For Matthew and Alison

Anyone knows where to buy those thin, white tissue paper that is usually used by boutiques to wrap up clothes when you purchase them?

I would like to use as stuffing for my bags as well as wrap other things as well.

Please tell me if you know ... I don't even know where to start looking!

Thanks!



----- Edited to add on 4/4/09 -----

I did some surfing and found this place in Ubi that sells the paper and other packing supplies.

www.packeverything.com.sg
Blk 302 Ubi Ave 1
#01-29/33

Will go check it out one day soon!

Alison's quite a handful these days. A little miss chatterbox, and little miss hot-tempered. Whenever she's not happy or doesn't get her way, she screams in a very high pitched manner. Sometimes, when I'm nearby, I'll even have to cover my ears instinctively. That's how loud she can be. Over a recent weekend, she screamed a lot! So much so that on Sunday evening, her voice was starting to get raspy. We tell her and/or scold her to discourage her from doing this but still no improvement on her part yet. Hope this phase passes soon!

Last week, Alison climbed onto a ledge trying to get DVDs from the DVD cupboard. Going up was easy peasy for her but coming down was a different story. She stood there crying and starting calling "Mummy, Mummy" for help to rescue her.

I asked Samuel to take a photo for her while she was there. If she climbs up again, I was planning to use the photos to remind her of how she got stuck up there last time. Who knows, the moment the camera appeared, she stopped crying and flashed a brief smile for the camera. Tsk tsk ... looks like we have a little miss vainpot on hand!

Then I told her that it's very dangerous for her to climb up on her own. The moment she saw my stern face, she burst into tears again.

         

She thought we were going to rescue her but when the scolding started, she started her crying. She cried so hard and loud even I had trouble hearing my own voice. Eventually, I had to resort to saying that if she doesn't stop crying, I will have to bring Mr Cane out. (The cane is known at home as Shook-shook, we derived the name from the sound that the cane makes when you whip it into the air like you are going to whack someone.) The moment the cane was mentioned, she stopped. Then I could finally tell her why she was wrong and also rescue her!


More photos of the Little Miss in happier moments

"I want to show you something - my very round tummy!"

"Now, look at my eyelashes."

"Can you see my dimples?"

I just chopped my hair! :) Been wanting to do it for a while. I have a bob now. No photos yet though. Will get some taken provided the hair "behaves itself" even without being professionally blown at the salon. My neck feels strangely cool .... Hahaha.

http://brandspeaking.com/

Every now and then, I come across a brand that I can't pronouce. Or I have an inkling how to pronounce it but not sure if I'm right. No worries anymore. I found a most helpful website. :)

Last week, I was so tired and just got into bed and was almost drifting off to sleep. Then Alison calls "Mummy, Mummy" from the cot. Groggily, I got up and carried her over to my bed and hoped she'd fall back to sleep like she does on most nights. No such luck. She tossed and turned, kicked me, pulled my hair etc. After a while she sat up and started crying. I was so annoyed at being woken up and called for Samuel (who was either gaming or surfing the Net) to handle her.

He came into the room, turned on the attached bathroom light and then said, "Oh no, she's got a nosebleed.". I was still groggy and didn't move till a good minute later. By then, Samuel's already turned on the room lights and was trying to stop the bleeding. When I opened my eyes, I was not prepared for the sight of my daughter! ( Don't click if you're squeamish )

It's been more than a month since I've got my LASIK done. I'm so glad I finally did it. It was on my "Things to do before I turn 30" list. :p

Assessment - 11 Oct
I decided to have my operation with Dr Jerry Tan since he came highly recommended by my LJ friends. I trooped in at about 11am for my assessment and didn't leave till abt 5pm. I had to do a whole range of tests, that's why it took so long. Initially everything was easy. Just needed to read off charts and look in their various test machines. Then came the part where they had to dilate my pupils. It wasn't a nice experience. I couldn't see far after that since my specs were off and I couldn't see near either. I wasn't even able to tell the time on my watch or to sms on the handphone. I'm so not looking forward to presbyopia (lao hua yan) when I hit my 40s. It was only at the end of the day that I got to meet with Dr Tan. He went through the test results and pronounced me a suitable candidate for surgery. Then he put in the thingy which would hold my eyes open during surgery as a trial run to make sure I won't freak out on the actual day. That was actually quite painful and made me tear a bit. In total, my consultation with Dr Tan took less than 10 mins. He felt confident that he'll do a good job on my eyes and that I'm an easy case cos the power of my eyes were quite low - below 200 degrees.


