Mr CoolTeen, The Shy Drummer

My son loves to play the drums, but whenever I try to videotape him doing so he would hide behind the large cymbal...

It's Never Just A Number

As I drive around I notice a lot of cars bearing nice number-plates. The Chinese people are usually very careful about their selection of numbers as some numbers are considered more auspicious than others, based on the Chinese word that is similar to the number name. Some people will try to choose or pay a large sum for numbers that are considered to be lucky for their car, phone, address, etc, with the number 3, 8 and 9 being most popular. It’s also interesting how a combination of certain numbers can either bring you compliments or unkind remarks.

One
The number 1 can mean “unity” or “certainty”
Two
In Cantonese, the number 2 sounds similar to the word for "easy"
Three
This number sounds similar to the word for "life"
Four
The number 4 is usually hugely unpopular because it sounds like the word for “death”. Most high-rise buildings replace the number for the fourth floor with 3A.
Five
This number when paired with a lucky number actually cancels whatever good connotations associated with it, because it sounds like the word “not”
Six
In Cantonese this number sounds like the word for “earning a living’ so it is considered lucky when paired with the number 2.
Seven
This number is popular with the Christian community as it is the number of perfection; 7 days in a week, 7 colours of the rainbow, etc.
Eight
The word for 8 sounds similar to the word for "prosper" or “wealth” and is greatly sought after. The number plate 8888 can cost more than RM10,000
The opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Beijing began on 8/8/08 at 8 seconds and 8 minutes past 8 pm.
Nine
This number sounds like the word for "longlasting”


Combinations
1314 - forever
138 - prosperous for life
168- prosperous all the way
524 - Cantonese, "not easy to die"
528 – Cantonese, “not easy to prosper”
7788 – completed
69 – a very impolite word
5354 – Cantonese, "not alive, not dead", referring to something on the verge of death

High School Musical 3

Went to watch High School Musical 3 with hubby and kids yesterday. Miss PreTeen is huge fan of the High School Musical series and she has all kinds of HSM memorabilia - wallet, folder, notebooks, water bottle, etc. Once she cried for a few days when she lost her precious HSM water bottle in school.


The choreography is really good and at the end of every song I felt like cheering and clapping, but had to restraint myself from embarassing Mr CoolTeen and Miss PreTeen. I don't know why, but I enjoyed this show more than Mamma Mia, although ABBA was my all-time favourite band. Maybe this mom is just trying to remain young...at heart :)


It's quite sad that this is the last movie with this cast...they really shine when performing together. Perhaps there will be College Musical in the near future?

Miss PreTeen's Favourite Breakfast

Woke up early this morning to take Miss PreTeen out for breakfast because today is the Deepavali public holiday. Miss PreTeen loves the dhosai and iced Milo at our favourite Mamak restaurant about 10 minutes' drive away.





I tried making homemade dhosai but somehow it isn't as good as the one in the restaurant. So we go out for breakfast on Saturdays or public holidays for our dose of dhosai with dhall curry...yum!

First Aid and Fire Safety

Yesterday our church organised a Fire Safety talk. A team from ALERT organisation gave a talk on first aid, how to be prepared for natural disasters and what to do in case of fire in the building.

Learnt about knots and how to bandage wounds...had a fun time trying it out on each other.

turban or head bandage??

We were shown a video of how quickly a fire can spread...did you know that an entire room can go up in flames in just a few seconds? We also had a mock fire drill in which we took too long to evacuate the premises. In the event of a real fire, we would have been burnt to a crisp!

some of the youths 'attacking' the spaghetti

After that we had a dinner sponsored by some of the ladies in church.

Macy Warehouse Sale

Saw the advertisement in The Star newspaper that Macy is having a 4-day warehouse sale. I was thinking of getting new spring mattresses for my kids because their foam mattresses have become rather flat.


Hubby was busy, so I went on my own. Their warehouse is in Serdang and there were lots of banners to guide shoppers to the location. I drove and drove, and the road became narrower and narrower, with lots of potholes. It became kind of scary and I almost turned back because there was not a single building in sight for a few kilometres.

trying to avoid the large potholes...ok,ok, I admit... this time I took photos while driving

Finally reached my destination. Parking space was rather limited but I managed to squeeze into a little corner...ah, the joy of driving a small car!

Didn't find anything suitable for the kids but wanted to get some small items...changed my mind when I saw the very long queue at the payment counter. Returned home empty handed but it was fun being at a warehouse sale with the carnival-like atmosphere.

Funny Animal Pics

Received these rather unusual photos from a friend through email...









And this one is my favourite...

