Archive for January, 2007
This meme is started by Pablo Pabla. I was one of the first few he tagged for the first time in his blogging life (according to him) for the Top 5 movies tag but then I donch watch movies so I didn’t do the meme. (Sorry har)
Very fast following his first tagging, he has now started his own meme pulak! This feller is really fast. Well, he didn’t tag me for this one (I not your favourite ah? hehe) so I thick skinned asked 5xMom to tag me loh. So here it is. My 5 favourite Malaysian Bloggers.
1. 5xMom - We started blogging around the same time. She was the one who passed this incurable blogging virus to me. In this 2 years of blogging she has grown tremendously as a blogger. Simply incredible. I love her sense of humour, her wit, and the way she does not mince her words. (You better not step on her tail or else…..) However don’t be fooled by her tough words, she is really very nice and extremely helpful. This blog on my own domain came about all because of her being an inspiration and taking time to help me out when I email her for help) Reading her blogs (and she has more than I can keep track with) always puts a smile on my face and sometimes makes me laugh aloud till my girl will ask me “Mummy, why you so happy?”
2. Overseasmom or Fatty Poh - Because she is my personal friend so I am biased but seriously even if she were not I would enjoy reading her blog and I am sure you would too. She just started her blog not long ago but she already has more readers than me. So jeles! Hahaha. We go back a long way, Fatty Poh and I. *Counting fingers* errrr not enough fingers. Thats how long we have known each other and I am so happy that she is now a blogger and we can continue to stay in touch through our blogs.
3. Maria previously blogging on Double Happiness now still blogging on in her Chinese Blog. - Another blogger who started blogging around the same time with me. I still remember feeling so thrilled when I received hers and Lilian’s (5xmom) comments on my blog because they were the very first visitors on my blog back then. I love the analogy she used to describe life and other mundane things and felt very sad when she stopped blogging in English on her Double Happiness blog because I can’t read Chinese! Serves me right for climbing trees instead when the Chinese cikgu came to teach us during the primary school Chinese lessons.
4. Loopy Meals - I enjoy reading James’ blog about his Mae and Jesse. (James, Mae and Jesse sounds like something out of a cowboy movie don’t you think. Hehe.) He is a drama king but he says his wife Mae is the drama queen. Hah! He really has a way with words and I think he should write a book because he writes so well. Glad to know that Mae has now started a blog too.
5. Mr B who blogs under the pseudonym Buaya69 and Belachans to house his split personality. His Buaya blog is an eye opener for me on how da buaya’s think. LOL! His sizling buaya tales used to have a big following but these days I think he is too busy to blog. But da buaya is really a loving husband and father on his family blog. Mrs B is also very sweet and sent me an encouraging email once when I needed it very much. Thank you Mr and Mrs B for your support.
I have many more favourite blogs but Mr Pablo Pabla said 5 oni wor so now I’m going to pass the baton on to these 5 others:
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Sasha (Take your time girl and do this only when you feel better)
Eighty-three percent of people like to receive flowers unexpectedly. I’m definitely one of those. I love flowers. They’re absolutely beautiful and very romantic. I’m a hopeless romantic. Unfortunately the husband is not a romantic. He is Mr Practical. He has given me flowers only once in all our 12 going on 13 years together. 
I think he does not like to send flowers because he feels awkward at a flower shop. He doesn’t know what to choose. I think he only knows what a rose is and not any other flowers. Lol!
Well, sending flowers just got easier for the guys. Now you can send flowers online. Online florists like flowershop.com (which delivers throughout US and Canada) has made things easier. They’ve even got a blog to give you tips on what to send and some gift message ideas plus a free reminder service for the forgetful.
Yesterday when I checked, I discovered that this blog now has a google page rank of 4 and its not even 3 months old yet. Yippee!! *doing happy dance, happy dance* Woohoo!
