What to Cook? What to Cook?

Anybody has problems wondering what to cook???

I am struggling each day... wondering what to cook. Some days I cheat lah... as in I just buy ready-marinated meats and just chuck them into the oven. Errrr...like yesterday. S1 was like "mmmm...taste nice. Quite different from your normal style"... not realising that it's because mommy didn't make it. My normal style sooooo not nice meh??

And what are we having today?? Just pork chops marinated in some garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Gonna pan-fry them and serve over rice with some spinach. Donno how this is gonna turn out.

Why do I find cooking such a chore??? I used to enjoy cooking one wor... 

So what's cooking in your kitchen???

Big Changes Down Under....

What would one expect?
Moving from Asia... to a DEVELOPED COUNTRY. Speaking of DEVELOPED COUNTRY, I should change the write-up about "MYSELF". I am no longer living in a developing country, and no longer an expat wife. I'm sure is still a Nomadic Mom... cause we are still living in a rented home, and we WILL be moving sometime or other!

When are we buying a home here? Donno the answer at this point in time. So don't ask. :-)
So the part where we are living in a rented home (like what we have been doing in all our expat relocations) has NO CHANGE.

So what are the big changes?

For one, I NO LONGER have a driver, and I have since become THE DRIVER. I didn't mind this at all.... until soccer started last week ...IN THE EVENINGS! It's the time that I am usually changed in my ugly, loose and comfy pyjamas and plonked in front of the tv kind of time. So you can imagine the 'inconvenience' of having to pop out to drop and pick-up and hour later. What time? Start times ranging from 6.50 to 7.30 depending on days. 3 days of Soccer (split between the 2 boys) and then there's a day of tennis... and now Saturdays with Archery.
Actually, there's the Sunday for S2's Parkour down at Southbank. But I had to draw a line and ask him to drop it. Tooooooooooooooooooo far a drive, plus the $8 parking is off-putting. And I don't know how to kill 2 hours in the city on my own. Once Twice is okay lah... but every week, cannot tahan. Soccer and Tennis is actually quite close by.... to drive, but not close enough to walk laaaa

What about the other main change? NO MAID? Actually, I didn't have a maid back in Jakarta for awhile... Too much problem. How am I coping? Not too bad lah. Boys help out with the dishes after meals, and they will mop and vaccuum in the weekend. Only once in awhile, I will clean their toilets.... I get them to clean their own toilets weekly. S2 was like "EEWWWWWW" when I showed him their urine stains.. and it was quite funny cause the next day when his friend came, he said "please aim properly cause I have to clean it!". Hahahahha...

Not having a maid in Jakarta was not a problem, cause we could still send out our laundry to the "Laundry Kilo-an" - Laundry done by the kilos. They will wash, iron and fold (ironing not perfect but who cares??). Here... I gotta do the laundry and the ironing. Winter has its perks. Everybody wore their jumpers and NO NEED TO IRON! Now, Spring is here, more of those white shirts are seeing the sunlight... and thus have to iron. Bought myself a terrer super-duper steam iron, which actually made ironing easier. I wouldn't say that ironing is pleasurable, but it sure is easier.

What I find really hard about moving Down Under is COOKING EVERYDAY!!!!!! In Jakarta (or anywhere else in Asia for the matter), going out for a meal is soooooooo easy, convenient and cheap. Australia is blardy expensive. H keeps insisting that the noodles are almost same priced as Jakarta, cause you get double the amount. Yes. Portions are bigger, but still expensive. $$ aside, I find the larger portions also a bit troublesome... cause I would then have to ta-pau the other half, and EAT IT THE NEXT DAY. Yerrrrrr... donwan to eat same thing over and over again wor? But I don't wanna waste it either. SO how?  And I find I can't eat what I want. Because of the larger portions, S1 will order what he wants, S2 will order what he wants, and I end up with whatever they cannot finish. Damn sien... It's better if H is around, then he becomes the one that eats everybody's leftovers. Hahahahah

Biggest change? Is not having the other half here with me 50% of the time... cause of the business in Jakarta. Is kinda lonely.... especially after I drop the boys to school, and I come back to an empty house. Really need to get a job of whatever to just get out.... otherwise damn sien and bored. And you know what is worse? EATING WHEN BORED!!! I've put on about 4 kgs since I moved here. How not to? The cheeses, the ice-creams, etc etc....

