Another Outing

Supposed to meet up with Vicky for lunch today but due to late night yesterday, we decided to meet around 3-4pm instead. However, just as I was getting ready, Vic phoned to change the time to 5pm as her parents needed to do some shopping. And then, I had to rush when she told me shortly that they'd be done very soon, haiya... :P

Since they're early in this instance, Vicky decided to go wif her parents to Sembawang S.C. and I'm to meet her/them(she had gone thr with her parents 1st) there. Good thing it's a simple route there, :D.

I had suggested going there as she mentioned yesterday about getting something from Daiso and I had remembered wrongly that the western food stall we'd both enjoyed was there too. But actually, that stall's at North Point... She then suggested the "Aston's' and we had a pretty nice meal there, under the rain(sheltered, of cos, :D) too, with Renee enjoying hers, :).

There was a water-play just outside the restaurant and it's a good thing I've not told Renee earlier that I had actually thought of letting her have a little fun at the pool at Vick'ys place(but changed my mind when the meet up time was delayed), else she'd have fussed more about wanting to play there...

Since we were nearby, I brought the CD Ms Mok had lent us and went over to Vicky's to burn it since our new cpu, with the new vista programme doesn't seem to be able to do that(according to Ms Mok, Vista prog seems to hv such probs...). Renee had drawn Vicky a card and the latter was soo touched(she text me later and told me so), hahaha. She had a little chat with Vic's parents whilst we were busy with the cd burning, and now she said she wanted to draw for them as well, hahaha.

A Un-Fulfilled Quest

When my gf, Vicky told me she'd be free on her off days(Thurs & Fri) this week, I suddenly had a thought to go look for our long MIA friend. So, I asked and arranged with hubby to stay home to look after Renee but once again, this special quest had to be postponed when his client's here on Wednesday...

It's usually quite hard for me to meet up with Vicky and thus, our meet up plan remains and after driving hubby to his client's hotel(I didn't want to but he said he didn't want to drive as he'd drinking), I took Renee to meet her at Paragon.

We had a nice dinner at the 'Big O' and when done, we proceeded for a little shopping at Takashimaya Dept. Store where I bought a couple of gifts, standby for X'mas pressies, :).

We didn't really 'shop', and were at the toys dept. most of the time, so Renee was happily occupying herself whilst we both chatted. We had finished our dinner at around 7pm and time really flies 'cos by the time we decided to move on for coffee, it was already past 9:30pm! The cafe(with expensive but very yummy cakes but I can't rem its name) Vicky wanted to bring me to was already closing(last order at 9:30pm) and we have to head down to 'Starbucks', which luckily only closes at 11pm. We shared a piece of cholatety cake and at about 10:45pm, we decided to head home as Vicky needed to send her uncle to the airport the next morning.

Renee was good to stay awake til we got home and fell asleep instantly whilst I was having my shower.

I've since switched to de-caffed coffee and thus, any coffee would keep me awake and last night, I was held wide awake by the latte even after hubby came back at 2:30am. He was abit tipsy, naturally and we both watched the shows I've recorded on the Mio Tv and I only went to bed at around 4am! Zombie today...

Getting Used To

Finally, after 2 days of practices, Renee is finally able to start her practices on the songs though I must say that she still needs more hours getting used to the stretched position of the fingers.

It had appeared as though it might rain anytime and thus, I've been procrastinating if to go meet up with my sisters, PC and Li at Hougang mall. Finally, at around 1:30pm, I decided to take the risk and hurriedly got ready. So, a nice simple outing for the day.... :).

Reliving The Earlier Violin Days

We're back to reliving those days when she's first started her violin lessons.

This new violin seemed to be even 'longer' compared to the 1st one she has, so she had to reeaaaaally stretch her arm which caused her aches. Then, the fingering problem, though anticipated, I've not expected the violin to be any much bigger than before, so now it's harder for her to stretch her tiny fingers. No choice anyway, 'cos by the time she goes for her exam, she'd need to play with the bigger one as well.

She was impatient, not heeding my advice/suggestion, had wanted to play songs with it straight away. However, after a few pieces and hearing for herself the tuning problem due to her fingering position, she relented and allowed me to guide her back to the basics. Well, not entirely the minimum basics but more to let her get used to the new positions. I feel that this violin is also more sensitive, if she'd miss the position by even 2-3mm, the tune will not be too far out, but now with this, a tiny shift away will give a really different tune and I'm finding it irritating and she, frustrated....

