Tired.....Long Break Awaits...

(Picture courtersy of www.threebestbeaches.com)

Past two weeks was tiring, hubby also very tired due to the hotel project he's working on, however we are looking forward for a long break starting tomorrow, yeah... cny break. Many of us are drained by long hours of work, working in a manufacturing environment, typically I spend 12 hours away from home, on the road by 7.30am and on the road again by 6.00 - 7.30pm.

By the time I reached home, I'm quite exhausted but the kids are so delighted to see me back, planning and urging for time together. One of our favourite activity is to take a stroll together along our long corridor, taking the lift to P2 (10th floor), walk from unit 1 to 12, take the stairs down to P1 (9th floor), walk from unit 12 to 1, take the stairs down to 10 (8th floor), walk from unit 1 to 12........ in between we skipped a floor or two until we reach 6th floor. There are times they cycled, most of the time shouting, laughing and singing all the way, recently they have been singing cny songs taught at school. While strolling we will admire people's plants, external decoration, peep at peoples' interior design, tease puppies (yeah, some of my neighbors reared dogs in their apartments), comment the coloring scheme on people's wooden doors etc...

Yesterday we spent the night packing, playing horse back ride with daddy and were totally knocked down by 10.30pm......

We will be away at our hometowns starting tomorrow.......to be reunited with our loved ones, cny is our favourite season besides Christmas.... here wishing everyone "Xin Nian Quai Le, Sen Ti Jian Kang, Hong Pau Tuo Tuo".

Help! Lions

My girls are real playful at times and most of the time go overboard until I need to interfere, else they will end up hurting each other and themselves. Below are shots taken in one of those moments, jeh jeh and mei mei untied their ponytails that I plaited early in the morning, they took their clothes off, went completely naked and were running amok around the house, pretending they were lions gone astrayed and started attacking and roaring like one. Certainly not in their best manners, they were completely wild and even start "attacking" their mummy, all these were put on halt when mummy roared even louder and off they went into their "cage" and start dressing up. Ka ka ka

Journey to work (with pics)

Every morning, I used the “kampung” village small road to get to work, mainly to avoid the traffic and traffic lights, secondly to enjoy the view along the way, the distance to work is about 8km. Firstly I passed through the Malay village, things were pretty quiet with the kampong folks preparing for their day, one can feel the difference, it’s just about 0.5km away from the busy bustling main road. Next I will reach a river, cows are seen munching the fresh green grass, in front of me I can see the sun rise (before 7.40am) before approaching a small wet market where local residents do their early “marketing”.

Sun rise scene


Cows in the meadow, "moo moo moo"


Next I turned out into the secondary road where housing schemes are located before finally turning into the main road and joined the city folks again. The whole journey typically takes about 20 minutes but it’s indeed a refreshing way to get to work. Occasionally it’s good to stop, be still and take a look at your surrounding, enjoy the little and casual things that we tend to overlook and take for granted, it will give you a new perspective on things, it works for me. I’ll share the photos tomorrow...... and have a great week ahead.

I love mummy

Michelle learnt a new skill recently and that is to send short messages (sms) using our phones. I just showed her some basic steps and she just picked it up in a matter of minutes (clever girl, just like mummy). I received this message from her last Wednesday using the daddy's handphone, so sweet.

On Thursday, we were chatting on my bed, I reached out for my pillow and saw folded papers stuffed underneath it, nah see...... so sweet of her....


Now that's the joy of having kids, they never stop giving you surprises but be prepared for not so pleasant surprises at times! I love you too my dear... kiss kiss...

Wildly Important Goals (WIG) 2008

I have been extremenly busy this week with goals and strategies setting for my department. Meetings after meetings, fine tuning and cracking my head (and my engineers' head) over strategies to be taken to meet the goals set, established scoreboards, getting everyone in and out of the department to align to the goals.......

Still fine tuning..... Hubby shared material on one recent training he went to which entitled "4 Disciplines of Execution" by Steven Covey. The training stressed on effective execution and focussing on just wildly important goals (WIG), so I was asking myself what is my department wildly important goal(s), where meeting it, is so super important and critical that no other goals really matter if this WIG is not met.

