Cruz-ing

Eid ul-Fitr is exactly a week from today.

We still have loads to do in terms of spring-cleaning and what nots. Our CDs and DVDs are arranged on the floor alphabetically waiting to go into the white Kassett boxes we lugged from Ikea last weekend. These will be done and completed this weekend. I am sure.

I need to clean out the fridge, the master-bedroom bathroom's vanity, shoe cabinet, Nadine's changing table. The list is long. Thankfully, it's simple "can-be-done-in-an-hour" kind of job which I can do after I get home from my usual day job.

So, whilst spring cleaning, I realise that our collection of bedspreads have dwindled. You see, when we started using M's Australian mattress (their Queen sized mattress is longer than the local Queen), shopping for sheets on this island is a nightmare. So we had to rely on the few sheets M have had since his Aussie days (yikes!) and my foresight to purchase a few whilst in Sydney last year. Thankfully, our duvet is a "universal" king-sized one which means, I can get a hold ofa  decent one without having to fly 3,925 kilometres to Sydney to purchase a couple of duvet covers.

So I traipsed to Robinsons yesterday at lunch.

Duvet covers are frigging expensive in Singapore! I mean, these things cost over $150.00!

So after walking around for 10 minutes, looking at somewhat similar looking designed and coloured duvet covers, I decided to get a Kas-designed duvet. Perfect - Australian. M will be happy.

So, I settled on this to compromise on the masculinity and feminity in the master-bedroom.

Ps. Sorry folks - no pictures today. I will be better in the next post - promise!

Dot (.)

I've been feeling lazy. Even though I have all these bursts of energy and swirls of creative surges ocassionally.

What's new?

Now that the contractors have changed the kitchen doors (no more handles - yeay!! - trust me, when you have kids, anything peeking out of cupboard doors are like shiny new objects to birds), I dream of sorting out the kitchen ware.

But wait. Not now. Not with Nadine crawling around. And M away in KL.

But I have all this pent up energy.

I think I will march upstairs and sort out my sweetie's (and by that I mean the 10-month-old and not the XX year old one - either way, both are the loves of my life) clothes which she is continually outgrowing.

Will. Be. Back. Soon.

Really.

Promise.

Inspira's World

One of the colleagues in the office got me this for Christmas:

I laughed. Out loud.

I do live in my own world sometimes. My world filled with people who are cool, friendly, lovely, has a huge collection of Martha Stewart magazines and . . . ( <-- fill adjectives here).

"Ministry of Propaganda"

In my lately rather overtly chaotic days in the office, I almost fell laughing off the steps of the overhead bridge going back to my office after lunch upon seeing this stuck on the old iron wall of the bridge landing:

Oh . . . how apt in my present state (though I abandon all hope for an additional hour Mondays to Fridays!)

Dead Man Walking

I lamented to Exp last week at tea how dead my current watch is:

Technically, not dead. Just that every single part of the watch is falling apart. :-(

Dubbed "Tank" by M, this watch has seen me through a good (and bad) 13 years of my life. I shower, sleep, dive, eat with it.

Not since Nadine, have I ever taken it off longer than 24 hours.

Although I have 2 other girly watches, I need a tough one that can take the knocks of everyday life I go through.

Another Seiko? Or should I go with this this time around?

Apple of my eye

It seems to be the flu season.

Flu struck Nadine early last week. Then whilst staying home to care for the lil' bub, I fell ill. Somehow, while M showed symtoms of contracting it, he managed to keep it at bay. Good thing he's been in KL the last 2 nights.

Then today, my sister's maid got ill. Hmm . . . . a pattern is surfacing here.

So I stayed home today. At least I get to spend a bit more time with the lil' fella now that I'm back to work almost full time. Time flies and she's growing up ever so quickly!

Fast forward 7 hours and I finally have some time to myself to really unwind.

Did Nadine's laundry. Went on all fours and scrubbed the ensuite toilet. And then after a good cold shower (it's been a really hot and humid day!), I baked a batch of applesauce muffins.

Next on my agenda would be caramel ginger cake. Just the thought of it is making me salivate. :-P

Chocolate Dreams

It's been a l.o.n.g week.

Thankfully, I am taking the day off tomorrow.

We're going interior designer/general contractor "shopping". I'm not exactly sure why we are shopping for an interior designer considering we do have somewhat of a hazy picture in our heads of what the interior of our new home will be. Maybe it's because I needed a fresh perspective. I need to get all excited again about our future new home.

I also hope to have an hour or so at midday tomorrow to see my nieces perform a ballet at China Square Central. Not a proper ballet recital. More of a fun kindergarden/nursery performance. I'm so proud of them. And all of the rest of my nieces and nephews.

