Not Again!

Just when I thought life was going to be back to the usual ho-hum routine after all the fun activitities during the school holiday break, I got involved in another 2 car accidents....yes, two.

The first was on a Tuesday and hubby was out of town, so my son took the opportunity to borrow my car since I could use hubby's car instead. I was driving alone and had stopped at the traffic lights when it turned red and was the first car in line. When the lights turned green and it was my turn to go, the motorcyclist ahead of me couldn't get his bike started and so I had to wait  for him to get going before I could move along. Suddenly I heard a thud and felt the impact of a car knocking into the rear of hubby's car. Having experienced an accident at the traffic lights just 2 months back, I was rather annoyed at the prospect of having to deal with another careless motorist. 

I put on a scowl and got down from the car to inspect the damage. The driver in the car behind me was a lady and she looked quite apologetic. To my surprise and relief, knowing how hubby really treasures his car, there was no dent at all on his car...not even a scratch! So all was well and with a glad heart I continued my journey.

The next day, things got more interesting in a complicated way. My story is a long one so do bear with me.

I was on my way to the Wednesday prayer meeting in church with my kids in my car, and my son was driving as I felt a little tired after a long day of activities. As we entered the basement carpark, a car suddenly appeared from a lane on the left and rammed right into the passenger side door where I was seated. The driver was a lady and she didn't even step on her brakes when she saw my car coming, neither did she step on the brakes even when her car had hit mine!

I got down and inspected the damage. Then I stomped over to the other car.

The damage to the panel above
the front tyre and car door

The other lady didn't offer a word of apology but instead took a look at the dent on the front bumper of her Honda CRV and instead asked me to fix back a plastic piece that had fallen off. This time I was furious.

I demanded for her IC and she handed it over together with her driving licence. I took photos of them. Then I asked for compensation and she said that I should just claim compensation from my own insurance. I told her that I would certainly claim compensation, but from HER insurance company, and got her phone number. She said she had to rush off to work and so we left it at that as I was also late for church meeting.

My friends in church advised me to lodge a police report, so when I reached home I gave the lady a call just to let her know that she would also need to lodge a police report. Then she tells me that she has changed her mind and that we should settle the matter amicably. She said she would call me the next morning to discuss the matter.

Early the next day, I took my car to the workshop to get an estimate on the cost of repairs. The figure came up to over a thousand Ringgit. The lady called again at 10am and this time she apologized but said that she could only compensate me RM300. Of course I refused since the accident was clearly not my son's fault as we had the right of way in the carpark. Then she said she would check with her cousin sister because the car belonged to her. Later, a man called me, claiming to be a friend of the lady driver, and said that he had advised her that she should bear the cost of repairs and that he would recommend a mechanic to repair my car. We were to meet at a mamak shop near the church at 2pm. I also asked hubby to call this man to discuss the matter.

This is where the story takes a turn. 

I arrive at the mamak shop at 2pm with my son. Instead of taking me straight to the workshop as he had earlier promised, he asked me to park my car and sit down to discuss matters. The mechanic was there together with the lady driver, and I smelt something fishy. They tell me that they would not replace my car door with a new one, although hubby had told me that this man had already agreed to. This man is one slick character trying to impress me with lots of stories. Anyway, after some negotiation I followed him to a car workshop somewhere along Jalan Loke Yew. When I arrived, immediately I realised why he had wanted to sit down and discuss first, and made sure I agreed to have my car repaired at his recommended workshop. It was a simple shed kind of workshop, not even a proper shoplot that I was accustomed to. Then the mechanic does not issue me any invoice and I was really hesitant to hand over my car. All I had was his business card. My son even wonders if this workshop is legal.

To cut a long story short, I decided to trust the mechanic. I definitely did not trust that smooth-talking man. The mechanic seemed like an honest guy and he asked me to take photos of his workshop to show my husband. Later I found on the internet that this workshop has its own Facebook page with photos and 'likes', so it seemed like a legitimate business after all. In 4 days' time I collected my car. The repairs were thoroughly inspected by hubby and seemed good except for some very minor rough spots which were not really noticeable unless a person inspects it very closely. Cost of repairs borne by the other party: RM900

It's not perfect but you wouldn't be able
to tell where the damage was unless you knew

I'm just glad to get my car back after the ordeal. Hopefully everything will be back to the usual ho-hum routine after all this. Drive safe, everyone!

I Had 5 Kids For A Week

Last week had been a busy but fun-filled week as we played host to 3 young men from our branch church in Miri. For 2 of them, it's their first time travelling to Peninsula Malaysia so we brought them to as many places as we could fit into each day. It was also school holidays and semester break for my kids.

