Compliance Issues

There's been a lot of recent issues cropping up at work, one of which I was smack in the middle of! The reason why everyone has been up in arms is that it involves compliance for which non-compliance carries a hefty fine. I've spoken to a few people and some think that we are over-analysing and going too much into the details. Others, however, think otherwise especially if they were the ones who signed it! The way I see it, as long as they don't read us the Louisiana Jones Act or any other scary Act, it should be sufficient to ensure we have a robust and good process to fall back on. Oh well, let's see what the final decision will be from the people in power.

Cold Day

Its such a cold and dreary day today! It was pouring all morning and I had not seen this kind of rain in a long while. The rain was the kind that makes you wish you could just snuggle up in a warm bed and go right back to sleep or at least have the comfort of a car to make the commute to work a little less painful. Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of both! So I arrived in the office in wet jeans and poor DH seems to have caught the cold after being drenched in the rain on the way to his office. Hope he gets better soon!

Extra Coaching

I had a child-filled weekend with DH's nieces. There were good moments and some really tough moments especially when the children started acting up. One surprising thing I learnt was how competitive schooling years are for children these days. There are all kinds of extra-curriculur activities they attend nowadays and all kinds of tuition. One of DH's nieces was telling me about her Statistics tutor whose classes she attended during the school holidays for Statistics help in her weaker Statistics subjects. She used to face quite a bit of Statistics problems when she first started school and always had a lot of trouble doing the Statistics questions her school assigned. Her parents tried to help but found that they were providing Statistics answers instead of encouraging her to think the problem through. So, having no other resort, they had to turn to tutoring to improve her weak subject. However, nothing is free in this world, not even free Statistics help so if you're a parent whose child is facing some problems at school, do be prepared to invest a little in helping them!

Coverage All Around

I happened to chance upon a magazine yesterday which said that one needed at least $350k just to raise a kid here! Can you imagine that?! I certainly can't because the thought of having to save that huge amount of money is daunting! The article went on to suggest for parents to put part of the savings into Real Life Cover insurance for their children as part of the investment plan. Often, parents forget that children need life insurance as much as they do and miss out that important part of coverage. The other insurance the article suggested buying was income insurance which is absolutely necessary in the unfortunate event one parent loses their job or is unable to work further.

It seems like there is an insurance for everything these days from funeral cover insurance to maternity insurance cover. While I don't deny that insurance is necessary, I think it is more necessary to carefully evaluate what insurance exactly you require and allocate your disposable income accordingly.

Investment Choices

I've been asking around what would be the best investments here especially since we aren't familiar with the market. We haven't saved all that much but hoped to maximise the savings we had instead of leaving it in the bank where we will end up losing money to inflation. I was considering to buy gold coins or maybe even shares but surprisingly the recommendations I received here was always to buy property. That's a really scary investment right now as the property prices are at an all time high and there has been a lot of rumours about it being a property bubble. Yet, other camps say the prices can only ever go up higher. Its a hard decision to make and I'm really not sure what we should invest in. Does anyone have suggestions of the best investments in Singapore?

Math Help

I was having lunch with my colleagues recently and one of them was just telling us her children had hardly any time at all. It sounded a little sad but it is unfortunately true as children here attend all kinds of tuition for Math help or English help. In some cases, they go for additional enrichment classes which ends up eating into their weekends. Even DH's 16 year old niece recently complained that she had no time even to look after her pet hamster!

Perhaps parents here should seriously relook at their childrens' school and extra curriculum activities or consider a Online Tutor service which will provide Free Online Tutoring or Math Problem Solver skills at each child's own time and convenience. I recently came across some good sites which specialized in Online Math Tutor help and comprise largely of university graduates who have pooled together their time and resources to form a Math Tutors Online group to help K-12 and college student with their challenging Math assignments.

Times have certainly changed and if you're a parent who has never had a Math Tutor guide you before, don't expect the same for your child! School just has become so challenging and important that parents can no longer afford to be hands off and complacent.

Dermatologist Visits

Right at the top of my priority list when I went back to KL last weekend was a visit to the dermatologist to treat acne that I've recently developed again. Going to see him is no easy feat as it involves waking up very early to queue outside his office to get a number! Then more waiting at his clinic to see him for 2 minutes before I'm finally done. It is a waste of the entire morning but still something I have to do to try to stabilise my skin and try to keep the acne at bay.

Going Short

I did something drastic over the weekend - cutting my hair short into a bob! I have not had short hair for over 6 years already but decided it was finally time for a change. Honestly, cutting my hair so short was a big decision as I have had short hair for most of my life and never liked it. However, keeping my hair long was starting to get irritating as it was growing out of control and started looking very limp since it did not have much body. Luckily I got mostly positive comments about my new hairstyle though I can't wait for it to grow out a little so it'll look better!

