Protecting our earth

Earth day was celebrated on the 22nd April each year, this post is a bit outdated, nevertheless it's important. Though the awareness to be environmental friendly are promoted more frequently in Malaysia, the execution and actual implementation are not that effective compared to other developed countries like Japan and western countries. I got the chance to watch the award winning documentary by Al Gore recently in the Philippines, the title of the documentary is called "The Inconvenience Truth". I didn't know that Al Gore was such an environmentalist that go to that extend to fight for US government to take drastic action in preserving the environment and to take up more serious steps in protecting the globe through aggresive policy making.

While watching the show, I look around me and know what? I started switching off all the lights in my room and left only the bathroom light on, it sure did made me felt guilty. I questioned myself on what I've done to protect the environment for my generations to come, this is the list I could think of:

1) I recycle plastic bags to contain rubbish
2) If I hand wash my clothes, the last pail of water will remain to water the plants or mop the floor
3) I make sure all lights and electrical equipments are off when not in use
4) Use shower all the time
5) Buy detergents, body shampoo in the bag form, recycle the original containers
6) Plant a lot of plants
7) To be done - change my weekly "marketing" style, I will invest in a trolley, use food containers instead of plastic bags, saw this approach from a lady in the wet market.
8) Educate my kids to use recycle papers for their scribbling and drawings

Do you have any more suggestions? I could hardly find recycle bins in my neighborhood... hmm....Sometimes we just brush aside the thought that our single effort will not give any significant impact; but it does, collectively we make a difference, just see the recent national election....

Goals for my 4 year old...

Recently I gave Emily 3 challenging goals that she needs to work on, they are:

1) Do not get angry easily
2) Do not be lazy
3) Do not dilly dally

Put in a positive way, I hope to see her

1) Having more patience
2) A bit more hardworking
3) More responsive

She is taking them seriously...... and to Michelle:

1) Set a good example to your sister

Am I asking too much from them? I believe they have below expectations for their mummy:

1) Play with them more
2) Spend more time with them

Online dating

I got an online dating appointment this morning..... yeap you read it write, online dating for a married 30 something woman, that shows this auntie is still very marketable.... LOL.. Who could be dating me this time? It's hubby lah, below is our communication:


Hubby always remind me not to blog about him on the WWW, he said "pai seh" woh, not suppose to tell the world about personal things. I assured him that I will know what to say and what not to say...so here I am blogging about him...

We got to know each other in the university days, 1 year my junior (same year but he's Chinese ed), our friends once commented that he is aggresive to go after a senior. I for one is also "pai seh" going out with a so call "junior". What could I say I was charmed by this charming prince, his gentleness, sincerity......and that's how I was conned into marrying him and later bore him 2 princesses.

Now that the girls are bigger and MIL is always so good to allow us time-off, we sometimes sneak out for dating, catch a show or two, go dinner or lunch... I know it is kind of luxury for us as many of our friends don't have a reliable person to look after the kids. We in return make sure MIL has her time-off too, like morning exercise session, singing session on every Monday nights, cell group on Friday nights, cooking and floral arrangements over the weekends. Yeah MIL sure is an active woman... we are so blessed to have her all by ourselves, can't imagine our family life without her, so must pamper her once a while... Mother's day is coming... by the way she is my mother now though I agree the connection is very much different from my own mother... here I'm missing my mom again... hai....

Pot Luck - Mamas meet again

For those who followed my blog, some know that I am leading a mama group and yesterday we went to one of the couple's new home, had pot luck (I brought spagetti and brocollis), shared marvelous food, plenty of kids and hubbies around, had our sharing session and a great night out. There were around 40 of us and turned out more like a house warming and tearing down session. We make sure we cleaned the place also, so not bad at all because we are thinking of coming back again. It was so nice for the couple to open up their home for us, we really need the space for the families to get together. The mamas managed to cover some topics for discussion, below is what we discussed:

1) What are the social pressure/social norms that mothers most often are subjected to?
2) How to not conform to the standards of the world?
2) How do we renew our minds so that we know what God's wills are?
3) In what ways we are unique?
4) In what ways we could be thinking ourselves more highly than we ought to...
5) Individual needs

By God's grace, it was a good session for all of us.

