Happy Halloween!!!

We had a fabulous Halloween here in Singapore. Myself, Jane and Annabelle organized a Halloween party at the complex where we live.

It went wonderfully. All the kids came out. We had potluck finger food, played games, did a bit of swimming and then trick or treating.

Oliver dressed up as Bob the Builder, Martin went in the Mr. Bones costume and I was a witch.
For games, we played "Race the eyeball", where you had to carry an "eyeball" on a spoon. The big girls (i.e. the 9 year olds) helped out the little kids. The eyeballs were golfballs that I drew to look like eyeballs. We also played musical statues and did a treasure hunt.The kids went swimming to cool off.and then went trick or treating in the complex.

Framed baby samplers

I forgot to put these up during yesterday's update. We picked up the framed pictures.

I will post them on www.joeandjill.ca later this week for printing.

Monday Craft Update

A pretty slow week actually. I've been tired, so I've been going to bed early. Plus I was working on a Halloween project, which you'll hear more about.

Cross-stitch
Did a couple of hours on the snow family.

Photography
Still didn't get photos loaded up. I will do it after Halloween - I promise.

Knitting
I decided to take my basic baby ball pattern and knit it all in orange. I would then stitch on a pumpkin face. Sounds easy enough. I know how to knit. I know how to stitch.

Well, the road to bad crafts is paved with good ideas. Behold, the knit pumpkin of ineptness.It took me two hours to get "triangle" eyes. By that time, my grand plans for the mouth where out the window, and I decided to just do a Frankenstein mouth. Of course, it ended up crooked to, but by that point, it was too funny to fix. I asked Joe, if I should try and make a stem for the pumpkin. His advice "just leave it". I think my laughing at it, scared him.

It looks like a Frankenstein Wal-mart happy face.

Book Review & Movie Review

Book Review: Don Quixote De La Mancha by Miguel De Cervantes

Well, I finally finished this book, I've been reading it all year. It's pretty enjoyable, though it does tend to stray quite a bit. It is a comedy, but the humour is not puns but rather the deeds that Don Quixote performs, so it translates well.

Don Quixote is a fairly well-to-do man, who decides that he should become a knight errant (basically a wandering knight) and bring back that golden age of chivalry. He has read many books on the subject and has a tendency to see things in that light. His most famous one is seeing windmills as giants and attacking them as such.

The book is written such that the author has basically found the history of Don Quixote and is relating the book he found, so he will refer to the "original author" quite frequently, and speaks directly to the reader. The book is two parts and in the second part, Don Quixote, and his loyal squire Sancho Panza are aware that a book has been written about them. Due to that, they meet characters that are aware of their exploits and take the opportunity to play elaborate tricks on them.

I recommend the book, but it is a long read.

Movie Review: Rendition

We escaped last night and saw Rendition. It's about an Egyptian man who has moved to the US, has a wife and son and baby on the way, and gets mistaken as a terrorist. He is whisked out of the US, without access to a lawyer, in order to be questioned by third parties, who don't have to say they do not torture. The movie then follows several plot lines. His, the wife trying to find out what happened to him, and the family of the third party torturer.

It was an "enjoyable" movie (as much as that topic can be enjoyable). I don't think it's going to be a classic for all times, but it wasn't a waste of money either.

Today

Today I decided on tough love and left the house without Martin. I felt like I was missing something the whole time.

Joe and I met up with Linda to eat at Din Tai Fung, which has yummy wan ton soup. The only thing is the one at Wisma (shopping mall) has poor service.

I went shopping - everything was so high end and expensive. Even the Gap was expensive - S$39 for a tshirt - I don't think so. Plus, it was all winter clothes!! Stupid globalization.

I did get a ruby red cotton dress shirt, short sleeves, with an interesting diamond design over the button holes. It's from Raoul, but again I can't find it on the website. I did see some pale pink shirts that Lana would like.

Oh, and what you really want to know. Martin did take the bottle, he didn't drink much, but wasn't fussy and slept a lot.

Spoke too soon

about Mom being right. Well, she is almost always right, so I'm not taking that away. I spoke to soon about Martin going on the bottle. He refused again today.

