Trophy Wife

Yesterday I didn't pay much attention when hubs casually mentioned he had donated a pair of shorts to me. I was busy sewing a bag and finally long after hubs had gone to work, I went to my drawers to get a change of clothes.

This is what I saw.

Yes, hubs had generously donated this massive airy Goldlion uncle/grandma shorts to ME to WEAR.

You know what that means? I am no trophy wife. I had privately speculated I was a trophy wife based on my hot body and pretty smile.

The gift of the ginormous shorts shattered my illusions. Which husband would want his trophy wife to look like humpty dumpty?

Perhaps my idea of what a trophy wife means could be off the mark. Amazingly there is a wide resource on trophy wife. There is even a "How To Be A Trophy Wife" in wikiHow.

I have the opposite predicament of Samantha Brick who believes a husband who prizes your looks and not your mind is the key to a happy marriage.

According to Samantha Brick, her husband "has an opinion — which I adhere to — on how I dress and what I weigh. He prefers I wear classic ladylike attire and, at 5ft 11in, he insists I tip the scale at no more than 10½ stone. In fact, he’s there when I weigh myself."

Hubs apparently wants me to dress like his deceased dad. He sometimes pinches my tummy fat. I had mistaken it for a subtle chiding of weight gained. The sly man had really, I now know for a fact, been checking if my girth was large enough to fit in his old Goldlion shorts!

* * *

Despite the shock of losing my Trophy Wife status, I managed to make 2 items for my VivoCity weekend craft market which is looming closer and closer.

This sling bag should be a crowd pleaser. I'm not too sure about the fabric tho'. In 2009, I was very into camouflage fabric. The fabric is cotton drill and in my opinion the best fabric to make something slouchy without interfacing.

I fished the heart on wings embroidery out of the UFO basket and I'm very pleased with the result. It fits an iPhone with room to spare.

I don't have much time left to make many bags and pouches. Maybe 1 or 2 more. See you.

Singapore By Election: The Gorilla Won

pic of gorilla from Zoo Animal Stories

On May 16, I wrote a post here on Singapore's by election for the tiny constituency, Hougang. Hougang had been in the hands of the opposition party "Worker's Party" for the last 20 years. A big feat for Singapore politics. It's possible Worker's Party has balls of steel because they expelled their own Member of Parliament for Hougang for bedding women other than his wife.

I was frankly unsure how the polling would turn out. Would Worker's Party lose their precious Hougang?

Well, a wise woman set me straight. She said:

Even if Worker's Party fields a gorilla for this by election, the gorilla will still win.

Apparently, this wise woman is right. The gorilla did win Hougang. Yep, our tech guy, Worker's Party's candidate Mr Png Eng Huat won 62.09% of the vote against the ruling party's 37.91%.

What are the implications of the result? One thing's for sure. Eligible members from the ruling party had better dodge fast the next time a candidate is being sought for Hougang.

Plus, for the next 4 years, all the members of parliament from Worker's Party are gonna be real faithful to their wives.

Reborn

Dear friends,

I'm reborn. Today I woke up really early even though school holidays has started and I could lie in bed all day if I want. When my eyes opened this morning, I felt an immense relief. I had no headaches! No headaches! I was so filled with joy I jumped out of bed and immediately started cleaning my sewing area. I don't understand it either. But I felt compelled to do some cleaning.

Although I'm horribly embarrassed by my messy sewing area, I decided I'll let you guys have a look. 

By the way, this image is the "after cleaning" look! I wiped off the lint, dust and put everything back. If I were to put everything away, I would spend hours and hours hunting for this and that. Since this is a sewing week, it's best to leave everything messy. That way I can find what I need easily. I know many people are like me. We work well in chaos.

Here's a close-up of the chaos.

I bought the Ikea table 13 years ago and it's still standing. I have bought a lot of crappy Ikea furniture but this table is like a freak purchase. The chair I bought as it's good for doing one of my back exercises but it's already broken and I bought it a few years ago.

Speaking of purchases, on Sunday while at VivoCity, I walked past a book sale and bought this book, The Myth & Magic of Embroidery by Helen M. Stevens for a grand total of $2.90. That's US$2.30 or 1.7 Euro or 1.4 pound.
This book costs less than 1 plate of chicken rice ($3). I can't believe my good fortune.

