War of Words

Saw this in The Star newspapers...2 hypermarts competing against each other. The logos are so thinly disguised that even a kid would recognise them, haha!

On Friday this advert came out...



The next day, there's this advert...

Mom the Crazy Driver

One of my daily routines is to chaffeur my kids to and fro....school, tuition classes, music classes, extra curricular activities in school...

For my birthday this year, Miss PreTeen gave me a sign Mum's Taxi to stick on my car's back windscreen.


I added the word Crazy because my kids say that I drive terribly, very much like the video game, Crazy Taxi...so I suppose it could read as Mum's Crazy Taxi, or scarier still, Crazy Mum's Taxi!

For the uninitiated, here's a video of the game (the player drives a taxi and has to fetch passengers to their destinations as quickly as possible):



...if only my car was as indestructible!

Mom the Slave Driver

Being a home-maker (a better name for housewife) I have chosen the path of not relying on a household-help (a better word for maid). I enjoy my privacy and being alone at home all by myself when hubby has gone to work and the kids have gone to school. There's just a certain sense of peace and calm, and I could do just about anything - cook and clean, NOT cook and clean...or even sleep all day if I want (ok, that's wishful thinking!). Having another person around all the time would just be too stressful for me.



So to lighten my workload, I delegate chores to my kids. The rule of thumb in our home for the kids is that they are responsible for all that belong to them and the things they use. They put away their shoes when they come home, put their dirty clothes into the laundry basket, fold clothes after I wash and dry them, wash dishes, wash school shoes and the list goes on...and the chores increase each year. I can imagine them calling me 'mom-the-slave driver' behind my back!




Every Sunday, this is the view that greets whoever that comes to visit us...all the kids' school shoes - washed and lined up on the outside ledge of our house. They don't seem too clean but I can't complain too much... after all, it's free labour!

The Place For Young People

Saw this in Ampang today...very unusual road name.

Parent's Murphy's Laws

Found this on the internet...it's funny but oh, so true!

1. Parenting is a 24-hour-a-day job with no salary, no raises, no promotions and very few vacations.

2. Parents are responsible for everything that happens to their children.

3. Guilt and self-blame are occupational hazards.

4. Parents don't get worker's compensation or any other fringe benefits.

5. Parents can never retire -- even when their kids ask them to.

6. Parents "don't get no respect" --until they die--and then it's too late.

~~Written by Bruce Lanksy~~

Addicted To Reality Shows

I don't watch a lot of TV nowadays. Maybe it's because my parents were too liberal in allowing my brothers and me unlimited access to the TV when we were young (pretty cool parents, huh!)...something that I will never allow my kids to enjoy! I have watched too much TV over the years and now it doesn't attract me anymore.

Well, except for some shows. OK, OK, I admit it...I am a reality show junkie. I love watching reality shows...my favourites being The Amazing Race, American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance.

Then there are the local ones like One In A Million and Akademi Fantasia (yes, even that!)which I watch once in a while.

Hubby always wonders why I watch America's Next Top Model....he says it's always the same - girls fighting and arguing when staying together in one house. But I tell him that they are different girls every season and the photo shoots are the interesting parts.

The Amazing Race ended its season last Monday...the Asian-American brother sister team won the million bucks.

One In A Million and Akademi Fantasia ended too.



Tomorrow is the finale of American Idol Season 8.

I will have to wait another year for the next season to begin....noooooo!!!

Relaxing In PD

Had a short break in Port Dickson over the weekend. Hubby was there to attend meetings with the uni students and I was helping out in the 'food and beverage department'. But still, I had quite a lot of free time with the kids.

Picked up the kids from school on Friday, had a quick lunch and left KL.

Had a swim in the evening on the first day. Applied lots of sunblock...I already have enough freckles, don't fancy having more!

The next day after breakfast, took the kids to PD town for a bit of shopping. The kids agreed that they would not survive living in a small town...being city kids and being used to large shopping malls. Managed to buy a few T-shirts for them.

CoolTeen's new T-shirt which he likes very much (and has been wearing for the past few days!)

Managed to take a few nice shots of the beach and sea.

My camera-shy kids.

I took a snapshot of my own shadow, you can see my toes at the bottom of the picture. That baggy T-shirt sure makes me look rather large!

Why can't we keep our beaches free from garbage?

Sunset...lovely!

I Love Rainbows

Saw a rainbow just as we were going to McD's (Miss PreTeen's favourite fastfood restaurant)for dinner after church service today. I love rainbows because they are so uniquely pretty...but more importantly they remind me of God's wonderful promises and the good plans He has for my life :D

Oops, Wrong Card!

