We Need A Roof Box For Our MPV

I wonder how some families with more than 2 kids travel in a regular 5-seater car. Each time we travel back to our hometown, our 7-seater MPV will be packed to the brim with passengers and our belongings. I wonder how we are going to place a third baby car seat when our third baby arrives. I guess after placing a third baby car seat in the MPV, hubby would have to buy a cubic roof box to store our luggage and fix a van rack on the roof of his MPV. In fact, I’ve always been asking him to get a cubic roof box but he always tells me that it is very costly. I’m going to tell him that he can get these truck accessories at discount prices at buyautotruckaccessories.com. I think these accessories would make our MPV look more sporty.

Have You Been Drinking And Gambling Excessively This CNY?

I see many of my friends take the opportunity to indulge themselves in boozing, gambling and just be merry for 15 days straight during Chinese New Year. Thank God my hubby doesn’t like any of these stuff and even if he partakes in them, it is merely to entertain his friends. It’s alright to partake in these activities once in a while moderately as long as they do not become a part of your lifestyle and they do not interfere with your life and affect your family. Any activity that becomes excessive eventually turns into an addiction. When you are addicted to something especially drinking, gambling and drugs, they ruin not only your life but that of your loved ones and the only way to break free from these addiction is to get addiction treatment professionally. I hope you have not been drinking and gambling excessively this Chinese New Year, have you?

Cats and Dogs

I hate it whenever Alycia and Sherilyn quarel or fight over something but sometimes, I find it really hilarious, to see how they fight and hear the things they say to each other. Sherilyn can really make me burst out laughing when this fighter cock screams out words to defend herself while she pouts and scrunches up her lips in anger and folding her arms tightly to her chest. She's really a cili padi and a tough cookie who can never be bullied by anyone.

Bizarre Things That My Cambodian Maid Does

Maybe I am not used to her culture but my Cambodian maid does very bizarre things. Just a moment ago, I heard the sound of water flowing out from the tap from the bathroom. I went to the bathroom and found my maid squatting outside the bathroom with the shower and washing her hair. I asked her what she's doing and she told me she had headache and felt hot. I then asked if she wanted pain killer for her headache and she said no. I asked her if she had fever and she replied no. After drying her hair, she went upstairs to continue with her work. Strange isn't it?

She also has a habit of taking her bath very late at night. I've always asked her to take her bath earlier but she insists that she only wants to bathe just before she goes to bed, which is at around 11pm or sometimes later if we go out.

My previous maid has a special pull-out table in the kitchen for her to eat her meals. However, our Cambodian maid prefers to eat at the wet kitchen, which is outside our dry kitchen. She prefers to sit on a stool and eat her meals there. I have since asked her to sit at our dining table so that she can eat whilst she feeds Sherilyn. She also doesn't mind eating her food straight from the fridge. The other day, I had bought her a packet of nasi lemak with chicken curry. She kept it in the fridge and hours later, ate it without reheating it. I have thought her how to use the microwave but maybe she's too lazy or hungry to reheat her food and ate it straight from the fridge.

She always looks as if she's really really famished and can really eat anything I give her in a blink of an eye. The other day, I had steamed a really huge 'lin koa' and bought a packet of grated coconut to eat with it. I could only eat a few spoonfuls and gave the rest of the 'lin koa' to her. I thought she would take days to finish it. I was shocked when I found out that she had gobbled the entire 'lin koa' within an hour. I wonder if she felt uncomfortable after eating such a sweet and sticky cake with one whole packet of grated coconut! I really think this Cambodian maid is bizarre .

iContact

If you are looking for ways to increase sales in your business but are tight on a budget, you can consider email marketing service. There are many companies that offer email marketing service but iContact.com has white list agreements with major ISPs to enable their clients to enjoy industry-leading deliverability (98% - 99%) and you get your message across to your clients. iContact is the leading on-demand email marketing service and allows organizations of all shapes and sizes to easily create, send and track email newsletters, RSS feeds, surveys, and autoresponders.

