Little Haven

Caught Something at Port Dickson

2008-05-21T05:50:00.003+08:00

I Got...

2007-11-19T10:38:00.000+08:00

Geez, and I thought it would be a straight forward post on what I got from being luck-less. But it was not to be...

I actually got a rice cooker! I have 2 at home already, one more will go straight into the store room until some poor soul invites me for house warming or something *LOL*. But but but... guess what? Just this morning, HR called me up and said, "Sue, I have something which you might not like to hear... when we drew your prize, you got a rice cooker, right? Well, HSL just told us that they do not have enough stock, so they have replaced your gift with an airpot."

OMG, what in the world is an airpot? Turns out it's a water dispenser which dispenses hot boiling water, something which I always thought was useful for confinement *keke*. Anyway, I don't know if it's better or worse, but quite resigned to it. So I just said OK. So now you have it, thank God I didn't get another toaster!! You guys are so teruk to guess me another toaster *LOL*!!

P/S: By the way, it's been like more than 2 weeks since the annual dinner and I still haven't gotten my hands on the cheapo gift... *bleh*

Luck-less

2007-11-10T11:08:00.000+08:00

In my current company, we have annual dinner, well, annually. Sometimes they do it together with the ~~annual~~ trip (which is not so annual these days), sometimes by itself when there is no ~~annual~~ trip. We just had our annual dinner last weekend at The Grand Bluewave Hotel, which is the ONLY hotel of choice due to it being so close to office and I guess one of the more affordable hotels around here.

I must say that after so many functions being held there by our company for the past 3 years or more after my company shifted to Shah Alam, this is the worst they've done. The hotel staffs are totally unprepared for such a huge group of people. Decos are totally thumbs down and the service is downright bad.

After being seated and hearing some opening speeches by the CEO and Executive Director, we were invited to stand up for a toast... with empty cups! Tea wasn't served till much later (for half the tables there, of course those big shots seated in front got lah) and even the sauce plates were empty. I really don't mean to be critical, but aren't the sauce plates supposed to be filled up before the guests even arrive? Other than that, food were plopped down on the table without anyone serving us, we actually had to dish out the sharksfin and other foods by ourselves! And this is a hotel ballroom we're talking about!

That put aside, the gifts were shitty this year too... tonnes of stuffs which people do not want but something for everyone. Previous years, we had a lot of nice gifts. On top of that, there were special draws for early birds as well as door gift for all who attended. For the past 2 years, they kinda changed the whole thing and say that everyone will go home with a gift, no matter big or small. Well, I was wondering to myself, what's the point of having L-U-C-K-Y draw when what you get is shitty. Seriously, will it make you feel lucky if you were to get a toaster? Darn, if I wanted a toaster I'd have gotten one sooner than this (I did get a toaster for a lucky draw 2 years ago :S)!

Anyway, as I was saying, gifts were shitty this year. We have a total of 400 over gifts, only the top 27 were "good gifts" consisting of Mont Blanc pens, plasma TVs, notebook, etc. The remaining 400 or so, are all rubbish I tell you. IMHO, I'd rather not get anything and have like 100 tops gifts which are good ones than having 400 which are shitty ones.

So, what do you think I got this year?

Mini Cheese Tarts

2007-11-08T12:45:00.000+08:00

As I said, I was in a baking frenzy every time I went back to my mum's... mostly it's because my mum has got all the baking tools I need whereas my house has nothing. Of course, like any chef at work, I have my own assistant, namely Apprentice Ivan *hehehe*.

helping ~~destroy~~ make the tart

washing hands after wasting some pastry

These cheese tarts are pretty easy to make and most importantly, my kids love it. It went well from the first time I made it. Got the recipe from my aunt who also happens to love baking. These days however, both kids like to eat just the middle, licking off the jam first and then the cheese, and leaving the crust on the table.

bite-sized cheese tarts

The next item I would love to try are some banana cupcakes and strawberry swirl cheese cake. I'm still looking for a nice banana cupcake recipe, if any of you tried and tested any good ones, do let me try it!

I'm a Pig

2007-10-26T11:02:00.000+08:00

Being away from the blogs for so long means I have been doing things other than blogging. The one thing I love to do other than sleeping is baking. Seriously. I prefer baking to cooking. And since my kids and family love eating the things I bake, I will bake even more *LOL*.

Now, with baking, it comes with tasting it yourself. I really very seldom eat the things that I make, but I do taste 1 or 2 as soon as they come out of the oven to see if they taste alright. But believe it or not, a little bit of tasting here and there plus a good sized appetite at normal mealtimes, I've put on a total of approximately 5kgs in the last few months! OMG!

I haven't been weighing myself as I do not have a weighing scale at home. I recently got one as a free gift from Citibank and got on it. I knew I have put on some weight from the clothes I wear, but 5kgs?! Now, tell me, how do I shed this off? I know the best way is exercising, but I'm a lazy bum and most times after work I'd prefer to rush straight home and hang out with the kids (or the notebook :P). I am trying to east less for dinner... less rice, more vegetables... (even that is kinda hard if we eat out). So, anyone with some bright ideas which doesn't cost a lot?

What's in Your Soup?

2007-10-23T12:09:00.000+08:00

For the past 2 weeks or so, I've been faced with some issues with Supini. She seems to take some things into her own hands. From the title above, I guess what we're facing has something to do with soups *LOL*.

Daily, we boil soup at home. Recently, hubs has started instructing Supini on how to do it, buying the ingredients and letting her clean/prepare them and just "dump" into the pot. Simple enough, right?

One day, she decided that she wanted to cook corn soup, so she took out all the corn which I bought the night before at Giant and prepared them. Then my hubs came home (in the morning) with soup ingredients for the day - Lotus Root and Pork bones. Guess what happened? In the evening when I came home, hubs complained to me that we have a new kind of soup which SIL#1 says tasted like "Lin Chee Kang" (a type of Chinese dessert). Supini actually dumped in the lin ngau PLUS all the corn which she initially prepared. OMG! For me, it's not too big a deal as the taste is palatable although we can hardly taste the Lotus Root with all the corn in there.

When asked why she did that, she told me that she already prepared them so she dumped them in as well. I told her off saying that it can be kept for another day. Case closed.

Then the next day, hubs brought home sai yeong choy (don't know what it's called in English) with Pork bones. Guess what we found in the evening? Sai yeong choy PLUS little bits of lin ngau. Geez... SIL#2 laughed so loud, she said, "I think she added corn into the lin ngau soup and kept 1 piece of lin ngau. Then today she improvised again and added the lin ngau into the sai yeong choy soup."

I asked her what made her do that. Her replay was simply that it won't happen again. Well, it'd better not because we like our soups the traditional way and the way it's supposed to taste :P. It really puzzles me as to why she felt she needed to retain that 1 portion of lin ngau and add it to the soup the next day. SIL#2 told her she's better not retain anymore ingredients in the future and add into other kinds of soups *LOL*.

Other than the soup incident, she's a pretty OK maid. A little slow to react to what she's told to do, which I quite dislike, but at least I can see that she works well and the kids are well looked after. I just hope that the quality of her work won't degrade over time.

Smorty, Here I Come!

2007-09-11T00:10:00.000+08:00

Psst... have you heard of Smorty? Smorty is a service which connects bloggers to advertisers.

If you're among those who are constantly online and have a blog of your own, you will surely be so thrilled to know that you can now blog for money! Blog advertising is so easy. All you have to do is just write some opinion posts with link backs to the advertiser. What I normally do is just go into the advertiser's website and browse through, read the requirements of the opportunity and then do a simple review on it. Easy.

Bringing it even further still, Smorty makes it even easier for its members. They actually email you when an opportunity that suits your blog is available! What more can we ask for? All you have to do is just log in as soon as you can and grab the opportunity available to you. What are you waiting for now, hop on over and sign up now!

Here I Am!

