Tagged - 12 layers of me

Aiyoh yoh, don’t know what’s tag means…so auntie, right? Well kena tag by Celine, she just instructed copy and fill up the blanks… ok so “cheong hei”…

Layer 1: On The Outside
Name: Wai Wai - my family and kampong friends’ term, Elaine - my office and Penang folks’ term, “loh poh” – my hubby’s term, “mummy” – my princesses’ term… talking about “cheong hei”….
DOB: 6th Jan.
Current Status: Married.
Eye Colour: Dark Brown
Hair Colour: Brownish
Righty or Lefty: Righty

Layer 2: On The Inside
Your Heritage: The proud Cantonese, “sei ngoi min”
Your Fears: Cockcroaches, reptiles…
Your Weaknesses: Impatience, when my kids and loh kung “teh” me…
Your Perfect Pizza: crispy with healthy tops….

Layer 3: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
Your Thoughts First Waking Up: Thank God for another new day
Your Bedtime: By 11.00 pm
Your Most Missed Memory: Speaking my wedding vows….

Layer 4: Your Pick
Pepsi or Coke: Neither
McDonald’s or Burger King: McDonald, 90% for the sundae cone only..
Single or Group Dates: whatever!
Adidas or Nike: Nike
Tea or Nestea: Tea
Chocolate or Vanilla: Vanilla
Cappuccino or Coffee: Coffee, just a little

Layer 5: Do you…
Smoke: No way…
Curse: Yes, parking attendants (the one who writes your parking bill on Penang streets)…
Have a crush: Yes…many..crushes….
Think you’ve been in love: Yes and still is
Go to school: Just break myself from it, no way at least 5 years down the road…
Want to get married: No chance alreadylah…. Married liao
Believe in yourself: God first…
Think you’re in health freak: Yes, cholesterol very high…. No choice

Layer 6: In The Past Month Have You…
Drank Alcohol: Yes, sometimes I DOME
Gone to the mall: Definitely….
Been on the stage: Yes, being emcee at my company’s annual dinner and kid’s annual concert..
Eaten Sushi: Yes
Dyed your hair: Quarterly…to cover the grey hairs

Layer 7: Have You Ever…
Played a stripping game: Got, can’t remember when…
Changed who you were to fit in: Can’t recall….

Layer 8: You’re Hoping
To be Married: No married liao!
For a: big space to work on my dream garden
2. big kitchen with an island in the center

Layer 9: In a Gal (for guys in a boy)
Best Eye + Best Hair Colour Combination: You are perfect, no need to mix…
Short Hair or Long Hair: As long got hair!

Layer 10: What Were You Doing
1 Min Ago: Answering all the questions abovelah
1 Hour Ago: typing
4.5 Hour Ago: lunch time
1 Month Ago: Can’t remember already
1 Year Ago: What?? Drop this question….

Layer 11: Finish The Sentence
I Love: my loves……..
I Feel: like taking a lot a lot of pictures with my new Nikon S200
I Hate: Hypocrites….
I Hide: Expensive stuff that I bought from my hubby…. Don’t want nagging…
I Miss: Care free time during my teenage years…….
I Need: To exercise……..

Layer 12: Tag 5 People
1. Shaggy
2. Dorene (no blog yet woh..)
3. Debbie (my faithful reader)
4. Must have blog one right?... (Aunties normally don’t have blog woh..)
5. Figured out later…

My Lollipops

See my two lovely lollipops! They are so cute in the same T-shirts and hair style, last time mei mei used to wear the handovers from jeh jeh but not anymore since mei mei turned two, she wants exactly like jeh jeh and vice versa. So mummy have to buy two sets for almost everything.. if not jealousy and sibling rivals will begin. Girls... they like pink, pink and pink from top to toes, clips, hair bands, dresses, pants, t-shirts, skirts, shoes, rings...............etc. Last weekend we went for a charity dinner in town, the couple sitting at the next table was blessed with 4 girls, they look alike and maintenance cost is sure high...everything x4....not sure whether they have the same policy like my girls (no handovers!)he he he.

I got it.. snap snap

Finally.....my loh kung came back with my new toy.... Nikon 200s...charged it right away, took some shots last night and this morning can't wait for the day to be bright but it was raining, tried some shots...

Cinderella

My daughters simply love to watch Cinderella (the Walt Disney cartoon version), I lost count how many times they have played the VCD, memorized each scene and songs even the step daughters vocal practice section…. Both of them will act out the scene, singing “… Nightingale… ah ah ah ah……”, then beat each other on the head….

Last weekend we borrowed some DVDs from my neighbor, Boon, one of them is Cinderella story (the Walt Disney version starring Hilary Duff etc…), my elder daughter was glued to the TV, enjoying each scene, the story has been adopted from the cartoon series but translated into modern Cinderella version…. Quite nice, instead of leaving the glass slipper behind, Sam (modern Cinderella) left her cell phone at the school pomp dance event….ha ha, now Prince Charming is searching for Cinderella in the school, 10.30 pm, daddy said it’s bed time, so being very obedient and reluctant we have to switch off the TV and to be continued tonight…….

