Double Date Night

Mom and Dad (well Mom volunteered, Dad acquiesced) to babysit the boys so we could go out and actually visit.

So on Thursday we went to The Keg with Lana and Brent. I love The Keg. It's just my style. Joe and Brent talked a lot of business, so Lana and I chatted until we called them on it. It was a really nice time, and I hope we can do it again next time.

Last night, we went out for dinner with Lianne and Jeff. Lianne lived down the street when we were growing up, and I've been friends with her since grade 4. Since I'm not going to reveal her age (and thus reveal mine - though I think it's on the blog), let's just say we have known each other for a couple of years. That too was a very enjoyable time, though again, I spoke mostly with Lianne. I guess we don't know how to converse in foursome anymore, just twosome.

Oliver was very very good for Mom and Dad. Martin, well, let's just say that he enjoyed staying up with Grandma and Grandpa and being held the entire time.

What we have been up to...

Friday
We took it pretty easy. Joe had to run some errands and then we did some shopping to buy some fleecys and sweatshirts for ourself - as it's cooler here than we anticipated. Thank goodness Mom and Dad live near a Roots outlet. Lana and Marysa came over for dinner, and Marysa really liked Martin.

Saturday
We celebrated Marysa's 2nd birthday with a party at her new house. It is really nice and Lana and Brent seem very happy there. Marysa's other cousins came over, and Matthew (her other cousin), is Oliver's age, and the two of them got along like gang busters. Poor Marysa tried to keep up, but they have a year on her and well, are boys. And have boy energy. Lana's house backs onto a lake, and the neighbour lent them his paddleboats so some of the guests went out of them, including Oliver and Joe. Oliver was a bit worried about sharks, but there weren't any.

Sunday
We drove to Saskatchewan to see Grandpa. We had the added bonus of seeing my Aunt Gail and my cousin Shanna and her children. We had order in Chinese food, which isn't as good as Singapore, but definitely hit the spot. Martin isn't the biggest fan of sitting in the car seat for that long, but he was a pretty good sport. Oliver was fine. Lana and Marysa also came.

Monday
We visited with Grandpa in the morning, and then began the long drive home.

Tuesday
In the morning, we (Jill, Mom, Oliver and Martin) went with Lana and Marysa to the zoo. Joe stayed home and worked. We rented a stroller that looked like a jeep and Oliver and Marysa road in that. Definitely the highlight for Oliver. He was a typical 3 year old and kept saying "Let's go!" anytime we stopped to look at the animals. We had ham and perogies for dinner. Yummy.

Wednesday
I got my haircut this morning and we did a playdate with Marysa in the afternoon (Lana has taken the week off). Oliver, Joe and Dad have gone out to watch Lana's riding lesson, hence I don't have the camera to give you any pictures of our events. We had roast beef for dinner.

Oliver has been super charming the entire visit. Singing songs. Getting along well with everyone. He even sat on Grandma's lap last night and ate strawberries!! Martin is his usual cute self, and is ever so curious. He isn't walking yet, but he's still getting into everything!!

Monday Craft Update

Yes, I realize its a day late, we went to Saskatchewan for the weekend to see Grandpa.

My update, about 90 minutes of cross-stitch.

I wanted to write about Grandpa. He started cross-stitching in the early 1980's when Grandma got sick. Grandma wanted to have something beautiful to look at, and she probably wanted to keep him occupied when he visited. He ended up making this large poppy cross-stitch, and stitched on all the names of those who helped her in the hospital and he gave it to the hospital after she passed away.

Grandpa continued stitching, stitching as much as 10 hours a day. He started to slow down in his 80s to 5 hours a day, and now he is down to 3 hours a day. He's made wedding samplers for all the grandchildren on both sides (he remarried, so that's the "other side). And then birth samplers for all his grandchildren, and probably anyone who has crossed his path and had a baby.

He doesn't shy away from the difficult patterns. He has made the Teresa Welzer Peacock pattern and has done patterns with beads (those who have done them, know what a pain they are).

His stitching is beautiful. He sits by the window in his bedroom to do it. Last year, Mom and Dad bought him an Ott-Light, after hearing me rave about it (who learned about it from Paulina), which he finds useful also. He also works on a frame (so that's obviously the right way to do it!).

He signs all his works with "P.W. Lastname". I wish I would do that, but I feel like I "wreck" the picture, even though I love it when he does it.

I hope I'm stitch 3 hours a day when I'm 94.

Happy Birthday Marysa!!!

Sweet Marysa turned two on Tuesday. Yes, I missed her birthday blog, but it was kind of on purpose, as I knew I'd be seeing her on Friday & Saturday and therefore could update her pictures.

