Wei Chieh & Ae Mi's Big Blog of Everything

Thank you and good bye!

2011-11-03T10:35:00.000Z

Unfortunately it's come to a point where this blog doesn't serve its purpose anymore. The husband have become too busy to write, it has become a complain and ranting ground of negative things for me, all of which it was never meant to be - which is also why I have sieved through all posts and deleted some.

I've come to realise that some things are best left alone, if it is the only way I can achieve peace with myself and be happy, then that's the way it has to be.

We won't shut it down as the blog documents the first 2 years of our married life, a very happy 2 years but as we move on to the next phase of life, we think it is best to start anew, and try to make the best of it positively.

To protect ourselves and our family, we can no longer blog freely, as we have noticed that this blog have become a bit of a track and spot device for certain people we are trying to avoid so any new blog we might start will be fully anonymous, which is sad but necessary.

Many thanks to all who have been readers of our blog.

24

2011-09-06T14:12:00.004+01:00

24 more days until the dissertation goes IN!

YES! We both can't wait until it's over. In fact the husband's due in 17 days!

We want to start living, we want our weekends back. We want to enjoy our finally about to be done home which we have worked so hard for.

I want to start consulting. I want to start knitting again. 2 months to knit a nice, warm blanket before little spanish baby girl arrives just in time for winter!!

Meanwhile, here's a recent picture of our handsome baby boy, isn't he just adorable?

It wears me out, it wears me out..

2011-08-03T22:46:00.000+01:00

10 years ago, I was 15 and lepaking in the 'fake' CD shop before my BM tuition classes.

I don't usually buy CD's. I prefer the randomness of MTV and Channel V, but I did fall in love with a song and I was going to hunt it down and listen to it on repeat (as I do).

So I found that song on a top rock hits CD. Bought it immediately and listened to it over and over.

Eventually I did move on to the other songs in the CD. One of them is Fake Plastic Trees.

I thought, strange name for a song huh? But I got addicted anyway..

So fake plastic trees played, over and over and today 10 years later, it is still one of my favourite songs.

The song has very deep lyrics. To me, it's a reminder to always evalute the things around me and sort the real from the fake, the important from the unimportant.

There's no point getting all worked up for something 'fake', it just wears you out... like it often does me, unfortunately.

the man I love

2011-07-27T10:06:00.002+01:00

Love in the morning.

the Malaysian holiday

2011-07-26T12:46:00.002+01:00

This post is long overdue, as is the literature review for my thesis. We are lazy people and are currently doing anything else BUT our thesis :P

So Dodgy Mike dragged us back to Msia to attend a wedding.

Dragged because the hardest part was leaving the babies (as usual, I flooded the taxi, airport and plane).. also, the thought of a 21 hour door to door journey isn't fun.

Anyhow, we are both glad we made the trip, it was really nice to spend time with family and the wedding was lovely.

The parents took us on holiday to Pangkor. Well.. to a neighbouring island because we decided you can either afford Pangkor properly or do something else.

As a child, I used to loathe Pangkor, the ferry was usually dirty, the journey took forever and there's nothing on that island besides ikan bilis (anchovies), ikan bilis and oh...more ikan bilis.

I've been there at least 3 times and have no idea how I missed this:-

There's a hornbill (yes, apparently there are hornbills in Pangkor) eating leftover papaya on the table.

We didn't take many pictures.. we are lazy people. But here are the brothers in law playing Mario Kart.

Everyone thinks that they are brothers.. They have a rather strange relationship. One nags the other gets nagged but they do like each other. We do love smelly boy - there's nothing better like having a botak younger brother you can bully!

And of course there's the wedding. We've been waiting at least 3 years to attend this wedding, but it was well worth the wait, it was beautiful and the bride and groom looks lovely, very much settled and in love.

Here's the culprit who made us go

Strangely we do not have a photo with the bride and groom as we were too busy helping with things and moving around.

Anyhow.. Congratulations CS and J! Thank you for letting us share your day. :)

I do admire people who are able to host proper big weddings. We are both too selfish to do anything of this sort, we don't like the attention and having to host long lost relations we both don't know or don't like.

Hence our small but intimate picnic wedding from 2 years ago ;) I only wish my grandparents, parents, brother and cousins could have been there.

Anyway...

I think the husband is officially in love with Ipoh food.

He have always hated taugeh (beansprouts) but these, he loves.

We celebrated mumzy's birthday with her (and got scolded because it was 2 days early and she didn't want to turn 49 before she had to) and had yummy buttercream cake.

We also discovered that the husband and Ah Kong (my grandfather) have the same watch! Ah Kong's watch is 30 years old and the husband's 10 but essentially, they are brothers.

It was a strange feeling to discover that they both have the same watch. I know it is coincidence but somehow it tells me that I married the right man and I have Ah Kong's approval. Silly, I know.. but heart warming :)

It was a good holiday, although now we are both stuck dreaming of Ipoh nga choi kai, the husband wants to eat 3 yim kok kai (salted chicken) in one sitting, I want to live in a swimming pool of wan tan mee with a border portion of wan tan and we both stare at pictures of Pasir Pinji chee cheong fun whenever we are feeling hungry.

Of course, we miss the people too. There's nothing like family, I only wish I could bring them all here and have them together with the dogs, rabbits and fishes too!

when genes play catch up

2011-07-13T11:33:00.000+01:00

I remember the day my mum turned 30.

I was super excited, afterall it's a Birthday! Yay, cakes and all things nice.

But the mother was gloomy, she was rather prickly and didn't want any mention of her birthday at all.

I got rather confused - what's the big deal about turning 30? It's a birthday and birthday means cake and cake makes a happy girl.

Yes, I do love cake especially the ones with butter cream that makes you extra fat.

Fatty cake makes for an even happier girl :)

Anyway..

Next Monday, I turn 25.

Sigh..

25!? Yesterday I was 19! I don't remember being 20,21,22,23,24..

I never thought this day would come, but the way it is going, the day I turn 30, I would be the same sad woman my mother was 24 years ago when she turned 30.

How to challenge the sun

2011-06-28T09:50:00.003+01:00

Yesterday was a 'record' (the weather is always a record to the Brits) hottest day of the year so far.

Yes, I could have told them that minus their termometers and weather experts.

How?

June 27th for the past 2 years have been that - a record hottest day of the year so far.

How do I know?

We had our wedding picnic party on June 27th and I remember being toasted black by the sun and last year during our anniversary we were toasted again during a picnic in Horsham with family friends.

This year I managed to stay indoors but it was so hot it might as well be a home sauna.

So this morning I had a plan.

I bathed in ultra cold freezing water after walking the dogs.

Changed into my shortest shorts and thinnest sleeveless tee.

Took our table fan downstairs, stuck it on a high table pointed it at my direction and switched it on to maximum.

Flung the windows and doors wide open.

I was ready. I wasn't going to bake in the heat today.

Only there's one verrrrryy minor problem.

The sun have decided to have a laugh at me and is no where to be seen....

Darn!

What can change the nature of a man?

2011-06-03T23:08:00.003+01:00

I remember the first time I came across that question, playing Planescape: Torment (I still rate it as one of the greatest games of all time). For some reason, the question popped into my head a couple of days ago again, and I realise, far too late, that even though that game affected me profoundly and made me sit and think, if I were to play the game for the first time again today, how much more meaningful it would be to me. What did the 14/15 year old me know about change and life? What did the stupid boy know about being a man?

I look back at who I was and see just how much I have changed, how I have gone from being a boy to a man; from being a selfish, irresponsible person to someone who now has so many things to deal with, a life to live; from being someone who just wanted to write code in a corner in peace to someone who's facing customers pretty regularly. Quite a lot of change to go through in such a short period of time.

And I realise one other thing. I'm happy. What can change the nature of a man? Torment's script was written in such a way that no matter what answer the Nameless One gave, it would have been the right answer. My answer, right now, today - is love. I may not be who I thought I was going to be when I was younger and dumber, but I have the love of my wife (yes, she's listening to that Bette Midler song right now), and she has mine, and that is all we need.

Done and dusted

2011-06-03T14:41:00.001+01:00

Finished my last paper today - Information Resources Management.

And that's it..

I can't believe it. We have both finally finished all our coursework and exams, all that's left now are our thesis.

With some luck, this is also going to be goodbye to formal education. At least until I start itching about getting my MBA (I hope not!). The husband has had enough and isn't interested in any MBA.

I remember the first day he started his part time- postgrad almost 2 years ago. I thought to myself, it's going to be 2 years of part time hell.

Sure enough it was, we have tried to juggle so much over the last 2 years I'm surprised we managed to come out fairly unscathed (besides being burnt with the crazy mother problem).

Actually we have also found a solution to that problem. We've put a filter in that automatically sends her emails into the trash.

I've been asked by several people if they think it is right to do that. Afterall, she is his mother.

Yes, I totally understand that and I would never recommend what we are doing to anyone either, but in our situation, the amount of damage she's caused and is STILL causing warrants it.

I don't think anyone (even his mother) has the right to constantly make unwanted, untrue, hurtful remarks about me, us and our family.

Apparently, a filial daughter in law will just laugh it off or keep quiet about it. Well, thanks but no thanks, I can live with being unfilial.

We will move on with our lives.

With much luck, I should get some form of a consultant/project manager job by November.. gain 2 - 3 years of experience then maybe with lots and lots of luck, we will find ourselves in a position, ready to start a family.

But you're so precious to me.. sweet as can be..

2011-06-01T12:36:00.000+01:00

I have the annoying ability to listen to the same song over and over (when I say over and over, I probably put it on play over 10 hours everyday for 3 weeks or so).

Eventually I either get sick of it or move to another song on repeat. It takes forever to get something out of my system.

Unfortunately for the husband who have been working from home quite a bit these days, his ears suffer.

At the moment, am midway on exams - 2 gone, 2 to go and the dogs are suffering on this song

Actually, they get quite calm when it plays but I'm sure they are sick of it by now, poor babies, but it does say so much about how I feel about them.

From your head down to your toes,

You're not much goodness knows,

But you're so precious to me, sweet as can be,

Baby of mine.

Family is a privilege, NOT a right

2011-05-11T15:16:00.001+01:00

I love my mother. I love her even more because it was Mother's Day in Msia on Sunday and I forgot (Mother's Day in UK is on a different day) and frankly, my mum doesn't care. Called her today and nope, she is as normal as ever, ~~nagging me about eating chicken liver pate~~.

Unlike the husband who got a sudden influx of rather skewed emails no thanks to Mother's Day marketing campaigns (his words, not mine) about how he should start becoming a better son before it is all too late (yeap, the I will be dead before you card).

Strange, because who is to say who is going to die first?

Anyway, my point - Family is a privilege, not a right.

And nope, if you have shaken away a privilege because family is misbehaving, I try to live by my other motto - No Regrets.

So here's my family enjoying the sunshine in April, until the ants attacked him :P

And here a little something from our Spanish friends, it was delicious!

Eaten with home made foccacia baked with garden grown rosemary

And 2 beady eyed dogs waiting for a chance to swipe some ham or bread or or or, cheese!

And we finish the night with lots of love and cuddles :)

Ahh.. perfection!

Happy Anniversary babyboo!

2011-05-09T11:49:00.000+01:00

Today marks our 7th anniversary together.

The husband booked a table in Le Gavroche for dinner tonight! And we are both super excited about it!

This will be our first time in a 2 Michelin stars restaurant.

Well.. it will also be our first time in a 'fine dining' restaurant as my brother calls it.

Thank you babyboo for being so thoughtful!

Blind

2011-04-27T16:38:00.000+01:00

I first heard this song on the plane to London after my STPM. That was December 2005.

I was blind, and maybe am still. But a big part of me will definitely die if I let you go.

Rebel

2011-04-22T21:44:00.001+01:00

This year's April is particularly hot. This past week the weather have been at 25 degrees consistently. It's a bit of a struggle for us but guess who is enjoying all the sunshine?

Yesterday the husband's new toy arrived - a toaster. He's been begging for one for ages. I personally hate toasters.

I'm not big on toast and for something that does only 1 thing it takes up loads of space and makes a mess.

Maybe that's because we have been buying £5 tesco toasters.

So we decided now that we have a home and is a lot more settled to buy a slightly better toaster. A £30 one.

That's the handsome husband cuddling his new toaster. Bronx looks shocked for some reason.

X-Dog

2011-04-18T09:50:00.002+01:00

The lean, mean eating machine recovered from her surgery in 2 days and is back to terrorising the neighbourhood cats and dragging the wife across the street.

I've come to the conclusion that we are proud owners of a mutant dog with a liver that appears to be functioning normally despite being 2/3 the normal size and an increased appetite and healing factor.

Look out, cats.

The babies

2011-04-13T13:04:00.001+01:00

My project management coursework is giving me cold hands and feet.

I didn't know it was supposed to be THIS difficult. There are too many repeating and clashing elements.

How many times can I write, rewrite and reword essentially the same thing that sits on different documents???

