Somewhat Plastered

It's been a busy weekend. Hot on the heels of Raya, Genie and Eve dropped by for a visit over the weekend.

Their drive down to visit me was the best all of us could manage of our planned girls' get together that we'd talked about in 1999 a few years after we'd graduated. It was a visit long overdue.

Being the slovenly creatures that we are, and age having crept up on us, we spent much of the time lazing around and other than heading out to dinner before the F1 race, took it easy and tried to catch up as much as we could.

Catching up was somewhat foiled by the girls' new addiction, which I helped fuel: board gaming. When hubby first came home with two board games, one of which was Settlers of Catan, they were both not interested. I could tell by the skepticism in Eve's tone and the look on her face. Genie was no better: she looked even more tired when she looked at the board.

Right. That all changed when they started playing. From zero interest, they became gung-ho addicts. We went as far as bringing out the board every time we were home. And when Rizal and I were too tired to play, the two of them played TWO games by themselves and slept close to 3a.m.

Even on their last day in S'pore, they opted for two games before they left.

Looks like we've created a couple of monsters. At least Eve and her kids will have more to look forward to with her copy of Ticket To Ride than the crap Monopoly she has to play with them. And a whole new world of board gaming opportunities have opened up for Genie if she can find her own group of friends to play with.

Long live Settlers!

A New Fixation

Recently while we were back in KL, hubby played Totoro on the DVD with Sophie ensconced in the beanbag.

And therein created a monster. The next day we got her a Totoro puzzle set.

The small fry now has an absurd fascination with the triplet of white, grey and blue 'spirits' of Miyazaki's creation.

Last night was the first night we put Totoro in the DVD player after she'd had her run of Elmo's World. She remembered enough of the movie to ask her daddy to start from the beginning instead of the middle. And then exclaimed excitedly over the intro song. And asked for Tottoro during the movie and to go back to the intro song.

When it came time for bed, all hell broke loose. She didn't want to go to bed. She yelled. And bawled. Got to the point where I remembered I'd bought a little Tottoro key chain some time back but never got around to using it, hadn't even taken the plastic wrap off it's pristine white fur. And promptly dug it up to shut her up.

Off went the plastic. The small fry was dully appeased. Then off went the tag. No matter, at least she was quiet, happy and willing to go to bed. And it was small enough to fit into the palm of her hand. Finally off went the keychain. And I had to sing the darned Totoro songs over and over again. Not that I could remember the lyrics, so I just made up gobbledygook Japanese as I went along. Because she didn't want me to just hum the songs, she wanted me to SING them.

This morning, she clutched that little white thing in her hand all the way from the cab into class. She didn't let go of it in class. She had her dose of Totoro after dinner and is now asleep clutching the white blob in her hand.

It's time I dug out my grey and blue Totoros in KL. If only I can remember where I kept them.

Plant SOS

We have been hijacked by mealybugs. What I assumed were aphids on our basil plants about a week ago, turns out to be mealybugs. Thanks to hubby's prowess at googling, the plants' infestation has been correctly diagnosed.

Mealybugs are nasty! They're sexually dimorphic and short of letting loose some ladybugs to eat them up, there's not much we can do for indoor plants. Oh, we could also attack the pests ONE BY ONE by dousing them with a cotton bud soaked with rubbing alcohol. However, given the current status of infestation, by the time we get all the bugs and their offspring, the plants would probably be dead.

The mint is dying, of what, I'm not sure yet but there seems to be another infestation. There's a hoard of bugs in the soil in the pot. A HOARD. I'm not even going to go there. I told Jona to bundle the whole pot and chuck it but it is being put together with the two pots of basil in the ER.

The ER is the outside, alongside some bushes and flowers in the apartment complex. We figured there's gotta be a better chance of ladybugs getting to the plants out there than us actually getting any ladybugs ourselves on the twelve floor.

We'll give it a few days and see what happens.

So far, the only plant that doesn't seem to have any problems whatsoever and is happily multiplying is the menthol. If only we had more use for it.

Casualty

The rosemary is dead. One out of six. The thyme recovered and the others are more or less flourishing.

The small fry is making smacking the menthol a part of her daily routine. The Thai basil too. Just like how she boxes and pummels her fists and plows her head into Pixel. And how he valiantly (stupidly) absorbs her abuse.

Needing More Shelf Space

And here's more books to add to the collection:

1. This Lovely Life - Vicki Forman
2. Living Out Loud: Activities To Fuel A Creative Life - Keri Smith
3. 52 Projects: Random Acts Of Everyday Creativity - Jeffrey Yamaguchi

Books Bought

Have been on a buying spree lately. Books ordered from Amazon and also a splurge at Kino due to their 20% anniversary discount. All these were bought in batches, not all at once, thank goodness. This may give you an idea of where I'm headed at this point of my creative pursuits. Sadly, the library has not missed my presence much (life goes on at the library). I've missed taking the short bus ride there but am putting my fiction reading on hold for now.

1. Digital Photography: The Digital Photography Book, Vols. 1-3 - Scott Kelby
2. Layers: The Complete Guide To Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature - Matt Kosklowski
3. The Hot Shoe Diaries - Joe McNally
4. The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book For Digital Photographers - Scott Kelby
5. The Adobe Lightroom Book for Digital Photogtaphers - Scott Kelby
6. The Creative Family - Amanda Blake Soul
7. Happens Every Day: An All-Too-True Story - Isabel Gillies
8. Simply Sublime Bags: 30 No-Sew, Low-Sew Projects - Jodi Kahn
9. Bend-The-Rules Sewing - Amy Karol
10. Zakka Sewing: 25 Japanese Projects For The Household - Therese Laskey, Chika Mori
11. Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts - Martha Stewart
12. Julie & Julia - Julie Powell
13. My Life In France - Julia Child
14. Not Quite What I was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs - Ed. Smith Magazine
15. The Cats Of Kittyville: New Lifes For Rescued Felines: Best Friends Animal Society
16. Cookie's Week - Cindy Ward
17. Twinkles, Arthur and Puss - Judith Kerr
18. Dogtown: A Sanctuary For Rescued Dogs - Bob Somerville

My Friend Barney

She loves posing. Alone. With her toy friends. With her books. With mommy and daddy. She loves being recorded. On print and on video. And she loves looking at herself.

Magic Box

The many uses of an ikea storage box is not lost on us as we go about our daily lives. We do all we can to entertain ourselves with as many daily objects as possible. We already have too many toys, as it is. So a box on wheels is perfect as a 'train' or a moving ball pit. It barely fits her but she loves it.

The Sticky Brown Cows

The brown cows know how to live it up. They do it in style and they do it together. Always.

Difficult For Whom?

After her breakfast this morning, the munch monster wanted Jona to sit with her with Tiger in her hands while she did her jigsaw puzzle.

"It's so very difficult, Tiger!" she exclaimed as she deftly manouvred the pieces into place.

In the kitchen, I'm trying not to laugh my head off at her exclamation. At the same time, I'm wondering where she picked up that three syllable word. So I rattled off in my head the three syllable words she knows, with a few four syllable ones thrown in:

banana

apricot

strawberry

papaya

vegetable

crocodile

everybody

everywhere

beginning

difficult

disappear

watermelon

Note the recurring theme?