Boy! Have I been neglecting my blog. Been soooooooooooooo busy with the Centre.
In fact, I should NOT be here trying to blog.
Everything is KELAM-KABUT. Even kids also KELAM-KABUT.
Complaints from teacher and detention and all.
Have I been neglecting them as well?
Not trying to defend myself... though I have been busy working, I have been home when boys come back from school... and I'll go with my usual "how is school, what homework do you have, any problems etc ". Short of me taking their books out and holding their hand to write or type, what am I supposed to do ah? Been getting complaints that they have not been doing their homework. I sit here next to them every night in the Study area summore. Must PHYSICALLY CHECK that each piece of homework is done?
They are so big liow .... and still need that? I donno lah..
Anyway, they are both being punished by the father...
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
New Maid...
Continued from here....
We did have pork quesadillas, pork omelet, fried bacon, pasta carbonara with pork bacon the last few days. Had to test her out - whether she would handle the pork or not. I guessed she passed.
When I came home yesterday, she had already made the boys' teatime snack as requested by the boys. Maggi mee for S1 and fried bacon for S2. And in the evening, told her to make the pasta and the carbonara sauce with bacon. She did understand my instruction of al dente. I didn't use al dente, of course. I had to use my finger and thumb to try to illustrate the 'bite' on the pasta. Yes. The pasta WAS al dente.
After dinner, I asked if she wanted to continue to work... and she was like blah blah blah..menyenangkan. Aiyo. I where understand. Told her to just say YES or NO. And she said YES. I clarified with my partner this morning - apparently it's supposed to mean "working here is nice". I thought she meant "easy".
Today, bought some foods from the supermarkets - chicken, salmon steak and broccoli. Gave her instructions to deep-fry the chicken, pan-fry the salmon steak (to medium done) and stir-fry the broccoli. And the dishes did turn out okay.... except fried chicken not salty enough. The salmon steak was done just right - NOT hard like rock. The sauce was okay. The broccoli was still nice and crisp. Not lam-pek-pek like how most maids would cook it. So overall, no complaints.
She said she can make Thai Pomelo salad one wor.... Will get her to make one of these days.
Okay lah. Got to go pack my bags for tomorrow....
We did have pork quesadillas, pork omelet, fried bacon, pasta carbonara with pork bacon the last few days. Had to test her out - whether she would handle the pork or not. I guessed she passed.
When I came home yesterday, she had already made the boys' teatime snack as requested by the boys. Maggi mee for S1 and fried bacon for S2. And in the evening, told her to make the pasta and the carbonara sauce with bacon. She did understand my instruction of al dente. I didn't use al dente, of course. I had to use my finger and thumb to try to illustrate the 'bite' on the pasta. Yes. The pasta WAS al dente.
After dinner, I asked if she wanted to continue to work... and she was like blah blah blah..menyenangkan. Aiyo. I where understand. Told her to just say YES or NO. And she said YES. I clarified with my partner this morning - apparently it's supposed to mean "working here is nice". I thought she meant "easy".
Today, bought some foods from the supermarkets - chicken, salmon steak and broccoli. Gave her instructions to deep-fry the chicken, pan-fry the salmon steak (to medium done) and stir-fry the broccoli. And the dishes did turn out okay.... except fried chicken not salty enough. The salmon steak was done just right - NOT hard like rock. The sauce was okay. The broccoli was still nice and crisp. Not lam-pek-pek like how most maids would cook it. So overall, no complaints.
She said she can make Thai Pomelo salad one wor.... Will get her to make one of these days.
Okay lah. Got to go pack my bags for tomorrow....
PARTY! PARTY!
Yup! Yup! Yup! I am flying back home to KUL tomorrow to celebrate my 40th with my sisters. Okay. Okay. Technically, my birthday is not till next week.... but my school is having a REUNION and 40th Birthday Dinner for the Class of '88 on Saturday. I was err-ing and ahh-ing for a while before deciding to go home. Afterall, how often does one turn 40?
My dinner (PARTY??) tomorrow with my sisters .... the colour theme is BLACK and RED. I saw a dress at GUCCI's window display last week.... and it IS a gorgeous dress. Decided to go in today to ask about the price... just to kepoh. Of course I knew I wouldn't buy it.
Guess how much the dress was....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
USD 2,200/-!
