Spend

Yes. That's exactly advocated by ministers all around the world, to "SPEND" - keep the economy going.

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Without hesitation, I did just "that" - SPEND; this afternoon during lunch break. Headed to the Suntec Convention Halls after chomping down a "not-so-hot" Wonton Noodle Dry at the Food Republic foodcourt downstairs.

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Flouded with streams and streams of people at the convention centre - mainly due to the 1st day launch of the IT Show 2009, accompanied by another colleague, we slipped pass the crowd easily and landed ourselves at the Body Shop Sale gallery.

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Needless to say, the gallery is filled with ladies on one side all laying their hands on the products, while at the another side, obedient crowd form queues in a Zic-zac manner waiting to make their payment of the loots.
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and Me? Well, now beaming at my loot from today's purchase too - of course.

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Random

Alright, ever since Master ANG departed Singapore yesterday for his task, both mum & son were left with themselves, for each other.

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Dear son has been amazing. He was easy to take care and handle as the day goes (unlike in the past when he was still a baby, the family had to be waken every other hour!!). He has really grown more sensible and obedient, except at times still cheeky and mostly mischievious. Let's just give him the benefit of being a child, after all, a boy.

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Other than his usual "up to some tricks", the rest of him is truly enjoyable as he's still mostly a naive child at heart and is charming because of that guilelessness.

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Just this evening, we enjoyed an interesting conversation over our subway sandwich dinner while watching the Channel 5 MediaCorp TV production "Don't Ignore Diabetes" and the exchanges goes:

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"Mummy, why is that Uncle's eye liddat?" while he looked seriously at the TV screen

So this mummy tried to make use of the opportunity to advocate healthy eating "Oh, that's because that Uncle didn't listen to his doctor, ate a lot of sweets, ice-cream, drank cold drinks....too much sweets, so he had diabetes. Quick listen to what Uncle is saying....." - at that time, the patient was talking about listening to the doctor....lalalalala.....

"So Kiet, what must you do? Can you eat so much sweets and ice-cream?" this mummy tried to challenge her son's understanding after some time of watching the programme.

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My dear son innocently responded with "Mummy, I cannot eat so much sweets, later my teeth drop.......then my eyes will not be like Uncle" (Mummy can't help but laugh in silence while nodding her head in agreement)

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Gosh, he does make sense don't you think? Too much sweets means his teeth will also decay...yeah! Mummy didn't think of that at that moment.....haha.

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Alright, before ending this post, here's a picture of my Master ANG's cheeky boy doing a Macarena like dance pose just this evening.

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In fact, the now sound asleep boy didn't know that his Dad will return home by tomorrow night. Good night!

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Sunday

thoughts shall be posted.

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Just on Friday, I was so much looking forth to the weekend. Several plans had ran through my mind; like steam some muffins, go for a walk at the Southern Ridges or at the Hort Park with the family etc.

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Then, things turn out beyond my expectation. This Sunday, which also happens to be a 三八妇女节日, I have to be down with mild food poisoning from the earlyyyyyy morning. Gosh! I really wonder what I ate the evening before and now have to suffer from the aftermath.

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This tummy discomfort haunted me the entire day until the evening. Barely leaving any more energy to think of going anywhere except lying on the bed. Randomly waking up to talk to my boys at home.

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Take it as a 三八妇女节 reward - THANK YOU!!!

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I must THANK my dear hubby, who took care of matters at home including entertaining our energetic son for the day and cooking our meals (lovely porridge) while I can konk out and recuperate.

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While I bade goodbye to my deserved Sunday and tummy ache, here's and not forgetting, to wish all the wonderful womenfolks out there a Happy Woman's Day too!

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We purposely arranged

a dinner today to gather (Phil's family and the gang friends) & celebrate in advance, Phil's 47th birthday.

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After getting off work, all of us met at West Coast Plaza's basement level Chinese restaurant named "Paradise Inn" for a sumptuous dinner. It's our first time eating in this restaurant and fortunately, the food did not fail us. It tasted yummy and all of us especially the birthday 'boy' enjoyed the sumptuous treat!

