Antique Stamps

During our recent stay at my parents in Ipoh, my mum finally exposed to the girls some of the old 'treasures' that belonged to my brothers and me.

The girls are now old enough to appreciate these 'treasures', hence my mum unlocked the 35-year old cabinet that all the hidden old 'treasures' have been kept all these years after my brothers and I left our nest.

Apart my beloved collection of pencils, Sanrio and Disney stickers and stationery items, these stamp albums were once dearly cherished by my brothers and me.

If you are 'old enough', you would have probably seen these old Malaysia stamps....


Cass was delighted to see such a lot of stamps!  This babe of mine seems to have a deep interest in stamps collection and has been keeping stamps that she sees from our envelopes.





Do these stamps look familiar to you too? Some of these are stamps from London back in the early 1980s.



Stamp albums aged over 30 years. Some of the stamps in the albums are dated in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. I think our antique stamps would have probably cost a lot now!

Who wants to buy? ;)

Breakfast at Nutmeg @ Bangsar Village

Nutmeg is currently the favorite breakfast place for the hubs.   We had been to Nutmeg umpteen times since trying it out for the first time early this year and yet, we never seem to get cloyed of the food, though we keep ordering the same items from the menu.

Enough said. We had breakfast at Nutmeg again yesterday.

Enjoy the pictures and I hope they will make you drool :P

Spanish Fritata...






Baked eggs... this is very yummy and I think it should be pretty easy to prepare it myself at home.  I promised the girls that I will try this egg dish soon.

 




Side order of mushrooms.  My girls are big fans of fresh button mushrooms and no matter how much mushrooms we order each time we dine at our favorite restaurants, they will always be polished off within seconds! Most of the time, hubs would order another bowl of mushrooms.





Belgian waffle with vanilla ice-cream.





Nutmeg Big Breakfast. I love their in house produced sausages, which ain't very salty. The deep fried mac & cheese wedges are yummeh too but all I had was just half, shared with Cass.  If you have been reading my blogs, you would have read that I have now steered clear of eating deep fried food and feeling too good and healthy to even want to have anything  deep fried  in my body :)

 





And the damage done for a 100% satisfied breakfast .... for 3 adults and 3 kids who have humungous appetite....






I think the price is pretty reasonable as what we had for breakfast was enough to keep us all full and satiated until dinner. With a lunch saved, I think the amount is well justified :)

Cameron Highlands Trip (9-10 June 2014)

For the life of me, I have never ever liked going to Cameron Highlands.  To begin with, I am born a very very poor traveler -- with the most dreaded motion sickness striking me when the road is windy and sea sickness when I am on a boat or ship.  As fate has it, my dad's hometown is Cameron Highlands. Ever since I was a newborn baby, I was destined to travel to the highlands to visit my grandparents. Even as a newborn baby, I would puke in my sleep, in my mom's arms.  I would dread going up to the highlands during CNY each year and during my grandparents' birthday.  I would puke all the way up and puke all the way down *bleh*!  My younger brother, Roy is just as bad a traveler as I am! I remember vividly that my dad would stop his car to let us puke at the waterfalls and sometimes, he would wash the potty filled with stinky vomit at the waterfalls.  I have never hated anything more than going to Cameron Highlands.  I was so glad when I married my husband and do not have to make yearly trips up to Cameron Highlands again  haha!

But after more than 10 years of not visiting Cameron Highlands, I started to miss this place slightly. My girls have been bugging me to bring them there.  No doubt, it is a place with lots of places of interest, breathtaking view and jaw-dropping view of the tea plantations.  So this school holidays, I inally agreed to bring the girls to Cameron Highlands!  We took the new road up, via Simpang Pulai, which is not that windy. I felt only a little nauseous.  However, we had to take the old road down, which is the snaky and windy roads, so that we could exit from Tapah and head back to KL.  And shiats, I was darn nauseous!  And I hated it!!

Thank God, my girls are blessed to be really good travelers. They can read books and watch movies in the car without getting dizzy and nauseous.  And they enjoyed their stay in Cameron Highlands SO much that they are already talking about the next trip.  I told them that in our next visit, I will bring them jungle trekking and also trek up to Robinson Waterfall.

