let me see…
1st missed flight = thought it was the next day
2nd missed flight = pouring rain on freeway+cop car in lane+slow parking bus
then we got:
reaaaaaly huge people standing in the aisles so i couldn’t stand up to rock May to sleep
someone took a look at our row and said “OOOOH BABY!” AND SAT DOWN INSTEAD OF GIVING US THE MUCH NEEDED SPACE THOUGH WE SAT AT THE VERY END OF THE PLANE (oops caplocks was on but i’m not retyping that w/ 1 hand)
Friggin’ latch system for the Britax seat took 45 min to install on car (sighsss)
May = 6 hours sleep deficit; 3 missed meals (didn’t feed well on the go); running on borrowed battery and possibly solar power by 11pm CA time.
My poor baby was still smiling for show but soooo tired she passed out for 6 hours last night befored pooping this morning and my diaper change woke her up.
Not a recommended method for testing babies’ ability to STTN, but it gives me hope that soon I can chase this dear daughter to such level of exhaustion and go out to enjoy the night life in York leaving Son home to watch over the passed out babe….

Oh, and our damn apt flooded last night.
Someone really doesn’t want us in CA or something….

—————————————————-
May did very well considering how exhausted and uncomfortable she was. The plane was toasty hot, in a bad way.

3 different people (two of them relatives) have given me grief (lovingly, I hope) about my lack of blogging, here’s a new entry.

Did that come across snarky?  I think it might.  It could have something to do with the headache that’s flirting around the perimeter of my awareness… popping up periodically in my ears to make me hear great yawning throbs of nothingness.

Sigh.

Last night wasn’t a good night.

But the day was good.  It started off rather early with me taking Jim to school and then dashing up the mountain to drop off the boys’ postplacement pics.  That was a good outing… so nice to see June and Esther and to meet…. ummm… the new girl (whose name I’ve obviously misplaced… blame it on the headache).  And then dashing back down the mountain so that M could finally go to sleep.  Then feeding, dressing and preparing the kids for an outing/adventure that has been long overdue for them. 

We had an interesting game of “is that Poppy” as we waited for his class to finish.  Xander was determined that Poppy had had a makeover in class and was now a petite long-haired brunette in heels.  That garnered barrels of laughs from Sophie and Beckett.  Me too.  So funny.

But eventually the correct Poppy joined us and we headed off immediately for Mellow Mushroom.  Of course it was dead as it was between lunch and dinner, but it was pleasant.  The kids thought they were big stuff indeed when the hostess seated us at one of the big tall tables.  Anyway… all was well until I happened to glance into the kitchen where I saw one of the cooks pulling out a bag of pre-shredded cheese.  My alarm bells clanged… but I decided to ignore it… since I couldn’t remember if they’d always used pre-shredded cheese or not… and then I forgot about it.  When the pizza came out it was way more gooey than I remembered it being so I made a mental note that the cheese must be different, but it was good and other than Sophie uncharacteristically not finishing her food… all was well.  At one point Sophie needed to go to visit the “flush-rooms” and as we passed by a guy at the bar (Harley shirt, I think a braided pony tail, definitely Harley biker vibe going on) Sophie reached out and tapped him on the shoulder.  When he turned around she very sweetly smiled at him and said “Bon Soir!” and then continued on her merry way.  I overheard the man telling his date that he “reckoned she was French” which amused me more because Sophie had copped the most Southern accent I’ve ever heard so that her Bon soir sounded much more like “Bone-Sware” than anything remotely French.  While in the bathroom we worked on pronunciation to the amusement of the nice older lady that was waiting for us to finish.

Anyway.  From there we headed over to Earthfare for a bit of pre-Holiday shopping.  It was a fairly nice shopping outing minus a few odd people that set off my Bad-Vibe-O-Meter.   And then it was off to Petsmart for dog food and then thankfully we headed for home.

Somewhere near West Greenville I realized that the cheese was something I should’ve really investigated as Sophie was a weepy, over-emotional mess and Xander had gone guano-loco. 

