Christmas Weekend

Christmas fell on last Saturday. I was working on eve and that was the best part. Everybody was on leave and there were only a few of us working. We spent the whole day chit-chatting like nobody's business. Apparently, environment here without the bosses is good. I guessed it applies everywhere. Well, anyway, how I wish everyday is like that instead of the usual quiet and tense atmosphere when the bosses are around. I also grabbed the opportunity to do my last minute Christmas shopping. Shopping to me now is like an everyday to-do activity during lunchtime. I will eat at my place first and walk around during lunchtime. Unless, of course if I have lunch appointment, then I'll go out to eat.

I'll be getting my season pass soon early of January and I don't have to worry about the crazy parking fees here. Yay!! Heard that the season parking fee has shot up to RM160 (old rate was rm80) per month. And the thing is, if you have already applied for season pass, you can't claim for the RM150 parking subsidy which I mentioned earlier in previous post. The company will pay the season pass for you monthly. Oh well, doesn't matter as long as I don't need to fork out a penny for parking. Besides, I gained because the new rate now is more than the subsidy and I don't have to top up the balance. The company pays everything. Great!

Back to Christmas, I rushed back home on eve because my darling hubby cooked us dinner. But then, I still took like an hour to reach home because it was damn jam in every corner. First, it was just after a heavy downpour. Second, it was Christmas eve. Everybody was in the mood to celebrate or maybe just like me, rushing back to be with their loved ones. As I drove home, one of the audience called into the radio station that I was listening to and complaint that he was stuck for an hour in a non-moving traffic outside of One Utama. Geezzz...people just like to cramp together during festive season. I was glad I had a warm celebration and dinner right at home instead of getting stuck in traffic, regardless car traffic or human traffic.

We had one of the most delicious western food cooked by daddy. This time, daddy used spices to cook the salmon and lamb. It turned out so tasty that nothing was left behind. We had red wine also. :)

Appetizer - big and meaty scallops. Yummy!

Lamb chop for daddy.

Salmon for me.

After dinner, the lil' one open the presents. He has bugging us to open the presents since day one I put them under the tree. Then I taught him how to cross the calendar to count down the days to Christmas, which he obediently obeyed because he understood the concept. Finally, after crossing out all the dates, he asked to open the presents.

He got 2 books and a pack of cookies from mummy and a puzzle game from daddy. Daddy got a t-shirt from me.

That's how we spent Christmas eve. On Christmas day, we had morning breakfast 'yong tau foo' with mum and dad and I gave dad a wallet as Christmas present. His one was damaged and I knew he needed one. I saw that he was very happy with the gift! It's always better to give gifts than to receive them because when your loved ones are happy, you will automatically be happy. :)

Later, we went over to sis-in-law (ks's sis) house for dinner. She made roasted chicken while daddy cooked sweet and sour prawn and a mix vege. The roast chicken marinated with thyme, rosemary, lemon, pepper and salt was so delicious that the 3 of us almost finished the whole chicken. Another fulfilling meal. Hahaha....it was so sinful. We ate so much. Well, that's what festive seasons are for right? To eat and enjoy ourselves. Then, the kids exchanged gifts. I bought a pair of shoes for Emily and a puzzle set for Dom while Lunz got an art set from sis-in-law.

On Sunday, I thought of just cooking an ordinary dinner because I craved for my super delicious soup but mum called me in the morning and told me that they will come to my house for dinner. And they wanted steamboat! Mum assured me that she will buy all the ingredients and I just need to make the soup. It was really fun gathering with family members. They messed up my kitchen but they helped me to clean it up later. Dad washed both the cars, he always does that whenever he comes to my house. Mum and dad! They are the greatest! Mum and bro bought three t-shirts for lunz for CNY. As for my birthday gift, mum bought 2 blouses while bro got me a dress. What an early CNY and birthday presents! Anyway, we went for shopping in the morning and daddy had already bought 2 t-shirts and 3 pants for the boy for CNY. According to daddy, might as well buy early since it's the year end sales now.

Talking about CNY...it's just a month away! I'm planning for my leave already. Can't wait for CNY because we will be celebrating in a different way. We will be spending eve and first day of CNY in Ipoh and the following days in Penang with my family. Just can't wait. But before that....

Have a very Happy New Year!