For the love and sake of my girls, I think I will have to endure another nauseous trip up Cameron Highlands.  This time, we will exit from Simpang Pulai and use the new road to get back to the low land and then return to Ipoh for a night before heading back to KL.

Here are some of the pictures taken during our Cameron Highlands trip. Enjoy! :)

Alycia and Sherilyn with my mum at my Aunt Irene's house in Tanah Rata





The girls with their doting grandparents at Aunt Irene's cozy cottage. The girls were amazed to see a fire-place inside the house and a cute little chimney outside the house.









The girls with their Irene koo por, posing in front of the fire-place.


Thank you Aunt Irene for your warm hospitality and for arranging the horse rides for the girls :)


We stayed at Hotel Casa Dela Rosa while my parents stayed at Aunt Irene's house.

 




Cass calls her granny her 'best buddy' and my mum calls her  'honey bunny', LOL!!


Upon arrival, we visited different tea plantations and took loads of pictures. We were all awestruck by the awesome view of the tea plantations.









Aunt Irene arranged a horse-riding session for the girls at the Race Horse Spelling Station.




Sherilyn and Cass enjoying their lavender ice-cream at the House of Lavender.




At the House of Lavender with mummy dearest :)



Enjoying melt-in-the-mouth scones with fresh cream and strawberry jam and teh tarik at the Bharat Tea House.  The tea house overlooks the breathtaking view of the Bharat tea plantation.









Photography time at the Smokehouse Hotel, after a tucking into some really delish scones and tea at the Smokehouse coffee house.








Be warned that if you want to enter the Smokehouse Hotel solely for photography purpose or to enjoy the beauty of the lush greenery and flowers without patronizing the hotel or the coffee house, you will be nicely told off by the hotel staffer to leave.




We had a blast in Cameron Highlands despite the nauseous 1.5 hours journey going downhill.  Seeing how much the girls enjoyed themselves plus the precious bonding with my parents, the nauseousness in the car was all worth it!

Alternative Medicine In British Columbia

Modern medicine takes a lot of inspiration from traditional forms of healing. These days, doctors in North America realize that ancient medicinal solutions are actually quite effective when combined with contemporary medication and procedures. Doctors in Canada may apply their expertise in modern medicine along with other practices that have existed for centuries. For example, acupuncture and herbal remedies may be offered to help patients relieve stress and pain. Similarly, other all natural extracts may be prescribed as alternatives to potent medication that has plenty of negative side effects. $$

A naturopathic clinic Vancouver and other facilities are examples of alternative medical practices in British Columbia, Canada. Nevertheless, alternative medicine still integrates state of the art equipment and practices. For example, modern methods are still used to test patients physically. Blood tests, X-rays, MRI and ultrasound scans are some of the technologies that are combined with primitive but effective medicinal applications. Naturopathic Vancouver doctors may suggest that patients follow cleansing procedures that involve fasting and drinking plenty of clear fluid such as water and other liquids extracted from plants.

Hormonal problems account for a significant amount of other medical issues in children and adults. Thorough blood tests and other examinations may be done at clinics that offer alternative medicine. Solutions may include drug therapy as well as homeopathic remedies. Some experts truly believe that the body has the potential to balance itself given the right diet and lifestyle. All natural supplements may be prescribed to treat hormonal imbalances in different glands.

Down Memory Lane (8 June 2014)

Today being a Sunday, we were homebound, except for Alycia and Sherilyn who followed by parents to the wet market early in the morning.  Dad bought us breakfast of all my childhood favorite food from the Kg Simee wet market.  And he cooked us a very yummy dinner.

In the afternoon, my mum opened her 'old treasure chest' to show the girls some of the most prized possession that once belonged to my brothers and me.

The girls were elated to see so many pretty note books, pencils, stickers and envelopes from the Sanrio brand that I have been keeping deep inside the treasure chest for more than 30 years!



This Hello Kitty note pad and box of pencils were once my very, very treasured belonging.  I did not have the heart to use them and kept them until today!  They were and still are very precious to me.  Though my girls asked if they could have all the things, I said no and only gave away some with a heavy heart.  Perhaps I will slowly give them away each time we are back at my parents :)





While digging for treasure, Alycia found my bunch of love letters from my then boyfriend (now hubby la, LOL!).  They also found my diary which I wrote "Strictly Private & Confidential" and read it!




