Be Very Specific

Parenting is not an easy task and sometimes I wonder why I took up the challenge in the first place! There are times when my kids drive me up the wall but there is also lots of fun and laughter in the home. The house seems so very quiet when they are not around.

On Sunday night, my hubby and I attended a wedding dinner, so my kids went to spend time with their grandparents for a few hours. My parents-in-law took them out for dinner and because my daughter was having a cough, she sent me this sms:

Miss PreTeen: What can I drink? (asking me what drink she could order at the restaurant)

Me: Warm water...haha (knowing that she liked to order fruit juice or soft drinks when eating out). Anything without ice.

I thought that she would have the common sense to order something warm or at room temperature. Later my son told me that she ordered a can of Coke and it came with a glass of ice cubes, but she just drank from the can. But...here comes the dreaded but...the can of Coke was from the fridge. After all, I had said anything without ice will do, but I didn't specify that she couldn't drink cold drinks...SIGH!

pic fr Yelie1007

This reminds me of an incident one night when we were going for a church meeting. My son had just come back from school and was having his dinner, so we asked him to wash the dishes after finishing his meal. When we came home, I went into the kitchen and the dishes were all washed and stacked neatly on the dish rack, but...ah ha, here comes the but again...all the cutlery were still in the sink, unwashed...big SIGH!

pic fr HavanaBrown

Mr. CoolTeen says that I need to be more specific when giving instructions...so I suppose common sense is not so common after all?!!

Terrible F1 Accident

Received this through email last week:

Mr CoolTeen's Getting Taller

My son has shot up quite a lot over these last few months, and he is now about 5 inches taller than me. It seems like only yesterday when I could still see the top of his head. Now he tells me that he can see the white hair on my head...

Today he was showing me that he could jump up and touch the ceiling beam of our living room and I took some photos with my mobile phone...which explains why the photos are not very clear...







My kids take after my husband in height, so they always tease me by saying that very soon I'll be the shortest one in our family...

The Amazing Race Asia 3

The Amazing Race (US) has been my all-time favourite reality show, and now there is even the Asian version. The third season of The Amazing Race Asia is now showing on the Astro AXN channel on Thursdays at 9.00 pm with repeats on Tuesdays and Sundays. I make sure I don't miss even one episode of this very exciting race.

I cheered for our Malaysian teams in Season 1 and Season 2...who can forget the very likeable Chong sisters in Season 2! This time round we also have 2 teams:



Henry and Bernie Chan (brother and sister)




Ida Nerina and Tania Khan (actress and heiress)


I remember taking part in a similar race (but a much shorter version) in Malacca a few years back, organised by our church. It was really fun running (literally!) around Malacca town looking for clues. We were put in teams of 4 people. I don't remember how many teams there were but it's not more than 10, and my team came in 3rd.

In the meantime, I'll be cheering for our Malaysian teams...Jia you! Jia you!

At Last, No More Jam!

Several main stretches of roads leading from my place to Kuala Lumpur city centre have been undergoing roadworks and often times this has created traffic jams. I usually try not to go downtown unless I really need to, as I drive a manual-transmission car (my hubby has the privilege of driving the auto-gear car) and getting caught in a jam would mean an aching left leg.

However, I prefer driving our manual-gear car as it is larger than our little auto car and I get to zoom around getting the kids from one place to another in double-quick time! Overtaking? No sweat...heh heh!

Today as I was driving to town I was hoping that there would be no jam, and as I neared the part where road-widening works have been going on for the past 1 ½ years (!!) lo and behold...all 4 lanes were finally open and I reached my destination in no time at all, hurray!

Ermm...no, I didn't snap the photo while driving...my daughter did.

Malaysian Style Market

Took my daughter to the Pasar Ramadan near my house. Every year during the puasa month there will be lots of food stalls set up by the residents in the area, selling all kinds of yummy food - grilled chicken, roti, curries, local kuih and drinks. Usually the Malays would drop by after work to get some dinner for their breaking of fast. But it is also popular with people of other races. My daughter and I love kuih, so we decided to get some after school. We were looking for coconut water but the ones we saw had a lot of ice added to it and it would taste rather diluted, so my daughter decided to get a strawberry ice-blended drink instead.

The coloured looked orange but my daughter said that it tasted like strawberry...hmm..?


Found our favourite kuih, mine is the green one and hers is the pink layered one.

