Kwannies

Merry Christmas !!!!

2011-12-25T06:45:00.000-08:00

Lazy mama homemade pasta sauce

2011-10-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

I've always loved making spaghetti during winter, don't know why but its just easy cooking. A few years ago, a friend taught me how to make homemade pasta sauce as I always plant a few bushes of tomato plants. My all time favorite tomatoes are the celebrity. Prior to making pasta sauce, I would give away extra tomatoes as there is only how much tomato a person can eat at a time.

I thought making pasta sauce would be a big task as I googled it once and saw how much work was put into it. Here is the easy version that I've learnt. If you have someone that can't digest tomato seeds, you may not want to use this method.

1) Remove tomato skin:

In a big pot of boiling water, submerge tomatoes, about 30-45 seconds, you will see skin rolling. Remove from hot water and submerge into cold water. That will help cool tomato and you can remove the skin. Place tomatoes in a colander. You will notice the tomato will be slowing ozzing water out. Repeat removing skin of all tomatoes.

2) If you want, you can dice the tomato and remove the seeds but still leave it in the colander. You bascially don't want all the juice/water in the tomato. I'm lazy so I skip this step.

3) In a big pot,

I sautee diced red onions and minced garlic in lots of olive oil.

Then add the tomatoes. Here with my lazy method, I just use my hand and crush the tomatoes into the pot.

Add basil ,italian herbs(my miracle: I buy the tube of italian herbs in the herb section at the grocery store), salt, sugar and black pepper and bay leaf.

After letting the tomatoes cook for awhile, I will use a potato masher to mash the tomatoes as I do not want my sauce to be chunky. You don't really need to mash too much as the tomatoes will breakdown when they get cooked
Add 1-2 cans of tomato paste (depend on how thick or runny you like your sauce).

Let the sauce simmer until most of the water/juice is gone

4) Storage:

I do not can. I just bag 2 1/2 cups of sauce into 1 ziploc bag. Lay the bags flat and freeze them individually. Once all bags are frozen, I just pack them up in the freezer. You can bag the sauce according to your family usage. 2 1/2 cups works fine for my family of 4 with abit of leftover for the next day.

If you notice, I've not give any measurements, do not worry, this sauce is very forgiving.

My kids love when I add sauteed mushrooms and meatball to this sauce. I usually will cook them in a slow cooker for 4 hrs and the flavors of the mushroom and meatball makes this sauce even tastier. I do add a can of tomato paste to the sauce when I'm preparing my spaghetti meal as my kids like their sauce thick.

Good luck trying

Note: I wasn't solicited by any business to promote the Italian Herbs. I had to go buy this item myself. I always use this when I make this sauce.

Happy Birthday Baby!!!!

2011-04-30T05:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday my baby.

You would be 4 today.

Hair Clips with legs

2011-01-10T05:40:00.000-08:00

My dad used to claim "things in my house has legs".

In recent months, I too have notice that things in my house has legs especially my hair clips. Yesterday, I had my haircut and since I can't tie my hair, I would need to clip my front. There I go to my drawer to get me one, and there were NONE. I asked Gilly if she took my clip and with conviction, she said "NO, I didn't touch them". Now, that started to irritate my early morning. I told her she better start hunting for my clips or she would be in trouble. 30 minutes later, she comes down with a handsful of clips. It was apparently all over her room. Ha!!! Like I'm a 41 year old senile woman who is imagining her clips walking. She is banned from using my clips for now. Let see how long before my clips starts to sprout legs again.

Happy New Year !!!!

2011-01-05T08:39:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to you my readers the little few I still have. I had a busy 2010 doing volunteer work in school and church and that kept me from things I loved doing especially knitting. Friends and family, thanks for dropping by to see what we have been doing. 2010 was a nice year for me as we got to enjoy friends, family and we did our first major road trip all the way to Yellowstone National Park.

The year ended even nicer as I got rid of one of my volunteer jobs and that would mean I've more time to knit plus watch TV at night. But the best part of it was knowing that I've a few precious friends in my life that I know has not taken advantage of me and our friendship. They showed me in their own ways, how they appreciated me. I lost a friend who chose to leave my port and its OK. She taught me a few things and most importantly let me discover she introduced me to a better friend.

We had my aunt visit us twice this year and we had a blast during Christmas. It was nice to have family visit since we don't get that too much. It was sad when they left but there is always another visit again.

Kids are growing up quick and I just taught Gilly how to knit. My mom taught me how to knit a few years ago and now my daughter is learning. Maybe she will teach her daughter next time. Greg still loves to build things and maybe one day he will be my engineer or architect.

I hope it will be a good 2011 for all of us and we will come out happier and healthier.

Happy New Year to all that has brightened my life.

Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-24T05:06:00.001-08:00

Call me crazy but I'm so looking forward to next summer already

2010-09-20T06:50:00.000-07:00

Its been more than a month since the kids have gone back to school. There has been more changes in our household. More than I can chew... I think. Gilly moved to an intermediate school and being in 5th Grade, she has not found it fun. First few weeks of school, she told me she hated 5th grade as there is so much homework. I think she is OK with the homework but not the datelines and consequences of it. Last week, I had to sign on a form that says she forgot her assignment. That was an automatic 20% deduction, and that's a C grade. After signing on that form, I had to make sure she puts it into her folder and watch her put the folder into her bag. Reason for paranoia and close monitoring... if she forgets to hand in the same assignment the 2nd day, it would be an automatic Zero or F grade. I wasn't risking that. She is always good at handing in her homework and I never had to watch her like a hawk.

There are so much extra curiculum at the new school and I suggested to her to try string program. She said NO and reason was boring. Next, how about trying the band? No, band teacher is mean. I sighed and told her.. "I can't stand the mean label you keep giving to teachers." I asked her "When I have 5 kids in the house, am I not strict? The band teacher has to deal with a band full of 100 kids, don't you think he needs to be strict?" I've learn that when kids says teacher is mean, they actually mean the teacher is strict. I finally got her to agree to try the instruments in the band. Even then, I had to physically push her towards a kid that was demonstrating a particular instrument. She finally tried the flute and loved it. All of a sudden (roll eye moment for me) she loves the flute so much that it was all her idea to try the band and flute. Remember the Nancy Drew moment I had with her... exactly the same scenario.... Gosh, I can't imagine how she is going to be when she is officially a teenager.

Greg has now joined boy scouts and is loving it. We are officially chinese rednecks this year.. we tried the rodeo and demolition derby. Back to Greg, he has started tap as well, at 2 weddings and our trip to the west, I notice how he is a wild John Travolta and asked if he wanted tap lessons. He jumped at my offer and is now enjoying his tap classes. Yes he only does tap, no ballet... so guys out there laughing at my boy.. he is braver than any 6 foot man. He is my easy child for now, he does his homework with less guidance, sometimes I feel like he is the older child as he doesn't need me to be watching him all the time... but kids change so we never know what will hit us in future.

Update: My daughter has since forgotten to bring her homework or textbooks home twice and after me going berserk on her, she is trying her best and isn't letting one particular girl distract her during packing minutes. She told me last night that she told the girl to not talk to her until her bags are packed. Apparently the girl left her alone.

I know I've got my handsful this school year, plus now having to deal with a pre-teen who is spending alot of time grooming herself before school. Its turning out to be a challenging year. I need to learn to letgo abit and let my pre-teen learn to walk on her own and yet at the same time guide her to making good decisions. I need to learn that she is becoming a lady of her own and she isn't my 2 year old for whom I decide everything. I do not what her to shut me off because she needs to know Mummy is one TO GO person when she is in trouble. I'm in for a rollercoaster year.... so summer please come quick!!!

Start of New School Year

2010-08-19T18:40:00.000-07:00

Summer holidays are over, the kids are back to school again after almost 12 weeks of no school and homework. We had a nice summer lazing around the house and having an awesome roadtrip. But it was just time for them to go back to structured textbook learning. So, here are my kids getting on their schoolbus. I hit a milestone moment today, my Gilly told me not to take photo of her getting on her bus. I was surprise as I didn't expect that from her but I guess she is growing up (she is a 5th grader). I was the only parent at that stop that had a camera... heck the other mom was sitting on her chair and didn't even walk her girls cross the street to the bus stop.

Gilly going to school

Greg wish summer holidays are not over. He claims school is boring. He won't get to play with his toads. They both have been playing with toads as there is plenty of supply of them from my garden. I cracked up when I realize one of them was Papa Joe. They actually named those darn ugly toads.

Greg's school supply list for 2nd grade says he need to bring in a calculator. I gave him the same speech I did with Gilly. "Greg, you are not allowed to do your math homework in school. If I catch you doing that, I will scan your homework, deleted all your answers and print 10 copies of it and make you redo them 10 times!" Hopefully that will scare him enough to not to use that calculator on his 12 + 23 addition.

Greg off to school.

The kids are now on different buses, Gilly has moved to intermediate school while Greg is still in the same elementary school. Gilly told me she had butterflies in her stomach before she stepped into the new building but it all turned out fine. I told her mummy flew halfway around the world to come to USA to study and I only knew a handsful of people here when I first came, so its just natural to be anxious but it will be fine.

I now have 4 hours of quiet time.... my hubby expects house to be spotless and dinner on the table when he steps in.. hahaha yeah right... dreams....

ciao for now....

Do what you do best !

2010-08-09T10:23:00.001-07:00

I need to say something about this world is getting to. We are too politically correct to the point its getting ridiculous. A school that has 5 or 6 valedictorians because they don't want to dissapoint any kids. No competition between classes where the winning class gets a free pizza because they don't want to hurt the feelings of the rest of the kids. Now.. how are our kids going to go out into this world to compete for jobs? How are we going to be the so called developed nation we are if our future kids are not taught to compete.

Actors, Supermodels, Comedians, Singers... I love your talent .. but I have to say BUTT OUT OF GIVING ADVICE TO ALL OF US !!!! I rolled my eyes when I saw what Gisele said, 'I think a lot of people get pregnant and decide they can turn into garbage disposals [dustbin]'. I nearly puked when she declares that there should be a "law on breastfeeding". Yes, her life is a glamorous life and I bet she has all the nannies, personal trainers, dietician who is helping her out with her tremendous lucky life. But shut your crap. You don't need to make all the mothers in the world from feeling crappy.. just to make yourself feel good.

Now comes my favorite actress, Jennifer Aniston, how much I like you that I stopped watching anything that has Brangelina, but today, you dissapoint me saying, kids don't need fathers. Yes they do. When they are babies, they won't cry for one.. but when they start baseball or soccer, and seeing dads out there.. they will wonder why they are missing a dad. No matter how much your male friends help you out... they are still not the baby's father.

Those liberal celebrities.. no matter how much you hate or love your politician, shut the heck up. I don't need you to tell me how much greatness Obama is doing. My mom taught me from young, if you have $5 in your pocket, make sure you only use $1 and save the rest. Do not go borrow money from your friends cos you will need to pay it back or you have no dignity.

You guys always grumble about the papparazzi and how they bug the heck out of you. You always say you want your privacy. Please keep your damn opinions to yourself and put your talent to where its best shines.... in your movies and songs.

There, I've finally said it.

This is all my opinion, so if you don't like it, just click on the X button to close the window.

Thinking of you today my baby

2010-04-30T17:57:00.000-07:00

Thinking of you today my sweet... I can imagine you enjoying this song....

The Birds and Bees Talk to my 10 year old girl.

2010-04-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

My Gilly is will be 10 years old, my firstborn will be in the double digits in August. How a decade has passed so fast. I was talking to my girlfriend this morning about how Gilly, at 1 1/2 years old, would keep me on my toes with her energy. She would be into anything and everything without fear that every week, we would have a bruise somewhere on her face or hands and I pray DCFS doesn't come knocking on my door.

While on spring break, I got an email from the school. It was about how the 4th graders will be attending the "Human Growth and Develpment Program". My eyes rolled, great, now I've to make sure I talk to her about the Birds and the Bees before the school does. I did buy a book and was pondering, notice the word pondering, when I should show her the book. And now I've a DATELINE. Gosh, why did they have to break it to me when I'm enjoying myself in Canada.

The school gave us a date where parents were welcome to come and have a preview of what the kids will see. Being a first time mom, I made myself go eventhough I was exhausted. It was worth it as the school nurses were there to answer our questions. They basically said it was about the body development, stressing about personal hygiene. They told us they would be as brief and truthful to the kids but would divert our children's questions back to us so we the parents would decide how much information we want to give our kids. We were told the boys and girls will be separated which is good.

I ran to Borders last Saturday to look for a book called "What's happening to my body", which has a boy or a girl version. The lady at borders told me that the American Girl's book is a better reference, I quickly browsed through it and figured why not since Gilly reads American Girl stories. At the same time I grabbed the boy version of the "What's happening to my body" as I figured I might as well buy them now instead of running out for it in 3 years time for Greg.

I gave the book to Gilly and told her to read it by herself. She gave me this weird look and took the book to her room. I told her to read it page to page and not to skip any pages. About 10 minutes later she came in with a "mummy, this is yucky" statement. She showed me what she meant, it was a cartoon showing the changes in the breast. I told her its not yucky and just a way of life. She can't all of a sudden have boobs popping out but slowly grow outwards. Now, was I peeing in my pants? No, but it was uncomfortable but I had to bite my tongue and the stop the urge to run, and made it as casual as I could. Later she came asking where was the uterus. Next day she came to ask if using tampons was uneasy.

My friends, this week has been a very interesting week, as I'm really on unchartered terrority. So help me God that I survive through the part where she asks me about LOVE MAKING!!!! I do have the book called "Where Did I Come From" all ready for that.

Spring Break 2010 (part 2)

2010-04-23T11:38:00.000-07:00

This was our view from the room, made us not want to leave the room. I'm glad I don't live nearby or I may just take this view for granted.

Here is our family photo taken at our hotel room. Kids love to sit by the window with their binocular trying to zoom into the falls.

Here's a photo of the kids with their Seh-Han-Ee-Poh (youngest grand aunt from Mom's side of the family). Somehow the kids just love to climb on the "telescope" I don't know what is their fascination about it.

The kids with their Uncle Josh, yes he is an Uncle to them. He is certainly very old. hahahaha

Greg was scared of the glass view at CN Tower in Toronto. He had to hold dad's hand for awhile but after that.... hahaha.... he was having fun.

See the ground view, yes a very very long fall, 342 meters or 1,122 feet fall.

Kids are pretending to be petrified. Yeah, like really petrified.

Greg with his favorite binoculars, he is busy studying what's down below.

This cracks me up because Dad's shirt looks almost the same as the sky.

Whenever we visit Toronto, we would stay at Richmond Hills which is near all the chinese eateries. We had dimsum at one restaurant and then later we went back there for dinner because they had Peking duck there. sorry no photos of the food as we just chowed down the food before I realize I could take any photo.

Twitter Party Hosted By Chicago Moms Blog and Chevrolet

2010-04-21T07:53:00.000-07:00

April 11th was an exhausting day for me, the whole week was exhausting as the kids were on spring break and I had guests from London. I was invited to a Twitter Party which was hosted by Chicago Moms Blog(SV Moms group) and Chevy. I just couldn't pass this invitation. It would be my first blogger's event. I was excited and yet nervous. You know little fish in a big ocean.

I said bye to my aunt and let hubby drive her to the airport while I drove downtown to the event. I didn't know what to expect except there were butterflies in my stomach. I was late for the roundtable discussion but managed to hear the end of it. The organizers and moderators, Jill Asher and Linsey Krolik, guided the conversation about how we bloggers and brands can work together in the new world of social media. Brands have realized how we bloggers can vocalize our opinions about their goods and services these days and our tiny voices can be heard by many in the world of internet.

After the roundtable discussion, we got to meet the brands personally, it was an interesting to learn about the new products and I made some new friends. I found another blogher The goodies we brought home was AWESOME. I had a few extra that I "won" from turning the wheels. I love wheels!!

I've always heard of bloggers events/convention but coming to one was definitely an eye opener. Its one thing to read somebody's blog but to actually see a person and know they are fellow bloggers just like you is another thing. I'm grateful I've a friend who is big time blogger, she encourages me to blog, and to be in a room full of bloggers was certainly a good learning experience.

These are the goodies I brought home minus Garrett Popcorn that was devoured almost immediately. Thank you to the sponsors/brand :

I'd also like to thank Jill Asher and Linsey Krolik from SVMomsGroup and MJ for such a wonderful event.

Disclosure: I was invited to the event by the SV Moms groups. We got goodies, food, and parking.

Spring Break 2010

2010-04-10T16:19:00.000-07:00

The gorgeous photo was our sunrise view from our room for 2 mornings. It was a lovely sight. I've been to Niagara Falls for 5 times and this was our first experience waking up in Niagara Falls. We drove almost 8 hours from Chicago to Niagara with my aunt and cousin from London. We were lucky to have nice warm weather while we were in Niagara.

Daddy, Gilly, Greg & Uncle J

We stayed in the hotel that was higher up from the Niagara Parkway Road, we didn't want to walk all the way down and took the shortcut via their "rail" which cost us a bit. (we noticed with our wallets, everything in Niagara cost something) but the view going down was spectacular... as the photo below shows)

Gilly, Greg and Uncle J at the Falls.

It was the kids 2nd time to Niagara Falls but this round, they appreciated it more as they were much older (5 years older). The could understand how water erroding the soil and how the falls would move further in ... in future.

Gilly right next to the Falls.

Because we visited Niagara in April, we were unable to go on the "Maid of the Mist" ride. They start their rides only mid-May. That would give my aunt another reason to come back to Niagara in future. Especially Uncle J with his wife for their honeymoon... *wink* *wink*

Kids posing for mama...

Nightview of the Falls...

to be continued........

Gilly and her 30th PB &J sandwich.

2010-03-04T10:26:00.000-08:00

Kids making PB&J

Kids getting ready to pack the sandwiches.

A friend of mine, has started her own charity organization. Part of it, she helps feed homeless women and the other is to loan to help women start their own business. I was proud she was doing something so generous. This is her site www.ChicagoCAN.org

Last Saturday, we woke up and after breakfast, we started making 70 PB&J. I ran to Costco and bought the supplies. We were to supply PB&J, juice, and bags of chips for 70 women. Greg had soccer so he couldn't help at the beginning, so it was just Gilly and I for awhile. Gilly started off being all excited... because costco didn't sell Goober Jelly, we just basically spread one bread with peanut butter and the other side with grape jelly. By the time we were doing our 30th sandwich, the novelty of making PB&J was wearing off for Gilly. I had to encourage her to keep going on.. and finally I asked her.. "Gilly, we are dropping the food at tita's around noon. Do you think this will be someone's lunch or dinner?" She answered "dinner." Then I asked her how often does she get to eat PB&J for dinner. She whispered "never".. and I added "can you imagine those ladies having no choice but to eat PB&J for dinner. It suddenly dawn to her how sad it was... and how lucky she was. That did it, she quickly picked her cheerful spirit and started spreading the peanut butter on the bread again.

Greg came home to help us with the remaining and finally our Oma(german for grandma) came to finish the last 4 sandwiches. Oma needed her beauty sleep so it was excusable that a 73 year old lady comes over at 10 a.m.