The embroidery style of Helen M. Stevens is totally out of my league but I really enjoy looking at the images. My dream is to own many, many embroidery books. Don't tell hubs.

Here are a few of my favourite pages from the book.

A lot of satin and long and short stitches.

Today I completed a grand total of 1 zip pouch. I discovered the houses embroidery I had done a while ago and totally forgotten about. Compared to Helen M. Stevens' embroidery, mine looks a little childish! Thing is I'm very fond of outline embroidery. They're more me. 3 more sewing days to go before my VivoCity craft market and I have only 1 zip pouch to show. Shame on me. 

VivoCity Craft Market 26th - 27th May 2012 Post-Mortem

Folks,

Have you ever had a weekend where you feel happy and yet not happy at the same time? My weekend at VivoCity was kinda like that.

I had no problems getting to VivoCity. My taxi came quite fast. My driver did drive like a F1 driver but he was pretty skillful so there were no accidents. Maybe there were a few heart-stopping moments but my F1 driver somehow managed to escape unscathed. He also dropped me off at a place which was even closer to the craft market.

My counter location was, in my opinion good. I know some sellers don't like the location I had but it suits me because my larger bags which are hung on a rack are visible. It's close to the toilet and rubbish bin. What more could I ask for?

Everything went well for me. My long-time craft neighbour Mandy who owns Forest Flame was next to me so I need not fear going for food or toilet breaks. The traffic was gooood. I had good sales. At least on Saturday it was. Sunday's sales dipped but it was still good. My best sales this year.

So what went wrong? I guess it started to hit me in the late afternoon. A seller seated close to me had used a spray to varnish her products. Although she took care to do it outside the building, when she brought the items back to her counter, the smell lingered and lingered. My eyes and temples started to throb. Around 3pm I took my first two paracetamol. At 7pm I felt like I wanted to throw up. I took my next two paracetamol. The pain was spreading like fire. The stupid thing was I never once told the seller to stop her spraying. Before I went to bed, I took an anti-histamine and 2 more useless paracetamol.

On Sunday I woke up and almost died of panic. I couldn't open my eyes! My eyes had grown so puffy and I honestly thought I would not be able to leave my home. I took another anti-histamine and eventually the puffiness subsided and I looked human enough to go back to VivoCity. My head pain was clearly a migraine now. I decided to talk to the seller who used the spray varnish because I was not going to suffer further. Anyway, I did try to be as inoffensive as I possibly can because I can imagine how I'll react if someone were to tell me what I can or cannot do. Long story short, the seller did not agree to stop using the spray. But she did compromise by putting the sprayed items in a plastic bag to contain the smell. And she was very apologetic.

One thing about migraines - once triggered, you can't take it back. You just have to ride it out. Today is day 3 and it is tapering off. I have learnt a good lesson. I need migraine pills from the doctor. It's silly to suffer and take paracetamols which don't work. I have never taken migraine pills before even tho' I have suffered from migraines almost my entire life since I was a teenager. Time to make the change. Oh, when I'm reborn, I want to lose all my sensitivities.

This was my Saturday's table display. I didn't try very hard - just wanted to display everything I had. I want to say this display worked because I made good sales on Saturday. I notice that when my display is interesting or even creative, customers don't want to "spoil" it and have less desire to touch my pouches. When I display them casually on the table, they feel compelled to touch and feel. And that's important because the first step to buying an item is picking it up with your hand.

A neighbouring seller insisted on taking a pic of me. This was way before my head pains started. I had no idea!

Okay, who said this shopping bag would sell? Raise your hand. You're right. It sold.

Who said this skulls and roses crescent bag would sell? Raise your hand. You're right. It sold. Psst. I made 2 of these as I was thinking if one sold I get to keep one for myself. If the 2nd one doesn't sell by July, I'm gifting it to MOI.

Who said these felt brooches won't sell? Hubs did. He's so right. :(

Don't worry. I'm not going to show you every item that sold.

I sat in front of the two balloon artists. Here is one of them. They make interesting shapes with the balloons and sell these, usually to kids. They do very well. Thing is, each time they use the machine to blow up the balloons, it gives off a poooornnng! sound. Well, you know me. It pissed the hell out of me. (migraine, people!) But they were very nice folks.

