Sunday, December 30, 2007

Taken for granted

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I am not limitlessly rich to be everyone's ATM.
(pls, if I am, why do I bother to borrow/buy 2nd hand stuff for my kid?)

I am not endlessly free to chase / bug / be everybody's gopher-cum-information center.
(pls, if I am, why does everyone say I look tired all the time?)

I am not insensitive to being forgotten / passed over / unthanked.
(although I pretend to be, too well.)

Stop taking me for granted! ROAR!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Generosity

Generosity is a state of mind.

Seen many generous parents when I began to browse on Singapore Motherhood and SG Freecycle recently.

Many of them offer to give away stuff that must have cost them hundreds of dollars. Like cots, strollers, toys, clothes etc.
Others offer oodles of free advice and uploaded their meticulously compiled checklists and "instruction manual" on baby care.

I picked up a loan of baby rocker, crib light, baby gym and a gift of toys today. From a lady who lives in a 3-room flat whom I have never seen in my life. After I thanked her and left the flat, she still kept smsing me about other baby items she had, asking if I wanted them or not.

Is she rich in the conventional sense? Probably not.
But that didn't stop her from being generous.
She is just an ordinary person who makes giving a lifestyle, who puts the needs of others before those of her self.

Through her giving, more than just the physical things I have brought home, my eyes were opened to the generous spirit of people around.

I hope others will be similarly blessed by what I can give them too.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Christmas

.. is over..

On one hand, YAY because there's finally time to rest;
on the other hand, ARGH because school is coming up next week (omg).

my inner pessimist is strong. heh.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

It is easy to SAY sorry

We had a $50 Harvey Norman voucher that expired at end Nov.

On Sunday evening, I went to Harvey Norman at Suntec to ask if I could still use the voucher.
Was told that I needed to call their head office to ask for authorization.
I asked if they could call for me, and was told they could not because it was not during office hours.

On Monday afternoon, I finally managed to get through to the head office.
Spoke to a lady who told me that I should go down to their stores and ask.
When I told her that I HAD done that and had been directed to call her, she agreed to allow me to use the voucher, on the conditions that
(a) I use it by this weekend
(b) I can only use at one store, so I chose Centerpoint.
She said she would email to Centerpoint straightaway to inform them about it and that I could go down from anytime from then onwards.

On Tuesday evening, I made my way to Centerpoint, battling the pre-Christmas Orchard crowds, specially to visit Harvey Norman.
Was told they had no records of any email regarding my voucher.
When I asked them to check, they said they would call the lady concerned and asked me to come back later.
Waited all the way till store closing time, to no avail - still can't contact her.
They asked me to come back tomorrow.

So frustrating!
1. No proper protocol for this kind of thing. People are unsure of who has the authority to issue the approval. The store manager, or the admin staff at head office?
2. Anyhow push me off just to save themselves trouble. Since Centerpoint store can try to contact their head office, it means Suntec store actually could have done so too.
3. Think I am so free to go around their stores everyday? I tried my best to comply with the conditions they gave to use it. But yet when I did so, I ended up wasting my time. What happens if I am not on holiday and don't have the liberty of a loose schedule? And it's obvious that I am pregnant (read: whale sized) and it's not easy for me to go down there in the first place! What's more, they sell electronics stuff which is v bulky. Wasted trip = wasted parking fee & ERP charges etc for those who drive in anticipation of bringing home electronics stuff.

Lesson learnt:
It is easy to SAY sorry for things.
But lack of immediacy, meticulousness and attention to details means that others will suffer inconvenience that you may not even be aware about.
So be excellent in whatever you do so that you NEVER need to inconvenience others.
That is the essence of good service.

All the more, as I am using voucher at their store, I am giving them business. $50 is definitely not enough to cover the price of any electronics. They should be more than willing to extend the voucher validity in order to secure my business. I can just as easily take my money to another electronics store to spend!! Grr!

Will see what they do tomorrow. Hmph.

Update:
Centerpoint called me back on Wednesday to tell me that my voucher could now be used.
No explanation or apology offered whatsoever for the lack of / delay in communication between head office and the store.
When I went down, no one there apologized either. When I mentioned my voucher, the staff were all like "Oh Yeah, the voucher" - the kind of tone that makes you think they have been talking about it behind your backs.
Anyway, I picked my Electrolux vacuum cleaner and brought it to the cashier.
The item was on $40 discount from the original price of $149.
But the cashier attempted to charge me $149 for it anyway! They only checked when I told them that the salesgirl on Tuesday had told me it was $109!
And weirdly enough, they packaged up the vacuum cleaner and gave it to me even before issuing the invoice. So when I told them the pricing was wrong, the cashier had to walk out of the cashier island over to me and open up the bag to see the product code to re-key the details!
So unbelievable.

