New Year's Eve

I feel that my blog has been kinda depressing lately but that's my reality of life. I bear another sad news today.

For those in Singapore, people are celebrating New Year's Eve... many partying and counting down to the beginning of the New Year, being hopeful of what the New Year will bring.

However at my end, a family is grieving for the loss of their mother/wife. Hubs' colleague and his family met with an accident just hours ago on their way back from Boise. I don't think they knew it would be their last day together; whatever that was done during the entire day. Hub knew about the accident through the night news and he was shocked. I didn't know his colleague in person but I felt it aftermath.

Their car lost control and rolled over on the highway. The wife who was driving, died leaving behind 4 children and her husband. This is definitely not the way to bid farewell to 2011.

This accident actually led me to recall hubs' close encounter with death as well in February. I had just reached Singapore and my mum received a call from hubs who informed her that he had met with an accident. Michelle told me much later hubs rolled over few times and his car was in bad shape. But hubs was really fortunate to be just badly scratched on his hand and a dislocated shoulder.

I had remained troubled and sad since my last post. I stopped praying, I avoided thinking about God even though there were moments when I subconsciously hummed hymns. I refused to turn to anything spiritual. With the turmoils going on in my heart, I avoided calling my mum because I didn't want my emotions to affect her especially her faith in God. I didn't know what to say to comfort and encourage my mum. Mum said to just pray for her but I couldn't. As hard as I tried to stay away from God, I just couldn't as well. I received a package just today from my family and in the package was a 2012 calendar. The calendar turned out to be from a church and each month revealed a short message from the bible and an inspirational verse. What irony!

Anyway as I recall about hubs' accident, I had an epiphany. I realized God never left me at all. As I mentioned in my last post about the inspirational quote I read, "God guided us, despite our uncertainties and our vagueness, even though our failings and mistakes... He leads us step by step, from event to event. Only afterwards, as we look back over the way we have come and reconsider certain important moments in our lives in the light of all that has followed them... do we experience the feeling of having been led without knowing it, the feeling that God has mysteriously guided us."

He had not only guided us but He watches over us every single day. Things happen for reasons that we do not understand but He will lead us through in accordance to His plan for us. I literally feel a load off my heart and I know one of my resolutions will be to be more diligent in my prayers and give time to learn more about God.

I just want to close with the inspiration verse for January 2012... "Out of darkness, the light shall shine! 2 Corinthians 4:6"

How fitting isn't it... God answered my heartfelt question just like that.

Feeling Troubled...

I've been feeling down and burdened theses few days. I have an inspirational quotes or words of encouragement booklet that gives meaningful quotes or verses daily and sometimes I do forget to read them. I was flipping to December 11th and lo & behold, it was what I needed to read. Coincidentally, the quotes for the subsequent days were also what I needed.

December 11 says "God guided us, despite our uncertainties and our vagueness, even though our failings and mistakes... He leads us step by step, from event to event. Only afterwards, as we look back over the way we have come and reconsider certain important moments in our lives in the light of all that has followed them... do we experience the feeling of having been led without knowing it, the feeling that God has mysteriously guided us."

December 12 says "God's care for us is more watchful and more tender than the care of any human father could possibly be."

December 13 says "I call on You, O God, for you will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer. Show the wonder of Your great love... Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings."

Ever since my sister got sick, I found myself turning to God more often and on a regular basis since leaving church. I believed that God has his plans and purpose and he will see all of us through. I did literally see how he guided us through 6 years and I saw his goodness and mercies. Despite the difficulties we were all facing, I had faith and I believed that everything has its purpose. Same goes for the recent incident with my father.

However, just when you think all is calm after a storm (I should say after a number of storms), another storm is brewing... I get it that it's good to have trials as they keep us on our toes and help us keep our priorities straight but aren't the storms for us too many and happening too quickly?

I'm just so burdened with having to sail through these storms. I neither wish to question God nor do I want to doubt him but I'm struggling...

