Random Recollections

Yes Man

2011-06-12T22:53:00.002+08:00

My sons and I just watched 'Yes Man' on TV. Starring Jim Carey and Zooey Deschanel, about a guy who challenges himself to say "yes" to everything. We loved it because it's funny and has a very positive ending. It has already influenced Russell to be enthusiastic and he has been saying yes so far!

When I asked him to buy dinner for himself and Jonah, he said Yes without hesitation!

When I asked him to go shower, he said yes!

When I asked Jonah to throw the trash they left behind after dinner, Russell jumped in to say he'll do it!

Then he asked me if there's anything else I would like him to do. Messy bedroom? Yes, he went straight to tidy it up.

Ok, ok, you might ask so what's so special about that? It's for himself anyway right? Well, Russell has a habit of dragging his feet whenever he's told to do things. Or find excuses not to follow through... So I was rather happy about his enthusiasm until he popped the question...

"Can I play PS3?" LOL...I knew there was something up his sleeves! It's the June school holidays so I said yes. As I was walking to my room I overheard him telling Jonah that good things do happen to people who are positive. He's kind of right because of his earlier enthusiasm, it lightened my mood to say yes to his request.

Have you been positive lately?

As if...

2011-03-30T10:51:00.000+08:00

Last weekend, hubby and I took the boys to Tampines mall for lunch and a little shopping. At the Guardian Pharmacy, Jonah spotted something colourful at the check-out counter.

*Pls click on pix for larger image.

The boys ended up laughing so hard about the manufacturer's "silliness". Hubby and I had to try our very best to put on a straight face while the 2 of them spoke out loud. Surprisingly, the cashier didnt have any emotion on her face. I guess, it wasnt the first time kids do that in the store. What kind of things have your kids say out loud in public that they didnt realised it was awkward?

Bathrooms

2011-03-25T20:40:00.000+08:00

So how do you make these two bathrooms look pleasant without spending too much money hacking the tiles and putting in new ones?

It would cost us $8000 to replace the tilings on the wall and floor. We were lucky to chance upon a company that used a special paint to coat the tiles and apparently will last for 8-10years. And the price? Only $2500 for two bathrooms' walls and floor. To save more cost, we decided to spray the wall tiles white and retain the original floor tiles. Spraying 2 bathroom wall tiles was only $1700. That meant we saved $6300 already!

The toilet bowls and sinks were still in very good condition and we contemplated on keeping them but the colour was not to our liking. The water heater was old too so we decided to pick something new. We went window shopping and finally found a shop at Geylang Road that was having a sale promotion. We spent about $2484 for the two bathrooms' accessories.

Labour cost for replacing and installing the toilet bowls and sinks was $300. After looking at videos online on how to install toilet bowl, Hubby felt confident that he could do it too. And he did! We had trouble with the first bowl due to our inexperience but the subsequent one was easily done :)

Hubby was amazing! He covered the unsightly drain pipings with the wooden doors from the build-in wardrobe that we dismantled. Changed all the water pipings and installed the toilet bowls, sinks, taps and the water heater pack. And then, he bought teak wood (water resistant) from the timber yard at Changi Road for $195 and made wooden decks for both bathrooms' floors to have a separation from the shower areas.

Previously, the shower area in the common bathroom was right next to the door. We just couldn't accept that and changed the position. Now it's nearer to the toilet bowl and we put in a toilet paper holder with a flap cover to prevent the paper getting wet when the boys take their shower.

We also removed the old window glass panels and spray-painted the silver grilles to white. With the measurements, we went to get customised sand blasted glass panels from the glass makers in Eunos Industrial Estate for about $40. Finally our bathrooms are ready for use :)

Inclusive of the mirrors we bought from Ikea for $28.90, Ikea towel rail and towel hangers for $28.90, we spent about $4500 on renovations and furnishing for the two bathrooms. The other stuffs like basket for toilet rolls storage, shower rod, shower curtains, glass shelves for miscellanous and dustbins were from our old place. My brother in-law told me he spent more than 10K renovating his 2 bathrooms! How much did you spent renovating yours?

My 3rd home

2011-02-21T12:02:00.000+08:00

Finally, I am able to take a little break. The home reno was really hectic. Thanks to my super handy hubby, we managed to do 90% of the reno by ourselves. We started out with full enthusiasm about savings lots of money with my creativity and his handy-ness. He had only about one month off from work so we tried to do it as quickly and effecient as we can. As the days draws nearer to the dateline, fustrations and tiredness set in. There were some things that we had wished we hadnt done all by ourselves and some things that we realised just can't be cut short. Here's a little preview of my humble home. I'll definitely elaborate on what we did in the next few entries. And the calculations on how much we had saved!

Busy busy busy, very busy...

2011-01-07T09:18:00.000+08:00

Happy 2011!

My days are filled with sorting, packing, clearing, cleaning, painting....I'm so so tired, my fingers, arms and feet are aching but I must perservere....Moving into my new flat soon :) Will let you in on our slow but surely progress when this busy-ness is over.

My boys helped paint the flat as well. They get better and better everyday. This was what happened the 1st time they did and it was overwhelming for my 9yr old physically.
*Please click on the pic for larger image

Yea..my new teenager has new ways of thinking these days... He surprised me regularly :)

A Christmas gift for you?

2010-11-02T22:05:00.000+08:00

I really enjoy creating comic strips at stripgenerator.com, and I would love to make a strip for you. For Christmas 2010! Just send me a short story of how you want your story to be told. It can be something funny, something touching, something interesting....No strings attached just as long as you allow me to share your strip freely. You can use it in your greeting cards, gift tags, desktop, cd cover, book cover, diary cover, scrapbook, etc....

A friend told me this story of his experience when he was a cabin crew more than a decade ago.
*pls click on the pix for larger image

He made sure his passenger got more than he had asked for. Yup, he went heavy on the alcohol. And the poor passenger was knocked out for the rest of the 12 hour flight! Don't worry, he has quit long time ago....which means you will not be served by him by any chance :D

Send me an email eileen@budgetestore.com . Will accept last request on 15 Dec 2010. Hope to hear from you soon, cheers!

Honesty, the best policy?

2010-10-26T09:52:00.000+08:00

This happened earlier this year when the primary threes are choosing their CCAs for the year. Being unathlete Jonah avoided the sports. Uniformed group was too much commitment just in case he didnt enjoy it in the midst of it so he opted for clubs. The comic below tells the rest of the story....
*pls click on the pix for larger image

Poor baby was too afraid to tell the truth so I coaxed him into writing how will the Gradening Club benefits him instead. After attending almost a year of gardening, he has learn to pull out weeds, prepare a pot for planting chili seeds (yes, the chilli plant is still alive seating in our corridor :)), attempted many tasks like leaf pressing, make a dried seeds collections, poster, making a silly poem about plants, he was awarded a Young Botanist Badge organised by the Science Centre Singapore!

So I asked him if he would like to switched to another club next year and he said he's happy to stick to this one :)

Daddy Long Legs

2010-10-15T08:20:00.000+08:00

Our bookshelves are bursting with books! It was time for me to clear some but I found it hard to lose some of them like this one by Jean Webster.

I won this in 2nd prize for my school's geography quiz in the secondary one category back in 1982! Yes, truly a long long time ago :) I left the other books lying on the floor and went into reading this one all over again. Typical story that teenage girls would love and it tickled me all over again. I felt like a teenager during that couple of hours reading by the terapin's pond. It would be nice to be able to share it with a daughter, I guess, I'll have to wait for a grand-daughter in the future. The book is so old and yellow already, actually more brown than yellow.....I hope it won't fall apart when the time comes.

Do you have a book that is sentimental to you?

Sex and the Kiddy

2010-10-14T09:16:00.001+08:00

Yesterday I attended the third lesson in the Parent Facilitator Course. It's a 40 hour training for parent volunteers which empower us to facilitate the running of SFE programmes and the formation of parent support groups. It's subsidised by MCYS and module 1 covers topics like family life cycle, developement stages of tweenies, how marriage can affect parenting, challenges of teenagers and family wellness. I learn something new about parenting and my children on every lesson. Yesterday we touched on a topic most parents avoid discussing with their children. Yes, it's about sex and not 'that thing'! LOL....As for me, I'm pretty comfortable talking about it with my 2 boys since I started reading them books about where do babies come from when they were just toddlers. "Mummy laid an egg" by Babette Cole is one of my favourite. It's funny, factual and very frank.

Whenever the boys ask any questions concerning sex, hubby and I would try to answer them as honest and factual as possible. I remembered when I was in preschool, I asked my mom about how did I come out from her tummy and she said through her armpit! That led to another question of how was that possible and she said she had actually found me in the toilet bowl! I knew she was kidding because she was giggling but it puzzled me for the longest time. What kind of other silly answers did your parents give you when you were young?

But I guess some questions are hard to answer like this one from Russell when he was 10.
*Pls click on the pix for larger image

Elder Wise

2010-10-12T08:49:00.000+08:00

I respect my mom-in-law. She's great at time management and is a fabulous cook. She could babysit 2 toddlers, clean her home and make 3 warm meals a day for her family of 5. She could even find the time to read the papers and scrutinise the property market. Through her encouragement, savings and hard work of moving from a HDB flat to a HUDC apartment to a terrace house, both my parents-in-law eventually sold their landed property to become millionaires and now living happily in an EA flat with little to worried about. She is a wonderful mom-in-law and we get along very well. Although I respect her a lot, there are times when she's a tad old fashioned in her thinking, well to me at least....

So when she whipped out this advise on how to be a good housewife, I thought it was joke until I heard my hubby mentioned a conversation they had on a guys' night out 2 days ago. I was stumped and my mom-in-law's words slammed into my head at that point. The sequence of the actual event wasn't really like that in the comic below but the words are real.
*Click on the pix for larger image

LOL! Well, my fellow homemakers, how about you? Do you try to finish your chores before the hubby is home or do you start only when he gets home? Maybe I shall surf Bloggers until hubby gets home before I start sweeping and mopping that darn sticky floor! hee...

It's a Ferrari or something!

2010-09-16T08:22:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday, I went to pick Russell and his 3 friends up from their Junior Youth Group meeting. It was my turn to send the boys home and I was driving my van. This was the conversation they had....

*Click on the pix for bigger image

Of course it's not a Ferrari! LOL! Gotta love kids : D

He's so going to Swenson's

2010-08-31T08:16:00.000+08:00

Couple of months back, I received a parent letter from school requesting that the Primary 3 children to take an International Competitions and Assessments for School (ICAS) conducted by Educational Assessment Australia, UNSW Global Pty Limited.. I sent an email to Jonah's form teacher to inquire if it was necessary to put the kids through another 'exam'. He explained that the kids would enjoy the challenge as the questions would be very interesting. Jonah said he would like to try it out so I consented. Later on, another letter was sent out to parents to remind us not to give undue stress to our kids for this test so I just let Jonah take his test without any kind of 'training'. In fact I'd totally forgotten about it until he came home one afternoon telling me about the test. He said the Science paper was pretty tough.

Yesterday, he came home from school looking very tired after Chinese remedial class and the Health & Fitness program. He flopped on the sofa for awhile before telling me excitedly about his day. The children received their results for the Science performance. The results were graded as Participation, Credit, Distinction and High Distinction. And he recieved a Certificate of Distinction! In the result's letter, it stated that his score was in the top 11% of Primary 3 Participants in Singapore. WOW! Top 11%!

