Singer Sewing Machine

My mind was thinking of getting a sewing machine a few weeks ago for the convenience of "repairing" the minor wear and tear clothing, and also for sewing up loose threads on the new clothing. 

Without mentioning to each other, Clet also has in mind to get me a sewing machine so that I can help him to  do alterations and repair on his jeans and clothing.  

At first we thought of getting a basic one without knowing the technology has advanced to providing many sewing functions which impress us very much.   After seeing the demonstrations on a couple of machines at the Singer outlet,  we decided on 988 model.  This has become my early birthday and Christmas present for this year.  A present is never come too early and I am very happy with it.  But this is not a heavy duty machine, materials as thick and as hard as jeans are not advisable to be sewed with this machine.  Clet is a bit disappointed on that.  

it comes with a cover

this model has got a digital screen and 156 patterns

these are some of the patterns that this sewing machine can produce including the button holes

these are the accessories which I will have to figure out how to use some of them

the pedal and a casing for the accessories.  

I have attended basic sewing classes years back, now I will have to rely heavily on the internet to guide me should I want to make a skirt and a dress.  Will tell you my first sewing project on my next post.

My Birthday in the Philippines

We celebrated my birthday in the Philippines this year.  Clet bought a small birthday cake from Red Ribbon Bake Shop nearby the hotel.

 Varieties of cakes displayed in Red Ribbon Bake Shop

Clet bought the cake that I chose.  Can you guess which cake from the cake display counter that we bought??

I also spotted this Butter Mamon in the bakery, I bought 1 to try.

does not taste as spongy as I expected.  A bit dry to my liking and is too sweet.

 This is my birthday cake.

a small and simple cake, we stored the remaining in our room's fridge.  My girls do not fancy eating cakes but they admire beautifully decorated cakes.

A birthday present

Crystal insisted to make a glass beads necklace for her classmate's 9th birthday last week.  She requested me to buy more beads for the colours she needs to complete the necklace.  But I reckoned that for the beads that we have, she shall be able to mix and match to come out with a reasonably nice necklace for her best friend, Carnie.  In a way I am training her to be more creative and cost effective..*.*

The beads and findings to make the necklace

With my little guidance, she finally managed to finish her beading and come out with a nice glass beads necklace.  A combination of faceted clear and blue glass beads, and 2 sizes pink shades Swarovski beads. 

She received complimentary comments from her friends at the birthday party, some even asked her where she bought it and how much. :)

She told me that one of her other friend is celebrating her birthday soon.  She has already planned to make another necklace for her as soon as she receives her birthday invitation.  

My birthday

It's time to update on my birthday, gosh.. I'm already 41. First of all, I would like to count my blessings for which God has given me and my family, and also pray and hope that God will hear my prayers and grant us our wishes. Thank you Lord.

My birthday breakfast at Bandaran Berjaya.

A mango birthday cake, especially ordered by SIL, thank you.

Discovering what birthday present my girls have picked for me

A new oven, a present from Clet, thank you. The bottom heating element of my old junk oven has stopped working just a few days before my birthday, just in time to start a new one for Christmas as well.

We dropped by Wong's house to cut the cake after dinner. You may want to find out what we had for my birthday dinner here.

The best birthday present

I have not been participating Tuesday Toot for quite a while , and I am back this week cos I have to give my precious little daughter, Crystal, a "Toot" for her wonderful birthday card that she had personally designed for me on my birthday last Wednesday, 2nd December.

She insisted to draw me a birthday card just an hour before the birthday dinner. She has also insisted her Daddy to buy me a birthday present on the very afternoon, popping in and out of the boutiques in the shopping complex, and finally, she decided on a floral long skirt for me. She was so tired that she felt asleep in the car on the way to fetch me off from work.

The messages in the card is simply pure and sweet though with some spelling mistakes which I do not mind at all. I love her thoughtfulness and her creativity. I read the card again and again, and always put a smile on my face each time I read it. This has become the wall paper for my computer at work. It takes the work pressure off me by looking at it. :D

Thank you, my precious Crystal, you have given mummy the best birthday present ever, love you lots!!

Especially designed by Crystal

A way to say "Thank You"

This year we celebrated Pearl's birthday in a small way, in such a small way that only involved her small little friends in school. With the help of my SIL, a nice purple cake was baked the night before, saved me the worries of baking it myself.

We did not send any invitation out to inform the students' parents for the celebration. We thought since the kids will be in school on that day, we will just send in a birthday cake and goodies bags to have a small party during their morning tea break.

By the time we arrived the school, the teachers have already got the table set up and put a little birthday hat on for our little Pearl, all ready for the party. We brought in Crystal to join in the party too...she has to excuse herself from her class for a little while, obviously Pearl is very happy to have us around for her birthday in the school.

Besides receiving birthday presents from her form teachers, we were very surprise to see Pearl received presents from her classmates, not just one but two presents. We did not expect it so since no invitations were sent out to the parents. Since we don't normally have the chance to meet the parents, sending thank you notes to them would be the best way to appreciate their thoughtfulness.

I would prefer to have personalized thank you cards and thank you notes to express how thankful we are to receive those gifts which have given a much brighter smile on Pearl's face on her birthday. Kids and adults alike love to receive gifts, don't we?