Anyways - this is sounding like a boring report card entry - got to sign off. Better start packing the diaper bag. Our day will start at 9am tomorrow.

Maybe, before then, a piece of brownie I baked a few days ago is in order . . .

Or maybe I will dream of the souffle I tried my hand on a week ago, which obviously didn't look appetising as the ones those men (and women) in aprons whip up in their kitchens!

Bag Lady

Ok. I know. I know.

2 posts in a day. In about an hour.

Crazy.

You'd never believe I am married to a wonderful man with 2 fur-children and a 2-week old angel. All living with me in the same house. ;-P

I just about exploded the moment I laid eyes on these:

(Image courtesy of adVintagous via Etsy)

I.HAVE.TO.HAVE.THEM.

Blooming Recipes

A month ago, whilst enjoying dinner with M at the new extension wing of our neighbourhood mall, a penny dropped : I wanted to go to the library in the building to borrow books to keep me occupied whilst on maternity leave.

I don't know what possessed me to even think that I would have the time to savour the pages of the borrowed books, let alone, the mental capacity to process the information what with the lack of the sleep etc from the newborn baby and all.

But I went ahead anyway.

To spare the already diminishing cells in my brain, I borrowed this and this. Not much thought processing there. Just drool worthy pictures.

I am determined that I am going to try a few of the recipes shared in the books once we're all settled down with a routine.

What better way than to jot the recipes down in the beautiful journal which Exp gifted me last year.

Afternoon Bliss

Nadine must have known that the All Blacks are playing France this afternoon.

And what bliss that I had the time out to catch the entire first half of the match, nevermind that the All Blacks are trailing France. (In case you don't know by now, I have been an All Blacks supporter since Jonah Lomu.)

In a bit, I will be cooking dinner.

I'm contemplating sweet and sour. Prawns. Or is that shrimps as our American friends would call them? Prawns. Shrimps. They still taste as sweet. And sour. Geddit? Hardy har har.

Anyways, I've disgressed as usual.

I have been wondering off-late what I have done to be blessed with such a considerate child even at that age.

Flower Power

Another one:

Oh . . . I'm so blessed!

More later.

I have to get ready for my post-natal massage.

Bliss . . .

Floral Love

I love flowers.

A girl can never have enough flowers.

I lucked out : M and I received 2 bouquets this week courtesy of my mother-in-law and M's friend from childhood days in Brighton College :

Baked

Literally too. With the current hot humid and clammy weather.

The temperature is about 32 degrees celsius now, in the apartment and in a bit, I will succumb and shower one more time. A night cap if you will. Of sorts.

But anyways . . .

~e~ recently text me to find out where to get good baking chocolate. I pointed her here - where I usually haunt for my baking needs. It's like my candy-store. Literally.

Alas, I haven't been doing a lot of speciality baking the last year so have not had the pleasure of going down the aisles and seeing what's here on this island.

But I have been itching to do one last bit of baking before Cookie comes along. Something chocolatey. For M. For being a good husband who gives me back-rubs I am achy. And for being the good Abba ("Daddy" in Urdu) giving Cookie baby massages every night.

When I saw these pictures of products available here via flickr, I wonder why I don't bake more often before!

(Images courtesy of Bakerella via here)

Mmm . . . ooo

As most of you know, I have had a pretty ok pregnancy. So far.

The best part (for M at least) is that I haven't had any particular food craving for something red-meat and drenched in oil. My only craving to-date was fruits of all imaginable origins. At one point, walking down the fresh fruit aisle of the supermarket, I went berzerk with the fruits. I could have sworn, people thought I was going a wee bit overboard with the amount of fruits in my trolley. I kid you not.

Today though, is a different story.

I have an insatiable desire to eat a really huge burger. The kind with 2 meat patties, lots of lettuce, cucumbers, melting cheese. All smack between 2 perfectly toasted sesame-seed buns.

And reading about Burgerville, I am sure M would approve us eating there.

Now, I need to get on the plane to have myself the juiciest burger I can lay my hands on.

Almost

Ok.

I woke up to this in my mailbox this morning and I'm starting to panic. B.I.G time.

Although I would like to think I had it all covered - the bare material basics of making Cookie's stay in this side of life a wee bit more comfy, that is - I am still behind (!) schedule. I bet you you can hear me gasp and hyperventilate just about now. Gulp.

Fear not, I think the obsessive-compulsive-detail-oriented me has got it under control. I think I have. Er . . . I would like to think I have. Okay . . . maybe you be the judge of this:

M and I decided that we didn't want to torture our furballs (and our health, as well as Cookie's, for that matter) from the fumes of the new wall paint we were supposed to have put on in the "new" nursery. Even if we chose the so-called odourless paint products in the market, believe you me, it still takes a good 2-days to purge the potentially toxic fume. Oh well, just as well. The lavendar walls we have on for the last 2.5 years are still pretty spotless (to the naked eyes)anyway.

