Walk with Me

Botswana - Taking It All In.

2012-01-08T08:11:00.000-08:00

This is Part 2 of our trip to Botswana in December 2011. Part 1 is in the post before this.

It was fun to take it all in, truly fascinating and interesting....

A mud hut - apparently this type of roof is now expensive to make. Inside it is cool (cool, as in temperature. Well, cool as in awesome, too!) In the winter, around May - July, it is warm.

Wild flowers bloom nonchalantly here and there making a pretty picture in the midst of savannah scrub, Botswana's natural vegetation (geez, I'm beginning to sound like something on National Geographic).

Wha_?? Yes, THE Livingstone Memorial. Can you believe this? (However, I am not sure if this is the only memorial set up for Dr David Livingstone.)
"Britain wanted the body to give it a proper ceremony, but the tribe would not give his body to them. Finally they relented, but cut the heart out and put a note on the body that said, "You can have his body, but his heart belongs in Africa!" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Livingstone#Death
We only passed by this spot but had we lingered here, I would have shed tears just at the thought of one person's sacrifice for a nation. And yes, we should take our hat off, Paul!

It seems like African guys usually have their hair cropped very short, while the ladies, even young girls, seem to place a lot of emphasis on their hair. In the town, you could find make-shift hairdressing spots with just chairs and tools set up under trees. There, several hairdressers will be busily braiding away!

Here's a family friend's young daughter who had hers done at home...this is art, I'm tellin' ya!

BFFs - my husband Paul, and Boago's father, Mr Matshuba - don't they look like brothers separated when young, discovering each other, and finally being reconciled across the continents! (I know, I have quite an imagination.) They are togged up like this for Christmas service in church. (Africans seem to dress up much more formally than we Malaysians do when attending church, and all the more at Christmas. So we followed suit. Geddit, geddit, followed suit? Sometimes I'm so funny I actually make myself laugh!)

We Malaysians are such a multi-racial bunch, our costumes are now such a (con-)fusion of everything. My daughter goes Chinese while I go Indian because we are both and neither at the same time.

The Matshubas. Esther (orange)is in a traditional African costume. I'm blinded by those flashin' teeth!

The stage backdrop of the church we attended (took about an hour to arrive in the town church) on Christmas day. These are pieces of cloth pulled taut and tied down.

Pizza joint in town for Christmas lunch!

Here are some other photos that I thought might interest you....

What did we eat in Botswana?

Look out for the next post!

If you have enjoyed this account of our trip, do write comments at the bottom of this blog post. I'd love to know what you think, and I do try to answer every one of them! (It takes me forever to upload photos/videos by the way.) Several of you have mentioned having problems getting your comments through, in which case, you can send me your comment through facebook or email and I will copy it here.

gemsforlife@gmail.com
facebook: Valerene Matthews

How we ended up in Botswana, Africa!

2012-01-01T08:40:00.000-08:00

It all started with this guy......(love this photo of you, Boago! so handsome)

Boago is a student from Botswana. My husband and I first met him in church here in Malaysia, shortly after he arrived. This was about three years ago. We had offered to give him a ride home and we hit it off right away. He decided he'd 'adopt' us as his Malaysian parents.

My husband Paul, and me, in Botswana

These are his real parents in Botswana (in clothing brought over from Malaysia - how cute are they, holding hands and all?)....

As such, he was often invited to join us on the trips we planned in Malaysia, whether to the movies, hotsprings, Royal Selangor (pewter) showroom, Bird Park, a hot-air balloon ride, firefly sanctuary. We grew close with him. And we love him dearly.

Can you tell?

I even took him to the kindergarten where I once worked, for him to talk about his native country, teach an African song, and spend time with the kids. They loved him, too!

My friends became his friends...(oh! nice top, Huda)
He became my 'partner-in-crime'...

This is me with his sparring partner, my friend and 'personal nurse' ~~who~~ ~~nags me to death to drink more water~~, Esther. Boago and Esther have this brother-sister love-hate relationship...
(Esther gave me leopard-print ear-rings for my birthday to wear to Botswana! heehee!)

But seriously, Boago is a fun-loving, gentle, friendly, teachable, talented, musically-inclined and most important of all, God-fearing young man.

Boago, you da man!

As my husband works with Malaysian Airlines (MAS), we get a 'free' ticket annually to any part of the world that MAS flies to. Only the youngest of our three kids is eligible for this free ticket too, since the other two are already working adults. We decided we'd go visit Boago's family for this year's trip, just recently in December 2011, and spend Christmas with them. Boago was also back there on semester break. It is an 11-hour flight to Johannesburg (the city that MAS flies to), and a 6-hour drive to Botswana.

Here are some quick photos on our trip.

This is the little village where Boago hails from, Mochudi. It is about a one-hour drive from the capital, Gaborone.

This large compound belongs to their family! The building on the right is the house, while the mud hut on the left (formerly their home) is now their kitchen. The foundation for a bigger house is being built in the foreground.

I wish I'd had the experience of staying in the mud hut when it was still their home.
From left: Esther (Boago's cousin), his mum, my husband Paul and our youngest daughter, Tammy.

Meals were in different spots each time, usually under the shadiest tree, and I loved that idea (tree-shades, geddit geddit?), and inside the house only when it rained.

As there wasn't enough room at their place for us to stay at, we were put up in this building, about an 8-minute walk away:
It's a hairdressing salon, not being used at the moment. All around were pictures of ladies in different hairstyles staring down at us - with the words "Dark and Lovely" appearing here and there, an advertisement for dark hair I presumed. This, I found quite amusing, as we in Malaysia have a brand name "Fair and Lovely" which is a facial cream that is supposed to make you fairer.

And so began our holiday. Tune in for Part 2 as soon as I look for some more photos....

The More the Merrier Christmas Cookies

2011-12-14T09:16:00.000-08:00

Yah, so I've said it many times that I do not like cooking or baking....except when it's something creative and fun to do.

You will recall my ordeal in trying to follow a recipe - click this.
You can see what we did last year round about Christmas time...click here
And you can see what my Spaghetti Aglio..no, Olio....whatever...looks like.

This year I wanted to make gingerbread cookies again but the real fun part for me, is icing them.
Making the cookies is tiring for me. I decided to ask (on facebook) if anybody might want to make them with me. I had two people who were game. RJ and G arrived yesterday evening.

What fun we had coming up with these...

Look at how each person can have a different idea....so fascinating.

And then, for one of the batches in the oven I must've accidentally pushed the wrong button, and the poor cookies got...ummm...a tan?
I think I must've had Botswana on my mind....(where my hubby, youngest daughter and I are heading soon - SO excited!).

Ah well, make the most of it. We decided since they were black anyway, we'd pipe icing on some of them to look like penguins.......and then got carried away. Here's the back of a black plastic container with an aeroplane cookie flying above icing snow and an icing snowman, with the penguin cookies....

