Do you have what it takes to be chic and classy? I think you do. I had been spending my time online after sending the kids to sleep. When I wasn't too tired, that was just what I would do; catching up with friends on FB and autism parent network, reading the news, reading e-books, watching videos, searching for good parenting tips, stalking fellow mommy bloggers and catching those annoying virtual bugs (Pokemon) - till today, I have yet to catch Pikachu! Grrr! Lately, I have the habit of giving reviews. Yes, reviews on food, baby products, cosmetics (those that I've tried, of course) and TV programs. At the moment, my honest reviews are for free. I tried not to commit myself to any of those paid reviews as I cannot guarantee that I would have time for them. So this newly found 'habit' is just for fun. Currently, I am reviewing products for Try and Review. This website has a variety of products that you could review. You may even request for a sample of their featured product to be sent to you and write your review after you have received it. And I just got mine today. My first sample to try and then give a review. I love free products especially nice things. It has been many years since I last used any LUX products. This is my review: Magical Spell by LUX Like a visit to the Spa. If you had been to one, you would know what I meant. The moment you squeezed out the silky liquid, a burst of refreshing yet exotic aroma filled up your bath. It gives you a satisfying bath and makes you want to enjoy a longer shower. You would feel clean, calm and rejuvenated just like after a session of spa. The bottle is handy and soft to squeeze. It is pleasant looking. I would prefer it to be packaged in a transparent bottle so that it could show-off it gorgeous colour. Magical Spell is a perfect name for the combination of Black Orchid and Juniper Oil. Not anyone could enjoy its mesmerising scent. You need to be chic and classy to appreciate this beautiful liquid.
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It has been almost a year staying at home. Have I got it yet? Not quite there yet but progressing. Parenting comes with no manual. Everyday is a new day.
Well, it is often a hit or a miss when you are dealing with 3 kiddos under 5. And yes UPDATE! Update! I have now with 3 kiddos. All are mine, 100% flesh and blood (and sweat and the screams). Introducing the Bb Ray who has just turned 7 months old. An Aquarius just like his mommy and almost sharing that same birthday but he decided to celebrate the 2016 Chinese New Year, and so he was born 3 weeks earlier than expected. His delivery to a little longer than his sister by 3.5 hours and was almost painless. It was like moving your bowels (literally). No stitches, no screams and Mr Hubster didn't even realised that the baby was out as he was busy wiping my sweat and covering my mouth with the gas. Bb Ray was the smallest upon delivery and hence the easy push. But he is now weighing like a sack of rice and crawls like a spider - super fast. Or shall I call him a baby Spiderman? Or Spiderbaby - NAH! How about Spiderboy? Hope! Life at home is pretty much a routine during school days, Weekends and holidays are quite a mess-up. My baby girl is no longer in the playgroup. I guess she wasn't ready yet. For 2 months she had been crying and sleeping throughout the 2 hour session. Furthermore, I wasn't too happy with the centre. They changed teachers and I found that the new batch of teachers couldn't control the kids. Ok, honestly I don't like the way they treated my daughter and the centre mixed other older kids too - period. My daughter is better off at home with me. At least she is learning to do some chores e.g. clearing the trash and sorting her dirty clothes. As for my Abang, he is doing very well in school. He is commenting more and making a significant progress with his speech. We could understand him much better now. It is almost 3 am now. All are soundly asleep and I am still up preparing some sight words flash cards for the 2 older kiddos. Better to do this while they are in bed dreaming, otherwise I am the one dreaming to get this cards done. Fry's first 100 words flash cards for Abang - DONE. ABCs with pictures for Baby Gal - DONE. Now let me go catch some Pokemons before I turn in to bed. And also Happy Eid Adha. Back to school on Tuesday (YES!!! Finally...) Being a SAHM is really not easy but it isn't that difficult at all. You'll have to organised your time and also drill your kiddos into their daily routine and "get-over" with their monkey business. It has been almost 6 months since I've left my precious job in one of the top 10 international school in Singapore. I know! I know! Why don't I wait for paid 4 months maternity leave? It was tempting but there were many other factors going on.