Sherilyn came running to me and asked me why I kept these 2 pieces of old handkerchiefs in a box.  I felt sentimental when I saw the handkerchiefs. My late beloved por por (maternal grandma) bought them for me when she went to China circa 1984, when I was 10 years old.

 



Can you believe what a good keeper of things I am?! If only I lived in a double storey house in KL, I would have kept many of my daughters' things too just for remembrance sake. It sure feels sentimental and happy at the same time when you retrieve these things many, many moons down the road.

Holiday In Ipoh

I told her to do her holiday homework from school but instead, this rascal buried her face in a book. It is a very old book on vampires that my eldest brother used to read when he was Sherilyn's age, which is more than 30 years ago!

What made me chuckle was her 'bengang'(aka frozen) expression. The furrowed eyebrows, the suspense shown on her face with eye balls almost popping out, her half-opened gasping mouth with dropping jaw, the straps on her singlet dropping off her shoulders and her oblivion when I snapped her picture muahahahahaha!

Holidays Coming To An End

I have 2 more days of real holiday at my parents in Ipoh. On Tuesday when we are back in KL, my slavery days will recommence. Our home is in a topsy-turvy. It now looks like a post-earthquake hit house. Dust and debris is everywhere. We still need to wear slippers when we step in. My part-time maid whom I have treated so well is taking advantage of the situation by demanding an increase in her pay! See how ungrateful she is!! She did not even turn up yesterday and did not even bother to reply my text message. Oh well, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. I can work like a slave if I want to and if there is no choice.The thought of saving all the money that should have been spent on the part time maid will spur me to work even harder. I will just need to work extra hard for a few days to transform our home into a clean home again. I will rope in the girls to help me wipe the furniture and small items. All the curtains, bed linen and burlap table runners would have to be removed and sent to the laundrette for washing. Wish me luck!

Lunch At Wang Kee Bak Kut Teh, Teluk Intan

Our yummy lunch at Wang Kee Bak Kut Teh @ Teluk Intan with my aunt (my dad's sister) yesterday...

Stir-fried octopus with long beans. 


Cass loved the chewy octopus so much that she chomped down almost the entire plate of octopus. We were so worried that she would get indigestion and puke in the car but thank God she survived a tummy full of octopus, phew!


Steamed fish head. Another favorite of Cass and Sherilyn. They licked the fish head clean and sapu the entire dish.






Braised fish fillet in claypot.
 


 
Braised chicken with yam in claypot




All the dishes were very delish.

Here's wishing my aunt Alice a big thank you for the delish lunch. Thank you also for your time bringing us around Teluk Intan :)

HFM and her angels posing in front of the Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan.



Can you see the slant of the tower? At a glance, we could not really notice any slant but at certain angles, the slant was pretty obvious.

Heart Warming

They fight and argue a lot, every single day, sigh!! Over every little thing... every big issue... every trivial matter... and over everything under the sky.

So when they are lovey dovey and chummy with each other, it really warms my heart. The bond and love can even melt ice cubes.  That is how warm and strong a sister bond is :)

Holiday In Ipoh

After lunch at Kong Heng @ Ipoh Old Town yesterday, we adjourned to Ipoh Garden (outside Post Office) to have cendol by the roadside.


There was a kacang putih seller next to the cendol stall and hubs bought some.

 


Just next to the 2 stalls we saw a flock of pigeons pecking on kacang putih on the ground.  The girls were excited to see so many pigeons. Hubs bought a Ringgit of fried dhall peas for the girls to feed the pigeons.

It was the girls' first time feeding pigeons by the roadside. This is one of the reasons why I love going back to my hometown. It is only in Ipoh that the girls get to experience the life of living in a kampung (well, not so kampung actually). At least they get to play sand, feed birds, pluck flowers and grass from my parents' garden, see ants, snails, dragon flies, bees, climb up hills, going to the wet market, play badminton in the middle of the road and play with neighbors' dogs.



