Recycling magnet calendars

Do you often receive those calendars from real estate agents with the little magnets behind? You might stick it up on your fridge and leave it there for a while, only to toss it out later into the wastepaper basket. Today I had a sudden inspiration for recycling them.


I trimmed the calendars down to fit a post-it note pad and glued them together.


And there you have it, a mini note pad which you can stick on your fridge to jot down reminders and grocery lists.


Just thought I'd share this idea.

I can only respond with incredulous silence

About a week ago I received a phonecall which simply served affirmed that the term Corporate Sincerity is a complete fantasy.

“Good afternoon, am I speaking with a Ms. Serene?”

“Yes, this is Serene speaking”

“Oh hello ma’am, I’m calling from the 16th Century Academy and we would like to offer you and your partner two free tickets to a three-day investment seminar next week”

“That’s nice, where is the training?”

“It’s in Fiji”

(Incredulous silence)

“Come again, where did you say it was?”

“Fiji, ma’am”

“I’m sorry. Did you say Fiji?”

“Yes, ma’am”

“By Fiji, you mean the Fiji where I will need to take leave and book flights to fly out there”

“Yes, ma’am. But we can offer you and your partner a discount voucher for the hotel accommodation where the seminar is being held”

“It seems a little late notice to be offering me this”

“I understand, ma’am. So will you be wanting the tickets?”

(Incredulous silence again)

“Just send email me the info and I will have a look at it”

“Yes, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am”

I think you are on the same page with me with the incredulous silence. Need I say more?

Baking with just a click of a button

I just ticked an item off my wish list.

After much contemplation and some encouragement from various people (like my cousin Ashley), I decided to get a breadmaker.

It also helped that we had $150 store credit from our last big purchase.

Isn't it pretty?


I was eager to try out my new toy immediately. I decided to try and make a banana walnut bread.

Basic ingredients

Banana and walnuts

Throw ingredients together and with just a click of a button...


And three hours later...



Voila!!!

Yummy accompaniment to curry

Basic chicken curry. Commonly eaten with rice, bread or maybe some fried beehoon.

But let me introduce you to something super yum to go with your curry.


Tadaa.......


Yes. That's right. PUFF PASTRY!!!

This idea was first introduced to me by Diana. Just divide the puff pastry pieces, then cut and fold it into any shape you like. I decided to fold it into triangle pieces.


Bake in a preheated 180 degrees celcius oven for around 20 minutes until golden.


Suuuuupeeeer SHIOK, I tell you. You guys have to try it for yourselves.

Lo Hei, Lo Hei!!! Nien Nien You Yue!!!

Another reason and season to shout out and declare my favourite CNY greeting Nien Nien You Yue!!!




The pics above are of the O2 Youth CNY dinner and lo hei session at our house.

We also had a cell group dinner on Wednesday with HOMEMADE lo hei ingredients. Amazing right? We had two super-geng gals shop and prepare all the ingredients for us... tasted super yum and very authentic!



So Happy Chinese New Year everyone and wishing you a heartfelt blessing of Nien Nien You Yue in both meanings... that this year and every year will bring ever more abundance and blessing... and may every year, you have Ichtus - Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour as the source of grace and joy in every area of your life!

Ad of the day!

New Speckies

Fighting Fair

With all this talk about new year’s resolutions, I started searching within me for any compelling desire to list out my own resolutions, but found none. Hubby asked me the other day whether I had thought of any and I replied that I don’t feel like setting any this year.

Initially I had thought not to bother with any this year. I mean, there’s no need to make resolutions only once a year since I make plenty of small ones along the way throughout the year anyway.

But after a few incidents for us as a couple setting a shaky start to the new year, I think it’s a good time to resolve something new on those incidences. Not just because it’s a new year (even though that helps) but because it’s good to improve oneself as well.

So I henceforth resolve to learn to ‘Fight Fair’ (on my part).

Does that strike a chord with you? Well feel free to jump on the bandwagon... I’m not at all exclusive with my resolutions. Feel free to use them as you like.

So, where to begin. Well, the easiest and most common starting point is with a good and trusty search engine. So I type in ‘Fighting Fair’ into the search engine box, click ENTER and voila! It returned 12,600,000 results, click the first one and read...

Conflict Styles

"Mad Bomber," "Smolderer," or Somewhere in Between?

[Hmmm... I think I might be somewhere in the “Mad Bomber” region. Let’s read on...]

What Kind of "Fighter" Are You?