Vapor Seal, Waterless, Greaseless Cooking

Just as Renee and I were leaving for the violin class, we met our neighbours outside our door and they invited us to their 2nd child's full month celebration(I had already anticipated it to be yesterday or today) but as usual, we didn't go for the buffet, just handed them a gift when we got back from our shopping.

We came home to rest for awhile and for Renee to have her lunch after the lesson, before heading out. I needed a new fying pan and this time, I'm looking for a good stainless steel one. I've long given up on non-stick woks as it's been known to be no-good/healthy and hard ionized ones are super hard to maintain(think not very gd as well?).

Tried to look for one by WMF, Scanpan, the like but they're all super heavy! Its weight would be good for stability but what good is it if I can only cook but can't bring up the pan to pour the remaining sauce/food onto serving plate/dish? lolz. So finally, we settled for 1 by 'Vita Craft' -Seattle II, and it's a good grab - almost 50% off! And it comes with a basic cooking book which unfortunately, is in Japanese language...

UP : S$305, now S$150

Oh, there's a story to share too... Earlier, waiting for V to meet us at the cookware department, I adhered to Renee's request to go to the children's department where she explored the Halloween displays before proceeding to her usual - toys department. At one point, she was sooo engrossed with 1 of the toys that she didn't even bother to answer me when I called for her, not even reacting after I've pretended to say good-bye to her. A minute later, she began to realise that I might really be gone and started to look for me. The other mommy standing near her, saw that I was secretly watching her, knew my intention and did not tell her, though I suspected she, like most of us, would love to tell her. "Mommy, Mommy" for the 2nd time and she began to panic. She began to walk to the other side and I tried to quickly follow suit in order not to really lose her, a man saw and told her I"m there, aiya! Ok, time to show up and seeing her almost tear-ing up face, made my heart sank but I still have to chide her for not staying close and not listening to me. Then out of a sudden, I realised that her wrist's empty! The little pouch('stlyishly....' hanging on her wrist, haha) which she's sooo insisted on carrying out today was gone! We've told her many times, after she's lost I think 3(or more) of her toys whilst out, not to bring any of her stuffs out but she has insisted again that this time she'd not lose sight of it but... After a few rounds of tracing back the places she's gone to, we still coudn't find it and I told her that it should be really gone already and papa will surely scold her for again losing her belonging and she cried "mommy, protect me". OMG, people must be wondering how monstrous her daddy is, hahahahaha.

Then, whilst we were looking for the little bag, I thought I saw someone I 'knew' and seeing the kid beside him, I knew I was right. However, I didn't see Karen around and so, I decided to just carry on with our search first and there she was, pushing sleeping Ethel in the stroller, walking past infront of us! What a pleasant co-incidence! It's been a long while since we've met and hearing that Renee's lost her pouch, she asked for its description. When we have given up hope on getting the pouch back and was looking at the frying pans, I got a call from Karen and I was thinking 'could she have found it?' but as Renee would have heard it if I asked out loud and not wanting to build up hope in case it's otherwise, I didn't ask Karen so but luckily, she really did... Thanks again, Karen!

The lost and found pouch :)

(not something costly but her papa bought it for her dur his trip to Vietnam n it contains all her toy coins)

New Violin

Finally, Renee's got her new violin today!

We've got a pretty good deal 'cos her teacher has helped us bought one during her recent violin purchasing trip. This violin would have easily cost at least double the price we've paid(which is 3.5 times more than her current one) locally.

Renee, after hearing how Ms Mok's violins had sounded, has been complaining that hers doesn't sound nice and so when she finally got hold of her new one today, she was treating it like a precious item - not daring to pull the bow harder, which however, isn't really helping, hahaha.

I'm pre-warned by the teacher, well actually, I'm already expecting it myself, that I'm going to experience frustrations(from both of us in my expectaions) and/or whinings(obviously from Renee, haha) with this new instrument. First, although it's just a tad bigger for her, it's still going to be a challenge, 'cos she'd still need to stretch her arm, plus the fingering will all have to be re-adjusted - for ease of that, Ms Mok has pasted tapes on it just to help guide her again. 2ndly, being new, it takes time to be stabilised and the bowing position need to be re-adjusted as well since she's been too used to playing it downwards due to the smaller bow earlier, haiz...

However, the good thing about this new instrument is that it sounds better and it's easier/smoother to tighten and lossen its bow. Anyway, this is just a size 1/8th's, there're more(and the prices will too, also depending on her needs on the level of quality) to come..., arrrgggghhh.

