Cool Reading Magnifiers

My dad’s eye sight has been deteriorating as he ages through the years. However, he is still wearing the same old pair of conservative looking eyeglasses with huge thick lenses that he had bought almost a decade ago. My dad is very frugal and stingy with himself but extremely generous with spending money on his loved ones. I have seen some cool and trendy reading magnifiers from firststreetonline.com. One of them is a powerful digital, hand-held magnifier that connects to the television or any monitor to magnify words, pictures, etc. I am sure my dad will love this cool gadget if I got it for him.

If Only Granny Could Stay Longer

Each time my mum is here, I get a respite from having to entertain the gals. I get to spend more time on the computer, some time to file my documents and to do other things. My mum would read, sing and play with the gals. Best of all she could coach Alycia in her homework as my mum (being a retired school teacher) has lots more patience than me. Too bad she can't stay here longer and when's back to Ipoh, I will have lesser time for myself and to blog.


The gals singing with granny



and playing 'London Bridge Is Falling Down' with granny.

Lovely Disney Cookies

When my mil came back from Hong Kong last month, she brought back several tins of cookies from Hong Kong Disneyland. The tins are really very attractive with colorful and cute pictures of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and friends.




Even the cookies have prints of Mickey head on them and they taste good too. Not only do my gals love the cookies, even I love them!

A Chocolate Affair

Read more about this chocolately affair here.

Desserts At Toh Yuen

These were the desserts we had at Toh Yuen Chinese Restaurant @ PJ Hilton on Chinese New Year's eve :

'Lai Sar Tong Yuen' (glutinous rice balls) with black sesame filling.

Sea coconut with longan.


Mango pudding.


Deep fried 'lin koa'.

We also ordered a 'kuai leng koa' but it tasted as if it was burnt, so we have it returned to the kitchen.

There were 4 adults and 2 toddlers and we had 5 dishes plus 2 small bowls of sharksfins soup. The bill came up to a whopping RM400++. I think this will be the last time we have
our CNY reunion dinner in a hotel.

It's Only A Dream Dear

Just a moment ago, Alycia who was having her nap on the mattress on the floor jumped up and said in a panick tone "mummy, I forgot to brush teeth and wash hair!" I knew she was having a dream but I played along with her and said "wash hair to go where?" Alycia who still had a panick look on her face kept saying "forgot to wash hair, forgot to brush teeth!" I then told her that she's just having a dream and she appeared more calm and now she's gone back to nap. That was really funny.

My Mum's Going Back Soon

My mum will be going back to Ipoh soon and when she's gone, I just don't know how I am going to cope. She's been a great help to me now, especially in coaching Alycia in her homework everyday and entertaining the gals whilst I am busy on my computer. Without my mum's help, I doubt I will have the time to even type 2 posts in a day. I don't have an efficient maid anymore and my super blur and slow coach maid is driving me up the pole.

Alycia's pre-school has been giving her loads of homework to do everyday to the extent that I don't even have time to bring her out to the playground in the evening. I know it's good for Alycia since she's very much lagging behind her peers in terms of reading and writing as she had missed more than 7 months of classes last year but all work and no play is really not too good for a 4-year old toddler too. I guess we can't have the best of both worlds, can we?

Bad Habit

Sherilyn has a bad habit of picking her nose despite us threatening her that we will plaster up her nose. When she was at the hospital yesterday to have the wound on her forehead cleaned, my mum jokingly told the doctor about her habit and the doctor joked backed and said he will plaster up Sherilyn's nose if she does not stop picking her nose. Sherilyn was really scared and promised that she will not pick her nose again but back home, she started digging for boogers again.... till her nose bleeds sometimes. Do you have a good way of stopping your child from repeating a bad habit?

What's It With The Nappies?

Sherilyn has always been obsessed with nappies. At one point of time, she was obsessed with making super capes with her nappies. She still is crazy over those nappy capes but her latest craze is making 'tudung' or head scarf with the nappies like this :

Rummaging the laundry basket to look for more nappies like a scavenger.

