Gone

For two weeks. To escape the heat of Tokyo for more heat. Yay.

For the days I feel bad about not working

Met some new friends today and they had this funny email to share.

A father came home and found his three children were outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon , and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on thefloor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door. He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she may be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls. As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went.

He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?"

She again smiled and answered, "You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world did I do today?"

"Yes," was his incredulous reply.

She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it."

Historical moment?

Today, Danny proclaimed I cooked the best home-cooked meal he's had ever (in the Western food category). A few things to note about this proclaimation:

• Danny had wanted something Chinese tonight, but I overruled him and baked the lasagne. So he wasn't mentally in shape to eat my experiment.
• This is my second attempt at lasagne. The first attempt came out of a proper recipe website, with all its accompanying comments and tips. Today's came out of my baby food cookbook, sans tips, comments, anything. What does that say about Danny's taste?
• I was actually more interested in using up soon-to-expire ingredients rather than having any urge to eat lasagne
• I was oddly unimpressed by my effort. Simply because sometime last week I had gorged on too much lasagne and am feeling a little off from that dish.
• Sara, for whom this lasagne was originally meant for, never ate it. Simply because she eats at 6pm and Danny at 8pm. Someone was going to have to get frozen dinner instead.

And of course, ever the ill-prepared blogger, I didn't take a photo of it.

Anyway, Danny was saying this would be great as a party dish next time we have people over. I'm not so sure about doing that though – I, like so many teeny bopper artists out there, am usually a one-hit wonder.

Almost Daily Art Project: Home-made duster

Some weeks ago, in an attempt to keep Sara entertained at home, I instituted the Almost Daily Art Project. The plan is, of course, to do this daily, but I’m not creative, not by a long shot, so I will do it only if I’m feeling inspired for the day, hence the word “Almost”. Anyway, thus far, the campaign has been met with lukewarm response. Most times Sara’s mostly entertained by the cellotape rather than the actual creation. For example, I made her a paper chain last week and that went down poorly. She spent more time entangling herself with cellotape (thank goodness for the 15-odd rolls of tape we acquired from Costco) than the actual paper chain. I suppose she has a plastic one (a couple, actually), so she wasn’t impressed.

Anyway, today’s project was a roaring success. I took a cardboard tube from our recently finished clingwrap and decided to tape paper strips to one end. The original plan was for her to have a sound-maker (I was waving it wildly in the air after I had finished), but she had other plans. While actually making the thing, she was more interested in crumpling up the paper strips (hence the copious amounts cut) and again, getting her fingers all tangled up in cellotape, but once it was finished, voila! She grabbed it and was off like a jack rabbit.

Dusting, dusting

Dust the coffee table

The other side needs dusting too

Floor’s dusty

Wait a minute, I think the chair needs dusting too

Back to the activity board. I think I missed a spot

All the dusting she was doing. I only hope she hasn’t inherited my finickiness for cleanliness.

100 yen shop

Nothing beats shopping at the 100 yen shop. Especially when you’re looking for junk to keep the toddler entertained. After reading one of my many toddler books about home activities, I decided to outfit her with cleaning, art and kitchen supplies.

Danny said to buy whatever I wanted – after all, we couldn’t go broke there. Hah, little does he know. Anyway, we ended up with 37 items. That’s almost S$65 worth of junk.

I tell you, even the silliest things were a tempting buy.

Aye, Cap’n!

Feeling my age

I’ve been feeling old of late. Yeah, sure, laugh. I’m most definitely not old, not by conventional standards anyway, but the recent spate of grown-up responsibilities that needed seeing to has made me wish back to the days when all I really cared about were exams and getting a boyfriend. Hm. Then again, I wouldn’t go back to my university years even if you held a gun to my back – the exams were a nightmare. Wasn’t too successful in the other department too either.

Anyway, these days I’m fussing about all things grown-up. How boring and mundane. Some wouldn’t see what the big deal is – I’ve never been a carefree person and I’ve always fussed about something or the other. I suppose it’s the fact that these things I’m having to fuss over are so, well, responsible-adult-like. And it’s the sad realization that I’ve become a (hopefully) responsible adult. That’s where the disbelief that I’m actually as old as I am sets in. Somehow, at this age, I figure my parents “got it” a whole lot better than I’m “getting it” now. I mean, they knew what was going on, and they knew how to handle things. Me? I’m still grasping at straws, trying to figure out the next step and looking for advice at every turn. I thought responsible adults knew what to do. So perhaps I’m just masquerading as one? Worse still, what if my child ever found out her mommy was clueless?

I guess I’m not making much of a point here. Just worrying my little head over nothing much. A bout of insecurity, I suppose. I know most people just take things as they come. I just wish I could worry about the ills of the world and making a difference – big important things – rather than getting all uptight about fix-it jobs, car breakdowns and first day at school.

Sheesh, I am getting old, aren’t I?

For those who had any doubts at all

The patented Yong look of concentration

Meh-min

Sara turns 16 months tomorrow. At long last, she has finally learnt that her mummy has a name. Of sorts. In the past few weeks, she’s developed a highly personalized word for mummy.

“Meh-min.”

I’m like, who? She dashes (as quickly as she can dash) over to our wedding photo and places her saliva-coated index finger squarely on my face. “Meh-min”. Ah yes, finally. The child has figured there is more to life than “Pa-pa”. I suppose I will have to be nicer to her now.

I’m still standing

To quote Elton John.

Three weeks since Disneyland and Pooh is still standing, or shall we say, floating. Lau hong, but still floating. Well-spent 600 yen.

Hand of death

Some people are gifted with green thumbs. Me? The hand of death.

Lynn and Jason left us their plants during their two-week trip to Tibet. I was a little nervous about the whole idea. I have a known history with this sort of thing. Back in university, I was asked to babysit a friend’s small flowering plant over the Easter vacation (some six weeks). Apparently I was a little too overzealous with the watering. It was a withered mess by the time my friend returned from her vacation. She was kind enough to stay a friend, but I was never asked to care for anything on her behalf ever again.

I fear that Lynn is now about to learn the terrible truth about my bad karma with plants. I did warn her, but truth be told, it really shouldn’t be this hard to care for plants. It’s just that I have the hand of death. Nothing I do is right. Anyway, a good number of them are now withering and I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why. Perhaps it was too much rain. Ah water, the bane of my gardening existence. With all that rain coming down, I never once stopped to think that perhaps this was a little too much water for the plants. Of course, now that it’s drying up and I’ve been out there to water them, I realize they are in pretty bad shape. ARGH. I dare not even post pictures before Lynn has a chance to see her babies.

At least Lynn and Jason had the good sense not to leave Libby with us.