March Holidays

As a brilliant start to the March Holidays, I had to scrap the tracks of the stadium at 'full' speed right in front of the Grand Stand which was overflowing with parents for the final event of our Sports Day. Brilliant. We were coming in last, and I was determined to give it my best shot - forget about even overtaking, coz they were really ahead of us. So I caught the baton from Elise and I started running. The ground approached me and I tumbled. The baton flew out of my hand and I scrambled for it right after I stopped rolling. I continued to run. It was quite a sight, seeing the crowd cheer and clap for a disoriented, bleeding and pale teaching running like mad past the finishing line. I was well taken care of after that. One parent who heard about the eventful race has been messaging me daily to check on me. My shoulder wound almost got infected. My boss asked today if it was like siew mai from Crystal Jade. I replied, "It's more like Lap Cheong."

As Abby would wrinkle her nose when she sees my wound and say, "It's quite bad uh?"

Oh well. No massages and sports for this holiday. We had Shalom's party the next day, and I had the dirtiest looks from people - like I had leprosy when I sported the wound with a spaghetti-strapped top. However, I also felt quite gung-ho - like I had gotten into a fight and was showing off my battle-scars. Or that I survived an abuse of a huge cigar on my shoulder. Oh well, I think people were just eyeing me to check for other injuries.

I've always wondered how people got such bad injuries on their shoulders. Wouldn't their heads get injured? Now I know.

I sustained other injuries - left knee (bad), right knee (almost nil), right shoulder (gross) and head (light pinkish injury, but otherwise alright). I singlehandedly united the school for 20 seconds. Not bad eh? :P

For this hols, I cleared the boxes off the study, met up with Eve, went for pedicure, spent lotsa time with Abby and Shalom, went Playground at Big Splash and rested well. On the other hand, busted $30+$50 fine for parking (Mum's car - more expensive than getting season parking - $63 a month!), Shalom's ill - been throwing up non-stop, haven't cleared my mountainload of marking (this is bad), lotsa deadlines piling up but I really don't know what they are, and I haven't finished my idealistic to-do list. Maybe I should make it even more detailed.

I really hope I will get around to uploading photos. But I can only do that if the study's functioning - meaning everything's in place, which would mean I would need to pack it. But to pack it, I'll need to clear my marking first. And I need to take the kids to the pedodontist coz their teeth's really bad - Lina's been siphoning sweets even without them asking for it! ARGH! Plus Shalom hasn't updated his vaccination yet, and he's unwell, think he's gotten an infection, so I've gotta take him to the doctor's tomorrow. Argh.

So if you want photos, I'm sorry but we'll have to wait.

Oh. By the way, HAPPY BURFDAY JIUJIU! :)

Fatigued Mother

I am absolutely spent. I still have my marking almost untouched. For the long holiday finale, just as we were all about to wrap up the day with a nice hosing down of the kids, abby fell and her chin & hip hit the toilet kerb as she was stepping out of her clothes. At that moment, i couldn't hold her back coz it happened too quickly. I just felt like smashing my head on the step as well for being such a lousy mother.

i'm very tired. At probably the most tired moment, Shalom looked at me with his pretty eyes and asked very nicely, "Mummy... Can you... please... One Two Two Three... please?" *smile*

I almost melted into a puddle. One Two Three is our nightly routine where i sweep their blankets over their whole bodies and faces before settling them down in their beds. And usually i have to wrestle shalom to bed. But tonight, he was just absolutely angelic.

i was so close to breaking down, and with that, i instantaneously felt much much better. Thank God.

Dec Hols (Updated)

It's about the halfway mark for the holidays. It's been jammed packed, partly doing the activities I planned, and doing those I didn't plan and not doing those that I planned. :P

It's going to be another 3 weeks (or less) before I return to school, so here's the checklist:

Planned & Did/Doing:
1. Bake cookies
2. Go zoo
3. Go Jacob Ballas Children's Garden
4. Lose weight
5. Manicure/Pedicure
6. Go Pasir Ris Park
7. Dinner with granny (she came over to cook)
8. Church funfair
9. Revamp entire year's worksheet (almost done!)
10. Massage(s)
11. Facial(s)
12. Reading through 2 Timothy 30 times (I've read about 11 times this hols)
13. Re-reading Harry Wong's First Days of School
14. Reading Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind by Robert Shirock
15. Read Second Dawn
16. Financial Budget for 2008
17. Prepare calendar (of events)
18. Science Club Workplan
19. Go Ikea to shop for couch and bookcase
20. Made homemade Playdoh (excellent stuff! Recipe here.)
21. Go Gogo Bambini
22. Prepare EL dept CD for P4 2008!
23. Get set of facial products
24. Prepare for getaway


Planned & Not done:
1. Shu'e's wedding
2. Science Club 30 week schedule
3. Get couch
4. Get bookcase
5. Pack study
6. Pack wardrobe shelves
7. Neaten messy hair
8. Get new clothes (current ones are dying/dyed or won't fit)
9. Get new shoes (all are worn out!)
10. Bake muffins
11. Catch Island Princess
12. Go Gogo Bambini
13. Go Birdpark
14. Go Underwater World
15. Personal Vision for 2008
16. Holiday getaway with Ben (coming soon)
17. Tint windows
18. Collect photos
19. Christmas presents (!!!)
20. Prepare EL dept CD for P4 2008!

