Happy Boss Day

On Tuesday, 16 Oct, while driving to work, I overheard on radio that it’s Boss's Day on this day.
Upon reaching the office, I spoke to a few of my department colleagues and we decided to bring our Boss out for a lunch.

After doing some research, we got this recommendation from a colleague from another department – PS Café.

Her recommendation was good. When we reached the place, all of us were like “mountain tortoise”…because everyone was saying – they don’t know there is such a café hidden in the woods.

We ordered 2 salads as starters – Beef & Tuna salad and both the salads were really good.

For our main course, we ordered our own portion and I think it was a mistake. The portions that they served were BIG.

Main courses that we had – club sandwiches, steak sandwich, Fish & chips & an Udon broth.

All the food was very well done and tasteful and because the serving was big, we had no more space in our stomach to try the desserts, which looks really good. We had made plan to return for desserts….heehee.


Happy Bosses Day to my GM.

Tag : 2 Things about me

LZmommy share this tag with me...

Two names you go by: astee & ah cheng-jie jie (by all my younger cousins)

Two things you are wearing right now: wedding ring and my one & only dress watch - Guess.(bought from san francisco airport - duty free )

Two things you would want (or have) in a relationship: Romance & Honesty

Two things you like to do: Baking & going to Gym

Two things you want very badly at the moment: Good Full Body Massage & Lost Weight

Two things you did last night: Iron clothes & watch a variety programme on CH8

Two things you ate today: bread & slice of mooncake

Two people you last talked to: Anthea & Anders (while walking to school)

Two things you’re doing now: Planning for lunch & doing this tag

Two Favorite Day of the week: Saturday & Sunday

Two Favorite Holidays: Chinese New Year & New Year Day

Two favorite beverages: Latte & Cuppacino

Two things about me! Things you may have known: True Blue Hainanese & Food Lover

Two jobs i have had in my life: Vacation Planner & Inbound Tour executive

Two movies i would watch over and over: Annie & Mama Mia(the play)

Two place i have lived: Sembawang & Ang Mo Kio

Two of my favorite foods: Homecooked Hainanese rice & chicken pie

Two places I’d rather be right now: SPA resort & GYM

Two person I would like to tag : Nobody & Anybody (i think by now, most of the people that i know have been tagged on this)

Tag : 任意门

This tag is a very creative one by Angie and i need to take a few days to ponder over it before deciding on the place that i want to be.


******************Start Copy******************
1. Dokodemo Door (任意门) literally means "Anywhere Door", and is a gadget that is often used by Doraemon and his friends, which allows the users to travel to anywhere simply by walking through the door.


2. Strictly speaking, the dokodemo door doesn't allow the user to travel to other dimensions or fantasy worlds, in this tag the taggee is free (and encouraged) to choose your favourite place from any world that exists in any books or movies, fiction or otherwise.


3. Choose your desired destination that you'd like the dokodemo door to bring you to, and indicate why you'd like to go there.


4. Forward this tag to whoever you'd like to extend this magical journey to.
******************End Copy******************


For me, i would like to experience the world of 大长今.


The reason being she is a real Heroine of her time.


I love her romantic link to 闵政浩. ( 帅呆了!!). Wish i can be in LOVE again.. : )



Of course being a food lover, i am especially attracted to all the Korean specialities that were prepared in the show...yummy!




Last but not least, it is not easy to overcome so many obstacles in life and in 大长今, i know nothing is impossible.

Okie, i am done and would like to share this tag with :

1. Jean
2. Jamie

Enjoy the tour, ladies..

Our Hari Raya Weekends

For the last 3 years when Siti, our helper, was with us, Hari Raya is a BIG Affair for the family. We will usually bring her out for a good lunch during this special day and she will dressed up pretty in the Baju Kurung that we bought for her...sweet memory.


This is the 1st year we DID NOT celebrated Hari Raya. On Saturday, i cooked a simple meal of prawn noodle soup for lunch. While the children were napping, i took a nice & relaxed swim by the pool nearby. I like Public pool on a public holiday - no crowd and plus it was drizzling.. : P

Dinner was with our extended family at a new discovered Teochew restaurant - Mong Hin Teochew Restaurant. Nice home cooked spread with a bottle o good white wine. I told adrian that ever since i married his family, i have been eating a lot of TEOCHEW cuisines..hehe. One fine day must learn to cook some speciality.


Aunty SK recently tour Hokkaido and she shared with us some goodies from Hokkaido. I brought some for my extended families to sample. My parents in law will be going for their Hokkaido tour in December. They can help to buy back nice goodies stuff.



Today Adrian is back to work, so i am home alone with the 2 children. In the morning, we had breakfast at the market place and then brought them to the playground for them to sweat it out. The children had a good nap in the afternoon.In the evening, we had Macdonald's for dinner.


Today i missed the opportunity to do an assignment for an event company because of Adrian's work. What a pity. I have always enjoyed doing this kind of major event during my days in the Travel Industry. Even after i left the industry, my closed friend will still invite me to join her on ad hoc basic.

Tag : Autograph Book

This is my 1st tag from Angelcow aka Angie and i know there will be more to follow..hee. As what Angie mentioned on her blog, the tag reminded her of those school days where everyone had an Autograph Book for friends to sign on when you are leaving the school for the next phase of life.