Fired off an email to Harvey Norman Singapore and the parent store (Harvey Norman Australia) asking for explanation.
Guess what, the email for Harvey Norman Australia bounced (and yes, I obtained the email from their website).

Wahlau! What kind of international brand name is this?? Sheesh.

Will post again when they reply.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Growing old with you

Scampy has been with me since he was a 3 month old puppy, 13+ years ago.

Today I tried to play with him with his 13 years old squeaky toy.
It's totally 走样了but he still remains faithful to it nonetheless.
Once I pressed the toy, a spark of his old alertness returned and he crawled off his blanket to sniff at his toy.
But when I gently threw the toy for him to chase, he wasn't able to find it back.

Then, I tried to feed him one of his favourite foods, yogurt.
He had always been enthusiastic for yogurt and would wait by my side for the empty yogurt cup to lick.
But when I spooned some yogurt onto his feeding dish, he couldn't identify what it was.
Finally, he remembered that it was something he liked and licked the dish clean.

My poor Scampy is really growing old.

Friday, December 14, 2007

No longer hols, but rising work

Finally gotten into "holiday mode" only in the last week or so.
Only to realise that there are only 2.5 weeks more to go before school reopens.

Sian!
Spent some time moping about that..

Its so much in our human nature to look ahead to see when the "next thing" is coming along.. and we spend so much time lamenting or anticipating that "next thing" that we forget to enjoy our present.

That tendency, beautifully versed in Norman Nicholson's Rising Five.

Alright, stop the mope! Spend time to enjoy the present instead.

Thankful for, this hols:
- Lunch with cousin Kelly at Indulgz Bistro. The set lunch is only $10.90 and the food is quite good.
- My 2nd Christmas present of 2007! Mismatched earrings from Miss I.
- Upcoming appt with cousin Zhiyue next week. Haven't spoken to her in the longest while since she came back from Uni in Australia.
- My 1st Christmas present of 2007 from Karen! Which i promptly spent off haha.
- Being able to settle most of what princess needs while there are sales and I am free, even in whale-sized state.
- Ability to meet up with friends.
- Much sleep.

=)

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Objects of desire

I have regressed..
From this set of desires.. to these..




Winnie the Pooh play gym and light up cot mobile(s) from Tomy

Rainforest Musical Mobile and Deluxe Gym from Fisher Price. Basically, their whole Rainforest range is drool-worthy..
Rocker swing from Fisher Price. GAHHHH Fisher Price is evil!! Why is everything they sell so cute??

Bumbo seat with detachable play tray

Why oh why can't we find such nice stuff in Singapore? Bah..

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Super good day!

Wahaha! I'm in a super pleased mood today..

Reason #1: Anti-Hor-Sin Anointing!
Its been raining on and off all day long for the past few days. Usually, I'm the kind of person who is a "Hor Sin" (雨神) - wherever I go, rain clouds will follow. But today, I REPELLED the rain clouds! Yeah!

a. The rain started JUST AFTER I picked my mum from Harbourfront. Thank God for that else she would be wet and sick after boat trip back from Batam on the choppy seas.
b. It rained on the way back to Upper Thomson.
c. BUT! The rain stopped as we reached my place. Managed to get into my place totally dry and unloaded stuff for about 10 mins.
d. It rained JUST AFTER we got back on the car to travel to Yew Tee.
e. The rain stopped as we reached Yew Tee and unloaded more stuff.
f. It started raining again JUST AFTER my mum pulled the last bag into the void deck of our Yew Tee house. By the time I finished parking car in the multi-storey carpark, it was raining cats and dogs. But again, totally dry because there's a walkway connecting carpark to my block.

All the "just after" are literally within 1-2 minutes. Wow.. Looks like my anti-hor-sin anointing only covers a very small area..


Reason #2: Aunty saves money!
I really feel more and more aunty everyday. Became a bargain hunter extraordinaire during this Holidays. I mean, who can resist 50% off sale? Somemore I was armed with a Mothercare voucher from Karen.

So of course ZHAM lah!!

