Lantern Play at Home

**photo post**


We had a small do at home couple of weekends ago for Amber's kindie mates and since the Mid Autumn festival was drawing near..the kids played lantern too.

I lor mai fan, curry chicken, fried noodles and boxing chicken. The chicken seller at the market was kind enough to boxing up the little drummets when I told her I wanted drummets for party. She said it's easier for kids to eat and looks good too.

Our friends brought some mooncakes to share :D

 

I prepared some jelly deserts and Amber helped me ice the cupcakes

 

The mummies, daddy and kindie principal. Packet drinks for kids and beer for us :D

 

I asked the principal's kids to help the younger ones start the lantern party.

Then, we had face painting ! This is soooo fun ! I got the face crayons from a party pack shop at Ikano. Hubs saw and knew it would be a hit with the kids and it sure was !!!

 

Amber's kindie principal and her charges.

The kids had a real good time and watched Avatar while the adults yakked !

ROOOARRRR !!!!!!! HISSSSSSS!!!!!!!!  Amber doing her thing .

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This year will be Amber's lasts year at her kindie. We plan to send her to a chinese based kindie next year and we hope she can keep in touch with her friends.

How To Kill A Snake ...

You should not.. really !

One crazy afternoon, with one crazy news after another, I put Amber to bed and went down to make myself a cuppa coffee. Instead of heading to the kitchen, I walked to the living and looked to my front gate, to check on the weather. I was hoping it won't rain as the temples will be praying for Amber that same evening (another story - Amber had recurring nightmares and her por-por consulted the temple, was told some dirty spirits were disturbing).

I saw something awkward among my curtain/sheers skirting.. for whatever reason, it caught my attention and at closer look, I thought I saw a SNAKE !!!  I had to look hard, snakes are so clever at disguising themselves to the surroundings.

I called to my helper to check again and she jumped at the sight of snake. Called hubs and he asked me to call the Bomba. Very clever of him to shove responsibility. I didn't think a small snake (around 2 feet long??) warrants a call to the Bomba. I asked my helper if she's gutsy enough to kill it. My instant thoughts was Amber's safety and killing it made most sense. I cannot imagine what'll happen if Amber was watching tv in the living room and saw the snake.. sigh...

We went to the kitchen to look for tools... my helper found a dry mop with a flat base and I have the cangkul in hand... armed with our lifesaving tool, we started our mission.  My helper pounced on the snake with the mop and the snake hissed. mouth ajar.. she pounced harder and pressed on it. I used my cangkul to hack the snake but it won't break. 

Panic.... 

What shall we do with a snake which wouldn't die ??? I dare not hack too hard, in case my floor tiles cracked.

In quick thought.. I told my helper to soldier on.. keep pressing down on the snake.

I boiled a kettle of hot water and poured down the snake. Gory .. but EFFECTIVE !!!

The snake shrivelled immediately and died.

Sorry Mr Snake.. I shouldn't have killed you and the fortune teller told me recently snakes visiting your home indicate good fortune flowing in,  if I didn't kill you but shooed you away.. good fortune will flow into my home ..   :(  Too bad, Amber's safety is my first priority !

Angry Street

This is not the real thing but oh well... too cute to give it a miss !

Amber jumped on the Angry Bird bandwagon craze too. She has the Angry Bird lanterns, stationery, stickers, and tee-shirts but it's daddy and mummy whose crazy over the game. Hubs will hog the Angry Birds Rio and I play the Angry Birds Seasons on our family iPad.

I went to chee-cheong-kai ,, aka Petaling Street today to get some Angry Bird lanterns and I was looking around the street stalls for Angry Bird tees. Almost got conned by this :

I thought the yellow bird looks a tad furry but the guy told me it's the REAL THING.... he said.. neh.. the yellow bird.. can shoot and accelerate fast fast wan.. LOLOLOL  !!!!

I realised this is hybrid of Sesame Street and Angry Bird.  Very cute, nevertheless.

You'll never know what you can find in Petaling Street, till you step foot into the labyrinth of good food and imitation products.

Daddy's Helping Hand

She asked to go a playground where she could climb the ropes. 

We scratched our heads and cannot remember which playground had the ropes and Daddy took us for a long ride and after 2 searches.. we found the playground at Ampang Hilir that has the rope pulley.  That really shows we lazy parents hardly bring her to parks. 

Last Sunday, Daddy took her to the playground and assisted her in her play.

 

climbing up the ropes..

see saw....

and up the monkey bars...

whilst I lazed around.. too lazy to play 

Some  tasks are better handled by fathers :D

One Step At A Time..

Close friends knew I had some issues with my kid, her school and childminder recently until we hired a home helper.

We've been spending more time with Amber since our helper came on board. More quality time, that is, going to the park, reading, watching movies together and basically just activities together with here as opposed to previously, spending time together was being together but doing different things, hubs with his work, me with my endless housework and she, screaming for my attention by doing things that annoys me and what should have been a beautiful evening together turns out like a volcano erupted.

Jaclyn sent me an article that Mamapumpkin wrote.  I got hubs to sit down and read the article, line by line, and we both agree we have done more wrongs than rights and we could do a lot better rights moving forward. This article was an awekening for us. Nobody said parenting was easy. Scolding and caning is bullying. If we don't make it right now, we'll pay the price later. 

