The Planter Box Saga…

So I went to World Farm, a nursery at Yishun, 2 weeks back, hoping that I could buy some plants on the cheap and engage replanting services from its staff at a reasonable price.

World Farm has a very different feel from the nurseries situated along Thomson Road. World Farm, is literally a farm… it feels very kampong and people just leave you alone to touch, smell the plants. Those along Thomson Road are more commercialized and the nurseries are always busy, busy, busy with other customers that it seems to me, nobody ever slows down to REALLY appreciate the beauty of these plants.

Anyway, I really enjoyed my trip at World Farm, despite leaving empty handed. As World farm is busy preparing for the up and coming Garden Show at Suntec, the Manager said that they were really short-handed at the moment, and suggested that I contact a landscaper to help me on my planter boxes instead.

“Eh… ok, but I’m on a budget, y’know” I said.

“It’s ok, this guy is good and cheap” said, the Manager.

“So, agar-agar how much do you think the 2 planters will cost?” I asked.

“Aiyah, should be a couple of hundreds lah. Max of the max, 1K” he claimed.

Alright then, I contacted this landscaper, he came over the next day to check out my planter boxes and said that he would provide me with a quotation in about 2 days time.

2 days later, he quoted me $2XXX. I was like WTF….?

This guy is trying to skin me alive man. Hub, being the Forever Mr. Robert said “wah, ok what… very cheap. Half price from what our ID quoted us originally”

NO way! I can do everything at HALF THE PRICE.

That was it. I went down to Thomson Road yesterday (Sunday), since it was only 5 mins drive away. Drove past JM Flowers, saw the huge “50% SALE”, parked at its car park and all ready to start buying plants and the necessary equipments to do up the planter boxes.

Yesterday was the last day of sale; sadly, many of the good stuff were sold out. Nonetheless, I made my choices and picked the best looking ones available and caught one of the sales managers to sit down and discuss the charges required for delivery of plants and soil, as well as replanting.

It turns out that JM does not provide landscaping services, meaning that I’ll have to do all the “groundwork” of the planters myself, and JM can then take-over by laying the soil and replanting.

Ok, although I’ve never done anything like that before but I have done my research, I know all about the geotextile, the drainage cells and the type of soil that is suitable for my plants. All theory, of course.

Nonetheless, I’ve bought most of the hardware required and will start working on the planters soon.

The total bill: $700-$800 or so, since the soil will be charged as-per-use during replanting. Heh, luckily for the Monster Fern that we picked up earlier, will help us save quite a lot since the huge fern practically covers the entire planter that’s along the corridor.

Bleah. $2XXX, MY FOOT!

Impulse buys over the weekend… *argh!*

Between Hub and I, I am the frugal one.

No doubt, Hub has a good eye for esthetics, as you can easily tell from his dressing and the way he carries himself. In fact, many people have suspected that he…. hrm, belongs to the “happy” people, but rest assured, he’s just what we call a “metrosexual”.

As for me, I just try to look presentable and not disgrace my husband when we are out. I’ll put just enough make-up in order not to scare people; I make sure I smell clean, look clean and smart, and basically no-frills.

So, when it comes to buying furniture, Hub looks out for exquisite items that come in exquisite prices. I’m the practical one, if we were to buy anything expansive, it better be in a strategic location in the house where everyone can admire. That’s the whole point right? Or else, Ikea sells very decent looking furniture that can be quite chic, and at definitely more affordable prices as well!

So, during the weekend, Hub wants to buy this bedside table that I thought was ridiculously expensive. It’s a bedside table, for goodness sake, and who will notice a bedside table??? Guests will most probably spend 5 seconds touring the master bedroom and after that, just mingle around at the living/dinning area. Why spend such money on a bedside table that nobody will notice??? And the icing on the cake is that he intends to put it at MY side of the bed ‘cos he thinks it will fit better?!?!

I was stomping on my foot insisting that he shall not buy a useless piece of furniture until I saw the most beautiful “designer” planter box that is made of old teak. I basically went gaga over it and after stroking the planter box for the 2397th time, I decided that Hub should buy the planter box instead.

O, did I mention that I already have TWO build-in planter boxes in my new place…? But, but, but, that old-teak planter was SPEAKING to me!! I simply couldn’t resist…

And the planter box cost as much as the bedside table.

Eventually, instead of buying only one piece of furniture that we were supposed to, two happy people bought two silly pieces of furniture and made the furniture shop owner even happier.

