Hello Kitty No Eat Sushi!

We were at Sushi King for dinner saturday night. Kyra wasn't interested, she loves most food western but only very few asian dishes, so to coax her into having some of the sushis, this is the conversation that took place.....

Daddy: Come, eat some sushi...
Kyra: Don't want....
Daddy: This is sushi that HELLO KITTY eats borrr.....
Kyra: NOUUU......Kitty has no mouth!!!

I giggled upon hearing that....and the daddy asked me "eh, Hello Kitty no mouth meh?"
Me: She's right about that one! hahahahaha.....so you used a wrong example this time!

hehe....trust kids to amuse you with their spontaneity, you got it!

The Tanglung Night that was......

Last friday was a crazy day for me....my kitchen cabinet maker decided to come on that day to install the cabinets when I have already planned to bake cupcakes and make french fries for Kyra's kindie's TANGLUNG NIGHT!

It was a rush, coz they only finished installing the cabinets at 5pm! Good thing I managed to bake the cupcakes the night before, all 40 cuppies! I only had to whip up the icing and decorate them, and also prepare the fries.....And of course, we were late....needless to say.....

So here it is:

My 40 homemade soft buttercuppies topped with buttercream and silver dragees...
(that's the fastest decor I could whip up at the last minute mah....)
I was worried nobody would have the tummy for cupcakes after eating all the curries and noodles brought by other parents, boy! I was so wrong..... all 40 of them got snapped up in less than 5 minutes, so fast that my own cousin Stella didn't manage to get hold of one! LOL!



Nainai, Maia and Godma during the Lantern Walk around the neighbourhood area....



Z trying his hands at lighting up a tanglung (lantern), Kyra and Yeryer.....


Chipsmories, Maia and Me! LOL! At 1st, I seriously wondered to myself, "Is this mascot supposed to be a POO (aka SHIT)???" :D Only after i saw the Chipsmore posters behind him that I realized he is the chocolate CHIPPIE! LOL!


Everybody having their lantern lit.....

And the very next day, WE were coincidentally featured in almost all the local newspapers, Chinese and English ones....hahahaha.....Luckily partial of my face was covered by a lantern..HEHE! (tho it was not a bad photo)....I might scan them and post them up...maybe....

Overall, I think Principal Vicky and her team did a great job bringing the communities together for this event, even thought it was too crowded for any of us to even 'locate' a neightbour to begin with, at least this event enabled parents (and grandparents) to spend good quality time with their children....

Up Closed & In Boxes!

This is how the house looks like now.....boxes, large ones stacked up high, waiting to be assembled.....Out of curiousity, as usual, i assembled ONE unit of the INGEMAR hi-stool, and that's the one Kyra's seated on in the above photo.

And here's how it looks like close up.......

Notice that nice simple green glass bowl?  I got it @RM9.90 only, during its promo period at Ikea.

Just to share...another bargain buy I found during my shopping-for-the-home trip last June, on 70% discount, I paid approximately RM24 for one.  These will be great for soups on the table....intricate but simple in colours......with LID, that's what i like better! :D

And, I really love my new hi-stool.  Can't wait for my kitchen cabinet and island counter to finally be installed.....I wonder when oh when!!!!  :P

TACKLE MY TASKS

Let's see.....THESEEEEEEEEEE...........are the things I need to get done before or by 9th October:

a) 4x IKEA Ingemar (matt black) hi-stool + 6x IKEA Henriksdal dining chair (genuine leather on solid oak frame) that I need to assemble!  We just received the shipment a few hours ago, and man!!! Love the smell of leather :D

b) 12x 5R  +  18x 4R photo frames to fill with best and/or most memorable photos of all of us.  The selection of photos is the hard part alright....just a few from thousands of photos??? sigh!

c) Send the sofa covers for dry-cleaning, coz it's sooooooooo stained by the 2 chipmunkies at home!!!

d) Alter the flower girl dress that Yeryer bought for Kyra, he bought a size 12-18mths alright, for my big-sized 3.5years old, but due to the awful fact that the dress costed him RM180 and he personally selected it for his pet grandoter all the way from UK.....ahh........i have to do this!

e) Design and tailor 2 semi-dressy dresses that are chic and BLACK for both babes, for the upcoming cruise wedding dinner.  Did I say black? Yes.  Bought the fabrics already.....so, no no amendment to the colour:P

f) Finish Maia's 2nd birthday party's goodie bags, all 30+ of them!

g) On the 10th October itself, on top of it being bro in law's wedding, which means we will be booked in the a.m and p.m, I gotta bake Maia's birthday cake, MIL's too, coz we are throwing THE party on 11th, yeap, the next day!

