Want An Increase Traffic To Your Blog?

This is NOT a sponsored post! Notice the new BlogRush widget on my sidebar? I've just joined BlogRush, a FREE service that helps bloggers get what they want - traffic to their blogs and hopefully, an increase in page rank too.

Here's an excerpt from the BlogRush website on what BlogRush is all about :

By adding the BlogRush Widget to a blog, a blogger can get instant distribution for their latest blog post titles across a network of related blogs. BlogRush users earn "syndication credits" (the right to have their blog post titles shown inside a widget on another related blog) based on their own traffic (loads of the widget) as well as the traffic of other users they refer to BlogRush.

Users can automatically refer others to BlogRush via special links on the widget, as well as through the promotion of a special referral URL they are given.BlogRush is a "Cooperative Syndication Network" that rewards its users for their contributions to the network -- from the impressions they provide of the BlogRush Widget to the referral of other users through 10 'generations' of activity and the impressions of the widget that they provide.

BlogRush was designed to be incredibly viral and to provide its users with tremendous distribution leverage to receive exposure for their blog content (onto related content blogs) that they could never achieve on their own; at least without a massive advertising budget.

If you too want an increase traffic to your blog, quick hop on to BlogRush, fill out some simple forms, copy and paste the widget codes to your blog and you're done.

My Friend Is Going To Las Vegas

My best friend’s hubby is going to the United States for a business trip again and this time, he’s going to Las Vegas and my friend is tagging along again. She had just sent me a text message on my mobile phone telling me how excited she is to be able to visit Las Vegas, one of the most happening places in the world with non-stop entertainment and fun. Her hubby’s company has paid for their accommodation at the Tropicana Las Vegas Resort and she was telling me that her hubby has even bought show tickets for her to the popular Xtreme Magic show starring Dirk Arthur and Folies Bergere show. Her hubby got free tickets to the shows for their stay at the resort, how nice! I did warn my friend not to have too much fun with her hubby at the resort’s 24-hour casino as they are both games lovers. It’s fun to play with them once in a while but I told her that she should always remember her limit though. I wonder when I will ever have the chance to visit Las Vegas.

New Blog Coming Up Soon...

I finally signed up for my own domain yesterday and today, I have been busy setting up my new blog. I must really thank this wonderful mummy for offering her help to me. Already busy with 2 kids (and one arriving anytime), she has time and again offered to help me and kept reminding me about my new blog coz when her baby pops out, she will not be able to help me.

As I've got no experience with WordPress, everything about WP looks so alien to me. It doesn't help that I'm an IT retard and today being a Saturday, I have 2 hyperactive kids at home, tugging at me and wanting my attention all the time.

The most difficult thing about setting up own domain is the FTP file thingy. It is so complicated (well, at least to me coz I'm IT challenged) but Elaine has been so patient with me and helpful to me. I gave up half way through with the FTP file thing and Elaine offered to help me with it as well as to put up all the affiliate codes and what nots on my blog's sidebar. Later, she'll teach me step by step how to update my blog. Isn't she wonderful?

I'll be busy with my new blog for the next few days and I don't think I'll have time to accept offers from advertisers. If I've not dropped by your blog yet, I hope you'll understand.

Till then... I'll be unveiling my new blog to everyone very soon. Finally, I have my very own blog, a dot com blog and no longer a free subdomain blog, yay!

The Many Faces of Sherilyn

Sherilyn my little rascal is full of expression and has a 'colorful' personality. Here are the many faces of Sherilyn :

Playful


Mischievous pout


Sweet smile


Cheeky grin


Greedy stare


Wailing out loud

The Age That I Wish To Go Back To

Hui Sia would like to know at which age I'd wish to go back to if given a chance. Well, if there's really a time tunnel or time machine, just like the serial movie 'The Time Tunnel' that was popularly shown in the 1980's (which was my favorite), I would choose age 14-15. It was a year where I had so much fun with my classmates. First we went on our very first trip to KL on a bus. Back then, it was such a big deal to be able to go to KL for some ulu Ipoh mali school girls like us. We visited the zoo, the airport, went to The Mall (which was the newest and trendiest mall in KL back then), Batu Caves and many more. Then, we went on our first camping trip to Pangkor Island. It was such a fun-filled year and I just miss those care-free, stress-free, worry-free, child-free days.