Nowadays it is very convenient to get a personalized thank you card through the web. There a many different types of cards to choose from. Just type in the thank you notes in the card you have chosen and print it out. We could make it more personalized by uploading a photo from our computer too, having our photo on the cards would cost us dearly if it is to be printed by the shop. We could get it at a very reasonable price from the net nowadays.

Isabella's 5th Birthday

A present for Isabella from her little aunties, Crystal and Pearl

Niece, Isabella's 5th birthday was on 28th January, celebrated at her home's club house. The weather was very bad, heavy down pour since noon time, our girls were very disappointed that they have to cancel their long waiting fun in the pool. As far as I can remember there's always raining away whenever there were celebrations at the club house. I just hope for a favourable weather this weekend as we plan to celebrate Crystal and Zac birthdays there, they share the same birth date.

September Birthday Stars

There are birthday wishes all around in September.

First of all, I would like to wish my old time friends, May and Carol, a very Happy Birthday to both of you, whose birthdays fall on 7th and 15th respectively.  We hardly meet each other though May is in KK while Carol is over in Australia, we usually drop a few lines for each other emails and lately via Facebook.

A surprise party was organised for our Director at the Kampung Nelayan Restaurant on the 8th.  We had a nice dinner that night, I particularly like the fish and the prawns.  Our present to our director was a basket of 2 different species of live orchids. 

KK HQ staff with our directors

Our present : one of the orchid

and another different species of orchid

The following day was our BIL, Nicky's birthday.  SIL, Rosalind bought him a birthday cake, unfortunately she was not feeling well and unable to come for the little celebration, nonetheless, our two princesses are ever eager to help out, from placing the candles, singing the birthday songs and blowing the candles off for their uncle.

Here comes the youngest birthday star.  Pearl turned 3 years old on the 15th (she shares the same birthday with my friend Carol).  We thought of having a small birthday party at the school for Pearl (just as we always do for Crystal) but we did not manage to inform the school as Pearl was sick on Thursday and off from school on Friday and still feeling weak on her birthday, we decided to just have a family dinner for the celebration.  We went to Kenny Rogers for the dinner.

Guess what, Pearl was so grumpy and restless in the restaurant that the daddy have to bring her out.  She got herself some candies and biscuits from the shops outside, came back a little cheerful, but refused to eat the meals that we ordered;  She only ate or rather played with those candies and cookies on her plate.  Probably because she just had her bottle of milk earlier.

A delicious Kenny Rogers meal which Pearl refused to eat unlike Crystal, she still feeling hungry after finished our servings of maccaroni and cheese that we have to order another serving for her.

This birthday girl was so restless that the daddy have to bring her out for the second time.  This time the daddy bought her a birthday balloon.  More cheerful as you can see.  We have to buy another one for Crystal as she was nagging to have one too.   After meal, we walked around Centre Point, thinking of buying a pair of shoes for her birthday.  The girls nearly turned the shoes shops around; they tried shoes one after another, picking all those bigger sizes ones and those with heels ones too which are highly unsuitable for their age.  We quickly leave the shop before get out of control.  We ended up at Ngiu Ngee for another search for the shoes but stuck at the toys section. 

Pearl finally picked this as her birthday present but refused to even let Crystal touch it.  Obviously showed on her face.  Both of them ended up in tears after much negotiations failed, ha ha.. The daddy came to handle the situation, Crystal got very upset and tearfully went to play her computer game and..

Pearl played her tea set alone.  Lonely and no fun playing alone eh..I can sense it :)  Not long after that, she took the tea sets and placed at the table near where Crystal was.  A sign of letting the sister play her toys in a way.  Later in the evening they were playing together joyfully. 

Pearl is cutting her cake, she loves the chocolate chips.  This cake was specially baked by SIL, Rosalind.  Very thoughtful of her, thanks a lot.

Kathleen's Birthday

Kathleen's birthday was on the 29th June and was celebrated at Karamunsing KFC, the same venue that she celebrated her birthday last year. The kids were having fun no matter what, after meals, they had some games but Pearl and Leander are too small to join in some of them. The kids just couldn't stop running around and we have to constantly keep an eye on them as we were in the public place, a bit stressful though. We did not buy any present for Kathleen, Clet prefered to make a necklace for her which I managed to get it done two hours before the party.

Kathleen the birthday girl is now 10 years old. A photo with Crystal, Isabella & Pearl before cutting the cake

A handmade fresh water pearls with Japanese beads necklace specially made for Kathleen.
Pearl is enjoying the mash potatoes
Joshua is not trying to eat the box he is merely licking the cheese after finishing his wedges :D
A birthday cake for Kathleen

ETHAN'S 1ST BIRTHDAY

We have had a great time at our little nephew, Ethan's 1st birthday on last Saturday night. Crystal and Pearl were thrilled with the balloons given out by Joyce soon after we arrived at the party. Almost all the family members were there to share the joy of Ethan turning 1. Actually, it was a double birthday celebrations that day, but we only got to know it on the night itself that our friend, Dominic, was also sharing the same birthday with Ethan, who turned 40++. It's always been fun getting birthday presents for children; We gave Ethan a Barney and a Wheels on the Bus VCDs as his birthday presents that will definitely bring out the joyous character in him.

All ready for the Party

A lovely birthday cake for Ethan (made by Deana)

Another cake for big boy Dominic
Ready...Cut the cakes
A Happy familyThe balloons gang
Ethan & grandma

A Barney and a Wheel on the Bus VCDs for little Ethan

Please hop over to Joyce's blog for more photos and video