Christmas candle arrangement

 

This is something I did a week ago. Hubby saw a similar arrangement at Green Gallery, a shop near my pharmacy, and he wanted to get it for the house. However, it cost RM200+ and I did not think it was worth that amount at all! (FYI: Hubby is the spendthrift and I'm the kiam siap one!)

So to prove my point, I bought all the things needed to make an arrangement myself, including the lovely gold ceramic vase. And it all came up to only RM85! Case closed.

So here's how to make a simpler one, if you're interested:

Things you'll need:


fake poinsettia flowers(I found some in a wreath form)
sponge for floral arrangements
vase or plastic container
gold baubles
a red candle
wired ribbon in christmassy colours
wire
a pair of scissors
a pair of pliers
a craft knife

1. cut sponge to fit the container

2. Secure flowers onto sponge with lengths of wire bent into a U shape.

 3. twist the end of some wire around a few baubles and stick them into the arrangement, amongst the flowers, in an artistic manner of course! :)

4. cut the ribbon into shorter lengths and fold like so.

5. secure with wire and open up the ribbon loops a little. Stick these into the arrangement as well.

6. Jam the candle into the middle and we're done!

Here's some other stuff I did to the house...

Solomon and Eva (the two shortest ones) decorated the tree. Can you tell?

Hubby is 33

Hubby celebrated his birthday on 26th November.. he's a month younger than me! :(

I baked Hubby a Brownie Chocolate Cheesecake and the kids sang the birthday song.

Later that night we had steamboat with friends and adjourned to the Club's bar and then the karaoke...

Happy Birthday Darling! :)

Holiday activities

Here are some of the holiday activities we've had so far...

Annie joined a Scrabble competition at Club. She didn't win, but I'm proud that she joined even though she's never played Scrabble before.

There was, of course, the usual swimming... Sis no.3 and I brought around 12 kids between us when Sis no.2 was in Penang to accompany her Hubby who went for the marathon. Our kids practically filled the whole children's pool and when we went to church everyone kept looking at us!

We painted the walls of the back room of my shop, using the leftover Murobond colours from home! It was messy, the walls are in patches, but it was fun for the kids. (I stress, 'for the kids') :)

Luckily Solomon could be fooled with a dry roller! Otherwise everyone would have gotten even more painted hair and legs!!

We went to watch Rapunzel with cousins Amanda and Alaena, at the Spring. The small ones (Solomon, Asa, and Amelie) stayed back to play at Sis no.2's house. I found the movie pretty entertaining and funny. The kids liked it too, though the whole experience of going to the cinema and having popcorn usually outshines the movie itself! :)

 Sis no.2 taught Annie and Amanda cross-stitch and they've been at it day and night! Annie had been looking forward to learning cross-stitch for weeks!

 We also had a fun cupcake decorating session at home.

Busy at work...

Everybody's hard work...

The proud creators!

Mummy, I made a ball! :)

Tractors, really!

So Hubby saw my last post and straight away 'WhatsApp'ed me (from Bintulu) the pics of the tractor factory in his phone. He says he doesn't want people to think he made up some story about tractors to go to Bangkok!! :)

So here's the proof!

 See? Many tractors, all in a row...

Half tractors...

 More tractor parts...

and more...

Tractors in the making...


Okay, okay... we get the point...

Maybe next time I'll insist on a photo of him with the tractors... :)

Bangkok

Hubby just came back from Bangkok last week. They went courtesy of some tractor company. Everything was paid for, in return that they visit their tractor making factory! :)

So he stayed at Pattaya for a night, and spent the rest of the time in Bangkok. The main thing about Bangkok I gleaned from his travel tales is the atrocious traffic! Poor Hubby got food poisoning on just the second day and on top of that had to endure hours on the bus! Luckily the bus was equipped with a toilet! I read on the net that a journey which usually takes half an hour to reach could take 2 hours during rush hour! Thank goodness I don't live there is all I can say. Give me boring 'ol Kuching anytime...

So anyway, here are the pics. He forgot his camera at the tractor factory! :) So no tractor pics, though he says it's quite amazing how sheets of metal go in one end of the factory and come out the other end as big powerful tractors!

 Hubby says Pattaya is a quaint, smaller town, full of 'night activity'! :) Trust him ti take photos of seafood and fruits...

They watched an "ah kua" (transvestite) cabaret show, among other shows...

Aren't they gorgeous? It's hard to believe that they are men, or were men, or... I have no idea...

Beautiful Thai architecture...

 Hubby managed to visit Chatuchak, a super ginormous flea market in Bangkok. Notice the seafood again...

