Some people whom you'll never forget

A friend's kid, a keen rhythmic gymnast recently joined one of the elite squads. For purpose of anonymity, I wouldn't post names of places here.

The coach..produces medalist for our country and she is, no doubt the most sought after RG coach in the country.

Out of the blue.. my friend whatsapped me y'day with her side profile photo.. taken from afar. She asked if I knew who she was.

Of course I do, at any angle and also that she has doubled in weight, I do remember her.

She was my class teacher in Standard 2. I admit, I wasn't the brightest of student. I wasn't her pet either.
I remembered my Standard 2 teacher more than any other teacher because...

... she was Ms Mean.. the mean teacher who drew cat's whiskers on our face. For reasons I do not remember. I also do not recall being a bad student either. I had no disciplinary issues and perhaps I talked too much or didn't do my homework. Ohhh.. Ms Mean drew whiskers on our face to punish us.

... Ms Mean also tested us on our multiplication.. 2x2, 3x2.. and so forth.. She had the better students test us on the multiplications. If we got the answer wrong, the better student had the authority to smack our palms with a ruler.

Such are the inhumane actions of Ms Mean. I didn't complain to my parents then and I made sure I quickly rubbed away the cats whiskers before I went home. Looking back, what she did would be so wrong, wrong that it'll make headlines in the papers.. to demean and draw on a pupils face ?

I told my friend to please walk up to Ms Mean and tell her.. I do remember her, very well, especially for the whiskers she drew on my face and the slaps the students received from her as a punishment.

Of course, my friend didn't do that.. her daughter was chided as being too fat for the RG team and was asked to lose 2kg immediately. I told my friend to seriously consider if she wants Ms Mean to mental torture mentor her daughter.

If I have a chance to meet her, I would walk up to her and applaud her contributions to Malaysia's RG sports and also to thank her for a job well done, drawing perfect cats whiskers on our face.

30 years on, Ms Mean has more than doubled in size and unmarried.

My friend says she looks like Shrek !

A Day of Sorts !

Happy Mother's Day to all !
I had a very busy day (busy is nothing new nowadays). Hubs asked what I'd like, where I'd like to eat for breakfast, dinner etc. Basically he just wants to make sure I'm happy but whadaya know.. this Mom's Day, we did everything but celebrate. I'm just happy as it is, even though we had a busy peasy weekend, alls well with the 3 of us and Amber came home with a pot of handmade cardboard flowers from the school and hubs did squeeze in the little extra surprise of a card and mug ! I got a mug last year and this, I think soon I'll have a collection of Mother's Day mugs to blog about :D :D... The excitement isn't  about receiving the gift but how father and daughter hides the 'surprise' from me.  Tell Amber a secret and she'll tell the whole wide world it's a secret. SECRET. S-E-C-R-E-T !!!   Few days ago, I came out from the shower and heard father and daughter 'chee chee chum chum' in the study. I peeked in and Amber waved a 'no - no' .. OK.. I know a surprise is in order for me.. and she must be writing me a Mother's Day message..  Then.. the gift.. where's the gift ? In moments like this, best to act dumb and act really dumb dumb, I mean very very DUMB when the girl asks you to guess the present ??? She'll give out very OBVIOUS clues but noooo.. I have to be very dumb, to the point of not knowing my spelling (she gives out clues in alphabets) or even not knowing English ! She'll ask "YOU GUESS MUMMY!! It starts with "M".".. the glee in her face, I laugh just even thinking about it.

Then.. the next secret.. Where is the pressie hidden ? Very easy.. anywhere around house that she tells you 'NOT TO ENTER'  is a BIG giveaway but again, act DUMB and play along. That's the job of a mother. She even blocked the walkway with a big bean bag when I wasn't looking.  LOL !!! Sigh.. I hope she'll make things as exciting for me for many years to come :D

The day came and went with many events. Never had I met so many friend, relatives and schoolmates within 24 hours.

Started with cathing Thor at Mid Valley on Saturday morning. Hubs been wanting to watch Thor. We puchased tickets on the spot, 2 rows from front. I had a stiff neck looking 'up' and slept halfway through the movie. In the evening, we attended Ken and Ember's wedding at Carcosa. Ken was our emcee at our wedding reception 10 years ago and we felt honored to be invited to his very private wedding, a small do, a small crowd of personal friends and relatives. We left Amber's at Sharon's. I didn't think it was appropriate to bring Amber along and when I saw rose petals strewn over the hard wood flooring, I knew I did the right thing. I laughed as hubs and I imagined Amber will be running around picking rose petals and I'd be like a mad woman chasing and shouting at him not to.  The wedding reception was a small do, a very intimate affair, food was awesome and we really enjoyed the evening with the 'gym kakis' - the group of friends from the Flamingo gym where I met hubs.

