Mid-Autumn Festival

While we were at Upet to get the diapers for Tamy on Sat, Ah Dai was there too and he started following us cos Tamy was on heat... but he was rather mild... told him no and he kinda listened to me for awhile though he continued to follow us wherever we went from a distance :) It was only when his owner scolded him not to disturb us that he left us alone for a few minutes... we continued shopping for some treats for the boys and after we paid for our stuffs we headed back to Hougang...

These are how her diapers look like... so cute rite... almost like the ones babies have jus without the hole at the back for their tail... :) We decided to get Size S instead of M cos we did a comparison with the sample and the M seems to be much to big for Tamy... though the top is stretchable, if she jumps, I'm pretty sure her pampers will jus drop off... hahaha... so far this size seems ok for her so we'd probably jus stick to it. Anyway, I'm quite sure that this would be her 1st and last heat she'll be experiencing...




There we had lunch at the newly opened Kopitiam near Buangkok MRT station before heading to the NTUC that was opened for 24 hours. The space area was kinda small but yet they wanted to squeeze in as many stuff as possible... whole place looked really disorganised and messy to my standards. I can jus imagine how pack the whole plc will be come the festive seasons... tSk tsk tsk...

This was to be our 1st and last time there... reason being that it was kinda hard to locate the carpark, there wasnt proper direction on how to get there, the plc is cramp, the lift from and to the carpark was the common lift where residents of the block used. To top that, payment was either via cash or nets or the NTUC credit card. No other card were excepted and the reason for this is that they are a small outlet...

I tot that that was nonsense. When u apply for a credit card machine to be used in a premise, it doesnt segregate the type of credit card or the bank where the card came from. So the cashier's explanation jus doesnt make sense to me. Whatever la... we left for home to rest... took a nap cos we were so shacked... hehehe... den after dinner, papa went to meet some of his frenz while we drove around... went to Chinatown but the lights were a disappointment.

We drove pass Singapore River, went to Mt Faber and den Labrador Park where there were many family and groups of frenz hanging out. Some were there with their families to have moon cake and light candles while others were jus chatting the nite away. Tried takin some pic but it was too dark so the shots didnt turn out well. After that, we headed down to Changi Airport which is 1 of our favourite hunts... heheh...




By the time we went back to Hougang it was already past 1am. Packed our stuff and headed home... once again, we only went to bed around 2+! Woke up this morning around 10am as Gora was coming to clean the plc. Today's been a rather lazy day for us. Apart from going out for lunch, we didnt do much as Gora was busy cleaning our plc so we stayed home the most of today. Became couch potatoes after lunch and the both of us together with Toby and Tamy ended up napping on the couch while MTV Pimp my ride was on air :) Good thing I woke up in time to pay and send Gora off before gettin ready to go to my in-laws plc for dinner.

Dinner was good... it's been along time since I drank my MIL's soup... I love all her soups... always so tasty even though she always says wo shui bian zhu de... kekeke... somehow when we follow her instructions, the taste is never the same. Anyway, after dinner, the kids had a hell of a good time playing with candles and a mini lantern... hahah... :) Reminds me of how i used to play with candles when we were younger... Rolling Good Times~ :)
















Even this overgrown buffalo was having a jolly good time playing with WeiWei's scooter and helping the kids with their lantern n lighting of the candles... hahaha.... :) Brings out the child in him ah... hehehe... :)




Both Toby & Tamy have been good today especially my baby girl... Toby has been very protective of Tamy especially when we were in Hougang the past 2 days... always coming to her aid whenever she is being harressed by Terry or Tommy. Although he lets her defend herself, he is always close at bay when she starts screaming... heheh... But I'm proud that my baby girl is learning to defend herself when those 2 notti boys kept coming too close to her... she would give a low n long growl before snapping at them. If that doesnt work, she starts her sirens and korkor will come running to snap at the boys.... Hahah... :)




Tamy is more or less her usual self though alittle quiet and very restless... she has been slping the whole day and doesnt like walkin too much. She also has this habit of being manja with Toby and likes to lie near him. He's been good and lets her lie very near him compared to the usual days when he will get up n walk away if he's feelin hot. I was jus mentioning to Garry earlier today that Tamy seems to have grown slightly bigger since her heat came... Or maybe its jus my eyes playing tricks on me... but she does seem to be bigger, taller n heavier as well leh... Hmm...

