Sexymum--I Am Woman

Chinese New Year is coming!

2007-02-08T16:05:00.000+08:00

Another 10 days and it's Chinese New Year. I can't remember when, but I have since come to dread this celebration.

There's cleaning to be done. That I've done half way. There's shopping to do. And I haven't started. There's relatives to visit......... {sigh}

Every year on the 1st day of the Chinese New Year we will go to Muar to hang out with my mum's side of the family. This bunch of relatives I quite like, but that town is soooooooooo hot! When we get into my aunt's house at about 12 noon, it's already hot enough to make you perspire the moment you step into the house.

1 hour later, it starts to feel like an oven. 2 hours laters, you feel like you are in an oven. 3 hours later, you feel like you're going to be cremated. 4 hours laters you feel like you're in hell.

But those Muar people just doesn't seem to feel the heat. Maybe they are actually Martians.

I can't remember my own blog!

2006-08-18T09:21:00.000+08:00

I just remembered that I had a blog. But I couldn't remember what it called, or even what my login name was. That is not a good sign.

School holidays start this afternoon. Even the kids are released early. Now I have a whole week without anywhere to put the kids. Otherwise I have to bring them to the office and they are going to create havoc there.

One option is to go on a holiday. Where can I go that needs very little money, that is near, have easy access to food, no need to pack lots of clothes and what not? HOME. Trouble is that kids are extremely energetic during the holidays, and making them stay at home is not a good idea.

Maybe I should just buy a PS2 and let them stay at home and play. Too addictive--can't stop them from playing later. Maybe make them polish and wax the van. Oh, I did that already, and they didn't do a good job. Make them paint the house. Actually I did do that last New Year. It work only for #1.

I've got to think of something fast. In one hours' time they'll be out, and I have to do something!!! Arrrrghhhhh!!!!!!

2006-04-27T11:46:00.000+08:00

The last time I posted was somewhere in March. Phew! That's quite some time ago.

Somebody said that children are God's blessings. That's cool. But why do they have to be so expensive? Their upkeep, I mean. I just changed the 3 boys from one nursery/kindie to another one which is further from my house, more expensive (double the price), and have shorter hours, and follow the school holidays. Their school fees alone cost me RM1422 a month, as opposed to Rm880 before. What did I put myself into???

The good part however, is that they all LOVE this new kindie called Tadika Permata Pintar. I don't have to nag, coerce or blackmail them to go to school every morning. The teachers are really patient with them, don't use canes and they always keep their voices even. No shouting and screaming like in the previous kindie. That is a real blessing because kids that shout in school tend to come home shouting too.

The afternoons are a different program called Bright Sparks. It's a creativity program, totally non-academic and I don't really know what they do, apart from the water play, and the kids really really want to stay back for it.

Anyway, they are happy to go to school, so I guess the money's well spent. I just need to up my income, that's all.

Who's the Boss

2006-03-02T14:52:00.000+08:00

I just realized one great thing about being your own boss--you can decide what music is being played on the piped-in music for the office.

When I come into the office and the staff have been playing some music I don't appreciate, they will immediately turn it off. When I put on my kind of music, everybody has to listen to it! Hahahaha!!!!

The song being played now is Si Tu Me Amas by Il Divo, from their second album Ancora. I simply love this song. Makes me swoon every time I hear it.

Leonard's Quote of the Day-Jan 10, 2006

2006-01-11T13:03:00.000+08:00

"Mum, you clear up the place, make it nice, then you can have a good sleep."

Leonard's Quote of the Day -- Jan 9, 2006

2006-01-09T10:35:00.000+08:00

"Mom, you smell like a nice banana. "

Lucas' Words of Wisdom -- Jan 6, 2006

2006-01-09T10:29:00.000+08:00

If you want to bang into the wall, don't pull your handbrakes.

MIL

2005-11-18T17:25:00.000+08:00

November 18, 2005

Nov 11—MIL’s lung X-ray showed she had secondary cancer. Dr. C sent her for a CT scan on her torso, but no signs of primary cancer was seen.

After seeing the CT scan, Dr. C concluded that more scans are needed, and sent her for MRI on the brain. It showed a brain tumor the size of a golf ball.

According to Dr. C, and also Dr. P, the neurosurgeon, a surgery is needed immediately to remove the tumour, otherwise it could pressed so much into her brain that she could just fall into coma anytime, or get unconscious and just fall down and God knows whatever can happen.

But she needed to go through tests and see if her body can take the surgery. Since it’s already Saturday afternoon, and nothing much can be done, Sexydad suggests that she be admitted on Monday and to have the tests done after admission. So they gave her some steroids to slow the tumour growth.

Nov 12—MIL’s kids (excluding Sexydad) still arguing over whether MIL should go for the surgery. Who’s going to pay, they asked. Who’s going to take care of her after the operaton, they asked. How much is it going to cost, they asked. Who’s going to the pay? Again they asked. We cannot force #1 to take care of Mother, they say. Hello??? Did anybody mention asking #1 to take care of Mother? Why bring up that issue if it’s not you people knowing #1 does nothing the whole day, and has all the time in the world to do something—like taking care of his mother.

Had dinner with Dr. S, and they asked him if MIL should go for the surgery. He said the same thing as Dr. P—let her do the tests and see if she’s capable of it. Then Dr. P will give his advice.

Sexydad told them that if the tests show she can have the surgery, then she should have it. And if none of them wants to pay the bill, he will pay for it. All of it. SIL #4 showed a sour face.

Nov 13—MIL’s kids want a 2^nd opinion. 4 doctors have already seen her (1 GP, 1 Geriatric specialist, 1 Oncologist, and 1 Neurosurgeon). I thought after 4 is 5. Ah well, some people just can’t count.

Go to another hospital to see another neurosurgeon, and his opinion was the same as Dr. P. Some people just have too much money to spend. And too much ego too.

Nov 14—MIL still at home, with her children still don’t want to decide. Ultimately I think they want somebody to make the decision for them. So that if anything happens they can point finger.

Nov 15—BIL #4 came to the house to see Sexydad over the surgery. They have decided that MIL will go for the surgery. And all children will contribute to the cost. Sexydad told them again that if it’s just a matter of cost that they’re delaying her admission to the hospital, then he will pay for all of it.

Nov 16—MIL got admitted to hospital for tests. Will undergo surgery on the next day at 10.30am. Surgery will take about 3-4 hours.

Nov 17—MIL sodium level too low. They had to raise it. But raising it too much might also cause her blood pressure to rise. So a balance they seeked.

***********************************************************************************
MIL went for the surgery today at 10.30am. Operation was successful, and they were able to wake her up after the surgery. God willing, she will be better after this, and we will find a way to treat her lung cancer.

Are They Having A Party?

2005-11-18T14:58:00.000+08:00

November 9, 2005

Uncle Eng passed away last night. So had to go to Singapore with Mum to attend the funeral. Initially decided to leave all the boys with Sexydad, but felt “kesian” for him, so brought Lucas along with me.

We took the Delima Express, and Lucas fell asleep about 5 minutes into the journey. He’s good when it comes to traveling—journey start he sleeps; before journey ends he wakes up. No trouble.

Reached Singapore and took a cab to St. Joseph’s Church in Bukit Timah. They had a chapel there for funeral services. Nice name—Chapel of Resurrection.

It was almost 8pm when we reached there. As we were walking towards the chapel, we could see lots of people, flowers, microphone, lectern, lights etc…..

And Lucas asked me, “Are they having a party?”

Ha!!! This boy has the knack for asking questions that are correct to my mind, but would be wrong if I said “yes” in polite society.

To me having the wake, giving your reflections on the person life, achievement etc, is a celebration. So, yeah, it’s a party. He’s an old man who has led a busy and fruitful life, has a fantastically kind and generous wife, a daughter who’s highly successful in what’s she’s doing, and two grandkids with another to come. I think celebrating his passing is a tribute to him.

But if I were to tell Lucas that yes it’s a party, then he’ll probably start singing some “Ho ho ho it’s magic…. you know………..” and get both of us lots of stares. So I said. “Urrrr…..not really, dear.”

When it's time for my funeral, I want them to have a reason to celebrate.

Reptile Encounter -2

2005-11-18T14:32:00.000+08:00

October 31, 2005

Even though he had his visit to the Reptile Encounters yesterday, it wasn’t enough for Leonard. *Sigh*………

So he’s bugging me to go again, because “They have tigers there Mummy! Your favourite animal! You can play with them!” *sigh*……………….

“I don’t like snakes, Leonard.”

“But you likes tigers. They have tigers there, Mum! I want to play with the tigers.”

Sexydad was keen to the #2 and #3 see the snakes too—“They are going to be men. They can’t afford to be afraid.” No wonder he’s so stressed up—so much expectation of himself in this life.

Off we go to MITC, me getting more and more jittery and tensed as we get nearer the place. Thankfully the show was in a corner of this great big hall, so you could avoid it if you want.

Since the kids had free tickets from their nursery, off they went to into the show. I stood about 20 feet away from that place and one guy tried to sell me a phone that offers cheap calls. Prepaid and you need to buy their phone. Not my kind of deal.

Anyway, the kids had their fun and came out. Leonard again went to the jar of snakes and took them out to play. Little pythons, I was told.

According to Sexydad, when they were in the enclosure, Laurenz played with a rare species of tortoise/turtle (can’t remember). It being exotic, the girl in charge was worried of its welfare and tried to take it back from Laurenz. But this cheeky little fella refused to give it back. He held the tortoise behind his back and claimed, “It’s mine! Daddy buy for me!” OH MY GOD!!!! I swear I did not teach him to do anything like that!!

Luckily nothing happened to the turtle. And he handed the tortoise back to the girl after some persuasion. Otherwise I’d be RM500 poorer.

Reptile Encounters

2005-11-17T14:40:00.000+08:00

October 30, 2005

Sexydad brought Leonard to the coloring competition today. I thought it was to start at 9.00am, and shooed them out of the house by 8.30am. Turned out it only started at 10.30am. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH……………..next time cannot say Sexydad’s memory is bad anymore *sigh* …………

They went to the Reptile Encounters show, and Leonard insisted on taking part in the competition where you have to pick up the marbles from the bowl that contained a whole bunch of snakes. Very brave, this little chap. According to Sexydad, the organizers were so impressed with his bravery they gave them both free entry to the show.

Before they reached home, he told Sexydad, “Mummy don’t like snakes. So don’t tell her. You like snakes. It’s okay. You can play with them. I won’t tell Mummy you played with them.”

Reptile show

2005-10-28T13:07:00.000+08:00

The boys came back from nursery with free tickets to the Reptile Encounter show to be held in Ekspo Melaka 2005. It's from 29th Oct to 6 Nov.

DH says he'll take them there, since he knows I don't like reptiles, especially snakes. But can he handle the 3 boys by himself? He managed to bring #1 and #2 to the zoo all by himself. And they had a great time. But to handle all 3 by himself, and with so many people around? I don't think so. I don't think so.

He'll need help. But I don't want to go. I don't like those creatures and I don't even want to look at them. But the kids want to go. Leonard's got a coloring contest on Sunday, so he could go to the show after the contest. But Lucas will know that Leonard had gone for it, because Leonard is sure to talk about it. Lucas will go nuts if he knows that he didn't get to go. And so will Laurenz.

Maybe DH can bring them all on Deepavali. And get Grandma to go along with them. I'll volunteer to vacuum her house and bathe the cat.

Drunken baby

2005-10-28T13:05:00.000+08:00

Getting drunk on milk:

Bird's nest

2005-10-27T17:24:00.000+08:00

Leonard asked me why birds build their nests on trees. There’s a bird’s nest on the bamboo plant in the apartment. Maybe that’s why the question came about.

Me: So that cats can’t get eat the little birdlings.

Leonard: But cats can climb trees.

Me: Yes, but the nests are between leaves area, which is very soft, so the cat can’t stand there. A cat needs the strong branches to stand on. If he tries to climb onto the leaves he will fall.

Leonard: Then he will fall and die!

Me: Yeah. And the nests are high up on the trees also so that rats and snakes don’t get to the nest and eat the eggs or the little birds. And so that people don’t step on them or disturb them. If the nest is on the ground, maybe some dogs will also try to eat the birdlings……

Wow, think about it, it’s not easy to be a bird. Thank God I’m a human.