Farm Visits

I remembered when I was still in the 'corporate world', I used to hear some of my clients telling me about their weekend trips to those farms with their children and I've always thought it to be a good idea. For many months now, I've been bugging V to bring us to visit those small local farms but he's always not feeling up to it. To be honest, I've not expected a No answer from him 'cos I've always thought that I'm the one who doesn't like to get all sweaty and caught up in 'dirt' and since I brought it up, he should be more than willing to take the suggestion up.

Anyway, he finally relented today. We've no gathering at my mom's today and with no other programmes planned, I took the topic up with him again. However, though we've planned to leave home at 3pm, Renee's got us delayed because of 'her hair' hahaha.

There are quite a number of farms around the area but 'cos we're setting off late, I've jotted down only 2 locations for the day. We finally left home at past 3:30pm and though V's quite familiar with the area, the farms are situated pretty 'deep in' and thus, it still took us awhile searching for the 1st of our destinations, the frog farm. It's free admission and feeling obligated and also to allow Renee a tiny bit of 'fun', we bought a box of the feeds and proceeded our little unguided tour.

This is the first thing that greeted us when we got into the various ponds area. Walking behind the both of them, I noticed it which thankfully, V had not stepped on(he din even notice it!), else the pic here would be rather gross, hahaha.

Frogs Fighting

More Fightings

We then proceeded to the next on list - Mushroom, Aloe Vera and Cactus Farm, but as informed by someone, the mushrooms are not that visible. In fact, we couldn't see them anywhere, hahaha. Perhaps, it's also because V had found it boring to look at just plants and we didn't manage to stay even that tiny bit longer to search for them. I didn't even have enough time to take any pics of the aloe vera plants...

It was still pretty early by the time we left there and V suggested we try the others along the area and we stopped by a Koi Farm and the aeroponics farm where we were surprised to see mini 'amusement park' with 'merry-go-round', bouncing tent and a train ride.

Butterhead(sorry, cant rem if this is its full name, hahaha)

Mini Pineapples

Told V that we'll try the others on my 'to explore' list on another day, at an earlier outing tie, :).

Princess Ballerina Violinist?

'See Saw'

Teacher Dependant?

Since we've skipped another week's lesson as Ms Mok's overseas, I thought I should start to let Renee try out new songs on our own. She was unwilling and fussed but I didn't give up. She said "wait for Ms Mok to teach me" but I don't see the need especially when the pieces on hand are not what I can't comprehend or too tough for me to guide her. A few scoldings finally got her to try but as she's still not very good with the rhythmic beats 'cos I don't practice that with her, I have to put on the CD Ms Mok has passed us, for her to get abit of the tune first.

I've picked the piece 'King George I's March' and today, the 3rd time practicing it on our own, she has more or less grasped the whole piece in actual rhythm and I hope this would help to encourage her to try more pieces without her teacher in the future.

On Monday, I've finally brought out the 'Pooh & Friends' keyboard which her cousins had bought for her 1st or 2nd birthday and it got stucked with her since. She even tried to find the tunes to her violin pieces on it and even managed to play some parts of 1 of her latest pieces, lolz.

Are You A Car Enthusiast Too?

Went with V this morning to the Audi centre as he needed me to take him back after sending the A6 for servicing. Now I know why so many people are not buying continental vehicles even though alot knew they're 'safer'(harder vehicle body) and are better performers. These continental vehicle agents really make big money. Not only are their automobiles are priced alot higher than other makes, their service fees are also hefty! Just the usual mileage servicing and by their standard, a must to changing a couple of filters, etc and guess what, our bill today amounts to S$600+, OMG! Haiz... no choice, this is the price what you have to pay when you buy them brand new(not minusing the fact that their 1st year depreciating value is also alot higher than other makes), hence the need to go to the agent.

To a non-vehicle enthusiast Me, I don't feel if it's a matter of whether you have the $ to spare on these costs but whether is it necessary? Also, the amount of money we have to bear when we finally or even sell it, I feel it's silly - so many 10s of thousands... Of cos, one may argue that for businessmen, it somehow is necessary in a way but then again, some might even get 'red-eye' over what you have, wouldn't it? Sure, I would certainly appreciate a solid and good performance vehicle myself, but then again, I'm not a multi-millionaire and losing 30k-40k in a car sale is to me, not a piece of cake/worth it and like I've said, I'm just not too crazy about such things, are you? Haiz... Men!

Such A Big Pot!

I've been boiling soup with the small-medium sized slow cooker(probably 1.2 or 1.5l?) I took from my mom's(to cook Renee's porridge then since she doesn't use it) and have, for quite awhile now, found it to be kinda small for soup boiling. If I put in more ingredients, we'd end up with lesser soup to drink and if I don't put as much, the soup won't taste as naturally good... So finally, we went to the Takashimaya anniversary sales yesterday, hoping to find a suitable one but although on sales, the items are still priced higher, so we decided to get it elsewhere.

