Call me MOM

Go to Seoul!! (Part 1)

2011-09-24T23:39:00.000+08:00

There's so much of Seoul to talk about. We went there in Spring 2011, with very cheap AirAsia tickets, great expectation and zero knowledge of the Korean language. If there's a Family version of Amazing Race, I think we can be the champion team. Here goes the adventure:

Day 1:

Landed Incheon Int' airport at 8+p.m. To our horrors, there was a long queue in the immigration check-in and took us almost an hour to get a chop in our passport. We booked a night in the hotel nearby. Makes perfect sense as we were late, hungry and cold. And we planned to take the free shuttle bus to get us there. With instructions in broken English from the helpful info counter staff, we thought we'll get to the hotel soon. But we waited and waited and no sign of our bus coming! I called the hotel to ask, where ~~the h*ll~~ is the bus.The reception told us basically, sorry, you are too late, you missed the bus. Conversation ended. We dragged the kids to the waiting cabs nearby. They told us, Sorry, your hotel is too near. What??!! Few more calls to the hotel and another 15 mins to wait for the taxi. By the time we arrived in the hotel, it was 10.30pm, and ended up forking out 10,000 KRW, for 5 mins ride!!

Day 2:

Best Western Incheon is nice and clean. Until we step out of the hotel. The stench is unbearable. It's something like 'ikan kering' (dried fish) meets garbage truck smell. Oh yeah, we also found out there was a public parking lot opposite the hotel which had a free shuttle bus from the airport. And we could have taken the bus last nite cos that was the only bus which was still running!!!!

Anyway, the stench drove us to the restaurant next to the hotel for lunch. We couldn't bear walking out any longer. The restaurant was run by a mother and son co. The duo started to admire with ooh-ahhs of my girls. (There were lots of them like this as we travelled more later). She whipped up really good homecooked-like food for us. The meal made us all happy & dandy and ready to set out for Seoul.

Day 3:

In Seoul, we stayed in Artnouveau city Yeoksam and is situated right smack in a business district. We did our booking in where else but booking.com. Our review for the hotel is in here with a score of all-time high of 9.6.

Open the door and you get this and this and this!

The subway is 15 mins walk down the road, with kids. 10 mins walk without kids. Everywhere we went, we had stares, smiles and candies from passing-by strangers. They were really amused by the girls. Darn, we should have done a street show to recover my 10,000 KRW. Why didn't I think of that?

Day 3 was actually when we started our tour in Seoul. The first 2 days were more of finding our way to the airport, hotel and good food. We were almost always rewarded with good food in the end. However, it was not all cheap, but the walk and search in the windy spring weather was always worth it. One thing I still can't figure out though is why Koreans are really into their kimchi. They are proud of it as Malaysians are proud of our durians and sambal belacan.

Why Mom, we can't have this back home?

Say Kimchi

We chose to visit one of the palaces. There were a few in Seoul. It is a wonder that South Koreans manage to preserve these pre-war palaces, in the middle of a booming city. The walk in the palace was really tiring for all of us. And not many eateries to be found there. Luckily, I brought some snacks to quieten our growling tummies for a while.

Resurrection

2011-09-12T22:28:00.000+08:00

A close friend asked for my blog's URL so that she knows what's been happening to me from her part of the world. I told her, forget it, save it. Basically, my blog is dead and gone.

Lately I'm doing some soul searching. At the same time, struggling and laughing at some good and bad memories of the past 6 years since I became a mom. Most of the time, I was feeling rather dopey. The root of it all I realise, is not achieving what I thought I can or want to achieve. Like seeing Kat dancing ballet gracefully in her tutu. Seeing her with trophies and prizes for winning national spelling competition. Seeing her making her 100m lap in the pool within 10s. Sounds ridiculous, but yes...in this part of the world, parents do drive their kids to classes after classes,lessons after lessons to achieve their own lost childhood ambition.

And plus, I have just reached the mid 30s. My mom got pregnant with me at the same age. But I don't see myself having another baby, late nights and and err...cracked nipples.

And I am going through a lot of mess at work. I'm looking if I have other options outside the company. But yeah, no lovely and greener pastures are at sight yet.

There was a meeting with my MD and my German boss. Both are head-strong and would have wrestled if not for the rest of us in the room. My boss was being accused for not taking care of the welfare of his team. My MD was being questioned for being ugly and obnoxious. So we were talking about starting up the special Confidential-R-Us team which any staff can vent their complaints to. My German boss mentioned the word 'resurrection' to mean that, the team still exists although seems dead. I laughed when I heard the word 'resurrection' in a meeting of a 10,000+ employees company, with our local MD present. This word would have received solemn response and some tears to those attending church and hear it often during Easter. So I ~~laughed at~~ told my boss that the word 'resurrection' ~~sounds stupid~~ is not appropriate for this purpose. He meant well, but I made him look like a fool. Darn! And he's right after all according to dictionary.com. Sorry boss!

And today, I want to 'resurrect' this blog. Mainly because I think I will better off if I start blogging again. Maybe I will have better sense of achievement. And probably will help me to look at things and not just see things. Ooh..sounds so mid-life crisis. But what the heck, I am back. This blog is resurrected.

White lies

2009-02-23T17:41:00.008+08:00

It’s raining, it’s pouring, at the time of writing.

Which brought me to the scene 2 days ago. Kat was asking me, Mum can I watch TV? She asked not once. Not twice. But like 1001 times. At the time of the drama at home, there’s more drama with the weather outside the house. It was raining. It was pouring. And there were thunder and lightning. Whip crack sounding thunder.

So, I said NO. NO TV. And by default, Kat responded by crying and shouting, I want to watch TV, mum. As long as I said NO, she would put on the same response and I would continue to say NO. It’s like replaying the same scene in a drama. But I hate this scene so much so that I was really running out of my patience quota of the year.

So finally I said, ‘FINE. If you want to watch TV, the TV will be spoilt and mummy and papa will have to work more to buy a new TV for you. Is that what you want?’ And miraculously, she kept quiet. And didn’t ask for TV again…maybe once or twice, but then the crying and ranting stopped. Phewiee…

And speaking of which, I was brought back to the scene few weeks back. Hubs and I were going to fly off to Hanoi for a vacation. And we had childcare of the kids all planned out. Explaining to the kids especially Kat, on why we need to be away was a challenge though. So here goes the drama

ME: Mummy & papa have to go away for work. So you stay with aunty, kong2 & po2, ok?
KAT: No, mum. I don’t want to you & papa to go. *Cry, sob, boo-hoo-hoo*
ME: But kong2 & po2 will come and stay with you.
KAT: No, mum….. *Cry, sob, boo-hoo-hoo*
ME: Losing patience .. OK, if mummy and papa don’t go to work, we won’t have money. If no money, no TV.
Kat was quiet. Sobs stopped and peace at last.

Well, the trip to Hanoi is over. We are still having our plasma TV. And my brain cells have been so challenged these days because of a stubborn headed TV-obsessed totally parents-dependent 4 years-old.

White lies, yes..I did have to tell to preserve my sanity. Also partly due to the fact that to answer my own kid is harder than answering my boss.

What we do during Chinese New Year 2009

2009-02-04T14:35:00.010+08:00

Last nite I had a shock of my life. At 12 am, my neighbours decided to burn fire crackers and woke the whole neighbourhood with the ruckus. Not only that, they wait for each other to finish their rounds and took turns to burn the crackers, fireworks and anything they have; to make the air smokey and smelly.

Well, that explains my lack of focus for work today. Yeah, yeah…I’m normally not focused, but today is one of my worst days. Any minute now I can doze off in my seat and ….zzzz.

So …where am I? Oh yeah, what I wanted to write here is that, Chinese New Year (CNY) for 2009 is quite special because
1) My mom had a biopsy and the reports came out few days before CNY and turns out negative - no malignant cells
2) Kat and Kayleen are big enough to hold the teacups and serve tea to their Kong2 and Poh2
3) I have lost weight since last year’s CNY and manage to get myself in an M-sized dress!!!

However mundane reasons I have here, CNY is indeed a special time to celebrate, with loved ones. Though we do almost the same things year in, year out.

