Crap! Crappity crap crap crap

If only I was a swearing gal, as I'd be swearing now.

I'm home on sick day, so I thought I'd be semi-productive. Got pictures up on the website. Decided to wash my cross-stitch.

The snow family bled!!! Actually the hand painted linen bled and now the snow family is blue. Literally. It's soaking right now, and I'm swearing inside.

Gosh, now I'm sick physically and mentally, as that was over a 100 hours of work, and I'd hate it to go down the drain.

New pictures are up!!

New pictures are up on www.joeandjill.ca, in March, April and Crafts.

There are quite a few pictures of Martin (so no worries, Auntie Lana, he has lots of pics on his own). We did a couple of photo "sessions" with Joe taking tons of pictures. I tried to pick out the best of the best.

Enjoy!!

Monday Craft Update

Good early in the week, bad later in the week due to being sick.

Knitting
90 minutes on the baby blanket. It is now the only project until it is done.

Cross-stitch
Nothing

Crochet
Completed Martin's teddy bear. From the book Kyuuto - Japanese Crafts Amigurumi.

Photography / videography
Nothing.

Decluttering
Nothing.

Consider it practice for when we are old

is what I said to Joe today, as he was playing mad chemist, or the dispenser of meds. We are still all sick, so finally went to the doctor.

Oliver has 7 different meds, but 3 go into the nebulizer. Joe made a colour coded spreadsheet to manage it all.

Joe has 5 meds and his own spreadsheet.

I was prescribed 3, but I'm not taking any of them, as when I researched them, they didn't seem to be safe with nursing.

Basil now also has a cold.

Martin is still holding strong, but his nose is starting to look runny.

Oh, and the TV computer decided to get in on the act, and the hard drive crashed. Luckily, we have another computer we can hook up.

Monday Craft Update

Knitting
Half an hour on the baby blanket.

Cross-stitch
Nothing

Crochet
Worked on a washcloth while away on a business trip. Easy to do on the plane. A very good traveling project

Completed Oliver's teddy bear. Going to do one now in red and white for Martin. From the book Kyuuto - Japanese Crafts Amigurumi.

Photography / videography
Nothing.

Decluttering
Nothing.

Part 3 of 4 (hopefully)

For those following the saga of me getting my drivers license (and frankly, who hasn't), it's been a long and painful process. First I did the test, and waited for 2 hours to be served. I put down I had an eye defect (as I wear glasses), and was told to go see the eye doctor. 10 minutes into seeing the eye doctor, he said I don't have a defect, but he couldn't fill out the form (a whole other rant) and 2.5 hours later I still wasn't done.

So I went back today to get the form done. First I saw a specialist for my wandering eye, which involved a lot of looking at the "E" while she blocked one eye then the other. Then I had to go to this other test. Where I looked into this machine, and they flashed pinpricks of light and I was to click on a clicker when I saw a flash. Well, I don't know what it was about this machine, but it made me extremely anxious. Seriously, I was getting nervous and fidgety and if it lasted another 10 minutes I would have told them anything to make it stop. Apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't like it. I have no idea what it measures as no one told me.

But in the end, my form is signed. Hopefully the doctor filled it out correctly, and next Saturday I can waste another 2 hours trying to get my license. The total count so far is about 7 hours (excluding studying for the test and writing the test).

House of Sick

Patient Zero - aka Jill
Sore throat started on Sunday. Full blown cold by Thursday. Started going horse on Thursday lunchtime. Full out loss of voice by Friday. A little tired but okay energy wise.

Patient One - aka Joe
Coughing, sniffling, all around miserable. Pretty low on energy.

Patient Two - aka Oliver
Fever, some coughing and sniffling.

Should be a fun weekend. Not.

In Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Okay, I just wrote out the blog, selected it all for formatting, and it disappeared! Aarrgg!! I've been awake since 4:30 am though, so that may be the reason.

I'm in KL for a conference, though I haven't seen much of the conference as I've been doing client visits with a co-worker.

