Tots, Thots & Toddlers

Happy New Coffee Table

2012-01-01T14:27:00.001+11:00

We made a new coffee table for the new year and I really like it! This is the first time that Hubby had made a piece of furniture and I'm very proud of him. To be exact, I conceptualised the design, Hubby made the wooden frame, I stained/varnished it and he fitted it together with a MDF board and liquid nails.Even though the workmanship is not excellent, he at least made my idea come true and it's standing excellently structurally.

I'm also very happy that my idea to recycle a piece of abandoned stone bench top (left by the builder after they got the sink cut-out wrong and had to make a new bench top for us) into something nice and useful became realised. It did cost us a couple of hundred dollars to get the stone mason to cut the stone into the shape of a circle though. But it's worth it as a stone table like this would probably cost more if we'd purchase it at some furniture store. Not to mention the stone is the exact match of our kitchen island bench. There several more pieces of stone which I'm planning to turn into a breakfast bar table for the alfresco area. I think Carpenter Hubby will have a busy year ahead!

Happy New Year Everyone!

XX turns 5

2011-12-29T13:54:00.002+11:00

It's been another busy week. Christmas Day came by, accompanied by some hail and flooding. Luckily for us, we were affected by none. Only Hubby's hind wheels got stuck in the mud after he left it parked on the bare naturestrip outside our house during the storm. The interior of our house is more or less organised now and we were able to welcome and entertain some visitors over the holiday period. Only wish the dishwasher was working. After a failed attempt by us to install it ourselves and ended having to pay for an emergency plumbler in the middle of the night, it still won't work for some reason. I got a feeling we will have to wash more money down the drain before it can be used.

Speaking of money, we are right now feeling that a house is a big bottomless sinkhole in which you pour your money in. One of our friend commented that she will be a very rich woman if she had saved up all the money she'd spent on her house over the years. Probably she's right. There are so many expenses, large and small, which came up that we never had to think about previously. And now, our plasma tv is showing a yellowish screen, which I reckon is not an auspicious sign.

The year is slipping by so fast before I have a chance to report recent important events. I still owe XX a birthday cake. I feel so bad that this year, XX turned 5 one day after we moved in, I have no time to make him a birthday cake. I only used the oven for the first time to make some pre-mix whoopie pies for his kinder. At least he had his moment of fame in school with 28 of his kindy friends singing him a birthday song and I did get him a big Lego Creation set as a gift, but I still feel a gap. I have made the birthday cakes for both of them every year since we moved to Melbourne. This year, XX's cake was a $5 mud cake from Coles.

Cake or no cake, my little baby has grown up one more year. Come next year, he will be joining his older brother in primary school. Although it is just Prep (equivalent of K2 in Singapore), he will be donning official school uniform, packing a lunch and going to school 5 days a week for 6 hours a day. I'm so gonna miss him. Since we came to Melbourne 3.5 years ago, he has been my constant companion and I witnessed his amazing transformation from a baby to toddler to a young school going child. It is so amazing. I'm being made redundant at more and more tasks as he now takes over cleaning his bottoms and showering/shampooing himself. He puts on his own socks and shoes and knows how to put them into the laundry basket afterwards. And just one day before he turned 5, XX learnt to ride the 2-wheeled bicycle on his own! We were busy supervising the movers and he was paddling around the back with the bike. He found his balance for a few seconds and then he could balance longer and longer. Suddenly he's riding a few metres without falling!

It's a natural progression for him and I'm proud of his accomplishments. I'm relieved also for more freedom but at the same time, I probably need a little more time adjusting and letting go. You know, I still like to carry him, cradle him (with his limbs hanging out) and smell his neck like a baby.

Here's XX's photo diary of his 5th birthday.

On my birthday, I went to the indoor playground with Brandon and Callum after my Prep orientation.

Hooray, I'm 5 finally!

Mom made whoopie pies for my kinder friends.

Me with my teacher blowing out the candles on a fake cake.

My birthday present which I constructed with help from Mama and KK.

We Moved In

2011-12-24T18:05:00.000+11:00

So much has happened since my last post. We finally got our keys, gave notice to vacate the rental house and started organising the moving in. Appliances and curtains got installed, furniture delivered, we moved in officially, XX turned 5, Hubby and KK got their blue belts for Taekwondo, end of school year and it's Christmas tomorrow!

In between all these major events, there were lots of unpacking, tidying and organising at our new home and the cleaning and handing back of the rental property that was our home for the last 21 months. There were also school orientations for XX as he gets ready for Prep next year and end of year Christmas concerts to attend (even XX's kinder had a mini one). Hubby and I were so tired these last few weeks that we basically just crashed into bed everynight. But there's the satisfaction of finally living in our own home which we've work hard to create and I think we're progressing well. Hubby has been very hard working especially, assembling furnitures and fixing up odd jobs around the house. He's even started working on some of the many home projects lined up, such as our timber deck and we even got the Christmas tree set up.

Enough said, I'll let the pictures tell the story:

One of the first thing we had to do was to set up a post box.

Hob and Hood installed.

Blinds had to be in before we can move in. Here's the sliding panel blinds in our bedroom.

Bought some furniture pieces from Ikea which we had to assemble.

The plantation shutters in the Lounge room.

Panel blinds in the laundry room that we installed ourselves. Rails from Ikea, fabric from Spotlight.

Yay, our first meal (Korean instant noodles) in our new home.

The timber arrive for our alfresco decking.

Hubby setting up the frame for the decking. Yes, we're going to try and DIY!

Looking homely and comfy for Christmas.

More pictures on XX and KK to come and as we settle in and tackle more home improvement projects. Meanwhile, have a Merry Christmas and Happy 2012!!

Burnt Garlic

2011-11-28T13:57:00.001+11:00

A few moments of distraction was all it took to overheat the wok. I should have stopped proceeding but I thought I had a chance if I poured in the oil and pushed in the chopped garlic immediately. But it was too late. The garlic were burnt but I still pushed in the ikan bilis. What was I thinking? As I stir fried them around, I realised I had no chance to save this dish. The soup is gonna be bitter with the charred garlic. I'm gonna waste all the ingredients if I continued. I turned off the fire and started chopping fresh garlic again.

Burnt garlic is no big deal. But like burnt garlic, some things in life have no U-turn. A moment of unthinking can be all it takes sometimes to make a irreversible mistake. This lesson was a valuable one for me, especially after the gift saga with KK.

We had bought 2 gifts of games, one Xbox and one PS3, for his friends. They were brand new so they came wrapped in plastic cling wrap. In his attempt to peel out the price tag, my son tore off the whole plastic wrapping completely. Not only that, curious he opened up the box to have a look at the instruction booklet inside, thereby breaking the seal on the Xbox game. Great. Now I not only cannot offer to get an exchange on the gift (if the parents object to the title we chose), it looks like we have bought pre-owned games instead. I was a pretty mad mum.

I know he's still a kid and kids don't think so much when they do things. But the sooner he learnt there are merits to thinking before action or demerits to actions without thoughts, the better he will be at being independent. Too often, we read in the newspapers of teenagers or young people who get caught in situations such as molestation, possession of drugs or smuggling unwittingly. It might not be their intention to commit crime but it's a messy situation they can avoid if they were more alert, cautious and less ignorant. Certainly if they paused to think of the consequences of their actions, they might still be able to save themselves before it's too late.

So the humble garlic has imparted some important lessons to life:

Be on the watch out, a moment of distraction and you can get burnt.
If something is not right, stop. You can't save the garlic but you won't destroy the dish.

More Delays

2011-11-17T09:13:00.001+11:00

What do you do when things are not going the way you want and you can't do much about it? You sit around sulking or walk around grumbling or you pour it out in writing? Well I tried the first two, it didn't really help me feel better so I'm going to try the 3rd remedy.

At this final stage, the house is still not settled. Things took a dramatic turn for the worse when we went to do our "PCS" (Project Completion Signoff). Instead of signing off that everything had been completed, we found the site supervisor couldn't make it for the appointment as he was summoned to go to the head office urgently. Turned out he got fired that day.

Turned out also that he has not been doing much at all about our house. Some of the items raised 2 weeks ago were being fixed on the spot by the substitute site supervisor who took over last minute. This new guy seems initially like a nice guy and one who has much higher standards. He saw some of the rectifications and agreed that it was a 'crap' job and had to be redone. Some other rectifications made no improvement at all. Like the garage door, it was still not sitting straight.

We were very keen to move in and even agreed that some issues could be fixed after handover. However, I was reminded many times by different people not to do that. Most people had difficulties getting the builder to come back and fix things after handover. They are not one bit interested in you after they take your money. So we have decided to make them fix all the defects before we take over the house. Which means an indefinite delay.

To make matters worse, we discovered the concrete path outside our house had some serious defects. There appeared 2 long thin cracks in the concrete recently and when I mentioned it to the ex-site supervisor, he claimed it was within tolerance. He asked that we leave it and review during the 3 month maintenance period. I took his word for it then but we met another concrete trades person lately and he highlighted what a bad job our concrete was. Many parts were not even the minimum thickness of 100mm. Indeed it was and from then my eyes opened. I now suspect the cracks could be the result of poor workmanship. We raised a fuss with the builder about the concrete and they have still not responded how they are going to deal with it.

That's not the end. On the day of the PCS, the new site supervisor got someone to come and clean up the exterior of the house. He did a good job but some water from his high pressure hose were forced into the house and there was a puddle on the floor boards near the alfresco sliding doors. It was highlighted to the site supervisor who claimed that he will get some towels from his car to mop it up later. But guess what? In his hurry to go off (to visit Grandmother and it's girlfriend's birthday), he forgot. That was Friday and when I reminded him on Monday, he claimed that it was done on Saturday. However when I went to the site on Wednesday, I saw huge stain marks on the floor and I suspect the floorboards have just got damaged from the flooding. One more major issue to repair = more delay.

I'm getting increasing frustrated especially when there's nothing much we can do except email them every other day about the progress. Yesterday, the furniture company called, claiming they can't hold on to the furniture (2 large sofas and a dining table) we ordered any longer. When we ordered them 2 months ago, I never expect that the house would still not be ready until now.

On the other hand, I'm glad that all these things happened now, before we sign off and while we still have a bit of bargaining power to make them fix the problems. I thank God for the people He sent to remind and advise us. The contractual completion date is 23 December, after which the builder will have to start paying us $250 per week as damages. I wonder if this will really happen? From a project that have so much potential to be completed in 5 months to one that is overdue. I have no problems moving in next year but where am I going to settle the furniture in the mean time?

3 Trophies

2011-11-15T13:15:00.001+11:00

The boys in our family have added 3 little trophies to display on top of the tallboy at the entrance, together with the collection of photo frames showing memories of our lives together. The trophies are nothing major, just a little recognition for their love of the sport but I'm still proud of them.

Hubby got a trophy for being the Yellow Belt Grading Champion for Taekwondo at our club. This is in recognition of him having the highest grading score amongst all the yellow belt gradings. He claimed this was the first time in his life he ever received a trophy for anything.

Last Saturday, at the annual Christmas dinner organised by City West Taekwondo, KK was nominated and won the Junior Encouragement Award for Point Cook branch. There were 3 awards, Junior Champion, Junior Most Improved and Junior Encouragement. I supposed this is an award for showing encouraging performance during his training. For someone who started not serious and nearly couldn't qualify to take his Yellow 2 grading, KK has indeed come a long way. These days, his TKD instructors are happy with his improvement and commitment during training.

And our dear XX, not of age yet to join the Taekwondo club but already so inspired by the trophies (he calls them 'Piston Cups') his dad and brother had received, decided to make and award one to himself. He asked me for an empty drink bottle, started pasting paper all over it and finally had me write his name and the words 'Junior Champion' on it. I did an impromptu award ceremony on the spot, shook my little champion's hand and congratulated him as he proudly received his 'Piston Cup'. He took the 'trophy' and put it right next to his dad and brother's. One day, I know he will get a real one back to take its place.

Rock A Fellas

2011-11-09T23:07:00.000+11:00

There is never an end to the things we can learn. We thought that with a combined experience of over 70 years on earth between us, there is nothing that will faze us. But building our first house in Australia has given us that opportunity to feel like a little confused child again. Our latest crash course now is on 'Landscaping'.

In Singapore, landscaping was never an agenda for us. We kind of take it for granted that it will be there when we move into the HDB or condo estate. That timber deck, paved footpath, lush green lawn and stone benches, it's all done up nicely by the developer. We walked around and on them but have we ever wondered how it was made? Here in Australia, we're learning for the first time how to turn a piece of muddy ground into a garden. Where do we even begin?

Apparently, the land has to be 'prepared' first. Like before putting on make-up, you have to clean your face and put on moisturiser first. The land has to be excavated by a bobcat and the trash soil taken away. Then you can put on the weed mats before you pile on top soil (which you got to buy). Only then do you plant the grass or turf.

And if you want your garden to be more than just grass, a space that is both decorative and usable, which in our case consist of some timber decking, footpaths, garden beds and paving, the jobs add up. And getting landscaping done here is not cheap. The labour cost is high and can make up 60% of the total cost. We have gotten quotes ranging from $16,000 to $50,000. Which makes us think that it makes a lot of sense to DIY some parts of the landscaping ourselves. But how?

Unlike most Australian men who grew up watching their dads doing gardening and handy jobs around the house, my born and bred in Singapore husband is a total green horn when it comes to such tasks. And I'm even worse, can't tell the difference between a rake and a fork until recently. We are both very willing to take on the labour, especially if it saves us so much money, but our lack of technical and practical knowledge is a major setback.

So that's why currently we are on a steep learning curve. No doubt we will have to get the professionals to do some jobs like preparing the land and setting the concrete base, but I feel we should attempt to do the timber decking, garden beds and paving ourselves. There are some friends we know who has done theirs and we are hoping that we can learn from them. In the meantime, we have visited a few places that sell pavers and stones to learn more about the different materials available and their prices.

The range is mind boggling. Pavers comes in all sorts of shapes - rectangle, squares, irregular... and thickness, colours and feel. Even rocks are not so simple....Basalt, bluestone, sandstone....The strangest part is these rocks that comes freely from the earth are not cheap. One shop quoted us $80/cubic metre. Sure, some of them had to be mined and broken down but you know what, when builders build your house, they make you pay like $16K to excavate and remove rocks (called site costs) from your land. The rocks are taken to factories to be broken down and then sold to landscape suppliers...for you to later buy them back for your garden.

I'm pretty sure that even with research and theoretical knowledge, we'll never be able to fully understand landscaping until we sink our hands into the mud. I just hope to be able to carry them rocks when they arrive.

Almost Ours

2011-10-21T23:03:00.001+11:00

If you're wondering if we've moved into our new house already, we haven't. But after almost one year from the time we bought the land, we're into our final leg of the building journey. Like an expectant mother in her final trimester, there is a sense of anticipation and impatience, for the official completion of our latest production.

The PCI (Present to Customers Inspection?) happened last Tuesday where we went through the completed home and pointed out areas that we were not satisfied with, things that needed to be fixed, repaired, touched-up. We already hired an independent inspector go through the house two weeks ago and he had prepared a long list of items that were not up to standard and had to be rectified. There were a few things that they will have to rectify or replace but in general, they were not major issues and the builder has agreed to fix most of them. I only hope they won't take too long to do it.

At this stage, we have already started preparing for the taking over of the house. The blinds for the whole house have been ordered, after getting 3 vendors to measure and quote and today we just paid the deposit for the fences. Next on our agenda is the landscaping. How we want the front yard to look, what to do with the backyard - footpaths, lawn, storage area, garden beds, veggie patch, laundry lines - where to locate, what materials to use, who to do the job (DIY or professional landscapers)? From the sourcing of suitable vendors to getting quotes, comparing quotes and selecting what we want/like, there is a string of decisions to be made. It is both fun and tedious.

Being first time home owners in Australia, there are many things that are new to us and we find ourselves in unfamiliar territory when dealing with Australian construction standards and materials. At the same time that we are making important decisions, we are also on a steep learning curve. Inevitably, we are discovering some mistakes already. Some things we have to blame on our own ignorance and inexperience. Like the concrete driveway to the garage. Ours is just plain concrete and I don't think it looks very nice. Now we realize that there are numerous options when it comes to the type of pavings for driveways. In the concrete category, you can choose the concrete to come in almost any colour or 'exposed aggregate' (we just learnt this name and it's the latest trend - concrete seeded with pebbles). In the interim, until we decide to knock it down and build a new driveway, I learnt that we can still paint the concrete and seal it, but it will fade after a while.

At this point, there are definitely some things that we wished we didn't choose or vice versa but is now too late to change. Like we wished we'd chosen to "upgrade" to brickwork above garage door instead of standard strapping and FC sheet infill. We didn't even know what they mean by "strapping and FC sheet infill" until we see the final product. Of course, it is always possible to change it as long as we're willing to spend the money. But that will be for another day. Right now, we have to focus on more urgent and basic furnishings of the house.

It is exciting and getting more so as we neared completion. There're so many things to do, not to mention the packing up. I really can't wait to move in and start decorating the house!

O Jacky

2011-10-05T11:51:00.002+11:00

Jacky Cheung has aged. Afterall, the 'God of Song' is only human. The good news is, he's not using botox and not ashamed to admit the fact that age has caught up.

After 27 years in the singing industry, this man is an icon in the history of Canto/Mandarin pop. I gathered he is about 50 years old, that's why he named it the "Half Century Tour"? Though his face is showing signs of his age, magnified on the mega hi-def screen on the stage, his super slim body is that of a twenty year old. And last night, at the Hisense Arena, he managed to entertain thousands of us fans with 3 whole hours of sustained singing and dancing. How many 50-year olds can do that? There were no guest performers, just his band, 12 dancers and him. Some of the time, it was just him on stage. And it was him alone that was enough.

All of us were hooked by Jacky's singing. His strong and powerful vocal chords melted whatever self-consciousness there was, causing us to sway and sing along unreservedly. There was really no need for fancy costumes or pyrotechnics, although that added sparks to the ambience. He jazzed things a little with some glittering costumes change but the style was still somewhat conservative - shirt, vest, tie, jacket, hat combo. Okay, at one stage he did put on something like a skirt.

The digital backdrop changed frequently with MTV footages, including some from his younger years, recorded images and even a cartoon film based on his childhood. I find them entertaining but also distracting sometimes. In the beginning, he performed a mini-musical series of songs to the theme of a love story, accompanied by an MTV movie, starring himself and Shu Qi as his wife. The cinematography and acting was good but I can't help but find it so fake as we all know who his real wife was. I think he would have achieved a greater impact if he'd put up some personal photos of himself and his real family instead. Afterall, we are gathered all here to get to know him more intimately. I would like to hear him share more about himself but I have heard that he is very protective about the privacy of his family.

Still, it was a solid value for money concert. I'm pretty intrigued by the fact that I actually attended a Mandarin/Cantonese concert in Melbourne. The number of Chinese faces occupying the whole of Hisense arena was unbelievable. I'm so glad I get this opportunity to see Jacky Cheung live in Melbourne. Afterall, how many half centuries are there in a lifetime?

Move The Body

2011-09-02T13:42:00.001+10:00

It's probably been about 2 months since I've joined a local gym. Good news is I've 2 other friends who goes to the classes with me and I've been attending regularly, at least two to three times a week.

The gym instructor actually 'prescribed' some circuit exercises for me. Things like going on the treadmill, cross-trainer and weights. But I hated such boring routine and so far, I've not done it once! One time, I went to the gym for Body Balance class and found out that I'd got the time wrong. Well, since I was there, I could have just gone up and spend some time working the gleaming training machines they have, but no, I turned around, right in front of my gym instructor some more, and went home....Naughty girl!

I guess I just have to be led when it comes to exercising. When there's an instructor in front of you, telling you to move this way and go that way, and everyone else is doing the same thing, you just can't help but follow. Since joining, I've tried a few of the classes and narrowed down to four of my favourites:

Body Jam : This is bascially a funky dance class. It's got some really strange moves, totally idiotic sometimes, but it's fun and the music's nice. And we love to watch our gay instructor dance. Feels like we're in a disco!

Body Combat : Don't play play with this one. We do Tae Kwon Do, Karate and other martial arts moves. It will get your heart thumping and skin sweating starting from warm-up. Good for training power and strength. Also good for venting out your frustrations physically, especially therapeutic if you've just been jilted or angry with someone. If all's well in life, just use your imagination that you are being attacked by bad guys and you're punching and kicking the lights out of them! I really like this class. So far, it's got the best workout and who knows, a little martial skills could come in handy.

Zumba : Sensuous latin dance workout. Have a little trouble getting into the mood sometimes. I wish I could rotate those hips like the sexy instructor. She seems to enjoy it so much and is smiling from start to beginning. Other than that, not much sweat.

Body Balance : A combination of Yogo, Pilates and Tai Chi moves accompanied by slow, calming music. In contrast to the other faster and more cardio classes, this one aims to tone your muscles and improve balance. Not as easy as it looks.

At the end of the day, my objective is to get my body moving and perspiring. Whether I lose weight or develop those abs is not that important, though it's a good to have result. With regular exercise, I think my energy level has improved and hopefully, my cholesterol level has gone south as well. Well, I'm not sure if that's a good thing, but I feel less guilty too when I indulge in desserts and sinful treats nowadays!

Un-Kang (Unhealthy) Preferences

2011-08-23T22:24:00.001+10:00

I don't know why and I wonder if other kids are like KK when it comes to healthy dietary choices. His name means "Health" but KK has very unhealthy preferences and the only reason why he is not a fat, sickly child with no teeth is because we have been obstructing him and preventing him from doing what he wants.

