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.