Damn. What happened to the practical, frugal, old me?! Well, at least my beautiful planter box will be displayed right at the front door area, and not next to my bed!

Maybe I should get this picture, blow it up several times and hang it somewhere at my new place. ;)

Me and my “picky” mouth…

I’m not picky about food, in fact, I eat EVERYTHING. I choose not to eat certain items like shark’s fins, bird nests, blue fin tuna … etc due to environmental concerns. But technically, nothing really disgusts me and I’ve tried cooked bugs or even some raw stuff that normal human beings do not usually eat…

However, it really upsets me when I have to eat bad quality hawker food. Guess I’m spoilt by my mum’s home-cooked dinner since young and now that I’m married and camping with the in-laws, dinners are usually take-aways since my in-laws do not cook.

And I am SO SICK of hawker food! They are either too oily, salty, or at the other extreme end, tasteless and bland. So, whenever I can, I’ll cook my dinner. Be it a steak, pasta or sometimes, a complete Chinese meal of 3 dishes and 1 soup.

And since I stay with the in-laws, it can be a bit tricky if I only cook for myself and Hub, and leave them out. So, I’ll have to be the dutiful daughter-in-law, and rush home to cook dinner on a weekday to feed myself, Hub and the 2 elderly.

It’s not that I’m complaining. Since I’m the itchy backside that wana cook dinner. Nobody is forcing me to do so.

It’s just that I’m picky and want to eat some, wholesome, home-cooked dinner after a long day in office. Although cooking is a hobby for me and I do find it therapeutic, There are times that I do wish, FOR ONCE, I can come home to a home-cooked dinner, instead of being the mad woman who has to hustle around in the kitchen after work.

Now that I’ll be moving to my new place very soon, I’m thinking of buying a slow-cooker to enjoy stews or Chinese soups when I’m back from work. No more yucky hawker food for dinner!

But that will mean that I’ll have to prepare for dinner, on the night before. Haiz, Still no free meals anyway!

We’re finally moving in!

Next Thursday, 17 June 2010, is supposedly an auspicious date for us to move into our new place and thus, by hook or by crook, Mr. Contractor gotta pull it together and hand over the keys, latest by Wednesday.

Our new place is almost ready, but as usual, there are still tons of stuff that needed some touch-ups. Some re-plastering/repainting of walls need to be done, our wet kitchen’s back splash hasn’t been installed yet, wine fridge’s socket is still not working, some of the cabinets’ hinges have to be changed … … etc.

Other than these nitties and gritties, we are almost ready to move in! Yeah!

So, being typical Chinese, we must, of course, consult a Fenghui Master to pick an auspicious date. Then prepare a basket of auspicious items, such as 4 – 8 Mandarin oranges, 1 pineapple, 6 bamboo shoots (I’m just going to get the canned equivalents), rice, sugar, salt, cooking oil, charcoal, a red packet with money, red dates, peanuts and …. Some other random items that I cannot remember for now.

But the most anticipated moment is when both Hub and I will roll the pineapple into the flat and shout “HUAT AH!!!”

That will be so hilarious but fun!

To be frank, I’m not so bothered whether we’ll “huat” or not in our new place, I just ask for peace, health and love. Money, to me, is not a big deal…

Living below my means

Do you realize how easily one can be trapped into living according to a perceived expectation of society? Seems that because both Hub and I are working in the finance sector and in our early 30s would mean that both of us should live in a condominium. It also seems that many have begun to feel entitled to a certain lifestyle and a certain amount of luxuries.

What about living below or within our means? What about living a more enriched life but with less tied to material things? What about pursuing what you wanted instead of what others expect of you?

Of course, Hub and I were previously looking for a swanky condo as our very first love nest but due to the recent property craze, there was no way that we could afford one without taking a three-generation type of mortgage (doubt the banks would approve anyway, this is not Japan in the 1980s). So, we settled for a resale HDB instead.

After Hub and I made that decision, a tremendous weight was lifted from our shoulders and we could afford to renovate our place to exactly what we wanted. We could hack everything away and basically reconfigure the whole space. We could custom-make some furniture that reflects our characters and beliefs.

Although renovation cost us a bomb, it was still within our budget. I did not have to sell one of my kidneys or bags of blood. But if we were to get a condo, that would stretch us a little beyond where we wanted to be, not that we couldn’t afford it. But why must we afford it?

I like to live simply in my simple world and enjoy my simple joys.

Like having sunshine on my face during my morning runs, like having Cookie (my sort-of adopted cat) happily purring at my feet, like preparing dinner for my family while blasting my favorite CDs.