My deepest impression of a well known autograph verses is:

Roses are red
Violet are blue,
Sugar are sweet
& so are you...(this mean me lah...haha.)

Here goes the tag:

#1 What is your favourite movie?
Annie

#2 Who is your favourite singer?
Group - ABBA

#3 Which song gets you grooving in the morning?
Dancing Queen by ABBA

#4 What is your favourite fruit?
Durian

#5 Who is your best friend (excluding your family)?
wow..i am stuck with this.. : P

#6 Name one activity you would like to indulge in, in your free time.
Spa Massage

#7 When was the last time you laughed so hard till your sides hurt?
Recently was watching the Chinese drama serial - Passion & what.

#8 Do you recall your last dream?
No..because always day dreaming..hee/

#9 What is your all-time favourite hobby?
Baking

#10 When was your last holiday without the children?
15 to 18 August 2007 - KL/Sunway Lagoon

I want to share this tag with the following mommies:

1. Idy
2. Joyce
3. LZmommy

Farewell Lunch @ Man Fu Yuan - Intercontinental Hotel

One of our colleague from another department will be leaving the company and her last day of work is this Friday.

Together 5 of us went for a lunch in "celebration" of her farewell.

Thanks to my MIL once again, we managed to have a good dim sum lunch at Man Fu Yuan at Intercontinental Hotel. My MIL bought the hotel membership with the Priority group and she named me as a supplementary holder. So for this lunch, i am entitled to a 20% discount + using the $40 vouchers + a Complimentary Chocolate cake + an In-house White wine...so we had quite a feast.

The dim sum here is very good. The ingredients are all freshly prepared and all done to the best taste. We had a wonderful time with the food and the chat.

As we were too full after the dim-sum, we brought the cake back to the office and also the white wine (which i will share with my extended families during our next makansutra).

We had coffee at Starbuck cafe after our lunch and it was my 1st time trying a Green Tea Latte - Verdict is not too bad.

On our way back from the hotel to office, one of my colleague recommended that we go by a muffins shop in Sunshine Plaza to try the muffins, she said they are really good. When we went to the shop, i can smell the strong aroma of chicken pie and true enough, the shop sells chicken pies too. I overheard a customer talking to the shop owners and realised that they are "suki" too - means they are Hainanese. I started to conversed with the owners in our language and they were pleasantly surprised. I bought a chicken pie (left 1 only) and 6 muffins to try. (hmm..soon, i will become a muffins expert at the rate that i am discovering muffins over Singapore..haha.)

Along the way back, we made another stop at the famour Curry puff shop -SELERA FAMOUS CHICKEN CURRY PUFF. My colleague bought some snacks and our car was load with smell of pies / puffs & goreng pisang.

We had tea break in the late afternoon but i didn't managed to sample anything as i was still full from the lunch. Will try the muffins for tomorrow breakfast and chicken pie will be my lunch after my workout..hehe : P

In the evening, i passed some chocolate cakes to my parents in law, hopefull they will like it, which i think they will.

Another nice makan outing with my colleagues and also getting to know new foodies place.

Sacrifices..

Last night after dinner, Anthea requested with nai nai that she wanted to sleep over at her house. Sensing that MIL is tired from her day work and the whole day event, i told Anthea to go home to sleep, so nai nai can have a good night rest.

While on our way back in the car, Adrian told Anthea that by helping to make things easier for all of us, she will get to chose which swimming pool she would like to swim on Sunday. She was quite happy after hearing this. She chosed Safra Mouth Fable, so this morning adrian fetched both MIL and Anthea to the pool. He forego his badminton session and spend time reading his notes while waiting for them.

Now with the new weekends logistics arrangement, there are a lot of sacrifices we have to make. Sometimes as a mother, i feel sad to see her faces this kind of disappointment. However, i know this will slowly but surely build up her character and understanding - in life, we don't always get what we want. As a consolation - Anthea is now looking forward to the 2o Oct weekends as MIL assured her that she can get to spend time over at her place.. : )

Today dinner was supposed to be at Clark Quay, however, around 4pm, we got sms that venue was changed to Raffles City. My parents in law brought the new baby to Raffles City to walk around as the AMK HUB was too crowded..hehe.

Like i said, when thing change - there is always negative & positive sides to it. Negative side is since it is Thai cuisine, Anthea and Anders could not really take much of the food as most of them are hot & spicy. So we packed our own dinner for 2 of them. They had a bowl of fish maw soup with their dinner.

As for the positive side - we managed to buy some fruits that were required for Anthea Class project for this coming week.

Also, we bought DONUTS from donut factory...hee...no Q. Got them in less than 10 minutes.



Met a friend earlier who also bought a box of donuts, asked her how long she Q for them, she said : "1 Hour...".

Are we so lucky !!!

Newbies Day...

In the morning after cooking the fish porridge for lunch, we went to NTUC to stock up some of our groceries.