Miss PreTeen also mentioned that the buttons on her watch had fallen off (nothing of hers last very long, sigh!) so we went to the Pasar Malam after dinner to try to get one for around RM10. We usually don't buy her very expensive watches because she likes variety, and the battery costs between RM10-RM15...so sometimes it's just cheaper to buy a new watch everytime the battery runs out! My daughter chose a black and red watch, but it cost RM18 because it's water-proof (supposedly!) I got myself an unusual looking watch just for the fun of it....for RM10.

Special Furry Friends

Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms. ~George Eliot

A couple friend of mine who are in their forties have no children but they had a very beautiful white siamese cat. This cat was treated like their own child and was very affectionate. Everyday when they came home from work, before they could enter their home, the cat would be scratching the door from inside the house in excitement.

Yesterday I was told that their cat which they had for 8 years had died suddenly, probably of a heart attack (it was rather overweight). I could see the grief in their eyes as the husband recounted what had happened on that fateful day. Those who do not have pets or have not formed a special attachment to their pets would not understand their grief over their loss.

As I drove home, I felt so sorry for them. I remember the first puppy I had when I was thirteen. Out of the blue my dad had brought me to the SPCA to adopt a puppy. I chose a brown little mongrel which was full of enthusiasm, jumping up and down and licking everyone who came near him. I named him 'Asher', which means 'happy' (got it from the Bible). He was my pet and I trained him, fed him, played with him, bathed him, rubbed his tummy and spoke to him. We even watched TV together! Asher could sense my feelings... somehow he knew when I was sad or angry and he would snuggle close. He was kept in the house and at times would sleep outside the door of my room. This dog also had a mean temper and I have scars on my hands from being bitten, but I still loved him...he was MY dog. And I remember that I cried when Asher died.

pic from Endless Mountain Labradors

It's hard to explain how a human and an animal can become so attached to one another, but they do. And I understand how my friends feel, having lost more than just a pet. It's more like losing a very close friend...and losing a friend is hard.

Herb In My Garden

I was just about to send my daughter to school today when my neighbour called out to me. She pointed to a pot of weeds (or so I thought!) and asked if she could have some. She explained that those were actually herbs which were beneficial for the eyes and also for cooling the body. And to think that my hubby has been pulling them up and discarding them because he thought they were weeds...oops!


My neighbour couldn't remember the name of this plant and I tried to find out its name from the internet but so far I haven't been successful...there's just thousands of images of herbs and trying to match it is rather time consuming. Perhaps somebody would care to enlighten me?

On Saturday Miss PreTeen brought back a small spinach plant from her school trip to the StarFresh Agropark in Seremban where she discovered that goat excrement is used as fertiliser...not a very appetizing thought!


With the rising cost of meat and vegetables I have always joked about planting my own vegetables. At least I have some spinach to start with...now if only I can keep them alive long enough since I am so terrible at gardening!

Spring Cleaning

If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk? - Dr. Laurence J Peter

My other half is extremely neat while I am quite the opposite. I am always leaving my things all over the house whereas he will place everything back in its proper place. I prefer to leave my dished to dry naturally but he will wipe all the dishes and put them back into the kitchen cabinet. I don't quite understand it, after all, I will be using them all again the next day.



Yesterday he decided to do some spring cleaning and emptied our very messy store room. Whenever I enter the store room, I would usually just step or climb over all the stuff to get to whatever it is I am looking for...it was THAT messy! Anyway, he found things that we have forgotten all about...a few extension plugs, a spoilt DVD player, an old telephone answering machine and spare parts to various electrical appliances.






When he was done, the store room looked so neat and tidy...for the first time in a very, very long while! I wonder how long I can keep it looking like this and resist the urge to pile things up!?

Trip to Low Yat Plaza

It was a public holiday for Selangor on Wednesday, so I went to Low Yat Plaza with my hubby and daughter to look for an electronic dictionary for Miss PreTeen...heard that electronic stuff there is cheap. But we got caught in a traffic crawl and spent about an hour in the car, inching along...thank God for auto-transmission cars!



heading towards the Low Yat Plaza carpark




Low Yat Plaza is quite an interesting place...very much like an air-conditioned marketplace, not for foodstuff but for electronics - computers, mobile phones and spare parts for electronic equipment. There's always lots of people and activity, and the range of products available is amazing.



There is a website called Mobile88.com where you can find the price listing and reviews for all the various models of handphones sold at Low Yat Plaza. This was what I did before I bought my handphone.

We found a Besta stall but the electronic dictionaries were rather pricey - from RM500 to above RM1000 for a reasonably good one which can translate 3 languages: Chinese, English and Malay. The best price we could get was only RM9 less than the original price, so we decided not to purchase it, much to my daughter's disappointment. So it's back to paperback dictionaries for the time being...