He loves salty stuff, the saltier the better. Many a times, he complained that my cooking was too bland and would request to add salt. He loves eating dumplings and sashimi because he could dip them in lots of soya sauce. Chips, nachos and all those unhealthy crispy fried stuff in a packet are his favourite snacks naturally.

KK also like to eat chocolates. We don't buy any candies so he can't have them at home but it looks like we have to stop buying chocolates (which Hubby and I sometimes enjoy) too. We don't buy fruit juices as well as he will drink them if they are around, instead of water. His teeth are not very strong and every trip to the dentist reveals some decay.

His school has been learning about healthy lifestyle this semester but I'm pretty sure it had little impact on him. He was to keep a "Healthy Living & Lifestyle" diary about how he lead a healthy lifestyle and here are some of his inputs:

Day 1 - Eat all my veggies. (What do I feel about this choice: I feel healthy.)
Day 2 - Went swimming (I feel bored.)
Day 3 - Went Taekwondo (I feel cool.)
Day 4 - Go to fitness club (I feel like I'm going to die.)
Day 5 - Eat chips (I feel healthy.) ~ he insisted he REALLY felt ok.
Day 6 - Eat all my fruits (I feel forced to eat it.)
Day 7 - Eat 500g of chocolate (I feel fat.)

Haiz...when will he learn?

That said, I'm glad he at least likes most vegetables like broccoli and lettuce. He's also very active and gets lots of exercise. Just go easy on the salt and sugar son!

Health Hopes

2011-08-04T10:34:00.001+10:00

The days have begun to turn longer. No longer sunset at 5 o'clock. Yipee! I think the coldest is finally over though it's still not time to head to the beaches yet. Although we have been heading to the swimming pools quite often. Strangely, swimming pools are good places to go for a weekend outing in Winter. Thanks so much to the heated indoor pools that we have. Our favourite is at Melton, where there's a lap pool to exercise, wave pool for the kids (and adults) to have fun and a steamy bubbly jacuzzi to relax in. We go with some friends and food and it's a party!

The other thing we've been busy doing recently is exercising. Even I have joined in the regime. Lazy me, who hates exercising and sweating and loves watching TV, have signed up for a health club membership for the first time in my life. I'm not turning into a health freak overnight, but I do hope not to turn into an unhealthy freak when I'm older. Hubby has been gently nudging me to keep fit ever since he's got into Tae Kwon Do. Now, he gets to exercise at least twice a week and he feels good about it.

It so happened that there were some promotions going on and I started by signing up free trial memberships at 2 health clubs with some girl friends who wanted to keep healthy as well. The health clubs are located nearby and we get access to all their facilities and classes. So far. I've tried Body Balance, Pilates, Boxing and Zumba classes in the evenings. And guess what, I'm even doing time on the threadmill! I've never liked threadmills, I find them so boring. You stare at the same scenery all the time when running. I have a small gym at the condo where I lived in Singapore but I seldom use them even though they face the swimming pool. But at the gyms here, they face a row of television screens or have built-in personal TV touchscreens. How wonderful can that be for a couch potato like me? You bring your own headphones, plug it in and hey, you're entertained while keeping fit! I usually go on the threadmill while waiting for KK in his "kids fitz" class (free for kids of members). I don't watch television programs at home cos the TV is always hogged by the kids so ironically at the gym, I get to catch up on a bit of news and advertisements. Then for the sake of watching more TV, I also do some cycling while waiting for KK to shower. I find this a good arrangement.

Knowing myself, I'm a bag of lazy bones. When it's dark and cold outside, I find it hard to put on my track shoes and leave the comforts of home. But if I have a friend going together, I'll have no excuse. And actually, it's nice to leave the kids' bedtime routine to Hubby and have an hour or two of time on my own.

At the end of the day, I think no matter what exercise I do, as long as it gets my heart thumping harder and my muscles working, I'm taking a step closer to health. So with my full membership for the next year and hopefully with my friends' company, I will keep up this exercising routine at least twice a week.

Three Scarves & A Beanie

2011-07-14T15:13:00.000+10:00

Guess I've just found another new hobby. With Winter being rather chilly these days, knitting warm clothing seemed like a fine idea. It has been a good 15 years since I last picked up the knitting needles to knit something. Back then, it was a grey wool scarf for my then-boyfriend, now husband. I still remember it cost me more than $80 in yarn alone. And it got stolen in China after I lent it to my mom when she went on a tour. That was the first and last thing I've ever knitted.

With so little experience and the long time gap, I had totally forgotten how to knit. Luckily, I have a friend who knew and she helped me to get started again. My first project was a black ribbed scarf for Hubby after he mentioned that it was very chilly in the city when he walked from one office to another. Unfortunately, it was such a simple, repetitive yet slow process that I soon got bored. At the moment, it's only about half completed.

Left to right in order of completion

In the meantime, I experimented with knitting different yarns (there're so many types!) and worked on a few projects concurrently. So far I've made 3 scarves and a beanie over the last month. I'm now having fun learning how to knit more difficult patterns and playing around with mixing colours. I try to learn on my own by reading knitting books and trying to understand the knitting instructions. Since I started knitting, I've also been paying attention to the knitwear that people wear and appreciating the details and patterns that previously I've taken for granted.

There's a big market for knitting in Australia as knitted stuff are really useful in our cold climate. Knitting for babies and children is especially popular. But despite the huge variety and relative inexpensive material, hand knitting is still pretty much a hobby, reserved for people with time, patience and love. It's really the self-satisfaction of a handmade product and seeing someone you love use your creation that keep knitters going. Economics wise, it doesn't make much sense to spent so much effort and time (months sometimes) to make a knitted cardigan, when you can get a beautiful, made-in-China, machine-knitted one for $25 in Target. A beanie like mine cost only $4 at The Reject Shop while mine cost approx $3 (after discount) in yarn alone. That's why small projects for kids are quicker and gives more satisfaction.

Bunny & Stickman

2011-06-23T11:39:00.002+10:00

Making craft dolls is not my forte nor interest but when push comes to shove, I just have to deliver.

It all began in March when me and my big mouth promised to make XX a bunny rabbit during Easter. However I didn't have the polyester fill then and I told XX I can't make it until I bought the fill from Spotlight. Weeks passed without me making the trip and I thought XX had forgotten all about it. Then one day in May, I needed to go to Spotlight to get a roll of thread. As soon as XX heard I was going to Spotlight, he reminded me to buy fluff to make his bunny. Opps, so you didn't forget. No excuse, I can't break a promise and a child's heart.

Once I got the fluff, I was reminded and pestered everyday to start work on the bunny. One thing about XX, he can be quite persistent and naggy, in his quiet and not-aggressive fashion. He will keep asking until you give him what he wants. So with my elementary sewing skills, I converted one of his old baby jumper suit into a bunny. It really wasn't good looking but my son loves it. It reminded me of a similar bunny soft toy I had when I was a teenager. A friend had given it to me and I loved to hug it until it got so torn and tattered beyond repair. I even brought it to hostel in university and Hubby could remember it till now.

Anyway, seeing XX get a bunny soft toy, KK requested to have one as well. In order not to appear bias, I agreed to make one for him. And he requested for a Stickman. A stickman? Not a bear or dog? How huggable is a stickman? But then again, my son is weird. KK's favourite cartoon drawing and favourite computer animation is stickman. Sometimes, he'll create some comic strip of 2 stickmen fighting. So I cracked my head again and used another of XX's old baby t-shirt pyjamas to make a doll with skinny legs, arms and body with no eyes.

So here we have it, the latest addition to the family: Stickman and Bunny.

Actually, these two dolls pretty much embodies the characteristics of my 2 sons. One is bony and kooky, the other cuddly and cute.

Progressing into Winter

2011-06-16T11:14:00.000+10:00

This year's Winter is by far the coldest I've felt. Even in Autumn, I already felt like I was in Winter and Summer, it left no warmth in my memory. Apart from shuttling the kids, grocery shopping and visiting the construction site, I have been pretty much keeping warm at home. Even that I'm finding hard without turning on the heater and wearing a few layers of clothes. Arrgh, the inconvenience of Winter. Each time we dress/undress, we got to do that standing in front of a fan-force heater. And each change would entail at least 4 pieces of clothing to be either washed or sorted. Some days, getting out of bed is a challenge.

On a positive side, the winter chill has not hampered the progress of our house. There were pockets of good sunny days that allowed all the necessary foundation and structure to be set up. Now that the weather is more rainy, they are doing the interior jobs. So far, we're rather happy with Simonds on the progress. There were small hiccups like we had to re-select our bricks (due to nil availability) and front door (due to discontinued model) but it's been ironed out and we're happy they waived the upgrade cost for us after we had to select a brick from a higher category. Other small issues include pilferage of materials from our house. We found the two knobs for turning the awning windows missing after the long weekend. Also, the brick layers from the construction next door have been stealing our water. And phantom people have been using the construction bin outside our house to dump their household waste. It seems theft is quite common (the site supervisor barely raised his eyebrow when he saw the missing knobs on the window and just jotted it down) and apparently worse can happen.

I've recently got a friend to teach me knitting and got started working on two scarves and probably a beanie next. Due to the frosty weather, such accessories have now become a necessity. I had a pair of woolly gloves that I've never had to use over the last few years but this year, it's been especially handy in the mornings. I bet the sale of wool and fleece clothing have gone up over the last month!

It seemed to us an amazing change compared to the year we first arrived. In 2008, I heard my friend telling us there was no need for umbrellas in Melbourne. The rain were just drizzles that passed in 5 mins. The Winters were mild and the Summers, hot and dry. Remember the forest fires of Black Saturday in 2009? But these last 2 years, things have turned around so much. The dams are now filled and we've started to get a mosquito problem during Summer, something that's not happened before for a long time. The terrain is now looking lushier and greener, the creeks are flowing with water and life again. This was how it was 10 years ago, before the drought set in. In a way, if this is Nature's way of finding a balance for itself, I'm glad. I just have to re-adjust my body thermostat and be more tolerant of the cold.

Site Start

2011-05-29T18:09:00.000+10:00

After months of planning and hours spent pouring over our house plans again and again, we finally moved out of paperwork stage and officially went into "site start" on 17 May. This is the stage when construction of the house actually begins and all the plans on paper are put into action. And it started at an amazing speed.

Last Monday when Hubby went past the site, it was still mud with some pipes sticking out here and there. On Wednesday when I went over, I was surprised to see half a dozen people working on my land. The base of the house was already formed and being filled with waffle pods. On Thursday, the concrete was poured and the slab was officially completed. By the end of the work week, the timber frame of the house was constructed. I could now clearly make out all the rooms in the house and have an idea of the actual size of the spaces. Amazing!

It sure looked pretty easy to construct a house. The timber frames were all pre-fabricated and all the tradies have to do is to fix them together with a nail gun. It took 3 guys to put up the house frame (minus the roof) within a day. We were hoping they could put up the roof as well on the same day but given the size of our house and the number of guys allocated to the job, it didn't happen.

The reason why we wanted them to put up the frame faster was because we were paying for the generator hire. It was the result of an unfair clause in the contract which 90% of people are caught in. I hope people who are building their homes here will take note of this clause that stated "If there are any delays in Clients 'Connection and Supply of Power' to site by Local Power Authority, Simonds Homes may provide 'temporary power supply/generator hire' for construction purposes as required and charge the Client accordingly for any additional costs."

Simonds is supposed to pay for the electrical usage during the construction and they are supposed to set the electrical meter up for the house. The Local Power Authority need about 10 days to connect the power after the meter is ready. However, Simonds only set the meter up this week when the concrete slab is built, reason being they want to prevent its exposure to theft of its fuse and copper wires. Therefore when they need the power 3 days later to do the timber frame, 90% of the time the power supply is not connected yet. And clients now have to make a choice of paying for the generator hire or delay their project for up to 3 weeks. We didn't think there was much of a choice as we didn't want to delay the construction. Even though we felt it was unfair as Simonds should set up the meter box earlier so that power can be ready when they need it, we can't argue for Simonds to pay since it was explicitly stated in the contract. We really didn't expect to be caught by this 'Note Only' clause. We did not have the experience to realise that the connection of power would have a time lapse and it was not within our control when Simonds set up the meter. These are Simonds' responsibility but the clients have to pay the price for any delays. Does it make sense? Simonds should just be upfront to clients about this 'almost confirmed' out of pocket cost or make better processes to ensure that power will be available on site when needed. Until this is done, potential clients, if possible, negotiate for this clause to be removed during contract negotiation.

Testing 123

2011-05-16T15:49:00.002+10:00

In Victoria, children in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 undertake the National Assessment Program - Literacy And Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests. KK is in Year 3 this year and underwent his first NAPLAN test last week.

Unlike his Primary 3 peers in Singapore, who are probably experienced exam warriors by now, KK is still an 'exam virgin'. And so are we as parents. We have never experienced the stress or anxiety of preparing our son for testing, except for that one time during his Tae Kwon Do yellow belt grading. Even though NAPLAN is the only national test conducted once a year across the state over 3 days, the entire event has little impact on daily lives.

We know that since the beginning of the year, the teacher started giving the children more homework. But it was only from the 2nd term on that they really started to prepare them for NAPLAN. All this while, the only advice given to parents was a memo on our role in our children's education in ensuring they do their home learning (home work). I thought that would have been a basic assumption but apparently here, the parents need reminding. Anyway, there was really not much that we could do to prepare for NAPLAN as there are no textbooks to revise or study. It is explicitly mentioned that "The use of services by coaching provders is not recommended".

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining because I prefer it this way. I'm glad there is no pressure on us parents to ensure our children do well in the tests. The common understanding here is that the NAPLAN is to test how well the school has taught the children and whether they are meeting important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy. There is no pass or fail and no ranking, the results simply shows the school's average score and your child's final result is reflected in terms of bands (1 - 6). In other words, there are no adverse consequences other than you and the school knowing where your child stands in terms of his literacy and numeracy ability.

Despite this, we are not taking the NAPLAN lightly. On our own, we bought two NAPLAN assessment books for KK to practise and we made him work diligently on completing the mini and sample tests the weeks before his NAPLAN. These little exercises gave us an idea of his strengths and weaknesses and enabled us to coach him on areas that he's not good at. His biggest problems were carelessness, bad handwriting and not planning his points for essay writing.

Our behaviour might sound kiasu by Australian standards but more important than getting good results, we really want to take this chance to instil in KK the mindset of giving his best performance in every test and the importance of pursuing excellence in everything he do. He is still young and may not understand the value of a good acadamic foundation but I believe he can sense the emphasis his parents place on education and how serious we are that he adopts a good attitude to learning. We also believed it's time for him to start to learn how to take a little pressure as all these while his school life has been pretty much carefree. Initially he was resentful he had to do extra homework and learn Chinese on Saturdays when other kids doesn't. But now, he's starting to accept homework and Chinese classes as part of his lifestyle and be responsible for completing his work before they are due.

The nights before his tests, we ensured that we do not upset KK over school work and give him undue stress. He still went for his Tae Kwon Do lesson on Tuesday evening and had his standard dose of relaxation activities. We made sure he slept early and had enough time to take sufficient breakfast before school. Perhaps as parents, that's the best support we can give them as once inside the testing room, it's all up to them.

The Hard Truth About Scones

2011-05-15T12:08:00.001+10:00

There are many things that I learnt from books, amongst them baking and quilting. I made my first attempt at quilting after just reading a few quilting books & magazines from the library. Very often, I bravely tried baking cakes and bread just by following the instructions from recipes. Most times I succeeded but sometimes I failed.

The fact is, there are many things in life that are not taught in the books. We have to learn them through experience, gained either from our own mistakes or through someone else's experience. Here's the lesson I learnt from scones.

I loved scones with whipped cream and strawberry jam. One night, XX's kindergarten organised a Mother's Night and at the end of the session, the teachers brought out some scones (supposedly made by the children earlier in the day) as a treat. They were scrummy! I chanced upon the recipe and it was amazingly simple (or so I thought). There were only 3 ingredients: Flour, lemonade and cream. I decided to make some scones of my own and invited some friends and their kids/mums over for high tea.

I spent the whole morning but the first batch of scones failed miserably. They were hard as stones. What went wrong? I measured the ingredients accurately and added the lemonade and cream to the flour accordingly but the dough was so sticky. How do I roll it out and cut out a round shape if it keeps sticking to my fingers? I started to add more and more flour to the mixture thinking perhaps I didn't use enough. Big mistake. It does not get less sticky at all. I then recalled that many years ago, I spent a long time trying to make scones too and I had the same problem - sticky dough that clings to your fingers as you tried to knead it. Something was wrong and after all these years, I still didn't know what.

Luckily, thanks to the World Wide Web, I don't need to go very far or wait very long to get help. Thanks to Youtube, I need not pay for a crash course on how to make fluffy lemonade scones. Watching this video helped me so much. I finally knew where my mistake was.

See, recipes don't tell you to use a knife instead of a spoon to mix the dough. They don't mention that you can pour the dough out when it looks like a batter. They don't describe how you simply sift lots of flour over the whole lump and then pat pat pat press press press turn it over shape shape shape into a slab. Press your cookie cutter in and voila, here comes one scone. If a picture speaks a thousand words, a video speaks millons.

After watching the video, I was encouraged to make a second attempt. It only took me a few minutes to combine the three ingredients and cut out 13 scones. How easy it was and I would have never known!

The end result. Fluffy and soft scones. Thank you unknown Cantonese lady from Hong Kong:)

Devonshire Tea for breakfast

Hmm, wonder if there are any videos on Youtube on how to bring up good children?

Mother's Election Hangover Day

2011-05-09T11:25:00.000+10:00

It's Mother's Day and I'm having a hangover from too much partying during the last nine days.

Not the normal partying but from an over consumption of political parties and rallies during Singapore's General Election. Even though we are miles away from our home country and two hours ahead, the election fever is burning hot here despite the cooling Melbourne temperatures. At our Mother's Day dinner, currently into its 2nd year, for the Singapore Mothers in Melbourne group, names like Chiam See Tong, Nicole Seah and Wong Kan Seng peppered our conversations as we dipped sashimi in soya sauce and munched Peking Duck. Pity there weren't any Bak Chor Mee or Teo Chew Porridge at the China Bar Signature Asian Buffet restaurant.

A Party of Mothers

Not that we can do anything to make a difference, as making a trip to Canberra to fulfil our national duty at our own expense is too costly, however many of us still felt a close connection to what is going to happen back home. It's ironical but I've never felt so close and interested in Singapore's political scene before I left. Maybe it was because we didn't have such good opposition candidates before. And now, thanks to the internet and social media, we watch rally speeches on Youtube every night and read news reports about the candidates from different parties on different websites, mainstream or otherwise. All of us knew this election was going to be different from the previous and were eagerly waiting for the results to filter in.

XX's Gift

Unfortunately, by the time the first results got announced, it was already 2am Melbourne time. My eyelids started to feel the pull of gravity as I tried to focus them on the tiny square box live streaming the election news on www.ge.sg. By then, there were a few unconfirmed reports that Hougang and Aljunied GRC has been won by WP. I tried to share the news with Hubby when he moved from his slumber but I'm not sure he heard me. I decided not to resist the z-monster anymore.

By the time I woke up at 9.30am the next morning, everything was over. PAP had formed the government and Lee Hsien Loong had held his press conference while I was in slumberland. It appeared that I did not miss much.I wondered if life will be the same again for people back in Singapore. Here, our Sunday progressed quietly. After checking up on the counts and margin, I went back to bed again after breakfast for a nap. And that's how half of Mother's Day was spent, tucked under the quilt, drowsily, feeling like age has definitely caught up on me. I can't even stay up late without feeling the after effects.

The sweetest thing for this year's Mother's Day came on Friday when XX brought home a handmade gift from kinder. The teacher had organised for them to decorate a glass bottle with colourful paper and glitter glue and turned it into a beautiful candle holder. There was also a small pouch of pot purri packed in a nice purple gift bag. I'll never forget XX's sweet face when he presented it to me. My first Mother's Day present from XX. Not to be outdone, KK immediately drew a drawing of 4 stickman (our family) with the words "Happy Mother's Day" on a piece of paper and presented it to me. I guess that counts as a Mother's Day card from him?

KK's card

I had originally planned to take my mom out for dinner to celebrate but due to the upcoming NAPLAN tests for KK next week, we felt it was better to postpone the dinner to the end of the week, after his tests. Instead, after sleeping off the 'politcal parties' hangover, I regained enough energy to make my mom's favourite cream puffs as dessert.

160mm

2011-04-28T23:01:00.002+10:00

A little bit more update on our house. Just before we embark on our Easter holiday, we were informed of some bad news. It appeared that due to our land being a corner lot and set next to a road, the house is required to have a minimum setback of 2000mm from the edge on the side next to the road. Ours had a 1840mm setback, short of 160mm or 16cm. Simonds informed us that since our house is already parked right to the edge on the other side, we will need to reduce the width of our house by 16cm. Straight away, they proposed to cut the width of the entry area. It was only after asking than I found out this meant we can't have double doors any more and I'm not happy about that. What made us confused and astonished was why no one from Simonds had the knowledge to inform us of this policy until now. If we had known that in the beginning, we might have chosen another house design.

One thing I have learnt from dealing with Simonds is not to trust every word they tell you. Sometimes they don't know their facts or sometimes they'll doing it on purpose for their advantage. So first of all, I asked Hubby to double check the 2m setback policy with Council but it turned out to be true. Then I challenged the fact that the 'road' next to our site is actually a 'lane' as stated in its name 'Alana Lane'. I was told that even though they name it a lane, it is in fact classified a road as it is 6m wide. I made them send me documentary proof for this.

