Cartons have arrived!

No wonder they say there's more family time here in PV. Mr Liow will not have to go to work from tomorrow till nxt Tues. We're not allowed to drive elsewhere for our 1st 45days so we'll be stranded in Tucson. Some have planned to drive away, some will be taking their family to disneyland. Shiok right?

BUT this non-working period came at the right time for us too! Our boxes came yesterday and we took the whole day to unpack. With AN around, we had to take turns to watch over her and unpacking was slowed down tremendously.

The best thing about unpacking was: to find food!! It was exciting to dig into the box and find some of our favourite food or sauces. hehe. We do have a detailed list of items in each box but since it was downstairs last night, we opened the boxes in the room without the list. Felt like opening birthday presents to find things we have asked for.

The many electrical stuff we brought over will be 'useless' till we get our transformer. Mr Liow has gotten ffrom some of his guys who will be leaving in June. They still need them for the time being, so we won't be able to use those stuff we brought over.

The vacumm cleaner Edwin gave us doesn't seem to be working and those we brought can't be used, yet -_____-". The movers walked into our house with shoes on (every ang mo who enters walks in with shoes anyway) and we wanted to clean up a little so AN can crawl ard. We couldn't.

We've decided to buy a vacumm cleaner from Walmart (or wherever). The ones we brought may not be good enough for carpeted floorings anyway.

So yup, it's going to be mad-unpacking for the next dew days. Been many many days without pictures here. Getting boring hor? heee. No time to upload la but will try now tt the playpen has arrived. Will upload pictures once the home is neat and tidy again ;)

Our boxes are arriving! + BM's updates

Mr Liow had an 'OFF' day yesterday and we decided to have a short walk at Foothills Mall.

FH Mall is so near home but till today, we've only been there once. hehe. Maybe coz it appears to be seriously not too interesting a place to shop at? But it's really near home so, well, better than nothing la.

We left home, hoping BM will be as good as the day before but erm...they weren't. Maen started the barking, soon after we stepped out. We sat in the car to listen to them. 5 mins later, Baileys started barking. -_____-" Maen stopped shouting after us by then, but Baileys continued for the next 7mins or so. It did seem like his barking was slowing down to a stop as well, but after a little break each time, he would give a series of few barks and then another break.

Terrible...I'll continue 'desensitizing' them.

That being said, yesterday was their 8th night sleeping alone and I think we have succeeded! Now when we tell them to sleep, they'd simply walk to their bed in the kitchen. No more prancing around when we put up the baby gate like the 1st few nights.

Maen seemed to have caught on our waking hours tho. She's started barking at 6.30am-6.45am for the past few mornings. Have I mentioned that day starts from 5.30am? We will wake up by 7.30am whether or not she wakes us up (Mr Liow wakes at 7am during weekdays). She's taken on the role as our alarm clock as well -____-"
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We bought meat with bones, among other groceries, from Walmart yesterday. Worth mentioning coz this is the 1st time I de-boned meat on my own. I used to just buy meat portions. Almost never bones, unless I'm giving them to BM. Even then, I didn't have to de-bone the meat from the bones before I give them to the furkids.

Took me a long time to wash and de-bone meat for a week. Don't know if I did it well but, hehe.

Couldn't find spareribs and big bones in Walmart so I bought neck bones instead. erm...looked like some unwanted part of the pig. Those who cook, is neck bones ok to make stock from?

I made fishball noodles last evening. Used the neck bones to make the stock from. Tasted quite nice on the whole. It's nothing compared to fishball noodles back in Singapore for sure but we were happy to just have fishball noodles here. Didn't matter to us how authentic it tasted. hehe.
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Mr Liow got a call from his admin side. Our cartons will be arriving on Wed!! Oh yeah!

We can start unpacking and buy whatever we need from then on. There were some things we needed but also brought and avoided buying so that we do not have 2 of those stuff. Pot and pans were some of those. So we bought smalled sized pots here. When we needed to make larger portions, those we bought weren't enough..

So yup, we're finally able to settle down, completely, for 2 yrs. 1 yr, 48wks to be exact :)

Goodbye to Neigi

Mr Liow had to go back to base yesterday coz his guys who were away on exercise for 2 weeks were back. Was quite disappointed it took him whole of Saturday to be away but no choice lor. Work is work. Worse for the guys who were away for 2 whole wks isn't it?

To Neigi: Thanks for helping us out for the past few days you've been here. So sorry we weren't able to bring you around. Thanks for helping me bring AN out for a walk, and then BM. hehe. If my hubby didn't marry me, he may really fall in love with you wor. muahahaha! Seriously, thanks for the help.

