Little people

Some people, when they do not get things their way, begin to insult the characters of their 'opponent'.

Just this afternoon, I got a call from the local husband of one of my client's foreign worker. I had successfully applied for her a 2 years work permit at the agreement of our standard fee. She had had over 4 of her previous applications rejected by MOM, and was pretty desperate for my attempt to succeed, so naturally, she (and her husband) agreed to the fee.
It took me 2 months, which included 1 failed attempt to finally get her permit out and when it's payment time, loh and behold, they do not have the money, because of some unfortunate circumstances of a loved one back home.

It's not a surprise, especially from a foreigner from this particular country, but whatever the case, service rendered, payment had to be made before the release of the permit card to them.

This call from her husband was initially alright, but it graduated into an unpleasant one where he began to make nasty comments about my character. All this because he could not afford to support his wife's work permit agent fee. This amount, mind you, isn't much. Seriously, any part-timer at a fast food restaurant could earn more than that. Moreover, shouldn't most Singaporeans have some form of savings??

I refused to talk to that man and had the efficient general manager client of mine handle the entire situation. Cherns himself was upset that I even bothered to entertain that guy.

I really can't understand...how these people can agree to something when they want it, say that I'm real nice to help them out with it, blah blah blah...and when I finally deliver, they don't keep their word and instead turn around and call me names? What goes into their mind, man??

Big Bellied...

I'm 32 weeks into my pregnancy and I have so many things to give thanks to God for. Baby Natalie is no longer overweight and is in fact already pretty much "in position" (i.e. head down) and ready for a normal delivery in about two months' time. I'm not constipated and do not have pulse, which many pregnant women suffer from. I did catch a tummy virus a week ago though, but recovered within a day, and other than that, have been healthy throughout my second & third trimester so far. *Smile* Natalie's also happy and healthy - she's actively doing stretches in my belly - which is great, but sometimes painful...

Other things that I have to have thankful for include being able to afford my expensive cravings, still be able to bake some orders and go to work at my parents' office. Most of all, I'm thankful for Cherns who postponed his India posting indefinitely to be here for me during this last leg of my pregnancy. He's been most amazing with providing me the massages I needed to get the blood in my legs & feet circulating, the strain in my lower back loosened and bringing me for swims & walks to (supposedly) give my fats a workout. I can't say the "exercise" has provided any form of weight loss, but I guess it's better than being a couch potato! My gyne says that I might just end up gaining 20kgs by the time I pop! *Gah* Imagine if I don't exercise! I'd probably gain more weight than that! Oh gross...it'll take me forEVER to lose!

Cherns, FIL (Father-in-law) and myself will in fact be making a short trip to Shanghai this week for a music trade fair to source for business links for Chern's business. I'm tagging along to try to get good bargains from the manufacturers...and of course, eat their xiao long paos! There shouldn't be any melamine in them, right? Right? I haven't gone for a holiday since my honeymoon and this trip will definitely be one for a long time to come - as once Natalie arrives, I imagine we won't be going anywhere for quite awhile! I must say that I'm really looking forward to it.

*Scratches itchy belly*

With the help of Lyd & Janie, I've been in the works of planning my baby shower in the month of November. It's gonna be a small affair, but I can't say the same for my baby's full month! I've got a toilet roll list of people I'd like to share Cherns & my joy of Natalie! If any friends out there have got hand-me-downs for baby Natalie (or would like to give something new! Hee...), do let me know! We're trying to save as much as we can and I am in fact going to use cloth diapers for her! *Shock*Horror*Gasps* Yup, you read right. Haa...

Anyways, being pregnant is brain draining. I'm seriously short of things to blog about... Till the next post, you guys take care!

2 Years 3 Months and 3 weeks ago...

...I jumped into the Singapore river to save an old man who attempted suicide. Thank God he lived!

2 Years 3 Months and 3 weeks after that incident, I am proud to say that I have FINALLY got over my phobia of swimming! *Yay*

Cherns encouraged me throughout and finally, this evening, I could swim laps frog-style without hyper-ventilating or panicking under water.

I have to say thought, that I seriously doubt that I will ever ever attempt this "heroic" act again...pool, lake, Singapore river...whichever. I will opt instead to throw the man a life bouy.

Look at her SMILE!

It's been almost 3 months since I last blogged about my first trimester and I'm now entering into my 3rd and final trimester for baby Natalie. The 2nd trimester was pretty good, except for the fourth month being filled with dizzy spells and headaches. The weather hadn't been all that great, which contributed to the heat-related headaches and to an appointment at the hairdressers' to snip of my lovely curls. :0( I've still got some curls left, though not so pretty anymore, but anything to keep the heat and headaches away! As Cherns would say, "Hair will always grow back."

