Woodland Book Lover bookmark give-away

Sorry for the delayed post. We were out the whole day yesterday and when we got back, I had to put Jonathan to bed and I promptly fell asleep along with him.

Christine, do drop me a personal message on Scrapboxx and I will send you the bookmarks by the first week of the New Year.

We're now in Singapore for Christmas and the New Year. Jonathan is really testing Simon and me, happily running round (almost with wild abandonment) at the huge shopping centres, screaming at us if we take away something that he shouldn't have in his hands, and throwing things when seated at the dining table. We also brought him to the swimming pool for the first time. Will post photos when we get back later.

Free printable gift tags

I chanced upon this web site {Inside a Black Apple} and Emily, the maker of dolls and stuff, designed these Christmas tags that can be downloaded for free. This is most timely as I've finished making most of my gifts, printed and wrote my Christmas cards...all that is missing are tags for the pressies! And they're so cute, I can use them to scrapbook too!

To encourage young ones to read & my first give-away

I love to read when I was young, so much that I would go through a book a day when I was in primary school. I would borrow books from the school and National Library. To encourage the young ones to read, I've printed these from the digi kit Bookland Book Lover that I bought from Two Peas, for their Christmas pressies.

The bookmarks, aren't they the cutest?

Bookplates, so people will remember that they borrowed your book....

...and a reading log.

The whole set! No wonder the new printer was protesting and signaled "No ink" after three consecutive print runs.

Love these woodland stuff! I have an extra set of bookmarks. If you want one, please leave a comment by Boxing Day and I will select one lucky winner on 27 Dec.

8 days to go till Christmas

We bought a new printer, HP Photosmart 4280, last Fri. This time, there's a cover at tha part where you load the paper, so Jonathan will not be able to stick his hands inside. We set it up on Sat and I started printing in batches Christmas trees and some stationery for Christmas pressies - all in colour. I love it coz the printing was quiet and fast, and the quality was quite good. I think I had better give the printer a break coz yesterday, the monitor displayed "Low Ink".

I made some Christmas cards. Love the piece trees designed by Tia Bennett that I bought from Two Peas.Sneak peaks of the stationery sets I am giving some of the older kids in Singapore. JOna wanted to play with them...guess he was fascinated by the colours, but I had to say a firm "no", although I hate to be saying so much "No" so many times.
Can't wait to go back to Singapore for Christmas and New Year. My parents will be glad to see Jonathan walk, run and babble. My Mom will love him coz he is not a fussy eater and will finish up his food.

No fish in the market tomorrow!

The local fishermen in Miri are going on strike tomorrow to draw attention of the public to their plight, which they claimed had been ignored. All unsold fish will be taken off the stalls, refrigerated and re-sold after the proposed strike.

Although the government helps them with a RM200 monthly subsidy and other assistance, th local fishermen said it is not sufficient in view of the hight costs of fuel and vessel maintenance. In light that oil prices have dropped, but subsidised fuel has not been reduced, the burden is on the fishermen to contend with reduced catches and competition from foreign fishing vessels.

Fish in Sabah and Sarawak tend to fetch lower prices compared to Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia. So foreign vessels prefer to sell their catch back in their own countries, depriving local consumers of our own fish.

Over in Labuan, 83 fishing trawlers will halt their operations for 3 days in protest against the increased price of diesel that has rendered their business not viable.

In Kota Kinabalu, bogged down by escalating diesel prices, 143 trawlers are not going to sea to stem further losses and to protest. One of the owners, Mu, said that the daily catch could not cover current expenses. For an instance, each time they fish, they would gross RM13,000. Of which, RM11,000 would be for diesel and the remaining sum for paying their workers. He has been fishing for 33 years and the last six months of this year are described as the hardest.

I hope this is resolved soon, otherwise we will not have fish on the table.

