April 2014 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Peeling Stinky Beans

Cass earnestly and diligently at work, helping grandma to remove the stinky beans from the pod and then peeled off the skin.

And she completed the entire job all by herself! This I really have to give her a pat on her back. I have absolutely no patience for this kinda boring task. Of the 3 girls, Cass has the most patience to complete a task. When she was about 3 years old, she was hooked on fixing jig saw puzzles and would spend hours on end trying to complete a puzzle, oblivious to what was happening around her and even oblivious to the fact that we were all going out.

Did you know that stinky beans are Cass’ favorite beans? I am surprised that all my girls love stinky beans, despite it having a loathsome aftermath the morning after.

I actually love stinky beans but I try not to eat them. The older I get, the more conscious I get too with my breath and you know, the odor of my morning dumps kekeke!! Alycia is just like me. Though she loves eating stinky beans she tries not to eat them if she has to go to school the next day.

Do your kids eat stinky beans?

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Bonding With No. 2

I had a much needed fruitful bonding with rascal no.2 yesterday. We did what girls love best – shopping! Mummy and daughter shopping for shoes and clothes! At Avenue K Shopping Mall, after a delightful and totally satisfying lunch at Bankara Ramen and stationery and books shopping at Popular Bookstore. It was our first time shopping at Avenue K.

The past week was rough for us. She did everything wrong to irritate me to boiling point. And we ended the week on a good note. I bought her a pair of sandals and a wig headband from H&M. She was totally happy and so was I ♥

This rascal is growing up really fast. She and I can now share the same pair of shoes! I bought her this pair of pretty pink floral sandals, which I heart a lot myself.

After shopping for shoes, we headed to H&M like 2 fanatic shopping queens, so excited and happy to charge the store LOL!

I was undecided on which to choose – blue skirt or leopard skirt. We went into the fitting room and she helped to offer some advice. And I finally chose the leopard skirt 🙂 I also bought myself a top in neon pink, my favorite color!

Because of the roaring thunder and the menacing looking dark skies, we had to end the shopping all too soon to rush home to salvage our laundry and to close the windows. But we will be back very soon for another round of shopping and this time at the kiddos section as well. And we are definitely going to Bankara Ramen again. Avenue K has been marked to be our next favorite hang-out place from now onwards 😉

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Homework Discussion Via Skype

This is a typical Generation Z kid. A kid who is very hands-on with electrical gadgets.

During my time (I was born in the year of the ox some 4 decades back) when I was Alycia’s age, I could only discuss homework with my friends via telephone. And the telephone that we had 3 decades back was the black bulky and heavy dial telephone. I think we can only find such telephones in the museum now 😀

These days, almost all Generation Z kids have a desktop PC or a laptop in their room. Of late, on most nights, Alycia will Skype her classmates for discussion on how to solve Math sums and to discuss difficult questions from other homework. They even have group Skype in their homework discussion.

As I do not have the time to stand next to Alycia to monitor her conversation like a hawk, I always delegate my whistle blowers to report back to me on their che che’s conversation, HA HA HA HA! *ROARS tiger mum with exposed FANGS and CLAWS*

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Grandma’s Back

A month flew past us like a gust of wind and grandma’s back from Hawaii two days ago…. with lotsa goodies as usual 😀

The girls look forward to ransacking grandma’s huge suit cases upon her return from overseas each time to dig for ‘treasure’!!

And they fished out lotsa treasures from within the heavy suit cases that grandma lugged back…

GAP hoodie jackets, GAP tees, GAP pants, colorful Aloha bags that Sarah ku ku (my SIL) hand made for them, seashells from the shores of Hawaii and….

…. lotsa macadamia nuts, almonds, pecans, cashews, pine nuts and chocolates. Omaigawd, so much goodies to eat! I’m going to have to push myself even harder in the gym now! We still have lotsa chocs that grandma brought back from New Zealand and Hong Kong early this year and now there is a new supply :O

Here’s wishing Sarah ku ku thank you very much for all the goodies ♥

No. of times viewed = 688

Sweet Captcha To Prevent Spam Comments

Lately, I have been receiving tons of spam comments in my blog posts, like hundreds of spam messages in an hour!