1st surgery - 2 Nov 07
The day has come for surgery on my left eye. Dr Tan will usually operate on the non-dominant eye first then he will operate on the dominant eye at least a week later. The dominant eye's recovery is supposed to be better plus he will make adjustments to the surgery based on how the first eye recovers. I arrive at the clinic and am prepped for surgery. I'm given a painkiller pill and a sedative pill before surgery. Then I get numbing eye drops in my eye. After that, I'm led into the surgery room and lie down on the bed, under the laser machine.  First, Dr Tan tapes my eye lashes then gets me to look at the light while he makes some markings on my cornea. After that, I go lie down under the Intralase machine. Instead of using a blade to create the corneal flap, the Intralase Method uses tiny pulses of laser light, a quadrillionth of a second each, which pass harmlessly through the outer portion of your cornea and form a uniform layer of microscopic bubbles just beneath the surface of the eye. This process takes about 20 seconds or so. I had to stare at the red or green light and not move my gaze. Towards the end, the nurse did a countdown of the remaining seconds. That was quite helpful cos the 20 seconds were starting to feel so long!

After that, I had to go rest in the waiting area for the bubbles to subside before I go back into the operating room for the laser procedure. After the bubbles went down (not sure how long I waited but I guess it's about 45 mins), I went back in. It was quite scary when Dr Tan flipped back the corneal flap! The actual lasik took only 12 seconds. I tried my very best to stare hard. I did pretty well at staring and didn't get distracted. The whole procedure took about 5 - 10 mins. Very fast. After that, I was ushered to another waiting area where there were reclining chairs. I was supposed to sleep for an hour before I could go home. I tried my best but I couldn't fall asleep so I just kept my eyes closed. It didn't help that another patient nearby fell into deep sleep, complete with loud snores! The nurse came by to 'rescue' me after an hour saying that she thinks I'm not able to rest well with the sounds coming from my neighbour. :p Then it's in to the consultation room for a quick check by Dr Tan before I'm given clearance to go home. There wasn't much pain after surgery but during the 'nap' time, my eyes started to feel a little gritty and dry but still not much pain.

I got home, scoffed down a burger then took a sleeping pill so that I can get 2 to 3 hours sleep in the afternoon. I needed to sleep for best recovery. The sleeping pill didn't quite work. So I took another one an hour later. Still not really sleepy. So I just lay there and rested with my eyes closed. Thank goodness the kids were good and didn't barge into the room to disturb me. After my nap, I could see quite well already except that my vision wasn't balanced cos the right eye was still uncorrected.

All taped up with the eye shield

Follow-up to 1st surgery - 3 Nov 07

I had to go to the clinic for follow-up the next morning. Everything went ok. In fact, I've got better than 6/6 vision. But it needs time to stabilise. It was hub's birthday too. So we took Matt for swim class then went to Four Season's for lunch after that. We even went shopping for a bit after that. It was rather surprising to me that recovery is so quick for Lasik ops!


1 week check for 1st surgery and Pre-op check for 2nd surgery - 7 Nov 07

I survived one week with one corrected eye that could see well enough and one eye that's about 200 degrees myopic. I just walked and drove around with imbalanced vision. Surprisingly, it was ok. But I felt that my eyesight in the corrected eye was getting worse. It wasn't as sharp as a week ago. During my consultation with Dr Tan, he explained that the eyesight is usually very good a day after surgery but will fluctuate for a bit after that and will eventually stabilise. I felt better after hearing that it's normal. The 2nd eye was also ok and all set for the operation.


2nd surgery - 9 Nov 07

Since it's my second surgery, I didn't feel so nervous. I went through the same procedures but somehow, this round, I wasn't concentrating that hard on staring at the light. I could feel myself getting restless and wanting to avert my glance. Thankfully, the procedures still went ok. Guess what, I had to take my 1 hour nap in the clinic next to a snoring patient again. So easy to fall asleep meh?? Maybe it's easier for men to doze off anywhere.


