Shark Teeth Shocker

I have never heard of shark teeth in children until I saw this shocker in my own son's mouth!! See for yourself the picture I took of his mouth. You bet I was scared out of my wits when I saw it and anxiety and worry started creeping into me, I felt butterflies in my stomach, I kid you not! What if his baby teeth won't fall off, ever?! What if they fall off but too late and his permanent teeth would be uneven? He wouldn't have 'perfect' teeth, that hurts me and I was really worried. I was already talking about bringing him to the dentist the next day. My hubby was just as clueless as me. Instead my son was the one trying to console me (and also trying to talk his way out of a visit to the dentist).

Thank you, whoever invented the Internet, for with some googling, I found that it is not that uncommon (about 10% of children may have this) and this is called shark teeth (or the correct technical term, lingually erupting mandibular incisors). I also found a few reassuring articles by dentists which help me understand the matter at hand and rest my anxious heart, a little. So if you are a parent to these 10% of children, you may find these articles helpful (Link 1, Link 2).

Although I am not as worried but I am still worried. If you are a parent, you would understand. And if you are a parent to more than one child, you will also understand how it feels when anything happens to any one of your children. You will be super worried, no matter which child it is. Your heart aches for each one of them, just the same. You may not treat them exactly the same way because they are all different, yet your heart aches the same for them. I think now I can understand how my parents felt when they worry for me or any of my sibblings. This is something so wonderous, all parents feel the same way about their children.

There may be times when disagreements crack the relationships between parents and their kids, but deep in each other's heart, this universal family love can never be broken. We just need to keep mending it. Aptly, this Sunday we just celebrated the Holy Family in church and even made a procession with the Holy Family statues in town. I don't know why the discovering of shark teeth in my son's mouth could make me think of all this, may be that's how God works. HE wants to remind me of my love for my children, the love of my parents for my sibblings and I, and the love of my mother-in-law for one of her daughters, in particular.

I pray for guidance so that I can be the one holding the family together and the strong one giving each one of them the support whenever they need it. When my kids become terrible teens in 10 years and they 'hate' their mummy, I hope that they can read this article which their mummy wrote and understand that mummy loves them no matter what.

For now, I want to say "Mummy loves you, Eron. Mummy will do everything to make sure your teeth will grow out nicely."

Shortbreads, Sweet Buns and Christmas Wishes

Baking been missing for a while from my routine until just two weeks ago when I felt the itch to bake something. Since I have all the ingredients anyway, I decided to try making shortbreads. The ingredient and recipe are pretty simple. I was calling them shortcakes but I think shortbreads and shortcakes are different. A little googling and here we found the difference. So the correct name for what I made is shortbreads. The trick here is the temperature and the length of time you bake them. Too hot and too long, they become too dry or burnt (like biscuits). So I have to make a few attempts to get the correct texture, a little soft inside and not too hard outside. They should still look white and not too brown. I made some tortoise shaped and heart shaped ones.

Then last week, I saw the facebook entry of my colleague's on his wife's Japanese-Style Sweet Bun, I had to try it. So a little googling got me to this recipe. It turned out to be a success and the process was not too complicated. Only problem I faced was that my mixer couldn't handle the dough and I ended up kneading with my hands almost entirely. I was doing this at night and the yeast had no problem doubling my dough much faster than that was stated in the recipe. That's the advantage of living in the tropics! The buns were really soft in texture, however, I think the buns were not sweet enough, I will need to put in a little more sugar next time. You can even add in fillings to these buns if you want, so I think I will be trying this recipe again soon, maybe add some variation to it.

Christmas is just around the corner, still a little more shopping to go. I am hopeful that we will get half day off on Chirstmas Eve cause I did not take any leave pre-Christmas, saving my leave for school re-opening. My sis-in-law will be having eating party on the eve at her house, I do not know yet if I will prepare something to bring over there. But Christmas is not about eating and presents and parties.... We have gone through the (annual) penitential duties and we will be attending the Christmas eve Mass and the Christmas day Mass too. I had previously posted this on my facebook, the Advent Consipracy. It is a different perspective of Christmas, the correct prespective. Have a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year. Peace be with you.

Lucky 4

Busy busy weekend. The kids had their pre-Christmas party with the rest of the kids of our BEC zone on Saturday. Parents have to bring in food for potluck for the kids. I have been asked to prepare fried chicken but I decided to make roast/baked chicken wings instead, healthier for the kids. So on Saturday morning, we had breakfast with the in-laws then off we went to buy chicken from the near by factory that slaughters chickens. I always get my chicken there as it is fresh since their just slaughtered them. I think is is also a little cheaper than the retail palces. 3kgs of wings were cleaned and marinated before they went into the oven. It turned out okay but if I had marinated them longer, they would be better.

In between baking the chicken and going to the party, we had to go to Metro Point to report a problem with our sony Bravia LCD TV which is 9 months old to the retail shop. We also had lunch at Sushi King after that. The management of the buidling has put up the tallest Christmas tree in Kajang in the building, it is really pretty.

After the kids' party, when the kids were getting ready for bed, I went present shopping. When I got home, I had to wrap the presents until past midnight, so now we have a lot of presents under our little Chirstmas tree, waiting to be opened on Chirstmas day.

On Sunday, after church, we met with my sister and her family in Metro Point (again). I am surprised that they had many activities there, there was Santa distributing sweets and taking pictures with people and also there was an auction for electircal/electronic stuff and some lucky draws and games. I was lucky as my name was the first to be picked out for the lucky draw and I won a RM10 voucher for waffles (which we redeemed already). My hubby tried at the games and got a little Hello Kitty thingy to hang on the phone. So we were pretty happy how the afternoon turned out.