Needless to say, we are very proud of his achievement. He was smiling from ear to ear and did a little jig when I said he was so going to Swenson's! LOL! Ice-cream is his favourite and he loves eating at Swenson's, which we go only on such special occasion.

I've also framed up the Certificate and put it in our glass shelf 'Hall of Fame'. Every year he received a little laminated certificate of encouragement from his form teachers for doing well in his school's exams. Most times, he's nonchalent about it but this time, I can see he is very happy with this little achievement. It's a joy to watch him glow in confidence :)

My kind of Therapy

2010-08-15T09:10:00.000+08:00

Most people enjoy clothing shopping but I prefer browsing in furnishing stores. I can spent hours looking at stuff and it's therapy for me. My all time favourite place is IKEA. It's very casual, no one follows me around the store and yet I can always find someone to help me when I need it. I get to touch and test out almost everything I see. Then when I get tired or hungry, there's a cafe with yummy Swedish meatballs and free coffee or tea. I was delighted when IKEA opened a branch in Tampines. It's just 5 minutes drive from my home and parking is free because of its location. The products are priced reasonably well and I love their slogan, "You don't have to be rich to be clever." .

Every year, every household in Singapore will receive their latest catalogue. Just a couple of days ago, we received our 2011 catalogue. So I've been spending a couple of minutes here and a half an hour there flipping through it. I enjoy looking at their simple designs and I keep every issue. Yes, I do take them out once in a while to get inspiration one way or another. Did you know that I even have their catalogue dated 1988?

Are you an IKEA fan too?

My Water Babies

2010-08-04T09:48:00.001+08:00

The first time I took Russell to the pool was when he was just 6 months old. I could tell that he loved it because he was splashing and kicking happily sitting in his floatie. We took him to our friends' private pool at least once a month. Pat and Rodney have two boys and they love playing with Russell eventhough they were a few years older.

Then one day I chanced upon a book; Water Baby: A First Fun Book of Water Skills by Lauren Heston. It has lots of beautiful pixs of babies swimming and their eyes were opened wide in the water! I was fascinated and bought it. It has clear guides and steps on teaching your babies to hold their breadth automatically before dipping their heads in the water and how we can help them gain confident and freedom swimming on their own. After reading it I was so excited because instead of just dipping in the pool and lazing around watching Russell play, I could actually do something useful and fun.

Well, it was fun indeed. Especially watching him enjoy our 'lessons'. When he was about 18mths old, we bought an underwater disposable camera and took precious pixs of him in the water.

Unfortunately, we didn't take the same kind of photos of Jonah. But Jonah is a 'dugong'. He can sit in the pool daydream all day if I allow him to. He loves the weightlessness and cool feeling that the water gives. He enjoys sitting in the pool, jaccuzzi, the inflatable wading pool, in the ocean by the beach and even tried to cover the shower room drain with a cup to fill it up with water. If we have a bath tub, I bet he'll want to sit in it all day long.

This photo was taken when Russell was 10 and Jonah was 7. They love dipping in the pool so much they won't get up until their palms are all wrinkled and pale as ghosts!

Reading

2010-08-02T09:30:00.000+08:00

I love to read. But it didn't start till I was 11years old.

My first book was by Enid Bryton given to me at age 10 by my cousin Doreen and I fell asleep after the first page. LOL...in fact I had phobia looking at Enid Bryton's books after that!

When I was 11, I went to live with my brother and granny in her employers home. There was a wicker shelf filled with their older boys' old and forgotten comics and storybooks in our bedroom. The room was very small and the books are always in my face so I picked them up to read when I had nothing to do. That was it, I was hooked. I started borrowing classic stories and Nancy Drew's collection from school.

When I became a teenager, I giggled over paperback love stories. I was lucky that granny's employer has a daughter just 2 years my senior. We were 2 giggling teenage girls who were nuts over the paperbacks. She received generous amount of pocket money from her dad each week so I got to read the books for free after she was done.

But after high school, comics became my thing. The Adventures of Asterix were my favourite and I hunted down every series at Bras Basah Complex. There used to be many 2nd hand bookstores there but the number has dwindled down to maybe 2 or 3 now. Garfield comics were my favourite too. I could read the comics over and over again and still laugh every time!

When I was a flight attendant, I had lots of time in my hands when I was cooped up in the hotel of a foreign land with eyes that could not sleep due to jet lag. I would spend my time reading fictions and non fictions alike. When I read, I feel totally absorb in it and sometimes laugh aloud or cry softly. I can feel intense, excitement or relief as the story goes. And I enjoy being in my own world while reading.

My boys have been reading since they were born. From Eric Carle to Eric Hill to Todd Par and Roger Hargreaves when they were babies and toddlers. I used to pick books for them at the stores or library but now they pick their own. They particularly enjoy informative and stories with big dose of humour in them. Unlike me, they enjoy Enid Bryton's series by the way! They also enjoy my Garfied comics and Asterix Adventures. At 9 and 11, they've read so many many books between them. Recently, Russell received a gift from his school's library for being one of the highest book borrowers in school.

The boys would borrow books from school with each other on their minds! How cute is that?! They would tell each other excitedly about their finds and how they know that the other brother would love them too :)

Since becoming a parent, I enjoy reading inspirational, motivational and self help books. I've been introduced to The Law of Success by Napoleon Hill a month ago and it inspired me to teach my kids what I've learned from the book. It's a very thick book and it has 15 sest of laws that everyone should know and learn. And these laws will be very effective in helping anyone to be successful in whatever the person wants to become.

What are you reading now?

I'm a lucky girl

2010-07-26T09:41:00.002+08:00

It's not any special day but over the weekends, dear hubby made breakfast, lunch and dinner. Oh, how I love him for that :)

Cooking is not something I enjoy. I learn to make omelete and instant noodles when I was 9. My cousin taught me that in case no one was home to make lunch or dinner. She also taught me how to cook rice and my main duty was to pluck the roots off the beansprouts every weekend and I hated it! I cringed every time I see her buy beansprouts from the wet market.

When I was living with my granny, she was chief cook. The only time she ask me to help in the kitchen was to wash the dishes, clean the stove or pound the chillies, dried shrimps ( I hated pounding). She's a great cook by the way. I love her 'loh bak'(soya pork stew), 'mi hoon kueh' (flour dough soup) and 'mi suah teng'(rice noodle soup) and many, many more.

Later when I moved in with my Uncle's family, I realised how lucky I was to have granny in charged of the kitchen before. Uncle's wife was not very good when it comes to cooking. They are mostly very bland.

And then I met my dear hubby. We were 18 and I was invited to his mom's delicious home cooked food very often. It was in his parent's home that I learn how to prepare more ingredients and a little more cooking skills. My mom-in-law is not only an incredibly good cook but also a very patient teacher. Alas, I do not have the patient nor talent in that area but managed to learn the very basic stuff. I'm just lucky dear hubby inherited his mom's talent and has the passion to whip up great tasting dishes every now and then.

I cook because everyone at home has to eat. Dear hubby cooks because he is inspired. The boys and I are very lucky indeed :) We get to eat all types of cuisine gourmet meals right in our home.

Even breakfast can be special in our home, like having the 'Toad-in-the-Hole'. BTW, it didn't only looked good but also tasted so, so, so fabulously yummy!

Recycle your Tank Tops

2010-07-19T16:14:00.000+08:00

I was going through my clothes in the wardrobe and weeded out some short tank tops. Once upon a time when my tummy was still flat, I loved them. Now, the extra ' fatties' flopped out when I put them on and it's kind of obscene to me wearing them at my age. They are still in good conditions and I can't bear to throw them away. And then suddenly, an idea hatched and I became obsessed in turning them into bags :)

1) First remove tag from old tank top.

2) Turn top inside out and line the 2 sides together. Pin the bottoms together on the dotted line.

3) Sew straight through the bottom.

4) Turn it right way out and ta-da, you've got a new casual hand bag!

You can add a brooch or sew an applique of your choice on it for a different look.

I've turned 2 more tank tops into bags.

Try it, it's SO easy!

Teacher vs Russell

2010-07-13T16:04:00.002+08:00

I've been busy with volunteer work in the boys' school again. I help out with the weekly Math Mom and Learning Mentor programs. I enjoy motivating the children and watching them improve academically and emotionally. I also help out in ad hoc programs like chaperoning on excursions and manning the booths during Chinese New Year period and will be helping out with Racial Harmony Week next.

I started volunteering when Russell was in primary one. His teacher gave the class a form each for their parents to fill up if anyone of us wanted to be parent volunteers. Russell was excited at the idea of me getting involved and I thought maybe it would helped me get to know the school and teachers better. Whenever we were in school together, Russell would not fail to tell his friends (whoever we walked pass) and teachers that I'm his mom and I'm a Parent Volunteer! LOL...so cute right?! I know most of his teachers pretty well and they gave me feedback very often too.

I stopped volunteering when I started working part-time in the children's library across the road from my home. The teachers and I communicated less and trouble started brewing during Russell's Chinese lessons. When he was in primary 2, he had weekly Chinese spelling test. He was supposed to learn about 8 -12 new characters each week. There was a time when he told me there weren't any spelling test after school on test days. And that went on for about 2 weeks. On the 3rd week, I was waiting at the school gate for him when I bumped into his classmate. I told him how lucky he was for not having spelling test for so many weeks. He looked at me with a puzzled face and told me they had Chinese spelling test every week! I was shocked and surprised that the Chinese teacher didn't inform me why Russell hadn't been doing his tests. I met up with her the next day and she told me why she stopped demanding work from my defiant boy. *Pls click on pix for larger image.

He really scare his teacher with that crazy move! Russell feels embarrassed about his action now when I retell this story. But it made Jonah laugh whenever he remembers it.

School Day's Blues

2010-06-28T08:17:00.000+08:00

The June school holidays is gone! Waking up before sunrise has resumed for me and the boys today. Jonah was struggling to get up this morning. Hubby who is the night owl has turned the whole family into nocturnal creatures and we didn't wake up till after 10 am during the holidays. From tonight, the boys are going to bed early again :) But I know they will still struggle to wake up the next morning....as usual....

* Pls click on the pix for larger image

Why is it that the boys are up and about at 6.30am on the weekend but struggle to wake up on school days! I asked the boys this same question when their chatters woke me one beautiful Sunday morning and their replies were, "I don't know mom, I just wake up and can't go back to sleep."

Maybe the thought of schoolwork makes them tired but a whole day of fun ahead keep them excited. I guess I can't blame them because I remembered those days, feeling really tired the moment I changed into my flight attendant's uniform and wished I didn't have to work, LOL!

Coach is the new shade

2010-06-22T15:11:00.001+08:00

Russell loves computer games, playstation games, reading and playiung with lego when he was only 5 years old and still does. He prefered not to participate in physical activities and I felt it was not very healthy. I spoke to him about why we must do different kind of activities to be healthier in our bodies and minds. And he agreed to pick one physical activity to do at least once a week. I gave him a list of things he can do at the nearby community centre and he chose mini soccer. Honestly, when he told me he wanted to try soccer, I was surprised because neither hubby and I are soccer fans. But I went along and signed him up. We got him the shoes, socks and shin guards.

It rained heavily on the first lesson so the coach directed the students and parents to the indoor basketball court in the community centre. There, they got to know each other and did some kicking around the cones exercises. From 2nd lesson onwards, it was conducted at a nearby school field. We were lucky to have sunny morning every Sunday. First half of the lessons were usually on tackling and learning new kicking, footing techniques. The school building provided shade from the sun onto the field. 2nd half of the lessons was match time which most of the kids loved. The preschooler group was smaller and looked so tiny and cute running after the ball in the big field. By this time, the sun would have risen higher and the shadow from the school building did not reach the field any more. Every weekend was the same, but the first time it happened I thought he had disappeared.