And the next day, I had leftover dough and icing so I got some little girls to come over to have fun. Someone asked how did you find SIX little girls in such a short time? Trust me, parents are more than willing to send them off with me especially since it's the school holidays now. They were already talking about next year's Christmas plans.....

See how even a child can do it? easy!

Thanks RJ, G and young ladies.....!

And Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

Christmas and a Malay Tradition

2011-11-29T07:53:00.000-08:00

As Christmas approaches....

................................................Christmas wreath, our front door

... I am thinking of a wonderful tradition that the Malays have. My Malay friend informs me that Google says it is practised by the Malays particularly in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei.

*For my foreign readers, when we say 'Malays' here in Malaysia, we mean one of the races of people found in this multi-racial country. The nationality of all citizens of Malaysia on the other hand, which is made up of Chinese, Indians, Eurasians and other races is Malaysian. The reason I am mentioning this is, some foreigners mistakenly call us, the people of Malaysia, Malays, instead of Malaysians.

Now that I've cleared that up...

............Winter scene on top of shoe cupboard, porch entrance - winter in Malaysia, HAH!

This is the tradition: On one of the Malays' special festive days, Hari Raya Aidil Fitri, which is once a year, the family gathers and the children line up, eldest to youngest, to seek for forgiveness from their parents. (In some families, the parents are seated and the child kneels before each parent.) Then each child clasps their hands over their parents' hands, and says words like, "Maaf zahir dan batin" which means, "Forgive me for my wrong words and/or deeds" or a simple, "Minta ampun dan maaf" which means, "Please forgive me, I am sorry".

.................Cushions given as gifts, 2 with green, and 2 with red backgrounds - love them!

For some, this is done among the members of the immediate family and, on visiting the grandparents' home, the children and grandchildren of the elderly folks repeat this gesture before them. It is basically rooted in the tradition of the younger ones showing respect for the elder ones, so siblings also seek forgiveness from their older ones.

...............Deco on "Lady Victoria", a rescued cupboard blogged about earlier on

There is variation on how this is done, with some families doing it privately.

Wives also practise this tradition with their husbands, and vice versa. This is repeated when the in-laws are visited, the couple to their parents-in-law.

...............................................Christmas ladder!

This tradition has been observed by Malays for many, many years. Of course, the gesture is supposed to be carried out with sincerity, although, how sincere the person is should not be questioned.

...............Dining area corner - frames are windows thrown out by furniture shop

.......................Dining area lamp prettified - twigs picked up from around neighbourhood

Now, how.awesome.is.that!

Imagine, all the mischief, disobedience, disrespect, rebellion done over the past year by the younger one is brought before the older one who does not hold account of them anymore. It's like casting off your wrongdoings, deleting them. It's like having your slate wiped clean from the past year's offenses. It's like starting over, with new-year resolutions.

..................................Garlanded stairs (not lit up in this pic)

I know it is an American tradition to show appreciation to family members (although that was not how the tradition was started) by sometimes sharing kind words of thankfulness and then sharing a toast to one other at the Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving Day is the day they remember to be grateful for people and things around them.

........................Christmas tree against faux brick wall (painted)

But I don't know of any one day where Christians actually observe the practice of seeking forgiveness from loved ones. Of course, we can argue that we should be doing that throughout the year, as soon as we wrong someone even. But my point is, sometimes when a special day is observed to practise an honorable gesture like this, it allows for time to take stock. Giving and receiving forgiveness will not be taken for granted and brushed off, or put off to another time, but would be purposefully thought of. Just like we should appreciate our loved ones throughout the year, yet Valentine's Day, regardless of its origin, is the day many have adopted to be the day to remember and appreciate loved ones.

As I was putting up the Christmas decorations around our house this year (hence all the photos above, because I like my posts to have some eye-candy!), this was what I was pondering about. Traditions that are so worth-mentioning and maybe even adopting.

...........................Awesome tissue box with harlequin design

.................................Baubles make me happy

What do you think?

. As you consider the year as it closes, are there wrongs you need to make right with the simple (but may not be easy) act of asking for forgiveness?
Wooden rocking horse thrown out by a playschool. Original colour - a loud purple with yellow flowers and green rocking legs - painted white and brown, and distressed. "Reins" are twine with 2 silver bells hung from them.

.................................The cutest toadstools ever!

. Are there people who have wronged you but you have consciously or unconsciously with-held forgiveness from? your parents, bosses, partners, colleagues, friends, siblings?

. Something to think about - if we with-hold forgiveness from any one person, who is the one who loses out?

. Sometimes, do you think, it is not even about who wronged who, but it is more about nurturing and restoring a relationship?

. My bet is, being unforgiving, holding grudges, being bitter, contributes to a lot of illnesses, not to mention sleepless nights

...................................Reindeer bandanna

May we have a Blessed and Forgiving Christmas.

*the writer of this blog reads and enjoys every comment! Look for the comment section at the end of the blog and leave one there, would you? I do try to reply each one.

* do sign up as a follower of this blog, too! that's the column on the right....who knows, a Christmas gift may be coming your way!

Room Makeover (My Mum is Moving in - Part 2)

2011-10-27T07:54:00.000-07:00

In my last blog post I showed you the dresser makeover I did for my Mum's room, before she moved in. This is the second and last part of the room makeover.

First, some before photos...

curtains were these...

there was a tall wardrobe in one corner (now replaced with the dresser)...

walls and doors needed a fresh coat of paint...

the single bed was at the other corner of the room...

First, I sewed new curtains for the room. I had actually bought a pale cream material for the curtains, but to my horror, they showed terrible blotches all over when held up to the sunlight. So back to the store I went with the rejected material, and this was the only alternative they could give me. Pink! hmmm...not me at all. But my daughter helped me tone it down with the Ikea lacy ones which were at a ridiculous price of RM39 (about US$10) for a pair! (she took one piece for her own room - I think that was the plan all along)

And then I was stuck! How in the world does a green dresser go with pink curtains!
This was not what I had envisioned! So I figured the only way I could pull it all together was if I bought bed linen that would somehow match everything. I searched high and low but could not find any that 'flowed'. I was in trouble.

And then I found it! The perfect, perfect, perfect colours in a quilt which could double up as a bedspread as well as a blanket, as it was the thinner version that is more suitable for our weather. But it was for a double bed, so it was more costly. How I had sat for a good half hour deliberating if I could splash so much money when all I needed was a quilt for a single bed. Finally, I decided I liked it too much, it was for my mother after all, I couldn't be looking anymore, so I splurged. And the salesgirl from China said, "you are good daughter".

Wanna see, wanna see??
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See a close-up of the floral print and the perfect colours! (pink from my curtains and green from my dresser!)

It reminded me of the tea-set I had bought and blogged about some months ago.

AND! AND! I had an idea of what I'd do with the balance material as I had to cut off one side that was too long (obviously) for the bed.
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(holding my heart)
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eeeeeeeeeeek!! And now I shalt waxeth poetic! The balance for a valance!