Follow-up checks on 2nd surgery - 10 Nov 07

Everything's ok!


1 month check for both eyes - 17 Dec 07

Everything is ok, once again. :) My vision is better than 6/6, in fact there's a bit of overcorrection such that I'm slightly long sighted (but not very much cos I can still read a book just fine). The only thing is that my astigmatism wasn't fully corrected, still have about 25 degrees.  But I'm coping very well without specs. For that, I'm more than thankful already. There are still days when I wake up and try to look for my spectacles, esp after I'm done with brushing my teeth and washing my face. In fact, just 2 nights ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and tried to look for my specs in the bathroom before I headed out to the living room. Then it clicked in my head that I didn't need specs anymore. Hee hee. I am so thankful God watched over my operation and I'm so glad Samuel paid for it even though he wasn't 100% convinced why I would want to go for Lasik. :)

@#$%! Going to rain again!! I can't find a sunny day to wash my car. And it always has to rain after the car's been cleaned.

Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, and things. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name. Nothing made up!

Your name: Serene
Four words: Sad, Sympathetic, Sentimental, Sick (all very 'blue' words - perhaps brought on by my current state! been sick since yesterday afternoon)
State/country: Singapore (easy one since we live here!)
Boy Name: Seth (got this from some TV series)
Girl Name: Sabrina (from some old sitcom - Sabrina The Teenage Witch - something like that lah)
Occupation: Scientist
Something you can wear: Skirt
Something found in a kitchen: Steamer
Something you shout: Stop it! (I've lost count how many times I've said it this morning already)
Something you do at school: Sing (I aboslutely hated singing in school. Still not fond of it!)
Name of an animal: Serpent
Name of a drink: Sng Buay drink (Another one I thought of was Sinalco. Think it's a drink from my parents' time. Does anyone remember this?)
Name a holiday: Seychelles
Name a body part: Shoulder


Ok, all done! It's nice to give the brains a little workout in the mornings esp when all I've got playing on the TV is either Hi-5, Playhouse Disney or Ben 10!

Very funny video clip. :)

My dear husband turned 36 yesterday. :) We didn't do anything grand. Just the same-old-same-old kinda Saturday. We took Matthew to his swim class then contemplated dropping him off at home before adjourning for lunch. But the moment the boy heard me say "Should we drop him off first?", he straight away said, "I want to follow ...". I think Samuel and me need to learn a third language to prevent the kids from evasdropping on us. :p Anyhow, we had lunch at Four Seasons. I had a yummy Wagyu Beef Burger topped with Foie Gras, while Samuel has a Duck Leg Confit. Quite yummy. No pics tho' - forgot all about taking photos. Then we took a walk to Wheelock and Isetan before heading home with a cake in tow. We had dinner at MIL's as usual since it was a Saturday.

( Happy Birthday Daddy! )

My dear Alison has taken to calling me Mummy now. She used to call me MaMa, just like how she addresses her paternal grandma. But on Friday, my maid and me told her she must call me "Mummy" before I would give her orange juice. And she did it! :) I'm so happy.

Enjoying her snack time during playgroup

Me and my cutie-pie

Every single time Matt has his hard boiled eggs, I always sniff the air around and think that someone has either pooped or farted. Disgusting smell. Maybe that explains why I'm not fond of hard boiled eggs!

I'm so proud of myself. I actually went to the gym by myself this afternoon and spent almost an hour on the treadmill! No trainer, no hubby by my side. Though I must qualify that I walked and not ran.

Incline: 3.0
Speed: 5.5

I must have enough motivation to do this on a regular basis!

I found out an interesting nugget of info during my last gym session with the trainer. The treadmill always shows the number of calories burnt as you're using it. But sadly, as I found out, I burn less than what's reflected! Cos the machine is preset to calculate the calories burnt based on the user's estimated weight of 70kg. Since I weigh less than that, less energy is required of me when I'm walking on the treadmill so I burn less! Damn. That means gotta work out longer!

My children love making a mess with paints!

Take a look at Alison ...