I think what I'm going to do tomorrow is leave the house. I have a tendency to rescue Basil when Martin gets too upset and then give him the boob. I know, I know, I'm defeating myself, but I hate to hear him cry (what can I say - I'm a soft touch).

So, I'm going to go out for lunch. Nearby, so if he just won't eat, I can get home pretty quickly.

On a happier note, I bought new shoes. Can't easily find a picture on line. They are Hush Puppies, dark brown, slip on, with white stitching and a wedge heel. They are casual to wear with shorts. Best part? Half price at $35!!

Y&R : Out of the Ashes

I know, two blogs in one day. But seriously - have you been watching Y&R? I'm only caught up to Friday (Canadian feed), so no spoilers for me. If you haven't watched that far, then there will be spoilers for you.

I watched all of last week Y&R this morning. Man it was good. I can't believe Friday's episode. I hope they don't kill off Jack, as he's the only remaining Abbot on the show. I'll be so upset if they do. In fact, I teared up a little bit when Sharon and Nick left him behind (I'm a big TV sap).

And was it just me, or was Nick really good looking trapped underneath the parking garage? They should put cement dust in his hair more often.

I can't believe it's taken Victor that long to get out there. Take a helicopter, man. And why isn't Nikki concerned about Victoria?

I'm downloading Monday's episode right now - it can't come down fast enough for me.

Mom is always right

I should listen to her more.

Guess what Martin is doing right now? Drinking from a bottle with Basil. What type of bottle you ask? One of those Playtex nurser bottles that Mom insisted we buy with Oliver. We did with Oliver and he started nursing a couple of days later. Now Martin has taken an ounce of pumped milk. Yay!!!

Martin update

Well, according to the scale (and my math) last night, Martin is 13.2 pounds. He's a growing boy. He's certainly "chunking" up and he's getting cuter everyday.

I've been pumping twice a day most days, and have over 20 bags of milk in the freezer. Which is good, but not sure if he's going to take it.

We've tried now two days in a row to introduce the bottle. Yesterday, I made the mistake and used a big bottle (4.5 ounces) and he took nothing. I was smarter today and only used an ounce. He cried and cried at Basil, so eventually I just nursed him. I tried fooling him, by giving him some bottle when he pulled off of nursing, keeping him in the same position, but no go. He's taken about 0.25 ounces today from the bottle, and that's most likely just the bottle dripping into his mouth.

Not much to do except keep trying.

P.S. Did you notice the new picture at the side?

Monday Craft Update

Pretty good week despite not getting much daytime work done.

Knitting

The blocks are done! See for yourself.

I'm pleased with the blocks and I'm glad I did them.

Cross-stitch

Took the baby samplers in for framing. Will get them back this week.

Good progress on snow family thanks to the ott-light as I can work at night. Once this is done I think I'll drag out the dragon again.

Photography

Didn't get pictures posted as I had hoped. Sorry.

Happy Birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD & GRANDPA!!!

Today is Dad's birthday, and the fates must be working for him as Google Blogger isn't allowing pictures to be uploaded right now. Since he hates having his picture taken, that works out well for him!

I won't say how old he is, but let's say WWII was still going on when he was born.

We all hope he has a great day and an even better year! I think he should come to Singapore (with Mom) to celebrate and we'll do a late birthday cake.

Guests

Like all good things, it must come to an end. Our house guests are gone. I believe they are on their cruise, but who really knows?

It was great seeing Antonio and Big Aunt, and meeting Joe's cousin. Of course, the highlight was seeing Joe's parents.

Today was an adventure for Joe trying to pick up his parents from the cruise ship, as first he went to the Cruise Terminal (seems logical - no?), and then they sent him to the ferry terminal at the airport (huh?) which had restricted access, so they sent him back to the Cruise Terminal. Turns out all passengers were shuttled to a duty free stop right around the corner from where we live (d'oh!).

