Code: Laundry
Over the weekends, Kris finally bought his tile-cutters - not the industrial straight-line cutters, but the handheld manual ones. He really liked it cos he's almost done with the entire wall last Sunday!! Yeah, he's completed all the finnicky bits like making holes in the tiles for the taps & sockets & other fixtures... So, he's left with the simple straight-cuts for the benchtop & the sides of the furniture... Then, he can finally grout the tiles to make it more permanent & waterproof & then, we can fix all the fixtures proper & paint the walls... Yeah, then after that, we'd prolly paint the kitchen walls too!! Cos I don't think we can afford to do the entire kitchen up!! ~sigh~

I mean, I would really like to get rid of the current cabinets & all that & get a new one & fit the new double sink & cooker hub that we've got for over a yr now!! And new cabinets, mean that all the stove & oven & hub can all get aligned properly, we'll get proper pantry & more storage for the utensils and also, I'll prolly be able to get a slightly bigger kitchen... not much, but just a smidgeon!! But we can't afford that right now... We'll see when the capital investment money is returned, if we're gonna do it!!

Personally, I'd seriously like to have the kitchen done!! If not for catching a higher price when we sell the place, but at least to make the house look more complete & well-thought for. And even if we never get any opportunity to sell this place, and means that we'll have to raise our kids here, at least it IS complete for all of us... But right now, I'm just very satisfied at how the laundry area is coming into shape & very proud of Kris for listening to my designs, ideas & whingeing!! hehehe...

Code: Fone Frenzy
Continuing with my last post about my annoyance with callers who don't leave msgs on my answering machine when they do get them... Well, I have come to the conclusion that these are irritating telemarketers & survey companies which are currently plagueing every household in Australia with their incessant calls at just about anytime of the day!!!

Let's not count all the other days... Seriously, just today alone, I've got calls around 9am, 12nn, 2.30pm, 4.30pm & 6pm... getting me kicked out of my dialup for 5 times in less than 12hours!! They have costed me money!!! Perhaps I could pick up that call & ask for their company's details & sue them for harrassment!!

I dunno how, but some of these callers actually managed to penetrate my online re-dial service & break thru to get my answering machine!! And yet, they didn't leave any message!! What's the point?! Didn't they learn that when u do get the machine, make sure to leave a msg so that if we're really interested in getting that call, we'll wait for them to call back at the annointed time!!They may even get a sale - even though they know that they won't even buy these products/services themselves!!

But I do hope if any of you telemarketers/surveyors read this, pls pls pls I beseech you... Forget about what the mgt told u!! Take note of that person's name & number & jot down a time for them!! And then, leave the bloody msg already with your name, company & purpose of call!! Of course, make sure u call back or they'll curse u forever!!

Code: Mobile Madness
Oooohhh... I was up late last nite & chatting to Jaire... and sharing juicy bits of our lives... Oh Nor, I've sent him your regards... and he misses you too... Well, at first he said... "Which Nor? cos I know alot of Nors"... So, I had to show your pix thru my messenger!! hehe... and he said... "OOoohhhh that Nor... hehee..." Also told him to go check out your Friendster profile... which he said he might do... Or, you can also just do a friend request from him lah... ok?

Anyway, about late last nite, Lin came online & started chatting cos she couldn't sleep!! And she asked me if I was the one who sent her a freaky msg... Something like Read On... Read Some More... or something like that... anyhoos, told her it wasn't me... but it kinda freaked her out...

Told her that Peter is in Bangkok and last week, while he was in a drugged & drunken stupor, he had lost his mobile phone!! And a few days ago, I've been receiving text msgs from his mobile & this person who picked up the phone has been pissing me off cos he continuously texted me right into the night & into the morning!! And then, the next day too... And today, I received another one!! I'm trying to think of what I can do to stop him, seeing that Peter bought a prepaid, therefore he didn't bother to inform the police about it cos he's sure not to see the phone again... and this jerk is prolly just having fun trying to finish the credits!! So stupid!! He cld have used all those credits making legitimate necessary calls to whomever he wished, and he msgd me instead!!! ~sigh~ Stupid is as stupid does!!

So, I'm thinking right? Should I report this to the police (as if they'd care or do anything about it) or should I just post the no. on the internet & get everyone in the entire world to keep texting this jerk until he's pissed off?! Hmmmm....

Dazzle Me with ~ ~
left on the butterfly trail by Liza at 3:33 pm


Typed & typed & typed... And then, someone calls me... and I got bloody disconnected while I was publishing my post!! WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?! It's time to get broadband!!! ~argh~

And this time, the message was fabulous too!!! ~sigh~ It's alright... I'll try to retype again later tonight... perhaps...