*Please click on pix for larger image

It was quite amusing when I spotted him squatting behind his coach. His coach was looking high and low for him while he did the duck walk following the coach's shadow. When I asked him why he did that, he said the sun was too hot for him! That went on every Sunday until the basic course ended and I took him off soccer. Next, I signed him up for basic swimming lessons and hoped the sun was less hot for him. He did better but it was amusing watching him do the swim test. It puts a smile on my face just remembering it :)

Lost again....

2010-06-20T14:41:00.000+08:00

Since we lost and found Caramale in April, we've been very careful whenever we open our front door. Sometimes he still managed to dash out in a blink of an eye but most times, we are able to spot him and bring him back. This time round, no one saw him sneaking out and he is gone since Friday night. Jonah cried very badly and Russell tried to cheer him up eventhough he is sad too. Hubby and I walked the 12 storeys in our building to look but didn't find him. I put up a notice at our lift lobby at the void deck and told which ever neighbour I bumped into about it. So far, I have not heard from anyone yet. Sigh....

Wrong button?

2010-06-18T23:03:00.000+08:00

I'm not a racist. I have friends who are Chinese, Malay, Indian, Caucasian and other inter racial mixed race. But whenever I had any Indian sector flight on my flight roster that month, I would always shudder at the thought of it! And I was not alone. Every other flight attendants I knew felt the same way. Most would report sick on that day and someone on standby would get called up. I had never reported sick on these flights, however, was called up many times for such flights. It's almost always full on these flight. I don't know why but passengers on these flights in the economy class were very demanding. They wanted everything that we had on board and many are drinkers.

Usually, there will be drink cart service after take-off. The first time I did Singapore-Madras(now known as Chennai) flight, I was warned to be vigilant and keep my eyes out for quick hands. True enough, once I was in the cabin, every passenger would speak to me at once asking for this drink and that. And when I turned back to my cart after serrving one passenger, one of my bottle of wine or whisky would have disappeared.

After that, dinner would be served and the passengers would again asked for more alcohol. And after dinner service, they would continue to ask for more drinks. Be it for coffee, tea, soft drinks, alcoholic drinks, playing cards, pens, post cards and plastic bags, no crew would be spared in the economy class. We practically walked all the way to Madras! It was exhausting running in and out of the galley and cabin attending to passengers' requests. It was tough to keep smiling whenever we were in the cabin throughout the 4 hour flight. But there was one incident that happened on my flight which made me smile voluntarily whenever I thought about it.

*Please click on pix for larger image

Once we reached Madras, we would transit at the airport for an hour before returning home with another full load of passengers. As this was a late night flight, most passengers would doze off after supper. But there would always be someone asking for things and drinks non-stop! There was one drunk passenger on the return flight who wanted to have a fight with me! I will tell you more another time.....

Uninspired

2010-06-17T18:55:00.000+08:00

I feel uninspired to blog recently. My laptop died on me and all the datas I've created collected over time are gone. Before that, our family PC was busted too so I was internet free for a week. Finally, sweet hubby bought us a PC over the weekend but the break sort of stumped me. I've also lost interest in updating and redecorating my restaurant in Restaurant City in FB which I loved previously. Playing scrabble online doesn't seem that fun any more. Fortunately, there are many blogs to read. Recently, while admiring paintings in Kira's blog, I stumbled upon a link. You may have noticed my awesome new background which I got for free at Shabby's Blog :) There are so many beautiful ones to choose from. Go on, choose one and let me know when you get a brand new look. I want to see it too!

Tomayto, tomaato

2010-06-07T15:08:00.000+08:00

Yea, you know the song that goes, "you say eether, I say aither, you say neether, I say naither"... My name is Eileen. Just reading the word, some would pronounce it as Ee-leen, some would say Ai-leen. I respond to both but will let the other party know it's actually Ai-leen. My son Russell has been called Roo-sell before. But the funniest one I've hear so far was when I did a flight with the Leading Stewardess who pronounced the Chief Steward's name over the PA system.....

*please click on pix for larger image

I'm not perfect either and had my fair share of wrong pronounciations too. But hearing others saying it out loud in the cabin was quite funny actually. Once there was this young stewardess who went to every passengers in Business class asking, "Would you like some pa-ra-lines?". She was offering pralines on a tray after lunch service. By the time I heard her, it was kind of too late. She has already asked 3 quarters of the passengers before I corrected her in private. I've also heard the story of a stewardess asking passengers if they like a choice of bread roll or "baa-jel". No wonder they ran out of bread roll with plenty of bagels left over after breakfast service.

How about you? Heard of any hilarious ones?

Motion sickness

2010-06-05T19:05:00.000+08:00

I can remember as far as when I was 3 or 4 years old, whenever my parents take me for a train ride to visit my paternal grandparents, I would throw up over board. It was a single car train and the click-clack movements on the track made my tummy wrench. And I remember my dad telling me to focus my eyes on the big rocks and blue sky but it didn't work very well. My head was spinning.

My first training flight from Singapore to Perth as a flight attendant, was head spinning! Plus the bad air turbulence, I actually saw the whole cabin spin in front of me and I had to throw up many times! When I reached my hotel room, I flopped in bed and told my batch girl that I wanted to resign. If it weren't for the 1 year contract that I've signed, I would truly had left after that first spinning flight. For the rest of my flying career, I relied on my trusty marzine (airsick pill). I needed one before every flight otherwise I would feel sick and the passengers would have to take care of me instead!

Reading on moving vehicles are definitely out of the question for me. Don't ask me to help look into road maps and directory while the car is moving, I will feel as if oxygen is suddenly cut off from my surrounding and I will feel giddy after that. I felt more tired than relaxed after our bus trip to Genting, Malaysia, a few years back. I'm really terrible with long winding rides, my head will spin.

A couple of months back, my hubby took me and the boys to watch Avatar in 3D. After an hour, I felt stuffy and my sense of smell became very sensitive to the snacks other patrons were eating in the cinema. When I took down the 3D glasses and looked at my hubby and boys, I knew something was not right. They were watching the movie intensely and didn't look like they had any trouble with the air-conditioning. And then I felt my tummy turn, the smell is nauseating and I needed some fresh air. As I was walking out of the cinema, my head began to spin and I felt something travelling up my tummy into my throat. I ran towards the direction of the toilet but it was too late. I threw up in a corner onto the carpet of the corridor before I could leave the cinema's lobby. No one was around as the other movies were still in progress, and I decided to clean myself in the toilet first before informing the cinema's staff about the mess I made. When I returned to the spot where the puke puddle was, it was gone! I didn't see it anywhere.....Hubby said maybe it wasn't the first time someone did that during a 3D movie so perhaps someone was watching the place just in case. Awww...it's so embarrassing!

Hubby took me and the boys for a vacation in Krabi, Thailand just recently. Our friend lives there by the beach. He bought a boat a few months back and invited us to join him. It was a beautiful, beautiful place. And Janejira was a very comfortable boat and the boys enjoyed fishing, swimming and feeding the fish at the island. I did too except for the boat rides. Even after taking the seasick pills, I still wasn't able to fully enjoy myself. Especially when they anchored the boat to fish. The rocking movements just made me want to lay down and close my eyes. Watching the trees in the nearby island is like looking at a 3D poster. Where the graphics seems to move about and form a hidden picture. The trees seemed to move that way to me too. Fortunately my boys didn't inherit the imbalance chemicals genes from me. They even breezed through a storm that we met during the trip. It was pretty scary and yes, my head was spinning!

Can you spot me on the upperdeck? I'm the one half hidden and lying on the comfy beanbags.

Maybe..., maybe not...

2010-05-28T13:03:00.000+08:00

When I was a flight attendant, I was lucky to have travelled to many parts of the world. Besides international flights, I was also given turn around flights within the region. Turn around meaning, I fly to a nearby city, transit for an hour and then fly home. The shortest flight was the one from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur(KL) or KL-SIN. Flight time was usually 45mins but due to stronger tail wind, it could just be 30 mins. On these short flights, we only had time to serve prepacked juice, coffee or tea and flights were usually full. So speed was essential here. No frills unless, of course, if you are seated in the first class. You'll get light refreshment of satay, champagne and the works. The passengers on this short sector were usually quiet and took whatever we serve them without questions. But on one of those flights.....
*Please click on pix for larger image

Maybe he was in the first class before or maybe he thought it was a good chance to show off to his friend next to him, I couldn't tell. Whatever it was, I was glad it calmed him down. He was begining to talk loudly at me and everyone was looking at what I was going to do next. I knew that if I were forced to get a can of beer for him from the first class cabin, the rest will follow the same request. Then we'll never land with the trays up on time! Speaking of landing with trays down, that nearly happened on one of my flights within Europe. But that's a story for another time.....

8 lives left

2010-05-27T10:58:00.000+08:00

Ever since the snake head started eyeing Caramale whenever the cat is near the tank, I've requested hubby to close the top up part in case the fish jumped out to attack. Besides, I've also seen the stupid cat doing the pull-ups trying to have a closer look by hooking it's paws on the ledge of the tank. All that's left opened now, is a palm-sized hole on the side of the cabinet for us to feed the fish. As you know, snakeheads are ferocious fish.

While I was surfing the net yesterday morning, Caramale was loitering near the tank. Suddenly, he lept into that palm sized hole! I literally jumped towards it but could only grab it's tail. It slipped off my hands and I heard a splashed! I screamed and ran to wake hubby who stumbled out of bed in shock. I cried while telling him what happened and we both ran to the tank. I was expecting struggling in the water and nasty inerts floating around but we saw Caramale outside the tank instead, partly wet! I was really frightened for him and I wonder how he got away. He was really lucky to escape without a scratch. I guess cats do have 9 lives after all.

Look at the price!

2010-05-26T08:38:00.000+08:00

I've been calling vets around my neighbourhood to enquire about their service and charges. I was in Tampines recently and walked into one to find out more. The clinic was full and all visits are by appoinment only. I looked at the price list on the wall and was a little shocked at the pricey fees, then I realised why.....to the right of the list was the vet's certificates and he's from Germany. Okay....abit too upperty for my pocket.

After several other calls, I realised that most clinics have similar fees and charges. Just as I was resigned to the high fees and wanted to make an appoinment to bring Caramale to be neutred, one of my friend told me to call a vet in Geylang. The charges are half of the other clinics and it is also run by proffessionals!

It's a quaint little pet clinic with minimal renovation done, so the savings are passed down to customers :) The receptionist and doctors are proffessional and friendly. Well, it turned out Caramale is only about 4 months old and is too young to have the procedure so we had him vaccinated. He was also given a deworming pill and told to return when he is about 6 months old. Total charges, only $21! They didn't even charge me for consultation fee. How wonderful is that!

Do call them if you are looking for a vet. Clinic for Pets: 67451337

The tooth

2010-05-25T15:12:00.000+08:00

Some weeks ago, Jonah complained that the roof of his mouth felt weird. I looked but could not see anything peculiar. He quit complaining after I didn't see anything out of place the few more times. 2 nights ago, my hubby was playing with him, tickling him which made him throw his head back and laugh out loud. And that's when hubby saw the weirdest thing. A tooth is growing out from the roof of Jonah's mouth!