The guys arrived on Sunday. On Monday we took them to Colmar Tropicale Resort and then up to Genting Highlands. It was their first experience riding the cable car. And for the first time in many years there was no queue for the cable car ride even though it was school holidays last week, mainly due to the extensive ongoing renovations done to the outdoor theme park. Only the video arcade machines and kiddy rides are operating at the moment, much to our disappointment, as my kids had wanted to ride the indoor roller-coaster and the bumper cars.

At one point on our way down, the winds
got so strong that the cable cars were
halted for around 10 minutes, which made the
ride even more exciting in a scary way.

On Tuesday we had a farewell lunch with our church youth group at Restaurant Thai Fish Farm along Jalan Hulu Langat for one of the youths who was going overseas to further her studies. Then it was off to eCurve to take part in 'The Pirate Ship', a problem-solving game at the Escape Room. We were locked in a room and given clues on how to escape, but need to do it within 45 minutes. This time we managed to clock the fastest time of 29mins 50secs and was named champion for the day :)

The weary bunch after using too much
brain-power, haha.

We also did some shopping at Berjaya Times Square, and one of the guys was quite amazed at the crowd of people there and commented that he had never seen so many people in one place before. 

The 7 of us near the musical stairs at Berjaya Times Square

On Wednesday, we made a trip to KLCC to photograph the twin towers. They had been very excited about seeing the twin towers and at first we were a little worried as there had been bad haze in the city just the day before. But when we reached KLCC, it was clear skies and the guys took lots and lots of photos.

On Thursday, we made our way to Malacca for our church camp at Seri Costa Hotel. It was really good to take time away from our daily routines to just immerse ourselves in spiritual matters such as prayer and listening to God's Word taught from the Bible. Of course it was also a time of deepening friendships as we spent 3 days having meals together and taking wefies (selfies of a group of people) and generally just having lots of fun and laughter.

On Friday afternoon
we had a group walk-about in Malacca town,
enjoying the sights and sounds, as well as
the food, at Jonker Street.
This is a photo of a few of us ladies in our hats
and camp T-shirts. 

We headed back to KL on Saturday after lunch, then it was off to KLIA for our guests to catch their flight home to MIri. 

It was really fun experiencing what it would feel like to have 5 kids! Everywhere we went, we had to have a head count to make sure everyone was in the car before we headed off to the next destination. Can't leave anyone behind, right? It was also rather funny the way people assumed that we were a family and then whisper behind our backs or give us strange stares when we begin speaking to each other in the Malay language, as some of us were fair and a few had darker skin.

When Monday came, the house was absolutely quiet when hubby went off to work, CoolGuy started his semester and SweetTeen went to school. Yes...Monday Blues kicked in.

22 Years Already?

My wedding was 22 years ago but I still remember every detail as if it had just happened yesterday. This year hubby and I had a simple celebration. 

Hubby took the day off a few days ago when we both had less on our daily schedule. Had a quick breakfast of hotcakes at McD's and then headed to Mid Valley mall to catch the latest Tom Cruise movie, "Edge Of Tomorrow". We haven't gone to the cinema on our own for a very long time as we usually have our kids with us. 

Then it was off to lunch at Tony Roma's. Hubby had his beef ribs while I ordered chicken. I had planned to have dessert but we were too full after the meal.

Headed for home after a bit of shopping and then took the kids out for dinner. Hubby wanted to buy a matching pair of watches for the both of us and after going from shop to shop we finally settled on a simple design.

Looked up the internet to find out how
to pose for this shot.
Our kids were making faces while we
switched hands and poses
again and again to get the best shot, haha.

I like this quote I read a few days ago:

"Every love story is beautiful but ours is my favourite."

Looking forward to many more anniversaries to come :)

A Fun Escape

We didn't plan any trip this school holidays so hubby and I decided to take our kids to The Escape Room at Berjaya Times Square mall for a fun afternoon together.

The Escape Room is a challenge game with various themes. We looked at their website and initially wanted to go to eCurve but the time slots that we wanted were all fully booked, so we chose Berjaya Times Square instead. Booking can be done online, several days ahead without any payment. The staff will give us a phone call on the day we have chosen just to confirm our attendance and we only pay at the venue. 

Entrance fee is RM32 per person but there is a small discount for students with the Student ID card. Secondary students can bring their library card.

Each room has a fixed difficulty level, from 3 (easy) to 5 (difficult), and not being very adventurous we chose the one with a difficulty level of 4 - The Vampire Chronicles. The maximum number of people allowed in each room is 8, but no one else wanted our time slot so we had the whole room to ourselves.


