THE KNOTS PRAYER

Thought I share this...something I noticed while waiting at my GP last night.

Dear God:

Please untie the knots

that are in my mind, my heart, my life.

Remove the have nots,

the can nots and the do nots

that I have in my mind.

Erase all the will nots,

might nots that may find a home in my heart.

Release me from the could nots and

would nots that obstruct my life.

And most of all Dear God;

I ask that you remove from my mind,

my heart and my life all the “am nots”

that I have allowed to hold me back,

especially the thought,

that I am not good enough.

Author Known to God.

Facing facts and reality (grudgingly)

Decided to take up my dad’s challenge to have oats for breakfast everyday for a month. There goes my usual mouth watering breakfast fare of nasi lemak, chee cheong fun, fried noodles, roti-cannai, dim sum, etc.

Though I have always known the benefits of calcium (especially more for women) and also oats, I’ve been sort of in denial-mode, unwittingly associated them as ‘old/sick people food’ thus avoiding them as in my mind – hey, I’m still young and just really don’t need them…well not just yet anyway!!! Ha ha ha….

As you know time usually makes a mockery of us all, moving all too quickly than we realize.

Now, to be healthy and stay physically young in the body (and not just in the mind), time to UP my intake of calcium and fibre!!!

Day 1 saga…..my first cook out with oats ended in quite a disaster.

First of all my colleague has a blue bag of oats, bother – cos that means I have too ‘cook’ it compared to the red bag which is instant. For first timers it can be a little confusing as both red and blue bag shouts seem to shout ‘instant’ but in fact the blue one requires a little cooking over the stove or microwave. Hm…actually both bags requires cooking, now I’m totally confused. Anyway, poured about 4 tbsp of oats into some hot water and based on the instructions on the bag, I can microwave it for 2.5 min which I did. But since I hardly use this MW, as you guessed (intentionally or unintentionally) ¾ of my breakfast exploded into the MW – bother, more cleaning up!!!

Much to my surprised, I enjoyed what’s left of the oats – probably worked up an appetite cleaning up the mess earlier!

Ps. I find this vanilla flavoured low fat Anlene Concentrate milk rather sweet so it pairs just nicely with the bland oats.

Add sufficient milk to your oats and mix to the consistency you like. I prefer it water down and not thick like porridge.

Other ways to jazz up oats – condense milk, fresh milk, sprinkling of sugar, egg white, honey, maple syrup, marmite, etc. You can also try the 'Super' health mix comprising oats, wheat germ, lecithin and grounded flax seed. *sounds very healthy huh, er...I'll slowly work there*

Hm….its long pass breakfast but I’m debating now whether I should have just a little more. Surprising huh, especially since I was dreading a little that this challenge would be a difficult one! Should be a walk in the park, erm….anyone care to jump in the band wagon for a month full of tasty wholesome goodness in a spoon, cup, mug or bowl? Your choice.

Opssie - SPOTTED

A brief feeling that crosses my mind when I squeeze past or park too close to the drain especially in a tight narrow lane with other parked cars on the side!!

A month of feasting, dining and celebrations

My brother and family are back visiting so plenty of dinner gatherings, food and wines. My dad’s doctor has given him the ‘green’ light to have a small glass of wine, he has since been enjoying a glass here and there!! Yes he is recovering well slowly but steadily and even driving now. His wound is also healing very nicely (will update with a pix soon)!

Here are some food and wine porn – a month of indulging, no wonder my pants are so tight now :( ha ha

Wines

Xanadu 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon

Moss Wood 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon*, Penfolds St Henri Claret 1988
Both were good but personally liked the Moss Wood more :)

Penfolds Grange 1994, Petaluma Coonawarra 1986*, Penfolds Kalimna Bin 28 1994

The highlight was of course the Grange but somehow a little disappointing - we all expected a lot more I'd guess. We all agreed that it could probably cellar for a few more years longer. Both the Petaluma and Kalimna were good. Can't remember now which one I preferred more.