The page rank is important to me because it means I can take up or write more paying posts since some advertisers require a higher page rank blogger. (money, money, money, thats all I talk about these days). When this blog reaches 3 months old, I’m going to submit it for approval and bombard my poor readers with more sponsored posts.
Do bear with me. As far as I’m concerned, paid posts aren’t really all that bad and I don’t understand the negative press on it. Readers have a choice to read or to skip the posts. The sponsored posts are not strictly blantant advertisements. They’re press releases and sometimes I even come across interesting sites and links when I write.
So now I have 2 sites with a google page rank of 5 (my Parenting Times and Mothering Times both have a google page rank of 5) and one more with a google page rank of 4. (this blog). I’ve got one more blog (Quotes Station) which I love but don’t have time to update so that stays at 0. Not a bad achievement at all for a dependant housewife. Yee har! *more happy dance*
Now if everyone will excuse the self praise party, I really should be off now to start doing some real work, around the house that is, instead of around the blog before my old man comes after me!
Once upon a time I was a carefree single girl with a house, car and job (translates to money) of her own. Now, I’m a dependant housewife with no car, job or house to call her own. I go everywhere with the hubby because I depend on him for transport. He pays for my bills and gives me pocket money.
Hmmm…. so whats the dilemma? Well, the hubby’s birthday is coming and there is no more element of surprise. What do you get someone who is with you all the time and who gives you the money you spent and pays for your bills? How do you plan to give him a suprise gift? When to buy (when you’re together all the time and he knows how much and what you spend on?) and what to buy? Thats a tough one.
Well, writing paid posts and being paid by paypal just solved my dilemma. Hehe. I just ordered some marvel comics (the big boy’s favourite kinda books) from ebay using my paypal money. Its supposed to be a surprise but I couldn’t afford to pay for the shipping which is very expensive so I have opted for economy mail. That means I can’t get it to him on time for his birthday nor will it get here on time for Valentines.
Awww shucks! Never mind lah. Its the thought that counts right? It’ll be belated but still a surprise. I hope he likes it and doesn’t “scold” me for being frivolous and spending my hard earned money paying for 3.5 times the exchange rate plus shipping! 
Hehehe. This is my first time shopping online and its scary, the ease of it!
I find that I have very little time for blog hopping and leaving comments on my favourite blogs now that I’m doing some sponsored posts. Theres only that many hours in a day. Oh, I still read my favourite blogs especially those on my sidebar which I have subscribed to with my Bloglines feedreader but I usually just read them from Bloglines itself without visiting the actual pages. This saves me time.
That makes me a little sad since I have less interaction with my fellow bloggers this way but hey! A housewife has got to do what a housewife has got to do…… to earn a little extra to supplement her one income family.
Writing paid posts is a dream job for housewives like me. It gives me the opportunity to earn some income and still be right here at home to look after my kids. It gives me the opportunity to make money in my pyjamas! Normally I would try to write one or two sponsored posts before the kids awake. It feels really nice to have earned some cash before they get up for the day and require my attention.
However its not really easy to earn that money. It requires a lot of writing! Most companies which pays you to write require that you have one or two of your own original posts on your blog in between the paid posts. So that means I would be writing several blog posts in a day to fulfill that requirement. I try to write quality posts that go with the theme of each of my blogs and not just filler posts.
Oh, I have no problems writing because I love to write. Its only time I have a problem with. I wish I had more of the resource called TIME! Now the time I used to have for visiting blogs have been eaten up by the time I need to write blog posts. I really wish I had more time!
If you are a housewife like me, interested to earn a legitimate income, why not check out PayPerPost for a start?
I normally don’t like to write posts to criticise establishments but I’m rattled so here goes….