And this particular caller had been trying to reach me the entire day already!! At 9am, I was in the freakin' toilet!! And later at 12.30nn, called again!! And then, now!! Bloody hell!! I've got freakin' answer machine!!! Leave me a bloody message, for goodness' sake!!! Stupid fark!!!

Ok... I'm publishing my post now... Don't bloody call me!!! ~crossing fingers, toes & eyes~

Dazzle Me with ~ ~
left on the butterfly trail by Liza at 2:48 pm


Dark Chocky + Orange Juice = Jaffa Party
No, I'm not drunk or out of my mind... but I was hungry only just & instead of taking out the leftovers in the fridge, I decided to have a go at the remaining half-pack of family-sized Cadbury Old Gold Dark Chocolate that I've used as cooking chocolate for my cakes. I said remaining cos I know there'll be none left by the end of this post!! muahahaha...

Oh, coming back to my point... I was munching a mouthful of it & made my trip back to the ol' fridge & down some orange juice... and my oh my... it was beautiful!! The best-tasting jaffa chocky I've ever tasted!!! And started wondering "Is this how they make jaffa chockies in the first place?" Good God!! It felt like a party in my mouth & I was invited!!! YEAH!!

Freaked Out
Kris wants to sell the mitsubishi colt as soon as he gets it up & running again... So, the other day, he charged the battery & that charger got short-circuited & killed the battery at the same time. The hood was blackened underneath & there was a plastic smell all around the house.

So, that's what we did last night at late-nite shopping... After dinner, we left the house at 8pm to get a new battery for the mitsubishi colt & a new charger. Hopefully this time, nothing drastic will happen... cos it really freaked me out! I was home & I didn't smell anything burning, didn't see any smoke coming out of the car... nothing... and to think the car could have blown up from any sparks created from that short-circuit, and blown up the house & what (and who) ever was in the house too!!

All the same, luckily (or unluckily, cos it could have been an indicator of danger too) the charger has an in-built adaptor that transformed the 240V to 14V, and that prolly was too low to continue burning. Then again, I felt safe just for a moment knowing that we've got a safetyswitch installed in the meterbox. At least if there's any possible danger, the safetyswitch would have been activated & it would stop the charger from causing any further damage.

Then again, what do I know... I'm just glad I'm safe! Alhamdulillah!

Where did all the time go?
Kris has already got 8 tiles up in the laundry room... just cos he ran out of liquid nails on Saturday!! Went to the hardware store on the way back from the auto-parts store! Kris had to get a tile cutter machine too & we decided that he's gonna have a look at the one his mate, Oli, had bought recently & see if he can borrow off him or it'll be much better to just get one since we'll be doing quite a bit of tiling... It'll be good to have when we're doing up the next house too... Right now, I'm just hoping to see the laundry wall done up before the end of the year... Cos new year means new resolutions, means new projects!!

Dazzle Me with ~ ~
left on the butterfly trail by Liza at 1:32 pm


Received a parcel from Mom & Bak today... and realised the wooden basket that they've bought hadn't been passed by the quarantine dept. So, now I either have to pay $42.50 to get it sent back to them or just get them to destroy it. Either way, it's hard-earned money wasted!! It's weird how u've told people NOT to send anything that u think may contain any untreated wood, and they send them anyhow knowing that quarantine will search the package, but hopes they'll let it pass anyway... ~sigh~

However, what was in that parcel was really gorgeous!! Mom bought me some artificial orchids, sent some photographs of my sis' wedding & a bamboo ladle!! harharhar... Thanks Mom!!

Tomorrow, I'm going out to the city with Chui cos we only met up like 2 months ago for some great but cheap Japanese. And I've got a lot of shopping to do. I mean, I don't get to go out much, cos of the obvious (I'm not working - ie. no money to spend with; Kris hates shopping) & we both strategically chose tomorrow cos the temperature won't be too high for me to walk to the train station.

See, I have to walk 30mins to the station & my skin reacts badly to hot summer air - I actually break out in sunrashes!! Anyway, yesterday had it up to 34ºC & the backyard was boiling when I put the laundry out to dry! And today's max was 26ºC I think, but I went outdoors only to accept the parcel from the postman... and tomorrow's forecast would be 23ºC, which is perfect for me!! Hehehe...