2007-09-10T23:58:00.000+08:00

Phew! After being MIA for over 2 months, I'm back. Not that I'm too busy to blog or anything, but you know, it's like there are always something to do. And when there is nothing to do and it's time for blogging, I just feel like lazing on the bed, which usually end up with me snoring away *hahaha*.

So. Life has been great. The kids are great. Family is great too. I couldn't wish for anything better.

Umm... except that things can get pretty monotonous, don't you think? I mean... is life only about waking up, going to work, coming home, having dinner, playing with the kids, going to bed, and then repeat the whole process again ten million times? *sigh*

Sorry for being so fickle :P

Of Lightning and Modems

2007-06-14T22:58:00.000+08:00

Rain, I don't really hate rain. Actually, I love rain if I'm at home and in bed, dry. But lightning, that's another matter altogether. Hate it. And guess what it did today? It fried my modem. Left me with only dial up to use. I haven't been using dial up since I had Streamyx installed and goodness gracious, it's freaking slow!! And just when I have time to blog myself crazy after being MIA for so long. Geeeeeeez!

Princess Elina

2007-06-13T01:17:00.000+08:00

We happened to drop by at the Curve on the 31st of May and chanced upon a Barbie promotion. I, being the kiasu mommy sometimes, saw that they were letting people take pictures with a live Barbie. Now I have always been a Barbie fan, when I was little. Seeing that Ivan also wants to have his picture taken, I quickly lined him up, not knowing if I can, am entitled or how to go about it.
Anyway, they were closing off the line (or maybe they HAVE closed it off) but anyway, it was about 8-ish in the evening and the emcee decided to let Ivan go anyway since the boy was already on stage. I was actually quite surprised that Ivan was willing to go up there by himself and pose with the lady. He's normally not so cooperative.

However, just when the emcee said, "Well, okay, just one last picture then," I can actually hear some people say something like, "So unfair!" I guess some other moms didn't manage to get pictures as Princess Elina was leaving and they closed off the line. Blur me just simply pushed Ivan forward into the line coz I just arrived at the place! So paiseh, but at least I have a picture... *LOL*!

I Like This Song

2007-06-06T10:40:00.000+08:00

Yesterday night, I was sitting in front of the computer (next to the kids' bed) reading blogs as Ivan was dropping off to sleep by himself. In the darkness, his little voice softly said, "I like this song."

I said, "What?" I couldn't hear properly as his mouth was stuffed with his jut-jut.

"I like this song," he repeated.

I felt warmth all over just by him muttering the four simple words. On this blog, I have embedded a Richard Clayderman piano instrumental called Coup De Coeur. My little darling knows how to appreciate music. Actually, I really don't know why I felt as I did, but I just really felt warm and happy. I was surprised too that he actually told me he like this song.

"Yes darling, mommy also like it a lot," I replied. "Listen to it and go to sleep okay..."

And with that, he dropped off to slumberland.

Homemade Cough Remedy

2007-06-04T03:21:00.000+08:00

It seems so many people are down with flu, cough and what-nots these days. Vien's little cutie is also having prolonged cough and I thought I'd do a post on some homemade and traditional cough remedy which I have used for myself and my kids when they were suffering form hacking cough. Remember I had a cough which seemed to develop into bronchitis last year? Well, many people told me to try this plectranthus barbatus leaf and I was really reluctant at first, mostly because I'm not a fan of these homemade-bitter-tasting-alien-feel-drink.

Picture taken from here.

Anyway, after weeks and weeks of coughing and the phlegm seem to not come out, I decided to have a try. It's pretty simple. You basically just get a handful of this leaves, clean them, pound them and boil (or double boil if you really want) them with rock sugar. After it's done (depending on how pungent you want it to be, sometimes we are so kiasu, we just boil and boil until the whole concoction turns thick) just sieve it to remove all the rubbish (ie. pounded leaves) from the liquid and drink it after it cools down a little.

Miraculously, I was healed after a few times drinking this. And I must admit that it does not taste half bad. Do try it if you're at wits end on how to get rid of your phlegmy cough and maybe to soothe that sore throat of your (from all that coughing!).

Of Mangoes and Having Em All Year Round

2007-06-03T03:03:00.000+08:00

I love mangoes, specially the sour types which we can dip in spicy rojak sauce. It's mango season nearly the whole year round at my mum's house. I wonder why her trees have such bountiful yields of the fruits several times a year while some which I see looking so scrawny and fruitless at the times when hers are giving us fruits...

Care to have some?

I See My Desk

2007-05-25T10:31:00.000+08:00

For the past few weeks, even months, work has been continually piling up on my desk. Everything seems urgent and of top priority, makes you go dumbfounded and wonder where to start. Finally after a whole week of working overtime till about 8.00pm - 8.30pm (like we've got no home like that), I am finally able to say that I can slow down and take a breather (can see desk liao means work must have been cleared a lot).

Tomorrow is a working Saturday for me. I think working on Saturdays is such a waste of time. Where I work, we do alternate Saturdays, meaning each Saturday there is only half the workforce working (not literally *haha*). It's such a waste of time, By the time our systems warm up and work is starting to flow through nicely, it's time to go home *ugh*. Normally, Saturdays are used for tying loose ends and for doing menial works like filing and archiving (weekdays where got time, phone cannot even stop ringing for us to do some proper work). But tomorrow, I'll be taking it slow (haven't been filing for months *eek!*).

Hopefully this weekend I will be able to update more things that are currently kept at the back of my mind in my other blog. Tonnes about the kids!

Of Tearful Mornings

2007-05-24T12:24:00.000+08:00

For a working mother, I guess one of the most difficult things we have to face in the mornings is a tearful child when we leave for work. I cannot bear to see my kids crying first thing in the morning but difficult as it may be, we have to do it and get out of the house, or end up staying home or being late almost every morning.

One thing though, I somehow think that kids have a sixth sense. For example, Izac will squirm in his sleep just as it is time for me to wake up, asking to be fed. It's as if he knows that I will be getting up and is trying to prevent me from doing so. And it takes him ages when he's at the breast, I think he's suckling for fun *LOL* or for comfort, not really doing it because he's hungry?

Of Overtimes and Overworked

2007-05-19T00:23:00.000+08:00

My superior just got promoted to assistant service manager recently. I think he was senior engineer for longest time. It's high time they promoted him, I'm happy for him.

The past few weeks have been havoc at my workplace. I have tonnes of work that I can't seem to get rid of. The faster I work, the faster they seem to "work" at piling in again. I think "work" is trying to drown me.

I think this trend will continue for the remaining 2 weeks of this month, as I have been requested to do overtime everyday until 8.00pm (if possible, he says) and also on Saturdays, when it's not our working weekend. As a compensation, we will be given "earned leave" for the times we work ie. 4 hours equals half a day of leave (which we have to use up by the end of this year). This is the first time ever that they are giving such a compensation for us support staffs working overtime. Normally, support staffs are not entitled to overtime pay and stuff like that, very sad case indeed.

I do want to do OT to clear off the pending stuff as soon as possible but I keep getting a nagging feeling that my kids might be refusing dinner, not have their shower yet, etc etc that as soon as it reaches 7.00 in the workplace. By then I'm already all fidgety, wanting to go home.

When I reach home, if they're not fed, I try to stuff their face with as much food as they are willing to take, shower Ivan if he's still sticky all over, have a late dinner myself (hubs will be lazing on the floor or sleeping as usual), inform Supini of her duties tomorrow and then pack the kids up to bed.

I know it's sad, sometimes we hardly have time to really play with the kids after work. We do get cuddle time and some play time before sleep in the bedroom. But sometimes, after a long day at work, I tend to just want to put them to bed and drop off myself. For the past 2 weeks I have been hoping to get some time to blog hop, clear my feedreader, do a few scraps and update my blog after they go to sleep... but what happened? Too tired!

Endless Work

2007-05-17T09:36:00.000+08:00

When I last posted on my kids' blog, I assumed that I would be able to continue updating more frquently from then on. How wrong I was. Work didn't ease up, but kept piling in, more and more.

