kampong Days

Our friend, chilling out on Ah Gong's bridge that is leading out to the sea.

It was a torturous 1 week 'cold turkey' break from technology. There were no internet access, no phone calls and no messaging. Even watching television programmes was a luxury as there were periods when there weren't any electricity supply. Mummy kinda felt being cut off from the rest of the world. So where on earth have I landed? A rural island in Indonesia.

Our Bong family had gone back to Indo during this school holiday to attend Rynae's cousin wedding as well as to visit family members. Rynae loves going back to Ah Gong's house as she gets to pillion on motorbikes, eat coconuts, play with sand, throw stones into the sea and roam about freely on the vast, unconfined home compound. Actually, it felt good loosing ourselves into laid-back kampong lives to relax and recharge, once in a while. There're no stress, no heavy traffic and no human crowd. Then again, there were a lot of mosquitoes though...

Christmas Tree Decoration

Have you heard of the carol that rumoured Santa Claus is not coming to town this year? It is true that this and the next few years are going to be tough hence we've gota watch where we throw our moolah! Rynae is now at an age where she understands meaning of festivals and celebrations so I really wanna create a joyful christmasy mood for her this year by decorating our house with Christmas ornaments. I aimed to get a Christmas tree, a not too expensive one.

I came across an advertisement that Carrefour is selling their Christmas tree for only $9.90. This is unbelievable! Thankfully it is not a sales gimmick. Their 150cm tree is genuinely being sold for less than 10 bucks! Whee! I managed to get a decent-looking lighted Christmas tree for less than $25! Here's my breakdown:

Christmas Tree: $9.90

100 Xmas Lights: $7.90

Xmas Balls: $3.90

Gold Garlands: ($0.90 x 2) $1.80

Other Decorations: DIY

Tree Topper: Free

Gold Drap: Free

Total: $23.50

It felt good owning a pretty Christmas tree without the guilt of being a spendthrift. Rynae loves the Christmas tree and has been boasting about it to her cousins!

A bottie tree deco I made with Japanese soft clay.

Rynae's masterpiece. A leaf. You can tell ya? Hee..