First Tooth Extraction

Do you remember one of my previous posts where I mentioned about his loosen tooth? Well, mum called me yesterday at work and told me that she saw a new tooth emerging from the gum behind the loosen tooth when she brushed his teeth. Mum tried to shake the tooth, hoping it will continued to loosen and fall off by itself. But she failed. It was still sitting there tightly despite her effort. So, she called me and asked me to bring him to the dentist to pull it out. If it's too late, the tooth will not grow out nicely. In which I did, on the same night. I rushed home and was pretty excited when I saw the lil' white surface popping out on top of his gum. In fact, I can't concentrate at work when I knew about it. I was so nervous because I can't recalled my own experience. It was like 20 years ago? And I wondered how he felt like on the idea of visiting a dentist (Of course he knew what a dentist is. He saw that from Mr. Bean's cartoon). Anyway, I took him to one, together with daddy. At first, when I told the lil' one about it, he was very reluctant. Kept saying no, he doesn't want, to me. I have to repeat and constantly repeat to him that the baby tooth has to go because big boy tooth is coming out. You are a big boy already, you have to change your tooth. Bla bla bla.... Soon, he accepted the fact because he knew he had to see the dentist, no matter what. Mummy insisted!

We waited for almost 1/2 hour for our turn. It was considered lucky because we didn't made any appointment and we were the second patient. The first one did tooth filling. The dentist was an Indian lady. She was very good, in terms of she knew how to communicate with children, made them comfortable and not afraid of the process. Since the tooth has already loosen a little, no injection was required. To numb the pain, the dentist sprayed some solution and applied a type of cream before extracting the tooth. But according to her, the cream was of strawberry flavour. The lil' one didn't complaint meaning it was nice, I meant the taste of the cream. And in a brief moment, she extracted the tooth. Just within a few seconds. Yeah! Just like that. Of course, blood oozed out for awhile and stopped shortly after. And honestly, he was a very brave boy. He did not cried at all. He was willing to lay down there giving his 100% corporation to the dentist. I'm just so proud of him. Some kids will be screaming their heads off. And he was so cute that, when the dentist talked to me and the conversation ended like understands? Alright? He answered back, understand! Alright! Haha.

The dentist told me, that the timing was just right because if I waited any longer and the new tooth has already come out half way, there is nothing can be done. The new tooth will try to fit itself into whatever space that is available and the position can't be changed then. So, she told me whenever I see a newly emerging tooth, quickly bring him to the dentist. She even told me, in some situations where if there isn't enough room for a new tooth to grow, the tooth next to the loosen one will also have to be extracted. But in Lunz's case, it was not necessary because he has sufficient spacing among his tooths. The dentist reminded me to monitor his tooth replacing progress from time to time and he will have a very nice set of teeth later. The bleeding stopped once we got out from the clinic. As a reward, I bought him an ice-cream and a can of mango juice. And I'll definitely re-visit this dentist again. She is not bad.

When we reached home later, I took out the mirror and showed the emerging tooth to him. It was very obvious after the loosen tooth has gone. Without the tooth, it can be seen clearly the new one on the gum and the lil' fella saw it. And I guessed he knew what's happening then. Great! It will make the next visit much much easier then, although it was pleasant this time but at least he got the idea of a new tooth growing out and mummy was not telling a lie to make him take away his tooth. Haha....Mum told me that last time she never brought us to the dentist. If a tooth has loosen, she will teached us to shake it by ourselves and later pulled it out herself. Thanks to mum, I have a nice set of teeth although not very shiny white but at least are nicely arranged!

First tooth extraction. I'm going to keep this and showed it to him later when he grows up!

Waiting happily for his turn at the clinic.

@ SPE

This post is I curi-curi type at my new work station. My boss's room is just behind me, meaning she can walk out anytime and see what's on my laptop's screen. But currently, she is busy in a discussion, so I have a few minutes to blog, feeling secured she will not walk out suddenly. I still have to update my fellow readers on how I am doing at the new work place, right?

Normally I will blog during working hours at my previous company, but since I'm already 2 days here and not having much of a chance to update my blog, I might as well grab the opportunity and do it now! Coz' I'll be lazying around at home later!

Ermm....so far everything is ok. No worries about how I'm doing. I'm still coping with lots of stuffs to read. To understands how they manage a conference, to understands how this position functions and to understand how they operate things around. Lots and lots of materials to read. And luckily I came in around this time of the year because at least I have time to adapt to the new surrounding while the managers go on year end leaves. My lady boss...yes..it's a lady boss told me next year will be very busy, so, I have to get myself familiarize with the things before we can get down to real work. And I should take the opportunity to do so while she clears her leaves. For me....yay!!! Opportunity to go shop around while my manager is not around. Ngek...ngek...ngek....she will be on leave tomorrow. Hahaha...basically she is nice la, willing to teach me stuffs and not the fussy type. I can't be 100% sure, gotta observed because I'm just 2 days here only. I will also have a new Conference and Exhibition Manager to report to beginning of next year. He is specifically hired from Switzerland. Wow....first time working with a guai lou! Don't know what to expect. Anyway, work is work and I'll just do my best.