When we came home jus now, she was her usually screaming and whinning self... kekeke... always jumping in her playpen and screaming n whinning at the same time... it gets louder if we sayang Toby and ignore her... heheh.... =Þ so of cos I had to go n carry her out of her playpen and sayang her as well... :) Whin whin whin as always... den she ran to Garry and started jumping n whinning as well... demanding to be sayang-ed... hahah...

Her bleeding is slightly more than i expected since today is only the 2nd day... i was expectin tiny droplets but there were bigger than that... almost the size of kidney beans... heheh... well she is adapting well to wearing her pampers all day... noticed that she doesnt pee or poo when she wears her pampers... been like this the past 2 days... so we had to keep taking her pampers out every few hours so that she can roam about and then pee a couple of times as well as poo before the pampers goes back on again... I shall save u guys and not publish those bloody pics here...

I guess this more or less sums up my weekend... too bad it's so short... *siGh* Back to work tomorrow and more OTs to do... Damn~ Will be doing OT on the 16th and 18th for next week and then 23rd to the 25th the following week. Sibeh sian ah... :( Well on the brighter side, we will be meeting up with the family for dinner on the 19th followed by a movie to celebrate papa's 55th Birthday~ :) And this weekend would be my 3rd Wedding Anniversary as well... time flies~

My Baby Girl... A Lady...

My my my.... woke up this morning with the intention of bringing the kids to Sentosa for a swim as we went back to get the car from papa late last nite so that it would be easier for us to bring the kids ard even if we haf to go back to houg to fetch them... however, it looks like there is now a change of plans liao... why?? Cos my baby girl has turned into a LADY!!! :) Hehehe....

Yes yes yes... she is only 6 months 3 weeks and 2 days old... and today is the 1st day of her mensus... i woke up after receiving a phone call from mummy informin us that it's raining... so was abit disheartened that the weather wasnt too good... so went out without using my specs to talk to garry as he was already awake...

As usual the 2 of them got excited when they saw me... started jumping, licking n scratchin my leg... after awhile they sat on the floor... hehehe... :) den as I was about to go wash up, i noticed this stain on the floor n went like eeee... wat is tt? since i couldnt see clearly... n asked if it was blood or wat... Mr Lee looked down n said yeah blood... 1st thing tt came into my mind was tt 1 of them injured themselves... but I was wrong... it turned out that Tamy was bleedin...

So we realised that she could be hafin her mensus... but i recalled Serene tellin me that the 1st few days would be very light spotting... hmm... as usual... being the kan chiong me when it comes to my babies... i quickly called her to ask... she asked me to check if Tamy's vulva & nipples were swollen and after checking, I can confirm that they are... wooo.... den she said to check if Tamy has yellowish discharge... so I did after we ended our call.... true enough, though there wasnt much yellowish discharge, there were drops of diluted blood.... similar to us humans.... yiKes~

After all the checks, I am proud to confirm that Tamy is a Lady now... hehehe.... so change of plans... no more beach n swimming... we'll be off to U-Petgamart instead to get her panties and pads... cos dun wan her to stain the floor n her bed... better not la... wait Mr Lee will jump... not so much so from anger but more from disgust... I'm sure... hahaha... :) Till my next update on my Baby girl who is now a Lady... :)

....::: A Better Tomorrow :::....

So many things happened the past few weeks that I forgot to blog about tinking of gettin this... hehehe.... initially wanted to get this for the furkids to swim in but was worried that they might jus burst the whole inflatable pool due to their nails...