As I wanted to boil soup today, V went to get one for me when he went for his breakfast but guess what? He got me a, I think either 3.8l or 4.7l one! OMG, it's too big. Told him to get it exchanged for a smaller one, just 1 size up from the one I'm using now but he came back with one of 3.2l capacity, haiz. This is the size that my cleaning helper and I think my sis, PC are using and they both have 2 teenage children, geez, I should have gone with him... So today and in the near future, we've got alot more soup than we could finish(even had to pour away some after keeping a big bowl for supper).

Swollen Thumb 2

Got the cream sis recommended yesterday and it really works! Just after 1 application, the pain reduced quite abit and the swell's also gone down. However, Renee's nagging at night whilst I was washing my face(I tried to quicken up to answer her, thus...) made me hit my thumb onto the tap again, :( and the pain's back... Nevertheless, it is still getting better :

On Friday morning

This morning - u can see the bruise better when it's healing

At my mom's, most of us were already quite full after Li's home-made sushi, so we decided to visit the pasar malam stalls downstairs. Again, Renee's doting aunts Li, let her take the ride(although I felt it's an exp one, aiyoh, 1 dol for a normal ride at a housing estate? Ridiculous, the ones downstairs my mom's are only 20cts each ride) and Elsie bought her the following. Hv told them not to indulge her but as usual, their replies : "aiya, nevermind"...:

I've already got her disney roller stamps some time ago and yet she still chose this, haiz... turned out, it didn't work very well, hahaha. I guess what a golf shop's sales staff has told us is really true - non-export china products, not q-controlled by the brands are really inferior :

one can tell its originality easily by the mixture of 'characters' in a pkg, lolz

but the cards are nicely printed though

Swollen Thumb

Lately, I've been preparing dinner at home(when I say this, I meant for our family, not just Renee's :D) and after our Japanese curry chicken wings dinner few days ago, I thought to prepare another simple meal yesterday since we've got fresh foodstock. I have alot more ingredients than usual to put into our soup this time and I was happily chatting with Renee whilst trying to slice off some pumpkin, not paying much attention since it's not the first time I'm handling such a big half of a pumpkin. I've never thought that pumpkin flesh could actually hurt so badly and as I sliced into it, its flesh sinked under my nail and dug into the bed of my thumb, OUCH! bloody....

It was still ok albeit some soreness but when I woke up this morning, oh man, my thumb's swollen! In fact, I couldn't even have a good night sleep as I was feeling the pain all through the night. This is how it looked this morning... not that bad right? But I tell you, it's super painful and piercing even! I can't even touch a single thing nor do anything with my thumb. I have to try lift off the pot/steamer's cover with my left hand, which is not as agile and thus, got steam burnt a couple of times, though nothing serious 'cos I tried to be extra careful since I can't afford to have my left hand hurt as well.

Not sure if you can see the lower white coloured line under my nail - that's how deep the pumpkin flesh has dug into

In the afternoon, just when I thought it was going to get better, I had to hit my thumb onto something each time I do some chores and thus, the soreness shot up and it's got much redder(my cam can't really relay it though) and the 'white line' has become a greyish patch:

Shampoo's Not The Culprit

No, the shampoo which we've been using on Renee's hair was not the culprit - 'cos daddy, errrm, perhaps it's time I drop this title whenever I'm referring to him since Renee calls him papa and not daddy, hahaha. Ok, coming back to the topic - hubby's hand still peels after the first trial and when I asked him today, he claimed that it might be due to her shower gel. OMG! I told him it's super unlikely 'cos this shower wash, recommended by her PD when she was still an infant, does not even contain any soap and guess what he answered sheepishly? He said maybe that's why, geez... Well, I'm not going to change the showergel nor am I going to revert back to the original shampoo since it's already changed and I quite like the effect of this new one too.

The 'Story'

Ok, here's what happened at the library...

I have selected a few books to read to Renee and at our last 3rd book, a father appeared with a young toddler girl and without a word, the little girl came to our table and grabbed 1 of the 2 last books we've left aside for reading. The father did not react and only took the girl over to the other side, behind us, with 'our' book...

