Happy Productive Weekend

I just love weekends that are well-utilized AND relaxing at the same time. It's so strange, it felt like there were a lot of activities going on, yet a lot of time to chill. Is this some kind of twilight time-stretched zone? I don't know, but I welcome it!

So, my last weekend was like that. 

Daniel's drum school had a mini recital. There were just 4 students who performed very short pieces. Just a little exposure for them to experience stage performance in front of a small audience.

Attended the husband's friend's daughter's birthday party at DoubleTree Hilton. She's 3. Uh-huh.

Played badminton and had a walk around the neighbourhood with Darren, while Daniel played badminton and cycled with his neighbourhood friends. This is what I love most about living in a Malay-dominated housing estate. The kampung spirit is still very alive here. Kids playing with each other, riding their bicycles around, going to the park, playing futsal, badminton, feeding stray cats, riding to the petrol kiosk to buy junk food. etc. 

Went to the market with the husband, then to a lovely kopitiam breakfast at Jalan Tan Hiok Nee.. just the two of us.

Collected tickets for the Great British Circus at Sutera. Circuses are so rare now, so I thought it would  be awesome if the boys could experience it for the first time.

Tutored Daniel in Bahasa. To me, this constitute a productive day. Haha. But seriously, I feel very contented if I manage to teach him something. Even if it's just a page of a workbook. Yesterday, I made him remember a few commonly used peribahasa. A day well-spent.

Hand-painted and made a confetti spots zipper pouch for an Etsy buyer.

Had my car serviced and all 4 tyres changed.

Waterplay and swimming at the club. The same pool I used to swim in since I was a tween. I just love the familiarity and the nostalgia of the club. Guess what, everything is still the same! Apart from the renovated pool and the new wading pool design, the surrounding remained unchanged. Same clubhouse restaurant, same bathroom, same floor tiles, same lights, same feeling. 

Yesterday, Darren achieved a new mini-milestone in swimming. A few weeks back, he swam for the first time, but not the proper way where his head was kept under water all throughout. So yesterday, after much persuasion for weeks, he did the dip-lift-breath action. You know, the practice where you dip your head in the water, then lift and take a breath, and repeat the whole thing for as many times as you can while holding the pool edge. We're getting there! 

After a comforting hearty porridge meal at Gu Zhao Ren Taiwan Porridge, the husband bought home a pack of DURIANS!!! I don't what is your version of a perfect day, but to me, this is THE perfect day!

A Scandinavian Boy's Room

A long-awaited post! The boys' room extension was finally completed about last month. Now it's double the size!

The mess...

Laminated flooring in progress.

Almost there!

Kepoh-ing with the painting.

Completo! The Scandinavian themed room I've always wanted to create.

Their study, reading and playing area.

The ingredients to get the Nordic look (stockist details at the end):

Wall art.

There are plenty of printables on Etsy. I basically searched "Scandinavian wall art for children's room" and eventually narrowed down to 3. 

Here, I am actually not very pleased with the frame arrangements. I didn't plan very well.

And speaking about wall hangings, a lot of people want to hang nice arts on their wall but never got around to do it because they hate drilling the wall. I hate it too. So my best way was to get the light FISKBO IKEA frames and then hang it using the 3M hook (photo somewhere below).

It really works! No mess!

Bed linen sets. 

Storage and large cushions... (and a retro fan!)

Curtains. This photo makes the room look dark, but actually it is still rather bright even when all the curtains are drawn.

*The making of the room*

WALL ART

Fine Little Day Apple Poster from bloesem. Purchased online from their shop and self-collected from the shop owner's humongous British colonial white bungalow house at Nassim Road, Singapore. 

Printable Cat Print from AtelierKokoon

 

Printable Yin Yang Bear 'Find Balance' from TutuPepe. 

Rabbit poster from synplus. Have yet to display this in their room.

My own art. I'll be happy to share the pdf file.

This 3M sawtooth hook is my favourite.

BED LINEN SETS

Ordered from Taobao.

Designs like these are not found anywhere in Malaysia, Singapore or even IKEA. And the impressive thing is, the quality is actually good. Smooth 100% cotton, and doesn't make one feel hot lying on it. Initially I was skeptical but I really wanted these designs so I took the risk, and now I'm very satisfied with them! 

The Cloud & Pine Tree bed linen set.

The Swiss Cross bed linen set. 

You can select from the many designs in that link, and also the size. The set comes with a choice of fitted or flat sheet. ( Not all sets do, so check first)

CURTAINS

This adorable Whale Curtain was also ordered from Taobao, custom-made. The eazyla staff was awesome! They helped me communicate with the seller (in Chinese of course, not my forte) on the measurements and all the other details. I'm impressed how good the service is! Most of the sellers will customize the size and include the backing for the curtain hooks. They also offer a few types of backing depending on the kind of hook you want. 

STORAGE

You probably recognize this ubiquitous 3-shelves rack, found in Giant and local furniture shops. Super cheap...looking. I remember back then, it only came in this brown. Now there are white, black, colourful and also in laminated wooden texture that actually makes it look very atas ( found in TESCO)

So, I znged it.

I made boxes without the top using plastic corrugated boards which were cut into sizes and joined with binding tapes (the strongest stickiest type). 

The front part is covered with this Scandinavian Half Circle Wave fabric from luckyshop0228. 

I used the same binding tape to add a tab at the bottom as a pull-out.

And that cute bear paper bag storage is from Tellkiddo.

CUSHIONS

It is also hard to find nice covers for LARGE cushions. IKEA offers a limited selection. So I got their large INNER cushions, and made a couple of covers with these fabrics:

Small Cross and Cloud Pattern cotton fabric from luckyshop0228 as well.

