Spymama @ Mamakshop

A friend of mine called me this morning. She is stuck in Thailand. Apparently she was supposed to fly back this week. She is there on a spa holiday but the recent news about protests and closure of the airport means she is going to be in Bangkok for a while. Well, all is not lost, actually.  She is going shopping instead. Wow, I don’t mind getting stuck where she is too. But that is if my pockets are as deep as hers.

Then again, with the unpredictable economy, I think we should be saving for a rainy day. I shall be reducing my budget for Christmas shopping this year. What about you. Any plans or New Year resolutions?

I have friends who watch their movies via online. Basically, Spymama tried to but somehow cannot get used to it. Although I am watching from my LCD monitor, I still find it weird watching it here. I even watch SAW here but somehow it didn’t feel like I’m watching a movie. It felt more like work.

But I did catch Malaysia’s NTV Channel via online and watched some chinese drama and that was it. When my friends were all chasing Hong Kong drama via online, I decided to go rent the DVD and watch in the comfort of my room instead.

Oh, by the way SAW is now in it’s 5th sequel.. Anyone watched it yet?

Did anyone notice that the weather has been terribly hazy lately? I don’t think it is my eyes clouding away. I woke up and I was coughing so bad. I’ve got an allergic reaction to dusts and smoke so when the weather is not cleared, my throat gets itchy, dry and my eyes starts to water.

Can you believe that October month is coming to an end! I thought this year moved pretty fast. It sort of zoomed past me since the beginning of the month. In two months time 2009 will be on our calendar year. Gosh. Are we suppose to receive some new calendars soon? I need to get one now. Guess the retail shops are really budgetting now. Previously, my insurance agent, bank tellers all hand out calendars so readily in October. Now, its all quiet.

Reports in the newspaper recently has kept Spymama a little worried. That is because it says that Singapore has been confirmed as having entered ‘recession’. In the past years, many things have been on the increased. Flour went up, bread prices went up, our petrol went up terribly high and although it is slightly lower now, this had pushed the prices of other goods up and those have not gone down at all.

So, generally speaking, spreading these increament means we are paying more for lesser items. Property prices in Singapore is going to be bad. In the past year, I’ve also learnt to tighten my belt and not go for products that are too expensive, settling more for house brands instead. You never know, so it’s always a good thing to be thrifty.

Let’s sit down and think about those in poverty too and how little they already had and how blessed we have been. If we put ourselves in their shoes, perhaps having 2 meals a day is luxury, did you know? Let’s all spend a little less, eat a little less (it’s good for us too!) and I think we call all pull through it together.

God Bless.

Last week, Spymama felt so lethargic. Just wanted to sleep sleep sleep all the time. Do you feel like that? Lucky the girls had no school on Thursday and Friday, due to the PSLE oral exams in Singapura. So those two days, Spymama really made herself like a couch potato, chasing HK dramas and watching Olympics.

Spymama was also counting on the Sg Table Tennis players to win a medal. They did brilliantly and brought home our only medal after 48 years in history of Singapore. The last one was long time ago. It’s about time, eh. The team did very well and Spymama wanted to go celebrate with Spypapa on a midnight date but Spypapa wanted to be Couch Potato on the bed watching HK drama.. Aaah is that what life for forty year olds are like? Sheesh!

Then Spymama also watched the Badminton on Sunday and hoped the Malaysian player will bring home a Gold for Badminton too. But alas the game was brilliantly won by the Ever Alert China players. It was really challenging, to see how Singapore and Malaysia tries so hard to win but a Silver is also a winner.

Spymama will remain Olympic Champion for couch potato, time being..

Spymama felt very tired lately. I think the weather is very humid and hot. It’s extremely bright and sometimes I feel like putting on my shades even in my house. Late last weekend I think I had too much oily food and I am thinking of washing of the layers of oil from my insides.. So this morning Spymama went to the store to get some Vinegar. Not just any other vinegar, but the cider vinegar. Did you know that cider vinegar is very good for health? My mom takes it daily. Here is how you take them.

1 part of Cider Vinegar
2 parts of Honey

Dilute it in hot water, and drink it. You don’t need to take a lot of it. I make them a tablespoon of vinegar, 2 tablespoons of honey and half a cup of hot water.

Spymama’s Mom said that it helps to clear the oil off our internal organs. True or not, i dunno lah. But it’s worth a try. Like the alphabet M perhaps slim it down to N. Oh does that mean I’m gonna be Spynana then? Ohh that sounds like granny. Well as long as I get to be slim, any name will do.