Then, this little came back again and this time, Renee fussed abit 'cos she took the last of our books but this girl is sooooo young, I really don't know how to tell her not to. And guess what, when the father heard Renee's cries, he took the book back, placed it back on the table, though neither gently nor rough-ly for the matter but without a single word of apology! Geez, what is this father imparting to his daughter? That it's ok to snatch from others 'cos it's a public library? Very often, I've met parent(s) with younger children and they liked to think that older children should give way to their kids but hey, mine's not that much older ok. In the first place, there's no such thing as 'oh it's supposed to be this way' unless yours is the older one and u want to guide them on proper behaviour/social manners. It's sad to see how ugly people, though more educated now, has become... Haiz... I prayed hard that I or any of my family members, won't be pushed to behave like them in the future.

When we were done with our reading, I told Renee that we should put back the books we've taken but as I was packing up some of them, she stopped me and to my surprise, she said that she wanted to pass the books to the little girl! Oh, that's a nice gesture and of 'cos I didn't stop her but I didn't hear a word of thanks from the father nor him guiding his daughter to do so... he just told her to say goodbye to Renee...

Musical Boxes

Bought a wrong item yesterday and unlike before, I felt I should go back for an exchange this time and so, I got daddy to drop both of us at R/Mall after our visit to the Physician's(for med to clear the remnants of Renee's phlegm). To avoid buying some more items, I told Renee to leave the trolley alone(she simply love to push it around since she's tried the other time, haha) and I quickly took the exchange item(another item for Renee - iron-on) and rushed to the cashier, hahaha. We then took the LRT to Compass Point as I needed to return and borrow a new book from the library(oh, read next post for story...) after our lunch at Mac's.

After the library, we headed to the Precious Moments again(we've been there for the 3rd time now) 'cos I simply adore the musical boxes they have there(though I'm not really a fan of theirs, but perhaps I might soon be man, hahaha). Renee loves the one I've bought earlier and even though I've got her some similar cases but as they do no come with music, she still fiddles with me whenever she could. Since I actually needed something simplier, I thought it might be a good idea for her to have this piece then. She was sooo happy! but when I told her that she'd have to take really good care of it, she asked if it's because I might want to have it back, hahaha. Well, with a question like that, I have to answer yes right? Hmmm, that's good too, a reservation, :D.

She insisted on closing the 'doors' later which actually makes it look neater :)

Also, lately I've been trying to make her carry her own bag whenever we go out but she's complained that her backpack doesn't go with some of her outfits, OMG! In the end, I chose this, without realising that it's S$25 'cos there was another tag priced S$11.90, haiz...

At around 2pm, I began to feel abit tired and told Renee that we should be heading back. She chose to go back by LRT but it's only after I've purchased the ticket then I realised that, 'cos we've all gone out together, I did not bring my keys out! Good thing daddy was about to make it home when I phoned him but we have to loiter around the mall for a good 1 hr in the meantime, :(. Good thing the ticket's refundable too.

With the extra hour to spare, I took Renee back to KP and tried a few dresses on her and even took some pics for future references, heee :D. Whilst waiting for daddy, Renee saw some people eating food from Old Chang Kee and asked me to buy fishballs for her(she knew she can't take nuggets at the moment) but after 2 of them, she asked if they contained egg as her tongue is reacting again-itchy...

When daddy learnt that Renee's got a new bag, he told her that she'd have to pay for it herself(although I had thought to 'spare' her this time) and although she's feeling the pinch this time 'cos it costs more but she still grabbed her coin bank down to pay him back, :D. As she was counting the coins, we took the opportunity to tell her that she can't be buying so many things as her money would soon run out if she spends in this way and she said "nevermind, look, it's still heavy" and that, gave me another idea! - I told daddy that we should actually 'really take' the money and put it elsewhere, so she will know if her money's getting lesser from the buyings and he agreed.

Oh no, it's time to really curb spending liao!

More S$2 Items?

Daddy had dental appointment today at Rivervale Mall(talk about that, I think it's super high time I go for mine!) and remembering a learning centre I thought to check out is also there, we went along. However, the centre's closed today and both Renee and I ended up at---------Daiso! And guess what? I ended up with a S$26 purchase there, aiyoh, so much for spending control! 3 items were Renee's and adopting Daddy's suggestion, I told her that she'd have to pay for the 2 items she's selected(cos the other 1, though was for her, was selected by me) and that, in a way, kinda help prevent her from picking everything she found interesting-which is ALOT! hahaha. When told she has to pay for her own stuffs like before, she went, on her 2nd item : "ok mommy, just these 2 items", hahaha

note : she did 'return' me 6dols when I told her it's 4 then I realised, she actually remembered that there were 3 items that were for her! Awwwww...

