KC

Yeah, not very long ago Casey (Chestnut brown with white stockings, my favorite type of horse.) was actually KC but I think I prefer Casey more than a short formed name, after today's lesson I think I realized what KC meant, I have a feeling it's krazykicking Casey..!

Well just to get you a bit more excited, I actually (Let's see, I rode Casey on my second lesson with that instructor that never returned and I kinda fell but not to the floor, hugged it's neck until I was helped off, so I don't really think that's considered a fall, right? Oh fine, half fall, happy?) fell off Krazykicking Casey.
Okay enough, let me torture you with the boring stuff. MWAHAHA?

Today I got Casey because... I am not exactly sure why but I think it's because I won't get too used to riding King and if I get put on another horse I won't be able to ride it?

I should skip the waking up, breakfast and leaving the house and reaching the stables part...
If you need to know I woke up at a VERY chilly 7AM, had a piece of buttered toast for breakfast and we reached the stables pretty early so we got to play with the horses a bit.

Getting on Casey seemed easier than King, it's either his shorter or I am getting better.. Or maybe both?

Did the usual walking x6 rounds, I was pretty surprised on it's ability to not do the sleep walk (King enjoys doing that when he isn't fully awake yet or during the early morning lessons.) or trot but at the perfect walking speed which was quite hard get obtain when I was riding King because first he would do his groggy sleep walk and when I ask him to go faster AKA kick him, he starts trotting!
I guess I was somewhat pleased with it's walking since I didn't have to kick (Trust me... Kicking the horse lightly for 6 rounds is quite tiring, I told you the rider does more work than the horse!) him much and I could reeeellaaaaxxx... And leave my waist loose to follow his err.. Walking rhythm thing. I felt pretty jellyfishy!

I was pretty shocked when I asked it to trot because I would usually kick King a lot (He's stubborn, trust moi. And lazy.. And 6 years older than Casey.) and do that "tsk tsk tsk" clicking tongue thing before it started to move while I only had to double click and Casey would "Vroooooooooooooooooom", that kinda pumped a lot of adrenaline (And a half a second panic!) around my head!

It was SOOOO fun going super speedy trotting (Rising trot, sitting trot isn't possible at that speed! It is possible but I don't exactly feel like bouncing my head off!) around the "Sandy training pen", I was the only one there (Fai was there too but he was in the middle so it doesn't bother me much.) and it was kinda awesome seeing the mist of sand behind you, very good for pretending you are in some Wild westish scene! The only thing that is missing is the cactus, your cowboy hat and rope!

then, Then, THEN... I decided to practice the jumping position thingy (Lift ya butt off the saddle when your horse is trotting and basically just balance on your stir ups while leaning forward a little, it REALLY tests your balancing skills! And mine apparently isn't all that good..) which I learnt during the last lesson, too lazy to blog about that since the only thing new was the jumping preparation, I really had no clue that I was going to be doing the jumping over hurdles thing...

It was pretty hard to figure out what speed it was going at and little did I know it was going to start to canter!
So while I was balancing on the stir ups it started to canter without my knowledge!
Obviously I lost balance did the hug-neck-thing but somehow my hands slipped a little and plop on the sand I went!
The only thing that was on my mind at that time was probably "Please don't stomp on me!"!
When Casey stopped (I didn't get dragged around, I still have no idea how my feet got out of the stir ups so easily! Well I am VERY glad my feet didn't get stuck in the stir ups cause I would probably be dragged if I didn't!) I got up and dusted the sand off (The only thought in my head then was probably "Oh mai JODHPURS!! It looked as though as I was wearing sand more than a pair of jodhpurs!) and hopped back on Casey without the instructor teaching Fai's knowledge!
I think he caught me climbing back on, I remember his eyes nearly popping out as he came running!

I still have no idea what I did since I didn't get even a scratch or even an aching joint!
Oh well, hooray for meee!
A very good lesson learnt, don't try new "moves" on a new horse (That you don't know how fast it can go.), it may get scary but it's always good learning it this way instead of someone/your instructor telling it to you because... It doesn't seem to really get drilled into your brain.

Just after I got on the owner (Auntie Zarina's husband if you remember me mentioning her name from one of my previous horsey posts.) of the horsey academy (Justa make it sound FIAANNNCYYY, hahaha!) came running and apologizing that he was late and when the staff called him to say that I was already on Casey he started rushing here!
He asked me if I cantered already, I said yes, he said me if I fell, I said yes, see? I am always one step ahead of everyone, hah!
Then I got asked if I was alright or not and I replied (Maybe snapped, can't really remember.) "I AM alive right?!", that's my typical reply when someone asks me that dumb question, I mean, why ask if I look alright? Weird face*


Stopping Casey (I seem to get more tired riding Casey, I think it is quite obvious why! And it's harder keeping Casey collected, err.. Head tuck down and more likely to follow instructions? So I did that pull left rein, pull right rein so much that I kinda have a bubbly blister on one ring finger and some skin peeled of on the other one. Just in case you were wondering you don't use your pinky as the last finger when you grip the reins, you use your ring finger and thumb to lock the reins in place. Pinkies up and pretend you are having a nice cuppa tea!) was another problem cause I needed to pull my hands, wait, wrist off and bounce around in the saddle a bitlot (You're not suppose stop with your butt floating in midair, hahaha!), I am not sure what's more tiring.. Riding him or stopping him!

