Argh.....termites

I had treated my house for termites a year ago and the contractor mentioned that whatever chemicals they pumped in should last for a good 5 years. Well, they were WRONG.

I found termites happily eating my kitchen cabinets and shelves and it was disgusting. They were very, very fast as I had cleaned the cabinets a week earlier and they were NOT there and there were NO sawdust or pinholes on the cabinets. Now, they have attacked not only one but three cabinets.......Argh......stupid, stupid termites. I am calling the contractor in again !!!

Ryan's "piggy" banks

Ryan has 2 "piggy" banks and they are in the form of Chicken Little and Ultraman (are you not surprise?). And he emptied all of it so that he can buy the McDonald toys he wanted and of course after I told him that I do not have the money to pay for it!!

That actually gave me an idea to teach him the value of money and to encourage him to save if he wants to buy stuff for himself. So we counted all the coins and he had a total of RM15.00 . The McDonald toys costs RM3 x 4 toys = RM12.00. So I took RM12.00 and he kept the rest back into his Ultraman.

He was actually a bit sad because he has very little coins left. So mummy hatched a plan.
If he behaves himself, he will get an allowance of 20 sen a day. Misbehaving means zero sen. Hopefully, this will encourage him to behave (I have my doubts) and by sometime now next year, he can buy a decent toy.

Christmas Deco at 1 Utama

Very nice Christmas Deco. I will also be visiting a few other malls during my 2 weeks leave (20 December 2007 until 2 January 2008). I love Christmas and December is indeed a month of celebrations!!

Project: Growing Hong Kong Choy Sam

Ryan and I started on a project to plant vegetable some 2-3 weeks ago. We went to buy a nice long container, soil and Choy Sam seeds.

Ryan was very excited as he prepared the soil and dropped 3-4 seeds in each holes. Exactly 4 days later, we saw lots of tiny Choy Sum sproutings. I have been watering them but they are not growing as fast as they should.

I think I will have to get some fertiliser for the plant.

A Quiet Weekend

We had a very quiet weekend and it was a huge welcome after many, many hectic weekends of running around doing errands, catching up with family members and gatherings etc. I am not complaining but at times, it’s good to have a break.

So we did nothing for two whole days, other than putting up the Christmas tree. Yes, my Christmas tree is up. Apart from that, we just ate, ate and ate and then we slept, talked, played computer games and watched television. We did everything at our own pace. Ryan watched a lot of cartoons; Hubby watched 6 episodes of Heroes Session Two; and I slept.

It was a very nice weekend.

Ryan, One Big Buffalo

Ryan is a 5-year old who weighs 16 kgs (only) and does not like to walk.
"My leg cannot walk already, they are very, very, very tired", a very comment complaint.

In fact, if we are out shopping for a few hours in the malls, we will rather put him in a stroller; better for both parties. He will not be running around and if he is tired, he will doze off. His stroller can take up to 25 kgs, so that's not a problem. The problem is his height and 5 years old are not suppose to be sitting in strollers. So we tend to have people staring at him and us, but no problem, I can live with that.

And Ryan will seize every opportunity to ask his papa to carry him.
Being the only child, his papa tends to give in and I suspect papa likes the way Ryan hugs and snuggles. Oh well, as long as everyone is happy.

Book: Waiting To Exhale

I am aware that there is a movie based on the book but I was "too young and not interested" to watch it then. I have just finished the book and I am right in the first place.

There are 4 strong willed characters; each of them having their own problems. They, however, share a very strong and genuine friendship. Other than that, there is nothing much to look forward. Bernadine finally got her fair share of assets from her divorce; the lawyer did everything and she just need to sort out her own emotions. Gloria seems to wise up towards the end. Savannah always seem to be meeting or bumping into the wrong guys and she is better off on her own. Gloria did a good job in bring up her boy.

No clever plot; no twist; it's just about the everyday life of 4 good friends and how they manage to cope in situations. The only thing which I find disturbing is that they are always talking and thinking about men, men and men. I am not sure whether I will be thinking like them if I am in the same situation but I would like to think that there's more to life than that.

Bye Bye Bluey

Ryan came running with big tears one afternoon. "Mummy, mummy, my fish died already" he screamed and he kept on repeating it.

True enough, Bluey was floating upside down but thank goodness Reddy is still okay although he looked weak. The father quickly reove Bluey and change the water while Ryan cried his hearts out. We are not sure the source of Bluey's departure; was it not enough chlorine in the water? Did we give the fish enough food or was it too much food?