Now, I'd like to know yours too :

Barbara.... good interim post for you :)
Anggie .... first tag for you :)
Shannon .... don't mind doing this tag?

*******************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?

Tag Mode: 5 blogger
1st - You list down their blog name and blog url and add to the list below.

2nd - Let the blogger you want to tag know they have been tagged by commenting in their blog or etc.

Have fun with this tag!

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.
Hui Sia wish to go back to age 16 to meet her first lover again.
Shireen wishes to bo back to age 14 to relive her fun-filled childhood days.

Chubby Alycia

Everyone is commenting that Alycia has put on a lot of weight lately. I don't really notice it as I see her everyday. So today I went through my picture folder to go through her pix and omg, it's true, she really gained some weight, especially on her cheeks and belly. Notice how chubby her cheeks are here?

Even our paed commented that Aly's weight has shot up quite a bit. Her weight shot up from 15kg to 18kg in 4 months! I think it must be because she didn't need to go to school for almost half a year, had enough sleep, slackened a bit in her exercise (we use to jog everyday when we were staying in Shah Alam) and she's been eating quite a bit lately. I'd better make her exercise more in the evenings, else she'll grow into a fatty bom bom in no time, LOL!

Breakfast Ritual

Alycia and Sherilyn can hardly sit still during meal times, especially during breakfast when their energy levels are at the highest in the morning. To keep them still on their chairs, I have to provide them with some activities like drawing, scribbling, reading or coloring whilst my maid and I feed them. My mom and I had bought them a huge collection of activity books from letter tracing to number tracing, coloring and joining numbered dots and letters. Each morning, the gals choose the activity that they like and they can spend almost an hour all wrapped up in that activity. I find that their concentration levels are also at the highest in the mornings, so I normally read to them in the morning to capture the most of their attention.

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*sponsored post*

Crawling and Creeping For Your Child's Brain Development

Crawling (like commando crawl) and creeping (on all fours, i.e. on hands and knees) are highly advocated and encouraged by Glenn Doman (GD) for the development of a baby's brains. I used to be a pro-GD and practised the GD inspired programs with Sherilyn since she was a newborn. When I first had Alycia, I hadn't discovered GD yet. It was only when Alycia was around 6-7 months that I had discovered GD and I then started to make homemade flash cards to teach Alycia reading. Sadly, she didn't show much interest as I had started her a little too late. With Sherilyn, I started flashing words and math dots cards to her when she was 2 months old and I encouraged lots of tummy time even when she was a newborn. Tummy time will lead to early crawling which will in turn lead to creeping. Sherilyn turned out to be more advanced than Alycia in many areas. Till today, I still encourage Alycia and Sherilyn to creep on gym mats on the floor whenever I have the time. To encourage the gals to creep, I too have to creep along with them. It is proven that crawling and creeping as well as walking and running (all in great amounts) have helped improved speech development in toddlers. If you visit the GD website and the Childbrain forum, you will be amazed with how the GD programs have had success with so many kids worldwide. So if you're lost with activity ideas with your kids, go get some gym mats and play crawling and creeping games with them!

Hey, this is not a sponsored post, ok!

Pissed Off With Streamyx

I woke up at 6am today hoping to grab some offers and to complete my outstanding assignments. But my computer wouldn't cooperate. It took me ages to download the advertisers' websites. Some websites were fine but I had problems with most sites. I thought my computer was acting up again and restarted it but after it was rebooted, the situation was the same. I had already wasted an hour trying to refresh each screen and to reboot the computer. I then decided to call Streamyx and it was then that I found out that certain areas in the Klang Valley are experiencing Streamyx disruption. Oh what the fun, if only I had known earlier, I could have just continued with my beauty sleep instead of dragging myself up for nothing. So I didn't manage to do anything this morning until around 10am. What a bummer!