I think the rest of the lesson went quite alright, not my best but ookkkaaayy I suppose and as usual the 1 1/2 hours zoomed by too quickly!

When I got home I found a ton of sand in my boots, socks and jodhpurs, no wonder it felt rather uncomfortable...

~K



   

@ KL

It's now 1.36AM and I could just fall asleep anytime now but I have that "un-complete" feeling drifting around somewhere in my mind and to complete it.. I need to blog, haven't blogged much lately, I think.

Have been lazy, as usual.

Left the house at 730AM in my grandparent's Kembara, long story.. My Mom's car was in a workshop in PJ, my Grandparent's car broke down when they were in PD so they stayed here for an extra 2-3 days, they needed to do stuff in their farm in Melaka and the car still wasn't done yet so they used my Dad's car to drive there and THAT car broke down somewhere in Melaka, so we were carless for a day or two and we had SO much "instant" stuff (Instant noodles, roti canai, nuggets, mushroom soup and marmite soup etc.) that I actually got fed up (Imagine that...), so anyways, the Kembara was out of the workshop and we used that car to go down to KL and did I mention...? The air conditioning doesn't work. 

We (We= Mommy, Papa, me and Ean, left the other two boys at home.) kinda left early to avoid the sunnyness, yeah, I come from a family of vampires.

Wound down the windows to breath, by the time we reached KL (About 1 1/2 hours later..) I am pretty sure my face felt rather numb from all that find and my throat felt rather yucky and dry from all that smog, yuck.

  

Our first stop of the day was.. Back to my ol' neighborhood (It's nice being there again, I am not sure why. I just... Kinda miss it somehow I suppose there were a lot of memories created there, good ones.) to collect my Mom's car then have breakfast at our favorite "Mamak" shop that was next to the playground, Shannar Curry House I think it's called, it somehow doesn't seem to be spelt right over here but oh well.

It was our when Mommy-is-lazy-to-cook or when we got bored of Domino's (Why.don't.they.have.it.in.PORT DICKSON?! Pepperoni pizza... Mmmm...) place to eat and we ate there like.. At least 3 times a week!

I suppose I kinda missed my all time favorite "Maggi Goreng" (Fried instant noodles with vegetables and tofu which I usually push aside.), "Roti canai" and orange juice!

I think you can pretty much guess what I had, right?

After a hearty breakfast we (Mommy, me and Ean.) were dropped off at the PJ library, they were doing some rather not so major renovation and it was quite dark and abandoned looking (They ripped all the ceiling boards off and the return-borrow books counter..!) on the ground floor and it had a rather scary aura...

Made my way up the stairs (Using the lift alone feels even more scary this time round so I shall stick with my all time favorite stairs.) to the first floor, nothings changed, same books, same authors, it was getting boring..

When I find a new interesting series I borrow the whole thing then when I return it I am lost again, yeesh.

And of course, it was FREEZING and rather empty.. My borrowed-from-Mommy green scarf helped a bit but it was still hard to do anything, not long after I made my way down to a very dark room (It's usually pretty bright but I am not sure what happened.) called the "Kid's area", found Mommy and Ean there and decided to drag them to the cafe where it was warmer while we waited to get picked up, yawn.. I am getting sleepy so let's jump to Plaza Ampang City, hey! Did anyone realize it rhymes? 

We planned to go horse riding gear shopping earlier but we always seemed rather busy so it was postponed till today and of course, I felt rather excited, I always do when I get to go S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G!

Plaza Ampang City wasn't exactly what I expected it to be it was a rather old fashioned building with an ancient lift, the first thing I spotted when we were out of the lift was the "Equine KL" logo, actually it was the rows and rows of grand pianos on sale (For a split second I thought they were coffins..) but I suppose that doesn't count, eh?

 There were two "Equine KL" shops, one for the rider and one for the horse, didn't get to see the horse one though.

It was like horse rider's heaven in there, it was quite interesting to see what was inside a "Tack shop", the most interesting/amusing thing was probably the sunglasses that look two big huge fly eyes! 

Oh, and you would never guess how much the cost! I think I could have made my own out of mosquito netting and a small tea sieve and it would have costed... 1/4 Of the price! But who on earth wants to wear fly eye sunglasses?!

It was eye candy looking at the SHINee, whoops (It is kinda auto now, need.to.cut.down.my.kapooping!), I mean shiny helmets (But the price tag certainly was very eye candyish, it was eye popping outish, I don't understand why helmets cost so much..) and the rainbow colored jodhpurs!

