Lovely set of Cushion covers!!

25th Oct 2007 - We finally found THE COVERS!!!

Been hunting for nice cushion covers for weeks and even Barang Barang's ones failed to catch my eye, and today, we finally found THE COVERS at OG!!!!!! OG has been one of my favourite shopping place recently and I realise it is really different from the past. OG has modernised, repositioned its brand and its now my fave shopping place!


I love the design! Matches so well!

- Phebe

Thoughts on Marriage

24 Oct 07 - Marriage is a topic that is often discussed by "experts" in magazine columns, co-workers around the water cooler, and idle housewives at the market. Most hold strong views about the subject, and are usually quick to offer their opinions to others.

But like the proverbial blind men having their first feel of an elephant, most would only be able to contribute accurate descriptions of certain aspects. Without a clear overview of the subject, you will not be able to link up all components to form a thorough observation. And since marriage is an intensely personal topic that varies from couple to couple, you would unlikely be able to find universal truths that apply to everyone.

Marriage is more than 2 people coming together to live under the same shelter. Marriage is also more than just 2 people signing their names on the marriage certificate. Marriage is a melding of hearts.

As one half of a newly wed couple, I am hardly qualified to expound on this topic. But precisely because I'm fresh from the altar, I have a clear idea of the differences between single and married life.

When you get married, you make a conscious decision to live together with your spouse for the rest of your lives. You are no longer a lone island, but rather, a newly established kingdom. With the establishment of this kingdom, you need to communicate with your subjects in order to ensure its success. Communication is essential to ensure that there is a meeting of minds, and that even if you need to disagree with each other, you do so in a logical and cordial manner. Melding of hearts, remember?

Marriage is also about taking ownership of every single detail of your lives, from the type of mop used in the kitchen, to the boiling of water for drinking. You will have to understand not just how to take care of yourself, but also of your spouse and accompanying kids, if any.

In a nutshell, both parties must be willing to place extra effort to understand each other, and more importantly, take the time out just to enjoy each other's company.

- Melvin

Goodbye Darkie

Hb and I stayed at home on Sat while the laminate guy worked on changing all the skirtings for us. Apparently, the original ones were not well done, so I finally decided to do something about it and called up the company. Made them agree to changing all the skirtings, wahahahahhaa! Actually, I prefer the original dark brown colour, but there was no stock for that anymore, so we settled for a different brand at a light shade of brown. Turned out it looked the same shade of brown as the laminate flooring, lol.

Bueh tahan my Rinnai burner anymore. By right it was supposed to look all nice and shiny on the cooker hob, but after cooking a few times, the colour started to turn blue and purple! It is so freaking ugly that I decided to get Rinnai to replace new ones for me. Opted for ceramic black this time, hehe.

Before:



After:



- Phebe

Our Last Buy

We are more or less done with all the shopping and we have bought the very last item which is something we had decided not to buy - a home theater system. For someone who hardly watches TV, I see no point in getting one other than having it sit on the console collecting dust and more dust, lol. Anyway, my mini hi-fi died on me on Saturday, and we suspect it got something to do with the socket. Anyway, since it wasn't a very expensive hi-fi to begin with and though I used it no more than 10 times within the past 2 years, I can't be bothered to check if it can be revived. Hb and I went to Courts on Sat evening to check on my laptop's extended warranty, and got won over by the promoter's glib tongue on one of the Philips home theater system. We had wanted to buy one with those cool tall standing speakers, but realised that it would mean more wires being exposed no thanks to the design of our Tv console. As such, we decided to get those small cube-like ones instead. Not much difference from most of the tall boys except that it ain't standing. RMS is also about the same apart from one of the Panasonic tall boys, which has got 1000RMS. Anyway, to cut the long story short, yeah, we finally bought our home theater system, kissing goodbye to another few hundred bucks. I think this is the least he can do for me, since he will be on a 2 week reservist training (more like holiday to me), leaving me with no one to torture at home and thus having to be contented by watching Dvds (bought a new series, very funny!) and surfing the net. At least he was kind enough to set it up for me yesterday. I will show my gratitude by making full use of it during his absence. Dvds receive your queen!!

