2012 is here already!

Well, wasn't the movie 2012 here already way long ago? It's the actual year itself and we are all looking at another good year ahead, totally brushing off any fear of any sorts.

But I'm still stuck at my old nest, target to move before the new year begins failed! It's gonna be very messy moving home when school starts, and we were to go back to Ipoh a week before the cny eve for a relative's wedding and then another trip back for cny itself. That's really coming very very soon and I'm a nervous wreck thinking about it. Nonetheless, excitedly looking forward to it.

With a brand new awesome white kitchen, my resolution is, of course, to cook more, hold more parties, and elsewhere, to teach my children more, sew more, and pamper myself more. And certainly, to make love more!

It's gonna be good, happy 2012 to alll of you too!

A weekend break in Ipoh.

Live blogging from Ipoh!

I am here to attend a cousin brother's wedding and hours after arriving, I only realised I forgot to bring back my evening dress. Had no choice but to find a new one for myself, I swear I didn't forget on purpose *wink*. The new one is absolutely stunning and you bet I'll be camwhoring during the dinner tomorrow night!

As the dinner is on a workday, hubs had to return by himself just an hour ago on the train, while I am stuck at my inlaw's for 2 more nights. Tomorrow would be a full day, so I'm not worried at all, but the minutes after he left, I felt...kinda empty! I so wish to go for a drink or two with a friend or more, but I also feel I should be staying put to be the "guai-guai" daughter inlaw here. Sigh!! Certainly more freedom if I'm at my own parents home.

Last evening after dinner, it was a movie night with hubs, having planned earlier with his cousin sis to get our tickets in advance. Sure sold out and no way I would get those tickets if we waited till we get home. It was a very enjoyable movie, I was totally smittened by Tom Cruise in his reprise role as Ethan Hunt, ogling at him the whole way through, never mind if the whole plot is so lack of sense. I am looking forward to watch my the other idol from next week as well.

Oh, did I mention I was here too for a gathering with old high school friends? It was weird it was held in a karaoke joint when the music was blasting away while there wasn't anyone singing but shouting on top of their lungs to catch up with each other. However, I had fun singing the latest hit songs mostly while the rest ate, chat, take pictures to upload to fb and the rest, to try having a great time? I don't know! What I know is I was so backdated by how things work around in karaoke. There are Wii games to play in the room and a computer for people to log in to the internet too. Whole family package entertainment! Maybe I shall suggest to hold didi's birthday party in a karaoke room next year since his birthday will fall in the CNY week. The kids would surely be thrilled while we would be entertained fully with their rapping! *gasp*!!

Argh! Bedtime, please come early, the boredom is gonna kill me, but lucky I still have neighbor's wifi to login.

Koh Samui preview

I almost could have turned back to KL at Koh Samui's airport on departure day.

That was when the immigration officer at KL told me my passport's expiry date is just less than 3 months away. I had thought it should be ok since it's so near, duh!

It was a worrying 2 hours plane ride, but nevertheless, I was passed through without any hitch at all. Thank goodness!

The airport didn't look like one, it looked more like a holiday resort to me! You just have to go there and see for yourself. It's so different and lovely, absolutely starts the holiday mood straight away!

Meanwhile, I'm back home and VERY busy trying to get things in place for the new home to be ready. I so wanna move right now cause even the current kitchen's light has gone awry and it's dark day and night in the kitchen. I have no mood to cook at all right now! Argh!!!

Scholastic Book Buffet experience.

It's the first time I ever heard of a book buffet!

How it works, you buy a bag for RM49.90 and you are allowed to stuff as many books as you can into the bag for a time limit of 15 mins.

I would have thought such a small bag would get me 5 or 6 books, but look at this!

23 books! Interesting.

Now we can all have these books as dinner. Yummy!

Sale sale sale!!!!

Love the shoes!!

And the clothes for korkor, didi, meimei and papa.

Some new earrings for my increasing vain-ness.

A pair of boxers for papa.

Papa's much longed-for memory pillow.

Total damage = close to 1k!! *gasp*

Bad Bad Sales!

End of the year activities

Ooh wow! December already! And blink an eye again, it's gor-nien again loorr...

We are so gonna be busy for this whole month! For one, hubs and I would be going for a short break, sans the kids. I feel so awful leaving them behind, really I do, I do, I do... so, the most I could try to make it easier this time is to leave them with their favorite gadgets in their own familiar nest. Anyway, 2 nights would zoom by real fast, huh?

Then, there would be some lunch gatherings with some girlfriends, all from the high school. One in KL, another one in Ipoh. Whilst in Ipoh, 1 of my other 3 cousin brothers (whom still haven't tie the knot yet among MANY cousins) is gonna get married and how could I miss this chance of a family get-together? I indeed look forward to it.

After which, we are going to have a night at PD before the new year begins, but on top of everything else, the highlight of December? We are going to move to our brand new home! Looking at the way things are looking, I'm doubtful but still hopeful. *fingers crossed*

In the meantime, I have bought the new year clothes for the family *happy*, and need to wrap all their books before school starts, need to buy their school uniforms (the old ones are all worn out and BLACK!) and school stuffs, need to pack ALL OUR THINGS for moving home!!! See? Think also felt exhausted already!

I think the next thing I'm gonna do is to go to salon instead. To ensure I have good hairdays ahead, what else!

Nature's display of light

One fine evening, I was driving meimei to her class amidst the after-working hours traffic chaos. Nothing unusual, every week is the same, but that day, the sky was unusually beautiful. Lucky I was carrying my camera with me that particular day. I was snappy-happy for the whole crawl.



When I saw the above, I said to meimei "look! isn't that beautiful?" She replied me "yeahhhh... it looks like a giant torchlight in the sky". I have to agree with her. :)

Toy story

Feeling proud with her expanded "family members" now, she gathered them up to take a family picture together. *roll eyes*

I think it's still cute to see her playing with her little toys, (7yo? you think I'm weird?) but seeing all her toys everywhere around on the floor ALL THE TIME is driving me nuts!!!!

I just gave her the ultimatum! I'm gonna throw them all out to "fan kai" if she still doesn't keep them when we go out or at night before bedtime!

Picnic at TTDI Park

Last weekend, a friend sms-ed me to ask if I want to adopt a new hamster (I think) as hers gave birth to a few babies itself. I declined with the excuse I was worried I would "murder" it for forgetting to feed it. She replied my sms asking me if I wanna join her for a picnic on Sat early morning at TTDI park with another friend. I replied back ok, thinking it's not nice to decline a second time, right?

Anyway, I thought I owed it to the kids to bring them out and enjoy the early morning sunshine during their school holidays instead of sitting at home, wasting the whole beautiful morning lazing around on the bed. After all, the whole week was just frantic running around doing chores and errands. They were so bored to death. Though I always tell them now(copying the principle from another blogger) that only boring people would feel bored.

As my friend asked me to bring something along, I had only thought of sausage and egg sandwiches. Then we lugged the whole prop of stuffs, picnic mat, picnic utensils, coffee, milo, bike, balls, ooh~ though simple, it was actually kinda fun!

