February 27, 2007

Just been Busy

Very busy since the last weekend (shopping for landscaping materials and plants) as we're getting enthusiastic about how to landscape our frontyard, backyard and the side of the house as well as the kind of plants we will be getting. Lots of work but it'll be therapeutic.

Bee turns 9 months today. Didn't even snap a piccy. Have also got a new blog for Bee several days ago but didn't have time to do anything with it until today. Have not decided which theme to use, ie the popular Blix theme or should I go with Connections theme? Not sure, time will decide. Am using Wordpress, hosted on Bluehost.com Will update on Bee's 9 months in the new blog instead, when I have the time.

Actually Kiwi G is the one who is doing all the tweaking and customizing of templates as well as setup the webhosting a/c for me, haha. I know nothing about PHP (too dumb dumb to understand). I'll announce the new blog's domain once it has some contents - right now it's just a shell, *malu* to show lah.

February 22, 2007

Today

Wah I really had NongShim noodles for dinner this evening, kosong (no adding of egg, fish balls, etc) some more!

Our new replacement Tallboy (original one was defective) arrived this afternoon. The delivery guy didn't have a trolley! I had to help him carry them (old and new Tallboys) some more!

So how did I managed to help him with Bee around? Strapped her to the stroller and play her current favourite Baby Macdonald Einstein DVD.

After the delivery guy left and seeing that Bee was still happily watching the DVD (she giggled and smiled at the puppetries), I swept and mopped the floor. Mopped the floors, Mopped the floors, Mopped the floors, finally ... my feet feels so much nicer walking on clean floors :)

February 21, 2007

Bills, bills, bills

Bills due this month (in AU$):

  • Water for the period 1 Nov 06 - 2 Feb 07 (3 months)

    [compulsory charges (water service, sewerage, recycled water, river management) even if you don't use a single drop of water = $147.71]

    (actual water meter usage = $38.45)

    Total payable = $186.15

  • Council charges for 3rd quarter = $276

  • Electricity 8 Nov 06 - 14 Feb 06 = $272.28

  • Phone bill = $25 (this is excluding ADSL $69.95 bill to come soon)
Grand Total of all bills payable this month = $759.43


That leaves us with Maggi Mee or Nongshim Noodles for the rest of the month ... the positive side is, the noodles are curry flavoured!

There is the gas bill which has yet to come, usually around +/-$130

February 20, 2007

Kmart here soon

I can't remember if I have mentioned this before; Kmart will be opening in a few months time ... VERY NEAR our home ... about 30 mins leisurely walk or 5 mins drive away. It's a project by Mirvac. There'll be other smaller shops to check out too, once the mall is opened.

Aiyoyo, how am I going to save money with such temptation within walking distance?? We don't often shop at Kmart (we actually prefer BigW - got most of our baby needs, beddings, household stuff, etc there) but it's great for bargains like baby clothings & household stuff during sale or weekly specials.

February 14, 2007

Happy Hearts Day!

and to all *silent visitors* of this blog - love you too!
Oooops ... and of course to ....
my two darlings; Kiwi G and lil Bee *muakz*

February 10, 2007

Friend's Wedding

Hurray! A dear friend got married today! We are very happy for him and his sweet wife. We are always happy to see a good friend getting married. The church ceremony was held at St Peter's Presbyterian Church Blues Point Road, North Sydney followed by a reception at Waters'Edge, Walsh Bay, Sydney - this place has excellent views of the Harbour.

Our lil Bee was very well behaved, non temperamental as usual. She got so tired towards the end of the reception at Walsh Bay that she slept through the blasting music for the dances. Photo here is of the guests dancing the choo choo train.

Sorry, unable to post pics of the bride and groom (didn't obtain their permission). Cheers to the bride and groom, a fantastic and beautiful couple!

Thankfully lil Bee decided only to poo poo till we got home at about 5pm!