Lucas' Injury

2005-10-04T13:33:00.000+08:00

First it was this:

Then this:

See the plaster on his jaw? He slipped from the stool while gargling his mouth (after brushing his teeth) and hit the sink. Got a big gash that needed stitching. But he refused to cooperate (AS USUAL!) and we had to just patch him up with the plaster. Doctor said the glue won’t help as he would be talking and moving his jaw, so the wound will still open up even with the glue.

Now this:

He was play-fighting with Leonard in my bedroom. I didn’t see how it happen as I was busy looking at the lyrics book with Laurenz, singing Passera, Passera………….. (go listen to Il Divo if you don't know what I'm singing about).

Heard a big “BONG”, and realized somebody had banged into glass table. Turned around and Lucas was there kneeling on the floor, crying. My heart fell into my stomach. One of these days it’s probably going to stay in my stomach. I carried him to the bed to inspect, and there oozing out blood, was a cut on his forehead, just slightly above the spot where he had his first cut.

Again, had to patch him up. Still refused to cooperate even though he needed stitches to minimize the scar in the future.

Once the dressing was done, he was again climbing up and down the seats in the clinic. And doing the Buzz Lightyear “To infinity and beyond!” jump. BOYS!!!!!

Cats don't have 9 lives

2005-09-30T11:26:00.000+08:00

I used to have a cat in 1987. He was probably abandoned by his mum, wandered aimlessly around and landed outside my house.

I wasn’t aware that I was allergic to cats then. Being a major Garfield fan at that time, I thought having a cat would be great fun. So I took him in.

Initially, I thought he was a female, being so “meowie” and small. A couple of days later my mum’s friend came by, and was playing with him, and she said, “This cat is a boy-lah!! See his birdie!!!”

Dang! Okay, so I’m a bit batty. But his weenie was so tiny. Now you know why they say “SIZE MATTERS”.

So I changed his name from Stasia (short form Anastasia) to Shosta (taken from Shostakovich). And from that day onwards I learnt that cats are just too difficult to train, and they make me sneeze till I can challenge Rudolph for the head reindeer post.

Anyway, I got tired of Shosta after a while, and I think he of me. Because I can’t stand pets that don’t come when I call, and I wouldn’t let him into the house. But he stayed on. Who wouldn’t when there’s ample of food to eat.

A year later, I left for Singapore for my studies. My father had retired and was back in Melaka after being stationed in Kluang for more than 10 years (I think).

Shosta and my dad loved each other. Everytime my dad took a nap on the deckchair, Shosta would climb onto his chest and nap there along with him. When he calls, Shosta would go to him. When he holds Shosta and says “bite nose”, Shosta would give him a little nip on the nose. Maybe they were lovers in their past life.

Shosta didn’t have a long life. He used to go out god knows where, and would come back dirty and messy and wet. One fine day, he came back with a high fever and was dehydrated. My father brought him to the vet, and he was kept there for 2 days, but didn’t survive. He was about 4 years old.

From there on, my parents had a succession of other cats, and all of them seemed to last no longer than 2 years. Maybe Shosta left a curse. Now my brother has brought back a cat whom he calls Mr. Eek. Let’s see how long he lasts.

And Leonard again!

2005-09-30T10:51:00.001+08:00

I get a lot of comments that Leonard looks very pan-Asian. The same goes for Lucas. Only Laurenz is my Chinaman baby.

How he got that kind of lokks, I don't know. But according to some older folks who knew my father-in-law (I've never met him, since he died long before I knew Sexydad), the old man looked a bit mat salleh too. Maybe that's why.

Strange thing is that most people says he looks like his father, but his father was mistaken for a Hispanic many times when we were holidaying in LA and San Diego. It was so funny--people started walking up to him and spoke to him in Spanish, and he just went "Huh?"

Leonard again

2005-09-30T10:51:00.000+08:00

Leonard

2005-09-30T10:50:00.000+08:00

Leonard. Picture taken when he was about 4 1/2 years old.

2005-09-21T14:46:00.000+08:00

Lucas in ah pek pyjamas.

The 7 Thingy Thing

2005-09-20T14:19:00.000+08:00

I got tagged by Domestic Goddess.

Seven things you plan to do before you die :

(i) Decide when I want to die
(ii) Decide how I want to die
(iii) Decide whether I want to be buried or cremated or recycled
(iv) Decide where I want to be buried in the event I decided in (iii) to be buried, or where my ashes to be disposed in the event I decided in (iii) to be cremated, or in what process I’m tobe used in the event I decided in (iii) to be recycled
(v) Decide what kind of rites to be used for my funeral, or if there should be a funeral at all
(vi) Decide on how much publicity there should be for my funeral in the event I decided in (v) to have a funeral
(vii) Give specific instructions what kind of food to use for prayers for my funeral, death anniversary etc….. no ang ku kuih, fatt kuih and stuff like that. List will include buah keluak, pizza (make that Roundtable pizza), Coke, ice-cream, quesadilla, BBQ pork ribs, sushi, sashimi etc etc etc…

Seven things I could do :

(i) Make water bombs and throw them at my brother’s cat
(ii) Give the cat a bath everyday
(iii) Teach the cat to bark
(iv) Catch the ants and lizards in my house and feed to the stray cats around my apartment
(v) Get an ant-eater to eat all the ants in my house
(vi) Start a zoo
(vii) Learn voodoo

7 Celebrity crushes :

(i) Carlos Marin of Il Divo
(ii) Urs Buhler of Il Divo
(iii) Sebastien Izambard of Il Divo
(iv) David Miller of Il Divo
(v) Michael Schumacher
(vi) JK Rowling
(vii) John Taylor (of Duran Duran)

Like DG, I don’t have celebrity crushes…. at this age anyway. Who’s got the time????

7 often repeated words :

(i) Boooooooooys………...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(ii) What d’ya all want to eat??
(iii) I love you too baby.
(iv) Can you all just go and sleep………..????? Please…., so that I don’t have to spank you?
(v) Stop fighting!!!!!!!!!
(vi) If you do that one more time I will ……. !!!!
(vii) You want or don’t want? Make up your mind!

And when the kids are not around: shit, bloody hell, stupid thing, you should be weeded out of the gene pool, a**hole, bummer.

7 physical traits I look for in the opposite sex :

(i) Muscular calves
(ii) Muscular thighs
(iii) Thick hair
(iv) Clean and even teeth
(v) Tight buns
(vi) Smooth face
(vii) Kind eyes

7 tags goes to :

And the victims are….. :

(i) Along
(ii) Shoppingmum
(iii) 1+2 mom
(iv) Jason
(v) Big Bok
(vi) Simon
(vii) Chrissy

Have fun folks!!!!! Of course you needn't write if you don't want to.

Writing makes me hungry. I need lunch.....

Ah-hA!

2005-09-20T13:05:00.000+08:00

I like to read good blogs. But writing is a different thing altogether. But today I got tagged by Domestic Goddess to do the 7 thingy thing, because she complained that I haven�t update my blog for so long. Maybe I should just post a new photo everyday. That would mean an update but I needn�t write. I'M A GENIUS!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

This is LAURENZ. He's so adorable.

U just gotta wait sweetie for the 7 thingy thing. What's "meme" by the way?

You can tell I'm bored---BIG TIME

2005-08-15T15:14:00.000+08:00

Why do we need to put a dead body in a coffin if we're going to cremate the person? If the wood that makes the coffin is going to be burnt anyway, why waste it? Just burning the body should be sufficient.

Why can't we recycle human body parts? Some people's hair are so hard you could make it into scrub brushes. Since those people are dead anyway, why can't we use them, instead of killing animals to do it?

You count first

2005-08-11T12:21:00.000+08:00

This is an event related to my by Lucas’ nursery principal.

It was early evening, and the kids had woken up from their afternoon nap.

While everybody was busy getting up, Lucas had gone to the window, climbed up the window grills, right up to the top of it, almost reaching the ceiling.

When the principal notice him up there, she kept calm so as not to shock him, and told him to come down immediately.

Principal: “Lucas, come down please.”

Lucas: “ No.”

This went on for a while until the principal got a bit fed up.

Principal: “Lucas, I’m going to count to 3. If you don’t come down,
I’m going to cane you.”

Lucas didn’t budge at all.

Principal: “Lucas, come down. Quick.”

Lucas: “You count first.”

Principal: “LU…..Cas….” (choking on her words and trying not to laugh…)

Lucas: “Count. You count first.”

Principal: “ 1….(laughing and gagging)”

Lucas: “Some more…..”

Principal: “2…….(controlling laughter)….”

Lucas: “You count first. Count some more……..”

Principal: “LUCAS, please come down……..(choking on her own laughter)…”

Lucas: “After 2 is?”

Principal: “ 3……..(laughing till tears coming down her face).”

And down came Lucas from the window grills, happy and contented.

Hainanese Poem

2005-07-13T17:24:00.000+08:00

I don’t know why I’m blogging so much about my mum these few days. Maybe it’s because she went to Segamat for 10 days, and I didn’t see her, so it’s probably some kind of masochistic thing.

NO-lah.. Seriously we get along very well.

This is a poem/rhyme that she told me before that the Hainanese sing:
(Word of caution: I’m not a Hainanese and I don’t speak Hainanese, so some intonation may be wrong)

"Gie kui kui, hu kia sui

Boh kia bah, boh kia kui

Neh kia low poh boh hui mui."

Translation:

Late in the night, going back home
Not afraid of cats, not afraid of ghosts
Just afraid that the wife will not open the door

She also said that they don’t like cats. It’s bad luck. Another poem to go with it;

"Kueh lai kiang

Gao lai bu

Bah lai nao sau too."

Translation:

When the chicken come, you become poor
When the dog comes, you get wealthy
When the cat comes, you wear a straw hat (meaning you become a beggar)

The Hainanese Bohs

2005-07-13T15:47:00.000+08:00

My mum told me that for the Hainanese, they don’t call people by “Ah’s”, but “Boh’s”

Meaning if your name is Wong Ah Kau, they won’t call you “Ah Kau”, but “Boh Kau” instead.

So if your name is Li Lian, you would be called “Boh Lian”, and not “Ah Lian.”

If your name is Chek Hong, you would be called “Boh Hong”. (Sounds like Bohong, doesn’t it?)

Me: “Since your name is Cher Bee, how come they don’t call you Bobby?”

Mum: “Grrrrrrrrrrrrr…..!!!!!!!!! (giving me the evil eye!)

佛学书

2005-07-07T16:42:00.000+08:00

我的小学是香林学校，有一个同班同学，就是现任的MP for Kota Melaka 的王乃志。

不过故事不是关于他。

我们其中一个科目是佛学，用的书是香林觉苑所编的课本。当时的主持是释金明法师，编辑是他，所以那课本的封面就写着：释金明编。

在二年级的时候，妈妈坚持说每一本书都要用纸包得好好，以便不损坏或把它弄脏。包好后，就依照封面上的字一一写在纸上。

聪明的我，就写下了：释金明骗。

Buddhist Textbook

My primary school was Siang Lin Primary School. One of my classmate is the present MP for Kota Melaka, Wong Nai Chee.

But this story is not about him.

One of our subjects in school was Buddhism. The textbook that we used was the one published by the Siang Lin Temple. The monk who was in charge then was the Reverend Sekh Kim Min. Since he was the editor, on the front cover on the book was written: Edited (編) by Sekh Kim Min.

When I was in Std 2, my mum insisted that all books must be wrapped properly, so that they don’t get dirtied or damaged. After it’s wrapped, then we just write down on the paper the same words that’s on the front cover of the book.

And me being so clever, wrote: Deceive/bluff/Lie (騙) by Sekh Kim Min

妈妈的钻石

2005-07-07T16:02:00.000+08:00

几个月前金的价格蛮高，妈妈就把收在保险箱里的金银手饰都卖了，只留下一双钻石耳环，和一个钻石brooch。

问她为何不卖那两样东西，她说值不了多少钱，卖了也没人要，倒不如收起来。

前几天保险箱的租期满了，我说在里面的东西不多，租个保险箱来放几张纸，好像太夸张了一点，把它关掉算了。

妈妈：“ 还有那钻石啊！”

我：“你不是说卖了没人要吗？

妈妈：“哪又怎么样？”

我：“如果没人要买，有谁要偷？”

妈妈：“你这价伙………..”

