Our Sunday

Today is a pretty quiet and domesticated day for us. While Alycia has just finished sitting for her final exam, Sherilyn's turn is next week. Alycia has gone out with daddy to do some shopping, leaving me with #2 and #3. We had to tell a white lie when Alycia left the house with daddy. Our standard white lie to Baby whenever her sisters get to go out and she can't is that her che ches have to attend TUITION muahahahaha! And she believes us, though at times she can sense that something fishy is going on.

Happy Sunday and welcome to a great week ahead everyone!

A Walking Shopping List

Lately I have been so busy that I don't even have the time to write out my shopping list. So I rope in my 3 girls to remind me. Yes, even my 3.5YO baby girl is now being trained to remind me to do things tee hee hee! Yesterday during shower time, I told Baby that she has to remind me to buy 3 things, namely lemon flavored toothpaste, baby oil and toothbrush for kids. I told her to repeat after me the 3 things that I have to buy. This morning I asked her again what she has to remind me to buy. She remembered the first 2 items instantly. She even remembered that I specifically wanted lemon flavored toothpaste. The 3rd item, she mentioned baby powder and when I said NO, she was quick to say, "I mean baby oil"!. Not bad for a 3.5YO toddler eh? Next, I shall train her to memorize the Times Tables haha! I think she should be able to remember as chants of Times Tables memorization from #1 and #2 are like music in the background in our home lately. After all, kids absorb information the most effectively from newborn through 6 years old.

Bad Day!

Today has been a very bad day for me. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. My database with details of my customers' orders have been corrupted and I could not find my thumb drive which I use to back up the data. Even if I could find it, it's a few days not updated. I have been spending the whole morning and over lunch trying to recover the data that is corrupted. I have not even eaten my lunch now and it's almost 3pm. Just no mood to eat anything. The corruption must have been caused by a 'Circular Reference' problem by Excel. Damn it, what the heck is that I don't know how to solve this problem now.

One of my suppliers has been a pain in my neck and I am so going to walk out on them once I have finished utilizing my prepaid amount I have with them. Just feel like ditching this ass h*ole supplier right now. Most China-man suppliers I like that and this is the 3rd time I am faced with such unprofessional suppliers. I ditched the first two suppliers too, out of their sheer 'unprofessionalism'.

During the midst of my busyness and havoc just now, Baby spilled all her soup and messed up the entire dining area.

Sigh... sometimes I feel like giving up on this online store. Just don't do anything and concentrate on my 3 kiddos. Yes it's helping me make money and I enjoy seeing the accounts in my banks and Paypal account grow fatter by the day BUT the stress is just too much to bear. But being a workaholic, I don't know if I can do it or not.

Hmmm, I really need to do some soul-searching....

A Bento Set A Day

For my 3 kiddos's lunch...


Fried rice with chicken cubes, mustard green, purple sweet potato cubes, cucumbers and fried eggs. Organic papaya, green bean ice lollies and lotus root soup.

They have a different bento set everyday to perk up their mood and appetite. Today they are having something simple as there's fresh wholemeal-walnut bread. So I am preparing mackeral fish-egg-nori sandwich with old cucumber soup.

Agitated!!

One of the things that irritates me to my bones is that no matter how hard and careful I try to hide my pens, rulers, note pads, scissors and rough papers, they will still be 'stolen'. My girls have eyes as sharp as an eagle's and they know just when to prey on my things. And my helper, eeessh, hate it that she keeps arranging my things and keeps them in a different place and then tells me "I tak tau" or "I tak nampak" when queried! That's her standard answer when asked if she has seen my things. Each time I need some rough papers to write on, I have to spend 10 - 15 minutes to rummage through my drawers and search through every nook and corner before hot lava spews out onto the culprits. Gosh, absolutely hate this!!

Sherilyn's Pre-School Graduation and Concert

Sherilyn has been in pre school for 4 years and there was not a year that I could attend her concert due to various inevitable situations. I told myself that no matter what, I must take the effort to attend her concert cum graduation this year. I did not want her to have memories that her mummy never attended a single concert when she was in pre-school. So on Sunday, all of us - the whole jing gang of daddy, mummy, koong koong, granny, kakak, Alycia and Baby gave Sherilyn our support and watched her perform in her concert and graduation ceremony.