I'm currently 25 weeks pregnant and I'm not too far from feeling like a human incubator! My temperature's up, but for a good cause. My palms are SO warm that my mom was shocked when she picked up the phone receiver to use after I've used it for only 2 minutes. I've also begun experiencing water retention in my face and hands, which is causing my eyes and finger joints to feel tight and painful. I can't imagine what it'll be like when my feel begin to suffer that too! It was a real good thing that Cherns bought me a comfy pair of Crocs slippers. They really have helped with cushioning my soles. And oh, when my face swells up on some mornings, I look like a cream puff!

We just had an appointment with our gyne yesterday and I can't help but share with you this ultra-sound scan picture of my baby. She looks like she's grinning big time at the camera, doesn't she? The lower left circle is her tummy, while the upper right circle is her head. The 2 smaller circles in her head are her eyes, the white patch between her eyes is her nose, and the dark diagonal line is her big SMILE! You can vaguely see it here, but there's a little "knob" next to her face, which is her fist and it seems for one moment that perhaps, she was waving at us. :0) It's such a miracle - this pregnancy thingy. Praise the Lord!















Last month, when we had the detailed scan, baby was said to be overweight, with a huge belly scaling up to 90% of the percentile. I was told that if she continued to grow so quickly and remain overweight, I would have to be put on a diet. THANK GOD that she's all medium sized and healthy now, so I can still eat regularly! *Phew* I've never ever been on a diet before, so I can't imagine what it'd be like if I had to be pregnant and hungry...I think Cherns would get the brunt end of that forced-diet. I have to admit though, that for the month before which baby had grown too big, I had indulged myself in one too many durian extravaganzas! So durians DO make the buns in the oven grow large afterall...

During my 2nd trimester, I had suffered 3 weeks of backaches that seemed to get worse and worse each day. I was very uncomfortable in any position of posture and had to have Cherns rub ointment on my upper back pretty much every other night. I was kinda depressed and asked Vivian about what could be done to alleviate the pain. She offered some very general steps of good posture and stretching exercises, but I had told her that nothing worked. She then offered to me that the best action was to pray. D'oH! You think I didn't do that?? I did! But perhaps, I didn't have faith. So one evening, then the pain was so unbearable, I knelt down on my knees (squishing my tummy slightly) and cried out to God to take the pain away! I told Him that at 5 months, I couldn't take the pain, let alone the weight my tummy will gain in the next few months before I pop! Then a miracle happened - I was healed and still am from the very next day! Hallelujah and Amen! My back now does feel slightly uncomfortable now and then, but the pain has definitely gone. Prayer works I tell you! *Woot*

As for work, I've been at my parents' office more than in the kitchen. It can be rather upsetting (and absolutely boring!) not to be able to bake as much as I used to anymore, and even disappointing several friends' orders in the process, but I guess there's a season for everything, so I'll just have to do what's best for my baby now - to remain in incubation mode.

Once again, thank you all for keeping baby Natalie and I in your kind prayers! Have a wonderful weekend!

The first 3 months...

...was utterly, utterly, miserable!

I can't appropriately express how terrible I felt except that I couldn't see past the next 3 hours or so of my life during those many days. I had lost my appetite ENTIRELY, having to force feed myself and it really didn't help that I was experiencing hunger every 3 hours! In addition to that, I had nausea each time I was getting hungry and would gag and constantly feel like I needed to throw up or do the Merlion, as many would know it. I felt like I really couldn't go on for another 3 hours...it was extremely unpleasant!

Between 3 weeks and 11 weeks - that's when the above mentioned went on and in between, I suffered a 5 day fever spell, continued to ride my bike, worked on several baking orders, including Novelty ones, did alot of grocery shopping for crackers, muesli bars, cereal, milk, oats, chocolates, koka tomyam noodles, just to name a few. I felt sharp pain in my pelvic on several occasions, was constipated, could barely sleep, causing me to feel like the undead, and developed a gross aversion for many foods, such as chicken (which I never liked anyways), prawns, crabs and belachan (which I used to absolutely adore!), pork belly, dried mushrooms and deep fried lard bits (which I enjoy eating). I picked up a liking for tomatoes, craved oats (for awhile), toufu, and salad.

I particularly preferred sweet stuff like chocolate and Orangina, sour stuff like green apples and tom yam and spicy stuff that gives the tongue a tingling sensation. These didn't help with the nausea though...only allowed me to feel less like I was forced feeding myself like a sick animal...