To counter these spammy comments, I have just installed a Sweet Captcha plug-in in my blog.

Hence, from now onwards, after you have typed in your comment, you will need to do a very simple and fun puzzle like jig saw puzzle, which takes you just a few seconds 😀

Below is a print screen of what you will see when you comment in my blog post. You will see at the bottom of the blog post after you have clicked ‘Leave A Comment’ or ‘xx Thoughts’ a box on ‘Verify your real existence’ . Here there will be an easy puzzle for you to solve each time you leave a comment (different puzzle each time). All you need to do is to drag the correct picture to the puzzle box on the right side. Easy peasy only 😀

Thank you for taking the time and effort to read my blog and to leave your comments.

Here’s sending you lotsa virtual kisses and hugs *muack muack*

No. of times viewed = 625

Waited In Vain

See this fearless rascal?

Monkeying away with zilch fear within her today. I so LOVE her confidence and bravery!!

She knew just what she had to go through in the hospital today. She kept thinking that she had to go for an operation today, though I kept reassuring her that it was only a procedure with ‘a little’ pain. And she was the least disturbed or worried. She knew that there would be 2 catheters to be inserted into her down under.

In the hospital while waiting for her turn, she kept bugging me to give her some subtraction sums to do (with 3 figures). She’s a Math wiz this girl and I am so proud of my 6-year old.

Outside the Urodynamics Suite, she kept hopping and prancing away, with NO FEAR of what was going to await her inside the suite. Wah, SUITE sounds so glam but inside is a tension room.

It was freezing cold outside the Urodynamics Suite and Cystoscope Suite. I was quivering in the biting chilly room and in nervousness too. While the rascal pranced away and kept irritating me (tugging my dress, flipping my hair, sitting on my lap), I was worried sick. Perhaps, it was through monkeying away that she kept her nervousness away, if indeed there was any.

Then came the bad news! The dang X-ray machine konked out! Why la must it konk out after we had waited for 2.5 hours??? Shiats, so we were given another date to come again… WTF!! And I now have 2 more weeks of anxiety. And the anxiety and worry that I had for the past 2 months were in vain. And my migraine today was in vain too. Nothing was achieved today and I wasted my precious time in the hospital. The only thing I got was the quick peek inside the Urodynamics Suite. At least now I know what Cass would have to go through in 2 weeks and how long the catheters would be inside her *faint*

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Organic Yee Mein

My girls are so in love with yee mein. Yee Mein is a kind of noodles made from wheat flour and eggs and deep fried. One of the ingredients in it is ASH. And I have no freaking idea what ash is but it sure does not sound too healthy to be eating ash. Also, I am dubious on the kind of oil the manufacturers used to deep fry the noodles. Imagine RM3.50 for a packet of about 6 noodles, that’s a steal. Now, can things that cheap and mass-produced be healthy? I don’t think so. Much as my girls love to eat yee mein, I try to limit their consumption of this noodles.

I was so excited when I saw organic yee mein sold at an organic shop at my neighborhood. I bought a packet and cooked it for dinner several nights ago.

The noodles were blanched for less than a minute in a pot of hot water, to ‘cleanse’ it first before eating. We personally prefer to eat the noodles as it is, without blanching it. We love the super crispy texture of the noodles but I feel that it is healthier to blanch the noodles in hot water before serving them to young kids. Abuden, this has to come from a health freak mommy 😀

I whipped up some minced pork sauce with Shimeji mushrooms and meat balls for the noodles and made an extra portion of the pork sauce to be cooked with our tofu dish the next day 🙂

No. of times viewed = 892

Bitchy Mode Turned On!

My bitchy mode is turned on *evil grin*!

I am going to bitch about how some parents manage their kiddos. I know I know, I am far from perfect but then, some things that I see daily just get on my nerves and I just do not understand why some people do certain things like allowing their kids to swim for at least 3 hours at the time of the day when it is the hottest (between 12 noon to 4pm).