We had to keep our bags and mobile phones in a locker so I couldn't take any photos to show on my blog, but there's their official video here to give you an idea of what's it's all about.


The challenge is to get clues within the room and solve the puzzle before 45 minutes is up. 

We started off the game by being handcuffed together -
all four of us. The our guide gave us instructions before
sending us into our allocated room.

We could find the key to unlock our handcuffs and managed to solve the first puzzle. Unfortunately we took too long trying to figure out some mathematical clues and didn't manage to escape in time. Our guide was good, when our time was up he came in and explained all the answers to us. It turned out to be simpler than we thought and goes to show that sometimes we think of complicated ways to solve a puzzle when the the solution is actually quite simple.

We went "Uh-oh" when our timer showed this.

So in the end we had to take a photo with a big LOSER sign, haha. Those we escape before 45 minutes would get to hold the WINNER signboard instead.

Mother's Day 2014

Usually whenever there's a celebration in church, the mothers will each bring some food  and all the church members would have a simple lunch together. For Mother's Day this year, the youths and young adults were assigned to bring food instead.

So early on Sunday morning, my kids were awake and busy in the kitchen frying sausages. Too bad I was having blocked nose that day, as I'm sure the kitchen would have been filled with a lovely aroma. I was not allowed to cook  but I did supervise them. It was such a sight having my 2 kids cooking together that hubby couldn't resist snapping some photos.

But my kids were camera-shy, so you would only get to see their busy hands at work....

During the church service a little later on, the youth group presented a mime using coloured gloves.

Cookies and spatula flown all the way from
USA, given by my pastor :)

To end the day, we had a simple family dinner at Nando's. Really appreciate everyone who took the effort to make us mothers feel special on this day.

Another Year Older

Beginning at 12 midnight on April 11th, birthday greetings were posted to my Facebook timeline and kept coming in even until the next day. I never cease to be amazed at how technology has advanced so much that I can receive birthday greetings from my friends around the world all on the same day. About a decade or two ago, we would have relied on sending greeting cards through the post and had to send them well before the actual birthday so that the card would reach the other person on time. 

For many years following my birth, my parents celebrated my birthday on April 12th. It was only when I had to bring my birth certificate to school for the Standard 5 exam (before we had UPSR for Year 6) that I realised I was actually born on the 11th, but very close to midnight, so I suppose by the time my dad called everyone to announce my birth it was already the morning of April 12th. On top of that, I found out that my Chinese name was misspelled in my birth certificate - what was supposed to be 'Ching' became 'Cheng' instead. So, 2 major surprises at the age of 11 for me... which led to having to change my name on ALL my school exercise books and the school register, as well as having to celebrate my birthday on the proper date the following year.

Anyway, turning 46 isn't as bad as I imagined it to be, haha. Still trying to keep my wrinkles away and stay young at heart, even though my creaky joints do protest if I attempt any vigorous activities. Hubby took the afternoon off and just told the kids that we were going on a lunch date. They were quite curious to know where we went! My parents came over for tea later in the afternoon and brought chocolates (yum!)

After dinner we had a cell meeting in a friend's home, where we gather in a small group to study a portion of the Bible, and I had a candle to blow and a cake to cut. The birthday song was also sung in various keys and didn't seem to end!..courtesy of the fun-loving young adults in our group.

On the way home, my kids decided to drop by the Tutti Frutti frozen yogurt store for supper, and since it was my birthday I had a discount. At the cashier counter my son took out his wallet and said he would pay for all our yogurt, so sweet of him.

My daughter, SweetTeen, bought me my favourite lip balm :)

(Not quite sure how the photo keeps rotating
to the right as I have already corrected and saved
the file the right way round.)

 Spent the rest of the night thanking all those who wished me on Facebook and Whatsapp, really appreciate them.

As the saying goes... Another year older, (hopefully) another year wiser!

21 Years, And Counting

"Marriage: Love is the reason. Lifelong friendship is the gift. Kindness is the cause. Til' death do us part is the length." 
~ Fawn Weaver

Hubby and I just celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary a few days ago. That's a lot of years together and I am so very blessed to have married someone whom I can call my BFF (Best Friend Forever).

Hubby took a day off from work and I made arrangements with my son, CoolTeen, to fetch his sister from school and to tuition class so that hubby and I could spend the day together without being tied down to the daily routine. Rewarded CoolTeen with his favourite Hawaiian Chicken pizza from Pizza Hut.

We went to Low Yat Plaza to get the external hard disk for my XBox fixed because there was a problem with the games hanging in the middle of play. Had lunch at U-Village, a restaurant specializing in Hong Kong cuisine, situated in Sungei Wang facing Low Yat Plaza. This place is very popular with those who work nearby and was quickly filled up soon after 12noon.

