Our Christmas tree makes its debut

One of many things I love about Christmas is setting up the tree. There's something warm, magical and fuzzy about it. With Christmas jazzies playing at the background, the entire room just evolves into a big sparkle!

Perhaps it was the memories I grew up when setting up the Christmas tree. Either mom or dad would put the tree together, I would string the lights and then the family would gather around each having one or more tinsel or bauble and we go round hanging it on the tree until the deco box is empty. Every year we'd have a family photo in front of the tree with presents laid all over. 

This year would be slightly different. It's our first Christmas in No.8! Terence and I bought a new tree that fitted perfectly into the empty space in our hall. We both decorated the tree with baubles and lots of tinsels then we added some ribbon around it. 

What a great starts to an even greater Christmas! This year there will be no hustle and bustle or mad mad mad shopping. It'll be a laid back kind of celebration with family and close friends. Above all, as everyday is, this is a celebration of Jesus because He really is the Reason for tis season.

Brinjal updates!

It’s sprouting! The seeds are gone and we can now see green shoots. What a joy to see evident growth. By golly, if we’re so excited even to see young sprouts from our brinjal plant, can you imagine what excitement we’d exude when lil Terence and Deb comes along?!

Now now now, don’t get side tracked, this post about updates of our brinjal plant. Here are some facts you’d be interested to know about this purple fruit, yes it’s a fruit not a vegetable! (Just like tomatoes are fruits too!) And did you know that in China back in the 5th century affluent women used to make a dye out of the purple brinjal skin and polish their teeth with it until they were a shiny. Talk about organic teeth dye!

And if you ever get lost in the jungle, look out for brinjal plants because the fruit is made out of 95% water. It’ll quench your thirst and silence your hunger pangs! I better stop raving about this fruit and get back to tending the plant (btw Terence has greener thumbs than me, I just water and ‘talk’ to it)

We got cow spots!

I remember a conversation Sarah and Terence had a long time ago on MSN.

Sarah: Eh, Ter choose one. Cow spots or zebra stripes?
Terence: What are you talking about?
Sarah: Just choose one!
Terence: Cow spots.

The conversation was left hanging and Sarah went offline. When Terence told me about the weird chat he had, I knew Sarah was up to something!

We got the answer last weekend. It came in the shape of a beanbag! Sarah and Nat started this neat project back in March 2008, a month before we got married. They finished the last stitch and filled it with beans on Saturday and hand delivered it to our home.

We love it! The beanbag even has our names on it - "Ter love Deb"! The best thing is, the beanbag fits two:) Thank you both for the really neat gift!

Exercising our green thumbs

We adopted a new hobby last weekend. We visited a nursery in Section 17 thinking of buying a plant for my office space. We ended up with 2 packets of soil, fertilizer, brinjal seeds and a pot of daisy.

There's always a first for everything - this was our first try at gardening. I've heard many stories on gardening, Some people can make flowers bloom, others can care for the plant until it produced fruit. But there are also some people who just didn't seem to grow or maintain a plant, it would simple wither even if they followed all the steps. Green thumbs, it's either you have 'em or not. We've yet to find out!


Our pot of daisy, Caring for this plant is fairly simple. Just water it once every 4 days, sprinkle some fertilizer every week and it'll bloom:)

So many seeds to choose from. We decided on brinjal since the uncle said that it's the easiest to plant.

Getting ready to plant. Terence with the brinjal seeds in his hands. They look exactly like cili seeds. It still baffles me how these seeds will soon sprout roots, leaves and (hopefully) brinjals.

The process of sowing the seeds was fairly easy. Mix two kinds of soils and fill the pot 3/4. Water the soil thoroughly then sprinkle the seeds on top. Water again and embed the seeds onto the surface of the soil. That's it! We need to now water the soil every 2 days and soon we'd see green sprouts! Can't wait to see the first glimpses of life. Till then... more green thumbs stories to come.

Let's sing along to the loo roll

Business in the toilet does not need to be serious. So stop bringing Newsweek, Financial Times or The Star into the toilet with you the next time. Sing toilet rhymes instead!

Moving from my parents home to my own has led me to some new discoveries. This one I have kept for many years after we received it as a Christmas gift from Sophenie. It’s a toilet roll with hilarious nursery rhymes on it. What keepsakes I thought. But when Terence laid eyes on it, he ripped open the package and instantly put it to good use.

All I have now is half a roll remaining in our guest toilet and a few pictures to remind me of this great pressie. If anyone knows where I can get more, let me know! Who would have thought toilet time can be this amusing!

Hair raising tale

It was dark and soon becoming pitch black in our house. We were desperate to get the electricity back on after a heavy downpour.

Squinting whilst reaching for the switches in the fuse box, our attention soon shifted to a sudden uncontrollable sound of scratching and rustling behind the book cupboard. Our hairs sprang upright hoping that it’s not a rat, ugly lizard or flying cockroach.

The scratching intensified, we froze in fear, hands all clammy by now. Then abruptly ‘it’ sped across the hall, hit the sofa and silence fell. We inch our way closer making sure it’s not moving. Imagination reeled in our heads, what if it springs up? Starts flying? Or worse runs towards us. As most of you know I’m fainthearted at creepy crawlies and ugly reptiles.

We got the lights back and soon realized that ‘it’ was only a tiny sparrow that flew into our home unknowingly and almost became our pet.

But it flew away too quickly after a failed attempt to cup it with a dustbin.

