Spymama @ Mamakshop

School vacation is about a week away. Many of my girlfriends are making plans for holiday trips even though it may be only a week or about 10 days of school holiday.. Most of them managed to book cheap flights to nearby countries like Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand. And they love the free and easy packages of hotel stays and just do what they want once they reach their destination. Some of them booked into spa resorts and get a week of spa indulgence… How nice. I wish I could join them but I have some commitments that I can’t leave home for more than few days… Perhaps I can just go for a short break in the hotel in Sentosa… I love staying in hotels. It makes me feel relaxed, like a queen and wouldn’t mind splurging out a little.. and I would never get jobs in any hotel because if it makes me yearn to be the customer all the time! Someone needs pampering while someone on the other side works.. and I want to play the being pampered role… Don’t you?

I bought a pack of beef patties two days ago. I hadn’t had that for a long long time. So when I saw it on promotion, I thought, oh, why not.. I haven’t eaten a single beef burger for some time. Got them back with some nice sesame buns and slices of cheddar too. The patties were still frozen so I pop it into the defrost oven for a minute or two. Boy, I was totally hungry, of course.. my other stuff were still in my grocery bag.. (yes, I use those environmental friendly bag).. I also bought muesli, cornflakes and lots of fruits.. oh yes, trying to adopt a healthy diet.. BUT, that burger, cheese and the lure of melted cheese on hot grilled patties were just too strong.. So I made ONE burger with lettuce, cheese, beef patties, grilled onions, bbq sauce, mayo, sliced tomatoes. OK, so I didn’t make just ONE, I had TWO. and two hours later, I had my THIRD. The following day for breakfast, I had NOT ONE, BUT TWO! Oh dear… if my Lipovox don’t work, then I better get those tapes to tape my mouth shut.. I am now so addicted to home made assembled burger, I just can’t stop! Please help me.. anyone got those helpline for Burger Addiction?

Did you know that it has been raining like cats and dogs in Singapore? And, in this modern day and age Singapore, the rainfall has many places flooded! Unbelievable but it’s true, of course. One place was Orchard ( it has never flooded in Orchard before!) and some low lying areas. I know of a friend who has a luxury condo and the basement carpark flooded, ‘drowning’ everyone’s cars (luxury cars!).. I wonder how many homes also fall prey to the flood.. and if it does happen, I hope the home owner better install something like a whole house water filter to rid off bacteria, rubbish and what you don’t get to see with your naked eye!.. It’s fun for the kwhole house water filterids though, GAMBATE!

Years ago when I moved to this apartment, I decided to install rods because the curtains available had plenty of choices and were reasonable every where. I chose those wooden rods to match the interior of the wall and bought lovely full curtains which weren’t too heavy but good enough to block out the glare when I watch the television. However, because I have little visitors every now and then, these little visitors love to play hiding in my full length curtains. Of course in their delight and excitement, they would just hold on to the curtains like the monkey bar.. so what happens now? I think my curtain rod looks like it may drop drown soon! If it does (the adjacent balcony one did already), then I guess I might as well just dismantle all the rods and change to something else, perhaps like those window blinds that are drilled at the top to the wall.. Would this be a better option, I wonder. Perhaps I should just go out and check out my friend’s window curtains and blinds from offices… Otherwise, I may have to install new rods, but what about my young visitors.. would that be a little too risky having them pulling it off and hurting themselves?

I saw the torchbearers! How excited I was.. When I got a call that the torchbearers were running towards my home, along the two mainroads, I grabbed my camera and got out straight away.. I missed them when I walked to the main road but saw that they were then turning towards another lane at the back of my home instead.. OF COURSE I took the shortcut to meat them at the front part of the people! How lucky I was, many people were waving their mini umbrellas.. I had no money with me so didn’t get them cut brollies… sigh The loudspeakers were announcing the arrival of the torchbearers and kept asking everyone not to block the way… but with everyone’s excitement.. not many stepped up the pavement…

Owning a yacht or a boat is a dream come true for many.. I would very much like to own one, of course.. Forget about owning a big bungalow house because I’d rather own a big ship/boat/yacht and live on one! How wonderful to wake up to the sounds of water lapping at your doorstep.. and the smell of the ocean air. And how lovely to be able to just sail away to another country, continent, environment.. not boring at all. You get to see the beautiful sunrise, sunset and have your meals out on the deck if you like… oh.. they all sound like a dream… I never cease to think about these unrealistic dream whenever I see some kind of industrial hand wheels, be it from the warehouse on a big machinery equipment or just any industrial shop that sells such equipment… sigh. Please don’t break my bubble yet… If only.. one day..

I once thought of becoming a property agent. I also once thought of selling insurance policies too. The only thing about being an agent is that, be prepared to lose most of your friends.. because many of them would think twice about your motives, when you call them up on the phone, or make an appointment.. I felt that way when a friend who turned into an insurance agent called me up, not once, but again and again.. he told me that it is from his network of contacts, like some of his friends, would he get ahead in life insurance lead.. I didn’t give him my friend’s contact numbers because I felt uncomfortable about it. He resorted to cold calls from the public telephone book. When you are an agent, be prepared to go a long way, when it comes to networking. Your skin has got to be as ‘thick as an elephant’ skin. Oh, and be prepared to lose some good friends along the way… That is why I’ll never make a good agent..

A whiff of someone’s perfume in the lift brought me back more than a decade ago. In that time, I just loved the Davidoff fragrances, meant for men. It was the first time I enjoy using my husbands perfume and this fragrance makes my day really fresh. This brand didn’t give me a good image at the beginning because I always thought of it as tobacco, as in cigars. I don’t smoke cigars although I do a little of social puffing when the need calls for. I have some friends who are just into those old antique cigars like Rocky Patel
that claims about their vintage cigars. Perhaps when I learn to acquire this new ‘hobby’ then only I probably know more about cigars..

Spring cleaning again, that’s what I did, yesterday. So many carton boxes to clear and I worry about them getting damp after a certain period of time. Better add some humidifiers and moth balls inside. But what I worry are the old novels that I have kept for years, reluctant to give nor sell away… But now that I look at the stale and yellow state they are in, I better go find a shop that buy or sell used books to see if they are interested to buy my collection! But of course my recipe book collection stays… I need them because they are my life! Someone once told me that this famous second hand book shop at Far East Plaza has moved.. wonder where?

August.. is the month of Hungry Ghost, for the chinese people! This is when the ‘Gates of Hell’ are open and the spirits of the dead wanders on our land and feast on offerings during the prayer sessions on specific days in the Chinese calendar. The people in the west, like the Americans have their own ‘ghost festival’ aka Halloween.. but what is interesting is that they dress themselves in interesting Halloween costumes and go out to enjoy themselves in themed parties and have the children collecting goodies or play jokes on the doors they knock on. Why is it that the Chinese takes their ghost festival so serious and do not have such parties to have some fun? Why are we all so uptight? It would be fun to dress up too you know? But I know the older folks would just dismissed these as ’shhhh.. so bad and rude to talk this way..’