Loots From Vietnam

CB just got back from a business trip to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was the longest trip (4 nights) he was away since XY was born. Normally if he needs to travel, it'll be just for 1 or 2 nights.

We communicated over the internet almost every night (he went to an internet cafe). We used the webcam so that the kids can see their father and vice versa. But connection was quite bad. His image kept hanging. Even the voice call wasn't very clear.

The kids doesn't seem to miss him too much. hahaha I guess they're too young. XY is still ok... she knows when PaPa's coming back. And she'd chat with him when he called home. As for CE, he doesn't look for PaPa and it's like out of sight, out of mind. But when PaPa walked in the front door, he stretched his arms out for PaPa to carry, like what he normally does when PaPa comes back from work in the evening.

CB bought a lot of foodstuff, clothes for all of us, bamboo bags and wine holders, which was broken when he got back. Must be due to the rough handling of the checked-in baggage.

~ traditional suits for the kids and a doll for XY ~

~ nut candy, peanut butter candy and mixed fruit chips ~

~ bamboo bags ~

~ broken wine holder ~

The Age That I Wish My Child Will Stay To Be!

Judy passed me this tag. I'll do it based on XY as CE is only 1 and a half years old. There're only 4 years to choose from coz she's only 4+. I think I'd like her to stay at age 3. The reasons :
* She can communicate very well with us already.
* She's not learnt to answer back rudely.
* Most importantly, she's overcome her phobia of visiting the doctor.
* And she's not afraid of taking medicine anymore.

Planning For Family Vacation

It's the year end and we're thinking of going for a family vacation. Singapore would be a good choice. There will be lovely decorations for Christmas. The kids have never been to a zoo and I really like Singapore Zoo as there are lots of animals to see.

Hawaii vacations sounds good too. Maybe I should check out the Hawaii vacation packages. I doubt hubby would be interested in Mexico vacations.

When we go for vacations (unless we're following a tour), we normally book the hotel room online because of the better deals. Hotel Reservations offers hotels, motels, resorts, flight and car rentals. I can search for the best hotel deal based on my travel date. It can also show me the hotels near a specific landmark or location, eg. Orchard Road or Sentosa Island. With young children in tow, it's always easier to stay near to the places of interest we intend to visit. Whenever the kids are tired, we can head back to the hotel for a rest.

If you're planning your year-end vacation, do check out this site. It offers great discounts (up to 70%) on world-wide destinations.

Kids @ Play

XY and CE like to play together but I get very worried sometimes because they play rough. When they’re in the bedroom, XY likes to hide under the blanket and play peek-a-boo with didi. He gets amused easily with jie jie’s actions. He’ll laugh non-stop and try to pull the blanket away to make jie jie 'appear'. He's not successful coz jie jie is holding tight to it. So he’ll hit her head instead. :-|

Another dangerous place is on the bed. They play so wildly that I worry they’ll fall off the bed or knock each other's head or face. But it's really fun to see them play together, to hear their loud laughter. I guess in CE's mind, jie jie is his personal clown.

Goodbye Pacifier?

CE has been introduced to the pacifier in his first month. He needs it only when he sleeps. Recently, he doesn't want his pacifier when I make him sleep at night. When I tried to put it in his mouth, he'll move his face away or take it out. Usually when he's alert, he'd reject it. Only when he stirs in the middle of night, I'll pop it in for him and he's alright with it. Yesterday night, he didn't use the pacifier at all. Same goes for his afternoon nap.

So far, we've bought 4 pacifiers (Tollyjoy orthodontic). Now there's only one left. The other 3 was broken because he bit them. Looks like he's ready to wean himself off the pacifier.

My Lil' Gardeners

When the kids were playing at the house compound in the evening, I did some weeding while watching over them. Then the 2 kepoh helpers decided to give me a hand. Actually XY was quite helpful. She managed to pull out quite a lot of weeds while I was busy snapping didi's pictures and running after didi (coz he kept going near the drain). As for didi, he wasn't weeding. He was pulling out the grass! And playing with them. Luckily he didn't leave a botak patch on my lawn.

The Need For Insurance

This is a sponsored post.
Insurance is a part of your financial planning. When things happen unexpectedly that requires a big sum of money, at least you have some financial back-up. Some people like to buy life insurance that is linked with investment. However such investment usually doesn't give very high returns as compared to returns from investments on stocks or unit trusts. But if you don't have the time nor the expertise to invest on your own, this kind of investment-linked insurance is a good choice.