During the dinner, I received a phone call from second aunt. Aunt #1 was admitted to hospital for mild heart attack and internal bleeding due to long term aspirin dosage. I could only visit her the following day as IJN had restricted visiting hours.

I went home and prepared some mango pudding and cupcakes for my friends who was coming over on Sunday. Although only a small gathering with kids, the agenda was 'cupcake decoration' . I had planned something interesting for the kids to get busy with while we chatted over tea. Amber even planned a prize for the best decorated cupcake.

I checked my mail around midnight and read that my bestie's father had passed away on Friday night. She sent a chat message to me the day before and assumed it had reached me.

On Sunday morning, I informed the rest and plans changed. Tea time at my place was called off and they went for Uncle Roland's wake.

I visited my aunt at IJN, kids weren't allowed and I had to leave Amber at the reception with hubs, when it was hubs turn to visit my aunt, Amber cried (rolling on the floor). I promised Amber we'll try again in the evening when kids are allowed in the ward but but.. I had so many things to do (attend wake, prepare for Monday's presentation, get gift for guest speaker ... etc) and I knew I could not make it back in the evening.

A quick thought and I smuggled Amber up. The guards didn't allow her into the lift up to 3rd floor but they didn't block the stairway. We sneaked up (and I hope no one from IJN is reading this !!). Amber gave Kor-Mah a get well card and I met up with my aunts from the Tan side. We quickly left before the staffs found us out.

Had a quick lunch in McDonalds Cheras. It was 1pm and the McD was packed with the value lunch crowd. Fortunately, I bumped into my father's friend who was almost finishing and he kept his table for me. Hubs also bumped into a family friend from Tampin. Small world.

Went to the wake. I thought I'll be ok but I shed tears. I've known Jo and her family since Form 1. We've been to her father's restaurant - Futo Curry House at Chinatown many times during our school days. Over the years, her father saw us grow up, get married, had kids and he always knew what was going on in our lives. He may not recall our names but we are recognized by where we live. I am the Ampang girl, EeLeen is the Damansara girl and Suit Ling is the Jalan Ipoh girl. :D.  Uncle Roland, in his younger years, reminded me of Sylvester Stallone and he is, larger than life. I last saw him during Chinese New Year and it's very heartbreaking to see him reduced to a 'man in pain', Jo's family had an endearing time, caring for him till his last moments. I shed tears as I bid goodbye even though I know he relieved of pain now and his sufferings are over.

We then went to Ikea to get some stuff for a guest presenter tomorrow. Came home at 8pm and had instant noodles for dinner. Quick, easy and allergy free for Amber. Nothing fancy but 3 of us together, happy and healthy was more than I could ask for until I got a surprise call from my sis. Father fell down yesterday and hit his face on the concrete stairs. His face was quite swollen but has now subsided a bit. I felt very guilty, attending to affairs of relatives and friends and not being home for dinner tonight.

I consoled myself that there's nothing to worry about. Called him and 'warned' that he is to call us for any accidents happening at home, emergency or not.

Life's busy eh ??? All this happening in the span of less than 24 hours.

A Lazy Day

Today's a public holiday and a perfect opportunity to sleep in. We've been busy since Christmas up to the New Year, with a list of to-dos everyday, except today. The hubs and the little one slept till past 10am, very rare.
I was up at 8am after taking some Panadol cold and flus. Somehow drowsy medicine - pseudophedrine has adverse reaction on me. It's a component that knocks many off. I'll feel drowsy, yes, but I'll be up the after 5 hours and have difficulty getting back to bed. Toss and turned till 8am and got my lazy butt up, surfed the net, FB-ed and moved my butt down to do the laundry. Since being a mom, I've never overslept past 8am. My body's alarm clock will wake me up automatically

We visited the BIL and his family in Cheras, had lunch and was back home by 5pm. The hubs and little fart went to bed again and slept for another good 2-3 hours ! That's very unusual for Amber to sleep that long. I did the ironing and etc till almost dinner time.

It's now past midnight and she's bright as a lark, hyper as a puppy. Sei for !

Welcoming the new lunar year of RABBIT - finally.

The cleaners just left. 2 cleaners x 4 hour each to clean the bits and corners of my house esp the icky parts that I don't touch - the kitchen exhaust fan, cooker hood and outdoor fans. After a horrifying attempt to D-I-M (Sasha, I like yr terminology) and ending up with sore arms, this year, I engaged cleaners, a month before the new year. 2 sessions, 2 weeks apart.