Since pretty much the whole morning was wasted, we just went out for lunch at the food court (which is very Singaporean culture - we aren't just a bunch of cheap skates) and Joe took them back to the duty free shop for shuttling back to the ship. I hope they are all on board. No one has called, so I'm assuming they are and not sleeping at the airport trying to get a flight home.

We had pizza for dinner and everyone is sleeping in their own beds. Oliver is very happy about that.

I'm an odd duck

You know (as I'm sure you all do), I'm an odd duck. I've started pumping in preparation for going back to work. Most mothers, in order to pump will think about their child, or look at a picture. Since, I'm an expert pumper (11 months for Oliver), I don't need to do that. So what do I do when I pump? I read reinsurance textbooks!

Working seems to put me in the pumping mood. Like I said, I'm an odd duck.

My back to work date is November 12th. It's fast approaching unfortunately.

Oliver update

Oliver's logic and reasoning have seem to do another leap forward. Holding conversations with him is a lot of fun. However, he has reached the Age of Reason, and everything is "why why why". Sometimes, it does get a bit tiresome, but for the most part we love it.

Here are some examples of conversations with him lately.

The other day, we were driving Oliver home from school, and Joe was joking with him, Oliver said "Daddy make a joke with me.".

This morning, he said he didn't want to go to school, when I asked him why, he said "I changed my mind".

His best friend is Mack the truck from Cars. Mack is the big 18 wheeler.

He is really into role playing, and his cars that he plays with now has passengers. Usually a Daddy and a Mommy.

He's also gotten back into swimming in the big pool, so we are very happy about that. Yesterday, we bought these water gun toys (everyone here has them, they are a lot of fun), but it was raining. Well, it's still +27C here when it rains, so Oliver and I went and played with them in the pool anyways. It was a lot of fun.

He also got his haircut (after these picture) and for the first time, didn't cry!

Oliver's pretty adaptable (for a 2.5 year old) and has been sleeping in our room without fuss with all the visitors. He sleeps on that little sofa. He was on the air matress, but it leaks air.

He's interested in Martin. He'll say to Martin "Martin, why are you crying? Don't cry Martin." and today he wanted to hold him. Of course, I got pictures, once they are downloaded, I'll post them.

Oh, they grow up too fast. I wish I could just save time in a bottle.

Monday Craft Update

First off, Happy two month birthday Martin!!

Cross-stitch
Got several hours done on the snow family. It was a busy week so I didn't get as much done as I like.

Knitting
Excellent progress on the blocks. Finished stitching the letters and started crocheting the squares together. They look good. Should finish this week.

Stuffed a knit ball and gave away.

Photography
Posted Malaysia pictures. Will try to post pictures weekly.

Visitors & Visas

Well, it has been an interesting day to say the least. We received an email early this morning from Joe's cousin, Antonio. He and Big Aunt were on their way to join up with Joe's parents and Cousin in Bangkok. Turns out if you are traveling under a Mexican passport (like Big Aunt and Cousin) you need a visa. The travel agency did not get one for them.

So, after much fussing around today, Cousin is staying here until to Friday, when the cruise ship arrives, and Big Aunt and Antonio are arriving on Monday night to stay until the cruise comes. Good thing we live in Singapore!

We had a very nice visit with Joe's parents. On Thursday, they slept in because of jet lag and we went out for dim sum. That night Joe's mom and cousin cooked us a nice meal.

On Friday, we pulled Oliver out of school, and went to the zoo. We saw the elephant show, Joe played with his new zoom lens, and generally had a good time. That night Joe's mom and cousin cooked us some yummy black bean chicken. There was also fish, I couldn't tell you if it was yummy or not.

Today, as it was rainy we stayed home and had the fussing about the flights. Oliver did go swimming and Joe's dad went also, and was impressed with his abilities.

I don't have a good picture of Oliver with Joe's parents, but this is from the zoo splash pad, taking with the zoom lens. Isn't this a beautiful picture?

So many projects

so little time. If only mat leave was a year or two. At full pay. With live-in help.

Sigh, I have something that is called "startitis", which is that you always want to start new projects.