I absolutely LOVE the word "Jodhpurs" (It's a strange word and I somehow enjoy saying it a lot! Jodhpurs, jodhpurs, jodhpurs!), at least it sounds much better than horse riding pants and certainly VERY much more posh and a couple of steps later you come to this tiny room filled with riding BOOTS! 

Let's see, ever since I had feet (I am not sure when I didn't.) I have ALWAYS liked boots (I don't know why, I just like stompy boots but not high heeled ones unless there is a secret knife in the heel..) but never once did I get a pair of boots so... Fingers crossed?

Until today I had NO idea that jodhpurs came in so many colors!

It thought there would just be the standard black, khaki and brown but I did secretly pray taht they would have some other colors or purple and... WALAH!

They had this beautiful maroon purpleish colored pair on jodhpurs, mmm....  
Didn't have to look at the rest once I tried the purple pair of jodhpurs on.
Jodhpurs= The most comfortable pair of "fitting" I have ever worn pants next to leggings, my jeans felt rather/very hard when I changed back into it!

then, Then, THEN! (I kinda forgot how I got to this part..)
I COULD GET BOOTS!
I WAS OVER THE MOON HAPPY!
LALALALALALALALA!
Ooh, look! A whole rack to choose from!
Brown boots, black boots (I wonder why they don't have a whole range of colors to choose from like the jodhpurs, I think I would suggest that to them.), lacy uppy boots, long farmer boots, short stumpy boots, zippy boots, hard stiff boots, soft furry boots! (Hahaha! I feel like Dr Suess, somehow. One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish!)
After trying all (Or almost all.) of the above I decided on a not too low (It's rather ugly and it looks like men's err... Office working shoes? And my jodhpurs are a little too short for me so it's going to look awkward unless I cover it up with chaps but I don't really need them yet so I didn't get them this time round, I don't think I will need them ever though..) or high (I LOVE high boots but too bad I had to get a custom made one because well... My feet are too big for my skinny legs so the boots don't exactly "hug" my calf and it looks as though as I am wearing RM10 "pasar malam" rubber boots! A custom made pair of boots cost 2-3 times more than the "un-custom" made ones!) pair, a nice black lace in the front (To adjust so it will "hug" your err... Lower calf?), zip at the back (So I don't have to re-tie them every single time.), black, stompy pair of boots!
I got booooots! Wheeepeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!




It's always VERY nice when you get what you have always dreamed for and mine was: Black lace up boot and a pair of jeans that wasn't blue, khaki or black, I think I didn't exactly do the jeans part but still...
And they happen to be the MOST expensive pair of pants and shoes I have EVER bought, I guess I am very budgetty shopper, I remember Machika calling me a good "backpacker" (We plan to travel the world on a budget, we both agree that the funnest things in the world are travelling and eating!) on one of our shopping trips!

I think I will just fast forward this part a bit.. Pushes the fast forward button*
*Note: Read this part extremely fast so you get the fast forward effect.

Thenwewenttoanother"mamak"shop(Again!Ithinkwemissittoomuch!)thatwasafloorabovethehorseyshop,huggedmy"EquineKL"bagasthoughasitwasmyfavoritepillow,itwasjustasprecioustomebutofcourseidon'tthinkIwouldeverwanttohugapairofridingbootstosleepandicouldneverbeartowearmyfavoritepillowonmy..Feet.
KindafellasleeponceIsatonthecarseat,Iamnotsurewhatexhaustedmesomuch..Ithinkitwasallthatallthathoppingandbouncingaround(Mentallyandphysically.)duetoexcitementinthehorseyrider'sgearshop!
ThenextthingIknewIwasawakeatatrafficlightandinfrontofmewasSungaiWangPlaza,wewerefollowingmyDadtohisweeklyRotarymeetingtoday.
Wewere2hoursormaybe3hoursearlysoweparkedthecarinBanker'sCluandwalkedovertoSungaiWangtokilltimeand..GetEuHan's5thbirthdaypresent.
Aftersomeaimlesswalking(Papacalleditpresenthunting..MeandMommycalleditaimlesswalking.)andTransformerbuyingwemadeourwaybacktoBanker'sClubforthemeeting.

If you managed to read all that.. CONGRATULATIONS, if not.. Too bad? Who knew my secret codes (I am a detective in disguise... I think I am a pretty bad one too.) were so hard, eh?

The last time I was here (And on the same floor! The 22nd and highest I think.), I was delivering the vet wedding cake.. I wonder if that was a good memory or a bad one..?

This weeks topic was: The need some villages have for clean water supply.
I know, it sounds VERY VERY boring, I thought that too, until the speaker, Siti Kassim started speaking...

The villages were Orang Asli (Direct translation: People Original, I think you may need to turn that around..) and 4 Orang Asli (2 Were getting sickish after less than 24 hours in KL! Proves how very polluted KL is compared to the outskirts..) from Gua (Or was it Gunung? I don't think they live in a cave.. Quick translation: Gua=Cave, Gunung=Mountain.) Musang, Kelantan joined us as well and they were all wearing tri color (Black, brown and yellowish, all natural, un-dyed! It took two hours to make one, I don't think I could ever be that patient..) hand weaved ratan bracelets, oh how much I love Malaysian Orang Asli handicraft (Actually I like any kind of "crafted" jewelry but this one's Malaysian and un-plastic so it's a wee bit more special to me.)!

