2-color Swimming Pool

We got a shock 2 weeks ago when the color of the water in the swimming pool at our condo turned into green - like polluted sea water. Surprisingly, some residents still jumped in to swim, how gross. However, the pool was later cordoned off and closed for swimming for about a week. When the pool specialists came to fix the problem, the water turned blue again.... slowly. Here's a picture of the pool with 2 colors - green is the part that is not cleaned yet and blue is the part that is already cleaned. Amazing!



Picture taken from the 5th floor of our unit.

Tough Cookie

I must say once again that Baby is indeed a tough cookie. All the pain that she had endured the past 14 months of her life had moulded her into one very tough cookie. The other day, her thumb got pinched by the buckle of her booster seat. I know it's darn painful coz my finger got pinched many times by the buckle of the seat. But Baby did not cry a wee bit, though she did flinch and cringe in pain. When I took a look at her hand, I was shocked to see blood everywhere. The skin of her lower thumb was wedged off by the buckle of the booster seat, yet my tough cookie didn't cry!

Another thing I want to put in record is that Baby's speech is developing very well. She is now very chatty and parrots everything that we say. Today, rascal #2 drew a cat on her doodle and Baby said this to her jie jie "good job jie jie!" Good job to you my baby girl!

Sell Any Of Your Old Or New Stuff At My Blogshop!

This invitation is open to everyone! I am pretty sure many of you have stuff that you want to dispose of but don't know where to dispose them or who to give them to. Sometimes, you feel that it would be a tad too 'sayang' to give your stuff away and have thought of selling it. Well, now you can sell your stuff both old and new at my blogshop, Old And New Stuff For Sale!

You can sell just about any stuff - old baby clothes, your old clothes, bags, costume jelweries, accessories, belts, iPod, your old car (!!) and anything under the sky that you have EXCEPT for pornographic stuff, illegal stuff, banned stuff and stuff that I don't support. Listing of your stuff at my blogshop will be subject to my review and approval. You only pay me 20% in handling / listing fee and commission. For eg. if someone buys your old handbag at RM20, you only need to pay me RM2, that's it!

You can also make nice stuff - costume jewelries, crafts, kids' stuff, even cakes, cookies, etc. and sell them at my blogshop.

This is the procedure:

1) Take pix of your stuff
2) Write description of your stuff
3) Set pricing for your stuff
4) Email the pix and description of your stuff to shireenyong@gmail.com
5) I will post your pix and description of your stuff in my blogshop
6) Any enquiries from interested customers, I will direct them to you.
7) Payment will be to my bank account.
8) I will transfer the money to your account less 20% (10% handling / listing fee + 10% commission) to be paid to me.

You like this stuff? If you love my stuff, quick go through your wardrobe and garage/storeroom to look for old stuff now, snap pix and email them to me. Spread this news to your friends and relatives too. You don't have to go to eBay or sweat it out at the weekend bazaar to sell your stuff now! Sell it at Old And New Stuff For Sale.

BTW, I got this idea from self-made millionaire Rob Kalin when I read from last month's Reader's Digest about how he made his millions doing this at his website. He is only 29 years old and he grosses more than USD12 million a year!! Well, I don't dream of making this much, just a million a year will suffice :D

My Choice Of Breastfeeding-Friendly Clothes

When I first started breastfeeding Baby, I bought expensive nursing tops imported from the U.S. and expensive tube bras. Each top cost over a hundred ringgit. After nursing Baby for almost a year, I discovered that I need not buy imported expensive nursing tops. I discovered that cheap dresses and tops (less than a hundred ringgit) can also facilitate breastfeeding very easily and efficiently. Many of my friends and relatives often ask how I let Baby latch on in the car or in a restaurant so easily like I am a pro. Sometimes it's so discreet that no one ever notices. I use a shawl to cover my shoulders and Baby - no need to buy expensive breastfeeding covers. My choice of breastfeeding-friendly clothes are clothes that are:

1) Designed with a deep v-neck collar -- worn with a tube bra (without wire. I hate wired bras!). To breastfeed - just pull the top of the tube bra down. The deep v-neck collar top/dress is low enough to open up one side to facilitate breastfeeding.

2) Low cut dresses or tops -- worn with an inner tube or tube bra.

3) Dresses and tops made from stretchable fabric. My favorite is poly-cotton. They are cheap, does not need any ironing, cooling and stretchable.

