Aaaahhhhh boxing day sales.

Ever since I came back. I've never bothered about boxing day sales. I've put it at the back of my mind and never thought about it anymore. That is until this year. My brother and his family are in London for the sale and deymmnnnnn... I'm so jealous. It's not that I want to buy anything in particular but I miss the rush of bargain hunting and other than warehouse sales, boxing day sales is where you can get really and I mean.. REALLY good bargains. That is if you're early enough.

In those days, I would go to the shops as early as 6.30am. I don't really have anything in mind but I always get something that is absolutely worth it. I remember I got a coat which I wore through out my uni years for just 20quid. Reduced from 70 quid. BLISS!!!. That coat got me through some really heavy rainy days and cold winter days ok and it's still in good condition. I'm not letting that coat go ever. Even though I won't be wearing it anytime soon. But still... NEVER.

And then there's that black lacy work shirt with faux pearl buttons that was about 10quid reduced from 30quid. I still wear em till today and I luurrrvveee that shirt.

And not to mention the bags I used for my uni years that could fit my notes and books. Each was about 10quid. Still in good condition till today ok!!!.. I gave one to my sis and she used it for her classes, and the other one I used as my diaperbag. hehehe.

I miss boxing day sales. Maybe that's the reason why I'm in such a spending mood lately.

Sigh.

Do do do??!!!

Why is it when I have something that I half heartedly want to do but is important to do I instantly find something else to do that gives me a reason to procrastinate from doing that important thing that I'm actually supposed to do.

Banyak nye to do??!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHA

This chorus is in my head.

You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You get what you need

-You can't always get what you want, Rolling Stone-

Anyhooo.....

May everyone finds the silver lining in their clouds today.

Tsk Tsk

Sad isn't it. When one is blinded by revenge. When friends become enemies. When you have to see the person you care about plunged into darkness and there's nothing you can do about it.

3 layer tea a.k.a Teh Si Peng Special

OK truth be told.. even though I go back to KCH every year.. I've never heard of this tea nor have I been introduced by this tea by my father,cousins, uncles or aunties. None of them ever told me about this tea. What I do eat when I get back is Mee kolok, Laksa Sarawak, Sotong kangkung and of course my must have ais jagung...aaaaaa sedaaaappppp. (ooppsss dah lari topic)

Soooo imagine my surprise when my husband suddenly asked me about it because apparently his colleagues said this tea is so damn famous in KCH and everyone who goes there will have it. WTH??!!! kenapa aku tatau hah???

Anyway.. asked my Dad about 3 layer tea who is a born and bred sarawakian and he himself didn't know about the tea. Then I decided to google and found out that its actual name is Teh Si Peng Special.

Must ask Dad about it first thing in the morning.

Anyway.. had my first taste of it in


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Wait for it ( To quote Barney from How I Met Your Mother.. Damn I love that show)

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Chicken Rice Shop at Tesco, Mutiara Perdana!! HAHAHAHA!!! I've never tasted the original(the KCH one laaa) sooo can't compare but the one I had was pretty tasty.Must ask cousins to bring me when I go back next year!!!!

Two's a company, three's a crowd. Maybe not.

Catching up with friends with your little one tagging along is never easy. Especially when she's at an active age and there's nothing interesting for her to do at the table. The only time it is easy is when she's asleep. Then you can chat and catch up in peace. Otherwise, you have to divide your attention between your friend/s and your child/ren.

How do I handle it? Well, I would usually warn my friends beforehand that I am still listening to her even if I seem distracted with my child. Of course giving the appropriate responses does confirm that you are still involved in the conversation. But it also helps to have my husband around to distract the little girl. I try to bring some distractions along, like her colouring book, or toys, but sometimes it doesn't work because she wants mummy to play with her too. Sometimes I try to suggest to friends to get-together at a kids friendly restaurant/cafe. It's much easier if there's a play area so that she is distracted and have a good time herself.

Of course I don't always bring her along especially when I'm not in the mood to multi-task or when I'm at a non-child friendly place.

Cornlour Gloop

OMG... I had so much fun doing this!!! and of course Azalia had fun too.

It's soooooo much fun.. and messy but It's sooo worth it.

Ok nampak gayanye mak dier lebih dari anak

Got the recipe online.. buy didn't follow it exactly. Basically all you need is for every 1 cup of Cornflour u add about 0.5 cup of cold water. But 1 cup is not enough to play with so I made about 3 cups.. hehehe.