Mei mei don’t know how to enjoy the show yet but jeh jeh certainly enjoying every moment of it…….. one of the wonderful moments I spent with my daughters, we went to bed hoping for some sweet dreams, dancing with our Prince Charming perhaps…….. woke up by the alarm this morning, no dancing with any prince, not sure about jeh jeh and mei mei……….. jeh jeh reminded me, “tonight we will continue the movie ah………” yes provided you finished your homework, I answered.

Opposite attracts........and attacks

Opposite attracts, hmm…..normally people refers this phrase to relationships….if you don’t believe try to survey couples around you, most likely you will find that couples who are together have different characters, attitude, behavior and likings. That’s what makes the couple clicks and last Sunday that’s what makes my hubby and I “attack” each other, not physically of course but verbally and phycologically……very “chim leh”.

Before that let me share how we are different, he is a slow and steady guy, I’m the rushy type, everything want fast fast and want it now, he loves vegetables, I like meat, he’s quite an old fashioned guy with his “ah pek” thoughts and philosophy, I’m more open and fashionable, he is gentle, I am more aggressive, he is introvert, I’m more extrovert, he likes to read, I like to be sociable, he likes action movie, I like dramas…….. the list goes on, wonder how we get along for more than 10 years huh (courtship = 4 years, married > 8 years), I wonder how too?? He he he….. by God’s grace.

Anyway let’s move on to what I actually wanted to say… last Sun we went out to shop for my digital camera, normally he’s the one who did all the background studies, surveyed all the available shops in Penang and obviously knew the best deal in town already, being pushy, I said I wanted my camera now, so we went to this shop, which deal is quite good and acceptable (to me!) and lastly we have the sales guy teaching me how to maneuver around the features of the camera, (at this point of time, my saliva is…… and was so happy that finally I can own a digital camera)…. But good hubby said “No”, negotiated with the sales guy, he claimed another model of camera is better (all the technical stuff), cash and carry, credit card………(all the technical buy and sell terms and conditions…..) and finally we walked out from the shop empty handed and you knowlah……I showed my black faceloh….

Went into the car, the discussion continued….on the technicalities…….blah blah blah, I attacked he defended, he reasoned, I counter reasoned……….lastly I said “OK I understand all your technical points but you have to understand my heart”, hubby went quiet and apologized and I still “black face”! Back home, the kids asked if I had got my camera, I said “No, daddy won’t buy”, daddy said we quarreled and my princesses stood by my side and three of us “attacked” daddy again, daddy no choice and promised he will get one home tomorrow! So I’m waiting…………. Patiently….

Child beggar

Saturday morning, went to Lipsin market to buy my weekly supply for the family with my hubby. I saw this woman maybe in her 50s and a child about the age of my younger daughter on the floor and begging from the public, not the first time I saw them for they moved around. Every time I saw them, anger filled me… on the woman and my heart breaks…. for the innocent child. I asked my hubby, is there anything we can do? Shall we report to the welfare department, is she the grandmother? Where are her parents? I observed one of the woman’s hands seems to have a little defect, other than that everything looked normal, so is the child. A lot of thought playing in my mind, if I were to report to the welfare department, will they really take care of the child? What happen if the lady is really the grandmother and they will be separated? What happen if the police detained the woman and it’s the grandmother? Is this the job of a syndicate? How can I help? Oh…. I can just pray for the child, pray that God will have mercy and deliver her from the need to beg in the public…… what will you do if you are in my situation?

Serious child talk

My girls are extremely clingy to me which turn their daddy into a very “sour” and greenish being. When we have nothing to do, I will just start any conversation with them or we will simply roll over onto my bed or L-shape sofa and we will start our “keng kai” session, “keng kai” means “lepak” or, care free chit-chatting, below are some funny dialogues with them:

In the car, Jeh Jeh was not around:

Mummy: Mei Mei, what do you say if we just leave jeh jeh at ah kung’s house and three of us just flee?
Mei Mei: (Without thinking) “YES!”
Mummy: (Laughing)
Mei Mei: I did not say that, you did!
Mummy: But you agreed with it
Mei Mei: How can we not want Jeh Jeh, she will cry when cannot find three of us?
Mummy: So clever, how come you know there are three of us?
Mei Mei: (Pointing), nah one, two, three, three of us lah….


On a mattress in their bedroom

Mummy: Mei Mei, can you sleep on the small mattress, mummy sleeps in the center and I’m side by side with you and Jeh Jeh.
Mei Mei: Ngg…. Don’t want….
Mummy: It’s quite tight here with both of us sleeping on a single person mattress, please mei mei
Mei Mei: (In a dissatisfying tone) You are the one who give birth to me, can’t sleep with me meh?
Mummy: Startled…. Ok ok ok sleep with mummy lah….


Yesterday, I fetched Jeh Jeh from school, she needed badly to ease herself, once out from the lift she charged to our unit, I panicly searched for the house keys, can’t find, asked her to shout for Ah Mah to open the door, she shouted “ah mah, ah mah, Ah Mah, Ah Mah, AH MAH, AH MAH….. Mummy can’t hold it anymore, it’s coming out!!!”……… sshhee…………………… everything was wet inclusive the socks and her pinky sport shoes…
In the evening on the L-shape sofa:
Mummy: Girl, if tomorrow Chloe (her best friend) asked why you are not wearing your pink shoes, what will you say?
Jeh Jeh: Giggling and laughing……… say Ah Mah washed it loh…
Mummy: Why Ah Mah wash it leh?
Jeh Jeh: Ngg……… cannot tell….. very shameful…
Mummy: Just say it was dirtylah…..
Jeh Jeh: Giggling and laughing….. ok because it was dirtylah….
Mummy: Clever girl!