Bread

Red wine walnut bread

Ciabatta – to make bruschetta

Food

Cheese platter

One of the dinner spread

M’s bolognaise pasta

Olive penguins

Grilled vegetable salad

BBQ pork (char siew)

Dessert

Strawberry cheesecake

Vanilla pannacotta
Butter cake
Jelly

Also managed to celebrate my birthday. Ended up with too much cake as M and DH each bought one! Fortunately I had 2 happy and excited candle blowers to help me.

cake 1

cake 2

Been busy

Yes I am conciously aware of my blogging backlog.

Main reasons are:

1. VERY slow internet connection. All the waiting really puts a damper on blogging and also blog surfing.
2. Master Prince’s school test (which has now ended).
3. Planning Master Prince’s birthday party (which we celebrated over the weekend and will blog more about it separately).
4. Started house renovations.
5. Back to reason no. 1.

Anyway, back to renovations. After more than a decade of dreaming my own house including scouting 3 years at Homedec, all I can say is FINALLY we got MBPJ approval to start renovating the house last Friday.

The Contractor has quickly moved in to tear and hack most of the house down since its very old. What can I say, in Malaysia when you purchase a house, you basically pay for the location only. Unlike overseas such as Australia, when you purchase a pre-owned house, you generally buy a home in move-in condition.

And so we have a big stressful project now to look after for the next couple of months.

LOTS of decisions to be made – gee, what a headache especially when both of us seem to have poor colour coordination sense!! Ha ha…I suppose that is where half the ‘fun’ is!! Anyway, am so glad that we manage to agree and complete the tile selection. Phew, that was the most daunting part for me personally. Surprisingly the final decisions were made fairly quickly as we kept it to a few types of tiles only. Boring I know but since both of us have no flare in mixing colours, this is definitely the best step forward!!

In every renovation, the biggest challenge is keeping to the budget. Lots of people have warned us that we should allow at least 20-30% contingency above our initial estimated budget. We are consciously aware that we are definitely going to blow our original budget, the question now is how much more!! Oh dear, perhaps might end up with a nice empty new house since no money left for furnishing!! Lolz.

Thankfully there are a few sales going on now. Am spending a lot of time shopping around, checking prices and meeting/talking to people. Poor Master Prince hasn’t had a proper bento for quite a while since I’ve been getting him to prepare his own simple snack box and breakfast. Fortunately, he doesn’t seem to mind this task.

Other updates – there’s a few since I’ve accumulated a huge backlog, yep feeling the bloated blog-constipation!! Ha ha…

I’ll leave you with my latest beloved gadget which darling DH (on a splurge) got for me on sale at Homedec.

Introducing.....Ms 'Blackie'.

Would have loved a red one but since the colour was not available there, DH gave me a choice of grey (how boring) or black (ok, more acceptable)!! I was undecided since there were so many other colours to choose, was contemplating on a baby pink but both M and DH quickly said ‘No’. What’s wrong with pink, I thought it was sweet!!

You know, I didn’t realise Kitchen Aid generally costs more than Kenwood (kMix) – can someone tell me why is that so? A marketing strategy?? Anyway, the latest Kenwood style looks pretty slick too since it now comes in a red, silver or white top.

I’ve been a Kenwood user for a while since M owns one for years but we haven’t used it for a while as the bowl broke. Since then I’ve been using a cheap hand-held. I must admit that they are pretty good but a table mixer is very convenient especially if you like to multi-task like me!!

So far, I’m pretty satisfied with ‘Blackie’. Not complaining, just noting down some observations.

Updated:

The difference:
Kenwood KMX51 - 500W, 4.6L (available in 3 colours)
Kitchenaid KSM51 - 325W, 4.8L (variety of colours)

It happens (....sometimes)

Once, I owned a nice shiny stainless steel pot.

Now....the exterior of the pot has turned slightly coppery-yellow!!

