Month: July 2012

Maidless At Home

2 Sunday mornings ago, we were supposed to go to church. It was madness rush as usual, with 3 dilly dallying kids who just wanted to laze around for breakfast at the dining table on a Sunday morning. I wanted to hang out the laundry first, before we left for home to take advantage of the bright and hot morning sun, so I delegated Alycia the task of feeding her baby sister Scotts Emulsion and for the 2 older girls to feed themselves. But lo and behold, they gave me more work instead. Someone dropped the bottle of Scotts Emulsion (thank goodness the bottle was plastic, else more work!) onto the floor and the oily and fishy bright colored orange flavored emulsion was splattered everywhere on the kitchen floor, kitchen top and drawers and living room floor! I was enraged beyond words! I was just too tired to blow up as we had to rush out. I continued hanging the clothes and told the girls to settle the mess themselves since NO ONE admitted their mistake. The blame game started as usual, whenever disaster happens and that made me even angrier. In times like this, I wish my live-in helper was still around to help clean up the mess, albeit I was certain I was going to hear her nag and nag the kids like a step-mother.



The girls did help to clean up with toilet papers, a cloth and water but the floor was almost flooded with water!  I had to intervene and step inside. Took me almost half an hour to clean up the place which was really oily and smelled revolting of fish liver oil. In the end, we were late and had to skip church. I was really angry and did not want to speak to any of them as no one stepped forward to own up.

After showering Cass, she said this to me softly and cheekily “mummy, I have something to tell you. I am very sorry” (but did not tell the reason why she was sorry). Upon hearing the words which was like ice cubes on a bed of burning charcoal, I immediately broke into a smile and hugged my baby girl. I told her that she did the right thing to own up her mistake and to apologize. My mood was immediately lifted up again. Motherhood is like a roller coaster ride – you go up and down all the time.

No. of times viewed = 284

More On Home Delivered Food

Each time I order daily catered food, I would wait impatiently for the day to come for it to end! This is the 2nd time I am trying out daily catered food and both times, I gave up on the second day and have to ‘endure’ for 2-3 weeks for the days to reach the month end so that I can keep my tiffian carriers and bid farewell to the catered food. While the portion of the food is really big for 4 pax, the cooking style just do not suit our taste buds. My kids and I prefer something that is ‘clear’ or what the Chinese call ‘ching ching tei’ and not dishes heavily immersed in oily sauce. Most of the chicken and fish dishes are deep fried and heavily coated with flour, with thick sauce covering the meat. On most days, 3/4 of the food would go to the guards at our condo! I can’t even bring myself to keep the dishes for next day’s lunch.


The curry squids is pretty tasty but too spicy for my kids’ palate. And I did feel extremely thirsty after eating the dishes. The deep fried chicken with mayo sauce is too tough and sauce too goey. I could not even poke my fork through the breast meat.Our condo guards must be grinning from ear to ear each time I inter-comm them to come up to my unit to take away the food every evening LOL! As of today, I only have 3 more days to endure before the service ends on 31 July.  And that’s when I will have to start giving a portion of my time everyday to cook simple dishes for the kids.


No. of times viewed = 264

My Little Helper

My 4YO baby girl giving me a helping hand with the wet laundry. Ever since the helper left a week ago, Cass has been helping me with the laundry — hanging and keeping them as well as folding and placing them back into the respective drawers . Alycia and Sherilyn do not have much time to help out on week days, so Cass helps out the most.



No. of times viewed = 269

It’s Textile Month At Ikea This August!

This coming August is an exciting as well as busy month ahead for me. First it is Alycia’s 3rd term school exam. Whenever it’s her exam, I am always the one who gets all anxious and stressed up!   It’s also my dad’s birthday and I look forward to going back to Ipoh to celebrate his birthday during the school term break.  August is a whole new month where I have to learn to cope without a live-in helper as ours has just left home for good. This August also happens to be IKEA’s Textile month and I look forward to making my monthly trip to Ikea to check out some new bed spreads for the bedrooms. Recently the hubs sent my favorite bed spread to the laundry shop for cleaning. When he went to collect it a few days later, it was lost! In fact this is not the first time I lost my bed spreads at the laundry shop. Over the past 2 years, I have lost over 5 sets of my favorite bed spreads but oh well, if the old ones do not go, this will not make way for new ones to come! And now, I have an even more valid reason to make a trip to Ikea!

During my preliminary shopping at Ikea done online at the Ikea e-catalogue, I saw this BARBRO RAND multicolor padded extra soft bed spread. It caught my eyes right away when I was at the Bedroom Textiles section. Anything that’s multicolored and rainbow themed will definitely have a place in my heart. I have always loved vibrant colors as they add joie de vivre to my mood.