Today, in the car, back from school, I fried some maggi mee for her classmates (celebrating Children’s day)

Jeh Jeh: Celine (her friend) ate your maggi mee and spit it out….. she said it taste “yaks” (with her action….)
Mummy: Really, that bad??
Jeh Jeh: Ngg….
Mummy: (Not happy with the whole thing, interrogate her further) Is it true or you made it up?
Jeh Jeh: Don’t tell Ms. Wong hoh (her class teacher).
Mummy: Why because you made it up right?
Jeh Jeh: Yes…..
Mummy: (Lecture her all the way home………………….)

Down memory lane

Sunday, 14th Oct 2007, went back to my hometown, the once glorious Kampar, in Cantonese is “Kam Poh”, “Kam” stands for gold and “Poh” means treasure, a town full of gold and wonderful treasures. Once boosted with tin-mines and rich tin-miners, my dad was one of them but due to the economy recession in the 70s, was badly affected too which lead the family in great debts. During the good old years dad bought a semi-detached house for the family and my parents still stay there, the same kind of property with the luxurious space would have cost millions in Penang but in Kampar, it merely cost around RM200K, I think! Below is the mountain view captured from our garden with mom’s glorious purple bougainvillea in the view. Sorry not so sharp photos, taken from a low end camera phone (I’ll be shopping for a better digital camera soon…).



In the afternoon was trying to dig into my old study table (I think got 40 years old already, shifted from the old house and belong to my uncle…), guess what? Found my old diary written in the year of 1988 to early 2000…. Read through the pages and brought back to Penang to read the balance, my hubby tried to catch a page or two and caught red handed by me… give him a real lesson!!! Anyway it was such fond memories, first puppy love, first prayer answered etc……. I’m glad I pen down those teenage moments, it were all so wonderful as I recollect them… I took some of the 5-star stuff back too…. ha ha for our reunion memories in Dec…..

Monday morning,15th Oct 2007, made "nen nen" for my princesses...


After breakfast, we went sight seeing around Kampar new town where UTAR is under construction. Here I captured an image of an old building from the car, the “Hokkien Association” building, a meeting point for the 5-star before we walked together to our desired activities e.g. to the cinema, tuition classes, makan-makan and shopping. The building was refurbished, before that it looked quite run down with swallows nests on the roof top and their shit all around the ground… he he… excuse me..….



The happenings in Kampar town has shifted to the new town where house developers were busy building blocks of houses and shops, mainly due to the existence of UTAR, saw a signboard that Tesco will be up soon, at least there’s one decent place for shopping in future!  However there’s still the wonderful food stalls in the old town that I could not miss, the famous “loh shue fun”, “wan tan mee and ngau lam min (beef stew noodle)”, claypot chicken rice, curry mee, “loh mei fan” (glutinuous rice with char siew)……hmm.. yummy yummy…… I’ll be back more frequently to visit my parents and of course for the yummy food, fresh air, relaxing environment and fond memories…………..

I'm back!

Whew! After many days on the road, it was real tiring… more tiring than weekdays at office. My hubby complained that the holidays were spent driving, driving and driving only. Poor hubby, anyway we want to thank our man for his patience and obediently following our plans.

Glad to be back, got so much to blog about don’t know where to start. Okay I will start with this picnic trip last Saturday, we went with 7 other families (a real convoy) to Sg. Serdim somewhere in Kedah. It was about 1.5 hours drive from Penang, we went through the highway, the trunk road, the kampong road and the stone road (under construction), up the hill and down the narrow road and finally reached our picnic spot, a water fall……nice scenery, cool spot and icy water.





Everything was free, no parking fees, no toilet fees (I believe the attendants must be celebrating Raya at home, he he he) We took a stroll, more than 30 over of us, like a bunch of villagers visiting the city for the first time, we hoo hoo and ha ha… a nice escapee from the busy city life. Next we tried the tree top walk, a man built bridge encircling the water fall area and the height as high as the big old trees around the area, the walk took about 30 minutes and cost RM10 for adults. Since there are a bunch of kids with us, the kids got to walk for free (special Raya offer). It was real hot as it was reaching noon time, the day was sunny and everybody enjoyed the walk, certain portion of the bridge is quite swingy and sloppy, I and my daughters took some of the fallen dried big leaves to shade our face from the bright sunlight.



Next our stomachs were drumming, we helped ourselves with the many home cook food and then the kids changed into their swimming costumes and deep themselves into the icy water. They never complained! Kids simply love water no matter how cold it is. The picnic ended when it started to drizzle and within 5 minutes it was raining cats and dogs, we packed like thunder and took shelter in a shade nearby, we later start our journey back to the highway and lost our way (to Baling woh… asked some friendly villagers and headed back on track), reached hubby’s kampong at about 5.30 pm, real tiring but enjoyed our trip………….. next….. down memory lane… be sure to catch up… will share some light moments at my kampong….

