my kind of coffee

It's New Year's Eve and tonight the kids and I will be hanging out at the mall for coffee and snacks while waiting for the fireworks to start. I hope I will still be able to sleep after drinking coffee that late in the day (or night, as in this case). We'll see (LOL).

At any rate, it's rather rare for us to drink coffee out. I'm the 3-in-1 pack kind of person as I'm too lazy to get all the stuff out and start brewing up a whole post. Besides, not all of us drink coffee in this household. So, as far as coffee is concerned, the easier and quicker the better I like it.

That's why I think Alpine Valley's Flavored K-cups are just the thing for me. They're cup-sized pods that are conveniently packed to work with the Keurig coffee system to make the perfect cup of coffee.



Yep, no more guessing games as to how many portions of each ingredient to brew that oh-so-good cup of coffee. You can have a different flavor of coffee each day, or brew different flavors for different people based on their preference.

It's really neat because it's so convenient there's no wastage and no mess. There's such a variety of coffee flavors to choose from, and it's all so affordable. We might not even need to go to Starbucks now, I can have this every day!

hopes for a better year

I'm reading in the papers that people are getting retrenched by the hordes. Certainly not good news, very sad especially for those with families to support. The way it's going, I'm probably going to stop reading the papers pretty soon.

I think those in the manufacturing sector would likely be the worst hit. Those in the skills and service industries will probably be spared. For instance, if you work a salon job, whatever the state of the economy, people will still need a haircut, right?

So I wouldn't be surprised at all if those who are affected by the slowing economy turn to learning some skillset that will see them through these hard times. Well, with the new year just hours away, I hope 2009 will weather well for all despite all the gloomy predictions we're hearing.

call yourself a friend?

Do you have any friends who are just plain bad news? We do! There's this guy who's been friends with dh for years now. I don't like him. one. bit.

He's full of crappy recommendations that he tries to promote to us just to make us waste money, not to mention how he uses us. Nothing he recommends is value for money. They'll sh*tty stuff that he wouldn't buy himself.

He works overseas and comes back every few weeks but his wife and 2 sons are here. Meantime he leaves dh to take his 12-year-old son for golf and pay for everything. Dh does it for friendship.

In return, he gives us cheap tea from China as gifts. Hello, how much does a golf session cost and how much does a box of tea cost?? You do the math. I'm sorry but I don't consider this man even comes close to being a friend.

He bought a Kia Carnival and six months later, tried to sell it to us at the same price he bought it for. Even a kindy kid knows a Kia Carnival has no resale value and it depreciates like heck the minute you drive it out of the showroom. Call yourself a friend, eh?!

back to school

I'm just doing a mental checklist of what else I need to do before school starts next week. We did our back-to-school shopping really early this year simply because we had very little to buy. We have lots of hand-me-downs and extras, and that's always nice.

We made a quick run to the stationery store yesterday but once school starts, there will probably be stuff that we've left out or which the school needs us to buy. So there will be a couple more runs before school settles in.

Apart from that, I think we're about set.

just browsing

I can't believe how quickly Christmas went. Poof and it's over. Ours was pretty quiet. We didn't do much, just stayed home all Christmas day reluctant to go out and get stuck in traffic, knowing how crazy the shopping crowd has been.

We didn't exchange gifts. Instead I dug out some of my old costume jewelry to wear to a wedding recently. I love real jewelry but times are bad so it's best not to show too much glitter. To be honest, I don't own much jewelry since I stopped wearing them years ago.

But I love looking at them, even if it's just for fun. So on a good day, you can find me peeking in a jeweler's shop window or checking out HolstedJewelers.com's online collection. Maybe one day when there is world peace and zero crime rate, I will be once again be shopping for all that glitters (LOL).

strange things

Strange things are happening. I went to the gas station one day and was told by the attendant that they've run out of gas. Yes, as in out of stock! I gave him an "are you kiddin' me" sneer and repeated my question, thinking I'd heard wrong the first time. Nope, it's true, they have no gas to sell because it's all gone, out of stock!

Yesterday I was at the mall and this guy shoves a Straits Times newspaper in my path. I was like, no thanks, thinking he was trying to pass me a flyer for some gimmicky bucking bronco chair or cut-throat spa. Man, if you have to give out a major newspaper for free, something must be very wrong!

December

Why is it that the month of December always goes quicker than any other month of the year?

And December is obviously the month that is both busiest (because of all the year-end stuff that needs to be gotten out of the way, not to mention the shopping) and the most relaxed (because school is out).

And yes, December is when the shopping malls are at their merriest. I love December, don't you?

time to shop

Alright, it looks like we're rolling, in fast motion, straight into Christmas here. Thanksgiving, as always, is a non-event to everyone else but me, but I don't want to harp on it any morel than I have to, simply because it's come and gone!

I'm tired but at the same time, I'm excited about this whole idea of Christmas shopping. I don't celebrate Christmas but this is the time of year when I do most of my shopping and stocking up. I'm also planning to cook up a storm so there you go, more reason to shop.