What June Made

Hi guys,

June went by so quickly! I felt quite lazy throughout the month but managed to make a few items between all the time sucking activities I'm so into these days - Candy Crush Soda, Love Island and Korean dramas. Every time I say I'm getting out, I get sucked back in.

So here at my June makes...

I worked on a new bag pattern. It's mostly done but the rainy weather these past 2 weeks has made it hard to do a couple more photos.

I sewed a dress for Lammily and I was telling my girl that I might sell this pattern and she said: who will buy it? Yes, I suppose it's a niche market and I honestly don't know if anyone will buy a Lammily dress pattern but I already have the template done on Illustrator so all I need is a few photos. I made the pattern in 2015!

I sewed 3 items for myself - Shirt No. 1, another Shirt No. 1 and a pair of pants. I haven't photographed the last 2 items because of the rain so I'll probably show them next week.

I also started on a simple skirt for myself and poor me - I had to draft the pattern myself because I couldn't find any basic skirts patterns at Spotlight. I absolutely dislike drafting clothes patterns for myself because you have to use large pieces of paper and my table is not nearly long enough.

I baked quite a bit, mostly loaf bread and a few others. Of course I promptly gained weight!

Speaking of weight, our fitness sessions with Mindy at Fitness Bravo ended. Although the sessions were hard and I hurt all over after each session, I really enjoyed my 1 hour's labour. We didn't sign up for another package because my daughter is starting University in August so we can't spend money like water anymore.

We did a weigh in at the end. Here's me waiting to hear the good/bad news. Very happy to report I lost a bit of weight - around 4kg, I think.

Hubs and I have continued to exercise at home. Of course we don't do it as intensively! My swimming came to a halt the last 2 weeks due to a sinus problem and then the rain. My running is truly over. My left leg can't seem to take running anymore. I'm resting it some more and only doing some light leg exercises.

In July I hope to make a proper pair of pants with a zip fly and a dress. I bought 2 bra patterns but I'm feeling apprehensive about making them as I've never sewn bras before. We'll see.

10 Burning Questions About Love Island

Guys,

Save me. Recently in between my Candy Crush Soda games, I've been hopelessly glued to Love Island.

If you haven't watched it, Love Island is a dating reality TV show where a group of male and female contestants live in a villa somewhere in Spain, cut off from the outside world. The contestants spend the day lying on day beds gossiping. Sometimes the producers get them to play games and challenges, mostly to create conflicts. Newcomers come in now and then to disrupt the routine and keep everyone on their toes because they're out to steal your partner. To survive in the game, each contestant must be part of an official couple - done via a ceremony. Anyone who remains single gets dumped from the island. I don't know how the winning couple is decided - perhaps via public voting?

After watching the current series, I realised one thing - the women (most of them) join this crazy show to find love while the men join to have sex with as many women as they can. Yes, the couples do it with all the cameras watching and remember everyone sleeps in the same room - couples together in a bed. Thank goodness the deeds are not shown on TV.

This is a highly manipulated show but hilarious to watch. Sometimes I forget the contestants are real people with real feelings. However, real world rules don't apply on Love Island and it's frightening to see the true colours of people once the shackles of outside world are removed.

Hayley (right) and her heavy breathing partner whose name she cannot pronounce

Hubs said that wouldn't it be smart to stay with one person as a couple till the end just so you can win? Surprisingly, it's harder than you think. Hayley for instance could not even stand the sound of her partner BREATHING.

After watching 25 episodes, I have just a few questions:

1. How do the women draw their eyebrows so thick and perfectly?

2. How does one get such thick pouty lips like Rosie?

3. What's the temperature like in the villa at night? How come no one gets cold wearing so little?

4. Why is it NO ONE desires Dr Alex? What's wrong with him? He's a doctor! If you marry him, you'll never have to queue up at the polyclinic again.

5. What's Singapore's version of slag? This is a new-to-me word. Laura called Megan a slag for stealing her man and I understand it's very offensive. And it was hilarious how Laura later apologised to Megan for calling her A SLAG. I'm sorry for calling you A SLAG. I shouldn't have called you A SLAG. You're not A SLAG. You don't deserve to be called A SLAG. Really, you're not A SLAG. Gosh, why did I call you A SLAG? I've never ever called anyone A SLAG. You're the first person I've called A SLAG. Why did I call you A SLAG. You're not A SLAG. Really, not A SLAGGGGGG!

