The Apple's Diary!

I am a single eyelid person and I discovered my single eyelid has transformed to double eyelid after my trip to US. look closely to the left But this transformation only applies to the left eye. My right eye has half of the "double eyelid" only. I don't know what to make up of this sudden transformation. My colleagues joked my skin had wrinkled too much over there to cause this phenomenon. But I guess this is what you would a good problem!

Never have I followed any Korean drama or pop stars. They are too hype for me. However, I caught a trailer of the popular "Descendants of the Sun" episode 1 in which Captain Yoo Si Jin made a move to pretty doctor Kang Mo Yeon. Captain was smooth and he's definitely a charmer. source However that was not the start of me being hooked to the show. I did not watch the drama until I happened to caught a link  for this show. It was already airing episode 5 when I started to watch. I have to admit for once, I am hooked to a Korean drama and it kind of brought me back to the teens years when I had a favourite superstar that I would "chase after". source The casting for this drama was excellent as well. Don't Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo made a very handsome/ pretty couple? source With only 2 episodes left and another 3 additional special episodes… I guess many would have a hangover and severe withdrawal symptoms when DotS come...

Childhood in Singapore is abstract. The children nowadays count enrichment centres as part of their growing up years, which I think is sad. Having said that, the 2 boys are still put through Chinese enrichment classes with Berries and no plan to terminate their classes in near future. The children are put through accelerated learning in my opinion. They have to know their alphabets, their numbers 1-20 by K1 and this is very basic for a Kindergartener. As much as I try to balance learning, studying and playing, we still ended up buying new assessment books for the boys. The hubby felt that it is more structured this way for their "studying" hour. new books for Jonathan Not forgetting Matthew So now, our lesson time will consist of revision of Berries lesson, phonics (reading, writing) and Maths for the elder boy. example #1 of lesson for Jonathan writing & constructing sentences We usually need about 45minutes to complete one full study c...

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.