The One About Inori

It was a sunny day out a few days ago when I got Sunshine to put on her shoes to get the mail with me. She was excited and ran to the wild flowers growing in our front yard.

While I got the mail, she started picking some flowers and held them in her tiny hands. I had an idea and went to fetch a small plastic bowl for her to put the flowers in.

She was thrilled!

Look at the sea of yellow flowers! I would be so sad when we have to mow the lawn eventually.

There were about 4 to 5 bees around Sunshine, working very very hard. They have very very full pockets of pollen!

I was surprised to see how full they were. Can you see the orangey ‘bubbles’ near the bee’s knees?

Sorry I don’t have macro lens. This is the best a 18 – 70mm lens could do. Anyone want to sponsor a Macro lens for a Nikon cam? And while you’re at it, an external flash too? Lol.

Just kidding ok?

Sunshine wasn’t afraid of the bees but she knew not to grab the flowers that the bees were on.

After awhile, I started to feel cold around my shoulders and when I turned to look, Chubbs had regurgitated all over my shoulder and arm. -___- So we had to end our little ‘trip’ and go back inside.

Sunshine then proceeded to shower our floor with all her tiny flowers so they had to go into the bin. Tsk tsk.

I leave you with a picture of an Australian Koala. Sighted in our very own house!

It was sooo cute we had to hide it from the wildlife authorities… shhh don’t tell them!

I’ve taken part in Ravelry’s Australian Blue Swap and here’s the stuff I’ve sent to my spoilee:

I sent:

- Lindt Chocolate

- Lady Grey Tea

- 1 skein of Bobby Blue Malabrigo Worsted (From Yarnandkisses!)

- 2 balls of Four Seasons Sock yarn

- 2 skeins of hand-dyed Sock yarn with Kool-aid by me

- 1 ball of Casablanca which I threw in coz’ it had been sitting in my stash for the longest time and I don’t know what to do with it! My spoilee might have some use out of it though…. (I won’t say why for now or else it might give her identity away)

- this:

Which opens up to this:

I designed this and am hoping to make a few more over the next few weeks.

This might be the last swap I’m taking part in for a long while….. There’s too much on my plate!

I hope my spoilee likes the stuff I sent though.. I admit I haven’t asked what she’d like to receive… I’m just following the guidelines on what to send and sent her some stuff that she’d like and use.

On another note, I’m turning into a geek. I love my Maths and Science classes and have been intrigued by almost everything that’s taught in school!

For geeky readers, watch the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940 and how a CONCRETE bridge could be turned into ‘cloth-like’ state:

Could you use Physics to explain this phenomenon?

I’ve been agonising over the past month or so.. about making a very tough decision in our lives.

The boys in the household have had hay fever and Nad has a history of asthma and gets mild attacks almost every night.

The main cause for this is dust and animal fur, especially cats’ fur. Cats’ dander and saliva is proven to cause more allergies than dogs’ and is also much finer, therefore tends to float around the air more so than dogs’ fur.

It breaks my heart to see Nad as well as little Chubbs sniffing. I too, get hay fever when I get close to Kelly. I cannot imagine how I used to share the same bed with the little kitty before marriage! Maybe you get de-immunised when you are apart from an animal for a long time?

With a very heavy heart, I placed an ad on Ravelry to rehome my dearest Kelly cat.

It must have been God’s will as a very nice lady responded within half a day.

I spoke with her over the phone and agreed to bring Kelly to her home.

2 days ago, we finally packed up Kelly’s belongings and put her into the crate, the same crate that carried her from Singapore to here, and some of her toys and a towel that has both the dogs’ and her smell on it.

It was probably be the last car trip she’ll have with us. (She HATES to travel as it stresses her out.. she meows non-stop in the car.)

As soon as I met the family, I knew that Kelly was going to a good home.

The two young boys (10 and 13 years old) are very gentle and loving towards Kelly. They’ve had a cat all their lives but she was recently run over by a car. She was deaf due to her old age and couldn’t hear the vehicle approaching.