Uncle Joe actually got to see her first on Friday, as he was right next to her daycare. Well, she took to him right away, with big hugs and smiles. After work, Lana and Marysa came over for dinner. Well, to say that Oliver is a bit overwhelming, is like saying that my hair colour is a little bit fake. An understatement in the least. And she didn't warm up to me that much either. However, Martin she liked him right away (and what's not to like about a cute baby?).

But I eventually convinced Marysa to give me a hug. And that was great.

Marysa is a sweet, soft-spoken girl. At her party, she wanted to keep up with her cousins Oliver and Matthew (her other 3 year old cousin) and join in the fun. She has lots of sly little smiles, that then burst out into a great big smile for everyone (but Aunt Jill). She has her grandparents, wrapped around her little finger, which is exactly where they should be. She seems like a girly-girl, who loves shoes and purses. And, like her Aunt Jill, is a total bookworm.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARYSA!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

We arrived!!

Relatively unscathed too. The flights were good. Oliver slept a lot. Like almost the entire time. And Martin hard slept. Like almost the entire time. But they both were in good moods.

At the Vancouver airport we met up with our friend Julia, which made the 6 hour layover go a lot faster. Then Martin was crawling around, fell, and bit his lip. He bled quite a bit, and of course, got it all over me. I looked like I was in a fight! Then the plane got called so I didn't get a chance to change.

We seem to be adjusting to the time zone fairly well. We are having a nice time so far. And today we will be going to Marysa's birthday party (at which time I'll do her overdue birthday blog!).

All ready to go

Except for the things that can't be packed at the last minute, we are all ready to go.

So we set out for the airport tomorrow morning at 7:45, let's call it 8:00am, Singapore time, or 6pm Winnipeg time. We then arrive in Winnipeg at midnight. So knowing, that its not 6 hours of travel time, that means that it is 24+6 = 30 hours! Yikes! I wish I hadn't figured that out.

See you all soon!! Well, not my Singapore readers (if there are any).

A big THANK YOU to Joe for doing the majority of the packing and organizing. And by majority, I mean all.

Monday Craft Update

Not a great week. Bringing Lightening McQueen on holiday. Nothing on the plane, as I'll get no chance.

Knitting
Nothing.

Cross-stitch
Did about 2 hours on Lightening McQueen kit (Cars).

Crochet
Finished a duckling. From the same book as the crochet bears.

Photography / videography
Loaded up some May and craft pictures.

Decluttering
A little bit of baby stuff to a friend.

Packing

As we are leaving very soon for our cross-Canada adventure, we've started thinking about packing. Making lists. Finding warm clothes.

Any suggestions on packing are welcome. We always over pack.

Finally!

I got my driver's license. It's all complete, I even received it in the mail, where I'm looking good in the picture, as I'm colour coordinated with the licensing colours.

But don't worry Singapore, I'm not planning on driving! You are safe on those sidewalks!

Monday Craft Update

Knitting
Nothing.

Cross-stitch
Got out Lightening McQueen kit (Cars) and washed the red thread.

Crochet
Finished another crochet bear (green & purple). Started a duckling.

Photography / videography
Nothing.

Decluttering
Nothing.

Arab Street

Today we went to Arab Street for lunch with Gary, Linda and Adam. Unfortunately, not much was open on Sunday, but we still had a great time. We walked around the area which still has a lot of the original "shop houses", which is a shop on the main floor, and the owners live on the upper floor. Not sure if owners still live there, probably is more likely used as an office. Most of the stores are fabric stores with gorgeous fabrics, as well there were rugs.

We ate at an Arab restaurant (our server was from Nepal, and the owners are Chinese). The restaurant was set up with cushions to sit on the floor, and had drapery all over to look like a tent. It was great for the boys, as we were the only family up there, so they could crawl around. I had some great hummus and a falafel sandwich.

After we walked around and saw the big mosque in the area. We were allowed to go inside. The mosque has been there since the 1920's.
This was our first trip down to Arab Street, and it was great to play "tourist".

Fresh Air

We got a lot of fresh air today. This morning we went with our friends, Jose, Chantal, Alex and Marie to their country club. Their club has two campuses, the golf course, where Joe golfed earlier this week and this campus, which basically is a swimming pool. They have a great kids swimming pool as well as two lap pools. It's a shame we didn't bring the camera. Martin was so cute playing in the little fountains, and Oliver jumped off the racing platforms (they are like a little box for the racers to jump off of - it's not like a diving board, but it's higher than he's jumped). Oliver said that was the best part of his day.

After lunch at the club, we went back home for Martin's nap and Oliver watched Finding Nemo (again). We saved money and didn't have the a/c on. After Martin woke up, Oliver, Martin and I played outside in the shady area in front of our house for about 90 minutes.

