Cleaning House

5 Feb 08 - Yes, we all know what festival's coming up in 2 days. That's right, it's the time of year when kids get to torture their parents by running around in hordes, screaming and knocking over priceless porcelain vases. It's also the time of year when singles smile nervously at relatives and wait helplessly to be grilled about their marital status.

Yes, it's Chinese New Year again.

This is the first Chinese New Year that Her Royal Majesty and I are celebrating together since we were married. The most obvious difference is that we no longer experience much of the hustle and bustle that comes along with CNY preparations. After all, we don't really have to cook up a storm for family and relatives, or start worrying about visits from relatives.

Nevertheless, we have taken to sprucing up the place. And given Her Royal Majesty's penchant for organising stuff, she has taken the liberty to draw up a list of household chores and allocated them between the both of us. Note that my role mainly involves nodding my head in silence, and going about whatever tasks assigned without delay.

So far, we have completed most of the tasks that we have set out to do, including polishing the glass walls/doors/windows, cleaning the walk-in-wardrobe, wiping surfaces/furniture that we hardly use, polishing the kitchen counter, and others. For a 2-person dwelling, the amount of dust, stray hairs, dirt, mould and grime is incredible. But to make our lives easier, we have gathered an amazing array of cleaning solutions and equipment, one for almost every type and colour.

We look set to complete our Project Housecleaning on schedule, just right before the New Year. And here's taking the chance to wish everyone a happy and prosperous Lunar New Year!


- Melvin

From Bootiful to Beautiful

Its been more than 3 weeks since my last post on "Bloom to Destruction".

I am totally sick of flowers. Fake ones I mean.

Mdm Yik has no time to help me... and I had been too lazy to get others to help, lol.

Finally, Hb and I decided to get new flowers to replace the red ones.

Went to IMM 2 Sundays (27 Jan) ago and showed the pic of our vase to the florist, who expertly helped us to pick out a nice combination of white and green flowers.

I never knew that fake flowers can cost so much, lol.

Upon learning that yours truly has absolutely no talent in floral arrangement, the florist helped us to arrange the flowers nicely, even bending the branches at certain angles, so that all we need to do was to dump the whole thing into the vase when we get home.

Sounds easy yeah?

I wish!

On Monday, I finally mustered up enough courage to try my hands on floral arrangement again.

I removed the red flowers and....

I'm so glad Hb didn't kill me for messing up the floor he mopped the day before~

I happily dumped the new flowers into the vase, expecting them to look as lovely as we had imagined them to be.

It wasn't meant to be.

I can never become a florist.

I got pissed after 15 mins of unsuccessful attempts at trying to make the whole thing look nicer.

I gave up, leaving the new flowers in the vase and the red ones lying all over the floor.

I left the mess untouched until 2 days ago, when I need to clear them up so that Hb can mop the floor.

No choice too, since CNY is just around the corner.

I decided that I shouldn't "geh kiang" (insist on doing you know you will probably never succeed)anymore.

I went to Hb, flashed what he calls my trademark "up-to-no-good" grin and said,

"Lo gong! You help me clear the flowers ya?? Thanks!!!!!!!!!!"

And I happily disappeared into the kitchen, pretending to be busy, lalalala~

Manz... I should have known earlier...

That people who are generally slow in doing things usually have the patience to work on tasks that require lots of trial-and-error attempts.

After half hour, I went into the living room and to my surprise, our new flowers look really lovely (to me) in the tall white vase!!!!

Wah~!!!!!

I think that was probably one of the few times I kept singing Hb's praises for a good 10 mins non-stop, wahahahahhahaa~!

Now, take a look at these:

Before



$19 worth of broomstick-like flowers and figs down the drain...

After


Our $170 creation is finally ready for CNY!

The red flowers are now lying inside our store room, wahahahahhahaa!

I really like this combi.

It looks simple yet elegant!

So happy~!!!!!!!!!


- Phebe

Bloom to Destruction

Have I ever mentioned how much I loathe floral arrangement?

Oh yes, I really do.

We bought our tall white vase a few days ago and finally found some nice "figs" or "sticks" at Spotlight. They are really pretty, though no thanks to me they look horrible now after my itchy hands removed the metal wire that bound them together.

We thought just the red "figs" alone with some flower buds look kinda "empty", so yesterday, Hb went to Harvey and bought 3 of the long white curvy sticks. You should be able to see the display pic in one of my previous entries.

Anyway, I spent a good 45 mins trying to arrange everything nicely inside the vase, but sad to say, I was a complete failure. I realised that there are just some things in life that "you know means you know, you don't know means you don't know".

And Hb, who was at the lappy creating our website, had the gall to comment,"Dear, very ugly leh".

I really feel like tearing and breaking all the figs/sticks!!!

The whole thing reminds me of one of the Gatsby adverts, whereby the hair looked like it exploded or something. Yeah. It really looks "exploded" now.

I give up.

I'm gonna call Mdm Yik to come over to help me arrange that whole thing nicely.

I shall take a before and after pic and post it here.

If she refuses to help me, I can always call Huilin to come over.

