Blogging Frenzy Days Are Over

Offers from advertisers are pathetically scarce for PR0 blogs lately but I'm too busy to grief over it. In fact, I find that it's a blessing in disguise. I'm just too busy training my new temp Cambodian maid. Though she's hardworking, she's really slow. I have to do some of the house work myself like boiling water, washing bottles, bathing the kids, feeding Sherilyn (which is the most time-consuming as this brat doesn't like to eat and just stores the food in her mouth for hours), etc. Sherilyn still does not want the new maid to feed her or bathe her. I'm having a bad backache now from all the back-breaking tasks of bathing 2 hyperactive kids who won't stay still before, during and after their baths. Plus, I find it hard and painful to squat down now as my belly is getting bigger.

Now that Alycia has gone back to pre-school, I have to coach her in her homework everyday, besides reading to her and Sherilyn. I am really tempted to create another blog in my own domain and let this new blog be free of 3P posts in the hope of earning a good PR but with my 3rd baby arriving soon, I really doubt I will have the time to do that. I guess I will have to put this plan in the back-burner and wait till the end of this year.

First Link Love in 2008

This is my 2nd tag for 2008. Thanks to this mummy who can bake very well who lives in Canada.

I have randomly selected 5 of you below to be tagged and I hope that you will similarly publish this post in your blog.
You will have to tag 5 other bloggers and just keep adding on to the list. (Do not replace, just keep on adding! Yes we hope it will be a long list!)
It’s real easy!
Tag others and see your Technorati Authority increase exponentially!

The benefits of Viral Linking:-
1) One of the fastest ways to see your technorati authority explode!
2) Increase your Google PageRank fast
3) Attract large volume of new traffic to your site
4) Build your community
5) Make new friends!

Those in the Link Love :
The Strategist Notebook Link Addiction Ardour of the Heart When Life Becomes a Book The Malaysian Life Yogatta.com What goes under the sun Roshidan’s Cyber Station Sasha says Arts of Physics And the legend lives My View, My Life A Simple Life Juliana RW, Hazel,Sweetiepie , Healthfreakmommy,

Now I am tagging Tot's Mum, Hui Sia, Jasmine, Chin Nee, Barbara.

Fish Spa Theraphy

Remember I wrote about the fish spa at Pavillion? We were supposed to go there on New Year's Eve but our plan did not materialize as we ran out of time. Today, we finally made a trip there and had an experience of our lifetime at the fish spa named Kenko Reflexology & Fish Spa located at Level 5 of Pavillion. Hop on to my other blog to read on and to view more pix.

Yummy Pineapple Cakes

These mini pineapple cakes made in Taiwan are my favorite and they taste even better than our local pineapple tarts. The crust is milky and the pineapple paste has chunks of pineapple and walnuts bits. They are sold in Taiwan and Hong Kong and my mil brought back 2 tins for me when she came back from HK recently. There goes my weight.... I think it will shoot up within the next few days as she had bought so much yummy and fattening sweet treats for us.

Fish Head Noodles

This fish head noodles is supposedly one of the best in KL. This shop, Woo Hin Fish Head Noodles located at Taman Desa, Old Klang Road was featured in the newspapers a couple of times. By 12 noon, the shop will be packed to the brim every single day. We were there last week and managed to get a place to sit as we arrived before 12 noon.

We ordered 2 bowls of fish head noodles,


and a large bowl of 'yue watt' or fish paste.

I find the fish paste and the soup too salty.... so salty that my tongue felt numb after the meal. The food here is not really suitable for toddlers as I find they contain too much salt, MSG, pepper and cooking wine in the soup. Even Alycia and Sherilyn who love fish paste and noodles didn't like the food. They kept complaining that the noodles and fish paste were spicy and salty and kept drinking water instead of eating.

The shop serves very good 'foo choke pak kor yee mai' or barley boiled with tofu sheets and gingko. Another must-try drink is the boiled pumpkin with gingko water - very refreshing and it's sugar-free. The drinks cost RM2 per glass.

MIL Is Here

My mil is back from Hong Kong for 1.5 weeks before she flies off again for an overseas holiday during the CNY. Read more here.

Overloaded

Sherilyn is normally diaperless when we bring her out. Since we were maid-less last week, I put her on a diaper whenever we went out as I don't have the strength to carry her when she needs to pee. I was also advised by my Obs not to carry her.

When we came home after lunch one day, her diaper was so overloaded with her pee that it almost dropped off her waist.... and she was walking around in the house with the heavy diaper as we were all too busy to remove her diaper! See how messy my room was, with things scatterred everywhere on the floor and an unmade bed.

Methane Gas Detector

I got a scare yesterday afternoon when I smelled gas everywhere in the house. I suddenly remembered that my maid had made some hard boiled eggs and boiled some barley water in the morning. When I went to the kitchen to check, I discovered that she had forgotten to turn off the stove or it could be the flame had extinguished by itself while the stove was turned on and my maid did not notice that. That was just so dangerous and if we had anyone lighting a cigarette in our house at that time, I dread to think what would have happened. This new maid of mine is quite a scatterbrain. I think very soon I will need to buy a cooking gas detector to detect gas leakage from the kitchen for the safety of my family. I wonder if there is such a device, just like the methane gas detectors from methangasdetectors.com. The methane gas detector is a pretty cool gadget which can detect a methane gas leak by just pointing and shooting a ‘laser gun’.