TTDI park is a really good place to have a picnic with all the greens and shades around. We could sit there and chat till almost noon without feeling the heat so much, while the kids are safely around playing their own games and the papas hover around to attend to them. It was bliss! (though the hubs won't probably enjoy themselves that much!)

I think next time I ought to force the hubs to go jogging with the boys while I sit and chat with my friends. He surely needs the exercise!

Her first Rhythmic gymnastics classifications

After going for practices once a week for this one whole year, she was finally graded for all she had learnt. It was held by the teacher's (which was roped in by the school) club, to find their best gymnast to compete in the next level of rhythmic gymnastics between clubs.

For all my concerns, I just wanted to expose her to it and probably know where she stands after what she had learnt so far. After all, we have assessments all our lives, haven't we?

Never had I thought, it was so much more than that! There were rehearsals for the grading, it was a full day, I had to send her over early in the morning, I had to put make up for her, her hair should be all tied up in a bun, and we had to be there at the end of the program to receive the cert on stage. Oh wow! It was all so overwhelming.

What surprised me more was the enthusiasm shown by the girls' mothers at the event, all came fully prepared in full force to support their child, with the whole range of make up boxes, make up remover and ornaments, leotards, what have you!

I felt so out of place! I just hurriedly put on some simple make up for her and off we went to the event, without lugging anything along! And I think meimei also felt under-dressed! She looked so forward to own one of those beautiful leotards too, but what the shiats! It costs a bomb! A new one fetches a price for RM500+ but there were second hand ones which could probably be half the price. I had to avoid lingering around the table that lays the stuffs for sale in exorbitant prices, but in the end, gave in to a hairband for the bun at RM20!!! darn!

Seriously, it seems to me, it was getting a little bit out of hand. Initially when she was asked to join the team, I had thought, why not, since it's free and she could learn to cartwheel and somersault. But now, she told me she wants to do really well, she wants to shine, she wants to take part in competitions. (so she could don on the leotard) I think it's scary!

But am I crazy? Shouldn't we be aiming for the stars? Isn't it an honor to excel in something so beautiful? I think all the gymnasts really did so beautifully well on the carpet. They put on their best foot forward, but how much the parents are pushing them to go beyond their limits, I have no idea.

Anyway, I only hope my little girl does not pressure herself too much. She did a great job in achieving a merit score of 6.85/10, to me it indeed is. I was beaming with pride though the rest scored way better than she did.

One of the school holidays went like this.

I don't know about you, but for the first week of school holidays, I'm having FUN! Not!

It's just been hellish rushing around, chauffeuring, shopping, cooking, errands..

It was particularly crazy on Tuesday. Early morning, I rushed the kids to wash up and brought them out for a quick breakfast. Then, I got caught in the early morning rush hour traffic, miles away to a school to send meimei for her gym's exam's practice. Then I came back near home to send the boys to their classes, and off to my yoga class. Well, at least, I had my 1 hour of "me" time to relax and stretch.

After the 1 hour good sweating, I went home to grab some stuffs I totally forgotten I should have taken with me. After which, I went to the post office to run an errand. While Q-ing, the phone rang and a friend told me that she had already picked her daughter up from that school (same practice as meimei's), darn!

Quickly, I sped off to those another hundred miles away to collect her, while worrying for her all the way. I managed to call the teacher and she told me, that's ok, there are still many people around there, and she was still around to continue with the older girls.

Halfway, the phone rang and it was meimei. She called me from a friend's mom's phone and said that she was waiting for me and that she could go home already. I felt so relieved hearing her voice, and I told her I was on the way and that she should not walk out to anywhere by herself. God! How grateful I felt hearing she's ok!

After taking her safely with me (not that it was unsafe, but for a 7yo girl to be on her own, even though there were many other parents and little children around, in an unfamiliar place, it still sounds pretty scary to me) I went off to collect the boys again. Initially I wanted to take the boys first and then only to pick the girl up, but the phone call had changed my plans. It was better to leave the boys in a locked room with their teacher.

We then had our late lunch at 2pm, then we went off again to the same post office that I was supposed to be at, to post an all important letter. After it was done, *whew, that was another task ticked off the list*, we went to the library to return the books which were overdue. Paid the fine and borrowed some new books again, then off to the groceries store.

I promised the kids I would be getting some vegies only, and they knew if I had stopped to buy the fish, it would take a long time, waiting for the fish to be cut and cleaned. I took a tub of ice-cream home, for pampering myself and the kids later on. I so needed that!!

After paid and lugged all the bags to the car, I went to see hubs' aunt to collect something, and man! she kept on and on and on, ranting, talking, complaining to me. By the time we got home, the ice-cream almost melted. Eh? Another case of melted ice-cream?

And so, that was my crazy fun filled day. The rest of the days, I don't need to mention, it was running around too, either for this or for that.

Turning 7 finally!

She had been counting down to this day since like forever!

Finally, it was here and I lavished on her a little party by the pool a few days before (with guests she chose herself), and her birthday wish on ANOTHER Barbie doll again with few cute clothing to change into.

Her papa surely thinks that it's a waste of money buying toys (7 yo still playing barbie doll meh?), especially these kind of toys. To me, how many more years she would like Barbie dolls leh? She yearns for it so much, so just pamper her la. After all, it's only once a year!

Come to think of it, she reminded me of myself. I love playing with paper dolls when I was small too. But those days, we don't have the luxury of these lovely awesome beauties. We could only draw and cut them out to play with it.

I told myself, later we would sew some clothes ourselves for her dolls. Later later....

How the kids fared in school for the year.

It's the year end, and the dreaded school holidays soon. It's also when the report book would be sent back for the year's review on the kids' performance in the school. Can you hear my heart bok-bok-bok gum tiew? Surely not! As I'm cool, ok! (so fake!)

Well, I'm glad to announce, korkor finally made it to the top 2 classes next year, the esteemed, "jing ying pan", or loosely translated as "smarty pants class". Actually he could make it for this year too, but the principal reduced the number of these classes from 2 to 1. In 2012, he could only make it so, just because the principal flipped it back to 2 classes again. ha! So, it wasn't that a feat to shout about!

Anyway, I'm proud of my boy. Tracking on his progress from pri 1, he did make a remarkable improvement over the years indeed. And that is what I want him to experience... the joy of success! From his own hardwork and determination. But I could tell he's lacking again. I told him, I'm gonna be pushing him more next year, for him to see his own potential. This guy, needs to be pushed. And hearsay, the UPSR results is detrimental for some schools' entry requirements. Not that I care a lot about it, but then again, more choices is better than having less, no?

For the other 2, both of them have made an improvement from the first half of the year as well. They could have done better, but well, there are still many more years for them to do so. I feel a bit sorry for meimei though, almost all her friends are "upgraded" to smartass classes, and she would have to make new friends again. Then again, I'm not worried about that, as I'm sure that's her core! No fret about making friends for this little chatterbox! Her academic part, well, we shall have to work more on that next year!