And you know what? Because I was gonna do some banking .... I did have THAT amount of money in cash in my handbag. My friend kept joking "Eh! you got money in your handbag what. One for you and one for me!". (Yes. People do carry cash around here cause a lot of cash transactions as opposed to other methods ....)
In case you are wondering... am ditching the three boys here on their own. H kept asking the boys "where shall we go to have OUR party whilst your mom is away? Bali?"
The boys were like choi-huei-ter-sor, then he said "you all want to just stay at home and play games is it??". Well... that's exactly it. They just want to veg-out at home without mommy here to ngam-ngam-chamm-chamm.
My dinner (PARTY??) tomorrow with my sisters .... the colour theme is BLACK and RED. I saw a dress at GUCCI's window display last week.... and it IS a gorgeous dress. Decided to go in today to ask about the price... just to kepoh. Of course I knew I wouldn't buy it.
Guess how much the dress was....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
USD 2,200/-!
And you know what? Because I was gonna do some banking .... I did have THAT amount of money in cash in my handbag. My friend kept joking "Eh! you got money in your handbag what. One for you and one for me!". (Yes. People do carry cash around here cause a lot of cash transactions as opposed to other methods ....)
In case you are wondering... am ditching the three boys here on their own. H kept asking the boys "where shall we go to have OUR party whilst your mom is away? Bali?"
The boys were like choi-huei-ter-sor, then he said "you all want to just stay at home and play games is it??". Well... that's exactly it. They just want to veg-out at home without mommy here to ngam-ngam-chamm-chamm.
In progress...
As you all know, my Centre is still undergoing renovations. Last week, not much seemed to have been completed. Visited the place yesterday... was quite impressed with the progress in one week. The partitions are all up, electrical wiring done, Aircon tubings done, toilets retiled, lighting fixed. I'm told that aircons will be installed today. We've finalised on the wall colours. YES. Orange is OUR colour! And it is indeed the colour in the reception area and the our 'Chill Zone'. But we decided to go for softer pastels for the classrooms. The only problem of visiting the Centre was that we sure made a mess of the car mats. The whole place had plaster of paris dust and debris and what-nots! So you can imagine the footprints we made INSIDE the car. Luckily it was my partner's car and not mine. Heheheheh... I bet her driver was cursing us!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
New Maid came in...
From the last post:
New Maid came on Thursday (8th Sept) evening.... supposed to come in the afternoon but she didn't know the way. So had to wait for her cousin to finish work to bring her in. This one is true... cause the cousin in my partner's driver.
When I saw her, I was a bit surprised cause she had her head covered. Donno why I was surprised. Maybe because I kept asking if 'she can handle pork' and her cousin said 'no problem'. Anyway, when she came it was already quite late in the evening. So obviously didn't ask her to do anything except to clean and tidy her bedroom. H removed the DVD player and LCD TV from the maid's room prior to her arrival. I was thinking this one very 'siew-cheh' don't know whether can work or not. Her last job was in a household of 16 maids! She only prepares food. No ironing. No cleaning.
I told H that she might have problems with the 'porky' and I should just use her to at least IRON all my 10 days of clothes. hahahah...then I will whip out my bacon for her to cook. If she cannot tahan, then she will just leave on her own accord, rather that I tell her to go.... H said I should be worried that she will burn holes in all our clothes if she cannot iron. And he joked "so this weekend, we are going to have siew yoke, bak kut teh, pork chop is it?"
The next morning, she was dressed in long sleeved shirt and long pair of jeans and head covered. I was like "aiyo... how is she gonna work like that?". Briefly gave her instructions to make the beds, clean the floors, wash the toilets. She started making the boys' beds. Again, I was like thinking "how to work like that?". But I did see that the beds were really quite nicely made lah. So I went back to my room. When I came out, she was already changed and cleaning the toilets. Yes. She had the sense to change to something comfortable for real cleaning. She was in a T-shirt and shorts and NO head-scarf. Hair was tied-up. I have to say she looks so much more pleasant this way.
She didn't manage to finish the ironing yesterday, so have to continue today. Once that is done... my 'porky' will come out. I think this 'porky' will be the test lah. No point that she can clean well, make beds nice, iron well, but cannot handle 'porky'. My S2 is a bacon lover. I've bought her gloves ... so will see how...
Wish me luck!
New Maid came on Thursday (8th Sept) evening.... supposed to come in the afternoon but she didn't know the way. So had to wait for her cousin to finish work to bring her in. This one is true... cause the cousin in my partner's driver.