MrsT asked for a translation. Here goes:

Mum’s Diamonds

The price of gold was quite high a couple of months ago, so mum decided to sell all the jewellery that she kept in the safe deposit box. What remained was a pair of diamond earrings, and a diamond brooch.

I asked her why she didn’t sell those two items. She claimed that they don’t worth much, and even if she wanted to sell, nobody would buy them. So she might as well keep them.

The rental of the safe deposit box was due for renewal a few days ago. I told my mum that since there weren’t many things in the box, it’s such a waste of money to rent the box just to keep a few pieces of paper. I suggested that she terminate the rental.

Mum: “The diamonds are still there.”

Me: “Didn’t you say nobody would buy them?”

Mum: “So?”

Me: “If nobody wanted to buy them, who would steal them?”

Mum: “You rascal…….”

Short rambling

2005-07-06T14:08:00.000+08:00

I've been wanting to add the links of blogs I read to my blog, so that it's easy for me to find them, but as usual, I'm just too lazy to do it. Sooooooooo, I go and visit those blogs who has a long link of bloggers, like Belacans. Or I'd pop by to 1+2mom, or whoever that I remember has a bloglist. :)

Twinsmom used to have a long list, but she dropped it. Pity.

It's not a lot of work, I know, but these days working on website is not my idea of fun. Actually it was never my idea of fun. Fun is eating ice cream with peaches, drinking beer and eating potato chips, napping in the afternoons and staying up late at night reading novels, surfing the Net as long as you can without paying for it, going surfing in the Pacific Ocean, going stargazing, drinking hot mocha on a cold night, killing cockcroaches by stamping on them hard, attending a rock concert and screaming your lungs out, drinking coke-float, eating buah keluak, tickling my children and making them laugh, pulling funny faces and challenging them to make funnier ones.....................

I think it's time for me to take a holiday. When was the last time I had one? Don't even remember. I took 4, 2 and 4 months off espectively for my maternity leaves, so officially it looks like I've had enough holidays. But holidays are for resting, aren't they? Maternity leaves don't get you a lot of rest, unless of course you have a mother or MIL who force you to lie in bed, take your baby away from you and don't let you breastfeed them, insist that you can't bathe for a month or even wash your hands, eat chicken and chicken only for 3x a day, 30 days a month, drink no plain water, eat no vege...........

I forgot to ask my friends who went through that--if you can't wash your hands during confinement, who cleans your backside after you poop?

Old certificates

2005-06-23T14:29:00.000+08:00

What do you do with your old certificates, such as secondary school leaving certificate, certificate of participation in singing competition for the Speak English campaign for SRJK ( C ) schools (1979!!!!!), Sijil Kursus Komputer 1986, Sijil Tamat Pelajaran Sekolah Rendah, Vacation Training Programme (a.k.a. Industrial Training Program in modern times), Sijil Perlantikan Pengawas, ABRSM piano exam certs and all sorts of papers that “cannot be exchanged for cash”?

Should I just trash them, or should I just keep them to show my children when they’re in school that “Mummy did this and that and can still find time to study so don’t tell me you are too busy to do this and that and go and bathe!!!!!”

BE, DO, or HAVE

2005-06-22T14:36:00.000+08:00

I would like to DO, BE or HAVE, all these (and more):

-- make a bomb
-- sew
-- bake a pizza
-- do really fancy makeup
-- tie my hair in beautiful styles
-- pick locks
-- speak and write many foreign languages
-- handle firearms
-- repelling (did only once. It was fun, but I don't know where you can do it here)
-- deep sea diving
-- a saxophone (I was in the school band before, so yes I do know how to play it)
-- a B license (for motorbike)
-- automated vacuum cleaner that can vacuum the floor and move around by itself
(much like the robot-mouse thing)
-- a light sabre
-- no extra fats around my waist and tummy
-- no stretch marks on my butt
--

more later.

Leonard and his cut

2005-06-22T14:20:00.000+08:00

On Monday we brought Leonard to have the stitched removed from his little toe. He cut himself last Wednesday night when he was opening the bedroom door (really feaky accident), and when he saw blood flowing out, screamed "Mummy! Got blood! Got blood! Save me Mummy! Save me!"

I asked him to show me the cut, and it was quite a deep one. I called Sexydad to send him to the doctor immediately, used some gauze to cover the cut and bound it up with surgical tape. Then with a clean nappy wrapped around his foot, Sexydad brought him to the clinic.

Turned out that blood vessels were cut, so he needed stitches. Couldn't used the glue like Lucas. Poor chap had to bear with the pain. At least he's braver than me. The last time I had a big gash on my foot, I refused to have any stitches solely because I knew it would hurt.

The next day I thought it would be better for me to stay at home and rest his foot. And since he didn't go to the nursery, Lucas refused to go to. And Laurenz refused to leave the house becasue I was not leaving too. But Leonard must have recovered very fast, for he was running around, jumping from one sofa to the other, doing Jedi and kungfu fighting with his brothers....... I think I got conned. And the nappy that I used to wrap his foot--too much blood on it to wash. I just threw it away.

The cut healed nicely, and there's just teeny weeny bit of holes where the stitches ends were. Tonight when I changed his dressing it should be just fine.

Laurenz is 2!!!!

2005-06-22T13:55:00.000+08:00

June 21, 2005--Laurenz is 2 years old. Two years ago, on June 20, 2003, I checked into the hospital at 10.00pm to deliver him, as I was at least 3 cm dilated by then, according to the gynae who checked in the morning. Because I was feeling some pain, and my doctor warned me that since it's my 3rd child, it could be a fast labour, I decided to go in early.

But the little joker seemed not to want it to be fast. And hospitals being what they are, or the doctors whichever it is, will prefer not to have any delivery done in the night unless it's a major emergency or it's really coming out. So they let Laurenz and me take out own sweet time (at least until the sun rises).

So I practise my Hypnobirthing techniques, which made the labour pains very bearable, and I could almost stay asleep most of the time, if not for Sexydad's snoring (he slept on the deck chair next to my bed).

By 7.30am on June 21, 2003, I was still only 8cm dilated, and the doctor had come into the delivery room to check on me. He suggested that we induced the labour to make it a bit faster (so that he can start his clinic on time). I was so bored with the labour pains and waiting, and since I had already finished my Mars, Time-Out and Picnic Bars and 100-Plus, andHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was to be released that day, I agreed. Hee hee hee. I had order my copy from MPH Mahkota Parade, and it was just next door to Mahkota Medical Centre where I delivered Laurenz. I want to read the book!!!!

Shortly after the induction, with 2 pushes, Laurenz was out. Getting him out was easy. Getting the placenta out took another 15 minutes at least. And painful too. The trouble with childbirth is that each one gives you a different pain or problem.

Anyway, we sent him to the nursery today to let him try it out. He's been bugging us with "I want to go to school!" for the last few days, and make a big fuss of wanting to follow his brothers when we dropped them off at the nursery. Officially he's to start on July 1, so these few days will be a trial run. Hopefully he'll get so tired and goes to bed at 9pm tonight, instead of 11.30pm.

The Why Why years

2005-06-09T16:49:00.000+08:00

When kids around 3-4, they have lots of "Why" questions. This round it's Lucas' turn.

While watching Return of the Jedi,

"Mummy, why Darth Vader lie on the floor?"
"Because he's going to die."
"Why is he going to die?"
"Because he got the electric shock from the Emperor."
"Why he got shock?"
"Because the Emperor wanted to kil Luke, but Darth Vader carried him and the electric shock go to him lor"
"Why the electric shock go to him?"
"You just watch lah, please..."
"Why watch? Mummy, why? Mummy, why?"

When Lucas woke up in the morning last Saturday:

"Mummy, where's Daddy?"
"Daddy's gone to KL."
"Why Daddy go to KL?"
"Daddy's got to work, dear."
"Why Daddy must work?"
"So that he can make money and feed you, and buy you things, and send you to school..."
"Why must make money?"
"Otherwise how to buy food?"
"Why must buy food?"
"So that we can eat."
"Mummy, where's Daddy?"

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

The day Lucas got lost

2005-06-02T15:30:00.000+08:00

Last Friday, May 27, 2005, the family went shopping in Jaya Jusco. I was at the cashier counter with Laurenz in the trolly, while Leonard and Lucas and Sexydad went to the toilet.

When the trio came back, I had paid and was trying to get Laurenz a cookie. Then Leonard said he needed to poop. (Why couldn't he do that when he went to pee???? I can never understand the male species and their pee and poop patterns).

So Sexydad said to me, "You take Leonard to poop and I'll take care of the other 2."

So I left hand in hand with Leonard to the ladies toilet, happily reprimanding Leonard for not pooping when he went to the toilet with Sexydad.

After Leonard had finished his big business and cleaned up, I browsed around the handbag section looking for something cheap and good to buy. No such thing existed at that time, and so we went back to where we were supposed to meet--the seats near the jeans shop.

Reaching there, I didn't see Sexydad and the two younger ones. But there was quite a gathering near the information counter, and somehow I was quite sure it had something to do with my children.

And there was Lucas with a teary face in Sexydad's arms, looking so sad and tired out.

Turned out that he got lost. How did Sexydad lose him?

Apparently when I handed the trolley over to Sexydad, Laurenz was trying to climb out of the trolley, and Lucas rushed off to join me and Leonard, which I was not aware of as I was happily giving Leonard a lecture on pooping and peeing and not wasting time. Somehow or other Lucas didn't catch up with us, and got lost and started crying and a kind salesperson brought him to the information counter, and they announced over the intercom:

"Terdapat seorang budak bangsa Melayu yang kehilangan ibubapanya........ etc etc".

Somehow in my browsing I didn't hear the message, and Sexydad even though he heard the message had assumed that Lucas was with me, and never imagined that this "budak bangsa Melayu yang kehilangan ibubapanya" yang actually Lucas.

Luckily a gentleman who was in the toilet when Lincoln was there with Leonard and Lucas recognized Lucas and when he saw Sexydad, he told him that Lucas is at the information counter crying--the one with the orange colour clothes.

And so Lucas was found and reunited with his clueless parents. When we asked the salesperson why they announced that the boy was a "budak bangsa Melayu", she said "Look at this eyes--such long eyelashes, who would think he's a Chinese?"

When I picked up Lucas from Sexydad, his heart was beating so fast. Poor chap. I wanted to cry seeing him so sad and frightened. But he was a brave and generous boy. When Laurenz started to get up to nonsense again and I had to chase after him (Sexydad had hurt his back 3 weeks earlier and can't bend), I asked Lucas to stay in the trolley with his daddy, he understandingly agreed.

In the car on the way home, I hugged him and let him lie in my lap, so glad that my baby is still with me. By the time we got home, he was again his usual self and happily playing with his brothers again.

More stuff on Star Wars

2005-05-31T17:48:00.000+08:00

I went to the website howstuffworks to find new things about how stuff works. But guess what, they actually have stuff on Star Wars too. Check out The Sith Explained, and How Lightsabers Work. (It's just fun stuff, don't get over excited)

Why Star Wars is good for children

2005-05-20T13:06:00.000+08:00

Somebody say she will boycott the blogs of bloggers who blog about Star Wars, and if they call her Jabba, be prepared to die. If she boycott the SW bloggers, how would she know who called her Jabba? Heh heh heh, 5Xmom, just couldn't resist this.

I think Star Wars is good for children. They will sit down and watch the TV when the Jedis take out their light sabres and fight, and will not disturb your kitchen.

They will fight with their light sabres only, and not throw other toys at each other.

When they cry, you tell them "Jedis don't cry", and they stop crying immediately.

They will stay in their room with their toy light sabres and not mess up your living room.

They will behave themselves so that Mummy won't call Darth Vader to come and take them away.

They say Mummy is prettier than Queen Amidala.

They say Mummy is a Jedi Queen.