Colleagues wise...hmm.....not as chatty as my MTC's colleagues. It's very quiet here unlike in MTC, if we get bored or stressed up with our work, we can just walked to the nearest work cubicle and chat with the colleague who sits there. Here is more to your own working cubicle. Even lunch, we had 2 sessions, one is from 12-1pm and the other is 1-2pm. Well, anyway, it's not necessarily fixed as long as you know you have to get your ass back in an hour. But being new here, of course I have to obey the rule and wait until 1pm for my lunchtime. The thing is, we don't eat together here. Meaning no lunch partners, of course, unless you ajak people. People usually tapao or pack their food from home. I don't feel the closeness of gathering together during lunchtime and gossip while eating like I had previously in MTC.

But, I guessed I'll adapt to it. Get used to it. Food is expensive here anyway. I might as well pack food from home. I can save on food and go gai gai during lunchtime. Just to walk around and release my boredom and maybe, stress later. Don't get me wrong! So far, I didn't purchase anything lar. I'm not that shopaholic actually unless I really like that stuff. Then I'll get it. But even though quiet, I noticed this company is quite warm actually. They have Christmas gathering and they actually called me before I officially came in to work and invite me to the gathering. It will be a karaoke session in Redbox, The Gardens this Friday. There will be gifts exchanging also. I just bought chocs for the fella I'm supposed to give it to. Simple! By the way, there is a Christmas tree in my office. And the tree is as tall as me. Very beautifully decorated. At least, it creates some Christmas mood.

Besides that, for Christmas, the company will give everyone a RM75 Metrojaya cash voucher. Not bad la....for us to spend! More shoppings then. Parking is also expensive with the new rates. There is no maximum charge now. It's per hour charge until you make an exit. So, calculated as 9-10 hours daily and the charges is RM9 per day, provided you make an exit immediately after work. Don't linger around because as I said it's charged based on per hour. Another good reason not to linger around after work and shop. Hahaha....anyway, company is subsidizing RM150 a month for parking. Per say, a month RM200 for parking. So, minus the subsidy, the balance about RM50 I will have to fork out myself. Ok la...just like paying for season parking. You can get season parking, but gotta wait. Heard the waiting list is so damn long.

Traffic is not too bad, maybe it's still school holidays now. I left home about 7.35am and reach office about 8.10am. I start work at 8.30am. So, still have plenty of time. There is no traffic all the way from Balakong but once you entered Federal Highway heading to Mid Valley, it starts to jam. But at least, it's moving. Not those stuck and not moving. Going back is also smooth except for getting out of the Mid Valley circle. Because you gotta cramped through the bottle neck to get out of the Mid Valley circle, if you know what I meant. A lil' bit of traffic there, that's all.

Overall, everything is fine. I found my shopping kaki today. She is from accounts. A young girl, about 24 years old but so far she is nice. At least, she talks and mingles with me. And told me who is nice and who I'm not supposed to mess with. We went for shopping today during lunch, and she told me to be continued tomorrow when my lady boss is not around!

Trip to Bukit Gambang Resort City, Kuantan

We had a nice trip to Bukit Gambang Resort City. The place is quite deserted but overall, I would say it's a good escapade. The water theme park has a very good concept, which is cashless (you don't have to bring any cash with you for food, locker or tube purchases as you will buy a e-value wristband before entrance to the park. Amount of purchases will be deducted from the wristband's balance).

Another good concept of the water theme park is most of the slides or pools are suitable for kids. Very kids friendly. This time, Lunz was very daring. He tried all the slides, including those high slides meant for people of 110cm and above. And not just one round, but many rounds instead. And the tiring part was, we need to climb multiple staircases to get to the top of the slides. And the lil' fella did not gave up, he even asked daddy to carry him up some of the steps when he got really tired. I did not managed to take photos of the water park because it was a hassle bringing the camera along. Everything went into the locker. :p

Anyway, I managed to take some shots of the resort. We stayed there for 3 days 2 nights. On the first night, we occupied ourselves with some in-house entertainment, like playing the arcade games and pool ball. We bought 1/2 of roasted chicken on our way earlier and we had that for dinner. As I brought my newly bought multi-cooker along, we boiled some rice to go together with the roasted chicken. On the second night, I cooked. I actually cooked! Hahaha...also because the room has a pantry, that's why we decided to cook as we don't think we can get any good food at such deserted place. I cooked steamed fish, vege and hotdogs together with rice. Imagined all the cooking stuffs I had to bring along. Hehehe...but not too bad la, I preferred to cook anyway depending on the place. After dinner, we went for acrobatic and magic shows (FOC) at the resort's multi-purpose hall which lasted for an hour from 9-10pm. Not bad, the shows.