Break time

I’ll be having quite a long break starting from tomorrow and don’t think I’ll have the time to blog for the next few days as I’ll be traveling most of the time. Tomorrow I’ll need to go to the market to shop for some stuff for a picnic on Sat morning, I’ll be cooking nasi lemak without the lemak served with sambal ikan bilis, boiled eggs and ladies fingers. Probably I’ll bake a cake for the birthday uncle and aunty. It’s going to be quite a large crowd, 8 families, last week’s calculation sums up to 20 adults and about 15 children, hope it turns out well, will update you all when I’m back. After the picnic we’ll be heading back to three kampungs (villages where we originated), my hubby’s kampung, mine and my sister’s (we will drop by for her open house), then perhaps catch up with good old friends, bring the kids to the beach and spend lazy time together with people matter most to us. Happy holiday my faithful blog followers.

First Malaysian in space

The whole nation is “hoo hoo ha ha” over the latest Malaysia Boleh’s agenda, sending our first man to space. It is a quite a big deal after all and of course a huge project that takes millions of RM (estimated to be RM95mil). Something not just Malaysians would want to talk about but neighboring countries who criticize the move. Instead of Malaysia Boleh, one of an Australian writer criticized the move as Malaysia Bodoh and citing we are paying millions of RM just to get a space taxi service.

Not for me to judge either but common sense would weigh the cost and benefit of venturing into that scale of project and mission. I’m not sure if I would live that long to see the long term benefits but looking at our science, technology and innovation progress rate………no comment. I do agree that with that equivalent sum of money, many things can be done to improve the education system of the nation, the poverty condition of many rural areas, the general welfare of the less fortunate……………… As a Malaysian I just don’t want to be labeled as having first class facilities and programs but third class maintenance and mindset.

Our first national car project and the current situation of the organization do force us to think and to realize that our expertise is not in car building and we do not have the technology to do so, no doubt more Malaysians can afford a car but not quality cars compared to our Japanese competitors, their cars are not more expensive to own but due to the huge tax that comes with it. A little knowledge on manufacturing processes and cost will tell you that if your process is effective and efficient, your cost will go down and you get more with less and vice versa, in whatever you are doing you need both to excel – effectiveness and efficiency but to have both plus your core competency that makes you stand among your competitors.

However thumbs up to both of our Malaysians (Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor and Captain Dr Faiz Khaleed) who survived the long and tough test after test and preparation for the trip. I do pray for our cosmonaut safe journey back home and I would say he is one handsome guy, he he he…

So you want to teach?

Back in my primary school years, I think starting from primary 3 we were asked to write composition entitled “My ambition” and if you were to ask 10 students back then, I believe more than 50% will answer, “teacher”, well I did. Many months back, I asked my elder daughter the same question and guess what she answered…. “teacher” Hmm…. almost 30 years gap, we still get the same answer. I asked myself why? Well this is the answer I have. Teacher is our role model, you can tell your kids this and that but if it’s different from their teacher’s they will object by telling you “Teacher tell me this and not that” yes, even to their own mummy who may be holding a PhD compared to a kindy teacher who may be holding a certificate qualification.

So teachers out there, you are very important role models to our children but sad to say nobody wants to become teachers nowadays, reasons are a few like the pay sucks and workload is plenty, over protective students and over reacted parents, poor school management and the profession’s remuneration is simply not attractive. I do not know how many teachers now actually teach out of passion to educate the future generation or they are simply trying to make a living and drag themselves to school everyday.

One of my lecturer told me that back in Sweden there was a primary school which is renown for producing excellent whole rounded students, curious of the system that the school has and wanted to emulate the success of the school, other schools organized trip to observe and hopefully to catch the magic portion. They were surprised for there is no high technology equipments, no special syllabus but just an ordinary primary school with the conventional black board, tables, chairs, students. So what’s the magic portion? Teachers who taught the basics, teachers who were dedicated and simply have passion for teaching. So I guess all who visited the school were real disappointed.

Are you concern with your children’s education? Who formulate the education program in our country? Who are the teachers? Is the authority going to do anything to retain real teachers and to attract potential teachers? What about those teachers who were dragged to school daily, what impact will they have on our future generations? What are the things we, as parents can do? What what what…… The situation is worrisome….

Bosses

How is your relationship with your boss lately? Don’t get me wrong, the reason I write this post is not because I had anything serious going on with my boss but just want to write something to entertain my readers.

Typical bosses

“I am always right”
If you did something wrong, you are wrong, when the boss did something wrong, he is still right and even though he can be so clearly in the wrong “buta pun boleh tengok” they will turn and twist until “dead people can also become alive”….

“Ki ki ku ki ki”
Means you take care of yourself.

“I did not say that”
When things go wrong or we Chinese said “cannot go down the stage”, bosses will normally say “I did not say that”….

“I did not tell you to do that”
When they made a decision and things go wrong out of the decision, they will say “since when I tell you to do that? You must have heard it incorrectly”….

“Now go and do it”
Bosses never wants to know the details and hows, just do it, if you have problem and seek his advice, he will say “I know you can do it” but do they know how?? If I know I would not have to ask you in the first place, whatlah this boss…..

