Alycia Can Finally Write

Yes she can and I am so proud of her. During my mum's 10-day stay with me, she has been coaching Alycia with her writing for 1-2 hours everyday and now, she can finally write all the numbers from 0 to 10. She can also write her own name, though at times the letter 'c' will be written the other way round. Anyway, it's already a big achievement for her since she had missed attending pre-school for more than half a year last year.



Notice the remarks in red from her class teacher?

More Rantings On My Super Blur Maid

I really need to rant and rave about my super blur and dreamy Cambodian maid again. I don't fancy most of the posts in my blog to focus on my maid but I really need to rant out the silly things that she did that really drive me nuts..... everyday without fail. I really don't understand how her brain functions and just can't believe she is so terribly forgetful. Last night, I had given her specific instructions to remove the pork from the freezer early this morning to prepare soup.
This morning, when she wanted to throw the pork into the basin of hot water to clean them, I just had a guts feeling that she had taken the wrong bag of pork. So I asked her to read out to me the 'identification label' I had pasted on the plastic bag. She then read the label.... "pork for frying".... then gave me her usual silly / guilty smile again and gave me a silly excuse. I was really mad with her coz not only had she taken out the wrong type of pork again but she also took out 2 packets of pork instead of 1 packet. I told her that it would defeat the purpose for me to label the meat if she doesn't read the labels. She has been working for us for more than 1 month and she's been doing this almost everyday yet she can go wrong. I was mad coz now the meat was already half defrost and it is not advisable to re-freeze them again. Also, she had to defrost the correct bag of pork now to make the soup and more time will be wasted.

I wonder why she's so terribly forgetful, careless and blur. When she works, she gives me a blank look, as if her mind is not with her. Sometimes, I feel like giving her a good shake on the shoulders to wake her up.

Kids Need To Exercise

On Friday, my mum and I finally had the time to bring Alycia and Sherilyn to the playground to let them release all their pent up energy. I have not brought the gals to the playground for ages as evenings were normally spent coaching Alycia in her heavy load of homework from pre-school. The gals were really happy the moment they reached the playground, like puppies that have just been released from the cage. I strongly believe that kids should be given more time to play and exercise, preferably everyday. Their little brains need all the oxygen to function optimally too and being cooped up at home and indoors all the time is quite unhealthy for a growing child.



Alycia has piled up some pounds lately resulting from lack of exercise. I used to bring the gals to the park and for evening / morning walks almost everyday last year. I really should start the gals on an exercise regime once agian.

Sweet Potato Omelette

My Cambodian maid's cooking has slightly improved. She used to overcook the food or had them partially burnt. After some guidance from my mum and me, she can now prepare a decent meal of fried rice, fried vermicelli and omelette. She still cannot make a pot of good soup though.

This sweet potato and spring onion omelette was cooked by her, all by herself and it was by far one of the best dishes she has prepared for us in her one month stay with us.

Ingenuity Or Primitive?

I seem to have a pet peeve with my Cambodian maid. Sorry, just bear with my maid stories. Like what Sweet Jasmine has commented, I can even write a book on interesting maid stories, LOL! Guess what I saw my maid doing today? After she had cooked some noodles to eat with the fried chicken that we had bought her last night, she poured the noodles and chicken into a melamine bowl. She then sat on a stool to eat her bowl of noodles.... slurping the noodles away loudly and obviously enjoying her meal. Beneath the bowl was a dried mandarin orange peel / skin. She had used the mandarin orange skin as coaster to protect her hand from the heat. I really find this lady hilarious. On one hand, I think she was being ingenious to have thought of such an idea but on the other hand, it is really primitive of her to do such a thing at this day and age. I can't blame her as she told me she is from a real 'ulu' village where people there still use charcoal to cook and boil water.

I Feel Really Heavy

As my tummy is getting bigger, I feel really heavy. I find it hard to walk fast and extremely difficult to get up when I am in a sitting, squatting or lying down position. My baby should be around 2kg by now. When I get up from a lying down position to an upright position, I even have to lift my tummy with both my hands, otherwise my tummy will tighten or harden again. I am only 31 weeks+ preggers and I am sure I will find it even harder to move about as my pregnancy progresses. I can't imagine how difficult it is for women carrying twins, triplets or more babies to move about during their pregnancy. Chin Nee, all the best to you!

Blog Rush Again

I am on a blog rush again. This time, I am trying to clear off most of my assignments before my mum goes back to Ipoh on Sunday. Once my mum's gone, I know I will not have so much time on the computer. My maid is really quite hopeless, terribly forgetful and I can't rely on her to do much. I still have 10 more outstanding assignments and I know I won't be able to complete them before my mum leaves. I may even have to let some of the offers expire or only work on them at the eleventh hour, which is something which I hate.

If I have not visited your blog yet, my apologies. I am really running out of time and I will try to find some time to visit your blog real soon.

Seoul Korea Korean Restaurant

Daddy had wanted to bring us to a Korean restaurant to celebrate Sherilyn's 3rd birthday but we had a last-minute change of plan and went to a Chinese restaurant instead. Since we all still wanted to eat Korean food, daddy brought us to Seoul Korea Korean restaurant @ Taman Desa the next day. The food was really good as the chef is the owner's mother and all the food are cooked by her.

