Tale of a Housewife

ok..enuf of the past few days gloom..time for smthing happy! I went looting!:-)

Recently went to CoverMark Workshop. I have being dying to buy their foundation ever since last year but kept putting off becos I do not know which range to get n CoverMark has a total of 6 different types of foundation! I can’t be getting all or jus buy any 1 to try..their foundation is x! So when I got a email fr The Sample Store informing me of the workshop, I jumped n quickly make appointment to attend. Nee to send $50 reg fee which is redeemable for their products at the end of the workshop.

There was 3 slots. I booked the morning slot, 10am to 12pm. There was 1 trainer n 1 assistant. I am bad with names so I forgot their names but the trainer was good. There was only 6 of us. I was the oldest n the only married one..LOL..so paisei! Lucky i got good skin..LOL.

We were each given a 5 skincare samples to bring home and we use the same products during the hands on demo. I was actually very surprise to know that CoverMark has skincare products. Always thought they only ve makeups.

1st we start off by cleansing our face with Covermark Deep Cleansing Oil. It works like any cleansing oil. Pump, apply on dry face, massage n wash off. Result? Skin is cleanse without drying. Steep price tag. $60 for a small bottle n $98 for a large one. It felt like my Biore cleansing oil though. Properly won’t get it becos of the steep price n the fact tat any cleanser tat can remove makeup is gd enuf for me.

After cleansing, we applied their Brightening Lotion, $78 which is actually in liquid form. It remind me of Kose Seikisho Clear Lotion. As the name suggest, its function is to brighten n prep the skin. My skin does brightened a bit after application.

Next step, we tried on the Skinclear Emulsion, $60. Its job is to combat dullness n sandiness on the skin.  Similar to a scrub function cept tat this is applied on. I like this. It really soften my skin immediately upon application.

But I can’t help but to compare CoverMark Brighten Lotion n Skinclear Emulsion to Kose Clear Lotion. In Covermark, 2 different products r applied to soften, remove dead keratin n brighten skin whereas for Kose Clear Lotion, 1 lotion does the same job. Both are from Japan, both are using natural ingredients but price wise, u can buy 4 bottles of Kose Clear Lotion with the amt paid for CM Brighten Lotion n Skinclear Emul n still ve change back. Perhaps ladies of leisure n wealth to spare can go for CM products but if u ve no time n no $, Kose’s one does the same if not equally good job.

Next, we were introduced to CM Wrinkle Minutes III, $80. Now, I understand tat this is burst-filled with active ingredients like Collagen Retinol. OOO….I love this!! You can slather this on anywhere on the face where u think there’s wrinkles or lines like under the eyes, mouth area, neck etc. Currently I am using Skin79 The Oriental Lifting Eye Controller which can also apply to the lip contour but not the neck. Can’t wait to finish it to lay hands on CM Wrinkle Minute III! At my age, I nee to start keeping those wrinkles at bay!

Okay, we are finally done with the skincare products n now to the exciting part! Appling n trying out their cosmectics!

We start off with makeup base. Now CM has 5 different types of base suitable for different skin n needs. For the workshop, we were offer 2 of their makeup base. 1 is the Moisture Clear Base, $60 and the other is  Connecting Base (Venus Deco) $60.

Now the Moisture Clear Base has SPF35 PA++, comes in a tube form and is suitable for ladies who works or r constantly in aircon places. It keeps skin hydrated thus preventing over-excess of sebum while providing a long lasting base for foundation. Most of the girls chose to try the Moisture Clear Base as they are working in aircon places.

The Connecting Base on the other hand has SPF38 PA+++, comes in a small white bottle and is more meant for outdoor. U can wear it on its own at the beach, at the pool, day out in the sun etc. It acts as a sunscreen on its own while providing a long lasting base for your foundation. I super super love this. I was the only one using this at the workshop. N the most amazing thing about this product is, it doesn’t oil even after 5 hrs in the outdoor. Amazing for a sunscreen becos most sun screen will oil on me after 2 hrs n I ve combin-dry skin! Mind you, I had also had my war face on that day. So this is 1 product I m determined to get as I had finished my MAC Prep+Prime base.