I have a craft market this coming weekend. Crazy right? My stock is low. I have 4 glorious days to sew. I devoted today to my family, shopping, eating and a movie - Men In Black 3. See you soon.

Which breakfast won?

Hello,

Just came back after a long day at VivoCity craft market. My head is pounding and I want to sleep but first I wanted to announce the winner of my giveaway. A total of 339 valid entries were received. I want to thank everyone for entering and the whole week, I felt hungry every time I read what you guys ate for breakfast. I must confess I ate a little more than usual and you guys are a little responsible for my weight gain this week. You ah!

And the winning breakfast -cheese bun and bacon sandwich! Congrats to Janet. I will email her soon and she has 48 hours to claim her winning. Good nite.

Pass or fail?

Last night after I published my last post, I went to work on a couple of pencil cases. Easy peasy. But my brain is still resisting pencil cases. No pencil cases this week! I ended up making a shopping bag.

This is a new fabric I've been planning to use. I bought it with ME in mind. I wanted to make something for myself. The fabric is very light even tho' it's a sturdy fabric. I did not interface the fabric because I wanted this bag to be something you could fold up. Okay, I was lazy. So I was like frightened to death the bag would turn out really awful, like limpy. I'm pretty pleased with the result and if it doesn't sell by end July, I'll gift it to myself! I've made a few of these shopping bags in the past. Usually I have a pocket in front because I like front pockets. But this round I wanted to price the bag lower so I skipped the pocket. Will probably get some grief from customers for that! When I showed the bag to my son, he asked me why there wasn't a pocket in front!

The Great Singapore Sale starts today and ends on 22nd July. It sounds like a great time to be selling stuff. Still....on the one hand, there will be lots of people in the buying mood on account of the sales. On the other hand, people expect huge discounts. Also, how do handmade sellers compete with the big brands which have the ability to offer big discounts on their OLD STOCK.

I shan't be pessimistic though. Easy come easy go. 

*  *  *

I'm finally done with my kids' parent-teacher meetings. So glad to get that over with. It wasn't as bad as I imagined. One of the reasons I dread such meetings is the report card on my kids' performance is also a report card on my performance as a mom. I know I've been a pretty lazy parent especially since my kids became teens. Many times I just don't want the stress and did not put my foot down. My kids did not perform as well in the exams as I had hoped. It's a wake-up call. I have to be more vigilant and more proactive in monitoring my kids' homework and ensuring they put in a good amount of effort preparing for tests and exams. I anticipate a lot of resistance and stress but it's something I have to do. I can't run away from it.

*  *  *

I should be packing for my craft market now. Hope I don't forget anything. I'll refer to my list. Oh, in my next post, I'll announce the winner of my giveaway. Which breakfast will Mr Random Org pick?

Craft market details

Sat & Sun 26th to 27th May 2012

VivoCity, Singapore

 Level one, near Denizen/Carnivore

12 noon to 9pm

Numb fingers

Hi people,

My fingers are a little numb today. I spent last night entering 50 giveaways. Yes, I'm talking about the Sew Mama Sew giveaways. In total I've entered in 100. Tonight if I'm not too tired, I'll enter another 100 more. As for my own little giveaway here, the entries have slowed to a trickle. To date, I have 300 entries. :)

Having visited 100 blogs, I have a few rants.

1. Why do blogs still have the word verification turned on? No one and I mean, no one on this planet Earth is able to decipher what the garbled words are. I will only give it at most 2 tries. Then I'm out. Even if I've written a brilliantly written witty comment. I'm out. It's an obstacle course I don't need. If you have your word verification turned on, I beg of you, please, please put it in a bag, tie it up tightly and bury it in a deep, deep place you'll never remember. There are other ways to keep out the spam. Speaking of which, is my word verification turned OFF? Can anyone tell me?

2. Why are giveaways which are meant only for US logged in the category meant for worldwide?
I'm like happily reading away all the goodies up for grabs and going thru' all the rules and right at the bottom of the post you see "for US only". I may have entered a few of these giveaways by accident as I type and read and click send at the same time.