We later learnt from the developer, who has by now become like an ally, that we could actually ask for a dispensation of the rule. (See? Simonds didn't even tell us about this option. We only found out by asking someone else.) Since it was only 16cm, we were likely to succeed. The night before we set off, we wrote an email to Simonds requesting that they ask for a dispensation. While driving along Hume Hwy the next day, they replied that they could but asking for a dispensation involved giving notice to all the adjacent neighbours and asking if anyone objects to the dispensation.What? How come reducing the setback on our own land needs the consent of neighbours?

Worse, this process of asking and waiting for their response might take 6 - 8 weeks before we get the green light! Again, the concern about the site start date comes to play. The Customer Service rep recommended that it would be faster and easier to work on where to reduce the 16cm from our house. She compromised by saying that if we want to keep our double doors, we can sit down and work together on where else the reduction can be. After considering, we agreed to meet her after the holidays.

Much as we would like to keep the original size of the house, we agreed that a cut of 16cm is not a significant difference in a house that's 14.5m wide. Even though we know that agreement from the neighbours to the dispensation would not be difficult to get through the developer's help, we also wanted to start construction as soon as possible.

All the finance approvals are in place and the land was finally settled on 20 Apr. We are ready to go as soon as we decide whether to shrink the pantry/study or the lounge. In the end, MY pantry won. Storage space for all my cooking ingredients and appliances is precious. The lounge, it will be a little narrower, but I don't think it'll be missed at all. I hope I'm right.....

The Building Contract

2011-04-18T18:40:00.002+10:00

Finally, some progress on the building of our new house. Between the last update and up till last week, pretty much NOTHING happened. The land, that was supposed to be titled in December last year finally got titled last week. Settlement is due by 20th this month, afterwhich we will officially own it. In preparation for the building to proceed, we also started negotiating the building contract with Simonds last week and eventually signed it on the day of Hubby's 40th birthday.

When we first bought the land, the developer was confident that the title would be issued by December last year. But, like many inefficiencies in Australia, the title did not come on time. It was quite usual for titles to be late but no one expected it to be so late. This caused us to have some contention with Simonds due to a fixed price clause. Simonds would only guarantee the fixed base price until 30 April '11. If we do not get the building permit by then, we could be charged a $1000 per month contingency.

Of course we were not comfortable with that. But we had no choice then as we wanted the land. We were hoping we will not have a need to challenge that clause. But as time progressed and it became clear that we are walking on a thin line, we started to worry we might be charged for a delay that was not our fault or even within our control.

Luckily for us, we refused to sign the contract with Simonds any earlier. We told Simonds we will only sign the contract after the land is titled. Simonds people kept reminding us that if we did not sign the contract we might incur the contingency charges. We didn't care. As long as we had not signed the contract yet, we had the bargaining power. When we knew the date of the title was near, we agreed to meet them to start negotiating the contract.

We took the contract home after the first meeting where we talked about the contingency charges issue and had no compromise. They kept using the contingency charges to pressurize us to sign the contract which was really irritating. And the more they do so, the more we refused. At that time we had no idea the exact date the land will be titled. We needed to feel sure that we will not be penalised for any delays that was not within our control. I was prepared to walk away if they ever charged us any penalty.

At the same time, we also consulted a solicitor over the terms in the building contract. As this was our first time, we felt it was worth it to pay $200 for some professional advice and we were glad we did. The solicitor went through the whole contract with us and told us which items were against our interest and to negotiate with Simonds. Since this contract was written by Simonds, naturally all the clauses inside protects them more than us. Simonds was rather cocky and initially tried to 'con' us by saying that this is a standard contract, implying nothing is negotiable. But don't be fooled. As with any contracts, many terms are negotiable.

We managed to up the amount that they have to pay us if they failed to complete building within 220 days from $200/week to $250/week. We also refused to go for a new progress payment schedule that will give them 50% of the price by the frame stage. There was a clause that said 'fixed site costs' but we had to pay for any 'importation of fill' if they need to fill up excavation holes. We got them to remove that as well. Most importantly, they agreed to extend the fixed price timeline by another month. By then, the land was titled and we were confident we should not be charged any contingency.

At the end of the day, we agreed to sign the contract only when we were satisfied and achieved what we wanted. We closed one eye to some conditions that they refused to budge but overall we were happy to proceed. But not without first complaining about their high-handed tactics and threatening to walk away. :-p

The building contract is one of the most stressful yet important stage in building a house. We spent a few days reading through the whole document and scrutinizing the plans. One of the most unreasonable condition inside stated that if we made any 'variations', we would incur administrative charges of $1,000 on top of the cost of the variation! So we had to make sure that we make any mistake or don't change our minds once we signed the contract, otherwise they'll make a lot of money from us. But the most important thing is, don't be pressurized by the builders to sign a contract you are not comfortable with. Remember, if you walk away from the deal, they have more to lose than you.

Taekwondo Grading

2011-04-11T16:40:00.002+10:00

KK, who has never known an exam in his life, got his first real experience of one last Saturday. His Taekwondo yellow belt grading.

Since February this year, he has been attending TKD training 2 days a week. Hubby also took it up and they both started from the most basic level, as a 'white belt'. Both of them really enjoyed the sessions. Hubby renewed his interest and refreshed his memory of the moves he'd practised 20 years ago in the army. It was a good cardio exercise for him as well. KK also became fitter, doing push-ups and sit-ups and I saw improvements in his kicks and punches over the last two months.

But still I worry how he'll perform on grading day. There won't be Dad to remind him and there won't be teachers to correct him. He'll be watched carefully by the testers as he goes through his kicks and punches and he'll have to complete the whole sequence by himself. I hoped he won't forget his moves. I worried if he'll sit down halfway through. Worse, will he refuse to even participate on that day? Afterall, he had never been tested seriously. I was anxious yet keen to watch how he'll perform under pressure and scrutiny.

Relax lah brother

The kind of anxiousness I felt was probably natural for all mothers letting go of control. Feeling a little helpless yet excited to see if the tree you've planted will stand on its own after you let go of your hand. For that moment, I willingly gave up my beauty sleep and woke up at 6.30am to attend the grading.

While waiting for their turn, some people practised but KK did not. If he was nervous, he did not tell me. Hubby was also going for grading that morning, but I have no issues he will definitely get it as he wanted it. KK, I'm not too sure if he took it seriously. We had to remind him not to crumple his uniform and he appeared nonchalent as we fussed over his hair and length of his pants.

At the end of the day, KK did not fail us. He went through the whole 20 mins sequence without quitting halfway or getting confused. He stood straight and followed all instructions correctly. Most importantly, I saw him seriously doing his best. Getting a TKD yellow belt is not a big deal but I'm proud he kept his nerves and achieved it on his own efforts. I hope he will always have the right kind of attitude as he tackles challenges that comes along and put in his best effort in everything he do. I breathed a sigh of relief when the tester walked up to him holding the yellow belt in her hand.

Congratulations KK and Hubby!

Kinder Fun

2011-04-01T23:03:00.000+11:00

I can see why XX really likes going to kindergarten. Each time I drop him off at school, I see that enthusiastic sparkle in his eyes mirrored in so many other kids there. Since the 2nd week, all those kids that had cried and clinged on to their mothers had now adjusted to the separation and shows no signs of homesickness. I credit all these to their teacher, Sue and a well-planned and fun-filled kinder program.

To keep 28 restless 4 year olds occupied for five and a half hours is not easy but in XX's kindergarten, there are always so many different activities to do and play that time passes easily. Each time I send XX there, I take a look at the tables of activities laid out and I get a glimpse of what they are gonna do that day. All sorts of materials are used for the kids to create stuff in addition to painting, stamping and simple handicrafts. Recycled cardboard boxes and cartons are used to build models with sticky tapes; bottle caps, patty cups are pasted onto paper for some crazy artwork; a big basin of gruel is prepared for the children to mix with a handheld mixer.

Today I had a chance to get a deep experience of what they do after the parents leave. It was my turn to do "parent duty" at the kinder. I took this opportunity to see how my son behaved in school as well as get to observe him at play. At the same time, I also got to know some of his kinder friends better.

As it was a sunny day, Sue brought them outside to have their lunch. The children settled on mats and rugs with their hats and sunscreen to enjoy their food. First thing I realise, compared to the other kids, I gave my son too little for lunch. I usually just give XX a ham or tuna sandwich, 1 type of fruit and a few biscuits. Even then, he couldn't finish it. The other kids' lunch boxes have basically the same things, but the portions are bigger. Like they had two or more fruits (like a whole apple/pear), cheese and even yoghurt for their lunch and afternoon snack. Guess I need to add in a few more stuff to increase the variety. No wonder some of them are so big-sized.

Right after lunch, the children played outside. Even outside, there were so many options for them. They were free to choose to go to the sandpit, which XX loved, and play with the buckets and spades. They collected water from a special tap that pumped collected tank water, to make mud pies or sand castles. Or they could go on the swings, take a slide and jump on the trampoline. There was also a shady area set up with some books on a carpet for them to browse. Under a big tree, an easel stand was set up with paint and brushes. Sometimes, they pretended to be carpenters. Real pieces of wood and nails were available for them to hammer. I thought that was kind of dangerous but the teacher thought it was good for them to learn how to use these tools early. Surprisingly, I saw some of these 4 year olds hammering away on the nail quite proficiently. No one came away with a nail in their hand thankfully.

I spent half the time there just walking around the different "pit stops" in the yard and watching the children. They were basically left on their own to play with each other, the teacher and assistant went around to help them a little. XX spent a great amount of time at the sand pit until one of his friends, Matthew, invited him to play on the swing. Then they ran around with a few other boys playing hide and seek. XX didn't do any of the painting or quiet stuff today. It was all active play. I managed to get talk to some girls as well. They were pretending to be twins and I got them to do fun "twin things" like sing a song or run together. Soon more joined in and they were all racing to touch the fence and come back.

Later on, one boy asked me to make him a paper aeroplane. I folded for him one of the most un-aerodynamic aeroplane, but he was happy. Another one saw it and wanted as well and before I know it, there were like 10 other kids crowding around me that wanted one too. It's funny how little it takes to amuse these kids. Just a bit of our time and attention.

After they packed up, the teacher decided to keep them outside, making them lie down and look at the clouds to soothing background music. It was not easy getting twenty over fidgety kids to lie still but she managed to keep them down for about 15 minutes. Along the way, she talked to them, asking them what they could see in the clouds and later, to imagine that they were in the clouds. By the time my duty was over, it was time for them to eat their snack, again, out under the clear blue sky.

It's pretty clear to me by now how the kindergarten program here is different from what I know in Singapore. There wasn't any alphabets recognition or numbers taught in class. Certainly no homework or anything too difficult. It's all fun, creative play but along the way, the teacher do incorporate some counting skills and general knowledge into the activities they do. Like asking what day (Friday) was today, yesterday, tomorrow and XX was asked to look at the sky outside and report on the weather (thunder/snow/sunny/rainy etc). They did a headcount together and learnt about grasshoppers when they found one outside. Social skills were being emphasized. The children were reminded to respect the teacher by not yelling at her and speaking one at a time. They were not supposed to play rough and were taught to ask for their turn at activities politely. I'm not an education expert but I sure wished my kinder was fun like this when I was a kid.

Crazy Times

2011-02-26T13:46:00.000+11:00

The news over the past few days have been focused on the same things: the earthquake in Christchurch, the uprising in Libya and the latest tax on carbon in Australia. Not very good news, especially the first two.

My heart goes out to our kiwi neighbours, whose unfortunate geographical position has caused much disaster and devastation over the last 6 months. I am saddened by the many losses of lives, many of them probably had no chance of escape when it happened. They did nothing wrong, except to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. This leads me to reflect, once again, on the fragility of life. Here one moment, gone the other. How small we are compared to the forces of nature. This tragedy has a humbling effect on people and we can only accept that we don't control Nature but instead is subject very much to it.

On the other hand, some thousand of kilometres to our northwest, in Libya, people are trying to take control of their destinies from a tyrant leader. For the people there, I say 'jia you' (fight on)! It's time to say enough is enough. They deserve to live in peace and prosperity just like everyone else. I cannot imagine what it must be like to live under the rule of such a crazy control freak of a leader for so long. And I can only fear for them if this leader do not get defeated and has a chance for revenge.

Nearer to us, Australia's PM has just annouced that there will be a price to pay for carbon emission from next year. Companies will be taxed, a fixed rate initially, on the carbon emissions they produced. This increase in cost for them will no doubt be passed to the consumers at the end and have a direct impact on our livelihoods in terms of increased prices on basically everything that involves carbin emissions in its production. While I agree that we must reduce our carbon footprints on earth and this green policy is aimed as such, I'm not sure if it will be effective enough to have a visible impact. Companies will still produce what they need to produce because there is a demand for consumption. Will they really try to research for alternative 'greener' methods of production to reduce their carbon tax or won't it be easier to just pass on the increased cost? At the end of the day, even if it is effective, the benefits of such a policy on climate change will only be felt in the long term. For the time being, perhaps in our lifetime, all we'll ever feel is the pinch to our pockets. Nonetheless, if we are buying the future for our children, then perhaps the sacrifice will be worth it.

XX Loves School

2011-02-20T16:13:00.000+11:00

All ready with schoolbag and hat

What a difference 1 year makes. Last year this time, we were struggling to send a reluctant and tearful XX to experience 'school' two days a week at a childcare center. We gave up after about 2 months. He wasn't enjoying it and obviously not ready to stay somewhere unfamiliar, away from us, for a prolonged period of time.

Based on my experience with KK, I knew XX still needed more time. When I tried to send KK to playschool at age 2, he didn't like it either and we stopped. When we sent him to nursery the next year, he was so much better. So for the rest of 2010, XX stayed by my side. This year, however, there was no more excuse to delay his entry to official kindergarten. I was both eager yet anxious to know how he will react about going to school now.

I had enrolled XX for a two-day kinder program that stretched for 5.5 hrs each day. Versus the three-day, 3.5hrs program, I thought this would give me more free time at a stretch and less hassle of bringing him in and out. Well, it was a decision based on my covenience and as the day approached for the term to begin, I started to regret if I had been too selfish and if I was subjecting XX to torture. Would he be able to adjust suddenly to spending 5 long hours at school? Furthermore, he had swimming lesson on one of the days before school. Would he be overtired? What a bad mummy I was.

Washing his hands after hanging up his bag

Luckily, after I voiced my concern to the teacher, she was pretty understanding and suggested that if he can't cope, I could bring him home earlier and slowly lengthen the amount of time he spent in school. At home, that first day, XX was pretty excited about preparing his lunch box, a present he got for his 4th birthday. I made him a ham & lettuce sandwich for lunch and packed some cransins and biscuits for snack. He happily packed the Thomas Train lunchpack it into his rollerbag and obediently dressed up. No fuss, no tears. Good start, I thought.

XX sniffing on the floor with his tissue

On the way there, I took a few photographs of him and he posed like a pro. Inside the class, he looked a little distracted by all the toys and kids around. After hanging up his bag in his designated "mouse" locker, I brought him to wash his hands and led him to the play area while waiting for the teacher to organise everybody. I already saw 2 other boys clinging tightly to their moms. (Notice it's boys again?) XX was still looking cool until I said that I'll have to leave soon. Then he started to wipe his eyes. He knew the inevitable was coming. As the other mommies started to leave, one of the clingy boys started to wail. He was comforted by the assistant and immediately distracted with a basket of toy trains, which was good cos I was worried that XX would be affected and start yelling too. I hung around for a while as the teacher started to talk to the children. I had given a tissue to XX and I watched him busied himself with it clearing his nose. After a while, I waved goodbye and walked out. As I closed the door, I heard fresh wailing. Phew, it wasn't XX but another boy who just realised his mom had sneaked out with me.

I stayed around for another 30 minutes outside, talking to another mom and secretly went to peep at him again. He was eating his lunch. I couldn't see his face but I saw his swinging legs. A relaxed posture. About 3.30pm, after I picked KK from school, I couldn't resist dropping by XX's kindergarten to check on him again. This time, they were having their snacks outdoors. I saw him, (he didn't see us) sitting under a tree with the teacher and other kids. The teacher saw me and came to update me that he was doing very well. No sign of distress and tiredness. She reckoned I should just let him stay till the end.

Yay, we finished our first day! (XX and Callum)

From that point on, my fears were thrown out of the window and things got better and better. By the 2nd week, XX declared he LOVED school. He even asked him when is it time to go to school and would say 'hurray' when I told him today he's going to school. On the day itself, he would keep bugging me if it's time yet. At school, he's still abit uncertain as he didn't know everyone yet. So he told me "Can you stay until Callum (his only friend) arrived? Then I'll stay with him." When Callum came, I said goodbye and I got a big hug and kiss and a happy wave from him. I cannot ask for more. This is the perfect scenario already. My toddler is going to kindergarten and enjoying it and I have 3.5 hours of free time all to myself.

Pregnant Flower

2011-02-09T18:42:00.000+11:00

Did you know that some flowers have gender? I didn't know that until recently. I have a pumpkin plant in my garden, which grew from the seeds that we kept from the Japanese pumpkins we eat, to this gigantic crawler with leaves the size of my palm. They started flowering recently, lots of them with huge soft yellow petals. Unfortunately, they wither after a day of bloom and then drop off. None of them produced any pumpkin. I read up a bit and discovered that only female flowers will bear fruit. Apparently all those flowers that bloomed so far were male flowers. Obviously you don't get babies from males. This rule is pretty consistent with plants as well. I was a little disappointed even my plants were like me, no luck for female flowers.

A few days ago, I finally saw it! A flower with a 'baby bump' below it! A tiny pumpkin! My pumpkin flower is pregnant! And not just one but three of them!! Finally, the babies are arriving! This might be interpreted as an auspicious sign for those who believe.....I'll take this chance to wish all who are wishing for babies a fruitful and productive year ahead!!

The female flower - see the bump below?

The male flower

Raining Rabbits

2011-02-07T20:18:00.000+11:00

February burst in with a torrent of activities in much the same way as the flood waters rushed into Queensland. I found myself caught between enjoying the festivities and having to deal with the weather at the same time. It was an interesting period.

Combined Steamboat Reunion Dinner

Friends over on the first day of Rabbit Year

The spread on reunion

Starting from the eve of Lunar New Year, I frantically washed two washing machine loads of bedsheets and blankets after suspecting I was bitten by bed bugs. Hubby suspected me of having Chicken Pox thanks to the red itchy dots on my body. In fact, they were heat rash due to the warm humid weather recently. They didn't prevent me from enjoying my combined steamboat reunion dinner at a friend's house though.

The next few days activities revolved around celebrating the Chinese New Year and going back to school routine. Symbolically, I dressed everyone in new pyjamas on NYEve and new clothes on the first day. Yes, there were ang pows and mandarin oranges, not forgeting my home baked CNY cookies that filled a corner of the dining table. I tried to decorate my house a bit but I only had about 3 greeting cards and the ang pow lantern I made was quite pathetic.

XX in his new PJs

On the first day, instead of watching Chinese New Year variety shows, I tuned in to news on how Queensland fared after the devastating Cyclone Yasi. The Prime Minister came on TV talking about another fatality in Afganistan and Australia's war against terrorism. Not very auspicious news but this did not stop us from wishing our Singaporean Chinese friends the auspicious "Gong Xi Fa Cai" when we meet or call.

We had dinner at a vegetarian restaurant on the first day. Nothing religious about it, my friend suggested and I agreed as I miss my mom's standard 'zhai' vegetarian dish which she cooks every 'chu yi'. I must get her to teach me so I can cook some too myself next year. We ended the night early as the next day was the first day of school for KK. I could have let them skip school since it was a Friday and the 2nd day of CNY but I felt the first day of school is important to have a good start to the school year.

KK's Glow in the Dark PJs that reads
"Caution: Grumpy in the mornings.
Avoid conversation."

XX officially started school too that day, though it was just an one-hour orientation. More about his big day at Kindergarten next time. After school ended, the Chinese New Year activities took over. We set off to the city hoping to catch some lion dance and festive mood by the river. Unfortunately, after making our way there by car and tram, the rain came about 15 minutes later and everyone rushed indoors. It turned out to be a big storm. When the rain came, it was like a dam broke overhead. It took only a few seconds to get soaked from head to toes. Luckily, we were quite near the shelter and managed to run in without getting drenched. But others were not so lucky. And it turned out, there were many other victims of the storm that night.

As we came home, we saw many trees branches lying on the roads, and even some sign posts. There were flash floods on several roads and the Shell petrol station and MacDonalds near our place were in total darkness due to a blackout. Part of our street had a blackout too as there were no street lights. It was rather eerie driving down the road with everywhere dark and quiet. I was expecting something to happen to our house but thank God, except for a drenched backyard, no water came inside the house and there was still power.

The CNY decor at Crown Casino

The weekend came and went quickly with a mix of normal activities (like Chinese school for KK) and not so normal events (like going for a party till past midnight and making a second trip to watch lion dance in the city). That's how we usher in the Year of Rabbit down under - blending east and west, a happy adaptation of tradition and invention.

XX getting ready to go out in new clothes.

KK in his new clothes

Another makan session at friend's house.

Lion dance performance outside Crown.

Fire crackers too loud for XX.

Happy New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Australia Day

2011-01-27T11:36:00.002+11:00

Each year on 26 January, Australians celebrate Australia Day. My Aussie friends might debate whether the date marked the arrival of the first fleet in 1788 or the day the constitution was formed, but to me, Australia Day is a celebration of the Great Australian Lifestyle.

Someone might be right when he said that Australia Day is just another holiday for Aussies to chill out with family, friends, beers and fire up some BBQ. That is probably how many people celebrated. Gathered at the backyard, lounging on foldable camping chairs, under a pergola or an umbrella or perhaps by the pool. Lamb and sausages on the BBQ and lots of cold drinks in the cooler-box.

