My baby girl is 18 months this week

How time flies...

She's still very much a baby...but, I don't mind...as long as she's toilet-trained!

Uh-Oh we're in trouble

Yesterday, Riko shredded some tissues along our driveway. As usual, when she heard "WHO DID THIS?"... she conveniently left the scene of the crime to god-knows-where. This morning, I found the tissues on the driveway... the same old bits that I swept into the outdoor dustbin. As usual, I said "WHO DID THIS?". Girl left the scene. Boy came over to begin his investigation. He picked up the bits and shaking about as if wondering who could have done this. Then, he got on to shredding them into smaller bits...perhaps, in an attempt to lose the evidence.

Normally, the girl will run out to the backyard to hide until the coast is clear. But, since I fenced of the back garden temporarily, she has made used of my baby frangipani tree as cover. That was until the tree grew taller and she had to find a new cover.

So, this is her new hiding place... at first, she kept very still...I didn't notice her camouflaged against the window.

until the boy came over to busy-body..

Sketchbook Project 2012 is on!

I'm so excited that my annual sketchbook project is starting. Hope to crank up the old artsy engine and get my creative juices going.

So, those who are interested anywhere around the world, you can sign in here. This year's project will have planned stops in London and Melbourne in 2012. Must.really.plan.London.and.New York.2012.trip.now. Will.ask.force.friends.to.view.my.books.in.Melbourne.


Meanwhile, my current books are on tour in the U.S. Here are the books being packed up for their next destination. Let's see...they are in Washington D.C this week and in Seattle on June 10-11.


So far, four kind souls have borrowed my books to have a look. You see, we get an email notification each time the book is borrowed. So cool!



I didn't expect any views...so, I thought I have to go visit them myself next year. Look at the competition....


What are the chances of your books getting pick from the sea of books here?


Getting picked

Checking out the books for a closer look. Just look at some of the gorgeous covers.

The overwhelming creativity in one place sometimes makes me want to crawl into a hole and hide...but, I'm back this year to take up the challenge again.

hehehe...four views are definitely better than none!

Gunshot wounds, slash scars and bite marks

The blog silence is killing me. My dearly beloved home modem had recently died and gone to heaven. The new modem has been acting up. So, pardon the dust on my blog.

Meanwhile, the kids are well...maybe, playing a little to hard lately.

I've been finding all kinds of injury on them. The first one from Mariko looked like someone's tooth sunk into it...and when the scab fell, it looked like a gunshot wound.


This is Riko's first gunshot wound.



Then, it was Ruki turn. The injury was difficult to detect due to his thick fur. I remember one night, there were blood stains on the floor where he laid. I did a full body check ... mainly on the paws because I thought he may have stepped on glass during our walk. Nothing. Then, a couple of days later, I noticed some fur at the top of his body was out of place. When I was combing it back, I found a loose Julienne slice of his furry scalp sticking out... like he was slashed by someone.

When that wound healed, Ruki developed a hardened skin on the tip of ear. Fears ranged from mites to some flesh-eating disease. So, off to the vet. It turned out to be bitten. Looks like my girl may have been chewing on his ear!!

Then again, the boy chews on her ear too!!



This week, I discover a julienne-sliced wound on Riko. Now, I'm totally cool about it and treating them as routine cuts-and-scrapes on my kids.

Return of the Magic Wand

We have settled into a nice walk route since the start of the year. So, I thought.

I'll normally control his walk-sniff balance whereby, I will allow him to sniff on certain parts and strict walk on parts of the route. But, for the past 2 weeks, Ruki has been sniffing way to much while walking. It's to the extent that he's been walking zig-zag under some kind of trance. He'll want to double back on some interesting sections. When I direct him to certain parts of our usual route, he will turn around and face the direction he wants to go. So, we are pivoting around the same spot until he gets his way. Presumably, my route choice is way too boring.

