Slacker

I am such a blogging slacker. However, to be fair, I had a very BAD week. Yep. Things just went way out of control. I can handle changes one at a time. Heck, maybe even two at a time but when several comes crashing my way...... I am a total wreck.

So then, this was precisely what happened last week. First, I got my third UTI session and because of that, I had a restless Monday night which totally affected my morning. So, I spent Monday and Tuesday visiting the doctor and trying to apply for my Japan visa. On Wednesday, I was fretting about when the carpenters are arriving from Indonesia. I heard that they were not coming and it seems that my MIL will be coming on the following Monday which is bad news. Either she comes when carpenters do not come and she will sleep on a mattress on the floor with my SIL or she will have to sleep in my grandparents' place if the carpenters are doing up my house. Either way is NOT good, not to mention, I would have to take time off to accompany her.

On Thurs, I was finally resigned to the carpenters coming after I come back from Japan and I got my visa but I could not get hotel lodgings in Japan so fret again. After which, I was suppose to prepare for Bible Study that day and attend a talk with RH. It turns out that the carpenters are coming that very Thurs evening without any prior announcement, fret again.

Ahhhhh, Friday came. Fretted about acccomodation issues in Japan and how to bring my furniture to the new place. Urgh, by this time, I think I had hypertension already.

Saturday: Fretted about the furniture delivery, buying monitors and printer for the office....I still have not gotten accomodations for Japan.
Sunday: Furniture.......Photography Class....

Ok, anyways, what I am trying to say is that I had a hectic week and I am sorry for not updating the daily Scripture Readings. I am still running on schedule even though I did not post it so thank God really.

I think today's Daily Bread Scripture is really God trying to tell me something though:
"Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. "

Philippians 4:5-7

Yep, calm down and pray to God for everything.

Today: Japan lodgings all done, carpenters are working on my furniture, my MIL is NOT coming this week but in May (mis information from RH), my laptop conked again and I have sent it in for repair, I am suppose to lead worship tonight. I just pray that everything will right itself. Pray for me too, PLEASE!

Typing Away......

I bought a new mini USB keyboard during the weekend while I wait for a new laptop keyboard. The USB kepboard is kinda cute and it only cost $18. Quite worth it, I should say.

{Keyboard, I laid it on top of my current laptop}

Also, I painted my yard a white color. Painting is hard work even though RH did most of the job. I just painted the sides with a paintbrush. Hee Hee. we had fun though and I would do it again. I love doing DIY work around the house. We bought all the painting supplies on Saturday afternoon andwhen we got home, only did we realise that we forgot 2 really essential tools. Painter's tape and thinner. So, we end up painting without the tape and achieved a very messy paint job. Hahaha, but we were too lazy to re-do it. Luckily, it was the yard and not the living room. I love my yard now, the while walls really do brighten up the yard and it totally looks fresher and livelier. :-) So happy! I am so easily satisfed. BTW, I gotta start baking and scrapbooking again. I know that I have neglected it long enough.

{Drying Rack from IKEA, tot of buying this}

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 15-17

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 10-14

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 7-9

Parenthood, are we ready?

We are trying to get pregnant. Yep, we have discussed it and decided that we are finally ready. So, as a person who wants a healthy baby, I looked up some pregnancy website and dutifully bought Folic Acid today. Will start to take it daily from now on.

Carpentars from Indo are coming next week which means that my furniture can finally be installed IN the house instead of being piled up outside. It is a very sad picture really and I can't wait to see my armchair. I have also decided to repaint my yard a white color because I though the current color makes it look smaller. Many problems with the mirror and all, I might need to make some adjustments to the renovation. I am so tempted to hold off preganancy until we are settled in the new house because I know that I will be doing a lot of carrying, sorting, cleaning, moving and stuff.....

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 4-6

Scripture Reading: 1 Sam 1-3

Birthday Boy

We celebrated RH's birthday on Monday. He is offically 3** years old. So old ya. What can I say, I like older guys. We finally cut the cake and tasted it. The Blackout Cake was fine, just kinda dry. So, I will try to bake for a shorter time next time. Oh, and RH also got a cake by Prego from our Condo's devloper. They must be guilty for delaying rectification works to our condo.

{Birthday Cake from Starville}

{Me and RH}

{Blackout Cakes}

**********

I know I promised CNY pictures and now CNY is like way way over but I had a hard time trying to consolidate all the pictures. These are not even complete but I am going to just post a few for the home sick people in USA....... hmmm ..... I wonder if it will make them MORE home sick? Oh well!