The Japanese kids at our condo are having their school holidays now. For the past one month, the Jap mummies would gather at the pool side and have their desperate housewives meeting cum mini party while their kids attend swimming lessons. After lesson, the kids will play in the pool for another 2-3 hours! In scorching hot afternoon sun! I look up at the sky also I get blinded momentarily by the sun rays. How can these kids swim for 3 hours and the siew siew lais have a party next to the pool for 3 hours?! Not in this crazy weather with temperature of up to 40 degrees C these days! This I totally don’t get it!

Aiyooooh, don’t these Japs know that ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun is the number once cause of skin cancer? Exposure to sun also causes most of the wrinkles and age spots on our faces. No wonder those Jap women look so matured for their age leh!

Don’t throw darts at me for secretly photographing this OK? If you see these kids swimming at least 5 days in a week in the hot afternoon for 3 hours per session, you will also think that their maders are crazy!! Maybe they are all sun deprived back in Japan.

No. of times viewed = 512

Mama, You’re The Queen Of My Heart

My kids are my angels and they are ironically also the monsters hiding in the closet, waiting to pounce on me and make me scream and weep on my PMS days. When they are angels, they make me laugh till I tear. Yesterday was movie day. The girls were all in a cheery and upbeat mood. During our preparation to go out in the morning, Alycia put on Cass’ pajamas top and refused to remove it, just so to irritate Cass. That pajamas once belonged to Alycia and handed down to Sherilyn and Cass. The 2 girls then started to have a tug of war over the worn out ‘ham choy’ pajamas top. I was not in control to stop them from fighting until I had a light bulb moment, TING! I challenged Alycia to wear the shabby pajamas over her tee and jeans to the mall. If she dared to walk into the shopping mall in that ridiculous pajamas throughout our time in the mall, she gets RM20 from me! She jumped at the challenge and wore the pajamas out of the house into the lift (thank God no one was inside!) and into the car but she backed out the moment we reached the mall! Aha, sore loser!! I was glad I did not have to part with RM20 HA HA! The girls and I had a really good laugh. I was laughing so hard at how ridiculous Alycia looked in the shabby faded pajamas top over her tee till I teared. No wonder they say laughter is the best medicine coz it did feel GOOD to have a hearty belly laugh that made me shed a few drops of joyful tears 😀 When Cass saw me wearing this royal blue color dress with gold buttons, she kept commenting that I looked like a queen! Do I? Muahahaha! And throughout yesterday, Cass called me “my Lady” just because she said I looked like a queen in that dress. Awwwww, she sure knows how to pull the right strings in my heart and I played along by calling her “my princess” the whole day ♥

A queen I am not but at times, when love radiates from my 3 princesses, I do feel like a queen in my own right 🙂

The girls outside the cinema, waiting to catch Captain America. Now, I am in love with Chris Evans, he’s SO gorgeous!!

As I am typing this post, the song Mama by Boyz II Men keeps running in my head! And here’s the lyrics, which is just apt for this post 🙂 Mama, Mama you know I love you Mama, Mama you’re the queen of my heart Your love is like tears from the stars Mama I just want you to know lovin’ you is like food to my soul Have a good week everyone and I hope that this week, someone will treat you like a queen too 🙂

No. of times viewed = 795

Golden Hours Of My Morning

With just 3 hours (and sometimes fewer) of golden hours in the morning sans the kids, I want to do everything before the girls come home and rob me of my absolute peace and sanity! But there is no way I can accomplish so much in under 3 hours, unless I have some magical powers to halt time, so that I can take an hour or two of beauty sleep to power charge my internal batteries.

So with just 3 golden hours, I always rush off my online store work and online assignments as these require intent thinking and concentration. Sometimes I take a power nap on my massage chair and sometimes, I indulge in my Magnum ice-cream like what I did this morning… without being taxed. Oooh, such bliss, I tell you!!

