Aside from the various malls along Orchard Road, Ikea is also one of my favorite places here in Singapore. I find it very relaxing to just stroll around Ikea… checking every display room, getting some ideas and of course enjoying the Swedish Meatballs in their cafeteria. Love it!

The other day I went to Ikea to check their annual clearance sale, buy magazine rack, wall clock and to check some outdoor furniture styles. Since I was already there, I took the opportunity to check the bedroom arrangements with small spaces… bed designs and kitchen cabinets. I got excited again!!!

As usual my trip won’t be complete without the Swedish Meatballs : One reason why I keep coming back to Ikea.  Yummy!

While looking for cute dog tags in a nearby dog supplies store, I came across this establishment… Yong’s Teochew Kueh. I’ve been here before, two years ago (?) and I like their hand made Soon Kueh. The only problem I got is that they don’t understand me… they only understand a little English so I just have to point what I like. Their menu is also written in Chinese! Gosh, I should have studied Mandarin a long time ago.

* Pictures to follow  

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From singlishdictionary.com:

*Soon - bamboo shoot
*Kueh - made from rice or wheat

*Soon Kueh - A Chinese pastry consisting of a sticky translucent skin filled with shredded bamboo shoots or turnips usually eaten with chili sauce and sweet sauce.

For a housewife, budgeting is such a tough work (or is it for me only?)… No matter how hard I try to eliminate unnecessary expenses, I couldn’t! Well, a large part of our monthly expenses goes to food… grocery and dinning out. We both agreed that we should not deprive ourselves from dining out every weekends and buying stuffs that we like… This is fine with me especially now that he has tons of work in the bank, eating and shopping is his therapy.

It’s a great relief for us that the condo unit that we are occupying here in Singapore is shouldered by Alvin’s company as well as the utilities. But still, we are alloting some money in our Makati place… the high association dues that include taxes and home insurance / building insurance is killing me! Other expenditures include phone bills, transportations, healthcare and insurance, medications and bank loan payments.

Lately, we are over budget. Hmmm… Now, I should start tracking our expenses, especially the small purchases that we make to really know how much we really spend to adjust our budget… Or somehow make it realistic

I will be back in Manila for a few weeks. I just need to secure some things. But still, I am hesitant to leave my baby boy behind… I am just worried about his medicines, foods, clothes and the house. Even though we have a cleaner once a week, I don’t think I’ll be able to leave our house in the hand of a complete stranger. Hmmm… and we only have two keys and two access cards for tenants home alarm systems.

Actually, I am more concerned with Alvin… for sure I’ll have to call him at least twice a day to remind him of his medications. Well, I am thinking of arranging his day to day medications in a resealable plastic container. For food, there are many food stalls in our area and he can also have his food delivered.

For his clothes, I’ll teach him to use our washer and drier… After almost four years, he’ll iron his clothes again!

Hey, what else do I have to prepare?

I’ve been thinking for quite a while if I would blog this or not… Well, Alvin and I are so excited with our future home… This will be the realization of Alvin’s hard earned money! All of our savings will go here and yet, we still have to acquire a housing loan. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get through it…

Just seeing the pictures of its construction progress makes us so excited… We both agreed that we will not get the services of interior designers since we will both design it based on our own likings. We are even thinking of adding metal tiles in the utility area. Hmmm… it all depends on the big boss, Alvin. Anyways, I will be responsible for the kitchen area since it would be my work station but the rest of the house will be designed by the big boss.

A few weeks ago (during the mid year Takashimaya sale), we already bought a complete dinnerware set and cutleries. For the dinnerware set, I got it at a 10% discount; for the cutleries, I got the 30pcs WMF set for only SGD79 (original price is 400+). Hmp, excited!

Alvin has been working extra hours during weekends… Yup, no rest day for him and he is working on a night shift. Well, that’s part of his work… we can’t do anything.

The least thing that I can do is prepare some of his favorite foods to be able to replenish his energy. For our Sunday brunch, I prepared (or should I say bought) a very special meal: Sisig, Ensaladang Mangga with Bagoong and Watermelon. As usual, I was also satisfied with our brunch that I am starting to read diet pill reviews again. I really need to get one now!