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Saturday, June 19, 2010

Keropok Crazed Girls

Baby is just like her 2 jie jies and any other kid. She loves junk food more than anything else! The other day, a relative deep fried some prawn crackers and gave them to us. The keropok were kept in a large container and placed on top of our kitchen cabinet. Just when no one was looking, this fella climbed on the Ikea stool and opened the container... and helped herself to the keropok! Still no one knew as everyone was busy but it was discovered when I heard "krop krop krop" munching sounds from the kitchen muahahahahah!



Friday, June 18, 2010

Jacuzzi Girls In Pink

Picture taken in our hotel bathroom in Penang. We stayed at our regular Northam Suites last week as this hotel offers one of the best rates and is located just next to GMC. Baby was operated on in GMC and we have to bring her back to see the surgeon twice a year to have her kidneys scanned... for the next 10 years of her life, until she hits 12 years old! Looks like we will be having family vacations in Penang twice a year for the next 10 years :D


Since bringing Baby for swimming to a public pool is highly risky (for fear of getting another UTI), the next best alternative for her to experience swimming is in our hotel room jacuzzi tub.

Door Chimes And Wind Chimes

In feng shui (which literally means “wind and water”), wind chime and door chime are considered to bring the energy of good Chi into our awareness. The sound of wind chimes and door chimes are believed to correct the negative effects of traffic sounds, harsh noise, dull noise and brings balance into our environment. We don’t have a wind chime at home but hang a cute ‘fortune cat’ door chime on the door knob of our front door. It was hung there not because of feng shui but for decorative purposes.

Time To Change My Computer

The desktop computer that I am currently using is over 3 years old. This computer has been giving me problems every now and then. Just yesterday, the keyboard acted up and I could not use the delete and backspace button. At times, my computer would just hang up on me. My hubs has been advising me to consider replacing it with a new one with better memory space. If I should replace it, I am not sure if I should get a laptop, an Acer Aspire netbook or another desk top. I am very, very tempted to get a netbook!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Sure Way To Get Her To Drink Water

It's a chore and a big bag of stress for me getting Baby to drink water. She has now rebelled on drinking water. If not for my handiest tool aka the cane to threaten her, Baby wouldn't drink water, most of the time.

Recently I found a very effective way of getting Baby to drink water, gallons of it, without any fuss from her. All I need to do is to put one or two ice-cubes into her cup of water and tadaa.... it's like seeing magic right before my eyes AHAHAHA! Within minutes, this fella will chug down the cup of water and ask for more, of course with ice cubes inside.


Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Enfagrow A+ Learning Toolkit - A Fun And Informative Website For Parents And Kids

Since the commencement of the school holidays, my 2 older kids have been bored to the core. Hubby and I have been extremely tied down with our own business respectively and have not really had the time to bring the kids for outings. The kids have been bugging me with questions on when we are going to their koong koong and granny’s in Ipoh and then to Penang for a short holiday. Alycia and Sherilyn have been two couch potatoes with their eyes glued to the TV since the start of the school holiday on Saturday. I feel bad that I can’t afford much time to spend with them.

Yesterday evening I decided to put aside my work to spend some time with Alycia and Sherilyn. The 3 of us were seated in front of the computer and had a very enjoyable bonding time playing with some educational games at First2Learn. We chose the games for kids 6 years and above. There are also specially designed intellectual games for kids 1-3 years old and 3-6 years old. We had loads of fun playing the ‘spot the difference’ game. I must admit that my 2 older girls are sharper than me and could spot the difference in the pictures at a faster pace than me! I also taught them multiplication through the Math game which was designed to teach kids multiplication in a very interesting way. I haven’t had this much fun with them for a long time!

If you have kids aged between 1-7 years old, you really have to check out Enfagrow A+ Learning Toolkit at First2Learn and try out the games with your kids. There are also daily handy tips for parents, useful articles from experts and also a learning milestone checklist for parents. No registration is required and anyone is free to use the website.




