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Ok, so it’s confirmed the little one has HFMD. She’s got these nasty looking bumps on her lips, more are appearing on her hands and she’s in the worst of moods possible. I can’t look into mouth without her yelling at me, but I’m pretty sure there are more ulcers in there.
My hands suddenly feel itchy while typing this. *shudder*
Possibly HFMD?
Clare is suspected to have hand foot mouth disease (HFMD). She threw up over the weekend, had a fever, and has a couple of bumps on her feet and in her throat. One of the bumps on her foot has developed into a blister. The doctor can’t be sure that she has HFMD and told me to monitor her for more bumps over the next few days.
I’ve been home the past two days monitoring her, and I really, really hope she hasn’t gotten HFMD, even though it seems that more bumps are forming on her body (albeit at a rather slow pace). She just seems rather miserable now and has been occasionally crying and wailing for me non-stop, even when I’m hugging her. Her throat might hurt too, but I’m glad she still has got her appetite.
My family really knows how to pick an inopportune time to fall ill. Might be a family thing, considering how I used to fall sick only on a Sunday night and my dad would always have to spend more at the A&E to get me treated, than at a regular clinic.
Before I left for my vacation, Clare developed a high fever which lasted a few days. When I was away, Terence developed a high fever that took him down the entire weekend. And we fired the maid over this last weekend.
The short version of the story is, she hasn’t been doing a good job at looking after Clare on the occasion that no one’s babysitting her, and neither does she keep the house very clean. While we initially waved it off as her trying to adjust to her new job in a new environment, it got to a point where it felt more like she was taking advantage of the fact that we don’t yell at her.
We’ve sat down and spoken to her quite a few times and tried to work things out with her (or even work around her), she still wouldn’t change or make the effort to improve. The last straw came when she didn’t respect our need for security and privacy (despite us telling her many, many times) such as giving out our address to her friend and getting her to come here to pass her things without discussing with us first, or letting my neighbour in when no one was home, and slipping out of the house without informing me.
In the last few days she was here, I started doing my own share of the household chores. I would pack my bed, wash up and keep the dishes, cook my meals… all hints to her that she isn’t indispensable and that she ought to buck up. She took advantage of that, and even left some chores for me to do, like not keeping the newspapers away!
My mum asked if I was willing to reconsider taking her back and truth be told, I did think about it. That’s because I did get used to have someone helping me out with the housework and I fully appreciate the luxury of heading straight home after work. And when it comes to maid woes, I don’t think I’ve got a seriously bad one here.
But after I spent about half an hour last night scrubbing my stove because there were weeks’ worth of food grime stuck on it, I was very sure I made the correct choice in letting her go. I packed up her room and cleaned up the house today and it was filthy, filthy, filthy. Even during the past few years of not having a helper, my house has never been in such a state of decrepit. My barstools have even managed to rust in the 2.5 months of having her here and I don’t even live by the beach.
Anyhow, I’m just glad that I only have 2.5 months of grime to clean out of my house. I can’t imagine what it would be like if it was 2.5 years!
Mercedes Patriot
I’m slowly uploading pictures of the London leg of my trip, more to come in a bit. But I have to blog about this one first.
This is one of the first few things I saw in London - my favourite car with a Singaporean license plate! Must be a patriot, the owner, to have a vanity license plate Singaporean style. How cute!
Paris Photos
When my friend Shaireen told me that I would suffer terribly from the jetlag (she said that it somehow is worse when travelling from west to east), I didn’t think it’d be that bad, and that I would feel like a train has run me over somehow. I only managed to fall asleep at 5am (and I think I only did so out of boredom). I woke up rather late for work today and have since attended a meeting, made a few phonecalls, cleared emails and am now basically trying to get back into the groove of things, with blurry vision and all.
When I got home last night, Terence said that I looked refreshed despite the 14 hour flight. I realised that it’s because I had a whole week of no work, no personal matters, no guilt, no stress to deal with. Which was a pleasant experience because for as long as I can remember, I was constantly feeling the guilt of going to work and not being a good mum, etc, etc.
The photos from Paris are up, London ones will be coming up soon after. I originally was going to write about about my Parisian experience in detail, but I would just be reiterating the guidebooks and nothing that I say now would be very much different from what I said before (like how beautiful it was, etc).
Here are some of my favourite shots and shall let the pictures do the talking. The full set can be seen on my Flickr page.
Window art.
The funky building on the right is the Ministry of Arts and Culture.
Gorgeous pastries, although I didn’t try any as I was dying for something savoury at that time.
Cartier’s office, looking absolutely beautiful with the immaculately preened red flowers.
I got lost in the metro and found this gorgeous station.
I felt so tiny when I was finally at the Eiffel Tower. I was so in awe of this structure.
Inside the Louvre. I love how I keep on finding modern vs old juxtapositions in Paris. Look at the second photo above, of the Ministry of Arts and Culture.
The first thing I did in the Louvre was to look for Mona Lisa. Once I was done jostling in the crowd to look at her, I was then in the right frame of mind to appreciate the other art in the museum. It was so beautiful.
The ornate doorway of the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Yet another breathtaking place in Paris. The Notre Dame was so beautiful. Oh how I would love to have attended mass there.
Galeries Lafayette. I don’t recall ours ever looking this beautiful, when it was still around.
Breakfast. My last meal in Paris.