Mr CoolTeen dropped his wallet last week. He lost his school ID card, a photocopy of his IC, his Touch n Go card and about RM2...which was ok since he didn't lose his actual identity card or a large amount of cash. But he had quite a large amount of cash uploaded to his Touch n Go card since he takes the LRT to and from school everyday...close to RM80.


Hubby found the receipt with the card number printed on it and went to cancel the card to get back a refund. He had reminded me to exchange CoolTeen's card with the one in my car which had less amount of money, just in case CoolTeen lost his card...but I had been busy.

A few days ago when I used my SmartTag at the toll plaza, I almost rammed into the toll gate bar as I had expected it to rise after I beeped the SmartTag. It didn't rise, the words Kad Tidak Sah flashed on the screen, I had to reverse my car. The toll booth operator came to my rescue, checked my Touch n Go card and said that there was something wrong with it.

It doesn't take a genius to guess what had happened...

Hubby had cancelled the wrong card, although it wasn't his fault but mine!

I had actually switched the cards, but in the hustle and bustle of a busy week I had forgotten all about it. So the card in my car was CoolTeen's with the large amount of money, and CoolTeen was using my card...oops!!!

Hubby had to go buy another card for me...and he didn't complain (phew!) Thank God for a longsuffering spouse!

This Stuff Really Works!

I was at the pharmacy the other day to get some Vitamin C when I saw this new product near the cashier counter. Always game to try something new, I went to have a closer look. It was a display rack full of Eco-Pro products from Australia and the thing that caught my attention were the words non-toxic, bio-degradable household cleaning products.


I was particularly interested in the Oil Removal product because I had been putting off cleaning the cooker hood in my kitchen for quite a long while. It's a job that i dread doing because it is so time-consuming having to boil water and soaking all the parts until the grease comes off. It could take about 1 to 2 hours to completely clean the whole thing, and trying to remove thick grease from the filter is really NOT a pleasant job. When I'm done, everything else becomes greasy and sticky...the sink, the cleaning sponge and brush, my hands...ewww!

Most oil removal products are very harsh on the hands and this one promises to be safe on human skin. So I bought one for RM10.90 and the first thing I did when I got home was to try it out on my [very dirty] stove.

It was like magic happening before my eyes...I sprayed the oil remover onto my stove and the oil just vanished with a single wipe using the kitchen paper towel. Man, this is too good to be true!


The most crucial test was cleaning the little plastic container that collects oil from the cooker hood. See the layer of oil that has turned to brown grease?


Sprayed a little of the product into the container.


The grease started to thin out and I could wipe it off without much problem. I found out that I must not use water...just wipe off with paper towels.


Voila! The sparkling clean container...I have never been able to get it THIS clean before!

The only thing that bothers me is that there is no list of ingredients on the bottle. It just says that it has no hazardous chemicals. I wonder if it is actually just garbage enzyme...I suppose I'll find out when my batch of garbage enzyme is ready early next month and I can compare the two.

In the mean time, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm looking forward to cleaning my cooker hood...!

Mother's Day

A lot of things happened yesterday so this is going to be a looong post...read on if you must...

Celebrated Mother's Day yesterday with my mum and in church. We (dad, mum, brothers, sis-in-law, nephews and family friend) had lunch at the Dragon Hut restaurant beside the Desa Waterpark. I don't see my older brother and his family very often, so special occasions are a good time to catch up with each other. Hubby says we'll be taking his mom out for dinner on another weekend...hutang first!

After lunch we went to church to set up the laptop and test out the video clip we prepared as a special presentation for Mother's Day. We were going to interview a pair of cute 5 year old twins on stage during the church service and then show the video clip of some of the little kids in church talking about their mums...the things they said about their mums were quite hilarious.

Things didn't go as planned...

Just before the service began, one of the electrical fuses blew and one third of the church premise had no electricity supply...the one where the LCD projector is placed. So no lyrics could be shown, but our worship leader was quick to improvise (thank God for creativity!) and some people thought that we were just doing things differently since it was Mother's Day.

Right after the worship session, another fuse blew and the PA plus all the musical instruments had no power supply . We were using the electric piano, keyboard and electric guitar, and it was bad enough without the lyrics, but without the music as well (?!)...so God's timing is perfect, we had just finished singing the last song when the fuse blew. Our pastor had to preach without the microphone for about 10-15 mins before electricity was restored for the PA system. A few air conditioners had to be shut down to lessen the electrical load, but no one complained.

And the special presentation had to be postponed because:

no LCD projector = no video clip

It was a pity because the twins were both smartly dressed for the occasion. We'll have to wait till Father's Day in a few weeks' time.