He has gone to see the dental nurse in school today and she gave him a letter to have an x-ray taken before deciding how best to remove it. Appoinment for x-ray is in a month time. I asked the boys if they have ever seen an actual Alaskan Bull worm before showing them this pix! It's our private joke. But if you have watched Sponge Bob Square Pants episode: The worm, then you'll know what I mean....LOL!

Have you come across anything like that before?

Acting like a damsel in distress

2010-05-21T11:05:00.001+08:00

I met all sorts of passengers onboard the aircraft. Nice, friendly, polite, helpful, undestanding ones and the rude, unfriendly, drunk, lewd, take you for granted ones....really...all sorts from all walks of life and different countries. Once, there was a business class passenger who came onboard the aircraft, dropped his bulky garment bag at my feet and flopped onto his seat.

* Please click on pix for larger image

We were taught to never say no to a passenger. No is an unacceptable word. That's why 'we are a great way to fly'. So we need to think on our feet how to get out of sticky situations without appearing rude, unfriendly and unhelpful. Being a petite Asian in that demure looking uniform, I used the damsel in distress method. In this case, he was too embarrass not to help especially with other passengers watching him. Hmmm....I wonder what made him, who was twice my size by the way, think I can lift a bag that he thought was heavy for him.

Caramale picked a winner

2010-05-20T13:11:00.001+08:00

My apologies for this late post. I wasn't feeling too well yesterday and it slipped my mind about the hairband giveaway. I feel much better now after a good rest :)

Anyway, I wrote the names in scrap papers and scatter them on the floor. At first, Caramale just watched them with curiousity from on top of a chair. I was starting to wonder if he would help me pick a winner....After awhile he jumped down, sniffed the papers and started playing with one of them. It's fun to watch him play, he's just so adorable....

Back to the winner...it's.....MamaJ! MamaJ takes beautiful pixs especially of her little one.

Thanks to everyone who entered!

It's the thought that counts

2010-05-14T16:48:00.000+08:00

Very early Mothers' Day morning, I was awaken by Jonah. He was whispering something to me which I couldn't really hear. We didn't want to wake my husband so I got up and went out of the room to hear him out. Rubbing sleep from my eyes, he told me what happened.

*Pls click on pix for larger image

I went into the bathroom expecting the worst scenario. It wasn't as bad as I had expected because he hasn't had breakfast yet! But I appreciate his intentions and thankful for the thought :) It would be a pleasant surprise though, if his stomach hasn't played him out.

Learning Japanese

2010-05-13T08:17:00.000+08:00

I like doing comics strips because I'm poor with words. I'm actually not very good at explanations and descriptions so discovering the comics strip generator here is the best thing ever :).

This happened to me when I was working onboard a flight from Christchurch to Singapore. The Japanese lady passenger was really determined in getting herself the right drink and I learn a new Japanese word in the process! I'll always remember it :)
*Click on the pix for larger image

Good ol'charade :) Does the job every time!

Hairband Giveaway

2010-05-12T11:17:00.001+08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon a blog that shows how the writer made her hairband out of scraps of cloth. It's easy to make and quite pretty too. So I went around looking for old clothes and some of my friends donated theirs. In a short time, I made 5! I love the idea of making stuff out of old things cos I think the 3Rs are so cool. I'm thinking of making more and give them to friends who have donated the old clothes. I've given 2 to my neighbour's daughters and hopefully they'll use them. My hubby is wearing one to keep his wavies back too! LOL...he's so supportive :)

Would you like one? If you are interested in receiving this hairband and some colourful ones I mentioned here, then please leave a comment on this post in the next week. I will draw a name next Wednesday, 19 May. Thanks!

Love this pan

2010-05-11T13:10:00.000+08:00

think vegetable is one of the hardest thing to stir fry. It was a skill hard for me to master to get them soft to eat and still green when cooked. Not anymore :). About 15 years ago, my mom bought me a set of Queen cookware as a house warming gift. She didn't tell me that they were special and I used them like ordinary pots and honestly, I was quite hopeless when it comes to cooking. Until about 4 years ago when I attended a cooking demo in my neighbour's home, I couldn't believe I actually own a set of wonderful pots that do miracle cooking! Let me do a demo here....

1) Wash, drain and cut onions, carrots and brocolli.

2) Put pan on medium fire, put in some cooking oil and cut onions, then cover it.
*Note: you do not need to wait till pan is hot before putting oil and onions.

3) When you can smell the onions flavour, uncover the pan. Stir the onions and see if they are soft. If not, cover pan again. If onions are soft, throw in brocolli and carrots. Cover pan.

4) When you can see bubbling at the edge of the cover, spin the cover. If it spins around easily, uncover pan. See video.

5) Stir the vegetables then put in a table spoonful of chicken stock and few dashes of pepper.

6) Cover the pan again and turn flame to low. *Note: you don't need to stir the vegetables after adding the seasonings.

7) When bubbling appears and cover can be spinned, turn off fire. Mix the vegetables with sauce already in pan and serve.

And VOILA! perfectly cooked stir fry vegetables. Soft to eat and still retains its colour. The pan uses the vegetables natural moisture to cook so no water is needed. Plus while I wait for the bubbling, I'm able to finish washing up the preparations before cooking is done. Besides cooking vegetables, I use the pan to make cakes, tart, roast and grill. How wonderful is that!

I made a cat collar

2010-05-10T09:01:00.000+08:00

Caramale is growing well and my husband suggests we neuter him soon before he starts some undesirable behavior. I will make the appoinment after 2 weeks when the boys' exams are over. Friends told me that cats can be very loving and I agree. He follows me whenever I move about in my home except when he wants to nap. When I'm at my laptop, he'll cuddle up on my lap or sit on my shoulder and watch me type away, teehee...so cute right? Sometimes, he'll come up and lick my cheek and nibble on my ear, LOL.....I know some people find that terrifying!

This is Caramale sitting on my shoulder when I'm online.

He likes it when we watch him eat and would stop and gesture us to pat him before continuing with his feeding. Anyway, Jonah wanted to get him a collar with a bell so we can hear him when he moves around. We went to the pet store but all the collars the shop has are too big for him, even those for cats. So I decided to make one instead. I use a shoelace which I have lost the other half. Sew a bell and velcro to fasten it around Caramale's neck. He didn't seemed to notice the collar at all and wore it without any fuss! I think he likes it.

Took this pix when he was alseep.

Peer Pressure

2010-05-04T15:51:00.001+08:00

Do you have a fussy eater? Well, I have one that will not eat his vegetables. I tried disguising them, decorating them, deep fry them...it didn't work. Jonah has eyes of hawks! He can even see and picked out the tiniest chopped onions pieces that I put in his fried rice. Yes, I even tried to starve him once when he was about 3 or 4 but he went on a hunger strike for 2 days. I gave in of course.....

One day, I managed to bribe him to take a bite of a piece of spinach the size of half my pinky nail. My husband and I were so happy :) but shortlived. He threw up whatever he had eaten earlier plus the speck of spinach after putting it in his mouth!
click on pix to see larger image

Imagine my shocked when I found out that he ate the cheese and lettuce sandwich his teacher had the students made one afternoon during Primary One! I couldn't believe it....he must be under a lot of peer pressure......but I'm delighted that he did :)

Today, he still doesn't like vegetables during meal but lately, he'll eat whatever vegetables I put into the balogne sauce and lasagna without questioning it. He will also accept blended vegetable with fruit juice too.

Jonah's pets

2010-05-03T19:48:00.000+08:00

Jonah maybe shy around new people but he becomes funny once you get to know him better. He's like my husband, full of original wise cracks and jokes. Today, he gave me an idea for a comic strip. I thought it was rather cute :)

Anyway, the idea came from his pets. Many years back, my husband let him keep a tiny little feeding fish as a pet. It turns out to be a snake head. It was half the length of my finger then but now it's my arm's length! We feed it with frogs and frozen fish. It's rather intelligent too. It'll swim towards us whenever we are close. Oh, and scary too cos' it has really sharp teeth and bit my husband's finger twice before. It jumped out of it's tank again recently and poor me had to put him back. I armed myself with kitchen mitts and used a wooden stool to prevent it from flopping about. Russell had a good time laughing at me and filming how I cried while doing it! Cruel...boy!

Caramale is a curious cat. He watches the fish and that made the snakehead mad or hungry...It bashed the tank a few times towards Caramale's directions and I had to take the stupid cat away before the tank burst or the fish jumps out for it. Caramale doesn't watch the fish anymore but I see the fish swimming towards the directions of the cat whenever he is close by. And it watches Caramale instead. Yikes!

Click on the pix for larger view

A typical weekday afternoon...

2010-05-03T10:56:00.000+08:00

Click on pix to see larger image

Yes, that is a very typical weekday at home for me. The boys would be playing excitingly with each other or with Caramale, but when it comes to doing revision or homework, that would really sap their energy! Especially when doing Chinese homework, Jonah would begin to yawn and tilt slowly to his side and end up lying on 2 chairs complaining he is ever so tired.....

How do you motivate your kids to work hard?

I did it!

2010-05-02T18:29:00.000+08:00

My cousins taught me how to cycle when I was around 10, I think. We rented a bike at Marine Parade and I remembered cycling straight into the bush! LOL! I had my share of bruises too.

Took the training wheels off the boys' bikes when Russell was 7 and Jonah was just about 5. Both boys cried and complained a lot while learning under me. What will I do without my beloved husband who knew exactly how to motivate them. See comic for story...

*Click on the pix to see larger image.

How about you? Who taught you to cycle and how old were you then?

Yeah....I win!

2010-05-02T12:07:00.003+08:00

I just recalled this little scene my sons had recently. It's easier to put it down in a comic strip then to describe it for me :) Click on the pix to see larger view

Why you so dark??

2010-05-01T13:43:00.000+08:00

When I was a little girl in Malaysia, no one had ever asked me that question. In fact, I don't remember anyone asking me that question when I was living in Malaysia.

But in Singapore, I get questions and statements like; "Are you Chinese or Malay?", "Why you so dark?", "Oh, I thought you are Malay.", "Eh? You can speak Chinese ah..?". Those were heard very often when I was a little girl till adulthood. My parents have tan skin so I am borned with tan skin and gets darker very quickly in the sun. I'm lucky in a sense that I don't get sunburn even without sunscreen. When I was in primary school, I joined the school brass band. We had to march after school every afternoon in the field because of a national school competition. Some of my friends got heat stroke and fainted while marching. I also took part in the track and field races, so had to practice in the sun too. And I love running around in the sun with my neighbours in the kampong too :) In the end I had really dark, shining skin!

My brother and I on my 11th birthday.

I had to explain that I am actually a Chinese girl to almost everybody I meet. Students in school, taxi drivers, hawkers....etc. I guess, I needn't have to explain if I am more fluent in my Malay language. People I meet usually speak Malay to me, but once I started to converse in Malay, they would begin to ask me those questions. I don't mind explaining, but it became annoying when no one believes I am Chinese after I reveal my true identity! So I learn to go with the flow....

During my preU days, I'll just say I have a Hawaiian mum and everyone believed me! When I was a flight attendant with SIA, I remember speaking Mandarin to a group of Taiwanese elderly passengers during meal time, they were so surprised and asked me where did I learn to speak Mandarin so well!! I told them I learn it from friends :) No one had even noticed my name tag that says, 'Eileen Wong'. One of them was so impressed that she wanted to introduce her son in Taipei to me! LOL....

