~ HOT! HOT! HOT! ~

Its a Hot Hot Day!! The moment I left my comfort zone (i.e. Air-condition on the MRT), I can feel the hot, blazing morning sun especially when standing along the road waiting for the company bus. There's no where to hide... and I am perspiring. I felt so relief when the bus finally reached and I quickly hope on back to my comfort zone again...Phew....

The weather continued to be harsh.. I can feel the heat even in the evenings. This made the trip home so exhausting.. :( The most important thing that I did when I got home is to get a COLD BATH! I did not even bother to switch on the water heater like I usually do.... Felt so Cooling and Fresh when I step out of the bathroom... however, only moments later, the heat came back dwelling on me again..

The night is so unbearable... we have to power up the fans and switch on the air-condition to cool the rooms down. Our electrical bill is sure to go up up up too.. :( Ah well..so long we can get a good night sleep.. and the kids don't fall sick under this weather.

~ Sus Farewell Party ~

Had a loooong day and night yesterday... Why? Because Soo Kiat, our good buddy and colleague is leaving MSD. He joined the company about half a year later than me... so it has been 3 years now...My first impression of him was not that great as he is a man of few words who seldom smile. Cool guy... but Andrea and I got to know him better and he has helped us in many ways as well as super 'ON' on Andrea's tricks and jokes.

Yesterday finally arrived... and we are going to celebrate his departure. We have planned Lunch and Dinner/KTV 'dates"... Present, card, 'cheena' wine, food.. all were ready after weeks of preparation. We had our private lunch first with SK, NT, AG and me. Had urmmm .. super simple basic food (which AG's sister say it seems like making offerings). hahahah.. that's true cos our "GOD" (well known in the company) is leaving. Had role play and fun on SK's car on our way back..

Dinner appointment is also another major event... we had about 16 of us. Lucky there are 3 cars to take us out of the ulu Tuas to 凤波庄 in Chinatown. The resturant is a very interesting place... The waiters will call you 侠女... The chopsticks are call 双节棍.. Each dish has a name - 玉女心经， 乾坤大挪移 etc... the tables also have been named like 东邪， 西毒 etc...

The dishes are standard sets arranged by them and OH MY... its really alot! Even without rice, I had my fill.. some are pretty good while others are so so.. It has a different taste... not really local. But overall I would say it's really interesting.. I like the 大丸... it has 糯米 on the outside, as you bite it, there is meat inside and in the center core.. it is salty egg yolk! Nice!! The other signature dish is the 活水鱼... the soup is not really spicy.. but abit sour.. like tomyam. The fish meat inside is soft and good. 玉女心经 is also tasty... soft n taste a bit like 白斩鸡.. The other one is green vege cooked with 皮蛋.. also taste good too! There is a small duck...I believe they cooked it very long.. so its really soft and tender. There's 2 dishes that I don't like. One of them is the beef cooked with Red chilli.. My personal feel is it's too spicy and salty. The other one was the 豆干... urmm.. too hard.. Other than that, everything is fine. :) Drinks are free flow... the waiter/waitress stand beside us and getting ready to serve us or clear our dishes.. Not bad.

Our bill came out to be $228...not really expensive for so many of us.. and the amount of food we had. We had fun! Everyone was enjoying themselves.. participated and speak like the waiter since we are now in a 江湖 'cheena' resturant.. :p We had jokes and NT and AO was so busy taking pictures.. We presented the card and present to SK and made him say a farewell Thank you speech at the end of the dinner.. Before we leave, the waiter was also very helpful to help us take a group photo! Nice...

After a heavy dinner, some of us continued for a KTV session. There were about 12 of us and really starting to get tired and stinky :p... We had a lot of fun singing and making jokes.. Although there are not many new songs, the drinks were free flow.. not too bad. Well.. All good things will come to an end.. My night teleconference is starting at 1030pm...Denver started calling me checking when I am going home.. I have to make a move first..