Also at the same time i was planning to change my current Nokia 6020 to a new mobile. Both my Sil's are now using the Nokia E65 model with comes with the WLAN function, this is useful when you have wireless at home. I was contemplating to get one too. After much consultation with the Hello Shop assistant, i finally bought a Nokia 6120 Classic. The main reason is budget..hee : P



With my discount voucher and trade in, i only need to pay a balance of $38 compared to $208 if i were to buy the E65. Now i am a happy owner of a new mobile. This new mobile has many functions and i am slowly learning all the new gadgets. The shop assistant was of good humour, when he took over my old mobile, he asked me to bid my phone GOODBYE : P

In the evening, Aces family had dinner with Ye ye and Nai nai. MIL had been following the HDB Tai Tai variety show and the latest show, the hosts (Chen Liping & Kym Ng )recommend a chinese restaurant Tian Jing Restaurant @ 80 Pagoda Street (天津楼). MIL suggested that we tried this place.

So we made a reservation for dinner at this restaurant. It was a 2-storey shophouse amid chinatown shopping area.

We ordered the set menu for 4 persons. It included their specialities :
- Seafood soup in coconut
- special spareribs
- scallops with brocoli
- fried rice with crab meat
- Hashima with red dates
(there was also a special stuffed chicken wings but was sold out)

The food was really good - the spare ribs was done until so tender that one bite will bring the meat out, both anthea and anders had a good times with the ribs.

Seafood soup in coconut was also a hit with the children. They were very generous with the seafood and Anders was happily eating all the prawns while anthea was busy scrapping the coconut meat. One soup is enough to make a full meal..hehe.

Then the fried rice with crabmeat was not a "crab". The fried rice was really FULL of real crab meats. We managed to finished the 2 plates of friend rice. It was really amazing as everyone was already quite filled up after the soup. My MIL was commenting we were like doing the show when we kept saying: "wow...so much crab meats"..haha. Just like what Aiyo-yo said in the show. The dessert was hashima cook with red dates.

During dinner, parents in law also shared more insights of their current properties market situation with us. My parents in law are very shrewd investors and i looked upon them. Hopefully one day, i can be like them, then i can really become a FT homemaker. Another of my many daydream...: )

We finished our dinner almost near to 9pm. We took a stroll along Pagoda Street and turn around at Temple Street. My main purpose is to buy the famous 味香园 desserts. I bought 1 almond paste and 1 walnut paste back home. MIL also bought 1 yam paste.



While walking back to the car at Chinatown point, we saw some "cycle-packers" and we were pretty amazed at their super high bicycles with all their travel staff.


We reached home about 10 pm. After changing the children, i tried the Almond Paste. It was really very good. So far, it's the best that i had eaten. Adrain ate the walnut and he said it was very smooth. Hmm...i will definitely go back for more.

It was a wonderful day of New Mobile/ New Discovery / New taste and i know we are on the road to more NEW discoveries.

Feasting @ Café Brios...Again...

Recently at work, my colleague renewed her internet contract with Pacific Internet. For this renewal, PI gave us a $300 Harvey Norman vouchers. My General Manager decided to do a mini department lucky draw and guess what … he drew my NAME…so I was the Lucky Winner.

The previous lucky draw winner bought department lunch for all the colleagues; so needless to say, I will have to buy lunch for my colleagues as well.

So on Wednesday, I brought them to lunch at café Brios @ Grand Copthrone Waterfront for the Buffet Lunch.

Seem like this is the 1st time that all my colleagues were here and they enjoyed the food & ambience as well.

The reason why I chose this place is because my MIL has a 50% discount vouchers for this restaurant, so it was a HUGE Savings for me…hehe. (Thanks Mom.. : )

Now, I will have to start looking around in Harvey Norman and see what to buy with the vouchers. (or if anyone interested to buy over at a discounted rate.. )

Happy Childrens Day !!

On Monday, 01 Oct 2007, it was children's day. Most of the childcares were closed for the day. However, the childcare that Anthea and Anders attended was opended and it even organised a small party for the children.

Children were advised to go to school in their home clothings for the day, so both Anthea and Anders were very happy and excited. In the morning, Anthea hurried me to get ready for school. If only everyday is like this...hehe.

When we reached the school, most of the children were there and all dressed in different colors and styles. It was quite a nice view. There were balloons all over the place and i knew the children were going to have a good time.

This is Anthea and Anders 1st Children Day Celebration in this new childcare. End of th day, both came home with load of presents from the teachers.

Anders Presents :
1. Mrs Deva - Color pens with small note book
2. Zhang lao shi - A Packet of Biscuit
3. Teacher Jessie - a Looney Toon Tee-shirt
4. Ms Alice - Toy cars
5. Luo lao shi - toothbrush set

Anthea Presents:
1. Mrs Deva - Color pencils
2. Luo Lao shi - Toothbrush set

Her english teacher, Ms Valentine, has been on medical leaves and so she did not get any prezzies from her.

Even the school aunties bought some sweets and chocolates for the children. Both of them came home with so many stories and things to share.

Recently, the childcare has given parents a notice of increasing school fees from 2008. One of Anthea classmate's mother called me and asked if i will be making plan for change in 2008. She claimed that the school fees are too expensive and almost equal to private. So her intention was to change her 2 children to those few hours kindergarten and playgroup sessions. Also she is planning to change to Part Time to spend more time with her children.

In the evening i shared with Anthea about her classmate's mother plan to change school. She said: "mommy, i like this school, i don't want to change."