ARGH

At such times, photos like these really help cheer me up. It reminds me what I'm working for and why I'm slaving over this ~~bloody~~ document

And here's big baby.. with his little bo peep hat and easter duck handbag

Bluetooth is cool!

2011-04-08T12:57:00.000+01:00

Yeap, it's finally working for me. I've been wanting to load this picture for MONTHS! It was probably taken last spring!?

The first baby the husband ever held was Maxie. That was about 5 years ago. I remember passing Max to him thinking he would instintively take Max and bring Max close to his body for a cuddle.

WRONG..

He took Max and held him up but away from his body like Max was some alien thing.. and they both stared at each other.

Haha!

He's improved quite a bit now, and all that training with Max, L and M have made him quite proficient.

Ang Mor Dog

2011-04-08T12:06:00.002+01:00

This Sunday is the husband's birthday.. I offered to host a BBQ party (he LOVES the barbie, and so does Mike.. it must be a man thing, they have the urge to grill meat) so Mike offered to help do up the garden.

Our garden have been a bit of a mess while we were doing up the house. We cut down all the massive plants (that was headquaters for some extra large spiders) and crawly plants and left ourselves a blank canvas.

It took us half a Saturday and half a Sunday and now it is beautiful :)

We left a patch to the left for a vegetable garden.

The dogs absolutely love the new garden. They've been doing some exploring and Bunny's been lying out in the grass while we did the lights.

She's not well now so haven't spent much time outside. Bronx has the whole garden to himself and is taking full advantage of it.

You can tell he's an ang mor dog adopted by a Chinese family. Some things just don't change, the sun comes out and Bronx goes sun bathing, just like the rest of the ang mor community while me and the husband desperately look for some shade before we fall over and die.

Drugged up dog

2011-04-07T16:07:00.001+01:00

Post-painkillers

Tough bitch

2011-04-07T11:45:00.003+01:00

A testament to the spirit of our dog - she may have gone through massive surgery yesterday, she may be drugged to the hilt with painkillers and have a scar the length of my arm running down her belly, but she will still attempt to murder a bee that flies into the house. Long live Bunny!

Goodbye girl

2011-03-29T13:12:00.001+01:00

The 9th of April is coming up again and this time, it would be 7 years since we first 'met'.

It was a day before his birthday, I was just going to leave the computer to pack for a trip to KL that night when this irritating random man messaged me on ICQ for the THIRD time.

Goodness gracious, he sure is persistant, and he doesn't even know me. And he had an annoying nickname 'soonami' - I thought he was some stupid 20 something dirty minded man who thinks he is as powerful as a tsunami but couldn't spell.

Oddly of course, I discovered that his surname is actually Soon. So it was a play of words, but it wasn't because he couldn't spell. Thank god.

The even weirder thing is that after we got married, I took his surname, and now I'm Mrs. Soon Ae Mi. So basically, I've become soonami with an E. Strange hey?

Our love story isn't a simple one, it was a struggle, mainly because of distance. He was in London I was in Ipoh. We were young, we were penniless and we couldn't make any decisions without involving our parents.

I remember thinking it is going to take us forever to find a stable platform. Every time we found the opportunity to meet, every time we held hands, it was precious because we couldn't take it for granted.

A close friend took this photo of us sometime in August 2004.

We were both so young then, our love seem so raw, so excitable.

This photo was taken sometime before Christmas

We look so different now. He has lost a lot of his boyish looks and we are so much calmer and contented with each other.

I remember he used to promise me that we will make it to the end, that he will show me a better life, take me away from my misery and unhappiness.

I never really believed him, but when I look around me now I know he has kept his promise. We are now a family and we love each other just like we did 7 years ago.

I have forgotten my past. And I'm now home at last.

Everybody wants a hand, but I'm too busy holding up the world..

2011-03-24T21:32:00.002Z

One of my favourite band is Travis.

I'm trying to think if I like them more than Vertical Horizon but honestly.. I don't know. They are both completely different. But I do know I can sit at home all day listening to both their albums front to back again, again and again.

I used to sneak car trips to Penang on a school day when the husband and I were still dating (this must be what? 6 - 7 years ago?) and I had only my Vertical Horizon casette to listen to, but it was nice. I didn't like that we were away from each other but every car trip is now a beautiful memory.

Here's one of my favourite songs from Travis.. I don't think anyone write better lyrics than Fran Healy. The song is a bit depressing but hey ho, the husband will tell you I'm the queen of depressing songs.

Mind your manners!

2011-03-22T09:07:00.000Z

Why don't people say please or thank you anymore these days?

It really frustrates me.

I have coursemates who skip classes all the time (when I say skip, they probably only attend 35% of their classes!).

Even better, most of my coursemates actually come 30 minutes - an hour after a class have started.... and a class typically lasts only 1 hour 40 minutes.

Of course, it isn't a problem when they're skipping the class. The only problem comes when they do not know how to do the assignment or do not know where to look for information for the assignment.

And who do they ask when they are lost?

Me.

Yes, always the easy target.

Why? Because I actually take the effort to make it in time before a 9am class starts and I sit in for the 3 hour classes even if the lecture bores the hell out of my guts.

And I DO mind when people don't turn up to classes and then proceed to ask me a million questions.

What's worse though, are coursemates messaging me on Facebook asking obvious questions they should know the answer to if they have attended the class, and then after giving them what they want, they just disappear.

They don't say thank you.

That is just disgusting.

I am not rude enough to pretend I didn't get their messages, so these days I just say I don't know, I'm sorry, I can't help you.

Truly. Madly. Deeply

2011-03-15T14:42:00.004Z

"You know how there are couples that stay together just because they feel they can't do any better or there are people who are sad and miserable and love alone but then there is this microscopically tiny group of people who get to be with the person they are madly in love with." - Loser, 2000.

I feel blessed to be within the microscopically tiny group of people.

I love you babyboo.

Growing up, growing tall

2011-03-14T17:03:00.002Z

Walking dogs sound fun and easy.. afterall you just strap them up and take them out, what could be so hard.

Well, first off, your dog does not always listen to you off lead. I never realise the level of discipline, communication and commitment you need to have to keep your dog and yourself happy AND safe.

We used to walk Bronx and Jake off the lead in the nearby park.

Most days, it is okay but sometimes you meet the most idiotic and unreasonable people.

I personally believe in only telling my own dog off and not another's even if the other dog is being a nuisance. I don't think it is my place to discipline another person's dog or wave them off.

Sadly, there are others that believe differently..

There used to be a lady with a Tibetan Terrier who walks her dog in the same park as us and one 'lucky' day we bumped into her.

Bronx was off lead and as usual he would sprint to the other dog to investigate and say hello (if it is a smaller dog, he would try to herd it like sheep - Bronx is a collie and we think he used to live in a sheep farm).

This lady immediately went on defence and started waving her hand at Bronx shooing him away.

We quickly went to grab Bronx and the lady complained that Bronx was trying to attack her dog.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...........................................................

Bronx attack another dog? Really????

Bronx gets bossed by the neighbourhood cat.

Bronx runs when a plastic bag blows his way.

Bronx sits and patiently allows L to investigatively poke his eyes and pull his ears.

Gosh..

Why would Bronx attack her dog?

Her story was this - My dog is a Tibetan Terrier. He is very rare, and other dogs for some reason or other like to attack him. We think they're jealous.

Can you believe that?

We rolled our eyes, walked away and nick-named her dog Pompous.

A week or so later, we heard from another fellow friendly dog walker that Pompous's owner have been going around telling people Bronx attacked her dog!!

What a nut job!

Thankfully we never saw much of her again, the second time we saw her we were across the street and when her dog saw Bronx he launched into a frenzy of loud barks while Bronx quickly move away.

Heh.

Last we heard she's also moved out of London. Thank god!

Pompous isn't the only dog with stupid, unreasonable owners. We have met quite a handful over the year.

So far, there's already Pompous 2 and Pompous 3.

We have noticed, it is mainly owners with small dogs that are a pain. They always think other dogs are trying to attack their dog.

I used to be really scared dealing with people like that and would constantly apologise even if I wasn't on the wrong but these days I don't anymore.

I hold my ground, tell them off for being rude and walk away.

Jake's death put things into perspective for me and I realised how unimportant all these idiotic and problematic people are.

I realise I didn't have to deal with people who are just out to make life difficult for me. I just have to put them back in their place and move on.

And it has worked a treat.

We no longer have to deal with painful, accusatory emails demanding that we get divorced (I know! How ridiculous is that?) even though we are happy together, love each other and have worked so hard to build the life we have.

I can now stand my ground and fend off unreasonable, unthinking and lazy classmates.

It is still not easy, but we are getting there.

I know it is all part of growing up and we will have to learn all these sooner or later.

Thankfully, we have found ways around our problems and now that we have Bunny, I don't think many people would like to mess with her.

Baby Mine

2011-03-10T19:36:00.001Z

Bunny the German Sheppard is only about 3 years old, she has lots of energy but can't go for long walks because it makes her tired and it puts too much strain on her front leg.

Luckily for us, she spends half her day being entertained by live TV

She loves watching the rabbits and can stare at them for hours sometimes.. The rabbits aren't really bothered by her presence, they stare back sometimes but most times they just get on with whatever they want to do.

Here's Wibble sleeping like a dead rabbit (always gives us a shock!) and he only does that when he feels completely comfortable with his surroundings.

Once, Wibble decided to sleep in a sausage roll pose (all stretched out, flat on his belly) and Bunny thought he was dead.

She went around the hutch whining as if encouraging him to move and trying to look for signs of life, it was all quite funny.

For some reason or other Wibble does that a lot and I've lost count of the number of times he has managed to frighten both me and the husband.

Here's a photo we took of General Bibbles (Wibble's nickname because he looks like General Woundwort in Watership Down sometimes) yesterday night..

Isn't he just adorable?

Wind beneath my wings

2011-03-07T17:35:00.003Z

Spent the weekend playing housewife to the husband who was supposed to be doing his coursework.

Evidently from his previous post.. he wasn't.

We had a noodles weekend because I had some rather strange cravings. We went to the Chinese supermarket because I wanted to eat 'Tai Lok Meen' (which I am supposed to be intolerant to, I can't eat round noodles, they make me nauseous - but this is a story for another day)

So we bought those fat round noodles and braised it with a load of dark soya sauce and added some heart attack inducing pork fat cracklings.. this really isn't a dish for the health concious

As we were also making Char Koay Kak for the weekend, I had some leftover mouli (white radish) and with chicken carcass in the freezer, made mouli soup for the lucky man.

Apparently when my mum was pregnant with me, she ate a lot of Tai Lok Meen.. it was the only thing she wanted and had large plates of it every night..

So you would understand that I cringed with fear when I started craving it for no reason (I've actually never really eaten it before, I stole some from Uncle Mike's plate a few months ago when he ordered it in a restaurant).

Of course you'd expect the husband to panic as well, but I think he's already immuned to my strange, irregular cravings. I don't think I'm pregnant.. a little windy and bloated from the mouli soup, yes, pregnant, probably not.

And no, it's not that we don't want kids, it's just that at this time and with this space, it is going to be near impossible to raise children without killing and stretching ourselves. Plus, I want to have a career before ditching it all for the screaming, probably ungrateful monsters.

We watched a really old movie through the weekend - Beaches, starring Bette Midler.

It was a good show, very emotional and got us both crying our eyes out.

I never realised that the song 'Wind beneath my wings' came from this movie, it always used to irritate me how my dad kept going 'did you ever know that you're my HEEEEEEEEEEEEEerooooooooooooooo????'

Apart from all that crooning, it is a very meaningful song. I guess in any relationship, be it friendship or a love relationship, there is always one person in front and the other behind working together to bring things together for each other.

There will be arguments, quarrels, tears but to have that one loyal person stick by you is really an honour.

In my case, I will always have wind beneath my wings, courtesy of the windy husband.

Char koay kak

2011-03-06T19:57:00.001Z

The way to a man's heart...

2011-03-06T18:33:00.005Z

Sitting here, supposedly doing my coursework, That Thing You Do on the TV as background noise, listening to and smelling the ridiculously mouthwatering sounds and smells of the wife cooking Char Koay Kak...it brings to mind a song I've always thought was very sweet.

...Who could ask for more?
Will you still need me?

Will you still feed me?
When I'm sixty-four?

Written by the Beatles, my favourite version of it by John Pizzarelli et al...never fails to bring a smile to my face

For what it's worth, I love you..

2011-03-01T18:31:00.001Z

I was in Kingston last Friday after uni and decided to drop by the market to get stuff.

Kingston market has a new butcher that sells free range meat. It IS more expensive than the normal chicken.

You can buy a normal farm bred chicken from Sainsbury's or Tesco's for about £3, the same from Kingston will cost you £5.99 or £10 for 2.

Is it worth the extra £2?

Definitely. The chicken tastes better, it doesn't have so much fat, the skin is thicker and flesh firmer.