Happily Greg and Gilly help pack the sandwiches being careful to not squash them... and then we trodded up to Tita's house to deliver the food. She later took the food to Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa's soup kitchen in Chicago).

The kids wants to do it again and I would not hesitate to let them do it. I think they have learnt how lucky they are to have what they have... and to learn how to help those in need. We all at any time can be in the same predicament.

Did it cost alot.. No.. we spent about $53 and that included 2 unopen bottles of Peanut butter and grape jelly that could feed make another batch of sandwiches.

Pineapple Tart for Chinese New Year

2010-02-11T06:28:00.000-08:00

Pineapple Filling/jam

(To be made the day before shaping the tarts - Microwave method)

* 4 cans 20 ozs pineapple crushed/chunks(drain and pulse in food processor until fine)

* sugar (amount of sugar should be equal to the pineapple pulp e.g. 1 cup pineapple pulp to 1 cup sugar. 3/4 cup of sugar will be acceptable as the canned pineapples do tend to be sweeter than fresh ones)

*1 tbsp of lime/lemon juice

*2 sticks of cinnamon bark

*6 cloves

*1 segment of star anise

Method: Put all the ingredients in a big round pyrex bowl and microwave on high. Start with 15 mins, stir well, high for another 15 mins x 2. If jam is still runny, microwave at 1 min at a time until it is thick but still wet. It will thicken and dry out when it is cooled. If jam has gone too dry, just add enough water, stir well to dilute. Jam for filling should not be too dry as it will dry further when the tarts are baking. (The timing in the microwave is for making 4 cans of pineapples, so if you intend to try making with one can only, then the time taken in the microwave should be very much shorter)

Pastry dough:

*340g plain flour

*½ tsp salt

*2 tbsp icing sugar

*225g butter, cubed

*1 egg yolk

*5 tsp iced-cold water

*½ tsp vanilla essence

1 beaten egg + 1tsp water, for glazing

Method:

Put sifted flour, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. Rub in butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Beat in the egg yolk and add ice-cold water and essence. Mix well to form a dough. Place in a plastic bag and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Roll pastry out to 3/8” thickness on a lightly-floured tabletop and cut out rounds with a tart cutter. Fill each piece of cut-out pastry with pineapple jam filling. Cut thin strips of pastry to form a lattice on top of each tart. Glaze the strips with beaten egg.

Place tarts on a greased baking tray and bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 170°C and continue to bake for another 10 minutes or until golden. Turn tarts out to cool on a wire rack before storing in air-tight containers.

*note: this recipe was a combine of jam filling from Lily Wai Sek Hong and the pastry is from somewhere I found years ago.

Valentine Day Crayons

2010-02-10T08:57:00.000-08:00

My kids school has this crazy policy for treat bags, NO FOOD just trinkets for Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's parties in schoool. Now how many of us can afford to buy tiny cheapo quality toys from Party stores that will cost a bomb especially if you have more than 1 kid in school. It was just cheaper to buy chocolates and candies. The most affordable thing to get a kid are stickers, tattoos and pencils. And I'm sick of pencils as I have tonnes of them now.

This Valentine's Day, I decided to try being abit of a Martha Stewart. I ran and bought a cookie mold (smaller size) and since I have alot of leftover crayons, I got the kids to help unwrap the crayons, break them to smaller sizes, mix them into the mold and melt them at 350ºF for 6-7 minutes. Let it cool in room temperature or put it in the fridge to cool faster. Use a straw to mix the melted crayon to get the swirl effect. It turned out cute and interesting. Each new crayon is unique.

Maybe you could try this out for your kids' next party.. just remind the kid that its a crayon and not a candy. Gilly's ballet teacher had to scream out to a girl NOT to EAT it.

Here is the easy to read instructions:-

What you need:

Cookie mold (metal or silicone, smaller shapes will be easy for handling)

Leftover crayon (remove wrappers)

Straw or toothpick

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF

Break the crayons

Put crayons into individual molds.

Bake in heated oven for 6-7 minutes (when you take it out, becareful as the crayons are melted i.e in liquid form)

Use a straw and slowly stir the melted crayon for swirl effect

Let it cool in room temp or put into the refrigerator for a quick cool

For color coordination, if you want funky ones you can use any colors if not, use colors from the same group, like blues with greens or red with orange.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

2009-12-15T09:20:00.000-08:00

Me, My Girl and Nancy Drew

2009-10-30T11:43:00.000-07:00

Gilly and Greg in Singapore

My Gilly is now 9, and in a few years, she will be a teenager. Yes those raging hormonal teenagers. I'm not looking forward to it. Why? I was once one. Boy... I don't remember many events but somehow it leaves me with a uneasy feeling. My mom most probably will remember how much I tortured her.

Gilly loves reading and every alternate week, I would have to take her to the library to borrow books. I've come to realize if she has books to read, she would not get into trouble as she quietly sits and read. For my own sanity, its just best I force myself to take her to the library.

Its been more than 6 months and I've always asked her to try reading Nancy Drew books, she loves Little House on the Prairie and those olden day books. I wanted her to have a wider range of books to read, including mystery books. But everytime I ask her to read Nancy Drew, she tells me she doesn't like it. Last week, she came rushing into the house after school announcing she borrowed Nancy Drew book from the school library. I was pleasantly surprised, and proceeded to ask her what made her borrow the book. Her answer... "my friend, so-and-so, has finished reading the series and tells me its very good". I replied, "Oh, that's good"... and while she was ransacking the fridge, the internal conversation I had ... "damn, haven't I been asking you to read this book.. and you said NO, cos you don't like it. And now your so called friend says its nice, you decide to read it. Gees, I guess you don't need your Mommy anymore".

Great, I realize, its payback time for all the crap my mom had to put up with me when I was a raging hormonal teenager. Hmmm... she is only 9. Gosh, I really am "looking" forward to having a teenager for a daughter. I pray I will not be in the mental hospital before she turns 21.

How to clean a Dry Erase Board

2009-08-21T08:08:00.000-07:00

Do you have a dry erase board that helps you and your family know what's going on for the week or month? Do you have ugly white board filled with scribbled marks from permanent or temporary markers that can't seem to come off????

Don't bother with that darn Expo dry erase board cleaner.. like its bottle says... mild formula..

All you need is a dry kitchen towel and... TOOTHPASTE

Yes, toothpaste. My dry erase board that I use for my kids had reddish shadows from last May's schedule which I didn't erase until now. I used a black dry erase marker but when I rubbed it off, there was still a red "shadow". I used the EXPO that I bought from Staples but no luck.. and I googled to see what I could do before heading out to buy another new board.

I laughed when I saw people swear by the toothpaste remedy... and now... I'm testifying that it is TRUE!!!!! Give it a try .. no harm since we always have toothpaste in our bathroom.

Back to scribbling the kids schedule on my CLEAN white board!!!

Happy Birthday Gilly

2009-08-07T21:39:00.000-07:00

Opps... Happy Belated Birthday Gilly..

You are now 9...

You have made my life truly blessed and colorful.
Love You

Happy Birthday Greg!!!!

2009-07-21T19:19:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Gregory

You are now 6 years old

You have been a joy to Mummy, Daddy and Cici

You have made us laugh alot

You have made us proud.

Greg enjoying his Roti Canai

Greg swinging from a tree branch near KLCC

End of Kindergarten for Gregory

2009-06-01T22:11:00.001-07:00

It has been an interesting year for Greg. It started out with him being in Kindergarten and I'm happy that my son reads books. He has started addition and now I can't trick him about things I read on the internet. His teachers tells me that he is a joy to have in a class. He has no problems making friends and loves to play with his classmates. He is the ever confident boy who dares to wear pink to school. I was surprise the next time he put on the pink shirt eventhough he shed a bit of tears the first time he got teased for wearing pink to school.

His favorite ride, the school bus

I remember the day he started school, how enthusiastic he was and how he would resist temptation of a 2lb M&Ms bag. His zest for school never faded and even the last day of school, he told me he would miss school during summer. He just doesn't realize that Mummy MISSES school even MORE!!!!!

Greg with bus driver who is always smiling.

Greg started T-ball season in May. It was hard for me with piano lessons and all but we managed to move our schedule around to make sure he got to the field on time. Dad loves watching baseball and I guess it rubbed onto him. He was all excited when we signed him up for T-ball. He has improved quite abit since day 1, trust me when I say Day 1 because we never played ball with him. I don't understand the game and I doubt I would but I would sit on the bleechers and cheer him when he runs or hits.. but don't count on me figuring out the game and its points. Coach tells me something about Inning.. and to me its just a word without any meaning. hahaha... Greg has managed to hit a few balls without the need for the T.

Greg trying to hit the ball, see his facial expression?

He has the funniest expression when he is hitting the ball. He tells me that he has to do it to scare the guy throwing the ball. I don't know what made him think that way.. but hey... I get a kick out of seeing him and his funny face.

Waiting for the ball with his ready mode.

Unfortunately for the little one, we leave for our vacation in a few days and he will miss out on the last 5 games for the season. He got to say his byes to his teammate and coach who has been awesome. He sure has the patience to deal with 10 kindergarteners and teaching them the ropes of the game. Thanks coach... you have made Greg's 1st baseball experience a memorable one.

Greg with Coach

Gilly's First Communion

2009-05-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

Gilly about to get into the van

Sunday, May 24th 2009 Gilly received her 1st Holy Communion. We woke up very early all excited as its Gilly's big day. She is finally getting to eat the blessed "wafer" which she has now realize doesn't taste all that delicious. hahaha poor girl got duped into thinking its taste so good. Hopefully she will come to understand how blessed is the "wafer" .

Gilly with her flower and pretty dress.

Gilly insisted on taking photos with her plant. She got to choose the color of this plant when we bought it, and now has claim that it is hers... so it is except mummy has to take care of it.

Gilly walking up the aisle.

Mummy has to run around in the basement to make sure things were in order as she was in charge of the reception. I prayed the food ordered would arrive on time and the chicken wings I grilled would be warm by the time food was served. I got to sit down and speak to the priest for a few minutes and I came out a happy person. Wow... 15 more minutes and I still didn't pin up Gilly's veil !!! Got that done in a jiffy, thanks to ballet recital experience. Gilly looked so pretty in her dress.

Lighting of the candle. (Nobody caught fire)

Mass started on time and I wasn't ready for it. It went on smoothly but Greg was "bored" and he was sitting in the front row. Gosh, I was praying that he would not pull Gilly's veil to entertain himself. He was getting restless and finally out of desperation, I took out my iphone, turn on the silence mode and let him play with fluid and bubble. That kept him busy for awhile but that meant my battery was getting weaker.

Gilly reading (can't remember what, shhh!!!!).

Finally, Gilly gets to receive her blessed host. I'm very proud that she went through all the classes with minimal fuss. Yes, waking up early Sunday morning and getting dragged to church isn't fun, but she did it. She is a 4th generation practising Catholic and I do hope she would continue her faith when she is all grown up.

Gilly gets her first "wafer" also known as Communion Host.

Gilly receiving her certificate from Fr. Michael.

9 kids with priest and they don't know which camera to look at.

After Mass, the kids were lead to the entrance of the church where they got to shake hands with the congregations who were all proud of these kids achievements. Then we all got to take photos ... and boy there were so many cameras you'd think the kids were the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus and the paparazzi were lurking. Poor kids, they were all looking in different directions it was hard to take a nice photo.

Wonder what is that smile for? Hmmmm plotting something mischevious?

We proceeded down to the basement for a reception. The food came on time, thanks to a helpful friend. Everybody loved the food and I was happy because I spent less than budgeted. Phew!!! I love my daughter but she drove me nuts... the minute she got into basement, she told me she wanted to change clothes. Boy, I sure got pissed and told her "Gilly, I don't care what you want... I spent so much money on that dress so you better be wearing it for the next hour. Stop the complaining and make it worth my freaking $60!!!!!!!" She reluctantly walked away but before she could take another step, a lady walked by and told her how pretty she looked in her dress. Gilly smile and I guess that made her day.

Now that she is done with her 1st communion... hehehe... I can play hooky on some Sundays... shhhh... I better hope nobody from my church is reading this...

I am now 40!!!

2009-05-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

Atomic Cake

Its been almost 2 weeks and into my 2nd week of being 40. Yes, the big FOUR ZERO. I'm all excited as I will be meeting up with my elementary-highschool classmates in a June and we will all be celebrating our big 40. The last time we did a big celebration was for our quarter of century. Gosh, its been 15 years...

It's a tall cake!!!

How am I feeling being 40? I love it. I didn't have any big celebration as usual. Maybe I'll do something when I turn 50... hehehe.. My girlfriend S asked what I was going to do on my birthday, and I quickly told her I was going to my favorite Nursery to buy my annual plants. Yes, I usually remove all the passenger seats in my minivan and fill it up with plants and that I surely did on my birthday.

On the eve of my birthday, K, S and I had lunch at Red Robins(hmmm delicious burgers!!!). The girls decided to go to the nursery as well. I certainly enjoyed myself, the flowers were lovely and the rose aisle smell so good. No, no rose plants called me this time, my wallet was spared.. hehehehe

K and I not wasting any cake.

Now, the bold thing I did this time was I ordered my own birthday cake. It must be about being 40 because I would not have dared to get my own cake previous years. This year, I told myself that I might as well order a cake I would eat instead of waiting for hubby. Last 2 years, my kids and hubby ate all my cake and I just smiled and watched them enjoy it. I was all excited because a few months ago, at a friends birthday, I had this delicious cake with toppings that wasn't SWEET. For weeks, I kept telling myself that I should get myself that cake. I asked the lady that bought the cake and she told me where to get the cake.. any readers reading this and you live in Chicago.. its Weber Bakery. The cake I got was called "Atomic" cake. Atomic it certainly was.

I got my gfs to come over to enjoy the cake. I was more excited about the eating the cake then the it being my birthday cake. You can see from the photo, my gf and I cleaning up even the plastic wrap.. hehehehe OH..... I forgot to mention that after driving almost 2 hours to and from the Nursery.... it took me another 2 hours just to get the cake when the kids got home. K asked what I was doing for dinner and all I said "I dont' know, I think the cake is the main entree and the dinner... I'll think about it later" hahahaha...

I had a fun Birthday this year with my family and friends... and I know I am going to have a blast in my 40s !!!!!

What girlfriends are for!!!

2009-05-06T19:44:00.000-07:00

Girlfriends are there to call you in the morning to see what you are your plans for the day.
Girlfriends are there when you are down and you need to talk
Girlfriends are there when you are down and need to cry
Girlfriends are there when you are down and need someone who will laugh with you
Girlfriends are there when you need to be all silly and know you won't be thought a nutjob
Girlfriends are there when you don't have to feel shy to ask the dumbest question

Most importantly:

Girlfriends are there when they call your house and the "butler" you obviously can't afford picks up the call and says you are asleep. That girlfriend freaks out and sends the other girlfriend over to ring on your doorbell to make sure you are still alive!!!

Girlfriend brings you her famous led belbet cupcakes for your birthday!!

Girlfriend knows the vultures are circling so she makes sure there are enough "led belbet" for the birthday girl and vultures!!

NOW.... what are girlfriend's husband good for???

This one is for you Mr.A (you know who you are)

I'm a big girl now.

2009-05-05T17:34:00.000-07:00

"Gilly, go switch on the T.V and put to channel Five Six". I casually told my 8 year old. She replies "I'm a big girl now, mummy. You can use big words now". I guess I'm so used to talking to small kids that I forget she know what is Fifty Six. Time sure has passed so quickly and now I can use proper English.

What a way to start a week.

2009-04-20T11:13:00.000-07:00

Imagine its Monday morning, you are dragging yourself to work. The cup of coffee isn't helping kick the Monday morning blues, at the train station, you just assume that it will be the usual boring routine... and you happen to see this right in front of you. What a fantastic way of starting the week...

Enjoy this... I sure started my day with a nice pleasant jolt..

More than 200 dancers were performing there version of "Do Re Mi", in the Central Station of Antwerp. with just 2 rehearsals they created this amazing stunt! Those 4 fantastic minutes started the 23 of march 2009, 08:00 AM. It is a promotion stunt for a Belgian television program, where they are looking for someone to play the leading role, in the musical of "The Sound of Music".

How little girls just make me laugh

2009-04-16T17:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my friend, MJ came over with her 2 boys and daughter. We were goofing around with our flip and she showed me certain tricks to make my flip videos look better. I clicked on one video, and that made little Katie start giggling with her cute hand posture.. I had to FLIP that moment and here it is....

Now, you must be wondering what is so funny that Katie was giggling so much...

It's my Russian daughter, Cricket who loves making funny faces and she is really good at it.

Car Seats is just like Milk, they have expiration dates.

2009-03-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

I was talking to my friend, Kat and I was telling her how I can't wait to hand over Greg's old infant carseat to my niece. She ask how old was it and I said "It was Greg's. So maybe 5 years old?"

Her comment that surprised me was "there is expiration dates on car seat". I was like "HUH, what do you mean there is expiration date?" I know I sounded dumb especially when I've had my oldest who is 8 using carseats 8 years ago. I dragged the carseat out of its box, tried to get it off the base (I even forgot how to get it off the base). I looked all the labels and didn't find it. Finally I notice prints that were molded into the plastic of the seat. Damn it.. there is an expiration date. December 2009. Hmm.. I didn't know carseats are like MILK.. it will turn bad.

Oh well I googled and it talked about why there is expiration dates... blah blah blah of change in technology, warp of the plastic, fray of the belts (yeah right. like the 3 mth old would fray the belts). So, I shall email my niece and tell her about the expiration date and if she doesn't want it. I will just add more plastic to the landfill.

So for those of you who love buying carseats from ebay or garage sale. Do remember to check out the expiration date of carseats.

Panic Attacks

2009-03-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

What is panic attacks? How does one react during a panic attack? I had a conversation with my gf about panic attacks and I was laughing to realize since I was small, I had panic attacks but never new it until today. I'll be 40 this May and only now do I know I've always suffered from it. hahaha.. Do I need to see a therapist?

Yesterday, I had a very weird day at church. The slightest thing would irritate me... and I would notice myself "zoning out" from conversations because the person sitting across me would irritate me. If you ask what did the person do to irritate me. My answer would be “she did nothing”. Now, if you love to Tango, you would have loved being me yesterday. If anyone came too close to me, I would get spooked up and I would take a few steps away... and like a true tango, my partner would shadow me in my steps. Normal days, it would not have irritated me but gosh, yesterday... it just irritated the crap out of me and I was in CHURCH!!!! I was wondering what was going on with myself because once I came home, I was fine. It was like I was fighting my own inner demons and it all happened while at church.

Back to my “discovery” of panic attacks… I googled "What is panic attack?" This is what I found......

Panic attacks may be symptoms of an anxiety disorder. Another fact about panic is that this symptom is strikingly different from other types of anxiety; panic attacks are so very sudden and often unexpected, appear to be unprovoked, and are often disabling.