3. Why are some giveaway questions so hard to answer? Like, why did the chicken cross the road? It took me a really long time to answer this one. I asked my son and he had no idea. My head almost burst from thinking. Is my question hard? What you eat for breakfast isn't hard unless you're thinking of lying about what you eat! I had 8, no, 4, no wait 2 slices of toast.

4. Some giveaways use a widget to collect the entries. The trouble is it doesn't always work. If you have received an entry from Jane P with "sd7*%#dj5a%k" for a comment, I wasn't being rude. I was just trying to get the keyboard to work. Will I still win?

 *   *   *

 

Hubs came home one day with these 2 gorgeous tea bags boxes. They're perfect to display my iPhone zip pouches. I made 3 more of these super easy to make gadget pouches.

Hubs brought home this weird box as well. The cover is made of cut work metal. It reminds me of the applique I used to make. I'm not quite sure what to do with this box. It's interesting but not very useful.

Tomorrow is my last sewing day for the week before my VivoCity craft market. I hope to make a few pencil cases. But will I? See you real soon.

Forever young

It's funny how our brains work. I was going through my stock and thinking to myself I don't have enough pencil cases (yes, I know it's another zip pouch). For pencil cases, I like to pull out my remnants otherwise how else is one to use up all the fabric? The next thing I knew, I was making lunchtime pouches!

The fabric I wanted to use, I guess I felt they looked better on a lunchtime pouch.

The colour combination is a little different from what I usually go for. I was a little tired today. See, I didn't even bother to poof up my pouches for Show-N-Tell. I'm trying out a new medication for my ultra sensitive nose and this morning I woke up so late to get the kids ready for school. I have a neighbour who smokes like a chimney. The smoke really hurts my nose. I'm quite sure I'll die of lung cancer. It would kill me if I did.

I meant to use contrasting bottoms but for one of the pouches, I totally forgot. I paused for 1 second and decided it was not worth the effort to unpick. I don't feel crabby or cranky. Just sinkingly tired.

Maybe it's the 2 parent-teacher meetings I have to attend this week that's getting me down. I really dread these sessions. No good ever came out of these meetings. I usually leave with negative feelings towards my kids. Do I really have to go?

Perhaps it's all due to the new drug and my resistance to the parent-teacher meetings. But lately I've started to feel really down when I go for my exercises and I see my special trees. See, when I first moved to this area 14 years ago, these little trees were tiny. I actually thought they were bonsai trees. Of course they looked too big for bonsai but compared to regular trees, they were miniature.

There is an entire row of these trees next to the exercise machines. I guess I got so used to the trees that I took them for granted and did not observe them as carefully as I did in the early years. Recently, I was at the exercise machines when it hit me.

The  trees were no longer miniature! Look at the image above. The trees are taller than the guy. I know it sounds crazy to care this much about some trees but I felt so cheated. I really made myself believe the trees would stay little forever. I almost cried. It felt like my heart broke a little.

I took a look at the plaque below the trees and it said "Malayan Banyan". I wiki it and yes, it's gonna be a freaking large tree. There are a total of 3 or 4 of these trees.

Maybe it's not really the trees growing that's making me sad. When I first moved here, my kids were still little. My girl was born in my current home. Now they're teens. Kids growing up is a natural thing. You want that to happen. Perhaps I wanted the trees to stay miniature so I could have some moments in my life where time stands still. Or maybe I just want to feel like I'm forever young?

Or maybe it's the new drug messing me up.

Oh, did I tell you I like this pouch? The bottom matches the trim. It's cute. Later alligator.

Lost and found

Hello,

This morning I woke up and saw I had an additional 78 entries for my giveaway while I slept. What an awesome response. This is Sew Mama Sew showing its mighty klout. I just took a peek at the total number of entries to date and it's close to 200. Have you entered? If not, go here. You have until May 25 5pm PST. What I had offered isn't that big a loot but it's fun to try your luck, isn't it? Btw, I wasn't able to reply all of you. I did read every single entry and I appreciate the effort made in each and every comment. Usually I get 1 or 2 comments. :) If you have some free time, you might want to enter in the giveaways offered by other blogs. Go here.

I have a craft market coming up this weekend. As usual I've left the heavy sewing to the last week. Nothing motivates like time biting at your ass.

Today I made a bag that I used to make a lot in 2010 but lost interest in. It's my Rabbit Bag.