Siti spoke about the "issues" the 18 Orang Asli tribes around peninsula Malaysia had but more onto the water side, in a way that made me hang onto her every word because well... It was certainly very interesting.

How the government intrude into their land without their permission, start clearing their land to plant oil palm or just logging, their rivers and streams become clogged up with eroded soil, chemical from the I-am-not-sure-what-I-kinda-forgot, it becomes so filthy that they cannot bath in it cause the chemical eats into their skin or gives them skin disease, let alone drink it.
Then one of the Orang Asli men spoke up and said that it looks so much like tea you just needed to add sugar to drink it!
At that moment I kinda pictured the "tea" going down your throat and eating all the organ-tissue-thing (Oh dear, how on earth can I forget what it's called?! I think I just failed my biology test.) it passes like acid, eek, scary thought..
And then they are moved away from their land to some very small "shacks" to live in that were only a feet apart from each other and they were promised to have electricity (There is an electricity pole there and wires to the house but no electricity running through it..) and clean water but that didn't happen and not long after the shacks started collapsing...

It was a rather pitiful and inspiring (Somehow.) speech that I enjoyed lots, I am feeling very sleepy now so I shan't continue..

Karen
P.S Did you know Karen is a name of a an Orang Asli tribe?! And the women like lots of jewelry and beads, just like me!       

Peek-

A-boo?

I have a feeling I haven't posted in ages, I wanted to but after writing half a post I got, as usual... Lazy. Grin*

Anyways just in case you were wondering what I wanted to post about it was about our trip down to KL on... Thursday to the science center since Mommy organized another one of her lab experiment trips there, the boys went for some air/parachute experiment/making thing and I went for some robotics with Lego thing.

Let's see we were there a COUPLE of hours early, I think we were there at 11+ when the lab session things were supposed to start at 230 PM so we had a bit of brunch (I don't think we had anything before leaving PD so I suppose it's more of a breakfast.) at the Malay cafe that was right outside the science center, the last time we visited the cafe, it was newly renovated and VERY empty but at least now they had some Malay "Chap fun" (Lets see that's basically... Rice and a range of dishes to choose from and pile on top of your rice.) and my syrup, no Malay meal is complete without my rose syrup (It's basically sugar and lots of pink food coloring, I wonder if it was made with real squashed roses last time? As in a.. Few hundred years ago? Or maybe it didn't even come from Malaysia... Oh well if it were made out of squashed roses I wouldn't get my beautiful pink tongue after drinking a whole cup!)!

After brunch I kinda remembered how super freezing the library (Had a feeling that we were going to hang around there for awhile since I was dragging some very heavy library books around for some time..) was (For the past... 10 visits I became a human bag of frozen butter cream.) and decided to borrow my Mom's green sarong scarf thingy to wrap around my neck and that made me feel rather posh so I decided to do my fancy posh, flippy hair (I mean scarf.) walk (I always seem to do that when I feel "posh" and I can't exactly describe  what I have to do to feel posh... Oh well, at least you know wearing a scarf is one of them.) back to the building which made burst out laughing less than... 2 Minutes, it's funny how I can never succeed in doing that.

Above:
Decided to walk around the science center (Oh right! The first section was this dark place with lots of LED lights that reminded me of one of my favorite kapoop songs, Lucifer! I mean the Lucifer set for the music video so I kinda mind sang that song for the entire day...) for a while and explore the un-explored... Mysterious eyebrows face* Found a MIRROR maze! The temptation of posing throughout the whole maze was too hard to resist... 
Oh right and there were fake walk ways AKA glass panes, I think by the end of the maze I had a rather flat nose. Sniff*   

Below:
Heard a couple of bumping into the glass with noses and they weren't mine...
Turned around to find Fai (He looks more interested in looking at the mirror instead of the camera..)! Took another photo! Smiley face*

 Above:
My next favorite exhibit!
The run-into-a-red-wall-of-chopsticks thing!
I (Sob!*) NEVER enjoyed running into a wall quite this much before! 
(Pull the lever to run into the wall again*)


Below:
The other side! 

After a quick visit to the library we Never mind the rest was pretty much  not that fun, to me the person that enjoys mirror mazes and running into walls!

So anyways I just wanted you guys to have a peek at the first two (Uncompleted, see? No borders and the cake board is rather... White.) tiers of my entry for the cake competition.

Will post random sneak peeks till it's finished!