My Abang needs to go to school. My baby girl is growing everyday and really needs her mummy. As for the new baby, he needs his mummy to get plenty of rest, put her legs up and also to get her home-economics organised before he arrives. It is also to lessen Mr Hubster's headache (and worry) of the dynamics of our home affairs. It was the right time to leave and I've no regrets. Though my old boss and colleagues kept emphasizing that I left a bigger than huge hole in the department, they were very understanding and knows that the family needs me. But they never failed to remind me that I was badly missed. Yikes!!! Oh well, I am sure the library could find a suitable replacement for me and they have found one. Also, I had left a pretty good and highly trained team. *Ego Alert!* I did say that it was the right time to leave, didn't I? It was almost the end of 2015 and I just had to decide whether to stay with my in-laws or our own home. Suddenly there were so many factors involved. The need to cut down on certain expenses, the hunt for a new PCF, the children routines, space for the whole family, children schooling, my maternity downtime, recovery and many more. But alhamdullillah, Mr Hubster and I managed to tackle it slowly. It is not like checking off tasks from the to-do list. It is more is a work in progress. After almost 6 months, Abang has settled into a desirable routine - hassle and tears free. He has managed to settle into his new kindergarten without a meltdown. I also learned to understand him more and be a better mum - not a screaming one. On another note, I screamed less now. As for my baby girl, she is with my mum on weekdays. She is our weekend baby but that will have to change when the new baby arrives. I also managed to get her into a playgroup. She starts in February. Our family will be together by March - hopefully. I guess time is all I need to tackle the daily challenges of being a SAHM. September and October 2015 was a period of adjustment. November and December was the time to bond with the children and we had a great time. The new month of January is for me to set down some firm routine with Abang in terms of settling into his new school. February will be another month of challenges with the new baby and another set of new routines with my baby girl. So come what may. I just need to have the patience and a calm mind to tackle my daily home affairs. So is being a SAHM a failure or a success? I am convinced that it is unfair and also not appropriate to grade a SAHM. Different mum has different set of challenges and home affairs. It is not just about cooking, cleaning and ironing. It is about the bigger picture. It is about being able to keep your family together and you being happy to always be there with them. Yes, I do sometimes missed cleaning the floors. Yes, I do only have time to shower only at the end of the day (well, sometimes). Yes, there were times that I do so much but gets nothing done. I do complain to myself sometimes. And hey, I am just human. I am tired. I am pregnant. I also dreaming of having a full-body spa. And I have no regrets being a mum - a happy and contented SAHM. PS: The next couple of months will be busy, busy, busy! I will try to find the time to blog. I miss writing - more like ranting. Hmmm... lets put it as sharing instead.
I'll never know what I'm going to get. With networking and exploring with resources available, it is up to you whether you are up to it. So, keep calm and continue exploring. I've moved on. My free trial with Explee (a freemium online service) has ended a few days ago and I'm itching to make more videos for THE HIVE.
It is a huge learning curve for me to take on a professional software, Final Cut Pro. And I am loving it. My video-making exposure with Adobe Première many years ago, gave me the experience and understanding on how to execute a video-making project. The production of the the video like getting the photos, clips and audio are very easy. The editing is the ultimate killer (I nearly died of heart attack - just joking). Let's not forget the video file type (.mov, .wmv etc), file compatibility, file size and corrupted file issues. These problems that I've faced for the last 2 days gave me multiple panic attacks and anxiety. However, it all went away when the final products were completed. Woohoo! Back to my video-making.... From Première to Windows Movie Maker; Explee to iMovie on my iPad and finally to Final Cut Pro. Phew... I've come a long way AND.... don't get your hopes too high, I am not a pro video maker (yet). Maybe I'll go for a course in the future. Nonetheless, it is fun to put together a video and a little stressful too (a little stress doesn't hurt. It keeps you on your toes). According to Atiqah, (our video-making guru in the Senior Library) a 1-min worth of video is equivalent to a few days to making. I have to profusely agree with her. I must thank Stephen Coughlan, the Film Studies tutor who guided me with the Final Cut software. I had a super duper crash course with him and am really grateful (Sorry Steve, a car and a house is beyond my budget! LOL!!!). He was very helpful and assisted me several times, eventhough I know that he is very busy with his assignment markings. For the last 2 days, I've managed to produce 3 short clips for the Year 9. Sadly, one of the files got corrupted and I have to remake it again. So, below are the videos I've uploaded onto our Vimeo account. It is a little raw and I am still learning... Tools, apps, software and materials used: 1) iPad mount stage from Apple Store (3/5 stars - heavy & hard to twist to certain angle) 2) iMovie on iPad (3/5 stars - functions are quite limited) 3) Explee.com (3/5 stars - rating dropped due to expired trial services) 4) iPad camera function (4/5 - stunning photo & video quality) 5) Final Cut Pro (4/5 - I've not fully explored it yet but am very happy to get to use it) Overall rating: 3/5 STARS Not a bad rating for video-making... People to thank - Stephen Coughlan and several Sixth Form students who willingly allowed me to take photo of their notes. You know who you are, girls. And Hui Ching for covering me that last half hour on Tuesday. Xiexie ni!!
