Tag Archives: lockdown

An Excellent Piece

28 Dec

DIY project number eight is a wrap! I must say it is an excellent piece in terms of looks, quality, and enjoyment level. I completed the project on Christmas Eve morning.

The chandelier piece stalled me towards the end of the project. From piecing it together and then installing it, it was an unexpected problem.

At the start, I kept checking the lights and wiring to ensure all the lights and connections were working. I decided to bypass two steps because an elaborate chandelier is never easy. I did not use the rubber hose for the center light. Instead, I used a black Sharpie to camouflage the white and yellow wires. I also did not clamp the three lights to the center light, leaving them protruding outwards more. I thought it looked better.

However, after gluing the chandelier to the ceiling, one of the lights did not work. I was horrified and almost in tears! All that hard work and effort to make sure the lighting and wires were okay, this happened – a day before Christmas Eve.

Painfully, I had no choice but to rip out the chandelier to trace where the problem was. Thankfully I found it. One of the connections of the light inside the rubber hose was loose!

I managed to resolve the issue and brought DIY project number eight to the Christmas Eve dinner for a proud Show and Tell session.

The very impressive DIY project #8

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A Very Different Christmas

25 Dec

2020, what a year! How do we even describe it? For starters, this Christmas is a very different one in all aspects – the mood, the celebration, and the people.

The mood is muted, the celebration toned down or none at all, and people are socially-distanced to stay safe.

For the first time, both our girls are away from home during this festive holiday time. The house feels bigger because our domestic helper returned to her homeland in January, and official pet number one went to pet heaven last year. So it’s just the two of us.

Thankfully, there’s the extended family to have a simple, joyous Christmas Eve dinner at home. We count our blessings and are thankful for the close-knit bond.

Here’s wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas! Stay safe.

Hubby baked an apple cinnamon cake for the occasion, and the turkey was the main course.

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Surprise, Surprise… Not

22 Dec

Well, well, the CMCO was extended again until the end of the year! It certainly wasn’t a surprise and expected. What can we do? Life goes on with my routine revolving around cooking, cleaning, golf games, and DIY miniatures. Oh yeah, and the occasional design work to do in the office.

The last nine months went by rather quickly. When we went into lockdown in March during a global pandemic, we thought how dreadful life would be. But as I reflect now, it wasn’t that bad. Instead, we should be thankful that we are healthy. Along the way, both hubby and I discovered new skills and hobby.

If the CMCO phase continues to usher in the new year, so be it. We need to continue to contain the spread of the Covid-19. Stay safe, folks!

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Eenie Meenie Miney Mo

21 Dec

The latest DIY purchases arrived! So now, I have all these DIY sets waiting for me. Initially, I thought upon completing DIY project number eight, the Study – I should work on the fruit shop set next to take things easy without stress.

But seeing the intricate and exciting new sets, I am having second thoughts about taking things easy and may jump into the more challenging ones. Maybe I’ll Eenie Meenie to pick one.

Which one next to do? Hmm. 🧐

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Excuses! Excuses!

18 Dec

I find myself admiring and playing with project number eight instead of finishing it up. Every evening, I would place a Citizen of Gigglesville on the sofa chair and giggle at the scene before me. It’s very entertaining!

Citizens visiting the Study
Looking very contented!
Citizen #118 doing a balancing act

I am finding excuses to procrastinate and not to start on the lights. There’s the fact that I have work to do in the office this whole week, and I don’t have the time because I’m also playing golf and cooking. It’s becoming a mental block.

Honestly, I find reading instructions is not something I enjoy. But doing up the lights requires focus, and I need to be more disciplined about this if I intend to wrap up project number eight before Christmas. So, no more excuses!

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DIY Project #8, Part 3

14 Dec

The tail-end of project number eight is just so hard! I find that I do not quite enjoy making chandeliers or hanging lights for all my sets. The last complicated one during project number five was a let-down. After painstakingly working on them and putting them up, the middle light did not work. I was disappointed.

Gotta push myself to do the lights

So here I am, procrastinating on this lighting challenge. I thought I would take some time to finish this project, but I’m much faster than anticipated. All the shelves, books, and accessories are done and placed accordingly to the plan as outlined. Even the sofa chair, which initially, I thought would be a challenge, was completed without issues. I even took the initiative to change the color of the main wall.