I was happy to hear her comment and i told her that i will not change her school because she will be in K2 and it will be a special year for her and for Aces family too. Also most important, there is a team of dedicated teachers here and also a group of good friends.

May Anthea and Anders have many funfilled Children Day Celebrations!!

Her "Sovereignty"

Since she was borned, Anthea had the 'sole right' to be at parents in law place over the weekends. She enjoyed her weekends playhouse for many years.

Now with the arrival of her cousin, it seem like she had to give up her 'seat' to the new baby on the block...hee.

My mother in-law is unable to handle Anthea and a baby in tow, so she had to asked anthea to come back home when the baby is over at her place. This means her Premiership had ended and she can only go over when opportunity arises.

This morning, my mother in law brought Anthea for her usual sunday swim. Before leaving the house, Adrian and myself had explained to her the current situation, she nodded in agreement with a few tears in her eyes.

Well, when situations changes, there are always 2 side to the change - negative & positive. Negative side - probably she lost all her Free Playtime at my in laws place.

Positive side - Anthea and anders get to spend quality time together as Sister and brother. When anthea is at my in laws place, Anders will be home with me, so his chances to play & talk with Anthea is limited. With the new change, i see them play more together. Of course, there are more bickering around as well... : )

I know Anthea is growing and becoming a sensible little girl. She will understand that at times when situation changes, she will need to learn to adapt to the new arrangement. I am proud that she is taking the change very well.

"Mexican Affairs"

Yesterday, my mom came over to help me clean the house and does the ironing. She usually comes on fridays to help me with some house cleaning. She brewed "ling liang" for us and also brought some nice goodies that my dage brought back from his recent Taiwan business trip.

Today we had simple lunch as we wanted to prepare ourselves for a Mexican Buffet cum BBQ dinner.. : )

My youngest brother in law aka Terence, recently got his bonus, so he decided to give a family treat to Cafe Brio at Copthrone Waterfront Hotel.

The hotel currently has a Mexican theme buffet dinner, so there were some selection of Mexican food. Then there were the usual buffet spread plus the all time favorite - BBQ selections. The BBQ spread are very wide, they had - Tiger Prawns, Steak, Sambal Squid, Corn, Baked Potatoes, Otah and pork.

I enjoyed the kebabs and some other of the mexican food. Anders had his share of the food and he was so happy and said that he wanted to come back again tomorrow..hehe.

The restaurant even engaged Mexican's singers that goes around to entertain diners with their mexican medley. It added a nice ambience to the dinner.

At dessert time, parent-in-laws shared with us their experienced in estate ownership, so we gained more insight and knowleged from their perspective.

Terence also shared with the family that he will be changing his job portfolio, Aces family wishing him the best on his new venture and we look forward to his next treat.. : 0

Anthea was dressing up for the dinner and she wanted some thing to put over her hair. Being an "Idiot "at dressing, i managed to dress her up like this...

Fun Time with Candles

I have very fond memories of my childhood Lantern Festival. I grew up in a semi kampong environment, so neighborhood children knew each other. During the lantern festival, we would all gather together and enjoyed lighting up the candles and walking around with the lanterns in our hands. Some of us will do candles lighting along the roadside and the night scene was so beautiful. While the children played, the adult would sit together, feasting on the mooncake with a cup of good chinese tea. Those were the good old days.

Now with the children growing up staying in HDB area, i told myself, they must still enjoyed the atmosphere of the festival.

So on Tuesday night, after dinner, we took a stroll to Bishan Park. Anthea and Anders were excited when they knew we were going to the park to play lanterns. We reached the park around 8pm, the crowd were there. Many came well equipped - floor mat, mooncakes, drinks and some even came armed with mini BBQ stuff. I am so green with envy when i see all the families gathered around us. They were BIG families - grannies,parents, children and grandchildren. How, i misses BIG family gathering, especially on this kind of special occassion.

Anyway, we started with our 2 small paper laterns and anthea was happily carrying it. Anders was more interested in playing the stick than the candle..hehe.

We walked around and the children were excited to see so many people carrying laterns. We found an empty area where it was empty and we sat down and started to light up candles to decorate the place. Anthea enjoyed it so much. Anders was asking to go to the playground to play sand. Boys..haha.

I was also enjoying the candles as it brought back so much memories. I told anthea - next year we will come with more stuff...hee.

Then we headed for the playground for some sand play before heading home at 10pm.

Another fun time with my children.

Happy Mid Autumn Festival

Read this from the moon cake box of Marriott Hotel -

The Mid Autumn Festival which falls on the 15th day of the 8th Lunar month is a much celebrated Chinese festival.

According to the famous Chinese fable, the legendary archer Hou Yi （后羿) and his kind-hearted wife Chang Er (嫦 娥) was a loving couple. To reward Hou Yi for his heroic deeds, the Goddess of Immortality granted him an elixir of immortality.

One fateful day, the evil and scheming Feng Meng slipped into Hou Yi’s residence to steal the heavenly elixir. To prevent the elixir from falling into the wrong hands, Chang Er swallowed it. Immediately, she found herself drifting skyward towards the moon.

The common folk heard of Chang Er’s sacrifice and flocked to ask for continued peace and showed their gratitude with sweet pastries and fruits.