~K 

Sitting Trotty Day

No, it's not because I haven't ridden in a long time it's because I didn't blog about the last 2 lessons since nothing new/interesting happened, just the usual walking (6 Rounds around the "Sandy training pen" to "warm up" the horse.), rising trotting (After finishing the 6 rounds of walking.) and cantering (Towards the end of the lesson when the horse and the rider is all "warmed up" or half exhausted, it's a half empty half full cup thing I think. To me it's usually half exhausted.), also learnt how to the the collected walk but it's such a small thing so I didn't blogging about it in case you fell asleep since the rest of the lesson was about the same! 

Went for the evening riding session today.. Yay! Got to sleep at 1AM, finally! After all those sleep at 10PM days, yeesh.

Papa went off to KL with the car and Mommy's car was STILL in the work shop, so guess what? We walked in the HOTTT afternoonish sun.

Above:

Me (Without hat, I hate hats, they don't help with the sun, they just help to cook your head more, pulling a "Auntie-go-market" cart that had our bottles, sandwiches and other stuff in it.), Fai (In his brown cowboy hat.), Ean (In Han's soldier hat that was rolled up so he could see.) and Han (In his blue riding helmet!) walking to the Horsey place.

It was SO super hot this afternoon I could actually feel the tar road burning and the hot steam rising up, it felt rather saunaish, by the time we reach we were drenched in sweat already! 

 Above:

When we reached the stables we were 10-15 minutes before the lesson so we horsed around with the horses.

That's Numa (The 6-7 month old foal that was born there.) biting my orange orangutan shirt (From now on I hereby swear that I will only wear orange t-shirts for horseback riding so that I look like a walking carrot and all the horses will love me, MWAHAHA! I am such an evil genius!) and it somehow is because it reminds her (And probably the other horses as well but she's the only one that lets me touch her super FLUFFY ears, the other older horses like to head butt me when I do so, so this is my way of repaying her, by letting her bite holes in my shirt. I love animals with fluffy ears, I know it sounds weird but horses have fluffier and softer ears than dogs! Another reason to like horses if you are a fluffy ear loving person like me.) of carrot and she (Speaking about baby horses... I love their fur! It's 10 times softer and fluffier than the adult horses! I love hugging them fluffy horses but big ones are fine to, I just love hugging them big, fat, fluffy, warm animals!) loves my watch (But I find her licking and biting my watch rather disgusting since I don't actually wash my watch so there will be baby horse germs there...) too! 

Below:

She left some chewed up hay on my shirt... Yuckeo.

Doesn't it look like an upside down volcano?! (Oolala, Numa is an artist!)

Above: 

Me and Ali (And one of my brother's hands.. Most probably Fai's.).

He (Kinda got confused between Ali and King at first but you can tell them apart because Ali has a white spot on his fore head and King doesn' t and Ali's skinnier too.)looked a bit grumpy, grouchy, moody and down today so I decided to pat and hug him extra, did I mention that I LOVE hugging horses?! They are so hugable (And the smell nice and... Horseyish.)... Smiley face*   

Below:

Me doing... Doing... I am not sure what I was doing.

When the lesson started I did the usual walking and (Rising) trotting (Both collected, my fingers felt as though I was going to fall of by the end of today's riding session!) with King around the rectangular "Sandy training pen" (I don't think I consider this part a "lesson".) then I got called into the middle of the "Sandy training pen" to start on the sitting trot (Heard that this one earns a lot of points in competitions and today I just found out why... But it is still doable not impossible if I put my mind to it and I will definitely put my mind to it!)!

Which is basically... Sitting instead of rising and SO much harder!

 First of all you had to "loosen" from your waist down so you don't bounce up and down, found it pretty tough (And I am a very tense person so relaxing is... Hard.) since I still had to keep my heels down and it's not very relaxing.

To help sit on the saddle I had to kinda push my bellybutton/stomach up (And I had to keep my hands/reins down to the saddle, ugh! I hate my "bounce everywhere hands" bad habit of mine..) every time King went one step forward and that was certainly VERY tiring and not long after I had that I got the stitch (It was said that I have weak stomach muscles and I was going to feel this way until it's "built". ARGHHHH! Rolls eyes*) again, so now it was tiring (But I somehow got the "rhythm" a bit so I didn't bounce around that much and it wasn't all THAT tiring as the first few minutes, how knew keeping your butt down on the saddle was so much more tiring than going up and down?) AND painful (Speaking about painful, my entire upper body has been aching like CRAZY for the past... 2-3 Day! I find it hard to do anything when it is like so, it's almost as though as I am paralyzed but it goes away when I get up on the horse but I soon get the stitch and that's equally as painful, oh well.), GAH.   

And right after that it was time to CANTER (I actually got asked if I wanted to do so or not, I said yes because I didn't feel exhausted enough to stop! I didn't reach the almost fainting limit yet, even though learning the sitting trot drained quite a lot of energy..)! 

Now I find myself looking forward to cantering instead of keeping away from it because it's so fun and wiiinddyyyy (It's nice feeling your sweat blow away... Wheeeee!)!