Leonard says he is Obi-1, Lucas is R2D2 and Laurenz is C3PO

Lucas asked me why he is a robot, when Leonard is a man. Smart boy :)

Are you donkey??

2005-05-19T16:25:00.000+08:00

Lately, Laurenz has been identifying himself with the shows he watch on TV.

Example:

Me: "What's your name?"
Laurenz: "Harry Potter!"
Me: "Hahahahahaha! No dear, what's your name?"
Laurenz: " Thomas.......Percy....Toby........James........." (characters from Thomas & Friends)

And Shrek is probably his favourite movie. He would hold my face in his hands, looked at me intently, and then asked "Are you donkey?"

Talking times

2005-05-03T15:06:00.000+08:00

When our kids are babies, we keep trying to make them talk.

"Say "A"..... say "A" , baby".
"Say "mama", "mama".

And it goes on and on and on, until the baby starts getting sick of us and starts howling.

Then they grow up and they start to ask us questions or tell us things, and we just wished they would just go and watch the TV and stop bugging us with questions or tell us something we don't want to hear.

"Mum, cannot say shut up" --- Leonard
"Mum, why you got no penis?" --- Lucas
"You come back here now!" --- Laurenz

Of course there are sometimes when they say the most wonderful things that makes it all worthwhile.

"You are a good mother" --- Leonard
"You are the best mummy" --- Lucas
" I want nen-nen" (and pushing away the milk bottle while snuggling into my lap and lifting up my shirt to nurse) --- Laurenz

Happy Times Together

2005-04-22T13:51:00.000+08:00

It's so fun to see them playing together.....

Sitting

2005-04-22T13:49:00.000+08:00

I asked the boys to sit so that I can take their photo, and this is what I get.

Update on Lucas

2005-04-22T13:05:00.000+08:00

This was taken 8 days after Lucas had his fall. The dressing was removed on Tuesday, and the steri-strips fell off only yesterday.

He's been pretty good about it, and has not tried to scratch or disturb it. Hopefully there won't be a scar. He's too sweet to carry a scar.

Lucas and his cut

2005-04-18T16:11:00.000+08:00

Our friend here very happy to have his photo taken.

Why the plaster? Last Thursday, 14-4-2005, while playing at their grandma's house, Leonard pushed Lucas, causing Lucas to fall and hit his head on the edge of the concrete slab, and getting a cut on his forehead.

Sexydad and I heard a loud "tonk", and rushed out to see what happened. And there was Lucas with blooding oozing out of his forehead, flowing down his nose and mouth. Quickly grab a towel to hold the bleeding and rushed him to the clinic.

To cut a long story short, there was no histoacryl glue, so attempted to suture the wound, but our friend didn't cooperate (can't blame him--I wouldn't let my doctor stitched the cut on the sole of my feet either). So taped him up instead.

By the time we reached home, he was happy as a bird, and didn't seem to feel any pain at all. Climbed (again!) unto the table in the courtyard and started doing the YMCA dance (a la Shrek) . Boys! They don't learn, do they?

Next day, sent him back again for gluing.

Women's breast, men's body

2005-04-07T17:04:00.000+08:00

Just took a look at 5xmom's blog on breasts . And of course the comments.

Seriously, I think running without support for your breasts, especially if they're huge, is not comfortable. Can be very painful. Okay, I'm not big up there, but I've breastfed all my 3 boys and I've had my share of times when the boobs were fuller than normal. And when I try to exercise, oooooooooooohh.. painful.

I do think a woman's body is nicer to look at than a man'S. That's why it's used to sell just about anything under the sun. Especially cars, alcohol, cigarettes--those things that generally men buy more.

I'm quite sure women look at men's body too, but the level of appreciation orthe rate of drool flowing down the chin is definitely not a great as that of men looking at women's body.

I was involved in bodybuilding at one time, and had seen many almost naked men's body. Hey, with such skimpy trunks, how much do you think is covered?

Anyway, when I look at a muscular guy's body, I start thinking of how tasty it would be marinated with chili, onion, garlic, paprika, vinegar, flour, and then deep fried in hot oil. Buffalo wings, yeah.............!!! Some people claim that parts of the chicken that moves a lot, like the wings and thighs, taste better. By that logic, bodies that exercise more should taste better, right? (Yes, yes, I'm obsessed with food. Actually, I'm only obsessed with meat. Never liked vegetables, and only eat them because I want to stay reasonably healthy.)

So you guys out there who thinks that girls are staring at your body because you are so "yummy", you could be SOOOOOOOOOO right.

The Aramaic Lord's Prayer

2005-04-07T16:45:00.000+08:00

The Aramaic Lord's Prayer

Ah-bwoon d'bash-maya,

Neeta-kadasha shmach

Tay-tay malkoota

Ne-whay t'save-ya-nach eye-kanna d'bwash-maya op-baraha How-Iahn lachma d'soonkahnan yow-mana

Wash wo-klan how-bane-eye-kanna dahp hahna shwa-ken el'high-ya-bane

Oo-lah tahlan el'nees-yo-na, ella pahsahn min beesha

Metahl dilahkee malkoota, oo-high-la, ooteesh-bokh-ta,

La-alahm, all-meen, ah-men.

New English Translation:

Father-Mother of the Cosmos, Shimmering Light of All.

Focus your light within us as we breathe your Holy Breath.

Enter the sanctuary of our hearts, uniting within us the sacred rays of your Power and Beauty.

Let your heart's desire unite heaven and earth thought our sacred union.

Help us fulfill what lies within the circle of our lives today.

Forgive our secret fears ad we freely choose to forgive the secret fears of others.

Let us not enter forgetfulness, tempted by false appearances.

For from your astonishing Fire comes the Eternal Song which sanctifies all, renewed eternally in our lives, and throughout Creation.

We seal these words in our hearts, committed in trust and faith.

To listen: http://www.themysticlover.com/mp3/jon_marc_mlp.mp3

Quake proof houses

2005-04-01T15:59:00.000+08:00

Now the government wants to build earthquake-proof houses, and some idiots have suggested to increase the piling requirements. Stupid.

Not all houses need piling, and piling is not the most suitable for low rises residential houses. Very often most houses build on solid ground don't need piling at all. But contractors make a lot of money from that, and they will tell the house owners it's necessary to have piling, otherwise not safe blah blah blah.... and the houseowners just buta-buta (blindly) buy into it.

You think the government is going to change the laws that make the house earthquake proof? Unless some miracle happen, that will take a long long long long time.

Tomorrow's my birthday!

2005-04-01T15:48:00.000+08:00

It's Saturday tomorrow, and usually I'm at home alone with the boys, because Sexydad will take Saturdays to go to KL to do some work.

But tomorrow is my birthday. So Sexydad has decided that he will spend time with me tomorrow. That's what he said this morning. But knowing him, that decision can change anytime.

But never mind, I have the kids with me. I can mold their little minds into believin that I'm the one and only one they can rely on. The one and only one they should listen to. The one and only one whom they should love.

Hehe, I could easily brainwash my children to go against their father. But that is not right. I wonder if Sexydad realizes that...... he should--I've demonstrated it before. But the male species have short memories. That's why they keep forgetting how beautiful and wonderful their wives or mates are, and start to go on a hunt for younger, fresher meat.

Why so much?

2005-03-31T16:13:00.000+08:00

Why am I blogging so much today? Because I'm having a sneezing fit and can't do paperwork. Everytime I sneeze I have to cover my nose and mouth with a tissue, otherwise all the documents will be flooded with my snot and saliva. And blood. Yeah, nose bleeding already. Urrrrgh!!!!

You need a thank you?

2005-03-31T16:06:00.000+08:00

Brought Laurenz to grandma's house, and there was a burst pipe outside one of the neighbour's house.

The neighbour was standing out on the road looking at the water gushing out.

Sexydad: Mr. X, you called PAM already or not? (PAM-Perbadanan Air Melaka)
Mr. X : What for? They're not going to say thank you to me even if I called them.

&%^$&*@( These kind of people also got in this world. Mentah-mentah his father is one of the most prominent Chinese educationist in Malaysia. 教出這樣的孩子! Cheh! Pah Si Kuan Sai (Hokkien: kill him and stuff him up with shit. NB: Gangster talk, don't teach your children)

Why ants like to come to my house

2005-03-31T14:37:00.000+08:00

Last night's conversation with Leonard:

Leo: Mum, do you know why ants like to come to your house?
Sexymum: I don't know. Why?
Leo: Because it's so nice and comfortable.

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. That is so cute. It's great that my son thinks our house is so nice and comfortable, but that doesn't mean ants are welcome.

2005-03-31T14:36:00.000+08:00

Leonard's winning photo in the Selangor Pewter's Child of the Millenium competition.

2005-03-31T13:45:00.000+08:00

The real most eligible bachelors in Malayisa :)

Eathquake? Here?

2005-03-29T14:34:00.000+08:00

Read the papers this morning and realized that the movement I felt last night was caused by the earthquake in Sumatera.

It was somewhere around 12 midnight. I was sitting in my single sitter sofa and meditating. Suddenly I felt my chair moving, behind my back. Then again. And again.

Then a lizard squeaked from beind the sofa. Can't be a small cicak making such a big movement. So got off my butt to check what was causing the movement. Pull away the sofa from against the wall, but nope, nothing there to rock my seat. And the lizard was just a young adult who run away when I said "shoo".

So it turns out that it wasn't my meditation that called in the energy of the cosmos that rocked my chair. It was the earthquake. Pity. I was it was a sign from my spiritual guides that I was connecting with them :) It must have made the walls shudder a little, that's why my sofa moved a little as it was against the wall.

It was a funny feeling, like a massage ball running across my back. Of course if I knew what was causing it at that time, it wouldn't felt funny at all.

Got steam or not?

2005-03-25T23:36:00.000+08:00

So somebody wants to know whether I steamed up my bedroom or not... :)

Well, when you have a toddler sharing a bed with you, sex usually doesn't happen in the bedroom anymore :)

Actually, I'm quite glad we don't use carpets here. Getting carpet burns can really kill the excitement.

Having some really high heels around is always a help.

It's a pity my dining table is a glass table. Could try doing lapdancing on a table.

Go to church people. It's Good Friday. Happy Easter.

What you gonna do?

2005-03-25T15:40:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was my wedding anniversary. So how did I celebrate?

Morning-- clean the house, vacuum the floor, chuck away all the toys, fold the clothes, go to office to send out a letter.

Afternoon--put toddler to bed, toddler didn't want to sleep, let him watch Thomas & Friends, struggle with him to feed him his medicine, put him to bed, and read a book.

Evening--went out with the whole jing gang for ikan bakar. Brought two tins of potato crisps along. At least that kept them occupied when they didn't want to eat ikan bakar or chase cats.

Night--kids didn't want to go to bed. Took out the Queen's Greatest Hits CD and played 'We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions" for them. Oh boy, my kids can dance :)

God bless.....

2005-03-24T15:10:00.000+08:00

God bless...

... my vacuum cleaner, for making it so much easier to clean the floor and whatever mess around the house

... the inventor of the vacuum cleaner

... my washing machine, for washing all the clothes, and spinning them dry

... the inventor of the washing machine

... my whistling kettle, for informing me that the water's boiling so i don't have to keep checking

... the ants around my house for letting me know that some food stuff is lying around somewhere

... the internet, for giving me so much fun

... the inventor of the internet and all the internet protocols

... the inventor of the computer

... the plants in my house

... my children, for all their love and the joy they bring me

... my husband, for his love and all the great sex

... my mum, for all that she's done for me and still doing

... my business partners

... my businesses and my suppliers

... my doctor, and for all the free medication

... my VW Kombi, for being such a wonderful van

... the management committee of my apartment block, for taking up a job that nobody wants to do

... the birds around my neighborhood, who acts as my alarm clock

... the creator of Bob the Builder

... JK Rowling, for creating Harry Potter

... Orin & Daben, for their wonderful books and teachings

... the lizards in my house, for eating up all the food droppings that i didn't vacuum

... Gmail and Yahoo!, for free email

... Thomas and Friends, and the creator

... Brad Bird for creating The Incredibles

... the inventor of the microwave oven

... the inventor of disposable diapers

... the inventor of gas cylinders

... the inventor of the modern sanitary system

... my apartment

... my wonderful comfortable king-size bed

... the inventor of the TV, video, vcd, dvd, hifi etc

... chocolates and ice-cream

... rice crackers and cream cracker and Jacob biscuits

... bacon, sausage, ham, salami and pepperoni

... pizza, macaroni, lasagna, laksa, sushi, sashimi, buah keluak, Garfield and Jim Davis

... Jonz Jonzz, the Martian Manhunter

... Marino Degano, for creating fantastic jigsaw puzzles

... MyMomsBest

... Florence Scovel Shinn, for her great books

... Alyssa Marie Rose, for her great help and love

... Lawrence, for being a great friend

... my brother and sister

... my late father, father-in-law

... my in-laws

... everyone who works for me, directly or indirectly

... my handphone, PDA, computer, speakers, cameras, thermometers

... Smart & Cool HOMES Building Technology

and thank you, thank you, thank you.