So.. I got us a chicken and some pork belly from the butcher at Kingston as I was having a craving for char siew pau and nam yee pau..

Got cooking during the weekend (yes, despite all the programming coursework I had due), the char siew didn't become pau as there was too much nam yee pork..

This is the husband's first taste of nam yee pau.. I think he will probably stick to char siew.. haha..

Bronx on the other hand.....

Here's what the paus look like raw, I had extra dough and kaya in the fridge, so made a kaya pau for the husband..

Notice we have our new kitchen worktop in? That's been installed months ago back in November, it's Corian, it's easy to keep clean and it's blue - like Jakey's eyes..

I still miss him... everyday..

It's finally March and spring is a-coming!

We are going to have a rather full month with 2 pieces of coursework due for the husband, my consulting project going on full swing, both of us researching our thesis and us starting up the finishing jobs for the house again..

April had better hurry and come!

Little girl

2011-02-24T15:56:00.001Z

Not a few minutes ago a pair of charity fund raisers for the British Red Cross came knocking at our door..

"Hi! Is Mommy or Daddy at home?"

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr???

I stood there a little stunned.. Bunny was barking her head off and Bronx was trying to poke his head in every gap to see what was going on.

"Sorry.. erm.. I'm 25, I don't live with my parents anymore. I'm actually married"

I added a few month to my age and told them I am married because I didn't think they would actually believe me.

"Oh..." Everybody laughed..

This is rather funny.. It happened before 2 years ago while we were living in Richmond.

Surely I have aged, no?

How to be a good project manager

2011-02-22T09:35:00.002Z

I've just realised that being a project manager is a thankless job..

You have to manage your resources, employees and clients, deal with all the problems that crop up with every sector, try to represent one side to the other in a positive manner even after you have taken a load of shit from them and after everything, get judged for the job you've done (often not in a good way) and the best thing is,

Nobody says THANK YOU!

I have had the opportunity to work briefly with a very good project manager and cannot be grateful enough for the experience that he gave me.

It has mellowed me out, so much so my lecturer made me group leader for a consulting project we are doing at the moment because I'm 'solid and calm'....

Hmm..

Not words you hear about me very often.

Strangely, that is true in my current situation, I am indeed the calmest in the group.

If there is one thing I have very little tolerance for, is people not being punctual.

I understand that there are many mitigating circumstances that can make you late even when you didn't plan to be but at least call me? text me? let me know you're going to be late???

I had a group member ~~stroll~~ come in 20 minutes late for a group meeting yesterday. I was already simmering as she had missed the last meeting and did not care to call me to catch up on it (probably relying on me to go to her instead).

To add to that she did not reply any of my emails to the group asking to meet, resulting in me having to call her the night before to ask if her royal highness was coming.

All that got me angry and frustrated but I kept it as low as I could.

Confronted her about her lateness and she came out with a load of excuses, one of them about trains being 20 minutes apart (duh? why didn't you check the train schedule then??)

Nevermind that, she then questioned me about something I had asked her to do in my email on Friday that was supposed to be delivered and up for discussion yesterday.

.............................................

Sigh.. if you had a problem with what I was asking you to do shouldn't you have brought it up on FRIDAY instead?????

No.. apparently, she does not see the difference..

And she went on and accused me for being nervous about something else and taking it out on her.

Perfect! By then I was ready to eat her, but of course the Project Manager never loses her cool..

At the end of the day, I am the one who have to think out and type emails to the client and send it to my 'group members' for their comments. The comments always come, but the thank yous never arrives.

Anyhow, I am sure I will learn loads through this experience and the cheeky lecturer who made me group leader......... is very cheeky indeed!

And the cherry on top of the cake - one of my group members still refuses to acknowledge that there is a group leader within the group. He thinks there should be none..

As such, I am the unacknowledged group leader who have to do all the donkey work of a group leader.

Wonderful.

I begin to understand why the great Project Manager I worked with previously always says thank you to all his team members after a hard day's work. It is difficult to get people who will work for you and respond to you accordingly even though you have the title 'Manager'.

So, a good project manager remembers to say thank you.

That said, one day I will get there.

money money money

2011-02-18T16:40:00.004Z

A classmate (who I dislike, and then again, how many people do I actually like?) made a comment in class last week about money being the most important element driving consultants to produce good work.

Poor thing..

To think that I already dislike him - he smokes, doesn't attend class, is late when he attends class, has an annoying loud voice, has an ego as big Jupiter and treats women like they only have a place in the kitchen (he kind of told me off for challenging his view (which was incorrect!) during a class debate because he elected himself group leader and apparently I shouldn't have disagreed with what he said because we were in the same group HEH!)

Honestly.. I can't stand the sight of him and I think he knows.

What an arsehole.

Anyway..

I still don't understand why some people still think that money should be the greatest motivation for work and life.

I'm not denying that we all need money, you do, but do you need to be greedy and have loads of it?

It makes live boring (the simple things in life won't make you happy anymore), it makes a person greedy, it promotes selfish behaviour and it allows doubt to creep into your head. Before long you'll start thinking that the whole world is after your stupid pot of money!

I know a man who loves money, wants money but somehow never had the luck to have much money. I wouldn't say he's a miserable man but he's certainly not satisfied, and he always thinks he'll be happier when he has money.

On the other hand, I know a woman who puts priority on money and has the luck to own money but I personally think she's probably more miserable than the man who doesn't have money and I don't think she's happy either.

She is always worried that people are not sincere with her because they're just after her riches and she even tries to buy love with money. It gets so bad, she drives away family.

Either way, it seems like a lose lose situation. So why concentrate so hard on money? Why not concentrate on something else?

cutiepies

2011-02-15T16:12:00.001Z

Was called for some emergency babysitting today..

Not the best of time unfortunately, I am currently swamped with work..

But all that fades away when you see two beaming tiny cutiepies at the door going 'Ae Mi! Ae Mi! AEEEE MIII!!!'

And then they give you hugs and if you're lucky, kisses and they show you all their toys and all the naughty things they've been doing...

It's all very cute.. and then they go.. 'where's Chieh?' and go on some long explanation about Chieh coming later, ring the bell and we open the door and wa lah! Chieh's here..

Of course, Chieh is in the office.. so they went 'Ohhhhh.. Chieh in the office.. Chieh's working'

It is very cute to meet little people, especially those you love and lucky us, we are blessed with 2 we don't have to take home.

Haha!

The Dream, simplified

2011-02-10T09:48:00.002Z

After much thought, have simplified the dream:

1) Produce something awesome that people will want to give me lots of money for forever and ever, amen

2) Retire in peace and never work again

That should make it slightly easier

The Dream

2011-02-08T13:59:00.002Z

In simple, 2-step process:

1) Write awesome programs that people will buy in the millions

2) Retire in peace and never work again

...if only step 1 was a lot easier to achieve

Happy Birthday Pui Ma Ma!

2011-02-03T18:14:00.002Z

Today.. the grandma turns 73 (shhhhhh....)

She will insist that she is 74 because that's her Chinese age (Chinese babies are born aged 1) and today is actually her Chinese birthday, which is the first day of Chinese New Year.

I don't think she has any idea what her english birth date actually is but anyway.. it makes it easier for us to remember her birthday..

My grandma is special.

She has never been to school, she cannot read and cannot write.

As kids we taught her how to read and recognise numbers.

Often, relatives will write their phone numbers down on her address book but it doesn't help as the poor woman can't recognise all numbers!

Haha...

I don't think many people have grandparents who are illiterate, my other 3 grandparents could read and write.

Yet, this illiterate grandmother is the one person who played the most important role in my cousins' and my life. She became the center of our universe without even realising it.

Today, we have all left her nest but I don't think a day goes by where we don't think of her.

She might not have taught us how to read or write, but she taught us how to love without putting conditions on us to love her back and for that I am forever grateful.

I often sit and wonder how I am going to tell Poppy and Jake about their wonderful great grandparents, how they gave me the best start in life which is so different to the life they are going to have..

I only hope P & J will get to meet them and maybe know them like I got the chance to.

Doggies go night night

2011-02-01T18:19:00.001Z

Last week we were at Pevensey Bay on holiday with the dogs and rabbits.. yeap.. all 6 of us can actually fit in the car even with the rabbit's hutch.

We rented a nice house close to the beach (literally 1 - 2 minutes walk away) and had a nice week away.

The dogs absolutely loved the beach!

They were chasing each other.. sniffing stones.. annoying the seagulls and Bunny tried to eat a mussel :P

We had a bit of an incident with the husband's thumb.. and also some stomach churning but apparently very fresh oysters (according to the husband as I can't do most seafood) but other than that.. all's good

The dogs were mostly sleeping when we were not at the beach.. there was a particular sofa they had both quite taken to unfortunately.. so.. we had some argumentative whines over whether the OAP or Disabled Dog qualified better for it..

Bunny is extremely good at posing in her sleep.. haha.. she even snores like a human when she had kennel cough..

We also found a good pet shop in Eastbourne and sent the dogs in for a grooming session.. they had a really cute toy rabbit Bunny was rather attracted to so we bought it for her and also a toy fox for Bronx.. unfortunately.. Bronx wasn't too interested with Mr Fox so Bunny adopted him..

Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Fox

Bunny caring for her babies

Grumpy old man

Bunny would make a really good mother.. she cares for Mr Rabbit and Mr Fox.. licking them clean all the time and never bites them.. she carries them around lightly in her mouth and brings one of them wherever she goes (the other is probably sleeping in her mind.. lol!)

Of course this post wouldn't be complete without pictures of the husband being silly.. so.. here goes

Ode to my thumb

2011-01-31T01:39:00.003Z

What was my thumb

Is now a stump

Cause Bunny bit

The nail off it

We've just returned from a week long break in Pevensey Bay (we like going to the seaside in the winter months. It means no one else is there)

Unfortunately, Bunny and Bronx decided to have a turf war on the second night we were there and in the line of duty as peacekeeping task force, half the thumbnail on my right hand was ripped off, so we spent a 4 hour wait in the Eastbourne General Hospital A&E (so that's where all those people who aren't at the beach go...) to get my thumb pickled in antiseptic solution and wrapped in a bandage that now makes it look twice its natural size. On the bright side, I get the perfect excuse not to do the dishes. On the downside, I can't exactly do much else with my usual grace and style

It was a great holiday otherwise though. I'm expecting my purple heart any time now. And we never did find the missing part of the thumbnail, although shortly after the incident Bronx was snuffling around the area and then acting like he had something small and hard stuck in his throat for a short while...

Ironic, isn't it that a couple weeks ago I was posting about how much I like dogs?

Tiger Mother my ass..

2011-01-20T19:54:00.000Z

The husband found an article in The Wall Street Journal about a woman claiming that Chinese mothers are more superior. You can read this article here. It is long.. and by the end of it you'll probably be fuming mad, like the both of us, but it is worth seeing what crazy people exist in the world today.

Her daughter later wrote an article claiming that people did not understand her mother's humour, that they actually have lots of fun within the family and people don't see that.

I believe her. I know exactly what she's talking about. Why?

I grew up with a person like that.

A person who demanded nothing but 100% from me. I was not to get anything but 1st in class. Maths and English exam papers had to have 100% stamped on them, otherwise I got beaten with a cane.

And this same person is also my best friend in many ways.

I love him. I share jokes with him, some of my best memories, I had with him.

But what he demanded of me left marks.

It made me feel like I am constantly not good enough. It made me feel like I was not wanted, that I was a liability to them whenever I do not perform.

It also made me depressed when I was 13. It made me go to bed every night wishing I wouldn't wake up in the morning. It made me think of ways of how to get rid of myself.

And if I had not met the husband and a few good friends, I would probably have got my way and today I wouldn't exist.

I wouldn't have a family, I wouldn't be the 'pride and joy' of the person who demanded so much of me he almost killed me.

Until today I have not truly told him what he did to me and I don't think I will ever.

I am no where as successful as the article's author's daughters but I am pretty much what he wanted me to become.

I hate to think that so many mindless, over ambitious young parents are going to read this and think 'Yes! I want my children to be like her!' and then go on and implement her ways.

It is not right and I don't think it will ever be.

Dogs

2011-01-19T09:47:00.002Z

I saw a man and his dog at Goodge Street station today, and I wish I'd taken a picture. The dog looked so puzzled, but looked at the master and the look on his face said, "well, it's weird, it's unnatural, but if you want to go underground, put yourself in a tin can going at high(-ish) speed, shuffle in a crowd with all these stinky people, and listen to all these funny loud noises, and it makes you happy, I'm going to go along with it"

And people wonder why I like dogs so much more than cats...

Nga Ku

2011-01-13T16:26:00.003Z

We've got presents from Malaysia!

The dad have become a bit of an expert in frying arrowroot? arrowhead? chips and offered to send some over. They're delicious!

Unlike the commercial ones which are often too thin and very oily, the dad's chips have got a bite to it and no oily aftertaste. Heck, it isn't even oily to the touch.