We serve tea to the partriarch and martriarch of the family and respect them while they are alive

We play mahjong. And oh yeah, there is a junior league going on

When bored, we go and disturb the dog

When even more bored, we’ll watch the idiot box and go bonkus with cheesy Canton movies. But this year, FINALLY I managed to watch CJ7 which was in the cinemas early last year. It’s indeed one of the best Stephen Chow’s movies I’ve watched in decades. Oh, oh we also watched Money No Enough II. Also another heart-warming family story. Also a delayed screening by my family.

Sadly, the idiot box doesn’t have good movies all the time. So we had to fulfill the ritual of visiting a shopping mall. This time though, the girls had their first game of bowling; without the ‘longkang’ feature. The kids had fun I think. Thank God they are still too young to know that their mummy & pa-pa scores suck.

And finally we manage to get in touch with my aunts, cousins, friends and cell members. I don’t have pics as I was busy catching up. I’m truly happy to be able to see them again, and let them see me in my M-sized dress..mua haha.

I really have a great time in CNY, and hence…find it so tough to start my engine for work. Sigh..have to get back to work now.

CUTE QUOTE: Don’t say ‘STUPID’

2009-01-14T15:19:00.005+08:00

I was talking with hubby in the car, and I mentioned the word ‘STUPID’.

Kat heard from the back of the car and immediately corrected me, 'Don’t say stupid, mom.'

Slapped my head and mouth and said, ‘Yes, Kat’.

CONTENTMENT

2009-01-12T16:26:00.007+08:00

Ah, I forgot to put this in my ‘DO OR DIE’ resolutions for 2009. Until I read about Steve Job’s hormon imbalance problem, or John Travolta’s son passing on. I’m reminded again that how short our lives are. That money is not enough. That what Jesus said 2000 yrs ago about ‘storing riches in heaven, not on earth; for moth or thieves will steal our riches away’ is not too outdated an advise.

So I will start to be contented and not wanting or expecting more out of myself and my loved ones. I’ve already heaped a lot of expectations on my poor hubby and kids. In the end, we may end up killing each other or ourselves. READ: German billionaire kills self, family says

As I write this, am reminded of my stolen favorite car back in 2004. I thought I locked the car door and all, but alas there was nothing I can do or undo which will bring my fav car back to me. Some acquaintances of mine reported how sad they felt when they lost a mobile phone each year. I was thinking, 'Hah, you can't beat mine. I lost a whole blardy car'. Cruel..but true. A mobile phone. You are moping around on lost mobile phone when many would have lost their loved ones in Gaza now. And then, the same acquaintance complaint later...aiyah, I always put on weight. If my specs don't lie to me, that person has 3 kids and still wearing Medium sized Asian clothes, I don't know what is being fat or putting on weight really means.

Enough said, here's a blessing (or two!!) which I'm really grateful for, despite of their tantrums and keenness on testing my patience..

Bye-bye 2008 and Welcome 2009

2009-01-02T13:25:00.002+08:00

I just wrote a note to SY & Bree to wish them Happy New Year. I wish them well and really pray that God will lead us to better prospects – at work, in relationship/friendship, health, spiritual and personal growth.

I don’t think I’d like to dwell on 2008, what has been and what has happened. As many times when I tried to recall the good things, my mind will cross over the bad things. And these things are the ones which give me heart aches.

So, looking forward, I’ve pick up a few to-do things or ‘resolutions’ for year 2009. Hope this will keep me going with much better anticipation:

RATING: DO OR DIE
1) Spend time with the rascals (my kids) especially to..
2) Improve ABCs and reading skill with Kat
3) Potty train Kayleen
4) Read, read, read!! I’ve done 2 books for year 2008 (hey…it’s an achievement for me ok)
5) Work hard, love all and..
6) Count to 10 when on the verge of losing the battle to anger, foolish words and flares of temper
7) Facebook only on weekends

RATING: NICE TO HAVE
8) Wake up earlier, go to work earlier and leave work earlier
9) Buy a bike and pick up cycling (yeah man..I’m a real city bum with no cycling skill whatsoever)
10) Get those jogging shoes running again. This time with my dog Santa
11) Go for a trip with Bree
12) Go for a trip to Rome/Paris

So Happy New 2009 and may God bless us with more wisdom, courage and strength to face the year ahead.

Customer rights. Customer is always right.

2008-07-31T14:20:00.001+08:00

These phrases don’t ring a bell in Malaysia, or maybe everywhere else around the globe. I remembered reading about this man, where he was asked to ‘donate’ RM1 and later found himself forking out thousands for a few but useless electrical goods. Full story is here.

I’m sure all of us would have read, heard or maybe get conned into scams before. Still there are also many who are not aware of these scams. My parents are retirees and they have been almost conned several times, if not for their ‘I eat more salt than you eat rice’ common sense. So what do we do to avoid being conned?

1) Recognise the scam tactics.
For example, when people ask for donation, downpayment, confidential data ie bank acct no. Scams are to lure people to fork out money first in exchange of lucrative prizes.

2) Listen to your loved ones or at least Michael Chong (MCA)
A woman lost RM200,000 to an SMS scam despite that her daughter flew in from overseas to warn her. Full story here.

3) Don’t think you can outsmart scams
Better get advice or check the company’s background before investing/losing your hard-earned money.

If we don’t get cheated by scams, we may get cheated by exorbitant product or service price. Or simple enough, we may get cheated from our customer rights.

As I mentioned, my dad is a retiree and the hiking standard of living can be a bit too much to bear for retirees like him. His most expensive indulgence is none other than his 2002 Honda Civic. Recently, he sent his car for a routine service in a Honda Service Centre in Setapak. He was told that he needed to replace his car shaft bushing. And he was told the parts would cost RM800 exclusive labor cost. Original parts, as according to the mechanic. Need to wait 2-3 weeks before arrival of parts. My dad freaked out and walked out. He later got the same parts replaced in another shop and costed him only RM80 inclusive labor cost. His car is OK until now, and it has been months since. Before this incident, my dad’s car was repaired for another part in that Honda Service Centre. But the problem with his car still persisted. Lesson learnt: Check and compare the prices if necessary based on your own bank account size.

I had a personal encounter with bad customer service not too long ago. I went to visit a car showroom, feeding my curiosity on a newly launched MPV. It happened in December 2007. The salesman approached me, and I asked about the trade-in price for my current car. The price he gave me was above my expectation, but it was only valid if I booked the MPV on that day itself. I asked about cancellation of the booking fee. He said I could get a refund within 2 months if I submit a letter. I was so tempted and fell deeply into the trap. I signed up for the MPV, never knowing what hell I would go through. Later I told Hubs about it, and without much thought, we both decided that it’s not a good purchase.

So I submitted a cancellation letter few days after the purchase. I simply wrote that the price for the MPV was not competitive enough. Two months later, I called up and asked about the refund of my booking fee. No news. Another month I called again. This time, the salesman told me the management is not satisfied with my reason of the cancellation. I was flabbergasted. I almost blacked out. What do you mean, my reason is not good enough? I am the customer. I can choose whatever reason I like. And I was guaranteed the refund if I choose to cancel the purchase. And why was I not informed before this? What happen to customer service? Totally feeling cheated, I wrote a complaint to NCCC in their website. No news from them either. I called the salesman and manager several times and kept harassing them, but I don’t know who was more harassed actually.

Six months later, I called again and this time it was a good news. FINALLY. I finally got my money back. But darn those six months. I was feeling cheated, doubted my own rights and thought I was a loser. And yeah, after I got the money, a staff from NCCC called to ask about my complaint. I told them I got the refund but thanks for calling me anyway.

Lesson learnt: Don’t be scared to walk out and turn down a good offer. The offer may sound good at that point of time, but on hindsight, is it really worth it?
Another lesson learnt: Don’t care what the supplier may say, customer is always right. We make money. We spend our money. We make the world move by spending our money.

Play dough

2008-07-21T14:55:00.006+08:00

Me & hubby in the mamak, in the midst of our thosai breakfast were talking over this:

‘Kat was telling her baby – Sayang baby, last nite’. Implying to my hubby how I always tell my girls 'Sayang baby' and Kat copied me on that. Sayang = love.