 After his torturous bout of food poisoning, Hubby didn't dare try much of the food on offer...

 He couldn't resist the coconut ice-cream though, and he says it was absolutely divine!

Here he was just mulling about at a shopping mall. (Notice the fruits again) I would love to have some of that luscious looking Thai durian!! Or any of those yummy colourful gelatos!!  
*drool...*

Hubby brought some of these home. It's a gummy palm sugar confection, much like our Malaysian dodol, except this is less sweet, and also has more imaginative packaging. It is rolled in something like bamboo sheets, unlike our boring plastic.

As for me, I'm still thinking about the gelato.... 
mmmmm...

Foreign tongue

There is an Indian coffee shop next to my shop and the kids love the pink drink called "air bandung", or rose flavoured milk. So there was once Annie wanted to order a glass and I said she could if she went and asked for it herself. So she asked me what the drink is called and I told her:

Mum: Air bandung 

After a while, she forgot what I said and asked again 

Annie: what was it again mum? Air kosong? * 

Mum: Okay, you go and try ordering  air kosong and see what you get! :) 

* plain water



Yesterday, we were in the car and Annie said she wanted Kung Kung to buy the pao (steamed bun) with the red meat filling. She wanted to know what it was called so she could tell Kung Kung.

Annie: What is the pao with the red meat inside called? 

Mum: Char sio pao 

Annie: Oh, okay. 

After a while she asked again. 

Annie: What was it again? Chao tar pao?** 

Mum no reply... too busy laughing!!

** burnt bun

End of school year 2010

Yesterday, was the last day of school for Annie. Claire and Eva's school let out a day earlier, so we all went to Annie's last school assembly for the year to see jie jie get her certificate during the prize giving and also perform in the mini concert afterwards. Mummy and Daddy are very proud that she got 2nd place in her class this year. Now to beat the no.1 boy next year!! Hahahahah!

Anyway, we got there a little late and missed the prize giving. But we did get to see Annie play the recorder during the performance which followed. The school was abuzz with energy, as everyone was in great spirits since the holidays had officially begun! One and a half  months of "NO SCHOOL"! Annie was also happy when she got her straight A report card and of course over the moon that school was over for the year!

Nothing spells HOLIDAY like ice-cream!

Yay! We did get the photo of Annie receiving her award in the end. Her friend's dad so kindly emailed it to me! Thank you so much!

Sugarbaby

Sugarbaby cakes.

That's the name of my latest endeavour. I'm starting a home-based cake business. I'm just so crazy about cake decorating, it's a wonderful way for me to unleash my pent-up creative energy! There's not much need for creativity in my field of work, in fact, "creative pharmaceutics" would most probably be illegal! :)

Anyway, I figured I'd better make some money while I'm at it, at least enough to finance this hobby of mine, as it can get quite expensive! I estimate to have spent around RM2-3000 on all my equipment, tools, books and ingredients to date. Some of the books and supplies I had to order online, as they are not available in this little town!

I have never been to a proper workshop or demo, nor have I had lessons, so I was never very confident of my skills. Most of what I know, I learned from books and the internet (YouTube and blogs mainly!). However, I feel that I have improved of late and as Nike says, "Just do it!" Another factor which stopped me from taking orders is time. The problem being, I don't have much of it. However, I figured I can always decline orders when I'm too busy right?

So, I had some business cards printed and set up a new blog for the business which featured my products and pricing. That was it! Easy peasy...

Right now my orders are from friends, at discounted prices, so I still don't consider it a full-fledged proper business. When I get orders from strangers, then I'll really be in business! :)

I will definitely be under plenty of stress because I want to meet every client's expectations and even exceed them whenever possible. But that's what makes life interesting no? We will never achieve as much without the occasional push!

So what if I don't get orders at all? I guess it will still be a great past-time and I do still have 4 kids and 12 nephews/ nieces to cater to! :)

Anyway, yesterday the 3 girls had their school year-end parties so I took the opportunity to do some advertising! I baked 90 cupcakes and we packed them in plastic bags and tied my business cards to them. Each one of them brought 30 cupcakes to school for their classmates to bring home and hopefully show their mummies! :) I've found out that mummies love beautiful cakes more than the kids themselves!

The kids had a great time at their school party of course. How often do you get to go to school and not have to do any work at all?

Well, they all came home with party hats (crowns) which they had made and Claire and Eva wore theirs everywhere they went, for the whole day, until we went home that night!

And thus begins the school holidays...



Dear Lord,


Please give all mothers the strength and patience to make it to the new year without resorting to abandoning our kids in the dumpster.


Amen