$1.40 for TEH *blur*

I paid $1.40 for this TEH from Toast Box. It's not even TEH C. I was shocked! I didn't expect inflation to be this much. True enough, my colleagues told me I could have gotten a decent cup of tea for much less at kopitiam or even other branded shops like Mr Tea or Coffee & Toast. Average now would be 90c - $1.20. I should have realised something was fishy when there was no queue at Toast Box. It used to have a snaking queue that just never seemed to end. Well now I know... btw, Teh & Teh C cost the same at Toast Box - $1.40. Now you know...

I got Tagged!

Wa rau, this was the answer in Fong's last question:

OF ALL THE PEOPLE YOU TAGGED THIS TO, WHO’S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST? Fat - Win liao lor, such a heavy responsibility on me. Ok ok, I'm doing this, so she wun look bad... :P

1. LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATER:Made Of Honour - Loved Patrick Dempsey since the days of Money Can't Buy Love!

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? Your Baby & Child by Penelope Leach

3. FAVORITE BOARD GAME? Bingo - No one plays with me now, so I play it online on FB with strangers.

4. FAVORITE MAGAZINE? Mother & Baby. This changes with the phase I'm going through. Previously it was Women's Weekly. Previous previously it was Her World Brides.

5. FAVORITE SMELLS? Dw's sweat after his run.. *up to you to believe this*

6. FAVORITE SOUND? My own laughter.

7. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD? leg cramps :(

8. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE? Is it Saturday??

9. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE? This is a tough one. I love most cos I'm a sucker for KFC's original recipe, Mac's fries, MOS's burger, LJS's fish... the list goes on......

10. FUTURE CHILD’S NAME? JD - further details TBA

11. FINISH THIS STATEMENT. “IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I’D…? Seriously, I think I would put the $$ in the fixed D & use the interest to travel as much as I can.

12. DO YOU DRIVE FAST? Nah, I value my life too much & I wouldn't want to waste it away either by knocking someone down accidentally & getting thrown into jail..

13. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? giant Winnie the pooh & baby Mashimoro

14. STORMS-COOL OR SCARY? Scary, I don't like thunder & lightnings.

BTW, Q15 was missing fr the original post.... FONG! tsk tsk...

16. FAVORITE DRINK? Milk!!

17. FINISH THIS STATEMENT, “IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD ….. no idea, I've short attention span, so maybe I'll squeeze as much as I can within that time frame.

18. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI? Sure, I love broccoli, esp those cooked with butter!

19. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?

Done it before, red or brown. Now I just prefer it to be black cos I know it wouldn't be any much longer before it will slowly turn....................... WHITE! ARRGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

20. NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN. Had, am & will always be in Singapore.

21. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Not a sports fan but if I'm gambling on it, I'll watch it and so far it's only been soccer…

22. ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU. Her witty scarcasms give me the kicks *ROLL MY EYES*

23. WHAT’S UNDER YOUR BED? Nothing. DW told me to get a bed without legs so we don't have to sweep the floor beneath it

24. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN? Frankly I do wish I wasn't born in the 1st place as I'm afraid of dying. So, I dunno how to answer this question.

25. MORNING PERSON, OR NIGHT OWL? Now is definitely morning. I dread to think of what I'll become after JD is born.

26. OVER EASY, OR SUNNY SIDE UP? HUH????? If eggs then just make sure the yolk doesn't ooze out.

27. FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX? My bed

28. FAVORITE PIE? Chicken pie

29. FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? CHOCOLATE CHIP!

30. OF ALL THE PEOPLE YOU TAGGED THIS TO, WHO’S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST? I shan't put pressure on anyone... but if you're reading this & if you have a blog, you are considered tagged.

From Fong to Ah Fat

With love... :P

"she always like that one, damn stuck up that arrogant stingy bitch.. shhh don't tell her"

Juz because Ah Fat dun wanna bring Fong to Japan........... *ROLL EYES*

LOL

Dw's BKK bounty

JD is a really lucky girl.. her papa who just came back from a business trip from Bangkok, had, for the 1st time, spent all his time & money shopping for her, instead of himself!