The making of a sofa chair
The completed sofa chair

Well, I’m pushing myself to wrap this up soon because I’m keen to get started on project number nine, a fruit shop similar to project number seven, the tea parlor. In other words, it is an easy set, and it would be nice to end the tumultuous year working on something easy without any added stress.

Making my Citizens try the sofa chair. Some are happy, some are not!

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Yet Another Extension

11 Dec

It is yet another extension of the CMCO. We expected this because cases have been on the uptrend. Anyway, we are immune already because we are so used to the routine and requirements now. And it feels weird if we don’t abide by the rules especially, putting on the mask.

Frankly, there is no let-up as far as the pandemic and prevention SOP is concerned. During the previous CMCO phase, the single-player, single-buggy rule for golf was in effect, although couples from one household can share one buggy.

But this latest extension from 6 December until 20 December allows twin-sharing golf carts for golfers not necessarily from the same household for a round of golf. So from here forth, a flight of four golfers will have the usual two twin-sharing buggies instead of four individual ones.

I think I will feel weird sharing a golf buggy with someone else other than hubby because I have gotten so used to it already! Also, ever since we’ve been playing together, we have an ongoing Matchplay rivalry, tracked with the Hole 19 app on my AppleWatch Series 5. I will miss the Matchplay challenges if we don’t play together. Oh well, we’ll see how the golf outings turn out.

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DIY Project #8, Part 2

7 Dec

Project number eight has been progressing well. I even joined a Facebook group of fans working on such DIY projects. There are various sets, and all these DIY die-hards share their efforts, progress, and finished sets on the social media site. I get very motivated and inspired when I see all the beautiful results!

From the group, I learned a few new things or two. These fans are pros! Some of them even customized their sets with extra accessories or colors. It never crossed my mind to customize the DIY sets from the very beginning.

My set will have a green wall

Who knows, maybe from here on, I will customize my sets too. For now, I will stick to what’s on the instruction book to complete project number eight without extra items. However, I did paint the main wall a lime green color instead of leaving it white.

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DIY Project #8

4 Dec

Last Saturday was a rare non-golf day for me. I needed a break as I had played on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday already. Moreover, I would be playing on Sunday, so in between that streak, a much-needed rest was necessary.

It was nice to be home, but I did not sit on my laurels. I started on DIY project number eight. When I opened the box and took out all the packets, it looked daunting. But so far, it has been such fun working on it.

Project #8

It’s been a week already that I am on it, taking my time. The bookshelves are such a joy. Pieces are interlocking so that the shelves align, unlike project number four, where I had to measure the spacing in between manually. And even then, things went a little off for that project. I learn as I progress.

The interlocks are at the back. So clever!

For other furniture pieces, like the mini table, there are holes to ensure the legs can fit properly. However, the legs were a tad too fat, so I had to file them down. Nothing too stressful that I could not handle.

On the whole, it is just time-consuming because there are so many of the same things required. Like the books, there’s a whole lot of them. And cutting all the paper and gluing them to make a block of books or to the wood pieces. Speaking of books, I thought it was hilarious that most of the books are titled “Book.”

Slowly but surely, project number eight has been fun and moving at a good pace.

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My Waldo Covers

1 Dec

During the various MCO and CMCO phases in the past eight months, we hardly ventured out to the mall (except that trip to IKEA) for any indulgence, be it dining or shopping. And grocery shopping at our regular grocer does not count as shopping.

So I find myself doing a fair bit of online shopping instead to suppress the occasional urge to buy something, which is kind of nice sometimes. There’s so much to explore with just a flick of the fingers from the comforts of home.

It was this act that I discovered the world of DIY miniature sets. Besides my obsession for this–I’m currently on project number eight with two more in the queue–the two things I find myself buying a lot are baking gadgets for hubby to use and golf-related items.

The recent 11.11 purchases, besides the two DIY sets, are golf paraphernalia, specifically, covers for my golf irons. They are rather cute and reminds me of the fictional character, Waldo.

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