Pastry Anyone?

Friday 11 May 2012

It's Friday, yay! It was an early and long day for all of us. There are a lot of road works around Southampton at the moment and it's making the morning traffic even worse. Because of this we have ask Poj's nursery to take him in early today (with added cost, of course) to give us a head start in the morning. It worked, thank goodness and we both arrive at work on time. 

I had to start early coz I sat in an interview pannel to recruit a junior member of staff. I was so pleased that it went well and we were able to offer the post to a good candidate. We're so excited for Lee to start with us, plus we're desperate for help as well. After that came a meeting, training and my actual job. Mega busy!

Papa E also had a long day which didn't particularly end well. I just hope he could put the hassles of work to one side for the weekend for his sake, syemrpre naman 2 days na lang ang weekend and I want him to have a break from work kahit papano.

And to unwind we thought to grab dinner out and go to the mall. We've not been there for a long time and we noticed a lot of changes to the shops. The mall is only open till 8pm everyday so we know we didn't really have much time. Just before we left the mall I decided to check out the pastry kiosk on the upper shopping level. They have a huge space but only had a few breads left. I chatted with the guys attending the kiosk and asked how much one costs. They told me that everything is £2 each. But they said they'll make me a deal for £10 for the lot. And as much as I want to be greedy, I know that there is absolutely no way we could eat them all (not that we'd want to!). So I said I'll just buy one. He took my  money but put 8 pieces of different pastries. They said they usually sell out all their baked goods but since it was sunny today there were just too few people at the mall. The extra baked goods were for being a nice and smiley customer, hehe. I know the real reason is that they'll throw all the leftovers away coz they sell freshly baked breads daily. But I'm not complaining, I got all these plus a cheese bread as extra all for £2! Wow!

Pastry anyone?

A Drink or Two

Thursday 5 April 2012

Thank goodness it's the end of the week. The Easter week is the busiest week at work because of the long weekend. One of my colleagues suggested that we head to the pub after work to unwind for a couple of hours. We all thought it was a fab idea and it gave us something to look forward to at the end of the day.  

We had a new member of staff and we were glad that she came, it was a nice way to welcome her to the team & to get to know her a bit more. Our manager was also able to join us, as well as our other colleagues that were on annual leave. It was lovely to chat with everyone, had a good laugh & enjoyed a drink or two. A chilled way to end a busy week. 

Have a blessed Easter everyone!

Sunday Duty

Sunday 1 April 2012

It's the start of the month and I spent the day at work (booo!).  I've been working Sundays ever since I started working here (& fully understand why we have to) but somehow I still feel that working on a Sunday is wrong =(
But we had a good team today and was actually out the door earlier than usual so all in all it wasn't too bad.  I even had a chance to enjoy the sun for a bit before Papa E and Poj arrived to pick me up.

The rest of the day was relaxed, we went to a Hobbycrafts where I searched for inspiration for Poj's birthday party & went through the plans for Papa E's birthday picnic.

It's going to be a busy month. There's a lot going on at home and at work, but it's all good. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we be blessed with good weather for Papa E's & Poj's birthday picnic.

By the way, the cupcake on the photo was from our lead pharmacist it's a chocolate cupcake with chocolate ganache, flakes and Easter eggs - chocolate overload!

Thanks

Thursday 23 February 2012

Papa E and myself work in two different hospitals here in Southampton. He would usually park here at the Royal South Hants hospital and I would catch the staff bus to my hospital. 

I was a little late today coz of the traffic so Papa E and Poj were already waiting when our bus arrived. It's a good thing that Poj is in a good mood coz he has finally settled in his Preschool, yay! Plus he got distracted when he saw this toy at the hospital's waiting area. It never seizes to entertain our little man even though he's played with it many times already.

We're happy that it only took two weeks for Poj to settle in Preschool.  

And I'm also grateful for the free staff bus which makes it a lot easy for me to get to work! Kilala na nga nya yung bus, whenever he sees it he'll say "here's Ina!" Bless him =)

Isa Ka Nang Model!

Monday 20 February 2012

The Audiology Department of Royal South Hants Hospital asked Papa E if Poj could come in to be one of their pretend patient for a photo shoot. The photos would be used for the department's new leaflet. We thought about it and said yes - our good deed for the day =)

We arrived early to make sure he's not rushed or flustered when we get there. He was in a good mood which was a good start. There were three members of staff in the room plus the photographer. He was meant to be there for the play audiometry only. They have a wooden toy boat on top of a table where he would play with the boat men and they would emit sounds from different parts of the room and the audiologist would observe the child if he would respond to the sound and look at the direction of where it came from. (only there was no sound stimulus coz it's only pretend). But since Poj did really well and was not fussed with the photographer taking pics that they took out 2 more wooden toys. They also looked into his ears using the autoscope and lastly they did a tympanometry test where they inserted this machine in his outer ear for a for a few seconds - this is used to check the child's ear drum. Poj was happy to cooperate with all the tests bar from one, he refused to wear the head phones. They did say it is usually used for bigger kids and I said he has not worn headphones before so he was overwhelmed with that. They said they didn't think he'll want to wear it and they have a bigger kid coming for that test. All in all everyone was happy and the photographer got the shots she needed. We were not there for very long and Poj didn't know he was a pretend patient. Bless him, he thought he was just visiting Ama's office and playing with some toys =)

When we finished they gave me a box of chocolates which was very sweet. And they gave Poj a Playmobil toy truck. He was so chuffed that he asked to carry it himself as we were walking out of the department.

