Jumbled...

This post is of various topics...

One More Chance
A few days ago, I posted that boys will be in Separate Bedrooms from now-on. Well... it didn't happen. When S1 came home from school that day, he announced that he will give S2 "One More Chance". A couple more days later, I asked S1 again about separate bedrooms....and he said "S2 had been behaving quite well. So I think I'll continue to sleep in the same bedroom with him".

So?
What do I do?
I let it be as it is. I didn't push nor insist that they get separate bedrooms....although I really want the bickering/finger-pointing/screaming/fighting/blaming to stop.

I feel that many-a-times, I am in a push/pull situation. You know what I mean?
One one hand, I want them to have their own rooms, to be responsible for their own individual items, to have own space, to minimize the bickering....

BUT on the other hand, I feel that they really have a closer relationship in the same bedroom. At times, I hear them chatting nicely in the dark.....after I've put them to bed. (Yes. I eavesdropped. But it was really good to hear them. Put a smile on my face.)

I've been scanning some old photos (pre-digital!!!!)....and I find them soooooooo cute when they were younger. I know I said before that I will NOT put photos of my boys on my blog in fear of various reason. But I doubt anyone can recognise them from this photo as they've changed so much.

From Cuties.....

......To Monsters

See! You also cannot recognise them, right????

Of course the short one is S2 and the taller one is S1 lah. S2 now is short-sighted one...so of course the one-eyed one lah!!!!

Fishies...

Wanted to write about this months ago. But didn't upload the photos from phone until this morning. Went to see Dr. Fishies over at Kenko in Pavilion when I was back in KL for a couple of days in June (stopover from my Macau trip with the gals). Am told that the little fellas can work miracles on my "diseased" feet.

Dr. Fishies inspecting my Left Foot.....and then my Right Foot

It was quite geli at first. But after awhile, you kinda get used to it. When we (went with mom) there, there was a group of ladies who came and try. Aiyo...they were sooooo noisy. Screaming and giggiling. So blardy irritating. Wanna slap them man. Cannot tahan the geli-ness, then just leave lah. Create so much ruckus. Oh Yeah.. Chef Wan was there at the same time too. Think he also cannot tahan those ladies.

I only went once....so don't really know if it works. The fishes kept on nibbling with my leg and top part of my feet rather than my soles...which is the more problematic part. Mom said that the fishes probably have problems chewing on all the HARD SKIN on my soles, and of course would prefer the softer skin... :-)

The manager mentioned that they have private rooms which can have the fishes TREAT your WHOLE body. Errrrr... I think NOT!!! Too many protruding parts and crevices that I don't want the fish go near!!!!

Karaoke-Mad

We got invited to tea/dinner by H's colleague some weeks back. Yes. We ate alot...BBQ for tea and then a proper sit-down dinner. The belly went KABOOOOOOM that night. I made some cupcakes for the kids.... It was quite last minute.

Came back from lunch to make them. We had to be there about 3.30 pm. There was insufficient time for cupcakes to cool properly. Thus, instead of making butter icing, I just used glace.

Nice or Not?

Yeah...I know they all look kinda plain...

This friend had a very canggih Karaoke machine. It works just like in the Karaoke joints. Have song book with the number codes. Input number codes into the remote and voila! The song you chose is on the TV.

We were really on the roll... Although both H and I did relinquish the mics to other guests....both of us were sort of hogging the mic most of the time Heee heee... S2 did come and join us and sang quite a number of songs too. S1? Busy playing the Wii, and did not have a care despite the LOUD singing! Hahahah..

Even after all the other guests have left...both of us. No..actually 3 of us were still out on the terrace singing. Summore we were LOUD. Heeheheh...wonder if his neighbours came to complain about us. We were so hooked that we actually wanted to hunt down this machine!!!!

Family Day

H's company did have a family day on the 26th of August. It was held at a local theme park. Though there were thousands of staff and family, I didn't really knew anyone. H said that it's more for the working staff. Basically, he went to show face....congregated in the Huge Hall, waited for H's boss to make a speech, some performance by local artiste etc. We stayed till about noon only. Boys did enjoy the rides but mommy and daddy were kinda tired. H "bribed" them with DVDs and PS2 games... so persuading boys to leave the park early was not a problem....

