Summer

I'm eager for summer to end, as I took my cold shower this evening.

Mostly because seeing Nigel sleeping right outside the door makes me sad. And the weird confusion over whether I'm hungry or not. Not to forget the heat is somehow melting our gardening.

Watched a couple of movies this weekend, since our car is in the workshop for repairs, after a van hit us from behind, as our car was stationary waiting to filter out. Quite a clear case, so we claimed in full without excess. Nobody was hurt, thank god.

I'd say I've got a movie overdose, mind is whirling and shacked but body is just so restless.

But perhaps the movie that got me most intrigued is The Man From Earth (2007). A small budget film, 10 years old, shot entirely in an enclosed room, with 8 characters tops. Built entirely on intellectual conversations. Left me baffled and wanting more. Lol. Questioning. Wishing. Desiring to walk the 14,000 years together as an observer. It's weird. It's strange and abnormal but so possible. Full of science and philosophy and ideology and privilege.

Tagline: Anything is possible. A real good storyline.

Sci-fi movies these days are boggling too. Life (2017), been a while since I watched horror films with dreadful endings. Hahaa. Space is some scary shit. And we, we are so damn bloody small.

Cycled on the roads this week, due to lack of vehicle transport. Scary to think about it, sucha thrill to be doing it. The subconscious involuntary smile plastered on my face while I'm back on the bicycle. Even though I was nowhere ready to be on unfamiliar roads, absolutely not confident making right turns, and riding a bike that is 2 sizes too big for me.

It's the long weekend, Australia Day just passed and we bought 24 bottles of beer to celebrate. How timely to carry 20kg of glass bottled beer  when we are crippled without a car. How very smart. Feels great to be young and strong =)

Shipment from SG

Finally got our 2 boxes in today. My makeup stash is COMPLETE.

What I brought over

With shipment, altogether now! *2 more pouches were forgotten in another corner, oopz.

Packed compact neat and tidy~

Someday I should probably do a detailed write up and stocktake of my makeup huh. Interested?

No breakages for all fragile glassware, kudos to Fen for the fantastic wrapping and packing!! As usual, movers cannot give 2 hoots about keeping the boxes right side up, so I had some leakages from my toner bottles and nail cleansers. No biggie, didnt lose much liquid there.

Fen and I wanted to wait for our boxes which had certain essentials instead of buying, but some things couldnt wait.

Our cookware, for one. Just. Couldnt. Wait. We got a set of 4 cookware here eventually, stone pots and pans. And we use them every day. So, couldnt wait. We knew we could buy here, so why ship? Well, because our SG pots and pans are from Le Creuset and Visions. Well, Oz has those products too, but too bad we got that long ago in SG, so... Shipping them. And now we just might have one too many cookware ^^"

Coldwear. Couldnt wait too, the weather here fluctuates too much. I planned for summer, but was proven wrong by the strong cold winds. But of coz, I never complain having too much outerwear =)

Well! Other than that, we did manage to persevere till our stuff came! My hair styling equipment, nails equipment, workout equipment, accessories, rest of my makeup, all happily with me now. And our extra bags, and the awesome Hurom slow juicer!

I must say though, if we could do so far and so well without those things, does it mean we can continue to survive without those things? Food for thought, we really dont need that much in life.

So happy to finally have our ice cream scoop and cherry pitter, we were soooo tempted to buy. So proud we didnt. Now we can finally scoop ice cream properly and I can buy cherries! Cheap thrill, lol~ 

I see now that the more important things we really needed, are very inconsequential and possibly cheap, but very necessary and perhaps cant be found in Oz. Furries have their elevanted anti-ant tray, they no longer need to crouch to eat, and the tray keeps ants away!

It is also awesome that Fen is TB king, we got our bedsheets from TB, smoothest fabric ever. The cheapo bedsheets from Big W? A$50, and gives my delicate skin some massive abrasion! We've brought in 4 TB shipments so far, and it's saved us so much.

I did wish we brought more of our SG stuff though. I really miss my Philips glass blender. We actually needed to use it. It's funny on hindsight, though, the very first use for the blender was to blend Ginger's prescribed food, in order to tube-feed him when he was just discharged, hahaa..

I mean, we have a glass blender now, it works fine.. Cost a quarter of my Philips glass blender.. And I wonder why I'm using a lower quality product while having my awesome blender collecting dust back home.

And then, I realise again, we dont need the best things in life, as long as it works. We dont need the best car, the most expensive clothes, the most branded bag. As long as the vehicle gets us places, clothes fit us well, bag carries our valuables.

We also dont need too many of the same thing. If I had just brought my blender over, then I wouldnt need to buy another one, and leave one unused and wasted. If you really like something, you dont really have to buy for "stock up". Unless we're talking about perishables like food or makeup or underwear. You know what I mean, lah. Because I've seen the perishables go bad, and basically threw my money out the window.

A shipping transaction taught me so much. To plan ahead what to bring, what we can forgo and buy instead, to manage expectation, to be patient, and even whether we need those things at all.

heavy

During service last Sunday, I was tearing up a lot. In my head ran through all the plights of cats and dogs I know that are suffering/have suffered. Last week I found out my SG yoga instructor's dog passed away due to cancer. Skylar, a cat in Jo's cattery has a growth in his head that's pushing against one eye, and it's getting worse. Her latest post says blood spurts everywhere when he sneezes. Nigel, the neighbour's outdoor cat is at our door 3 to 5 times a day. He wants affection, food, to make friends with our furries, I dont know. I know he's out there, in the heat, in the cold, no real home, no real love. And I dont know how to walk up to my neighbour and tell them to love their cat more. Love is different to everybody.

It wasnt easy to bring furries over to Oz. Not easy at all. So many risks. So much money. So much to fear. I still shudder when I thought about the whole process of exporting them over, the last moment I saw them in SG, the despair when I learned about Ginger falling ill, the unsettling worry and fear right till we reached quarantine facility and hospital.. It was so much drama and trauma. I would not ever wanna go through that again.
I hug my furballs everyday, thinking of what they've gone through. I love them with my everything. I learn so much from them, every single day. How it's okay to not be the same as others. How it's okay to have imperfections. How it's okay to be alone sometimes. How it's okay to show love and affection. How it's okay when things dont go your way. 

It's okay. Life goes on.

Not a day goes by that I dont think about them leaving me. It's always on my mind. Things come and go. One moment, you're so caught up with a trend, a food, an obsession, a person. Next moment you wonder how those years went by when you were so infatuated with that. I dont wanna miss my furries' beautiful faces. Their innocent love, their individual character. Their body warmth, their headbutts, their unique purrs.

Some people refuse to think/talk about death. Avoid it like the plague. Deal with it when it comes. I've seen enough deaths over the last few years to know that running away from the topic brings more pain. I still cry buckets when I think about my furries leaving me. I just try to cherish them more now. Give them all the attention they need and want.

Okay, done with furry banter. Where am I going with this?
Keep your loved ones close, they're irreplaceable.

Happy 2018!

Half a month in to the new year folks! Was pretty caught up with spending time with friends in the East, getting our hands green (yes, gardening!), and spending more time with Fen. It has been so wonderful.

End of 2017, BIL went to take our letters from our place, and told us we have a speed ticket. Was from way back in Oct, in the first week of our landing when we were using rental car, and were unfamiliar with the speed limits on the roads without a GPS. By GPS I mean those legit ones, not your phone maps. We only saw this letter late Dec, and due date was 1 Jan. So, I didnt have enough time to appeal, and just paid T_T Do not speed peeps, it's not worth the fine!

Spent the last day of the year with Keith and his family, picking blueberries in the morning, and dinner at his place at night. His house is so cozy! Fen and I agreed we should make more effort to hang out with his kid~ Rockclimbing next perhaps, hehee~

We headed home around 2300, and reached home just in time to welcome the new year. Didnt need the clock or TV shows to tell us. Every other random sky had mini fireworks going on, and we can hear people making donuts in the distance (tell me you know what is making donuts). We stood outside in the chilly dark, alongside our neighbours, quietly wishing one another happy 2018. Peaceful and lovely.

Fen had a break from work during the festive holidays, finally. We spent a couple of days plucking weeds from the backyard, and front side lane. And went to Bunnings to get seedlings and a mini greenhouse. Our 1st try was a disaster, either no germination or seedling wilted. We then found out from a gardener near our rental that greenhouse is for winter!! We basically cooked our seedlings T_T Having a 2nd go now, and bought vegetables (kale and brussel sprouts) seedlings! Whee! Seeing some very positive growth, although we might have mixed up the seeds a little, coz we thought the seeds from the 1st round had all died and so topped up with other seeds, and unsure/confused with the identity of the seedlings now, HAHAHA. Didnt know seeds/seedlings can resurrect?!

You'll probably hear me talking about these places where we frequent, because cheap/always got sale and Fen loves a good DIY:

• Bunnings
• The Good Guys
• KMart
• Big W
• Target
• Super Cheap Auto
• Coles/Woolies/Aldi

Many of these shops have competitive prices on the same item, so we're running up and down for deals every other week. Seriously, I didnt even care this much in SG *rolls eyes

Fen spent a good number of days working on our car. He's like an artist painting the car, delicate work. So much effort and muscle with the polishing, too. He totally needs a polisher soon. 

We also went to donate plasma. Wanted to donate blood actually, but the bank needs plasma more than blood, so yea, first time donating plasma. I'm not comfortable with the red blood cells being returned back to the body part. Sounds.. unsanitary, even though everything is sterile. Still. And the bank doesnt use numbing cream! The thick needle goes straight into the skin, mighty ouch. No colourful bandages after donating too, bummer. Lol~ Okay okay, the idea is to save lives.

The dry weathers here have Fen's skin kicking up rashes, and left me with really cracked heels. BodyShop to the rescue! Our hottest day experienced was 43℃, and we went to the mall to cool off during the hottest hour, and chanced upon some really good cream! Hard to miss, the leaf packaging looks like weed.. o.O"

That's Fen's. He's tried a couple of creams from other brands, but this one worked best.

 

That's mine! Love it!

If you didnt already know, we've been sleeping on our mattress without a bed frame. Not complaining, we've got a good mattress, blessed enough already. Because Fen's cousin is coming for a short stay, we had to get a bed for him. So we got a queen set for our guestroom, and decided to also get a king bed frame for ourselves! Finally sleeping on elevated ground. Hahaha. Furries can get more jumping activity too.

I wanted to sign up for some gym membership, saw this HIIT gym, and went to check it out. Lacks the aesthetics and equipment I've seem in SG gyms and studios, so... save the money, kekeke. I just need to stay motivated to workout/yoga at home! Argh.

Finally cooking steak again. Fen LOVES it. Such a quick meal too, no wonder it was on our menu during SG days, where only food that can be prepped in under 30minutes will make the list. Have also tried out bulk cooking, which is a little intimidating, watching how much soy sauce I'm spamming. I found egg noodles in the Asia supermarket that are really close to the wanton noodles in SG! So proud of myself ^^

Next happy news. Our shipment from SG is FINALLY going to be delivered. After 3 months. Within my forecast, but was promised it will be delivered before Xmas. Welp.

Done with random musings. A little hiccup to end off 2017, but so positive and thankful for 2018. Treasure every day, folks! Xoxo.