It is now said that during the Mid Autumn Festival, when the moon is full and at its brightest, you can see the willowy silhouette of Chang Er – now the Goddess of the Moon.

中秋节快乐！！

We will go to the park and check out the moon tonight... : 0

W.O.A

Another Weekends Of Abundance. (Food and Family time)

Saturday, 22 Sep
The menu for lunch was spaghetti and dessert was barley with ginko nut soup. In the morning after a nice breakfast of muffins and cheese tarts, i started preparing lunch.

I enjoyed cooking spaghetti because it is easy. I bought a small packet of fresh button mushroom from a mushroom sale in the company last thursday, so i used them. Ingredients are simple - minced beef, button mushroom, big onions, Prego's traditional spaghetti sauce - makes a simple and nice meal of spaghetti for the family. Of course, there was a side dish of cheese sausages.



Both Anthea and Anders enjoyed it and Anthea even had a 2nd helping.

My mom helped me to prepared the ginko nuts, so it was a step easier for me.The dessert that i prepared was ginko nut with barley (白果腐竹), it was supposed to be good for the lungs and clear heatiness. The weather on Saturday was really hot and the soup came in handy, especially after refrigerated.



Anders enjoyed the soup and had few servings.. : )

In the evening, we went to Costa Sands Pasir Ris for Daddy's company BBQ session. This is the 1st time that Anthea and Anders been to this chalet. They had a whole lot of fun - swimming, BBQ, eating the food, playing around with other children. We left the chalet around 10pm and Anthea was still asking us "why are we going back so early?" She said next time we must organised BBQ, she enjoyed it.



We slept almost near to midnight. An enjoyable family day.

Sunday, 23 Sep
After my routine housework, i told Adrian that i needed to go Harvey Norman to redeem my Lucky Draw vouchers. So we made our way to Millenia Tower for the redemption and also lunch.

We had a simple lunch at the Millenium Food court, the place was quite empty for a Sunday afternoon. Afte that we shopped around in Carrefour and bought some groceries. As usual, Anders had a great time at the Toys section.

We went home for his power nap before meeting the family for dinner. Dinner was at Asia Grand Restaurant at Odeon Towers. Menu were sumptous - Peking Duck (promotion price of $28) , Drunked Prawns, Sweet & sour garoupa, Green vegetable, seafood with melon soup. The food was tasty and both the children enjoyed the "koro-pok" most from the peking duck..hehe.

After dinner, we adjourned to Raffles City for a walk and dessert at Gloria Jean cafe. Just a few shop away is the ever famous Donut Factory, so i took a walk there to take a look at the Q.

I think Lady Luck is on my side, there was NO SNAKE Q...just a handful of people buying. So how can i miss this golden opportunity of 10 minutes Q-ing compared to the norm of 1 - 2 hours.


So needless to say, i bought a box of 12, a good mixtures of different flavors. We ate 2 at the cafe - apple crumbles and double chocolate. Hmm...i must admit - they are delicious. No wonder people Q for them... : P

Shared some with the extended families.

Now i have 6 donuts in the fridge, waiting for us to sample them..yummy!!

Sweet, sweet Sunday.

Tag : Visit from the Genies

I got this tag from Joyce and how timely, tonight is the 5 Million Toto Mooncake Draw, i hope the Genies will meet Change Er and passes her my wish as well... : P



** Start copying now **
Rules:
1. Write a short paragraph about your visit by the two Genies and include a link to the blog that passed on the Genie Symbol to you.
2. COPY the Rules and ENTIRE List below and post it on your blog.
3. List down your wish.
4. Place your name below the last name on the list and pass on the Genie Symbol to at least 5 other bloggers.
5. Please put up either one (or both) of the Symbols of the Genies on your blog to show that the Genies have visited your blog:

The Genie King, the Genie Princess and their trusty Genie Buddy have visited:
Mariuca would like to wish for happiness and success.
Adrian would like to wish for good health and happiness.
Emila would like to wish for happiness and success.
Trinity would like to wish good health for Jan’s brother and
Yah and Wan and successMPG would like to wish for love and peace
Jean would like to wish for stress free work environment and happiness
Cbenc12 would like to wish for health, happiness and luck for my family and friends and me too!
Paris Beaverbanks would like to wish for more publicity! Hooyah! (taps swollen head)
Giddy Tiger would like to wish for longer weekends and never-ending holidays!
Shooi would like to wish for peace on earth, love, good health and happiness.
Chinnee would like to wish for happiness and good health forever!
Hui Sia would like to wish for love, health, wealth and happiness.
Chew Lee would like to wish hubby for a successful business venture in Singapore.
Mama Tang would like to wish for health, wealth, success and happiness for everyone.
Clement would like to wish for the ability to eat without getting fat.
Joyce would like to wish for youth, happiness, good health and prosperity.

Astee would like to win the 5 Million Toto draw and becomes HDB Tai Tai. (Group 2 is good enough)

Welcome aboard the Magical Flying Carpet for the Ride of your Life!Alakazam!
***End Copying Here***

Okie Dokiee, i have done my part and my headache is most of my Bloggers Friends have done this tag..so i have no more person to pass it on...so i shall leave the Genie in the air and whomever would like to get some Genie Dust...please feel free.

Happy Mid Autumn Festival.

