well... i'm officially unemployed...

this month is mostly... handing cards and getting as much contacts as possible for me to work wire-lesly as a freelance graphic designer... www.penguinprofiles.com
Past few days has been hethic... sick for the early part of the week... but thank god! it past by... Julie's away in london till the end of this week, so my mum's down with us...

have been clearing up some freelance jobs and still am... but tomorrow must start packing up my study... it's a mess... a hopeless mess... all the stuff from the office is not unpacked or sorted... and I have tons of other stuff in the study itself... + i havent even tested out the new printer we bought ... cool deal in the recent PC fair... a wireless printer/scanner... abeit a year old model... but at 1/2 its retail price... a steal!... +my laptop is arriving FRIDAY!... u know la... when new toy arrives... oogle... oogle...

pack! pack!... i must pack!...

also doing this stitching/merging errand... for the "cutting edge"... was asked by iris to fit 30 Anniversary picturess into one A3 pictorial spread!... major domo headache... i hate merging pictures... but it seems the rage for CE anyway... that must finis tomorrow also... :p

well.... i'm off work for this reason anyway... so should pack...pack...

yesterday... phoebe had her jabs... 2 on both buttocks! after the 2nd jab... i think it dawned on her and she uttered a few whimpers, then stopped crying! BRAVO to both my gals! never feared the needles... only HANNAH now fears doctors... donno why...

but... 2 jabs.... rm250 blown!... phew... talk about rising costs of child upbringing! Not to mention Phoebe gobbles up 1 tin of milk per week! Going rate of milk is RM70!


View Larger Map

this is where we will be for 2008!

Go check out the other places too in the map... when u come visit us... we can take u there!

We have also managed to enrol Hannah into a tadika, within walking distance of our new place too... Thank Kathy too for recommending transferring Hannah to a kuantan dance school! + got Exams next year! not yet even schooling and got dance exams... man...

anyway the house looks nice and as big as ours here in KL... and attention visitors! if u come u get the master room! with attached bath and aircond... and personal tv! like HOTEL! heheh...

we moved our moving dates to 2nd Jan 2008... but we also wont be around for the Christmas holiday... back to hometown...

hua.... already 6 months has past... since my last post...

well.. the decision is up...

we will be moving to kuantan lah... different lifestyle, dif. place, dif. friends, new challenges and a new job! for me anyway...

will be trying to post up here the changes in Tan's Family...

our tentative dates for moving is on 3rd JAN 2008... we will be going for recee in Kuantan on the 18th of this month, to look for a house to rent... place for Hannah to go for kindergarten, and a church! check out the markets/supermarkets and hopefully have a breather too...

my new freelance business too is going to start, u can check it out at www.penguinprofiles.com. Still ironing out the stuffs... but cards are printed... so can distribute them soon...

hannah too just had her annual concert... and growing bigger but thinner... she doesnt eat enough!!! slow too!!! phoebe is big and chubby and cute! kaka!

phew... so busy... so busy...

tons of things have been happening this past 2 weeks... its like a daze...

anyways... the decision on if we will go to Kuantan is still up for guesses... but Julie has put in her E.O.I... heh! yeah... what is an EOI? Expression Of Interest... kakaka! We have indicated our willingness to move provided some terms are met... + IF we do get a favourable indication by the company... we still have 2 months before the CUT OFF point of no return to go to kuantan. LOTS of thing to prepare... thats why the PNR... Point Of No Return (kakakaka!) is 2 months... not 6...

did some upgrade on my home pc too... got a DELL 24" LCD, some internal h/w changes and a move to MS VISTA. Moving to VISTA was enlightening and frustrating... seems some of my hardware conflicts with the installation process... so in the end , i had to disable certain functions inorder to have a functional working computer... abeit a limping system... darno!... but will wait for them so solve the error before i do a re-install... again...

my mum's in town too... to help in the house as Julie's in singapore for the week on training. Hannah's having a field day cuz... can sleep much later, due to bad daddy not going to sleep early.

phoebe's growing much faster now... more smiles, grabbing and finger chewing... chubby too... her happy times are now more then her tantarum times... so a happy baby indeed. no rolling yet partly due to her not wanting to lie down i presume... think she will talk first.

other then that...