Swede designed extra soft BARBRO RAND multicolor bed spread. Love the bright multicolored stripes and it’s padded too.

The next item that needs a major ‘face lift’ in our home is our sofa set.   I have been eyeing on some 3-seat leather sofas cum chaise lounge from Ikea for our living room but the price is out of our budget.    While browsing Ikea’s e-Catalogue, I saw some nice cushions and throws and a light bulb moment struck! I can get a handful of vibrant colored cushion covers and throws for our sofa and voila, our stained and dull-looking sofa set would be transformed into a brand new fresh look! And I can create a new look for our sofa set as often as I desire by getting new cushion covers and throws!

EIVOR KVIST multicolour cushion @ RM59. It comes with a zip and the cover is removable for washing. When I buy cushions, my no. 1 criteria is that the covers must be removable for washing.



Valborg cushion @ RM39 only. I like the bright blue tone and most of all, it is easily removable for washing. It is yarn-dyed and the colours
are retained wash after wash.

I’m planning to get a couple of this funny lip shaped cushion.  I’ll bet this lip shaped cushion will liven up the living room as well as the mood of friends who step into our living room.

Malin Band throws to line the seats of our sofa, topped up with some cushions with stylish prints cushion covers. There you go, I’ll have a transformed living room with minimal damage to our pockets!

No. of times viewed = 519

Deep Freezing Spaghetti

A few days before the helper was to leave us for good, I got her to cook a big pot of beef bolognaise sauce and to blanch extra spaghetti noodles so that I could deep freeze them into smaller portions for future lunches when she’s gone. There are still 2 containers of spaghetti sauce in the freezer and I’m going to heat it up for lunch next week 🙂


My beef bolognaise sauce and spaghetti noodles stored in glass Lock & Lock containers for deep freezing.The smaller container on the right is reserved for Sherilyn’s dinner before her ballet class next week as she has to eat earlier than us.

Deep freezing meals is a must for busy working mothers who have no time to cook fresh meals everyday. Just spend one or two days in a week to cook bulk meals and your kids will have homecooked food to eat everyday.

No. of times viewed = 351

Maidless At Home

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. After months of drumming into their little heads that after kakak leaves, everyone will have their fair share of own chores, the actual scene swung into action since 2 days ago. Cass and Sherilyn are in charged of folding the clothes and keeping them into the respective drawers. Alycia’s been delegated to clean the dining table, clean her own desk and bedroom floor and be my PA!  I will be the chief maid. Yesterday I even delegated Alycia the task of bathing Cass and helping her baby sister brush teeth. Despite all the pent-up stress in me, I had to ROTFL when I saw Alycia bathing Cass and hearing the silly laughter and chatter from the 2 sisters.

I quickly fished out my camera and began snapping the pix to which I was being yelled at by Alycia : “MUMMY, DON’T put this picture in your Facebook! Can put in blog but not in Facebook OK! I look horrible here!” LOL!! That’s because a few days ago, while the girls were using my laptop, they logged into my Facebook account and Alycia added her classmate using my FB account! Now, her classmate has access to all my FB pix.

The downside of roping my girls in the housework is that they have to lax in their homework and studies and this is something which I feel really bad about. I will have to draw out a better plan. Or does anyone has a better plan that works in such that my girls can help out at home and yet not neglect their studies?




“MUMMY, DON’T put this picture in your Facebook! Can put in blog but not in Facebook OK! I look horrible here!”

Maidless At Home to be continued…



No. of times viewed = 359

The Day Is Here!

As I am typing this post, my helper of 4.5 years has just stepped out of the door and will be back for good. She was given a day’s off yesterday to do sight-seeing and to do some last minute shopping. I think I can cope without a maid BUT heavy cooking must be dropped. If I cook,  I can only afford to do steamed dishes with minimal preparation and cleaning up.   Yesterday I tried to be gungho and wanted to see if I could  cook twice a day. I cooked mac and cheese for lunch and a proper dinner.  I think I can’t handle it and ended up feeling very stressed up.  I have also developed a very bad backache as a result of carrying buckets of water.  Read why I am carrying bucketfulls of water in my other blog.

On recommendation of Alycia and Sher’s art teacher, I am trying home delivered catered food from Tammy’s Catering effective today.  Am keeping my fingers crossed that the dishes are acceptable.  Without a helper at home, I have to keep both my eyes closed to cleanliness and set my priorities right.   Only do what is absolutely necessary and what is important.  Time is of essence and being a WFHM, I can only do this much.

