Where does the weekend go? It has been such a busy weekend and it started with Friday night. It started with Elliott going to a "Survivor" fund raiser at school. He and a group of the Tech Club joined up as the "Yellow" team. They had different competitions from shooting to swimming. I think they stayed in until the last 2 or 3 groups. It lasted until after 10. He and a friend, Vincente, ate at KFC before they headed home to wait for us. Ernie and I were on the other end of the island at Sentosa Island for the 10 year anniversary party for Singapore Chemical Plant. The party started at 6:30, so we had to leave around 5:30 to get there in time because of traffic. Thank goodness for iphone maps. It's the only way that we don't get lost here. Sentosa Island is a resort island. A part of is called Sentosa World Resorts which includes several hotels, Universal Studios and some other things. You enter by parking underground in this massive parking garage. Huge columns hold up the above structures. The big castle is the castle in Shrek.
Another late night over. We all slept in Sunday. Headed out about 11:30 to shop at IKEA first. Elliott bought a tv cabinet for his tv that we are trading with him. Of course, we went in to eat first at the restaurant. It was much more crowded this time. I think half of Singapore was there. Meatballs and Fried Chicken again for me. Yum. It was really good. And cheap!! Our whole bill was only $28. That must be why they eat here.
After lunch we walked around the store again and picked out Elliott's cabinet and we looked at an island for our kitchen. We could actually use it later if we wanted to. Nice butcherblock countertop. We'll measure when we get home. After this we walked over to Courts to buy a tv that would fit in our tv armoire so that we could actually close the doors on it. The one we have in there is too big and we can't close the doors. Looks bad. We found one and also found another telephone that will stay charged up. Now we can hook up our land line and our vonage line. We'll put the vonage line on the new phone as we probably won't use our land line.
Elliott found a real steal. He has been saving his money to buy speakers and an amp for upstairs. He found a set that also came with a dvd player. It was very hard to hear the speakers though because they have everything turned up so loud with too much bass. These will be delivered Wednesday and I know Elliott is really excited as he has had no tv of his own for 3 months.
Of course, we needed to go to the store at Cold Storage, so we dropped off all the boxes (the car was packed) and headed off to the mall. It was 6 already and we were all tired, so we picked up some pastry type stuff and the usual groceries and headed home to watch the Formula One Grand Prix that was on tv. It was live in Singapore Marina Bay Area. In between commercials and racing, Ernie and Elliott sang Happy Birthday to me and gave me a cake that they had bought Saturday. Chocolate layer cake with strawberries on top. It was great. And a great way to end a long weekend. I'm exhausted. Now to get to that laundry that I've been putting off for a couple of days. Better go for now.
Love to all,
Trece
Entering Sentosa Island |
Not a great picture but this is the underground parking at Sentosa |
After parking, we went up through the Hard Rock Hotel. It was awesome. Didn't get pictures this time. Maybe I'll go back some day and get some. We entered the Convetion Center and visited with some people that Ernie has worked with at Baytown and Mt. Belvieu plants. There were supposed to be about 600 people. They had another dinner last week that supposed to have the majority of the employees there. Huge event. Ernie and I sat down at a table that was set for 10. Only 6 of us showed up so we had more food available than some tables. Not sure how they selected who sat by whom. Ernie knew one of the couples but not the other. They had an announcer/DJ guy that entertained throughout the whole meal. They also had 2 bands made up of employees. They were really very good. He also had contests where people could win prizes. Of course, we didn't win anything. The whole thing was very flashy and very loud. (They like things loud over here.) We had an eight course meal of Chinese food. It started with some good appetizers and then it went downhill in my opinion. But of course, I really don't like real chinese food. Chicken and walnuts were good, but then they brought out the fish. Yuk. The waiter cut it up and served it to us. Then he put the head and tail on a plate in front of me. I swear it was looking at me.
