The Wrong Way To Protect Your House

DH decided to net up the gate so we could let our rabbit roam free. When I looked out to see what the rabbit was doing, I saw her at the gate, looking out very intently. I thought, "Wow, we have a guard rabbit."

But then DH told me to take a closer look. Actually, she was keeping an eye on the cat outside. I wonder what the cat was thinking? And I wonder what the rabbit was thinking?

Cat: What long ears you have? And where's your tail? Can you meow? You walk funny.
Rabbit: Have you never seen a rabbit before? And no you can't come in. This is my territory.

The Size Of Farts

Poooot.

D2: (Looking at D1) Ewwww
D1: Not me-lah. It's baby. I don't fart small-small.
Me: Then? You fart big-big?
D1: No, I fart medium. You think I fart like "kerbau" ah?
Me: Wakakakaka.

Why he used the word "kerbau"? Because his teacher told the class not to "mandi kerbau".

Translation:
kerbau = buffalo
mandi kerbau = To bath like a buffalo meaning to not bath properly.

Baby is 5 Months Old

Baby is now 5 months old and weigh 7kg. She was a very good traveler when we "balik kampung" for the Chinese New Year celebration. Slept in the car almost the whole time.

So, what is baby up to at 5 months?

• Loves to grab things. I just love to see how she concentrates, trying to improve her hand-eye coordination. The baby gym has come in handy. Play time now is mostly dangling something in front of her to grab.
  
• She can turn onto her stomach and then back again easily. So, we have to be more careful where we put her down. Don't want her falling off the bed or sofa. Usually we just put her down on a mattress that's on the floor.
• Everything she grabs goes into her mouth.
  
• Loves to play peek-a-boo. She will laugh.
• Beginning to recognize people. Just this past week, she started to cry when other people carried her. She didn't do that before. I guess the "glue" is beginning to form :)
• Doesn't sleep much during the day. Her naps are fantastically short; sometimes it is only for 10 minutes. But she sleeps well at night.
• She's starting to wear "bigger" clothes. I had to go through my "storage" of old clothes to see which ones she can fit now. Found some nice dresses. It is more fun to dress a baby girl than to dress baby boys. Hahahahah.
  
• Likes to stand. Grandma keeps complaining that she'll grow up to be bow legged.
  
• Likes us to stand when we carry her. She'll sound her "siren" if we sit down too long.

When we went back home for CNY, both grandmas complained how baby's hair was too long and was making her hot. So, out came the scissors and snip-snip. Daddy was the hairdesser. I had to convince him not to shave her head like what he does with the boys. Take a look at the "before" and "after" photos.

BEFORE

Her hair doesn't stand up so much anymore.

Hair only stands up in the morning. Talk about bad morning hair. Hahahah.

"Messy long hair makes me hot mama."

AFTER

Gone are the cute curls.

Daddy's boy style hair cut.

But the front still very long. We didn't cut the front. Will have to eventually coz' it's getting into her eyes. Baby says "Don't I look nice now?"

Need To Shrink Your Phone Bill?

Save money, save money, save money! That's what everyone is trying to do these days. One way to achieve that is by being a smarter shopper. Unfortunately, it can be quite confusing when trying to compare and choose certain services like credit cards, savings accounts and cell phone plans. All the different companies bombard you with enticing offers left, right and center. Which one to choose?

Life is busy enough... yes, even for us stay at home moms. The last thing I want to do is sit down and maul over which is the cheapest cell phone plans. Bad enough I have to think what to cook everyday. Well, if you want a personalized recommendation for credit cards, savings accounts and CDs, cell phone service and even gas stations, you should take a look at BillShrink.com. They have made it easy for you to choose the best deal. They have you answer a few questions to learn about your situation and needs and then offer recommendations that will save you money.

Now, the website also features an area for business owners. You can go there and have them recommend business credit cards options that will improve your bottom line.

Just in case you are wondering, their recommendations are independent and unbiased. So, to my American friends out there, if you are looking to save a little money, have a look here and see if this is a good resource.