Sweet Corn Fritters

Here's another dish that both toddlers and adults will enjoy - sweet corn fritters. My gals are crazy over this dish. It contains protein, iron, carbo and fibre - a wholesome meal.

Ingredients :

1) 2 cob of corns - remove corn kernels from the cob (choose young corns)

2) Chopped spring onions or you can use 'choy sum' (would be good to conceal some finely chopped vege inside if your little ones don't like vege)

3) 2 eggs

4) 2 teaspoons of high protein flour or wholemeal flour or corn flour

5) Dash of salt

6) Would be tastier if you add in some chopped red chillies (if your little ones can tolerate them)

Method :

1) Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and mix well.

2) Scoop out the batter in spoonfulls and pan fry them in a non-stick pan.

Happy Mid Autumn Festival

To everyone celebrating this festival, here's wishing you a very happy Mid Autumn Festival. We are not celebrating this festival as we're not Buddhist. So today is just a regular day for us but I'll be making some chicken nuggets coated with Nestum for the gals. It's my first try using Nestum as the coat and I hope the nuggets will turn out crispy. There's also going to be a steamed Cod fish, a stir-fried vege and a 'Wong Keong Kai' or Yellow Ginger Chicken dish that I had cooked yesterday. I shall make a post on this dish soon.

Notice Any Difference In My Blog?

Notice the difference in my blog?

It's the new beautiful pink header that I've been wanting to put in my blog for a long time but just didn't have the time or knowledge to get about doing it. I have to say a BIG thank you to this wonderful cheery mom who has kindly offered me her help in creating this lovely header for me. She had offered me her help quite some time back but I only had the time to go through my pictures folder yesterday to select 2 pix to email to her today. I must really commend her for acting so promptly and I was really surprised that she managed to get the header done for me within hours!

Thanks Anggie for your help and for your very prompt replies to all my emails. I really appreciate your help.

Dim Sum at Imbi Palace

Last Thursday, we had Dim Sum for lunch at Imbi Palace Chinese Restaurant after my medical check-up. Dim Sum is our all-time favorite and is always top on Alycia's list too.

This is what we ordered :

Siew Yoke (Roasted crispy pork). I'd forgotten to snap a pic of this dish as it was the first dish that arrived and we all walloped it within minutes as we were all very hungry. I must say this is one of the best Siew Yoke I've eaten. The top layer of roasted skin is superbly crunchy and the texture of the meat is also not too rough and tough. A small plate cost us a whopping RM9-00.

Siew Mai or steamed meat filled dumplings, Hong Kong style flat rice noodles, fish balls, egg tarts and kaya pau.


Fried 'lai mien' or pulled noodles. This tasted rather like our good old Mamak style fried mee.


Steam pork ribs, steamed fried tofu skin wrapped with fish meat and ham and beef balls.


and Imbi Palace's house special Tofu Far for dessert. I must say this is also one of the best Tofu Far I've eaten, apart from the ones from the famous Funny Mountain Tofu Far in Ipoh. It's extremely smooth and also fragrant. Even Alycia who doesn't fancy tofu loves this Tofu Far.

Before we left, hubby also got a box of mooncake. Though the snowskin ones tasted quite good but I don't really fancy them as I tend to get nauseaus if I eat more than 2 slices due to the extreme sweetness.

Do You Know What Your Teenagers Are Doing Outside?