The flight in was really easy. I already have my boarding pass for coming home - how's that for efficient? One thing that's a bit different is that the bags aren't scanned until you get to the gate. This really eases up traffic, but I must imagine it is a lot more expensive to have that many scanning machines. The flight is only 40 minutes, so after they serve you the tea, they have to take it away again.

The Malaysian airport is also quite straightforward. One nice thing is that they have eliminated immigration cards, so you just give your passport, and away you go. They also have airport taxi stands where you can prepay your taxi ride. Which was good, as I don't have much Malay cash.

I'm in the Prince Hotel, and it's super nice. I don't have the view of the Petronas Towers though. Maybe next time.

Happy (belated) Birthday Brent!!!

I left a long painful voicemail yesterday, but it's really no excuse, but better late than never....

Happy Birthday Brent!!!!

Brent is a very fun and funny guy. A great addition to our family. Besides having the ability to bug Lana (a trait we all approve of), he knows all the characters on Young & The Restless.

But while Brent is a enjoyable and sometimes silly person to be around, he has a quiet strength, and will fight for what needs fighting for. He's a successful businessman, a dedicated family man, and a great uncle. Okay, now it just sounds like a country song. Oh, and he likes country music also!

Apparently though, he isn't photogenic, as I don't have a recent picture of him. I'll fix that next trip.

Hope you had a great day and have a great year. You deserve it!!!

Monday Craft Update

Knitting
Nothing

Cross-stitch
Finished the French Ocean Numbers kit!!!! Need to wash and frame.

Crochet
Still can't do a granny square after watching a video, reading three different patterns and trying 4 more times. Since I don't need a granny square washcloth, I'm putting it aside for now.

Started crocheting a teddy bear. It's done in the round. Came up with the brilliant idea to put in a stitch holder at the beginning of each round to help me count.

Photography / videography
Nothing.

Decluttering
Nothing. But did sign up for a Craig's list account. Craig's list is a classified listing, so it's different from Ebay in that you set the price as opposed to auction. It's Singapore based but doesn't seem that busy.

After 3 years - It's done!!

This cross-stitch project I purchased while on vacation in France and pregnant with Oliver. France seemed to have a cross-stitch store in every town, which makes sense, as I believe DMC is from there.

I'm not sure what company put together this project. It seemed very home made, particularly the chart seemed hand drawn. This was frustrating at times, as they didn't have every 10th row and column highlighted.

It was an enjoyable project (except the whale) as I quickly could see progress. It kept being put aside for other projects (knitting, crochet, cross-stitch). But I figured I should get it done before it's even too young for Martin.

Bah! So close!!!

I thought I'd finish my x-stitch I've been working on for a couple of years (it kept being put aside) last night. The last bit is 10 stars. I placed the second last star wrong and didn't notice until I went to outline. So I had to rip out 2 stars. I did so then decided since is was already 11:30 that I couldn't afford another mistake.

Hopefully I'll finish tonight, but we are having friends over for dinner, so I guess it depends on how long they stay.

Aaarrrgg! So close. I want to finish for Monday update.

Tax Time

It's tax time here in Singapore. It's funny as it's a mix of high tech and low tech.

High tech - you can file on line
Low tech - you don't know how much you have to pay until they assess you
Low tech - the Company doesn't submit your tax forms to the government
High tech - you can scan and email your form

There are also some conflicting deductions.

'Wife relief' is a relief to support family formation, and to provide recognition to male taxpayers supporting their wives.

'Working mother's child relief' is to encourage married women to remain in the workforce after having children. Single or male taxpayers are not eligible for this relief.

So I'm not sure what the government wants. The wife to stay home or the wife to go back to work. I think the working mother's child relief is pretty poor in that single mothers are not elgible (maybe they get some other relief, but I didn't see it). I wish that I could qualify for 'wife relief' as I'm supporting my spouse.