I mentioned that I ordered this:to make Oliver. Unfortunately, it didn't reach Joe's parents before they left, so I don't have it yet (or fortunately maybe). There is a chance I'll get it soon, as friends of their's is checking the mail and coming on their cruise.

But yesterday, I bought Cross-stitch Crazy magazine for October (issue 104). It has the best stocking ever. It is a polar bear fishing and below the ice are sea creatures (like crabs, etc). It is a great blend of cold water and warm water and I want to make it for Martin. I'm realistic though and know it is for next year. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a place for a name, but I'll just stitch an extra couple of inches and put on his name. I'm sorry I can't find a picture of it on-line that's good enough to view.

I've become addicted to cross-stitch magazines, especially with the Christmas ones coming out. I'm on the hunt for the perfect ornament to make Paulina, as we enter year 2 of our exchange. I'm tossed between two different ideas. One idea is to make something challenging for me (I'm eying trying Hardanger) or make one meaningful for her (using my new software and stitching a picture of my face - ha ha!).

The in-laws

Joe's parents and cousin arrived safely in Singapore last night. They said the flight was good. They slept in today and we did dim sum for lunch. Tonight they are making us dinner.

It's an interesting relationship I have with them, as Joe's mother doesn't really speak English. Joe's parents are super nice, and always very complimentary to me. Just last night, Joe's father was saying that as I'm an actuary, I must be smarter than Joe. Who am I to argue with my father-in-law?

Malaysia Pictures

Malaysia pictures are going up on www.joeandjill.ca. Joe said it will take a while, but they should be up by the time you wake up.

Enjoy!

They are here!!

Our friends, Gary, Linda and Adam arrived in Singapore Sunday night. They are moving here, and Gary will be working for the same company as me. Different division though.

We know them from Nassau, and we are quite good friends with them. I'm very happy that they have moved here because it's always been a goal of Gary's to work and live in Asia, and it's great to have some close friends.

They are Canadian, and both Gary and Linda have lived in Winnipeg. You know they are good people then.

Welcome to Singapore!!!!

Monday Craft Update

Pretty slow week due to traveling.

Knitting
Completed knitting a ball. Still need to stuff and sew by Sunday.
Did about 2 hours on Martin's blanket.
For the knit squares, completed stitching on a shape. Did a letter also, but it's orange on pink and the contrast is so poor, I'm going to rip it out. I don't think I need to knit new sides, I'll change change up the colours.

Cross-stitch
Nothing. Did dig out the ott-light and it does work here. Yeah!!

Pictures
Took more, still need to upload. Will do so this week.

And the thunder rolls...

It's raining again. No big surprize. And we are stuck inside with Oliver and Martin. Well, being stuck inside with Martin isn't a big deal, but with a 2.5 year old toddler - he needs an energy outlet.

I was just commenting to Joe that if we heard that kind of thunder that we just heard in Nassau, we would be quickly backing up and shutting off computers, and figuring out what we were going to do for dinner, in case the power went off. At least we don't have those worries here.

100 posts...

100 posts in blog on the web
100 posts of blog
you write one up, read it around
100 posts in blog on the web
(to the tune of 100 bottles of beer on the wall)

I passed 100 posts this week. Questions for my readers (all 4 of you):

• Who is reading besides Mom, Dad, Lana & Paulina?
• What would you like to read more of?
  
• Would you like a weekly update on the boys like I do for crafts? Or is ad hoc good?
• More on life in Singapore?
  
• I'm also open to suggestions.

Wow. I still can't believe I've done 100 posts. My favorites are Martin's birth and Oliver's traditional clothes story. What are yours?

Thanks to Lana for suggesting blogging and Paulina showing me how easy it is. And Mozilla for spell check!

Kuala Lumpur to Singapore

Home again, home again, jiddegy jig. The drive home was nice and uneventful. It took us 5 hours from door to door, with two stops. One for gas and one for a quick lunch. Oliver and Martin slept most of the trip.

We really liked Malaysia. Every trip we do a top 5 best and worst, but since the trip was short, I'll just do a top 3 (in no particular order).

