Giddy tigress is still alive

Posted on October 19, 2008 by The Giddy Tigress

 

Woohoo! Have I got tons to catch up on!

Firstly, thank you so much one and all for all your “Bon Voyage” wishes and prayers.  My sincerest apologies for the silence and for not (yet) replying to all your comments.  I promise to get to that as soon as I can.

It has been one very exciting adventure for my family and I, and of course, I will get to the nitty gritty soon, but for now, I just wanted to let everyone know that we have arrived in California, …well…. about 2 weeks ago actually.  Landed in SFO at about eightish pm, collected our car from the car rental and drove to San Jose, a good 45 minutes’ away…to what would be our home for the next 9-10 months or so.

We only got our home internet connection set up several days back, and even then, it has been difficult to find time to log in because I can only do so when Ethan is asleep (hah).  Also, we’ve been really busy getting everything settled, unpacking our stuff and also trying my best to put nutritious homecooked food on the table every day 🙂

But hopefully things will fall into place soon, and I will provide an update as best as I can, albeit it could be a tad backdated.

For now though, I just wanted to let everyone know that I appreciate your thoughts and keeping us all in your prayers, and I wanted to drop a note to say that, “YES!  I am still alive!”

Oh, by the way, the weather here is fantastic!  Lovin’ it to bits! 🙂

So do watch this space for more giddy happenings!!

 

Posted in Close to Heart & Home, Thoughts & Scribblings | 16 Comments

I’m leaving on a jet plane…

Posted on October 1, 2008 by The Giddy Tigress

There really is no better way than to just say it as it is.  YES, my family and I will be relocating to The States.  And YES, the reason for my lack of blog presence these past few weeks is because we have been busy preparing for our trip.  Hubbs and I will be relocating to complete our short-term work assignment and of course, Ethan will be following us too.

In fact, we just got back from Kuala Lumpur a few days ago after attending the US Visa interview at the US Embassy, and will be leaving next week itself for California.  In fact, in an Amazing Race kinda style, we almost didn’t make it for our scheduled Visa interview, because we kinda lost our bearings that fateful morning.  But we made it to the embassy eventually, waited and waited for our turns (me with those butterflies in my tummy), and finally it was all over.

Well, I couldn’t contact most people I knew in KL too because it was a pretty hectic trip and to top it off, both my hubby’s and my cellphones’ batteries went dead on us.  And silly us, we neglected to bring our chargers along.

In spite of that, I am proud to say that we did cover a lot of ground this trip, literally, while in the Klang Valley.  Since it will be several months before we see the traffic-jammed roads in KL, we drove around visiting our siblings during this trip.  From Crowne Plaza Mutiara KL, we drove to Bangsar to visit hubb’s brother’s family. Then the next night, we drove from Damansara to Seri Kembangan to visit my brother and his family, taking a total of TWO hours to get there, and getting lost along the way as well, but nevertheless never giving up.

And may I just say that I am SHOCKED that there are so many cars on the roads in the Klang Valley at any given time of day.  At 3pm, we were stuck in a traffic jam along Jalan Ampang.  And even at 9:30ish pm, when most Penangites would be at home relaxing with a cuppa, and reading the papers, cars were thronging Jalan Sultan Ismail, Jalan Kuching and Lebuhraya Mahameru like ants!

Anyway, we are back home in Penang now, doing the last bit of packing and stressing before we head off for The States.  As we tick off the list of things-to-do before we say goodbye, we feel the stress and burdens slowly lifting off our shoulders.  The past few weeks have proven to be a rollercoaster of ups and downs for us: finalizing the location of our apartment in the US, filing and getting ready the petition for our L1 Visa, wondering whether the petition packet from US will arrive on time, gearing up for the all-important interview, getting the shipment ready, making sure all bills have been accounted for, cancelling whatever needs to be cancelled and in the past few nights, sleeping at odd hours in the night and becoming walking zombies in the day.