WOW!  Are you starting to feel overwhelmed?  Don't be.  There's more....

i) TOMORROW, I have an appointment with a dentist I have never seen before.....well, I have not seen a dentist for ages.....I shall not state how many years, don't wanna shock you! :P  I have a very deep phobia of dentists alright.....actually, it's what they are gonna do to me that's the phobia, not the dentist itself!  I think I have some tooth/teeth to be filled/extracted.....

I am nervous.....

j) Friday 25th Sept, I have to make fresh french fries and cupcakes for Kyra's kindie's TANGLUNG NIGHT.  

whoooooshhhh!!!!  Now I am hoping that I don't have to go on a dental surgery to remove my wisdom tooth, coz if I do, HOW AM I GONNA ATTEND THE TANGLUNG NIGHT without looking like another cutesy chipmunk?  (yeah, the sort like Alvin and his bros, with puffy cheeks and all)

sighhh.......

Apple Tree of Knowledge

What does one do if she has leftover of GREEN and BROWN paints from housepainting?  Well, one grows a big tree out of it, that's what happened in my home! hehe....

To create more colour tones from just the green and brown paints, I mixed the green with different ratios of creamy white (also leftover btw), same went for the dark brown for the tree bark!

  

And did I mention that I am afraid of heights? :O  So, standing up on the 1st  2 steps on this feather-weight ladder is actually a scary feat for me, while holding on to a paintbrush on my right hand, then the paint on the other!  The hardest part (physically and mentally) obviously was painting the ceiling with green 'leaves' part of the tree :P.

PAINTS are from MUROBOND 'Pure' & 'Murowash' range.  Mixed the two since these are emulsion paints anyway, and I did notice that it's rather smooth to paint with!!!  I am not sure if I could say the same for all the other emulsion paints out there, coz I have not tried it.

I used only 1x 1.5" STANLEY paintbrush for the entire tree, hehe..mainly becoz i only have that brush at home that afternoon, else i'd have to use ROLLER????? hehe....

***TOTAL COST incurred for this 'BIG TREE'? 
a) 7 x RM2.50 (apples) = RM17.50 
b) 1 x RM0.50 (hot glue stick) = RM0.50
c) paints are from leftovers, so I consider those free for this.

TOTAL: RM18.00 only!!! :D  (Approximately USD5+)

TOTAL TIME: approximately 4 hours, by one person, ie. me myself and i :D

I guess this is either Washington or Red Delicious Apples :D

Last pix above: taken at 8+pm, right before I tucked the two babes into bed.

I overheard Kyra saying: "Good Night, Big Tree".

That put a smile on my face, made it all worth it!

Standing at a stellar 10' tall, this apple tree does resemble mummy & daddy holding out their arms to give 'shade' to their little apple trees! :)

The Lamp That Wasn't!

This, WAS a junk (obviously not to me) somebody wanted to get rid of......

My dad took it in......then I asked if he would let me have it...since he just left it standing outside at the porch without the shade on, doing nothing.....

BEFORE:  It was rusty and old albeit working wonderful still!  The shade was rather stained and dirty too.....but I could see it has a retro-ish charm to it........
       

AFTER:  I sanded it down, stripped off the rust, gave it a new coat of paint in matt black.  Tore away the old and super stained lamp shade, replaced it with a brand new piece of fabric that was actually a 'sarung' (a piece of wraparound cloth that people wear around their waist like a skirt, on top of being other things to other people...please google this if you are so curious) :P

And now, it's sitting pretty in my home :) casting a very warm soft yellow light.....