Paper beads are inexpensive, easy-to-make and attractive to look at. You could use them in many types of projects such as jewellery making, curtain beading etc. Turn those colourful pages from old magazine or unused wrapping paper into beautiful piece of art.
This week, I was putting together an instruction sheet on THE HIVE "HOW TO..." series. Below is a video on "HOW TO MAKE PAPER BEADS". We had new features and adjustments added to the Zone. We have new "toys" to play too. More to come...
Once started, there is no way I'm turning back. The video-making bug has returned and I've been bitten. This time it is not that certain nasty flu bug. This time, it is the Explee bug and I am hooked.
I've few other video-making "toys" to play around and they had just arrived this week. I will blog about them soon. Meanwhile, watch a little teaser I made for THE HIVE below. This is the first for me so it is a little raw (more improvement to it soon).
Updated on 22 April 2015
Ok, I had quite enough of the Explee bug now. It is quite interesting and easy to put together. Super easy to do and you could have the finished products within 3 hours (if you have the contents and sort of know what message you want to put across). Otherwise, give it about a day to put the concept together. I would rate these freemium service:
Below is an unofficial video made for an advert to students. What do you think?
Card-making is a big business out there. We should draw up a price list and start charging people. The Baby Shower We recently had a lovely baby shower for one of our colleague from the Senior Library, Azlinda. She is heavily pregnant right now and will be delivering any time soon (I have a feeling that the baby would arrived early April). Baby shower won't be so complete without a card. A simple card with a lovely dress for the Aries baby & mummy (the mummy is not an Aries; Az, which horoscope star are you?!). She might be a Taurus if baby decides to pop much later. So, either Aries or Taurus, we still have to deliver a baby shower before the baby arrives. The Card The card was a simple design inspired from creations by creative individuals on Pinterest. I love the idea of a dress on the card. It took me quite a while to put all the elements together. The idea of the dress, the paper-clip hanger, the word "enjoy the fuss" and colour scheme were inspired from various Pins on the highly admired social media. It only made card-making very easy when you have all the materials ready, especially when you have a well-stocked makerspace. You just needed to mix and match the papers, the sequins, buttons and ribbons. Don't forget your handy scissors, glue and a dash of creativity; and you are set to go. Just remember to get your colleagues to sign the card before it makes it way to the new mummy and baby. You don't want to give them an empty card, do you? You have no idea how handy these cardboard boxes are. They might be quite ugly-looking but they are sure to make a pretty sturdy furniture!They might be ugly, boring looking and just plain brown. But do you know that it can be transformed into a furniture or any other useful tool in times of need? For example, during the recent passing of Singapore's legendary statesman, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, our fellow SIngaporeans came down to the Padang to join the 8-10 hours of queue & be on their way to pay respects to the great man. They make used of cardboards as make-shift mats and handy fans. Too bad, they didn't go the the workshop that we went last 2 Saturdays. Otherwise, they would have made a comfy sofa. Now back to the #upcycling workshop....