So I've been injecting this question to my downline... What is your WIG this year? I guessed my engineers must have thought this boss may have lost her mind and turned wild this year......... ha ha ha... That's how consultant make money nowadays, they just add the word "Wild" and make it sound like a brand new concept, it's actually setting important goal(s), nothing new......

Headache, headache........ I've been under stress lately that I dreamt I was tested positive for number three!

Parents in dilemma

Parents in dilemma

I visited my neighbor last night; she had just delivered her second daughter last Thursday through caesarian. Mother and child are healthy and little baby just weighed a little 2 kg, so small and tiny yet has very sharp features. Looking at the baby reminds me of my girls, they also were borne tiny, with their palm about the size of a 50 cents coin, so red and fragile. Forget to ask the baby’s name, anyway let’s call her “Sweetie”. Sweetie had been quite fussy since coming home, making the entire family sleepless and also me and hubby sleepless too on Sunday night (since our master bedrooms were just a wall apart). One thing for sure, Sweetie has very healthy and strong lungs, her crying is loud and clear, hopes it’s not a serious colic she’s suffering. Last night she slept well, in return we slept well too, the Chins keep on apologizing for the disturbance at night, we understood and assured them it’s alright, we just have to bear with each other and hopefully Sweetie will get better and grow healthily.

Mrs. Chin was asking if I wanted another child, I sheepishly said “No, not young anymore”. As for now I’m quite content with just having two, working full time has really limit the time I spent with my girls, just the other day I was sharing with my hubby that maybe I need to look for a part time/half day job since Michelle is attending Primary 1 next year, she will need someone to guide her in her school work. We were also thinking whether to put her to a Chinese or English medium school, though we had already enrolled her in the former. Parents….. dilemma……indecisive…………

But coming to think of it, my parents worried less, they don’t know how to guide us in our studies but we turned out fine, aren’t we? They just make sure we ate well, had the basics and demanded for “A”s……… I did not attend tuition until I was Form Five, my brother attend no tuition at all yet excelled in his studies, sis also not bad….. So why parents are so “kiasu” nowadays?

Weekend musing

Last weekend, hubby and I have the privilege to drive back Kampar without the kids, not purposely wanted to abandon them but it’s only for 24 hours to check on mom and helped her with some pre cny shopping. On the way back using the North South highway I snapped the following photos, the clouds were wonderfully formed, I took this while the car is moving and the following evening, caught these magnificent golden sky colored by the wonderful creator’s hand.


Golden Sky 1


Golden Sky 2


On another note, mom is more cheerful this trip back. She felt much better after changing doctor, so far the medication works well for her, she’s gaining back 5 kilos and can walk slowly without any assistance. Pray that God will continue to heal her and grant her a joyful and thankful heart. Mom also booked a brand new green metallic SAGA last Saturday. She decided to dispose the old Nissan Sunny and replace with a more comfortable car but of course it’s my dad who is the faithful personal chauffer. As I observed both of them, in their seventies, though externally they may not look like a loving couple, they complained and nagged at each other but I can feel deep inside how much they care for one another. It’s really so blessed to have a companion especially reaching your golden, retiring and less mobile age….

Pre Lunar Chinese New Year

CNY is around the corner, born Chinese I love this season primarily is I get to see all my loved ones, eat all the marvelous home cook food, catch up with my nieces and nephews, see old friends, rekindled childhood friendships, keep all my kids’ angpows, wearing new clothes……. the list goes on. Two weeks to go before I go on a week plus long holiday (hope my boss approved the leave) but the holiday worm already gets into me. I’ll be going back to my parents’ home this weekend to help my mom with some spring cleaning, shopping and decorating job. CNY nowadays was spent lying lazily at home, chatting away and gaining some pounds. Many years back the festive season was spent doing aggressive home visitation to accumulate red packets and counting the profit, the routine stopped when I got married but have no kids of my own, I in return have to share my profit with the unmarried ones but 3 years later, was back in business after delivering my daughter and now with two kids, I generally break even every year (the amount spent giving away angpows = the amount my kids received) .

So I’m looking forward to the season, a time to reunite with my family members in the round dining table, sharing light moments together, giving thanks for the simple things in life and just relax and enjoy the company of my loved ones.

