Blue Boxes....

Remember these blue boxes from my old post? The one where H brought back goodies from the States?

Know what it is? Here is a clue....

Can Guess or Not?

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Cannot Guess?

Wedgewood Set..... The India Series

Soup Bowl

3 x Plates plus Tea Cup & Saucer

Tea Pot

H bought a total of 6 place settings....and I asked "How come only 6? Why not 8?" Very thamm-summ hor?? kekekeke

H wanted to tell me how much they cost.... Told him I REALLY DON'T WANNA KNOW!!!

Making Money

Recently, a friend of mine has been investing in penny stocks. According to her, with an initial investment of $10,000, her monthy yields ranged between $500 to $1000 per month. I thought that is quite good. Of course, I was quite tempted to do so as well. But knowing me, I have zero risk tolerance and thus am dragging my feet on hopping into the bandwagon. I supposed with due diligence, proper research and analysis, there IS money to be made. What do you think?

Tonight's BBQ...

As you know....mom and dad are here visiting. We decided to have a BBQ tonight.... What did we have?

Giant Clams

Pork Hot Dog

Tiger Prawns, Fish Kebab, Calamari Kebab, Lamb Kebab, Lamb Cutlets, Pork Loin

Crabs, Chicken Wings and Drumsticks, Corn Cob & Garlic Bread

Japanese Biscuits for Dessert

Er...I know all the photos are of RAW food. NO photos of cooked food because when it was ready, we shoved them down our throats in NO time!! Hee..heee

BodyStockings

Seriously! I do not know what bodystockings are until now. Do you know what they are? Bodystockings are snug fitting hosiery that offers coverage from the neck or upper body down to the ankles or toes. I have just checked them out. Mmm....some of the designs are rather sexy and interesting. Maybe I should get one or two for H's birthday. *wink* *wink* Heee..heee... you know what I mean. Don't have to elaborate, right?

Need Help?

Do you need help?

Are you suffering from the following?

• eating disorders
• drug addiction
• alcohol addiction
• depression

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Very Scared!

Of What???
Of my daddy scolding me!! Why?

Well, the last time he came for a visit (that was one year ago), he chastised me for NOT having a spare bed for my guests. It's not that I absolutely have NO spare bed. I do have a single divan complete with a spring mattress. Thus if I have more than one guest, the additional person would have to sleep on a mattress set out on the floor. I know it's not too hospitable to my guests....but I seldom have guests and I find it hard to dish out the $$$ to buy a new bed for guests that do not come. I was thinking of replacing the boys' beds with new ones, and moving their old beds to the guest room to function as the guest beds. But I think I would have to replace the old mattresses with newer memory foam mattress. The problem is...one day and another and I have yet to replace the beds nor purchase the new mattresses. And dad will be here in less than a week! I actually texted mom to warn dad NOT to scold me!!! Really. I did!

Computers at School...

Did I mention about the boys' Parent-Teacher conferences recently?
Somehow my appointments with the boys' teachers were more than 1 1/2 hours apart. I was wondering how on earth was I gonna kill time? Luckily, there were many computers that I could use in the Year 6 common area.... the latest model with sleek LCD screens. Each equipment piece was meticulously tagged with it's own unique ID, just like any large organization. The computers are all networked to a central server. I won't be surprised if CAT6 cables are used for their networking.

Yes. We R Going...

Yes. We've decided to keep to our original plans and go to Hong Kong this Friday. Actually...am trying to bring forward the flight to Thursday as it's a public holiday. Think it's also a holiday in Malaysia? The next day, Good Friday is also a public holiday here.

We are going because :-
1) The flu is of the common flu strains, and not something more sinister than originally thought.
2) We've had our flu shots.
3) The two-week holiday is NOT because of the flu. It's actually the scheduled Easter Term Break. Just close a few days earlier than scheduled.

Speaking of flu shots. Wa-liow...gila one lah.. the way the clinic charges. Just 4 of us have flu shots, and H an additional thyphoid shot cost USD 190!!! Gila or not? I'm sure if you do it at a regular clinic, it probably cost a quarter of that amount!!! Aiyo...we went to the expat clinic lah..(but all local doctors practising) Why? Very close to our house ~ 600 m, and our insurance pays direct to the clinic. No need to have out-of-pocket maaa.... But still??? Cut throat man!!

Updates...14 Mar 2008

SOMETHING SWEET

Thought I should post about something sweet and nice....after my FUMING post. :-)

This is the first box of Japanese biscuit that we opened....and of course at the the time of writing this post, this sachets of yummy chocolate/vanilla and strawberry cream-filled wafers all gone liow.