That’s just one of our many animal encounters since we moved in. We’ve experience incidents with monkeys, cats and red ants. The most recent animal headline around our area is snakes! I’d leave that for another day. For now, we’re making sure the ‘zoo’ out there doesn’t inch any closer to home.

Nutritional splash!

Since young I have been spared from traumatic experiences of mom shoving multi-vitamins or cod liver oil down my throat. I’ve always been thankful for a healthy body and never really needed much vitamins for boosters.

On the contrary now that I’m an adult, I’ve discovered an interest in vitamins and supplements. My interest takes me to the extent of me reading and researching, but not intense enough to get my purse out of my bag.

Coincidentally, my mom has been indulging in some nutritional fad where the whole family is required to take 5-6 tablets of spirulina every day. Rachel brags about how her pimples have cleared and mom insists that it helps with her digestive system. Dad and bro just gets by (sometimes squirming to swallow).

Naturally as part of the family, I get one bottle for me and hubby too. We’ve been trying very hard to be diligent at it. So far we’ve only taken it 5-6 mornings consecutively. The results are not obvious so I’m personally quite skeptical about its boastings. Maybe time will tell…

Just so you know, the tablets smell horridly green. But here are some facts about Spirulina to perk your nutritional interest:

• Spirulina is a form of algae (no wonder the smell!) that has a high amount of protein – which means it’s great for muscle building.
  
• A single Spirulina speck only measures up to .0196850394 inches in length!
  
• It has a combination of minerals such as; iron, calcium, and magnesium and a bunch of other vitamins (all in that small tablet?!)
  
• It has a high concentration of Vitamin B useful for breaking down carbs and lipids (no wonder mom says it helps with her digestive system)
  
• It anti-inflammatory elements also helps prevent heart disease and arthritis

Note: Spirulina is not cheap. If you’re willing to invest RM350 per bottle for better health, I guess it’s worth a try. But I think I’d revert to more fresh fruits and veggies after we’re done with this one.

Healthy start for the day

There’s always something extra to look forward to when we roll out of bed, have devotion with our Maker and get ready for work. It’s the few minutes we spend having breakfast, chatting up random topics and then going off to work.  

Since good habits are hard to come by, we have recently tried to adopt the habit of eating healthy. I’ve often received comments that I’m a health freak or super health conscious – even from Terence! But I guess I’m making my first convert right under my roof! 

I woke up one morning ready for work wondering if I should cut the dragon fruit for breakfast or bowl of cereal. Much to my surprise breakfast was already prepared. Fresh yoghurt, fruits and digestive biscuits make the best combi. We don’t really have a name for it – but I’d decide on “Healthy Trifle”. We got this recipe from Karen Cheng – get the recipe here.

Little routines

We have finally settled into our home. I say 'finally' because the first week and a half we were still getting use to ‘which switch lights up the dining area and which switch turns on the fan”. After we got that figure out, there was the kitchen cabinets to remember what utensils go where. Moving on from the kitchen to bedroom, we had to determine where each piece of clothing should be placed, agree on the ultimate decision on how the bed should be made, pillows put in place, blanket creased at the seams, sheets pulled until creases disappear etc...

Yes, I like the home clean and in order. Sometimes I consciously tell myself to ignore the fact that the magazines are not stacked neatly on top of each other, or that the countertop doesn’t need to be always free of items (after all a countertop is there for the reason of putting stuff on it!).

Of late I added on a little routine after work. I’d get home, drive park my car in the porch and bolt inside to change into “work” clothes (shorts and tee). Wheez out seconds later to the sound of sweeping in the driveway. What lands in the dustpan are red little berries the size of blueberries and lots of tiny leaves.

You see the tree at the entrance of our house go through multiple seasons of fruiting. And when it does, berries drop like snow, filling the driveway with a tapestry of polka dots. The tree really helps shade the house but unfortunately due to her excessive ability to bear fruit, we’d have to trim it this weekend and possibly even snip off much of her branches. We’d try to make the best of decisions and hopefully strike a balance between keeping some greens and dutiful housekeeping.

Life in our crib after a week

Living in our new home sets a whole new experience for us. Seeing the house go through renovation, meeting with the contractor, plumber, electrician and painter, picking out the tiles, fixtures and fittings, then watching the house come to life has been a worthwhile journey. Finally when it's done, we decorated in our style looking into every detail and colour. This however has not ended yet as we have a couple of furnitures still waiting to be put in place and plenty more art pieces we'd like to put up.

We moved in the day we touched down from NZ and since then it's been a journey of finding out new things and adapting to our new place. We first figured how to use the washing machine, then we cranked up the refridgerator and started the vacuum for some major house cleaning. Since the house is nice and snug, between the both of us cleaning is done under and hour.

Gauging that our house was ready for her first visitor , we invited Joanna for dinner, followed by several other dinners in the past week. We both love cooking so we took turns at the stove. Terence cooked a pot of hearty chicken stew and I made mushroom and ham pasta, at times we packed food just to accomodate the crowd (largest thus far - the Ooi and the Chan family). After every meal, we'd whip out NZ desserts of fudge, kiwis and feijoas and serve Monin sodas as we chat and chat until the clock alarms for bedtime.


Here's Joanna munching down our chicken stew


My dad and mum-in-law indulging in their food while my mama is in her quietness

I reckon the friendly dinners, occasional breakfast, lunch or tea will continue for sometime as our schedule's already filled up for the next two weeks. It's really an unspeakable joy to extend hospitality in such a personal manner.