Little Carter's t-shirts & shorts

Bibs

Rompers

Burp / drool towels

dresses when jd grows up

Sour Grapes

I love grapes.. all colours, green, red & black. But they have got to be seedless and needless to say, sweet. I hate sour grapes, yes, pun intended. Recently some people have gotten on my nerves. People who are sore about my baby. These recent brushes are so deja vu. It was similar to what had happened when I first announced I was going to get married.

When I told the world that I was getting married, I had mixed reactions. Some were happy and excited, some were skeptical and some others, obviously sour. There weren't many in the third group, probably a handful, but at times like these, even 1 would have had an impact. A marriage is a happy occasion. Yes, i thank those who tried to pre-empt me to the ups & downs of a marriage. But I despise those who told me that it was a grave mistake, that I was on the route to disaster. Some even went to the extent of asking me to talk to a priest about my decision which to them, is a blatantly wrong one. I wonder, talk to a priest for *^@#! Is a priest even married? Does a priest know what I want? Is the priest a soothsayer? None of the above. Eventually I deduced that it was out of sheer envy & jealousy. Not surprisingly, the people belonging to the 3rd group were without partners, some hitting their 3rd decade, some just crossed over their 4th decade.

Well, it is this same group of people who are now pouring cold water on my pregnancy. They are telling me that getting pregnant is simply a waste of time, a waste of money and which will result in a complete loss of freedom. Whilst it is sad that these people cannot share my joy, it is even more disappointing that these are the people whom I thought were one of the closest to me.

To share my opinion, since 5 August 2005, the day I booked my wedding banquet till today, I have not looked back. Marriage has made me happier and more positive. I have learnt about sacrifice and tolerance and I am grateful for the presence of my life time companion. I do not lament about the loss of freedom nor the absence of the late nights partying which I used to enjoy. In fact, I treasure life even more, knowing that I am a big part of another person's life.

Pregnancy has brought even a deeper meaning and different perspective to my life. I'm not afraid of the hassle of a wailing kid in tow, much less of the coming sleepless nights which I have to endure. No doubt, these may not exactly be the most wonderful of things but I know for sure that the joy of having a child will make me a stronger person. I beam at mothers who share with me stories of how their children brighten up their lives, albeit the silly & annoying habits which they have to put up with. I cannot say now for certain, how I will be when I finally get out of my mother-to-be status and become a full fledged mom, but I definitely look forward to every gynae visit because I can see JD and each time I feel JD's kick and see my tummy nudge, I get overwhelmed by emotions. Like what Lenggu sms-ed me on Mother's Day which just passed, "this is a miracle.." For the record, she's due around the same time as me!

I do not expect everyone to be as elated as me or dw or my parents about the good things that happen in my life. Afterall it is my life. But the negative and disparaging comments that are put to my ears are rather much uncalled for and I totally condemn them. I have 2 choices now, to either write them off my life completely or to put on a pretentious front and allow them to continuously jar my ears or even my eyes with their presence. For now, I just hope that they will be able to realise that happiness can possibly happen to them only if they are happy for others. To me, it's a cycle. If you continue to be sore that happy things do not happen you and think you can blame others for your sad life and put them down just to make yourself feel better, you will never open up the door to the wonderful opportunities lying right smack in front of your face. You are wasting your time wallowing in self pity, and sad to say I do not sympathise with you.

Having said all these, I do appreciate my friends out there, who are either not attached yet, not married yet, or not close to starting a family, whether by choice or not, who have been supportive of all my actions. Friends like Fong, Dy, Mo etc who have helped me to keep my sanity amongst the rest of the unwarranted "attention".

JD's 1st toys

We did a bit of toy shopping over the weekend and bought a handful of items for JD's entertainment.

Link Rings
Chosen by Dw, though I'm still not too sure what purpose do they serve yet.. :P

JD's 1st story book!

Also chosen by Dw, cute little giraffe ain't it? Comes with ling long sound too!

