Archive | December, 2013

Hands to Knees, Legs to Elbows

13 Dec

I am a stickler for cleanliness. Whenever the children are out in the garden playing with official pet number one, Rooney, the limbs would all get dirty from the action.

I would remind them with my standard, “Please wash your hands to elbows, legs to knees!” What this means is short of a whole body shower, they have to wash their arms until the elbows and scrub the legs until the knees. Just cleaning the hands and feet only are not acceptable.

The reminder has been ingrained so much so, sometimes the body parts are jumbled up, like a tongue twister. “Please wash your hands to knees, legs to elbows,” or “Please wash you hands to legs, elbows to knees,” which, unimaginable as they seem, it’s never challenged as both girls know what I mean.

What Kind of Update is That?!

12 Dec

I came home from work yesterday and after dinner, got ready for my daily evening routine: crushing some candies on the laptop. I have been stuck at 492 for awhile and my closest rival finally caught up to me.

But as I launched the game (in Facebook) on the laptop, there was this new icon on the left (on the iPad, it’s on the right). What’s this, I wondered…

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Odus sits where the Prize Wheel used to be in the game on Facebook

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Candy Crush Dreamworld

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The iPad version. Prize Wheel is still there and Odus is at the other end

It’s ‘Dreamworld’, a new subset of the main game. Huh?

Is this an update? You call this an update?

Eeesh. I thought retirement from the game is imminent as I am at the end of the saga with 5 more levels to go (made it to 495) to reach level 500 and now this.

So I tried it out…

I must say it’s easier than the main game but there is this owl, Odus, that you have to watch its balance on the moon. Interesting. I guess my candy crushing days are not yet numbered.

Am I Counting?

12 Dec

It’s Thursday already and we have been going about our things. The first two days without M1 around, we felt incomplete. And when we went out for dinner, the hubby automatically asked for a table for four.

M1 emailed once on Sunday, saying wifi is sparse and her phone has charging problems. But she’s fine and having a wonderful time. So do we feel relief or wonder in darkness? Hmm.

Well, it’s past midway of her ten-days away from us and as long as we busy ourselves, we are doing okay. But still, I think we can’t help but count the days until she’s back.

Meatball Monday

10 Dec

Two weeks I decreed the girls should have meatballs for lunch on Monday and M2 whooped, “Yay! Meatball Monday!!!” But alas, plans had to change and the meatball lunch did not materialize.

Errands got in the way of routine. But finally, the highly anticipated meatballs was to be prepared for lunch on Thursday.

“We’re having meatballs tomorrow?” asked a surprised M1, on Wednesday night.

“Aww… It’s not the same. We can’t call it ‘Meatball Monday’!” M2 lamented.

Well, does it matter to have the first alphabet of each word to be the same?

So I turned things around and declared, “How about calling it ‘The meatball Thursday’? Happy?”

Two cheesy grins appeared.

Bundle Up!

9 Dec

Back in December 2010, we went on a family vacation to Korea and it was right smack during the winter time. And dang, it was cold! Seoul weather was in the low teens and sometimes in single digits even during the day. And when the wind kicked in, goodness gracious! Even the bones were not spared and chilled to no end.

It was the first time for M1 and M2 in such extreme weather conditions and I was worried for them. So I was constantly saying, “Bundle up!” to remind them to do so, every single time before leaving the comforts of the bus or the warmth of a restaurant into the cold blustering winds.

So much so, M2 started counting each time I said that phrase. The cheeky girl.

At the end of the eight day trip, M2 reported that I said that phrase 40 times! My goodness. Did I actually do that? I can be so predictable at times.

Then in November 2012, when we went on another family vacation, this time to the West Coast of the US, that familiar phrase was uttered again. However, as weather was not that extreme the whole time, it was mentioned only in cold places like Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon and San Francisco.

But the girls remembered! They would exchange knowing looks at each other and say out loud, “Yes we know… Bundle up!” Sometimes before I can even open my mouth, M2 especially, would beat me to it, “Mummy? Aren’t you gonna say ‘Bundle up!’?” Hrmph.

I cannot remember at the end of the three-week vacation, what my final tally was…

Now that M1 is in Japan during this cold season sans mummy, I made sure she has enough to bundle up without me having to constantly utter that now infamous phrase.

My Baby’s Sprouted Wings

6 Dec

My firstborn, M1, is 16 years old and all grown up. Several days ago, I was emailing a friend how I am staring at grey strands in the mirror. This evening she leaves the comfort of the home-albeit temporarily-for a 10-day student exchange program to Japan. It was with our blessings and encouragement that she is going on this trip.

