Yesterday I picked up some goodies from my local op shop. Pretty much everything in our house is either thrifted or bought at a really good discount. Much part of me will NEVER pay full price for items… I don’t know why… maybe because I’m asian (??). I love the hunt for a great bargain, and there are some really serious awesome stuff out there if you were willing to be patient.

This I picked up yesterday:

Somebody ask me what the time is so that I can look at my pretty clock! The arms of the clock were a bit bent which was affecting its movement, but nothing a pair of pliers can’t fix.

A nifty new reading chair for Missy A. I’m thinking of padding it up alittle with some vintage fabric cushions…

I’ve been meaning to put up some shelves for our cookbooks but I’ve tiled the kitchen up past my head height. Didn’t think of that earlier, so this little beauty is like PEERRRRFFEEECCT. I LOVE IT! Ok, so I don’t store onions and potatoes in it but seriously, if someone had this solid timber thing, who would want to put it in the dark in the cupboard. It should be showed off!

And a wooden carved tray to keep all our cans in line. I find that because they are on a tray, the space feels a lot more organised rather than for them to just sit on the bench like dwadlers.

All this from one stop! It was a SIGN!

I give my plastic bags lllooove in this house. I treat them with respect and celebrate their many uses, and most of all, I give them my time.

Hahaha… ok now you’re thinking I’m crazy. You know what… I am! Hehehe… ok, ok there is a point to this post.

A whole bunch of plastic bags started taking over one of our cupboards, so I thought that I might just put them back into line.

Here is how you can take control, and reduce the space they take up, and also how to lose 30mins of your life, and never get it back!

1) Lay out your plastic bag friend flat.

2) Lengthwise, fold into 3

3) Working from bottom up to the handles, fold one corner up to form a triangle.

4) Keep folding until you have something that resembles a curry puff.

5) Tuck in the handles and now repeat for all the 100 plastic bags you have stowed away.

WARNING: You will not get back the 20-30 minutes that you spend on folding the bags, BUT you will save some space!

I don’t know about you but I have troubles fittings into boots. Me, because I’m bow legged so I find that I like one that is slighty bigger (to deemphasis the roller coasters from my knees)… but I LOVE wearing boots. SO you would imagine that I was like WAAAAAHHH when I saw what a Violet created. Just so COOL! Hmm and maybe instead of a bow I’d put like a key holder on one leg and a bottle holder on the right leg. THEN I can be totally hands free…

http://violetlebeaux.com/2010/07/boot-customization-tutorial-d/

You have to check it out…. ok, after I post a picture of myself….

Just like my lunch orders, I will soon run out of things to do. SIGH. Well, can’t say that I’m not trying right? Darn kids… why do they have to get bored to quickly!

Today we spent half the day moping around the house… and then had a light bulb moment! It’s 6 degrees outside…. LETS GO SWIMMING!

YES. I booked Missy C in for Creche for the first time and Missy A and I went swimming.

It was a really great opportunity for me to spend one on one time with each other, and it was great because OFCOARSE always after a swim… everyone is HUNGRY. So lunch went down without a fuss. We dropped by to pick up a DVD and set for home.

We’ve started a bit of a vegie patch and herb garden so we also had planned to set up our mushroom box. AND speaking of our herb garden, I swear that there was one night that I thought our neighbours were stealing our herbs!…. or worse…ALIENS!

I went out to pick some parsley one night and discovered this!

ALL OF THEM WERE PICKED! Just their leaves!

I panicked! Called Dave and was totally freaked. I mean, one of or neighbours, not sure who and which one is kind enough to bring in our bin sometimes when I forget while rushing the kids off to school. So I thought, well, thats ok I guess that maybe then they thought that they could help themselves to the herbs as their reward/thank you. I don’t know… but it sure seems alittle invasive. Thats when I got scared. OMG, someone has the guts to go through out gates, walk into our garden and hep themselves. I ran into the house, locked up the doors….

Ok so maybe Dave is a little calmer with this and told me that neighbours wouldn’t do such thing and it COULD be something else. So I googled it. “MISSING PARSLEY” and found a few people with missing parsley due to a…. POSSUM!

Ok, not so scarey anymore. But still very angry.

ANYWAY… we borrowed Bandslam and…BANDSLAM IS AWESOME!! Hahaha… I love kids flicks, and I was a little hesitant because Vanessa from High School Musical is in it…( i find her annoyingly chirpy), but not so much in this movie, and I loved it. Oh and so did the girls . Highly recommend this flick.

Random. I know.

So I am the last minuter. Monday comes and I was searching the internet for things to do. In the end, with the weather crashing down on us… it was all about TIME AT HOME.

Scarey for some parents, but I sure prefer it. OK, we were not at home the whole time but for most of it… and it was fun. So far… so good.

1st Activity: Bunnings Warehouse, FREE Kids activity – Paint your own canvas.
2nd Activity: Grocery shopping for Gingerbread cookies!
3rd Activity: Bake Gingerbread cookies
4th Activity: Decorate cookies!

All smiles from here!

Missy C keeping herself occupied by going through my bag… sigh… She always seems to know how to whip out my credit card… hmmm the force is strong in this one…

Gingerbread man in budgie smuglers!