You don't actually use exactly 0.5cup of water. Just add the water little by little till you get the texture. When properly mixed it should be solid looking but when you put your fingers through it becomes liquid. We loved the texture and just played and played with it. We poured and scooped them with spoons, cups. But the best is to play them with your hands. We even add some colouring to make them more interesting although the colour did stained our hands because we played with them too long.

The kitchen was a mess afterwords but the fun was worth it. Definitely will do this again. Oh to avoid and distraught over ruined clothes (due to the colouring) don't wear good clothes. I took the easy way and let Azalia play with only her pampers on.

The kite project

This wasn't in the list but Alia wanted to buy make one because she saw Barney playing with it on tv.

So I went to the back of the house and took out 6 sticks of lidi from the penyapu lidi(washed of course). Asked my sister for some tracing paper(thank God for a sister who studies architecture..she has loads of them) and took my scissors,some threads, twine and glue and went to work.

The only thing I allowed her to help with is gluing the paper to the kite's frame and scribble on them.

The kite can't fly, is messy looking but did she care.?? nope. she was contented enough with pulling it along with the twine. hehehehe. Will definitely get her a proper kite once she's older but for now.. I think that's sufficient. hehe

Free educational online games - for 1.5 to 3 year olds

Azalia loves the computer because she sees her parents always in front of one. So... since she wants to get in the action too I went hunting for educational games online that could be beneficial to her while she is in front of the computer. I found these and she absolutely loves them.

1. Fisher Price
2. Starfall
3. Youtube - loads of nursery rhymes, sing-a-longs, ABCs and 123s and Alif Ba Ta!!!

Hehe.. You tube isn't actually a game but she loves it too. Playhouse Disney Channels takes too much time to upload so I've kind of given up on them. But I have no problems with these sites.

Will update once I find more. We've actually introduced these sites to her since she was 1.5 year old. Before that we used baby smash so she can smash the keyboard all she wants.

Making friends

Ooh I did make this one project during studying period.. (heheh) It's fun, easy and cheap!! well that is if you already have a colour printer. If not you can print black and white and you and your child can colour them.

Anyway.. It's PAPER DOLLS!!!

Printed them out from this making friends website. Loads of dolls, clothes,hair and accessories to choose from. Really fun!! We printed them out, glued several dolls on a cardboard and then play mix and match the clothes and accessories, glued them all together and there you, a complete paper doll!!

Azalia certainly had fun choosing who wears what and even named them and also she gets to play with glue. Scissors is of course a no no and only mummy gets to use them. This is certainly a project that can be done anytime.

Hubby's 9 days Perth trip - it's still not over yet.

To keep me updated on his trip, Asa finally updated his blog. Extremely jealous hokay with the things they did there. They even stayed in cottages and made trips to farms and a petting zoo. YOU OWE US A TRIP ASA!!! Kumpul duit cepat!!!

You can check it out here. It's quite comprehensive if anyone wants to visit Perth and plan on things to do.

Sugar cookies project done!!

Cookie project done on 11.12.2009

It was a mixture of failure and success. Purpose of the project is to let Azalia mix and stir and pour and play with flour and the of course the cooking cutting bit.

The failed part
The recipe I used turned out to be sticky. Tried to refrigerate it but I think I need bigger cookie cutters. It still got stuck in small corners of the cookie cutter.

The success part
It was fun getting all messy. The flour is EVERYWHERE!! because I let her do the mixing. In order to have fun, everyone needs to just chill and just say.. "It's just flour" teehee. Cookies turned out to be delish by the way and Azalia loved them. Cookie cutter-ed some of them, shaped some into a ball, and piped them too.

MUST DO THIS AGAIN!!

The recipe:
170g butter. softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2.5 cup flour
1tspn vanilla extract
0.5tspn salt
1tspn baking powder

Cream butter and sugar, mix in eggs and vanilla. Combine flour,salt and baking powder. Pre-heat 200 degrees celcius, and bake 5-8 minutes (till the sides are golden brown)

We were suppose to decorate them but Azalia ate all the decorations. Sheesh. Maybe next time

1 down..more to go. But first.. PROJECTS!!!

Since exam is over, I've got a lot of things lined up for me and Azalia.

Several projects have come to mind whilst studying (gile tak focus kan!!) and it's high time I execute them.

Here are some of the ones I have for Azalia

1. Cookie project
2. Cornflour gloop project
3. Building cardboard house/car/whatever project
4. Swimming lessons!! (shu nnt saya sms mtk nombor instructor ye!!TQ!!)
5. Photo album (half completed.. need to complete it A.S.A.P)
6. Sand and water corner. (But I think my parents object to this and Azalia don't seem to like sand very much. Kotor kata nye. aisehman)

And these are my projects

1. Photo albums - UK trips, Spain, Italy and Paris trips and of course graduation.
2. Wall shelves in my room.
3. Notice board in front of my desk
4. Put pictures in frames and find a place to hang them or place them


Aaaahhh these should keep me occupied till results comes out. And then it's back to hitting the books. Sigh.

