Steamboat CRAZE & Assorted..........

A very laid back post...........

A public holiday (Prop. Md b'day) that falls on a week day (thurs) had us thought of fulfilling our sudden crave for steamboat. In fact we decided to STEAM the BOAT that whole 'DAY' starting from late breakfast to late lunch so that we could hang around at home without having to worry about hunting for food outside !!

So the night before, we did all the marketings. My fussy huby wanted to make the dipping sauce "SPECIAL" so a thorough browsing was done over the shelfs. According to him, this particular 'brand' is famous for its' superior quality & taste. It was from Japan. As i have absolutely no idea of how special a soya sauce can be, i can only be his follower. One thing of obvious note was the 'special' price of course!! I think it can easily cost a few times higher than the ordinary type that we consumed. Well..........after trying it out, the verdict was.......i still like the usual type, and it's not that premium to my taste afterall, hahaha.......

In order to be able to immediately start the steamboat early in the morning, i spent that whole night washing & preparing everything ALL BY MYSELF........that was really hard chores i tell you....and for a while i actually regretted !!

We started the morning by making our chicken herbal soup base........

Then, just shifted everything out from the fridge to the table....nicely displayed for my camera before we started to attack them.......hehehehe

And when it comes to steamboat, i especially LOVE vegetables so i had requested to have at least 3 types of them......and gosh, we were like cow that day !!!

A MUST-HAVE for steamboat was the "Taiwanese Sausages"....so glorious....yayaya, i know it's not healthy !!

Then, i bumped into these little century eggs in Giant so i had sinfully picked it up. Actually the last time i ate this was so long long time ago.........yaya, i know it's just another lame excuse!!

Anyway, i only allowed myself to eat 2 of it and 1 goes to my huby.....now i still have like 6-7 balance and i think my body has recovered and ready to swallow it again......haha

And finally here is the ultimate companion to the steamboat.........yes, CHILLY PADIs !!!

At the end of the day, we were so satisfied especially after longing for another steamboat for a while!! The last one that we had was during CNY back in huby's hometown!! I had the feeling that we just went eating & eating non-stop and probably break a while for TV, walk around the house for some other chores & there we ended up at the table eating again.........arghhh !!!

Anyway, i think it must have been the "power of the teo chew" that resulted in our steamboat craze.....oh my !!

****************************************************************************

Towards that weekend (should be last week), huby was away to Bangkok........again, apparent this time was an incentive trip to his customers!! So, being mother hen to my little chicks, i have to tag them along to whatever plan i may have. Coincidently, i had agreed to a gathering with some girlfriends. Luckily we had chosen a place quite comfortable to house my 2 monkeys for at least 2 hours of lunch !!!

Believe your eyes.........see how comfy the monkeys were!! I brought along their gameboy, stationeries & colouring books & chewing gums just to occupy them !!!

Did the place look familiar ????? Yes, it was "The Apartment". Though i like the setting there but i must agreed that we were quite dissapointed with the food. But, nevermind lar....so long as we had a good chat. As the boys didn't really had a fulfilling meal, we proceeded to get some donuts at Big Apple after our session.

Later, the boys participated in the FREE sand art session given to the kids so all the aunties got to chat further........

wakakakaka, look at what the monkeys had done to mr. bean's eyes !!! LOL

That's the end of our Saturday !!!

**************************************************************************
When dady was not around, mumy as usual was lazy to go out. The part-time cleaner worked from 9am to 1pm so we sort of had some quick bites for breakfast!! Then, as the boys wailed that they were hungry, i searched over my kitchen and found a box of cheese pasta. So I immediately threw them into boiling water, together with some steamboat left over the other day. See below......it supposingly looked good ehh, no?

Then, just when i squeezed the cheese gravy to be tossed over the macaroni, i kinda smelt something sour gushing over my nose!!! There & then only it knocked on me to check the expiry date...............tadda !!!
**

**

**

**

It expires on 31/3/2008.....i think i must have kept this for at least 6 months. And it was another week to expiry so being so sceptical, i decided not to serve my kids.........there it goes down the garbage bin, what a waste but still better than another episode of diarrhoea, right (like what happened the last time) ?
So, once the cleaner was done, i immediately rushed out like a mad mother crazily hunting food for her hungry kids !!!

Dinner was spent with grandpa & grandma.....as usual when dady was not around, they would be the ones that will be taking care of us !!!

