熱がある

I was running a fever last night.... No wonder I was shivering and feeling so weak... Hubs came in and promptly took the steps to make me better. Cold compresses, force-feeding of water ;P, and warm gentle company... I was feeling a little lightheaded but very very consoled...

The Liverpool vs Tottenham Spurs came on and not being able to sleep, I wrapped myself in my blanket and went out to watch the match with him. Yep, the cold compress was tied around my head unglamorously.

I had an apple to bring down the temperature and also to replenish the fluids. I was feeling better by half-time.

Liverpool did not play well... but they won in the end... 1-0. Yay!

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It was Saturday and Hubs wanted to go down to Funan to buy some stuff. I went with him though I was already feeling quite unwell and cold. It was alright. I planted myself at this huge stationary store on the 2nd floor. Most of the stuff there comes from Japan... It feels like I was in a ultra-mini Tokyu Hands. I walked around slowly, examining every shelf so I could last one hour there...

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Made Hubs bring me to Tampopo for dinner. This was what we had.















White Fish Tempura with Nori flakes ($4.80) - very yummy. The fish is tasteless though, as with all whitefish... but the little sprinkling of salt brings out the taste of the tempura and the nori... yum.















Hubs wanted the Shabu Ramen but it was out. So I made him order this Unagi Claypot Rice ($14.80). It comes with miso soup and a very very generous serving of sweet unagi! Apart from the piece you see covering the rice, there were chunks hidden within the rice too. The rice was also pearly and sweet... Ichiban!! Our only question is.... why isn't it a clay bowl? ;)















I had the Deluxe Miso Ramen ($13.80) - I ordered it mainly for the veges. It was really good!!!! It tasted more like tonkotsu to us then miso. The pork was heavenly, melting with every bite. There were huge servings of sweet crunchy corn, spring onions, bamboo shoots, nori, wakame, beansprouts, and of course, the slab of butter you see there... It was very filling for sure but we slurped up every single drop of the soup.

Ahhhhh...........

Note: The service is not very good though... when we called for the bill, the waiter simply slapped the bill on the desk and walked off. We had no idea whether to go to the counter or to wait for further instructions. Turned out that he came back a while later to 'collect' that slip of paper and our credit card. Weird... I don't remember it being like this the last time.

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Anyway, if you're interested, Tampopo is located at Liang Court Basement, within Meidi-ya.

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I went to Kino as usual but only had 10 mins. So I skipped towards the bargain alley and found this beautiful embroidery book (Wild Flowers Embroidery by Ondori). It was going at close to $40 originally and guess how much I got it for? $8!!!! It's rare to find craft books in the bargain alley though... so I got lucky. Inuyasha book 47 was also out. So I got to enjoy the 20% off before the deadline! Yippee!

Leaving you with two pictures from the book...




















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I am not ready for school.

Urghhh~!! It just won't stop raining! And I hate the cold! Plus it doesn't help that I am feeling like crap these days....

Haven't had the energy to do anything at all... Sleeping most of the time now... I made these stamps a while back. I mounted them on some wooden blocks using mounting foam tape, both bought from Daiso. I think it looks alright! One is for sis while the other is for mum.















This is a really great idea for personalized stamps! I made one for Alicia as well, carving her a cute moo cow. Too bad I gave it to her without first taking a pic... Oh well, there'll be more to come...

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Went to Jeannette's new place for a mini housewarming on the 26th. It was very nicely done up! Macam showflat lor. They spent 60k in total for the reno and furnishings... Yikes! I think I only spent about 20k on mine...

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Hmm.... I'm glad I have MC for one whole week.... else I would be at the school staff seminar now... I'm not in the right condition anyway.... sigh....

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School's starting soon and I've yet to prepare anything for the new term.... siao liao...

Oh well, fatigue is kicking in full force again... gonna lie down for a while....

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26 Degrees Celcius

I'm always in long pants and wraps at home these days.....

I can't stand the cold... Cool to Hubs = shivering for me. I need to get some warm homey slippers soon.

Went to register for my Advanced I Japanese class yesterday... $200 for the first term...

Wanted to stock up on my flag erasers at Bras Basah but they were out of the yellow-backed ones. They only had the blue and green which were way too dark. Decided on these instead...















They are also at 10 cents each but are 1 mm shorter than the flag ones... But I find it real funny how each piece is named... I think little boys can play war games with them. :D

I bought 19 pieces from them... less than $2!