Bad encounter #1
I wanted to buy some bulky items at Ikea and have it home delivered. However I was not very sure of the procedure. I thought that for home deliveries I had to pay for the items first then inform home delivery that I wanted those items delivered. I did not know that I had to pick up the items first, pay for it, then go to home deliveries and asked for those items to be delivered. While I was pondering about what to do, I approched a bored looking Ikea staff to ask. He gave me a scornful look and said “Most people who are here come here all the time so they know what to do already.” before he proceeded to help me pick up my items.
My thoughts: Well, Mr bored looking gentleman. I don’t come here all the time because I don’t buy furniture everyday and besides its your job to assist me. You must be either underpaid or a not very happy employee to behave in this manner.
Bad encounter #2
So I paid for the items and took them to home delivery to arrange for a delivery time. I stressed that I wanted them delivered at 6.00pm on the date we requested because no one was home before that. On the date in question, the delivery man rang at 12.00pm and said, I am in your area, can I come now?
My thoughts: Not very nice of them to change timing last minute but they were just trying their luck since they were “in the area” so thats forgiveable.
Bad encounter #3
Eventually they came at 1.00pm, not in a nice Ikea truck I had envisioned but in an old open top red and brown lorry. One of the items was chipped so the delivery guy said we had to call customer service to arrange for a replacement. Calling customer service is a pain. The phone would ring endlessly till it gets cut off. After I finally got through we fixed a date but was not allowed to fix a time for delivery. “Wait for home delivery to call you” I was told.
When home delivery rang me they told me, “Your delivery is slotted for 4-5pm on this date.” I tried to change the time to a later time because no one was home then but was told “Cannot. We’re full.” I tried to change to another date and was told “Cannot. I don’t know. You have to speak to customer service” then the line was passed to customer service and it rang till it went dead.
I called up customer service again and got another date but when I tried to arrange the time I was told “Cannot. You have to wait for home delivery to call you one day before the delivery date.” I asked if they could put a note there to inform delivery of my preferred time since I would not be home at certain times. “Cannot, you have to wait for home delivery to call you.” I then asked them what would happen if they called and they can’t give me a time which is convenient on that fixed date? “Well, then your delivery will be postponed.” they said.
My thoughts: Everyone from the staff at the store to the delivery call center and even the customer service person was not very helpful and sounded rude. I know they had certain procedures to follow but they were not willing to discuss anything beyond that. I was met with a “cannot” answer with no other solutions being offered. They were allowed to change the timing of delivery at their last minute whim but we the customer are only allowed to fix a time convenient to us one day before delivery and if that time was not suitable we had to go through the hassle of calling the customer service staff and repeat the procedure all over again! The staff must be very unhappy to work there or underpaid. Shopping at Ikea has been a rather unpleasant experience for me. I’ll try to limit my shopping there in the future thats for sure.
It is good to start having an investment plan from an early age. However most people start planning only when they become parents and realise the importance of keeping a nest egg for their dependants. Its not too late but now that you realise the importance of saving and investing to make your money grow, what do you invest in?
Investing in gold has been a smart investment method passed down through past generations. Besides, it is wise to spread your investments into various instruments and not put all your eggs into one basket. In order to diversify your investments you can consider investing in gold bars.
When you include “gold” in your investments, you can decide to either “buy and hold” or trade but before you do, it is best that you discuss your specific gold buying strategies with a professional in the trade.
I put up the “Apartment for Sale” sign on a Sunday. By Wednesday I received my first offer for it at my asking price. By Friday I had received a second counter offer for it.
This time the lady who called sounded young (probably my age when I bought the apartment) and eager. She told me “I’ve just been to the outside of your apartment and I really like it. Can you show it to me please? I’m thinking of buying it as a surprise for my parents. Its perfect for them. Its very near my brother’s office and its near facilities.”
I told her that I was about to receive a deposit for it the next day and that she’d have to view it that very evening and pay me an immediate deposit to confirm the deal if she really wanted to buy the place.
I then consulted my lawyer who told me that in order for me to break my verbal agreement with the first party, I would have to receive a substantially higher counter offer for the place. I would then have to inform and offer the apartment to the first potential buyer at the new counter offer price and if she declined then it would be safe for me to proceed to close the deal with the second party.