It's a pity that you came this week. Wasted the whole of ur Sat : (

After sending Neigi to the airport this morning, Mr Liow borrowed a GPS from his colleague and we drove to DM (Davis Monthan). Some of the roads were closed so the GPS took us on a longer way towards DM.

We finally reached, but realised that Mr Liow forgot to bring his military pass. I did not bring mine too. So both of us couldn't enter. Even if the guard allowed us in, we couldn't buy anything.

I recalled Park Place being somewhere near DM and so Mr Liow called up a colleague to ask. It was just round the corner, so we decided to go check out Park Place instead.

It's slightly smaller than Arizona Mill. Not too bad a place to shop at.

Somehow by now, I'm no longer super duper excited at shopping. Maybe coz there's really nothing fantastic to expect out of shopping here, except to pass time and know where to get stuff we need, or want.

After Park Place, we joined some colleagues who were also there and left for La Enchantada.

La Enchantada is an outdoor shopping area (only the stores are airconditioned). I heard it's high class shopping there.

True enough, I saw boutiques of brands like LV, Coach, MAC, Victoria Secret etc. There's also a doggie boutique which sell things that are good to have but not necessities. People who will splurge on their furkid will probably like to shop there.

I finally got my sunglasses from Coach! hehe. Expensive pair but it fitted me well, unlike most of those I tried. Mr Liow suggested I get it soon since it's starting to get hotter by the day, and since I hadn't been able to find one that fitted. Mr Liow also got a watch for his mum.

And I got 2 lip glosses from VS. It's only USD$7 each! Will get more for my MU kit when it's time to leave. By then those in my kit shld have expired.

We shopped around for a short while more and then left for home. It was really HOT out there...-_______-"

Baileys and Maen were fine while we were out today, or so we believe. Maen barked for a while but stopped before we drove away.

Mr Liow got the GPS from a colleague who also stays at ST. After sending neigi to the airport, we went back to get it from the colleague. Since we were back in ST, we decided to drive home to check on them, from outside the house.

They were silent as we drove pass our house. We were both relieved that at the very least, they did not bark the whole day.

We do hope they've more or less settled down. Then we'll be able to leave the house in peace when we need to.

It's another trip to DM tomorrow to do grocery shopping. We are hoping to be able to get a spray hose and some bristle brooms or something. Really hope to clean up our patio a bit so that BM can venture outside the house. Then we can also consider growing some plants or start decorating the patio.

So yup, that's all for today and some plans for tomorrow. ;)

A day out

We went out to Arizona Mills (A shopping attraction in Phoenix) yesterday.It was an over 2 hours drive there. Tucson is landscaped with mountains, mountain and more mountains. Even as we drove, it was mountains whichever way I turn. I still think they look beautiful. I'm reassured that the Lord can build mountains, what can the Lord not do? He is creator.

Psalms 90:2 NIV
Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

We passed by empty field, passed by fields with crops, horses and all. And we saw, on the other direction of the highway, someone was shifting house. I seriously mean they were SHIFTING their house. That caused a big traffic jam at the highway. We were driving fast (can't rmb the spd limit then, prob abt 75mph?) and the jam streched over the next 10mins or so. Glad we were not on that direction back to Tucson there and then.

There were several factory outlets and many other regular stores. I wasn't as excited as I thought it would be. Bought AN some socks, I got a jacket (F21 jacket and it cost me only $25. cheap right?), Mr Liow and Neigi got themselves bermudas and slippers for Mr Liow. And then we bought more household items (dish rack, knife, pillows etc). Pillows in Phoenix and Tucson alike, are cheap and good. We bought Sealy's posturepedic pillow for only $15 each (excl. tax).

Neigi shld have been our guest but terrible hosts we were. He helped us push AN around, kept her happy and all. The whole day he was like our maid. So paiseh. He even bought AN a stuff toy coz she refused to put it back onto the shelf. Cheeky AN.

He's got quite a fair amt of paternity instinct in him wor.

After shopping, we went to LeeLee to see what all the rave about the chinese supermarket was, and indeed, it's worth all the raves!

It's like shopping in AMK hub NTUC. We weren't able to find most of the home brands here but it was good enough. Lee Kum Kee wasn't a good friend till now. There's a whole row specially dedicated to Lee Kum Kee sauces. Back home, Lee didn't seem as productive.

I was surprised that their prices are no more expensive than Walmart's. Tofu was $1.30 (on avg) in LeeLee as cmp to $2.50 in Walmart. They were of different brands but that wasn't impt at all.