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Led by tradition, all of us would look forward to be served a cup of coffee after dinner and complement with the birthday cake. Without hesitation, all of us young and old moved on from the basement to the 2nd level for a cup of traditional brew (except the 2 young boys of course).

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We got our drinks ordered, lit up the candles and sang Phil the "birthday song". Gosh, the 1/4 sized cake tasted yummy too.......it must be mainly due to the size of our cake......the smaller it is, the yummier it tastes! Haa.....

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Mr Philip (Tau Kay), we hope our company this evening have made your day!

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February free entry weekend

Through some email circulation, I came to know of the 2009 Reasons promotion launched by the Singapore Tourism Board only recently.

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It's a very great idea as not only people get delighted with the 'freebies' & 'cheapies', it will excite and inject spending activities in Singapore.

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Well, for those with the extra bucks to spare, why not support and give this STB's promo a go? Say.......check yourselves into a hotel and chill out? Inject some dollar flow in the economy man....

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I heart caricature!!!

Especially the following caricatures are so cute!
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The one drawn for Bruce Lee,

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of Jacky Chan,

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of Ah Bian,

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presenting President of the People's Republic of China ....Mr Hu Jin Tao......

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While taking a little "eye break" off the documents in the office, I'm admiring caricatures.........hahahaha.......supposed to be an 'eye break'!

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A healthy simple snack

Haaa........Steamed Muffin for us that is.........for now.............not until the ANG Mistress discover more healthy recipes from other web sources or through other home baking bloggers.

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Ahhhh....the power of the www (world wide web)! There are just too many information available and without internet, sorry........just won't be able to find 'ready' information huh?

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So about this Steamed Muffin, here's sharing its simple ingredients:

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Ingredients:
4 Eggs

1 cup Sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
6 Riped Bananas - mashed (optional if desired)

A pinch of Salt
Chopped walnuts (optional if desired)

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Method:
Sieve the flour together with baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Separate the egg whites and egg yolks.
Beat egg whites until the liquid turns foamy, gradually add in sugar and egg yolks, continue to whisk until mixture turns thick & fluffy.
Fold in the flour and mashed banana, beat/whisk until the mixture is well blended.
Pour batter into paper cup lined muffin tins/mould
Top with chopped walnuts (if desired)

Steam for 20 - 25 minutes

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and later.....................Viola, ready to serve piping hot, soft and non-fat!!

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Steamed Muffins

Somehow and somewhere, the mood hit the correct note today and it got the ANG Mistress right into trying out some steamed muffins recipes she had referenced from the website and recipes from other baker bloggers.

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The product - Little mini bite-sized steamed muffins, lovingly hand-beaten batter put into the steamer for 10-15 mins. Garnished by mini chocolate rice as toppings, some stuffed with little chocolates as fillings.

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Will post up and share the recipe after another successful trial this Friday!

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LO HEI (捞起) that gloomy economy!

Yup, that's exactly what we wished for......to LO HEI (捞起) that gloomy atmosphere circulating in the economy during this Lunar New Year.

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Hence we brought the LO HEI package from a coffee-shop stall, hopped over to Mr Chua's place, prepared all the ingredients and we did the 捞起!

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Next up, lunch is served after we ate up the LO HEI goodies. Indeed, all of us felt very 'spiritually lifted' at the end of the LO HEI session. It works after all!

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We welcomed a NEW 家庭成员

early this morning...............

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Although we spent a long and eventful wee morning at the hospital fussing around with the hospital staffs, sharing the 'stress' with the new parent, both Master & Mistress ANG are so tired out but overjoyed with this promotion!

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Let us all welcome our newborn nephew (外甥仔).............born on 3 February 2009 at nearly 2.15am, NUH hospital delivery Suite 8.

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Nope, the above pair of feet does not belong to our little 外甥仔's. He's a premature little strong chap at approximately 30 weeks weighing at about less than 1Kg. As his only Uncle and Aunty, we'll be looking forward to take great shots of his strong little feet real soon.

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God bless and watch over this child.