No. of times viewed = 943

Cassandra’s 6th Birthday – 9 April 2014

This year will be the final year Cass gets to celebrate her birthday in school with her classmates. When she goes to primary school next year, it is serious business, seriously no birthday celebrations in class, what more in a Chinese school. What to do, hubster is 101% resolute that all his kids MUST go to a Chinese school, haiz…

After a super hectic morning running errands and doing the laundry (had to wash everything that needed to be washed as today is the 2nd and last day of water-on day. Tomorrow and Friday are water-off days), I managed to collect the birthday cake from the bakery and zoomed to Cass’ kindie, reaching there at 9:40am, just on time to coincide with the recess break.

So here’s Cass’ selection. Whatcha think? Cute? I don’t know what made her choose Snoopy. When the baker could not find a picture of Snoopy in her album, we asked her to choose other characters but she was downright steadfast and said she wanted no other but Snoopy. Whose stubborn character did she inherit, I wonder, hmmmm!

After 15 minutes flipping through the baker’s album and not being to find a sample Snoopy character cake, the baker had to use her son’s iPad to Google for a picture of Snoopy and she chose a dancing Snoopy, which I find too cute. Snoopy the Beagle was once my favorite cartoon character too 🙂

When the entire class sang Happy Birthday to her, Cass got a tad emotional and I think she almost wanted to shed one or two drops of happy tears…

After school, I brought Cass to the Japanese restaurant at our condo and treated her to lunch. She chose a potato salad, a cup of Chawan Mushi and a bowl of sweet tofu Udon, which were all her favorite Japanese food. And I chose a grilled giant squid, which I could not finish and had to pack it back for Alycia to snack on after she returned from school.

The birthday girl rules. Her wishes were my command today 😀

I pray that God will bestow Cass with an abundance of good health, wisdom, happiness and a wonderful personality.

No. of times viewed = 1262

On The Eve Of Turning Six

Here’s my baby girl on the eve of turning 6. Yes SIX finally! God, please bless this very adorable fighter who is the light of my life.

This afternoon after school, her daddy and I brought her to the bakery, for her to choose the design for her birthday cake. She requested for a birthday cake to bring to kindie to celebrate with her classmates tomorrow. Guess what cartoon character she chose? You would never have guessed. You may think it’s the latest Anna or Elsa from Frozen or Minion, Princess Sofia or Monster High but no no no… none of these. She did not even like Dora, Hello Kitty, Teletubies anymore!

After choosing the cake, we went to the coffee shop next door to have lunch. And I think we will do lunch again with her tomorrow. Just the three of us, as both her che che would be in school.

You’ll see the cake tomorrow… provided the bakery owner does a good job in drawing the character on the cake, hehe…

No. of times viewed = 517

Movie Marathon In The Car

The only time I have the luxury to watch an entire movie from start to end without any interruption is during road trips. Thank God for the TV in hubs’ car. I really do enjoy such trips, where the kids and I go on a movie marathon while munching on fruits and snacks 😀

During our trip back to Ipoh two weeks ago, we watched Hello Babies (a 2014 CNY comedy by TVB), The Journey (a made in Malaysia 2014 CNY movie) and Twelve Years A Slave, which we only watched a quarter as the entire movie on the VCD was too dark. We watch both Hello Babies and The Journey twice. The kids loved watching Hello Babies which we found to be just too hilarious and peppered with off-color jokes from my all-time favorite actress (Sandra Ng) and actors (Tony Leung Kar Fai, Raymond Wong and Eric Tsang) since over 20 years ago. I had not laughed that hard for a loooong time… which made me realized just how stressed up I have been dealing with the kids, work and the household *woops*!

And so my resolve now would be to watch a comedy or two just once a week or maybe once every fortnight to crack myself up 😀

No. of times viewed = 431

Water Rationing And Our Sunday

Ever since the water shortage and water rationing issues hit the Klang Valley, my girls and I have to adjust our lifestyle a wee bit. As I am typing this post, my bladder is on the verge of exploding but I these days, I have to think twice before peeing and flushing the toilet. If I can still hold on, I hold on and let out a heavy one, HA HA! Peeing means having to use water, so I try to not to pee so frequently these days. In the past, I pee as and when I feel like it. Pressing the flush button on the toilet cistern used to be a no-brainer thing. We hardly ever have issues with flushing toilets. Not until the damn water rationing exercise.