Our printer is spoilt, no thanks to Jonathan

I wanted to print some stuff to make Christmas cards, and now I can't....coz Jonathan was fascinated by the sounds made by the printer and he reached in and pulled out the printer ribbon! Don't ask me how and why he did it....and we just bought a new colour catridge too!

So the hunt is now on for a printer. Any ideas? Someone said Epson printer's print resolution is better but they had some problem with the printer head last time, and not sure if that's fixed. HP's print resolution is less than Epson, but no worries about the printer head. I must get the printer by tomorrow so I can do work over the weekend.

Christmas shopping

This year I started earlier in my Christmas shopping. I bought some new clothes for four World Vision kids that Simon and I sponsor. A boy and a girl each in North Thailand and Mongolia.
I also made some simple gift tags for them, which they can hang anywhere in their home. Nothing fancy, just a simple tag to wish them a Merry Christmas and our love. Finally used up my Bamp Bop tags that I've been hoarding and the last of the Love Elsie Noel rub-ons.
OK the youth in Thailand may not have experienced snow (neither have I), but these snowflake brads have to be used coz I've had them for like two years!
I still need to make some gifts and the rest, I will buy when I reach Singapore on 21 Dec. But I can only start shopping on 22 Dec coz we arrive at night! Sigh, still last minute for some gifts...

Tragedy hits home

A Singaporean lady, Lo Hwei Yen, 28, was killed in the hostage situation at the Oberoi Trident Hotel in Mumbai last Thursday. Her body was found on the 19th floor of the hotel. She was in Mumbai for a one-day seminar, and was understood to have been shot in the head and abdomen. She was just married last year and leaves behind her husband, family and friends to mourn her.

I do not know her personally (but I found out she went to the same school as me). Her death was senseless.

The Mumbai terrorists didn't come to negotiate in a 'no surrender' attack. This scenario made it hard for the Indian authorities to predict what was the next move. They never demanded the release of prisoners or even mentioned the Middle East conflict.

Others killed
A Brooklyn-based rabbi and his wife were killed in the siege on a Jewish center in Mumbai. Their son Moshe, who turns 2 on Saturday, was rescued by a nanny and has been handed over to his mother's parents.

The decomposed body of Malaysian, Hemalatha Kassippillai, was found on the sixth floor of the 565-room Taj Mahal Palace hotel. The sixth floor bore the brunt of the violent terrorist attacks that burned down the entire floor. The terrorists made two of the hotel's sixth floor rooms as their headquarters.

Staying on the sixth floor was Malaysia New Straits Times's consulting editor, Sabina Sehgal Saikia, she too was killed in the attacks. The wife of the hotel's general manager and his two sons also perished in the fire that gutted the sixth floor. Another luckless guest on the sixth floor was Greek tycoon Andreas Liveras, who was slain by terrorist bullets.

Senseless...

October Afternoon - new stuff

Oooooh, I can't wait to go back to Singapore at the end of the month to get my hands on these goodies from October Afternoon - Night Light and Weathervane die-cards and journal cards. Aren't they yummy?

{One year since I started blogging}

I started this post exactly one year ago and have a total of 136 posts!

I'm having a good time in Miri with Simon and Jonathan. We lead a simple life and I am thankful for many things (not in any particular order):
1) A roof over our heads
2) 15th month-old Jonathan, who despite loving to scream nowadays, is a joy to have and hold. I love his babbling and wet kisses!
3) Being able to scrapbook. Although there isn't a SB store or a community in Miri, there're online stores and communities!
4) Lovely rain that's falling every night to cool us down
5) Postal service that has delivered so many nice stuff to me. especially when it has some SB stuff
6) Our own animal farm at home: 5 dogs (including a stray that guards our house in return for food and lodging, and another stray that has settled in permanently) and 2 cats
7) Fruit trees in our backyard: mango, dragonfruit, longan, and pomelo trees that produced such sweet fruits, al natural without any pesticides
8) Calling home to hear my parents' voice, especially Dad who spoke a little despite his loss of vocab after his stroke
9) Simon being able to fish every now and then. Just need his fishing kakis
10) That I will be back in Singapore to see loved ones and friends over Christmas and New Year

So much to be thankful for....