For those who like my version of spaghetti, checked my previous posts on recipe....

Cooking again

I love to cook and I can only do it on weekends, the pleasure of cooking comes from the pleasure of watching my family enjoying every bit of it, this motivates me to cook. For last Sat, I just did two dishes; stir fry mixed vegetables and stew bitter gourd with chicken. Below is the recipe:

1) "Fu kua men kai"
a) Half of a chicken, cut into desirable pieces (marinate with some sugar, soya sauce, pepper)
b) 1 bitter gourd
c) Chopped garlic
d) "Tau cheong"
e) 1/2 tablespoon of dark soya sauce
f) 2 bowls of water

For the sauce:
a) 1 1/2 tablespoon of sugar
b) 1 teaspoon of corn flour
c) 1 tablespoon of water
d) Dash of soya sauce



Method:
Heat wok with 2 tablespoon of oil, put in chopped garlic and "Tau cheong", stir fry until fragrant, pour in chicken, stir for 2 minutes, put in bitter gourd, dark soya sauce, 2 bowls of water.

Cover the wok and let it stew for 10 minutes in low heat, occasionally check on it to ensure it doesn't dry up, cook until the bitter gourd is soft then pour in the sauce, stir and serve.


2) Mixed vegetables
a) Chopped garlic
b) Ginger - sliced
c) Prawns, de-veined
d) Snow peas, red pepper, carrots

Sauce:
a) 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
b) 1 teaspoon of sugar
c) 1 teaspoon of water
d) Dash of soya sauce
e) 2 tablespoon of water



Method:
Put in 2 tablespoons of oil, add chopped garlic and ginger, stir fry until fragrant, put in (d), stir fry for a minute, put in 3 tablespoon of water, add in prawns, stir fry for a minute, pour in the sauce, stir and serve. Be careful not to overcook the vegetables.

Philippines 2

Below are some snap shots that I took during my second trip to Philippines last week:

Jam at the highway, peddlers everywhere....

On my way to work, some of the residential project, they called them "villages"

Crossing a bridge..

Undevelop land...

Jeepneys, major public transportation in the Philippines.... like our mini bus

Lunch at Sonya's garden, a very beautiful restaurant in a garden...

Garnet - my birth stone

I spotted this darling at the airport and decided to pamper myself, according to the sales girl, Suriati, it is the birth stone of Januarians and I guess it is fate that we end up together, ke ke ke.... there goes hubby's pocket....

Strong Wino

When one became a parent, we learned the lessons of love in an exponential way (mathematically it means - way beyond the usual rate or pattern). I was working with one of my colleague in Philippines here where his wife just gave birth to their third baby boy. I met him and asked about the wife's and baby's condition. He shared with me that baby Wino is experiencing a complication that happens only in 1/2000babies borned. He explained that the baby's liver and intestines was pushed up to the lungs area which causes a lot of complication to the whole system, baby Wino went through a major operation to get it corrected, the doctor shared that the survival rate is basically zero and even if he survived the baby will not grow normally and will be put on ventilator for at least a month, stayed in the hospital for months.

I believe if we were in his situation, we would have prepared for the worst but the family has so much faith in God that they put little Wino in His mighty hands in prayers. He shared that the whole experience was a test of faith, through the whole incident he got the opportunity to even share gospel to people in the hospital and their faith strengtened... so what is the outcome of the operation for little Wino?

- He survived the operation
- He was in the ventilator for only 3 days
- He is going to be fine
- He has been discharged

Please pray for Wino, for him to be able to feed better and his organs to develop normally.... to me he is a fighter, I hope to visit him in my next trip... God is good all the time. Amen

Matthew 7:7 - Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door shall be opened to you.

Still in Phil

Yeah, I'm still in the land of Phil.... while waiting for my flight at 2.20pm, here I am in the hotel, downloading my e-mails, replying them and take this opportunity to blog.... 4 days without blogging... but still "boleh tahanlah", ke ke ke.

I just had breakfast with my big big boss, the President of the group and he broke another news that he may need me to travel to Guangzhou soon.... ????? got another problem to fix there..... I was dumbfolded and just showed him my innocent and poor thing look. I told him I'm a banana, I only speak conversational Mandarin (that is if the locals there could comprehand my Cantodarin), I only write a handful of Chinese characters (my daughter knows more than me), I'm not too sure what I could contribute there..... He just smile and said "Just be ready ok?".....