Note to self: Mellow Mushroom is no longer a good choice for Sophie.

Once we were home Sophie flung herself into bed and within minutes Xander found an opportunity to smack Beckett with the sharp edge of a wooden ruler and found himself in his bed as well.

After much cajoling I finally got Sophie to at least quit crying go back downstairs where she did find happy (happiness thy name is sausage) but Xander… that was a different story altogether.

He screamed.

He yelled.

He called me stupid.

He kicked the wall.

He threw toys.

He threw toys down the stairs.

He yelled at Beckett.

He yelled at me.

He yelled at Jim.

It. Was. Not. Pretty.

And it went on for hours.

I tried talking, I tried taking away toys, taking away privileges.

Nothing helped at all.  Finally we just all went to bed and he quieted down and finally fell asleep.

I did not sleep well.  Sophie was still clingy and demanded to sleep with me, Beckett woke up sometime in the early morning and wanted to sleep with Poppy so I ended up pushed out of bed.  I ended up in Sophie’s bed and sometime afterwards Beckett migrated to join me…  which wasn’t great because Sophie’s bed is a single.

Sigh.

But this morning everybody is up and happy.  Xander brought up the whole fiasco last night and apologized.  He said he felt like his head was spinning out of control and that he was so sorry for all he had said and done.   I asked if he slept well and he said that he had slept just fine, and didn’t even have dreams.  His behavior this morning has been stellar and  he’s back to his sweet self.

So was it the cheese?  I don’t know and I’m not willing to test it out again!  And I can tell you that I have no desire to go out for pizza anytime soon!

It was a busy monday for the three of us, Granny, mummy and Cayden.

Tho drizzling in the morning, the weather cleared by noon, and last minute, we decided to go to Aunt KX place to visit her little twins as well as to pass baby stuff to her!

We got our journey planned out We took cab to her place in Tiong Bahru and poor cayden fell asleep in the cab!! He was still ko when we reached her place.. and it was the first time he zz so long outside at others’ places!

We had a good tiem catching up with one another… me and KX and granny and KX’s mum… its basically the new generation mummies vs the old generation mummies.. aiyoo think can set up a debate just for the basic care for babies.. LOL

Cayden finally woke up… after abt an hr +? We left her place and went to Raffles Place as granny needed to settle some bank stuff.. and in order to get there, we took bus! ok.. it has been eons time ago since cayden last took bus… Most of the time, he was either in our car car or by cab… see what a good life he has?!

Luckily he was very well behaved in the bus journey.. maybe cos he was still stoning from his nap… LOL but we cant say the same of him when we took MRT back home!

He was practically shouting, ehing people, waving and smiling at people… One ang mo was just commenting… ” OOOhhh he iis such a HAPPY baby, isnt he!?”

The most funniest thing was in the MRT  train… we reached Dover MRT and many poly students board teh train. As usual, our dear cayden was looking at people, smiling at them, until he saw one guy, quite big size one. I noticed his face start to change….to seriuos mode.. no smile nothing.. just a very seriuos face.. And out of sudden, he started CRYING!!! for no apparent reason at all!! He then looked away, looked somewhere else.. and then still wanted to look back at that guy again! And of cos, once he looked at that guy, he started whining again! He repeated this at least 3 times.. and of cos each cry was louder than before.. By then, the people in the mrt were staring at us and one ah pek even stood up to see who was the noisy little fella, screaming and crying away..

I was never glad to get out of the train! cos i couldnt stop laughing! Cayden’s facial expression was soo hilarious… scared stil wanted to see… and see liao then started crying! OMG!

This has truly made my day

With birthday money in hand, David and I had an amazing date night in honor of his ordination.  We started the evening having dinner with our friends Chad and Lauren at the Dahlia Lounge in downtown.  It is a Tom Douglas restaurant serving amazing food with a very appealing 3 courses for $3o menu.