I think I’m a simple girl at heart… very low maintenance and it really doesn’t take a lot to make me happy and contented.

How much do you give?

When I was younger, I was more concerned about how much I'm taking, how much I'm entitled to and how much I'm receiving. It was always about me, me and me, and how much I did NOT have, did NOT take and did NOT receive.

Never once, did I think about how much I should have given nor have given any in the first place.

All the thoughts about wanting, taking and not getting what I wanted made me a rather angsty and unhappy teenager and subsequently, a young adult.

A few years ago, out of the blue, a thought of giving dawned upon me. I just wanted to give my time, my energy, and MYSELF to a purpose, and for a change, I wanted nothing in return. This "nothing in return" was a new concept to me. I've always wanted something in return. It's not that I'm calculating, but I've always believed that nothing is for free, so if I've given something, be it time, energy or money, I expected something in return.

But now, I've learnt that when I give wholeheartedly, and not expecting anything, I will end up receiving the most. Now, I'm more concerned about how much I can give and to who. I'm more conscious of my actions and the impact that I'll create by giving.

Give back to our society, give our aging parents our listening ear, our love and concern. Give our spouse, siblings and friends our support and faith. And for once, expect nothing in return.

By giving, I've become a happier person, and hopefully a better person as well. I hope you can be as well.

Do you talk to strangers?

When I was a kid, I used to talk to strangers ALL THE TIME. Totally shameless, I could say and ask the darnest things ever. Like "can you take my baby brother home and never lets him out ever" to a complete stranger when I had to take care of my baby brother at a hawker centre while my mum was buying food for us.

It seems to me that all kids talk to strangers, kids aren't so concern about whether they will be deem as crazy or stupid by talking to strangers. Being cute and fluffy helps as well I guess. Strangers wouldn't think that a cute kid would be an insurance agent or something...

Now if a stranger suddenly approaches, I would immediately be on my guard. Although most of the times, they were just asking for directions. Or else, they were trying to sell/promote me something. No big deal, not as if they were going to stick out a knief and hack me to death. I would then remind myself that I shouldnt be so defensive and should just chill...

I still remember that many years ago when I visited Hub while he was still a student in London and there was this day when I was wondering around Hyde Park alone. Suddenly there was a gust of wind and some grits got into my eyes, that caused me to tear non-stop.

There I was, standing beside the lake, wiping aways the tears and blinking hard, when suddenly I felt a pair of warm hands around my shoulders. Then some tissues were stuffed into my hands, and a kind voice that said, "there, there, everything will work out fine. It's ok..." then a little squeeze of my hand.

This kind, old lady with a head of white short hair held my hands for another 10 seconds or so... looked at me in the eye with kindness and hope, she gave me a smile, then she walked away. All I could do was to mumble "thank you so much" and then started to tear for real...

Such kindness and such warmth to a stranger. I'll always remember that.

Project Habitat is finally, taking shape

Last night, I had a really pleasant surprise. Hub and I went over to our new place to check out the on-going renovation, and instead of the usual “construction site” mess that basically engulfed the whole flat from Day 1 of the renovation…

The flat was spanking clean! No debris, no cardboard boxes all over the place, no bags of concrete lying around. Oh my god, finally I got to appreciate how big our new place really was.

The renovation is almost 80% completed. By the time I’m done with my CFA exam, I should be ready to move in and start working on the planter boxes.

YEAH!

The crazy things that we do

There was this one day, my interior designer (ID), who is an avid gardener called me one afternoon and told me that he saw this huge Bird Nest Fern that had fallen from a tree, along the road opposite Goodwood Park Hotel.

“It’s a big-ass fern! Really majestic looking! Just that 1 fern can fill up the whole planter box along your corridor.” exclaimed our ID.

That was like 4 pm in the afternoon and where the hell could I get a lorry to pick up that huge fern in such a short notice?! So, I was thinking to myself “Nah… not worth the effort”. Nonetheless, I told Hub about the fern and he too, thought that the whole process of scouting for a lorry and to go down all the way to orchard area to pick up a fallen fern seemed extremely ridiculous.

But that fern stuck to my head ever since…

And it brewed and brewed and I JUST COULDN’T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD. Until I couldn’t take it anymore and at 1230 am, ie: 8 and ½ hours after that wretched phone call. I told Hub that we needed to get that fern.

It would be like a housewarming gift from God.

And to my surprise, instead of yelling at me for being “crazy”, Hub pondered for a while and said to me “ok, let’s go and get that bloody fern?!”