Yep, guess what happened this morning - and I was wondering where the funny smell came from and what-on-earth our the neighbour was up to so early in the morning!! ha ha ha Recalled a similar incident also occurred with angeleye's hubby *sigh*

Needless to say, when the horror realization suddenly dawned upon me that it could be from my own kitchen, I almost jump downstairs 5 steps at a time, rushing to a slightly smoky kitchen.

Black-bottoms chocolate cakes are a wonderful sight, can't say the same for black (& burnt) bottom pots! Lolz

Very char (aka black and burnt) eggs.

Lesson learnt: try not to multi-task too many things especially if still sleepy & blur-blur in the morning!! Actually, had a few things in my mind this morning and was especially distracted as I couldn't find something.

haiz.....so I got a black yellow pot but no breakfast :(

Be wary & careful

Got this by email circulation and just wanted to share some crime incidents. More as a reminder to be careful, alert and wary of your surroundings and dealing with unfamiliar people asking for help or assistance.

It is indeed very unfortunate that these incidents are occurring, more rampant and common these days.

(1) Today I passed by a building which has an ATM machine. There was an old man looking at me. Suddenly, he called me. He said he didn’t know how to read, so he gave me his ATM card and asked me to help him withdraw money from the ATM machine. I answered ‘NO! If you need help, ask the security to help you.’ Then he said ‘never mind…’ and continued to find other people to help him…
REMEMBER: ATM machines have CCTVs. If you help him he will later claim that you have robbed him or stolen his ATM card. Besides, his ATM card could be a stolen one. So please be careful of these tactics.

(2) Suddenly your house lights go off. From your window you find that your neighbours still have their lights. So you go out of your house to check the Meter Box. But once you open the door, a knife will be pointing at you and preventing you from closing it. This is when you will be robbed and injured.
REMEMBER: Even though your electricity suddenly goes off, DO NOT open your door immediately. Look around to see if there is anything unusual or if there is any noise around.

(3) This is another incident. You may have heard about it before; it is about a lady who saw a kid crying by the roadside. When she spoke to the kid, the kid told her he was lost and wanted her to take him home. The kid even gave her a paper with his house address. So she took him home. But when she rang the door bell, she had an electric shock. Later when she woke up, she was naked in an empty room.
REMEMBER: Being such a compassionate and helpful person might not be a good thing these days. Girls, please be careful. DON’T BE TOO KIND!

(4) One day, there was an old lady outside my house holding two packets of sweets. At first I thought she was our neighbour and wanted to give us these packs of sweets as a gift. But then when she spoke, I realise that she was foreigner. I could not understand what she was talking about. I guessed she must be asking for money. I sensed there was something wrong and immediately closed the door and ignored her. Later, I found she and an accomplice robbed someone else down the road.

(5) I was at the ATM machine to withdraw some money. Behind me, there was an old lady. She asked me whether I was able to withdraw my money because she said she had problem with the machine. Suddenly a small girl came up beside me. The small girl was tugging and squeezing in front of me. I thought she was just naughty and playful. But then, the small girl placed her hand inside the tray of the ATM machine where the money was being dispensed out; ready to take away my money. I sensed something wrong and immediately pushed her away. Later I realised that the small girl and the old lady worked hand in hand together. She was trying to steal my money while the old lady was trying to distract my attention by asking me questions!
REMEMBER: BE VERY CAREFUL when you are at an ATM machine and be alert. Look out for anyone suspicious around you!

(6) My parents are retired and stay at home most days. One afternoon, a young stranger went to their house and said his motorcycle had no more fuel and the petrol station was too far away, for him to push his bike there. So he asked my parents for an empty coke bottle to buy some petrol. He said he will pay RM2 for the bottle. So my mum gave one coke bottle to him. He really took out the money from his pocket, but it was a RM 100 note. He told my mum he had no small change and asked my mum to give him the change. Luckily my mum was smart. She just told him to take it for free.
REMEMBER: obviously that note is fake! Who would want to pay for RM2 for an empty coke bottle! It’s very OBVIOUS that that stranger was a trickster.