Medical insurance is also important to ease some of your financial burden when your family is suddenly in need of medical attention. We have got life and medical insurance for ourselves and the kids. We also bought the home insurance to cover any damage or loss due to fire, flood or theft. It's important to protect your home as it's one of your largest financial investments.

Car insurance is a must here in Malaysia so your vehicle is insured against loss or damage to the vehicle and also to third party injuries and properties. With so many general insurance companies around, you should compare car insurance quotes to get the one that best suits your needs.

If you think that you haven't gotten yourself or your assets covered sufficiently, do look into it now to protect yourself and your loved ones against unnecessary financial burden.

To Cane Or Not To Cane

Chinnee wanted to know how I deal with the kids in terms of caning. To be honest, I'm not as patient as I hope I'd be. So I do use the cane, usually as a last resort. This is the process flow.

When XY is naughty (eg disturbing didi, running wildly in the living room, jumping on the sofa) :
1 - I'll tell her to stop in a nice way.
IF she doesn't listen, THEN
2 - I'll raise my voice = shouting. (Sometimes I worry my neighbours can hear me... quite embarassing, eh?)
IF she still ignores me, THEN
3 - I'll threathen her with the cane - waving the cane in front of her or hitting the sofa/chair/staircase/floor... the louder the sound, the better.
Most of the time, she would have stopped whatever 'unapproved' thing she was doing. But IF she starts to cry out loud, THEN
4 - *PIAK!!!*

I try not to use the cane so often coz she's not really afraid of it. Like what people say, if you use it all the time, they're so used to it, they're not intimidated by it anymore. Sometimes after caning her, she can still tell me, "Not painful." :-|

As for CE, we've not caned him but PaPa have used it to threaten him. I don't use it on him coz he's not afraid of me. Sometimes he can sit quietly on the sofa with PaPa for quite long if he's holding a cane.

How about you? Do you use the cane?
Jazzmint
Rachel
Wen
Hui Sia
Kiasumum

***************
Instructions :
**Start Copying Here**

Tag 5 bloggers
1st - You leave their blog and post link and add to the list below.
2nd - Let the blogger know that they have been tagged by leaving comment in their blog.

1. Miche does not spare the rod.
2. Chinnee still spare the rod at this moment.
3. Slavemom does not spare the rod.

Tag Max!!

Seems like many-in-1 tags are very popular these days. Although there are 4 tags altogether, I've already done 2. So it's not that tough after all ya. Yup... BabyBooned, you are right! ;)

Shopping tips

Have done this already.

5 Links To 5 Own Posts

Have done this too.

The Age I Wish To Go Back

**************Start copy***************

Instructions:

Title: The Age That I Wish To Go Back To

Requirement: Write about the one age that you wish to go back to and why?

I enjoy my secondary school years a lot, minus the exams of coz. I was quite active in sports and extra-curricular activities. Life was so carefree and fun (except when I need to prepare for exams). And I particularly like the period of time after the SRP exams. We were playing cards (UNO) all day. We even did some craft work on our own. We filled the bottle with colourful salt, layer by layer. I still keep that bottle till now. Hmm... but I've forgotten how to do that already. Yeah... that was a really fun year.

The Age that they Wish to Go Back to:
Amidrin wish to go back to age 22 to correct back some mistakes in life.
Lemonjude wish to go back to age 6 to enjoy kid’s life.
L’abeille wish to go back to any year but never return to age 28.
Sweetpea wish to go back to, actually, just thinking about 17.
Lovelymommy wishes to go back to age 21.
Laundryamah wishes to go back to the eve of my wedding day.
mommyof2angels wishes to be daddy's girl again.
Babybooned wishes to go back to the age of 18.
Slavemom wishes to go back to the age of 15, after the SRP exams.

Tag 5 on 5

That is to have 5 answers to all questions and tag another 5 person.

5 things in my room :
king-sized bed, built-in cabinet, laundry basket, playpen, chair

5 things I’ve always wanted to do :
ice-skating, tour Europe, go to Disneyland, take a roller-coaster ride with my eyes wide open (yes, I always close them tight), get drunk (in a safe place, of coz LOL)

5 things in my bag :
wallet, tissue, lipstick (which I seldom use), handphone, unwanted brochures (hehehe)

5 things in my wallet :
IC, driving license, credit card, money, loads of loyalty cards

5 things I'm currently into :
watching Cantonese serials on AOD, blogging, exercising (on the trampoline), eating junk food (while watching tv mah... not good, not good I know), planning a family vacation

Now I'll be tagging this 5 wonderful ladies and I'm sure you won't need to do all 4 : (pretty pleeeease?)
Wen
Bryan's Mama
Sharine
Sting
Anggie

18 Months Old

Today CE turned 1 and a half years old. But the poor boy is having runny nose. Here are his updates:

Statistics
Weight - about 11 kg
Height - 84 cm (an estimate coz I used the cloth measuring tape to measure. Hmmm... how come he's not grown any taller for 3 months already?)