Live To Eat?

My parents-in-law just came back from a week-long holiday in Perth, Australia and brought back some yummy stuff...Australian chocolates, Macadamia nuts, strawberries and the famous Corica apple strudel.

I am quite surprised how my mom-in-law managed to bring back the strawberries without getting them crushed. They were certainly sweet compared to the local ones we have in Cameron Highlands.






ah, Australian chocolate...really rich compared to our Malaysian chocolate



The apple strudel comes in a sturdy cardboard box, how convenient



My dad asked me when I as a young girl whether I eat to live or live to eat and I answered eat to live (teenage girls usually watch their diet and figure, right?) Food is to be enjoyed but I wouldn't put it very high on my list of priorities...but maybe this once I'll change my mind...and tomorrow I'll diet!

Uppercase and Lowercase

My daughter and I were watching the show "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader" on Astro Channel the other day when there was one question about uppercase and lowercase letters.

"What's that?" my daughter asked, and I explained that uppercase letters were capital letters and lowercase letters were small letters in the alphabet...because that's how they were arranged on the typewriter.

The shift button on the computer keyboard works pretty much the same way to switch between big and small letters.

In the good old days (am I that old already!?) before the widespread use of personal computers, I remember being very good at using the typewriter. My parents owned a shop selling electrical goods and I remember going there after school and keeping myself occupied until it was time for them to close shop and we could all go home together. It was then that I learned to use the typewriter, and I would just type and type to pass time.




My children had not seen a typewriter before (and I don't think many children nowadays even know what it is!), and one day we were at Cash Converters, a store selling second-hand goods, when they first laid their eyes on a manual typewriter. My daughter being the hands-on person, decided to poke the buttons and was quite thrilled to hear the clackety-clack until she pressed a button that sent the cylindrical thingy moving very quickly and stopping with a loud "ping!". That frightened my kids, and my hubby and I had a good laugh to see them running away from the typewriter.

It's great to have the modern keyboard...it's much easier on the fingers...those who have used the manual typewriter would understand what I mean.

Like Father Like Son

We have a church friend who is very handy with power tools. I took this picture of his 1½ year old son holding a drill. Because the drill was rather heavy and I was afraid that he might drop it on his foot, I tried to persuade him to hand it over...but he refused. I suppose a workman never gives aways his tools! That's his dad on the left, fixing the hinge of a door.


when I grow up, I'll be like my dad!

The Bell - Keep It Ringing

A friend of mine sent me this through email (author unknown) and it's quite amazing - so carefully thought out, the arrangement of the words in the shape of a bell:

THE BELL

I KNOW WHO I AM

I am God's child (John 1:12)

I am Christ's friend (John 15:15)

I am united with the Lord(1 Cor. 6:17)

I am bought with a price(1 Cor. 6:19-20)

I am a saint (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)

I am a personal witness of Christ (Acts 1:8)

I am the salt & light of the earth ( Matt.5:13-14)

I am a member of the body of Christ(1 Cor 12:27)

I am free forever from condemnation ( Rom. 8: 1-2)

I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant (Phil.3:20)

I am free from any charge against me (Rom. 8:31-34)

I am a minister of reconciliation for God(2 Cor.5:17-21)

I have access to God through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18)

I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6)

I cannot be separated from the love of God( Rom.8:35- 39)

I am established, anointed, sealed by God (2 Cor.1:21-22)

I am assured all things work together for good (Rom. 8: 28)

I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16)

I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3: 12)

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13)

I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15: 1-5)

I am God's temple (1 Cor. 3: 16). I am complete in Christ (Col. 2: 10)

I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). I have been justified (Romans 5:1)

I am God's co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1). I am God's workmanship( Eph. 2:10)

I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be perfected (Phil 1: 5)

I have been redeemed and forgiven (Col. 1:14). I have been adopted as God's child(Eph 1:5)

I belong to God

Do you know

who you

are!?

Effective Advertising

I was waiting at the traffic lights yesterday at the Jalan Loke Yew/Jalan Hang Tuah intersection in Kuala Lumpur when my daughter noticed this very life-like advertisement. She thought it was a real person hanging from the scaffolding, and so did I. It's actually an advertisement for Levi's jeans, and the guy is a life-size cardboard figure. Managed to snap 2 quick shots before the traffic lights turned green.