The only problem is that we had some delicious vietnamese frozen durian yesterday night (Vietnamese durian as we've just found out is very much like Malaysian durian and not the Thai ones which are much larger but often tasteless..) and today, I woke up with a bit of a sore throat.. :P

Shhh.. don't tell the mum.

The drugs don't work

2011-01-10T11:59:00.000Z

Great song, meaningful lyrics, beautiful guitar.. I could listen to this for hours, especially on a sad day.

Doodoohead

2011-01-09T09:06:00.004Z

A few days ago our beloved Samsung laptop's battery decided to become undetected.. so, unfortunately, it has now run out of battery and we'll have to send it away for a replacement.

Luckily, I am not left without a laptop, we have a Mac (which we got as a present) sitting upstairs for a while now mainly because we never had the time to mess with it.

I've got a lecturer in school who have persistently and rather annoyingly gone on and on about how good the Mac is, how Mac users are more superior, yadda yadda..

So.. I can't be blamed if I expect the Mac to be super smart and intuitive upon using it for the first time.

I must say.. I am sorely disappointed. It is another computer system you have to learn. I don't find it any easier to use than Windows..

It is prettier I'll give you that.. It does have a lot of modern day apps sitting at the bottom of the screen.. but I'm not impressed..

Well, you say.. you're computer stupid that's why!

Yes, I haven't seen or used or analysed that many computers but the husband should know yes?

And he doesn't like it either! Neh neh!

Anyhow, I am stuck with it for a while and if I am going to become a Project Manager I might as well be flexible and learn how to use it properly (yes, I will read the manual!)

Moving on..

Sometime just before Christmas Bronx decided to adopt the old and tatty blue armchair in the living room.

It is the husband's favourite armchair and it used to be the rabbits favourite armchair while we were living in Richmond..

Hmm.. looks like everyone wants it.

Look how happy he is on it.. he spends quite a bit of time curled up on it everyday

Miss Bunny on the other hand sits wherever she can lay her head close to mummy. She is a real mummy's girl. However, the large black object on the sofa is Papa's bum.

Here's a picture we got of Wibble Pibbles stealing food from the container.

And here's Bunny and Bronx sat together.. See! The Mac takes pictures the other way around!!

All these talk of getting old..

2011-01-06T09:23:00.000Z

Had a conversation this morning with someone close to me.. someone I love..

Someone I care for, but also someone I cannot help..

She is being bogged down by her parents. They treat her like dirt, abuse her with words, hurt her feelings repeatedly as if she has none but they forget.. she is the only person who still genuinely cares for them.

I admire her for her persistence.. her courage to go back to what she calls her 'home' despite all that

I don't understand why she doesn't have the courage to leave..

Why sit and let them destroy your life?

My mum always said, all parents love their children, it is unconditional, it will never change..

I don't believe in that..

I've known her since she was a child and I have never really seen her parents love her genuinely..

That is also the reason I don't like to meet her parents.. or speak to them..

It hurts me that they hurt her.

But I cannot help her until she decides to help herself.. until she decides that enough is enough, she won't take anymore of that abuse and to hell with them..

The day she can take courage to do that, the day she truly smiles, the day she is genuinely happy and free with herself, that will be our day :)

Om shanti shanti

2011-01-04T08:52:00.000Z

Watched Music and Lyrics on TV over the new year with the husband and this is currently stuck in both our heads

It is silly obviously, but oh so catchy.... haha..

See, the best part of Buddhism is that nobody cares. Make a song, make it silly, make it whatever, it is unlikely you'll end up with a bomb on your head. Unlike some others we shall not mention......

Unfortunately, or fortunately, I remain without religion.. Actually the husband says I have a religion. It is just anti-religion. I don't believe I'm that bad.. I just don't believe in these men manipulated things, icons.. whatever..

Does having a giant Buddha in your house make you feel better? Especially when compassion and true feelings doesn't exist.

Heh. I bet not.

when idiots come a running

2010-12-31T15:30:00.000Z

What do you do when a highly illogical, nonsensical person comes and assumes the worst about your life and blasts away?

If it was any other person at the street, I would probably just tell them to bugger off and walk away.

But when it's family. You don't.

You reply, you explain, you try to make them understand that it is not right, not right to keep attacking and making completely baseless, idiotic accusations.

...

But how much? How much of these do I tolerate?

We are both happy. Happy with each other, happy with our lives. We don't need to hear otherwise.

We don't need her assumptions that we are torturing our pets, that we're making them do things against their will just because we're attached to them.

WHAT AN IDIOT.

My patience is running low. Very very low. When it runs OUT, that's when you have to be very careful.

The perfect tree

2010-12-14T21:12:00.001Z

What makes the perfect christmas tree?

The perfect christmas tree is not only beautiful and well proportioned.

It represents the joy and excitement we felt when we found it tree hunting a forthnight (on Sunday evening mind!) before Christmas when all the other nice trees were already gone.

It represents the gratitute we received when we paid £30 to the keen, helpful and friendly old man sat out in the cold who sold us the tree.

It represents the smile on a little boy's face when he spotted the perfect tree. His first perfect christmas tree.

It represents friendship, as Michael attempts to decorate and light up the tree.

Most importantly, it represents a young family snug and happy in their very first home celebrating Christmas in it for the very first time.

Tube drivers can be so much fun

2010-12-06T09:34:00.002Z

In another run-and-gun post, here's what I heard on my train this morning:

"It would be nice ladies and gentlemen if we could mind the closing does. Contrary to popular belief, beep-beep-beep does not mean 'Quick, get on the train it's about to leave'; beep-beep-beep in fact means 'You've missed it'"

and, on the same train 10 minutes later

"Ladies and gents, I'm afraid the train has developed a slight fault, I'm going to have to turn it off and on again much like you would a computer. Back on the move again in a minute or two"

Bunny Three Quarters

2010-12-03T11:09:00.001Z

We drove up to Darlington last Friday to collect the newest addition to our family. Yes, there was snow in Darlington, 3 inches thick to be exact, but we made it there and back safely.

We named her Bunny Three Quarters and if you have a look at her picture, you'll understand why

Bunny (previously Hannah) was found as a stray and brought into a kennel. They later found her previous owners but they refused to pay the kennel fee to get her back. I'm guessing they weren't too keen on having her home or perhaps they really couldn't afford the fee.

She was then handed into Dogs Trust where we adopted her.

She is not a very big dog, just slightly larger than Bronx and unfortunately that intimidates him a little bit. They are not enemies and they do like each other, but are still sorting out hierarchical issues..

We have no idea how she lost her leg but the vet's notes from Dogs Trust said that she is an amputee.. considering she has a tendency to run out into traffic when we take her out, I'm guessing she must have had an accident with a vehicle.

My parents are officially baffled as to why we keep bringing old, disabled pets home. They figured after Jake passed on that we would probably go and adopt a proper, blemish free puppy.

The thing is.. we don't see Bronx, Bunny or Wibble as imperfect. Sure, they have a disability. In Bronx's case, he's just old. But that doesn't make him any less of a good dog.

Bunny hops around when she walks but when she runs in the fields she's as normal as any other German Sheppard.

Wibble is 3/4 blind, but he's as naughty as his brother. He goes places he's not supposed to. He reaches for things he isn't supposed to be able to reach. He eats the door, the door frame, boxes, books, cables.. anything he isn't supposed to eat. The only difference is that he's a lot more paranoid but he finds comfort in long sessions of chin rubbing.

We take them in because we know we are willing to deal with these issues. We are willing to sit with Wibble for hours to give him a chin massage to reassure him that everything is okay and Chicken Pie was just being bossy boots. We took the dogs home to be part of our family, not to have them as guard dogs.

It is miles away from the Malaysian mentality where German Sheppards and other bigger dogs are prized and encouraged to be aggresive to ward off potential thieves or robbers.

Our pets are part of the family, they are loved, cared for and they give back, not by guarding our house, but by loving us the same.

Oldy Poldy

2010-11-24T08:41:00.003Z

Sainsbury's is having a 25% sale on all nintendo consoles at the moment and the husband very 'casually' hinted about wanting to get a DS. :P

Heh... Apparently 'it's so cheap.. the best deal on the market'..

So we went along and got one last week. You could see the husband and brother's eyes grow bigger as the cashier bagged the brand new toy.

These boys are strange, fat, smelly creatures.

Anyway.. we were playing with the DS's camera and the husband took this:-

I didn't realise how much older we both look now..

Time goes by quite quickly these days with all the work piling up, and I cannot ask for anything better but to have him with me.

We have been growing up together since we were 18.. what could be better than to grow up with your best friend?

Like sand on my feet

2010-11-11T18:32:00.001Z

Took some time off my assignment this evening to play the guitar..

Played this song and it made me think of Jake..

Like sand on my feet
The smell of sweet perfume
You stick to me forever baby
I wish you didn't go,
I wish you didn't go,
I wish you didn't go away
To touch you again,
With life in your hands.
It couldn't be any harder..

We miss you Jakey boy..

Smelly Boy

2010-11-11T09:05:00.002Z

Smelly boy is back in London! Well.. he's been here for about a month now but we've been so busy we have no time to write or take a photo of him.

His UPSR results came out today and the smart boy got all 7A's.. as expected.. you don't get 6A's during the trials and not get full A's during the real exam..

He is a lot smarter than his sister.. luckily for him.

I used to get some A's B's C's D's?? Haha.. for trials that is.. the real exam though.. I do reasonably well.

He couldn't get the results himself being so far away from Ipoh so the parents went to school and got it for him. They are obviously very proud..

Anyway.. the lucky boy is in for a truck load of presents and prizes..

We are enjoying having him around.. bossing him.. rubbing his smelly head while he's still 12 and smelly and not a grumpy teenager YET..

And Bronx is especially delighted as he has a new butt scratcher.. Haha!

The matter of most importance..

2010-10-26T19:37:00.001+01:00

Unfortunately we can't tell you why or where this photo was taken but suffice to say, it was a good day and it reminded me of the promises we made to each other..

It is a great blessing to find someone you love who loves you back the same, someone to wake up to every morning and someone to share your day stories with as you fall asleep at night.

To have and to hold..

Numbed finger and strained thumb

2010-10-25T08:42:00.000+01:00

One belongs to the husband, the other to me..

What caused it? The bloody kitchen tiles we removed last week.

No.. I never imagined it would be that hard to remove kitchen tiles when floor boards can just be yanked off (okay.. they are laminates.. but still...)

Hummmmmmmmm...

The lucky man has gone off to work and as I do not have classes today................

I'll be painting the kitchen and cutting underfloor heating boards to fit the floor.

...............

The job itself it actually not that bad once you get started and going but after a whole week of full time building, it really isn't something you jump up for anymore..

Even poor Bronxie is miserable.. he's probably wondering what happened to his home and why mummy haven't had time to sit with him for hours just stroking his head.

On a brighter note.. we are half way there.. just some more painting, second coats, sanding, connecting the underfloor heating, flooring, tiling, assembling the kitchen..

I make it sound so easy.

The dad have been pretty impressed with what we've done and the amount of work we've taken on ourselves and stuck to.

We haven't really given in to much hiring. The electricals had to be done by an electrician, the rooflights we were scared of falling off the roof, the outside tap... hmm.. we met a very nice plumber who is very fatherly.

Everything else have been done by us.

We are now considering getting someone to do the flooring but that's mainly because we don't have the right equipment and it's too much hassle to rent it for a small floor surface.

So all in all, we are mighty proud :) Yeap, doing all these and learning them while we are young and able.

I know some people don't believe in it but we have learnt so much through this build it is all worth it.

Personally I don't understand how people who don't understand building work can hire someone else and just leave them to the job without trying to understand it beforehand or doing it themselves!

It is expensive and if they were to do a botched job you will never even know!

Anyway.. it is almost 9... so I'll have to start my day

Little things that make me laugh

2010-10-11T13:51:00.003+01:00

In the interests of maintaining a small claim on authorship of this blog, here's a sign I saw in Boots today that made me laugh:

Carpenter boy

2010-10-07T20:21:00.002+01:00

Our house has very strange designs mainly the open tread staircase (which apparently allows light through so that the hall is brighter).. and some really strange swirly ugly old fashioned ceiling plaster.

Apparently it was the trend during the 80's (which was when our house was built).

Actually, thinking about it, the stairs in my home in Ipoh were also open tread and I remember my mum telling me about my dad laying carpet over it so I wouldn't fall through the holes while I was young.

The man was very proud of what he did for his daughter.. what I didn't get though was his choice of carpet colour! It was dark red :P Bleah...

Thankfully the husband had a better idea and instead of just putting carpet over the open treads we filled it up with a plank of wood supported by some wooden sticks on the back of it.

Almost done!

Handsome carperter boy..

Obviously, a proper carpenter might have been able to stick those sticky things in a straight line.. hehe.. unfortunately I was doing them and as long as they stay where they are.. I'm not fussed.