Despite all these, I'm just so grateful for Dearie. He's may not be the romantic guy I had hoped to have and he has 1 bad habit which I hate but he's every bit the man I had hoped to be married to. Today marks our 3rd anniversary. It's a good thing he has been away for work as I would have been a total mood spoiler.  Our marriage may be young but we've been through so much together as a couple that these 3 years felt like 10 years. I just hope that I have been every bit the woman he had hoped to be married to and I'll be sure to ask him about it when he returns home. As much I can, I try to reflect on my actions as I want to move on to be a better person.

Anyway I hope to find peace and enlightenment and be my happy self again. I do realize that a person's mood affects others and I definitely want to give the positive vibe to all around me.

What We Believe In...

I'll say it again that it takes someone who's lost a loved one to really understand the emotions you go through. Yes you move on but the sadness of losing that person will never heal, it will never go away...

She would have been 22 years old today. For her, she wasn't given this opportunity whilst I can't even remember what I was doing at the age of 22. Oh I know... I was wasting those years partying, lying to my parents about my late nights and not being home, being busy about me, myself, my own life. She would have lived a life so differently from mine if she was given the chance. I was living my life aimlessly at 22 and she already knew what she wanted before 22.

She told us that she's an angel that had come to earth on a mission. That mission has been accomplished and it's time for her to go home to God. I'm not sure what the mission is but I sure know her departure has left an incredibly deep impression in my heart.

I hope I can and am living my life better right now than I had the years before because I'm not just living for myself but on her behalf too.

I've had this Home cd by Jim Brickman for awhile but I didn't remember this song until I played this cd recently and the lyrics of this song "What We Believe In" just speaks of my sentiment.

"Funny just the other day I was walking down the street

Stopped into that place you know, one where we used to meet

Thought I heard you call my name

And I whispered on the wind

And I remember you were going

Never coming back again

But if love is what we believe in

I'll see you in heaven's first bright star

If seeing is believing

I look into the skies and there you are

You're not that far

Cause love is what we believe in

Looking through some photographs

From not so long ago

Right now I'd give anything

If I had only known

That I would never touch you, hold you or kiss your face

Feel your arms around or fall in your embrace"

If only I had known, I would definitely live my life differently. On hindsight, I do know now.

Life Is But A Fleeting Moment

I find that it is scary to know how unpredictable life can  be. That makes me want to treasure and cherish every minute of my life, makes me appreciate the things around me and makes me count every single bit of blessings God has bestowed upon me and my family.

Mum's been updating me that Dad's health hasn't been very good but just a few days ago, he's taken a turn for worse. He was referred to the hospital by our family doctor to have a more detailed check done as he had difficulty breathing and in just a matter of half a day after being admitted into the hospital, his condition worsen and he's currently in ICU. I can just imagine what my family is going through now; seeing him under such a condition. I'm being spared from that as I'm so far away. I do feel kinda relieved at not having to see the actual condition of my dad but I'm also upset that I'm not around to give support to the rest of my family especially mummy. I feel really guilty at being so far away (twice now) when my family needs support.

One thing that I've realized through all these is that I definitely don't want to go by a single day without letting the people around me know how much they mean to me. It's just all so easy to take things and people for granted. It's just so easy to put superficial things on a higher priority. It's just so easy to forget praying and giving thanks to God. I'm certainly guilty of that.

In retrospect, I want to be a better person. Treasure life in the best way we can while we and our loved ones are still alive. In the pursuit of worldly contentment and happiness, many a times I forget, or pretend to forget!

A Moment of Silence

Dearest dearest Mage Mage,


I can't believe that it's 1 year since you left us. Time just flew by didn't it... On the other hand, it seemed just so recent when we said our goodbyes. I still find myself wondering at times if you have really left us.


Anyway daddy sent an email to all of us on his heartfelt feelings. I'm surprised that he wrote pretty well and I felt the very same sentiments.


The message read:


"And it's been a year since you moved to a new address to keep an appointment with our Lord & there is such a hole in our hearts and lives, we feel the lost each moment. Words cannot describe how much we miss you, how dear you are to us.

Your sweetest, selfless love and laughter will always remain a constant memory in our hearts.  We press on for we found comfort in God's words.


From II Tim 1:7, "For God did not give us a spirit of fear but a power of love and a sound mind."
 