Chinese New Year in our family is a yearly RED affair. Yup, most everything we wear is red. This year is no difference, it pleases our grandparents and so more ang bao. Hahaha!

{The Baiduri Traditional CNY Breakfast}

{Cousins}

{The Ang Bao Queue}

{The Ang Bao Gals}

The following picture is such a cute picture of FS's kids........they have grown over the years and are now as tall the CNY plants.... hehehe.....this is what I call a "must scrap" picture. Koko is 5.5 years old and didi is 2.5 years old.

{ZH and NH}

Scripture Reading: Ruth 2-4

Scripture Reading: Judges 20-21, Ruth 1

Dark and Evil

I am, of course, talking about the Blackout Cake. It contains more than 1.5kg of chocolate in a single cake. Hmmmm, utterly sinful.

That was what I was up to all weekend. I baked a cake for my dear husband's birthday. Yeah, since he specifically mentioned that he did not want any presents for his birthday, typical of his stingy nature. So, I decided, instead of ordering him a birthday cake (which our condo's developer has already done), I will bake him a cake.

I spent last week pouring through recipe books looking for an easy cake to make, it is after all my FIRST attempt at baking a whole cake. I have never tried baking a cake because seriously it looks like hard work. Cookies and tarts are so much more friendly. Anyways, decided on the blackout cake, recipe courtesy of DC, my baking sister. Not to say that she is always inside the oven but she is the baking enthusiast in the family.

I made a very mini cake, being not so sure of my baking skills and I thought frosting shoul dgo easier. I am actually most afraid of messing up the frosting. Turns out that baking a cake really is hard work and the frosting is really the hardest part of the cake too. I had to make the Ganache frosting twice cos I burnt the chocolate during the first attempt. I discovered that to effectively manouver the frosting, you need to go all out and slap loads of frosting on the cake to smoothen out the crumbly uneven surface of the cake. However, a novice cake maker will benefit from a few tries.

Below are the pictures of the cake. I can only safely post it now since it is meant to be a surprise for hubby but since he is on an internet free plane on the way back to Singapore at this moment, I think it is safe to post now. I made an extra cake cos there were lots if leftover batter.

I have not really tasted it yet but I hope it is not too bad.

{Unfrosted Cake}

{Ron's Cake}

{Detail on Top}

{Other Cake}

{Detail on Top}

Scripture Reading: Judges 17-19

Scripture Reading: Judges 12-16

Scripture Reading: Judges 9-11

Scripture Reading: Judges 6-8

Scripture Reading: Judges 3-5

Invisible “sssssssssssss”

got my computer back but my "s" are all gone. Apparently, it is not working and my goodness, it sucks......sorry for using that word but it does really s**** very badly. So how am I able to type this without my "s", some will wonder. That is because I had to steal a colleague's keyboard to type this.......hopefully, the guy at Funan is able to fix it without having me to buy a new keyboard.

Scripture Reading: Joshua 21-23

Crying over spilled coffee.....

Yep, no use crying over spilled coffee. Reason for the lack of posts is because my laptop was totally destroyed on Thursday. I spilled a whole cup of coffee on my precious white color Toshiba laptop......

It was not entirely my fault but definitely partially. As usual, I started the day by turning on my laptop and checking email. Then I went to the pantry to brew myself a "wake me up" coffee. I don't take coffee everyday, mind you. Anyways, I always place the coffee beside my laptop cos that is the most logical place to put it. After which, my colleague called me over to her desk because she had computer problems (which turned out not to be a problem after all). Anyways, I got a call before I fixed the "non" problem and my laptop was already swimming in my freshly brewed HOT coffee and it had probably been flooded for a good 5 mins before anyone noticed.

URGH! It turns out that I had placed a file on my shelf but it was not balanced properly on the shelf and it finally succumbed to gravity, fell off the shelf which in turned knocked the coffee mug and spilled a WHOLE mug of coffee on my laptop.

I quickly picked up my laptop, tried to drain whatever coffee I can and took it for repair on Friday. Those dear people at Funan fixed my laptop and I got it back today. HURRAY.

Scripture Reading Thursday: Joshua 4-6
Scripture Reading Friday: Joshua 7-9
Scripture Reading Saturday: Joshua 10-12
Scripture Reading Sunday: Joshua 13-17
Scripture Reading Monday: Joshua 18-20