Some Ol Treasure

just last saturday my aunt called me up to ask about some of my stuff back home in Penang, if i still want them as they were clearing up the room where my dad has most of his stuff in. don’t know about you, but there are a few things i have kept with me since i was very young and over the years the things i deem worthy of safe keeping … some of those were my first hardcover story book i got as a gift, soft toys from special people … etc, including some handmade letters from previous significant others

because we’ve shifted a few times, some of these precious things have been thrown out like my very personal diary, my highschool projects (i’ve kept them for quite some time) to give more room for more important stuff. anyways, i didn’t really own a room anymore from our last shift to our current house in Penang, which was in 2001. that was because i was already here in UKM/Bangi/Kajang/KL most of the time for my degree… so, what was left of my stuff since 2001 was just in 1 box. SAD… but now as of today, there is no more box left as it has to be cleared away. it’s good in a way that i’m not there to see what is in the box, i might just decide to keep everything again… hahhaa…

so today i was just putting some stuff into my lil ol kancil’s boot (been a long while since i went there), and i came across this ‘Drakkar Noir’ metal box, couldn’t remember what was in there and when i opened it, there were cassette tapes in there!! oh.my.gosh!! and there was Richard Marx, and Rick Price, and Jars of Clay, and Steven Curtis Chapman and etc… all in the box!! and that box brought me all the way back to 1999! oh sweet memories!!

the treasure box

guess which one i chose to listen to first? of course it’s Rick Price, don’t even have to think. *sheepish* and as i drove the short way to pick up Arielle from school, i can’t begin to describe the nostalgic feeling i was having; was somewhat high or perhaps it’s just mr blue-eyes’ voice ****melts****

mr blue eyes in cassette form

2011 already!

wow!! it’s already July and i’ve not posted anything for year 2011 as yet! last i checked it was still January. since i’m more relaxed today, which is sooo unusual, thought i’d take this time to quickly write some updates. (also because i was reminded by Claire G when she talked about her new blog that mine’s growing molds now )

my status was changed from SAHM to WAHM (Working At Home Mom) after CNY thanks to a good buddy who was willing to hire me to work online at home as a Customer Service for the company she’s managing. i started right after the hols, and so far, the pay has brought about a whole lot of difference to our monthly budget – in all things, He knows and He provides.

work is easy peasy, just a matter of time – what with housework, cooking and baby-sitting. the last one taking the most of my time. so when the kids nap in the afternoon, that’s my official worktime. and ever since Arielle started going to pre-school (8am – 12pm), i’ve had more quality time with Ashton during the morning hours, and sometimes read a chapter of a book before he gets up. THIS is luxury!!

Ayl has left the Sony family and joined Digi (communications company) in mid-May. he’s had to travel to Shah Alam everyday which makes 2hours of travelling to and fro every working day. sometimes, he gets home only at 8pm and that meant, more time for me with the kids… wwweeeee…. [note the sarcasm].

will write more when i’ve got more interesting things to post other than the boring everyday housewife blabber; though i do wonder if there ever will be anything more exciting than watching Ashton drool *sighs* till then…

 

 

Update 29/Sept

Ash’s teething now at 11months; he gave us a REALLY REALLY hard time these past few days and nights. i checked and 2 teeth are coming out from the upper gum; must be so painful for him. we slept at 2am for 2 nights, but not before having to endure his loud crying and whining. it was really such a trying time for all of us; whatever we did was wrong – he just couldn’t stop crying. on Monday night, i didn’t know what else to do and i was tired, so i just let him lie on our bed and cry. there were no tears, just a lot of loud whining and tantrum throwing.

Thank God it was over yesterday (thanks to those who prayed), and today his fever was gone and his temperament was much much better. at the least, i didn’t have to carry him everywhere i went, which made it easier for work around the house.

Any of you know any effective home remedies other than teething gel to soothe the ‘gum-ache’? it got so bad that we ended up rubbing some DOM (brandy) on his gums, coz we heard that rum helps but we didn’t have any so… (shrugs) that was the next best thing. that was Sunday night, and on Monday night, I took a full shotglass of DOM, just to spike the milk (well, MY milk) but he was so caught up crying and whining that he didn’t take the bait. hahaha…

www.starfall.com

holding a pretend microphone, i interviewed Arielle.

‘What is your name?’

- My name is Arielle (she previously said ‘Arielle is Girl’ when asked in front of everyone in Children Church, hhahaa… don’t ask me why)

‘How old are you?’

- 3 years already.

‘What do you like?’

- Arielle likes Pumpkin!

Super cute when she’s being so nice and when Ash’s asleep.

there’s a meaning behind the ‘pumpkin’ she’s talking about. it has to do with www.starfall.com. this site was introduced to me by Annette when we were still in Bratislava.

it’s a children’s site for learning English, for ages 2 and above (i’m judging from my own daughter’s competency here) in a very fun and interactive way. there are games and activities to assist learning shapes, colours, the alphabets and phonics, which ultimately leads to reading.

what i like about it is it’s interactive, it has songs to attract my preschool daughter, it focuses on the phonics of every alphabet (even on every click!) and the lesson plans are very interesting. it teaches us the correct pronunciation of every word we use in English (no Manglish here la ya). what’s more? IT’S FREE!!!! it’s a free tool i get to use everyday to homeschool my preschooler. my daughter loves it so much she bugs me everyday for it! (her fav is the Pumpkin)

so, if you’re looking for a tool to teach your kids English – here’s a very good one; just get online!

what is SAHM?