Juggling Act in the Hall

Meeting Teachers

Will be off to school later in the afternoon....gonna meet both the boths tutors. Will post if there's anything interesting...

Fat. Fat. Fat.

Went to another farewell last Thursday for a fellow countrywoman returning home.....and what do we do at farewells here?

We EAT, of course!

And naturally, the foods that we eat are all rich and fattening.

What did we have?
Thosai, chapati, nasi briani, mee goreng, dhall, lamb curry, chutney, chicken curry, fish curry, putu mayam, gado-gado and some other stuff....

As for desserts.... let's have some pictures (errr..taken with my phone, so not so clear lah..)....

English Trifle

Pecan Pie

Some Malay Kuih

Chocolate Cake

Plate of Fresh Fruits

Another Type of Malay Kuih

Another Chocolate Cake

My Espresso Cupcakes

Another Malay Kuih
So, you say lah... FAT FAT or not?

Lease Negotiation Done!

As I mentioned before in my previous post, the lease of my rented home expired in August. Since there has been some changes in the housing allowance provided by H's company, we decided that we should be the one negotiating with the landlord rather than leaving the task to the HR department. Well, we are quite happy with the negotiations. Though we will not be getting new Moen faucets, we managed to have the maintenance/ repairs and electricity (capped at a certain amount per month) to be included in the monthly rent. As for the guards, H's company will continue to pay the security company directly. Hopefully, this arrangement will be kinder to our pockets. :-)

Separate Bedrooms

I've had it.

I've had it with FINGER-POINTING, FIGHTS, ARGUMENTS etc. between the two boys.

The boys just got to be in separate bedrooms from now-on. I am hoping this arrangement will minimize their never-ending squabbles over everthing-under-the-sun.
For some time now, I have been suggesting to S1 that perhaps he wants to have his own room.
Each time, he would refuse.
Each time, I would just let it be.
I figured that when the right time comes (i.e. when he REALLY is a BIG boy, he would want to have his privacy to do his private stuff.....whatever that may be... :-P ), he'll ask for a room of his own. Beside, I thought this "brotherly togetherness" will foster better relationship between the two of them.

But I tell you, you cannot imagine the stress that I undergo ....with my daily/nightly screaming at them to stop this. Stop that. Do this. Do that. Don't do this. Don't do that. And each time, I would get the "NOT me. He did it" or whatever.

And this morning... I sort of nagged at S1 for being "tidak apa" over the pendrive that he needed for school today. And he retaliated! Waaaaaah. You should see his "wanna fight" face. Naturally, I scolded him. And then he just suddenly burst into tears....and then blamed on insufficient sleep which ........was caused by his brother (Of course! He's not going to blame himself) blah blah blah. This episode was not the first......Just so fed-up. Donno how many thousand times I've heard this. Just told him to sleep in a separate bedroom.
This time, he said "YES".

So there.... we shall try separate bedrooms for the boys from tonight!

"You complete me"

"You complete me."

I bet you knew where that line came from, before I even ask the question.
Yup! You are right.
It's Tom Cruise's famous (or infamous?) line from 1996's "Jerry Maguire".
Well, it worked for Jerry, alright. But do you think such Hollywood lines would work in real life?
I mean, you wouldn't want to use a flirty line out of a Hollywood movie verbatim, and have her/him scoff at you, right?
So to be a little more assured as to what lines score and what doesn't, try them out online at Ultimate Flirting Championship.
Who knows?
You might end up to be the winner......bagging prize packs from Extreme Style by VO5, plus the bonus of getting Victory Hair!
Even the alternative doesn't sound too bad. At least, you learn a thing or two about flirting!

Happy Flirting!

H's "Selfish Room"

While I was away in PJ, H had been busy working hard on his "Selfish Room".

The TV Cabinet that I mentioned briefly in my "Piggybacking" post is in this particular room.

What exactly is a "Selfish Room"?

It is a room that H can only enter. (Okay...this is an exaggeration. I can also enter lah... But boys aren't allowed-in) ...... one where he can relax after work...equipped with TV/DVD/Surround Sound System etc.

I had previously purchased a RED sofa for this room, but we've already moved it to our room. So the "Selfish Room" is in need of another set of sofa, which H went out to hunt one whilst I was still away.