Last Meal

This was the last meal that our previous maid cooked for us before she returned to Indonesia. Since Alycia and Sherilyn have always wanted to eat Maggie Mee (instant noodles), she fried a big pot of Maggie Mee (minus the MSG) that was enough for all of us for lunch and dinner.

I have yet to taste my new maid's cooking and I wonder if she knows the basics of cooking. Shall be testing her cooking skills either today or tomorrow.

A University Degree Guarantees A Bright Future

My new Cambodian maid is a smart girl. She has gone to high school for several years but was forced to stop schooling due to financial constraints. According to our maid agent, the level of English that she speaks is considered very good for a poor farmer’s daughter like her. Most Cambodians from the rural areas are hard core poor and don’t speak a word of English but she speaks smattering English that’s mostly comprehensible. I told her yesterday that since she’s only 20 years old, she should work hard and save enough money to pursue a degree. If she can’t afford to go overseas, she can pursue a degree from online universities like Capella University, an accredited online university that offers 104 graduate and undergraduate specializations and 15 certificate programs. She can choose a subject that interests her, realize her dreams of being the first graduate in her family and set a brighter future for her and her family.

This blog post is based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

Black Sesame Paste Pau

This black sesame paste pau from Din Tai Fung Chinese Restaurant @ Gardens is one of the tastiest I have ever tasted. There's a generous filling of black sesame paste oozing from the pau as you sink your teeth into the piping hot soft pau. Very tasty!

A Little Fountain In Our Very Own Kitchen

The kids and I had a real good laugh yesterday when the faucet in our kitchen sink was accidentally yanked off by our new Cambodian maid. What made it so funny was that when the faucet came off, the water shot up like a little fountain and my maid was all wet…. with the faucet still in her hand. Even I had a good laugh. The faucet has been faulty and loose for months already and had been yanked off many times but we haven’t got the time to get a replacement. I better ask hubby to get a new Hansgrohe faucet that does not fall apart so easily. It’s really inconvenient each time the faucet comes off as I have to wait for my handyman (hubby) to come back from work at night to have it fixed.

I Prefer Plus Size Clothes Than Maternity Clothes

I wonder why maternity clothes and lingerie are so expensive. I recently bought a tube top and jeans from a maternity boutique and they cost me a bomb. I had wanted to buy some maternity lingerie too but they are freaking expensive. I rather buy plus size clothes and plus size lingerie which cost much cheaper than maternity ones. I also find most maternity wear conservative and unappealing. Most of the clothes and lingerie that I wear during my pregnancy are plus size clothes and plus size lingerie. There are more choices of appealing and sexy apparel from plus size apparel and lingerie boutiques than maternity boutiques.

Relief For Varicose Veins

Read more about it here.

My New Cambodian Temp Maid

She's here finally. She's incredibly stick-thin and I wonder if she eats anything or have the stamina to work. My maid agent told me that one of the reasons she was rejected by her previous employer is that she was picky in her food and requested for certain beverages and food from her previous employer. When she was here, the maid agent specifically warned her not to be choosy with her food. I woke up at 6am today to explain work to her. So far she's ok, comprehends simple English and willing to do anything. I'm praying hard that she will fit in well here.

IT-Savvy Kid

Alycia loves learning words on her toy electronic laptop. At the press of a button, she can choose what she wants to learn. She got this laptop for her 3rd birthday a year ago but she did not know how to play with it then, so I kept it. Recently, she went to the cupboard where I keep all their new books, toys, stationery, stickers, etc. and fished out the laptop herself and started playing with it. As she doesn't know spelling yet, she will ask me for help to play the word games on the laptop. This is really a cool learning tool for toddlers ages 4 and up.

Temp Maid

My maid agent just called to inform me that he has managed to get me a temp live-in maid who will arrive at my house tomorrow night. I am having a mixture of feelings now, both relieved and worried. Relieved and happy that I don't have to do household chores anymore yet worried that the maid will drive me nuts. This temp maid will be a Cambodian maid who has been rejected by another employer. I just hope that there will not be any communication breakdown and most importantly, she will not be a cuckoo maid and one who is lazy and has bad attitude.

Siamese Love Letter

Hubby's uncle who has just returned from Thailand gave us a big bottle of kuih kapit (or Love Letters) filled with chicken floss all rolled up inside. They are really crispy, tasty and fragrant as there's a generous amount of coconut milk used to make the Love Letters. Greedy me was so busy munching on the Love Letters that my hand slipped whilst holding the bottle and all the Love Letters inside were crushed to bits. Now, I have to use a spoon to eat the crushed biscuits and chicken floss!

Home Furniture

Good quality and elegant home furniture are really expensive these days. Last month, hubby and I saw a dining table set from a furniture shop that we really liked but the price was way out of our budget. A relative of mine who works in a furniture shop told me once that many home furnishing stores reap a gross margin of 43.3% on average! So can you imagine how cheap the furniture would be if we could directbuy them from the manufacturer?

Hair Cut Day

I finally brought the gals for their hair cut today. I also had my tresses cut since I haven't had a hair cut for almost a year! The length of my hair was at chest length and I found that it took a long time for my hair to dry since I normally take my bath at night, just before going to bed. I wash my hair everyday and sometimes even twice a day. Now, it's at shoulder length and layered and I find my hair lighter as well. The gals behaved very well when the hairdresser cut their hair. I personally prefer them to have long tresses as they look more girlish. Since they don't allow me to tie up their hair, I have no choice but to have their hair at chin length all the time. It's really messy when they have long hair each time they eat and sweat.