Plus.. we are eventually going to put in an understairs storage area so all that ugly work is going to be covered up.

Another job we've done with the help of Mike and Juan is this

Mike and his favourite tool.. that man is destructive!

We also put in solar lights upstairs in the corridor and bathroom as it was very dark. Will put the pictures up someday.. we paid to have them put up instead of doing it ourselves though.. It involved climbing up to the roof and cutting holes so we figured 2 clumsy fat people up there wouldn't be the smartest thing to do!

Haha..

Bossy boss

2010-10-02T22:35:00.002+01:00

10.36 on a Saturday night and guess what's the husband doing?

He's sorting out the plumbing/boiler upstairs.

And has been since last Saturday......

We've had to live without hot water the entire week because the boiler stuff is taking a LOT longer than we anticipated.

The poor thing have probably spent almost 25 hours or more on it by now.

It's taking so long because of inexperience.

When it's all done, he says he will write about it because it is his 'grand design'.

I, on the other hand.. can't really do much except to get out of his way and be bossy every now and again.

Well.. all that and also learning about HTML, CSS, XML and a host of others which are all as good as aliens to me but will have to be learnt if I want to get good grades for the digital document management course..

At least I only need to know what they are capable of doing and how everything sorts of ties in.

All that so that I can go boss developers in the future.. bwahhahahahahaah....

Happy Babby boy

2010-09-23T21:28:00.000+01:00

The husband was at Bury yesterday for a training session and they had him do one of the 'tell one false and true fact about yourself' exercise and everyone else is supposed to guess which one is true.

His first 'fact' was : I'm from Singapore, I have been here since 2004 where I did my undergraduate degree.

His second fact was : I'm 24 and I have been married for a year and a bit.

I thought he pulled quite a good bluff and without his wedding ring (he doesn't wear it because it became too loose after he lost weight) it's probably quite hard to tell that he's married.

Apparently though.. they all guessed correctly.

They said that he looked really happy and contented when he revealed that he was married.. so they guessed it to be true.

Hmmm...

= )

It makes me really happy to know that he's.. well.... happy..

And to know that other people can actually see and tell that he's happy to be married is priceless.

It makes everything that's already good so much better.

Gary the snail

2010-09-23T20:49:00.000+01:00

Some weekends ago we went to Southside for some fishfood and bones for Bronx and there we found

Gary the snail! He's really rather interesting and very brave.. circling the tank again and again.. ignoring the fat goldfishes and gangster minnows.

And here's mummy's boy looking for a pat on his head for being a good boy while she was at work.

Work work work

2010-09-15T16:20:00.002+01:00

We always wondered what would happen when we both found permanent work in the City and have to travel in everyday 9 – 5.30.

Well.....

Now we know.. It is hard.

We have to be up by 6.30am to get things done and take Bronx out for a short walk before packing up and leaving the house by 8.

Also, bed time is now 10 with preparing dinner, washing up and preparing tomorrow’s lunch all packed in that little time we have at home.

Fortunately for us, this is all temporary.

The husband has been working from home a bit the past weeks as we’ve got tradesmen coming to deal with the electrics among other things.

The wall in between the living room and kitchen is now down.

The house is literally a building site..

We hope to be done by the end of next month and next week, I’m going back to school!

Teehee!

Oh.. and we have a new addition to the family, but that's a story for another day.

Big giant bone

2010-08-29T22:31:00.003+01:00

We went to Staines this afternoon for some chinese buffet and got this from the petshop

He loves it, it is huge, it is £5.99!!! and it was already half gone by dinner time....

The boys have been getting along very well these days. We usually spend about an hour with the rabbits upstairs before nap time and Bronx comes along following them around like a security guard.

He's slowly learning to let go and calm down when the rabbits are around.

Here's the rabbits feeling rather chilled out and contented.. They do look rather fat don't they?

Hmmmmm......

Michael's big erection

2010-08-23T13:58:00.007+01:00

At the moment, we are both busy doing works to our house, mainly redecorating and bringing it up to date.

We started in the garden about a month ago, clearing the garden off the spider (they were LARGE and aplenty!) infested plants, shrubs, trees.... basically.. everything.

The previous owner of this house planted really strange, ugly, crawley, thorny plants and they were all stubborn and a pain to remove.

However.. we managed.

Then.... we decided it was time for the rotting old shed to go and also the fence between us and our neighbour also, as it was quite badly damaged by the crawling plants.

Thankfully, we had help from some friends with the fence and the digging.

Taking down the shed took a few hours, but taking down and putting up the fence took a good 3 - 4 days work!

That's Mike celebrating after successfully putting up the new second fence panel. 2 down, 2 more to go!

That's the mess that was our garden......

Here's the fence completed! Hurray!!

We also dug a 6 inch deep hole for the concrete base of our shed.

It took us 2 days to dig, put in the wooden frame, lay the sub-base, waterproof membrane, mix the concrete and level it out.

I did the concrete mix and leveling while the husband was at work last Thursday. It took me almost 5 hours!!!! and I don't think my arms have forgiven me..

It isn't perfect, but for a first timer and working alone, the husband thinks it's pretty good.

We sanded down the fence next to the concrete yesterday and painted it. We also painted over the concrete. This is how it looks like as of now.

Not bad huh?

The garden is still messy, but compared to a month ago, it is quite acceptable. Once the shed is up and the tools are in, we will have a garden again!

Of course there're still lots to do - the other side of the fence needs sanding and painting, the flower beds need to be built and then we will lay the garden with nice green grass, make a pathway to the door and decorate it with a nice homely bench and a fountain???? (the husband says MAYBE) :P

Hehe.. for the moment we are all dancing happy and busy bees!

Hi Pigeon

2010-08-17T08:16:00.004+01:00

At 2 years and 10 months L's favourite question has to be 'What's your name?'

The funny thing is that it actually took him a while of asking before he actually understood at all what it means.

Yesterday in the garden there was a particularly tame pigeon looking for worms and berries.. L went right up to it and said, 'Hi Pigeon. What's your name?'

When he got no reply he pressed on and repeatedly asked for the pigeon's name. It was really really cute!

He did give up eventually and went back to his scooter.

Later when the pigeon got in his way he bent down from his scooter and said very politely to it - Mind Pigeon, mind!

Isn't he just adorable?

The missing beansprouts...

2010-07-28T09:14:00.010+01:00

Living in London introduces you to a whole new world of gastronomy. Walking down a typical high street, it is unlikely you will find anything less than 5 - 8 different ethnic food shops.

I was just wondering how living in London have changed the way we eat.

In Malaysia with my family, it used to be Chinese day in, day out. A good day eating for me will probably be Wan Tan Mee in the morning, Chicken Rice in the afternoon (if I can manage the portion) and a home cooked Chinese meal for dinner. The most 'un-Chinese' thing we eat at home is probably peanut butter bread, we don't even do cereal.

The husband in Penang was a lot more diverse and he had a lot more choice and budget. His choice breakfast would probably be Roti Canai with curry for breakfast, Duck Rice in the afternoon (he could probably do 2 portions) and a large Thai or Japanese set meal for dinner.

When we started living together, he had problems seperating me from my Chinese food and I had problems making myself try weird odd foreign foodstuff.

These days it is a lot better and we both eat a wide variety of 'world food'.

I was looking through an old photo album and found some of our dinner photos.

This was obviously when I was missing my Ipoh Beansprout Chicken (which is missing the Beansprouts because the husband won't eat them) and decided to just replicate it at home rather than wait my heart out to get it in Ipoh.

See how messy everything is? Just like in the hawkers! Haha..

Here's when we decided to have a Japanese pig out session. We usually only eat sashimi when we go to Billingsgate Market to buy whole salmons. They do very well in the freezer. It is just a big job de-scaling, chopping and slicing.

This is the middle portion of the salmon that will become sashimi.

Another meal we were addicted to cooking for a while (because it is fast, easy and clean!) is toad in a hole. It is basically sausages in yorkshire pudding. It looks pretty when they are fresh from the oven. No these are not burnt, they are meant to be quite brown.

We had them for Christmas together with veges and onion gravy. The chinese roast pork was there because we were feeling naughty.

And here's what I miss MOST from Malaysia. It just does not taste the same over here. They make the noodles like RUBBER BAND! Bleah :P

Oh Danny boy..

2010-07-20T16:19:00.004+01:00

I grew up living with a person who was perpetually about to go bankrupt.

I love him to bits but when it comes to managing his finances, I don't buy any of his ideas and to a certain extent, I know he is irresponsible but I will never tell that to his face because it will be a knife cutting through his heart.

It has not made me a spendthrift, it has not make me careless with my money, neither has it made me a kiam siap kui (stingy ghost).

I learnt how to manage my own finances when I was 12, building my own secret bank in a pretty Pocahontas notebook which was a present from a family friend.

Of course I had a proper bank account managed by my parents but I soon learnt never to trust or rely on money that I cannot see.

You might think that a 12 year old only saves to get fancy stuff their parents won't buy for them because it is a waste of money but I was saving to get myself proper things like my school uniform and books.

It wasn't that they were denying me basic rights to go to school, I did it because I wanted to feel independent, that I was capable enough to survive on my own without having to rely on my parents and without having to live to fulfil their expectations instead of my own.

Today, I know to keep a close eye on our finances and make sure it does not go running into trouble.

I do not dislike or look down on people who have gone bankrupt because I can understand why and how easy it would be for someone who blindly chases after money.

I DO keep away from the stock markets like I would do a bad egg because I have seen more than enough damage it has on reckless, often over-ambitious and frequently unlucky sods looking for fast and big money.

But what I am NOT, is paranoid about being bankrupt!

I don't go scanning around reading articles about how not to go bankrupt although sound financial advice is always welcomed.

I do not want to be a bankrupt BUT I also do not fear being bankrupt because I know I have lived through it and although it was not pleasant, it is certainly nothing you cannot recover from if you are determined to.

Also, if you take it positively, it is an experience to learn from and it should hopefully make you wiser ;)

The dream

2010-07-15T13:14:00.004+01:00

This Sunday I turn 24.

It is a strange feeling because the last time I thought about being 24 I was 12. That's because it was a Tiger year and I was thinking.. hmm.. next Tiger year I would be 24!

I used to wonder what I would be doing when I was 24..

Married? Not married?

Would I still be in Malaysia or would I have achieved my dream to be a doctor in some African country with deadly scorpions (no idea how I would ever cope with that considering I scream at the sight of the tiniest spiders!)

Now that I will be 24, it seems I have ditched a few of my 12 year old ideas, achieved some of what I wanted to do and adopted some new ideas along the way (some of which the 12 year old me would probably not be very happy about - like kissing a boy, yucks!).

What would I want for myself when I turn 36?

Well....

I want to be as madly in love as I am now with that fat boy who is super demanding about his lunch!

I want to be a mother and hopefully have children that DO NOT whine too much!!

I want to be self employed (yes I know it's everybody's dream) and have the husband at home running our own business.

I want to move to a place away from London where we can buy a bigger house with a much larger garden where we can then adopt a young collie who will run around like a mad dog.

The saddest thing about all these are that Bronx, Chicken Pie and Wibble will probably not be around when I turn 36.

At the moment I don't know if I can live with that. Talking and thinking about Jake still brings tears to my eyes and we still miss him very very much.

Of course that is life, if I don't ever lose them I will never get to know another dog or rabbit but it is always so hard when you miss something you know you won't see for a very long time.

Anyway..........

That's 12 years to wait and 12 years to enjoy everything we have at the moment and whatever comes in between.

Popiah

2010-07-08T09:55:00.007+01:00

A few Saturdays ago we invited Uncle Mike and Justina for a popiah experiment.

Popiah being the delicious wet vege rolls you get in Malaysia, not the fried version.

We decided to try making popiah because we (well, mostly I) have been craving it for ages and also because we finally found turnip (the Chinese variety not the English one) in a chinese supermarket.

The turnip itself cost us about £3.50!!!!!!!!!!!!

But that is a small price to pay when you have been craving something you can't get easily..

Here's what was in our popiah.

Hoi Sin sauce, Popiah skin wrapper, cooked french beans,
pan fried tau kuah (hard beancurd?), fried onions
and stewed turnip. Oh and there was lettuce leaves and
chilli powder added later as well.

We made the popiah skin ourselves partly because I don't know anyone who sells them and partly because nothing but good old homemade popiah skin will do.

It was rather tricky to make the skin but nothing 2 smart ladies can't do. The finished product came out good but a bit too thick (next time I'll remember to leave the batter overnight) :P

Have you ever seen popiah skin being made? If you haven't I recommend looking it up on youtube, it is highly fascinating stuff.

Anyway, here's the finished product

Looks good, yes? Popiah + World Cup = extra yummy!

Look what Uncle Mike did to my poor soldier when I was in the bathroom getting ready to leave.

All that just because I tried to throw a grenade at one of his soldiers! Humph! No more popiah for you Uncle Mike!

Bonx

2010-07-06T16:34:00.003+01:00

Bronx the big goofy dog is a big chicken.