I'm totally cheating here. I was going to make a wooden beam for the valance (I even bought a piece of meranti wood) but Mum moved in before I could make it. So I just pinned on the balance quilt material onto the existing curtains. You couldn't tell, could you? I'll get round to making the beam. Some day. Maybe.

Also, several months ago, I had bought these two used wooden-framed mirrors, (3 feet tall!) also at a steal - RM15 each.

At first I painted the frames black. Here you can see a during photo, because I don't have a photo of the completed black ones. And they remained so, displayed in my dining room, side by side.
Then I decided to use them in the rooms. The white in me (I have noticed more and more I love white) decided to paint them white. Mum got the clean white while daughter got the distressed one.

Here's Mum's white mirror with a small table covered with vintage, lacy cloth that belongs to her. She is particular about her hair, and I knew she would need a table to sit at, to do it up. (psst...if ever you meet her, tell her how nice her hair is and she'll love you immediately...no, on second thoughts, don't. She'll get suspicious because I know how my friends are - they will ALL really do so!)

Oh, wait. Look at the cute, antique stool that came with her?

See the fresh coat of very light grey paint on the walls and a darker shade for the doors?

A pink rug for just outside the bathroom.
Her Ikea side table that moved in with her. I added a pewter jug (belongs to her) with leaves...

What did my Mum say when she walked into the room?
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"Wah, got a nice big mirror for me to do my hair!"

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Dressing a Dresser (My Mum is Moving In - part 1)

2011-10-20T07:50:00.000-07:00

My Mum is moving in with us.

update: I started this post much earlier but it wasn't published. She moved in last Saturday.

How exciting! It's such an honour for me*. Gotta get her room ready. Gotta sew her some curtains. Gotta get some furniture pieces in for her. Gotta get new bed linen. Gotta get her little rugs. (I really gotta stop using the word gotta.)

My Mum is so unlike me. She is definitely the 'girlie' kind. And she's cute. Here she is with my son.
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I told you she is cute!

Me? I'm all for rustic, distressed, rough, country style. And I'm a tomboy. Here I am in my shorts, dirty oversized t-shirt, hair up to keep it away from sweaty face, blotches of paint up to my elbows....
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(you didn't think I would post a photo of me like that, did you?! Really!)

So it was with much trial and error I did up her room, all the while feeling stumped cos I had no idea what a girlie kind of person would like - and with much consultation with my also-girlie daughter . (I really should stop using the word cos - cos it's slang and I think I gotta cut down on slang words. Like gotta)

I had this dresser which I thought I could let her have, ~~cos~~ because my bedroom had too many pieces of furniture in it.
While I liked the piece as a whole, I didn't like the wood ~~cos~~ because it was patchy..look at the side of the dresser..

And a close-up of the wood (I ~~gotta~~ have to find out why it was made like this).

At first, I wanted to paint it, and have the wood show through in a leaf motif. (I stuck on stencils I had cut out of cardboard - don't ask. I'm an amateur DIY-er)
But that just didn't turn out right...

I didn't like the leaves ~~cos~~ because they were too 'spiky' - even for me! Great idea, though..~~gotta~~ have to try again next time, with a different motif.

So back to re-painting and sandpapering off some of the paint.
I have no idea why I used green. Maybe ~~cos~~ because it's a calm colour to walk into your bedroom to, when you want to turn in? I can't imagine walking into a red room!

My girlie-consultant thought her Granny wouldn't like the distressed, vintage look like I had done for the cupboard my husband had rescued from her house months ago. So I gave this one a clean look.

A rug to match (I had already painted the walls a pale grey, and the doors a darker grey).
And then of course, ever since I discovered I have a thing about knobs, I had to change the little ones (they were really little) that didn't make any impact...

to wider ones, darkening the colour, too.

BEFORE

AFTER

Tune in to Part 2 for the complete room make-over.

1. Does anyone know where to get really, really fancy cupboard knobs/handles here in Malaysia?
2. What do you think of my dresser dressed in green? Even if you feel I should have just let.it.be, do let me know. I really ~~wanna~~ want to know what you think.

*Honour your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Deuteronomy 5:16

The Scent of a Man

2011-09-29T06:11:00.000-07:00

Ok, so you guys have GOT to try this! I discovered that you can actually make deodorant!
Waaaaaaaait! Don't stop reading and start thinking, "This time she's really gone off her rocker".

Like you probably are also, I was apprehensive when I heard about it. But after reading much on the subject, I thought, "what could I possibly lose?"

What's more, I read that store-bought deodorants usually have harmful chemicals in them. And they could stain your clothes. And you pay much more for them. Ok, so those reasons are not in order of importance. (But neither are the discussion points in a political meeting brought up in order of importance. Or so I heard.)
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(you're thinking about the relevance of that one, aren't you?)

WOOHOO! YIPPEE! WAKA WAKA! YAHOO! GOOGLE and what have you! It works!

Proof: my husband has been using this concoction that I whipped up for him, for about three months now, and he has no complaints at all. And I have none either (bear in mind I am closest in proximity to him every day - and night). We've even been going hiking of late, which really brings out the sweat in us, and still there are no untoward after-effects, if you know what I mean.

Why was my husband picked for this experiment? Cos he's always game for anything ~~that saves him money~~ I try out. He's my biggest supporter like that, y'know.

Sometimes.

I mean, SOMEtimes...

I had to look high and low for the proportions again because, as usual, I forgot where I got it from - maybe Google, maybe Pinterest, maybe another blogger...

Here goes:

5 tbsp. of extra virgin coconut oil
1/4 – 3/8 cup of baking soda
1/4 – 3/8 cup of cornstarch
Essential oils (optional)

This is the coconut oil I use, and no, they don't pay me for saying this. pfft. Don't be put off by this ingredient - it does have a mild fragrance which you may or may not like, but it actually gets toned down with the addition of the other stuff. I buy this in the cosmetics section at Mydin (where else? I live practically next door to Mydin). It costs a little over 9 ringgit but don't forget, you only use 5 tablespoonsful of it.

The cornstarch can also be substituted with arrowroot powder..which I have no idea is what and very likely neither do you, so I shouldn't have bothered with this sentence of 34 words and 3 numbers.
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(you counted, didn't you?)

The essential oils (the suggestion was for tea-tree oil) I didn't bother with, because I didn't know where to get any. And as we have found out, it is unnecessary. It says optional in the ingredients list anyway. Then why call it essential, huh? huh? Really!

Just use a spoon and mix all these ingredients up in a bowl - it's that easy!

You should get a paste-like consistency. If you don't, just add more oil if it is too dry, or more cornstarch if too wet. The consistency should be like....KFC's mashed potatoes. I don't think Colonel Sanders will mind if I say this, do you? Hey, I'm helping people with their personal hygiene!

My first batch I put into a glass jar with a lid and my husband applied it under his arms with his fingers. Then I read of one lady who actually emptied her roll-on deodorant and filled it up with this paste. Hmmm...does that mean I should actually buy a roll-on one now since we haven't been getting any for some weeks already?

