Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Dolly Wink : Big Eye Challenge Event (Warning scary photo included!)

Haven't been to many events in the past 3 years so this was 1 event I was looking forward to.


Before the event:
Online registration was quite a mess as we have to make payment ($10) before sending in the registration form online. Due to too many participants the organisers took 1 week to get back to us with the confirmation email. Most of us receive the confirmation just days before the event.


Timeslot:
We were given 30min timeslots to chose from which was quite pointless as we end up queuing for more than an hour.

Queued about 45mins to reach the first counter to receive the goodie bag coupon, $10 voucher, a little booklet and a feedback form to fill up. Followed by queuing and waiting for another 15mins to enter the event space in a group.

Once we enter the space they inform us that we have to first go thru the 5 "counters" to learn about eye makeup, followed by going into another event space where we will collect our goodie bag and start to do our eye makeup. We are allowed to do makeup for 1 eye only as there wasn't enough time for us to complete both eyes.


Learning to put on eye makeup:
The 5 counters had girls who would explain the eye makeup "skill" according to what's on the little booklet. Wasn't very clear but I also didn't know what to ask either. Everyone in the group couldn't wait to enter the next event space to get some hands on experience.


Finally at the small but very packed event space:
We were rushed to the goodie bag area first. Gave them our coupons and they give us a cute little bag and ask us to choose faux eyelashes. I chose something that looks simple and natural to me.

Thereafter we were informed to quickly sit down and start doing our eye makeup as we do not have anymore time. By then it was already 4pm and the guests were going to be on stage soon! I had to look for a seat in the packed room but was lucky that a mother and daughter pair offered me a seat when someone else got up.. Once I sat down I stared at the tools on the table and felt like something was missing..

At our table there were 5 of us but there were only 3 mirrors.
Eyeliners, eyeshadow, eyelash glue we can share but sharing 3 mirrors among us was quite a feat as all of us were trying to get it done quickly..


So I used this tiny little mirror to do my eye makeup!

The second thing that I wanted to reach out for was not to be found.. guess what is it?
No eyelash curler!

Did my eye makeup as quickly as I could and hastily got up so that others can have a chance.. Then I rushed to another counter to purchase eyeliner and eyelash glue so that I can complete makeup for the other eye on my own..



Here's the scary photo..
(no big eye contact lens used here, just simple eye makeup)




At around 4+pm the guests arrives, the tables were moved and a sitting area was created in front of the little stage. Here's Xiaxue and Kellykonomi laughing about something Xiaxue said. I think she made fun of her own age or something like that..






Took a photo with Xiaxue before rushing off~


Rushing off to complete the other eye of cause!



And rush back home to see my little one who kept asking me to draw her eyes like this! LOL.
so I supposed I did okay? hahaha.




Top row : Goodie Bag + Free gift
Bottom Row : Items I bought

Goodie Bag contains:
1 Pair of Faux Eyelash
1 set of eye shadow
1 eye shadow pen thingy and
1 small bottle of eye makeup remover.

Total spent:
$10 for registration.
$39.80 for 1 Eyeliner, 1 box of faux eyelashes and 1 tube of eyelash glue.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Collagen Stock / Bone Broth (Also known as Collagen Jelly Soup)


It's much easier than I thought and it's not as expensive as I thought it would be too!

I got my recipe from this blog post.


You would need some Big Bones.




Some Chicken Feet (usually I get 2 boxes..)



Some Chicken Bones. 

Boil 2 pots of water.
1 small pot to parboil the bones.
Another bigger pot for the real deal..

Place the bones in the big pot of boiling water.
As it cooks some junks/oil will float up to the top of the soup.
Remove the scum for a clearer and smoother broth.


Let it boil for about 10mins or so and then put it on low fire for a few hours.
If you have a slow cooker or thermal pot can use them too. :)

I use a thermal pot and usually keep it overnight and remove the soup in the morning.
My soup is usually still warm and I will use a sieve + scum skimmer sheet to remove oil / scums.

Each time I cook this I can get about 4 portions so I will use 1 portion for that day and keep the other 3 portions in the fridge after it cools.



Very versatile soup base.
I use it to cook ABC soup, fish porridge, fishball soup or even use it to cook noodles.
Add a bit of sesame oil and a pinch of salt and it taste just outside's food!


Can you guess what I'm going to have for dinner tonight? :D

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Weekly Special: Extra 20% off on bath and beauty products (last 4 days!)

Weekly Deals begin Wednesday at 10 a.m and end the following Wednesday at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. You will see the extra discount in your shopping cart.