Everyone is exhausted, but it's a good exhausted. From too much fresh air and fun.

Book Review: The Age of American Unreason

I read about this book in the New York Times by Susan Jacoby. She talks about the anti-intellectual, anti-rational movement that there is in the USA. She mentions the rise of fundamental religion as one of the sources. But it's interesting, as the US brought about freedom of religion. But with the freedom of religion, you have to accept all religions, no matter how nutty they are. She spoke about their movement and how creationism and evolution are taught side by side as differing "theories", or else evolution is not taught at all.

Another source is the 1960s as the beginning of the downfall. The problem with the hippie liberals, is that they aren't as organized as the right-wing conservatives, so they don't get their point across as well. But it was also the start of the youth movement, that never ended. All music is defined by what the youth like, as well as clothing. I wear the same types as clothes as someone 20 years younger than I would wear. My niece, Julia and I both shop at the same stores. Is that really right? Shouldn't I grow up and wear grownup clothes, as opposed to be stuck in the illusion of youth?

And of course, she attacked the internet. And you know, she's right. I read a lot less than I used to. I decided to add the Visual Bookshelf on Facebook to see how many books I read this year. I've only finished 7 books this year. 7. I used to read that in a two week period when I was young. Yes, I'm busier now, but I tend to surf instead of read. Plus I craft instead of read. I'm also trying to read books to make me smarter (like this one), but then I don't read, as they are a bit boring. I've been reading "The 10 day MBA" for more than 10 days. I might as well have done it in real time!

Overall, the book was pretty good. But the vocabulary and some of the references were a little too intellectual for me at times. ;-)

A nice visit

Kristi, Tyson, Cass and Paul came for a visit this week. They arrived late on Friday night / Saturday morning.

On Saturday we had a nice pancake breakfast and went to see the zoo. They were impressed (as everyone always is), and we went out to Clarke's Quay for dinner with just the adults. (Oliver spent the next couple of nights telling us how much he missed us that night.)

Sunday, we had a birthday party in the morning, and then we met up at the Botanical Gardens and went and saw the orchids. They were impressive as always. Of course, the Cool House is a big hit.

Monday they spent the day at Sentosa Island, and have seen more of it that we have (that's not hard). Tuesday the boys went golfing at my friend's fancy golf club, and the girls relaxed. In the evening they did the Night Safari.

On Wednesday, I took the day off work, and it piss poured rain. Or as the British would say "it was chucking it down". We did the Hippo tours - the Heritage and the City, but didn't get off due to the rain. Afterwards, us girls went and did some shopping (I got a new swim suit).

Today the boys went golfing again, and Kristi and Cassandra toured around Chinatown and Little India. We went out to the Newton Hawker centre for dinner.

And they are off tomorrow morning for Hawaii.

Thanks so much for visiting us, we had a great time!!!

Television: Survivor (Spoilers)

If you are watching Survivor this season, and haven't seen the finale yet, stop reading.

What a great season of Survivor. The blindsiding that went on. There was the fans at the beginning, but the blindsiding of Ozzy and Jason, but especially Ozzy was a thing of beauty. And then Eric, giving up the immunity necklace at the final 5, was just the dumbest thing ever.

Pavarti won it all. I think that Cirie deserved it the most, and Pavarti ended up taking the credit for most of Cirie's moves. Between Pavarti and Amanda, I had hoped that Amanda would win, but I guess Pavarti made the better alliances.

But overall, it was a great season of Survivor. Bring on Gabon!!

Monday Craft Update

I'm now finished all projects on the go (except the Dragon - but that doesn't really count - I have YEARS left on it). I think I'll do a small crochet animal again and then start stitching Lightening McQueen. Ka chow!

Knitting
Finished the baby blanket. No idea what I will do with it.

Cross-stitch
Picked up the framed pictures.


Crochet
Nothing.

Photography / videography
Nothing.

Decluttering
Sold the bassinet.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's out there.

Mom, I can only hope to be half as good as mother as you were to Lana and I.

Paulina, you (and Todd) are examples of how to parent to us, and show us what is coming up ahead, and how to handle it.

Lana, your love and strength that you have for Marysa is amazing.

Happy Mother's Day to all!!!

For mine, it's been a pretty busy day. I got a flower from Oliver and a card made at school, Martin gave me a nice card with a picture of himself in it, and Basil bought me some roses and wrote a very nice note. We had a birthday party this morning, went to the Botanical Gardens this afternoon, watching Cars now, and going to go swimming and have Chicken Rice later on tonight.

I thought I was hot before

the air conditioner to the master bedroom has broken! And we have house guests (Kristi, Tyson, Cass & Paul) coming tonight, so the boys are in our room. The repair people don't know when they can get it fixed, they have to get a part for the compressor.