4) Dresses and tops that have elastics / garters at the chest area so that it's easily pulled down to facilitate breastfeeding.

5) Get cheap tube bras. I am small size and petite. Scarlet brand from Jusco has very cheap tube bras (comes in many attractive colors) for teenagers. Yes, I can still fit into a teenager bra haha!

6) Buy clothes that come with a built-in bra / padding. Try Elle Sports or even Scarlet brand - at the bra section.

7) Get cheap and funky tube bras from those shops at Times Square KL.

Oh yes, you may also get some dresses I mentioned above from my online blogshop :D Just ask me which one can facilitate breastfeeding and I can recommend a few for you.

Just my 2 cents from a pro-breastfeeding mummy who has been nursing Baby for almost 22 months!

"I Wan Min!"

Whenever Baby sees me giving her 2 jie jies Flavettes Vitamin C or gummy bears, she will yell "I wan min, I wan min...!!". Try not giving her and all hell will break loose. So what I do is I'll bite the orange flavored Flavettes Vitamin C and give her a quarter. When I gave her the blackcurrant flavored Flavettes Vitamin C (sugar-free), it was too sour for her palate and each time she puts the Vitamin C into her mouth, she will spit it out and quiver hahah!! I'm surprised she finds the Vitamin C sour but can suck on a wedge of lemon as if it's a wedge of orange!


"Sha-wer mummy!!"

Baby's Nightly Routine

I think I will have no problem weaning Baby off co-sleeping with hubby and I. Baby simply adores going to her 2 jie jies' bedroom to play and pretend sleeping with them. Her nightly must-do routine is that she will climb up her jie jies' bed, then play with them and pretend to sleep with them... with blanky covering her body from neck to toe and she would pretend to close her eyes. When I say nite nite and bye-bye to her, she will reciprocate and say the same to me. When I say "sleep with jie jie ok, tonight don't drink mummy's milk milk ok?", she will say "OK" and give me a cheeky grin.

Guess what Baby and rascal #2 were doing here?


They were singing. Rascal #2 is the singer of the family. At home, you will hear her sing and yak all day! And I think this passion of hers has rubbed off on Baby and she's another avid singer, who can sing quite well, though she is 2 months shy of her 2nd birthday.

Alycia was so dead tired that she had fallen asleep and could even sleep so soundly despite the noisy singing from her 2 sisters! Since she started Standard 1, she would be so jaded and sleepy that she would knock off by 9pm every night.


Such a heartwarming sight seeing Baby and rascal #2 in bed together lovingly, singing together.

Babies Poop The Weirdest Ways

I started to train Baby to poop inside the potty when she was about 15 months. For many months, she was able to poo poo inside the potty at around the same time every morning without much fuss and problem. Recently, she has become very constipated and would only poo poo once every 2 days (which is not good coz constipation may lead to UTI). Not only is she constipated, she is also resisting to poo poo in the potty. Each time she shows signs of wanting to poo (by straining), we would rush to bring out the potty but I guess the poop sort of went back in (LOL!!) each time she sees the potty. She would also say "no, no, do wan" when we bring the potty out.

Instead, she prefers to poo poo in her diaper and she has a really weird way of straining the poop out too... as shown in pic below. I guess the hard poop is hurting her and she has to find a comfortable way of pushing the poop out LOL!!

What Would I Do Without A Computer

I think I will be extremely out of touch with the world if I don’t have a computer at home. With a computer at home, I can do all my errands at home from online shopping to paying bills, socializing (I made tons of good friends in the world wide web!), getting answers and help for my own queries, get auto insurance quotes, get free educational tools and free reading material for my kids and yesterday, I found a good website to download free greeting cards. Yesterday, my 2 older gals had a fun time decorating the birthday cards that I made and printed for her little aunt. They spent more than an hour decorating the birthday cards for their little aunt’s birthday this Sunday.

Udon Noodles With Minced Meat And Preserved Veggie

An aunt of hubs cooked a big pot of minced pork with 'jar choy' (Chinese preserved veggie) and gave it to us. This was how I ate the minced pork with jar choy:

Boiled some thin Udon noodles, heat up the minced pork in a pot and pour the minced pork over the Udon noodles.




It was really appetizing and my 3 gals loved it. Rascal #2 whacked bowl after bowl!

More Terrible Two Symptoms Displayed

As each day passes by, more of Baby's Terrible Two symptoms are rearing their ugly heads. Her latest Terrible Two display is stomping her foot when she does not get the things that she wants.