But the tax rate is still much lower than Canada, and the form took all of 15 minutes to fill out, where 10 minutes of it was "where do I see how much I pay?", until I realized they don't show it.

My passion?

I took a presentations course this week. To gauge us, we had to give a 1-2 minute talk on our "passion". Well, as you know from reading this blog, it's either the kids or my crafts. So I decided I'd be a good Mom and talk about the kids. But what to talk about? It's not like I can just say "My kids are the best kids ever" and be done with it.

So I thought about something specific. Then I realized, I'm passionate about breastfeeding. No, it's true. With Oliver, it was a real struggle to get him started with nursing. I had 2 manual pumps before getting the Madela Pump In Style (a really really good pump). Finally around 6 weeks we both figured out nursing. I nursed him until about 19 months. It was a sad day when we finally stopped. I pumped until he was 11 months old.

Martin, of course, nursed right away. Experience from the mother does help. I'm proud to say that Martin has not had a drop of formula cross his lips. On a weekday I pump 4 times a day for him, morning, twice at work, and evening. The pumps at work are a really nice break in the middle of the day, though I don't really enjoy lugging the pump around. Hmm, maybe I'll still take the break but stop lugging the pump around, think anyone would notice? I'll probably stop pumping at work after we come back from summer holidays, which will be around 11 months again.

I never knew I would enjoy nursing so much. It's such an easy and convenient way to feed the baby. Plus, as I went back to work at 12 weeks, it's nice that I'm the only one that can do this. It's extra bonding time for me and the boys.

But to say I'm passionate about it? I guess so. All that milk does go well with granola.

Update on Oliver & Martin

Oliver!

Oliver is doing really well. He's a typical 3 year old. He's getting a lot more interested in letters, and is often asking what the different letters are. He has an imaginary friend "The Little Monster" who is sometimes a she and sometimes a he. The first thing Oliver told me when I saw him after school was "The Little Monster went poop in the potty at our house", so the Little Monster is toilet trained. Good to know.

He's pretty funny. I've been taking a course this week, so I told him I was at school. The first thing he asked me when I picked him up was "Did you have a nap today at school Mommy?".

He's started calling me "Mom". His volume level has gone through the roof, so we need to work on the concept of the "indoor voice". He talks constantly, and has picked up a big of a Singaporean accent, especially when he says phrases his friends at school say.

Martin!

You might be able to see Martin's tooth in this picture. Look closely on the top. Or else it's just saliva glare, not sure. He's very mobile now. Still doing his try to walk with one leg, drag the other leg crawl. I should take some video of it this weekend. He has 3 teeth coming in right now. He's eating more food, he's a little bit picky, but we are working on that. He's a very messy eater, or else I'm a very messy feeder (it could be me).

You don't have to worry about us not taking any pictures of him. The current card is 95% pictures of Martin by himself!

Brothers!
Oliver and Martin are interacting together a lot more. It's nice too see. Although most of it consists of Oliver telling on Martin and telling him no.

Monday Craft Update

Oliver's Craft
Here is the leaf dish that Oliver made on his field trip to the Dragon Kiln. I think that counts as a craft!

Knitting
Did about 0.5 hours on the blanket as I was talking on the phone.

Cross-stitch
Worked on the French Ocean numbers kit. Finished the number 9 and started the "0" in the number 10. Should be able to finish in the next week or two. Especially with all the American Idol on this week (this show is a serious commitment).

Crochet
Decided to do a crochet granny square washcloth while waiting at the eye doctor, since it's small and portable. I can't do it to save my life. I worked on it Wed night, and ripped it out about 5 times, before I understood the first two rounds. Now I'm on round 3, and I can't do the starting/ending corner right with the slip stitch portion. I need to consult some other books. I don't know why I think I can make the Pooh Bear if I can't do a granny square.

Photography / videography
Nothing.

Decluttering
Nothing.