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天公聖誕_拜天公

The day is 02 Feb 2009 (8 Day of Lunar 1 Month 農曆正月初八); All Hokkiens will prepare to Celebrate the Manifestation Anniversary of Jade Emperor of Heaven 玉皇大帝.
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At about starting (11.00Pm), preparations at home intensifies. The woman folk will line their prayer tables nicely with food offerings, joss and incense, red cloth, candles and decorations before the clock strikes 12 am where 天公聖誕 kicks in.

Our annual 天公聖誕 prayers will be conducted at the in-laws place without fail. Just like every year, the ANG family hoped for prosperity and family bliss, the younger generation will bring honor and family proud.

It's Everyone's Birth Day

earlier........and we spent most of our 初七 人日 (Ren Ri) Sunday at Mr Chua's place.

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Mr Chua and Ms Wong were hosting all of us (gang-friends) on this 7th day of the Lunar New Year with a lot of sumptuous food and snacks.

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Of course, what's a good gathering without poker card games on the top entertainment list that kept the guys awake & noisy throughout the whole day!

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Then, for the children, they were mostly entertained by the Playhouse Disney channel switched on the entire day while chasing each other around the house throwing toys all over the corner.

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Well, on 初七 人日, found an interesting read extracted from Wikipedia that according to Chinese legend, earth was created by a goddess named 女媧 (Nu Wa).

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She created different animals on the 1st six different days of zhengyue and human beings were created on the 7th day after the creation of the world. Interestingly, Chicken was created on the First of zhengyue!

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Errr.........hopefully this is just a myth - can you imagine we ate chicken already on the first day of Lunar New Year!?!..................Haa....

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Our Saturday

is spent simply and the routine goes as per usual.
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We had Daddy with us thus woke up rather early this morning and made quick plans for a place to have our breakfast. We chose to dine near West Coast Plaza as there's a wet market located just opposite the plaza; so ANG Mistress can buy some fresh produce to cook a soup dish.
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It was decided to go for radish soup. Throw in some carrots, Endoki mushrooms, chicken thighs, some salt, thyme leafs and honey sugar for a more wholesome flavour; how about trying to 'imitate' the healthy and succulent Chicken stew served at The Soup Spoon.
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I prepared my radish soup in a BIG BLACK crockpot as any additional soup will be frozen to gear the family for our weekday madness. Working days are rush rush for any "FTWM" hence any home-cooked healthy soup will arrive handy and serve as time-savers for her.........heehee......
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Now, while waiting for the soup to simmer over medium fire, it's coffee-break time with some cookies as a handy snack......of course, it's wipe wipe the general surfaces after the snack.
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Hmmmmm........the life of a typical working housewife...........and just as per my New Year resolution, whip up more home-cooked meals for my lovely little family.
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GONG HEI GONG HEI

.............to everyone out there........May your lunar OX year be blessed, blissful, prosperous with lots of wealth, adventurous and healthy!

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This year, the family did not take many pictures partly due to being lazy......lugging our SLR going around New Year visiting along with a 4-year old is quite a chore. (sound like a lame excuse?......opppsss......imagine those mummies with more than 2 kiddos.......hahaha)

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Alright, it's really lazy then for not taking pictures this year during our visiting. Ok, a little recall of what our troupe did during the past few days:-

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On Lunar New Year Day (26 January 2009)

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We woke up quite late into the morning at around 10ish (very unusual for us to wake up late on the first day throughout these years), munched some raisin bread and washed it down with coffee, changed into our brand new wears before stepping off to Kiet's paternal grandparents home. Before leaving, we definitely did not forget our usual rituals that is, for little boy to 拜年 and receive his first 红包 from us.

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Next up, while at the paternal grandparents', little boy is reluctant to do his 拜年 stint nor recite his 恭喜发财 (don't know due to whatsoever reason). He appeared very shy and expressed his displeasure when we 'pushed' him too much. Not wanting to upset him, we left him alone and decided to leave for mummy's maternal grandmother's home in Aljunied. Little boy finally did manage to co-operate before we left his paternal grandparents'.