Didi could have done much better though, his BM improved lots and I thought this time, no-die-ler! But unfortunately, his Chinese and Moral papers pulled his total marks far down, which was a surprise to me for the former (not the latter) had really been one of his strengths from the time he starts school. It was also because I wanted to "test water" and see how he would perform with a reduced tutoring lesson to once a week this year. Guess I couldn't afford that to happen. A price to pay, but well, that's ok, now that I know.

And that's the wrap up for the year. But the best thing of all? meimei learned a lot on rhythmic gymnastics and could toss and tumble around effortlessly. It's a joy to see her doing all those acrobatic stunts! And korkor was one of his class teacher's favorites and get to picked for all the experience in participating in all kinds of non-academic school activities. As for didi, he made THREE good buddies! Wow! Aren't all THAT enough to warrant a celebration right now?

A beautiful day that started like this..

I always wondered, what exactly happens when the car you are driving on a road, just ran out of the very last drop of petrol.

Last week, I finally checked that out. Even experienced it. Awesome!

My hubs have this habit of pumping in petrol after a long time the empty tank light is on, pushing the limit again and again. Somehow, this bad habit caught on with me, and I just hate it! All the time!

I do make an effort to change, unwilling to take the risk of getting into a fix, especially if there are kids in the car or worse, at night alone. But some of the times, my hubs been nagging at me when I pump in petrol way too early, for various reasons known only to him. Honestly, I don't mind him filling up the tank for me too, as I don't really quite enjoy stopping over at the gas station, getting out and doing all the hardcore, unladylike job while getting my make up and mascara messed up from all the exhaust fume around *roll eyes*!! But when I need to fill up, well, a woman got to do what a woman got to do... and even then I would try to do it without the kids in the car.

This time, the light came on on Friday and I thought I would be able to push it through to Sat, where I'll just sit back and relax while the hubs do all the job of running around and filling in air to the tyres as well.

But, he was apparently, VERY hungry on that fateful morning and told me to get some bites first. I obeyed, of course, as usual, and what the heck, before I know it, the car somehow felt "dead". I thought, "eh? why suddenly seifor?". It happened before, so I just brushed it off. Then after trying to ignite it back on again while the car was still cruising on its own, on a triple lane road and it failed me, only then the thought that the last drop of petrol ran out struck us!

At that time, it started to rain too, and hubs was all worked up! I slowly maneuvered to the left lane and then, both hubs and korkor went down to push the car to the carpark at the side of the road.

He went to check out what we had at that spot, and came back barking at us to get down to the roadside stall for roti canai first while we think of someone to SOS for help. I replied to him, I wasn't joining him until he could control his own temper and stop barking around. I was equally mad, but heck, I should be mad!

When we sat down and ordered our roti, I calmly thought about the friends I could call who stays around that vicinity. Finally, I thought of my yoga friend and she was ever so nice to be our savior! She came over and drove my hubs to the nearest gas station, which wasn't very far away, so he could tapao petrol in an empty bottle.

While he was away, I was actually enjoying the cool weather morning! In fact, I felt there were so many things that I felt relieved and lucky about.

Lucky I wasn't alone with the kids.

Lucky that didn't happen the day before while I was driving around in an empty tank light on, around in the traffic chaotic city center, with the kids!

Lucky it didn't happen either at the night before when I took the kids to their school by myself, for the concert.

Lucky it was raining, and we were spared from the hot humid weather next to a busy road.

Lucky it happened on that road where many gas stations were available.

Lucky I wasn't at the far right of the road.

Lucky when I was near to the left lane, a car vacated its parking bay, leaving me an empty slot to park my car temporarily in.

Lucky my friend was at home and able to help me out.

Am I so blessed or what, you tell me?

Then again, I pondered. Some might not be thinking of these positive things when landed in the same position. I guess it depends on what kind of person you are. It's always good to be looking at the bright side of things and finding that silver lining, even though, well, how everything just sucks! But, "this shall pass" and then, things would be fine again.

Having said that, I swore I'm NOT going to wait until the empty tank light turns on to fill it up, EVER!!!! It's a lesson learned and the risk not worth taking, the car DO DIE ON US, seriouslyl! NO JOKE, MAN!

11.11.11

... comes once in a hundred years? I'd say, it comes once in a purple moon.

So, having no reasons to fathiao, I took this darn excuse as one good excuse to put on some makeup in the early morning. After all, I need to try those products from Sephora that I brought home the other day sometime, eh? What I bought that day were just some foundation and powder, and *blink blink* fake eyelashes.

The foundation and powder are good, shall I say. It makes my face just glowed!Absolutely love it!

It's fun to color the eyelids, after getting some tips from the internet, in only a few simple steps. Believe me, I really can't make up myself well. I'm just too lazy to learn, practise and clean up. But after putting some colors on, I could see myself transformed A LOT! What a little touch up can do at this age!

Then, I went to camwhore a bit and post my pretty *ahem* face up in FB for my closer friends to see. I wasn't exactly fishing for compliments, (though some who did really made my day), but those who simply sabo just cracked me up! Really got to love them! And that started my day really well.

So much so, when I went out to run some errands, I get great parking spots, which are just right in front of where I wanted to go, in busy, double parked roads! It was just unbelievable! That's what strengthen my belief that vibes can really make a difference in your daily lives. If you bring your own mood up, you just see everything positive around you and great things do happen!

I wore the make up on for the whole day, korkor said I looked like a monster, which I laughed (the darndest things kids say) and his friend who came over thought I was about to go somewhere.

Anyway, I still prefer the "naked face" me, feeling lighter and cleaner, after I wash down all the powder and liquid. It's nice to be different once in a purple moon!

Not an everyday affair.

Today, I went for a kick-ass massage at MO hotel's spa outlet. It was so awesome that I could have signed up for their ceiling high price package if we hadn't been spending money like water these days for our home. I didn't even dare to look at the price tag, but I so wanna return to be pampered like that again.

For that pampering session, I would have given my hubs a good time tonight, if he had not been part of the reason I am stressed. Yeah, I am back to stress even after a good massage session. How not to when the work is in progress and everything needs immediate attention?

Anyway.

After the 1 hour taitai life, I walked all over KLCC, killing some spare time before doing my chauffeuring duty and eventually sauntered into KFC for the cheapest lunch deal available in that upmarket mall. Damn! Even the parking fees was more than what I paid for lunch. So un-taitai!

Then, I moved back to the 3rd floor to get a tub of New Zealand Natural ice-cream with the voucher we have. It was about time to get the hail out of there before another hour of parking applied, but the store Sephora caught my attention and I spent another 15-20 mins in there, quickly making a purchase and hurriedly go to the car before anymore damage is done.

The ice-cream was fully melted and blended from the 3 scoops of different flavors when I got home. What an ice-cream life!

Infected.

One fine evening, hubs came home and announced he needed to go see doctor. If you had known him, this sort of thing coming from him is a BIG thing. He wouldn't want to see a doctor unless he's really in pain or there was some serious issue. Or shall I say, he wouldn't want to pay to see a doctor....