Though the helper has made me raging with anger with her actions and words countless times throughout her 4.5 years with us, she has nonetheless been a hardworking helper.    As much as I hated her yakking rubbish away for 4.5 years (she is the type who just has to yak all day on top of her voice and ‘step-mother’ the kids around), I think I somewhat miss that lady. I hope that she will reach home safely.

No. of times viewed = 409

The Time Has Come…

The clock is ticking away.  My live-in helper who has been working for us for over 4 years will be leaving early next week… for GOOD.   After 10 years of having 5 maids (excluding 2 temporary maids), the day has finally come where I will have to learn to live without a maid and be the maid myself.  3 school-going kids, 3 blogs, an online store and a household to manage –pray tell I can cope and stay sane!   Over the past 1 week, I had given the helper several days off to go to the Indonesia Embassy and to go shopping. She will be having another day off (at her request to go sight-seeing) on Monday next week before she leaves.  When she was away,  I struggled a wee bit but I think I will survive without her.  I had both my palms cut by wires when the pulley clothes hanger snapped, had the kitchen top flooded when I tried to juggle between filling up the kettle with water and putting clothes into the washing machine (thinking it could save time BUT…!)  and was feeling a tad giddy having to do housework and online work and having to rush down to pick my 3 girls up from school at different timing.  I know I have always been a good multi-tasker but as I get older, the brain just cannot function as efficient. Thankfully the hubs could take-away food for us and I had some frozen food which I had cooked extra earlier, for the girls on those days that the helper was away.

I can still manage light cooking, bathroom washing and moping of the floor on a daily basis.  What really turns my mood off is doing the laundry and cleaning up after cooking. Not that we have a big kitchen. You know how squeezy a kitchen in a condo can be. The dirty pots, pans, wok, bowls, plates and cups filling up every space on the kitchen top and sink just make my eyes sore. I think with the helper leaving, I will have more take-away meals and can only afford to whip up some really easy cooking with minimal preparation and washing up. The kids will have to alter their taste buds and get used to eating steamed food on most days. I have been hammering into their heads for the past few months, telling them that they have to prepare for a major change in their lifestyle and not be so reliant on kakak.  It’s not easy to go cold-turkey on something since they have all been lucky to have a kakak to help them since birth.  I guess the actual situation when the time comes will propel them to change and be more independent.   Last night, Alycia asked kakak to teach her how to iron clothes.  While Alycia is a pretty good home-maker, the same cannot be said on rascal #2 and #3.  Well, they have to learn to be one very soon.

My helper has in the past done and said all kinds of things to boil my blood and caused tempers flying everywhere in the home from everyone. Just last night, she was trying to kill a cockroach that was running everywhere.  And guess how she killed the cockroach? She took the burning iron and pressed it on the roach and then continued ironing  on rascal #2’s dress – the rascal whom she cannot get along well with!  I was even hotter than the burning iron, I tell you and just could not believe her gross action!!   Well, having said all these, I think I will definitely miss having the helper around.  Despite all that she had done to boil my blood, rupture my blood vessels and at times made me so enraged that I was on the verge on raising my hands to hit her, she has nevertheless been a great help to me.

No. of times viewed = 416

Await Cafe @ Taman Danau Desa, KL

We had breakfast at the newly opened Await Cafe @ Taman Danau Desa after bringing the girls to the park yesterday morning. My foodie hubs brought us there on Saturday morning after attending Cassandra’s sports day event but the cafe was not ready to serve us yet. So the next day, he tried his luck again. This time they were ready. Await Cafe is only slightly over a month old and from what I observed, it is managed by a group of friends. For gourmet coffee lovers, this is the cafe place to go to for specially brewed coffee. It has a homey environment and is suitable for both the young and old. The staff / owners are a friendly bunch of people who allowed me to photograph their different types of ‘canggih’ coffee makers and patiently answered my bunch of questions too. Since there is free WiFi, you can have some work done on your iPad or lappie or wantonly do some online socializing from your android phone while you enjoy your cuppa coffee.

We were stumped when told that there was only 1 item on their breakfast menu. The owner explained to us that since they are pretty new and do not have enough manpower, they can only start off with 1 item for breakfast, which is this breakfast set, costing only RM13.  And yes, it was pretty good.  My girls loved the homemade mashed potato so much that we ordered an extra bowl of mashed potatoes (RM8 for 3 scoops) after chomping down 3 breakfast sets.

We ordered a plate of crunchy almond Biscotti to go with the specially brewed gourmet coffee, which came free with the breakfast set.

The different types of unique coffee makers :

Don’t know what this gadget is called. The water in the top transparent jar is from melted ice cubes.  The melted ice water is then dripped into a cloth bag filled with blended coffee beans and the strained coffee liquid is in the jar on the rack.  The whole process took more than 24 hours and at the time I took this pic, the process was still on-going.  According to the owner, they are still experimenting with this and I guess they will introduce this specially produced coffee after they have perfected it.