I believe there are a lot more special characteristics of bosses, if you are given the privilege to become one….. be considerate to your poor subordinates, if you have one, then consider yourself privilege….. cause still surviving in the organization…… he he he

Brush your teeth

A friend e-mailed this to me, I find this real funny.... enjoy, smile and laugh...

A tour bus driver is driving with a bus load of seniors down a highway when he is tapped on his shoulder by a little old lady. She offers him a handful of peanuts,
which he gratefully munches up.

After about 15 minutes, she taps him on his shoulder again and she hands him another handful of peanuts. She repeats this gesture about five more times.
When she is about to hand him another batch again he asks the little old lady,
" why don't you eat the peanuts yourself?".

"We can't chew them because we've no teeth", she replied.

The puzzled driver asks,"Why do you buy them then?"
The old lady replied,
.
.

"We just love the chocolate around them." : - )

I know what'll say... yaks.. right... so the next time people offer you some peanuts, please check the originality... he he he... 2 more days to raya holidays... yuppee...

Till death do us part

Have you found your life partner? Many had spoken the marriage vow… but how many really live to the standards and committed to our marriage vow, the vow to be together in sickness and in health, for poorer and richer and till death do us part? In our so called liberal and modern thinking, some take marriage just like a contract, we loved each other now and put our signatures to be officially married, tomorrow we felt we no longer love each other and we put another signature to be officially unmarried. I don’t have the divorce rate statistics with me but seeing friends around me gives me the hint that the rate is high, mind you my friends only, how about those whom I do not know?

I believe reasons are many but normally categorized into few main factors which are money, sickness, third party, children, self-centeredness. Some couples disagreed with financial management arrangement, some left their spouse when sickness strikes (normally the one who is sick is being abandoned), many due to extra marital affairs, some due to disagreements in child upbringing and barrenness and most of the time due to self-centeredness, the big word “I”.

Having married for 8 years make me no marriage specialist but each day I am still learning to love my spouse, to be more considerate and understanding and to be more submissive (I have problem with this) and in return I believe my spouse is trying hard to love me more each day despite of my multitude weaknesses. I am delighted knowing my dear friends’ marriages are still solid and strong and sad, every time I was made known who and who divorced.

I hope there is still many out there who viewed marriage as a sacred union that should not be broken at all cost, certainly not by self-centeredness because when you decide to get married with another person, you are actually denying your rights but making the choice to live as one and that’s pretty tough because we are two totally different unique individuals. It is my prayer that all married couples who read this shall live to the marriage vow that is to love and to cherish, for better and for worst, in sickness and in health, for poorer or richer, till death do us part.

Gone astray

This morning, while taking breakfast with my hubby in the coffee shop, I saw a group of secondary students in their school uniforms at the other table, one holding a stack of playing cards and shuffling them, a few talking loudly to each other. There was a stack of comic books and soon a few students joined the group.

Sad to say I believe this is a group of boys who had lost the interest in their studies and we usually labeled them as “the wrong crowd or gone astray kids”. I have a church member teaching in a renown primary school, she shared that no teacher would like to take up the class where students fair poorly but she was kind enough to take up the class, have compassion in them and hoping to coach them to become better individuals. The reason for poor performing students are mainly due to family background, most of them coming from single parent family, parents working outstation and were under the care of their grandparents and parents worked as hawkers. Well don’t get me wrong I believe all profession is noble as long as it is earned using decent ways. But this tells us that parents play the most important role in nurturing and educating their children.

My parents were not educated folks, but they brought up 3 fine individuals. It’s the time and values that are so important in a child life. I remembered clearly what my Pastor shared years ago, nowadays parents prepare the path for their children but not preparing their children for the path. What’s the difference? Parents toiled to make more money so that the children could enjoy more material things but starved their children of the time that they so longed for. So we can’t blame them for adopting values from those around them and that’s from their peers because they spent most of the time with them at school, before and after school.

I knew many not so well to do families who raised fine children, they need not have to excel but they know how to become a human being. So who to blame? Society? Government? God? I also observed a lot of adults driving luxurious cars with kids wearing branded clothing but do not mind their manners at road, in their speech and their actions (both parents and kids). The next time we contemplate to judge others by their external appearance and wealth, be aware…… I’m so glad God does not matter of who we are and what we own but He looks into our hearts. For those group of students, I hope they will not become gone astrayed individuals but be the prodigal son who goes back to their loved ones and their loved ones readily accepting and spending the much awaited time together…..

Romance

When was the last time romance strikes you? We frequently heard girls, ladies and married women complained that “there’s no romance anymore”, “he is so unromantic”….so on and so on….

I’m not sure if you agreed with me, English educated men are more romantic…. Maybe some of them studied in western countries, even local men who came from English medium school to me are more romantic. What say you? What is romance?

My definition of romance….. a man who knows what a lady needs (as a precaution… different woman needs are different), a Chinese proverb says that to understand a woman’s heart is like going into the deep sea to find a needle. So guys imagine that, if you know what your lady needs than consider yourself one intelligent and great guy… ke ke ke… it doesn’t end here, knowing and also finding unique ways to deliver them so that you will melt the lady’s heart, that’s what I called romance. Tough job eh……..