Naturally, I jumped out of my skin and asked him (in a very concerned tone) what went wrong. He said his lump under his armpit was getting bigger and making him wincing in pain. Lump? This sort of word made my knees go weak, possibly more so at this age when we hear friends in our circles battling fights with lumps. I didn't hear him mentioning of anything before as well. Apparently he had it for 2-3 days and he brushed it off thinking it was nothing other than an insect bite or mosquito bite.

At that moment, I did feel very worried. Oh God! Though he made me wanna jump down from the window many times, I still feel he's a very big part of my life and I am not so ready to live without him around. I felt so sorry for all the anger I welled up in me from our fights and quietly prayed desperately that it wasn't a big issue, on our way to the clinic.

When the doctor saw him, he took a look at it and said "ah, this kind of "chong", you need to wait lor. Wait for the pus to form and then go for operation to picit the pus out and you will be ok again." *whew* I was really relieved. Thank God it was only a "chong".

Now that it was diagnosed as harmless, I could go and laughed at him for his misfortune. Little pain also can't tahan, kept wincing like a baby. But poor thing, he didn't sleep well because of the agony the little damn thing caused and his right hand had to be slightly away from his armpit else it would hurt. Damn funny looking at him!

And finally after few more days, the pus was formed and he did the "operation" himself, squeezing the pus out *ewwww...* and he was cleared. Good for him!

But not good for me. I wonder if it's karma. Now I feel some lump on my head at the back of my right ear and it's PAINFUL!!! *bawl*

Cinema in the car

The first screening.

With the iPad, and hooked on to a little mini speaker, the kids are good to go!

Better still travelling on long distances. At night. I'm impressed too! And both hubs and I get a quiet peaceful drive home.

I don't understand what magic spells the Phineas and Ferb movie - across the 2nd dimension, has though. They watched it for like, dozens of times and they still calling for me to show that movie again and again! Anyway, I love to hear them singing the songs with the characters with their little cute voices. THAT is magical to me.

Back to where I used to belong before.

After so many years, we went back to Penang for a round over the weekend. Papa had a wedding dinner of his ex-colleague and we tagged along for a night stay at the hotel. I would have liked to show my kids of the state where their parents met but all they were interested in were the tech gadgets. Heiz.. what boring childhood they have!

I wanted to show them the beauty of Gurney drive, where we stayed this time, the wonderful place where I remembered going when I was a kiddo, enjoying the sea breeze, while the adults chat and laughed while we munched on snacks sold along the pavement.

Unfortunately, I think it has really lost almost all its glory. At night, there weren't many people strolling or hanging around, well, maybe it was drizzling too, but I can't help observing there were people in the food court, and many were in Gurney Plaza. And there certainly not many couples seen at the other end of the it, where it was well known to be the pakthor place.

We had a very satisfying dinner by ourselves though, well, at Gurney Plaza, which wasn't part of Penang authentic food, but we did have a go at a traditional open air food court in the late afternoon with my aunt and uncle. We had lok-lok where the pot of boiling water is placed in the middle of the table and the owner would bring all the food on the table for us. Of course, charges are only for the number of empty sticks on the table. Didi said we could hide some of the sticks, but I told him, yeah, we could, but we won't, cause we are honest people, right?

An old friend of mine, very very old good friend, came by to met up and we just had a good time catching up. *wave* Hi, Siu Mun! 2 hours passed too fast, it was so good that it almost seemed to me that was the best part of my whole trip. In fact, it was!

I had other plans in mind to bring the kids to see the major tourist spots, like Kek Lok Si, Penang Hill, Botanical garden, Khoo Kongsi, of course, we won't be covering all in such a short time, but guess where we landed in eventually? None! blek!

The weather was just tooooo HOT! And we weren't dressed appropriately (lame excuse!).

So. Those ideas have to wait for the next Penang trip.

In fact, what I wanted to do the whole time there was just to lie on the bed and watched the movies I prepared for the trip. *guilty*

Anyway, we did get them to experience the ferry ride though, which we used to cross the straits to Penang. The trip home was via the Penang bridge route.

On the way back, before leaving Penang, we took 1 round USM. Oh, how I missed the place. I was awash with all the wonderful memories of those 4 years. The sidegate's 4th stall (which was long gone though), where we used to jam every night after lecture, desa aman, pusat kimia, the pool, guest house, red house, oh dear, red house was gone! I missed those fried squids! The food there was really good, that so very often, we felt it was worth the long and tiring walk up and down the hill for.

I guess while I was reminiscing the moments that was so part of me, the others in the car were oblivious to my thoughts that were running in my mind. I guess it's understandable, but I'm sure my friends from USM would know what I meant. I should have gone with them instead. If only there's a time where we can gather together and take a walk round the campus. It would be so much fun, I believe. We had a lot, a lot, A LOT of fun together during those years.

I wonder what the kids would remember of their childhood when they are all grown up. iPad and iPhone games only? Heiz.. I think mine is much more colorful than theirs even though I had no vacations other than Penang or KL when I was small.

Pleasure with cooking

After last night's "junk" for dinner, I do feel guilty and worked a bit harder to cook up a better one tonight.

Yong taufu is one of my favorite dishes to go with white rice. But the preparation is so much more tedious and takes up longer time. Then again, usually these kind of dishes are much more tastier and appetizing. Can feel the effort pays off when I sit down finally to enjoy my dinner.

I make the fish paste myself, scraping off the fish from its bone from ikan tenggiri. Very, very tiring work. I hate that part, but at the same time, I can't bring myself to buy those ready made paste from the market.

I like to add bits of spring onion into the paste, if it's not for my kids, I would have injected some bits of chillies into it, and if it had not been my fussy eater hubs who can detect the tiniest flavor of coriander leaves, I would have include them in it too. For tonight, I added some prawns.

There are just too many stuffs we can stuffed the paste in. Those I like are brinjals, long beans, chillies, taufu, wanton skin, taufu paper, taufu pok, ladyfingers... in fact, I like everything that are stuffed! But I can't do all as I have a picky family who have their own different favorites.

These are for the gravy. Could do with some lime juice, but I don't have any in my fridge, so this would do.
And, ta-da~ our dinner for tonight. *burp* I was full to the brim!

Your wish, my command

Burger for dinner? OK! If that's what you want...

And all of them were happy I delivered.

No fuss, need not nag them over and over to come over for dinner. And they finished their wholesome burger in less than half an hour as well. Isn't that good enough? Wonder how many days consecutively they can eat burger for dinner...

This' mine, purposely taken after the first bite. *burp*

Ninja burgers

Wonder most kids love burgers? Mine certainly do! They love McD, KFC, mommy-made, Ninja's pork burgers, any burgers would do. My hub love those sidewalk's Ramly burgers most. He would be searching high and low for them when we are at some places outskirts.

One weekend, the kids just bugged us and chant nonstop for Ninja burgers for dinner. Hiya... really farn!