There was no regret, though I hated the wait before the concert started. Sherilyn danced very well in her event. She rocked, gyrated and twisted her butt and body like a dancer would and the whole performance was very entertaining as the dance was full of vivacious movements.

Red Bean + Green Bean Ice Lolly

Here's another healthier alternative to eating ice-creams - ice lollies made from red bean + green bean tong sui (sugar reduced).




And my ice-cream crazed baby girl loved it anyway... and it's healthy too, as beans are high in protein, fiber and iron.

Two Musketeers

Sherilyn may not be as tolerant as Alycia with her baby sister. Nonetheless, they make very good playmates, dance mates and song mates. They love dancing and belting out silly songs together and do pretend plays together. Lately, Sherilyn has been teaching her baby sister her ballet movements too and it is really heartwarming and hilarious to see them hop, jump, twirl and boogie away.

This afternoon, my mum reprimanded Sherilyn for being naughty and whiny. She of course whined and cried. In fact, this 6.5YO rascal cries every single day *shake head* When Baby saw her che che crying, I think she felt for her che che. Baby then started to pray, while my mum was still reprimanding Sherilyn ...

Baby - Dear Jesus, please help Sherilyn to stop crying...

My mum ignored Baby and continued to reprimand the bawling Sherilyn.

Baby - Dear Jesus, please help Sherilyn to stop crying, please help Sherilyn to stop crying, AMEN !

Baby kept chanting this loudly until I burst out laughing. The scene was really too funny and tickled my funny bone. What a good way to laugh away my stress LOL!!


My 2 musketeers. They make my blood boil, yet they can make me laugh very hard. If only they can be good good girls and be in top notch behavior all the time...

My Kwai Lui

Spending over 10 hours on the computer each day is NOT fun. This causes aches on my neck and shoulders. While I do exercise almost every morning, the aches will emerge if I work a few hours straight without doing any stretching exercise to my neck and back. That's when I will rope in my 3 girls to give me a good anti-stress massage. Alycia can really do a good job. When I asked her how she can be so good in her masseuse skills, she told me that she practiced massaging on her best friend in class and asked her for her opinion on which method felt nice! I had a good laugh when she told me this.


My kwai lui giving me a massage on my temples, while I mark the worksheets that she has done.

Durian Season Is Back!

The durian season is back! While I get really excited and happy to see those durian stalls by the roadside, the durian season spells FAT for me, for I will surely be gorging on them several times in a week throughout the durian season. Though I am on a low-carb diet, durian is something which I am too weak to say NO to. I eat durian for breakfast, I eat them for desserts and I even dream of eating durian!

Even my 3 girls love them!



Alycia and Baby having durian for dessert after lunch!

Rare Sight of Big Bright Orange Moon

Last night at 9ish pm on 13 Oct 2011, my girls saw the moon but the moon looked pretty unusual. Not only was it big, round and very orangy, there was a butterfly-shaped halo surrounding the moon. They were screaming "WAH, look at the moon mummy, like a butterfly!" And I managed to zoom in and capture the picture with my Canon IXUS camera.



Sighting of the moon with a butterfly-shaped halo taken from the 5th floor of our unit.




Anyone saw this unusual halo on the moon last night?

Korea Campbell Grapes

The hubs bought a bunch of Korea Campbell grapes when he went shopping with the girls the other day. My hubs, he loves to try new food and things that are unique. This bunch of Korea Campbell grapes is no run-of-the-mill grapes. My girls and I call these grapes 'jelly grapes' for they taste just like grape-flavored jellies! The skin is hardly chewable and sour. To eat the flesh of the grapes, one has to suck the flesh out, as you would when you eat jelly from a small cup. Pretty unique and tasted pretty unique. But there will be no second time. The flesh is sourish and lots of tiny seeds are buried inside the flesh. Except for the strong 'grape-flavored jelly' taste, I could barely swallow any flesh. Nonetheless, RM12.90 was well spent trying out an out-of-the-world grapes :D

Finally She Did It!

This is something which I must pen down. It is Baby's achievement at 3.5 years old. Nope, it is nothing academic but it is something that we can be very proud of. It is a big achievement for her and for me for she can now poo poo in the great big white throne and no longer in her diaper! Super hooray for my baby girl! For years, she has been shunning the potty (both the small and big potty) and I was frigging worried how she will fare when she goes to pre-school next year. She would surely be the laughing stock of her classmates and teachers if she still poo pooed in her diaper. But thank God, my worries are unfounded. My baby girl has now conditioned and programed her body to poo poo at the same time everyday on the great big throne, just like an adult. She can now say good-bye to her chronic constipation problem too. My prayer to God to strengthen Baby's bladder continues...