So when was the last time romance strike me? Can’t tell……… I know my hubby will be sweating reading this posting…. He he…… how about you?

A natural dancer

My hubby says my blog’s topics were sometimes so “auntie” and sometimes so “serious”… well I answered “that’s my thoughts at that moment…. you married a very versatile lady (and bossy, dominion too - that’s his comments whenever we had disagreements). Ha ha.. well for those unmarried guys out there, watch out… you have yet to see the actual real girlfriend in front of you… he he.

Well, for those who has been following my blog (I guess only a handful of you out there, I love you all, thank you for your time and comments!), I have two princesses and this time around I would like to write a little bit more on my younger one, little Emily (stands for Every Moment I Love You).

Emily is a curious explorer (I called her a destroyer, daddy labeled her as an inventor), she simply explore, unplug, unscrew, un……everything until it can’t be un… already. She unwrapped the papers on crayons, uncap my stuff on the dressing table (lotions, lipsticks, moisturizer, hair cream….), uncap my nail polish and…….. (that was messy!), you name it she did it….. and she’s our adorable 3 year plus old, you can’t imagine that from her cute pictures right? She is good at her motor skills, jump, skips, run and a good chorographer, when daddy plays the guitar she will dance according to the beat…… I once heard that we have to help our children to discover the talent and best in them, so I wondered what is Emily good at and need some help in discovering and hopefully be a pro in it…. Dancing class? The last time I checked the ballet class, it was real expensive, not so much of the class fees but on the attire and I have to multiply it (because whatever jeh jeh has, mei mei must have it too and vice versa, no more handovers…mummy will be “pokai”), so I dropped the idea and decided to let her be a free dancer in her own care free style…….

Back to nature

Celebrities Look Alike

Wah, our Emily look like Jolin woh, but for me Emily is much prettier and Michelle looks like... never heard of her before, anyway as you can see both daughters look more like me, daddy is so jealous and claimed it is a lousy website and use the wrong parameters settings... he he

Family look alike Part 2

Family look alike Part 1

My pregnancies

My first pregnancy was way back in 2000, a short one which ended in a miscarriage at 6 weeks. In fact all the initial tests showed negative, the home test, the clinical test until I went to a gynae to source the root of my delayed menses and he said I was pregnant! (under the ultra-sound machine). Well I didn’t expect that but was thrilled, suddenly I remembered going for a strong antibiotic for my UTI (urinary tract infection) the week before and that time the doctor did asked me whether I’m pregnant, since the initial two tests said I wasn’t I went ahead with the strong dose. But the dose proof too strong for the baby and I believe it affected the normal growth and eventually nature took it course. It was so painful for me especially and for my hubby, our first baby conceived out of love was now gone. The D&C was terrible, I fainted in the lift and I vowed not to get pregnant again, the emotional and physical stress … I went through depression but thank God not a long one. After recuperating and trying for a year, finally I conceived for the second time, but this time I was bleeding (the same symptom when I had the first one), the cycle and previous experience haunted me, thanks to Dr. Quah from LWE, through his care and weekly injections, little Michelle managed to stick so close to mummy’s womb and grew healthily for full nine months. Little Michelle is born in 11th June 2002 weighed a little 2.56kg; she was so small and pretty. Today she weighed close to 16kg and is 5+.

We were taking precaution and right after Michelle’s first birthday, we got naughty and da da…… little Emily was conceived but mummy had just registered for MBA program, also with bleeding symptom, Dr. Quah also took good care of Emily by giving mummy the proper medication but made mummy’s body and taste go totally upside down. Carrying Emily was such a blink of the eye due to my busy and tight schedule, she attended all of the classes and make sure mummy completed the test before decided to see the world. Little Emily is born in 22nd February 2004 weighing 3.0kg, slightly bigger than Jeh Jeh, she got two big round and gorgeous eyes (just like mummy), small lips and perfect features. Most of my friends said she looked like me but to me Emily looks so much prettier than mummy, no fight…….

So here were my short memories of my pregnancies…. the fourth one???…… not young anymore eh so………. we will just keep that aside until God decided to interfere again… he he… hope not….

Reunion of the Five-Star

For those who read my blog last month on my intention of organizing a reunion with my girl friends….. well, guess what…. We are meeting this 8th & 9th Dec! Four of us have decided to abandon our hubbies and kids and just to enjoy ourselves, aren’t we good and perfect mothers? He he… can’t wait for it. Still trying to get hold of Mrs. USA…… wanna know our plans? Well we are going to stay in a classy hotel, go for spa, facial, manicure and pedicure, shopping, chatting and eating nice food without the presence of our dear hubbies and children (of course!)…. We want our lifes back, freedom, independence………………….. ha ha ha…… Are we in our mid-life crisis now?? I’m hoping to get in touch with the other lost sheep and it will be perfect, the 5-star is shining again……………….

Discipline your child

Being a mother has changed a lot of my life perspectives, one of them is “slow to judge”, I used to get annoyed seeing children misbehave in public and the parents did nothing…I’m sure a lot of us will say “if this is my kid then I’ll……….” Well wait till you become a parent yourself, you’ll be swallowing your own words….. I’m less critical, slow to judge and more understanding nowadays, kids misbehave, well… that’s pretty normal, shouting in public, well it proves that their lungs are OK, crying and insisting on something, well it’s a way of them to accept “No”, bad table manners, well they look cute in the ‘cat face”, isn’t it and they don’t attend dining etiquette class OK?

