We had an informative evening yesterday at the public school in which our little girl is enrolled for Kindergarten next year. It was nice to see the Principal and some of the staff face to face. The briefing was held at the school hall.

My little girl was uber excited to see her new “big girl school” especially when she saw all the artwork and crafts displayed in the hall. She is so excited to know she’ll be doing them in the kindergarten next year.

Meanwhile, we would need to start polishing up her writing skills and all the basics (simple maths, comprehension, etc) as each student will be given an hour of one to one test in order to place them into appropriate classes.

A new month and a new season has started. Unfortunately nothing else is new or exciting. Well I guess there is one ie our upcoming vacation. How I wish it was a Branson Missouri vacation we’re going to but it’s not. A trip is better than no trip that’s for sure. Can’t make it to Branson, Missouri this time round but who knows, maybe someday. Imagine the fun we will have as a family when my girl is older and able to go on rides and such more easily.

But for now, our trip this time, we are mainly focused on shopping and eating. Until my girl is much older and more manageable, we will not be going for any island stay whatsoever.

However there is one trip we hope to make while we’re there. Will play it by the ear.

Finally it’s goodbye Winter though I hardly noticed it’s Spring already because the weather is still mostly cold, wet, cloudy and too windy. It’s sunny but windy today, so it’s not exactly a lovely Spring day to start off with in our region.

The next 7 day forecast is worse, either showers or rain, what a let down. But I guess the plants and farms need it. So it’s all good. I am sure we will have plenty of warm and the much dreaded super hot days ahead.

What should we buy for daddy? That was the question I asked my little girl when we were out enjoying the day this afternoon. She suggested lollies and chocolates knowing those are her daddy’s favourites. But seriously, I always have trouble thinking about what to get him. Perhaps getting some Amazon books would be worthwhile since he is an avid reader; well depends on the titles.

Well we have till this Friday to think of what to buy. Meanwhile there are already lollies and a card. Fingers crossed that he doesn’t read this blog!

It felt so long ago since I heard this or say this to someone personally. A decade long to be exact. I can’t even remember what I’d usually do on this day. I guess it was just another day off from work for me. BBQ at friends, outings, etc I guess. Nothing really out of the ordinary just like how Australia Day is to us *LOL*

Hope everyone back home gets the much deserved rest or fun on this day

It is funny how I have stopped doing certain crafts until my little girl now starts making them for her preschool projects. I have not handmade a card for more than a decade! The last handmade card I did was probably for my husband while we were courting. After that, life just got busier especially now.

I guess I can now take out previous years’ holiday cards and create recycled Christmas cards for families. A great way to teach the kid about saving the trees and environment.

Not only that, we would also make use of old cards for paper crafts as her preschool show & tell. We’ve been making a lot of things for that purpose lately. I really enjoy the mother and daughter bonding time this way. It is one of my dreams that my little girl would share my love for crafting. By the looks of it, it is coming true ?

Feels like time is at a stand still when my two darlings are unwell simultaneously. It just dampens my mood. Can’t wait for them both to be all well again. It is just so weird that this year my little girl fell sick soooo often, like every other week, no joke. However this time round is a big one. DH would as usual, fall sick big time at least twice a year.

I can only imagine how other families who have to take care of more than two unwell kids at the same time. For example, how did my mother cope with seven children? Imagine the stress of our mother’s generation especially those who had many kids.   Some things, only a mother would know.

What is the one thing you would change about your home if you had a chance? Well for us, there are a million things, well that’s exaggerated of course, maybe about 10 things. The first to go would be our mailbox.

Being inexperienced as we were and first time home owners, we did what most people in older neighbourhoods did. Have someone build a brick mailbox. Mind you, it cost us $200 for the bricksworks and another $100+ for the mailbox.

Now after looking at all the mailboxes in our estate itself, we realized we made a mistake. Should have gone for more contemporary or something like this which is more practical than what we currently have.

Prior to that, there weren’t many houses that have been built in our estate, thus we didn’t get to check out other mail boxes designs in the neighbourhood. Otherwise I am sure we’d have picked something similar to the photo above.

