Day 38 - My niece turns 1

Psst - this is another lengthy photo-heavy post.

Dear my adorable little niece,

Exactly a year ago we met for the first time. You were so little then, not much longer than the width of your father's two hands. You loved clenching your knuckles and positioning them next to your face.

Day 37 - The Bermuda Triangle strikes again

When I left home this morning, I left a few miscellaneous items in the Bermuda Triangle. I've written about the mystical and mystifying Bermuda Triangle before here, and I suspect it'll continue to provide me with great amusement as I continue purging my house.

This time, I put out a bunch of random kitchen goodies - a chipped Max Brenner hug mug, a plastic Powerpuff Girls cup, a sugar bowl and a champagne flute with an angel covered in tacky glitter. They sat in an old and broken dish rack.


When I returned, they had vanished into thin air.


Every time! Just amazing.

Day 36 - Snowflake does Thriller dance and wears bow tie again

So after I removed Snowflake's bow tie yesterday, she was so thrilled (sorry tasteless pun) with her newfound agility that she broke into the Thriller dance.


But then, Soon Yang kindly pointed out that I had the bow tie on upside down.. so poor Snowflake had to wear it again the right side around hahahaha

How cute!

Day 35 - Feeling better, a giant sausage, Snowflake in a bow tie and a clean stove

This morning, I was finally starting to feel a bit more normal - yippee! The coughing, congestion and overall feeling of malaise is there, but there's a noticeable reduction of phlegm - yay! I also felt well enough to finally step out of the house - huzzah!

Here are a few things that made me smile today:

1. A giant wiener.



2. Tiny teddy drawer knobs.



3. Snowflake in a bow tie. It accentuates how fat wide her face is hahaha.





4. Realising that I have a freakishly small neck and can wear the bow tie as well.



5. Turning the stove from this...

...into this!

Day 34 - A tinge of hope, soup and domestic sillies

Last night was weird. I went to bed shivering, heck I was even shivering while taking a ridiculously hot shower, and I was feeling very light headed and nauseous. When I woke up this morning I was hot and sweaty... but the biggest shock came through when I realised I could breathe freely through my nose! My sinuses were completely clear! I lied in bed with a big smile on my face as I inhaled and exhaled deeply.

Of course, this relief was short lived, as I was soon coughing up bucket loads of phlegm. Bleh.

Yesterday, I drank 2 packets of Yuen Kut Lam's Kam Wo tea, which Chan swears by. It's composed of 28 different Chinese herbs, and inside the tea's packaging, it claims to be "Effective remedy for fever, head-ache, intoxicating, plague, vomiting, purging intermittent fever, inflammation, pain in the bones, indigestion, and cold. It can also heal the affection by the sun and allay thirst in the summer." The plague, for chrissake! I didn't feel instantly better after drinking it like this dude, but I definitely think it's doing something to help me feel better. I now, however, have a headache. Apparently this tea is pretty potent stuff and I later realised from reading the instructions written in Chinese that you should only have a packet a day. Uh oh.

So I had some more tea today (just 1 packet).


What an appetising black concoction! I'm glad my senses are whack and I can't taste a thing.


Brett dropped off some soul-soothing ABC soup he cooked up for me, which helped to appease my grumbling tummy.


For the past few days I've been eating congee which has been reheated to the point where it starting resembling gruel. Nasty!

Later on at night, as I was leaning on my dining table chair feeling miserably sick, the chair fell apart (it's kind of an old chair that's been sat on a lot) and I literally fell off it. Apparently I was flapping my arms on the way down. It was all quite funny, and I found myself lying on my side on the carpet asking Brett, "What the hell just happened?!"

I also got Brett to help me refill the bean bag, as my previous attempts have been quite disastrous as demonstrated below.


After we filled the lining with all 4 rubbish size bags worth of beans, we realised we had to somehow stuff it into the bean bag cover through its very small opening. It took a good 10 minutes of pushing, shoving and endless fits of laughter over "that's what he said" "that's what she said" jokes.

The next time Snowflake pees on the bean bag, I'm throwing it out and buying a new one!

Day 33 - No more sore throat and super comforting Snowflake

Ugh being sick sucks big time! It's been a while since I've been this sick, and it's times like these we realise how much we take for granted how great it is to be normal and healthy. Jon P nailed it when he said, "When you're sick, you start to forget what being normal feels like."

Though I'm still down with a nasty flu, it's hard to put into words how elated I was when I awoke this morning and realised my sore throat was gone! Just yesterday the simple act of swallowing felt like it was sending every cell in my body into shock. And is it just me, or is it normal that when your throat is sore, you inadvertently swallow a lot more frequently than usual?!

Meanwhile, Snowflake has been incredibly affectionate and showering me with loads of TLC - it's like she knows I'm sick!

Day 32 - Finally Together and demure Snowflake

Still sick. Fever comes and goes, sinuses are congested, throat feels like it's constantly on fire, slight dry cough, and I have the croaky voice of a 70 year old man who smokes 10 packs a day.

I spent most of today resting up in bed. While I was awake, I checked my work e-mail and started reading an e-mail entitled "Finally Together" which Michelle had sent through:

Judy got married and had 13 children. Her first husband, Ted, died of cancer.

She married again, and she and Bob had 7 more children. Bob was killed in a car accident, 12 years later.

Judy again remarried, and this time, she and John had 5 more children.

Judy finally died, after having 25 children.

Standing before her coffin, the preacher pray or her. 

He thanked the Lord for this very loving woman and said, "Lord, they are finally together."

Ethel leaned over and quietly asked her best friend, Margaret.

"Do you think he means her first, second or third husband?"

Margaret replied, "I think he means her legs, Ethel... her legs.."

Whilst still laughing at the joke, I looked over at Snowflake who at that moment appeared exceptionally demure and ladylike. How appropriate!