Strangely he gets quite scared of other animals even those who are just the size of his head!

He lost to a pig who snorted real loud at him when he went to sniff it...

A duck who quacked furiously and chased him out when he stuck his nose into its nesting bush...

A plastic bag that flew in his direction out of no where...

Every single time he would jump back and hide behind me or the husband.

A few days ago.. Bronx was in the rabbit's room and Chicken Pie was out running about. As usual Bronx will follow CP until CP finds his spot, stops and Bronx will just stay there staring at CP's face, nose almost touching.

That day he must have got his nose a weeeeee bit too close to CP's comfort and CP decided he wasn't going to take any nonsense from that silly dog so he jumped up and gave Bronx a big smack on his face!

Bronx was startled and quickly ran away.. he didn't go near CP for the rest of the evening... poor dog.. they're back to being friends now though.

Haha...

The only 'thing' we know that Bronx is in command of is Uncle Mike who is terrified of dogs and will scream like a girl if Bronx sticks his nose to close..

Haha! So much for being a man Uncle Mike! And don't forget my Vuvu please!

A song like this..

2010-07-01T09:49:00.003+01:00

Makes me wish I paid more attention during Mandarin lessons back in primary school. Sad I'll never appreciate fully the beauty of this song, even with english translation.

The Mandarin speakers a.k.a Wee Chin and my cousin sister keep telling me.. aiya.. you don't understand one la.. how to translate to english???? The language is so cold..

........................?

Ap ap...

2010-06-23T12:43:00.003+01:00

The husband did something he was immensely proud of yesterday night.

He managed to order duck from a Cantonese restaurant in Cantonese without me being there.

Apparently this is how it went:-

Husband :Mm goi tar pau yat chek siew ap (Please can I have a whole duck to take away)
Seller : Sai mm sai hei guat ah siew pang yau? (Do you need me to debone it, friend?)
Husband : Mm goi hei guat (Please debone it)
Seller : Hei guat ah? (Debone ah?)
Husband : Hai, mm goi (Yes, please)

The fact that he still spells 'ngap' (duck) as 'ap' kind of tells that he's not incredibly proficient but given that he's only had a partially cantonese wife for 6 years I think he's doing okay..

I think I've trained him pretty well no? Plus I get nice four season's duck for dinner tonight!

Popster

2010-06-22T17:32:00.002+01:00

This Sunday marks our 1st anniversary as husband and wife (well... it is the anniversary of the celebratory picnic.. the actual registration was done in May)

There's not going to be a big celebration.. just a quiet weekend with the rabbits and Bronx. Also, a little trip to Horsham to spend time with our favourite children and family in the UK. = )

Bronx will also be coming with us to Horsham so he'll probably need a bath on Friday. :P

J is going to be very excited to see Bronx.. I'm just hoping he will not run L and M down with them being shorter than him.

It is nice to have people who are like family when you are in another land.. it makes us feel complete.

I used to think it is weird to be married so early on in life but now we have both gotten so used to it it feels like we've been married forever.

It is nice to be able to plan for the future.. how we want our garden to look.. what we want to do with our careers.. when we want to have our children.

Talking about children.. it feels so strange to hear news about friends getting pregnant.

I mean.. 24 and a mother?

My mum had me when she was 24 and to be very honest.. I think she was quite overwhelmed. She certainly seemed to enjoy my brother more as she was a lot more confident about being a mother.

With me she was always like an older sister. We both learnt how to sew together (today I can sew, she still can't) and when we got a free durian from a neighbour we both figured how to open it together

I really enjoyed those times with her, the simple life.

I just don't know if I want to be a mother at 24.

Afterall I am going back to school soon.. I want to have a career.. I want to drive around Europe with the husband and the dog..

Well then.. what's the problem you ask?

The problem is.. sometimes.. we get a little bit broody..

We think.. oh.. wouldn't it be nice to see little Poppy running around the house.. playing with Bronx and teasing the rabbits.

Wouldn't it be sweet to see her tiny pair of shoes amongst ours on the shoe rack..

Hmm..

We love children.. We love M and L.. T and J and my brother.. I guess we just don't know if we want one in our house full time..

The husband being a man has more other problems to dwell about.

Whenever we think about it he'll say.. oh.. we don't have the finances to take care of her.. oh.. we don't have the space to have her..

Which is all obviously true.

It is just particularly hard when it is that time of the month and your hormones are telling you you DO want to be a mother but your head says NO! Not now!

Haha.. maybe in 5 years.. maybe we'll be able to fit her into our busy schedule and everything we want to do.. At least I'm only thinking of 5, the adult M have suggested 10!

The week after..

2010-06-09T12:45:00.007+01:00

When I was 15 a friend's dog passed away. She was crying a lot, literally inconsolable. I never understood her pain. I thought it was silly how she was mourning for a dog.

Afterall.. it was just a dog. An animal...

I was never allowed to have pets as a child, my dad didn't think our house was big enough and my mum just doesn't have much of a thing for pets.

I learnt to communicate and love animals as I got older through Daphne whose house is full of pets. I remember the first time I met Sheba her hyper excited Dalmation cross dog, I was so scared I ran for my life! Of course that didn't help... Sheba thought I was playing and chased me even more.

Daphne also had a cat called Baby who strangely liked me very much. It was Baby who stole my heart and helped me discover my love for animals. Sadly, Baby passed away a few years ago and I never got to say goodbye.

I was very sad but nothing would have prepared me for last Thursday.

Two Thursdays ago we took Jake to the vet for a full x-ray because the vet was not too happy with his health in an initial consultation.

We took him in early in the morning and left him there for the day. I remember how sad he looked when he saw us leave.

Later in the afternoon the vet called to say that he was done with the x-ray and the results were not good. Jake had numerous giant nodules in his chest and the vet suspects it is lung cancer.

We took Jake home with some antibiotics and steroids to help with the cancer and also with the knowledge that he will not be with us for much longer.

We were obviously devastated by that but we decided to hold strong for Jake and make him happy whatever time he had left. Maybe.. we still had a month or if we were very lucky, two..

As the week passed Jake began to deteriorate. At first he was constantly panting and couldn't get up as easily.. later on his back legs started failing him but what kept us on was his consistant appetite and cheeky ways.

We went to the Billingsgate Market early Saturday morning and bought a whole salmon so that he could have them for his meals (he loved salmon).. occasionally he got chicken.. anything he liked eating he got. We even bought the cranberry oat yoghurt clusters from M & S that he loved so much.

We figured as long as he kept eating properly he would have the energy to hopefully repel the cancer and get better.

He continued to stay with us until last Thursday when his front legs also failed him.

He couldn't get up despite persistantly trying and even with our help his legs were just too weak to carry on.

I knew deep inside that we would have to let him go soon.

As Jake couldn't get up, he couldn't go outside to relieve himself and had to pee wherever he was laying down. It broke my heart to see him feel so guilty and sorry for dirtying the floor. He kept looking at me as if to say I'm sorry mummy I couldn't help it.

As the afternoon progressed, Jake got worse. He started bleeding from the nose. I gave the husband a call and asked if he could take the rest of the day off and come home to spend his last few hours with Jakey.

He came home and got some time with Jakey before we had to drive him to the vet and let him go.

Our vet, Tim was very understanding of our pain and did the best to make it as easy for us as possible.

Jake laid down at the back seat of our car with his head on my lap throughout the whole journey. It was going to be our last car ride together.

Tim was kind and offered to put Jake down in the car where he was comfortable with me. I got to hold our baby as he drifted off to sleep. The husband was next to us comforting Jake. As he died he left us a smile as if to say thank you.

We are still grieving for Jake of course but we are learning to cope with life without him. At least there are still the bunnies and Bronx with us.

Bronx is also missing Jake but he is adapting to life as the only dog. We are hoping he will get used to the bunnies and find company in them.

Jakey, it's been a week since you left and we haven't stopped missing you. We will always love and remember you and your beautiful eyes and your smile. We hope you are now able to run and do everything you couldn't while you were ill.

Though.. please don't steal God's slippers when he's not looking or give him your puppy dog eyes when he eats KFC. :)

We love you baby boy.

Bronx and Jake smiling in their sleep

Painting the town purple

2010-06-02T12:42:00.015+01:00

We had a visitor from Toronto last week! Guess who?

No! Not the squirrel! It's Purply Daph! (Purply because she likes and will buy anything purple.. I wonder if she'll buy a purpleeee strawberry?)

It has been a good 3? 4? years since we last saw each other and it was nice to have her over and catch up.

The only problem was that PD (Purply Daph)'s idea of a good holiday consists of visiting all kinds of old buildings and monuments.... whereas we are the kind of people who just don't get old buildings or paintings.

Anyway.. we did do some touring together. We drove to Dover with Dodgy Mike (DM) and PD to take the ferry over to Calais for a day trip.

Calais has 2 local markets open on Saturdays and they're both rich in local produce and food! (just the things we like).. PD wanted to go to Calais to sample French KFC (strange, yes?) but unfortunately with our limited French and without sounding too rude we manage to figure out that there is NO KFC in Calais.. haha..poor PD

We did however manage to find a superb local spit roast chicken van at the corner of the market. This is no ordinary Waitrose/Sainsbury's roast chicken. This is roast chicken with a large metal container strewn with sliced sweet onions cooked from the heat of the yummy juices dripping off the roasting chickens!

The best thing is that they actually give you scoups of that yummy gravy and onions with your chicken when you buy them!

Unfortunately we didn't take a picture of the chicken cooking but I have got these!

You know it's good when you see the big baby hogging his chicken!

Even better is the bread stall beside the roast chicken van.. good crusty on the outside soft on the inside bread dipped in the yummy chicken gravy with onions............................... blissssss!

We wouldn't find a place to eat outside and as the day was quite cold decided to go back to the car to enjoy our chicken.. a few french people passing the street actually looked in to see what we were doing.

A French lady who walked by asked the chicken hogging baby to roll down our car window to give us the thumbs up and said Bon Appetit!

That was a super good trip!

========================================

PD also wanted to go to the theatre.. her show of choice was Wicked.

Wicked sells their front row seats for the day's show at 10am so we were there early and managed to grab 3!

The husband and I didn't really know what to expect but the show was great! It was really worth the £25 and I personally thought it was the best theatre show we've been to.

Spamalot was good as well.. Stomp was a little bit boring and Macbeth almost had me tearing my hair out..

Obviously they're all different kinds of shows and it is worth the experience but maybe next time we'll go for a lighter Shakespeare play..

Us at the Shakespeare Globe Theatre

=====================================

The funniest thing we did while PD was here had to be our Paddington Statue hunt.

Now, the husband and I have been to Paddington station many many times but NEVER have we come across the Paddington bear statue. The souvenir shop yes, the statue no.

Heck we didn't even know about its existence until PD the Paddington Bear fan told us about it.

So we made our trip to Paddington from High Street Ken by foot because the district line to Edgware decided not to run that weekend. By the time we reached Paddington my feet were already starting to complain.

PD bought her bear from the souvenir shop and asked for directions to the statue. For some reason or other we just couldn't find it!!!

1000000 circles around the station, directions from 4 other people and with my feet screaming!!! we finally found this

We walked past it at least 8 times but just didn't notice it! Yes.. it looks a little bit like oddly shaped poop.. PD doesn't agree..

We took PD to many other places but I am too lazy to write everything in detail.

Nai.. thank you for taking the effort to come visit us and we both had a good time spending time with you!!! Hugs!

Happy Birthday Bunnies!

2010-05-04T20:26:00.002+01:00

Today Chicken Pie and Wibble turns 2.

Unfortunately they don't eat cake but we are probably going to get a key lime pie and eat it on their behalf.. hehe..

Bronx the dog met the rabbits out of their cage for the very first time today. He's been allowed to look at them from the safety gate and also while the rabbits are in the run.

The responce was good and hopefully they'll be good friends soon.

Jake the other dog is too old to climb up the stairs so he does not know yet that rabbits exist in his home.

We're both really thankful to have such wonderful pets to love and company. We give them a good home and in return they give us a full life.

Happy Birthday boys!

2010-04-27T20:06:00.002+01:00

Last Saturday we made a 3 and a half hour trip up to Roden to collect 2 new members of our family. Meet Jake and Bronx.

Jake

Bronx

We got them both from Dogs Trust. Their previous owners are seperated and are going to sell their house and can not afford to keep them anymore.

It is quite obvious from the photos that Jake and Bronx are not young dogs. Jake is 12 with a breathing problem and is on pills daily and Bronx is 10. They had to find a new home together as they have been friends all their life and cannot live seperately.

I know that when most people decide to adopt a dog they usually look for a little puppy but because we already have the rabbits, we need a mellow dog who wouldn't go chasing them around. J and B fits the bill perfectly and we get the bonus of giving 2 old dogs a home.

Initially I was a little worried that it might be difficult to bond with them because they had lived with someone else for so many years but we didn't have any problems at all. When we brought them home they settled down really quickly and easily. After a few hours it seemed as though they had been here from the very start.