Early Sunday Outing

Daddy's got no golf game today and I told him to take us to Renee's violin lesson and wait til it ends so we could go out together straight but ended up, he still made me take her there and said he'll meet us downstairs when we're back.

We started today's lesson with Renee playing the 2nd selected piece from the exam book(selected last week) and I think Ms Mok was actually anticipating difficulty/hiccup since this piece has more 'slurring' - change of notes in 1 bow and she was surprised when Renee did it pretty smoothly. At the end of it, she turned to me and asked if I'd spent alot of time practicing with her and that, however much I wish it to be true, is not, :(. This girl will never let me go beyond 1 hr and that is only on super good days. It's usually 1/2 hr +/-, haiz... Then, she played the 3rd selected piece for Renee to get the tune but I've forgotten to ask if these will be the 3 selected ones for Renee to play during her grading exam. Anyway, Ms Mok said that we could practice the whole 9 pieces if we have time(since we'd be extending her lessons when she comes bk from e trip).

As we'd have to skip another week's lesson, I thought it'd be better for me to bring up the violin and so I told daddy that we'd be going up first to avoid de-tuning the instrument again.

Daddy wasn't happy about having an outing this early and though my thought was to go out early so we could come back early as well, but guess what, we only got home around 6pm!(not my choice ar). I don't think daddy would want that anymore hahaha, he'd surely make sure his golf game's set the next wkend I suppose, :).

How To Split?

Earlier this week, we've been invited by my brother to his daughter's birthday celebration this Saturday. A day later, daddy received a call from his eldest sis on a gathering at her place. For his side, it is usually his sis who does all such arrangements and so it's not that often. Unfortunately, although it was initially ok to have theirs postponed til Sunday, it is now not so as 1 of my BILs isn't free that day. We have to decide which to go to and of cos, although it's been months since Renee had last met up with her cousin Xuan Le, but this is a birthday celebration and thus we have to go... Good thing I've not told Renee about the gathering at my SIL's, else she'd be very disappointed for not being able to go there...

Shampoo Shopping

After a few years of washing Renee's hair with Sebamed's children shampoo, daddy's hand suddenly couldn't take it and peeled badly recently, each time he showers her. The peeling appeared rather bad and I thought since the current bottle is finishing, I might as well look for another brand, to avoid subjecting his hand to this problem even though he only showers her once a week.

I've long been wanting to try out a brand of organic shampoo after I've tried some of its products given to Renee as X'mas gift by a magazine editor friend some time ago, but so far, I could only find this brand of products at Robinsons and some maternity shops. Remembering that I've seen some organic products at KP and since we were there for an item exchange today, I went to have a look but not quite, errrm, impressed. Then at watsons', I found organic products of this same brand again(earth something, pricing not much diff frm current shampoo) and also another, which incidentally, happened to be one of the hot favourites I've read in a motherhood forum. Although both are of organic nature, the price between these 2 brands are already a big difference(not sure if the qty is exactly the same) - a good S$10 diff, and I was tempted to just take the one of a cheaper price but after reading through them again and again, I'm more convinced that the latter should be of a better choice and thus :

RP : S$26.90!(there're diffrnt types but I chose this for its nicer scent)

When I told daddy about its price, he said it's actually ok to just buy a 'normal' shampoo since he's no problem with such but then again, we're not just talking hisss hand here, we're also talking about taking a good care of his precious girl's skin/hair, etc and good foundation(both inner and 'exterior are equally imprt') should start young.

And not forgetting...this! Yes, another one, haiz:

'Binoculars'

Renee's been self-'creating' a pair of binoculars(caught it from shows apparently) with toilet rolls and today, when she asked to do 'artwork' again, I took out the ones which Li had bought her sometime ago and I've kinda stopped when they got 'harder' for her. Now she's more than ready and I've forgotten, luckily she saw them and requested.

It so happened that there's one on what she wanted and she was very happy to cut, roll, paste, especially since the time I've let her use a 'real' child scissors(for both left and right hand use) which she could control with her left hand, :D.

At night, after I've wrapped up the gift for her cousin, she asked me how to spell 'like' and wrote :

Birthday Gift Selection

Badly needed a hair tim, I declined my friend, Vicky's suggestion to shop at Takashimaya this afternoon. It is also because it's quite late to meet in town at 3:45pm but that's the time she could get there after her work.

Renee woke up with a fever this morning and I was wondering if to cancel my haircut appointment but she'd seemed better after taking a dose of paracetemol and had insisted on going with me to the salon, so I made an appointment with the physician(why ch doc? it is most likely due to 'heatiness' as the sound of phlegm was obvious) later. She was very happy to be able to don herself in the same can-can skirt with the 'satin interior and furry outerior' shrug + the tights, hahaha and had behaved herself very well at the salon.