We were supposed to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant but the hubs craved  to eat Ipoh street food, so we went to a coffee shop @ Ipoh Garden East to drown ourselves in good old Ipoh hawkers' food *BURPS and rubs belly*  :D

Tragic News

My Saturday afternoon today has been ruined after I read the  news of a 6-year old girl who plunged to her death from the third floor of The Gardens Shopping Mall.   As I read the Facebook postings and news, I tried imagining how I would feel it I were the parents of the deceased *feeling horrified*!!

According to the news being circulated in Facebook, the girl was playing at the escalator while her father was buying pop corns and then bang, a life was lost, just in a matter of seconds :(






 


Reading news like this makes me even more paranoid whenever I go shopping with my kids.  Cass can be pretty stubborn at times and would refuse me to hold her hand.  Each time I leave the girls with the hubs while I go shopping (the hubs will either bring them to the movies or theme park), I feel tensed and worried.  The hubs can be a very careless person at times. He is definitely not as careful as me with the kids.

So to all parents with young kids, please please please do watch over your kids whenever you are out at the mall or crowded places. Never ever loose sight and hold of your child.  A moment of neglect can be your lifetime of regret.

Post Tooth Extraction

This is how my 'what tarn hor' noodles (flat rice noodles cooked in egg sauce with meat) looked like yesterday.





Yesterday was the second day post tooth extraction and my mouth and affected site was still painful. I could not chew well and had to cut up all my food with a pair of scissors.


When Cass saw the bowl of noodles, she exclaimed that it looked like her baby food. Yalor, what to do, tiger mom has no more fangs and has to swallow down her food in semi-liquid form and all chopped into really tiny bits so that I needn't have to chew much and exert the wound.

Today is the third day and the pain is still nagging me the whole freaking day! The affected wound, the teeth adjacent to it, my lip (grazed and bloodied by the dental plier), my chin and my jaw still hurt :(

I really feel shitty that my mouth has been in pain for 5 days now.

I am hungry and I feel like chomping down a whole roast chicken but I can only look at the glorious food that my mil cooks, salivate and wait for the wound to heal completely.

Tiger Mom's Tiger Fangs Yanked Off :(

My diet for the past 2 days and also today have been bread with MIL's homemade jams along with lots of fruit smoothies. 

I had my tooth extracted yesterday and dang it, it was one of the worst experiences for me.  That is why I am totally paranoid of going to the dentist.  I can still withstand 3 C-section child births but not a procedure in my mouth!
I was a complete nervous wreck yesterday and totally freaked out.

I was gobsmacked when I saw just how long my premolar tooth was when it was yanked off!  I told my girls that this is mummy's tiger fangs! 





Yes I am indeed a tiger mom with tiger fangs too *ROARS*!!

I just lurve the MIL's homemade strawberry jam.  She also made some marmalade jam and nutty bread.  So I don't really mind having bread three times a day for 3 days straight.







You can read more about my traumatic tooth yanking experience at my other blog. 

OCD

Of all the household chores, I have to say that I like doing laundry and washing loos the most ha ha ha!   However, in the laundry department, I only like putting dirty laundry into the washing machine and hanging them. I don't like keeping the laundry, hate folding them and absolutely hate ironing them.  So I tai chi ironing to my part-time helper.  Speaking of part-time helper, I think I can write a separate post on them.  From paying them RM700 a month just last year, I have no choice but to spend RM1,000 on my new part-time helper now :(  Oh well, I believe that this is money spent to get some sanity and me-time.

Anyway, back to my favorite list of household chores.  My friends often flip when I tell them that I do 4-5 loads of laundry in a day. But don't flip just yet.  Each load is only a 30-minute cycle. I have a light colored clothing load, a dark colored clothing load, a load for hubs' stinky post-exercise clothes and a load for floor mats and wash clothes every day :D  All in, my washing machine only works for 2.5 hours in a day.  I know many of you set your washing machine to a 1.5 hour cycle for each load but I don't.  I think that the color of the clothes will fade faster  the longer they spent soaked in detergent and spinning. So I shorten the cycle and my clothes come out feeling clean and fresh-smelling anyway :)   And sometimes I do not even need to iron my outing clothes as my spin is set to only 500spm.

On sunny mornings like today, I feel therapeutic just looking at my clean laundry getting a good dose of sunlight and disinfection :D

It is an irony that I hate sunny days but love watching my laundry bask under the sun.