She weeps

On Sunday when we were having lunch at KFC in the Zoo, we saw a couple with their 2 daughters.

Anthea saw one of them who is handicapped, she has only one hand. She asked me “mommy, why that jie jie only has one hand, what happens?” she kept looking at the girl.

I explained to Anthea that the girl could have been borne with one hand or when she was young, she could have some illnesses that may cause her to lose her hand.

She kept thinking and asking: “what illness, why is she like that? “

Then Adrian and myself explained to her: “there are people who are less fortunate than us, some of them are handicapped, some are sick will certain illnesses. So we must always be thankful with what we have.”

After that she sat on the chair and seems to be in deep thought. I saw her eyes were tearing. Then tears rolled down her face. I kept quiet for a while and let her weep. After a while, she was okay and managed to enjoy the Zoo tours after lunch.

In my mind, I am thinking to myself. My little baby is maturing and she is beginning to understand feelings. It’s not easy for her to understand it in a day but I hope as she grows, she will learn to accept reality in life with open heart & mind.

Family Outing - Zoo, 16 Sep 2007

Recently we visited the Goat Farm and the children had such fun time that they kept saying they wanted to go to the Zoo and see animals.

As a 二十四孝母亲, i started sourcing around for FREE Zoo passes. My company has corporate card and required balloting, so i submitted my request for the next visit. I started asking family members for their help as well. On Friday, i received bad news - my request for zoo card was rejected. And GOOD New from mother in law, she got the card for Sunday, 16 Sep 2007. I was over the moon when i got the call from her.

On Saturday night, i told Anthea and Anders of our plan to the Zoo trip, subject to weather condition.

This morning it was raining very heavily, so i thought that likely we will need to cancel the trip. However around 10am, the sky started clearing and the rain stopped with slight drizzle. Anthea called from MIL's house to tell us that the rain has stopped.


I told Adrian that we should go ahead since the rain has stopped and also it's not easy for MIL to get the corporate card. Even if it rain later, at least we made the effort.

The decision was rewarded. We had very good and nice weather throughout the 4 hours tours of the zoo. We must thank our guarding angels for listening to our prayers.

When the children reached the zoo, they were so happy and excited. With a map in each of their hand, they started going "ok, i want to see Lion, Zebra, Tiger, Kangeroos and.....", the list just went on.

We managed to watch 2 shows :

1. Animals Friends Show - 12.30 pm &

2. Splash Safari Show - 2.30 pm (this is a new show)

The Wonder of the Wild show has been suspended..not sure if they are changing the program or the Amphitheatre.

We also fed the Manetee aka Sea cow, it was quite interesting. (at least the children had the chance to feed the animals.)

I think because of the good weather, the animals also seem to be more lively and walking around more.

We completed our tour of the Zoo around 3pm and as usual, headed to Ben & Jerry for an Ice cream delight. Both anthea and Anders kept saying they want to come back to see the animals again, so now i am considering signing up as Friends of The Zoo.

We reached home at 4pm and Anders had his power nap.

Now that the children are growing and knowing more about animals, zoo outing is much more fun and educational for the family.

Wheel on The Bus

Anthea and Anders Love to ride on Double Decker Buses. Each time if we take a bus from our home to the interchange, they will want to go upstair if it is a double decker bus.

Today, after clearing my usual house chores, i told Adrian that we can make a trip to Orchard as i need to get some Citric Acid from Tangs. We bought a Zojirushi Airport a few months ago from Tangs, the sales person recommended the acid for cleaning the internal of the airport.

So we decided to take a Bus 132 from AMK to Orchard, when we were at the bus stop, we saw the GPS system and it was really impressived. It show the schedule of buses arriving at the bus stop and it was ON-TIME. So i guess the recent raise in bus fare may be for this purposes. Currently i think only a few town has this GPS system and AMK is one of them.

When we boarded the bus, both of them were very excited and quickly went upstair. It was quite a fun ride for them and also a good yardstick to judge of they can take Coach Tours.. : 0

We alighted at Far East Plaza and took a walk to Tangs. After getting the citric acid, we headed to Republic Food Plaza for lunch. The children had "la mian" and i had beef noodles.

When we were done with lunch, we took a walk to Takashimaya. The children wanted to see toys and i wanted to see the mooncakes sales at the square. I was so glad i went there, i found the famous Hong Kong 恆香老婆餅 selling at the square. I bought 2 mooncakes and a box of 老婆饼.

After buying the mooncakes, i went to the toy section to look for the children and as usual they were having a good time browsing the toys.

For teabreak, we had Macdonalds and they were happily chatting away. We left Takashimaya around 3.30pm for home.

We took the MRT back and it was much faster than the bus.. hehe : )

Anders had his nap, so i stayed home with him for dinner while Adrian and Anthea joined the extended family for dinner.

As there was an Encore telecast of High School Musical 2, i did what i should have done last Sunday - Recorded it.

Tag : My Birthdate in History

Wow..i was just saying in my previous blog that "好事成双" and i got it...hee : )
Tag by LZmommy and IT family.

Here’s the steps:

1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. Type in your birthday and search your birthdate : March 6.
3. From the results, list down 3 events, 2 births and 1 holiday.