6. Why do the women drink from their water bottle all day? Is it to keep from feeling hungry? Do they eat at all?

7. Are the bedrooms air-conditioned? Everyone goes to sleep under heavy covers, often covering their heads as well. I can't imagine doing that even with air conditioning turned on full blast.

Wes having a crack at Megan. Laura wanting to crack Wes' head.

8. I wonder what's Singapore's version of "I fancy you".  In Korean drama, it is "I like you". I haven't dated for decades so I've lost touch. On Love Island, "I fancy you" is very powerful. After you utter those words to a guy (you fancy), he'll literally dump his loyal gal just to "crack on" you.

9.  What kind of skincare do the women use? They sleep with makeup on and wake up with fabulous skin. No one has acne.

Adam and his 200 ish

10.  Is it just me or don't you want to HIDE that you have bedded 200 ish number of women? Just think of all the diseases he could be harbouring. Anyway, anyone who can count knows it's mathematically impossible to have bedded 200 ish women when you're only 22.

Blogger Comment Notifications

Hi guys,

Anyone use blogger like me? Since the last week of May, comment notifications have not been coming to my email. So the only way to know if there are comments is to go directly to the blog post or blogger dashboard. Since I don't get many comments in the first place, I was just a tiny bit agitated. No, I'm kidding. I was fuming. (By the way, if you have left me a comment on my blog the past few weeks, I may have left replies for you on my blog posts instead of replying to you via email.) I went to a google forum and realised it's a known issue and affecting everyone. Plus someone's working on the solution. Anyway, the solution has been released and I've tried it out and it worked.

Before I tell you how I fixed my blogger comment notifications, it's good to let you know I do not have Google Plus enabled on my blog. The comments handling are straight forward and handled by blogger so there is no third party app involved. If your setting is different from mine, the solution might be different.

To get comment notifications going again do the following:
Step 1.
At blogger dashboard, go to Settings/Email.

In the box for "Comment Notification Email", delete your email which should already be there. Click on "Save settings". Exit blogger dashboard. I'm asking you to exit blogger dashboard to make sure your settings are saved (as sometimes the button does not work). If your settings aren't saved, you will be prompted to save when you exit.

Step 2.
Now re-enter blogger dashboard. Go back to Settings/email. This time the "Comment Notification Email" box will be empty. (If your email is still there, you've not done step 1 correctly) Re-enter your email address. Click on "Save settings" and exit blogger dashboard.

Step 3.
Go to your email and you should receive an email similar to below:

This part is IMPORTANT.
In order to receive comment notifications, you need to click on subscribe. Once you've subscribed, you're done. You will be able to receive email notifications of NEW comments.

And you'll know you've done it successfully because you'll get this:

Next...

To get comment notifications going for moderated comments, do the following:
Step 1
At blogger dashboard, go to Settings/Posts, comments and sharing. You probably have some setting going on already like below.

Remove the setting for "comment moderation" by clicking on "Never". Click "save settings" and exit dashboard.  I'm asking you to exit blogger dashboard to make sure your settings are saved (as sometimes the button does not work). If your settings aren't saved, you will be prompted to save when you exit.

Step 2.
Re-enter dashboard. Go back to Settings/Posts, comments and sharing. The setting for "comment moderation" should be set to "Never". (If not, you've not done step 1 correctly) Click on "Always" or "Sometimes... xx days" depending on what you want. Enter your email address in the box "email moderation requests to". Click on "Save settings" and exit dashboard.

Step 3.
Go to your email and you should receive an email similar to below.

This part is IMPORTANT.
In order to receive comment notifications for moderated comments, you need to click on subscribe. Once you've subscribed, you're done. You will be able to receive email notifications of NEW MODERATED comments.

And you'll know you've done it successfully because you'll get this:

If these fixes don't work for you, your blogger settings are likely more complex and you'll probably need to get your solutions from the google forum as I'm not an expert on blogger stuff.