We were invited to our friend Alison's home to celebrate Australia Day this year and hers is a lovely place. A perfect example of an Aussie home. Outside, a Federation style facade, fronted by a neat little garden. On the left, the garage which housed a 7-seater and a ute. On the right parked their newly purchased caravan. Inside, a recently renovated modern interior complete with a dining table suitable for 8. Beyond the french doors is the backyard, where most of the action took place. There's a gas operated BBQ stove, a jacuzzi spa, an outdoor wooden table and bench under an umbrella and even a ping pong table and trampoline. There, we spent 5 hours, eating barbequed meat, vegetables and chips, drinking wine, talking to friends and waving the flies away. It was a lazy lovely afternoon.

I wrote about the Australian lifestyle when I first arrived in Melbourne and now, after almost two and a half years of living it, I have to say I'm loving it! One of the greatest things about it is there are so many ways we can spend our weekends and holidays. Although we missed out on family gatherings, we're often invited to friends' homes for casual dinners, birthday celebrations or festive occasions. If we're not going to someone's home, we can choose to go for long drives. Often we organise trips to the country, beach or picnic grounds with them. In the summer months especially, there are so many festivities and weekends are unusually busy.

The lifestyle was different back in Singapore, we often crack our heads deciding what to do during weekends. I find the weather so humid that the only places we can go to during weekends are air-conditioned shopping centers. But the crowds put us back and other prohibitive thing is the parking. Everywhere you go, even to visit people's homes, parking's either limited, crowded or expensive. All these considerations makes it pretty stressful when we want to go out and enjoy ourselves.

I guess, we are lucky also that during our two years plus here, we have made many new friends, almost all of them from Singapore and their families. Some have migrated here by marriage and have fair dinkum Aussie partners. Others moved their complete families over. The husbands talk shop with each other and the wives meet for ladies only buffets sometimes. The children have made friends with each other so it's really great that when we meet, the children look forward to playing with their friends as well. Coming up, a picnic at the playground in Geelong and Chinese New Year festivities! A combined reunion dinner, a trip to the Chinese bazaar by the river and visiting!

I better get going....got to bring the children to get some new pyjamas and hopefully, I get to bake the peanut cookies today.

The Exercise Book Exercise

2011-01-25T19:54:00.000+11:00

School is gonna reopen in about 2 weeks' time. This year, we decided to purchase KK's exercise books and stationery on our own instead of buying the pack from the school. Reason being, some of the items in the pack are things that we already have, like rulers, glue sticks, scissors and pencils. These things can be used again, there is no need to buy a whole new set every year. We think that is not green and a waste of money as well.

All I needed was to buy some exercise books and display books. That should be pretty easy to get and shouldn't cost a lot, I thought as I set off this morning to Big W. It turned out to be a half-day affair staring up and down the shelves and still not getting everything that I needed. I was both impressed and astonished at the variety and range on offer, not to mention totally lost.

During my school days, exercise books were either lines or squares. Now, and maybe only here in Australia, exercise books are much more complicated. First, there are different sizes (A4, A5 or 334x240?). Then they come in different thickness or no. of pages (36, 48, 96 or more). Lastly, various line spacings (eg 14mm dotted thirds) for you to select. And I have not even mentioned the choice of colours yet.

If that is not 'chim' (confusing) enough, the names on the cover will give you a headache for sure. Scrapbooks, Project books, Display books, Exercise books, Graph books, Lecture notebooks....there seemed to be an exercise book designed specifically for each purpose in school. I even saw some science, maths or biology exercise books on sale. Luckily my son has not reached that level yet but I wonder what's the difference? Sometimes the difference is only marginal. And I mean literally. Example, the difference between a spiral "Lecture notebook" and the "notebook" is simply a margin. God, is this really necessary? No wonder the exercise book section alone need an entire aisle and no wonder every major retailer here is advertising "Back to School" promotions. No wonder also retailers like Officeworks can survive.

Is this whole industry created by ambitious businessman trying to expand their business and make more money or is this fuelled by consumers who cannot be satisfied anymore with boring brown paper exercise books? Or are our students today so lazy that they don't even want to draw their own margins? Probably a bit of everything. Honestly, all I know is, the number of choices is so confusing it's not funny. I see many other parents like me today, browsing through the aisle, looking round and round, up and down, with a book list on their hands, trying to find the exact match. Almost all of them, I'm sure, is hoping someone can tell them where to find what they need.

It's just a few exercise books but I went to 3 different places before I managed to get everything I need. Well, not really. For the Project book, I found the correct 334x240mm size with 18mm lines but it was not one with 64 pages. Heck, I just took the one with less pages (I can always buy more if they use up the whole book) and decided to call it a day. What an exercise! In the end, I spent almost $29. The school pack with everything cost $50. So my advice is, unless you have time on hand like me to shop around and don't like buying a new scissors/ruler every year, it might be easier to just order the book pack from the school.

Mouse in the house

2011-01-23T15:25:00.001+11:00

About 1 week ago, we had a most unwelcome visitor to our home. A tiny little mouse. Actually, I only had half a second to witness its size as it ran out and ran back into the pantry in a flash. It looked like a rolling ball of fur as I caught sight of it from the corner of my eye. From the fact that it can go under the door, I gathered it cannot be too big.

As expected, it scared the wits out of me. Even after I saw it ran into the pantry, I still stood up on the chair, just in case it dashed out again. But of course, it didn't. It must have been so frightened by my scream that it's gone into hiding. KK's reaction was like "Cool, a mouse, can we keep it as a pet?" When Hubby got back, he cleared out the pantry but could not see any mouse. I was the only eye witness so I kind of hoped my eyes were playing tricks on me but there were evidence of its presence in the pantry. Some broken bits of chocolates that were left at floor level and mouse droppings. Damn.

This started a whole series of anti-mice clean up operations. I vacuumed and mopped the whole house. We organised the pantry again and made sure everything had a packaging or container. We threw away food that we thought might have been contaminated by the mouse and wiped with antiseptic solution containers that might have been touched. Bins were cleared or covered and no food or utensils were left exposed overnight. I read that mice hated the smell of mint. So I plucked a bunch of mint leaves from our garden and placed them inside the pantry and around the entrances of the house. Of course, we also set up a mouse trap. We used a small piece of bread smeared with peanut butter as a bait. Mice love peanut butter.

We were quite sure the mouse will be hungry and come out at night to look for food. In the day, we were around all the time and I don't think it would find anything to eat in our pantry that is not wrapped properly. However, we only caught the mouse on the second night, after several failed attempts. The first time we set it up, being inexperienced, Hubby didn't shut the lid of the trap properly and although the mouse went into the trap, it escaped. I was devastated and worried that it will now learn that it was trap and not go in anymore. For 2 nights, I couldn't sleep well, wondering about the its activities and if the mouse will be caught. I will be trying to sleep but my ears were picking out every little sound outside the room. The suspense was killing.

After the first night, we woke up to find the trap activated but there was nothing inside. On second night, Hubby awoke at 12.30am to say he heard the trap and it could be the mouse. He checked and indeed it was inside. Our trap was one that trapped the mouse alive. So we needed to go outside and release the mouse. Hubby said he was not going out so late at night. Now I worried that it might escape during the night and all our efforts will be wasted. In the end, Hubby couldn't take my paranoia and he did dress up and got out of the house in the middle of the night to release the mouse. I reminded him to go further away so it wouldn't run back in. If it were a smart mouse, it wouldn't. Dinner outside was probably more sumptuous.

Colour Selection - Round 2

2011-01-18T11:14:00.000+11:00

Another round of selection. This time, from 1130hrs to 1630hrs. And we didn't even have time to have a proper lunch. Hubby ran off for a while to grab some sandwiches and we munched while we poured over the ceremic tiles.

The tiles we choose for the bathroom and kitchen splashback.

Turned out Hubby and I were quite similar in terms of taste when it comes to colours. There wasn't any arguments where one liked one colour and the other liked another. Or perhaps he went along with most of my decisions? In the end, we stayed close to earthy and neutral colours and this theme was reflected in many areas of the home. It looks pretty boring but I'm told you can't go wrong with neutral colours.

In many cases, our colour choices were based more on practicality than aesthetics. Some colours were easier to maintain and does not show up dirt as much as others. I don't want to be scrubbing the wall tiles everyday to remove soap scrubs or oil grease.

Colours of our house - the bricks, render and roof

Besides the tiles, we also had to decide the locations of lights, electrical points and even the security alarm sensors. This included where the light switches will be and which ones will link up. The lady assisting us, Rye, was very helpful and honest in advising us whether the lighting arrangements will be sufficiently bright for our usage of the room. The process was very tedious as we had to envisage the house in the future and what we'll do where, from where will we turn on/off the lights etc. But it's so important to go through it thoroughly now than to regret later.

Although there's nothing physically built yet, the house is pretty much completed in our imagination. Instead of just black and white drawings, we have now filled in the colours to our home. The picture in our mind is taking shape and we now can clearly envisage how the kitchen and various other rooms will look like. Still, nothing beats seeing all these plans materialise but we're happy it should be good. So what's the price to pay for all these happiness? I haven't got the final quotation yet, but on top of what we've already committed, the house just got more expensive by another $9,000 after that 2 rounds of colour selections.

Colour Selection

2011-01-16T11:12:00.000+11:00

93 decisions in 4 and a half hours. That was the record we set yesterday at the Simonds Gallery. In that few hours, we made some of the most important decisions concerning how our future home will look like.

Some of the things we got to decide were big structural materials and will not likely be changed over the next 2 decades, like the colour of bricks and roof. Other choices, though less permanent, like the design of cabinet handles, still require careful consideration over its shape, length, finish (matt or shiny) and even position (horizontal or vertical)!

The process wasn't as difficult as I'd thought actually. We knew what we liked already for some of items and from there, many other decisions sort of go along the same line. Like we chose a round vanity basin instead of the square one, so an oval bath tub and rounded edges tap ware naturally gives it a more coordinated look. And once we selected the brick colour, that gave us a base to match the colour of the other fixtures like window frames, garage door, gutters and fascia.

Some of the decisions took us a few seconds, like the edge of the mirror (standard polished edge) and the round gooseneck mixer tap for the laundry trough. Others, especially when the choices got too many, gave us a bit more headache. Of course, besides the selection of colours, we had to take into account some choices will cost us additional money. The choice floor coverings was probably the best example of such 'upgrades'. For the laminate timber flooring, we upgraded from the twin strip to a single strip and from 8mm thickness to 12mm for an overall better timber look and more solid feel when you step on it. For the carpet, we jumped from the standard Category 1 to a Category 3 carpet. These 2 upgrades probably cost us the most, approximately $2800 more than what we are already paying for the standard. Not to mention the other smaller upgrades which ranged from $8 more per handle to over $2000 extra for glass splashback. I dread receiving the final quotation when it's ready.

Not that we had much choice sometimes. The carpets under Cat 1 were really crappy. They are rough to the feel, thin and comes with only a form underlay. Only at Cat 3 do we get rubber underlays and a more plushy feel to the feet. Since the house is for ourselves to stay in, we figured that a little investment now will be worth it in the long run.

The other reason the process is not too stressful is our colour consultant Emma. She walked us through all the decisions patiently and gave us advice on our various options. Most importantly, she would make suggestions on matching colours, many of which we accepted. Especially when it comes to paint colours and cabinet laminates, we would be lost trying to choose the ONE from so many colours and samples. Emma would go pick a few that she thinks are suitable and bring it back to us. This way, we were not so confused and our decisions came much easier.

Finally, we would also like to thank our friends Kenneth, Debbie and her son Bradley. While we concentrated on deciding the best choices for our future home, they helped to babysit KK and XX. It was gonna be a long and tedious affair so we were not recommended to bring children along. Without our parents and relatives here with us, we have to depend on our friends to help out in situations like this. We told a few friends of our need and all of them offered their help. I'm thankful for them. In the end, I chose to leave them at Debbie's because I know XX and KK would enjoy the company of another boy best. XX is the one I'm worried about because he has never liked being separated from us. But it seemed that he has grown up. He doesn't mind it so much now if we leave the house for a short time, as long as KK is with him. Yesterday, he survived 6 over hours without even asking for us. Looks like I can look forward to some datings with Hubby soon....:)

Anyway, the decisions are not over yet. In fact, they've only just begun. Monday there'll be another round with the tiles department and also the electrical people. We will need to determine the choice of tiles to use for the bathroom walls, shower bases and kitchen splashback. And for the electrical part, the number and locations of powerpoints, TV points, telephone points, cooling outlets, heating outlets and light points. Which means we got to start planning where we'll likely put our furniture and the usage of the rooms. All these thought processes and the land is not even technically ours yet....

Innocent Prayers

2011-01-07T08:54:00.001+11:00

Even though we are Christians, we admit that we are not the dilligent kind who goes to church every Sunday. But we do talk about God to KK and he's been believing that there is a spiritual Father out there who can make miracles. He does not believe in Santa Claus but he's treating God like one sometimes, judging from the prayers he makes.

Recently he complained of having nightmares at night and as a result of his overactive imagination, would come to our room at bedtime to report hearing strange noises. I suggested saying a prayer before he sleeps. XX got his first introduction to praying that night. Three of us sat around on the bed in the dark, closed our eyes and clasped our hands. Here are some examples of what they prayed:

KK
Besides praying for himself, KK has learnt to pray for others too.

"Dear God, I wish XX would beat me in one of the games.
I wish Mummy would cook salty AND healthy food for me.
I hope Papa would work 7 hours a day and earn $1 million dollars a day.
Amen"

XX
For his very first prayer to God, he didn't really know what to say. And given he's not too eloquent with words yet, it was a really short one:
"Dear God, I wish I like you. Amen"

On the second night, he improved on his wish:
"Dear God, I wish I like so much food and I can't finish it. Amen"

It was really funny to hear the children pray, especially XX, I nearly burst out laughing. He had no idea what to say so what came out from him was probably the only thing that came to mind. And he was constantly checking if I kept my eyes closed! KK also has this habit of 'adding' on prayers after he has said Amen and interrupting other people's prayers with his!

Even though they treated praying to God like making a wish list, I think it's alright at this stage. It was their very first step in communicating with their Heavenly Father. And if they believed God can help them grant their wishes, they will continue to turn to praying in times of trouble and when in need.

Happy Holidays

2010-12-30T14:46:00.001+11:00

This year's Christmas holidays is really nice. The best Christmas present I received was the news that my mum is recovering well after her surgery to remove fibroids and that the fibroids were not cancerous. I was holding my breath for the initial few days after the ops and only breathed easier after dad informed that she is awake and I spoke to her on the phone. With this thought that the worst is over, I happily left for a short holiday to the Grampians over Christmas and Boxing Day.

It was our 2nd visit to the area, this time accompanied by a different family. The Seahs had 2 girls, aged 6 and 5, and they got along very well with my 2 boys. While parts of Australia and the world had to battle serious climate issues such as storms, floods, bush fires and snow blizzards, we were really blessed this Christmas with good weather at the Grampians. We did hiking on different tracks to see waterfalls, pinnacles and lakes. KK is always walking ahead of us and enjoyed the challenging climbs over rocky surfaces most. My only worry is for his safety as he gets reckless and over enthusiastic sometimes. XX also did very well. Given his age and size, I'm impressed that he was able to walk and climbed on his own for 80% of the way. The other 20%, he got a ride on Papa's shoulders. The trails are not all smooth and flat, many parts requires us to climb upwards over boulders and rocky terrain. I find it ok but I don't think Granddad or Grandma could do it. After lots of exercises during the day, the children were hungry like wolves. We prepared picnic lunches and took turns to prepare dinner in our self-contained log cabin. We were totally well fed during that 3 days.

This year's Christmas holiday is an exceptionally long one. Because 25th and 26th fell on Saturday and Sunday, the following Monday and Tuesday were public holidays as well. We arrived home on Monday and on Tuesday, we slept late and decided after breakfast to bring the children swimming. Again, another lazy relaxed day. I think the rest of the week is gonna be like this. Even though the public holidays are over, many people are still on leave, forced or otherwise. Many offices shut down or have skeleton staff. My husband's boss has asked him to work from home this week as most likely no one gonna be around anyway. Even if anyone is physically at work, don't expect anyone in Australia to be really 'working' during the week between Christmas and New Year.

It's strange but I am enjoying this Christmas holiday a lot this year. I think it is because of Hubby's full time office bound job. For the past 2 years, he worked from home, so public holidays makes no difference to us. He's around all the time. But this year, I feel the difference. During a holiday, I don't have to wake up on time to get KK ready for school. Husband is around at home the whole day, spending time with us, doing activities together. There's no school or cirriculum for the children to rush to. We can drive somewhere, spend a few days there and enjoy the great outdoors. We go to a few friends' place to catch up, eat, drink and be merry. Hmm...this is life.

A Year of Changes & Decisions

2010-12-24T13:18:00.001+11:00

OMG, there's about 8 more days left to 2010. I say this every year but I can't help but want to say it again: How time flies! Looking back, we welcomed 2010 at our previous house with our friend Steven & his family from Singapore. Since then, it has been a busy year for our family. One thing happening after another. An eventful year with many changes and important decisions made.

Here's a recap:

We went back to visit Singapore in January. Upon returning to Melbourne, we decided to switch KK's school. (See story here.) By March, he started at his current school and soon after we moved into another property nearer to the school. Besides having to adjust to a slightly smaller and older house, we had to adjust to a new neighbourhood. Over the year, we familiarised ourselves with the road conditions, found regular places to shop, explored the local libraries and made a few new friends in the vicinity. The boys now have regular swimming lessons 10 mins away and XX was enrolled for kindergarten next year at the community hub nearby. Slowly, we got settled and more comfortable in our new environment.

This year, around June, Hubby started a new job as well. It means a change in the lifestyle we have gotten used to for the past 2 years. For Hubby, he no longer can work from home and has to commute to work, like many locals, every morning. It's win and lose for him. Though he no longer have the flexibility to sleep late or work in his pyjamas, at least now he doesn't have conference calls at 4am in the morning. He's also getting the local experience and network which is good in the long term. But for me, I can no longer count on his help around the house during the day. We rarely have breakfast and lunch together anymore on weekdays and I became the designated chaffauer for the kids, ferrying them to school, swiming lessons and medical/dental appointments. Hubby like to say I've had it good for the last 2 years, so now my holiday is over. Sigh, he's right.

My sister and brother-in-law came over to visit us in July. It was their first time visiting us since we moved to Melbourne. It was also World Cup season then and I had fond memories of watching soccer at 2am in the dark living room, wrapped up in blankets, eating nachos and drinking coke with them.

After my sis' visit, we decided to start house hunting. We'd found a good school for the kids and Hubby has got a stable job to secure finance. The time was right for us to settle down and have a place to call our own. From July till September, we focused our weekends searching the nearby suburbs for a suitable house. I spent a lot of time looking at real estate websites, shortlisting houses to inspect over the weekend.

Late into winter (September), we went on our first skiing holiday. It was not the first time we tried to ski but it was the first time that the whole holiday was dedicated to nothing but skiing. All of us took lessons, got into ski gears and had our first taste of skiing down the slopes of Mount Hotam, except for XX, who is still a bit too young.

Three quarters of the year had passed and I was wondering if I could move into a new house before the end of it. The search had not been successful. I didn't know it can be so difficult finding a house you like. But we were getting closer. By Oct, we were only searching in 2 specific suburbs. Then, a plot of land came to my attention. It was in the right suburb, had the right orientation and the price was alright. We decided on it within 2 days and our fate is set. We will be building our dream home from scratch instead. It will take longer but it's probably better, since we can't seem to find a right one yet.

Due to the changes in routines and focus on finding a house, I find myself having less time and less inspiration to do my patchwork and creative stuff. Though I did manage to make a handbag and some mini pouchettes recently after the land was settled. I haven't been very experimentative in my baking and cooking either, preferring to make simple dishes and use tested recipes.

As the year closes, I find myself looking forward to the next one with excitment. Next year, XX will go to kindergarten for 2 days a week. It's not a big change but I'm eager to see him take that first step into formal schooling. I'll probably get him to take Chinese lessons like KK as well on Saturdays. For KK, I'm looking forward to him having a fresh start with a new class next year. I hope it will be a good year of learning for him. As for Hubby and I, we'll be busy working on our new house. There's gonna be lots of decisions and pain (judging from some of our friends who built their houses as well) working with the builders to get the house up. I only hope there won't be any major delays and hopefully we can shift in by midyear.

So my new year resolution for 2011 is gonna be "manage my time better". Next year, I know I'll be even more busy. Besides the usual chores and routine, I'll have to drop by our new place every other day to check on the building process. If I hope to write more and learn more, maybe something new, I'll definitely need to manage my time better.

XX Turns 4!

2010-12-13T16:38:00.003+11:00

After being haunted by "Is it my birthday yet?" questions every other day for the last 3 weeks, the day finally arrived when I can say, "YES, it's your birthday today!" Happy Birthday to my dearest XX!

The pirates landed on Marshmellows
Chocolate island

We had a little party yesterday for the little boy. I wanted to have it at the coastal park nearby, where I envisaged the kids running around, playing at the playgrounds and we adults have a beer and BBQ chicken wings in the midst of nature. Unfortunately, Mother Nature wasn't very cooperative yesterday. After a whole week of monitoring weather reports, I still couldn't really tell if it was going to be a fine day. On the day itself, I gazed at the sky and couldn't find any blue amidst the thick clouds. Well, it'll probably be cold, but maybe it won't rain. I was still holding hope one hour before the party is supposed to start. Then it started to rain. We decided to hold it at our house instead.