Last 2 weeks, they only did grills, windows and blinds. Today, they cleaned kitchen, outdoor fans and toilets. One of the cleaner developed a very bad rash after cleaning the fan blades. There were white spores on the blades and she itched to the max upon contact. I applied some magic camphor cream from China - Bao Fu Ling and asked her to take a shower. Some manpower wasted there so I had to chip in to scrub the driveway and patios. Backbreaking but 3 of us got the task done.

Last night I baked some pineapple tarts for Amber. She saw those that I made earlier and wanted to have some, eagerly. Heartbreaking, aitelyu ! I improvised a bit and made a version with vegetable shortening and Orgran's egg replacer. She was happy. Very. No words can describe the look on her face. She spew out her sweetest words - Mama's cooking is - THE BEST IN THE WORLD! And that, melts !
The oven's been cleaned and baking trays and such put away. Leftover ingredients frozen and repacked. The cleaners did the final job of cleaning the countertops throughly.

The gardener came today too, trimmed and cleaned what was needed. All I did was tell him to make my place nice for me, I don't care what you do :D  He's a nice chap, in his 60's and takes his time to prop up my garden meticulously.

I gave away bags and food to his family. As the new lunar year approaches, I try to have a clean fridge and cupboard, clean sofas, clean house... basically everything clean and uncluttered.

I feel so relaxed now, with a clean house to welcome new lunar year. .and oh.. the kitchen's closed too... until the year of the Rabbit.

We are eating out today.. and every other day till the new year. ... ..... YIPPEE !!!

All About Her

Thanks for all your comforting comments on my previous post. I have replied you personally and it's just a small issue that we have to deal with and hope it'll be sorted out, eventually. Otherwise, I'll have to fall on my backup plan ( I hope not )

Hubs and I made a pact with her. We're giving her stars for good behaviour. 1 star for finishing her lunch, another for taking her nap and another for finishing her dinner fast. For each page of homework completed, 1 stars and the ad hoc stars for good behaviour etc etc etc.. She's all into stars now, counting her stars and making sure she is not shortchanged. She's very good in her mathematics and there's no way we can cheat a star from her. She's also good in bargaining, this girl. Once I stopped my car and refuse to budge until she swallow her last spoonful of dinner, which was in the mouth for more than 15 mins. Oh.. she loves to talk with her mouthful too. She bargained.. I swallow, you give me another star. At 4 and a half years old, this girl really knows how to bargain !!!

Back to her.  I made hubs promise to read his papers in the office and leave office as early as possible. On days that he needs to work out  his cardio, he goes running and I excercise at home, on our elliptical trainer. On non-workout days, it's Amber days. We make time for her, take her to the playground, even if it's for a shortwhile and we try to get some homework done too.

Yesterday, a typical evening but somehow when you have a timeline to follow, you tend to get your butt moving faster. I dropped hubs home at 5.45pm, asked him to bring in the laundry and I went to get some groceries. Quickly dashed home, cooked a beef bolognese, boiled pasta and cuts some fruits. By 6.30pm, we picked her up and went to a small playground just a walking distance from the childminders.

We drive pass this playground everyday for almost 2 years and yesterday we decided to stop for a short play. Sometimes the best stuff are found at our own backyard. Like how we used to fuss and hassle about making a trip to the playground that's a long drive away when a small, clean and well maintained playground is sufficient to bring her smiles.

We caught a beautiful view of the sunset yesterday

 

She chose the big kids swing and wanted us to stand behind and push her. I walked away when I thought she was doing fine and she cried.. loud and pitiful.. she's afraid.. it seems.. but I think it's another one of her dramas to get our attention.

 

She has a cold sore on her right lips.. Anybody knows the cure for cold sores ? Cold sore on a hot weather.. hmm.. sounds very very strange to me !

We stayed till dark.

 

We left when the moon was out.

 

Back home, while I prepared dinner and squeezed some fresh orange juice, hubs did some painting with her.

She also ate a kiwifruit.

    

 Yesterday evening was great. Some outdoor acitivities, some indoor activities, homecooked dinner, fresh juice and fruits for all.

I did an evaluation and reminded hubs that all she needs is undivided attention from us. Selfish as we are, we often overlook her needs and she comes home, creating havoc just to demand our attention. 

Another thing I noticed about Amber is to keep the evenings and days peaceful is to foresee a meltdown and avoid it. Hubs gave her a little lecture when this happened:

Hubs : Amber, drink your milk,, hubs holding the milk in his hand

Amber : nonchalant.. doing her own things

Hubs : Amber, come here, faster, drink your milk !

Amber : you come la..why you never put the straw closer to my mouth ???