‘ You made her into a monster’. Hubby warned me.

He continued. ‘I’ve seen girls playing babies with their blankets, dolls, teddies but this is the first time I see a girl threating a play dough as her baby’.

Here’s the play dough a.k.a Kat’s baby

Don’t ask me how she ended up imagining the play dough as her baby. Wait till you watch her trying to squeeze her baby into a bottle warmer. The bottle warmer is supposed to be the bed.
But if anyone wants a home made play dough after seeing all this.. here’s the recipe.

2 cups of flour
half cup of salt ( or even more as preservatives)
2.5 tablespoons of oil
1 cup of water

Knead together until a dough is formed. Add in flour if the dough feels too oily or wet. For coloring, add in the confectionary coloring. The dough is supposed to last for 3 weeks. I just made the dough 3 days ago, so not too sure about the shelf life of the dough. And let's see how long Kat will take care of her baby.

Babies no longer.

2008-07-16T10:32:00.003+08:00

Not in terms of physically only. But they are getting more mature and independent. Kat can change herself in and out of clothes now. And I can put Kayleen to sleep on the mattress, outside the cot. And the lovely darling can fall asleep alone in the room. No lullabies, no reading stories.. she’s such an easy baby.

Just 2 nites ago, I was left to take care of the girls alone. Kayleen was making a fuss while I was changing her. Minutes later, Kat put the laundry basket over her own head while blowing her new flute. Both Kayleen and I can’t stop laughing at Kat with her antics and all. Kat is indeed growing to become a good ‘che-che’ (older sister).

Visit to KL Bird Park

2008-07-07T16:33:00.036+08:00

Our new house is just 2 houses away from the corner lot. Unfortunately for us, the corner lot has just started some major renovation work and we are plagued by dusts and construction noises from the place. It’s a major case of noise and air pollution. Thus hubs and I decided to make an effort to get out of the house every Saturday while the construction is still going on.

Last weekend was the first of our many planned weekend rendezvous. It’s been ages since we take the kids out. And it gets harder to get them out of the house with their growing and mobile bodies, increasing physical and emotional needs. One moment the small one, Kayleen will poo-poo in her nappies. Another moment, Kat will ask me to play with her when I was busy preparing their bags.

But out did we go, and no regrets for that. We intended to go to Deer Park actually. But as far as I remember, the park is next to the main Lake Gardens park. The last time, I went there was during the days of my navy blue and white school uniform. Unfortunately, the whole area is closed until mid July for refurbishment work. How silly is that? This is the time the park should be opened when all the tourists are flocking here for their summer hols. Anyway, just to back-track, it’s been no easy task to direct my driver aka hubs to drive from our house to KL city. Occasionally we flared up and then decided to shut-up, in order not to spoil the day. It wasn’t easy to drive in KL roads, I know. But it isn’t our first time there…gosh! To think of it, we have ‘conquered’ roads in NY State, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Melbourne and Great Ocean Road to name a few. But obviously, KL roads still pose a challenge for us.

Coming back to my point, oh yeah… it was supposed to be a Deer Park trip but turned out we found Bird Park and ended up there. It feels so good that finally we reach a destination, a park at least. We straightaway head to the café outside the Bird Park entrance as the journey took up quite a lot of energy. Little did we know that we’ll be surprised by exorbitant prices in that place. Breakfast of 2 plain nasi lemak, 2 tea and 1 Milo costed us a whopping $21. The drinks costed $5 each!! Entrance fee for 2 adults and for Kat came up to $36… $15 for each adult and $6 for Kat. So all-in-all our bills at that point was $57. No wonder, not many locals flock the place.

Anyway, once we enter the park, we were greeted with a few free flying birds. One peacock came to us. Then we saw another one, parading his ‘garment’. This one was perpetually showing off and we wondered if there were some ‘mechanical faults’ in that peacock’s feathers. We turned another corner, and came another peacock. And another. And another. Oh yes, the place is full of peacocks.

Then we saw flamingoes, eagles, hornbills, cockatoos and parakeets to name a few. The park is huge so no wonder the entrance ticket allow us to go in-out of the place for full day.

I took a breather and left Kayleen to roam around. Then she went and emptied her bowels again. By the time, I cleaned this toddler and entered the park again, hubs and Kat have gone through the World of Parrots. This place has 20 species of parrots. So quite impressive collections of birds. Sharp at 12.30 noon, we went to the amphitheater and watched the Bird Show. It was truly entertaining and educating for the whole haf hr show.

At the end of it all, we had a hearty meal in Hornbill Restaurant. Oh yeah, not to forget, the souvenir shops in the park sell attractive merchandises. I think I’ll get one when I go there again. Did I mention I’ll go there again? Yeap, this place has definitely been a pleasant surprise. We had expected a run-down park with feather-less birds. But we met up with & touched so many feathered friends and some of them are intelligent enough to give us a nice show. The facilities ie toilets and restaurants are well maintained or at least being repaired. Despite of the pricey entrance tickets, we can’t complain much. Good thing we didn’t find Deer Park.

The things my 3 y.o. learns

2008-07-03T17:47:00.005+08:00

Kat is learning some stuff in her babysitter’s that not even me, as a 30+ y.o. adult knows. Kat’s babysitter and her pastor has set-up a homeschool type of nursery and they are using an American based home-schooling type of curiculum.

So, here are a few animals she learnt

V for Vole. It’s ‘A vole is a small rodent resembling a mouse but with a stouter body, a shorter hairy tail, a slightly rounder head, and smaller ears and eyes’ – SOURCE: Wikipedia

W for Warthog aka Wild Boar. Maybe I’ ve been lost in the universe somewhere and never heard of this alternative name for wild boar. When I mentioned warthog, Kat said she has warthog in her CD. My brain quickly process through her CD collection but I still couldn’t get what she meant. She said it again. My brain again trying hard to retrieve any hidden or archived data that may give a clue to this. And then the light bulb finally lit up. Ahh… she has this CD in which has snippets of Timon & Pumba. How can I miss that?

Ok, back to her lessons..

Budgerigar

aka parakeet

What else will Kat learn then?? Gosh, I really have to keep up.

My baby is turning 3 soon

2008-06-26T15:12:00.011+08:00

Wow… 3 years has passed since I first gave birth to Kat. It’s just 3 years but the experience of giving birth & motherhood has been tremendously uplifting at times, tiring most times and exasperating other times. I can still remember..

The full 8 hours when I was in labor..
The contractions came and gone within intervals of 5-7 mins, then 3-5 mins, then 2-3 mins, then history..
My back aching and my hips stretching ..
Me breathing in & out, in out, puff, arghh!!!! When is she coming out??!!
Hubs holding my hand and asking me to push, PUSH, PUSHHHH
Me feeling helpless and unable to push anymore
Doc took out the vacuum to ‘suck’ the little darling
And finally she was safe in my arms

No epidural, nothing ok… so yeah, it’s darn painful especially the final hour. I think my threshold level for pain is quite high, that’s why I can resist epidural. But for many women, epidural is the only thing which helps them to give birth. Sometimes I wonder how my mom and grandmas can give birth to so many kids without any aids. In those days, water labor, birth ball, epidural are unheard of in this part of the world. Well, as I told myself, if my mom can give birth in a dingy govt hospital… then so can I. Only thing is I’m much better off as I had the privilege to have services of gynaes and midwives in the private hospital.

It’s worth the pain when I get to hold and feel Kat for the first time. Truthfully and frankly speaking, I was initially a bit dissappointed that it’s REALLY a girl. I was hoping secretly that Mr. Gynae made a mistake. But on hindsight, I don’t think I will cope well with a boy. Boys are generally hungrier and more demanding physically. My milk production has always been 4oz max and wouldn’t be enough for a baby boy. So God knows better, and I am already blessed with two naughty rascal girls ;)

Then came the toll of sleepless nights. At times, we fed her, cuddled her, carried her but still she was crying and crying without end. There are also times she would hang onto me like glue and nothing else can pacify her except her favourite pacifier or in her own words - ’tit-tit’. Well meaning friends would come to tell us…’Aww, don’t let her get addicted to the pacifier’ or something like that. Now I can laugh and tell them that Kat has gotten rid of it and never asks for it, for good. How we did it? We put the tit-tit in vinegar but she sucked it all right despite the awful sour taste. Finally, we cut the pacifier and made it ‘tasteless’ and ptui!! Out the tit-tit goes. So in that sense, not all well meaning advise or tips can be applied to the kid. And thank God the sleepless nights gradually came to an end.