Baby is also quite rebellious now. She wouldn't want to poo poo in the potty anymore. Instead, she would do it in her diaper. Getting her to pee in her potty is also challenging as she will struggle, arch her back and bawl each time I bring her to the potty to pee. But she has to pee in her potty at regular intervals to prevent another UTI attack and this means additional stress and back-breaking moments for me. The lesser urine that sits in her potty, the lesser chance for those pesky bacteria to breed and wreck havoc. She will also pour urine from the potty onto the bathroom floor and play with the soiled potty!

The only 2 thing that're easy for me to get her to do are to invite her to go gai gai and drink mummy's milkie. I wonder what Baby will transform into in another 2 months' time when she turns 2.

How Baby Eats Her Egg Rolls

Baby loves eating egg rolls. She loves it so much that she will chuck the whole roll (which isn't very long) into her mouth... and then with another hand, she will reach forward for another egg roll while saying "I wan more" and shooting out the crumbs from her mouth onto the table and floor. Each time she eats the egg roll spells BIG mess! These egg rolls were home made and my parents bought them from Ipoh.



Baby eating her dessert of egg roll here after her lunch. But this fler found a novel way of eating the egg roll by dipping it into her kombu-pork soup!

Getting Poked In The Butt

Remember my earlier post on one damn funny experience I encountered at our paed's office with rascal #2?

We were at the paed's office again last week for Sherilyn's booster DTP, Polio & HiB jab and for Baby's Chicken Pox jab. This time, I remembered to bring along my working tool and managed to snap a pic of the doctor when he poked Sherilyn's butt. This time round, no rattle was used to distract Sherilyn LOL!! And I was surprised that rascal #2 had finally overcome her fear of needles. She did not budge or make any sound when she was poked in the butt. She was very, very brave indeed and told me that she did not feel any pain! Baby cried for a few seconds when she was poked but stopped when the dr. gave her some Honey Stars. Baby seems to like this dr. very much and can remember him very well. At the mention of Dr E, she will say "tar" (star, meaning Honey Star) and this dr. has successfully won her heart with the Honey Stars he gives as reward.



BTW, this isn't the nurse who shoke the rattle at Sherilyn previously.

Worn Out

On a typical school going day, Alycia will be one very, very sleepy and worn out girl. She has to wake up latest by 6am and leaves the house when the skies are still dark. She returns home from school at 2pm or 4pm on some days. Ever since she started Primary 1, she has been severely sleep deprieved, thus she dozes off everywhere - on the dining table chair while eating, in the car, on the couch and on the floor. Poor baby, kids these days are really stressed up. They are never like us when we young. I guess my kids will never be able to experience cycling round the neighborhood by themselves, climb trees, play marbles, catch tadpoles in the drains after a heavy downpour and play in the middle of the road without getting hit by a reckless driver or risk being abducted.


Alycia dozed off on the couch with a pencil in her hand. She was doing her homework but was so jaded that she decided to take a rest... and then dozed off.

Luxury Cars

Hubby and I love luxury cars. We will read such car reviews as Mercedes Benz C-class review, BMW review, Jeep Grand Cherokee review, Nissan Murano review (this is my dream car!) and even a Buick Enclave Review during our free time. We can only admire these luxury cars and keep dreaming of being a proud owner of a luxury car one day. I really don’t think we will ever be able to afford spending hundreds of thousands on a luxury car. Luxury cars are pretty affordable in Western countries but not in our country. In our country, not only is the price tag of a luxury car too lofty and eye-popping, the cost of maintaining one is also tremendous. From the high import taxes to the road tax, the fuel, the spare parts and the maintenance of the car, everything related to the luxury car is expensive. An average wage earner will definitely be unable to maintain such an expensive machine. But you will be surprised to know that despite all these factors, our country still has the biggest luxury car sales in Asia.

It has also been forecasted that the luxury car market in our country will continue to perform well this year as the economy has improved. Even with the global financial crisis, you will be surprised to know that luxury car sales had improved in year 2009 compared with 2008.

Too Good To Resist

My mil bought these cutesy stuff when she went to Japan for a holiday recently.

Oh my, I tell yer, these buns look, smell and feel almost 100% like the real stuff! My 3 gals kept squeezing the toy buns, even I can't resist squeezing them and sniffing them haha!!







