Of Ghosts and Ghouls

29 October

It's Halloween again and this time round, I'm well prepared ... kind of.

Black gown from Spotlight (half price at $10 bought more than a month back), masks and devil's pitchfork from Cold Storage. They carried a pretty decent stock and variety for adults and kids, but like everything else meant for celebrations, must buy early - can't wait for last minute bargains; there wouldn't be any, a sure sign that the economy is booming in this small part of the world. What a dramatic change of circumstances from a year ago when the outlook was all doom and gloom and no one could foresee when the recession would bottom out.

So here's the get-up for Peanut who is now old enough to want to look scary for the occasion:

S.P wanted to be ... Iron Man. I did a google on "DIY iron man costume" - you should check out this site Instructables - some really awesome inspirations with LED arc reactors ... very serious and professional projects ... compared to my pathetic cardboard cut-outs:

Improvised decor made from paper plates and toilet paper:

I'm not scared of ghosts .. .I have a 'repulsor beam':

Green is the new black

13 Nov

There are some significant events which I left out in my summary of the last months' activities. Here is one of them - our company organised a beach cleaning activity at East Coast Park as one of our yearly activities to support the Green movement and no prize for guessing who I brought along as cleaners:

They were very enthusiastic with the tongs, picking up every bit of cigaratte butts and styrofoam. Our most interesting find was a piece of chicken bone.
We were blessed with blazing hot sun amidst the wet and rainy season:


This is more like what we usually do at the beach, minus the gloves:

See that garbage bag - our miserable 'collection' of rubbish. Call me a skeptic - I suspect there were a few reasons why the beach was relatively clean but it certainly had nothing to do with people being more civic conscious:

1. The beach has already been combed by the cleaners in the morning - our army of effective cleaners (mostly foreign labour - yes, I'm thankful for them) keeps Singapore clean and green whilst most of us are getting ready for work or school or still sleeping.

2. It was a Saturday morning (we had to be there before 8.30am) plus it was examinations period for the schools; translate to fewer visitors at the beach the evening before.

More than 2000 participants turned up for the event which made an entry in the Singapore Book of Records.

YOG at Pre-School By-the-Park

27 August Fun Friday for August

The year is coming to an end and I realize I still otang you the answer to my earlier post on YOG .. well, here's the answer ... finally:


The challenge was finding these boxing gloves - it happens ever so often - how you would remember coming across them somewhere before but just can't put your finger to it when you need them most ...

We Love Mushroom Soup

So thankful for this recipe - it is how Peanut and I survived his ordeals with HFMD (yes, the dreaded Hand Foot Mouth Disease) and microplasma.

Homemade Mushroom Soup (adapted from Karen Cheng's blog)

Ingredients
400g (I use 500g) of button mushrooms, cleaned and chopped

60g of butter

1 medium onion, chopped finely

1 small garlic clove, chopped finely

1 L of chicken stock (I use ½ L of Campbell’s Swanson Chicken broth, diluted with 150ml water and 100ml milk)

150ml cream (I use 1 can 170g Nestle cream)

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1) Gently cook onion and garlic in butter, until brown. About 10 minutes.

2) Add mushrooms, stir for 10-15 minutes.

3) Add chicken stock. Bring to boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

4) Stir in the cream.

5) Use a hand blender (or food processor) to blend the soup into a smooth consistency.

Serve hot with bread sticks or hard rolls. Serves 8-10 (Halved all portions of ingredients for 4-5 persons)

And it's a hit this Christmas, especially with the kids (from 3 to 18 y.o). This year we celebrated Christmas with 3 families - Christmas eve's dinner with our new found friends/neighbours, the Su family, Christmas lunch with the Seah family (this has become a traditional yearly affair) and of course, our family Christmas dinner. Hope all of you enjoyed your Christmas as much!

Just Jokes

My short collection of original jokes for Christmas, reproduced from Sweet Potato:

Joke 1:
This happened last night. Sweet Potato was playing in Peanut's single bed surrounded by pillows and blankets.

"Mama, look. This is my tank and this is the propeller."

Dear, a tank has no propeller. A helicopter, a boat and a submarine have propellers. So what is this you are in?

"It's Chinese. It's a Chinese tank"

No, this is not a discrimination against China made products - I assure you, in case you think that our little guy picked it up from an adult member of the family. To his little mind, at least this is my (only) logical deduction, Chinese (as a language) is rather different from English and so maybe a Chinese tank can have a different design. This kid baffles me; Peanut is so much easier to figure out. Peanut would have just changed his 'mode of transport' to a helicopter or one of the 3 - I mean, that's only natural, why think so hard when you have been offered multiple choice answers?!!