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At his maternal grandmother's place, he was elated to meet his Uncles (Mummy's cousins) who played and entertained him. The maternal family gathered around for steamboat lunch shortly (our usual lunch arrangement every year). After lunch, we received a few guest and chatted for a while before deciding to depart for Mr Chua's mum's located at Telok Blangah.

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The usual amount of relative Mr Chua have always amazes us. Crowded in a small 3-room flat, the big and small family members added together can easily fill up the entire unit! We had to squeeze ourselves to move about the house every year without fail.

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Finally, the last point of the lunar first day will be Philip's place. All of the gang-friends will assemble at Phil's place in the evening to 拜年 and have our dinner there. Card games is inevitable and it will be played late into the wee hours. Children will also fill the house, running about or nudging each other for a chance to play the computer games.

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On 2nd Lunar New Year Day (27 January 2009)

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We went to the temple in the morning to offer our prayers for a good and smooth-sailing lunar year. Little boy was as usual in his cheerful self and was well-behaved most of the time at the temple.

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After that, we dropped by Philip's place again and since stayed there until dinner time, we headed for home as Daddy needed to report for work in the night.

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On 3rd Lunar New Year Day (28 January 2009)

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Mummy sent little boy to school and headed for breakfast alone. It's a cool relaxed day as most Singaporean are still away from their workplace. The most part of the day is spent lazing around watching cable movies and house-keeping. Not long, it's time to pick the child from the daycare.

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We arranged for yet again all of the gang-friends to assemble at Phil's place for a good round of poker game. The children played computer games while the guys entertained Phil's mum (with the ladies on-looking) and Phil's mum won quite a fair bit by the time the gang called the game quit at past 4am.

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On 4th Lunar New Year Day (29 January 2009)

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We slept over at Mr Chua's place until the late morning. Our children also skipped school today as they had a rather late night just like us. We left for lunch at home then continued to take a nap in the afternoon. By evening, we got changed and left for dinner at Vivocity.

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We brought a water-spray gadget for dear son from Toys-R-Us (upon his long delayed request) after our dinner as Daddy had promised to bring Kiet for a swim and water-play some time when he is free. Mummy also brought herself a pair of shoes since Charles and Keith is on sale and she needed to change her working pair soon.

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We headed home shortly as Philip rang up and informed that the gang is dropping by our place for lunar new year visit.

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The Moo Moo sound

gets closer and nearer as the clock ticks each second of the day away......

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After many rounds of packing, dumping, sweeping, vacuuming then cleaning and wiping, I can finally call our humble abode not anything but...............CLEAN.........

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The loss of 2 days earlier in order to battle my fever luckily did not deter me from completing my spring cleaning task by today. Hooray!!!......Just in time on the eve to complete all the outstanding including putting up the auspicious lunar goods.

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Fortunately for me, there's Master ANG who is the chef for our reunion dinner tonight. The in-laws are popping over for dinner and I guess we can't wait to lay our hands on the food!!

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Dear son has been "a lot of help" to us........the curious boy is always getting himself into little trouble for the past few days while trying to 'help' us with the decor and cleaning. Although he meant well and of course trying to have FUN, he will often find himself messing up our things in the end. Oh well, after all, he's only a mischievous 4 year old.

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Oh yes to mention, last night we wanted to absorb some lunar New Year ambient out there hence decided to check out the night market in Clementi. To our surprise, the area (usually quite crowded and happening during lunar season) is barely filled with people on the street. The wet market is also empty, people not aplenty and we cannot spot any lunar stalls - STRANGE. I guess Singapore's slowed economy has really eaten into people's pocket.

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Alright, shall get the corridor washed now before ushering in Mr Ox........later...........

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Finally, it's my last day

at work.......I mean today marks the end of the RAT work year while we usher in Mr Ox on Sunday night.....

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The past few days were bad for me, I'm down with high fever and bad throat hence was absent from the office for 2 days in order to sleep through and recuperate.

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I returned today mainly to pack up, tidy and wipe my desk so I can walk in on Lunar 5th Day with a big wide smile, looking down at my spick and span work desk, all ready to start work steadily for the OX year.

