A Saturday with a difference

Well, it’s not that different actually. It might even be boring to people who goes out and socialize all the time, but, to me who likes to spend her weekends at home working on her crafts, and attending to the household chores and Aiman’s and hubby’s needs, this Saturday we decided to do something a little different. We, as in my son and I (my hubby wasn’t interested. *grin*) went to watch a mini concert at Plaza Alam Sentral, Shah Alam.

Err..what Mini Concert? A “Kau & Aku” Mini Concert featuring Aril, Akim, Mila and the rest of the “Kau & Aku” cast currently playing on Astro Ria Channel 104. Astro is doing a showcase of the musical drama to appreciate the fans who have been following the musical drama every week on Saturday nights.

Am I one of those fans? *blush* LOL! *grin* I watch it on and off, and only to catch Aril. *blush* Ask me what’s happening now in the drama, and I can’t tell you because I only catch bits and pieces of it and would usually watch it in between working on my bags. I find some of the actors too overacting and the script not that very well thought of, sometimes making me cringe! LOL! Maybe that’s because the script was meant for the teenagers and not for someone above 40 like me? LOL! *grin*

I watch it anyway, once in a while, just to watch Aril and it’s a drama where you can just watch it without having to do much thinking. It’s purely watching just to have some fun! *grin*

Anyway, I was actually looking for a laptop bag pack. My only laptop bag pack had a tear that looks like it might give way at any time while I am carrying it on my travel. Since I might be travelling again quite soon, I needed a laptop bag pack in a hurry and so suggested to my hubby that after Aiman’s usual Saturday classes, why don’t we drive over to Shah Alam, Plaza Alam Sentral to be exact – trying to kill two birds with one stone here – to have lunch at a different place instead of the usual restaurant we eat at almost every Saturday. At the same time, I can also get to look for a laptop bag pack AND maybe also be able to catch the Mini Concert! LOL! *grin* That’s killing 3 birds with one stone! LOL!

We had lunch at Thai Fusion Steamboat, Plaza Alam Sentral – I LOVE STEAMBOAT! We settled for the Set Meal for 3 people, but I did not take any photos of the food this time around as I had a bad experience the last time I was in a restaurant and wanted to take photos of the food (I will post about it later).

The steamboat was nice! We had it with Tom Yam soup. The portion was just nice for the 3 of us for lunch, but, for some reason, I started getting hungry again at 6.00pm! LOL!

Anyway, when we were done with lunch, we were just in time for the concert to start at 3.00pm. We made our way to the stage at the atrium of the shopping mall and I was mighty surprise at the flood of people already waiting for the concert to start.

I never expected such a crowd knowing how Malaysians can sometimes be quite blur, duh and boring when it comes to concerts, unlike in the US where the fans go crazy whenever they attend concerts of their favourite celebrities.

But, I certainly was wrong this time around. The crowd was very excited and eager to meet their idols from Kau & Aku. In fact, when we arrived at Plaza Alam Sentral at about 1.30pm for lunch, the crowd had already gathered around the stage even then. So big was the crowd that the only way we could even try to get a glimpse of Akim, Aril and Mila was by going up to the 3rd floor. At that level, all we could see were the top of the heads of Akim, Aril and Mila! LOL!

As soon as the concert started and Aril, Akim, Mila and the rest of the cast came on stage, the crowd got very excited.

They were trying very hard to get as close as possible to their idols, calling out to them, wanting to shake hands with them, but were restrained by the security guards who were quick to prevent the crowd from pulling their idols off stage.

The crowd that afternoon, which I think consists of a mix of the very young, teenagers, young adults and even some in my age group and older, were very sporting. They were cheering, clapping, waving, and singing along to every song sang that day. I was amazed that they seem to know all the songs by heart! A real big fan they are!

We did not stay to watch the concert till the end as I still need to look for my bag pack and I also needed to buy some workbooks for Aiman. We left the concert to do some shopping after Aril sang my favourite song from him, “Menatap Matamu”.