(7) Few weeks ago while I was taking Evan back from my mom's place, I experienced an attempted robbery while I was still in my car with Evan! A screeching sound of a motorcycle behind initially had me wondering if an accident occurred. But to my shock, the second motorcyclist flew onto the window of my passenger seat and started using his helmet and another sharp object to break the glass. At first I was still wondering whether the guy had an accident and flew onto my window (cos I don't see ppl flying to your window everyday!!) Then after 2 attempts to whack the glass, I knew he was trying to shatter it. It happened really fast and I couldn't escape and drive away because I was sandwiched between cars at the traffic light (along 17/1 just before turning to Damansara Highway). All I could do was pray...and after 4-5 times of very hard whacking he gave up. My glass didn't shatter because I had installed a security film that holds the glass together.... although there were tiny pieces of the side that had already landed on the passenger seat.
To my horror, as the traffic light had not turned green yet, the guy immediately targeted another car on the opposite side of the road, and I am very sure the guy didn't have time to see if there was any handbag or items in the car because within less than 10 seconds he started smashing her window as well. This was an old car with a woman in her 40-50s. He took her belongings. Obviously she was screaming and nobody could do anything as the traffic light turned green and everybody left.

2 weeks later, a close friend experienced the same thing. I had just shared with her my experience the week before and she was the only one who had installed security films to her windows as well. She was going to a shop in Old Klang Road with her sister. She came down from the car while her sister sat at the passenger seat to wait for her. (It is advisable for everyone to leave the car and not wait inside nowadays!) A man came to the passenger seat window (where her sister was) and started smashing the window with a sharp object. Obviously it took a while to shatter the glass due to the film, but because the car was parked and he had more time, he continued whacking until the whole glass piece shattered. This was at 3 p.m. in the afternoon. After screaming her lungs out, the guy fled without taking her bag but she was bleeding due to the glass falling on her and in trauma. Really thank God the glass didn't go into her eye (nearly did!).

(8) This happened in Klang, Malaysia. This afternoon (14/04/2009), while waiting for my husband in front of the bank ( MBB, Jalan Taiping, Klang), I saw a Malay lady bending down to throw some RM1.00 notes behind the tyre of a car parked in front of mine. After throwing the notes, she knocked the car's window to tell him that he has dropped some money. Right after that, a man came knocking on my window, also telling me that I have dropped something. Fortunately, I was not conned by them because I have witnessed what that Malay lady was doing. They came in a group of 4 (1 lady and 3 guys whom all look like foreigners; like the Arabian/ Moroccan type).They will rob you once you open your car door to check.

(9) This happened in Bali. A newly married couple was having their honeymoon at the hotel. When both were in the changing room, the wife suddenly went missing. The husband was very anxious and went around finding her. He asked the hotel staff to help him find her. Then he thought his wife was just playing hide and seek. So he went back and waited for his wife. After a few hours, he decided to call the police. Three weeks passed and there was still no news about his missing wife. So he went back and was very disappointed and sad. A few years later, he came back to Bali, to watch a ‘FREAK SHOW’ in an old house. He saw a dirty and rusty metal cage. Inside there was a lady without limbs. Her body including the face was full of scars. When he had a closer look at her face, he was shocked to find out that she was his missing wife caged there and used for begging.

(10) This happened in Shanghai. A few years ago, a lady reported to the police that her cousin sister was missing in the shopping complex. But after five years, one of her friends found her cousin sister begging at the road side on one of the streets in Bangkok, Thailand. The worst thing was that her cousin sister had no more limbs and her body was tied to a lamp post with a shackle (metal chain).

(11) Let’s just shorten this story. DO NOT open your house door when you hear the sound of a BABY CRYING! It might be a trap! Women in the house must be alert to this form of trick. The police said it is the work of a robber or murderer using the recording of a crying baby to attract your attention. This normally happens at night and when you are alone in the house.