Well, I'm well into my 12+ weeks now and I must say that I'm feeling much better. I'm no longer gagging as much, though I still do the Merlion once in a while and have been getting these nagging headaches all day long. I've been feeling more tired lately and am finding it so difficult to wake in the mornings. Thankfully, my parents have given me the freedom to turn up for work later or not at all (if I'm not well). I've also (sadly) had to cut down alot on baking orders as I get really exhausted with what used to be "chicken feet" to me. Unfortunately, I've downgraded from superwoman status, but after that said, it's better than the first 3 months when I was at Bleah status. Haha...

During the 12 weeks appointment with my Obgyne, Cherns & I got to see the ultrasound of our baby. It was kinda surreal I must say, as our little fella was awake and doing acrobats in its little sac! Initially, it jiggled, but then, started to punch its fist and began to bounce. Imagine a jelly bean bouncing slow-motion. That's exactly what it looked like! It didn't stop there - it happily bounced harder and higher until it turned and flipped, lost control and landed itself upside-down on its head instead. Haa...it was really cute. Cherns says it's no wonder I've been feeling so sick - with all that movement in the belly! Doc says that baby is healthy and we're to see her again in a month's time. Praise God for his miracle and continued protection!

Chern's off for another work trip for 11 days. I'm gonna miss him and all that pampering. *Sulk* But I truly hope I'll feel better and better from now and will be 100% by the time he returns, so that we can resume our after dinner walks and weekends jalan-jalans.

Thanks for all those who've kept me in their prayers!
Have a good approaching weekend!

Hmm...I'm craving pizza...PIZZA!!!

Orh-range-gee-na!

Orangina seems to work for me, so Cherns brought me to the supermarket and we stocked up on 2 x 2L bottles and 4 x 330ml cans. I hope Chenzhong doesn't drink my Orangina! I'd be rather upset if he happily helps himself to them like he does the Ribena cordial. I also got an additional bottle of Ribena cordial, as the earlier one I bought is running out fast! But that's okay, cos it's cheaper than Orangina...

Salad bowl

Last Saturday I had a craving.
It was really strange and I must say that I am so amused by it that I have told every single person I've met about it. In fact, I'm so amused that I have logged myself onto blogger to blog about it!

I had a craving, for SALAD.

I should have you know that in my 29 years of having dined out, I have never, ever, ever, ever ordered myself a bowl of salad to eat. To me, ordering salad off a menu is a total waste of money. I trust that I am fully qualified to make that statement, considering how much I cook. Tossing a coupla Romaine leaves with salad sauce, a tablespoon of bacon bits, a poached egg, some croutons (oven-baked bread) and a shaving of parmesan, shouldn't cost very much you know. Well, a coupla dollars, yes, but definitely not close to $20!

But well, there. Yes. I had myself a $19 bowl of Caesar salad from P.S cafe and it was really yummy.

Things an extra mouth can make one do...

Have you met The Sun lately?

The weather's been terrible these coupla days and this Mayday seems to have The Sun shine with a vengeance. I dunno who or what it's competing with, but it came out in full glory of heat and glare today, that my head hasn't settled since I stepped out of home this morning!

I've been so dizzy.

I'm finally home and am going to catch a nap before I begin work on Chel's mom's cake.

Happy holiday!

Rambles

So, an additional mouth to feed suddenly has everyone treating me nicer than normal...
You mean, I'm normally not a person nice enough to be treated nice?? Chey...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The construction site across my bedroom works 24/7 and keeps me up through the night with their poundings and power generators running so loudly. I haven't been sleeping well the entire week and yesterday, woke up with my throat threatening to turn into sandpaper. I had the usual body aches and soon after, a fever, which subsided after lots of prayer and a nice Risotto dinner at Pietrasanta, Portsdown. But of course, the prayer did the job. *Wink*

I popped a Panadol before getting into bed, but woke up this morning with sandpaper for throat and an on & off fever. My body ain't aching anymore, but I'm feeling so darn tired! Cherns brought me to the doc's and got me some starfruit juice to nurse the throat. The doc gave me cough drops in anticipation of an impending cough...

And the hunger pangs are not letting up.
Being ill, constantly hungry, with little appetite isn't the best of position to be in.

Well, at least I'm not at work today, so I have an entire day to spend with the Hubster's comfy bolster and the weekend already! I do have to make an order of macarons later for tomorrow's collection though, so I'd better rest up my body now.

I'll blog again soon.

Regret

I woke up early this morning as the Hubs needed a lift to work - we had plans for the evening, and we didn't want to take 2 bikes. Also, I sent him there as his meeting today was near my office place.