It was nice to do something out of the ordinary once in a while. I enjoyed the steamboat lunch, and the mini concert was a nice touch to a usually routine Saturdays, not that I am complaining. I am happy just the way things are. Anything out of the ordinary is a bonus! I actually even managed to snap a close-up of Aril just as we were leaving the shopping mall. LOL! *grin*

A pet in training

Aiman has been wanting a cat for a pet for a very long time. But, since he is asthmatic and has a bad case of eczema, we have been advised by doctors and many others not to have one in the house. But, Aiman has never stopped asking for one.

Recently, our back door neighbour’s cat gave birth to 4 kittens in our wet kitchen. While she was nursing her 4 new kittens, who should come around to play in our wet kitchen so as to be able to stay close to his mummy, but the big brother of the 4 little kittens!

We found him one day waiting by the back door, meowing in hunger as our neighbour had left for the long Chinese New Year Holidays.

Aiman took one look at his adoring eyes and was immediately smitten by the cute little kitten (seen in the above photo with his mum), whom he later affectionately calls `Abang’, as the little kitten was the big brother to the 4 little kittens just born.

Ever since that day, Aiman has found himself a pet in Abang and would wake up early every morning to feed him. Before this, it can sometimes takes us close to 10 minutes to try to get him to get up every morning, but with Abang meowing outside waiting for his food, Aiman practically jumps up every morning to feed Abang. LOL! Now that’s what I call a good influence! *grin*

Aiman is getting very attached to Abang and would get all sad if he can’t get to say goodnight to Abang before he goes to bed each night. He rushes to the back kitchen each time we come home from anywhere to look for Abang. He would stay at the back kitchen for as long as possible to play with Abang and would not want to go anywhere in case Abang might come and wants to play with him.

Having Abang has also made him do his chores faster as it becomes a motivation for him as we tell him that he can only play with Abang when he is done with all his homework and chores.

Tonight, Aiman was upset that when Abang came to play with him, but he wasn’t done yet with his chores, and as he rushed to finish off his chores, Abang had left. He wanted to play with Abang first before he went to bed, and he must have felt that all his efforts, rushing to finish off his chores quickly, did not pay off, as by the time he was done, Abang had already left and it was also almost his bedtime.

I hope something good will come from Aiman’s attachment to Abang, as seen so far in that he is more motivated to do his chores . I only hope that when it is time for Abang to go back to the neighbour, Aiman wil not feel too sad.

I have promised Aiman that if he really wants Abang as a pet and if he can prove to us that he can take care of a pet cat, I will ask permission from our back neighbour to let us have Abang. I told him that for now, he is in training and his duty is to make sure that Abang’s bowl is always filled up with food and water everyday. So far, during this long CNY holidays since Abang’s arrival, he has pretty much fulfilled his duties.

Tomorrow it’s back to school for Aiman. I am waiting to see if he remembers his duties with regards to taking care of Abang, and at the same time, nor forgetting to do his daily chores.

Taking in the sights and sounds of Bukit Bintang at night

It was Monday, 15th February 2010. We had spent almost the whole day Saturday, 13th February out of the house, taking Aiman to his usual Saturday classes, met up my mum, brother and niece for lunch. Later, we spent the evenings at my brother’s house before going home, but not before we stopped to get ourselves packed dinner to be eaten at home.

By the time we got home, it was quite late and everyone was tired. After dinner, we decided to retire early for the night as we thought that we would start our day early the next day as we have many things planned for the day.

It was Valentine’s Day and also Chinese New Year. We did not make any plans to do any
visiting to any Chinese’s friends’ house. Neither did we make any plans for Valentine’s Day as we had already spent the whole day out of the house on Saturday, and so, decided to stay home instead and take care of the house apart from doing the usual household chores.

My hubby had the grass cutter in, while I took stock of what’s in the fridge and cleared all the food which was more than a week old. I also made plans of what I would be cooking for the next few days so that my hubby can go and buy some groceries as we had Tuesday off, and I had applied for leave on Wednesday to give my MIL a break from baby-sitting Aiman.