'Twas a great day for Poj! He always wanted to go to work with his Ama and was able to do it plus help them out with the leaflet. We're so proud of our little helper =)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sweet Little Cupcake

Saturday 18 February 2012

The lady on the right of the picture from my previous post is one of my work colleagues who usually bakes beautiful and tasty cupcakes as her sideline. She inspires me to bake cupcakes coz I usually struggle to make them look as beautiful. She has very kindly baked one for each of us yesterday.

I am surprised that I was able to take a photo before I ate the whole thing! I had a busy day so I took mine home and enjoyed it with a lovely cup of coffee. Seriously it was like a little piece of heaven =)
Thanks Ms ELH

Night Out With The Girls

 Friday 17 February 2012

One of our colleagues is moving to another department and we all went out for a meal to say goodbye and to wish her good luck with her new job. We went to a Chinese restaurant named Kachina and had the "order all you can Chinese." We all enjoyed the starter which we ordered two rounds of as well as the duck. But after these we were too full that we were ready for our dessert.
No one took pics and everybody was much too hungry that we all just tucked in. We had a lot of laughs and stories and it felt that we were there for ages.

The pic above is just a quarter of us that's there tonight, I wish they've put us in one table so that I could squeeze them all in one shot.

We had a lovely night though - a great way to end a long week!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Shattered!

Wednesday 15 February 2012

I took 2 days off a couple of weeks ago when little Poj was unwell. The first day was granted as carer's leave and the second day was meant to be taken out from my annual leave. But since I only had 4 hours of annual leave left I have to pay back the 3.5 hours that I owe. 

There is no pressure to pay back the said hours straight away but I just wanted to get it over with. I usually work 7.5 hours a day but today I worked for 9 hours! We were up early coz I have to prepare our breakfast and baon plus get ourselves ready for work & Poj for nursery, malayo din kasi ang house namin sa hospital. (Reminder to self - I have to do this all again tomorrow!)

So it was a very loooong and tiring day for all of us. My boys are now in bed but yours truly is still waiting for Mr Sleep to come pay me a visit. 

Hayz, I must be getting old! I used to work 16hours straight during my UST days but now I feel shattered only after working 9! At ang pinagbuntunan ng pagod? Ang box of chocolate na bigay ni Papa E! haha =)

Boring Shoes

Thursday 9 February 2012

This is by far the most boring shoes I've ever bought. 

I am part of a panel who would be interviewing for 3 posts for our department. So it means I have to look a bit smart, para naman kagalang-galang ang lola, lol.  When I went to look for a pair of shoes that would match my black dress for the big day, I realized that I don't own one that would do. The shoes I've got at home are much too high(Example here).  And since I have to go back to my ward after the interview (booo I know) I have to wear something that's a tad more sensible. 

Thank goodness for Marks and Spencer that's just 3 miles away from home. They have a huge selection of shoes, and I found this pair which is a bit "Manang" to be honest, but are perfect for tomorrow. They are also very comfy and reasonably priced. 

I have never interviewed anyone before so am nervous.  Although I'm sure the candidates are more nervous than I am. Haha, wish me luck!

Carer's leave

Thursday 2 February 2012

I was surprised when my bleep went off and it was an outside call. The person on the other line was Poj's nursery manager. She told me that he was poorly and we need to pick him up ASAP. 

They got hold of me at 11am. I haven't done much work yet so I was really guilty that I have to leave my work-partner on her own. But like she said, these things can't be helped.

We are lucky that our managers are very supportive and understanding when it comes to these circumstances. It was really easy for me to tell them that I have to go and they don't make you feel bad about leaving. We have 14 days of carer's leave in a rolling year (at the manager's discretion, of course). But I am hoping that Poj is better tomorrow so that he could go to nursery. As much as I love being with him, I also don't want him to miss out on all the fun and learning he gets at nursery. 

7 Years Ago Today

Wednesday 18 January 2012

It's Wednesday today and that can only mean one thing, it's back to work for me. I'm usually excited to come to work after being off for four days to look after Poj. But today, I'm just not feeling the love for some reason =(

So before going in the the hospital, I stopped outside and had a good look at it (I usually come in through a different wing of the hospital). It registered that I haven't looked at it for a long time. Doing so reminded me of my first day here, one January morning - 7 years ago. 

Somehow that made me feel better about coming in. It made me appreciate how lucky I am that I have a good job & working with a lot of lovely people. =)

