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Remember I wrote about the upmarket Gurney Drive in KL at The Gardens, Mid Valley? Well recently we took Dad there to savour some of his favourite Penang food and were pleasantly surprised to see that the prices had been revised downwards.

The first time I went there most of the hawker foods were priced at RM15 per plate. This time I saw that most of them were priced around RM12.50++ for large portions and RM8++ for small or single portions. They are smart to reduce the price in this manner. Previously the single portion costs RM15 and there were no large or small portions. 

Lets compare. In our previous visit we ordered Sar Hor Fun, Ark Tui Mee Suah, Satay (One Dozen) and Prawn Omellette plus warm water all round. The meal came up to a whopping RM70 plus.

This time round we ordered Sar Hor Fun, Penang Hokkien Char, Koay Teow Th’ng, Curry Mee, Penang Chee Cheong Fun (which is very different from the KL variety in case you don’t know), Lobak, Chendol and Bor Bor Cha Cha. The meal came up to RM60 plus.  We got much more food than the previous visit plus dessert too at a lesser price. It is still expensive but not exorbitant like before.

And its great to see a price reduction somewhere with prices rising everywhere. Even my wholemeal bread costs about 20 cents a piece now!

With prices coming down to about the same as what you would get at a food court, it is much more reasonable now. This place looks very much like a food court actually but you don’t go to the individual stalls to order. You order from a menu and the food is served to you like a restaurant.  The food plus which place or road it comes from in Penang is listed beside it ie whether it comes from Pulau Tikus or Green Lane or whatever road. Apparently 16 cooks were brought here specially. There is no need for self service. So with better service and about the same prices as most food courts makes it worth a visit now compared to previously.

Before we left, hubby pointed to the pile of stones at the signage outside and told Dad that they had been brought in from Gurney Drive, Penang. That made Dad smile. And that makes it even more worth the visit. Its hard to get Dad to smile these days. Most days he is rather quiet and answers in monosyllabus.

I don’t have pictures but if you want to see pictures and read more about the Gurney Drive in KL at The Gardens, Mid Valley, you can go here.

So, how did I do yesterday? Well, lets see…

• Cook - Check. (For lunch. Dinner was takeout)
• Wipe dust of shelves - Check. I enlisted the kids help for this. The kids just love to help out (at this age 4 & 6). I took out one good morning towel for myself and cut another one into two for each of them. I dampened the cloth with water. Took everything down from the shelves ie all the knick knacks. Then I wiped the shelves and asked them to wipe the knick knacks. Of course they fought over which item they get to wipe. They also offered to wipe the cupboard doors which was great. My girl was delighted when she found a basketful of my old costume jewellery. “What a pretty basket” she said, followed by “Look, I found jewels mummy!” she exclaimed excitedly as she held out my old pearls and bangles. I found the fact that she referred to my items as “jewels” rather amusing. It makes me sound rich. Hahaha. “Oh, you found some treasure did you?” I teased her. Soon, I left them to it and went to clean out the toilet sink. When I returned, the pearls were making railway tracks all around the room and the bangles were being rolled around by the two little monkies.
• Naptime for the kids and me - Didn’t get this done because I was too busy wiping and they were too busy playing with the “jewels”. After that they insisted they wanted some tea because “doing work is so tiring”.
• Bathing the kids - Check. But I think they got dirty again from the dust and all the “wiping” they did.
• Clean Toilet - Check. I cheated on this one. What I did was made it look more presentable. There is a difference between making it look presentable and deep cleaning. To “make things look presentable”. all I need to do is spray some household substance that will poison and kill me faster and wipe dry. Very fast indeed. 10 minutes instead of an hour. As for the toilet bowl, whenever it looks dirty, I would pour more household substance that will poison and kill me faster into it, then give it a once over with the toilet brush and flush. Another 10 minutes. Sometimes you might catch me doing this in the middle of the night. Siao! Today, I decided to do just the sink. Sometimes, I do just the floor. Little steps, little steps. (Sikit sikit lama lama jadi bukit) and all will be done. Lol!
• Take kid to doctor - Skip as doctor is not around
• Supervise homework - Check. Not much homework today, luckily.
• Practise piano - Check. Teacher wanted me to memorise the Macgyver piece and play it as if I’m performing. I just can’t get it right. Been at it for weeks. I think the neighbours hate me and Macgyver by now. Haha.
• Boil water - Check.
• Wash dishes - Check.
• Fold laundry - Check. The kids offered to help as they love to do this too but I declined today after the bangle rolling incident.
• Iron clothes - Check. All 9 pieces. 5 minutes per piece equals 45 minutes of my life. A backbreaking task. My old bones can’t take it.
• Read book - No time.
• Sit with boy in front of pc to teach him ABC online - Check.
• Blog - Check.
• Exercise - Check. I’m just recovering from dunno what type of strong and long lingering bug so I took it easy. Out comes my salsa dance tape. Cha cha cha. Cha cha cha. Ok, done.