Hubs : *explosion*

I was in the kitchen and analyzed the whole situation. The father was doing his job and the girl was being rude and wanting things his way.. *wong pa pa* style.

So, to avoid another argument with her, I told hubs.. he should foresee where she's coming at.. little missy is going to shoot some bullets to up our blood pressure again and instead, he should just put the cup of milk on the table and leave.

Many times, meltdown happens when we want her to do things our way, and she wants to do otherwise.

and many many many many times, we parents are to be blamed for not paying enough attention to her, the high needs child.  :D

Grilled Chicken Burger - My Personal Account

I dragged the hubs all the way to nearest McD at Sogo for lunch today. We need to head that direction to settle some credit card bills anyway but mainly because McD is very very crowded esp the outlet at Sogo and since it's puasa month, it's quite easy to get a seat.

Hubs ordered his usual, Big Mac set. I ordered the Grilled Chicken Burger. Very yummy, moist chicken burger and I felt healthy all the way.. biting onto a grilled chicken bun .. the only fat bit was the sauce.

I was gloating to hubs about the healthiness of the burger and I peeped what's inside ..

..
..
..
..
..
a thick fat layer of chicken skin !

no wonder so moist la !
I hate 'kai pei' and had to spit out all the fats.. bite bite.. ptui ptui... eeesh...

So, not so healthy after all ya ??:

My Morning, startled.

My friend Kevin msn-ed me this today, really LMAO !!

Abdul Razak also insinuated that Dr Pornthip was here to attack the MACC and that her opinion was based on her imagination.

But when Abdul Razak asked Dr Pornthip if she had ever jumped out of a window, counsel representing the Selangor Government Malik Imtiaz Sarwar said: “With questions like these, we would all want to jump out.

a good joke is better than coffee, anytime !

Popular Book Fair @ Ikano

We just got back from Popular Book Fair at Ikano (and survived the mad Ikea sale traffic !!!)

Got some great buys and guess what ? ?

No books !

Yes, no books ! Hubs is the one itching to go to Popular Book Fair at Ikano for it's audiophile CD's. Very cheap aitelyu. We usually get a 5% of from CD Rama (Popular's av section) but during the book fair, some quality cd's go down to 20% off and Popular's mark up is not high.

We used to patronize another cd shop for >10 years and it's prices are about 20% higher than Popular. Now, knowing where to get better deals, Popular @ Ikano and Ampang Point is our regular haunt for audiophiles.

This is his loot today :

3cds of HD Mastering and Blue Ray Mastering for only RM100


This is the best deal :

Jazz Audiophile - double cd, Blue Ray for only RM39



but hubs think although this is a Blue Ray recording, the voice is very clear but lacking in hi-fideltity. We thought of changing it but it's only RM38 for 2 cd. Usual price is around RM48-RM50 for 1 cd. Still 'tai'.. maybe we'll just leave it in the car.

and my favourite is Shirley's Voice, an audiophile artiste from China


All my favourite old chinese songs - Unforgettable Love, Shanghai Nights, Look Forward 3 Years and Amber's favourite - The Moon Represents My Heart.. she loves this song to bits and she's attempting to sing this song with her awful hoarse voice.. lol ! Well, we played this song in the car, THRICE !! and she fell asleep, at 8.30pm. Bliss for me and hubs.


Music calms her and I remembered her infant days, we played Il Divo to get her to sleep, she'll knock off at track # 3 or 4, (can't remember exactly track #) to Unchained Melodies and fell asleep and there was those teething nights too, crying all night long and we played Il Divo all night and loud too, our neighbours were probably cursing us .. gosh.. those were the days. Now, she's learning to mimic The Moon Represents My Heart. I very romantic song, since my hubs didn't sing it for me, at least my daughter will.


And we also got a Yasmin Ahmad's movie and we'll watch it in a short while with beer n peanuts, since Amber is asleep already.


I heart Yasmin Ahmad's production very much and I want to watch all of it.


Happy Sunday and happy week ahead !

The Ben10 cake that was not.

We celebrated Yuen Wen Cheh-Cheh's birthday at Madam Kwan, Mid Valley. She had a Ben10 cheesecake from Secret Recipes:

Tell me, which part looks like Ben10 ?? Kinda feel cheated coz when we ordered, the pic shown on the catalog was the Ben 10 boy, the one with black hair and wearing the watch. Outcome above is not according to specs.. and Amber's Ben 10 cake was the same too, the sugar paper was not according to the brochures.

Anyway, kids gets so excited with birthday cakes, they forgot all about the actual Ben 10 picture.

