Necklace

When I mentioned that I work from home, a lot of people thought that I woke up late, work in shorts etc....Well, in fact, nuh!! I don't do that. I have actually not been wearing shorts for quite sometime, I have none!!

I don't usually wake up late. I read my papers, have my breakfast, take my bath and put on casual smart clothing. I will also splash on sun screens regardless of the schedule. I will also put on my compact powder and some simple make up, going out or not is irrelevant. I just simply can't do my work without proper 'attire'. It feels like weekends if I do so. Weird eh??

The other day, I pulled out this off-shoulder baju from the shelf. I have not worn this for years. (Ok ok, I know I am SO SO 'rounded' and 'puffy', ah..who cares??)

As I was walking towards Jien, I was a bit worry that he would pull the tube top. He stretched his hands long enough and reached....almost to my baju and eikh...

"Sea Shell, mama" he said. Ah.............ha!

Words vs Phrase

Come X'mas, Jien will be turning 2!!

He has started 'talking' a lot for the last one month or so, mainly nouns ie apple, orange, grape(s), piano, drum, tuba, phone, autie, uncle etc etc.....

Now he started to add a little bit more to his 'phrase' making :

-- Head on (the) pillow..
-- wheel (of) a car
-- many car(s)
-- a big moo(n)!! (he loves watching moon and stars)
-- e(le)phan(t's) trunk

Of late, when we were travelling in our car, he was gazing on something and looked 'blur' and lost, so

I asked, ' Are you ok?'

'I'm fine..!' he answered.

*gulp* It surprises both me and hubby!! Just where/when did he learn to say this? And I wonder if he really knows what it means, hahaha!! :)

Bread Story II

I was trying my luck on baking - BREAD. Again. This time - Butter Cheese Sweet Buns.

The ingredients and recipe seems so effortless and easy. Yet when I get down to it, the kneading part always seemed to make me sweat A LOT. :P

So hubby helped out this time. We had a good laugh in the kitchen doing stunts like the mamak making roti canai. We wondered what went wrong cos the dough did not seemed to stretch well.

He said I should not improvise so soon ( part of the flour I used wholemeal instead ) or is it the dry yeast as the culprit again??

Google lor......and hey, yes! Instant yeast is more concentrated. OK OK, so I whacked up more of the yeast and the bread turned out beautifully - it raised!! And in fact quite YUMMY too. :) Hooray!

Rubbish Views

I have tried my very best to contain my views on the current issues, especially on the politics as it always turned out ugly, sourish and with lots of bursting fury and anger..and I so much want to make this blog space a happy one but hey, we are living in a real world, eh?

There have been much rubbish flying around lately.

Some of the rubbish that I could recall lately are:

*** 1 DPM commented and said : Those living in multilevel residences will no longer be allowed to dry their clothes in the open “where the whole world can see,” effective next year.' Next year is less than a month from NOW and when exactly no one knows and he was quoted as saying there would be guidelines and also mentioning about moral switch. When he said multilevel residences, these includes flats (low cost), medium and high cost apartment to the super duper expensive condominium. I read as :

- I think yes, it is an eye sore, BUT it takes time to do this. Not next year.

- What guidelines? If you don't have one now, don't say next year.

- This comes from a DPM, so free ah? I thought he is also our Finance Minister? Now economy crisis already, he is thinking of laundry problems?

- Everybody knows we are living in the tropics, sun shines almost the whole year through and it is FREE and HYGENIC, it kills germs. So? What is wrong with drying it in open spaces? As long as we do not stick out outside the boundary, say 'within the constraint' of the balcony, I think it is fine. Electricity bills are soaring high, even with my dryer, I still do some drying at the balcony like for floor mats, pillow cases etc. Well, I suppose people staying in a bungalow like him would not understand this problem la....right or not?

- His statements is a blanket statement. Very 'odd' in a way. What about the old flats? Don't tell me the government will sponsor a dryer each for these homes? They are not HDB housing like S'pore where the govt can step in and do something about it drastically (with a budget discussed years ago, not in-promtu like this one lor...). Most of these units have about 750sq ft area with a very small yard at the tiny court yard where the sun hardly penetrate thru. It is a design, budget, built-up constraint problem. Unless the govt works together with the developer and designer to come up with a guideline (takes time for discussion right or not?), otherwise, just providing enough low cost units alone in the country is already a headache, not to mention the eye sore problem!!