…but we are taking it one day at a time…we don’t know what to expect, what the future holds for us, but I am certain this will be one opportunity of our lives we will never ever forget….

Posted in Close to Heart & Home, Relax & Celebrate, Thoughts & Scribblings | 30 Comments

The E, the O, the lover-lee

Posted on October 1, 2008 by The Giddy Tigress

Since the electricity tariff restructuring several months ago, my electricity bill has increased (obviously).  But what boggles me is that since then, we have experienced at least two power outages.  So can someone please tell me why we are paying more for this unreliability?

Anyway, a couple of weekends back, on a Sunday, my family and I were relaxing at home, watching TV, when suddenly POOF!  there was no electricity again!

So what were we to do, but to pack up, and head off to the E&O hotel for a night’s stay….

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No la…we are not THAT extravagant 😛 

It just so happened that I had prebooked the one night’s stay because I had collected enough stamps on my E&O Heritage dining card to entitle us for a free room.  And it just so happened that there was a power outage on the day I had made the room reservation.

Usually when there is a power outage, the apartment elevators would still be working, but for some reason, both the elevators were also out, so we had to walk down the stairs…with our bags and all.  My hubby carried most of the bags, while I carried Ethan and one other bag.  It’s a wonder how we need to pack so much stuff for a night away.  And that being said, it was pretty good strength training and cardio exercise for us 🙂

The E&O was fantastic.  Although the room we were given was smaller than the one we had during our wedding, and it was slightly noisier, since it faced the streets instead of the sea, we enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

Even the welcome drink tasted superb, not like dishwater like in some other hotels we’ve been to.  Oh, and a cold towel for our arrival too 🙂

 

Ethan probably had the most fun – enjoying himself in the bathtub and roaming all round the hotel room.  Check out the decor: ain’t it grand? 

 

I thought the inclusion of a rather antique-looking fan was so appropriate for that old world charm the hotel exudes.  Also, in the night, we experienced something like a tropical rainstorm, which made the weather quite cold, so having the fan on for circulation while we upped the airconditioning temperature was just perfect.

It was a one-day break that we all needed, to rejuvenate ourselves for the hectic days ahead…… but more on that later.

Posted in Relax & Celebrate | 6 Comments

Got the pregnancy blues..

Posted on September 19, 2008 by The Giddy Tigress

In the cafeteria after lunch just the other day, I met someone I used to work with, and her first words when she saw me were, “You put on weight huh?”

Not “How are you?”, “How have you been?” or “How’s life?”, but those little words that spoke a gallon of truth.

Thankfully I had the perfect comeback to her statement.

Pregnancy gives one plenty of excuses, doesn’t it?

Weight gain is definitely lauded in every pregnancy but it must be a reasonable one.  This time round however, I definitely gained more weight than before.  I think I’ve already gained about 6 kilos, and I’ve only just recently started my 2nd trimester!  *Gasp!*   It’s inevitable, yes, but it is not something I look forward to in pregnancy.

I do look forward to:

  • Eating yummy nutritious food.  Just the other weekend, I thought I would definitely benefit from some homemade chicken essence, just like my Mom made for me, after I gave birth to Ethan last time round.  Since I don’t have a double boiler (yet), my Mom had improvised by using a steamer rack placed over an empty bowl, placed in a water bath in the slow cooker.  We used free-range chicken, with the skin removed and had the poultry seller smash the bones of the chicken.  For all it’s worth, it certainly gave me a more restful sleep!

  • Thicker, fuller-bodied hair.  For someone with fine hair like me, being pregnant means that I get to enjoy a fuller head of hair, at least for those few months.  Oh, and let’s not forget the glowing complexion!
  • NO PERIODS!!!  Woohooo!!!!
  • Feeling that first baby movement.  The indescribable joy of that fluttering feeling in the tummy region is pure bliss.
  • Succumbing to my food cravings.  A few weekends ago, while I was in Ipoh, I was blessed enough to be able to savor the famous Canning Garden chee cheong fun.  Not the one that is in Canning Garden now, manned by a man wielding a cigarette the whole time, but the one that was ORIGINALLY from Canning Garden, and has now emigrated to a stall in one of the coffee shops downtown.  Craving satisfied…

  • Starting out on that breastfeeding journey all over again.