Amber and her cheh cheh.. anybody and everybody's birthday is a reason to celebrate coz she wants to blow the candles !!!



Ben 10 or not, her only share of the cake is the sugar paper, with the creams and white chocolate icing underneath scraped off.


Luckily, she liked Madam Kwan's fried chicken leg..

1 year more Amber.. 1 year and you can have your real cake.

and again.. Happy Birthday to cheh-cheh.

Talking about cheesecakes.. I think Secret Recipe's cake have shrunk in size, has anyone noticed ?

of... football.

and.. that has gotten into me ! Me.. not a sports fan and certainly not football fan. And when I watch a match.. I have to ask.. Joanne. another 'wife of football fan' .. eh.. which team, goalpost where ah ? hushhh.. I ask quietly lar....

I don't understand the rules.. offline.. or what not.. but I do understand the basics. .. feet and head can touch ball.. hands.. NO-NO.

.. don't bother asking about football rules during the match.. or be deemed as 'so stoooopid'

We watched Holland trashing Brazil on Friday night at mamaks. Wuah... it was so tense.. I can see so majority Brazil supporters and only a few Holland supporters seated upfront, near the screen. With every goal Brazil scored, those fella at the back, trashed.. threw chairs and cursed..

... and then, we also bump into a friend or two who came to the mamaks alone. Obviously, the wifey's are not football fansee..

... and we ordered paper tosai, roti tisu, chapati, tandoori and teh... lotsa lotsa teh..

and then.. we see Brazil drifting away in the gane. Very sad and unexpected.

Then Sat came.. another big match. Germany vs Argentina. I planned a nice dinner of 'lap mei fan' and 'har cheong kai' and walnut cheesecake.. timed perfectly, dinner at 8.30pm, desert at 9.30pm, wash up and ready and comfy by 10pm.

I wanted Argentina to win. Not because I'm a fan but I felt the goal that Lampard lost last Sunday was really injustice to England. So what if they sack the referee ? What's done cannot be undone.

Then one by one.. German scored.. I loved their footworks..both Argentina and Germany, so fast, furious and tactical. .. and watching German score and goal after another.. again unbelievable !

.. and shouting GOOAALLL ! at home so isn't like shouting at Mamaks.. every shot at goal.. every attempt, the whole place vibrates.. teh tarik glass shaking..

.. Sat's match was full of energy.. and so... now Argentina lost.. all hubs favourite team are out..

.. and my father told me he also watched the German Argentina match.. alone..
.. and I was surprised... with his failing eyesight , he'll stay up till midnight to watch the match.
.. and I asked him.. eh you know the rules ka ?

you know what ?

.. of course he knows. He plays football and was a 'Midfielder'

.. aah.. my father, the footballer.. I really didn't know that.. *shame*

Now,

.. and the semi's are all at 2.30am
.. and finals at 2.3am too (I think)..

no more WorldCup for me, I think.. watching a replay is ever so different.

Football Fever !!!

It's on... tonight, the crazed game everyone's so looking forward to.

Me? Nope, I'm not a football fan, neither is hubs and we don't subscribe to ESPN.

However, in the spirit of football, we're gonna watch the opening at the mamaks tonight with our friends, Thomas and his family. He'll be there at 7.30pm to secure a table for us..

Heck, the good fun of gathering with friends, talking loudly and yakkety yak yak.. I'm looking forward.

and.. I'm gonna dress Amber in a fitting football tee.

Ole ole ole ole ole...

Livin La Vida Loca

hehe.. these are memories of previous World Cups...

She Knows Best

Amber's been sick since Monday. She has fever running from midnight of Sunday and I gave her paracetamol. She skipped school and we sent her to the babysitter's instead. Over there, she just took paracetamol and continued her day as usual, played with other kids.

Hubs and I are not surprised she fell sick coz it's been almost a year since she last had fever. We said, 'it's about time'.

We gave her another day off on Tuesday and her fever subsided.

Wednesday, we changed her to school uniform and she complained of stomach ache, crying and wailing. Doesn't seem right to me and we took her to the clinic. She was given Colimix and Buscopan for the cramps.. and we sent her to the childminders. No fever but vomit after taking Colimix. I stopped giving her the medication. Other than complaining of tiredness, she appears normal, I gave her soya milk before she slept

This morning, she complained 'tired' again, asking to be carried and doesn't want to go to school. So tired that she slumped on the floor. I thought it was a ploy and excuse for not skipping school.

After 3 days of skipping school with no high fever, I send her back. She wailed when Teacher Mila carried her away from me. Poor girl, hung on to me like a koala bear. When teacher took her away, her legs held tightly to my legs. I let go.