(12) I read an email that was sent by my friend. Her friend, known as A, went to Luo Hu Commercial City with 2 friends, B and C. Luo Hu Commercial City is known as the Shenzhen counterfeit goods distribution center. There are many people there. It’s also near to the Shenzhen train station and Hong Kong ’s Luo Hu Port. C went to the toilet at the shopping centre while A and B waited outside. After waiting for a long, time they felt uneasy and went into the toilet to look for her. When they went in, there was nobody inside. Both were scared and they called C’s phone. There was no reply. So they reported to the police. The police asked them whether they had seen anybody suspicious going into the toilet. Both said there was none and it’s impossible to bring a person out of the toilet without them noticing! Then A remembered seeing a cleaner pushing a trolley in, and then coming out of the toilet. The police told them that were not the first time such a thing happened there. The police suspected a gang of criminals who were always attacking women in the the toilets of shopping complexes. They use cleaners to kidnap people to harvest their organs for sale.
REMEMBER: please be careful when using the toilet. Do not go to the wash room or toilet ALONE! Please at least have a partner with you.

KLKK

If you are familiar with Hokkien, you might know the idiom/espression "KLKK" - kai lai kai ke (direct translation means 'walk here walk there').

Sunday morning started with a walk, breakfast and then a quick browse on any news on the new Daiso opening at ioi pUchong?

Emily wrote a short blurb but haiya...want more pictures and details leh. He he :)

Wasn't too keen to go all the way to ioi m@ll but since I wanted to get something from JJ and remembered that was also one in ioi, so why not kill my curiosity with one stone. So off I went. Wasn't too sure of the way and place since I don't normally shop here. New wing much better than old one but not all shops open yet.

Even at 10am I was early. Haiseh, was told need to wait until 10.30am first - 2nd day gitters I suppose?

Half an hour, not enough time for me to walk to JJ (other end of the mall and get back in time).

To pass the time, I click here and here (literally, so if you noticed a professional photographer (ahem!!), it was probably me!! Lolz).

Daiso store located on the 2nd floor of new ioi wing.

mUch LarGer than the branch at The Curve.

Quite a lot of things to see and browse. But in terms of bento accessories, not much - either that or all kena sapu (aka gone) on 1st day opening!

Between 20:30 and 21:30

At 8.30pm Earth Hour, WHAT WERE YOU DOING?

With candles lit and a song, we celebrated DH’s birthday.

Eating cake in the silhouette darkness was kind-na fun, cosy and romantic!! I was glad for the darkness as I had kept decorations 'simple', taking the minimalist approach. Lolz

I'll post the recipe later, if anyone is interested.

Here is what the cake looked like with the lights turned 'ON'.

Earlier in the afternoon we even had a dress rehearsal when a raging lightning and thunderstorm took out the power and left us in darkness for a couple of hours. Not to mention smoking DH’s computer speakers in the process. *There is some truth in unplugging your electricals during a severe thunderstorm!!* Despite the lack of electricity, thankfully it was breezy and kept us ‘cool’. Great to vegetate or have a go at a short nap, well that is if you could ignore the flashes of lightning and rumbling thunder outside! Ha ha

Warehouse crazy sale & parents

Things we (parents) do for our kids, nephew and/or nieces.

All I can say is that if you have grown up kids or single or have no kids at all – count yourself lucky that you didn't have to jostle, push, squabble, grab (yes it can be that fierce sometimes) with the crowd (other parents) and then wait for almost 2 hours in a hot crawling queue just to pay and leave the place! *siow or not?* How I wished they set up a cash only line for people with less than 10 items!!

Oh yes, there were lots of hoarding. There were more boxes full of ‘chup’ (aka booked) purchases than people actually!!

This is the loot I managed to get - a lot of the 'good' ones like Uno deck or the Super spinner Hot Wheels set were all gone by the time I got there. But they open and distribute the toys in stages just to ensure there's something for people to buy over the 4 day sale, so who knows, you may get lucky if you rock up at the right time!