Now comes the symptoms of a panic attack: (those in yellow.. is what I think I have/had)

What are the symptoms of a panic attack?As described above, the symptoms of a panic attack appear suddenly, without any apparent cause. They may include
· racing or pounding heartbeat (palpitations);
· chest pains;
· stomach upset;
· dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea;
· difficulty breathing, a sense of feeling smothered;
· tingling or numbness in the hands; (I’d love to say numbness is a symptom but I do have carpal tunnel so this one is out)
· hot flashes or chills; (chills)
· dreamlike sensations or perceptual distortions; (dreamlike.. zoning out)
· terror: a sense that something unimaginably horrible is about to occur and one is powerless to prevent it; (I always think of the worst would happen to my loved one when they go out without me there. When young, and my parents would go to Penang and I get to be at home by myself, I would worry until I hear from them that they have reached safely. Now, when hubby goes out to buy bread, I worry he would meet with an accident and I don’t get to see him alive again)
· a need to escape; (need for my personal space, hence the tango dance I would do if anyone stands too close to me)
· fear of losing control and doing something embarrassing; (Never catch me on a roller coaster or can’t pay me a $1M to ride on it cos I’m hate feeling not in control. Do I wish to go on the roller coaster? Yes, but would I go line up. NO)
· fear of dying. (Yes, It goes thru my mind and gives me the chills and drives me nuts knowing my very young kids won’t have me to take care of them especially when none of my family member are closeby to help).

Hmm.. I wonder if “fear of losing control and doing something embarrassing” is the reason why I have told a friend what I want for my funeral. That would mean, in the end I still get to control how I’m bid farewell.

You won’t find me walking on back alleys anymore even on broad daylight. When I was 19, I was molested and all I remember when I got back to my room.. I had blood on my nails. Guys that I would date I would warn then not to come up from behind me to surprise me. I have dug my nails in to a few unlucky innocent guy friends who were goofing around with me. I walked to a grocery store yesterday after church. Seeing the back alley give me the chills. And all this while, I thought it was old memories but now I know the quick walk I do when I see back alleys is because of panic attacks.

Can I diagnose my craziness and blame it all on panic attacks?? How I react to certain things and how I behave at a certain time is all blamed on panic attacks? Or is it just plain ME problem? Ok... I'm done blabbing here... I'm off to my lala-land..

My take on Reality Shows.

2009-03-03T10:02:00.001-08:00

When I first came to USA, I found this show called Real World on MTV and I got caught with the Reality show. I know, I know, I'm a nosey parker who likes to see how people live. Then came Survivor.. then the Bachelor... these days, I watch "The Hill" and "The City". Wipe that frown off your face!! I'm 40 but I kinda like seeing how these 20 year old chicks get to live this fabulous ultra chic lifestyle. Cos I never got to do that.. amazing how they can afford to drive Benz at this age. They add some color to this dull life of a SAHM. hahaha

Last year when I found out the truth about that $$$$ loving mom from Jon & Kate Plus 8. I was shocked and vowed I would not watch anymore of their show. So, TLC... I have stayed true to myself and refused to even watch the episode where she moves into that million dollar house. It says something when a lady has no contact with her parents and siblings!!!! Curious of how her new hse looks? Yes, but I'm not giving that family any ratings.

Now comes this disgusting show called The Bachelor of ABC. I used to like watching it the first few series. I was glad to see Trista marrying Ryan but that show seem to not produce too many successful relationships. It encouraged a guy to pursue more girls that he should at ONE TIME.

I saw somewhere in Facebook about "Bachelor Update - Don't read unless you want to know". I decided to see what its all about... it basically was a "spoiler" about the ending of this show. I was shocked by what it revealed... then I decided to watch the Finale last night. HOLY COW... If the person that wrote the "prediction".. could have predicted the Mega Millions.. I would have been jumping over the moon.. but you know what... what I read on Facebook... It played out like how it said it would. I did some googling.. and came to this site called http://www.realitysteve.com/ he certain has some pretty interesting read.

So.. I told myself.. I'm NOT going to watch The Bachelor series anymore. Like how I don't watch Jon & Kate... I won't watch The Bachelor anymore... I don't think Americans are that dumb to be fooled by these networks... We have eyes and know how to add 1 + 1.. you can fool us with your editings and manuveurs for a few times.. but that is all.. I'm DONE... so slimeball bachelor... I hope you will have a wonderful marriage if you do marry her. Molly, why would you want a guy who can be easily manipulated like that.. it shows how heartless he is.. and if he can do that to Melissa, he could easily do it to you. Are you that desperate? Just remember karma's a bitch.. Jason, you have shown America what is Crocodile Tears!!!!

all this is my opion... and I'm allowed to have one...

Nintendo DS, So Near Yet So Far

2009-02-18T11:59:00.001-08:00

Two months ago, my aunt and cousin from London celebrated Christmas with us. The kids were all excited as they seldom get to have cousins hanging out with them. They had a wonderful time playing with goofy Uncle Josh. When they went home, we had an envelope that said "Here is some money for you to buy Greg a Nintendo DS when you think he is ready".. I'm paraphrasing!!!

Gilly had gotten her DS which she made her day as she knew mummy nor Santa Claus was bringing her one. Greg was happy with his presents but would occasionally ask when he would get one.

Came last monday, after dropping Gilly at her ballet school, I decided to surprise Greg by taking him to Target. In the parking lot, he asked what we were doing at Target. He finally realize what was going on when we walked to the video game aisle.

I told him since we had a busy day, we are not able to open the game yet as we needed to have dinner than get ready for bath and bed. He suddenly did a 180º with me and became moody. The next morning, he woke up happy then changed his mood again as he had to go to school and couldn't play with his DS. When he came home from school, again he started getting moody as he couldn't get to play with his new toy. I know he is all excited about his new toy. Maybe my fault for buying it on a weekday... duh me.. Tuesdays are extremely busy as I had to make sure my kids' homework is done and I have 4 piano lessons to teach.. so my boy wasn't a happy camper. Came Wednesday, he was all moody again.. man... I have never seen my son this crabby in his 5 years. I was starting to resent the fact that I was dumb in gettting myself into this mess.

This emotional happy-moody ping pong game went on from Tuesday till Thursday. I after reminding him that he wasn't behaving and it wasn't acceptable, and I may have to return the DS if he kept going... it wasn't working. I finally told him Thursday night that I had enough. For 3 days it was horrible, one moment he would come talk nice to me, then start the angry look. He could come hug me and then the next thing after letting me go, he would fold his arms and huff at me. No hugs before he jumped in the bus nor a his sunshine smile waving bye bye when the bus drove off. Gosh... what a MONSTER I had.

Friday came and he was a happy camper as they have Valentine's Day party and I volunteered. He came home with all happy and he asked if he could keep the DS. I had to tell him, and I knew that was coming and I had this internal debate if I should or shouldn't give him a chance. But I had to remind myself that I had already said I would so I better keep to my words or he would not take me seriously the next time.

Saturday came and finally we had the time to go to Target. My little boy quietly walked behind me while we headed to the Customer Service Dept. While talking to the lady, I saw him rubbing his eyes. He didnt' throw a temper tantrum but had tears in his eyes. All watery eyed, he quietly stood next to me. Before we walked away, I told him I didn't like returning the DS but his behaviour towards me forced me to do so. I told him that the money for DS is still his so we could always come back to get him a DS, but he has to remember that he has to behave himself.

My heart was breaking as I did feel miserable, we had to grab Gilly a pair of pants, so we headed towards the girls' clothing. Before I could realize what was happening, I felt a tiny hand grab my hands. Gilly was ahead of me, it was Greg. He wasn't angry with me, he held my hands. He still loves me... I felt so relieve that he wasn't hating me at that moment.

Since returning the DS, he has not been moody and he is back to hugging and waving at me at the bus stop. He would sometimes ask when he is getting his DS but other than that... he is back to his old self playing with his Knex and Magnetix and trains and cars.

I do eagerly wait for the time I can make my son go all excited cos he got his DS back......

New Addition to the Family

2009-02-15T04:56:00.000-08:00

Baby Edwina

I am all excited to have a little baby Girl in the family again. She has no name yet, so for now I shall call her Baby Edwina..hehehehe... All we know her name will start with an E. I can't wait to carry her and in a few months time, I know I will be carrying her. I'm all so excited... my side of the family has had 3 boys in a row and finally after 5 years... we have a little girl to carry. Now... don't get me wrong that boys are no fun... they are just a different "species" hehehehe..

As for my little niece... Welcome to the family. Don't worry about Daddy... he will spoil you rotten because being a daddy's girl, you will be able to twirl him with your little finger and sweet smile. That's our secret.. oppps that I've let out of the bag.

2/17/09 Update: Baby is now officially Elysha... (Ee-lie-sha)

Blooming Hibiscus in February

2009-02-11T12:53:00.001-08:00

We are in the month of February and what you see in the photo is my hibiscus plant which is blooming her first bud today. The plant has a more buds developing. Yes, it is possible to bring in the hibiscus plant that is sold during summer at the nursery or in my case Jewell-Osco Grocery. This is my 2nd winter I've brought the plant into the house before the first frost. However last winter and summer this plant didn't flower. I did think of tossing it this fall and buying new one next year. I changed my mind somehow and decided to play with this plant to see what I could do... I pulled out the whole plant and discarded its soil, loosen the roots and repotted it. It seems what I did worked because I now have a flowering hibiscus. I just gotta remind myself that I now need to add more fertilizer as this plant needs alot of it when its flowering.

Maybe you could bring in your plant and save yourself $15 a year by not tossing it out annually.

Added on 2/18/09: I notice that my hibiscus bloom last longer than usual. In summers, the bloom would only last a day before it falls off. I've notice my bloom lasting a good 2 whole days.

Do not call your friend when you are shopping!!!!!

2009-01-29T11:56:00.000-08:00

I ran to Sam's Club today as I desperately needed a flannel sheet for my mattress. Blabbing with my friend S while I shopped, I noted that I was doing very well with only 1 flannel sheet set, 1 calendar and 1 bittersweet chocolate. I was so proud I did stuck to my shopping list. Then I decided to call friend K to confirm she wanted bittersweet chocolate and not semi-sweet chocolate. While blabbing with her, I stroll pass an aisle to see... bedset!!!!

Holy cow... I got all excited as they looked so good. Then K encouraged me to get a set. Hey.. it came with everything, it was a good buy. I was told hehehehe Over the phone, we discussed which design to buy. K decides to jump on her PC to see if she could find it at Sam's site.. and she did... When she saw the plain design.. she said "oh, that is so you" damn it.. that was the more expensive design. I sneaked and unzip both designs to notice that the more expensive one was so soft... Reluctantly I took that bedset and dumped it on my cart.

I called S and told her... in future wherever you are shopping, dont' call K cos you will end up with a $159 item in your cart. S asked me "what happened, I thought you were checking out"...

I know I know.. K told me that I deserve to get something nice for myself as I've been wanting to make my bedroom nice and comfy. We did talk about painting my bedroom this summer. Plus for what I got, it would cos 2-3 times at Macy's ....

Yes, I'm excited with a new bedset (current one is 10 yrs old) but I'm still shocked as I didn't plan to spend that much today!!!!!

Do you know which set I bought, the Green or Brown ???

Baby Kangaroo

2009-01-28T07:20:00.000-08:00

Introducing my baby Kangaroo .... this is the only photo taken backstage by the director of the performing centre. Due to copyright, we were not allowed to take any photos nor videos of the performance.

The performance was amazing. The dancers were truly professional and it was my first time watching the PROs at work. The first performance was Sleeping Beauty, and they had 4 local girls as the fairies. We assumed those fairies were getting big parts... to my surprise, the came in holding branches, sat on stage for awhile then got up and did a split jump before exiting the stage. Sleeping Beauty was very "formal" where all the audience was watching in silence.

When it was time for Carnival of the Animals, I was surprise at how light and entertaining it was. We were laughing at the roosters and hen flapping their wings throughout the whole dance. The mama Kangaroo was so cute hopping out, then getting her mirror and brush out of her pouch.. then came the moment where she looked behind the trees and coaxed her little baby out... there came hopping out was my Gillian.. she looked so adorable in that cute outfit.

I always get emotional when I see her dance and knowing she is doing it well. Here she hopped and I prayed she would not fall flat on her face. hehehehe I was on eggshells for the few seconds she went from one end of the stage to the other. I could hear the audience AWWWW-ing at her.

Her role was tiny, but if it was me, I would have to be pushed out to the stage to do it. Later I asked her if she was afraid and confidently she said "no". For once, my super active daughter has put her activeness to good use. hehehehe... If you guys know Gilly since she was a baby, you would know what I mean. She is my daredevil-tomboy that I thought was needed ballet to make her a lady.

Gilly was honored to have a few family and friends come watch her. Aunt Jennifer and Cousin Jessica came to watch then had to rush to Chinatown for their family reunion dinner. Oma Iola watched Gilly proudly and eventough Daddy and Greg slept thru Sleeping Beauty, they managed to wake up to watch Gilly (expensive $26/person nap!!!). Sherrill and Allison came to watch Gilly too. It was cute that Allison (6 years old) notice that the danseur (male ballet dancer) was wearing only tights. She told her mom "he is not wearing pants" hahahaha... her mum and I were amused by her observation. Gilly was asked by one of the ballet teachers of Dance Images to sign the program book. So Gilly signed her first autograph.

Gillian in the newspaper

2009-01-23T05:51:00.000-08:00

Chicago Sun Times (Jan 23, 2009)

Daily South Town (Jan 23, 2009)

My Baby Kangaroo in New York Theatre Ballet’s “Carnival of the Animals”

2009-01-21T12:09:00.000-08:00

Gillian, my 8 year old has been dancing ballet since she was 4. We went through 2 ballet schools, her first year it was like a joke as the school was more interested in the moolah than the art itself. When a friend decided to change ballet school, we quickly jumped wagon too. Was it a good decision??? Yes, Gilly was mesmerized by this bubbly energetic lady named Mrs King. She was so enchanted by this teacher that you could see her do half-hearted kicks .. all because she was just paying attention to this "funny" lady. Since that first day of class, Gilly has had Mrs King from Dance Images at Tinley Park for 3 years. Yesterday, she told me that she dreads the day she will get a different teacher

My New Year plans were to kick back and relax after a long end of year celebration. Oh boy.. I was surprise by a phone call from Mrs King. While she said her "hi", quickly I ran through my mind if I had not signed the check or didnt' write the amount on the check correctly. Boy, how wrong I was... hehehe.. She asked if Gillian would be busy on January 24th. Knowing it was a Sunday, we had CCD (which was compulsory as she is receiving her First Communion this year). She asked if Gilly was interest in dancing a recital that Sunday at 4pm. But... but... we don't have the annual recital until end of May, I thought. Then came the big news... New York Theater Ballet needs a tiny girl(who is a quick study) to dance with them in their performance of "Carnival of the Animals" as the guest role of Baby Kangaroo.

I knew that was a good opportunity or more of a good exposure for Gilly. I know I don't expect my child to be a prima ballerina, but I want her to know how its like to dance with the professionals. So I told Mrs King that I would get an answer from Gilly. It was a quick YES from Gilly. Withing hours, we let the teacher know... I think I do have a brave girl for a daughter as she will only learn her routine at 2pm, and will dance at 4pm. I dont' think I would dare to do it myself shhhh... please don't tell her I said that.

Gillian had a phone interview with Chicago Sun Times and she will be baby Kangaroo this coming Sunday. Poor Gilly has had to deal with a paranoid mom who is afraid Gilly will fall sick and then not be able to dance that day... or sprain her ankle... or break her hand.. so Poor Gilly has not been able to go sledding. I know I know ... I'm a bad mommy and I don't like to sound like a stagemom. Hey.. I doubt she would get another opportunity like this, so I'm keeping the risk to the minimum. Hahahaha.. I was so worried I would jinx it as well.. well I can't now cos Gilly should be appearing in Friday's newspaper

Will I Jinx It?

2009-01-08T11:56:00.000-08:00

If something good is going to happen... should you tell everyone especially blog about it or shut up about it???

I got some good news a few days ago and things seem to be going well. I told a few close friends but wish I could shout and tell every Tom, Dick and Harry... but I don't want to jinx it....

I used to say I'm not superstitous but all of a sudden ... I AM!!!! hmmm... there goes that open minded lady... Well for now.. I'll still ponder... or wait till its all over and then I can blog about it.

I keep thinking.. "knowing my luck, someone might just break a leg or fall sick, then that day won't go well, so Yours Truly, keep your mouth zipped up!"

ARghhhhhhhh......
hehehehe

I'm going nuts!!!!
Ciao!!

Happy New Year!!!!

2009-01-01T07:37:00.000-08:00

2009 is here.....
I want to wish everyone a.....
Happy New Year and that 2009 will be a good year to all.

Eventhough 2008 went downhill towards the end for the whole world, I'm still grateful that I have been happy and glad my family and close friends are here to support me. Hey, I'm not complaining about gas at $1.65/gallon... hehehehe...

Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas !!!!

2008-12-19T06:46:00.000-08:00

This Threw Me Off My Seat

2008-12-02T05:58:00.001-08:00

Come December is when I start knitting furiously as I love giving away scarves for Christmas... and when i do this, I love to "listen" to TV on the sofa. Scrolling on my comcast remote... I saw on the program... PBS Great Performance: Hitman David Foster & Friends... and I selected it.

Right away, I heard someone sing the ending part of St.Elmo's Fire song... and next Katherine McPhee came on (I ran and quickly switched on the amplifier).. and oh my... her voice... her pretty face and her pretty voice... it has surely grown.. I was impressed as the last I saw her was the final of American Idol where she "lost".

I just love what I saw as she certainly has improved and now looks professional... Like a Mom that is proud of her child... I was proud to see how much she has grown professionally...

I "YouTubed" her on this special.. and found her clip... plus my favorite Renee Olstead... so enjoy what I did last night.....

p/s.. I don't usually buy DVDs.. I'm thinking of getting this DVD as it has a great list of singers performing. (damn public library doesn't have it or I'd borrow it)

Can You Sewing Quilt on Handy Stitch??

2008-12-01T14:26:00.000-08:00

Is it possible to sew a quilt with a Handy Stitch??

Hmmm.... any idea?? Please let me know... oh wise ones....

*grin* Oh S... I just love you!!!!

My Wii Fit Night Out !!!!!!

2008-11-24T12:42:00.000-08:00

Last week was a busy night and can you believe that I drove to downtown 2 nights in a row!!!! First was to watch the Broadway show Wicked and it was worth the drive.

The 2nd night to driving to downtown was even better. It was the highlight of the week. *grin* I've been to a few parties and I wondered what would make a Wii Fit Party any different. Boy, it was beyond my expectations. I was pleasantly surprised to see a friend I've not seen for a long time. They had set up 3 TVs to 3 Wii Fit system, and by the time we reached the party, the gals were playing on the aerobic games. You could hear all the laughing and cheering.

I was abit shy at first so I sat down and chatted. Finally I was forced to step on the board when my gf Wendy finished her round. Thank God nobody laughed at my BMI and then I choose the hula hoop!!! We had a good laugh at my butt twisting activities. I've to say working on the wii fit with your girlfriends is very fun and hilarious. I believe we will burn more calories from laughing too much.