But one thing for sure. Ryan must be feeling guilty about not feeding Bluey as often as he should and now he remembers to feed Reddy without me having to remind him.

He is heartbroken but it's part and parcel of growing up.

Date with Hubby

On Tuesday evening after work, me and hubby went to eat Steamboat at one of the restaurants nearby while Aunt Jo babysits Ryan.

I have been feeling under the weather for the past few days and therefore, I find that me and hubby have not been really "communicating". Earlier in the day, I have already decided that enough is enough and me behaving like this had greatly affects hubby as he is worried and I should be pulling myself together and not entertained my feelings. I think it's my PMS acting up again as my period is due soon and the same thing happened the last time as well. When I was growing up before I had Ryan, PMS means pain and discomfort, muscles cramps and I had also fainted on a few occasions but since Ryan, everything is fine until my D&C last December.

I am not sure whether it is the hormonal pills the doctor gave before the D&C. Whatever it is, it should be out of my system by now but why am I feeling blue? I'm not sure but the human body is weird. The point is, I should control it and not the other way round but easier said than done!!

Now, back to my date, oh yes ........

Food was great. We ate, talked, laughed and just enjoyed each other's company. It was a great evening!!

Got my result !!!

Yipee ..... got my results over the weekend and I have to say that I am very pleased !!
My second semester will be starting soon and my life will be on a roller coaster again.
I better enjoy myself silly before the start of my "sufferings".

Happy Birthday December Babies

When Malaysian celebrates, it usually involves FOOD, FOOD and more FOOD because we just love to eat. Everyone (around 20 of us) gathered at Chuai Heng Restaurant at 1-Utama at 1.00 pm for lunch + cake. After lunch, we went shopping for a while before heading back to my place to chill. Then at 7.00 pm, we went to another restaurant. This time for seafood before calling it a day.

It was nice to see everyone, especially my sister (+ her hubby) who had just came back from a trip to Japan. She was busy distributing gifts - and she got me a nice gift. Thanks!!
Shall tell you more about this later. Also there's my youngest sister who is celebrating her 21st birthday on 5 Dec, Aunt Christine's birthday is on 4 Dec, my brother Jimmy's birthday is on 15 Dec and Cousin Freddy on 17 Dec and finally hubby's birthday is TODAY.

Happy Birthday everyone !!!

House Cleaning

It's 1st December and I have arrange for the part time maid to come in and together, we will turn the house upside down. Yes, yes ....

But seriously, the house need to be cleaned BEFORE I put up the Christmas tree. I have exchange the christmas ornaments with my sister, so this year, we will have a "gold christmas tree". Yeah ....

Tomorrow is hubby's birthday and we will be having a huge gathering which initially suppose to be my youngest sister's 21st birthday do but we hijack the gathering and turn it into a "celebration for all December babies".

End of November 2007

Today marks the end of the month and also the end of my resolution to lose 1 kg in one month through "proper eating habits". What's the verdict? I did it..... a round of applause please. Thank you, thank you.

Now, the next target is to lose another 1 kg but that would be in January 2008 because there will be loads of celebrations and family gathering in December 2007, hence too challenging. I will however, aim to maintain my weight for December 2007 in the midst of all the fiesta. More doable!!

Movie: Mr Margorium's Wonder Emporium

We (Hubby, me, Ryan and Christopher, Ryan's cousin) watched Mr Margorium's Wonder Emporium last weekend. The kids enjoyed it and I must say it's pretty colourful. And Ryan thinks it is better than The Bee Movie which I agreed.

All I can say is that the kids enjoyed it and for me it's pretty average, nothing much to wonder about.

Book Fair in the Office

My office organised a small book fair and there were also second-hand books/magazines for sale. The proceeds for the second hand books/magazines will go towards an underprivileged home for children. And here is what I got:

For hubby = 34 copies of National Geography
(Past issues in very good condition and a few issues were produced more than 10 years ago)

For myself = 3 copies of Australia Weekly magazines &
2 chick lite books & 1 fiction book

For Ryan = 1 new book on how to tell time.

Yipee !!!

Dinner with Family

We went to eat crab on Sunday night. For me, it was special because it has been a long, long, long time since we had crab and cousin Freddy was telling us about this fantastic place in Kepong.

We went early and got a nice big table (there were 11 of us, including kids) . We ordered 2 kgs of crabs; 1 kg of butter cheese crabs and another 1 kg of salted egg yolk crabs + many other dishes. Service was fast and food was good and the price is reasonable. Where else can you get 1 kg of crab for RM18? I was so hungry that I did not take any photos (even though I had my camera with me) and I was busy eating. No choice, I had to download these images from the net. And I would have eaten more if not for my hubby's gentle reminder that I'm watching my diet!!!

