Oops... Seven Months Past!

As a matter of fact, I had almost forgotten that this site existed until an old friend reminded me that I had not updated it for more than 6 months. Has it been that long?

I blamed it on the pneumonia bug that took a toll on my health early this year, as the virus attacked me viciously, leaving me bed ridden before flying back to Brissy. Then came the move out of our Carindale townhouse into a new suburb. Like they say... time flies and now, it's mid July!

Grade two has been another stepping stone for the little boy who took some time to get used to his new teacher. He is still his normal self - playful, fun, unpretentious, lively, energetic, witty, hyperactive... definitely not one who will sit quiet for more than 15 minutes unless you give him a good book. This is a blessing indeed. He loves books and that's one thing that can occupy him for a good 15 mins or more.

On the personal side, I have been baking more than before in this new house. Cooking with a 5-stove is great but having an oven that doesn't heat up to the right temperature is a baker's nightmare! I had to sacrifice many cakes and recipes due to the wrong temperature and at one point, I thought I had to give up that baking passion of mine. One thing for sure, I will get a digital oven when we have our own house!

Baking is fun and relaxing still. I had the privilege to attend some cake decorating classes and it was fun to get my hands dirty and exposed myself to a new realm of cake art. These days, I enjoy baking for home groups and friends, they helped to share my calories and allowed me to experiment more. I am looking to my macaron and chocolate making classes next month.

Oh yes, we did Taipei and Singapore during the autumn break and it was good catching up with friends during the trip. I count myself blessed to travel back even though it was a short one. Shopping in Singapore is liberating and very... dangerous!

For the first time in Alex's life, he drove interstate and did a 12 hours road trip to Sydney. I applaud him! Clayton was such a wonderful traveler despite those long hours in the car seat... believe it or not, we don't have one of those DVD players in the car! I broke the rules a little, allowing him to read a bit and play a bit of games... not something he is allowed in the car.

It was a good trip for us and I'm very happy that Alex discovered Home which served one of the most authentic thai food in Australia. Brisbane thai food is pathetically sweet and Home reminds us of Bangkok's homestyle thai cuisine. He said that he would drive 12 hours just for the food... that sounds good to me! But I told him it's better that we fly next time, that would be less stressful.

As for me, Sydney wasn't a nice place for shopping, contrary to what many Aussies told me. Coming from Spore, Sydney shopping is pathetic and I wasn' impressed one bit. I have to say that Darling harbour is still charming, despite the touristy crowd. But I brought home a piece of sweet memory with me... it was something that would linger for a long time.

That's a brief summary of happenings in the last seven months. For anyone who is following my blog, I promise to update more... here are some photos that say the bits and pieces of life in brissy....

A milestone for Clayton:

Sydney collections:

My Passions:

Happy to be Home

I've been away for a long year and it's good to be back in Singapore again. Touching down to a place so familiar felt nice though I wasn't sure how I would like it after a long absence.

Being away for so many years allows me to appreciate the sheer convenience this city brings and i am not about to take it for granted. I was already planning my appointments and updating my calendar. This is the first time in man years that my birthday was spent here and I'm also happy that I can be here for Christmas.

We are missing big daddy who is in KL and I think he should be bored with the food and lack of space by now. We are all looking forward to Krabi and then HK..l it would be what we call a family vacation. This trip to Singapore is packed with activities as I had signed up with a few baking and cooking classes with chef Aki. I've always want to learn the art of macaron making and good souffle cheesecake. It took me 4 attempts to succeed macaron baking a few months ago so I do like to know how to do it well. And I'm happy that I had made a really soft and nice Japanese souffle cheesecake yesterday.

I'm looking forward to some good Christmas shopping here in Singapore and its quite hard choosing the right gift as there ae heaps of gift ideas. Maybe some funny t shirts for the teens and a masculine gift for the big man in the house. I forgave him for missing my birthday. Now, he cant complain about my shopping spree!