One of the owners preparing our coffee, using the hand drip method.

This is the Syphon method.  The owner kindly brought this gadget to our table and let me snap pix of it to my heart’s content, after another customer spent over 15 minutes snapping pic of it using his iPhone. I bet he then posted the pix to his Facebook page hahaha!!

Plain chilled water flavored with fresh lemon slices and fresh screwpine (pandan) leaves – very refreshing!

My hyper active baby girl could not stop laying her hands on the aromatic coffee beans on display at the counter and spilling some of them too, much to my chagrin!

Await Cafe (above Ceggo Boardroom),
9-1-5, Jalan 3/109F, Taman Danau Desa, Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-7971-0978
Open through 8pm daily. Opens at 9am on weekends.






No. of times viewed = 1226

Book Maniac

My 8.5YO daughter taking after me — reading while eating.  She can spend an hour eating and reading (either own story books, school library books or newspapers) at the same time. And then adjourn to the throne and spend another hour reading there. Coz she knows that after her lunch and shower, she is not allowed to read story books anymore as it’s the time reserved for homework or Mandarin tuition. Time is really not enough on school-going days for leisure reading.

Alycia poring in The Umbrella Man.

No. of times viewed = 762

The IKEA Sale Is Back!!

My hubs is all geared up to rush into the Ikea store in the morning of 5 July 2012 to grab some of the best deals ever! He is one big fan of Ikea. For someone who has absolutely no patience shopping with me, he can however spend the whole morning with me at Ikea without any complaint! It is me who always had to hurry him to the checkout counter, else he can spend the whole day at Ikea! Anyway what I wanted to share with all of you Ikea fans is that Ikea is having its grand sale starting from Thursday, 5 July 2012!

If you are an IKEA FAMILY member, you have the privilege to attend the preview sale from 7am – 9:30am on Thursday, 5 July 2012!  If you are not an IKEA FAMILY member yet, no worries.  You can join for free!  You can establish family ties with Ikea via the FAMILY kiosk at Ikea.   Upon registration, you’ll be able to enjoy lower prices on selected products in the IKEA store, including 1x free coffee and discounted meal.  To enjoy the full suite of benefits, just spend RM200 within a year and be converted to a lifetime, permanent member.  Easy peasy right?

Here are the benefits of being an IKEA FAMILY member:

  • Lifetime membership
  • Earn Bonus Points for store vouchers
  • Get 3x Bonus Points on your birthday month (from June 2012 onwards)
  • $ave with member prices on selected products
  • Enjoy free drinks and discounted FAMILY meals
  • Be invited to member-only events
  • Get inspired and first-hand information with 3 newsletters per year

For more information, do hop over to the Ikea website .  At the same time, you can do some preliminary online shopping and list down on a piece of paper what you’d like to get from Ikea during the sale!

Here are some of the goodies up for grabs on 5 July 2012 only.  If you are an IKEA FAMILY member, you’ll get a free breakfast for yourself and your 2 guests during the preview sale from 7am – 9am on 5 July 2012!

I am eyeing that blue swivel chair at only RM199 for my work area.   Normal price is RM499.  A steal right?






No. of times viewed = 447

Savings For The Kids’ Tertiary Education

Sherilyn is now into Grade 2 of the Royal Academy of Dance for ballet. When she first attended ballet lessons, we paid only about RM70 for a once weekly lesson. Then, a few months before the exam, the teacher increased the lessons to twice weekly and the fees was doubled too. Now that she is in Grade 2, the fee is RM170 a month for twice weekly lessons. This is what The Husband paid last week :

A whopping sum of  RM618 for April, May, June fees and other miscellaneous items.

What do you think of the fees? Expensive? If I were to send Cass and Alycia for ballet or music class soon, The Husband would have to cough out at least RM400 a month on ballet and music. With art class, Mandarin tuition, swimming, UCMAS class, pre-school fees and other inevitable expenses, our expenses on our 3 girls alone totals up to RM2k a month. Household expenses and food bill are not included yet.   These are all very basic expenses of a medium class family living in the Klang Valley. I have been thinking… if I quit my online store business, would we still have a four-figure savings in our bank accounts every month?? We would require at least half a million bucks for our girls’ university funds though they all have an insurance plan with medical and education roped in.

Do you put in a four-figure savings in your bank account every month? How much do you save for your kids’ tertiary education funds a month? Let’s discuss! 🙂







No. of times viewed = 424

HEALTH FREAK MOMMY