  

Baju Kedah untuk BERHARI RAYA? :D

    

I finally finished the two mini baju kurung kedah today!  Haha...2nd day of Hari Raya, and good thing I have a dryer at home, so i quickly washed them, then dried them....and tadaaaaaa.....

off to raya visiting my muslim aunt just now!

As usual, pink is Kyra's, green is Maia's!

How eating fruits could be bad if eaten wrongly!!!

It's long but very informative � We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits, cutting it and just popping it into our mouths. It's not as easy as you think. It's important to know how and when to eat. � What is the correct way of eating fruits? � IT MEANS NOT EATING FRUITS AFTER YOUR MEALS! * FRUITS SHOULD BE EATEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH. � If you eat fruit like that, it will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities. � FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD. Let's say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it is prevented from doing so. � In the meantime the whole meal rots and ferments and turns to acid. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil.... �

So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach or before your meals! You have heard people complaining - every time I eat watermelon I burp, when I eat durian my stomach bloats up, when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet etc - actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach. The fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas and hence you will bloat!

�

Graying hair, balding, nervous outburst, and dark circles under the eyes all these will NOT happen if you take fruits on an empty stomach.

�

There is no such thing as some fruits, like orange and lemon are acidic, because all fruits become alkaline in our body, according to Dr. Herbert Shelton who did research on this matter.  If you have mastered the correct way of eating fruits, you have the Secret of beauty, longevity, health, energy, happiness and normal weight.

�

When you need to drink fruit juice - drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT from the cans. Don't even drink juice that has been heated up. Don't eat cooked fruits because you don't get the nutrients at all. You only get to taste. Cooking destroys all the vitamins.

�

But eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice. If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it. You can go on a 3-day fruit fast to cleanse your body. Just eat fruits and drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days and you will be surprised when your friends tell you how radiant you look!

�

KIWI: Tiny but mighty. This is a good source of potassium, magnesium, vitamin E & fiber. Its vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.

�

APPLE: An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Although an apple has a low vitamin C content, it has antioxidants & flavonoids which enhances the activity of vitamin C thereby helping to lower the risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.

�

STRAWBERRY: Protective Fruit. Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits & protect the body from cancer-causing, blood vessel-clogging free radicals.

�

ORANGE : Sweetest medicine. Taking 2-4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as lessens the risk of colon cancer.

�

WATERMELON: Coolest thirst quencher.. Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant dose of glutathione, which helps boost our immune system. They are also a key source of lycopene - the cancer fighting oxidant. Other nutrients found in watermelon are vitamin C & Potassium.

�

GUAVA & PAPAYA: Top awards for vitamin C. They are the clear winners for their high vitamin C content. Guava is also rich in fiber, which helps prevent constipation. Papaya is rich in carotene; this is good for your eyes.

�

Drinking Cold water after a meal = Cancer! Can u believe this?? For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.

�

A serious note about heart attacks HEART ATTACK PROCEDURE': (THIS IS NOT A JOKE!) Women should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line.. You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack . Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms.. Sixty percent of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we could survive...

KRISTA: Pureen Family Photo Contest 2009

"With Pureen liquid cleanser, washing our own bottles is as easy as 1,2,3!"

.......just chose, printed and submitted a photo of Kyra and Maia washing their own milk bottles using Pureen Liquid Cleanser for Krista's PUREEN FAMILY PHOTO CONTEST in conjunction with the upcoming TANGLUNG NIGHT celebration.  Top 20 best photo will win Pureen's hamper of family products, well, I am not hopeful, coz usually people are more interested in photos of pool fun and such, as suggested in the contest flyer...hehe....

But no harm trying for fun....also as support for the kindie's effort! :)

Results to be announced on the Tanglung Night (25th Sept, next friday).

Seriously charming Pottery Barn Kids Room!

I will just let the photos (courtesy of PB of course!) do the screaming!!!