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Had to wait for Hubs to get off work... so I went to Macau Crystal Jade to have a snack. I never knew that Hong Kong French Toast was so yummy!!!!! Loved every bite of the thick soft bread that was dripping with sinful butter and honey.... The egg coating was done to perfection too, giving a slightly crispy bite to the bread.... *Drooooooooool* $3 for one.




















Went to Kinokuniya to stock up on some books today. Ngee Ann City was so crowded!! Actually wanted to save money but couldn't find a decent place to sit at the fast food restaurants and food court... so I went to the 4th floor... Guess what... Crystal Jade again! But this time it's a Korean restaurant. Had this huge huge craving for vegetables.... so I ordered the Spicy Korean Beef Soup and Ginger tea. The soup comes with an assortment of veges and side dishes.















It was yummy! The soup was not too spicy and it came bubbling in a stone pot. The veges inside satisfied whatever craving I had.... A truly comforting meal for a cold day! If you want to know, the side dishes are sugared peanuts, french beans with squid, tofu, kimchi and spinach with beansprouts. They are all cold dishes. The beef soup is $14.90 while the tea is $4.

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I am so going to live on bread for the rest of the year. ;P

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Ok... I have one final cross to make for Jeannette. Her housewarming gift... this is the thickest so far at 0.8 cm. I figured it has to be thick in order to stand out on the front door... Hope it turns out fine.

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The sky looks perfect for a before-dinner nap..... the soup is still swishing in my stomach though...

zzzzz
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I'm sooo bloated...!

Managed to wake up for church today! Yay! ;P

After church, we went to Curry Favor at Stamford House for lunch. It was simply divine!!! The curry was really very good and the rice was cooked to perfection.















The menu is very extensive but being our first time there, we stuck with katsu curry, which can't really go wrong. I ordered the Hire Katsu Curry ($19.90) while he ordered the Ebi Fry and Rosu Katsu Curry ($18.50). We had a choice of mild or spicy with our curry. I went with the mild while he took the spicy (uncommon).

We were pleasantly surprised that our orders came with different curries. Mine was sweeter and smoother while his was thick and had a nice tang of seafood flavour. The spiciness in his curry came from the 7 spices powder that the Japanese love to use and was actually quite hot! And I liked how the curry came in aladdin-lamp-like holders.

We totally enjoyed our meal though about three quarter way through, we were stuffed and had to struggle with the last few pieces of meat... I'd rather eat the curry and rice than meat! That was how good the curry was... Yum!

We'll definitely go back to try the other items and maybe the appetizers as well.

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As usual, after lunch on Sundays, the two of us came back and snooooozed................ Plus it was raining heavily too... ah.... happiness.....

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Ending note: I did not get to cut the paper strips last night... procrastination at its finest.... ;)

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Tada ima! (I'm Back!)

A reminder from Evon brought me back to the world of blogging. Thanks Evon! ;)

Hmm... to start off, I went for my first COSPLAY event ever at the Singapore Expo today! Some of my students dressed up in their fav anime characters and I went down to support. Some of the cosplayers went through great lengths to dress up and they were really good! The most impressive was Orochimaru...

darn... should have taken a picture... but Hubs and I were feeling so out of place and a little embarassed! We could be the oldest folks there, apart from the tikopek photographers who were snapping away at the skimpily dressed girl cosplayers.

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Carved another stamp today... a little piggy. :)















Better start on my order from Jeannette soon... 2 Hannah crosses, 1 Susannah cross. And my housewarming gift to her, a Sophia cross.

Busy busy

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Oh ya, must remember to call Hai Sing and ask if they already have a desk for me... I need to move 7 years of teaching materials from Ngee Ann Sec to the new school. And my boxes of stuff are currently dumped at the staff lounge (much to my horror when i went back to school one day)... what a realistic world...

Oh well, it's 10 pm now... going to cut the paper strips for quilling before i go to sleep. We MUST wake up on time for church tomorrow!!!!


..... Nitez


Oh yeah.... I scored 337/350 marks for my JCS Intermediate Japanese Exam... that put me at the top of the class and the 6th position in the cohort of 400 students. *brag brag* ;D Mighty happy.















over and out

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Unproductive Day...

There are so many things that I should be doing or should have done today!!! But what have I done???

The laundry.

I think I have abnormal levels of inertia (if they can be measured in that...). My mind is saying "do this!" but my body doesn't move. And it stays unmoved...