At 9.20am today, Teacher Jo- the principal called me and said Amber vomitted twice. She made a mess as she was running to the toilet to throw up but didn't make it in time. There was a trail of vomit along the floor.

I called Boon to pick her up from school.

Poor girl, she was right when she complained of tiredness and unwell. Terrible me, for insisting to send her to school. :(

Of Lately ....

No blogging, no posting, no uploading. My laptop's internet connection went kaput .. zinggg.... gone ! Strangely, I can do everything else on the laptop except connecting to the internet.
My IT support is too busy to look into it, so it seems lah, and there's other more important stuff to do..

I really wanna cry, no internet during office hours is killing me. Worst than no coffee. Well, I have my 'stolen moments' too, that is when hubs goes out for appointments, I quickly jump on his seat and logout all his programs.. load my msn, gmail, blog, bla bla bla...

Ok,, before the boss is back, let's see, what's up lately ....

- been keeping an eye for egg-free, dairy-free, yeast-free, sugar-free products. Doctor just confirmed, being allergic to cow's milk, she has to avoid everything dairy, including butter.
- when I tell people what she has to avoid.. everyone shakes head.. tsk tsk tsk.. die lor.. this cannot eat, that cannot eat. I shan't focus on the negative, I shall be POSITIVE and focus on what she CAN eat instead.
- been visiting almost every organic store in town, looking for special diet food. I'd say, not to bad, I found a couple of tolerable food, labeled 'May contain traces of egg and milk'. I should think they are free of eggs and milk and the 'traces' are very minute. So far, I've found and will introduce the following to her :

dark chocolates. Lindt. - most dark chocs like Cadbury do contain milk but not premium brands like Lindt. Only cocoa mass, cocoa butter and sugar

nestum cereal. plain cereal and fruit flavoured does not contain milk. Easy. I'll just mix with Isomil

peanut cookies & kuih bangkit - both butter-less. She's walloping my leftover cookies from CNY and these 2 are her favourites. When it's finished, I'll bake almond cookies with ground almond, olive oil and icing sugar. Almonds are a lot healthier than peanut

I found ICE CREAM for her... New Zealand Naturals fruit sorbet. Dairy free. She had strawberry last weekend, RM7 per scoop, very steep but worth every sen when you see her smile and that's PRICELESS ! Tomorrow is her birthday and she wants mango flavour. Wish granted.. with pleasure

I baked dairy free, egg free cupcakes yesterday. Many thanks to Barb who sent me the recipe.
I improvised it a little, added some strawberry jam, replaced water with unsweetened soya and it actually tastes good. Can't wait to upload the photos and blog about it. The cupcakes are meant for Amber's small party at the childminders and yes, tomorrow is her birthday. My little girl turns 4 tomorrow.

4 years of feeling itchy and scratching everyday.. I hope by her 5th birthday, she'll be cured.

She wants a BIG BIG cake and a BIG BIG present for her birthday. This years request is everything BIG and she's getting none. I've made small cupcakes for her and present is something intangible. Will write more later.. when my laptops up.

In the meantime, I must dig up her birthstory. I had it stashed somewhere in my gmail. Those days, I didn't know what a blog was and I journal-ed down my preg and early motherhood days in email to my daughter, hoping she'll read one day.

.... and I'm also busy hunting for dust mite free beddings and air filters. :)

Accidents and Deaths

Been feeling a bit uneasy this couple of days. Must get it off my chest.

Sightings of accidents really bothers me, especially when I see the victim covered in white or black plastic. The scenes keeps flashing in my mind over and over again and I still do remember sighting an accident that happened 3 years ago, a motorcyclist and a lorry.

Last Saturday, we left home and was greeted by a very bad jam along MRR2. Very unusual, hubs said, must be an accident. True enough, just about 100 meters from our where we exit to MRR2. Very ugly scene. We saw a Proton Waja very badly damaged and a Proton Iswara bad smashed across the other side of the road, we guess it came from the same direction as us. Then I saw a body lying on the road, covered with white plastic sheets.

I said my amitabha prayers and we proceeded with our journey.. Hubs was not feeling well and we had to pick up my parents, go for dinner and then send sis to the airport. I was driving and it was a looong journey to the airport (using Garmin, will tell in another post). while I was behind the wheels.. Amber was seated back, chatting with BIL and I kept getting flashbacks of the accident scene.. thinking of the victims family and what nots. I reminded myself to drive really careful, to look front, side and back all the time. My family, parents and sis was in my car.

Then the next day, I read about the accident in the papers. The car was going along MRR2 from same direction as us, at very fast speed hit the curb, flung to the other side and hit an oncoming Waja (innocent fella). The driver, a young lady was flung out from the car and died on the spot. Her other passangers in the car suffered serious injuries.