Yes I know there are a lot of ‘pink’ stuff – for my niece actually who will be visiting next month. Couldn't resist grabbing a few sets of changing clothes as they were only 10 cents each. But wait there’s a catch, you must buy 10 (all for $1 and there are only 3 styles). Fortunately for me, I managed to share with a few mothers and still got my 3 styles!! This is what you do when forced to queue for almost 2 hours, need to find ways to occupy yourself by making friends with the people around you, start swapping toys and asking for opinion like which looks better, etc.

At the end of the day, I think we (parents) are just the bigger and older version of little kids buying things that we think our child may like. Of course cost wise, its much cheaper. The Fisher-price toys were VERY POPULAR as they were very reasonable. Great for parents with young kids. But they were also the hardest to get and basically had to wait until the sales persons were ready to open the boxes and throw them to the greedy grabbing hands. For my lot, it cost me RM16o – most of it will probably be given away as birthday presents or maybe even Xmas presents.

Warehouse toy sale carrying various established brands like Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-price, Barney, etc. @ Atria. Ends tomorrow 28 March.

Bring a friend to help you queue unless you don’t mind the wait!!

Marked for a mug?

This morning, I was in the kitchen busy preparing breakfast when I heard a loud familiar voice shouting ‘OI’.

Wondering what was all the commotion about I peeked out and enquired whether DH was alright. He replied that there was a ‘snatch thief’ incident just outside our house. Apparently, a single rider on a motorbike had marked a potential victim and threatened her with a knife. She was robbed of her mobile phone and got away but didn't manage to take her handbag because of DH's shout. Fortunately, the girl was not hurt by this incident.

I really hate all these petty crimes and thefts (especially when the spineless pray on the old, weak, defenseless, poor, young or handicap); it makes one feel so vulnerable, violated and insecure that we are forced to literally become prisoners of our own home! (Even then I am still not sure it is safe.) In less fortunate circumstances, people are harmed or seriously injured. This is no way to live life right? Even though there is a police station just a stone throw away highly doubt their patrol of the area is effective. Another white elephant ya? Sigh *shake heads*. Its no wonder why we seem a little paranoid when we go overseas and gawk in amazement when our friends leave their gate and doors so wide and invitingly open! ha ha

DH cautioned us over breakfast that the robber had turned around to see DH’s face and perhaps the house. Probably not satisfied (em-kum yun, Cantonese) that his heist was interrupted and didn’t manage to get the girls handbag, thus may come back to cause us trouble!!! I’ve heard of stories of robbers that double back to their victims as if the first time wasn’t traumatising enough: (i) first incident – robber double back to slap and abuse victim because the ‘gold’ jewellery taken were fake, (ii) second incident – robbers physically abused a jogger because all he didn’t carry with him any money. This is only a tip of the iceberg as I am sure that a lot more go unreported too.

Aiyoh, GREAT…thanks a lot DH (not)!! But DH defended what should he have done then, remain quiet, look the other way and mind his own business?? Should he not have helped the lady?

I think some of our reactions at a particular moment or point of time is probably more instinct or responsive than anything. I doubt in such dire situation, there would be time to think or contemplate.

So I would like to ask:

Q1 – What would you have done?

Q2 – How differently would you have responded or acted if the consequences of your actions may lead to harm to yourself or your family?

A Moment of Thanks

Someone sent this to me by email and found it rather encouraging thought I share it here. Like all email chain-mail, I am unable to confirm the author or source. If anyone can shed some light here, I will update accordingly.

Life is hard, and every day is challenging.

You may be wondering just now if you can go on. Perhaps another person is vexing you. Perhaps you've been maligned or criticized. You're discouraged with unanswered prayer. Maybe you're feeling like Elijah under the broom tree, wanting to die.

Try praying with thanksgiving.

A thankful attitude is the cure for many emotional ailments.

Take depression, for example. What is depression or discouragement except the total collapse of thanksgiving in our lives?

Thanksgiving is also the opposite of discontent. It's easy for us to become disgruntled with various factors in our lives; but let's be like one man who was thankful...