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In a short while, will be leaving the office to fetch dear son home. Hooray for the impending weekend and lunar new year!@@!

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Our new "L"

.............is collected yesterday as we bade farewell to our 4+ year old "M"; and we thanked "it" whole-heartily for serving the family soooooooooo...........well for the past few years. No breakdowns, no incidences (touch-wood) ecetera.

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More commonly, many people usually plays no attention to the key equipment or necessity that serves or assist them every day. It's most often taken as a GIVEN that our equipment MUST SERVE US EVERY DAY, RAIN OR SHINE.

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Rather, we beg to differ from the common. We would like to dedicate this blog entry in memory of our "M" and mark the beginning of our "L".

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Our brand new 1.5L Mitsubishi Lancer (that the ANG Mistress decided to call it "L") is of key importance in the ANG Mistress' daily life. "L" will now assist her in her daily routine starting from chauffeuring Kiet to his school, then to her workplace and/or around Singapore, and then finally at the end of the work day, pick Kiet from his school back home.

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Path forward, our "L" holds an important task (just like "M")........it's our family transport day-to-day. A great assistance who make sure we are on time and on schedule each day.

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That's how important our "L" is; so can one imagine the haywire in the ANG Mistress's daily schedule without "L" now?

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Woo hoo.........that Peranakan

themed drama is indeed creating such a stir in the Singapore media! Even to the extent that made me very tempted to visit Malacca and Penang for a taste of that nyonya!

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From the debut starting Nov 25, the craze grew more intense as the story unveals how the life of this deaf-mute beautiful nyonya lady's named Ju Xiang evolves, and later her daughter Yue Niang's life was somewhat as challenging as her mother's.

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The setting of peranakan culture and traditions back in the 1930s impressed many viewers - I would be glad to lift up my hands in agreement too!! Good job indeed to the producers and team for gathering the props, set and the firming location together to make the drama a huge success.

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Now, I'm dead certain the drama will generate a lot of interest for Singaporeans (like me) to stream into the Malacca and Penang town.
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Brand new week awaits

Our precious weekend flashes through us again.

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Our family has never been adventurous during the weekend partially due to Daddy's work schedule and our life-style........We belong to the laid back type. Actually, after being "conked out" by hectic work schedules on weekdays, it's wiser to lay back and slow down our momentum on weekends right?

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Another reason of ours; being deprived of proper nutrition. With the focus on eating better and quality nutritious food, home-cooking on weekends will be compromised should we plan many out of home activities hence we'll rather choose to whip up a healthy meal back in our kitchen.

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Just last weekend besides cooking, we made full use of the time at home to achieve another key objective - Start Our Spring Cleaning.

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Daddy helped to take down the curtains for a spin.......the windows were thoroughly cleaned since they were badly dirtied by the recent wall-washing exercise (we're having a new colour on our block).

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The cupboard interiors were wiped and aired, loose items slowly tidied and packed.

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The spring cleaning exercise will likely last us another couple of weeks before we can call our humble abode anything but - CLEAN......heh heh.........

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A Big Hello to 1st January 2009

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Yes, our family woke up early this morning and welcomed 1st Jan 2009 with not much plans but to take the day easy. Without an idea in mind, we set off to find a place for breakfast.

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Coincidentally, we met our close neighbour at the lobby and all of us decided to have a hearty porridge breakfast in the West Coast area.

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The age gap of the kid in both family are quite close. Kiet aged 4 years while little Chloe is 2 and 1/2. They enjoyed each other's company very well and were following each other closely.

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After our breakfast, we strolled around West Coast Plaza to see if there's any more new attraction - but we found quite nothing much.
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We spent over an hour in the mall, satisfying our caffeine urge over a bun and head home for the children's afternoon nap.

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The rest of 1st Jan is idle and laze around the house. Simple & relaxed. With 2009 anticipated to be challenging, it's wiser to stay relaxed and charged up to face those unforeseable situations. Not to mention, a new school term awaits our child tomorrow!

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