Dady was coming back that Sunday night........around midnight! So when dady was not around + mumy finding excuse not to carry the boys upstairs, the boys had to sleep on the floor of the living hall !!! We waited until dady was back & everyone happily went back to our room for a good nite sleep........

That's the end of our Sunday !!

**************************************************************************

Here are just a showcase of the loots from Bangkok.....courtesy of my shopaholic lou kung!!

Famous, yummy yet hazardous JUNKS !!!

And i just LOVE the macademia nuts so so so much. As they are so expensive here, i requested him to get these...........little did i expect macademia nuts chocolates which were so sumptuous i tell you. I know it's very sinful to my body so again, i only allowed one piece of chocolate at a time!!! Arghh....how i wish i can swallow more............

Next is "dodol"......ahh, i think melaka ones are better! Though i like dodol too but i don't know why i only like those in triangle shape ones and not like these....yucks!!! I still haven't take a bite at it yet.......

How can the dady came back empty handed without anything for his precious. So die die also he must get them something. Not the usual thomas train that is not moving (which they already had).....this time, these trains are movable type !!!

These keychains are just a plain burnt to the pocket....i don't understand why he bought them so there went my curse again...........

Finally, i can't believe my eyes too............you will surely agreed how much he loves these little pony shirts, yes he was only buying the little pony logo(s)!! And i realise the older my old man is, the more vain/"oi leng" he has been......"sei for mou" ????
So i kind of believe the sayings that goes " fart lou hau " now, hahaha...........

That's the end of my assorted updates too !!!

annie-q termed it "lau sai"/diarrhoea post.....and i have to agree......blek !!

At 5.4 years old.........

There are really a number of great achievements that were worth a note here as my boys ended their first 5 years of milestones (5 months ago).....

I was not & think is not (moving forward) a super discipline mother when it comes to parenting!!! And i was not the type who would bother to check & measure what my sons would have achieved against the standard benchmark at a certain age eg. like

- how much they should have been eating at certain age,
- how tall or heavy they are by certain age,
- by when to wean them off paci, bottle, diaper & etc etc....

During those episodes, i too, faced condemnations, teasings, hintings from people surroundings against certains things that my boys did not achieved....like still sucking paci, still wearing diapers, still drink milk/juice from bottle, still need to be fed.....just to name a few !!!

But thank god, i was not bothered at all & did not even felt the need to follow 'the so-called standards'. At times, of course i felt agitated too towards those who just couldn't be bothered to mind their own business!! And i just sort of swipe those 'comments' under the bed.

I continue to enjoy quiet moments by tucking in the paci whenever the boys made noise so long as they don't annoyed me with noises.....while some might be very patiently bear with their grumpy kid as they took away their paci drastically;

I continue to enjoy my beauty sleep.....thus couldn't care more to wake up for midnight toilet training....while some sacrifice too much/too early for midnight toilet training;

I continue to enjoy mess-free environment by feeding them with bottle.....while some might struggle to clean the floor as they 'force' their kids to drink from cup when they are still not ready;

In fact, i'm not shy to say that my boys were quite late achievers due to my slacking behaviour. On the other hand, i do stand on the principle that 'limits' or 'deadlines' DO EXIST in implementing progress to the life of my kids'.....

One obvious undeniable thing was when i started to discover that their butt was getting too big to fit into even the biggest (XL) size diaper!!! But somehow not long after, Dryper came out with a new size XXL......woohoo, i thot to myself....help was coming my way just at the right time & i got to slack further for months!!!

But then, i had given myself a deadline as to when i must stop enjoying these luxuries but to start the "midnight" mission ....and that was upon my boys reaching their 5th birthday (Nov-07) !!!! Thank god, i was quite persistent in fulfilling this responsibility of mine this time!!

Ah ha.....start calculating how much it costs for 5 years of diapers and don't forget to times 2 !!! Oh, btw can u imagine all my SILs' kids were weaned off diapers by 2 years old or latest 3???

When i first started my task, i was really like a zombie! Luckily my huby was willing to share the task. Before the boys were about to knock off, a pee is a must. Then alarm clock was set every 1-2 hours to bring them for a "release". The first few tries were returned with much struggles as we disturbed their peaceful sleep. But as the routine sets in, they became more cooperative hence the job gets easier day after day!! After nearly 2 months of training without 'accident' towards the end of the training period, we were confirmed the boys had been successfully trained to control their bladder during night sleep.

DIAPER FREE now, yeah......

Well done boys!! Bit late but jobs still get done.....

