Wheezing and Sneezing

I am up to my elbows in dust and clutter. The annual spring clean is now underway in earnest. Each year, I never fail to be amazed at the amount of “unseen” dust that lies hidden in obscure corners of rooms, cupboards and shelves. I am always stunned by the amount of “junk” one manages to accumulate in the space of 12 short months.

The countless “unique” jam jars and empty bottles, stacks of “pretty” biscuit tins that I “just have to keep”… the many “must-buys” that are picked up during various saunters through the kitchen gadgets department of different departmental stores… all squished, crammed, shoved, hidden into every available nook and cranny of every kitchen drawer, cupboard and shelf. At the time, I was so sure I would have fabulous uses for these things. And yet, for 12 months they have lain “hidden” and forgotten in the dark recesses of a kitchen cabinet. So, every year, a big sweep is done. Jars, bottles, tins, gadgets… they get found new homes either with a new family or in the big wide world of the rubbish dump.

The fridge is a shocker. Bottles of curry spice mix, ground spices, half-used packets of nuts… all having outlived their natural life span in this dimension. Ackk! I’ll spare everyone the gory details.

It’s not just in the kitchen either. Magazines, clippings, paperwork… a zillion other things. How do humans manage to accumulate so much stuff?! I marvel at my own optimism each and every year. Magazines and cuttings of interesting articles are set aside… “I’ll read those when I have more time”. But “more time” never comes, and the magazines sit collecting dust. One would think I would have learnt by now…

Clearing my wardrobe always reveal interesting finds too. Clothes that I don’t even know I have - some still with the price tags on them! [Note to self: do NOT impulse buy clothes again]. Well, I guess some lucky people will be getting brand new clothes for New Year – free.

And so, the annual wheeze and sneeze session is in full swing. We started really late this year. The New Year is only 5 days away! A weekend of scrubbing and mopping lies ahead…

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On a different note, I just need to whine about this… I’VE PUT ON WEIGHT in the past 12 months. This is not good news. I had not noticed the weight gain. I don’t usually weigh myself, so it was a little upsetting (shocking?) yesterday when I tried on my cheongsam (qi pao) from last year. I was intending to wear it to a New Year function next week. But hey, guess what? It no longer fits! This is so depressing! Unfortunately, the cheongsam is such an unforgiving dress to wear. Just put on an extra ½ inch around the waist, and one ends up looking like a bak zhang (wrapped rice dumpling). Sigh! Maybe by some miracle I can still find someone to do alterations for me at this late stage…

Anyway, female whinging over… back to more food talk… : )

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