School is finally done today ! and the first thing that came to my children’s mind was to shop for summer clothing and preferably some  hip hop clothing they had expressively told me last night.   We haven’t done much shopping for the summer yet – because we were all busy trying to finish exams and school trips – so now that school is over – we will start our summer shopping.  Late I know – but the kids do need new swimming costumes and trunks and of course – we all know we have to stock up for the fall – when school starts all over again.  Shopping for clothing is never – ending and I believe in shopping for quality of the clothes and not quantity.   No point buying something from the dollar store or frenchy’s because you know they will shrink or get ruin after the first wash – but I know my kids – they not only want hip hop clothing and the style – but also clothes that will last time for a long time.  Got to love the kids – they sure know what and where to buy the latest and best.

Back home in Hong Kong, you can see these kind of walkway in the local park in most housing estate.  Walkways like these are purposely put in place for health reason.  Walking on these stones aplies acu- pressure on the sole of one’s foot – thus leading to good health – almost like going for reflexology .  I’m tempted to build one in our backyard as well – but will the children and the spouse use it?   I’ve tried one of this before and darn it was painful – and the friend who was with me – said it was because I have poor health – at that time I didn’t quite believed her – but it was so true – I learned very quickly.

So we finally started a book club with  some of my friends from the neighborhood – we lament that we don’t relax enough and we don’t make as much connection as we should as neighbors for so long.  We chose a touch of the Irish in this book by Colm Toibin.  The Empty Family is a collection of short stories, nine tales about frustration of relationships, a self exiled gay son yearning for his long dead mother and a Henry James trophy wife enduring her husband.   It’s a nice change and will write more about our monthly meet.

Wicker’s Emporium is having a no tax sale ! need I say more! taxes are like 15%  and pretty high for such a small and backwards town – so any savings is good.  I was looking for a night stand – and this comes as perfect timing!  I saw what I liked and it’s only $40 now on sale – no tax too! woohoo?!

What is this?  a must have for every family – if you want to stay healthy and germs free in your mouth.  I have often wonder how do one clean your toothbrush besides rinsing them in the sink after using them.  I too wonder many a times – how safe or clean is it for the tooth brush to be left in the sink – and as for the spouse in a cup of water.This is a UV toothbrush sanitizer  – that zaps away the germs left in your toothbrush.  A bit pricey but I think it is worth it.  Check out the commercial on u tube and you will understand what i mean.

In the holiday mood already and the kitchen had been busy too – cooking for parties and storing up for Christmas parties as well.  We’ve attended a few with friends from Asia – and they cooked the yummiest food from home like this sambal ikan bilis.  And guess who was gorging herself silly?  yes! yours truly and the spouse was making fun of the amount of food I eat these days and said I should get some diet pills that work before I can’t fit into my Christmas dress for his office party.

But the food is so yummy!  I can’t resist it at all – it was so good – I had asked for some to be doggy bag home and woke up in the middle of the night to finish them up.

It is that time of the year again – where one need to decorate for Halloween – especially if you have a few kids – running around the neighborhood for treats or trick.  And because of that – one also need to get into the mode for Halloween as well.  This year – we are not spending a lot of money except for decals on the windows and wall.  We saw a grave/tombstone kit from the mall – but the spouse refuses to pay anymore money on Halloween – because Christmas will be up next.  So yes for now – we have the decal – we have the skulls – let me show you what our Halloween decor looked like last year.

How do you like the outdoor dressing?  not too too shabby eh?

We had a simple get together – just us adults with some really close family friends and relatives – not very many people but a table of 20.  So I did some simple table setting to end the summer – with a dinner.  We farmed the kids out to a friend’s house with the babysitters – that way we can have a night of chatting and eating some good food.

It’s always nice to be able to have some good friends in the house – and dressing up the house once in a while – afterall, a home is for entertaining right.

The spouse may not like the entertaining that much but once every few months is a must – the house needs to be filled with laughter, good food and some wine.

So out came some summery flowers and table settings from the basement and here it is – not that hard – if you give your creative juice some working.

I started my collection some 15 yrs ago – so if you buy a few things at a time – you will get where i am – that was what i told my friends and family when they were here last weekend.

Doesn’t really take much to make a place pretty – if you really want to show off your home.

]]> http://www.trenduk.org/2010/08/simple-table-setting/feed/ 0 http://www.trenduk.org/2010/05/mowing-the-lawn/ http://www.trenduk.org/2010/05/mowing-the-lawn/#comments Sun, 23 May 2010 14:01:32 +0000 Trendy Chick http://www.trenduk.org/?p=1075

A few days ago, I wrote about getting a ride on to mow the lawn and today after 2.5 yrs of not mowing the lawn – i mowed it!!!!  wow!! it was fun – so it was hard on the tummy because it was hard to mow around the outdoor fireplace but it was such good exercise and i’m pretty el cheapo to want to spend more than i should.  So for now we are going to stick with the regular petrol pumped up lawn mower and get some exercise outta it.  I don’t know about you – but mowing the lawn needs to be the right weather for me – it cannot be too hot nor too cold but lots of wind and lots of sun is good – it keeps the bugs away.   It was so much fun – i mowed and the spouse and the kid rake and collected the dirt.  This summer – i can see myself doing more for our garden and lawn – afterall, the man doesn’t have time for mowing and his aim is not to pay someone to do it.

I use a lot of essential oil and a burning candle.  I love the orange ones.. but it can be too strong for some ppl, so i sometimes use grapefruit.. or teatree oil.  Or another trick i use is boil water and lemon in your microwave for 30-60 seconds. The lemony steam will make it easier to wipe up the interior of the microwave and your kitchen will smell lemony fresh.