And now we still have balance of a pack of XL diapers which was suppose to be given away to my sis much earlier, but always forgotten.....i better not delay giving them away!!

********************************************************************************
Next is, the boys had upgraded to another level of wanting to shower/bath themselves...... bcoz mumy lazy also la, hehe. It all started a week ago on one afternoon when one of the boy (forgot which one) refused to head on my call for a shower! Firstly I called out nicely, then yelled & screamed also to no avail...then i started to threaten with my weapon, also not scared. Out of sudden, the idea of letting them do it themselves popped out which might spark off some interest/excitement...i thought to myself. Once they heard the new idea, immediately they jumped & ran to the bathroom. From then onwards, i was "asked" to "GET OUT" from the bathroom, not even allowed to step in but was allowed to observe at the door step......ooh, my big boys!! What an amusement & relief to see how they willing to overtake some task of managing themselves.

Sean seemed to be more able to handle himself on this but little Scot still needs mumy to check if everything is in order....i mean his body clear off from shampoo !!

When lil Scot knew that i actually shoot him 'naked'....he started to sprinkle me with water & also 'shoo' mumy away.......

********************************************************************************

One weekend, when the boys were playing with the neighbour's kids (who are actually indian), they got tempted with the little girl next door consuming 'chewing gum'. As mumy always told them that only adult should eat stuffs like that, they discovered a contradicting fact here as the little indian girl is only about 5-6 years old just like them. So Sean immediately ran into the house telling me that his friend was having chewing gum. Despite me trying to convince him that he should not follow what others do & that it is still not safe for him to try, Sean persisted with his demand of wanting to try it out. This boy of mine can be extremely whiny & grumpy when he really desires for something. So that evening was restless for both him & myself until i finally nodded my head that i'm going to buy one for him to try.

I got these gums from Isetan supermarket with fruits flavour. Sean was ecstatic seeing them. Thank god.....i must say my boys were quite obedient with the rules of having chewing gum! Very carefully in munching & chewing they seemed...... or could it be their timid character....bcoz mumy said : if the gum goes into yr stomach, u will need to go hospital for the dr. to wash yr stomach, hahaha....

********************************************************************************

While i happily rejoiced over some of the boys' achievements lately, i am also sadden & uncomfortable with the fact that my boys nearly wean-off from drinking that 'golden drink' in their life.....MILK milk !! Yeah, blame it on the strong tastes that we implanted on them, now they think that the milk taste yucky!! Most of the time, i was only able to feed them the milk+milo drink when they were still sleeping. When they are wide awake, they reject it. The below content has been stagnant there for weeks.......sigh, sigh, sigh !!!

********************************************************************************

Finally, here are some videos for your pleasure viewing taken recently.

Seen in the 1st video was Sean, apparently shooting himself with some sexy expressions, haha..... and it still kept me wondering why he allowed his brother to 'hit' him like that !!!

Shown in the next video was their latest hobby. The one behind who looked a bit clumsy in his play was Sean (the fatter boy of course......hehe). During the weekend, mumy was engaged with housekeeping her 'princesses stuffs' (cosmetics, make-ups, skin care, hair care & etc) and also finishing all the tax returns of the family (myself, huby's, dad's, mum's even for the Qi-Kong association that was managed by my parents)....yeah, everyone was bullying me !!

See how familiar they are......

The family attended another wedding during the weekend. My dad has a rather big family with 9 siblings and it has now reached the 'peak time' where members of my generation (i.e. my cousin) started queing up to tie the knot & start their own family !! It is not just a phase that we adult have to go through in life but over the years, my boys too have grown to learn a little about the culture of marriage !!! Over & over again they attended family members' wedding ceremonies as well as friends'/relatives' wedding receptions! So mummy & daddy also got to explain again & again: after uncle-A & aunty-B married, they will become husband & wife.......aunty can become pregnant.......give birth to baby & etc etc. We even taught them to change the 'name-calling' for those new member that joined the family.

Since it has become a norm to attend wedding, i'm not here to highlight those 'boring' details of the ceremonies which would not be unusual anyway!!

.........Unless if 'we' were "much involved".........hehehehe, .......jeng jeng jeng........does that spark off your curiosity??

Check it out......

This time the groom was my cousin brother, Mike.

Two months ago, Mike's sister was married away and that was the time F-Yee's (the bride) family (new additions to our family) met my twins !! After that faithful night, mom of F-Yee has sort of fallen in love with my monkeys..........hahaha !!