I'm in the mood to buy some cosmetics and even placed some makeup stuffs that I am interested in getting into my cart. I think I get that mood like 3-4x a year or something.

So when I receive the mailer regarding this week's promotion I felt super lucky!


These are some of the items I've ordered and can't wait to receive them in a few days! :D

ELF Cosmetics Studio Baked Eyeshadow Palette
Cost around $20+ in some shops in Singapore and I got it for less than $11.43. (after 20% discount before 5% discount)


ELF Cosmetics Luscious Liquid Lipstick
S$2.27 (After 20% discount before 5% discount)


ELF Cosmetics HD Blush
S$3.43 (After 20% discount before 5% discount)


ELF Cosmetics Eyelid Primer
S$2.27 (After 20% discount before 5% discount)


ELF Cosmetics Mineral Infused Mascara
S$3.43 (After 20% discount before 5% discount)

I'm super excited to receive this parcel! :D

Friday, September 04, 2015

My 2 cents.

This year would be my 2nd time voting.


I am not very good with words but I still want to write out about what I think and comment on some issues floating around these few days..


There are many young adults who find the elections really overwhelming, many doesn't know who to vote for and are looking to their friends for answers.. I hope this post will help those who are a little lost?


1. Catch the rallies if you can (can watch online no need to go all the way down haha), from there you will know what the parties are offering. Do keep in mind that if something is too good to be true it usually is.  Eg having more benefits now means someone else is going to pay for it later. Think far, think of your kids future.



2. If the rallies are too difficult to understand. How about think of in whose hands would you leave your kids with?
The grandparent who spoils the child or the grandparent who tries to make things work and help the child who is willing to help himself?



3. Here are a few issues people often complain about and what I think of them..

10 years ago MRT was great but past few years MRT often breakdown.
If you buy an electronic item how long can it last before it gets cranky? 10 years ago how old is MRT? How many times did MRT breakdown in the past 12 months?



Our cars are so expensive, our neighbours are laughing at us for paying more.
Land size issue. If everyone of us own a car, all the roads will be congested all the time and carparks will be same height as our hdb flats.



Our houses are so expensive, 10 years ago our 5 room flats used to cost less, now I can't afford it at all. The quality of our houses are also not very good.
I do agree that our houses are not cheap but if you don't earn so much can buy a smaller flat? I do appreciate that our houses gets upgradings and paint works often, been to overseas and saw how poorly maintained their flats are. In Singapore, the flats gets new paint every few years (at least that's what I can see) and most of the flats looks new and nice even if it's build more than 10 years ago.



Our medical is so expensive, even after subsidies we are still paying a lot!
Medical is expensive everywhere, do name me a place that have affordable and good quality medical without their citizens paying high taxes? Other than subsidies, MediShield and Medisave covers partial of the bills too unless it's private hospital or patient choses class B1/A ward? In cases that families could not afford the bills they can speak with hospital for financial counselling, assistance in application for Medifund.

(Just to update I have seen people paying $2+ and even ZERO cents for their visit to polyclinic, I am on long term follow up with polyclinic and often accidentally hear/saw people's bills..)



There are so many old people 50-70yo that are still working and they are so poor thing. How many meals a day can they have with $1,000 a month when food is at least $5 per meal?
Let's not say that it's an assumption that all old folks who work are working are needy, have no savings etc, let's just do some calculation..

CPF contribution rates for age 50 to age 65 and above ranges from 19% to 5%, which means it's not right to use 20% to calculate but it's okay let's just use 20%..

$1,000 * 80% = $800.

Transport (concession pass depending on age/types ranges from $40-$120)

If he/she owns a house no need to pay rental but paying utilities approximate $80? (If only 2 old folks I don't think the utilities will be very high, if staying with kids would expect the kids to pay for the utilities so $80 is a rough estimate.)

Food say $5 per meal * 3 meals a day for 30 days = $450

$800-$120-$80-$450 = leftover $150 a month to pay for other items.

Liveable? I would like to think so.



10 years ago everything is peaceful, neighbours are more friendly but now more FT comes here and now a lot of crimes, murder cases, molest cases, etc..
These kind of things happens last time too, just that it's not publicised much 10 years ago because mobile phones, social media was not that good then. With social media, bad news travels even faster now. Today, I don't dare to say I am very close to my neighbours (just moved here 3 years back) but they are all quite nice people.

Pressing lift doors for me, share news about upgrading ongoing in our estate, offer me seats on the bus/trains (just to add somehow 99% of the time my kid's seats on the MRT and buses are offered to me by non Singaporeans).