I felt lethargic the entire day and was contemplating not going out, but instead, just heading home after work to crash, but alas, after dinner with Cherns, we met up with his colleagues for teh and guess what? KTV! OMG! Hahaa....

For the record, I do enjoy KTV. Except that I sing English songs. I must say that the selection of English songs in KTV lounges suck big time, but what to do? I can barely read chinese. As for Cherns, it was his "virgin" experience.

It was real fun! And now we're back home and I'm waiting for my damp hair to get a little dryer before I knock out. And I know, I just know...that I will wake up tomorrow early morning, to regret my fun tonight.

Why?
Because I've got a lunch catering for the peeps @ Substation tomorrow and I've gotta be up bright and early to prepare the food fresh!

Die lah - tomorrow, I will surely look like a panda. Better stop blogging and get to bed.
Weekend's here!!!*Woot*

Cotton Ball Sky

Did you wake up to the most beautiful morning skyline ever?
I did! Just look at all the cotton ball in the sky! Angels on duties must be artists...so pretty!

Left to die of thirst

MIL's recently been into this "MRET" water (scam). It's basically water that had undergone some magnetic resonance, which causes the water molecules to spin in a particular rotation, allowing it to enter parts of of body that normal water cannot.

Rite.

And so, the water dispenser bottled water had run out THREE days ago and I've been surviving on boiled water left to cool in a little jug of about 500ml for the hours that I'm home. Oh did I add? It's to be shared by SIX others, not including MIL. (She lives by MRET now - says it makes her look younger.) Considering how much water I normally drink in a day - about 8 to 10 glasses - I'm flustered tonight having come home without ANY drinking water in the house (unless tap water is your idea of drinking water)!!! Apparently, she doesn't want us to boil water for God knows whatever reason. My god!

ARGH.

Guess what I was left to drink then? Damnit.
It's a scam, I tell you. I'm going to order in my own bottled dispenser water tomorrow!

Pissed.
And thirsty.

Monthly grief

There's been something that been annoying me for quite awhile now. I don't even know why I put up with it.

A certain customer of mine orders for her company, but as much as she claims she enjoys my cake and its quality, she gives me grief each time she places an order. Either she's really rude and demanding or she'll criticize my way of doing business. In the past year, she almost never failed to raise her voice at me when placing an order. I imagine she's mostly stressed at work, but its no way to talk to anyone who's about to make a cake for you now, is it? I've always done my best to accommodate her - giving her a discounted price and free delivery - but recently, it's been really bad. She calls me once a month and the grief is worse than my monthly period. How is it that she can criticize my way of doing business, yet not realise the way she is behaving?

I will never sabotage my cakes just because someone is nasty to me. I have my integrity. At times I just wish someone would tell her, "Why? Why must you be so unpleasant?" If I were unethical, I would open a high price and then give her a "discount", but I do not.

Anyways, most recently, I heard (not from her) that her company's going through some cost cutting measures and their monthly cake budget has to be tweaked. Fair enough. However, before I had this information, I sent a cake to her office only to be faced with accusations of being unreasonable with my rising prices! My question then is : How unreasonable is it that my butter cost has risen from $1.80/block to $4.50, my cream cost from $3.50/L to $6.50 and my flour cost from 90cts/kg to $1.60, and yet I have only raised your cake price by $30 in 3 years? (I'm not talking about a small cake by the way. It's big enough to feed 50+ pax in their company.) If anything, it would be twice the cost of what its original price is, no? Just for the record, delivery to the company is requires me to travel from Queenstown to the far East. Come to think of it, perhaps if she had been more truthful about the cost cutting measures and requested for some goodwill, I would have been more giving. Instead, she turned the whole issue around and blamed me for not being fair with my prices.

Seriously, like that how to do?
I have advised her to support other local talents. It's sad to may have to lose a great customer - in terms of long term orders and several other friendly employees in that company, but it's not logical to have to pay someone to stay on as my customer. In addition, I can really do without the monthly grief. Some things are just not worth it.

I put a lot of love & care into making my cakes, pastries and cooking. Please, I request too, that you consider the effort & time I have put into making the best that I can for every order...

Ate Plastic food

I went to catch the movie, Water Horse tonight with Cherns. We were early at Great World, so we decided to grab a grub before heading to the theater.

For God knows what reasons, we decided to have some fries and a cuppa. There was only MacDonald's there for chips, and they have pretty decent coffee at their cafe, so we found a seat and thought of what to order.