Speaking of jobs... it's not easy.... They stress for  'local experience' blah blah blah. I thought I'll just volunteer for something, but even that seems a bit ma-fan with the hours and days that they want you to commit. No such thing as just go and help out when you are free kind. Know what I mean?
Anyway, See how lah.....

Other than that, I think boys are settling in quite well, and at least I don't have to worry about them. Just somehow ... NO HOMEWORK ONE WORRRRRRRR...

Still so much to update.... maybe tomorrow lah...

"Sau Keok Mann"

What does that mean?
Basically, the direct translation is "Hands Legs Slow" and is what it means... that the hands and legs of an individual has gone slow. I guessed this is a phenomena with everyone that is getting older. I find that in me. Not that I can see or feel that I have slowed down physically... but more of that time just whoooooooooshes past. How else can you explain this other than we have slowed down?

Time is relative... and according to Einstein's Theory of Relativity, Time seems to have 'speeded up' because we have 'slowed down'.

Makes sense, right?

WALIOW! It's been a long time...

Ya man. It's been ages since I update this blog. Not that anyone missed me... except my dad. He's been complaining that he doesn't know what's been happening to his two grandsons... as nobody tells him anything!

So dad. For your benefit... as well as my mind (errr.. I've been forgetting things/events that had happened), I'm gonna update the blog.

Well.... as you already know... Nomadic Mom has relocated to MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA...

Did I give you the long story why we did this? Another time lah...

For now, I just want to write down this (definitely ONLY for my benefit)
- Wed, 12 Sept 2012: Accident @ Toorak Road. Approx 4 PM.
- Thurs, 13 Sept 2012: Car sent to Workshop/ S1's Social at School
- Fri, 14 Sept 2012: House Inspection by Agent/ Pick up car (?)

Okay.. that's about it for the time being!

Transition Mode....

Is this still a rant?
Read and decide.... hehehehe...

My Education Centre was started initially for myself and another partner. It was intended to be a single centre that us two ladies manage.... but somehow, the husbands got involved and suddenly there are plans to go big. And I being one who cannot compartmentalise ... is perpertually stressed about work. Bringing work back home - afterall it is OWN business right?
So work load is one thing...

And then there is the other.... over some silly misunderstanding (actually, not even misunderstanding), my partner decided not to come into work anymore. Basically, she was asking me some questions and I wasn't really forthcoming with my answers as I was busy with some stuff, and she just blew her top, banged the table, screamed at me "you think only you don't want to talk to me? I also don't want to talk to you!" and stormed out of my room. I tell you, I was so shocked by the outburst that I didn't even respond with a retort. You know me.... of course must have last word one!

Anyway, with her not coming in ... I had to be the one managing the day-to-day operations from A to Z including the bookeeping, payroll, HR stuff which she was supposed to be doing. And I have to say that it was taking a toll on me. So stressed and arguing with H almost everyday. I guessed it wasn't just the work load, it was also the emotional aspect of things. Professionally, I could handle my partner just walking off (but still keeping shares), but personally, I felt kinda letdown by a friend. And with me working working working, I have absolutely no social life. I have to say I was a bit depressed. I supposed a bit angry (is this the right word to use) too - or as in Cantonese "mm-tai".... because I own 55% but I do almost 100% of the work - UNPAID work.

Although the time is not right yet, we had to do it... we decided to sell part of the company. Otherwise I think I will go GILA. Singaporeans bought over a % of the company, and they have control now. New CEO is Singaporean.... I still hold a small share of the company. I will still be managing the academic side of things, overseeing the curriculum, the course concepts, our worksheets etc - to ensure that it is to a respectable standard. They have plans to do so many things. I just hope that they know what they are doing....

Am still managing the day-to-day stuff at the moment...(YES. Still unpaid) until they can find someone to replace me. Hope will be soon.

I hate to admit it but I really don't have the stomach to run my own business. I just cannot compartmentalise and cannot leave work at work. I am constantly thinking and worrying about work. Stressed all the time. If I try to take time off and relax. I can't. I'll feel guilty because of the "own business" notion.

Selling part of the company actually was quite timely too..... because..... I am moving to Australia with my boys. H? He will come too ...but travel back here for work.....
More about Down Under in the next post... and why????