So it was a mad rush as we unpacked the things that we had already packed from the car and set up the BBQ at home. All the guests were informed and luckily it wasn't a problem as our home not much further. Despite the last minute decision, it turned out to be a wise one. The weather was freaky that day. At times it was cold and windy, then it poured, then sunshine for about 10 mins, then it poured for 5 mins and stopped. It stayed like that for the whole day. What kind of summer is that? Then again, 2 years ago, when we celebrated XX's 2nd birthday, it was also pouring cats and dogs. That was the wettest day of December 08.

Regardless, XX had a great time. Compared to 2 years ago, he is now much more aware of what's going on. He knows it's his party and he looks forward to it. He has also associated "birthday = presents". He knows he's getting a birthday cake and he knows to blow the candles right after the birthday song. He even knows how to make a "V" sign when posing in front of the cake. And it didn't take him too long to tear open the gift wrappers (with help from a few friends) and start playing his presents.

I managed to keep the tradition of making a birthday cake for him for the 3rd year. It wasn't by choice though :p. Because of the anticipated summer heat and outdoor venue initially planned, I suggested having a pyramid of donuts instead to substitute a birthday cake. We even bought a half dozen of Krispy Kreme donuts to sample. In the end, due to a lack of planning, we were delayed in ordering so dear o'mummy became the back up plan. And I'm happy I did it. XX gave me the idea for the decoration as I was grocery shopping. He loves marshmellows. As I eyed a pack of disposable decorating nozzles and piping bags, he haggled me into buying him a packet of multi-coloured marshmellows. A bright idea came to my head and I put the nozzles back to the shelf.

XX playing with one of his birthday gifts.

The chocolate frosted butter cake recipe came from a baking book I bought recently called "Easy Home Baking". One of the cake turned out a little burnt at the bottom and sides and I wished they were taller. But after I cut off the brown parts, the inside was buttery and soft. The cake also 'grew' taller after I combined the two layers and sandwiched some marshmellows inside. Coupled with the chocolate frosting and the colourful marshmellows on top, I think I scrapped through this time in terms of presentation and taste. There wasn't any cake left overnight.

Mini-golf set from us

My only apologies were to the little guests who may have been pretty bored at my house. Besides a big green backyard, which they cannot use because of the on-off rain, there was little space inside the house for them to play. There was only 1 television and on that day, the Wii handsets decided be low on batteries. Especially the girls. One of them asked me if I have Barbie dolls.... err...I have Transformers, Bionicles and Bakugans though. The older girls entertained themselves watching movies and the boys were happy chasing each other and gate crashing the girls' pretend tea party. Yet, somehow, none of them asked their parents to go home early. The party started at 11am and ended around 5.30pm.

KK and XX's favourite gift - the Nerf gun from Bradley

To all our friends who came, hope you all had a good time. XX and us certainly enjoyed the company. Thanks for your presence and presents!

Is it time to change school yet?

2010-12-08T15:05:00.000+11:00

I think we have been moving around too much. Our 8 year old seemed to think that changing schools IS the norm! He has been bringing up the subject of changing school next year several times already and what are some of his reasons? It's been 1 year already! I'm bored of the school's playgrounds. I want to make new friends.

Come to think of it, since he was 4 years old, his average duration of stay in any one school was about two years.

K1 - K2 (S'pore): 2006 - 2008
Prep - Grade 1 in Cairnlea (Australia): 2008 - 2010
Grade 1 - Grade 2 in Seabrook (Australia): 2010 - present

Each time he changed his school environment, he had adjusted really fast and really well. But did it give him an impression that he is supposed to go to a new school every year or two? I remarked to Hubby I think we better settle down soon before our son develops a "school-trotting" mindset. Hopefully we'll be able to stay long in this current school until he finishes his primary years.

What Colour Bricks?

2010-11-28T17:17:00.000+11:00

I know bricks can give you a headache if you hit your head with it, but I didn't know thinking about them can have the same effects too. Since we've decided to build our own home, I've been paying attention to the look of houses when I'm driving (I know, it's dangerous :p) What colour bricks did they have? What colour roof goes with what colour bricks? And more recently, I started noticing rendered and weatherboard facades as well.

It's never been like that before for my first 2 properties in S'pore. Buying HDB flats and condominiums, the building facade is the job of the developer and I only had to worry about the look of the interior. Now, we have to dig deep and think about details that most people walking past your house would not even notice. Like roof pitch, colour and type of roofing. There are 2 general types of roofing - Colourbond or cement tiles. Each has its range of colours to choose from and the cement tiles also comes with different patterns. The permutations on its own is endless.

Then there're the bricks. Different colour bricks can give different effects to the look of your house. And there are like about 60 types of bricks available for us to choose, with fancy names like "Canterbury", "Blackwood" or "Red Trevallyn" to confuse. Not just that, you can also add fancy details to the facade. Like rendering some surfaces to give a different texture and coloured finish. Attractive stones and tiles has also been used to make the facade stand out and be more attractive

We never used to notice before when we drove around the residential estates. But now, when I drive down our street, I'm checking out every house, all different cominations of bricks and roof, all with its unique look and character. I'm also checking out the types of windows, colour of window frames, colour of doors and garage doors. Should I render the facade? Or half-render? What colour window frames will go with the bricks? I have experienced colour coordination when I do patchwork and have to decide which fabric to use but this is way more stressful. In patchwork, the worst that can happen is you unstitch and start again or you just chuck it aside and never let it see the daylight. But for my house, what if I get it wrong and it turned out not as I'd imagined? A bad combination of ALL these can make your house a very ugly, sore thumb in the neighbourhood. Not just that, it will haunt you everyday you come back to the house. So I must get it right. And that is why I'm having a headache.

The worst part is, I have no way of visualising how my house will look like with this roof and that bricks. All I have is one black and white 2-D drawing of my future house and I can only use my imagination to colour on the bricks, window frames and doors. My husband, being a typical man, has never paid attention to small details. To him, every house looks pretty similar and pretty good. But me, being a typical woman, likes to think about those things that men never bothers. Maybe I should just take a step back and look at the big picture. Just pick a brick colour that is soothing to my eye and ta-dah, let it be.

I Bought My Own Cake

2010-11-20T14:12:00.001+11:00

KK's school organised a fete yesterday. Here's another new word I learnt in Australia: fete. According to the dictionary, a fete is "an outdoor event where there are competitions and things to eat or drink, usually organised to get money". I don't even know how to pronounce 'fete'. Is it pronounced as "fe-teh" or "fat"? I decided to follow KK, who pronounced it as "feit".

All I know is, for the fete, the school were asking for parent volunteers to help out at the stalls and they were also selling "unlimited rides" bracelets for $20 each. I did neither, though I did consider helping out. However, with no one to look after XX, I can't. As for the rides, I figured the queues might be so long that the "unlimited" bracelets might not makes sense. And if I get KK one, I will have to get XX one as well. I will just buy them individual rides (@$5/ride) on that day.

What I did help was to bake a cake for the school. The school sent home a letter asking each family to bring a cake to the school on the day of the fete. They even attached a recipe of a cake for us to use. Apparently they were setting up some cake and tea stall on that day. I'm not comfortable with the idea actually. I was telling Hubby, how can the school be assured that the parents who baked the cakes baked it hygienically? Parents were asked to list the ingredients used but how do people know if they were fresh or if anything else was added and not declared? There could be serious sabotage potential and who should be responsible if anyone consumed the cakes and fall ill? Maybe I watched too many conspiracy movies or perhaps Australians are more trusting but I will not buy any of those cakes. Regardless, I will do my bit to bake the cake.

My cheap and good cake, half eaten

On the day of the fete, I walked into the gym, curious to check out their cake & tea stall. I found on this long table all sorts of cakes that the parents had baked or bought. They were selling the cakes for a price of between $1 and $5. And then I saw my cake. It was priced at $2!

Honestly, I felt a bit insulted at first. The ingredients alone would have cost more than that! What about the effort? Then again, my cake did not look very impressive. It was perfectly round but a little short and the top of the cake was a little chipped off when I turned the cake out from the pan. The people there could only judge the cake by its presentation but I know the cake taste good and it's the only one I will trust to eat. I should have waited till the end to see if anyone bought my cake but I was quite hungry then. So I bought my own cake back! Then I kind of felt lucky that they priced it only $2 and I had gotten a really good deal....really weird.

KK couldn't understand why I had to bake a cake to give to the school and then pay money to buy it back. I told him that it was a form of donation to help them raise funds. Besides that, we also spent money on buying food and drinks at the fete but not for the rides. KK was a little gumpy that his friends had the unlimited bracelets and he didn't. Looking at the long queues, I refused to get it for him and offered him individual rides instead. He didn't want it. Luckily, he just sulked a little and did not throw a big tantrum like another son of my friend.

A dejected KK playing with XX at the playground

Almost Four

2010-11-15T22:06:00.000+11:00

XX is less than a month to being 4 years old! To me, that's officially the age my Baby X can no longer be called a toddler. Next year, he begins official schooling. Right, not playschool, not nursery but kindergarten. It will be a significant milestone.

Looking at XX nowadays, I just can't help but notice the changes in him. Not just physically taller, his face has changed too. Well, he's still very adorable but his face seemed to become more boyish. Or maybe it was his facial expressions, gestures, language and behaviour that have matured so much.

A most recent photo of XX

Of course, I'm happy. My job as carer is getting easier. He feeds himself, on most days. He sleeps now in a separate room, with his brother. He doesn't have to hold my thumb anymore to sleep but I need to spend at least 5 mins in bed with him before he sleeps. He doesn't wake up in the middle of the night anymore but reports to my bed at first light.

I can no longer keep up with his progress in my blog as he surprises me everyday with his abilities. In the area of toilet training, he's almost completely independent. He goes to the loo like a big kid and did away with the training toilet seat some time ago. I even taught him to climb onto the toilet himself using a step stool and I only had to help him with the cleaning of backside. One day, he went all the way and even cleaned his backside himself! I am amazed at his independence but I'm not sure about his ability to do a good job. To be safe, I wiped his backside again.

In the linguistics department, the four year age gap between KK and him has almost vanished. Now the two of them can have very engaging conversations, about their favourite topics like LEGO, Spongebob, Iron Man and Ben 10. XX even have very engaging conversations with me, telling me what he saw in the cartoons and how he wished he can have this toy on the advertisement. His volcabury is still limited but I can understand him perfectly. Recently XX's learnt to express his wishes and desires using "oh, I wish..." If you tell him no, he'll even ask you "why?" He's no longer the 'gong gong' baby you can safely bring to the toy department and hope not to spend a cent.

Right now, I'm scratching my head about how to celebrate his 4th birthday. I think this might be the last year I can get away from having a party....but there'll definitely be a celebration. XX's done well this year and his progress is worth celebrating.

Mango Pudding

2010-11-08T14:41:00.000+11:00

Mango season is here and the other day, one kind mom from school gave me 3. She got them real cheap as they were very ripe and had some blemishes. And they were so sweet! I ate one and asked Hubby if he preferred mango pudding or a mango cake. He voted to turn the last 2 mangoes into mango pudding.

I'm quite an experimentative person especially if I'm in a situation where I have to adapt. This time, a can of near expiry condensed milk in the pantry is the reason for my creation!

Most mango pudding (the kind you find in chinese restaurants) recipes calls for evaporative milk. But as explained above, I want to use condensed milk. At the same time, I can also save on adding sugar. For added flavour, I decided to stir in a mango flavoured yogurt ice-cream as well. I didn't see any recipe that used yoghurt before so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will not affect the jelly setting.

Phew, the experiment turned out well. Creamy, smooth and full of mango sweetness.

I'm posting the recipe here for my own reference but if anyone should try it, let me know if you like it too.

Ingredients:

2 ripe mangoes, take out flesh and dice
200ml condensed milk
1 tbsp unflavoured gelatine
225 ml hot water
1 stick of mango yogurt ice-cream

Method:

Puree about half the amount of mango in a blender. (If you want it yellower, add in more mango)
Dissolve the gelatin in the hot water, stir in the condensed milk.
Add mango puree and stir well.
Stir in the ice-cream until it melts completely.
Add in the last bits of diced mango.
Pour into moulds and chill until set.

Hmm....this is a really nice dessert on a hot summer day.

Ready, Steady, Hold

2010-11-08T11:11:00.002+11:00

I think it is a mother's natural instinct to want to protect her children but often I ask myself where the line is to being 'over' protective.

Since I started this "5 minutes" routine with the kids where I'll lie in bed with them for a while before they sleep, I've had the privilege to have a short chat with KK before he sleeps. Snuggled cosily under the quilt and in the darkness, he's more relaxed and more keen to share voluntarily about the happenings of his school and his feelings. And he had been telling me that he doesn't like school because some of his classmates in school bully him. He said some of them call him "dumb" and sometimes they also make fun of his accent and pronunciation. There were also some pushing and taunting during play time.

My heart goes out to him when he told me he felt hurt by what they said. I can fully understand how such experiences can affect his school life and learning. I was a school kid once and I know that much more than academic work, being accepted and finding friends that you can hang out with is an important aspect of their school life. It seems that in his class this year, he has not been able to find that special friend yet. And my son is very sociable in nature. He doesn't know how to play by himself. In fact, he NEEDS to play with others. So even though the other kids treat him that way and we told him countless times to leave them alone and do something else, he'll still go after them and wants to play with them.

Honestly, I felt a little anger too initially. Especially since he had given me names of some boys and girl that have been especially abusive, I felt like going to those kids and telling them to bugger off. Also, I wondered if I should write to the school to ensure that these kids don't go to the same class as him next year. Luckily I'm not an impulsive or rash person. I know that parents should refer such matters to the teachers instead and not approach the kids directly. Even then, I struggled if I should talk to his teacher about his complaints. On the one hand, I wish to help him achieve a happier school life but on the other, I'm not sure if I'm overreacting yet. Calling names is definitely rude but I believe some of the things these kids do to each other are just childish behaviour or playfulness. Being boys, they can get pretty rough too when they play, so pushing and shoving is normal and might not be bullying behaviour. I probed KK to make sure that he was not the only 'target'.

At the end of the day, I did not talk to the teacher. I decided to let my son work it out himself before I step in. Much as I wish to be there for him all the time, it is not possible that I solve everything in life for him. In his adult and working life in the future, he's gonna meet more nasty people and he needs to learn how to deal with these situations. Instead, I counselled that he doesn't have to pay any attention to their name calling as they are not true (he's definitely not dumb). I told him that by ignoring them, they'll soon get tired and move on to someone else. As for his friends, if they don't want to play with you, go find someone else. He should choose friends that are kind and good natured. I'm also considering it a good idea to let him learn some form of self-defence martial arts. Firstly, it'll toughen his scrawny body up and secondly, he knows how to protect himself in case he's attacked.

At eight years old, KK is going through some important lessons in life on socialising and human relations. These are important interpersonal skills that will build up over time and bring him into adulthood. I hope he will slowly figure his own way of adapting and fitting in. In the meantime, as a mother, I will continue to watch and listen. Ever ready to step in and rescue my children should they ever call for help.

The South Side

2010-10-30T15:14:00.008+11:00

Most Victorians would have heard of Werribee, probably thanks to several tourist attractions such as the Werribee Park Open Range Zoo. This suburb is where we have chosen to build our next home.

So why do we decide on this area? Approximately 35km to the southwest of Melbourne CBD, Werribee is not exactly 'prime' real estate in terms of distance to the city. It is however an established and mature town on the outer edge of the Metropolitan. You don't have to travel very far to see farmlands and countryside.

Three months ago when we first began our house search, we never thought that we would end up in Werribee. We were looking around our current area and Point Cook. Then the search expanded to Hoppers Crossing and Truganina when we found Point Cook overpriced. Once we viewed a house in Werribee that was only about 10km from KK's school. It did not advertise its selling price and we were appalled when we heard that the seller was asking for $680K-$700K. It's a beautiful house but it's in Werribee! Well, it's the "South Side", replied the agent. But that's STILL in Werribee, we argued.

And so that was our first introduction to the "south side" of Werribee. We have never heard of "the south side of Werribee". The agent tried to explain that this area of Werribee is more exclusive and in demand because of its convenient access to freeway, shops and good schools. We didn't really buy it then but soon we found that there is a significant difference to the home prices there and the rest of Werribee.

Advertisement for properties on the "south side" will always highlight its 'highly demanded' location as a major plus point. We noticed that many of the Werribee real estate agents we dealt with all lived on the south side. (Even the Sales guy from Simonds who sold us the House & Land package has bought the lot next to ours.) A few of the 'south side' houses we inspected, the owners were just moving to another property also within the south side. We gathered if the real estate agents, the people who know the local area well are all living in that area and the people who lived there don't move out but move within the area, then there must be something good going on there. Another tell-tale sign is the amount of sub-division that is going on there. Many developers are buying up blocks of land there and sub-dividing them to build two or more units on each block.

There is no separate postal code to the "south side". Basically, you have to trawl through all the Werribee listings on the real estate website and look out for words such as "south side location". It is often mentioned in the headlines as it is a major selling point. From what I understand, the "south side" is the area south of the Werribee town center, separated by Princes Highway. Duncans Road runs through it and it is flanked by Princes Freeway (M1) on the other side. In the area is also a reputable secondary state college, Werribee Secondary College. The school is 'zoned', which means that it only takes in students staying within its immediate vicinity.

Even though Werribee is further away from the city, factors such as the convenient access to freeways, town center and a good school gradually changed our mind about the 'south side'. Many of the properties on the 'south side' have been around for a long time but the neighbourhood northeast of Duncans Road is rather newly developed. There are still isolated plots of vacant land and many of the houses there are newer, beautifully built, big houses. Most of the houses are owner-occupied, which is better than those areas where there are a lot of investment properties. (It is generally believed that tenants don't take care of the properties as well and so can affect the value of the neighbourhood.)

We got an exclusive tour of the area that our future house will be last Sat. It turned out that the block we are buying belonged to the mother-in-law of the developer. She is also currently staying at the 'south side'. The developer walked us around the muddy site and pointed out our lot. It feels great to imagine our house sitting there some time in the future. It is a small development and all the lots have been sold sometime in March this year. We are lucky that his MIL now wants to sell it and another earlier buyer backed out.

Some shots of the site of our future home, simply land at the moment.

Width of our lot (I think).

A laneway marked by the pegs

The road leading up. (That's me and the developer at the corner)

Choosing My Home

2010-10-28T16:16:00.005+11:00

Choosing the location was but only the first step to getting the right home. What followed after paying the 'holding deposit' for the land was deciding what type of house to build on the land. While Simonds (the building company) had plenty of floorplans, in the end, we realised that there wasn't that many choices suitable for us.

From the start, we wanted to have a 4-bedroom and single-storey house. Double storeys are great too but that will leave us with a very big backyard. Unless we build a swimming pool, I don't know how else to use the land and I don't fancy Hubby will be mowing 200msq of grass every two weeks. In other words, I don't think we're capable to take care of a huge garden. A single-storey house that takes up about 70% of the space is ideal and cheaper to build too.

As our lot was a corner block flanked by a small lane to the right, it is not possible for the driveway and garage to be anywhere else but the left. And to take maximum advantage of the northern facing, we wanted the living/dining areas to be on the right side which is north facing. Half the designs were striked out after factoring in these two criterias.

Initially we considered houses that were narrower and long in design. This will give us more space between the fences and the windows, allowing more sunlight into the house. There were about 3 or 4 house designs suitable but I realised that NONE of them had a study area. And I really thought that a study area, for computer, books and homework, is neccesary. I became rather dismayed that out of Simonds' 32 single-storey designs, I could not find a single floorplan that suited all my requirements.

Actually Simonds is able to put a study area into the floorplan of some designs. Of course, just pay more $$$. But it also occured to me suddenly 'hey, why limit the house to narrow designs just to stay away from the fence? Why not just choose fences that allow light through and yet provide security/privacy?

With that breakthrough, we found a house design called "Marriott" that meets all our requirements above. It's around 31.62 squares (293.79sqm), has 4 bedrooms plus a study and includes a huge alfresco included under the roofline. The width is 14.66m, which makes the fence less than 2 metres from the windows. Hopefully, we'll be able to find some suitable fences in the future. We liked the open plan layout, spacious kitchen and I got a walk-in pantry!!

Unlike buying an established house, where most of the decision-making headaches should end at this stage of finding the right house, our building journey has just started. Last night, we had an appointment (the 3rd) with the sales consultant to finalise the house design and the upgrades/changes we want. They had a Big Brand "Pay $10,000 for $30,000 upgrades" promotion and one of the homework we had to do was to work out what upgrades to take. We selected about $26k worth of items initially. And we were faced with whether to select more just to make it $30k or to reduce the upgrades to $22K, in which case we only had to pay $5k. We found that we couldn't reduce much without cutting a major item (such as high ceilings). In the end, we went the extravagant way and took good-to-have items such as a 25 degree roof, better cooker, better canopy rangehood and even a Dorf Krysten veggie spray mixer tap for the kitchen.

We also paid extra (outside of the promotion) for things such as tiled shower bases, a stone kitchen benchtop, extending the overhang and a waterfall panel feature. We were seriously considering changing the aluminium sliding alfresco door to a timber bi-fold one but has decided that instead of paying $4,500 for asthestics, we should perhaps save the money for something more practical like solar panels or a water tank flushing system instead.

The quotation we signed was only an estimate of the cost of the house. There will be other sessions for colour selection and appointments with the electrician. I am quite sure there will be more things, such as extra powerpoints, that will increase our cost. And we haven't added in the cost of fencing and landscaping yet. If you ask me, there is often less value to building your house versus buying an established one. There is actually an established house currently for sale just a few streets from where we bought. The land size is slightly bigger and the house looks pretty good from the pictures. Curtains, lightings and landscaping are all nicely done. And it's only asking for $445k - $465k. I believe my final cost of land + building cannot be lower than that amount. Honestly, I wavered for a moment. But Hubby is not tempted. He's advocated building our home from the beginning as that's the way to get exactly what we want. And after so many months of searching and not finding, I must agree he is right. It might cost more in the end, but it's 100% your creation. This time round, I trust my other half is the better half.