Do You...

Avoid conflict at all costs?
[No]

Feel that any criticism or disagreement is an attack on you?
[Yes, frequently]

Hit "below the belt" and regret it later?
[Not physically]

Withdraw and become silent when you're angry?
[Not really, I usually lash it all out. Which is not good either I suppose]

Store up complaints from the distant past?
[Occasionally]


[Okay, moving on on to the “What to do” section...]

Step One: Remain Calm.

Ha! That’s easy to say. But actually actively remaining calm in the heat of a full on argument is another thing all together.

Sigh. 5 minutes into my resolution and I already seem to not be able to achieve it. Arrrrgggghhhh!!!!!!

Right. Breathe. Calm down, no need to argue with myself. Let’s take a step back and look at this objectively...

I have a theory that I have less control over my emotions right before my period. Otherwise known as PMS. (Something about the pimples that just sets me off perhaps). Anyway I recently downloaded this menstrual tracker into my phone... mainly for family planning reasons... but why not use it as a PMS tracker as well?

I’ve been having lots of fun setting reminders and notes for myself using my phone calendar. So let’s play along and see if it works. Set reminder, 2 days before next period, Subject: PMS Warning!

Let’s see how we go.

Can you get more random than this?

At cell group today while we were rounding up with our usual makan session, in the midst of the chitter chatter going on around me, I paused for moment in amusement and amazement as I realised the random topics being tossed about in conversation...

"So ya, I'm going through a detox this week... only fruits and vegetables... no meat..."

"Eh, I think last time the UWA Zone did something like that... no meat, only vegetables..."

"It was a 'Daniel Fast'... no meat, only fruit, veg, and no refined sugars..."

"They can eat nuts, but wah you should see the nuts they eat, super high class nuts man..."

"Nuts are very good for you..."

"Ya, peanuts are very good for you, I think..."

"No... not peanuts, very fattening... peanuts are the WORST kind of nuts, super high cholesterol one..."

"Ya, ya, ya... peanuts make your tummy have this extra large effect... you remember that guy last time, YC's housemate? He eats A LOT nuts you know, when you see him from the front, he looks normal, but from side profile, his stomach is like super bulging out one!"

"Peanuts are bad... but almonds are good... and hazelnuts I think... but not peanuts"

"Oh, oh, oh... do you guys remember last time when you were young, there's this snack, comes in red packet, got peanuts mix together with ikan bilis and other things... sticky and crunchy... oooooh, so nice man...."

"Red packet? Ikan bilis?"

"Ya, ya, ya!!! I remember... very yummy!"

"Huh? Red packet? Sticky and crunchy???"

"I love it... I wonder how it tastes with beer?"

"Is it the Sa Kae Ma snack?"

"No, not Sa Kae Ma... Sa Kae Ma is sweet... this one is salty but sweet as well"

"Haiya, I tell you what, when you go back to Malaysia, buy back some for us lar"

"I don't think they let you bring nuts in"

"I know they don't let you bring Bak Guah in"

"Why not???"

"Because it's pork"

"...Hmmmm.... I think it will taste very nice with beer...."

Please note that the above conversation is between more than two people (more than three or four people actually I dare say)

Greenthumbs

So by popular demand, here is a glimpse of how our little baby worms are doing:


There they are... all happily wriggling and thriving on our vegetable and fruit scraps. Hubby has been doing some research and is planning to make some tweaks to their polystyrene box so we can harvest the worm tea (some kind of powderful fertilizer liquid produced by the worms which is so potent, it needs to be diluted with nine parts water before pouring on the plants).


Other updates on our garden activity:


We recently planted the 'pencil plants'... they'll soon grow taller to add an elegant touch (and as mum puts it, add some grace) to our home.



The bushy plants we took from Uncle Yu Chang's house have not died and are starting to flower. Live plants = Good.



The chilli plant we took from Aunty Alicia's garden, still green. And I believe it also holds true that Green = Good!



However the growth of the capsicum seed planted by mum has been a little stunted. It hasn't grown much larger than this size over the past few weeks, so I'm getting a little worried. Maybe it needs a good dose of worm tea.



We also planted some spring onions... I was just chopping some spring onions the other day and when I came to the root part, instead of tossing it into the worm food scrap box, I remarked to hubby that we should try planting them and see what happens. So he did! And this is the result so far...



Hubby has also started planning the layout of our vege patch.


Soon we can start the fun part of planning what to plant in which patch!