Made With Love Nov 08 Challenge

Challenge by Emeline:

- Scrap an event/milestone that is important to you/loved ones

- De-hoard: use precious items that we've been hoarding

Such a fun challenge and I did two layouts quite quickly.

1) Allow me to introduce you to my Little Friend
Thanks to Grandma, Jonathan discovered his little friend when he turned one. Then the next time I bathed Jon, I got Simon to take a photo of Jonathan pointing out his answer when I asked him where his friend was, LOL!

De-hoarded my precious Love Elsie patterned papers (I've hoarded them for about 2 years!) and a soft charm. Too bad that Elsie Flannigan is no longer with the major manufacturer and will be starting her own big online store and little art boutique in her hometown (opening in Feb 09).

2) Step by Step

Stairs, how Jonathan loves to climb them. From 8months young, he has been climbing them, even all the way to the second floor. We had to put a barrier at the stairs. But there's still the steps in our split-level living room...LOL! I finally used one of the Bisous patterned papers that I bought since Mar 2008. The other time I used this pp was when I did Li Yen and Jack's wedding ann. Was stuck as to what embellishments to use. Then it came in a flash and I did the right hand side of the LO first...with my fave plastic vintage flowers and chipboard alphas, and de-hoard item: bug brads. The left side was looking a little plain till I de-hoarded my Hambly and Basic Grey rub-ons (before they become stuck).

Christmas wish list

One whole month till Christmas......and all I want for Christmas are....

Quikutz Big Shot - Sizzix's biggest shape-cutting and embossing machine. The black-and-pink Big Shot works with the entire Sizzix library, including their biggest and smallest dies and the most exciting techniques. What's more, this ultimate roller machine cuts everything from cardstock to fabric and many things in between.
Alessi - Statuette Presepe by Massimo Giacon

New addition to the family

Here're the latest photos of Mabel Tong, Simon's niece. Isn't she a cutie? She's two weeks old now.We went to Catherine's place today to see mommy and baby. Mommy is feeling hot from the confinement but is bearing with it. She even wears a beanie to prevent her head from getting chills. Good on you, Cat!

Megan is showing signs of jealousy and wants Bryan to carry her. I told her she'll always be the oldest so she doesn't have to be jealous of her mei mei. But I don't think she understands. Well, we let the confinement nanny take care of the little one and gave Megan some love and attention.

Diaper time

When it comes to changing Jonathan's diapers, we have to distract him with something in order for him to lay down still. From giving him a drink to the good old pacifier, from letting him hold a toy to my markers, I thought we've tried them all. That is until MIL saw a book that Simon left nearby - a lao fu zhi comic and passed it to Jon. It worked! Jon even stared at the opened pages for a while. I quickly snapped a photo (which explains why MIL is blurred). This reminds me of the time when the assistant at the hair salon also quickly grabbed something to distract Jon when he had his hair cut, and it was a lao fu zhi comic too! Hilarious!

Jon looks like me!

I used to hear people saying that Jonathan looks like me. I thought somewhat, but in some ways he looks like Simon too. Then a friend at church emailed me a couple of photos that he took of Jon. In these photos (about 13months old), I realised that Jonathan really looks like me...right down to the pursed lips!
I've been scrapping, but they're presents so I can't post any photos yet until the person gets the pressie. There were so many good friends whose birthdays are in November. I wish I could make a card for all....Here's a birthday tag for a friend and she's received it, so here're photos. I took Sassafras Lass tags and pasted patterned paper at the back of the tags so they would be double-sided. The monkeys are paper dolls from Elsie Flanningan's stationery set sold at her Etsy store. I love them so!