When food came, they became raucous. Like cannibals. After finishing off theirs, they didn't have enough and want more, so they turned to us and asked for a bite. And they never stop at 1 bite! Poor papa, his burger was attacked by them as he was enjoying his, for it came later.

Have you tried this before? This Wednesday, I promised them burger for dinner. Ramly beef patty, from the supermarket's frozen food section. I don't know how to make them. Maybe one day, I'll try. When I have my brand new sparkling kitchen. *wink*

Lawatan ke Tugu Negara

The Education Ministry might want to incorporate more landmarks into their syllable, as proven not only me, there's another silai who also gungho brought her whole family gang to visit Tugu Negara to show her son the real thing after her son learnt it in his BM textbook. Co-incidentally, it was on the same day! They went in the morning while we trotted over in the mid afternoon.

I remember when we were young, we loved to go there with our cousins and relatives when we were in KL. Guess KL at that time wasn't as happening as now. Of course, we were so pokkai we can't afford to go anywhere else too. Anywhere free of charge would be best! Then again, those days, we don't need to rely on where we were to have fun. Just the company alone was great fun.
The National Monument makes a very nice backdrop for a picture indeed. No wonder tourists are flocking over to see it. It's truly Malaysia.

After coming home, I wanted to take the kids to more places like these (FOC) for the year end, maybe Putrajaya, the refurbished Science Center (need to pay, but hey, the entrance fee is cheap), Sekinchang, hiking....we shall see!

The day before final exam

After late breakfast, we guai-guai went back home and did some final revision run for the BM paper. Here they were, doing their work I assigned them.

Didi writing a novel, in BM.

Meimei wanting to draw that picture..

.

Korkor reading story book! WHAT?? story book?? He's damn confident, I tell you. And I'm not pushing him much too. As long he's reading a book, I think it's good enough.

After couple of hours, as I promised, I let them ride bicycle, and took them to see the Tugu Negara! It seemed to be a nice day without too much sun, and very windy. I thought it would start raining, but no, it didn't. Nice.

Meimei learned about the National Monument in her BM textbook, and I do think nothing beats than letting them see the real thing. Furthermore, it's a good opportunity to test the new tripod and camera! So, there we were, them running wild in the open while I happy happy take pictures, playing with my new toy. It was fun! But still hot, even though the sun wasn't shining too brightly. That was our Sunday, before they sit for their first paper. Hopefully, at least a question would appear on Tugu Negara, and that would be their passing mark!

A picture of Tugu and the question is to bina ayat. Didi writes "Tugu Negara dibina untuk mengingati jasa pahlawan-pahlawan yang gugur" (as written in the shrine). Wahlao wei... kasi markah bonus!

Mommy kept taking pikcha of me!

While I doing my art! Annoying doe sei....

Tough week for us.

See the 3 huge tears on his cheeks? Can't see? Well, you certainly need glasses like I do then.

This week had been so tough for us both. I found out on Wed he had some red writings on his Buku Catatan. Red is not good!

So, he had not finished his homework, disturb his classmate and punished to write "I cannot disturb my classmate" (in chinese la) 10 times, ting-xie all worsened, and... the lackadaisical attitude of his? Just makes me go crazyyyyy!!!!

At the end of the day, tucking him to sleep, we hugged and prayed. Pray he will turn out ok.

My boy, how my heart pained each time you misbehaved and I had to punish you for that.

:(

Snippets of home.

Kitchen, where I slave most of the time.

Books for decoration purpose.

Alcoholic beverages, for drinking, obviously.

Little people playing some music when we are asleep.

Some of the origami works produced by didi.

Some cute stuff for holding tissue box.

Masterpieces by them!!!

Nice??

Our favorite high-tea in Ipoh

It has got to be this kopitiam along Gunung Rapat main road.

They serve a variety of stuffed items, fish paste are made by their own. My absolute favorite would be the fishballs, and a newly variation of it now is the fishballs with bits of coriander leaves mixed in it. Absolutely fantastic!

The queue can go up to waiting for more than 20 people to be served first before you, depending on the season. Long weekends or festivals, definitely spill-out crowd.

I love the drinks they serve here too. The soft touch is that it's cooked rather than those normal packs or cans which can be conveniently bought from giant hypermarkets. My pick would be the kedondong drink AND the red bean dessert. Hubs usually asks for the barley soya with pakkor. We would then share among ourselves and fight over the last sip.

That's the recipe for success! People are just coming back for more. Both my hubs and I are certainly part of them!

It's located near the wet market of Gunung Rapat and opened from noon till... well, I think the food runs out, like maybe 3? Let me know if you can't find it still, I recommend some other place for you in Terengganu! (So you go play far far and don't hog the kopitiam when we go back!)

Happy camper, I surely am one!

I have 2 new babies recently, and for these, I am so in love with my hubs!!!!

One of them was the one I mentioned sometime ago, something which some crazy readers thought it could vacuum and process food (what does go on in their minds?? *looking for a fight*)

So far, I made soya bean drinks, peanut dessert, black sesame dessert, lots of red dates and 5 other stuffs from the chinese herbs stores, absolutely turning out awesome! I love the new baby very much.

And just last week, I finally had the Sony NEX interchangeable lens camera. My parents and kids asked why I do need another new camera when we can take pictures with the iPhone and iPad. How do I explain about the love of a hobby? People should be passionate about their own hobbies! That's the key to living a contented and happy life.

Now, I just need to have the 3rd baby I am so craving for.... that one, I need someone to help me carry it from the US. Can anyone help? *sob* baby, how much I want you....

My miscarriage in 2001

The other night, I recounted the ordeal I had before in 2001 to korkor.

We were in Taiwan before he turned 1, and during the last few weeks, I discovered I was pregnant. I saw some spotting later and a visit to the doctor told me the devastating news that the baby had no heartbeat anymore. I held my tears in front of the doctor and couldn't help breaking down right after I stepped out of the clinic.

I cried till my eyes were numbed while hubs went back to work. I never felt so much sorrow before, and there were noone to help ease my feelings apart from korkor who was surprisingly better behaved that afternoon. I always thought he sensed I felt sad and didn't make any fuss before his sleeping time (for the first time!)

We then started packing our bags and stuffs and I was busy moving around till the day we flew home.

We celebrated korkor's 1st birthday together with family on that Sat afternoon and took 2 other kids to jalan-jalan at Jusco. Halfway walking around, I felt some sensational pain in the tummy area and urged hubs to go home, leave the kids to our moms and go see doctor. Can't wait till Monday.

The pain was getting more intense as we went around, but the bleeding couldn't wait till we reach the hospital. I felt the sudden outburst of big lumps of blood gushing out from my you-know-where while in the car, and hubs didn't know where ISC was! I panicked but still managed to compose myself to direct him the way anyway. I dared not look at the car's cushion.

Eventually, I was lying down on the bed in emergency room, the 2nd time after a year plus ago, at the same A&E. I asked for the doctor I know from that 1st time, and very soon, she was right in front of me. She asked me if I knew her, I think she was surprised that I asked for her as she didn't recognize me as one of her patients.