*Brought to you by your friends at Billshrink.com

Scrapping My Lil' Chomper

I used My Memories Suite to do this scrapbook page. Click here to see my step-by-step tutorial on how I did this layout: How To Digital Scrapbook With My Memories Suite

BabyK is my first baby to suck her thumb. Well, sometimes it's more chewing than sucking. The 2 questions I always get when people see her gnawing away are:

• Is she hungry?
• Is she teething?

Neither. She's just at that stage ya'know. I've tried teething rings but she can't hold them properly yet. Her favorite are either her fingers or ours. Anyway, I caught this picture of her so cutely chomping away. I hope it's not going to be a habit that is hard to break.

Securing Your Memories Online

Last time, in the days of our parents and grandparents, when you wanted to walk down memory lane, you opened up the photo albums. Unfortunately, photos don't say much about the memory being captured. I remember always asking my mother "who is this?" and "who is that?" when looking at photos of my ancestors. Sometimes she would answer "I don't know".

Nowadays, we parents are blessed with technology that make record keeping a breeze. We can do digital scrapbooks and write blogs to note down those special family moments.

My Heart Will has taken record keeping one step further. Using their services, you can store your journals, photographs, audio and video recordings, and scrapbooks securely for 10 years. What you upload there is not open for everyone to see. It's an online safe box and only those whom you give visitor status can view the information.

You can use it as a Time Capsule. That means you can write personal messages for your children, husband, grandchildren and have that message delivered at a certain time in the future like their graduation, birthday, wedding day etc.... Pretty cool. So, in a way, you can still live on even when you're already dead. Reminds me of a show where the father died (from illness) when his son was just a baby. So he left video recordings for his son and the mother would play them during his birthdays.

Many of us parents are blogging about our children's milestones. It is scary to think what might happen if our blogs were suddenly wiped out one day. Have you been doing backups? Plus, sometimes it is not so nice (and not very safe) to blog about too personal things. This online safe box is an interesting concept. If this sounds interesting, click here to read more about My Heart Will Store Memories.

* Brought to your by your friends at myheartwill.com

Baby Gym

Mom's got me working out too hard. This is what you call "play-till-you-drop" concept.

Steps To Making Homemade Bread With Breadmaker

Ok, I promised I would put up the steps to making plain white bread with my bread maker. Here it is:

This is what the whole unit looks like.

It comes with a measuring cup and measuring spoon. You just take the bread pan out to put all the ingredients in.

First to go in is 1 1/3 cups of water and 1 tbsp of vegetable oil.

Next is 1 tsp salt, 3 1/3 cups of bread flour, 1 tsp sugar and top it off with 2 tsp of yeast.

Put the bread pan back into the bread maker.

These are all the buttons for different selections. The first button on the right is for you to select the bread's crust color: Light, Medium, Dark. This time round I chose to make a "light" crust. Next is "menu". By default it is set to "basic" setting which is what you use for plain white bread. Other settings are like "french bread", "wholewheat bread" etc.... You have 12 settings. If you want to make buns or pizza dough, you can have the bread maker knead the dough for you and then you put the dough in the oven.
You can also set the timer on. For example, you can put all the ingredients in the night before and have the bread ready in the morning. So, let's say you put all the stuff in at 10pm and you want to eat it at 7am. You just set the timer to 9 hours. Once your press the start button, you can see the timer counting down.

There is a window at the top so you can see what is happening.

Simple white bread will take 3 hours to be ready. The bread maker will beep to let you know it's done. Then it will keep the bread warm another 60 minutes if you don't take it out yet. Oh, forgot to mention that the machine will beep at 2 different times. The first time is to let you know that you can add extra ingredients if you want such as nuts or whatever you fancy. So, don't panic if you hear it beep the first time and see that it's not ready yet :)

Okay, so here is the finished product: nice warm bread. You take the bread pan out and let it cool down for like 5 minutes. Then you turn it upside down to "dunk" the bread out to cool on a rack. If you leave it inside the bread pan or on the table, the bottom will be wet from the steam. So remember, you have to let the bread cool on a cooling rack.

