Wednesday morning

Every morning, I would wake up and try to remember what day it is today. It is nothing different this morning when I woke up. But at least it is mid-week and only 2 more days to go before I can sleep late on Saturday. *wink*

It is supposed to be the usual Wednesday. However when I went downstair, hubby shown me a "disconnection notice" from Sesco. Yeap! Our electricity overdue 3 months! My FIL supposed to pay the outstanding last week but he forgot. So being a good daughter-in-law (better than suddenly come back to a dark house in the night, right?), I have to drive all the way to Jln Satok to pay the bills in the Sesco office.

And I have to miss out on my daughter's BM Reading Competition this morning. After so many days of encouragement and practicing, I cannot see her perform this morning. What to do??

And I "tapau" some sio bee and eat while stopping at traffic lights. I have been having my breakfast in the car most of this week. Got to run here and there, paying this and that. If can, I would rather sit in front of the pc, and do the internet banking. Let it deduct RM2.00. Better than stuck in the morning jam. But not all bills can be done that way, still have to go the particular office and queue up. Lol!


What I saw when heading to Jln Satok to pay bill this morning........Few minutes after settling my bill, the fire truck was heading to the scene area.

Rambling

Almost end of the month. And it means half of 2011 is gone. Every day I feel like a sailing yacht, sailing in the big ocean without any sense of direction. Yeap, some days I wonder what have I done in life and whether it is worth it. People told me the important thing is that you are happy with what you have achieved. I believe it is true. Why hold on to something that is not worthy?

Enough crazy rambling from me. It must be the crazy weather that make my brain nerves go insane. *wink*

Afternoon break

When there are not many customers and I am a bit of craving for snack, this is what I have in store.



Yeap, Tiger brand crackers dipped in hazelnut chocolate spread.

Salty cracker + Sweet chocolate = Yum! Super delicious!

Switch places

Hubby asked me the other day, what happen if we were to switch body for a day? Er, I don't think that would likely happen. Anyway for the fun of it, I just answered him "NO". Reasons:

1) I would not want to be in his body. 10 years ago body-fit him, I would consider. Not in his current body size. He grows many waist inches and put on weight. So, a "no-no".

2) Working in office, in a cubicles. Oh no!! Definitely I would not want to go back to such state after I have not been working in a office hour for more than a year.

3) Drinking and entertaining. Nah! I am a homey-type of person. Perfect to be lazy around the house.

4) Nagging. Men usually do not nag. So I would miss nagging even if I were a man for a day!

5) If he were me, he will commit suicide! Because he prefers to work than look after my two "monkeys"! Lol!

So, a no for both of us. This question remind me of Beyonce's song "If I were a boy". Lol!

Oh daddy!

I wake up so early today. I know it is a Saturday (little girl has no schooling), but my biological clock disallow me to take more nap. So what to do??? Online, what else! While waiting for the kids to wake up and hubby to get ready before we are off to breakfast.

A short note here! To all the great daddy and daddy-to-be, Happy Daddy's Day tomorrow! You are the best!

Angry bird player

Never knew that my little girl was a fan of Angry Bird until she get her aunt to buy this cute but moody red bird last week. And I never knew of this famous bird till I heard about the Nokia's attempt to break the world record for the most people playing a mobile game relay on 12 June over the radio for the past month. What to do? I have not own a Nokia phone for many years now.

This little fella hang next to the printer in my shop now.

Little girl even told me she played in her aunt's Nokia handphone, where the bird has to hit the pigs otherwise the pigs will steal the eggs. Hmm, my game-savvy girl. And every time she comes to my shop, she asks me to log into Yahoo! games for her to play some puzzle games. And I could not believe she plays up to Level 7 in Bejeweled game all by herself!

Let them learn

School starts tomorrow. I have ironed my girl's school uniforms and cleaned up her school bags. It is going to be busy Monday morning tomorrow. I have been lazy for the past 2 weeks, waking up around 7.30am since my Baby Jay sleeps late and sending him to baby sitter's around 8.30am. Now I have to set my alarm back to 7.00am otherwise I will not be able to get up early. *wink*

Met up with an old friend few days ago at the shop. We chatted mostly about kids. As her boy is a year older than my girl, her boy will be in Primary school next year.