1 Bag Not Enough

I bought myself a reusable bag from Jusco for my groceries. With every RM50 purchase I would get a sticker in my redemption card (comes with the bag). After I have collected 10 stickers I would be able to redeem some free stuff. Usually I would go grocery shopping once a month armed with a long list. Today I went to the supermarket and when I was about to go to the cashier, I realised that I had left my reusable bag in the car....and my car was parked quite far from the supermarket. I had about RM300 worth of groceries in my trolley...that would mean 6 stickers. I left my trolley near the toilet rolls section and trudged back to the car...getting some much needed exercise after missing line dance class on Monday!

At the check-out counter the cashier asked if she should put everything into the bag. Now that would be quite a feat because my trolley was full to the brim with groceries! In the end this is how it turned out...

One reusable bag, many plastic bags...not exactly very eco-friendly, right?

Sandwiches for Lunch

Hubby has decided to pack lunch to work 4 times a week, firstly to save money on lunch and petrol because he has to drive out to find food, and secondly to try and lower his cholesterol level.




He says he likes sandwiches, so every morning I'll be fixing his lunch and packing it into an airtight container...I am not a morning person, so I can be quite a scatter-brain when deprived of sleep. So far so good...I haven't been giving him raw meat or lettuce with bits of earth stuck to it!

Animal Talk

I was at a friend's place today and we were chit-chatting on the sofa when a fat pigeon flew onto the balcony. It peered at us through the glass doors and started pacing up and down the balcony.

My friend related to me a funny story of how one day a large pigeon flew in through an open window and couldn't find its way out again, very similar to my squirrel story.

Speaking of animals, I remember when my son was about 4 or 5 years old he asked me:

"Mommy, why do you and Daddy call each other [deer]? Why not rhinoceros or giraffe?"

I couldn't help but laugh!

In Search Of....Slurpee

Usually after ballet class, Miss PreTeen would be feeling hot after all the exercise and there's nothing better to cool herself down than a cup of ice-cold Slurpee from 7-Eleven. Last week, after ballet class we headed to 3 different 7-Elevens in search of Slurpee:


1st 7-Eleven - Slurpee machine out of order.

2nd 7-Eleven - Machine in working order but the drink was still in liquid form.

3rd 7-Eleven - Slurpee machine out of order too!

Went home disappointed but I promised her a large size Slurpee the following week to make up for it. This week after class we went to our favourite 7-Eleven and guess what...

They had the rare Pepsi flavour...so both daughter and mom had a Slurpee each...and brain-freeze to go with it!

DIY Wrist Support

Being a blogger mom, I use the PC a lot and lately my right arm hurts from the elbows to my fingers. My gel-filled wrist support had gone somewhat flat due to over-use and I couldn't find a good one to replace it. So I decided to make my own instead.



I bought a mobile phone pouch.

Rolled up a piece of sponge.

Stuffed it into the pouch.





And voila! No more arm pain! (Yup, that's my skinny veiny hand in the photo!)

RM2 Sushi

Sushi King is having their annual RM2 flat rate for all their rice-based sushi (on the conveyor belt) promotion from 13th to 16th October. Today being the last day, my lunch buddy MK (who has the Sushi King card) and I decided to go to the outlet in Leisure Mall for a healthy sushi lunch. I had to send my daughter to school at 12.20 so we only reached the restaurant at around 12.50 pm.


There was already a long queue outside the entrance...sigh.

We only managed to get a seat after a half hour wait, but it was worth it as there was lots of unagi today. We took about 5 or 6 plates of unagi and an assortment of other kinds of sushi. The bill only came up to around RM24 (smiles)

A Carpet of Pink Flowers

A friend of mine emailed me some very pretty pictures taken in Hokkaido, Japan. The English name for these flowers is Moss Pink.

Fishy Shopping Spree

Hubby was on leave today and he received a call from his office. One of his pet goldfish had turned belly up! So it's back to the pet shop at Ikano Power Centre to buy a new partner for the lonely surviving goldfish.

At the shop we sort of got carried away, and started buying fish for my son's aquarium as well as for our small outdoor pond. We ended up with 1 goldfish, some small fishes and 2 koi!

Saw a shiny gold coloured sofa at I-Living (Ikano Power Centre). Need to wear sunglasses before sitting down!

Since we were at that part of town, we also sent my daughter's electronic dictionary for repair at Damansara Perdana. It has not been functioning and we thought it might be cheaper to get it repaired than to buy a new one which would cost us a few hundred Ringgit.

Parking space is very limited at the Damansara Perdana commercial area. Cars are double-parked everywhere.


Saw some weird-looking decoration by the roadside....reminds me of the boulder chasing Indiana Jones in 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark'

Blue poles randomly sticking out from the road divider. Saw some red ones too...some sort of modern art.

Don't Distract The Dentist

My daughter has very strong teeth and not a single one of her milk teeth has fallen off on its own. It would wobble and turn in all directions but just would not drop off. So she has been going to the dentist since her first shaky tooth.

