Some pocket money

Adrian and I participated in a couple survey at his college this afternoon. It was for a study conducted by researchers examining how couples make decisions. Firstly, each of us had to choose between 2 options to several questions. Then we had to predict the options that our partners had chosen. Finally, we came together to make a joint decision to the same questions we had answered earlier. Then we were to pick one envelope containing a number to the question and earn money according to the option I had chosen for that question.

For example:

Option one ->If the number you pick from the bag is between 1-20, you will get £40 and your partner will get £40. If the number is between 21-100, you will get £20 and your partner will receive £20.

Option two ->If the number you pick from the bag is between 1-40, you will get £0 and your partner will get £40. If the number is between 41-60, you will get £40 and your partner will get £40. If the number is between 61-100, you will get £20 and your partner will get £40.

All the questions were similar to the above. Apparently, the typical earnings is £20 per person. Unfortunately, the number that we picked was 1. And the option I chose for that question was for any number between 1-100 picked from the bag, I would earn £20 but nothing for my partner. You would have asked why I didn't choose the other option which could earn us more than £20. But for that option, there's a chance that I would pick a number which would see us earning nothing at all. Adrian didn't go away with nothing though. He got £3 for guessing correctly the options I made.

Sounds confusing? I think so too. And what do you gather from this? I'm not very much a risk-taker. But then again, it's just our luck we picked number 1. It depends on how you see it.

Picnic

1st Paper Scrap Page

Thanks to the supplies I bought from my visit to the 'Stitch and Craft Show' on Friday, I completed my first paper scrapbook LO today. The photo doesn't justify the appearance of the Lo as it doesn't show the depth. I painstakingly cut out some flowers and pasted foam pads underneath to make it look 3D but you can't see it in this photo. It doesn't look complete and I think I'm going to add some wordings on the petals. We'll see. Perhaps I'm still not used to doing paper scrap pages as I feel I can be more creative with digital scrapbooking. With the former, if I cut something wrongly or stick an embellishment by mistake, little can be done. Whereas with the latter, I can delete or press 'undo' and redo it again. Furthermore, there's so many gadgets and tools to get (= £££) in order to achieve certain effects and look with paper scrapbooking. While with the digital form, I can just download from the many wonderful sites, FOC.

My Day Out

I think if there's anything I should blog about, this is definitely one thing I should. You see, I went to London all by myself today. It was my 1st ever proper day out without an extra bag for the girls, stroller or distraction here in UK. The last time I went to London alone was many years back when I was a student here. It was liberating.

The reason I went to London was to attend the 'Stitch and Craft Show'. I love to do crafts and had been wanting to get hold of some scrapbooking paper but so far the shops I'd been to did not carry a good range. Since my mum and brother-in-law are here, I thought I could do with a day out - 'self-nurturing' as my parenting course leaders put it. As I went there really early, there weren't many people and I could browse and shop with ease. I was a little disappointed with the paper range at the show. Nonetheless, I still came home with many goodies such as embellishments, ribbons, beads etc, free items and a trial subscription for the magazine 'Scrapbook Inspirations' (£1 for 3 issues, UP£3.99/issue) and a lighter wallet. While I was browsing, I overheard one gentleman saying to his wife, 'So this is what you women do for relaxation.' I think a lot of men don't understand why we like to do crafts and sewing. Adrian asked if it was worth the trip since I paid about £10 for the return train tickets and another £9 for the entrance fee. I'd asked myself the same question. It's probably not worth it if you take all that into account since the stuff can be bought online even though the items at the show were discounted. But I had the 'me-time' and went window shopping afterwards. I also finally had the chance to drop by Zara Home. The stuff there were gorgeous, especially kiddie ones but expensive at the same time.

As I was on my feet from 10.20am to 4.50pm (except for a short underground trip from Earls Court to Picadilly Circus), I was totally worn out when I reached home. After the girls slept, I went to bed without even having another look at my new possessions or taking them out of their bags. Yes, I was that tired.

Strange but true

Even at such a young age, Lavigne knows how to switch between accents. This morning, one of Louisa's friends came to our house before school as her childminder had gone on holiday and her mummy had dropped her at our place before she left for work. Lavigne was really excited and kept wanting to play with her. She spoke to her in such a cute British accent. I find it really amusing. I tested her before. Whenever I speak to her in a British accent, she'll reply the same way but if I speak like a Singaporean, she'll revert back. Strange.

When we went back to Singapore last December, people had commented Louisa speaks with a slight British accent. I was surprised because I thought she speaks like us when she's not speaking to the locals here. I wonder if we stay here long enough, would they eventually acquire the British accent totally? But I'm sure if we go back home, in no time will they start saying 'lee, leh, lah, lor'. Oh, and 'alamak', 'wabiang oi', 'aiyoyo'.........

'What's the colour of my face?'