Its on to physio at Physioeficaz before watch shopping at The Hour Glass with my dear friend...

Cooking, Baking... in brissy

So many things have happened in the last month that I'm having difficulties recalling them one by one.

In a nutshell, the little junior celebrated his seventh birthday last weekend, his first birthday celebration in sunny brissy. He was very happy to have his friends on that day and we decided to do it at Lollypops playland. It was a very simple and 'stress-free' celebration as there was a party host who took care of of the activities and games. He received lots of lego gifts and we had only allowed him to unwrap them once a week. The party place had personalized bags for the party guests and it all went well. For the 1st time ever, I made a cake for him and the chocolate cake brought much compliments and I was comforted.

There had been so many cooking and baking lessons in the last month and I found myself picking skills of making rice dumplings, chee cheong fun and even tiramisu cake. Last monday, I even learnt how to make ang ku kueh... sweet!

Next week, I'll be teaching a friend how to make kueh bangkit.... life is brissy is exciting after all :)

Settling to a Routine

The week has gone past so quick and it's the weekends again. We have settled to a routine now and it's been rather busy for me during school week. There are many stay at home moms in school and I can see that they are highly involved in their kids' education and activities in school. This is not a bad thing and I'm glad that the school allows parents to get involved at this early age of academic development.

I didn't cook anything spectacular this week but I was glad that my Tefal Clipso Easy pressure cooker came in time before my good friend and her two girls visit us on Monday. Cooking casseroles and stews would be easier and faster and it would be our first guests down under.

Two weeks ago, I was researching on some supplement reviews and came to know about some new supplements for women. Reviews are useful as it helps us to learn more about the products before buying them. I'm putting my online shopping to a stop for now as the postman is knocking on my door too often!

Since it's Saturday and the kitchen at home is closed, we are heading for some good 'mui choy kau yok' tonight at Shangpaign Kitchen - yum!

Private Healthcare Insurance Settled

Finally, we got our private healthcare insurance settled after five and half months. It's hard to make a decision as there are so many private healthcare insurance providers here. We settled for HCF and the extras allowed us to make claims for chiropractic treatment, physiotherapy, dental and other natural therapies. I was even happier when they told me that I could claim for Clayton's swim classes!

The healthcare system here in Australia is supposedly quite good though the government encourages the citizens to take up private healthcare. The people can get 'free' treatment when they are ill in bulk bill clinics. So whether you are seeking for thrush treatment or other common ailments, Medicare covers the most part but you would need to pay for your own medication. And medication isn't cheap here.

We have yet to find a family doctor and maybe it's time to ask around and put one down in our family healthcare list. This is part and parcel of settling down in a new country.

Baking and Working at Home

The oven has been working hard last week and I was in the baking mood again! The nice thing about working from home is that you can still bake some yummy cookies when you wanna take a break and it's a nice feeling.

I have been experimenting with a few chocolate chip cookies recipes and it's interesting to note that each recipe churned out a different cookie taste. Now, I have a few chocolate chip recipes, from soft to slightly crunchy, chewy to think and crisp ones. I'm glad every cookie tray hasn't disappoint so far.

I ordered some Callebaut chocolate chips last week after a long research in the web. My husband couldn't believe that I ordered baking choc chips online and I told him they were cheaper than those in the supermarket chains. Plus, the quality is more superior. The belgium choc chips didn't disappoint and the last batch of choc chip macadamia nut cookies were fabulous! Well, I'm not about to go into a bakery business but it's nice to savor good homemade cookies.

It was good that I got much thing settled last week including our private healthcare insurance. I was reading about Texas Semi Accidents on the internet and came to know the importance of private healthcare for the family.

This is going to be another week packed with daily routines before my good friend arrives for a visit next week. It's time to sit down for some itinerary planning and I bet it's going to be a busy one.