In my mind I could already see my two girls' protesting face, I can imagine the scenario when I annouced to them.... Anyway, let's see and I'm trying to see the positive side of all these travelling.

Yeah, some updates on how I fare on my two outstanding tasks... firstly, mama group homework is done (good girl!) secondly, the knitting job - I managed to increase another 2 inch length to Dorene's long awaited sling bag (good job!), below shows that I watched for the past 3 nights:

1) A classic starring Audrey Hepburn (didn't get to watch the whole show)
2) A grammy award winning documentary - The inconvenient truth (wakes me up of my role to take care of our earth)
3) A drama starring Jacyln Smith - it was touching and I cried
4) A crime solving episode - true story of finding the killer

Overall I enjoyed my trip, I managed to cover what I need to do for this trip and to spend quiet time with the Lord each morning. Looking forward to returning home to my loved ones.......

Outstanding tasks

I'm travelling tomorrow and won't be back till Friday night, travelling is a good time to plan for "Me" time. So in my mind I wanted to get 2 things done instead of just stuck myself in front of the TV screen for 3 nights, I need to prepare for "mama group" on Sunday night and also hope to continue my long abandone crochet knitting job (promise Dorene that I knit her a sling bag many months ago). Yesterday I packed these 2 items in my bag, let's see if I'm discipline enough to complete them. I told my daughters that I'll be travelling again....here is our conversation:

Me: Mommy got to take aeroplane and fly to Philippines again.
Mei mei & jeh jeh: Aw......, again? Why you have to be there?
Me: Mommy got meeting, got to work...
Mei mei & jeh jeh: Don't go can or not?
Me: See, when mommy away both of you get to sleep with Daddy mah..
Both: Yeah....., then when mommy is back, we stick to mommy like glue again....
Me: Okay....

Home cook dinner

It has been quite a while since I post recipes. Recently we have been eating out a lot, going away on weekends so yesterday we make it a point to have dinner at home. Below was what we had yesterday:


Clock wise from the top, prawns in oyster sauce, lettuce with garlic, french beans with eggs and ikan kembung in "tau cheong" sauce.

Here is the recipe:

Prawns in oyster sauce (Hubby helped to stir while I supervised and prepard the sauce)

1) Prawns - to your liking, I bought medium size (around 14 of them)
2) Chopped shallots, ginger, garlic, red chilies (I skip this because of the kids), spring onion
3) Sauce - 2 tablespoon of oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of corn flour, dash of soya sauce, 3 tablespoons of water.

Method:
a) 3 tablespoons of oil
b) Grilled the prawns, remove prawns from wok
c) With the remaining oil, stir fry chopped items(2) until fragrant
d) Mixed the prawns and stir fry for another minute
e) Pour in sauce and saute for another minute, dish out

Lettuce with garlic:
This is pretty simple, heat the wok, put in 2 tablespoon of oil, put in chopped garlic, stir fry, put in lettuce and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, stir fry for a minute and dish out.

French beans with eggs:
a) French beans, chopped
b) 4 eggs, beaten, dash of soya sauce and 1 teaspoon of sugar

Method:
Heat the wok, put in 2 tablespoon of oil, stir fry french beans and put in the beaten eggs, tossed them like you are frying eggs until both sides is golden brown.

Ikan kembung (any fish) in "tau cheong" sauce
a) 4 ikan kembung
b) 2 onions, sliced
c) Some ginger, sliced
d) 1 tablespoon of "tau cheong"
e) Sauce: 2 teaspoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of corn flour, dash of soya sauce, 2 tablespoons of water

Method:
Heat the work, put in 2 tablespoon of oil, stir fry (b&c) until fragrant, put in (d), stir fry until fragrant, put in a small bowl of water, put in (a), cover the wok. Flip the fish after 2 minutes, cover the wok for another 2 minutes, pour in sauce and stir, do your tasting here, if it's too salty, put in dash of sugar ("tau cheong" can be quite salty"), dish out.

Your dinner is ready and remember to cook your rice har.... got a few incidents I cooked all the dishes but forgotten about the rice.. he he he..