Ok gals, hope that is what you were looking for. Very simple.

Funny Conversation With Kids

On the way to "pasar malam" yesterday, this is a conversation we had in the car. Don't even know how we got to that topic.

D1: Mommy, a teacher died in the toilet
Me: Huh? Who told you that?
D1: Another teacher. He said a teacher died in the toilet because of the smell.
Me: What? Died because of the smell?
D1: Yeah, we cannot go to the toilet so many times. One teacher, one time only. For example, if I go to the toilet when teacher xxx is there, then if I want to go again cannot. But if it's another teacher, then can.
Daddy: You all don't flush the toilets izzit? Nobody wash the toilets ah?
JiejieK: Ya, nobody wash. The toilet "memang" smelly. Every time I go I have to hold my breath.
D1: Oh, I don't do that. I just smell.
Me and daddy: Wakakakakakakaka

And D1 innocently asked, why you all laughing?

The Aroma Of Homemade Bread

For the longest time I've wanted to get a breadmaker. Well, I finally got one. Tesco came out with their own brand and it only costs RM199. That's real cheap compared to other brands, and there's not much choice here in Malaysia.

So, how did my bread turn out? Take a look.

So far I've only done simple white bread. Turns out quite nice. I want to do whole wheat bread because it's healthier. Unfortunately stupid me bought the wrong thing when I went to the baking shop. I was suppose to get whole wheat flour, I got whole wheat instead. Anybody knows what I can do with whole wheat?

Just in case you're wondering how to make bread with a breadmaker, here's basically what you do: Throw in the ingredients in the recommended order (read the instruction manual). Mine says to put liquids first (water, oil, milk), then the dry stuff (flour, salt, sugar) and last of all, yeast on top. Press a few buttons to select the mode and color of crust. Then, press start. Walla! 3 hours later, you have nice, warm bread to eat.

I am going to enjoy my breadmaking the next few weeks. Anybody have a nice breadmaker recipe, please share.

Chinese New Year Decorations

My Chinese New Year decorations every year is very minimal. I usually take 3 angpows, clip them together then string them up. Well, this year I'm inspired by Mumsgather. She wrote a post about how she and the kids spent some time doing angpow crafts. So this year, I taught the kids how to make fish angpows. You can get the instructions here. Here they are hanging on my wall:

When they were done, my girl counted and proudly declared they had made 44. Mommy immediately said "choi, choi, not a good number, make some more." KokoD also made some. But in the end I had to "repair" a lot of his work. I also tried making an angpow lantern. Here is how it turned out:

Mamas Parenting Tip:
Fish angpows are very easy to do. I would say suitable for children 6 years and up. Must be able to handle scissors well and avoid stapling their own fingers :)

Need To Catch Some Lizards?

The other day my daughter walked into the kitchen to get a snack and then came quickly running out while giving the most fearful scream "AAaaaaaaaaargh". This is what she saw:

Sorry, this picture may not be for the squeemish.

This was a box of chocolate almond cookies given to me as a birthday present. I believe my little son had some the night before and may not have closed the lid properly. Anyway, I can understand if there was only one lizard inside. Maybe it got caught by accident. But THREE lizards???? I don't think this was an accident. I think they were after my cookies! And here I thought that lizards only ate insects.

Anyway, I closed the lid tight and left them in there to die (Ewww, no way I was going to let them out). These hardy creatures lived several more days. KokoD observed them like a science experiment those few days. He noticed the cookies were getting less and less. Which confirms the fact that THEY EAT COOKIES!

Anyway, if you are looking for a lizard trap, this could be a solution. This is probably the most bizarre way to catch lizards. Actually, it's not even proven to be successful. Maybe this is just a one time thing or maybe it's just the lizards in my house. I'm definitely not trying again to see if it works.

My first thoughts when I saw those lizards.... "Thank goodness I already ate most of those cookies".