Hmm, I wonder if I can sleep on the sofa tonight?

Update on Oliver & Martin

MartinNO! Seems to be Martin's new name, at least that is what Oliver is always calling him. Martin is very inquisitive and Oliver's toys are especially interesting. He's standing with support quite well, and can move along a table while still standing (i.e. kind of walking). He also walks while pushing a walker toy.

He's enjoying food a lot more now, he prefers veggies to fruit, and he's quite lucky, as Basil makes him fresh baby food every day, so he only gets jarred on Sunday (when she's not working). He still doesn't sleep through the night. He's a pretty happy, smiley boy, and while I was bemoaning the fact that he got teeth, they just make him cuter.

Here is Oliver displaying his big blue bus that he picked out himself for being potty trained. It is certainly the favorite toy du jour. He talks a lot (don't know where he got that from) and his imagination is really taking off. He routinely makes up interesting stories. He very much likes to know the "rules" of things, and will often ask why, and if he can do something. His manners are getting back on track (they fell to the wayside there for a bit). He plays well with others, and is getting a lot more social. His favorite activity is still swimming.

Joe is busy with a lot of work from different sources. He was sick quite a bit in April, so he fell behind, but now he's feeling better and is always working away.

I'm good. On the last couple of inches of the baby blanket. You know how I feel about the last couple hours of a project. I hate them. I hope David Cook wins American Idol. Though I wouldn't buy his music. But I don't buy music anymore, as I never listen to it.

Hot!

Hot hot hot hot. Humid. Humid. Hot. Hot. Hot.

It is 9:00 at night, and the official temperature is 29C and feels like 35C.

I guess we have left the Hot and Humid season and entered the Very Hot and Very Humid season. We've been trying to save money and not run the a/c at night, but I woke up the other morning, and it was 29C in the room.

But on the plus side, it's no longer cloudy.

Monday Craft Update

Not too much due to being sick. Mostly decluttering as I was home looking at it.

Knitting
Worked on the baby blanket. It is now the only project until it is done. Less than 10 inches left. Now that I'm in the home stretch, I don't want to work on it.

Cross-stitch
Washed the Ocean numbers and the snow family. With much drama. But it's all good now. Both pictures are at the framers.

Crochet
Nothing.

Photography / videography
Loaded up pictures for March, April and crafts.

Decluttering
Got rid of more baby clothes, sized below 6 months. Listed the bassinet on Craig's List - which is an online classified site.

Whew!!

Okay, the snow family seems to be okay.

I soaked and soaked and soaked, continuously from when I first posted, until this morning. I added some white vinegar, as per advice I received. The water was still coming out with a tinge of blue, but last night when it was soaking, the water all slowly leaked out, and it dried.

I was thinking on it, and I figured the colour had come out of the white, and I was just seeing the background coming through, because it was wet.

The background has now faded due to my continuous soaking, but that's actually for the best, as it was a bit dark for my picture, so it stands out better now (or at least that's what I'm telling myself).

I'm off to iron the two pieces tonight, and hopefully find some time this weekend to get them framed.

Oliver is now daytime toilet trained!!

Yay Oliver!!! He's been this way for a while, but I implemented a sticker system, so that he got a sticker each time he used the potty. We had a bit of regression with being sick, but he's now done with the diaper, and fully into underwear!

With the sticker chart being complete, we took him shopping. At first he wanted Toby from Thomas the Tank Engine, then he wanted a van, but he saw a blue touring passenger bus that he fell in love with. So that's what we got.

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!

Q1 craft update

Since its the end of first quarter (Q1) I thought I'd review the year so far. Can you tell I'm in the financial services industry?

Knitting

• Knit baby blanket for Martin (or someone else) - likely to complete
• Did about 7-10 inches. Progress is pretty slow.
  
• Knit Toy, I don't have a specific one picked out - 50/50 chance to complete
• Did one knit zebra puppet at the beginning of the year.
  

Cross-stitch

• Snow family cross-stitch - likely to complete
• Finished.
  
• Teresa Welzer dragon, I doubt I'll work on this - ha ha ha you a crazy lady
• Nothing
• Sea Animals number sampler, I will pull this out again soon, and try to do a little each week. There isn't much to go, only about 25-30% to go. - 50/50 chance to complete
• Good progress. Have finished numbers 5,6,7,8 and half of 9.
  
• Lightening McQueen cross-stitch for Oliver - 50/50 chance to complete
• Nothing
  
• Cross-stitch ornament for Paulina, as she is coming for Christmas this year - likely to complete
• Nothing
• Christmas stocking for Martin, I think this will take 2 years - little chance to complete
• Nothing

Crochet

• Crochet Pooh Bear - ha ha ha you a crazy lady
• Nothing

Photography / videography
I'm going to try and work on this one day a week.

