Day 6 - (Fake) tai-tai' first world problem

I am not sure how many of you experiencing the same thing as I do... but I have a problem trying to look pretty decent in front of the husband, after a long day doing house chores at home.

But really... staying at home in the past 6 days got me thinking...

How can a homemaker stay pretty, after a long day of cleaning the house and cooking? How? TELL ME HOW!?!?

When we, women, work in the office - obviously we need to put make-up on (well...at least put something lah... like face powder, brow thingie, whatever) and dress nicely and appropriately. Every now and then you will also get manicure and pedicure just in case, you need to do some presentations (hand gestures!) or you have a new pair of open-toe shoes... you know...

But when we're at home as full-time homemakers, I think the story will be very different....
(Well, if you're a real tai-tai, actually I think this problem won't happen, because you will have maids to do the chores. In fact, you can probably train your maids to do your own manicure and pedicure at home! OMG, I think this is such a brilliant idea! Hey you all in Indonesia.. yes, send the maid to nail school and you can save cost doing mani-pedi at home!)

OK OK.. let's continue - As a homemaker (ehm ehm...) honestly, I don't even have the appetite to get my nails done anymore (Shocking!); just because when I cook (and I cook everyday now, except for the weekends), I have to chop the bloody garlics, onions, shallots etc...
I have to wash my hands and my nails like more than a hundred times, just to get ride of the smell. Imagine if I have my nails well manicured, I think they will chip in no time...
Or worse...the chipped nail polish could potentially go inside the dish...

Oh dear...I cannot even start to imagine...

When I am home, I just find it silly to suddenly dress up and put on make up just for a 2-hour show, to greet the dear husband who just got home from work...
It will be such a waste of energy and products right?
(FYI - Obviously I don't do any of that in the past 6 days. What really happened was that he came back and I was still in the same outfit as this morning when he left...)

Anyway... I still don't have a solution for this big issue.
Yes, it is a big issue - I was just imagining, if I were a husband and I came back home and found my wife in an unflattering outfit, no make-up face, garlic-smelled nails - I would probably be leaving her sooner or later.

So if I have to stay at home full-time. I don't want to be that unattractive woman (not only for the husband, but also for myself). Besides, I will most probably lose my barely-there-make-up skills too!

Oh... nightmare!

So dear mommies or stay-at home wives (or guys!) out there - Please enlighten me! 

Day 5 - yes yes...still alive and trying to do downward facing dog at home

Hi all,

Today I ease myself out... I don't actually plan anything, I take my own sweet time to do whatever I want for the day.

I finally had a long overdue chat with both my mother and my mother in-law (well.. basically one thing that I don't usually do or I cannot do, because I have work) about stuff... (hahaha you can call them tai-tai stuff - believe it or not, we were talking about plastic surgery to what's happening with Indonesian celebrity to why my mother and I both cannot cook... OMG it's in the blood!)

I also did yoga (thanks to Mike for reminding me that a tai-tai also needs her daily dose of yoga to make her life complete and also thanks to Smart TV! I can do yoga, without actually taking any classes outside) It's kinda good to do yoga at home, because I don't need to fork out money and hey my home also has a view that seems to be very relevant (?) for yoga...

Let me share with you my view this afternoon...

Now, I am cooking dinner for the husband...
Sigh... I guess I surrender to the fact that I can't really cook fancy stuff.
Tonight, I am cooking chicken with broccoli...

 Seems like today I got not much update...
Anyway, tomorrow I have another lunch with (not) tai-tai friends, hopefully tomorrow my life will be more happening...

Ciao!

Day 5 - Best Husband Award goes to... my own husband LOL

Hi all,

I have to take back my own words from the post yesterday... well, not all of it, but maybe part of it...
While my husband can be (very) high maintenance, he can be quite nice sometimes too.

So yesterday I cooked dinner for him, I was planning to cook Indonesian beef stew - let me try to show you in a video format. Don't be fooled by the video though... it may look appealing, but it is not that appealing in taste (apparently)...

After tasting my own cook, I wasn't that confident that the dish will be up to his standard. So I texted him and told him to tabao something from any eatery near his office, just in case he doesn't like my cooking (Because just face it, even I don't find it that nice... LOL).

He came back empty handed (I think he is probably lazy, more than anything else), so we have no choice but eating my own cook.
He said... "Well, it's not that bad...you gotta give me credit for this, after all I am not that high maintenance. I even ate two full bowls and finished the whole thing!"

Haha...yes he did. He told me to keep trying so I can be a better cook.
OK, I am almost tearing now writing this... so here I am today, cooking slightly more complicated dish (Come on...I added lettuce, tomatoes and I even used the food processor to grind the ingredients...)

So pat on my own back... hopefully this one tastes decent.

Ciao!