I reminded myself to drive very carefully and look out, front, back and sides whenever I pass the accident scene.

Then, this morning,on the way to work, I read about a man who survived a car crash in Pahang only to climb out of the car and fall into a ravine below. Another very freak accident which left me puzzling on how fragile life can be. I was quiet about it and did not share with hubs.

Then in the office, hubs told me the man who fell into a ravine was our colleagues' brother and she's really devastated over the sudden loss of her brother and in such circumstances.

Life is fragile, appreciate it.

Calling It A Year

We are moving office TODAY (yes, today, 5 Feb 2010 marks our last day in office. We are relocating and the building will be torn down for redevelopment). Everyone's in a frenzy, packing, discarding stuff etc... and I'm blogging.. coz I'm done with my packing and I went to the new place over lunch hour to unpack some of my stuff.

We leave this place with a heavy heart, been so used to the current environment and we just hate the new place. No choice, company is like that,, love them and stick with them or just leave.. that's their policy.

Our colleagues arranged for lunch, our usual 'sau gong chau' before moving to the new office. Then the management also presented us with :



In spirit of chinese new year, we each received a crate of 'kum' for properous wishes

Then we went for lunch at Hakka Restaurant at Jalan Kia Peng :


My nice colleague sponsored us wine and pu-erh tea and we ordered the CNY set :

Food nothing much to shout about but in spirit of CNY, it's nice gather for lunch and toss to the new year.

A new office, a new year, a new beginning and betterment for all !

Baking Frenzy

I finally 'sau tong' on my baking for sale. I had last minute orders for 10 tins of chocchipchocchunk walnut cookies and I got all done on 1 Feb, Wilayah holiday. 15 tins in all, from 9am to 4pm, with toilet breaks and maggi mee lunch breaks in between. Fast eh ?

Then I also delivered another 6 fruitcakes to a lady who wanted to give away as gifts to her friends. I halved the fruitcakes for her and this is what I did this time :

Wrapped and ribboned up


Fits nicely in a 6x6 box (so difficult to get, I went all over town, from Melawati to Cheras and finally found the cake box and pans at Chun Yip, Jalan Petaling)


Then, bagged them in the Giant Recyclable bags.. I so love these versatile bags..

I missed out taking pics of the chocchipchocchunk cookies. Soo many tins and my whole house smelled like a cookie factory. :)

Then the past few evenings, I squeezed in some time baking for family :


chocchipchocchunk walnut (mini containers), corn flake cookies and almond flakes for family. I didn't bother much on the packing though.. once open, makan only lah.. no need fancy packing.

With CNY 1 week away, I still have so much to do. Moving office this weekend (gosh, I so hate our management, choose the most inappropriate time to move, smack in the CNY last minute shopping jam)

Lemme see.. I still have the following to bake list :
- pineapple tarts
- more fruit cakes
- cornflake cookies
- coconut cookies

Maybe I'll wait till after CNY !!! LOL !

Earning a Little Pocket Money

I had the most amazing January. Despite maid leaving and I have to juggle all housework, cooking, ironing, cleaning and baking for the new year, I made some bakes for sale.

My friend Ai Kim ordered some 'Chocchipchocchunk walnut cookies' from me and also 2 loaves of fruit cake. I've never sold any cakes before and hubs, my #1 fruitcake fansee (don't leave any on the table, gone in a flash !!!) encouraged me to sell my fruitcakes. Time was not on my side, maidless, office moving, Amber schooling, bla bla bla and Ai Kim asked if I could bake her a fruitcake. Then came orders from the wine people .. then more. Now, I'm juggling the best I can as I have to bake for family too.

Here's my fruit cake..


A loaf.. abt 1.2kg.. I had to find the correct loaf tin, pans and boxes to package it.




The simple packing I made.


Then boxed up in this gawdy pink roses cake box. I'd prefer a simpler silver paper box with cover but I can't find any. Checked all the baking supply shops, bookshops, KK Decor.. nil.. nilch.... I even thought of making my own boxes but time is really not on my side.

Anybody has a better idea to package my cake ? Please share.. I'd really appreciate it.

And this is what I did for my family. I know MIL will have a hard time cutting the cake in slices, I did a little favour like this :


The cake is packed with fruits, I'll need to chill it before cutting to sliced.


Then individually wrap it with polysterene paper and box it in one of the old mooncake boxes. Nice or not ?

I'm so happy to make a little pocket money from my bakes, if only I had more time and help I'd do more.. hopefully I'm better prepared next year.

