Back Home

I'm back since 3 days ago, and still very jetlagged. Slept from 6pm-7am last night, with a 2-hour dinner break inbetween from 2am-4am. I couldn't sleep a single wink the previous night cos I slept for 6 hours from 1pm in the day. My biological clock is extremely screwed up now. As I am typing this entry away, my heavy lids can barely remain open. Trying to force myself to sleep later to revert back to the normal, healthy sleeping hours asap. Yawn...

Weather in STL has been unexpectedly hotter than SIN. I don't recall it was this hot last year. The heat is so intense that I can practically feel my skin burn everytime I step out. I always have to ensure that I slapped on lots of sunblock not just on my face, but all over my exposed skin too in order not to get burnt. I think Hubby and the guys are crazy to go to the green for golf twice a week in this insane weather. Perhaps it's due to the lack of tall buildings and insufficient trees to cover the vast land, which explains why it is so much hotter here than it is in SIN. Welcome me to the oven, when I thought I had just came back from one...

Love

As I was browsing through the photos taken on our wedding day, I felt nostalgic. Gone were the hectic and fun days of planning and more planning for that perfect wedding. Though it's been almost 2 years ago, I am still very thankful to have my wonderful group of friends who made our special day so perfect. And yes, how time flies; Hubby and I had wed for almost 2 years! It felt like just a couple of months ago when I was enjoying being the centre of attention for one whole day...

Happy Dad's Day!

I'm truly blessed to be one of my daddy's girls. He filled my car's gas tank just before I touched down. Five days later, he checked and realised that the tank had depleted to a quarter-filled, and topped up the car with gas early in the morning before he left for work. (It prob took him 30mins, with the morning jam, to drive to and fro to the nearest gas stn. *Touched*) Knowing that I will be spending a huge portion of my time in town catching up with friends and chalking up huge expenses on parking charges, he inserts a new cashcard into my IU device every 3 days. I know Daddy is trying his best to lessen my financial burden, now that I'm not working and Hubby is not around to support me. He shielded me from all the verbal and emotional abuses from my nasty and violent tenant, by meeting up with him in my place while ensuring I stayed home, away from any possible harm. The best dad goes all the way out to make life for his daughter as perfect as it can be; that is my phenomenal Daddy.

I love u, Daddy! *Muacks* U're better than the best!

Favourite Questions

Since I've been back about a week ago, I've been asked the same questions repeatedly by different groups of people I've met. As I'm pretty tired of repeating myself umpteen times, I've decided to broadcast my answers here, to kill all the curiosities before meeting me. Not that I am trying to be unfriendly, but it gets pretty tiring when I have to echo the same words at least twice a day on average for the past week. =P

These are the questions posted to me, usually in the exact same sequence as below:

1) When did you come back and for how long?
In case you are terrified of being infected by the Swine Flu, I came back 6 days ago and haven't had a fever since (choy choy!). I'll be around for 2 weeks.

2) What type of food are you craving for now and what have you eaten so far?
I don't have any particular food cravings since I've arrived, except Jap food from Akashi which I've already had as my first meal with my parents (a usual routine I guess). I'm done with local delights at Newton, Korean BBQ, Thai Village delicaies and Tai Seng turtle soup. Perhaps it's the extremely hot weather that is discouraging me from having my dose of bak chor mee, laksa, lor mee, etc from the hawker centre.

3) Where is your hubby?
I came back alone. Hubby is still working in STL.

4) How does Singapore compare to States and which do you prefer?
Give me States anytime! Life without work wins hands down, always! The fresh air, tranquil life, friendly neighbourhood, wide & uncongested roads are all additional bonuses.

5) Can help me buy Coach bags?
Can, but expect to receive them in Feb next year, together with our shipment.

