Bleeding Love

First heard this song before it was released a week ago on X-Factor and I like it very much. The singer, Leona Lewis, is the winner of previous year's X-factor (UK's version of American Idol). I missed the finals as I was in Singapore. I'm glad she won because she has an amazing voice in the likes of Celine Dion and Mariah Carey and had performed consistently well throughout the competition. This year's X-factor is on again but I don't have a favourite yet. I think this is because I had not been following the show every week and instead, the whole family had been watching Strictly Come Dancing which is telecast at the same time as X-Factor every Saturday which is totally annoying.

A year older

Today's the birthday of Adrian, Sharon's darlings Sharwyn and Shaynnen and the husband of my good friend, Anne. Another day which I know whom many share the same birthday is my birthday. I share it with my father-in-law, Adrian's uncle and Anne's son. Yes, the same Anne. Here are 2 posters designed especially for the girls at the request of Sharon.

Here are my wishes for the birthday girls and men:

May your day be filled with blessings

like the sun that lights the sky

And may you always have the courage

to spread your wings and fly!

Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus
Main Entry:Tyrant
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: dictator
Synonyms: Hitler*, absolute ruler, absolutist, authoritarian, autocrat, bully, czar, despot, dictator, inquisitor, martinet, oppressor, slave driver*, strong man

It's not going to happen

It's been finalised. We won't be utilising our free tickets afterall. For the past couple of days, we were on the wait list for the inbound trip to Hong Kong. We managed to get seats on the morning flight outbound but no seats coming back. As the complimentary tickets need to be issued together with the London to Singapore tickets, there was no way we could wait any further since the tickets need to be issued at 5pm today. The travel agent had been really helpful and suggested that we book the next available flight home which is on the 27th and be on the waitlist for the day we want to return which is on the 21st. After paying for the penalty for cancelling our UA flights and take up the other offer, we'll save almost S$500. But the risk is we may not be able to get any seats to come back before the 27th which is a big 'no, no'. We want to spend Christmas with the girls and are not interested in staying in Hong Kong for so many days. As for going somewhere else, that's not feasible too since the place I'll really like to go to is Bangkok. Adrian's not interested in going to so many places and my sisters are all going there in the next 2 months. Furthermore, I will be in Singapore for only 3.5 weeks and after minusing the days in HK, will not have mcuh time left. So there you go, it's a waste I know but that's the choice we made.

New toy

Perplexing

I just don't understand at all. There is this person I know who says the worst things about his partner and apparently nothing about this woman is good. So why on earth doesn't he leave her? Plain stupid or what? Then there is another person who can't wait to leave a relationship but is stuck. Who shall I help?

Argh!

Rang up my travel agent to pay for my airtickets to Singapore. AND! She told me there's a new promotion which entitles us to free tickets to Asia. AND! This is when I've already booked my Hong Kong tickets!!!! Now trying to check if my UA tickets are refundable. AND! This is annoying!

Update: UA tickets nonrefundable :-----( ......only consolation is all morning SIA flights to HK are fully booked, so are the evening flights back. Qi, Cat, wanna go Bangkok? I was originally going to Bangkok, is it meant to be afterall?

Rui Xin's turning one!

My friend, KC, will be throwing a first birthday party for her daughter, Rui Xin, tomorrow. It's hard to believe the sweet little baby I first met last December is turning one in a few days. Can I say when she was a newborn, she looked so dainty and pretty. Now that she's no longer a baby but a little girl, she looks ever so cute and adorable. I'm sure her daddy who's doing a course in London is missing her lots! KC asked me to design a poster for her party and I'm glad I managed to send her the file just in time for printing. Have a great party tomorrow and Happy 1st Birthday to the sweetie pie!