The current Dvd player was shifted to the MBR, so I'll be able to watch Dvds in the room too, yay!


Oh, and we have finally finish drilling the holes for our wall clock! Can only do drilling on Saturdays as we have fussy neighbours and an irritating kid upstairs who cries whenever he hears drilling sounds. Thus, we can only have fun drilling on Saturday mornings as they can't complain, wahahahahaha! Here it is, something to fill up the wall!


I am beginning to enjoy cooking, haha. It certainly beats eating out everyday! I'm was so grateful to Mdm Yik for imparting me her culinary skills that I happily brought over a pot of ABC soup for The Low Clan on Sat night, haha~! Cooked chicken & mushroom steamed rice for lunch and it turned out quite nice too! Consulting Mdm Yik is the best. It beats having to read recipe books which I can never understand!


A tupperware full of chicken & mushroom steamed rice~


My ABC soup~


- Phebe

Phebe can cook - 2nd Try

I tried cooking for the 2nd time at our new place on Saturday, and it was better than the week before! Here's a summary of what I whipped up:

1) Old cucumber & spare ribs soup (lao huang gua pai gu tang)

Success!!!!!! Hb said it was very very nice!

2) Potatoes & stewed pork (stir fry using oyster sauce)

Success! Would be even better though, if I had added less water for the gravy and slightly more oyster sauce. Will try adding in a teeny bit of corn flour next time!

3) Beijing cabbage & luncheon meat (Stir fry using oyster sauce)

Success~! Would be better if I had fried the luncheon meat a bit before adding it in with the cabbage, cos the luncheon meat was a bit soft?

4) Prawn & pork omeletter (Fry)

Getting there. 2 out of 5 pieces was a success, lol. This is the 3rd time I try this stupid omelette thing and finally I am getting the hang of it. Should wait longer before I flip the stupid thing. Add more oil. Next try will be better!

5) Potato meat balls (Deep fry)

BIG FAILURE!!!! I learnt this recipe 9 years ago during Home Econs class - Potato-tuna ball. I had always wanted to try that out again using pork instead of tuna, and well, finally I have the chance, and made a mess outta it, wahahahahhaa! I ended up pouring more and more oil into the stupid wok so that the potato balls can be deep fried evenly. Anyway, to cut the long story short, the balls became distorted and ended up either bursted or in some kind of weird shape, wahahahahahaa! I decided that we shouldn't kill ourselves by eating it, which is why it is not in the pic below!

- Phebe

Our Internet is up!!!

Our Internet is finally up!!!!! :D

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The guy from Singtel came over on Saturday and set up our MIO thingy - broadband and home telephone. Surprisingly, the reception for MIO voice was very clear~! Best of all, both incoming and outgoing calls are free, haha!

The guys from Barang Barang also delivered our Ikoma easy chair for the study! Stole this pic from the website. Ours is the brown version~ :))



After 2 weeks of refering to our hps whenever we want to check out the time, Hb and I decided that enough is enough - WE NEED CLOCKS IN THE HOUSE!

There is this shop at City Square that sells very nice clocks and we went to JB on Sat evening just to shop for them, and YES, we found THE CLOCKS!! A 4-in-1 poster clock for the living room, a digital clock (can even track the surrounding temp~!) for the bedroom and a flip clock for the study! It ain't expensive at all as such clocks are priced at least 2-3 times higher at Molecule (Marina Square)!

Total damage: RM$262.20, only about SGD$120!!!!! Happy!!!

We borrowed the drill set from The EL yesterday and went back to drill 4 holes on the wall for our poster clock. After the 2nd drilling, I heard the kid upstairs crying and the father complaining, so we decided to stop and wait till this coming weekend to drill the remaining 2 holes!

Oh and guess what? We finally managed to get our shiny white metal dustbin from Sim Siang Choon yesterday! The guy finally called and told us the stock has arrived, lol. Yay, we finally have a dustbin for the study! Saves me from having to walk all the way to the kitchen just to throw some rubbish!

And we went to OM as well to order an extra set of sofa covers! Kissed goodbye to $620 for it. Gotta wait for 6-8 weeks before it will be ready though~!

- Phebe