By Hui Zhi

We've spent the last one to two weeks meeting up with the various contractors and getting quotes from them for our house renovation. Some were really the experts of their trade while some were the fly-by-night kind.

We had three quotes from the more decent ones, 2 of them $5000+ and another only $3500. Economically speaking, it makes sense to go for the 3.5k one, which included everything we wanted as well. However, God gave wisdom for us to run an online search and was amazed that the company was actually specialising in something much much different from renovation!!! To think we nearly settled for this particular company.. 

In the end, we decided to give the job to Uncle Patrick, a contractor who had renovated Bernard's office previously. Letting someone we are familiar with handle the job, we can be more assured. Will be meeting up with Uncle Patrick and his daughter next week to decide on the colours of the kitchen top, bedroom vinyl tiles and the walls. 

Uncle Patrick usually does commercial projects instead of residential ones as they 'make more money'. So, we are privileged that he has agreed to do the job for us. He even invited us to his house to view the Cresto kitchen top when we asked more about it and he was patient in explaining all the details. We cannot ask for more. If all things go well, renovation works will start next weekend and should end before the end of July, as agreed. =)

P/s: We've decided to have vinyl tiles for our bedroom. Fixing laminate tiles will be much more expensive as all the built-in cabinets must have their doors adjusted to fit the laminates. Thanks again to Uncle Patrick, who had arranged with a customer for Bernard to view the vinyl flooring. =)

By Hui Zhi

I was looking through my Friendster account and chanced upon a previous blog entry which I had written.

Read an article in the Life section of the Straits Times: the author was commenting how the BOX has taken away time from our loved ones. How true! Some may argue that No! they watch TV together as a family.. But if we really think about it, how much communication is it possible when our eyes and ears are fixed on the BOX?

And more than that, I think a lot of electronic stuff have broken down the basics of society.. Just to name a few...

The computer and internet: though assisting our work and communication, can break down our relationships as well. Internet pornography and unhealthy chatrooms, children that spend too much time on online games, at the expense of time with parents. Electonic gadgets like the mobile phone: Getting used to SMSing, we don't get to hear the voices of our friends that often, until of course we really meet up in person.. We have gotten so used to them that we'd feel 'itchy' all over if we do not have them by our side..We have become too dependent on them.

Still remember the day we had the island-wide blackout. The TV, computer etc. were not able to function.. Communication thru mobile phones were hampered due to busy network. It seems like we have gone back to primitive times, dinner by candle-light accompanied by news reports from portable radios, neighbours chatting about the situation along the corridors, with fans in their hands. What delight it was when the power came back on. Cheers were heard! =)

Not wanting it to hamper our communication is the reason why we'll not be having a TV in our new home. I know for sure, if I have one switched on, it'll get me hooked. And as the seniors say, a newly-married couple needs more time for communication, hence our decision to not have a TV...

Yippee! We've finally obtained the keys to our new home. Met up with the agent and sellers tonight and got the keys from them. Settled the next month's taxes and conservancy charges, transferred the utilities and also signed an idemnity form (in case anything happens before the second appointment with HDB).

Here's a peep into our new place. Of course it's quite empty now... It will be OUR place after some slight renovation works. Going to call up some contractors for quotes tomorrow.

Walk-in wardrobe and the master room attached bath all nicely done up. =) See my reflection in the mirror.

Bed frame of master room waiting for the arrival of King Koil mattress.
Having an oven just like the one I have at home now is a dream, but will I have the time for some cake/ cookie baking in the new kitchen?
A cosy living room area with the sound and projection system in place. Notice something at the bottom left corner, it's a baby rocker given by the sellers. It'll be in the store room for now. ;)

Neat shelvings in the store and the study area where I think I'll spend most of the evenings doing my 'homework'.

Bernard locking up before we left tonight. =)

By Hui Zhi

Recently, our church is preparing for the launch of a prayer blessing campaign. This morning, Bernard was in discussion with his pal and they came up with the idea of dedicating a page here in our blog site to bless our family and friends, and maybe strangers as well.

So if you want us to bless you through our prayers, click on 12 Blessings to let us know which of the 12 blessings you need and be sure that we'll be keeping you in our prayers.

1. Health
2. Protection
3. Inner Peace
4. Family Harmony
5. Financial Freedom
6. Progress in Career
7. Friendships and Relationships
8. Wisdom and Intelligence
9. Direction for the Future
10. Forgiveness
11. Eternal Life
12. Fullness of the Holy Spirit

Have a blessed week ahead! =)

"Ask and you will receive"

By Bernard

Recently, Weebly.com (our web-hosting company) introduce a new function whereby we can easily add on Google Adsense as a function for us to make some money. Hopefully, with this little income, we can "offset the cost" of maintaining our blog (domain, hosting etc).

Actually, I am very curious whether Google Adsense really pay us for click through from our website and the value they pay us per click through.

Will update you all when we are paid our first cheque/ payment from Google... =P

By Bernard

Today, in church, I was asked at least 6 times by my friends this question: "How's wedding preparation coming along?" =)

Hmm... It really set me thinking whether our wedding preparation is almost ready.

Things yet to be settled (in random order):
1) Wedding Flavours
2) Wedding Cards & RSVP
3) House Flooring
4) Painting for the house
5) Simple decoration & items for the house
6) Church Wedding Reception & Deco
7) Music Selection
8) Honeymoon Matters
9) Packing & Shifting
10) Wedding Album Design
11) Other matters (ROM Application, Huizhi's Leave Application etc)

Ps: Dear friends, please keep us in prayers for our preparation =)

By Bernard & Huizhi

This afternoon, we went to collect the soft copy for our wedding photos.
Click here to view them. =)

By Bernard and Hui Zhi

Praise be to God! On Saturday, Pastor Danny Han has agreed to be our wedding solemniser. We are happy because he is the only pastor in our church (Victory Family Centre) who is a licensed solemniser.

We are appreciative that he has availed his time despite his busy schedule. Deep down in our hearts, we long to have our very own pastor to be our solemniser, having been raised up in this church.

By Hui Zhi

We went down to the Expo yesterday afternoon with Bernard's parents, wanting to go to the Robinsons sale and Popular fair.

We happened to pass by the Living Showcase 2008 and went in to take a look. There, we talked to two companies doing laminated flooring. The first one, K, quoted us such a high price and we just walked away. The second company, S, was fair in their pricing and we will arrange an appointment with them when we get the keys in 2 weeks' time.

There were many mattress brands at this exhibition and Bernard tried several of them. We wanted a good price for great comfort. =P As we near the end of the exhibits, the brand King Koil was there, a brand which was recommended by the sellers of our flat. The first few we tried were really hard, or firm as the salesperson said. A no-no for us. The last mattress we tried was really comfortable with 2 latex layers. We were quoted $1688 which we think is too much. Bernard then started pitching his negotiation skills against the salesperson. From $1688, we were offered $1488, then $1400 excl. GST and freebies. Refusing to relent we tried walking away and was hee hee.. ushered back by the salesperson again who agreed to give us $1400 inclusive of GST, 2 pillows and a bolster... Thank God for his favour once again. He always helps us get the best deal.

We then went on to the Popular fair to get some items before proceeding to the Robinsons fair. At the timing we went, it happened to be the start of the hourly sale of bedsheets. What coincidence! And there we got our first bedsheet set from SINTEX at $39. Not bad for a 300 thread count set. =)

I've set up a section under Our Home to track our spending. Do surf over!