“Xin Nian Quai Le"

Shopping for clothes

I've been shopping for my cny clothings recently and find that it is extremenly difficult to get something which I like and considered decent to be worn at work. The clothing nowadays are:
a) Too small for me
b) Too revealing (low neck line, transparent material)
c) Too "modern" and "hip hop"
d) Colors are dull

Maybe I need to watch my waist line and simply age is catching up,whatever out there are for those young and sexy chicks and not for thirty something matured lady. I bought a lot of bottoms but can hardly find tops to match.... will be searching this weekend with hubby again......... and hope this time I can get some good deals, decent looking tops that looks good on me and one last thing is for hubby to be more patient while tagging along.

One more thing, I have no problem shopping for my girls, they simply looked adorable in any kind of clothes and hope to get something for my mom, she used to sew her own clothes but don't think she can do so this year, I got something for my dad too.... happy shopping everyone.........

I went to the fashion junkee website in Karen Cheng's blog..... again too sexy for me (call me old fashion!)

Why we love our mum

I received this forwarded mail some time back and as a mom can really relate to this joke... to all mums out there, you are doing great! For those who have yet becoming a mom, that's a reality......., for the one who wrote this, I know you are a mom,God bless you...

Mum and Dad were watching TV when Mum said, 'I'm tired, and it's getting late. I think I'll go to bed'

She went to the kitchen to make sandwiches for the next day's lunches.

Rinsed out the popcorn bowls, took meat out of the freezer for dinner the following evening, checked the cereal box levels, filled the sugar container and put spoons and bowls on the table.

She then put some wet clothes in the dryer, put a load of clothes into the washer, ironed a shirt and secured a loose button

She picked up the game pieces left on the table, put the phone back on the charger and put the telephone book into the drawer.

She watered the plants, emptied a rubbish bin and hung up a towel to dry.

She yawned and stretched and headed for the bedroom. She stopped by the desk and wrote a note to the teacher, counted out some cash for an excursion, and pulled a text book out from hiding under the chair.

She signed a birthday card for a friend, addressed and stamped the envelope and wrote a quick note for the grocery store. She put both near her purse.

Mum then washed her face with 3 in 1 cleanser, put on her Night solution & age fighting moisturiser, brushed and flossed her teeth and filed her nails.

Dad called out, 'I thought you were going to bed.'

'I'm on my way,' she said.

She put some water into the dog's dish and put the cat outside, then made sure the doors were locked.

She looked in on each of the kids and turned out their bedside lamps and TV's, hung up a shirt, threw some dirty socks into the basket, and had a brief conversation with the one up still doing homework.

In her own room, she set the alarm; laid out clothing for the next day, straightened up the shoe rack. She added three things to her 6 most important things to do list. She said her prayers, and visualised the accomplishment of her goals.

About that time, Dad turned off the TV and announced to no one in particular. 'I'm going to bed.'

And he did...without another thought.

Anything extraordinary here? Wonder why women live longer...?

CAUSE WE ARE MADE FOR THE LONG HAUL..... (and we can't die sooner, we still have things to do!!!!)

My little helper

Recently I am blessed with a little cute helper, she makes the effort to wake up 7am in the morning, make up her own bed, help me with the bottles, washed the vegetables, dry the tumblers, fill up the water in the boiler, push a basket of laundry to the balcony and other little house chores that can be handled by a six year old. Yeap and she’s my adorable Michelle.



Don’t know what prompts her to lend a helping hand but I remembered her asking me why I needed to wake up so early in the morning and what I was busy about the whole morning before going to work. So I shared with her my routine:

6.15am – Alarm rang
6.15 – 6.45am – Toilet business and bathe
6.45 – 7.00am – Wash their bottles, whatever left over in the basin by mice in the house the night before, unload all stuff from the drainer and place them back into original place, unload already washed the night before laundry from the washing machine into basket for my mom in law to hang later.
7.00 – 7.15am – Prepare soup of the day, boiled them and transfer into slow cooker, plan what to cook on behalf of mom in-law
7.15 – 7.30am – Change, make up and prepare for work.

So I guessed little Michelle’s effort to routinely wakes up at 7am, helped mummy with some house chores are her ways to demonstrate how much she loves mummy. Though I honestly think the main motive is that she gets to play with water… anyway I really appreciate her effort and being such a darling. She has been quite regular except on certain days where she overslept, after the soup boiling session she will ask for her bottle of “nen nen” and off she went lying down on the sofa, poking the corners of her “chou chou” and enjoying her drink of the day………. So cute..