We import so many talents for our sports teams that other countries are laughing at us.
Talents are everywhere but to be able to spot and keep talents is as important. People can laugh at our "imports" but when our imports beat them who have the last laugh? We train these talents and they did us proud by achieving medals, putting our name out to the world. Even when they don't win anything, having good training partners is good for us too. Without good training partners how can our own people grow?



10 years ago it is easy to travel to JB for short getaway but now there is all these charges for foreign cars to enter here and for our cars to go in.
There are other modes of transport if you really must go into JB for short getaway. If there is a better way to stop too many cars going in and out of JB I'm sure they would have used that. If this in not in place how many cars will be coming into our tiny Singapore everyday causing jams to our roads? For the other side that is charging Singapore cars money, that I do not really know why but I don't think our government could control that? Do you think any other elected party can stop another country from implementing new laws?




10 years ago our old folks often sits around at void decks to relax but now all of them are collecting cardboards and drink cans, no time to relax at all.
Did you join the Sunday Qigong Exercise? Once a month walk organised by CC/RC? Dance, Zumba, singing classes? Ever went to coffeeshop to take a look? My block downstairs still lots of old folks chit chatting everyday! At a nearby CC, lots of old folks go there to read newspaper everyday too! Bringing my girl to school I meet many grandmas and grandpas sending their grandchild to school and after that went to coffeeshop to sit and talk or go to the market. Did you speak with any of these working old folks? Isn't it an assumption that if they are working they must be poor and needy?

I am actually proud when I see our pioneers working. Those who are working depends on themselves instead of waiting for welfare, also businesses are willing to hire older generations due to certain policies/benefits too! Not everyone scavenging for cardboards are needy and if you actually bother to spend time to speak with them you may understand them more. My house area has a few folks collecting cardboards and when I do have cardboard I will bring it to them, they are not needy people.



Our hospitals are filled with doctors and nurses from other counties! They don't even speak our dialects and there was even a case a nurse gave wrong medication and cased death.Many of our own doctors does private practice so lesser local doctors in national hospitals. In order to make sure there are doctors and nurses in national hospital so that citizens can see doctor at subsidised rate they have to bring in people from other countries too. Or you would rather they don't bring in any and only use local doctors and nurses. If that's the case then we would expect waiting time to see doctor to be even longer. Do you know in some countries waiting time to see GP is 2 weeks? Yes normal GP for flu and cold!

Human error is everywhere does it mean locals doesn't make mistakes at all? Xenophobic.




Whatever your choice is, your vote is secret. Let no one peer pressure you into voting carelessly.

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Last 2 days to enjoy VIP discounts + Free shipping + Free gift*! (Code : TBC541)

As a busy SAHM (yes I am busy one okay..) I shop online a lot.. The awesome thing about shopping online is that your items are usually shipped/delivered straight to your doorstep so you don't have to spend time queuing up to pay for items and then carry the heavy load home!


I've blogged about this site before but I'm blogging again today to share the news  that they are currently having a special promotion for this month (yes I know left 2 days!!), ALL Customers get to enjoy the discounts of the VIP Discount Program!

5% off any order less than $40
8% off any order $40.01 to $49.99
9% off any order $50.00 to $59.99
10% off any order $60 or more
This discount is on top of their usual discounted prices and volume discount!


❤❤❤❤❤


You may think that shipping from the US must be very expensive or takes very long to be delivered to you right?

Wrong! Shipping by Singpost (with Tracking!) for orders below usd40 is only usd4!
and now if you purchase above usd40 shipping is FREE!!!!

I don't know how long will the free shipping promo last but it's super worth it I tell yah! Free shipping for 6kg worth of items from the US leh! and and.. It only takes 4-8 business days to be delivered! (Usually receive the items in a week.)


❤❤❤❤❤



If you're a first time buyer: you can choose a FREE item from this page!

Want to save more? Use code TBC541
New customers will save $10 on purchases of $40 or more. Or $5 on orders under $40.


❤❤❤❤❤


Even though the website name has the word Herb on it, they sell lots of other items too!

Items usually purchased by mummies : 
Supplements (Vitamins are cheaper here!)
Groceries (Organic food! Yummy cookies! Cheaper Chia Seeds, Nuts!)
For Kids/Babies/Toddlers (From Snacks to Baby Bath items to Herbal Remedies)
Home Care (Top of my must-buy list Household Cleaners !)


Not sure what to get?
Here's a List of Brands available: HERE.


These are what I bought previously : ❤ 2nd Order, ❤ 3rd Order.
4th Order is on it's way to me and I'm most probably going to make my 5th order before this special VIP discount ends!