Joke 2:
Sweet Potato started taking the school bus home 3x a week about 2 months back. In the first week, I asked him if he was enjoying the ride, if he had made new friends - it must be a dream come true; ever since he could talk, this kid has been wanting to take the school bus (the public bus, the train) rather than our family car. This is what he said, matter-of-factly,

"I take the school bus. There is Tom. Then there is Jerry. Tom and Jerry, so funny."

That my friends (and family), for the records, is the FIRST joke my younger son told me. And I was so dense, I missed it altogether, what a lousy mum - I just didn't expect it coming from my 3 y.o. My delayed laughter must have come across as so insincere.

May your homes be filled with Joy, Love and Peace this Christmas!

p/s This Christmas, Peanut is able to sing "Jingle Bell Rocks" and Sweet Potato "We wish you a Merry Christmas" ... just so you know what to expect at our family celebration.

My First 2010 Christmas Gift

This is my Christmas gift from my beloved sis. Hmmm.. must remember to wear shoes to take photo indoor - the dress would have look perfect. Thanks, sis.


There are a few things I learn after crossing the big 40 (apart from the usefulness of make-up as a concealment for blemishes, that a woman's need for maintenance grows proportionately with age, that small prints will come into focus if you read them from a distance):


- the attraction towards bright colours for fashion, be it clothings or bags or shoes (gone were those days where black is the most natural choice). I, now, have to conscientously steer away to avoid looking like a well-decorated Christmas tree and go for whites and neutrals as much as possible. I never dream, not even in my wildest dreams, that I would become the owner of a mustard colour handbag, a bright red handbag, a pair of bright yellow pumps, a fuchsia pink silk dress and to top it all, a fuchsia pink camera. Luckily for me, grey and nudes are in and so there are lots of fashion choices.


- the inclination/desire to dress in look-alike dresses with your close girlfriend/sister. Hey, this used to be the biggest bain of my childhood/teenage days - I remember how I would go for clothes, shoes which look distinctly different from those of my sis. Believe it or not, my sis also bought herself an identical dress as the one in the photo (except that the grey prints are in purple) - we are planning to wear the same thing on CNY!

The Annual School Concert - Behind the Scenes

The practice session:

I mean 'the many practice sessions":

The full dress rehearsal. Yes, this is serious showbiz business. And a guaranteed sell-out with full-fee paying audience (who apply for leave from work on a weekday, weeks in advance and pray that the performing child does not fall sick on THE day):

The 'diva' getting dressed for the Show of the Year:

"I'm already dressed":

Girls get more attention:

Compare with previous photo; now, you know who's Peanut's fave girl in class:

Check out that smile - this one is a born Casanova:

Getting ready to board the bus:

There's always time for another photo:

Leaving the school for the MGS auditorium:

Back stage - it's obvious that Oli adores S.P:

The Winning Pose:

The K1 class (split into 2 dance items):

Peanut's group - I see some potential cheerleaders. This is one of those instances when I comfort myself that I wouldn't know what to do with a 'princessy'-sort-of daughter if I had one:

What a cool bunch - they could have been performing 'Grease' (I could almost hear Mr M saying that all mothers are deluded when it comes to their sons ... ):

The Annual School Concert

Date: 24 November

Venue: MGS Auditorium

Let the show begin:

Guess who is performing the first act:


Yeh baby, let's rock (Peanut's class):

Here is Peanut (before the lights went out and all we saw were 'dancing' lit-up sticks forming patterns with intermittent of 'ooh' and 'ha' a.k.a. shouts by pseudo martial arts experts). Still we in the audience enjoyed the performance. Mr M who wasn't there and saw the replay on video, was totally disappointed if not flabbergasted as to why the school even bothered to have such a dance:


The little ones from N2 class jiving to the beat:


Finally, my other dancing darling who simply embraced the limelight:

He had a good time alright!

The very entertaining act from the toddler class cheekily rocking their bottoms to a Chinese song that actually went si si pi gu (washing your buttock) Incredible! I had no idea that such a song existed ... have you heard the song? But then if Andy Lau can have a song about a toilet seat ... who am I to question.

The Grand Finale - see if you can spot Peanut and S.P:

This should help ... if you don't have a pair of magnifying glasses (or can't find your reading glasses for those who are vision-impaired, like me):

Post performance:

Roll call for the ardent fans who unfailingly attend year after year:

The biggest fan of all: