gratitude

Daddyji's flown off to exotic Marrakech, Morrocco for his annual company meet, and then to Paris later in the week. The fella's already gone shopping in Marrakech n bought us a tagine, just as Mummyji had envisioned him doing so, the foodie that he is. Now the question is, how in the world is he gonna cart the fragile piece of pottery home safely? According to the ingenious spouse, that's not a problem, he'll just have to buy a couple of rugs or carpets n roll the tagine in between!
Sigh, Mummyji wished she could have gone too, but...
well, it's exam season, (for the babes, not Mummyji) and we've just moved, so there's plenty to do!
Mummyji's finally unpacked all her boxes, the last of which was her treasured shoes. And guess what? they fit the shoe cabinet in the basement! And yes, there's sufficient space in there for the rest of the family too, ok.
On Sunday, before Daddyji flew off, Mummyji was warmly touched when the firstborn S, smiling very sweetly, whispered in her ears,"thank you, Mummy, for making my dream come true."
"hmmm, you'r most welcome, but what dream was that?" clueless Mummyji asked.
"the dream to live in Shaughnessy!" with a big wide grin.
Aw, how sweet...
then as she bid adieu to her beloved father, she revealed another dream.
To visit Paris before she turns 12.... which leaves us with a little over 12 months!
hmmm, better start saving now then!

Grace Kelly

http://www.completealbumlyrics.com/lyric/131207/Mika+-+Grace+Kelly.html#video

Mummyji absolutely adores this tune... it's a so-carefree-n-chases-all-morning-blues-away, so Bohemian-Rhapsody, so get-up-and-dance-around, or if in enclosed places like the car, just swing-upper-body-head-and-shoulder-and-tap-your-feet kinda song.
Even those sad separation emotions experienced last evening in SP were effectively erased after listening to Mika's happy tune on the way to TP this morning...
Mummyji is happy again! ;->

separation anxiety

mummyji is a sentimental old ninny.
Went back to Seasons Park today to retrieve our stash of cheese, butter n such, as well as a whole basket of snacks, our knives, bread board etc..
looking around in the old apartment in which we have lived a decade, where our babes spent their formative years, the babes' room where mummyji n daddyji spent many backbreaking hours decorating, the tiny dining area where we held many feasting sessions, the compact kitchen where many a meal was cooked, Mummyji couldn't resist shedding some tears.
It is exciting to go home to our new place.... Mummyji loves her new bedroom - boudoir l'amour, she's dubbed it. And the babes love their spanking new room, which is twice the size of their old one.
But still, the sadness that overcame Mummyji back at the old apartment lingered. Mummyji feels as if we've left behind a family member.
Silly it may sound, but mummyji just couldn't bear closing the door behind her just now.
There are still stuff to be transferred back to our new home and we'll also have to clean up the old apartment, spruce it up before putting it up for rental, so Mummyji'll definitely have to return to SP.
Hopefully, by the time we hand over to whoever rents our apartment, Mummyji'll have gotten over the mushy stage.
Sigh...

meandering thoughts

At dinner tonight, S asked Mummyji the meaning of "thought-provoking"...
hmmm, coincidentally enough, there've been a couple of thought-provoking quotes which have been bugging mummyji for the past week, other than thoughts of lights, water-features, mirrors, bedsheets etc.
Last week, Mummyji read an article in which the author describes how difficult it was to "love thy neighbour", and had quoted Bono, "to love thy neighbour is not a suggestion, it is a commandment." It struck Mummyji deeply as she'd been thinking of how impatient she really is with many fellow humans.
Mummyji really tried, with God as her witness, during the week to love the people around. Man, it's really tough!
If you knew Mummyji, you'll know she gets really upset with moronic drivers, especially those who hog the right lane, take their own sweet time in switching lanes after indicating for ages, then cut into the lane when Mummyji decides to overtake.... well, these were the very people Mummyji tried to love. Actually Mummyji just tried not to get angry with them, which was difficult enough. And then, there were those extremely idiotic ones who push their way into the lift even before Mummyji has a chance to move out. You would have thought there was a free buffet in there which closes in a minute... Mummyji tried to forgive them for their crude behaviour and blindness. That too, was a mighty struggle.
Then, today, Mummyji finally uncovered a couple of journals on her desk hidden beneath piles of papers and scantily browsed through them (deadline for passing them on to other colleagues almost due). In one of them was a thought-provoking quote (what else?) by George Bernard Shaw. Not exactly verbatim, but it goes something like, "to hate someone is not evil. It is indifference that is the true evil. To not care about a fellow human is truly evil"... or something to that effect.
Well.... as has been said afore, Mummyji gets really uptight and freaked by many fellow humans, so that probably constitutes caring-Mummyji cares that people do not care, and that is why she gets upset... Does that make sense?
Thought-provoking, huh?
Or are you like Z, who put it very succinctly just now, with a raised eyebrow, "Hey? Whacha mean?"
for Mummyji's answer to S's question was, "that which causes one to ponder"... which got the babes pondering...;p

And so, Mummyji'll keep reminding herself (or is it the Guardian Angel at work here?) to love her neighbour. Yes, even the fat boy next door who bangs on the electric organ late at night with his rendition of "Yellow polka dotted bikini". Not gonna miss him though, when we move!

Right now, Mummyji has another challenging thought to ponder over... destination for our june vacation!

and here's something for you to ponder over. It was taken from a window sign in the Stone Forest Hotel in Kunming, China.

vocabulary

Last Thursday saw Mummyji n Daddyji taking leave to be with the babes on their Sports Day... not that the babes were participating in any events, but Daddyji had signed up to be part of the Daddy-daughter Race, or otherwise dubbed as DD Race.
Mummyji had wanted to take part in the MD race too, but according to S, that was over-enrolled, and so Mummyji was relegated to taking photos of Daddyji n Z. Got a small video on the hp of the 2 of them in their "telematch", so amusing.
Listening to the HOD English speak, Mummyji was reminded of her primary school days, where the good ol' teachers of yore made sure the girls spoke the way they did, in grammatically correct sentences.
Well then, who'd have thought that later at lunch Mummyji would receive a call on the mobile from her old primary school teacher, Sr P? Unbelievable. As it turned out, Sr P had met Mama n Gonggongji at a funeral and she'd gotten Mummyji's contact numbers from them. It's incredible that after almost 30 years, Sr P still remembers Mummyji! Mummyji is rightfully humbled and touched, and grateful to the Almighty that she was educated by Sr P in her formative years. To this date, the Maths formulae Sr P'd taught our class is firmly engraved in Mummyji's head, and she's been trying to impart the same to the babes, who unfortunately, do not seem to care very much for it.
Anyway, Mummyji'll be popping by to visit Sr P soon, probably bake her some bread?
The past week or two had been busy and there were some meetings with the interior designer and hunting around for suitable furnishings and accessories for the new home. Man, speaking with the designer guy is really exhausting. And so is choosing curtains and wall colours, as well as furnishings colour. It took Mummyji n Daddyji quite a while to realise that "pelmet" referred to the box that hides curtain tracks. Hmmm, well, we scrapped that from our list of stuff to be installed!
Today, Mummyji, the babes n the ILs are gonna be lights-hunting...
sigh, Mummyji'll be most glad when we finally move in to our new house!