Yesterday I had to drag a very reluctant little girl to the dentist to extract a shaky tooth. The new tooth had already grown but the milk tooth remained defiantly in its place. When she reached home, she complained to Dad that "Mommy kept chatting with the dentist and I was afraid that he might be distracted and pull out the wrong tooth!"
pic fr ellimay45
I don't know if other moms do this, but I keep all my children's milk teeth. I don't really know what I'll do with them...perhaps get them made into mini dentures as souvenirs for my kids when they are all grown up!

Kitchen Appliances Impersonation

A cousin of mine sent me this video clip through email a few years back and I saw it again recently in Youtube. It's a Japanese game show and this guy is really creative. See how many kitchen appliances or gadgets you can recognise!

Flies & Ice-Cream

There’s a McDonald’s within walking distance from my house and the majority of the crew there are Malays. During the Hari Raya break last week, the Malays had gone back to their hometown to celebrate with their families, so this McD’s had hired some temporary crew of Chinese students to keep the place going.

We were at the Drive Thru last week and ordered our favourite choco-top sundaes…vanilla ice cream served in a cone, topped with a coating of chocolate.

Hubby: I’ll have four choco-tops
Girl speaking through the intercom: That’ll be 2 Ringgit and 50 sen, sir.

We thought she had heard wrongly, because it couldn’t be so cheap, so hubby repeats: FOUR choco-tops

Hubby drives up to the payment counter.
Girl: Sorry sir, it’s 7 Ringgit and 50 sen.

Hubby: I have the Kids Club card, could I have the free fries? (we can get a free small packet of French Fries or a sundae cone with purchases above RM5)
Girl: Sure

Hubby pays, then drives up to the collection counter.

Guy at the counter: Two flies? Small flies?

We were dumbstruck for a while…I thought he asked about pies, surely he can’t be giving us flies!

Me: No, no, we didn’t order any pies.

Guy gives us a puzzled look.

Hubby: I’m supposed to have a packet of fries.

Then we realized that he was asking us whether we wanted large or small FRIES…duh!

This reminds me of my Physics tuition teacher who always mixed up his L’s and R’s when speaking English. As if my Physics marks wasn’t poor enough, he confused me further when teaching the chapter on ‘Reflection & Refraction’!

No More Fighting Over The PC

Our desk and 2 cupboards finally arrived from Ikea on Monday afternoon....in 3 boxes. Hubby quickly set to work assembling them after dinner.

"Should be quite easy," he told me.

I went for line dance class and when I reached home at around 10.30 pm, this was the sight that greeted me...

After much hammering and drilling (the neighbours must have been quite annoyed as he started drilling around midnight because the desk needed to be attached to the wall), here is the result...



Now we don't need to fight anymore over who gets to use the PC...previously hubby complained that he had no place to put his laptop and he had to use it on the bed, which would be quite uncomfortable. So now I will use the desktop PC and he will use his laptop at his brand new workstation...

Shopping for Furniture

Went to Ikea on Friday since hubby was on leave. Most students are also on Hari Raya holidays, except my daughter (so sad!), so it was really crowded as moms brought their children along for shopping.

We wanted to buy a small desk for my hubby to put his laptop since he complains that I am always using our desktop PC to do blogging. He can then blog using his laptop....he has caught the blogging bug as well!


Found a perfect little desk for the laptop. Decided to get rid of my dressing table (since it's quite large and took up a lot of space) and buy 2 small cupboards to store my stuff instead. After collecting our furniture, hubby went to the car to put down the front and back seats to accomodate the cupboards...and discovered that they just couldn't fit!

Had to pay RM65 for delivery charges :(

Since we were already at Ikea, we bought the children a swivel chair each to replace theirs. My son's chair is quite old, but if we replace his then my daughter would want a new chair too (I think she'll grow up championing equal rights for women).

Called up the Seri Sinar charity centre and gave away my dresser, my kids' swivel chairs and an old bed given by my mom-in-law for the guest room (which is now the music room).

Now to wait for the delivery of my new cupboards and desk on Monday...it's always fun buying new furniture!

Saw this classic car at the basement car park...couldn't resist taking a snapshot of it!

Petrol Rebate

I renewed my car road tax last month and was able to claim the RM625 rebate (for cars below 2000cc) from the post office.

It's quite simple...just 10 easy steps to being RM625 richer:

1) Get form
2) Fill form neatly
3) Bring along MyKad
4) Get a number at the post office, have a sit, and wait
5) When your number is called, go to the counter
6) Flash your nicest smile, produce your MyKad and recite your car number plate
7) Place your thumbprint onto the form, clean ink from thumb with tissue provided
8) Collect RM625 in CASH
9) Say "Thank You", place your money safely into your wallet
10) Leave the post office, go shopping!