I attended a parenting seminar last year (thanks to Pastor Suzanna) and below are the notes that I took, I will try to apply those in certain situations, but if you can’t, don’t be discourage, as parents we made thousands of mistakes, I did, but I think below are very practical steps and if we can adopt and adapt to our own unique situation, it’ll be good…..

Discipline – train a child to behave well, obeying rules
Proverbs 23:13 - Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die.
Proverbs 22:6 – Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Above verses are extracted from the Bible, the book of Proverbs meaning “wisdom”.

Good Discipline
Handle with care
Refreshes the spirit
Deals with a strong will
Resulted in fruits/ change
Child is secure and respect authority
Produces angels

Bad Discipline
Rough
Damages the spirit
Originate from anger
Bear no fruits
Build insecurity in the child, do not respect authority, rebel
Produces “monsters”
When to discipline? – 4Ds
• Disobedient (Heard an instruction but pretend not to , do exactly the opposite way)
• Disrespectful (beat others, shouting, bad manners)
• Dishonest (caught stealing, telling lies)
• Destructive behavior (physically abusive, hurting self, others and properties)



Who needs discipline?
• A strong-will child – when you say “No”, he still do it
How to discipline?
• Just & Fair, know the truth first
10 steps to effective discipline:
1) You are the boss – your child needs to know that you have the authority to discipline
2) Set rules for your child – tell them the consequences if they break them, e.g. if you do not do your homework, you will not get to see TV tonight, be specific.
3) Walk your talk, do not say “I’ll flush you down the toilet if you……..”, do not simply utter words you cannot execute
4) Punish in private
5) Use the correct method – some child will stop when being stared at, some will stop after enforcement through words, some need to feel the cane, deal with them accordingly with their character and timing. If caning is required, use a plastic rice scoop, beat at the palm or buttocks (never on the head or slap on the face), create the “sound” not so much on the “pain”, do not encourage to use cane that could leave marks on their body, the scar will remind them and leave unpleasant memories.
6) Let them cry – e.g. after disciplining give them a tissue and ask them to cry, do not say “Don’t cry or I’ll beat you more”, this is not fair discipline.
7) Explain & reassure – after the discipline and crying session, hug them and reassure them that you love them, but what he/she did is wrong
8) Evaluation – ask the child to think what he/she has done and how he/she could react next time
9) Appreciation – teach them to say “thank you” for disciplining, by doing this you are teaching them that discipline is good for them
10) Be consistent in your punishment and consistent to the rules set, you cannot be saying “no” today but “yes” a few days later, by doing this you make them confused.
11) My rules – parents need to have same view in disciplining and I can understand grandparents don’t, so spouse need to be consistent, it you can’t endure the moment, leave the situation.

Happy Parenting & God bless you in your journey.

Holiday fun time

Aiyah mummy - Part 2

Tuesday evening, went back home, bathed and tried to sit down to have a decent dinner. My two princesses or should I called them “chi cha poh” climbed up the dining chair, one on the left and the other on the right, “mummy I want a piece of your chicken”, “mummy I want to sip your soup”, “mummy your food taste so nice, can you share with me”…… and so on (hey! we ate the same old cater food, OK!) really got into my nerves, my hubby joined me later and I vowed, I’m going to write this in my blog tomorrow, please let mummy alone for 10 minutes!!! Arghhhh… Hubby said “they have been waiting for this time whole day already, looking forward to spend time with you mah… easy for you to say, they are not disturbing you! Why you get to read the papers and book peacefully and they never leave me alone!!! Anyway, I finished my dinner (indigestion and the kids ate half of my portion!) sign….. After helping my daughter with her Chinese (I’m a Malay educated, can’t imagine I’m teaching her Chinese!) we did some drawing and coloring, since two days before we just had the crab feast, we thought of drawing crabs and colored them, we cut them out and framed it up (daddy’s office digital camera kena stolen! So no photos, daddy’s phone camera lousy, so… have to wait till we get a new one). Daddy commented, “wah you all enjoying this eh”…….., I suggested daddy accompanied them to sleep tonight while mummy get to read….but no they insisted on me……… sometimes I wonder if they really love this mummy so much or simply wanna to “abuse” this poor mum!

Aiyah mummy!

Birthday Party

Crab hunting and fiesta!

Sunday, my hubby suddenly crazed for crabs, after our afternoon nap, the whole family went out for crab hunting, we went to all the Malay kampung we knew of, from Sungai Batu, Gertak Sanggul to Teluk Tempoyak the effort was futile. Hubby was quite disappointed, so were the kids and myself, we kind of given up hope and actually had planned dinner else where. We took another route back, for Penangnites (from Batu Maung, at the traffic light, turn left where Robert Bosch plant Phase 4 is situated, drive along, at ASE junction turn left, drive along and guess what???

