Hehehe… Ho hohohoho….

I’ve been on eBay lately selling some baby stuff like the pram, breast pumps and sterilizer. I’m trying to clear up my spare room before my distinguished guests arrive .

Do you think the Postman will come by my house and SCHMACK me?

$15.50 worth of stamps!

$10.20 worth of stamps on this one and the surface was not big enough I had to stick it over the edges! The cost to post this package according to Australia Post is $10.50 based on its weight and size. Do you think they would bother with 30cents? I sure hope not. Hehehehe I’ll let you know if it gets knocked back… or if I have to relocate because the Postman bunches up my mail…

This was a great way to get rid of those 45cent stamps that I’ve had for YEARS! Ah… remember those days when it only costed 45cents to post a snail mail.

Hmmm now time to figure out how many stamps I need do to post off the 4 wheel Jogger/ pram.

Ok, so Missy A’s school holds a monthly craft night where like minded parents meet up and get crafty. My first night we made key fob thingies, which I have to take pics of to show off because its such a handy thing to have, and last week, we make fabric flowers as decorative pieces. Previously, I think they made button hair ties , and printed T-Shirts. Cool huh?

I think so. Anyway.

Other than the crafty get together,  I joined the group for a few reasons…

One is really to make more friends with the school parenting community. Afterall, I will be seeing these faces for the next… 7 years… I should get to know them alittle more than a “Hi, how you doing but I really don’t care to wait for your answer” type of relationship right?

It is an amazing thing how one commonality can bond a group of people, and I have to be honest, that I felt right at home when I first met them. What helped more is that one blogs, and the others read blogs, and well, I was honestly just happy for them to even KNOW what a blog is. SO a special HELLO to my new readers!

Anyway, SECONDLY… I joined yes with the hope that we would ‘click’ BUT hoping that it would be a great excuse to escape my little and BIG terrors so that I could go off for a bitching session about anything…. like … kids… and husbands! Maybe even somewhere in there, have a swag of vodka just to get the conversation happening (hahaha…ok no….).

But  what didn’t occur to me is what MORE I would get out of it. Just last week, I learnt a great deal. The meeting itself sets as a platform to bridge the schooling community and parenting community – afterall, one is a teacher at the school, and another is a PTA member. (Hello again!). We even have a teacher from another school (Hi Hi).

ANYWAY (sorry I digress). What I learnt.

There was THIS DISCUSSION of parent involvement in the kids learning. It was brought up that given our school has a strong ‘cultural’ base (being lotsa asians and indians), parents expectations of the school was primarily to teach them… English and Maths. Education, that’s what its called right? And so, while the school is trying to incorporate and encourage the IB PYP learner profiles for students to be “Inquirers, Communicators, Principled….etc…”, the teacher acknowledged that our current parent community cannot see past that “It is the schools responsibility is to educate the kids, rather than for all that to be brought back home and requiring parents to follow through”.

So here then is the downfall on the system. Parents think that it is the responsibility of the school to teach them everything… and Schools, think that parents need to get involved.

I am chinese, and I was brought up in New Zealand and Australia, so I get both sides. I have an opinion on this but I’d like to throw it in to see what you think….

So stay tuned for my conclusion, and resolution… (still in working progess)… OH and pics of the flowers and key fobs too!

Hehehe…

One of the fun stuff you can do at ABBAWORLD!

Sponsored by Pedigree and Nuffnang

“Woof woof woof woof grr woof woof woooof!”

“It’s Yellow Dog Day” on Friday!” (Note: Oscar bit off the corner of my doggy letter…)

I had a dog when I was really little and we adopted him from the shelter. His name was Spot. How original huh? He was a  Jack Russell and was a super duper ball of energy. Not only did his little legs shoot off like rockets when he was off the leash, but his butt was like a machine gun farting machine! Seriously. He was like bubble wrap, everytime you’d squeeze him alittle, he’d pop out a fart. POP! Eww, but so cute! And he was one crazy crazy happy fun loving dog! He certainly took after me on the craziness!

OK, please don’t call any asylum. I am A OK! lol…

So go now, what are you waiting for…

http://pedigreeadoptiondrive.com.au

and BE A FAN of the PEDIGREE Adoption Drive Facebook fan page and they will donate a bowl of doggie food. I have!

Hahaha I think my title for this project keeps changing.

Anyway, I recently watched a little bit of an interview of Jamie Oliver when he was down in Oz, and everything he said… I SAID! Lol.. he’s stealing my stuff! hahaha… anyway what he said about School LUNCHes and kids these days went somewhere along the lines of that packing their lunches should have a variety.