Sometimes I feel mentally tired from all the work, so much so that they seem to be monotonous and repetitive. During these times, I fantasize for the times when I do not need to work but stay at home with the kids as a stay-at-home-mom. Believe me, that will immediately bring me back down to earth too *LOL* because I know being a SAHM requires even more tolerance and hard work (coz that would be a 24-hour job, with no easing up!).

My workplace has recently added a new manager who will oversee the whole department, a lady boss. Everyone foresee more work and a more stringent environment, because you know lah... people tend to think lady bosses are anal mah. What do you think?

Another addition is a new service administrator who will help out in the spareparts operation. From what I can see thus far, she seem to not be able to cope. Although new, a person who is capable can be identified right away. So far, with only easy tasks delegated to her, she's taken far too long to complete them, half the time talking on her mobile to friends and even chatting excessively on MSN. I do not know if she's trying to avoid more jobs by doing things slowly or if she really IS that slow. *Sigh* Additionally, the jobs assigned to her has been wrongly done (even after doing them at snail's pace) and required us to redo (this means double work and waste of time). I just hope she bucks up, warranty department required us to be on our toes at every moment because we deal directly with fuming customers.

Work's evolving for me. Tasks which I have been doing will be delegated to other colleagues and I am to be in charge of something else. I seriously hope that does not mean endless overtimes.

Of Toilet Going and Such

2007-05-10T03:34:00.000+08:00

I'm just wondering, any of you tend to work and be too lazy to go to the toilet? Or rather, do you tend to be so engrossed in something, put off going to the toilet and then totally forgot that you needed to go in the first place?

Well, this happens to me all the time! You can call me lazy or crazy or whatever, but I just can't get my butt to move from my cubicle to the toilet... which is in fact not that far away from my department. Most times, I am too caught up in my work. You know how it is when you get the ball rolling and the momentum builds up, you don't really want something to interrupt the flow, much less by a need to go to the toilet. So then I would think to myself, "OK, once I finish this (whatever I'm doing) I'll go to the toilet". But when I finish THAT thing I was doing, something else tends to crop up and then I'll totally forget that I have been meaning to go relieve myself. Duh! Err... could it be due to a mommy's deteriorating memory ah?

And since we're on the topic of toilet, I used to think that the women will always be more hygienic than the men. I was proven wrong at my workplace. It seems that women too can be darn sloppy. To name a few things which pisses me off when I visit the toilet:

1. unflushed toilet (with or without something floating inside... eww!)
2. wads and wads of toilet tissue in the toilet bowl, unflushed (eh, trying to kill all the tress or what?)
3. drips of blood on the floor (sorry ah, a bit too graphic... double eww!)
4. whole toilet cubicle looks like a war zone

With regards to point number 3, I think it's downright bad that if they see it and know that the drip belongs to them and don't wipe it up with tissue. We don't want people stepping on it and then smearing it all over the floor do we? *sigh* I guess some people will never learn to be courteous (yeah mah... even in toilet also must be courteous what?!).

Good Helpers

2007-05-08T14:38:00.000+08:00

I seldom admit this but yes, my SILs are really good helpers to me when am stressed out with handling the kids. I love it when SIL#1 pops by our house, coz that means she can keep both Ivan and Izac occupied for a while while I catch a quick shower (if I haven't managed to that day). Both my kids love her to bits, even when they were very little and didn't know any better.

Whenever she comes by, Ivan will be jumping with joy too, as it could mean that he will be brought for a "Barney ride". He loves the Barney coin operated ride in 1Utama. It's a treat for him whenever SIL drops by. Soon Izac will be joining them as well as he's starting to love going out.

SIL#2 helps out too. She stays with us and after returning from work with Hubs in the afternoon (normally after lunch), she sometimes forego her nap to play with Ivan or keep an eye on them while the maid does her chores.

Most times, even when we appreciate people for their helpfulness, we tend to not let it show. It's true in my case, I do not tell them that they are appreciated, but in my heart, I do... very much so. Soon, these 2 people will be gone, off to Europe as they have obtained a "Work and Travel" visa for the UK. They'll be travelling Europe, and hopefully work, for the coming 2 years. They'll be gone in July. I hope my kids will not miss them too much. I'm sure I will!

Of Bumps on Wobbly Toddlers' Heads

2007-05-07T00:07:00.000+08:00

Izac walks like a drunkard even now when he is already 15 months old. He started walking or rather trying to walk when he turned 13 and a half months. Back then, he walks with his hands in front, trying to balance and walking too darn fast, trying to reach the next person holding out their hand to him. Now it's not much different than last time, he still walks unsteadily, without the hands in front though.

Yesterday he had a bad fall. He fell backwards and knocked his bald head on a little step in the doorway that leads into the kitchen. I was but a few steps away from him but things happened so fast I couldn't have done anything to stop it. He just woke up and he was standing there near the fridge. It was caused by him stepping on his a-little-too-long jammies and fell backward. I screamed so loudly, as if it would help him feel less pain, as if it would make it all better for myself too.

So then, I applied some fung yau (medicated oil) to the area and kept rubbing there every now and then. He did not sleep well yesterday, tossing and turning at night. Only slept well when I was sleeping next to him. I have been keeping a close eye on him to see if he:
1. felt especially lethargic / looks sleepy most of the time
2. vomits
3. show any signs of a concussion

Today his head is showing a huge bump the size of half a mini cocktail sausage. I have just reapplied some oil to it and lightly rubbing it to reduce the swelling. Touch wood, so far he seems his happy self and I truly hope it won't happen again. This poor boy has had more than his fair share of falls, much much more than Ivan ever did.

Of Clingy Kids and a Short-Fused Mom

2007-05-06T14:33:00.000+08:00

As said in this previous post, I got home at around 7-ish pm after purchasing some gifts for some children (not mine :P). As soon as I opened the front door, Ivan saw me and wanted to get to the door. Hubs and SIL#2 warned him to sit down and I was told he started his meal an hour ago and there was still a whole bowl of rice from what I can see. I was like, "Sheeesh... here we go again". I knew it would take him another half an hour to finish that (and it did!).

In the meantime, the lil one heard my voice even when he's in the kitchen with Supini. I can hear him going, "Um-mah... um-mah... um-mah". And again, I went, "Alamak!". He saw me and from then on, clung to me like I'm gonna desert him or something.

So it was destined that I have a 15-months-old in my left arm while I struggle to feed my 2 and half year old with my right hand. And while I was doing that, with Izac occasionally lying down, squirming, moaning, crying and what-have-yous, Hubs laid luxuriously on the sofa as he watched TV.

Nope, the kids don't want him when I'm home. Unless, of course, when they see him dressed up properly and looks as if he's going somewhere! After completing the task of feeding Mr Two-and-a-half-year-old, I planned to bathe him. I failed because Mr-15-months-old refused to leave me.

I think I had my dinner at 8-ish pm that day, but it's dinner interrupted by kids trying to climb up on my lap. I really have no appetite when I have interrupted meals. I can gobble up a meal in no time if I'm uninterrupted and I would have preferred to eat standing in the kitchen if I'm able to get away from them if just for a few minutes.

Fast forward to bed time. By 9.30 pm, I usually drag them upstairs for bed. Before that, I asked Supini to give Ivan a wipe and a change of clothing... and nope, Ivan doesn't want her to do it. Mommy has to do it. So it starts again... whining and everything mommy mommy mommy. By this time I am about to start going bonkers and voice level can be heard a few decibels higher than normal. Wipe him I did, with my one free hand, and after which I commanded that he let Auntie wear his baju.

Up we go to the room, and Ivan decided that jumping on the bed is fun. Needless to say, little brother Izac saw all the fun kor-kor's having and decided to join in. Frazzled mommy on the smaller mattress, with one hand out trying to prevent the little one from falling and at the same time, tried to fill up a syringe with medicine for the kids. Now can you imagine that? It's a huuuuuge task trying that, medicine dripped on the mattress and finally mommy blew her cool. I screamed at the two fellas to stop and plop Izac down on the bed. I was finally able to get the medicines down, amidst crying.