Arrrghhh!

I gotta snap out of it.

When will I ever get better?!?

Been a while since I wrote... came back from Japan and caught the d*** flu again. Decided not to see a doctor and burn my pocket further...

So it's been two weeks. Still having that sore throat although my coughing has somewhat gotten better (there was a time where I would wake up in middle of the night just to hack my life away). Got my voice back, albeit a little husky still.

I could live with that.
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My hands are so itchy now! I want to launch myself into crafting mania!!!!

Oh, an update: I just signed one year of my life with MOE as a contract adjunct teacher. Life is gonna be much better with the half work load... but I can't let myself idle! Gonna work hard on my Japanese language and hone my crafting skills! But first, I need to get well! Sigh... *cough!

Going for a photo taking tomorrow at CISCO for my civil service card... to think I just surrendered that card when I resigned. Now I have to make a new one... Well, at least I will have free consultation and medicine at polyclinics...

Medical examination this coming Wednesday... need to take and X-Ray and all the usual stuff... really pray that there's nothing wrong with my lungs...

Hmm... was wondering if I should post about my trip to Japan but figured it's too much work. I AM LAZY ALRIGHT?! ;P Maybe I'll post bits and pieces of it here and then...

Oh... finally made the card for Meda from Romania. I am more than 20 days late for this swap! Anyway, here it is... not my best work in terms of colour contrast, but I'm pretty happy with the design.















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It's Sunday today... had a lazy day today... overslept for church... yikes.

Went to Suntec City's G2000. Hubs had this 50% off all purchases coupon and we bought $540 worth of clothing (mainly his shirts).

Bought 2 office tops for myself, a powder blue top for mum and two short sleeve shirts for dad... That amounted to $193!!! I actually didn't know that till I did a little calculation. Well, good thing we had that discount... :)

After we came back, Hubs went about assembling his SpaceWarp while I lazed on the couch reading newspapers... one word... shiok!

k.. gonna finish up my embroidery now...

My Vicious Flu Cycle...

I will not bow down to the BUG!!!! I will SURVIVE!!!
...

After 2 cycles of fever and sore throat, and that scary cough, I hereby announce that I HAVE SORE THROAT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I'm really worried. My cough has not gone away since the day it all started on the 2 August. And this vicious flu cycle is getting to me... Shinpai desu ne......

I have since had a jab, tons of medicine (western, eastern, natural... you name it) and sleepless nights trying to suppress my cough.

Last Thursday I laid in bed from 1:30 am to 3:30 am before giving up and went to mark my papers. I went back at 4:30 am and finally fell asleep...

To think that I am gonna be flying in less than 2 day's time...
...

Haven't updated my blog for a week... been busy with marking and finishing up Mrs Pong's order.

I'm left with 3 phone pouches now...

I made about a hundred bucks from all the mad sewing...

It's so not fun... :P
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Got my first Teachers' Day present from Ashley and gang on Friday. It's a set of Bleach figurines! Think they would sit nicely with the naruto collection.

Thanks Ashley! I will get you a plastic sushi from Japan ok? ;D
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Ok. I have tons of preparation to do... and I have to pray very very hard for healing....
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Be joyful in hope,
Patient in affliction,
Faithful in prayer.
--- Romans 12:12

Thanks Laoda for this verse! Amen!
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Recovering from a scary throat infection...

After my previous post, I went to bed...

I woke up a few hours later with a fever and an inflammed throat! Not again!

Went to school nevertheless since it was my paper and I gotta make sure that everything's ok... was shivering in the hall during invigilation.

Went to the doc in the afternoon and found that I was running a 38.6 degrees fever with a very red throat. I was given some medication and went home to rest.

It was really bad that night... The fever wouldn't go down and the pain in my throat got worse.
...

Saturday... had to miss Jap lesson and lunch with my teacher. Went to the doc. Got an antibiotics jab. My fever was still hovering at 38 degrees. I was so afraid that I won't get well in time for the trip.

Had a tough afternoon fighting the virus.

I won. The fever went down. Praise God! I must thank all those who prayed for me...

I felt well enough at night to start on my order from Mrs Pong (8 linen pencil cases, 3 blue pencil cases, 6 drawstring pouches and 3 handphone pouches). I figured I had better get started on them soon.

So here are the 3 pencil blue pencil cases...