Hairy hair hair...

Did you know most of the human hair wig/extensions comes from INDIA!! Yerps. If the label says INDIAN HAIR than it really is an INDIAN'S HAIR.

And did you know they have MALAYSIAN HAIR as well. Apparently it's the highest quality of human hair available in store for wigs and extensions. Some hollywood celebs actually prefers MALAYSIAN HAIR for their hair extensions. Bet you didn't know that.

And do you now how much they buy it for??? the cheapest is FREAKING 1000USD!!!

I'm keeping my hair long and selling them. Enuff said.

Oh and why am I suddenly talking about hair??

I just watched Chris Rock's documentary GOOD HAIR. Watch it. Seriously. It's funny, interesting and you learn a lot about black women's hair.

On Sleep, Auswaya, Koawa and Kangawoo

Arghhhh Azalia's sleeping timetable has gone haywire.

She gets so excited now at her babysitter's (dah besar suka main, and got friends some more untuk main..) that she takes her 'afternoon' nap the earliest 5.30pm!!! SAY WHAT??!!!!

That means she'll wake up around 7-8pm and mestilah mlm tido lmbt!! Even if we get into bed aroun 10pm she'll be tossing and turning because "Alia tak ngantuk lagi lah"

Sigh.

Anyway... I don't know who told her but Alia now says "Abah dekat Australia (actually she pronounce it Auswaya). Mom and I actually said Perth so maybe my dad told her. And Asa called the other day and told her he saw kangaroos and koala and she got all excited and said to me

"Alia nak pegi Auswaya. Nak tengok Kangawooo, koawa. Mak ikut ok. Abah dekat Auswaya. tengok kangawoo..koawa. Alia nak bg makan kangawoo, koawa."

HAHAHA Asa you owe your daughter a trip to Auswaya OK.!!!!

Plus.. Azalia now says she goes shopping at my sister's room because there's loads of interesting stuff there in her and mesti confirm nak bwk keluar dari bilik punya!!. hehehehe

Azalia's firsts

I might need this for future reference(a.k.a another kid or two)

So here goes.. on top of my head

First smile - about 2 mths
First word - abah, about 8 months
First crawl - about 6-7 months
First rollover - about 3-4 months
First step (belum jln lagi) - about 9mths
First walk (no assitance)- about 10 months
First food - 6 months
First tooth(actually 2 teeth popped at once) - about 5 months
Developed an affection towards her security blanket - 1 year
Starts sucking her fingers - 4-5 months
Know her ABCs,123s - 1.5-2years
Know her Alif Ba Ta's - 2+ years (hehe ini mak dier lmbt introduce..oops)
Can say Bismillahirrahmanirrahim and recite doa tidur fully!!! - 2.5 years
Starts talking.. A LOT - 2 years
Developed an affection towards animals = 1.5 years
Starts potty training - 2 years - still in progress
Start being cheeky - 2 years

Will add as more is being explored and as and when I remember them. HAHAHAHA

YEAY!!!! my Azalia is 2.5years old this month!!!!!!!!

Random thoughts

I see a flaw in the power of attraction (the secret y'all).

You know how the mind wanders, well imagine if you're mind wanders and start to think about something negative.. like... you're driving and suddenly you start thinking about the possible of ways of getting into a minor accident (eg. bump into the car in front of you or scrape the side of your car with something .Well.. if you believe in the power of attraction you seriously don't want it switched on at that time do you.

Just a thought.

Look at me!! look at me!!!

Azalia always had 100% attention from her grandparent ever since birth. Of course this was because she was the one and only grandchild until the birth of my nephew about 4 months ago. Everytime he would come to visit, Azalia would be overjoyed but this joy quickly turn into a competition in getting that 100% attention from her grandparents back. Of course they would dote on the new addition endlessly since he is not staying with us and comes for a visit only 2-3 hours once a week.

At first Azalia would play with him along with the grandparents, but after awhile.. she would be bored since the boy can't even roll yet so she would want to play other things. But since the grandparents are still not bored with the baby, she would insist the baby goes to "mama dier" and would make gestures to pick the baby up and give it to the mother.