• Website, I will keep if fairly up to date - likely to complete
• Have been fairly consistent. Not great though.
  
• Videos, wonder how many I'll get done after the first one - 50/50 chance to complete
• Nothing. Need to be better
  

Decluttering

• Have done a little bit, but nowhere near what I need to do. Have given away the smallest baby clothes and some infant paraphernalia.
  

Monday Craft update

Had to study for my driver's test this week, so didn't get as much done.

Knitting
Did about 1.5 hours on the blanket as I was talking on the phone.

Cross-stitch
Worked on the French Ocean numbers kit. Finished the "9" in the number 9 about half the seagulls.

Crochet
Read the pattern I want to make and got some internet help. Haven't started yet.

Photography / videography
Nothing.

Decluttering
Nothing.

Sundays in Singapore

On Sunday, the Family Assistant has the day off (well for the ex-pat families, for the locals, she usually works most Sundays). Since we have no one to cook (or more importantly clean up), we've taken to take out. We usually get chicken rice, and eat outside with our neighbours. It's a really nice way to end the weekend, Oliver gets to play outside, we get to relax before the bedtime routine starts, and enjoy chatting with our friends.

Driving license woes

So I went to convert my driver's license today. I passed the theory test and then waited 90 minutes to be served. I had all my paperwork ready. One of the questions is "Do you have any defects in your vision?". I ticked "yes" as I wear glasses. She then asked my if I'm colour blind or have a lazy eye. Well, I have a lazy eye. So now I have to go and get my vision checked out by some specific doctor to say whether I can get a driver's license or not. So freakin' frustrating!!!

Plus it turns out I probably wouldn't have got my license anyways as I don't have a NETS card (a debit card but applicable only for certain banks) or a cash card (which you use in your car and as I don't drive, I don't have a card!).

I was just so frustrated. Joe said that he said "no" for vision defects as he doesn't view wearing glasses as a defect in vision.

So now I have to go to some eye clinic (at least an hour of my time) and then go wait in that freakin' line again. Bah Humbug!!!

Oliver's first trip to the Dentist

Oliver had his first trip to the dentist this week. It went really well, as it lasted all of 5 minutes where he looked at his teeth and proclaimed all was good. He thought the spacing in his teeth was good, but I said, that won't last as genetics are against him. Though Joe never had any work done, so maybe we'll save some money.

We also had doctor checkups. The doctor is really pleased with both boys. She's impressed that Oliver knows his colours so well (I'm surprized by that, he's known them a while) and she said we should start teaching him letters.

She also thought Martin was physically acting more like a 8-9 month old (he's 7 months), she's pleased with his weight gain, and we were both impressed with how little he cried over his shots. The first one, he didn't even cry!

Oliver funny from tonight:
"I have a rubber band. I'm going to put it on". He puts in on his wrist. Then you hear the "snap!". "Ouch! That was painful".

Some of life lessons you need to learn on your own.

Oh that's funny

huh, that's odd. I had written an Easter blog but didn't publish it. I now published it and it's underneath the Monday craft blog, so scroll down for a new blog.

Sorry.

Monday Craft Update

I was addicted to cross-stitch this week. Again.

Knitting
Nothing

Cross-stitch
Worked on the French Ocean numbers kit. Finished stitching 8 and the octopus. Only 2 numbers left. Seagulls for 9 and starfish for 10.

Crochet
Bought a really really cute toy book. Then went and bought yarn. Perhaps $60 worth of yarn and crochet hooks. It's my reward for finishing the French Ocean numbers. Once it's done, I get to do this, before starting another big projects. I think I need more fun small projects.

Photography / videography
Nothing.

Decluttering
Nothing.

Easter party

We had the kids Easter party on Saturday. It was a beautiful day until about 3:30, when the sky started looking ominous. I helped set up and went to hide the eggs for the hunt, but Oliver insisted on coming with me, he kept saying "I like you Mommy" and then all the kids started following me, like I'm the Pied Piper or something.

The party started at 4. We had two craft stations. One with paper eggs to decorate with glue and different shapes and the other my egg dyeing. Oh, let me tell you about the eggs. We bought 50 (they come in packs of 10 - I don't know why either - they are metric I guess), out of that only 30 were good enough to colour. During the cooking process many of them cracked. So not good for colouring but good enough for eating, so I had Basil make Deviled Eggs.

I had elastic bands for the kids to put around the eggs (to get stripes) and they all set out to decorate. They had a lot of fun at both stations. Then it started to really look like it was going to rain, so we sent the kids on the egg hunt. During the egg hunt it did start to rain, so one of the neighbours was generous enough to open her doors, so we all grabbed the food and ran in there.