This help to blunt the edges of pain in our hearts."


Mage, through the goodness and mercy of God, we survived 1 year especially for daddy & mummy. I just pray that we can continue to grow closer as a family and continue to grow closer to God through God's help.


And there is noone but God who knows and understands how dear you are to us. Loving and missing you till we meet on the beautiful land!

Men Vs Women

My last post didn't really end on a happy note. I just wanted an avenue where I could vent out my frustrations and thoughts.

Anyway things are back to normal and I'm my happy self again. This trip, though I wished it could have been happier, was definitely still an experience. I've also learnt more about hubby and his moods. I guess even though we've been together for a while before marriage, there will still be sides that we do not know of each other and it's through time that those sides be shown to each of us. Some just have their emotions out like an open book whilst others will probably show them only at the 'right' time.

One thing I've come to realize is that I am also at fault as I tend to think or expect romance. As much as I hope to have hubby be like Mel Gibson in the movie "What Women Want", hubby will never be that. I have to remember that he's also not the new age sensitive guy who knows just what's on my mind. So it's me who has to convey to him. I guess sometimes I expect too much from hubby and I get really upset when he falls short of my expectation. But are my expectations reasonable to start with and have I romanticize the whole thing?

I'm always thankful to have friends whom I can sort of share my stuffs with. The conversations may not be full of details but you'll still get the enlightenment you need. There are also times when you kinda know where things go wrong but it takes a friend to point it directly for you to admit it.

Whatever it is, I'm still glad for friends, for family and for hubby. I have another trip with hubby coming up. I'm still thinking where to go and I have less than 1 month to plan the trip out. It'll be a road trip this time and another 2 weeks of time alone 24/7 so it's gonna a test of what I've learnt from my last trip.

Somehow I just have a good feeling about it...

My Frustations

Well I do know I don't have a very good temper to start with but sometimes I just feel like I've been driven to my ultimate limit. My stupid hubby definitely knows that and he's the very person driving me insane every time! He's also the very person spoiling my day and my mood.

At such times, I wish we were in Singapore as it's a place where I'm totally familiar with and I know there'll always be places for me to go to when I wish to escape from his very presence and also to totally ignore him and avoid being contactable, etc.

I love traveling. I do sometimes envy couples going for travels together. I see their photos and I can feel their enjoyment. I feel that traveling together also helps to bond the hearts of two persons as we are so caught up with the mundane day-to-day working life and stress that we tend to forget about each other. For me, things work opposite. I always get upset when I travel with my hubby. I don't feel the bond and the enjoyment that much. As much as I really want us to be better together, to enjoy our travels together, we just can't. It goes to such a point where I do doubt the very significance of our marriage.

I want so much more besides things that are measured by money or things that can be bought with money. And I just get disappointed time and again. Am I wrong to have such expectations? Maybe I should change myself and start wanting branded materials. I think I'll get better results with that.

Anyway, I feel so bloody pathetic to be sitting in bed and writing my feelings right now especially since I'm supposedly on vacation. What the hell am I doing in the hotel when I should be exploring the streets and the sights right? I guess I don't have to say further.

Inspiring Quotes

There are times when a person will need some inspiring quotes to spur them on especially when life is on a downhill or you're at a crossroad. I for one, enjoy getting inspired day-to-day so that I can try to be a better person and live happier.

Some quotes just speak to you and yes though you'll forget that quote after a while, they'll just come right back at you when you need them.

I read one yesterday and thought it was a really lovely one.

It said:

"The most extraordinary thing about the oyster is this. Irritations get into his shell... And when he cannot get rid of them, he uses the irritations to do the loveliest thing an oyster ever has the chance to do.

If there are irritations in our lives today, there is only one prescription: make a pearl. It may have to be a pearl of patience, but anyhow, make a pearl. And it takes faith and love to do it."

Doesn't this quote speak volumes? It sure does to me. I need that as irritations get to me pretty easily so I need to be slower to anger and start making pearls. It's definitely not easy especially since it has been in my character for YEARS but I definitely wanna try to be a better person.

Be Thankful

I was reading the Daily Bread yesterday and today and both messages were touching.

