Happy New Year 2009!

Time really flies. Today is already the last day of 2008 and very soon we will be welcoming the New Year at the stroke of midnight. Well, the meeting that started off this morning is still ongoing, so looks like my wish of getting 1/2 a day off today will not materialize. :( So sad but it’s okay la. Anyway, we have no plans for tonight so basically we will just stay at home and glue ourselves in front of the TV with lots of snacks...haha. I’m sure the kids will have some fun and enjoy themselves tonight.

What about you? Any plans for tonight?

Before I finish with my final post for this year, I wish all of you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2009! Let’s hope 2009 will be a better year for everyone. :D

Back To Office

I am back to work today after spending 5 consecutive days at home. It was a long stretch of holiday for me and during these few days I managed to get some shopping done. At least now I don’t have to worry about Sharlene’s CNY clothing. I’ve got her enough outfits and also a pair of shoes when we went to 1Utama, our favorite shopping mall again the other day. As usual I didn’t get myself anything. Tomorrow is New Year eve and in the event my bosses declare 1/2 day off tomorrow, I might just drop by the nearest shopping mall to get myself some new clothes. Yesterday we stayed at home the whole day and since CNY is just around the corner, we started spring-cleaning the house. Everyone in the house helped to clean up including Sharlene. I gave her a piece of cloth and she went around the house, wiped the table, chair, the wall and even her toys.

On the day after Christmas we made a day trip to Malacca. We reached there around noon, walked along the busy Jonker Street and stopped over at one of the less crowded restaurants for lunch. I bet you know what we had for lunch there. Yeah, you’re right...it’s the famous chicken rice balls.


Here's some of the dishes that we had on that day :

The Chicken Rice Balls - instead of serving the rice in its natural form, the rice is made into balls by hand.

A plate of roasted chicken and steamed chicken that was quite tasteless.

Steamed Otak-otak which was the most delicious dish amongst the lot.

Fish Balls and Wanton Soup. Sharlene didn't like the rice balls so she just filled her tummy with 4 of this huge fishballs.

Season's Greetings!!

I would like to wish all my blogger friends and blog visitors

A very Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Enjoy this festive season with your loved ones and Happy Holidays!!!

Cheers! :)

Fussy Mum & Family

She Is Eating Chicken Again

Sharlene started to eat chicken meat when she was 1 yr plus and she could really polished off a whole chicken drumstick, leaving only the bone. Further, she will not get down from her highchair unless she had finished sucking the bones. Everyone at home truly enjoyed looking at how she savors the chicken drumstick. So from that day onwards, whenever we have a chicken dish at home, we will definitely reserve a drumstick for her. I could still remember the way she pleaded my late mil to let her eat the chicken that was placed on top of the praying altar. She really looked like a ‘wai shek mau’ (glutton) at that time. Lol!

However, her passion for chicken has somehow declined sometime early this year and she has stopped eating it since then. Every time we offer her drumsticks or other parts of the poultry, she will either reject or spit out the meat after chewing it. Luckily, she's still eating fish. Perhaps, nowadays she’s lazy to chew her meat, as said by her nanny.

Last Saturday we attended a barbecue party at a friend’s house and that was when Sharlene surprised me by eating chicken again. The barbecued chicken wings prepared by the host were well marinated and very tasty. Sharlene took some ‘chu cheong fan’ (flat rice noodles), garlic bread and 2 chicken wings. After about 1 hour later, she asked for another chicken wing. So altogether she had 3 of them. Hopefully she is back to eating meat again after this occasion.

While she was busy eating, hubby snapped the following pix:


Look at how she relished the barbecued chicken wings with her hands. This was the 3rd piece of chicken wing she had on that night. She wanted more but I stopped her lah....so oily and fattening, plus the chicken wing was quite big you know.

omg, look at how she sits with one of her legs up like this.

I didn't even know that hubby had taken this pix until the next day. She looked really comfortable in this position.

Winter Solstice Festival

Today is the annual Dongzhi or Winter Solstice Festival. Yeah, it is the time of the year to indulge in glutinous rice balls or 'Tang Yuen' again. I love those with peanuts and black sesame fillings and also the ones made by my aunt which are coated with thick sugar syrup and chopped peanuts....Oooo, so yummy and I really miss them now! I will be making some later and lets hope my first attempt in making 'tang yuen' will be a successful one. ;) Hopefully I can get Sharlene to help me roll the 'tang yuen' and I am sure my little helper will enjoy playing with them...haha.

