How True

I saw this in The Star newspaper and living with a teenage son, I can totally relate to it:

Minion Cupcakes

A friend asked me to bake some chocolate cupcakes for her daughter's birthday party and since her daughter is a huge fan of the Minions from the movie 'Despicable Me 2', this is what I came up with:

Lots and lots of Minions!

Laundromat Experience

Our trusty top-loading washing machine broke down after serving us for 18 long years. It had managed to survive through a few repairs but this time the repairman just shook his head and said, "It's time to buy a new machine."

Hubby and I had been eyeing a front-loader for quite a while as we anticipated that our washing machine would one day just suddenly conk out due to wear and tear. The price was a little steep though, with most of them above RM2000.

We finally found an Electrolux one at SenHeng that had both washing and drying function. The good news was that with a membership we could get a discount of RM800 off the retail price. That sounded like a pretty good deal, so we made an order and paid for it. 

The bad news was that we had to wait a whole week before they could deliver the machine because they didn't have ready stock.

Handwashing was out of the question as I had 2 laundry baskets FULL of dirty clothes that needed washing when my washing machine broke down. Then my daughter, SweetTeen had an idea. She mentioned that there is a coin-operated laundromat that had recently opened nearby where we stay.

So off we go lugging plastic-bags of dirty laundry for our first experience at a Malaysian laundromat. We had used the laundromat when we travelled overseas so it shouldn't be too different.

We discovered that it's quite a popular place, I'm not sure why, perhaps it's cheaper than buying a washing machine? Most of the people seem to be regulars as they knew exactly what to do and some even bring their own laundry detergent. Very clear instructions are displayed on the walls and above the washers and dryers together with the price list and duration of wash/drying. 

Different kinds of washers for different
amount of laundry.

Drink dispenser on the left and
coin machine on the right which
changes Ringgit notes to 50sen coins.
Wash-RM5, Dry-Rm4.50
We can also buy detergent and softener 
for RM1 each.

The powerful dryers that could dry all
our laundry in 15 minutes

There was also free Wifi and piped-in music, so we could surf the net and keep ourselves entertained while we wait. Within 1 hour all my laundry was washed and dried, and I returned home a happy woman.

I was even happier when this baby finally arrived!
Price: RM2800
Hopefully it will last us another 20 years!

October Activities

October has been a busy month for me and you would probably have noticed the lack of posts on my blog for the past weeks.

Just a quick update on what I have been up to...

A friend who has just started a food business asked hubby to take photos for her menu. So the things we learnt in the photography workshop a few months back are coming in handy now. 

This is before we began the photography session.
Everything came packed in styrofoam boxes
and we had to assemble them according to
specific instructions and sample pictures.

A few assembled items. Had to make
each item of food look as tasty as possible.

At the end of 5 hours of photo shoot.
Tiring but fun :)

Our church celebrated her 25th anniversary, so I was busy preparing a short comical play entitled "The Modern Good Samaritan" involving the youths. Put in a few weeks of practice. Also did a short video about all the church activities in the past year. That took up some time too, choosing photos for a 4 minute video.

Meanwhile I am still on the lookout for amusing signs, which has become some sort of a hobby for me. I mean, we all need to laugh now and then, right? Here's one that I saw at a laundromat nearby my house.

Naughty basket...going around stealing!

Oh, and a friend visited Bali and brought back some of these:

Disco prawns snacks...
I wonder if I will dance
better after eating them?

Waxing Lyrical About Car Waxing

I was thinking of sending my car for a good wash and polish, and was looking at the promotions in Groupon when some of the advertisements caught my eye. I never knew that people in the car cleaning industry could be so creative in their words!  Oh, and I have also learnt that a wash and polish job is now called auto detailing.

Here are some of the ones I liked:

Weary-looking vehicles seek improvements on appearance and self-esteem as car beauticians restore shine and reputation with auto detailing sessions. Car caretakers wash off accumulated dirt and grime from metallic shells before clay and wax applications protect painted surfaces from further debris. Finally, restoration liquids clear up cloudy and oxidised headlamps as dashboards and tyres shine brighter with solutions, persistent cloths, and powerful persuasion.

Mechanical babies roll into the shower to rid dirt and gifts from feathered friends, while a good carpet beating discourages dust collection and bad behaviour. Hooded husks regain baby buttocks complexion with the Meguiar’s clay mask which removes dirt prints and minor scratches. For a smooth shiny finish that lasts up to three months, grease monkeys pick out tar stains before polishing and wrapping cars in double layers of wax. Once rear pipes are cleaned out and cars left void of unwanted matter, further interior and exterior polishing complete the four to five hour makeover, after which vehicles can ride their humans home.

Three-hour gratifying session begins with dust, mud and evidence of affections being washed off vehicular surfaces. Carpet and trunk dwelling vagabonds are evicted from carriage interiors before transport technicians proceed to smoothen metallic facades with clay and expertly polish scratch marks away. Customers may opt for glass stain removal treatment, expunging water marks and hard stains but not scratches or err towards iron dry wash, leaving cushioned thrones immaculate and ready to cradle posteriors once more.

Makes you wonder if some punny person got the idea from the English idiom 'wax lyrical' and decided to write something lyrical about car waxing!

Wax lyrical = to talk about something with a lot of interest and excitement.

punny = A play on words for the word "funny". It is a pun in itself.