Genting Hill @ Penang

Last Sat, my team and I went up to Genting Hill for a colleague's farewell lunch. It was my third time there but for many, their first trip. To get there you have to drive all the way from Bayan Lepas to Teluk Kumbar then Balik Pulau... it's a long straight drive with many curves along the way, you will reach the Puspakom first, then a small Indian temple on the right, about 1-2 km from the temple, you will see a signboard guiding you to make a left turn then you engage in very low gear and drag your car up the hill. The journey up the hill was magnificent, on the right you will see an unlimited span of padi field, agriculture land, the sea and two small islands.



For those who worried whether your car can reach the top, transportation service is actually available. There is a Thai restaurant, man made animal sculptures, plants, gardens, huts that oversee spectacular view and many more. The temperature during day time is about 20 -25 degrees and cooler in the evening.






The food taste good and is a little bit on the high side, it's halal (pork free) so you can bring along your Muslim friend. We ordered the special fried kangkung, mixed vegetable, kerabu mango, pandan chicken, siakap in special sauce, fried egg with onion, tomyam seafood and "tam tib - water chestnut and jackfruit in coconut milk" for dessert, the bill is RM153.00 for eight person.

You will anticipate a bigger crowd in the evening, if you want to enjoy the hill all by yourself then probably lunch is a better choice, by the way I think it's safer to drive when the day is still bright and if you are still a probationary driver with a "P", I strongly recommend that you asked somebody else to drive....

Skyrocket house price

Everyone who lives in Penang knows that it is extremely expensive to own a landed house, depending on the venue, a typical double storey terrace house (20'x 70') would cost around RM450 - 500K, let's say you spent 10% of the house value on renovation and furnishing the house, so that would add up to around RM500 - 550K. A couple friend recently bought a landed property in an old neighborhood (the house is easily 10 years old) for RM650K and spent another RM100K on the renovation and furnishing.

I read in the paper that the Housing and Development Ministry is going to implement measures to prevent house prices from skyrocketed, I hope they do something in Penang. Mean while, owning and staying in a landed property for our family is simply out of the question.

I have no complaints, I'm contented with the place that we have, I just have to be more hardworking in sorting the junks and have them given away or disposed once a while and practise a lot of self control in order not to stuff my house with clutters or unwanted things. (Hubby always warned me not to throw his things and MIL always recycle what I packed to give away!!)

I have a small garden to work with, nice neighbors, safe neighborhood, clean corridors, working lifts and a lot of greens surrounding our condominium... so I'm happy though I do envy those who have the privilege to stay in landed property....ka ka ka... hubby no need to worry hor... i'm not blaming you for not earning enough.....It's better to have a noisy, small home with happy kids, laughter and lots of love rather than a quiet and spacious house with little happenings....

Bodyache

Remember I wrote that I need to start my exercise regime to burn my stubborn fats... well I went to aerobics yesterday and today my whole body was aching and so tired. I thought exercise should make one feel fresher and energetic, for me the session is killing me. I sweat my heart out, maybe i stopped for too long. My boss asked me if we wanted to eat "lok lok" at the night market yesterday afternoon and I told her about the aerobics session, below is our conversation:

Boss: Hey Elaine, so long we never take the "lok lok" already hor?
Me : Yeah, tonight got wor
Boss: Wanna go?
Me : I want to go aerobics woh...
Boss: Wah you started aerobics.....consistently?
Me : The last time I did it was last month, normally I went for 2 consecutive weeks, take a month break and when conscience sips in, I went again then take a month break... ke ke ke
Boss : That is consistent, I mean the break interval...
Me & Boss : LOL
Me : I told myself wanted to exercise regularly..., go Phil every morning wake up early and go to the gym or every evening use the gym in the factory...
Boss : Wah...
Me : But end up, every morning, go and eat buffet breakfast.... every evening on the bed watching movies....
Me & Boss : LOL again.....

You think I can survive and presevere with my plan.....? Ke ke ke... let's see, I'm flying again to Phil next week.....

Kiasumum - Art Class

I enrolled Michelle in an art class and yesterday was the first day. Actually I wanted to do so much earlier but this mommy keep on forgetting... not until I got to know that my neighbor also sent her daughter to an art class nearby our place. I checked the place out and it's quite interesting, I can see a lot of art works displayed on the wall, they were real nice and can't believe all came from children at young age, they have a spacious space to work on art works, real nice with sea creatures and animals all over the place, most done with recycle objects.