The Power of Rewards

Image via Wikipedia

Last Sunday, when we wanted to return the library books, one book was missing. It was a Magic Treehouse book that K borrowed. We did the usual "interrogation":

• When was the last time you read it?
• Did you read it upstairs or downstairs?
• Did you read it in the car?
• Did you leave it at church?
• Did you take it to school?
• Is it on your bed?
• Have you checked under the sofa cushions?
• What about under the chairs, tv, trampoline etc....
  
• Did you loan it to any of your friends?
• Is it with all our books on the bookshelves?
• Try to remember where you put it.
• KokoD1, KokoD2, did you guys take it? Have you seen it?
• Are you sure you looked properly or not?
  

Then there was the scolding too:

• That's why lah, you always leave your things everywhere.
• Why didn't you just put it back after reading?
• Why are you sitting down again, keep looking lah!
• You have to be more responsible.
• Why didn't you look for it yesterday? Why must you wait until we are leaving the house before you start searching for it?
• Stop whining and giving excuses. Just look for it.
  

Let's not forget the threats too:

• I'm not going to tell the lady at the library the book is lost. You go tell her yourself.
• If you don't find the book, they are going to ban your library card.

Daddy was very kind NOT to report the lost book that day. He told K that she has 1 week to look for the book. If still cannot be found, then only will he let the library know about it. Unfortunately, kids being kids, this girl of mine don't really appreciate the "life line" that has been thrown to her. There still is no urgency to look for the book. She goes on like it's no big deal. Not much effort given to looking for the book.

It has been quite baffling where that book has gone. I know it is in the house. How come we can't find it? Well, I had an idea. While K was in school, I announced to my 2 boys that I would buy a Cornetto or Slurpee to the person who finds the book. Guess what? THE BOOK WAS FOUND WITHIN 10 MINUTES. Where was it? In my girl's bedroom, on one of the bookshelves, between some of the books.

I then asked KokoD1, "What would you like? The Cornetto or Slurpee?"
You know what he said? "Mommy, what is a Cornetto?"
Hahahah, see the power of rewards? He didn't even know what it was. He just knew it was something good and he wanted it.

The moral of this story and Mama's Parenting Tip for today:
Rewards work better than interrogation and threats!

Be Smart When Shopping Online

Today, I bought online a baby gym for babyK. I've been trying to make up my mind for a few days now, wondering whether to buy one or not. Spent a few hours this morning, checking out who else sells the item and if it is worth buying at all.

Do you take a long time before you decide to buy something online too? Me, I'm just trying to be as prudent as I can with my spending. In today's economic situation, we must try to save where and when we can right?

If you're going to buy something, it would be helpful to look around for the best deal. What makes good deals?

• Discounted prices
• Rewards/Redemption program
• Free Shipping
• Free Gifts or Bonuses
  
• Coupons

Coupons is something we don't think much about but it is a good way to save some money. Some merchants have you type in a coupon code when you buy their stuff online. Some merchants have you print out the coupon.

Valentine's Day is coming. Why not lessen the damage on your pocket with Savings Valentine's Day coupons? Love shopping at the Gap? Then use some GAP coupons. A 10% savings is better than nothing. If you're lucky, you may even save up to 50%-80%. So, search out those coupons the next time you wanna purchase something.

Happy shopping and savings everyone!

*This message was brought to you by your friends at Savings.com

I Don't Dare

Every day when I send my children to school, I see a few kids their age cycling to school. Now, the school is not too far from my house. So, if I wanted the kids to cycle to school, it wouldn't be too far for them; probably a 10-15 minutes ride.

BUT I don't dare ask such a thing of them. I would get a heart attack every time I think of a car that might knock them down. Then there is also the worry that someone might kidnap them. And what if they accidentally fell down and hurt themselves that they couldn't walk back home. Or what if it rains?

I asked kokoD1 hypothetically, "Would you cycle to school if I asked you to?" He answered, "No, I don't know where to park my bicycle at school?" (*slaps forehead*). Obviously we are not worried about the same things :)

Anyway, if you had the option of allowing your child to cycle to school, would you? Dare or don't dare?