Seriously, Nintendo should come up with a wii fit where we can drag just our board to our gf's house and a few of the boards to be hooked up to just 1 console. Kinda like how we have 1 aerobic instructor to 20 clients... but in this case a few wii boards to one console so gals can meet up and exercise together.

We had some good drinks and delicious food and continued with our wii fit games. Nintendo Wii staff were very helpful and I now know to use my hip and knee to maneuver to catch the flying hula hoop instead of using my head ...hehehehe... I know I'm dumb... Before we knew it, the ladies told us that we had to stop for awhile. So we sat down and continued to chat and before we realized it, they came out with a wii system for both the hostesses. We were all excited for them and man.. wished we got one too... hahaha too bad.... that's what we thought, before we knew it... the ladies now came out with Wii Fit boxes and announced... "Everybody gets a Wii Fit" and we ladies screamed like HELL.... it was like an Oprah moment.

Not only did we get a Wii Fit but also the Yoga Mat and a Yoga bag and a cute workout outfit. I was hugging my Wii Fit so tight... Never have I won anything like this before!!!! So Thank you to MJ and Jen (both co-editor of ChicagoMomViews.net) for inviting us to the party.. and Thanks to Nintendo for the Wii Fit. What a perfect night for me!!!

BTW, stop by at ChicagoMomViews. You may just win a Free Wii system and Wii Fit worth about $370. Enter the contest and you might be even luckier than me!!!

Koo Koo Ciao dissapeared!!!

2008-11-24T06:01:00.000-08:00

My sister in law is pregnant (brother's wife) and weeks ago, I spoke to my sister in Singapore. She told me the good news that the ultrasound revealed it was a boy.

Fastforward to last Thursday, I was on yahoo chat with my cousin's wife and she brought up the topic of babies and said "wah, your brother is going to have a girl." and I said "NO, its a boy."She asked "are you sure, that is not what I heard."

Confused, right away I called my brother and thank goodness it was not midnite yet or the suspense would have killed me. "Eh, are you having a boy or girl?" I didn't even greet him as I got too excited.... He answered "Girl."

Surprised!! I asked "What happened to the Koo Koo Ciao?" He in his cool manner said "Koo Koo Ciao dissapeared." After that call, I confirmed to my cousin's wife that she got it right.

Then I called my sister but got her voice mail and left her a message... "Idiot, why didn't you tell me that the koo koo ciao dissapeared!!"

For some of you that would have figured it out by now.... Koo koo ciao is a Hokkien word meaning... P-N-S... boys genital..

Its a common thing that parents in Malaysia will find out the sex of the baby. I refused to know my babies gender as I believe that its one guaranteed pleasant surprise that God gives.

I just love the suspense and it was hard with the boy as I had to do amniocentesis. I had to remind everyone that held my pregnancy records to not tell me the sex of the baby. I know, I know some parents like to be prepared.. I just always had 2 (for each gender) names ready... and got everything in yellow, green, blue and that way I could save money on clothes which they only wear for 3 months...

I'm happy my brother will get that little girl who will twirl him round her tiny fingers. He is a good dad to begin with... And we 3 siblings now each have the 1 girl and 1 boy combo. And this little girl will get to wear Gilly's baby clothes ... which I like seeing as its a reminder of the baby girl I got..

So.... hehehe Koo Koo Ciao Dissapeared news... was a hoot!!!

2 ladies picking Okra at the store

2008-11-15T09:22:00.000-08:00

Instruction for selecting okra:

1) Grab bag

2) Pick up an okra

3) Hold the bottom end of okra

4) Quickly snap tip of okra

5a) if snap, put in bag
or

5b) if it just bend, throw it back

6) Very importantly... do not look left or right or above you.

Okra is one of my favorite vegetable and I love eating it with sambal or curry. I was at the grocery store with my caucasian girlfriend last Monday. We decided to shop at night without the kids and it was fun. At the store, I saw some okra and decided it would be good with some green curry and decided to get a few. I was snapping the tip to see if they were young okras. My girlfriend was standing next to me and I told her to help me out. I told her "snap the tip and if breaks off, its good. the ones that bend are not good." I notice she was uncomfortable with my suggestion and was cautiously snapping a few and everytime she did that, she would look around to see if the POLICE was watching her. Till now I'm cracking up recalling how she looks when she was snapping the okras. Just like a little girl putting her hands into the forbidden cookie jar...

We had a good laugh when I told her, "hey this is sold here for asians so they know how the asians would choose it.. so don't worry." Then we both looked up at the cameras... Security must be having a good laugh at my guilty friend. I'm just a normal snapping okra asian lady and she the guilty snapping okra white lady. Does it mean we are better off with our kids around as we would behave better???

My Not-So-New Laptop

2008-11-14T05:02:00.000-08:00

Introducing my newest toy... or rather not so new toy.. Toshiba P305-S8838. I just love my new toy except for the weight.. hubby got too enthusiastic about gadgets and insisted on buying a 17" instead of 15". Why do I love this laptop? Because I can drag it anywhere in the house and it sits on my dining table in the kitchen alot. I just love to try out recipes from other bloggers and it just easy for me to have it next to me in the kitchen. I used to have to run the stairs to my loft to look at some recipes. I know it was good workout but this is so nice. I can chat online while I'm baking or cooking as well.

We bought this laptop from Costco, hubby had been wanting another PC as I do hog the only one we had. I insisted that the laptop had to be a Toshiba as I worked for a Toshiba distributor and know how reliable they are. I also insisted that we only buy it from Costco as Costco has good 2 year extended warranty for computers. We waited for good 2 months to see if this laptop would go on sale.. and it finally did.. we paid $899 (after $100 rebate) for it while it retails $1200.

I just need to kick my lazy butt to install all my software to the laptop, and I would be able to blog fully here. For now, I still upload my photos to the old pc.. then upload it to blogspot... hehehe.. I know I know... I promise I will do so in near future *grin* Till then... have a good day.

Halloween !!!!

2008-11-11T05:26:00.000-08:00

Halloween this year was the best!! We had just warm weather that we didn't have to worry about our kids freezing in their outfits. The temperature was in the mid 70ºF (22ºC) which was almost record high for this time of the year.

Greg at the Kindergarten Halloween Parade

The kids packed their costumes into their school bag and later they had a Halloween Parade. I had to go twice as the Kindergarten and the 1-4th Grades had 2 separate parades. The Kindergarten start their Parade 1 hour earlier and Greg's class was the last to come out. He looked so cute in his fireman outfit. It was a long parade as they have 16 Kindergarten classes.

Not realizing how long the parade would take, I had to rush home and grab supplies as I was volunteering for Gilly's class party. I got back to school in time to sign up at the office then waited for the parade to start. Gilly with her usual bubbly self was smiling and having a fun time with her friends.

Gilly with her classmate

A few moms and I had volunteered for the Halloween party. I was hoping to do the tattoos but that activity was quickly grabbed by one smart mom. I decided that I would get some toilet rolls and let the kids play the "Wrap the Mummy" game. Oh boy.. they sure had fun. They used 9 rolls of toilet rolls for 24 kids. I got them into groups of 4 and there were some arguements on who was to be the honored mummy. One girl almost cried as she didnt' get to be a mummy. I whispered to her "it was more fun to wrap the mummy as you can try to wrap them as tight as you can." By the end of the game, she came smiling to tell me she sure had fun wrapping. We gave all of them a little "prize".

Mummy all wrapped up

Mummy revealed!

I'm glad the kids had fun with the game and they had a fun with the other activities. My only issue this year was the "NO FOOD, ONLY TRINKETS" rule that was adopted by the Parent Board. One mom said that new rule was doing us a favor which I thought was nonsense as trinkets are more expensive especially with this economy of ours. Now.. dont' tell me its a healthy rule and that I'm unhealthy. I dont' dump a big bag of candy every year... I usually would have 1 or 2 pieces of candy or fruit loops plus a few sticker, pencils and tattoos... But to say NO CANDY is just too much. We as parents have to teach our kids how to balance our lives.. and that includes its ok to have candy.. but not too much candy. Gilly's class ended up with only 2 treat bags as the teacher had to confisicate alot of treatbags with 1 piece of candy in it compared the the 15 bags they use to get. Now.. that is really taking the fun out of Halloween.

Gilly helping another group.

Gilly got to come home with me after the party and we went to pick up Greg from a friend's house. She was nice to babysit Greg while I was at Gilly's class. We came home and they got to rest abit and by then Daddy was home. At 4.30 pm the kids were begging to start the "Trick or Treat". We loaded the wagon with flashlights, extra shopping bag and drinking water. We met up with some friends and proceeded ... until 7.00 pm. As the weather was awesomely warm, we didn't rush to get home to get out of the frigid cold. They kids had so much fun and was amaze at how much candy they collected. They were excited as they got to see alot of their schoolmates as kids in the neighborhood would go to the same school.

The witch and the fireman

We usually have extra shopping bags as the kids would complain after sometime that their pumpkin is heavy. Don't gasp at the amount of candy we collect. We usually separate the chocolates from the candy then send them to the village hall. They have collection centers for donations which would be sent to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. That way, I do not feel its a waste of time going Trick or Treating and the kids are happy they are doing something good. They know their candy is being put to good use. As for the chocolates, I usually send them with Daddy to work. So.. do I have any sugar overload problems??? NOOOOOOOO..

Btw, if some of you notice.. my kids are wearing the same outfit they did last year. I'm so proud of Gilly and Greg. They told me that because they could still fit into last year's outfit, they didn't want to wear the same ones.. and that way, we can save money. I'm glad that my goal in teaching my kids the value of money has somehow worked. My constant money lessons has somehow soaked into their tiny little brains. The day after Halloween, we were at Target and Gilly asked if she could buy another costume for next year. She noticed the costumes were on sale (50% off) .. and she told me "mummy, maybe I can wear this outfit for 2 years." I smiling told her that was a good idea, and found her costume. So we are set for next year... with my wallet slightly lighter.

BusyBodyBook Organizer

2008-11-10T15:59:00.000-08:00

I hate to admit that I am one that always tries to remember everything in my head but these days after having babies, I tend to forget. Now that Greg has started school and I'm signing him up for activities. I worry that I may forget something. I do give piano lessons to a few kids and sometimes scheduling them too can ben a nightmare especially those kids that are into all activities. I always thought that I never needed an organizer and just with Gilly's activities, I was fine....

I won an organizer from a competition at momviews.net a few months ago. If in Malaysia, my friends would laugh at its cute name.. Busy Body Book is its name and being Malaysians, it would mean meddling nosy person... I think its a british jargon.. However, I LOVE this organizer as its very simple and easy to use. It has a page for emergency information, a 3-year calendar with the holidays listed. I was fortunate to win the Academic Year organizer which was even better as it was suitable for my lifestyle needs.

At the back portion of this organizer, it had a section for the following year appointments, a sections for notes, and get this.... a perforated 4 sectionals for To Do, the final sheet has a section for restaurants and take out information and "important people" information.

Now.. if you think I'm done.. the part I like best about this organizer is that its works in a "grid" format. Each page, list the days of a week... hence Monday, Tuesday, till Sunday. And it have 5 columns... which can accomodate up to 5 family members or if you are a student, you could use those columns for your school subjects. I find this just nice for my kids' schedule and my piano student's sessions when there is make-up classes. That way, I know I won't get any double booking on anyone. It comes with a bookmark that can be attached to the spiral of the book. I use it to remind me which week it is. The design on the cover is very retro and to my taste plus it has a plastic cover for protection.

For someone that used to give away any planner or organizer that was given to her.. this is one that I kept... and I'm glad I kept this one. Its just simple and easy to use. I dont' need those that has a section for menu planner nor recipe planner .. cos I'm one that cooks according to her mood... I'm trying to be more organized not perfect... so... try out BusyBodyBooks if you want something easy.

11 lbs of Tomatoes

2008-10-31T09:26:00.000-07:00

11 lbs of fresh homegrown tomatoes

Fall is here and I had so much tomatoes from my 2 tomato plants. I was overwhelmed and figured how much guacamole can I make or how much ABC can I drink with all these tomatoes.

I was lucky a friend showed me how to make pasta sauce. I now have enough pasta sauce to make me 6 meals. *grin* btw.. if you notice the tomato seeds in the paste, i didnt' deseed them. I figured there is no harm in eating those seeds so.. less work and that makes pasta sauce making a leisure instead.

We had our first frost and I made hubby go pluck all the green ones. I now have to lay them on newspapers in the basement.. and still have fresh tomatoes in December.

16 1/6 cups of pasta sauce

Angry with Mummy

2008-10-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

At this moment, I'm not my daugther's most favorable person. She is angry with me, eyes all wet while she is doing her math homework. Why the tears? Because she is being punished. Her Brownie troop was suppose to meet at 4.00pm at a pumpkin/corn maze farm. Greg and I waited in the car for her school bus to arrive. All she needed to do was to go to the bathroom then jump into the van for a 30 minute ride to the farm. I warmed up the her macaroni cheese for her to eat in the car and had snacks ready for the trip.

Rewind back to this morning.... I told her that she has forgotten her Reading book for 3 days and she needs to make sure she brings it home today. She has comprehension test on Friday and I'm trying to teach her to do things in advance and not last minute.. so bring the book home on Thursday doesn't work... I warned her that I would cancel the Brownie trip if she didn't bring the book home.....

Back to present time... here Greg and I were all excited that she is home and all ready for a fun evening... until I realize her school bag was way too light and that there isn't a Reading book in sight... So here I am hating myself for being the mean person but I have to keep my word and be the Mom that I don't like ... the strict mean mommy... I was forced to dissapoint both the kids and said.. "Greg, get out of the car, we are not going anymore." So, I dragged all the food and warm clothing out of the car. I made the dreaded call to the Troop leader to tell her we won't be there.

Gilly is still upset but I guess she will learn that she has responsiblities, and the most important one is.. studies and homework comes first. Let see...she has a birthday party to attend this Saturday, and I wonder if she will be missing out on that.... oh.. I can't wait till she is a teenager!!!!!

Bad mommy?

2008-10-16T08:40:00.001-07:00

Greg my 5 year old who is in Kindergarten goes on the Kindergarten school bus. His sister who goes to the same school goes on a different bus because our school system separates the kindergarteners from the elementary kids. I like that as its pretty intimidating for a newbie to get on a bus with bigger kids.

Unfortunately, with the kindergarten bus, a mom or designated person has to be at the bus stop for pick up. If you are not there...the bus driver has to take your kid back to school and you have to go pick him up and sign him out.

Yes... and yesterday after some drama... I was in the basement doing extra laundry. I ran out of the house when I realize it was about time he gets home. To my dismay, I see the bus at the end of the corner of our street and leaving. I missed him... and the other mom who just picked up her daughter told me the bus driver refuse to wait for me especially when the bus was a few minutes early. I notice then that yes.. she was early today. Oh well I jumped into my car and followed the bus. The bus driver saw me, stopped the bus and told me "I can't let him down, you have to go to the school to pick him up." RIDICULOUS!!!! Yes, I know I wasn't at the stop but you do recognize me as you talk to me everyday at the bus stop... so let my son down... oh no, I had to drive back to school to sign him out.

I met Greg at the school ground and walked with him to the school office. I had to go sign him out. I asked Greg if he got scared that I wasn't there at the bus stop. He smiled and said "NO". He said "I had the whole bus to myself mummy." He continued smiling and said "Mummy, I came to school twice today." I smiled and am proud that he wasn't feeling all angry with me. I did talk to him a few weeks ago. I knew that there was a high chance of me missing the bus so I did prepare him for it. I told him to treat it as an extra special trip back to school. Since he loved sitting on the school bus, it would be fun if mummy wasn't at the bus stop and he gets to go on a extra ride. I did cross my finger that he would feel OK with it.. and I'm glad I did what I did. I did miss Gilly when she was in Kindergarten and I guess, I learn from Gilly what to do this time round. So... I had a happy boy who even called his daddy to tell daddy that he got to go to school twice on the bus in one day.

So.. am I a bad mummy for missing the bus??

Sunday's Poncho

2008-10-07T16:35:00.001-07:00

*Drum Roll* Ta Da!!!!!

Here is the poncho that I was busy working on last Sunday. I finally added the frills today and boy.. it was my first time working on frills and that zigzaggy one was tiring!!! The poms were quiet easy but the time consuming and eye tiring ones were the zigzag. Smart of me to buy a wider zigzag so I had to make sure the top and bottom were sewn. I didnt' want to leave it to chance that it won't curl up after some abuse by my girl.

I was afraid of working with the frills as I've never attempted it. I thought my friend would help ahaha but I was too impatient to wait for her and decided to do it on my own. I figured I'm not selling it so what's the harm in attempting it on my own. So ... for now.. the poncho is OK..

A Wonderful Sunday

2008-10-06T07:16:00.000-07:00

WOW!!!!
Something new on this blog today!!

Is that what you are thinking?

Yes, I'm back. We have been pretty busy running around doing a thousand things and yet nothing much to show.

I just have to say, yesterday was Sunday and I sinned terribly by not going to church. With a daughter who is going to receive her first communion next May, I know I've sinned terribly.

oh wait.. No.. I did worse. I neglected my poor kids yesterday. *grin*

Let see.... I had bought some flannel cloth and was planning to sew Greg some PJ pants as he outgrew those from last year and Gilly's were too pink for him to wear. The flannels were on sale $2.99/yard. I found a nice easy pattern and bought some fleece cloth and decided to sew Gilly a poncho. Now... with those in mind, I just didn't think of anything else but sewing those outfits!!!

This would only mean, poor family didn't have food for that day. Even at breakfast time, I was already working on the 2nd pants for Greg and the kids had milk and pandan chiffon cake. Opps... hehehe

Lunch time came and daddy came over to ask "what's for lunch?" I asked the kids, "what do you want for lunch?" and continued... "who wants daddy's famous instant noodles, please raise your hands?" One, two and three hands came up... daddy sigh and went down to cook lunch. Woohoo.. that was the most delicious instant noodles. It had fishball, cuttlefishball, choy sum and eggs in it. Super Duper Yummy what what Greg claimed!!! Dad didn't look excited.. because he had to do the cooking.

Came dinner time.... I just finished the poncho!!! Yes I did finish the poncho but have yet to add the frills. Dad came and asked if we were having Kathryn's spagetti meatball for dinner. I then realize I didn't not take out the tomato sauce to thaw.. and the meatballs need to simmer in the tomato sauce for 30 min.. that meants... no spagetti meatball for dinner... awwww.. what a bummer for Daddy. I told him to run to Dominicks to get a box of creamer... we are having Ikea Swedish meatballs for dinner.

Poor Daddy, he had to figure out the meals for Sunday as Mummy wasn't thinking properly. But I sure enjoyed my Sunday. I do like going to church but I did get alot accomplished yesterday. Daddy got the shelves up on the basement (opps that means I've more work down there now) and he got my new laptop networked to the printer. The kids and Daddy helped Greg with his class assignment and I got to sew my 2 PJ pants and a poncho. I know some will say I should just go buy my kids nice outfits instead of wasting my time sewing ... but the kids just love it when I surprise them with their newly sewn clothes.... so... its OK to neglect feeding the kids once in a while.. hehehehe...

