Rooster and stuff

So how has your Rooster year been? Today is the 6th day of the Rooster year. Technically, Chinese New Year lasts 15 days. I say technically because who celebrates it for 15 days nowadays? The Hokkiens celebrate the 9th day praying to the Heaven God (which is this Saturday night) around midnight. I used to help my mother with the praying back in the days. It was really tiring because you have to stay up so late. After the prayers, my mother would get us to eat some noodles before we went to bed. I don't think my mother does this anymore. Anyway, I have to remember to shut all my windows this Thursday because the smoke and ashes will kill me! The 15th day is also celebrated by some with prayers and offerings. Some people do a lantern walk thingy although I feel that feels rather forced.

Our Chinese New Year celebration went rather well although my son had a bit of throat pain which slightly dampened the day. He couldn't eat any of the Chinese New Year goodies which wasn't a big deal because he's so fussy about what he eats.

This year I wore something very colourful to match my Crocs bag (a Xmas gift). Originally I wanted to wear something with a rooster print but they all looked too tacky. So I ended up wearing sportswear which is what I'm most comfortable with. T shirt with I think, tennis skorts. My hair was done by a new hair stylist, Alex because apparently, my dear longtime hair stylist, Cindy has quit. I was quite traumatized but it seems my hair looks exactly the same!

Speaking of hair, I am thinking about transitioning to not colouring my hair in the near future. I have unfortunately inherited the Tan's (my mother is a Tan) abundant genetic gray hair. I am also so sick of colouring my hair yet I cannot quit overnight because hair takes a long time to grow and I don't want to look funny with a frightening streak of white on the top of my head. How to transition? I guess this is something I have to talk to Alex about. Better brush up on my Mandarin! How to say transition in Mandarin?

My family didn't quite coordinate our outfits. Hubs had good comments on his retro shirt.

The weathermen predicted rain and indeed it rained quite heavily but we were lucky to be indoors most of the time and only got a tiny bit of rain while waiting for our SIL's car when going home. My son has a very warm body and me and my girl who, like me has too much YIN loves to stand close to him when it's cold.

 

If you are still in the mood for Rooster art, check out what I made. I used my Rooster applique template to trace onto scrapbooking paper which I glued onto black art board. You can make this easily in 10 mins including glue drying time!

Since it's technically Chinese New Year, here's a code CNY2017 (all caps) which you can use to get 30% off my digital patterns in my PAYHIP shop only. If you want to read my FAQ before you buy, please do so but take note the faq was written for buying from my blog. But the info is more or less the same as when you buy from the PAYHIP shop. You can use the discount code until Feb 11th which is the last day of Chinese New Year.

In more chicken related stuff, AVA disclosed that noisy, free ranging chickens were culled in Sin Min area because there were complaints about the noise they made. This has of course ruffled some feathers. AVA says it plans to cull chickens running wild all over Singapore.

The native red jungle fowl has been spared from the culling because it is an endangered species. I'm wondering if AVA culling crew are trained to differentiate between a regular rooster and a red jungle fowl? (red jungle fowl has grey legs)

I read in the news that the year of the Rooster did not start well for some people travelling to or planning to enter US due to a Trump travel ban. You can call the ban by whatever name but it is a kind of extremism along religion lines which is very scary. In Singapore, we have a couple, Randy amd Zaineb who are a US citizen and his wife (green card holder) and daughter who are experiencing anxiety as the wife has Iraqi citizenship. They were about to relocate back to US when the executive order was signed. I hope they manage to return to US without (his wife) getting detained!

I've always been a bit afraid of travelling. I really should have nothing to fear since I'm a harmless person whose sins are drinking tea and eating too many oranges. Somehow, going past the immigration staff gives me the heebie-jeebies. I remember once (a long time ago) I travelled with my family to Australia and somehow my mother got pulled aside by a immigration staff. I guess it was because she couldn't speak English and didn't understand what the officer was saying. Luckily my sister or maybe my brother, I can't remember, went to rescue her and she wasn't detained. Another time we were just crossing the causeway (Johor Bahru) and my son (still a little kid then) was called back because he did not put his windbreaker through the machine thingy. His windbreaker had a clever design and could be folded up and slung around his shoulders like a little bag. The officer didn't speak English and he kept gesturing. For a while I almost went crazy not knowing what was happening. Then I realised that the officer thought my son was carrying a bag. Once I figured it out, I put the windbreaker "bag" through the machine thingy and we were cleared. Crossing borders is so stressful. I can't imagine what it's like to be interrogated upon arrival.

A Singapore mom travelling through Germany had brought along her breast pump and was brought aside for questioning because she was not travelling with her baby. She not only had to show a female officer her breast, she was asked to hand-express to prove she was lactating! Yep, she had to squeeze her breast! I hope she gets an apology.

Yesterday hubs asked me if I wanted to drop everything and go to Hong Kong for 3 days. I almost said yes because #YOLO. But the heebie-jeebies won. Plus I need to wake my kids for school. Maybe next year? Just remind me not to bring any of my dolls. Might get pulled aside by immigration.