COOLED DOWN!

Yes. I've cooled down now....I'm coooool as a cucumber!!! kekeke...Actually not lor.... I fatt-lann-zhar this morning and decided to ignore the boys....let them have a taste of their own medicine. ;-) I went to school this morning to attend the presentation on S2's Residential Trip, and the boys went into the car with me. I told them to belt up like soooooo many times, and they were just NOT listening. Got so fed-up that I ignored them for the entire trip. When they tried to talk to me, I just pretended that I didn't hear. hehehehehe... Sure felt awkward!!

PRODUCTIVE DAY??

Been quite a productive day today. Woke up at 6.05 am. Left for school at about 7.15 am. Attended the Presentation on S2's Residential Trip. Then popped into Makro and bought all the cleaning stuff (Toilet Duck, Washing Powder, Hand Soap, Detergents etc etc) for the house. Came home, had a quick Maggi Mee lunch, checked my emails, and then went out for my 2.00 pm appointment with a box manufacturer......and on my way back, dropped-by into the factory outlet. Bought myself a pair of capri (~USD 6), Guess T-Shirt (USD 8) and S1 a GAP T-Shirt (USD 8). Donno if the Guess and Gap are genuine but they do look quite alright, and the price is Ok. I especially like S1's GAP T-Shirt. Will post picture later... My camera no more battery leh...
Then I came home, and jumped into the pool for a swim. Boys joined me when they hopped off their school bus. And am blogging away now....

Good yah??

EASTER HOLIDAYS

School holidays starts now!!! I will have to entertain boys for TWO Weeks!!! Have to find activities for them to do. Have to get out of the house. Otherwise....their faces will be stuck to the TV/PC/Gameboy for 24/7!!!!

We plan to go to Kidzania again on Tuesday, and we are scheduled to depart for HK on Good Friday(see my DILEMMA below), return on Tuesday. Mom and Dad come visit on Wed for a week...

DILEMMA

Well...the current flu epidemic is rather worrying....with schools closed yesterday and early for the Easter Break. H's friend has cancelled his scheduled HK trip due to the flu epidemic. And H called me this afternoon to check if our tickets can be postponed or cancelled. I called Cathay Pacific...and they indicated that our outbound ticket must be used by end-March; and for cancellation, the charge is USD 30 per ticket. So....we are in a dilemma as to whether we should go ahead with our trip or what. We were to stay with C and her family for 4 nights... Want the boys (hers and mine) to catch up. Want us to catch up. We are taking a wait-and-see stance for the moment....

BUDGET vs. COMMERCIAL

Initially, I wanted to take the budget airline to Macau, and then take a ferry to HK. C advised that we should fly directly into HK. She reckoned that the ferry ride and all would be very troublesome. But to fly direct, have to take normal commercial airlines which would be rather expensive...or so I thought. I almost book the seats on the budget airline but the frequency of flights meant that we would have to stay more nights...which H did not want. I was thinking of staying a night in Macau and check out the sights. H kept nagging me with "your boys will not be interested lah". *sigh* So I surfed over to Cathay's site and there was a special promotion. It worked out to be about USD 20 more per person. So, of course I chose the Cathay option lah. Full-service, plus more baggage allowance plus I fly direct into HK wor......Errrrr...that is if we do not CANCEL our trip!!

I love them!

When H and I first travelled across Europe more than 15 years ago, we passed by many villages which had cute, little chalets ...each with their own uniquely colored exterior shutters and flower-filled window boxes. I love this style. At that time, I recall telling H that I want to have those shutters for our house. When we were looking for a house in Bangkok, I did chance upon a white house with white picket fences and painted baby-blue shutters. I really did love the house. Unfortunately, it was not in our preferred location. Thus, I had to give that up. :-(

Embracing New Technology...

Do you recall those days when we needed two sets of cables that connected our VHS Player to the TV? If memory serves me well, one set would be yellow and the other red - one for video and another for audio. But with the advancement of digital technology; you only need one set of HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) cable, which can carry a bandwith of 5 gigabits per second. The transmitted signal is all-digital which enables the sharpest, richest picture possible. This in in contrast to the old analog interfaces. Now...I have to get H to get rid of all those old antiquated analogue cables that is in a tangled mess in our store!

FUMING!!!

As I am typing this...I am still waiting for my blood to stop boiling!!!