These days, there is a water dipper on our sink. The water used to wash our hands will be collected in the water dipper and poured into a pail for flushing toilets. Taking showers means having to stand in a large round tub and the water is used to flush toilets. Peeing and taking shower have never been so back-breaking, mentally and physically exhausting! The same thing goes when we wash our dirty dishes. The water from the final rinse is collected and used for toilet flushing. Carrying buckets of water to and fro kitchen to bathroom and from shower stall to toilet are darn back-breaking.

Our area is in the off-water day yesterday and today. Water supply was cut off to our condo yesterday and today. Thank God there are 2 huge water tanks on the roof of each block of our condo. We are still having water flowing from our taps but no one knows if we will still have flowing water from our taps today. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will be spared from dry taps throughout the water rationing, which no one knows will last for how long more.

On Saturday, we had a gathering with some old buddies at a restaurant and guess what the main topic of discussion was? Water rationing and ways on how to minimize water usage on off-water days, LOL!

Yesterday, I told the girls that we should just have dinner at the Japanese restaurant at our condo as I was lazy to cook but the little chef-wannabe was so determined to prepare a simple dinner for us. She volunteered to cook instant noodles and to whip up a sardine salad to go with bread, so I relented and let her handle dinner. Though I hate to cook on a Sunday, I have to say that I enjoyed the bonding with my 3 daughters in the kitchen when we cooked and washed the dishes. Motherhood is the toughest job God had ever created but by no means the most rewarding too 🙂

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Mushroom, Sweet Corn & Chicken Pasta

This was our dinner last night…

Fresh portobello mushroom pasta with chicken fillet, fresh sweet corn kernels, garlic and whipping cream topped with cheddar cheese. I used a mixture of ribbon and spiral pasta to make the dish look more interesting. After all, it was a kiddo dish. Shapes, sweet corn, cream and cheese, these are things most kids will heart and yes, my kids heart this pasta dish with all their heart. Every single pasta was walloped and every drop of cheesy and creamy sauce was licked clean 😀

There was also a stir-fried organic baby pea sprouts with garlic. Looks yummeh ya? It sure was super yummeh. I kept a portion for lunch today. I should have cooked more and keep some in the freezer, to be reheated on days when we don’t get our water supply. Yes, our area is finally hit by the water rationing despite it raining almost everyday for the past few days! WTF!

No. of times viewed = 724

Qing Ming 2014

It was Cass’ maiden participation in Qing Ming this year. Her sisters had partaken twice in the past. She was very curious to visit the graveyard and pestered me to bring her to the graveyard. Actually I did not intend to bring her along this year but with her persistence, I caved in. So on Sunday, 30th March, a day after my birthday celebration in Ipoh, we woke up very early to visit the graveyards in Tambun. And Cass was so excited that she woke up first and then jolted me and her sisters up from our beauty sleep, just so she could go to the graveyard, HA HA HA!

So here they are at the first graveyard, which was the tomb of hubster’s great grandparents and the girls’ great great grandparents. The girls’ two little uncles from London were back to partake in this year’s Tombsweeping Day as well and they were equally excited!

Cass and her little uncle, who is the same age as her were happily counting ‘MONEY” and distributing them into several bundles before burning them. The kids loved the burning part. It was a chance of their lifetime to be able to burn papers and joss sticks without getting chided for.

After visiting 3 tombs in 3 hours under the scorching hot sun, we were all sweating profusely, flushed and dying to drink water. At the graveyard, we kept water drinking to the minimum, to prevent the urge to pee. When I asked Cass if she would like to do this again next year, her answer was “no”. I knew it. But their daddy being the filial son, grandson and great grandson will assuredly drag the girls along again next year, without any doubt.

What about you? Did you fulfill your duty of sweeping the tombs this year to pay respect to your loved ones in the afterworld?

No. of times viewed = 1603