It took a helluva time. I used red cotton drill. I'm pretty sure the shop no longer stocks this cotton drill anymore. :( The applique is my polka dotted rabbit. Sometimes I say bunny. Sometimes I say rabbit. I don't know what's the difference. The applique is secured using blanket stitch. This is the very first stitch I learnt when I was 7. My teacher was so patient and forgiving. That was one year of my life I'll never forget.

I would love to make a couple more Rabbit bags. But it'll have to wait till next week. 

Guess what's inside the rabbit bag? Rhinos! It's a Ikea fabric. If the fabric were softer, I would use it to make my bedsheet.

It's been tough selling my larger bags at VivoCity craft market. I'm guessing it's because the price is higher than my pouches. I hope I sell this bag but I'm not holding my breath.

I found a stash in my home of forgotten fabric, all cut out and interfaced.

Front

Back

 It looked like this fabric was meant to be a pencil case so I made another zip pouch. I remember a customer asking me recently if I could make a pencil case using this fabric but at that time I did not know I had this last bit of fabric hiding in my UFO chest. The problem is I can't for the life of me remember who asked me. I hope she reads my blog and comes flying down to VivoCity this weekend to snatch this pencil case up.

* * *

Today my son came home with a musical instrument. He had joined the Chinese Orchestra in his school this year and had spoken mysteriously about this strange instrument he was playing. It's a suona. I've never heard of it and was dying to see it with my own eyes. Son had also tried to describe the sound it makes but I think I had to hear it for myself.

Here's the suona. (NOT sauna) It's not as scary as I imagined. I was hoping he would play the electric guitar like Prince. When my son first played it, I was at my sewing machine and had the fright of my life. I almost maimed my finger. Yes, it was that frightening. The sounds made by a suona is like 100 elephants farting simultaneously. (I imagine)

See ya.

Let's partay.
Ask Anna
Ninth street notions
Get Outta My Head Please

My May 2012 Giveaway

Giveaway is closed. Winner announced here.

Hey you,

Come and enter my fabric/pattern giveaway. I'm linking up to Sew Mama Sew's awesome biannual event here.

This is my offer:
♥ 1 yard of a fun print
♥ 1 yard of a hippie inspired print
♥ 1 of my pdf sewing patterns (you make the bag yourself)

You get 1 yard of each. These are my favourite fabric. I used them for my pdf sewing patterns and the fun print I offered for last year's giveaway as well.

You get to choose ONE of my pdf sewing patterns. You can decide after you've won. If you want to take a look now, go here.

How to enter:

♠ Leave one comment. One entry per person. (duplicates will be deleted) If you don't know what to write, tell me what you ate for breakfast this morning or any morning.
Btw, I had 2 slices of whole grain bread spread with cholesterol free olive oil margarine and 1 cup of Lipton sweet tea. I wanted to eat more but I feel a little pudgy.

♠ You must leave your email address if your profile is not tied to your email.

♠ Open worldwide - however I do not ship to PO boxes.

♠ Ends May 25 5pm PST

♠ Winner will be decided the unfeeling way via Mr Random.Org and announced on May 26 Singapore time. Winner must respond to my email of her/his win within 48hours. Otherwise Mr Random.Org will find another winner then.

Just so you know, you need not follow me to enter my giveaway but would it kill you? If it wouldn't, here's how:
Facebook
Twitter
Blogger - See sidebar for "My Entourage"
Email - See sidebar for "Follow by email"

I look forward to reading what you guys eat for breakfast! See ya.

A bird peed on my face

Two years ago, while walking my girl to school, A BIRD SHAT ON MY HEAD. You can read the post here.

Since that fateful day, I've been nervous each time I walk along the same path where it happened. The path is right next to a patch of green and the government agency in charge of greens in Singapore had thoughtfully planted lots of trees lining the path. It's been two years. Each time I reach home unshatted at, I feel as if I've struck the lottery.

On Wednesday, hubs and I were on our way home after our lunch date when I heard some rustling above me. The next thing I knew splaaatttt something hit my face, right next to my eye. I think I closed my eye in time though a microscopic amount may have gone in. I wiped the liquid off my face with hubs hanky and could feel more on my t-shirt. And however grossed out I was, I just felt lucky I wasn't shatted on again.