My cutest model at Old And New Stuff For Sale.

Frozen Konnyaku Jellies

The other day, I made a batch of Konnyaku jellies with fresh fruits. I made them when Alycia and Sherilyn were having their Mandarin enrichment class and Baby was sleeping. I wanted them to have jellies when their lesson was over. So I put the jellies in the freezer so that they can coagulate and chill up quickly. But I had forgotten all about them, until the next afternoon! After thawing the frozen jellies for about half an hour, we ate them and yes, they tasted delish, like fruit sorbet with jelly. Hmmm, I think the next round I will freeze some jellies too. Frozen jellies are kinder to the waist line too and healthier than ice creams :D


Frozen Konnyaku fruit jellies... I'll bet no one has tried this before!

Ranting.... And A Wholesome Bento Lunch Set

This week has been another mega busy week for me. I keep telling myself that I have to slow down on my online store business but the workaholic in me just can't help it. Alycia and Sherilyn will be sitting for their final exam in 2 weeks and I have started to give them exercises, especially in Math and BM (for Alycia). Alycia is pretty good in most of her subjects as she pays attention when the teacher teaches her. While this girl will do what I ask her to do, she can be pretty lazy and needs lots of pushing to do the worksheets that I give her everyday.

As for Sherilyn, each Math session with her can drive me suicidal, I kid you not and I mean it. I always tell her that she has left her brain somewhere and she has to find it and put it back into her head... coz she never listens to what I say, always jumps the gun and never remembers what I tell her. People like her needs lots and I mean LOTS of Math practices everyday. It's not easy on me as I have to work and she needs me to be next to her to keep reminding her what and how to do her Math (step by step, all over again and again!!), though I had taught her the same thing over and over again for more than a year!

I think you can pretty imagine how stressed up I am. Imagine there is stock at every corner of my home waiting to be checked and sent out. Imagine Alycia and Sherilyn keep asking me how to do this and that. Imagine Baby climbing all over me. All these plus cooking, computer work and my daily morning exercise regimen. At the end of the day, I am drop dead tired, like a buffalo who had slogged all day under the hot sun in the paddy field.

Enough of ranting, this is what I whipped up for the girls today. Something that's easy to prepare, fast and wholesome.


A bento set of
1) Tuna and egg mayo open sandwich with nori sheets and sliced cool organic Japanese cucumbers

2) Purple carrot and cranberry juice

3) Homemade jellies with fresh cut fruits inside the jellies

4) Organic papaya

5) Steamed tapioca, which is Alycia's favorite.



Healthy mou?

2 Tough And Busy Days

Baby has been down with fever and a bad tummy. It looks like a stomach flu. Yesterday, hubs brought Alycia and Sherilyn to stay at Double Tree Hotel to utilize the complimentary 1 night's stay at the hotel. The offer expired yesterday. It was extended for 3 months and as usual, my busy hubs only utilized it at the eleventh hour. So last night was a pretty quiet night for me as I was home alone. Baby was very sick and slept the whole day. Though the other 2 older monkeys were not at home, I did not have a peaceful time at home nor did I get a peaceful night's sleep. A mother can never sleep in peace when her child has a burning hot body. I was sponging her body practically the whole night. At one point during the day while she was sleeping on the couch, Baby was hallucinating and kept whimpering "I don't like the sticker up there", while pointing to the ceiling! This happened to Alycia too when she had high fever when she was a toddler. She told me that she saw a snowman outside the window!

After 2 very tough and busy days for me, Baby is now showing signs of recovery. Her appetite is slowly coming back but I am reminding myself not to be too happy and not to over feed her, lest all comes pouring out again. Her tummy is still recovering and must not be made to overwork. Praying hard that she can eat pretty normally again tomorrow. My pile of stock that has been lying on the floor of my living room for the past 3 days is finally cleared today. It was such an eye sore to see those mountain-high stock scattered everywhere and I did not have the time to sort them out. Now, I wish to have a relaxing and good Sunday tomorrow. Happy Sunday everyone!



Just back from school and having her lunch. Alycia hugging her life bolster and she misses her life bolster very much, after a long day at school.