Baby could not even resist pinching the buns and peeled off the chocolate toppings, then slowly peeled offf the buns. Even the bread crumbs look SO real!! I had to keep reminding her that the buns CANNOT be eaten, lest she pops them into her mouth when I turn my back on her!

Woods Coming Out Of The Woods?

I have never been an avid reader of golf news. However, ever since news of Tiger Woods’s sex scandal was first published in the newspapers several months ago, I have been following the juicy stories closely. The latest news I read is that Woods is now ready to end his months of silence over the bizarre, middle-of-the-night car accident by speaking publicly about it for the first time. I can’t wait to check out the newspapers tomorrow morning or watch CNN tonight to find out what he’s revealed. Did you also know that Woods has checked into a rehab for his sex addiction last month? It was reported that he had stayed in the rehab for 4 to 5 weeks and was out this week. It’s unbelievable to know that such a successful sports celebrity and billionaire golf player who has tens of thousands of fans worldwide has gotten himself entangled in such a quagmire, all because of his addiction to sex!

Everyone makes mistakes in their life and it is important that they admit their mistakes and make amends. Addiction to sex can be treated as with addiction to drugs and alcohol. With proper treatment at rehabs like Passages Malibu, there is a good chance that the addiction can be eliminated. If you know of anyone who seriously needs to get clean and sober, do them a favor and refer them to Passages Malibu Addiction Cure center. You can read more about it at the Passages Malibu blog.

Waiting For The Sales To Begin

While many people would be rushing to buy new clothes before Chinese New Year, I prefer to buy after the Chinese New Year. That’s because after the Chinese New Year, many stores will be having sales and some stores would be having Black Friday sales too. I didn’t get my girls any new clothes for Chinese New Year this year. I’m waiting for the sales to begin and that's when I will charge the stores!

Madam Chong's Prawn Noodles House

2 Sundays ago, we had lunch at Madam Chong's Prawn Noodles House at Jalan Kuchai Lama.

This is the menu:


Hubby ordered a bowl of curry noodles which he said tasted good.



Fishball noodles for my 2 older gals.


My prawn vermicelli and broiled pak cham kai (chicken). The prawn noodles was really good. The prawns were quite big and I love the prawn broth. I will definitely go back to Madam Chong's for the prawn noodles.


The toasted wholemeal bread with kaya and butter was also very tasty. Hubby ordered this for himself but the toast ended up in my tummy and his 3 princesses' tummy hahah!




Madam Chong's prawn noodles is a 'lou ciu pai' (old brand name). She started her humble stall in 1968 at Jalan Pudu. Madam Chong is no longer around now and this eatery is now run by her relatives.

Cantonese Style Pasta

My 2 older love eating yee mein or yee mee or yee fu mein (deep fried noodles made of eggs and flour). If I buy yee mein, I will either cook it Cantonese style, ie. with egg sauce poured over the the crispy noodles or Hokkien style.

The other day, I prepared the yee mee ala Cantonese style for lunch. First I prepared the sauce. The ingredients used were chicken breast, cabbage, 3 eggs, some left over smoked salmon, soy sauce, some corn flour to thicken the sauce and a dollop of thick dark sauce. Here is how it looks like in the wok:

I ran out of corn flour, so the sauce was not thick enough.

At the same time in another stove, I boiled some Heinz alphabet and number pasta with some cubed carrots for Baby. This portion is enough for lunch, dinner and deep freezing:



Before adding the dark sauce and remaining soy sauce into the sauce/ingredients, I scooped up some of them from the wok and poured in on Baby's pasta. I don't like putting too much seasoning into Baby's food. Here's how Baby's pasta looks like:



When it has cooled down, I put it into containers for deep freezing:



And this is for the 2 older gals:
I seldom buy yee mee for the gals as I feel uncomfortable with one of the ingredients called 'ash' used to make the noodles. I wonder what ash is. Could it be the remains of fire or some kind of chemicals that makes the noodles so tasty? I wish someone could give me an answer on this.



Baby enjoying her Cantonese style pasta.

Feeling Lethargic

What I like about this CNY holidays is that I can sleep an hour extra each day. But I am surprised that I feel even more lethargic even though I have that extra hour of sleep each day. I wonder why my whole body feels sluggish and I still feel sleepy all the time for the past 3 days. My brain also feels foggy and I don’t know how to get it moving as I have several online assignments to complete, one of which is to write about bcbsnc. All I want to do right now is to sleep all day. I wish someone would come and help me mind my 3 monkeys!