Oh Dear….

Has it really been that many months since I updated the blog???

I’m so sorry. :(
If you are on my Facebook friends’ list, you would know I didn’t make it into Medicine. I’m doing my Bachelor’s degree in Nursing now instead. :)

It’s worked out to be pretty good as the schedule is not hectic and I have a balanced time-table…. where I spend some time away from the kids just for a short breather and still get to spend majority of my time with them. Also good news is that I obtain my Degree in 2 years instead of 5 years time.

We’ve been very busy lately…. we visited Singapore in February and had fun catching up with family and friends. What was NOT fun was the heat and humidity which sent me into a foul mood and angry rashes on Chubbs’ face. Both kids had episodes of nose bleeds due to the heat as well.

Obviously I do have photos to share but I will have to compress the file sizes before uploading so those will have to wait.

Please remind me to update this blog! (Comments would be sent to my email box which I check everyday.) I actually forgot I had a blog. -___-” that’s how bad my memory has become!

I try my best to reply to every comment. Sometimes I reply via email and sometimes I post a reply via the comment box. I’m terribly sorry if I missed your comment and did not reply. I do not mean to ignore you. Sigh.. I need to get my act together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of birds

Before I explain the title of the post, I guess some of you must wonder about my uni entrance results as well as my exam results. Some of you might already know from Facebook.

I did well in my exams. But unfortunately, not as well as I had hoped to. Thus getting in to Medicine would be tough. Also, as the uni advisors gave me some misleading information in the start, I found myself stranded in a very weird entrance category where I am neither a high school leaver NOR a mature aged student…. either that or I’m both. It’s very confusing.

Anyway, I would have to wait till January till they decide what to do with me. Meanwhile I will be appealing my case and pray.

Now, lets go on to the birds. :D

We’ve had an affinity with birds of late. For starters, we have 2 backyard hens who are absolutely adorable. Especially Lizzy:

We don’t know her breed exactly as she is mixed but we reckon she might have some Silver Laced Wyndotte in her.

She trusts us completely and runs to us whenever she sees us around, crouches down and ‘asks’ to be carried.

See, she happily comes close to Sunshine during feeding time!

She also invites herself into our house. I don’t think I know another hen who behaves like this. Hahahaha! We love Lizzy to bits.

We also have visitors………

When I was young, my mum used to tell me that these are mandarin ducks. The one with the green neck and head are males and the plain brown ones are females.

While she is right about the gender, these are not mandarin ducks and I only found out a few months ago. -____-

For all my life I’ve been going around thinking they are mandarins. I wonder if anyone else thought the same??

These ducks are Mallards and are the most common kind of wild ducks found here.

We get visits from them almost every other day and they would waddle up to our front yard. They sometimes even fall asleep, nestled in the grass!

Sunshine loves feeding them!

A few months back, we woke to wonderful chirps from above our bed. Birds had made a nest in our roof and the nestlings had hatched.

We were okay with this at first but as the nestlings grew older, their cute chirps sounded more like “Baarrraaaaaapp!!! Brrraaaaaaaaappp!!!!!! CRAAAAAAApppPPPP!”

They were irritating and when they were learning to fly, you could hear their claws scratching against the colourbond surface. It sounded like nails on chalkboard.

Our neighbour advised us to clear out the nest after the nestlings leave or otherwise the birds would come back next spring.

Well they didn’t come back next spring. They loved our roof so much that they decided to come back AGAIN NOW.

Either that or they told their friends, “Hey, know where’s a good place to nest?”

I would think it’s also because of the weird weather. It warmed up a few months back but then became bitterly cold again. Then it warmed up a little and now it’s cold again! And we’re already in summer!
I’m not complaining though. I love the cold.

I don’t have a clear picture of the bird and neither do I know the species but here’s a picture of one of the parents:

It was about to feed its noisy offsprings.

Okay.. that’s all about birds.

I’ve been soaping and designing a cardi for girls. Taking life easy for now. I feel a little lost without homework or studies but am otherwise happy to have a little break.

My expandabags were completely sold out within days of the update. Malabrigo has been ordered and hopefully would be here by late January (fingers crossed!)

Take care!

Store update imminent

I know I haven’t any school work. So in theory, I should be able to blog more, right?