After the majority of the household chores were done with, I managed to work on a sample bag which was a special request from my hubby’s cousin and managed to complete it that Sunday night (see earlier posting).

Having spent the whole day at home on Sunday, came Monday morning, my hubby suggested that we take a drive around town to see how the town is like during this festive season when it used to be terribly jammed up on normal working days. We made plans to have dinner out as we take in the sights of the city at night.

We headed on to Bukit Bintang after our maghrib prayers, and was caught in a slight jam along the Federal Highway in front of Midvalley Megamall due to an accident and a slight road closure due to construction. After that, it was a smooth drive to Bukit Bintang.

It’s been a very long time since I last went to Bukit Bintang and was amazed at how much it had changed.

It was becoming more of a tourist spot rather than just a shopping spot for the locals, like it used to be 10 or so years ago. I felt like as if I was in a foreign land and could not resist going around snapping photos of the sights and scenes around me.

What was most shocking was the new shopping complex The Pavillion which was built on the former Bukit Bintang Girls’ School.

I felt a sudden pang of sadness when I saw the huge shopping complex as I felt that a part of history was torn down just to make way for just another shopping complex. Like as if there weren’t enough shopping complexes already in the area.

Is commercial value more important than the historical value of a city? I am no business woman, neither am I a fetish for history, but, to see a school which was part of the making of Kuala Lumpur make way for simply just another shopping complex was really a sad sight to see. I don’t see anything that is so unique about it that a school actually had to give way to it other than to bring in money to the already rich people.

Yeah! Yeah! Some will say that it was an economically driven decision as this shopping complex will be able to bring in money into the country as many tourists will be patronising the place. Like as if we don’t have enough shopping complexes of similar purpose around the city already? *sigh*

Part of history just went down when the school was torn down. *sigh*

After taking some snap shots of the err…..whatchamacolic…biggest whatever…..water sculpture in front of The Pavillion (it changes colours 3 times and the water fountain can reach the height of the biggest bowl……my son was amazed and excited at seeing the fountain rise the highest height. LOL!), we walked back towards Sungei Wang Plaza in search of food as we were starting to get hungry.

We came across Mr Gold and Mr Silver (I could not get a photo of Mr Silver) posing with anyone who wishes to take photos with them for a small fee of RM2.00.

My hubby tried to take a self portrait of himself and Aiman with Mr Gold in the background but it got too crowded that it was impossible to get a good shot of him.

When we got to almost the end of Jalan Bukit Bintang, we decided to settle for Papa Rich for dinner. Aiman, again, ordered Fish and Chips (this boy just can’t seem to get enough of Fish and Chips! He just had Fish and Chips on Saturday! LOL!).

I ordered the Curry Laksa which came in a HUGE bowl with plenty of chicken pieces and cockels.

Unfortunately, the curry laksa was tasteless. Despite adding salt and pounded chillies, I still could not get it to taste nice. But, I finished it anyway as I was hungry, and the big chicken pieces sort of made up for its poor taste.

My hubby ordered the chicken rice, but I could not get a good shot of the set as the lighting in the restaurant was poor and my hubby was positioned at an angle from me.

I did not want to get up to take the shot as I did not want to make it too obvious that I was taking photos of the food lest the restaurant owner might chase me out thinking that I might be trying to steal his idea for a recipe or in the way he presented the food, not that the food presentation was that great anyway. LOL! *grin*

Seen here my hubby putting up a posting at FB to say that we were having dinner at Papa Rich in Bukit Bintang. Has someone gotten addicted to FB? LOL! *wink*

My son also ordered a serving of otak-otak which was really nice despite it looking raw and ‘naked’ without the usual leaves that an otak-otak is usually wrapped in. LOL! *grin*

We topped off our dinner by sharing a bowl of Banana Split which was really nice as we have not had a Banana Split in a long tim etoo.