She seems mighty pleased with her painted self. :p Initially, she was just doing finger painting. She loves dipping her fingers into paint. Then when I was ushering her to go take a bath, she decided to smear both her grubby little hands onto her chest. :)


As for Matthew, he loves playing with paints too.

His shorts fell off as he stood up! His MaMa (hub's mum) like to buy bigger clothes for her grandchildren. But this pair really cannot wear for my scrawny boy - must keep for future use.


A random photo taken recently ...

I like how they were all so relaxed and looking at the camera. I just wish it was taken at a nicer setting, instead of the lousy old lift. :)

Me: *honk*
Matt: Mummy, why did you horn?
Me: The lorry was going to cut into my lane.
Matt: No mummy, I asked you why you horn?
Me: The lorry was going to cut into my lane. I didn't want him to knock into my car.
Matt: *getting frustrated* Mummy, the lorry doesn't carry a knife. How can he cut into your lane??!!

Hee hee. I had a good chuckle over our little conversation.

During the time that I registered for an Identity Card (prob in Pri 6), han yu pin yin names were used commonly and it was included into my IC (in brackets below my full name). These days, han yu pin yin names have been phased out and it's strange to still keep it in my IC. It's also reflected in my passport. Recently, when I was passing through the HK immigration, I was asked why I have 2 different names. Aiyoh, I had to explain to the immigration dude that it's just the chinese pronunciation and I don't actually have 2 names.

Anyway, since I'm turning 30 this year and I think I'll have to apply for a new IC, I want to cancel that name out. Anyone has any experience with this? Is it as simple as getting them to exclude it or need to get lawyer etc?

After tea with some friends at Wheelock Place, we walked back to our car at Liat Towers. The lift ride at Liat Towers was rather spooky. I got in, tried to press '7' but it didn't work. Then hub's friend also tried but it didn't work either. Strangely, the number '5' lit up by itself and the lift started moving up. I saw the level indicator display '3' (you know the display which shows you which floor you are at as the lift is moving). Then the number '1' button lit up even though we didn't press it. And before we knew it, we were back on to ground floor again. The door opened up and we saw the security desk. The guard says to press harder. I tried and it didn't work again. So the guard comes in and hits the button very hard. Finally the button lit up. Thank goodness we got to our floor this time. And thank goodness I'm not alone! So freaky for the numbers to light by themselves .....

After school one day (25 May 07), we took Matt out to Centrepoint and as we walked in from the carpark, we stopped by the pet store. We had a look at the hamsters and took one out for Matt to hold. He didn't quite know how to handle it initially and he kept trying to hold the hamster by the neck. The poor little hamster even squealed at one point when Matt held it too tight. But after a short while he got the hang of it.

Then we started asking how much it'd cost, together with a cage. The store assistant said a basic set up should cost about $60. But after we picked and chose the various things, we swiped our card for $150. :p Quite ex to me! But we did choose a hamster that's more expensive. There were hamsters going for $8 but hubby chose one that's called Molted Winter White (I think ...) that's $30. He says the pattern is nicer. Ok lor ...

So here's presenting Matt with his first pet ....

His name is Hammie.
Named after one of the characters in Over The Hedge.

Evidently, Matt has no fear. :)

He loves to hold it.

I call this shot - Hammie crossing the river.
Matt was so tickled when I told him that.

Alison's also very excited whenever she sees the hamster. When she first saw it, she squealed with delight! She doesn't have much fear either. We only let her stroke Hammie very lightly but not let her hold it. She'd prob crush Hammie to death with a squeeze of her palm. :p While both my kids are rather brave, I'm frightened of it. I dare not hold it. I tried to hold it for a few seconds yesterday but the feeling of its legs on my palm .... very uncomfortable! I'm so glad that Yanti, my maid, can look after it and bring it out for the kids once in a while.

Hub wants to buy a companion for it but I'm not so sure about that ... See how it goes. For now, I'm just happy that the kids enjoy and love Hammie.

Ewww .... I just opened up a new bag of rice and there were weevils inside. It makes my hair stand when I see these black things crawling around! I've never had weevils in my rice at home. I wonder why they were in this brand new bag. Anyway, I went onto a forum and read that garlic helps to prevent weevils. I dumped a whole piece of garlic into my rice bin. I hope it chases them away!