I immediately showered and washed my hair when I reached home. Upon careful examination of my t-shirt, there was a yellow stain confirming my suspicion I had been peed on. The smell pretty much told me I was right.

Now that I've finally gotten over the peeing incident, I'm starting to question if it was a deliberate act. Hubs was walking next to me. He's taller. Why wasn't he peed on?

I fear I am the chosen one.

I told my mother what happened and you know what she said?

What kind of bird was it?

I don't know what kind of a bird it was because after being peed on, it's not a good idea to look up. I have drawn an illustration of what happened. Just look at the size of the bird! This is how I dress around my neighbourhood. Shorts and tees.

I asked my mother if a bird had shatted or peed on her and she's lived a long life, more than 80 years. And no, it has never happened to her before.

*   *   *

I have got my Canon S100 back! I was told to expect to wait at least 2 weeks but it's only been 1 week. I think Canon subscribes to a "Under Promise Over Deliver" customer philosophy. Because I'm suddenly no longer hating Canon. I shall adopt it too.

Customer: How long will it take to make this bag in this fabric?
Jane: 100 days.
Customer: Wah, so long. Okay.

7 days later......
Jane: Your bag is ready.
Customer: Oh, my god! That was FAST!

Incidentally, Canon replaced the entire optical system. Isn't that 99% of the camera?

*   *   *

I've been a very bad girl. I did not watch my diet this week. I ate a lot of the food I know will give me headaches and all week I've been suffering. Today I did it again and now my head is totally splitting apart. See, I was thinking, I'm already having headaches.....

I deserve the headaches I get because I am a weak, greedy person with little self-control. No pity for me please. Next week I'll be good.

*   *   *

It's been a very tiring week for me. I had to go out and travel on the train a lot. It's exhausting especially when it's very crowded. Plus the headaches makes it worse. I did not do much sewing! This is what I made so far.

This is probably the last crescent bag I make for now. I need to move on to other bags.

*   *   *

Some updates about Singapore. Remember I wrote about maids falling to their death here? Another maid has fallen to her death from a high-rise flat, cleaning the windows on Thursday. When will employers learn?

*   *   *

In my last post here, I told you about a local by-election? It seems the disgraced Yaw Shin Leong who was expelled by his party slinked back to Singapore and issued a letter of apology to his former ward via the media.

“I take pride in being able to serve you, though for a short period of time.”

Mr Yaw, game over.

*   *   *

Come back on Monday for my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway. If I forget, will someone remind me? See ya.

Singapore election restart

When you were a kid and you play games with your friends, do you sometimes call for a re-start because the game is turning out messy or not everyone understood the rules?

Something similar is happening in Singapore political scene. It has to do with a small constituency called Hougang. What's so special about Hougang is that for 20 years, this little area was held by a opposition party called Worker's Party. If you know that almost the whole of Singapore is under the rule of the ruling party PAP, then you'll understand how hard it is for any opposition party to win any constituency.

Via

Try as they could, the ruling party simply could never wrestle back this little Hougang from Worker's Party's Low Thia Khiang (above).

The problem was, for a long time, the opposition parties only managed to hold on to Hougang and one other small constituency which was held by another opposition party. Yes, pathetic. Also more pathetic was the opposition parties weren't united. There are many opposition parties. Too many if you ask me.

During the last general election which was held last May, something big changed. Hougang's incumbent Low Thia Khiang made a big move. He gave up his comfortable Hougang and led a team of 6 to run for a bigger constituency. They eventually won and got 6 seats in Parliament.

via

Low Thia Khiang sent Yaw Shin Leong (above) to run for Hougang and Yaw managed to win Hougang easily.


This would have been the happy ending to this story except Yaw was expelled by his party less than a year after being elected. The reason? He refused to address allegations of his alleged extra-marital affairs. And you know what happens if you get expelled by your party? You lose your seat in parliament. To date, no one knows for sure how many women he bedded. Also he FLED THE COUNTRY.

Which brings us to the present. Yep, Hougang is calling for a re-start. Sorry, they sent in the wrong guy. They didn't know he was like that! We'll send a faithful guy this time.

via

Today is nomination day. Worker's Party sent this guy. (above) People call him "Huat Ah!" (prosper). I looked up Worker's Party's website and found Huat Ah's data here. His position in the organisation is "Deputy Webmaster".

