Promise Me

Ok.... Drum roll please.....

I was hanging out with friends yesterday (which resulted in a nice self-inflicted headache this morning :-) they took precedence over my blog. But finally, as promised, my list for Promise Me.

These are in no particular order, except the order that I wrote them in. I've added a tab at the top of my blog that you can click on and keep track of my progress. As I said, I will be posting pictures of my accomplishments or progress. I've done 34 as that is how old I'll be this year. (actually I wrote 33, and then whilst writing this, I really wanted a special meaning behind it, so sneakily cheated by adding one more after my date deadline of the list)

Some are silly, some are simple, some are complicated. enjoy...

1. Cook Drew his favourite meal & have a candlelit dinner in the backyard
2. Paint a canvas (or two) for the guest bedroom
3. Photo-shoot of the kids for the bathroom & give kids bathroom a makeover
4. Get eyelash extensions (tee hee hee)
5. Take a day and explore JB
6. Picnic with bubbles with the kids and take photos (thanks for this idea Jess)
7. Read one book each month for a year (if I read twelve in one month, that doesn't count - I want to read at least one book every month)
8. Go to a boxing class
9. Have a family photo-shoot (with me in it)
10. Send a handwritten letter to someone
11. Sew something special for each child
12. learn more about my garden and spend more time gardening (start with around annex)
13. Sort/categorize my photos, duplicate and store properly
14. Make a memory frame for my dad
15. Get a complete Health-check
16. Learn to play a few Christmas carols on the piano (well enough to perform in front of people)
17. Make and then master a souffle
18. Try glass etching (following Jess' instructions)
19. Take a Zumba lesson
20. Take up swimming lessons with Zac
21. Make cupcake toppers in Mass and store for future cakes
22. Walk the McRitchie trail
23. Make a dinner with ingredients purchased solely from wet markets & spice markets
24. Complete a jigsaw puzzle (at least 1000 pieces)
25. go on a 'date' with each child (and get Drew to do the same)
26. Eat at the following Hawkers Centres: Lau Pa Sat. Adam Road, Chinatown, Chomp Chomp, Newton Circus, Tiong Bahru Food Centre, Lavender Food Square
27. Build a lego set of each age bracket (0-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-11 & 12+yr)
28. Create a herb garden
29. Have a tea party with Shayla
30. Build a fort with/for the boys
31. Make my own Chocolate Modeling Clay
32. Decorate cake with Chocolate Modeling Clay
33. Get keepsake chests for all the kids, sort stuff I already have for them and then add as time goes on.
34. Learn how to play mahjong (proper mahjong not Tai Tai mahjong)

A Pinch and a Punch

Tuesday is the new Friday 

Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!

School celebrations for the chinese new year happen next week, after they return from their break- so more on that next week.

***NEWSFLASH***

We are proud to announce that after 9 months of anticipation, S now proudly holds in her hands a beautifully formed baby...... tooth. Honestly, this is her fourth tooth to have a human's gestation period. It began to wobble at the end of March just as we were packing up to move house. I remember discussions on whether the tooth fairy would be able to find the new place. At that stage she had already lost her two front bottom teeth and had two top wobblers. At exactly nine months after it began to wobble, she lost one in October. Two more teeth had joined the wobbly brigade by Halloween and two more somewhere at the beginning of November.  I had momentary flashes of her loosing all four top teeth and two bottom ones and just being gummy for Christmas. But still we play the waiting game. Chinese New Year is upon us and only lost one.

If I wasn't old hat at her tooth losing ways, I would say she would lose another two this week as they are insanely wobbly... but just like her, I guess they'll pop out when they are properly cooked.

Yesterday I promised projects- so here is the first

Project #1

It's a New Day, A New Month, A New Year...

Today marks the beginning of a year for me personally. My new year will Run Feb to Feb.

I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions, but I do like the idea of setting goals for myself, as I know there were million things that I would have loved to do last year, but never got around to it.

I started following Jess over at pen n' paperflowers (as everything on there is just gorgeous) and and a blog post by her got me excited. After accomplishing a birthday list last year of things she would like to do by her birthday, she is now doing what she has coined 'Promise Me' and it's about enriching one's life. 