So, this week...we saw the revival of the magic wand. I hope I will regain control of my boy...because we are starting to look embarrassingly comical on our walks in the neighbourhood.


P.S. My sketchbooks made it safely to New York. It will start its tour in Austin, Texas. The exhibition is at the Austin Museum of Art on Saturday, March 12 and the 29th St Ballroom at Spider House on Sunday, March 13 from noon until 6pm each day.

OMG! I almost killed my girl today

I left my girl locked in my car at daycare while I left for work in a hurry. I didn't realize she was hiding at the backseat when I shut my car door and got into the taxi. I did find it strange that she did stand at the driveway to bid me goodbye. I thought she was up to some mischief somewhere in the garden. I didn't think much of it until I received a call from grandma. She was looking for my girl on her way out and couldn't find her anywhere....until she saw her bopping head in my car. Lucky for me that someone was at home...my car was parked in the garage (not in the sun)...and she was found within 10 minutes.

Scary to think that she could be left longer than she did in my car with the windows up. She loves to go into the car. I think she just wants to follow me around. One of these days she'll smuggle herself up the car again. If she stays really quiet, I wouldn't realize it until I reach the office.

Thank God it's Friday!

Scent of a woman (dog)

I will not hesitate to say that my girl smells great all the time. I'll sniff her whenever I can .... just to spot-check. I have no idea how she does it... but I'm not complaining. Both kids eat the same foods, bathe the same frequency and do the same stuff. My girl smells equivalent to a baby. It's very distinctively like burnt sugar...like caramel. Perhaps, that's why she turned out to be brown in colour!

Meanwhile my Busuk* boy often smells like rotten fish...to be exact...dried fish...the Asian-style kind (a.k.a. ham yue). He has a thick coat and perhaps...in his past life or so...was a happy fish. He has to dip in his water pool every day ... rain or shine.

* Busuk = smelly in Malay

Poo patterns

My boy loves public pooing and peeing. Our daily walk starts with him rushing from our gate like he has a stomach. He makes a beeline to the end of the road where there are public bushes stalls for him to make deposits.

My girl has NEVER done the number one or two outside EVER. I think she finds it undignified to squat in strange places. So, she prefers the privacy of her own home.

So, when it comes to the matter of pooing and peeing, my kids are polar opposites. But one thing's for sure...there's always "packages" to pick up every morning from the lawn.

Blast from the Past

Haruki at 10 weeks

Mariko at 10 weeks


Wish my kids could live forever at this age (all potty-trained).

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day

I often think how grateful I am that my kids get along. They always share some tender moments like this...

Then, moments later...it erupts to this. Believe it or not, my girl loves playing rough and being chased a lot.

To think that, it was only yesterday they spent their first V-Day... when Ruki found her cute but annoying (he still does).

Then, when she was in heat...my boy fell hard for her.

Nowadays, I would like to think they are great buddies. My boy is still so patient with her annoying antics. Riko idolizes her brother and often emulates him. It's amazing.

You know you have crossed the line

when you shared the same toothbrush as your kids one sleepy night...and when you realized it...you kept on brushing.

It's not even Valentine's Day yet...

Bowser and Mariko sitting in the garden
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
First comes love,
then comes marriage,
luckily no pup in the baby carriage!


Momma caught someone kissing on Chinese New Year's Day


Full frontal khalwat* scene for Bowser's dad to see...



* khalwat is the malay term for close proximity for unwed parties.

Happy Chinese New Year!

It's the time of the year for hong bau! The kids shall have red envelopes filled with treats..

My kids in January 2011

In a rare ocassion when my girl looks larger than my boy...

Ruki goes to the salon

It's been a long time (1.5 years) since our last visit to the groomers. So, when i stopped by the week before to make an appointment, I was surprised that the groomers remembered my boy. Haruki... the yellow lab? yeah...that's my boy alright.

We haven't been back often since Ruki cannot stay clean for long. But, I think he loves the attention and pampering. He loves his bath time a lot. He has no problems being left alone at the "spa" while I go for yoga.