In the evening, we left the boys with their 'por por' and we went for BEC zone dinner with my daughter. The food was pretty good for the price we paid, and I ate quite a bit. Guess who got the 1st lucky draw of the night? My hubby! So he won himself a mug. We were really happy to be lucky 3 times in a day! But that was not the highlight. Right about the end of the dinner, my number was drawed and I won a pretty large and heavy present which we have yet to open. We are guessing it is a vase of a clay statue since it is pretty heavy. We are saving it for Chirstmas before we open it! So there you go, 4 times lucky in a day! What a nice day! We do not know what significance it brought but we were nevertheless pleasantly surprised at our 'luck'. What a way to end a busy but great weekend!

Carolling at dinner.

Do it Anyway

I found a prayer card at home which was distributed in church some months back. Never got around reading it until last night. It carries among others, a famous prayer credited to Mother Teresa of Calcutta. It was said to be found on the wall in the Children's home directed by Mother Teresa. Here is how it goes:

Do it Anyway
By Mother Teresa of Calcutta

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

As I was doing a search on this, I found that there exist an original version slightly different and it goes like this:

The Paradoxical Commandments
by Dr. Kent M. Keith

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

Apparently, Mother Teresa have rewrote part of the original to make it more spiritual. But I am especially touched by the last verse in Mother Teresa's version, it is so true. So when you question yourself for doing the things that your consience is telling you too, while others are doing things against their (assuming they have) consience and are apparently doing well in this world; or when you are getting angry at the selfishness and inconsiderations of others, you can reflect upon this.

It is never between you and them, it is God who will be your ultimate judge.

Have a blessed Christmas.

My Hometown, Bee Pee

Am back from sending the boys to my hometown to their grandma and grandpa. It was a real nice break at my hometown although it was a short 2 days. Didn't get to do a lot of stuff but it was nice being home, doing nothing, just relaxing. It is also good we didn't do much stuff as we have left the memory card of my Nikon at home while we cart the camera along. We couldn't take any pictures of our trip. Darn! So here is a pix I got from the net of Tasik Y which we went for our morning walk, this is a must for all our trips there. Many things have changed since I moved to KL in the University days. This park has been upgraded tremendously, with a big extension to the side and facilities added. It is now a favourite site for many, especially the elderly, to have there morning or evening walks, including my mum. There have also been many changes in terms of shopping places, such as Carrefour and a few other malls. There is also standalone Mac Donalds building when during my time at home there was none. Many improvements, it is now almost like a city. Too bad we would not be able to find well paying jobs there or I wouldn't mind going back there for good. Will be going for another quick trip there this weekend to fetch them home and then it will be Chinese New Year before we go back there again. When we have more time, we will make sure to visit Minyak Beku, the beach not too far away from BP town, maybe during CNY.



Looking back this 2010 that is coming to an end, I am surprised how fast it went. I am at least happy with one thing, I did continue to blog as I said I would. It has been more than a year and I have managed to write up something almost every week. Other than this small achievement, I do not think I have accomplished anything significant for the year! Resolutions never really work, so I should just quit making them. So the coming new year, I just wish for God guidance in everything that I do and in any decisions that I make. I also pray for the health and safety of all my loved ones. May all of them have a great year ahead, with God's grace.



This will be one of those short portings, I got lots to do and too little time to spare lately. Hopefully things will improve soon and I will have more to say.

As Korean as it gets...

I had little to do with anything korean until some 8 or 9 years ago when they first aired a popular korean drama on TV. The rest is history. I am now a korean drama junkie! Gone are Hong Kong dramas from my routine, now only Korean guys get to fit into my tight schedule. I am even willing to sacrifice my sleep time to watch them online through my (sometimes pathetic) streamyx connection at home. My korean vocabulary has also expanded, e.g. Annyeong Haseyo, Sarang Aeyo, Bianeh, Kencana.... to list a few (ahemm..). I have tried learning to read korean and they have a very unique system. Really interesting but steam ran out...

My hubby never understands my obsession with Korean dramas, I think no men would. But one thing we do share is our liking for the most famous korean food that all korean drama junkies must know from all the episodes of korean dramas... the wonderfully spicy and sourish pickled vegetables, the one and only Kim Chi.... So we have tasted Kim Chi bought from supermarkets and they are extremely expensive. So we have been researching how to make own own kim chi and finally, last week, I rolled up my sleeves to try making it.

I got my recipe from here. Firstly, you need to soak your chinese cabbage (napa cabbage) with water and sea salt (2 table spoon) for 12 hours (overnight) in the fridge. Make sure all leaves are soaked in the salt water, weigh it down if you have to. Then, next morning, rinse the leave and shakes off access water, out them in a large bowl. Add in some minced garlic and ginger, more sea salt, some sugar and as much grounded dried chili powder as you like. To add more colour, I added shredded carrot and a few stalks of spring onions cut into strips. Mix them well in the big bowl, use gloves (I just bagged one hand in clean plastic bag). Pack them all into a glass container/jar, pour in any water from the bowl into the container. Make sure the water covers the vege, leave some space in the jar as there will be some gas being produced during the fermentation. Leave the jar on your kitchen counter (away from direct sunlight) for 2 days. After that you can keep it in your fridge and take portion to consume when you like. I tasted my own kimchi and I didn't have any upset tummy, so I am pretty happy. The taste is also pretty near to the ones we bought from the supermarkets. So I am confident that I can repeat this process with improved results next time too. This is how it looked like.