I find that the only thing that works here to avoid hostility towards the baby is for someone e1se to give her the attention she needs. Of course at first she resist because she wants the attention from grandpaw and grandma.. but one must not lose hope. Sooner or later she'll realise that resistance is futile. HEHEHE.

But of course kengkdg mak nye pun nak main dgn baby so sometimes she has no choice but to learn to share.

Aaahhh sharing... teaching that is a whole other entry on it's own but I think we're nearly there.

Two weddings and lots and lots of friends

Went to 2 beautiful weddings yesterday and met lots of old friends from school, college and uni.. It was good. Had a dose of singlehood again as I attended both weddings alone since Asa is away and left Azalia with Mom the whole day.

It was fun seeing people I haven't seen in ages and catch up.

World Wide Weirdos???

My geeky uncle warned us against putting photos of our family online. Apparently he had a dose of being 'investigated' via the web. He was eyeing for a job in a certain country and apparently during the interview the interviewer mentioned something about his interests and hobbies which he of course didn't put on his resume but it was on the web. Of course it wasn't anything bad but it just freaked him out a bit that they actually went online to check his background which I'm sure what most people are doing in this day and age.

It got him thinking that maybe it's not a good idea to put everything online. Some things like your family should be kept private because there are some crazy people out there who would do crazy stuff. One time I came across a person's blog, who used someone's daughter's pictures and claim it as their own. There are even people who uses other people's photos and claim that it's their family etc.

Weirdos I tell you... weirdos.

Anyhoo...It is one's personal choice what they want or do not want to publish in the World Wide Web. I however have decided to not put up photos of Azalia anymore.Plus.. I'm too lazy anyway.hehehehe

The secret lives of Moms

Secret Lives of Mom was the topic in Oprah on Thursday and oh how I agree with EVERYTHING they talked about. From the whole handling your kids, feelings on motherhood and how having children affects your marriage, your relationships... it's all soo true.

Truth be told,in the beginning it wasn't easy for me or Asa. We struggled, we were tired and still are sometimes because parenting doesn't stop AT ALL.. and there are times when we feel guilty for complaining BUT regret never came across our mind. I remember one time when a friend asked how it is having children and what came into our mind was... it's good..great in fact. The first thing that came into our mind were the good things not the bad. Weird right??!!

I actually bask in the joy of motherhood about 1 month after I deliver because before that my body was a wreck. It did after all go through labour. Plus there's the whole breastfeeding thing and that keeps you occupied until you get the hang of it. Asa on the other hand had to juggle a very emotional me, the baby(but Azalia was a very calm baby) and work and the adjustments took time.

Along the way sure there were tempers flying around, the merajuk-ness for not getting the attention that we want (I'm talking about adults here people not the child) but we made a pact to NEVER GO TO BED ANGRY. I think that helped.. A LOT.
We would settle whatever dissatisfaction that we had and put it to rest. That is why I think we survived my baby blues period because we had good communication.

They also talked about our own expectations of what mothers should be and how we always always try to achieve that expectations and don't give ourselves a break. I admit.. I had my own expectations. I didn't have anyone else my age for me to compare or exchange stories with. And I struggled because I didn't know whether what I did was right or wrong. But there is no right or wrong. You can buy a whole shelf of parenting books and still struggle. I believe those who wrote the book also struggled themselves that's why they wrote the book because after much trial and error they finally think they've got it. But different families have different ways, so there is no one right way in being a parent. Even to this day I still question some of the things I do and what impact it has on my daughter.

That is why breaks are important. And the moms in the show insists they are. Being a parent is 24/7 and it's for a very very very long time. Imagine if you don't get breaks.. you can go a bit cuckoo you know. Giving yourself a break can also make your marriage stronger. Honestly it was hard at first for me to give myself a break. Sometimes I need to be reminded. One time Asa had to insist it's time for me to take a break because at one time.. I was crabby and tired and stressed and it affected both my husband and my daughter. But once I did take them...I became relaxed and happy again and ultimately a happy mother results in a happy father and a happy daughter. Now everytime I find myself needing a break, I just take them and I'm very thankful I have a husband who understands, encourages and fully supports me in doing so.

Whatever it is... being a parent is never easy. Whoever said it's easy has a whole army to help them with it. But good things never comes easy and the unconditional love that you give and receive from your children are the bestest most greatest feeling one could ever imagine. Seriously.

So to all parents and me.. give yourself a break. . It's going to be one looonnnggg roller coaster ride.

To the loo.. and back...

1.Diarrhea

2.Husband not around till the end of next week.

3.Period cramps

4.7 days before exam.

It's going to be a sucky sucky 7 day 'holiday'.