Kelly would get to do the things she used to be able to in their house – sleep with them on their beds, have full roam around the house instead of being confined to only the laundry area of our home.

In many ways, I have let Kelly down.

She used to be able to share the same bed as I but she obviously can’t now.

With two young kids, I’ve slackened even more with housework and can’t keep up with vacuuming the house every second day. This aggravates the furry situation in the house.

I used to be able to wash the laundry area where the pets are kept every other weekend as well but have found it harder to do so recently.

At least, the dogs have the yard to play in and they go on car rides and romps in the parks often with us. Our church is connected to a park land and they come with us on some Saturdays to play after service too.

But Kelly…. is cooped up at home. Watching longingly at the windows, looking out at the yard where the dogs get to play.

It’s not fair for a cat to be kept like this.

I know I have always been a strong advocate on responsible ownership. That ‘a pet is for life’ and you commit to the very end. I used to think that children will never come in between pets and I.

I now admit that I’m wrong – that try as I may, I can never juggle 2 young kids with all the other things I have to do and still do everything at 100%.

Don’t get me wrong – I still love Benji, Chiyo and Kelly. But have slackened much with them after the birth of the kids.

I miss her terribly. I’ve shed tears at night especially when I miss her bell tinkling as she prances around.

I miss seeing her cuddling up with Chiyo.

I miss chasing her away from the kitchen when she tries to steal food.

I miss playing with her with string and watching her chase yarn balls as I knit.

I will always remember that when I first felt Sunshine kick me in my tummy, Kelly was sitting on me.

I will always remember how I had to dig her butt to clear out her poop when she first came to us – unable to move her bowels.

I will always remember how we refused to put her to sleep despite vets urging us to do so. “She’ll never be able to poop in her life!” so said a senior vet to us.

I will always remember her loyalty to the dogs. How she refused to eat and was so stressed in quarantine but the moment she saw the dogs at home, she felt at ease and happy again.

(Photo taken in my dad’s house in Singapore.)

Kelly dear…. I would love to keep you until the end. Please understand that to do that, I would be very selfish and unreasonable. And you would be very miserable as well.

Thank you for being so patient and forgiving. And being so gentle with Sunshine… even when she hit you, you did not retaliate.

Thank you for teaching Sunshine to be gentle and kind to animals.

Thank you for sharing your life with us. For mysteriously turning up at Nad’s parent’s doorstep. Your appearance still puzzles us as you couldn’t have got so high up in that building all by yourself.

We will miss you greatly… but we are very sure that you’d be much happier where you are now… and that you can once again, share a bed with another human. We know you are a loving cat who craves human relationships and we are sure that you will get plenty of love in your new home.

We’ve come to learn the hardest lesson in love – letting go.

Sorry for the lack of updates – many things happening around us still and everyday is a crazy busy whirl.
I’ve got a bit of a sad news which I will blog about in another post another time. Still need to get over it for now.

I’ve been teaching Sunshine to feed herself and she’s doing it rather well!

She doesn’t create a big mess and still needs more practice coordinating especially when the spoon is about to meet her mouth. Hehe.

Anyway… I packed our closets recently and THIS is the number of towels we have:

Gee! How many towels must a household possess?!?!?!

And all these towels were GIVEN to us!

“Ohh.. they are getting married… lets buy them a towel!”

“Ohh! They are expecting their first child! Lets buy them….. a towel!!!”

“Ohhh!! Birthday!!! Towel!!!”

“Ohhh! 2nd child! They NEED towels!!!”

Lol… I’ve set aside some to sew fitted nappies for Rachel so it’s ok. You can continue to give us towels as pressies. I just need a linen closet for them to store them. Hehe.

