DESIGNS

I tried it and succeeded.

I mean ... I was told initially that the vinyl will not stay on the wood because there might be a possibility that the vinyl will peel if used under hot pot.

Last night I decided to print this on the wood coaster:

Then I used a small plate filled with hot water and placed over it.  The vinyl remained intact.  I think I'll try putting a metal pot of hot water over it to see the results.  Next test will be the opaque transfer.

Designed a smiley face tshirt for my sister's student.  Used orange vinyl on royal blue drifit.  I decided to use his initials JW to make the hair of the smiley face.  Hope he likes it.

Thanks for dropping by!

GOOD NIGHT

or should I say "Good morning!" my visitors?  It's Friday 3.25am.

I'm not sleepy...don't know why.  Still on antibiotics (Augmentin this time) and sleepy medication.  But I still can't sleep.  I guess the work that I have to finish for a customer is pumping my adrenalin.

I totally lost track of time!  the couple has ordered 10 pcs of polos for their bridal entourage and their wedding is on the 6th of March.  I kept thinking there's another week before their wedding until we met tonight to confirm the shirts and design that I realised I have exactly 4 days to finish the work.  Yup!  4 days to order the shirts, buy my printing materials, cut, press, pack and for them to pick up by Thursday.

Thankfully Harith is here to help with get the materials that I need.  It's hard cos Jonathan has just recovered from his lung infection and I don't want to leave him at home alone with his daddy because both of them will be having fun watching Wheel of Fortune and Jonathan will get all excited and that will start up the phlegm again.  LOL.


Hey!  I must tell you about this guy whom I found online.  While googling for hoodies, I chanced upon his blog.  He's name is Jit and he's a sketch artist and I must say he's really good.  You can see his sketches HERE.   Wow...I wish I can sketch like that.  Doodling doesn't count does it?  haha.  I just LOVE caricatures!  And you can pay him to do a caricature for you too.  Well...enjoy his work.  It's really great :)

Maybe I should just turn off the computer and go to bed.  Or I'll watch a little K-drama just so that I'll slowly drift off to sweet slumber. haha.

Thanks for dropping by!  Good morning Singapore!

OUT OF SCHOOL

I wrote a short para HERE that we have decided to take Jonathan out of school.  Yup...a permanent holiday for him and me.  No more stress about going to school.  But a new set of "stress" of what should I do with him now that we are 24/7 at home.

Right now ... it's youtube and television, music and outdoor walks.
Right now ... no therapy, no work for him.
Right now ... I will lie down next to him any time of the day, talk to him, sing to him, sign to him, hug him, hear him sing, hear him talk to me, feel him close to me, let his head rest on my shoulder, feel his hands on my face, his hands holding mine, his feet kicking me.  This is the biggest PLUS point of staying at home.

I'm taking a long break.  Which to some others ... THAT'S NOT GOOD!

I'm taking my time.  Which to some others ... THAT'S NOT GOOD!

Bumped into a parent from the school who felt that I was making the wrong decision of letting Jonathan stay at home.  With her loud voice at the store, she said "you must let him go for therapy!  Or else ah, he will become lazy! I cannot tahan if my child don't go to school.  I need my free time.  You everyday stay at home with him you can tahan meh?"

I smiled.  I know she means well in her own words.  But I don't need to repeat the reasons for my withdrawing Jonathan.  My close circle of family and friends know what Jonathan had to go through each time we embark on the journey to Pasir Ris.  So that's enough for me.

So the next time another parent asks my why?  I'll just say "He needs to stay at home".  Full stop.

He still has another 4 years of school if I decide to let him go back.  Most likely not.  But then again ... you'll never know what the Lord has in store for him.

A friend has given me a communication program to work with Jonathan but I haven't explored the software yet.


And for the time being ... I need to get my child into therapy.  Wake up Bie.  It's time to move!

OF BEING ILL AND MEDICATED

I was ill last week and the cough just wouldn't go away.  But then again...my tonsils were so badly swollen that even swallowing my saliva was painful.