Lost and Found....

2008-09-21T07:35:00.000-07:00

This one just made me laugh....

I visit my subdivision forum and read this:

Lost Red Daschund
Today (Thursday) at 12:00 a little red dachshund got away. He is friendly but scared. If found please call L at 123-1234

Then 4 hours later... this was posted
Never mind...he was found in the bedroom

I had a good laugh but didn't dare say anything.

Then this morning, I read this and started laughing with tears rolling down.
That is so funny - you made my day! Glad to hear he's safe and sound in the bedroom!

I guess, I'm not the only one that found the situation hilarious. What do you expect from a dog that is easily scared???

This is the Bestest Lunch!!!

2008-09-20T06:57:00.000-07:00

Since Greg has started Kindergarten, I have 5 hours to myself and somedays I'm on the phone too much and I've started volunteering at school. I keeps me busy for an hour and a chance to get out of the house without going shoppinmg.

Yesterday, I did Hot Lunch for the Kindergarteners. It was my first after 3 years as I could not volunteer for Gilly's class when Greg was still a baby. After some chaos, we managed to grab the basket filled with Cheese Pizza, Fruit cup and fruit roll ups. Simple easy food which we take for granted. This was thei kindergartener's first Hot Lunch experience and I was glad I got to see one of their school "first" moments.

The kids knew it was hot lunch as they all didn't have to pack their lunchbag. They, anxiously stared at the door for us to enter. After distributing all the food, they opened their box and started chomping on their pizza.... and one girl shouted out.. "this is the bestest lunch I've had in school!!" and that started the ball rolling. Each and every kid were jumping in their seat, legs kicking under their table... getting all excited that they have so much food for lunch. "I love this pizza!", "I want this for every day!!!!", and Greg said "this is super yummy". I was so tickled at their excitement. I know, having cold sandwich everyday is a monotony and a simple cheese pizza just brightens any child's day. It's a good thing that the school does Hot Lunch once a month.

One boy decided that he would drink all his milk, finish his pizza and when it came to the fruit cup, he just drank the syrup and not eat the fruit. I asked him if he loves the syrup only and he said "mummy says to drink lots of liquid." I just could help but laugh out loud. He gave me a mischevious grin. Kids and their common sense...

I'll look forward to next month's hot lunch as you never know what can happen.

Malaysia that still makes me smile...

2008-09-17T20:36:00.000-07:00

I've been reading the political news in Malaysia and it sickens me to see how much injustice and abuse of power is occuring. These few rotten politicians will not make me forget how beautiful are the people of malaysia...

I found this on youtube and it just reminded me of how I would sing this song in school and how fun we Malaysians are at heart.

Enjoy!!! I couldn't find one with English subtitles but seeing how people are that cheerful, that speaks a thousand words....

Thomas & Friends Special Delivery Review

2008-09-03T06:18:00.000-07:00

I did a review and it was published at momviews.net . Here is part of my review.. hop on to Thomas Review to see the full version.

*part of my review*

REVIEW Guest Reviewer: Jane Of All Trades

My 5-year-old son is a die-hard fan of Thomas the Train. So when he saw the Thomas & Friends Special Delivery box, he was all excited. He first thought that it was a DVD movie but when I told him that it is a game for the computer, he was even more excited.......

Easy Satay

2008-08-31T17:50:00.000-07:00

A month ago, I bought some Malaysian groceries from My Taste of Asia. I decided to buy some satay sauce for my girlfriend and ended up buying one for myself. Last week, I finally got to try this sauce. I was pretty surprise how good this satay sauce tasted. I used my own satay marinate on the chicken and used this Delimas Satay sauce for dip only. I added some ground peanut into the sauce and it tasted as good as the roadside satay sauce!!!

Do give it a try, you can use the sauce as a marinate as well. I was being frugal as I only bought 1 packet to try it out and I gave the other packet to my girlfriend. shhh!!!!.. I shd have kept it for myself hehehehehe. I'll for sure order more next time.

Update on Little "D"

2008-08-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I blogged about my neighbor's new baby boy, Little D. They call him Nick. We are happy that he is now home with his parents. He is stable enough to come home. His mummy is very tired like any new mom would be. Only difference is its only she and her hubby that knows how to take care of him. Nick is hooked up to a monitor that tells if he is breathing properly. Basically, his parents are the only ones that knows how to take care of him and his life depends on both of them. Even his grandparents would not know what to do so its really all on Mummy and Daddy.

I've been their neighbors for the past 5 years and I'm shy to say I didn't really get to know them well. But since little Nick arrival, I've learn that not only D is a bubbly person, she is strong and determined, and even when things are hard, she sees the brighter side of things. Its nice to know that even when someone is down, she is still able to forge ahead and do the best she can for her family especially her little boy. She has journaled that sometimes she does feel down and feeling of pity comes in... I think its OK for someone to sometimes feel that way. All a parent wants for their child is the best of everything especially health. I've known parents who would go into denial mode when their child have health issues but D has not done that at all. She is just as proud of this boy as she is of her daughter. We all can learn from this family a lesson or two.... Do say a pray for little Nick if you can... that cute little boy sure loves your prayers.

Red Red Red

2008-08-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

My garden has been invaded by RED!!!! Yes, I was too greedy that I planted 2 - celebrity tomato plants, 1 - 100 sweet tomatoes plant, 1 - cherry tomato plant, 1 - grape tomato plant. I planted 1 cayenne pepper plant and on top of it, I have 1 from last year that I took into the house during winter... so the tomatoes and cayenne peppers are all turning red now.

I've been bad and not taken photos of my plants outside... but here are the few tomatoes and chili that I have on my table. I been taking tomatoes to church and walking around my block giving away tomatoes... hmmm... maybe I should just start a tomato stall myself.. hahaha... I'll try to take photos of the celebrity photos. I showed Gilly today when we were at the grocery store that that same tomato cost $3.99/lb and how much we are saving by planting our own tomato plants.

I just love eating tomatoes and we have had a few burgers with it.. and used alot for my ABC soup. I'm gonna force myself to cook some Lemongrass chicken which I learnt from Gertrude last year.

My day.

2008-08-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

It was Monday and the 3rd day my kids are in school fulltime. I had a few plans of running around wasting money at Linen N Things and I had a few urgent calls to make. There my phone rang and it was my gf K. She sounded like she was dying and asked if I had any plans. Of course me without any life now, I said "No". She asked if I could babysit her 2 1/2 year old baby. It looked like K caught a bad bug and even her hubby was out of commission. I quickly made my calls then jumped into the van to get "Clicket".

Clicket was an easy baby so I didn't have to worry much. But it suddenly hit me that I don't have anymore potties. Then I realize, that I had to be vigilante with her doing her "pee pee".

She happily followed me into the van after saying bye bye to her daddy. We got back to my place and she ran in to play with Shan. Later we went to the garden and she helped me water... and she is a good "sprinkler" hehehe... she insisted on watering all my plants. I just had to make sure she didn't shower herself as we didn't have an extra change of clothes.

About 11am, I packed her into the van and we went to Gilly's ballet school. I had to signed Gilly up for ballet. All the moms in there were curious who was this little caucasian girl following me. I jokingly said "oh,. she is my russian daughter". They were shocked and I quickly told them "Since Greg is in Kindergarten, I decided to adopt a Russian baby". I added "I didn't want to go the
China route you know".. They laughed and looked like the bought my story. I quickly told them that I was babysitting for a friend.

After 45 minutes, it was my turn with the teacher and when I sat down, Clicket decided to climb up my chair and Mrs King asked if I knew the girl behind me. I laughed and said "She's my Russian daughter." She looked amazed and ask "Are you serious?" I turned around to Clicket and said "Clicket, say Hi to Gilly's ballet teacher." Clicket did precisely that and that shocked Mrs King. "K" and I had a good laugh at it. The joke behind it was once I had Clicket on a shopping cart in Target and this white lady gave me a weird look. I realized why she gave me that look as its a common thing to see a white lady with a Chinese baby but not a Chinese lady with a white baby.

Clicket was enchanted by this pastel pink/blue tutu and kept asking for that costume. It was on sale for $25 which is a bargain considering the original price was $65. In her baby language she pointed to the dress and said "Clicket dance" with her hands up in the air and she did her turn. It was so cute.

It was a nice thing to have a 2 year old around the house. Its been 3 years since I had a 2 year old and trying to understand her is a hoot.. She kept saying "cookie" when I asked what she wanted for lunch. And when I repeat cookie to her.. she said NO. Only her mummy would understand her. I'm glad I'm done with babies cos at 39... it can be tiring.. hahahaha... shhh!!!! I took a nap while she watched Cailou and then I took a nap after I sent her home.

The kids got home from school and we all went down to the basement to play. Then I realize that Clicket should fit into Gilly's old ballet costumes. We dug thru her trunk and found one... Clicket was so happy when we put that piece of tutu on her. She ended up going home in that outfit and the reaction on her older sister was priceless.

Clicket in her ballet dress

First Day of School

2008-08-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

First day of school went well. It was only 2 1/2 hours which seem short but chaotic as we were all trying to get use to the bus schedules. Greg and Gilly are not in the same bus this year. The school separates the Kindergarten kids which is nice as its not intimidating sitting with the bigger kids.

Two days before school, he had school orientation where he met his teacher and his classmates for the first time. He loved it there and was so excited to go back to school by Wednesday. That was also the day we dropped off school supplies which I like as its just too much for a kiddo his size to handle by himself.

Greg with school supplies.

Greg getting ready for school orientation 2 days before school.

They both woke up at 7 a.m. and was so excited. They quickly had their breakfast and was so ready for school. Gilly had to take some school supplies by herself and I dropped off the rest later as it was just too much for her too. This time round, I remembered to label Greg so that he won't be lost. I forgot to do it for Gilly on her first day of Kindergarten. Their bus pickup time are only 10 minutes apart so its just easy to get both of them out at the same time.

Gilly and Greg waiting for their buses.

Gilly about to get on her bus.

Gilly can't wait to jump into the bus!

Greg's turn to wait for his bus.

Greg waits for his turn to get into the bus. Hurry up lady!!

Finally with both kids off to school, the house was eeriely quiet. I was kinda enjoying the silence and yet still missed their noise. I guess I've got accustom to their noise. What did I end u doing? I was busy on the phones as I had nice girlfriends who called to see how I was faring as they knew my baby was away from for the first time. Before I knew it, they were home and the house was noisy again. I had lots of paperwork to read and checks to write.

Greg back from school.

Gilly's back from school too!!

Its been a week since they started school and my life has changed alot. I know just can walk out of the house without having anyone tagging along. I just got to get used to closing all the windows by myself and putting the dog in his cage by myself... I do miss them helping me get ready to go out... hmm.... something to get used to... but I'll survive.

(that's how the house sounds)

2008-08-20T07:05:00.001-07:00

All I can hear is the water splashing from my outdoor fountain....
The house is so quiet...
The house is way too quiet.....
I'm lost.......

I've cleaned the garbage can....
Now what do I do???????

My son is leaving me!!!

2008-08-19T21:06:00.000-07:00

Isn't he handsome in this photo? Greg just turned 5 last month and he will be hitting a milestone tomorrow. He will be going to Kindergarten and he is jumping into that "cool" yellow bus tomorrow. For the last 4 years since he was a baby, he would get all excited seeing his sister get on that bus and finally he has his turn tomorrow.

After 12 wonderful and sometimes stressful weeks of summer vacation(what vacation, I was a fulltime referee with both kids fighting all the time), both my kids will be heading to school tomorrow.

3 nights ago, in my dream I told myself, "you can go for pancake breakfast with your girls now" and within a few seconds, I realized in my sleep that for the rest of my life, I've lost my best buddy. That buddy who was a leech that stuck to me 24/7... he won't be with me constantly anymore. I've been dreaming for the last 8 years of some quiet and "me" time and now that its here, I'm having mixed feelings. I'm happy my baby is now going to school, I've done my part as a mom to change his diaper, feed him, take him to the park or to the zoo all those years and he is so eager to go to school, and yet I'm sad that I'm losing that one constant person that is always with me... he was always there to show me I'm needed... and now I'm not needed for 5 hours a day. OK.. OK... I guess I am allowed to be a pity potty for a few minutes. I do know that I will do my happy jiggle when they get on the bus... but I do know I'm going to shed a few tears when Greg gets on the bus. I'm entitled to that feeling...

What will be doing with my new free 5 hours when Greg is in school? I have a few plans and hopefully I'll follow through with them. I will have 1 hour with Greg before Gilly gets home so maybe my best buddy and I can goof around abit... oh yeah... dream on... there is homework!!!!

I've been "begging" Greg to stay home with me... here are a few of our conversations:

Me: Greggy, can you stay home with mummy?

Greg: No, mummy, I want to go to school.

Me: Don't you want play with me?

Greg: I want to go to school, school is fun

Me: Greg, I know you don't want to go to school, you love to stay with mummy.

Greg: Mummy, I love going to school.

Me: I know you love school but you love mummy even more.

Greg: But I want to go to school to learn

Another time:

Me: Hey, why don't you stay home with me.

Greg: No, I need to go to school

Me: I'll be so bored, nobody to play with me and bug me.

Greg: Mummy, you play with Shan Shan

Me: But Shan just sleeps all the time

Greg: Why don't you throw the bone at Shan

Yesterday's conversation after his school orientation...

Me: Greggy, I'm going to lock you in your closet so you can't go to school

Greg: No mummy, I love the school. Its so fun, I like my teacher. I want to go to school mummy.

Today's conversation...

Me: Greg, I'm going to let you sleep at midnight, you can play with the computer. We can play Wii fit and Mario Kart, you can watch TV all night long.

Greg: (puzzle and amazed look) wow.. I can play computer???

Gilly: (giggles) Greg, mummy is trying to trick you!! She wants you to sleep late so you wake up late and don't go to school.

Greg: Mummy, No I'm going to go to bed early. I have to wake up to go to sc hool.

Later in Costco...

Me: Greg, how about this... if you stay home and not go to school, I will buy you one big big big bag of M&Ms...

Greg: (he ran over to touch that big big bag of M&Ms)... I want to go to school! (he folded his hands and walked away from the M&Ms)

Oh well... at least I tried.. hehehe....

I know my baby is ready for school as he wasn't one bit shy when we went to his new class for his orientation. And I'll be on my new adventure with 5 hours of freedom.

What is the bigger picture??

2008-08-11T06:20:00.000-07:00

My neighbor, D (2 doors away), had delivered a baby boy end of May. We always assume that we would all bring home a healthy baby. D however knew earlier than her son would have some challenges. I wasn't aware of it until I notice that she and her hubby wasn't home. Only then did I find out from her mom that the baby had complications. Even when I saw D later, she briefed me about her son's situation and yet, I didn't realize how serious was the situation.

Her son has Charge Syndrome. I never heard of it until I Googled it. I remember feeling horrified when I realized what was thrown into D's way. This is something you dont' wish even on someone you hate whatmore your friend. I hate to say this but Down Syndrome would be an easier diagnosis than what D's son has.

Little D has progress pretty well but he is still not well enough to leave NICU to come home. Her previous entry had mentioned he may come home on Monday but today, when I read her latest entry, explained what went on during the weekend and little D won't be home. D has learnt not to plan too much these days. She says "Plans, who needs them anyway, right? Nothing in life really turns out as you plan them!"

She has alot of support from family and friends. Everyone has been praying for them. I do keep little D in my prayers and hope he gets to go home pretty soon. I know he is a fighter and so is his mom and dad. I just hope God gives them a good break. They need more good news and good outcome when it comes to Little D. Little D has a 2 year old sister (K) and she too has been affected by it. I just can't imagine how D feels everytime she has to leave K behind because she has to go to the hospital to be with Little D. No mother should have to feel guilty that she has to spend all the time in the hosp with a baby and having to leave the other child at home or with grandma. We always assume we would bring home a newborn and let the baby bond with the sibling.

What I've learnt in from D's situation,

Dont' wish for a certain gender, just be grateful for a healthy child,
Be thankful for everything. Even tiny little thing like our child having finish their milk or meal.
God sure has his way with things, one day he will throw something good at you and another day... it may be something bad but he has his plans we just don't understand

Alright .. sorry for my rambling.. reading her journal entry just made me frustrated. I've been wanting to blog about D and her situation but today I am finally rambling... I would love to add her link here but I dont' have her permission as she doesn't know about my blog... Its a lovely journal as it tells you of how amazing this family is during this difficult time.. it shows us how vunerable and strong anyone can be... so if you have time, do find out more about Charge Syndrome. Please keep D and her family, especially little D in your prays...

My Wii Fit

2008-08-06T11:31:00.000-07:00

I finally got my Wii Fit, thanks to my niece who had lined up for hours at the store. How is my Wii Fit, its such a cool and cute device. I'm amazed at how innovative these techie guys are at inventing something like this for us lazy bumps to exercise.

I just love the fact it helps track my weight and tells me how unfit I am. It allows me to set a goal on weight loss for a period of weeks or months as I see fit. So far my machines has called me a couch potato. It says I've a body of a 59 year old person and I'm embarassed to announce my BMI.. so you take a guess if its overweight or obese. Please don't use the comments to play a guessing game... hmm... maybe I should disable the comment for this entry. hahahahaha. It guides me with my balance when I'm doing yoga. I love that hula hoop that makes me make 300 spins. I hate it when I cant' balance and get my head hit by shoes at that football goalie game. The more minutes I spend exercising on it, it opens up newer and harder exercises for me.

Last friday, I paid a visit to my endocrinologist. Do not ask me why I went to see this old man who is very slow paced , mellow personality. I've seen him since I was pregnant with Gilly. I just trust him enough to go get my blood drawn by him. For those of you that know me well, you know how I hate needles.. hate is a very mellow word when it comes to my distaste for needles. We were talking about me and losing weight and I told him about my new toy.. He had a good laugh at the comments I get from my Wii Fit. He is the cool and calm type of person and is one that seldom laughs (the most you see is a smile from him). He was curious at all the functions of the wii Fit. He gave me the usual card for me to call in to listen to the results of my blood work.

Yesterday, the kids and I spent the whole day in the Shedd Aquarium. When I got home, I saw on my caller ID that the hospital called. I got kinda worried as calls from Hosp usually didn't mean good news. This morning I called that 1-800 number to see what was going on.. to only get my blood work results... PLUS my doctor asking me for that device that I told him about because he wanted to get it for HIMSELF. He usually records the results and not call me. That's why when I saw he called, I got worried. I had a good laugh at that.. He wants a wii Fit. I'll will have to call and tell his nurse that its called Wii Fit.

If you are interested, here is a video I found on Youtube showing what a Wii Fit does...

Be Nice To Me Or I'll Blog About You!!!