School Holiday, Christmas and Year End Coming.

Almost the end of the year and the school holiday is around the corner. We are planning to take the boys to their grandma in Johor for a week or so. I think they are both big enough to not pin for their mommy and daddy for 1 week. I am sure Grandma and Grandpa will keep them entertained, plus we will bring along their PS2 to occupy their hours. So my fingers are crossed. We will be driving them down the week after next and then go fetch them back a week later. My worry is more for our little princess, she will miss playing and fighting with her brothers. Hopefully, she will not be too hard to handle (for MIL) while her brothers are away.


My eldest is getting his result for Standard One soon. Apparently, he is amongst the top 3 in his class and will be getting an 'award' this coming Friday. Guess we will find out what position he got in his class then. I promised to get him a PSP only if he gets No. 1. Too demanding? Not really, my son has not work on his studies at all. He seems to have the lazy gene in him who knows from where. He didn't even flip through his schools books when he was having his exam, so getting something without working for it shouldn't be awarded. That was what I tried to make him understand. Regardless, he will still get what he wants under the Christmas tree (there goes more money!). Kids nowadays are expensive!


Talking about Christmas presents, it is about time to start shopping for them. Looking at the wish lists from the kids and their dad, I think we will be spending several bombs, so there goes the year end bonus. Not to mention, new school uniforms and supplies for the 2 boys going to primary school and also my little princess at the kindy. More money!!


We have got a number of activities within our BEC in December too, so it should be a busy month. We should also be doing some short trips and activities to keep the kids happy in their holidays. I haven't got everything planned yet, maybe a picnic at the river side, swimming at the pool, going to the parks and a short trip to the beach. It's going to be tiring for the parents come school holidays.

Blowing my top

The day begun as usual, the office day was nothing out of the ordinary. But I was furious when I got home to find the dog had dragged my clean laundry to the floor, again! I have punished her numerous times but she just wouldn't learn. Then the kids are also a bunch of trouble makers too. Fighting and snatching things from each other. I blew my top, more than once today.

This is one of those days that I really want to get away to be by myself. But alas, it cannot be. I don't have much of alone time anymore since the kids came along but that's part of family life. I am also having a headache and not feeling all that well. So God, please give me the strength.

It's time for bed for the kids. I think I will let the hubby handle them for awhile upstairs while I steal some alone time to update this blog. With some period of quiet time by myself, I can quickly collect my thoughts and look at things in different perspective. Hmmm, I will make sure my hubby make some alternate arrangements for drying the clean laundry so that the clueless dog cannot reach it. I am going to plan some activities for the kids, preferably something that involves physical movements for tomorrow, since it is a public holiday (Deepavali). These kids get extremely naughty when they are bored. Then there is also the weekend. Maybe swimming, playing at the park, shopping (involves walking), dunno yet.

Oh yes, just read the news that the two by elections were won by BN, just as I was expecting. So I am guessing the election is coming soon with BN having great confidence with these two wins. I was telling my hubby that the mass media is pretty important especially in rural and remote areas. These are the only means of information from outside for them, forget about Internet. It is after all a democracy (to a certain extent) and the people of Galas and Batu Sapi have spoken. Accept that fact and move on.

Tomorrow is a brand new day, Happy Deepavali to all that are celebrating. I conclude with a prayer for this nation: Lord, please provide the people of this nation the wisdom and courage to choose their leaders wisely. Please bless this country of ours with peace, harmony and fairness to all, justice to the afflicted and hope for the despaired. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ your Son our Saviour, Amen. Peace to all.

Happenings around Us

Been busy at work since we are short handed. Expect to get replacement in a month's time. Otherwise, life is as usual, busy with kids at home, rosaries at BEC members houses nightly for the whole week and some weekend activities with familiy members. Haven't been following much on what's on the news lately. Now let's take some time to look at what's happening. I heard about the budget (that makes no difference to me) and the 100 storey building. There is also some movement in facebook against it but frankly, I do not have a strong stand on the matter. Do we really need another sky scrapper in KL? The mega project would be a windfall for a few (already rich) people awarded the project and probably help 15,000 foreign workers get jobs constructing the building. To me and the general public, there is no benefit. Maybe someone might say it is national pride, well, I say BS. So I don't have a strong stand on this, with or without, makes absolutely no difference.

Then there are the 2 by-elections which I am not following. I have a feeling BN will bag both if not at least one of them. Also there has been talk about the general election coming soon. As a lone citizen, as much as I want things to improve, but what can I do? All I can do is to exercise my rights at the polls to pick whom I think is less corrupt, more just and fair. I urge all to do the same, exercise your rights at polling time. The worst thing anyone can do is to not make your one vote count. If you have not register yourself, please do so at the nearest Postal Office.

Also there is the Anwar's ridiculous trail and TBH's never ending inquest. I find it funnily sad that we are still trying to find out if TBH killed himself or was killed, for more than a year now. If TBH was found to have been murdered, what's next? All evidence would have disappeared by now, so how will there be any prosecution on the murderer/s?

