our days in words (well most of it)

I was just looking at the date of when I last updated and I can’t believe it was October. Not disbelief at how I haven’t been updating, I just couldn’t believe how much time has passed since we moved. And I couldn’t comprehend how we were already at the new house in October. It’s very confusing. If I have to sum up 2022, all I can think about is the renovations…or maybe also how hard things have been with a 3 year old :’)

So the past month we’ve just been busy settling and also we got covid. we are still not over that I think. Both physically and mentally, we’re still in the covid haze. It came to us so unexpected, after 2 years of avoiding it. Before that we were occupied with O’s mom visiting and then straight after E got sick and immediately O too and then I got it a few days after. It was hard. We were still reeling from another sickness and now this, it’s been hard. So yes, that was almost 3 weeks ago I think. So I don’t think we were up to anything besides that. Just recovering and constantly worrying.

So I also just realised now that it has been 2 months since we moved. We’ve been settling. Getting sick made us stay home more so we were able to get used to the house more. E seems ok here too. Just that being sick made him a bit more clingy than usual. I feel like we had such a good run of independent play for a while and then after he finds that he can’t play on his own anymore. I kind of miss listening in to him playing(rather loudly) with stories he made up on his own. I hope he will be his usual self soon.

Other than that, yes just trying very hard to work, still feeling grateful that O is still able to work from home so that he can help out whenever things get too much.

Here’s our month(s) in pictures I guess.

1. We have been drinking lots of tea lately. well, I think mostly me :)

2. work table that’s not being used that often.

3. our second plant for the house.

4. our third and fourth plant :) I’ve been looking for a plant for E to take care of and he suggested cactus so we’ve been looking around and finally found them.

5. treats for my hands :)

6. these colourful muji pens are really nice to write with.

7. tried out drawing with posca and it’s really nice to draw and colour with it. we even tried colouring on cloth with it and it really works well.

8. me trying to capture the light in the early morning, just before sunrise. I still can’t get over the view here. big windows, big sky, big lights :)

we are already in the middle of December. The coming year seems kind of scary. but there’s always something to look forward to, too in the early days of January. Two birthdays back to back and that will always keep me busy. Scared and busy. haha. well, till next time, m

Things we have been up to lately...

We have finally moved! I can hardly believe it but we finally moved. After months of renovation works back and forth with no end in sight, we are finally all moved in. The renovation process took so much time from us, it wasn’t a pleasant experience at all but I’m glad that we are able to be done with it(almost). Moving day was ok but E was down with a really bad cough right on the day we moved. He was already reacting to the dusts from all the packing we were doing a week before the move but on the day itself, he woke up with a really bad cough and on our first day at the new house, it was just hard. First day, he actually managed to sleep through the night(with all the coughing), surprisingly. The first few nights, it was hard for him sleep, but other than that, he got on quite ok. He seems quite at home too, just playing, spending his days like normal which is nice. I guess all the months going back and forth and talking about the new house helped. So I am glad that he feels alright so far with the move. I am still adjusting. Still settling, I miss my old neighbourhood, even though its 10 minutes away. And its also where for the last three years, the three of us, have been exploring so much of and there’s just moments of us there at every turn, it’s still there, and we can still be there but it’s just that feeling that it’s different. now we are exploring our neighbourhood and it’s new and different but still the same, it’s all strange I guess.

now we are settling and sometimes it’s nice.

1. our entryway, I like that we have an entrance now :)

2. This Muji toaster :) got it secondhand kind of, since the person barely used it.

3. completed this Seinfeld lego set, after a year of receiving it.

4. first plant for our new house

5. my own work space. I have not drawn for weeks, so hopefully soon now that I have set up the work space.

on other things,

so yes I haven’t drawn for quite a while, nor updated my shop or did anything remotely to do with SatsumaOrange. I did before we moved, did a couple of designs for cards which I uploaded on Cardly. It has been nice to see some increase in card sales over there, so I will probably think of more designs for there. It’s nice for me for now since I don’t have to think about mailing or printing. Just designing. I should probably for now focused on selling in this way more. For a few times I tried to do so on Society6 but I never committed to it but I like the idea of selling cards so yes will try to do more of that.

link to : Cardly
i’m still open to portrait drawings.

and of course, my Etsy shop is still open.

till next time, M

some things about the new house

We have been thinking about the new house a lot lately. We started with renovations in mid-June I think. And we are already almost a month in. It feels like a long journey. mainly because we got the house in January or February and we are still here halfway through the year. It took a while to get started and then it’s taking a while to get to the end.

Still, I can’t wait for things to be ready. Painting started this week. So hopefully lights will be up soon. We are still discussing doors and windows here. Doors is a big discussion because mostly I just want to have the same type of doors that the previous owner had. I know, why didn’t I just refurbished them. They were beyond refurbishing. And the frames were really in a bad shape. But I know that I wanted to have similar doors to what they had. the kitchen will only be done in August. So hopefully August is the month where we will get to not think of the renovations so much. We are not in a hurry to move because we are still staying with my mom but having to think so much of the renovation day to day is a bit tiring. I know, it’s just something that is not such a big deal I guess. It’s just something we wish we can not think so much of now.

But yes the house. When we first saw the house, we already saw a few houses, none that made us like oh this is nice. Location was also important because we wanted to be close to mom and also close to things because we are used to where everything is and with a kid, it’s important to us. and then we saw this house. It has a different layout than the usual 3 room bedroom HDB flats that we have been seeing. And it’s really great too because it has lots of windows. and it just have this really nice and cosy layout and when we first saw it, we immediately liked it. It’s a resale flat so we didn’t really expect much on the condition, this one needed a lot of work though. But we were ready for that I guess. So we were ok with the condition and was just like we have to have this house and so we did.

Like I’ve said a lot(haha)the house was not in the best conditions but they had some good ideas for the house, like the double doors, and an entrance/hallway. Having an entrance was like a big plus for us too. We like this separation, and this is not common here to have an entrance and the storage room is just there too which is great. And then I saw these little niches, there’s one in the picture by the kitchen here and there’s another one by another wall. The previous owner had some nice ideas I think. The kitchen door and windows are such nice touches to the house I think, it makes the house feel cosy even though it wasn't in the best condition when we saw it. And then I think for a 3 room resale flat, they have a good amount of windows around the house which is great. The owner was already not living there too so there wasn’t any sort of maintenance going on for a bit I think. But yes these are some of the features about the house that made us think. oh this is different, and this is nice.

So the bulk of the renovation was removing almost everything. It’s a old house so we want to be careful with the pipes and electrical wirings, so in order to do that we have to take out everything. One thing I kind of regret is removing the door/door frames but it wasn’t also practical to keep them because they were either already falling apart or just doesn’t come off nicely. even the tiny niche by the kitchen window wasn’t spared. We had to redo everything. For now we are over those demolishing days, and painting is done. So far, most things are ok, except for maybe a lot of installation of electrical stuff, and plumbing. and of course the kitchen. and the doors and windows too. It’s been slow. but hopefully we’ll get there soon.

And I am hoping that we will still be able to retain that niceness that the house had when we first saw it. It felt like home so let’s hope we can make it into that :)

till next time, m