Yeah.. I’ve been busy with dyeing yarn and sewing for the store! Here are some sneak peeks at the bags:

They are expandabags. :D

Have you ever started a project (knitting or crochet) for… say a sweater or a blanket? It starts out small with only one ball of yarn… then it grows and grows and grows and soon you won’t have space in the project bag. Most times I use a huge ziplock bag to contain the project when it grows out of my bag but with an Expandabag, you can use the same bag for the entire project!

Dimensions are 36cm across, 22cm tall at the smallest size and 38cm at the biggest size. The base is 15cm by 22cm. I’ve shoved ten 100g worsted weight yarn cakes in there without a problem.

They are made of sturdy cotton denim fabric and high quality 100% cotton contrasting fabric. Snaps are durable and tested for each bag.

They each come with an Inoriz.com label:

I have not taken many photos of the yarns but here’s a small peek:

There are many other colours that would be included in this update.

The store, http://yarnandkisses.com, will be updated this coming Sunday (19 Dec 2010) at around mid-day. I had posted on Facebook that I will update before I receive my exam results. Exam results are released on 20 Dec. :) So I’m working overtime to keep that promise!

I’m very anxious about the results and especially for the university entrance results. But, hey! Today (17 Dec) is my wedding anniversary and I get to go out on a date with my husband alone (kids with our best friend) for the first time in more than 3 years! And the day after is my birthday… which I plan not to celebrate because….. it’s just depressing to grow older and older. :(

Okay! See ya!

A dyeing day!

Yep… exams are over and done with.  Now it’s the time for an agonisingly long wait for  results and uni admission offers.

I was feeling down for a while as I found out that there is a high chance I won’t be getting into Bachelor of Med/Surgery. This is because my UMAT score is on the low side. I had 56 points and the lady at admissions said the lowest they had taken in so far for this coming year is 59 points. However, there is a glimmer of hope as another lady told me that I may have a chance as I am in a ‘special’ category but it would depend on my exam results.

So………. I am counting down 17 more days before results are released and 18 to 20 more days for the uni offers me a place. I have decided to put Bachelor of Nursing as my 2nd choice if I don’t make it into Bachelor of Med/Surgery.

This will be the longest month ever for me. All the waiting! I’m all nervous and jittery and stressed. :( On top of that, both kids and I are sick. We have the dreaded cold and cough. Chubbs even had fever for a day about a week ago and I spent the whole day cradling him in my arms.

Anyway, I will be spending my time dyeing wool and sewing bags for the shop. :) Progress is slow but steady. I can’t wait to update!

Few days back I gave Sunshine a treat by letting her dye some yarn with food colouring.

She chose green and blue dyes.

Looking very professional!

Monster green hands!

She’s showing us what a good job she did here!

Here it is, all dry and skeined. I will be teaching her to knit with it soon. Now she enjoys wearing the skein like a scarf and she hangs the skein on my spinning wheel. Hehe. I think she had fun because she’s been badgering me, “Mummy can I dye my wool please?”

Here’s a picture of Chubbs modeling the vest I finished quite some time back but didn’t outline the owl until now:

The yarn was leftovers from Nad’s jumper. Perfect vest for the warmer weather now!

Okay dokey. I will try to update again soon! I’ve just finished sewing a ring sling and will try to get pictures of it tomorrow. :D

2 down

So……. two papers are over!

I am done with Maths and Biology! Yay! Chemistry (Very Important Subject) is next and then the last paper is Physical Science.

Maths paper A (calculator free) was easy but I almost died on paper B (calculator section). Funny how during O’levels (Year 10), I used to ace the calculator sections (I once got 98% in that section!) and my classmates would do much better in the calculator free sections. (They thought I was weird.)

Well now the opposite is true. :-/

My dear Mum in law is here to help out with the kids as I study. The downside (or is it an upside? haha) is that I am putting on weight! She cooks such delicious meals that I cannot stop eating!!!!!!!

So much for trying to go on a diet. :(

So for the past few days, she cooked this awesome chicken soup with onions (carrots, potatoes etc) and it tastes SO GOOD I drank a lot of it.

So this morning, thanks to the onions, I had this massive urge to pass gas but I controlled it as I was in the examination room (Biology paper). I think I risked methane poisoning.

So for THREE hours, I held in toxic gas.

When the paper was finally over, as soon as my paper was collected, I dashed out of the room and rushed into the toilet.

Is this too much info? But then it’s the highlight of my day!