Yesterday's message was about asking God about why certain things are happening, why are they happening to me, etc. What God wants is for us to believe and trust Him to lead us the way. Not questioning Him why as God will never want us to have anything bad on purpose.

Today's message is about perspective. We always look at things in our own perspective especially towards riches. We always look at money, career, myself as greater importance than for example, family, people around us, the world. There is this quote which ended the message "The poorest person is he whose only wealth is money." How very true...

Actually what is happening to Japan has been heavy on my heart. Japan is known to be a beautiful country. One that I've always wanted to visit. A country which I enjoy the food, culture and all God's creations. I just pray that God will see the people through these difficult days and that those who trust Him will continue to have faith that He will lead them the way.

Incidences like these really make me appreciate things more in life, change my perspective in knowing what should be more important, make me count my blessings each day.

Let's all remember to treasure and cherish all that we have and there is definitely more to life than material stuffs and money.

It's so not a surprise...

I received my belated birthday present from Dearie finally. Why finally, because he had let known to me what he had bought when I got back from my home trip but the present didn't get to my hands till only yesterday due to some hiccups in between.

One thing about Dearie which I find it both annoying and cute is that he can never give surprises. Whatever that he wanted to surprise me with, he'll always let it out before I get it. So it always end up being a spoilt surprise.

Well be it a spoilt surprise or not, I'm always thankful and appreciative for all the gifts he's given me. And one thing too, he's always wanting to see my reaction as in my 'excitement' and 'happiness' in receiving that gift. And thankfully to date, I never have to fake my reactions. I may have to fake my surprise but never my reaction in receiving them.

He also likes to play opposition. There are things which I've hinted him for ages to get and he'll never buy them. But the minute when I have something else that I feel is of a higher priority to get and I want it, he'll get me what I've hinted him ages ago. Gosh, I guess that's why there's this saying "You can't live with them (men) but you also can't live without them."

Life...

Well I want to say that life is not just unpredictable but also kinda fragile... not exactly sure what the proper word should be to describe. Unpredictable is because we do not know what lies ahead but also fragile as certain things or situations can just take life away from us.

As much as I do not wish to deal with death, my grandfather passed away last week. Although we do not have a close relationship, he was my grandfather afterall and the thought of having someone close or related passing away was still unpleasant.

Through the blog of one scrapbook/card making designer, I also got to find out that her brother and sister in law had to make the tough decision of putting their daughter off of life support. And it seems that their daughter is probably still an infant as she was only with them for a short time.

I used to question why but I now understand that each person or everything that happens has its purpose and reason.

Come to think of it, I'm really blessed to have my sister for 20 years. We get just so complacent with life and we think we have 'forever', that we fail to treasure and cherish what we have till it's too late. Another reason for feeling blessed is that we were given advanced notice. I received my wake up call 4 years ago when my sister was diagnosed and I had 4 years to do as much as I could with her, be a good sister to her, fulfill as many of her wishes as I possibly could. I had 4 years to make amends so for all these, I'm really thankful.

What got me to thinking and talking about life is also the recent knowledge of my dad's health. He has some health issues which kinda need immediate attention. So that is priority on my  To-Do list when I head for home in a few weeks' time. As much as I'm concerned, I feel consoled that things are somewhat different now from before. I honestly do see a change in daddy and see his faith in God. I shall just pray that God will give him strength and courage and lead us all through this difficult time.

End of 2010

It's just about an hour away to welcoming the new year 2011.

So much had happened in just a year; my temporary relocation to the US, adjusting life as a housewife, finding myself in a new environment, making new friends, loss of my beloved sister, Joseph's marriage, Adeline getting the ballot to her new house, the birth of my cute little Jaden, health issues with both my Mama & Popo and Gonggong.

I think the thing that hit me the most is the death of my sister. I don't think I can be as strong as before when handling death. If I can avoid the issue of death, I'd want to avoid it. I can no longer look at death, know about death indifferently. Adeline was just telling me 1 of her friends posted on Facebook that her boyfriend passed away the morning of January 1st in a car accident. They had welcomed the New Year together and just hours later, she now mourns over the demise of her boyfriend. How unpredictable life is...