Inside, I tried to keep the kids occupied, we played "Mack, Mack, Chick Hicks", which is Duck, Duck, Goose but with Cars names, and Little Einsteins (which I made up on the spot also - kind of like I spy).

The rain was a serious cloud burst, and it just "chucked" it down (as the British would say) for a good 90 minutes. Overall though the party was a big success, and everyone had a good time.

That evening the adults came out after dinner for conversation and drinks.

I'm so happy to live where we live. I just love this type of stuff.

Happy Birthday Kate!!!

Happy Birthday Kate!!!!

Today is Kate's birthday. Kate is great for many reasons:

• She's lots and lots of fun
• She can play the violin
• She's good at building things (like bridges)
• She's energetic
• She's funny
• She's smart
• She's a beautiful girl, inside and out.
  

Happy Birthday Kate!! We love you!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

It's Mom's birthday today (or today here in Singapore). When she was here a couple of weeks ago we celebrated with an early birthday cake, so that was nice.

We had a really nice day of shopping when she was here, that reminded me of the days we used to go down to Minneapolis for back to school shopping. Though, no turtle necks or cord pants anymore!

Mom has been an excellent role model for not only on how to be a parent but for being a person. Mom always puts her family first, from apparently acting as a make shift toilet when we were young, to sitting on an airplane for too many hours to count to come and see us , to always making s our favorite meals and cooking us picky eaters something separate.

Happy Birthday Mom!!! We love you and miss you.

Thank you Paulina for making the beautiful page for Mom.

Living in Asia

I have to admit, that Singapore is very easy living and I often forget that I'm in Asia. Oh I remember, but often it just feels like I'm in Toronto, with better weather and worse TV.

When it comes home is around Western holidays. Christmas is kind of big but from a shopping point of view. Not many people put trees up in their homes, and Santa doesn't have a big throne in the mall, but Santa's expat friend come and stands in for him.

It's the same for Easter. We are having an Easter party here tomorrow, and I want the kids to dye eggs. Well, there are no Paz kits (or whatever the brand is). But, that's okay, I'll make homemade dye, according to the internet it's not that hard.

I did find an Easter bunny. It's really small and cost $8. But it is Lindst, so that's nice.

Television without Pity

I read a website called www.televisionwithoutpity.com it does synopses of TV shows, mainly reality TV shows but some regular ones as well. It doesn't do comedy shows as they are difficult to recap.

It is a very enjoyable site, and even if I've seen the show, I always like to read what the writers have to say and read the comments on the forum.

Monday Craft Update

I was addicted to cross-stitch this week.

Knitting
Nothing

Cross-stitch
Worked on the French Ocean numbers kit. Finished stitching number 5, and have stitched the number 8 and am about a quarter done the octopus. The end is in sight, so I'm very keen to finish it.

Crochet
Nothing

Photography / videography
Nothing.

Decluttering
Nothing.

More about Martin

Yes, another Martin post. Hey, if you don't like the subject matter, go to a different blog!!

He crawled today. Forwards, traditional crawl method. And is working hard on pulling himself up into a standing position when possible.

Happy 7 month birthday Martin!!

Today Martin is seven months old!! How time flies.

Today, he pulled himself into a standing position in his crib. He's still not really crawling, but can get around.

He's got a very busy social life already. Today his friend William is coming for lunch and then he has Ashley's birthday party tonight. His social life is better than mine.

Happy Birthday Martin!! We love you.

American Idol

Yes, I know, another post about AI. For someone watching it for the first time, I sure think about it a lot.

What is up with their stupid theme song? For a music contest, the theme is pretty lame.

Simon and Paula seem to be in an abusive relationship.

Okay, I'm watching right now. Jim Carey is dressed up as Horton. That poor man.

Update on Oliver and Martin

Oliver

Oliver is doing pretty much the same. He's a pretty sweet guy. The past couple of nights he has helped me bathe Martin, and will rinse him off with the shower hose. He also wanted to read Martin stories one night, which actually meant that Oliver held Martin in the big chair and I sat on the kiddie chair and read stories.

He also got Tiffany and Sofya (9 year old neighbours) to bathe him one night and kept telling them "one at a time!" (He must have learned that at school) and he got both girls to wash his bum!

Martin
Martin is still a pretty happy baby. I haven't seen him crawl yet, but Basil said he did today. He likes to play with his toys on the floor. He isn't sleeping well (he's awake right now, after 3 unsuccessful attempts to put him down), and is waking up multiple times in the night. I really need to dig out the baby book on that one. He's started rice cereal, not sure if he likes it, he cries a lot during feeding, but when you do manage to get the food in him, he seems to like it.

