Excuse me, are you a phantom?

I am hoping the motherhood juggernaut has not roll-moulded me into someone who loses herself and gets impossibly absorbed in the whole new world of parenting. You know, like the glitzy girlfriends you see on telly moaning incredulously over salad lunch about how a certain mommy-girlfriend disappears just because she had a new baby. Then again, even if I did turn into this said mommy-girlfriend persona, you won't see me apologizing or compensating for it. Why should I? The munchkins means the world to me.

A baby is hard work, no doubt, and consumes plenty of one's time. A regular day sees a sleep-starved me in a running-around-like-a-headless-chicken state of diaper-changing, feedings, cooking, more feedings, housekeeping, errand-running, mother-daughter bonding (read: mommy acting all comical, singing out of tune, anticipating and counteracting her often-baffling quirky mood swings, pacifying her frustrations, applauding her little achievements over-enthusiastically, laughing merrily when she plays cute and savouring tender moments together. You still there?). Thus when the little one flutter her eyes closed to meet the sandman, I very much prefer to rot on my couch and just spend some quiet time with me, myself and the man. So by choice, the social calendar is unfashionably bare of late and not because I can't afford the time. 

Maybe it is the age too. Intimate get-togethers where I can bask in easy conversations and familiar closeness definitely sound more appealing than making efforts to forge new friendships. The mere thought of it already rings tiresome to me. Since the friends here either have a young family or are in the process of starting one, their precedence is an obvious one. Thus, the social front is naturally less colourful than ever.

Incidentally, I am not sad that I am not out there to see and to be seen. Let's just say merrymaking hard for a long while before I went over to the west side does not bring forth the need to make up for lost societal time. My complacency is ridiculously hermit-like, so much so that the man joked if I have the opportunity at all to don those clothes and shoes I bought online. I merely shrugged in reply. One never knows when occasions arise where decent garbs are a prerequisite. Hence, handbags and glad rags must still be had for this social-less butterfly.

So if you have this nagging suspicion that you do not belong to the inner circle because you haven't heard a word from me for a while, for a very long while in fact, then your intuition is probably right. Muahahahaha....

Let's cook a pot of curry!

I don't quite take to the smell of burning charcoal wafting towards us whenever the next door neighbour barbecues on their balcony. Not that the odour gives me a headache or compromises my health in any way. I merely find it unpleasant. 

So do you think I should go to our Rathaus (town council) and lodge a complaint? To demand my neighbour not to barbecue and not to eat barbecued food whenever I am at home? Well, I am hardly out of the pad these days as I have the little munchkins to take care of. Okay, they can barbecue when we do our daily walks or grocery shopping.

I think the Rathaus is going to tell me to go fuck myself and fuck off to my country if I so wish. Because in this country, the law specifies that cooking is a social norm and everyone is allowed to cook at any time of the day and night. And cooking smells, even that of garlic, are not only normal but should be tolerated as well.

No wonder no one ever complains whenever I cook my curry. Or my stir fried veggies with garlic or my stinking sambal chilli...

Take a leaf out of the Germans' book, Singapore. Take a leaf.

A girlie prattle

This pink purse has been with me for the longest time. It is easily more than 10 years old. When I first clapped eyes on it at the Mooks store in Bali, I was quite taken with the bright fuchsia tone and made the purchase in a heartbeat. Just look at the worn and sorry state it is now. I wonder how it is that I keep buying clothes, shoes, bags, yet it has strangely never occurred to me to get a new purse or a wallet. Okay, I am not exactly a wallet girl just because with all that junks I so love to collect, the wallet would soon turn into a little fat, bulging thingamajig. That would be a most ugly sight to whip out from a bag!

The closest thing to a wallet which I truly need and pine for is a cardholder. But well, if you know me enough, you will discover that I am also a very lazy person. I just never get down to actually shop for one. Since a long time, I've relayed the intention to the Lion of buying a cardholder from her as I trust her expertise in this area. And the best thing is, that would spare me the hassle of looking high and low for that perfect cardholder. Haha! I am shameless like that! Alas, the Lion is a very busy human (aka forgetful), I didn't get to buy that cardholder from her. Yet. One should not give up hope so easily, right? I am still waiting very patiently. Heh.

Hell no! I am not hinting to anyone to get me one. I maybe shameless but not that shameless. I can still very well afford to buy a cardholder for myself. Thank you very much.

And then the roving Mammon eyes spy a whimsicality that is this.

The splash of colours would be so fun to pull out of the bag that it already brightens up my day just by feasting the eyes on it. Yes, I am enamored with this impish money bag already.

But. It would make me a tad uneasy if I do click the BUY button because the man is going to cry bloody murder! Sure, it is my own moolah and all and I surely do not need the man's go-ahead to shop. Still, as much as I hate to, I have to concede that I have crossed the shopping line way too far in recent months.

Then again, full leather at an alright price, the weak willpower has me somewhat swayed towards you-know-what. Plus I am incorrigibly NOT a Stella-McCartney vegan fashionista.

Well, if I do feel brave one of these days, I might just show the man the sad purse and suss out his thoughts on its wretched state.

Let's just hope he doesn't get to read this before I do all that. Lol!

Photo credit: here