Here goes:

3 Events:

1. 1899 - Bayer registers aspirin as a trademark.
2. 1902 - The Spanish football club Real Madrid is founded.
3. 2007 - United States lottery Mega Millions set a new world record for the highest jackpot ever offered of US$390 million.

2 Births

1. 1992 - Momoko Tsugunaga, Japanese singer
2. 1996 - Savanah Stehlin, American actress

(Strange, people who born on this date are either Actress, Singer or Sports person...i should have join Star Search...heee )

1 Holiday :

Ghana - Independence Day (from Britain, 1957)

Okie, i will share this tag with:

1. http://everydayhealy.blogspot.com/

2. Jean

No obligation ...Ladies... : )

FATE....

I am a strong BELIEVER of FATE.

Since young - working life - marriage - children - Fate has played an important part in all these. I know people said Fate lie in your own hand but some of my life happenings could not be controlled by my own hand.

Example : I got retrenched in Dec 2003 when i was expecting Anders. With so many uncertainties plus a new baby coming in March 2004, i knew i needed a job badly. With my condition, no employer will want to employ me.

Fate brought me PT assignment with an Airline as a reservation agent. Then after delivery, i employed a domestic help. Again Fate brought me a Godsend Helper. Then Fate brought me this current job which started as a 4 hrs PT and now flexi hours. So i am very fortunate that all these happenings are to my advantage.

Recently, Fate brought me a new gym membership via my Aunty SK. I went to the gym today and i am very, very motivated.

Last few days, i was contemplating if to order Tung Lok mooncakes via the company special promotion as Adrian wanted to eat them. But if i ordered, the delivery is on 18 sep, a bit too long for him to wait.

Not sure if again Fate is on my side, there was a Mooncakes Bazzar at the Clubhouse when i went for gym and Tung Lok was one of the stores there. I bougth 2 boxes of mooncakes at a very good discount.

Then i smsed Aunty SK as i wanted to give her one box of the mooncakes as my appreciation. Then i realised that she was on Leave till next Monday because of some personal matters. (Aces family wishes cousin HX a speedy recovery.)

I told adrain that if i had not met with her last week means this week i will not be able to go gym and he will not have his mooncakes... : P

FATE !!

New Hairstyle & High School Musical 2 Weekends

As Anthea is recovering from her illness, i decided to kept her home,instead of going for her usual Sunday outing.

In the morning i brought her to my usual salon to have her hair trimmed. I like my current hairstylist as he can trim thick hair well. So i thought of trying Anthea's hair with him.

I told him to keep her lenght as she wanted to grow long hair and to give a layer behind.He was quite fast and cut her hair without any fuss. I was happy with her new hairstyle. Anthea was happy as well but kept saying it's too short... : )

I told her not to worry as her hair will grow and with layering it will be nice.

Disney Channel is premiereing High School Musical 2 today at 7.30pm, so we decided to eat at home and Anthea can watch the show.

Dinner was MacDonald's takeaways and some other good stuff. The children were very happy and kept saying: "we enjoy life."

The Musical was good and i truely enjoyed it. Songs were nice and the dance as usual - very energetic. Finally Troy & Gabriella KISSED...OMG...!!! So romantic.

(not sure if anthea is the one crazy over HSM2 or it it me.. : P )

Anyway, it's another wonderful & relaxing Sunday for the Aces family.

They "Complained"

This conversation took place between Adrian and Anthea on Friday, 07 Sep, on our way home from the Goat Farm.

Anthea : "Papa, we must come again to feed the goat, ok?" (anders was sitting with me and echoing the same).

Daddy: "Anders, you monkey lah...run here run there to feed the goat.." (All laughter in the car.)

Anthea : "Papa, i born what huh? "

Daddy : "you are born in the year of horse"

Anthea : "you leh ?"

Daddy : "i am born in the year of rat."

Anthea : "mommy ? "

Daddy : "Pig."

Anthea : "pig likes to clean house."

(i was listening attentively and when she said this - i was pleasantly surprised.)

Daddy : "yeah, you are right, mommy has been cleaning the house. She seem to be always cleaning the house."

(hmm...excuse me...this sounds like a complaint to me, so i must defense myself.)

ME : "excuse me, if you children don't always lie or play on the floor, do i need to always clean the house ?"

Then there was a silence and afterwhich, they changed to another topics of discussion.

Honestly, i admit i am a bit guilty of "always cleaning the house". I sweep daily and mop alternate days but these are all done for the benefit of the family. Hopefully as they grow older, i can clean lesser ... hee : )

Farm (FUN) Hopping Day

Today is Adrian company's family event. It is open to family members. As he works in a restricted area and it's not a daily affair that the family can visit his workplace. So i know it would be a good chance for Anthea and Anders to see Daddy's workplace.

I took a day off and the children also excused themselves from school. In the morning, we headed all the way to Lim Chu Kang as his camp is right among the woods. There were exhibits of daddy's "toy" at the event. Also, there was a demostration. Anders was totally captivated. Anthea was a bit bored as she was looking forward more for games.

After the main event was over, there were some children event at the "clubhouse". So the children had a good time there and also we had lunch.

When we came in the morning, i noticed that there was a Goat Farm in the vincity, so i was telling the children that we can go and visit the farm.

