Honeymoon Date

It's all set! We're going to Gold Coast in early November. YES!!

We booked a 5d/4n free & easy package which includes admission tickets and seat coach transfer to the SeaWorld, MovieWorld and Paradise Country Farm. It will be our first time to Gold Coast, so we wonder how will the weather be like there in November? What should we look for or do while at the theme parks and the farm? What should we pack in our suitcases? How much of money should we bring along? Stuffs like that. Can you see how excited I am?

Another reason of the excitement is because throughout the past 10 years or so, Inspector and I had never really gone for a holiday, just the two of us before. It was always either with friends or family. His trip to visit me in Sheffield years ago don't really count la. Quite embarassing, kan? So, this Gold Coast trip is not gonna be a honeymoon trip alone. It will be a trip that we will both have fun, visiting new places at our own free time, and at the same time, we plan to visit a friend of his residing in Brisbane. *Grin*

On another happy note, I had just submitted my order for a pocket photobook from Pixart. I can't wait to receive it soon!

A Housewife's Remedies Part I

After 2 months or so of cooking, cleaning and washing, I've come to learn of a few interesting remedies that you can try on should you ever come to face the same situations as I did. You might have already or perhaps have not known about them, but I'd just want to share it out.

Situation #1 : When the toilet is clogged - either due to too many things thrown into the bowl (kids' doing or pet litters), human deposits, or even those blue goo-ey tablets.
Possible solutions suggested : Use plunger, a coat hanger or pour in chemical drain cleaner (this is a bit dangerous though).
Remedy : Use a dishwater liquid instead. Just pour around 3-4 tablespoons of it into the bowl. Wait for probably 10-15 minutes, and then flush. A loud 'whoosh' tells you that it's successfully flushed down. If it doesn't, pour in more liquid and let it wait longer before you flush again. Saves $$ from calling for your plumber. *grin*

Situation #2 : You need to mess with the dried chillis and face consequences of burning (reaaaaaally burning!) fingers. It burns when your fingers touch on water, it also burns when your fingers feel heat. To make it worse, it just won't go away!
Remedy : Of course, best prevention is to wear gloves when handling the chilis. Otherwise, dip your fingers in a bowl of ice. Guarantee the burning sensation will be gone within 5-10 minutes.

That's all I can think of at the moment. Perhaps Ah Pek can add the first remedy into his DIY handyman blog. How about you people try it and then tell me if they work. :)

On Funeral Services

The only funeral services I had attended in my entire life were my grandparents' where they followed the typical Chinese traditions that stretches up to 3-5 days (have to look at the Chinese almanac for auspicious days too)!

Last weekend, I accompanied Inspector to attend a friend's younger sister's church funeral. I very much understand that it's somewhat like church weddings - lots of singing, prayers and sermons. The thing that I was quite uncomfortable about was this particular pastor's sermon. He talked about people dying either through illness, old age or tragic accidents. She died in a road accident, by the way. The pastor just kept talking about people dying from tragic accidents, he even went on and on and on about "If you're afraid to die, then you're afraid to live". I mean, for goodness sake, the family was grieving terribly there and had just lost their 21 year old family member and he was like rubbing more pain to them. Maybe I just didn't interpret correctly on what he was trying to say but hey, at least be a little bit more consoling towards the family la.

It just reminds me of a cousin sister's church wedding where the pastor preached on and on about how it's not right for homosexuals to marry each other (my cousin married a guy, okay!) and I was like, "What???!!!" I truly understand it if the pastors talk about all these during their normal church services. But on funerals and weddings? Oh come on, please don't spoil it la.

But anyway, I've decided that when I die, I want a very simple ceremony. No burning stuffs nor prayers that last a few days. Just one whole night of family and close friends gathered together to reunite, to forgive one another for life is too short to hold grudges forever; play my favourite songs and show pictures of me with them, for them to remember me by and as a dedication to thank them for being a part of my life. The next morning, let them say their eulogies and then cremate me. Spread my ashes onto the ocean but to ask my family to keep a photo of me so that they won't forget me years later...

Then again, I hope I get to live till my 80th birthday at least.. My condolences to the family for the loss of their beloved angel..

Cooking Is Fun!

Few months before I got hitched, I had subconsciously been collecting recipes from cookbooks, magazines, even downloading them off the Internet. I feel that it's really fun being able to try out new recipes and see if I can pass the "being in the kitchen" test. But poor Inspector have to be the guinea pig la. *grin*

Got this funny e-mail from Moorish about a month ago, titled "Diary of a Young Wife".

Monday:
Now home from honeymoon and settled in our new home. It's fun to cook for Tim. Today I made an angel food cake and the recipe said, "beat 12 eggs separately". Well, I didn't have enough bowls to do that, so I had to borrow 12 bowls to beat the eggs in. The cake turned out fine though.

