Tag Archives: pandemic

It’s Rather Monumental, Part 2

19 Jun

In between working on the DIY homes, I decided to complete the Monument piece. I knew what I had to do if it was to be converted to become a door stopper. I couldn’t just glue the carving to the wedge as is because it won’t be strong enough to hold together.

So I carved an interlocking section in the joining area of both pieces for better support. The snug fit then had Elmer’s glue added for additional strength.

Thankfully, the whole process didn’t take long and all it needed after that was time for the glue to dry and a coat of varnish. A pat on the shoulder for me for the well-done effort!

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

A New Activity, Part 2

16 Jun

M2 and I were aghast at the challenge ahead with my DIY home that arrived first. All the furniture pieces are so tiny!!! What have I gotten ourselves into?

Checklist of all items to construct my mini 3-story bungalow!

The mess working on the kitchen chairs

I had to put aside finishing up the Monument piece to focus on this. So the two of us worked on my house at every opportunity available. But it has been slow because cooking and cleaning the real house takes priority over fixing up the toy house. Don’t forget, there’s all that golf to play too during the weekends. The DIY home was merely to fill up any free time available.

Props are tiny beyond tiny!

However, there were days we didn’t look forward to the daunting task because the pieces were so minuscule to handle especially the props and materials. Half the time at such close proximity, I had to remove my glasses to see better. But I felt we couldn’t abandon the three projects just like that simply because things were tiny.

Everything here was so hard to glue! See the size in comparison to my glasses

Clips to hold and to hold down the fabric after applying glue

At times, I had to use a clothes peg when working with fabric to hold the pieces when applying glue. And the clothes peg also doubled up to hold the material down to bind with the glue. If I didn’t do this, I’d end up with all the glue on my fingers instead! And it’s rather time-consuming because the glue needed to dry before we could progress further.

When the second shipment arrived, M2 moved on to fix her house, whilst I concentrated on mine. And both of us agreed that hubby will not fix his house up because the parts are way too tiny for him to handle.

The incomplete first floor of M2’s DIY 2-story home. Check out the books on the bookshelf!

Once the two of us have completed our homes, we’d work on his together.

Tags: , , , , , ,

A New Activity

15 Jun

My latest online purchase was done on a whim. After purchasing a couple of kitchen appliance/utensil items, I itched to buy something for myself. After all, those kitchen things were more for hubby to use, and we’ve hardly gone out to do any shopping, let alone go out.

So what did I buy?

A do-it-yourself home! And I had to buy the biggest house with teeny weeny parts to be put together with glue and tweezers. And as if that’s not enough, I bought two more houses too, one for M2 and one for hubby to fix! Crazy.

My house arrived slightly squashed but all contents were intact

The DIY house kits arrived separately – mine first, at the end of May and the other two several days later.

These two came more squashed but nothing broken

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Sleep vs Sun

12 Jun

Morning golf is always a challenge, especially when I have to wake up at 5.30 am. It gets tough when the night before was a restless one, and it’s usually the case. I don’t know why. Pre-game anxiety?

It’s always a debate on sleep versus the sun for me. An early tee-off means less sleep and a late tee-off, more sun (and heat) to deal with. Sometimes there’s also rain to contend with regardless of tee-off time, but rain is not the main thing.

Our regular weekend group generally prefers early morning golf. But these days, it is not easy to book an early tee-off at our golf club because of reduced slots. With the CMCO in place, tee-off times are ten minutes apart instead of seven minutes, and this has reduced the playing slots available.

The early slots are gone very quickly if we’re not fast enough to book ahead. Pre-MCO days, we usually tee-off at 7.15 am, but these days, we’d be lucky if we can even get the 7.25 am slot.

This past weekend, we played at the Lakes course on Saturday on a single-player single-buggy basis following the CMCO guidelines. Not the earliest tee-off (8.45 am for me, and 8.55 am for hubby), I thought I’d have the sun and heat to deal with. Luckily it was cloudy and cool, and I had a good game.

The next day, it was a different story. The flight registration for my tee-off at 8.25 am was muddled up, and I was not updated, so this flustered me. Then I misplaced a flight mate’s membership card. Not a good start. Sigh. Thankfully hubby found it before my flight headed to the tee box.

And my woes didn’t end there. The sun was out full force, and I lost focus as the heat got to me. At Hole 13, Par 3 with several houses flanking the hole, I pulled my ball into the backyard of one of the homes, something I’ve never done before! Yikes.

Then I dropped my Maruman Conductor utility club cover somewhere along the walk on the fourth nine on the Hills course. Sadly, I can deem it lost unless someone found the cover and kindly returned it. Boo hoo hoo. On the last hole, I launched my ball into the ditch in front that wasn’t even in play. The putting was terrible, the short game was off, and my flight mate even hit my ball wrongly. You could say I didn’t have a good round.

If anything good that came out of this terrible round of golf, it was the determination to walk the 18-holes carrying my bag with my 11 clubs. And I did it. For this and this only, I felt very accomplished.

Looking back, I’d rather forsake a little beauty sleep for an early tee-off, so I don’t have to deal with the heat and have unnecessary mishaps.

As the country entered its recovery phase on 10 June (CMCO is now Recovery MCO or RMCO), tee-off times have been revised and are no longer ten minutes apart. I hope the coming weekend’s 7.47 am tee-off on both mornings will result in better rounds of golf for me.

Tags: , , , , ,

This One Takes the Cake

9 Jun

Hubby’s baking skills have improved. He’s gone on to bake cakes besides bread, cookies and scones as well. He’s done carrot cake a couple of times already. Don’t forget there’s also the team effort apple pie and apple bread bomb.