Doing her routine things at home wearing the ridiculous looking head scarf.

Sherilyn stopped wearing the head scarf ever since she cracked her forehead on Valentine's Day and has a bandage on her forehead.

I've Had Enough

I've had enough of my temp. Cambodian maid. I called the maid agent today and told him that I can no longer tolerate her and asked him when my new permanent Indon maid will arrive. Now he is telling me that the new permanent maid may arrive only in April! I feel so cheated by this agent. When we selected the maid and paid the agency fee in October last year, we were promised that the new maid can arrive in January 08. Now, the bugger is telling me end of Feb, then March, now April! I won't be surprised if she will never arrive and I have to keep paying RM800 per month for a rejected and incompetent maid.

Anyway yesterday and today, this super blur Cambodian maid of mine really made my blood boil. She never seems to remember things though she has to do the same chores every single day. Yesterday, she had forgotten to turn off the water faucet again and left the water flowing out at full blast for 3-4 hours until we went upstairs to bathe the kids at 9pm and discovered it. She also left the kettle cord attached to the wall socket with the switch turned on and no kettle attached to the cord. I can't imagine what would have happened if my kids touched the dangling cord and this is not the first time she has done such a careless and dangerous thing. I was so mad with her that I have threatened to cut her salary and send her back to the agent. Last night, I told her to watch the kids when I brushed my teeth but she gave me another heart attack when she played catching with the kids and Sherilyn knocked her cheek on the air purifier machine and had a slight cut on her cheek. Her right cheek is now bruised and she really looks like an abused child now - a bandage on her forehead with a cut and bruised cheek.

My maid agent told me that he will send me another rejected maid (from Indon this time) next week. I have no confidence in this agent anymore and I can only pray that whatever it is, my next maid will be good.

Easy Peasy 'Lap Mei' Rice

If you are a 'lap mei' lover, here's one easy way to cook 'lap mei' rice. There is no frying involved. Just put in the washed 'lap cheong' (Chinese pork sausage) and 'yoon cheong' (Chinese liver sausage) into the rice cooker (uncut) about 15 minutes before the rice is ready. Within minutes of putting the sausages into the rice cooker, the mouth-watering aroma of the Chinese sausages will fill the house. When the rice is cooked, remove the sausages from the rice cooker and cut them into slices. The rice will have the aroma of the Chinese sausages, from the oil of the sausages. This easy peasy to cook dish is really delicious but not quite a healthy food and definitely not a dish for the weight-watchers. Anyway, I only eat this dish once a year.

Sherilyn's 3rd Birthday Dinner

Read more about Sherilyn's 3rd birthday dinner here.

Too Tough For 4 Year Olds?

Do you think this exercise is too tough for a 4 year old? Alycia's pre-school teacher has given her this as homework. My mum who is a retired teacher thinks this is a tad too tough for a 4-year old as Alycia seems so clueless when my mum coached her in her homework. In the first place, Alycia does not even know how to read the instructions which is 'colour the biggest numbers'. My mum and I had a tough time explaining this exercise to her. It could be Alycia has missed out too many classes (more than 6 months) last year when I pulled her out from school when she kept falling sick, thus she is very far lagging behind her peers.


On top of homework, her pre-school also gives her tons of flash cards, which mummy is supposed to flash to her. When it comes to Mandarin, mummy is just as clueless though there is 'han yi pin yi' written on the cards.

My Maid Gave Me A Scare

My Cambodian gave me a real scare when I heard something broke upstairs just a moment ago. She has just gone upstairs to clean the rooms and minutes later, I heard something dropped on the floor real loud. I was damn worried that she had broken my expensive Lamp Berger or the photo frames with my engagement photo and my kids' photos. I ran upstairs to check and thank God, she had only dropped an ornament but it did not break. That clumsy lady has given me far too many heart attacks as she had already broken a few bowls, cups and ceramic spoons.