Left the KTV at 10pm... hopped on the NE line train and had my teleconference throughout my way home... Hubby and the kids are sound asleep and I really needed my bath.... headed towards the bathroom.. set my BB on speaker mode and had a quick shower.. The meeting finally ended around 1145pm.. and I can go to my dreamland... :D

~ Misc Thoughts ~

Well.. nothing big/important stuff happening lately so has not been blogging... Just a couple of updates..The result of the Colour Scheme Survey has released on the notice board. 49% has voted for Proposal A (It is the colour scheme near to what we currently have - Ivory & Red) Yeah!! We have voted for that too :) The other 2 schemes are too Orange... there are already so many orange blocks in the neighbourhood.. this will definately marks a difference with the rest.

Gladys and Denver were sick lately.. - coughing. I brought them to see a doctor some time back and the assistant which we know made a comment that Gladys looks really fierce when she is not smiling and staring at you. Lol :p Well.. she is not the first to mention it. Andrea said the same thing when I show her Gladys' photos.. a couple of people also make the same comments too..

Tried to take a picture of her last Sunday to prove my point.. She is not responsive to camera and always avoiding it.. walking around and giving me that grumpy, sad look. hehehe.. Her brother is more smily and always pose whenever I have my camera with me.

Dear Gladys, you should smile more.. Will definitely look so much prettier :)

I have been enjoying my past three weeks... Why??? Because there hasn't been any night teleconference on my Wednesday night.. but today I just received an update of a series of planned meetings till June. There will be one tomorrow night at 1030pm.. Gosh.. I have a KTV session.. I may join in while on my way home.

Sookiat's last day with MSD is tomorrow..sighz.. losing another friend :( Within 6 months, I have seen 3 close friend leaving ever since we moved our office to Tuas... Cat, Janet and SooKiat... For the past 2 weeks, I have been involved with making his farewell card. Tomorrow, we are going to have farewell lunches and dinner.. will put up more photos then...

Wasn't feeling too happy with Hubby today.. I told him that I will be having a farewell dinner cum KTV session tomorrow sometime back.. Hoping that he will be initiative enough to look after the children.. As usual, he planned for his own activities again. :( I knew this will happen... Everytime when I have dinner dates (E.g Wedding/Company dinner etc).. he will leave the kids at my inlaws place and have dinner outside. However, if he is the one having functions or needing to work late, I will come back home early and find ways to either take the children back home or stay at my inlaws' place till he come and fetch us.

Many times, I also have the temptation to follow suit and just plan my own outings as well.. but I can't put my heart down to do it. Why? Denver is getting naughty and Gladys is so active.. Looking after Gladys alone is a very tiring chore.. she just can't stay put at one place doing a certain thing for long. To my best effort, I tried to avoid my inlaws looking after them after I knock off from work. They are getting on age and need a good rest too.. Moreover, my SIL did mention to me recently that their health has not been good and Denver is always making them angry. Gladys has also been tiring them out... So, I really hope Hubby can take this opportunity to try looking after them while I am away and not depending on his parents. Things have not been like the past where there are not so many complications from the family. Sooner or later we have to depend on ourselves.

For the past few outings I have never go out with a peace of mind.. I always have to keep track of my phone for any updates... and the time like Cinderella. The only difference is instead of waiting for the clock to strike 12.. I have to make sure I leave by 10pm or even earlier.. Cos I would not know if Hubby or my inlaw is unhappy or if the children is being noisy and cranky. Everytime, I rush back home and only get a sigh of relief when I reached my destination. So, I really feel sad and mad whenever Hubby goes out when I have functions. Maybe it's jealousy.. I don't really know. I guess he don't see or feel the concerns that I have. Sometimes, I even tell myself that I can't afford to fall sick... Sighz.

~ Dinner @ Swa Garden ~

Yesterday, Hubby's colleague, Genevieve treated a group of us for dinner to celebrate her birthday. She recommended "SWA Garden" located at 540 MacPherson Road. As I entered, we were greeted by the waitress, the resturant is rather old, but simple and serving traditional Teochew dishes.

Traffic has heavy and Genevieve was caught in a heavy jam... We were there early with Sengleng, Chunho and his family. While waiting, the waitress served us water and tea.. they were rather efficient and warmth... Nothing much to complain about the service there.