A Busy Hectic Week Has Gone By

The week has gone past so quick. I'm so glad to recover from that awful pain on my upper arm after pulling that muscle on Monday.I had never felt such cramp on my arm and realized that I needed some treatment.

As expected, the treatment was painful but I did feel the improvement after that. I have to be careful not to get into a bad angle whenever I'm holding something next time! It is a busy week at school and somehow, I'm pretty exhausted after all that running around.

We went to check out a new development today and I did like the location of the land. We have decided that we would find a place in Carindale when we are ready to buy and so, I do hope the price is right for this land. The homes in the area are quite nice and some have had cool custom plantation shutters used.

It will probably be a few more months before we consider buying so I do hope the delay is longer on the developer's side! It's another back to back Sunday tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to a good afternoon nap when Clayton goes to Chinese class!

A Lovely Mother's Day Celebration

I was looking forward to the Mother's day celebration in the school last friday and it turned out to be a lovely one.

Many moms attended the afternoon tea function and the set up was simple and warm. The kids had a great time with their moms and all the activities had brought many smiles on the mommies too. I volunteered to take photos for all the moms and their kids and the photo booth station turned to be a very popular one. We had an enjoyable celebration.

We have been here for five months and I'm glad that we are discovering more good restaurants. Last Sunday, we had a lovely Mother's day dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Sunnybank hills and the Spider salad was fabulous! We ordered tat a bit too much and had to pack some home. It was a very busy restaurant but we managed to get a table at 6.15pm!

The weather is getting cold and I'm piling on layers of clothing to keep myself warm. This is another week and in two days' time, the weekends is here again. How fast!

Work at Home and Online Shopping

Call me crazy or what... since we work at home, it's getting very convenient to do most of our shopping online. As a matter of fact, I have gotten lots of good deals in private shopping clubs and to date, I had bought from Clayton's clothing, to sportswear to homeware to hotel deals!

Alex and myself enjoy online shopping and we are eyeing at this cool stay at Banyan Tree bangkok for only $399 for 3 nights! Plus you get some champagne breakfast buffet and a premier room at 55th floor and up! We are luring our friends to come along and it will be fun!

Back to more online shopping, we even ordered our business cards online. There are so many business cards printing websites out there and recently, I have been ordering my photos online. I just ordered a photobook and mother's day photo card for my mom in Singapore and I certainly she likes the gift.

I don't know what life would be like with the internet or online shopping.... that's part of the pleasure of working at home. And yes, I get to bake and cook when I need a break! I'm off to baking some savouries for the Mother's day party this afternoon!

School and Activities

It's the second week of school and I'm back to my work at home mom duties with lots more to do!

I get busy on a weekly basis when Clayton has his show and tell and I find myself doing more work than him. I mean, how do I expect a six year old to create a powerpoint... it would be too much for him. But he is learning to do more things himself and I'm glad the school is providing the opportunity for the kid to explore.

I haven't been sleeping too well lately and soon, I would need to find a remedy or get the best eye cream for dark circles! I find it hard to sleep early since Clayton tends to go to sleep only at half past nine. There are some busy days where I need to get some work done and sleeping early is just a luxury!

Today is Mother's day celebration for the year one and there are going to have some fun activities going on. I had volunteered to help at the photo booth and it will be fun snapping photos of the kids and their moms! I'm looking forward to it!

Internet Marketing, Blogging and Shopping in Brissy

So where shall we go this coming school holidays, I ask myself and DH and as expected, his reply was to stay at home. I often discard what he said and would try to coax him into something for the family.

Well, I'm hoping to go somewhere new. I checked out a few retreats at Mt Tamborine today and found out that they don't welcomed children - what a shame. It looks like we might end up in a beach resort or a mountain retreat that is child friendly. We have never been to Glass House Mountains so that may be a possible travel destination. I was thinking about Hervey Bay but I thought it might be better to do it during the whale watching season.