The girls playing with the games and hogging my PC!


Spot the difference game. Can you spot the difference? My girls spotted the difference quicker than me!


Math games designed in a creative and fun way for kids.


Interesting educational games for kids aged 1 and above.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Driving Me Bonkers

Yesterday, I felt like someone had just stabbed the back of my shoulder blade with a knife. Alycia and Sherilyn wanted to eat ice-cream. After cutting the Magnum ice-cream into 2 pieces for them to share, some of the chocolate coating fell on the floor. As I was squatting down to clean up the mess on the floor, rascal #2 opened the drawer to get a spoon. I was right under the drawer. When I stood up, my back hit the sharp corner of the drawer and I yelled out in pain. I was screaming away in pain and fuming mad that rascal #2 opened the drawer despite seeing mummy right under the drawer. It was darn painful and felt like someone had just scraped my skin with a knife! Alycia quickly took a tissue to wipe the blood off and rascal #2 was corroded with guilt. I was really mad with rascal #2 for opening the drawer despite seeing me right under it but I knew it was merely an accident. But yet, I was angry coz my shoulder blade was burning with pain. I was already having a terrible back pain (I still think I am having a mild slipped disc. Will check out the doctor for an x-ray today) and with that stab on my shoulder, I felt terrible.

Minutes later after she had finished her ice-cream, rascal #2 balanced a melamine plate on her arm by stretching out her arm and put the plate on top of the arm. Of course the plate dropped immediately and broke into pieces. Kek sei ngor!! This fella is driving me bonkers!.



My bare skin was scraped off by the sharp corner of the drawer, like skin of an apple scraped off by a fruit peeler *OUCH*!!




My back hit the sharp corner of this drawer.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Ocean Green Seafood Restaurant, Penang

Our first stop was at Ocean Green Seafood Restaurant when we arrived in Penang on Thursday last week. We didn't have much time to go elsewhere for lunch as we were running a tad late for our appointment to see Baby's surgeon. Ocean Green is the nearest to the hospital and is one of hubby's favorite seafood restaurant in Penang.


Here are the dishes that we ordered:

Shark's fins omelette...

Stir fried asparagus and steamed fresh prawns...




Hoe chien (fresh oyster omelette)...


Steamed egg for Baby...




Steamed cod fish for the kids...


Steamed crabs...



Alycia, who is another crab and prawn fansee, just like her daddy....

Healthy stuff eh? Everything steamed! We had a very enjoyable lunch, albeit we couldn't enjoy sitting there longer to enjoy the food as we were already late for the doctor's appointment.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Our Holiday In Penang

The girls preferred to stay in the hotel and eat in than to eat out. So we had food delivered to our room:



The girls enjoying their called-in meals at the comforts of the hotel room and most importantly, they can eat right in front of the idiot box!


Penang char koay teow and ice creams for dessert.



Hot dog wrapped with egg and cheese.




Guess how we slept for the night? Daddy, Sherilyn, Baby and I slept on the king-sized bed and my big baby slept in the baby cot with her legs all curled up! But she slept oh so soundly :)

Persuaded To Go For A Holiday

Before we left for Penang, we had to persuade and coax Alycia to follow us to Penang. When she reached my parents in Ipoh, she was very much at home and kept telling us how much she liked it in Ipoh at her granny’s and grandpa’s. She insisted that she did not want to follow us to Penang. Daddy wasn’t too happy with that. Nothing that daddy or I said would make her change her mind. It was granny who managed to talk her into following us. I asked Alycia what she liked about granny and grandpa’s house and she gave us a long list – the bicycles, the kid’s wading pool, the contemporary furniture, the strolls along the hillside every morning and everything about Ipoh. Kids these days are really privileged. They even have to be persuaded to go for a holiday!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Our Stay In Penang

The 2nd post-surgery ultrasound scan of Baby's right kidney went well today. You can read all about it here.