13 years

2005-03-22T17:02:00.000+08:00

In 2 days' time, I would have been married for 13 years. It doesn't seem that long though.

Got married in 1992, left for the US to study for 3 years in 1996. Spent 3 year there, and came back in 1999. Had 1st child in 2000. That's why my oldest is only going to be 5 years old this year.

For the last few years, me and sexydad didn't really celebrate our wedding anniversary. This year, we should really do something. But what to do in slow moving Melaka?

Alamak. Thursday my mum's going to BP. That means I've got to stay at home and be with Laurenz. How to go pak-tor with sexydad? Hah, do on Friday. Friday's my Chinese calendar birthday. Maybe I'll just stay at home and steam up the bedroom. Hee hee hee......

We Will Rock You

2005-03-22T16:49:00.000+08:00

We Will Rock you--this is one of my favourite songs. So taught my boys how to sing it. Just start with "Toom Toom Tad, Toom Toom Tad", and all of them will know how to continue with "We will we will rock you, toom toom tad, toom toom tad."

Next door to my apartment is a Chinese temple. Used to go there a couple of years ago, when Leonard was the about 2, and Lucas was still a baby. One of those nights, the devotees started the prayer with the pounding of drums and clanging of cymbals. With cymbals and drums, a very common rhythm is the "Toom Toom Chiang, Toom Toom Chiang...."

And Leonard went "WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU. TOOM TOOM TAD. TOOM TOOM TAD. WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU." "Mummy!! Your song, Mummy!!!!!"

I don't go to that temple anymore.

Sewing sewing sewing

2005-03-22T16:32:00.000+08:00

I wished I had learnt how to sew when I was younger. Well, my mum did try to teach me, but wasn't very successful. If you were train under my mum, you wouldn't be very successful either. Before I can even step on the accelerator (she uses an electronic sewing machine), she would be screaming at me that the cloth's not straight, I'm putting my hands in the wrong position, my buttocks not positioned on the seat properly, how is the machine going to move if I don't step on the accelerator..............

So I didn't get very far. Now with a husband and 3 boys, I find that clothes need to be mended quite regularly. And sometimes I would love to have curtains made of fabric of my choice, and done at my time, and at my price. Or clothes that I find interesting but can't get over here. If I could sew, then there'd be a different story. Hey, twinsmom, wanna teach me? :) :) :)

I guess I could go for sewing lessons at this age. I even bought a sewing machine and some books to teach myself. But I haven't got past the stage of fixing the lower whatever you call it little spindles of thread. Sigh........ I can do quantum mechanics, but can't even use a sewing machine. I really am smarter than that, I'm sure.

Cannot, you are a girl

2005-03-22T12:55:00.000+08:00

I'm going to blog this so that I can remind Leonard about it when I'm old and losing my memory.

When: 2003, when Leonard was 3 years +
Where: Grandma's house
Who were present: Sexydad, grandma's neighbour Dr. S and her daughter A, 7 years old

Sexydad was having conversation with Dr. S, while A was standing by listening. Leonard was cycling his tricycle and fell down and got himself hurt. And started to wail.

Sexydad: What happened?
Leo: I fall down.
Dr. S: Why are you crying?
Leo: Pain pain.
Dr. S: Oh poor thing. Where pain pain?
Leo: My penis and testicles.
Dr. S: Ohhhh! (covering mouth with hand)
A: Mom, what is penis and testicle? (Note: A has no brothers)
Dr. S: A boy's birdie and balls. Ssssshh. Quiet.
Dr. S: Come Leonard, let me check. I'm a doctor.
Leo: Cannot! You are a girl!

To feed or not to feed

2005-03-22T12:51:00.000+08:00

Everytime when I throw out my rubbish for the gardener to collect (I live in an apartment block where the gardener also picks the trash to dump into the main garbage bin), I have to be careful how I dispose it. If the bag contains meat or bones or something edible, then I have to hang it on the wall so that the neighborhood cat(s) don't come and hunt for food from there.

Even my tong sampah inside my kitchen is not spared from the cats' hunt. If I throw anything that she can eat inside the tong sampah overnight, next morning my kitchen will look like somebody just had a party and forgot to clean up.

So far I've been quite diligent with keeping the garbage bag with food hanging on the wall. So I haven't seen The Cat for quite some time. Two weeks ago I saw her, and she was nursing her newborn kitten. Aiyah..... now I feel bad. She's been pregnant and must have been looking for food all over for the past few weeks. Now she has a youngling to feed too. I wonder if instead of just dumping away the food that we don't eat anymore, should I just bring it downstairs and let her eat them?

Being a mother, and feeding the young is hungry work. And I know what it's like to feel hungry. When I get hungry, I get angry. Thank God I've never had to worry about food, but I do feel for those who are in need of food and have to go through a lot of trouble to get food.

The trouble here though is that if I feed her, then in a matter of time more cats will start to come over and look for food around the apartment block. I had cats before and I know what they're like. Feed one and you've to feed a whole community. And I'm not prepared to do that. Plus sexydad hates cats, so he won't be too happy if cats start to linger around looking for food.

I think I'll just do it as my legs feel happy to do so. If my legs are willing to go up and down 4 flights of stairs to give some food to them, they'll get something extra. If not, too bad. Can't be taking care of all the strays in the world.

Job application

2005-03-11T14:40:00.000+08:00

I just received a job application letter. I don't have to reply to it, since I never did put out a notice of recruitment. But whenever somebody writes to me for industrial training or asking for job, I feel it's nice to reply to them even if I can't offer them anything. At least they know what the outcome is, instead of wondering if the rock has hit the bottom of the sea (石沉大海). I don't do it all the time, but if there's time, I try as best as I can.

But I don't like writing rejection letters. Makes me feel sad when I imagine what they feel like when they read it. Heck, it's a lesson everybody has to go through one time or another, unless you never had to apply for a job.

Long long time ago.....

2005-03-07T15:40:00.000+08:00

I wanted to add some links to my blog, but..... got to edit the html links etc......haiya, so much work. Better go and eat first.

Went to nearby coffee shop to ta-bau mee goreng. Passed by some of the shops, many of them selling baju kebaya by the dozens these days, thanks to the promotion by our 1st lady.

Dulu if want to make kebaya, got to go to tailor to have it specially made. That time body slim enough to get into any design.

Now we can just pick any kebaya off the rack. The spirit and body is still willing to wear, but the kebaya just won't let me in.

Same goes for cheongsam. Eh, want to see what I look like 12 years ago?

What to eat for lunch?

2005-03-07T13:33:00.000+08:00

This is a lousy question, but still something I've got to face every lunchtime. Quite tired of the food around here, but still got to live with them. Roundtable pizza, I miss you...... snifff.....sniff......

Changes

2005-03-07T11:32:00.000+08:00

I'm going to publish all my ramblings on http://sexymum.blogspot.com soon. So if it makes you happy, change your links when you can find me on the old url. If not, kill some mosquitoes and make ME happy :)

Is it mosquitos or mosquitoes??????? Must ask Dan Quayle.

Horse penis

2005-03-03T16:28:00.000+08:00

I think one thing that catches a man's attention faster than a beautiful sexy woman, is a man or animal with a huge cock.

It's rare to find somebody with a huge erection on the streets, but with animals it's common, I think. Anyway, the point is, if a man looks at a big male animal, the first thing he will look for is see how big/long the penis of that animal is. And also the testicles.

Once a colleague of mine who had to do a job in India, came back and was showing some photos that he took in India. One of the photos was of a horse. All the male staff who look at the photo immediately knew what he took the photo of the horse for, but only a few females could tell (maybe they were pretending, that I wouldn't know). Yes, the horse had a big penis!

Ramblings

2005-03-03T15:45:00.000+08:00

Since Chinese New Year, I've been eating too much and now I'm fat again. I'm not obsessed with my figure, but when it gets difficult to get into my clothes, I probably should do something about my weight. I could buy bigger clothes, no doubt, but I hate shopping for clothes. So where does that leave me?

I supposed I could go on a diet, but since I'm still breastfeeding my youngest boy Laurenz, I don't want to do that. And like Garfield said, "Diet is die with a T." As I chose to worship Garfield in my teenage days, it's hard to change the mindset when it comes to food.

Exercise. Now that's an idea. Lemme see. When do I have time to exercise? When the kids are all in bed. When are the kids all in bed? 10-11pm. And what do I do at 11pm? I sleep too.

I probably could exercise early in the morning. Maybe set the alarm clock at 5.30am. And exercise for an hour. But Laurenz will know if I'm not in bed with him, and will wake up and demand for milk. So I have to sleep with him until at least 6.30am. But 6.30 is when I have to be awake to get ready for work and prepare the children for school and do breaskfast..................

I think I'll just go and get new clothes.

5xmom is the one who got me into blogging, so sometimes I don't know why I'm doing it at all.
:) :) :) Nah, I don't care if my children and grandchildren have nothing to read about what I did in my spare time. There's plenty of stuff for them to read.

Women are easily flattered. Just call anyone older than 25 years old "Cheh cheh" (sister) and they'll float. That's what Laurenz does whenever he meets any of our female friends/acquaintance, whether she's 14, 40 or 80. And they will smile and be soooooooooo happy, and give him sweets and chocolates and all sorts of goodies.

It's so hot these days. Even with the rain last Saturday, and last night too, Malacca is still hazy. I remembered in school days, one of my English teachers taught us that you can't say "the weather is hot". It should be "the weather is warm." Don't understand why. I think she learnt her English from some people who never knew what hot weather is like. Whatever it is, it's bloody hot.

I missed Quesadilla. I had lots of it during my uni days. One of the cheapest food around. But in the Mexican restaurants in KL, they make it so fancy, with so much stuff, that it becomes difficult to enjoy it anymore. And its expensive too.

Went to Tesco looking for the Tesco Shandy again. No more. I think they stopped bringing in it. It was the best Shandy I've tasted so far. And cheap too. Pity.

What is buah keluak?

2005-02-23T13:48:00.000+08:00

Some people have been asking me what buah keluak is. Well, it's a type of nut, comes from Indonesia, and is actually poisonous in its untreated form.

I don't have any pictures of the ones I bought and cook and ate, so go to this site to take a look at a picture:

http://www.geocities.com/ccchia2/recipe03.html

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH....................me hungry now!!!!

Lecture notes

2005-02-18T16:23:00.000+08:00

I had planned to clear up some of my old notes from my polytechnic days, but everytime I start on it, i still end up with so much that I can't get rid of.

There's the mathematics notes, Instrumentation lecture notes, tutorials, electronic devices and circuit theory tutorials, electrical circuit theory homework......... ....i always tell myself I might need to revise something, and so I should keep some, so there they stay again for another year.

I'm looking at some 1st year mechanical engineering notes--Internal Combustion Engines-Elementary Principles. Even though the papers are filled with my handwriting, I don't have much recollection of the principles. Another case of wasting time and money. Don't get me wrong, I love my studies, but it seems a bit sad that i can't seem to remember a lot of what I'm supposed to have learnt in school. SO, I will keep my notes, and re-read them, and when I'm though with them, i will recycle the papers.