Dinner finally started when all of us arrived. :) Food was served rather fast.. The first dish was Crab... unlike the usual crab that I eat, this dish is cold.. on top of that, it was meaty and there is a lot of 蟹糕。Yummy... Denver love chilli crab but he doesn't seems to like it though. Subsequently, we had braised goose with beancurd underneath, vege, salad prawn, roasted pig, char kway tiao, chicken, toufu ....

I like the Roasted Pig and Salad prawn most.. The roasted pig's skin was crispy and the meat was warm.. Delicious! Salad prawn was crispy on the outside and the prawn was fresh.. Apparently, the signature dish was the Teochew version of Char Kway Tiao.. It is much drier than the kway tiao we used to eat. Less sauce and the noodles feeling more rubbery.. But it was good and something different. Hubby and his colleague also brought wine.. and we had a few glasses... I personally had 2 full glass and started to feel giddy..

The desert was Yam paste and it has Pumpkin inside... it was really nice and I finished the whole bowl... :D The final bill came to be about $390!!. Woow.... After a heavy dinner and wine, I raised the white flag when I reached home.. Totally knocked out and slept through the night..

~ Sleeping Separation ~

Initially we planned to let the kids sleep in their own room when Gladys is much older (maybe 2 plus or 3). However, naughty Denver has made us change our minds. He has been such a pain lately... not completing his homework, not listening and keep complaining. :S He is always so noisy and keep waking Gladys up. So last week, we finally made him sleep in his room for the first time. Of course, I have to keep him company till he is asleep.. else he will be scared.

We knew he did not feel comfortable and eventually will sneak back to the master bedroom... so we left the doors open. On the first night, he wake up and walked back to our room after it passed midnight. On the 2nd night, we saw him coming in at 6am and on the 3rd, I suspect it was 4am... subsequently, he will come in everynight which I lost count of the time.

Well, it's a start, and now he is accustom to his room... In order to let him have a better night rest, we bought a night lamp, a single size mattress from Seahorse and bedsheets. Lately, the weather has been rather hot and the aircon is switched on every night for a couple of hours. Denver is now able to sleep comfortably... (with me around that is)... I must admit it will take more time for him to stop climbing back to our bed in the night. We shall see... Hopefully when Gladys is old enough, Denver can look after his little sister and both of them can sleep well in their rooms. It has been 4 years since we removed our bedframe and sharing bed with the children... Let's see when Daddy and Mummy can have the bed to our own once again...

~ April Fool ~

2 days have passed since April fool... It was a weird day. Suppose to take Sookiat's car at Boonkeng as usual. I was at the train station at 710am.. Crowd was unsually more than the usual.. hence I did not manage to grab a seat... I thought it was ok since I am getting off soon anyway.. Started to read mypaper... Read.. n read.. n read.. hmmm.. the train seems to 'run' non-stop.. I put down the papers and indeed... it keeps on moving and moving..

Soon there is an annoucement saying that there is a technical fault and it will be missing a few stations... Serangoon... Potong Pasir... the MRT starts to slow down at BoonKeng.. I thought I can get off.. however, it zoom past the station. :( it continue to pass Little India, Farrer Park and did not manage to stop at Dhoby Ghaut.. :S Finally, the train stopped at Clark Quay and I am late!! Suppose to meet Sookiat at 740am.. but I am still at Clark Quay at 740.. quickly got off and hoping the train from the other platform will arrive... but it was delayed as well.. *Cry* :( Lucky Sookiat says he will pick me up at Little India instead ... else I will have to return back and work from home instead.. When I alight at Little India, I took a wrong exit.. sighz.. have to run with my heels and finally got on the car.. what a drama.. :(

To add on to the traffic condition, there was an accident where a car flip and caught fire at Jurong Pier area. AYE was very jam. Lucky Norman IM to alert us and Sookiat took PIE instead. (For awhile, I thought it was an April Fool Joke.. :p) Anyway, we were late.. In fact, many of us were late that day.

Oh..What a day!