Dinner wasn’t even done yet when my son started yawning and rubbing his eyes, showing signs of being tired and sleepy. He had played a round of badminton with my hubby earlier at the park, and since he had not being exercising much since his circumcision and the chicken pox, it must have worn him down very much.

We paid the bill and headed back to the car to go home. We arrived home still early as it wasn’t even 11.00pm, as it was quite a smooth drive back. If only the roads could always be this clear all day every day! LOL!

Yeah! Yeah! Dream, baby, dream! When you live in a big city like KL, you can only dream of a city that is jam free! LOL!

It was nice to go into the city once in a while to take in the sights and sounds of the city at night. I am no socialite, and going out at night is not something I like to do, preferring instead, to stay at home to work on my crafts, but, it’s a nice change once in a while.

A special request

I had a special request from my hubby's cousin to make her a bag. She saw the praying mat bag I made for my mum at my blog, and wanted me to make her a bag that she could put in a praying mat, the praying attire (telekung) and a make-up cum purse cum handphone bag.

I feel very honoured that she thinks that my bags are nice enough for her to want me to make her one. I am excited, but, at the same time, anxious and nervous! LOL!

I am excited because this is a special request from my hubby’s side of the family as most of the bag requests so far only comes from the immediate side of my family, and they are mostly requests from my nieces, mum, sisters, and SILs, or rather, I make bags mostly for them. They are my biggest fans! LOL! *wink* I have also made many bags for my stitching friends.

I am anxious and nervous because I am afraid that she might have expectations that I might not be able to fulfil, me being only an amateur at making bags with special requests. BUT, excited I still am, and I just hope that I will be able to fulfil all her requests. *smile*

Anyway, my hubby’s cousin, Idah, requested for a bag in black, a colour that I don’t usually work with, but, definitely it does not mean that I can’t work with black. Being architecturally trained, I tend to love bright colours more, and the only other black bag I have made was for my sister, Lin, who is a lawyer, and only dresses in black and white when she was still working as a lawyer. I made her that bag for her to be able to take it to work. I made a grey messenger bag for my hubby about more than a year ago.

Idah’s other request was for it to be in linen. She also wanted a long leather handle that can be slung over her shoulders, and maybe have some of the trimmings to be in leather. She also made a request for a make-up bag cum purse cum hand phone pouch to match the main bag.

I made two proposals for her, one which is almost similar to the praying mat bag, and another one is more like a tote, like the normal bags that I have always been making, but, this time with zippers. This will be the first time that I will be making it using zippers made this way.

Unfortunately, I had to tell her that I have never worked with leather before except to sew the handles on, which I think I did not do such a good job of, and I am definitely not yet confident to work with leather anymore than to fix the handle, what more the trimmings. I have never worked with linen either.

I feel bad that I couldn’t fulfil that part of the requests from her, but, rather than attempt it and do a lousy job of it, I would rather work with something I am more familiar and confident with and do a good job of it. Then maybe, she will recommend me to her many other friends, cousins, etc. LOL! *wink*

Idah has chosen the tote bag option and she asked if I could make a paper mock-up of the bag before I actually get down to sewing the bag because she wants to be able to have a feel for the size of the bag.

I asked a few stitching friends how do I go about doing it as I was afraid that the paper mock up might not look nice and do justice to the design, because I am quite confident that the bag which I will be making will look nice with the choice of fabrics that she had already chosen.

A few friends suggested that I make an actual bag but using a different fabric from the one that she had chosen as they said that I can always sell off the `sample bag’ once she has made her comments. That way she could have a feel for the size of the bag, and it would also give me an opportunity to try out this zipper method that I have never tried before without getting too stressed out over it if it did not turn out okay.

So, about 2 weeks ago, I sat down to cut out the fabrics to size with the intention to start work on it immediately. Unfortunately, however, I was down with the flu for about a week, and did not touch my sewing machine at all until during this Chinese New Year holidays.