Natural disasters are happening in Indonesia, tsunami and volcano erupting. We can only pray for the victims and their families. Then we have murders happening everywhere, just a few days ago, there was news on a murder by gunshot near where I stay. Also heard about the skeletal remains found near Broga Hill, which I think was related to the high profile murder of the business woman. 2 days ago, a well meaning friend sent an email complete with pictures of a murdered child in her uniform. This little girl went missing on her way to take her UPSR exam recently and was found brutally murdered. It was really heart wrenching to see the pictures, I couldn't bring myself to see all the pictures attached. I deleted the email but what I did see already made me distraught. I cannot imagine what her parents would have felt. There is absolutely no comprehendable reason for a child to be killed in this manner. I was sad the whole day, that is why I always try to avoid sad stories like these but at the same time, I feel like ignorance is not bliss. I feel guilty living in this nice little bubble when the real world out there is so cruel and sad. Why? Is there a reason behind all the bad things that are happening? Some to innocent beings? These are questions that probably have no real answers. I will leave that as it is for now and save all the sad thoughts for another day.

Not as easy as I thought

Friday and I am at home with the kids since my MIL has accompanied the FIL to the doctor's. They are napping, so I have time for some browsing. Checked my stocks, not making enough for me to sell :(. I have been holding on to some of them for awhile. Did not sell when I should so now is back to where it begun. Looks like it is not easy as I thought trying to make money from stocks. A few problems, do not know which to buy and when you do, you do not have lotsa money to invest. The volume you can afford to buy makes significant differences. If you buy more, you could sell in a shorter span of time to make some money. Otherwise, the gain is so small, it is hardly worth selling. So I just keep. Of course we can do margin but that would mean higher risks. I think I am too much of a greenhorn now to attempt margin for now.

Otherwise, there is REITs. That could be a good choice with regular payouts. Or there is also mutual fund. Gosh, looks like I need to do more research. This is all for this posting. I got more reading and thinking to do on this.

Adam so Rocked Putra Indoor Stadium

It's no secret (and I made no secret about it) that I am an Adam Lambert fan. Ever since his American Idol audition I have been following all his development. And when I found out he was coming to KL, I was amongst the 1st to book 2 seats.

The day was finally here, hubby and I made arrangements to have the kids taken care of at the in-laws for the evening. We came home quickly after work and after a quick shower and a quick bite, we were off to Bukit Jalil. With help from Google Map, we made our way and was there at 7 plus pm. There was a good crowd outside, we saw people of all ages. I told my hubby that thank goodness we were not the oldies because we saw plenty of ladies and uncles in their sixties coming to the show. Show supposed to start at 8pm but as expected there was a lot of waiting. One thing we noted, it was not a full house, I think it's because there was not much promos going on. I suspect it's because the organisers were afraid too much hype may cause too much attention from the conservatives and may lead to cancellation. Still it was 3/4 full, I read there was like over 10,000 people. That's alot! With 2 short opening acts, we continue to wait until 9+pm when Adam and his band came on stage. And it was a start of an amazing show!

Every song was done to perfection, he was AMAZING, his vocals is incomparable with anyone on earth (I am a little biased for Adam, can't blame me)! We were blown away, he hit notes so high that almost reached the sky. I remembered I was so awed by the lead singer of Scorpion when they came to Sunway Langoon upteem years ago. That aged little man had lungs of steel. But Adam, he so rocked us in KL. Plus he is so sexy and hot looking and only 28. And he was doing it so effortlessly, with style and persona. 90 mins of great music from the fantastic band and perfect vocals from Adam (but not so perfect venue, would be better if it was an auditorium). Only regret was I didn't get better spot in the house, he was so far from us :(. Next time, I will spend whatever to get as close to the stage as possible. Adam, cannot wait to see you live again!!

p.s. I finally got hold of his album (Tour Edition, that's the cover up there!) at the Sony Music booth, last night. Which included a free poster of Adam. Now where shall I pin him up! Geez, feel like a teenager again!

Get moving or...

I can see hectic few months ahead. One of my colleague has found greener pastures and I am happy for her. But as the new semester just started, the busiest time of the year, it will be hard to handle without the much needed help. Looking for replacement is really not that easy, especially a suitable one. I anticipate 2 months at least without a replacement. But that's life, sometimes things happen and they are not within our control, we just need to try our best.

Since I am at the topic of work, I wonder if it is an occupation hazard to sit in front of a PC all day. My neck aches so often since these last 2 years. Sleeping has become a chore for me as I need to find a suitable position to rest my neck and head. I didn't do a good job last night, so today I woke up with a stiff neck, again! My hubby is scaring me, saying it could be the onset of some dreaded illness but I think it just comes with my job. I sit in front of a PC all day and also I do no physical activity. I blame my hubby for the second, I used to play tennis regularly with my ex-colleagues in my previous work place but ever since I met my hubby, these activities just gradually diminished.

Instead, together we grew sideways together. What do you expect since our favourite past times were the likes of eating toasted cuttlefish with mayonaise. That is the problem with me and my hubby, we are too much a like. So much so that we allowed our laziness to seep into our bones. Physical activities is totally absent from our daily routines. That's why I have stiff neck so often and my hubby needs to watch his cholesterol.

We know so well we need to change our lifestyle but we have no motivation and no determination or will power. If one of us is an exercise freak, the other would be dragged out of his/her heavy butt to at least maintain some form of routine exercise. But as it is, we are too much alike, 2 fat lazy bumps that are getting fatter and lazier.

Can we change? Can we start getting our bodies in better shape? Can we eat healthier? Hubby, if you are reading, we have no choice! I hope we can motivate each other to change gradually. We need to if we want to last till our kids can fend for themselves.