It was a lovely Saturday morning, 21 March 2015. Hot breakfast was waiting and I was very excited to start. Upcycling cardboards into furniture was something beyond me. Imagine me making a furniture, REALLY? I do not have any carpentry skills and I had not done any D&T lessons during my secondary schools. Well, does making a keychain count? Nah.... Hui Ching and me were back again in the Central Singapore office and were ready to start. That Saturday was extraordinarily packed and excitement was in the air. Most probably because it was still the March local school holidays. And that is why the room was crowded with kids and their mums as well as the same batch of elderly aunties from the previous weekend. I must thank Hui Ching for saving me a good seat which was near the breakfast table. Hui Ching and I had armed ourselves with cardboards (precut from the office) and penknives. And off we went planning, exploring and making. Once we started, we can't seemed to stop ourselves. So there, we thought about the problems that we had and the majority of us had the same problems; storage problem = lack of space. From drawers made out from pizza boxes to lingerie organiser using towel rolls; these inspiring "future cardboard extraordinaire" individuals do have a high level of substance in making. I was blown away (well, not so blown away by my skills though). I was impressed with the young ones, they were very adventurous and went the extra mile to make something unique. Unlike the other aunties like myself who weren't so daring to venture outside their comfort zone. I spoken with one of the mums there whose boys made a games table. Later on, during the presentation more functions were revealed, The table could doubled up as a storage for the games. There was one little girl made an art table with an adjustable legs and storage space. Amazing!!! And what did I create? A boring cabinet unit for charging my handphone and a footstool. Boo!!! I hope that there will be more opportunities like this. I don't mind stealing a couple of hours away from my munchkins on a Saturday morning to learn something new & network. Well, we had fun and were inspired to sell our furnitures (as if...), I donated my creations for the upcoming Central Singapore community event which will be happening on the 11th April 2015 at the HDB Toa Payoh hub. All for a good cause!
Your newspapers especially the old ones have more to offer than disseminating information and getting us the news.
I knew that I missed out on something when I received only S$0.50 from the "karung-guni man" when I sold away my three months old newspapers. A "karung-guni man" is a rag-and-bone entrepreneur who would buy your old wares for a paltry sum of money. You could sell your old television, broken telephone, wonky washing machine, many-months-old newspapers, outdated electronic devices like computers and many more. The amount of money you'll get from your sale will be so negligible that you would rather tossed them in the recycling bins located underneath your HDB blocks. Or if you have bulky items, look out for your friendly Bangladeshi housekeeping custodian and pay him a generous amount to have it moved from your home. Just don't throw them out of your window and become a serial killer litter bug. You have been warned!!! Upcycle Workshop Hui Ching & I attended a free workshop on "Upcycling" organised by the Central Singapore last Saturday morning, 14th March 2015. It was located at the HDB Hub, smacked in the middle of Toa Payoh bustling shopping district. We had to search for this peculiar lift lobby that services the office. It was tough to locate it as there were many lift lobbies serving different parts of the hub. Nonetheless, we managed to find it and were rewarded with a simple array of breakfast. A free workshop with a free breakfast is the way to go to start a Saturday and I have my old newspapers stashed in my bag. Central Singapore oversees many aspects community activities and initiatives targeting various groups like the youth and the seniors. Apart from the 3Rs (Re-Use, Reduce and Recycle) they are also keen on harnessing the Maker Movement and getting the community involved in making stuff. They are gearing towards the 'Smart Nation' campaign which the Singapore Government endorsed recently. The workshop was quite a hit with the elderly women and primary school kids. There were about 50 participants took part in this upcycling workshop led by a Dr from the Singapore Science Centre (I couldn't remember how to spell her name so lets call her Dr K). Dr K and her team were there to facilitate with our learning and she led the workshop in a non-traditional classroom way. The session was run like a store style. You like what you see, you stay to learn more for about 15 mins. After the see, look and learn, it was time to sit down and do. So, what do you normally do to your old newspapers? Based on the responses from the elderly aunties, most of them have pet dogs. They used the old papers as a potty for their beloved paw-friends. The non-pet owner like myself would either sell or toss. This is the reason why Central Singapore had this upcycling workshop; it is to educate us on how to make old stuff useful again. Do you know