The Christmas Tree

Jaimie is in the vainpot mode recently. She requested por-por to tie her hair everyday and has been bugging me to get her a smiley face hairclip. She said that smiley faces are“很~~~美丽！！”

After having dinner, we walked into an accessories shop and these are what Jaimie chose for herself: a strawberry hairclip, a colourful necklace that comes with a matching braclet and a smiley-face ring. She thought she looked SOOOO PRRREEETYYY in these accessories and she could not not smiling to herself. Well, that is why I do not need to put up any Christmas trees in my house during Xmas.

Signs of Stress

There is a serious outbreak of acne on my face. Terrible. They hurt and look horrible. What you see in the picture above is just a fraction of the numbers of pimples on my face.

Jaimie had been unwell since 1.5mths ago. When the child is sick, the mother is usually the one who is deprived of sleep. Then, she got HFMD last week. Then, Clement was down with a bad viral fever.

I had to manage the family, household chores and work. On top of that, I had to manage school events under my charge. I really do not know where did I find all my strength. Sometimes I just feel like sitting down to cry. No, it's not that I cannot handle the stress and workload but I am just feeling so physically tired.

Sometimes I do wish that I am less capable or less efficient. Then perhaps less if expected of me and I need not slog like a dog. Sigh.

However, those who know me know that I do not run away from problems. I am just ventilating here (because the outbreak of pimples on my pretty face makes me more stressed!! :D) and I will be up on my feet again, immediately.

To Get Our MayDay Tickets

We bought our MayDay 09 Concert in January and waited excitedly for this day to get our choiced seating. There were 4 SISTIC counters which we could book our seats so we went to the nearest one which was in IMM.

The ticketing was supposed to start at noon. However, there was a long, long, long queue when we went there at 1145hr, which was something we expected. What I didn't expect was the long wait. I thought I would get the tickets within an hour, at most but goodness me, I was SO WRONG! Clement who went to check at the counter told me that the system hung so I stood in the queue for 30mins without moving an inch. Then, I told Clement to bring Jaimie home for her nap since I continued not to move an inch for the next half an hour. After that, I overheard some people who went to check at the counter again saying that only 1 computer was functioning. I was extremely frustrated by then. I was angrier when I read the words on the ticket voucher.

This was only one little fraction of the queue.


I did move a little forward in the queue. It wasn't because the queue was being served. It was because the people who sat on the floor while waiting stood up and created some space for us to move forward. We were told by one of the SISTIC staff to fill up a form to indicate our preferred blocks and our SISTIC account numbers etc. And then WAIT for our turn to give the form to the counter. About half an hour later, he made an announcement saying that he just received news saying that there was no queue at the Indoor Statium SISTIC counters and there were 5 counters there. Many people who were behind me got out of the queue immediately to go to the stadium. I was hesitating if I should make a trip down to the stadium too but when I overheard that the staff commented the estimated queue time in IMM was at least another 2 hours, I tapped on the shoulder of the girl queueing in front of me and asked her if she wanted to share a taxi with me to indoor stadium.

And so Ailing (we became friends!) and I went to the indoor stadium and got our tickets within 5mins. And we shared a taxi back to the west.

This ticketing system was extremely lousy and it wasted everybody's time. They could have just let us book our tickets online! I wasted 4hours just to book our seats.

NO MORE QUEUEING FOR ME, until all the Christmas shows start in Nov again..... :(

The Convseration Between 2 Patients

Jaimie is confirmed with HFMD and Clement is having a super bad sore throat and a high fever. Hence, I am on childcare leave to look after the 2 children.

This conversation took place this morning.

Jaimie: Come on, papa! Come and play with me.
Clement: I am sick. Can I sit here and watch you play?
Jaimie: Come on!
Clement: I am tired. I will sit here and watch, is it ok?
Jaimie: (paused and think) 你是不是老了？
Clement: 是的。
Jaimie: 等我以后长大了，有钱了，我买饭饭给你吃。
Clement:我要好吃的东西，可以吗？
Jaimie:饭饭是好吃的。
(paused for a moment...)
Jaimie: (to clarify her doubts again) 爸爸，你是不是老了？
Clement: 是的。

.....

At least we are assured that we'll get rice when we are old!

Jaimie's First Named Stuff Toy

Jaimie had this stuff toy given by her doting grand aunt for quite some time. However, it was a few days ago that she decided that the doggie should have a name and its name shall be "Tee-Cha-Cha". Upon further probing, Jaimie revealed that her newly named friend is a "she".

I wonder if naming stuff toys is a milestone in emotional development. Whatever it is, we welcome Tee-Cha-Cha to the family. :)

Get Well Soon, Darling

Jaimie hasn't been well for the past month. Her cough came on and off with lots of phlegm. We had brought her to see both the chinese physician and the GP but it seems like the hot and wet weather is not helping with the recovery.