Pleasures of Home Cooking

Cooking and baking for the family are really great pleasures for me. On Malaysia day, last Thursday, my brother and his family visited us at home. I decided to cook nasi lemak and thai green chicken curry with the green curry paste I bought from Chiang Mai. It was pretty good, a little too spicy because of the paste but still good. My brother and my sister-in-law seemed to have enjoyed it.

Then on the weekend, I cooked more stuff for the kids and hubby. For lunch on Saturday, we had Hot Soup (Hakka style). This is a very simple soup, made with chicken or pork slices or both. The soup based was made from anchovies. Ginger slices, 'tong choi', ground pepper and chinese celery are also important ingredients, none of them can be omitted. The result is a hot but clear soup, wonderful for clearing your nasal blockage (just my personal opinion).




For tea, I made egg tarts. I had made them previously but it had been a while. It was difficult to get the baked tarts out of the tart moulds but we finally managed to. I like the taste of it but I think I need to try a few more times to try making the pastry thinner and also find the correct technique to remove the baked tarts out of the moulds.

In the evening, we went to a close friend's house for a early mid-autumn celebration cum bday party for her daughter. Was a nice nite for gathering of my friends with some hubbies being dragged into the gathering as baby sitters, such as mine.

On Sunday, after church, we had my kids' favourite for lunch. No points for guessing correctly, yes, it was Mc Donalds. I also must admit I like McD too, my all time favourite is double cheese burger. I know they are having a promotion for triple cheese burger but I dare not order it, double is already bad enough! So I had my double cheese burger while the kids had beef burgers, chicken nuggets and fries coupled with large diet cokes (too much sugar is bad for you, hence diet coke. Fat ).

For dinner made pork belly with salted fish in clay pot (ham yu fa lum po) again and also thick taufu soup (taufu kang). Felt good that almost everyone enjoyed their dinner. I said almost because my little girl wouldn't finish her food :(. She is a picky eater but I am determine to change that, slowly :P.














Looking forward to try cooking new stuff when I can again.

Scare of my Life

Today at about 5pm, my mother-in-law gave a call on the the phone while I was still at work. It was scary news as I heard that my 2nd son had slammed the room door onto my two and a half years old daughter's fingers. My MIL described my daughter's 2 fingers were almost severed ('tuin' in cantonese to be exact). I was so horrified but I hoped that they weren't as bad as she described. I rushed home and all the way, I was super worried and tears were welling up. While driving, I was praying that her fingers will be able to heal, eventually, and they were not permanently damaged.

Thank Almight God for my prayers answered. Her fingers were a very scary sight, badly hurting but they looked to me to be no broken bones. She was sobbing a little but she was crying badly before I reached home. Her middle finger's nail was almost coming out and her ring finger was badly skinned. Her pinky had some minor bruises. I brought her to the clinic and she was treated immediately. As I expected, the finger were not broken, the kind Dr Chan dressed the wounds lightly and asked me to bring her back in 2 days to change the dressing. Some antibiotic and pain killer were prescribed to her. Her had stopped crying and seems to be taking it very well, I guess the most painful time had past. Her nail will eventually fall off and new nail will grow. I had a similar accident when I was very young and lost my fingernail but it regrew back normally. So I am quite sure there isn't any permanent damage. Thank God.

I tried to speak some senses to my 2 sons who were quarelling before one of them slammed the door that my daughter's finger were incidentally at the right place at the wrong time. They were no doubt being naughty but it was an accident. I tried to not make it a big deal, I didn't want to make them feel too guilty about it. I want to make an impression on them that they had caused much pain to their little sister and they have to be extremely careful not to slam doors in the future.

Sometimes, I am really at a lost. It seems like not too long ago I was a kid myself but now I am parent to 3 growing children. Adults don't always know what to do, but as parents, we all try our best. I appreciate that my parents also went through the same things bringing us up. They just did the best they could, that's all anyone can do really.

To all my friends who are parents, don't worry, nothing is perfect. You won't be the perfect parent and don't kill yourself trying to be one cause you will never be. Just do the best that you can, your kids will know and appreciate it when they are bringing up their own little ones. Happy parenting and I pray that God will bless all parents with the wisdom and strength to do their very best at all times bringing up their kids. Amen.

Kids' Activities, Cooking and Mooncakes

These few weeks are filled with public holidays. Upcoming is the Raya and then for the 1st time ever in the peninsular, Malaysia Day on 16th Sept. As usual, we have no plans. I think I really need to think of some activities for the kids, it's afterall also school holidays this week. Maybe a kite flying or fresbee playing will get them some exercise and fresh air. Or maybe we should go to Sepang for a half day trip which we planned 2 weeks ago but had to cancel since everyone was sick. I don't know yet but definitely we should do something out of the ordinary shopping in the mall thing.

Last Saturday, I suddenly decided to cook lontong when I saw the 'instant' ketupats are on sale in Tesco. My kids liked it very much and I also made sambal ikan bilis to add some spiciness to it since the lontong kuah is not spicy to accommodate the kids. As usual, I always cook too much. So my hubby took some to my in laws and I still have 3 packets of cooked ketupats in the fridge that will eventually end up in the trash can. My estimation is bad but I hate wasting food. I hope we can do something with the extra ketupats and not throw them away.

For Sunday dinner, as suggested by my hubby, I made 'ham yu fa lum po' (salted fish and pork belly in a pot) which turned out quite good. I even used the claypot and bought the authentic hua tiao wine for the dish. The 'ham yu' or salted fish I used was what I bought from Kuantan which is the really good quality type. I proudly give myself 8.5 out of 10. If I get a thicker soy sauce the dish will be better. So I will make sure I get 9.5 in my next try! We forgot to take picture of the dish before we digged into it, so there will be no pic of it on this post. Cooking or baking for the family is really a great pleasure. When I am in the mood, I really love trying something special and nutritious at the same time.