We make changes, a little at a time. I take responsibility for primary care, ensuring she is fed, clean and comfortable while hubs steps in on situations that calls for a stern voice. We practised.. no shouting.. but firm reminders, over and over again.  

Baby steps.. we'll get there.

Manuka Honey Is Good For You

I went on a Manuka honey buying frenzy today. Isetan KLCC had a special offer for only RM99.95 per jar of Manuka Active 20+. The normal price is RM158 and I took opportunity of this good buy to stock up !! Everyone was buying a few jars each and I think this is a good testimonial on the goodness of manuka honey.

 

Amber is a fussy eater and always lack of appetite (being allergic to the egg, dairy and yeast makes her situation worst, lack appetite and lack of food choice, sigh !!). My sister in law advised me to give Amber 2 spoons of Manuka honey daily. I find it helps to improve her appetite and keep her healthy. I was a bit under the weather recently, I took a scoop of undiluted Manuka Active 20+ and  I feel energized almost immediately :D

You can get more information on Oregan Manuka Honey from their website. Open the jar and you can see very 'active' honey, smells good and tastes great. Manuka doesn't leave a strong sweet aftertaste like other honey but if I have sore throat, I take a scoop, undliluted,  I can feel the undiluted manuka honey  'arresting' my throat, as if the antibacterial properties are working at healing the infection. 

The healing properties of Manuka honey. I vouch it works :D

Lor Mai Kai

Lor mai kai is our family favourite and I always have a stash in my freezer, for just-in-case occasions when Amber is hungry and wants a little bite.

Since she is only allowred very limited food due to her allergy condition (no eggs, dairy, yeast and fungus, including mushroom), I try to suit her palate and cook extra of her favourites.

I have a very simple lor mai kai recipe :

 

Glutinuos rice - 250 gm, soaked overnight and steamed for 30 minutes

Deboned chicken thigh, sliced to bite size portions, marinated with ginger juice, oyster and soya sauce and dash of sugar

Char siu slices

 

Sauce for rice - 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon cooking oil, 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce and dash of chinese rose wine (mei kuai lu)

 

Stir over steamed rice

Place a slice of chicken and char siu over aluminium cups and top with premixed steamed glutinous rice

Steam over rapid boiling water for another 30 minutes.

Tadaaaa .......

 

A small portion of lor mai kai.. just perfect for supper.

 

80 sen a diaper

Amber's on Mamy Poko every night. Blame it on the lazy mom and dad's whose too lazy to move our butt to wake her up to wee wee.  However, lately, she's been waking up at 2am or 3am to go toilet.

By morning, her diaper is dry. We reward her 80 sen for every dry diaper. I gave her the liberty to choose what she wants to buy with her money. She bought a 'chop' . ie rubber stamp from Populars and she's saving more to buy Wrigley's chewing gum :D

I hope she keeps it up and be confident enough to go diaperless soon :D

Sorry for kissing your butt!!

Something really stupid happened today. I had to be out of the house for some reasons and I had no idea where to go. In my mind , I wanted to go for a facial but have no a place in mind. I called hubs to chk tomorrow's schedule, if we were gg Ikano and if we were, then I wouldn't go there today. My mind was hazy and while plugging on my handsfree at a stop junction, I didn't realize my car was not in complete stop, still in D mode.


KRANNNGGG!!!!

I kissed the butt of a black Perodua!!

S*** !!!!! We both got down and the driver was a middle aged lady. I apologized profusely and requested to stop somewhere safe so we don't block traffic behind us.

The lady got down and assessed the damage, minor scratches to her paintwork but my front bumper was dented. She said it's ok but I volunteered to pay and gave her my number.

2 hours later, while I was having my facial done, I received 4 missed calls from her, then came a message: Repair RM120, pls pay o/wise I'd have to make police report.

Kinda pissed me, I sincerely wanted to pay her, she needn't threaten me w a police report. I could have ignored her as I don't think there was grounds to make a police report. She didn't know my name or took any photo. Would the police be bothered w such remeh temeh claims ?

She'd probably think I was scooting off when I didn't pick up her call.

Anyway, I transferred RM120 to her bank ac asap. A cheap price to pay for a reminder to be more alert when driving.

Me, The Medicine Man

Been feeling under the weather lately. Stressed or dunno what.. I can't exactly pinpoint out. Not sleeping well and Amber's nightmares ain't helping either. I engaged a helper and things around the home have to change. Schedule need to be in placed, fridge needs to be stocked up, food labelled and house rules set in place.

I don't embrace change easily. In fact I hate changes especially nail biting ones, like engaging a new helper, changes in Amber's schedule or changes at work. It stressess me out !!!!

I had sleepless nights and the worst was after a few rounds of coffee from a nights out with friends. I stayed up till 3am .. typing out helpers schedule, dos and don'ts and house rules. Having made mistakes with my Cambodian maid before, this time I wanna set things right.

Sleepless nights + stress from re-organizing the household = Anxious Me !

My body was weak, vision blurred, mind blur and part of my face was numb. Hubs was worried about hypertension and quickly got my blood pressure checked from the home bp monitor.

Turns out.. I'm not hyper but have hypotension

and I googled.. classic symptoms of low blood pressure include :

Changes in mental status (difficulty concentrating, confusion) or a sense of "impending doom" or anxiety


...ooopps....

gotta boil some red date water and nourishing soup tonight.

and that is me.. being my own Medicine Man.