***2 PM said : Stop all new projects on the slope...

- Another very blanket statement and blunt a bit lor...Not all developments on the slope are dangerous and not all the ones on flat land is safe either. Even flat land can have bad soils and can have sink holes and cause instability for the houses. Sigh........what a statement..

***3 Can't remember who said this, 'We will investigate the cause of it'

- Always the case lor, will investigate.. Halo!! Who investigate? Your mah chai ah? Sure cover here cover there and takes a LONG time to do la. Should state clearly ma, XXX as an independant party will investigate. Take this : the local authority cannot be sued. Oh well, in that case, BLAME GOD ah?

wait...

*** 4 Our Information Minister Mr.S said : Blame the developers and buyers too!!

- He blamed the buyers for seeking for good views. Yeah, maybe he prefers staying next to an industrial area? This is called REAL ESTATE la brother!! I think given a choice, anybody also prefers to have scenic view, mountains, greenery oso la!! Never play MONOPOLY before ah?? Aiyoyo!!

- He also blamed the developers for being greedy. I want to laugh when I see this. It is just like saying, a devil is naughty!! Aiyo, if developer not greedy, they won't become a developer la. But they are taking risk too. So to keep the balance, we have the LOCAL AUTHORITIES (LA) to counter check everything ma!! Othewise waffor have LA?? Just to collect fees for lisence meh??

- See, just by blaming the developers as a whole is very unfair. Say Developer A build on slope A, he won't know that 5 years down the road, the LA would approved Developer B or C somewhere down hill or uphill. He won't know the density blah blah blah, but the LA, right or not?

- See, nobody knows 5 years down the road, God decided to bring more rain. But the LA can surely set up a body to check on the hill side developments, all the built ones, under construction ones and the one to be approved. Conditions changed every year and designers/developers come and go, but the LA is and should always be there to check for the safety.

***5 A house owner actually managed to take pictures of uniformed Helpers (RELA? Army?Police - not mentioned) helping himself eating and drinking (alcohol) in the house of the victim.........Some also claimed that their jewelleries and important documents are gone (ie stollen)...

- What rubbish is this?? Looting at this very moment?? Malaysia boleh la!! I just hope that the owner can safely publish the photos without him being threatened and that certain body would not say that the photos are montage..as always the case be..Hmmmm...

I AM CONFUSED NOW. What rubbish I blurted just now?

Jien @ Everyday

Every weekend, almost without fail, my father would ask me what is Jien doing alone at home everyday.

Well, I would simply say:
. Basically playing alone- his favourite - anything with wheels - Thomas and the gang, car, bus, trucks etc. He enjoyed his jig saw puzzles too.
. Watching TV alone.
. Talking to himself sometimes now
. Get himself whatever he could lay his hands on, say these baskets in the wardrobe which are meant for his little brother soon.
. If he is hungry or gusi gatal, he would help himself to the fruits in the refrigerator. Most of the apples in our ref have his signature bite marks. So don't be alarmed if you see one!! :P
. Force auntie N (maid) to read for him.
. Drag me / papa to the computer room by evening.

and not forgetting

MESSING UP the house lor...!!

New Year Dresses

I was just browsing thru some online shopping addresses and bumped into FashionJunkee from the US.

If only the exchange rate is better, I would grab ALL these for the coming holiday festive!! They are simply perfect for a preggy like me and I am sure even after delivery, I can still flaunt on these items!! Too bad the ringgit is so 'tinny' kecil. They are around USD37-USD65.

If only I am earning at least Singapore Dollar or Aussie Dollar.....*day dreaming*

Actually, it was more for a dinner end of this year. Hmmm...I should just stick to my old dresses. Arghhh.....itchy hands!!!

Adoption

It was a 24 weeks-check up. Everything went on so smoothly and I told the doctor about my mistake in telling the wrong date for my last period and he just merely smile and nodded, 'Oh well, now everything is now more like it and I am not so confused by the scan and the date you had given me...' Silly me..

The scan SHOWS so clearly with the jiao jiao sticking out this time. No mistake. It IS a boy. No surprise anyway. Less shopping only. Good la, economy downturn ma!!

As we made our payment at the counter, I apologized for not bringing my appointment card. The 'nurse' attending me reminded me to bring the next time as it will be part of the record to be shown for obtaining the birth certificate later for the baby. We were rather puzzled. An appointment card? Birth cert? Oh well, is that supposed to prevent adoption or shall I say is adoption so rampant here in Malaysia?