Diet
Takes 3 times of milk (8-10 ozs), 2 times porridge, breakfast (bread, biscuit) and tea time (fruits).
He doesn't like bread that much anymore. Sometimes he can't even finish 1 piece in the morning. Likes to play with it more than eating it. Tearing it into small pieces and squashing it.
He eats a lot when we go out for a meal. After he's finished his porridge, he can still eat some bread and cornflakes and raisins (as much as we'd allow him to). If we don't give him the snacks, he'd fuss around and make a lot of noise.

Sleep
Lately he only naps once a day. Usually it'll last for 2-3 hours. So his total sleep time is still the same, 11-12 hours.

Teeth
16 teeth in total.

Verbal
He babbles more this past month. He goes "papapapa" a lot. When he sees PaPa's car driving into the car porch, he'll go to the windows (quite low so he's able to look outside) at the living room and call out "PaPa... PaPa". Sometimes when he hears the door being closed upstairs, he'd call out "PaPa... PaPa" too, even though PaPa's not home then.
He babbles more when he's angry. When he's not happy, he goes "babababa.. jeejeejeejee..", as if scolding people.
Some of his vocabulary (really limited), which may not be right all the time:
papa - father
taataa - Kakak
jeejee - Jie Jie or when he's not happy
bauubauu - want to be carried
tuck - Mickey Mouse/Donald Duck and most things

Mobility
He walks rather steadily now. Can even run already. When playing chasing with jie jie, he'll run and flap his hands like a bird. Such a funny sight.
He's trying to jump. Will bend his knees and push himself up. But his legs doesn't leave the ground and sometimes he loses balance and falls down.
When he's on the trampoline, he tries to jump too. Have to hold his hands and standby in case he falls off. Very dangerous. When XY or I jump next to him on the trampoline, he gets very excited coz he's bouncing as well.
He managed to climb up our bed a few days ago. Our bed with divan is about 2 feet high.

Others
Likes to cover his face with the hanky and walk with his face looking upwards.
Likes to hug his soft toys - puppy, bear, Ernie and even jie jie's doll.
Snatches whatever jie jie's holding. Poor jie jie, she has to give in most of the time.
Sometimes, out of a sudden, he walks to jie jie, knock jie jie's head with a toy or hit jie jie with his hands. What a violent boy!
And he won't bother even if jie jie cry out loud. But when jie jie cries because she got scolded or hurt herself, he'll go hug her.
Likes to play at the curtain. He'll hide behind the sheer and walk forward till his face is unveiled.
Likes to touch the standing fan while it's running. Sometimes he likes to test me, he'll put his hand near the fan and see my reaction.
His bad temper is becoming more prominent. When he doesn't get what he wants, he'll hit the floor/table with his bare hands or throw toys/remote controls. And when his hand hurts because of that, he expects us to sayang him.

Open Range Restaurant

Last Sunday, we went to Open Range for dinner. It's a western food restaurant in Mahkota Cheras (near Sg. Long). My first impression when I entered the restaurant was that it was quite small. They have only 5 or 6 long tables there. We sat near the door, in front of the aquariums of oysters and crabs.

I ordered Swiss Mix Grill Cheese Steamboat. When it came, they lighted up the pot of cheese and I thought it was going to burn for very long. Was a bit worried the cheese will dry up coz I take a long time to finish my food. But it went off in less than 5 minutes. hehehe This dish comes with grilled chicken, beef, lamb and fish, fried calamari, sausage, ham and egg. It's the first time I'm trying something like this and it was really tasty, even without dipping the meat into the cheese. And with the cheese, it's even more yummy.

~ Swiss Mix Grill Cheese Steamboat ~

CB said the Red Wine Lamb was good. But I don't quite like it. Not tasty enough for my liking.

~ Red Wine Lamb ~

The Cowboy Hot Dog has 2 pieces of sausages fried in a cheese roll. Nothing to shout about but XY sure loved the fries.