My buah keluak

2005-02-18T16:18:00.000+08:00

The highlight of this new year was my buah keluak. It was sooooooo gooooooood. And when I threw away the seeds and some of the kuah spilled into the tong sampah, the tong sampah smelt sooooooooooo gooooooooooooood. All the hard work was worthwhile :)

Waking up children

2005-02-18T13:44:00.000+08:00

I'm a night bird, so i like to sleep late and wake up late. But with a business to run, kids to send to nursery and grandma's place, I've to learn to sleep late and wake up early. Bummer.

Waking up the 2 elder boys and keeping them in a good mood is tricky. Sexydad usually just wakes them up, hand them their milk and expects them to get up and change. And usually that ends up with one of them scowling or arguing with him.

Me? With Lucas, he knows you are bringing him his milk. So I crawl into his bed, stroke his hair, give him a kiss, say "Wake up sunshine. Your milk's here" and hand him his milk. He will take the bottle, stuff it into his mouth, and nod his head. Then he will pull up his pyjamas, and start to rub his tummy while he drinks. This is a good time to rub his tummy, kiss his tummy, and manja him. If he is sleepy, he will go back to sleep after finishing his milk, but if he had some "manja-ing" earlier on, it's easier to get him to get up and change up.

Leonard--this guy must kiss him first. Then wake him up by giving him a massage on the back. Then when he is sufficiently awake, hand him his milk. When he's done, if he doesn't get up by himself to go change up, then must do the manja routine. Give him a hug, let him lie on my lap, stroke his hair, sayang sayang, tell him why he needs to get up and go to school, ask him what he dreamt about...... then when Laurenz wakes up, it's up to sexydad to take over. Otherwise he usually change up by himself when he had enough of the manja stuff.

Sounds like I'm raising my kids to be mummy's boys eh? Well, with the amount of smacking they get from me, I think all this is necessary. Got to balance out the pleasure and the pain :)

Just for fun;-

How do i get sexydad to wake up? Tap on the shoulder, and go "Oy! Wake up!"

How does sexydad wake me up? Tap me on the shoulder, and go "Late already-lah. Backside so big, can't even get up." @*%&#@$#%!@#@!!! Then I stretched out my sexy long legs and give him a kick on his big backside. By the way, sexydad's got very sexy backside, thighs and calves. =)

Just Not The Same Anymore

2005-02-16T23:09:00.000+08:00

Wednesday, Feb 8, 2005, was the eighth day of this lunar new year. The Hokkien group of people were praying the Thee Kong, which last through the night till the 9th of the lunar calendar.

For the past few years, sexydad and me would drive to Heeren Street, where there are lots of ancestral Peranakan houses, which are usually closed, but they opened up on this day to pray, and you get to see some really nice stuff. Antique chairs, photos, drawings--people with old money keeping fancy stuff in their ancestral homes.

This year it was not so fun though. Most houses were not opened, and a lot of the houses were converted into hotels, restaurants, sourvenir and antique shops. I guess people these days are not so pantang about keeping their ancestral homes intact anymore.

Heeren Street is not the same Heeren Street anymore. It's probably neater and cleaner now, with some cute hotels (actually quite beautiful), but the old feeling is not there. And of course, no entertainment from peeking into fancy houses anymore. I felt like i let my kids down, as i told them we will be going to Heeren Street to look at some really nice interior.

According to my late father, my late grandma's family had a house there. But there were family feuds, and nobody cared what happened, and nobody had the title to the house, and nobody could established the link, so the house now probably belongs to the government. Ah well, maybe they can restore the house and put fun stuff inside there. Maybe make a Peranakan ghost house.

Buying birthday present

2005-02-15T15:36:00.000+08:00

I was reading a little bit on 5xmom's blog about what some guy wanted to buy for his girlfriend. I hope the guy gets his girlfriend something she can "EAT". Believe me, women eat more than men. Go to any office, 90% of the time it's the women in the pantry. Brings your kids to any office or workplace, and if you need sweets, the women there are bound to have some. Check the tables of the workers of any offices, it's always the women who have some snacks, kiam kana, kacang or anything to pop into their stomach.

What's this to do with buying birthday present? Well, the blog just brought back some memories about once when I accompanied a friend to buy a present for his ex-girlfriend. I was then in the university in California. This friend, T, is a Vietnamese who was doing his Bachelor's degree in another field, even though he already had an engineering degree from Vietnam. His ex-girlfriend had escaped Vietnam long ago, and was working in LA as a SAP consultant. Now, SAP consultants usually make a lot of money. So according to T, she already has everything that a girl needs.

So T asked me for a suggestion on what to buy.

Me: " Electric toothbrush".
T: " Electric toothbrush? So unfeminine."
Me: " Why not? It's a good thing, it's useful, and it's not cheap."
T: " Yeah, but it's not something you buy for a girl on her birthday."
Me: " You did asked for a suggestion."

So for 3 hours, we went through 2 shopping centres, looking at just about everything except men's clothing and women's lingerie, to find the ultimate gift. I suggested perfume--too intimate. Flowers--too simple. Cosmetic--she has too much already. Lingerie--too suggestive, and they're no longer boyfriend & girlfriend. Barbecue set--big sigh. Bicycle--she's got that too. Roller blades--got that already. Hair-curler---are you kidding? Chocolates--will make her fat. Electirc toothbrush--not again, be serious. Clothes--don't know her size. Cooking utensils--she doesn't cook. Shoes--don't know her size. Books--boring. Electric toothbrush---Su May, stop it. Box of screwdrivers--what do you think she's going to do with it? Cordless phone--she's got it already! Handbag--don't know if she'll like it.

And 3 hours later, he still hadn't got her a birthday present.

That was Saturday night. On Monday morning, I met T again, and asked him if he is going to go shopping again for the birthday present.

T: "Oh, I got it yesterday."
Me: "OOHHH! So you manage to find something she'd like. Great! What did you get?"
T: "Electric toothbrush........." (grinning sheepishly)

Some people just don't know how to take good advice right from the start.

A Man and his Dog

2005-01-29T20:40:00.000+08:00

A Man and his Dog

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead. He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight. When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like Mother of Pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold.

He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side. When he was close enough, he called out, "Excuse me, where are we?"

"This is Heaven, sir," the man answered.

"Wow! Would you happen to have some water?" the man asked.

"Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up." The man gestured, and the gate began to open.

"Can my friend," gesturing toward his dog, "come in, too?" the traveller asked.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets."

The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.

After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road which led through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence. As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.

"Excuse me!" he called to the reader. "Do you have any water?"

"Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there". The man pointed to a place that couldn't be seen from outside the gate. "Come on in."

"How about my friend here?" the traveller gestured to the dog.

"There should be a bowl by the pump." They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.

The traveller filled the bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog. When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree waiting for them. "What do you call this place?" the traveller asked.

"This is Heaven," he answered.

"Well, that's confusing," the traveller said. "The man down the road said that was Heaven, too."

"Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's Hell."

"Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?"

"No. I can see how you might think so, but we're just happy that they screen out the folks who'll leave their best friends behind."

(Got from http://groups.msn.com/Abundanceoflighthealingcenter )

MOSES AND THEM TEN THINGS

2005-01-29T20:36:00.000+08:00

MOSES AND THEM TEN THINGS
"Excuse me, sir."
"Is that you again, Moses?""I'm afraid it is, sir."
"What is it this time, Moses. More computer problems?"
"How did you guess?"
"I don't have to guess, Moses. Remember?"
"Oh, yeah. I forgot."
"Tell me what you want, Moses."
"But you already know. Remember?"
"Moses!"
"Sorry, sir."
"Well, go ahead, Moses. Spit it out!"
"Well, I have a question, sir. You know those 'ten things' you sent me?"
"You mean the Commandments, Moses?"
"That's it. I was wondering if they were important..."
"What do you mean 'were important', Moses? Of course, they're important. Otherwise I wouldn't have sent them to you."
"Well, sorry, but I lost them. I could say the dog ate them, but of course you would see right through that."
"What do you mean, 'you lost them'! Are you trying to tell me you didn't save them, Moses?"
"No, sir. I forgot."
"You should always save, Moses."
"Yeah, I know. You told me that before. I was going to, but I forgot. I did send them to some people before I lost them though."
"And did you hear back from any of them?"
"You already know I did. What about that one guy who said he never uses 'shalt not'... can he change the words a little bit?"
"Yes, Moses. As long as he doesn't change the meaning."
"And what about the guy who thought your stance was a little harsh, and recommended calling them the Ten Suggestions, or letting people pick one or two to try for a while?"
"Moses, I'll act like I didn't hear that."
"I think that means 'no'. Well, what about the guy who said I was scamming him?"
"I think that is 'spamming', Moses."
"Oh, yeah. I e-mailed him back and told him I don't even eat that stuff, and I have no idea how you can send it to someone through a computer."
"And what he did say?"
"You know what he said. He used Your name in vain. You don't think he might have sent me one of those - er - plagues, and that's the reason I lost those ten things, do you?"
"They're called viruses, Moses."
"Whatever! This computer stuff is just too much for me. Can we just go back to those stone tablets? It was hard on my back taking them out and reading them each day, but I never lost them."
"We'll do it the new way, Moses."
"I was afraid you would say that, sir."
"Moses, what did I tell you to do if you messed up?"
"You told me to hold up this rat and stretch it out toward the computer."
"It's a mouse, Moses. Mouse! MOUSE! And did you do that?"
"No, I decided to try the technical support first. After all, who knows more about this stuff than you, and I really like your hours. By the way, sir, did Noah have two of these mice on the ark?"
"No, Moses."
"One other thing. Why didn't you name them frogs instead of mice? Because didn't you tell me the thing they sit on is a pad?"
"I didn't name them, Moses. Man did, and you can call yours a frog, if you want to."
"Oh, that explains it. Kind of like Adam, huh, sir? I bet some woman told him to call it a mouse.

After all, wasn't it a woman who named one of the computers Apple?"
"Say good night, Moses."
"Wait a minute, sir. I am stretching out the mouse, and it seems to be working. Yes, a couple of the 'ten things' have come back."
"Which ones are they, Moses?"
"Let's see. 'Thou shalt not steal from any grave an image' and 'Thou shalt not uncover thy neighbor's wife'."
"Turn the computer off, Moses. I'm sending you another set of stone tablets.
How does 'Fed Ex' sound? .... and I am sending them Freight Collect this time!"

author unknown (Got this from http://groups.msn.com/Abundanceoflighthealingcenter )

Extra Time For Myself

2005-01-29T18:56:00.000+08:00

While I'm blogging this, my kids are in the bathroom, bathing together in a inflated pool. Oh, I can hear them alright, squealing with laughter, splashing water and each other, and laughing over some funny stuff that only they understand.

I don't even have to bathe them. Leonard is more than happy to be "I'm in charge" and bathe himself and his brothers.

They usually don't laugh like that when their father or I bathe them. Eureka! I've found a new way to find some time to myself. I gotta do this more often.

Apek pyjamas

2005-01-29T18:50:00.000+08:00

When I just had Leonard, I thought Apek pyjamas (those pyjamas with vertical stripes, clashing mixtures of colours, worn by old Chinaman) were really outdated and outmoded. After Leonard was hospitalized at 22 months, I realized just how useful they were.

Apek pyjamas are front opening, like collared shirts. So when a child is on IV drips, it's really to change their clothes if it's an open-front shirt. The sleeves are also wider than those T-shirt material pyjamas, so you can slip their hand in/our easily, without affecting the drip-connecter (or whatever you call it).

Come to think of it, my kids look pretty cute in their Apek pyjamas. Oh well, they look good in anything. Or without anything :) I'll post their photos up one of these days.

Buah keluak

2005-01-29T15:32:00.000+08:00

Chinese New Year is another 10 days away. I've sort of given up on spring cleaning, because it's so so so so much work. But, something is bound to make me start again, I don't know what. Maybe all the new homes the ants have created.

Leonard and Lucas are all excited over their The Incredibles clothes which are their New Years clothes. Keep bugging me to let them wear now. No way! Else I've got to buy another set. Bloody expensive stuff. And we wonder why Steve Jobs get to drive Porsches.