Pak Cham Kai

I did mentioned of wanting to try cooking the Hainanese Pak Cham Kai. And try I did.

It turned out to be Pak Cham Chicken Flakes!! Hahaha!! I wasn't sure of the cooking time and the flame used and did not consult anybody for that matter, even the 'recipe'. I just TRIED and agak-agak.

First it was ok and then my partner came and we were having discussion and time just kept ticking of without me realising the chicken is now 'over-cooked' and it turned out to be flaky and the soup pulak- taste good as if I am making chicken soup!! *smack-head*

But with some camera trick, the picture looks ok hor?? :P Thank goodness hubby is not the very very picky type and just makan only. :P

I am sure the next time if I were to cook this, I will invite my friends over as to finish a whole chicken, it takes days for us and THAT is no fun! Bleh!!

Semi-D Renovation

This project went on site when Jien was about 6 months old. It was considered one of my most difficult task as the client kept having arguments with all the people involved - engineer, contractors, sub-contractors even those that were hand picked by him and nominated by him.

It is finally coming to an end. There are some features that had been stripped off from the original design - the timber screens for the front facade which now seems bare and naked to me and the U-shaped fish pond which is supposed to flow from underneath the staircase and embrace the living room. But I was glad that we could still keep the courtyard idea. The client finally sees that it is important to keep that as now the house is well lit during day time by natural sun light.


The extension work was very 'extensive' and even the staircase position was changed due to 'feng shui'.

I am quite happy with the end result. I went against the idea of having too many built-ins for instance the bedhead, bed frame, side tables etc but the client went ahead and asked the carpenter to design and built them. It looked a bit bulky to me. Nonetheless, the kitchen cabinets and others which were designed by me seems ok, hehehe...proportionately.

Organic Bread

As the 'creative' blood streaming my body again(it must be the pregnancy hormones, I supposed), I finally laid my hands on my first bread making session when the normal 'G'-brand ran out the other day.

I bought this wholemeal flour quite sometime back. So it is really a good time to do it before it expires!!

It turns out ok only, boleh makan la. It was quite hard and did not raise much as I expected it to be. I must have used the wrong type of yeast. The recipe stated - instant yeast but I used dry yeast instead and it took a great long time before the dough 'doubled' its size!! hahahaha

Nevertheless, after a coat of garlic butter with a 5 mins baking, it turns out quite alright. Soft on the inside and crispy outside. At least, it ends up in my tummy not the trash!

Sure to try out another one, this time - a loaf instead of a bun!!

Bloody Fall

Last weekend, as usual, me and hubby went marketing. After that, I will be clearing and arranging the groceries in the refrigerator while hubby read his paper with Jien in the room playing his favourite Playhouse Disney online games.

Loud thud! Arhhhh...

I rushed to the scene and picked him up. He was crying so loud (that means he is really in pain ler)and normally when he cries, he will be looking only for ME. The mouth-it was filled with BLOOD! Goodness!! Hubby said he fell from standing and shaking the chair. It happened all the time, the standing on the chair thing. Even I would not pay much attention if I were with him....

We were so afraid that something happened to his teeth and gums. When we cleared up the blood, (man, it was dripping on the floor and my shirt too!!), we could see that his teeth was intact. But there was a blue-black on his chin-2 in fact. Sigh...boys would always be boys. He climbed up the chair again to take a glimpse at the computer again shortly after....I had to actually clean up and took a bath for I smell like a fish-monger!! Good thing I wore a black-T on that day, not white!

But we knew it was painful for he refused to eat his lunch and dinner later, just milk. Having said that, he did not want his normal bottle- too painful to suck. So we have to give him straw instead. Thank God he was all bubbly and cheerful again the next day!

The Tree is Up!

Last year, we did not manage to put up the X'mas tree as Jien was at the age of destroying and probably trying to swallow down the cute little ginger bread man decor on the tree.

This year, I just don't care no more. I want the tree up. I want to feel the holiday mood as much as possible and I want to introduce my kid what is X'mas and since X'mas is just 2 days away from his birthday, it might as well be part of his birthday decor!!

Clearly, this is not a girly girly X'mas tree. Since he loves his Thomas and gang so much, I had pulled the gang to be part of the decor too. :)

Merry X'mas!!