After that, lights out and things finally began to settle down. I would guess that it was then past 10.00 pm. Finally, after the kids settled down, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief, and sometimes I even wonder to myself how come I can't be more patient with them. This is one of the more difficult evenings with them.

So you know lah, for the past 2 weeks, have been tired and downright lazy. I plop myself down beside them after then drop off to sleep, and I sleep too. No blogging.

Back to the Daily Grind

2007-05-04T21:30:00.000+08:00

Doesn't the long breaks always leave us so lazy to return to work? Every time I have breaks like these, it makes me just want to quit the job and stay at home when the times comes for me to resume work... *LOL*. But believe me, thats just a passing thought, mind you. I don't think I am stay-at-home-mom material, not for the long term at least.

Yesterday was one such day. I returned to work after 4 and a half days of lazing around (a bit la, with kids how to laze 24/7 wor?). I woke up late due to leaving the mobile phone downstairs (ok, ok, I was lazy). Then since I was late, both kids woke up before I could escape so I was temporarily held back. I finally reached the office at about 10.00am and guess what? Need to have an excuse for being late ma, so I quickly applied for "out of office" and put the ~~excuse~~ reason as "tyre puncture" (convenient reason but not to be used too frequently).

Anyway, the day passed by quite quickly as I have tonnes to do (we just got a new girl in and I wonder why I still have tonnes of work) and I left on time so that I could swing by 1Utama to get some presents for some birthday boys and girls without lugging the kids along. I arranged to meet Jazzmint there, so we kind of looked around and tried our best to figure out what presents would be best for 2-year-olds. She left before I did as she had other plans but she got her loot. I went browsing some more and if you know me, I'm damn fickle wan... look look look, I ended up just buying 2 presents when what I needed was 5 (can you imagine what a pokai month this is for me?).

When I reached home, there was war brewing...

(to be continued...)

Tom Yum Seafood

2007-04-30T19:30:00.000+08:00

As I said before, I totally love spicy food. Sometimes I really go to the extreme of putting a lot of chilli in it until I cannot tahan myself *LOL*. Tom yum is one of my favorite soups of all time, my mum and my brother's wife Nok (who is a Thai) can cook it very well. However, please understand that this thing is homemade okay, so some of the ingredients weren't available at that time. You can basically put anything you fancy in it.

Ingredient A:
1) Lemongrass / Serai...... 4 stalks (sliced)
2) Galangal / Lengkuas..... 1 bulb, about 100gms (sliced)
3) Thai red chilli padi......... a handful, depends on how spicy you want the soup to be (pounded finely)
4) Limau perut leaves........ 6 pcs (break into 2 halves)
5) Fish sauce...................... 5 tbsp
6) Lime juice....................... 1 cup

Ingredient B *except for the seafood, the rest are all optional*:
1) Tiger prawns................... 200 gms (slit back, devein & clean up the sharp edges)
2) Squid............................... 5 pcs (cut into smaller rounds)
3) Chicken breast............... 200 gms (cut small)
4) Tomato............................ 1 pc (cut into 8 pcs)
5) Button mushroom (canned)... up to you
6) Oyster mushroom
7) Baby corn
8) Carrot

For soup base:
1) Put 3 litres of water in pot and bring it to boil. Dump in all items in ingredient A except for the lime juice.
2) Add 1 tsp of salt, and boil on high.
3) Let the soup boil until it's tasty and then sieve to remove all the junk inside, unless you like to eat them :P

To complete:
1) Dump in all ingredient B.
2) Lastly before serving, add lime juice to taste.

Additional note:
After sieving the soup, you should take out the amount you want to keep without adding in the lime juice. It's best to only add the lime juice right before serving to maintain the flavor of the lime.

I Love It Here

2007-04-30T15:39:00.000+08:00

Somehow, everytime I come over to my mum's place I tend to overstay *LOL*. I love staying at my mum's, when I am here I tend to be extra lazy as she's there to help me look after my two monkey.

I came over on Thursday evening after work and initially I planned to stay for only one night. Mana tau, end up I stayed for 4 nights already. Hubs must be wondering if I'm having a mini holiday here or something. Everyday I tell her "Yea yea, I'm leaving already." Then I'll dilly dally until the sun also set already and finally I decide to stay for another day. Ugh...

Now half of the long weekend is nearly gone. What have you done for this holiday?

Fried Long Beans with Sambal

2007-04-29T14:59:00.000+08:00

My first food post for some homemade goodness. I love all types of spicy food, so please bear in mind that you can reduce or increase the amount of chilli used in my recipes.

Ingredient A:
1) Dried chilli.......... 4 pcs
2) Red chilli............. 2 pcs
3) Chilli padi .......... 6 pcs
4) Garlic ................ 4 pips
5) Shallot ............... 5 pcs
6) Dried shrimps .... a handful

Ingredient B:
1) Long beans ........ 1 bundle (cut into 1 inch sections)
2) Squid ................. 2 pcs (cut into smaller rounds)

Preparation of sambal:
Blend dried chilli (1) and pound the rest of the ingredients (2 - 6) using a mortar and pestle. Mix blended chilli and pounded paste together.

Cooking:
1) Put oil in wok. Once oil heats up, pour in sambal paste. Add in a pinch of sugar for a glossy look to the sambal (accoring to my mum, it works for all the chilli dishes that you cook). Fry the paste until aromatic and dry.

2) Add in sotong, fry for a while. Then pour in the long beans.

3) Add some water (how much will depend on how soft you want the beans to be), maybe half a cup or less, and fry till almost dry. Serve.

Supini Is...

2007-04-26T23:53:00.000+08:00

... great!

I'm glad to say after being here for about two weeks now, the new maid Supini is beyond my expectations! Perhaps my expectation is already quite low due to two problematic maids which I had after Sutini took off but after packing up and returning home (we were staying at my mum's place while waiting for a maid to arrive), I wake up in the mornings to this maid doing stuff I didn't tell her to do... good stuff *stupid grin*.

The first day I woke up and went downstairs, I saw her digging out all the plates, tins and what-have-yous from the kitchen cabinet and wiping the cupboard! Man, can I tell you how surprised I was. The next day pulak I woke up and you know what? She asked me how to switch off the power for the fridge. Turns out that she wants to wipe the fridge and freezer! I was glad, so I just roughly show her where the switch is and told her not to leave it off for too long as there were things inside which have to be kept frozen. The 3rd morning I woke up and went downstairs (duh!) and I found her in the hall, wiping the display cabinet and all the bottles of liqour my hubs owns. I was like... OMG, I love this girl! *LOL*.

Well, the subsequent days went by in a blur as I was always rushing to work, but mostly in the mornings, she just tries to do the housework before the kids wake up.

One thing about her though is the body odour. She never switches on the fan unless we ask her to. Mind you, she sleeps without the fan, and I had to keep asking her "Kamu tak panas ke? Kalau panas buka kipas ya?" (Malay: You're not hot? If you're hot, switch on the fan okay?). Anyway, she listens well, when the kids are around, she keeps the fan on. And we've purchased some kinda soap which supposedly works for BO.

So far, I have no complaints. Oh, by the way, she can't cook. Luckily since she came, hubs have kinda made arrangements with MIL to be in our house from 7.00am to about 2.00pm to keep an eye on the maid and the kids, as well as do some cooking. So far, this is the best arrangement we have made, as I can go to work without worrying that the maid might run away laa or the kids got nothing decent to eat laa or etc etc etc that we mothers tend to think of to scare ourselves.

So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

New Maid

2007-04-13T17:42:00.000+08:00

Finally, after months of choosing, applying and waiting for a new maid, she's finally here yesterday. I got her from a new agent, Rachel's agent to be exact. I really hope she will click with us and do her job well.

As of this morning when I left for work, Izac seemed to be okay with her, letting her carry him. They're still staying at my mum's house. Ivan, on the other hand, sticks to my mum like glue. That's normal for him, he's very attached to his grandmother. Hope that he will accept her soon. Till then, my mum will be around to pamper this boy, she loves to pamper him, sometimes too much.