At just $9.95 per month, it is very user-friendly and you get great customer service too. Just click here to see what members of iContact get to enjoy. If you are not sure if iContact works for your business, worry not as they are offering a 15-day free trial. Members in the iContact community can join forums and communicate with like-minded members. Please click here to view the list of forum categories ranging from health to business, politics, pets, shopping and much more.

Reunion Dishes

We had our reunion dinner at Toh Yuen Chinese Restaurant @ PJ Hilton last night. We really had a very enjoyable dinner with no one rushing us to finish our diner and dined comfortably. Last year, we had our reunion dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Ipoh at 5:30pm and felt like we were being hurried off to finish our dinner so that the restaurant could make way for the next batch of diners to eat at 7pm. We were also seated so crammed in a small table for almost 15 people. Alycia had to sit on daddy's lap to eat and Sherilyn was seated on a high chair, away from the dining table.

Yesterday's reunion dinner was really enjoyable though it was a tad pricey (RM400+ for 4 adults and 2 toddlers). Anyway, I guess everywhere would be expensive on CNY's eve and during CNY.



'Zhoong Zhai Chee" (sharksfins with crabmeat)


Stir-fried fresh scallops with celery, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, fresh lily bulb and gingkos. Sherilyn who did not like any of the dishes only ate the fresh scallops as mummy tricked her and told her that the scallops were fishballs!


Stir-fried venison with ginger and spring onions.


This plate of 'Loh Sung' which is the smallest in size available costs a freaking RM50++.


Vegetarian dish.


Deep fried crispy chicken - my all-time favorite dish.

Stay tuned for my next post on the desserts that we had.....

Koong Hei Fatt Choy to everyone. Where to for tonight's dinner? We're off to another hotel for buffet dinner.

New Shoes For The New Year

Last week, we went shopping and bought Alycia and Sherilyn new shoes. Since I love pink, most of my gals' shoes are pink too. It's really difficult to get them pretty and comfy shoes at affordable prices. One brand that the gals have been wearing is Disney. Disney shoes cost between RM50 - RM70 a pair.

These 2 pairs are for Sherilyn - a Pooh Bear sandals for daily wear and a pink shoes for more formal wear.

and this pink Pooh Bear shoes is for Alycia. Wanted to get her another pair of Crocs as I have seen some new designs but when I saw the price, I really think it's not worth it for a pair of plastic shoes that look so casual.

I also got myself 2 pairs of low-heeled sandals as my legs can't stand high heeled sandals
anymore. They are really making the varicose veins on my legs worse.

Drive Safely This Festive Season

Today marks the last day of the Chinese calendar and tomorrow all the Chinese worldwide will usher in the year of the Rat, the first zodiac sign in the Chinese calendar. Many people have traveled back to their hometowns yesterday and some will be traveling today or tomorrow. If I weren’t pregnant, I too would have already traveled back to my hometown yesterday. I hope everyone traveling would drive safely and I hope you have already checked that your auto insurance is still valid and has not expired. That’s really very important coz in the event of any accidents (knock on wood ok!), your insurance company will take care of everything. Have a great reunion dinner tonight!

Koong Hei Fatt Choy

Just want to wish all my readers koong hei fatt choy. May the year of the Rat bring everyone good health, prosperity and happiness. This year, we are not going back to our hometown in Ipoh as I just don't feel like travelling. As with my previous 2 pregnancies, my big belly has been hardening every now and then throughout the day. My gynae said I have an ultra sensitive uterus and if I stress myself too much, could lead to premature labour. Also, I need to pee every hour or so, therefore, travelling is out of the question during this festive season.

For those of you who are driving back to your hometown, drive carefully and come back safely. Go easy on the tempting cookies and mandarin oranges and don't forget to exercise, else you will surely have a hard time shedding off those flab from your belly :)

She's Still Good At Something

My new Cambodian maid is still good at something. I found out that she's really good in Origami. To make friends with Sherilyn, she made a paper fish and crane to fascinate her and she succeeded. Sherilyn was really fascinated with the Origami and kept asking kakak to make more and this is just what she did while feeding Sherilyn breakfast yesterday. So there wasn't any fuss during breakfast as she sat still and watched kakak make the paper animals for her from MacDonalds flyers.

