Tired

I feel relaxed when I'm not working. But of course! If you're not relaxed even when you're not working, there's something wrong. But seriously, OFF day days are quieter; I'm calmer.

I decided to take the day off since I feel so tired after yesterday's event. The graduation wasn't the only place we went to.

We went over to my mum's (cos I'm starting to miss her home-cooked food); let the kids catch up with their grandparents (but my dad wasn't in. He came back just as we were leaving). After about 2 hours, we came back home with a few bags of food ranging from frozen to cooked to packed to junk food. (So I know we won't starve for the next few days). Managed to get my hands on the Kuih Makmur from Raya.

I love this Kuih Makmur, made by one of my mum's friend's mother (by generation, I can call her grandma). To me, she makes the perfect Kuih Makmur, the best I've tasted in so many years. So far, no one else has made Kuih Makmur the best she does. It has crunchy crushed peanut filling (mixed with right amount of sugar) and the not-too-thick, melt-in-your-mouth dough is sprinkled with enough snow sugar. What more can one ask for?

Since there is still a quarter bottle left, I brought it home for my own indulgence (I sound like a glutton). Yum!

Kuih Makmur

After my mum's we went to the maid agency to finalise the transaction. Our letter of appeal managed to go through & approved. (There was an unforeseen situation when we made the application). I am now waiting for confirmation on the date of my new domestic helper's arrival. Please pray for me that this one will turn out fine, at least for these 2 years. I'll be taking one week off work to teach the new one and hopefully the kids will have no problem adapting.

By the time we were able to wind down it was already six in the evening. I find that the hours during your OFF days are generally shorter as compared to other normal working days, really. And I fret the day I've to return to work.

All in a day

School holidays has begun and today, we attended dear daughter's graduation ceremony at The Grassroot's Club in Ang Mo Kio.

The event started at 10am but because the graduants will be performing, dear daughter has to report at 8am in her full costume, with done-up hair (took me about 45 minutes to get that done for her).

I thought that the event hall would be something like an auditorium. So I was dissappointed as the hall looks no different from any other community centre. (Note that one ticket costs $35 per person). The seating was done in 3 sections - we were in the centre section. Since the seats are not elevated, you can imagine how frustrating it was for us to get good shots of the stage performance. How was I to zoom that far with my Kodak??? Our seats were in "O". Another thing that we discovered was that the graduation ceremony was held only for the East branch, that is, Eunos, Tampines, Simei & Pasir Ris. But why couldn't the organizer (aka the school) hold the event in the East??? Duh!

After about an hour performance by Eunos branch students, there was an interval for the graduants of Tampines branch to march up the stage in their graduation gown. Managed to snap a shot at dear daughter, walking together with two of her best friends (one on her left, the other in front of her). All three of them will be attending different schools from next year on. I hope she won't forget her childhood friends.

(I have to be frank that I was a little emo with the ceremony. My daughter is growing up.)

After posing on stage with her classmates, her performance didn't start till about the last hour of the whole ceremony. She had been practicing at school and home for the dance.

Yep, Hip Hop to the sound of Madonna's 4 Minutes. I may sound a little biased here but I'm not, really. The performance put up by her class was one of the two best performances for the day, in my opinion.

Part of the credit should go to the dedicated teachers for their effort. And I was amazed that all the kids performed really well. Kids - they continue to amaze you everytime.

When all has ended, I asked one of the teachers if I could take a photograph of dear daughter in the graduation gown, as I didn't manage to get a proper shot earlier. The teachers were more than obliging.

I tried to get a group photograph of the 3 best friends together, but didn't manage to. In the end, I make do with one of her best friends and dear son with his 'first love'.

Oh yes, we celebrated dear son's 4th birthday on Friday. Ordered an "Optimus Prime" cake for him as he is so into Transformers. The design was his choice, so he was very excited about cutting the cake.

Dear son huffing & puffing on the last candle

So those were the updates for this week, all in one page. There're more but I shall spare everyone from reading everything in one entry.

I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Goodnight peeps!

So much to do, so little time

So much to do... so much of catching up... but so little time...

I have a number of goodie requests this holiday season but sadly I've to turn them down... for 2 solid months! It's frustrating!

What's more frustrating is that I'll be getting a new helper next month. Back to square ONE! Have to teach all over again. To some it sounds a relief, but to me... (sigh) I was in my comfort zone and teaching my new helper means it will take up some precious time during the holidays. I will be taking a week off from work for the orientation and getting my kids to adapt. Oh I'm so not looking forward to December and January! Something's come up in January, which I just found out today, and it doesn't look good to / for me. I'll talk more about that when the time comes.

So this Saturday will be the start of my 'burned' weekend. No more Saturday off for me till January. You see how frustrating it gets? Just when the kids will be on holidays, here I am having to work my butt off, sacrificing precious weekends with the family for 2 whole months. Pfft!! What is my work doing to me?!

Anyways... here's wishing everyone a great weekend. I hope I can squeeze in some time to try baking Molten Chocolate Cake soon, which I've put off for months (hee!).

Till the next entry!