For one of the covers, there weren't enough fabric for both sides, so substituted one side with this really cute duck pattern fabric, also from the same shop.

I must say, it is a happy room! I don't know if the boys appreciate the style but they love the extra space! 

Scandinavian Floral Fabric

Remember the fabric I bought from Taobao?

Ta-da. These colours make me SO happy.

The bigger pieces will be made into totes. Still sprawling somewhere in my craft station...

Kuso Virtual Reality

We stumbled upon this in KSL.

Nope. Not getting it.

No TV

I impose a No-TV timezone at home, from 2-5pm. Because I want the boys to be bored. Because when you're bored, you are forced to create your own activity. In which I hope they will do other things like playing with the toys I bought for them every Christmases and birthdays, drawing , reading and just day-dreaming. Because it makes them more creative.

Does it? I don't really know for sure, but I think there might be some truth it this.

So last night, Darren confessed that he watched TV during the forbidden timezone. AGAIN.

Not the first or second or third time.

I had it. I scolded him for real. Yelled and glared, and everything monsters do to scare kids.

You know that cry that makes you catch your breath? Darren cried like that for the first time (lucky kid), and he was scared and kept crying. After what seemed like eternity, he was standing in a corner, still crying. I asked him, "Why are you still crying?"

" *catching breath* because... *catching breath* *sob sob* I cannot breath properly *wail*"

I have never, in my life, resisted a laughter this hard before. And he looked SOOOOOO adorable. And so poor thing.

But I was still disciplining. I sat him on this bed, where he was still sobbing and trying to catch his breath. After another eternity, I caved in. I held him in my arms and patted his back.

So, today, it is NO TV day. Yes, the whole damn day. Good for them.

April 7th

I had the loveliest dream that morning before I woke up for work. I was carrying an adorable little baby, maybe a couple months old. I didn't get a clear facial view, but oh, my baby was the cutest little mushy thing ever.

I think it was the most wonderful gift from God. A dream. The only closest reality I can have with the one who got away. This was not something I imagined or consciously created, but given to me in the form of a dream.

I told two close friends, and one of them suggested I light a candle for him. And so I did.

I didn't say anything to the husband. I don't know why, but I get the feeling that he will just brush it off and say things like "Aww, it happened so long ago, don't think about it anymore ok?"

That's the thing with loss and grief. People around you tells you to cheer up and 'don't think about it anymore' because it makes one sad. I know they mean well. They want you to be happy and not mull over sad things. Those who has not lost an unborn baby will never ever know how it really feels. How it feels after one month. How it feels after one year. How it feels after 5 years. Let me tell you. 

It feels the same. That empty space that was created for him, will never be filled. It is like his room.  Once in a while you open the door to that room, it looks exactly as it was left.

Anyway, the husband went out for mahjong. I was disappointed but I couldn't say anything. What a torture. Well, it is not a date I expect him to set a reminder on his phone calendar anyway. I just didn't want to make it like it's a big deal, though it feels big to me. Oh shut up Ally.

Peace.

Outing with Relatives - Junk Sales @ Evangelione

Aunts and uncle from Japan were visiting. I just had to bring them here...

Sangkaya

Evangelione's Junk Sales. Daniel is rummaging through 'old things', hoping to find an XBOX. Haha, in your dream, dude, in your dreams.

Uncle Asakura was happy to find old cassette tapes and covers.

Vintage bags and homemade cookies.

Happy day!

Just some stamping over the weekend...

Ayer Hitam & Kluang Outing

On Good Friday last week, we took a drive to Ayer Hitam. Mummy dearest wanted to look for the 'Thai triangle lounge mattress'. And I have been craving for the Kluang toast. And it was my aunt's birthday. What a good excuse to go!

First stop was Kedai Kopi Tang Chuan.

You can find out more about it on johorkaki's post.

Their pao is good. The comment I get from the husband and my mom was that the pork is nicely made. But I wouldn't say it is significantly better than the ones in that dim sum place in Perling, Tasixi. Not bad, but service was a bit bleh. We weren't given small plates. And they aren't particularly courteous. I guess the legacy gave them the entitlement to be like that. 

Just around the corner, is the popular local market, selling many locally made products.

I was expecting a bad traffic but surprisingly the little town was quiet! I love it! No crowds, yay!

Ayer Hitam is truly a ceramics town. Aw Pottery and Claytan are there. I wanted to visit Aw Pottery, but it was closed that day, just for that day. I was quite disappointed, as I wanted to enquire if they offer classes. Lately I've been bitten by the ceramics craze. I took a beginner's pottery class 13 years ago, and I really enjoyed it. I would love to get my hands messy again with clay. And oh, how I would LOVE to draw on raw plates, bowls and mugs! And then go through the processes to finish the wares. It really is very interesting. I think this will be my retirement plan :)

I just love local products and this place really make you feel at home.

 Second last piece! My mom was happy :) She said in JB town, this would cost RM120... but here, after discount it was RM85.

There were also a lot of local snacks like banana crackers, tapioca chips, kuih bangkit, kuih bahulu, rempeyek (peanut ikan bilis cracker), that crispy shreds of coconut snack and many more. 

Kluang is just 10-15 minutes drive from there, so we decided to drop by the popular Kluang Railway coffee shop. 

Yes, the original coffeeshop. They have a Facebook page now. 

This was indeed a good day to visit, because it wasn't crowded and we could actually find a table. 

I wanted to visit Yuen Fatt, the popular local Chinese cake shop but we were just too full to be in the mood to buy more food. Maybe next time!