The reason of sending Michelle to the class is to help her to do her homework faster when she enter into primary school next year, I heard from my hairstylist that they need to do quite a bit of drawing and coloring at school. Homework can be a lot especially if you are going to Chinese medium school, call me "kiasu mum" or what I don't want to be helping my kid with her homework with my left hand (I heard a lot of stories about that)he he he.

So I was quite impressed of what Michelle did for her first class, she copied a drawing from her teacher (a girl on a slide), colored a portion of it, I must say it is quite a piece of work (knowing her drawing & coloring skill at home), she seems to enjoy it and I hope I'm doing the right thing. Well, Emily wanted to stay on the class also but on second thought, Emily said "Mommy, send me when I'm sixlah har, I'm still so small" That's my lil Emily - always finding ways "not to overwork herself".

Birthday Wish For Dorene

Today is Dorene's Birthday, we want to wish her a blessed 2Xth birthday, love and hugs from Elaine and the girls. Here wishing her best of health, less stress at work, joy and peace. My friendship with Dorene started in 2003 where both of us enrolled ourselves into the miserable MBA course, we met in one of the class, been groupmates in the assignments, we fed the mosquitoes together at night, went through boring classes together, had great chats and spent many wonderful time together. She has been very stressful at work lately.... I hope it would be sorted out soon and we would seeing the bubbly and fun Dorene jeh jeh again.... Yesterday I bought something for both of us. I'm not sure which one she prefers, so I'm asking her to choose her preference in the world wide web now...... I hope the brooch will match with her baju kurung... so Dorene pick your choice here, don't be shy okie? God bless you and have a great day.

Fats fats fats

Hubby bought a blouse for me from Bangkok... it's a long, loose, fluffy blouse, the type where people normally match with a stretchable tight bermuda? I have a few of those too but I normally match with jeans. Last week I went to get this tight and yesterday was trying on with the blouse that hubby bought......... hmm.... I look like a blomming flower, the cutting is not suitable for me, made me look so plump... hubby commented "Hmm....lately you gain weight and I think you are at your fattest now, go and weigh yourself....".

Finish....it is finish when your hubby commented like that, it means you are finish..... I brushed aside his comments and said "no lah just XX kilo only mah, I took little rice for dinner tonight, got to start with my exercise regime already, or you subsidize for slimming session loh?". Hubby kept quiet....

I hurt my toe last 2 weeks, had been travelling, less mobile and physically active for the past weeks...... So I've decided to start on the weekly aerobic session again, when I travel again (next week) I must make good use of the gym facilities...and desperately need to work on my tummy....Wish me luck and discipline too..........

Fever=Sleep with mummy

The kids are not feeling well lately, Michelle was down with fever last weekend and Emily still has running nose and a lot of phelgm especially in the morning. Whenever they have fever, my MIL or me will normally sleep with them the whole night through because MIL always reminded me that fever is no small matter in children, must be extra careful. Michelle is happy because she get to kidnap mummy from daddy for the whole night and Emily is delighted too. I set my alarm at 3.00am in the morning to check on her temperature else I know I will sleep like a pig, no doubt her fever came back and I got up to feed her the medication in which she gladly obliged. Thank God no fever throughout yesterday night which means I can go back to my room.....of course the girls would be bargaining again "Mummy can you sleep with us for another night? Mummy what happen if the fever returns? Mummy......"

Species in my garden

I use panaromic maker software and make the above photo.... quite nice hor... the picture reflects my garden species collection....... need to adjust the size though...

Make-up session

Every morning my girls witness my make-up session and they know the sequence quite well; toner, moisturizer, blusher and perfume (I leave the lipstick at the office after breakfast). Emily will climb onto the dressing table and sometimes passing me the items, at times they attempted to trick mummy into applying for them, below are some of our conversations:

E (Emily) : Mummy, can you apply for me too?
M (Mummy) : Children cannot wear make-up.
E : Why leh?
M : Because your skin is already very smooth, no need make-up, make-up will damage your skin.
E : Then why you make-up leh?
M : Err… because mummy old already, got wrinkles, skin not smooth , that’s why got to make up loh
E : Mummy not old yet, still pretty…
M : Smiling, that’s so sweet… but you still can’t wear or touch my make-up things OK?
E : OK loh….

