Cupcake Memories: Life in Sydney, Australia

I am not sure about other little girls but my DD makes me want to tear my hair out and puts my blood at boiling point at all times. My back is breaking from stooping to pick up her crumbs, spilled water, food, toys from the floor throughout the day.

She doesn’t stay still when having her hair tied, being fed, changing nappy, changing clothes, applying moisturisers … NEVER still for more than 5 seconds, period. Instead of getting hooked to the TV, she asks to switch it off and wants to listen to music or come disturb me instead.

Almost all her DVDs and CDs have scratches on them because she kept playing with them. I had to put away some of the DVDs out of her reach. I do admire people who could keep their kids’ toys, DVDs and CDs in tip top condition! Certainly not in my case.

She’s good in that she very rarely has tantrums and hardly cries unless she hurts herself. I cannot imagine what my day would be if she is a moody girl.

Yesterday was the second day of Spring but unfortunately the temperature inside the house was still on the cold side. So me and DD went to soak in the nice and warm sun at the backyard in the afternoon. Both of us sat at the doorstep of the laundry room.

How I wish we had a backyard wooden deck complete with tables and chairs. I could just imagine myself sitting on one of those lay back chairs and enjoy the warmth of the outdoors. Then again, if we do ever buy some outdoor furniture, we would most likely need to get outdoor furniture covers too. I would hate to have to wipe the surface of the seats and tables of water and dust (and probably bird droppings too?) each time we use it.

Talk about carelessness and 4getfoolness! When these two are combined, it is disaster! I only realized that I lost my ATM card a week later. Fortunately I was able to trace back to when I last used it ie at the Post Office.

I rang the Post Office and sure enough, they had my card, phew! I was prepared to report my card lost and go through the hassle of getting a new one issued by the bank. Though not inconvenient but still, it will take a bit of time.

I am unsure how I lost it. Below are a few possibilities:

• left it at the postal counter after paying
• left it at the table at the post office
• dropped it onto the floor (I remember dropping the receipt and DD picked it up to play with it)

Old woman! 

Working overseas is always a great experience and an opportunity few would turn down. However, not everyone is priviledged enough to be sent by the current company for an overseas assignment or to get an internal transfer. Worse case scenario is to quit one’s job and venture out on your own for example to the United States. We all know that there are thousands of job placement companies such as Atlanta jobs that would be more than happy to assist you in giving your career a kick start by matching your work experience with suitable and prospective employers.

Forget about browsing through the career section of the newspaper and circling job ads endlessly. Let the job agencies take care of everything for you. You may even enjoy a holiday (before you get tied up with work) while the agencies work hard to get you a job placement. Sounds good?

Thanks, Angeleyes for the Bookworm Tag. Unfortunately I have retired from playing “tags” for quite awhile now. Never was really into it, talk about being a bad sport.

In summary, I am not an avid reader especially when it comes to novels. I only read magazines, fashion, home and gardens and cookbook.   But these days, all I have time for is to browse through the weekly grocery, Kmart, Target, BigW, etc catalogues.

We were just looking at some display homes today. One thing we noticed at this display village is that all the builders seem to prefer using door levers similar to the Schlage range instead of door knobs. This was one of our mistake when we built our home ie we opted for door knobs because it looked more modern.

Then another person who was also having his home built at the time told us he chosed door levers for his home because with door knobs, it could be difficult to handle when your hand is freshly moisturized or damp. We found this so true! We actually have to put a sock on the inside door knob of our ensuite because DH’s palms gets slippery after applying lotion after his shower and he finds it difficult to turn the door knob.

It’s that time of the year again where …

• Insurance policies are due for renewal (DH’s task)
• I have to lodge my own tax return via the Accountant (gonna lodge it via e-tax myself next year onwards)

Have just paid the dreadful bills that came at the same time ie water, council, electricity and gas. 

I remember during my primary school days at age 11, we were given a small piece of asbestos to pass around the class during science lesson. The teacher at the time, told us that asbestos was dangerous – that was all I knew back then. Now that I am aware that exposure to asbestos may cause the serious mesothelioma cancer, I feel angry that the teacher was so ignorant as to even let us touch that piece of asbestos!

Perhaps back in those years there wasn’t enough education on the dangers of exposure to asbestos, even to teachers?

I think people in Msia who loves crafts & sewing and looking to make some income should try selling their handiwork on eBay in the US, Europe and Australia. Why? Because …

• materials are relatively much cheaper in Msia
• craft supplies are abundant in choices and cheap in Msia
• international postage from Msia is relatively cheap (even cheaper than Australian domestic postage!)
• and the strongest point, the much weaker Msian currency stands to gain from the above currencies

Crafts like felting (ahem, my latest obsession which I plan to stop in a few months because it is not worth the time and effort but it is very exciting to create new things), cushion pillow cases and personalized pillow cases are a good start.  These are light and easy to send via airmail.

Well, this is just my personal opinion.

Mention Brazil and I usually think of a good cup of Brazilian coffee with plenty of sun, sand and sea. I don’t know why but that’s the picture I have of Brazil. We studied a bit about Brazil in Geography and have seen a whole lot more on TV, movies and documentaries. Wouldn’t it be great if I can experience first hand being in Brazilian soil? If I could get on any Brazil vacation packages, I’d be so stoked! Perhaps someday.