I worked on it all day, well, almost all day Sunday, 14th February. Yup! We didn’t go out for any Valentine’s Day celebration this year as my hubby and I, together with our son had already gone out all day on Saturday, taking my mum, brother and niece out to lunch, we did some shopping and went over to my brother’s place so that my son can play with his cousin Miki.

We came home quite late that Saturday, and so decided to spend the Sunday at home doing our chores and taking care of the home, which I think has been neglected due to our never-ending stress at work! LOL!

Opps! I am digressing again! LOL! *grin*

Anyway, I finally completed the bag at about midnight that Sunday (I had to stop several times to do the household chores, see to my son’s needs etc. You know all those boring routine stuff that you have to do when at home, right? LOL!)

And here is the `sample’ bag........

As this is the first time that I am making the zipper this way, it was quite tough doing it.

It looked pretty easy, but trying to get it to align on both sides was tough, while trying to fit in the lining of the bag at the same time. I need to find an easier way to do it, but I like how it turned out. I just hope that Idah likes it too.

I have another way to put in the zipper like the way I had learnt at Epal, but it probably won’t be as nice as this one. I guess something that takes more effort to do will surely give better results. What I need to do now is to find a better and easier way to do it.

I kind of like this flowery black and white insert fabric to this bag, though this was not the fabric that Idah chose.

The one that she had chosen is the one on the furthest left in this photo below, which I think will also look really lovely once it is turned into a bag.

There is actually a pocket to the front of the bag, but, because it is all black, it is not that obvious. Maybe that should be good if you want to put something on the outside without it being too obvious.

As for the purse cum make-up bag cum hand phone pouch, I managed to complete the bag at 5.00pm today (took leave to give my MIL a break from baby-sitting Aiman).

It looks more like a handbag than just a purse to put in a hand phone and makeup. I actually designed it to be that way because I thought that maybe Idah might be able to use it to double it up as a handbag without having to transfer her personal belongings to another handbag should she find herself needing to attend a function that requires her to be dressed formally in black or white.

It wasn’t the easiest bag to make though, and I think it has to do with the thick interfacing that I had used for the inside of the bag. The front of the bag is quilted, and I had enjoyed doing the quilting as it gave the bag the body, and made the bag look really nice, if you don’t mind my saying so myself! LOL! *wink*

Should Idah find this bag suitable and to her liking, and I have to make this bag for the second time, I will be using a thinner interfacing for the inside so that it will be easier to work with.

The tough part was the curves on the sides as the thick interfacing was really tough to work with.

I broke 2 needles before I could finally finish the bag! LOL! I almost gave up working on it last night and wanted to just toss it aside and start designing a different purse this morning. But, after a good night sleep last night, I woke up feeling refreshed and determined to complete it.

I told myself that after completing it and it did not turn out nice, I will design a different bag. But now, after having completed it, I think it did not look too bad. *grin* I just need to make a few changes to it to make it easier to work with it though.

The inside of the bag is quite roomy, with 3 compartments.

It could definitely fit in a hand phone, a few make-up items and a medium size purse.

Putting the handbag together with the main bag, they do match and look like they have been destined to be together right from the start! LOL! *wink*

Anyway, now that both ‘sample bags’ are done, I hope to find some time to meet up with Idah to show her the bag in person. I just hope that she likes it.

Thank God for Friday!

My mum is in town this long CNY holidays and after Aiman’s usual Saturday classes, we made plans to meet up at The Curve where she was shopping with my brother Azan, and niece, Kuyana, for lunch.

As my mum wanted to have steak, we decided to go to TGIF (Thank God It's Friday!).

It’s been a very long time since we had lunch at TGIF, not that we frequent TGIF, but I noticed that many of the menus that I am familiar with are no longer being offered.

I also remember that they used to offer kids eat free for every two adults or something like that, but, when we were there last Saturday, 13th February, that offer was no longer valid. It probably wasn’t a good business strategy anymore, what with the current economic situation.

No! Wait a minute! Let me check the receipts again!

Anyway, Aiman just had his usual Fish and Chips under the Kid’s Meal, and as the portion was just right, he cleaned his plate! LOL!