Then it hit Jonathan.  He came down with blocked nose then escalated to infected lungs.  With all the chest physio and Ventolin inhalant treatment, and thankfully, after 3 days of antibiotics, the doctor said his lungs are all clear.  But we still have to nurse his blocked and sometimes runny nose that is slowly recovering.

Thank you Lord for his speedy recovery.

One of the treatments that we have learned since Jonathan was 3 years old, was introduced by a GP who felt that giving Ventolin orally wasn't good for Jonathan's body.  She explained that taking oral Ventolin not only helps to clear the respiratory tract and lungs, but also affect other parts of the body.

She was right.  Whenever Jonathan took Ventolin orally, he became so hyper that sleeping at night was difficult.  She recommended we use the Ventolin inhalant.  But because he was too young and didn't know how to inhale from the puffer, she got us the aerochamber.

So we have been using this apparatus for a long time.  We tried the nebulizer machine once but he didn't like it because of the weerrriing sound it makes and it doesn't really help clear his lungs.  By using the aerochamber, the Ventolin goes directly into his respiratory tract and lungs because the mask is cupped over his nose and mouth and he just needs to breath in and out.  Against oral Ventolin, this is a better option and doesn't affect his whole body.

This is how the aerochamber works:

The price of this aerochamber being sold at our local pharmacy is probably $50 (or more ... I can't recall).


I'm thankful for all the GP doctors that Jonathan has seen has seen so far because they provided the best solutions.  Thank you Lord for leading us to them :)

Hope the above information will be able to help anyone who reads this blog post.

God bless you and your children with good health!

DOES WEATHER HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH FLU?

Maybe there is, depending on how you see it.

I've lost my voice.  It was quite bad yesterday.  And I notice some people sort of avoiding me so as not to catch my flu.  I don't have runny nose.  Just that my tonsils are as huge as big fish balls.

When I talked to others, the first they blame is the weather.  So does the weather really have any contribution to the flu that people catch?  I don't know.  I blame the food I eat.  haha.  Actually I blame ME for putting the food down my throat that I know are potentially "heaty".

Well...here I am trying to talk to Jonathan and the voice just wouldn't amplify.  In the end I had to ask Harith to repeat my instructions, which of course, was answered with a quick response from my prince.

I'm avoiding as many close contact as I can with Jonathan.  And I've used up all my masks.  But thank God, he's been ok.  And that I don't cough so much does help in a way.

Here's wishing anyone out there who is ill .. SPEEDY RECOVERY!

OF BEACH AND BOOKLETS

Beach and books do go hand in hand when you plan to go there to read and enjoy the sun, sand and sea.

We did go to the beach on Monday (7th Feb).  No, we didn't bring any books.

Jonathan protested when we reached Changi Village.  He's not a nature person but a cityscape kid.  After a short breakfast, we proceeded to the beach.  The Lord blessed us with excellent weather, windy and cool.  Not much sunshine and it was perfect.  Jonathan's protests immediately stopped and he began to enjoy the breeze as we walked along.  After we finished what we were there to do, instead of hurrying us to leave, Jonathan decided that he wanted to go to the Boardwalk, which was at the other side of Changi Village.
It was too hot then.  We promised him the next time.

Some pictures to share:

Later we proceeded to Changi Airport for lunch:
This is one of my favourite beverage ... lemon juice with sour plum.

Harith had Yee Mee (stir fried flat noodles) with mushroom

I had hor fun (flat rice noodles in gravy)

And while we were eating, the little prince had a good laugh listening to his Whee of Fortune tape:

Today, I finished another 3 birthday booklets that my friend ordered.  I kinda like these 3 better compared to the first 2 I made earlier (HERE).

I used yarn / fabric paper / heat tranfers for the alphabets / zots dimensional tape.  Front:

I wound the rainbow yarn making them zig-zag across the cover.  Did the same for the back cover.  The alphabets were cut from vinyl transfers and heatpressed onto the fabric paper.  I mounted them on cardstock to make them stronger.

I used glitter pattern paper for the cover, felts for the squares and Doodlebug Alpha Stickers.  The ribbon was taped below the felt squares.

I only use plain cardstock for the cover, ribbons and chipboard alpha-bites designed by American Crafts.