We then went to the Paramount Theater for a fantastic show of one of our favorite bands, The Swell Season. It was beautiful from beginning to end and I fell even more in love with the band and their music. I wish I could recap some of the highlights but I am convinced I could not do it justice.  You will just have to trust me that it was a wonderful experience.

We started and finished the night on the 27th floor of the Westin Hotel taking in the beautiful view of the city.  We ended up sharing the hotel with the entire RSL Major League Soccer team who were celebrating their championship win in the lobby when we returned from the show.  Thank you hotwire.com for the excellent hotel choice!

This morning we slept in and then headed off to the Dhalia Bakery for breakfast/lunch and had a mouth-watering Turkey and Cranberry Panini on Sage and Cheddar Focaccia.  Thanksgiving has never tasted so good.  All in all it was a date to remember and we look forward to making it a tradition.

The little one turned six this week, and his birthday present was a train trip to Portland, OR.

Before we left, he unwrapped a miniature Starlight Express and hasn’t stopped playing with it since.

King Street Station is beautiful. The ongoing restoration project is very encouraging. Here is a fascinating slideshow of the station, past and present.

Of course, I’m not the only one with an opinion on Seattle’s train station. This is from the 18 Nov Seattle Times: “King Street Station sure to be a memorable eyesore

Within 90 days, Seattle will accidentally become host to thousands of Olympic fans, overflowing from Vancouver venues, eager to see what our city has to offer.

Many of them will take the train service from Vancouver to King Street Station, a poorly lit, rundown building with absolutely no amenities, and no connecting bus service — it’s a quarter mile to Metro and two miles to Greyhound. There is no hospitality center with directions to close restaurants or attractions, and here’s the kicker: no coffee — in Seattle, for god’s sake — in a place where people are milling around waiting for late trains.

King Street Station is an embarrassment to Seattle.

If this is the way we present ourselves to our guests, what does that say about us? Our Port of Seattle spares no expense at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, but in a time when more and more people are considering the train, here we are with King Street Station, the gateway to Seattle.”

— Rick Sullivan, Seattle

Good points, yet my impression is that good progress is being made, Rick. Anyway, Amtrak’s coach class is roomy and comfortable. If you’re traveling with young children, there’s a fair chance they’ll seat you in the car with other babies and kidlets, so if the crying gets to you, just take a lurchy walk through the cars to the lounge car. It’s a great place to watch the sunset (it feels like a moving conservatory, all glass windows and sunroof.

Also, the dining car is as great as everyone told us it would be. I really liked the pumpkin-cranberry pie.

A. got a kick out of playing with his toy train on the train.

Quick list of Portland highlights:
Hotel Monaco, a place for people who live through the senses.
Greek Cusina — great lemon potatoes, oregano chicken, garlicky hummus, great pita bread.
Typhoon –smoky lettuce wraps, great chicken paneng, pear and prawn salad.
Red Star Tavern — a good place to blow more than you wanted on breakfast. Seriously good food, though.

And Powell’s. Our backpacks and bags were twice as heavy as when we entered. Need I say more?

On our return, we reached Seattle 45 minutes ahead of schedule, so we stood outside Qwest Field and watched the MLS Cup on the Jumbo Tron for awhile. Go Salt Lake Real! Either way, we would have been cheering. Soccer on that level is heady stuff.

now, i have the comfort of my own bed my own blanket and my own space, all for me. but again its just me alone. :/
i cant believe prom is over. didnt manage to take pictures with any teachers.
blahblahblah. argh, totally cant think anymore.
let me get some sleep first!

On Monday November 9th, Damian, Ursula, Mike, Tomas and I did the coastal walk between Coogee Beach and Bondi Beach to not only enjoy the beautiful scenic views, but also to see the Sculptures by the Sea. The sculptures were  most impressive -just like last year. What a way for the artists to advertise! My favourite piece was this windmill that looked like something out of Dr. Seus -it moved like butter in the wind!

end of quite a good Birthday week.