Thereafter, Jim took us for a drink at one of the many kopitiams around. It was a nice way to end the week.

Book: Girl Meets Ape

I have just finished this book in record time as it was on loan from a friend and she was actually half way through it before decided to let me read first. Therefore I feel obligated to return it back to its owner ASAP.

This is my first encounter with this author and I must say that I enjoyed reading it. The story is quite humorous and I caught myself chuckled at times. I like her writing style and the pace is just right.

I would rate it a 7/10.

Baby Ryan

I just can't resist this.
These are photos of Ryan before his first birthday and he was so cute then.
I remembered there was peace and quiet. There was no screaming, throwing tantrum, arguing, protest, demonstration, jumping up and down like a monkey and talking back. No need to negotiate. He will just eat and sleep.

Argg ... I miss those time and I think it's time for another baby!!

Latest Me

This is a recent photo of myself. Still trying to lose that one kilo that I set out to do early this month, with not much success but hey, I am still trying, and there's another week to go before the end of the month. My motto - Never give up !!!

I am looking forward to celebrate hubby's birthday and go shopping for a dress for Christmas. I don't usually buy dresses but what the heck, this is the new Shir you are talking about. So I will make an effort to look good, part of my ongoing resolution to look good and stay good.

What I have learn so far is that I need to coordinate. I may have a nice blouse and a nice skirt/pants but both may be nice together. So I need to coordinate from the style to colour and I have not even start on accessories. Now that I know it's not that easy (to look good) and that it takes a lot of effort, I really admire my colleagues/friends/people who look gorgeous all the time. But its never too late to learn. Who knows? Sometime next year this time around, I will be a Mrs. Stylo Mylo and it ain't just wishful thinking. All I need to do is just work on it. Yay !!

Open Your Eyes Big Big

Ryan always ask for our help to find his things, his toys, books, bags, shoes, pencils etc. and most of the time, it's because he did not look properly in the first place. We, in turn, will respond by asking him to "open his eyes big, big", so that he can see better. And being a 5-year old, he will take it literally and he will make his eyes as big and round as he possible could. And when he does that, it's quite comical and it never fails to make the mummy laugh.

Ryan's Treasure Chest

Before Eunice left the country, we took over a few of her furniture and one of them was a drawer which can be slided underneath a bed and when we move to our current house, the drawer was hidden underneath a bed in the guest room and we totally forgotten about it. We rediscovered it recently and have since put it to good use.

The drawer is now Ryan's treasure chest. So far, he is using it to keep part of his story books collection. We started reading to him before bedtime when he was still a baby and somehow this has develop into a habit and he will ask us or Aunt Jo to read for him or he will just "read" on his own.

And now it's very convenient, with the "treasure chest" underneath his bed!

Ryan's Comic Books

We went shopping one weekend. Ryan was fidgeting and was bored as we were dragging him from one store to another. He was asking when can we take him to the bookshop to read books. Any other parents would be overjoyed that their kids loves to read but in this case, it's actually hindering my shopping. So we do what most parents do; we bargained.

We will have another one hour of peaceful shopping with no whining from him and thereafter, we will go to the bookshop and as a reward, he gets to buy a book. There you go, a win-win situation.

So after window shopping, we went to the bookshop and Ryan chose his book. Imagine my surprised that instead of a "proper book", which he normally picks, he chose a pokemon comic. I know the comic book is colourful and looks interesting but he's only 5 years old and he does not know how to read (well .... not yet) and I was totally unprepared! But he was adamant and a deal is a deal so we ended up buying the comic. He has been "reading" the comic for the past few days, carrying it with him wherever he goes.

In the future, I will shortlist the books before getting him to decide (lesson learnt) and I did not know that boys start reading/looking at comics that early an age. Maybe it's normal. Maybe it's time for me to accept that at age 5, Ryan is no longer a "baby" and he has starts to develop new interests. Arrghh.......my "baby" is so grown up now.

Book: The Summons

I have just finished this book, The Summons by John Grisham. The pace is kinda slow and half way through the book I was bored. But I finished the book anyway. The whole plot was pretty lame, no twist and quite straight forward. Definitely not one of the author’s best efforts.

I would rate it a 4/10.

Ryan's Pet

Ryan have been asking for a pet, specifically a dog. And the answer is definitely a big NO because we do not have the time and the energy to take care of a dog plus I don't really like dogs or cats. Hubby does not mind having a dog but again, there's no one to take care of the dog; so we got him a pet, in the form of 2 fighting fishes. One fish is red and the other blue so we decided to name them Reddy and Bluey.