Going Home
It’s time for me to bid farewell to this quaint English city. While I arrived feeling underwhelmed, the old-fashionedness and Monopoly road names gradually grew on me. It was only today, that I started feeling a little more at ease in this wet and windy place. I guess one would have to live here for a while to fully appreciate its charm.
I’m almost all packed and ready to go. I severely underestimated the amount of shopping I would do. I came with a medium sized bag which can now barely contain everything that I’ve stuffed in. (Who can resist Petit Bateau outfits on sale!) I’m rather afraid that the zips would burst when the luggage handlers toss it about later.
I can’t wait to get home to my family. I feel a flu coming on. I hope it doesn’t develop into something bigger!
Catching Up in London
Quite the contrary to how I was in Paris, I’m taking it super slow in London. I think I’m suffering from a low from the high I experienced in Paris. Two very different cities and I think Paris set the bar a bit too high up. I was beginning to feel a little homesick yesterday — I think the longest I can stay away from my family is a maximum of four days.
Nonetheless, I’m having a pleasant time here still despite the erratic weather. I caught up with an old friend and his wife yesterday, which was great ‘cos I haven’t seen him in seven years. And he’s crap at keeping in touch being a tech-dodo and all.
Actually, Tony and I used to see each other very briefly, before he left Singapore. And I’m extremely happy for him that he’s married to someone as awesome as Sarah! She’s got a strong personality, is very warm, interesting… very suited for him.
I count myself lucky whenever I meet an ex’s girlfriend/wife who is nothing but warm and accepting of my friendship with their other halves. I’ve been ignored in the face one too many times by various girls over the years, and it’s really silly considering how I’m now married with a gorgeous little girl, and I’m not that close to the exes either.
Recently, again, I was completely ignored by an ex’s newly minted girlfriend at a common friend’s wedding. She just saw right through me and refused to answer any of my questions or acknowledge what I say unless I repeated myself at least three times. Her boyfriend dumped me, for goodness sake, so it’s not as if I was some big love of his that got away! (Well, it could possibly be because she knew that I fell into major depression because of her bf and other things, which caused me to attempt suicide in a spectacularly stupid way and all that crap, but really, do I still look that psycho now?!)
Anyway, a good friend told me that she’s dating him now, so what more bad stuff could I wish upon her? *giggle*
Alright. I’m trundling off to Portobello Market. I hope the rain clears.
Spike in Electricity Consumption
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/357943/1/.html
I thought it was just us who somehow consumed much more electricity. I questioned my helper if she might have left lights on when not needed, etc, but she claimed otherwise. Terence and I were really puzzled how come our electricity bill went up by 50% and were frankly quite horrified.
I think something’s up with Singapore Power. Did this happen to anyone else too?
Paris
East Meets West: my french friend’s apartment in Paris. She brought back most of her things from Singapore.
The beginning of this trip was rather frustrating. From forgetting to turn off my phone battery during my 13 hour flight where I found myself crouched in a corner at Heathrow Airport charging it for 15 minutes to give it some juice (I set it to flight mode so it wasn’t searching for a network!), to nearly dying from a major dust attack in the Eurostar (it felt like I was suffering from asthma), to getting stuck in the damn Paris metro because somehow my card decided to invalidate itself and thus wouldn’t let me out and no one was manning the information booth.
At that point, I was getting utterly miserable and was *this* close to getting on the next flight back home because I missed my family so much. Everything was in French with no English subtitles and I was really kicking myself in the butt for not signing up for French classes when I was thinking of doing so a few months ago.
Till a really nice French lady came by and helped me get out of the train station. She couldn’t speak a word of English but breaking the law comes in one language so she managed to help me sneak out of the metro by squeezing out with her. And mind you, that lady took my luggage and shoved it through too. She was really awesome and simply brushed off my endless stream of mercis.
The Louvre
After leaving my luggage with my friend, I headed to the Louvre which was really near her office. There I was thinking that it was my lucky day that there were no queues, only to find out that it was CLOSED.
I watched ‘The Da Vinci Code’ on the way to London and am now rather excited to view the exhibits inside.
So I hopped onto L’Open Bus Tour and roasted in the sun for a two hour ride around the city, to view the main attractions. Apparently, I arrived on the hottest day of the year. Imagine my luck!
To top it all off, I got horribly lost when I headed back to meet my friend and had to hop into a cab to get me to a place that was less than 5 minutes away. I really, really suck at reading maps.
Typical Parisian scene — people sitting at the outdoor cafe; bicycles and scooters.
Complaints aside, Paris is indeed a beautiful city. The architecture, the history, the statues, the super wide boulevards, the food… I feel like I’m in a movie set. On top of that, I have the greatest friends in the world who have been nothing but superbly hospitable towards me. I actually feel quite bad, almost like a leech for being too cheapskate to book a hotel room. I really am so lucky to be so well-taken care of.
I’m going to do actual walking and some shopping tomorrow, and desperately need sleep now as I’m about to pass out from the jetlag.
London… Then Paris!
I’m here! I’m here! I was so busy the day I left I didn’t have time to write anything about it. Heck, I only managed to crack open my guidebooks on the plane. I’m at my wonderful friend’s place (she, her husband and her place are wonderful).
I’m going for a walkabout before I head off to the train station to Paris. See you guys soon! Hope I don’t die from jetlag.
Morgan’s First Month Celebrations
Here are some of the pictures I took at Morgan’s party. She’s such a cute little baby and it certainly made my hormones go crazy because I felt like I wanted to have another baby NOW NOW NOW! Can’t wait to meet up with Denise and her two kids on another playdate soon.