This weekend, she’ll be turning 3. And I asked her what she wants for her birthday. And the conversation goes like this ~

I want birthday cake
When is my birthday?
This Sunday.
My birthday is this Sunday? Oh….

She’s really grown that girl. She has achieved a lot of things too. I’m not sure her achievement is out of the norm, average or below the par. But who cares, every child grow in their own pace… and even if she doesn’t turn out to be a genius, I am still more than happy to have someone like her to call me ‘Mummy’. Or rather ‘Mom’ nowadays. I had wanted to record down all her achievements – her first steps, first words, first doodle, first day and night without diapers. But being a working mum don’t give me the luxury of time to do all that. So, sorry Kat if I can’t give u the exact details of your firsts. But here’s what I can do for Kat.. will cook a feast for her this weekend and post all her cutest photos here and will always love her as she is.

And here’s a great song that Me aka Mummy aka Mom hopes to sing for her one fine day (yeah right…)

In my daughter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes I am a hero

I am strong and wise and I know no fear

But the truth is plain to see

She was sent to rescue me

I see who I wanna be

In my daughter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes everyone is equal

Darkness turns to light and the

world is at peace

This miracle God gave to me gives me

strength when I am weak

I find reason to believe

In my daughter's eyes

And when she wraps her hand

around my finger

Oh it puts a smile in my heart

Everything becomes a little clearer

I realize what life is all about

It's hangin' on when your heart

has had enough

It's giving more when you feel like giving up

I've seen the light

It's in my daughter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes

I can see the future

A reflection of who I am and what will be

Though she'll grow and someday leave

Maybe raise a family

When I'm gone I hope you see how happy

she made me

For I'll be there

In my daughter's eyes

Apr-June 2008

2008-06-11T15:29:00.013+08:00

The last couple of days, weeks and months have been like a roller-coaster ride for me and family. That doesn’t exclude my dog as well. So here’s the summary of the ride:

APR 2-13, 2008 Visit to the Netherlands

Finally I manage to pluck the courage to fly 12 hrs alone with Kat to visit Tulip land. The flight alone is not easy but we survived with lollipop, flu medicine and lots of TV & toys. We joined hubs there as he was on business trip. And thank God we did that because accommodation costed us a whopping amount of RM10K.

So what did we see in NL?

Tulips in Keukenhoff

Clogs and windmill in Zanse Schaans

Churches and delftware in Delft

Canals, museums, Red light district (not allowed to take pics of this for security reason) and some notorious things in Amsterdam

Dikes, sail boats and brave the cold wind chill in Edam

And a few peculiar things all over the country like the public urinal

My lessons learnt:

Bring lots of spare change or coins for visits to the loo. Each visit cost 0.50EU which is equivalent to RM2.50. Yeah, talking about spare change, I was also furious over the lack of customer service in Central Station, Amsterdam. They charged 1% for changing a EU100.

Get ready to be spoken to in Dutch, because everyone tends to treat all else equally as Dutch

Brave the strong wind with a good wind cheater and gloves

Don’t expect good answers from Tourist Office, so be prepared with a good map or ask for direction along the way.

Watch out for bicycles because they are fast, and they are everywhere!

APR 2008, Before we left for NL, Kayleen managed to walk 3 steps. While we were in NL, my aunt-in-law (who was taking care of her) told us her steps improved. And yeah, as soon as I arrived home, I witnessed my baby walking effortlessly. Really adorable kid and I wonder where she got that from... hehe

MAY 2008, Sign up with T-system. Gonna be outsourced to them..

MAY 2008, Busy with finishing up house reno work and related matters

MAY 2008, Say bye-bye to SY

MAY 2008, Jumped into the pool and swim for inter-dept challenge in two 50m front crawl events and one 50m backstroke event. WE turned out to be champion!

JUNE 2008, Moved kids, dog and loads of collected junks to our brand new home!!

Phew… I don’t know if hubby infused drugs in my coffee…but am really grateful for God’s provision of strength and protection throughout this ‘ride’. And just this morning, I got to know that I finally get my refund of my cancellation of the booking for a Grand Livina….(after half a yr!!). I feel like just ran a marathon and reached the finishing line and collapse after that. And I owe my hubs big time for being a great partner-in-crime and gave me time off with the gals and the inter-d swim. And my babysitter and family and in-laws and and…gosh, I sound like giving the Oscars speech!

Ya-ya sisterhood

2008-05-30T11:01:00.002+08:00

Just a week ago, I had a girls’ stay-out with my 2 best buds. They are my childhood friends, my classmates and my sis-in-Christ. The occasion was to spend time before we bid goodbye to SY..as she’ll be settling in Down Under.

Gosh… as I’m writing this, I feel a sudden sadness that we are no longer the same as we used to be and do the things we used to do. Those days, we used to go for guilt-free buffet spree, shopping spree and celebrated each other’s birthday and exchanged gifts for every Christmas.

But 4 years ago, things started to change for us.

Bree had to transfer to the sleepy town of Ipoh. When she had that opportunity, I was green with envy. I’ve always love Ipoh for the food, people and lack of trafic jam. Why not me? But it turns out that Bree truly has changed and adapted well in Ipoh.

Then SY announced that she’s seeing someone ‘casually’ as according to her. Well, la di da, they became serious and took the plunge to marriage 2 yrs ago.

As for me, being the IT nerd that I am, had nothing much to do and for being a loyal employee as I was, I would spend late nites at work. My friends were my customers and a few colleagues from office. Occasionally, I will join my friends from uni or their friends. Nothing spectacular. Until I kept in touch with an ex-colleague. Yeah, eventually he became my hubs 4 years ago.

Fast forward now, look at us.. we’ll be located miles apart, and probably miss each other’s birthdays for years and years. No-one would have guessed how God has led us in our different paths. But we’ll continue to pray and keep each other at heart and in mind. Pray that we’ll always be close regardless the circumstances or locations we are in. Hope Bree will meet someone special (yeah… I’m still looking out for you, gal) and SY will settle well in Melbourne. I'm so proud of both of you for reaching the heights where you are now. Here’s to our friendship!

Making every sen worth

2008-05-29T11:21:00.003+08:00

It was 9.30 pm and I’m about to read books with Kat on my bed. Then came along Hubs who plonked every single piggy bank and coin box from the house in front of me. Now if only he brought out some gold bars, then it’ll be a different story. But then again, if that happens I won’t even have time to blog mundane things like this.

Hubs then said coolly, ‘Let’s separate these coins out.’

He began to pour out all the contents of the piggy banks on the bed. The whole room was filled with the stench of old coins.

I was too tired to protest and obligingly followed his instructions. I let Hubs sort out the tiny coins of 10, 5 and 1 coins. And I sorted out the 50 and 20 sen. Kat was taking and throwing the coins all over the place.

‘And you still have 1 sen ah? It’s no longer in use you know. I tell you ah….. if the bank rejects those 1 sen, I’ll nag you til kingdom comes.’ That started my naggin session.

I was feeling irritated and at the same time, amused that my Hubs has this peculiar habit. Every time we come home, I would see the familiar scene of him emptying his pants’ pockets, digging for coins and throwing them in any empty containers at sight. I don’t care less for what he did. But that night, I was regretting the rest of my life for just being a spectator instead of a headmistress and wack his hand for doing that.

You gotta be kidding, I was telling myself. There’s no way we can finish sorting the coins tonight.

But halfway through..

‘Hey, I found a 2 Euro coin. This is RM10 already!’

Then, ‘Look what I found. A Republic Dominican 1 cent. Did you go there with some other woman ah?’