Baby has been super duper cranky today. It all started when she got up at 6am this morning and didn't go back to sleep until 11:30am when she was in the car. She slept for 1.5 hours throughout the journey to Penang. Throughout the day, she has been very edgy and picking up fights and quarels with her 2 jie jies. I tell you, this bossy fella is the fiercest among my 3 girls and is a real fighter cock! While waiting in the car for our apam to be ready (we always have to wait at least half an hour for this famous Guan Apam at Burmah Road), Baby was crabby and picked up a big fight with Alycia. Long story cut short, once back at the hotel, it was a torture for my helper and I to feed her milk or any other liquid. She only wanted to eat the apam and gobbled down 3 whole apams!

At night, she kept fussing and whining and said "I dowan this bed, I want to go home" After coaxing her, she is now sound asleep. It is really a handful handling 3 kids on a holiday, 2 of which are forever so whiny and full of demands. I am drop dead exhausted and sleepy now. I can barely open my eyes but I have to update this blog before I see cobwebs appearing in the blog! Plus I have an important advertorial to complete for an advertiser. What a holiday!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Crazy Maid... Part II

This morning, Alycia ran to me and announced "mummy, mummy, I saw kakak scooping out our milk powder and putting into her mouth!!" She then demonstrated how kakak ate the milk powder to me. When I queried her, this crazy maid initially denied... then realized she cannot deny as Alycia caught her red handed. After hesitating, she said "I nak rasa manis ke tidak". What a silly answer. She has been fixing milk for the girls for so long, what is there to taste. And she's not trying the already mixed milk powder with water - she ate the milk POWDER, direct from the tin using the spoon inside the tin and then put the spoon back inside the milk powder!! When I washed the spoon later, I had a hard time scrubbing off the thickened milk powder that stuck to the spoon. YUCKS, can you imagine how DIRTY it is to have her saliva inside there??

This ain't the first time I caught her doing this. My mum and I had caught her many many times putting my kids' milk and our food into her mouth just when she thought no one was looking. No wonder my kids' milk powder are finishing SO fast! To think that she's been pinching Baby's expensive Pediasure formula everyday is making me furious. I will definitely buy her a tin of milk if she asked for it. She has been asking for 3-in-1 coffee and I buy her a big packet of 30 sachets every single month. I also gave her the green light to drink my milk powder. So why is she stealing my kids' milk powder and eating the milk powder directly from the tin with the same spoon inside the tin? That is just SO unhygienic!! Lately, this lady has been doing things that made my mil and I blew our top. Stealing food is still tolerable but hitting my kids and hurting them is totally unacceptable! But I keep telling myself to 'YAN' (bear with it) as her days are numbered here.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Princess Wannabe's Last Day Of School

This was taken on Friday, the last day of the first school term...


Koo Mar bought this Princess Aurora costume, complete with the Princess clogs for Sherilyn when the girls were in Hong Kong last year. This was the 4th time she donned on this costume. For once I allowed her to bring Mamee to school for the teacher's day party. So unhealthy hor? Once in a blue moon should be ok wat right?

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Lazy To Pee

Rascal #2 has a habit of holding back her wee wee whenever she is too engrossed in playing, watching TV or having fun. When she has accidents in her pants, this fella will give silly, real silly excuses. One time she peed in her jammies when she was first weaned off diapers at night. After she had peed in her pants, she woke up and then nonchalantly walked to the bathroom and said "I feel hot, I want to take out my pants" but gave me the guilt + embarassed stricken look on her face. She just won't admit that she had wet her pants. Yesterday again she peed in her pants. After the pee accident, she walked to the bathroom nonchalantly again and said "mummy, my panty is a bit wet".

"Did you wee wee in your pants?" I asked? "No I didn't, a bit wet only". I asked her once more if she had peed in her pants to which she replied "no I didn't, the urine came out by itself!" Aaaargh... why is it so hard to admit your mistake girl??! Kek sei ngor lor!!