And then, when I started taking Russell out to the playground, people thought, I was an Indonesian or Philipino maid, LOL! No, I wasn't offended because most kids in Singapore are taken care of by their Indonesian or Philipino maids, so it's easy to make that mistake. But I was a little mad once when I went to pick up Jonah from his preschool. Usually, his class teacher sees them off at the gate but that day she had to attend to something and left the role to her assistant. When Jonah said he didnt get the files that some of his classmates received, I approached the teacher assistant to find out why. She looked fiercely at Jonah and scorned at me saying the children has been informed that the files will be given out on teacher-parent meet day. I was shocked at her reaction but decided against creating a scene in front of all the other children. I spoke to the teacher the next day about the incident. She apologised and admitted that her assistance had also told her about it and had thought I was Jonah's maid! I met the assistance after that in Jonah's classroom. I was there to look at all the children's displayed artworks. She was especially nice to me and greeted me with all smiles but I've already seen her truth self and had no respect for someone like her anymore. I don't understand......can't maids be respected too?

Jonah and me when he was 4 and half years old.

Another incident was when my Uncle passed away a few years ago. I was at the funeral wake talking to some of the guests and one of them asked my niece whose maid was I! She was so embarrassed when she heard the answer and quickly said "oh, no wonder she so pretty...". I don't understand....can't maids be pretty too?

Another time, my husband took me and the kids shopping and movie. That was when Russell was just a toddler and Jonah was just a baby in a sarong sling I was carrying. We bumped into one of his friend. After a short conversation with him, he admitted to my husband that he had been wondering why my husband was taking the maid to the movie before knowing I was actually the wife!

Once, an Ah Pek (Chinese old man) pump attendant at the gas station blowing me kisses when my husband left the car to pay for the petrol. You see, when my kids were still very young, I would sit behind with them in our car just in case they need assistance. Many maids in Singapore usually sit behind their pay master with the kids so I guessed they thought I was one too. Cheeky old man!

These days, many Philipinos are joining our professional work force in Sinapore. I have met many of these engineers, nurses, singers, hairdressers and health workers. And these days, I get a lot of, "Are you from Philipines?" from them :) Maybe it's time to learn some tagalog....

Good thing about not looking like a Chinese is that I don't get harrassed by touters when I was in Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila :) I can walk around freely looking at things I like. It's also a conversation starter whenever I meet new people :) Most people apologised for mistaking me as maids or not Chinese but it doesn't really bother me as long as they treat me with respect. Anyway, nothing's wrong being other races. The truth is, which I learned from my mom only in recent years was that her father was from Chinese and Thai mixed descendants. No wonder.....so it's clearer now, and it's easier to explain why I look like the way I look :)

Found him!

2010-04-29T11:43:00.000+08:00

Yes, Jonah found Caramale pocking his head out of a hole in the corridor closet one floor below us! He was also mewing when the boys approached the lift lobby on their way to school. That's how Jonah noticed him and came back to let me know. I ran down with Jonah and picked Caramale up from the dirty hole leading to the drain. I gave him a wash in a basin of warm soapy water, patted him down with a towel and blew dry him with my hair dryer, set on cool air. He made a little fuss when I wash him, other then that he behaved quite well :) We are very happy to have him back again.

We are now trying to train him to use the potty. I'm getting tired of cleaning up the sand that got swept up whenever he uses his litter box. Sand everywhere! Let's hope the training works.

Come back Caramel

2010-04-22T23:51:00.001+08:00

On March 28, 2010, Saturday, I received an sms from a friend saying she found an abandon kitten outside her home. She heard I've been looking out to adopt one and asked if I wanted that one. (Actually Jonah wanted one). Subsequently, she send me some pixs and my family fell in love with it. We picked it up that night and brought it home. It looked so scared and hissed at us whenever we try to go near it. It would try to get into small spaces, like under the fish tank in the toilet, so we push in lots of stuff there. Then it went under the washing machine and even crawled into the space between the drum and casing! Damian stucked 2 swim boards underneath it. With no more small spaces to hide, it settled under the basket cover. See pix.

After 3 days of tender loving care from all of us, it warmed up to us, became more playful and started eating well. We didn't see any hanging testes so we named it Caramel. Caramel slowly became more confident and started exploring other areas of our apartment but would scoot back to the comfort of the toilet, where we placed her basket, whenever she heard any sudden noise or footsteps. I called the vet office and the receptionist told me that the kitten will only be given vaccination at age 2 months and above. Not sure how old she was, we decided to only take her there after 2 months to be sure. Russell and Jonah borrowed a book about cats from the library a week later and we discovered that Caramel is actually a Tom! LOL...We decided to stick to that name because he is the colur of caramel. One of my friend suggested we spell it as 'CaraMALE', people would just think we can't spell, that's all :) She's funny!

Now after staying with us for almost a month, he is a confident kitten, asks for food when he's hungry, nestles besides us to nap and pounces on our feet, hands and even faces to wrestle. He likes to pounce on my feet whenever I'm cooking in the kitchen. It can be rather painful when he play bite and that can be really annoying. This afternoon, I tied his jelly fish soft toy to a string and attached the other end of the string to my belt loop. This way, whenever i move, the jelly fish will sway and jiggle and Caramel couldn't resist attacking it. My feet are spared :)

How we love this little adorable kitten. A very sad thing happened tonight. Caramel must have ran out of our apartment when I left the door opened to hang out the laundry. Russell and I looked everywhere, we even walked down every floor to search for him but there was no sign of him at all. We are very sad especially Jonah.....he cried uncontrollably. Poor baby. We are hopeful that he will show up tomorrow morning when he is usually the most hungry.....

Caramel.....where could you be?

My exciting hobbies

2010-04-22T11:49:00.000+08:00

Being a stay-at-home mom was pretty tough initially. I couldn't juggle with the house chores, cooking and a very, very demanding baby. Russell was the baby who could not sleep soundly for more than 5 mins when not with me. 'With me' meaning literally must be bodily close to me. Plus he had a bad case of colic in his first 3 months of life. He'll cry for like 10-15 mins after each feeding. I was totally exhausted 24hrs a day 7 days a week, everyday! It took me several months to adjust to a new life with a baby and I learned so much from it.

But I'm glad I have a chance to take care of the boys full time. It's a blessing being a SAHM. The bond we have is unquestionable. As the boys grow older, they become more independant and I found some free time. I started learning to use the computer only in 1999! The internet is a wonderful creation for someone like me. Because of the boys, I don't go out much and the internet provides me with the oportunity to learn and meet other moms like me without stepping out. And that was when I learn how to build my own website. I had so much fun doing it that I started an online store selling 2nd hand stuff. Basically, whatever that I found lying around my home that we didn't need anymore. It was slow at first but it gave me a chance to update the website every now and then and I enjoyed it.

Most of my eshop visitors thought it was a good idea to look at the stuff before travelling all the way to the garage sales for bargains. The business grew and I had more than a thousand subscribers! I even had sponsors advertising at my estore. But I was running out of stuff to sell. My husband was very supportive of my new hobby. He accompanied me to many garage sales looking for bargains. One of our bedrooms was converted to my warehouse and I had so many 'junks' to sell. Other customers were asking me to help them sell their stuff and I charged a fee for the service. I even bought a van to facilitate the deliveries that I had to make.

My yellow buddy.

But as people became more and more IT savvy, they don't need my service anymore and there were many 2nd hand forums to buy things from. Plus things are getting cheaper and more shops are pricing their stuff on sale throughout the year. So buying 2nd hand stuff didn't seem attractive anymore. Then a friend came home from a holiday in China and bought some organza flower sash as gifts for her friends. They were so pretty, versatile and cheap to buy in bulk. We decided to buy more and sell them to shops around town. Oh, how brave we were. While the kids were in school 2 housewives gathered the flower sashes in their bags and shop hopped to sell them to shop owners, mainly boutiques. We made introductions, did some demos and sold lots and lots of them. And then came a time when there was a retail price war. Every other shops were trying to under cut each other. From $25 each, it fell to just $10! We knew we had to get rid of the remaining stocks quickly.

The pretty flower sash

So we started selling them and other stuff at make shift stalls in the malls once a month over the weekends. The sashes were sold out so fast on the first day that we were scrambling to look for other stuff to sell for the 2nd day. We were so surprised by our sales turnout and decided to do more once a month weekend sale. When the kids were in school, we looked for suppliers. When business became brisk, my partner decided to go to China and Bangkok to buy more goods. I was lucky to have her because she has a very keen eye for saleable items. But everytime we did a weekend sale, she would tell me that her husband wasn't happy. After many months, she told me she wanted to quit. I respected her decision eventhough she didnt want to explain why. I must admit that it was really tiring running around looking for new products to sell, pricing them, preparing for a sale and moving our make shift stall around! Yea...I was also getting exhausted doing everything by myself so I stopped, not long after she did. I didn't managed to sell everything I had so I started giving them away during Christmas, birthdays and visits to friends' place.

After 3 years, I still have some stuff left and don't know what to do with them. Do you think anyone would like to have these?

Colourful hairbands and hairclips

Maybe, I should follow what some people are doing in their blogs. Have a give away contest??

Teacher's Pet (preschool)

2010-04-21T08:48:00.001+08:00

LOL! Not really.....more like teacher's pest actually ;)

Ever since Russell started playschool, he hated going to school. I guess, it's because there's just too many rules to follow and he didn't like them. I had to bribe, praise and threaten almost everyday before he would put on his uniform. Once out of our home, the 8 minutes walk to school became 20 minutes feet dragging, nature curious examining outing.

Once in the preschool, he was mostly in his own world scanning the classroom walls with his eyes of signs, pictures, drawings, colours, writings ....everything on the walls. I remember, he found a little crack on the laminated cupbies and it had peeled slightly. My little curious cat fiddled with it and pulled the entire piece out! His teacher was shocked.

Every group was given a box of pencils and erasers for their school work. Maybe he was just bored, but he chewed up every single piece of erasers in the box. Well, yes, his teacher was shocked.

There were also stories of him tickling, poking and kicking his classmates sitting in front of him. Threatening to smear saliva and mucus on his classmates which sent the children screaming and scrambling to get away. Oh, and once his teacher called me because he stuck something up his nose so far up and had to be sent to a neighbourhood doctor to remove it! I was shocked.

The only time he looked forward to school was when there was an excursion. Without fail, he always got himself lost from his group which drove the teachers looking for him frantically. Thankfully, he was always found, looking at something lost in thoughts. On excursion days, they would be taken to a picnic spot for their lunch before heading back to school. One time, they went to East Coast beach and guess what? He was the first one to run straight into the water and sat down to enjoy the waves washing up to his body, fully clothes. A few other kids followed suit. The teachers told me they were shocked at first but join in as well!

My little adventurer.

There was a year end concert every year in his school and the children would practice very hard in their performance. Every year was the same story, he refused to join in the rehersals, prefering to loiter behind everyone else and his teachers would tell me in advance that he may not perform on the actual day. However, on the day of the concerts, he always had big smiles and performed like he really enjoyed it! Yes, I was impressively shocked.

My little happy performer.

His teachers had also stopped telling him to pay attention in class whenever he looked lost in thoughts. As one teacher put it, "We let him be because we realised that he was actually paying attention eventhough he didnt look like it!" You see, in this school, after the general lesson was taught, the teacher would have a one to one session with a child at the back of the classroom while the other children were doing their given paper assessments. Apparently, he always knew what was taught. Oh...but he really, really disliked writing assessments. He would be the last one to leave the classroom after school because he had refused to finish them earlier. Yes, I was always one of the last parents to leave the school premises because of that. Russell has always been slow when it comes to writing and eating so I wasn't shocked.