SAHM – Stay At Home Mom

so i’m back and not working but staying home with the kids. people start asking me what i do at home with them… a simple question i cannot find an answer to. it’s been slightly more than a month already, what have i been doing with them at home?

how do i define the exact job description of a Stay Home Mom??

i ‘officially’ get up from the bed at 8am or 8.30am; ‘officially’ because i was never even fully knocked-out asleep anyway since my no.2 was born (he’s 9months now) but still rouses once or twice in the night. my guess is he’s just checking on us, i don’t know. in addition to that, since my no.1 still shares our room but on her own bed, she gets up sometime at night to use her potty. i know i don’t have to supervise her anymore, but i’m just up just in case.

and then there are the miserable nights when no.1 gets bitten by mozzies and couldn’t stop-whining-and-go-to-bed where i get only 45% of sleep at night because if she doesn’t stop, no.2 will get up as well and THEN, there will be no sleep at all for everyone! that’s life living in the tropical country!

i also get up most nights to switch off the air-con and then open the window for ventilation; to which the Muslim morning prayers will wake me near 6am because we stay so near the mosque. by 7am, Ayl’s alarm would set off but i’d make sure he gets up on time for his bath and work.

babysitting ain’t easy when i also have housework to do. there are laundry and diapers to be washed, dried, folded and kept; there’s the floor to be kept clean for no.2 to crawl on; there is mealtime which means i’ll need to find the time to prepare food before they get hungry and cranky; there is bathtime and naptime and playtime – all these with a lot of attention and focus needed. since no.2 is only 9months, he needs more naptime and often when he’s tired and i’m too busy, he’d get really cranky – and then i’ll go crazy. it’s difficult to juggle a curious and active 2+y.o. child with a baby especially when it comes to naptimes; when one wants to sleep and the other one doesn’t. but i thank God that my lil one is a good girl, she’d keep really quiet when i tell her to so that her younger brother gets to sleep. because then, mommy gets to play with her!

EVERYDAY IS UNPREDICTABLE! when things go smooth (no one goes cranky and everyone is ‘tame’), it’s good. but when things go bad, it can get really bad – like losing my sanity!! so what’s the trick to keeping the peace?

1. ensure all their needs are met and satisfied before doing other insignificant things ie laundry, or if you can hold it from going to the toilet or… checking your FB!

2. if you need to prepare food but can’t find the time to – wake up before the kids do or prepare them the day before or whenever you have free time.

3. forget about ME-time; until they’re asleep or when your spouse is back home to take over… for a while. this include your bath/toilet time well, you know what they say, Love is Sacrifice!

so, this is my day everyday. when i get some ME-time, i try baking (very new at this) and i update my blog!

Settling Down Once Again

wow… i’ve stopped writing for more than a month! how time really flies when there is so much to do. we’re setting up our house little by little, we have most of what we need, the basic necessities like the bed, wardrobe, dining table and chairs, kitchen cabinet except for curtains and a sofa set. i think we’ve gotten so used to living without curtains in Brats (well, we have them in Brats but they were the see-through type) that it’s not in our priority list; but it shall come soon.

after we touched down, we stayed over at Bro Ray’s for a few days and borrowed a car from Bro Fred so we could go around (very grateful to them for their generosity and hospitality). Sis D prepared our lunches and dinners the few days we were there. the kids had a tough time settling down what with the jetlag, different environment and especially the change of weather. Ashton cried and cried nearly every night and didn’t want anyone else but me; not even his ‘Slumberland’ daddy. and because Ashton was crying so loudly, Arielle couldn’t fall asleep. so we’d end up sleeping at 5am and waking up at 12pm for almost a week!

we decided that it wasn’t so nice to have the kids continue wreaking so much havoc in our host’s house (their kids need to go to school) so, we went to purchase a mattress (Vono – comfy!) and quickly moved into our then empty apartment as soon as possible. John’s sister gave us a single mattress and also a small infant mattress, so that helped a bit with our sleeping condition. few days later, we went to purchase things like the water heater, aircon!! and my gas cooker with oven . woohoo! i get to bake and grill here too!

we got more stuff from Ikea since they were having a SALE and (i don’t know how to phrase this better but…) we got a culture shock! LOL!! either we forgot or we’ve gotten used to shopping at Ikea Bratislava, we just couldn’t understand why there is so many people at Ikea KL – it took us nearly an hour looking for a space just to park our car! what the heck is going on! and inside the showrooms and market place itself, it was so packed that one can’t even walk, you’ll need to tag slowly behind the massive sea of people with trolleys and prams and crying children and oh! just trying to describe it now makes me breathless and lightheaded again. and all we wanted to do was to get what we wanted and get out of there, but then the line at the checkout counters were long as well. really really? does everyone go there to shop for something or just for fun’s sake – coz it was no fun at all for us. no way are we going back there again unless it’s really worth the trip.

all done up but a tad too high for me :P

the kitchen, and i managed to cook for a month like this

dining table – the ONLY table before the kitchen cabs were fixed

our room, we just recently got our wardrobe so no more bags

the installation of the kitchen cabs

our store from Ikea shelves

currently we’re still waiting for 70% of our stuff from the sea cargo; it’s ETA is mid Aug. by then we’ll have another headache of unpacking and looking for space to keep our things in proper. hopefully everything will fit into this smaller unit. meantime, the kids have adjusted themselves and we’ve somewhat resumed a daily routine; the next big purchase will be for a suitable car because currently we’re using my little white kancil 660cc. nothing wrong with that since my father kept it in really good condition, it’s just a bit constrained due to 2 babyseats behind, and a ‘Slumberland’ daddy-o in front.

oh and i nearly forgot to mention; the kitchen cabinet we got from the hired contractor was fabulously done with a good price. (thanks Goons!) the materials used aren’t el-cheapo and the workers who came fixed up everything nicely and NEATLY (swept and wiped everything after). needless to say, we were happy with the end product as well as the service. if you’re interested, drop me a line.