2008-08-04T07:47:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, as we had breakfast at McD's. Now, don't lecture me on how unhealthy it is to have McD for breakfast. I just love their Sausage McMuffins with Eggs and their hashbrowns. Greg asked me to finish his hashbrowns and when I took a bite, Gilly said "Mummy, you are eating more than us!" I smiled and pointed to my T-shirt and told her "Read this."

My t-shirt basically said "Be nice to me or I'll blog about you". Gilly giggled the moment she read it. Then Greg proceeded to say, yeah mummy, you are bigger than us. I turned to him and said "Read this" and continued... "oh you dont' read".. Gilly quickly said, "Greg you better be nice to her or she will blog about you." Greg laughed and said, "she always blogs about me."

Oh well, I guess the shirt is a warning to others but not my kids. It won't work. hahahaha ...I did wear that t-shirt to church and to a family function on Sunday... Good enough a warning??? *giggles*

Stylish Ballerina

2008-08-04T07:36:00.000-07:00

Gilly in tap outfit

Gilly in ballet costume

In June, I blogged about Gilly's ballet recital and a few weeks ago, we got to see photos taken from the formal photo session. Here is my money's worth, her sweet smile makes it worth paying $60 per costume. hahahaha... shall I say she wants jazz and tap next year and that would make 3 costumes??? arghhhhhhh....

Happy Birthday Jane of All Trades

2008-07-30T15:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to You.

Happy Birthday to You

Happy Birthday to Jane of All Trades

Happy Birthday to You

I can't believe that one year has passed since my first blog entry. I remember my first entry, I was still hesitant as I didn't want to fail. I thought my blog would be boring. I know I've sometimes gotten lazy and my blog stays "paused". Sometimes its also because I'm just too buzy. I'm glad I did start blogging as I now use it as a reference guide when I can't recall when a certain even happened. Last week I came back to check when I bought my patio set as I intent to buy a few extra chairs. hehehe.. Thank God for the blog!!!

So my friends who have been reading here, thank you for coming back over and over again. Mr.Ray, thanks for encouraging me to start this blog.

Summer Birthday Party !!!!!!

2008-07-27T15:40:00.000-07:00

The Kwannies

Both my kids are summer babies. Their birthdays are only 2 weeks apart and being a "cheap" mummy, I combine their birthday party. A friend has nicely put it as I'm frugal.. while I call it cheap.. hmmm frugal sounds nicer. I guess he used a better dictionary that I did... or I didn't know the existance of a Thesaurus... ok back to birthdays.......

Suddenly so shy Gilly!!!

Yes, I combined both the kids birthdays... hmmmm you know when I was young (dinosaur years ago...) I hated my birthday parties as I had to share it with 2 of my siblings... I never felt special.. until I celebrated my sweet 16.. hahaha my brother couldn't celebrate his sweet 16 with me as he was 3 years younger than me. In my recent call, I told my mom about how I disliked having to share my birthday parties... and yet I'm DOING the SAME thing now!!!!

Unusually shy Greg!!

I went on a guilt trip when I bought the kids their cakes. I called MJ to reassume myself that its ok to buy 2 half-sheet cakes... as I felt bad they had to share a party as it is... BTW.... Costco order form did mention 1 half-sheet cake eats 48... and how many guest were we expecting???? 45. A few of our guest did ask why I order 2 cakes and I quickly said.. "mummy guilt issues" hehehehe

We decided to order most food from Chinatown. I cooked curry chicken and beef rendang.. oh.. and I did last minute experiment with corn custard which turned out nice.. not as nice as my mom's though... We didn't have too much leftovers. Everyone loved the food and I saw someone quickly wrapping up my mother in law's specialty to take home. hehehe BTW "someone", my niece is having her birthday party next week and my MIL is making another batch. You want more ???

Kids can't wait for the cakes.

We started out inviting only few friends especially those with kids that played regularly with our kids. I wasn't being a bi*ch... just that we live in a townhouse (double storey terrace house) and was worried that if it rained, we couldn't accomodate 70 people. Finally 3 days before the party, we knew from weather forecast that Saturday was going to be a dry day.. We quickly invited more friends. I'm glad they understood and didn't feel insulted with a last minute invite. They all came... and that made me happy as they were hubby's close friends and I know how much he enjoys their company.

My sidekick and my partner in crime, you know who you are.

Preparation for the party was easy.. hehe right Katherine???? I just had to worry about the party favors and I did make sure I got the jumper. My kids insisted on the jumper and wanted back the one they had 2 years ago. I made my calls which was another funny story... which I may blog one day... Tony, if you Google and get to see this... You better give me a good discount next time. I'm Kwan... I got my jumper from Jammin Jumps. Their jumpers are clean and the rates are very reasonable. Jumper came at 10am and only left at 9pm... all for $175. The guy that came to set up the jumper remembered us.. cos funnily the same thing happened 2 years ago when he came.. the sprinkler started running just as they arrived.

The jumper.

The same jumper for 2006 party

Our guest started arriving and by end of the day.. almost everyone that was invited came. They kids had fun at the jumper and we had the bean bag games out, and the boys were playing with it. The kids helped themselves to the water balloon and I saw a few boys that were soaked wet. Yes, not only did they play with the water balloons, they were also playing with the water hose too. Oh well its ok... I did ask their parents to bring extra clothing. Its only once in a while that we have a party, so let the kids have fun while the parents get to sit and chat pleasantries....

Birthday girl

I was grateful that a few of my friends helped me out. Almost every adult helped here and there and a few precious helped mostest with packing up the food and storing it in the fridge for me. They helped wash up, I am so grateful to them. Thanks Iola and Theresa... you gals are my jewels.

Who needs a sprinkler???

Did I get to enjoy myself.. hahaha after paying $175 for that jumper.. I decided that I too should enjoy it. Almost at the end of the party, I decided that we mommies should have a turn at the jumper. I went in kicking all the kids out of the jumper and started to get the mummies in for 5 minutes. Yes we sure had fun in there. Ok.. for those of you that know how huge I am.. that freaking jumpber is 20' x 20'. It's a jumper that has basketball hoop in it.. and an obstacle whatever in there.. plus a slide.. so we mummies jumped around for awhile and then climbed up that steep slippery climber.. and slid down the slide... yehhhaaaaaa.... yahooooooo... cooollll... its fun to be kids again!!!!! NO... if you dare think of it.. we didn't damage the jumper. That jumper can take adult abuse hehehehehe....

The boys playing bean bag. Hubby made the board and i sewed the bags.

Alot of our guest stayed on. Gilly had her closest friends over and their dad came over twice to pick them up... to his frustration I guess... his girls didn't want to go home. I got him to let them stay longer and finally he sent his wife to pick up the girls.

The last guests left at 12.30am.. yes at midnite. We were playing mahjong and I made $5. No, I'm not a mahjong expert. I'm a blur when it comes to points and luckily I had an expert partnering with me. We had a few teen girls and I think they did have some fun. I remember not wanting to attend parties for little kids when I was a teenager. The older boys where playing catch at the backyard.

Eugene and I are feeling tired but even with that feeling... we feel happy. We got to celebrate our kid's birthdays with friends.. Friends that means something in our lives. Not "Hi-Bye" friends but friends that matters. Greg did enjoy himself the mostest as he calls it as his sweetheart Bella was there to sing him a birthday song. Both kids are now begging to open up their presents. Yes we got the presents unwrapped but not out of the packaging.. hehehe I milk the moments where if they are good then only they can open one gift.

Greg with the love of his life.

So friends that came to the party... Thank you for coming. Thank you for chomping down the food... hopefully no diahrrea ... I just loved seeing some of my favorite friends meet each other for the first time and actually got along well.

Impossible photo of bouncy kids!!!

oh... before I forget.. I got to meet someone for the first time.. we have been messaging back and forth from a forum. She was nice to drop by on her way back home from a vacation. Wish she had stayed longer.. WM.. you missed the rendang and curry chicken!!! Don't worry, we can always meet up and get to know each other more. When she was here, Iola(a young lady in her 70s...) was there to see for the first time how 2 ladies that met on the internet, meet physically for the first time.

That's all about the party.. wished my parents and siblings could have been here....

Please.... Please.... can we open the presents?

Kids Learning to Swim

2008-07-19T05:07:00.001-07:00

This summer, I signed both the kids up for swim lessons. Last year, Greg got to sit and watch Gilly have her lessons but this year it was his turn too. Long story short, Greg had a bad experience with his previous teachers and they got him scared of swimming pools. I signed both of them up for private lessons instead of group as it was only a $20 difference in prices.

Both the kids got teenage boys for coaches and Gilly was surprised as her previous coach was a girl. I guess we always assume they would allocate based on gender. Greg carefully walked into the water with his coach while the coach asked me about Greg's swim abilities. Right away he caught on that Greg wasn't comfortable with the water. The kids were taken to the Lazy river and Greg knew that it was going to be deeper than his height. Quickly the coach grabbed onto Greg's hands. In a minute Greg started to smile alittle. They started off with the kicking lessons.

Greg holding on to that blue thingy.

Water on Greg's face... "Get it off"

By second day of lesson, Greg was happy and excited start his lessons. He has since gotten more comfortable in the water and likes to jump into the water. He dares to dunk his face into the water and hold his breath for 4 counts. His kick is getting stronger and he doesn't bend his knee too much. I just hope he can float by end of this summer. He still doesn't straighten his arms when he is holding the float and the coach says its because of the age, they tend to do that at this age. I'm not worried for now.

Here I go!

I love this.

Please don't drop me, I don't trust this noodle, I usually eat noodles not float on it.

Gilly has had swim lessons before, last year her coach worked on her floating and freestyle. This year, after briefly telling her coach that the last lesson she had was last summer, he was surprise that she just jumping in and started swimming again. I guess its like cycling, where once you know it you won't forget it.

wee... this is easy.

She is just learning to inhale and exhale while swimming, I know it sounds easy but it takes a while to master it. I still mess up my breathing sometimes. She can now swim the length of 12 strokes.

I'm exhausted. I need a rest!

Here I go again.

Gilly,my fearless Gilly, has fear of heights, we found out when she went on Tower of Terrors, so you can imagine how much she loves the diving board. Part of their lessons involves climbing up those tiny steps and walking across the board, stand and start at the water... trying to gain the courage to jump into the water, and finally taking the plunge. My girl last year would stand at the tip of the board for 5 minutes. Yes, 5 long minutes and it would just infuriate me. I know I have height issues too but to stand there for 5 minutes is a torture. I kept telling her its just better to jump in and get it over than to torture yourself for 5 minutes. This year to my SURPRISE, she just got on and jumped right away. I was so happy and figured my girl is now braver as she is 1 year older. In the car, I commented that she did good on the diving board and what made her jump off right away. She said "I just want to quickly jump off so you won't scold me". Guilty feeling gushed over me.... oh well at least she jumped!!

Holy Macaroli.. or is it Holy Macaroni? Is that my daughter?

While waiting for the kids, I found ways to amuse myself. Not once did I bring my knitting bag nor a magazine to keep myself occupied. Day 2, I was ticked to see this cute activities. Yes, I could not believe that a family of ducks, mommy duck and her ducklings were swimming in the lazy river. She made a few rounds on it before the lifeguards got them out of the pool.

Look who has stepped into the Lazy River

Mummy Duck and baby ducklings... 8 of them

Greg swimming near the ducks. Ducks, please don't poop

Another day, I found myself amused watching one little 3 year old that refuses to go into the pool and her guard had to spend 30 minutes coaxing her to get it, and stay in the pool. She kept wanting to get out and he would in his gentle way get her to hold the float. I was laughing when I see how helpless he gets. He never once lost his cool and got her to a few times float and kick. These are high school kids... and they have shown how responsible they can be. Kudos to them!!

The kids will have one more lesson, I doubt Greg will be able to float by that lesson and its OK. I do have the rest of the summer to take them to the water park. We got the season pass and do go there as often as we can. We usually spend an hour or two there to get the kids out of the house. They both just love the water park and would beg to go there every morning. At least I got them to love the water.. hehehe... ciao

Someone is riding without training wheels!!!!

2008-07-18T05:36:00.000-07:00

We crossed another milestone on July 14, 2008. Greg is now riding a bike without any training wheels. It took him only 2 days to master it. Yes, 2 days while it took Gilly 3 weeks. Was Gilly a slow learner? No, more like parents learning from our experience. What we did different this time was to let him go on a 2 wheel scooter. He learnt how to balance himself on a scooter after a few days and finally he decided he was ready to try the bike ... and he now calls his bike the "two wheeler".

Daddy keeping a close eye on Greg

We were both exhausted running beside him while he tried riding the bike for the first time. Greg kept running into mailboxes, hahaha I can laugh about it now but at that time we cringe seing him heading towards the mailboxes. It was a good thing we taught him how to stop the bike and how to quickly put his feet down to balance himself. He didn't get injured nor did he "kiss" any mailboxes. Phew!!!

Here Greg let me help you.

The next day, Daddy decides to take Greg to Gilly's school to ride his bike. As it is summer and there isn't anybody in school grounds, the parking lot is empty and hey.. no mailboxes!!! Daddy figured it would be easier as Greg could just keep going on and on without having to stop and turn the bike around.

Look mummy, Look

The 3 of them put the bikes into the van and drove to school. After an hour, they came running into the house. Proudly screaming that Greg has "got it". I came out with my camera and there my little rascal with his impish grin jumped on his bike and buzzed about.

Mummy, I made a turn back on my own.

These past few days, the first thing he wants to do is to jump onto his bike and for a bike ride. Daddy did take them for a bike ride to the nearest park. Maybe one of these days we will all bike to the bigger park which is further away.

I'm lovin this... I'm a big boy now.

We can tick off bike training off our summer "To Do" list. We certainly are glad there wasn't any blood or tears shed this time round. We do learn from our experience with the older child and I wish I could have made it easy for us the first time round.. So for all parents who plan to take off the training wheels..... start with a 2-wheel scooter.

Vegetables from my Garden

2008-06-26T20:03:00.001-07:00

Back row: Spinach (left) and Bok Choy (right)

Front: Basil and Green Onions

These vegetables are from my garden!!!!! Yes they certainly are. We had stir-fry bok choy for dinner today and it was certainly delicious. I was surprise how much vegetables I had brought in from the garden.

If you are wondering what I'm doing with my garden, I'm trying out something new this year. Its called Square Foot Gardening. According to this method, you are more efficient at planting. My one patch of garden is a 4'x 4' and it has grids to help you visually plant better. Each grid is 1'x 1' and depending on the type of plants you want on your veggie patch, you can have from 1 to 9 plants in each grid. I've planted okra, green onions, tomato, bell peppers, cayenne pepper, dill, bok choy, spinach, lettuce, strawberries and some seedlings that I forgot to document.

This bottom patch was filled with bok choy, I know some people just pull out the whole plant to harvest but I decided to try just plucking the big leaves. I want to see if this work.. if not I'll just reseed on the same patch again. That's the thing about this Square foot gardening, you easily see where to plant more seeds as things are more organized. The guy that invented this system is an engineer.

Its very easy to construct this veggie patch. I got my hubby to bang in some nails and if you wish to try it out. You just need 2' x 6 x 8' lumber. Go to your local library and see if they have this book called "Square Foot Gardening". They give you detailed instructions and have a list of plants with the correct amount of plants to plant in one grid.

*please ignore the weeds... I do try to pull them out as fast as I can...

Char Koay Teow at Asian Noodle House (Hoffman Estate, IL)

2008-06-26T19:36:00.000-07:00

Whenever I go back to the northwest suburbs of Chicago, especially when I'm around Schaumburg or Arlington Heights. I would go about with my activities but one thing for sure, I would stop at Asian Noodle House at Hoffman Estate to pay Susan and her hubby Kevin a visit. Its a must for me to have my kick of Char Koay Teow. They cook it the Klang style which is darker than the Penang style. Kevin is from Klang and that's why CKT is how it is.. I love my Penang CKT but since I grew up in Klang, the Klang version is also something I crave. I was in Schaumburg last Tuesday and I made my stop at asian Noodle House. I did a carry out as I just finished lunch. I was all excited as I knew I was going to enjoy my dinner at home... unfortunately I got excited seeing Susan and forgot to say "add bak eu pok" hehehehe.. yes that sinfully fattening lard!!!! oh welll... I did enjoy my dinner...

My plate of Char Koay Teow

If any Malaysian that is visiting Chicago, don't just stop at Penang in Chinatown... Do stop at Asian Noodle House. They do have specials especially on weekends and just ask if they have specials as its not in the menu.

They are located at the intersection of Roselle Rd and Higgins Rd.

Asian Noodle House
844 N Roselle Rd
Hoffman Estates, IL 60194
847-882-9650

*Note* I've not been paid by Asian Noodle House... Its just a must stop for me whenever I'm up in that area and I figured some Malaysians who are out of town may like to try this place out. I know alot of out of towners shop at Woodfield Mall so this place is just a 5 minute drive from there.

Father's Day

2008-06-26T19:18:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Father's Day almost 2 weekends ago. I know, I know, I've been bad at adding new posting. We have been pretty busy running around but I did try my best to have my camera with me.

We didn't do much for Father's Day. I forced myself to not make Daddy do any work. He got to sleep in late (he woke up at 10a.m.) but by the time it was ready for lunch, all the pancake houses we packed and we didn't want to wait. We ended up at Culvers which made the kids even happier as they love Culver's custard(I dont' know why its custard, to me its just ice cream). Later Daddy got to grill himself a steak (another luxury for him as I'm not a beef/steak eater)... Now.. don't give me the lecture on why he has to cook his own steak... cos if I do it.. it will be well done and he likes his bloody!!!!! He had a day of not having to do almost anything but just relax..

Found Greg had come into our bedroom and slept on Daddy.

What is up with Lia Sophia?

2008-06-13T10:12:00.000-07:00

*Please note that this is my opinion*

On May 9th, my girlfriends and I were invited to a Lia Sophia party. I've never been to a jewelery party and was rather interested in seeing what they have available. I've to admit that since the babies, I've neglected myself and have not bought anything pretty for myself. So there we strut to the party house. To our surprise, it was only us 3 girls that were there besides the hostest's miserable few family members. It was only me and my gf S and we made sure K would appear at the party even if she was gonna be very late. Guess what... she managed to come even with all the chaos at her place. She was 1 hour late and our hostess was so nice to wait for K. hahaha... nice or desperate as S and I were the only actual customers there.

The sales person right away put on an necklace on us which I thought was weird as you don't really know who has previously worn it and if its clean. We shut up and just went about being "polite"

By the time the presentation started there was the hostess's mom, and us 3 gals.. pathetic??? My gf K was nice enough to volunteer herself to host a party since the hostess's sister has decided to sell Lia Sophia (i don't know what you call those ladies). K was allowed to buy one item for $20 (original price $100) if she does host a party. We all paid with our credit cards and K paid for that $20 for the host special.

Fastforward to yesterday... we finally got our jewelery... ahhhhh about 4 weeks later. On Monday, I called and ask S if she had gotten her jewelry. She said No and I figured we both are in the same boat. When we checked our credit card, we know that there was Lia Sophia trasaction. Now why weren't we getting our item??? K called the hostess to find out that she actually has the jewelery. Now how dumb can they be??? Don't they have the courtesy to call us and tell us its with her? All she needed to do was call one of us gals as we are always together. Not an apology ... nothing... We had to drive to her house and pick it up.