I told her about the story of my life (which was cut rather short) and she asked if I felt dizzy. I told her no and she replied, good.

As the doctor and nurses went about doing their "stuffs", I took a look (for the first time) on the blood I was in. What I saw really shocked me. The level almost covering half of me! Awhile later, I felt dizzy and I quickly told the doctor who was beside me all the time. When she heard that, she sounded anxious and barked at the nurses to STAY with her and assist her urgently. She said she needed to do the D&C right there instead of the operation room, without the anesthetic.

It was a very uncomfortable experience as I felt like someone using a high suction power vacuum to suck the placenta out of my private part, but it was a huge relief when it was out. She told me to hang on as she did it a 2nd time and finally I was relieved of the ordeal.

I still needed to be anesthetized for the doctor to "clean" me up. While I was still conscious, I cried and asked the doctor why this happened, if it's because I did something wrong, or ate something not right. She warmly consoled me that this wasn't my fault and these things do happen.

When I was unconscious, I remember I had this feeling of lying down in a water tunnel sliding backwards, facing up. I then saw a light at the end of the tunnel and felt a very vague glimpse of my unborn child, bidding farewell. It was probably my imagination, but that was what I remembered in my state of unconsciousness. When I was conscious again, I saw hubs in front of me. The first thing I asked him? Did I receive any blood? I did not want to have Aids! Crazy thoughts running in my mind!

Then I asked him why he was inside the operation room. He said the doctor allowed him to go in and see me, and she said I was feeling very bad about the miscarriage, that he might like to console me. How thoughtful of her.

I stayed in hospital for 1 night, and that night, I felt very thankful I am still alive and still around to take care of korkor. That experience had scared the shit skin out of me, so I am more wary from then on.

My 4th baby.

When I was young, I had wanted and imagined, I will have 4 children. 2 boys and 2 girls. Perfect!

But, now that I'm in my 40s, I don't think it's possible to realize it anymore. Not only the age is a factor, but raising up another kiddo in this age is an entirely different story.

Everything is getting expensive. Not only we need to provide the 4th child with the basic necessities, there's the nurturing, the education fund, the bringing up part... I'm already way too exhausted with these 3. And I'm very contented and happy to have these beautiful children, born perfectly without any deformities and average intelligence. They bring me much happiness, joy and pride that no other ways would (though there are some bad days!). So that's pretty good enough.

I had also thought out what the big gap it is between the 4th bb and us. Not easy when she is in the teenage years, struggling to cope with the mixed feelings. Probably the korkors and jiejie would be too busy paktoh-ing to entertain her. I say it's her, because I wanted to have another girl than a boy. But how would I know I would be so lucky to get a girl, right?

Thinking of getting pregnant and having our settled lifestyles hauled upside down once again gives me the shivers. Then again, if it had really meant to be, I would still be embracing the baby with a warm heart. She's after all, my child, and a gift from heaven.

A night of good show.

We were invited to a fancy dinner function by some freaking mysterious investment group some weeks ago.

Everyone was dressed formally like VIPs. It was a mighty good show of the so called VVIPs' presence, like rich and famous people (whom I haven't heard before anyway), paparazzis hovering around clicking their cameras and shooting the video cam on them all, magic shows, lousy speeches, participants' testimonials, great giveaways of iPhone4, iPad2, cash, Macbooks, cars (wow!) and good food, good service.

Among those who gave their speeches, this funny joker who was introduced as the CEO or something, was reading word by word from a script without much confidence. Our friend said they had probably lift him somewhere around from Bkt Bintang just a few hours ago. He looked like a foreigner with a hawt look but didn't seem impressive at all.

The ambience looked a bit like those pyramid schemer's meetings, with half of the audience chanting some taglines out loud, but probably the difference is some are really loaded people, unlike those who pretend to be loaded (like us!).

That night, the only something new I learned or saw for the first time is beatboxing. You know what is a beatboxer?

Apparently, this little youngster named Shawn Lee is Malaysia's no. 1 in some nationwide challenge and no.9 in the world's. It was interesting for a short while, but after sometime, I thought it was too loud and noisy and partly irritating too. My hubs commented he sees didi in him! *jaws dropped* What can I say?

His performance with a violinist was pretty good, I'd say! I came home and google their names up to check them up!

Still, I went home knowing nothing about what they do and thinking the whole event was merely just a show, to lure greedy people putting more of their money into their bank accounts.

There are some good days, there are some bad...

This evening is one of those evenings I felt bad about being a mom.

Many months ago, meimei who used to be so much younger then, would be making a fuss when the korkor said something that doesn't even make sense but she make it deemed that he was talking about her.

After numerous frustrated occasions, we told her to learn to ignore him, and that he wasn't talking about her either.

It worked for awhile and he stopped annoying her and she, with all her cries (which can be really a big pain!)

Then, soon, came the nicknames calling and the challenge of see-who-can-come-up-with-better-names.

It annoys me to no end and eventually, one day, I put a stop to it, harshly!

The younger ones did stop but somehow, korkor, I can't understand why, just couldn't abide with my demand. He keeps on and on with this little nick for his little sister and everytime, she runs to me complaining about it, I would plead and beg him to please stop that.

I explained that it hurts her feeling, it hurts mine too, because names are precious gifts, the very first gifts parents give to their offspring and it has a special meaning. Each of their names were thought out thoroughly, to be made sure it is auspicious conferring to their birthdates and times.

I don't like it, in fact, I despise it when I was young when people call me by names other than my own. I don't even fancy giving myself another "christian" name, or for the sake of easy calling from my counterparts in US last time when I was working in Intel. I think they should just get used to calling my name or just call me by my surname if they wished (but I still find it weird that people would be calling me by that though)

So, he understood where my reasons lie in. Or so I thought.

This evening, I don't know why my temper flared, I was very angry when it happened again, and I scolded him even harsher than the last and belittle him in front of his siblings. I asked him how he felt when people call him by nicknames, he answered he didn't care. I felt hurt inside.

What he thought was that that his sister is being too sensitive and ought to be trained to feel nonchalant about these matters.

I told him, no, he's wrong. She's sensitive about this issue, that's ok, that's her and her character. It's not her problem, and it's not his job to so called "train" her up too. It's her feelings and her emotions and it's good that one has them rather than not to have them.

I went over and over lecturing him about this whole name-calling issue and eventually, I softened up and told him to go and say sorry to his sister and to tell her that he loves her.

When they were on their beds behind closed door, I could still hear them talking loudly. I could tell, korkor felt spiteful towards them and blame them for his scoldings that he got from me.

I felt very hurt and seriously, I hate myself as a mom! What am I doing to them? I seem to be creating more hatred among them! It's the last thing that any moms in this world would like to see!

After a long hour of me talking again, eventually, I told him "you must love your sister, your one and only sister in this whole world, in your whole entire life, no matter if you like it or not". Yes, I'm a dictator. I don't know what else to say or do anymore.