Here's how the "Selfish Room" looks like now....

Yes...alot of pictures/mirrors NOT hung. Too lazy to call the guy in to do it. One of these days lah...or maybe NEVER! heeee heeee....

Whacko Hormones?

Once every month my hormones would go haywire. My face would start to sprout acne, especially on my nose and chin areas. I don't mean the teeny-weeny ones. Most are BIG. RED and mighty ANGRY! The worst thing is that I have very itchy fingers....which just cannot seem to keep away from those ANGRY pustules on my face. Constant touching, pressing, pinching aggravate them even more!! And at the end of the day, I had to use all sorts of acne treatments to coax them to leave my beautiful face!!!

Piggybacking...

.....not in the traditional sense though.

This may sound complicated or silly....depending on how you see it.

Okay... For the longest of time, H had been looking for a suitable Chinese-style TV cabinet for his "Selfish Room" (more about this later...hehehe). But Chinese-style furniture is quite expensive due to the high import taxes. So, when one of H's colleagues was moving over; H piggybacked on his "Shipment" with some Chinese-style furniture from Malaysia. Errr...we didn't fly to KL to choose the furniture. H just simply "trusted" the furniture vendor's (whom he knows) taste to select some pieces. H just gave some brief requirements and that was it. Because of this "Piggybacking", the furniture were considered 'personal effects' and thus NOT taxed.

The shipment was delivered while I was still on holiday in Malaysia. So the first time I laid eyes on them was when I walked through my front door the day I arrived back home!

TV Cabinet

H's very pleased with this piece. The carpenter that came to drill a hole in the back panel (for the DVD cables) indicated to H that the wood is of a very good quality. Errrr...I'm supposed to get someone to hang up those pictures that are sitting the floor...which I have yet to do.
Glass Cabinet
Still very empty. Donno what to display in the shelf!

Pair of Chairs and Table

Black Console Table
Now used as my "Buddha" table

Black Butterfly Shoe Cabinet
The cabinet is now filled with our shoes, of course.
This came with a matching mirror.

Plain Black Cabinet
H thought this was not a very nice piece. It's plain but I am already putting it to FULL use. It's already filled with my scrapbooking supplies. :-)

Lease is coming to an end!

The lease on our rented humble abode is coming up to an end soon!
Or maybe it has ended?
I really don't know if the landlord agreed to extend our lease or not.
H kept on saying "LEAVE IT TO ME..."
To date, I have yet to have any confirmation.
Geeeeezzz... what if the landlord disagrees and we have to move out IMMEDIATELY?
I tell you...over the two years that we lived here, we have accumulated quite a bit of furniture and junk. I really don't want to be hiring ten moving trucks at the very last minute to cart our stuff away to a new home. That is...if we can manage to find a new home that we like!
*GULP*

Boys @ Camp5

This is a much belated post....

When we were back in PJ, boys went "rock climbing" @ Camp5, 1Utama. They went for the 1-hour sampler which costs RM 45/person which includes a trainer, shoes/harness/helmet hire. Boys really enjoyed the activity (what do you expect from two monkeys? Monkeys luuuuuurve to climb, right???), and they did go again the following week. But their lazy mommy only followed them and took photos the first time round.
Second visit?
Mommy just sat at the cafe to sip her coffee and read her magazines....Of course lah!

Boys practising "how to traverse" a wall with help from the Trainer

S1 climbing up one of the walls...

S1 high up on another wall...(I had to lie on the floor to take this picture..heheheh)

Close-Up of S1 on this very high wall.
Yes. He did reach the top.
(S2 dare not climb on this particular one. It's 15 meters, I'm told....)

My two monkeys on their last climb....
Met with some friends today....one of them actually went to climb Mount Kinabalu with her hubby and four boys (Yup! She has four boys). She said it took her 7 hours just to climb to the rest area. She couldn't make it to the summit...but her boys did. She said it was really difficult. PAY MONEY for SUFFERING. Hahahha

Anyway, I was just thinking..."when can I bring my two boys to climb Mount Kinabalu?"

Would be quite fun. Don't you think?