This batch I've put into above mentioned KFC's mashed potato takeaway plastic tub. By now Colonel Sanders should love me...I recycle.

Now that I've made a new batch just for this blog post, and my husband still has a lot from the last (first?) batch....does anyone want to try this out? Just be sure to label it. Or someone might think it's you-know-what and eat a glob of it. You can have the fun of choosing your own label for it. I think I'll call mine...

Oh, you help me with a name. I can't think anymore.

Beauty in your Trash

2011-09-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a wooden high chair that my tuition kid's mother was throwing out! Wha- ?
Like a wet kitten stuck in a deep monsoon drain, I rescued it immediately.

It only had one flaw, but I didn't care. I could see its potential!

I painted it yellow. Yellow makes me happy. (I even painted my kitchen walls yellow - the shade was called Jovial!)

But I wasn't happy with the shade of yellow the paint shop had. I wanted something more mustard-yellow. No worries, it'll get fixed somehow.

I sanded to distress it - with an electric sander
which vibrates so badly you feel you've been
de-fragmented when you're done using it.

Then I used wood stain to stain it.
Now I was happy with the colour.

But still not happy-happy, you know? I wanted a second tier.

I had, some time earlier on, collected a thingy I found cast away under a tree (really! the things people throw away!)

Is this a headboard for a child's bed, or the railing of a cot, perhaps?

I knocked off the slats...

And nailed them to make my second tier.
And painted, sanded, distressed and wood stained the new tier.

Moral of this story: What's trash to someone is treasure to another.

Please don't throw things like this away! Call me. I'll come to their rescue.

I may not be faster than a speeding bullet
... or more powerful than a locomotive
... or able to leap tall buildings in a single bound
... I certainly do not wear blue onesies with red underwear on the outside

... but I can drive.

So how cute is this?

*the writer of this blog reads and enjoys every comment! Look for the comment section at the end of the blog and leave one there, would you? I do try to reply each one.

* do sign up as a follower of this blog, too! that's the column on the right...(according to the stats, this blog averages 500 readers per post now - woo hoo!! thanks for being faithful readers!)

New Look

2011-08-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

Finally, I have a picture of my very own for my blog header. The earlier, gorgeous one -

was taken from Google, if I remember correctly (obviously taken by professionals). This new one up there is a photo we took while on holiday in New Zealand, in April of this year (we're not professionals but the picture is beautiful anyway).

In case you wondered why this blogspot name is tree-shades, well, I wanted a name that had something to do with trees (the actual name for the blog is Walk with Me, but we couldn't get that header in earlier on, no matter what we tried).

(New Zealand 2011)

You did wonder why my blogspot had such a strange name, didn't you?

Didn't you? (cue sound of a cow mooing in the far distance beyond the hills...)

However, whichever name Tammy my daughter, tried to register my blog with, like "Under the Shade of a Tree", "Sitting Under a Tree" etc, it was somehow taken up...so I had to settle for tree-shades (planted a hyphen right in the middle so nobody could possibly have a similar name). And , that, dear folks, is how this odd name came about.

See? I knew you'd find that interesting....(above mentioned cow in the far distance beyond the hills just mooooved away)

I loooove trees...we just kinda blend together. Can you see?

(NZ 2011)

I think it has a lot to do with the fact that my growing up years were spent
- climbing trees
- building tree houses
- picking pink water jambu, bananas, papayas, mangosteens and rambutans from trees in our backyard or in the neighbourhood.

The house we grew up in was a humongous government house, with a very large garden in front, and another at the back.
And a lot of our time (I have two sisters and three brothers)...

(Freeman Road, Kuala Lumpur, maybe 1967)

....was spent outdoors
- using nets to catch butterflies from the hedges around our house
- scooping up tadpoles and colourful guppies from the drains
- trapping birds with a propped up cardboard box, long string trailing up to our hand, awaiting our victim
- collecting grasshoppers in glass jars with holes pierced through the lid
- playing 'rounders' with a broken wooden beam
- catching and making spiders 'fight' each other on top of matchboxes...

(what? you didn't do all that when you were young?)

So I think being among trees calms me. See how calm I am (in the middle) leaning against a tree?

Oh, wait...that's not a tree. That's my husband.
Ok, but you get my point...
- strong
- stalwart
- dependable
(yes, yes, our anniversary is coming and yes, yes, I'll be happy with just chocolateS, dear. Muak! and don't think I don't know you are reading all my blog posts. And do read this one carefully. I did not say I wanted a tree..) Why do I get the feeling I'm barking up the wrong tree? Tsk.

Really, I love trees so much that if you ever discover an unnamed tree, name it after me! Maybe Pithecellobium Valerenia.

(NZ, 2011)

I came across a beautiful quote on trees:

We can learn a lot from trees: they're always grounded but never stop reaching heavenward. - Everett Mamor

Why wouldn't they? It's natural instinct for Creation (including you and me) to reach heavenward towards the Creator. I can't imagine otherwise!

And I found beautiful trees posing with my daughters.
I mean, my beautiful daughters posing with trees.
My beautiful daughters posing with beautiful trees.
Ok, it's correct now.

(Joni, Singapore 2010)

(Tammy, NZ 2011)

Ummm...
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Got a caption for my Hero up there? I mean, in there? sighhhhhh....

I might share my much-anticipated chocolates (Cadburybarwithhazelnutsoralmondsplease thankyou) with you.
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Nehhhhhhh. Not likely.

So Who's Comin' with Us?

2011-08-02T19:39:00.000-07:00

I love this place. My husband Paul, my daughter Tammy, and I took my mother and mother-in-law here, a couple of months ago. I really want to make another trip! Who's coming with us this time?

This is just one of the several public hotspring pools in this one spot. The water in this one is so hot you can only dip your feet in. There's also a much larger pool with milder heat, where you can swim around. That was glorious! Sorry, enjoyed myself so much I forgot to take a photo.

That's my Mum in the black floral outfit, ever the social butterfly, chatting up a group that was there. She just plonked herself among them and made herself at home! The group was playing that Murder-with-a-Wink game, you know? the one where the appointed Murderer has to be identified as he winks at the others. You have to wink at someone else if you're winked at, so there's a lot of winking going on...the aim is to catch the Murderer who is the one who initiates the first wink....or something like that. Well, my mother was so amused with them winking at each other, I bet if she was included she would SO be taking part in this game. And what a massacre that would be! Cos my mother is cute like that (wink wink).

And, that's my mother-in-law (! ) thoroughly enjoying herself in the COLD mountain spring pool, also located here! See how it's ideal for people who wouldn't want to be seen in swimsuits? Heck, I bet they'll even let you in, saree and all. Isn't my mother-in-law cute? (wink wink). And no, I am not saying this with a murderous tone, though I know some people have Mother-Out-Laws.

And yes, now I know where my husband gets his signature pose....

As you can tell by now, I love teasing my hubbie (wink wink). And he loves it whenever I feature him on my blog. pfft.

Mother-in-law, thoroughly enjoying herself! Oh, I already said that?

This is the super-hot pool where you lower down eggs in a basket and have them hard-boiled. Some say the eggs taste different but it's actually the thrill of boiling them this way that is the novelty, if you ask me. You can buy the eggs there (not too expensive), as you're not allowed to bring your own in. Whatever you do, DO NOT fall in here! Cos I have a terribly vivid imagination and all kinds of things come to my mind....
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Place: Felda Hotspring, Sungei Klah

Location: About halfway to Ipoh (from Kuala Lumpur, about 70km)

Directions: Take the North-South Expressway (PLUS), exit at Sungkai toll exit. Sungkai is between Slim River and Bidor. Look for the TRAP signboards (Taman Rekreasi Air Panas), Sungai Klah, or Felda Residence Hot Springs. It's about 20 minutes from the toll exit. The roads may look very rural but don't worry, you'll get there.

Travelling time: 1 hr 15mins if you're a mad driver, 1 hr 45mins if you're a careful driver - and if you don't get lost

Operating hours: 8am - 10pm

Cost: Entrance fee 10 ringgit per person, for free use of hot pools with varying degrees of heat, and large cold mountain spring pool with man-made waterfalls and slides, clean bathroom facilities, parking area

When: Saturday, 20th August, 2011.

Meeting time: 9am

What to bring: A change of clothes, towel, toiletry, some money to buy food and eggs for boiling, drinking water (I think it will be allowed). Swimwear unnecessary (shorts and tee-shirt will do - sarees, too)

What is a hotspring? Here's what the Felda website says:
Natural hot springs are a common occurrence in Peninsular Malaysia. This phenomenon occurs when water that seeps into the Earth is heated by magma; molten rock located beneath the surface of the Earth.The Earth’s pressure then causes the water to again rise above the surface, forming a natural hot spring.

If you don't know, hotspring water is supposed to have therapeutic qualities.

The water flowing from the hot springs has several therapeutic healing effects. Since ancient times hot springs have been claimed to have positive effects on ailments such as:

Stiff joints and stress related ailments
Rheumatism
Arthritis
Insomnia
Derma related complaints
Respiratory concerns
Spinal injuries and fractures

Other facilities:

1. villas (for families staying in)- Fully booked now, as it is half-price during this Muslim Fasting month

2. hotel rooms - still available, on offer RM110 (for 2 persons in one room).

3. private family bath (this is a hot pool to yourselves, no need to share) - 75 ringgit
per hour, 6 - 8 persons

4. larger private family bath - 150 per hr, 6 - 8 persons

5. large private family pool - 15ringgit per person, total 3 hours

If you plan to stay the night, we'd have to book early so please respond quickly. In any case, we'll be going for a day-trip if we don't manage to get a reservation.

Here's the website for more information:

http://www.feldatravel.com.my/Residences/HotSprings/hotspring_rna.shtml

It's a great way to bond!

So who's coming? Please send me a message here, in the comments section.

Things that go bump in the night (and day) at our house

2011-07-13T06:31:00.000-07:00

I'm a-tellin' ya, it's getting reeeally strange. The first noticeable thing happened last Christmas. I had decided it would be a quiet one since my Dad had just passed away shortly before that. So no decorations were put up, no big gathering was planned.

And then all of a sudden, I woke up one morning and found our Christmas tree, with all her glory (lights, baubles, the works) was up!

Elves, I'm tellin' ya, elves!

Incident number 2. Some time ago, I discovered a purplish thumb-drive.

In the washing machine.

It had gone through the whole cycle of being soaked, detergented, rinsed, water-drained, spun, and tumble-dried. The machine had been set to 'high' water level, 'economy' and 'speedy' mode (this information given in case you ever need to have a thumb-drive laundered, and I'm helpful like that).

So I mentioned it on facebook, saying that the owner (read: family members) could collect it from the clothesline outside, where I had hung it out to dry along with the clothes it had been washed with.

And yes, I have to facebook my family even if we do live in the same house (*rolls eyes, LOL, click 'like', add comment, and what have you).

And no one, NO ONE, claimed it. Then whose was it?

3. Then of course there are the chocolates that go missing from the fridge.
But let's not talk about that.

4. And of late??

Remember my downstairs toilet? Remember the black and white tiles and the black and white painted walls?

Update: I had decided the cheapest flooring I could afford was just to place those anti-slip clip-together plastic mats on top of the existing floor.

I decided the toilet needed a pop of colour and chose red.
Then I found a matching candle holder in red and.....and....four little wooden cats with red ears and noses.

And therein lies the mystery!

No one knows where those cats came from! They just turned up in the living room one morning! See? I asked every one in the household and all gave me the shrug.

Well, carpe diem...(I have to throw in a Latin word so I sound a little more learned)

I remembered we had a wee little mouse somewhere...
..so I thought they all looked kinda cute together, and put them on the toilet tank. But it seems like EVERY time I go into the toilet, they had moved! And no one owns up to moving them around..what in the world?? And here are some arrangements I have found them in.
(I have placed a white cardboard in the background for clearer pictures cos I'm an awesome photographer like that). And I have little titles for each picture.

This was my original arrangement.

In the light of ummm...ahem... a certain rally we've had in Malaysia recently, I've entitled the above:
Don't let anyone, ANYone intimidate you

Don't be fearful cos fear will make you make bad moves

And worse moves

And the worst move of all - pretense

''I don't know nothin''

''Maybe if I ignore them, they will go away''

Remember, not all the bad guys are bad.

Sometimes, you just need to show the way

And sometimes some ~~people~~ cats need to be toppled

So how crazy is that? Whoever is doing this, and if you're reading this, come on out and own up!

One day, I even found..

What next...?

(*rolls eyes, LOL, click 'like', add comment)

1. Do you have strange things happening at your house, too?
2. You can read about my toilet-cum-studio makeover by clicking on the purple there (you really should see the yawnnnn 'before')
3. If you haven't signed up as a follower of this blog yet, it's way up there on the top right.

Behind Closed Doors - a post dedicated to any and every one

2011-06-18T08:15:00.000-07:00

You can't tell everything from what you see on the outside.

Sure, you might try to guess...
Well-groomed. Neatly dressed. Got her act together, you reckon.
His image is important to him. The right smile. The right nod of the head. All diplomatic. Must be a corporate figure. Comfortable lifestyle.

But you don't see the terror of yet another biopsy. Another diagnosis. The CT scan. The MRI. The fear of losing a part of the body in order to save the life. The dread of going through another dialysis. The pain, constant. unrelenting. The wish for it to ease up, just for one night? Sickness has no respect for people. Disease does not choose who to declare war on.

Simple. Nothing fancy. No make-up. Same tee-shirts. Same hairstyle since 13 years old. I don't have time for frivolities. I'm holding up, that's good enough, isn't it? At least I'm reliable. Life has to go on. I'm just a regular guy. Take me as I am, you say?

But I'm angry with you. With the world. With life. With God, even. It's unfair. Why should I have to have so much dished out to me! Why should I be the one to be given so much to bear? Why do I get the lousy deal? Why do I get shelved, snubbed, ignored, deleted like a statistic? What is there in my future? Tomorrow will be the same!

I'm creative. I'm interesting. I'm unique. I stand out in the crowd. I won't be run-of-the-mill. I love being me? Is that what you're looking at? Is that what I'm portraying?
But the panic when ideas don't run overwhelms. Others rising around me. The feeling of redundancy. The dreadful thought of being labelled a has-been. A once-upon-a-time. I am obsolete!

I'm solid. Disciplined. You can lean on me. But at my time. Don't mess about with me. I know what I want. I know where I'm going. Everything has a place and everything in its place.

But the shame, oh the shame of a wayward child. The slap in the face because of the spouse turned 'player'. The knowing looks of relatives. The odd but merely nosey call from someone who's never called before. The louder than necessary laugh at my effort to joke.

I'm down-to-earth. I think of the future. I've got it in the plans. No need to overspend now. Live within my means. Pragmatism is my second name. My time will come. For now, I'm taking each day as it comes.
But it takes just one blow to destroy my plans. Just one quake to crumble my world. Just one harsh conflict to make me want to abandon ship.

I'm just little-ol' me. Humble-ol'-me. Don't-want-you-looking-at-me me. That's-just-the-way I-am me. I'll-venture-out of-my-way-once-in-a-while, but-I'll-quickly-be-back-to-my-safe-space me.
Oh, but the coldness of loneliness. Winter all year round. Singing the blues but who's there to hear?

Listen up. Nobody's gonna tell me what to do. I do as I please. I dress as I please. I go against the grain of everything normal. A rebel if that's what you wanna think. Ear-rings and studs here. Make that ear-ring. A tattoo there. Yes, there. I didn't ask you to like it. I didn't ask you to like it there. I didn't ask you to look there.
Who gives you the right to judge me? Were you there when I was manhandled? When my innocence was destroyed, my vulnerability crushed? Can you hear me still screaming inside?

me? are you looking at me? i'm sweet. and considerate. and romantic. i notice the details. i'll make your house homey. there'll be warm meals ready for you. i'll love you through thick and thin. you won't be neglected. you can count on me. won't you love me? what'll it take for you to love me? wait. what'll it take for you to even notice me?

I've made it. I'm part of the in crowd. I'm cool. I'm happening. I won't be left behind. I refuse to be a nerd. A geek.

But would you know I am in debt? Can you see my books not balancing? Can you see me sleepless in the nights desperately thinking of ways out? Can you feel the walls closing in and the difficulty to breathe? The despair?

You pass me by at the work place and I greet you as usual. Morning!

Morning.
Shallow salutations?

You meet me after some time has passed. Look at you! You look the same! Your hair!
Wow, you've lost weight! I love your shoes!
Nylon niceties?

You meet me at the gym. At church. At college. At the airport. At the mall. How are you? Long.time.no.see.must.catch.up.again.will.call.you.
Plastic pleasantries?

So I've set up fences to keep you away. Even pretty ones hoping maybe you won't see.

I'm growing thorns briars thistles anything so that maybe you'll find me obnoxious enough to not come near.

I've set up a gate even. But I don't see the futility of it myself.

I've withdrawn, don't you know?

I need space between us, don't you see?

I'm deliberately being cold and hard-hearted.

But you still see the light inside.
You still choose to look for me.
You choose to sit with me.
Have a cuppa.
Probe gently.
Listen with your heart.
Feel with me.
Care.

Eventhough it-
Takes time.
Messes up your schedule.
Startles you with intricate details you don't want to know.

You might need to come again.
You might have to have your hands get dirty.
You might be stretched.
My burdens you might have to bear.
My heartache you might have to carry with you.

You might feel spent.
And worse, you might get bitten.

But you do it anyway. Why?

Maybe because I-you-he-she-any-every one has worth? Maybe because no one should ever be counted as a write-off?

Wish I could always remember this.

All pictures taken on a short trip to South Island, New Zealand (April 2011).

Do you have a comment on this post? Please leave it in the comment section.
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For any personal mail, you can contact me at gemsforlife@gmail.com
A big thank to my followers and regular readers who have continued to encourage me even as I have tried to write all posts from my heart.

Spaghetti Ugli Betti (otherwise entitled Why this is not a food blog)

2011-06-03T04:40:00.000-07:00

I don't know why people don't believe me when I say I hate to cook. A few have even suggested I do a food blog like in the Julie and Julia movie! waht?! I mean, what?! (I was so shocked I couldn't even think straight!)

If anything at all, this post is to convince you why a food blog is unthinkable to me. If anything at all, this blog post should be called "How not to cook...".

There we were at a small potluck reunion of ol' gal friends. Potlucks scare the daylights out of me. You will recall the last disaster I had.....here

So I quickly asked if I could bring fruit..

Yes!

Phew!

At this potluck, someone had made a spaghetti dish that sounded like Spaghetti ala Ugly with Oreos. Or somethin'somethin'. (See? I don't even bother with what the dish is called.) It was yummy!

And here's my story. Just two days later, I came across a cool way of cooking spaghetti. You must understand that cooking is a terribly terribly boring chore for me. Something has to be creative, unusual, cookable and grab my attention for me to actually consider making it.

I'll call my dish Spaghetti Ugli Betti. So fun I had to try it out!

Lookie!

Look closer...

Eh? What's wrong with your eyes today? (Sorry, that's the only photo I took.) Can you see how the spaghetti is going through the sausage? How fun is that!! squeal! But that's all they showed us - an unusual way of cooking the pasta. Now what?

From this time on, I start improvising. Remember? Improve + otherwise = Improvise.

I chopped up some garlic and onions.

Then of course I had to add in vegetables since it was gonna be my kind of dish - a one-dish meal, all thrown in. I always try to have some vegetables. The first thing I found in the fridge was pumpkin (pumpkin in spaghetti? Nehhhh...unheard of. Even I wouldn't think of it).

I found one sad-looking stalk of celery, and a chilli that was saying, "Pick me! Pick me! I've been cold and lonely in here!"

Pathetic. But those'll have to do.

See how I cut the celery neatly when it suddenly occurred to me hey! this could be a blog post? Normally, it would just be chopchopI'mdonewhat'snextwhydoesitneedtobe prettyanyway whenit'lljustbegobbleddowninfiveminutes?

First I fried the garlic and onion in a wok. With butter. Normally I'd just use oil but decided on butter because someone once said on facebook somewhere about butter being able to solve the world's problems or somethin' (ok, not the world's problems but for sure, she was singing the praises of butter).

Then I just added in the celery, chilli and the cooked spaghetti. Stir-fried the whole thing, added a little soya sauce, tossed in a little fried shallots, and I was done.

Spaghetti Ugli Betti

Two guinea-pig daughters were at home to try my experiment.

One daughter made a face when she saw it.

The other daughter said, "Nice. How'd you do that?" (she was talking about the spaghetti-through-sausage thing, not the dish as a whole).

* I tried making the spaghetti with fatter sausages some days later (since your vision was blur earlier on, and I'm nice like that). Here are the pictures.

From this...

To these...
This time I found carrots, french beans, anchovies and chilli paste...look at the noodles going through the sausage!

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Oh, the dish still didn't taste any greater.

I don't know why people don't believe me when I say I hate to cook.

Questions:

1. Should I call my dish Spaghetti Ugli Betti or Spaghetti Electric Cables?
2. Should I start a food blog called "How not to cook"?

Oh, don't forget the giveaway from the previous post....deadline 20th June 2011.

Do leave a comment in the comment section of this blog post. I love reading and replying to each of them! Also, if you sign up as a follower (on the right side of the blog page), I believe it will automatically update you each time there is a post. Thank you to all who have been reading and commenting on this blog! Really appreciate you :)

Rainbow Wooden Slats for Entrance - GIVEAWAY

2011-05-15T23:28:00.000-07:00

You know the kind that is used as the base support for single beds? And you know how one or two pieces of slats sometimes break so people throw the whole thing away? And you know how you are driving by mindingyourownbusiness when you see a thrown-away one leaning-by-a- lamp-post-at-the-corner-of-a-street-in-case-a-certain-little-lady-comes-by-oh-me-oh-my...I mean, waiting for Alam Flora to pick it up? Yah, that one.

1. Pick it up and slide it into your car.

2. Pry off the nails and remove the broken slat.

3. Cut the whole piece to the size you want - in this case I wanted it 7-slats wide. So four slats were cut off.

4. Place 'extra' slat in between the original piece as you don't want the gap too big.

5. Find out the gap is too small and the slat can't fit in which is why you are an amateur DIY-er.

6. Which means more work. Enlist husband (he made me say that). Remove all slats in the centre, leaving only a frame.

7. Now space out all the loose slats with the size of gap you wanted in between. Nail them down.

8. Paint each slat tillkingdomcome when you really only wanted the whole thing one colour, because above-mentioned-beloved-husband one day some time ago remarked we have too many things painted in white.

9. Lacquer-finish it.

10. Look for cute shoes to model for you (knowing that at this point Rhoda and 12 others are going to get completely distracted by above-mentioned-shoes and not get the point)

11. Find out you just can't live with it cos it's just.

not.

you.

All that colour! Feels like it belongs at the entrance of a nursery or somethin'.

Late that night
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beloved-creative-son-whose-opinion-matters-a-lot-to-you comes home, points at it and says,

"Nice, Mum.

Are you opening a nursery now?"

That's it! I knew it! I'm giving it away. If you can give me a good reason why I should give it to you, please do so and I will. Like if you are running a nursery or somethin'.

Oh, and don't bother if your answer is, "Because you love me." Maybe you can consider that line on above-mentioned-beloved-husband who doesn't know about this yet.

Deadline for answers: June 20th, 2011

Royalty and Commoner

2011-05-07T05:27:00.000-07:00

I think I have pretty good resistance when I go shopping. Very rarely do I find something that I have to have. Today was one of the rare occasions I succumbed.
How pretty is this set? A darling teapot with a matching cup. Only 10 ringgit. The last set.
(or I would've bought you one, right? Righhhhhttt...)

See the details?

So I brewed some tea for it (tea is such an English thing, don't you think?)

Then it had to be placed on my cupboard, Lady Victoria. (You can read about Lady Victoria when you click on the purple)

Now that's royalty. English tea with a Lady.

Now set the stage:

1. One ladder picked up off a roadside, where it was dumped with other scrap pieces of wood and junk. Yes, I should get a job with Alam Flora.Dry-brushed the ladder a little here and there with white emulsion paint to make it (me) happier. (shown in later picture)

2. One antique-looking clock, bought at Mydin (Mydin! Yes, that massive wholesale place where you can sometimes actually find something interesting.)

3. One metal teapot, bought at a used-thingy place for a miserable 3 ringgit! (US$1 something).
Planted an ivy in it.

4. One scruffy, badly-painted-in-green hurricane lamp rescued from mother-in-law's (who is moving house soon). Repainted it with black streaks and a pop of red.

5. One crochet piece made by a Thai dentist friend (miss you, Moh Toom!)

6. One wooden crate found by roadside probably used for mandarin oranges during Chinese New Year.
Now using it, as is, for magazines...

Now put that together...

7. Two leftover scraps of laminate flooring. Hammered together, then painted it red and black, with a white bird design.

Now put it all together under the stairs.

There.

Royalty and Commoner make a beautiful sight.

And yes, happy for you too, Prince William and Katherine.

Oh, oh. Look at the words on the teapot....

Hope that every time you have tea together, you'll remember to be thankful for each other. I know that'll sure help keep one royal couple together. Ummm...that'll help keep any couple together, royal or not. Don't you think?

* love all the comments that have been coming in and I've tried to reply nearly all of them! Please put your comment at the bottom of the page. Also sign up as a follower (top, right) - I think you will then be notified each time there is an update.

My baby does things behind my back!

2011-04-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

She's turning 17 today! WHA-??

Quick, sound the alarm! Call the Fire Brigade! Call the Ambulance! Call the Police! Somebody has to stop this!

Growing up so quickly should not be allowed!

It should be.. it should be...made illegal if you ask me!

She was just sweet 16, just! Now it seems like she is vrooming into adulthood. What's the hurry I'm askin' you, what's the hurry, huh? Speed kills!

I don't wanna think about it, I don't wanna talk about it, I don't wanna blog about it.

Oh, waydeminit, I have to blog about it cos my memory is going and sometimes I'm not even sure who is who in the photos. Tammy (Tamara Jayne) sometimes looks SO like her older sister, Joni..
(Tammy on left, Joni on right)
(Joni on left, Tammy on..no, Tammy on left...wait.....Jo...)

One day you're a weelittlecutiechickenpie (like the one Sin Yee's aunt makes)...

and the next, you've suddenly blossomed!

One day you're just a little pig-tailed girlie...

And the next you've suddenly shot up!

Even overtaking your sister, 9 years your senior!

(sister, Joni, is sitting on Tammy's lap)

At 17, you've already been to Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and India

And soon you'll be going to New Zealand...

aaaah....New Zealand.......
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(Ok, so Tony Willis isn't exactly New Zealand but gimme a break man, he's all I got. It was either him or a bunch o' sheep. And who'd rather have a picture of a bunch o' sheep? Ok, don't answer that. I don't know why I invite trouble like this)

At 17 you can speak Thai, you can sing well, you can write poetry...

As a Malaysian Chindian* (*a coined word meaning Chinese+Indian - of mixed parental heritage) you've sometimes gone Chinese...
sometimes Indian...

and sometimes (just thrown in for good measure) even Punjabi...
(I hope it isn't any indication of an identity crisis)

At 17, you've just been an MC for a wedding dinner with 700 guests!

At 17, you've just been a Maid of Honour...

Someday you're gonna meet your own Prince (and I'm gonna come to pieces) who may not look like anything you envisage now...
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wait..
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coming...
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hold your heart..
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but you know how the story can go....

On this your 17th birthday, I, your Mommy, want you to know that regardless of your roots

meaning, regardless of the fact that sometimes your Dad is a little...umm...strange

and your Mom doesn't always show you the kind of affection you may want

if ever you find yourself all alone..
abandoned..
drowning....

your family will always be there for you.

Even if you find it difficult to believe it sometimes.

Cos blood runs thicker than water.

Love you heaps, Tam.

Sandpapered Vintage Beauty - and I'm not talking about me.

2011-03-22T11:05:00.000-07:00

I've been reading all the DIY blogs to figure out how to vintagify the cupboard I wrote about it in my last blog post. You can read about it here. And still I did so many things wrong.

First, lemme tell you it was hard work! You have to do a lot of little things like

- tape over the hinges so you don't paint them
- cover the glass doors with newspaper so you don't paint over them

As you can see in the picture above, I painted one coat in grey - that was a totally unnecessary step unless you wanted the cupboard to be grey with touches of white. But I made the mistake of using too much paint for the 2nd coat of white. So the cupboard is now white with a little grey showing through. Sigh.

I also painted the inside white (again unnecessary - who's gonna look inside?) and as you can see one coat of white is not enough.
Bear in mind you have to wait for the sun to dry each coat of paint...and you don't wanna do this during the rainy season. Each time it threatened to rain, I had to call for help so somebody would carry the heavy lady inside with me....(altogether now..sighhhhhhhh)

Husband also helped me to re-hinge the two glass doors that the carpenter did a shoddy job of - they didn't even meet at the right point, at first.

After painting the whole cupboard white, here are the curvy legs mentioned earlier, with no character.

Then I used sandpaper to distress it. See how they look more vintage now? Oo la la...

Then I painted wood wax over the cupboard in strategic places while wiping it off immediately with a cloth (just like the DIY bloggers told me to - such obedience)
So much more character now! However, this was the tricky part. Overdo the wax thing and your cupboard will only look - dirty. Which it did. I had to sandpaper several spots where I thought it looked dirty instead of vintage.

Whichever way, my Mum is gonna say, "Why would you strip paint off the cupboard that was old and dirty and re-paint it to look old and dirty?"

It's ok. She's 78.

More work. The original knobs were missing. I didn't like the colour of the hardware knobs I'd bought (they looked too 'new'), so I just stained them with the same wood stain I had...(right pic is after staining)

Look at the beautiful knobs now...
Since I knew I'd be using it for my daughter's homeschool books, I wanted the inside of the glass doors covered with a curtain. Cos I didn't want the books seen. Really, all those pics you see of gorgeous bookshelves with books displayed on them? Now c'mon, does anybody really have collections of books that come in almost the same colours so that it matches with everything else? Look. Here's my point.

Or have all books in almost the same if not the same size?

It's just not real. So I wanted to cover the glass with curtains cos I didn't want the books to be seen.

Here's the before and after.

The terrible BEFORE

The Terrific AFTER!

I was so pleased with it, that I kept turning to admire it during every commercial break while watching American Idol (and trust me, nobody gets my attention when I'm watching American Idol)

BEFORE - One-eyed Jack.

.............................................................

AFTER - Lady Victoria (yes, I named her cos I get personal like that)

And yes, my husband will be very pleased to hear me say he was right to bring the before home.

What do you think about my sandpapered vintage beauty? and I'm not talking about me.

Today I Got to Know a Stripper (this post is G-rated)

2011-03-03T11:05:00.000-08:00

Ok, confess right now. How many of you scrolled down to look at all the pictures before you thought of reading this?

pfft.

I've just resigned from my much-loved job in the kindergarten. You can read about that here. (There was a change of management and the new management...well... brought too much......
change.
'Nuff said.)

So I'm taking a break at home. And that has its benefits....cos today I got to know a stripper!

Some months ago, this is what the ~~cat~~ husband dragged in. It has to be at least 50 years old.

My Mum wanted to get rid of it cos one of the glass doors had broken. So it had been sitting around her house for the longest time. My husband insisted we bring it home. I didn't want to, cos I knew who'd have to work on restoring it, y'know?

We huffed and we puffed and brought it home, where it has been for several months.

Since I became unemployed (this week), the other day I huffed and I puffed and shoved it into our Iswara (!), legs sticking out and all, and took it to the carpenter's to have new glass doors fixed. For the shoddy job he did, I could've done it myself (I grumbled about the cost - 120 ringgit for the two doors. I didn't want him to do just one, in case it didn't match the other)

Then I tried sandpapering it. But the ancient paint was so thick I knew it would take me forever
to get it off.

Painting a new coat over several layers of old paint would give it a horrid finish. So back to the DIY blogs I went.

Aaah....a stripper! That's what I needed. Come to me, babay!

Paint a thin coat of stripper on. And look what happens within minutes! WHOA! The paint starts to 'bubble' up and comes off dry, easily! (yes, that's me with mask and gloves on)

My stripper in all her glory at work! Don't you love what she does? (and she only cost 10 ringgit, wink wink) This was my first time ever! I loved watching her do her thing.

Then, you use a scraper and scrape the whole paint thingy off. This has gotta be the most fun part.

Ok, it isn't as easy as I make it sound. Cos under that layer of thick, white paint, there was a thin layer of greyish-blue paint (geez, fifty years ago, they had such a nice paint colour?).

I tried brushing on a wee bit of the stripper but it didn't bubble up. It just got a little gooey. And I was afraid to brush on more lest the wood got eaten into.

But this blue layer was thin, so I decided to just leave it and sandpaper as much of the white paint off, as I could.

And then I saw them! So that's what my husband must have fallen for! It was those gorgeous, curvy legs!

I'd seen them before but now I was looking at them in a different way. In an after-4hours-of-stripping-and-sandpapering way. Sheesh.

And now I'm putting-my-left-hand-over-my-heart-with-my-right-hand-raised-up-in-a-Scout's-honour, to say that I did NOT deliberately put this piece of news there! I just noticed it as I was uploading these photos! (read the newspaper...)

Morals of this story:

1. don't judge a book/blog post by its title

2. there's still potential in old things (and people)

3. if Tiger Woods hadn't hung around so many curvy legs....perhaps he might not have gotten
into so much trouble...

4. if you're going through a period of sandpapering, with people rubbing you up the wrong way, at school, at work, at home.. perhaps it's to show you the stuff that you're really made up of.

gulp.

Stay tuned for the reveal of this sandpapered vintage beauty....
(ummm....I'm talking about the cupboard!)

This writer takes a lot of trouble to come up with these crazy posts. Do take a minute or two to leave a comment which will be much, much loved! And have you signed up as a follower yet? Promise you, all posts will be G-rated.