I think I definitely have OCD! And I know someone must be very pleased with this fact, as the dirty laundry basket is always empty.  Clean and ironed clothes are always back into their wardrobe every nite.


And once a week, blankets get washed and sun-dried to a nice smelling sun fragrance too! I think I deserve a much better pay from the boss!

Video Of Sherilyn Doing A Hip Hop Dance (Third Lesson)

Last month, I made a very tough decision.   I had a dilemma that plagued me for many months.

Since late last year, Sherilyn's interest in ballet started to wane. She dropped hint that she wanted to quit. I put my feet down and was downright firm and said NO. She started learning ballet when she was about 4 years old, going on 5  and I think that throwing away the 4.5 years of ballet lessons down the drain is such a pity and a waste of money.  The hubs has invested thousands of Ringgit in Sherilyn's ballet lessons.

However, I did not want her to learn something to live up to my dreams. I took the plunge and told her ballet teacher about my decision. Her ballet teacher was very disappointed and called me twice to try to dissuade me from pulling Sherilyn out. Once I have made a decision, I will stand by it and I apologized to her ballet teacher.

Last month, Sherilyn joined Hip Hop Dance class.  The main reason why she joined was because of her bff, B.  B and Sherilyn are inseparable at the moment.  They have been besties since they were toddlers in pre-school.

Today hubs could not fetch Sherilyn back from her dance class. So I took over and when I reached the dance centre, the lesson was not over yet, so I sat down and watched her practice her movements. As I watched her dance, I thought to myself that she is made up of all the qualities that a dancer has :)  Whenever I watched Sherilyn perform in her ballet concerts and exams in the past, I would hope that the performance would  not end so soon as I found it very therapeutic to watch her dance.  This odd ball is often at odds with me.  But whenever I see her dance,  I know that she can excel and I am very proud of her.   Today is her third lesson only and I think she is following pretty well.  Her other dance mates in the video have been attending lessons for over a year.

Sherilyn's dance teacher would record the closing dance at the end of each lesson and Whatsapp the video to all the students' parents.

Below is a short video clip of Sherilyn dancing in her third Hip Hop Dance class.  She is wearing red and is placed on the top left side.

Enjoy the video!

Cassandra's Urodynamics Test - 8 May 2014

At the Urodynamics Suite of the hospital yesterday, I met a Malay lady who was accompanying her grand daughter to do the Urodynamics test.  Her grand-daughter was to do the test right after Cass.  We chit-chatted and exchanged stories on why my daughter and her grand-daughter needed to do the test. 

I guess her grand-daughter, S is in a much more pitiful situation.  S was born at only 26 weeks old (6.5 months) but her other twin sibling did not make it.  The doctor did tell the family that the baby will have a host of health problems.  At 6YO, S had one of her kidneys removed (nephrectomy).  With just 1 kidney now, I can see that S' grand-mother is very protective of her.  The loving grand-mother used to wait in school for S to change her diapers, right until she was in Primary 2.  S is now in Primary 3 and still wears diapers to school and she knows how to change diapers herself.   This lady would accompany S to all her appointments in the hospital.  What an awesome grand-mother she is and S is so blessed to have her as her grand-mother.

S hangs a tumbler holder over her shoulder, which holds a very huge tumbler of water.  Her grand-mother told me that S has to drink water like a fish every 1 hour and has to pee and drain her urine out every 4 hours.

In school, S' parents have written a letter to the school principal to exempt S from doing any form of sports. Reason is that with only 1 kidney, they do not want any accident to happen to her, which could rob the other kidney away :(

At home, S can pee on her own but after peeing, she has to insert a small catheter into her urethra to drain out excess pee from her bladder.  Initially, the old lady would help S drain out the urine.  Now that S is 9YO, she knows how to do it herself all the time.  S told me "dah tak sakit lar" (not painful anymore).  S is another tough and brave girl, just like Cass!

However, S still has dirty urine (which is not a good sign) and is on daily meds.  She is scheduled to undergo a surgery to 'enlarge the bladder' - that was what her father told me.   I really sympathize with S and her family members.  S is such a bubbly and pretty girl (albeit very chubby from lack of exercise). 