OMG! They sent in their tech guy! I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Alright, I laughed.

On May 26, Hougang will cast their votes and should the opposition party lose Hougang, I shan't shed a tear. They already won, for god's sake.

Some days are a write off

Hey there,

Today I spent a lot of time outdoors and it was steaming hot. I had sweat dripping all over. Oh, so disgusting. But I smelled like Katy Perry all day because at VivoCity, a shop was giving away free samples of Katy Perry cologne and I had dabbed some behind my ear.

Today I managed to get some iron-on interfacing to test out. Two from a friend and a few others from a shop I discovered on the way home. I had been to this shop before and never noticed they sold interfacing. Usually it's super crowded but today I was the only customer. I explained to the lady in the store what I wanted and she suggested two grades of iron-on interfacing to try out at home. One of them costs double what I used to pay so my heart feels a little heavy. I daringly asked for a discount but she laughed. Like hahahahahaha. I believe it was a No.

It's already night time but the temperature is still crazy hot. I can feel heat coming off my skin. I don't think I'll do any sewing or cutting today at all. I just want to lie in a tub of ice water. I have another craft market coming up soon and I should be cranking out the bags. This issue with iron-on interfacing is driving me nuts. I have a supply of iron-on interfacing suitable for smaller items like pouches. But for larger bags, the interfacing I have been relying on is really good stuff and is not too expensive. Plus it feels firm but not papery and at the same time retains the softness of fabric. I guess all good things do come to an end. And I too must move on and not harp on what's gone.

Tomorrow I'll make one or two larger bags to test out the new interfacing. Worst case scenario: I stop making larger bags requiring interfacing. I mean, I could make slouchy bags which don't require interfacing. Whatever, it's not the end of the world.

*  *  *

Those of you who are bloggers - are you guys participating in Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day on May 21st 2012? If you're new to this, by participating, you hold a giveaway on your blog and you link to your giveaway post on Sew Mama Sew's blog. You could go here to read all about it. If you're not a blogger, you could enter in all the giveaways. Maybe you'll get lucky.

I will very likely participate if I don't forget. Last year I participated and it brought me a tiny bit of extra traffic. Hahahahahaha. Good nite.

Sweet Mother. I need the air-con turned on all night. You hear me, hubs?

I forgive

Folks,

I'm not a very forgiving person. I bear a grudge or two.  I blame it on my vivid memory of details, conversations, tone of voice, clothes one wears - all forever riveted in my brain. Sometimes played over and over again, relieving those moments of awfulness.

But I want to change. I want to be a better person. So I'm starting this week fresh by forgiving.

♥  I forgive the crazy people I run into every morning at the jogging park. Yes, YOU - the one who jogs backwards - INTO ME. And YOU - the one who waves your arms wildly while you run past me scratching my skin with your nails.  And YOU three - the ones who insist on hogging the whole path jogging abreast. I forgive you.


♥  I forgive hubs who frequently flings his ear phone onto my face while he sleeps causing me to wake up in the morning in terror thinking an alien is trying to impregnate me through the mouth. And that explains why I wake up with a scream. I forgive you.


♥ I forgive Canon for selling me a crappy expensive camera and taking so long to get it fixed. I forgive you.


♥  I forgive the Chinatown woman who sold me inferior iron-on interfacing after informing me that the iron-on interfacing I have been buying from her since 2009 was out of stock and will no longer be manufactured. I forgive you.


♥  I forgive the manufacturer that stopped making the iron-on interfacing I have been using since 2009 causing me to leave my home tomorrow in search of alternatives. I forgive you.


♥  I forgive the train commuters for the disgusting look they're going to give me tomorrow because after a long day searching for iron-on interfacing I will be nodding my head off on the train because trains just make me sleep. I forgive you.


♥  I forgive the sun for the unrelentless heat it has been spewing out for the past week. I forgive you.


♥ I forgive myself for not being capable of making something brilliant every single week. I forgive you.

♥ I forgive you if you find these 2 crescent bags adorable. They are.

Let's partay.....

