Archive for January, 2011

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The other day while I was at the Mall, I saw the “God of Prosperity” ie a chap dressed up like the above. You can see quite a lot of them at malls during this season. Some of them will be giving out mandarin oranges, or angpows (usually with vouchers in them) to entice you to buy, buy, BUY!

Anyway, this chap was fooling around. He was standing very still. If you did not know it, you would think that he was just a manequin. Then he would suddenly move much to the surprise and amusement of shoppers. All of a sudden he spoke……. in Malay to the shoppers. lol. A “God of Prosperity” who speaks Malay. That is what you get in a multiracial society.

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! I will be back after I have finished eating, drinking and being merry which may take up to two to three weeks.

“Mummy, how many days till Chinese New Year?” the small one asked. “About a week” I replied and he went “Yeah!” while he glanced longingly at the Chinese New Year cookies and goodies laid out temptingly on the table.

The kids have been banned from touching the cookies until the eve of Chinese New Year. (no matter how much they plead). This is all part and parcel of the fun and the build-up and suspense towards Chinese New Year.

We have completed our home-made decorations. This year we decided to make angpow rabbits. We will be stringing and hanging them up on Monday with plenty of instructions from the kids. “Hang here, mummy. No, it looks nicer here.” etc.

Despite all our preparations, the cleaning up, making decorations, storing up cookies, buying new clothes, we actually celebrate Chinese New Year on a small scale with little or no visitors. Well, there is no law that says you can’t put up decorations to admire yourself right, so we do it year after year. We do balik kampung but it does not mean that this house where we stay should be neglected.

Though it is just the four of us, we make it into a big thing and create a big fuss for the kids delight and for ourselves too as a result. When the kids are happy, we are happy. So, we’re all set now to usher in the Year of the Rabbit…. well, almost. Still a bit of stuff to do here and there.

A mother is the hardest job in the world. It does not make a difference whether you are a stay at home mother, a work from home mother or a full time working mother. These are merely different terms coined for the same job. The job of a mother. They’re all hard. Everyone is pressed for time and very stressed. There is never enough time for all the things we need to do to carry out our job as a mother. It does not matter whether your child is a baby, toddler, preschooler or teenager. It is equally hard.

All mothers definitely deserve a spa break…. at least once a year! Do you hear that all fathers and husbands? You can organise one for your wife with Valentine’s Day just around the corner. She will appreciate it for sure.

Oh, what I’d do to be able to just lie down doing nothing… absolutely nothing, soaking in the beauty and sounds of nature, being given a massage, a manicure, pedicure, a facial. Throw in the full works! I want pampering! I want deep relaxation! Excuse me, if I get carried away. I have never been to a spa break that is why but I feel that I deserve one.

Another spa treatment I would really like to get is eyebrow shaping. They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. So one should make them look really beautiful with perfectly shaped eyebrows and pretty lashes. You can get that during your spa break.

So men, you know what to do. Get the mothers of your children a spa break. There are so many spa deals available. I am sure you can find one for yourself too while you get one for the wife. You could go for a couple break and reconnect. It is much better than those see, do and eat as much as you can kind of holidays.

To my dear husband, if you are reading this…. please do take this as a BIG hint!

I shop just once a year during Chinese New Year and then we wear the clothing throughout the whole year. It helps me to save money and at the same time it creates excitement and a festive feeling for the kids. Since I shop just once a year, I can also have the excuse of picking up good quality clothing that may cost a bit more since we have to wear them all year round. The only disadvantage about doing this is the clothing price is higher during this peak season as some, like me will shop around this time.

I decided to do this, after my sister who shops all round the year told me that to her kids, Chinese New Year is nothing special because they have new clothes all the time. I want my kids to feel the same kind of excitement I felt as a child during CNY. So to me they should have new clothes during this time and not throughout the year. As children they outgrow their clothes very quickly so we will definitely need to buy them some so why not do it for Chinese New Year. Of course, we have to be careful to choose those that they can grow into and not out of quickly.

As a child, we always had new clothes during Chinese New Year and we will wear them on the first two days of Chinese New Year at least. Some of my more traditional aunties even have new clothes for each of the 15 days of Chinese New Year! Amazing! For us, we just target the first few days and we will usually buy mix and match outfits that we can pair with to create new looks.

We even had new sleepwear which we will wear after busy cleaning up house on the eve of Chinese New Year before having a good shower to wash away the old year. So I always buy new pyjamas for my kids and they love changing into them on the eve of Chinese New Year. They change into them, receive angpows from mummy and daddy and then they get to stay up late to welcome the New Year with the sounds of firecrackers and fireworks all around.  So exciting. On the first morning of Chinese New Year, the kids will get bundled into their new clothes and shoes. Oh, how they love it!

This year we also got new cushion covers and table cloths, all in the bright auspicious colour – red. Tradition is very much alive in my house even though we celebrate in a really small scale.

I bought my fridge a few years back. I thought that a fridge is one of those investments that you make for your household for a longer term. So, I bought a large (or so I thought) fridge then. However, I didn’t have any kids then and I didn’t cook very much then. Eventually, what I thought was large then is too small now!

It is overflowing with meat and vegetables and fruits and children’s medicine and ice-cream etc. The ones that take up the most space are the bulky fruits. I like to do juicing so I buy them in bulk and store them in the fridge so that they will last longer. With so many food items crammed in my fridge, all of them have so little space to breathe.

The other day, I went to look at fridges. There are so many kinds available now. Two door ones, those that come with special ice-making facilities or cold water dispensers, top freezer, bottom freezer like this hotpoint one. So many to choose from. I like the two door ones but my kitchen is too small. I like the water dispenser too but those usually come with the two door fridges. I especially like the ones with the bottom freezer because I think it makes perfect sense. This way I don’t have to bend up and down to pick up my fruits and vegetables which I reach out for much more than the frozen meats.

I asked the men if they will take a trade-in for my fridge but they would not. They even told me that I would have to pay their transporters to take it away. A perfectly good fridge. What a waste! I am really undecided about what to do now. I toyed with the idea of buying another fridge and placing it beside mine. How lovely it would be if I could have an integrated fridge plus my current fridge side by side. Unfortunately I don’t have the space for it.

Maybe I’ll transport this fridge to my apartment so that I can get a new one. I am sure my tenant would appreciate that but then I will have to make so many transport arrangements and what do I do with the current fridge that is at the apartment? Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.  I can’t make myself throw away a perfectly good fridge so at the moment I will clear the inside a little while I give it more thought.

My dear blog readers, when buying a fridge, I think you should buy as big as you can afford. Plan ahead, so that you don’t get stuck in the kind of dilemma that I am in now. As your family grows, your fridge will appear smaller and smaller.