With 2011, my resolution would really be treasuring my time here in the US with Dearie, making sure I'm living life as fully as I can, keeping more frequent contacts with my family and basically be happy. I think being happy is very important as it's not only for yourself but for the people around you. They can just feel the positive vibes if you're happy so that's what I want to give to others. It's actually also more difficult to maintain a happy disposition. Just as Image always says... Smile coz 1 smile it starts makes 2...

Happy New Year!!

It's Christmas Day!!

It's officially Christmas Day now and although we didn't have a white Christmas eve, it was surely a really chilly one. The winds were howling and blowing at goodness knows how many miles per hour. Your hands literally feels frozen just by standing outside for less than 5 minutes.

We had our Christmas dinner at Mel's as usual and her house was just decorated with so many Christmas decorations outside and a nice, plump tree inside full with presents. What was missing was just the lack of Christmas tunes but the company made up for it. Although it's usually the more the merrier for such parties, I was happy to be celebrating this occasion with just 7 of us. There's no need for pretense, false laughters, acted expressions and senseless talks. We could all just be ourselves, enjoy a causal but delicious dinner and just talk whatever that comes to our minds.

Of course I do miss the Christmas celebrations with my family. The celebrations I have with my family are also somewhat different so I must say that this is the best Christmas party I've attended with friends in years.

However, this Christmas also marks the first Christmas without little image. Though I'm not physically there with my family, I know that celebrations will never be the same ever. It'll always be knowing that we're missing her especially when it comes to presents time. I will always be able to picture her excitement as she carefully unwraps each present and how her face lights up when she sees what she's received. She is never one who requests for things so that makes it an even bigger surprise for her. Honestly, I've never seen her frown at any presents unless it was a joke on her. She just appreciates every gift given.

Well I don't want to ruin this Christmas with tears and sadness but rather feel her in my heart and enjoy the day with her in mind.

Merry Christmas...

Happy 2nd Anniversary

Well it's my wedding anniversary today and sad to say, I spent the day alone at home. What luck that Dearie had to go for interstate stint during this period. Though I'm not the super lovey dovey and clinging kinda person, I believe it requires effort for a couple to maintain the romance in their relationship so special occasions like these would matter to me. Yeah you can say that you can always have romance everyday if you want but I prefer looking at things realistically. For starters, Dearie is already tired from work so I definitely don't expect that out of him.

Dearie has never been the romantic sort. I think since courtship till now, I've only received 1 small bouquet of flowers. He's not the sort that spend on romance but rather on practical things that I will use on a day-to-day basis or something which he knows will be useful to me. He's also not big on buying branded stuffs as well although at times he does give in to my fancies. I like that he keeps me on my toes in a way and I begin to be more conscious of my spending and more importantly, be more conscious of my needs and wants. Dearie is definitely more supportive of me spending money on my hobbies or techie stuffs than on clothes or branded items.

Hmm, though it's just 2 years that we've been married, yet so much has happened. I like to think that I've grown to be a better person, become even more independent now and be a pillar of support to Dearie. Since becoming a 'housewife', I find myself putting an effort in making sure Dearie has proper meals, and occasional sweets to enjoy. I find myself giving him more attention than before as I would also be bogged down by my own work and stress.

I need to thank God for blessing me with such an easy going husband. It doesn't take much to let him be satisfied even with food. I definitely do understand better what mummy had to go through everyday; racking her brains to plan dinner so that she can satisfy our taste buds. That is daddy's KPI for her. I'm sure glad I don't have any KPIs. Whatever KPIs I had, I was the one who set it.

Having said so much, I definitely look forward to spending many more years with Dearie and I'm really thankful to God for allowing our paths to cross.

Emotional...

I was feeling emotional again and was browsing though Facebook while waiting for a software to be downloaded. Chanced upon this wall post from a friend.

It said, "If tears could build a stairway, and memories build a lane... I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again."

I just couldn't help but wonder if only it was true... If only I could reach her through the tears shed and the memories and bring her home again. But I know God has his purposes and his plans for each of us and I always believe in things happening for a reason. I'll continue to trust God and have faith that I will see her again in the beautiful shores. I know mummy will definitely be meeting her. I hope that I will be ready when the time comes too.