My little slacker.

One day, he stopped to read aloud what was written on the signboard for that week's notice which was placed at the entrance to the classrooms. His school's principal was standing next to it greeting the children as they streamed in. She heard him and was so impressed because he was the only one so far to have done that.

Oh my precious little Russell, so unpredictable one day and totally adorable the next. I thought most little boys are curious and intelligent like him. Little did I know there is a name given to someone special and different like him. Read about it here.

My career path - Part 2

2010-04-19T15:09:00.000+08:00

Ben is a fashion designer from KL. We called him Ah Ben. He is very likable, fashionable and very vain. My mom's friend hired him to design clothes for her boutique. Since he was also new in town, my mom said I should go out with him and that's how we started hanging out together. People like to be around him cos he's fun to be with.

From him I got to know more people and was recommended to work for another ad agency. CCAS was a medium sized ad company with its headquarter in KL. And with the support from KL, they have accessed to modern printing equipment and new ideas. Having placed a strong presence in KK, they were ready to hire a graphic designer to support the sales manager there and I got the job. I learned a lot working there. People I worked with were around my age, and I found good friendships with a model, Mariel and a young high achieving couple, William & Chiuee. Life became more bearable but I was still missing Damian very much.

After 2 and half years, Damian had finished his national service and found a job in the finance industry. We decided we should live together in Singapore and so I bid farewell to my friends and family. I was delighted to be back here and closed to my darling! I spent the next 3 months looking for a job in Singapore and it was tough. I couldn't find a job in the creative industry at all. In my final month of visa, Damian's mom encouraged me to go for an interview as a flight attendant with Singapore Airlines. I was getting desperate and there was an interview that weekend. I had to go through 3 interviews altogether and on the 2nd last day of my allowed stay in Singapore, they called me to go for the medical check-up. Yea....that meant I got the job!!

So that was why I landed in a job I never thought I would be doing. I learned a lot in those 5 years. After that, I ended up in the best but toughest job in the world. A stay-at-home-mom :) Yea....I was really lucky.

My career path - Part 1

2010-04-19T08:27:00.000+08:00

A good friend sent me an email to share her son's newspaper article. He has talents and is good with words. He's only 16 and has already written a book which was published like a year ago. Now he writes a weekly newspaper article for Daily Express under the title 'On the path of life'. He is fortunate to have a mother who is always there to guide him.

At 16, I didn't know what I wanted to do. Studying didn't come very easily to me so my childhood dream of being a lawyer was definitely dashed. I was pretty good at art but I didn't know what kind of career I could pursue with that talent and I didn't know there were art school I can enroll in. Yea...pretty dumb then.

I wanted to be a famous model but of course I don't have the height. No matter, I signed up for a basic modelling course during my 3 months break after the 'o' level exams, and was given a part time job teaching kids modelling. It was fun taking the kids to their weekly catwalk shows. I enjoyed it but the income for my teaching and chaperoning wasn't that great so I know I had to continue with my studies. I didn't consult my parents cos, they were divorced and were busy with their new family in another country! Yea...my brother and I got our basic needs of food, clothing and live with my grandmother in her employer's home.

So....what did I do then? I heard studying management was a good choice so I did just that and failed my 'A' levels 2 years later. By then I heard about graphic arts and did a diploma course in an OK school cos it's the cheapest I can afford. I was giving tuition to students in primary level at the same time then. I was rather patient with the kids. Instead of shouting at them, I just smiled. Once, I felt my blood boiling and instead of blowing my top, I couldn't stop chuckling. Yea...it was a pretty funny and odd scene for my student.

After my graduation, I found a job very quickly, as an FA artist in a rather famous advertising agency. However, my academic qualification did not help me get a work permit so I had to return to Kota Kinabalu to live with my mom. I felt lost in KK. The only friend I had there had left to work in Kuala Lumpur. I was bored, sad and missed my husband (boyfriend then) very much. I didn't talk much and hid in my room most of the time. My mom has a friend who introduced me to work as an FA artist in a small ad company. There were only 4 of us in the office. My boss who was also the sales guy, his secretary and my art director were nice people but were also very much older then me. Yea.....I was still bored, sad and missed my husband very much.

Then came a day, when my mom rented out a room to a fashion designer from KL. It brought a little colour to my life but yea......I was still a little sad and missed my husband very much.

......to be continued.....

Comic Strip Conversation

2010-03-03T08:04:00.000+08:00

I'm in a very good mood today. Last night, I had a breakthrough with my son, Jonah.

Jonah is going to be 9 this April. He is our family's sweetie pie :) He is always considerate of others, always mindful of the volumn of the TV or computer whenever his dad is still sleeping. He has a lot of determination, once he had so much homework to do, he broke down half way through but continued to finished all of them anyway. He is generous with his savings, he once bought a computer game for Russell with the savings from his pocket money when he learned that Russell didn't have quite enough savings to buy one. He is very helpful. He would even help me clean the toilet without complaining! He is honest and owns up to his mistakes eventhough he knows he would get a scolding. He is obedient and tries to follow the rules given both at home and in school. He is very patient and would wait for his turn quietly. He is also very peaceful, once when he was in kindergarten, he was playing with some toys and another kid barged in and scooped them, all he did was stood up and walked to another toy. He is bigger and stronger than the average kid but he prefers to be the little gentle giant. He is also very reliable and responsible, I can always count on him to remember to do important things.

He is the quiet type and prefers to watch and see what's happening before trying things out himself. And I found him surprisingly very observant many times when I least expected them. He is also shy and refused to talk whenever he is upset. He would sob quietly, sulk and refused to talk about it to anyone. As a parent, I feel frustrated when that happened because I want to help him with his feelings and thoughts.

As a mother of an Asperger child (read my previous post), I have been reading books on that subject and eventhough I do not need to use this technique with Russell, I decided to give it a go with Jonah. It's called the comic strip conversations by Carol Gray. And guess what? You guessed it! It successfully helped Jonah to overcome his struggle to comprehend and rationalise his feelings and the party involved (in this case, it was with Russell).

I felt so happy when he 'talked' about it :) Oh, that was joyful enough for me. And that is why I'm still in a very good mood now and especially when remembering him telling me he felt better and not upset any more. Below is the piece of comic conversation that we had last night. He doodled on it after our conversation ended.

My heart is still smiling :D

AS

2010-01-25T22:01:00.000+08:00

During lunch this afternoon, Russell looked at me with sad eyes and asked, "Mom, do I have mental illness? Is there something wrong with me? Am I sick?"

Russell is a very loving boy, at 11 years old, he still hold my hand in public, even during our not so frequent walks to school. He still kiss me on my lips and say he loves me before walking into the school. He does things that show his love for the family. He loves to read, almost all genre, particularly humorous ones. He likes to tell jokes he read from books and some of them were made up. He is adventurous when it comes to food and is pretty good at describing how it tasted. He is a very fast learner and teaches me how to operate certain computer programs, the PS3, that he learned from just watching his dad. He could remember lots of details from information books that he read through just once. Oh, and somehow, he has mastered the art of speed reading. He could finish a whole Mr midnight or Enid Bryton book in an hour or less. He is very forgiving and mild mannered.

He has also acted eccentric many times in school since kindergarten, and finally, at the end of primary 1, his form teacher, Mrs Ibrahim, was very concerned about him and suggested he see a psychiatrist. At first, I was very worried and my husband was very angry. We were afraid that he will be labelled and frown upon. I am thankful that Mrs Ibrahim was very gentle in her approach and assured me that getting help early is the best thing to do.

The hardest year was when he was in Primary 3. I was actually having a hard time coping with his eccentricity especially when it came to school work and it was wearing my patience down. Finally, on the 3rd term of school that year, the doctor arranged to meet up with me and my husband to discuss his diagnosis. Russell has Asperger Syndrome. A very mild form of autism. Someone with high IQ but low EQ. He needs a teacher that understands how he thinks and a weekly behaviour therapy with the school counsellor. The doctor also taught me a few tips on how to help him in the areas that I had a hard time with. He also recommended taking him off Chinese class as it contributed to the stress he was having.

Thankfully, the teacher that was having power struggle with him all the time, resigned and Mrs Tang replaced her. He stopped taking Chinese exams. I started understanding how he thinks and followed the doctor's advice. Things were looking brighter... and after 6 months of behavior therapy, he didn't have to see the school's counsellor, Ms Claire Yeoh, anymore. She told me he was coping well in school and I was happy for him.

But today, he told me no one likes to talk to him in school because he is different, his science and health education teachers shouted at him because he was slow at finishing his work but he couldn't help it. It was painful for me to hear those words and so I explained to him for the first time, that he has Asperger Sydrome. It is not an illness or disease. It is a developmental disorder that affects his social skills. Hyperverbal most times that affects communication skills. Preoccupied in his own thoughts most times so doesn't seem to listen when we talk.

I worry sometimes about how he will cope in the future but I have faith in myself that I can help him improve. As it is now, he has mature so much from those days when he was a little trouble maker in class. Will talk about those little troubles he created next time. It's fustrating and funny at the same time :)

If you want to learn more about AS, go to this link, http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/

My Problemo

2010-01-17T23:10:00.001+08:00

I have a problem. I enjoy the solace of not being disturbed when i'm in the shower. Sometimes, I bring my laptop or music player in with me to play my favourite tunes. I take my time to wash my hair and spent half the time just standing under the shower enjoying the warm water running down my back. And I often forgot that water is too precious to waste like that. Then i'll think of things to blog and how i would phrase my words.

But once I leave the bathroom, I'ld forget about blogging and thus hasn't been doing so for quite sometimes. And by the time I remember to start, there'll be just too many things to blog about so I don't know where to start. Maybe a voice activated blogging system would be useful for person like me! Just think it out loud during my shower and i can publish it right after.

Maybe I'm just lazy and proscrastinate too much. Ah....that is my problem.....
Need more action, less talk. Isn't that what i tell my 2 boys most of the time? Alamak...I better start to talk the talk and walk the walk!

Dogs Attacks!

2009-12-16T20:07:00.000+08:00

There was a newspaper article today about how 2 guys were being attacked by the same 2 Rottweilers on 2 separate occasions and the dogs' owner was fined for that. I was chased by dogs twice before and I recalled my heart pounding like crazy and my legs felt like jelly. On both incidents, I was really lucky to have escaped harmless.

Scene one:
My girlfriend and i usually went for our nightly walk after dinner in the neighbourhood. My real reason was to accompany her. Her reason was to help her food digest better and not put on more weight. But the truth was she really like this guy that lived at a corner bungalow on our street. Any chance of a glimpse of him was the idea behind the walk. We strolled so many times passed his house every night, giggling whenever we spotted him. Yes, we were silly teenagers then.

One night while doing our silly stroll, we turned a corner to another street. Just at that moment, a neighbour had just returned home by car and his porch gate was opened. His 2 fearsome Dobermans strutted onto the sidewalk outside and spotted us. They stood very still staring at us. We too, stood very still staring back. The dogs were like 10m away from us. Both of us tried to back away very very slowly but too late, after 2 seconds, they decided to attack! We screamed and started hugging each other and running on the spot at the same time. Like in one of the 3 stooges scene where they tried to escape but bumped into each other instead. Fortunately for us, the dogs were very obedient. Their owner shouted at them and they stopped in their tracks almost immediately. We fled after that. We were terrified but not enough to be back again the next evening spying on our corner bungalow guy again!