~ Cowboy Hot Dog ~

As for the baked mussels, it was alright. But we still prefer the one in Fish & Co.

~ Baked Mussels ~

Kakak had the pineapple fried rice. It didn't come in a pineapple though. :D She said there wasn't much pineapple in it.

When we were about to finish our meal, it felt quite hot. I was wondering if the air-cond was working or not. After we've paid for the bill, we went to the washroom. Then only I realised they have another air-conditioned section on the other side. They've got a big screen tv too. And it was much more comfortable there. Haih... we were sitting at the non-smoking section lah. No wonder I find it rather funny that the place was so small and hot. LOL

Overall, we had a fulfilling dinner. Thanks Chinnee, for the good recommendation. ;)

Kuala Selangor Trip

XY's kindy is organising a nature trip to Kuala Selangor during this school holidays. Must be accompanied by adult. The itinerary includes mangrove walk, birds watching, visiting historical sites (museum, poison well, lighthouse, forts), paddy field and watching fireflies.

They charge RM70 for adult and RM50 for child. It's inclusive of transportation, insurance, entrance fee, tea snack and dinner. I've never been to K. Selangor. I think it'd be an interesting trip. But I'm wondering if we are able to see the fireflies. Anyone's been there? Is it a sure thing to see them? Still haven't decided if we want to join the trip. If we go, it'll just be me and XY. PaPa will be at home with CE.

Blog Of The Month Award

I received this award from Wen. Thank you, thank you. Like her, I’m also considered a new blogger (just 4 months old). So I’m really honoured to receive this, although she said she just picked randomly. :) Well, at least I’m in her list, right? hehehe

Now if I can, I’d like to present this award to all blogs that I read. Everyone of you deserves this. But if I have to choose only one, then this award goes to... (drum roll, please)... Jazzmint! I just love to read about her children and see her beautiful scraps.

Annual Concert 2007

Saturday night was XY's kindy's Annual Concert cum Graduation Night (graduation for Year 6 students), which was held at a nearby college's auditorium. It was a combined event with another branch in Sg. Chua. They had an exhibition of the children's artwork and display of workbooks for sale outside the auditorium.

The theme was 4 seasons - Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. XY's dance was in the Summer category. And hers was the 6th presentation. When they were presenting the 4th dance, I started to have butterflies in my stomach. Was really nervous... afraid that she'll mumble or worse, forgot her speech altogether. Before her dance started, I went to the front of the stage to take pictures. Finally the moment came, she was standing in front of the microphone. I signalled for her to speak out. But she stood there quietly for almost 10 seconds. I was wondering in my mind, "Oh no! Can she do it?" Then she gave the speech, fluently and clearly. Sigh... I was so proud of her. Felt like telling everyone around me, "Hey, that's my girl, you know." hehehe Not that I'm boastful lah, I'm sure all parents would be like that, no? :D

While I was in front of the stage taking pictures, CB was shooting the video camera from our seat. Better view from there coz can take the whole stage and zoom in when need to. He told me he recorded the whole dance and zoomed in on XY a lot. When we checked the video camera at home, there was only the clip of the children coming onto stage and a close-up of the mic. Then it's the next presentation. No speech, no dance. Huh? What the h*ll happened? He must have pressed the Pause button but didn't release properly when the dance started (that's my conclusion). Argggghhh!!!! He was very sad and angry with himself. So I acted like it was no big deal, better not add salt to the wound. Luckily the kindy engaged a professional videoman and we can order the DVD from them. Although there won't be any close-up of XY, at least can still see her dance. If not, it'd be our biggest regret.

After the dances, there was a fashion show. The children were parading in clothes of the 4 seasons. We left then, before the prize giving ceremony and group singing coz didi has been restless for quite awhile already. It was his bedtime and he was starting to get cranky. Also, we wanted to avoid the heavy traffic when everyone leave at the same time.

What a memorable night for us all... my little girl's first concert.

~ introducing her dance ~

~ performing a Malay dance ~

~ swaying high ~

~ the end ~

The Proudest Moment In My Life

Anggie wanted to know what's the proudest moment in my life. Seemed like almost all parents' proudest moment has something to do with their kids. hehehe I'd say my proudest moment was when I successfully breastfed CE exclusively. I wasn't able to do that with XY.

