Flurry of events

Been a while since he last posted. It had been a very hectic year, new job scope, arrival of apartment and subsequently busy with the renovation and furnishing, then to Australia for about 3 weeks. Let's look at some updates, not necessarily linked.

Got a new pet. Chilli plant. Extracted and dried some seeds from the supermarket bought chilli-padi (bird's eye chilli), planted about 8 of them, 4 sprouted, but only 2 survived. Let's look at the chronology of its growth.
 

First capture, leavers growing nicely

 

Opening up towards the sun

Second pair of leaves coming out

"Side-stretch"

Third pair of leaves coming out

Christmas Eve - leaves grown bigger and wider, with the 4th leaf growth coming out.

He also attempted to replicate his friend's Mom's chicken curry that he loved so much.

Found out later on that he should have gotten the "meat curry", instead of this "chicken curry" one.

Hmm, tasted different and looked of a wrong color

Finally got the correct Baba's "meat curry" powder. Marinating the meat.

Finally, the color looks correct, but still doesn't taste as good as auntie's.

Let's recap furnishing the living room...

Setting up the Samsung 5 series LED Smart TV

Chesterfield sofa, coffee table and TV console in

Figuring out the best height to wall-mount the TV

Huge mess. Getting addicted to drilling holes in the wall.

 

Work accomplished, waiting for the speakers.

Cushions added to the sofa

The purchase from Courts finally arrived after a week long delay and lots of calls

Music alive.

He experienced pink/orange water stains in the shower, and also read that some neighbours experienced the same thing. It was revealed that it was caused by bacteria that thrived on high levels of iron in the water. The tap water that he drank everyday tasted a little too metallic too, so he decided to get a water filtration system. Was contemplating Novita dispenser ($299), Hyflux tap filter (~$128, ~$69 for refill), and found OSIM uPure2 for $128 (~$39 for replacement filter cartridge). Luckily OSIM was running some promotion and he got it for a better price. 

OSIM uPure2 for $99

 
Some pictures of the daily cooking that they had done.

Healthy vegetables for her when she was sick

Brunch before the RT

$1.50 chicken leg from Sheng Siong

Toast with soft-boiled eggs

Had this almost daily during his 3-week leave

Made fried rice from left-over rice. Getting better at it

Likes to lay out his ingredients in recent. Creates a lot of plates to be washed.

Product of the previous picture

Lunch on a certain weekend

Food of convenience. Instant noodles, celery and frozen food.

One dish and one soup, both of very similar ingredients

Convenient food again, with squid balls.

Steamboat for his colleagues

Attempt to go vegan for a meal. Despite having so much vegetables, the stomach still felt empty. Had fried chicken at Long John Silver's after that.

Bought XXL crab one particular day, but she went out with her friends for dinner. He had both monsters to himself.

Also, finally sorted out the mess in the utility cupboard. Bought wood plank from IKEA, sawed it in half, and drilled it into the wall to hold the house phone and the modem.

Cut a hole in the media box to thread the cables out.

Borrowed a saw to do this

Before, the cables prevented the closure of the media box, there was nowhere to place the house phone, and the modem was held with masking tape. Much neater and safer after, eh?

Super Sunday

Dragged all her clothes there today. Had to take a detour under the scorching Sun, so that he could wheel it all the way. Heavy stuff, no kidding. All sweaty and tired when he reached the unit.

Going on an overseas trip? Almost.

Washed the Friven bedsheets, and the Friven mattress protector (by Tilam King). Hung them up to dry, not before cleaning the super dirty poles. The wind stopped blowing once he hung them up. Hurrrrrrr.

Put her clothes into the wardrobe.

Powered on the refrigerator for the first time.

Aired the bean bag.

Cleaned the mirror cabinets, the glass shelves, and the towel racks. Put a fresh toilet roll into the roll holder. Brought shampoo and facial foam over to meet their friends, body foam and hand soap.

Moved, unpacked and laid the mattress. With the help of T, of course.

Tilam King Luxury series on top of Casa divan

Scrubbed the floor, then mopped it up. Still some stains left, gotta remember to buy lemons the next time.

Cleared out the storeroom and mopped it up.

Tried to clean the 30-year old pots given by Mom. Only to find a huge-ass fat silverfish with its family inside the set of 4 pots. Soaped them down, but when overturned to drain, some brownish-black liquid came out from the side of the pots. Dumped them immediately. Eew.

Then it was for the mega family reunion dinner (4 tables), rushed there, but he was late. Then the awkward thing happened. The contractor came by with his family and sat at the table next to Granny. He went over to say hello, and as it was just beside Granny, she and one of the aunts asked about his renovation problems, and he had to tell them that the renovation contractor was just beside them. Embarrassing. Hot on the heels of this conversation, another uncle came by and asked loudly about the resolution of his bad experiences. He also had to tell him that the contractor was just beside them. Awkward max.