I N F I D E L I T Y (2)

I was having lunch with a couple of colleagues last Friday and happened to sit opposite a male colleague, don't know how we were chatting over the recent minister's down fall and he commented that it was plain foolish of him to admit to the sex DVD thing. Our conversation as below:

Me: "XX is it true that 9 out of 10 men will fool around behind the wife's back?"
Mr. X: "10 out of 10 men will do that!"
Me: "Why so?"
Mr. X: "It's natural instint of a man to like adventure and explore new excitement?"
Me: "Does it mean, you did that to your wife too?"
Mr. X: "Wanted to but financially not permisable."
Me: "Isn't that unfair to your wife?"
Mr. X: "It's man's nature"
Me: "Then how would you feel if your wife fool around with another man?"
Mr. X: Startled that I threw him this question, "That cannot lah, sure divorce her"
Me: Sheer man's excuse for the lust in them.....

Sorry, men out there......... but I got to write this, the next time lust fiercely attack your mind and body, please think of your dear wife back home whom you vowed to love till the very end of your life and be a full grown responsible man.

Civic mindedness

Most of the public toilets in big grand new shopping complexes are equipped with a jumbo roll of toilet paper as you entered the toilet. So one evening I entered the toilet, wanted to pull pieces of toilet paper for my business, in front of me there’s this lady pulling length and length and length of the toilet paper (initially I thought she must be suffering from severe diarrheas and needed back-ups). To my horror all she did was to tap tap her slightly wet hands, dumped it into the dustbin and walked away!!! Wah, deep inside me I just wanted to #$%^& her, “It’s free, doesn’t mean you can waste them as if you paid for the whole roll, what happened if there’s someone who really are in need of pieces of toilet paper to do their wildly important and super urgent business?”….. sign……..

The teachings of moral, civic and good habits in schools today are not doing any good to educate our no civic mindedness citizens…….

Common Sense

Common sense is not common anymore. Well I read this statement somewhere, but could not actually recalled the details, after many encounters with people who possess “no common sense”, forgive me for judging! I truly, 100%, strongly agreed with this statement. This is true at work and outside of work as I observed people around me, below is what I encounter on Wed.. (vomit blood)

Scene 1
In a pharmacy, I was trying to find packets of ENO, found them, checked the price tag displayed on the rack, for normal or lemon taste, the price still the same and that is RM0.65/packet, I took two, brought over to the counter.

Workers at counter (4 of them) – Don’t know why the owner need 4 people over a 4’ x 2’ counter (no common sense 1) – scan the packet of ENO, result= RM1.56…

Me: Puzzled, “why it’s RM1.56?, I thought it’s RM0.65 per packet, so it should be RM1.30.”

Worker 1: “I don’t know, but the system showed RM1.56”

Me: “Then there must be something wrong to your barcode system”

Worker 1: “I scan in already woh, cannot change”

Me: ???!!! “what do you mean cannot change, you can check the price at your display rack”, by then all the 4 workers showed me their “face”, I in return feeling very frustrated and brought Worker 2 to the aisle where I got the Enos. She looked at it, no doubt it’s RM0.65.

Worker 2: Pressed on the cash register and entered the correct price.

Me: While waiting for them to amend the system, “how can you ask your customer to pay more for the mistake you have made?”

Worker 1: Mumbling and speaking softly but purposely let you hear it “the price has gone uplah”

Me: In my mind “then you all should change the stupid price tag”, showing them my “use your common sense a bit” face and walked away.

Moral of the story:
1) Test your worker’s common sense before employing them, if not they will only drive your customers mad and away from your shop forever.
2) Our mathematics standard has gone down the monsoon drain; a teacher friend told me that the SPM passing rate for Additional Mathematics subject now is only “5”, believe it or not! So I’m not surprise if our buildings, bridges, highways collapse if the drawing is calculated from someone with just a “Pass” Add Maths for their SPM!!!!

Art Working

Girls just love art working, I’m not sure about boys since I don’t own any. My girls simply enjoy the cutting, pasting and mess that they created and later asked their dear mummy to clean after them, honestly I detest the cleaning process but enjoyed every moment of the art working process. To them I knew they simply love to try something new not so much of the end result, we threw a lot of them and kept some of them for their memories. The thought of us sitting down admiring our art works years later gives me the sense of contentment. I don’t remember keeping any of my old stuffs except for some old autographs, a diary and very old albums. This is one of the ways to capture and leave some sweet memories for my girls.