Tonight I hope to finish a timetable for her. Got a template from Jazzmint, will amend it to suit my household's timing. Last time Sutini didn't need a timetable, she does things on her own accord and she does it quite well. Her subsequent temporary replacements were major headaches for me. That was when I thought that having a great 1st maid has spoilt me for the subsequent ones. None of them seem to meet my requirements well. Hmm... could it be that I am extremely picky? *LOL*

Oh, by the way, isn't it such a coincidence that the new maid's called Supini... *hahaha*

We Have Moved!

2007-03-20T10:56:00.000+08:00

Dear Friends,

Time flies, and before I knew it Ivan is now 32 months and Izac 14 months. Have neglected this blog for ages! Anyway, I have started blogging again. If you feel like following my kids' progress, pls visit them here ---> (click).

On another note, I will continue updating this blog when I have time, and it will mostly be posts about chaplang (mixed up) things that happen to cross my mind... *kekeke*.

Anyway, see you there!

USD20 Worth of Time

2007-03-19T10:15:00.000+08:00

I got this email from a friend, thought I'd share it here with all of you.

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year-old son waiting for him at the door.

"Daddy, may I ask you a question?"
"Yes sure, what is it?" replied the man.
"Daddy, how much do you make an hour?"
"That's none of your business, why do you ask such a thing?" the man said angrily.
"I just want to know, please tell me, how much do you make an hour? pleaded the little boy.
"If you must know, I make $20 an hour."
"Oh," the little boy replied, with his head down. Looking up, he said, "Dad, may I please borrow $10?"

The father was furious, "If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed, think about why you are being so selfish. I work long hard hours everyday and don't have time for such childish behaviour."

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After about an hour or so, he had calmed down, and started to think he may have been a little hard on his son. Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10 and he really didn't ask for money very often.

The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door. "Are you asleep, son?" he asked.
"No, daddy, I'm awake," replaied the boy.
"I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier," said the man. "It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $10 you asked for."
The little boy sat straight up, smiling. "Oh, thank you daddy!" he yelled.

The, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at his father.

"Why do you want more money if you already have some?" the father grumbled.
"Because I didn't have enough, but now I do," the little boy replied. "Daddy, I have $20 now, can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow, I would like to have dinner with you."

Isn't that true. So many of us are so preoccupied with work these days that we do not stop to smell the flowers, much less slow down to spend some time with our own kids. We need to keep in mind that they will not remain kids forever, and sooner or later they will grow up and leave home.

Silly Kids

2007-03-08T00:50:00.000+08:00

Yesterday morning as I was driving to work, I met a silly kid on the road. I was taking a left turn slowly, as it is a kampung area where I normally take a shortcut to go on to the NKVE. As I turned, I saw 2 kids, one on a bicycle and one on foot, walking towards my direction, quite to the middle of the road. They saw me coming and started to inch to the edge of the road. The kid on foot then decided to be stupid, and pushed his cycling friend outwards, towards the road, towards the oncoming traffic (which is my car). Now how silly can you get? I know that it is just meant to be a joke, but what if...?

Then as I was coming home, again taking the shortcut to get to my house, there's another silly kid taking a "deadly" chance. He obviously saw me coming, albeit slowly; but he decided that he'd rather risk his life crossing in front of a car than wait another few seconds when he could have crossed over safely.

Hrmmm... I'm just wondering, how will my kids behave next time when I'm not with them. Not so reckless and stupid I hope...

The Z-List Tag

2007-03-07T01:01:00.000+08:00

This tag is easy, so just do it. Copy and paste. *heehee*

**Instructions**
The premise is simple: Write a post, and copy and paste my list from below into it. Make sure the links are active and correct. If your blog is on that list, remove it because your post isn’t about self-promotion. Don’t worry, because if your name is on mine, it’s on others and will spread. Add your favourite deserving blogs to the top of the list (not compulsory). Publish the post. People will notice the incoming links, and hopefully write their own z-list posts. The result will be that we all get more links pointing to our blogs, and more readers - got to be good!

Key Points
1) Create a new post on your blog.
2) Copy and Paste the entire list of blog links below.
3) Add any blogs that you want to include near the top of the list. (Optional)
4) Include the blog where you first got the list from, on the list in your post.
5) Do not include your own blog links on the list in your post.
6) Make sure that all links are copied intact.
7) Publish the Post.

The List:

My Adds:
Jutz 1 Blog
Musings of a New Mommy
myBabyBay.com Blog

Originals:
Sasha
Sue
Jessie Woo
Blur Blur
Tracy
ShoppingMum
Samm
Home Office Women
Cyberpartygal
PabloPabla's Whatever
Blueapron
Make$ Money$
Owen of Ugh
Jules is Utterly Geek
Internet. Serious Business
The Sabaha
Critical Thoughts
Blog-Op
Carols Vault
Blog About Your Blog
Monetize Your Blog
Cosmin PTR
Make Money On The Net
Successful Online Money Making
Turn One Pound Into One Million$
Work At Home Blog
Blogging For Beginners
How to earn money online?
Dosh Dosh
Money Money Money
Money Making Quest
Connected Internet
Mike's Money Making Mission
Time to Budget
Can I Make Big Money Online
Blogtrepreneur
Flee the Cube
Blogging Secret
Blogging to Fame
Million Dollar Experiment heads Down Under
Quest to make money on the internet
Kumiko's Cash Quest
Calico Monkey
Internet Bazaar
Shotgun Marketing Blog
BrandSizzle
bizsolutionsplus
Customers Rock!
Being Peter Kim
Pow! Right Between The Eyes!
Billions With Zero Knowledge
Working At Home on the Internet
MapleLeaf 2.0
Two Hat Marketing
darrenbarefoot.com
The Emerging Brand
The Branding Blog
CrapHammer
Drew's Marketing Minute
Golden Practices
Viaspire
Tell Ten Friends
Flooring the Consumer
Kinetic Ideas
Unconventional Thinking
Buzzoodle
NewsPaperGrl
The Copywriting Maven
Hee-Haw Marketing
Scott Burkett's Pothole on the Infobahn
Multi-Cult Classics
Logic + Emotion
Branding & Marketing
Popcorn n Roses
On Influence & Automation
Bullshitobserver
Servant of Chaos
converstations
eSoup
Presentation Zen
Dmitry Linkov
aialone
John Wagner
Nick Rice
CKs Blog
Design Sojourn
Frozen Puck
The Sartorialist
Small Surfaces
Africa Unchained
Perspective
gDiapers
Marketing Nirvana
Bob Sutton
iHola! Oi! Hi!
Shut Up and Drink the Kool-Aid!
Women, Art, Life: Weaving It All Together
Community Guy
Social Media on the fly

Long Long Tag

2007-03-02T01:21:00.000+08:00

Got tagged by Jacelyn. I was thinking of skipping it, but then decided against it *hehe*. There are too MANY questions here...

1. Are your parents married or divorced?
My mum's remarried, dad's passed away when I was 2.

2. Are you a vegetarian?
Nope.

3. Do you believe in Heaven?
Yes, where I can meet God.

4. Have you ever come close to dying?
Nope.

5. What jewellery do you wear 24/7?
Necklace with pendant and a ring.

6. Favourite time of day?
After dinner and before bedtime, it's family catch up time :D.

7. Do you eat the stems of broccoli?
Yes, that's the best part of the whole broccoli.

8. Do you wear makeup?
Almost never.

9. Ever have plastic surgery?
Nope.

11. What do you wear to bed?
Singlet and shorts.

12. Have you ever done anything illegal?
Speeding, taking short cuts, you name it, I've done it.. err, except stealing la.