He said: “Different textures”

I say: “Something crunchy, something mushy something soft, something hard?”

He said: ” Different colours”

I say:” Abit of green, abit of red, abit orange, abit of yellow…. anything blue??”

Anyway, this was last week’s school lunch box.

See all the colours!

School Lunch idea #6: Edamame, cherry tomatoes, Tasty Cheese, Wholemeal Vitawheats and peas and corn. IF you look closely, there’s also two gummy treats to balance out the healthy stuff as a surprise.

School Lunch idea #7: Banana bread, Carrot sticks, Grapes and a plum (COLOUR COLOUR! So exciting!) This time was a sweet one.

School Lunch Idea #8: Pork floss sandwich on 10 seeds bread, small seving of cherry tomatoes, Tasty cheese, Vitawheat, and cranberries.

School Lunch Idea #9: Homemade carrot, zucchini and bacon quiche, plums and fruit nuggets made from 99% fruits!

The QUICHE was really easy to make and could be made the night before, or atleast all the prep can be done the night before. All you need to do is shred the carrot,  zucchini and cheese. THen cut up frozen puff pastry into squares. As it defrosts place the pastry into a muffin tray with the bottom lined with a small piece of baking paper so that it comes out really easily when it is cooked. Press the pastry in lightly. In a mixing bowl, stir up eggs, a dash of milk, shredded vegies, and cheese (saving some later for the top). Scoop spoonfuls of mixture into the cases and top it off with the left over cheese. Bake in over until golden brown (approx 20mins).EASY.

So depending how many you want to make, will depend on the quantity. Sorry, I’m not very good at putting quatities for recipes, because… I’m asian?? I just… “agar agar”.

I only made 6 quiches, and I used 3 eggs, and my muffin tray was one of those mid size ones??

OK… Hope that helped or inspired. THinking about Jamie Oliver now, I hope that you are inspired to giving your kids healthy lunch boxes, because what we feed them now will make them what they will be tomorrow!

OK, so I thought this was an awesome dress…. until Dave decided to ask me where my apron was when I was vacumming. GRRRR….

House keeping anyone???

You couldn’t believe that 5 minutes after taking this picture, I smelt the rain…. and so we packed up and headed home, after only being out for only 15 minutes. We got home. Stepped through the door… and it PELTED down hail stones! Melbourne was drenched and the CBD was chockers and flooded…

…my poor lanterns. Well, good thing is atleast then our water thingie is now at 35%! Woohoo! I can now have 4 minute showers (instead of 3).

While me and the girls (and my shadow-Oscar) were lucky to escape the hail… poor Dave didn’t.

Wells… hope you guys were ok too!

Weird topic? I don’t know… I figured with school up and books to cover, I thought I would put in my two cents worth.

I loved preparing for school when I was younger (NOT that I am older… ??). I enjoyed buying stationery, labelling my books, and most of all… covering them. With Uni finished up ages ago… I have not had the pleasure to do so until Missy A starts school, and when she did… OMG SO SO excited… fo r like 10 seconds. THAT is because it was when I found out that her school will be providing ALL books, and ALL stationery. WTF!!?? They just killed all my hopes and dreams to frolic the stationery aisle at Kmart, or mush my drooling face at the window display at KiKi. WHAT THE!!!???

So anyway, after a good strawberry tea, I calmed down… and well, just accepting it. Though I was still planning in my head for NEXT year, and how I could possibly write to the school, and excuse Missy A’s inclusion of getting her books by the school. Weird? Crazy ? Yup. That’s me. That’s the stupid stuff I think about during the day. Night times, I’m more emo.

OK. So after her first day at school, you would imagine how SUPER excited I was when they got their exercise books, all in their naked form. WOOHOO! I get to cover them! Missy A, just did not seem as excited. Straight after school, we shopped for contact paper, and it was straight home to cover them! No Food, no stops, no nonsense. BACK TO COVER BOOKS. Ok ler, I wasn’t that bad. We had lunch, and chatted about school, and all the other obligatory parent stuff… (really… I am a good mother).

I’d like to think I am pretty pedantic when it comes to BUBBLE FREE covering. I remember once when I was in year 8, the first book I covered had HUGE bubbles in it that I opted to throw out the book to buy a new one. (I told mum we bought the wrong type… haha!).

OK so here are my two cents worth and the attempt to cover books with contact paper – BUBBLE FREE.

START to cover the back side first, because once you get the hang of it, then the FRONT is perfect. Logical right? (hmm never understood why Dave always said I never made sense…)

OK! Measure out the size of the book, and cut it out. Standard.