Since getting into internet marketing, blogging and online business, it's becoming a common activity for us to shop online too. With all the online resources there is, you can read all kinds of information, from extenze side effects to a health product review. The information is available out there so you might as well find it, read it and learn about it. I just bought a few items of sports apparel at 70% discount.

With the computer at my fingertips, I must remind myself not to overbuy and not to spend on things that are redundant. It's been good so far as I don't find Brissy shopping that attractive. Then again, I have a good supply of Womb clothes every few months and that makes my wardrobe very happy and so am I!

Bible Study Fellowship

It's been three months since we arrived in Brisbane and I am thankful that things are working out well for us.

I was invited by a friend to attend Bible Study Fellowship and I'm glad I did it. Today is my 5th class in BSF and I have been blessed by the book of Isaiah. I am happy that I'm learning about God's word and I can fellowship with other ladies with likeminded faith. I was abit hesitant to take this on at first but I knew I had to make an effort to know His Word more.

I'm benefitting alot of the study on the book of isaiah as it's always a heavy book for me in the past. If I didn't attend BSF, I wouldn't be motivated to know more and dig in the treasures God has intended for me to receive.

After the camp tomorrow, we need to sort few important things next week. I need to check out a rv insurance quote and our private health insurance. DH needs to do his driving test and I hope to do more tennis lessons. There's still gym classes to attend and I'm sure glad I'm going for a 2 hour pampering massage next Friday!

Settling Down in Carindale Brisbane

A month before we arrived in Brisbane, we had planned to rent a house since DH wanted more space. But when we arrived, plans change.

After a few inspections, DH had decided that a townhouse will suit him best as he wasn't used to the quietness. Being a citysider, staying in a house where neighbours seem metres apart is not something very comfortable to begin with. But I am so thankful that the resident manager in Solito Carindale had informed me of a vacancy in the area weeks before our arrival and that was an answer to my prayer. I had prayed for a place in the area and God heard me. We inspected the townhouse and DH liked the location as the four bedder is just metres from the parklands. The best part is, the townhouse is across one of the largest mall in Brisbane, westfield Carindale. In fact I can even walk to the shops on a good day but so far, driving seems the best choice as there are often too much to carry returning home.

The townhouse is a simple three bedder with a study near the entrance, I and glad that we have windows looking out from our study or home office now. The furnishings are modern with two living spaces which is a good size compared to some smaller townhomes. Though no glass mosaic tile were used in the kitchen, I love the open concept and the dining is just next to the ktichen. It is cosy and I'm beginning to like it here. DH goes for his jogs every morning at the creek and I did my walks every other day too. We can't wait to get our bikes and start our biking in the parklands.

The weather is getting better and that is all good for those who are helping out in the flood crisis recovery. Though it will take them months to reconstruct the damages, the spirit of the queenslanders is positive and with that, things will be restored very soon.

Container Had Arrived!

After a few weeks of waiting, the container had finally arrived two days ago! It's both excitement and stress for us as we know that the real work will begin!

The only person who is happy and stress free is my six year old who can't wait to reunite with his toys... he was so happy when the container arrived. We didn't have time to think once the shipment came... there was more load than we expected! The delivery was smooth and it was rather mind boggling at first to see those huge boxes entering the doorway. It wasn't long that those boxes were unpacked and we could see bits and pieces of our furniture coming together. My worse fears was the big king bed but they were delivered and moved to the room without much problems. I have to appreciate hubby for fixing the bed so quickly cos the packers claimed that they couldn't help to assemble brand new furniture. And we were told a different story when we confirmed the contract with the packers in Malaysia. Thank God the assembly wasn't a complicated one. We were most thankful that we weren't held up at the customs. Neither did the flood crisis affect our container timing.

The next few days will be lots of unpacking for us as we try to fit everything into our townhouse. Hubby must be pretty stressed as I can see the acne on his face - haha! Maybe I should find him some natural acne treatments since he's been working so hard to put everything in place. I don't think he'll have time to feel homesick when there's so much to do. At the point of writing, there are more than a dozen bags of junk paper to be dumped and they are all sitting in the garage for now!