Hope you save as much as I did! :D

Friday, August 28, 2015

Toys Sale Isetan Westgate B1 Event Hall (21 Aug - 3rd Sept)

Was at Jurong East because I wanted to buy some stuffs at the supermarket. Decide to walk around the area and I saw a poster outside Isetan saying that there's Toys Sale at their event hall.


Even though I think we have way too many toys at home I still couldn't resist and went in to take a look. :p


Price Range :
From $3, Sale stated as up to 50% off but some of the items have more than 50% discount.

Range: Even though the event hall is not huge there are still a wide range of toys.
Disney (Monster Inc.), some plastic dolls, soft toys, robot cars?, Shopkins?, card games, Hello Kitty, trains, road construction set?, bags, cars, loom bands, play dough, etc..

Is it a must-go Sale? :
In my opinion? Nah.. I don't have many kids to buy toys for and some of the toys are a few seasons old so I don't think it's very good as gifts lah haha.
That said, if I happen to be in the area I would probably check them out again cause I did snag a few items yesterday. :P



These look like toys that I would play. LOL.

There are 2 different hair braiding sets and I was really tempted to get it cause I'm really terrible at braiding hair. I didn't get them in the end but if you're interested the prices are from $9.90-$13.90. Worth it if your child's a fan of WinX.


These are the cuties that went home with me. :D
Total Damage : $20.

4 Hello Kitty Bowls - $3
4 Hello Kitty Plates - $3
1 Hello Kitty Water Jug + 4 Hello Kitty Cups - $9
4 mini motorbike toy - $5


Were you there in the past week?
Snagged any good deals? :)

Simple Art Activity : Paper Monster/Alien

When you need a quick activity with your child and you do not have time for much preparation work.. This activity is really simple and easy! Minimal materials needed and minimal items to prepare too. :D


Materials :
  • Coloured Paper (I am using origami paper from Daiso 24 colours/180 sheets)
  • Glue
  • Pom pom balls (optional)

Steps for Preparation and Activity :
1. Leave 2 pieces of the coloured paper as "base/body" and cut up the remaining coloured paper into different shapes and sizes.

2. After telling my little one that we are going to make monsters for activity, I got her to choose some poms poms for eyes. If you don't have poms poms you can use hold puncher to punch some holes on coloured paper to be used as eyes, or you can draw dots on paper to be used as eyes.

3. Starting with the eyes, slowly glue on features of the monster/alien.



As you do this activity together with your kid you will notice many things about him/her.
  • He/She may get ideas from what you are doing, sometimes attempting to do exactly the same thing. 
  • Sometimes he/she may get animated and starts telling you stories about the monster.
  • Sometimes he/she may have certain ideas about his/her artwork but couldn't do it due to skill. 
  • Sometimes you may notice he/she likes playing with glue more.
  • Sometimes you may realise he/she is actually more arty (creative) than you are...


These are our monsters.
I'm not very creative but it looks cute right? *self praise*


The thing about Monster/Alien is that there's no "form" that you must comply with.. so you can just paste it anyway you like. It's your monster and only you can judge if it's done "right".


Any simple craft you've done with your kid this week? :)

Sunday, August 09, 2015

Gross Motor Skill : Stacking Game + Knock Down Cup

Using the Beans Shaker Cups we made in the previous post, we did a few more fun activities.


Materials :
  • Beans Shaker Cups
  • Tennis Ball / Bean Bag


Steps for Stacking Game :
1. Stacking the beans shaker cups. This is not difficult but it the cups are on a table and the child have to reach to place the top few cups it's actually quite a challenge.

2. Try different ways to stack them.

3. You can every make it into a memory game for the older kids by stacking differently and get them to stack according to what you had done!






Steps for Knock Down Cup :
1. Stack cups into a triangle shape. E.g. from bottom to top (3:2:1).

2. Get toddler to roll a ball or throw a bean bag to knock them down.

3. It's not that easy to knock all of them down at 1 go actually. :P






Love it when a last min activity produces more activities.

Now I'm tempted to do a few more special shakers with my little one. :D
Items I may try next : Pom poms, sequins, straws (cut up), uncooked pasta?

Fine Motor Skill : Beans Sorting for Plastic Cup Shaker

I needed some time to clean up the house, finding some leftover party cups I decide to let my little one do a little activity, this also acts as a quiet time activity.

We did a few more actives with this Beans shaker. Details in the next post.

*If you have a toddler that still puts small objects in his/her mouth, do change the beans to edible stuffs like cereals?


Materials :
  • 6 Plastic Cups
  • 6 Different types of Beans
  • Paper
  • Scotch Tape


Steps :
1. Place handfuls of different type of beans into a small container. Just some beans will do as too many beans may put the kid off and he/she may not want to complete the task.

