Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Is this a dream?
How beautiful this is. Autumm Kochia Hill in Japan.
Reminds me of the forest in The Lorax.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Moody Cause
A little psychoanalysis. I noticed I get moody every week. Since April. I get a little depressed and loony, especially with the husband, sometimes for no apparent reason, not for what he did, but what he DIDN'T do. EVERY WEEK. It's crazy I know, and I'm kinda fed-up with myself. Do you know how emotionally tiring it is? I'm this happy chirpy girl who has to be angry every week. What gives, girl?
There must be a reason of some kind, I thought. A possible cause?
I'm filling my void with emotional junk. Yes, that's it. I healed physically, but I may not have paid much attention to emotional healing. We went back to our lives as if nothing happened. We never talked much or deeply about it. We never had any memorial of some sort. It was just too emotional for us, at least for me until now. He worked harder in the meantime, and had gotten stressed out at work, while I needed more attention. But I couldn't express it because I was clueless. I was just this occasionally-loony wife crying in the dark, mad at her husband, mad at herself and completely out of control of her emotions. Did I say I was clueless?
Thank goodness, I have my craft station.
There must be a reason of some kind, I thought. A possible cause?
I'm filling my void with emotional junk. Yes, that's it. I healed physically, but I may not have paid much attention to emotional healing. We went back to our lives as if nothing happened. We never talked much or deeply about it. We never had any memorial of some sort. It was just too emotional for us, at least for me until now. He worked harder in the meantime, and had gotten stressed out at work, while I needed more attention. But I couldn't express it because I was clueless. I was just this occasionally-loony wife crying in the dark, mad at her husband, mad at herself and completely out of control of her emotions. Did I say I was clueless?
Thank goodness, I have my craft station.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Married to Smartphones
This has been brewing in my heart for a long time now (uh-oh) and I often feel sad and disappointed in the way things are nowadays.
What happened to the good old ways of hanging out together, communicating, cuddling and such in a home that was once filled with physical connections, lots of personal affections and trivial casual chit-chats. Those were so natural, like subconscious reflex. Now, the subconscious reflex is to reach for your smartphone regardless of whether there is a message alert beep or not.
Why is he whatsapping so much? Why is he playing games instead when we have a rare chance of lying in bed together just to chat after the kids are asleep? And if he's looking at his phone so often, why can't he reply a small favour I texted? Why didn't he texted me back? Why doesn't he call me during the day just to hear my voice? Why doesn't he leave me sweet-nothings messages?
The smartphones have taken away the romance. And I am miserable. I am genetically a romantic person. I am also a Piscean. I thrive on dreamland and affections. That is just who I am. My subconscious reflex, is to hug. I'm a hugger, a kisser, a tickler, a smoocher, a pecker, a holder. That is why I adore children because I could do all these so naturally. But when smartphones arrived in my home, I no longer felt I could be myself, the hugger. I want to, but I don't want to, why should I always be the romantic one? Resentment grew each day. It is miresable not being able to be yourself.
I even prayed. Daily. For God to give me abundance of love, for patience, to accept, for strength to be a loving wife amidst being chopped liver. But Samsung won (alongside the newspaper and the Golf Channel).
And what I'm most mad at is that he doesn't 'get it'. He doesn't sense that I need attention too. And the romantics HATE to have to spell it out loud. There was no way I could simply say, "Hey baby, put the phone/newspaper/remote down and have a chat with me, please?". Because that is NOT. ROMANTIC. And after being together for more than ten years, I expected some sensitivity towards my.. you know, body language, expression, and most importantly, what I'm NOT saying. I know, romantics are very hard to be with.
Then it struck me. As naturally as I am a romantic, men are naturally wired to be addicted to gadgets. It's the same as watching TV, especially if it's a good movie, your eyes are fixated on the screen and you just can't move away. It is also the same as driving by an accident scene on the road. We are all 'wired' to look. Darn it then why can't men be wired to be mutually romantic?