Not bad for a day’s work. Writing it down helps, otherwise I would have procrastinated and put everything in the back burner. Now, what shall I do today? Same ole same ole with some slight variations here and there like wash clothes instead of fold clothes, clean another toilet, etc.

What I though was food poisoning turned out to be a stomach flu because the kids got it from us. So the whole family is on a soft foods diet. Porridge, bread, porridge, bread, soup, porridge, bread…..

I’ve been very busy wiping vomit all day and all night. Fortunately, we’re on the tail end of the stomach flu now (I hope). I hope that we will all be as good as new soon. I’m so tired. I can’t wait for things to get back to normal. Just can’t wait………..

Now, I’m off to cook some more porridge. But dunno why, despite my soft foods diet, I still weigh the same. Chey!

Do you read product reviews? I do. Product reviews are much more useful than product advertisements. They give the true picture whereas product advertisement tends to give a glossy picture of the product or service. So I always read product reviews. Product reviews by real users give me the truthful picture and sometimes even brings up facts or perspectives of the product which I never would have thought of.

I find Consumer Research sites and product reviews like WIZE really useful. There is a review on just about any consumer product you are interested it, from baby carriers to operating systems softwares and utilities, from shavers to MP3 and Digital Media Players.

The categories available or product reviews available are really wide. You can choose to look through 75,720 products and 1,523,014 reviews (these are the numbers I obtained at the point of writing this post). The tagline for the WIZE website is “Get WIZE, then buy” - WIZE simplifies all the Web’s opinions and information so you don’t have to. How true. Its always wise to do some research and read up some information before buying and here is a site which compiles all of that widely available information on the web for us to make our research homework easier. Its definitely a good place to go to find product reviews.

Hmm lets see. The last time I checked I had written…..

• 646 blog posts on my Parenting Times blog
• 230 blog posts on my Mothering Times blog
• 20 blog posts on my Quotes Station blog
• 224 blog posts on this blog

That would bring me to a grand total of 1120 posts altogether. Muahahahaha. Can write book already. 

I think I’ve got to join a “Writers Annonymous Club” to talk about my compulsion to write, write and write some more. Lol! Anyone wants to join me? Can share with me your stats anot? Hehe.

Source of Picture: Answers.com on Snatch Theft

The other day as I was settling my kids for their afternoon nap, we heard a loud “Vrrooom Vroommm” motorbike sound followed by a lady shouting for help. This happened right outside my house. Two men on a motorcycle had smashed her car window and took off with her handbag which she had left lying on the passenger seat.

Sounds familiar? This probably has happened to your family members, friends or neighbours. They are not reported in the media because no one got seriously injured or died in the crime. BUT it is scarily common. Much too common.

In another incident, hubby was at a mamak stall with a friend. While they were talking (they were sitting in the restaurant but quite near the open entrance) someone grabbed the friend’s handphone which was lying on the table and took off in a motorbike of an alliance who had been waiting.

My sister has had her handbag snatched before too, while she was struggling to open her car door one day. And so has my sis-in-law, while she was struggling to open her house gate with child in tow. Why? Because they were distracted at the time. And I am sure that anyone reading this will nod their heads and say, yes, yes, this has happened to my ______ (*fill in the blanks*) too.

The sad thing is they always target the weak and or helpless(meaning women or mothers with young children, older people etc), the ones who were not careful enough (as in the above incidents those who left their belongings visually tempting enough to the bad guys) and those who were distracted.

WHEN WILL IT STOP? JUST WHEN?!!

It seems to be getting worse these days. I don’t feel save anymore, not even outside my own house.

I’m tired of posting serious stuff. So here’s something a little bit more light hearted for a change. 

Do you recall what role you played in your kindergarden concert during the good ole days? Hubby was telling me that he was a tree. Lol! I think he probably made a good tree. Hahaha. He had to wear this brown tree trunk….