Tuesday:
We wanted a fruit salad for supper. The recipe said, "serve without dressing". So I didn't dress. But Tim happened to bring a friend home for supper that night. They both looked so startled when I served them, I think it was the salad.

Wednesday:
I decided to serve rice and found a recipe which said, "wash thoroughly before steaming the rice". So I heated some water and took a bath before steaming the rice. Sounded kinda silly in the middle of the day. I can't say it improved the rice anyhow.

Thursday:
Today Tim asked for salad again. I tried a new recipe. It said, "prepare ingredients, then toss on a bed of lettuce on hour before serving". I hunted all over the place for a garden and when I got one, I tossed my salad into the bed of lettuce and stood over there for over one hour so the dog would not take it. Tim came over and asked if I felt all right. I wonder why? he must be stressed at work. I'll try to be supportive.

Friday:
Today I found an easy recipe for cookies. It said, "put all ingredients in a bowl and beat it". Beat it I did, to my mum's place. There must have been something wrong with the recipe, because when I came back home again, it looked the same as when I left it.

Saturday:
Tim went shopping today and brought home a chicken. He asked me to dress it for Sunday. I'm sure I don't know how hens dress for Sunday. I never noticed back on the farm, but I found an old doll dress and it's little cute shoes. I thought the hen looked really cute. When Tim saw it, he started counting to ten. Either he was really stressed because of his work, or he wanted the chicken to dance. When I asked him what was wrong, he started crying and shouting out, "why me? why me?". Hhm... It must be his job.

I just hope that I'm not as bad as Tim's wife! ;)

Counting Chickens

I have this bad habit of counting chickens before they are hatched. I hope too much, I expect too much just as well. And of course, when things don't go the way I want it to go, the disappointment hurts badly.

There was this job that I had hoped I could score. I liked the directors that were interviewing me, I liked that they were being honest about themselves, the company and what they thought of me. I liked the office environment and the venue. I liked the fact that if I could get that job, it would mean that I'd have to start all over again (I told them honestly that I was willing to take the risk), meet greater challenges and solve puzzles everyday. But I couldn't get pass the final round - the test. Like I mentioned, they were very honest people. They liked my personality and thought it would be great for their team, they wouldn't mind training me but they had to reject me coz they were in urgent need of a very experienced person to take up the job as they are trying to grow very fast before the end of the year. :(

In all honesty (yes, it's that word again!), I'm dying to leave the current company. Being there for more than 6 years now, I've been getting more complacent with everything. There is no way I'd be able to climb up the organization unless of course, NR decides to quit (which is totally impossible). There is nothing new for me to learn and the pay really, really sucks. The management is getting worse and perhaps the fact that my closest colleagues had left the company contributes to my wanting to leave.

I'm dying for new challenges and I am actively seeking a new job before I really rot in my current one and start hating the company and all, which I really don't want that to happen. Hopefully with all the disappointments and experience I've gone through countless interviews, I hope that some day soon, I'll be able to win a new job. In the meantime, I'll still keep an eye on the recruitment ads. *wink*

A Breathe of Fresh Air

On Merdeka eve..

LinPeh: Hepi matikahhh!
Me: Ah? Apa mati? Siapa mati?
LinPeh: Tomorrow is MATIKAH!
Me: Oh! Hahahhaa...

Had a nice Merdeka weekend. Went walking up the Taman Tun hill with Inspector and Gummy. I hadn't been doing any serious walking for ages! We had even barely finished the slope from the car to the entrance and I was already asking "How *pant* long *pant* more to go? *pant*". By the time we actually completed a trail and were walking back to our car, I was looking forward for the soya bean truck. Eyes twinkling and all. Cold soya bean drink and the warm tau fu fah woh! Gummy even suggested that they should put up signs that say "1km more to the nasi lemak stall". Tee hee hee.. The walk had also made me realize that it was practically the first time that I got to go for adventures (Yes, walking is still considered an adventure to me. *grin*) with Gummy, after what, 20 years of friendship! Even though my ankles are still aching now, I still had fun hanging out with her. I could bring out the kid in me without worrying if she'd think I'm somewhat childish when I should be acting my age. I sure don't mind going for another walk or perhaps one day, go cloud sculpting together. *smile*

On another note, Mum was relating to me that 13 cars parked along the houses behind their road got broken into. And I was reminding her to tell Dad to take out his valuable stuffs from his car's glove compartment, just to be safe coz he parks his car outside of the house. Mana tau, they broke into Dad's car the very next morning. *Gah!* They smashed the front passenger's window. Thankfully they fled after Dad's car alarm sounded and that nobody, especially Dad was hurt. But the thing I couldn't understand was how come 13 cars' windows got smashed and no alarms went off? Or was it that people nowadays are too afraid or ignorant about it? Suddenly it just don't feel safe now and I worry for my family. I just hope that that's the extent the thieves can go to. They can take whatever money they want, just don't harm my family. That is all I'm asking for..