Sigh... I hate being a mom! But I love them all, with all my heart and soul, and I wish that they would grow to be close to each other even when they are all grown up later and lead their own lives. I so hoping I'm doing something right around here!

We are all money minded.

Since couple of months ago, I started giving the kids their monthly allowances or pocket money for them to make savings a habit.

They have 20 bucks each month and they are required to keep an accounts book on their expenses and a record of any other monies that they might get, like 10 cents for buying papa's newspaper, or finding a lucky 10 cents from a corner of our car or receiving 50 bucks angpow as bday pressie from popo etc.

Then there are some bonuses or deductions for their book keeping records exercise.

For making the effort and diligent in noting down the expenses and income.

For balance tally.

For saving all the money without spending any cents at all.

I told them, by the end of the year, they can spend 10% of their savings on whatever they want, and then maybe 10% doing some charity, and the rest to their bank account.

So, the kids have been getting rich, didi figured out not spending any money at all would be best, as he wouldn't need to write anything and another bonus for saving all his money. hmm... he's right, isn't he?

I suppose the plan can't be too perfect.

Then as time goes by, we are talking about paying for everything around here!

First, I was furious that didi had not been appreciating all his stationery I bought for him. So, I made it a house rule. I would only get their basic necessities for their schooling needs only once or twice a year, that's beginning and middle of the year. After which they have to buy whatever they need themselves from their own pocket money they saved. Like mechanical pencils (which keep disappearing), exercise books (which keep scribbled on for no kind of reason), pencil leads (which keep lying around on the floor waiting to be swept away), tumblers (which keep misplaced here or there somehow) and many others which they would have to take care and use wisely.

Once didi had no more leads, and wanted to take from korkor. They both fought and I played referee by saying korkor can sell one to him, if he needs it desperately. So korkor said ok, 1 lead 10 cents. Didi cried foul, saying that's too expensive. I told him, yeah, that's how things work. When there's a demand, anyone can ask for any price. He could have make money himself if he wants to. He reluctantly bought one from korkor and made sure he doesn't have any lead wastage. Sounds good, eh?

Later, while we were shopping, I asked him if he wants to buy some lead for himself. That time, he was more conscious of the price tag on all the different brands there are on the shelf. And he even started comparing those price with the bookshop's from his school, and think about which one is more value for money. Eventually, I showed him one pack of 4 cases which is a better value for money. Told him he needs to keep it safely and even make money if anyone wants to buy from him in desperate times, like he was before.

Another episode of charging money for some of their attitudes, which I am too exhausted to nag already, is when they spend more than 30 mins finishing their meals. Especially meimei. So, everytime they are over the allocated time, it's 50 cents. Another 10 mins, another 50 cents. Counts by the minutes, mind you, else how would they ever learn to eat faster! Meimei had so far, been poorer by few bucks from this whole exercise.

Last 2 days, after a whole 10 days off for the 2 younger kids, didi was VERY slow getting ready for school. I was too fed up again, and devised another punishment which includes money too! So I said, each morning, by 7.20, whoever holds up the rest of not leaving the house by that time, need to pay the other 2, 1 buck each! Wow! That sure made didi go so much faster!

But I wonder, with all these money talk and bargaining around the house, if there's any bad side effects not? Their eyes would only be seeing the $$ sign everywhere?

Sometimes, I tell them, family need to help each other too. If you feel like helping out without charging anything, you are doing a good deed and it's a favor that you would be appreciating when you need that back.

In the end, parenting is always so tough! Have to know where the balance is and don't tip over to one end all the time! That's the toughest part.

Naming each day

Yesterday, on a Tuesday, I was diligently tutoring didi and meimei at home in the afternoon.

Working on a question, didi had cracked his head and asked me if the answer he had is correct. I looked at it, and told him where the trick lied in. His eyes opened up enlightened and asked something about why the question is asked in such a way.

I was dumbfounded and said nonchalantly, that's because it's a tricky question, and today's a tricky Tuesday. His lips curved into a grin admist a long hour of strenuous revision with them. And then we went on naming each day as manic Monday, wacky Wednesday, freaky Friday, scary Saturday, sunny Sunday.....

Didi is mostly enjoying coming up with different ones that we have a good laugh about some of them and boy, I wonder how long this game gonna lasts as its not showing any signs of stopping. I had to threaten them that I will kick them out of my room if there were another word.

But yeah, it sure was fun and made them think of more words to follow the alphabets and name those 7 days. Maybe tomorrow I ask them to name the months also.

Smurfs movie

It was Sat night and we have 2 free ticket vouchers again. Almost every first Sat of the month, yeah~

We couldn't decide which movie to go to, Apollo 18? Contagion? Smurfs? Cars 2?

The review says that the first 2 are quite gross and not very suitable for young children. I was still undecided by the time I was at the counter buying the tickets, and made a hasty one at that last minute. Smurfs it was.

How do I find the movie? Really, it was the most boring show I had been to, but watching the 3 of them laughing their heads off was entertaining enough. Well, corrected, korkor says it should be just the 2 of them, he didn't laugh that much but still enjoyed himself.

It's amusing what kind of jokes to make them burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. Just the bad guy shooting off right into the dustbin is deemed funny enough. And it was the first time meimei watched the whole movie from beginning to the end, without falling into slumber at all. So I guess, it was all worth it.

When we got home, I was soooo dissatisfied with not even an ounce of movie entertainment for myself on a Saturday night, I then turned on a movie called Hanna just to get some kick, hopefully. At the end of the show, though the pace at times were quite kancheong, I went to bed feeling kinda disappointed with it's whole plot which didn't seem to make any sense at all. That was one constipated Saturday night I had.

Didi cycling on 2 wheels finally.

Didi did it! Cycling without the training wheels. On his own. 2 wheels. Precisely on 4 Sept 2011. Roughly 8+ yo. Wow!

Not very impressive, eh? Then again, who cares! Not like if he learned to do it at 3 then he's a genius. I just let him take his time and get on it when he's ready and feeling confident. A little bit of encouragement helped, and when he managed it, I asked him how he felt and he said he felt great. heh!

From our KLCC park venture last weekend, his training wheel has been annoying him as it was very flimsy. The next Sunday, I had his permission to take them off and dug out the tools to do the job. It was rather fun with him watching me working on it, like I'm so talented liddat! *ahem*

His ear's infection returned that weekend hotel stay and the doctor advised him not to swim for at least a month if possible, to avoid further infections as he's prone to that from his first one not too long ago. From then on, whenever the kids go for a swim, he would be playing badminton with me or his papa. I also realized he's getting much better playing than the last time (which seemed to be ages ago anyway). At least the RM30 fees I'm paying for his badminton 1 hour class a week in school pays off!

Seems like we should spend more time with them to parks for cycling activities and badminton games!

The weekend before

We stayed at Mandarin Oriental, KLCC. To put it not so nicely, we went "hoi fong".... with the 3 kids.