Day 4 - Tai-tai getting facial

Hello!

I hope you all don't have a blue Monday today.
If you do, let me try to cheer you up with some pointless blog post.

To be honest, it's kind of hard to write crap everyday (HAHA and it's only day 4, oh my Gosh!), but it is kinda uplifting to know that someone is actually missing my writing and asking me where today's post is (... and no, it's not my husband... my husband doesn't even read this blog, initially he didn't even know the existence of it... *banging my head on the wall). So here I am writing again about my (not so) tai-tai life.

Where should I start?

Let's start from what we did on the rest of Sunday.
So, we went to Whisk and Paddle in Punggol for a very late lunch. Among other things, we ordered mushroom pizza with parmesan cheese. I don't know who is more tai-tai (read: high maintenance) here - me or the husband. But it seems, it is definitely not me.

When the pizza came and he ate one bite of it, he started a long lecture about the cheese...

It isn't parmesan cheese, because it doesn't have the smell and most probably not certified and we shouldn't call it parmesan if it's not certified... and there is another similar cheese like parmesan, but it's for different use, it is called pecorino (?) and it is less expensive...and you can sometimes use it instead of parmesan... 

Not the exact verbatims, but basically something along that lines... I don't remember all of it, because I was just busy easting the Louisiana wings. Let's just admit that  he is far more knowledgeable (than me) in some aspects in life, but it's okay - not a big deal.

So that's basically all - nothing important, right?

Today is Monday, just like all of you who goes to work, I was also doing my work (as a tai-tai).
I vacuum the floor first (I buay tahan looking at the floor has strains of hair everywhere...) then I went to get some facial (What is a tai-tai's life without facial?!?!)...

To make me feel better, I actually took MRT and bus to and fro.
Well, it's not that far apparently to get to Millennia Walk from Bedok (Of course, time is no longer of the essence).

Anyway, omg it's already 3:32PM, I guess I need to cook dinner.
I don't have many activities, and yet time flies quite fast. I guess ex tai-tai R and ex tai-tai P are correct - you can only have 1 activity per day, otherwise it's too tiring (as a tai-tai).

See you all later!

Day 3 - Tai-tai Reunion

Goede dag, Allemaal!

It's 1:10 PM in the sunny Singapore and we still haven't figured out where to eat for lunch.
So I shall dutifully update my blog first, while waiting for the husband to finish showering and decide where to go.

Anyway, yesterday was so much fun (Do not have high expectations on the "so much fun" part - because ever since I hit 30, my "so much fun" includes driving to Toa Payoh wet market to buy rambutan or eating Sembawang white beehoon in Punggul Settlement... na ja).

Without further ado, let's recap on what was happening yesterday on the tai-tai's life:

• We went to Jurong (yep you read it correctly!) to eat bakuteh (So random, right? It's the husband's idea and let me tell you, DON'T BE LIKE US - Do not drive all the way to Jurong to eat Bakuteh. Just eat the damn Ng Ah Sio Bakuteh in Rangoon road!). Obviously, I am not gonna post photos of the bakuteh - it's not even nice! It's very one-dimensional taste, so let's not talk about it. 
• After that, we watched Deep Water Horizon - IMHO, this movie just doesn't cut it (Regardless of how many stars it gets in IMDB). To me, it tries too hard to portray what has happened in real life that it is almost like my bakuteh - so one dimensional. No drama, no nothing, it's just a lot of explosions. I almost fell asleep at the beginning. So, let's just move on.

I think by now, you would be asking yourself, "So, where was the fun part?" - I know... I know I just wasted 3 minutes of your life right? But anyway, by having started reading this post, you are sort of already committed to wasting your time further. So just wait up, the fun part is COMING NEXT!

The fun part was actually only later part of the day when I got to finally meet up with other so-called tai-tai friends. HAHA - it's kinda true, at some point of our lives, I think almost everyone in my friend circle has taken some "tai-tai break".  And now is my turn. So don't be jealous girls. If you have not taken up one, be patient, your time will come.

Another point to prove that everyone in that circle deserves to be called tai-tai is because each and everyone in that group has some kind of tai-tai talents such as...

• When tai-tai A called me to buy Japanese sweet potatoes and dorayaki from Isetan supermarket. - what's wrong with that? Let me just tell you, the sweet potatoes cost 10 bloody freaking dollars for two ... roots (?). OK, this one deserves a picture to show. 

• When tai-tai H brought caviar flavour chips... who the heck buying caviar flavour chips? Only tai-tai or some sort.. HAHA Jk.
• When tai-tai R said, "I am really good at... not working..."  - this is a clear sign that you are one good tai-tai... xD
• When tai-tai C has sound treatment panel or acoustic treatment panel (?) in her new house... I still don't know what that is exactly, but I think it's a tai-tai thing...