Cherns contemplated how harmful it is to eat their over processed, carcinogenic, never-will-decompose, pest-repellent fries for a good 10minutes before I said, "It's just one packet of fries. I don't think it'll be very bad. It's not like we eat it all the time." For the record, it's been almost 5 years since we've had their french fries. So off he went and came back with his cuppa and some chips.

After the first fry, I absolutely regretted agreeing to Cherns buying them! I really don't remember MacDonald's fries to be so bloooody disgusting! They do suck big time! *Bleah*

Anyways, we finished the awful plastic food and headed for our show...

System's down

Just as all the CNY baking was completed and it was time to rest, my body's system crashed. I caught a chill on the evening of CNY eve, and suffered through dinner with much sniffles and sneezes. I couldn't resist the chilli my mom and SIL's uncle made and that probably didn't help with getting my system back up quickly. I was down for 3 days.

As I felt better, Hubs decided why not cook dinner for friends since the in-laws were out of town and we pretty much had the whole house to ourselves. I thought - why not? too, so it was an 8 course Chinese dinner for a party of 11pax. That evening, dinner guests consisted of an add bunch, from my secondary school, Chern's uni and others who were friends of friends, who've become great pals. No one knew anyone - cept for Chern's bestee, Sam. As dinner came to a close, I felt my throat begin to feel really uncomfortable.

Next morning, I woke with sandpaper for a throat! From one system down, straight into another. Sucked. I went to see the doctor's and got myself some medication & antibiotics. Been out like a light each time I rested my head on the pillow, especially after every meal. Just as I thought I was going to be well to get to work today, I woke up with a fever. I styaed home and did the laundry and will be cooking dinner for the men tonight. MIL & Siti are still in KL, so I'm the only lady in the house to look after certain aspects of the home...

I'm really tired now after my medication. Going to catch 40-winks before preparing dinner. Will blog soon...*ciao*

The battle is won!

It's finally over. Christmas & Chinese New Year. What a tremendously busy period for all bakers - not to mention, headache for parents of young children whose birthdays fall during this season. (I've had to turn down orders of Novelty cakes for several 1, 2 and 3 year's olds.) I would have counted the number of cookies I've made over these 2 holidays, but that would have driven me crazy. But as an estimate, I've baked over 16,000 pcs of cookies in the 3 weeks leading up to the CNY alone - 6,400pcs of them which were pineapple tarts!

Let's see - 64kg of pineapple filling, 43kg of flour, 60kg of butter and over 150 numbers of eggs. And then there's sugar, salt, Earl grey tea, Oats, Raisins, Cranberries, Chocolate chips, ground peanuts and ground almonds. Wow! Just thinking about them makes me wonder however did I get over the baking!

I began 3 weeks before CNY, initially with only a handful of orders. I was truly enjoying myself. However, as the season got closer and closer, I had to work double-time and constantly prayed to work God-speed! Even closer still last Friday, my future sister-in-law lent a helping hand till 4AM. And just over last weekend, Cherns had to bake with me to churn out enough cookies to feed 43 of my family members' business clients. Thank God (and much thanks to Cherns too) that it is complete!

And so, I'm free of baking now and then I become bored. *Rolls eyes* Last night, as I was contemplating what I ought to do with my free time, I decided I would help my mom with her CNY marketing. I also figured I would return to my parents' place to spring clean my neglected room. Cherns, however, commented that I just can't "sit still" and rest. Well, it's better that resting in the form of shopping and spending money, right? Hehe...I suggested that perhaps, I would do some retail therapy and visit a jewellery store! *Grin* Nah, I didn't. No money.

Yes, I woke this morning and had breakki with the Hubs at STB, staying for almost an hour even after he had gone up to begin work. I sipped my coffee and read magazines. After that, feeling bored (D'oH), I offered to go to Chinatown market to get additional groceries for my mom. I then headed back to their place and got down to tidy my room. It took me 3 hours of thorough scrubbing, wiping, mopping and washing to get my bedsheets/frame, wardrobe, bathroom & balcony all spick and span! It's so pretty and clean now, I could stay over during the CNY! Heee...

I rested awhile after that - over a bowl of piping hot Maggi noodles and then began "work" again by helping my mom with packing her (truckload) of vegetables. I would have even cooked dinner if it weren't that I felt sleepy. (Must have been the food in my tummy and the lethargy catching up with me!) So I headed back home to wash up and BLOG! Oh! I actually stopped by a video rental store before heading home and got me 6 DVDs to watch during the long CNY holiday! Yeah...now, that's relaaaaxing. *Beams*

Well, the in-laws are out of town this year, which saves me the energy of having to go visitation with them. I'd really rather not - as it's so tiring to move from one relatives' place to another friends' place to yet another, listening to the old folks make small talk. Moreover, I'm really in need of resting my arms, back and legs! In addition, there isn't the incentive of getting red-packets anymore, now that I'm married! Wahahaha...! No, but seriously, that's not important. (Yes, I don't lie.)