Happy Birthday Sherilyn

Happy birthday Sherilyn. Today you're 3 years old. Time really flies when everyone is having fun. In a little less than 2 months, you will soon be a cheh cheh (big sister) to your baby sister. Mummy and Daddy wish you good health, happiness and long life. May you be obedient to mummy and not so naughty.


If you read this post when you're old enough to know how to read, you will see how naughty you have been. You have always caused mummy heart attacks and heart stopping moments with your stunts and accidents. You never seem to fear pain and danger though you had many minor bloody accidents. 2 days ago, you broke your forehead when you climbed on cheh cheh Alycia's back for a piggy ride, fell and whacked your forehead on the sharp side of the wall. Blood was everywhere on your face and you scared mummy who was 7 months pregnant out of her wits.


Mummy and daddy love you from the bottom of our hearts Sherilyn. May God watch over you always and happy 3rd birthday.

You can read more on Sherilyn's birth here.

Sherilyn's Broken Forehead Day 2

This morning when Sherilyn woke up, I saw that the bandage on her forehead was all red. Blood must have oozed out from her wound. However, this little tough cookie did not complain that it was painful. She was hyper-active and mischievous as usual. She does not seem to have developed a phobia of falling down and has been climbing up and down the sofa and hanging on the wall on the split-level of our living room like a monkey the whole day. I wonder if all kids are as stubborn and as unfazed with danger as my little monkey.

A Black Valentine's Day

Read more about our black Valentine's Day here.

Can Any Employer Tolerate This Species Of Maid?

Other than being plain slow, I discovered that my maid loves to be a nosey parker and phat here and there when she does her work. Yesterday when I asked her to wipe the kids' toys, she sat on the floor playing with the gals' toys and reading their books! To someone from an ulu kampung (remote area with very little civilization), I think she has never seen such high tech toys that emit sounds and voices or interesting books. She was so engrossed reading the books that she did not even notice me staring at her! Yesterday, hubby brought home a liondance head for the girls. This morning, whilst I was busy preparing Alycia for school, she was at the living room playing with the liondance head!!! My mum saw it and asked her what she was doing. She just gave my mum her usual silly smile but I reprimanded her.

There was a pipe burst outside our house yesterday and water supply was cut off the entire day. When the water finally came back, there were lots of things to be washed and done. There were dirty pots and pans in the wet kitchen and loads of laundry to be washed. Water was also not boiled. Thinking that my maid will be very busy doing these chores, I went upstairs to help wash the 2 bathrooms. When I was done and came down, I saw my maid sitting on the floor watching my mum play with the gals. I was fuming mad and could feel my hot blood shoot up to my face and head. I gave her a piece of my mind telling her how could she have just sat there and relax whilst me being heavily pregnant got to wash 2 bathrooms upstairs. I bet no employer could take this kinda nonsense.

Homegrown Starfruits

These are some very juicy and sweet homegrown, pesticide-free starfruits given to me by mamapumpkin all the way from Kota Bahru. They are grown by her parents-in-law in their large 'home orchard'. Yes, her PILs have a garden so large with so many fruit trees and plants that it does look like an orchard. It was so thoughtful of mamapumpkin to think of me and to bring these juicy organic starfruits for me all the way from KB. Thanks Patsy!

Memories Of My Previous Job

It’s really not easy to be a SAHM. It’s a round-the-clock job and I don’t get any annual leave, no rest, no medical leave even when my body is hot enough to make half-boiled egg under my arm pit, no bonus and no salary increment. Having said that, I still have no regrets being a SAHM as this is exactly what I had wanted to do when I was still in the crazy corporate world. Every now and then, I do miss my previous job at my old office. If you’ve been following my blog, I did mention before that the company that I once worked in, the office is facing a beautiful golf course, a huge landscaped lake and some mansions behind some hills. The scenery from the penthouse of my office is almost as beautiful as Branson Missouri and each time I feel stressed out, I would walk to the windows and look down at the lake. That’s my favorite past time each time I was stressed out – to look at the fish swim in the lake and watch golfers play golf at one of the most expensive golf courses in our country. When I am stressed out with my kids now, I just sit in front of my computer and blog my stress away!