I was looking at the mooncake recipes but I think it might be a tough one, especially making the fillings and finding a mooncake mould. But in the event that I can get my hands on the mould, I might really try making some simple mooncakes. The prices of the mooncakes are really exorbitant nowadays and there are so many varieties of mooncakes in the market, it's really crazy. I still like the traditional types that are baked with lotus paste fillings and maybe one yolk. Plus it is pretty unhealthy stuff, I am not going to having that many slices.

Merdeka Blues?

Merdeka is fast approaching. This year it falls on a Tuesday. We haven't got any plans, probably a day to laze around at home or do some house improvement work.

At this Merdeka, I am feeling sad for our country. Alhtough much is going on outside of our own confines, majority of the rakyat are still the same. They live the same lives, work the same jobs, interact with the same people. But as we celebrate the Independence Day of our beloved country, are we proud of her achievements, are we proud of the societies that she has? Many times, I really think we have gone backwards instead of forward. 50+ years, and we are still harping about race and religion. People say these are sensitive topics and to be avoided. So we will avoid them by circling around them but never really dwelve into them. But does it really help? 50 years on, I definitely think it did not.

However, I truly believe majority of the people are peace-loving and fair people. I hope people will not be played by the politicians or the main stream media into feeling the need to bash one group in order to come out tops. It is my heart felt hope that all Malaysian should just go back to the basics, the fundamentals. We want good not evil, we want fairness not biasness, we want capable leaders not corrupt ones, we want all the needy to be assisted.

God is our ultimate judge. I ask for for His divine help, to make this country one that we are proud to call HOME, the only one we know of. Amen.

Being a Mum is not a bed of roses

Hectic week with my hubby working late. I have to manage all the kids by myself after work and they are really a handful. It is fortunate that dinner is taken care of at my in laws or I would really have no breathing space. Well, these are some of the sacrifices working mothers have to face. Not that stay-at-home mothers have it easy, I honestly do not think I can be that even if we can afford it. I think stay-at-home mothers have it worse and I really take my hats off to them.

The house may be in a mess, the clean laundry is still sitting on the sofa. But cleaning is not priority for me. I need to get the kids cleaned and fed and ready for bed. If they have homework, need them to finish it and nag them to practise their piano.

If you have me on facebook then you probably would know about my puppy going crazy and destroyed my small little pebble garden. We even set up a 3 feet fence around it but I think she was must have been really bored last night and decided to jump in and murder my plants! Now we are at a lost on how to prevent it from happening again. Just hope she will grow out of this phase SOON! Here is the mess we found this morning.

This is probably an understatement, being a mum for 3 kids and a puppy is defintely not a bed of roses! Thanks mum, for taking care of us 4 and a couple of dogs too. But as Beyonce would sing...

I'm a survivor, I'm not going to give up, I'm not goin' stop, I'm gonna work harder...

Kob Kun Kaa

We arrived home on Sunday afternoon from our 5 day 4 night trip to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai with a short stop in Laos thrown in. Had some pretty hectic travelling on one day where we only had dinner at midnight! The other few days were relaxing by comparison. But I think the tour guide, Xiao Zhen (a Thai Chinese), did a good job and worked hard trying to keep everyone in the group happy. Overall, it was a good trip. Air Asia was quite acceptable, the seats were surprisingly quite comfortable in leather! I knew there was no food provided but there was no bagage provided either?! So, we ended up paying extra for baggage check in. Well, next time I will be smarter. Only carry 7 kg with you on the plane and no check-in baggage.

From my short trip (the last trip to Thailand was to Bangkok/Pattaya many moons ago), I can see many similarities and also many differences between Thailand and Malaysia. The weather is pretty similar, very hot and rains often. However it just drizzles and doesn't pour, at least on the the few days that we were there. The buildings are similar, the kampong houses looks like what we can find in our kampongs. The roads are also the same except all the signboards are in the thai language, you hardly can find anything in English! The people and the shopping malls are the same, the Thais look mostly like typically Malaysian chinese, maybe more so in northern Thailand.

There are things that I noticed that are different. Shrines and satelite dishes are everywhere! Temples are aplenty too. Another thing is they really love and respect their Monarchy, big pictures of their King and Queen are displayed everywhere too.

Strangely, there are hardly any fat people in Thailand. Could it their diet of sour, spicy and sweet in everything? I also noticed many Ah Kuas (transexuals) working in normal jobs, I was even molested (or massaged) by one! But my sis assured me that he (or more like she) was not the least bit interested in me, of which I am convinced.

Elephants ('Chang' in Thai) are very respected there, there are many elephant decos decorating buildings and hotels. Elephant ornaments are sold to tourist eveyrwhere. There are also many beautiful dogs (mostly pure breeds), I can see that the Thais love their dogs. One more major difference is that the Thai McDonalds serve pork burgers, delicous! Definitely one of the highlights of my trip, having pork burgers from McD, twice.

We went up to the border and crossed over the Mekong river to Laos for a short stop. We also visited the border town of Maesai which is bordering Myanmar. There is a village camp which we visited where some Myanmar refugees lives there and make a living from tourists, these include the long neck and big ear Karen hill tribe.

Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai

A child on the back of her mother, begging on street of Measai border town.

A big ear lady from a Myanmar refugee camp near Chiang Rai.