It's not a list of things like 'I will get healthier' 'I will lose 5kg' as most New Year's resolutions are. It's more about things that enrich me, my life, make me smile and make my personal relationships stronger. Some are insanely silly little things that I've wanted to try, but never have. Some I have taken from Jess's birthday list from last year as I just loved them. You may giggle at some of the items, others you may find yourself wishing to do.

I have spent the last week putting my list together and I will post my list tomorrow. I'll be following Jess on her journey - will you follow me on mine?

As I achieve things on my list, or even start them (if they are a stages item) I will blog about my progress and post photos to show you how I did. Then I will reflect on the list in it's entirety next Feb. Check back tomorrow for my full list (am not posting it today... as I've ranted enough for one day :-)

Excerpt that inspired me from Jess at Pen n'Paperflowers:

I'm taking the entire month of January to create my list of "promises".

It's not a list where you'll find anything about losing weight or exercising more. (that's a different list). *wink*

This is another list of FUN things I want to achieve.

Most will be related to "creative" things that inspire me...

because for me...

that's what makes me happy.

There will be "promises" that involve fun activities to strengthen my relationship with my daughters.

"Promises" that will bring "added value" to my home...

to my life...

to my family...

and ultimately...

to ME.

Each of these promises will have one resounding common thread...

Wasn't prepared to hit the catwalk tonight!

Just dropping in to let you know we are all ok here. It's been a hectic first week of school, with everyone thriving and LOVING every minute of it.
I've got a few projects up my sleeve that I hope to share with you tomorrow, but after an exhausting day & Parent teacher meets this evening... I'm sipping my herbal tea and heading to bed, so it's just a quick rant.
It's been raining for three days now, which is driving us (especially the dogs) a little batty and it looks like we are to endure the grey skies till Friday. Very unusual for Singapore and has me reaching for a pashmina ('coz I don't really own any long sleeve anything anymore) The constant rain with wind is really chillin the air, making it the coldest weather I think I've seen since I've been here. I believe it went as low as 25 today - how crazy is that?!?
All's well in the Cromie house though, one gorgeous girl with a slight cough, but apart from that looks as though we may all be on the mend!
Dragged a whinging husband off to the third and final parent teacher meet tonight, not before he tried to convince Miss S to go in his place. Her comment was 'but I don't look a thing like you daddy' he soon remedied that by dressing her in some of his clothes. After we were all in stitches I then proceeded to sit through a parade from S followed by J (he couldn't miss out) Z tried hard to get in on the action... but was cleverly distracted with a toy. L is now apparently grownup since a week in Prep, and would have no part of it.

But Mr C's ploy didn't work and dragging his feet we finally headed out.. albeit a little late.
We've sat through the same beginning speech to all parents  on PYP IB etc twice already this year, three times last year and twice the year before that - so I felt that I've paid my dues on the whole IBO program,  I seriously didn't need to hear the 50 minute spiel AGAIN, so my tactic was that we would arrive late and sneak in at the back just to catch the last couple of minutes before heading off into respective classes to meet the teacher.
BACKFIRE BIG TIME.
We arrived a good 30 mins into the presentation, hopping out of the lift onto the Prep level only to realize that in the school holiday they had refurbished the pod area where the presentation was to take place and the new projection unit was now on the opposite wall from last year. So instead of sneaking in the back, we were centre stage for the main event. 300/400 parents all sniggered as we cat-walked our way up the long hallway directly in their line of site. The hallway seemed to go on forever, you think we wouldn't have been seen from that far away, but once we had stepped off the lift, we were in plain site. Many friends unsympathetically nudged each other as the presenter oblivious to us continued to talk about the core values and IB attributes.
Red faced we weaved throughout the crowd and found a dark quiet spot to hide for the rest of the presentation. Apart from the humiliation, our final teacher meet went well, and I have to say that I think all three teachers this year are fabulous and I can't wait to see the munchkins blossom under their care.

Ok - seriously over and out now (yeah, who was I kidding? I've never been known for a short rant!)