Presenting the fruits of my shopping:

3 super sweet tops.. Quite unisex looking but its a welcome change from all the pink stuff.

3 pants to match the above tops! 2 long pants & 1 short pants.

See what I meant by pink stuff? Even though 2 of the tops are neutral colour, the detailing is still in pink..

2 long pants to match the above. Can't see the one below in pic, but it's brown with (guess what) PINK details..

And for these 11 items, I paid a grand total of.. $26!! Wahaha!
I was so happy I immediately smsed G about it. Poor bemused husband must have been like "OK, whatever".. He has no aunty instincts at all. But the quality is really super good.. Can wear for long long kind. And according to Tiffany, their sizes are quite big so you can wear beyond the stated age/weight range for quite a while.

Thank you Karen! You have really been a blessing.. I will ask my girl to give you a thank-you kick next weekend OK?

Countdown, another 12 weeks more.

The reality of being a mum is coming closer and closer every day. Time seems to fly so fast now. I think I'm still in "denial mode".. oh dear. But I've officially stepped into my 3rd trimester already.. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!

___________________________________________________

My colleagues who are also expecting their first babies were telling me they are having so much fun buying stuff for baby.
I was like "fun" ?
Gosh!

To me, I see more things to spend money on.
I've always been a very "controlled" spender, who can walk into 10 shops to compare prices before finally deciding on 1 shop to go to and buy. I will even surf online to see if I can find it cheaper anywhere. Especially at this season, where many shops are having sales, a 10% vs 15% vs 20% vs 25% discount really makes a difference for the big ticket items.
But this same habit causes me to be very "sian" at the moment, because I will drag my whale-sized self all over the place to look at stuff, and drag the same whale-sized self back to the "best" place to buy and lug all the stuff home. Mostly all by myself because there's no school at the moment, so I go during afternoon times when there is no one else free to go with me (and no one else clogging up the stores BWHAHAHA. Advantage of being a teacher.)

I also lug home magazines and books on parenting from the library. Ugh..
Sigh.. How can such laborious things be fun??

___________________________________________________

These are the things I've been praying for the last few months. Warning, lots of biological terminology ahead..

Me

Cervix: Remain long and closed and keep baby safe for the whole duration of pregnancy; ripen between the 38th - 39th weeks, and efface and dilate efficiently during labour.
Uterus: Be strong and sturdy; have efficient contractions to push her out.
Perineum: Be elastic and do not tear. No episiotomy required.
Body: No water retention throughout pregnancy.
Heart: Cope well with increased blood flow.
Breasts: Develop ducts and flow well for lactation. Able to produce more than enough milk for baby's needs. No blocked ducts.
Skin: No stretch marks to develop.
Fats: GO AWAY!! Stay far far away! (runs screaming from the fats)

Her:
Placenta:
Provide good nourishment and stay firmly attached to wall of uterus. Move to a good position so that natural birth can occur. Detach easily from the uterus after baby is delivered.
Cord: Be of perfect length, not wound around her neck, and not be compressed. Do not prolapse.
Amniotic sac and fluid: Be of the right amount to cushion baby and allow for free limb development, do not rupture prematurely, especially do not rupture in the middle of the night and ruin my mattress!
Body position: Be head straight down and engaged by the 36th week. Birth weight of between 3-3.5kg.
Head: Be well formed and well proportioned, but small enough to pass through the pelvic girdle. No cephalo-pelvic disproportion. No need C-section.. AMEN!
Brain: Develop perfectly. Have the right amount of fluid, and all brain tissues in the right proportion.
ENT system: Ears, nose and throat to develop perfectly. Ducts form correctly.
Eyes: Well formed, perfect eyesight.
Body: Well formed, trunk and limbs in good proportion.
Limbs: Well proportioned, muscles to develop strongly. Digits to function perfectly.

Monday, December 10, 2007

笨事

Me: Its raining. Can you help me drive my car over to the sheltered area please?

YW: OK.

Me: (spends 5 minutes describing car make, model and exact location)

YW: Is it heavy?

Me: (puzzled) No, my car is not heavy.

够笨吗?


More 笨事:
A few weeks ago, when Pst Ulf was preaching.
The guest singer, Carola, was with him..

I just cannot resist but make jokes about her name.. Cos I thought it was spelt "Corolla".

Is her surname = Toyota?
And her siblings names = Wish?

