I seem to have an obsession for tools. My latest purchase is a complete set of knives and gadgets! This is on top of the online purchase not too long ago of the gigantic chisel set which I have not even started to use.
Why am I buying so many of these things? Obsession beyond belief.
Now that M1 has gone back to university, the home front is back to normal. In other words, no trips to the mall for shopping or eating out to check off a To Eat List on a weekday. I can go back to carving, hubby can tend to his air plants again and amazingly, M2 has even started doing her revision without being told.
The first thing I did was to finish up Dinky the Dinosaur. Chopstick limbs were added (with ice cream stick feet) and over the weekend whilst tracking her flight path flightaware.com, I gave it a gesso base. And Dinky will be given a good sanding down before a second gesso base and colors are added to bring it to life.
Finally, Dinky is taking shape. Next in cue, a whole new batch of Citizens and perhaps some new species.
After almost a month being home, our firstborn M1 returned to the US on Saturday evening. It had been simply a wonderful month, spending quality time together as we did so much or sometimes nothing at all. We had our family vacation in Hong Kong which was really fun.
And we enjoyed a sinful gastronomic journey covering her To Eat List; I think we managed all on the list. Needless to say, my waistline expanded and I gave up standing on my bathroom scale.
But how fast time flew by. My heart broke a little when we hugged her and saw her into the Departure Hall at KLIA as she headed back as a Junior turning Senior for her final year. Sniffle…
Fast forward to today—a Monday but a Sunday for her—she finally arrived, surviving the 3-leg journey with an unavoidable ten-hour layover in Hong Kong. I feel a sense of relief now.
Have a great year ahead M1!
Every now and then, the Citizens of Gigglesville do a mass migration. This time it’s en bloc for ten Citizens, with Lab Owl leading the way. Lab Owl is following M1 back to the US with giant Citizen #100 tagging along too while the rest, Citizens #96, #97, #103, #108, #109, #110 and #114 are migrating to spread love and giggles.
On top of these citizens, I actually managed to find a little time to carve a Friend of the Citizens character because M1 requested for one. In Gigglesville, there’s the normal Citizens, the Superheroes, the Monuments and this; not a gnome but a fish specifically, a Spiny Lumpsucker.
Named Spiny Lumps, it even has an occupation – a Marine Researcher. An apt career considering it is an ocean creature and Spiny will assist Lab Owl with research. Who knows? Maybe the storyline can evolve with flair… Hahaha…
With the mass migration, looks like I have to carve up more Citizens for Gigglesville to grow!
I thought it’s significant that I reached Day 500 today on the iPad Mini for the Daily Bonus in Candy Crush Soda. Yep, 500, it’s crazy. It’s Day 299 on the iPhone5S.
I don’t know why I am still at it when I have sort of stopped playing. Actually I can’t go pass Level 1473. Sigh…
It was a Monday but felt like a Sunday. The girls slept in because we didn’t have any solid plans and being so stuffed from dinner the night before and the many nights before as well! We have been dutifully ploughing through M1’s To Eat List before she goes back.
As for us, hubby was at his usual puttering around the garden and I was back at carving after a hiatus. With M1 back, there has been so much to do but unfortunately, sitting around at home to carve has not been one of the activity.
So yesterday, it was nice to relax at home and Citizen #120 was born! 120. What a significant number and on the first day of the new year. I have come so far for Gigglesville and I think this year the township will boom at an even greater pace. I am excited at the prospect.
It may be a quiet start but it’s a good start. We are back at work today and M2 is at school without any issues waking up.
Happy New Year folks! A brand new year and a brand new outlook. Does it feel any different? Honestly, no. I have stopped making resolutions because I know I cannot keep them, so no point in trying to kid myself.
We had a quiet lead-in to welcome the new year. Nothing out of sorts, the girls and I spent quality time together whilst hubby was with his friends for a bit. We actually went shopping and as usual, felt overwhelmed by the crowd. Then dinner was at my sibling’s home, a simple home-cooked meal, nothing elaborate.
We even managed to reach home on time to watch some fireworks display within and afar from our neighborhood in the comforts of the house. Unlike last year where we were at a friend’s place for a party and caught some dazzling displays up close but after that, was stuck in a traffic jam upon leaving the place.
A quiet usher-in, let’s hope 2018 will be an exciting and positive one more than anything else.
2017 is coming to an end with two days left to go. This is my last entry for the year and my, my, what a year it has been for me!
There has been many significant changes to our lives in 2017, the biggest one being the relocation of our design studio. We moved closer to home and it’s a mere 5km away only. What a difference for us especially when it comes to time management and traffic jam-free driving which is really nice.
It may be smaller in size but it’s a lot more cosy and I certainly feel happier. Work-wise we have been fortunate to be kept busy. Let’s hope this momentum carries onward to the new year.
On the personal side, I have been plagued with injuries causing me to lose interest in playing golf. While it’s unfortunate I lost my passion for the game I enjoy, it spawned a new passion, carving. Gigglesville was born with a whole new township of owl Citizens and Superheroes. They have been lovingly hand-crafted with each day of me staying home to recover from the tennis elbow.
Hubby also picked up a new interest in air plants. The house is now full of these everywhere and it’s nice to look at them. M1 had a good year at university, and did her second internship which we feel the experience was invaluable. She has matured so much. M2 turned Sweet 16 and doing well in school too.
We had several crayfishes that lasted and didn’t. These creatures are not easy to care for! Some fishes died too due to old age. Senior citizen of the house, Rooney, also official pet number one, turned ten and for the first time showed signs of his seniority. And demanding more attention than ever.
The list can go on for what happened throughout the year! As I reflect back, there’s more good and memorable ones than anything else and I carry these in my heart forever. With 2017 almost done––sometimes too fast with the days going by, sometimes super slow––I look forward to the new year and eagerly await what lies ahead with a positive outlook.
I want to thank all my readers, people from all over the world, friends and family who have followed me to read my stories and thoughts. It’s a nice feeling and I hope you’d continue to read and enjoy the musings.
A toast to 2017, thank you for memories and another toast to 2018, let it be an exciting year with lots to write, grouse and muse about!
My latest set of tools look so huge that hubby thinks I should have a log or wood stump to work on instead of puny one inch thick balsa wood! It’s just too funny. Tempting as it may be, I shot down the offer because this would then make the whole living room become a woodwork workshop.
And out of the blue, I feel I need a mallet to complement the new tools. I even picked one up over the weekend when we were at the hardware store but hubby told me that there’s an existing mallet in the office already and I should just bring that home.
Well, we’ll see how my usage of the new tools will be. But I need a bigger piece of wood…
Normally every year after enjoying the merry-making of the Family Christmas Dinner, we would sleep in. But this year it’s a little different, a break from tradition; firstly, dinner was hosted by us and secondly, it was on Christmas Day itself, not Christmas Eve.
Food preparation was a long process although there wasn’t much cooking. I made the salad, M1 made the mash potatoes, M2 prepared the hors d’oeuvres of smoked bacon and grape on romaine. The focaccia herb mushroom toast bites was team effort, and the turkey and dinner rolls were contributed by my sibling. We did add a couple more purchased roasted chicken to make life easier. It’s a simple spread but satisfying nonetheless.
And because dinner was on Christmas Day itself and Boxing Day is not a holiday, we have to go into the office. Not too long but necessary to wrap up some little work we have left for the year.
Angieneering 
Remarks