Scene 2:
My granny needed something from the grocer one afternoon and sent me to buy it. It was a 10 mins walk from the main road and I had to walk around a factory to get to the main road. The factory had 2 gates. One facing the street where I was walking from and another facing the main road. Usually only the gate facing the main road was opened.

That day, both gates were wide opened. Walking straight through the 2 gates would be a quicker way. It was a really hot scorching day as I recalled and any kind of short cut sounded good to me. Half way walking into the factory's compound, I heard growling behind me. I turned to see a dozen growling and barking pariah dogs moving towards me. Needless to say, I had trespassed onto their territory and they didn't like me at all. I ran as fast as my legs could carry and twice I felt their teeth brushing against my butts missing their bites. I screamed and panted and cried. Lucky for me, as I ran out of the other gate, an old lady saw my plight, scolded the dogs and started waving her umbrella at the dogs. Somehow that turned the dogs back to the factory and I was saved once again.

I can't imagined what would have happened to me if that old lady wasn't there for me or if I was not a fast running teenager.

Spot the real tooth

2009-10-28T12:48:00.000+08:00

Few days ago, I boiled a packet of barley. My 8yr old, Jonah likes that drink. After I've put all the liquid into containers, I scooped out some boiled barley for him to try.

Just after one glance of it he turned it down. I tried to persuade him to take one small bite to no avail. As I returned to the kitchen wondering why he didn't even want to try it since he likes the drink, he spoke aloud, "I don't wanna try it because it looks like Russell's loose teeth!".

Russell just lost 2 loose teeth recently and paraded them around in our apartment. When I think about it, the boiled barley does look like loose teeth! Here's the photo I took to prove it. Try to spot the real tooth ;)

Good luck? Bad Luck?

2009-10-23T02:29:00.000+08:00

Okay.....I think I was 10 or 11yrs old then. My kampung gang, mainly consists of me, 2 brothers living next door and their fat cousin, usually played together after school. We'd take turns riding the bicycle my cousin Doreen bought, play tag, catch spider, catch guppies in the drains, soccer (which I hated), hide and seek, imagination game and made wooden guns. The brothers' mom worked for CK Tang department store and always brought home the latest toys and board games. Especially loved playing with their set of PlayMobile in the sand.

One day, we had permission to go swimming at Buona Vista Swimming Complex. So we took the public bus and paid 20cents each for the fare. Back then, the buses had conductors on board to give us change, punch a hole on the ticket tab and alert the driver when it was safe to move on after passengers alighted. And most of the buses were usually quite beat-up. The seats were stained, the floor dirty, windows could not be opened properly and some had no doors!

At the swimming complex, we goofed around in the wading pool and then proceeded to the shallow end of the deep pool. Then someone had an idea of pretending to be drowning and we'll have a rescue team to save him. Maybe it was me....maybe it was one of the brothers idea...Fat boy volunteered to be the 'victim', afterall, he can't swim so we thought he was the ideal candidate. We decided that the shallow end was too shallow for the scenario so we waded to the part where we could barely touch the bottom standing up. And so it started....fat boy started flapping his arms around pretending to be drowning. The brothers and I swam towards him. He was maybe 2-3 meters away from the side of the pool. I thought it couldn't be too hard to save him. Afterall, I've seen how lifeguards save their victims so many times on TV. Just put one arm around his chin and drag him to the side.

It was harder than I thought! Fat boy didn't seem to budge. He was still flapping and this time he was really struggling. The 2 boys gave up as they became too tired and tried to swim back. I was getting tired too. Somehow, I could not feel the bottom of the pool eventhough I tiptoed. Fat boy was tugging my arms and I couldn't tread water and stay afloat anymore. I was exhausted by now and struggling as well. Next, I did what a survivor would do. I used fat boy as a support and pushed him into the water so I could take a quick breather! Yes, I am ashamed of myself for doing that. Fortunately, the brothers and I managed to link our arms together and pulled fat boy to safety. Fat boy was mad at me and complained that he drank a lot of water.

Whenever I think about this incident, I shudder at the thought if fat boy was drown by me.... I know kids being kids will do stupid things for fun. Therefore I try to be vigilant whenever my boys go swimming.

Anyway, after our adventure at the pool, we headed for the bus-stop to return home. We didn't have small change after paying for our snacks so we decided to use our last $1 note to buy four 20cents tickets for our bus ride. I was in-charged and supposed to return someone 20cents after that.

When our bus arrived, we felt so lucky that it was a brand new bus. The exterior looked clean and shiny, the door was intact and folded to the side smoothly. We boarded the bus and the driver pointed at a transparent box near the door next to him. Huh?? was my thought. He then said to drop our money into the box for the fare. I dropped our only $1 note in and the driver punched in a few keys on the dashboard and voila! Four 20cents tickets dropped out from another box. We were amazed at the new ticket machine and flopped onto our clean seats with smiles on our faces. Then one of the brothers asked me for his 2ocents change. I didn't get any so I walked back to the driver and asked for it. He stared at me and shouted, "Aiyah, you never see the sign meh? This is OMO bus! No change!". Imagine our shocked when we realised our 20cents were gone just like that. Back then, 20cents could buy us a packet of twisty snack. I still remember the boys grumbling that it was all my fault. Later we learned that OMO stands for one-man-operation. And we thought we were lucky to sit in a new bus!

whoever you are, Thank You!

2009-07-01T18:50:00.000+08:00

When I was 10, my cousin Doreen and Roger, her boyfriend (now hubby), used to take me swimming at Buona Vista Swimming Complex. Roger taught me how to swim the breast stroke.

Once, thinking I was very good, I swam in the deep end. Before I could reach the other side of the pool, I felt my arms too tired to continue and began to sink. I panic and began drinking lots of chlorine water and struggling for life. I thought I was going to drown. Suddenly, i felt someone lifted me up and pulled me to the side of the pool. It was a man but I couldn't really see his face with all those water dripping over my eyes. He warned me not to swim without supervision and then waded away, while I was still in a little shock. It was all a blur...I didn't even have a closer look at my life savior or thank him!

Never ever leave your children unsupervised in the pool. Will tell you another story next time about how fat boy nearly drown.

2 series of unfortunate events

2009-06-07T15:40:00.000+08:00

I've always love being independent. And since I was 5, I'd always wanted to have my own room but my parents didn't think it was a good idea. Finally, they gave in to my demand when my brother was borned as my parents' room became somewhat crowded with his cot. I was delighted of course!

My very first room was a simple one. It's had a dressing table, a wardrobe and a single sized bed. My dad, especially, was always worried about me being alone at night but I loved it! I loved the privacy and independence. However, my happiness was shortlived. One night, when I was sleeping in my room, I had a strange feeling someone was watching me. When I opened my eyes, a trail of smoke came into my room through the windows. And poof! a Qing dynasty official with very pale face slowly floated towards me and I screeeeam......! My dad charged into the room and hugged me. I told him what happened and from that night onwards, he said no more sleeping by myself. Until today, I'm still not sure if it was real or just a nightmare.

Not long after that, my dad was posted to KK(Kota Kinabalu). We rented a corner single storey terrace house. And once again, I pestered my parents to let me have my own room. They finally gave in and I got a room with windows facing the porch. I loved that room eventhough there's only a mattress on the floor. I would use rafiah strings to tie the corners of my blanket or bedsheet to the windows and made it into a tent. With no one to disturb me, I would play make believe in that room. I loved the privacy and independence. But my happiness was shortlived. One night, I got up to go to the toilet. I saw that the kitchen light was turned on and a shadow of a person cast on the opposite wall. It stopped moving when I call out to see if it was my mom but there was no reply. Feeling very sleepy, I went back to bed in my room. The next day, I learned that our home was broken into the night before and some valuables were stolen from my parents room. I then realised that the shadow I saw could be the thief's and told my dad about it. Once again, he was worried for my safety and said no more sleeping by myself.

After that I didn't get my own room until I was 17, living with my 3rd Uncle's family. And I loved the privacy and independence :)

The Devil wears sari

2009-05-27T08:50:00.000+08:00

When I was in Primary 3, I had a Devil as a form teacher. She had beautiful dark complexion and always went to school in perfectly made-up face. She had big eyes with very thick and long curly eye lashes. Her lips was crimson and glossy. Her hair was long and black. Everyday, she would go to school in different brightly coloured sari. She looked especially stunning in green. If she was not so short and stumpy, she would have looked like a Goddess.

She was very, very, very strict and very, very, very fierce. She would not hesitate to hit anyone with her long wooden ruler.
If you talk too much, you would get a hard smack on your palm.
If you had forgotten to bring something, you would get a hard smack on your palm.
If you made too many mistake, your book would be thrown out of the classroom onto the corridor.
When my letter F was sitting lower than the rest of the other letters, I got a hard smack on my palm.

All of us were terrified of her except for a few A-star students who sucked up to her all the time. As no one was allowed to utter a word in class, she made those backside-kisser students her class monitors to make sure we observed the 'silence is golden' rule.
If you asked the person next to you whether you can borrow his or her colour pencil, aha! your name would be written down in their black book.
If you dropped your eraser and you wanted your neighbour to help you picked it up, aha! Your name would be written in their black book.
When Miss Devil was not in class, her little minions would looked around with their sharp eyes and write names in their books. When she returned, those little black books would be handed up to her and .....
if your names were written in there, you would get a hard smack on your palm.
Most times there would be a long queue to get smacked. I had been in those queues many times and I really disliked those minions.

One day pale boy made too many mistakes in his homework, he got a scolding and his book was thrown out of the door. Naturally, he started to cry. The more Miss Devil told him to stop crying the more he cried and that made Miss Devil very, very, very angry. She told him to stand in front of the class and hold 2 plastic cups, one under each eye to catch the tears flowing down. When the school bell rang, I felt a sense of relieved for him because Miss Devil would be going to teach the primary 6 students for the next hour. But my hope was short lived. She made pale boy follow her to the next class with the 2 cups still in his hands under his eyes. I felt sorry for him as I watched him sobbing out of class in humiliation.

The coconut incident

2009-05-22T12:59:00.000+08:00

One day when I was 9-10 years old, some boys found a coconut in our kampung. All the kids came out to see. We stood around the boys asking where they found it cos there wasn't any coconut tree nearby. Just durian trees, banana trees, palm trees, papaya trees and rambutan trees.

We were very excited about what juicy flesh and sweet juice we could find inside. We scattered and looked around to see if we can find anything to help us open up the coconut. Skinny boy found a rusty dented cleaver so he got to be the one to cut it up. We ran back to the where the coconut was.

Some of the boys dragged the coconut to an open clearing outside the tailor's house. Skinny boy stood in front of the coconut and raised the cleaver above his head with both hands. And he shouted, "Sy-am ah(move away)!". Everyone moved back. When we were a safe distance away, skinny boy took a deep breadth and brought down the cleaver. As the cleaver was about to hit the coconut, the tailor's young son suddenly dashed towards it. Everything happened so fast after that. He was holding the coconut and the cleaver hit his fingers. Bright red blood gushed out of his danggling half severed fingers. He was hopping around and screaming in pain while the rest of us were in shocked. I ran off to call for his mom and with a look at what what happened, she returned to wrap his fingers up with a towel and swept him up in her arms and dashed to the hospital.

Most of us were too stunned to say anything. Skinny boy was looking for moral support, getting anyone, who met his eyes, to agree that he did warn us to move away. He looked scared. We were all puzzled at why it happened.

Luckily the doctor managed to sew back the tailor's son's fingers and things went back to normal soon. Lessons learned here: disposed of dangerous objects properly and obey warnings!