Today's cantering felt so natural and relaxing but soon it did get rather tiring and I had to go from clockwise to  anti and some how my balance was all over the place and things got a wee bit scary, my fingers felt like as though they were REALLY about to drop off and the reins kinda... Slipped out out of my left hand so I decided to stop the horse and when I did I kinda... Collapsed on the back of King's sweaty furry neck from exhaustion and that's when I knew I did enough for the day.

Mmm... I love how horseback riding makes water seem so precious, it's simply heavenly having a bottle of water in your hands after getting down from your horse!

~K 

Oink

Above:

A close up picture of my first (EVER! If you must know...) gum paste pig, stuffed a half eaten (I hope you can see the eaten part...) gum paste (Remember how I said I bought 2 tubs of Satin Ice's gum paste when I was in KL? Got to use it yesterday for Mr Piggy! Dries quick, I think quicker than Wilton's and it doesn't have those hard, dried up bits like Wilton's! Satin Ice, my new favorite gum paste. It's probably going to be some time before I can afford the fondant though...) chocolate chip in his hand, I think it was a very nice touch and the bow tie! Try spotting the stitch marks... Wanted to make a blue jeans jumper for it but I think it looks better nude, with a bow tie! Hahaha!

Oink... You probably guessed what this post is about already, yep you got it.

BIRDS!

Say what?! Psshh... Are you SURE birds don't go "Oink"? 

I swear I heard a bird go "oink" yesterday...

Oh fine, you win.

Piggies go "oink"!

Like that one? Points above*

 Was pretty excited when I got an order from my Grandma (For her son's AKA my uncle's 40th birthday and he's born in the year of the pig so that's how the pig thing came around and she wanted the pig to be lazing around and holding up a sign that says "I AM 40"! Did some research on the net and browsed through my "Cartoony" cake books and this is what I came up with.) for this cake topper (Yeah, she didn't want her favorite butter cake, poo. Oh well I wouldn't have time to make it anyways, need to get to work on my competition cake! Have been delayed too much already!) since I have ALWAYS wanted to make a gum paste pig (Actually I like making any gum paste animal... Really hate those orders that I have to follow some Disney character because it limits my creativity, yuck.), probably my toothbrush holder is a pig and the rubber thing that it's made out off looks like gum paste so after staring at it twice a day... You would want to make it? Hahaha! I don't think it's a very good excuse but you'll have to deal with it!

  

Above:

Mr Piggy's picnic on a mud puddle (Yes, the cake topper is in two seprate pieces, was afraid if I put it on only one big mud puddle it would break when I transferred it onto the cake, so this was a my solution. Well, actually it was because I made the pig a little too fat and there wasn't enough space for the rest of the picnic so I had to roll out another brown piece of gum paste but I think the one up there sounds like a better explanation, doncha think so?).

Each baby blue plate is about an inch wide, so I guess you can estimate the size (Speaking about size.. Check out the silver, dusted it with silver luster dust but it doesn't show much in this photo, fork and the teaspoon which is even smaller in the photo above.) of the rest.

I didn't know making miniature food (Making the cake, I think it looks more like an orange cake than a chocolate cake like I planned..., was exceptionally fun! Playing with the runny royal icing and making the extremely tiny pink strawberries!) out of gum paste was so fun!

Let's hope I get more miniature gum paste food orders, yeah?   

The first thing that popped into my mind when my Grandma said she wanted a "lazy" pig I thought about it sitting down in a mud puddle (What's a pig without it's mud puddle? The mud puddle part probably came from this book I had, I think I still have it, about this YELLOW pig that lived in a farm with an elderly couple and it's pig sty had this nice soft mud he sleeps in and one day the farmer's wife decided to clean up his sty and sucked up all his mud so he decided to run away. So first he came across this swamp and he thought it looked soft and went it but he got attacked by the snakes and bugs who lived there so he decided to go some where else and somewhere else again, you get the point. And alas he wondered off into the city were he got stuck in the recently made tar road! So soon there was a huge crowd around the yellow pig and the poor elderly farmers that were looking everywhere for their lost pig found it and brought it back home and while he was away it rained so he had his mud puddle back! Oops... I think I got rather carried away with my story telling, so yeah, pigs must have their mud puddles!) and what's a pigs other favorite thing?

DOOOOF!

Errh... I mean.. FOOD! Yeah, food! Smiley face*

 Above:

A not so close up view of Mr Piggy in his mud puddle with his good cuppa joe, I originally planned it to look like tea and I put three REAL cubes (Or crystals.) of sugar next to the cup, tiny teaspoon (Which was very fun making!... And not so fun dusting cause it didn't feel like keeping still.), a tiny pot of sugar (Also filled with real sugar crystals.) and the "I Am 40" sign my Grandma requested for which was painted freehand with some black gel food coloring, excuse my icing sugar shaker at the back, the sign is only meant to be stuck when we reach the party, don't want anything breaking/falling down during delivery!

Below:

Basically the whole set!

Just imagine a real cake underneath it not a piece of square styrofoam.  

Hope you enjoyed viewing lazy Mr Piggy as much as I (REALLY) enjoyed making him and his picnic!