The char siew is good here.

Trying out some nice angles for the photo,
putting into practice what I learnt in
photography class last week :)

Did some window shopping to walk off the lunch and then proceeded to Arthur's Hokkaido Mille Crepe Cake on the 3rd floor of Sungei Wang Plaza for their famed crepe cake, which is essentially layers and layers of cream and paper-thin crepe which just melts in your mouth.

Hubby chose the chocolate banana version.
Nice!

I chose the original flavour, which was
a little too rich for me.

Then we decided to look for a waffle maker to add to my ever-growing collection of kitchen appliances. Found out that this is not an easy task - sandwich makers are aplenty but waffle makers could hardly be seen anywhere. The Takada brand in Parkson has a mini waffle maker (emphasis on mini ) and we didn't think that it would be very useful.  So off we went to Mid Valley Megamall where there would be more stores selling appliances. 

Saw a Kenwood one at Harvey Norman's but it came with 3 inter-changeable metal plates - one for making sandwiches, one for grilling and one for making waffles. Finally we found the one that we liked at Aeon (formerly known as Jusco), and it was affordably priced at just RM49.

When I got home and took everything out of the box,
this is what I found - an instruction manual that says
'Waffle Maker' on the cover but inside are instructions
on how to make toasted sandwiches - go figure!

Had a short rest at home, then came the highlight of the evening...dinner at the French restaurant Cafe Cafe, which is described as the most beautiful restaurant in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. 

It's fine dining in a cosy, romantic dimmed-lights sort of setting. The last time we went to such a fancy restaurant was years ago but this place was highly recommended by a friend and we thought we would give it a try. I was so glad I decided to dress up a bit instead of wearing my usual T-shirt and jeans because everyone who walked in was dressed formally, including the waiters!

Antique furniture, chandeliers from the ceiling,
large windows with soft drapes
and soothing music transform this place into
a cosy dining experience.

Each table lit up with a tiny
tea-light.

This is me trying very hard to read the menu
with my poor-night-vision pair of eyes
until the waiter graciously lent me
a pen torchlight.

I can't remember the names of what we ate since I could hardly read the menu in the dim lighting, but I know we had some buns for starters, French onion soup, hubby had duck and chocolate cake while I had grilled prawns and lemon tart. The plates were huge but the portions, though delicious, were rather small even for a small-eater like me. For the price of the meal we could have stuffed our tummies to the max at a fancy hotel buffet dinner, so this is a place that we would not be visiting again anytime soon.

All in all, a very relaxing day spent with my dearest. Looking forward to many many more anniversary celebrations to come :)

Photography Class

Hubby bought himself a new toy at the end of last year, a Sony NEX-6 dslr camera and had been attending the free photography classes organized by Sony to learn how to use his camera.

A few weeks ago, he was checking the Sony website and found that this month's class was about photographing food. Since I'm a blogger I thought it would be good for me to tag along and see how I can improve in taking photos of the food that I want to post up on my blog.

The venue was Haikara Cafe in Subang Jaya, near Subang Parade. Our instructor for the day was Mun Ho, a professional photographer.

Our instructor

There were about 12 of us, mostly couples and everyone had their own dslr camera...except me. I figured that I would just learn about the photography angles and hubby could learn more about using his camera. Oh, and we were the oldest couple there; most of the others look like they were in their early thirties.

Using white paper, aluminium foil or even
a white paper napkin to reflect light onto
the parts where there is shadow

The food looked really delicious and most of the time I was waiting for each session to end so that we could taste the yummy food (yup, the food was complimentary...how cool is that for a free class!)

First came the salads and main meals....

This is how I would usually take a photo of
something delicious

This...

...and this is how we can make the food
look even more mouth-watering!

Everyone busy taking close-ups of the dishes

Then came the desserts....

I could hardly wait to taste this!

Photos taken by hubby...not bad eh? Looks kind of professional. 

The instructor showed us how the shots would
look on the laptop since the camera lcd screen
is rather small

Hubby taking aim at a piece of cake...
and me? as usual, standing behind him giving
instructions ~ "a bit more to the left, 
zoom in a little, no no focus on that grape..."
bla, bla, bla...

The instructor was good and everyone picked up a lot of little tips on how to maximize the functions on the camera to take that 'perfect shot'. For me, it was a little too technical and this aunty was quite clueless most of the time when it came to ISO settings, shutter speed and aper-what?? However, what I learnt was how amazing and complicated our eyes are, and how the camera cannot fully capture the images that we can see.