13. Can you roll your tongue?
Yes.

14. Do you tweeze your eyebrows?
Yes.

15. What kind of sneakers?
Err.. which ever brand that looks nice on my small feet.

16. Do you believe in Abortions?
When there is no other choice.

17. What is your Hair color?
Dark brown, want to dye it soon.

19. Do you snore?
Hopefully only when I'm extremely tired. No one's ever complained before.

20. If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be?
Europe & USA.

21. Do you sleep with stuffed animals?
Nope, allergic to dust.

22. If you won the lottery, what would you do first?
Invest part of it and go shopping / traveling with the rest.

23. Gold or silver?
Gold, can bring when "chau lan" (running for life) during war *hahaha*.

24. Hamburger or hot dog?
Both.

25. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Nasi lemak. Love it!

26. City, beach or country?
Country. Feels cosier :).

27. What was the last thing you touched?
My notebook and the mouse.

28. Where did you eat last?
Mum's house.

29. When’s the last time you cried?
Can't remember.

30. Do you read blogs?
Can never get enough of them.

31. Would you ever go out dressed like the opposite sex?
Nope.

32. Ever been involved with the police?
When caught for speeding.

33. What’s your favourite shampoo conditioner and soap?
Pantene & Dove Cream Bath.

4. Do you talk in your sleep?
Hope not.

35. Ocean or pool?
Pool for soaking only. I can't swim.

36. So, who has the original missing questions?
Yeah, wonder who and why number 10??

37. Who would you take on a ménage à trois for a dirty weekend?
Err... sounds familiar but I'm too lazy to check the dictionary or whatever.

38. Window seat or aisle?
Window seat!

39. Ever met anyone famous?
Yah, but I don't know his name. Considered famous or not liddat?

40. Do you feel that you’ve had a truly successful life?
Nothing too brilliant, but good enough.

41. Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it?
Twirl.

42. Ricki Lake or Oprah Winfrey?
Both same la.

43. Basketball or Football?
Neither.

44. How long do your showers last?
15 - 20 minutes.

45. Automatic or do you drive a stick?
Automatic.

46. Cake or ice cream?
Can I say both again?

47. Are you self-conscious?
Most of the time.

48. Have you ever drank so much you threw up?
Yah. My friends had the nerve to go into the ladies' and support me outta there. It was like "OMG"!

49. Have you ever given money to a beggar?
Yes.

50. Have you been in love?
Yes, and still am.

51. Where do you wish you were?
In bed, sleeping. Tomorrow have to work.

52. Are you wearing socks?
Nope.

53. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance?
Nope.

54. Can you tango?
Nope.

55. Last gift you received?
Angpow from hubbys for CNY.

56. Last sport you played?
Err... playing catch with Ivan counted or not?

57. Things you spend a lot of money on?
Children's clothes.

58. Where do you live?
Bandar Utama.

59. Where were you born?
Assunta Hospital.

60. Last wedding attended?
One of my best friend's wedding.

61. Spit or swallow?
Food is for swallowing, set a good example for kids lah.

62. Favorite position?
Sleeping sideways.

63. Most hated food(s)?
Mushrooms, tofus.

64. What’s your least fav.?
Being made a fool.

65. Can you sing?
Only when I'm singing nursery rhymes.

66. Last person you instant messaged?
Michelle, Amy, Annie, Judy.

67. Last place you went on holiday?
Taiwan.

68. Favourite regular drink?
Black coffee.

69. Current Song?
The Reason, Hoobastank.

70. Tag 3 friends:
Jazzmint, Jefferene, Michelle.

StemLife's Blogging!

2007-02-27T00:28:00.000+08:00

Guess what?

The other day as I was browsing through Technorati to see who linked to my blog, I found that my blog was one of those that were mentioned in StemLife blog. It is such an honour that they chose the picture of lil' Izac sleeping on me during confinement. It was such a nice surprise. This shows how powerful the Internet and the search engines are these days.

Other than my blog, they also highlighted James'" blog, Shopping Mum's blog, Nick's" blog and Samm's" blog.

To Switch or Not To Switch

2007-02-16T16:02:00.000+08:00

OK. I can't quite decide on whether I should switch to Wordpress or not. Haven't been blogging for a while and not quite sure to what extent Blogger have improvised. I must say that even with the long wait (sometimes) during photo loading sessions, it seems to me that Blogger is more user friendly than Wordpress. What do you think? Should I switch?

My House

2007-02-16T12:36:00.000+08:00

Sasha started it. I am now a proud owner of my very own house on Rosie St *heehee*.

And what does the drawing say about me?

Based on your drawing and the 10 answers you gave this is a summary of your personality:
Your house tells the world that you ought to be a leader. You are a freedom lover and a strong person. You will avoid being alone and seek the company of others whenever possible. You love excitement and create it wherever you go. You are very tidy person. There's nothing wrong with that because you're pretty popular among friends. Your life is always full of changes.You will avoid being alone and seek the company of others whenever possible. You love excitement and create it wherever you go. You see the world as it is, not as you believe it should be.You are not a romantic person by nature. It also safe to say that others don't see you as a flirt. You don't think much about yourself.

Click here if you wanna draw your own house on Rosie St and be neighbours. OK. Back to work.

Cuppacakes

2007-01-27T12:39:00.000+08:00

Just a quick product review on some cupcakes brought from Cuppakes, I promised Jazzmint that I would take a picture of them after I told her that I'm purchasing some for SIL#1's birthday. When I saw the pictures of the cupcakes on the website, they looked really special and pretty. The smallest package they have available was the Royal 9, just enough for the few of us because the others come in 20s or 30s in a box.

cuppakes
When I first got the package, picked up myself, the packaging was rather plain but nicely done with a nice ribbon. After opening the package to take a peek, I was rather disappointed that the cupcakes were quite squashed in the tight confines of the box. From the picture of the Royal 9 in their website and the picture I took above of those I got, I'm sure you will agree that they look totally different, not as pretty and as yummy looking.

tiramisu from bakerzin
The taste of the cupcakes itself (minus the icing) was quite nice. As for the icing,I think there was too much icing on the top (close to 1cm thick!) and they were too sweet. All in all, I think for the quality of the cupcakes, they are really not worth the price I paid. If they had been prettier, I think I wouldn't mind the price as I think most people purchase these cupcakes for the novelty of it.

My verdict: 5/10

The 4 Tag

2006-01-26T01:30:00.000+08:00

This is what I fear the most… being one of the last ones to be tagged and have no one else to pass the homework to hehehe… must really thank Sabrina for the favor this time. Since this tag started going around, I have been hoping I do not kena (Malay: get it), so I have been keeping my eyes opened for blogs with the “4” title. Here goes…

4 Jobs I Have Had In My Life

Notebook Promoter (only for 3 days during PC Fair after SPM)
Waitress (part time job in Melbourne during studies)
Customer Service Executive
Service Administrator (both 3 and 4 in current company, change job title only)

4 Movies I Could Watch Over And Over

Pretty Woman (I’m such a soppy person, but don’t you just love happy endings?)
Sound of Music (Somehow I got hooked onto this movie since I was a little girl)
LOTR (all of them, like Jazzmint, I really like these big productions)
Sleeping Beauty (the cartoon)

4 TV Shows I Have Love(d) To Watch

Seinfeld
F.R.I.E.N.D.S
Reality Game Shows
Renovation Game Shows

It’s been ages since I have followed shows closely, not as if I have as much time as I had when I was studying last time…

4 Places I Have Lived

Cheras
Port Klang
Melbourne, Australia
Bandar Utama

4 Places I Have Been On Vacation To

Korea
Bali
China
Hong Kong

4 Places I Would Rather Be In

In my home sweet home
In Bed in a 5 Star Hotel
At a spa in Bali
At a sidewalk café with nothing to do but watch people pass by

4 Of My Favorite Foods

Any Chinese style clear soup (I just love soups)
Thai dishes (and make it extra spicy!)
Japanese dishes (influenced by hubby, used to cringe at eating raw fish)
Cheesy food (drools…)

4 Of My Favorite Beverages

Iced Lemon Tea
Barley with Pak Kor
Iced Leong Fun (less leong fun, more water and ice… yumm…)
Carbonated drinks

4 Websites I Visit Daily

My blog
All blogs which are updated
My webmails
Work related websites

4 Unfortunate Souls Tagged

sunshine (Jazzmint’s tagged you already but you haven’t do mah, so I tag also lah)
Milly’s Diary (Milly, long time never kena tagged liao)
Shopping Mum (can get you to type with freshly manicured fingers ah?)
Loc Kee Trading (this fella too free liao, always blogging about games nowadays)

Woohoo… no more hutang (Malay: debt)!