February 08, 2007

Losing Weight

Felt like a long time since I posted Bee's photos. Haven't been taking still pics, only videos. This post is not about Bee, it's about me :P

I've been trying to lose weight and so far so good. I ballooned up to 76kg just before Bee was born. Worse still, I was already overweight when I conceived ie 56kg. It means I put on a whopping 20kg during my pregnancy. Terror or not?? *Bows*

After delivering Bee, my weight automatically dropped 10kg! So I was 66kg after being discharged from the hospital. I didn't really work hard on dieting (still ate like a pig) ... the weight slowly dropped to 61kg and from there onwards, I started watching what I eat (try my best not to snack at night but still do now and then, hahaha). As a result of that, I dropped another 3kg.

Now I am 58kg ... still a lot more to lose. I'm a short person, whenever I hit over 50kg, I get high cholesterol. My healthy weight (according to Body Mass Index) would be around 40-45kg.

This explains why you don't see my pig face on this blog for such a long time, hahaha!

February 05, 2007

HTML & Digital Kits

I try not to talk about HTML lest others think I *berlagak* but since Angeleyes asked me this in one of her comments to my DIY blog post:

"G, I love the way you do your template... so pro!
How and where you get them???? Can share share???"

I thought I'd answer it here just in case anyone else is interested. Angeleyes, hope you don't mind me quoting your question :) and by the way, I'm not pro lah. Play play only.

Hope the answer will not disappoint. I create my own images, buttons, backgrounds, etc (with Adobe Photoshop CS) and write my own html source code using Notepad - so basically, I am afraid I did not get my templates from elsewhere. Believe me, if I had gotten them as readymade templates, I would of course credit the source! My templates usually consist of two column tables and if you want a third column, just add it in. Once you know how to write your source code (or if you wish to use the same tables as mine, just view my source code & copy it but remember to replace the images with your own), play around with Blogger's Tag. Blogger has a section that describes the function of each Tag. Just pick and apply whichever Tag that you fancy.

For javascripts, css, stylesheets, etc, my favourite places to obtain them are:

  • The JavaScript Source

    For HTML tutorial or reference, here are some good sites to visit:

  • HTML Clinic

    Then there are free Blogskins all over the internet which saves you all the trouble. I don't have any site in mind but I believe you will get thousands of such sites by Googling.


    I might as well talk about the Scrapbook Layouts I often did for Bee's pics too. Some may have noticed, I often credit the source where I got the digital kits from, whether it is free or paid for. It is not to *berlagak* but just so that anyone who is interested in the digital kits would know where to get it themselves. It is also good "netiquette" and respect for intellectual property rights to give credit. Without those wonderful, gifted designers, we would not have such beautiful digital kits to put together as LO's (Lay Outs). I must admit, initially when I saw other bloggers with beautiful LOs of their babies, I thought they designed everything themselves. Then I thought they used a programme that easily puts everything together within a few clicks but no, no, I was totally wrong.

    It wasn't until
    Anna mentioned about Two Peas In A Bucket that I realized how it is done. I have known about Two Peas a long, long time ago but they weren't offering digital scrapbooking kits back then. Anyway, long story cut short, Two Peas offers free digital kits, more than enough to keep you busy for hours!

    Another website I downloaded freebies as well as made some purchases from is The Digichick - however, you are required to create an account with them before you are able to download the free stuff. Account creation is free of charge.
  • Then of course, after downloading the kits, you need to create your own layout, crop here and there, resize, flip, etc using a drawing software such as Corel or Adobe.

    To get ideas of LO's you can check out the Galleries of those websites, but be sure not to copy other people's ideas 100%, it is just not ethical.

    Unfortunately I haven't had time to check out more sites that offers great free digital kits.
    Scrapbooking Top 50 has the most comprehensive listing of scrapbooking websites worldwide! Worth checking out the sites for freebies if you have the time.

    Oh my goodness, I sure could blabber on and on. Please feel free to ask if I have left out anything.

    February 04, 2007

    Backyard

    I've uploaded two photos of our bare backyard to my DIY On A Budget blog if anyone's interested to have a view :)

    CREDITS

    Sadish Bala for this amazing Template to work with

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