Then make a mark of where the edge of the book is, then fold over with an extra 2cm on the overlapping bit that is perpendicular to the edge of the back cover. Then peel back until the fold. This is where you start. Having just a small section exposed, creates less chances it will stick everywhere and drive you bonkers with creases, and bubbles.

Now, lay the book, back side up, and the page edges facing towards you. AS parallel to the edge of the table as possible, then lay the 2cm peeled side onto the book with the overlapping pieces sticking to the table.

Here’s a pic of what i did with the front cover.

..Then bit by bit, just rub along from the centre—out, while peeling back the contact.

TADA!

OK, hope that helped or not, but atleast now you know that I am even more crazy than you thought!

OK, so I’ve been alittle quiet the past days…Reason being… well.. I’M BUSY LER!! Stupid. Ok lazy too.

Missy C now is beginning to be mobile, and very clingy, so it has been hard to hold up the chores with a baby hanging off your hips. Missy A is getting ready for school, so we’re starting to wind down to get into school routine. While baby sleeps, I have been attacking my poor garden.

In my head (so all quite hypothetical) I am going to turn my backyard to a somewhat, sustainable vegie garden. I have this tendency to buy stupid things at the supermarket when all I really need is coriander. Like my last visit to bloody Costco, I was only suppose to get…. ergh I can’t even remember now, but I came back with a receipt that was about 1 metre long… and with the total bill coming up to close to $500. (sorry hun!).

SO NO MORE shopping trips. I’ve decided to turn this monster jungle… into a vegie loving garden. Jammed packed full of organic goodies.

Yes, that is my ass in the corner.

hmm I have no idea what the heck I was wearing… so please ignore that. YES I have lots of daggy clothes, and I don’t always wear nice clothes. Next time I take a garden shot, I’ll promise not to don on this outfit. I’ll show you another ‘chapalang’ look. MUAHHAHA. Also, looking back now on that picture, it was kinda pretty…. and sad now that I went all ‘human’ (from Avatar) and killed off all the pretty flowers like a giant I don’t give a shit monster.

Ok I’m alittle kuku right now, but that is because I have nothing much to say.

ANyway, so far so good with the vegie garden. I have planted out corn, cucumbers, carrots and pumpkin. I’ve taken photos and stuff but I can’t find the cables to transfer them just yet, and well, I’m NO gardener so there really won’t be much of a “How to” post. Hopefully, it will just be a report about how my green babies are doing.

As for my real babies, I’ve updated you on Missy A and Missy C, so that’s all folks…. for now.

I don’t know what to do. I’m fickle in what I want but I think I understand that I am fickle because most of decisions are prioritised by money. So today, I thought about what I want to do. Ok, not really. I didn’t think too hard about it but if I put MONEY aside, and think about what I would like to do if money was not an issue, what I am passionate about, or atleast what I would like to be passionate about…. it is acting. Weird? I don’t know. It’s something I have always wanted to pursue. Actually, I’ve only just realised this, because I now remember that when I was much much younger, like in kindergarten, I have always wanted to act. Being asian, my parents never encouraged it. Then came Uni, and I wanted to study Performing Arts. Ofcoarse again, my parents said no. Now that I am my own, I want to act. It is the one thing that I get excited about. I get really excited when I’m driving to class – when I get to anyway. I get excited over the opportunity to get act. A sense of accomplishment when I get to , even if its just form a class. I don’t know. Anyway, just a rant. I want to act. In time, I will. So here is my prayer.

Dear God,

I pray that you will open opportunities, doors, and even confirmation that I should act.

Thanks mate… Cheers…

In Jesus name – Amen.

Grace.

Sorry, I’m ranting.

Hairdo for the day

Thank you all to those who have entered my FREEBIE FRIDAY so far… I haven’t quite had the chance to upload more headbands that are available but can certainly do so for the NEXT freebie friday (hands are tied – I’m sure you’ll understand). I’ll hopefully also be putting up some ladies cufflinks too. ERGH I need to manage my time better.

ANYWAY, today, Arielle and I will be making her Multiplication flash cards, so OFF to Bunnings we go to get some pretty ‘paint’ cards… which reminds me, I need to get more paint for the painter dude that is making my floorboards spotty (ERGH).

BTW, I was in the shower this morning, and I tried to kill a mosquito hiding out from the heat. Instead, after I missed SQUEEESHING him to death, he went straight for my head, right between my eyes! I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO SCARED OF A BUG in my life! Here I am, standing nudey in the shower… MY WHOLE body was like a little offering for this darn mosquito to FEAST on. As you would imagine, my shower was short-lived, and I WAS out of there, after a SUPER quick wash. Hmm which reminds me… I have to go buy mosquito/insect spray! GGGgrrrrrr.