There will be a wide selection of over 10 types of delicious starters on the house (replenishable) if you order a set dish from the menu. Set dishes can be steamboat or BBQ. The starters / appetisers alone are enough to fill you up.



The Korean BBQ beef set, which was really tasty.

Some of the appetisers / starters that we had :

Deep fried cuttlefish with special sauce - very tasty.


Steam egg in hot pot, which was Alycia and Sherilyn's favorite.





The kim chi soup which was very appetising.

We also ordered a Korean steamboat set and a Korean soup noodles with pork. Check out my other blog to view more pix.

Total bill came out to around RM130 for 4 adults and 2 kids. We enjoyed the food very much and will definitely patronize this restaurant again.

Farewell Jeff and Shir Lin

Sunday School will never be the same again without Jeff Kor Kor and Shir Lin Cheh Cheh as they will be moving to Singapore soon. Jeff and Shir Lin are Alycia and Sherilyn's Sunday School teachers. What motivates Alycia and Sherilyn to go to church every Sunday are these 2 very dedicated teachers. All the kids will surely miss Jeff Kor Kor and Shir Lin Cheh Cheh.



The kids from Sunday School celebrating the farewell of Jeff and Shir Lin.


Shir Lin -- If you are reading this, all the best to you and Jeff in Singapore. Take care of yourself and your little one too!

Braxton Hicks Contractions

I've been getting quite a bit of Braxton Hicks contractions and tightenings on my tummy lately. I am 31 weeks preggers today. I hope this is not a sign of preterm labor. I've also experienced these contractions and tightenings for both my previous pregnancies but thank God, I did not go into preterm labor. When I was carrying Alycia though, I had to be on partial bed-rest when my cervix started to shorten at week 20+ of my pregnancy.

Really Frustrating

I have just published a paid post in my blog but I have problem submitting the post to the advertiser. I keep getting a message stating that the link is not properly placed in my post. I have copied and pasted the codes to the link countless times from the advertiser's website to my blog post and have even switched the mode to Edit Html but still kept getting the error message. This is really driving me crazy and I have many posts with deadline expiring today and tomorrow.

Practise Makes Perfect

Alycia finally knows how to write her name and all the numbers from 0 through 10, though some strokes are not correct and some are quite out of shape. I must thank my mum for being so patient coaching her everyday. The heavy load of homework from her pre-school also helps as there have been lots of exercises on writing from school everyday. While her writing has improved, she really needs to get down to do some exercise in the evening. Her evenings are now bogged down rushing to complete the homework from school which is quite unhealthy for a 4-year old toddler. I may ask her teacher to reduce the homework so that she has time to play and exercise in the playground.

Malnourishment Or Plain Lazy To Remember?

I am talking about my Cambodian maid. I just can't believe her forgetfulness. I wonder if her terribly poor memory resulted from malnourishment as a child in Cambodia or she's just plain lazy to remember things. I have lost count on the number of times she has forgotten to close the kettle cover after pouring hot water into the kettle. In my house, after the water is boiled using the electric kettle, the hot water will be poured into another kettle for it to cool down. From day one till today, she has forgotten to close the kettle cover - twice a day. Last night, she left the kettle uncovered and water exposed throughout the night. This morning when she woke up, this blur sotong did not even notice that she did not close the cover until I saw it and reprimanded her for her forgetfulness. From today onwards, I am going to list down the number of times she forgets things and will threaten to show the list to the maid agent, which I will. I hope this will bring her presence of mind back and make her buckle up.

Desperate Times Call For Innovative Ideas

There was a burst water pipe outside our house last week and the water supply was cut off the entire day. Since hubby's cook had cooked some chicken chops for us for lunch, we had to eat them and could not eat out. I was searching high and low for paper plates but there were none. My mum and I thought of this idea :

To line our plates with aluminium foil. With the plates all lined with foils, my maid needs not have to use so much water to wash the plates. However, we had to be really careful not to poke holes on the foil when we ate.


Alycia enjoying her chicken chop


and Sherilyn who eats no chicken enjoying her fried egg sandwich.

Beer Pong Game

Have you heard of the game beer pong? I read about this fun game from the FHM magazine that hubby bought the other day. This game is very popular among young adults and is mostly played in college parties, bars and tailgate parties. How this game works is interesting. It involves 4 people, teams of 2, where a ping pong ball is thrown across a table aiming at one of the opponent’s cups. The cups are shaped in a triangle on the other side of the table. When the ball lands in the cup, the cup is removed. The team that sinks all of the cups on their opponent's side wins the game. Originally, this game is played on an actual ping pong table but it is best played on beer pong tables.

Pregnancy Problems - Leg Cramps

People say that pregnant women are more prone to leg cramps. I think it’s quite true coz I am one of the victims. Last night, I had another attack of leg cramp, my second attack in 1 month. When the cramp attacked, the muscles on my leg (it always happens to my left leg) hardened and I could not move my leg. Leg cramps are terribly painful and each time I have an attack, I would be screaming in pain… in the middle of the night. Thankfully dear hubby would always be by my side to massage my leg to release the tensed muscles. I wonder if my body is lacking in certain nutrients.

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.