He's still super cute.

Monday Craft Update

Not a great week, as I had a bit of a social life and had to do work one night.

Knitting
Did several rows on the baby blanket. Even when I'm working on it I'm slow....

Cross-stitch
Worked on the French Ocean numbers kit. Working on number 5, did 4 out of 5 fish, and need to do the number. Need to do, 5, 8, 9 and 10.

Crochet
Nothing

Photography / videography
Loaded up new photos and read a bit of the video editor manual.

Decluttering
Got rid of 8 shirts and 1 skirt. About equal to what I brought in from shopping earlier.

Cross-stitch

I've always liked backstitching. It's when the project comes alive for me. I usually save it all for the end, unless it makes sense to do it as you go (i.e. it's a solid block).

There must be people out there who don't like it, as I see patterns in magazines that state "only cross stitches!" and no other types of stitches (like a half cross-stitch is so hard!).

Here is a cross-stitch before the back stitching:

And after. Behold the power of backstitching!

There are now expressions on the snow people, the scarves, mittens, etc, as better defined, and the whole design just pops now.

What a difference one strand of DMC 310 makes.

Summer "vaction" booked

For those that need to know, summer "vacation" is booked. I say "vacation" as 11.5 hours + of flights within Canada doesn't seem like a vacation.

Next year, we'll come over the Pacific, but you have to meet us on the West Coast. We'll rent a place for a couple of weeks and you can join us there. I'm only half kidding. Think of it.

I'm not sure how travel agents will stay in business in the long run. We saved at least 25% by booking the tickets ourselves.

American Idol

So I decided to watch American Idol this season. I've seen pieces of episodes here and there and know how it works (it's not rocket science). What I didn't realize was what a huge time commitment the show is. I mean, it's three hours this week alone! And that is it cutting back. Not sure if I'll be able to convince Joe to watch that much. Think I'll be watching in the bedroom, which means no cross-stitching. But it does mean knitting, so not all is lost.

Happy Birthday Laurie!!

By a fluke, I happened to see on my Treo that it's Laurie's birthday today.

Happy Birthday Laurie!!!!

We'll pretend this is Martin and not Oliver, since I've decided everyone over the age of thirty that I know isn't aging this year (I can't seem to stop the kids from aging though).

Hope it is a great year!! Come visit. Miss you.


P.S. New photos for February, March and Crafts are up.

I always feel like

somebody's watching me! And I ain't go no privacy. Whoa-ooo-ooo.

So due to my recent bout of spam comments, I added a counter, and can now track my stats. It is somewhat interesting, but also a bit hard to understand. Like, it just lists people by their IP address, which frankly means nothing to me. So I still don't know who you are!

Monday Craft Update

Knitting
Nothing.

Cross-stitch
Worked pretty steady on the French Ocean numbers kit. Finished the number 6 and 7. Working on number 5. Need to do, 5, 8, 9 and 10.

Crochet
Read the instructions for the Pooh Bear kit, not sure if I understand it.

Photography / videography
Nothing.

Decluttering
Nothing.

A very nice visit

We had another good weekend. On Saturday, we took it pretty easy, as the weather was bad. Went to Din Ta Fun for lunch, but they ran out of the the won ton's that I like. Most odd. Oliver then played at the playground at Paragon and Mom and I did a spin around Banana Republic.

That night we went to the Night Safari at the zoo. We saw the Creatures of the Night show (which I really wanted to see) and did the tram ride. The Night Safari, is right beside the zoo, but it is a separate zoo. It is really well done, and the deer exhibits have the deer free range.

On Sunday, we went on the Hippo Tour, which is a double decker bus tour of the city. We did the Heritage Tour which went through Chinatown and Little India.

On Monday, Mom, Dad and Joe came downtown and we had dinner at the Fullerton Hotel. It was really nice, it's a beautiful building.

It was a really good visit. Have a great flight back home!!

p.s. Talk Lana, Brent & Marysa into coming!!

Raffles Hotel

Today we (Joe, Mom, Dad and I) went for lunch at the world famous Raffles Hotel. Well, they say it's world famous, I had never heard of it before I started looking into Singapore.

What makes it famous is:

the Singapore Sling. It was created at the Raffles Hotel by Ngiam Tong Boon in the 1910's.

The Raffles Hotel is a landmark hotel, done in British colonial style. During WWII, the recipes for the Singapore Sling and the cook's recipes were locked away for safe keeping.

We ate at the Long Bar Steakhouse, they had a really good lunch buffet with excellent service. It was pricey though, the Singapore Sling was S$21.00. Each. Thanks for lunch Dad!!!

Darn Spam!