Zhi called me sometime back and told me that she found this foldable pool for dogs since she knew that I wanted to get this for them... sad to say that pool cost about $100+ and it's only about 30cm in height... Toby can jus stand in it liao... hahah... such a waste... : Tamy will soon outgrow it as well... so it's a no to buying that... so im still toyin with the idea on whether to get the inflatable pool or not :)

Anyway, Angie, Esther, Elna, Jasmine and myself shared to get these for Steph n Tiza as Jas was heading for KL over last weekend... Hope she likes what we bought... :) Cant wait to see u in Dec when u come for Angie's wedding!! :) And no worries ah... u can bunk in with us...




My recent weekend was filled to the Max... we went to JieJie's house for lunch on saturaday... den in the evening we headed over to Koko's plc as she had a mini birthday celebration for herself. Heheh... :) Den after that we headed back to Hougang where I helped Van & Sara groom their dogs!! Goodness... so much fur!!! I tink the blade of the clipper became blunt after 4hours or so... Only left Hougang ard 12+ and we headed over to Loyang Twa Pek Kong...

On our way home, I told Mr Lee that I was kinda hungry and he too said that he was hungry so we decided to go for supper... kekeke... ended up buying the nasi lemak from Boon Lay... wasnt too bad... by the time we settled down, it was close to 2am... *sigh* less than 6 hours of sleep before we woke up...

Left the house around 8am or so to fetch my MIL as she wanted to go to this chinese physician at Bedok... Piangz... West to East man~ she was done in less than 30min... imagine if she took the 2hour long journey there... tsk tsk tsk... After that we went to have Katong Laksa for breakfast... yummy!!~ Been ages since I went to that shop...

After that we went to Guan Yin Temple at Waterloo St followed by the Shao Lin Shi Temple in Toa Payoh... So holy hor... I jus tagged along... kekeke... :) Den we called my SIL and after fetching them, we drove to Qian Hu for the Fish Spa. It was their 1st time there.... kekeke... :)

Our day didnt end here. After sending them home, we went back for a bath and headed over to Hougang to fetch my folks... we were going for Our Lady's Procession in Novena... our yearly affair... I felt so holy on sunday... hehehe....Thank God it didnt rain.

I said my longest prayer ever.... Thanking God for everything that he has provided me with... the pain, suffering, endurance and obstacles that he had planned along my life's path... I believed that all these have been placed in its place for a reason. There may be an immediate solution or it may take awhile before a soultion is found. Wateva the case is, I believe that God works miracles in his own way... I lifted up prayers thanking him for giving me such a wonderful family even though we have our arguements at time. I also thanked him for giving me a lovely, peaceful and helpful extended family to live the rest of my life with.

In Laws who are kind, understanding and easy to get along with. In Laws who have in their own way helped the both of us in our time of need. Especially a MIL who is selfless and always willing to help us no matter the consequences... I thank you lord for all these wonderful people U have blessed me with...



As per all the previous years, we stood directly across the road as it was simply to packed within the church compound. I didnt want to faint from heat stroke... So there we were standing opp the church at 5pm in the earli evening... the celebrations didnt start till 6pm... Gradually the crowd started coming...





When it ended slightly after 8pm, we headed down to AMK for Zhi Cha Dinner.... Sunday was officially Koko's birthday... so we had dinner with her, Evan & Ryan :) We took a cab back after dinner as it was close to 10pm... long & tiring day for everyone... went home to watch the last half an hour or so of King Kong... before we konged out for the day...

As usual, I was given tons of web orders today... didnt manage to complete them... so carried forward about 28 web orders to be done tomorrow... I still have 2 batches to do... Darn... and as I'm typing this now, there's a sudden sound of thunder... tink its gonna rain soon... I hope and I pray~ So hot today...

Jessica passed me the HP pouches that she made... chio rite... Mine's the one on the right... Sara's one in the middle and the Black and White one is for none other than Van... hehehe... :) Love it to bits... glad that I haf something for my Omnia...



Anyway, Koko was using this pouch from Kilping on sunday and I loved it... Her's was red in color which is one of my favourite colors.... She said she bought herss when she was in HK recently... Aiya... I know someone who's goin HK soon and decided to ask her to help me get if she finds it... Had to get the model number from the store as it wasn't on their website...