My hubs likes to buy these packages from hotels which offers a book of vouchers for a night's stay, meals, discounts and whatnots, which normally is valid for a year. We had stayed in a couple of them for these last 2-3 years, I think, and I had been wanting to post some of the pictures I took when we went for a short weekend break at the city just like that.

But this time, the only time, that I didn't bring a camera along and I was very regrettable about it!

It is a nice room, with a nice view of the KLCC park.

It is great to be walking out into the park and strut right into KLCC Suria mall without bothering about parking our car and paying for its expensive fees! I had waffles with 2 other girlfriends of mine and took the kids for a swim after that. All was well except the little baby girl, lollypop, was too exhausted from this long outing trip. (Sorry!)

Due to poor planning, it was to our surprise, full houses on each and every restaurants available in the hotel during dinner time! My gawd! There are really very very rich people in KL! OK, I know that fact way long time ago, but it still amazes me to see it in real!

So, after wasting our time looking for a table and didn't want to enter KLCC either, we drove over to Lot 10, braving ourselves for the long traffic snarl in the golden triangle. Couldn't find any parking lot but saw a spot behind the Starhill hotels, which looks like a dark alley to me, where to me, snatch thieves and muggers rule! I walked briskly along holding my 2 younger kids and barked at hubs when he was walking far away in front of me, oblivious to all these threats! Sigh! Men!

Do you know in Lot 10, at the basement, there's this food court which boasts of ALL the good street food in KL there are? I didn't know! And it was there for a long time already, apparently!

So I heard that the developer who revamped Lot 10 invited the best local food operators (not those branded known franchisers) there are in KL to open their business there but was rejected. In the end they agreed on a profit sharing basis and it was a huge success apparently!

I do not know the whole story, but it was packed with people that night! It was so difficult to find a table, for the 7 of us (my bro inlaw and his wife were there too). In the end, as it was slightly over dinner time, we found one at a corner and bought different types of food to share among ourselves. The pork knuckle was REALLY AWESOME! Eek! Again, I regretted not having the camera with me!

My bro inlaw and his wife then went to catch a movie at Pavilion while we just went back to retire for the night.

The next morning, it was a beautiful day, without the sun glaring hot on us, so we could go for a walk at the park. The 2 younger kids brought their bikes along and guess what? Bikes are not allowed in KLCC park!! Why?? Can you tell me why? I really can't understand why not.

Hubs and korkor went to buy breakfast back to the hotel while I send the 2 kids back first to have our shower. Then, the boys stayed in the room while I went for a quick shopping tour with hubs and meimei for, what does a holiday mean without any shopping goodies, right?

I was thrilled to find a nice comfy leggings from Uniglo, enough to make me happy for the day!

And that was our short weekend break in Mandarin Oriental, KL. A nice little treat for the weekend city break.You ought to try that too!

Not another one!

No la, not talking about THAT, if you are thinking about THAT!

The school's 1 week break was just over and guess what? I received another memo from school today announcing next week's 4 days' off for Pri 1, 2 and 3 for the upcoming UPSR exams for those Pri 6.

Then friday is Malaysia Day, which is a public holiday. And Monday is their school's special allocated special holiday. So that makes it 10 days front to back! Oh.My.God! *faint*

I would have loved to take the kids back to Ipoh or go somewhere for a holiday, if it hadn't been korkor who still needs to go to school for those 4 days. Guess who's sulking the most? *big grin*

Well, probably the long weekend, we might just be going balik kampung. Somehow, I missed my kampung. Seems like a long time since we last went back indeed.

Homework is not my job.

I really do get irritated when I hear about parents being too concerned over their kids' schoolwork, ting seah, spelling, ejaan and test results. To me, children should learn their responsibilities as students , to themselves and to their parents.

Homework? Is it more important to check if they had finished off all their homework and correctly as well, than to have them be alert in class and listen to what they need to do when they are back home and finish off that task BY THEMSELVES.

To me, homework is to teach them that it is their job. Their work. Not mommy's work or tutor's job to make sure they are up to it. Doing their homework by themselves teach about responsibilities.

Well, some parents think that it's very frustrating to get calls from teachers who complains their kids not finishing their homework. And perhaps very embarrassing? And that's the reason those parents prefer not to let them learn to take responsibility? Really? Which is of more concern, really?

The kids would just continue to rely on parents or tutors to ensure they do their work, and would hardly learn to do it themselves, I do believe.

So what if teachers come and complain? As a parent, that's when I punish really really hard if I hear or learn from their teachers that homework is not done. Still not doing it? Use other tactics. Hit where it hurts most. Reward them when they do well. And they WILL learn. Eventually. And that's the whole point of homework.

Do you check the homework after they claimed they finished it off? Noooooo... DON'T!

Let them do their own corrections if it's wrong. Let them know they have double work if they finish off their homework half-heartedly. Punish them even harder if they lied or forgot there was another page to do. Had to make them learn whole. Not halfway. Have to keep repeating the same exercise if they lax again. Hard work pays off, I assure you. And the sweetness WILL follow after the bitter is done with.

How about ting-seah, ejaan, spelling and other short tests in class? Need to prepare them to make sure they get 100 marks not? Is that really so necessary? Will they get smarter if their marks are all fullhouse? Will they lead a good life and make a good living because of that?

To me, it's also responsibility. You don't do your own study, you don't get good marks la. You want to feel proud of yourself, then just do your own revision la.

I have meimei's English teacher asking me, during the parent-teacher's meeting at half year, to make sure she learns her spellings every week. Tell you, till now, I didn't bother. OK, so in her recent test, she couldn't score in that question to write out the 4 shapes drawn out there, so? She scored in other parts. Oh yes, it was a pity, but does not being able to spell rectangle, triangle, square and circle would make her find a job lesser than what a teacher gets paid?

It does not impress me that your child can write A to Z when he's 3, that your child has 100% in ALL ting-seah at 4, or that your child is the top student in the whole grade either for every year. It does not impress me when they can't even do their own homework by themselves, do any research on projects given, study at their own will without any prompting or tuitions and having absolutely no idea what to do when the parents are not around to tell them what to do.

And worse still, they do not know how to laugh and enjoy themselves. Pathetic. Such childhood robbed!

The other day, I have a meimei's classmate's mother ranting to me how poorly her child performed in the 2nd test compared to the first. Aiyoh!! She is sooooo worried that her BM Penulisan had dropped to 70+! (And I was thinking, oh dear, meimei got 69 only wor, why I wasn't that bothered huh? Something wrong with me ah?)

Come on la, primary 1 only nia. Need to drill them to know everything not? So early jiao so pressure, waffor? Heiz... I have nothing to say liao.

Having said all that, this is not to say I'm not taking their studies seriously. Yes, they should strive to get good marks. Help them if and when they have problems. Like, if they are struggling with a subject or do not understand what the word or phrase of topic means, assist them. But assistance shouldn't be forming a highway without any obstacles for them to clear while providing a magic carpet to reach the endpoint. It's the journey, not the destination (which is really quite a cliche, I admit)

I'm so going to piss off many parents from this essay of mine!