This was Cass during the Urodynamics test yesterday.  She was fully conscious throughout the 40-minutes procedure.  Not a tear was shed.  Not a scream was let out.  I held on tight to her hands and hugged her most of the time, except for leaving her side for a few minutes to steal a few snapshots of her :D





Doesn't Cass deserve a 'Bravery' award for little girls?  I think she so deserves one for her bravery and composure in handling painful situations.  She was as cool as a cucumber yesterday and I was shivering in the freezer room, though I had a 'heavy armor coat' on for protection against radiation from the X-Ray.

Grilled Shishamo and Cod Fish

A few nights before the MIL returned from Hawaii about a fortnight ago, I grilled some Shishamo and cod fish. Shishamo is also called smelt fish with many eggs or some people call it pregnant fish. It was my first time grilling Shishamo and cod fish using the oven and it was a success.  Thankfully the cod fish did not stick to the aluminium foil as I brushed some cooking on the foil before placing it into the oven.

I never knew that grilled cod fish could taste SO good. The meat was tender and juicy and it tasted so much better than steamed ones.

For the Shishamo, they were quite fragile due to the pint size and I had to watch the oven really closely so that they did not get burnt.  The skin of the Shishamo did stick a little to the aluminium foil though.

I will definitely try grilling cod fish in the oven again!

Cassandra's Surgery 5 Years Ago

The month of May has always been a very challenging month for me and it still is for this year.

Exactly 5 years ago today, at this hour, Cass and I went through the darkest time of our lives. She went for a major surgery to fix her urinary tract.

The surgery had a complication and the next 2 weeks was a nightmarish limbo for us as the surgeon did not know what was wrong with her that made her keep throwing up and retching. I will never forget the nightly X-rays, the Fluoroscopy test, the CT Scan and the insertion of nasal tube via her nostrils into her stomach, all without GA given to my poor baby.

After 3 weeks of being cooped up in the hospital, the Mother's Day cum 9th wedding anniversary celebration in the ward on the 27th of May 2009 was the happiest  for us. That was the day the surgeon gave the green light to remove all tubes from Cass and she was to be discharged the next day.

Exactly 5 years ago today, this was Cass after the first surgery...




5 years later on her 6th birthday on 9 April 2014, this is my happy baby Cass...


This month, Cass will have to go through several tests and tribulations. In a few days' time, she would have to undergo a Urodynamics Test in the hospital.

 In 2 weeks' time, she will have to sit for her mid year exam in pre-school. Next is her Sports Day and the last test and trial for the month will be on 25th May at Alycia and Sherilyn's school.

Cass has been approved by the MoE for entrance into the school that her 2 che ches are attending, subject to passing the school's internal assessment. Ever since the school was awarded High Performance School status last year, the school has been coming up with a suite of activities, tests, trials and competitions for the students. In order to be accepted into this school, new students would have to sit for an assessment to gauge their level of literacy and numeracy for streaming purposes. And I think that for students who do not meet the mark they will be declined acceptance into the school.

I can only pray for God's strength to be given to Cass to go through all these tests and tribulations in her life.

Cass knows what she has to go through in a few days' time and since yesterday, she has been telling me as a matter of factly, "mummy, I will not cry no matter how pain the test is. I will hold my tears. I will never lose my battle"

Cass  is really the bravest little girl (and very stubborn too!) I have ever met!

Our 2014 Labor Day

Our 2014 Labor Day breakfast at Nutmeg @ Bangsar Village:



When we reached Nutmeg at 10am, half the cafe was already filled with early birds.  By the time the food came half an hour later, we were all darn famished and I had to quickly snap snap the pix before I get cussed at!   That is why my pix of food can never be crisp, clear and magazine-like.  Can't expect much from a pair of jittery hands with hungry wolves gawking at you angrily, can you?




After breakkie at Nutmeg, we crossed over to Tous Les Jours to get some pastries and then to a mamak restaurant to pack nasi beriyani and some mamak cuisine.

At the roadside in Bangsar, we were stopped by some volunteers from the Spastic Association of Malaysia for some donation and the ever bleeding heart hubs contributed some money.

Back home, it was revision time for Alycia and Sherilyn as their mid-term exam begins next week, sigh.

How did your Labor Day go? Hope you had a good day resting.  I didn't. It was a no-maid day for us yesterday so I slogged like a labourer like how I would on any other day ;)