The Reluctant Blogger

Strata scheme sux balls

We want to make over our bathroom to basically make it more user-friendly.  At the moment, it's a squeeze and we thought, hey, let's get rid of the shower stall.  But because we own a lot within a strata scheme, we basically only own the airspace trapped by the four walls, floor and ceiling.

So get this, we can't remove any tiles on the floor or boundary walls since it is common property.  And that means I can't remove the friggin' shower stall.  Why?  Because it's been bricked up and tiled over.  Yes, tiled over with tiles that we do not own!  

Is there a way around it?  Apparently one can apply to obtain exclusive use with a special by-law.  That has to be lodged at the Registrar General's Office.  Sheesh!

Back at work

This is my second week back at work after 14 months of maternity leave.  And I don't hate it.  But I have to say that when you've had 14 months of lounging around in pyjama-like outfits, dressing up each morning is so tiresome.  Plus I dress in the dark.  Because I leave the house for work in the wee hours just so that I can take off early from work :o)

Being back at work is really quite nice.  I can't say that I feel out of place at all.  But let's give it a few more days and I may be wanting to tear my hair out. 

Back to work

Well, that was the first week back at work.  I think it went well.  Since I'd been away for a bit more than 14 months.  I now have a better attitude. No longer will I allow toot clients to rile me up.  Toots can be toots and I will just do my job, go home and enjoy life with my family.

It is nice that people have missed me but I feel like I have to live up to expectations. Unless of course my replacement's replacement (long story) dropped the ball so much that anything I do is a good thing.  Hehehe!

May God help me to maintain a Christian outlook to work.  May I not become emotionally involved in my work again.  May I see work as what it really is - Something I do to pay the bills. 

Costco-size

Costco is big.  The warehouse, the product sizes, the shopping trolleys...  

The first time we had gone to Costco, B & I marvelled at how big everything was.  Then I noticed something and at the same time, B said, "Did you notice that most of the shoppers are..."

Me: "Costco-sized?"

I will be cancelling my membership. 

John, dear

B to X: "Tonight you'll have to sleep in your own bed.  I am aching from sleeping at an angle."  Then B looks at me, "And there's John, dear on the other side.  I tried to beat her with the pillow and John, dear just wouldn't wake."

Me:  "Why do you call me John, dear?"

B: "Go Google it."

I did...  But the closest reference I found was John Deere...  Just what is B trying to tell me?  That I sound like some tractor when I sleep?

We signed. Now waiting...

This is a start of a new chapter...

Hmm... So is this the beginning of a new chapter...? Guess we'll find out next week.

Money - A first world problem

I save money.  I save money as someone who has never suffered a day in her life would.  I save money as someone who never intends to suffer a day in her life would.  I love my first world luxuries.  I realise that I've been over-abundantly blessed and I hope that by saving and putting away the over's, I can always enjoy abundance.

Alas, I now have a child.  I say "I have a child" instead of "we have a child" because B doesn't have the same issue as I do.  And what issue may this be?  It is, to me, the very real and horrifying problem of a reduction in savings.  I mean, this will surely impact on my future plans for abundance.

I know I have a first world problem.  I am like that rich fool in the parable.  I can't be like some people who live from one pay to the next.  I just can't.

At church today, I was chatting with the mothers who have older kids and I was wailing about child care costs.  And they told me that once kids come into your lives, you spend everything on them and nothing on yourself.  I have been told:

• Keep a simple hairstyle so that you need not visit the hairdresser.
• Buy only what you need and even consider if you really need what you think you do.
• Buy second-hand.

Now Mum's words of 你睇我好, 我睇你好 really seem apt.  I thought that these families were really well-off.  But they too are cutting it fine.

Which brings be to the bible verses that follow immediately after the parable of the rich fool...

Do Not Worry (Luke 12:22-34)

 ²² Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. ²³ For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. ²⁴ Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! ²⁵ Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? ²⁶ Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

   ²⁷ “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ²⁸ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! ²⁹ And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. ³⁰ For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹ But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

   ³² “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. ³³ Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

May I remember God's words and not be swayed.

Should we have paid for an air ticket?

Just as I am shitting bricks over how much I'd need to tighten our belts to pay for child care, D1 invites us to join him, E & Boo at Jackie M.  B said yes without any hesitation but asked me what the inspiration was.  I figured that E must've had a char kuay teow craving.  (It was actually for popiah.)

I check up on any place online before I go.  And reading the menu almost made me bleed from the eyeballs.  Anyone who's grown up in Singapore would immediately have said in typical Singlish, "^*Basket!  I go home, I only pay $3.00 for this, man!"

So it was a very leery me that went to Concord for dinner.  The flavours were good.  But K#1FB was disappointed with the nasi lemak.  See now, B likes rice cooked with ^suntan and he likes ikan bilis fried.  But alas, the absolute high standard of the roti canai (prata) we had as an entree meant that everything else was just not as good to him.  E & I enjoyed the char kuay teow.  But it cost twenty-freakin'-Aussie dollars!  As did the nasi lemak.   All I can say is, this will be a one-time experience (I need to save up for child care).

There are no pictures of the char kuay teow or the cendol because by that time, I had to deal with a demanding baby/toddler.  And since it was also still CNY, D1 ordered the ywee sang.

 

For those prices, do you think I should have just bought an air ticket to go home...?

* Bastardisation of the word...  Erm, bastard. 
^ Coconut milk