Soon after that, ‘Hey, I found a 10 cent (Euro coin), 5 cent and 1 cent. Let’s see if it’s enough for your next toilet trip in NL.’

Ok, ok.. I must admit we are having more fun than I imagined. With the 2 kids around nowadays, Hubs and I seldom have UNINTERRUPTED time alone together. Read uninterrupted. It would either be a phone call, our dog barking, our neighbours alarm setting off; anything that can disturb us.. will disturb us. How pathetic but true..

20 mins later, there goes the final coin into the bag. And here’s the result….
Oh yeah, Hubs bet we have collected RM500. I bet that it’s RM200. Guess how much is it?

Yeap, I won the bet. The actual amount is RM168.20.

And the next morning, on the way to the bank, we bumped to a male colleague. He’s single, very much eligible… but sorry… taken already. He nonchalantly said ‘I have the same thing too. I got one big box of coins in my house’.

My goodness gracious, I think my husband has opened my eyes. Indeed, all man never uses their coins and collects them til kingdom comes. From henceforth, I will advise all my girlfriends, aunties, daughters, female; to spend all the coins in the house. Don’t wait till it’s too late.

Presenting... Kayleen

2008-05-26T14:12:00.006+08:00

This is a project which I delayed for moons. For the simple reason, Kayleen is so full of joy & 'actions' that I find it hard to write about her in few words. So, see her to belive me..

4 scoops

2008-02-19T22:28:00.008+08:00

Ring, Ring. The phone rang and I could guess who's calling us. It's a week before CNY.

I picked up the phone. True enough, my mom was on the line. My guess was proven correct. After a few sec, (yeap our conversation is always short & crisp... notice it's not short & nice?) I hung up. Her message is still ringing in my ears.

'When you come home for reunion dinner ah, don't forget to bring back the scoops for steamboat, OK?... I left them in your house when we had steamboat in your place last time. Remember ah.. bring back the ladles ah'....

So, the conversation was just a reminder to bring home the SCOOP. Without the SCOOP, every steamboat will not be complete. It's like eating steak without a knife or a fork. And to bring the message home, my mom will be utterly exasperated if all things don't go well with the reunion dinner especially if it's caused by absence of SCOOPS. And if she’s exasperated, her matriarch force will bring everyone’s moods down. Food will be gulped instead of chewed.

Come CNY eve, we decided to wake up early and head up to Immigration Dept to apply passport for Kat. And we planned to head to my mom's place for dinner after that. But lo and behold, I forgot to pack the SCOOPS!!! I told hubby that we would be dead meat if we don't buy any scoop before heading home.

And so hubby went out of his way and fork out a whopping MYR20 for4 shiny, brand new scoops. And guess what? We never have steamboat thruout CNY in my mom's place. And guess what again? The SCOOPS were silently placed back in my drawers.

When I found those scoops in my drawers very much later, I was furious. Those scoops are not cheap you know. And we had to scurry thru Metro Kajang (where we did the passports) just to find the SCOOPS. Grr... I'm so geram (frustrated).

That's why all women hate to be like their mother. Maybe not all. For sure, Lydia Shum & her daughter, Joyce Cheng are obviously best of friends. (Off track from here, may Lydia’s soul rest in peace.. and Joyce be strong thru these times).

Maybe 99% of the womenfolk hate to be told 'You are becoming like your mom', am I correct? I publicly confess now that I belong to this group. But I know inevitably, I’ll become like my mum in a way. I loathe seeing mountains of dirty laundry; my nagging when I got too much puke & poo to wipe; my rules of doing things in a certain way. Sad fact but need to accept it sooner or later. But despite of this, I hope and truly hope that, my relationship with my kids will not be a replica of mine with my mom. I hope to be a mom and friend to the girls so that they can tell me their secrets, hopes & dreams. Maybe for at least 20 yrs of their life. Not too difficult to achieve isn’t it?

Leaving a legacy

2008-01-30T16:36:00.000+08:00

I just changed my template. Looks good or not? Shocking pink & black... blind also can see. This will definitely leave an impression that

- I'm loud (which I'm not.. except to the kids and dog, honestly)

- I'm asking for attention (sort of.. to test whether I can earn $$ thru blogging)

- I'm lacking of attention (sort of.. cos all the attention goes to the kids & dog)

But actually, I started blogging to sort of, sort of, leave a legacy to my kiddos. Yeah, yeah.. and to test how long this fad will last or how long I'll stick around the blogsphere.

Another fad which I just joined is Facebook. Aiyo, I find it so cheesy at first... I hug you, you hug me.. we are friends. All this bulls***. But I just bumped to a cool app - My Music. So cool that I can listen to songs from YouTube, from my fav artistes, from my fav albums without having being traced that I've used YouTube!!!

Wah.. I'm gonna be so cool or my kids will be so embarrased of me. What do u think?

No money and no life

2008-01-18T14:03:00.000+08:00

One of my close gal frens commented that I didn’t write anything about ‘my play’ in this blog. Well, this comic should explain it all.

Learning from year 2007

2008-01-04T16:40:00.000+08:00

Wah, wah.. the headlines is getting so steamy nowadays. What a way to start off Year 2008! But seriously…. the folly of a man should be a lesson for another. And obviously many still haven’t learn yet huh? I maybe one of those who never learns. Sometimes, just by looking at my two kids screaming their heads off to get my attention would bring to memory my mum’s advise ‘I told u to wait for the second one’……….

Many things in life can’t just be deleted with the ‘UNDO’ button. No CTRL+Z. No U-Turn. A few of the many, many things in my life in year 2007 which I wished can have the UNDO button are these:

** I got a job offer in the business entity of my current company. Then the job was somehow ‘CANCELLED’ because of ‘no budget’. I was cursing, crying, wailing but thank God all that emo didn’t impact the little one in my tummy

** Almost the whole of the IT arm in my current co. is confirmed to be outsourced. Both hubby & I are impacted. At that time of announcement, the job which I initially got, was posted again. That job will not be outsourced, by the way. Unfortunately, I couldn’t apply because my boss said I need to stay because of the recent promotion. I had to see the job being given to others.

** Then hubby got an offer for a job in the Hague, Netherlands. We were going to do the necessary relocation arrangement but then unfortunately, the powers-that-be in the co. said that his team need to have a local presence in Malaysia. There goes all our plans for NL down the drain. This time, I was really angry to the point of questioning my existence and faith. Hubby was badly hit by the news too. But we were thankful later (much, much later), that at least he still has a job in the current company.

** Then, my boss sort of pity me and said that I can apply for jobs in other dept. I applied for a job in this dept which I think will be outsourced to a good IT company. At that time, no-one knows which dept will be outsourced to which IT co. Anyone heard of T-systems before? Nope… it’s not famous in this part of the world yet but it’s quite big in Europe. And so, I got the job… and after that, my new dept was announced as being outsourced to T-sys.

** Apart from work, my gynae who has been God’s instruments in delivering my two girls will not practise again after a brain surgery. His fate suddenly changed few weeks after he delivered my No.2. Ok, don’t ask me what I did. I’m sure there are worse patients than me. Hear say that he had a blood clot in the brain or a stroke. All of us patients and nurses dearly missed him as he’s one of the best and experienced gynae. To the extent that his personal nurse quit.. and his clinic in SJMC closed down. Hope that you will be well, Dr. Rachagan.

Back on this gynae subject, I was diagnosed with a pretty big ovarian cyst by another gynae. I quickly scheduled myself for a surgery and true enough, the cyst came out to almost 5cm in diameter. I was stricken with a mild depression after the surgery and not proud of it either.

So, that was that… those are really the downside of my life in 2007. Not so deep down until I can’t get out. But I think I am more sceptical and cautious after all that I’ve been through. You know what, I think I might need to write a book on this entitled… I SURVIVED or a comic entitled.. TOUGH LUCK. Any better suggestion?

The tortoise hast come...

2007-12-17T14:58:00.000+08:00

A few bizarre creatures have been visiting our home. We've seen a monitor lizard peeking at us through the sliding door. Actually, it was trapped at the tiny space between the sliding door and the mosquito net. We still wonder how it got through that. And phew... thank God for the mosquito net otherwise it would've climbed in and scared the hell out of me & the girls.