Mi (Michelle) : Mummy, can I put on lipstick?
M (Mummy) : No, lipstick got poison, not good for you.
Mi : Eii…. if we eat it can die ar?
M : Cannot, but if too much, I don’t know
Mi : Then why you use it leh?
M: Mummy know how to control from eating it, mummy wiped away before eating.
Mi : Oh……

M : Emily, you have been playing with my eye shadow hah? (seeing the area around her eyes all in pink color)
E : He he he (smiling cheekily)
M : You apply at the wrong area….
E : I don’t know mah…. (wanted to cry…)
M: Do you spoil the whole thing?
E : No…
M : I will go and check….

Catching up

Last Thursday night, I had a catch up session with one of my girl friend. We just went out impromptu, fixed a place to meet and chatted for 2 hours. It was a great night. We picked up from where we left, a little bit of counseling, truth-unveiling, encouragement and life-learning session. Just as I was trying to encourage my dear friend to move on, I learned a great deal from her especially she shared with me her childhood, the dos and don’ts on your child. We both realized that little Emily has some resemblance with my friend here and she's kind enough to give me some helpful tips in handling lil old Emily.

She asked me one question: "Elaine, will I be so sure of myself when I reached your age?". Well I gave her my assurance, "Well I believe you will, just be yourself, find the real you, be the real you and I'm sure as we matured, we will be surer of ourselves", hmm.... which makes me to think... I'm old liao loh.....

I was thinking, what was my life when I was in my mid twenties, hmm.... got a job, work hard to earn a living, save a little, wanted to be married, independent, children topic was not in my mind, more sociable, weight is not a problem...........

I'm entering into another phase of my life now.... in four years I'll be XX liao...... well by God's grace I prayed that He will teach me to live life to the fullness and to matured gracefully.....

Girls slide show

www.lelong.com.my

I was chatting with my colleagues the other day and don't know why we ended up talking about on-line buying and selling which made me to relate to the famous e-bay website. Another colleague told me that in Malaysia there is this popular lelong website. So yesterday I logged into this lelong site with the intention of "see see and look look loh", hmm.... ladies are pretty weak creatures when it comes to clothes, shoes, handbags.....I'm not excluded. Found some really nice dress but I've no experience in on-line buying, doubt if I should try. The cutting is real nice but the worrying part is will I fit into it, all the models are so slim, sleek and looks so good in those apparels, it might look different on me, still very skeptical lah.. anyone can spare any advice.... but they are real nice (things are always nicer if you don't own it... right?)

No 3

Lately I've been reading blog entries about mommies and their kids, most mommies who blog are in their 30s with young children, majority with 2 or 3 kids. My princesses are now 6 and 4, they are more manageable nowadays, we just have to take care on their diets, they can dress themselves, eat by themselves and now I'm training them to bathe by themselves too. Michelle is quite independent; she did all her schoolwork by herself, Emily is picking up fast, thanks to jeh jeh. I always encouraged my elder one to set a good example in which she did quite well, of course they fight, quarrel and shout at each other, but I guess it's quite normal to have some sort of rivalry among siblings.

So lately, friends, colleagues, aunties and uncles started to coax me into having number 3. They commented that I'm so free nowadays, the kids are all grown up, they want a "ti ti", MIL can take care......... True in some sense but deep inside me I'm not sure if I could pulled myself to go through the pregnancy period, backaches, sleepless nights.....all over again. Furthermore my biological clock is clicking.

Hubby and MIL are very understanding, I need not have to bear them a son or grandson but I do pity hubby, he used to comment other baby boy so cute, he got no one to train for badminton or play sports with him....... Let's say we decided to go for no 3, what happen if it's a girl again? Who will fetch the girls to and back from school? We need to get a maid, we can't leave the maid alone with the baby....this and that........aiyah worries........... So why put ourselves in a worrying state??

So my standard answer to those who queried about no 3 is - "We will not plan for number 3 but if God decides to bless us with another one, we will gladly obeyed" Ke ke ke..

