Recently, we got rid of the gravels covering our driveway and replaced them with nicely laid setts.
Seb and I could not stand the gravels though it is common to have gravels covered driveway due to the low cost. When coming home, it was easy to pick up the gravels into the house with our shoes. Also, we often had to tell the boys to stop playing or throwing or kicking the gravels around.
After much discussion and getting quotations from different contractors, we decided to pave our driveway with setts. Another option was having asphalt concrete like the road but in red colour. Seb felt that setts made the driveway looked more classy and it would last longer.
So the works begun with a compact excavator digging up the gravels and the soil. Then, a big truck came to remove them.
After that, the dump truck came with a mountain of fine gravels which was flattened.
Once the preparation works were done, came the moment to pave the setts. The contractor laid the sett one at a time on our 100m² driveway. It was a tough job. The setts were heavy.
When that was done, cement was poured over as the joints between the setts. We waited a few days for the cement to harden and the finished product was one beautiful driveway.
All these in a total of 13 working days. Two and a half week. We are very happy with the result. The boys can now cycle from the garden to the driveway. Round and round the house. Seb and I do not miss the gravels at all. The above photo was taken when the setts were wet. When dried, the setts were lighter in colors and more lovely.
There are still a few things to do to improve the house. We can cross out the driveway on our list. So far, we had done major works to our garage, changed the front and back doors with better thermal isolation. Not to mention fix broken down fixtures. With spring here, it is time to take care of the garden.
We spent 4 days 3 nights in Batam just before Chinese New Year. It was a big family gathering with my family in Singapore and my brother's parents-in-law. In total, there were 11 of us. My brother and my sister-in-law (SIL) helped to organise the whole trip. We stayed at Harris Waterfront. My Singaporean friends asked why we stayed so long at Batam and why we chose the hotel which was secluded.
Singaporeans usually would stay for 2 days one night at the center of Batam to enjoy massage, shopping and cheap food. We prefered a quiet place with a big pool. Harris Waterfront suited us well. It was a distance from the center (30mins drive). And 4 days 3 nights was just right for us to chill and relax.
The older folks in the group headed to the center everyday to enjoy the above three activities I mentioned. Our boys stayed in the pool the whole day. They enjoyed themselves a lot in the water.
We hired a mini-bus with a driver for two days to bring us to places. On one evening, we had a seafood dinner at another end of Batam. The boys helped to pick fresh scallops. We had crabs, flower crabs, seashells, fish, scallops etc. It was a feast yet we only paid SG$130 in total. That was really cheap.
In the bus, A1 and A2 were happily counting the many motobikes in Batam. We were amazed to see whole family on a motobike. The boys were alarmed to see that some did not wear a helmet. I could not understand how the adults would wear a helmet while their children were unprotected.
While Seb took care of the boys at the pool, I did go out with the folks for massages. I paid 20€ for 90mins of massage. Recently, I went with a friend for a massage in France. I paid 100€ for 50mins. I do miss the cheap and good massage in Batam.
We had a good time in Batam. Two years ago, we visited Bali. We couldn't compare the two places of course. But seriously, Batam is good enough for us. The boys were just happy to be at the pool. Seb however would prefer a place with a nice beach. Maybe the next time would be Bintan.
We really enjoyed this family gathering. My boys got closer to my family during this trip. As for me, I am thankful that my SIL planned everything for us. I did not have to take care of logistics which made the stay even more relaxing.
I would recommend this hotel. There was not a big crowd maybe because of its location. My 2 boys had the big pool to themselves on one afternoon. This place is affordable and though it might be run down in certain areas, the friendly staff makes the stay really pleasant. They even performed welcome dance and breakfast dance. It lives up to its motto. Simple, Unique, Friendly.
During our recent Singapore trip, our concerned friends asked what we did to our pets. I explained to them that we got housesitters to take care of our house and pets. Most were amazed by this unexpected answer. Further discussion led most to conclude that this arrangement was not for them.
At first, this was what Seb thought too. He was not comfortable with the idea of having strangers staying in our house while we were away. But I had a colleague who had had his house looked after while he was away and things turned out fine. Putting Handsome in a pet hotel during winter was harsh and he would be miserable. Bao Bei too would not be happy away from home. While on Facebook, I saw an ad from TrustedHouseSitters. I clicked on it and read more about the service. Everything was listed clearly on the website and it had good comments from reliable references.
I took up a month's membership, put up a posting description our house, our pets and the dates we were away. Right away, I had almost ten requests. Mostly retired couples who wanted to see the world while helping out to take care of the house and animals. There were children books author, retired researcher, professor and teachers among these candidates. Most were from USA and Canada. As this TrustedHouseSitters is an UK website, most members are english speaking.