9 Questions Tag

2006-01-08T23:38:00.000+08:00

Okay. Since I have been bad and ignored Twinsmom and Tracy’s tag due to busy-ness during the past weeks, here goes my attempt at this latest tag.

The Rules: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom spot.

Then you select five people to pass the love on to. Here’s my selection:

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?

Just finished my pre-university (was doing South Australian Matriculation at Taylor’s College) and enrolled in a twining degree. Guess those were the best years of lepaking (Malay: hanging out) for me… not total freedom until I went abroad to Australia though.

2. What were you doing 1 year ago?

Erm… January 8 2005… had to refer to my picture archives. Found out that on this day last year I was actually on my way to my 2-day division trip at Port Dickson, so I guess I must have dumped Ivan with my mum… LOL.

3. Five super fatty and high cholesterol snacks you enjoy:

Cheese Rings
Pringles Sour Cream Flavor
Nachos with Guacamole
Yau Cha Kwai
Fried stuff… KFC chicken skin? Eww.

4. Five songs to which you know all the lyrics off your head right now:

It’s a Small World
The More We Get Together
I Wish To Go A-Wandering
London Bridge
Sing a Song of Sixpence

5. Five things you would do if you were a millionaire

Same as Jazzmint – Bank all the money and quit my job to live on the interest
Travel around the world till my heart’s content
Sign up for some serious slimming after baby’s out
Donate to some kids or animal fund
Do up my home so it looks really grand?

6. Five bad habits:

Short fused
Bites nails when anxious
Likes to procrastinate
Eating too quickly… may seem like I’m gobbling down food sometimes
Lazy, if let be, I’d laze in bed for the whole weekend doing nothing

7. Five things you like doing:

Blogging
Bringing Ivan out and seeing a smile on his face
Eating at inappropriate times
Looking at pictures, and most recently try to Photoshop them
Traveling

8. Five things you would never wear, buy, or get new again:

Never buy belly revealing tees, gone are the days when I had smooth and flat tummy
Never wear my beloved jeans that fitted perfectly, my SIL#1 untung (Malay: profit) coz she sapu (Malay: swept) a few off my wardrobe already
Never buy another watch, never wear them except for the one I normally wear and I tend to misplace the extra ones
Never buy any glassware unless there is none left, the kitchen cabinets are filled with unused glassware from who-knows-where
Never buy a notebook again unless I quit my current job and is left without one, they depreciate too quickly!

9. Five favourite toys:

Ivan, love to dress him up nicely - tarak (Malay: don’t have) girl, boy also can… hahaha
My Canon Ixus
My Toshiba notebook, belongs to the company though
Photoshop, when I’m free
My car, love traveling to mum’s house

New Kid on the Block

2005-12-29T12:45:00.000+08:00

hello world
Name: Marcus Wong
Date of Birth: 23rd December 2005
Time of Birth: 18:37
Birth Weight: 3.61kg / 7.15lbs

A new friend for Ivan, but due to pantang (Malay: taboo) reasons, I have yet to meet the little bugger in person. Here's wishing both mum and baby health and fun times during confinement... heheh.

As Busy As Can Bee

2005-12-23T14:59:00.000+08:00

This morning I turned my Feedreader on and after one round of searching, my total unread blog feed went up to nearly 90 feeds. Never in all my blogging days have I left work with unread blogs. My oh my... I have been so busy that I have decided to simply leave the Feedreader off just so that I could concentrate in clearing workload before I dump it all on the new girl who is now helping me.

For three years in this current company, I have been the only person who does warranty claims for the whole department. Day in day out all I see is spare parts... good parts, faulty parts, broken parts. My job is to claim all that I can claim, for local parts as well as overseas parts. During my last round of pregnancy with Ivan, my workload has been dumped on a fellow colleague who already had her hands full with administrative work. She was promised that she would be compensated for chipping in extra time to do my job while I was on confinement. However, our very nice *rolls eyes* Human Resource department rejected her claims even after my department senior manager signed his approval on it. Their only reason: support staffs, other than technicians, are not entitled to claim for overtime. So she was left with nothing but wasted time spent on doing someone else's job for two months.

This time around, they have decided to hire a new girl to share this workload with me before I disappear yet again for confinement (seems the kiam siap (Hokkien: miserly) buggers they know they cannot get away from it this time, no one will be willing to do a job without pay for 2 months). So as you can imagine, last minute training for her and also effort to clear off tonnes of parts, which have been building up over the months due to increased sales quantity, has left me pretty tied up. As of today, I can proudly say that most of it is finally cleared and I can go for my confinement with a clear conscience.

So please all bear with me, I am trying to clear my reading list… though I doubt that I will have much time left to comment on your blog. And I do hope now that work is nearly over for the year, little Izac will decide to join us soon *can’t wait to see you baby!*.

My Inner Child

2005-12-17T09:33:00.000+08:00

Read Msau's post yesterday, and saw it on Twinsmom and Egghead's blog... so here goes mine.

Your Inner Child Is Sad

You're a very sensitive soul.
You haven't grown that thick skin that most adults have.
Easily hurt, you tend to retreat to your comfort zone.
You don't let many people in - unless you've trusted them for a long time.

How Is Your Inner Child?

Absolutely Divine Delicious!

2005-11-27T16:17:00.000+08:00

Most people would not think of celebrating their wedding anniversary with a group of friends. The norm would be to have a quiet dinner with just the husband and wife present. Yesterday Yuen and Lym invited us to celebrate their 1st wedding anniversary with them at Delicious by Ms Read in Bangsar Village. What an honour!

We arrived there a tad late… at approximately 8:10pm, but am happy to announce that we were not the latest *woohoo!*. This is the first time I have been to Ms Read’s after reading Dinah’s post on the chocolate fudge cake. At first sight, the ambience was nice. Quiet enough to have conversations and casual enough so that we do not have to be hush-hush all the time.

Food was delicious. I ~~forgot~~ did not get to take a picture of the appetizer because all the ~~hungry~~ people at our table ~~were gobbling them down~~ cannot wait to taste it. However, for the record… the appetizer was great, dismissing the fact that we almost missed tasting the liver pate, which was covered under butter with something black in the center. Yuen had thought that the cup of pate was, in fact, candle. My hubby who did not quite believe her, looked to the next table, which were also occupied by friends, and saw some of them eating the “candle”. So, mystery solved and we took a taste of the “candle” and found out that it was indeed liver pate (later confirmed by looking at the menu) *LOL*.

Main course comes with a choice of 3 types of pasta: Spicy Seafood, Eggplant Something (I cannot remember the name for the life of me!) and Spaghetti Carbonara. I tried all three (all friends mah... hehehe) and must conclude that the best was the spicy seafood; followed by the eggplant... the carbonara was a bit too creamy. Dessert was heavenly... we had chocolate brownie and strawberry drenched in chocolate sauce... yumm!

After dinner was relaxing, everyone was chatting there, Ivan had fun bullying Chloe, who gave out a LOUD cry! When it was time to go home, our little monkey did not want to go, and was kicking up a fuss when papa was strapping him into the car seat. It was a great night, not only for adults, but I am pretty sure little Ivan enjoyed it just as much… he kept nodding after each spoonful of food that went into his little mouth!

Photoshop Attempt #2: The Flatten Image Option

2005-10-24T23:17:00.000+08:00

Another attempt using my limited Photoshop skill… this time I learnt how to use the Flatten Image Option. I was scratching my head, trying to do some photo editing by myself without sifu's (Cantonese: master's) help, but to no avail. I did not know how to use most of the options. Luckily, she did the second lesson so soon. Now I roughly know how to merge the many files together to get one nice poster. This one is much easier than the Lasso Tool. I need more practice and ideas though.