HK trip confirmed

So the air-tickets to Hong Kong had been booked. I can finally heave a sigh of relief. I'd been searching airline sites and travel agents to get a good deal. Unfortunately, most flights are fully booked. It's the year end season and school holidays so many people will be travelling and now that it's mid-October, I'm not surprised. The only available seats were the ones with undesirable flying time such as leaving late in the day and coming back early in the morning. It was pure luck that I managed to get 2 tickets from United Airlines. Travel agents had told me they were all fully booked but I managed to find availabilities on our preferred days of travel at the airline's website. The best thing is we'll be leaving at 6.50am and coming back at 8.40pm. Singapore Airlines is cheaper but I can't get the time I want. You gain some, you lose some. Hotels! We plan to utilise Adrian's accumulated points and stay at Holiday Inn. I was looking for good deals for Langham Place but couldn't find any. The hotel's really nice and in a superb location. Too bad then, we will most likely stay at Holiday Inn. I can now finally continue with my poster design for KC. (Sorry for the delay) The girls had been off school the whole week (they were down with HFMD) and I didn't have much spare time after doing all the research. A big thank you to mum and dad for sponsoring our trip! I'm sorry Adrian prefers HK to Bangkok.

Mei Mei Singing

These 2 mandarin songs are especially for Porpor.

Big relief!

Remember I wrote in a post recently that I will blog about the reason for going back to Singapore? Some of you may be speculating I could be preggie with No. 3. Yes? No? Nope! Last week, I went for a breast examination. I had been referred by my GP to a breast clinic as I had complained of pain in my right breast. This pain had come and go for the past few months. After a consultation, I went through an ultrasound scan, followed by a scary biopsy as the scan showed several lumps. I knew I was going to have a scan but never once did it occur to me that I could be going through a biopsy. A small cut was made to the area where the lumps were found after local anaesthetic was applied. I didn't look at what the doctor was doing (best to look away) but I could feel some pushing and nudging, the nurse pressing on the cut to prevent blood flow and then two loud stapling sound!! The whole experience was very frightening. I could feel myself shaking. It was not so much of the pain (felt only a nick) but the whole idea of the doctor removing tissues from me through a cut while I was wide awake was scary enough. (Imagine those of you who went through csec using epidural!). Thankfully, the doctor and nurse tried to distract me by making small talk about my children. At least that took my mind off what was going on in the room then.

To make the story short, the whole experience made me sit up and think. I realised that life is too short and full of uncertainties. (Not trying to sound philosophical here). Not knowing the result was agonising. I remember the first few days after the test feeling worried and scared. I would sit with the girls at the dinning table and while they ate, tears would flow. I thought of the worst (breast cancer) and whether I have to remove them if they turn out to be benign etc etc. I now know what it feels like when my friend had an amnio done to determine if her unborn child had down syndrome. It must have been much worse for her since she had to wait 2 weeks for the results and I waited one. So I thought if given the opportunity, I should go back to spend time with my family and friends.

Opportunity. Several weeks back, Adrian had suggested I utilise his free ticket to go back this December. I asked 'what about the girls then?'. One option was to bring one and he looks after the other. Not fair I thought. Another was I go back alone for 2 weeks while he cares for both girls. Not realistic since he won't be able to get any work done and I think he'll end up resenting me. All 3 of us go? Can't afford. So we abandoned the idea altogether until last week that is. My sisters have kindly offered to sponsor our tickets (we are so fortunate!) and so all 4 of us are going back.

I got my results today. Thank God they are benign and what they call as 'fibroadenomas'. I am also relieved to hear that having them will not increase my risk of developing breast cancer. The doctor had advised me not to have them removed since they are relatively small and going through with the surgery will leave scar tissues behind. I will have a review in 6 months to see if the lumps have grown in size. So ladies, it is important that you check your breasts regularly.

Glutton List

Why is it that I am so obsessed with Singapore's hawker food? The terrible thing about me is that I like to eat yet am scared of a growing waistline. Sounds familiar? Adrian always tells me 'If you're afraid of putting on weight then don't eat. If you want to eat, then don't think about gaining weight'. I believe if you ask every Singaporeans who live abroad what they miss most about Singapore, the likely answer will be 'food'. Saggs, Val, Anna, Sher and Lilian, do you agree? The closest I can get to eating these food is to either drive all the way to Oriental City in London where you can find a foodcourt similar to those in Singapore or try to cook it myself. Both are not ideal since I don't fancy the long drive just to satisfy my food cravings and I'm not good with making my own laksa or char kway teow. What next?