But last Thurs (13/12), we were greeted by another 'guest'. Hubs woke early and found it under our pine tree. The tree is the typical Christmas tree, with roots, fresh green leaves and all.. and this creature was sitting under the tree, like how a Christmas present should be. And coincidentally, I was dressed in the t-shirt from Redang with a pic of a turtle. Is this a joke or what? We decided to keep it as a pet at the moment. Finder's keepers. I told hubs that it's the most boring pet but easiest to take care of.

And ooh-la-la , I googled it and found out this tortoise is originally from Madagascar and is a Radiated tortoise. But a tortoise is a tortoise, slooowww and steady... and I don't have much to comment about it now.

Papa's girl

2007-12-10T12:35:00.000+08:00

She's only 2.5 years old and she already knows how to win her papa's heart. I wonder how many guys will be wooed by her.

The 2 rascals

2007-12-10T12:23:00.000+08:00

These 2 rascals of mine suddenly become the best of friends when I was putting them to sleep.

The Cili Padi

2007-12-10T11:56:00.000+08:00

How should I name this video?

1> ARGHH! My mummy & papa can't afford proper toys for me! Who dares to suck their money!!!

2> Why must I wait so long for Christmas to get new toys??!!

3> What? You think I cannot fight ah??

I want Christmas

2007-12-07T10:17:00.000+08:00

'I want Christmas'. Kat just told me that last nite. So, yes.. Christmas is coming and this year the family has an additional ‘team’ member to share the joys and laughter of Christmas.

I actually never really favour Christmas as it means more gifts shopping, clothes shopping, bringing up the tree, cleaning the house, cooking for the family. Ah well, but what is Christmas minus all these? I’ll hear in church sermons condemning the commercialisation out of Christ’s birth. But in everything there is always the commercialisation bit.. even in church. But I shall not elaborate on that topic.

If I zoom back to 2007 yrs ago, Mary should be so big by now. And she would be so worried if she’s capable of bringing up this child of God. And it’s her first birth some more. And as for Joseph, he would be thinking if this is the biggest mistake for him. I was just wondering if every father would be thinking the same before the kid arrive. Both of them would be so busy preparing the home for baby Jesus and on top of that, they have to prepare for the long journey to Bethlehem. And the wise men of the East and shepherds overheard that there’s a ‘super-baby’ going to be born soon.. so they are preparing gifts and for the journey to search for this baby.

Phoeee… lotsa hoo-ha over Jesus’ birth. And hey.. I shouldn’t feel hassled to prepare for the celebration of Jesus’ birth too right? No I shall not. So, if all things don’t go well with the gifts, food or carols.. I will always be satisfied to show and tell my kids that Christmas is about preparing for Jesus’ birth. And ALWAYS about Jesus of course!

Here’s a new rendition of my favourite Christmas carols – Carol of the bells and We 3 Kings. Enjoy!

Stopping to look

2007-10-11T16:14:00.000+08:00

So many things to do, so many things to blog about. But it’s nothing to compare with these..

The joys of seeing the artwork of my 2+ yrs old toddler. I contributed a bit (a bit only) of my artistic skill too. The joys of seeing the same girl getting a shot of her smelly shoes with my mobile phone ...The joys of seeing the kids in a blissful moment with their papaSeeing simple playLooking at some shots from my mobile phone

Free Burma

2007-10-03T13:52:00.000+08:00

Just wondering, will I stand with the monks and resist the military government?
Just wondering, will I stand a midst the crowd and shoot their photos?
Just wondering, will I ever, ever, risk my life for the sake of my community, friends & future?

I'm not sure. But what I can do is to blog about this. Frens, please pray and blog for the people of Myanmar too.

For bloggers, you may go to the website, choose a graphic and copy & paste the HTML code in your own blog.

For others, please join hands, pray or do whatever you can do, to uphold these monks & Myanmarians who are fighting for their own basic rights & independence. Here's a brief writing of their plight which has forced peace loving people to go out and risk their lives.

Parent burnout

2007-09-27T17:09:00.000+08:00

This won’t sound pretty. I’m having a typical parent burnout.

Quoting from http://www.momscape.com/articles/burnout.htm, here are some signs of burnout:
· Anger, irritability, and hostility
· A sense of powerlessness or helplessness
· Fatigue, despite adequate rest
· Insomnia
· Compromised immune system--a higher occurrence of ailments, including colds.
· Increase in the use of drugs and alcohol
· Feelings of boredom
· Loss of interest in your social life
· Diminished sex drive

I’ve got all the symptoms. I replaced drugs/alcohol with caffeine. I even lost appetite for food, which is really rare for me. And I'm losing hair!!! Strand by strand all dropping like autumn leaves.

One thing though, Kat often blesses me with her songs, hugs & kisses. Kay gives me a lot of smiles and .. more smiles. So, why did I feel burnout in the first place?

Maybe I have too high expectations of myself. And of late, I haven’t receive any recognition from the office folks. Plus, the kids have been taking turns to wake-up in the middle of the nite with hubby not helping much, as he was sick too. All the work, bottle washing and waking up at 2 odd and 4 odd A.M., are getting to me. I’ve taken enough coffee to give me gastric pains.

But with every problem, there’s a solution. And from this website - LDA America, it sort of gave me a bit of 'manual'. I love the part about ‘Be healthily selfish, free yourself from needing outside approval.’

Need to get out of this soon…

In sickness and In health

2007-09-21T10:42:00.000+08:00

I joined Mesiniaga in mid-2000. I met him, shook hands with him and said my ‘hello’. He said his ‘welcome to the team’. He got a lady’s photo in his cubicle and I didn’t think twice about him.

He left the company later. We met on & off through a common customer base and chatted occasionally in Yahoo!

In 2002, I got the chance to go Gold Coast for a company trip. A friend of ours invited him to join us in Melbourne. He bought a flight ticket to Melbourne. Then history started.

In 2003, he dropped the ultimate QUESTION in Frasers. It was at night and the road to KL was closed then. I got no way of escape but to say YES.

One year later on Sept 18, 2004, we signed the papers. We said our vows on Sept 25, 2004.

Ok, I know I’m sounding like a history teacher now. I’ll just stop here with the dates. My point is, after 7 years of knowing and being with my hubby, did I truly understand the meaning of my marriage vow.

Last few days have been horrible. We took the 2 girls with us to Frasers and hubby was stricken with bad headache and viral fever there. I couldn’t care less with his initial complaints of headache, body ache and gassy tummy. So I brushed him off. But too bad for us, his temperature went uphill, and he was flat out. I’ve never seen him in such a bad state ever since we got married. Plus, Kat’s tantrum got worse as her papa became worse. Kay was the only smiling face there. Overall, our vacation turned out to be the worst I’ve ever had.

So, was it a coincidence that I have to be with my hubby in sickness and in health, on our 3rd anniversary?

I don’t mind if we are just a couple and I can nurse him full-time. It was a bit too much for me to have fully dependent kids (who are both recovering from a recent bout of viral fever) to care for, and seeing him in pain and misery. Never have I expected such situation when I first said my vows.

Honest to goodness, I did question now and then whether I married the right man. I’m a woman with a need for a full-night’s sleep, to say the least. That’s why I’m writing this post. To remind myself that we have vowed to

To love, comfort, honor and keep… (yeap, I need to keep him, not dump him)
For better or worse… (yeap, both of us have more eye-bags, white hair, receding hairline and increasing waistline)
For richer, for poorer …(yeap, we may suffer a pay-cut in the near future)
In sickness and in health.. (definitely.. when he fell ill or when I had my cyst ops)
And forsaking all others, be faithful only to [him/her] so long as you both shall live (I will.. as long as he is faithful too)

And you know what? I have to copy & paste the above vows for this post. I didn’t bother to memorise it. Not until now. So, I’ll keep this vow, honor this vow as long as I shall live. Cos he’s worth it.

HAPPY 3rd ANNIVERSARY dear!