I do not look forward to:

  • Excessive fatigue.  Contrary to what people think, life doesn’t stop when one becomes pregnant.  It doesn’t mean you get to lie back and enjoy everything once you get those test results showing two lines.  And when you’ve got a house to clean, laundry to wash and a toddler to tend to, fatigue does become bothersome.  I try to be SuperMom and SuperWoman sometimes, but at other times, I just throw in the towel, and hit the sack.  Thankfully, the first trimester is behind me now, and hopefully, there will be more *joyful* times ahead in the second.
  • Nausea. Almost every single smell is revolting to me now.  I can’t find a suitable shower gel to use either.  And you know, it’s no fun when you feel like puking most of the times you step into the bathroom.  No fun at all.  I hope this goes away soon.  But then I’m afraid nausea in the first trimester will pave its way for heartburn in the second and third.
  • Backache.  Those mild aching pains in the lower back get worse at night.  Rubbing it a little helps, but I have had to shift my sleeping position countless times before it gets comfy.
  • Leg cramps.  I got these in the later stages of my first pregnancy, and they used to attack me in the wee hours of the morning.  Not looking forward to these at all.
  • Itchy belly.  Not looking forward to becoming a monkey either, but this is inevitable.
  • Labor pains.  ’nuff said.

Well, I’m tired now.  And I got to get my sleep.  YAWN.  Sweet dreams, y’all!

Posted in Parenting & Motherhood | 20 Comments

Crazy & tasty pizza mania!

Posted on September 16, 2008 by The Giddy Tigress

Since Domino’s Pizza opened a branch near my apartment, I have not had the chance to try out their delivery services.  I had tasted their pizza before, and I know it’s good.

Well, last Saturday seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to order a pizza, because there was this MEGA FOOTBALL MATCH on TV, and it made full sense to enjoy dinner right in the comforts of our own home.  Ethan doesn’t really DIG pizza (yet), although he would go “peh ta! peh ta!” when he sees one, so it was a good thing that I had whipped up some wholesome delicious sweet potato porridge with ikan bilis stock for him for dinner that night.

I decided to use Domino’s online ordering service and placed my order at about 7:10p.m.  If the pizza arrived at about 7:41p.m. or 7:42p.m., we’ll get a free pizza on our next order.  Hehe…not that I was hoping for that anyway.  But 7:45p.m. came and still there was no sign of pizza.  With a growling tummy, I called Domino’s up, and the customer service officer told me that the demand was unusually high that night, so they weren’t able to deliver on time.

10 minutes later, still no pizza.  Someone from Domino’s called to check if the pizza had arrived, and I told her no.  She promised it would arrive in another 10 minutes’ time, apologizing profusely for the delay.

I actually found this episode rather ironic, because the Domino’s branch is literally just a stone’s throw away from my apartment.

FINALLY, at about 8:15p.m. our doorbell rang and we got our steaming hot pizza…and of course, a voucher for a free pizza on the next order.  Frankly I would have preferred that the pizza I ordered was free instead of giving us a voucher for our next order, but whatever.

As soon as I sank my teeth into the pizza…..wah….. it was heavenly!  And the Cinnastix I ordered?  Unlike the miserable “sticks” we get from Pizza Hut, these were humungous!  They were so generous with them!  Tasted fantastically great with the sweet icing too!

Well, of course the most glorious taste of all that night was that of victory over The Red Devils.  Liverpool beat Man U 2-1!!!  Ah, the taste of success…. I simply LURVE it!

Posted in Drooling & Cooking, Relax & Celebrate | 12 Comments