almanacqueen.com

shopping almanac of a stay home mum

May-4-13

Early Prezzies

posted by constance

Kiasu is the word. What do you mean, I guess you wanted to ask. Early Christmas Presents! Get the picture? Well, I have a friend who is asking if I want to send out my presents now. Yes, Now, May is the calendar month, of which, is nearer to the Christmas last year than the this year’s Christmas. I KNOW!

She sends her gifts by post and source them out on the internet. She also gets a good price buying in bulk and then, she sends them out by land parcel which, incidently takes weeks and sometimes months… to arrive. But she tells me she saves loads of money…hahahah

I guess before one can even do that, better source for good packaging supplies first so that one can get a headstart and good price to bundle up whatever you want to wrap, pack and send.. Right?

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Apr-11-13

Fadmom Status

posted by constance

For you information, if you are still following Fadmom from Fadaboutfood, do not go to the ‘dot com’ but go to http://fadaboutfood.blogspot.sg/ instead. I had forgotten to renew my domain and found out that some website buyer had bought over my domain address and if I wanted to get back my blog, I would have to pay them a premium price for that… HA! whatever for.. Not that I use this blog to make money. But I know I have traffic but still, I would never let someone make me pay that premium price. Moving on to a BlogSpot also free up stress that I do not have to worry about renewing my domain, ever.

Also, the blog was for myself, my own recipe collection that I gladly share with people so if you still want to look for any recipes that was accessible, just add in ‘blogspot’ and you can access my recipes online again.

Now that I am busy and no time to bake or cook at least my food blog will be a memory to me, and when I have time, who knows, I can continue with this free BlogSpot again.

Oh quite cool that now that I changed the layout a little.. a pictorial blog… check it out and you will find out.

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Apr-11-13

No Spa Holiday

posted by constance

I had been longing to try out a spa holiday. And I had won myself and my spouse Spa services at Fullerton Hotel recently, inclusive of a weekend stay with breakfast and dinner for two. We went for the stay and meals but no, we didn’t go for the Spa. As much as I wanted to, I didn’t make the appointment because I wanted to spend the good day with my children too. It was a good weekend charger for me not to have to abide by all the appointments if I had made the appointment. I know, the massages would have been great but I decided not too. My kids couldn’t wait to get into the swimming pool. Much to our dismay, although this is a luxury hotel, the pool was just a big disappointment. It was just a lap pool, nothing for kids, no frills and very small. I think they should have just taken it away and replace it with a relaxing garden instead. Perhaps Fullerton hotel is just not totally meant for family holidays but I still feel that no matter how adult or childish you are, the pool is a must for one to just melt your tension away. You need to find that space that makes a hotel away from the bustling concrete. I brought the kids early in the morning for a good swim and it was a little too cold… wishing they had installed an indoor pool with a raypak heater, would have been a tad nicer.. No one seems serious to go for a morning swim, save for a Korean couple who just wanted to dip in the waters. But the pool is meant for laps so, dips are not really practical since this is a really narrow pool, probably the most two person side by side doing their own laps….

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Apr-11-13

How Mobile is Your Mobile

posted by constance

Remember the old school telephone? The big black dial phone? Can’t seem to find it around anymore. The last one I saw was a digital piece displayed like an old phone. But no dialing-abled. I guess I can’t use that anyway as my phone is connected via digital network. Not the usual phone cable wire.Nowadays we are mostly using smartphones. iPhones, Samsung, Sony, LG and etc. One person in a family, at least, uses it. And many people also seem to be carrying a tablet instead of the usual laptop. But one thing for sure, using the tablet to answer your phone calls and take photos are really silly as we are moving towards the portable era. I saw few people using the Samsung Tab to take photos… gosh they do look silly using such a large piece of product and some even tried to talk by putting the tablet to their ear and shouting out loud in reply… are they showing off or just being ridiculous? hahahahha

No you will never catch me doing something like that! I prefer the good small sized mobile phone that is more comfortable to my ears!

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Feb-18-13

Not Lasting

posted by constance

I have drawer chests and cabinets that have no knobs on them. That is because the latest furniture in the last 5-10 years aren’t what good furnitures are like decades ago. These fixtures on our storage items get loose or just drops off after a year or sometimes even less. Guess it could be why we pay lesser for furniture as they are now using materials that aren’t hardy and simply perhaps our knobs or any other parts are just glued on nicely for a presentation, but do not last at all.