As for the rest of us, we started out our meal with a starter of a plate of 8 serving nachos.

It was really good! Yum! I should have ordered the 12 piece servings! But, then again, that would have spoilt our appetite for our main meals, and that wouldn’t have been good, as then, we wouldn’t be able to finish our food! That would have been such a waste, especially when the portion is big.

I can’t exactly remember what everyone had, but I had the Garlic Marinated Lamb Chop.

My niece, Kuyana, went for the Grilled Lamb.

My mum ordered Jack Daniel’s Steak & Shrimp.

My hubby ordered the Fajita Combo.

My brother Azan decided to go for the Cheese Burger that came with the Clam Chowder.

Except for my mum’s meal which she said was very big, the portions for the other meals were just right, and very filling. I especially like the mash potatoes. They were really great! T

The vegetables that came with my meal were simple but they were nice too! I must be really hungry to like everything on my plate! Either that, or, I was just not in a complaining mood! LOL!

I hope you had enjoyed your meal, Ma! Hugs!

BTW, as we waited for our meals to be served, my brother showed off his new handphone which he had just bought just the day before.

Err...was it really a handphone or was that a camera, a computer, etc. because, I can't remember seeing him using it much as a handphone, but more like he was using it as a camera, to go online, to get GPRS service and anything else, BUT as a handphone! LOL!

The Tiger got a pink heart!

You must be wondering what in the world I must be talking about! LOL!

I am actually referring to Valentine’s Day, which this year, also coincides with the Chinese New Year, and it is the year of the tiger, the year that I was born! My favourite colour happens to be pink, and my partner for the NNC Valentine Exchange for this year has the word ‘heart’ as the title for his blog, and his favourite colour is also, well, PINK! So, the tiger this year got a pink heart! LOL!

Hehe…never mind if you just got lost in what I was trying to say……. I think I must be going nuts, blabbering about nothing! LOL!

Anyway, this year, my Valentine Exchange partner is Paul, and I personally received my exchange gift on 23rd January, the day we had our January Stitching Bee (oopps! I have yet to blog about that!).

I would have ripped open the package then if not for Margaret’s ‘cane’ which always seems to be heading our way each time we thought we could have some fun! LOL! She `fiercely’ told us that we would have to wait till February 14th before we could open up our Valentine Exchange Gift. We couldn’t even take a peek, not that she would know if we did, actually! LOL! *wink* But, not wanting to be a spoil spot, we all waited till today to open up our gifts.

I stashed the gift under my sewing table so as not to be tempted to open it up when I came back from the Bee in January, but when 14th Februry came, I actually almost forgot all about it until after lunch time when I came online and everyone was talking about the VE gift! LOL!

So much for being so eager at first to open it! LOL! My partner must be disappointed that I wasn’t eagerly waiting to open up his gift exchange! LOL! *wink* Sorry, Paul! Well, put the blame on `Headmistress Margaret’ for making us wait until I forgot! LOL!

Anyway, what I got from Paul was a very sweet and lovely pouch hand embroidered with a heart surrounded by cute little pink daisies with blue leaves. Really sweet!

It has a Chinese saying, which, according to Paul, reads as “ren hui lao, xin bu lao” which he says roughly translate to mean “a person may age, but his heart does not”. How appropriate!

Paul said that he added the Chinese saying to give the VE some Chinese influence since Valentine's Day this year falls on the same day as the Chinese New Year. I think it worked. I like it very much!

I have always liked Chinese characters, but dare not stitch one in case I might be stitching the wrong words! LOL!

Paul even had a somewhat Chinese inspired fabric for the inner lining of the pouch. The Chinese motif is not that obvious though, but I like it anyway.

Paul mentioned in his blog about his `signature defects', but I hardly even noticed it as I was too busy admiring the sweet little daisies!

Paul, the gifts you said might be simple, but, it's not how big, small or simple the gift is, but the thought and effort that went into making the piece. I love the gift as I know that it came from the heart! *wink*

I love everything about it, even the little so called signature defects! That’s what makes it a work of The Heart of Paul!