Do You Have A Special Valentine's Day Memory?

Image via Wikipedia

What has been your most memorable Valentine's Day? For me, I'm still waiting for my DH to give me a romantic surprise. Maybe I'm thinking all wrong. Instead of waiting for him to give me a surprise, maybe I should be the one to give him a surprise.

Anyway, Valentine's Day is coming up fast and I know there are a lot of guys out there thinking "what can I do to make Valentine's Day special for my girlfriend/wife?" Well, let me give you some ideas on what would make any girl happy (these would serve as hints for my DH too).

A Day At The Spa
We ladies like the thought of having a good massage and being pampered. A treat at the spa doesn't have to be for one person. Make it a date and go together.

Romantic Weekend Getaway
Book yourselves a place in a nice hotel. If you are married with kids, arrange to leave the kids with someone you can trust. Enjoy some down time together.

Fresh Flowers With Balloons
I know flowers are such a traditional gift. So what? Doesn't mean we ladies don't like it. How often do we get a bunch of sweet smelling flowers. It doesn't always have to be roses. If you know what her favorite flower is, get those. You can top it off with balloons. Make it more special by writing your love messages on the balloons. Fill her bedroom with all the balloons.

Special Dinner
If your wife is like me who cooks everyday, give her a break. Treat her to a nice dinner at a fancy restaurant. You'll make her more happy if you also bought her a new dress to wear to the dinner. Alternatively, you can cook the special dinner yourself. Just make sure you are a good cook first.

A Scrapbook
These days it is so easy to make a digital scrapbook. Why not create one to highlight all the things you love about her. Journal how you feel for her, why she makes you happy, what were your thoughts the first time you met her, why is she special to you and what are your wishes for her. You can make the scrapbook into a slide show and even add her favorite music. If not, print it out into a photobook.

I believe that we should go through life creating special memories. This Valentine's Day is an opportunity for you to create a wonderful memory for your loved one. Unfortunately, the downturn in the economy may make it difficult for you to do certain things. So, you either have to be creative with your tight budget or you could opt for a cash advance.

Message for husbands:
Don't let your wife end up like me. I have no special memory of Valentine's Day... yet. Create a special memory for her; One that she will remember when she's old. Just imagine her sitting down on a rocking chair one day, telling her grandchildren about the day grandpa....

What's More Important?

Conversation between KokoD and myself today:

Me: I would like you to do some work before you start playing on the computer. Because if you play first, then you will be too tired to do any work.
KokoD: I think I better play first. If I do work first, then I will be too tired to play computer.

Obviously, this mother and son has different ideas of what is important. Which makes me wonder too, when did I stop thinking that play was more important than work? Hmmm.....

When Bad Things Become Good

Cover of It Could Have Been Worse

I was reading about the Dragon Boat tragedy in the papers the other day and one of the victim's father made a comment that got me pondering. He mentioned how he would scold his son for spending too much time playing computer games and that prompted the son to sign up for the dragon boat activity. He said he wished he had left his son to play computer games. That way, his son would still be alive.

I guess it struck me because I am one of those parents who dislike the idea of my children gazing hypnotically at the computer screen for hours on end. I don't mind them playing for about 1 hour. However, I would also encourage them to do other "better" things like reading books, activities that require some imagination and creativity, help me clean up the house (their least favorite thing to do of course) and physical activities.

Well, this father's comment got me thinking that maybe, playing computer games is not too bad afterall:

• You know where they are. Having them at home is better than not knowing where they are or having them engage in dangerous or inappropriate activities.
• They can't get injured playing computer games. Their eye sight may deteriorate a little and they may suffer from carpal tunnel later on, but nothing that will have them end up in the hospital.
• Some computer games can aid their spacial abilities and hand-eye coordination (I think).