Overall, the bugger had a great time! The trip was meant for him and both of us are glad that he enjoyed himself.

Resort's swimming pool.

Swimming pool view.

The lobby view.

He won a BIG prize---> teddy bear (to me is a small prize if we play at KL's fun fair) and a MEDIUM prize---> robot. I asked him to pose next to the Christmas tree with his prizes and smiled. That was the smile I got from him.

At the Jungle Farm.

Genting Day-Trip During School Holidays 2010

OK.....Genting was damn crowded yesterday. We (both sis-in-law and us) thought that it would be nice to take the kids for some rides and fun during the school holidays. Yesterday was not a public holiday but it was packed with crowds in every corner. We missed out the point that today is a public holiday, hence many have taken leave yesterday. We picked a wrong day for the trip. Anyway, we saw that the queues for the rides at the outdoor theme park were crazy long. So, we dismissed the idea of going to outdoor theme park because we wouldn't get to enjoy the rides much. Most of the time will be taken up to queue for it anyway. And the price of the tickets are much more expensive than the indoors.

So, we bought only indoor theme park tickets instead. As we had sat on the rides many times before, only the mummies accompanied the kids this time. The daddies took photos and lingered around. Then, only both sis-in-law and I realized we made a mistake. Should have let the daddies accompanied the kids while mummies shopped!! Because daddies don't shopped, and they looked bored hanging around not joining in the rides. Hahaha...

Waiting for the gondola ride.

My darling baby, all soaked up!

Flying reindeer ride.

Train ride. The bugger purposely sat in front so that he can pulled the bell. Ting! Ting!

Junior bumper car ride. We expected them to sit separately because the car was so small but both of them cramped into one car. Lunz stepped on the pedal while Dom was in-charged of the steering wheel.

Both silly boys turned their car round and round. We had a good time eyeing them behind the bar.

The queue for every rides were crazy long. We had to wait at least 1/2 hour for each ride. Even worst were the caterpillar monorail and motion master. Heard the queues were not moving at all. In the end, we did not enjoyed many of the rides because it was too crowded.

But one major achievement that I must highlight here is.....my boy took his first roller coaster ride! Daddy did not managed to take photos because the roller coaster was too fast. At first I thought that he was not allowed for the ride because the minimum height required for the ride was 122 cm. We measured him based on a nearby measuring chart and found out that he qualified. So, we asked him to queue along. Dom was not tall enough, so he can't joined in. At the end of the queue, there was another measuring chart, just to check on each children's height before letting them passed. I found out that that particular chart seems to be higher for 122cm than the one that we measured earlier. But, anyway, since we were already in the queue, I decided to take a chance. If Lunz can't join, I'll bring him out then.

Haha....luckily he made it! Just on the border. But the train was almost full with passengers, the staff in-charge told us that he needed two more persons to join this ride. At first, we decided to let the people behind us to go ahead first because the four of us wanted to sit together but changed our mind quickly because we didn't know who to ask. Sis-in-law asked me to proceed first with Lunz while she took the next ride. Thank God I did because the train was stopped for 20 minutes for safety check-up after my ride. Sis-in-law gave up from the queue because she doesn't want to wait for 20 minutes just for the check-up.

I told Lunz earlier that this train will go fast fast. He said ok. At first I'm quite worried that he will be scared and maybe worst scenario, will cried after the ride or during the ride. But, to my surprise, when the train started moving, he was laughing badly. And when the train turned corners at its fastest, he laughed out loud. He enjoyed the ride very much. My boy really has grown up. By the way, my right arm was fastened tightly around his shoulders because I was scared that he will be thrown out from the train when the train speed at corners.

Later, daddy told me, he saw and heard Lunz laughing so happily during the ride from the platform. Yeah, I said, he sure did enjoyed the ride!

Last Day in MTC

Wednesday (1 Dec 2010) marked another history in my life. It was my last day in MTC. I thought I'll never cry because I've accepted the fact earlier that I'm leaving the company soon. But little did I noticed that my division's colleagues surprised me with a farewell gift. They gave me the surprise early in the morning when I was having my breakfast. I nearly had difficulty swallowing the bread which I was halfway chewing. It started with the farewell card, I was still alright until I started to read the messages they pen-downed for me. Tears started to pour when I read my boss's message. Actually, it was his message that made me cried. It sounds something like this:

"All the best in your future undertakings. Thanks for being one of my angels"

To other people, it might sounds normal. Just a wish. But to us, it has a meaning. Angels are referring to us, his staff. We are always known as Charlie's Angels (according to the movie) because there are only female staffs in my boss's division. Unlike other divisions. So, that was the meaning of "being one of my angels". Charlie's Angels. Of course, it has other hidden meanings too, like we have fought together (in projects) for so long and he does appreciates me as one of his angels.