I faced some serious breastfeeding problems in the first two months - engorgement, blocked ducts, cracked nipples. When CE was 2 months old, I had blocked milk ducts which led to breast infection. If untreated, it'd lead to mastitis, which would require surgery. I had very high fever and needed to be hospitalised. At that time, my gynae suggested that I take the pill to stop milk production. He was worried the continued milk production would create a good environment for the bacteria to breed. But I was hesitant coz I really wanted to continue breastfeeding. I was really motivated to breastfeed after reading so many successful and inspiring stories in forums and blogs. So I decided not to take the pill, wait and see if the antibiotics (IV drip) worked or not. Luckily it worked, otherwise I'd have to go through surgery. I was very thankful the breast infection didn't get more serious.

At the beginning, I supplemented CE's feeding with formula. But after the breast infection episode, I tried to breastfeed more frequently, so that the blocked duct would not recur. Finally, I managed to breastfeed CE exclusively from 2+ to 7 months old. And he was weaned off at 11 months. I was very happy that I was able to give him the best I can in his first few months.

Please pass on this list:
1. Ehon's proudest moment is when he swept 5 out of 6 trophies at a State First Aid Competition.
2. Everyday Healy proudest moment is when she gave birth to Elizabeth.
3. Trinity's proudest moments are when she took a commitment to be married and also when she breastfed her babies.
4. Anggie proudest moment was married to a wonderful husband and being a mother.
5. Slavemom's proudest moment was when she successfully breastfed her son exclusively.

Kindly share with us your proudest moment.
Mummy to QiQi
Health Freak Mommy

New Spectacles

After dinner on Tuesday night, we went to collect our spectacles. Nowadays, it takes such a short time to make a pair of spectacles. We chose the frames on Sunday afternoon and it was ready the next day evening. I chose an Emporio Armani frame... my first branded spectacles. CB got himself a Silhouette. There goes another big hole in our pockets. :(

Here's my model posing with my spectacles.

left: old specs ----- right: new specs

Performance On Graduation Night

XY's still coughing a little. I'm very worried coz she has a concert this Saturday. It's her kindy's graduation ceremony for the Year 6 students. She'll be performing a Malay dance and she was chosen to introduce the dance. The weekend before we went to Penang, her teacher gave me the speech. It has 5 sentences. I practised with her over that weekend. And she managed to memorise the speech within 3 days. I was so impressed.

Today they had a rehearsal at the actual venue. I asked her what the teacher said after her little speech. Her teacher said she's not loud enough. When she practised in front of me, she's fine. But when she did it in front of a bigger group at home, she tends to mumble to herself and be very shy. I hope she'll talk loudly and clearly on the stage, in front of so many spectators.

8 Random Facts About Me

Jo-N tagged me on this. Here goes.

1. I’m the youngest in the family. I have 2 elder brothers.

2. I admit that I’m a lousy driver. I think I’ve only driven within 20km radius from my home. I doubt I know how to drive a manual car.

3. I was the Class Treasurer every year in Secondary school. See how trustworthy I am? LOL

4. I’ve been wearing spectacles since 12 years old (I think).

5. I love to eat crabs and prawns. But I try to control coz I have high cholesterol level.

6. I don’t eat any internal organs.

7. I can cry my hearts out when watching a sad tv show.

8. I don’t sing well at all... I croak. That’s why I seldom go karaoke.

The Rules:
Link to your tagger and post these rules.
List eight (8) random facts about yourself.
Tag eight people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs.

As this is quite an old tag and most have done it already, I only managed to tag 3. Would like to know more about you:
* Wen
* BabyBooned
* Sting

A Sneezy Weekend

It was a boring and crappy weekend. Why? Because I’m not well. Since Saturday, I’ve been having runny nose and a bad sore throat. Now XY is also sneezing and coughing a little. CB’s already starting to sneeze and have sore throat too. As for CE, he’s just recovered from runny nose. I suspect I got the virus from him. But where did he get it from? Hmmm??? Please... not the whole family sick again.

On Saturday night, we went to Sg Chua to eat ‘latt thong’ for dinner. It’s a kind of spicy soup (a lot of ginger and pepper) which is a specialty in Kajang (apart from satay). We ordered the soup with ‘chue chap’ (pig’s internal organs). It's different from normal soup coz it's really spicy and it stimulates your taste buds (very 'chi kek'). It’s really nice to drink when it’s hot. Really wakes you up. When it’s cooled, I find it a bit too salty.

