Monday Blues

Yesterday's the food for BBQ was quite nice. I used the Prima satay and the pork tasted really like satay back home in Singapore. Children enjoyed their indoor BBQ but as usual Joe and I were left to do the rest. To be exact I was the one cleaning up. The woes of being a housewife is that everyone expects that to be your job and leave everything to you. When I finally finished cleaning up I was so thankful that I was able to get myself cleaned up.

After that, children were asked to do some reading and they happily took out their story book. Chantz as usual was not so enthusiatic after a while as he always took a longer time to decode. He went to bed early while Charlynn stayed up to finish her book. When it was time to bed, I told Charlynn she should use all means to get her jumper back if not she would have to forgo pocket money for 6 weeks. After that she could not sleep and ended up weeping. In the end, I told her I would not deduct her money but she must make it a point to find her jumper. When I wen to bed, it's already 11pm and I must be up by 7am.

This morning Charles refused to go to school as he was told we will not be giving him pocket money for losing his cap. In the end, I gave them their pocket money and told them the money they owed for losing their school things will be deducted from the chores reward money instead.

Just now Joe called to ask how was things at home. Channery was difficult and I had not done much except doing the basic housework. She is still not sleeping and I am feeling quite tired now. Jsut now we even baked a cake and beat the eggs together so as to have hands-on for her.

Okay that's all. I need to do some cleaning up before the other 3 kids come back.

Sunday bliss

Today I woke up feeling alright and quite happy. Joe at home and even stayed playing with children in bed. I remembered there was no bread so I quickly got up to prepare pancakes for the kids. It had been a long time since we had pancakes so they actually tasted quite nice.

After that, we wanted to go to Sydney fish Market but the kids were hooked on computer games. They were playing deal or no deal free on-line game. They had so much fun but they really have to learn to take turns and be gracious of losing to their siblings. In the end, Joe challenged them to a game and we were finally able to be on our way to the shopping centre.

I bought $25.99 worth of vitamin E capsule as I read in newspaper we could apply that on scars. I am trying out on my face as the pimple scars won't go away. I wonder if I have been lacking this vitamin in my diet. Vitamin E is essential for good heart and wound repair and it is a powerful antioxidant. Will consume the capsules as well and hope the pimple scars will fade off.

Children are playing in the garden and they has some much fun. Tonight we are going to have an indoor BBQ with our electric grill. Nothing much to do except to help the kids to cook later.

That's all for today. Now watching the "Beethoven" part 2.

Outing and Surprise for Joe

Today we drove an hour to Royal National Park to meet up with the Temasek Members. By the time we reach there we were 15 mins late but the rest of the people were not there. After a while the people started rolling in. In the end, my family sat down for breakfast but we were busy attending to the kids so we did not really mingle with the rest. They left for canoeing after breakfast and we went to play at the playground. The food was quite nice. Children had toast with eggs and hot chocolate and Joe and I had full breakfast. His is vegetarian while mine was the standard ones with fried potatoes, bacon, eggs, sauages. Nice and I got to share with Joe.

After playing at the playground, we drove to Garie beach. It is a very beautiful beach. The beach is famous being a surfers' paradise. The waves are always very strong and the scenery is beautiful. I sat on the beach to read newspaper and Joe brought the children down at the beach to play with the upcoming tides. They even built sandcastles on the beach. After about an hour play, we were about to go when the tide brought in a rubber-like jelly-fish. The blue bottle stung Chantz and he felt a sharp pain. We went to seek the life guard help and everyone was surprised to see that had happened. The life guard applied Sting medicine on Chantz and we made the trip back to the toilets. Half way back I went back and took a picture of the jelly fish. Will show all of you the picture. It really look like a rubber toy - harmless looking.

After bathing, we drove back home. It was a longer drive as we had driven further in into Royal National Park. When we reached home, I quickly went to prepared lunch. I cooked spagetti as I had the sauce ready last night and I just had to cook the spaghetti. Lunch was eaten at about 3pm and we even did the laundry.