I was at the park with the gals yesterday evening. For the last few days I've seen this group of 13-year old boys and girls from a nearby co-ed school loitering at the park after school in their school uniform. On normal days, I would see a few boys puffing cigarettes surreptitiously under a tree. On some days, I could see some of them trying out cans of beer under the slides. After they were done with their wanton acts, I would see them throwing the cans into the monsoon drain next to the park whilst some of them would leave their rubbish scattered on the ground. Yesterday, I saw a 13-year old boy and girl under a slide hugging each other, oblivious to their surroundings. When I went closer to have a look, they were so intimate in their conversations and hugging that they didn't even notice me standing there. I was in disbelief that at such a raw tender age, these kids were already in love, more of puppy love I would say.

Minutes later, I saw this lovey dovey couple's friends (also a couple) arrived on a motorcycle. The boy and girl, who looked like they were 15 or 16 year olds, were dressed very ruggedly with punkish hairstyle and jingling accessories and were holding hands lovingly and joined the hugging couple under the slide. When I saw this scene, I told myself that in future, I will never send my gals to a co-education school. These young kids, if without intervention from their parents are surely heading for trouble. The girl might be impregnanted by the boy and later seek illegal abortion. I can even imagine the boy trying to wash his hands clean by not owning up and accusing the girl of sleeping around. I'd seen this happening before to my school mates when I was a teenager.

Minutes later, I saw another group of 13-year old boys playing by the monsoon drain. They were shouting vulgar words in Cantonese and were daring each other to jump across from one side of the drain to the other and the gap between the monsoon drain is at least 2-metre wide. The boys successfully jumped across but 1 fell into the drain. Luckily he wasn't hurt. Later, I saw these boys dumping trash into the monsoon drain. OMG, what a sight - these kids behaved like they were some 'sampah masyarakat' or trashy society. I wonder if their parents know of their activities after school.

When I was leaving the park, I overheard the same group of boys discussing among themselves. Guess what was the topic? Love. I overheard one boy 'advising' his friend in Cantonese that he should treat his girlfriend seriously and they were talking about true love or real love or something to that effect. My goodness, instead of discussing their studies, sports or TV programs, they were talking about true love and girls and they are just a bunch of 13 year olds. I just hope that in future, Alycia and Sherilyn would never be one of those girls whom I'd seen in the park yesterday - behaving like tomboys, shouting vulgar words, sporting punky hairstyle and hugging a boy who's still a kid himself. That's one of the reasons why I had quit my job - so that I can nurture my girls with good values and I pray and hope that my girls will grow up to be decent, obedient and lovely young ladies who will bring me pride and joy.

That's How Alycia Eats Her Medicine

Alycia who once gave me and the entire family a real tough time feeding her medicine can now eat her medicine without any fuss. I must say she's even better than me when it comes to this. I hate medicine and I can never swallow any type of liquid medicine without barfing. All I need to do now is to put a treat in front of Alycia, pour the medicine out in the measurement cup and there goes my baby - she'll drink the medicine without any complaints but if the medicine has a strong smell, she'll pinch the bridge of her nose like this :




Notice her watery eyes? This particular medicine has quite a strong taste and she almost puked; I quickly stuffed a pinch of Mexican bun into her mouth which stopped her from puking instantly.

Fitball Wonders.... Part 2

After just 2 days of exercising my back on my fitball, the pain vanished today! I kid you not, the pain just vanished today. From a nagging jabbing pain on the right side of my back, there wasn't any pain on my back today. Well, maybe I had slept well last night. Today I did not have enough time to exercise on the fitball as I had to prepare the gals for church in the morning. I'll see if the backpain comes back or not tomorrow. I'm praying that it will not and will never come back again. I'd better exercise regularly on the fitball, it truly is amazing. If you too have backache, you really have to try arching your back on the fitball. All you need is just 2-3 minutes each day on the fitball. For tips on how to exercise on the fitball, click here. There are demo pix of me exercising on the fitball.

Tag : Things That Irritate You

Have been tagged by Kerry on the top 8 questions people ask or things that people do that irritate me. I'm quite a diplomatic and friendly person. Though at times there are certain things that people say or ask that really irritate me and piss me off, I'll still give them a smile.... a forced fake smile but in my heart, I'd be wondering why that person is so insensitive for asking or saying such silly things. And if they probe further or irritate me further, I'll just tactfully answer them... sarcastically.