I didn’t attend any kindergarden but I remember participating in concerts during my primary school days. I think I was in Standard One at the time. The teachers had brought in some cute little national costumes of different countries and made us try them on. I was supposed to be the little dancing Hawain girl but during practise the teachers said I was too stiff (I’m still stiff. Lol!) so they changed my costume to a little Arabian girl instead, complete with headgear and a scarve to cover my face. Hehe.

Then there was a time during school assembly when I went up to sing. Can you imagine a little girl of about 7 or 8 holding a crepe paper flower and belting out…..

“I realise the way your eyes deceived me, with tender looks that I mistook for love, so take away the flowers that you gave me and send the kind that you remind me of. Paper roses. Paper roses………..”

Hahaha. Cos that was what I sang then “Paper Roses” by Marie Osmond if you still remember her. If you don’t you must be young.

I don’t know why I didn’t feel afraid when I was young. Now if you ask me to go on stage and sing the same song, I would faint! Hahaha.

What about everyone else. Do you remember your performing days in school?

Thanks to all who came by and dropped encouraging comments. I’m done venting for now. Did I sound like I was about to crumble or fall to pieces? Haha. I hope not. Life goes on and so must I.

I have taken some preventive measures for safety but these are not foolproof but is anything ever? After the first seizure two years ago I arranged for a part time helper to come in a few times a week. Now she comes in daily for more hours each day. So now I am officially a full time lady of leisure. Hahaha. I can have more time to play with and hug my kids.

Hey, this should make me a stronger, better more loving person but I find that I am still the same old complaining, impatient, grouch. Oklah, bagi chance lah. Half the time I feel sleepy or drugged from the medication. The other half, I feel fearful and frustrated when my sleep gets disturbed by the kids or the spouse and so I show my black face and frustration at them.

But I know I must not let the psychological fear of getting a seizure become worse than an actual seizure itself so I must learn to control it. Otherwise the family will suffer too. This condition is hard not only on the individual who has it but on their families too.

The poor spouse who comes back tired from work now does not have anyone to manja him. He only gets a tired, fearful wife whom he feels he must constantly watch over. Hmm… I hope we can get over this stage and move on the way we were before.

The kids too must not pay the price of a tired, impatient mum but then I’ve always been a tired, impatient mum so theres really no difference. Lol! 

Hubby says I should get back into easing into an exercise routine which he feels is good for me and so I shall. I am also trying to take it easy and relax more but that feels so strange. I realise that I have always been rushing around that I have forgotten how to relax! So now, I really should learn to listen to some relaxing music, read some magazines, paint my nails but it feels really strange to be doing these things. I don’t even have a good music player and nice CDs although I love music.

I must learn to relax more, exercise, sleep better, eat well etc. But then so must all of you reading this. Don’t take your good health for granted.

Siwwy Pig wanted to peek in my handbag. Ok. You can have a look here. (No pictures so anticlimax eh?) and both Siwwy Pig and Angel Eyes wants to know 6 weird things about me. Hmm….. okie, lets see….

1. I can’t think of anything weird…….. Hey! Thats weird!
2. I can’t sleep anywhere else accept on my bed. Not on the sofa or anywhere else and I must have my bolster!
3. I like to eat my meals while I’m preparing food for the family to save time. By the time I finish cooking, I’ve finished my lunch/dinner and can move on to or concentrate on other things.
4. I like to sleep when other people are awake and I’m awake when others are sleepy. I’m a nightbird.
5. I’m soft spoken but with my kids I can get really LOUD!!!
6. I can’t think of anything else. Isn’t that weird?

Ok. Not tagging anyone since I’ve just been called the tagging monster *pouts* by someone.

A bridal shower is a gift giving party for a bride a few weeks before her wedding usually organised by the bridesmaid or maid of honour. It is a time to pamper the bride and make her feel special. It is also a good opportunity for the bride to catch up with her girl friends and relatives just before her wedding.

Some bridal showers are pretty elaborate with complex themes and games and pretty bridal shower invitations being sent out to the invitees. Guests are usually women but nowadays men are included too.

I didn’t have a bridal shower because I eloped! Just kidding. Actually I think it would have been nice to have one but no one planned one for me and I couldn’t plan one myself because its considered rude for the bride’s family to plan or host one since it involves gift giving to the bride by the guests! Lol!