Friday, November 27, 2009

6 hours













I am a pretty good hoarder, so once in awhile I find it necessary to pack my room and take out the things I've squirreled away. Craft stuff, like this melted shell stamp I found this morning, don't last forever, sadly. So I have set up my "christmas workstation" and vowed to use the pretty things in my stash, to use the paper trimmings I made last year at chelle's, to the beautiful paper source labels I bought 3 years ago, to the cute stickers I've had for longer than that.

This being a public holiday (love it when it's right next to a weekend), I felt a sudden zestiness and got to work cleaning with a vengeance.

7am Awake! Yes, I am a morning person. Breakfast! Yes, I am also a breakfast person. A public-holiday-means-eggs-and-bacon-or something-like-that person. Scanning the newspapers.

730am As it usually happens, one thing leads to another so I start washing my makeup brushes and as momentum picks up, I start keeping this and washing that and before you know it, the activity spreads to my bedroom where I tackle the major pile of stuff which has lain there a whole week since the carnival. Phew.

10am Snack time - fruits: oranges, plums. I dunno, just some random detail that I might be amused to read about some time in the future.

In between - checking email. checking facebook. surfing some blogs. Finding an idea that we might use for my brother's surprise birthday (cup)cake(s), I drop a note to my cousin who is probably still asleep. Bum.

10:30am Inspired by photos in facebook, I remember that I meant to get some lomo applications for my iphone. I think I bought about 4 apps for 99cts each, including a very lame quiz game that is bound to be a hit with the cousins and assorted kids in my life. Surfing round takes time. Hit the sync button and on with the cleaning.

1110am There is a pile of stuff on the floor. Mess!!! But there is a method to the madness. And always, there is a plastic bag nearby in which stuff gets tossed. toss, toss, toss. Therapeutic. Bags get wiped and stored. Un-needed things are removed. Receptacles are repurposed. The floor begins to emerge again, like a beach on which the tide is receeding. Poetic eh, I just thought of that on the fly.

1230pm Lunch with the family. A lazy lunch. A chapalang type of lunch with porridge and leftover duck. And leftover ikea meatballs and chicken wing (yes, 1 chicken wing).

1pm I am updating my blog when my mum mossies in. She avoids using the computer as much as she can and prefers to outsource her online needs to me, her beloved offspring. Check the cpf rates, she instructs. Dad sent her a link to this autistic savant the other day, she says, check it out. Actually, she doesn't say 'autistic savant' - she says go into my email and the link will be there...nononono mum, i'll just google it. I have it in less than a minute (ty google) and she is impressed. So clever, she says. Well, it's not actually me, I'm forced to admit.

And so we watch a short clip of Stephen Wiltshire, whom you can read about right here. Hey a girl's got to check her sources. Very cool, and inspiring.

And that's just the first 6 hours. I've had a full day already!

Heart Craft
























Last weekend, a bunch of my friends generously gave of their time, tools and craft materials at a craft stall in a church carnival. It's not your usual type of carnival stall but we figured we would have fun and even if no one bought anything, we could spend the time making our own Christmas cards...

No such luck! We were busy busy busy. Admittedly a little - ok a lot - disorganised at the start but we quickly warmed up and soon we were swamped with orders. These artistic activities take time and loads of creative juice, y'know.

It was a fun day, even if we were tired out by the end of it all. And we had a great time hanging out together. It was gratifying to see the notebooks being enjoyed by the people who bought them. Some people lingered around to see us beavering away, in the midst of our messiness. Oh, we were so messy! Some notebooks were meant as surprise gifts, including 2 that were specially commissioned by an uncle for his nieces in the US. They are somewhere out there, in a Christmas package! Other people stood in front of our work table and thought aloud of the people they could commission notebooks for.

I've always thought that people treasure things with their names on them a whole lot more. Personalised gifts are cool :)

p.s. we raised about $540 (from notebooks and some stuffed bears too), and it's all going to support community work among the elderly and disadvantaged families in the Tg Rhu and Old Airport Rd area :)

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Wish I was...























I'm really not sure what I wish for.
To be on holiday? Or just more sane days?
To be high in the sky? Or down to earth?

Have been frightfully busy since I got back from Bali and what do you know? I'm booked on another holiday in May! Thank you Mr Tony "now everyone can fly" Fernandes! It is surreal, being booked on yet another getaway.