Over The Weekend

no more maid, no more helper to call out for .. to do this and that. need time to get used to it but I kept on psyching myself .. i can do it ! i can do it ! think martha stewart ! think bree !

well, not so bad after all. asked friends over for dinner on friday night, grilled chicken breast, potato gratin, and salad (no wokking, minimal cleaning), did the laundry, running in and out of the house when it rains. repotted some plants, hubs washed the car.. then his little family join the fun and all 3 of us got wet, guess who's the happiest... the little one lar..

then, all 3 of us got a hair cut. amber's hair is too long, hard to manage and wasting lotsa precious minutes just to blow dry.




we also did grocery shopping, she got excited with the 'lion head'. i refused to buy, at least not until i do my price comparison first.


and did major shopping on household cleaning stuff, mop buckets, gloves, mops and yes, we invested big in mops.. since I had to get my hands dirty, might as well invest ! I grabbed 3M microfiber mops and works like magic.. much lighter and easy to handle. i sweep my upper floor in less than 5 minutes.. good eh ? also got a 'fengshui' broom, not due to fengshui reasons but it was 'big' enough, bigger sweep coverage area. less time needed to sweep and spoon those hairs, dust and pesky annoying dirt.


ahh... see who is 'sibuk' at the supermart ? she loves to play with brooms and such. must really train her to start young...

Randoms from KLCC

Last night we took our Cambodian maid to KLCC, a farewell treat for her. I know she has always wanted to go KLCC and for her finale, we took her there for dinner and hubs brought his DSLR to take some pics of her.

We had dinner at KFC, her favourite (she like ribs, orginal and mashed potatoes, she hates KFC's coleslaw)

Now that she's leaving, I really miss her (or miss someone getting the laundry done and house cleaned up). OK, I have to admit, her final months were much better than her firsts few months. She smiles more, talks more and how I so wished she was like that when she arrived. Our relationship would have been much better. I still remember our first KFC treat for her was on her birthday, 4 months after her arrival. She just quietly relished her snack plate, ignoring Amber and oblivious to her surroundings. Last night she was so different, she asked Amber to quickly eat her meals, help feed her, talked and joked. Haih.. if only she was like that from the start, I would have a better employer-employee relationship with her.

I believe on parting in good terms. I know the bye-bye is final and I'll not hear from her. Somehow, no matter how she has made me angry for her past mistakes (vice versa, I guess ??), I trust her not to steal or take anything from me when she leaves and I hope I am right.

Amber knows Kakak will be leaving soon but she kept asking kakak to come back and visit us. Hubs suggested I bring her to the airport to send kakak off, sort of like to close the chapter and to let her witness kakak waving bye-bye forever.

We took some nice shots of her and Amber and I need to get those photos out before she leaves on Thursday.

Some nice and cute pics of Amber to share first :

Different expressions of a little girl so happy to have a soft drink - 100 Plus Orange .:











We also went to the park and Amber did her little twist, showing off her long and flowing dress



And then she got angry when Papa was taking kakak's photo, ignoring her. She sulked and walked far from us, throwing a tantrum :


The KLCC view from the park :


We hitched a buggy ride to Traders Hotel and got a better view :





My helper for 2 years : Sopheak


We wish her well and success back in Cambodia.

New Year, New Resolutions

We started work today, after a long weekend break (3 weekends in consecutive !).

2010 feels like a promising year, can't explain why but I just feel positive as compared to last year. 2009 was challenging and yet went by in a breeze. A bit of changes for 2010 :

- Amber going kindie on Wednesday. The kindie had scheduled for staggered intake days to accomodate for newcomers getting used to the place. I'm glad I've found a kindie of choice with reasonable rates, a principal I'm comfortable with and low student teacher ration.

- maid leaving this Thursday. I'm beginning to miss her. Can't believe that I actually dreamt of her departure last night and I kept shouting to her please don't go !!
I'll be maidless for some time, we've no intention to get another so soon and I've to make some adjustments to cope with household chores.

- Tuning up our schedules, ie. to bed early, getting home early and waking up early too. No more staying back in office at our leisure to surf the net. Gotta get work done efficiently and fetch Amber home early asap.

- Spend less time online and read more. I've given up FT, cold turkey. I really enjoyed farming but it took up a lot of my time and I can't find a better time to stop than now, as a new 'resolution'.

- Lose weight... looks like this is a 'forever' resolution and never kept. **shame**

- Eat healthily. More roasting, grilling and greens. Less 'wokking' will also keep my kitchen clean.

- Be more patient with Amber and stop to listen instead of shouting to be heard :o

Here's wishing everyone a fantastic year ahead !!