Doesn't it frustrate you to see what a great range of kids anythings they have in the states? From the best and safest feeding things to seriously unnecessary (but superb if you have the  extra moolahssss) room decors and accessories, they have it all!

Over here, things are either overpriced, safety-UNassured, ugly, and ugly again. 

I seriously wonder why we can't have locally made but chic and cute kiddie things???

Hmmmm......

Yeah, go on...feast your eyes.....even if you are a singleton or have no kids, 

I think these photos would attract your attention as well! :P

Perfectly tidy, organized and cool playroom!

This mini kitchen probably looks nicer than many REAL kitchens over here!

This one?  Oh, I am interested only in the BIG APPLE CHALKBOARD CLOCK, and the pink&green backpack the little girl is carrying, and also the lunchbag (i think it is) with elephant applique on the wall,.....well, the Elephant backpack is cute as well.......Not to mention.............(the list can't stop...sigh....this is depressing.... LOL!)

Chalkboard Clock....cool idea....i wonder if this is DIY-able.....

hmmmmmmm......

***For the 1st photo, the chalkboard wall is actually a very cool idea, and i have always loved chalkboard walls, but I think for health reasons, I have to forget it....even if i have the space for it at home!  I can just imagine my two babes dusting the chalk dust here and there and everywhere...... :O   (I'll have to shelf this idea till they are older then).

KRISTA CENTURION's Tanglung Night 2009 - Big Reunion

Hightlights of TANGLUNG NITE: 

Well, from a blog i saw before of last year's tanglung nite, it was pretty filled with activities.....

And to think that the babes won't have chance to celebrate Lantern Fest here in our new home this year, our very 1st year's Lantern Fest :( :( :(  this sort of makes up for it!

Details:

Date: 25th September 09 (Friday)

Time: 6.30 - 9.30pm

Venue: Krista Centurion

Attire: Casual

HIGHLIGHTS:

* Opening speech by principal

* Presentation of souvenirs to sponsors

* Buffet meal and fellowship time 

* Best PUREEN FAMILY PHOTO CONTEST, dateline is 17th Sept, i dunno how, can join without the dady in photo since the daddy is only gonna be back the next day???

* Sushi-making by SUSHI KING JAPANESE CHIEF EXEC Chef Sakamakisan

* Family treasure hunt

* Lantern walk

* Krista pasar malam

(Various stalls consist of Sushi King, Pureen, Copal, Raiya, Penrissen mooncake demo (i think this is the lady mum goes for cooking demo!), Rose Jelly, Ovaltine, Diamond water, Pediasure, Sundrop, Chipsmore, QQ Aquatic, Tina Balloons, etc)

***visitors will get freebies and door gifts in the form of sushi king voucher, pureen family products, pediasure sachets, ovaltine freebies, n many more.  Copal will be giving out free family photo shoot to each family that nite itself too!

And of course, we as Krista student's parents, are requested to 'pot-bless' the buffet, the good thing, they have prepared a list of common delicacies for us to choose from!  You can opt to bring something other than listed,  of course everything has got to be HALAL!

That means....i gotta get the babes a lantern each!!! hmmm....maybe i'll just make it!!!  Raincheck raincheck!

LIFE....explained!

Got this from a forwarded email, got me grinning silly.....so gotta share this:

On the first day, God created the dog and said:   'Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.'

The dog said: 'That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?'

So God agreed.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said:  'Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span.'

The monkey said: 'Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?'

And God agreed.

On the third day, God created the cow and said:

'You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.'

The cow said: 'That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years.. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?'

And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created humans and said:  'Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years..'

But the human said: 'Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?'

'Okay,' said God, 'You asked for it.'

So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

There is no need to thank me for this valuable information. I'm doing it as a public service.

A Birthday Grandma's Cupcakes!

Mum's 51st birthday is on Sunday 13th Sept 09, we already made plans to throw a small simple family dinner amongst us to celebrate.  I was to prepare 2 vege dish and the birthday cake, Godma ordered chicken curry, noodles and a local dish called 'Ka Cang Ma' (please don't ask me what it is in English, I doubt there's a name for it....hehe).

