I'm a full-time mummy

Every year in December, hubby and I will be cracking our heads to think of what to make and give his clients for Christmas celebration. You can read this post to see our previous gifts to his clients.

• In 2008, we got this 3 feet tall fake Christmas trees and hung treats and goodies as ornaments and filled up the base with sweets and snacks too.

• In 2009, we bought this glass cookie jars and filled them up with Famous Amos cookies and sweets and treats and tied a red ribbon over the glass jar.

• In 2010, we bought 2 biscuit tins of fifferent sizes (2 for each client), small tin filled up with butter cookies which I baked myself sealed in decorated plastic bags and the big tin is filled up with treats and snacks.

What we did for 2011? Ta-daaaaaaaaa...

For 2011, we made ribbon Christmas tree with treats and snacks in a basket decorated with fake pine leaves.

The ribbon tree is my idea after searching the Internet for inspiration and the basket with treats is hubby's idea. I've posted some pictures of our ribbon Christmas trees on my personal Facebook page and a couple of friends asked me how to make it, so here it is:

#1 : Making the Ribbon 'Leaves'

#1 - These are the items you need to make the ribbon 'leaves': scissors, double-sided tape, ribbons!

#2 - Start cutting ribbons! I cut mine about 7 inches long. Make sure the length are all same. Gently fold the ribbon in half.

#3 - Cut 2 small tabs of double-sided tape. I cut mine about half centimetres in size for each tab. Stick 1 of the tab to one end on the inside of the ribbon (you want the nicer looking surface to be outside). Peel out the protective layer and stick the ends together.

#4 - Stick the 2nd tab to 1 side of the ribbon where you just double-taped earlier.

#5 - If you do not want your tree to look fuller or bouncier, you can press the ribbon where it's folded in half.

#6 -Repeat step 1 - 5.

#2 : Creating the Ribbon Christmas Tree

What you need is party hats, some ornaments to put at the tip of your tree and your ribbons made from earlier steps. Take 1 ribbon, peel open the protective layer of the double-sided tape and stick the ribbon onto the party hat. I make sure my ribbons touched the edge of the party hat. Repeat until you reached full circle. I also try to overlap the ribbons by a few milimetres to make it compact.

To do the next ribbon circle, I will repeat the above and ensure my ribbons covered about 1 inch of the ribbons below. Keep on until you reach the top.I actually cut and prepared tons of ribbons, put them into a paper bag and when my girl is napping on my legs, I just start sticking the ribbons onto the party hat.

I got this cute little star ornament which I poke a hole big enough to cover the tip of the party hat. I also tape the star ornament for added protection.

#3 : Making the decorative basket

Now what you need for the decorative basket (hubby's idea!) are basket (big enough for your party hat), fake pine leaves, ornaments, cable twist tie and scissors.

Hubby cut and wrapped the fake pine leaves all around the basket and securing it with twist tie. We actually got some nice cookie tins and mini Pringles can to hide inside the party hat and then we filled the basket with goodies and treats.

I also printed the greetings and double-tape it to a card before punching holes to both ends of the card. I then use some recycled ribbon to tie the greeting card to each basket.

#4 : Final results to oogle on!

I love this year's gifts!

I hope you enjoy this tutorial! 

There was a time when I wanted to be a nurse. I was previously taking care of my ailing parents and after they passed away (dad in April 2006, mum in January 2007), I wanted to be a nurse to help others (though I can't do anything for my parents) but I don't know how to get started.

Like what sort of qualifications or certifications do I need? Where do I apply to learn this? Now I have no problems with handling the poop, piss, blood etc. Wiping and cleaning are fine with me. Washing is fine too.

It is nice to read how there are so many options available overseas for nursing field. Heck, they even something called a travel nurse! According to this website, a Traveling nurse is a nurse who is hired to work in a specific location for a limited amount of time and move around the country depending on where they are needed to fulfil their assignments. Now, that's a job with flexibility to move around, meet new people and work in a new environment every now and then!

Back to myself... I'm grateful for my experience in taking care of my parents as it helps prepared me as I entered parenthood in 2009.

But the thought of starting a new job in a new field at my age and wasting my almost a decade old of IT experience? Plus, there aren't many nursing schools or colleges around during that time, so it ended up being just a thought on my mind...

Alyson is 2 months and 2 days old today...

And 2 years ago, exactly 2 days after my 2 months maternity leave, I quit my IT job.

I still remember how worried and stressed out I was during my maternity leave in deciding whether to continue on with my job or to quit and stay home to take care of Ben. You can read this post on one of the reasons why I quit my IT job (it's in my old blog) for more details.

On the 2nd day after I returned back to work, the decision was clear. QUIT. I served my 1 month notice and paid up the other 2 months (no loss as I get paid during my 2 months maternity leave) and began my SAHM journey from then on.

I am glad I'm a SAHM now that Alyson comes along, at least I don't have to go through the headache and heartache of worrying who and how is she going to be taken care while I work etc etc.

Btw, today Ben turns 32 months old, which marked my 32 months of breastfeeding him, the first 6 exclusively, then breastfed him through my pregnancy and now, tandem nursing him (mostly down to once a day prior to bedtime) with Alyson... Happy 32 months old to my dear Benjamin!

And I'm also being featured in Mumsgather blog today! Go and check out my guest post!