So you all know I started classes. Which I had written the wrong days in the previous blog entry. It’s every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Not Friday. Just in case you were looking for me on those 3 nights. Not that anyone would look for me anyway. *Sobs*

So I missed 2 lessons of each of the 3 classes because we were away. This is my 2nd week in school and I’m already sitting for tests.

I think I did very well in the Maths test. But that is hardly surprising as I’ve always loved Maths. It’s one thing that will never let you down. If your answer is correct, it’s correct! It’s not arbitrary. It’s not whimsical. It just is. Maths is the best subject in the whole wide world.

We didn’t have a Physics test although I thought we did…..

Today was Chemistry test and I almost wanted to laugh hysterically at the paper. Because . it . was . all . Greek . to . me. In fact, I may have done better in a Greek test than this Chemistry test!

SIGH!!!

And out of the 3 subjects, Chemistry is the most important one for entry into MBBs!

I was sorely tempted to write stupid answers in those that I didn’t know. For eg, when asked what “CH₃COOH” was, I wanted to write “The Chernobyl Disaster?” (The correct answer, however, is ‘Acetate’) For those of you curious to know what I did write in the end… was “Carbon……”. Uh huh.. I actually wrote the dots. “Carbon……….” Yep.

There is just too much to memorise! Sulfite, sulfide, oxide, dioxide, the elements the ions the isotopes…… I just want to run from the room, screaming my head off. I can’t balance an equation for the life of me!

I think brain surgery might be easier than all these mumbo. Any neurosurgeons reading my blog can clarify this? Hmm?

So anyway….. ever since coming home from the “Holiday”, I’ve been busy with school and, get this, HOMEWORK. I haven’t had HOMEWORK for years. I can’t believe how many years have passed since I last did HOMEWORK. I’m really getting on with age!

Battling with 2 screaming kids, housework, online store and we’ve also taken on a Project. That’s right. With a capital ‘P’. Because it’s a huge Project. We can’t say more, though. It’s kept top secret and only a small handful of people know about it.

I can, however, tell you that it is not:

a) Another baby (you must be out of your mind to think that we are trying for #3 right now)

b) Creating anti-matter by hurling particles down the LHC.

This Project, has been sucking all my time these past few weeks. We run around like headless chickens and we neglect the kids household chores because of this Project. (Uh, mum? Would you like to come and do some laundry for us? The pile of clean clothes sitting on the spare bed waiting for folding/hanging is currently taller than I am now…)

All I can say is, I hope Project is done soon and I can finally do some knitting or sewing.

Oh wait. I can’t do that yet. I still have MY TAXES to do! URGH!

SOooooOo.. anyway, Project might take up to a year to complete. Or it may dissolve into nothingness in just a month or so’s time. So that’s at least a month to a whole year of my time and energy. On top of school. On top of 2 kids. On top of the housework. On top of the online business. On top of my hobbies which I have been neglecting.

I sat in class today and wished and wished and wished that I were 16 again. Where all I have to do is study and do well for my tests/exams. And I think of how lucky Lulu is to be able to study without the distraction of… uh… say… a crying kid. Or a crying kid. Or maybe a crying kid.

So yes. My life has been pretty crazy to say the least. I don’t know when it will resemble sanity. But I have an inkling that it may only just be 21 years from now. Maybe I can get a discount… Maybe only 20 years.

Without God, though, I would have given up everything. But because of Him and Him alone, I am able to say that I (in no specific order) love school (yes, even when I don’t understand Chemistry), I love my kids, I love my husband, I love my parents and sister, I love my friends, I love my church, I love my yarn and fabric stash (lol), I love doing The Project even it’s caused a little anguish and anxiety but we gleaned and learned A LOT from it, I love my crazy life and most of all, I love God. HE is the most wonderful thing that happened to me and if I were to compile all the miracles He’s done for us, I can write a thick book.

Oh yeah~~~ If you’d like to send some yarn or chocolate or cards or letters or something to cheer me on, you are more than welcome to.

I accept cash too. Thankyouverymuch~

Lol.. just kidding.