Blog Address

Just to clarify, the address of my blog is supposed to be read as "missus-glad" and not "miss-US-glad". I was shocked when one of my besties refer to my blog as the latter and she actually thought I called myself Miss US. Faintz... "Missus" because I'm married and it's our marriage that brought me to the States, yet I wanna retain my own name, thus MissusGlad.

Ugly Me

Went for a haircut yesterday. A Long over-dued one, since I could only get a proper trim in Singapore, or so I'd thought. Ended up, I had the worst haircut in my life. That's for saving some pennys for my July shopping spree. Mum had to make me feel worse by rubbing salt onto my wound by saying "How can save money on a haircut when the hair shapes the face?!" Sigh...

Seriously, not all hairdressers create magic on all (or at least most) of their clients. Gill is an exception, and I should have been more generous in spending $70 for a trim; especially when he has been with me for 8 long years.

I hate looking into the mirror now...

Music Soothes The Dreary Soul

Class 95 is terrific! It is uncomparable to all the radio stations in STL. Nothing beats driving around alone with familiar soothing oldies (think Out of the Blue by Michael Learns to Rock) playing in the background. I'm so sick and tired of listening to the same Hip Hop/ RnB songs being played at least 10 times a day, and am extremely glad that my ears are finally spared of Poker Face by Lady Gaga. Heh...

Lastly, for once in years I felt so "single" again. Driving home on a Sunday evening, having no one to spend the rest of the night with me; that solitary feel was quite indescribable. I sort of like spending time alone with good music in the background, yet I hate the lonliness. Perhaps I'm just so not used to having no one to pat me to bed. Another 11 nights more to go before I head back to sanity!

Women's Charter, Chpt 353

My tenant has been in remand since 3 weeks ago, and as my mum read out the court order pasted outside my flat over the phone, I searched the net to find out more about his crime. Apparently he was wanted for family violence. What caught my attention was the definition of Chapter 353 of the Women's Charter 1997, Singapore (the law my tenant broke).

Section 46 states the duties and rights of a husband and wife in the management of the home and children as follows:

a. They are mutually bound to co-operate with each other in safeguarding the interests of the union and in caring and providing for the children.
b. They have equal rights in the running of the matrimonial household.

*So who says that the men rules the household and have final says in the family?

Section 69 makes it obligatory for a husband to maintain his wife and children during marriage. Any married woman whose husband neglects or refuses to provide for her reasonable maintenance may apply to a District Court or a Magistrate’s Court and that Court may order the husband to pay a monthly allowance or a lump sum for her maintenance.

*Now I know it's essential for Hubby to pay for ALL my shopping expenses. Maybe I can finally cut my cards now? Heh...

Raspberry No-bake Cheesecake

Dierbergs has been having raspberries sales at $1 per punnet for the past couple of weeks, which means it's the perfect time to make raspberries cheesecake! Normally it cost around $3 (I think) per punnet of about 30 counts, which converts to SGD4.50 or thereabouts, and this makes it an extremely expensive fruit. To digress, raspberries contain high amount of fibre as well as significant amount of antioxidant. Hubby doesn't like raspberries since he find them too sour; I think it's a men thing that he doesn't touch most berries. One of the ways to make him consume these beneficial fruits is to incorporate them into his favourite food. Heh...

Recipe for this extremely easy cheesecake, for lazy people like myself:

1 pkt of ready-made graham cracker crust

Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups whipped topping/ cream

Sauce:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 Tbs. cornstarch
1 small pkt. or 0.3 oz raspberry gelatin
30 fresh or frozen raspberries

Filling:
Using an electric mixer, whip cream cheese in a bowl (I hand-beated it since I don't have an electric mixer). Mix in powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Fold in whipped topping. Spread on top of crust. Put in refrigerator.

Sauce:
In a saucepan, cook sugar, water, and cornstarch until thickened and translucent. Remove from heat and add gelatin. Stir until dissolved. Spread gelatin mixture over top of cream cheese layer and decorate cake with raspberries. Refrigerate until top layer thickens.