Since I will be going back to Singapore, I have started to compile what I call a 'Glutton List'. Remember I mentioned this site before? Soon, I can go on a 'makan trail' with my family. Oh, the good old days! My father used to drive us round the island to sample food. Now, my girls can come along too. I joked with my sisters that I need to lose some weight before I leave in order to make room for weight gain in Singapore. Ipoh Hor Fun, Hokkien Mee, Rojak, Wanton Mee, Soon Kueh, Bak Chor Mee etc etc etc.......here I come!

See no Evil

One man just came by to pick up a parcel I'm sending back to Singapore (on behalf of my sis). He was kneeling down and filling up some documents while making a phonecall. My girls were next to him. To my horror, (after he had finished with his conversation) I saw that the wallpaper on his phone shows 2 naked women, one's mouth on the other's breast! I quickly moved the girls aside. I think they didn't see anything. If not they would have bombarded me with many questions!!

Home for X'mas

You read it right. We're going back to Singapore to spend Christmas with our family and friends. It was a lastminute decision and we'd just booked the tickets. Some of you had asked me if I was going back this year and I had said 'no' because my sister-in-law is planning a wedding next year so we thought we'll go back then. I'll post the reason for the change of mind in a few days. As compared to last year, I'm really excited and looking forward to going back. In fact, we all are. Adrian was talking about eating hawker food and Louisa had been saying she wants to cycle in the front garden of Porpor's house and hopes that Gonggong will bring her to the market. Like last year, I want to meet up with you lot of nice friends and family. Please spare some time for us, k? We won't be back as long as last year, only from 7th - 31st December. Adrian will only be joining us around the 19th as he wants to get some work done and both of us are trying to squeeze in a short trip to Hong Kong. We used to visit HK about twice a year and the last trip was 6 yrs back. So we're really hoping the trip will materialize.

I guess the reason why I'm so excited is because it is the first time in almost 5 years all the sisters (there are 4 of us in case you are wondering) in my family gather again. My youngest sister had been studying in US, I relocated to UK and my third sis came over to London to work for 2 years. Now that the little one (sounds like I'm talking about my own daughter) has started to serve her bond, Jean has gone back to Singapore and I will be returning in December, we can finally have a big reunion! Oh, I can't wait! It's still about 1.5mth away but I've already started packing. Silly you may think but summer's over and rather than box away all the summery frock, I might as well put them in the luggage for our trip!

Lavigne's Jungle Party

The Birthday Cake

Family pic

Goodie Bags

Consolation Prizes for Animal Hunt

Party Food

(photo compliment of Saggs)

Monkey Feeding Station

(Photo compliment of Saggs)

Welcoming Guests

(Photo compliment of Saggs)

Going on an adventure

Guests

(Photo compliment of Saggs)

Binoculars-making station

(Photo compliment of Saggs)

Having another go at feeding peanuts to the monkey.

(Photo compliment of Saggs)

Time to recharge and refuel

(Photo compliment of Saggs)

Saggs and the City and Toady

This lady could have been a so-called 'schizophrenic, chain-saw murderer or con-artist', but she is certainly not! She is in fact one fellow Singaporean whom I 'met' through Offsprings' blog. When I found out she's got the same job as me, ie 'employed' by husband and a manager to the household and kiddo, I was keen to make friends with her. It's nice to know someone from our hometown with a child of the same age. Though she lives in London and doesn't drive, it didn't deter her from accepting my invitation to Lavigne's recent party. I like it when I can feel so comfortable with someone whom I've just met in person. It helps when they are such easy-going people who are humourous as well. This far from dangerous lady even helped me vacuum the room after the guests had left. Saggs' been so kind with her words in her post about Lavigne's party. (By the way Saggs, I cheated with the cake. I bought cake mixes from Sainsbury's and merely added eggs and water before baking them. The only things that were made from scratch were the Malteser Choc Mousse and fresh cream topping. Even the bananas were moulded from ready-made sugarpaste. So yes, I didn't make the cake from scratch). Hop on over to read it and yes, there are lots of photos to see.