Friday (20/11/2009)

Sheu n Sith came to stay. went to meet them in the city after AGS lecture. took them round to shops n stuff. then came back to my place to chill and change and shower n stuff. they gave me birthday presents too thanks girls. they got me some novels and some bath stuff and also, oh dear god, tropical flavoured condoms. bloody hell.. sith also passed me a present from Agnes, Hsien Loong and Edmund. nice handbag very nice. hehe. then at around 7.30pm to 8pm we went to the city to meet up with Keith. went to eat at Tarn Thai. it was really quite good! and i love the decor and everything. quite nicely done.

after dinner we went to Pitchers n Piano for a drink. all 4 of us had shot of tequila and a cocktail. i had Vanilla I-Scream. yummy. macam milkshake. hehe. after that we all came back to my place. David showed up a lil later too to hang out.

Saturday (21/11/2009)

Sith left at abt 8.30am. at 11am me n Sheu woke up n we took a cab with Kok Shen to the city. met up with Eric, Aaron, E-Rue for dim sum at Mandarin Restaurant. Keith joined us a lil later. after dim sum, everyone went their separate ways. after a quick stop at Primark, me n Sheu went home. dropped Sheu off at the train station around 7ish. then came home n cooked, tidied up, etc in preparation of the hse party

long story short, got presents from 96 BR and E-Rue, and from Yee Tzen, Denise, Yang Xian, Andy, Lam and Queenie. and a very nice handcuffing from Aaron. and Keith helped distract me the first time. bloody hell… both of them disappeared into the kitchen. i thought the worst tht could b happening was they were mixing some awful drink or something. mana tau Keith pull me away just so i wouldnt see Aaron with the handcuffs. they handcuffed me to the bloody table!!! luckily they’re not the type u need the keys for. then Denise n Aaron handcuffed BOTH my hands to the table. n i managed to break the chain in half :p then they handcuffed the separate cuffs together. haihhhhh…

and i disappeared halfway thru the party. drunk off my face. HAIH…

woke up at like 5am and stayed awake till 7am when i finally just puked. twice. blearghhh… jim beam sucks…

Sunday (22/11/2009)

long chilling Sunday…

pictures la. courtesy of Aaron. n a few from Denise.

Today, I finally had my highly anticipated dinner with Hobibelanja and never did I expect to have such a wonderful, sumptuous, yummy, lovely & (put in all the positive adjectives here) meal. It was major, major yummy to the maximum that I know that meat and I will never (on any circumstances) ever part. I know I am a greenie and all but not eating meat will prolly drive me to my grave. Once in a while, I do crave for a plate of steak and when it happens to taste so darn nice, I sleep the night with the pure taste of heaven still lingering in my mouth.

Oh, not only is the steak full of yum, the mashed potatoes, calamari, prawns, baked potatoes, and even salad are yummy and are super darn fresh that you have to eat it to believe it. I suspect they keep live prawns and calamari in the kitchen as they taste superbly fresh! I bet they have a garden full of greens too.

For those who are living in Singapore and would love to have a steak from Heaven just as I had tonight, click the link below to find out the closest locations you can go to for the best steaks in the house – my house that is. I’ve not been lucky enough to try Lawry’s Prime Ribs yet. Hopefully in the near future perhaps.

PS: The 1-for-1 promotion happens only on Mad Mondays and will most likely end on January 2010 so don’t forget to make a reservation fast! Also, Wednesdays are Ladies Night so all the drinks are going for 50% off till closing time.

http://www.hogsbreath.com.sg/

I apologise if I do offend my pure vegan fans but since this is my WordPress site, I believe I am granted some leeway to express my thoughts without worry of a backlash from anyone.