I love it that there are dashes on the chipboard alphas:

That's about it for today.  My table is a mess so I have to start packing before I take them out again to do another few more birthday booklets.

Thanks for dropping by :)

FOURTEEN

We had fun taking this video.  But I turned off the back light because I wanted Jonathan to see the candles.
He was pleasantly surprise when I brought the cake out.  Notice that he also tried to blow the candle light out.


Jonathan is 14. Officially older by another year but still a baby to us.  Although lacking in some areas but he's still perfect in every way.

14 years is a long time.  It brings me back to day one.  When everything was all set but became a setback.

But this setback has been set straight.  It's a totally different journey now and everyday is a different life experience.  And we are improving as we go along.

What has Jonathan accomplished?

1)  Able to spit water from his mouth.
2)  Knows how to get rid of hiccups by covering his mouth and nose.
3)  Able to pronounce some words at the spur when you encourage him to.
4)  Pull his t-shirt down whenever it moves up from his tummy (see HERE).
5)  Helps me to pick up a t-shirt / towel near him (see HERE)

We brought him to Tampines 1 to choose his cake but he didn't want to buy any.  We asked him what present he wanted, he said "No Need".  But we bought the cake anyway.  We wanted to.

He celebrated his birthday with his mama (Harith's mum) on 5th Feb.  That's her actual birthday.  He almost didn't want to go for the birthday dinner but in the end, reluctantly agreed.  We were at Yummy Thai Restaurant (at 285 Changi Road) and the food was nice.  Thank-you to his aunties, uncles and cousins for his gifts.

But today, being his actual birthday, we did our own private celebration.  Here are some pictures of us with Jonathan we took this evening :)

The cake called Secret Garden was bought from The Icing Room at Tampines 1.  It's rather delicious cake.  Sponge cake with cream and red beans in between.

Excuse my hair that's all messed up heh heh (below).  Harith holding Jonathan's hand to cut the cake.

Thanks for dropping by :)

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR

Reunion dinner ... check!
First day visitation to grandma (Harith's) ... check!
2nd day visitation to ma ma (Bie's) ... check!
Ang pows given ... check!
Ang pows received ... check! LOL!

I'm glad we have finished what we planned to do for this chinese new year.  Food was great at Harith's mom's place.
Peranakan food like chap chye (mixed vegetables comprising of : vermicelli / mushroom / black fungus / cabbage)

Baba ayam buah keluak.  You can refer to what this dish is HERE.

Bak wan soup (meatball soup with lots of bamboo shoot)

sambal prawns, homemade ngor hiang, all cooked by my Harith's mom, cousin and sister.

For the last 14 years, I wasn't able to give a helping hand since Jonathan was born and I'm thankful to them for cooking the delicious food.

This year, Jonathan was great!  He went to both of his grandma's homes to 拜年 (send greetings) and stayed mostly for 2 hours or more.  Thank God this time around, the medication I gave him worked and he was able to stay out for the lengthy period of time.  Most of all the Lord provided excellent weather that it was windy and not humid.

Yesterday (2nd CNY day), when we were at my mum's, I greeted her xin jia ju yee (happy new year in Teochew dialect) and she replied with the same greeting.  That was really nice to hear from her.  The amusing part of our visit today was that my brother had a giant orange that was in a bag of oranges his friend gave.  I just couldn't resist taking a photo.

This year, I made red packets again.  I bought these really nice red papers embossed with flowers from a local scrapbook store.  These papers are from Cordinations Cardstocks.  At the store, they had 2 different designs but I bought this (see below) and they only have 7 pieces left.  It was enough for me cos I used a faded red for the backing.  Materials are the cardstock, glitter pailettes (Ellen Krans Mini-Butterflies) from  Me&My Big Ideas and also Mini Alphabet Stickers from My Little Shoebox.  Design for the red packets were simple and production only took 2 days.

i didn't put any embellishments cos the paper spoke for itself.  the embossed flowers are pretty enough.

I'm glad the celebrations are over.  At least now we, especially Jonathan, can rest :)

Here's wishing all my blog visitors 新年快乐!