It was a great trip for photo taking, I have more pictures posted on my facebook which you can see from this link. It will not be soon when I can go on such type of trip again, already I feel guilty that I left my kids behind. So I guess we will plan our next trip to include the kids and the hubby, hopefully soon.

Kob Kun Kaa (thank you) for reading my blog....

Wormy Puppy

I was in the Pet Shop 2 weeks ago to buy puppy food and there they have a Jack Russell Terrier puppy for sale! The shop keeper said that the puppy with MKA cert is priced at RM1300++. Now that we already have Cotton, our Golden Labrador, we cannot get another puppy, just yet. I am surprised at how tiny the puppy is eventhough I know that JRTs are small dogs.

Anyways, Cotton is eating well and she is getting used to living with us, she barks less now. Her little pink nose is turning black as her previous owner told me it was supposed to. She is still chewing and playing with shoes and anything she can find. She even nibbles my feet! The worst is she chews and steps on my plants too! We bought some fence from the hardware shop and had our little garden fenced up. It was really effective. But I was really upset because she killed half my potted ornamental palm, even after we tried to put the pot higher. I hope she will grow out of this chewing habit. We already brought her to the vet and got her 1st shot. She was given deworm medication and she really passed out long worms in her faeces after that, was a pretty scary sight. I didn't expect that, she is just less than 2 months old. We will need to send her to the vet again for further deworming. We do not understand where she could have contracted the worms from but I read that it is pretty common, so I hope a few rounds of deworming and regular follow ups will get rid of the problem. I look forward for her to be bigger so I can bring her for walks outside, she is still quite afraid to go out of the house for now.

When Life gives you Lemons, make lemonade!

Why the title? You may wonder. It came into my mind a minute ago how close this saying is to my real life situation, literally. Well, not exactly, it has got nothing to do with lemons but has something to do with bananas! Are you curious? Ok lah, here is the story.

It was a Sunday morning and both my hubby and I were busy doing some household chores. I was in the kitchen cooking breakfast and my hubby was upstairs doing whatever. The kids were all watching TV in the living room. Or so we thought! I walked into the hallway leading to the dining place and guess what I saw!! A bunch of half mutilated and half peeled bananas (the expensive ones, mind you, the 'Montels') on the floor!! Immediately I knew who was the culprit. So I talked to the culprit and she said it wasn't her, it was her kor kor. Imagine a 2.5 year old girl already know how to push the blame! My kids cannot escape their mother's sharp sense that is beyond all the 6 senses! So I told my hubby, the culprit is the 2.5 year old girl.


But she wasn't totally to be blamed. The reason she did so was she saw her kor kor took a banana (without asking mummy first!) from where we hung them (to rippen further). My daughter is a perfectionist, she doesn't like her banana mushy or ugly. So she kept pulling them down one after another and none of them was to her liking. So she left them on the floor and went back to her TV. The kor kor also got a few words from me but since I was in a happy morning mood, I let them off. We took the mutilated bananas, peeled them and cut off whatever that was too mushy and kept the remaining in the fridge under cling wrap. What should we do with them? Immediately my baking instinct came flashing! Aha! Banana cake! So that was my Sunday evening project, when we came back from our shopping trip in the evening, I spent 30 minutes making the cake dough and another hour or so baking it. This morning, I had 3 slices for breakfast, it was yummy! Juicy (cause I used lotsa bananas) and fragrant! I gave more than half to my mother-in-law where my kids will sure be having them for breakfast or tea later and kept a few pieces for my hubby to try.

the cake dough...

...the finished goods.

So when life gives your mashed up bananas, you make banana cake!

Sawadee Ka

I called my sis early in the week and asked if she still wanted to make a trip to somewhere. We had planned to take a trip in May/June but my mum changed her mind so it was cancelled. Anyways, I still wanted to go somewhere and my sis said she shared the same thought. So in a span of 3 or 4 days we sort everything out. We asked mum and thought she will say no, at first she did say 'No' when we said we wanted to go Taiwan. Later when we asked if she would be interested to go to Thailand, she said yes. So as not to allow her time to change her mind, I quickly booked (& paid) for AirAsia tickets online and the destination is Chiang Mai. It will be mum, sis and I and it will be end of this month, very quick indeed. The main reason we chose Chiang Mai is because we expect it to be cooler than most other destinations in SEA, since it's summer now.

This is also the first time I am flying AirAsia but the flight is only about an hour, so there is no need for any luxury on the plane. We are planning to do some hardcore shopping in Thailand, I need to get a bigger bag to fill with those stuff. I am not a big shopper but my sis is helluva one so I expect she might need my baggage space for her stuff :). Well what are sisters for, if not to help with carrying another's shopping loot, right?

Special thanks to my hubby for being ever supportive. I promise I won't make a habit of travelling without the kids and you. Maybe just 2 or 3 times in a year only. In return you can go have football watching sessions with your kakis a few times a year! Just kidding, dear hubby, you can go as often as you like, as long as the kids have all gone to bed!

Cotton

Last Saturday, I took my 2 sons to watch Karate Kid. We wanted to see Toy Story 3 but because a the time, the only available was in 3D at a much more expensive charge, I convinced the kids to go for Karate Kid instead. It was a good choice, the movie is good and I enjoyed it. After the show, we met the lady to pick up the puppy and we paid the amount due to her by the roadside of Jusco Balakong and got our puppy home.