I wonder if we will miss her? Hmm.

M2 feels more optimistic as she knows it’s just for a mere ten days. Before we know it, M1 will be back and things will be back to normal. M2 even declared that she will sleep alone at night in their room. Despite the declaration, she has already staked out a comfortable spot in our room for the last few nights! Innocently, I asked, “Are you saving energy?” “Uh-huh!” was the instant reply.

Well, M1 is a baby no more and eventually, her sprouted wings will bring her to new destinations and exciting things in her life. This is something we have to come to terms with.

Initially reluctant about the trip (to Japan), hubby and I pointed out that leaving home is an inevitable step and we should treat the coming 10 days of separation as practice of the eventuality when she’s college-bound.

Sprouting wings and going places are the dreams of most young adults. Even myself. I couldn’t wait to leave for college during my time in the dinosaur era. If I had felt that then, what more my children?

The only way to learn to let go is to nurture them, guide them and encourage the confidence in them.

I think I’m gonna cry…

What am I Thinking of?

6 Dec

It must be the holiday season or the constant rain that made me download another game from King.com to play. What am I thinking of to decide to start yet another saga, Papa Pear? As if my Candy Crush and Zookeeper Battle games are not enough!

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Currently for Candy Crush, I am at Level 491 and it will end at Level 500 on Facebook unless they update there while on the iPad, it stops at 485, waiting for the snail-paced update to happen. Maybe the fear of not having some saga to keep busy made me do it. Whatever the reason, this is definitely self inflicted.

Hrmph.

Butt-head! Bwahahahaha….

5 Dec

My little nephew recently learnt a new word. This is according to both M1 and M2 when they went to visit grandma two days ago and was playing with him and his little sister.

Looking at his little sister, he would go, “Butt-head!” for no particular reason and then break out in fits of laughter. “Bwahahahahaha…..!”

Eeeks! Is that a word? Should it be allowed? Now, which cartoon was he exposed to? M1 and M2 were both too tickled even to correct him. Grandma was definitely unaware of the situation.

Wouldn’t my brother dearest be appalled if he found out? Shh…

Globe Trotting on Hold

5 Dec

 

Last week up, the project ran until letter ‘G’ and the work by both girls turned out quite good I must say. Colorful, informative and interesting, I think they learnt a few new things and so did us adults.

Proj7a

Chile from the eyes of M2

Proj7b

Denmark by M2

Proj8b

Spot the failed lion by M2

Proj9

M1’s find

Proj10b

More from M1

Proj10c

M1’s Finland find

 

 

 

But sensing some reluctance and procrastination along the way, I changed the rules to keep the interest intact. They can have illustrations to accompany the words and way much easier; I believe variations is the only way to keep them busy during the school holidays.

So this week, the alphabets continue but, instead of a country, it is 30 words (for M2) and 50 words (for M1) to search in relation to the alphabet. Both were wide-eyed at the numbers assigned and there were some bargaining to reduce it. We shall see…

With ‘H, I, J, K and L’ lined up, I look forward to learning some new words and seeing some interesting drawings.

Colorful Chicken!

3 Dec

I was at the hospital several months ago visiting a loved one. And it stretched over to lunchtime and I got hungry. So I decided to visit the cafeteria for some tummy filler otherwise it would be embarrassing to have the tummy growl loudly in front of the patient whilst she had her lunch. Then she’d make me eat her lunch!

People always complain hospital food is not the most palatable. Strange coming from a place that promotes good health and good eating. I must agree with the general public on taste alone but I must say, when I got to the cafeteria, the offering was an array of colors for just one type of meat, it was blinding.

I had choices ranging from red (curry chicken), orange (more curry chicken), mustard yellow (kurma chicken), yellow (tumeric chicken), white (steamed chicken), brown (fried chicken) or dark brown (roasted chicken!) It was literally a rainbow of chicken choices save for purple and blue! Even the fish was not too far off in terms of color offerings! The only green offering was literally the greens-vegetables-with no shades at all.

Unlike M2 who thinks chicken is awesome, I thought the choices were an overkill.

So I debated between shades as it was tough to choose the right shade of chicken to eat. Should I go with something for its taste? Or should I go with the color? What if I just choose something to complement my shirt? Hmm…

In the end, I chose a red chicken and an orange fish just to blend with my Liz Clairborne shirt! Heheheh….