Some of our masterpiece, jeh jeh and mei mei's face painted on porcelain plates, crabs that I drew, the girls colored and we framed them up..

Teachers that I could remembered

I logged into my old school website recently, ACS Kampar and found out that my ex-Form 4 physic teacher is now the school principal which triggered me to write this post, "Teachers" that I could remembered........ hmm hmm...... I need some time to locate them in my memory bags........ here are they..

Primary 1 - Mrs Chan Sum Ching, nice lady
Primary 2 - Mrs Chin (Pooi's mom), very straight teacher, used to place the naughtiest boy to sit beside me..
Primary 3 - a malay teacher Pn. Hamiton (if not mistaken)
Primary 4 - Ms. Maheswari (the "tigeress" of the school who likes to pinch us for the smallest mistakes and makes us write thousand of lines if we get 2 and more spelling mistakes, crazy...)
Primary 5 - Mrs. Oh (funny lady with a Chinese accent when speaking in Bahasa)
Primary 6 - Mr. Chan XX (a soft and a bit "la la" man)

Secondary 1 - can't recall
Secondary 2 - can't recall as well
Secondary 3 - Ms. Chan (just graduated from Teacher's college, used to get bullied by the boys in class)
Secondary 4 - Mr. Lai Mann Kheong (he's now the principal, no comment, but generally a find guy, ke ke ke)
Secondary 5 - a Malay teacher (can't recall, sorry)

Lower 6 - can't recall, a Chinese lady
Upper 6 - Mrs. Kew (I occasionally pump into her in the wet market when I'm back in Kampar)

Not bad, I can still remember 69% of my form teacher's name after so many years...
Teachers left marks into their students' life whether positive or negative, most of my teachers influenced me in a positive way but there are pure lazy, could not be bothered type of teachers too (too bad)......

To all teachers that leave positive influences to my life, I thank you.

Clutter clutter and more clutter

One of our action point for 2008 is to set up a proper study table for our girls, our intention is to build a discipline routine for the girls, time to play, time to sleep, time for homework etc. It's not condusive to do homework on the dining table anymore as one of mom in-law favourite past time is hooked up in front of the TV. In order to do that we have to move our 4' x 6'book rack out (due to the limited room space), before we can move the rack out we have to remove everything in it and oh my I'm indeed surprised to see what a 4' x 6' cabinet can store or is it me who is so "terror" that I can squeezed so many things in it, what a clutter worm I am.

So the stuff all ended on the dining area's floor, in return we have placed an order for two 32" width and 7' solid rack which will take 1-2 weeks to reach us. So for this 1-2 weeks I have to bear with the books and clutter that I collected for the past few years lying on the floor.......

The unclutter worm has also triggered me to look into the stuff that I've collected over the years in my office cubicle, home closet, kitchen, wet area, bedroom, dressing table cabinet. For the past 2 weeks I've been uncluttering bags and bags of "trash" either to be recycled or contributed to MPPP.

Chinese New Year is coming, a pre spring cleaning for the office and household and have I told you that my hubby is also one clutter worm? He he he.

Birthday date

This is a follow up posting on what happened yesterday (my birthday). Hubby and I settled the kids and mom in-law once again, Michelle cried after knowing that we will not be bringing them along for the celebration, poor girl, anyway at last she gave her blessings and off we go. Hubby brought me to Burmah Square, we ventured around, the first stop was to an eating place called Jemput Tree, the interior (very Balinese)attracted us, we went in for a survey, quite nice place but all the private booth were occupied, thus we decided to skip it this time, maybe next time with the kids, we walked next door, a Japanese restaurant (a friend introduced us to this place), a nice garden welcomed us, we walked in and the owner (a Japanese retiree) welcomed us, guessed must be the boss. I didn't bring my digital camera but found this site that introduce this restaurant too, copy some pictures from the site (www.penangreview.net)
The garden entrance to Isabiri


The interior of the restaurant


I realized it's more than a restaurant, the deco actually describe the character of the owner, there are some interesting postings on the wall, a nice aquarium with corals and deep sea creatures, a lot of wood display, japanese jeweleries for sale (genetically modified miniature flowers were made into earrings, bracelets and pendants)...