After the base, comes the highlight of the workshop-trying their famous CM foundation. Now, this workshop is a platform to introduce their latest foundation – The Moisture Veil LX, $95, 8 shades available, refill $70, Case $25.

N get this - This foundation DO NOT OXIDISES!! Instead, one becomes more n more radiance becos of a new technology which converts sebum (facial oil) into moisturing film to make skin looks luminous n moisturized. Now this is a first for a powder foundation! N precisely becos it is a “smart” foundation, u must get the exact matching shade. Imagine getting a shade too fair, as time passes, u risk looking fairer n fairer!

The trainer’s assistant recommend 2 shades for me, either MN20 or MO20. M stands for Moisture veil LX, P for Pinkish finish, N for Natural finish n O for Ochre finish. The bigger the number behind each code, the darker the colour will be.

Now I have always use pink tone for all my foundations. So I was very surprised when I was given the 2 shades to try. Natural finish I can accept but Ochre?? The trainer explained that becos the foundation do not oxidise but instead become more n more luminous, taking my usual shade will means that I risk becoming too pink. So I went ahead to try the 2 shades, 1 on my left chin area n the other on the right. After abt 10 mins later, MO20 actually suits me better than MN20. I also dapped a little MP20 on the my cheek as I turn pink there under the sun easily to test the trainer’s claim. True enuf, the powder does become a little too pink for my comfort. I properly will end up looking like a constipated patient! LOL

After getting our match, we proceed to apply the correct shade on our face. 1 swap of the foundation is enuf for the whole face or half a face. It is easy to apply, the powder jus glide on smoothly n melts into my skin. I can’t even tell that the powder was there! The coverage was good. Not too thick that u look unnatural n cheena, but not too sheer either, lets jus say, its perfect for me.

The rest of the makeup that follows are the usual, mascara, eyeshadow,liner, brow,blusher, highlighter n lipstick. I am especially impress with a balm tat we applied before the lipstick.  Introducing the CM Realfinish Brightening Lip Essence, $44. It comes only in 3 colours n its function is to make the lips look firmer n softer prior to lipstick application. The balm comes in a orange, pale pink n a white shade.

The fun thing about this balm is the colour will appear differently on different person. It goes on sheer, but turns pink, cherry, coral, brown etc. The balm reacts differently becos of our body temperature. So it can look pink 1 moment n change to another shade the next. The orange balm will turn coral to brown following the brown colour family. N the pink follows the reds. You can wear it on its own or under a lippy. Sweet.

At the end of the workshop, we were given our $50 CM voucher which is redeemable only at Robinson Raffles place. N for us who attend the workshop, any purchases above $120, we will b given another free 4 travelling sizes of skincare products n a free palatte of eyeshadow.

I went down on Tuesday n comes back with loots n total damage after minus $50 vouncher of $136!! HOOT!! Haapppyy woman! Guess wat i get? Pics for hint!

My mind is in a whirl now. I feel very sad, angry, confused…so many conflicting feelings.

Last night, the 4 siblings met at Joo’s plc to discuss abt fil n ahma’s future living. I was not present becos 1) I feel tat its better tat the siblings settle their own father n ahma n 2) Jaden n I were not feeling well. It was lucky I was NOT present also becos I think I would be too emotional instead of being calm.

Turn out Sara still refused to let fil stay with them.

The way I see it, Liang n sara is the perfect key to our current dilema. Or else how? fil has a rm, my kids squeezed in 1 rm? I am very upset. No doubt the arrangement was my idea but I meant it as a last resort. I of cos know that fil would prefer to stay with us but how to squeeze in a 4rm flat??

N theres the matter of ahma. I ve always felt that she is NOT our responsibility. She has other children for goodness sake!!! But hubi wan her to stay with us becos he wan to be filial…

I feel that in all the tussles of who stay with who, I ve somehow become 牺牲品。No one not even my hubbi ask me. Granted that he wanted to sell the house n downgraded to a 4rm. But does he knows wat I really wan? I only know what he wants, n what the rest of the family wants, but do they know what i wan?

When he decide to sell the hse, he plan to let either 1 of the old folk stay with us. So wat can I say? It has always being my wish to let Phyllis has her own room, Joel n Jaden 1 rm n me n hubi another. So since he has already firmly “planned” about the whole thing, wat can i say? I can only support him.

I tell myself its ok, how long can the old folks be around, jus giv them the best of their golden yrs, nvrm tat my views r not important n insignificant, the old folks come first etc jus to comfort myself n overcome my disapointment.

So everyone crossed their fingers n hope n pray that Sara will say “yes”. They are both very firm about their decision. Its still a “No”. They gave many reasons but to me its all filmsy excuses. They cant even give their father a temporary home??? Yes, wat I thought of is as  another alternative, perhaps a temp home for their father n when ahma passes on, he come to us. AGAIN – it was meant as a last resort. But it was still NO NO NO NO NO fr them.

How I feel when I heard the news?  So Sara can put her foot down n say NO n every1 can give way n think of other plans? Ever thought what would happen if I say No too?

Its very sad that my views are not important. Everyone say tey understand but it has become paying lip service to me.

I am very tired, overwhelmed n sad by everything and everyone involved. I wish I can end it all….

Hubi has spoken to Joo n Dav abt our plans. Both r supportive but there is the thorny and sensitive issue of providing the old folks with a new shelter.

There is a lot of “BUTS” in our new plans. All the “Buts” border on people feelings and thoughts. It is very mind boggling n frustrating. It seems to me nothing will satisfied everyone..sigh.

Hubi had also spoken to his bro Liang abt our intentions of letting FIL stay with Liang last nite. BUT it’s at discussion stage. Nothing finalized though on Liang’s part, he say taking his father is NO PROBLEM. The problem lies with his wife, Sara.

Prior to meeting hubi, Liang actuali called up Joo to find out whether anything had happened n Joo has roughly told him of our plans. So Liang called Sara n told her abt it especially on the part where FIL is moving in with them. She say NO flatly. N told Liang tat she will seek a divorce if FIL is to stay with them. WTH??!!

Liang got fed-up n told her that he is giving her a last chance about the “D” word n he will grant her wish if she uses it again. N that if he had to make a choice betw his dad n her, he will choose his dad. Apparently this is not the first time she threaten Liang with the “D” word during their many quarrels…sigh…not a very intelligence choice of word to use in a marriage for a  intellect person (Sara’s has a Master n chasing her doctorate.)

Haiz….the many skeletons dug out over providing a home to FIL.

Actuali, FIL had a part to play in Sara’s decision today. Many years ago, when Liang went to Aussie to study, he left his pet dog (Queenie) behind. N Sara was to see to its daily needs. She was working full time n can only cm in the late evening to tend to Queenie. Sara n Liang were not married yet.

Now my FIL is not a pet person. N i mean all PETS cept fish. Moreover he is very particular in everything.So when Queenie was at his flat, it was put up in the kitchen at first, n then to Liang’s bedroom.

Queenie was still a pup then n pup usually make a mess. Plus Sara was working so guess what happen? The whole hse stank of dog shit similar to those pet shops or farms u visit. It was so bad that every time we drop by for visit, I would wan to vomit (n i ve iron stomach ok!). N the worst thing is, Queenie is a Pom-n poms has alot of hairs/ furs!! N dogs ve shredding period. So there was dog hair everywhere!!the sofas, the beds, tabletop, floor , in fact all surface!!Needless to say, both relationship was strained becos of a dog.

If my FIL has being more understanding towards Sara’s work schedule n had helped to clean up, things would not ve escalated to today.

So I do not blame Sara for saying “NO”. She must be horrific. I expected her reaction. My hubi didnt. He thought Sara wont mind. Well, score 1 for me.