WuXia Pian (sword fighting film)

2009-05-19T13:00:00.000+08:00

When I was 10, together with my cousins and uncle, we'd watch Hong Kong cantonese drama series on TV every night. My neighbour's boys would run over to join us when the show start as their parents prefer English drama. One of our favourite and could not miss was "Yi Tian Tu Long Ji" (Heaven sword and dragon sabre). It was a Chinese period show where the heroes were great swordsman whose skills were unmatched.

After the show, I would imagine myself as the heroin and no one could defeat me. One of the heroes that carried a paper fan wherever he went was very skillful. With just a wave of his fan, he could kill his enemies in a flash. I had a fan too and in my mind, I could strike anyone down with it.

The next day, after I finished my homework, I strode around my neighbourhood with the fan in my hand and casting suspicious eyes at the 2 boys when they approached me. "Do not come any closer or I'll strike you with this special weapon.", I said. The fat one, who loved to snack on milo powder, told me it's just a fan and they definitely could beat me with a stick if we duel. I told him to get his weapon and we could see who was more powerful. And that was how the 'fight' was initiated. Fat boy glanced around and found a branch that had fallen off the durian tree. Slim boy cheered. Fat boy charged towards me, I waved my fan like the hero in the show.

Alas, the fan was no match for the branch. I was jolted out of my daydream when I felt great pain near my right eye. Slim boy shouted, "Ohhhh! ....Got blood!... Zhao(scram)!". And the 2 of them ran home. I felt very stupid after that. That's how I got the scar near my right eye.

Apparently, slim boy had reported the accident to his mom. That night after dinner, slim boy's mom asked for me and told the boys to apologies. Don't remember feeling too sad about it though. The matter was completely forgotten the next day while we searched for our next adventure.

The Out-house

2009-05-18T08:28:00.000+08:00

Have you use an out-house before?

There was one about 100m away from my cousins' attap house. Four families shared this out-house. When mom told me I would be living with my cousins in Singapore, she didn't tell me much about kampong life and I was shocked to know I had to do my big business in that stinky hut. I live with my cousins for 1 and half years. I was 9+ then.

Our attap houses were built on a hill. That wooden out-house was situated at the end of the hill and standing on stilts! 2 to 3 pieces of wooden planks were placed on the grassy ground leading to the out-house like a bridge. When you stepped inside the hut, you had to be careful not to fall into a cut out hole in the middle of the wooden flooring that lead to the bucket below. Since the bucket was only collected once a week, you can imagine the offensive smell that rose up from there.

The odour was not the only thing I had to 'tahan'(endure). As I had to be careful not to step into the hole, I had to look where I was stepping. And no matter how hard I tried I couldn't avoid seeing what was in the bucket. Human excrete of multiple of ochre and brown. Hard ones, soft ones and cravvy like ones. I will never forget the time I saw the bucket covered with white, wriggling maggots! I screamed so loudly, I could hear it echoing through the hill. I still get the hee-bee-jee-bees and goose pimples recalling those fat wriggling white maggots.

Once a week a blue truck with many doors would come by. My cousin told me in Hokkien it's called the "sa-jap-larg-mng-jia" (36 doors truck). Whenever I see it passing by on the road, I would try to count the doors but could never be sure there were 36 doors on it cos I could never finish counting them on time before it went out of view.

Anyway, there were 2 persons in the truck. A driver that drove it and a skinny Chinese middle-age man with a cigarette hanging on his lips. I would always peek from my neighbour's house behind their wooden fence to see how the skinny man did it. I was curious if he would gag from the sight and smell. First, he would walk up the hill with 2 empty buckets with covers taken from behind the many doors from the truck. The buckets were hung from ropes at each ends of a pole which he balanced on his shoulder. The slopes he had to walk up on was just bare ground not cemented or anything like that. He would then set the buckets down on the ground unhooked the attached rope. Took a cover off an empty bucket and put it over the one under the out-house. Changed it with an empty bucket and hook the stinky one to the rope. He would then repeat and change the bucket of another nearby out-house shared by other families. Finally, he would walked down the slope with the buckets of excrements to the truck waiting by the road. Placed them into individual compartments behind the doors, climbed back onto the front seat and the truck would roll slowly to the next location down the road.

I often wondered if the skinny man had ever slipped or tripped on the way down the slopes while carrying the heavy filled buckets. That would be ugly (shudders). Anyway, he didn't gag even once! The smoke from the cigarette probably helped mask the smell. The sight of poops probably helped him keep his skinny figure. It's amazing what a man would do to feed his family! Very admirable don't you think?

Rats!

2009-05-16T21:41:00.000+08:00

I hate rats. Or rather, I am terrified of rats.

When I was 9+, mom sent me to live with my cousins in Singapore. She felt my brother and I would have better education here than in Sabah. Moreover it would be difficult to take care of us as a single mom while she worked so I remember taking the plane all by myself feeling unsure what's life going to be like in a foreign land away from mom. I arrived at my cousins' attap house at night. They told me to take a shower before going to bed. It was a creepy looking bathroom. It was quite big with a small wooden window. The floor is plain grey cement with some parts already corroded by water. Some parts had green moss too. There was a raised cement platform that covered about 1/3 of the flooring, also had corrosion on it. A big bucket was placed under a tap on the platform. A small scoop was in the bucket of water for bathing purpose. All the water was supposed to flow into a palm size hole at the bottom of the wall adjacent to the platform. There was also a waist height cement ledge where shampoo bottles and a bar of odd-shaped soap sat. On closer look, the soap seemed to have nasty teeth marks on it. At that moment, my cousin asked if everything was ok. I enquired about the marks on the soap and she said it was nothing I should worry about.

I was begining to feel uncomfortable standing naked on that platform and missing my mom already when, suddenly, a huge dark brown rat ran into the bathroom through the hole in the wall! It was as big as a puffy, furry bedroom slipper with a really long tail. I screamed and jumped and slipped on the mossy cement floor. The rat ran back into the hole when it heard me scream. Needless to say, I was terrified and cried....

I made friends easily with the neighbourhood's kids. All but one were boys. They were around my age and we played well together. We were generally left alone at home after school as all the adults were at work. One day, one of the boys came to say hi to me outside the house. He had something behind him and his brothers had smiles on their faces. "Guess what I found?" he asked. And then waved a plastic bag of baby rats in my face. They were still pink and blind! And there were so many of them! Screamed-screamed-screamed! I screamed and ran back into the house slamming the door behind me. There was a big hole in the floor under the door due to corrosion and they stuck that bag of horrifying pink, blind rats through it and waved again. Screamed-screamed-screamed! I jumped on the table and screamed again. Luckily one of my neighbour whose mom worked from home heard the commotion and came over to check. She chased the boys away but needless to say, I was terrified and cried.....

Just recently, Russell asked me if he can have a white mouse as a pet. I told him no because rodents creeps me out. He said "But mom...a white one would be so cute!" I shuddered at the thought of one in my home. I definitely don't want to be terrified and cry.......

Sibling Rivalry? Oh yes...

2009-05-16T12:16:00.000+08:00

When we were children, my younger brother and I got each other into trouble a lot. We are 6 years apart. When I was 10, he was only 4. At that time, my parents were already divorced so I was sent to live with my cousins in their rented attap house in Rifle Range Road, while my brother lived with my 'ah ma' (maternal granny) in her employer's bungalow in Bukit Timah Road.

Every weekends, Ah Ma and brother will visit us. And being too young to use the out-house, my little brother will poo into a plastic 'tum-tong' (spittoon). After that Ah Ma will call out for me to dispose the poos at the out-house. When I refused, Ah Ma would criticize me for being selfish and a lousy big sister. She would then remind me that it was my duty to take care of my little brother since he was so much younger than me. I would then give a big loud sigh of contempt, picked up that poo-filled 'tum-tong' reluctantly, dragged and stomped my feet at same time to do 'my duty'. I was fuming...

When I was 11, my cousins' family was relocated to live in a 3-room HDB flat in Boon Lay. For some reasons, I had to move in with Ah Ma then. Ah Ma came from the generation where girls must do all the household chores and boys are the masters at home. To her boys are good, girls are bad. So living with her made my contempts towards my little brother worse.

I had to wash his school shoes, bring him to art class, take him along whenever I had to run errands. And being spoilt, he'd scream, cry and squat in the shop whenever I refused to buy him candy at the grocer. Oh! The embarrassement I had to endure! I would roll my eyes and walk away knowing he'd run after me shortly.

Ah Ma was given a small bedroom in the back of the bungalow that has a small wardrobe, a wicker bookshelf that contained her employer's sons old comics/books and a king sized bed. With those in the room we had only a little aisle of 2ft by 6ft walking space left. So we hung out on the bed a lot. Read, draw, play and sometimes we would bicker over things and start a kicking contest. Since I was older, my kicks were stronger and my little brother would start screaming for Ah Ma. When she appeared at the bedroom door, he'd cry and complain that I was bullying him. And at the blink of an eye, a cane would appear in her hand and I would receive the lashes for bullying and he received 1 lash for making too much noise. Ouch! it was painful but on seeing him received the caning too, I turned my body and face to a position where Ah Ma couldn't see yet in full view of my brother. I then placed a thumbs up sign closed to my body and mouthed the words "very good". I did all that while Ah Ma was lecturing us not to make such a raket. He was so mad, that he shouted my action to Ah Ma. Ah Ma was so mad that she was interupted that she gave him another lash! I could see him fuming..... in tears.

I was still living with Ah Ma when I was 14. That year, I had my first menstruation and had to start wearing thick bulky sanitary pads. Kotex ran TV commercials with a lady running on the beach and leaping into the air and the word "Freedom" rang through the commercial. Since our bedroom was so small, most of our belonging were stowed under the bed. One day, my little brother who was only 8 then, was rumaging through my stuff under the bed. When I returned home from school, I found him sitting on the floor by the bed, too engrossed in peeling off every single piece of sticker backing from my Kotex sanitary pads! I screamed at the top of my voice and Ah Ma rushed in to see the commotion. To Ah Ma, boys/men are not supposed to walk under women's underwears or touch anything that we women put under there. It is considered very 'sueh' (unlucky). And so, my little brother was taught a lesson by the cane. Poor fella.... he had no idea why he was caned at all besides for ruining my stickers.

Luckily, as we grew older, we became good friends. We often laughed till our belly ache and tears in our eyes recalling our silliness.

Sibling rivalry? Non-existance :)

2009-05-08T12:59:00.000+08:00

My boys love to tease each other about how they pronounced certain words when they were preschoolers. Russell will chuckle and burst out laughing and exclaimed that he felt embarrassed whenever we reminded him of his "opytus". That's supposed to be octopus.

Jonah on the other hand will pounce onto his bed, cover his face with his pillow and grumbled that he didn't like it whenever we reminded him of his "munty". Which was supposed to be monkey.

Here is their favourite teasing line:
1) Hey mom, What sounds like a munty and looks like a munty? You give up??...It's ha-ha-ha...( sometimes, Jonah will pounce on him instead of the bed before I hear the answer.)

I will then take side and reminded the teaser about his own silliness.

2) Mom, what moves as slow as a sloth and looks like a squirrel? (there will be a loud "Oii..." from Russell, and the verbal war will start)

I will then move in to back the losing side.

It's all fun in the end as both boys will end up laughing and rolling in bed. I love them for their brotherly love for each other. Makes me smile with content to see them getting along so well together 90% of the time. The other 10%? = 5% teasing each other + 5% annoying each other by not following each other's instructions.