K went to deliver S her jewelry ... and to find out.. its the WRONG item!!!!! K had bought the $20 hostess special jewelery... and she found out it wasn't in the bag. So she had to call the hostess again.. to find out .. GET THIS.... Lia Sophia has charged you for that piece of jewelery but you only get them when you have that party. This in my opinion is NOT RIGHT, as consumer you should be charged for goods received when you get them. Not held like a BLACKMAIL with the condition you will get it when you have the party. That would mean if you decide to host the party say.... 6 months later.. Lia Sophia is holding your $$$$ for 6 months. Is that ethical???

The efficiency of the Advisor is another issue. Calls to the lady that was training our hostess's sister hasn't not been returned. K had to call customer service to see what was going on with our transaction. Not only that... K was suppose to host a party end of June and she was forced to submit a list of guest she inviting. She was told that Lia Sophia wants to make sure invites are sent out on time. Mind you if K is a dumbo and sends it out 1 week before the party.. then yes.. Lia Sophia is right.. but K is a party planner herself and always sends out invites 1 month ahead. I think that is right to do that, no.. she was told that invites would only be sent 2 weeks before the party. Now that would mean her friends only have 1 1/2 weeks advance notice. A lot of us have lives you know.. we just can't throw or push our plans aside for a jewelery party.

So ... for me this fiasco with Lia Sophia and its consultants were ridiculous to the point I just have to laugh it off as a lesson learnt. I guess I won't be going for any of those parties anymore. Serves me right for wanting a bit of an adventure.

**Updated on 6/26/08**
My girlfriend who received the wrong necklace... she just realize she got charged on her credit card TWICE for the necklace!!!! My other gf has decided to cancel the party and to return all her purchase. K and I did not get a white receipt, instead we got the carbon copy order form. We found out that without that white receipt, you can't get a refund!!!! What a whole bunch of crap. I promise that Lia Sophia will not get a dime from me anymore!!!!!!! I don't even want to deal with them. Lesson learnt indeed!!!!

12/19/2010: Dear readers, I have decided to close the comments on this topic. Its been 2 years and its time to move on. I've always stated that the company shd monitor their consultant as those consultant's actions does reflect the company image and NO!!! I've never been contact by anyone to rectify anything so I'm done.

My First Garage Sale

2008-06-11T04:00:00.000-07:00

I finally did something American. I had a garage sale over this weekend. That was why I was busy cleaning up my basement and even my garage. I told my hubby he owes me big time as I have even cleaned up the garage after the garage sale. My main concern was getting rid of the bulky baby items. I lined them out in my driveway and kept the tiny items inside the garage. I'm grateful that we had nice weather during the whole sale. I had another friend that came over to sell some toys. Granted we didn't sell like hotcakes but the mere fact we got to sit and chat inbetween people walking in ... it was fun.

A friend was shocked that I never had a garage sale before. I quickly reminded her that I am Malaysian and we dont' have garages back home or do we???

All the baby stuff lined up in the driveway. Kids woke up early for the garage sale.

How was my experience overall?? I had mixed feelings... I learnt how sentimental I am. Being the last minute person I only got to the baby clothes Friday at 11pm. By then I was exhausted and being determined, I tried going thru a few boxes of the newborns... Oh boy... I didn't expect myself to react the way I did. I thought I would just recollect the times when my babies wore those clothes... How wrong I was. I've long ago given away alot of girl baby clothes to my sister so I had to deal with Greg's baby clothes. There I saw the cute onesie that I was forced to go buy a week after delivering Greg. We realize we didn't have many boy clothes and couldn't make ourselves let him wear pink onesies.. hahaha... So when I saw that onesie... I went "oh... I remember you.. I was forced to go out and buy you"... then tears started rolling .... then I reached out for another and again I started tearing...

I would turn around and ask my hubby if he remembers those outfits. He was busy running between basement and garage and I realize he sat down(it was nice of him to be supportive when I was a basket case). Then came this tiny little dress.. and tat was it.. It was Gilly's first little dress... I started crying and I then decided it was just too much for me. Those boxes has been in there for 4 years and another few weeks won't kill us. I'll have to go thru those clothes this week for a friend who is having a baby boy. I will make sure I will be fresh and not exhausted when I dive into that pile again

Other view of the driveway

During the sale, a lady bought this green push cart... as she carried it away, old memories of Gilly, pushing that cart and chasing Shan (our shih tzu) in our then 660 sq ft. apartment, flashed thru my mind. Another lady bought our exersaucer and as I said bye to the exersaucer, I recollected how much I hated buying that exersaucer for Greg my 2nd child. I didn't believe in exersaucer or walkers but was desperate enough to buy it when Greg refuse to be put down. He wanted to be carried all the time that for a week we had to do carry out as I could not cook. Its just silly but those toys do have alot of stories behind it. We had another push toy that had sentimental value. It was given by hubby's friend's wife. I didn't know her well then but she later became the kids' Godmother and a good friend to us. She happened to be there at the garage sale to see it go bye bye.... She even remembered that toy.

Little green toy next to Greg was used by Gilly to terrorize the dog!!!

We dragged the old crib out and were determine to get rid of it that we just put a Free sign on it. hehehe... I asked my hubby if he wanted to take it down to the basement again... He was smart enough to say "lets just get rid of it."

Isn't my garage clean??

I gave Gilly a little table for her to sell some items. She got all excited and managed to sell $13 worth of things. I think she did sell more just mummy didn't give her the money when she needed change. Shhh... please don't remind her.

We ended the garage sale at 3pm and took the kids for ice cream after dropping off some toys at Goodwill. The weather started getting bad and I was so exhausted that I took a nap. During my nap I heard siren but I ignored it until Hubby came up to tell me the tornado siren is on and I better get my butt down to the basement. We sat huddled in the basement for good 45 minutes until we couldn't hear anymore siren. We were lucky that the tornado missed us by a few miles. It hit Richton Park and University Park. I'm glad it happened last weekend and not the earlier weekend as we were at University Park for Gilly's ballet recital. I crawled back to bed and slept until 10 when Hubby came up to remind me to eat. Yes I forgot to eat!!!!! Even after chowing down some fried rice, right away I went back to bed. Now its just time for me to start sorting the stuff I want to send to Goodwill, to church, to a friend and trash.

My girlfriend blogged about what had happened to her 5 year old after they left our place. If you have time do stop at her blog to see what happened. Its just so funny that I still laugh about it until today.

Greg and his hatred for Ebay!!!!

2008-06-10T08:45:00.000-07:00

If you didn't read my entry yesterday, we finally bought the Wii Mario Kart yesterday. The kids were so excited that they finally got their Mario Kart. However just before dinner the kids got into big trouble for fighting (yes, those push, kick and hit fights). They were sitting miserably at the dinning table thinking they had to eat white bread for dinner as punishment. When I told hubby that we have 2 mario kart and he suggested selling one on ebay. Greg threw a fit thinking we were selling his Mario Kart because he was naughty. As the Malay saying goes.. "siapa makan chili dia rasa pedas" (english: whoever that eats the hot pepper, is the one tat feels the heat/burn". He was balling like crazy... We were laughing at how he reacted and this did go on for awhile. So here are the photos to show how IMPORTANT a wii game is to a 5 year old.

Click on the photos to see his tears.

This damn craze of Wii !!!

2008-06-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

We have had our Wii system since December 2007 and I've to say our kids don't get to play with it too much. Our house rule is no TV on school days that means no TV, video games nor computer. Even on weekends they sometimes get their TV priveleges taken away for being naughty during the week. We only have Wii Sports, Mario Galaxy, Pets Dogs, Cars and Cooking Mama. I've seen the Kart a few times months ago but never bothered to buy them... until a few weeks ago. Trouble is, they are never in stock!!! I don't understand how dumb Nintendo gets with a limited production that gives rise to scalpers that double the prices of the in-demand items.

Yesterday, I saw the Target sales ads and decided to stop there on our way home from church. It was about 1.30pm. Lo and behold, there was one miserable box left. Yes one lonely box which got me excited. I thought lady luck was on my side.. until I got to the sales assistant. He glanced at me and I said I needed help on the Wii aisle. He told me he would get to me soon. He was attending to 2 customers and when I glanced to see if he was still busy.. this lady told me "He has 2 people ahead of you". I said I know.. then when he came to where I was standing, this lady again turned around and told me... "I was here first", then when the guy asked me what I needed I told him Mario Kart. She quickly told him and me "I wanted the Mario Kar and I was here". I just smiled and told her, "yes if you are here then you should get it first. I know how hard it is to get it". It got me irritated on the way home how bitchy she was. That kinda spoilt my mood for the day but its OK... I went to a party and had fun there.

Today, I was browsing on the internet to see who in this world has a Mario Kart available... and to my surprise ToysRUs said they have stock.. so I called and asked and the lady told me they had stock. I asked her if she only had one or two and she said "oh.. we have alot". I quickly told the kids to get into the car. For the first time in their lives, I have 2 most obedient kids!!!! I had to get them from the garage to help me close the windows and get the dog caged. hahaha.. weren't they quick for once???

We arrived at ToysRus and yes.. they had 3 on the shelf and about 5 more behind the counter. We grabbed one and the kids asked for an extra wheel. Before paying for the item, I made them promise not to ask for any new toy for 2 months as this past week we have gotten them the extra remote/nunchuck and cooking mama game. They promise (I wonder how long this will last).

I decided to head to Costco to fill up the van with the ever so cheap gas ($4.09/gallon) and ran to get myself the umbrella base which weight 65lbs. hahaha I had to get the guy to help me load it to my van. We casually browsed thru the aisled and to our surprise they had Wii Mario Kart and it was $6 cheaper. Like a dumbo.. I just grabbed one of the empty box and went to the counter. They did have stock and I just decided to grab an extra one... I thought I could sell the one I got from ToysRus to my neighbor... now my hubby thinks he should be a scalper as well hahahaha.. we shall see....

As for that bitchy lady... why stress yourself up... your kid won't die without a Mario Kart and the ugly side of you won't have surfaced. I now have 2 Mario karts.. thanks to you silly desperate woman!!!!!! Now.. the quest for a wii Fit for Mummy dearest

Boxes! Boxes! Boxes!

2008-06-05T20:39:00.000-07:00

Do you buy new things and keep the boxes thinking one of these days when you move you need the box. Or think when you sell your used things on ebay, you will need the original box to ship out the item. I'm embarass to say, I'm one that does that.

When we open our new purchase, I would ask my hubby to drag the box into the basement. He would happily do it and literarily take the box down. Is the box arranged so it kept in an orderly manner? NO.. its just "dropped" in the basement. We had this big mess of box... until today.

This morning at 6.30, I decided to just go down to the basement and get hubby to bring up heavy itmes from the basement to the living room. I ended up getting annoyed with the sight of the boxes that I strayed away from my original plan and started clearing up old cardboard boxes. I sorted out the styrofoams and plastic bags and flatted out the boxes. When the kids woke up, without breakfast(shhh!!!) we loaded the minivan with flatten cardboards. This went on until 10:05 a.m. when we realize that we had a play-date at 11 a.m and better go brush our teeth, drink some milk, get dressed and rush to the recycling center.

Boxes from Basement

I'm glad the kids woke up and helped as it was pretty tedious to sort out the boxes and its packing materials plus dragging it up stairs to the 1st floor then drag them to the garage and then to the minivan. Tiny hands and feet but they were were a BIG help.

Van stacked up with flatten boxes

Oh.. boy... we sure filled up the car. By the time we went to the recycling center, the back of the minivan was filled with flatten boxes. Now, now... don't say I'm abusing my kids... yes, we only had cereal straw and milk for breakfast but they had a heck of a play date. We went to our friend's house and the kids played for 30 minutes. Then we went to McD for lunch as we were starving and they kids got to play at McD for whole 2 hours and 30 minutes!!!!! I'm glad the kids got to play as they are kinda sick of playing with just their sibling. Its hard on them when they are so used to seeing their friends in school everyday and to not see any kid unless there are playdates. Hopefully we will have more playdate and that would give the kids something to look forward.

My New "Toy", an Outdoor Stove

2008-06-05T20:01:00.000-07:00

We recently bought an outdoor umbrella from Costco. I decided to go back to Lowes to look for a umbrella stand that matches my patio set(click here to read about it) which I bought last year. There I waltzed into Lowes thinking I'll only be spending the most $50... haa... which fool would believe that would happen to me???

I happened to walk by the outdoor grill section and decided to say "hi" to this outdoor stove that I've been eyeing for the past 2 summers. Fall came and went and this outdoor stove never went on sale. A sale assistant told me last Fall that this stove would never come down in price. I was so dissapointed... until yesterday. My little visit to the stove showed me a yellow tag.. it said "Clearance $95. Was $119". I couldn't believe my eyes, as I never expected it to be in sale. I quickly ran to the shelves to see if there was anymore stock and there stood one!!!. I quickly ran and grabbed a cart and got the assistant to help put it into the cart.

Why was I that crazy to buy that stove??? Firstly I wanted an outdoor stove to fry my Salted Fish and not stink up the house!!!!! Secondly, it has 21,000 btu that means the fire power is huge... yahoo... I can try frying Char Koay Teow and Tai Look meen...hmmmm.. do I have the talent of a Hawker??? That is yet to be seen.. oh... and best part... the grate where you place your pot.... its reversible, you flip it and the bottom part is made to fit a wok.

Its called ...*drumroll*... Char Broil Outdoor StoveTop. If you want more info, go to go to Char Broil's site I was too excited and couldn't wait for hubby to come home. I decided to install it myself and it was pretty easy to follow the instructions. However do becareful with the final part which is installing the Control Knob in Step 6. You have to make sure the "dot" on the knob is at the OFF level. That will ensure a smoother installation. Its not design default if it doesn't go in properly.. its because we have to make sure the dot is at the correct angle. I figured this out while 2 men(I shall not name names) tried to help thought it was design flaw.. hehehe ahem ahem.. ... but all it took was one smart or stubborn cookie to figure that out... Because it something to do with propane tank and it was me that did the installation, I didnt' take any chance, I dragged the stove out to my driveway and stood good 10 feet away while my hubby turned it on for the first time. I'm proud to say my hubby still has all his hair and eyebrows. Phew!!!! If not malu only....

BTW.. They didn't have stock for the umbrella stand... and I ended up with a more expensive purchase than planned... *excited giggles*. I've not cooked with this stove as I've a busy weekend and I'm working on my weekend project. I'll take photos when I cook on this stove.

my lovely stovetop

*update*

I showed my neighbor who happens to be a vietnamese couple my new stove. I helped the wife call all the neighboring Lowes to see who still has stock for this stove and none did. I told her to go back to the one where I bought mine and just try to see if they could get a good price for the "display" unit. They went and did what I told them to do... shhhhh..... they managed to walk out of Lowes with a $5o-something stove. What a bargain.. a display unit that has never been used!!!!

My Gorgeous Clematis

2008-06-03T04:40:00.000-07:00

2 summers ago, I decided to plant some clematis and bought those cheapo tiny pots from Home Depot for $8 each. Those 2 tiny plants has blossom to these two displays which I brightens my morning when I look out of my kitchen window. I chose the purple clematis and Gilly has staked claim that the multicolored one is hers. Gardening is still new to me and I'm still experimenting with my plants. I trimmed one back last year and it has not bushed out as good as the other.. but I still love its lovely display.

I'll say if you are patient person, just buy those small plants and you will still get the stunning display a clematis would give in a year or two.

The trimmed clematis which is now climbing higher

Gilly's clematis

Last Day of School & First Day of Summer Vacation

2008-06-02T14:34:00.001-07:00

YIKES!!!!!!!! Today is the last day of school for Gilly.... Yahoo for Gilly and Yikes for Mummy... hahahaha.... Yes I start my 24/7 job as a referee. Both my kids will be home all the time and they have started their "fights"

I love the fact we have not too much schedule to adhere and basically have all the free time in the world. We can get up late and not rush anyone out of the door. We have swimming lessons planned, a week where Gilly goes to Brownie camp and activities signed up at the library. I do have a busy Wednesday where I have scheduled all my piano lessons. Midweek where we dont' have to reschedule anyone if anyone decides to go on a long weekend vacation. We are pretty upset we dont' get to go back to Malaysia but hopefully we can plan one end of the year or next year. Better planning.. no more procastinating!!!!

Gilly getting on the bus at 8.30 am

Gilly getting off the bus at 10.30 am

We have an annual tradition we do each year around this time of the year. The next day after ballet recital, I cut Gilly's hair shorter. No need for her hair to be bunned up so its all snipped up. Gilly who is a free spirit loves long hair but dislikes combing or tying her hair. Its just more practical during summer to have her hair short since its hot and sweaty. So.. this is what I've done to her hair. Yes... I cut her hair myself.. hahaha... Surprisingly she will not like her hair cut but when its short ... she loves the lighter feel to it and doesn't complain.

Gilly with hair shorter by 2 p.m

Ballet Recital

2008-06-02T05:43:00.000-07:00

Gilly has been dancing ballet since she was 4 and this is our 4th ballet recital. I decided from the beginning to send her to a proper ballet school instead of the park district program. I thought the consistency of a proper dancing school would be good for my active soon-to-be-tomboy. Oh... boy... I didn't know how expensive it would get. The monthly tuition fee isn't all that bad, its when its recital time that it can get pretty expensive. Not only were the tickets $18/person, this year Gilly had 2 costumes and they cost $60 each. Yes this mummy here who usually not spend $20 on an outfit at Target paid $60 for each outfit. My girl better dance GOOD!!!! Oh... there are also photos from photo sessions as well. Luckily those cost $25/costume...

This weekend, we had the recital. Yes its a 2 day dance recital and I'm happy to say Gilly did dance well. She has learnt how to smile during the whole dance routines. I've to say, she has improved from last year. Her outfits were cute, black/red was for her tap dance and a gold/yellow outfit was for her ballet. I've to say I'm quite relieved that she isn't advance yet. Her teacher helper had 13 outfits and that meant her mom had to shelf out almost $800. As a mom, I did watch with amazement how these 8 year olds can remember 2 dance routines and dance without fear or shyness. I don't think at that age I would have dare dance on stage. I've learnt its OK to watch her dance with tears in my eyes. I should be proud of how she has progressed and how pretty she looks.

This is the only time in the year Gilly is allowed to have makeup on her. I remember the 1st year I had to go for a stage makeup and hair workshop. The instructor told us to put on as much make up as we can as the make-up need to last 6 hours. Funniest thing she said was "to know how much is enough, when you are done putting the make-up on, show her to Daddy and if he freaks out ... that's the correct amount". For her age, they require minimum of mascara and eye liner, lipstick, eye shadow and blusher. The older girls would require false eyelashes and when that time comes, I won't know what to do as I've never used one before.