I grabbed 3 packs of Silken tofu, a medium firm and a firm tofu. Bought Chee Cheong Fun, dark soya sauce, laksa paste, coconut milk, mee pok, mee kia, yellow noodles, fishballs (fishballs here are frozen...wonder if they taste good), instant mee goreng, tau pok, Yeo's soyabean milk, green tea...and the list goes on.

Neigi was amused by the amount of food we bought. hee. We just didn't want to have to drive another 2.5hrs down to LeeLee to get things anytime soon.

I prefer Phoenix to Tucson. Phoenix is like closer to civilisation. There are pavements for people to walk on, roads look better, buildings look better, even the traffic lights look better. So unlike Tucson where buildings, roads and traffic lights look so worn out and old, and there are no pavements for pedestrians...hmm...

But all that comes with a price. I feel drivers there are also more impatient and doesn't give way as much as those in Tucson.

After a long day out, we finally took another 2 hrs' drive back home. All of us were tired by then.

BM had been left home alone whole day. Maen was barking when we returned. Again, I wonder if she had been barking whole day. I really pray hard she did not. Baileys was silent till he was sure we were finally home, and starting barking for us as well.

I bought Comfort Zone online for BM. Here's what it does: http://www.1800petmeds.com/Comfort+Zone+For+Dogs-prod10777.html

It's not here yet. Hope that helps in addition to the training. I feel as stressed up as they do when we go out. I'll be wondering whole day, if they bark, if they will mess up the house due to anxiety, if the management or neighbours will leave a note for us to remove our dogs or tell us they bark whole day

The house was clean when we got back except that coz we've been out whole day, the toilet area was messy (they need to pee and poop mah). Main worry is that they bark too much :( Will update on the effectiveness of Comfort Zone spray.

Very thankful for Neigi's help whole of yesterday. Once we got home, he got to work, helping us to put things into cabinets and all. He looked tired and he doesn't look well (although he said he was fine).

And then somehow he was like quite 'suay'. hehe. He was holding AN when AN's pampers leaked and she peed on him. While he was walking around in the kitchen, he stepped on Baileys' pee which flowed out of the toilet coz I forgot to put papers in there. The most funny part had to be that when he went to wash his foot, the ANTI-SLIP mat on the bath tub actually SLIPPED and he stepped on himself. Poor thing.

So, it's another day now. 8am on a Saturday morning. Wonder what's up for today. hehe. I like weekends.

Online Shopping

The guys here noted that their wives do a lot of online shopping. Reason being: save time, save effort. It's not like you can take a bus out, shop and come home. Here if you don't drive, you are stranded.

I've been wanting to get some stuff for BM but didn't wanna trouble Mr Liow to make extra trips to the pet store. We've been going to Walmart and Target a lot to get human supplies and I understand it had been tiring for him.

That day we went to fetch BM home, Mr Liow was already shagged out from work but still had to fetch them, bring them for a wash and get their food. The wash took 2 hrs (coz we did not make appointment in advance and had to wait)

I do online shopping at home in Singapore and I appreciate the convenience. It's makes even more sense for me to get stuff online here coz I happen to be one of those who are stranded.

What have I gotten? I got the furminator I've been wanting to get, and Comfort Zone for anxiety. I had wanted to get heartgard for them too but that required prescription by the vets. hmm....It was much to get supplies in Singapore coz no prescription is needed (but of course I KS la. Got Dr Chua to check them before I start them on heartworm preventions).

So now I will still need Mr Liow to bring them back to Dr Cammidge (oh no...I forgot hw to spell her name!). And then I can start getting them heartgard online.

Come to think of it, even tho pet stuff are cheaper here than back in Singapore, I had been getting good deals from approved advertisers from Doggiesite.com. So much so that I don't really find deals here cheap at all, even if they are cheaper than prices in stores back home.

Still, necessities will always be necessities.

;)

Food for thought.

http://www.bynaturepetfoods.com/productpages/salmonoceanfishandyogurt.php

This is what I bought for Baileys and Maen. Will see if they do well on it. So far so good. The 1st day they came back, one of them (I didn't see who), pooed a pile of stools which was not really firm but held its shape. That was Royal Canine poop. I preferred firm stools. hee.

I saw one of their stool, firm and small (whoever that belongs to again) in the toilet this afternoon.

If this works for them both (I'll have to continue monitoring for the next month or so), this will probably be their staple diet. And of course, homecooked as much as possible.

They've been sleeping downstairs for the past 3 nights without any problems. So so happy with that.