This year I think I'll cook buah keluak. I've been thinking of doing it for the past, lemme see, 6 years. It's my favourite dish. Better than all the fancy/foreign food I've tasted till now. Usually, my father will cook at least 100 biji for the Chinese New Year. But he died in 1999 just before the CNY, so we didn't have any that year. Then 2000 came, but I was not in the mood, and so that went out of the window. 2001, we had Leonard around, so I was not free. 2002, we still had Leonard, and Lucas was only 2 1/2 month old--too much work to cook. Plus Leonard was not too well.

2003, we had Leonard, Lucas, and I was pregnant with Laurenz. Sigh.........might as well eat what other people cook. But other people's buah keluak just can't beat my father's. Okay, I haven't eaten my father's buah keluak, but so far I haven't found anybody's buah keluak that's better than mine. My father was a great cook. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit his talent. The reason is, there's always someone to cook, and someone to taste the food. I get to taste the food :)

2004--I cooked pongteh, and hubby cooked itik tim. Pongteh is easy. Itik tim is a bit trickier, and hubby used too much of the assam skin. But he managed to salvage it.

This year 2005, is the year of the Rooster. My year. Time to crow, and to celebrate. So I'm going to cook ayam-babi buah keluak. Sure some of my Peranakan relatives are also going to cook it, but people's eyes are going to pop out if I gobble up 30 biji at one sitting. In my own house, I can cook as much as I want, and eat as much as I want. :) :) :) God willing, it will be as good as my dad's. Maybe even better. Like the Chinese say, "Green comes out from blue". And since I'm a greenhorn...... heh heh heh...

What they eat, we eat too........

2005-01-25T15:45:00.000+08:00

I was just told my a farmer today that pigs are fed a certain type of beta drugs, to make sure they grow fat enough. These kind of drugs are supposed to be asthma drugs. And if they get overdosed, they actually start shivering, and can even stand properly, and collapsed.

Eeeeewwwwwwwww, this means what ever drugs they are fed, gets into me too. Maybe this is one of the cause of my Leonard having asthma before. He used to take lots of Bakuteh. Okay, okay, me gonna slowly change to vegetarian diet.

Lizards, Ants and the Economy

2005-01-24T16:27:00.000+08:00

The government has been talking about how much the economy has improved since 1997, and how healthy it is, but the NPL has been rising, which somehow never seemed to make it to the news. So I'm convinced that the economy hasn't really recovered.

And the animal world seems to be showing the same signs. Lizards, which I learnt during school days, are supposed to be insect eaters. They are supposed to be good creatures that eat bad insects, like mosquitos. But the lizards in my house eat everything else except the mosquito. They find their way into my food cupboard, stay behind my microwave oven, and eat whatever crumbs that my kids dropped on the floor that I failed/forget/too tired to sweep. They are now bloody scavengers.

The lizards in my MIL's house are even worse. Her dining table is those type with a turntable on top of it. And these crawlers will hide underneath the turntable waiting for a chance to grab at any morsel of food that fall off your plate. Just drop a piece of food, especially meat or fish, and ZOOOOM they'll come out and grab it and rush back under the turntable. So much for insect-eating. They must be suffering from some lack of insects in their world.

Ants are even worst. (See my earlier blog on Damn Ants). They'll climb into my water dispenser, I think to drink, and then drown. Then they'll go into the food cupboard looking for food, which is a waste of time because everything is in airtight jars. After doing a thorough cleaning of the house, I realized that they've been making little nests in the hinges of the cupboard doors. Why they climb all the way up 4 storeys to make little nest in places like that I don't know, when I live next to the biggest Chinese cemetery outside of China, a.k.a the famous Bukit China of Melaka. The compoud of the apartment is nice and green, with bushes, trees, flowers, plants--everythin conducive to making an ant hill. Why my apartment?

And they go to the bathroom to eat toothpaste, go to the medicine cupboard to lunch on my nipple ointment (used for cracks in the nipple in case of breastfeeding not so correctly), and even attempt to drink from a cup containing bleach. Just how bad is the situation in the ants world that they resort to eating and drinking stuff that are not meant for consumption in the human world? Their economy's got to be bad.

Cats get into the act as well. They climb all the way to the 4th floor, and claw the rubbish bags that contains bones/food stuff. With the amount of food wasted in most restaurants and hawker centres, it bugs me why they need to come near my apartment to get a measly bite. They must be suffering in their world too.

Maybe I should be more compassionate and give them food. But knowing cats, they'd be a whole colony outside my apartment if I were to feed just one. One cat I can deal with, more than that, no way. And I'm allergic to them too. So sorry cats, you guys just got to go.

Clean house, rough hands

2005-01-24T16:12:00.000+08:00

With this round of spring cleaning, I've been cleaning every possible place that I can reach, and with whatever cleaner that's stored in my cupboard.

The result is: my apartment is clean, but my hands are rough. My nails are all uneven, and the skin on my fingers are all rough and hardened.

So I told hubby, " It's so bloody unrealistic for men to expect their wives to keep the house clean, cook, and also expect them to have smooth skin, porcelain complexion, perfectly manicured fingernails and toenails, smell like Chanel No. 5, have tight abs, tight buttocks, perfect hair, big tight boobs, yaddi yaddi yadda blah blah blah........"

And as usual, hubby just cocked his head, think about it, and walked away.

Then, when I was going to use the turpentine to clean the whiteboard, hubby actually took away the cloth and liquid from me, and proceeded to clean it himself, claiming that it would hurt my skin............... ......... wellllllll welllllllllllll, what d'ya know....

Damn Ants

2005-01-24T10:20:00.000+08:00

What with ants these days? I have been living with them for the past year, and no matter what I do, they just won't seem to go away.

Now it's getting worse. I've just done a thorough cleanup of my kitchen, and now they're coming out in droves, big ants, small ants, black ants, orange ants, red ants..... just where the bloody hell are they coming from? And what the hell do they want?

They go inside my medicine cabinet, make a nest in some of the medicine boxes; they go to the tissue papers, and make a nest there. I spilled some cincaluk on the stove, and there they go too. Don't they know that when we cook, the fire makes the whole stove hot, and they can die?????

Maybe I should keep an ant-eater. It's not a protected species, is it?

Spring Cleaning

2005-01-23T01:49:00.000+08:00

It's going to be Chinese New Year in 2 weeks' time. 2 weeks????!!!! How am I going to get all the cleaning done?

I hate spring cleaning, even though I can see good reasons for it. Time to throw out stuff that I don't use, throw out stuff that my husband keeps and don't use, time to find where all the places that the ants make their homes and clear them out, time to get rid of those bloody lizards.....

I usually don't bother too much about spring cleaning before the CNY, but this year I seemed to be rather obsessed with cleaning everything, right to every little nook and corner. I'm not pregnant, so it can't be the nesting instinct. Probably have something to do with my recent illness. Buang suay :)

It's not that difficult to clean my apartment, but it's difficult to decide whether or not to throw something away. I always make it a point to get rid of things that I don't use for more than 3 years, but how do you throw away photos, love letters, birthdays cards, nick nacks that I've collected over the years? I don't usually collect stuff, so if I do collect anything, they usually have some meaning for me. .......maybe I'm a pack rat after all.

It's not fun being sick

2005-01-23T01:03:00.000+08:00

Wow, it's been more than 10 days since I last blogged.

Anyway, to continue from my last blog, Leonard was supposed to be discharged on Monday, 10/1/05. On Sunday I had already got the strep throat infection from him, and was minding Lucas and Laurenz by myself, with a fever and body aching all over, along with a headache that felt like a vise griping my head. Somehow or other, I managed to make it through that Sunday and woke up alive on Monday.

Monday--woke up before 7 am to get Lucas and Laurenz ready. Lucas was supposed to go to nursery, and Laurenz to grandma's, but apparently the bug hit Lucas already. He vomited right before we were supposed to leave the house. Got him changed, and dropped Laurenz at grandma. Brought Lucas to the hospital to see the paediatrician, but by the time he was at the hospital, he was up and about, climbing the hospital bed, playing with Leonard, as if he was totally alright. Unfortunately, that didn't last long. By the time Leonard got discharged, Lucas' fever was up again. This time Mum and Lucas turn to see doctor. Both have the same thing--sore throat with excerbates (why does all this sickness stuff have such nice names?)

So off we go home with antibiotiocs and fever medicine. For some reason, Dad just had to packed his day with tons of appointments, and poor sick Mum had to take care of a recovering Leonard and a just-got-sicked Lucas all by herself. Mum's antibiotics didn't agree with her, cos' after taking it, Mum was puking all the contents of her stomach.

Tuesday--again Lucas and Leonard in Mum's care. Laurenz in grandma's house. By the afternoon, grandma called and said that Laurenz was having a fever. Dad brought Laurenz home and he was okay by then. Mum had a change of antibiotics.

Wednesday--Laurenz's was feverish again, and kept saying "pain-pain" while putting his hand to his mouth. Must have gotten the strep throat already. Brought to doctor, and again antibiotics. This time Lucas and Leonard goes to grandma, while Laurenz stays with Mum and gets pumped with superjuice the whole day long.

Thursday--Lucas' temperature peaked. Mum quickly packed stuff in case he has to be admitted to hospital like Leonard. Then the bloody power failure. Slowed down everything. By the time got to grandma's place to bring Lucas to see doctor, his fever had gone down. But still couldn't drink milk and drank water only.

Friday--Brought Lucas and Laurenz to see paed and changed antibiotics to something nice on the tongue. Orang flavour Keflex. Bloody fees costs a bomb.

Saturday and Sunday--everybody rest except Mum. Even when Mum is sick, Dad doesn't help extra. And still goes to work. Probably should whipped him when I get better.

Today is 23/1/05--everybody's okay, and it looks like Dad is going to get sick too. Hey, if Mum can work when she's sick, so can Dad.

Mothers can't afford to get sick

2005-01-09T16:05:00.000+08:00

Leonard's been sick since Tuesday. After 2 days of fluctuating fever, we decided to bring him to see a paedetrician, because he has some rashes on his forehead and earlobe. Could be mosquito bites, but we don't want to take a change in case he has dengue. With vomitting, stomach aches, body aches, heck, do a blood test.

Turns out that it's not dengue, but he's dehydrating, and his tonsils are mighty swollen, and he's got plenty of wind/alien objects in his tummy. So doctor says he's got to be admitted. This is the 2nd time he's been admitted to the hospital.

So Mum's been doing morning shift in the hospital, and Dad does the night shift. Thursday dad had to leave for KL after Leonard was admitted. So Mum stayed in the hospital until dad came to take over. And by the time he got back, it was 11pm. Mum rushed to grandma's house to spend the night with Lucas and Laurenz, and those 2 were not even asleep yet!

Laurenz saw Mum, and rushed to her demanding "nen-nen". So Mum gave him his superjuice and in 10 minutes he was sleeping peacefully. Next was Lucas who wanted his milk. So Mum went to the kitchen to make his milk, and then he goes "glurg glurg glurg" while rubbing his tummy.

Mum has to wait till he finishes his milk and wash the bottle. By the time he's done, it's 12.30am. Mum had to alternate between sleeping in the playpen with Laurenz and on the bed with Lucas. That is not a good arrangement.

On Friday, Dad had an appointment at 10.30am. So Mum had to get Lucas to nursery by 8.30am, and drop Laurenz off at grandma's. So far so good. Mum goes off to buy breakfast for herself. Got to the hospital by 9.15am. Leonard was fighting over taking his antibiotic. Poor guy. The medicine stinks, and he hates it. But to get better, he has to take it. In the end, we had to force it down his throat, and he didn't want his daddy anymore.

Dad didn't have many appointments today. So he got back by 5.00pm, and Mummy went to pick up the 2 youngers ones at 6pm and brought them to the hospital to see their big tai-kor. Took them home before 9pm, and all were fast asleep by 10.45pm.

Saturday Dad had to go KL again. Leonard is much better. He could joke and sing, and play the Opposites game with Mum. By now, Mum has developed a sore throat. Sore throat always a bad sign.

Again, Dad came back by 11pm. Brought the kids home from grandmas and tucked them in. Put the dirty clothes in the washing machine and went to sleep.

At 2.00am, me woke up with a fever and body aches. Sigh..... I knew this was coming. Went to take some flu and fever tablets. Managed to get a reasonably good sleep.