And then there's the monstrous black (yeah yeah, I admit I was into the early 90s goth back then. ;-P) cupboards which I have had for at least 10 years.

On inspection, they are still in good condition (read : no mildew etc to worry about). The only bummer : the doors won't close properly. But we managed to get the hinges sorted out and we'll have those fixed as soon as I decide how I am going to restore those babies (the cupboards, not the furballs or Cookie). Yes people, this 33-week pregnant woman is going to be working with modge-podge and I-have-almost-decided-the Japanese fabric I laid eyes on in Arab Street. Ok, maybe I should say, attempt.

So, last weekend, after the major decision of restoring the cupboards and staying with the lavender walls, we borrowed my parents' car and with me in the back-seat to act as a human GPS, made our way to that iconic blue and yellow institution to purchase a baby dresser and a sofa-bed.

Sofa-bed : check. Baby dresser: not exactly. Instead of the usual baby changing table/dresser, we purchased this. I just need to get planks of wood from the art store to build the "changing-table/tray" to sit on top.

So todate, M has dismantled the bed to send to the storage sometime this week (or next when he returns from his business trip --> hmmm), the sofa-bed and the dresser are put together. We managed to get 2 bags of old but still wearable clothes out of the cupboards to the Salvation Army.

And in between lunch breaks in the office and ad intervals on Damages and CSI, I started on the mobile project.

And oh, most importantly, since we cannot for obvious reasons, go with a yellow themed nursery, we're going with yellow and lavender-hued-family-tones-combo.

There she goes . . .

I can't remember the last time I had this bad a memory.

I mean, Murphy's Law dictates that since I was going to Ikea, I would bring my Ikea friends card with me last evening. But no, I left it at home. In my drawer. In the bedroom.

That's not the worst part.

The worst part is the realisation I didn't bring the card when I was packing my desk in the office for the day and leaving for Ikea to (what I foolishly thought would be finally) get some nursery-cum-guest room shopping done. This after I have done all the "research" on what we actually need, did some measuring up, made visual sketches on how the room will turn out (people have told me I am anal, yes... :-P).

Remind me again what this post is about?

Oompy Frooty Looopy

I need a sugar rush this early in the morning.

Stand back . . . Quite a departure from my usual healthy cereal breakfast, I am having this unhealthy, sugar laden snack for breakfast:


Dumpling aka Cookie is flipping mad at me, I am sure.

Just this one time - I promise!

{Yellow} Bird in the {Pink} of health!

I am dreaming in pink and yellow.

(Image of my colouring using this)

The colours are sunny and happy and just scream cheeriness.

(Image of Hambly Screenprints' hand silk-screened prints purchased from here)

(Image of Portobello houses from maluni; Gerberas from foreverdigital; Paper Umbrellas from limonada all via here)

Dreaming still

It all started with this dream. (E --> if you're reading, I'm available to throw the party though you have to take charge of the guest list....*heh* Oh....a girl can still dream)

Since then, I've been a non-stop party-plotting machine:

+ Whiling my lunch time in the office, sketching invites that I may throw in the new year.

+ Browsing magazines for ideas.

+ Trawling the silicon world for beautiful images that might throw me in the direction I was plotting (and hoping) I'll bump into. (This is where I've been visually feasting these days).

+ The different ingredients I can put together as a visual feast (and nourishment of course!) for the invitees. (Recipes found here are easy-peasy - the photos look delicious enough for me)

(Images courtesy of Bread & Honey)

Recently, I've been trying to find ways to throw a party for M's 43rd birthday. In under 3 weeks, it's impossible (of course M is reading this and nods his head in agreement albeit in somewhat-disappointment?).

But if I were to brave the time crunch, how do I do it? Private party for 2? Or an intimate party for a handful?

Oh . . . the conundrum. (Please feel free to imagine me with my head thrown back, with the back of my right hand on my forehead at this point).

The real ruse for this *want* to throw a birthday party for M is so that I can finally release this absolutely maddening creativity that has been brewing in me.

Oh!! Why can't I just stick to, er... say...painting and wall-papering the main door which I have been meaning to do since August? It's so much easier in my (currently) 18th week gestation state.

I *HEART* U

I spent Christmas labouring in the kitchen. Cleaning.

Now, I can see the distinct red and white predominant in our kitchen.

I'm a happy camper.

What do I do on Boxing Day then (our office is closed today)?

M is watching cricket on telly being played in MCG. I think he's wishing he's back there.

So whilst he's busy veging out in front of the telly, I did this :