Things we lugged back - Part 2

Since my internet was WHACKO for the longest of time and only finally got fixed; my Part 2 of the stuff we lugged back is a wee bit delayed. Well, no more foodstuff as promised! (To see what we bought in Part 1, go HERE)

Present from a Friend...One for me. One for S1

(mine was a signed copy)

Some of S1's Books He loves 'Artemis Fowl' and have just bought the entire series of 'Percy Jackson' as well as 'Vampirates'. which he has already finished!!! Books cost a bomb these days...but S1loves to read, and I can't exactly tell him NOT to, right?

More of S1's books. Actually, there are much more....but H lugged them back in his "15 kg allowance" earlier. :-)

These books are mine...got them discounted from the Big Bookshop warehouse over at Atria, PJ

S2's School Shoe from Bata. Yes. Boys have to wear polished black leather shoes to school. I've decided the cheap and affordable faux-leather VINYL Bata would do just fine. No point buying expensive REAL leather shoes for the boys as they would just destroy them in NO time.... S2 wore his expensive Clarks till the whole sole came off in less than a term!

Oh...and of course I lugged back my new Cole Haan slippers too....but forgot to take picture...so nevermind lah...

:-)

YIPPEEEEEEEE

No.1 - School has finally started TODAY!!!!!
And that means that mommy can now do her own stuff without feeling guilty. :-)
What have I got planned?
Tomorrow, I have a coffee morning/ Mee Rebus lunch at a friends house.
Wednesday, I have golf practise at the driving range.
Thursday/ Friday... nothing planned yet. But I am sure I can find something to do....

No. 2 - Yes. My internet connection is finally working!!!! After 1 1/2 weeks of WHACKO-ness. I hope that it will be okay from now on and NOT get disconnected again. Really cannot tolerate NOT having any internet connection. Feel so disconnected!

Family Day

H's company held their annual Family Day at a local theme park today. Naturally, boys and I went along with H. We all geared up in customized T-shirts that has H's company's colors, logo and tagline. Can you imagine approximately 5000 people wearing the same T-shirt? It sure brought cohesiveness amongst the staff. Not only that, I'm sure it was a promotional stunt for the company as well. There were other promotional items that were handed out. But we were a lazy bunch and did not join the long queues to redeem the gifts. Talk about laziness.....

No Internet Connection

It has been a bummer without any internet connection for the last week or so. Still don't have the connection at my house. Am using H's little portable gadget thingy. Don't know what you call those things. Am so mad with the ISP. The stoooooooooooooopid people changed my username and password without informing us prior. I had to call them to report inconnectivity, then only they tell me that the username and passwords. And then when the guy came, donno what they did...I couldn't detect the wireless signal etc etc, and also they didn't bother to inform the change in the settings like PPOE or RBC-Bridge or whatever. I had to ask them. Took like forever for it to work...and then I got it to work for a night....and next morning, CANNOT work again. And it has been out since then again. Really SOOOOOOOO frustrating. I have to call them up to scream at them. I tell you....already called so many times to scream already. Summore this happened when I was undergoing my PMS, so those customer service personnel at the Call Center really had a real bashing from me! Unlucky for them.
Geezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Donno when I'll be really connected again!

Things we lugged back - Part 1

Here are some of the things that my boys and I lugged-back. As we were only allowed 45 kg (I took AirAsia, remember?), we had to hand-carry some stuff (i.e. books, photos, toy pressie) in our trolley bags.

Dad has a very good weighing scale...and before we went to the airport, I already saw that my bags were 47.5 kg. Actually, wanted to bring back H's 4 packets of Shokobutsu showergel (Errr...Yes. We do have it here...just that it's sooooo much more expensive than the Jusco Specials). Packed them in my laundrybag....thought I'll take a chance to see if I can get them through. Otherwise, they can be easily taken out. Sure enough...the check-in staff said that my luggage was 2 kgs overweight. As I didn't want to pay $$$ for showergel, I removed them. My luggage weight was right on the spot of 45 kg!

Boys were quite eager to be the Q-ers. So we were 2nd in the queue behind another very eager boy. :-) No. I didn't pay extra for Xpress Boarding. With my two Q-ers, NO NEED lah!

Stuff from Ikea....

Ice-Tray, Pillow Protectors and the customary Serviettes!

(Went with Laundryamah on the 1st day of sale. She buy. I follow and buy also lor!)