My heart goes out to the families that lost their children in this tragedy. I cannot fathom what it is like to lose a child. I hope I never know. As parents, we try to bring up our children the best we can. We try to guide them in the right way. It's just that we cannot see the future and therefore cannot predict when bad things may actually be good things (and vice versa).

It reminds me of a children's book I once read. It's called It Could Have Been Worse. The story is about a little mouse who experiences a whole bunch of mishaps like falling into a hole, tripping etc.... But all those "bad" things that happened to him were actually "good" things coz' they saved him from being eaten by predators.

Anyway, my point is, we never know when the "bad" things could turn out to be "good" things. I think I shall take it as a lesson to be less harsh on my kids.

p.s. For those of you who don't know, the Dragon Boat tragedy refers to the recent death of 5 students and 1 teacher as their dragon boat capsized while they were training for the Penang International Dragon Boat Race.

Photobook Your Memories

Last Sunday as I was updating my family journal, I told my daughter that I should get it bound into a book, especially the photos and scrapbooks. Rather than keep everything on my harddisk, I was thinking a Photobook would be appropriate. I'd have to save money and target to do that at the end of the year.

Photobooks seem to be the trend these days. Some people create Photobooks as their wedding album . Definitely more appealing than those bulky and heavy traditional wedding albums. They are also great for other special occasions such as anniversaries, barmitzvah, christening, holidays etc....

There are many photobook services online. For example, if you are in UK, Photo Productions designs and prints Premium Photobooks. They are not like the many design-it-yourself photobooks services that give you cheap prints. They have a team that will professionally design your book using your uploaded photos. Their quality is also exceptional. After you approve of the design, the book goes through a 23 stage digital printing and hand-binding process. In other words, not only are the images vibrant but the book is durable as well.

The service they provide is usually available through a photographer. However, that makes it more expensive. They are the first UK based company to offer such services to the general public. Their website is user friendly. You'll find it no hassle at all. You also get full online proofing of the Photobook designs when they are done. They will ship to anywhere but if you are in UK, shipping is free.

If you are a professional photographer, you can apply for a trade discount. This means more savings for you. Their tagline is 'Premium Photobooks, Not Premium Prices'.

*Disclaimer: I'm getting some pocket-money from this post.

Teriyaki Noodles

Decided to do some cooking experimenting the other day and it came out quite alright. The dish: TERIYAKI MACARONI and TERIYAKI SPAGHETTI.

This was lunch. Tried a recipe I found on the internet and it turned out too sweet. The recipe called for 3 tbsp of brown sugar to 2 cups of water. That's really toooo sweet. Threw in some chicken nuggets and black pepper sausages that were lying in my freezer. I believe most people would use chicken breasts for this type of dish. I guess you can use whatever suits your fancy. Me, I was just trying to finish up whatever food I had in the fridge :)

My Teriyaki Macaroni creation.

Modified the teriyaki sauce for dinner. Used spaghetti this time round. DH gave this a thumbs up. Much better and less sweet. No more chicken nuggets and sausages, so fried up some luncheon meat. Garnished with spring onions.

Here is the recipe for the sauce:

HOW TO COOK

• 1 clove garlic and 1-2 inches ginger. Crush or mince it.
• Stir fry the garlic and ginger in oil until fragrant.
• Pour in 2 tbsp sesame oil and stir fry a little more.
  
• Add 3 cups of water
• Add 6 tbsp of soy sauce
• Add 3 tbsp of BBQ sauce
• Add 1 tbsp of hoisin sauce
• Add 4 tbsp of teriyaki sauce
• Add 1 1/2 tbsp of brown sugar
• Optional: Add 1 tbsp of honey
• Taste to see if it is savory enough for your taste. If not, add some salt.
• To thicken the sauce, add 3 tbsp of cornstarch.

If you cook 1 packet of spaghetti, this recipe will be enough. You may even have more than you need. Enjoy!

p.s. If you need help planning what to cook each week, click on my affiliate link below:
Dine Without Whine - A Weekly Menu Plan & Grocery List Delivered To Your E-mail Box