Both of us are "bananas", we do not read Chinese although we can converse in simple Chinese. However we have same goal for the children, i.e. to be able to understand, speak, read and write Chinese. That simple!! However it does sound like a challenge for me being not able to read Chinese to encourage and educate my children in Chinese. I cannot depend on my hubby to teach the children; he is so busy with his work commitment. But I am glad that my girl has been picking up on Chinese since last year. She talks more in Chinese now. Less English accent too.

Back to my friend, she is operating a tuition school. She is familiar with the children' psychology, behaviour and attitudes after so many years. Parents now are very "kiasu" type. They want their children to be this and that, but they deprive the children one important thing. What the children really want and need???

So her advices to kiasu parents (including me! Lol!) are as follow:

1) Never discourage, scold or chide your children if they have bad marks or dislike particular subjects in school. Positive feedbacks work better.

2) Do not push your children to do things they do not like. The more you push them, the more rebellious they become. Marks and performances will be affected and they tend to dislike studies

3) Do not over-stress your children with packed schedule. I have a cousin that did not have free times and every day (including Saturdays and Sundays) have extra classes may it be music, drawing, Chinese classes, abacus and so on

4) Give your children some breathing time. They need rest too.

5)Understanding what they really need. Give them time to learn. IF your children is weak in certain subject, just enrol them in tuition for that particular subject.

6) Ask what the children want. Do they like to go to dancing class, swimming class or music class. Let them choose. Let them explore by themselves

Makes me smile

What makes me smile today?

* Weekend is here! Means busy time. To some, business makes them stressed out. But I like to be busy than idle! So a busy weekend always make me smile
* Today is my wedding anniversary. A present from hubby would make me smile!
* Things that my kids do. I love when my girl call me out in the morning, greet and hug me in the bed. She is coming back from her holiday tomorrow evening; longing for her hugs and kisses.
* A nice candle-light dinner tonight
* Beautiful weekend weather, so I can do my laundry


Happy weekend!

Weekend Menu #14: Homecooked

First of all, Happy Belated Dumpling Festival (Duanwu Jie)! Hope you ate your "bak chang" yesterday. *wink*

Bak Chang is nothing special as you can find and eat it every day. I seldom take chang because it will cause stomach discomfort and bloatedness. Bak chang costs the same like a bowl of kolo mee now! Phew! Talking about recession!


I like home-made bak chang especially the Hakka and Hokkien chang. This is Hakka styled bak chang. Full of lean meat, dried prawns and peanuts; made by the kids' babysitter.



I cooked last Saturday. It has been long since I stepped into the kitchen. I believe this was the first time this year I cooked for the family! *Pai sey*

Simple meal. My hubby's favourite dish. Stewed pork belly.



Marinated the pork belly with sugar, salt, light and dark soy sauces and oyster sauce. Fried garlic slices and once it turned fragrant, throw in the pork belly. Stirred for a while then add 2 cups of water. Simmer it for 30 minutes or so. I added in some mushrooms and boiled eggs.

On Sunday, I cooked chicken porridge for breakfast and lunch as it was hot day. Every day is hot day here. We sweated a lot and do not have much appetite. I thought porridge would be good for everyone. I used whole chicken wings; cooked in slow cooker overnight! So very sticky and meat is tender. If you want to enjoy the whole chicken wings; then cook in gas stove is the best. Mine the meats all tender and seperated from the bones! Good for Baby Jay as he can chewed well on them.



And hubby did not want to miss out in the action; he took over the kitchen at night, cooked pasta for dinner. Mix of Oriental and Western as you can see here. He used leftover stewed pork belly, add in some leek flower, minced meat, cherry tomatoes and a pack of Cabonara cream. Turn out not bad but I would prefer my cabonara to be creamer. At least cheaper than eating at an Italian restaurant. *wink*