Another Singaporean family at the party were Val, Alan and their son Luke. I knew her sometime before Lavigne was born. We were from the same motherhood forum. The first time I met her face to face was at Jeannieve's birthday party last December when I went back to Singapore. Her husband's work brought her family here to London a couple of months ago. Again, I thought it'll be nice to have them at the party since Luke's around the same age as Lavigne too. I'm not sure if Luke enjoyed himself because he was napping in the car and was woken up. I certainly hope that he wasn't overwhelmed by the number of people present and that Val and Alan didn't feel left out as I didn't manage to spend enough time with them. (Sorry, Val!)

The most amazing thing is Sagg's hubby, Dennis and Alan were from the same school and cohort. Is this world small or what?

To these two wonderful families, I thank you for making the effort to attend Lavigne's party even though you don't live near the area. It's nice to be able to speak in Singlish and Mandarin with my fellow Singaporeans again.

It's Over!

Lavigne's party that is. In my opinion, it went really well. Though it was alot and I really mean ALOT of work, it was all worth it. Adrian was thankful he has only 2 children. Too bad we ran out of time to play all the games. There were too many children and we simply took too long to complete one of the games. Oh well! I am just glad the children were entertained and there was enough food to go round (too much for the adults in fact!). Unfortunately, the photos taken with my camera were mostly blurred. I'm trying to 'steal' from others, especially Saggs. So now that I have nothing much in the pipeline other than helping Sharon design 2 posters, I'll be back with tons of photos!

Can't say 'No'

Now's Thursday night and Lavigne's party is in 3 days. I'm almost done with the goodie bags, shopping for food and other preparation. Then I received a call. One of her schoolmate's mum rang me and asked if it's still alright for her son to come. My answer? 'Of course he can! If he's interested and keen to come, yes, please do.' How can I possibly say 'no' to her? I certainly don't want to disappoint a little boy. Furthermore, any parent may think it's just one extra person so it won't make a lot of difference to the preparation. But! I had only taken into account the confirmed list of guests coming when making the goodie bags and stuff. I didn't make many extras, only one(!!!). My intention was to prepare 2 or 3 other extras (just a simple bag with some treats) for siblings of guests who may turn up. Now that all my 20 goodie bags are taken up, I have no extras for even one guest who may turn up without RSVP. Adrian was asking me today if anymore are coming since there were a couple who had only confirmed they are coming recently. I was thinking it was not likely since it's so close to the date. Apparently in UK, the traditional party is for parents to leave the children behind and they will pick them up when it ends. But I thought 3-4yr olds are still quite young so I encouraged parents to stay. Some parents will be bringing their other children, some are bringing spouse. I really hope I'll pull through this one. On a brighter note, the weather forecast for Sunday is quite good. Hope it stays that way. 2 Singaporean families are coming (fab!) all the way from London. One I know and have met before, the other's an online friend. Isn't Internet a wonderful thing?

I H.A.T.E. mealtimes

Even though I've taught the girls not to use the word 'hate' and instead use 'dislike', I really hate the girls' mealtimes with a vengeance. More of Lavigne's than Louisa's. You see, I have to keep telling them to 'eat', 'sit properly', 'get back on your chair', etc etc etc. Lavigne fidgets alot. She will have her legs up on her chair, or she'll face the back of the chair or worse still go onto her bicycle or scooter in the middle of mealtimes. I've tried many methods. Bribing - 'if you finish you meal, you will get to eat _____', stickers as housepoints, setting a reasonable time for her to finish (health visitor said 20min is more than enough, I give her 45min), no food/snacks threats or simply taking her food away. I get so stressed up at the dinner table. I'd have finished with my food and then just sit there and nag. A waste of my time and energy. I'd been asked before what's wrong with feeding them. Simple answer. One's 3 and the other's 5! They are no longer babies. No way am I going to feed them! If they fidget and are not interested in eating, then perhaps they are not hungry. Once we start spoon feeding them on a regular basis, they will rely on that and won't eat themselves. I worked so hard to get Lavigne to self feed eversince she turned one so I will not go back to those spoon feeding days. They don't get to snack much in between meals. I'd already reduced their snacks to just fruits or one or two biscuits. I don't know what's the problem. Apparently, I'm not alone. Some of my friends are facing the same problem.