Viola! No baking hassle and it took me 30 mins just to get this done. Perfect for a lazy wife. Heh...

7 More Months...

We're nearing the end of Spring and I hate it! Not only is Summer going to be hot hot hot, it also means we're nearing the end of our 18-month stay in STL. Sigh... I don't want to go home and slog my life out in the hot oven! Give us more months here pls... Sob Sob...

Beyond Hope

I know I seriously should stop shopping totally till the next Federal Holiday sales in July. Yet whenever my objective was just to window shop, I'll end up swiping my card; and when I do have the intention to purchase something I had in mind, I always ended up home empty-handed. With three times the amount of my monthly allowance of credit card debt outstanding, I am completely down-and-out. Still, I ended up another US$200 poorer yesterday, when my intention of going to the mall was to just get a gift for a boy's 1st birthday.

US$55 for 2 pairs!!! Dirt cheap so it's a good chance to stock up on heels, though I still have 3 unworn pairs at home. Nice prints to perk up boring suits yah. Bought a super soft n fluffy bathrobe and a blouse with frills which I had been hunting for, among other stuffs. Super satisfied, though I am beyond bankrupt now.

And now I've got to shop for a golf Sunday bag cos the irritating Hubby lent my bag without my knowledge to a friend. With all the perspiration and body odour, no way am I going to use that bag again. To punish him for not seeking my permission before taking my stuff, I'm going to get myself an expensive replacement under his tab. Rooaarrr....

Another Bundle of Joy

I've just received news that another of my babe is preggers!!! Oh I am so absolutely happy for the first-time parents, and a little jealous too. How I wish Hubby is raking in a 5-digit monthly pay-check, so we'll have enough to plan for a naughty one without altering our current life-style. There'll be no lack of play-dates for the little one, if it were to happen. Too bad though...

Anyhows, it's time for more shopping in the babies' department!

Congratulations, Harold and Sharon!

Ang Ku Kuehs

Life's been good good good! In fact it could not get any better as I do not have to worry about classes and assignments for 4 long months! To ensure that I spent some of my free time wisely, I cordially invited TWC to our apartment yesterday to make some Ang Ku Kuehs; especially since we were craving for the peanut-filled traditional chinese desserts. I haven't had those probably for at least 5 years. It was till the birth of Zeyi that the topic of Ang Ku Kuehs and red eggs surfaced, and set some of us salivating away.

Meeting early in the morning at 10.30 was quite a feat for me, as I do not usually wake up that early except to beat the sales or to head to school. Nevertheless, I was glad we started the quest early as our first batch of dough was not of the right constitution, and we spent a long time adjusting the amount of ingredients to fix it. Still it was time well spent, as the texture of the "skin" was just puuurrr-fect! Soft and chewy, and flavourful with hues of sweet potatoes and coconut. The peanut-filling was equally good as it was very fragrant and of the right sweetness. Perhaps our kuehs are better than what you get in some of the kopitiams. =P However, as the process to make ang ku kuehs is really tedious, this shall be my first and last pursuit; especially when it's readily available everywhere when we get back to Singapore. Anyway, I guess all three of us deserve a pat on the shoulders for slogging six long hours to make such yummy delicalies for our hubbies. Particularly so when it's our virgin attempts.

Just some pictures to whet your appetites...

Flu-Strickened

I was feeling under the weather last night. Had a throbbing headache and was feeling extremely cold though I had a sweater on and the temp of the air-conditioner was turned up pretty much. I wonder if it's because I had been in and out of the intense heat in the day when I was out shopping with The Wives' Club, or is it The Flu.

With another week more to go before I make my way back home for a short vacation, I'm really hoping I'll recover fast and be in tip-top condition, enough to prevent the Swine Flu from hitting me. It's quite scary to be in the plane for 20 long hours during this time when an epidemic is widespread. Surviving a long flight alone is torturous enough, yet I have more to worry about now.

Sigh... God bless me.