A New Nest

photo from wikipedia

The yellow-vented bulbul birds are back. They were persistently trying to build a nest on the main cables connected to our house electricity meter, and I had to dismantle the nest twice out of concern for their safety. It wouldn't be good to have the mama bird electrocuted while she hatches her eggs!

Finally they decide to build their nest on one of our hanging flower pots in the garden. The bulbuls haven't been back since the tragedy in February last year so hubby and I are pretty excited to see them once more, although I think this is a different pair of birds.

Hopefully all will be well this time and we will get to see the babies hatch, grow up and fly away.

Hubby took a peep and saw 2 little eggs!

What My Mama Taught Me

Mother's Day was celebrated 2 days ago. Every year there would be articles in the newspapers about mothers and I notice that the  stories of how a mother single-handedly brings up her kids would always be highlighted while the stories of ordinary mothers would often be overlooked. 

So today I am going to write about an ordinary, unassuming lady who has had a great influence over my life and some of the important things that she taught me:

My Mother Taught Me Colour Coordination.

The earliest thing I can remember my mom teaching me is that colours must match and not clash.  When I was about 3 years old, I had a large selection of coloured ribbons for my hair and whenever we went out on a Sunday as a family, she would dress me and then ask me to choose a ribbon that would match my outfit. If the colour did not match I would have to keep trying until I selected one that did. I remember one time when I was older and I chose a pair of shoes that did not match my outfit, because I wanted comfort rather than style. Needless to say, she convinced me to wear the matching pair of shoes instead. Today, shopping for clothes is such a breeze for me because I can visualize what accessories will match the piece I'm buying or which top will match the pants/skirt that has caught me eye.


My Mother Taught Me To Always Look Presentable.

My mom takes very good care of her skin and till today she looks at least 10 years younger than her 76 years. She also always had make up on, more make up for the office and less make up at home because she believes in always looking presentable. She had this philospohy : "If you're the lady of the house then don't go around looking like the maid"! My mom allowed me to wear make up when I was 15, in fact she ordered me to by saying, "You look pale. Go put on some blusher before you go out!" I guess that was her way of saying that I had permission to use make up, as in those days parents had this funny habit of saying things indirectly unless they were scolding the child. Today I have my own collection of make up and face creams, and I see the wisdom in my mom teaching me about skin care. I teach my children about proper proper skin care when they reach puberty and have to deal with pimples and oily faces. As for make up, I tell my daughter that at 15, she looks good as she is.


My Mother Taught Me About Self-Worth.

The one important thing that my mother instilled in me is that I must always have a proper sense of self-respect. People will respect us when we respect ourselves. This has helped me in my choice of friends and eventually led me to a right choice of husband. She was always very particular about good manners, mine and my friends'. If I was going out with a boy, my mom would not allow him to just honk at the gate and expect me to come out. She would want the guy to come in and say 'Hello' to her before we went out together. I told my daughter that this is how it will be for her too :)


My Mother Taught Me About Staying Within Budget.

My parents ran a business together and my mom was blessed with the finer things in life for a good number of years. However, when the economic downturn came, she knew how to cut back on her spending by using things that were cheaper but not necessarily of less quality, as in household, skin care and  make up products. Instead of having tailor-made clothes she would buy them off the rack and we would eat out less often. Now that I have my own household to run, this lesson is deeply ingrained in me and I always watch the prices of goods that I buy, whether it is good value for money or just an indulgence that I can do without.


Of course, there are so many more things that my mom taught me. Like most mothers my mom is not perfect and there are some things that I should not learn from her, like forgetting where she parked her car when we went to the shopping mall, haha! But I know that she always wants the best for me and as a mom myself I can truly appreciate all that she has done for me.

Love you, mom.

Happy Mother's Day!

Pics Of The Week

Just want to share some amusing photos...things I saw around town and at home.