Many Things has Happened....

Have I calmed down??

Actually, not yet. So many things to rant about.

You all know that I have opened an Education Centre right?
Waa.... getting good staff is damn hard. And sorry to say, there aren't many good and qualified Indonesians. Even if you think they are qualified and can do the job, and may have a different work ethic because they have studied, lived and worked in the US, you are sooooooooooooooo wrong.

We offered a job to this guy who has post-Masters degree from the US. He signed the employment letter. Two days before he was due to start work, H texted him on two occasions. No reply. And on the day that he was supposed to start work, he didn't turn up. H called him and he "kapp" the call. So blardy unprofessional. How hard is it to pick up the phone and tell us to our faces that our offer sucks and he has decided not to join us?

If it is not people like this, it is people who can hardly speak English. Their resumes all very well-written but call them up for interview, they cannot even understand simple English. How to tutor in English.

Speaking of English, a lot of people think that just because they speak English, they can tutor Maths, Physics and Chemistry. Aduh! I even have a MODEL that wrote in for a job. And her list of experiences are catwalk modelling here there everywhere. I was sooooooooooooo tempted to call her in for an interview and ask her to do Integration by Parts as part of our recruitment assessment! Don't they ever read the jobs ad PROPERLY?

That's the rant about staff.....

Ranting Awayyyyyyy....

I think this is going to be more of a RANTING blog than anything else. I have tonnes to do but I just feel like screaming. Since I can't do that, I'll just tap tap away on my keyboard! I donno lah. Is it me getting old or what? I feel very "mang chang" with every little bit of thing. Am very "mang chang" with H just this morning. Is it me? Or is it him being an @$$?

And all because of "taking photos". Stoooopid right?
He has misplaced my point-and-shoot and I commented that it's easier to use that to take the photos of the stuff we want to sell (yeah... want to sell a LOT of stuff from our apartment - that's another story). Then he went on yapping about "How hard is it to use your iphone blah blah blah". This went on for about 5 minutes and we were still IN bed.

Then when I got up, washed and changed. I took a photo of the Lazy Chair that we want to sell. Waaaa... so many comments from him about drawing and undrawing curtains blah blah blah. Then he went on about me making big things out of small things.
Easy for him to say. Just lying in bed and telling me what to do. Blardy @$$. Don't you just hate men?????

Resurrection

Waaaaaa... Ages since I updated my blog. You guys must be wondering if NomadicMom is still alive. Well, she was gone for awhile but has now been resurrected!

Where shall I begin. To much has happened since my update. Really don't know where to start. How about the fun stuff first? Like I am off to Bangkok this weekend. Nope. No husband. No children. Just little ole me. Meeting Sis No.2 there. She will be flying in from Singapore...

Other current updates... Boys' grandpa is here for a visit. Initially was a babysitting trip because we thought that H had to travel, and with my maid going off for a week and me going to work, we needed an adult at home to be with S2. Out little fella had acute appendicitis which had to be removed on CNY's eve. Talk about timing!!!!

Blog more soon!!!!

Anniversary Run?

Been so busy... till I don't even know what is my name. Okay. Okay.. That is an exaggeration. But I think tomorrow may be our 'official' anniversary. Yup. We have two anniveries to mark our union. The 'official' one at the Registry of Marriages and the 'Chinese custom' one. Why I said tomorrow MAY be the day because I also don't know. Yikes! How bad can one's memory get? Perhaps it is too late to send out Anniversary Invitations to mark the special day. It is our 15th Anniversary after-all. Guess we'll have to wait for the 20th or 25th anniversary then.

Been Neglecting my Blog....

Boy! Have I been neglecting my blog. Been soooooooooooooo busy with the Centre.
In fact, I should NOT be here trying to blog.

Everything is KELAM-KABUT. Even kids also KELAM-KABUT.
Complaints from teacher and detention and all.
Have I been neglecting them as well?

Not trying to defend myself... though I have been busy working, I have been home when boys come back from school... and I'll go with my usual "how is school, what homework do you have, any problems etc ". Short of me taking their books out and holding their hand to write or type, what am I supposed to do ah? Been getting complaints that they have not been doing their homework. I sit here next to them every night in the Study area summore. Must PHYSICALLY CHECK that each piece of homework is done?