Since all of them have reports on police check and experience in taking care of animals, it was hard for us to decide who to accept. Based on first come first serve basis, Seb and I had a Skype conversation with Chris and Eve since they were among the first to write to us and were quick to reply which time I posed questions. They wanted to escape the cold snowy winter in Canada and France was an ideal place for them.
We decided on them and as planned, they arrived on a monday, stayed at a hotel for the night and came over to our place on tuesday afternoon. We brought them around the town to show them the essential stuff and the forest walk with Handsome. We had raclette for dinner and they enjoyed this chessy meal.
The next day, we flew to Singapore. During our stay in Singapore, our housesitters took great care of our animals. They were homely people and visited Paris only once. They visited Orleans, Chartres and Rambouillet and enjoyed my quiet village. I knew these because we communicated regularly by email.
When we returned, Chris and Eve continued their vacation visiting friends in Scotland before heading home. Pior to coming here, they had spent a week in England taking care of a pet lizard. All these for free. I provided free lodging for them and in return, they took care of my pets and my house. This is a win win situation.
We are blessed to have such ideal housesitters. I heard from my neighbours that the couple walked Handsome very often.
I do not mind using TrustedHouseSitters again in future if we have to be away for a long time. For the moment, pet hotel is ideal for that few days of getaway.
This year's Chinese
New Year was during the boys' winter school holiday so we took
the opportunity to spend it in Singapore. This is a first for the boys and
they enjoyed themselves.
Thanks to The Wacky Duo, I found a few places featuring lion dance and brought
the boys to watch them. They totally loved it. I was surprised to
catch a dragon dance at Suntec. As it was a monday, the crowd was
small. The boys got to sit right in front of the show.
We visited Chinatown
to get into the mood of Chinese New Year. It was hot and soon the
boys were bored. I did managed to get some souvenirs for friends
back in France. We stopped at a coffee shop for drinks and that four
cold drinks cost us $17.80. No fresh fruit juice, no beer, just lime
juice and soda. Boy, that was a rip off.
We could see sheep and goats everywhere as it is the year of the ram.
On the first day of Chinese New Year, my mother gave the boys each an ang bao (red envelope with money in it). The boys opened the packets immediately in front of her. I had to explain to the boys that it was not christmas where we opened the presents right away. I told them to put ang bao they received in my bag and I would help them keep them. At the end, we could go shop for a present each. The boys did just as told when we visited relatives and friends. I also had friends over at my mother's place. My boys were impressed. They told me “Maman, you have many friends.”
I am happy that they get to celebrate chinese new year in Singapore at this age. Though the trip in Singapore was short as we spent a few days in Batam, the boys had a taste of how Singapore celebrates Chinese New Year. A2 even wanted to wear a chinese costume. He would love to wear it to school but it is too cold here.
Today is la Chandeleur and crepes day in France. Yesterday, I heated up ready-to-eat crepes which I bought from the supermarket for the boys' afternoon snack. Then a friend asked us over for crepes. Her girl, A1's classmate was helping to make batter. We went over at 4.30pm and had crepes again. When we got home at 7pm, my neighbour next door gave us some. The boys finished them as breakfast this morning.
A2 told me he loved crepes. That would mean that he wants to eat it everyday. Still, first dinner option would be pizza. King's cake is down to third position. Speaking of pizza, each evening when he stepped into the house, A2's question would be 'Are we having pizza for dinner?' These days, I would buy fresh pizza crust and when Seb is making dinner, he would make a really tasty pizza for the boys.
I think I would start to make real crepes for the boys soon.
Here is an extrait from Wikipedia: Read the last sentence. I would so wanna try it. But I have no gold coin to begin with. In culture[edit]
In France, crêpes are traditionally served on Candlemas (La Chandeleur), February 2. This day was originally Virgin Mary's Blessing Day, but became known in France as "Le Jour des Crêpes" (literally translated "The Day of the Crêpes", but sometimes given colloquially as "Avec Crêpe Day" or "National Crêpe Day"), referring to the tradition of offering crêpes. The belief was that if you could catch the crêpe with a frying pan after tossing it in the air with your right hand and holding a gold coin in your left hand, you would become rich that year.[11][12]
Happy new year 2015. In France, we have until the end of January to wish everyone a happy new year. So let me take this 31 January 2015 to wish you readers a good year ahead. A month is almost over and I hope you are already enjoying this new year.
Over here, things are good. My boys are coughing but not too sick to miss school. A1 told me half his class were not in last friday. A2's class was no better. There were many people down with stomach flu and the common cold.