We saw some crabs hanging from a tree branch, with two men chatting lazily near a navy blue Proton Saga and with two big ice boxes. We stopped at the side of the road, could not believe what we saw, quickly crossed over the other side of the road and were delighted by the many crabs choices in front of us (me and hubby, the kids and mom in-law were in the car due to drizzling outside). Our saliva were coming out, I can imagine hot and sour red crabs in front of me……. am I dreaming?? The man introduced us to the crabs, one box were the males and the other were the females, according to him female crabs were nicer, we bought 2 pairs which equivalent to a kilo and cost us RM27.00 nia…. Last week we went to Batu Kawan for seafood with our friends and the crab cost us RM60.00 (6 small size ones!)

Reached home, operasi membunuh ketam (crabs killing session) starts! My mom in-law took a chopstick, pierced at the center of the crab and the crab was restless and “mati”, I took my big chopping knife, aimed at the center and mom in-law knocked it with a wooden “penggelek”, the crab was chopped into half, remove the shells and cleaned them. I decided to steam two (for the kids) and stir fried the other (with hot and sour sauce!).

Hmm….. delicious simply electrifying and satisfying………….. the kids love them but mom in-law don’t actually fancy crabs, very “mah fan”… we “wallop” everything…



Steam crabs
a) 2 tablespoon of Chinese cooking wine or XO
b) A few slices of ginger
c) 3 small cloves of garlic
d) The crab of course!
e) Dash of soya sause and some pepper when served

Pour (a) – (c) onto (d) and steam for 10 minutes, removed and put in (e),serve immediately



Hot and sour crabs
f) 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
g) 3 tablespoon of chili sause and 3 tablespoon of tomato sauce
h) 1 tablespoon of sugar, dash of soya sauce
i) The crabs
j) 1 egg beaten
k) Mix (g) to (h)

Put 3 tablespoon of oil in a wok, fry (f) until fragrant, put in (i), stir until crab turn into reddish color, put in (k), stir well, lastly put in (j), stir well, dish our and serve immediately. I cooked both dishes together and we ate with “yau choy” (boiled lettuce in garlic oil). Talked about high cholesterol, I'm guilty!! that's why yesterday (Monday) went gym with a friend. He he he.

Today's special

After so many weeks cooking the fast and usual dishes, last Saturday planned to pamper my family to the not so usual dishes (one that takes time and good mood to prepare). The morning was spent to the market to get the necessary ingredients and also to shop for the whole week’s stock (my usual routine week in and week out). Today specials are:

1) Salad – the appetizer
2) Stewed pork ribs with broccoli – main dish
3) Soft tofu with dried shrimps – side dish
4) Mixed fruit jelly – dessert



My ingredients for salad:
a) 2 kiwi fruits
b) 2 green apples
c) Some spiral pasta
d) Medium size prawns
e) Lettuce
f) Cherry tomatoes
g) Onion
h) Thousand island sauce.

Pretty simple, just dice the kiwis and apples, cut cherry tomatoes into half, slice onion, boil pasta until soft and the prawns (don’t overcook it), lettuce to your favorable size. Put in thousand island sauce and mix well, place in fridge.

Stew pork ribs with broccoli
a) 2 big cloves of garlic, wash (do not remove skin)
b) A packet of “ting siang, pa jiau, kayu manis…, (refer to picture)
c) 4-5 mushrooms, soaked in hot water to soften them
d) Pork rib, RM 7 – 8, marinate with corn flour (as softener agent), leave for ½ hour
e) 2 omega eggs
f) Broccoli



Sauce:
g) 2 tablespoon of oyster sauce
h) 1 tablespoon of sugar
i) 1 tablespoon of light soya sauce
j) Corn flour for thickening, mixed with 2 tablespoon of water
k) Mix (g to j)


Take 1 liter or 1.5 liter of water (if you desired more gravy), place in (a) and (b) and let it boil for 10 minutes, once boiled place in (d) and ½ tablespoon of dark soya sauce, lower down the fire and cook for 45 minutes, place in (c) and cook for another 10 minutes, test and see if the pork ribs are tender, pour in (k), stir well, the pork ribs are done!

While waiting for the pork ribs to get tender just now, you can prepare the broccoli and eggs by boiling them, dish out when cooked (don’t overcook the broccoli!)

Now arrange the broccoli in a plate, dish out the pork ribs and garnished with the eggs, serve hot.





Note: Best if you have a clay pot, use it to cook the pork ribs, mine one is too small for above cooking activity.


Soft tofu with dried shrimps

a) 2 pieces of white tofu
b) Some dried shrimps and garlic (chopped finely)
c) Spring onion, cut into 1.5 inch long


Sauce:
d) 1 table spoon of oyster sauce
e) 1 teaspoon of sugar
f) 1 teaspoon of light soya sauce
g) 1 teaspoon of corn flour
h) 2 tablespoon of water
i) Mixed (d) – (h)

Place 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok, fry (b) until fragrant, place (a) and stir well, pour in (i), stir well and lastly put in (c), off the fire and dish out, serve hot.



Mixed fruit jelly – my mom in-law made this, quite simple, I bought the traditional agar-agar strips, just follow the instruction and dilute it under boiling water and sugar, pour in a can of mixed fruit/peach and pour the whole mixture in a metal tray, let it cool before putting in the fridge.

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