With all the upgrades, I can imagine our house is gonna be a good one. Especially the kitchen, it's a homemaker's dream kitchen, with a giant pantry, lots of countertop space and some of the most sleek, modern and useful appliances. I noticed that Hubby has been espcially generous when it comes to the kitchen upgrades. I know that's his way of indulging me....for sure there's no more excuse now not to cook better! And I can't wait to move in already!

The Holy Sheep and Cow

2010-10-24T19:57:00.003+11:00

The good thing is, kids learn fast and they quickly pick up new words from what they hear around them. The bad thing is, even though we don't speak them at home, they will still get to learn some bad words from friends, TV and whoever. Fortunately for XX, his innocence has saved him getting corrupted too early.

From I don't know where, the expression "Holy S**t!" was heard up by XX. His older brother had used a similar "holy cow!" expression before, so straightaway, my 3.5 yr old son made an association and started saying "holy sheep!"

There you go. Suddenly the cow and sheep attained sainthood in my household but I'm happy to let them be for now.

Tesselaar Tulip Festival

2010-10-23T15:56:00.005+11:00

About 2 Sundays ago, we went to the Tesselaar Tulip Festival at Dandenong. Spring was here and it was a great sunny day to go see the flowers in all their blooming glory. The kids went in free but adults have to pay $18 each.

Inside, you would be forgiven to think that you are in Amsterdam. Dutch ladies and men, in their wooden clogs and traditional costume, welcome you and provide directions. Immediately beyond the gates, stalls selling crafts, flower seedlings and food, beckon you to approach. But what really grabbed our attention was the vast field of colours on our right. Rows and rows of colourful tulips swaying in the breeze and looking refreshingly cool under the hot glare of the afternoon sun. I was wearing a hot pink colour t-shirt that day, but that paled in comparison to the natural bright hues of the tulips.

While the flowers were beautiful to look at, it didn't take very long before the kids got bored. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't much else to do and beginning to think that the entry fees are not too worth it. After posing with all the different colour tulips, there wasn't much left to see at the tulip patch. The weather was also extremely hot and the children began to get irritated. We ventured to the stalls, searching for shade and explored the other side of the festival grounds. There were more tulips and also a performing band playing the blues. We relaxed and enjoyed the music for a while while the kids cooled off with an ice-cream.

KK holding his "sweet prize"

Later, KK found out about a little contest and busied himself by searching for the names of the 7 gnomes hidden amongst the flowers. The prize? A handful of candies. And with the help of Papa, he really found them all.

I think the organisers should incorporate more activities for children during the festival. Like have a playground or some craft activities. While I had a pleasant time, I don't think I'll go back again next year. Well maybe, if they lower their entry fees to less than $10...:-)

The Search Ends

2010-10-11T10:19:00.005+11:00

After almost 3 months, I think I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. We've found it - our next home.

Actually to be more accurate, we've found the land and we're gonna be building a new home on it! No, it's not this one above. But hopefully something similar.

Despite what I've previously said in my previous post about building, it turned out that this might be a better option for us. Although buying an established house often has more value, finding one that meets all our criteria turned out not as easy as I thought. Ok, I admit, we're not easy to please as we've got lots of requirements.

After living in 2 rented properties and so many viewings of houses, we gradually formed a clearer picture of where and what we wanted our home to be. We have been dilligently looking at every house on the market for the last couple of months and still hasn't successfully found anything yet.

We were quite close 3 times but each attempt failed. I believed that was God's intervention, telling us it wasn't the right one. The first one failed as someone else made a better offer. On hindsight, I'm glad we didn't get it as we later felt the suburb is overpriced from too many investors. The 2nd offer was kind of impulsive. We liked the suburb and the interior of the house a lot and we made the offer after 1 viewing on the same night. But after cooling off, we pulled out after we felt that the offer we made was really stretching our budget. Naturally, the agent wasn't too happy. But again, I'm glad we didn't go through. As for the 3rd offer, that house is actually pretty bare and there are several improvements and repairs that has to be done before we can live in it. However, that house has potential to be nice, we liked the location and the north-facing of the living area is fantastic. The only problem is agreeing on the price. The vendor felt the price was too low but we refused to up our price. If the vendor cannot find a better offer, he might lower his expectation with time. However in the meantime, we found this piece of land, in a location that we really liked, for a reasonable price on the market.

I went down to see the agent on Tuesday, without much expectations, as I initially thought the land orientation was wrong. However I realised I had looked at the wrong plot of land on Google map and in fact, it had a Southeast facing, which means if we choose the correct floorplan, the living and backyard area will be facing North/Northwest. This is a good orientation for maximum daylight exposure and offers maximum potential for energy efficiency. I strongly believe that sustainable and energy efficient homes is the way to go for the future. Also, this land is a highly sought after area of the suburb, with potential for capital gains, it is near a good secondary school and has easy freeway access. The land size of 610msq is also big enough to build a house that has lots of room for the boys. It is a regular shape and has a 16.5m width, which means it can fit majority of the house designs. Most importantly, the price is reasonable. I knew immediately that such a plot of land does not come by too often.

Building your own home is a long process and the house probably won't be ready until middle of next year. During the process, we will have to make lots of decisions starting from the floor plan to the colour of the carpets and tiles. There will be plenty of interactions with the builders/subcontractors on site to make sure that everything is in order. But the good think about starting from scratch, you have a blank canvas and you are free to choose a house design that fits your needs. This probably is the best way for us as many of the older houses we've inspected do not meet our requirements for a modern energy efficient home.

The only catch is, I have no choice when it comes to the builder. This plot of land is for sale under a "House & Land" package. Which means I buy the house together and am tied to the builder that sells it. This practice where land developers 'reserve' and give builders the exclusive rights to sell blocks of land for them is pretty common in Melbourne and if you ask me, it's BAD for the consumers! Consumers should be free to choose the builder they want. Instead, these big guys, through their connections and whatever means, are hoarding up land and forcing you to build with them. Smaller builders are disadvantaged and consumers rights are compromised. It's ANTI-COMPETITION and it's not fair but the situation is as such.

I don't like it but there is no choice if I really like the land. We can only comfort ourseleves that this is a reputable builder and so far, we have not heard anyone we know who had a bad experience with them. We also managed to find a floor plan we like and were quite happy with what we saw when we visited their display house. Click here to go to the builder's website.

Wish us luck and I'll keep posting about the developments as it goes along!

I Can Ski!

2010-10-04T12:30:00.007+11:00

Wee! I can ski! And it's not Wii!

More than 15 years ago, on the slopes of the Swiss Alps, I was a student backpacker visiting Europe and the snowy alps for the first time and watching interestingly as colourful skiiers, carrying their skis, clomp their heavy boots into ski lifts. Back then I made a mental note that skiing is one of those things that I should try in my lifetime.

I had a short skiing lesson of 1 hr in Canada about 4 years ago. But it was just an impromptu activity and I wasn't dressed correctly. The jeans I wore and which I mistakenly tucked into my boot left me with blister scars on my ankles that took a year to disappear.

Our 3rd year living in Australia, we decided that with the ski slopes right at our doorstep, the time is right to check out the sport again. We had wanted to go early in the season, probably with my sister when she came visiting, but as our timings don't match, we cancelled the trip. Then late into the season, Hubby found some really good off-peak rates at Mt. Hotam and suddenly we're going again!

And finally, this time, I got to be dressed properly! We managed to get our ski attire for very reasonable prices at Aldi. Being beginners, we don't want to spend too much on gears but a proper set of water-proof jacket, pants and gloves is essential and I must say they served us well, keeping out wind and ice. We got KK a pair of goggles as well. Otherwise, sunglasses will do. Our skis and boots were rented and the kids had to wear helmets too. To prevent blisters, it is better if the socks can be worn high. There should be nothing in the boots except your feet and the socks.

The boys were very thrilled with their "Iron Man" boots but putting them on is torturous. After you struggle through the buckles, you will weigh at least 5 kilos heavier and you walk like a droid in Star Wars. Then try tugging a pair of skis and poles and walking up slope at the same time. Walking with the skis on is no better either if you're climbing upslope. During the first lesson, we practised on gentle slopes and we had to walk up the slope each time after we ski down. God, I perspired! The slope is only a few metres up but that took up 90% of my time and energy. When we finally graduated to use the Platter lifts, I was so happy. It felt so good to be towed up slope. From then on, skiing became a breeze.

At Level 2, we were brought higher up the mountain on the chairlifts. Actually the day before, I'd already gotten some coaching on how to get on and off the chairlift from KK. Surprisingly, KK was a very good teacher. His instructions were very clear and he spoke in a no-nonsense manner, very much unlike his usual clown persona. Despite the awsome view, I don't really enjoy the chairlift rides very much. The wind is so cold and it's blowing directly at you! In between clutching my poles and making sure it doesn't fall off my hands into the white wilderness below, I'm also catching hold of my ear muffs/hat and trying to mop up the rain/snow/ice that was landing on my sunglasses. I had wanted to take some video or photos when I'm riding up on the chairlift but I figured taking out my gloves and holding my camera, trying to aim and focus would be risking it. My other fear is always when I'm getting off, I"m not skiing away fast enough and will get hit by the moving chairlift. Luckily it didn't happen but KK ever got a slight knock on his helmet by the chair and I've seen many people tumble when their skis got tangled.

There are many types of skiiers and I think I belong to the "grandmas" group. Well, maybe even some grandmas are faster than me. I'm not used to the speed at all and I tend to slow down when I feel I'm gonna lose control going too fast. KK on the other hand, is a speed monster. He rushes down the slope, straight. After lessons, I managed to go up and ski down together with him and I found that he can control his skis very well. A few times, I fell down and he managed to stop and climb back up to wait for me. When he falls down, he gets up very quickly. But when I fall, it's another struggle to stand up. Often I find I have to disconnect the skis in order for me to stand up again. Kids are far more agile and flexible than adults in this sport. They learn so much faster and really put us to shame.

On this trip, all of us, including Hubby, managed to go for some lessons and got some basic instructions on skiing. The first 3 days were especially tiring but there was also the sense of satisfaction of acquiring a new skill. Hubby and I took turns going up the slopes to practise and babysitting XX as he's not good enough to ski down yet. Though we signed him up for lessons as well, XX didn't do as well. This is likely due to his reluctance to leave us and probably he's more timid as well. But at least he got his first exposure to skiing.

The other good thing about this trip was the opportunity for the family to be doing things together. Really closer. Usually at home, even though we are physically together under the same roof, each of us are busy doing different things. Like the kids will be playing their games, the adults are surfing the internet or busy with chores etc. But during this trip, we didn't have our computer, Wii or movies with us. All of us watched the same TV programs at night and talked about our skiing experiences during meal times. We all had the same bedtimes, woke up at the same time and have breakfast together, something we don't usually do during normal days.

Unlike 15 years ago, where all I could do was stand around, do some snow play and envy the skiiers, this time round, we were out on the slopes enjoying the snow to the fullest. It was a great experience and more so because it wasn't just the kids who had fun but the adults as well.

(More Pictures in Facebook!)

Holiday Fun - Royal Melbourne Show

2010-09-29T14:22:00.005+10:00

Whoosh, that's how time felt when you're having fun. The school holidays came and we started by going to the Royal Melbourne Show last Tuesday. Then the next day, it was a 5-hour drive to Mount Hotam for a 6-day ski holiday. We've only just gotten back to normal life and as I catch my breath, I'll blog about the Royal Melbourne Show first.

I've heard about the Royal Melbourne Show when I first came here but have not the slightest idea what it's about. First discovery: It's not a circus show. The Royal Melbourne Show, despite its fanciful name, is actually just a huge carnival. There seems to be animal rides, showbags and lots of fun for kiddos. The chance came for us to go this year when Hubby's company sponsored an animal nursery at the show and he was recruited (involuntary) as one of the 'volunteers'. With it came an extra complimentary ticket and a '2 for 1' voucher, so we decided to bring the kids along and follow him there.

Second discovery: I thought that with the entry ticket, everything there would be included, much like the theme parks. Thus I didn't prepare much cash along. Turned out, the entry ticket is just for ENTRY. Well, there were some free entertainment, like the Animal Nursery and some performances, but all of the kiddy rides and games there cost money. Great thing they had ATMs there.

Sure enough, money can buy lots of fun. While Hubby 'worked' at the animal nursery, I brought the boys around, buying food, rides, entertainment and showbags for them. They had a great time choosing their showbags.

Third discovery: Showbags are basically goodie bags and they are not free! There is a whole pavilion dedicated to it and it is a big money making business. Inside the pavilion are dozens of stalls displaying all sorts of candy/chocolate (Cabury, M&Ms, Hubba Bubba etc) combos in plastic bags for you to buy. Some of them also include a small toy and the more expensive ones comes in a real backpack. The prices range from $3 to $25 each. It's a dentist's nightmare and I normally don't encourage candies but with everyone walking around holding multiple showbags, it would be hard to get through the day if I don't give them any. So I gave KK a budget of $15 and in the end, with my careful guidance, I managed to spend only $15 to get 3 showbags and a long marshmellow to satisfy both of them. As expected, the kids just like to have the thrill of getting a showbag and the toy inside. Most of the candies are still untouched.

We managed to last till 5pm when Hubby's duty is over. By then, the boys were exhausted but they both enjoyed themselves so much. I lost track of how much I'd spent that day. Much better not to think too much. Like Hubby's advice, we probably won't go to the Royal Melbourne Show every year, so this is a once in a long long time kind of extravagance.

On to Spring

2010-09-15T16:17:00.004+10:00

Officially, Spring is here. But in Melbourne, you're never really sure. The weather's still pretty cold and wet but on some days there have been bursts of sunshine, warmth and blue skies. Anyway forget about weather reports and thermometers. The most telling sign of Spring can be seen in the gardens and fields. Nature has a way of knowing.

The canola fields next to the highway has turned into a sea of yellow. The sight is so amazing, many times I'm tempted to just stop the car along the highway and take some photos. Daisies are in full bloom and wild flowers are sprouting up at our front and backyard, together with the flourishing weeds. New rocket leaves are growing and new shoots are appearing on our rose branches. It's like everything is now waking up from their winter slumber and getting ready for Nature's beauty contest to begin. The prettiest thing in our premises now are the white lillies along our driveway that have bloomed over the last weekend. During the whole of autumn and winter, they were just a bunch of leaves. Now suddenly, the smooth white petals of 4 elegant lillies farewell me as I reverse my car out and welcome me back as I drive in.

During the coldest days of winter, I have largely left the garden alone. However, there have been some vegetable harvest from what we had planted earlier. We had some chillies and a few capsicums. The chillies were great but the capsicums were not as big nor tasty as those sold in the stores.

We grew lettuce too in a box and they were growing so well we couldn't eat them fast enough. It went into our stomachs as cruncy salads.

Radish just uprooted from the soil.

We uprooted our 3 radishes too. They were outgrowing the soil and had started to pop out and grow sideways, the leaves turning into an enormous bush. The radish roots were really deformed looking but they were gigantic. The biggest one weighed about 2 kg. I used them in soups and made radish cake and they were the juciest and sweetest radishes I had tasted. I also planted broccoli and chinese cabbage (wong bok) but somehow their growth were really slow. I'm not sure if it's due to the winter or maybe I planted them too low in a box, they couldn't get enough sunlight. Hopefully, with Spring, they will start bearing results.

After it's washed and cleaned.

Like A Pratha

2010-09-13T22:51:00.003+10:00

The Indian pratha is one of KK's favourite food. Even here in Melbourne, we always have a pack of frozen prathas in our freezer and he has them regularly, usually as a snack after school.

The other day, KK used the pratha as a metaphor to describe himself. Crispy and even a little "chow ta" (burnt) on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside.

Here's the story: KK had a sleepover in school last Friday. It was organised for the Grade Twos to help them transit and prepare for overnight camping when they go to Grade Three. On Wednesday and Thursday, he fell ill with a bad stomach flu and skipped classes for two days. He went back to school on Friday and was alright the whole day. He even went for his usual swimming lesson after school. When I sent him to school at 6pm for the transition camp programme, he was happy and enthusiastic. But at mid-night, the school called, informing us that he's unwell and wants to come home.

The next night, we talked about it and I asked him what happened that night in school. I believed he probably had a bad digestion, given his still weak stomach. The school gave them a greasy sauage sizzle dinner and popcorn and he probably had too much running around with his friends. He then felt unwell, uncomfortable and that's when he really misses his mum. But KK claimed that it was the other way round. He missed me at night, causing him to feel like he wanted to vomit. My big baby stated that he can't be away from his family for more than 7 hours or he'll feel like crying. He also declared that he doesn't want any sleepovers anymore unless I'm around.

"So how come you're alright at school normally and when I come and pick you up, you don't show that you're happy and even seemed reluctant to go home?" I teased. That when he said he doesn't show it, like a pratha.

Hair & Style

2010-09-02T17:35:00.003+10:00

Getting my kids to agree with me and do as I say seemed to be getting more and more challenging these days. Even XX, halfway through his "terrible threes", is determined to make Mummy's life difficult by challenging, with newly learned phrases (from who else but the older one) such as "that's not true", on issues such as what spread to put on his bread to TV/Wii/Computer time limits.

I just had one such disagreement with KK this morning about hair style and fashion. Yes, I accept that they are unique individuals with their own minds and are entitled to their opinions, but I just didn't expect the resistance to come so early. Already, we had to bribe him with bubble tea to get his hair cut yesterday. Today, it was another round of arguing about how to comb that hair. I don't really care usually how he combs his hair or even if he combs it for that matter. But today, it was his school's photo taking session! I can't afford to have him looking like a nerd or hooligan in the school portraits that we paid $32 for and will keep as a remembrance for the rest of his life!

It was a fantastic haircut and I think he looks very handsome with a cleancut look but our boy insisted it was ugly. He asked why he couldn't keep his hair long like some of his other classmates. I offered some gel to help style it but he didn't like whatever I did. Instead, he plastered his fringe together and then try to make it defy gravity. I think he will end up looking like one of those Gundam or Bakkugan characters. So how can I not step in? Thus started the argument about what constitutes "cool", which leads him to talk passionately about fashion and how I don't know anything about it.

There really was no conclusion cause beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. In the end, I just pleaded with him to trust my judgement before he hops off the car. I can't wait to see the photos when they turn out.

KK's 3rd Milk Teeth

2010-08-27T13:56:00.005+10:00

Last night, KK lost his upper front tooth, making it his 3rd milk teeth to drop out. It had taken a long time since he'd lost his lower two teeth many months ago and I see many of his peers having almost all their milk teeth replaced. But I'm happy to let nature take its course. Recently one of the front teeth started becoming loose and occasionally I'll hear the boy complain when he'd bit on some food that caused the tooth to move and create pain in his gums.

A similar scenario happened yesterday and I see the tooth hanging by a thread to the gum. However, I lacked the courage to jerk it out for him. I remembered stories about parents in the old days who tie a string from the tooth to a door knob and then slamming the door to get the tooth out. I wonder how true they are. I definitely am too chicken to do that. Instead, I gave KK a tissue and asked him to dab at his blood from his gums. The next thing I know, the tooth dropped out with the tissue.

There's now a huge gap in his smile with one lonely front tooth left hanging. It won't be long, I know, before this one goes as well. The next step is what to do with the newly fallen tooth. I tested out his belief for "tooth fairies", asking if he'll like to keep it under his pillow that night and maybe the tooth fairy will give him $1 for it. KK asked for $1 millon instead. No way, I said. If it's such a good deal, I'll gladly lose some of my teeth too, I thought. Then the savvy businessman decided that for $1, it's not worth selling his precious tooth. He then gave it to me so the tooth fairy wouldn't take it away and asked me to safe-keep it instead for memory.

I noticed that KK is a sentimental person. He asked me if I'd kept his earlier 2 milk teeth (which I didn't) and he didn't allow me to donate some of XX's baby clothings away.

Pass The Age of Cute

2010-08-23T10:12:00.007+10:00

2 weeks has passed since KK's 8th birthday and I've yet to blog about it. See the previous post for the reason why it became 2nd priority. But I better pull up my socks and show something for the folks back in S'pore before he turns 9!!

For this year, it was predetermined that KK's not gonna have a big celebration. Last year he's had his birthday celebrated with style at an indoor playground surrounded by 15 kiddo friends. This year, we celebrated in a low key manner. That is, bringing him out to eat his favourite food and doing some fun activities. On the last day of his 7th year, we brought him to play laser tag and then to his favourite Vietnamese place for "salted fried chicken". But when he was there, he ordered a plate of noodles instead. Since there were a few other friends together, I decided to bring a cake for him to blow his candles. I baked the cake as per usual tradition since we moved to Oz and yup, he chose chocolate AGAIN. That boy is consistently in love with chocolate.

On his actual birthday, it happened to be a school holiday as all the teachers had to go for training. How lucky for him! Hubby came back earlier and we took them swimming. After that, we went for dinner at a restaurant of his choice. The birthday boy chose Red Rooster, a fast food chain selling charcoal chicken. Of all places!! But since it was his birthday, we willingly went along. I don't find it fantastic, but at least he enjoyed it. After dinner, we went for bowling and some arcade games. XX had fun pushing off the ball off a ramp specially designed for kids. The lane for KK also had railings so that he NEVER went off course and always hit something. Great for the morale, but not too successful in training them to aim, I must say.

One of the most memorable thing was we found $10 on the street as we walked out of Red Rooster towards the car park. I said it was his 'lucky money' and asked him to keep it. At the bowling place, KK generously gave it back to me and offered to pay for the bowling session. I kind of feel comforted that he seemed to have grown more sensible.

