Monday, December 31, 2012

Happy New Year!!

Christmas came and went. So did the day the world was supposed to end.

Now the New year is around the corner. 2012 sure flew by fast.

It was a bitter sweet year for me.

Bitter due to the number of deaths of people I knew, plus illness inflicting those near and dear (myself included). My mother-in-law predicted at the start of the year that 2012 was going to be a bad year. She holds the belief that any Chinese calendar that had a double month was usually one that was filled with misfortunes. Not sure if that is true. She has her beliefs, I have my own. 2012 was one such year. Co-incidental? I am not sure but the number of funerals in my church was like 20% above most years. I am just glad 2012 is coming to a close (just in case her beliefs are true)!

The Sweetness during the year came from the successes achieved by my kids, and hubs from their hard work, the good times had with family and friends, (this was an especially good year in terms of meet ups with friends), going the extra mile for others in terms of committing my time to help out or lending a helping hand or ear to others who needed it, and of course money. Good family bonding time also upped that sweetness level.

The new year is less than 12 hours away. I have decided I will not come up with a list of resolutions. No point having a list of things I want to achieve and mourn over not achieving it at the year end. I will just take it as it comes and try to do good as and when I can, both for myself and others.

There will be no big party or celebrations to ring in the new year at my end. Just quiet time with the family.

May your New Year be blessed with good health, love, joy, peace and lots of fun family time! Happy New Year!!

And thanks for following my blog! To another good year of blogging!!

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Aunty Killer

An aunty killer usually refers to a guy who is able to charm women much older than him.

The aunty killer that I met at the Christmas eve party last year struck again this year. And I tell you, he is no flash in the pan.

At last year's party, he offered to make my kueh pie tee for me, even though he could have just helped himself and left me to make my own. He stood there filling all those little cups with vegetables, and garnishing for everyone who came by. He can hold a proper conversation with almost anyone, but especially so with the auntys!!

This year, this aunty killer chose to play with 2 little girls age 3 and 5. For a young man of 16, he could have chosen to play TV games with the other teenage boys but he chose instead to entertain the little ones. I sat around observing him. He spoke to them in the sweetest voice you can expect from a 16 year-old boy. He was very patient with them, explaining and even demonstrating to them how to play the game even before starting the game. He had no problems in letting them win the game.

I tell you, this young man would be most sought after by most mums with daughters. And I am sure he will again charm me when I next meet him!

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Tis the season ...

... to meet up with friends!! And of course to be jolly!!

I dont know about you, but every time December comes along, I rush to meet up with friends. I just feel the need to. Before the year ends. It's like: must do it or a year would have ended without that last meeting. Not that its THAT final. There's still next year. But its good to tick off another item on the list of to do things for the year.

Even if these are friends that I meet up with during the year. Hehheh. More reason to be jolly.

December is traditionally a month of celebrations. Especially with 2 birthdays in the family, an anniversary, Christmas, and many friends' birthdays. Couple that with the school hols ... it sure makes everyone around here more relaxed.

Talking about friends. I basically have 2 groups of good friends who I meet up with more than the rest.

The first group being my close pals from school days. However, our gatherings nowadays tend to have a more sombre mood. We are at that age where are parents are getting old. So during our gatherings we tend to discuss our parents and their ailments and how to deal with them. And of course we talk about our own ailments. Aching limbs, gall stone problems, weak knees and legs, stiff backs, thyriod, you name it, one of us or our spouses would have it!! Sigh. But it's still fun to touch base and connect.And EAT!

My other group of good friends are the mums from my youngest's kindy class. We meet fairly often for our morning walks, breakfasts, Mum's night out, and occasionally we include the husbands as well. For this group, our conversation definitely centers around our kids (who were classmates at one point in time). But we also discuss our husbands, our in-laws, cooking, baking, hair styling, plants, health issues- AND FOOD!! Yeah, we love to eat! And we will always have laughter, lots of it!! Too much laughter sometimes that we get stares from others around us. Actually I am totally amazed that we click so well as a group, for we range in age from 36 to 49!!

Well, the year is coming to a close soon. I hope you take some time out to meet up with good friends, close friends, as many friends as you can. For tis the season to be really jolly!! Cheers!!

Monday, December 3, 2012

What goes around comes around

Some time near the start of this year, I met my best friend from primary school.

The first comment she made to me was: You are looking good! You havent changed much.

My reply to her was: You are looking good too! Only that you have grown a little.

My kids who were with me chided me for being mean. You see, my friend has put on A LOT of weight. MY kids said: she paid you a compliment and you were nasty.

Was I really? Well, she having been my best friend then, I couldnt lie to her, I felt. I hadnt seen her in 30 years and was so happy to bump into her. She did look good, only probably 50lbs heavier.

Well, last friday, I met an ex-colleague whom I had not seen for >25 years. She is the one some years back whom I had corresponded with her when she was living in the UK. I had heard that she had breast cancer and was feeling really down from a common friend and had decided to write to her to try to give her some support. You can read about it here. She was looking really good for someone who had recovered from breast cancer. She too had grown heavier. But this time I was careful with my words. I told her that she looked good. But do you know what she said: What happened to you? I wasnt even sure if it was you or your auntie!

Gosh!! I had better improve my image. Do I really look that auntie? Or is it a case of what goes around, comes aroun? I better watch what I say from now on!!