It's Sunday morning, and I'm still feeling sick. Aching back, sore throat, head that feels like it's been gripped by a vise. Sigh........ And I still have to take care of the kids. But the good news, Leonard will be discharged tomorrow. Then I will make him sleep at home, and spend whatever possible time I can sleeping............. Geez, taking of kids when you are sick is terribly tiring.

Armpit hair

2005-01-03T13:12:00.000+08:00

Last year there was a segment on 3R talking about armpit hair. These 3 girls go around interviewing people what they think about women not shaving their armpit hair.

Their view is that women who don't shave their arm pit hair are disgusting, not womenly, and people who see it feels "jijik" (yucky).

What are these stupid girls talking about? This is a show that's suppose to empower women, or teenage girls, and they are concerned about armpit hair? Whether a girl wants to shave her armpit hair or not is her business, not theirs or anybody's. They talk about being strong and courageous and what women can do, and here they go about asking what people think about women with armpit hair? Are they telling women that they should rely on what people think to do what they should do? Stupid girls. I wonder how the show manage to get aired. Probably the producer's a stupid one too.

So what are they going to do next? Ask people if they should shave their pubic hair too?

Do children always tell the truth

2004-12-30T13:48:00.000+08:00

I've heard people say that children don't lie. That's why we get a lot of awkward situations where children make a statement, leaving their parents wishing for a big hole to bury their head into.

But I'm sure they do even at a very young age. For example, hubby was changing Laurenz into his pyjamas in the boy's bedroom. I came into the room when it was just done

When Laurenz saw me, he quickly stood up, run to me and cried "Mummy" with a real sad face.

When I asked why, he said, "Daddy hit me." Poor daddy. 冤枉.

Threats

2004-12-30T13:37:00.000+08:00

I just read an article from a parenting website, where it says that threatening children to make them do what you say is bad, and most of the time will not resolve the problem at all. Here's my experience.

It was time for Lucas to change and get ready to bed. I was still cleaning up Laurenz' mess and told Lucas to go to his room so that daddy will change him up.

Lucas: "No."
Me: "Lucas, go to your room to change up."
Lucas: "No way."
Me: "Lucas, go to your room now."
Lucas: "No way."
Me: "Lucas, if you don't go to your room now, I'm going to spank you."
Lucas: " I run away now, okay?"

I can fly, can you fly?

2004-12-30T13:30:00.000+08:00

Leonard, who is crazy over The Incredibles, has been learning the various lines in the movie. I find the part where Frozone goes, "Honey, where's my supersuit?" extremely funny, and all 3 boys have been repeating those lines just to make me laugh.

The latest was a scene where I realize Lucas has reached another milestone in his development. As usual Leonard was running about mouthing some lines in the movie over and over again.

Leo: "I invented this. I can fly. Can you fly?"
and in chipped Lucas : "Fly home buddy. I work alone."

Conversation with Leonard

2004-12-30T13:18:00.000+08:00

Last night, when Leonard was in bed, about to sleep, I crept into his bed to give him a hug and a kiss. And we talked a little.

Leo: Mum, can you sleep with me?
Me: Sure, honey.
Leo: Mum, you can *** (couldn't make out the word) with me now."
Me: I can what with you?
Leo: You can *** with me.
Me: I can write with you?
Leo: No, you can *** with me.
Me: What do you mean I can give with you, honey?
Leo: No, you can WORK with me.
Me: I can work with you?
Leo: Yeah, you can work with me, and help me.
Me: What work do you do??????
Leo: I keep the house clean, you know. I can fold the clothes, pick up the toys, take care of my brothers...... so you can help me-lor......
Me: Ok, ok, ok.

Me thinks me have struck lottery :)

It's Christmas, It's Christmas

2004-12-24T17:20:00.000+08:00

It's Christmas eve today. I'm not wild any celebrations, but it's nice to have a time where people sing and wish for peace on earth. And whenever people sing Silent Night, it's soooooo soothing to my nerves.

My kids, or rather my eldest boy Leonard have been bugging me to get decorations for the house. He and his brothers have just trashed the Christmas tree, and now wants a new one. And he wants fairy lights, hollies, stocking and a whole bunch of stuff. Including new railway tracks! Since when did railway tracks figure in Christmas celebrations? Well......at least he didn't ask me for a baby Jesus. But hey, now McDonald's The Incredibles collection is selling the Jack-Jack toy. This one I want for myself :)

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all ye Gentlemen and Gentlewomen, and thank you Jesus for loving us.

The Magic in My Life

2004-12-22T17:01:00.000+08:00

I think the most magical thing in my life are my children. Take Laurenz for example. He is 18 months old (that's 1.5 years old for those who can't count), and he can sing a song. He can sing the whole of "Twinkle, twinkle little star". And he can even count from 1-10. How many kids at his age can do that? But that's not where the magic is. It's that moment when he wakes up in the morning, sits up in bed, and the first word out of his mouth is, "Mummy". It's when I go to my house to pick him up in the evening, and he'll come rushing out to greet me, "Mummy, MUM..my, MUMMMMMMMYYYYY!" Then whether or not he's taken his dinner, he'll turn his body in such a way that I have to cradle him, and he says, "I want nen nen", and laughs happily.

Now Lucas, he's so gentle and sweet. But with a temper that's a little like his mummy :)
Whenever I pick him at the nursery, he will run towards me, and then I'll carry him up and give him a big swing. Then he tells me, "Mum, you are the best." Awwww.................

Leonard will tell me, "Mum, my job is to study and do work in the house. Okay". "Okay", I said.
When we go home, he asks,

"Mum, can I vacuum the floor?"
"Why do you want to vacuum the floor?"
"Because I want to work. I NEED to keep the house clean."

How many 4.5 years old kids would be willing to do housework?

I love my kids. They' re the best. Okay, okay, hubby is also another magic. But that's another story.

Past Life Regression

2004-12-20T17:00:00.000+08:00

I want to do this past life regression thing. Sceptics call it a bluff, some others say it's a wonderful experience. I wonder if the sceptics did try it out?

Anyway, if it's just meditation to understand what possibly contributed to what you are today, then it should be fun to do. Of course if you don't believe in reincarnation, then it's BS to you. And if it does help, why not?

Roller skates

2004-12-20T16:53:00.000+08:00

Another trip down memory lane. My sister again :)

We were learning to rollerskate, and as usual my sister was the slowest to master it.

One evening, we were out in the car porch, rollingskating as usual. she released her hold on the pillar, and skated off slowly. Somehow or other, she lost her balance, and fell on her butt, with her legs spread out wide.

A boy was cycling along the road, and shouted out, "KANGKANG KOYAK!"

It doesn't seem that funny anymore these days, still.....................................

Dong Jie

2004-12-20T16:30:00.000+08:00

5xmom just wrote about the winter solstice celebration, Dong Jie.

Superstitious Chinese believe that if you lived beyond this day, especially old folks, then you can survive through Chinese New Year.

I think the whole idea is based on the cold cold winter in China. If you can stand the coldness during the winter months, and not die, then it's a high probabiltiy that you will last through spring.

Curously though, I notice that a lot of people die during the end of the year, around November and December. I haven't checked with the National Registration Board on the number of deaths for each month, but there seem to be more wakes during this time than others.

Maybe it's not the cold, but the overeating of Tang Yuan. Or the fatigue of rolling those little balls. Or the fear of growing older. :) :) :)

I scream Ice cream

2004-12-17T23:19:00.000+08:00

I don't have much childhood memories. Don't know why. Must be the GA that wiped out a whole chunk of my memories.

But one incident still tickles me till today. My brother has an amazing capability to irritate my sister to the extent that she will scream and stamp her feet, yet can't do anything to stop him. One Sunday afternoon, he was teasing her with something (can't remember what it was). Whatever it was, it made her so mad that she started shouting at him.

Sis: "Jin, if you don't stop, I'll scream!"
Bro: "xxxxxx....." (can't recall that part)
Sis: "Jin, I said I'll scream!!!"
Bro: "xxxxxxxx"
Sis: "I SCREAM!!!! I SCREAM!!!!!"

Then BANG!!!! Out came my mum from her room, furious with a capital F. (Mum was sleeping in the daytime that Sunday, as she was on night duty--Mum was a sister in the General Hospital)

Mum: "ICE-CREAM, ICE CREAM!!! WHAT ICE-CREAM???!!! We just had ice-cream this morning, NOT ENOUGH AH??"

Christmas Tree a la Harry Potter and the Flying Ford Anglia

2004-12-07T15:49:00.000+08:00

It's Christmas season again, and the kids had coaxed me into bringing the Christmas tree down for them to decorate.

Oh how nice, I thought. Getting all 3 of them to work and play together, decorating the tree, developing kinship and brotherly love.

But the 2 older ones had something else in mind. It's time for the Flying Ford Anglia to get into action again. The Christmas tree will make do as the Whomping Willow. Here comes the New Beetle (use your imagination--think of it as a Ford Anglia) flying into the Whomping Willow.

"THUMP!" "THUMP" "THUMP" The car gets hit. One of the branches is bent. Leaves fall.

Okay, they're through with Harry Potter. Now the tree needs to go on the sofa. The Christmas lights will serve as a rope. #1 climbs on the sofa. Pulls the Christmas tree with the Christmas lights wire. #2 helps from the bottom pushing it up. "THOOM!!!" Tree falls back to the ground.
Push it up again. "THOOM!!" Tree is again on the ground.

I can see they are purposely dropping the tree off the sofa. But I'm too tired to stop them. Let their father deal with them. After all, he wants them to be independent thinkers. Independent thinkers act independently too. I'm just going to watch and laugh.

I don't wanna work

2004-12-07T14:12:00.000+08:00

Today is one of those days where I don't feel like working at all. All I want to do is go down to the 7-Eleven, grab a Slurpee, a pack of potato chips, and enjoy my junk food while I surf the net for nothing specific.

Luckily I'm my own boss, so nobody can fire me :) But business is going to slow down if I keep on like this. ....................... ah well, lemme just blog a little to look like I'm working.

There's this Word Puzzle Contest on the New Straits Time. Fill up 10 day's worth of puzzle, write in the winning slogan, and you can drive home with a brand new Beugeot 307 1.6XS! Cool. The word puzzle is easy. But the slogan writing part is not. I hate writing slogans. That's probably why I can't be a marketing person.

What's with slogans anyway? Contests these days keeping asking you to write a slogan. "I deserve to win a xxx getaway because.......", "The xxx notebook is my choice because .......".... and it never ends. Do they actually use those slogans? I don't think so. I hardly see any contest winner's slogan published.

I'm going to make today's work "surfing the Net" for information. And winning a Peugeot 307 1.6XS.

Al-Zawahri

2004-11-30T13:55:00.000+08:00

I got an email today from an American friend, telling about Al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's lieutenant, asking Washington to change its policy towards Muslims.

According to my friend, the American constitution forbids religious policy. So what that guy is asking is wrong.

Well, whether he's asking for a change in policy, or a change in the actions taken by the US Government, the fact is that the war in Iraq and Afghanistan doesn't help the people that much in the two countries.

Look at Iraq--the children are suffering from lack of food, clean water and proper schools. What about those who lose their parents through the bombings? What about the parents who lose their children too? What about the civilians who lose their arms and legs? Are the Americans, British, South Koreans or Italians going to provide a home for the orphans? Are they going to help the crippled rebuild their life? Are they going to help the grieving parents? Nope. They are just going to sit in bars praising themselves for getting rid of one, just one evil man, called Saddam Hussein, when hundreds of thousands of Iraqi and Afghans are starving, dying and suffering. And they still can't find Osama bin Laden.

Lucas is 3!!!

2004-11-30T10:47:00.000+08:00

Nov 28, 2004--Lucas is officially 3 years old.

Instead of getting a full 1 kg cake, which his poor mummy has to finish at great risk to her heart and body, we decided to get a slice of cheese cake from a 5-star hotel, just for him. Really nice and yummy.

But after blowing out the candles, he didn't want to eat it. My only-cake-and-cookie eating son doesn't want to eat his birthday cake!!!! Nope, no fever, he didn't fall, he's not crying or screaming, he's not making a fuss, he's fine. But he doesn't want to eat cake! This is mighty strange. Maybe he'll start to eat rice after all.