What happened to February?

Dear friends and total strangers,

It's March already and looks like I've peed February away. February was a stressful month for me. I didn't even care that it is a leap year.

I've never liked February. January I like better because it's the new year and everything looks so promising. February is when it starts to sink in that nothing much has changed and you're pretty much too set in your ways to change. Really what makes February not such a good month is that it's the month when my kids sit for their Term 1 tests. In Singapore, students are tested throughout the year so the results of every test counts. Based on my experience, my kids tend to fare worse in Term 1 tests. If they fail, it means the teachers will arrange for extra lessons and that will in turn tire them out more. If the poor results are from a core subject like Math or Science, I would have to find a tuition center for them. I dread to think of all the ugliness that will result if I sign them up for any classes. All that was weighing on my mind when I kept nagging my kids to study. Being parents of teens is a very unrewarding job. You try and try and no matter what they swing at you, you still have to keep trying. So glad February is over. Not all the tests results are out but so far so good. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Hubs and I spent an awful lot of money as well. We changed our bed but not the mattress. (because it's still good) We bought a new 3 seater sofa. All our previous sofas were hand-me-down from my brothers. This is our very first brand new sofa. We discovered sofas are highly over-priced. Why is that?

Our bed has arrived. It has a secret compartment below the bed to house our bedsheets and unused blankets. Of course I waited the whole day for the delivery guys to come. Watching them dismantle my old bed was rather nerve wrecking. First of all, they could not find any screws to unscrew. So how to take it apart? They finally lifted the bed up to look below and guess what? The bed became tilted and broke off. And the guys decided that's how they will dismantle the bed frame. Using brute strength to break it apart. They are very strong men! It was crazy. Like watching Incredible Hulk at work.

The new sofa has not arrived. Something happened that made us very angry and miserable. A week after we bought the sofa which was discounted from Courts, I saw an ad in the newspaper advertising a further $290 discount on the exact same sofa we had bought. I felt so awful when I saw the ad. If only we had bought it a week later. Can you imagine? This is our very first sofa. It's a big, big deal. After much dithering, I telephoned the hotline to ask for $290 back. Hubs wanted me to act like an angry bitch. But I had a lot of issue with that as I don't want to attack the person manning the hotline. It didn't feel right. I explained to the person who took my call my situation and asked her to help me get a refund of $290. It was really stressful waiting for the call back and finally the next day she did. Yes, I got my refund of $290 in the form of a gift card valid for 1 year. So I'm really happy it all worked out. Still I had to go through it. You know what? I'm not buying another set of sofa for a very long time.

February was also the month my new printer died. The first 2 printers I had were from Canon. The first one I really liked. It's a very old generation inkjet printer which is now discontinued. We changed to another Canon which is a 3 in 1 with copy, scan and print options. I like this Canon printer as well except the ink cartridges cost a bomb. Plus the colour ink is a 3-in-1 ink so it adds to the cost. End last year it kept dying so we bought an Epson. It was really cheap and the ink did not cost a lot and best of all, it had individual ink cartridges. Well in February the Epson died. It is now being resurrected at the Epson service center. But I forgot to tell you. I really, really hate this Epson printer. I think a moron created it. To insert the ink cartridges, you need to move the slots to a perfect position. But how to do that? There are no clear instructions. The first time I put in the cartridges it took me an hour. I could feel rage inside me. The second time it took me half an hour. I could feel even more rage inside me. I wanted to buy a gun and shoot the stupid, stupid printer. Each time I managed to align the slots by chance. Chance!

Anyhoos, I solved my printer problem by buying a HP printer. It was on sale. It was sold where I live. The sales person told me the paper would not jam. I didn't believe him but I bought it anyway because of the individual ink cartridges. As for installing the ink cartridges? Like Canon printers, you can do it with your eyes closed.

Told you we spent a bomb in February. Oh, don't forget about the Canon S100!

Now we need to live like poor people for a few months!

What else could possibly go wrong? My right hand. I have a patch on my right hand below the thumb where all the gripping action is. It started out with a small patch of dry skin possibly a reaction to working with fabric, washing detergent and housework. The skin kept getting drier and peeling off. I remember last year when hubs had his first mole removed, I bought a moisturizing cream from the Skin Center pharmacy to treat it. And no, I did not see a doctor about it. I cannot imagine sitting in a waiting room for 2 hours just to show the doctor this patch of dry peeling skin. It just did not feel serious enough. Plus the doctor would probably give me a moisturizing cream. Well, it got to a point where all the skin got peeled off and I could see raw skin. Of course I terribly regretted not seeing a doctor. I could not even let water any where near my hand. On the day it felt the worst hubs cooked for the kids and it made me so furious. The reason being he didn't wash up and although I asked him to do it, he went to sleep. Ordinarily I would do the washing up without making a fuss . But that night I was sensible and asked my kids to do it and would you believe it? They did it without any protests. Later hubs woke up to do the washing and of course it surprised him as well the kids had done it for him. My son now washes the dishes whenever I ask him to. Without any protest.

Not being able to use my right hand also resulted in the kids doing their own ironing. I had not asked my kids to do any ironing since he burnt my beloved iron a couple of years ago. Hubs bought a new iron strictly for ironing clothes and I'm happy to report the kids have not burnt it yet. Also, they seem to have accepted that ironing their uniforms is their job now.

You know what I learnt? It's really tough not to use your right hand when you're right-handed. By some miracle the raw skin healed enough without having to see a doctor.

I decided to use a glove to protect my hand when I need to use it.

I also decided to use the cream hubs was prescribed for his hives on my hand. To my surprise, it worked wonders. What an idiot I am. If only I had used this cream from the start. But then again, I would not have the kids doing the dishes and ironing their own clothes.

Despite all my February issues, I managed to make a few items. They are just samples for my ePattern. I'm close to wrapping up my new ePattern and I will release it once the testing is over. Hopefully March is a better month for me.