Archive for September, 2007

I can’t believe that I have moved into my new house for more than 6 months now. Time certainly flies. Speaking about new houses, I wish that people had better ideas when it comes to housewarming gifts. Its always the same old boring teapots and crockery or dinnerware sets. Much the same as those you get when for your wedding gifts.

If I had a chance to create a housewarming gift registry, I would send my guests to Roland’s Housewarming Gifts. They have lovely personalized gifts. They have personalized doormats, personalized mailboxes, personalized address plaques all of which make lovely housewarming gifts.

I also love the unique gifts there, the windchimes, the Wax Poutpourri Burners, the brass Key Racks. All these make fine gifts for a housewarming party. Another great idea is the personalized change of address stationery. I wish someone had thought about that for me. That would be incredibly useful. So the next time you are invited to a housewarming, please, forget the dinnerware and try one of these gift ideas instead.

Warning: This post is not for peaceful animal loving folks. So stop here.

My kids are lucky. They have the luxury of water heaters and airconditioned rooms for their comfort. Not I. Not when I was a kid anyway. I didn’t have aircond until I started to work in my 20s. And I certainly did not have water heaters to bathe.

When I was young, we were living in a single storey terrace house. The bathroom had cement flooring, a big hexagon shaped water container at one end (the container was made of cement on the inside but at least it had little square white tiles on the outside). There was a little hole on the floor at another end of the bathroom for the water to run down the pipes. It didn’t even have a cover. It was cold and damp. We bathed by using a small water scoop to scoop up the water from the big hexagon container and pouring it over ourselves.

If any of us were sick or it was a really cold, rainy day, sometimes we would boil some water in a kettle, pour that into plastic pails and mix that with cold water to get some warm bathing water. That was our luxury.

Now onto my cochroach story. Sometimes halfway through a bath, a coachroach or more may crawl out of the little hole on the floor. *Screams* What to do next? There’s no insect spray. The cochroaches were usually big and could fly. *Screams*

We discovered that the best way to kill a cochroach is to quickly mix soap water into our little water scoop and pour it over the cochroach. I remember frantically mixing my bath soap with water to form soap water and pouring it over the cochroach. It worked most of the time (if you manage to pour it over the cochroach that is) and the cochroach would die immediately, body overturned and legs spread wide. Then I would quickly pour fresh water to get it down the little hole on the floor. I must say it works better than an insect spray. Sometimes when you spray the insecticide it won’t kill the cochcroach immediately. Instead it would start running around or flying around like mad. Eeeeeyeeea!

What brought on this post? Why, I saw a cochroach in the bathroom thats why. A tiny one and it suddenly reminded me of the past. Have I spoilt anyone’s breakfast yet? Hehe.

 

I am loved by Sasha. Thats who. Hahaha.

She says… “Still remember you thought me how to make chic broth! Thank you!”

Hahaha. I had totally forgotten about that when we first “met” on the blog she had written to me asking me how to make chicken broth for her beloved Jayden and she remembered and gave me this for it. Thank you Sasha. Mmmm Muaks! (Geli anot? Haha.)

 

I’m supposed to spread the luv around so here goes this tag to:

Lian, Montessori Mum, Fatty Poh, Lilian, Jazzmint, Clair, Mamabok, Vien

And then Montesorri Mum gave me a nice surprise.

She said “You have inspired me a lot through your blog posts.”

Ahem. Really? I have learned a lot from you too, Montessori Mum. Thank you for this very pretty award.

 

 

Now what shall I do next. Should I hang the awards or badges on my blog? Its getting cluttered. Should I give pass this nice surprise to another blogger and make their day?

According to the originator of the Nice Matters award it is intended for “those that are just nice people, good blog friends, and those that inspire good feelings and inspiration! Those that care about others, that are there to lend support, or those that are just a positive influence in our blogging world!” For those receiving the award, you may like to pass on the award to 7 whom you think deserves it.

Here’s my 7:

Jesslyn, Mommy to Chumsy, Dolphine, Allyfeel, Mommy of two angels, Sue, Channelwong

 

I’m really happy to have found this site for my child to learn chinese through stories and songs. The best part of it all is it is designed for those who are learning chinese as a second language.

The learning chinese curriculum is really well structured. In fact the website was founded by educators from Columbia University and the U.N. in 1997. They have developed a well structured program using various complementary materials such as books, DVDs, CD-ROMS, audio CDs and online via the internet. This makes learning chinese fun and interesting for kids.

The programs and materials are designed to teach the Chinese Language and Culture to “non-native Chinese speakers” from 2 to 13 years old. However its useful for me too because although I’m Chinese I’m learning it as a second language together with my child. I guess that makes me a “non-native speaker”. Many International Schools and Schools in the U.S. are using this curriculum too.