Unfortunately, he still like to mark in public. He made sure that the few bags of Eukanuba dog food at the front of the pet store is his. Then, he said goodbye to the groomers by marking their front dog!

He managed to stay clean for a day. At least, he enjoyed himself at the spa and a visit to the pet store later that day.

If your dog was human, what would he/she do for a living or hobby?

My dog forum posted the above question. Let me see...

Haruki would be a food tester or a spa owner.


Mariko would be a FBI agent or a mattress tester.

My natural snooze button

For a long time now, I lived without an alarm clock in the house. My kids are up at the crack of dawn... and I let them out a crawl back to bed. They usually entertain themselves ...barking at everything and anything that moves and running up and down the yard. Somehow like clockwork, my boy will come into the room at 8.45am. At first, he'll sit quietly by the bedside. Then, the soft whines will start...followed by his high-pitched bark and foot nudges.

Today, my snooze-button boy rang four times and jumped on the bed twice to get me out of bed. That was even before my maid arrived.

You see, on Friday mornings, the maid comes at 8 sharp to clean the house. However, this morning...it rained so it really felt like 7 am. I was wondering why my boy was demanding I get up so early. When I finally got up, I found that it was already 9.30 and my maid had called in sick.

I suppose from now on I should not question my alarm clock!

Meet the Cousins

Today, my kids met their cousin Bowzer for the first time. Riko took an instant liking for the four month old beagle. She kept the cutie pie under her legs as much as she could.

Ruki sniffed and frisked him well to make sure he was not the enemy. Ruki was happy just being a spectator and occasionally showing fearless Bowzer who's the boss. Otherwise, he was just rolling about the grass after making trips to his dipping pool.

The kids got along well. It shows that they could get along with a third pup...not to say that I want another. No, two is just enough!

Meanwhile, my boy has been looking and acting like a St. Bernard these days. He's been submerging himself in the pool any chance he gets...and of course, the best time is always when we are getting ready to go to daycare! He also needs to sleep in an air-conditioned room... otherwise, he can't sleep. I need to find some time to send him to the groomers to trim his fur a bit...so that he looks a bit more decent. Half the time now, he looks like a wet mess from spending too much time in his pool.

I need him to look like this all the time. My dream dog (after grooming) Look at his aerodynamic waist line just a year ago!

I almost had a heart attack when...

...Grandpa told me he tried to let Mariko go off-leash outside.



Apparently, he took my girl out to the little green patch he uses with my boy. My girl was running up and down the patch off-leash. After two successful recall, Grand dad shouted "GO!"....and my girl LEFT the scene. She took off to the roads on her own!!!

This off-leash green zone connects our street with the next street. So, off she ran down the neighboring road .... looking back only to see when grandpa was frantically tailing her. She zipped right down to the end of the road. Luckily, she didn't cross the busy junction down the road to get to her usual walking circuit.

Thank goodness, grandpa caught up to her as she was trying to get to the next street. This is not the way I want to start my New Year!

Mariko Christmas and Haruki New Year!

I've been super busy lately and hadn't the chance to make a post here. I've still got backlog work to complete, emails and text messages to reply...which I have to (unfortunately) carry forward to this year. It's been crazy month. We hosted Boxing Day dinner last weekend....serving Eurasian-styled Devil curry, ratta yogurt salad, minced beef with potatoes and rice...with Pineapple-upside down cake for dessert.

Here's Mariko looking pretty with her Princess Leia crown. It's once a year I subject my kids to this ridiculous act.

My boy did not want anything to do with his santa hat. Since he's been "off-leash", he thinks he's a big boy now.