Here I wish everyone a very Happy Dongzhi. :)

A Fun Day At FRIM

We decided to join my sil and friends for jungle trekking at FRIM (Forest Research Institute Malaysia) last Saturday (13/12). Woke up early on that day and got all the necessary stuff ready i.e. insects repellent (*very important*), a change of new clothes for all of us, face towels, camera, bottles of drinking water and foodstuff as we intend to have our breakfast there before we start our walk in the tropical forest.

We reached FRIM around 8am, searched a while for carpark and finally found a place to park our car at Zone B. Surprisingly, there were a lot of people at FRIM on that morning and most of them are joggers. There are a few sitting areas with tables and benches around this spot and this was the place we had our breakfast together with my sil’s friends.

The weather was extremely fine on that morning. Sharlene and her piao cheh had so much fun running around the place, posed for the camera and I love this picture of them hugging each other. So sweet and loving!

After stuffing ourselves with food, we went to purchase our tickets to the canopy walk (you must not miss this activity if you are going to FRIM) from the souvenir counter (located in the same building as the information counter). The fee is RM5 per adult and RM1 per child. A guide can be requested for a fee however we did not request for one. After all it was easy to follow the trail and we took about 1 hour from the information counter to reach the canopy walkway. If you are fit, you will probably reach there in 30 minutes time.


At first, Sharlene fussed big time about the surrounding and then she refused to walk on her own. Look at her pitiful face. :( No choice daddy got to give her piggyback ride almost half the way up. It was only at one point that she started to come down and walked on her own. *Phew* what a relief for daddy!

After a long walk we finally reached the entrance of the canopy walkway. We were amongst the few who reached there first, waited some time for the rest of them to arrive. And here’s the entrance to the canopy walkway...

The hanging canopy is suspended 30m from the ground and spans over 200m. We went on the walkway one by one. I was a bit worried when it was my turn to step on the walkway as you can see from the pix here, Sharlene was following right behind of me and the walkway is 'moving'! She held my right hand whilst I balanced myself by holding the rope with my left hand.


My niece was so brave to walk on her own, albeit a little panic at the start. For your info, we have to maintain this distance when we are on the walkway.


The 2 kids were standing on the platform (on top of big trees) after completing the first walkway. They were calmer when they went on the 2nd walkway. :)


The photo below shows a view of the platform (it is high...so if you are afraid of height, don’t ever look down otherwise you might not be able to move on...haha.


We had another round of fun at the waterfall before we left the place about 1pm. It was really nice to see the children enjoy themselves, especially Sharlene for I didn’t expect her to like this outing and have the courage to go on the canopy.

Sharlene, you did very well and mummy is so proud of you!

Gion Danish Bread

I am sure most of you will be able to recognize this special bread called Bo-lo’gne Gion Bread. It can be seen in majority of the shopping complexes in Klang Valley. The first time I tried this was when they were giving out free sampling some time ago in 1Utama (in front of Jaya Jusco).

A few weeks ago, I bought my first full loaf at Atria (Damansara Jaya). As we were so hungry, we started to eat the bread in the car. It is good to eat as it is, straight from the bag. The bread is bigger size and heavier than the normal ones in the market, texture is very moist and delicately soft on the inside.

For your information, this Danish bread has no artificial preservatives, is made with vegetable oil and without any butter.

Directions For Consumption
1. Toast lightly to experience the delightful aroma and crusty texture of the bread.
2. Microwave to experience the soft texture of the fresh bread.

Storage
1. The bread has a shelf life of almost 1 week in proper storage. Refrigerate to keep for extended period.
2. Use the storage plastic bag when keeping inside the refrigerator.

Price
RM18.00 for a full loaf
RM9.80 for half a loaf


Back home Sharlene was excited to see the loaf of bread and requested me to give her a piece. Look at how she admired her bread. Funny expression, huh :)


My bread lover really loved the tasty bread and managed to finish 1.5 pieces at one go, right after her dinner. We kept the balance for breakfast the next morning and the whole loaf was finished up on the same day.