They are so big liow .... and still need that? I donno lah..
Anyway, they are both being punished by the father...

New Maid...

Continued from here....

We did have pork quesadillas, pork omelet, fried bacon, pasta carbonara with pork bacon the last few days. Had to test her out - whether she would handle the pork or not. I guessed she passed.

When I came home yesterday, she had already made the boys' teatime snack as requested by the boys. Maggi mee for S1 and fried bacon for S2. And in the evening, told her to make the pasta and the carbonara sauce with bacon. She did understand my instruction of al dente. I didn't use al dente, of course. I had to use my finger and thumb to try to illustrate the 'bite' on the pasta. Yes. The pasta WAS al dente.

After dinner, I asked if she wanted to continue to work... and she was like blah blah blah..menyenangkan. Aiyo. I where understand. Told her to just say YES or NO. And she said YES. I clarified with my partner this morning - apparently it's supposed to mean "working here is nice". I thought she meant "easy".

Today, bought some foods from the supermarkets - chicken, salmon steak and broccoli. Gave her instructions to deep-fry the chicken, pan-fry the salmon steak (to medium done) and stir-fry the broccoli. And the dishes did turn out okay.... except fried chicken not salty enough. The salmon steak was done just right - NOT hard like rock. The sauce was okay. The broccoli was still nice and crisp. Not lam-pek-pek like how most maids would cook it. So overall, no complaints.

She said she can make Thai Pomelo salad one wor.... Will get her to make one of these days.

Okay lah. Got to go pack my bags for tomorrow....

PARTY! PARTY!

Yup! Yup! Yup! I am flying back home to KUL tomorrow to celebrate my 40th with my sisters. Okay. Okay. Technically, my birthday is not till next week.... but my school is having a REUNION and 40th Birthday Dinner for the Class of '88 on Saturday. I was err-ing and ahh-ing for a while before deciding to go home. Afterall, how often does one turn 40?

My dinner (PARTY??) tomorrow with my sisters .... the colour theme is BLACK and RED. I saw a dress at GUCCI's window display last week.... and it IS a gorgeous dress. Decided to go in today to ask about the price... just to kepoh. Of course I knew I wouldn't buy it.
Guess how much the dress was....
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.
.
.
.
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USD 2,200/-!

And you know what? Because I was gonna do some banking .... I did have THAT amount of money in cash in my handbag. My friend kept joking "Eh! you got money in your handbag what. One for you and one for me!". (Yes. People do carry cash around here cause a lot of cash transactions as opposed to other methods ....)

In case you are wondering... am ditching the three boys here on their own. H kept asking the boys "where shall we go to have OUR party whilst your mom is away? Bali?"
The boys were like choi-huei-ter-sor, then he said "you all want to just stay at home and play games is it??". Well... that's exactly it. They just want to veg-out at home without mommy here to ngam-ngam-chamm-chamm.

In progress...

As you all know, my Centre is still undergoing renovations. Last week, not much seemed to have been completed. Visited the place yesterday... was quite impressed with the progress in one week. The partitions are all up, electrical wiring done, Aircon tubings done, toilets retiled, lighting fixed. I'm told that aircons will be installed today. We've finalised on the wall colours. YES. Orange is OUR colour! And it is indeed the colour in the reception area and the our 'Chill Zone'. But we decided to go for softer pastels for the classrooms. The only problem of visiting the Centre was that we sure made a mess of the car mats. The whole place had plaster of paris dust and debris and what-nots! So you can imagine the footprints we made INSIDE the car. Luckily it was my partner's car and not mine. Heheheheh... I bet her driver was cursing us!

New Maid came in...

From the last post:

New Maid came on Thursday (8th Sept) evening.... supposed to come in the afternoon but she didn't know the way. So had to wait for her cousin to finish work to bring her in. This one is true... cause the cousin in my partner's driver.

When I saw her, I was a bit surprised cause she had her head covered. Donno why I was surprised. Maybe because I kept asking if 'she can handle pork' and her cousin said 'no problem'. Anyway, when she came it was already quite late in the evening. So obviously didn't ask her to do anything except to clean and tidy her bedroom. H removed the DVD player and LCD TV from the maid's room prior to her arrival. I was thinking this one very 'siew-cheh' don't know whether can work or not. Her last job was in a household of 16 maids! She only prepares food. No ironing. No cleaning.