It sounded so sweet, of course that I can't withheld my tears anymore. The gals gathered around my working cubicle when I was reading the card. They saw my expression and asked me not to cry, for if I did, they will cry also. And all of the sudden, they dismissed quickly without saying anything. I guess they felt the same too. Or maybe they dunno what to say. Or maybe, they too wanted to cry and the only way to stop it was to walk away. I don't know but anyway, I was glad for the surprise they gave me. Luckily, boss didn't saw what happened. Or else, pai seh neh....

On top of the card, they gave me a necklace which was shown in the pictures below. I wore it on the spot. And a golden bangle. Thanks gals! And boss too!

Work proceeded as usual that day with some last minute hand-overs and a good lunch at Leisure Mall with my colleagues. Sigh.....2 months of notices were really short and it passed by so fast that you don't actually realized that it has been 2 months.

When it was 15 minutes to 5pm, we took some good photos together.....

Me and Lay Lee (at her working cubicle).

Me and Li Har (at her working cubicle).

Me and Hamidah (also at her working cubicle).

Last but not least. The whole division.
L-R: Hamidah, Boss, Lay Lee, Me, Li Har and Ayu.
See the similarity? We were all in purple shades. It was a coincident! How matching!

I'm currently in a holiday mood. So, let's go for that now. I don't know how fate will treats me when I start the new job later. Could be better or could be worse. I can't imagine and I don't want to think about it now. But, one thing I know is, never try, never know. If I don't take up the changes and challenges now, when should I be brave enough to do it then?

Cross my fingers and hope for the best for what may come. To my fellow MTC colleagues, all the best and friendship does not ends here. We shall keep in touch.

P/S: Li Har, you are the only one from MTC who follows my blog. Do update me if there is any gatherings, news or something to kepoh with. And of course, let me know if you have the 'good' news. I'll definitely come to visit you. ;)

Take care!

What Happened to My Tooth?

After a week of falling sick--->the lil' one, we finally brought him out for a McDonald breakkie treat. As usual, both daddy and I had Mc Muffin while the lil' one had pancakes. He was enjoying his pancakes when suddenly he shivered and his eyes were red, flooded with tears. But he didn't cried out, I assumed he maybe had bitten his tongue or what. After that, he resumed his meal and when he has finished everything, he showed me his bottom front tooth which to my surprise, had loosen.

Hence, I guessed maybe just now he had bitten the fork accidentally at a wrong angle, thus causing his bottom front tooth to loosen. Still, he didn't cried but he looked upset and worried. The reason was because he recalled on Mr. Bean's animation where the same scenario happened in the cartoon. Mr. Bean was chewing on a popcorn when suddenly his bottom front tooth was loosen. He tried in all sorts of way to pull the tooth out and when he finally succeeded, he had to go to the dentist to fix a new tooth.

So, the lil' one was very worried that his tooth will fall off and he has to fix a new one. You can actually see his expression. He was all quiet and down. Poor thing.

Me: Got pain or not?
Boy: No
Me: You wanna go see doctor?
Boy: No
Me: Why no?
Boy: I don't wanna take away teeth

See....he was worried that he will lose his tooth. Then I tried to explain to him, telling him that it's normal for your teeth to fall because you are a big boy now, you will have bigger teeth. All the baby teeth need to change into big boy's teeth. It's ok one. He seems to understand what I've told him and again, kids are kids. When we took him out to Mines later, he had fun and forgot about the tooth after all.

Later, we met up with bro's family for dad's birthday dinner. Apparently, I found out that my nephew who is a year older than Lunz has also lost one of his bottom front tooth. He told me he has new tooth growing out already. So, I asked him to open his mouth and showed his teeth to Lunz. When Lunz saw his koko's tooth was also missing, he pitied him and put his hands to 'sayang' his koko's cheek.

Meaning.....Lunz understood how it feels like having to worry on a missing tooth because he experienced it that morning. He sympathized his brother. So cute. Later, I had a chat with my sis-in-law and found out that this is the age for kids to change into permanent teeth. So, perhaps it's time for him to change into permanent teeth. Just gotta observed and see.

Tonight, we had supper at McD again. When we told him we are going to eat at McDonald, his immediate reaction was, "I don't want pancake, p-i-a-k!" He made the sound while pointing to his tooth. "I want fries and chicken only," he said. Both daddy and I were laughing so badly.

Hahaha....he actually remembered what happened to his tooth. He told us again in the car, "I don't want pancake. I broke my tooth".