Alright, here are the top 7 things (sorry, can't think of 8) people say or do that irritate and irate me :

1) Alycia is so fair like you, but eermm.... Sherilyn is a bit darker hor, I wonder like who leh? Daddy is it?

2) Alycia has big beautiful eyes but Sherilyn's eyes are slightly smaller hor, is it like daddy?

3) You have 2 girls. Eh, you must really try for a boy. You're still young, quickly try for a boy lah.
(I'll normally tell them I'm very happy with 2 beautiful girls and don't yearn for a son)

4) When people with very little knowledge on a subject try to tell me what not to do, though they don’t know that I know more than they do.

5) When people ask if I am renting my house or if the house belongs to me.

6) People who behave as if they are high and mighty and make you feel little.

7) Sales people who don't treat their customers with respect and act as if they are not hard up for your purchase.


Would you like to voice out your grouses too on the things that irritate you?
1) Jo-N
2) Alice

Black Saturday

It was a black Saturday for Sherilyn yesterday. She had a fall once, knocked her chin against a table, got her fingers pinched by a door and had a near miss serious case of having her 4 fingers squashed by the same steel door which broke her thumb last year.

Sherilyn my little fearless samseng was jumping on the couch as if it was a trampoline yesterday. She loves doing that and despite me warning her, threatening her and smacking her for doing so, she is still fearless. I was busy preparing for dinner yesterday when Sherilyn was jumping on the couch. I told her to stop jumping but she wouldn't listen. Seconds later, I heard a loud thud and she had fallen off the couch, forehead landing on the floor. She bawled but luckily there wasn't any bruise on her forehead. Less than an hour later, she had forgotten about the fall and started to jump on the couch again, so out came the whip and she stopped jumping.

About half an hour later, I was outside at the wet kitchen trying to shoo a cat away from tearing up the garbage bag. Sherilyn rushed to the kitchen to see what was happening. When I came inside and was about to close the steel kitchen door, I almost wedged 4 of Sherilyn's fingers on her left hand which she had placed on the back opening of the door, i.e. the exact same place where she broke her thumb when she was playing with the door last year. Luckily, I didn't shut the door fast enough and my maid was quick enough to pull Sherilyn's hand away. Phew.... gave me a real fright.

A few hours later, Sherilyn accidentally knocked her chin on the table when daddy was catching her and again, luckily there wasn't any bruises. Just before bedtime as I was coming into the bedroom from the bathroom attached to my room, I didn't see Sherilyn behind me and she had placed her right hand on the opening of the door. I shut the door and this time, her fingers got wedged but luckily again, there was no bruise.... she just got a shock and so did I!

What a black Saturday it was and I must thank God that Sherilyn had escaped all the minor accidents unscathed. I hope she has learnt her lessons.

Lantern Party

Alycia got well in time to attend the lantern party held at her pre-school yesterday evening. There were hundred over people - kids, their parents and maids and the garden of the school was an ocean of human. We had to wait for almost an hour for everyone to arrive before the walk round the neighborhood with the lanterns. Whilst walking, Alycia accidentally tripped and bruised her left knee. She then demanded that daddy carried her like a princess all the way back to her school!

It was the very first time the gals had celebrated mooncake festival in such a grand scale with so many friends. They enjoyed the walk and also the food....food that I rarely feed them with - KFC nuggets, sausages, pizza, fishballs and crab balls, jellies, cakes and fried meehoon.

After the party, daddy brought them to the bakery and asked them to choose a cake. Alycia chosed a cheese cake and we had cheese cake for supper. It was certainly a day of 'food freedom' for the gals.


Alycia and Sherilyn waited patiently for the walk round the neighborhood with their lanterns.

Whilst walking round the neighborhood, Alycia accidentally tripped and fell and bruised her left knee.


The girls enjoying their food inside the class.