On that day he turned 8, there was a memorable comment that KK made which made me realise how he had reached another stage of his life. XX made a remark in the car and I commented to Hubby, "So cute..." Unexpectedly, KK blurted, "Orrh, how come I'M not cute anymore!?" I laughed but also realised that yeah, we have not used the word "cute" to describe KK for the longest time. With this birthday, KK has officially passed the age of 'cute'.

Somehow as they get older and their limbs grow longer, they are not so cuddly and their actions are not as ticklish. We still love KK as much but perhaps our interactions with him has gone sterner. He is at this age where talking back is common and teaching him right from wrong, setting good habits and cultivating positive attitudes becomes more important than showing cuddly affections. Like a plant, we can't keep our children under the protection of the nursery forever. To fully develop, they have to move out one day and be in the full glare of the sun, wind and cold. In the real world, if his roots are not deep and the stem is not strong, he will not survive, let alone thrive. While in my care, I hope he has the right foundation and is set straight from the beginning. Even if it means being tied to a pole and thrimmed to size. And of course, coupled with consistent watering of love and affection.

Yummylicious - XX licking off the pot of chocolate frosting

The Search Continues

2010-08-23T09:11:00.002+10:00

For the past weeks, my life has revolved around real estate. Images of various properties swirl around inside my head before I sleep and the topic of houses dominates our dinner conversations. In the day, I spend a lot of time in front of the computer, touring real estate websites and studying Google maps. I speak more to real estate agents than my friends and we have met every single agent of Barry Plant (Point Cook). In between maintaining our usual routine and the daily rounds of delivering KK to school and collecting him, I even went to inspect a few worthy properties alone with XX.

We have still yet to secure our future home although we have made several offers. Our plans also keep changing. We are now looking at 2 other suburbs which are further away but has more value (in terms of the price). We also considered buying land and building. I've even spoken to one builder who offers 7-star energy efficient homes. That sounds very appealing to us - double glazed windows, rain water tank system (to flush the toilets), solar energy water heating system etc. However, I had concerns for the location of the land and am not too eager to embrace having to deal with conntracters and all the minor details of building. I've heard horror stories about builders from some of my friends' experiences and read some nasty complaints about them at online forums. It is so much easier to just buy an established home and often it has more value too.

Many homes that we have visited, especially those that are owner-occupied, has got landscaped gardens, decked alfresco area and pergolas. Some even have outdoor spas and many homes have got their own personal children's playground in the backyard, complete with playhouse, swings and slides! Australian children are so lucky! Basically, with a well-maintained home, you can just move in and start living. The problem is finding one that you like.

Of so many houses that we've seen, I will like some aspect of the home but not others. Like I'll like the timber flooring but the bedrooms are small or we love the granite kitchen top but the layout out the house is weird. I guess most importantly for us is the price and location. If the price is attractive, I guess I can live with a few imperfections and make improvements later on. But often, I find I can't justify the price with the location/quality of the house. So, the search continues......

I managed to reclaim some of my sanity last weekend. After an afternoon of just 4 inspections, we had a feast of Domino pizzas at a friend's place on Saturday night. On Sunday, we didn't do a single house inspection and instead spent our time with 2 groups of friends. First, to lunch at a restaurant in Hawthorn selling Malaysian hawker fare. My Hakka style bork belly noodles was delicious, abeit a little too salty. The teh tarik was piping hot and milky but too sweet. At night, it was Mee Siam time. Catching up with friends is always rejuvenating. And they have shared their opinions, advice and stories regarding house hunting which has been so useful for us first-time home buyers.

I have a few other groups of friends whom I really want to meet up as well. It's gonna be challenging given our weekend schedule of inspections but I'll have to manage. Though I want to get the house issue settled soon and move on, I really shouldn't be rushing. We are not in a hurry to move out of our current place so we should take our time to find the right one.

Pavlova

2010-07-28T08:47:00.006+10:00

Could not resist baking a Pavlova that day when I had 6 egg whites sitting in my fridge. Perhaps the strawberries, perfect toppings for pavlova, and half a jar of cream further motivated me this is the right time, despite the fact that I've never made one before. I'd often seen ready made pavlova bases being sold in boxes in the supermarket and know that it is a popular Australian dessert but I"ve only tasted it once. What made me take the plunge was my sister and brother-in-law's presence. It's a good chance to introduce them a local favourite dessert and they like desserts!

Again I turned to my favourite cookbook, the internet, for advice and decided on a recipe from Donna Hay, a popular Australian based cookbook author. Pavlova is basically a meringue with fruit fillings. It originated in the 1920s either in New Zealand or Australia and was created in honour of the Russian ballet dancer, Anna Pavlova, during or after her tours to the countries.

After whipping the egg whites and sugar until they are thick and glossy, scoop them out onto a baking tray, arrange them into a circular shape and bake at a low heat for 1 to 1 hour 15 mins. Viola, the pavlova base is done! Doesn't sound too difficult right?

To fill it, whip up some cream, spoon it on top of the base and arrange sliced fruits to decorate. I don't think there's a fixed standard on what fruits to use, basically just use whatever is in season or whatver you desire. It entirely up to personal taste, but strawberries, kiwis are common. I go for the safest since it was my first time.

The visual appeal of this dish is fantastic and so pretty! There's something inviting about white fluffy looking meringues and the colours of the fruits just enhances it. Of course, I'm looking at it from the eyes of a dessert lover. My husband saw only sugar and fats and I had to tell my sons they're marshmallows or they won't touch it. Even then, only KK accepted it, XX just wanted the fruits neat. My sis and bro-in-law loved it though. The crispy and sweet cottony inside of the meringue melts in your mouth and the cream kind of cushions the tangy taste of the fruits. So you taste sweetness balanced with the critrus of the fruits......mmmm..:p

Though it was a successful maiden Pavlova, I won't be repeating it as our family dessert anytime soon. Nonetheless for parties, this one will impress.

The Search is On

2010-07-25T22:39:00.004+10:00

We have been very hardworking these last 2 weekends, dilligently attending house inspections. For those staying in Melbourne, you'll understand what that is. In S'pore this is probably called "open house" or something. We have decided that if we are ready to purchase a property, then we should start doing our homework or research of the property market now. Signs have been promising that house prices might began to fall or flatten. So it might be the right time for us to find our dream home soon.

In Melbourne, the property industry works a little differently than from S'pore. Firstly, you search online for properties that are listed for sale in the suburb that you like. The search can be very advanced, narrowing to the land size, no. of rooms and toilets you want. Then you see the pictures and read the descriptions about the property. There are usually at least 8 to 15 pictures accompanying each property, showcasing the interiors and the exterior. Nowadays, many property agents use professional photographers to take the pictures so many of them actually look picture perfect, some looked like those straight out of home and lifestyle magazines! The price range is often stated, though some agents would prefer you to call them to find out. Finally, there're the inspection dates. These are dates and time slots, usually on the weekends, lasting 30 mins, where interested buyers can go and view the property. During this time, the owners (sellers) absent themselves after tidying their home and there's only the agent to show off the property and answer queries. This point about tidying their homes, they really go all out to impress, including hanging matching towels in the toilet, laying pretty bedsheets, keeping all the clutter on the kitchen countertop and putting aromatherapy!

I personally like this style of buying/selling property. The online listings makes the information accessible to everyone. As buyers, we don't just depend on the agent to find us the right property, everything on the market is there for everyone to see. As sellers, this ensures a wider coverage of potential customers. The prices, as a result of the transparency, are rather consistent with market trends. The fixed inspection schedule makes lives more predictable and is efficient. The sellers don't get interrupted so often by potential customers popping over to see the house. The agents move from one property viewing to another, all in one weekend of work. And the buyers, we can plan to see many properties all in a day or two.

Of course, with the internet, this can make the agent a little redundant as their main responsibilities are now reduced to opening doors and taking down contact information. And some of them literally do just that. Some won't even walk into the house or highlight to you what are some of the strengths of the property. I certainly won't choose them as my agents if I want to sell my house next time!

After 2 consecutive weekends and about 20 or so properties, we are suffering from what I call "house hunting fatigue". I have some difficulty recalling some of the houses we'd seen earlier when the agent called me later in the evening. Some of the properties are really fantastic but prices are not at that level where I think there's value. There were a few that caught our eyes but nothing that we think is ideal enough to put in an offer. However, I do find that the more houses we compare, the more we get a feel of the market. If we see something that really meet our needs and at a great value, we will be able to know it. But before that, I think next week we should take a break.

Yiyi's Visit

2010-07-22T10:35:00.006+10:00

After 2 years, I finally welcome my dear sister and brother-in-law to our home in Melbourne. It was a sweet reunion, considering the last time we met was about 6 months ago. No one is more enthusiastic about her visit than my 2 boys. Since knowing his 'Yiyi' is coming by plane, XX who has no inclination about dates, has been asking on and off why she's not here yet and why the plane is taking so long. KK forked out his own pocket money to get Yiyi her favourite white chocolates as a belated birthday present.

You can imagine the two weeks that they were here, the kids had a ball of a time. More specifically, they went crazy over the games in her i-phone and with the new Wii, compliments of my family in S'pore. They even requested for her to sleep together and in the mornings, will go over to her room to wake her up.

As the weather was really cold and wet, unfortunately they couldn't manage to do much outdoors. But we had lots of time at home, watching World Cup matches and eating. In the wintertime, hot soups like "Ma la" hotpot and herbal chicken soups warms the body. They also made short trips to the city and Victoria Market and I brought them to our favourite food haunts for lunches.

When it was time for Yiyi to go back to S'pore, KK was extremely sad, though he adjusted back pretty fast. XX till now still thinks Yiyi is going to return. Apparantly he thinks she's just gone shopping.

Hope to see you back in Melbourne soon, Yiyi and Uncle James!!

A Cold New Phase

2010-06-29T17:15:00.005+10:00

Yesterday was the 2nd anniversary of our move to Melbourne and coincidentally, the day we collected our 2nd car as well. This latest purchase was made necessary as we adjusted to new circumstances in our lives.

For 2 years, we've enjoyed the luxury and flexibility of Hubby working from home. However, starting from last Monday, he started a new job. One that is based locally and that required him to commute to work every morning, joining thousands of others during the morning rush hour.

His change in circumstances of course had a direct impact on the family. For the whole of last week, when we had only one car, I became the dedicated family chaffauer, doing twice a day shuttles to the train station and school. It didn't help that last week was extremely cold. So cold our car had ice on the windscreen on two mornings and the steering wheel felt like an icy-pole. Getting up early is one thing, getting the whole family up early and ready on a freezing morning is not funny.

After a week, I have now kind of gotten adjusted to my new routine. I have a nice and peaceful morning with XX after returning from my 'morning delivery'. On days when it was too cold, XX and I would hibernate in my heated bedroom. I cook a warm lunch for both of us and we have it picnic-style, on blankets on the floor. We basically have our activities and kept warm and cosy inside the room. On non-rainy days, I go a bit early so XX gets a few minutes of playtime at the school playgrounds before picking KK up. It is a way of incentivising XX to leave the cosy house and brave the chill with me. In the evenings, I try to cook dinner earlier. Not sure if it's due to the cold or the simple lunch, Hubby is usually starving by the time he comes home. Eating early also means we can clear up and get the kids to bed earlier.

With our 2nd car, it would be more convenient as Hubby would be able to leave the house anytime he likes without getting me and the kids involved. He also has the flexibility to drive to work instead of relying on the public transport. Finally after two years, we have inevitably joined the ranks of many Australian families with mulitple cars.

Time Goes By

2010-06-15T16:02:00.003+10:00

Gosh, it's the middle of June already! Where have I been? Time gushes by so quickly, I don't even have time to write down some of the happenings. What have I been doing?

Busy keeping warm is one. The autumn season has arrived in full force and winter is right at our doorstep. The nights comes early (abt 5pm) and there're plenty of clouds that bring rain and block out whatever precious sunlight we have. Washing clothes is now a problem for me. I don't have many hours of sunshine and have resorted to using the dryer and hanging the clothes indoors. My fleece coat and leather boots are part of my wardrobe now and everyone bathes with the heater on in the bathroom.

I've been rather invisible recently in cyberspace - email, Facebook and blogger. That's because I've moved my focus to a new patchwork project. May has also been a busy month of celebrations. First there was Mother's Day, followed by my birthday. It was a low key celebration for me this year, but nevertheless, there were 3 days of feasting in my honour. A friend from Singapore came in early June to visit and we have spent some time with her and her family. Otherwise, I'm busy as usual with the children, cooking, baking, cleaning, coupled with reading and watching drama movies/serials, my 'after-hours' relaxtion.

I did find time to try out a few new recipes during this time. They were interesting experiences in my baking and cooking journey. Took some pictures and meant to blog about them. But as time goes by and new events come up, I'm not sure if I'll eventually post them up....;-p

Well, that's all for now. Just a little note to anyone who might be concerned that all's well and good down here in our liitle corner of the world. Hope everyone is keeping well too. My computer has just been reformatted, so all my archive of pictures are not very accessible right now, though they are safe. Will post up some pictures next time!

Groundhog Night

2010-05-23T12:12:00.003+10:00

Everynight for the past 2 weeks or more, a similar scene has been occuring at bedtime. My 3.5 yr old has established a routine of reading a book before he sleeps. Which is a good thing, except he only wants me to read him ONE book - "Spongbob Goes To The Doctor". And it has to be me reading it. One night I sent his Dad as a replacement but apparently it doesn't count. After enjoying his dad's narration, XX came back to me and wouldn't go to bed until I read it to him again!

That's something about children that I cannot comprehend and remain very amazed with. Once they like something, they will do it over and over again until they get tired of it. Some of the boys favourite shows are Transformers and Spongebob cartoons. Even though they have watched it many times before, each time it's playing, their eyes will be glued to the television like they're watching it for the first time.

XX is particularly fond of this Spongebob book which we had bought years ago for KK. After so many nights of reading, he can continue many of the sentences as I read. And everynight, at the exact same page, he will point to the same pictures and make the same comments or ask the same questions. Eveytime I give him the same answer to that particular question, which is "I don't know". But that doesn't deter him. Next night, he'll ask it again regardless.

Honestly, I'm very bored with reading that same book over and over again. But whenever I suggest no reading that night or to read another book, I'm met with violent objections coupled with desperate pleadings from my dear son. Seeing his enthusiasm (and he remains very much engrossed as I'm reading) and so as not to dampen his love of reading books, I suppressed my own boredom and go through the whole ritual of reciting the words. Sometimes, Hubby tries to cheat XX by skipping parts but he didn't get away with it as XX knows it! Haha!

Mother's Day

2010-05-13T10:44:00.004+10:00

Last Sunday was Mother's Day. And the first thing I had to do on Mother's Day was to apologise to my son. He was upset with me for letting out his 'secret' the night before.

KK had pulled me aside to tell me a 'secret' as I was about to get into my friend's car to go for dinner. This friend of mine was driving a Toyota Kluger and KK had sat inside there once. His so-called 'secret' was to tell me about a hidden armrest in the backseat! I smiled, waved goodbye and as I got into the car, turned to tell my friends what he said. He heard me and as I closed the door said, "I heard that!" I didn't think much of it anymore but the next morning, upon waking up, KK showed me he was pretty upset about it. So there I was in my pyjamas, humbly saying sorry and trying to regain my son's trust. Even though I didn't consider it to be anything secretive, I admit it was my mistake for failing to respect my young son's feelings.

This event made me realised that my child has grown up. No longer a little tot who doesn't know what the adults are talking about, KK is now listening to our conversations, getting aware of his surroundings and he cares about how others perceive him. So he can get pretty sensitive if we are laughing at him. He knows the meaning of the word "embarrassed" and uses it when he doesn't want to do something. Previously we can share openly anecdotes about him with our friends, I now have to keep in mind his feelings if he's around us.

Luckily, I got off the hook easily with extra kisses and KK got up to help his dad prepare a Mother's Day breakfast for me. In the end, his dad did most of the work and KK got some scolding as he was more interested in eating the bacon that was fried. But he did butter one toast and arranged the food on the plate. So much for making me feel special.

The other highlight of this year's Mother's Day was a celebratory dinner at Crown on the eve with 11 other Singapore mothers. I had formed this group called "Singapore Mothers in Melbourne" on Facebook last year and slowly the members had grown to about 20 plus. Some of us already know each other and have been meeting regularly. This year, I decided to organise a dinner, just for the ladies, to celebrate Mother's Day. 12 Singapore mothers attended. We dressed up nicely, left our children at home and abandoned our motherly duties for one night. It was naughty but fun. I got to know some of the moms for the first time and everyone had a good time exchanging stories and taking photographs over buffet dinner.

The partying over, we reserved the actual day itself for our family. No matter what, Mother's Day is only meaningful with the presence of our children and husbands. Without their support and love, there will be no purpose and laughter in our lives. So while I celebrate my motherhood, I want to take this time to thank my children and husband for everything that they've given me - the role, the joys, the trials, the laughters and the responsibilities.

Happy Belated Mother's Day, especially to my mom, without whom I won't be in this world, and to all of you out there!

Chillies

2010-05-08T13:05:00.002+10:00

We had inherited this two chilli plants, together in a pot of rockets, from our friend Simon V when he left Melbourne. They started to bear flowers and fruits but the chillies remained green for months! I thought it'll never happen, but they are finally turning red! One day, after we returned from Sydney, I saw the tip of one fellow looking orangy. Now there are just a few more to go before all 13 chillies are ready for harvest! Wonder if they'll be hot?

Freshly Laundered

2010-05-06T11:29:00.004+10:00

I love hanging out the laundry now. It's strange. I used to hate hanging out the laundry for my mom. The bamboo poles were so heavy laden with wet clothes, I could hardly lift them up. And when she asked me to put them outside, I trembled with fear of dropping the whole pole down nine floors or worse, falling off myself. Even up till now, I still shudder at that thought and kept advising my parents, especially now that they're older, to just hang the laundry inside.

When I got married and had my own HDB place, I NEVER hang my laundry outside.I find it dries just as well indoors and there's no hassle of watching out for the rain. It's cleaner too as you never know what your neighbours upstairs will throw out of the window onto your clothes! When I moved into a condominium later, the situation was different. There was no provision for hanging up laundry in the little utility area and I can't even install bamboo pole hooks up on the false ceiling. I cannot believe it, surely not all people living in condominiums use dryers! So for 4 years, we lived with hanging out laundry on foldable racks, one of which even had to be in the dining room due to the limited space behind.

Then when we moved to our first home in Melbourne, we found a laundry line set up in the garage. It was cool. No need to worry about the weather and due to the dry atmosphere, it dried well. However because it was so convenient and so discreet, we often forget and can hang our clothes out there for days!

In this current place, we don't have a closed up garage anymore. I now have to watch the timing and weather when I do my laundry and am 'forced' to use the outdoor laundry rack. Strangely, the additional constraints of the chore were overwritten by the joy I felt hanging up our fresh laundry under the sun and see them flapping like flags in the wind. The laundry rack actually spins so if the wind is blowing, the rows of colourful linens will rotate slowly like a carousel. It's quite a beautiful sight. I actually enjoyed the process so much that I looked forward to the 'beep' at the end of the wash cycle and hoped Hubby doesn't beat me to get the laundry! On a good day, the laundry dries up within 1 hour. Yesterday was one of those fine days. I got out a picnic mat and had a lovely time with XX hanging around the garden watching the laundry and weeding. After lunch however, the dark clouds gathered and as the first drops of rain came, I hurried to collect the last pieces of linen to safety.

Xiao Long Baos

2010-05-05T17:18:00.005+10:00

That day we ate the Xiao Long Baos (Shanghainese Dumplings) in Sydney's Ding Tai Fung is the day I made up my mind to make my own. These dainty XLBs cost about $1.50 each and my elder son can eat as many as 10-15 by himself. I figured out it makes a lot of "cents" to DIY.

Previously I'd made XLBs before but I always used store bought dumpling skins instead. Yes, I was lazy. Making and rolling out each individual dough skin seemed so daunting. Regardless, my XLB fan of a son enjoyed it thoroughly but I know they're no good. The skin is too thick and it hardens quickly after taking out from the steamer. This time, I'm persuaded to attempt making the skin from scratch. I know it'll be a lot of work.

Uncooked Xiao Long Baos

Being my first attempt, my skills were really lousy. I had problems getting them to roll out into a perfect circular shape. I also tried to make the side thinner to make it easier to wrap. Later, I realised that I need to roll the sides little by little, turning the little disc of dough as I go. Traditionally, there's supposed to be 18 folds but initially I could only do about 13. Subsequently, after about 30 XLBs, I finally managed 17 folds.

Steamed Xiao Long Baos

Well, it didn't turn out so bad afterall but it sure was time consuming. The dough is nice to knead and it can be made to stretch very thin, with skill. When steamed, it looked a little translucent, which is very authentic! I made about 37 XLBs from that batch, of which KK ate about 30%. He was really delighted and enjoyed it so much. Even XX loved them. The thinner skin sure makes a difference, it doesn't feel as starchy and heavy as previously. It's definitely worth the effort.

One of my 'masterpiece'

Here's the blog where I adapted the recipe from: http://bakingmum.blogspot.com/2008/10/xiao-long-bao.html

Canberra and Sydney

2010-04-29T13:42:00.008+10:00

Encouraged by our 3-hr drive to Echuca, Hubby got more adventurous and suggested we venture further for road trips holiday. I nominated Sydney since the family has never been there before and Hubby immediately made some bookings for the Anzac Day public holiday long weekend. Sydney is about 900km away so we have a planned nightstop in Canberra, which is about 677km.

The weather was cool and gloomy when we set off, with light drizzles along the way. It was a nice day to snuggle inside the car and just watch the trees go by. We stopped a few times along the way, for lunch, snacks, toilets and the last time, by the NSW Police, for a speeding ticket. $197 and 6 demerit points. Ouch.