The youths and young adults brought food for the dinner after the service, giving all the mums a break. Miss PreTeen guessed that there would be fast food, and she was right....KFC and pizza! The air conditioners were functioning in the hall where we had the dinner, so everyone was comfortable and it was an enjoyable time of having a meal together, despite things not going too well earlier.


I had some pretty cool gifts for Mother's Day. Miss PreTeen gave me a photo (of her and myself together) in home-made photo frame. Mr CoolTeen sent me a sweet Happy Mother's Day sms. The church gave all the moms prettily-wrapped shower gel and body lotion.

I remember when I was a teenager my aunty gave me a book (can't remember the title)...some sort of a journal where I had to write down goals and plans for the future. I remember writing down that I would get married at 24 (which I did) and that I would have 2 kids (which I have)...so God is good and I feel very blessed and honoured to be a MOM

Using The Cyber Clean

Bought this from a computer shop last week but haven't tried it out until 2 days ago. Not too expensive, just RM15 for the small one and RM23 for the bigger one.


It's bright yellow, looks like a piece of gooey sponge, has a lovely lemon smell and cleans anything with buttons or keys...as in keyboard or keypad. It is also supposed to disinfect. According to the instructions, the colour will darken as it gets dirty and there's a colour chart to compare the colours. Colour no. 1 means there's maximum cleaning capacity. Colour no. 2 mean it's still ok for use and colour no. 3 means it's time to replace the little sponge.


Tried it out on my very dusty computer keyboard. There's no need to wipe, just dab it on the surfaces that need cleaning. Hmm...maybe it's just my imagination, but my keyboard feels really clean! Tried it out on my house phone and the keypad of my handphone too. Am now looking for other stuff to clean. The only problem is that it says: Use with dry hands and I've got sweaty hands...

Quirks Of Teenage Life

My son Mr CoolTeen hates to go shopping. He doesn't mind it that much if it is with his friends, but according to Teen Rule #81 it is a crime to be seen shopping with mum and dad (ok,ok, I made up that Teen Rule #81 bit...) Strange but true.

At first I was rather upset that he didn't want to be seen in public with me, but I have since learnt not to take it personally. Mr CoolTeen explained that if any of his friends ever see him buying stuff with his parents, word will spread and he would have nowhere to hide his face...and face is VERY important in TeenWorld.

So how do we go about buying his stuff? Hair gel and pimple cream is simple enough, but what about clothes and shoes?
I usually make a note of his clothes and shoe size. Sometimes I buy a T-shirt and CoolTeen doesn't like it, so we came up with an idea.
This is what hubby did when CoolTeen needed a new schoolbag after his fell apart from over-use:

1) Hubby goes to bag shop

2) Looks at some bags which might be suitable

3) Asks the salegirl if he could take some photos of the bags and send them to CoolTeen using MMS so that he could pick one

4) Salesgirl gives hubby a puzzled look, and goes to the back portion of the shop to ask her boss

5) Hubby quickly snaps some photos

6) CoolTeen makes his choice

7) Hubby buys the bag

8) Task completed

Ah, the wonders of modern technology....

Love Calculator

Found this rather amusing Love Calculator where people could type in the names of two persons in a relationship and see if they are compatible, based on their names alone.

http://www.lovecalculator.com/

Had a good laugh....

According to this Love Calculator, hubby and I are not compatible....but we've been married for close to 17 years...and loving every minute of it!

Looking For Face Masks

Ever since the news about the swine flu aka H1N1 virus appeared in the newspapers, people have been buying surgical face masks...which might not be very effective in filtering out teeny-tiny viruses (I read that somewhere)...but I suppose it's better to do something to protect oneself than nothing at all.

Anyway, hubby said that we should get some of these masks (for the kids more than for ourselves) .We went from pharmacy to pharmacy and we kept getting the same reply, "Out of stock" until we got rather worried that we might not be able to get any.

At Watson's the salegirl thought that we wanted the cream type of face mask for cleaning the face...haha

Finally there was one pharmacy which had ample supply and we bought a box of 50 masks for RM40. Better safe than sorry, I suppose.

Bottles for Fruit Enzyme Drink

After my fruit enzyme is ready for drinking I always have to search for all kinds of glass bottles to store it. I tried looking for suitable bottles at department stores and shops but usually the pretty bottles I find would be without a proper lid. Lately I found this fizzy Ribena drink which comes in a nice bottle and costs between RM2.20 to RM2.50 (depends on where I buy it)...BUT best of all...it has a screw-on bottle cap...which is just PERFECT for me to store my precious enzyme drink! (big smiles)



So I have been buying bottles and bottles of Ribena and Miss PreTeen who loves juices and fizzy drinks, is all too happy to help me consume the Ribena drinks so that I could have those bottles for my fruit enzyme.


My little bottles of fruit enzyme drink...all neatly labelled