Like I say, I had expected Sara to say “No” n I knew what she had gone thru w/ FIL.  But still I can’t help but felt disappointed with her. At least if she had say she may consider, then its still not too bad. But it was a fat big “NO”. N throw in divorce somemore…a dieu!!!

Granted that my FIL is not a easy person to get along too. He’s wat ppl called 孤僻. N he’s paraniod to everything n over-anxious. Plus he’s lazy n untidy n likes to nag n think he’s smart…haiz..

How I get along with him? By setting rules n giving FIL a sense of clean home n security. The basic rules of old folks needs n wants. Throw in a pinch of TLC n thats how we got along.

Hiaz..i duno lah..its only the beigining and already the problems r mind boggling. I hope as days go by n ppl ve time to digest the news, something good will happen for once. It has being raining shit on my parade lately, can I ve some respite please??

I lost my case. Very sad, angry and disappointed.

N then I was offer a chance for a change. At first I was reluctant becos part of me loves the comfy old routine. N I was scared and worried about a lot of things, like money n mostly about other people thoughts…again. But then after giving the matter some thought, I think a change may actually be good for everyone including me.

A new environment will be good for me mentally and emotionally. It will be a great start for a proper family time with kids n hubi. Everything now is a 未知数..but is good to have a plan instead of being lost. Being lost is no good. Being lost will incurred depression…at least for me.

I m leaving every major decision to hubi. My health is not up to it. M having gastric upset everyday when I woke up for the past 2 weeks. Being to the doc. Answer “NO” to most questions like “irregular meals?” “spicy food?” etc. But when he come to the “stress?” part, I went “er…” so doc’s diagnosis is that my gastric is flare up by stress over time. WTH..any1 can be doctor like tat..hmm..

Anyway, m on 2 weeks medication. Hopefully by then I will be ok. Really is not the right time to fall sick. I guess I wori too much. My nature especially so after the kids arrived. Lets not move on to the other factors tat also add on to my stress level.

I ve being reading inspiration quotes to stay positive. I will embrace changes bravely though I am afraid too. But at least the family is together. If the roof has to be smaller then so be it. As long as I m debt-free, money in bank, kids n hubi r healthy,fit n happy, I guess nothing else matters. + u + u + u!!

I will be brave for the kids.

I came home from a relaxing spa trip from Bintan to a home tat makes me very mad.

was very excited to be home becos I misses the kids very much. However, happiness is short-lived as I discovered that while I was away, hubi didnt check Joel’s hmwork resulting me screaming at Joel on a Monday morning after going thru his homework n discovering a lot of mistakes. i duno why n who I m most angry at. To me- a simple task of checking son hmwork isit so difficult? Every one pays lip service in my house. i m so sick of it.

I cannot even b away from the house for 1 night. Perhaps I ve being too demanding. Perhaps I shouldnt ve lost it. i duno. I m just very mad over this overlooking of checking Joel’s hmwork. Why? Its is such a small thing…y m i getting mad? I duno.

I wish I know wat is really bothering me. All i could think now is perhaps staying together is a bad idea. Perhaps I shld walk away from this frustrating family. Perhaps ending the whole thing is a gd idea but i dun wan to hurt kids.

I duno. Damn frustrating. N NO DAMN IT. I m NOT having a PMS.

Recently I noticed that Jaden tend to follow Joel around and copied whatever his brother do or say. They looked so cute together!

Fortunately Joel is not one of those typical naughty boys of his age so I am not so overly worried about Jaden picking nonsense from his elder brother. Unfortunately, Joel still talk like a baby sometimes so I ve to correct his speech sometimes when he talked to JJ.

So now I ve 2 “babies” talking to each other.

JJ being the 2 yr old ve his 2 yr old baby talk where all the ‘S’ letters or sound alike r drop of each words eg, snake become nake n ice-cream is jus cream. Then there’s his usual sing song verbs like “papa” is “pum pum” n mama is “mum mum”>>sounds like eating in babish. N 房间is jus 间. His most accurate pronounce word is “neh neh” for milk. LOL

OOO…I forgot. I term a name for Jaden’s language. I called it babish >>say “babe” + “ish”…hehehe..hows tat for originality??