Now come to the food, hubby ordered udon with vege tempura, I ordered grilled Salmon head with teriyaki sauce, was quite satisfied with mine though hubby said smell "fishy", we ended with green tea ice-cream for dessert. The bill cost us RM49.75. I manage to chat with the boss, a retiree who has been residing in Penang for the past 6 years, the restaurant is 4 years old and I think he is expanding the place to include a corner for sake/mini bar.

Next we ventured into Gurney drive and took a stroll before we headed home and called it a day. It was a wonderful day and thanks hubby for taking trouble to plan the event... oh yeah before I forgot, my princesses sang me a birthday song as usual.

Happy Birthday to me

I'm turning well............3X on Sunday. I'm thankful for another year, for the added wrinkles and pigmentation on my face. Turning a year older means my daughters are now 6 and 4, felt that they grew up too slow, he he he. Got my early birthday gift from hubby already, on Wednesday received a nice bouquet from Esther (she's forcing me to age faster), Alex (my assistant) treated me to a sumptious buffet dinner (his promotion cum early birthday celebration) and today I received a big gift from my IT gals and guy (so sweet of them). I feel so much love, thank you from deep down in my hearts.

Hmm... I wonder if hubby is planning anything special this Sunday. He has been extremely busy lately, previous years had always been spent going out for a special meal with the family and my princesses singing the birthday song. Long gone the birthday party, last one I had is sweet 16 if I recalled correctly.

Anyway I wanted to thank for God for making me through my parents and my mom for painfully delivering me on 6th Jan 197X, 12.37a.m. Happy birthday to me!

I N F I D E L I T Y

Malaysians were slapped yesterday by the recent news of one of our ministers involved in a sex DVD. As a Malaysian I was shocked initially, disgusted the next and really disappointed at last. The incident add another history line of a leader succumbed to immorality, for him he was caught and publicly demeaned, for many who did the same but was spared this time, worried in silence I believed.

Many years back I recalled this statement:
“Man fall because of two main factors, one is woman and the other money”. Time after time this statement was proven yet man still falling into the same ditch. I wonder why? Personally this saddens me, why have men took the sacred marriage union so lightly? Is it because merely of their wife’s failure to fulfill their sexual desire or simply man is too weak to fight the lust in them and the “fiercely temptations”.

Many single ladies used to comment that good men are very very hard to find nowadays or simply they have extinct from this earth, they were either married or not available any more. One of my young lady friend used to comment, all guys are interested is just sex, sex and sex. I heard numerous stories (not sure how true they are) of husbands being infidel, keeping mistresses, committed adultery, going to prostitutes while their wife is pregnant etc. This makes me questioned…… Why is this happening? Is it God created men to be super extra sexually active that they can’t keep it within their own marriage or it is mere man’s excuses to their own selfish lust?

I believe that my husband is still faithful to me after more than 8 years of marriage not because he has super power of resisting his sexual desire, but because he has a higher authority that he needs to give account to and that is His creator.

Many marriages broke up, children suffered because of this irresponsible act. I sympathized with the wives and children and could not possibly think how they could bring themselves forgiving and carrying on with the shattered lives, it’s so difficult to say “I have forgiven him for his acts and will support him” and even more so difficult to actually do it.

I always believe that we need to bear whatever consequences out of each of our action, nothing damaging that we have done can be left concealed, time will tell.

R E S O L U T I O N 2008

Yesterday, hubby and I did something different, seriously sat down and planed for 2008. Early in the morning we settled the kids and mom in-law and off we went to Botanical Garden, we held hands, walked in the garden, found a quiet and shady corner where we sat down and hubby started by sharing a short passage on “Family ministry” and how family has evolved over time, the struggles and how parents’ role has changed and need to be enforced. We break down our discussion into few main elements, firstly our weekly family plan, our spiritual ministry, children development, love life and lastly financial management. We lay down our main goals for each area and discussed means to materialize our plans. It was a fruitful discussion, we pledge to have quarterly review on our progress, I was assigned to document the plan and list down the action items required, felt like one of my office’s meeting, document the minutes and follow-up on action plans, he is the chairperson, I’m his secretary, kids and mom in-law are working committee.