I told H that she might have problems with the 'porky' and I should just use her to at least IRON all my 10 days of clothes. hahahah...then I will whip out my bacon for her to cook. If she cannot tahan, then she will just leave on her own accord, rather that I tell her to go.... H said I should be worried that she will burn holes in all our clothes if she cannot iron. And he joked "so this weekend, we are going to have siew yoke, bak kut teh, pork chop is it?"

The next morning, she was dressed in long sleeved shirt and long pair of jeans and head covered. I was like "aiyo... how is she gonna work like that?". Briefly gave her instructions to make the beds, clean the floors, wash the toilets. She started making the boys' beds. Again, I was like thinking "how to work like that?". But I did see that the beds were really quite nicely made lah. So I went back to my room. When I came out, she was already changed and cleaning the toilets. Yes. She had the sense to change to something comfortable for real cleaning. She was in a T-shirt and shorts and NO head-scarf. Hair was tied-up. I have to say she looks so much more pleasant this way.

She didn't manage to finish the ironing yesterday, so have to continue today. Once that is done... my 'porky' will come out. I think this 'porky' will be the test lah. No point that she can clean well, make beds nice, iron well, but cannot handle 'porky'. My S2 is a bacon lover. I've bought her gloves ... so will see how...

Wish me luck!

Desperate to Lose Weight!

No. Not I.
Okay. Okay. Yes. I am quite desperate to lose weight....but not to the extend of going under the knife or needles. The most that I will do is to pop some weight loss pills to get rid of the flab, and perhaps starve a little, go to the gym to 'pretend' to sweat it out. But my friend... is a different story. She goes to some beauty salon to get injections into her body - stomach and thighs to 'melt' the fat away. She swears that it works. I don't know. The sound of it seems quite scary... Needles piecing through skin and injecting god-knows-what by beauticians masking as a medical practitioner? Scarily dangerous.... is all I can think of.

Get Ready for the Cold!

Time really flies.... I know I've said it many times. But I can't help it. Time does fly!
It's already Autumn now, and soon it will be winter. Should I be happy that I am not sitting in a little corner waiting for time to go by? That I am busy? Or should I be sad that time whizzes by so quickly that I have no time to enjoy life?
Which is it?
Maybe I should NOT answer this question. Just go with the flow!
Yes. That's what I will do.... But I will look forward to our Winter holiday this December. We are going to Vail, Colorado for skiing! Exciting. My first skiing trip. Only thing is the cold... Bbbbrrrrrrrrrr. Hope the apartment is well-equipped with a super-duper infrared heater to warm up those frozen fingers and toes after a long day out in the snow!

Fried the Maid Sotong...

Yup. Finally did it.

Remember my last post? I mentioned something about getting a new maid... Heheheh.

Well, fired the maid yesterday. Why? If you have been following my posts about my maid, you will know why. This time was really really the last straw.

This time? She was supposed to be back by Monday, 5th Sept morning - boys back to school. Driver was here at the apartment at 6.30 am as usual. I didn't expect her to arrive so early. Perhaps 7 am or 8 am. When she didn't turn up at 8 am. I texted her and ask her what time she is arriving. STOOOOOOOOPID woman said she couldn't get bus ticket for Sunday. And only managed to get bus ticket for Monday. She will only arrive in Jakarta either afternoon or night. What kind of stupid baloney is that? She don't know in advance she don't have bus ticket meh? Even if she didn't buy her ticket waaaaaaaaay in advance lah, she should have called me on Sunday night already, right????
Why must wait till I contact her to see where she is, then only inform me? Why do I have to see that shedid not turn up for work, then I be the one to find out what happened?

When I told H about it, H immediately said Tell her NO Need to come back. But then, my keycard and all was still with her. So I didn't tell her that she no longer has a job. I only texted her that Boys STARTED School today. She said she didn't do it deliberately. Yah. Right! I am so stupid is it?

Seriously, everytime she goes off, there will some stupid excuse as why she can't come back as intended!!!

I was ironing on Tuesday morning (10 days of clothes!!), when she opened the door and couldn't get in. Cause I've double-locked and latched the door. The moment I opened the door, I said please give me the keys. You don't have to work here anymore. Please pack your things. That's all I said. Very calmly.