2. Demonstrate how to sort the beans.

3. Leave kid to sort the beans. Or if you are free you can have a mini "competition" to see who sorts faster? :D

4. After sorting, make a cover for the cup using paper and scotch tapes.


Looks a little like a caterpillar. :P



All beans sorted and cups covered !


Not very nicely done but the beans looks very cute in the cups no? haha


Take note! Doing this project will make your house really noisy for the next week days.. :P

Saturday, August 08, 2015

Simple Handmade Toys : Sushi

Made these many months back but forgot to post it up. :P




My sewing is still really crappy but it should get better right? :P


From very far still looks quite cute right? haha.



The "seaweed" doesn't need any sewing as felt fabric can "hold on" to each other..
I don't know how to explain but if you really want maybe sew a button on? :)


Okay I am hungry haha.
Got to go eat now~~

Simple Homemade Toys : Banana and Cookie.

It's been a while since I last made toys for my little one. Just the other day she was feeding small toys to her elmo hand puppet and I decide that I should make more toys for her.

So.. I made a Banana for her monkey soft toy and Cookies for her cookie monster toy.



Sewn the banana, filled it with cotton and also made the skin "peel-able" by adding velcro.

Sewn "chocolate-chips" on both sides of the "cookie". Felt fabric, thread and needles are from my favourite shop (Daiso).


It's not perfect but that's the point, if I want perfect looking toys I would purchase it from shops, or maybe I wouldn't cause simple toys aren't that cheap nowadays.. :P


Have you made any toy for your little one recently? Share your ideas with me? :)

Sunday, June 07, 2015

SEA GAMES 2015

Did you know you can catch live telecast of SEA Games online?

It's on Youtube and the quality is quite good too! :)

Any event that you can't watch to watch? :D

Tuesday, June 02, 2015

Fine Motor Skill : Egg Peeling

This activity is simple, fun and delicious. :P

Materials :
  • 2 Hard Boil Eggs
  • Bowl
Steps :

1. Remove hard boil eggs from pot, run it under tap water and leave it too cool for a while.

2. Once it's cooled (not so hot) you can hand it to your child.

3. You can use 1 egg to demonstrate and the other for your little one to try.

4. My favourite step of all! Consume the peeled egg! *om nom nom nom*



Monday, June 01, 2015

Fine Motor Skill : Pipe Cleaner Fishing Game

Recently joined a Facebook group where mothers shared ideas of activities for toddlers.
A mummy shared this activity and I thought it's very easy and would be fun for my little one.

Only 2-3 materials needed and it's very simple to put them together! :D

Materials : 
  • Pipe Cleaners
  • Clear container (Bottle/Jar)
  • Straw (optional)

Steps : 

1. Twill pipe cleaners into cute "fishes".

2. Make a little hook on one end of the pipe cleaners. You can put it through a straw and it would be easier to hold. :)

3. Place the fishes in container and get your little one to hook them out.

Have fun!



Sunday, May 17, 2015

Fine Motor Skill : Packing Toys and Using Chopsticks

Previous post I blogged about the new toys that I made for my little one.
This post is just some of the things you can do with them to practice their fine motor skills.


Packing Toys :

Materials :
  • Small Objects
  • Zip Lock Pouches
Steps :

1. Putting small objects into small zip lock pouches.



I made 14 small packs of toys for her and she has to keep whatever she takes out.
She also learn to sort the items by picking out the correct items to put into each pouch.


Using Chopsticks: Toddler's level

Materials :
  • Small Objects
  • Kid's Chopstick
  • Bowl/Plates/Bags
Steps :




1. Mix up different objects and let him/her pick it up using chopsticks.


Have been teaching her how to use chopsticks for a while.
She is practising with the small toys and managed to do quite well so far.
She enjoys it and there's no stress that she would drop the food/waste food/dirty the place. :)


Do you have any special item that you use to train your child's chopstick holding skills? Share them with me? :)

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Simple Homemade "Toys"


It's no secret that I love making little things for my toddler to pay with.

Just the other day, W was playing with her kitchen toys and I realise she needed some "groceries" and decide to make these for her.

Felt fabrics from Daiso/Popular Bookstore.

They are easy to make and you don't need much skills to make them.

Cherry Tomatoes (pom pom also brought from Daiso)
No need to anything to it at all. :P

Ice Cream / Ice Popsicle

Noodles

Egg (sunny side up)

Bacon

Watermelon (1 slice)

Green Peas

Fries

French Beans & Long Beans

Fishes

Carrots

Pizza


Broccolis and Cauliflowers


Have you made toys for your little one?
Share them with me? :D