The Apple's Diary!

Hurh… I changed and I wish I had done so earlier! Remember my January's post on Halting Start , the immature maid was a big question mark and by February's CNY, she was no longer a question mark but a decision. We got to change her out because she was simply too arrogant, too immature and her intention to work was definitely a NO. There was too many horrendous things she had done and there's no way I could list it down here. We had thought helper #2 was bad but this one… she topped the chart. So in came helper #5 in my 4 years 2 months of life with a live-in help. Helper #5 was in many ways similar to Helper #3 who was the best among the whole lot and stayed with us for a good 3.5 years. Helper #5 Day 2 for her and language was a mess, as expected. Jonathan's first comment on her "I think she can do. " which I translated to  "I think she can make it." The children took a liking to her immediately and I am taking it as a strong positive...

The toil of rushing through the day, getting my feet in contact with water (bathing the kids, cleaning after them) made my feet ugly with cracked heels. The problem was very bad and I had tried so many ways to make my feet heal. I tried applying aloe vera, soaking my feet with sea salt to remove dead skin, applying Ellgy cream but to no avail. Then I had to travel for work, so I packed along this. Smell like coconut I got Burt's Bee  < Foot Cream> from Munich, Germany 2 years ago and didn't open to use at all. So I thought I would bring it along and discard it before I fly home. greasy feel The cream smells of 100% coconut and it leaves a greasy feel on the heel. I was so ready to throw it away but hey, I brought it back and guess what. I just discovered my cracked heel problem is gone. Oh wow! This Burt's Bee foot cream works! Glad that I brought it back despite the strong coconut smell. But hey, it works and that's most important!

I was at New Orleans, Louisiana last week for a conference. This ought to be my best work trip to date. I was with another colleague and ya, we learnt a lot, we talked a lot, we walked a lot and we ate a lot… of subway! Ha, we were on budget hence, our regular meals consisted of instant noodles, salad bars from super mart, subway. We only had 2 good meals - on the day of arrival and eve of my departure. Mississippi River Steam Boat Natchez We stayed at Hilton Riverside because that was the closest to our conference venue. I hadn't checked the map when I booked the hotel. Turned out, it was really a good spot. We were by the river side, Mississippi river (to be exact) and the hotel was connected to a shopping mall which houses all the outlets! Yeah… Gap, Forever 21, Coach, Guess, Puma, Aeropostale etc. Downtown street We were at the Society of Toxicology (SOT) conference. It was such a large scale conference, yet so organised. I was most impressed by the app...

In December 2015, there was the Unsure, Uncertain and In doubt . Unsure… continues. We considered for a while and decided that we should just do repayment of our housing loan and redeem the flat. However, the project by Sim Lian "Wandervale EC" caught my eyes.  We went down to the showroom and contributed to the 40% oversubscription score. http://wandervaleec-cck.com We visited a number of showrooms and by far, this has to be the best layout. The premium 3-bedroom is comfortably spacious and most importantly, it features a functional service yard and kitchen. We always like Sim Lian's projects but whether we move or stay put, the main consideration is still the primary school. And this primary school enrolment is making me to lose sleep. I shall write about it in the next round when I have sorted out our options.

You probably heard of love bank and how couple is encouraged to create a keepsake of good memories so in tough times when there is a lot of arguments and quarrels, one would be reminded of the goodness of each other. So I thought, why not I put it in record, jotted it down, took a picture and be reminded of how my little boy has persevered and the learning journey we took together. 1st Surprise I was very much surprised and delighted when my 4year 6month old Jonathan told me one night he could write his Chinese name without help. He went on and wrote down his name for me and his papa to see.  I was amazed because he struggled very hard with the Chinese language and I told his preschool's Chinese teacher to lower her expectation for him. I was so amazed that I showed the work to his Chinese teacher the next day and couldn't thanked her enough for her encouragement and guidance. This evening, I just blurted out if he could write the numbers in Chinese for me. He g...

Dear hubby celebrated his 38th birthday simply. Neither of us took leave to celebrate this occasion. We had a simple cake cutting the weekend before at his mum's place and another one today. The birthday songs and birthday cakes seemed to cater for the kids more than birthday boy. Oh well! As dear hubby puts it, as long as everyone is happy, he is happy. The boys are definitely happy because they love birthday, even if it is not theirs, they love blowing the candles and eating the chocolate cake. 1st birthday cake at MIL's place simple home celebration love the smile on Matt Dear hubby doesn't get a gift from me for most occasions. Ha! That's because after a while, I realised that there's nothing much I could get for him. But hey… this birthday he got a surprise from me! his birthday gift  Quite an impromptu decision to get this G-Shock for him. I'm glad he loves it although this watch is still sitting pretty in the ...