Anyone will do. Anyone who has more creativity in floral arrangement than me.

- Phebe

New Additions

Hb couldn't stand it anymore. The more he looked at his face on the artist canvas, the more he complained that he looked like he has jaundice, wahahahahahha! Moreover, the sides of the white canvas weren't 100% clean as the production guys didn't wear gloves when they wrapped the canvas around the frame. They usually don't wear gloves anyway, and the work place ain't exactly dust free.

He finally decided to call the vendor who agreed to re-do another piece for us. After sending us many versions of the same piece with different types of borders, we decided that our original design is still the best. It looks brighter and cleaner~! So, on Saturday, Studio Gallery delivered the new canvas and boy, it really looks much better now! Hb don't look like he has jaundice anymore! I think the company is very good in service recovery. They had printed out a new canvas, but as it also got slightly dirty when they were doing the wrapping, they re-printed the artwork again and this time, not only did all the production guys wear gloves, they also placed the canvas on a clean sheet before doing the wrapping on the frame! Our canvas looks perfect now - bright and clean (reminds me of Listerine mouthwash, lol)~ so happy~!

BEFORE

AFTER



After we dismantled our Christmas tree, we thought that we ought to fill up that spot with some decorative items, and we decided to get a big vase. After combing several places just to find a white or beige colour vase that is at least 60cm tall, we finally found it at Harvey Norman!! LOL, of all places to shop for vases, wahahahhahaa! Hb said it looks kinda "cheena", but I didn't think so. Happy me quickly whipped out my hp and took some pics of the vase, then sent them to a few of my pals to seek their opinion. Luck was on my side, cos all said that the vase was very nice, though another friend replied that she personally prefered transparent vases, lol. Here are a few pics:

THE VASE


Display at Harvey Norman

Anyway, after much hesitation, Hb decided to give in and we bought the vase!!! YAy!!!!! Best of all, there was a 30% discount for floor products, so instead of $169, we only paid $118!! Haha, so happy, now we are only left with the task of shopping for those long curvy-like "sticks" or figs to put inside the vase!

Our living room don't look so empty afterall:



For the first time, I placed the flowers that Hb sent me the other day into a small vase, and manz, they bloomed really beautifully!!! If only I had known earlier, I would have done the same to the previous 12 bouquets that he had given me instead of throwing them away after a few days!

- Phebe

Backwards and Forwards

1 Jan 2008 - Today is the first day of 2008. This is a sensitive moment, we are on the cusp of breaking open the seals on another brand new year, and yet, the previous year hasn't really left us. It's a moment for looking both backward and forward.

2007 has been a year filled with change. The most important change would be getting married and setting up home with Her Royal Majesty. Everything was a heady rush. From the wedding preparations, to the renovation works, at times, things almost seemed destined to break into pieces. But somehow, we pulled through everytime. And for that we thank God for His guidance, and our friends and family members who generously rallied around us and supported us with their time and advice.

Today, we have lived in our new home for slightly more than 3 months. Although it hasn't been a very long period of time, each day spent together is like a gift from above. I'm not saying that we are the perfect happy-smiley-lovey-dovey couple all the time, but I think we are both very much aware how hard we worked to make this happen. As a child, whenever I had a new toy that I really liked, I would have a sickening feeling that somehow something bad would happen to take this toy away from me. Of course, that didn't always happen, but to this day, I still feel the same way at times. Perhaps, this may explain why I am always anxious to ensure that Her Royal Majesty and I always work out any kinks in our relationship instead of turning a blind eye and letting them fester.

In 2007, I made a significant change in my career when I joined my present company. Although the job scope was similar, the scale of operations was much larger, and there is definitely more room for growth. Things seem quite positive so far, and I'm looking forward to new challenges in 2008.

Like most people, Her Royal Majesty has made a list of resolutions to be fulfilled in 2008. As for me, I have never been in the habit of putting into writing my wishes for the year. But for you, dear reader, I will make an exception. So here goes:

1) To learn more of God's Word and put it into practice.
2) To be a more sensitive and understanding husband to Her Royal Majesty.
3) To grow further professionally, in terms of capabilities and people skills.
4) To finally wean off my nasty habit of procrastination.


So that's the whole laundry list of stuff that I will be focusing on for 2008. Of course, like most Singaporeans, I will also be frantically trying my best to get my income to keep up with what the government says are record-breaking inflation rates. Wish me luck!

- Melvin

Giant Photo for Our Study~!

The guys from Studio Gallery came yesterday and did the installation below for us:





See the canvas frame on the wall? Yep, the image is printed on artist canvas. Looks kinda small from the pic, but it actually measures 118cm by 78cm! Our study wall doesn't look so empty afterall, haha.

Here is a close up pic:



Huilin said its very nice, and I feel happy, cos I also share the same sentiments. But Hb is feeling lagi shioker, cos the artwork was done by him!


- Phebe

Ready for X'mas!

We have finally finished spraying our balcony walls!



We also spent part of our Hari Raya holiday putting up the 3 new photoframes that we bought the other day.

- Phebe