The scones’ texture and taste were just right

I have to admit, I have gained a pound recently despite the vigorous weekend golf games. Maybe this is insufficient and I need to step up my exercise regime even more if I am constantly savoring all the baked temptations.

The latest effort is a sponge cake with a twist. M2 requested a Victoria Sponge and hubby obliged. But he didn’t want a whole Victoria Sponge cake because he felt that the jam filling would be too sweet.

So he improvised and instead of having a one-flavor cake, he did a half-and-half whereby one half had mixed berries for the Victoria part and the other half had Gula Melaka with coconut shreds. The second flavor was more suited to our tastebuds because the Gula Melaka was drizzled sparingly while the coconut shreds had hints of saltiness to counter the sweetness. Yum.

The half and half sponge cake

Such ingenuity as everyone was able to enjoy their preferred sponge cake without any guilt.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Odd One Out

26 May

I took quite sometime to finish the latest Gnome because cooking and cleaning comes first over carving. And when I finally painted it up, it is an odd one.

Same same but different

Certainly a breakaway from the troop, it does not have the blue top or white shoes although it has the red cap like the rest. Well, it’s okay. Sometimes variation is good to make things interesting and also helps to improvise for the better.

However, when a piece in hand is not following a systematic way to carve, like carving the Whale pieces for example, the task in hand becomes challenging. And ginormous Gnome, at the height of 17.5cm was certainly a tough challenge.

One tough cookie… err, Gnome to carve

Well it’s almost completed (the varnishing being the final process), I am now contemplating what my next piece should be. Hmm…

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Thrilled by a Kitchen Utensil

25 May

It takes a pandemic to change the behavior of people and how the world functions. We have been under the MCO and now CMCO since 18 March, and during this time, things happen to us. I’m sure we’re not alone on this behavioral change.

We discover ourselves in the midst of the semi-lockdown situation, perfecting our patience and unearthing amazing skills in the kitchen. Whilst my cooking has improved, hubby discovered baking. Who would’ve known?

On top of these, I find myself thrilled by online purchases of kitchen appliances and utensils! Something unheard of pre-MCO life. The first thrill was when the stand mixer arrived some time back. This time, it’s an eight inch baking pan which arrived middle of last week. Yes, an eight inch baking pan!

The thrill of my life!

The pan was specifically purchased for one purpose only and that is to bake apple pies. And since I didn’t go to the office the day it arrived, I efficiently whipped up my apple filling before the water could even dry off the pan after a quick wash upon unwrapping.

Then I waited patiently for hubby to return from the office to prepare the dough. That night immediately after dinner, we got down to baking the apple pie.

Again it was a test of patience – an hour for the dough in the fridge to settle, then another hour to complete the rest of the process and baking.

As soon as the pie came out of the oven and cooled, the three of us polished off three quarters of the apple pie without any guilt. So good, burp.

A successful effort this time!

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Golfing with Conditions, Part 2

18 May

It’s the second weekend in a row that we’ve gone to play golf. By now, golfing with conditions is not that bad, it’s for our safety after all. And it has become second nature to put on a mask whenever we are out and be mindful of social distancing.

There was improvement with this second outing as the legs held up without aches. I was more worn out by the humid weather than the walk itself and was sweating buckets. I came home almost two pounds lighter.

For two days in a row, I walked 15 holes each day and yes, I was carrying my golf bag with ten clubs. Hubby took the buggy and played 18 at the Lakes course on Saturday and walked 15 with me (and two other friends) at the Hills course on Sunday. Compared to the weekend before with nine and 14 holes over two days at the Hills course (not counting the Thursday game), this time there’s an additional seven holes in total for me.

Very good exercise is all I can say and definitely looking forward to the weekend again.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Golfing with Conditions

15 May

So last week, we went back to playing golf. With the new CMCO now enforced, the Club has conditions to abide by to ensure safety for all.

Wearing a mask and having our temperature taken upon arrival at the Club are now compulsory practices. Golfers have to keep their social distance from each other, so no groups and after game drinks. This is the new normal until June and we’ll have to get used to these practices.

My first golf game after such a lengthy break was quite an experience. OMG, it was so darn taxing on the legs!

The Club has put in place two different guidelines for the CMCO phase: a no buggy rule at the Hills course and a single player per buggy rule at the Lakes course. I played three times, carrying my golf bag, at the Hills course.

I don’t use a trolley for my golf bag and it’s not so much the weight of the bag but the distance to cover on foot. Being confined to the house during the MCO period, the amount of walking I do at home is nothing compared to covering the length of nine holes at the golf course.

My legs felt like jelly and ached beyond belief after my first game last Thursday (it was a public holiday) because I walked so much suddenly. I was wishing them, my legs that is, to fall off my body to reduce the agony. Obviously it didn’t work and I ended up walking weird the next day to manage the nagging pain.

But before the pain could totally subside, the die-hard golfer in me played again over the weekend. Twice mind you as I walked nine holes on Saturday and 14 holes on Sunday! The nine holes was manageable but the 14-holes was quite a killer outing.

Thankfully I had the whole week to recover before the coming weekend games. Phew.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Tag Team Baking, Part 2

12 May

It looks like the only time we do our tag team baking is when we are doing apple pies – I’d do the filling and hubby would take care of the crust. The second time, we decided we should do a whole pie instead of mini tarts. It’s less work to have the dough in one pie pan compared to a dozen or so tart moulds.

Having learnt from the earlier effort, hubby patiently worked on the crust and it came out beautifully this second time. Needless to say, the filling was good too.

But sometimes things doesn’t go as planned. The latest third attempt failed because I got distracted by the washing machine and the filling got too mushy. And hubby’s dough wasn’t enough to cover the top of the pie despite following the same recipe as before.

I felt so unaccomplished after that so we’d have to bake another one again soon to get over the failure.

Tags: , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →