I had in mind for a vacation in Thailand this year. Unfortunately, they did not have a booth at the travel fair we attended on Sunday although they did for the same organisers last year. I had wanted to gather some information. But it was good anyhow as the hubs, K and I went for a walk at MBS. It's hardly ever we venture out of the lake district these days.

Then the hubs mentioned that the best time to vacay at the place of our intent is actually year end. What? Do we have to wait so long for another trip? I remember the long wait for our Tokyo trip last September and was planning for a mid-year trip. However, the sunflowers will not be in bloom and is a wasted trip if we not go during the best season.

And so, I shall plan for a mid-year trip then. Long haul flights are out because my back ache is still fresh on my mind from my recent business trip. The hubs doesn't fancy Australia and I was thinking of New Zealand but don't quite fancy package tours at the moment. So, we'll see how it goes. 

And so by now, you would already know I was away in Bergen, Norway the week after CNY ended. And yes, that was also the reason why we bought the suitcase, which ended up too big for my petite self and I ended up using my good old made in France Delsey. I have to say it here because I didn't know or forgot that my suitcase is actually made in France and not China, India, Thailand etc. Wahhh...like that, just keep and continue hoarding la! Lol.

My boss went ahead of me on Saturday early morning to attend a HR summit back in our hq while I flew off early Tuesday morning and joined her for a 2 day HRIS presentation and then we came back together on Friday, late afternoon, Norway time.

It was negative before I went to Bergen and reached zero degrees when I landed. It was a free day for me on Tuesday and Friday and thankfully I hooked up with the HR lady from Philippines. I actually enjoyed myself with her, her boss and a few seafarers who happened to be at the hq for a 2-week training. Norway is expensive and not a place I would revisit on my own.

I did try whale meat though, on my last day there. It's like the beef of fish but very low in fat and high in omega-3, I was told. 

 I think I will no longer try to attempt long haul flights. It's a 13 1/2 hours flight to Amsterdam and another 1 1/2 hour flight to Bergen. So yes, I spent 15 hours flying and my back bore the brunt of it. Despite not shopping in Bergen except for the customary magnets, chocolates and cheese, I did some good shopping in Schipol airport. :)

The hubs, K and my eldest bro and his wife picked me up from arrival and it felt like I've been away for so long when technically, it was only 4 days including Valentine's! 

Good experience really. Especially since I've never been to a Scandinavian country before. I'm thankful.

We had our CNY open house yesterday and invited friends over. The buffet was catered for 30 pax but the number of our guests started dwindling a week before and thankfully, we had enough time to change the menu to a mini-buffet which comes without warmers and the whole set up.

And so the hubs borrowed 2 table stands, the glass-top and 2 buffet warmers which we transferred some of the dishes into when they came. Thankfully, for his work and the car which we are considering not getting another when it gets scrapped off end of this year.

This time round, the guests didn't stay till late except for 2 of my friends, who were fine with me doing the laundry and cleaning while they chatted. And it's amazing how they could chat, first time meeting each other! But I'm thankful for that. That's the difference between men and women. We can still 'entertain' our guests while getting work done but this will never happen with the guys. Even if they are just lounging on the sofa and not talking, nothing else gets done.

K's playroom, needless to say, was a mess when the kids left and I had to tidy it up with her and her bedtime was stretched till 10pm. Well, she has to learn to put things away after play.

And after church today, the eldest brother and his wife accompanied us to hunt for luggage at Mustafa. We had naan lunch at Little India before luggage hunting. Thankfully, for a Sunday, it wasn't as crowded as it usually is. We found a good deal and even managed to score a discount when the eldest brother decided to get the same luggage as well!

The suitcase that the hubs and I have are the classic 2-wheelers that we have had the longest time and we 'suffered' for it during our recent Tokyo trip. So it's time for an 'upgrade' and it's also time to decide what are we going to do with the still very good old ones.

M came over in the evening to seek our help on her insurance policy. She had wanted to come in the afternoon but because we went out, I asked her to come over for dinner instead. And she also helped a little with K's school project. To do up a family tree, using real pictures.

K's school project = daddy or mummy's responsibility. :p

When the CNY public holidays was over and we had to go back to work/school last Tuesday, K was looking forward to it because she had CNY celebration in school and does not need to be in uniform for the entire day.

When I had to do pick-up duty last Friday, she handed me her school folder and I think the teacher passed me K's exercise book. I flipped through it and was so impressed that she could write so neatly. I would be 'vomiting blood' at home whenever I get her to write. 

This picture I took, I sent it to the hubs to show him how different her writing is at home and at school! But on hindsight, it could be the blank paper that I get her to practice on as compared to the lined exercise book the school provides. And so, we detoured to the market to buy a lined exercise book for home practise.

While at home, I realised that she has homework! My K1 girl has homework already! Writing lines but it's not that bad actually because it improves her handwriting and besides I am already getting her to do that at home. But it's same yet different because this would mean she needs to hand in homework! Different kind of pressure. Thankfully, I got her to finish them on Saturday morning before our whole day activity started.

And when I ran through her communication book yesterday, the teacher has already compiled few lists of words for the next few weeks. How?????

The yellow or brown onion we bought before Christmas springed, literally. At this point of entry, it is still growing. No, we did not water it at all. Safe to consume? But the onion is shrinking though. Lol.

Talk about spring of life, the little girl is growing up too fast. At times, she is still a baby to us, needing us but at other times, she seems so grown up! 

On the 2nd day of CNY, she refused to put on a twinning outfit with me and got me so upset. She was crying big tears and was sent to the naughty corner where she sat alone, sobbing. It was as if putting on the outfit was the biggest injustice to her. Fine. She will outgrow the dress soon and need not go through this anymore. Conclusion, we do not let her get away with her antics so she was still made to put it on again, after taking it off. I warned her that she has 1 more twinning dress that she has to wear with me. Why? Why is it so difficult to dress up like mummy's girl? :(

She also likes to put on my bras! Yes, my bras. Recently, I bought some and was packing them into my wardrobe and she goes :'Ooohh...bras..I like bras.' ???? I have no idea. She even told my eldest brother she likes to wear her mummy's bras!!!

My girl, my little not so little girl. Why must you grow up so fast??!

Happy Prosperous Lunar New Year! 

How did your CNY celebration go? Let me recap ours.

The hubs and I were off work early on the eve of CNY and I went home first to change the bedsheets and put the curtain to wash before picking K up but thankfully the hubs called to say he was off work too and will pick the girl up. So I was able to do more chores around the house.

The eldest brother and Tim came by about 4ish and together with the hubs, they went to pick up curry fish head for our family reunion dinner. They swung by again to pick  K and I up because I had made jelly desserts for the dinner. The 3rd SIL said there were going to be a lot of food so my contribution was fine. The guys, from the brothers to their sons played Monopoly before and continued after their meal. They had such rousing fun that it was such an endearing sight to behold.

On the first day of the CNY, I cooked a pot of Olive Fried Rice and with the jelly dessert I made the night before after returning home from my family's reunion and brought them to the in-law's place. The Uncle's wife and another auntie did some cooking at the in-laws but I was so glad I brought food because it was walloped! And the new found sea jelly dessert I made was well received both at my family's reunion as well as at the in-laws, that the hubs requested for me to make some more for the 3rd day when we have 2 families coming over to our place.

We went back home about 3ish, made K take her nap and then the eldest brother and his troop arrived abt 4ish for CNY visitation. Our first guests. Lol. Shortly after K woke up from her nap, we trooped down to Jerry's. This year, they were heading to the 3rd SIL's hometown on the 2nd day of CNY so M was able to host guests at their place. Last year, we hosted because Jerry and family went off earlier. Again, we had dinner there.

For the 2nd day of CNY, it was church in the morning and then back home for the father and daughter to take their nap. I have asked the hubs' youngest Nepalese Aunt to come by our place about 4pm before we proceeded to a relative's open-house together as she now stays about a 15 minute drive away. But she reached at almost 5pm, citing the long wait for the bus. 

This year, another family took over the hosting at their landed property. The girl was having so much fun playing with all the jie-jies that they even brought her to a nearby playground. Again, I felt so neglected because the hubs sat at the table playing cards as soon as he walked into the house! I Always get pissed off with him when we have any gatherings at their relatives. His mother, who appears so sickly will also find herself a seat at the table. And I end up not liking any of these gatherings. I had to make it so obvious to the rest of the relatives that 'I' want to go home when it was getting late and he 'has' to. And I am sure none of them have a good impression of me and that's his doing so I really do not care anymore about how they think of me. Because there's nothing I can do about it right.

And finally, on the extra day off that we have, we picked M up from Jerry's and went to visit my Godmother. We had lunch there, stayed a while and left about 1:30 because we have invited 2 families over.

We are hosting CNY lunch on the last day of the Lunar New Year but these 2 families are not able to make it, so I made arrangements for them to drop by on the 3rd day instead. I allowed them to play with K's kinetic sand at the balcony and it was still quite messy. So when everyone left, the OCD in me had to wash the balcony and thankfully, K had help with tidying up her playhouse and I still ended up moping the entire house. Point to remember, Do not let the kids play with the sand during our open-house. Let the mess be contained in K's playroom, which already can be quite bad. When we had our 'house-warming' a year + ago, the entire lego set that my eldest brother bought for K and fixed by my nephews & nieces were utterly destroyed and remain so in the box. :(

Anyhow, that is the 3 days of our Lunar New Year celebrations. I hope you had a great time catching up with relatives and friends!

I had my first lo-hei session on Wednesday when my ICT team invited me and the receptionist for dinner while treating a fellow IT colleague from Manila who is in town. My second lo-hei session was on Friday when I brought along another colleague to a corporate lunch at Intercontinental Hotel. It was so grand!

And at today's reunion dinner with the hubs' side of the family, I'm going through a third round of lo-hei. Coincidentally, the FIL's youngest brother just arrived earlier in the day with his wife. The FIL's other younger brother has returned to the UK with his wife a week back and this time, we have another Uncle visiting directly from Nepal.

Earlier this morning, after completing K's laundry, the 3 of us went to Woodlands to stock up on our frozen items. There were so many people there buying stuff for CNY! It's always crowded this time of the year especially when the resident committees all over organise shopping trips here. Thankfully, it didn't take long for us to snag a carpark lot. 

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do much cleaning in the house because of the reunion dinner in the evening but I managed to set up the CNY goodies! Looking forward to having visitors to our house. 😊