It was really flashy. |
And very fishy !! |
They showed several power point presentations about the plant. It was interesting to see how the plant has changed and how the people that I did know have changed. Towards the end, while we were eating, they held a "Lucky Draw," (They like those here too.) They had tickets to Universal, dinners, hotel stays, dvd players, ipods, and 2 ipads. No, we didn't win. But that's okay, it would mean more to the people that did. Headed home. Finally got there about 11:45. Vincente and Elliott were at the house watching tv. We sat around talking and then asked Vincente if he needed a ride home. Ernie and Elliott took him home. He lives back in town near our old compartment. I think they got back around 1:30 am. We were all exhausted.
Ernie and Elliott were up around 7:30 because they wanted to go into town and see an Audi racing sailboat. These are supposed to race around the world. I did not want to get up early to see a boat so I slept in. I piddled around and put up some things around the house. They got back around 4. Elliott fell asleep on the couch. He was going back into town with Pablo and some friends to eat. That's all there is to do around here is eat. I can't believe that these people aren't huge.
Ernie and I drove into town about 5 to the American Club for EME Carpet Auction. They gave us cards with numbers on them to hold up when we wanted to bid on something. We also were given a packet with descriptions of the carpets and their estimated worth. When I looked at the prices of the ones that I wanted, I gasped. Our friends told us that they would actually sell for about 1/4 to 1/3 of the price and I felt better. We looked around at all 80 carpets and circled the numbers of the ones that we liked. We needed runners to use beside our bed and we needed a big one to go under our dining table. 13 x 9 would be ideal. Enough room to pull the chairs out and still be on the carpet.
The auction started around 8. The man that was holding the auction is the owner of Hedger's carpets. He was quite entertaining. The first rug went very cheap. One rug that I wouldn't have minded Elliott having was in a bidding war between friends. It went for more than what I would have put in Elliott's room. There of course put into the auction a Lucky Draw, a Guess the Knots, and a Mystery Box. The Mystery Box money was to be donated to the EME group for expenses. it went for $1100. As it was opened, a red bra came out first. Then a nice rug about 5 X 4 and then out came a really nice 8X10 that had some silk in it. It was a steal at that price. The first rug that we liked came up for bid. Ernie wanted to go 4 for it but someone told us don't go above 3. Well. We lost it at 4. Oh well, there were 40 more rugs to go and the crowd was thinning out. Hopefully, we could get something. Some rugs went for less than 500. None were over 4000. Some were very pretty and some were not. These rugs were handmade in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and some places that I don't remember. They were all very nice, but not my colors. Finally after 11, the last rug came up. He wouldn't even come down much off the listed price, so we said forget it. We'll wait for the next auction put on by the PTA this coming Friday. But I didn't walk out empty handed. I did get to bring home a rug. Here it is:
Maybe, if I water it??
|
After lunch we walked around the store again and picked out Elliott's cabinet and we looked at an island for our kitchen. We could actually use it later if we wanted to. Nice butcherblock countertop. We'll measure when we get home. After this we walked over to Courts to buy a tv that would fit in our tv armoire so that we could actually close the doors on it. The one we have in there is too big and we can't close the doors. Looks bad. We found one and also found another telephone that will stay charged up. Now we can hook up our land line and our vonage line. We'll put the vonage line on the new phone as we probably won't use our land line.
Elliott found a real steal. He has been saving his money to buy speakers and an amp for upstairs. He found a set that also came with a dvd player. It was very hard to hear the speakers though because they have everything turned up so loud with too much bass. These will be delivered Wednesday and I know Elliott is really excited as he has had no tv of his own for 3 months.
Of course, we needed to go to the store at Cold Storage, so we dropped off all the boxes (the car was packed) and headed off to the mall. It was 6 already and we were all tired, so we picked up some pastry type stuff and the usual groceries and headed home to watch the Formula One Grand Prix that was on tv. It was live in Singapore Marina Bay Area. In between commercials and racing, Ernie and Elliott sang Happy Birthday to me and gave me a cake that they had bought Saturday. Chocolate layer cake with strawberries on top. It was great. And a great way to end a long weekend. I'm exhausted. Now to get to that laundry that I've been putting off for a couple of days. Better go for now.
Really small, but really good |
Love to all,
Trece