Yup we’re at it again. Went to pick up some price lists and brochures at Clarendon Homes, Beechwood Homes, Allworth Homes and Westminster Homes. While we were there, we took the opportunity to check out some of the display houses again.

I really love how they usually mount the plasma or lcd tvs onto the wall, therefore clearing the surface of the tv stands and you could put framed photos, vases or other decors on it instead.

Anyway, we came home and sat down looking at the price lists. Looks like most builders have increased their prices since the time we were looked at them close to 4 years ago.

For so many years, I haven’t sat down to watch the Academy Awards live on TV. Today I happened to chance on it when I turned on the TV while having my early lunch. I was just in time when the awards ceremony began with Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin appearing on stage. It felt nice to be able to watch TV without DD disturbing me (she was in preschool, hehe) but unfortunately I couldn’t stay awake to watch the rest of the show.

I took a nap instead! Almost overslept to pick DD up. Guess I’ll have to watch the rerun of the Oscars tonight

It’s almost the end of February already. The up side of it is that Summer is coming to an end, yay! No more unbearable and unbelievably hot days. The down side of it is of course, it simply means time flies … soon it will be Easter, then the mid year financial year end sale and then, Christmas and then … time to look for insurance quotes again, yikes!

The cycle is the same every year. However, I do believe from next year onwards we would not be as stressful due to DD having grown up more and get less clingy and dependent on us. It will also mean we will get to travel more, double yay to that. If things work the way we hope it will that is

To all those who still have the priviledge of having the vendor grate fresh coconut meat for you, well count your blessings. For those of us who have left our home countries, we have to DIY when it comes to getting freshly grated coconut, otherwise we’d have to settle for frozen grated coconut (I’ll cover this topic in another post) available at local Asian grocers.

Anyway I hate it each time I bought an old coconut by mistake because I don’t know how to choose one. Well, in the past the sundry shopkeeper in Malaysia would usually grate it with the grating machine before selling it to us, so there is no worrying about getting bad old coconut that’s off.

I have bought bad coconuts from Coles and fresh fruit vegie stores before and I absolutely hate it, wasted my money because you can’t use the coconut at all.

Thankfully this week’s episode of Poh’s Kitchen gives very good tips on how to choose a good coconut. You’ll need to watch the video itself. In this video you will also see the kind of different coconut graters that the Chef and the fruit vendor used. Please click here

Basically, the coconut needs to have a lot of water in it (no water means the coconut is old) and make sure the 3 eyes on the coconut looks good.

Bills, bills, bills! There are 3 bills sitting on my folder waiting to be paid before their due dates. The thing I dread getting in the mail is bills for home and car insurance. Yikes, they cost a bomb but could not be avoided. And to think that many households now owns at least 3 cars, gosh.

I just ensure that we set aside the required amount for these large bills so we don’t have to feel the pinch when the bills arrive in the mail.

How do you budget for your household expenses and utility bills? I know of some friends who keeps a record of expenses down to a tee, no joke!

Let’s go for some free family fun at The Ponds, on Sunday, March 14 between 2.30pm to 5.30pm. Watch Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags, Captin Feathersword and host Fairy Clare live!

According to The Ponds website:

“In addition to the Land Boat Races, this year’s Family Fun Day will include a 30 minute show Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags, Captin Feathersword and host Fairy Clare, stalls, face painting, jumping castle, water bumper boats, train ride and a free sausage sizzle.”

Free sausage sizzle?  Yumm

It won’t be too long before I hit retirement age and yes I must admit, time and again, I did get curious about all the eye wrinkle treatment beauty products in the market.

I am not using any at the moment (not that I don’t need it but this Aunty is too stingy to splurge on this “want”) but I did try samples that were given. Umm, frankly I couldn’t tell the difference because I have really small puffy eyes which appear tired and angry all the time but I’m not, it’s just how they are.  Those who have eyes like mine would know what I mean.

What bothers me more is my acne. I don’t really care that it makes me look horrible to still have acne at this age but it is the discomfort and sometimes feeling sore from the acne that irks me all the time ?

