My Rosewood furniture.

It has been one week now since my last posting and I thought I might as well start on another new posting.

The last few days have been quite relaxing for a change. My renovations plan for my new place has become clearer since the meeting with Gary, my interior designer. I have now decided to keep some of my Rosewood furniture after being told that they are now very scarce. If I had told my wife that I had wanted to keep them, she would have automatically objected. Since I told her that I wanted to sell them, she now wants to keep them. Reverse psychology at work!

We have engaged somebody to restore and repaint the furniture by August. When the job is done, they will deliver them to our new place. This way, we do not have to move them ourselves. I have allocated space for them in my new place.

The Chinese man saw my furniture and told me that they are now hard to find. There are fakes in the market. 'Mother of Pearl' inlays are only done in China. Local carpenters lack this expertise. Some pieces are from Kwangtung, China, and the coffee table was carved by a young Shanghainese locally. The carving featured the 'Dream of the Red Chamber'. I remember seeing him doing the carving as his workshop was near where I lived previously. Every evening I would walk over to see him and talked to him. We chose the scene mutually. To cut cost, as I only had limited funds at that time, I did not order the six stools, which would sit hidden under the table until you want to use them.


There is also a display cabinet which houses all my expensive micro magic apparatus. I must now find another space for my music box collection. They will probably be displayed as part of my library. Problem will be to keep itchy fingers away from them. And then I also have my religious paraphernalia collection. Ah! my mind boggles.

When Emma was a tiny baby, I used to carry her and showed her my religious collection consisting of statues, glass Rosary beads, bell including some music boxes and whistles. She would love to wear the Rosary over her neck and ring the bell. Unfortunately the glass panel fell one day, due to strong winds and it is now replaced by a plastic sheet. The Ikea cabinet houses my hi fi set, DVD's, LD's and the glass cabinet displays some interesting nick nacks. This cabinet will be left behind when I move, unless someone wants to buy or take it over.

So I now have a clearer picture of what I will move to my new place. My new bedroom will have everything new. I will need to relocate my grotto (miniature water fountain) dedicated to Our Lady, which I made for my wife's birthday sometime ago. Maybe my moving expenses will not be that high, given I do not have that many heavy items except for my son's bedroom and the many cartons. Anyway, we are meeting Gary this Saturday to sort out the renovations.

Last Friday, Emma came in the morning. For a three year old kid, she can be very sensible when she wants to be. Last Monday, I was playing with her at the lift landing, when she suddenly charged at me. I fell to the floor as Emma's head hit me hard on my left rib. I felt the jolt and pain and luckily prevented Emma from hitting her head on the floor. The pain stayed with me the whole week. When I told Emma about it on Friday, she quickly came and hugged me and said how sorry she was. The pain naturally went away.

When Emma left early with her grandmother and the maid to look after her other two cousins, I felt very lonely at home. I went downstairs for my fast walking exercise. For dinner, I tried out cooking sayur lodeh with yong tau foo and noodles. It was successful except that next time, I will substitute the coconut with low fat milk. I enjoyed the meal in the quiet of the kitchen.

This Sunday afternoon, I will be doing a retreat in church for all the Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist. This will be followed by our commissioning at the 6 pm Mass. So it is going to be a quiet and sober Sunday.

Till then....