First, I came home to see that my maid has used the wrong type of meat to cook my Or-Tau-Yue-Bak. She had used my very nice spare ribs (meant for bak-kut-teh) to cook instead of the pork belly. She knows very well that she's supposed to use pork belly. Plus I specifically told her to use the pork belly, and she summore acknowledge me by saying "yes...the usual black braised pork". Say I scold or not? If she has never cooked this dish before, then it is excusable. She cooked this umpteen times, and never once we use ribs. What I hate is when I speak to her, she'll be "yes. yes... " but somehow not really listening. I'm mad NOT because I really want to eat FATTY pork. I am MAD because she does NOT listen!!! I just don't understand why these Hired Help just can do things well without me screaming at them.

Oh yeah... My gardener also another one. Remember my nice bamboo by the side of my pool? Stoooopid idiot must have wanted to minimise the frequency of cutting the bamboo...went to chop quarter of them to half height. I had a shock yesterday when I went to get the boys out from the swimming pool. I almost died. It is sooooooo UGLY now. To date, I left him to do his job and have neither nagged nor screamed at him. I can see that quality of work has diminished...and now, this chopping down my bamboo (chop already, then he doesn't have to trim as often). I also went ballistic and was ngam-ngam-chamm-chamm to my maid. (Yeah..not her fault..but she is the one that deals with the gardener...so told her to tell the gardener off when she sees him)!

Okay...back to today. At dinner.... the boys were playing a fool as usual. I finished my dinner first, and sat on my sofa waiting for them...and then what happened? They got ketchup onto my cream-coloured dining chairs. I was abit cheesed off lah... Although I want to change the seats soon...but also no need to mess it up maaaa.

Then as I was just settling down to relax a little bit. Stoooopid boys went to pull down the whole shower curtain rail. This rail is not those flimsy ones okay. It is metal with each side having 3 long screws that are tightly screwed onto the wall. The bracket at the wall actually broke! Of course I SCREAM at the boys lah. Already told them NOT to pull the shower curtain. But guess what? Said it was an accident. How? Because accidently sat on it when sliding down the tub. Waaaa...I lagi went ballistic!! How many times have I told them NOT to climb and slide? It's blardy dangerous...blah blah blah....

GEEEEEEEEEZZ

Another Round of Goodies from H's Trip

H had another trip to the States last week. Was a really short trip. Basically fly all the way for one meeting and then back. Like "mei chor kor fei kei" (never sit in plane before). Came back yesterday morning...... with these goodies.

Junk food!!!

Hee hee... As if we can't get popcorn and ice-cream syrups here! Not so pathetic lah. We do have Smuckers and Hershey here...

More Reese's
...but these are for H's boss. Thus...these are very important purchases! Hahahah... Must be in the bosses' good books!!

Very UNHEALTHY Pork Crackling
A Game that we can play as a family...

Reading Material for Me
S1's Current Favorite Magazine

Book for Me... Mmm... This book is about a man and his mistress???
Is H trying to tell me something??? He said he bought it because it was on the Best Seller's List. I'll read it and report back!
A box of Yummy Japanese Biscuits

More Japanese Biscuits ..... H had a stopover in Narita. Told him to buy me some yummy Japanese biscuits. I just love them! Don't you think the wrapping is attractive?? I will reveal the contents as I go through them....

Airline Blanket!
No need to tell you how we got it, right?

What's in Here?

And Here??
Give you a Peek...
These deserve a post of its own... so will post about them later...

It's A Prince!!

Yup. The VVIP mentioned in my Mish-Mash Post is a Prince.

Which Prince??

Well, S1 came home on Monday and told me that he got a clue from his friend, and the VVIP's initials are PW. And after reading last week's school newsletter which indicated that dignataries such as Margaret Thatcher, Prince Edward and Princess Diana had indeed graced their school previously, I went ahead to guess...

Could it be Prince of Wales? or better...Prince William??

Turns out that the VVIP is Prince Andrew aka. Duke of York.

Anyway, yesterday was Parents-Teacher Conference Day and I did go to school to meet the boys' teachers. As we were approaching the school, we had to detour through some really really small roads. The roads were soooo narrow that I had to take some pictures.

Narrow Road to School. I was soooo tempted to touch the wall!!

The reason that we were detoured was that they HAD to HURRY up to finish off repairing the main road to school. Can't exactly let the Duke of York go on the VERY VERY BUMPY ROAD, right? You won't believe how bumpy the road to school is. It is really quite ridiculous. Imagine OSIM iGallop!!!!