About 4 plus, Joe started to prepare his outfit for tonight's function. To his surprise, he could not find his leather shoes. After searching the whole house, I told him I would accompany him to get a new pair. He reluctantly agreed and on the way, he even said that if he could not get a new pair, he would call to say something cropped up at home. Luckily Joe went to his university award giving function tonight as he called just now to tell me that the university had given him an award - the award for research excellence. Good for him that he is given the recognition. He had been trying very hard to do his research. Sometimes I think the family might be a bit of distraction to him. He used to go office early in the morning at 7am and leave at about 6plus. Now with us around, he goes to school at 9 plus and leave early at 3 or 4 plus.
Maybe to tell him to go early to school as usual and leave the children to me. They are actually quite happy to go school and getting them to school is not a problem.

Okay I am feeling rather tired so would like to retire for the night. Today we even participated in the earth day- The Sydney lights-off for an hour event. After the one hour I really appreaciate the convenience of having electricity. Must really switch off power of all the applicances when not in use.

Sick frustrations

The past few days the weather was rather bad so I actually fell sick. Yesterday I had my usual killer headache and after taking the medicine I still felt rotten. The whole half day was a total disaster and I called up Joe to ask for help as Channery would not leave me alone and I had a hard time coping with the headache and her. Joe did not get the hint and never even called back after that. He is the super insensitive guy. I know I have to tell him what I want but when you are sick sometimes you just want him to be automatic. Angry with him of not able to show some concern.

When I finally dozed off with Channery he called at 2pm. I am really very sian. Told him he had to come back to fetch the kids. Let him do a bit of rushing as school over at 3pm. Anyway at that time, my headache was really still there and I really don't feel like driving. Joe left with the kids for Art lesson after that and after taking the medicine again, I actually felt okay. I got up did the washing of dishes and cleaned up the whole house. Even prepared porridge for myself. Joe was mentioning he was taking family to the Thai restaurant but he came back with them without their dinner. That means I had to cook for them. In the end, I cooked bean curd, mince meat porridge for the family as well. Joe did not even lift a finger to help with the washing up and he got another minus point for the day.

The day before yesterday Joe went outing with the boys and even though I told them to bring their jumper along, they refused. I cmae back for the jumpers and passed to them. They said they had no need for the jumper and Charlynn lost the brand new jumper in school. Each jumper cost around $40. Very expensive uniform. One cap is $9.99 and the rest as well.

Okay That's all. Now we are going outing with the Temasek club members. They are Singaporeans in Sydney. Don't think will meet nice Singaporeans but Joe insisted on going.

Feeling stressed

It's been many days since I have written anything on the blog. With the four long weekends, Joe and I have to be on out toes looking after the kids. Boys as usual like to misbehave and get into trouble. With them around the house is messy and I am not motivated to do any cleaning up.
Yesterday was a bliss. Children went to school and I managed to clean up the house. I even did the laundry and cleaned up the toilet. Feeling happy actually able to see that the place is clean.

Charles was in troble yesterday as he pulled Channery's feet and made her fall. We jsut wanted him to apologise to Channery but he refused. He did it out of fun and impulse. Many a times they are caught in the situation whereby thye regret their actions. Good for them to learn the hard way since they refused to listen to our advice. This morning he could not find his cap and he insisted that he passed it to me. Maybe he did but he was the last one to take the bag so I am not surprised that he left it at the playground. I know I kept Chantz's bag in his bag immediately when he passed the cap to me so I am able to find the cap in his bag. Tomorrow they are having an outing to the Art Gallery so he will go without a cap. Joe was really angry with him and can't stop raving at him. What's done cannot be undone so be it. If Charles not willing to find one at the lost property box, he will have to buy a new one - to be deducted from his pocket money.