I'm now getting spam comments on my blog, so I've changed the security settings. You all can still post a comment, but I have to verify it before it gets posted, as well, there is one of those weird slanty words you need to type in.

Sorry about that!

The past weekend

I thought I'd update you on what we've been doing (besides cross-stitching).

We are having a great visit with Mom & Dad.

I took Friday off, and we went to the zoo. We rode the tram for the first time, it was quite nice. We also rode the elephant! Well, not Mom, Dad and Martin. But the rest of us did. Oliver was not scared at all. I was a little. And in case you don't know, elephants are quite uncomfortable to ride. The head must be more comfy, as that's where the elephant handlers always sit.

Mom and Dad were quite impressed with the zoo and see why we go all the time.

On Saturday, Joe, Oliver and Dad went to the Singapore Air Show. They had a really good time, and Oliver had "good behavior".

Mom and I went shopping at Vivo City, where my two new favorite stores are Zara and G2000. I got three new skirts and four new shirts for work, plus a tshirt and two tank tops. I felt like it was back to school shopping like we used to do in Minneapolis. It was a really good time.

Martin stayed home with Basil. Poor guy.

On Sunday, we went out for Dim Sum with Gary, Linda & Adam, and did a little bit of shopping. We then just hung out at home for rest of the day.

Monday Craft Update

A pretty good week as I finished something!

Knitting
Nothing.

Cross-stitch
Finished the Snow Family! Yay!! Not only done, I even put all the threads away in the thread box. I know - impressive.

And in a fit of finish-itis (the opposite of start-itis), I dug out my Ocean Numbers cross-stitch, I started when pregnant with Oliver. I've completed numbers 1-4 and the number 6. I'd like to get it done before the boys outgrow it.

Crochet
Dragged down the Pooh Bear kit, but did nothing with it.

Photography / videography
Nothing.

Decluttering
Gave Mom the old maternity clothes and some ones that don't fit to take back to Canada. Technically they are still in my house, but I no longer consider it my clutter.

Snow Family

Finished!!! Sure I missed the Christmas deadline, but I'm good for next year. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Fabric: Sugar Maple Fabrics, Shimmering Oceanic with silver. Paulina bought it for me. I hope she thinks it was put to good use.

Pattern: Fat Flakes brochure, Snow Family pattern. Jeanette Crew Designs.

Update on Oliver and Martin

Martin can now get himself into a sitting position. He just started that today. He's also very keen to stand, and everyone (but me) is encouraging him standing and walking. He still doesn't crawl forward but he does get around and can crawl backwards. He also is practicing his singing. He's more Chinese Opera than American Idol though.

Oliver is developing quite the sense of humour and is telling jokes. He took Martin's knit zebra puppet and folded it in half, called it a zebra sandwich and pretended to eat it. His potty training is going very well.

He's also learning the power of sucking up. I refused to buy him a book as he didn't behave when we were out but I said that Grandma might. So he started asking her. I said if you hold her hand, you'll have a better chance. Well, didn't he drop Daddy's hand like a hot potato and ran over to Grandma to hold her hand. He also let her read him the stories at home, giving Grandma some cuddle time.

They are both having a great time with Grandma and Grandpa. Tomorrow we are going to the zoo (I've taken the day off).

Field Trip!!

Today I went on my first field trip with Oliver. We went to Jalan Bahar Clay Studios to see the Dragon kiln. A dragon kiln is a large tube like kiln, large enough to walk in, and looks like a reclining dragon. It originates from China, and was built originally to support the rubber industry with making clay pots to gather rubber in.

After seeing the kiln, we made some pottery.

Grandma and Grandpa got to come on the trip as they were in town. They had a good time as well.

Monday Craft Update

Not a bad week.

Knitting
Did about an half an inch on the baby blanket. Still don't know what I'm going to do with it.

Cross-stitch
Snow family cross-stitch - did several hours. Finished all the cross-stitches (except black), just backstitching left. Hopefully the backstitching won't take that long, but I always underestimate how long it does take.

Crochet
Nothing.

Photography / videography
Rearranged the website a bit. Decluttered it you might say.

Decluttering
Decluttered a bit my thread supply. Well, not really declutter as nothing was thrown out, but I organized some of it onto bobbins and into a box. Dad and Sofya helped out. Turns out Dad and I are NOT smarter than a Fourth Grader, as only Sofya could successfully figure out how to use the bobbin threader thingamajig.

Botanical Gardens

We decided to go to the Botanic Gardens today. It was a pretty nice day. For the first time we visited the Orchid Gardens. They were a lot bigger than we thought and they have some beautiful flowers.

Here's a picture minus Joe the photographer.

Here is an orchid. Sorry I don't know the name.