On another note, allow me to introduce my taller-than-before good friend, Hobibelanja:

She is taller now not because she went for a surgery to lengthen her legs. Lord no. She wore her 12cm heels today and finally she defeated me in terms of height after near-forever teasing from me about her wearing heels and never matching up to my height of 167cm. It’s alright, tonight, I let her have the last laugh but really Hobibelanja, I didn’t know you were that short!

today.. finally get the project… “done” i mean at least more or less.. and we left at 3pm.. again.. onlyy 3 of us.. oh well.. gonna prepare for the presentationn soon.. on thursdayy.. blazer blazer.. like preparing for work and interview.. musttttt be used to formal clothes.. need to pray hrad for the job that i need to apply… its getting nearerr!! and XMAS IS HERE SOON!!!

orchard is very prettyy.. i wanna go to the paragon tree.. i wanna walk down orchard.. =D

met up with samuel todayy.. anddd i finally got to eat my POPEYE!!!!! haha.. first time leh.. and you must be honoured man.. had the 2pcs chicken and mash potato.. i gt the prettyy thighs.. he got the breast meat.. hahaha. it was.. NICE.. but very filling.. i had difficulty walk after tat.. see any food also feel like vomitting..

and we finally got the cakeee! for me.. he is supposed to get me a cake for my birthday lor.. i’ll accept the MANGO cake as it.. MANGO MANGO!! MAN GO- CRAZY… so popeye was lunch+dinner.. and i just woke up from my beautiful NAP.. and had the cake as dessert.. haha.. i was like.. totally knock out.. when i went to bed.. intially just wanna rest on it.. and later.. couldn’ttt beat the sleepiness.. and the bed! WONDERFULLL FEEELing~ and ah fat..  8D

felt “SOFT” = lethargic.. couldn’t move even though i’m awaakee.. i just dun wanna leave my bed.. but.. can’t.. and i’ll need to start studying and preparing for the exams soon.. oh well.. i’ll start tomorrow.. i’ll reallyyy start it tomorrow.. i’ll get chocolate waffle tml.. YES!

andd i waannnaa watchh movie! omg.. i think i’ve been movie-ing alot this year.. haha.. majority with jerald.. thankss ahh ^^ and ya.. i have 4 more movies on my list to watch! alvin chipmunks (24 dec) , new moon (3rd dec) , storm warriors (19 dec) and princess and the frog (10deC) .. CAN’T WAIT! *grins

As we arrived Fynn tried to reiterate our destination. “We’re going to Waldo’s Pond! I’ll find Waldo!” it broke our hearts a tiny bit to tell him that it was actually Walden Pond, and we would  not be searching for a man wearing white and red stripes, or the tell tale beanie.

The chill in the air was perfect, invigorating and got us through a fairly lengthy hike around the pond (for toddler legs in any case…)

The last few November leaves set the mood, brilliant and in need of adoration.

The serenity was interrupted a few times with confused exclamations from Fynn… “I can’t find him! Where’s Waldo??”

But we kept on walking, moving to the side to let faster walkers pass, enjoying the view.

You could feel it in the air. See it in the oh so clear water. This area is safe from outside influences. You can just be, with your thoughts and the land. It’s no wonder it was full of inspiration for the likes of Emerson and Thoreau.

And lucky for us, it’s practically right in our backyard. Worth the 20 minute drive, the struggles over winter hats and the distraction of occasional crazies taking dips in the pond, coming out into the blissfully chilled November air.

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

~Henry David Thoreau, from Walden

]]> http://thesicklychild.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/recipe-for-a-pleasant-sunday-afternoon/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:10:27 +0000 thesicklychild http://thesicklychild.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/recipe-for-a-pleasant-sunday-afternoon/

Walk downtown. Enjoy the beautiful Fall weather.

Eat lunch. Walk to local bookstore to browse in a leisurely fashion. Proceed to the library. Check out books on CD for upcoming road trip to Philadelphia. Move on to coffee shop in the Memorial Union. Purchase caramel latte. Sip on latte as you read in a room that looks like this:

Spend the next few hours reading Oliver Twist in comfortable armchair while your spouse alternately reads and dozes in the armchair next to yours. Listen to the faint sounds of Dave Brubeck coming from the coffee shop down the hallway.

