Spymama @ Mamakshop

Whenever I am at the mall or local neighbourhood, I always patronize Watsons’ personal store. Doesn’t matter if I have nothing to buy. I always end up with something from the shop because of their wide range and affordable products. I know I won’t save a lot buying small amounts but it gives me the satisfaction to try out different products before I grow bored of any current. Little bottles are just great for travelling and for visits to the gym and pool. There’s always a new product being introduced in Watsons every week. From cosmetic, toiletries, supplements and even a small section of weight control products are some common places I love to browze. The only thing lacking are diet pill reviews which I think would be beneficial to those who really want to know what other people think about these products. This way, we know which product is effective or a hot favourite.

When I was schooling, I had many malay classmates who abstain from food in the month of Ramadan, a month before their Hari Raya Aidil Fitri. They call it Fasting. They have to observe the strict regulations like not to swallow their saliva, not to eat nor drink after certain hours and they break Fast about 7ish by monitoring closely right to the actual minutes. As friends, we all made sure we don’t eat nor drink in front of them and respected their actions during this fasting month. As pals growing up, sometimes we also tried to follow them as they fast with the excuse that we could also shed some pounds along the way, of course. Chinese do not follow an absolute fasting from food but they have a First and Fifteen day of each Chinese Calendar month whereby they abstain from meat. And there is also the 9 Day Fasting during the Nine Emperor Gods’ Festival where they abstain from all meats totally and just go vegetarian for 9 full days. With these observations, I wasn’t surprised when I found a pill sold online for weight control that is even named Fastin. Some other religions or faiths that observe some kind of fasting are Christians, Hindus and even Judaism. Guess there is some kind of common similarities among the many faiths after all.

I went shopping at Jurong Point two weeks ago and saw this pretty cheesecakes on display.. I was actually drooling over them but it was just very late (kinda like 9pm already). I thought of buying one but then, I knew that my fridge had no space and if I really wanted to buy them, I’d have devoured it on that day or share with some friends over tea. The following day, I just couldn’t keep my mind out of the cheesecake.. LOL…  I am a cheesecake lover and I love both the Japanese versions as much as the heavy rich and sinful New York Cheesecake too.

Yummmmmmm…

My friend and I debated about the most exclusive hotel in Singapore. There are few exclusive ones that stands out with it’s own elegance and exclusivity. Raffles Hotel is something local, home-grown, yet it breathes something special and individual. Ritz Carlton has been always highly exclusive in its branding and 6 star quality. And the St Regis Hotel has always been known as very expensive with a personal butler to each room, real personal service. So how does one actually classify the word Exclusive? Does it have to be expensive or do we all judge them by their facility? I’m sure there must be extras like a walk in bath or perhaps a private entrance of some sort. I remember there are hotels that rate by stars because of facilities but does not really have the star quality at all. How do we all rate hotels for real, I wonder.. hmmm

I have absolutely no idea what happened to my desktop downstairs. I tried to turn on the pc but something seems to be wrong.. A friend I spoke to for advice, asked me to check the cables and fidget with something.. and I get so uptight over this.. He said something about video cards that might be causing the problem and also something about the driver that I should be updating.. Goodness me! What have I got myself into? This is so Greek to me, everything sounds so alien and the terminology is not in my vocabulary.. I kept asking irrelevant questions until finally he said he will drop by my home one of these days to check it out himself… I was so touched and glad! Guess I really need to upgrade myself and read more manuals, eh.

Last week while at the $2 shop, they were playing Christmas songs over the audio system. Talk about ‘kiasuism’ in Singapore. Well, besides the music, there were loads of Christmas decorations on sale too. I wasn’t tempted to buy any yet because I felt that October was a little early for Christmas mood. Then this morning I thought to myself, why not start shopping for gifts early and not have to rush with the crowd. After all, many stores are also offering their third quarter sale before new shipments for Christmas items. I had no idea what to buy but I thought some christmas photo cards would be ideal for some of my dear friends who are not in Singapore. They might appreciate some current photos of the family perhaps. I have friends who have not seen us for few years and we have not gone visiting either party either… And snail mails are actually quite a novelty too.

I discussed with Spypapa lately about my insurance policy recently. A colleague at work had just decided to surrender her insurance policies and took out the money and whatever she had collected, with bonus over the years. She is now about early 50s. She decided not to wait till it matures. I call it a good move. Her son had gotten married and her daughter is doing well at work and earning a good salary. She said that she doesn’t really need to drag on this insurance anymore since that was meant as a backup in case anything happened to her so her kids, when young had some financial assistance. But now that they are all in their mid and late twenties, she wants to enjoy her money now than later..

I would probably want to call up my agent so that she can draw up a life insurance quote for my daughter, actually. Perhaps I should look at getting one for her so that she can get a good nest egg in future and when she is financially stable, she can actually pay them out of her own pocket… This way I can look into surrendering mine?

Any of you went out on Saturday from 10am to 6pm? In Singapore? You wouldn’t believe it! There was traffic jam everywhere! EVERYWHERE!

Shell had a promo on their petrol where you only pay $1 per litre from 10am to 6pm on that Saturday.. Yes and believe me.. you don’t want to be out on that day.. the traffic jams were everywhere where there was Shell petrol kiosk, (I presume..) except that I read Shell closed three of their petrol kiosk that might cause ‘lagi’ major jams. Singaporeans being kiasu, definitely just went on with their favourite hobby queing up for petrol.. Buses could be heard honking away because these queues meant they couldn’t meet their time and many people were either late for some appointment, work or destination. Except the MRT, I suppose..

I was tempted to join in the queue but that day was too hot.. sweltering hot.. and I figured my only half tank full would not make much difference anyway… by the time I reach the petrol kiosk, my car would have guzzled much petrol so I probably don’t really get much savings..

I know I am feeling lethargic lately. I also feel a little heavy and constipated. Is it the food intake? I admit I haven’t had much green veggies lately but more meat than usual. And I also take more bread for convenience too. I think I may need to find some good supplement or colon cleanse product. Maybe this will help me detoxify all the oil, carbo and whatever stuff. Sometimes I want to have some fruits but I’m just plain lazy when it comes to cutting them.. Do you feel this way? And buying those precut fruits always makes me think that it has been there sitting for hours thus lost its vitamin potential already. So what should I do? Get fruit and veggie juice instead? I thought of popping those vitamin supplements but the last time I bought them, I only took for a few days and the bottle was left there collecting dust! I need a disciplinarian at home… or a diet counsellor..

I am so fed up with the repeated calls from a sales lady who is pestering me to purchase her vacuum cum purifying cleaner. Not that they are cheap, mind you - it is very expensive and will set you back by a few thousand dollars! It was recommended to me by a friend who (probably) was pestered to give telephone numbers of her friends after a ‘FREE’ demo on your beddings. Of course, not that I have not seen or read about those bed bugs or even dust mites on our beds. But these couple of ladies not only did a demo, it was done to ‘proof’ how we need their vacuum, so a demo is actually done and for some, probably feel obligated to buy. I didn’t, needless to say.. I told them that I am not working and has no budget. They tried to rope in Spy Papa to listen but he was just engrossed in his HBO channel.. Too bad but nothing is missing even though we didn’t buy… *they were probably disappointed…) Anyway, I could always take the hint when they both used the same tactic to praise my home even though it was just painted plain yellow beige. Err I just didn’t bother and just ignored their pleas to get me to buy…lol I’d rather be buying those replaceable air conditioner filters  for my aircond than pay them few thousand to clean and purify my air… gosh, why would I want to.. I can do spring cleaning myself.