Thursday, September 8, 2011

This and that

Hellooooo!

Tomorrow I'll be selling my bags at maad and I should be packing my stuff and price tagging. Instead I'm sitting here thinking over my taxi ride to maad in August. I think I was shortchanged. I'm quite a slow fuse, aren't I? Red dot design museum is located in the central business district so entering it meant having to pay the entry fee which is electronically deducted via a cash cash inserted in a special gadget on the taxi. Well, my driver ran out of cash in his cash card. He did not tell me this when I boarded the taxi. Instead halfway thru' he told me casually he needed to go find a gas station to top up. I was like, do I have a choice? Besides, he said he could give me a discount. At the gas station, he took note of the meter reading and when he came back he pointed to the meter and said 40cents which is the amount it ran up while he topped up. I still had no idea what it meant until I paid up at my destinatiion. 40 cents was the total discount he gave me! But he detoured off the expressway to go to the gas station. What a guy. I'm just hoping tomorrow I won't get a driver who doesn't top up his cash card before starting his shift.

While on the subject of shortchanging, some time ago, this happened to me while I was selling. A woman wanted to buy one of my pouches. She kept haggling but I did not give her a discount. Finally she paid the full price. She walked away but came back again. She took another of my pouches, said her friend would love it and said "that" was her discount. To my amazement, she took off with it. As she walked away she had the nerve to turn back and smile at me. I was so stunned that I did not chase her. Does her behaviour surprise you? I would not believe it if I hadn't witnessed it for myself. I mean, would she walk into a departmental store, grab an extra item and say "that's my discount"? I doubt it.


I had been wanting to make a metal frame purse for a long time but somehow never got started. Yesterday, I spent the entire day making it. I looked up Sweet Bee Buzzing's tute to make the pattern.


Mine is a sew-in frame so no glueing is required. What I don't like about sewing the frame onto the purse is there are holes on the outside but on the inside, it's solid metal. Your needle keeps hitting the metal. And even though I try to hide them, some of my stitches are visible. Plus my purse is too thin so I had to stuff cotton thread into the frame and to seal it, I used a plier to crimp.


Which resulted in very, very sore hands. I think next time I will use a hammer to seal the frame. I'm gifting the purse to myself so I can testdrive it.


I received another mooncake box. Isn't it stunning? Are you wondering what I do with all the boxes I receive? It requires its own post. Coming up.....

Have I ever told you how terrified my kids are of eating pastries which are too creative? They only eat the generic looking ones. Anything fancy they will not touch.




These 3 are pretty good examples of muffins my kids won't eat. Me hubs brought them home and they're just sitting in the fridge. To be honest, I'm with my kids for these muffins. They look pretty scary.

See you soon.

9 comments:

punkychewster said...

i miss mooncakesssss!! your kids are too funny! i like the traditional 'Bing Pi' kind, the jade green mooncakes! aww man. *homesick*

and btw the lady's behavior shocked me. I didn't think people like that would even exist. Hey! i'm coming back to singapore in Nov, do you have any craft fairs going on? i'll swing by to visit!

Happy Mooncake Festival!!! :)))

Little Blue Mouse said...

Well I wouldn't turn down one of those muffins but then I wouldn't turn down any muffin!

What a nerve that woman had. Fancy even thinking of such a thing.

I had to laugh at your taxi ride story and how it's only just dawned on you that you were shortchanged.

Bethany said...

On the contrary - the cuter the cake the MORE I want to eat it!
And I'm sitting here all aghast for you over "that's my discount." I've never seen such a thing happen, but I have no doubt it would and does. Good luck with your cabbie :)

Kandi said...

I am really MAD at that woman taking an extra purse, I can't quite believe it! I would have given chase and snatched the original one back too, cheeky woman!!!
You have my total admiration tackling that purse frame, i only ever made one, I bled a bit, swore a lot, broke several needles, cried a bit and decided NEVER AGAIN!!
It is cute though :0)
Kandi x

Sarah PingsAndNeedles said...

Oh Jane, how I wish we lived in the same city !!

Bloody taxi driver! I really piss the taxi drivers off here in Brighton when I take a 2 minute trip up the steepest hill with my weekly shopping ... !

Can't believe the cheek of your shoplifting discount lady. Maybe you'll see her again and can just keep the change if she buys something else from you?

What are mooncakes? I like the one with the rabbit ... I'll eat anything - plain/ornamental ...

antmee said...

I also would have been too shocked by that woman 'openly stealing' to do anything. may she be afflicted with the fleas of a thousand camels and all her seams turn to scorpions! lol

Chris H said...

Scary muffins? NO.. I think they are all gorgeous!
that little purse is cute as.

tamdoll said...

Wow, I can't keep up with all your posting!

I cannot believe a woman snatched one of your purses like that. That really was a lot of nerve! I don't know what I would do if that happened to me - can't leave the table... do you scream? Try and take her picture? Awful!!!

I'm also working on a metal frame purse (too embarrassed to mention, at my blog, that I have yet another project going on..) but this one, the frame is sewn on and the stitches are supposed to show. I've seen the kind where they get stuffed and glued into the frame, too. Good idea to use the plier to crimp afterwards but your hand didn't look so great. I hope it's ok. I once tore something in my hand cutting wire - crafts can be hazardous! Turned into a big huge lump that had to be needle aspirated - gross. Be careful.

Can't wait to see your mooncake box post.

I think you guys have something right about not eating the fancy food - here's a quote for you - “It's so beautifully arranged on the plate - you know someone's fingers have been all over it.” ― Julia Child

regina said...

janeee, i stopped by here to tell you I have owned a sewing machine at last^^ and I've made a frame clutch too. see here http://toscaberries.blogspot.com/2011/09/flowery-frame-clutch.html
you are really patient to finish it though your needle keep hitting the metal and your sore hands:(

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