We would both really like to thank Dogs Trust for being so helpful and professional. You really get a sense that they care very much for their dogs and I think we can now really appreciate what they have done with the financial support we have given them through our university years (we used to sponsor a dog called Monica).

If you are considering supporting Dog's Trust, please do. I will write someday in another post how they are helping Jake and us cope with the medical costs for Jake's condition so that he can find a good retirement home.

The Graduate

2010-03-23T14:28:00.013Z

Amazingly after 3 long years I finally managed to complete my LLB.. thankfully without much hitch.

I've known people who take 5 - 6 years to complete the programme and some who does not get to the end at all and even though I do not graduate with first class honours I am super thankful I passed all my papers without having to do any of the dreaded and expensive resits.

The Grad with a mortarboard that wouldn't stay on her head

I am also thankful for the experience I had as student representative during my 2nd and 3rd year, getting to know the fantastic and hardworking people who run the programme and it was so meaningful that on my graduation day, 7 were there to say hello and offer congratulations.

Wayne Morrison who was the programme director was there and was delighted to see me graduate. It is very sad that he has moved on from the programme and is no longer the director. He was really dedicated I am very honoured to have known him.

Kate, Wayne and me!

Also thanks to Simon Askey and Stephanie Wilson, both who have been really nice and helpful during my term at the ELC particularly Stephanie who took the effort to sit beside me and guide me through the meetings. Stephanie was the announcer during the graduation ceremony and Simon was there as assistant programme director (I believe). Simon was at the end of the stage to greet and congratulate graduates after the all important handshake with the Vice-Chancellor (whom I have never met). It meant so much to me that they were on stage at the ceremony and that I had had to time and opportunity to know them personally.

Simon Askey. We were rather excited to see each other.
He said 'You finally made it' to which I answered 'I know!!!!!!' Lol :P

Unfortunately neither the husband nor the brother got a good picture of Stephanie.

The all important handshake with the Vice Chancellor

Of course the ceremony wouldn't be complete without the husband, mumzy and brother. The dad couldn't make it to London but the graduation was podcasted online and he was able view it from Malaysia.

The mum who 'borrowed' my scarf, leggings AND boots
(yeah she wanted to look super young and trendy in London),
the brother who has his face tilted one way when he was taking photos for some reason or other
and the handsome husband who is down from a size 44 to 38!

My 'study partner' (she studies, I try to study), Kate who graduated with 2 university prizes!
We were so lucky to be seated next to each other during the graduation
(her surname being Simpson, mine being Soon)
and I could not have asked for anything better!

Anyway the husband and I are both super glad that I'm now graduated. No more grumpy wife, no more panic stricken exam phobic woman in the house and best of all no more 8 hour long marathon weekend classes (some of which he had to attend and take notes when the subjects schedule clashed!)!!!!

All said, I have had so much fun doing my degree and it doesn't matter if at the end of the day I do not actually become a lawyer. The education and knowledge I've gained is invaluable and the people I have met and supported me through will be remembered.

Why isn't his name Chicken Pie?

2010-03-03T12:54:00.003Z

Ignoring the 'eggs' around him isn't Wibble simply the cutest bunny alive?

If we had named Wibble, Chicken Pie.. he would be the most loved and famous rabbit around we think..

And poor Chicken Pie would be the black ignored, 'eh? where's the other bunny?' rabbit.

Strange how a colourful name can make people attracted to you and also how being golden brown with a white underbelly makes you so much cuter than being brindle with mostly black fur..

Either way, we love them both to bits!

A box too small for two

2009-12-09T13:02:00.002Z

Quick! If we can't see her surely she can't see us too!

With every mistake, we must surely be learning

2009-12-08T11:12:00.003Z

Having been encouraged by my success at learning the first part of Here Comes the Sun on the guitar (the nice and complicated hand picking one, not just the chords mind you!), the George Harrison mood extends to learning While My Guitar Gently Weeps as well although from the looks of the tabs it's definitely going to take me a lot longer than Here Comes the Sun.

We'll see. Meanwhile, here's the version on Youtube that I absolutely love. I think it is a lot better than the versions he did with the Beatles.

Here comes the sun

2009-12-03T09:52:00.005Z

My grandparents and brother have become people I learn to appreciate more everyday as I grow up.

The husband is an only child and never really got to know his grandparents (either they passed away before he came around or family circumstances didn't allow him to get to know them).

Looking at him sometimes, I feel a sense of pity because he is so oblivious to what he's missing. He doesn't feel it because he doesn't know what it's like to have grandparents or siblings but I feel for him.

I've always been very close to my maternal grandparents and paternal grandmother. The paternal grandfather was a little bit of an odd man. He was a good provider but never really reached out emotionally to know me or many of my cousins.

My paternal grandmother passed away when I was 7 but until today I can vaguely remember what she sounds like and when she held my hand and took me to the morning market for breakfast and some sweets. I remember the food she cooked and how her face lit up when the 4 year old me unconsciously ate almost the whole plate of onion egg meant for 7 people she cooked earlier.

Of course my mum made me feel guilty about it but I remember my grandmother smiling. And who's to blame her, today I would grin like a silly pig if L ate all the egg fried rice I made for him.

My maternal grandparents live not 5 minutes walk away from my house in Ipoh and I love them to bits! They're not terribly interesting people, no school education, no university degree not much of a view on politics and always paranoid about rapists, thieves and second hand smoke but they care in a different way.

The point is, they're always there when I need them and they love me in a different way.

My 'Ah Kong' is a quiet man who's worked hard all his life and loves going out on his old bicycle. He doesn't say much at all but he used to buy me and my two girl cousins who used to live with them interesting cheap 20cent toys whenever he could afford it.

It didn't matter that the toys were cheap, it mattered that he saw an interesting toy and spared what he could afford to see a smile on our faces.

I remember once when I was about 10 I came home and there was a river terrapin in a bucket at the porch of his house. I asked if he was going to eat it and added that I thought it cruel to eat an animal like that (it is quite hard to kill a river terrapin because of the thick shell). He smiled and said 'No, I'm not going to eat it, I bought it back from the market and I'm taking him back to the river tomorrow.'

I thought he was lying and asked how he was going to bring the terrapin to the river. He said he was going to take it on a bus ride to the Kinta River (about 30 minutes away) and release it there.

It made me very pleased to know that my Ah Kong was not cruel. I like to imagine Ah Kong on the bus with his river terrapin in a bucket going on a ride.

My 'Ah Ma' on the other hand is a very noisy old lady. She loves to talk and nag. Nag nag nag. Did you bring your ointment for mosquito bites? Did you bring the cure for wind? Are you staying in a well lit area? Is your neighbour dodgy? Why do you go to London alone without your husband?

The thing is.. London doesn't really have mozzies unlike Malaysia. It took a while and a few other people telling her the same thing before she eventually believed me and stopped supplying me with Tiger Balm every time I got on the plane.

It is strange though how I tend to miss her nagging now that she's no longer 5 minutes away from me. I call her every now and then to get a dose of it and to see how she's doing.

It is exhausting business calling my family.

The brother and father pretty much fights over the phone and who gets to talk for more minutes so by the time I end the call, 2 or sometimes 3! hours would have passed by.

The grandmother is no different. She could easily clock 2 hours on a good day.

It is very difficult to have to see the people you love growing old. My grandmother was 48 when I was born. This year she is 71. I cannot remember my grandmother when she was 48, but my mother is 47 this year and I can quite easily imagine what my grandmother was like 23 years ago.

And although I do dread calling them sometimes because once I start, the entire afternoon could have gone by by the time I do put the phone down, I feel lucky that at least I have family to call.

I feel lucky knowing that my brother will always be there to share half my burden and to disturb me on Facebook and make me stay on Skype with him because it's dark and he has to finish his homework and doesn't want to be alone.

I feel lucky knowing that I can make my grandmother happy when I find time to call her and that she's always thinking of me and wondering what I'm up to.

They really are the sunshine in my life.

It would be a real shame if my children cannot have everything that I have because of our circumstances now but at least I know my parents will be excellent grandparents one day(because they make excellent parents as long as they don't have to discipline anyone!).

Silent night

2009-12-01T21:20:00.002Z

Tuesday and Thursday night are usually very quiet for me.

The husband goes straight to school after work and doesn't get back till late.

It can get quite lonely sometimes.. well, I do have the bunny boys to entertain me but it doesn't really compare to having the husband home even if we're not doing much.

Maybe that's what being in love is. You think you would get bored seeing the same person everyday, every week, every year but every morning I send him off to work hoping that he'll be back soon so that I won't have to miss him.

Strange how someone who's been married for almost 30 years once told us to think very carefully before committing to marriage because 'those who are out can't wait to get in but those who are in can't wait to get out'.

We've been together for 5 and a half years now and deep down, never once have I doubted that my decision to put some of my individuality aside and open my life to learn this other stranger's is wrong.

And I know 30 years later I still want to feel the same way and more about him. Afterall, love is supposed to grow, otherwise it defeats all purpose of sharing your life with another person.

What's perfect at this very moment is the dark sky outside, me in the quiet study with no light but the laptop's, the sound of the bunnies chewing something in the bedroom (most probably something they are not supposed to have) and knowing that any minute now, the man I love will walk in and give me the biggest kiss!

Dear Cabinet

2009-11-24T09:52:00.006Z

Chicken Pie must have needed a break from his brother this morning, he came to the study to lie on the window sill beside my chair

Unfortunately, CP's colour makes it quite hard to get nice photographs of him. His expressions are not so clear and sometimes his face comes out more like a blur. Here's a closer shot of his window sill lie in:-

What do you think you're doing woman?

Chicken Pie also has an obsession for eating furniture - chairs, tables, drawers.. It can be quite frustrating sometimes because he does get wood he can sink his teeth into but like a naughty child, he only wants what he can't have.

There he is resting his head against the cabinet he has caused least damage to. It's as if he's saying - Dear Cabinet, I will eat you when I wake up please do not run away. I love you much!

If I told you a secret, you won't tell a soul..

2009-11-17T20:50:00.001Z

The big push

2009-11-12T23:32:00.003Z

I recently found a game I created back in 2007 for The Big Push (A muscular dystrophy awareness campaign). It's not a game I'm very proud of (First thing I wrote in Flash), but I liked the concept of a wheelchair race where you pressed left to turn right (Left wheel needs to move faster than right wheel you see) and vice versa. And here it is in all its glory:

Please forgive me for it being oh-so-crap. I did my best!

Gaming and Marriage

2009-11-12T23:09:00.002Z

Before you read this blog post, read this article. Go on, I'll wait: Call of Duty? For an army of forsaken women, it's more like a call for help

Ready? Good. I just wanted to say a couple of things really. One, if you're with someone who doesn't share your interests, and doesn't recognise your need to indulge in your interests once in a while, what the hell are you doing? At the risk of sounding like a smug married person, the wife and I play games together very regularly. Sure, my days of hours spent playing Counterstrike, playing Torment, and other intensive single player hardcore games are probably over. (Although mind you, we had a very satisfying time playing Fable together - I played, she watched mostly). We have found common ground with games like Super Paper Mario and she regularly trounces me at Mario Kart (The only tracks I can beat her on are Wario's Gold Mine and Snowboard Cross - and that only on a good day). I've had to adjust my gaming habits to meet my new position in life, and that's a sacrifice I willingly make. Men, if you're not willing to do that, maybe you should reconsider what you're doing in your relationship.

I do agree with some of the points in the article though. What I find most enticing about games is the fact that they are a window into a completely different world (And this is why I tend to play RPGs), while I am playing them I can forget the stresses of life, the things I have to worry about, etc. But books do the same for me, so maybe I'm lucky that way. I don't know.

I guess in short, what I'm trying to say is as always, compromise is required. Men need to recognise that they need to adapt their habits if they're serious about a relationship. As I just read, Roland of Gilead (from Stephen King's Dark Tower) said, "A man who is unwilling to share his habit is a man who needs to give it up". And women, if you're serious about this gaming man, maybe you should try to understand what he sees in gaming. My wife has done that for me, and I love her all the more for it. And if he's so into gaming that he's abandoned you and refuses to see reason - jump ship if you still can!

Bunny days

2009-11-11T09:14:00.012Z

Its been a while since we updated about the bunnies no thanks to my inability to transfer pictures from my phone to the computer. This morning I finally figured it out after what was to be at least my 10th try.

Yes, I have tried emailing it to myself. Yes, I have also tried bluetooth. And yes, I've also tried putting in the USB cable thingy. But no, they all didn't work very well until this morning when the USB cable decided to give me a break.

For some reason or other, the boys have an obsession with toilet roll. They also have an obsession with 'good quality' cardboard. Only cardboard from items bought from John Lewis gets their chewing approval. Other cardboard gets maybe the odd chew or a desperate good chew after days of luring.

They sure are some high class bunnies!