I made the cupcakes in two flavours a night before (Sat nite), dark chocolate and carrot cinnamon....

I changed my mind about carrot cake now..hehe...it's delicious....to my surprise! Previously I would not even consider buying a slice of it to try! hehe....

Sunday came and went, that day, my sister, and cousins came to help make the icing and fondant....tough work.....sigh....lol...coz i did the fondant from scratch, coz I read reviews online that readymades tastes yuckkk!  Icing-making is not hard at all, fondant making takes more time and energy...and making those little figurines out of fondant, is the hardest of all!  Luckily my sister#2 and 2 cousins were there to help!  And in the end, we are very happy with the outcome...

Because we were running out of time, we limited ourselves to 3 colour scheme only, original white (more like ivory), green and dark brown, and we decided to make 'anything' as long as the process if fun and enjoyable...haha....that's why you also see a frog and caterpillar in the "COLLECTION" :P

Personally, I really think this is a 'priceless' birthday cake.....how often do you get a birthday cake that's made by so many 'un-experts'???  :D  Hehe....  PLUS!  Grandma got her birthday song sang by her 2 grandoters in all THREE languages; Mandarin, English and Malay :)

And, her birthday candle lit 3x!  (Coz Kyra blew it off when Grandma accidentally said "BLOW", then Maia took 'turn' to blow it off on the 2nd time....and finally, birthday Grandma got to make her birthday wish and blow off her candle, without the help of my two kepocis :D )

35 standard-sized dark chocolate & carrot cinnamon cupcakes

My white rose and Pei Ling's telephone that was almost made wrong with 9 digits! 

Cousin Judy's alphabets and Cousin Stella did the icing spreading :D

 

My little green guy, resting atop a huge lotus leaf in the pond!

 

Me and my babes with grandpa and grandma!

Kyra planting a birthday kiss:D

Kyra & Maia really love birthdaysssss.....even if it's not theirs! LOL!

Kyra's awakening nightmare?

It was 2 o'clock in the morning today when I heard Kyra cry through the baby monitor, and she kept insisting "DON'T FOLLOW ME! DON'T FOLLOW ME!" Not long later, I heard her open her bedroom door (she and Maia share a room btw), ran to my room crying.....sobbing non stop....

Well, I thought she wet her bed or was having nose bleed (she sometimes get it, very much like her dad), but after a few words with her, i realized she was having a nightmare. She looked very frightened! And fyi, I am a little surprised coz this could be the very 1st time she woke up crying and running to our room! It gotta be something scary? hehe...:P Poor babe....

Immediately and spontaneously, she climbed up my pretty high bed, and "I wanna sleep here".
It would be cruel to turn her down in this case.....so I hugged her to sleep......
It is a very nice feeling...hehe....to hug her to sleep.....coz she's truly not the type that lets you hug her to sleep....she hates it.... :D (Very much the opposite of her little sister who's huggy wuggy).

It makes me wonder....till now.....what possibly could the nightmare be?
"DON'T FOLLOW ME!"??? Hmmmm......interesting.....

So, as I tucked them in an hour ago, she smiled sheepishly and asked if she could sleep in my bedroom.....of course I declined.....coz I know if I let that become a habit, I might never get them off our bed anytime soon....... yeah, I know of my mum's friend whose 10year old daughter, is still co-sleeping with them! IMAGINE THAT!!! :O

So parents, if you'd like your toddlers to sleep in their own bedroom, you need discipline (on ur side) and a deaf ear sometimes..... a cosy and fun bedroom for your child helps too! I know that coz both of them really love their own room... :D

Projects, projects, projects.....

There's a zillion little projects i wanna do for the home.....
At times, just having so many of those thoughts in my head, makes me dizzy and slightly anxious for time......weird, i know.....

Just to name the few that's floating in my noodles now?
1) Search for a very very pleasant, natural pure essential oil, WHY? To make my own scented candles for the home of course...the ones from Loccitane that I have/had are heavenly.....the price tags are too! That's why! I just loveeeeee aromatherapy.....
(Of course I know I won't be able to dupe the exact same 'heavenliness', but say....ermm....50%, or even 40% of that is considered pretty darn good for the kind of budget i intend to spend on this project!)

2) Make a lantern....or two... (just remembered I have TWO babes in da house)
No, not jack-o-lantern.....for the upcoming Lantern Festival (yeah, the Chinese one, duh! The only festival in the Chinese calendar that I truly look forward to with lots of anticipation, aside from Chinese New Year! Yeah, coz to me, Ching Ming and Hungry Ghost Festival aren't exactly stimulating:P )

3) Maia's 2nd birthday party's coming up next month....I am currently collecting green glass bottles (be it wine or soy sauce as long it is GREEN) for a table centerpiece.....If you have empty green glass bottles that you intend to bin, yeah, just drop em to me :D

4) Gonna turn an antique brass tray which has a hole into a wall decor....it has been laying around the living room since we moved in....poor thingie!
Haven't finalized how and what yet..... to be updated.....

4) Had enquired the cost for 3 pieces of 2.5' x 8' tall canvas, hopefully the price is reasonable and acceptable by ME! (LOL), and will need to get the 3 canvases filled up to be featured on my very bare, very empty and plain dining wall!

5) Planning to get a few photos of the babes printed in large format to be wall-hung.....
We shall see....

What else huh?


Oh, tomorrow's a Saturday....and it has become Kyra and my favourite day of the week!
We have plans to visit a new teak furniture showroom to hunt for the "US" coffee table that our home is still lacking....hehe....but i doubt we'd be able to find it readymade...coz what I had in mind, is ROUND! Just like the Crate and Barrel's that i am so in love with.....

Why life is cute to have a toddler or two....

Lira, the female labrador is at our backyard, tied to her leash.  Getting all excited upon seeing my two babes approaching from the back door.....

The MUMMY aka yours truly here, was weeding.....nearby...

Cheche to MeiMei, in Mandarin in a very persuasive and believe-able tone....

Cheche:  Go, Meimei...go lah....go near Lira.....

Meimei:  don't want! (Pu Yao)

Cheche:  Why dont want?  She won't bite.....REALLY!!!  She won't bite!

Meimei:  don't want!  ***in an irritated tone coz the sister is so insistent on asking her to do something she's scared of***

Cheche:  Won't, she won't bite you one....go near her, go!  Go 'sayang' her (pat her)....

Meimei:  DON'T WANT!  CANNOT!  (pu yao! Pu Kher Yi)

I was grinning, seriously grinning....till i almost broke out in laughter! tsk tsk tsk!

The big sister is trying to get the Meimei eaten by the dog it seems!

*********

On another incident, around the same area....

Finally our lawn is almost fully grown....that means it is OKAY to step on it...run on it....(NOT BY THE DOG BTW, that dog tears everything apart!)

So i let the two babes play there.....

Suddenly, "Mummy mummy, what is this?"  while pointing to the grass.... :O

ME:  hehe...GRASS, darling. GRASS.

Kyra:  GRASS?  This green coloured thingie?

ME:  Yes, grass it is!

Kyra:  Then, what is this?

Maia:  Sand!

***She is right, Kyra touched the sand and asked me what that is, the 2year old sister answered her big sister with a correct reply! :O

And so it was.....a cute moment there.....with me reminding myself to let both of them STEP ONTO THE LAWN more often.....LOL!

*These two sisters, truly remind me of me and my sis when we were mere kids....LOL!

Waiting for the 'time' for the REVEAL!

Just a short note.....

For the 1st time, I made a birthday gift for my little kepoci doter....come to think of it, I did not buy either one a birthday gift before hohhh??? :P

I truly love it.....but I shall not reveal it now....spoil all the excitement at the wrong time mah....

Would have to wait for another month :O....wow that is long, I must admit!

(I hope I wont get itchy and post it up here before that...LOL!)

Gettin my plastic baggies sorted!!!

BEFORE:

 

AFTER:

 

I am thinking the photos above would have explained it all?

Well, I do sort my plastic bags according to size, so that I know what to use it for, properly, as much as I wish all our supermarkets stop providing it!

