Spymama @ Mamakshop

I dropped by a friend’s office on Friday last week. She was busy repainting the office with the rest of the colleagues as part of spring cleaning week. While I was there, I was asked to pick a nice colour of roller shades from their catalogue. Had a few options but ended up I chose one that is lower in budget as they have already been cutting costs last year so I believe expensive ones are out. How I wish I can change my curtains at home too. I’ve only got two sets so a third set is necessarry , I gather.

Perhaps next year during spring cleaning week? Hopefully can get some done real soon.

I have been browsing the papers in double quick time lately instead of reading them. I hardly have time for the weekend’s papers. They are so thick so I only got to go through the front pages and some parts of the Home section. Actually, what I love to do most is to hunt for daily deals and promotions from the supermarkets as well as special deals from the budget airways.. I also love to look at handphones and telco packages on promotion! I find them irresistable and great for the end user or consumer’s market. The local supermarts like NTUC gives good price for some highly recommended products. Sometimes you get the same product but a competitive pricing from NTUC competing with Shop and Save and Sheng Shiong or even Giant matching Carrefour’s hypermarts.

The best part lately is that there is an abundance of fruits on promotion and I am such a big fruit fan! Mangoes, Oranges, Mandarins, Rock Melons, Fuji Apples, Grapes and even I can see Durians now.. wow! I am so excited already!

I can’t help noticing all that slimming centre advertisements in the newspaper lately.. Boy, they sure do find creative ways to get the consumers to try their trial for free or special price. Such ads are very, very competitive like claiming who has the fastest way to burn fat! I had a very quick browze in the papers this morning. I couldn’t help noticing that there was one particular ad that even cajoled readers to take part in a contest. All you need to do is to sms answers of a lady (guessing her bra size) in multiple choice answers! Wooo Hooo… I wonder if they will take advantage of the handphone numbers and try to make cold calls to the ones who sms? I’d cancell their calls without even batting an eyelid…

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.

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..

Cigarette is not very affordable in Singapore lately. Those who are addicted to it will have to pay for at least about S$11 for each pack ( I think) and you will get into trouble if you try to bring in cigarettes from the neighbouring country no matter how cheap it may be. That is because in Singapore, you need to pay the duties and taxes for each box. Even more interesting is that each cigarette stick sold in Singapore has a printed line that marks SDPC so you can never get away from the authorities! I am not sure if cigars
has it too but don’t be surprised if you see strange people watching you puff that ciggy because authorities are everywhere! All they need is to spot that mark SDPC and you can puff in peace! And if it doesn’t deter you, perhaps those horrible cancer pix on the ciggy box may make you squirm?

The weather is so hot and cold! One minute it rains and there’s thunder, lightning and heavy downpour while the other day the sun is scorching hot! Any more of these, I think I may fall sick. To prevent flu, I have been eating lots and lots of oranges - yum! my favourite fruit, of course!

The orange season seems to be abundant. Giant sells the South African ones at about $1.60 for about 5 to 8 nos. And you also get the Australian navel ones that are extra extra large at a dollar each.. I also bought lots and lots of red globe grapes, thomson green ones and even small tangerine mandarins from Australias that are just so sweet.. Guess these oranges really do make my day bright and cheery!

I have some problem with my washing machine. I need to find a proper location for it. Since I changed to a Sanyo brand, the orientation for water outlet is so different from Thomson. The only way to solve it is to bring the level of my machine higher or to relocate it to the bathroom near the kitchen. Spypapa hinted that perhaps we should renovate this bathroom a little. He wants to turn it into a dry area but I really want a place where I can wash the rugs and shoes so a dry area would not be really that practical for me. Then again, if I do renovate the bath, I’d love to get one of those fancy Kohler faucets if I could. I have this weakness for designer stuff expecially bathroom fittings and furniture for home. Did I mentioned that I used to study interior design before?

My ex colleague visited me at work recently. With her, she bought her pet dog, an Alaskan Husky. Beautiful! This little doggie or rather, a very large one actually is the offspring of her other Husky, the pedigree offspring of a champion dog owned by a dog breeder. I used to have dogs when I was as young as 5 or 6 but I’ve not had any pets since I got married. The temptation to own one is very strong but knowing how much responsibilities and care plus heartache at the passing of one can be a put off. Sigh… She was telling me about her friend who has some beautiful Shepland for good owners… How now…

Okay, I know I don’t belong to the new generation but can someone please explain to me what does Prep and Emo means? I saw this cute variation from Glitter Graphics and decided to post it here for your viewing. I thought it was a bit interesting to study the difference but I don’t really understand it somehow.

Why is being a prep so bad that she wears horrible shoes? Is a prep the same meaning as a young high school student like those Ra Ra girls that belong to a group in a cheerleading or popular girls group? And does being an Emo similar to those who are err… known as notorious group of girls who bully others or get bullied by Prep girls and wears mysterious clothing or Harajuku styles?