The highlight of this month was Epiphany. A2 loves King's cake so much that we had it every weekend (Saturday and Sunday) and I even made it twice. The whole family had the chance to be King or Queen. That just goes to show how many King's cakes we had.
Another highlight was my company's annual dinner. Before dinner, we attended an organised tour of the exhibition of Jeff Koons at the museum of Centre Pompidou. With the guide's explaination, it helped us to understand better this modern artist and businessman.
Below, he used stainless steel to make these statues. They were so real that I would love to touch the inflated rabbit to make sure it was hard as steel.
This hanging heart below weighed a ton though it looked empty and light.
This balloon dog was really lovely to look at. His orange counterpart fetched his master a record of US$58.4 million.
This float was covered in aluminium and then repainted to make it look like a plastic float. Well, Jeff Koon has 100 artists working for him. I am sure it is easy for him to get his workers to execute his genius ideas.
I do like some of his works and his ideas. However, knowing that he has workers executing his art pieces, I find him more of a businessman than an art master.
If you are interested to read more about his works, I found this post talking about Jeff Koon's art show in New York. The one at Centre Pompidou was similar.click here to see the site.
For Christmas, A1 received a box of Kapla. Though the boys had Duplo bricks and wooden construction blocks, Kapla took structure building to a whole new level.
A1 had already played with Kapla in school so he was really happy to own a set. Kapla is a set of identical small wooden planks. With imagination, one can build complicated stuff with these stable planks.
The box came with a book showing different creations. While A2 was building a simple garage for his car, A1 and I tried to recreate what we saw in the book. Here is one of our simple construction. I would recommend this for boys and girls of all ages as a toy.
Many years ago, I watched on TV, a program about the creator of Kapla. When he first invented Kapla, he had a hard time convincing the market that these boring looking planks would be a great educational tool for children. He finally found success when he introduced Kapla to school teachers for recreational usage. Parents asked the school about the wooden planks their children were enjoying in school and that was how Kapla became so popular. I knew then I would have to have this if I ever had kids. And yes, it has been fulfilled.
I could not believe it but this is real. France had been attacked at its core, the freedom of expression. It seemed like a dream, a nightmare but it was not. Every word in this song was so true that I teared.
I live in France for 11 years. I came to understand that the freedom of expression is very strong in France and that the French makes joke out of any situation. Really any situation, even in bad bad situations. This is the unique french humour.
If you can't accept, look away. No need to get all violent.
I leave you with the video and the english translation.
English Translation
I'm not scared of you the extremist
You who kills our journalists
Do you believe you're a crusader
When you kill our policemen (guardians of peace)
Do you think you really have balls
When you kill your own brother
When on the ground he begged for mercy
It's enough I had enough
(chorus)
If you ask where is Charlie
He will be forever in our minds
A bullet shot for a pencil strike
You are dishonoring your religion
Go to Syria for Djihad
And come back for killing
Is that your carrier plan?
Do you think about the families behind?
Did you feel threatened by a pencil strike?
Satires in a newspaper?
Was it worth the death sentence?
(chorus)
You come coldly from Reims
armed and ready like a prince
Shouting the name of your God
Who wont even want you once dead
Respect of differences
Is what makes the beauty of France
This morning you ruined everything
It is hate that you have spread
(chorus)
I don't care where you pray
Don't attack the press
Because when war rages there
You're happy that there are cameras
Don't talk of religion
This excuse is simply bogus
I don't think there's a book
Asking you to shoot others
(chorus)
Even if I want to make a call of arms
I don't put everyone in the same basket
It is starting with an amalgam
That we create swastikas
I'm not scared, I am French
And it is standing that you will find me
Against you I draw my pen
Because I am also Charlie Hebdo
(chorus)
Trampling our freedom of speech
It means to attack our whole nation
We're 66 million and we tell you
Me too I am Charlie
Charlie Hebdo, a satirical news journal with not a big following had been attacked on 07 Jan 2015. Two gunmen went into the office and killed several people. The gunmen initally entered the wrong building and shot dead the receptionist. When they were leaving the office, they shot dead two policemen. A total of 12 victims.
I made myself a zipped tote bag. I fell in love with this print when I was at the fabric shop looking for zippers.
It has this Japanese feel to it. For the lining, I used a checker yellow and white fabric. I have like 5m of this cloth and somehow could never use it up. I bought it at the market when I first received my sewing machine. That was like two years ago.
I shall use this bag in Singapore. It looks out of place in this season of winter coats and scarves.