A Month in Brisbane

It's been a month plus since we arrived in Brisbane and I'm glad we had finally moved into our new house six days ago. Though we had no furniture in the last few days, we managed to organize our things and unpack our luggges. We finally made a trip to Bunnings and ikea to get all our storages and got all we need for the house before our shipment arrives next week.

It's been nice so far though we were very sad about the current flood crisis in Queensland. Though we may not be as emotional as the locals here we could feel the sadness and pain. Just two weeks ago, we were still strolling, walking and jogging along the riverbanks and traveling in the city ferries but now, all is gone. It will be a while before things are up and running again. The city is still closed and the workers are doing their best to restore powers, clean up the debris and help those who are affected by the floods.

This week, we managed to get our home essentials. Hubby got his Samsung tv and I got my LG stainless steel fridge. I am very happy with my french door fridge and the washing machine had arrived in time too. In a few days' time, the shipment will arrive and we will be busy with all the unpacking and organzing work. And soon, Clayton will be starting and I can't wait for that day to come!

it's 2011!

Time really flies and we have been in Brisbane for coming four weeks since we arrived on the 10 Dec 2010 and now it's 2011! Just within less than a month of being here, we had spent Christmas and New Year here... it's been good!

I like the serviced apartment we are currently staying at The Docks. I love waking up with a view of the river and I know I will miss this next monday. As much as I am excited to set up our new home office and new home in Carindale, it's going to be a different experience. We spent a quiet Christmas at The Docks and New Year is the same. Nothing spectacular but just the three of us and a a simple dinner. God is faithful and He has been very faithful to us.

I'm not certain how is it like work wise but I know that God will lead us and open doors for us. What's cool about Australia is that you can get very complete office equipment and all kinds of document management when you walk into stores like Officeworks. We will be visiting the store to stock up our supplies for the new home office.

We will be leaving the Docks in two days' time for the gold coast. It's been an amazing four weeks here and I'm thankful to God for giving us this temporary place to have a nice head start. It's going to be a great year and a wonderful year of new adventures and meaning.

Settling Down in Brisbane - Part 1

It's been slightly more than two weeks since we arrived in Brisbane. We had done so much in the last two weeks - from house inspection to test driving various cars, it's been a busy time for us.

We are quite comfortable in our serviced apartment in Kangaroo Point during this transit period and using a rental car to get around was a breeze with the help of a GPS. It was a change for each one of us and it would take some time before we get used to a daily routine. After a few house inspections, DH decided that he preferred a townhouse over a big house and it was a contrary to what he used to say. Being a city folk for so long, he finds living in a stand alone house very quiet and maintaining a yard is just too much for him. God is good and He provided an available townhouse in Solito Carindale, who happened to be an area I was eyeing on. Months before the arrival, I had contacted the resident manager and she said that she would keep a lookout for me should there be a vacancy and she contacted me few weeks before our arrival on one.

DH liked the place and it is conveniently situated opposite Westfield Carindale, one of the bigger and nicer malls in Brisbane. It was quite fun inspecting houses and finding our way around suburbs with the GPS. Now comes the car. I was eyeing for a Volkswagen and we test drove the mazda CX7, the toyota Rav4, the Subaru Forrester and lastly the VW Tiguan. The Mazda CX7 impressed DH the most and the price was good too. In Malaysia, we would need to cough out RM260,000 for this car but in Brissy, we managed to get it at less than AUD$37K after all the stamp duties and insurance costs. Now we have to shop for a cheap car insurance when everyone returns to work.

Christmas here was a quiet one as everyone celebrates with their family and friends. We had a simple dinner of hot chicken from Coles, a simple salad and roasted potatoes. Though simple, it was meaningful as we dined together overlooking the Brisbane River. It's boxing day today and it's going to be packed in the malls and shops. We are without a car for the next few days cos the car rental companies had their cars all booked out. So we will be moving around in city ferries until our car is ready next week.