Look At My Pizza

Mummy, look at my pizza. I can see you from here. heeehee



Ok, I am going to eat my pizza now...ahhhmmm



Oopsss!! I've created another hole here. And now I can see you better, mummy..haha

Sharlene was having fun with her pizza when we were dining at Souled Out Café @ Desa Sri Hartamas last Monday (8/12) with hubby’s friend and family. This fussy girl had removed the toppings and only wanted to eat the crispy thin crust. I had a good time nibbled on the toppings left at the side of her plate...haha.

Besides the pizza that Sharlene and 2 other kids were eating, hubby’s friend ordered another wood fired pizza for us and according to him it is the café’s all-time bestsellers! The top of the pizza was loaded with slices of fresh salmon, cherry tomatoes, Japanese mayonnaise, lollo rosso (a type of lettuce with reddish-pink leaves) and a hint of wasabi. I loved it so much that I chomped down 3 pieces at one go. Oohh...it tasted so heavenly! As for hubby, he tried their Lamb Shank and it was very delicious too. :)

The 3 kids had dessert after their meal and they requested for ice cream. Sharlene chose a scoop of vanilla flavor ice cream with wafer. She only took some of the ice cream but finished 3 pieces of wafer. Actually there was only 1 piece on each ice cream but since she liked it so much and kept pestering me for more, Edmund kor kor (who is hubby friend’s 7yo son) was so nice to request another 2 pieces of wafer from the waitress just for her.


Hmmm...the wafer is so yummy. I love it!

Uber Amazing Award

I am really honored to receive this award from Ling. Thank you so much. :)

You have an AMAZING blog too!!

So here are the rules:

*start copy here*

Uber (synonym to Super) Amazing Blog Award is a blog award given to sites who: inspires you, makes you smile and laugh, or maybe gives amazing information, a great read, has an amazing design, and any other reasons you can think of that makes them uber amazing!

The rules of this award are: Put the logo on your blog or post, nominate at least 5 blogs (can be more) that for you are Uber Amazing, let them know that they have received this Uber Amazing award by commenting on their blog, share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award from.

*end copy here*

I would like to pass on this award to the following uber amazing bloggers!

1. Mummy Gwen
2. ContentedMom
3. Slavemom
4. Shireen
5. Olive

Sharlene's 1st Movie Outing

Sharlene has not been to the cinema before and I thought this school holidays would be the best time to bring her there. I think she's big enough to watch a movie in the cinema and it would be a good experience for her and for us as well.

Since last Monday was a public holiday and we have nowhere to go, we decided to bring Sharlene to the cinema for her very first movie. I think she would love to watch Madagascar 2 but since she had watched the show repeatedly on DVD, which hubby bought in JB during our last trip there, we chose to watch Bolt (the only suitable show for Sharlene besides Madagascar 2).


We reached 1 Utama new wing around 11.30am and went straight to GSC to purchase our movie tickets. We waited in line and were considering whether to watch the 3D version or not. After a short while, it was our turn at the counter, hubby picked the 3D version and paid for the tickets. Altogether he paid RM43.00 for 3 tickets. [Adult: RM16 & Child: RM11 (inclusive of RM5.00 surcharge each)]. Then, we bought some stuff to munch in the cinema – large popcorn + ice lemon tea, 1901 hotdog, corn in a cup and hot milo for Sharlene.

We were given 3D specs each before entering the cinema. Sharlene was holding on to my hands as I guide her to our seats, which were very close to the big screen (3rd row from the front). I let her sit in between both of us. Being a first timer, she started to feel scared and kept telling me “Mummy, I want to go home, I don’t want to stay here.” I put my arms over her shoulder and assured her that it will be alright and she's going to enjoy the cartoon. When the show started she stopped whining for a moment, as she was attracted to the adorable and white puppy (Bolt) on screen. I thought she will be fine but when hubby tried to put on the specs for her she fussed again. "I don’t want, I don’t want to wear". She almost wanted to cry out this time. I tried to distract her with food but was rejected by her. At first, she didn’t quite enjoy the show and kept pestering me to go home for the first 30 minutes. I thought of leaving the cinema if she continues to behave this way. I was so afraid she would disturb others from watching the movie. But after awhile I noticed no more complaint from her and her eyes were hooked to the screen. She began to eat and drink her milo too. I heaved a sigh of relief and thereafter we enjoyed the animated show until the end. However, she watched without putting on the 3D specs. :( I must say we had made the wrong decision by watching 3D, should have just watch the normal one instead. Hopefully, she knows how to enjoy 3D movie when she's older.