Walk home as the sun sets. Spend the rest of your evening reading. Try not to think about going back to work on Monday morning where, unfortunately, you do not get paid to read Oliver Twist.

On Friday, November 20, a small group from the StudioWorks crew visited the Louisville Science Center.  A traveling  exhibit on the ill-fated ocean liner, the RMS TITANIC was in town and a few of our artists were keen on seeing the show.  Brad Bohannon seemed the most interested, but it didn’t take much arm-twisting to talk more friends into going.  Nancy Anderson (whose birthday it was!), David Mahoney, Sally Hardman, Anna Tanzilla, and myself took two cars to the museum.  The remaining StudioWorks artists who are interested will be going later during the show’s run in town.

Of course no photography was allowed inside the exhibition area.  The exhibit consists of large photographs of the steamship being built, artistic interpretations of what happened, and contemporary color images taken deep under the ocean.  Under vitrines were a variety of artifacts recovered from the wreck.  Some of the somewhat ordinary objects belonged to known passengers on the boat and “told” a more personal story.  Each visitor to the exhibition is given a card with the name of an actual Titanic passenger on it.  At the end of the show, a board with those passenger names  and their fates is posted and in this way, you can see if in fact “you survived”!  Brad and David were especially interested…but sadly, they learned because their person was one of many third class passengers…well, they didn’t make it.  Watching and listening to the small video monitors via telephone handsets was also a fun activity for our clients.

Here’s the Titanic visitors, along with Anna Tanzilla (second from the left) in front of  the Louisville Science Center’s parabolic mirror.  We had some fun bouncing our voices off this dish!  As a way of rating our experience with the Titanic…it’s an expensive ticket and it would have been nice if a discount were available for groups smaller than ten people.  The exhibit area itself is dark and the floor surface changes elevations as you travel through the show.  We had a couple of people with us where walking balance is an issue.  Overall, the artifacts and images modestly held people’s interests.  The novelty of being somewhere different was probably just as stimulating.

After the outing, Anna Tanzilla helps Dorcas paint a wooden Christmas ornament.  We would like to thank Anna for all the help and assistance she has given StudioWorks and Zoom Group.  Anna is a practicum student through the University of Louisville’s Kent School of Social Work.  Anna is helping us construct artistic biographies of the individual StudioWorks artists that we hope to use a variety of ways.  As the artists take advantage of exhibition opportunities, their resumes start to build.  Next semester, Anna, will be broadening her research on topics of interest to our community.  As the year winds down, we would like to make sure we say “thank you”!

Something just feels so wrong.

I must remember to:

• Pay 2k for my sch fees.
• Head to MT line to indent vehicle tmr.
• Print attendance/bring course manual down to class.
• Go for driving tmr.
• Go ikea buy my cabinet.
• Go collect Sohhua n Bf’s tee shirt.
• SLEEP MORE, play less.

I must keep a proper to-do list, this week’s gonna be more busy than ever thou its only 4 working days. Any kind souls wanna remind me for what to do?

hmmm. everytime i feel sian i like to go shopping. Couldnt find my grey cardigan today, but i bought a grey jeans! Oh ya i was at Queensway shopping centre n IKEA. Gonna change my style and colour sense by a little la. Bought shuttlecocks too, i wana go play badminton again. Haven get the chance to use my new racquet la, bought it for so long alrd.

I strolled JP, went to look for new bed sheet set. Its like, thats why i love JP, it has everything i needed. Ended up with a white and orange one, i bought new pillows and bolster too. I shall sleep well in the night! hahahahaha. Chuppy hide in my quilt and hes fast asleep. Too comfortable. I think i was lucky, had like 70% discount, if not i would have ended up spending some 300 bucks..

Soon im going to get my cabinet, my home theatre system, new curtain, new table lamp, and im going to lock myself in the room! Ill take new pics of my room once its done jus joking.

Gd nite ck.