Hubby's home

When I started blogging – it was mainly to update my hubby; then as time goes by, I realised that it’s more for myself than for anyone else and I hope to continue maintaining this blog. It's some sort of an online diary where I can recollect my memories and therefore, I have been consciously blogging about happy things, you know, things which I can look back and laugh myself silly and also to see how I have grown emotionally – although life is not always full of good things.

It has been three days since hubby is back and it’s so nice having him around!!! He lost his bag but fortunately, they found it two days later. Ryan is like all over his papa and he insisted to sleep with him on the first night – According to hubby, Ryan just walk into the room and said "I’m sleeping with you” and that was it – period. So I actually had a shock when I came back from my class to find him sleeping soundly on my side of the bed!!!

BTW, hubby loves the "little deco" we made. He's now back to work and we will be celebrating Ryan’s birthday tomorrow in school and on Saturday at home. Will take lots of pictures.

Home alone and loving it

Yes ..... and it's a first in my life. I have always been surrounded by people and in the past, if ever there was a situation that I'm going to be home alone, especially at night, I will take the trouble to drive all the way to my aunt's or arrange to stay over at my in-laws. Drastic action.

However, as I grow older, I kinda of enjoy being alone and in fact, I look forward to it - age can really change a person's character. How was it? Hmmmm.......nothing special - I rested well and did not need to worry about Ryan as he is in safe hands and most probably having a time of his life.

I need all the rest I can get. I have arranged for the cleaners to come in tomorrow and as usual, will turn the house upside down and will be throwing a lot of things (mini spring cleaning, I would say) as the last time I did that was a few months back -

The house need to be ready. Ryan and I have a secret project. We will be decorating the house for papa's home coming this Monday...... and yes, there will be ballons!!

Mummy ...... don't go to school

Those were the exact words from Ryan and I was stunned !

Stunned because I did not expect him to miss me when I'm away for classes, twice a week from 6.30pm to 9.30pm. It's not just classes but also, I guess, I have been away for assignments as well. For example, I was away last Saturday (whole day) to do group assignment and will be continuing with the assignment this Saturday as well. I'm very grateful that my sister- in-law (with 3 kids of her own) was able to babysit Ryan. He spent the whole day playing with his cousins and really enjoyed himself........ playing games etc. Tomorrow, it will be more or less the same arrangement. Me - assignment and Ryan - sister-in-law's place. Sigh !!!

"But I want mummy - I want to be with mummy !!!! Why can't I be with mummy ?!!!" Ryan screamed and started crying.

While pacifying him, I explained the reasons why mummy needs to study and I also I reminded him that mummy will always be there if anything happens !!! Even mummy is in school, if there'san emergency, I will leave the school immediately and go to him ....... because mummy loves Ryan and Ryan is very important. Somehow after one hour of explanation, he seems to be able to accept all my explanation and he even promise me to be a good boy while I'm away :)

I do admit that I have been neglecting him lately and his father being away makes him stick to me even more. Personally, I am glad that he talked to me and I must keep on reminding myself that no matter how busy I am, I must make time for Ryan. Nothing is more important than family, not even my MBA !!

What’s the plan?

I have no idea what to do for Ryan (my one and only beloved, cheeky, adorable, playful and still-dunno-how-to-read-yet son). He wants to have a party (well, I sort of planted the idea in him) and as papa is away, I cannot really finalise the plan (excuses, excuses …).

I know that he wants a party in his playschool and another at home. The cake for the school’s celebration is a “teenage mutant ninja turtle” while his super duper “ultraman” cake will be reserved for the celebration at home. His papa will be back by then with his present – he has asked for a binocular!.

Aunt Cleo will be in town for his birthday so that would be good and I think I will be inviting his cousins, uncles and aunties and then the grand aunties as well. Definitely a party is on the card, just not sure how many people to invite, that's all.

My weekend

How did I spend last weekend? Well, on Saturday, I had to leave Ryan with my aunt as there was a group discussion on the second assignment for my economics paper as well as to discuss and finalise the first assignment.

So discussion was one whole Saturday (9.30am to 4.30pm) and guess what?? Of course we didn't finish the presentation slides plus the report because we couldn't even complete our facts finding. There were so many reports to digest and analyse and by 4.30pm everyone is dead tired. We agreed to meet again this Saturday and it will have to be a do or die thingy – the presentation need to be ready by then as the presentation is next Wednesday!!! That was Saturday.

Then on Sunday, I had an appointment with my brother and wife to view their new house – they just got the keys and he’s also getting someone to go in and look at the “feng shui” of the property as they intend to do a bit of the renovation and now would be a good time to get the “sifu” in for advice.

So, I spent the entire afternoon being a busybody. Overall, everything about the house is okay except perhaps they should consider relocate the master bedroom. That’s all. Hehehehe.

I need a holiday

I have decided that no matter what - we are going on a holiday before the year is out. I have not told hubby yet but most likely he will agree !!! We definitely have to go away for a few days.

We can choose somewhere close by. Far or near is not the issue.....important thing is that the place must be nice and we will spend time together as a family. I need a recharge BADLY !!!! Life has been so, so hectic and I have been rushing from one activity to another at this crazy speed. I need to chill and it will be good for us all.

Our last holiday was like a year ago and I remember a deal I made with hubby just right after we got married - we thought that ideally, we should go for two short holidays in a year and every 5 years, (with enough savings, of course) we will go for a trip abroad. So far so good, as we managed to go to New Zealand and Australia and we have our fair of short trips in between.

But not this year, this year somehow, we have not gone anywhere and it's already September 2007 - so for Q4, 2007 (yikes, sounds like I am doing my KPIs, we got to go at least two places - Genting and Langkawi or Penang and if Air Asia is having a good promotion, I don't mind Bangkok. So that's it !!! I will be busy planning for my holidays ...