Too tired and fell asleep on the sofa. Ignored the view of my plastered sofa. Haha....

Sleeping baby...

The Chef

Daddy is practically everything. He is a great father. He is a loving husband. He is a plumber. He is an electrician. He is a priest (when he nags...hehe...he is gonna kill me). He is a multi-tasker and most important of all, he is an incredible chef!

Stir-fry asparagus

Kung-pou chicken

Steamed wine enormous tiger prawn. Mum got it from Tawau.

Last but not least, radish+carrot+tomato soup! Taste good!

Everything tasted so delicious, nothing was left behind. Both of us, finished everything. The dishes were just some normal weekend dinner but in another meaning, also to celebrate the happy life we are living now. The above dishes were cooked by daddy except for the soup. I was the one who boiled the soup because I'm practically good at boiling soup more than daddy does. Luckily, I still have one winning point because daddy is a better cook at other dishes than me!

Good also....coz I get to sit tight and just EAT!

It's the Time of the Year Again!

Yo-Ho-Ho! It's the time of the year again. We took out the Christmas tree from the attic last weekend and put it up.

Well, it looks the same as last year because the ornaments were the same! We didn't buy any new ones. But, what's lacking?

Real pressies of course! Till then!

Then, all of us did some art crafts, thanks to daddy's idea. Just to decorate the house. The lil' one helped me on gluing the letters, painting and sprinkling the sparkling dusts.

Here was how it looks like:

Haha...not bad on a way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

The art work was hung up on the wall above the Christmas tree. And both of it will stay there until the next CNY decorations takes place.

Christmas decorations.

Now, I'm just waiting for my December's holidays and trips!

D.I.Y

Sometimes I really have to give 'thumbs up!' to daddy for all the hard work done at home. He really has the heart and effort to make things work. And for the sake of saving $$$ too. If for me, surely I will opt the easy way out and of course, easy way means forking out money to get things repaired or done. And by the way, sounds easy for me to say huh? Since I'm not the one who needs to fork out the money. Hehehe.....

Basically, daddy is in charge of the house's maintenance as:

(1) He has more money than I do.
(2) He is the head of the house.


The first one is ----> our washing machine:
According to daddy, this washing machine of ours has been standing where it belongs for at least the past 15 years. It was still working fine until few months ago when the machine began to show some old signs of 'aging'. It was spinning slowly, the laundry was not dried, the water did not drained by itself, the timer was not working, water overloading the level it should be and etc. So, I gave up on using the washing machine and I did the laundry myself with my own bare hands. I was practically hand washing the laundry for at least 2 months and the difficult part was when I need to wash the bedsheets.

Anyway, if I wanted, I could have easily sent the bedsheets to the laundry shop. But since I can still managed to do it myself, why should I waste $$$ on laundry outside. Alright, maybe just a bit of nagging and complaining while I washed the bedsheets because hey!, it was really hard to wash such big spread of cloth, not to mention one but a few bedsheets at a time. And twisting it dry as well.

Daddy put in some effort also and patience a lot, no denying. He went through internet research to actually find out what was wrong with the machine. The result of his research was, the machine was clogged, hence it can't functioned properly. Nothing to do with the motor nor the electronic plate. We just need to drain out the dirt that was clogging in the tubes of the machine.

And another, our washing machine is the front load type and seeing the rubber door casket so dirty, daddy dismantled it to wash. But after dismantling it, he can't fixed it back! The rubber can't be installed back where it belongs even with the help of several human powers (mum, dad and bro) pulling, pressing and fixing the rubber together at the same time. One obvious reason, the rubber was old and has loosen its elasticity.

So, off we hunted for a new rubber door casket replacement and it took like several weeks before we finally managed to get a new one! Ok...the several weeks delay was because I had to call in to the ELBA spare part outlet to check, but I kept on delaying, no time, not free....bla bla bla...

So, eventually I made the call finally and found out that the spare part rubber door casket was available for RM66. The problem was we need to get it from the outlet and this outlet was actually located in Kepong. Considering the distance, we decided to give another try at a nearby electrical shop to see whether the shop does sell spare parts apart from electrical appliances. Lucky us! We managed to get the same spare part but at a higher price of RM85. Daddy said it was ok because the RM 20 difference can be calculated as the petrol and time wasted for us to go all the way to Kepong.

And it was pretty easy fixing a brand new rubber door casket and daddy did it alone himself this time with no help at all to press the rubber side by side or whatever. So, it was the rubber's elasticity problem because we had so many attempts with the old one and failed miserably.

Daddy unclogged the dirt, fixed the rubber door and tested the machine few times after that. Trial runs were successful! Our washing machine is all healthy again! Daddy even painted it.