And the eight linen pencil cases waiting to have their lining sewn on... sigh*















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I have finally finished setting my two exam papers.

Imagine me with cool gel on my forehead, and a face mask over my face while I sat at my laptop typing out the answer. Quite a pathetic sight.

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Today, I am going to formally get started on my marking... and when I get bored with that, I can get started on the pouches (or sew on the dreaded lining... ), AND if i get bored with that, I can surf the web for infor for my Japan trip...

I think I am going to have a very very busy week ahead...

I am going to Japan!!!!!

Amen! Amen! Amen! Praise God!

*jumps for joy*

I am going to be a bad teacher and ditch my pupils during their exam to enjoy herself in Japan.

But hey, this IS the opportunity of a life time! Plus my no-obligations status with the school now, there won't be another chance like this!!!

I feel that this is really divine timing. I am so grateful for His Blessings......

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I have been coughing my lungs out today... It's getting under my skin and my throat feels like there's cotton stuck in there. Very very irritating...

I HAVE TO GET BETTER!!!

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Trying to do my exam paper today... so much for being ambitious. I am merely one third into the paper. Arrghh! And my cough is so distracting!

And I can't keep my hands off from surfin the net on Japan!

Ok. Focus, girl. Focus.

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横浜へ行きたいよ!!!!!

Hubs came back tonight and said that he found free accomodation at Yokohama for two weeks starting from the 26th Aug... It's 5 star hotel Pan Pacific!!! Going at more than US$300 a night man.......

I WANT TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But it's term time and I don't think I can leave. Then again, the Prelims are until 11 Sept? But the N Levels are starting and my paper is the 9th Sept! The kids are gonna need me!

I'm so gonna check out my options tomorrow. Praying hard.

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I made a prototype of a book cover using calico and cotton tape while watching Singapore Idol. It's so easy to make!!! I think the sewing took less than 10 mins. I can't wait to make the real thing!
















I made this cos I was so inspired by Tania Ho. You can find her blog under Links. Her book covers are simply amazing.

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ARRRGHHHH!!!! I can't get Yokohama out of my mind!!! But that means I have to finish marking my papers in one week! Is that even POSSIBLE???!?!?!

Lord, please help me. This is really a great and wonderful opportunity. I pray that You will help me work out my work plans and schedule for this trip... Amen.

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Oh wow. I can't believe it's midnight again. And I haven't progressed much in terms of my exam papers.

Well, I AM the mad crafter after all.....

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I need to sleep earlier....

I need to sleep. More. 6 hours each day is simply not enough for me.

I'm a pig.

Ever since I returned to teach, I have been struggling each morning to stay awake. It doesn't help that I have now less classes to teach, which means I am at my desk pretty often... zzzzz......

I resolved this morning to sleep before 11 every night... hmm....

It's almost midnight now. Heh.

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Tomorrow is the beginning of the prelims. That means my 7 classes of marking is coming in. This Friday. And there's the two exam papers that I have yet to set!

Arrghhh!

Sigh... that's me. And I was doing anything but the above today...

I had a 2.5 hr nap... and promptly set off to put my newly bought lace to good use....















And made this simple pencil case for meself. Yay! I like how it turned out! Actually I tried to follow a pattern in a book (小さな布小物, p 35), but that didn't work too well...

Think I'm gonna make more for my mum and sis (if I can get around to that... ;D).

Used the linen from IKEA ($12/m) and the floral cotton from Arab Street ($11/m). It's pretty small and measures L20 cm by W7 cm. I used a 20 cm zip here.

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Ok. I must sleep soon if I want to survive tomorrow. With invigilation going on, I will be even more sleepy!

I will work on my exam papers tomorrow...

Tomorrow.... yeah...

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Tuna Sandwich for Dinner...

Hubs' working late tonight.

You know I don't cook if I can help it... So I bought white bread and a can of Ayam Brand Tuna with Mayo on my way back from work. I'm eating it now as I type. Voila! Dinner's done.

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Hubs and I sprang out of bed this morning. It was 7 am. And I was supposed to reach school by 7:20. Oh well, since I am now officially a relief teacher, I couldn't really care less. ;D

Reached school at 7:45 am.

I only had one period of lesson today... busied myself with the paperwork required for contract teaching. Feeling sorry for the trees...

Left the school at 1:30 pm sharp and felt pretty happy with myself! Last to come, first to go. Heh heh...