Friday, June 4, 2010

Crazy Maid

I know many of you will say I am crazy to keep a crazy helper at home. This morning, while feeding Baby milk, Baby got cranky, couldn't sit still and moved about. My helper got agitated as well and I think she must have pushed Baby on the head, resulting in her falling off the arm rest of the sofa... onto the floor with a loud bang! Her forehead is now blue black. I wasn't around to see what happened but I heard a loud bang and Baby wailing like crazy. My helper kept telling me that Baby fell on her own. But Baby who speaks very well for her age told me "naughty kakak, naughty kakak". I asked her if kakak pushed her and she said yes. Fast forwarded to evening today. While seated on the potty in the bathroom, she told me out of the blue "kakak pushed my head and I jatuh floor", while pointing to her forehead when she said "pushed my head". I must be crazy to keep this crazy maid at home. I must send her back asap and keep her away from Baby! She is a child abuser!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Homecooked Dishes

Here're more of my mil's sau sai (culinary skill). Don't get jealous hor hehehe... but you may salivate...


Shallow fried fish stuffed with freshly pounded turmeric...


Stir-fried bitter gourd with left over siew yoke (roast pork), tau cheong, chilli and Chinese basil leaves...


My favorite braised turnip with dried cuttlefish, mushrooms, pork slices and garnished with Chinese parsley.

She will leave us again soon for HK and I am gamed to cater food from one of those caterers who claim that they don't use MSG in their cooking. I don't think I will have the time to cook without a maid or a mil around.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Fruitful Morning

It has been a fruitful morning for me. I managed to dish up 5 advertisements for my 2 blogs, 3 personal posts for my 3 blogs and replied emails to customers and suppliers. I got up at 5:30am to start working, went out for a run at 7:15am, came home, prepared Sherilyn for school and have been sitting in front of my PC since. I haven't even taken my breakfast yet. Thank God Baby is still sleeping. She rarely sleeps in to beyond 8am. Now, I have my next load of work to accomplish - update my Excel worksheet for all my customers' order, shoot out invoice, pay suppliers, perform QA on customers' clothes, pack customers' clothes into Pos Laju bags, etc. etc. In between, I have to handle my 3 rascals. Work, work, work, why is my work never ending wan?? I need a BREAK!!!

Terror Maid

I have been so busy with my online store that I have been getting my helper to feed Baby more and more these days. Baby is getting more and more restless these days and it's a torture to get her to drink water. Sadly, it's only when I flash the cane and threaten to beat her that she will take only sips of water. My helper does not have the patience to coax Baby to drink water. Many times, she had hit Baby when she fidgeted too much, refused to drink and spilled water. I went ballistic when she hit Baby on the chin the other day, to punish her for spilling water. Yet, she blatantly denied hitting Baby. But Baby is not a baby anymore. She ran to me bawling and said "kakak beat me, kakak beat me" and when I asked her "beat where", she pointed to her chin and said "here". The same thing happened last week when she hit Baby on the mouth. I can't wait for this lady to return to Indon for good. I hope I can cope without her.

Neglected blog

I realized this morning that I have neglected this blog for 2.5 days! I hardly ever neglect my blogs. Blogging is my passion. I have been so bogged down with my online store that I have totally forgotten to update this beloved blog of mine. If it’s not for the review of Phentermine 37.5, I would not even log in to this blog to check. O_o, I better spend some time everyday to update my blogs, lest I lose all my readers!

Eat Everything You Want And Stay Slim

I discovered that I can eat almost everything that I fancy and not get fat. The idea here is the portion size. Instead of gobbling down a full size portion of chocolate cake, eat only half a slice or a quarter slice. Satiate your craving but don’t overfeed it and you don’t have to rely on the best weight loss pills to stay slim! Of course, you have to stay active and exercise for optimum results.