So, at 1230 am, both of us last minute rented the biggest car that we could find, a Honda Odyssey (thanks to KahShare), quickly changed into something decent and dashed down towards orchard road to “rescue” a fallen fern.

And what a HUGEMONGOUS fern it was?! OMG… the leaves almost reached my shoulder?! Hub looked at it for like 2 seconds, and with all his strength, actually managed to pick up that Fern and squeezed it into the back of the Odyssey. There was just ENOUGH space for that fern.

Then the best part: where to put that monster? At first I thought we could just dump the Fern outside in-law’s flat but it was simply too big. So last minute, I called up my brother’s GF who had a garden and her mum was totally cool to adopt our Monster Fern temporarily.

So, at 1 am in the freaking morning, 2 idiots headed to her place to “deliver” the loot. And she was very sweet (and awake) to direct us where to place the Fern. The Fern was so big that when Hub carried the fern, he looked as if he had completely “disappeared” and you would see the Fern had suddenly sprouted 2 legs and “walked” itself to the garden. It was a really funny sight and instead of helping him, I was crouching at a corner, laughing my head off.

By the time we settled Mr. Monster Fern and cleaned up, it was already 2 am and we completely knocked out after that.

What an adventure.

p/s: the photo above isn’t the Monster Fern, just a picture that I’ve gotten from the net. I’ll take a shot of Monster Fern when he’s settled down at our new place. Monster Fern is way bigger than that… …

Keeping the romance alive

Hubby and I have known each other for 15 years, and out of that, we have been together for about 9 yrs... I used the word "about" because I seriously cannot remember when we “officially” started dating. *opps…*

So after being together for so long, we are already very comfortable with each other that… sometimes, we become TOO comfortable and start to take each other for granted. We would get so bogged down with our daily lives that we would just grunt at each other instead of engaging in meaningful conversation.

But there’s one thing that Hubby will ALWAYS do every single day. He will hug me fiercely for like 15 seconds everyday. NO matter how tired I am, no matter how much laundry I have to do, no matter how stressed up I am over my work or studies. I’ll feel very much loved after that.

And during times like that, I’m really grateful that I married him, and I will feel totally 幸福.

But still not enough to iron his clothes.

;P

I know this is a bit late, but HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

How many babies is this poor mother carrying on her back...? I counted 11. OMG. She's a super-what-ever-animal she is!

I'm sure all mums out there feel like this super-animal-mum once a while. But all of the mums told me that carrying all that 11 brats (0r even if it's just ONE brat) is all worth it.

To my mum: It's our turn (3 of us, brats) to carry you on our backs now. Love you, mum!

Discouraged…

Feeling low and discouraged currently.

The stress of studying for an exam, house renovation, personal investing, company investing and keeping a lookout for greener pastures… all of the above are giving me A LOT OF STRESS.

Exam -> This stupid CFA level-3 exam is freaking killing me. Exam is in a month’s time and I have not finished mugging yet! I know of friends who are already revising for the 2nd/3rd time! I’m in a slightly panic mode… …

House Renovation -> Mr. Contractor has finally started on the cabinets and other carpentry works, but issues such as weird measurements and dimensions kept surfacing and I am getting fed up with Mr. Contractor. It has even reached the stage where I don’t really care anymore, just finish up so that I can move in by June!

Personal Investing and investing for the company -> Everyday, I look at charts, read financial data, internalize economic events and hopefully, pick the right stocks and make some decent returns, for the company that I’m working for, as well as for myself and for Hubby. At work, I’m facing a lot of stress, especially when the markets are moving very fast and very volatile. At night, when we’re at home, Hubby will tune to CNBC to check on the US market and European markets and sometimes… all these stress are really getting to me.

Meanwhile, I’m also thinking of changing my work environment. I’ve been sending out some CVs but haven’t heard anything from the headhunters yet, Geez… is my CV that bad?!?!

All in all, I just hope that after the exam, I’ll be in a better place.

I'm looking for a painting for my bedroom...

I wanted something dramatic, something sensual (it's the bedroom afterall, stupid), something that will make you make you go "hmmm".

Then I saw this painting. Too bad, I can't get it in spore. ;(

I'm going to Paris! Tickets booked... and euro is cheap. B.E.S.T. Will start to change some euros soon...

Some pictures that I've collected from the net to remind myself why I love Paris so, so much.

J'adore la Paris...

The after-and-before photos!

