Spymama @ Mamakshop

I have one wish for a Christmas present this year. I wonder if Santa or any one close noticed. My old expresso machine is out of order so I had no caffeine fix lately except for those manually mixed for my morning cuppa. I went to Tangs’ electrical section to browze at all types of coffee makers but I just couldn’t decide on any particular type. I think as long as I can easily get the coffee freshly brewed in a decent coffee maker is just good enough. I can always get the coffee store to grind them for me. I used to have a manual grinder so it was really exhausting to just grind my fragrant coffee beans. I now buy it from the cousin of a friend of mine. I can’t wait to try it out!

My lady friend recently gave up all but one insurance policy she held. Frankly, she believes that she is doing the right thing because her kids have all grown up and gotten married.Recently, she even started to ask for term life insurance quotes from her financial agent. I think she doesnt want to commit to something too permanent so I guess a term life policy does work for her. Guess when I finally get one like hers, I’d probably see my girls finishing their University or perhaps something bright. I can see a change from my usual blue pink background to a grey or blue theme.

I was at the old provision store yesterday. I waited a little while just to get the bottle of mineral water. The lady had problems keying in the numbers for items sold there. I was wondering why didn’t she get barcode scannerlike every one did in mini marts and provision stores. That certain saves a lot of time because the system does all its updates promply. Such type of scanner not only records down item sold. It also does inventary for the owner so that he or she would know which of the sold item is low in stock or sold out. That certainly saves a lot of manual counting.

I am clearing the balcony section of my home. I think it was too cluttered with plants and many other stuff that I didn’t need, like an empty aquarium, some styrofoam boxes and even plant pots which I never really used. I want to clear it so I can have a nice sofa and have some tea or breaky in this place which invites gentle wind every now and then. I found a nice rattan sofa but I find it a little too hard so I believe I should find some large outdoor cushions so that it will be comfy but not too plush. I wonder if there are water-resistant types sold in any stores..

A lady from the bank kept calling me lately. She was very tricky and told me from the beginning that I had been specially chosen to received something (very vague) about something.. She spoke about benefits, etc and others. I asked her upfront if she was selling me some kind of travel policy and pretty soon, she had to admit that too. I told her I wasn’t interested because of the poor economy and terribly low interest rates lately. I do not need any travel plan because I won’t be travelling for a while and I have financial commitments so any extra payment per month is out of the question. That reminds me if I should even cancel one particular health policy. I think I rather look for a cheap health insurance for the time being since the current policy means nothing to me.. let me go check my medical plan again..

Last Thursday was Ladies Night at the Turf Club. Nope, I didn’t attend. I wished I did, though. This is the place where the horses run in races and sometimes they have special days where they hold Ladies Night with dinner and you get to see some new horses with potential for upcoming races or future ones. The only thing that stopped me from going was deciding on the mode of transport. Although there is an MRT nearby, I still would have preferred to drive there but then, car parks are so limited so I may have to turn back or look for other parking spaces. The other thing is that I wasn’t sure if my girlfriends would laugh at me at all if they see me in breeches, you know, those riding jeans for horse riding.. That is because, I hadn’t worn those for ages and many of my friends want to wear that..

Oh, brother!

I received a call from the bank lately. The person on the line wanted to sell me some policy but I didn’t really have the time to listen to what she was saying. I told her it wasn’t convenient since I was at work and don’t take personal calls. I know I already have some health policy and it is being deducted from my CPF account yearly. However I wouldn’t mind getting some health insurance leads if they are much better and covers more than what my basic Medishield offers. I do know that when you are over 40 or 50s, your premium gets more expensive so I wonder if it is of any help? Some health policies do not cover certain illness but mostly they require one to get a health checkup done first. I probably discuss it with Spypapa first.

I love retro. The colours, the bold patterns and items or objects in that era. I have seen some homes of my friends who dressed up their homes in retro themes and they do look beautiful. However, some are very ‘display’ looking homes and don’t really look like very liveable at all.. If I can have it done, I wouldn’t really mind having old hand-me-down furnitures. New ones just don’t really work. Mismatched chairs are just very liveable too. I’ve seen some nicely done glass tile designs that carries colours that are pastel and very retro too. Perhaps those can be used in the kitchen but not too much or it may end up too shiny and new. At least when you have some old stuff, you don’t really have to try too hard cleaning up too much… hehehe! Some of those old style coffee pots look good and really practical for usage too. And I can go top up those Campbell’s mushroom soup anytime.

It is end of the year again. Time really flies! Many people are getting their homes spruced up for either Christmas or the coming Chinese New Year. I am hoping I can get mine ‘Spring Cleaned’ by the New Year. There are few things I need to do. But I have so little time. It is December already, I keep reminding myself. Sigh.. One of the things I really need to get is a television for my living. It’s flickering already.. probably life span is almost up.. I’m still having that bulky TV while everyone else has converted from LCD to some new slim typed. The other thing I really need to get done is the plumbing works in the kitchen.. I probably need to change the pipes or something. If I have enough budget, I would have loved to change my double sinks. I saw a Toto sink, very nice and simple looking. But I am not sure if such can be replaced.. Perhaps I’d need to take down the measurement first. I better call up my regular plumber to see if he can help out too.

Everyone knows that MARS in a planet in space. But in Singapore, I spotted bikers that spot the MARS acronym. I was curious whom and what these motorbikers do so when I finally spare some time recently, I found out that these people are despatched by some motor insurance company to assist motorbikers and their policy holders get back on the road asap. They provide assistance to their policyholders and immediate action in times of trouble in any motor accident.

So what does MARS stand for? It is Mobile Accident Respond Service. Effective branding and I wonder if they do good job in zig zagging their way towards their policyholders.