Top Best 3
The rickshaw ride in Melaka
The Petronas Towers
The aquarium

Top Worst 3
Getting a head cold on Thursday night and not sleeping much
The busyness of travelling with 2 kids
Hmm, I don't have a third

Driving in Malaysia was really easy, and the navigation was a breeze (again better than Singapore). But we are happy to be home.

Kuala Lumpur - Birds and Fishes

Today we went to the Bird Park and to the Aquarium. Frankly, both are better than those in Singapore.

We, okay I, decided to drive to the bird park as opposed to taking a taxi like Joe wanted. We got there but did take one wrong turn. The Bird Park is very nicely done and is smaller than the one in Singapore, but it felt more accessible. We feel like we saw more variety of birds.

We then went to the Aquarium, which was back at the Petronas Towers. It is very nice, and we learned a lot about fish, turtles and Malaysia. The funniest part was at one of the pools, a small shark came to the surface and splashed Joe.

We then had Malaysian for dinner, and back to the hotel for bedtime.

Okay, for some reason I can't get pictures posted tonight. I'll update the website next week, and let you all know.

Kuala Lumpur - Petronas Towers

Joe woke early to get us the free tickets to go up to the Skybridge in the Petronas Twin Towers.
We went up around 11:30. First we watched a 3D commercial in the holding area for Petronas. I figure if they are letting us up their building for free, the least I can do is watch their commercial.

The elevator ride up was very uneventful, in fact it was a service elevator.

Thw bridge is nice, views were okay as it was a hazy day. Here is a picture of us.
We then ate lunch at The Little Penang Cafe, which serves Malaysian and then went to the biggest playground I've been to. Even bigger than Pasir Ris!

What was odd is that at the children's pool there was a group of young men, doing only what could be descibed as frolicing in the water and taking pictures of themselves in every possible combination.

While outside we heard the Muslim call to worship. Its very different for me to hear a religious service piped outside for all to hear.

After a break at Hagen daaz, we went for a rest at the hotel.

Oliver really wanted to ride the monorail, so we road it to the Bukit Bintan area, and ate at the mall. Which is culturally appropriate.

Melaka / Malacca

Today we toured around Melaka or Malacca in the morning. It was a nice sunny day, and we must be getting used to the heat as we found it pleasant. Of course, the nice breeze helped.

We drove into the centre of town, where we immediately were approached by a rickshaw driver. We decided, what the heck, let's take the rickshaw tour. Well, it was worth the money. Our driver was quite friendly and we covered more ground than if we had walked.

Here we are on the rickshaw.

Malacca has been invaded by the Portuguese, Dutch, British, Japanese before gaining independence. Malaysia itself is only celebrating its' 50th birthday this year (Happy Birthday Malaysia - you don't look a day over 49!).

We saw the old fort, the Dutch church, a Chinese temple, and a Muslim mosque. The town in that area is quite picturesque and worth the stop.

At the Chinese temple, our driver held up Oliver and had him rub the dragon's head three times and then catch the ball in the dragon's mouth. I believe Oliver will now have good fortune for the rest of his life!We are now in Kuala Lumpur until Friday.

Road Trip!

We decided to go to Malaysia after all. We left around 10:00, and quickly made it to the border. We don't have Martin's dependent pass yet (but we do have his passport) and when the Singapore security crossing guard realized this, we were pulled aside. Well, 40 minutes later the finally came to the conclusion he would come back as a tourist.

Over the causeway and then we were in Malaysia.

Then onto the Malaysia crossing. Right away, we felt like we were in a second world country again. There was huge lines but the odd part was you had to fill out a form. Okay, that isn't odd in itself, but I had to leave the car and walk a far distance to get it. The forms were so long it took us the entire time we were in line to fill them out.

There was a detour one in Johor, so I never really figured out where we were on the map but signage was excellent and we found the expressway.

Highway is highway, but this one was lined with palm tree forests, which I've never seen before.

We've turned into the type of tourists we used to mock. We ate at KFC for lunch, are staying at a Marriott and ate hotel food for dinner. Since we didn't arrive at Melaka until 4:00 we haven't done any sightseeing yet.