More Brissy updates coming soon as we settle down in our new haven.

Hello Brisbane

The day is finally here and after staying in this lovely home for ten over years, it's time to bid farewell. We had used this house as our home office for more than five years and we are so thankful for that.

We had done all our packing and the movers had finally completed the packing. They were so fast in clearing our furnitures, kitchen ware and personal boxes, we couldn't keep up with their pace at one time. After three days of buys packing, cleaning and clearing, we left our home of ten years and said good bye.

It was great staying at The Gardens Residences for four nights and I was so happy that my close friend from Singapore had come to visit. She came to spend some time with us before we leave for good and we had a nice time catching up, shopping and doing some girlie things. I did my last facial and massage at mid valley during that time too.

The day had finally come for us to leave Malaysia and I was too busy to feel emotional about the entire move. All I knew was, I was thankful that God had opened doors for us and we managed to settle all our stuff before the big move. We discovered that we were seriously overweight few days before our departure and had to ship out 2 boxes of personal things vis Pos Malaysia so as to avoid being charged for excess baggage at the airport.

On the day of departure, we arrived at the airport early and was told that our flight had been retimed. We are therefore four hours early to our flight time and I knew God had a purpose for this delay. Before we had time to feel upset our the retime, we found out that we were 20 kgs overweight and thus, they wanted us to pay almost RM1K for that. We managed to negotiate our way out of this since we were told about the retime so late. To cut the story short, we managed to get on the plane with no charges to pay and finally got into Brisbane.

The Docks at Goodwin is located in Kangaroo Point and we got in at 11pm. The one bedroom was neat and cosy though I wished they have a bigger bed. The bathroom was small but the bathroom faucet and basin was big. We will be here for two weeks and hopefully we can get a more permanent home by next week.

So much for the updates, it's time to wind down, get more sleep and start the day early tomorrow at the city and Southbanks. Good day, Brisbane and good bye, Malaysia.

Updates on the Big Move

After three tiring and long days of working with the movers, the boxes and all our furnitures had gone to the warehouse and they will be out in the sea very soon. I can't believe that everything was done and we had even handed over the house.

In a few days' time, we'll be in Brisbane and our new journey will begin. I don't know how and what it's going to be like but I know that God is faithful. He has provided for us and opened doors in many ways and I'm thankful that everything is looking good. The problem now is, we might be overweight as we had many baggages to bring along with us. We would need these things for the next one month before our container arrives on the first week of January. Just a moment ago, I was still trying to unload some stuff to be ship by sea to avoid being charged at the airport.

I would need to shop for few small things before flying off on Friday. A friend has asked me to get some natural diuretics for her and I'll be stopping by that cute shop that sells only ballerinas in the Gardens. Then I'll be spending some time with my close friend who had come all the way from Singapore to see me off. I'm going to miss her and a few more close friends here.

That's it for the updates. All I need now is a good snooze....

The Big Move is On!

It's been non stop packing in the last couple of weeks and there are still a little more work before we can finally sit down for a rest.

The movers are here this morning and will be doing the same in the next three days. It is a mess in the living room and we are expecting a few furniture deliveries today. The first batch is here and there will be three more in the afternoon. Amidst the very busy schedule I was able to catch up with some good friends are stocking up the things I need for the next 1-2 years. Things are moving so fast and I'm glad to secure a few home inspections upon our arrival. We are excited.

Though we are busy with the big move, we are able to get out to run all the necessary errands and stock up a whole lot of stuff from Daiso! That is a great place to stock household items at a great price. It's RM5 here and I was told that it is AUD$2.80 is down under. We have been warned that things are expensive in Australia especially repairs and manwork. I suppose medical should be fine if you are covered with a good insurance which allows you to claim from dental and eventreatment for depression.

OK... movers are downstairs and I'm off to clear up the necessary.