Parenting tips #1 - Rolling an egg to get rid of wind

2007-09-13T12:36:00.000+08:00

I decide to compile some tips for people like me who knows nuts about parenting and kids, and need lotsa advice, help and 'tools'. So here goes tip #1 - roll a hard-boiled egg to get rid of 'wind'.

Here are the instructions:
1) Get a 'cheap', non Omega-3, full of cholesterol (cos it's cheaper) egg.
2) Boil it over high heat until it's hard. To determine if it's hard-boiled, roll it around, the egg should be able to roll smoothly.
3) Shell the egg and insert a coin.
4) Put the egg in a cloth. And roll it on the tummy area... where there's most wind.
5) If the coin turns color, the 'wind' has been absorbed and wah la... it works!

Well, this is a Chinese practise and was advised by Kat's babysitter. She did it for Kat, and I can witness some improvement in her. Kat's appetite is like the share market index, one day high, then one day it plummets down to the level of 'no eye-see'. After the egg-rolling experience, she asked for milk, ate some veggy and passed her poo-poo effortlessly.

Now, let me see if I can try it on myself...

Having fun at Dumpr

2007-09-13T12:09:00.000+08:00

I just bumped to a cool website @dumpr.net that can modify the photos for these effects -

--museum style.. check out Kat's chubby cheeks when she was 1 --pencil sketch of Kayleen when she was 5mths old (still with hair at that time)
-- this is the funniest.. an egg-shaped photo of Kayleen

Orchid la...

2007-09-07T23:14:00.000+08:00

There are very few TV ads that my mind is capable to remember. One of them is the ad of a certain kids growing-up milk. The ad goes like this:

Dad: Flower, flower. (while pointing at some orchids)

Toddler about 3yrs old kept quiet

Dad: Flower, flower.

Toddler: Orchid la.

Dad looked stunt and managed a smile, covering-up a really malu-fied face.

If I was the dad, I would immediately check if the kid is mine. Anyway, talking about orchids.. here are some of them blooming away in my garden. Pretty, huh? No wonder the Mat Sallehs adore orchids.

The best thing about orchid is that they are really low maintenance plant, needs only coal and once a while, a bit of fertiliser. We got most of the orchids (cost about $8-$9 each pot) from Glenmarie, after EON. And some from a particular nursery in Bandar Salak Tinggi, Sepang. This nursery is at the crossroad between Kota Warisan & Bdr Salak Tinggi.

Fireworks…REALLY!

2007-08-23T16:55:00.000+08:00

Hey, I heard from XX that Australia is on tonite for the competition. - ME

After that for a few hours, hubby and myself were going back & forth on whether to go and watch the fireworks competition in Cyberjaya.

What if it rains? What if our girls slept? - HUBBY

Never mind la… at least we get to watch it. And it’s so near. We just need to pay $3.20 for toll. Australia is world champion - ME

At last we finally persuaded Kat that she’s gonna watch fireworks (which she doesn’t know exactly what it is), got our butts out and hit the roads at 9.10pm.

On the way there, we witnessed for the first time a jam at LDP Puchong-Putrajaya toll at 9+pm. And the traffic was busy along the road leading to Putra/Cyberjaya. Considering this is the so-called ‘Hungry Ghost’ month. But what the heck, everyone was out there to witness one of the most amazing event in Msia. We could see families, young couples, makciks, pakciks, dressed in their t-shirts and pyjamas, all out for the sole purpose of witnessing the firework display for FREE.

As we arrived in Cyberjaya, there were already rows & rows of cars parked at the side of the road. I’ve never seen so much enthusiasm since Y2K. We were lucky that one of our colleagues stayed nearby and gave us her address so that we can watch from there.

At 10 pm, we could hear the emcee of the event doing the countdown… 3,2,1. Split seconds of silence and then kaboom.

Streaks and sparks of colors decorated the sky almost non-stop for 20mins. There were oohs, ahhs and wows from the crowd, young and old. Everyone was enchanted. And for once I felt that we are united as Malaysians.

Kat was a bit frightened by the sound of the fireworks but after a while, she settled and watched it through her own eyes and intepretation. Kay was asleep at first but woke up and saw it herself.

The whole experience was marvelous. It would have been better if we got chairs to sit on and capture those fireworks in our digicam and videocam. However, being there and watching it with my family is a major achievement.

It's you, Mummy

2007-08-02T09:50:00.000+08:00

It's you, Mummy.
Those are the exact words my 25 months old Kat said while pointing at Princess Di's picture. At this particular picture below.

Isn't she gorgeous?? Em, let me rephrase.. don't I look gorgeous. I feel good... ah ha ah ha.

Nope, I'm don't look any near like Princess Di. But the fact that Kat managed to say a complete sentence with words like it's and you, is a milestone to be celebrated. Phew... she's growing up to be a normal kid!!! Will remember these words forever.

Adopt a child

2007-07-23T14:11:00.000+08:00

It’s a bleak Monday morning. I’m not in the mood to work yet. Mails have not pile up. Deadlines can be stretched. So,will take a look at work later and will blog now ..

Weekend as usual was hectic but there’s a slight twist last Saturday. A friend of ours (Meen) paid us a visit. She was supposed to give us a house call several months back but ever since Kay was born, she’s been very quiet.

Not much longer than she stepped into our house, she told me that she had adopted a child. I didn’t really know how to react to that news. First thing that crossed my mind was, why or when did she and her spouse gave up trying for a kid. We knew that they have been trying. I could see her longing eyes when she met Kat last time. Yet, we didn’t know that they made such decision NOW. As in they are still young, not yet in their 40s.

But I’m so happy for Meen. She’s talking about her daughter like any other proud doting mothers. She made the effort to bring her laptop just to show us her daughter’s photos. To put it simply, she’s now a mother of a child.

I really respect Meen for all that she went through for her child. I’m sure it took her a lot of courage, money, tears sometimes and most of all, she had to assume the responsibility of a parent sans impregnating the child. I had 9 months to prepare for Kat and Kay. And during those 9 months, I can feel that they are my babies with their growth and movements. But for Meen, she practically had to get herself ready and in tune with the baby overnight.

If I’m in her position, I don’t think I’ll adopt a child. It’s nothing like adopting a pet. We can’t leave the child to others whenever we want to. There is no turning back.

Anyway, I’m sure that one day Meen’s child may or not know that she’s adopted. But all that matters is that she’s receiving true love from Meen and her husband.

Back from Lang Tengah

2007-07-19T17:31:00.000+08:00

It's been a week after Lang Tengah trip. I have loads of dirty laundry back home and nursing a cough. But the trip was worth it.

Worth it for the folks I travelled with. The trip was my hubby’s dept trip but I joined in as well. Some of the folks to name a few were ..

Mojo – he got picked up by a girl while walking along the beach. The girl gave him her phone no. and sent a text msg while he’s traveling back to KL. We suspected that she might have a hidden agenda to sell him something i.e. insurance. But maybe the girl couldn’t resist the sight of his butt crack (he was actually using that as his bait).
Capt – the only ‘M’ in the trip. He drinks and smokes but draws the line when it comes to gambling. Cool chap with good attitude.
Merkua – he knows how it feels to be buried in sand and be sculpted as a hermaphrodite mermaid/merman. And so there goes his nickname.
BS – got us all hyped up with his vodka choc. Another cool dude with good attitude.
Boss – a doomsday prophet. Rather not mention more in case he bump to my blog.

But what I really love about the trip is that I managed to swim and be inches away from the marine life and corals. On the first day, the sky was cloudy and the sea choppy. I was very dissappointed as I couldn’t spot new and interesting fish or corals. I kept rambling on that Pulau Manukan is nicer, and bla, bla, bla… like a bitchy experienced snorkeller. But on the second day, Mr. Sunshine decided to show up and we went back to the same spot. Hubby and I managed to spot new species and colorful corals. Lunar wrasse and giant grouper to name a few.

Colorful, bigger than life and friendly. That’s the best description I can give to the experience I have there.

On the downside, I still have the bouyant sensation after arriving home. The return trip to mainland via an open speedboat was great, but after a while I was soaked and splashed with salt water.