The boys had pony lesson for the first time today. In the area where we stay, there are many pony and horse riding clubs around. A few weeks ago, I saw a pamplet promoting pony lessons during the christmas school vacation. I decided to sign up the boys for a 3 hours lesson.
Usually, riding clubs accept at least a trimester lessons if not more. So this was a good occasion for the boys to just try one lesson.
Today is a very cold, wet and windy day. I made the boys wear two pairs of socks and few layers of clothes. Seb and I stayed in the beginning and when A2 was comfortable with the instructor, we left and had a coffee in the uptown. We came back to the pony club at 11am and watched the kids. They were doing great handling the ponies and carrying out the instructions given. I was so cold standing in the open that my feet were numbed.
They prepared and dressed their ponies, mounted the ponies by themselves with the help of some plastic stools, rode and even trotted.
At noon, the lesson was over. They took their ponies back to the box and patted them good bye.
We then headed to MacDonald for a quick lunch. The boys enjoyed this experience. We might try a lesson or two again when the days are warmer.
I received a sewing book two birthdays ago and had wanted to start a project from the book. I finally decided to take a break from sewing bags and to make a soft toy for my friend's daughter as a christmas present.
Here is the finished project. A fuschia dino softie. I washed the fabrics first after cutting them. So there is no worries on chewing the softie.
I sent it over to my friend in Germany and she told me her girl liked it. This is an easy project. Too bad my boys have too many soft toys and are too old to receive new ones.
Next up, a zipped tote bag for myself.
I have been silent on my blog for nearly a month. Well, that's because I have been busy with my blessed routine as a work from home mother.
Once the boys are in bed between 8.30pm and 9pm, I would get some chores finished like clearing up the kitchen, or starting the washing machine/dryer or ironing. When I have time for myself, it would be piano practise, reading or sewing. I was surfing online for Christmas presents as well. That easily ends a day and the next morning, the routine starts again...
For our 12th anniversary in Nov, I made a card holder for Seb. It was not as brillant as I like it to be. I followed this site and it was not at all difficult. However, my card holder is slighly smaller than the cards. I would have to make my seams at 0.5cm instead of 1cm for the next one.
I do like the inner fabric a lot. I am starting to have a huge stash of fabrics. Still, I succumbed to temptation and bought two fabrics recently. I intend to make zipped bags out of it. Stay tune to see pictures of that.
I ordered this book from Amazon as I read good reviews about it. I was so excited when I received it. I would like to give it as a Christmas present to my nephew who is taking English in his high school. However, Seb told me that he would be too old to be interested in such books. Maybe I will just keep it for my boys though I felt they are still young and might easily destroy this exquisite and delicate book.
This pop-up Jungle book is AMAZING. I love the engineering of this pop up book. I have no idea paper can be so 3D.
Just look at these pages. They are full of details. I love this book.
We still have a few weeks to Christmas. Maybe I will just change my mind and present it to the boys on Christmas. I am sharing about this book because it is an ideal Christmas present for children.
The zoo of Thoiry again. The boys visited Thoiry organised by the Centre de loisirs (Recreation center) in June. That was the first time A2 visitied the zoo and the boys enjoyed the trip.
We had tickets from Seb's company and as the cold days were coming and the zoo would be closed in mid autum, we visited the zoo last Saturday.
It was a sunny day and we packed picnic lunch. This was my second visit and the animals were closer to the car than the previous time. The zebras especially were walking from car to car (in search of food). The boys and Seb got to touch the zebra while I was snapping away.
This visit revived the boys' minds of what they saw during their last visit and they were telling us excitingly about it.
After the safari, we walked through the zoo. As the boys were older, we were able to visit more animals. A1 stopped by to play a while in the playground. A2 preferred to go to the animal farm to pet and feed goats. He loved animals.
Here are a few more photos of the safari.
The rhinocero did not want to face us.
The hippopotamus preferred to stay in the cool water. We waited a while to have a peek of their heads.
There are many zoos in France. We shall aim to visit others.
At 5 years old, our little boy is at the age of reasoning.
Here was what I overheard one morning over breakfast.
Translated into english. The dad went "You have to finish your breakfast. In order to grow up, you have to eat." A2 asked "Papa, are you still growing?" Dad went "Non, papa has stopped growing." "So why are you eating then?", questioned A1 innocently. That just made me laughed. Seb stammered back with something like he needed to eat to have energy for the day.
I have to give some backgound information on why Seb said that to A1 in the first place. A1 does not eat a lot for breakfast. He is contented to just drink a cup of milk. We have to constantly make him finish his bread, biscuits, cereals or cookies. He would prefer to eat fruits which we do give him sometimes. While A2 on the other hand, can finish his breakfast and that of his brother's if given a chance.