Coz face it, whether you feel the bite of using so many plastic baggies every day, they still pile up very fast, and in my case, these piled up in my laundry room faster than the grass in my lawn grows!   And it's not a pretty look!

So there you have it.....my very own 'baggie sorter', just pull one out from the bottom opening when you need it, and select the size accordingly :D

***psssttt!!! btw, I am definitely NOT promoting the use of plastic bags, but i believe sorting them out nicely would help reduce usage abuse and reduce wastage,  at least for me :)

Of Blacks & Whites, Chinas & Jars

   

This is the 'current' method used to arrange and store away my 'chinas' (and stonewares and glasswares etcetera-wares).  I am journalizing it down because it won't be long before this scene becomes non-existent!!! :(  For your info, we have been waiting THREE long months for our kitchen cabinet to be ready...it is STILL NOT ready as of this minute btw......

So, that is why these are stored on a bathroom shelf!!! :D hehehe....

Once the kitchen cabinets are installed, I will have a proper and concealed storage for all these stuffs, namely 'deep drawer' :D.  Not to mention, there won't be suitable space for this shelf once the breakfast island counter gets here.......So, I thought it would be cute to look back here at these photos, especially of the BEFORE & AFTERssss.... (i just love transformations.....on things, humans, anythingssss)

And yeah...my chinas in Black & White match my kitchen wall and floor, also my black fridge, and soon to come kitchen cabinets in matte black :O  I did not design it all at ONCE to be B&W btw...they just happened to fall into place in the same color scheme quite the unplanned way really..... but we love it....

Even the chinas were not purchased at the same time, from the same places....In fact, some were bought as early as 4 years ago :O hehehehe......yes, speaking about planning ahead and knowing what you already wanted.... I think the latest addition would be the chinese soup spoon with bamboo design on the handle......And if you are wondering about the last photo, yes, i am a sucker for vintage looking most-things:)  and I thought that these jars were cute! (Not to mention fully functional as well.)

Well, I shall update here the new look of my kitchen once the cabinet-man decides to finish up on ours! :P

My dad-in-law's Teak Chair :D

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I just love the curves on this old chair.....that's why I asked my DIL (dad-in-law) if I could have this chair, since he left it at the back in the storage area collecting dust anyway :D

When I asked for it, I already had the vision of how gorgeous it will turn out to be after some facelifting works!  So, here it is..... sanded down and repainted in Wenge to match my other furniture and solid wood flooring!

Mac Apple is back!!!!!

I forgot when Maccie (as I used to call my Macbook) went coma on me...but i know it has been more than a month...yeah, one whole long monthhhhhhh......

So, today I received a new hard disk from Z via poslaju....it's a Western Digital 320GB HD, actually I don't have a clue much techie-ly speaking :P LOL!  So, with a prayer to Dear God, i 'operated' my Maccie to do a heart transplant this afternoon.  (Why the prayer you wonder? Oh, so that I don't accidentally change her status from 'coma' to 'dead', u know..... :D )

With pictures of instructions on how to replace a new hard disk in my mind, (courtesy of bro in law & Z), I carefully carried out the surgery, 'stitched' her back together, and tried to electrocute her back to life.....(yeah, by switching the "POWER" button lah).....

Znnnggggggggg!!!!!!! (yeah, that's approximately how a Mac sounds like when they come to life, but that does not guarantee MY Maccie would wake up and say hello u know....., so I waited in pain~ ).  A few icons on the steely grey bare screen later, tadaaaaaaaa!!!!!!  Maccie is back!!!!

Healthy as a pea! :D

(Though i still cringe at the knowledge that Maccie's old and rotten HD might not be ok enough for us to retrieve all the data inside....sigh....all my photos of the 2 babes......)

Anyway....past few weeks, when I did not have my macbook to use......my darling doters decided to make me one.  Yeah, there you see....using their LEAP FROG 'laptop' :P  How totally sweet! LOL!

And 'somebody' just renamed Maccie as Mac Apple, which is totally cute.....reminds me of Mac Donald's Apple Pie........yummm........