Photoshop Attempt #1: The Lasso Tool

2005-10-20T00:49:00.000+08:00

After reading Jazzmint's Dualtone Tutorial on the lasso tool, I decided to obtain myself a copy of Adobe Photoshop 7.0 from my colleague and try it myself. The outcome: so-so, lots of room for improvement.

I must say that this magnetic lasso tool is not that easy to use, unless of course, there is a clear-cut line on the photo itself. Additionally, steady hands or cursor helps as the dots are plotted automatically. Finally, do remember to enlarge the photo for easier plotting.

Audit Me Not!

2005-10-18T23:47:00.000+08:00

My company is going for ISO certification. Tomorrow will be my turn, tomorrow I kena audit (Malay: being audited). This sucks, I hate being interviewed and being put under the spotlight. I have no problems with the procedures and workflow, but they just keep changing it since September. Until now, I am not so sure anymore. And the company makes it seems like if we fail the audit, it is us who caused the company its ISO standard. Cheh! I guess this is one of the things causing my frustration with Ivan’s behavior tonight.

I need a rest.

I need a break from work to be at home with my baby.

Two Items

2005-10-10T14:00:00.000+08:00

Had a money spending trip with my mum at Carrefour yesterday. We were in line to pay for our purchases when a man stepped into the middle of the long queue (of course a few places in front of us lah).

Sue : Look at Malay Man (MM) fidgeting and not really in line, continue talking to mum... blah blah blah. Look at MM again, up and down.

MM : "Err... saya ada 2 item saja." (Malay: I have only 2 items).

Sue : Look incredulous and glance at the people lining in front and at the back. Look at the sign above the counter "10 items or less". "Sini semua orang pun sikit barang saja. Tolong beratur." (Malay: Everyone here have very few items. Please line up).

MM : Refused to budge, probably weighing the pros and cons of going full on with a flustered mum. Umm... maybe afraid that I was going to raise my voice heheh...

Sue : Keep staring at MM, this goes on and off for a few minutes.

MM : Quietly creep away.

I guess if MM had caught me in a reeeaaallly sweet mood or if he had asked politely to queue in front of me, I would have let him. But then again, there were so many people in line... he would have to ask everyone else behind me for permission as well, wouldn't he? Geez...

Give the Brakes a Break!

2005-10-07T18:30:00.000+08:00

I was driving behind a Jeep on the way home yesterday. The Jeep blocked my view from the cars in front, clouding my judgment as to when I should step on my brakes.

This is not the problem.

The problem lies with the Jeep's brake. It seems the owner is addicted to stepping on it every 2 seconds. Now I ask myself everytime I see drivers act like their brake pads come with lifetime warranty: Why do these people step on their brakes when the car in front is not even near, or when they are not preparing to change lanes???

The worse part is that my car nearly kissed the Jeep's butt. I was fed up with tailing the Jeep with its ever flashing tail lights, so I decided to change lanes to the middle. To do this, I need to consult my left mirror. What do you know... as I was looking at the mirror and trying to cut over, the stupid Jeep braked again. Walao... I had to swerve left to avoid hitting the Jeep. My car was lucky to avoid it, but I was feeling faint.

From what I know, there are some people who drive with their right feet on the accelerator and their left feet on the brake. Out of 10, I daresay there will be 2 or 3. These people have no idea that they are actually stepping on the brakes, thus making the person driving behind them look like idiots... accelerate... brake... accelerate... brake... What? Tango on the road ar? *rolls eyes*

Note to these people, please go for refresher courses in driving... you're doing it the WRONG way and a you're hazard to other drivers.

Technology & Insecurity

2005-10-05T23:11:00.000+08:00

5 minutes ago, my notebook encountered blue screen and physical memory dump. As I was halfway through typing in MSN messenger, I was like, "What happened?!?! Shit!" Then I proceeded to force shutdown the stupid machine. After rebooting, I thought to myself ~ wah, need to backup my things liao.

My thoughts automatically go to all my pictures, emails & various data stored in the small little hard disk. Of course, I do have some of the data already backed up in CDs and another external HDD, but not very recently. The question now is: Is it enough? Is burning data to discs and copying them to another HDD enough? What if they fail too? What if the CD got scratched and the data in there cannot be retrieved? Should I burn 1 CD? 2 CDs? 3CDs?

So insecure... and over what? Something as intangible as data. And all this intangible data brought on by what? Technology lor... heheheh.

Seven Things

2005-09-23T22:21:00.000+08:00

Gonna do my tag now... Ivan slept on time *hooray!*

7 things I plan to do before I die:
1) Write a will, make sure my family can get my money fast rather than wait for years!
2) Get a tattoo of my children's names
3) Quit my job and TRY to be a good SAHM
4) Travel the world with hubby, better still with my mother also
5) Blog more, so that when I'm no longer around my children can still get a piece of me :P
6) Get out more for catch-ups time with my friends
7) Tell everyone I love, that I love them thiiiiiiiiiiiiissssss much!

7 things I could do:
1) Be a better mummy & spend more time with Ivan
2) Be a better wife & spend more time with hubby
3) Spend more time talking with baby #2 in my tummy
4) Be a better daughter to my mother & stepdad
5) Be a better sister to my brothers & sisters
6) Be a better person & do more good deeds
7) Be more patient & stop cursing while driving to work in the mornings

7 celebrity crushes:
1) Sammi Cheng (like her songs)
2) Bond (like their music)
3) ei... very difficult to get these names leh
4) can skip ar?
5) later only fill in can ar?
6) just act like you never see this part lar
7) ...

7 often repeated words:
1) shaddap / diam (to my colleague technicians)
2) nia seng (to my colleague technicians)
3) pain-pain ar?
4) baby want mum-mum?
5) come mummy carry
6) be careful hah
7) come mummy sayang

7 physical traits I look for in the opposite sex:
1) tall-ish
2) meaty-ish (don't like anorexic men la)
3) hairy-ish legs (don't like pak cham kai (Cantonese:hairless) la)
4) strong arms
5) big feet
6) nice smile
7) great teeth (only trait hubby don't have leh... good what, he have 6 out of 7... LOL)

7 tags go to:
1) Michelle
2) Evelyn
3) Zara's mama
4) Janie
5) Shopping Mum
6) Sabrina
7) Egghead
All of the above, don't do it if you don't want to... and don't kill me when you read this. I'm a new blogger and don't know anyone else who hasn't done this meme *whimper whimper*

Done! Now I can pass up my homework to the people who tagged me... namely Jefferene and Hui Sia... you happy now?!?! *hands on hips* heheh...

Sports Rims Anyone?

2005-09-13T14:44:00.000+08:00

What is it with men and all things useless? What is it with men and sports rims, car stereos, useless upgrades and the likes?

Yesterday, hubby sent my car to the workshop for service. When I met up with him after my checkup with the gynaecologist, he told me that he has ordered the technician to change my car's sports rims and tyres to one that costs more than RM3k. Now, I am a person who hates finding out things last, especially things that have to do with my family or me. Car tyres I can understand as it is wear and tear, but sports rims?!! So, I flew into a tantrum for these simple reasons:

1) I dislike hubby being goaded into buying things that are not planned (he is easily talked into spending money)
2) I dislike hubby spending large amounts of money and not discussing with me beforehand
3) I do not see why he is reluctant to spend good money on a more expensive but better (maybe?) baby car seat when he can spend it in the blink of an eye on something like a set of sports rims
4) I do not see the need to change the car's sports rims when the current one is still functoning like a rim should

I sulked for half a day (hubby is a man of few words most times and very bad at pacifying me). When the sulking is done, being the person that I am, I asked myself, "Did I over react? Should I have been a more supportive wife and let hubby indulge himself since he works hard for the money?" I can never get a satisfying answer for my own questions.

But one thing I do know. While we asked these questions, the men might also be asking:
What is it with women and all things useless? What is it with women and expensive prams, baby car seats, baby safety gates and the likes?