~ 'latt thong' ~

Another dish that we always order when we go for ‘latt thong’ is ‘fa tiew theen kai’ (frogs in Chinese wine). It’s very aromatic and goes well with rice. We just love this dish. We also ordered cabbage with dried shrimps and claypot tofu. Overall, a nice and tasty meal, as always, when we have the soup and frogs. :)

~ 'fa tiew theen kai' ~

The seller was previously from a shop in Bukit Mewah (Phase 7) but they only operated in the day time. After they moved to Sg Chua, they operate at night as well. Their shop is just next to the famous ‘latt thong’ shop (I think it’s called Siew Kah, or something like that). Famous coz it was featured in the newspapers. But we still prefer this shop coz we’re loyal customers. hahaha Actually, we’ve tried the famous shop before but it was nothing too fantastic. So we just stick to the one we normally patronise.

At night, I couldn’t sleep. Although my sore throat was getting worse, I just couldn’t fall asleep. What a torture. I suspect it was the chinese tea I drank during dinner. I experience insomnia once in awhile after drinking tea. And it chose the wrong night to strike. Sigh...

On Sunday, after a late breakfast of ‘pan meen’, CB and I went to make new pair of spectacles. XY went into the room with me when the optometrist checked my eyes. So I was saying the alphabets and numbers when the guy pointed to the screen. Oh, they now have pictures too (horse, flower, butterfly, etc). This is the first time I see they use pictures during the eye check. Later when we were at home, XY asked me a funny question.
XY : Mummy, why did Uncle teach you ABC?
Me : Huh? When?
XY : He was pointing to the alphabets...
Me : Oh...

So I explained to her that’s how we get our eyes checked. Come to think of it, it does look like he’s teaching the alphabets... like the teacher pointing to a letter and the student reading it out loud. hehehe

With so many sick people at home, we had porridge with eggs and vegetable for dinner. Plain, but we're not complaining. There goes my plan for crabs. Next weekend, maybe?

Photo Printing Made Affordable

This is a sponsored post.
Nowadays, printers are very affordable. Some homes even have a laser colour printer for personal use. But the ink cartridges are very expensive. I have two printers at home. The old one is at least 6 years old. Last year, we bought a colour printer especially for photo printing. So you can imagine how much we spend on ink cartridges.

At Cartridge Finder, it’s very easy to find the right cartridge for my printers. I just need to select the printer brand and model. I’m also able to compare the prices of different merchants via PriceGrabber. So I can get the best deal by just looking at one site.

Teatime

Everyday at 5+ in the evening, we’ll have fruits for teatime, unless we’re not at home. I'm glad that XY and CE love fruits. I try to give them a variety - apple, pear, dragon fruit, guava, banana, papaya, persimmon, plum and peach. As fruits are best taken 30 minutes before or after a meal, teatime’s the most suitable time for us.

I used to cut the fruit into small bite-size with a small spoon and feed CE. But now he prefers to feed himself, using a fork. He’ll signal to me when he has a big chunk in his mouth. Sometimes it’s just a wee bit bigger than usual, he won’t choke with that. But it’s good that he knows what’s too big for him. Anyway, I still have to keep a close eye on him when he feeds himself.

With this healthy habit, I hope the kids have sufficient intake of fruits. Hubby’s the only one who doesn’t take much fruits. Just can’t find the right time to ‘feed’ him. By the time he’s back from work, it’s already time for dinner. Even if he’s home on weekends, he doesn’t take much. But he told me he'd buy some cut fruits after lunch sometimes. Well, at least he takes some, better than none at all.

What’s My Breakfast Today

Wen wanted to know what I had for breakfast today. Almost everyday, it’d be a glass of Milo kosong and 2 pieces of Gardenia bread with butter/peanut butter/kaya/jam/cheese. Today it's Milo and bread with peanut butter. On weekends or days when hubby’s not working, sometimes we have noodles/dim sum/bak kut teh/‘latt thong’ (spicy soup) for brunch.

What’s your breakfast like?
Jo-N
Anggie
Tutiger

Hogwarts Invitation

I got double invitation to the Hogwarts House. I'm not a Harry Potter fan, so I'm not familiar with these houses or what they really mean. Anyway, like Jo-N and Anggie, I'm also in Hufflepuff.

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

My in-depth results are:

Hufflepuff - 15
Ravenclaw - 12
Gryffindor - 11
Slytherin - 6

*** start copy paste this invitation***

I know what you're all thinking, "Not -another- sorting quiz!", but before you get bored and leave, let me say a few things about it. This is not the ordinary sorting quiz that you're used to. Unlike all those other quizzes infesting the Internet, this quiz actually sorts you for who you are as a person, not because your favorite animal is a lion.