Cushions from Ikea

(Okay...this I really needed for my 4 terrace chairs. My current cushions are flat and mouldy!!)

Yummy Pork Bak-Kwa

(Some for us...some for a friend)

Some Scrapbooking Stuff

(Mainly stickers and page-refills. Find that albums are slightly cheaper here. I can get K&Company albums at about USD27)

Trolley-full of Old Photos to be Scrapped
(Photos in the bag weighed 13 kg!! This I had to hand-carry)

Two boxes of Tai Thong Mooncake
Some Cake Baking/Decorating Items
(Donno why I buy the Wilton Decorating Set ...I already have one set of a different brand. The vanilla essence is cheaper back in Malaysia. The other sprinkles...just buy for fun.)
IbuMie Har Mee
(Eh...this brand really very good lah. Taste almost like the real stuff from those hawker stalls!)
Pasar Malam Kuaci
(Aiyo...we set off to Bangsar Pasar Malam on Sunday after dinner with Dad, S2 and my MIL to hunt for the black kuaci. Was surprised that the pasar malam had shrunk. Not only that, could not find any kuaci! What did we do then? Dad drove all the way to the pasar malam at Paramount Garden to see if we could buy them. And yes we did. Told H (the majesty???) that we had to criss-cross KL/PJ to get his kuaci!!!!
Oh! Supermarket kuaci will NOT do! Apparently NOT good enough!
De-Tox Drinks!
(After all the non-stop gluttony, must detox!
Mom bought these from her friend. Apparently, can really sh*t all the mess out!!!)

Okay...that all for Part 1. Promise Part 2 will NOT have any more food stuff!!! Heehehe...

Actually, S1 lugged alot of books in his hand-carry trolley bag!

:-)

Back Home...

Got back home yesterday....after three whole weeks in PJ.

Time really flies.

Donno what I did.....with a blink of an eye (okay.....an exaggeration), it's time to fly back home.

Gorged quite a bit on the last two days... Had been wanting to go to PJ New Town to have the Teochew duck rice for some time but just didn't managed to, until Tuesday night. I think I over-ate (AGAIN!). Started off in the morning with only a cup of coffee. Brunch consisted of a big bowl of dad's fish head beehoon. After picking up boys from Mandarin class from Skylace, we proceeded to Paandi's for roti canai and nescafe tarik.

Then took boys to RSC to meet up our friends from HK. Boys had a swim and dinner at the club. But GREEDY me was adamant of having my Teochew duck rice. Dad volunteered to stay and have dinner with the boys and friends. Mom, sis and I went on to have the Teochew duck rice with my MIL. Stuffed myself silly with a big bowl of rice and "gasak" my MIL's half bowl too. Downed a whole can of Coke too. Went home, saw durians and "gasak" three pieces. And later, mom asked me to drink the herbal soup that she had double-boiled since morning.

I tell you...when I went to bed, I was suffering like crazy. I can't even lie on my side. I had to lie on my back. Couldn't sleep. Was tossing and turning. I was going AIYO AIYO AIYO so much that mom said "Go and vomit it out lah!". Finally...I really cannot tahan..and did go and kneel at the porcelain throne. All came out...my soup, my coke, my durian and my duck rice. YUCKY man! Even after I've flushed twice, when I opened the bathroom door, S1 yelled out "OMG! The room stinks of durian now!" heheheheheheehh

Have to say that I felt soooooooo much better after that!

Can sleep liow!!

And what do we do when we wake up on Wednesday morning?????
We go to Soo Kee in SeaPark for HoFun and (as S2 calls it) smooth-smooth chicken!!

Okay...got to go do my grocery shopping now...when I come home, will post some pictures on the stuff that we lugged back from Malaysia.....

Do What?

What do we do when we come back to Malaysia?

The No.1 reason that we come back is of course to see my parents....for my monkeys to drive their grandparents crazy until they cannot tahan and ask "when are you all leaving ah???" hehehehehehe....

