Dear hubby saw a rat running loose from the kitchen to the living room two nights ago. He was really terrified and asked me to deal with it while he made a quick escape for the bedroom.

I didn’t want to spend all my energy running around chasing for it so the next day, I went to the hardware shop to get the glue-y stuff on the cardboard.

That night, I placed the glue-y cardboard near the rubbish bin in my kitchen and the next morning, a rat was trapped there, trying to wriggle its way out, to no avail.

I quickly threw it into a plastic bag and took it out to the trash can. I think it would’ve been dead by now.

Guess what?

A few days ago, dear hubby emailed me a PDF version of a brochure. There will be a 4-day conference held in S. Africa from April 16-19, 2009.

The cost of the conference is RM1,290, while a return air ticket to Cape Town costs RM4990 – RM5400 (depending on which airline we want). Ridiculous, right? To attend a conference, travel would cost 4 times more!

There was a tour thrown in but that will cost us another RM3900, which I think is not too bad because it includes food and transport (and I think accomodation) for an additional 6 days – but dear hubby says that he might not have the time for an extended holiday.

I told him to go on his own as I think it’s not worth it to spend so much on travel….

Well, there goes my chance to go to S. Africa! I hope to get a second chance.

I started doing the mock-up stage for our CM08. This time, I didn’t go to church to measure the stage, as I did the previous 2 times. I used the 1st mock-up and “traced” out the shape, amending as and when needed.

The design of this year’s stage is similar to the EM06 one. I’ve amended a few things here and there to suit this year’s CM. So far, so good, I think. It’s actually a combination of EM06 and CM07’s stage design.

My target completion for the Stage mock-up is:-

Saturday (13/9) – Stage base

Monday (15/9) – Adding in the current walls and some basic structures

Tuesday (16/9) – Making the two stairways and complete the whole mock-up

Thursday (18/9) – Painting and sending a pic of it to various people

Saturday (20/9) - Presentation of the stage mock-up to the committee

Sunday (21/9) – Talk to Bro. Pang

It all started when I was going to S’pore last weekend. I had backache, stomach cramps and a headache, thus making the entire 4.5-hour journey a tough one.

To make a long story short, I vommitted thrice while I was on that island and saw the local doctor for a jab to stop the vomitting.

I was having a mild sore throat which graduated into a massive one the moment I ate a sugar-free sweet.  My voice changed a little that night.

When we left for M’sia, I started coughing. It got worse and now, four days later, I’m still suffering from this irritating ailment. Sigh!!! I have now resorted to taking cough mixture and garggling with salt water, and at the same time, rubbing Vicks onto my chest at night so that I don’t wake up with coughing fits.

I’ll definitely be glad when this cough is over.

Knowing that my niece loves to dress up and “pretend”, I bought her a wig from S’pore. This is a party wig which sports a Marilyn Monroe hairstyle – blond, short and curly.

I wrapped it up and waited till she came back from her Kumon class at 7.15pm. My mum sort of hinted that I had a surprise for her and she couldn’t wait to get back for the surprise.

Her hunger all but forgotten, she opened the wrapper …. and was puzzled by the weird gift. She didn’t know what it was. When we told her that it was a wig, she happily placed it on her head and pretended that she was “Blondie” who was from America. Then she did a lot of “hiau” poses!!!

Gosh! What a vainpot!

Today was the first time I drove into Putrajaya. With a rough map drawn by JL, and a Malaysian street map, with Linda as navigator, we went by faith.

The map by JL was great. We arrived at Putrajaya within 45 minutes but alas, once there, we got lost. The whole place was super huge. We ended up at Precinct 9 and that was when we took out the Sreet Directory. Well, that certainly saved our day for we arrived at our destination (BPP) within 1/2 hour.

Going back was not a problem at all. All we had to do is look for signs going south. And we followed it religiously. We arrived back at the office within 1 hour!

KS had his wedding dinner reception at KlanaR just now. Earlier, I was debating whether to wear a simple outfit – simple here means blackblouse and black pants – or a dazzling evening gown. I decided to wear the latter because I wasn’t on duty, which is rare. Most of the time, I’d be running around, either doing the decor or taking pictures. But this time, I have absolutely nothing to do … which is really great.

I chose the bronze glittering gown with the plunging neckline. Did I dare wear it in front of so many church members? I decided to give everyone a surprise.

The moment I walked into the foyer of the ballroom, the young girls (ages 20-26) flocked round me and said that I looked nice – which is a good sign, I guess. Then they kept asking me to remove my scarf to show off the whole dress. Ha! I told them I didn’t want them to faint from seeing how huge my arms were. One of them had the cheek of saying that even SHE didn’t hide her arms that morning during church. Hello!!! She had long slim arms!

Anyway, during the dinner, I got word that one of my aunties wanted me to go over to her table so that she could further inspect my gown. I obliged and they (aunties) were saying nice things about it. One uncle gave me a thumbs up while his son said “Haram” – which means “forbidden”.

All told, I had many compliments from my friends and relatives. I guess that’s because they haven’t seen me all dressed-up before.

The wedding went smoothly … although it started a little late. It was supposed to start at 7pm but the food was only served at 8.30pm. The couple gave a small cup of honey as favours.

The dinner ended at about 10.30pm and the moment I stepped into my bedroom, I got out of my dress. Yeah, you can tell that I really am quite uncomfortable wearing formal dresses.

I can’t believe S-A is 21 now. Wow! Time passes by so quickly.

She celebrated her birthday last Sunday. The number of guests were supposed to be limited to 50 but what I saw the other day was double that. I guess, relatives itself are already 40 ppl.

Well, that’s it! All the cousins my generation are 21 and above, she being the youngest…..

 

Life is short

Even when one dies at age 73

I’ve known A. MaryC for a long time, perhaps all my life

She had a kind spirit

A prayer for the needy

A word of encouragement for the hopeless

A blessing to everyone

She was a good cook

Who blesses others with her delicious meals

The “min fun kou” that she offered to make for me

Never materialised

Why?

Because I was too busy to go to her place.

The house that we are currently living in

Was previously hers (and her husband’s)

It’s been 10 years now

Since they sold it to us

She was known as the lady who laughs in church

Truly, God has granted her a spirit of laughter

The joy of the Lord was her strength

And her portion

 

A MaryC… you’ve certainly left footprints in many of our hearts and we’ll miss you deeply.

Till we meet again, at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Phew! It’s been so hot these few days and the humidity level must be at least 85%. Even minutes after a nice “cold” shower, I felt as though I bathed in my sweat. Yucks!

I have this strong suspicion that my electricity bill wil escalate this month because I kept switching on the air-cond at max when I am at home, which, thankfully, is not that often.

Right now, I wish to be in a place where the temperature is between 15C – 18C….