Can anyone defy ageing? Certainly not. Well I mean yeah in terms of looks like how celebrities make use of plastic surgery, botox and such to look youthful.

But when it comes to health, I doubt there is anything that could make your body in tip top condition like when you were 10 or 20 years ago? I dread the day when I will experience health symptoms that come with age. I do wonder at times if I would need to take joint supplements and many other vitamins just to keep myself intact! Nowdays if I sit on the floor for more than 10 minutes I find it rather difficult to stand straight up immediately; or when I stoop to pull weeds at my garden, it will take me a minute to straighten up properly - ouch my old back!

It is a scarey thought but first, I need to lower my cholesterol level and get back to shape.

Yeah I wish I could say that but it’s not me.  I often like to read about how families manage to pay off their mortgages within a targeted time frame. The most recent article I read was of a family who paid off a AU$165k mortgage within 4 years. That’s a very good achievement!

Sure, the family had to sacrifice a lot in terms of “wants” items and survived only on things that they really needed. But it is all worth it after 4 years. Most of us know that when you have kids, 4 years can pass by swiftly and you’re like, “huh? Has it been 4 years already?”. So why not put up with a tight budget and get it over with? Easy to say but it all really depends on each family’s financial situation.

You can read the full article here

Sometimes both DH and I had to get out of bed several times at any hour between 2.00am to 3.30am. Our DD no longer sleep through the night on a daily basis. She has to get up and make one of us take her to the bathroom eventhough the bathroom is just next to her room. Other times she wakes up for no reason and came running into our room.

There was once when I counted the number of times she woke me up for the most trivial things between 1.40am to 2.30am. I woke up a total of 12 times!!

I hope anyone who sees dark eye circles on DH or myself would understand what caused them, haha. If them don’t, well wait till they have kids

Goodness me, when will I stop bingeing everyday? Everytime I tell myself that I must lose weight before I even think of visiting my parents overseas but at the rate I am going, it (the weight loss) is never going to happen.

I know myself too well, no diet aids would be able to help me achieve my goal, sigh! At least now I know how not to over indulge when I bake cookies. I give most of them away to neighbours Pineapple jam tarts were a hit with them. Furthermore, it’s the joy of being able to share one’s food that makes baking enjoyable.

So for now, I need to stop bingeing on junk … as if that is gonna happen?

We visited some top of the range display homes at Bella Vista out of curiosity  There weren’t many, maybe about a dozen.  We didn’t go into all of them as the weather wasn’t really for a leisure walk.  Except of course when you are in a display home where the air cond is strong enough.  Some of the house designs are really not meant for ordinary families.  I mean there is lots of wasted space and overall, the designs are interesting but not spectacular.  Eventhough the homes generally cost a bomb, most have only 4 bedrooms and a study.

We overheard the sales person quoting a price of AU$445k for a basic home without finishings and what not and a price of AU$600k with everything complete (not sure if that means the landscaping too).  The prices were just for the house itself.   You have to take into account the cost of land and finishing.

One of the scariest thing about the face is having acne. Unfortunately I make up the statistics of those who developed this horrible unwanted blemishes caused by acne.

We all know how difficult or if it’s even possible to remove acne scars completely. I am sure many would have Googled for answers. The quest to cure and erase acne never cease. I know exactly how it feels for I used to try quite a bit of different products to find that “cure”. One of the answers I found through trial and error is that keeping your face free from oil throughout the day really does help a lot.

Wow it has been a very long time since I meddled with the layout of this blog. I decided to get rid of the green background and the rather feminine header. This has started out as just a personal blog but over time, I noticed that visitors who landed here via search engines mostly searched for general information about discount to attractions, food, lifestyle, shops, etc.

Those who know me would know that I frequent display homes as if I have plans to buy another one. That is not the case at all. We just like looking at new homes for its furnishings, home designs, kitchens, flooring, etc and simply because most major display home villages are located close to our home.

Last week we were looking at some Delfin Homes. I love the look of new modern kitchens and wonder if Franke sinks were used in any of them. They looked beautiful and shiny.

I must say though other than the kitchen which is always most practically designed, other furnishings around the home are not always practical. They are just there as eye candies.