This road to school has been in repairs since 3- 4 weeks ago. If in KL, one night already "kau-tim". Here?? So inefficient. But they did get it smoothen out for today lah...

As boys have Chinese class at 4.30 pm, and due to the Duke's visit, the dismissal time was delayed till 3.30 pm. In order to make it for Chinese class, I had to come to school to pick the boys up (if they were to follow the bus, sure will miss Chinese).

Cars and parents were not allowed into the school until after the Duke has left.

Duke's Car as he was leaving school...

Didn't managed to take his pic...but waved at him lah.

Once we were allowed in, I cepat-cepat dashed in to collect the boys...

Here is S1 with the Union Jack....

Modified TAG - Before I Was A Mom...

This MODIFIED TAG is from Dancing Queen. According to her, when you get this TAG, it means you are PRETTY. So, she thinks I am pretty!!!! *Batting Eyelashes*

When you get the TAG, you add your name at the bottom of the tagged persons list, and without bumping the person at the top or bumping anyone off and let the list grow. TAG 5 pretty moms on your list to let them know they are pretty!

SHARE about how life was before you became a mom.

I just came back from the gym, had dinner, stuffed myself with some yummy Japanese biscuits and is slumped in front of the TV. My brain is NOT working well, thus I have truncated the "Before I was a mum.." list... Moms who are TAGGED by moi, please feel free to ADD your list. Okay??

Before I was a mum; I was quite a spoilt brat (errr..maybe I still am. Hahahah)
Before I was a mum; I only buy stuff for me, I and myself.
Before I was a mum; I didn't know that being a mother was THAT difficult
Before I was a mum; I seem to have MUCH better memory than now
Before I was a mum; I didn't seem to scream much.

The first chain of tag:
1. Lovelymummy
2. Pek Imm
3. Momisodes
4. Ling that’s me
5. Janicepa
6. AnnieQ
7. Allthingspurple
8. Montessorimum
9. clumsy mommy
10. Sandra
11. KittyCat
12. VivianZ
13. Sweetpea
14. Sasha
15. Giddy Tiger
16. Wen
17. Jo-N
18. Janice Ng
19. BlurTing
20. ViEmwk
21. Cookingmomster
22. Dancing Queen
23. NomadicMom

PRETTY MOMs.....
bp
Misha's Mum
Laundryamah
Mommy of 3 Angels

Mish-Mash

This is a mish-mashed post....

Tennis Lessons
Have signed up for tennis lessons for both the boys and myself. Went for our first lesson yesterday (Sunday). Actually, I didn't intend to do it. But I booked a 2-hour session. 1-hr for the boys to learn, and the other 1-hr for H to stroke with the coach. But as H went away on his business trip, I thought I might as well learn to play. Then perhaps we can have a family game???

Initially, S1 was hitting the ball up vertically. Probably from his ways of playing badminton. He's been playing badminton for a couple of years now, but apparently the instructor at school kept saying that he's playing like as if it's tennis. And at tennis, he seems to be playing as if it's badminton. How?? Anyway, after about 30 minutes, he finally was stroking better.

S2? That fella was like main-main. Summore said that he's gonna win trophies!!

As for me...I wasn't too bad. Before I started, I was quite afraid that I would be sooooo bad that the coach would get fed-up of me! Heeeheee..

Badminton Sessions
Badminton sessions and tennis lessons?
A bit confused, right??
Aiya... but there's a group of Ah Sohs and Mak Ciks that play badminton every Mondays. So, for social social, I join them too. I SUCK major at badminton. It's too fast for me. I can't see the shuttlecock. I can't catch the SMASHes. I don't know how to use my wrists. I can't SMASH.
So how?? Just join to social social lor... and continue to SUCK at badminton.

Very Expensive Roti Canai
After today's badminton session, we went to a newly opened Malaysian restaurant. I had roti-canai. It was good. But it occured to me how expensive the plain roti canai was!! Including tax, it costs USD 2.50. This is like 8 times more expensive than the ones at Pandi. Cialatt!!!!!
But what to do??? Beggars can't be choosers.
I ta-pau two rotis for the boys too...... We will definitely come to this restaurant again. It's pretty close to our house.
This is actually the NORMAL price for roti canais at restaurants over here.....Basically, this is an expensive city. Many do not believe that this capital city in this third world country is 30-40% more expensive than KL. But it is.

