Love for Baking

We had registered the 5-year old for a baking class sometime back and paid nearly S$50. As she

had high fever for a week and bronchitis, we nearly missed the baking class. Fortunately, I checked my email at the 11th hour and screamed.

The baking class was to commence in 1 hour's time. So we made a dash to change, and dashed to UE2 via taxi. It was pretty comical. But the 5-year old really enjoyed herself and immersed herself in the baking. She told me that she has to bake seriously so the whole family will get to eat. There she was, sifting the flour, mixing the butter, sugar, egg & then blending it... finally add the flour it, blend it and roll it to become a dough. She took the tasks seriously and used cookie cutters to make shapes of animals. She even knows that she has to flatten the dough so that the cookies will not require a longer time to bake.

When the cookies were freshly baked out from the oven, she took a moment to relax and started sampling them. Munch, yum! She was very happy with her "creation".

Overall, I feel it's worth the money as the little one has interest in baking, truly enjoyed herself and it's a different exposure baking in a professional kitchen with other little children. Of course, she will continue her little baking adventures at home with her daddy dearest.

Our beautiful family

Photos taken on 7 Feb 2009, Singapore Zoo, celebrating the 5-year old birthday. The photo of my niece & her reminds me of my relationship with my sister when we were little. We had similar pictures taken during our outing at the bird park, van cleef aquarium, etc. It was a wonderful sunny day, complete with lunch & a tom-and-jerry birthday cake.

Maid from Hell

There you go, to satisfy your curiosity, here's the maid from hell (in orange)!

Operation REPAT!

We had fights over the MAID from HELL. Moth thinks she's normal as he compares her to his ex-construction foreign workers. Come on, a FDW and a FCW have completely different job scopes. A FDW stays in our home, share our food, plays with our child. How can anyone think they are the same?

I don't give a heck. I want her out. I want her away from our home. I don't feel good leaving my child and my home under her care.

I spent the past 2 weeks sourcing for alternative. Finally, I made the decision to hire another maid and will repatriate the MAID from HELL back to her hellish lying agency tomorrow. This is what I call Operation REPAT!

I like to see if she can still SMILE tomorrow when I send her packing to her hell. \\{^ ^}//
Her favourite reaction is to SMILE when she gets a telling off or questions.

Maybe I will be BEAMING & SMILING back to her tomorrow instead. Maybe I should put on my Little Miss Smiley Tee too.

I'll be so glad to see the last of her!

Hello 2009

It has been such a long time since I blogged. So long that I've been forgotten my blogspot address. Hello 2009, it's nearly one quarter gone. After May left us for good, we departed for our year-end holiday in Vietnam and we welcomed the new year by giving ourselves a wonderful treat at the Changi Village Hotel enjoying the spread of seafood.

After weeks of waiting, well seems like decades, the new maid finally arrived 1 week before the lunar new year. I was so happy, I could dance... When we picked her up at the agency on a Saturday afternoon, she told me "Madam, I've worked in Singapore for 8 month before. And actually, I am married. Is it ok?" Thoughts raced through my mind. Ok, what's going on? She's supposed to be the "perfect" maid, we interviewed her over the telephone... she sounded mature & serious & had 4 years of work experience in Kuwait but why did she "purposely" omitted her work experience in Singapore and her marital status. Is it OK??? Of course, it's not OK!!! She's a liar. Had I wanted to hire a ex-SIN, I have tons of other candidates to select from. Then she arrived at our home, demanding to have rice all 3 meals for the day and she declared that she disliked cats & plants.

For close friends who have been to our home, you will know that we're into gardening and our cat. Our main priority for the maid is to care for our child, now 5 years old.

But na-na, the new maid (aka MAID FROM HELL) is uncommunicative to children, acts as if she's boss, speaks in the loudest pitch irritating voice, smiles only when I tell her off, can't even perform the single housechores properly. OMG, I felt so irritated & unsettled with her behaviour that when MOTH travels, I will lock my bedroom door when we are sleeping. There's a fear that she might ATTACK ME or US!

The final straw came when we had a bunch of kittens coming to our flat regularly. The MAID from HELL told my 5-year old that they could splash hot water on the kittens so the skin could come off. I was horrified to hear that! Thank goodness, the 5-year old knows what's the right thing to do! She told the MAID from HELL that it is not a good idea but the MAID from HELL said "if you don't tell, and I don't tell... nobody will know. we do this all the time in the Philippines".

How can anyone be so cruel? Even if you are starving, living in tough conditions, and a bunch of kittens come along, I doubt any of us would have the heart to splash hot water on the tiny, defenceless kittens. I mean these are kittens, they are lions or tigers or some wild beast who will rip your kitchen apart and steal your rice.

Au Revoir, May

Sun, 21 December 2008

Today's May last day in Singapore. We got up early in the morning to send her off at the airport. The 4-year old and May spent their last hour playing together and taking some photos together. When it was time for May to enter the boarding gate, the 4-year old broke into tears and hugged May tightly. I can't help but shed tears as well. She has afterall been a part of our family life for the past two years. We enjoyed a peaceful, a well-balanced family & work life as she has helped us a great deal with childcare. It's a shame we can't retain her.

Fortunately I'm on leave for the next two weeks to spend time with the 4-year old. It's quite a drastic change from a career woman to a full-time mother. How do I spend my days at home?

7.30am - Prepare & enjoy breakfast with the little one
8.30am - Help her change & get dressed for school
9.00am - Walk her to school
9.00am-12.30pm - Run errands
12.30pm - evening - Housechores, washing, ironing, packing, playing...

I never imagine that time flies so quickly when I am home. Unfortunately, part of this time does not include time for rest & nap. But I do not mind working extra for our family and taking care of my little one full-time during this period when she needs me most after biding May farewell.

We do not know when the new helper will arrive. But I think we are coping very well as a family as Moth also plays his part to help as well. This is a wonderful experience.

We are looking forward to our Christmas holiday in Hanoi and our cruise in Halong Bay. Can't wait to post our family pictures on this blog.

With the new year, we begin with a new helper, a new school for the little one, and a new career for me.

French Singing Competition

28 November 2008:

We took part in a FRENCH SINGING COMPETITION!

Singing 'Place Des Grands Hommes' by Patrick Bruel...

It was nerve racking but we survived and won nothing except experience and good fun.

We worked very hard to practise the song, imagine 3 pages long of french text... hmm, it's enough to cause a big, huge migraine. Yes, you are right. That's my 4-year old pulling my jeans. She is a very brave girl and made a dash to be on stage. She sang along during the chorus and it's wonderful!

To view the video clips, visit: http://www.apfs.sg/french_students%27_singing_contest_2008.htm