What happened to the good old ways of hanging out together, communicating, cuddling and such in a home that was once filled with physical connections, lots of personal affections and trivial casual chit-chats. Those were so natural, like subconscious reflex. Now, the subconscious reflex is to reach for your smartphone regardless of whether there is a message alert beep or not.
Why is he whatsapping so much? Why is he playing games instead when we have a rare chance of lying in bed together just to chat after the kids are asleep? And if he's looking at his phone so often, why can't he reply a small favour I texted? Why didn't he texted me back? Why doesn't he call me during the day just to hear my voice? Why doesn't he leave me sweet-nothings messages?
The smartphones have taken away the romance. And I am miserable. I am genetically a romantic person. I am also a Piscean. I thrive on dreamland and affections. That is just who I am. My subconscious reflex, is to hug. I'm a hugger, a kisser, a tickler, a smoocher, a pecker, a holder. That is why I adore children because I could do all these so naturally. But when smartphones arrived in my home, I no longer felt I could be myself, the hugger. I want to, but I don't want to, why should I always be the romantic one? Resentment grew each day. It is miresable not being able to be yourself.
I even prayed. Daily. For God to give me abundance of love, for patience, to accept, for strength to be a loving wife amidst being chopped liver. But Samsung won (alongside the newspaper and the Golf Channel).
And what I'm most mad at is that he doesn't 'get it'. He doesn't sense that I need attention too. And the romantics HATE to have to spell it out loud. There was no way I could simply say, "Hey baby, put the phone/newspaper/remote down and have a chat with me, please?". Because that is NOT. ROMANTIC. And after being together for more than ten years, I expected some sensitivity towards my.. you know, body language, expression, and most importantly, what I'm NOT saying. I know, romantics are very hard to be with.
Then it struck me. As naturally as I am a romantic, men are naturally wired to be addicted to gadgets. It's the same as watching TV, especially if it's a good movie, your eyes are fixated on the screen and you just can't move away. It is also the same as driving by an accident scene on the road. We are all 'wired' to look. Darn it then why can't men be wired to be mutually romantic?
Monday, October 08, 2012
Doraemon Melts Hearts...
Couple of weekends ago, we popped over to City Square JB to meet Doraemon to celebrate his -100th Anniversary. HOW CUTE IS THAT. Minus 100th. Why?
Because he's from the future. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA. Get it? Get it?
OK.
The meet-and-greet sessions were held at the ground floor atrium, together with stalls and stalls of mooncakes. And of course, there is a Doraemon mooncake stall. LOVE the Honey Jackfruit and Mango Tango ones. OH SO DELISH. Buy four and you get a free adorable bag! (will take pic)
When Doraemon and his gang come, they bring along the huge collections of souvenirs ranging from clothes (babies and adults), pillows, quilt covers, bedsheet sets, stationery, food containers, water bottles, lanyards, soft toys, room slippers, the whole caboodle!
AND YOU WANT TO BUY THEM ALL. The blue is hypnotic I tell you. It tells you to splurge.
The whole gang. Like Smurfette, Shizuka is the only girl that hangs out with them.
The free bag that came with 4 mooncakes.
Photo print of the meet-n-greet session. RM25.
Because he's from the future. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA. Get it? Get it?
OK.
The meet-and-greet sessions were held at the ground floor atrium, together with stalls and stalls of mooncakes. And of course, there is a Doraemon mooncake stall. LOVE the Honey Jackfruit and Mango Tango ones. OH SO DELISH. Buy four and you get a free adorable bag! (will take pic)
When Doraemon and his gang come, they bring along the huge collections of souvenirs ranging from clothes (babies and adults), pillows, quilt covers, bedsheet sets, stationery, food containers, water bottles, lanyards, soft toys, room slippers, the whole caboodle!
AND YOU WANT TO BUY THEM ALL. The blue is hypnotic I tell you. It tells you to splurge.