All in all it was a great family outing for us.

Pee Accident

Ever since Sharlene is off diaper during the night, she hardly give us any pee accident and she normally wakes up on her own to pee. However, last night she accidentally peed on my bed again. The same thing just happened last week and she did it again last night. Arghhhh...I was frustrated and mad with her for wetting the bed once again. I reprimanded her for doing it and after I had changed her pajamas I told her to sleep on her own bed instead and not to come up to my bed again! Upon hearing this she went down to her own bed reluctantly and started crying. Seeing how pitiful she was daddy went over to console her, gave her some words of encouragement and wiped her teary eyes. But all these didn’t stop her from crying. I know all she wants is to sleep on our bed. Nowadays she is getting too comfortable sleeping on our bed and refused to sleep on her own bed every night. True enough her crying stopped soon after I carried her to our bed. As part of the mattress that she peed on was still wet and smelly and I was too lazy to change the bed sheet in the middle of the night, I just sprayed it with Febreze and hubby then used a hairdryer to blow-dry the damp part.

I feel terribly bad and guilty for scolding her and making her weep in the middle of last night :( She didn’t wet the bed on purpose and yet I scolded her. So silly of me.

Before she went to sleep again, I gave her a big warm hug. I know it was too late to do all this but at least it made both of us feel better.

The Fun Google Tag

Thanks Mummy Gwen for passing this interesting tag to me. I am going to have some fun doing this tag now :D

"The rules are simple. Use Google Image to search the answers to the questions below. Then you must choose a picture in the first page of the results, and post it as your answer. After that tagged 7 people."

1. The age of my next birthday











2. A place I'd like to travel to









3. A favourite place










4. A favourite thing









5. A favourite food








6. A favourite colour









7. The city I live in










8. The city I was born in










9. A nickname I had

10. College Major









11. Name of first (and only) lover

12. A bad habit

13. A hobby

14. Current wish list (max. 3 items)











Finally, it is my turn now to pass this tag around. The lucky mummies that I am going to tag here are Irene, Doreen, Ling, Olive, Leona, Adrine & Rachel. Hope all of you have fun doing this. :)

Home Remedies For Sore Throat

I have not been feeling too good since the beginning of this week :( At first it was headache then yesterday after lunch I felt my throat was dry and painful. Knowing that the pain could get worse, I drank many cups of water to moisten my throat but the annoying pain still wouldn’t go away. And subsequent to that I'd made so many trips to the washroom. I know the sore won’t just heal so easily. But I really need to do something before it gets worse.

So once I got home, I browsed through the web and searched for some home remedies for sore throat. In fact, there is quite a long list of home remedies available but I only took a quick glance and found one that uses honey (any kind) and apple-cider vinegar. Since I have both honey and apple-cider vinegar in my kitchen, I followed the instructions by mixing 1 tablespoon of honey and 1 tablespoon of apple-cider vinegar and 8 ounces of hot water in a mug. Stir it well and sip slowly while it is still hot. I liked the drink and it soothed my throat after consuming it.

In addition to this method, I’d tried another easy one but I tell you not everyone likes to do this. For sure I won’t want to do it again the next time. Ok, let me tell you...this remedy is called ‘suck on garlic’. After I’d put Sharlene to sleep last night I went down to the kitchen, peeled a fresh clove of garlic, sliced it in half and placed 1 piece in each cheek. Based on the instruction I’m supposed to suck on the garlic like a cough drop. Occasionally, crush my teeth against the garlic, not to bite it in half, but to release its allicin, a chemical that can kill a certain bacteria. I did just that but after less than 10 minutes I had to spit out the crushed garlic from my mouth. Hubby can even smell the horrible garlic stink from far, even without me opening my mouth…haha. The strong odor still lingers in my mouth this morning.