that upcycling is not the same as recycling? Upcycling vs Recycling Recycling is to categorise your stuff into paper, plastic and glass; bring them to your nearest recycling bins; authorised organisation would bring those bins to the recyling plant and processed them to become other materials (of course following with strict environmental procedures). Upcycling is to turn your old wares into something more useful like turning an old jeans into a bag; bottles into creative decoration; old sweaters to socks and many more. It is simply turning old, unused stuff into something useful and giving it a new lease of life. Inevitably giving a spark to entrepreneurs to sell their creative wares made from upcycled materials. I love this idea of entrepreneurship and maybe I might sell something in the future; something made from my old newspapers; making a sale worth more than $0.50, maybe; giving the 'karung guni' man a run for his money *evil laugh*. And so my adventure to turn the old newspapers into a piece of art began. I have to thank Cheryl Lee from the NYP GeoCouncil for her ideas and guidance. Hui Ching and I simply took instructions from this younger, more experience maker. It was a breath of fresh air and we learned a great deal. I learnt how to handle a hot glue gun. It was amazing. The inventor behind this device was simply a genius. A handy tool that melts plastic (aka glue) and safe enough to use for kids as young as 5 years old (And safe enough for a Little Miss Clumsy me!). Therefore, bye-bye UHU Twist&Glue and hello hot glue gun; you and I are going to be "bestfriends" (for now). So, here are some photos that I managed to snap and pose with the glue gun. Some of you might have seen them on the Maker Faire SG FB or on my twitter feed. It was sad that we had to leave our little art project behind. But it was all for a good cause. It will be displayed in a community event in Toa Payoh HDB Hub next month, April 11th. Nonetheless, enjoy the photos and hope that it would inspire you to start making something. Who knows, it might be you selling upcycled stuff off the Amazon.com or Facebook! It has been quite sometime since I last blogged about the Library's display. *feeling very guilty and dusting the cobwebs off* I have to admit that there were a few displays which had been put up but busy Azizah forgotten to snap a photo. Lets hope that she will not do that again. Nonetheless, I managed to captured the existing displays before they magically disappears to make way for new themes.
1) PLACES YOU WILL GO - This display was put up end of Nov 2014 before school closed. It was featuring the exciting destinations that I would likely go in the distant future (or maybe in another life). *Just kidding!!!* This display features several new travel guides that had been processed. There were more books when this display was put up. Looks like the patrons around here loves travelling (or like me, they simply dream to travel to those exotic places). 2) Reviving the Classics - Our collection has many books of a variety of genre. I simply picked out titles that were deemed to be classics from "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die" (CALL no: 028.1). Titles by Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Bram Stoker and many more. From Nov 2014 to Mar 2015, I have been putting up the 19th & 20th Century classic literary works. 3) Gong Xi Fa Cai : Make sure you ram into a good book! - It is the year of a goat/sheep/ram. Those who were born in 1979, this year is your year. Look out for your good or bad fortunes on your favourite Chinese astrologer website. If the predictions are in your favour, then good for you. If not, take them in your stride and write down your bad fortunes on a piece of paper, fold them up and hang it up (somewhere). A way to ward off misfortune the Japanese way. It might or might not work. OR don't listen to my nonsense!!! *Back to talking about CNY display* This display featuring great books that are worthy to be listed by the 'GOODREADS' readers and I've picked out 4 lists that were interesting enough to gain my attention (so I hoped that it would grabbed the attention of the students too). Hey, it worked!!! Though I didn't specially checked that those books were borrowed out but there were eyeballs. Below are the lists and books featured: Scandalous books you cannot believe you read - Flowers in the Attic - Go Ask Alice - IT - Twilight - The Perks of being a Wallflower Controversial books that will get you thinking - 1984 - Lord of the Flies - A Clockwork Orange - The Catcher in the Rye - The Silver Linings Play Book Books with ending you honestly didn't see coming! - Divergent - Uglies - Goblet of Fire - Beautiful Darkness - Hex Hall Books you agree are infinitely better than the movie - The Gulliver's Travel - The Hunger Games - Harry Potter series - The Golden Compass - Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief 4) Valentine's Day : Fall in Love Again... - I love this display. Give me a romance theme anytime... A simple and not so fancy display that featured romance titles like star-crossed lovers, Romeo & Juliet to hot romances like Twilight to complicated love like Jane Eyre to nursing a breakup like Incarnate. Using Adobe Fireworks, I put all the book covers on the heart template, printed it on Blockposter and put it out. I just have to make sure that the book covers are all in high resolution. 