Mid-Semester Examination

Just completed my mid-semester examination for my Accounting and Business Decision Making paper. It was 1.5 hours of non-stop writing and the lecturers had set the questions and the time in such a way that you can only complete the whole examination if you write and think at the same time - no time to pause and think -

I hope they can decipher what I have written as my handwriting was horrendous and I have used up at least half the correction pen and had written the amendments without waiting for the fluid to dry ....... hai ya - no time meh.

So that was it. Tried my best and will have to accept whatever the outcome. Now I have to go back to the assignments.

Perception

I had an interesting discussion with hubby on this.

Let us start with the basic. What is perception?
The Oxford dictionary (http://www.askoxford.com/) defines it as:
noun
1 the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses.
2 the process of perceiving.
3 a way of understanding or interpreting something.
4 intuitive understanding and insight.

Let's explore further on item 2: the process of perceiving.
Perceive is a verb with the following meaning:

1 to become aware of, know, or identify by means of the senses
2 to recognize, discern, envision, or understand
Synonyms 1. note, discover, observe, descry, distinguish.

Therefore, in a workplace, when you need to manage people (your bosses, subordinates, clients etc) perception, giving them the right perception would mean that we consciously perceive them to let them note, discover, observe, distinguish certain information and character which we want them to be aware of. How we do that?

Projecting the right image, branding, doing and saying the right thing at the right time, being seen with the right people is now so important. All this just to get certain message across and to get ahead of the game. How scheming!!

My 2-cents - Just be yourself and above all be sincere - when you work with your heart you can never go wrong and don't worry whether it gives people the right perception or not. It's anytime better than being a fake.

A day off work

Took off from work today and decided to go for facial in the morning. It's my way of rewarding myself and after all the facial is long, long overdue.

I started taking care of my face very much later in life - guess I thought I don't need it and facials are expensive and therefore, I considered it as a luxury - then in my early 30's and after delivering Ryan, my complexion went downhill. I started to develop sensitive skin and just before my miscarriage late last year (it's suppose to be our second child), the doctor put me on hormonal pills and that make the situation worst. I started to develop acnes and outbreaks especially on my forehead.

So, now, I started going for facial (once a month if I have the time; otherwise, I will make time and make sure it's not more than 2 months). So far so good. My beautician is home-based and the charges are reasonable. My complexion is still reddish - but it's improving, slowly bu surely. It's also something I want to do for myself. I was thinking that if I take good care of myself, I will feel good and I have learn that it's important for me to feel good and to allocate some "me time". A happier me will mean I will be able to do more for myself and my family.

After facial, I went out for lunch with my "best-est" friend in the entire galaxy - Sham. I always have fun with her and we have plenty to talk about. And then in the afternoon, I went to the library to do some work. After all there's an examination this coming Saturday afternoon and assignments to complete. Chat with hubby for a while just now (1 hour...hehehe) and I will hit the bed soon.

All in all, today have been a marvelous day.

Ryan and his Ultraman(s)

Now, where should I start?

As far as I know, Ryan has been crazy about Ultraman since day 1. It also did not help that his father is also a great fan and that for his 4 th birthday celebration, the mummy ordered a cake with two ultraman figurines amidst tall buildings. What I did was I bought the figurines earlier and got the cake maker to include it in the cake. Of course he was excited about it !! So much so that he wanted the same cake this time around. His 5th birthday is on 28 September 2007.

I actually had something else on my mind but what to do. After all it’s his birthday and at 5 years old, he, like all other kids that age, have their own opinions.

So, during the long merdeka holiday and while the sales is still on, we went shopping. He choose an Ultraman with two colours (blue and red ….sorry I don’t know the name of that particular ultraman) for the cake decoration. I also brought a series of 10 mini ultramans (sort of a collection) for his as well (I am not sure whether the mini ultramans will make it to the top of the cake) and one Ultraman Dyna and Ultraman Tiga DVD. He had finished watching the DVD and had even mastered the ultraman’s fighting stunt with the monsters. He showed me just the other night while I was trying to concentrate on my studies.

Looks like he will not outgrown his obsession with ultraman anytime soon.

Rekindle that old feeling …….

It has been slightly more than a week since hubby’s departure (to the US) – Everything is okay and running like clock work. On the emotion side, I started missing my hubby. In the midst of doing my chores, my mind will drift and I will be thinking about what he is doing at that moment, wanting so much to know how he is getting on etc.

As I can recall, the last time I had this kind of feeling is when we were courting. We dated for about a year before marriage. Looking back, I actually knew that he’s the ONE right after our very first meeting.

This year, we celebrated our 7th anniversary. Like all couples, we have our ups and downs. We are very different in our thoughts and actions. He is very calm and thinks logical while I’m fiery and stubborn. Somehow, opposite attracts.

He being away makes me appreciate him more and make me rediscover that old loving feelings. Yeap, it’s still there, stronger than before and still growing ……

Hubby's first purchase

Hubby went shopping last Saturday and bought me a gift; a bag - a GUESS bag -

I am thrilled of course because it's the first time that hubby buy something for me - usually he will take the safe route of giving me a budget and ask me to get whatever I want. Of course, I protest but he has been very adamant about it, saying that I'm very difficult to please and very, very choosy, which is quite true, actually.

So, I am very happy the fact that he buy something for me and of course I love the bag. It does not matter whether it's big or small, purple or red but thank god he choose beige. What's important that HE took the trouble to go and choose one which he think I would like - that for me, is special enough. So yes, I love the bag and thank you dear.