Buy 4 Get 1 Free

For the past 2 years I have been boycotting commercially made mooncakes because of the steep prices and have been making my own jelly mooncakes. But this year I was too lazy to make the jelly mooncakes... last year I remember giving some of my jelly mooncakes to my granny (and she was so pleased) just a few weeks before her passing, so I am still in the process of getting used to the fact that she is no longer here.

Anyway, I have been so blessed as friends have been giving me their homemade mooncakes. I was thinking of buying some mooncakes just one or two days before the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival when the mooncakes will be sold very cheap, but today I saw some already on sale for 30% less. Bought 4 pieces of mooncakes and got 1 free, can't wait to taste them...drool!

Sunbirds Feeding

Having sunbirds nesting in our garden not once but twice was really a fascinating experience. Not wanting to miss any part of the process, my hubby set up the videocam to record the daily goings-on at the nest.

We left the videocam running and when it reached the end of the tape, we would rewind and view before resuming recording.

The 2 baby sunbirds have hatched and the mommy sunbird feeds them regularly throughout the day.


This went on for about 2 weeks and the babies were getting quite big. I knew they were going to learn to fly soon...but one day, I realised that there was no sign of activity at the nest. I had somehow missed the flying lessons (again!) and the sunbird family had flown away! Noooooo!!! I was really upset that I had missed it all because I had been observing them quite closely. They must have flown away early one morning before I woke up (me being a late riser!)...how sad.

Scary Mom

I drive my kids around...to school, from school, to tuition class, to ballet class, to badminton training...well, you get the idea. Since I spend quite a lot of time on the road, I thought I would get myself a pair of sunglasses...so that I can look like a 'cool mom'!

The other day, a friend commented that I look quite scary in my sunglasses, and I didn't understand why until he pointed out that me wearing my sunglasses reminded him of Arnold Schwarzeneggar in The Terminator.



Hmm...I can see the resemblance...



So I suppose I should practice saying "I'll be back" in a robotic accent. Actually I prefer "I'm your worst nightmare"...which I say in a menacing tone to my kids when they misbehave.

Where Did I Park My Car?

When I was younger, my mom and I would go shopping and I remember one time we went to Sungei Wang Plaza and parked in the basement carpark. After our shopping spree we just couldn't remember where our car was parked and we spent half an hour walking up and down trying to locate the car...that was before carkeys came with a handheld remote control (shows how old I am!). From that day onwards I always memorized the parking lot level and number...and now I teach my children to do the same (not that they can drive yet!), just to improve their memory skills.




My hubby showed me a really easy way to help us remember where we've parked our car - almost every mobile phone has a built-in camera, right? Well, put it to good use...take a snapshot of the number on the pillar near where the car is parked...and of course, remember to save it. When returning to your car, just take a look at the photo...no more scratching our heads and walking around the carpark while pressing the car alarm button on the remote control...

Not For Weak Stomachs

My family and I were in Penang and as usual, us city folks can't resist checking out new shopping complexes...so we went to the Queensbay Mall at Bayan Lepas. The mall overlooks Pulau Jerejak, which is being turned into a resort & spa...hmm, fancy having a holiday in a jail cell?

Anyway, we came across this unusual restaurant at the mall...notice what the customers are sitting on?



The food is even served in mini toilet bowls...ewww!



Too bad we already had our lunch...the children and I wouldn't mind trying out the food here just for the fun of it.

Fun Time in Penang

My family and I had a short but very enjoyable holiday in Penang during the Merdeka weekend. We went with Nini and her family on a food-tasting spree. The first night we really stuffed ourselves because Nini's niece took us to all the places with the best food in town...yummy!

After dinner we walked around taking pictures...that's what bloggers do, right? But my photos didn't turn out so well, I think I forgot to adjust the settings on my camera for night time photos...sigh.

Little Shanghai

The hotel next door had a countdown party on the eve of Merdeka Day and we had a great view of the fireworks display at 12 midnight.

On the 2nd night we went to Gurney Drive and got caught in a traffic crawl, with 4 hungry kids in the backseat who kept asking, "Are we there yet?"

Gurney Drive at 11.30 pm

The children had fun playing indoors and outdoors. My son had a close encounter with a jellyfish and broke out in rashes...after that no one wanted to play in the sea anymore.

my kids trying not to sit too close together...my son says, "So that other girls wouldn't get jealous"!

Tried to buy the famous Penang biscuits before leaving the island but they were all sold out...should have bought them earlier!

As usual, my daughter enjoyed herself so much that she didn't want to go home...