She is a white lab/golden retriever mixed and her name is Cotton. Cotton because she is soft and fluffy. She is a pretty little white thing and extremely playful. In the past week, we sort of established a routine for her feeding and toilet business timings. It was pretty rough for the 1st few days and she was barking constantly but now she seems to be able to go through the night without any barking. We still have to clean up a lot of poop and pee but I hope as she grows older, we can train her better. She is too young at the moment.

Now I am looking for a vet nearby and also finding out how I can get a dog license. I didn't want to go to the local council without getting all the necessary documents so I tried to call the council office and did research on online but to no avail. The council phone is never answered and the was little info on it on the net. Apparently, different local councils have different rules about dog licensing. This mean that I will need to find out in our local council when I am on leave next week.

My second son likes the puppy very much but he is also afraid of it. Cotton likes to lick and nibble our feet and my children are all so afraid of that. I think they need to familiarise with each other more. I have taken some pics of Cotton but I am too busy these few days to even download it from my camera.

Getting a new 'Kid'

I have been researching on dog breeds for awhile, I was thinking of getting a Beagle or a Jack Russell Terrier.
Then my sister found on mudah.my, a Labrador/Golden Retriever mix and when I saw the pic I wanted it right away. It's so white and beautiful. So I call the seller and we agreed to meet tomorrow. So if everything is as planned we will get her home tomorrow. I know my kids will be excited, at least for a few days. My second son had been bugging me for a dog or a cat for awhile. I am definitely more of a dog person. I have been thinking about it for long time, and I think we can handle it. I know also that my hubby and I will be responsible for another 'kid' for the next maybe 12 years or more! My only worry now is the need to look for a dog-sitter when we need to go away for a few days for a vacation. But I think some pet shops do offer dog hotel services. I am also looking at dog training classes. So I guess we will have plenty to do with our new addition. Not to mention the walks we will need to take with her. It's going to be pretty exciting for us all!

This is her, isn't she pretty? Thanks to my sis for finding her.

Oh yes, we need to find a name for her too, will discuss this with my kids. They are great with giving names to pets and stuff toys like Jelly the teddy bear, Fifi another teddy bear, Princess our ex-rabbit, Maya our dead tortoise and Budi our live tortoise.

Beach Gals

I am back from a trip together with friends and boy was it interesting. There weren't any incredible activities. Just talking, laughing and more talking and laughing. I think I speak for my friends too, it was a nice break that we all deserved. We had some nice food and I particularly hauled in more than RM300 of dried sea food: scallops, oysters and salted fish. Unfortunately, there weren't many interesting or hot looking people around and the hotel we went (Holiday Villa, Cherating) was pretty empty and slightly run down. But we still enjoyed the trip and the beach. It was clean and beautiful and not crowded. I think it's a good place to bring the whole family too, about 4 hours drive from KL.

The gals shared many stories; mostly funny, a few sad and some that cannot be retold! Only thing we should have done but did not do was getting wet in the pool or on the beach! My bikini did not see the light, fortunately for people around the hotel.

After we came back, the gals and I have been sharing photos and comments on facebook. They definitely enjoyed the trip as much as I did, even if I am down with a sorethoart.

My kids were great with their dad while I was away, my hubby did a good job keeping them happy. I definitely look forward for another such trip again, somewhere else so I am sure my hubby can do a good job again, ;).

To make it up to the kids, we will be bringing them to the pool for a swim this Saturday. Will be meeting my sis and brothers and their families at their condo in KL. We will also celebrate my belated birthday there.

Holiday Upcoming

Finally, the day for me to leave my kids to my hubby and enjoy 3 days 2 nights of girly fun is around the corner. It took the girls many emails and date changes before it was finally set to this weekend. Not to be wet blanket, but I actually do not expect a whole lot from this vacation. A lot of girly chats for sure but I doubt there will be overflowing adventures and excitement. Not young and carefree anymore, girls. But nevertheless, it's been a long while since I have gone on a vacation, so will make the most of it. Who knows, maybe I will be proven wrong. We may actually have loads of crazy fun. Well, will just have to wait and see :).

I still have not packed and do not know what clothes to bring. Looking at my current shape, i doubt it will make any difference :P. But I do have a new hairstyle which I am still not used to. I have to tell myself just relax and have fun, don't think too much!

As prmoised, here are some pictures I took of my girl with the new lens. Will be taking more pictures during my trip.

About Sick Kids, Stocks and Religious Freedom

My kids are all down with the coxsackie virus (a.k.a. the hand, foot and mouth disease). Started with my second son last Friday, I think he got it from the kindergarten. Now he is better but my eldest and youngest are both infected! I was worried at first but the GP told us that it should be a milder virus since my second son got better in just 3 days. The problem is with the spots that grew inside their mouth, they caused them discomfort when trying to eat or drink. My baby girl didn't sleep well at all last night and my hubby and I took turns to attend to her. I hope they will get well soon so that they won't spend their school holidays in agony...

On a different matter, I posted about preparing for our retirement some time back. Ever since then, I have finished the Rich Dad, Poor Dad book and is reading up other books about investment. And I finally started my trading accounts last week. Unfortunately, the first stock I got myself into is already making me a loss! I knew when I bought it that this is a risky stock but high risk also means high returns or high loss. Anyways, I didn't invest too much in it and I still have hope that it will recover enough for me to at least cut loss or gain a little money.

Now for another different matter entirely too, would like to share with you another article from Colin Shafer on Malaysian Insider about religious freedom in Malaysia. Something everyone knows but no one talks about. Since I am super buzy with 3 sick kids, ailing stock and a headache, this is all for this week. Cheerio... And don't forget, world cup is starting this Friday....