Yesterday children said they will prepare their lunch box. They have either fried rice or hamburger depending what they wanna pack for lunch. In the end, Charlynn had fried rice, Chantz had hamburger and Charles packed both. My girl remembered to pack a spoon but Charles ended up eating with the lunch box cover. Good to let them learn from their mistakes.
Today I cooked Fried spiral pasta for lunch. Don't know if they will like it. Joe will have the same thing but he has spagetti sauce on it.

I am now supposed to do some housework but not in the mood to do so. Tired as I did not sleep well yesterday. Channery is sitting on the floor getting my coins from my bag. I am thinking of sewing a few bags for the children's lunch boxes. They can take out the bag but I know they are not doing that. I am thinking of how to keep their food warm till lunch.

Okay I am going to do the housework. Hope to hear from all of you back in Singapore via email.

Royal Easter Show

Royal Easter show is a show whereby farmers will have some income. It is an annual event whereby all the animals will be in full display and the city dwellers get to see and feel the farm animals. There is interesting fun fairs, food stall and exhibitions. We see beautiful horses, cows, chickens, sheep and all sorts of animal. It's just like the county fair in USA or UK farm Community. Oh yes liek the farming fair in " The Charlotte Web" and "Babe" movies. There were so many people we had to walk 20 mins from the carpark to the venue. It's filled with people and animals. We can buy the show bags which can cost from $1 to $25. PEople bought he show bags but I really think it's too expensive. The show bags can contains items of the cartoon characters or goodies. The show was interesting and fun but the walking about can be quite tiring. Children had fun as they get to play but the adults were taking care of things so that was tiring.

We spent a total of $200 at he venue for rides and food. That was not inclusive of the entry tickets of $140. One thing the entry tickets enable us to go watch a ruby match at 7.30pm. IT's a promotion of just adding a few more dollars each, we get to go 2 events. The ruby match is just next door - also in The Sydney Olympic Park. It was a good MAtch and out home team Canterbury Bull Dogs win the game. At least I do understand how to watch the Ruby match as compared to a live football match. Joe had brought the kids to the football match twice and they enjoyed the outing with him. I only watched the Singapore's football match twice at Choa Chu Kang Stadium. Both times was Geylang Versus SAF Rhinos.

When we reached home, it's already very late and the temperature dipped to 18Degrees so I told children to wash their hands and feet and off to bed. Even with heater, the temperature was very cold. I put 2 hot water bags on my bed and still I was feeling the chill.

The next day I got up at 7 plus again as now I am used to it and quickly on the living room heater. Somehow temperature was low and I don't want the kids to wake up and feel cold.

Today the children are not very cooperative. The house is in a big mess but I don't bother. I am too tired to pick up their pieces all the time. Joe is taking a nap and the children are out in the backyard. THis morning we went to view 2 houses. One is a 3 bedroom town house costing Aus$489000 and the other is a 2 bedroom unit $265000. I wanna buy one apartment for own stay as well as investment. I hope not to spend too much on the mortgage.

Anyway, that's all and will write again

Runaway Student

Charlynn did a most unbelievable thing on Thursday. She was not sure where to go for Chinese Language class so she got panick and ran out of school. She walked and walked and ended back to School's main gate. After that she walked to Campsie Centre and retracted the car's route back from Campsie Centre. She left school about half past 9 and only reached home at 10.30am. The school is about he distance from Northpoint to mum's place Blk 349. She was really daring. What if she lost her way or met some strangers that did her harm.

I was hanging up the clothes when she came in. She hid her uniform and bag. After that she hid under the dining table. I heard a noise when I was preparing the milk for Channery. What a shock I have to see her at home. She came in via the front gate. With a little poking the gate can be easily open.

I immediately called Joe up. Joe was surprised and we managed to find out what happened to her. I told her to change back into her uniform and we go back together but she refused. She was vey stubborn. In the end, I told her she had a choice : To be caned and be sent back or go back with me without caning. In the end, she thought through and we drove to school. When we reached the school, I went to the office and the Deputy Principal received us. She was full of apologies and said that she was in fright sucha thing to happen as they do close the gate immediately after assembly. She went to get the teacher and teacher came in shock as well. Charlynn was told to go see them next time she ran into problem and teacher said she will assign buddies for her.