Did you remember in September 4 2006, when Steve Irwin, popularly known as Crocodile Hunter died while shooting a footage with a Stingray? It was a shock to many who had been his fans especially when you see this fella had been fighting with the much more fatal reptiles like crocodiles and snakes. How did a stingray that looked so harmless be the cause of his death? Apparently sometimes we are so complacent that we never knew anything like that could happen. Stingrays are known to be such harmless creatures that many tourists flock to as far as the Jamaican waters just to feed, touch and swim with Stingrays.

In fact, in the footage where Steve was doing, the reports were that the stingray felt threatened while swimming alongside with Steve as there was a cameraman ahead shooting. That was when it raised the spike on the tail as a form of defense and it shot right into Steve’s chest.

Thus never let your guards down or be complacent in anything you do. We are always taught about learning to pick up after signs of trouble, distress and problems. Sometimes we are also caught unaware of things. I was a definite fan of Steve Irwin so when it happened it was something really quite a shock to me.

Anyway, what I wanted to say is that, look around you. If you have your love ones nearby, give them a hug, a kiss or even some kind words. These never go wrong, never fail to make someone better. Tell the person how much he or she means a lot to you. Never procrastinate, just do it. How long does it take for you to pick up that call and tell him or her you love/miss/are thinking of her/him?

And for tonight, I’m going to forget about cooking and go buy my favourite BBQ Stingray, lots of sambal chilly and lime on it. Would you like some?

It is Wednesday, hurray! That is halfway through the week for now. My mood has picked up slightly too. Tomorrow will be a day of school and Friday is the last day of school and there is a long weekend to come. Singapore National Day is on Saturday. The following Monday is also a holiday. How wonderful because that means I can be in my pajamas a little longer than I usually am.. hahaha.

Because, I have to send the girls to school, I have to get up before everyone else. Otherwise Spypapa will be hogging the bathroom and my girls will be hogging the other one. My helper will be using the one downstairs but there is no hot water and I am oh so used to hot water in the mornings! So I have to get to any of the bathrooms before Spypapa or before the girls. But when there is no school, I can relax and wait to use it after Spypapa leaves for work. That is a piece of heavenly time for me. Hate to start my day off feeling rush.

So Friday, I shall be feeling in good spirits. I will stay out of town on Saturday as the parade for National Day will cause lots of traffic jams. Perhaps can try taking the MRT for once.

I’m going to have sushi for dinner today. Want to join me? C’mon, don’t be shy. Want some wasabi? I love wasabi!

Anyway, Happy Mid Week, Bloggers!

It is the weekend again. Did you have a good week? I had not really given much thought of it, actually. It was only when Lady Brolly (she always carries an umbrella, thus I call her this) asked me, how was my week. I muttered something I wasn’t sure if it was coherant at all.. then I paused and smile. Gosh, that seemed sheepish, so immature!

I came back home then I gave it a thought. I saw a little book at the corner of my cabinet, one that I had left for weeks. It was a book about Buddhism. I wanted to read this because I picked it up from a small cubby in a mall that was left for anyone. There were free copies of books about Buddhism. It looked really interesting. There are many things in there which teach us to be grateful for the many things we have. We just don’t open our eyes to look at it. We complain of the things we don’t have but we never look at all the things we have and how blessed we are when we are healthy.

Then I started to count all the blessings, all the good things and how glad my family is here with me, all smiling and playing happily. And we have food to eat, a roof to live, compared with some nation who are dealing with some urgency of draught, disaster and some of the unfortunate who have lost love ones.

That is when I gathered my girls, gave them a hug and planted kisses on their faces. That made them happy. Simple things like that generate love. Why don’t you give someone a hug and a kiss today?

I hope you have a great weekend just enjoying your family. Wish you all lots of love.

Oh of course let me share my breakfast with you too! Fresh Cream Puffs!

Let’s learn what blogger’s favourite meal (Breakfast) is. Simple straightforward meme and great for link love. Have a good Breaky!

*Start copy here*

The Longest Breakfast Menu List

Everyone likes to start their day with a comfort food for breakfast. What kind of food do you take? This would be a good way to find out your blogger friend’s favourite food for breakfast.

All you need to do is to put your name down, the country you are in and your favourite breakfast meal. Let’s see how we can have this breakfast ‘menu’ travelled all around cyberspace and learn what each blogger living in different country and what do they eat for breakfast. This meme was created by a little lady with a penchant to spy around little baskets while marketing. Her favourite breakfast of the day is none other than Roti Prata, an indian flat bread. What about you? What is your favourite breakfast meal of the day?

1. Spymama, Singapore - Roti Prata 2. Add your name, country, food.

*End copy here*

I shall now find some random names from the blogosphere to add up to this list.

They are: yyun, caramelcorn, vicy, bernadeth, and heapup.