Thanks a bunch! HAPPY VALENTINE’s DAY! Hope you had a great one!

BTW, here is the Valentine Exchange gift to my partner, Sabariah.

I decided to make her an embroidered pouch with her name on it, using my new pal, Em, and a pincushion to go with it.

At the zipper part, I added sme embroidery work too.

This is the first time I am doing this since I started making pouches, and I like the results. The next time I make pouches, I think I will add this little detail that makes such a differnce to the pouch.

I hope she will have plenty of use for both the items.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you too, Sabariah!

HAPPY VALENTINE’s Day to my hubby too! Hugs!

A stressful start to the New Year

It’s been two weeks since I last updated my blog. I have lots that I want to write about, but I can’t seem to find the time to sit down and gather my thoughts. It has been a hectic and stressful start to the new year that I have fallen sick twice already since the New Year. I was down with the flu on the 12th of January and I had the flu again on the 8th of February, both lasting for about a week.

Aiman had chicken pox two weeks into the start of the new school year, the same time that I was down with the flu. It was stressful trying to care for him while I too was not in the best of health.

I was glad that my hubby was in good health to care for him during the early start of my flu as I was also worried that he might catch my flu to add on to his chicken pox, but, I am glad that he did not catch the flu, and was quite well behave throughout his `ordeal’, as we were very worried that he might be scratching himself to the bones.

My son had a bad case of eczema just prior to getting the chicken pox and he was scratching so much that part of his skin behind his knees turned almost black from too much scratching, exposing raw skin that could not heal in time.

So, it was almost a miracle that he hardly scratched at all during the time that he was down with chicken pox. I think the antibiotics, the anti-itching medicine and the calamine lotion really works.

At the office front, I find myself suddenly short-handed as early as the 2nd week of January when two of my senior officers left, one to further his studies, while the other one took up a teaching job at a university in Ipoh. To add to that, two of my other officers got transferred to another department without any replacement for someone to take over their jobs.

I am constantly under stress as I run from meetings to meeting, while at the same time, trying to monitor projects, making sure that they are running smoothly. If they are not, reports have to be prepared, and that takes a lot of time when I have no officer to help me prepare the reports.

At the moment I only have one senior officer, when I should be having 3, and I have left most of the outstation travelling to him, but, lately, even he is showing signs of stress as he has started to show signs of falling sick too last week as he takes over some of the tasks usually handled by the other two senior officers who left.

My table is constantly piled high with letters as I can’t seem to get through the letters fast enough before the next pile of letters comes in, as I am in meetings from morning to evenings on most days. I have, of late, started to bring the letters home, so that I can clear them faster, but it tends to take away the time spent with my family, my crafts and the household chores, but, it has to be done. If not, things will pile up even higher, and I will get even more stressful.

I am hoping that this won’t become a habit as I prefer that time at home be time for the family and time to do my crafting, besides doing the household chores.

I just hope that the top management will take action fast enough to fill in all the vacant posts as fast as they expect the reports to submitted to them weekly. I have put in my requests since the beginning of the year, and one month had past with no signs of any action being taken on their part, and they expect us to work efficiently. Uurrghh! Do they think that we are robots? *sigh*

I am looking forward to the long Chinese New Year holiday to catch my breath, taking a break from the stress of work to work on my crafts, besides spending some quality time with my son, to see to his needs. I had to, however, bring back some work home, but I won’t be touching it until after I get to do what I have been meaning to do for the last few weekends when I have had not much of a weekend when things planned ahead never turned out the way it was planned to be.

So, this time, I am not making any big plans, except that I am hoping to find some time to work on some bags (I got a special order for a bag. I will tell more later), start on the door gifts for NNC’s 3rd Anniversary Meet coming up in March, a few exchanges that I have signed up and other crafts that I have been wanting to do.

Let’s hope that I can at least get half of what I intend to do done! LOL!