Louisa was on the receiving end of her first racist remark 2 days back in school. We were having dinner when she told me one of her friends' having a birthday party and she couldn't go because she wasn't white, she hasn't got white face, white hands or white feet. To any child, not being invited to a party is upsetting enough, let alone not being invited due to racial discrimination. I could tell she was very upset and I was shocked to learn that such a thing has happened to her. Since coming to UK, we had not encountered any outright racism targetted at us. I was very disturbed over it. In fact, she told Adrian the same thing before bedtime. When I tried to get some information from her, just wanting to make sure it's not one of those playground antics, she got upset and frustrated. From this, I could tell it wasn't a matter which happens frequently in class like 'I don't want to be your friend'. I thought long and hard over it, even asked a couple of people, if I should speak to the head teacher about it. Everyone advised me to do so. I don't want her to think I'm building a mountain out of a molehill. On the other hand, Louisa had no problems with being different from most of her classmates and enjoys going to school. I don't want her to feel she's in any way more different than others other than her skin colour.

As I had been to the head teacher's office twice and on both occasions she was too busy to speak to me, I decided to speak to Louisa's teacher, who's the assistant head, instead. She was taken aback with what I told her and asked me for the name which I declined to give. I thought it wouldn't be good to give the name as I don't want them to approach the student or parents. She reassured me that she would speak to the class about respect for people, irregardless of race, size or shape. After our conversation, I went to the head teacher's office with the intention of telling her I'd spoken to Louisa's class teacher as she knew I had been looking for her. She was available then and gestured me into her office. Like the class teacher, she was very shocked by what had happened. She said she couldn't remember the last time such a thing had happened. As the school is near to Adrian's college, it gets many students from lots of countries but she hadn't had any complaints about racism for a long time. I am surprised when she told me such things had to be reported to the county. I went in not to make a complaint but I wanted to let her be aware of what has happened. I don't think a young child of 4/5 would understand what is racism. She certainly didn't know she was making racist remarks at Louisa. So where did she learn it from? I think it's most likely from the adults. If it carries on, other students in the class will pick it up and the bully will get worse. The head teacher managed to convince me to give her the name. She said it would aid in their effort to stop such things from happening, though I wonder how.

Louisa did not have problems with being so-called 'different' from most of the children here. She had not asked me why her skin or hair colour is different from the rest. Children are very resilient and I suppose she just accepted the difference and interacts well with them. Until today, that is. On our way home after school, she said she didn't colour a picture of her face she had drawn. She asked me what's the colour of her face. I asked the question back. She said it's white. I asked her why did she think her face colour is white and if she likes it. She replied yes and that everyone had said the colour of their face is white, except hers. Poor girl, I could sense some sadness in her tone and most of the time when she spoke, she was looking down.

Blog's 1 Year Old

Today marks the 1st birthday of my blog, Butterfly Kisses. This is the place where I share with others my happiness, woes, fears and basically to let friends and family get a 'peep through our keyhole'. I don't blog about everything and I try not to blog about mundane daily happenings or else it bores people. This doesn't mean I'm saying my blog is 'fantabulously' exciting to read. I also don't blog much about overly gloomy or unhappy incidents in case I get frantic phonecalls from home. There were things which I'd wanted to blog but didn't get round to it. When I don't get the chance to sit down and write a proper post and days have lapsed, I then feel it may not be worthwhile to back-post. Many people have commented that I always change the design and layout of my blog. The reason is simply I get bored with one look easily, talking about which my current design is still not properly done! I'd been busy with planting spring flowers, baking and reading, my blog has somewhat been neglected. I'd enjoyed maintaining this blog for the past year and thanks for dropping by for a read.

1st Movie

The girls went on their 1st movie trip today. It was such a great deal - £3 for the whole family (£1.50/child and an accompanying adult go free). There's only one choice of movie each weekend and the one we saw today was 'Flushed Away'. Louisa enjoyed the film and I am pleased to say that Lavigne (contrary to what I had imagined) did very well too. Very good, considering she never sits still for more than 5min. She only started to get restless towards the end so we all could watch in peace. Will we be going again? You bet!

Belle meets Tigger...and many others!

To celebrate 'World Book Day', students at Louisa's school were asked to dress up as their favourite book character today. Our little girl didn't have much of a choice since she only has 2 costumes - Little Mermaid and Bell from Beauty and the Beast. As it is still cold, we thought it wasn't a good idea to dress up as Little Mermaid with it's short skirt and strappy top. She could have worn a longsleeve T under and tights but that'd spoil the look. Luckily, she was happy to dress up as Belle. However, my vain girl didn't want to wear her vest underneath as she said it'd show and she wouldn't look nice. I managed to convince her I couldn't see it. Oh well, white lies are harmless. Anyway, when we reached school, her head teacher who was dressed up as Tigger, went hopping about at the school gate greeting parents and pupils. Next, it was the caretaker who was dressed up as a goblin, complete with a small net and glass bottle pretending to catch children and imprison them in it. All the staff dressed up too. There were Noddy, Bob the Builder, Tinkerbell and Wendy from Peter Pan and many others. Almost all the students dressed up.....Incredible Hulk, Woody, Sulley, Pirate, Spiderman, Superman etc etc. There were many Snow Whites, Sleeping Beauties and Cinderellas too. I'm sure they had lots of fun!

Louisa in her Belle gown (X'mas Edition) with Mrs Galpin, her head teacher.

Louisa's Daffodils

Louisa planted a daffodil bulb at school a few weeks back and brought it home yesterday. The bulb had grown into a small plant and 2 little cute flowers had bloomed. Upon reaching home, she told me, 'Mum, you've got to plant it in the garden and water it as more flowers will grow.' I particularly like the drawing she did on the paper wrapped round the pot. I think it's pretty good for a 4 year old.