Baileys seems to have settled down and gotten over the separation anxiety stage. I tried walking in and out of the house to de-sensitize them since yesterday. He doesn't bark, although he does sit right next to the gate and wait for me to return.

Maen on the other hand, barks -____-"

I ignored her today, and walked to the mailbox to collect mails. It was a short distance from our house and I could hear her till she heard my footsteps coming back.

They always surprise me with their progress. I thought Maen was the easier one. Ended up, Baileys was so much more cooperative and sensible. All the while, it had been Baileys who was the one who gets stressed up easier than Maen does.

Neigi is on the way to visit us and Mr Liow has reached the airport to fetch him. He heard there are several airports in Tucson (huh!!!??). Hope he's waiting at the right one.

He's planned to bring neigi and me and AN to "somewhere" (I couldn't hear him just now coz I was cooking). Am worried that Maen will not be happy about it and bark till we return. Am worried that Baileys will get motivated to join in the fun and bark till we get a noted asking us to remove one of the dogs, or worse, both.

Please pray :(

Stress sia...

Maintenance guy came...

The maintenance guy came over this afternoon to fix the aircon controller unit in our hm. We expected him yesterday but he didn't turn up.

I panicked when I heard him knocking on our door. I mustn't let him know we hv 2 dogs in the house! I ran upstairs, asking BM to follow me.

Maen has climbed up stairs only once in her life (she can do things we least expect! Like Mark mentioned, she's one agile girl. Btw B and M, she's the one who can jump up onto our car back home, if she wants to. She was just too used to being carried into the car). That was at Country Inn when I wanted to walk them but was too lazy to walk to the lift and hoped they could walk down the stairs with me.

Baileys failed that 1st attempt. That time Maen ran down the steps easily, Baileys was trapped looking helplessly at me up the steps. I had to run back up with Maen following behind me and take the lift together with Baileys -____-"

I was praying hard that they would run upstairs with me today. I couldn't afford to carry either of them coz AN definately CAN'T climb stairs (although she can crawl up on her own, that's not safe either).

A chinese idiom describes one who's desperate as "Gou Ji Tiao Qiang" (literally translated as a dog in desperation can jump over the wall. Baileys proved the idiom right! Maen effortlessly ran up after me, leaving Baileys behind. I thought I had to go back to carry him up this time so I brought Maen into the room 1st, and put AN onto the floor before I went out for Baileys. I was surprised to turn back and see Baileys run into the room soon after.

My Baileys can climb steps now!! Not 1 flight. It's 3 separate flight of steps with the last being rather long!

So I trapped them in the bedroom while the maintenance guy, Ramone (I don't know if I spell his name right but that's how he pronounced his name, Ramone) did the re-wiring.

Took him almost 3 hrs coz there was a little hiccup with the old aircon system.

I tried sounding him out about the management's stand about their 1 dog policy. Told him I actually have 2 dogs but had no choice but to separate them coz of ST's strict policy abt pets. He said no one really bothers if we have 2 dogs in the house even tho they say we can't.

He comes to do what he has to do and it's not his business to report us to the management, he said. He also pointed out that the management doesn't go around peeking into houses to see how many dogs the tenants have and assured me not to worry about having both of them in our house, as long as we do not disturb neighbours, no one will even know.

Felt better after his assurances and since he was taking longer than expected, I let BM out of the room. Both ran down the stairs and then back up to look for me.

They can now climb steps! hehe.

This being their 2nd night sleeping away from us, I started out worried that they may not agree to the separation this time round. It's been 1.5hrs since we came upstairs and they have not made a single noise in protest. We went out of the room quietly to listen to them. No noise. Tat means both are asleep alry!

Thank God for that! Thank God they can climb steps now, and that they both can sleep apart from us now (I hope. This is only the 2nd night tho).

And for dinner today, I made Tom Yum Stir-fry Eggplant (brinjal)and mushroom egg. I thought both tasted rather good. hee. Mr Liow said the Tom Yum Stir-fry tasted a little wierd. Thought he might miss Tom Yum. I was wrong. hee.

Am starting to enjoy cooking. I'm left with tou foo (CAN YOU BELIEVE A NORMAL SIZED CUBE OF TOU FU COSTS USD$2.50 HERE!! I buy them at NTUC for S$0.70 each wor...super overpriced..), wu-gui dou (sort form of peas in pod), bean sprouts (goodness...beansprouts are also ex here...), chicken & minced pork. I've also got sweetcorns, tomatoes, potato and white onions.

Will probably make ABC soup tomorrow. See how. With AN around, really not easy to prepare food. sigh...But she's getting cuter and more fun by the day. It's easier to love her now than when she was a newborn. hee.