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And two days ago, while having dinner, Seb was putting fish on A1's plate. A1 asked 'Papa, you don't eat meat, right?' The boys are aware of this since a while but I guess the idea is not encasted in their minds. The dad replied 'Yes, I don't want to eat animals because I don't think it is good to kill animals.' 'Then why (did) you give me meat?', asked A1. Oops. We were at a sticky situation again. We explained to him that he needed meat for its proteins and vitamins to grow. And that he could make his own choice when he would be older if he wants to eat meat.
Seb and I discussed and realised that we have to be careful with what we say to our boys. They are no longer babies and can put things togather through logical thinking. OK, for the moment it is just A1. Still, we must not lie to our children.
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Something else I remembered. A few weeks ago, I was driving with A1 to Paris to meet up with friends. A1 said he learnt from school that there were two kind of eggs. If the cock gives the hen a seed, the egg will hatch and a chick will be born. I kept up the conversation and said: 'You know, your father gave me something to make you just like the cock.' He asked if it was a seed. I told him no and gave him the name. 'Where did he put it?' came his next question. By which, I quickly changed the subject: 'Let's see if there is any aeroplane in the sky.' He looked up as we were on the highway passing by the Orly airport. Then he went back to the topic and asked 'Why always boys you make?' I laughed out loud and told him we did not choose. It was a 50% chance. Well, he did not understand that. I told him he would understand when he would be older.
I hope to note down all these little innocent questions he asked. For a start, putting these in this post would help me to remember in later years how sweet and naive my 5 year old boy was.
He had no problem choosing a theme for his birthday party. As you can see, it is all about Spiderman.
When I asked who he would like to invite before school started, he cited all the friends from A1's class. I was not surprised as the boys were in the same class last school year and he played a lot with A1's friends. I suggested his own classmates and he decided to invite the three boys from his class and another four friends from A1's class.
A week before the party, I made a pinata by blowing a big balloon and pasting it with strips of newspaper. For the glue, I mixed one portion of flour with five portions of water and cooked it for 8 mins. Once the mixture cooled down, it was sticky. At first, I would like the pinata to be Spiderman but I thought the kids might not want to hit their hero. So in the end, I pasted green paper napkins and drew it to be the Green Goblin. I put in sweets before pasting the green paper napkins to conceal the opening.
My pinata was so solid that it was unbreakable. I made too many layers of paper marche. We ended up putting it on the ground and hitting it instead. The children rushed to get the sweets and a few played with the broken pinata by putting it over their heads as a mask.
The night before the party, I made Spiderman balloons and also a web. I made spider lollipops with little black pipe cleaners. I had a tough time looking for them in france as I did not know the name in french, nor did I know any craft shop. That was the decoration.
For games, other than the pinata, the kids threw water balloons at the bad guys pasted on the wall. They played a game of "Spiderman is here?". It was like "Duck, duck, goose". In France, it was called "Is the postman here?" One kid was holding a spiderman toy. When we finished the song of the postman by replacing it with "Spiderman", the kid would put the toy behind one of the children sitting in a circle. That kid would then have to chase the first kid until the first kid took the place of the latter.
In another game, they had to throw little cotton balls through the web and went through a mini obstacle course to get to a spiderman pinata which had goodies in it. This spiderman pinata had a slit at the back so the kids could put their hands in to grab a goodie.
In the party group, there was only one girl. The other girl invited could not make it. This girl was the only one who tried to walk through the obstacle course. The boys all just crawled through. That was an interesting observation.
For the party food, I made a birthday cake of Spiderman face. It was the first time I made this cake and the children were really excited about it. A2 was very happy. However, he did not want to cut his hero. Oops. I should have thought of that. We managed to convince him that it was okay to cut the cake as his friends wanted to eat it. There were also sweets, pop corns and cherry tomatoes with cheese on a stick.
After food was presents time. A2 was a lucky boy. His friends brought him his favourite toys. From Spiderman to Planes to Playmobil. The children were all excited to see what A2 got.
After 2hours and a half, the party was over. Seb and I were happy that things went well. It was a hot and sunny September day. Just the kind we were hoping for. Thank God. And the two of us had an early evening that day.
Having put the photos up in Facebook, I got comments from friends calling me a great hands on mother. Before becoming a mother, I would not have dream of making such efforts. Now, it is natural for me to try out new things (I was really lousy at art and craft) to make my children happy. My boys appreciated the DIY stuff I made. This in return makes me a contented mother.