• For the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.
• For all the complaining I hear about the government because it means that I have freedom of speech.
• For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means that I am alive.
• For the teenager who is not doing dishes but is watching TV because that means he is at home and not on the streets.
• For the taxes that I pay because it means that I'm employed.
• For the lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.
• For weariness at the end of the day because it means I have been capable of working hard.
• For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking and that I have been blessed with transportation.

Thanksgiving is the opposite of anxiety.

Philippians 4:6: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,let your requests be made known to God." Worship and worry cannot live in the same heart. They are mutually exclusive, according to Ruth Graham.

Thanksgiving is also the corrective for sadness and even grief.

While working on a message from Psalm 100, my phone rang. It was from a family dear to me. Our children were about the same age and had played together growing up. The caller told me there had been an accident in the woods, and a portion of a tree had fallen on one of the boys. He'd been pinned for over an hour before the ambulance arrived, and it appeared the young man would be paralyzed from the waist down. His spinal cord had been crushed.

Well, that just destroyed my afternoon. I couldn't get it out of my mind.This was a blond-headed kid, very athletic, full of life; and in one moment,his life was shattered and changed. I wrestled with my own thoughts and emotions until evening, then I placed a call to the intensive care unit of the hospital.

Frankly, I didn't know what to say; but I didn't have to say much at all.

The boy's father ended up comforting me. He said, "Pastor, I want you to know that my wife and I are, first of all,thankful that our son is alive. Second, we're thanking God that it wasn't the upper part of his body that was paralyzed. And thirdly, though we don't understand why, we know God is good and that somehow in the midst of this, He has a plan for our son's life that must go beyond anything we can imagine. Though it's hard and we wish it hadn't happened, we have committed it to our God, for He is good."

Is the race of life wearing you down?

Try a moment of thanks.

All good...?

Master Prince has just completed his tests. He was happy and we (adults) were even happier. As a caring and concerned parent, I call him up every afternoon to enquire how things went for him.

I get the same monotone response every time, "Good, all good. It was good."

What does his "Good" mean?

Good...

....I finished the paper today, good?

....It was excellent, good?

....I don't really know and don't care but just to stop you from quizzing me, good?

To me, 'Good' represents a pretty high standard aka 'Excellent' as compared to 'Not good' or 'So-so' or just plain 'Bad'. *Dreading the day I get presented with the report card and MP's 'Good' translates to Cs or Ds. You can feel my confidence can’t you?* Ha ha I'm not expecting straight As but I do expect MP to put in some effort and do his best.

You can tell that MP is not a talker. Well may be that's because he is not interested in this topic and hence can't wait to end it!

I remember as a child when my parents asked me how my test or exam went, I would be cautious and give a non-committal shrug or answer so that I would have some buffer just in case I didn't do well - 'OK' or 'like that lah' would be my usual response. Hm...pondering on my casual response, I wonder if they too were at their wits ends and tore at their hair trying to understand what I meant by 'OK' or 'like that lah'???? Even I can’t understand myself!! Lolz

I know I sound like an over worried kiasu parent, a person I had declared that I would not become. But its hard not to be concern when you know your child is the 'over' playful type.

Is it wrong to ‘push’ your child? I mean not the extreme kind of pushing until the poor kid is scolded, abused and stressed out but little nudges to rub back the over-playfulness. Is there such thing as: Spare the 'push' rod and spoil the child?

Is it a boy thing? Or just a child thing? Don’t get me wrong, I strongly believe in the power of play, through play children learn and discover things. After all if children didn’t play, what would you expect them to do? But when it becomes a little excessive and uncontrolled, it becomes a worry.

As I was pondering over this post, I came across what Edith wrote. I totally identify with her that when your children are having exams the parents are even more stressed than the kids!! As much as I love my son, I just dread revising with him. He definitely knows which button to press to make mum boil and steam! Sometimes I think he press those buttons purposefully just for kicks I suppose??? Grrrr…!!