The best part came when we were discussing the duty.
Because I wasn't on duty that weekend, I heard this second hand.
Apparently, Carola likes to eat bananas. So, she asked for bananas, which was transmitted over the net.

But when Alan was describing "Carola wants bananas", I heard "GORILLA wants bananas" instead.. And I blurted that out to the whole table..

They all couldn't stop laughing for the next 5 minutes solid.

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Home Sweet Home

Jurong West church is truly a place of anointing.

To see it hustle and bustle with the crowds of people attending the service there, I felt like the building has truly regained its life and its purpose. There is something just so different in the atmosphere there. You just cannot help but feel at home.

Like Rev Dr John Avanzini preached, the building is a living building because every chair, every inch of carpet, has been bought with the sacrifices of the people.

Only 2 services held there so far, and both are bursting at the seams with eager people.

I love JW... I love Your house, it's where Your glory dwells.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Dinner at Juan's


Dinner at Juan's house aka the Abode of the Domestic Goddess, 03-12-2007.

In attendance: G, me, Matt, Rachel, little Alethea, Hongye and Juan. Min maintained a silent, invisible hovering presence due to her being ill.

Time: 07:30pm. Received a call from Juan asking where are you? Turns out she had timed her cooking to be all fresh and piping hot when the guests arrived at, supposedly, 7.30pm. Wow. Fortunately, G and me were just downstairs.

Dishes:
1. Fried cabbage
2. Chicken fried with button mushrooms


3. Mushroom omelette
4. Prawns fried with tofu and 荷兰豆
5. Papaya and white fungus soup
6. Potato and ham au gratin

You can tell which were my favourite dishes. Heh.

Dessert was corn hoon kueh, which we forgot to take a picture of, so here's a picture of a similar looking one, courtesy of bakingmum:

Replace the pisangs with corn, and you get the idea of what our dessert looked like!

Although we managed to polish off most of the dinner, we were just too stuffed by the time it came to hoon kueh. So we each got to da bao some home (yayness!)

Alethea approves of her dinner!

Evening was rounded off with wine (from G) and chocolates (from Matt), followed by a very sleepy and well-fed bunch making their way home.

All thanks to Juan for the hard work and hours of preparation!

She is loved (2)

More stuff.. from Ivory!
The box is so cute can?? Look through the little heart shaped hole to find..

Bwahaha! A short-sleeved tee that proclaims LAO BAN NIANG really loudly.. and a pair of crocheted shoes!
Enhance! Close up on the shoes! woo..

Heh and before you sniff at un-loving me, I also bought her stuff!

Sweet green dress.. dun knoe why it looks kind of whitish in the picture. This is the only thing I am un-paisay to put up, since everything I else I bought is so plain and utilitarian.

Sunday, December 02, 2007

What a way to say it!

"He writes the worst English that I have ever encountered. It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of the dark abysm of pish, and crawls insanely up the topmost pinnacle of posh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash."

- H.L. Mencken on
Warren G. Harding

The Inefficient Bus Service

The Inefficient Bus Service truly merits the "I" in their name.

Not only are they Inefficient, they are also
Incapable of adhering to timetables,
with buses that operate Independent of the needs of the population,
running on Indeterminate schedules that are completely
Inconsistent.

Grr!!

5.45pm, bus stop opposite Far East Plaza.

One of those newfangled stops that have electronic announcements of bus timings.
Time to next 2 167s: 13mins, 19 mins.
20 mins later, time to next 2 167s: 5 mins, 8 mins.
The next time I look up, time to next 2 167s: 30 mins, 37 mins.
OMG the bus drivers got Raptured and I got Left Behind.
Decided to take the 162 which came and change to another bus at Thomson instead.
Lo and behold, when I alighted 162 at Thomson, 167 was right behind.
(Rejected from the Pearly Gates, maybe?)

Time reached home: 7.00pm.
Sigh.

Saturday, December 01, 2007

My life in numbers

95 - The number of days more (OMG OMG OMG!)
52 - The weight I want to be after
37 - The size I hope my feet will remain so I can still wear my beloved high heels
28 - The waistline I want to get back
19 - Total number of rompers + short sleeve tops + long sleeve tops + pants + dress people have bought her
6 - The number of months I give myself to achieve the 52kg and 28 inches
3 - Number of maternity tops I've bought myself
2 - Number of maternity dresses and pants I've bought myself (ohh the restraint)!!
1 - One kid, and so many things!