Teens » Hip to be Mom

The two amigos

Feb 212011

When Steev and I went apartment-hunting, my biggest concern was what kind of roommate he would end up with. But I am so glad things worked out the way they did because he and Roomie are the perfect match.

Just within a short time of Steev moving in to their 2-room apartment, the two have become fast friends sharing the cooking sometimes, going out for the occasional burger, watching movies, playing computer games, talking about girls and joking about everything under the sun.

Recently on Valentine’s Day, he and Roomie even got together and played a prank on a mutual friend by presenting the poor unsuspecting guy with a gift of a male enhancement product from an imaginary “secret admirer”! OMG, what will these 2 guys get up to next?

Landing smack in the middle of winter in California

Posted by Clairity 3 Responses »

Dec 172010

So much has been happening over the past few days I don’t even know where to start. First off, my blogs went off the air, poof! just like that, because the host server couldn’t handle the huge traffic spike. So is that good or bad?

Anyhow at that time, I was too busy packing to go to California to do much. Sorry about that. I know how much the 1 or 2 of you enjoy reading my blog and have been waiting impatiently for my post (ahem!).

Then I was jetting across the globe to San Francisco. The girls and I camped out the night at the airport…

… reading books and listening to a mad man talking to himself all night while waiting for sunrise to drive 200 miles to visit Steev. Yes, that’s me at the wheel as we passed through some hilly terrain on a cold and foggy afternoon.

Dressing up Barbies

Posted by Clairity 1 Response »

Dec 042010

Raine is supposed to keep her eyeballs glued to her books. Instead one afternoon, she and Skye decided to empty out the top shelf of their closet, all because I asked if anyone had a spare box I could use to stow away some of my costume jewelry.

Out came all of their prized childhood possessions from the top shelf – cute keepsakes, artsy boxes, beloved tote bags and scarves with art prints, and these Barbies…

Excitedly, the girls recalled how thrilled they were when I finally redeemed them a Barbie each from a reward card that I had. What to do when Mom is so bent on educational toys that all her kids ever got were Legos, Legos and more Legos?

The girls have spent many happy hours combing Barbies’ hair and dressing them up. See the one with the red dress? That’s a homemade dress Raine, our resident fashionista, made from a stretch of red ribbon. So cute !

Happy December!

Posted by Clairity 1 Response »

Dec 022010

December is here. It’s my favorite month of the year. I love the frenzy of activity. I love that the malls are decked out in Christmas decor with the same old carols playing endlessly. No matter how hot and rainy it is outside, it’s always snowy inside.

Those magical Christmas trees will inadvertently find us standing sheepishly in the foreground, having our photos hastily taken, hoping none of our friends walk by at that instant and see us behaving like tourists.

December is the perfect excuse to celebrate everything and anything. This year, there’s one more thing to love about December (not counting being torn between a machine and a TSA massage). We’re going to California! Can’t wait to see Steev. Can’t wait to do that whole Disneyland bit!

Pulling out the food stops

Posted by Clairity 4 Responses »

Nov 292010

My kids know that come major school exam time, Mom will (usually) pull out all the stops and say yes to all of their food requests. It’s Raine’s turn to call the shots this year. The other day, she has requested for pancakes (for now). I went out the very next day and got all the ingredients to make pancakes for 2 pancake breakfasts.

This is the time I make sure we have plenty of snacks and fun food around the house. Rocking the books can really work up an enormous appetite and every now and then, someone will sneak down to the kitchen to rummage for something to eat!

My philosophy is – feed the tummy and you feed the brain. So whatever Raine wants to eat, I’ll cook it or bake it, by hook or by crook. During exams, we try to stay off outside food because I don’t trust the cleanliness and hygiene of our food here, no offense!

Digging through my pantry for food ideas, I stumbled upon a packet of orange and poppy seed muffin mix that had expired last month. No big deal!

Remember those good old days when stuff didn’t come with expiry dates and we happily ate up everything in sight without a thought for those pesky use-by dates. Well, I decided to bake the muffins and eat them anyway.

Skye, my trusty sous chef, was on hand to help me with these. They turned out great and use-by dates aside, we’re still here to rave about them !

Next on the list of requests are Buffalo Wings, baked potato, cookies, um, anything else you’d like to grace your royal palate, O Fair Princess?

A simple meal of thanks

Posted by Clairity 2 Responses »

Nov 262010

Like I said, I was going to cook a really simple Thanksgiving dinner this year since there’s just us girls. I marinated said bird overnight for extra flavor and voila, here’s my Rosemary Turkey in Disguise with super-crispy skin!

Ya, it’s okay to eat the skin and�you won’t be needing diet pills if it’s so crispy that all the fat’s melted off ! That’s my philosophy anyways.

This is our romaine salad with bacon bits lovingly tossed by Skye.

And the garlic bread that she made. The baked potato soup was a last-minute switch from the roast potatoes I’d planned to make earlier. I rarely make soups from scratch and this is purely experimental. It turned out okay but a little mushy, according to our resident food reviewers.