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Happy Mother's Day

Hello,

Happy Mother's Day! Is it Mother's Day where you live? If it isn't, you'll live. If you'd like to know when Mother's Day is celebrated around the world, here's a link.

Just so you know, Mother's Day is celebrated on May 13 this year in 78 countries including Singapore. I expect most restaurants are crowded today. Good thing we took care of our Mother's Day obligations earlier.

On Tuesday I took me mom for a lunch. I haven't seen her since Chinese New Year. We keep in touch through the phone. She's not on facebook or twitter. She doesn't even own a handphone. And yes, she still keeps her money clutched in a hanky. One good thing about my relationship with my mother is she'll telephone me if she thinks it has been too long since we last spoke. I mean, she doesn't sulk or brood. She just picks up the phone and starts the conversation with "long time no call" in English. She is kinda cute.

I don't remember the last time I took her out to eat. It's usually a family thing and my youngest brother takes care of the food. So it's no surprise that the first dish I had ordered almost killed her. She went into a coughing fit due to the chilli. I forgot she doesn't take chilli. Despite that, she did not blame me. Instead she blamed the cook. I mean, what kind of cook puts such spicy chilli in vegetables? Other than the coughing incident, we had a nice time. Even though she's quite a soft spoken woman, she talked my ear off.

Hubs on the other hand has a volatile relationship with his mom over the phone. Face to face, they're okay but every phone conversation between the two is like a potential world war 3. They scream and shout at each other at the top of their voices. Very frightening to witness. My girl has advised him to text his mother instead of speaking to her. Unfortunately, hubs doesn't text in Chinese. Maybe they should invest in owls. Yes, I've been reading Harry Potter. Do you think owls sending messages is pretty much today's facebook/twitter?

I took a few pics of the Chinese banquet dinner we had on Friday with my MIL.

If you've dined at Chinese restaurants before, you'll notice the wet towel and peanuts they serve. When I was with my mother, she said to send them back! So I did and we didn't have to pay for them. They're not cheap! But for my MIL's dinner, I did not want to embarrass her so I did not send them back.

When it's hubs doing the ordering of food at Chinese restaurants, he always goes for the set menus because he sucks at ordering food. So do I.

This is the first dish - sharks fin soup. Yep, this restaurant still serves sharks fin. But don't worry. I doubt it's real sharks fin. I think it's just crab meat and some jello.

Hubs got sucked into ordering this very expensive $18 seafood fried rice. Yes, it was a young Chinese waitress who talked him into it. The trouble with hubs is anytime he's in a Chinese restaurant, he starts to flirt with the waitresses. He denies it of course. I don't want you to get the impression hubs is a flirty kind of person because he isn't. There's just something about Chinese waitresses in a Chinese restaurant and middle-aged aunties who bring out the flirty side of him.

Guess what this is. Battered prawns. The prawns tasted like they came from the freezer. Rubbery.

These are dim sum. Guess what's inside? Prawns. These prawns also tasted like they came from the freezer. And you would think the restaurant cooks knew better than to give us so much prawns. Maybe the frozen prawns had reached the expiry date.

This is the obligatory vegetables which surprise, surprise has some kind of abalone or mushrooms. Who can tell the difference?

This is roast chicken and I liked this best. It was a little too salty and had tons of MSG.

I forgot to take a pic of the dessert so you have to visualize it. It was a bowl of white milky liquid with small cut fruits and sago. Even though it was milk, I ate it because I knew with all that MSG in me, I was getting a big fat headache. The headache turned out bigger than expected and dragged the whole day so I was a little regretful.

Last night I asked my kids if they were planning any Mother's Day surprise for me. (I knew they weren't). My girl grunted. (She was watching Castle) My son gallantly offered me a Mother's Day hug. This morning my girl surprised me by volunteering to make me breakfast. It's a good thing my breakfast is easy - buttered toast and sweet lipton tea.

Breakfast came with a note and 1 round chocolate. You understand I had no choice but to eat the chocolate.

Son had Chinese tuition and so was in absolutely no mood for any Mother's Day gestures. I boasted to him his sis was making me breakfast and what was he giving me? He grunted. Then I reminded him of the hug he had gallantly offered me the night before. And so he did hug me. It lasted 1 second.

I had a wonderful few hours alone at home as hubs took the kids to see a movie. And how was your Mother's Day?