Chill teether to ease JD's achy teething gums

Floor mat so she can crawl & roll all over & learn some ABCs at the same time

My Baby Registry - Update 1

1) Car Seat
Dw has just mentioned that the new Combi Coccoro car seats are alot prettier than the Britax ones. Well, he does have a point there. The colour range itself is already so refreshing! I just love the Apricot one. So summer like and I think it will make JD alot more cheerful!

For easier shopping, we saw this at Isetan Scotts, at $339.

2) Playpen
Baby Kingdom is selling the Dreamy Baby playpen at $109, comes with normal foam mattress and bassinet. To change the mattress to the latex one, which is more cooling for the baby, there's a top up amount of about $25.

3) Stroller - how about this? Cheong Choon Store (Tel 65323855 ) selling for $450!

4) NTUC vouchers
Ah fong asked me why I need this for. Hmm... to buy pork & broccoli for JD? Haha, nah, mainly for disposable diapers and milk powder :)

My Baby Registry

Some of you kind people out there have been asking DW & me what gifts we would like. Thanks for your thoughts, we really appreciate them. We've been looking around to see what would be absolutely necessary and have since come up with these items:

1) Car Seat
Brand: Britax (or otherwise known as Safe & Sound), either one of these two models:

Platinum

Meridien

Royale

2) Play pen
No preferences on brands. But it cannot be too light yet has to be easily foldable for packing into the car boot and comes with at least the mattress & bassinet. Colour: Blue or multi colours!

3) Stroller
Preferred brand: Combi
Model: No preferences, as long as can be used from new born (or least 1 month old) till 3 or 4 years old. Lightweight & 1 hand foldable. Colour: Orange / Yellow

4) NTUC vouchers

Boycott Killiney Kopitiam - Golden Shoe Branch

All along, I had thought the staple business of Killiney Kopitiam was the sale of bread, coffee & eggs. But surprise surprise, when I went to the above branch to buy the usual toast, the response was: we don't serve bread during lunch. You come back after 2pm. HUH?? Not only that, I even offered to order now (1.55pm) and pick it up at 2pm. But the answer was still no. My only guess that this could have happened is because the sales proceeds from bread just doesn't justify the rental in the heart of CBD. Still that's no excuse. Just imagine, what if Teck Kee Pau decides not to sell Pau during lunch, Old Chang Kee decides not to sell fishballs & curry puffs during lunch and Macdonald's decides not to sell burgers during lunch, all just so for the dollars & sense..

Hey, what happened to the good old fashioned Killiney kopitiam that we all know? The old coffeeshop at Killiney Road itself has just damaged its own reputation by not having good quality control for their franchising business. If Killiney Kopitiam doesn't serve bread, then why is it even in operation?! Of course, we all know that they have since expanded their product range to include mee siam, laksa, sweet & sour fish and so on and so forth. But frankly, their food sucks. Their hor fun is too starchy, their fish too stinky. I rather go to my HDB kopitiam for their zi char. Cheap & good.

Well, to the original owners of Killiney Kopitiam or the inheritants, wake up! I suggest you relook at the workings of your franchise business and buck up your service! Thumbs DOWN, shame on you!

Our 1st drive to work

We left the house at 6.45am this morning, just so we could escape the 7am ERP at CTE AMK ave 1. But alas, despite that, we were still hit by the jam and by the time we reached that ERP, it was 7.02am. Given that today is Friday and a day after a public holiday and the traffic at that stretch was a terror, I dread to think of the situation next Monday when everyone's out in full force.

Well, at least we did not have to pay ERP for the rest of the journey which was pretty smooth. After stopping for breakfast, I actually reached work at 7.45am - the time which I usually reach YCK MRT.

Overall, I will deem driving to work early in the morning a stressful one. Not only you have to deal with the ERP calculation, you also have to deal with the start-stop traffic along the way. But I suppose this still beats being squashed in the MRT where I always instintively place my hand on my tummy to protect it from being hit. Anyhow, the stress of driving is now on Dw, since all I have to do is enjoy being driven. Poor boy, but hey, thanks! I truly appreciate it! :)