Looks brand new after paint.

Daddy said no point throwing it away when he was 100% sure he can fixed it. And also, because he knew the problem was not associated with the motor or electrical plate. If it was, it's definitely harder to fix. There goes, I salute his patience because if I'm the one willing to fork out money, I would have bought a new one considering this was rather old and not performing already after more than 10 years of service to the household.

Anyway, it is functioning well now just like it's brand new. I'm so glad as I need no longer be part time Filipino maid washing away the laundry. Hehehe.....hope this machine stays with us!


The second one is ----> our staircase:
Our wooden parquet staircase was plagued with termites and we only found out about it recently, a few months back when we noticed the differences on the surface of the parquets. Rather headache at first because we need to do something about it and we knew that that something could be very costly because it involves professional services. We nearly engaged those termites/pest buster! And it could meant fees like RM2-3k easily for a treatment. After listening to explanations and advises from the professionals, we decided to install the bait ourselves because coincidentally daddy stumbled upon a website that sells termite bait for USD 26 per box.

We ordered 3 boxes and installed 2 boxes at the staircase. We hope it will worked because basically the bait functions as the termite's food. The worker termites will feed on it and brings the poison back to the nest for the rest of the colony. After nearly 3 weeks, we noticed that there were still obvious differences to the damage of the wooden parquets before and after installing the baits. So, there could be only one reason. The termites were obviously not feeding on the baits! The baits were not working and the termites were still feeding on the wooden parquets, that's why the damages continued to worsen.

Our guessing was correct! The termites were still roaming around, leaving the baits untouched! So, we did one final step......to dismantle the infected wooden stairs on our own. Basically, it's daddy's hardwork because he worked on the stairs all by his own. I don't know how to help because it's a man's job but anyway I did help on the cleaning and tidying. He dug out all the wooden planks and the view of the damages by the termites were really disgusting. On the process of digging the wooden planks, we had to have an insecticide on stand-by because every time you dug a piece of wooden plank, there were lots of termites crawling underneath! Yucks!!

After digging the wooden planks, which was the hardest part, daddy put cement as the second step. Hopefully, by disconnecting the termites pathway to their underground nest, we will be able to control the whole situation from getting worse.

After laying cement.

We just need to paint it as the final step and so far, daddy had already done that half-way last Saturday. A little bit more to go and our new steps will be ready in no time!

Painted the stairs in 'honey' colour. Should have chosen a darker shade.

Bravo to daddy for all the hard work done!

Second Assessment 2010

Today is the last day of school and the boy had some party at school today. I packed his bag with some snacks to be shared together with his friends. School holidays will commence tomorrow onwards. As usual, he sat for his second assessment recently and he got a good grades out of all the subjects. I'm just so proud of him.

All 100% except for Chinese, 96% because he got one mistake.

He told me that he got a 'C' for his writing. I told him it's ok. Writing is not such a big deal to me. I mean how well you expect a 5 year old to write, clean and neat like an adult meh?! I'm fine as long as he knows what he is writing and can form the words. I don't care how ugly looking it is. Of course, people says practice makes perfect but how neat you are able to write doesn't seems that important to me.

As a reward, I bought him a set of pretend doctor toys from Jusco. The toy is not in a very good condition now after few weeks of playing and throwing around everywhere that I didn't take photos of it. Hehehe......

This year's class photo is something different from last year. I like it. All the kids are smiling so beautifully. And he was able to name all his classmates when I pointed to the photos one by one. How fast a year has past by.

Zoomed into my boy. See? Smile so cute.

We didn't get to attend this year's concert as we were back in Ipoh at that time. However, I get to keep his concert clothes as daddy has already paid for it earlier together with the term fees. According to his teacher, it's a lil' bit wasted that we didn't turned up for the concert or else we get to see the lil' one pretend as a tortoise wor, as part of the concert show. Well, I guess we just have to wait for next year then, since he still has one more year to go.

Museum and Petrosains, KLCC

I was on leave last Thursday and Friday as mum wasn't around for that two working days. So, I have to look after the kid. Mum went to Sabah for a holiday together with dad and bro's family for the weekend. I sent the boy to school on Thursday and went to pick him up when it was about time for school dismissal. I was early when I reached the school compound and the classes were not dismissed yet. Some students were outside at the porch together with the principal, I noticed. Then, suddenly I saw my boy coming out from the front door, with no bag. So, I suspected that the class was not yet dismissed. He was ordered by his teacher to stand at the corner, nearby to the gate. I saw he was already sobbing. I was standing at the gate when he finally saw me, he cried even worst. But, even though crying, he dared not approached me. He just stood where he was, looking at me, crying.