Actually, since the time I've promised Renee that I'd let her keep her hair longer til Pri 1(or if it proves to be too 'hot' for her), I had been wondering if Renee's to be long hair, would look good with shorter fringe, given that her hair's not really straight. At the salon, I mentioned it to my director hairstylist about it and she said that it's actually ok and should suit her but the only thing for spotting shorter fringe is that it requires frequent trimming and she's seen many mothers who can't trim well did a bad job, thus making the child look errmm...(Oh, I should have taken the opportunity to tell her that I'll just bring her down to her then, hahaha)... However, on learning that Renee would like to have her hair curled, she told her that she will do it for her when the time comes for her to have a proper trim(when her hair's longer) and this girl was elated, hahaha.

After my haircut, we went to look for a birthday gift for her cousin, Jia Shuen's coming birthday celebration this Saturday and boy, it is really hard. Especially when this girl doesn't quite allow me to choose, hahaha. Finally, we managed to settle on 2 boxes of gifts and had to rush to the supermarket to get her some veges before going over to the physician's(daddy came to fetch us).

She's super co-operative today and was even very friendly with the physician when she was normally not when I brought her there, lolz. Without us telling the physician any of her symptoms, he named them and as predicted, she's indeed heaty. Ya, partly my fault, 'cos lately I've been bringing her out for snacks quite abit and as u know, the snacks outside are usually heaty stuffs and though I've seen abit of 'pre-warn-y' symptoms like stuffy nose when she woke up in the morning after sleeping in air-con room, I did not boil enough cooling drinks for her, haiz... :(.

Feeling alittle unwell myself too, I quickly asked at the counter if I could have my name added to the appointment. Good thing it wasn't super crowded at that time and they allowed me in and I've got my own prescription too - gastric flu, haiz... Good thing I've gone for the consultation at early stage, so after the 1st pack, I'm already feeling better, :). Must really watch what we're eating liao, haiz...

New Dresses + Stamps

Just when I've got some new clothes for Renee, the dresses from my recent spree are finally ready for collection...

Daddy didn't go for his golf game this morning('cos he couldn't fall asleep last night and had joined me til past 3am, hahaha) but still, he didn't want to wake up when I asked at 10:25am if he'd like to send us to Renee's violin lesson, so we could have early lunch together later...

He was out by the time we came back and went out again after he's showered Renee. I was sooo tired that I decided to take a nap myself(that's why I'm wide awake now, haiz...) and Renee, being too excited about the new clothes she's put on(insisted on wearing the pink ones today. had wanted to wear them in the am but they're not totally dried yet), we had no choice but to bring her out... And since the time I've bought her a pair of pink stockings, she's now willing to wear her tights and luckily my sis managed to find some lighter weight ones now 'cos the white ones I've got for her on Friday is torn/too small, phew!(wl try to upload pics but with this new cpu, I don't have the photo editing prog-or duno how to use, hahaha)

After we've collected the dresses, we went downtown and after our dinner, we went to browse around Takashimaya Dept Store. Both Renee and myself landed at the children's department. By now, she's quite convinced by me that the Barbie's tattoo printing set is really something not worthwhile to get and has already made a selection of things in its replacement(daddy had promised to give her the barbie 'printing' set for her birthday if she's a gd girl). As usual, I couldn't resist the craft department and Renee too, was fascinated with the little stamp pads but I find them too expensive. Not wanting to spend too much on these, I told her to select 2 of the smaller sized stamps(new arivals) instead and when she caught sight of daddy, she asked papa to buy for her. However, he made her pay for them and she agreed! Back home, without us noticing, she quickly brought out her coin bank(wonder how she cld carry the heavy bank all the way down from the cupboard) to 'pay' her daddy 'cos he's paid on her behalf - he chided me for asking him infront fo Renee if he's really taking her money 'cos this girl could decipher hokkien!

The dresses

Cute right, the stamps? :D

Lanterns, Lanterns Everywhere

It's the mooncake festival today and as usual, we've been invited to a BBQ at a friend's house. It had been drizzling and we're quite undecided if to proceed there or just go to my mom's. By the time we finally decided, it's already quite late and when we were near my mom's, Eileen phoned to check if we'd be joining them at the restaurant(mom's giving a treat again). We had wanted to go to my mom's first as it had seemed too early to go for the BBQ at 6pm but since my family is going to dine out and we have no intention to join them for dinner, it'd be better that we proceed to the friend's first instead.