I got to spend 6 hours of Saturday chaperoning the girls. It was a nice time getting to know each girl and having to see the whole production from behind the scenes. Its not easy taking care of 150 girls. As the girls are getting older, its easier to watch them. We had arts and craft to keep them happy. They didn't run around as much as they did the last 2 years. I remember my 1st year, I had to come home and take 2 tylenol (panadol) as I had a headache from doing headcounts... and I had 2 that could not sit still. Only this year we had to learn to do quick costume change as the girls now had more than 1 costume... and there were 3 girls that had 4 costumes. I do look forward each year to helping out at the back. I better enjoy myself, in a few years Gilly would be big enough that I don't need to be backstage anymore.

Enjoy the few photos I took of her in her outfits, no video and photography allowed in the concert hall. We are expected to buy the DVDs.. $35/act.. and there are 2 acts!!!

Gilly in Stock Marker Crash costume

Gilly with her sidekicks

Gilly with her 17 tap dance buddies.

Gilly and proud Greg. He kept shouting and clapping for her when she was dancing.

My Future Prima Ballerina ?

Plans for Memorial Week

2008-05-22T15:07:00.001-07:00

Memorial weekend is just days away and I know what are my plans for that long weekend. We have a BBQ gathering on Monday but for the rest of the days... Take a guess or scroll down to see.

Back of van all filled up.

Squeeze 2 more trays in the 2nd row.

Yes, I've finally made myself drive out to this Nursery called Sunrise. Its about 45 min drive and its worth it as plants are usually much cheaper out there. Its the largest nursery I've seen so far. Its even bigger than whole of Home Depot or Menard and its all filled with annuals and perennials. We spent almost 3 hours there and I had to bribe Greg with a McD Happy Meal treat after this shopping spree. I will shut my mouth up about how much I spent there but there goes my 1 month of piano lessons money... Time to recruit more students???

Driving down to the nursery just reminded me that last year when I made my annual trip, my dad was with me. He helped me plant alot of my plants and this year I just have myself... oh my back.. one guy who walked passed my 3 tier cart smiled and said "you sure have you work cut out this weekend". I know I'm gonna tire myself but when you go to this nursery, you need to make sure you do buy as much as you need but oh... the variety of flowers they have is just so wide... makes me go crazy like how a kid gets crazy in ToyRus. I'll post photos of the garden once all the plants are in the ground or potted.

Last day at PreSchool

2008-05-16T07:59:00.000-07:00

Today, its been an up and down day for us here. Being a last minute person, I had to wake up and quickly make Greg's Preschool Contact list, then wrap up 3 presents for his teachers then rush to school to get the list xerox-ed. I realized after leaving Greg in school that I didn't have breakfast. Oppss...

Besides being a crazy day, it was emotional too. I had to fill up the Thank You cards for Greg and he helped with the wordings. When he was about to sign his name, I noticed he was wiping his face. I suspected what it was and by the 2nd card, I knew for sure. He has had tears in his eyes everytime he came up with wordings for the cards. By the 3rd card, he was really down. I had to sit and tell him it was OK that it was his last day of school.

Yes, my baby is having a hard time saying goodbye to his preschool days. He has had a wonderful 2 years in preschool. His teachers have been lovely to him, teaching him school is a nice and fun place to be. Its amazing how both my kids started scared going to preschool and ending up excited about full day Kindergarten by the time they finish preschool. I'm very grateful my kids and I have had a good experience with the teachers and staff at our park district.

Its been hard for me too. I know summer is coming and I look forward to having fun with the kids free of any schedules. We are looking forward to spending our days at the waterpark but at the same time I've been feeling abit nostalgic. This is my last day taking my kid to preschool. The next time I'll be taking any kid to preschool will be my grandkids!!! Man... do I feel old now.... hahaha... I guess being in my late 30s... and still having a kid in preschool always made me feel still "young"... Oh well.... knowing me.. I'll survive and look forward to all my future adventures. As for preschool days... I will miss it .... hey.. Katherine if you need a buddy, give me a call and I'll come with you when you drop Cricket at preschool!!!

One of the best things about preschool... I've made awesome friends with these 2 ladies, Katherine and Sherill. I will miss the times where we all go hang out at Starbucks, Target or Costco while waiting for the kids. You gals did make my mornings interesting.. and for this.. I am grateful to have met you guys.

I don't think I like Mother's Day

2008-05-14T12:58:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone had a good Mother's Day. Here in Chicagoland, Mother Nature didnt' give us a break or did she? Well it was raining heavily and it was so windy that I could feel my house shake. What did I do... I decided to have a nice day and not rush out for Church. Shhh!!!! Please don't tell God that I've been sinful. Its Mother's Day... I do deserve a break. Well, I just stayed in bed and watched TV the whole day. It was between Hallmark and Lifetime Channel and boy I sure enjoyed myself. Hubby went to get us McD breakfast and man that was delicious (as long as I don't have to cook and clean up... anything is delicious). What did we have for lunch and dinner? I seriously don't remember... maybe it was leftovers and take-outs.. but definitely not my gourmet cooking.

I did have a very nice Mother's Day present from the kids... a pot of dianthus from Gilly and a hand drawn mug from Greg... but the bestest of all was from Hubby.. He vinyl tiled the steps in my garage and pegboarded my garage wall for me to hang my tools... and that was all done WITHOUT me asking him to do it. I told him that was the best present ever. Men out there.. if you want your wife to respect you and admire you and get extra "action".... that's the way to go.. do things for your wife without being told to do so!!!!!!

Then came my boy... he was starting to fight with his sister so I told him to take a nap. He said NO without hesitation... and I told him, "Its Mother's Day, you should nap and make mummy happy." He gave me that look tat said "I'm thinking here".... and then proceeded to tell me "I dont' think I like Mother's Day".... sigh.... I guess its gonna be a annual thing he won't be looking forward to... him having to make something for mummy and celebrate it... and yet not liking it when that day comes... hahaha.. too bad...

One more year to Mammogram

2008-05-08T07:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, May 7th was my Birthday. I just celebrated my 39th birthday... the last of my thirties... and next year I'll qualify for Mammogram.... Is it scary to be 39? No, I like my age.. I rather be where I am than in my twenties where we don't who we are and always trying to please everyone. Do I please anyone at this age? No but the difference is I don't care anymore. I'm just comfortable with who I am. I guess with a loving hubby and two lovely kids, who could ask for more. I could!!! hahahaha... look at the photos.. my hubby has always been camera "challenged"

I've added photos of us at home with my birthday cake. Hubby went out to get us an ice cream cake. We did go out for dinner at Mimi's Cafe at Orland Park. We were pleasantly surprise at the good service. We asked what was good as it was our first time there... Not only were the kids given "free" fries when we realize their kids food didn't come with fries, the co-owner/manager came out at the end with a box of muffins for us to take home. Yes, it was free. Later I told Gilly that if they had told the manager it was my birthday, we would have gotten free cake as well but Daddy already has cake at home. We can't be too greedy can we.

I got a call at 8pm from Katherine, she called to wish me a Happy Birthday when she realized from Bella that it was my birthday. She told me Bella had mentioned during dinner that Greg had told their teacher it was my birthday. Apparently I was having a big birthday party and that I was 53!!!!!!! Yeah.. 53!!!! Later greg said Bella must have misheard cos I was 26.. hahaha yeah.. my kids thinks I'm 26 and that Daddy is 46. Chris(Bella's daddy) commented that I sure look good for a 53. We sure had a good laugh about that...

I certainly did have a nice birthday... relaxed as Daddy did take the day off and "Ahmad" (chauffered, in Malay) the kids around.

Nice clear pic of us... when we were not ready..

We were ready but Daddy had his magic touch and made photos blurry..

Matt's Birthday Party

2008-05-07T19:38:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we were at a birthday party. It was at not a usual party as we were invited to go watch Aladdin at Emerald City Theatre in Chicago (ah... no... not Admiral Theater !!!!). Yes, its the Disney's Aladdin and for the young audience version. The kids had a lovely time watching Aladdin. The kids had a good laugh a the jokes and even the parents were laughing as they added some "adult' jokes as well. By the end of the show, Greg was jumping up and down clapping his hands when each actor came for their final bow. Greg loved Genie the mostest as he says it. Gilly just can't get over how pretty Princess Jasmine is. Apparently it was their 1st show, and I guess being the guinea pigs, the production had a few hiccups like Jasmine's hair almost falling off... a few miss lines... but hey.. what the heck.. the kids had a blast of time. Greg got abit restless towards the end, but I guess its normal for a 5 year old to be restless. Gilly was enchanted by the actors that she sat still for once ... hahaha....

Kids with Jafar

Being the so popular Princess, it was hard to get to photo the kids with her..

but Gilly insisted on a photo of Jasmine... Your wish shall be Granted

Ever so cute and lively Iago

Greg's favorite ... The Genie

Mee Goreng

2008-05-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

Greg so happy there is so much noodles

Couple of weeks ago, our church had a fundraiser and the event was called "International Noodles Night". I was asked to make baked mostachioli for the Italians to eat which I thought was ridiculous. The Italians should do their part to cook true authentic Italian food for the occassion. I know its easy to cook but hey.. for a $30/person function.. you should come up with something more original than Prego sauce... Thank Goodness someone managed to get some Italian restaurant to donate 2 trays. Me like an idiot volunteered to cook "mee goreng". Yes our Malaysian mee goreng which I've only attempted once. Yes it was easy cooking the first time... so I thought I could do it for 200 people. hahahaha...

Ok.. now how much of noodles do I need.. the original recipe which I got from a blogger... only used like 150g of yellow noodles.. which means... I needed to triple the recipe just for a 1 lb of noodle... Some "know-it-all" from my church told me to cook 10lbs per tray.. and excuse me.. I needed to cook 2 trays.. so that means 20lbs in total... that's crazy... I didn't trust that advice. I managed to ask this Indonesian lady who happens to cater on the side.. she told me to use only 5 lbs each tray. Without hesitation she told me "mee goreng? just 5 lbs" and that I do trust as she does know what type of yellow noodles we use for our mee goreng.

I had 2 lovely ladies who came over to my house to help me with the cutting and washing up... and I do appreciate their help as it was a lot of help. Thanks Gemma and Theresa. Both of you made food preparation and cooking a happier and livelier task.

How did the noodles turn out??? It was delicious and spicy enough, I had to cook them 2lbs at a time so the first batch was too spicy for the locals. I had to refrain from using too much chili sauce but it was enough to sting some tongues. I ate some of it during the event but wished I could have more. Oh well... I'll just have to cook it again.

If some of you are interested, I got the Mee Goreng Mamak recipe from http://malaysiandelicacies.blogspot.com

Mee Goreng Recipe:

Ingredients
150 gm Noodle
1/2 cup boneless Chicken Meat
some Prawns and Fish balls
some tau kua (fried firm tofu)
1 Egg(beaten)
1/2 cup Beansprouts
150 gm Mustard greens-cut into 2-1/2 cm
2 clove Garlic-chopped
3 Shallots - sliced thinly
1-2 tbsp Chilli Paste (soaked dried chili that is blended)

Seasoning:
1 tbsp Chilli Sauce
1/2 tbsp Tomato Sauce
1-2 tbsp thick Soya Sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
Salt and Sugar

Garnishing:
Shredded Cucumber
Chopped Spring
Onions Shallots crisps

Method:
1. Heat wok with 3-4 tbsp oil until hot and fry garlic until light brown.
2. Add shallots and chilli paste and fry further.
3. Mix in chicken meat, prawns and fish balls and stir fry.
4. Add in the noodle and all the sauces.
5. Add seasoning and sprinkle with a little water
6. Mix in all the fried ingredients together.
7. Spread all the ingredients around the wok.
8. Create an empty space in the center.
9. Add in the beaten egg into it and a bit more oil.Leave for about a minutes.
10. Then cover the egg with the ingredients and stir-fry evenly.
11. Finally add in mustard leaves and beansprouts
12. Stir another 3-4 minutes.
13. Remove the dish to a plate and garnish it.

*Note: I didn't use bean sprouts this round as the noodles were cooked 6 hours before the party and bean sprouts do get soggy after sometime.

I managed to buy good yellow noodles from a noodle maker in Chicago Chinatown.. if anyone that is in town and needs to get them, let me know and I'll point you to the grocery store. I love that noodle maker's noodle as it doesn't get mushy/soggy when cooked with sauce or soup.

How to Kill Ants

2008-04-29T05:40:00.000-07:00

The weather is getting warmer and that means those creepy crawlies are out again. If you find your house infested with ants, don't bother calling the Pest Controllers that will charge you and arm and a leg. Try this simple method first which should take about a week. This mixture NEEDS to take a few days to a week but it works. It a mixture of borax and sugar so the ants would take it back to its nest and feed it to the Queen thus killing the source of your pain.

Questions about pets eating it, I doubt it would as I do have a dog in the house. The amount that you need is little so I doubt if your dog or cat would ingest it, it would kill them. Now, please don't leave a bowlful of this mixture cos then it would be too much even for me... hahaha...

Just mix: 1/ 4 cup powdered sugar and 2 tbsp borax.

It is alot for even ants so keep them in a secure container for future use (I still have mine from 2 years ago under my sink). Sprinkle a bit of this mixture in the midst of the ant traffic so they would take it back to their nest.

I've made this mixture for my neighbors too. I'd one neighbor who had so much ants that he had to come and ask for me but his ants has now all gone to heaven. Good Luck.. If after 2 weeks and you still have tat much ants.. do call the Pest controller...

Don't let your kids eat those sugar mix ok.....

Music from the Past

2008-04-28T19:06:00.000-07:00

Today I've not been in the best of mood. I just didn't feel like talking much to anyone so phone calls and IMs were ignored. What did I do tonight to make myself feel better?? YOUTUBE. Yes I was just "youtub-ing" and what did I youtube?? PETER CETERA. He has always been my one that melts my heart. Listening to him sing brings back all old memories.. yes of all my party days and days of going gaga over certain guy. No... I don't long for any of my old flames but just a nice nostalgic feeling that comes whenever I hear Peter Cetera's voice. Man... would it be nice for him to just serenade to me.... if only my hubby can sing like him... dream....

I managed to request some song books from the library. Maybe I'll just pretend to play for Cetera while he serenades me.

Enjoy what I've been listening too... Yes.. and I'm that old to you twentysomethings.....

I Finally Gave Up

2008-04-20T05:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, I finally gave up and caved-in to Gilly's constant begging for an American Girl Doll. American Girl Store is just a few blocks from my doctor's office so during Spring Break, with my 2 kids in tow, I decided to treat Gilly to a doll. Hey! Parking in downtown is so freaking expensive why not do it before my doctor's appointment which means parking fee cost only $9.

Gilly decided on a "Just like You" Doll and has named her Paige. Paige has since been tossed around and even once forgotten. I did warn her about being mean to her brother as I've heard from a few friends how brother's would take revenge on their sisters by doing something to their dolls.

Grandma and Grandpa had sent the kids some money, so technically Paige from them. I wondered for a few days how to tell Grandma that I had spent her RM400 on a doll. Dollar to Dollar, its just like us spending $400 on a doll. My mom had never bought me a doll when I was small as we couldn't afford it and being a teacher she prefered books to toys. I guess being a Grandma, you are more generous with your grandchild.. she was surprise by the price but didn't protest. Phew!! I guess its just a typical American child to want an American Girl Doll.

I just couldn't believe how crazy things get in there... an ER and a beauty salon for the Dolls!!!! Geess... I do love the entreprenuerialship of the Americans... I have to say the Americans do know how to make a buck out of anything... Oh... I can't believe how much an outfit cost for the dolls. $26!!!!!!!!! I could have bought Gilly 3 shirt or pants at Target with that $26.

Now comes the part where I refuse to spend any money on those $26 clothes... I decided I was going to try to make Paige clothes. Since I've made PJ pants, I kinda figured out how to read sewing patterns. Thanks to the guidance of a Ms.Katherine. I paid $12 for the pattern which turned out to have 12 designs. Hey what a bargain. While reading the material requirements did it dawn to me how little yardage a doll requires.. Yahoo!!!!!

My in-laws who are seamstress laughed at me when I showed them the sewing pattern. The first thing they asked was "Do you know how to sew?" I said "For $26 an outfit, I will learn to sew."

Before I could start, I had to call Ms.Katherine for guidance. I had to ask her what is "Overcast all outer edge and then hem the sides and bottom." See how much I know. hahahaha It was basically a zigzag stitch on all sides then straight stitch the sides and bottom. Duh!!!!!

I started out with a Wrap around skirt. It seemed the easiest to do, and it took me 1 hour to sew it. As I had more cloth and now knowing what to expect, I made 2 more skirts with the same material in less than an hour. I gave one to my neighbor's daughter and another to a church friend. Being over enthusiastic, I started out with a dress at dinner time. This one was more complicated and it took me about 4 hours. This time round, the challenging part was the sleeves and I think I've gotten the hang of it.
I've added photos of the dress and skirt. I can say I'm pretty happy I managed to sew these outfits. I guess a sense of achievement for one whose mom took her out of home education class to accounting class because she was hopeless.

Paige in Hello Kitty dress

Paige in wrap round skirt

Gilly with Paige

Gilly with tooth missing.

Food Bloggers and cooks with their secret recipes

2008-04-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to the chefs/cooks who have taught me and shared with me their passion for cooking. Especially to Lily Ng and Gertrude. From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank you for your generosity and unselfishness. With blogging, all our lives have changed. We have found new friends and made our lives more interesting. I don't stand at the kitchen and wonder what I should cook anymore. I know.. I still do but less often now. I get all excited when I see my Google Reader saying there are new post. That would mean, I may have something new to experiment in my kitchen. Blogging about food is your legacy, Lily and Gert, you have passed on your legacy to us food beginners. Not only have you taught us how too cook but also how to be generous like you. Once again, Thank you.

I've this story to tell, my dad's cousin brother had a wife who was a very good cook. Her specialty was Achar, pineapple tarts and kuih bangkit tat was to die for. We always looked forward to her cookies just before CNY and she would also bring a bottle of her acar. My mom would make her famous jagung custard and in return, give her the custards. One day, Aunty A asked my mom for the recipe and my mom willingly taught her how to make it. Then came the day my mom asked her for the acar recipe. Her response was "I'll make for you to eat whenever you want." That meant "No, I don't want to give you the recipe." I guess my mom must have felt slighted abit by this.

I don't remember how long after this, one day out of the blues, she came over with her hubby and there was this bottle of achar. Mum was happy to see the achar as we always look forward to anything delicious from anyone. That happened around Christmas time... and to our shock, a few days later we got a call that she had passed away. It was truly a sad thing as she wasn't all that old. Maybe in her late 40s or early 50s.

She died when her kids were in their early 20s and not having any interest in cooking. Later we found out that her recipes died with her as none of her kids had learnt how to cook her specialties. About 8 years ago, her daughter did tell me that she regreted not learning how to make pineapple tarts from her mom. The ironic thing is if she had taught my mom, without hesitation my mom would have given her daughters' the recipes. I've made it a point to learn my mom's specialties and always tell my friend to learn from their moms. Those recipes are not just ingredients and directions but also a reminder of the people who have pour their love and passion into our stomachs.

Once again, Thank You to all the Food Bloggers who have generous and never expecting anything in return.