Then, I 'tak boleh tahan', I went over to hug him and asked him what went wrong. His teacher saw me and explained that he didn't want to join in the art class, so she asked him to sit aside and gave him something (I think were pieces of shape foams) to play with. According to the teacher, he went and teared the pieces apart. That's why the teacher sent him out as a punishment. Then, I wiped his tears away and asked him to apologize to his teacher, which he did. But again, kids are kids. He got all cheerful again once he got into the car. I love fetching him home from school coz I get to witness his cheerful, happy face. He talked a lot too in the car because he was happy that I picked him up. And, it's really joyful to see him bouncing up and down especially when he sees me waiting for him at the gate. Can't wait to get his shoes on thou.

We enjoyed some mother and son quality time together that afternoon. I brought him to Jusco. We had lunch at Kim Gary. Then, I brought him to the Jusco kids play area. I think he played for more than an hour there. After that, I brought him for some grocery shopping and finally, a treat of Baskin Robbins ice-cream before heading home to prepare for dinner. Daddy said, we definitely know how to enjoy ourselves. Of course! Hahaha.....

As for Friday, we took him to the museum first and Petrosains next. As expected, nothing much to see in the museum. The museum are divided into 4 main sections now and all are newly renovated with different themes and exhibits. I mean I haven't been visiting the museum for the past 10 years. Hence, I don't know it has been renovated and the exhibits were different from the last time I went. If you haven't been visiting the museum for the past 10 years, it's actually worth paying it a visit for just RM2 per adult entry. Kids 12 years of age and below get to enter for free.

In front of the museum building.

Playing with the video art. Pool of fishes.

Posing in front of the exhibits.

Model of the ancient mining factory.

He said he wanted a picture with the trophy.

We had a short time at the museum and headed off to KLCC later for Petrosains. We were stuck in a terrible Friday lunch jam in town that I nearly gave up of going there. I wanted to go home already when daddy finally made his way out of the traffic and entered into the KLCC basement parking.

We paid RM24 for 2 adults and 1 kid tickets into Petrosains. At first, I thought the place was just another boring 'museum', but to my surprise for RM24, there were plenty of things to see. Even more than the Aquaria KLCC and less expensive. And most importantly, you get to learn a lot about science and children get to hands-on and play with the exhibits rather than just 'see only, please do not touch'. We spent almost 3 hours in this place and I really liked it. I mean the place. I'll definitely go again in the future when Lunz get older. I hardly recommend any local attraction unless the place is really worth visiting. And this Petrosains is really worth the entrance fees. But please, go on weekdays if possible as during weekends or public holidays will definitely be crowded and thus, you wouldn't have a chance to hands-on the exhibits.

You will get a short but slow welcome ride in a bubble car at the entrance until you reached to the starting point of the first exhibit hall where you will be dropped off.

First hall. Cheerful and interesting hall for the young ones.

Sitting in the 'car'.

Teach the young ones on image reflection. The toy car was actually underneath the glass panel but it appeared on top of it. My boy tried to grab the car. Obviously, you were unable to grab it because the car was practically not there. It was just a reflection.

Sitting on a 'digger'. Looks how fun this place is....for kids.

Second hall. Historic era of the dinosaurs. He got so scared by this T-Rex model that he asked us to u-turned back. Obviously, we ignored him and asked him to move on.

Learned about how plants grow by rotating the wheel to view the diagrams.

Live model of an oil drilling platform. You have to ride a helicopter simulator to get to this platform. But actually, you just entered on one side of the helicopter and disembarked on the other side. Ta-da! You reached the platform! But of course, during the helicopter ride, it was like motion-master.

Checking out the control panels.

Still exploring the platform.

After the oil drilling platform. Learned about kinetic energy and speed.

Had a fun time rolling the balls.

There were basically 7-8 halls but I didn't managed to take all because my camera was running out of battery. But all the halls were really interesting and you can really had a fun time exploring the stuffs. For example, you get to experience first to third degree of earthquake by sitting on a bench and pressing the buttons. The bench will shake. Then you have this booth similar to a telephone booth but you can experience hurricane inside once you pressed a button. Daddy's hair was a mess after he came out from the booth. There were many other things to see and play with. Wished my camera didn't run out of battery so soon. If not, I'll able to capture more shots.

At the end of the last hall, you will ride the bubble car again to the main exit. Then, we moved on to the next FREE show, the Playhouse Disney pals road rally exhibition.

Posing with Pluto.

Playing the games around.

Still exploring the games.

I asked him to pose with Donald Duck. Still remembered the first word he told me was 'DUCK' when he was a baby.

Last but not least, Mickey and Daisy.

Although tired but we had a great day!