I promised to fetch her at 3pm and off I went off. I managed to go shopping for food and groceries and went back home but that means I have not much time for household chores. After cooking lunch, it seems like it's nearly 3pm again. I drove to school but could not find a parking lot., Went round the school for 2 rounds and finally parked at the shops. It's half an hour parking and after fetching the kids I came back quickly. Joe called to say Jen was unable to have lesson as planned and we would have to go the next day. I think Charlynn has learnt her lesson and she won't do it again. She was smart to be able to find her way home. Need to teach the sons how to do it.

That very night, the weather suddenly changed. There was heavy downpour and storm. I woke up and went to check on children. They always have the habit of kicking off covers. I did not sleep well so the next day I was in foul mood. I promised the kids to cook boiled eggs so that they can paint Easter eggs. In the end, Chantz shelled the egg that I was drawing and that drove me up the walls. He has a tendency to be impulsive and never think twice. He gotten a beating and scolding from me. After eating some breakfast, we drove to Jen's house for their Art lesson. Children had fun and we went shopping. I manged to find a shop selling bread and I bought $7 worth of bread. After lesson, children decided they wanted to eat Subway sandwiches for lunch and so I have to keep the bread for the Royal easter Show.

Food for thought

Yesterday I woke up early to prepare their breakfast and lunch. They had eggs and Bacon for breakfast and pizza for lunch as Charlynn had requested to have pizza for lunch the day before. I even cut green apples for them and prepared banana chips for snacks. In the end, Charlynn polished up all the food but the boys still have their chips left. Charlynn is really growing as now she has enormous appetite. Told her she must exercise regularly and drink lots of milk so that she can grow tall. Wonder if that will help. Mum said Tian Qi is good for growing children so maybe I will have to go to the medicinal hall to prepare the soup for her.

After sending the kids to school, I went shopping again. Bought a bit if grocery and really not as fun. I went back wiht Channery after just a while. After we come back, it's washing and household chores. I manged to squeeze some time teaching Channery some nursery rhymes. Really must set aside some time to teach her the alphabets. My sis's son, Alwin is half a year younger than her and he can speak quite well. Better get her to have a good start.

In the afternoon I had noodles with the left over vegtables I cook the night before. Joe now has packed lunch and I better cook some thing extra for him to bring to school. To eat the same kind of food again the next day might not be so interesting. Luckily we had bacon and eggs yesterday so he had the extra ingredient. Today Joe forgot to bring his lunch box. If not he will eat the minced pork fritters, green beans, celery dumplings and lotus roots soup. Well! I will have to eat the food then. Today the children have fried rice for lunch. I have added eggs, bacon, green beans and carrots into the fried rice. It will taste quite good I think. They have grapefruit and kiwi too. The grapefruit here is sweet and nice unlike the sour ones we have in Singapore.

After school, I must bring the kids for their art lessons. Seems like today I don't have to cook. Maybe to tell Joe we will eat outside at the Thai restaurant near his school. I like the food there.

Btw Joe and I are thinking if we want to buy a house here. The rental is not cheap and if the same amount can be used to buy a house why not. That's just a thought. Need to find out more information. We must also need to find a tenant for our condo before we can have extra money. So let's hope God will grant our wishes to find a suitable tenant for us.

Oh I wanna talk about the school discipline during assembly for the school. They have 2 bells and kids will automatically sit down. The teachers do not scold. They praise the kids and greet them politely. I like the school as children learn to be positive and polite. The children in turn keep their mouth shout when the teachers give their announcements. They have to greet the 7-8 teachers who went up to give announcement.. Somehow I think my kids are better off here in Australia. My boys are so motivated to go school. They learn their spelling willingly and not fuss on doing their homework. The teacher will give them a list of homework to be handed in at the end of the week. I think Singapore teachers are giving unnecessary stress to students as students do not know when to receive homework and hand them in. This is something that maybe my colleagues in Singapore can learn. My sons know that they only have that much work for the week and they can have a choice to complete all at once or do so slowly over the week.
My sons are taking train to an Art Gallery next Thursday. They are excited to be independent. Imagine our Singapore kids doing that. These are the six and seven years old as theeir cutoff age for schooling is June to next year July. My sons are placed with peers around their age instead of being the babies in Singapore Educational system. I really like my sons to continue their education here and really worried that they might not be able to catch up when they go back Singapore as Singapore System is not really suitable for kids with learning difficulties.

