Friday Ketchup No. 6

I have many fears. I'm easily frightened by noise, insects, cancellation of TV shows and sweaty bodies. This week I am scared of mosquitoes. Not any mosquitoes. Aedes mosquitoes. I discovered that there are a few cases of dengue fever victims near where I live and it's freaking me out. If you live in Singapore, you can check out dengue.gov.sg to see if you live in a Dengue cluster. Once we were at an aunt's home and we saw an aedes mosquito in the flat. You can tell it's an aedes mosquito by the white spots on the long legs. I chased it like crazy to kill it but of course I couldn't catch it. We did not fall ill but it makes me think that maybe some people don't fall ill from aedes mosquitoes bites. Still, the thought of getting bitten paralyzed me. It seems to me aedes mosquitoes cannot be wiped out and why isn't there a drug for dengue fever? Every year the government puts in a lot of effort to get rid of aedes mosquitoes but every year the situation gets worse. Shouldn't it get better?

Speaking of dangerous insects, guess who came for a visit? Yes, it's another dem wasp/hornet. It had been coming in for visits for the past few days scaring me to death because it would fly at my face/head. Why does it always aim for vulnerable parts like face and crotch? Yesterday morning when I heard the zzzz sounds, I immediately decided to end it once and for all. I really had it. I grabbed my broom and a spray can of insecticide. Honestly, I had no real plans. They just look like the most appropriate weapons. Then I switched off all the lights safe for one light as I wanted it to stay at one location. It worked. After stalking it for a few minutes, the wasp/hornet finally stayed still on the wall for more than one second. I took the opportunity to spray the hell out of it. I almost died from the fumes. It didn't do anything to the wasp/hornet. So I stalked it some more and finally got the chance to spray another round of toxic fumes. This made it a little ill and I saw my chance to knock it with my broom.

I was really shaking with fear as I imagined if I wasn't careful, the wasp/hornet would come for my ears. Isn't this everyone's fears? Well, my broom managed to catch just a bit of the insect and I trapped it on the floor but I could see it trying to free itself. I wanted to yell at hubs to wake the hell up to help me but really, this is a woman's job. I pushed the broom with the wasp/hornet below to where I keep my old newspapers and grabbed one section of the papers and threw it over the broom. I removed my broom and was horrified to see the wasp/hornet trying to wriggle its way out of the newspaper. So I grabbed a library book and let it drop on the newspaper. Then I waited for hubs to wake up so he could check if it was dead.

It was. The library book squashed the hell out of it. Anyway, I'm sending the photo of the insect to the town council. I'm pretty sure the stupid tree outside my window is where it lives and surely they should come inspect the tree. I'm so tired of my battles with the wasp/hornet family.

I have a craft market this weekend and I'm finally done with the price tagging. It took such a long time as I also iron the bags one last time. I brought out the ole luggage and discovered I hadn't touched it since Christmas. I'm sorting through my stock and discovered I have a few leaf accessories not yet photographed.

These are hair clips. They are pretty big. At first I wanted to use only green felt for the leaves but I realised I have barely any green felt. And I have felt of every colour you can imagine... I wanted to make more of these hair clips but I ran out of steam. You know I have no sensibilities when it comes to hair accessories. They look all right to me but I could be so wrong.

This weekend's craft market will be my first for 2013. No matter how many times I've gone out to sell, each time feels just as nerve wrecking. The display is always the biggest headache for me and I hope I find a way to not clutter my table. I have to pack cleverly and not end up with too many bags as I have to walk a long distance from the taxi stand to the market. This morning I just remembered that this year's craft market is slightly different without the cashiering system. That means I need to bring some small change along. I'm pretty sure every customer will hand me a $50 note.

If you are in Singapore, do pop by VivoCity. Oh, next week I have a giveaway so remember to come back!