Why can’t we cooperate with each other? *Oh dear, I’m definitely ranting now!!*

Children hate to study because they rather play. Yes I can see that point but if you do it quickly it would not be a torture for everyone. If they can only focus, concentrate and quickly complete their task which takes a short 10 min compared to dragging it out to 2 hours for the same thing, I am sure that they will realize that studying isn’t all that bad and not a torture. Let’s do some quick maths here. 120 min minus 10 min – you have remaining an extra 110 min of play.

So why can’t you cooperate? Isn’t 110 min of extra play enticing enough? As much as I try to explain and MP tries to understand, it never sinks in. Like a broken recorder I then turn into….a nagger!! And kids wonder why some of their mom nags, well that’s because they don’t listen!!! *Vicious cycle, hello…*

Anyway, extracting from Edith’s post she shared her friend's sms:

"My mum is uneducated and that is one of the greatest blessing for me and my siblings because she always tells us that she cannot help us in our studies. Only we can help ourselves. So she transferred the responsibilities to us. The greatest handicap for us as mothers now is our education. We think we can help and took over our children's responsibility of wanting to study on their own."

So am I 'handicapping' my son by helping him study rather than nurturing a habit?

You know, I confess that to prepare him for his current test, I not only summarized each subject but also typed out a pre-mock test for him. I thought it was rather time consuming flipping through his many school books for each subject. Ideally, he should have done this himself but now I am considering whether I am handicapping him in the future – that he will need want the same reliance and dependency from his concerned and loved ones to help him get through his next hurdle? *shuddering at the thought* Anyway, go figure.

I think as parents we cannot help but be concerned (ok I confess that we may go overboard sometimes). We love our kids and want only the best for them. But the journey and life is still theirs to shape and each step or choices, theirs to make. I only hope to be there to nurture, guide, support and encourage them. Love can come in many ways, forms and shapes.

I hope in time to come, he will be responsible for his choices and decisions. Even for mistakes or failures, they should not be shunned or protected, but learn and grow from them…after all isn’t that what is life is all about, learning and rising from mistakes or failures and being stronger to get up and move ahead, hopefully wiser and sometimes more humbled. To us parents, this can be very heart breaking and frustrating infuriating – after all which parents in their right mind to see their kids hurt or miserable or heading in the wrong direction?? Probably easier said than done! *Can only pray and wait for them to reach a quicker sense of enlightenment and realization.*

There is no right or wrong answer I suppose. We can only do what we think is best and so much, the rest is and will be up to them.

Being a busybody?

I stalk.....blog stalk that is.
Sometimes I think my life must be pretty boring and pathetic to do so.
BUT I can't help it, its like an addiction - someone's life seems more interesting than mine.
All available at a comfortable 'click'.
I gainedmore knowledge and widen my interest.
I emphatise, laugh and bond with a faceless person.
Joy and wonder at new friends made.

Actually to be fair, my blog walk started from an interest to learn how to bake and cook. Yes food brings people together, especially in my culture. Also reinforced by great cook shows. I think secretly we all most of us want to be the next Jamie or Nigella or the next.....??

But as life has it, we go at our own pace fueled by different levels of desire and to some extent the want or need to succeed/excel.
Some believe we make our own destiny, to a certain extent I believe so.
But then again I believe in fate and no one can really be 100% certain on flip of the next card (even card counters, when you don't know what deck is being used).

I digressed, so back to the topic at hand.

I have learnt a lot from blogging and found a lot of useful information without having to experience it first. Word of mouth (from a reliable fellow blogger) are like gems.

Now, tis' time to give back some.

Getting back

Been busy of late but now that I have more time to while away, I decided to get back to some posting. Only thing this time I am not sure what it will be about - food? son? or what???

Being a task oriented person, there is a deep NEED for me to do something. The idea of rest and relaxing or just not doing anything can be fun.....for an hour but after a short time I feel bored and that there must be something to do otherwise I just feel that I have just wasted my day or time.

Anyway, just getting me toes warmed again - hopefully some bright spark will enlighten my life to make it more interesting and worth living the day!