Okay that's all for today. Will write soon.

2nd Day of School

Yesterday when we fetched the kids from school, the kids were saying they wanted a special treat. We brought them to Campsie Centre for MacDonald Soft serve cones. Each cone is only 30cents so it's very affordable. After that, we went shopping for their uniforms but were informed by Lowes staff that the shipment have not arrived. Actually the school is very relaxed so there is no need to buy the proper uniform. We can still continue to let them wear the makeshift uniform. I bought an ironing board so as to be able to iron their uniform at $8 but I realized there's no need to since the material is T shirt material so there is no need to iron. After that, we bought some food stuff and Chantz kept blaming me that he is unable to play at park. Joe said he will bring them to park tomorrow if they do their homework tomorrow immediately after returning home.

Yesterday the boys did their homework and were very cooperative. They went to bed without much delay after we allowed them to finish watching the show. I told them if they want to watch TV, they must be able to wake up when told and they did just that this morning.

I woke up at 7.20am and after cleaning up I started to prepare breakfast and their lunch boxes. Today they will have chicken sandwich with tomatoes and lettuce. I even prepared egg fried rice and roti prata for them but only Charlynn ate the fried rice. The boys only settled their breakfast with Milo. When I checked their luch boxes after school, I realized that they did not finish their lunch. They took the chocolate cookies and raisin bun but did not touch the honey dew as well. Really do not know what they like for lunch. Another alternative is to cook and then bring to school for them at noon.

Today I am really tired. I did some packing up and cleaning up. With children in school, I am free to do whatever I want and won't be disrupted. Channery is a good girl except the morning whereby she inisted to go our next door neighbour's house to ask for lollies/sweets. Our neighbour gave her once and she remembered. After we came back shopping, we saw our neighbour and she decided to walk over. Well! it's really pai say as after taking the sweet, whe just kept quiet even though I asked her to say thank you or goodbye to Mr Josh. When we reached home, she was given a small piece and after that she just wants to watch Barney. I have only 2 VCDs with me. Should have brought my whole box of VCDs.

Charles is not feeling well. He has been coughing and still refused to take good care of himself. Actually the weather is chilling in the morning and they should wear a sweater when they got out of bed in the morning. Well! They will learn to wear the appropriate clothings.

I have washed their uniform and hopefully it will be dried by night. The sun is very sunny so it's no problem I think. Right now I am thinking of what to cook for dinner. I might want to fry the chicken wings as we are quite sick of braised wings. I still have some Toufu and that can be fried as well.

Okay! that's all and I will write again.

First Day of School

Today I woke up at 7 plus to prepare breakfast for the kids. Charlynn was coughing away the whole night and I am quite surprised that she was able to wake up on time. Charles and Charlynn were marvellous. They helped to prepared their lunch box and have their breakfast as told. Chantz was not willing to go to school. He was trying to get his way of staying at home. I think his inability to read and write is one reason why he is put off in school. In the end, we threatened to send him back to Singapore and that did it. He decided to do what he was told and was ready in no time. Today the kids will have egg mayonaise and tuna sandwich for lunch.

When we reached the school, we took photographs of the kids as it was their first day in School. We went into the school and realized there was no strict rules for school uniform. The children were wearing varied version of their school uniforms. Their uniforms are very expensive so we have to decide on what to buy.