Mommies' blogs

Wah, can't believe it, there are so many mommies' blogs out there. I bumped into them when I went to Jennifer's website, her blog lead to other mommies' blogs and those mommies' blogs lead to more mommies' blogs... ke ke ke

I have inserted a few of them (that I can relate to) into my blogroll for easy access.... which makes me realized I'm so "mommy and auntie", ka ka ka....

To all mommies out there, "jia you"....

Child safe memo

The news of children went missing is alarming, frightening and saddening especially those who were never found. Normally children under the 2-8 age groups are more prone to be abducted, kidnapped, missing for whatever reason. Sad to say, today's world is not a safe place for our children, more so in the city, I used to run free and wild on the roads when I was small, everybody knows everybody's kids by name, whose kids are those and we keep an eye for each other.

Until the authority and local neighborhood is able to make our towns and cities a safe place for our children, as parents and guardian of little children, we should take necessary precaution, below are some tips that we take:

1) Never bring kids to shop for groceries when you are alone with no other helper around.
2) Worst still never bring them along when it's sales period.
3) Try not to stop in the middle of your journey when you are traveling alone with small children, stop to get things when you already dropped them.
4) If you need to go out with them alone, please strap them, especially active ones, if you need to leave your paid groceries behind, leave them but not your child.
5) If your child is 4 and above, teach them to memorize your house no, where you stay, telephone numbers (I taught my kids in a song, make a tune, they can remember better).
6) Teach your children to respond when they were taken away by strangers (even children their age, I heard nowadays they use children to attract children), I taught mine to punch, scream, kick - practice the routine and scene at home.
7) Always lock the car doors (this is a basic one)
8) Make specific arrangement when you go out as a family i.e. daddy always take care of child 1, mummy of child 2, if not the adults will think they are taking care of the children when in actual no one else is
9) Never let them go to toilets alone, not even in restaurants, never leave them out of sight when you are out in public.
10) Don't let your children be too friendly with security guards (better be careful than sorry).
11)Watch out for your neighbor's children, we really need each other to create a safe neighborhood first.
12) Be watchful of your surrounding....

Let's remember the family of those children, who had been missing, pray for them and visit them if possible, let's educate each other on child care safety.

1 0 0 0

My blog hits 1000 this morning, thanks to my faithful readers. My hope is to continue to write matters close to my heart, to inspire, educate, alert, share awareness to the betterment of our children, our children's children, the public at large and not forgetting my own.

Celibacy - sexual abstinence before marriage

I wonder how many single girls or ladies out there are still virgin? I believe in Western countries, not many are but I'm not surprised if you tell me that in Malaysia, it's not many either. When I was a teenager 20 years ago, I once read an article that if you are still a virgin (teenage years), have not experienced sex before, then you will be laughed and rediculed.

The teaching of celibacy was planted in me when I was 12 (I think) by my old fashion mother, I still remember clearly what she said:

1) "You will get pregnant when you sleep with a man"
2) "Once you gave in the opposite sex, that's it, you will never get it back"
3) "You reserved the best for your husband"

Well, when you are 12 in my time, mom's above words doesn't make much sense, "What is sex, you reserved what best for your husband???".......but if mom was to say this (mind you, she was real serious then), then it's worthwhile to just trust and obey. Friends talked about this sex thing at school, they will be giggling and some blushed but I was never interested in the topic, reason being mom's words were all loud and clear.

Not until I was preparing for my wedding, that my husband and I leart about condoms, I'm glad we reserved the best for each other, called us old fashioned or extinct beings. I know sex should not be a close or taboo subject to talk about, all of us will not be here if not for sex, right? Being still very conservative and the teaching of the bible is real clear in this subject, I can testify that it's really no better way to do this act of love other than in the context of marriage.

Many young, matured and old people have fallen to the temptations of sex outside marriage and resulted in unwanted pregnancies, abortions, broken hearts and families... it's about time we think of a good way to educate our children in this area, be it at home or at school........, if you can't think of a good way, use my mom's way, it works wonderfully well for me.......