May a pile of cupcakes fall on you right now,

Karen Cuppy Cake

Canter

Sorry about my no-posting-for-three-days, was in KL.. Signing up for this year's ICCA Wedding cake competition (Woo hoo! Imma sooo eggsaiteddybear!... And nervous. And maybe the "Teen category" as well, oh well I still have a month until the dead line!), buying a truck load of fondant, Yeesh, ICCA ran out of gum paste (How is this possible?!) so I had to go over to City Baker's to get gum paste and they too didn't have Wilton gum paste, just Satin Ice and it was CHEAPER than Wilton's?! All this while I have been buying Wilton's.. Felt rather silly at that moment. Anyways bought 2 tubs of 1KG Satin Ice gum paste to try out, hope it work (Fingers crossed!), went shopping @ Ikea (Yay! I finally have a soft squishy PINK carpet in my room! I have a sudden pink obsession, I am not exactly sure why... So now my whole room's gonna be pink! Woo hoo? Smiley face*), haven't been there in AGES! Mmm... How much I have missed that "Ikea smell"... and of course there was me broken Korean singing and dancing (The song of the day was SHINee's Replay I think..) when ever I could (It's kinda like my own way to entertain myself when I am away from my laptop.) in Ikea (Yeah, got a bit more than the usual amount of stares, I wonder what I look like in someone else's eyes..?) and once in the lift when Mommy asked me to press the "G" button in the lift and I couldn't help but sing and dance Girl Generation's Gee all the way to the taxi, yeah, that's basically what we (I mean I.) did in KL.

Right.

Woke up (I mean "Got woken up") at 730AM, felt eggstreamilee sleepy since I stayed up finishing a new novel I borrowed from the library (Adds PJ library to the "What I did in KL" list.).
Had the usual bread plus some random edible spread (Today's was peanut butter if you must know.) I find for breakfast.

Blah blah blah.
King again.
Walk, trot, walk, trot.
You get the point.

Towards the end of my riding hour (Would you prefer me calling it the witching hour? Grin*) I was put back on the lunge (It's a fancy name for the leash they put the horse on to learn a new "move".) to learn how to CANTER!

It started off with a rising trot which then started to go EGGSTREAMILEE fast (But it felt EGGSTREAMILEE fun!) then King suddenly leaped a bit then it went CRAZZZEEEEE!

This explains how I felt at that exact moment: I felt as though as the horse was doing this pouncing running thing which was crazily fast (You feel this sudden rush of adrenaline pass through your whole body, the same feeling you get when you go down the "drop" of the roller coaster! Only this time you have reins not seat belts...) , I was losing my grip on the stir-ups (The metal stuff you put your feet in.) and my heels didn't feel like pressing down much, I was also losing my grip on the reins which was VERY scary since that was the only thing keeping me onto the horse, you have that exact same feeling you get when you go on a speed boat when the sea is super rough (I don't exactly enjoy "Sea transport" much since I get sea sick and after a while I actually started to get a bit "Horse sick" like the first time I tried the rising trot!) and there's lots of wind blowing in your hair, your heart feels kinda week, your tummy doesn't agree and it makes you horse sick, your mouth can't help but go "AHHHHHHHHHHH AHHHH AHHHHHHH!!" (I got yelled at to stop screaming and start doing that "Hip stomach" thing (To keep your butt onto the saddle, who knew it was so hard?) and follow the "Rhythm" of the horse which I found difficult like the first time I started with the rising trot, it was like starting horseback riding ALL over again) and... In other words my first round was... Scary?
Oh may I add that by the end of the lesson I ALMOST fell off King like 4-6 times! Blah.

I am not sure if I got better during the next few rounds but at least I got to feel what it was like to get the "Rhythm" for about 10 seconds before my stomach and hips got tired (It was my thighs when I first started the rising trot. The tiring level is about the same I suppose...)  and then I started my screaming (It's automatic since it felt roller coaster-ish.) and bouncing around the saddle again!
When the horse slowed down to a trot it felt heavenly!
I never knew I would be so happy trotting!

By the end of my lesson (I am not sure how long it was..) I was drop DEAD zombie tired, haven't sweated this much since... My first riding lesson!

Felt rather weak and my stomach still felt squeezy ( Never drink water before cantering unless of course... If you want to experience horse sickness.), at that time I wasn't sure if I was looking forward to my next lesson or not since there wouldn't be any walking or trotting.. Just cantering. Gulp* (And after cantering is... Galloping? And that's even faster than a canter, yikes.)
But there isn't any point stopping NOW right?!

Mommy's car was STILL in the workshop and Papa took his car to work so... We walked home.
Got to pick some rambutans (It isn't a proper word? I guessed that. So I clicked on it and what was the suggestion? Rambunctiousness... I wonder what THAT means but I am pretty sure it meant rambutan delicious.) from soooomeoones tree, too bad there we only two ripe ones in reach so I got to eat half of my rambutan and give the other half to Ean and Fai got one whole one, sob.