When I saw her, I was a bit surprised cause she had her head covered. Donno why I was surprised. Maybe because I kept asking if 'she can handle pork' and her cousin said 'no problem'. Anyway, when she came it was already quite late in the evening. So obviously didn't ask her to do anything except to clean and tidy her bedroom. H removed the DVD player and LCD TV from the maid's room prior to her arrival. I was thinking this one very 'siew-cheh' don't know whether can work or not. Her last job was in a household of 16 maids! She only prepares food. No ironing. No cleaning.
I told H that she might have problems with the 'porky' and I should just use her to at least IRON all my 10 days of clothes. hahahah...then I will whip out my bacon for her to cook. If she cannot tahan, then she will just leave on her own accord, rather that I tell her to go.... H said I should be worried that she will burn holes in all our clothes if she cannot iron. And he joked "so this weekend, we are going to have siew yoke, bak kut teh, pork chop is it?"
The next morning, she was dressed in long sleeved shirt and long pair of jeans and head covered. I was like "aiyo... how is she gonna work like that?". Briefly gave her instructions to make the beds, clean the floors, wash the toilets. She started making the boys' beds. Again, I was like thinking "how to work like that?". But I did see that the beds were really quite nicely made lah. So I went back to my room. When I came out, she was already changed and cleaning the toilets. Yes. She had the sense to change to something comfortable for real cleaning. She was in a T-shirt and shorts and NO head-scarf. Hair was tied-up. I have to say she looks so much more pleasant this way.
She didn't manage to finish the ironing yesterday, so have to continue today. Once that is done... my 'porky' will come out. I think this 'porky' will be the test lah. No point that she can clean well, make beds nice, iron well, but cannot handle 'porky'. My S2 is a bacon lover. I've bought her gloves ... so will see how...
Wish me luck!
Desperate to Lose Weight!
No. Not I.
Okay. Okay. Yes. I am quite desperate to lose weight....but not to the extend of going under the knife or needles. The most that I will do is to pop some weight loss pills to get rid of the flab, and perhaps starve a little, go to the gym to 'pretend' to sweat it out. But my friend... is a different story. She goes to some beauty salon to get injections into her body - stomach and thighs to 'melt' the fat away. She swears that it works. I don't know. The sound of it seems quite scary... Needles piecing through skin and injecting god-knows-what by beauticians masking as a medical practitioner? Scarily dangerous.... is all I can think of.
Okay. Okay. Yes. I am quite desperate to lose weight....but not to the extend of going under the knife or needles. The most that I will do is to pop some weight loss pills to get rid of the flab, and perhaps starve a little, go to the gym to 'pretend' to sweat it out. But my friend... is a different story. She goes to some beauty salon to get injections into her body - stomach and thighs to 'melt' the fat away. She swears that it works. I don't know. The sound of it seems quite scary... Needles piecing through skin and injecting god-knows-what by beauticians masking as a medical practitioner? Scarily dangerous.... is all I can think of.
Get Ready for the Cold!
Time really flies.... I know I've said it many times. But I can't help it. Time does fly!
It's already Autumn now, and soon it will be winter. Should I be happy that I am not sitting in a little corner waiting for time to go by? That I am busy? Or should I be sad that time whizzes by so quickly that I have no time to enjoy life?
Which is it?
Maybe I should NOT answer this question. Just go with the flow!
Yes. That's what I will do.... But I will look forward to our Winter holiday this December. We are going to Vail, Colorado for skiing! Exciting. My first skiing trip. Only thing is the cold... Bbbbrrrrrrrrrr. Hope the apartment is well-equipped with a super-duper infrared heater to warm up those frozen fingers and toes after a long day out in the snow!
It's already Autumn now, and soon it will be winter. Should I be happy that I am not sitting in a little corner waiting for time to go by? That I am busy? Or should I be sad that time whizzes by so quickly that I have no time to enjoy life?
Which is it?
Maybe I should NOT answer this question. Just go with the flow!
Yes. That's what I will do.... But I will look forward to our Winter holiday this December. We are going to Vail, Colorado for skiing! Exciting. My first skiing trip. Only thing is the cold... Bbbbrrrrrrrrrr. Hope the apartment is well-equipped with a super-duper infrared heater to warm up those frozen fingers and toes after a long day out in the snow!
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Fried the Maid Sotong...
Yup. Finally did it.