Joel talked like a normal boy but more 斯文. I love his voice-so lovely n always make me want to kiss him whenever he talk. I better enjoy his angelic voice before he reach puberty.

Anyway when the boys are together, they actually understand each other! Amazing given that JJ can barely talk though he understood instructions perfectly.

Take for example, Joel is into this game card thing call Animal Kaiser. He has many of these animal cards which he stored in this very chio album. N always, I saw the 2 bros sitting down next to each other all over the house, with this magical album between them and joel attempting to tell jaden what each of the animals do, their strength etc. N jaden will just sit there n listen n look at the cards tat Joel point n then attempt to repeat the names of these animals!

Thank goodness these animals have regular animal names n not “pokemon”  or any “Ben10″ names. I cannot imagine a lion being a “flying mane” or a gorilla (besides being king kong) is a “hairy chest” or a shark being a “smelly mouth”!

Just this morning the boys found a dried-up husk of a moth on the wall near the stairs. Joel took out his tiny manifying glass n start to look closely at the husk. Jaden followed suit n wanted his turn to look at it. N then Joel start calling me n tell me what he found. N then Jaden followed by bellowing “mum mum” at the top of his voice n also start chitter chatter to me though I duno what he was talking abt. LOL!! I left both boys there n carry on my daily hse cleaning. I kept hearing them talking – Joel normal talk n Jaden babish talk.

SO cute lah i tell u. 1 chicken n 1 duck but both understood what tey want. LOL

These wont last long as both of them are growing at amazing speed so I m enjoying them now. sigh…the innocence are just so sweeeet….

I finally took the plunge!

I booked a SPA trip for myself! Will be going with my 2 younger sisters.  I am so looking forward to it. We willing be going to the beautiful beaches of Bintan and then checking the spas there.

FINALLY…after 14 years of marriage, 14 years of motherhood, 8 years as care giver, 8 years of housemaid later, I am finally going for a break…BY MYSELF! without the kids! without the kampung! Words cannot expressed how I m feeling! UNBELIEVABLE!! Actually I still checked my email everyday jus to make I really booked the resort liao..HAHAHAHA

This is a great feeling. I told *SO tat I mus do this often n he agreed. Should ve done this earlier!

31st July!! BINTAN ~~HERE I COME!

**SO – Significant Other NOT ASSHOLE. HAHAHAHA..Tis info is for ppl who has not get the married ppl language.

I ve not cook for the whole family for some time now. I duno y. I jus dun ve the motivation at all to cook. Not only to cook, but also other things. Recently I horrified myself by breaking down in front of a total stranger who was jus trying to sell me smthing. I duno y i did tat. Perhaps the sympathy of a stranger or perhaps I ve being bottling up too many things.

I keep telling ppl that I m tired, exchusted. Yet i m in front of the computer most time or jus laze around in the afternoon w/ nothing to do. I simply do not wish or feel like doing anything anyway. Houseworks like laundry or even vacuming, i jus did it out of habit. Like a school student following a time table.

Sometimes I look at the kids or hubi and I wonder what would happen to them if I leave them? Would they suffer? Would they miss me?  But i do not ve the courage. Most importantly, i will worried abt kids. So I m still here in their life.

I ever wonder perhaps I m bored. Perhaps i jus nee to find a job. But its not. I jus feel depressed most of the time. N then I will cheered myself up, pick up the loose ends n b normal. But then the depression would set in again out of the blue.

Its never ending.

I always love to paint and was a art student in secondary school days. I remember spending a lot of time on art so much so that my mum always nagged at me for not studying my other subjects! I love the feeling of immersing myself totally into my drawing~like as if I was part of the drawings n painting~ n forgeting about the real life. I guess if I were a artist, I properly be very skinny becos I tend to forget everything n time when I start a piece of work..haha..