Sad to say such feelings can only be understood by another who's also lost a loved one because the ache, the pain and the emptiness is just indescribable.

Gloomy, Gray Start Of December

It has been snowing for the past few days since Dearie left. Had some time at home yesterday as we decided against going over to Mel's place for meals due to the snowy weather.

Started spring cleaning the house. My gosh, the cleaning is no joke. I think I will need to start being more religious with cleaning at least every week. I wasn't done with the cleaning yet but realized it was getting late and decided to take a break from cleaning and head out to shovel the snow.

Well the thing about snowing is, yes it's beautiful and romantic but it's hard work once the snow stops as you need to shovel. And the bigger your house area is, the more you need to shovel. If you don't start shoveling, it'll pile up with more snow coming in and that also means you'll need to spend more time shoveling after that. Well I took 2 hours and 15 minutes to shovel 1 full day of snow in my pavement and driveway before I decided I've shoveled enough. I really wondered how many tonnes of snow I had shoveled. At the end of it, I was so tired and my arms and thighs were aching. Well on the positive side, I took it as a good form of exercise to tone up those flabby arms and thighs. Will definitely be doing that pretty often at least for this month.

My my, it's December already. I almost lost count. December has become a month of melancholy for me despite the Christmas celebration. I miss my image so much. Life just feels different without her. Ok, I shall not brood anymore. Gonna focus on creating happy times and enjoying myself as much as I can while I'm here.

Snow, snow and more snow...

It was a snowy long weekend with the end of Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

Well Black Friday is an annual event where you have stores opening up at 4am and discounts going on for almost everything from apparels, shoes, arty stuffs to electronics. Most people will wait till this event to get electronics like TV, laptops, etc. It was something that I was looking forward to but I ended up just rotting at home and did not shop for a single thing even online. One of the deterrent was the weather of course. In fact it was the main deterrent. Snow was expected and the winds were strong. Not very conducive to be driving around in such conditions and I definitely experienced it for myself today.

We had planned to head to town and have a nice dinner before Dearie goes away for 3 weeks. However, I noticed that the winds were strong and the sky was gray and decided against it. Dearie wanted to eat out so we decided to head to Smokey Mountain Pizzeria for dinner. Just when we were leaving, it started to snow but it wasn't that bad as the visibility was still good.

After dinner, I was passed the car keys and asked to try driving in the snow. In the midst of our dinner which was around 45 minutes tops, the snowfall got heavier and the tracks were completely covered with snow when we got out of the eatery. I started out fine but as I kicked in the accelerator, the car skidded and boy, was I panicking. It was my first time experiencing the car skidding and even though I had kicked in the accelerator, it was only at less than 30 miles per hour which is deemed slow. I could hardly see the lane markings and visibility was quite bad with the snow flying. It felt like I was traveling in a time machine. I was just mentioning to Dearie that I would definitely change a few things if I went back in time. However, one thing I won't change would be my marriage to him. I don't think there's a better man for me. Well, I was glad to have Dearie beside me as an extra pair of eyes and for guidance. I let out a sigh of relief when we arrived back home. It was definitely an experience driving through that snowfall.

Well my driveway and porch was covered with snow. Dearie & I had some fun playing and shoveling the snow. Snow can be such a pretty and yet dangerous thing. We had about 2+ inches of snow covered around our house. Think it is one of the rare times when there was this much snow in the area. This part of Idaho doesn't really snow much from what I hear from the locals. It must have snowed for us!

Anyway the fun ended when Dearie slipped and fell. I was so worried if he injured himself especially his knee but he was more worried if he tore his North Face jacket instead. Gosh! Almost gave me a heart attack there. Anyway, that's another dangerous thing when snow comes. Snow melts and as the temperature is still low, the melted snow turns to ice and ice is really slippery when walked or driven on. In fact Dearie mentioned that he had a few of his colleagues slipped and injured themselves. Hopefully Dearie will remain safe and throughout his stint in Arizona.

Start of Winter...