Forgetful Maid

My maid is terribly forgetful and clumsy and she's only 20 years old. I can't trust her to do anything - whether it is to turn off the water faucet, turn off the gas stove, cook or just about anything..... coz she will surely forget. Just now, I was busy teaching her to cook ginger chicken and stir-fried beans. In between teaching her cooking, I was also coaching Alycia in her homework. Suddenly I remembered I don't see her washing the rice grains to cook. When I asked her, she gave me her usual silly smile and said "I thought Mam' don't want? Mam' didn't ask". Alamak, we have rice almost everyday! Since it's too late to cook rice, I told her to boil some rice vermicelli instead. Kaik sei ngor moa lei war?

Feeling Really Tired

I have been feeling really really tired, lethargic and moody these days. Though I get 6-7 hours of sleep every night, I still find it difficult to pull myself out of bed in the morning these days. During the initial stages of my pregnancy, I still have the stamina and enthusiasm to wake up at crazy hours to check for offers. Now, sleep is really important to me. If I don't get enough sleep, I feel as if there is no energy in every part of my body and I feel terribly moody too. I wonder if it's caused by the wacky pregnancy hormones. I just can't wait to pop my baby out and have a look at her.

Snacks That Are Only Available During CNY

My mil went to the market in SS2 last week and bought some CNY snacks - nin koa and unshelled roasted almonds. These are my favorites and I can only eat them once a year. I've been nibbling on these roasted almonds everyday ever since.

I love the nin koa steamed and sprinkled / coated with freshly grated young coconut with a pinch of salt. This morning, I went to the sundry shop to grab a packet of grated coconut to eat with the steamed nin koa. The most I can eat are only a few spoonfuls coz they are really sweet and I will feel really 'zhai' and 'lau' if too much is eaten.

How do you like your nin koa eaten?

Greedy

This morning, I bade for an opportunity advertised by one of the advertisers in the network for quite a good price. I had deliberately set a high price coz the opp is for 300 words and on a subject that is quite hard to write. I thought the advertiser would reject my bid outright but less than an hour after I had bade for the opp, the advertiser accepted my bid. Now, I have 6 days to dish out the post and I know I will have a hard time cracking my head to come up with an interesting post. Serves me right for being greedy. Now I have to put on my thinking cap for days to whip out a real good post.... and I still have 9 more outstanding posts to dish out within this week.

Will I Turn Into A Haggard Ah Soh Soon?

This morning, hubby could not fetch Alycia back from school as he was busy. So I walked to Alycia's pre-school with Sherilyn and my maid in tow. After picking Alycia up, I held Alycia's hand on my right and Sherilyn's hand on my left as we walked slowly by the shoulder of the road. Sherilyn didn't want my maid to hold her hand. As I was walking back to my house panting away, I visualized myself with 3 kids, which will happen in 2 months' time. I visualized myself being a haggard mother of 3 young kids, with messy long hair, sagging big boops as a result of breastfeeding, no make-up on my face and wearing worn out clothes walking Alycia and Sherilyn back from school with my newborn baby clutching on to my breasts as I put her in a sling across my body. Gosh, I could almost see how I would look like in a few months' time. I think I would look like an Ah Soh with 3 kids, a 'wong meen por' and no longer the slim and attractive sweet young thing who doesn't even look like she's got 2 kids. I better make sure this won't happen to me. Being labelled an Ah Soh is the last thing I ever want to hear. I better make sure I can find some time to exercise everyday so that I can still look fit and slim once again.

Scream Free Parenting Book

I've been yelling and screaming a lot at Sherilyn these days. I know it's really bad to be hollering all the time at my kids as they will surely pick up this bad habit too. It’s really hard to control myself when my emotions and tempers flare at the heat of the moment when my kids drive me up the pole. I know I should really keep my temperament in check. It’s better for my unborn baby, for my 2 girls and me. Maybe I should check out some good books on positive parenting and on how to control my temper. One good book is Scream-Free Parenting by Hal Edward Runkel. My friend has read it and has given her thumbs-up on this book. It’s selling at only $17.04 at buy.com and I am thinking of getting a copy. One of my new year resolutions is to minimize my screaming and I hope that with this self-help book, I can keep my temper under control.