I refuse to add anymore. I've got less than 15 11 days left and I won't be able to do all! :P

Didn't planned but doing:
1. Get hooked on Facebook
2. Find all my long-lost primary school friends eversince I lost touch with them 2 decades ago. (I left school earlier.)

I Cut My Hair!

Warning: Bimbo Post

After many weeks of fussing over my hair, I stepped into One Salon @ Century Square and was at the mercy of a very nice hairstylist, Alex. After 3 hours of hair cut and treatment, I finally stepped out - poorer, but feeling better. :)

Even Ben noticed that I looked different... and paid slightly more attention to me. :)


See the back? I didn't realise that this shot allowed the back to be seen too. :)

Attempting to Bake

We've got a cookie Christmas party on Saturday, and the kids will be baking them on friday! :) I'm searching around for a few recipes (with ingredients available locally!) and will jot a few here:

FIRST CHOICE FESTIVE COOKIES
Recipe By Chef Celian Leong

Ingredients (A)
1.75 cup Ghee oil
0.75 tsp Salt
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1.5 tsp Baking soda
2 nos FIRST CHOICE Egg yolks

Ingredients (B)
1.25 cup Icing sugar
2.5 cup Plain flour
2 tsp Baking powder
0.5 cup Crushed FIRST CHOICE Jackfruit Chips
0.5 cup Crushed FIRST CHOICE Cornflakes
0.5 cup Toasted FIRST CHOICE Almonds


Method of baking:
1. Place all ingredients from (A) into mixer, stir till light and fluffy. Hand-mix thoroughly ingredients (B) - flour mixture with First Choice ingredients (crushed Jackfruit Chips, Cornflakes and Almonds).
2. Fold in all ingredients from (B) into fluffy ingredients from (A) and mix into semi-soft dough. Place the dough in the refrigerator until it is slightly firm.
3. Divide dough equally, shape dough to desired cookie shapes and arrange cookies in line on the baking tray. Preheat oven before baking cookies. Bake the cookies at 180ºC for 12 to 15 minutes depending on size of cookies till golden brown.


Chef's Tip
Brush the cookies with egg white and sprinkle First Choice Chopped Macadamias nuts for a nutty taste.

Jacob Ballas Children's Garden

So in the end we trotted off to Jacob Ballas Children's Garden. We made a sudden detour after heading towards Vivo and went straight for JBCG. Needless to say, Abby was thrilled coz she's been asking to "go to the garden" eversince we brought her there once.

We stopped by the Kids' Cafe at the entrance, and sadly, the food isn't too fantastic; service wasn't all that great either. But when we went in, the water play area was quite a madhouse with the kids on a Friday afternoon. The water seemed uncontrollable, but the kids went all out to have a good time.


Abby and Shalom experimenting with the tempermental water spray. Vic was very suspicious of it initially.

Shalom was just mingling around with groups and observing what they were doing, and occasionally dipping his hands into their tubs, much to their annoyance. But he, he's one who can charm the socks of a caterpillar! :P


Watching the bigger girls do their thing.


Getting more up close and personal, much to their annoyance...


Dipping his fingers into where they aren't supposed to be...

Well, they aren't caterpillars, so they weren't really charmed. Simply put, they told him to buzz off.

Vic was rather cautious at the beginning, I guess from the short nap and frightening bigger kids, but after a while, she started warming up to the place. By the end of it all, she started having a great time! But by then, Shalom had run through the showers countless times and was standing at a spot, not really moving. I got quite scared. He was just looking at the kids, but this time round, his teeth were chattering. He was freezing! Quickly, I sprang into action, rinsed him up and got him wrapped up nice and warm. I grabbed his jacket and gave him hot milo. Soon he defrosted and came back to life. (The last time I tried to get him out of the water at the zoo, we almost had a fight. This time round, he was very willing.) Taught him how to tell me if it's really cold. I think he kinda got the idea.


After defrosting...about to head home.

We went back to the garden to touch the Mimosa plants, but Abby had to go to the loo. So after that, we ran out of time and had to leave.


Two pretty flowers at the garden. :)

We'll definitely be back again; it must take at least half a day of good weather to explore the whole place! :)