Anyways, I'm going to be taking a 3 week NO-Baking fast and I hope so much that I will not be bored and eventually having it shortened it to 2 days, which Cherns reckons will happen after CNY. *Rolls eyes* I hope to be able to meet up with friends over this period of break, cook for Mah family and also, rest my body well.

You guys have a wonderful long CNY holiday too! May this year of the Rat be filled with the joy of the Lord and may His blessings fall upon you as you love Him with all your heart, your mind and your soul! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Pysching myself up for a break

It seems a really long time ago when I told people that I'm doing great. Not that I'm not feeling well & fine now. In fact, I am, and as a matter of fact, am happy. However, it seems that my response to the question, "How'ya doing?" has pretty much been, "I'm good, but tired."

There's always this "...but tired." and to tell you the truth, I'm getting real sick of it. Sick of being tired. I wanna be able to say that I'm doing good, great, and just give a big smile. :0)

Just looking through my 2007 organiser, I realise that the last time I took a break was in April - while on Honeymoon in Sri Lanka. I remember being very happy & rested then, but when I returned to Singapore, work began. I believe myself to be a responsible person, but at times, I wonder if I'm could be less responsible, since afterall, I am self employed.
Many friends suggest that I can decide when I do want to take in an order and when I do not, but my sense of responsibility stretches beyond this freedom to choose a customer, so I end up saying yes all the time. There are instances when I unfortunately had to turn down requests, due to the handicap of having only one pair of hands, but then, when that's done, I feel really bad - like I wish I could have done more. I even ponder over my schedule and imagine, "Yeah, perhaps I can do it." and think how I could have squeezed it into my already packed schedule, etc, etc. I even think out loud and tell Cherns, "Hey, shall I just say yes? I mean, I can do overtime and blah, blah, blah...", to which I will be given the stern "NO. You need to rest.". Yes...I need to rest.

Christmas 2007 and Chinese New Year 2008 comes just one after the other. I did not get to rest over the new year's public holiday as I had made it a point to feed my friends by cooking them nice meals, also as a means of getting everyone to (finally) meet up and catch up!

I've begun baking for the CNY for a week now, putting in between 10 to 15 hours a day, churning out cookies like a COG. My mum has given me a list of friends she wants to send hampers to and I remember I sorta gawked at the thought of the numerous more hours of swimming in cookie dough that my future beholds. *GAWK* See, it just happened again.

I've been having this constant numbing pain in my left arm elbow, which leaves my fingers numb and cold. It started feeling this way only after day 3 of my baking, which sucks because I have another 10days more to go. I feel old - though not as old as people older than me feel, but my job is tedious and labour-intensive and I'm beginning to feel the straineous effect of such work in my back, arms and legs. Don't get me wrong. I love my job! And I thank God daily for it.

I'm thinking I will definitely need to get out to Singapore to really be able to rest and am actually entertaining the option of going back to study at a pastry school. *Smile* Which really isn't of much use, considering I'm not too excited about breaking my limbs turning this into a full-blown kitchen business. Perhaps a coupla weeks off from my baking/cooking will do me good. After CNY is the target date. When the break ends, will depend on what the Hubster says...cos if I were to leave it to myself to decide, I'll be back at work 2 days after I've declared OFF! Haaa...

Eat dinner with you family

With our busy schedules, it's no wonder no one eats with their family anymore. There's so much work and so little time left away from work, that whatever time one has, they want to spend it with friends. I wish I could say that people want to spend it with their loved ones, but it's not the case anymore. In these times, work takes precedence over family...and even a 40minute meal with family.

Cherns is in Sri Lanka for a work trip and I thought I'd stay at my parents' to complete my baking and also to take this opportunity to have dinner with them. I even called my mom early in the day to inform her that I'd like to have dinner with them. But now, at 715PM, I called again and she says she & my dad are at a client's place, sorting out some work. So she left it to me to settle my own dinner.

I'm feeling a little odd now. I'm not sure if I'm disappointed or upset. I may be a little unhappy, but what can I do about it? Recently, TODAY's paper published the CEO guy who climbed the corporate world so high, but was the man of a family in shambles. The article has been published several years ago in TIME magazine. I wish people would take note of what the world and its materialism has done to man. It's no wonder the Bible says, "What good is it for a man to gain the world, but loses his soul?"