Your choice

I'm sure most of us are aware of the recent Maths genius turned prostitute piece of news. Well, the fact that we are so interested in this news being she is so called a half Malaysian. When I read the paper, the picture when she was 13 refreshed my mind, I remember reading that piece of news 10 years back. My first expression is I'm sorry for her mother that she got to receive such news this way,no matter what she's still her flesh and blood, secondly it's the choice that she made that was further mold by her brought-up and circumstances of life.

As human being, most of us have the freedom to make choices as we go along our life's journey, in fact we make plenty of decisions and choices in our life time, some of little impact, some of life-consequences effect where you need to bear for the rest of your life.

I believe we are not in any position to judge Sufiah, she will have to bear the consequences of her choice. Most of us have daughters and sons of our own, let's love and educate our children well so that when they grow up, they will never leave your teachings and your words permanently inscribed in their hearts.

Love message

I wanted to post this but forgotten about it. During my last trip to Phil, I woke up in the morning and realized that there is an incoming sms, it's from dear (my hubby) and below is what he wrote:

"Is 3.34am, cannot sleep but thinking about you, I miss you, miss you much. Emily is sleeping beside me, sleeping soundly and so adorable. Love you day and night, without you is so much different, I want to hold your hand,....." (censored by censorship board because it's not suitable for public viewing, ke ke ke)

That is sweet..... my heart melted on the spot and it sends me flying up high in cloud nine......... It's good to be physically apart at times (a short one), this will make us appreciate our loved ones more. Hubby was away for 5 days, 4 nights company trip to Bangkok, we missed him too and the kids were so happy because they get to sleep with me for 4 nights, both taking turns to sleep on the bed on alternate nights, the other one will have to sleep on a mattress on the floor but still with me sandwiched in between.

We are looking forward to receiving Daddy's gifts.......... (so materialistic hor..)

Personality

A colleague forwarded an excel file, I keyed in my birth date and this is the list I got followed by my personal comments on the right....

*Ambitious and serious – serious, yes, ambitious – not really

* Loves to teach and be taught – right!

* Always looking at people's flaws and weaknesses – right, though trying hard not to

* Likes to criticize – yalor, sometime quite sarcastic also, need to change this

* Hardworking and productive – yes

* Smart, neat and organized – right!

* Sensitive and has deep thoughts – most of the time..

* Knows how to make others happy – yes quah

* Quiet unless excited or tensed – not really, I can talk non-stop

* Rather reserved – at times

* Highly attentive – oh yes!

* Resistant to illnesses but prone to colds – now prone to body ache…

* Romantic but has difficulties expressing love – ½ true

* Loves children – yes, only those well behave ones!

* Homely person – ya ya

* Loyal – ya ya, if not won’t stick with the same company for 12 yrs lah

* Needs to improve social abilities – need meh?

* Easily jealous – not really, I just twist and turn my hubby's ears only….

Love type

I went into the link posted by Shaggy and guess what? I'm a love magnet, the site basically asked you 10 questions about love and you select the pictures that best described your answers and this is what I got, he he he... LOL

Little toe was hurt

I met with a little mishap in Philippines, the mishap happened in the bathroom while I was attending to the room service ordered. I slipped and sprained my second toe on my left foot, nah I took a picture of it after bearing the agonizing pain for a few minutes...... hmm... looking at the picture, not something to worry about eh?


That's what I thought also, so I slipped into bed, watched TV and went straight to bed, can't really sleep well, I prayed that it will get better the next morning because I still have plenty to accomplish for the next two days...

I woke up in the morning and the whole foot was like so numb, I analysed my poor toe, it's not getting better, it has worsen....


It hurts and I trained myself to walk using my last 3 toes, crippled my way to the bathroom, washed up, then went up to the 31st floor for breakfast and down to the lobby to wait for my colleague. I then crippled to her vehicle.... it was so nice of her to send me to the nearest local hospital and then to a physio later in the afternoon, thank God no bones fractured, just bruises. I was adviced to apply ice treatment every other hour.... So I retreated early, went back to the hotel and applied ice.

Getting better now, the swell has subsided but still very blue black... for the past few days, I've been putting my weight on the last 3 toes, was as slow as a snail and I'm becoming to forget how to walk right now. Latest picture that I took (on Monday night)...


This incident made me realized how precious my toe is, not even a single little part of our body is of less important..... I'm also more careful in bathrooms now...