My kid is having fun learning Chinese from this site because of its interactive stories and songs and I’m learning along with her too. Though designed for kids to have fun learning Chinese, the adult or parent can learn a thing or two from it too!

For me that someday has arrived and its painful to watch. Dad stayed with me over the weekend and it pains me to see how old looking, haggard and lost he is. I have written in an older post about losing dad to dementia.

When I sat across the table from him during breakfast, my tears suddenly welled up in my eyes as I thought about a younger more vibrant him. How quickly that time has passed. Now he is but a shadow of his old self.

My daddy, always talkative, clean, outgoing, independant sitting there looking so old and lost. He was always feared by all the relatives and kids because he was a detective police, a man of authority. When I walked away, he left the table without eating because he had forgotten. I had to bring him back to the table to eat so he could take his medication.

For some reason, he does not want to bathe. He just sits there at the table wiping his face and neck with a tissue. I go and get a warm cloth for him so he would feel more comfortable. Dad who’s always concerned about cleanliness and personal hygiene has become an opposite of his old self. I remember he used to scold us telling us that if not for him, our house would grow maggots. He was frustrated with the way we kept house after mum died.

Dad who’s always talkative, chatty and friendly now only talks back or answers when you talk to him. He seldom makes an effort to start a conversation now. His mind is slow and he tells us that when he gets up in the morning, he doesn’t know what to do next. He also doesn’t know how to get ready when we are going out. 

Someday our parents will grow old so we must really, really cherish and appreciate them when they are still with us, don’t you think?

 

 

I was tagged by Jacelyn to write 8 random facts about my mum but I’ve changed it a little because my mum is no longer here, not for the past 31 years now but I still miss her. So I’ll do this tag with a twist. Here are some posts I’ve done about my mum or inspired by her. You’ll find much more than 8 random facts about her there.

1. Memories of Mum

2. What I remember of Mum

3. Mommy, please don’t worry

4. Creating happy memories with the children

Anyone who feels like doing this tag please go ahead. How about you…

1. Fatty Poh

2. Sasha

3. Sweetisu

4. Blur Mommy

 

American consumers are spoilt for choice when it comes to TV services these days. Cable TV or Satellite TV? Or perhaps that should be Digital Cable or Satellite TV? If the choice is Satellite TV then which will it be? DISH Network or DIRECTV? If the choice is either one, where do you find the best deals? Should you order online or from a retail shop? Online deals will probably give you better value for your orders but you must be careful about internet scams.

Whatever your choice may be, it would be good to do a little homework of your own to find out which offers the best rates, programs and what are the other services available to you like High Definition (HD) Options for Digital Video Recording (DVR) and how much that would cost you.

If you’re not sure where to start, you can go to Satellite Solutions Network (SSN) to check out the special deals they are offering. For example SSN is currently offering up to $275 plus 1 out of 5 free gifts for Dish TV. That is a value of over $1000 in savings.

You can get a dual tuner HD DVR upgrade from Dish Network Satellite and a standard dual tuner DVR receiver upgrade for free. If you sign up for HD programming you receive the first 6 months worth $20 per month free. You’ll also get 12 premium movie channels from HBO and Cinemax free for 3 months plus more savings and deals. You’ll have to check out the SSN website for more details.

SSN is a direct sales partner with Dish Network. You can register online or if you prefer, you can place an order over the phone. The order is directly intergrated with Dish Network’s order entry system.

Its been five months now since the seizure I had on 1st April (yeah, what a cruel joke). Anyway, I’m on medication now and I thought that I was beggining to get my confidence back. Now, I can go to public places alone for short periods of time without feeling afraid, things like that.

Apparently my confidence does not extend to my subconcious mind. On Saturday night I dreamed that I was about to be struct by a bolt of lighting. I moved quickly out of its path and that woke me up with a jolt. The jolt felt like a jerk and my first thought was did I just have another seizure? I read that some people see flashes of light just before one.

I was afraid to go back to sleep for a while but I eventually did…. only to dream that hubby was bending over me with a concerned look saying “Hon, did you know that you just had another seizure?” Thats my most dreaded sentence. All I could do was ask “Is it?” without knowing what had passed, only feeling tired, so very tired. All that happened in my dream almost like what happened 5 months ago. Sigh. When will I stop feeling afraid?

I had one or two sleep paralysis moments upon awakening a few months ago. Doc says its got nothing to do with a seizure and it happens mostly to teenagers. Still it was very scary to be awake and unable to move, talk or wake up. And afterwards I felt so tired throughout the day. Really scary.

Oh well, I’m just blogging this for the sake of recording this down. Now back to writing happier more positive things. Why write such black thoughts on a Monday morning?