This neighbourhood is also not a great place to be running around on your own. When I moved in 2years ago, I was so paranoid about the area, I wouldn't even answer the door or have the blinds opened!! I would also only put the laundry out in the evenings when Kris was home (but now, it's alright cos we've fenced off the backyard). When I had to start work, I spent almost 2 whole months walking to the station & that kinda made me feel comfy in my own skin walking around the neighbourhood. But yesterday, a liquor store in our area got robbed in broad daylight!! And that's making me a bit jumpy!! Cos even though I'll be walking through residentials, a lot of folks living there give me the creeps!! Kris asked me to walk on the main road where there's more people due to the traffic, but it's the same there... & plus, it'll put 10mins more to my walking time, that's if I don't stop by the shops!!

So, we'll see how it goes... Kris is bugging me to put some food on the table!! You know what, I'm getting sick of being the only one who can cook in this house!! At least I won't be cooking tomorrow!!

Dazzle Me with ~ ~
left on the butterfly trail by Liza at 6:54 pm


Ok... last Saturday, Kris didn't go to work just so that we could get groceries done in the morning as we're supposed to go to the silaturrahim gathering at one of my aunt's house nearby, with Aunty Jan & BakNor. I was actually looking forward to it as Aunty Zainab & Uncle Ozzy are great cooks!! Supposed to have a Hari Raya BBQ lunch... but Tash was very sick & Aunty Jan decided to skip the lunch. And we didn't go to. So, Kris wasted 4.5hrs of weekend salary & I didn't get to have any asian & traditional hari raya spread!! ~sigh~ but it's ok...

We had told Rubie we were gonna make it to their Open House afterwards, so I still have some chance in getting some traditional raya spread... but errrr... there's no lodeh & lontong, nor any of those typical raya food... was quite disappointed... but Kak Tina & Kak Tini were both there & they've invited us to their place the next day for Open House... but Kris didn't wanna go, so I was completely disappointed on Sunday!!

Plus, Les & Greg drove all the way from Meckering to celebrate Greg's 33rd birthday & invited us to Nero's. I wouldn't go to Nero's again... I had seafood marinara spag & my oh my they were swimming in grease!! So, we promised Les & Greg we'll take them to the cafe at Mount Lawley for lunch another day, seeing that they both love spags & this particularly cafe has ambience, and the food is affordable, less greasy, fresh & comes in a HUGE serving!! Plus they've got cafe-style desserts & authentic coffees!! Sorry, I can't remember the name of this place, but we know where it is & how to get there... Then again, talking about Mount Lawley, they have a lot of fabulous cafes & restaurants there!!

Anyway, after lunch, I dragged Kris to take the 2 guys to Wanneroo Markets just to check out where they get their really cheap groceries from everytime they make it to Perth. I had to do that cos Kris doesn't like to spend time scouring around in unfamiliar territories, especially markets that have lotsa intricate goodies that I'll end up buying & cluttering the house with. Anyhoos, Les did something that I never expected him to do!! He pinched 2 leaves & almost got caught!! I mean, the owner actually ran after us even when we were in the carpark, but Les managed to convince the owner he had done nothing wrong, even after he was searched. Later on, Kris told me that I had somewhat played a part in getting Les to do that in the first place. It was my curiosity that had set Les to 'show off' by doing what he did!! I was shaken by that yesterday after the guys left... and I'm still quite shaken up right now, to tell you honestly!

I've not seen adults show off to a girl just becos she was curious about something... or actually got himself all cut up even more everytime she squeals out of knowing how painful it was for him to get pricked by agaves, or screamed for him to stop pulling out a poisonous spider from inside a car by his bare hands & the more she screamed, the more he did it!! I mean, showing off are for jerks & little kids... and Les was neither!! ~sigh~

So, I dunno how I'm going to react the next time he's here... The guys are coming over in a couple of weeks... I guess I've got 2 whole weeks to calm my nerves & decide what to do by then.

Dazzle Me with ~ ~
left on the butterfly trail by Liza at 6:32 pm


Sunday, we had dinner at Aunty Jan's place for her birthday. Kaye's fam was there too... Couldn't recognise Tiki cos she's tall now!! And she looks sooo different!! Couldn't get over it!! Kept staring at her!! But I had to stop cos I need to eat... Anyway, the young'uns ate in the lounge watching Idols & wat-have-yous... and we adults sat at the dining table. Have a great time... food was good!! Finally had a traditional kueh tat (pineapple tarts) cos another relly brought her some when they came a-visiting on hari raya itself!!