I guess Fall has ended with the start of snow on Saturday. I think out of the 4 seasons, I love the Fall slightly more than Winter because of all the beautiful colors from trees and plants. Although I would love to see more of Fall's colors in Aspen, Colorado or in other states, it was quite beautiful enough even in Boise and Mountain Home.

With more snow kicking in the next few days, I understand better why it's pretty dangerous to be traveling or driving. So far, the only experience I had with fog was driving in Perth. We had to pass by a number of lakes or rivers and it was so fogged up that it got me really worried. I have another experience with the fog today even though there aren't rivers or lakes nearby. And with more snow coming in from Canada and the high possibility of encountering black ice, I guess I'll be restricted to just staying in Mountain Home for the next few weeks. That's Winter for me I guess. Despite the lovely snow and the beautiful snowy landscapes, day is short with sun setting by 5.30pm and it's not so conducive to be driving to the city as often as during other seasons.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to experience a white Christmas but I'll definitely be experiencing a white Thanksgiving. This will also be the last week with Dearie before he travels to Arizona. I'll be home alone for 3 weeks. Here's to clearing the rubbish, shoveling the snow, being totally independent.

Cooking

I've been cooking for about 10 months now and every week, I'm looking at either perfecting my dish or finding new dishes to try. Dearie's work shifts are stabilized now and is rotating between morning and afternoon shifts.

I have more time preparing dinner so will usually try new dishes when he's on the morning shift. I'm actually pretty excited about cooking this week as I'll be trying out a number of new dishes. My trip to the Orient Market yielded fruitful results and I was really happy with my grocery shopping yesterday.

One of my grocery purchases included lotus root and I decided to boil lotus root soup today before it goes spoilt. This soup reminds me of my mum's cooking. It's one of my favorite soup as she will always add in chicken feet when she makes this soup. Lotus root is not something where it's easily found in the States coz it gets rotten pretty quickly. My preparation of the soup began and it included washing the lotus root. I must say that the lotus root here is already pretty clean as there is no mud as compared to those my mum buys from the market. But it was still a yucky thing for me to do. Having cooked for 10 months, I've encountered things that I had to wash and cut that I found yucky but because of the desire to whip up new dishes every chance I get and also the desire to cook nice dishes for us to enjoy, I had no choice but to just do it. One thing I avoided and will not handle is the chicken feet. Boiling this soup makes me appreciate my mum a lot coz I can really feel the love for us. Imagine going through all the effort of washing, cleaning, etc and handling of chicken feet is worse than handling lotus root.

Having cooked for about 10 months also made me appreciate people who cooks for a living besides my mum and mum-in-law. It is always so easy to request for your favorite dishes without giving even a thought to what goes behind that favorite dish. I'm glad Dearie doesn't have any favorite dishes so basically I can just choose to cook what I like to eat and enjoy cooking.

Kudos to my mum for all those delicious dishes. I truly feel your love in each of them.

Melancholy Lurks...

Well all is going pretty well with Dearie after last week's episode. It's definitely a load off the heart once the air was cleared. Through this, I've also realized a few things and one is the understanding between friends especially if they are true friends. It makes me treasure our times even more and wanna work things out to be closer friends.

I was browsing through my photo collection for pictures to be used on my scrapbook tray. The tray will be a gift for my parent's wedding anniversary. As I browsed through, I was also electronically sorting them out and chanced upon some pictures which had been lying in there, forgotten. Seeing them made me miss my family and more so, my little image. Tears naturally fell even without me realizing it. I don't think there will ever be a day where I'll no longer cry when I look at those pictures. I miss her so much.

Jaden had his first month celebration over the weekend and it's been a while since I saw genuine smiles on daddy & mummy's faces. Maybe Jaden's indeed God's gift to them. Sometimes I do feel a tug to have my own child especially since coming here. I've gotten so attached to Isaac. Seeing him grow each week for the past 10 months have been really special. I see the wonders of God's creation but at the same time, I see lots & lots of obligations and responsibilities. Sometimes I do feel bad for disappointing my parents on a grandchild although I know they would understand and support our decision. Anyway I'll just leave it to God's plan for me.