Other than that...is to meet up with old friends lor. Was quite laid back in the first week. This week...I had to gear-up with my meetings. Met up with friends from school, friends from work, old boss etc. And tomorrow, have a school reunion at the Marriot Hotel. It'll be an eye-opener as I've not seen many of my old schoolmates since I left school like 20 years ago. I was told to be a "member" so that I can get discounted ticket for the dinner. As usual, have to fill-in your particulars...and at the end, there was "Profession". My sister saw it and commented that reunions are for some people to SHOW-OFF...otherwise what's the "Profession" for? What's a stay-at-home-mom like me to write other than HOUSEWIFE???? *Gulp*

I supposed there's shopping to do...not the regular shopping at malls for clothes and such. More of shopping for foodstuff and others like Bak-Kwa, instant noodles, mooncakes, Colgate, books, etc. Not that I can't get them. It's just that it's so much more cheaper here in Malaysia. For example, Bak-Kwa costs about RM 65 per kilo here in MY. If I buy it back home, it'll be about RM 80 for 1/2 kilo.

Actually, I have not bought too many things over here...but somehow, my money is getting less very quickly. Donno spend on what! Maybe the ringgit got wings and fly-away by themselves!!! *Geez*....still got pasar malam kuaci to buy.....

Forgotten!

I don't know what I've been doing the last few days...but my mind is so out of this world that I actually have forgotten that I have a blog! Hahahahha... I just remembered that I might have some paid posts to complete this afternoon..whilst watching Stargate SG1 with H. Anyway...H is on his way back. His flight is at 7 pm. He flew over on Saturday morning for the weekend.
Just to see me??
Of course NOT!
We had to do some banking stuff today...since we re-financed our house. Sis (MK) had been asking us to do that since last year...as we were paying BLR ++ instead of the recent BLR -- offers. Anyway, that's done.

Did take the boys to Camp5 last Wednesday. Boys had fun scaling up the walls. I have to say that it IS challenging. S1 did climb all the way up to the top. It is about 16 meters high. As for S2, he didn't go all the way to the top....says he's afraid. The boys enjoyed the activity so much that they are looking forward to another session. Think we'll go again this Wed. Will upload some photos when I get home next Wed.

Yeah...TIME FLIES. I will be flying back next Wednesday (13th Aug). Really donno what I have done for the last 10 or so days. Oh! Yes! I peeled off my old photos from those adhesive-type albums....which I am told by my fellow scrappers that they are very very BAD for photos. They will "bleach" the colours from the photos. True enough..some of my photos are sooooo bad that I ended throwing them into the bin. Whilst doing the "peeling" exercise... I learnt that one should NOT take toooooo many photos! The photos were taken before the advent of digital cameras. I have like 5 photos of S1 feeding a bottle of milk to a lamb! All 5 are very very SIMILAR if not the same! Also...with S1 being the ONLY child then, I have sooooo many photos of him. Poor S2...being the No.2, the number of photos of this fella is quite minuscule compared to his older brother. There was this album which I labeled "S2's Full Moon"...but when I flipped through...there were no photos of S2!!! Sei-mou? The album had a lot of S1, the relatives, friends etc etc..... And the photos of his birthday....they are mostly blur and not have a good shot of him. *sigh* What a terrible mommy I am!!! So now...must have a little more effort to make sure that he's got a fair share of photos!!
*GULP*....(Guilty liow....)

Well...S1 celebrated his 11th birthday yesterday...together with his best buddy, who turned 11 today. We had a cake in the shape of the number 11. One 1 had S1's name and the other 1 had his buddy's name.

Okay..got to go for dinner now... Later.

Eat Eat Eat

What do you do on a holiday other than eat and eat and eat?
Okay...some of us do go out and do some other activities. But the majority of us just stuff ourselves silly with all the yummy and delightful local delicacies.
Don't you agree?
And at the end of our holidays, we are faced with the inevitable expanded waistline!!!
Then we start to ponder how on earth we are going to get back to our pre-holiday sizes.
One way is pop some diet pills, or we could do the hard way.... EXERCISE till the cows come home!!
Your choice!

Need an Upgrade?

Remember my Macau holiday with some girlfriends? I took quite a lot of photos on my digital camera which I've already transferred to my laptop. So last Saturday, one of my girlfriends came over to copy the digital photos to her flash disk. I turned on my laptop, and it took a loooooooong time to start up. I was told that it is time to upgrade my laptop memory to a higher ram. Is slow start-up a good indication for an upgrade?