The aunty then conveyed to my aunty (her 'chan kar') how she has liken the boys & way ahead (2 months) pre-booked my sons for some important tasks on the upcoming wedding of her daughter with Mike!! Fuyoh......hard to believe ehh?? After my aunt told me, i actually took it as a joke & sort of brushed it aside (of course deep beneath this 'sampat' mumy's heart, she was happily flying high) !!! Then, during our CNY gathering, my cousin brother requested the same thing again and this time as it was infront of his wife, i took it more seriously, thus agreed with much of my pleasure !!!

After the ding ding dong dong ceremonies below.......

OH ya btw, after DAP won, my uncle said can burn 'fire cracker' already.......bwahahaha

Here is the 1st important task that i mentioned :

" To get "A Little Boy" to jump on the married couple's bed " as legend has it that, it will bring luck to the couple in trying to conceive a baby boy into their family! And they claimed or rather believed that if you get TWIN BOYS to perform this task......arghhh...... than i no need to say also you understand lar !!! Aduh, why these people so greedy lar......anyway, i still find it funny & don't mind joining in crazy stuffs like this, haha !!

what a dream came true for the monkeys

And the 2nd task begins here .......

At the wedding reception, my boys were again given the task as the flower boys!! Since the last round at my sis's wedding, they already got so familiarised with this task! I just told them that they have to march-in along the red carpet in front of the married couple, they instantly nodded their heads signifying their experience on what & how to do it !!!

See how expert & experienced they were.....

Next pls, next pls, anymore order ????

A fruitful MC....

The power of advertisement had lured me into buying a box of coloured contact lens that claimed to enlarge my eyes' pupil so that my eyes look "bigger, fresher & glittering" !!! And i started to wear that pair of lens during the past CNY.....as of this week, it has been a month where the life cycle of that pair of lens should have already expired !!! But since i naively agreed that it indeed made my pair of eyes more shining....i was reluctant to throw/replace it. And as i forcefully continued to wear it, my eyes started to encounter discomfort (very red & teary eyes) yesterday morning at work......yeah i got eye infection. What a vain pot heh ???

But since i did not have the specs with me & the fact that workload was still like mountain, i bear with the discomfort....and the usual "eye-mo" drops don't offer any solution. So i left only when my eyes couldn't stand anymore late in the afternoon!!

So after dinner, a visit was made to the GP. Dr. said it looked not just the usual eyes infection, i had 'red eye' & asked me not to take it lightly. She then jokingly asked me to throw away all my contact lens.....saying things like: why need to wear contact lens......specs no good meh ???

Then she started to tell me the perscriptions.....antibiotics, allergy, eye drops & eye oilment..... i was like : alamak.....like that also so much medicine kah???

Btw, i finally continued the cholesterol pills that was outstanding from my diet for quite a while!!

Then dr. further instructed that : your eyes need to stay away from............TV........PC........then i interrupted : what ??? but i have to face the PC like at least 7 hours a day woh !!!

So dr. said : ok, then tomorrow u rest at home, i give u one day MC !!!

ooh......, ok......, wow......yes yes yes!! As i really never expected it, it suddenly reminded me how long I have not had a medical rest!!

My mind immediately flooded with a long list of things to do on a 'ME' day........oops, dream not so early, it was school holiday this week so means i had to babysit my monkeys while not working!! Yet i don't care.....i just tagged them along with my plan !!!

After breakfast with dady & saw him off to work, i got the boys bathed, packed & off we left the house at 11a.m.....

- visited the dentist for a long overdue scaling and did filling to 2 of my wisdom tooth;

- browsed the area in search of a center that offer arithmetic lesson for the boys (but failed to locate any);

- lunch at Secret Recipe (knowing that it offered the boys' favourites, hence no feeding-struggle);

That's MY MEAL.......slurpp.....slurpp !!

And a cuppa Cafe Latte on such lazy day was such a luxury indulgence, no!!!???

- next i dragged my monkeys to a pedicure (as expected it wasn't a relaxed one as the monkeys were such a disturb along the process);

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

YET, here it is.......

My french mani......."leng mou / cheng mou" ????

- finally we proceeded one floor up to the hair salon for a hair trim on the boys.....(a wedding to attend this week end ma.....)

By the time we were done with the above, it was almost 4pm, everyone was exhausted so we long to go home. Had some rest lying down in front of the TV and not long after, the sound of the gate opening was heard.......dady reached home & game me a relief.

As i treasured my off day so much, i went upstairs for an hour of cardio DVD

work-out .......FUYOH !!