So I popped by the outlet at Bugis Junction after work today with Jessica and saw that they had this dirty lookin pink one... it was goin for $69 (Usual price $109). So cheap i can jus get it in Spore... dun haf to trouble that someone liao... but a tough choice to make... the red or dirty pink? Spoilt for choices man~ Aiya... as always... :

Simplicity Versus Extravagence

The past week went by well... the much awaited gathering at my plc finally came... we had a great deal of fun, enjoyment and fantastic company as well as lots of food... everyone contributed quite abit for the potluck steamboat. Angie was the designated photographer that day as my camera batt was low... so I'll post pics of our gathering within the next few days...

Sunday went by well... went over to my sis-in-law's plc and upon reaching I asked Garry wat the occassion was as she had invited us over... aiyayayaya... onli while we were waiting for the lift to go up did i remember that the gathering was becos of Eldin's Birthday!!! Aiyoz... some kind of uncle n auntie we were huh... forgot our own nephew's birthday... *tSk* *tSk* Paisay ah go empty handed... we'll make it up to u... Promise...

Disclaimer
What I am about to express are feelings and thoughts that are going thru my mind. It is not meant to belittle anyone, point a finger at anyone or blame anyone. However, this does not mean that you or anyone who is reading this can use this to judge me, my love ones or question the way I or any of my love ones decide how we want to lead our life with whatever means we have.

Why I'm blogging now is because of something my dearest shared with me today on our way back home. I have mixed feelings about it... on one hand I'm angry and pissed and in some way it felt humiliating but on the other hand I thought to myself why should I feel this way when the comments made weren't even from someone who has known me/us long enough or has been in constant contact with us or know us for years nor were the comments made/questions asked based on findings.

I believe that each and every one of us makes a decision based on our own believes, planning and after much thought... each and everyone of us have our own priorities, mindset, believes, teachings and the decisions we make are the choices we choose. Everyone has free will to choose and decide what's best for them. It may not be the best for others but to some, it is the best of what they can do.

Those who know me know that I am a person who never regrets or looks back at a decision that I've made. I choose to make those decisions and I live by the decisions I make and I am proud to say that till this day, I never regret any decision I've made the past 29 years. The same goes for the things I say. Though some may say and feel that at times I speak too fast and never think things properly 1st, or that the things I say may or may not hurt others. That I am being too blunt and straight foward. But that's me. That's who Rachel is. Frank, out-spoken, a person never known to mince my words. Never one who is hypocritical. Never one who pretends and tries to put up a front, live in a fantasy world or lives in denial.

I choose to do things, go places, have short holidays and spend on things that are within my means. I choose to say the things I say because I value everyone as a friend and feel that a true friend is one who doesnt need to put up a front to please you or make you feel good. There is an old saying that Respect is meant to be earned and not given. For me, I give the respect and trust but never abuse it cos once I take it back it is hard for me to return it. I trust and respect you for who you are and not judge you for what you are not.

I give you the respect with no questions asked no matter whether you are rich or poor, fat or thin, whether u hold a high post or if you are a low wage salary employee, whether you are the employer or the employee. Irregardless of race or nationality. I don't jump to conclusion without 1st finding out the truth or experiencing and gettin 1st hand encounters. I do not expect much except that you return the same to me and not make me prove myself worthy to gain your respect, trust or friendship. Without any uncalled for doubts, questions or the need for reasons.

There are people from many walks of life. Some are blessed with a good life, not having the need to worry about bills, debts or to make ends meet. Some are not so blessed but they are still able to live a moderately good life with abit of fine tuning here and there. And there are some who slog and work jus to make ends meet and have to constantly worry whether they have enough money at the end of the day for a meal or to pay the ever mounting bills, loans and debts.

For me, I'm neither here nor there... not born with a golden spoon nor was I born in a very low incomed environment. I wouldn't dare classify myself under the middle income category nor do I belong to the low income category. To be able to afford a wedding and house, I wouldn't deny that these have put alot of stain on our pockets. But I am blessed and thankful that I have a very understanding and generous mother-in-law who was willing to help us out during our time of need and has never once demanded that we returned the loan we took from her to this day, as well as my parents who have helped us in the many ways they could.