I dropped by the sewing supplies store and bought the following:

iron-on interfacing ($1.50 for a huge huge sheet! Cheap!)
a couple of zips (35 cents each)
red cotton binding tape ($1)
white lace (60 cents/yard, I bought two)















I was so hoping to find linen coloured lace and binding tape but they don't carry such cool stuff... ;P I'm just hoping that Spotlight carries them.

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After I reached home, I put on a facial mask (peel off type) and had a 45 min nap. It was good! Plus the mask picked up lotsa clogged-pore gunk.

So that's what I call 'double the joy'.

Set off to put my interfacing to good use and made this little bank book holder though I'm sure I'll end up using it as a purse.















I had some problem sewing the zip on... at one point I didn't know how to position it so that it wouldn't sew onto other parts of the cloth... There's gotta be a way around that...

Anyway, I managed and here's the result. Dimensions L15 cm by W12.5 cm.

All you need is two pieces of cloth (outside and lining) and a piece of interfacing to make it stiff, all 27 cm by 19 cm, and a 16 cm zip. I got this Japanese pseudo-sashiko cotton at IKEA. They were having a sale and it only cost $5 a metre.

Ok... that's the story of my first project that involves a zip.

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I have two exam papers due next Monday. I am so not going to make the deadline!

This is reality...

Oh well, heck.

Gonna watch some telly and make myself another (huge!) serving of the tuna sandwich. I may even play a round of Guitar Hero after that. ;D

My First Sale!!

I sold the two quilled crosses to Sophia yesterday.

Had a really hard time deciding on the price... but after some prayer, I decided on $20 for them. When I passed her the crosses, I actually couldn't bring myself to tell her that and asked her instead what she would pay for them. And guess what she said?

$20.

Haha. Praise God.

Ok. So I made my first sale.

Happy as a lark.

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Went to Liang Court for lunch at Tampopo after church. Great sermon by the way ('Win over Worry').

Liang Court is one of my favourite places in Singapore! Maybe because it is swarmed with Japanese expats and their families.

Yeah so I'm a Jap-wannabe.

The lunch at Tampopo was great as usual. I ordered a Salmon Don for $15. It was completely covered with thick (think 1 cm thick) slabs of fresh salmon! *Squeals in delight!* It also came with generous toppings of pickles, sweet omelette and ginger, plus a pipiing hot bowl of miso soup. Subarashii ne!

Hubs had the Shabu Shabu Black Pig Ramen (think it was $13). It was heavenly. I've never tasted yummier and more tender pork slices.

We also ordered the black pig gyoza. To his horror (not mine), the pork filling was almost raw! Yeah... looks like the ground pork that sits in the bowl before being wrapped by the wanton skin. We made a mental note not to order that again.

After lunch, we had our regular gelato ice cream (it's a ritual!). I had Pistachio and Sweet Potato with Chestnut (very sweet indeed). Hubs had Green Tea with Red Bean and Milk Ice.

We were stuffed.

I headed to Kinokuniya as usual and Hubs went to Audio House (another unspoken ritual).

Guess what I found?!

The はんけしくん brand of carving eraser blocks!!!!!! I finally found it!　Ever since I bought this amazing and stunning book on eraser carving '晴れときどきはんこ ' ISBN 4391129914, I've been searching all over the place for big eraser blocks. I tried all the major bookstores, art supplies stores and even the tiny ones at Bras Basah. I would never have thought that I would find it here at the Liang Court Kino since the Ngee Ann City main store doesn't carry it.

It cost $8.95 a block.

I wasn't exactly about to part with nine bucks for a slab of rubber. So I let it go this time. I'll just wait for one of those carvish moods to swing by. Besides, I have a big bag of 10 cents erasers (y'know, those with the flags of countries printed on one side?) that served me well through my carving frenzy.

We'll see.













Bought a box of coloured reinforcement rings (320 rings for $1.80, in green, yellow, purple and pink). I have always wanted to make some gift tags.

Other things I bought: a sketch book ($5.25) from the Soho series in Japan, a rough sketch pad that was too cheap to pass up ($2). The cover is so cute plus it's a steal.

We were both beat.

Knocked out for 1.5 hours when we got home. Shiok!

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Came back from in-law's at around 10 pm.

I'm trying not to think about work tomorrow.

Watched an episode each of Naruto and School Rumble. The latter was hilarious as usual.

Still not thinking about work even though school starts in 8 hours time.

The night is still young...

Yeah..... I love my life.