Felt so completed....accomplished....&.... satisfied !!!

Opps......i had my eyes here for at least 1/2 an hour already so i got to go now.......catch up soon !!!

Yeah....IT's A VICTORY......

Lets great each other CONGRATULATIONS and also (beneath the heart) give a big big round of applause to those that 'worked' real hard to make this happened.

Most (if not all) of our prayers were answered and our voices of grievance were heard. After a long 40 years, the hard work of the oppositions finally bear their fruit. For a second time in 40 years, DAP re-formed the Government of Penang, this is the first & the happiest news that i received through out the whole election saga. The opposition party has been strong there so it wasn't really a shocking news!

As the clock continue to tick, more and more surprises surfaced. As of now, it is already confirmed that at least 5 states will be ruled by the opposition party.....this is really beyond expectation !! It just showed how anger & dissatisfied the People had been towards the current Government. All i could say was "tai sei"/"padan muka" or simply they deserved it! Their dream of maintaining the 2/3 will remained a dream forever.....yeah tarnished !!!

And i'm particularly vague, doubt & uncertain whether i'm suppose to be happy when the state i've been living since birth is going to face transformation of government too.......yes, yes, yes Selangor has also been taken over by the opposition. As much as i had been eagerly wanting a change to the state i'm residing, i never expect the victory could be easy!!

Great, Happy, Proud, Appreciative, Glad, Content are all the feelings running through my blood yet i can say, i'm still full of anticipation of what positive changes that lies ahead of us !

Furthermore now, together with the central Wilayah state which was also ruled by the opposition, can i say that "OUR CITY" has indeed been governed by the opposition now....... wow...., oh my....i'm still digesting this piece of news. It just seemed so unbelievable to me.

Anyhow like everybody, while i'm all rejoicing with happiness, i don't like the idea of being kept in full anticipation as the ruling party is now singing a different tune!

Whatever it is, i believe we should move on & believe in our choice!

*****************************************************************

Now back to a little updates on our voting exercise that morning.

Though i've now moved away from the village where i have been brought up, but (shame on me) i've yet to update the change of address with SPR and so my voting right still lie back at my home village. As slack as i was, the rest of my sisters' voting rights remained at the same place too though most of them already moved away!! So it is just obvious that we would gathered together for a FUN voting. Oh ya.....not forgetting my parents, they were there with us too, haha......whole family voting together so it was kind of fun for us!!!!

Our poll centre (at a chinese primary school) was just next to a busy market so we met at the market for breakfast. We didn't come back here for quite a while so we kind of missed the food so much until my huby 'ta pao' all his favourite food there after finished a big pack of nasi lemak. It was also a time my boys got to mingle with their cousins!

OH YA.....the twins finally got their long 'dreamed' BEN 10 watch, started showing-off !!!
Also, look at the 'fat boy' below.......aduh, some more his dady said he's not over weight, arghh !!

See below......my dad (in brown shirt) was at the booth 'kepohing'/busy body chattering with some of his old villagers!! Sadly, i don't see any of DAP booth there...sigh !!

Also look at all those 'samsengs' in motorbike!!

Jeng.......jeng........jeng...........here we come, walking into the school i.e. polling centre! Notice our "finger" sign......that's our choice lar !!! That's the sign my mother teach wan......hahaha

Even my mom got very patriotic suddenly, before we went in....she kept reminding us:

"U KNOW WHAT TO CHOOSE HAH....while POINTING her FINGER.... UP UP UP !!!

It was the first time voting for both my younger sisters........so obviously they felt excited with the heavy burden! That's why you see us so 'sampat'......hahaha

Checking our number & the exact location!

After we were done, we proceeded to Mag, my sis condo for a dip in the pool. Empty pool so it was all our time there.......a good recharge !! And for the rest of the day, we stayed tune at home looking forward to the results. Further more, mom actually forbid us from going out as ...... u never know....it might be unsafe out there....but thank god !!! U know what, my mom was full of imagination....she even reminded us to withdraw some $$$$ from the ATM, apparently for the "survival period" and just in case we might not be able to do so later.....hahaha, hillarious isn't it ??? But we didn't really head for her advice lar....

And I never get so excited looking forward for the results during the previous round but this time, i definitely got seriously infected by my huby who got so thrilled the whole night running back & forth between the room (where the PC was located for "Malaysiakini") and the living hall (for the TV updates)!!

It's all OVER now.....i mean the election process and lets look forward to another new chapter of life now hopefully with a better & brighter future ahead of us!!