Last night just after dinner, she was very cheerful, active and cooperative. We thought it was a good sign of her recovering because shewas a cranky princess lately.Then, she developed a high fever suddenly and was crying very badly. I gave her some medication for the fever and she fell asleep in her tears.

My mom brought her to see the GP again this morning and the GP found 7-8 ulcers in her upper jaws. The GP suspected it might be HFMD but there was no spots on her limbs. So we'll continue to monitor her. It could be due to heatiness that the ulcers developed.

In the evening, when Jaimie was flipping through her books in the study room while Clement and I were surfing net, I turned my head around and saw a small puddle of blood on the floor. We thought she scratched her mosquito bite wounds till it bled so bad but I could not find any open wound. I cleaned up the mess and continued to do my own things. A while later, I saw blood dripping out of Jaimie's left nostril! So she was having a nose bleed!!! Her first nose bleed!!

I was a little relieved when I saw the nose bleed, actually. That could mean that the ulcers were developed due to over heatiness in the body and not HFMD. Nonetheless, we'll continue to monitor her closely.

Jaimie darling, get well soon. All I want for you is good health and happiness.

Bento #87

I haven't been making bentos lately. I am feeling so fatigue and exhausted lately. Besides being very busy at work, I have not been sleeping well lately too because Jaimie has been unwell for the few weeks. In fact, it became worst today, which I shall blog about in the next post. An extra half an hour of sleep in the morning is very crucial to me now. I still bring my own lunch to school but it is usually just cold soba or brown rice.

This bento is easy and nice! Cold tofu and cold noodles. Tastes excellent when it you put it in the fridge and eat them during lunch time.

For the cold tofu, I tried to mimic the cold tofu from Central Cafe in Takashimaya B1. Together with the tofu was soba sauce, seaweed and pork floss. Instead of layering the pork floss between the sliced tofu, I just put the seaweed and pork floss in a seperate container and pour over the tofu before I ate it. Tastes yummy!

This is a nice cold lunch on a hot day!

I need some advices

I was told by the cleaner at my work place that I should not throw used paper in the bin placed inside my cubicle. I should throw them in the recycling bin instead.

I was told by the cleaner at my work place, too, that I should not throw used plastic cups in the bin placed inside my cubicle. I should throw them in the big bin at the pantry.

Kindly advise me on what kind of rubbish should go inside the bin in my cubicle.

A Happy Mothers' Day Gathering

Without these lovely people...

There won't be these lovely children...

Without these lovely children, there won't be a lovely afternoon of water fun...

Without food, there won't be a party...

Our lovely guests brought some of the most delicious yummy food on earth... (not in the picture: MF's sausages, Joyce's ice cream...) .. and the mothers' day gift from WG, and the little colouring tool from Joyce! Thank you!!

This oh-my-goodness-it's-so-delicious carrot cake is from Diana. Her family couldn't make it to the gathering because both she and Faith are down with flu. It was so nice of her to ask her hubby to bring over the cake for the gathering. Get well soon, Diana and Faith! Here's all of us wishing you a speedy recovery!

Wii, I mean, WE, had some fun after dinner.

It was a happy gathering! And it is a pleasure to have you all!

Happy Mothers' Day, my friends!

How Much Is That Doggie In The Window

It's Xaeus's 6 year old birthday on 1st May, Xalicia's 4 year old birthday on 6th April (exactly a year apart from Jaimie!) and Xandrio's 1 mth old on 1st May. So Terry and Pam held one celebration for their 3 lovely kids.

Jaimie was very excited about the party because she would get to see her favourite friends. Since we were early, she dipped into the pool while waiting for the party to start. She had mismatched bottom for the swim suit because the swim suit her uncle got for her birthday was a little too big for now.
And she was spraying water at the Xaeus and Xalicia.
We enjoyed some peace and quiet before the other guests arrived. We didn't expect to see more than 20 children in the party.

Pam and Terry invited a mother and son team to do face painting and balloon sculpting for the children. Most of the children had their face painted so beautifully, like Sera's.

While some had their favourite super hero painted on their faces... like Xaeus, the birthday boy.

Jaimie decided that she wanted to get a face painting after most children had their faces coloured. The lady asked if she wanted to paint a fairy or a butterfly on her face. Guess what was Jaimie's choice? She wanted a DOG! Not believing what she heard, the painter asked again. Little Miss Try-To-Be-Different insisted that she wanted a DOG!

TADAH!!!!! THE D O G !!!

She was so into character that she went around saying, er, no, barking "woof-woof" at all the children. Her name was changed to "Jaimie Dog Princess Bong" ("Bong" is the fury little alien in the show "Bing and Bong").

And she was the only "dog-face" in the party!

Thanks for the great party, Terry and Pam! Happy Birthday to your children!!