When she was leaving, I just couldn't help it. Had to say it. I told her. Just tooooooo many times that she do all this nonsense. Fed-up of telling her the same thing over and over again!

And you know what? Today, she asked me for a letter of reference via text. She said she worked more than one year blah blah blah. And donno what else. I asked "what do you want me to write? That you always leave without permission or that you always have all sorts of excuses?". I mean what is the point of me writing a letter of reference if all I am going to say is SO-and-so worked for me for 1.5 years. FULL STOP.

Certainly she wouldn't want me to have potential employers call me. Because if I am still living here, people would ask Why did her employment stopped? If she is good, why did I let her go? What am I supposed to say? I certainly would not lie for her!

But I have to say that I did teach her to cook lots of stuff. She can make banana loaf, pancakes, proper omelets and scramble eggs, Hainanese chicken rice, nasi lemak, chicken casserole, curry chicken, lor mai kai, lor pak kou, chicken pies, pork chops, chicken chop, roast chicken-my style, roast chicken ala Jamie Oliver, Grilled fish with lemon sauce, lasagne (tomato sauce and the bechamel sauce from scratch!), quesadilla, tacos, pizzas, pasta carbonara, gyoza, fried hokkien mee, wantan mee, mee suah soup, fried beehoon malaysian style, chinese style fried rice, one pot rice, bak kut teh and the 'yau fann', thai-style pineapple rice, all sorts of chinese soups, angmoh mushroom soup, pumpkin soup, french onion soup..... etc etc. *sigh* now got to start from the very beginning. BLEAH...

I have a new maid coming in tomorrow. My partner's driver's cousin. We'll see how she works out. If this one don't jadi, my driver has two lined up for me this weekend. Yeah. Now is quite easy to find maids because they have all returned from their kampungs to the city. If it was before Lebaran, then it would be difficult...

Wish me luck with this new one...

Oh.. I know I am very bad. But I hope her next job is with a local family. NO off days. NO long paid holidays (with us, she gets at least 3 weeks paid holidays when we go away if not more! Actually more. We go away during Summer holidays and December holidays.), NO TV in room. NO Free time. MUST wake up at 4 AM. MUST mop floor twice a day with floor cloth and not with a mop. MUST make FULL breakfast for the ibu every morning. MUST bring the Ibu's handbag into the car. MUST bring Ibu's little bag and towel to the gym (see this post) etc etc...
So bad hor... but she really had it too good that she wants to take advantage of me. If I don't fire her this time, she will definitely think she is indispensable and climb ALL over my head!

I need a holiday!!!

I have been working like a dog lately. So many things to do for the new business. And so much red tape here there everywhere. Really tiring - both mentally and physically. I feel so drained. I really need a holiday. So much so that I will take ANY holiday. Even a fishing holiday! Yes. Me. Miss Spa&Pampering. Can't imagine it? Well, seriously I am NOT afraid of slimy fishes. What I am afraid of is waiting for ages for a fish to take the bait! So if this chick is going out fishing, she is going to hire those flats fishing guides to show me the way to hook those huge fishes. No way, Jose am I gonna wait till the cows come home!

Cannot Imagine ....

Really. I can't. I can't imagine that such things would happen...
Riots in London.
Hurricane in New York.
You know... people always have their branches/ stores in London, New York, Paris....
I wonder if something is going to happen in Paris next.
I'm sure Parisiens will say "choi choi. Luei hau swei kong koh". Errr... I suppose Chinesey Parisiens. Hahahaha

Just been reading Yahoo News on New York. Go here to read the article.
Broadway shows cancelled. Starbucks closed. And so are the Golden Arches!
Can you imagine a deserted Times Square? Empty Grand Central Station on 42th Street?
And after the storm, I am sure the city will be in a mess.
I can't help it. I have thoughts of Will Smith's I am Legend playing in my head.
Scary..... Really quite unimaginable.

Great photos

Did I mention to you that my dive instructor is a travel journalist?
Why am I suddenly bringing her up when it has been ages since I got my advance diving certificate? Well, I just saw her Facebook update that she is now in India doing a piece. I'm sure she'll have wonderful photos to accompany her writings. I remember the wonderful underwater photos that she took with her waterproof cameras when we were out diving. Did I show you the photo she took of me? Here it is.....

Yup. That's me being the horsey.....