I've moved furniture around yesterday cos I was kinda bored at home. Haven't been jobsearching lately, but was trying to keep the house clean... I've moved the vanity table Kris bought me from his master bedroom to the lounge. It looked much better there... So, I've got all my extra makeup stuff in a big rattan laundry basket somewhere in the lounge. heheh... Kris had packed up his PC & stored it in the shed & put the pine mirror on the PC table in his dad's room. After all, I've already occupied all 3 rooms with my clothes, shoes, accessories, etc... why not my mirror? Hehehe...

Yeah, amongst many other things that are now in the shed is the clothesrack... and I think Kris would like to have more stuff stored in there cos I'm not using all these stuff & I've got them everywhere... but he was just pretty pleased with my interior decorating (as he always is), but was apologetic that we don't have the suitable sofa for it. A Chesterfield set & my red ottomans would be extremely perfect right now to create the look we want... even though we're really inspired to get the proper stuff, but we really can't be impetuous & rush out to spend our savings on them... cos there are more important things we need to save for.

Ok... besides cleaning all those makeup stuff & finding a space to stuff them into, I also have to clean the fridge... luckily all the laundry is done, folded & kept!! My office is still like a pigsty!! See which one I'll do first... then again, I may just slack off again today...

Dazzle Me with ~ ~
left on the butterfly trail by Liza at 1:12 pm


Yesterday was what the Malays termed as Hari Raya Puasa, marking the first day of Syawal for muslims here in Perth... a day of celebration for a month of fasting in Ramadhan… I smsd my rellies & friends & found out that most of Asia are celebrating on the same day too. What's weird was that some parts of Perth will only be celebrating today... Mind you, Perth is really not that big & we have no time difference & for us to have 2 different days of celebration blew me away. But then again, who am I to say what should or should not be the correct date?

I received a text from Nor last nite & told her that I had fish burger for dinner & will be packing one for Kris to take to work the next day (being Hari Raya) & she laughed her head off saying it's the first time she had heard someone actually celebrating Hari Raya with fish burger!! Her reply was quite hysterical, but what was I supposed to cook? I mean, we don’t have much of a celebration here in Perth...

Firstly, no one actually comes to visit me, knowing I'm not married yet (most people visit the houses of married couples) so there's really no need to make cookies & cook especially for them.

Secondly, I've already made Chicken Korma the other day... Kris liked it... and I don't see any reason to make it again. Also, I don't have any lontong or lemang to make lodeh & serondeng... and I'm the only one who can eat sambal tumis in this house! So, fish burger is good enough for us!! Hehehe...

Finally, I did try to make some cookies, but it being my first time & that the oven was not a chef's oven, some of them got burnt due to heat not distributed equally in the darn oven... Kris ate it anyway... One of my aunt here in Perth said that he ate it cos there's nothing else to eat!! Harharhar... She's so funny!! YEAH RIGHT!! The ones that weren't burnt were actually quite good... but I’m not gonna make anymore cookies... at least not anytime soon. I may try again next year & will take into account the tips & advise given to me about baking cookies, if I find the need to.

And even tomorrow, Kris is working & we'll prolly not even make it to Karl's housewarming party. Kris said to use the lamp we bought for our own use. I dunno where to put it though. It doesn't really suit the decor of the house but I'll find a space for it.

To all Muslims around the world, Selamat Hari Raya, maaf zahir batin... Have a great Eid Mubarak.

Dazzle Me with ~ ~
left on the butterfly trail by Liza at 8:28 pm


Ok... as much as I thought, the trick-or-treaters came last nite. I especially liked the first 2 girls who came in a realistic & complete witch costume & make-up and the other was a beautiful fluttery fairy!! I gave them extra chockies!! And when asked if they've got an adult with them, they were very shy & said, "Our dad..." Of cos I told them 'that's good'... And they fluttered off, I stuck my head out the door, and their dad was waiting at the driveway, he said thanks & off they went to the next house.

And while I was organising evening tea, another 2 boys came... and this time, Kris had the chance to serve them. They had their mom waiting at the driveway too... And Kris was excited cos the kids were excited seeing the big bowl of chockies... and of cos, them getting 3 pieces each... I can hear their "COOOOOLLL..." all the way from the kitchen!!

We didn't have that many that day... cos Halloween fell on a weekday this year & not many parents would allow their kids to drag them out of the house at night just to get a bag of treats. Furthermore, it's not really part & parcel of Oz custom, just like Thanksgivings Day.

Dazzle Me with ~ ~
left on the butterfly trail by Liza at 4:58 pm



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