We arrived safely at the F1 motel in Canberra around 6pm, totally law-abiding, and went looking for dinner in the city center. Back in our motel room, the children were enthused by the double decked bed and quickly made themselves comfortable watching television from there. KK was impressed with the motel, calling it the "coolest" ever. He was especially excited about the shower/toilet, which was a tiny compartment about 1m x 1m. However we didn't like the shower too much. It made the whole compartment wet and if you didn't close the door, your room as well. No wonder they had a sign on the door that says "Keep the door closed when using the shower".

There was another reason for the sign apparently. The next morning, we heard the fire alarm go off and soon an announcement came to remind the culprit to please shut the door when he's in the shower. Next the fire engines arrived. It turned out that the fire alarms can also be activated by steam. The man who triggered the alarm wasn't too happy at having invited the firemen and perhaps some charges for resetting the alarm. He claimed he did close the door but he would have to open it to get out, wouldn't he?

Anyway, it was a lesson for us as well. We had thought that only smoke will activate the fire alarms but apparently some of the newer ones can be trigged by steam as well. So take note to close the bathroom door and don't take such long steamy showers in hotels or you'll find the firemen waiting outside when you come out of your bath.

Before we left Canberra, we spent about half a day visiting the Parliament House and the Royal Australian Mint. It was a wet and cloudy day but despite that, the daylight enabled us to see the beautiful maple trees lining the roads and streets which we couldn't see the night before. The green leaves had begun to turn yellow and red and they looked absolutely enchanting from a distance. Some trees had started to shed its leaves as well, so there are piles of leaves under the tree and everywhere on the wet streets. This is so Autumn. I wish I can have one of these trees in my garden next time.

We arrived in Sydney after dark. Despite being a Saturday night, the road was full of cars and traffic junctions. By the time we checked in, the fatigue of driving has started to set in and we ended up having dinner at the hotel restaurant. One thing about western fine dining which we haven't got used to is the speed at which they serve you food. They take their own sweet time. Most of the western diners don't seem to mind waiting 30 - 45 mins for their food. They usually have a bottle of wine opened and seem to enjoy just drinking and chatting. For me, I don't like to drink alcoholic drinks on an empty stomach. When I come to the restaurant, I just want food. And how much more can we talk, we have spent every minute of our last 48 hours together. The children spoke to each other via their Nintendo DS and Hubby tried to read newspapers under the dim lighting. I sit there regretting not bringing along my diary to write. Morale of the story - don't do fine dining when you're very hungry.

Sunday was our only full day in Sydney and we spent the whole day in the city. Walking out from our World Square carpark, we saw "Ding Tai Fung", the famous "xiao long bao" and Shanghainese noodles restaurant. It was one of KK's favourite restaurants in Singapore but they don't have a branch in Melbourne. We knew we had to have that for lunch to satisfy KK's cravings.

It was also the Anzac Day celebrations that day and all over Australia, there were Anzac day marches taking place. We happened to see the one in Sydney when we walked down George Street and stopped to salute the service of the war veterans and admire the pipe bands. It was pretty emotional for me, seeing the old men, with their badges of honour pinned on their chest, walking in the respective contingents they had served during various war missions some 40-50 years ago. There was some respect and empathy, thinking what they had gone through during the war and to have survived. Of course, there were many of their comrades that didn't, lest we forget.

The rest of the day consisted of walking down George St. towards the Sydney Harbour Bridge. With 2 active children on a rainy day, it was a long march before we finally reached Circular Quay and sighted the magnificent bridge and the elegant Sydney Opera House. The weather had cleared up too and the view was beautiful. My last sighting of these 2 landmarks had been about 10 years ago, when I had night stopped in Sydney as a cabin crew. On my first ever trip to Sydney, I endured fatigue and endured sleepyness to admire the Sydney Opera House up close. Then on another trip, I had the privilege of a hotel room overlooking the Sydney Harbour Bridge. And as it was New Year's Day, I was woken up by the magnificent fireworks outside my window! It was magical and I'd long wanted to revisit this place together with my family.

KK and Papa got hooked to take a jet boat thrill ride of the harbour almost immediately. They offered a good price as they were leaving soon. As XX was too short to get on, I stayed on shore with him. He cried miserably that he couldn't go. Luckily there was a street entertainer nearby and we passed time watching her contort her body to fit inside a 1x1x1m box. KK came back almost 30 mins later, hair and face all wet. It was an exciting ride and they got a decent tour of the coastline and the harbour at the same time.

As KK and Papa enjoyed some hot chocolate and coffee at the Guylian Cafe at The Rocks, I managed to take a fast walk through the last 10 mins of The Rocks Market. Although it was only 5 pm, the merry making at the pubs had already began. Loads of people were standing outside the pubs, bounded by metal railings, next to the road, with plastic cups of alcohol in their hands. At first we thought that these people were waiting to get inside the pubs, but they were in fact already AT the pub. Hubby and I couldn't understand, what's so cool about standing out in the cold, next to the road, leaning on metal railings and holding a plastic cup? But there's no denying the exhilarating effects of alcohol plus music. Everyone was in a cheerful mood. Many of the party goers are in military uniforms, probably participants of the earlier Anzac march. Bouncers were all around, watching out for the trouble makers. This explains the plastic cups, I supposed. We left the area as soon as we finished our dinner. It's not a place for kids after dark.

We headed back to Melbourne on Monday and enroute took a short detour to see Fiztroy Falls at the Morton National Park. Similar to on the way north, we broke our journey mid way, this time in a town called Wagga Wagga. Nothing very spectacular there and we left to have lunch at the border town of Albury.

About 335 km later, we finally reached home. What a trip. I think we've driven more than 2000km over the last 5 days. Credit goes to Hubby, the main driver, for delivering us safe and sound all the way. The 2 boys did very well in the car too. We did not have any DVD players in the car and we didn't allow them to read or play their Nintendo DS when the car is moving. They had only a few Transformers toys and a Silly Songs With Larry CD to entertain themselves with during the journey. And of course, each other. During the rides, they ate, sang, slept, played, talked, squabbled and had pillow fights. The duration of the journey can make sitting down in a confined space abit unbearable at times but they made no trouble for us. Well done, boys!

Swimming Lessons Continued

2010-04-16T14:51:00.006+10:00

When we left Singapore, there were certain things we quit along with it. One of which is KK's swimming lesson. He was on the verge of mastering the freestyle before we said goodbye to our olympic size condominium pool. I regretted that we hadn't started earlier. 4 years we stayed there and we only started to send KK for lessons 6 months before we left.

Here, we had KK participate in the swimming programs organised by the school. They were intensive 5 to 10 days programs aimed at improving water confidence and were part of the school hours. KK enjoyed them but we don't see any results in terms of his swimming skills. He was still paddling like a puppy in the water. Now, after a gap of two years, we finally got him back to the pool for some formal training.

The indoor swim school, only 10 mins away, is a really small one, just big enough to house a 4-lane x 25m heated pool, a set of bathrooms and a small reception area. We decided to sign XX up as well.

For XX, this was a new experience for him. During his first lesson, he initially didn't want to go as he was afraid once he heard the words "school" and "teacher", shadows of his childcare days. But that day we arrived early and once inside, he had the opportunity to sit there watching the babies have their swim programs with their mummies while we waited. Pretty soon he warmed up to the idea and was getting eager to get into the pool. I had no problems getting him undressed and he slipped into the pool as soon as his 30 minute lesson began. He sat there with 2 other little children and didn't resist when the instructor took him for a swim. I coolly sat by the bench nearby, waved at him whenever he completed his turn and even chit-chatted with another mum. Even when the instructor purposedly dipped his head under water, he didn't cry. And she did it a total of three times. I'm so proud of him. At home, when he washes his hair, he makes a fuss when water trickles down his face and will ask for a hankerchief to cover his eyes. So I can see that while he was shocked and didn't liked being dunked, he was trying hard to be brave. It's funny how they are such good boys when they're with outsiders and then become a baby again once they come home. KK was like this too. See Swimming Lession #1.

As for KK now, he had no problems of course. One thing the training Singapore has taught him to overcome his fear of water on his face and in his eyes. This water loving boy couldn't wait to jump into the pool. But while he has lots of confidence in the water, his techniques were all haywire. I really hope that he will finally learn to swim the freestyle properly here.

My Bed, Your Bed

2010-04-12T20:38:00.006+10:00

Since we moved to our new place, I took this opportunity to give the sleeping arrangement of our family a revamp. First, I insisted on acquiring some bedroom furniture, most significantly, a bed frame. I had enough of the kids jumping all over my mattress like a trampoline and am convinced that a proper elevated bed will eliminate the temptation to bounce. I got my wish and am proven right. This tall bed, with 2 mattresses stacked on top of the frame, seemed so foreign and intimidating to XX, they had not dared to attempt any stunts on it.

Because the master bedroom in our new place is smaller, it was a good time to move the children to sleep in another separate room. From day one, this room has been introduced as KK and XX's room and the room with the tall bed as Papa and Mama's. Vice versa for the beds. This propaganda campaign is targeted mainly at XX who, in case you don't know, has been sleeping by my side since the day he was born. Even with the new bed, my days of sleeping on the floor are not over. To get him used to the new house and his room, I continued to sleep with XX until he falls asleep, then I'll return to my tall bed. Then in the middle of the night, if he wakes up and cries, one of us will go over to calm him and very often end up sleeping next to him on the mattress as well. Up until last week.

During the school holidays, I decided to try training XX to sleep on his own and for its success, I must credit KK for his vital involvement. On the first 3 nights, XX was resistant. He started crying as soon as I switched off the lights and walked out of the room. However by the time I returned from brushing my teeth, the crying had stopped and I heard him singing "Transformers, robots in disguise" with his brother in the dark. However KK can only distract him so much when he's awake. If KK fell asleep first or was not with him, XX could not be persuaded to lie down in bed, much less fall asleep. On the 2nd night, I had to sit by the end of the bed so he will sleep.

Things began to improve from the 3rd night onwards. He'll protest and whine a little, but KK will talk to him and even sing to him to distract him. Pretty soon, I hear only snoring sounds from the room. Though the mid-night wakings continued intermittently, I was happy that at least I could do my own things as soon as I sent them to bed.

For the past 2 nights, there has been no problems saying good night to XX. He even waved happily to me as I turned off the lights. And there has been no wakings in the night! I slept blissfully until morning when I heard the pattering of XX's little footsteps walking into my room. I'll allow him to climb into my bed in the morning and we'll cuddle together, making up for all the cuddles I couldn't give him in the night. These are very nice and affectionate moments that I cherish because I really miss the closeness of sleeping with XX. He's growing up so fast and based on this milestone alone, he's already grown up some more.

Holiday At Home

2010-04-11T18:45:00.008+10:00

The 2-week long school holiday is coming to an end soon. Tomorrow, KK returns to school again for Term 2. This holiday has been comparatively low key for us. Same time last year, my parents were here for a visit, followed by my brother and all of us flew to Queensland for a week of fun at the theme parks. This year, with two of our good friends and their kids back in Singapore for visits, even the Good Friday/Easter long weekend is quieter than usual. It seemed like a long 2 weeks ahead.

Division of labour: XX cuts the strawberries and KK stirs the jelly mixture.

Perhaps it was also due to our exhaustion from the recent move, our family spent the first week or so hibernating at home. Of course, with the two boys together, staying at home is at times worse than going out. Hubby tried to make KK catch up on his Chinese during this period, which he did. When not doing Chinese homework, the boys dashed in and out between the garden and indoors, drifted from watching cartoons on the TV to games on the computer and made us crazy with their accidents, spills, mischiefs and quarrels. There seemed to be endless rounds of dishes to wash and childish disputes to settle.

One of their favourite activity: Chopping up and eating up fruits

I tried to make time pass a little faster by involving them in my baking activities and getting them to help make little treats like konnyakku jelly and fruit salads. They were enthusiastic helpers, XX especially. He will drop whatever he's doing and run over wanting to help when he sees me making something at the kitchen countertop. Sometimes they offered more trouble than assistance, like when XX spilled half the rice I asked him to fill and when he toppled the whole pot of flour to the floor, but otherwise it was nice to see them have fun kneading dough, chopping up fruits and beating eggs for a change.

My first attempt at ondeh ondeh on Easter Sunday

A considerable amount of time was spent outside the backyard garden also. While Hubby and I weeded, watered and nurtured seedlings, the boys were seen alternating between their bicycle, scooter bikes and simply digging around the backyard. We thought they couldn't do much damage playing outside but one day we paid the price for a brief absence of supervision when XX drew on our car with a stone....arrgh!

Luckily there were a few interesting activities to break the monotony. Our family did a photo shoot at the botanic garden in Williamstown last Thursday to commemorate our 10th wedding anniversary. I'll post more about it when the photos come out. But check out here to see what I wore. We also did a day trip yesterday to Echuca, spending more than 6 hours on the road. The weather wasn't too great in the morning, foggy and rainy. Though it cleared up by the time we arrived, it did its damage as we couldn't do our buggy ride as the track was washed out. Althought we didn't do much except take a steam paddler boat ride on Murray River, I always enjoyed long car rides to the country and it sure felt good taking it easy and getting away from homebound duties for a while.

Return & Reduce

2010-04-07T08:41:00.007+10:00

Here's our latest effort in doing our bit for the earth: A compost bin.

As the name implies, a compost bin is basically a waste bin where we encourage decomposition to take place. We throw our grass cuttings and kitchen scraps there instead of towards the normal bin. Over time, when the decomposition is done, we can use the compost as an organic fertilise for our garden. I think it's a really natural way to turn bad stuff into good stuff and return them to earth while at the same time reduce the amount of rubbish we contribute to the landfills.

Many things can be thrown into the compost bin, like vegetables, fruits, egg shells, shellfish shells, tissues, paper & cardboard, vaccumn dust fluff & feathers, human hair, tofu and even teabags. However, we should not put in meat, bones and dairy products (they produce a bad smell and attract pests), human waste (although diluted urine is ok), fatty food waste and vegetables cooked in oil or salad dressings.

The bin has to be placed in the garden and somewhere further away from the house, in case of smell and pests. Worms are encouraged to move into the bin to aid in the process so the bin actually has no bottom and sits on the ground. There are small holes at the sides of the bin to encourage air inside but keep out the pests. And we've got to stir it to add lots of air for the composting bugs. Just like cooking, the compost actually produces heat and has to be stirred once in a while to ensure even "cooking".

Our composting process is still young so it may be some months before we can see and use any compost material for our garden. Meanwhile, I've been dilligently separating and saving my kitchen waste in an ice-cream tub to contribute to the compost bin. It's not much actually as my family is small but I have the satisfaction that instead of wasting away inside a plastic bag in a landfill of trash, the food are going back to earth in a few month's time.

Hubby & I have always been pretty concerned about the fate of our planet and wherever possible in our daily lives, we hope to make a small difference to reduce our carbon footprints on this earth. A compost bin might not be practical for everyone but there are still many ways we can do our little bit for earth. Simply by reducing our wastage, we are reducing our carbon output and very often, our electric and water bills as well.

Some ways we hope it helps:

Turn off lights/fans when not in the room.
Use energy saving lights and energy/water efficient fridge/washing machine.
Operate washing machine only when it is a full load. Use cold water and a shorter washing cycle.
Choose a fuel efficient car to buy.
Walk KK to school when the weather permits.
Take short showers. KK is not allowed to play in the shower when the water is running.
Use heaters and air-conditioners only when neccessary. Put on an extra sweater instead of turning on the heater when it's chilly.
Reuse water for washing vegetables to water the plants. XX's bath water (without soap) is poured into the watering can and fed to our plants.
Use environment friendly laundry detergents and recycle the grey water from the washing machine to water the plants. (We only use this water for flowers and plants that we do not consume, just in case.)
All paper, cardboard cartons, plastic containers and metal cans are separately thrown into the recycle bin.
Plastic bags are seldom thrown away (unless they are torn) and reused for rubbish.
We try to bring our own grocery shopping bag and not use any more plastic bags than needed.
Whenever possible, it is my aim to reuse old bedsheets and clothings in my patchwork crafts. I find it a waste to throw away old clothes, so I either keep them and reuse as rags or give them away to someone or donate them to 2nd hand charity shops like the Salvation Army.
In my cooking, I try to minimise the use of equipment and plan the sequence so I have less to wash up.
If I plan to cook using the oven that day, I might time my baking at that time as the oven is already heated up and save on the energy/gas consumption.

As much as possible, we should try to reduce our consumption of processed food. Besides the healthy factor, what I find very "ungreen" are the many containers and product packagings that everything comes in nowadays. Just take a look at the shelves of supermarkets. Rows and rows of cardboard boxes, glass jars and plastic bottles. After the food is consumed, what happens to the containers? They get thrown out. Even if we try to recycle some of them, there're still too many that we have to dump. Right, some things like ice-cream must come in a tub, but much of the food on those shelves are convenience food. Food that we don't need to eat out of a jar and can make from fresh ingredients. Take for example packaged orange juice vs freshly squeezed orange juice. Which has more vitamins, less sugar and cost less? It doesn't take that long to squeeze the orange and the peels can also be used or composted.

Of course, in our modern busy world today, not everyone has the time to make our own jam and tomato puree? I'm guilty myself of many packaged purchases filling my freezer and larder. This is gonna be our way of life for a long time unless forced by some drastic climatic disaster to change but I hope our little efforts to reduce wastage and return to nature what we can would stretch our earth's limited resources and ensure our children continue to enjoy the fruits of this earth a little longer.

Settling In

2010-04-01T14:41:00.007+11:00

As far as the house is concerned, I am happy to say we are more or less settled in and beginning to enjoy the stay. Yes, the floral printed curtains are so 'obiang', the water pipes make loud sounds when someone is having a bath and the kitchen cabinet and taps looks like those in my grandmother's house, but upon living in, there are actually many areas which I appreciate.

The interior walls has in fact been newly painted and the floorboards are also new. Instead of hot and energy wasting downlights, which are very common nowadays in newer houses, there're lamps which we could convert to energy saving bulbs and are cooler. There are ample shades, shutters, blinds and curtains on the windows. This keeps the privacy in and the sunlight out, which makes the house cooler. Though my kitchen is smaller, I have a big walk-in larder. I don't have a walk-in wardrobe anymore but the built-in wardrobe is well compartmentalised and makes efficient use of the space. There are also extra wardrobes in the hall and laundry area for me to store my towels, bedsheets and shoes.

KK is also settled in his new school. In fact, I don't think he had any settling in issue at all to begin with. I'm so proud of the boy. He made no fuss at all when we told him he's going to a new school and on his first day, as we changed him into his new school uniform, it's like just another normal school day for him. Though he was quiet and admitted that he was slightly nervous, he joined the class obediently and we didn't have to stay long. Two days later we stared hearing names of the friends he played with during recess and two weeks later, he was comfortable enough to want to walk to school himself. Of course, we didn't allow that and still walked with him, but at a distance behind, as he requested, to "test" him out.

XX is the cute one. Until today, he'll sometimes ask if we're going back to the new house and he'll tell me this new house is better. The old house has got nothing, he says. He'd seen the empty house when we went back to do the cleaning up. He was so bored as there was no TV, no toys and not even a sofa for him to sit on.

It might not be display house quality but I'm happy enough, and as long as the family is happy too.

Thoughts of a Migrant

2010-03-26T16:58:00.004+11:00

There was an article on 26 March at The Age entitled "Victoria's population growth fastest in nation". Basically it reported that amongst all the state in Australia, Victioria has the highest absolute population growth (of 117,900) in the year to September, 70% of which is from overseas migration. What's more intesting are the comments that followed. Most compalined about the pressure on resources due to the population boom, like health care, transport and also on housing prices. However one fellow "Grumpy" wrote: "Cheer up! Melbourne is still on the list of the 'World's most liveable cities', although it's starting to feel like Singapore now." LOL.

I cannot help but feel a tad bit conscious that my family of four are probably one of those immigrants that has arrived and contributed to the "squeeze". Ironically, it was partly the "squeeze" back in Singapore that propelled us here. Just like how some Singaporeans see the foreign immigrants as taking away their ricebowls, school places, HBD flats etc, I perfectly understand how these Australians feel.

It's interesting to note the parallels between Australia and Singapore. Both nations were built with the help of immigrants. Most of the whites in Australia had their ancestors from Europe. In Singapore, our forefathers came to Nanyang from China. As the nation develops and the economy grows, more migrants are needed for the workforce. Whether we like it or not, excessive immigration change the geography of the society and put pressure on resources, especially if the government has not made proper plans for the population expansion.

You might ask, while Singapore is already busting at its seams, Australia is a much bigger land, so why the grumblings about too many immigrants? Well, though there is much land, most of it are not yet developed. With the housing developments, roads, railways and basic infrastructures also need to be built to keep up with demand. Unfortunately, many Australians are feeling that the roads are getting more congested, the trains are more and more crowded, the queues at the hospitals are getting longer and the prices of houses are getting too high. Fingers are naturally pointing to the government's relaxed immigration policies and poor planning.

It is perhaps easier to count our blessings. As least, both countries still has control over the kind of immigrants that comes, more or less. I'm thinking about Tibet and how they are also a society with an influx of Chinese immigrants, only they have no choice. With the Chinese occupation in 1950 and the invasion of all things Chinese since then, their culture, language and the Tibetan race itself are at a risk of severe dilution.

At least, Australia and Singapore are still considered attractive to immigrants. Don't want to have any foreigners in your country? Try being a citizen in Cambodia or North Korea.

We may be two generations apart but my migration is no different from that of my grandfather when he came to Singapore many years ago from China. We are all in search of a better life.