I wish people, especially Christians (or so-called Christians) will wake up. The time is near and money's not going to bring you riches in Heaven...

Well, I'm off to buy my own dinner. I feel like Changi Village Nasi Lemak & chicken wing!

Sleep fight!

Just the night before, Chern's & I fought in our sleep.

In the middle of the night, I was awoken when he gave me this really hard hit on the side of my hip! As shocked as I was, I looked to see that he had sat up. I asked him what was wrong and he mumbled about it being really humid. Then, just as I was going to sit up to see if he was alright, he threw the pillow at me! $#%^&#*&^%#
What was THAT about?
He then laid back onto bed. It took me another coupla seconds before I got over the pillow-shock, and told him that he had hit me. I don't think he heard me though, as all he did was let out a grunt and dozed back into sleep. I tried telling him again, to which he responded in the exact same way! I gave up and returned to sleep.

When we woke in the morning, I told him how he had "abused" me and he couldn't remember a thing! *Grumble*Grumble* I think perhaps he was getting back at me for not baking his cookies earlier...*Hmm*

Then, he told me that I too had in fact fought him in the middle of the night too! And I couldn't recall a thing either! Haa! Apparently, I has elbowed his nose! Hohoho!

No wonder we get these bruises every now and then...

Weekend thoughts...

It's the WEEKEND!

I don't wanna think about work.
I'm going to sleep - so my mind doesn't work.
Hee...

Dreams & Visions?

I had 2 of the weirdest dreams in a long while.

One involved a reptile-like thing that could transform into human. It would drop its tail off to waylay its captors of its location and then pounce on them and swallow them whole! Then, its body would glitter as if there were jewels embedded into its leather-like skin, as it grew an inch longer and wider.

The other involved lovely breeds of birds that flew through my house window and perched themselves onto my arm. They didn't sing, but had eyes that looked as if they were trying to tell me something.

Both were freaky.
Interpretations, anyone?

Subaru Impreza-Vespa challange!

Yesterday, while on my way home, at a red light junction, I stopped next to a Subaru Impreza.

As the light was about to turn green for us to "GO", the driver revved its engine and edged over the white stop line. "Must be Ah Beng.", I thought. I stayed put, as I have the habit never to "Zoom" off the moment my travel direction junction lights turn green. Reason being I've seen a motorbike get knocked by a red-light-beating bus and spun about, with the rider laying unconscious on the ground before - so I'm not about to risk being a victim of such a dreadful circumstance.

And yes - the lights turned GREEN! With a seconds' head-start, off the Subaru went! And so did I. And we raced! Haha!
I could hear his turbos hissing twice, as he changed gears, while I pulled my throttle to gain speed...
And we raced....
with such focus to have a "nose" ahead of each other...we raced...raced right into...another red light! Hahaha!
But ah, you see, I could maneouver my way between the stationary cars to the front of the "Queue", which means I won! *Sheepish grin*

Silly driver. So much for racing - and a whole lot of wasted turbo-charges, petrol and embarrassment for driving right into a red-light. *Roll eyes*

In fact, I didn't have to stop at all, as the moment I was a coupla car's length before the front of the junction, the light turned green. So off I went towards home.

That was quite fun. *Grin*

Disclaimer: Kids, don't try this anywhere.

Wonderful wonderful

Today is a good day. *Beams*

I slept in a little this morning before waking up to complete some work. Finished my baking at half past noon and brought a couz-in-law, William, who's in town for business, to meet, Robin, an optician friend of mine for some business talk. While at Katong S.C, Cherns & I left William to his thing and went to B1 bakery for their yummy Banana, Peach & Apple tart. It's always good to eat something yummy that's made by someone else. Especially good if the oven's so old, it leaves a "burnt" fragrance on it's baked goods!

When we returned to Robin's store, William wasn't exactly done, so Cherns & I gleefully helped ourselves to the many sunglasses and frames on display - and also in the showcases. *Grin* Robin said I could make myself comfortable. Hmmm...I could have done with that pair of bug-eyes sunglasses from Dior! Haha!

After that meeting, we walked to Astons for a late lunch and chatted about in-laws and out-laws.

After lunch, we drove to Beach road to visit Concourse. I wanted to get my paper-bags for Christmas. There at the basement, as per every year, was their Christmas fare, where one can find all sorts of Christmas-related decorations & cards. William got himself a set of hanging Xmas lights, which he mentioned were difficult to find in KL, for his optical shop. I got myself a lot of lovely glass "gift-box" ornaments, which are actually meant for Christmas trees, which I will be tying onto my cookie jars. Cherns had pointed them out to me and suggested that they're just the perfect thing to accessorize my plain ol' cookie glass jar! P/s: Only for the first 100 cookie jars though... :0P
I must say that I'm delighted with this buy - though I did try to get a discount, but in vain. Chey! Uncle, why you so like that one? *Bleah*
Oh, and yes, I got my paper bags too.