I am pretty sure I was walking at snail's pace or maybe slower... I think I saw a garden snail pass me when I was walking up that little slope...

Stopped by "Kak Yah", a little Malay makan shack for brunch.
The rice for my usual "Nasi goreng kampung without chili" wasn't cooked yet so I decided to have "Maggi goreng" and it turn out...
With a bit of soup + sugar, noodles, topped with PEANUTS (And squid, a prawn, some bits of chicken and vegetables)!    
It was the WEIRDEST "Maggi Goreng" I EVER had!
Who puts PEANUTS (They were fried in some batter I think...) in "Maggi Goreng"?!

Am now at home and feeling EGGSTREAMILEE lazy. Yawn*

~K

Its raining horses!

We were supposed to go riding yesterday but it started raining humongous horses at dawn, ugh! 

We couldn't ride even after it stopped because then the "Sandy training pen" would be muddy and it causes the horse to stumble and then you get thrown off the horse, not exactly my idea of fun.

Woke up at 8AM or something like that this morning (Panicked a bit because I saw the sunshine peaking through my curtains!) and wondered why Mommy didn't come storming into my room and waking me up. 

For a second I actually thought of getting out of bed and waking everyone up but then well... You could say I was rather lazy then I drifted off to sleep again, 5 minutes later...

KNOCK KNOCK! Wake UP! Do you realize what time it is?! 

It was my Dad not my Mom.. Strange. 

Stuck a fat PoohBear plaster on my blister like wound (I don't think it was really needed since the would looked rather dried up already but.. Oh well!), pulled on my "riding" jeans, grabbed a peanut buttered slice of bread and pulled on my shoes at the same time (It was pretty tough, lemme tell you that.) and off we went!

Got dropped off @ the stables with Fai, our horses (King and Ali, I got King, Fai got Ali.) were already all saddled up so we could get on top and ride right away, woo hoo!

I have to admit while walking in I felt a wee bit nervous since I haven't been riding in three days (It's considered a long time when you used to riding every day!)!

Did I mention how much I love getting on top on the horse and down? It just gives you this awesome feeling that you were able to get up on an animal taller than you and the feeling when you let go off the saddle and drop, it just makes your heart stop for a moment. It's that exact same feeling when you reach "drop" of the roller coaster track! 

It felt so good to have my helmet (Even though I am not much of a helmet person.), riding gloves and that little stick on and with me again. It just makes you feel "professional" I suppose... And it is a nice feeling, right?

Today I had to "warm" up King by walking him walk clockwise trice around the "Sandy training pen" then anti before starting with the trot so that way both the rider and the horse would be warmed up!

And I kept getting shouted "Back straight and relax!", how on earth can you have a straight, relaxed back?! Blinks*

Casey's (Another horse which I rode on only once.) "Grassy graing pen" was next to the "Sandy training pen" so he kinda charged toward me and king when ever we passed and tried to nip at us!

It felt pretty scary!

Not long after I started trotting the sky started to "gloom" up and not long after tiny rain drops fell on my helmet, pitter patter pitter... 

Actually trotted like 3 full rounds around the "Sandy training pen"! 

My secret?

The wind was howling in my ears and the faint raindrops = BLISS.

It felt goooooooooood! t

But soon it the faint raindrop became big huge Buffalo ones and I had to get off King!

Fai got down like five minutes earlier and was sobing because he had a blister on one of his fingers from the reins! 

I am glad I got my gloves before it started (My ring fingers were already getting redish and painfullish, ouchy.)  to "blister up"!

We sat down next to the empty horse stable drinking our water, watching the rather wet horses that were in the "Grassy grazing pens" run (With the stable boy or something like that of course.) to their stable (Watching the ponies run were exceptionally funny since they have such short, fat bodies and a huge head...), the wet muddy dogs coming to us for attention and getting us all muddy and of course there was the grumpy fly/Fai..

Auntie Zarina (She owns the horsey place.) asked Fai if he want a plaster for his blister, he doesn't exactly like plasters so he shook his head and started crying all over again.

Then she asked Fai if he wanted a red bandage, the ones they use for the HORSES!

He was rather reluctant at first but as soon as I said "I want to see itttt!", he wanted it.

So I had a red bandage on my in very good conditioned hand and Fai had it too on his not in very good conditioned hand!

I like the fact that its made out of this rubbery, stretchy, holey moley red thing, you can take it out and put it back on and it's for HORSES! Who cool is THAT?!

Okay that's about it for today! 

~K

P.S

Dear Zeus,

Make the sky rain (Lightning the sky up to your hearts content too.) as much as you want on Monday (It's horse resting day, remember?) but I want CLEAR blue skies on Tuesday!

Or at least the whole of Tuesday mornin', ya hear me?!   

P.P.S

Did my usual kapooping right after I had my shower and... I found a new favorite song!

I have no idea why but this cheesy song makes me smilee!

I guess it's that weird aunto-tuning they used to make their voices so funny!