 Over this weekend, more of his orders came.

 First to arrive was his doob bean bag. Got a large Plopsta ($269) for its waterproof properties.

Personalized touch.

However, he regrets that he should have just stuck with his original choice of doobsta, finished with a softer material. You know that stretchy and soft feeling when you sink into a bean bag?

Big enough to seat 2 on its length.

Took a photo in an attempt for the doob rebate.

Guitar on its throne.

Then came the bed frame from S&C Furniture. Unfortunately, they came with the wrong plastic legs, and thankfully, they could not be attached to the underside. Immediately called the boss, Melvin, and confirmed that the legs should have been wooden ones. Rescheduled the installation.

Couldn't settle for any other colors, somehow. $580.

S&C also delivered the shoe rack. Finished in glossy paint. The edges had some black lines, he'll feedback to Melvin and see what he can do. Otherwise, it's something he can live with, it's a shoe rack anyway.

Shoe rack for $320.

The mattress that came really last. Bought the Luxury series from a local company called Tilam King. 10cm latex top, with individual pocketed springs. It was really comfortable at the showroom, and he immediately placed an order for it. Silly him, should have bargained first, no thanks to excitement. Was also looking at the Lady Americana Chanity series, but ended up opting for this, as the latex top felt softer.

Mattress left in the living room.

Strummed his out-of-tune guitar, and hurt his delicate fingers. Hmm. How long hasn't he fondled her.

Sinking in and enjoying the air-con.

Workers came by with the corrected wooden legs, but something feels wrong about the installation of the legs. Took a picture to consult Melvin.

4 legs on one segment, 6 on another? Feels wrong.

Fixed, but he did not put the mattress on yet. Not until he gets clarification from Melvin.

All fixed up, or is it?

Bedframe and shoe-rack done

Dropped by S&C Furniture Dynamic, and purchased his divan and shoe rack.

Was mulling between cream, mocha or white for the divan. Cream out as the walls were also cream, mocha was perceived to be stain-resistant, white was nice, but might yellow in the long run.

Guess which he chose in the end?

White.

They didn't have wood finishes for the shoe rack, it was only gloss white or black. Ended up getting white again.

Spent a total of $900 today.

Was recommended this extendable dining table. Looks quite good, and was quoted $1,500. Need to think a little more about it though.

Prefers a lighter color. But this looks good anyway.

Oh, and he just purchased a doob Plopsta bean bag online. http://www.getdoob.com/plopsta.html

Spent about $3,000 just this weekend. Gotta "eat grass" already.

Discovery while cleaning

10 August

Went to City Square Mall to visit Picket and Rail, but the colors on the dining tables were a tad too dark. Went next door to V.Hive and saw a nice TV console, and mix of white gloss and wood-grain. That was only available in 120cm length though. Had a quick meal at Long John Silver before heading to the flat.

Cleaned out the wardrobe, and found out that several panels were not level. While dusting the place, the duster got hooked on top of one of the doors. Touching the surface felt rough, so he decided to climb up and check.

Disappointment. Just what did he pay for? Called up David of Bonzon 2000 Design and Contract, but David was rude and loud. He claimed that this was expected, and nobody had ever complained except for him. Checked the top of the other room door, and it was well finished, unlike this one. Explained to David that he only got to check because the duster got caught, but David challenged him and asked if he wanted reimbursement for the duster. Such irresponsibility. It's clearly a problem with the door, not the duster.

Seriously thinking of consolidating the defects and emailing RADAC. Totally no integrity. First of all, the wrong doors were installed, and yet David kept quiet (he said he would let it slip by if not discovered). He did offer a discount on the doors if he would keep them, and that offer was taken up. Never expected it to be such shoddy work.

Unfinished surface

More unfinished surface

Much as he was agitated, but work still has to be done. Touched up the paint on the chips on the walls, the cracks at the skirting. Cleaned out the refrigerator and washed some of the panels. Some were smeared with too much glue.

Also fixed up some door buffers to curb doors with tendencies to smash into the walls. Bought this from Nippon Home at Buangkok.

Stick-ons instead of screw-ons

This was affixed onto the wall adjacent to the kitchen cabinet door. Fixed another one on one of the cabinets to prevent them from slamming into each other. And the last one on the wall of the main door, with the location marked clearly by Dad, having grounded a depression into the wall the other time.

Stuck on the wall, hope it lasts

And beautiful skies to ease unpleasant emotions away.

XPERIA SP colors turn out weird