A Holiday At Last

April and May are great months. Every other week there's a Public Holiday. First it was Good Friday. Next month it will be Labour Day, followed by Vesak Day. I just love these holidays, especially when all the 3 holidays I've mentioned fall on a Friday or a Monday. Hooray!! Long weekends!!

Over the Good Friday holidays, we decided to stay at Orchid Country Club. No overseas holiday for us yet unless the Grandma, Grandpa and Co. decide to tag along. The more the merrier - more people to help look after the kiddies while me and Darling Hub enjoy ourselves! Hahaha ..

The location was chosen after much consideration, two things top the list - a playground and a pool so that the kids will be entertained and we won't go crazy! What's great about this place is that it has an outdoor and an INDOOR playground - endless entertainment. As it happened to rain and they couldn't run around outside, the indoor playground was indeed a blessing. Needless to say they were so tired after all that playing that they slept like little piggies.

Here we are at the Funpool. It was fantastic and huge! The kiddies had the time of their life. Don't tell anyone but I'm sure they provided the 'p' in the 'ool'! Sorry folks! I can't control their bladder and they can't possibly swim wearing diapers.

The best part was that the place wasn't even crowded even though it was a holiday weekend. I suppose everyone else had gone for a short trip overseas and we had the whole place nearly to ourselves. But if you are fussy about the furnishings in the room and such, I would not recommend that you stay here. It's a great place though for families - there's so many things to do here. And they provide baby cots too! It's a proper sized cot, not like some flimsy and tiny kinds that I've encountered in other hotels. The only setback was that we had to drive out for dinner. Then again I mnaged to do a spot of hurried shopping at Northpoint, couldn't pass up the chance!

I must put in a good word for the guy at the reception. He was so sweet. And wearing more make up than I was! But he was very nice when he attended to us.

So people, the next holiday will be here soon and if you don't want to spend a bomb and need a short break, this is the place for you. Any recommendations on where we could go next?

Dirty Talk

Last Tuesday I finally posted off the application for my kids' passports. What a relief! I've been postponing it for ages. Now that the entire family is in possession of passports, a whole new world of possibilities have opened up. We can go overseas! Yay! But this brings me to one of my pet peeves - having clean toilets to pee in.

I refrain from going across the causeway for 2 (people say they are irrational) reasons. The first
is the fear of walking back to the carpark and discovering that the car has been stolen. The other one is the near impossible task of finding a clean restroom. I shudder even now when I recall the less than desirable loos that I have encountered there. And I am not even talking about coffeeshop type of loos.

I have been to a shopping centre where the stink of the toilet was so bad I considered holding my pee till I got home. And mind you, I have not not even seen the toilet yet. But the situation was rather desperate, I really had to go .. so I thought never mind, just hold my breath. Then I turned the corner and finally saw the state of thet loo. It was FLOODED! And the other ladies (locals I presume) were nonchalantly wading in the foot deep water. First it was STINKY and then it was FLOODED and god only knows what mysterious contents await in the water! So I forgoed the toilet expedition and held my pee till I found a erm more conducive surroundings.

Then there was the time that I went to this beach. It was about a 2 hours drive away. We had loads of fun there, with all my cousins. When the time came to change, I headed for the changing rooms, these really cute little huts. I didn't need to use the toilet, so I was safe .. or so I thought. There was a funny smell when I entered the changing room. And after a closer inspection I noticed this strange looking mound in the corner. It was a pile of POO! Mind you this is not a toilet, it's a changing room, for you to change in .. not for shitting in! Some people are just way too disgusting. I changed in the car after that.

That's not the end of my toilet woes. I believe in giving people second or even third chances. A couple of years ago, my 2 darling pals and myself decided to have a really yummy lunch at this hotel. We had everything planned out. We took a cab so that no cars were stolen while we were enjoying the truly delicious dim sum buffet (and therefore I could eat in peace). But there was a problem I did not foresee. Lunch meant drinking water. And that leads to my 2nd worry ... clean restrooms. But you might say, it's a hotel for goodness sake! Well, I sent in the two ladies with me since they were not so fussy or maybe they just had to go very badly .. you know what they say 'When you got to go, you got to GO!'. Anyway, they reported back less than satisfactory conditions. And mind you, this is in a HOTEL for goodness sake! If you can't find clean toilets in a hotel, you won't find them ANYWHERE!

Now it looks like we'll be over for a vistit soon. Maybe the conditions have improved tremendously since I last visited. But, I'll make sure I don't drink a single drop of water. Or I'll just hold it in ... as usual. Good bladder exercise eh ... will get to strengthen all those muscles down there!

Have Coffee Will Work ...

Trying desperately to stay awake. I have a mountain of work to finish. Should stop drinking all this coffee, will be bouncing off the walls soon. Ok, maybe diet Coke is not a good alternative either. I wish Starbucks is open 24/7, then I can get yummy caramel macchiato to drink.

Feeling hungry. Staying up late makes me think of food. Must finish my paper! Just realised I only brought the first part home!! Sick of work. Sick of bringing work home. Sick of thinking about work. Sick of listing all the things that must be done! Need a break .. Found some food!! Hooray! Wonder if it's still edible, been in my bag since morning. Kids asleep, hubby asleep .. me awake!! Surrounded by piles of work! Depressing .. should get on with it, or I'll never finish. Must get some more coffee .. maybe all this caffeine will get the creativity going ..

Home Sweet Home

This is how my house looks like after I've cleared away all the baby clutter, kiddy clutter, bicycles, toys, kiddy books, assorted biscuits smeared on the carpet, milk bottles as well as the kids themselves - at the time I took this picture, the kiddies were wrecking havoc at Granny's place. I couldn't believe how sane my house looked after I cleared away all the mess that I had to take a picture. Maybe I need to remind myself now and then that this is my dream home and not some place trying to pass off as a playschool.

The reality of having kids and no maid is that a messy habitat is the norm. You can pick up after them a million times a day, but magically they manage to haul out all their belongings again and scatter them all over the place, not to mention my belongings that they treat as their own and therefore have a right to scatter them also. It doesn't help if you have a messy Hubby thrown in as part of the package.

When we first moved in four years ago or so, I was such a neatness freak. Everything has its place is my mantra. I never cease to preach it to Dearest Hubby. I bought flowers, I arranged things just so and god forbid if there was anything left in the sink. I vacummed, mopped and scrubbed like a woman possesed - come to think of it, I was a little like Bree in those days. However my standards now have ceased to be so exacting.

I didn't realise that kids and babies can create so much mess. They are so small but their paraphenalia occupies nearly half the house! And, my two kiddies are like two tornadoes leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. I love them both to pieces, but I wish they would pick up after themselves. Trying to train the little boy but it's a losing battle. I've got to give it to him though, he will pick up about 5 toys and then lose all interest despite sweet talk, threats and stern looks.

So, what to do? Now I clear everything up only when they are asleep. That way there will be at least an 8 hour interval before the hurricane strikes again. The only problem is, I would also be asleep for a major part of those 8 hours, so who gets to enjoy the orderly state of the house? The ants and lizards probably ...