Hard to Do
You know what is hard to do?
To totally NOT help S1 with his Art work. It was easy to NOT help him with his Voodoo Doll as I don't particularly fancy sewing. But ART and CRAFT is something I like to do. When S1 was making his masquerade mask, I tried soooooo hard to NOT help him. But his work was sooooo shoddy that I HAD to intervene. It sure took a lot of WILLPOWER to STOP making the whole thing for him. In the end, I knew I had to let him DO IT himself. *sigh*

Screaming Mom
Yes. I have been screaming quite a lot lately. Somehow, speaking NICELY to my boys does not yield any results nor actions on their part. Somehow, only when mommy screams then words are heard by their deaf ears, and muscles in their limbs start to work. WHY??? Why can't they just do it when it's nicely told? Why must wait for mommy to scream leh???

VVIP
Apparently, there's gonna be a VVIP visiting the boys' school this Thursday. It's so hush-hushed that we don't know who is the VVIP. The teachers have sworn to secrecy. And because of this VVIP's visit, the kids will be dismissed at 3.20 pm instead of 2.20 pm. I've got to pick them up from school since they have Mandarin class at 4.30 pm, and if they take the bus home, they won't be on time for their Mandarin. Anyway, parents/cars etc will NOT be allowed into the school until AFTER the VVIP has left at 3.15 pm. I am really excited to find out who the VVIP is. Will update when I find out!

S2's Trip and TaeKwonDo

S2's Residential Trip
Took boys to school in the car on Thursday morning as I wanted to send S2 off on his overnight residential trip. I have to say that when I waved bye to him, I could feel a little lump in my throat! Anyway, one of my friends said that she will come to school to pick her son up the next day....because of the "heavy" suitcase. Later in the evening, I told H that I might want to pick S2 up from school on Friday. H said "Whatever for? No bus?", and I replied that "W says that the bags are too heavy for the boys to carry on the bus...". H retorted with "What lah. You bunch of women! Don't be so tor-see lah. Please just let him take the bus". So I did.

When he came back, he looked quite tired...and I found out tha he didn't shower at all! He said that he didn't get a chance to shower. Like that also can?? Also found out that he had diarrhea in the morning...*sigh* Don't know what rubbish he ate.
We went out dinner for dinner and then to the mall...as H needed to buy some stuff. S2 went with H and S1 went with me to Metro to jalan-jalan. Wondered why they were taking sooooo long. ALAMAK! S2 had an "accident".... H said that it was such a mess that he had to throw the underwear!!! What to do? Gave him some medicine when we came home...
He did enjoy the trip...had all sorts of activities, plus he gets to sleep with his pals. 3 kids to a room, with a total of 4 rooms in each cottage....A teacher is assigned to each cottage.

TaeKwonDo Competition

TaeKwonDo Competition was held at their school today...with competitors from other school as well. S2 competed in two of the events, i.e. 1) Speed Kicking and 2) Obstacle Course. He did not take part in the Sparring competition as he is still a Beginner. He just got his Yellow Belt in Feb.

Kids Waiting for their Turn

Speed-Kicking was the first event. Basically, the aim is to kick a pad as many times possible in 30 seconds. When he was waiting for his turn, I told H to tell S2 to just concentrate and NOT look at mommy and daddy. Guess what
That fella....in the middle of his speed-kicking competition, look up and WAVED at US!!!
Aduh!!!

Of course distracted already lah. This one he got a medal for trying. (BTW, every competitor will get something one lah..... )

The next event was the Obstacle Course... have to say that S2 did quite well for this. He managed to get second place, and thus a trophy. :-)

S2's Medal and Trophy

That fella d@mn proud of his medal and trophy that he HAD to sit next to them during lunch. Hugged them in the car, and when we got home, took it upstairs downstairs etc. While in the car coming home...he said "mom...next time when we move house. If we have 2 spare rooms, can one be a trophy room?"....I was actually in quite a foul mood (more about this later...) but BURST out laughing when I heard that remark from S2. "I am going to join more competitions and win more trophies!" he added summore. "Hahahahahha...Oops. Think I shouldn't laugh. I should encourage you!" ...kekekkekekekekeke

Why in a foul mood? Have to wait TWO hours for the car to come back to school. H had to go to the States today. His flight was at 12 something...he followed us to school for the competition...managed to see the 1st event. He left at about 10 am. We were done with the second event at about 11 am..... Car only managed to come back to school at 1.15 pm. Had to wait in the heat sitting on very uncomfortable chairs. My backside also become flat liow......