Yes it doesn’t come around often enough this year but today is one of those perfect sunny where you can fall asleep just lying on the lawn. Unfortunately with all of us being unwell, we have to stay indoors – oh joy!

At least the seven day forecasts temps hovering on the 20′s but with showers. Spring is just 3 days away, hope we will have many more beautiful perfect temps before the awful oven like Summer kicks in.

It is funny how we celebrate Father’s Day on a different date from the majority of other countries in the world. Anyway, as Father’s Day is just next week, I have been thinking about getting the daddy a small gift.  Bless him for taking care of us until he himself fell sick, poor guy.

Chocolates and Lollies are out eventhough it is easy to purchase and are his favourites. The man’s gotta watch his waistline! I’m thinking perhaps some ipod accessories might be cool since he listens to his ipod daily. A silicone case maybe?

Now I’ll just have to ensure I do my online shopping for it while he’s at work. Don’t wanna get caught red handed buying him a gift That’ll spoil the surprise, wouldn’t it?

Wow, it truly is neverending when it comes to falling sick. First it was me who sprained my knee so badly that it took 3 weeks to be able to walk normally again although still not fully recovered. Then it was DD who had really bad gastro! Now it’s DH’s turn, cough and cold – a rather bad one.

Sigh, hope we all will be back in our fittest forms real soon. Looks like we’ll all have to stay home and be good for awhile.

Another week of winter for us here and I can’t wait to welcome the first day of Spring. Already the garden is looking much better than before. I have already gotten out my gardening tools and started to clean up my garden a bit. Ah feels good after a lapse of 3 months not digging into the dirt.

Spring is a great time to sit at the backyard and read under the sun. Now many times I wish we had a hammock for those snoozes in perfect cool sunny days. Actually a bit of outdoor garden furniture would be great too except that we don’t exactly have a big enough patio or a wooden deck leading right out to the backyard.

Many friends are curious as to why we do not have a BBQ grill. Well the truth is, we would hardly use for now and I hate the idea of finding a storage space for it and then having to clean up the cobwebs before using it each time. If not for these two problems, we’d have gotten one a long time ago.

Here’s looking forward to better warmer weather where everyone comes out to play and get busy around the home and outdoors.

I am sure by now most people here would already know that these two fashion chains will be opening in Australia very soon.

Personally, I have not shopped at ZARA before but I have bought GAP garments before and I absolutely love the quality especially the t-shirt materials.  The PJs I bought for my girl  and hoodie for myself, never had any pil even after several years of wear and plenty of washes.  I will definitely check out the GAP store once it opens an outlet in Sydney (as usual, Melbourne gets its first store before we do).

Great to see more retailers coming to the shore. End with the monopoly of the same labels everywhere, competition is good for consumers.

It has been a long while since I attended an expo or exhibition of some sort in the CBD. I would usually end up with a bag of brochures, flyers and such. Can’t help picking them up for reading at home and see what’s new in the market today be it a product or holiday catalogue.

What attracts you most when you are in a room full of businesses promoting their products and services? I’d say for me, it’s the stands. Display stands Sydney has some very attractive ways to market and get your attention with their stunning stands.

I especially like the portable brochure display which you can dissemble and carry in a bag, how easy and innovative is that? It’s also practical for home use especially when you have stacks of magazines to read. The stand is space saving and chic. Years ago I wouldn’t think about using display stands at home but now with the sleek and practical design, you could almost use it for anything at home and it just fits in.

So I guess I’ll have to book myself to another expo to see what’s in store

Yes finally it will be here. Check out Daiso’s Australian official website here. Though the site does not indicate an opening date but looks like Melbourne will get its first store at the Hive shopping centre in Richmond. Lucky ‘em!

I can’t wait for it to open in Sydney (hopefully not too far from where I live). I just love looking for cutesy stuff be it cookery, utensils, plates, etc. Heard so much about the cute and affordable Bento supplies from Daiso stores around the world. Hope to personally see them for myself soon.