We stayed at D'Coconut. The place ‘looks’ nice but hubby and myself got checked into a pretty rundown room. And not to mention that there was a gap with the package that was promised and the end product that we had. We were supposed to have a BBQ dinner during one of the nites, but apparently it wasn’t written anywhere in the hotel booking. Hence no BBQ dinner, just plain old rice with very salty dishes. There were also some glitches with water pressure and electricity.

Despite of all these, I’m so glad that I took time off to be in Lang Tengah. Will upload the pics once I’m done.

Am I a good enough mummy?

2007-07-11T13:00:00.001+08:00

I really feel sad for the girl Shearwey who was innocently killed/burned/died. No-one can actually know how much she suffered when she died or when she lived with her mum and the boyfriend or when her parents split-up. I also read of another piece of news that teenager girls went to Michael Chong and sort of complaint to him. One particular case , the girl and dad made-up after they talked and understand each other's needs.

Feel depressed. Feel sad. There's nothing much I can do to help these kids, as I am struggling to cope with Kat. This toddler of mine has changed so much for the past 2 weeks.

The day before yesterday, babysitter told us she pulled another girl's ears. I was shocked and my heart sank when I heard that. My secret ambition to be a good mummy went down the drain. I never meant to raise a bully or an aggressive person. A tomboy maybe. This isn't the first time. There was another incident when she scratched another girl's face.

Probably her friends were trying to take her belonging away at that time. I know for the fact that she hates her things being taken away from her hands. Although the things that she holds are not hers sometimes. But this doesnt warrant her hurting another person. I wonder what makes her do that? Is she feeling insecure that she needs to hold on to external objects? Is she being 'bullied' so many times before, that she's retaliating now? Or she just realised that that is the way to defend herself? Or is she really lacking of attention? I don't know, I really don't know.

I hope this is just a passing phase. Maybe she's going through her terrible twos. My worries of Kat are getting to me. And got myself & her papa into a row. At times like this, I'm wondering if I'm a good enough mummy. Ah well, I'll let time to tell me.

Kat is 2 today!!

2007-06-28T23:01:00.000+08:00

I'm getting nostalgic now. Soon tears will well up in my eyes as I'm writing this. Kat turns 2 today!!
Exactly 2 years ago, I had no idea that God will change my whole life with the arrival of this child. She was not like any other child I've known because she's mine, my precious. With other kids, I can hand them back to their parents when they cry. But with this child, she remains in my hands and care FOREVER. That thought overwhelms me sometimes, but it's OK ...cos I love her dearly.

Kat changed so much lately.. About a year ago, she can't even do her poo poo and pee pee in the potty. Now...
she can tell us she wants to sit in the toilet bowl.

She can doodle and draw with her favorite crayons.

She can rush to my room early in the morning and shout on top of her lungs 'Wake up, wake up!!'

She can kiss me and say 'Love you' in return for my 'Mummy love you'

She can help me do laundry.

Gosh.. the list can go on & on.

Thank you God for giving me this child. And may you keep her and bless her and see her through the storms and sunshine of life.

Best changing/feeding room for kids

2007-06-22T15:19:00.000+08:00

The best changing/feeding room for kids is in... *drum roll*

KLCC!! It's located near the walkway to KLCC Convention Centre. The area is spacious with lotsa cheerful colors and a separate area for feeding, playing and changing. Check it out!

Others worth mentioning are in the following order
2) Alamanda
3) Any Parkson Grand outlets
4) Ikea & Sg. Buloh R&R area

The changing rooms in Jusco outlets are a bit too near the toilets but at least there are changing rooms. What I always look for in these rooms - hot water, free wet wipes & lotions (only found in Sg. Buloh R&R), sinks at decent height (not too low or high), separate area/room for breastfeeding moms and convenient for dads to enter the area.

Don't be fooled by adverts

2007-06-22T13:20:00.000+08:00

You know that there are so many scams out there in Msia nowadays....SMS, phone calls, spam mail. But the simplest scam is right there printed on newspaper ads.

Hubby's aunty (we call her Chinachi) came across such ad of an electrical shop from the Star papers. Shop name is Heng Lee. Location in Bandar Puteri Puchong, facing the main road before Giant. It's in the same row with KPMC Medical Centre.

So, what happened was the ad was for a weekend sale and the prices quoted were really cheap. Chinachi asked us to visit the shop and find out abt their air-cond. Hubby dropped by first time on a weekday after the sale and was pissed off as the salesman didn't bother to answer much of his questions. The following weekend, the ads were out again. This time we visited the shop on the weekend when the sale is on. We asked for the aircond model that's advertised.

NO STOCK, but got other models.... Mitsubitshi - Salesgirl

Chinachi's son was desperate for an aircond, so we finally settled for a RM1100 Panasonic aircond and asked to be delivered to Chinachi's place.

Few days later Chinachi told us that the shop delivered a Mitsubitshi aircond to the place, instead of the Panasonic one. As far as we remembered the Mitsubitshi brand is cheaper than the Panasonic one. But Chinachi's son was desperate and accepted the aircond.

When we heard about that, we were fuming mad.
- The shop had the cheek to deliver a different brand from what was purchased.
- They advertised so many goods in the paper but all of them are either out-of-stock or turned out to be some pasar malam brand.

So, friends... please don't fall into the trap of such advertising scams. And please avoid Heng Lee in Bandar Puteri as much as you can.

In a mood to blog again

2007-06-21T17:52:00.000+08:00

Hey thanks Chloe for visiting my blog. Yeah, I wish I can blog more. But once upon a time... few months back, I accidentally deleted my posts. That made me really upset with myself and I sorta gave up on blogging. Not to mention, No.2 arrived not long after my latest post.

Yeap, No.2 arrived during midnite hours on 12-Mar-2007. She gave me contractions while I was in church for service. The contractions became stronger and more frequent as we had dinner after the service. Hubby decided to drive me to the hospital and I was admitted in the familiar labor room. The moments of pain, inhaling, exhaling and all, lasted for 4+hrs. The final contractions were so painful that I couldn't wait to push. Evrything happened so fast, gynae was fumbling a bit to receive No.2.

I finally decided to name her Kayleen.. as she was all smiles when she arrived and is such a dear, little one.

Counting the days/hours

2007-03-08T11:35:00.000+08:00

When will #2 be coming to greet the world? At the moment I'm not sure whether to write to her in this post. Dunno how she'll look or if she'll be healthy. Due date is exactly one week away on 15 Mar. But Dr.Gynae said she would come anytime this week. Yet, I don't have any sign of her wanting to come... she's still happily kicking and moving in my tummy. Maybe she's too comfortable in my tummy to face the heat out there.

Talking about heat, if it weren't so hot at home, I wouldn't show up at work now. Office folks are so anxious that I may 'explode or burst or wet the whole floor'. Emm, that would give me one step ahead to create my visibility in the office huh? Hehe..

Autumn in NY State & Niagara Falls

2006-06-08T15:16:00.000+08:00

A lot of people may be surprised when hubby & I chose NY for our honeymoon. Well, for the reason we got the flight tickets cheap at that time - RM1986 (w/o) airport tax. And while we are young, we can endure the painfully long flight to NY. And Niagara Falls is near to NY .. ok, it's near enough.

Looking at the photos bring back good & bad memories.

The bad part was GOSH!! NY's jam is worse than KL's 10x!! And the streets are filthy and full of potholes. On top of that, we chose to drive from NY to Niagara Falls, CN. So I think I had my fair share of driving thru miles of endless solitary roads, sometimes we got lost, most times in the dark at 7+ pm. AND I almost knock onto a trailer on the road !!

BUT of course.. no pain, no gain.
Here's a pic of us with Niagara Falls in the background. I find it looked slightly artificial with the rainbow colors. Don't you think?
But in the daytime, the falls looks splendid with perpetual au nautral rainbow decorating it.

<--Here's one of my fav pic. It was autumn and Halloween time. And thus, there were lotsa lovely pumpkins & squashes for sale.

Ignore the pose... just look at the lovely background!! This was taken from Catskill Mountains in NY State. It's the best place to be during autumn as these trees turned colors.

And who can resist Statue of Liberty & Phantom of the Opera??