Monday, July 31, 2006

Visitor flood gates were opened....

...Yep, my parents came to visit on 7-9 July, and opened the floodgates to two solid weeks of visitors. They were followed on 10th - 12th July by L&M and their little boy, J.... and then came my sister and her husband and two sons, as well as her sister-in-law and her grown up daughter from 21st to 23rd July... and then, the day after they left, came another good friend, B, from 24th to 26th July. Having non-stop guests involved quite a bit of cooking, and in-between laundering of sheets and towels, to ensure everyone had fresh sheets and towels when they turned up. For the first time ever I found myself thinking "Thank goodness for dryers".

With L&M here, M went off to attend a course every day, while L and I, and J, relaxed as much as possible, with a short bout of walking into Holland V to stretch our legs. J was SO well behaved and cheerful while he was here. He is a gorgeous little kid!

While sis et al were here we had a picnic up at Pasir Ris Park, 5 kids (4 boys and 1 cutie pie girl) 3 Dads, 3 Mums, and me and another friend.... and we really did have a good time - the Dads all coached the kids in football, the kids also went pony/horse riding, and hired bikes as well, while the Mums and me sat and caught up on old times.

With B, we were out almost every day - shopping, meeting up with friends, etc, and had very little rest time for B!! And, while B was here I was hit with the same virus that laid Husband low - and have been hacking and coughing, for the last week and more. My asthma came back with a vengeance too.... and the ventolin puff the doctor gave me makes me cough even more - when the puff of air hits the back of my throat, it irritates my throat and I start on another bout of coughing... sigh...

Spent this last weekend in KL - this time it was my turn to spend most of the weekend sleeping! My mum's brother and another cousin are visiting from India so went to see them too. They will be coming to SG, with my mum, soon.

Anyway, getting better, getting better! Hoping to be back to normal (whatever passes for normal :-) by Wednesday, so I can get back into my yoga, and get back to doing all the things that need to be done!

Till next time, may only good things happen to all.

Monday, July 03, 2006

Totally KO'ed

No, I have not been watching boxing or any such related sport. The title above refers to Husband, last week! He got some kind of a virus which literally knocked him off his feet for a whole week. Went to work on Monday feeling a bit tired, and by 2.00pm he was home and in bed - very high fever, puking, no appetite, coughing, sore throat... the works. Managed to drag him to a doctor the next morning, and got a bunch of meds to try and knock out the virus instead. Hey, what is it about getting men to doctors? It's HARD TO DO!!!

Anyway, to make it even harder, because of his lack of appetite, he didn't want to eat, and, unfortunately, all the medication was of the "Take after food" variety. Talk about being caught in a cleft stick! It was almost like force feeding a goose, except, in this case, the end result would NOT be foie gras.

We did go back to KL on the weekend - and Husband spent practically the whole weekend sleeping, apart from a few hours visiting my parents and sis et al. The good news however is that he does feel a lot better today - getting back to his normal cranky self, as opposed to his sick and crankier self. Mind you, it was nice to be back home in our little apartment - a place which we both miss a lot!

Back to normal today - work for Husband, yoga for me. Met with Husband after yoga to be sure he ate lunch... mind you, I think I overdid the yoga after a week of not attending any sessions (too busy looking after Husband).. so I have some achey bones now. Age is cruel sometimes - you don't FEEL as if you are getting any older, but then your body tells you that you ARE getting older.

Enough for now. May only good things happen to all. Till next time....

Monday, June 26, 2006

Half the year is gone!

The year has gone by so fast it is scary... why does time seem to speed up as one gets older? When you are a kid, a year is FOREVER! Now, it zips by at the speed of light.

What's been happening in the last two weeks since my last update? Happy to say that J is definitely improving - not just health, but also mood. I know a lot of you have been praying for him, and I know that the power of prayer works, so THANK YOU for the prayers... they do make a big difference.

What else?....Well, Husband and I celebrated Husband's birthday on 14th June - at Morton's of Chicago in the Oriental Hotel in SG. The food there is excellent - the BEST steak - but make sure you are VERY hungry as the steaks are HUUUUUUUUUGE... oh, and take along a very deep and well-filled wallet, or a credit card with a nice high credit limit. Not a place for everyday dining, but definitely a good place for special occasions. He also got the latest Panasonic Lumix digital camera - the version with the Leica lens, with optical image stabilisation and camera raw feature. I think that is the only SMALL digital camera to date that has the camera raw feature. Very snazzy.

Went to the Jamie Cullum concert on 15th June - and were very impressed with the young mans performance and his showmanship - it was a very enjoyable performance. Had friends over for dinner on 17th June - Husband did his trademark roast leg of lamb with roast potatoes - YUMMY... with apple/peach crumble for dessert. Sigh.. talk about stuffed to the gills.

This last Saturday we attended the 50th birthday party of a good friend of Husband;s - so happy birthday to Rob T, and may you have many more birthdays ahead of you.

This coming weekend, we are heading back to KL for a short break. It feels like it has been a LONG time since our last trip... actually, it HAS been a long time! The last trip was in early MAY - phew... 2 months

This last Saturday also, Husband bought me my first every tech related TOY - the 4GB iPod Nano. We were going to get the 2GB version, but Challenger in SG was having a special offer where, if you paid by NETS or cash, the 4GB iPod Nano was only a wee bit more expensive than the 2GB iPod Nano... so we got the 4GB one instead. Tried to set it up on Saturday afternoon, using my Windows based Sony but it just WOULD NOT WORK. It was driving me nuts - but methinks the Sony is just too old to handle the latest iPod software... so Husband ended up having to set it up for me on his Apple notebook on Sunday morning. I now have 3.6GB worth of songs on my iPod Nano - something like 1005 songs - which, at an average of 3 to 4 mins a song, is sufficient to keep me going for 2.5 days pretty much non-stop.

Till the next time, you all have a wonderful life, and may only good things happen to you.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Home again, home again, jiggety jig

We are hoooooooooooome.... having landed back in Sinjapoh on Saturday 10th June at 6.20am. Got back to our apartment by 7.15am, and both of us fell asleep till noon. Today is Tuesday 13th June and we are still a bit jet lagged. It is funny how fast you adapt to the time difference when you fly West, and how much longer it takes to adapt when you fly East. I wonder why... I am sure there is some scientific explanation for it.

Anyway.... the good news is that, between them, Husband and son's girlfriend were able to persuade Son to go back to the doctor... so he went back to the doc on Wednesday, got sent to the hospital, had various tests done, and by the time we saw him on Thursday afternoon he had a PILE of medication to take - for various reasons, including blood pressure, cholestorel, etc, etc, etc. I am happy to say that he looks almost his old self again, his speech improved, he is taking his meds, and he is more cheerful and sleeping better. Husband was so relieved too - I have never seen him so shocked as when he got the news about Son's stroke, and I hope that never happens again - that Son keeps improving his health all the way.

We are now back to normal life again - though, as said above, jet lag still as a hold of us. It's ok for me, as I can snooze in the middle of the day if I have to (though I have not done that yet), but it is harder for Husband as he is at work during the day.

Anyway, tomorrow is his birthday!! I won't reveal his age, but let's say that, like a good vintage port, he just gets better and better with age. So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY for tomorrow to my Husband, and may he have many many more birthdays ahead.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Post from the UK

Yep, believe it or not, Husband and I are in the Yewk, rather unexpectedly. Got call last week Thursday to say that Husband's son (J) is in hospital with a stroke, so we flew out on Friday night, landing here on Sat 3rd June morning, to find out that J checked himself out of hospital, refusing to see doctor or get any tests done. We are staying with Husband's sister (A) and her husband (J1). If nothing else, I am glad for this opportunity to get to know A & her husband better. They are truly wonderful people and have made me feel completely at home. As to J, well, Husband has been seeing him every day, hoping to get him to get to the doctor and find out what to do, what can be done, what is happening, etc, but no luck yet. All we can do is pray for him.....

The right side of his face is frozen and drooped, and his right arm is obviously giving him problems, but he refuses to see his doctor. His truly wonderful girlfriend (another J!!!) has been there for him every step of the way and I do thank God for her presence. Unfortunately, as my brother says, if J does nothing for himself, he is a walking timebomb.

We are flying back home on Friday, leaving on Friday morning, and arriving back in good ol' Sinjapoh on Saturday early morning. Couldn't get business class seats so we have to fly cattle class, and it is horrible - esp for husband as the seats are so tiny he can barely move. Flying SIA, and, in future, if we have any choice, we won't be flying SIA again. Unfortunately, MAS does not fly this sector any more, and due to this being peak period, we ended up with SIA being our only choice... sigh...

Enuff said, all prayers for J and for him to come to his senses and get himself seen to medically, as well as prayers for his ongoing improvement of health, will be truly appreciated.