Woah... can't believe that it's actually the same space huh? Looking at pretty pictures of renovated apartments bring me so much joy.

But when you are the one actually going through the process of renovating your own place. Argh... not so fun. Nonetheless, I'm looking really forward for my kitchen to take shape. Currently, it still looks like a construction site.

Mr. Contractor... if you are reading this, PLEASE get your act together and start working on the cabinets NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*vomit blood*

P/s: above pictures are from Apartment Therapy . com. Not my place lah...

Colors...

Ok, now Hubby and I are in the stage of talking about colors for our new place. Both of us like plants and living things, as well as natural materials like wood, metal and stone. So our new place theme is about that. Natural materials... However, natural materials tend NOT to be too colorful. Natural wood is naturally brown and stone is naturally grey, you get the idea.

Then I come across this picture. Ahhh... blue. Blue always calm me down.... I feel relax when I see blue, just like when I see the blue, blue sea.

I love it how the dinning chairs are of different shades of blue. That gives me ideas about how I want my dinning chairs to look like.

Can I DIY this?

Hmmm... I'm not that into DIY, cos I'm quite an idiot when it comes to assemble things and lego.

But this! I'm sure it will cost a bomb if I were to buy it... I'm just so tempted to find 3 sturdy twigs/tree branches. Roped them together at the top, varnished it (waterproof it or along the same line), spray it black, then varnished again. Find 2 metal steamer-stands (those you use in a wok, to support the plate when u steam your fish... heh), somehow nail them to the twigs...

And VIOLA!

I would have made my very own bathroom stand. That would be so cool!

I'll keep this project in mind. But.. if i can just pay 25 bucks for it, I'll get it in a heartbeat.

I bet it costs closer to 250 instead...

Je suis chic

Instead of going to the gym, I was out shopping during lunch just now. I felt utterly, totally and definitely ugly when I came into office this morning.

I was running out of clothes to wear, partly because most of my clothes are currently in the “to-be-ironed” pile (and ever increasing), and seriously, life is so much more than ironing. Unless I’m on the verge of going to work naked the next day, then I’ll dutifully be a good wife and iron my own clothes.

Anyway, I wana talk about my shopping spree and not about the tragic wife who has to iron her own clothes…

So, this morning was one of those days where I came dangerously close to going to work naked, out of desperation, I pulled out a top that I’ve bought around 10 years ago. TEN FREAKING YEARS AGO?!

Can you believe that?!

The good part of this episode was that… well, I could still fit into clothes that I’ve bought 10 years ago. (Nevermind that the material was actually stretchable)

The horrible part was that I looked so dated… that I could almost blend into our office’s pantry.

ARGH….. and it really doesn’t help that I am constantly surrounded by beautiful female colleagues who dresses so well to work… …that it hurts.

So during lunch, I ran to the nearest Zara, bought 3 pieces of items and immediately changed into one.

There, I felt better already. Wearing a happy shade of yellow definitely makes me happy and feel a tad more confident about myself.

Je suis chic.

The passing of Princess Basil

Yup, she kaputed before I can take a picture of her to post on my blog…

And I am the direct contribution to her premature death.

Firstly, I should have bought good, decent soil from a reliable source instead of some Pasar Malam. The soil was infested with trips (a kind of pest with wings and can fly!), and that was a very bad start for Princess Basil…

And because of that, I changed the soil and repotted Basil 3 times and I guess the final repotting process was too much of a trauma for her. Yup, according to my reading, plants do suffer from repotting shock… and sometimes, do not recover from the trauma of the new soil.

The irony was that Princess Basil was actually doing not too bad before my itchy fingers decided to buy a new batch of compost/soil and repotted her.

Sigh, I should have just left her alone … she would have been still alive.

Anyhow, my itchy fingers previously also repotted 4 clumps of pineapple plantlets. Previously, my father-in-law bought a pretty and spiky pineapple for display during the Lunar New Year. Although technically the pineapple is fit for consumption, it was a rather small fruit and since my FIL was intending to throw away the fruit after the New Year, I decided to pluck some of the small plantlets, that are found at the sides of the pineapple, stuck them into a tray of the screwed-up soil from the Pasar Malam, and basically forgot all about it.

Weeks later, Viola! Some roots began to appear and all 4 of them made it! Apparently it’s really difficult to kill these pineapple babies as they are such HARDY plants.

A perfect morale boost to an aspiring gardener. It’s finally assuring to see some plants ALIVE and GREEN.

So, any aspiring gardener out there. Get yourself a pineapple and start a pineapple plantation!