Firstly, there was this Lexus that tried to
take a shortcut down a flight of stairs!
Well, it's 'Malaysia Boleh'...anything goes
in Malaysia, right?

Too bad the words in red didn't show up well
in the photo. It says:
AWAS! NGV GAS TONG AT BACKSIDE
...a little obscene if you ask me!

Our master bathroom tap came loose and
water started leaking from the sides
whenever the tap was turned on, so hubby and I
went to the bathroom supplies shop to buy a new tap
and he takes out his phone to see the photo that he
had taken and edited...the precision of an engineer!

Ok, this wasn't amusing to me but my kids
thought it was rather funny...they were sitting
on CoolTeen's bed one evening with SweetTeen
strumming the guitar and the bed broke...
the side wooden piece split into two!
So off we go to buy a new bed, sigh.

Some Midlife Changes

I just celebrated my 45th birthday and decided that I needed a makeover of some sort as I looked in the mirror and realised that wrinkles, unwanted fat and sagging body parts are going to be a permanent fixture in my life. That, and coupled with the fact that someone at the market about 10 years older than me called me 'aunty' the other day....!

I'm really blessed to have a wonderful hubby who thinks that I look good no matter what and but I guess it's natural for every woman to want to look younger and not older than her actual age.

I already changed my hairstyle about a year ago...from long curls to a short manageable bob. My dad keeps mentioning that I look like a schoolgirl. Maybe he thinks that a mom of teenage kids should look her age? Hmm...

Hubby and I went to Secret Recipe early in the morning to celebrate my birthday with some cake...ok, this has nothing to do with a makeover, but the slices of cake looked so good that I just had to post it up!

My motto has always been "Eat today, diet tomorrow'!

My daughter, SweetTeen, bought me some bright coloured nail polish for my birthday with her own pocket money. This is what I've been doing lately...

Saw some pretty cool nail art on the internet.
Since I can never get my right hand fingernails to be
as nice as my left hand fingernails (because I'm right-handed),
I thought I'll decorate my toenails instead :)

I've been wearing frameless glasses for the last 20 years, so this time I got myself a pair of framed ones.

I badly need exercise as I have not been exercising regularly after my line dance class got disbanded sometime last year. The weather has been either too hot or too wet for outdoor activities, so I asked hubby to get me this so that I could do exercise indoors...

!

Meet my new buddy...the Xbox 360 Kinect, 
a gaming console with motion detector!!
No I didn't get it just to play TV games...serious!

Now if I could just find the time to do some daily exercises using the Xbox I will soon be able to fit into some of my old smaller sized clothes...or maybe give me an excuse to buy new clothes, hehe!

A friend posted this video on Facebook and I think every woman should watch it. It's so common for us to only see our own flaws and this video helps us to see that there is beauty in each one of us...

I Won A Prize!

I don't usually buy magazines to read, but once in a while I would buy Her World or Female magazine just to have a look at the current trends in fashion and make up...well, we stay-at-home moms need to keep our looks up-to-date too. My mother taught me that although we may be housewives, we must always look presentable in and out of the house, so that we don't get mistaken for the maid! I think that's good advice, don't you? :)

Most of these women's magazines have contests that we can enter by answering a few simple questions and mailing the form back to the publishers.   So in November last year I entered a few of these contests just for the fun of it and had forgotten all about them, until I received a letter in the mail a few weeks ago informing me that I had won some L'Oreal hair products.

I'm not one who wins in contests and I always envy some of my friends who seem to have the magic touch when it comes to winning, so this was a very pleasant surprise indeed! My good friend MK was so kind to drive me all the way to Petaling Jaya, quite a distance from where I live, just to collect my prize.

I was told the that this collection is worth at least RM200...wow!

I like this quote by Jason Mraz (yes, the singer-songwriter):

“You’re not obligated to win. You’re obligated to keep trying. To the best you can do everyday.”  

While this is true, it sure feels good to win sometimes. 
**big smile**