Today, we hosted our New Year Brunch...which I had only confirmed to hold yesterday when I finally had a chance to do grocery shopping. How did I spend midnight as the fireworks were blasting away? Well, I spent it on all fours on my kitchen floor! I spilled some batter in my still-running oven which seeped through to the kitchen floor. Geez...I hope this "clean-up messes" is not indicative of the year ahead!! *touch wood*

This morning... of all mornings, my kids decided to let me sleep in...when I was supposed to be preparing for brunch! Luckily, I was awaken by my mobile phone ring at 9am. So, my kids had their New Year breakfast feast outside while I was cooking up a storm in the kitchen.

Even in meals...they are in formation...right up to their tails. ;)


In the end, our New Year brunch turned out great...despite the last-minute shopping and using untested recipes I was admiring a few days back. I glad that I managed to make my quiche after talking about doing so for a whole year. Finally, last year's resolution crossed out this year!

Menu
Bacon-brie quiche (delish!)
Greek Baked pumpkin omelette
Breakfast sausages and portobello mushrooms sauteed with fresh herbs served with capsicum relish
Salad of romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cranberries and toasted almond flakes with Italian dressing
Oatmeal buttermilk pancakes with blueberries
Freshly-squeezed lemonade with mint and coffee


And when it was all over, we were all dog-tired.

It felt like only yesterday....

...Little Mariko came home. I'm glad the kids get along swell. Riko idolizes her big brother. Ruki tolerates her being at his face and following his every move.

then...



now...my dogs in formation

Something smells

For the past week, it seems there is some kind of windfall of soup bones at day care. It might well be due to Grandma striking a little win from a lottery. So, the kids have been having giant bones to gnaw on during the day. Mariko seem to have an obsession to them. She decided to take one back from daycare on Monday. As it turns out, most nights this week, she has been gnawing a bone on the ride home. The car ride had been blissful until the car started to reek like the meat section of the supermarket.


So yesterday, I threw the bones out of the dogmobile into the garden for her prolonged enjoyment. All was well again when I went to bed.

You see, my bedroom is temperature-controlled for my boy. He prefers to sleep in near artic conditions. Apparently, the kids smuggled a bone in the bedroom. By the time I went to bed, I thought I had walked into a meat-packaging factory!

..except...the only bodies lying around were my kids!


After a trilogy of fart, poo and reeky odours.... I am desparate to see green pastures, fluffy clouds and blue skies by year end.

The ugly truth about being off-leash

Some weeks after my sprained ankle incident, I found out that grand dad has been taking my boy off-leash to a patch of grass next to the main road. I'm resolved to trying to stay positive about the whole idea. I'm also intrigued about knowing how it's done .... how you wake the boy from scent trance when it's time to go.

With my ankle still on recovery mode, I've mustered the courage to do some off-leash with the boy this week after dinner. On the first try-out, we went to the park down the road. Ruki went on his sniffing frenzy the moment he jumped out of the car. I was yelling at him every few minutes to stay close while walking my girl on leash. Now, every walk is not complete without a poo. So as Ruki started to squat down, I noticed his leash dangling at his behind. We rushed over to pull the leash from under but.. Too late...I got piping hot poo on my hand!! Yucks! We left the park hurriedly and I drove home with one hand on the steering wheel!

I had a feeling Ruki didn't get enough as it felt kind of rushed the first time. Like a pit (poo) stop. So, the next night...we were back again. This time, I'm trying to be calm about the whole thing...no dangling leash. Ruki was freely sniffing away. I was still calling him to stay close like every other second. When he reached the end of the path, he decided to climb up a hillside and disappeared into the darkness. Since I was in no condition to climb, Riko and I ran back to the car. As I was bundling the girl into the car, I heard running sounds coming from the darkness. It was Ruki racing down the road. Thank goodness! Immediately, I summoned him into the car. He did his last sniff and jumped up the car.

TOO SCARY...so far it's been sniff zombie, runaway boy, frantic "come here" shouts, zero recall and poo-in-the-hand.

One good thing is the prompt departure from daycare. They get harnessed-up before leaving daycare. So the dilly-dally Boy gets promptly into the car before he knows he's going off-leash in a while.