Phew! I was in a dilemma. I so wanted or preferred to sell the place to the second young lady. I was completely taken in by her story about buying the apartment for her parents. I saw myself in her back in those days when I first bought the apartment. I pictured how happy her parents would be at the surprise. (She had been paying rental for her parents to live in rented houses but now she felt it was time to buy). My dad had enjoyed living there and I imagined that her parents would too. Yes, I was in a dilemma.
To cut a long story short, she did make me a counter offer and I informed the first lady about that counter offer and offered it to her at that price. Understandably the first party was very upset by the turn of events. She told me that her aunty sobbed the whole night because she was all ready to buy the place and she had withdrawn money to pay the deposit etc.
They took up the counter offer so I had no choice but to sell it to them and turn the second lady down. I felt really bad about making an old lady upset (her aunty who seemed nice and the quiet sort who said yes to everything but not she who was also elderly but worldly wise, very money minded and shrewed) so I reduced the price by half the counter offer amount and they paid the deposit and that was that and now a few months later, the deal is done.
I suppose I was just lucky to have sold it so quickly. I had prepared myself to put up the “Apartment for Sale” sign for up to 6 months. Or perhaps that place had its own niche. I noticed that all the callers were either elderly folks or younger children enquiring for their parents. Lol! I lived in an old folks home!
I guess the fact that its the 1st floor of a walk up apartment helped plus the fact that it was near to ammenities ie walking distance to bus stops, bank, wet market, coffee shops etc. It was convenient for the old folks but the younger ones are not interested. With so many cheap apartments with facilities available (if you are willing to stay very far out of town that is) most younger folks want something newer and preferably with some facilities.
I put up my “Apartment for Sale” sign on a Sunday and by Wednesday, I received my first offer for it.
The lady who called said “Sell it to me. Please reserve it for me and don’t show it to anyone else” I told her that if she wants to do that she’d have to pay me a deposit.
Later after viewing the place, she informed me that she was helping her aunt to buy the apartment. “My aunt lets me handle everything and she doesn’t know a thing” she told me. And then she made an unusual request. “Could you raise your asking price to my aunt by RMXXX and after you receive your payment, could you pay me that RMXXX amount? This way you will still get your asking price” This lady was not young herself. She was probably about 50-60.
I was of course happy to get my asking price but hubby and I deliberated over what she asked of me. We were not happy to raise the amount to her aunt because it made us feel like partners in crime to cheat her aunt and so we being rather honest and perhaps too straight people told her “We will not raise the asking price to your aunt but we will still pay you the RMXXX that you are asking for. This will mean that we will get the asking price less RMXXX.”
Maybe we were a bit silly but it made us feel better. But you know what?!!! To my shock, she then told me “Oh! In that case, can you raise your asking price to my aunt by RMXXX and pay me RMXXX times 2?” Oh my goodness the cheek of the woman!!! So unbelievably greedy! I mean I was willing to get paid a lower amount so that she didn’t have to cheat her aunty and she took advantage of that fact and wanted to ask for more $$$ or get more out of the transaction! So unbelievable!
Anyway, we made an appointment for her to pay us the deposit the next day.
Oops! This post is getting long. I’ll talk about the counter offer in another post.
I’m lousy at shopping for gifts for the opposite sex. I don’t know why but I always end up buying things like towels, T-shirts, mugs and neckties, year in and year out. Whether the gift is for my father, brother or husband, its towels, T-shirt or shirt, mugs and neckties. LOL!
I’m thinking aloud. Neckties don’t make such a bad gift do they? The choice of the right necktie will make the wearer stand out among the corporate crowd and look more professional. I like those in classic red or dark blue.
The neckties on Belisi.com look sophisticated and classic. I think they’ll make a great gift. So who says ties are boring gifts?
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