OOoh we were going to have Roti Canai for dinner and its quite ‘heaty’… so I made Chrysenthemum tea! HAHAHA MY grandmama would be so proud of me! I even added some gei ji (??) and some dates too…

OK so it doesn’t look appetising but IT WAS YUMMY! And Oh I’m so proud of myself for making it! lol…

Every morning, I wake up chuckling. I have my beautiful 5 year old sneak into the room and whisper in my ear…” Can I watch TV?”. SERIOUSLY… How sweet. Everytime now that she wants to watch TV, she actually asks ever since I told her …
“that TV was a privilege, a privilege to earn”…. and its just amazing how well she respects that rule. WEIRD.. and VERY cool. I wonder how long this will last.

ALSO, as I peer in to Missy C’s cot, not only does her smile make me H..H..HAPPY but this…

SERIOUSLY… I LOVE IT!

Hehehe…

One of the fun stuff you can do at ABBAWORLD!

Sponsored by Nuffnang

Its always really nice to have an outing all planned out for you and have all the planning stress taken out. It helps too when you have a bunch of like-minded people going along. It’s also a bonus when the outing is culture enhancing type activities. It’s super awesome when your whole family can enjoy.

KAPOW! You’ve just been hit with the BEST possible outing idea ever!! Hahaha. OK, I exaggerate alittle. The kids seemed bored at times but heck, they wouldn’t be kids otherwise… AND… I have come to realise that I’m not very cultured especially when it comes to art. OK, fine… I’m not too cultured either when it comes to music but I KNOW who ABBA is… but that’s thank so the movie Mamamia.

First we got to take the kids to an ART MUSEUM. How exciting (I thought)! Since my time in Australia I have to admit that I have never stepped into an art gallery so I was really excited about this. Missy A was excited because we were heading into the city which is always an adventure, and Missy C was excited because I gave her half a packet of Tiny Teddies to eat in the car ride up. WHEE!

We didn’t do the guided tour, which I would recommend if you want to learn more about Rupert himself and his paintings by hearing someone’s interpretation of his life. We were too early so we had to go do all the readings ourselves…which only lasted say… the first paintings. I TRIED. I really did. I tried to look at the paintings, and appreciate it but in the first room, I felt really somber and quiet and just felt like if I oooh and ahhhed, I’d get shhhhed. AGAIN… another uncomfortable “proper” moment that I just couldn’t sit still at.

Being an example to Missy A, I tried so so HARDto engage her into the paintings.It started with… Asking her how she felt, what she thought, and why, and the colours, the story behind the painting… and the rest was bla bla bla to me her. So they we went on a shallower path. OK, which one do you like? Which one is your favourite and why. Then it got worse Um, do you like what she’s wearing. and worse oooh look at the frame, would that look nice in our house with a mirror in it?

So yes, I tried.

Luckily as we stepped out there was an arts and crafts table where the kids could make their own postcards. I made mine and posted my thank yous to Nuffnang.

I received a Get well soon postcard form Missy A.

After a bite of lunch… it was off to ABBAWORLD!

YOU HAVE GOT TO GO SEE THIS. But before… I suggest that you first make a BET. Make a bet with whoever you go with that at the end of the interactive rollercoaster, the person with the most score buys dinner or whatever to your liking. BECAUSE… there was lots of cools things to do like

Karaoke…

Disco balls…dancing…

Quizes and even a stage show… Of yourself. Hehehe.. I got a video of this… and perhaps I might show it… if I was drunk… or someone highjacks my Mac and they upload it as an evil plot to embarrass me.

Then if you hadn’t had enough of ABBA, check out their costumes …

UP CLOSE!

Hmm.. I am now so super duperly inspired to Bedazzle up my polyester shower curtain and turn it into an ABBA outfit! Seriously… all that bling is from all the lycra and polyester that they were so super popular for. AWESOME! Hmm though such white see-through pants would be scary without any sheen for the bright lights to reflect off come to think about it. Wouldn’t quite have the same awesome Xfactor without them…

From the early early beginnings… you get that one bit closer to really knowing ABBA intimately.

What did I learn? A Eurovision WIN was the pinnacle point in ABBA’s career! See… so there’s nothing wrong with watching Eurovision! It ROCKS!

I’ve been reading a fair number of new blogs lately. Well, they’re not new but new to me la… ANYWAY… I love the way they use polaroid shots and also how they age their pics into vintage looking pics so here’s me trying to do the same…

lol… ok I fail but I tried…

ALSO… it’s always a good thing trying something for the first time right even if you fall on your ass… and that goes the same for Missy C! TODAY she took her first 3 steps ALL BY HER SELF! First it was one wobbly step… then TWO wobbly step… and then her third was more of a shuffle of her other legs so that she wouldn’t topple. BUT HOW EXCITING!! I picked her up and bounced around the house singing… ” YA YA YA!”

Dear Missy C,

When you came into this world, you were a complete surprise!

You surprised me with your poop. You surprised me with your vomitting. You surprised me with your smiles in your sleep.

You surprised me with your stubbornness.

You surprised me with your giant burps even at 1 week. You surprised me with your curiosity.

You have been such a blessing into all our lives and I love you dearly.

You are an incredible little girl…even though most of the world thought you were a boy.

You make the best faces! … and I love you for that.

Even in your sleep, you never fail to put a smile on my face and my heart sings.

You are a determined little baby… where many times you have won the fight to get that biscuit from inside the container.

And of coarse you always seem to win the fight to get your milk at 3:30 am in the morning… (yes even til NOW)

Missy C, you have brought such joy, love, and friendship into our family, and we thank God for every 525,600 minute He has so far given us with you.

I love you so so much, and you will definitely grow up to be an amazing little person. Just like me! hehehe. Ok Love LOVE and Happy beautiful birthday sweetheart!