We stopped by the tyre shop for some alignment as the new tyres felt abit 'bumpy'. The alignment wasn't good enough, so daddy decided to go to elsewhere(and pay again, haiz) another day.

It was past 6:3opm by the time we reached daddy's friend's house and Renee was very happy to see her cousins whom have all arrived much earlier(they're already finishing their dinner). Even my 2nd BIL came with his family. The little boy's really cute, very responsive and smile all the time, poses for the camera and even signalled for me to take photos of him! hahaha. His elder sister on the other hand, has grown alot more open(probably because she's now alot more conversable in our language) and she was so generous to offer Renee a spread of her candies for selection!

This year, there was a dragon dance parade at the neighbourhood and the neighbours were seen following behind its trail with their children carrying the lanters. We too, got to join in, but only by viewing, lolz.

As we still have to go over to my mom's, we had to leave the place without saying thanks to the host 'cos he was held up somewhere else. When we finally got to my mom's, it was already 9pm and my sisters were all ready to leave but they'd stayed on as my sisters wanted to pass me some clothes(very nice!) for Renee.

It took me another while to sort out all the new clothes(incl those kept in the boxes) when we got home and about an hour later, someone knocked at our door. Who can it be at such late hour? It's the aunty next door. She said that they had wanted to invite us to join them for the lantern festival celebration downstairs but we weren't around and as they've got extra goody bag, they passed us one(an auto lighted paper lantern and 2 pcs of mooncake) and she complained abit about their maid, etc... But good news, her DIL has given birth to their 2nd granddaughter few days ago - oh, we've been informed earlier and I had been listening out for the cries of the infant but boh leh... such a good baby, :D.

No 'Walk'

Sharmaine has suggested a movie at Junction 8 instead when I told her that we'd felt kinda lazy to participate in the walk that is so far in Jurong and I was still contemplating her suggestion when she text again and said that it's perhaps better not to as Shuen seems very tired after the Children's day celebration at school and she wants her to have a nap today, :).

Daddy came back and asked if I'd like to be ferried there as he could also pick us up later and I thought, why not? Convenience, save parking fees, etc but when it was time for him to meet us, his client phoned and told him that he's arrived in Singapore, haiz... There goes our family dinner.

Renee's sandals are getting smaller, finally, but her other new pairs of shoes(which I've acquired from online USA merchants) are all still too big, so I've no choice but to try and find a pair locally. This is a tough task, given that the stuffs in Singapore are either expensive(for kids 'cos they don't really wear them for long) or not nice/poor quality. After running to a few shops, we eventually returned to KP(found a pair at Metro but not in her size!) and going through the displays again, Renee said she'd like the pair of beaded flower embroidery sandals by 'Barbie'. It was plain enough and the beads are not exaggerated, however the straps are in silver colour which makes it look kinda loud and I'm sure daddy would find it so, hahaha. In the end, I spotted another pair, with less silvery straps, by 'Polly Pocket'(surprised that they are also into shoes making) and there's another name within the shoes that read 'Vera Pelle' - is this the name of the author mentioned in 1 of the 'Barney' shows?, I'm not sure... Anyway, this isn't a pair that I would say nice but it's near dinner time and I'm already exhausted from the search, plus I still need to go get some more stuffs, so we decided to just get it. At the cashier, I was very glad that it has a rather cheap price tag to it(less than S$15) and that makes me happier, :D

Children's Day

Realising that today's the children's day, I told daddy that we'd be going for breakfast with him as I didn't want to bring Renee out today(sure to be very crowded).

Sharmaine had suggested for us to take part in the lantern walk organised by the Science Park tomorrow and although we've not quite decided as to whether we'd be going, I decided to get Renee a lantern anyhow. Searched a few shops but found nothing nice but if we were to really go for the event, then we might not have time to go look for another tomorrow so we went back to 1 of the shops and got her 1 'Hello Kitty' one - I have to open up the 'sound compartment' to seal up the terrible music it's making, hahaha.

Another reason why I wanted to stay home was also because of the new spa brand of skincare I've ordered from the US site and I've a feeling that it might be delivered today. And yes, it was! Phew, finally, a long 2 weeks wait...

We've highlighted to daddy before he went out and he tried to come back early today before 7pm, :). The purpose of us bringing her downstairs was to let her play with the lantern but as I find daddy's suggested place - the open field, kinda too dark and nothing but the grass, we proceeded back to the playground. I had wanted to go to the 'open garden area' but Renee wanted to play at the playground and so, we parked ourselves there and no, no lantern play, not really so, hahaha.