I am tempted to get Reid Supply handles to replace all my knobs in my house! The Reid knobs have been known to be a good quality material and workmanship and they last for years and years! Imagine, if my daughter still get a good knob from mom’s old chest drawers and how beautiful they’d look even after years on, as wooden furniture age well in time.

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Feb-18-13

Lego creating History

posted by constance

Lego is really something. Now that they have open up a Legoland in Johor, Malaysia, I wonder if it is crowded. Most kids would be very familiar with Lego or at least with building blocks, with Lego taking the lead, of course. Their branding is very strong and has been around for the longest time! My aunt used to buy them for her children and I remember visiting them during the holidays. For my Sis and I, we got Lego sets of some building structures, of which I remember I chose a simple house whereas, my sister, being much older and wiser, picked a very nice castle.

Last Wednesday, I saw this Merlion made of Lego bricks at the entrance of Toys R Us. It is really not easy to be able to build something like that! It was designed, constructed and shipped from Denmark! Must be by the professional Lego builders!

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Jan-20-13

Weather What’s Happening Week

posted by constance

Something is up in the world. If you have been living in London in the past decade, your friend would probably tell you that it was a record few years back when it started snowing again. And if you have been living in Singapore, your friends will probably tell you that in the recent few years, Orchard Road flooded, for the very first time. So did some of the basement carparks belonging to some high-end condominiums in the west. Weird, it certain is.

It rained almost the whole day, starting from the evening before, yesterday. And at this time in other years, the weather was supposed to be really really hot, approaching Lunar New Year.

Other examples would be the fruits that were supposed to be harvested or only available at certain months of the year has also started to be available the whole year (almost) long. Durians, for example. We only had durians during the months of June or July. Now you can get Durians any month of the year.. Interesting, eh. And when I tried to google for some snow topic, I get a site that is from Singapore asking if I would like to get crescent moon snowshoes… something I don’t have an idea what they are… But I figured that it must be some kind of shoes that can bring you around in snow.

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Jan-20-13

Whizzing Weeks

posted by constance

The past few weeks have been whizzing weeks, for me. First, I have no impression on where my December month went to. I had not have any holiday nor did I did anything fruitful in the holidays at all. It was pathetic. Then, when it was Christmas, I didn’t get to do anything, not even put up any decor nor Christmas Tree. I never got to that point.. Another pathetic week. Even on the Solstice Festival, I didn’t even cook the traditional glutinuous rice ball, although I managed to buy some frozen instant ones… But the day went by and there, nothing was done. I really didn’t know where or why didn’t I bother nor did I fret about it

It is already halfway into January and now the resolution was that I made myself promise to write more than postpone more jobs. I got back my evenings without having to go to work and spent more time with my girls. But there were much ‘other jobs’ that I was standing in the kitchen doing some work or other. I need to catch up on all my work so that I can organize better time for my children.

But above all, my weeks certain whizzed me by.

I hope there rest of the weeks will not be so puzzling..

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Jan-15-13

Newbies to Online

posted by constance

My eldest wants to start on her own blog. Well, I wouldn’t mind letting her have a try at it. But I think a free blog that she doesn’t need to pay for would be a good start. She can get the hang of it writing, posting images, adding all those cute stuffs onto it. Then again, I have to advice her on stuffs she may be writing. Nowadays we do have to be extra careful how we phrase our words. Do not let anything be the butt of some political agenda. We also have to be wary of the people who may befriend one through blogs and sites. Some are there for some reason and it may be bad.

Designing a blog is not difficult. Not that you would need to design them the IT way. But template’s the way to go. There are so many free templates online or otherwise hunt for a very simple website creator so that all you need is a few clicks to get started. Oh that reminds me, I also need to renew my domain before it gets taken off the website..

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Jan-15-13

Allergies

posted by constance

My daughter loves prawn. Or, she used to love prawns. Used to because she cannot eat them now, not anymore. She is totally allergic to them. We had it confirmed and she gets rashes, swelling round her mouth and hives. It is really bad. I wish there is something I could do so she can enjoy it again. But for now, it’s not worth the risk. Once, her mouth swelled so bad, it took more than a month to get the swelling down. We had to apply cream and if the swelling had continued, there would be other complications… sigh

I myself develop allergies to fresh Oysters in the last 15 years. Funny that I had none of them before. Since it started, twice in the last 15 years, I was on medication for six months each before the hives finally tapered off. It was bad and would come on especially in the evenings.

Remember, if you have allergies to anything at all, be safe. See a doctor. We live once but don’t take the risk.

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