Remember my last post? I mentioned something about getting a new maid... Heheheh.
Well, fired the maid yesterday. Why? If you have been following my posts about my maid, you will know why. This time was really really the last straw.
This time? She was supposed to be back by Monday, 5th Sept morning - boys back to school. Driver was here at the apartment at 6.30 am as usual. I didn't expect her to arrive so early. Perhaps 7 am or 8 am. When she didn't turn up at 8 am. I texted her and ask her what time she is arriving. STOOOOOOOOPID woman said she couldn't get bus ticket for Sunday. And only managed to get bus ticket for Monday. She will only arrive in Jakarta either afternoon or night. What kind of stupid baloney is that? She don't know in advance she don't have bus ticket meh? Even if she didn't buy her ticket waaaaaaaaay in advance lah, she should have called me on Sunday night already, right????
Why must wait till I contact her to see where she is, then only inform me? Why do I have to see that shedid not turn up for work, then I be the one to find out what happened?
When I told H about it, H immediately said Tell her NO Need to come back. But then, my keycard and all was still with her. So I didn't tell her that she no longer has a job. I only texted her that Boys STARTED School today. She said she didn't do it deliberately. Yah. Right! I am so stupid is it?
Seriously, everytime she goes off, there will some stupid excuse as why she can't come back as intended!!!
I was ironing on Tuesday morning (10 days of clothes!!), when she opened the door and couldn't get in. Cause I've double-locked and latched the door. The moment I opened the door, I said please give me the keys. You don't have to work here anymore. Please pack your things. That's all I said. Very calmly.
When she was leaving, I just couldn't help it. Had to say it. I told her. Just tooooooo many times that she do all this nonsense. Fed-up of telling her the same thing over and over again!
And you know what? Today, she asked me for a letter of reference via text. She said she worked more than one year blah blah blah. And donno what else. I asked "what do you want me to write? That you always leave without permission or that you always have all sorts of excuses?". I mean what is the point of me writing a letter of reference if all I am going to say is SO-and-so worked for me for 1.5 years. FULL STOP.
Certainly she wouldn't want me to have potential employers call me. Because if I am still living here, people would ask Why did her employment stopped? If she is good, why did I let her go? What am I supposed to say? I certainly would not lie for her!
But I have to say that I did teach her to cook lots of stuff. She can make banana loaf, pancakes, proper omelets and scramble eggs, Hainanese chicken rice, nasi lemak, chicken casserole, curry chicken, lor mai kai, lor pak kou, chicken pies, pork chops, chicken chop, roast chicken-my style, roast chicken ala Jamie Oliver, Grilled fish with lemon sauce, lasagne (tomato sauce and the bechamel sauce from scratch!), quesadilla, tacos, pizzas, pasta carbonara, gyoza, fried hokkien mee, wantan mee, mee suah soup, fried beehoon malaysian style, chinese style fried rice, one pot rice, bak kut teh and the 'yau fann', thai-style pineapple rice, all sorts of chinese soups, angmoh mushroom soup, pumpkin soup, french onion soup..... etc etc. *sigh* now got to start from the very beginning. BLEAH...
I have a new maid coming in tomorrow. My partner's driver's cousin. We'll see how she works out. If this one don't jadi, my driver has two lined up for me this weekend. Yeah. Now is quite easy to find maids because they have all returned from their kampungs to the city. If it was before Lebaran, then it would be difficult...
Wish me luck with this new one...
Oh.. I know I am very bad. But I hope her next job is with a local family. NO off days. NO long paid holidays (with us, she gets at least 3 weeks paid holidays when we go away if not more! Actually more. We go away during Summer holidays and December holidays.), NO TV in room. NO Free time. MUST wake up at 4 AM. MUST mop floor twice a day with floor cloth and not with a mop. MUST make FULL breakfast for the ibu every morning. MUST bring the Ibu's handbag into the car. MUST bring Ibu's little bag and towel to the gym (see this post) etc etc...
So bad hor... but she really had it too good that she wants to take advantage of me. If I don't fire her this time, she will definitely think she is indispensable and climb ALL over my head!
Remember my last post? I mentioned something about getting a new maid... Heheheh.
Well, fired the maid yesterday. Why? If you have been following my posts about my maid, you will know why. This time was really really the last straw.