When we reached the office as told at 8.40am, the clerk is still unsure of which classes the kids will be in. They took quite a while to figure out things. Joe paid $180 or $60 each for the kids textbks and worksheets. All these to be kept in school. After that we signed up as parent volunteers to follow our boys to visit a art gallery this week. The kids will have to take a train there. Interesting that they allow kids as young as 7 yrs old to take trains wiht some adults' supervision.

After a while, the clerk took us to the kids' classrooms. Chantz in 2N and Charles in 2 M. It's the school's practise to keep the twins in different classes. Well! They are just next door so not too bad. Charlynn is in 4B and she received a warm welcome from her class as the teacher exclaimed," Oh! it's a girl!" The class probably have too many boys so having a girl is a good thing. As for the boys, Charles went round and we managed to find the class at computer room. The class size is about 30 so the teacher will have an easier class to handle. All the kids have female teachers.

When we were back I was pleasantly pleased that the house is so quiet. Doing household chores is not too frustrating as no one is around to mess things up. I have cooked some beehoon with braised chicken as I think Children might be hungry. We gave them $1 each but a tour to the canteen and we realzed a simple meal can cost at least $3.

Well! Now is time to pick the children up at 3pm. Will write to tell you their sides of the story of their first day in school.

Sunday 15th March 2008

Yesterday we woke up at about 10am as we stayed up late to watch King Kong for 3 hrs. Actually we have the VCD in Singapore but it is still better to watch again. We watched Shrek2 yesterday and it was a lot of fun. Today is Sunday and we again woke up late at about 9 plus. Tomorrow the children are going school and we have to get up early at 7am. Let's hope the children will like the school and their classmates. Campsie has more children from other nationalities than the whites so the children will not be the odd ones out. The local whites are sending their kids to the Catholics school as it's only a small fees and the syllabus are said to be better than public school. If we send kids to Catholic school, their fees will double of what we are paying. Now each child pays a minimum of $4500 per year. Let's hope its worth the money to out them in local public school.

Yesterday we went bunnings the hardware shop and bought a grass trimer. Ended up the boys don't like it and blame me of buying an electric one. They wanted the manual ones whereby they can oush it along. Well! They will only do so when it's still new. If they are assign the chores, they probably won't do it. We also bought 3 metre vilyn so as to cover the corridor as the kids are making a lot of noise running up and down the corridor. They seem to have elephant legs that go stomping around the house. With their going to school, I will have about 6 hours of peace and quiet and can concentrate on teaching Channery.

Now Joe is doing gardening and children playing their own games. They really have short attention span and tends to leave things halfway done. Many a times we have to clear up their mess. Joe was so angry with them that he was rather harsh with them yesterday. I reminded him and he promised to be nicer to the kids today. Well! he Sure is keeping his cool today.

Now using computer to play Barney for Channery. Nothing is good on TV. I have cleaned up the whole house and now waiting for Joe so that we can go for lunch. We have to do some shopping for tomorrow's first day of school.

Alright that's all for today. Will write again when free.

First Friday at Campsie

Yesterday was a very busy day. After taking our breakfast, we went to Jen's place for children's art lesson. Their mugs are ready to be used. I don't really think much of their work as they have crooked edges on the mug which might cut their lips. Anyway, Jen said they were creative so let it be. At least I have some peace of mind when they are doing ceremics at Jen's place and I get to go shopping. We bought quite a bit of foodstuff and off again back to Jen's place. Their lesson is an hour. After that, we went to Marrickville Metro so that we can get the boys' red t-shirt at K mart. The metro is really a big shopping paradise and will visit it again.

Children bought a cricket set but they broke it immediately at evening time. The boys are just too rough. Will buy a new set again. Boys picked up cricket as it is a very popular sport in Australia. I can never understand the dynamics of sports.

Joe is in school and the children will start school next Monday. He is thinking of sending kids to school and then go to school after that. The train tickets will be $1.80 cheaper and he intends to go to school everyday. I think it's a good idea as staying at home he will probably achieve nothing.