Still, bills will always come every month, loans will accumulate and multiple due to the interest rates imposed by our legal blood suckers. But, does this mean that we should live a life of a pauper? Save every single cent jus to pay off our loans and bills? Of cos I'm not implying that we should continue splurging and incurring more debts. Are we not entitled to live a normal life and spend on everyday necessities that are within our means? Are we not entitled to the little happiness so as to forget all our troubles and sadness? Are we not supposed to go on short trips to destress and make ourselves happy for just that few days?

Why then are we being questioned? Why are there doubts? Why are we being judged? Why can't I go on short trips? What makes you tink that we are paying for everything during our short trips with our family? Even if we do end up paying slightly more, it is a choice we made. A choice I chose, to spend money in exchange for time spent with my family. Nothing can replace the memories and time spent with them. Nothing is more to me other than my family. Nothing will ever replace the memories accumulated. No one knows when a love one might jus leave you suddenly one day. I do not want to live to have to experience any regrets becos I wasnt able to spend time with them when there were around.

And why can't I have a 2nd dog? Does it mean that just becos I already have 1 dog I cant have another? Den why do people want to have more than 1 children? Or why do others need to own more than 1 car, 1 wallet, 1 watever... You may ask why don't I use the money and pay our loan/debt. We have asked ourselves that as well. However, will this amount of money spent on them instead be used to pay my loans and bill help to lower it? Will I be debt free within 2 years? The answer is simple. No it will not. Cos the amount is not significant enaf. It's not even enaf to pay for the interest that is being charged to me every month. Everything will continue to accumulate month after month.

Why can't I spend the amount that I can afford to spend on my dogs if it makes me happier? If it makes us relax? If it brings a smile to our faces? If it makes us remember to be selfless? If it reminds us that love is unconditional? If it brings joy and laughter to our lives and to the lives of those we care around us. Why then can't I spend it on these? Why then cant I spend it on my dogs if it makes me forget jus for that few minutes about everything that is bad?! Am I supposed to be misearble and unhappy month after month? And not spend abit to bring joy to my life? Am I not entitled to that little bit of happiness... glimmer of hope for a better tomorrow?

A true friend is someone who offers help with no questions asked if it is within their means. If it is not, a true friend will find ways to help you out to solve any problems faced. A true friend offers you solutions and not bigger problems be it financially, mentally or emotionally. And even if there are questions, it would be put forward to us tactfully and directed directly to us and not thru others. Questions will be asked out of concern and curiosity and not because of doubts or asked to belittle us or make us feel inferior.

I must say it has been a great experience and it was fortunate of us to have friends who belong to the middle if not higher income category. It was fun and good as long as it lasted to be able to enjoy the good life that they lead. To have made their acquaintances and experience what it was like to have the capability to spend and keep spending and not have to think too much if they would be able to have the means to pay for it the following month. The introduction to the quality of what their life was like to us... I must say that it was suffocating at times to have to be able to live up to their standards so as not to be the odd one out... it was a once in a lifetime experience... and I guess it will remain as that... Once in a lifetime... a life free from having to think if there was going to be sufficient funds the following month... A Life of Extravagence...

I believe it's time we return to the simple life where we live within our means... continue our life like every other family who belong between the low n middle income family in Singapore with loans and bills to pay every month... of cos there would be the occasional spending esp during the festive seasons. But no amount of money can be exchanged for the togetherness and happy moments shared with love ones and true friends and of cos my lovable duo... :)

A Life of Simplicity... Simplicity that brings with it happiness, joy and many many smiles... I thank god that I am blessed with supportive families, have many many simple friends who do not pass judgement or have doubts in me, buddies with whom our friendship has been built over more than 10 years whilst others whom I've known for less than a year and close friends I've known for less than a handful of years to share such simplicity with... :) I Thank God for my Simple Family & Friends...