I made this quiz as a reaction to all the bad sorting quizzes. The problem with most of the existing quizzes, is that the questions rarely have anything to do with which house you would actually be sorted into. Your favorite color doesn't effect which house you belong to. Not every Gryffindor likes defense against the dark arts, not every Slytherin likes potions. Just look at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Each is in Gryffindor, but each has a completely different disposition. Harry's father was often a bully and a thief, yet he was still in Gryffindor.

This quiz will actually ask you psychological questions with a variety of answers that can't easily be determined as to which house they fit into. This was meant to be more like what the Sorting Hat does. Just remember though that you must answer these questions truthfully in order to get an accurate answer.

Also these questions are written to take place in our world, not the world of Harry Potter. I didn't give a Harry Potter theme to the quiz because the answers are more accurate this way. As Muggles, we don't have any idea what it's like to be faced with a troll or a bogart and we've never played quiddich. Our answers may be skewed as to how our favorite characters would act instead of ourselves. However, we all know what it's like to live in the Muggle world because we do it every day.Please take the test and copy paste this *master list* after you are sorted and don't forget to tag your friends! Let's see which tower has the most members!

Gryffindor: Karen Adrian Eric Speedcat
Slytherin:
Ravenclaw: Mr. Fong Jojo kasper794 Wen
Hufflepuff: Trinity Amel Jo-N Anggie Slavemom

***end copy paste***

Do we belong to the same house?
Bryan's Mama
Sting
Yatie

Happy Blogging Wish

I got this wish from Wen. Ever since I started blogging, life has been a little different. It feels great to be part of the blogsphere and I've made many new friends. Although it takes a lot of time and effort to maintain a blog, it's all worth it.

This wish originated from Tot's Mom, the mom behind Poems For Cards.

I'd like to extend this wish to Michelle, Anggie, Shireen, BabyBooned and Sharine. I'll just name a few here but this wish also goes out to you, you and you. Happy Blogging to all! Now go spread this cheer around and make someone's day. ;)

Gifts Hunting

How time flies. In less than 2 months, we’ll be ushering in the New Year. Christmas is coming soon. And I don’t think it’s too early to think about Valentine’s Day gifts. I always have trouble getting gifts for my loved ones because I’m a very practical person. The gift must be something that’s really useful. As a thrifty person, making use of online coupon codes to get discounts is a good way to save money.

I’m planning to get a watch for hubby. It’s high time to change a new one as he’s been wearing the same one since 1998. There are many designs to choose from and most importantly, I can get a good discount at Overstock.com. As for the kids, I can get some discounted educational toys with best buy coupons. How about for myself? A vacation would be nice (can make use of the car rental coupons). Oh well, I’ll wait for hubby to surprise me.

Astro MAX

We’ve got another new gadget in the house... the Astro MAX. It was installed last Saturday. Still not very familiar with the new device. Got new remote control and different navigation screen.

This morning, suddenly we’ve got a disruption to the Astro service. Couldn’t watch any programs at all. I called up Customer Service. They told me my smart card was temporarily suspended coz they were upgrading the old decoder to Astro MAX. And it should be done within 24 hours. Huh? How are we to survive without Astro for 24 hours? So I complained a bit and the lady said she’ll try to expedite the upgrade. Luckily the service resumed after an hour. hehehe

Then in the afternoon, I wanted to record the 2:30 WLT show but was unable to. It showed the message “This channel cannot be recorded.” I tried other channels. Gave me the same message. So called Customer Service again. Reported the matter and the guy said I’ll get a call from the technical people to solve my problem within 4 hours. I tried to record a few times, even switched the decoder on and off. Also downloaded the channels again. Nothing worked. I only got a response from them at 8+pm (which was 6+ hours later). I was asked to switch off the power cable, wait for 15 seconds, then switch the power cable and decoder on. After the decoder’s start-up, I was able to record again. I felt quite stupid. Such a simple step also I didn’t think of doing.

One feature I’m very impressed with is that I can record a show and watch another recorded program at the same time. With a VCR or DVD, you won’t be able to do that. We’re quite happy with this purchase. So far so good. :)

Irresistible

I’m sure you’ve heard about PayPerPost (PPP) or seen it in many of the blogs that you’ve visited, even if you don’t exactly know how it works. It offers one of the higher paid opportunities in the marketplace.