Charlynn washed the laundry while I was still sleeping and I hang up the laundry. She is really quite sensible but nowadays I can see her rebellious side. Just yesterday night she wrote to tell me that she wanted a girl's bra to go to school. Will buy her the singlets instead as she is really not showing. She is growing tall and before long might be having puberty. Well! must accept the fact she will grow up and have her own life.

Just cleaning up the children's room. Charlynn has been saying the boys are dirty. True they really have no sense of that. Their beds are messy. Rubbish on the floor and keeping rubbish as keepsakes. They better grow up fast as I also very impatient with them.

Okay better be off to hang up my bedsheets and to start preparing lunch. The life of a housewife is not so easy but I kinda like it...All in a day's work

Back in Sydney

Time flies and the one month holiday in Singapore is over and we are back in Sydney. The one month was a meaningful one. I went to visit Bee Yen who gave birth to a 4.2kg baby girl, attended Alex's grandma and Yet wah's mum's funeral wake as well going to pray to Tai Sui. We did the Chinese new year visitings as well as attending grassroots CNY gatherings. On the last day I was even there at Zone 11 block party cum opening ceremony of the Hospice centre at Admiralty. Moreover, my children attended school back home so we have to buy new sets of uniforms and textbooks. We donated all the items just before we came over to Sydney so must buy again.

During our stay, Joe and I managed to squeeze some time to go for massage and I to 2 facials. It's really nice to be able to enjoy ourselves there. I met up with some good friends there and really glad everyone is fine. Sweet of Jamie to even take half a day off to have lunch with me on last Friday. We even visited Chiau Hong and Steve at their love nest. Children and adults enjoyed ourselves very much. Looking at the CD that Hong burns for us, vey touching as the happy times spent with loved ones is the happiest thing on earth. Steve and Hong even attended Kim Song's with us. Mum said must invite hong as she is like a family. True we have been friends for so long and she really is loving and giving. She was always there for me when I felt down. BTW I have changed my opinion of Steve as well! I used to think him as " proud and aloof" but now I know he is a wonderful guy. Happy for Hong and I really wish them happiness.

Well! Back to my family. I am really gald I was of some help to my mother when I was back home. My youngest brother's wedding was really quite a busy task for her. In fact on that actual day I also tired myself out. All turns out well and hope they will have a wonderful marriage. To be able to be married to your love ones is a blessing. I watched the Movie " Enchanted" on the plane and I would like to recommend all to go grab a disc and watch it. It's very touching and will do a lot of good for marriages. Told joe to watch but he did not. Must find a VCD and made him watch it again with me.

Guess what? Our house is undergoing repainting job. We told them to do so while we are away but ended up they still have not gotten the job done. We have to bear with noise and smell
now so not so pleasant to stay at home. Our garden also needs a lot of work with grass so tall and weeds everywhere.

Yesterday we did two things. One is to go airport to collect my jacket as they called up and ended up they could not find it. What a letdown that they could misplaced the things so easily. Secondly we managed to enroll our kids to Campsie Public School. Can't go Harcourt Public School which is bigger and has a lot of greenery as that is out of area. If parents want their kids to go to better schools, they must shift to that area. Not a bad idea. Boys will be in Year 2 but Charlynn will be in Year 4. They will need to catch up with their peers.

Now we are still recuperating from jet lag. Feeling so very tired after the flight back here. Hopefully we will be back in shape soon. We asked Joe's Colleague to return the car on the first day as we realized we have nothing left to cook up a meal and in need of shopping. He drove the car here and joe sent him home. After shopping, we had fast food for dinner. Cost us $32. The next day we had lunch at Happy Chef restaurant and that cost us $35. Today I might just cook fish porridge for lunch.

BTW we bought wine holders and a bottle of wine for our neighbours and hope they like reading " What made us Singaporeans" book . No food items as we are not allowed to bring into Australia. Wine here is cheaper as compared in Singapore. We bought 2 bottles at $8 each. If we buy six or more, they even give us 20% discount. Too bad Joe and I are not into drinking wine.

Okay! That's all. I have to hang up my laundry now......