So back to the toilet roll. There was a sale on Velvet toilet roll a few weeks ago and I went a little nuts and bought 3 bags of 18's (the husband does do a lot of business in the toilet).

We didn't really know where to stack them so we built a toilet roll tower in the study.

Chicken Pie was rather pleased and went on to claim his crown as Toilet Roll Tower King.

He was standing on top of the tower quite proudly for a few minutes until he felt it was decidedly boring and had no subjects to order.

What he didn't know, was that getting down would be a BIGGG mistake!

Wibble the sex maniac/gay/incestuous/power mad tyrant was on the romp, and unfortunately for Chicken Pie, he was the only bunny around to rape.

I have not managed to get a picture of the 'incident' because it always happens too quickly, but trust me, that was the moment JUST before Wibble got his front paws on Chicken Pie and had his butt moving rather vigorously on Chicken Pie's.

Haha.. the trauma on Chicken Pie's face every time it happens is just indescribable!

Chicken Pie also has a thing for imitating us and our actions.

He observes when Wei Chieh sits on the armchair reading a book and later when there's no one sitting on the armchair, Chicken Pie climbs unto it and sits facing the same way Wei Chieh did earlier. He doesn't do anything, just sits there on alert and stares.

Another thing he's picked up is imitating me working on the study table. We have a rather tall study table and he must have observed me working on the computer. He usually climbs on furniture to reach a certain height where his head would be above the table and he can see what's on it.

He'll then just continue sitting there looking until he gets too curious and actually gets on the table to trample on the keyboard.

Haha..

This is the other favourite past time - pretending to be a book.

And then there's sleeping...

More sleeping near the radiator pipes and a head and face massage courtesy of mummy.

And that's 'Lets sit on mummy's back and let her ferry me around like a horse!'

BeeBeee..

2009-11-09T08:23:00.004Z

We went over to babysit L & M yesterday evening and boy did we have fun!!!

It is really nice to know that they remember us so well :)

It does take L some time to heat up a bit but when he does he goes into this A-mi rampage where every few minutes he'll come to me and say 'A-mi... bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh (baby talk).'

He's growing up so well!

Yesterday he finally put a name to Wei Chieh and guess what it is?

He calls WC 'BeeBeee' as in 'by' in baby repeated twice!

Haha.. he obviously has trouble trying to pronounce 'Wei Chieh' and he has decide to go with what I call Wei Chieh instead!

It's so cute!! Even his intonation is exactly like how I would say it.

M as well is getting more and more adorable by the day.

It is amazing how different L & M are. M in comparison is so good natured. Always willing to pack away things, always ready to help and smile. She doesn't even kick up a fuss when you take something she shouldn't be playing away from her!

Taking something away from L on the other hand.. is a different matter altogether. Trust me.. you do not want to do it! Haha..

What's even more amazing is how L cares and loves M. M can't walk yet but L can already climb out of his cot. L would always check on his sister first thing when he wakes up from his nap to make sure she's okay, pat her head and tell her she's a good girl!

Haha.. he's so funny!

Sigh..

I know that we are both so young and not ready but everytime we go over and see them it really makes us want to have children of our own, yet we know very well that we can't afford to have a child and we should really just concentrate on building a career for now.

At least we get to see L & M growing up and can love them like we will love our own :)

Hallo mumzy..

2009-10-19T12:17:00.006+01:00

Being married is fun. We build a life together and we share everything with each other.

But does that also mean I have to share his mother?

I'm writing this post because I'm tired of debating with myself.

I'm tired of asking myself - do I really have to share his mother?

And that extends to, do I also have to call his mother 'mum'?

In all honesty I'm not in best terms with his mother at the moment. A bit of a mother-in-law/daughter-in-law problem going on.

However, put that aside and I still don't think I should address his mother as 'mum'.

Why?

Simple, I already have one.

My mother is my 'mum' and I don't need another one.

I love my mother and I feel like I am betraying her by calling another woman 'mum'.

I also believe that the title 'mum' is earned. My mum worked hard dealing with the troublesome kid and cloudy teenager that was me and I respect her for putting up with all that because she loves me.

I'm not trying to say that his mum put in any less. She did the same for him. She's just never going to do the same for me. It's not that she's not willing, she might just be. But it would be almost impossible logistically and emotionally.

The tie between me and my mum is different. It is special.

My mum feels my pain. My mum will always want something to my benefit. Plus my mum is not just 'mum'.

She can be mumzy, ma, mummymoo, aunty, ah poh.. or anything I could be calling her that day just for fun because whatever tag I put on her, it doesn't change the fact that she's my mother and it doesn't change the way I love and feel about her.

His mum however, can only be 'mum' because it is more a title than anything else.

Maybe it is the amount of 'My mother' essays I've written for school that gave me this ultra specific definition of a mother but I do believe in my argument.

However, it also doesn't change the fact that I've been sort of.. 'pressured' into addressing his mother as 'mum' and since nobody else wants anymore trouble from me, it looks like it's here to stay until I get brave enough to reverse it back to 'Uncle & Aunty' one day.

Knowing me, maybe I just will..

To add to this, he also has a problem addressing my parents as 'Dad & Mum' but since I've been forced to do so with his side, he unfortunately, has to do the same with mine under my insistance, until he finds enough courage to do something about it.

Heh.....

Happy Birthday Luc!

2009-10-19T12:01:00.005+01:00

On Saturday the 17th a little boy turned 2..

This little boy is very special to me.

He's special because I've known him since he was a teeny weeny littlest thing.

He makes me feel special because he recognises me and smiles when he sees me and announces loudly that his 'A-mi' has arrived.

Nothing in the world compares to you my dearest boy and I love you with all my heart.

Happy Birthday Luci Puchi. A-mi loves you!

Windmill windmill for the land..

2009-10-12T10:14:00.004+01:00

Love forever love is free
Let's turn forever you and me..

Married 4 and a half months and still happy :)

Sleepytime

2009-10-05T14:16:00.004+01:00

It's a cold and gloomy Monday afternoon and what does Wibble do?

Sleep! of course..

With his hind legs stretched out and dead-bunny-expression thrown in and you have happy sleeping Wibble.. if it wasn't so cold his front paws would probably be all stretched out as well.

Do excuse the quality of this picture. I didn't want to go too close and wake his royal highness from his perfect slumber.

The bull-dog?

2009-09-14T11:03:00.005+01:00

Recently there have been talks between us about moving to a new home close to Kew - one with a front AND back garden, which we absolutely crave!!

And that also extends to the tiny tiny tiniest probability of getting a dog (if the budget can stretch and if the rabbits give their royal approval)..

Strangely the bulldog (believe it or not) is one of the husband's favourite dog and here's probably why:-

My friend has a bulldog and she is wonderful, but I don’t think they are low maintenance dogs. They have a lot of breathing problems and snore really loud. In fact bulldogs are used to make goblin noises in movies. They also have to be artificially inseminated if you are going to breed them because apparently “doggy style” can give them a heart attack. This is what my friend says anyway.

Haha.. that's not a bulldog! That's my husband you're describing!!!!

An update on our vegetable garden

2009-08-02T19:29:00.010+01:00

The wife and I decided to make use of our balcony space to grow some usable plants instead of just flowers. Now, a few months on, here's how they're doing!

The herb garden, with the carrot box off to the right. In the herb box we've got rocket, parsley, and the sadly-bare coriander patch

A closer look at the carrot plants.

Potato sack doing quite well

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Monster tomato plants! Which are actually starting to bear fruit...

...like this lovely pair on a rather hairy stalk

And in keeping with recent tradition, cooked food picture of the day: Garlic butter rice with an odd stew, suffering from my error of judgement in the size of the plate I needed. I'm not quite sure how to describe this stew, it started life as a pasta sauce with some meatballs that began as sausages, then had carrots, chorizo, mushrooms and some extra tomatoes added to become a stew.

More camwhoring

2009-08-01T19:54:00.006+01:00

It appears in recent days this blog has become a bit of a food blog, so time for some food blog cliches!

Start with a shot to establish what you're actually looking at (note also the inappropriate broccoli as usual lurking in the background)

and now the closeups...

Not just a food blog. An M & S food blog.

Meet Gorf

2009-07-21T21:15:00.004+01:00

This is Gorf. Gorf is a squeaky frog designed for dogs, but we've each been given one at work to squeak when anyone goes off on a tangent at a discussion. But I've adopted him and taken him home to love and care for him. And also to see how the bunnies like him. Verdict - he scares the crap out of them. I think they thought I was torturing small animals and they were next - may be a good way to discipline them. A bit of kill the chicken to scare the monkey maybe?

Some recent meals...

2009-07-20T22:02:00.005+01:00

Kimchi jigae (and some not-so-authentic broccoli in the background)

Lamb stew with siew pak choy (yes, I have a thing for pairing inappropriate vegetables with meals)

California roll

Random thought

2009-06-22T09:34:00.002+01:00

Lately I've been told that I've been really neglecting this blog, what with all the wedding planning and everything that's been going on in our lives lately, so here's a random thought I had this morning while at Waterloo Station:

You know you're really out of shape when you find yourself needing a running start to get enough momentum to propel yourself up the stairs without running out of steam halfway.

Note to self: Spend more time on EA Sports Active

Husband and Wife

2009-06-03T10:20:00.011+01:00

Finally it is Wednesday the 3rd of June and I can sit back and really relax - my first time in a VERY long time!!

The exams lasted almost 3 weeks of which I suffered sleepless nights and endless panic attacks..

To add to the exam stress, I had the hardest time finding a proper wedding dress and losing enough weight so I won't detest my wedding photos and tear it all up!!

The 3 prong Fat attack plan thingy worked! To our amazement..

Wei Chieh found something called the EA Sports Active which works on the Nintendo Wii and it is amazing!!

It's some sort of an interactive exercise game thingy which unlike the Wii Fit really makes you sweat buckets!

The first time we both had a go we looked like we just had a shower in our clothes!

What's even more amazing is that Wei Chieh can now dress up without looking like a pregnant man. After dating a man with a near 9 month old (forever due) baby in his tummy for 5 years, this is nothing short of a miracle.

Haha..

Anyway, here are some photos so that you can judge for yourself.

The photos were taken by Michael and some by Wayne, who were both our witnesses to the wedding.

Our last photo as an 'unmarried' couple

The Groom being cheeky (he got a smack on the head after)

In front of the registrar

When we both said 'I do'

Group picture : Michael, us, Zina (Wayne's wife) & Wayne

The boys being boys

Zina showing off my ring

Where we got married

Just a nice photo of the new husband and wife

Yeap, that's how he broke his back!

Our wedding bands

Our 'favouritest' furry babies and us

Very kind and sweet! wedding cake gift from Mallindi, Tony, Luciano & Mariella

Our wedding was very small but we couldn't have wanted it any other way.

Many many thanks to Michael, Wayne, Zina and all our other friends who have given us so much love and support on such an important occasion to us.

Special thanks goes to Mallindi, Tony, Luciano and Mariella for fitting us a little spot in Mariella's Christening and Luciano's adoption celebration on Sunday.

We couldn't be luckier to be surrounded by such wonderful and amazing friends!

The FAT frenzy

2009-05-08T09:00:00.005+01:00

3 weeks to my big day and guess what I'm concerned about:-

1) I haven't got a proper dress for the occasion

2) FATS (with an extra big S)

Yes!! FATS!!!

They are EVERYWHERE!!

On my belly.. on my legs.. on my arms..

Oh.. what happened to my once super toned and tanned swimming arms I very proudly paraded with sleeveless tees??

GONE!! Yes, years of neglect have turned muscles into fat and now I'm panicking and wondering how I'm ever going to look good at my wedding!!

I can't have Barney (that's what we think we're going to name our boy for now) looking at my wedding photos and going ' Oh my god, mummy you had such FAT arms!!!'

It just can't be done.

You want your children to look at your old photos and think to themselves 'Gosh.. my mum's so pretty' or 'My dad's so lucky.. I wonder if I'll find a wife as pretty as my mum'

Nevermind about looking fat after getting pregnant!! You could always blame it on the fat baby that enlarged your belly!!

Anyway, to counter our rather big problem we have gone for a 3 prong attack:-

1) Wall push ups - Rosie (Kok's girlfriend) was here last weekend and she recommended doing wall push ups to tone the arms (not build muscular ugly looking ones like you get from floor push ups!). 40 in the day and 40 at night. I'm working on that!

2) Slendertone - Slendertone is this waist belt thingy that is supposed to trim your waist (not burn the fat but builds muscles so that you tummy won't sag and look like a blob of fat)

and if all don't work.. we have No. 3

3) Spanx - some magical body suit that is supposed to make you look trim and hide the mean stuff!

You will probably spot a great flaw in my 3 prong attack. There's nothing in there for the legs (I don't think Spanx hide leg fat).

That's just fine.. because the dress will hide my fat thighs and if I think my legs are too fat to be seen everyone in my wedding album will just have to go legless..

Bwahahahahaha................................