5) BOOKS ON SCREEN - This is yet another easy to put up display. Since I needed to refresh some of the boards, I cheated this time round. This 'refreshed' board is featuring literary works that had made it onto the screen (aka movie). All I needed were to cut out the headings for the board and then browse the shelves to pick out books that had been made into a movie. Our collection has plenty and I had a happy problem - my board cannot display all the books that I had picked. And so another reselection and this time I chose books with an attractive cover. If the books could speak, they would retort and accused me of being unfair. But sorry, I have to go with aesthetics. 6) International Women's Day 2015 : MAKE IT HAPPEN! - This year the IWD theme is "Make it Happen". Every year, I had to spend quite some time on this display. IWD would come up with different theme every year to celebrate women from different walks of life and made many sacrifices (see last year's theme). After much research, this year the board is featuring female authors who struggled, fought, work hard and persevere till they became successful and famous. From an unknown rejects to a literary darling who sold millions of copies (one of them is a Pulitzer award winner). I salute J.K Rowling, Agatha Christie, Judy Blume, L.M Montgomery, Beatrix Potter, Margaret Mitchell, Stephanie Meyers, Meg Cabot, Alice Walker, Audrey Niffenegger, Kathryn Stokett, Catherine O'Flynn & Louisa May Alcott. 7) 90 Years of GOOD Literature : celebrating T90 - It was book week and the Interactive & Reference Zone are collaborating to do up a libguide and a T90 Book Week Challenge for Year7 & Y8. It would be complete without a library display right? A board displaying books from the 1940 till 2010 have been put up. Jacqui had a list for the libguide and the book challenge, I just chose the ones that are available on the shelf. And I would like to thank Mr Ben Farr for sharing his resources and inspiration that partly contributed to the creation of this display. Upcoming display - At the present moment, there are a few themes to consider like National Poetry Month, Tribute to Leonardo Da Vinci, Library Week, Stress Awareness & Banned Books. And so I am #stillthinking... The students are quite happy writing onto the glass window using the liquid chalks. More will be explored, maybe with whiteboard marker perhaps?!
Our collaborative zone is coming together slowly. We have been opened to students for about a month and the zone has attained a stream of regulars.
From 2nd to the 13th Feb, I was helping out at the Infant Library. It was nice to see the infants there and entertained their antics. Classes were back to back and time zoomed past to quickly before the 2 weeks were up. I didn't manage to get enough pictures to record but I always like the colourful library.
Valentine's Day is coming soon and so the making of pop-up card, I decided to try out. Not bad for a first attempt.
As for the display, I played with large decorative font and a huge heart featuring the covers of romantic novels. Our team must thank Mrs Susan Peart for her expertised in scotch garding the chairs. It was not an easy job, I have to say. (She was on her knees and elbows in her white overalls and face mask! Azizah witnessed the whole process)
Well, I've invested a great deal of time trying my hands at new crafts. It was a good learning curve (the sewing part). Sewing on felt is so tough. Baby shoes didn't look nearly like one on my 1st attempt. Nonetheless, I am so pleased with my plushy owl.
Today, we (Jacqui, Suzanne, Nadiyah & I) went to the German European School to check out their D&T department. Their workshops were located in quite far away from the main school. We had to walk quite a distance to get there but it was a great walk after the rain. We had to cross a long wooden bridge which suspended across a jungle and a little stream. The experience was as though we were trekking in the nature reserve. We saw spiders, squirrels and other creepy crawlies (I shall not further elaborate). Nonetheless, it was a good walk (have I not stressed that earlier?!). The teacher who greeted us there was very friendly and helpful showing us around. We also witnessed their students in action and learned a thing or 2 about some of their projects and equipment. It was about lunchtime, so Jacqui & Suzanne has to go back to school to attend their Christmas lunch. Nadiyah and me headed off to the Science Art Museum to see Living with Leonardos. It was an exciting day for us. We silk-screened, learned to hologram, tried out the 3D doodler and (my favourite) got our heads 3D printed. We might introduce some of the things we learnt at the museum to you during our upcoming HIVE launch (dates to be confirmed). |
Who am I?An autism SAHM. Mommy to #3kiddosunder5. A wife to an adoring husband (a.k.a a Trekkie & a hardcore LOTR fan). Currently taking a break from my full-time job (as a Librarian and maker) to taste the livelihood of a 'tai-tai'. Categories
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