The whole gang. Like Smurfette, Shizuka is the only girl that hangs out with them.
The free bag that came with 4 mooncakes.
Photo print of the meet-n-greet session. RM25.
Friday, October 05, 2012
IKEA Swedish Meatballs
Easy dinner.
What you need to buy from the IKEA food section:
1 pack of meatballs. Serves 6 gluttons. I assume there are 60 balls in the pack. The ones in Singapore are made of beef and pork I think.
A jar of MUST-HAVE Lingonberry jam. Condiments to the entire meal.
A packet of the sauce powder.
Whipping cream. Or cream for cooking/whipping. Bought mine from Giant.
Potatoes. Peeled and boiled, and halved.
Protocol:
1. Heat the meatballs in a single layer on a baking tray. Bake the frozen balls directly in a preheated oven at about 170 degrees Celsius for 15-20 minutes.
2. Make the gravy by boiling 280ml of water, then pour in 70ml of cream. Empty the packet of gravy powder and stir while boiling. The powder clumped a bit so I had to 'press' the clumps against the pot to dissolve them completely. One packet serves 4.
3. Serve ten meatballs per pax on a plate, pour gravy generously on top, along with 2 halved boiled potatoes, and 3 spoonfuls of Lingonberry jam at the side.
Easy peasy!
What you need to buy from the IKEA food section:
1 pack of meatballs. Serves 6 gluttons. I assume there are 60 balls in the pack. The ones in Singapore are made of beef and pork I think.
A jar of MUST-HAVE Lingonberry jam. Condiments to the entire meal.
A packet of the sauce powder.
Whipping cream. Or cream for cooking/whipping. Bought mine from Giant.
Potatoes. Peeled and boiled, and halved.
Protocol:
1. Heat the meatballs in a single layer on a baking tray. Bake the frozen balls directly in a preheated oven at about 170 degrees Celsius for 15-20 minutes.
2. Make the gravy by boiling 280ml of water, then pour in 70ml of cream. Empty the packet of gravy powder and stir while boiling. The powder clumped a bit so I had to 'press' the clumps against the pot to dissolve them completely. One packet serves 4.
3. Serve ten meatballs per pax on a plate, pour gravy generously on top, along with 2 halved boiled potatoes, and 3 spoonfuls of Lingonberry jam at the side.
Easy peasy!
Wednesday, October 03, 2012
Handmade Ring Cushion
I made this for my sister-in-law who is getting ROM-ed this Saturday.
Materials: White/cream soft cotton linen fabric cut approx. 7" x 7". White cotton lace. Red embroidery thread and needle. Alphabet stamps (bought from Kiang Trading). Versacraft black inkpad for stamping on multi surfaces.
A friend gave me a copy of Clover embroidery pattern where I traced the birds from. The couple's names are hand-stamped below the birds.
To tie the rings, I attached a silvery grey satin ribbon folded in half, adorned with a crystal brad.
The back of the crystal brads look like this.
When the design is done on the cover, I stitched the front and back fabric with the lace in the between, right side of fabric facing each other (I had sewn a love later on to complete the design. Then it was turned inside out, and filled with polyester filling.
Done!
Materials: White/cream soft cotton linen fabric cut approx. 7" x 7". White cotton lace. Red embroidery thread and needle. Alphabet stamps (bought from Kiang Trading). Versacraft black inkpad for stamping on multi surfaces.
A friend gave me a copy of Clover embroidery pattern where I traced the birds from. The couple's names are hand-stamped below the birds.
To tie the rings, I attached a silvery grey satin ribbon folded in half, adorned with a crystal brad.
The back of the crystal brads look like this.
When the design is done on the cover, I stitched the front and back fabric with the lace in the between, right side of fabric facing each other (I had sewn a love later on to complete the design. Then it was turned inside out, and filled with polyester filling.
Done!
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