After lunch, we went in search of the farm and finally found it - Hay Dairies. The children had a very good time at the farm, they fed the goat. When Adrian saw them feeding the goat,he said "we can plan a farm stay in Australia." "definitely, we will do that." i replied him.

Both of them were so busy with the goats , espcially Anders, while feeding them, he would "talk" to them as well... : )

Then after feeding the goats, we drank Goat Milk at the farm.

Just next to the Goat Farm, there is a DragonFruit farm..i was so amazed to see dragon fruit plant. All these while, i only know that dragon fruits are imported from Vietnam. To see the real fruit tree was a TREAT to me. So we bought home some dragon fruits and also dragon fruit drinks.

The children were quite tired by these time so we started headed home. As we drove passed the road, we saw many other farms and plantation. Anthea and Anders kept saying that they want to come back again to feed the goat.

So i believe, we WILL BE BACK !!!

Ready-Set-Go

Since the closing down of the Community Club Gym near my workplace in January 2007. I have been sourcing around for another gym to do my lunch time exercises, but till date, no results.

Places that i had considered :

a) Safra Gym - a bit far and also to join the gym, i have to apply as a Safra spouse members. Also when we viewed the gym, the person in charge told us Safra will be closed for 18 months for renovation. So i did not sign up.

b) ClubFit (sport complex) - too few equipments and a bit crowded at lunch time. So did not sign up.

c) California Fitness - too pricey and also distance a consideration.

Recently a colleague of mine mentioned that there is a gym in a Club house near our office. To join the gym, we need a staff from the organisation to refer us to become a social member.

Lucky for me, Aunty SK works in this organisation, so immediately, i contacted her to ask her for the favor. Without any hesitant, she refers me and today at lunch time, i signed up for the gym. I am very happy to have find this new place as i simply misses my lunch time exercises.

I enjoy my weekly swim but somehow it does not give me the kind of satisfaction as gym.. : )

So next week onwards, i will be able to resume my hobby again. I really thanks my guarding angels for answering my prayers again.

Another good news - California Fitness is having a roadshow at our office next week and they are offering staff a really good Plentinum membership fees for a year. I am considering to sign up... 好事成双...hee : )

Mini Mooncake Bazzar

There is a mini moon cake bazzar in the office today and a few Branded mooncakes were at the event. I bought a box of mooncakes from Raffles Hotel at a good discount of 25%. The packaging is very nice and they have various flavour - Baked mooncakes with Pine Nuts,Macadamia Nuts and White Lotus paste.

Medical Leave Consolation

Anthea was on 2 days medical leaves due to her fever. So on Monday, Adrian took leave to be with her. On Tuesday, Anthea was with Mother in law as MIL is on leave for the week. Usually when there is a school holiday, she will take leaves to be home with my Father in law, he is a teacher.

So yesterday morning around 8 am, she came over to our home and brought Anthea to her place.

At lunch time, I received a call from Adrian, “dear, mom is going to bring Anthea to KK, she said Anthea vomited this morning.”

“Ok, let me call mom and check with her.” So I called my MIL and she asked me if she should bring Anthea to KKH. Checked with her and she said Anthea’s temperature is normal, she vomited after her porridge. So I told MIL to give her the medication and monitor Anthea’s condition. MIL had brought her to the clinic earlier and the GP prescribed her the suppository. I told her if Anthea’s vomit persists, then used that.

When I asked MIL how is Anthea, she said “she is ok, occupied with her game boy…”

Hmm…to be still able to play game boy means her condition is not that bad to rush to KKH. That was my thought.

In the evening, parents in law brought her home; she was back to her usual self. Guess what – she came home with a new game boy cartridge – DORA the Explorer. MIL had bought it for her as a consolation for being sick and home bounded… hehe. I am always grateful that MIL is always showering her Love toward her Anthea & Anders in her own giving way. When MIL was going back, Anthea said "bye bye nai nai, thank you for the game". I am glad she is thankful too!!

We are happy that she has recovered and is bubbly as before. Thanks for all the well wishes.

Anthea's Down

Last Thursday Anthea was running a slight fever, 37.6 degrees, so I gave her paracetamol. As she was active as usual, we did not bring her to the doctor. Her temperature was back to normal on Friday.

Through out Saturday she was still alright. However, after dinner, she vomited a little and started to look a bit down. She slept over at my mother in law place that night.

On Sunday morning, we received a call from my MIL to inform us that she vomited again and was running a fever. So immediately, Adrian went to the clinic where my MIL brought her. Consulted the doctor and she was given Paracetemol and another medication for vomit. Doctor mentioned that it is viral attack. After reading a few mommies who children are sick with viral, I knew she got it too… : (

She rested the whole day and we ate at home. At night, her temperature started to become erratic ranging from 37.8 to 39.8 degrees. At 1 am, I gave her Ibuprofen, fever subsided a little and I kept sponging her.

I kept awake by her side and monitor her temperature every ½ hour. In between, I nap a little as I was also feeling very tired. Honestly when your children run HIGH fever, you can never sleep with a peace of mind.

Adrian slept with Anders as we try to prevent the viral from spreading to Anders.

Today Adrian took a day off to look after Anthea as she is given 2 days of Medical leaves.

Pray hard that Anthea will recover soon and well.