To be honest, one of the motivation factors for starting my own blog was the ability to earn a little pocket money while sharing with others the antics, mischieves and lovely gestures of my two active children.

Another thing that amazes me is that virtual friends can turn out to be truly genuine friends. They would not hesitate to advise, comfort and help whenever you need it. I’d like to thank Jazzmint, Michelle and Mommy to QiQi who have helped or advised me one way or another about getting paid for blogging. Really appreciate all your help.

The ability to earn really boosts up one’s confidence. As a stay-at-home-mom, it feels really great to be able to earn some pocket money for my own spending. Even if the amount is not significant, it’s still my hard-earned money. I’m planning to save up for a brand new handphone with a high resolution camera. Is that wishful thinking? Well, I’d definitely try my best to achieve it. However I'd not compromise the blog ethics in the process.

If you’ve not signed up for PPP, what are you waiting for? Nobody can resist some extra spending money. Click on the PayPerPost button to sign up today. And be on your way to earn big bucks (if you put your heart into it, you can!). Good luck to you!

Progress Report

I went to XY’s kindy yesterday to collect her report card. Her teacher (Ms Mary) told me that she’s very satisfied with XY’s studies. She understands what’s been taught and finishes the work given in class. She’s quite independent and can do the work on her own most of the time. Her handwriting and colouring skill have also improved a lot. For a girl who doesn’t know how to hold a pencil nor write before starting kindy, I’m very proud of her progress.

She is also good in word blending. She can identify (or guess) the first letter of the word by listening to it. For example, when the teacher says “bin”, she’s able to tell that the word starts with the letter “b”.

I know that XY’s very noisy in class. She’s really talkative by nature. Ms Mary said she’s much better this semester. This is the comment in her progress report: “Occasionally needs to be reminded to tone down her voice!” LOL

Ms Mary also told me that she’ll give a big reaction (or make a big fuss) when people accidentally knocked her. Yup... that’s my little drama queen.

She has a very good friend in class (CJ). So she likes to do everything with CJ... sit with her, play with her, go everywhere together, etc. But sometimes CJ doesn’t want to be so buddy with her. And that really upsets her. Maybe she’s too friendly that it scares people away. I guess she doesn’t understand why her friend reacts that way. And that others have a right to not be her best buddy at times. She’s actually quite an emotional girl.

Overall, I’m very happy with her progress. I think she’s having great fun in school and making friends. And that’s what matters most.

Disclosure Policy

This policy is valid from 04 November 2007.

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact mdmsaw@gmail.com.

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Approved!

Yay! My blog’s finally approved by PayPerPost (PPP). I actually submitted earlier (before achieving the minimum blog age of 90 days) coz I just wanted to try my luck. Who knows... if can be approved, then can make money faster, rite? Unfortunately, it was rejected. So I submitted again after that criteria has been met. And I got the approval e-mail from them yesterday. So from now on, I’m an official paid postie for PPP. :)

Scholastic Books

~ all these for RM50 ~

Every few months or so, XY will bring back the brochure and order form from Scholastic Book Clubs. I think her kindy has some sort of collaboration with them. So far, I’ve received it 3 or 4 times already. There’s no obligation to buy. But the books are quite worth buying. They’re priced from RM8 - RM15. Only a few books are above RM20.

The books are labelled with different categories (Emergent Reader, Beginning Reader, Advanced Beginning Reader, Universal) which make buying easier for us parents. We can use that as a guide to choose the most appropriate books for the child’s reading level.

They usually offer the paperback version of the rather expensive hardcover books. For example, the one I bought for her, Yikes!!!, the hardcover costs RM71 (as stated in the brochure) but I only paid RM11 for the paperback version. This round, I got a Barney board book for CE (who’s getting rougher and rougher with books) and a Clifford book set with plush toy. I meant to get the toy for CE but XY loves it more than him.

My New Toy

I have got a new toy. It’s a birthday present from CB. It was supposed to arrive last Saturday but I wasn’t home so I asked them to deliver on Tuesday. So now I’ve got my very own laptop. Yay!

~ the parcel ~

~ my Compaq Presario... MINE! :D ~

I’d like to say a special thank you to a wonderful blogger friend for offering to buy it via her staff purchase plan. With this savings, we have more reasons to get this. Thank you Jazzmint for your help and generosity.

Now we don’t have to take turns to use the computer. Can even IM (instant message) each other if one is upstairs and one is downstairs. LOL