Keeping Beautiful

Magazines are always full of how celebrities keep thin, their bizarre diets, fat burning products they consume and their impossible diet secrets. But what most people don't realise is that celebrities have a whole host of people, money and experts whose sole responsibilities are to ensure they keep beautiful and fit in the public eye. If we all had the same resources to invest in being beautiful, I'm sure we will all be body perfect too!

The End

There's a time when every great show comes to an end, every song trails off into its last notes and every curtain needs to fall.

Funky Cookies was started 2 years ago, a brainchild of 2 friends then, who wanted to chronicle their eating and cooking adventures. Over 2 years, it has changed from a foodblog to a mish-mash blog and so I figured it was probably time for the curtain to fall on Funky Cookies.

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And for a new one to rise at:

http://pinkelle.com

So hop on your silver jet, your swanky car, bicycle or run, don't walk, and come visit me there! Please also update your links as I'll be blogging from there now! Thank you for your continued visits here and I hope to see you all there soon!

Lots of ♥ ~Pink Elle~

Losing Weight Quickly

My colleagues were talking about a famous local actress over lunch the other day. Ironically she became famous not because of her acting skills but because she had to have a liver donation after she took too many weight loss pill products! Luckily for her, her then fiance and now husband was generous enough to donate part of his liver to help her live. That caused a huge scare over weight loss pills for a while. However, the trend seems to be back now with lots of young girls opting for that quick and fast way to weight loss.

Wild Goose Chase

There's nothing worse than having to fight a fire that you didn't start. I've been swamped for the most of the past few days doing just that and its been really frustrating. Most of the information I need all have to come in from other sources and because I haven't been in the job all that long, I end up asking the wrong questions which don't get me the right answers. It has been a crazy wild goose chase and I'm hoping it can get sorted out before I head off for the long weekend. I don't really want that hanging over my head.

Yummy Mummies

I have been told by so many women that having children at a young age helps them get back into shape relatively quickly compared to those who have children later. I've also noticed that women in my office all come back nice and svelte after their maternity leave and most look like they're not mothers at all! I really wonder how they do it or whether they have any good curvatrim reviews or slimming centre reviews to share. It does make having babies such a daunting task not only for the 9 month ordeal but also for the losing weight ordeal that comes after!

Morning Walk

I tried taking a walk this morning from the nearest MRT station to my office instead of taking the train to the next station and catching the office bus. It took slightly longer, around 15 minutes or so but I found it rather refreshing as my walk took me past a nice park and lots of greenery. Maybe I should start doing this more often if the mornings aren't too hot. I do enjoy the little space of quiet time I have to myself and my thoughts in that few minutes. Hopefully it does something for my unwanted pounds too! :P

Career Change

I recently did an online personality assessment and as I thought, my current job might actually not be the right fit for me as my strengths don't quite fit my job! That's quite a problem, don't you think? Perhaps I should consider a new career or a change in my life direction starting with signing up for some accredited online degree programmes. Although the thought of having to study again and work while doing it is really quite daunting!

Hotel Memberships

It is ironical but there can actually be too much of a good thing sometimes. We used to join the membership of a certain hotel chain when we were back in Malaysia which offered free dining and rooms. It seemed like a good idea then for a short break. However, now with the expiry date looming, it suddenly becomes a pressure to finish those vouchers so they don't go to waste! That becomes doubly hard now since time at home is so limited! I think this is the last time we'll be joining such things!

Home Businesses

I've recently seen a sudden influx of home based business women popping up all over the internet. The most popular choice of business seems to be selling cheap clothes via online boutiques. I've actually seen the source of these clothes and they can be very cheap which does mean a pretty decent profit for the business owners. However, do be careful to only buy from reputable online blogshops as the quality of some can be quite compromised and the end product might not look anything like the one the pretty model is wearing!

Should I Join Lunch?

I'm so glad there's another long weekend to look forward to this coming weekend. I do live for times like this! We'll be heading back tomorrow night after work. I am still wondering if I should join some colleagues for lunch tomorrow as they tend to head out for really long lunches which will leave me with not much time to sort out all my work before I leave on the dot to catch the bus. But not joining will mean being labelled antisocial! Sigh, it is never easy, is it?

Our Small Place

After being Down South for 3 months or so, I've gotten used to the small living area we now have. Cleaning, in fact, has become quite easy which is definitely a good thing that came out of it. We got the place practically fully furnished and one thing I simple cannot understand is why the land lady put in such big and bulky living room furniture when the space is already so tiny! She has a whole set of furniture which is really ugly to me and two contemporary coffee tables which has a moveable glass top! Add our own furniture in and I must say we don't have much floor space left! Well, the only concession is that the rent is cheap and the location incredibly convenient!

Good Break

We just got back from a short break to Club Med Mauritius. It was a really gorgeous resort and I have to say that we did absolutely nothing but eat (lots!) and sleep! What bliss! This resort was the first one we went to where there were hardly any Asians around. Most of the tourists were European French who spent most of their days next to the pools eating, drinking and smoking cohiba cigars. I must say that these Westerners certainly know how to enjoy themselves!