It was so much fun because not only I got to meet them but I also got to eat these - well the food does not look like it's coming out from michelin star restaurants, but it is SUPER! Especially the mala, because it's homecooked by tai-tai S, the white beehoon (just because I like it a lot) and the salat cake (The green little peranakan kueh thing below)!

I hope you all had just as much, if not more, fun than I did yesterday. 

Tomorrow is monday (I just like to remind all you about it now, especially that I am not working. HAHA). FIGHTING!

And see ya tomorrow. 

Day 2 - Tai-tai on the weekend!

Heya! Weekend is here, Peeps! Well, not that it matters to me anymore... HAHAHA (Sorry for being this happy).

Anyway, some updates on yesterday's activities:

• I ended up cleaning the whole house which means I vacuumed and then mopped the floor, scrubbed the kitchen as well as the toilet bowl. Basically, I was doing things that the husband and I usually do over the weekends. Since I am not working, I decided to free him from doing all house chores! Hail to the tai-tai (wannabe)! Now, show-off time! I didn't show my study room walk-in closet area, because... *sigh* our laundry is overflowing and yah yah...I have to do something about that next week. For now, let's just breathe in, breathe out and focus on how shiny the floor is...all right!

• Yesterday it was proven that being lazy is not always a bad thing. As I expected myself, of course I didn't end up scrubbing the balcony. And it was a good move, because in the end it was RAINING! So yea I would have jumped off the balcony,  if I did scrub it. HGTV saved me - Thanks HGTV!

• Another unlocked achievement yesterday was peeling and cutting papaya (for the first time - I know... I know, don't mock, let's just show some love and support that I can handle knife well enough because I did not cut myself). 

• Last but not least, I also cooked dinner. I told you it's nothing fancy and in fact the colour is a bit eek... but I tried... Most important thing is - it's edible and my husband is still alive. I was trying my best to make my dish instagramable here - let me just show you.

So what's the plan for today?

From now on, let's agree that on Saturday and Sunday, the tai-tai is going to take a (semi) day off and enjoy her life for a bit. Why "semi"? Because sometimes I am still required to cook... like breakfast for the hungry husband.

Picture this...
Hungry Husband: "Babe..hungry... hungry...hungry" 
So I have to dragged myself off the sofa and go to the kitchen (not that our kitchen is very far away, as you can see...)

This morning I made pancakes (See below image). Ermm... not gonna lie, but it's kind of not nice... HAHA because I ran out of chocolate chips so I used castor sugar. But the tea that I served along with the pancake is nice! I am quite particular about tea now, but let's talk about it separately next time.

Now, we're going to go off for lunch and later on to have din-din with other "tai-tai" friends.
So cheerio!

Day 1 - Hello World

Hello there!

Today marks the first day of my journey to level up to become a tai-tai housewife homemaker (Hmm... or is it actually level down?)
Sorry, if you are tricked by the title of the blog and hoping to find many hermes bags, OOTD or those pretty little things in life - but NOPE! You're not gonna find those here.

Back to being a homemaker - It is kind of unbelievable, isn't it? That's why this blog is here to document everything and to act as a reminder to myself, because I intend to post everything that I (will) do/ have done as a proof that I have done my job as a homemaker.

Anyway, this homemaker thing is going to be just a short-while. In a research world, we call this a "dip-stick" survey. It is merely a test-drive for me, I guess, to see if I can do this.

So since today is day 1 - I am super excited!
(Ok, I lied... actually I am not! Who gets excited over cleaning the house or cooking? Well... maybe my mom is, since she finds sweeping the floor therapeutic).

Anyway, I got a blog to maintain, so let me share with you my plan for today:

• Well.. It's almost 10 AM now, so I am going to make myself a breakfast (By breakfast, I mean a cup of nespresso and thin almond crackers)...
• And after that, I am going to vacuum the floor and... 
• Maybe (just maybe! I am not sure if I wanna work so hard on my first day - nobody works hard on their first day in a company, right? Ok maybe not in my last company #LOL) I will scrub the balcony too since today's weather is kind of gloomy, so maybe it's not too hot to do some scrubbing outside. But if it rains later, after I finished scrubbing; I think I am gonna jump from the balcony. So, let me think that through, while watching Netflix... 
• Last but not least, I am going to cook dinner for the husband. Words of warning - Do not expect some fancy dishes from me, because today I am just going to improvise and cook white cabbages and chicken... probably I will add some mushrooms to make it a little bit more... pleasing to the eyes(?) or make it look a bit more elaborate (?). 

That's all folks! Let me try to remember to take pictures as proofs and post them on tomorrow's entry. 

I will try to update every morning, unless I have morning appointments (with friends or with the bed).

See ya!