So imagine my delight when I discovered that Joel is blessed with my same love! He love to doodles n draws from the time he held his 1st crayola about the age of 3. He will happily lie on the floor with a big majong paper spread in front of him n we will use crayons or color pencils n doodle together happily for hours.

Not wanting to waste his talent, I sent him for art lesson at the nearby cc to horn his skills when he was 4. But sadly to say, the art teacher is a lousy teacher. Now, I m no art teacher myself. But I believe in letting one’s imagination run wild n let creativity take over. But not this old school teacher.

So imagine my shock when Joel came home after only the 3rd lesson telling me that he didn’t want to attend the class anymore. Reason being that whatever he drew, the teacher will erase everything n draw according to her pictures.

What I mean was-for example, that lesson will be to draw a duck swimming in a pond.  The teacher had drew n coloured a sample picture n paste on the white board. So all the children r supposed to follow her drawing EXACTLY right down to the colour.  So if yr little duck seems a bit unlike hers, it will be “killed” off n replaced w/ what the teacher deemed acceptable. What a damper!!

Imagine what it did to Joel’s confidence??? So I stop his lessons n he was so much happier “taking” art lessons at home w/ me as his teacher. I do not erase neither do I correct any of his drawings. If this is how he sees a duck then so be it. N why should a duck be confine only to yellow colour? If Joel thinks his duck shld be blue becos “the duck wan to b same colour as the water” then blue it is.

He had so much fun n so do I. Unconstraint n unbound, his imagination really took off! I called him my little Picasso. I have a art folio of some of Joel’s drawings. Little doodles n full coloured drawings, from dinosaurs to monsters to little people from his imagination. He seldom pick up his crayons now but he still doodles so I always buy him little drawing books that he can carry everywhere he goes.His drawings always make me laugh. If I have a bad day, I jus pick up his doodles n I will laugh n then my heart will melt n flutter when I think of my sweet angel.

I had a bad day the day before. But when I saw Joel’s doodles which he did in school on monday, I had a good laugh! n of cos, all my troubles melts away. I took pics of it n here it is. I also present his older doodle which he drew on Mother’s Day about the car accident that I had. Big pic as its done on standard drawing paper so I took 4 angle shots of them. Enjoy!

1st pic: Mummy driving car in Alien City

2nd picture: the creatures living in the mud

hehehe..hope u can see the words!

Ok..this is a way over due post.

I ve being super busy last few days-got the kids to clear the junks in their room. We cleared 8 bags!! My god!All bits n pieces of broken toys, old books, papers, statoneries etc. N we ve not even start on the clothes! Anyway this will be for another day, another post.

Today i wan to post the cakes the boys had on their birthday! aaa…lets not go to the presents they got.  There’s wayyy tooo many!

The boys started off their birthday at my mum’s place.

Their first cake was from Bengawan Solo. Sadly to say, it was not delicious. N its a butter cream cake. I HATE BUTTER CREAM! If not for the pic of  “Cars” which happen to be 1 of Jaden’s fav cartoon, n chocolate flavour – Joel only eat chocolate cake- I would ve give this cake a miss. Regret didnt get the ice-cream cake which features “Toy Story 3″ characters from Swensons! It would ve make a real impression on the boys!

Now the 2nd cake n celebration was at home w/ hubi’s siblings. This time Joel chose the cake himself. He practically fell in love w/ this cake at 1st sight. I guess it has something to do w/ the pop-up design n yesh, its chocolate flavor. This cake is from Prima Deli n its the tastiest of the 3 cakes the boys had.

N now onto the 3rd n last cake. Its the smallest of them all n its a cake meant just for Jaden who turned 2-the terrible 2! This is from Polar n its Nutella flavor but hor, I didnt taste the Nutella at all. Again its also decorated w/ butter cream..yicks…

Thats the 3 cakes the boys had.  I know they really enjoyed their birthdays especially Jaden becos he made me replayed all the birthday videos! hahaha