Why fighting fish?
Because they can live in a tank without oxygen and hence no need to invest in any gadget. So far, Ryan have not been feeding his fish although he was quite enthusiastic the first few days and mummy have to make sure that the fishes are feed everyday. Daddy was given the task to change the water when it's dirty and Ryan? Well, he's just the pet owner. I don't think we will ever get a dog. Just too much work!!.

Off to the Dentist

The whole family went for our yearly dentist appointment. Everyone is cavity free. The dentist did scaling and sent us off..... Yipee.

Inspiration from Nature

I love plants, big or small and they're simply amazing. With tender loving care and lots of water, they will just grow, grow and grow. There is this plant and at one point in time, it was not doing well. So what I did was I cut all the infected leaves and branches, resoil and fertilised the plant and I remember it looking absolutely horrible. That was then. Now it has blossom; and it's really healthy with beautiful leaves. It's still in my garden and I will always it's amazing recovery.

Ever since, I started gardening at my new home, I will make it a point to water my plants early in the morning before I leave for my work/start my day and again in the evening. When I water my plants in the morning, I feel like I am mentally preparing myself to face the day. The plant with their "water supply" for the day and I, with my "energy" for the day.

The plant need to face the scorching sun in order to grow and I too need to face all challenges for the same reason. And not matter how hot the weather, with plenty of water, soil and fertiliser, the plant will grow. In a way, it's the same for me. No matter what are the challenges, with plenty of love, courage and energy, I will grow. Grow to be wiser, happier and healthier.

I look forward to ......

1. having fun with my family
2. chill with my good friend, Sham
3. go on a date with hubby
4. go for a holiday
5. good bargains /shopping
6. gardening
7. drinking coffee
8. reading
9. blogging and e-mailing friends
10. pay day ........ hehehehe

The Secret : Great PLANNING Skills

I am on a 2-month break from my studies. Yahoo...... I have been having a great time blogging (one posting a day this month), reading other interesting blogs, surfing the internet, catching up with my reading and doing nothing ..... oh just heavenly. Better enjoy myself before another semester starts.

I have learn that I can accomplish a lot more if I plan my days ahead. Juggling between a full-time work, studies and family is no joke and at times, I am not sure if I can do it. But I need to be persistent. With so many things to do and a demanding child, I have no choice but to get my act together.

So basically, I will plan my days in advance and will slot activities in between. So far, every Monday and Thursday nights, hubby will be going for his Qigong classes. He had signed up for 3 months starting November 2007. Friday night is badminton night for the family. On Saturday evening, we will be at my in-law's place, returning only at night. If my classes starts, I will be away two evenings every week and on days which I do not have classes, I will be studying. :(

Therefore I will make sure that there are family activities each weekend, simple ones such as running/cycling in the park, going for picnics etc. Me and hubby will take turn to organise the activities. And I will also think of projects together with Ryan. Then, once every month, me and hubby will go for a date, just the two of us. So far so good. Hectic yes, but we have learn to cope, somehow and we are taking one day at a time, living each day to the fullest!!

Creative Cake Deco

Hubby is very close to his family and we usually go to my mother-in-law's house for dinner every Saturday. Have been a practice since Day 1 of marriage. I am happy with the arrangement because hubby gets to eat good home cook food and drink nutritious soup at least once a week. I am not a good cook and I don't cook often enough (guilty).

After Ryan's arrival, the weekly gathering becomes more significant so that Ryan can bond with his grandparents as well as get to know his cousins better. Somehow I believe the more fighting sessions you have with one anther while growing up will help foster deeper bonding when you reach adulthood. Hey, just look at me and my brother Jimmy.

Anyway, last week, while I was there, I helped my brother-in-law and his wife to decorate small pieces of cakes. The cakes were for an orphanage and I get to decorate it however I fancy.
Yipee, I had fun and not bad for a first-timer; don't you think so?

Baby Making Aids

It's not what you think. I was at the pharmacy a few days ago and I happen to know the pharmacist there, a very friendly lady. We got into a conversation and I was lamenting that until today still no sign of kid #2. She then suggested that we add some supplements to our diet since both me and hubby are quite stress with work (plus Ryan) and that we should go for a holiday.

Both of us need to be more relax ...... hmm.... come to think of it, I was pregnant with Ryan a month after returning from a 2-week honeymoon and I was pregnant (but had a miscarriage) during my holiday trip to Australia last year.

Yeah, more reason why we should be going for a holiday.