Sherilyn Is Beginning To Like Our New Maid

and that's because our new Cambodian maid really took the effort to break the ice by being playful with her. Though our maid is a tad slow in her work and looks clueless and really blur, what I like about her is that she is very patient with the kids..... and the girls have taken advantage of this and are bullying her.

The girls are really taking advantage of the maid's patience and good temperament by making her carry them all the time, like a baby... sometimes asking her to carry them both at the same time and that's something which I forbid coz my maid is stick thin and looks feeble.... and if she falls, all 3 of them will be hurt, especially the girls.

Playing time aside, Sherilyn still refuses the maid to feed her and will turn her head sideways or shut her mouth tightly and refuse any food being put into her mouth. She will also act up and would deliberately do naughty things whenever the maid bathes her, just to avoid the maid touching her.




Alycia and Sherilyn playing 'catching' with their new kakak.

From Terrible Twos To Terrorizing Threes

Sherilyn is gradually graduating from her terrible twos phase to 'terrorizing threes' phase. Over the past 2 weeks, she is terribly rebellious, disobedient, bossy, whiny and plain uncooperative with me and our new temp Cambodian maid. I wonder if she's having withdrawal symptoms coz she started behaving like this ever since her beloved kakak Su returned to Indonesia.

Sherilyn is really getting on my nerves and my pregnancy hormones are not helping me to be patient either. She can really irritate me to the core. Talking to her in a nice tone does not help for she doesn't seem to be listening when mummy is talking nicely to her. She seems to fall on deaf ears each time I asked her to do something - washing hands, stop climbing, stop hitting, come here, take your bath, etc. She even deliberately does things that she knows I hate just to irritate me. Even yelling at her does not help. It seems her brain is only wired to obey when she hears the dreaded words "cane is coming" from my mouth. At times, she does not even fear the sight of cane and it's only when the cane lands on her hand that she will listen. Today I got so irritated with her disobedience that I just blurted out "you are so naughty. I am going to give you away to the garbage man". That managed to scare her a tad bit. I know it's just so wrong to say such negative things to a 3 yo toddler but I just can't help it coz she just won't listen and she's really irritating me to the core and driving me insane.

Donate A Car For A Cause

">


Do you have an old car that you rarely use and find that it’s taking up too much space in your garage? If you have, have you ever thought about donating it to charity and make a difference in someone’s life? You can donate your car to Car Angel, a Christian based charity organization that channels the proceeds from the car donation to designated charities worldwide helping single mothers to the homeless, teen and adult rehab, food distribution and orphans. Car Angel also uses the proceeds of the sale from the car donations to help the less fortunate and at-risk kids by creating various uplifting children’s DVDs to give away free to kids and teens. Some of the DVDs include the latest anti-drug film and the award-winning Donkey Ollie 1, Donkey Ollie 2 and Donkey Ollie 3. You can view the snippets of the Donkey Ollie video here.

Gurney Drive Food Court @ Gardens

We had lunch at Gurney Drive Foodcourt (the foodcourt looks more like a restaurant) at Gardens on Monday. We were all very satisfied with the food that we ordered. There were much more choices than Little Penang Cafe at Mid Valley.

We ordered :

Hokkien sytle prawn vermicelli (tasty)

Fried kuay teow (tasty)

Asam laksa (tasty)



Ice-kacang (I prefer the one at Little Penang Cafe where the ice-kacang has Sarsi syrup and freshly cut bananas)


Fried omelette with fresh oysters (nothing special)


Nasi kandar - this is really very tasty. There are 2 types of nasi kandar - seafood set and chicken with fish set. We ordered the seafood set. I will definitely order this when we go to this food court/restaurant again.

Alycia and Sherilyn had fried rice which was also very tasty. We also ordered a rojak which I found to be too sweet and a mamak mee for our maid (tasty). The 'sar lei' fruit (is it called umbra? Sar Lei is a green color fruit grown locally and is very sour) juice was also very refreshing.

We will definitely patronize Penang Gurney Drive Foodcourt/Restaurant again to try other food and will surely order the nasi kandar again.