I’m not certain of the effectiveness of these 2 methods but after trying it myself yesterday, I have no more sore throat today. Yay!!! Moreover, drinking as much water as possible also help to keep the throat from becoming dry and irritated. I have been drinking lots of it since morning and hence, endless trips to the washroom today!

A Change In Sleeping Routine

Sharlene’s sleeping routine has a slight adjustment since the start of the year-end school holidays. She is enjoying every moment of it as she gets to eat more, play more with her cousin sister and watch more cartoons for the past 2 weeks. This hyperactive girl of mine is forever reluctant to go up the bedroom early.

I've been allowing her to sleep slightly later than her usual time since now is the school holidays and she normally wakes up late in the morning. By 9pm I will summon her to the bedroom. Once she's inside the bedroom there will be another round of playing hide and seek with daddy where both of them will mess up my bed, sometimes a quiet reading session with her, or she will play with her toys and puzzles before she takes her last bottle of milk. I will then switch off the room lights when the bottle of milk is given to her.

She sleeps on our king size bed, in between hubby and me. All along she has been sleeping on her own bed in our room but lately she insists on sleeping with us on our bed. Haizz…. really have no idea as to when she will go back to her own bed. I am waiting for hubby to clear up my back room (which looks more like a storeroom to me) so that we can do up that room for Sharlene. I think she's big enough to sleep on her own now, isn't she?

Besides sleeping on my bed, she loves to put her toys on my bed, play, jump and roll on it.

The other night after she managed to button up her vest, she jumped onto my bed and requested me to snap a photo of her.


She raised up her legs and happily said Mummy, come and take a photo of me.

My Monday

I still have a slight headache when I woke up this morning. Whenever I do not have enough sleep and when the weather is hot and humid, I tend to have headache but most of the time it will go away after a good night sleep. No medications required for my case unless the pain is really unbearable, then panadol would suffice. My family is very prone of getting headache except for my dad.

Just when I was about to leave for office this morning hubby told me that I better not drive my car today due to a substantial leakage of brake oil. He found out about the leakage when he checked the car yesterday but obviously he had forgotten to tell me. Luckily, he remembered this morning or else I would have driven the car out. Hopefully he remembers to call the mechanic to pick up my car for repair. I think I better send a text message to remind him after this. My sil gave me a lift to the office and offered to pick me up later.

Despite having sufficient sleep last night I am still feeling very lethargic, sleepy and keep yawning every few minutes now. Oh, I wonder how am I going to survive the rest of the day in the office with this sluggish condition. And just now, I nearly lost my mobile phone. It was my carelessness and absentmindedness. After I’d made a phone call I went to the washroom straightaway bringing along my mobile phone. I put my mobile on top of the toilet roll casing while I relieve myself. I don’t know what I was thinking or dreaming at that point in time and I actually left the washroom without taking my mobile! I’d brought in my mobile a few times before but today was the very first time I’d overlook it. I came to realize it when I was back to my desk and when I took out my handbag to take out a folic acid tablet. Without delay I chucked my handbag aside and rushed to the washroom as fast as I could. In my heart I was praying hard that my mobile is still there and that nobody has taken it. My heart was pumping so fast as I was approaching the toilet cubicle where I’d left my mobile but once I saw it was still there, my heart beat was back to normal again...oh, what a relief it was!

Lesson learnt today: Never ever bring my mobile phone into the office washroom again.

Complete The Sentence Tag

Thanks Kylie for passing this interesting tag to me. :)

1. Life is full of ups and downs.

2. I smile when I am happy.

3. I can't sleep when I am not sleepy.

4. I love the smell of food.

5. When I can't sleep, I toss and turn around on my bed.

6. I often dream about unrelated matters.

7. I get irritated when I am in a lousy mood.

8. I like the sound of Sharlene’s laughter.

9. People often call me Ivy.

10. I wish I could have more quality time with Sharlene in a day.

11. The best creation in the world is computer.

12. 1st 3 words that come to my mind: Family, Love and Happiness

13. I've discovered that life is so unpredictable.

14. When I'm in love, I am the happiest person in the world.

15. A baby is born with lots of love.

16. Before I met my husband, I have a different everyday life.

17. A good marriage requires love and understanding.

18. I dislike when Sharlene misbehave in public places.

19. I say 'I Love You' very often.

20. My favourite subject in school was English.