We had parked at Arab street across from The Concourse, which made me recall of Pluck @ 33 Haji lane. I had wanted to visit it for some time now, but it just wasn't on the top of my to-do list. I had heard they've got pretty things, but at pretty high prices - and it's the TRUTH. I left empty-handed, though I did like several items there. Let me know if you'd like to get me a Xmas gift - I can point out the item(s) that would make me go "Yay!". Hee...
The boys looked very bored while we were there. William stood around, simply looking bored, while Cherns made himself comfortable on a cushy chair, hugging onto two large cushions. He must have not realised that the cushions were for sale! Luckily, the retail staff were nice and we were spared the 'Evil eyes of a thousand ancient needles'.

We stopped by Baroussah road for a drink and it was really pleasant just sitting there, in the cool breeze, quiet surroundings, watching the people & cars go by. We had a piece of yummy gula melaka kueh kueh and chatted about biker pillions who show off their butt cracks and other nonsensical stuff, like how the next table was one full of chubby men and a single skinny lady...
It was most enjoyable to just literally bum and waste some time on a lazy Saturday afternoon, especially since the past days of this week had been so bake-ful for me.

We finally decided to head for home. William went on to meet his friends at St. James, while Cherns & I Face-booked. We later went to Margaret drive for claypot, char kwey teow and lemon tea with the in-laws.

All in all, it was a fantabulous day I had. In addition, I got two SMSes from customers who were very happy with their goodies! My week has been made. It is complete. Praise the Lord! :0) Now, it's time to go to bed and rest for church tomorrow...

I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend too!

Xmas Catalog 2007

Dear Friends, it's that time of the year for logcakes, pies & cookies! Here's my catalog. Email me to place your orders.
MERRY CHRISTMAS! Ho!Ho!Ho!

Blabber - bubble

I havn't been blogging for so long - it seems I say this each time I post now. :0P

Many things I've wanted to blog about, but when I do sit at my computer to start typing, my mind goes blank.
Here I am, sitting in my room, with dark & gloomy weather outside, along with thunder that has been rolling for the past hour or so. I'm not going anywhere soon - and perhaps it's time to be spent with God. I do kinda need to pee now though, but Siti's washing the bathroom and Zhong's choir mates are in the hall having practices - I dont' really want to walk out in my Pjs. So, I REN. I imagine the lack of concentration doing my QT, while controlling my bladder...

I think I need a haircut. As Cherns would put it, it'll be another month before I really get down to the hairdresser's. Afterall, it has been a month since I began saying that a visit to the hairdressers is eminent - just not anytime soon. After a trim, when my curls are inevitably cut off, I'll then begin my "Should I curl my hair?" phase for another several months before I actually get down to it. I'm predictable, so yeah. No surprises from me. Visits to the hairdresser's is very costly for my long tresses. I never step out any less than $40 poorer for a trim and $330 poorer for a perm! *Ouch*

Speaking of surprises, I planned a surprise birthday party for my younger brother last Saturday. It was a success! I got his girlfriend, A, his bestee, L and my future sis-in-law, SH to help put it altogether. A & L were in charge of getting Polaroid films and a blown up picture of Andrew as a card for his friends to sign onto. They were also in-charge of getting the friends invite list. Someone got 26 balloons too, which added much colour to the photos.
SH helped tremendously in the kitchen cooking with me, while I shuffled to complete the birthday cake. After 4.5 hours, we were done - and not to mention, an hour late for the party! Thankfully, L & A were able to stall for time without raising suspicion.
We held it at HIGH, my family's LAN gaming shop. Andrew was, according to A, having a bad day. I was told he had been moving about the whole day in a slightly moody temperament and I had to agree when I saw his long & black face when he stepped into the room. But lo & behold! We screamed "SURPRISE!" and sung a birthday song for him - which really shocked him! Hahaa...it was all worth it! He seemed to have lightened up and had a good time with friends and family.
This was his cake - a chocolate fudge cake lined with marzipan.


It's still raining and my heart seems burdened. *Sulk* I'm going off - blog another time...

Warning against folly

I've been praying about a certain situation and read this in the morning - on the 7th thing that is detestable to God.

Psalm 6:19 - a man who stirs up dissension among brothers

I'm a little worried for you, but I hope you're proud of yourself.