Welcoming the new lunar year

I suppose we are all set. Mostly.

Tonight, we'll begin our feasting. First stop : in laws. After that and hopefully with some extra gastronomical space, we'd have more at my grand-ma's! Can you tell...I just can't wait..:-)

Well, that's about all I have for you today. I won't go far though; you'll be hearing from me soon :-D

Have a grand celebration to the ones who are celebrating and a well deserved long weekend holiday for the rest.

..and I thought the buying has stopped

Ash's boots. One of her many Christmas presents. Precisely what I mean when I say we need more space..

As I look around my home today, I've come to the realisation that it's pretty dull. I've had the same decor for the past 4 years that I've lived here and I fear I might have to live with them for another 4 years or more! *gasp*. I know, who can afford to re-decorate every few years or every now and then anyway? If you can, well, good for you. But for me, not only is it expensive but extremely time consuming. Plus, what am I going to do with the old stuff? I don't think I have it in me to give or sell them away and we don't have a large enough storage area either.

However, having said that, there is still room for improvement. By that, I mean, there are still some parts of the house that are not furnished. That's only because we halted any further renovations and installations of any built-in's when we found out about our surprised pregnancy (yes, it was a surprised because technically it's un-planned yet planned -- a little complicated, I know). So, any hacking or drilling or whatever had to be canceled and will only resume..oh, I don't know, a year from now perhaps.

Also, Ash needs more space for her things. It's amazing how a kid, barely 2, can have more possessions than hubby and I could during that time. I am totally baffled. At times, I have this firing urge to get rid some of them but well, I haven't done that yet.

So, anyway, I was sitting in the living-room this afternoon while Ash was asleep, somehow, I glanced across the room and noticed an empty corner slot, perfect for a glass door cabinet of some sort or even a book-shelf. I rang hubby up and asked if he was going to be late and since he said that he wasn't, I told him that we could head out to Ikea for dinner and get ourselves something nice for us. Of course, he had no idea what I was mumbling about but he got home anyway. And, off we went to continue our holiday shopping.

We did find what we liked and what we thought would fit nicely in the living-room. Unfortunately for us, the cabinet we wanted, was completely sold out. And, they are not expecting the replenished stock until the end of the month. So, that's a little pre-new year bummer. But, I guess the buying can stop for just a little while..:-D

Home at last...

We are home...we are home..:-)

Actually, I am not too excited because I have tons of work around the house to do. Work such as cleaning and washing and mundane chores I'm sure it's the least of what you'd want to hear about. I don't exactly have a choice, what with the New Year's celebration coming up and all. And to think, it felt like it was just yesterday we celebrated Christmas and here we are, once again, puttering about and on to another big bang festivity.

Will I be doing up another list of resolution? Well, maybe an addendum perhaps -- to probably scrape some off from the original list..LOL..Nah, this time, I'd just sit back and go with the flow. Come what may. The itinerary is pretty straight-forward for the 1st 2 days (read : routine). I'll probably tell you more about it later.

In the meantime, I'm glad to say that this year, we've been extremely efficient where our shopping is concerned. We all have our new year clothes ready, washed and tucked away. OK, some are washed. Thank goodness for hubby's time off last year. So, all that is left right now are the cookies which my mom helped ordered and they are probably sitting at my mom's place as we speak. That reminds me - I've gotta pay her.

This is Ash's second new year celebration. I doubt she remembered her first. Come to think of it, I doubt she'll remember much of it this time round either. And can you believe what this naughty mama did with her "ang pow" last year? She spent it all!! Alright, let me justify that by saying that it wasn't much at all. Still, that's no reason to spend other people's $$ now is there?? you might holler..I know, so which is why for this year, I wow not to touch a single cent unless it's absolutely necessary *wink*.

Project New Year's resolution come true!

I, for one, have never big on New Year's resolution. Yet, I made one for this year albeit in a spur of the moment. I don't know what it is about 2009 but it compelled me to make a list of things that I feel are important and it made me want to accomplish all of those things. Or to try at the very least.

With that in mind, I think the one item on that list (oh, I made 9 of them! Call me insane..) requires immediate attention is the fact that I want to have my house loan settled.

A little ambitious you reckon? Yeah probably but with the current economic (and world political) outlook, things aren't looking too bright. In fact, it's rather stormy and if I have any say in it, having less financial commitments, the better.

I'm clearly not the expert but I can bet that, the way forward right now is to have solid financial planning. More so now than before. I need to keep track of our monthly budget and expenses a lot more closely now. I will need to somehow ensure that we tighten our belts a little further too.

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