This time? She was supposed to be back by Monday, 5th Sept morning - boys back to school. Driver was here at the apartment at 6.30 am as usual. I didn't expect her to arrive so early. Perhaps 7 am or 8 am. When she didn't turn up at 8 am. I texted her and ask her what time she is arriving. STOOOOOOOOPID woman said she couldn't get bus ticket for Sunday. And only managed to get bus ticket for Monday. She will only arrive in Jakarta either afternoon or night. What kind of stupid baloney is that? She don't know in advance she don't have bus ticket meh? Even if she didn't buy her ticket waaaaaaaaay in advance lah, she should have called me on Sunday night already, right????
Why must wait till I contact her to see where she is, then only inform me? Why do I have to see that shedid not turn up for work, then I be the one to find out what happened?
When I told H about it, H immediately said Tell her NO Need to come back. But then, my keycard and all was still with her. So I didn't tell her that she no longer has a job. I only texted her that Boys STARTED School today. She said she didn't do it deliberately. Yah. Right! I am so stupid is it?
Seriously, everytime she goes off, there will some stupid excuse as why she can't come back as intended!!!
I was ironing on Tuesday morning (10 days of clothes!!), when she opened the door and couldn't get in. Cause I've double-locked and latched the door. The moment I opened the door, I said please give me the keys. You don't have to work here anymore. Please pack your things. That's all I said. Very calmly.
When she was leaving, I just couldn't help it. Had to say it. I told her. Just tooooooo many times that she do all this nonsense. Fed-up of telling her the same thing over and over again!
And you know what? Today, she asked me for a letter of reference via text. She said she worked more than one year blah blah blah. And donno what else. I asked "what do you want me to write? That you always leave without permission or that you always have all sorts of excuses?". I mean what is the point of me writing a letter of reference if all I am going to say is SO-and-so worked for me for 1.5 years. FULL STOP.
Certainly she wouldn't want me to have potential employers call me. Because if I am still living here, people would ask Why did her employment stopped? If she is good, why did I let her go? What am I supposed to say? I certainly would not lie for her!
But I have to say that I did teach her to cook lots of stuff. She can make banana loaf, pancakes, proper omelets and scramble eggs, Hainanese chicken rice, nasi lemak, chicken casserole, curry chicken, lor mai kai, lor pak kou, chicken pies, pork chops, chicken chop, roast chicken-my style, roast chicken ala Jamie Oliver, Grilled fish with lemon sauce, lasagne (tomato sauce and the bechamel sauce from scratch!), quesadilla, tacos, pizzas, pasta carbonara, gyoza, fried hokkien mee, wantan mee, mee suah soup, fried beehoon malaysian style, chinese style fried rice, one pot rice, bak kut teh and the 'yau fann', thai-style pineapple rice, all sorts of chinese soups, angmoh mushroom soup, pumpkin soup, french onion soup..... etc etc. *sigh* now got to start from the very beginning. BLEAH...
I have a new maid coming in tomorrow. My partner's driver's cousin. We'll see how she works out. If this one don't jadi, my driver has two lined up for me this weekend. Yeah. Now is quite easy to find maids because they have all returned from their kampungs to the city. If it was before Lebaran, then it would be difficult...
Wish me luck with this new one...
Oh.. I know I am very bad. But I hope her next job is with a local family. NO off days. NO long paid holidays (with us, she gets at least 3 weeks paid holidays when we go away if not more! Actually more. We go away during Summer holidays and December holidays.), NO TV in room. NO Free time. MUST wake up at 4 AM. MUST mop floor twice a day with floor cloth and not with a mop. MUST make FULL breakfast for the ibu every morning. MUST bring the Ibu's handbag into the car. MUST bring Ibu's little bag and towel to the gym (see this post) etc etc...
So bad hor... but she really had it too good that she wants to take advantage of me. If I don't fire her this time, she will definitely think she is indispensable and climb ALL over my head!
I need a holiday!!!
I have been working like a dog lately. So many things to do for the new business. And so much red tape here there everywhere. Really tiring - both mentally and physically. I feel so drained. I really need a holiday. So much so that I will take ANY holiday. Even a fishing holiday! Yes. Me. Miss Spa&Pampering. Can't imagine it? Well, seriously I am NOT afraid of slimy fishes. What I am afraid of is waiting for ages for a fish to take the bait! So if this chick is going out fishing, she is going to hire those flats fishing guides to show me the way to hook those huge fishes. No way, Jose am I gonna wait till the cows come home!
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