TV: Life After People

TV isn't the greatest here, unless you like having about 7 Discovery Channels, and then they all show the thing you want to watch at the same time. But good news is they repeat late at night. So I taped a show off the History Channel called "Life After People'. It was pretty interesting.

The premise was, what would happen to all the infrastructure and animals if we just vanished. There wasn't any mention of our decaying bodies, so I guess we were all zapped up by aliens.

Small house pets, like those small toy dogs, they don't do so well, and die out within a week or so. Either from starvation in the house, or by other animals. There were some surprizes though. Mice and rats, after the initial binge off all the leftover food, don't do so well, as they now have to go out into the wild to look for food. Owls do well though. Zoo animals were a toss up. If they can get out of the zoo, the big cats do very well (this was all taking place in North America). Cockroaches in the northern climates don't make it past the first winter, but southern neighbours do just find, plus no one wants to count out the cockroach.

The interesting thing was they went to the Ukraine, and to an abandoned city due to Chernobyl. The forests and wild life in that area in the past 20 years have made a major come back, and the wild boars, deers, etc, are the most densely populated there in all of Russia.

So the lesson really from the entire show, was the planet would do just fine without us.

A visit from an old friend

Many many years ago (14 by Jane's calculation), I went on a Contiki tour of Europe to celebrate being finished university. Never one to not do something as I don't have someone to go with, I went by myself.

On that trip, I became good friends with two Australian sisters Belinda and Jane. It was one of those intense friendships during the moment, where you just "click" and have a wonderful time. We've kept touch over sporadically the years (thank you email!). And Jane was swinging through Singapore on the way back home from a holiday in the UK. She came over for dinner. It was very nice seeing her again and getting all caught up. Even more incentive now to make that vacation to Australia!!

Here's a picture of us from tonight. We haven't aged a day. I swear.

The universe is trying to tell me something

and that something is that I shouldn't drive in Singapore. You saw my earlier post.

Today I went to the Singapore National Eye Center. Very nice impressive building. My appointment time for 8:50, arrive on time, didn't get lost once (I took the MRT). I had been warned it could be an hour or two, so I brought a granny square crochet potholder to do (turns out I can't figure out how to do the starting/ending corner by the time you hit the third round, but that's a different rant). Saw the nurses at around 9:00, they did the screening tests. So far so good. See the doctor around 9:05.

Turns out I do not have a lazy eye!! And I thought I did all this time. So yay! Miracle cure. Fill out my form and off I go.

Sigh, if only it was that easy.

I have to go see a doctor upstairs for him to do some measurement. That's the problem with privatized medicine, is that no one is a generalist. This doctor I saw didn't even do the "1 or 2" test, because the machine said my glasses were okay. If they weren't then he'd send me to an optometrist. Which begs the next question. What kind of doctor was he? I still don't know.

So a nurse takes me upstairs. I sit and wait about 10 minutes. She comes and fetches me and says it will be a three to four hour wait, so I'll have to come back another day, and takes me back downstairs. Where they dilate my eyes!!! Now I'm blind, can't see to crochet, can't read my Treo (only if I take my glasses off) and I sit there in boredom (I'm not one to be left alone with my thoughts). At 11:15 I'm seen by the doctor again, to be told my eyes are fine. BUT he can't sign my form until I see that other doctor for him to do some measurement (which apparently this guy can't do - see above rant).

So I have an appointment on a Saturday morning at 8:30, and I've already been told it will be about 2 hours. Maybe by then I'll figure out the granny square thing.

Oh, and I'll still have a 2 hour wait at the licensing bureau. Joe asked me why I don't just forget it. And I replied that I should do it in case the one day that I have to drive, if I get in a fender bender, having a non-valid license will complicate the heck out of everything.

But I think the universe is telling me not to drive. Or is punishing me for not understanding what "eye defect" means. It's a pretty big punishment for being stupid, don't you think?

A tooth!!

Martin is getting his first tooth. Upper right front. Sigh, the days of gummy smiles will soon be gone. To be replaced by toothy grins. Yeah!