Fruits galore in our garden

The mangoes and longans in the garden have ripened. Simon's parents collected a huge box of longans yesterday, which were then divided into plastic bags. There must have been at least 3,000 longans altogether! Jonathan pointed at the box excitedly and grandma gave him one. He bit into it without peeling the skin off, and the juice squirted right out and dribbled onto his chin and shirt. I couldn't take photos coz my fingers were all sticky trying to get the longan away from Jon in case he swallowed it whole!I can smell the longans the whole day when I walk into the kitchen. I am so going to eat some later.

And the mangoes....my goodness, they're huge, although smaller than the ones we had in May this year. I've taken a photo of an average sized mango in between two larger ones. The smaller one is about 5 inches long and you can see that the larger ones are double the length and triple the size! I am so looking froward for them to ripen.....yellow, sweet and very delicious.

Here's an photo taken by Darien in May this year when we wrapped the mangoes up to prevent birds from eating them. They were more than a foot long!

Photos of Jonathan indoors

I asked Simon to take some photos of Jon with his SLR coz we're indoors and I wanted close-ups of Jonathan. These were taken before Jonathan fell ill.

He loves his porridge and once he catches sight of the porridge bowl, he will either squeal with delight or move towards the person carrying it (which is either MIL or me). He can finish the whole bowl in 10mins. But sometimes I need to pull aside the tomato seeds or meat bits, in case he chokes, then he'll finish in about 15mins. When we watch his fave animal video and I read out the names of the animals and he repeats after me (nah, he just tries to imitate me in his toddler language), we may take a leisurely 20mins to finish.Once you set him on the floor, he will make his way to the steps in the living room (split level). He can climb up and down the stairs and will not get tired. Nowadays, he likes to climb to the top step, turn around and sit down, and swing his legs. Aiyo, we're so scared he may fall forward.Then Jonathan will make his way under the stairs.He decided to play peekaboo and luckily Simon caught him in action.Jonathan has a good memory of where things are kept. Here, he looks into my bag and finds my handphone pouch. I can't let him play with it anymore coz the other day, he banged it against the car window and as a result, there was a small crack on the LED.

Jonathan was sick

Jonathan was down with fever last Wed early in the morning. By morning, his fever subsided but by evening, it went up again. We brought him to A&E at a private hospital (coz his paediatrician was closed). The doc said he had an inflammed throat, that was what brought about the fever. The nurse administered a suppository into his buttock and gave him anti-biotics. When we reached home, I mixed the meds into his milk, but he could taste them! Guess he inherited my total dislike for meds of any kind, even the sweet syrup ones. In the end, we had to force the anti-biotic into his throat, poor baby. He didn't have any appetite for milk and with an inflammed throat, Jon woked up almost every hr and I had to give him water.

On Thu, due to miscom, I timed the fever meds wrongly, and as a result, his temperature shot up by mid morning. This time, we brought him to see his pediatrician. I stayed home to take care of him, but he saw grand ma, he wanted her more than me...sniff.

By the weekend, Jonathan's fever subsided but as his throat still had the virus, his neck area was warm. And he cried each time he coughed coz he can't get the phlegm out.

MIL also had a busy weekend since Friday. Simon's sis went to the hospital and she delivered a healthy baby girl 3.4kg within two hours of labour. Praise God for the smooth delivery. Baby had jaundice and had to be exposed to a bout of blue-light on Sat and Sun. Thankfully, by Sun afternoon, she was discharged and they all went back home. I only managed to visit her on Sat evening, coz I didn't want to spread any of Jon's germs to her. Here's the naked baby in the nursery. Will take more pics of her soon.

While taking care of Jon, I took the time to finish up a card for a very good friend. Here's a pic of the cover. Will post the rest when she receives it.

New fishing spot

Cousin Ah Ping brought Simon to a new fishing spot off Luak Bay yesterday. But too bad the tide's timing only changed once, and again there wasn't any fish. I am not a fisherman, and initially I was amazed that they can stay at a spot for a long time and be so patient in waiting for their catch.
But check out the sunset! With views like these, and time alone to themselves, fishing is definitely more than just about the catch.