BUSY... busy... busy...

tons of stuff to do... and soooooo little time.

heh... it looked fine enough... tasted quite fine... but definitely NOT fine dining.

well yesterday, we went to Great Eastern Mall to check out this place we saw... It's a new home-deco shop on the first floor. It has impressive looking expensive fake plants, branded cutlery, china ware, cool photo frames... & also a bistro area.

we noticed the place here few weeks ago... so yesterday we sampled their seafood fried rice and beef tenderloin. prices were on the high side... and we didn't expect the "fine"-ish kind of style... so i have to say... i was still hungry after the scant pieces of meat (it was nicely done though - "medium" done). Julie's meal also didn't fare too well also ... fried-rice with 2 mussels, a prawn on a mix of onions mushroom stock.

we would have sampled their pastas if we hadn't already eaten spaghetti for lunch in the cafeteria... their "ogio" sounded nice...

a bit overpriced i must say... rm28 for meat, rm15 for rice... my 2 cents will say, they won't be here for long...


yesterday... we went to 1-utama... yep! we know... it's the other end of town... a-kin to the distance of travelling to Taiping from Ipoh... but we wanted to head to a toys-R-us to check out a sitting contraption for phoebe... bad decision... for some reason or other the management decided to still open for public whilst doing renovation to the premises... either the malaysian manager is duh... or worse still orders from above... anyways... we didnt find what we wanted and we will head to the Avenue-K branch later next week...

BUT... we had decided to try out the Ms Read's Deli-cious for dinner! We have passed them before but never went in... after numerous raves by a couple of friends... dang! had to try lah...

upon arrival we headed straight to the restaurant located on the first floor (new wing)... WHOA!... FULL HOUSE! put name in waiting list (1/2 hour wait!)... & off we went to toys-R-us. On our return... the restaurant was now more manageble and we immediately got a seat.

i couldn't figure out what to eat... as everything was, well.... tempting...

after serious contemplation, my end we ordered...(Julie was getting impatient)

for starters we took a side dish, fried potatoes in rosemary and garlic... out of this world!

i took the kerabu set with ayam percik and ulam! the chicken was good... and notice the greedy fingers flicking the keropok away...

Julie took the beef mushroom pie... it was good!

we shared a tall latte with our dessert...

our desert choice this time... heh... chocolate cake with vanila ice-cream... look at that ooziinnnngggg chocolate... yum!


what can we say... we are sold! we are definately coming back to try out the rest of the menu (when we are in this side of town) the choice of mains were good... and the desserts... woo hoo... mouth watering!

we're back in ipoh this weekend for my mom's birthday... darn short trip... one night only...so after work... we rushed back to ipoh... without lunch... not exactly... julie bought some sausage & sardine buns from Giant for us to eat on the way...

It was suppose to be a dinner treat for my mom, so we had initially planned to try find a nice place to eat in Greentown area... many places that have sprung out in the new shops there... but after several circles around the block we still had not decided on one... or none of the shops looked interesting enough for us to stop...

then my father suggested we head back to ipoh garden area... near J.Jusco... so off we went...

the heading - BeaconPoint

u would never expect such a restaurant in such an obscure place... it was like in the middle of nowhere... or you can say, in the middle of a housing estate.

let the pictures do the talking...

the choice of set dinners available

carrot cream soup with crackers (part of the set meal), nice and creamy... was piping hot too... a rarity these days...

complimentary garlic bread to go with your soup i suppose... normal but hey! it was free...

hannah's kids portion spagetti... looked really good...

the fish (gratinated fish fillet topped with tomato and cheese melted over) my father ordered...

Beef stew set@rm24 Julie ordered (they didnt have sirlion steak that day)

the lamb shoulder my mum and i ordered... mine was with red wine sauce... the burnt look is from the paprika... awesomely done...

the dessert : carrot cake.


it was a dinner well... worth it! price wise and taste wise... i mean u get soup,mains and a cake as dessert!... total bill for a family of 4 + 1 only came to rm110!. You will be hard pressed to get this in KL!

p/s: they have been around since 1995! and only open nights on fri&sat, closed on sundays! so plan ahead...


the newest item in our McDonalds menu is not so new actually... from the product shots... the copyright date is stated 1995... OMG! it took 12 years for a product to reach Malaysian shores... at least A&W brought in their waffles since the very beginning...

this is a typical american offering. I guess, Only they eat hotcakes for breakfast or dessert...

IMHO... the A&W waffle is more worthwhile then McD's offering.

FOR RM6 u expect more then this i guess... but ignoring the price...what u get is 3 flapjacks/pancakes/hotcakes steaming hot! together with 2 pieces of butter and "fake" Mapel syrup. the flapjacks/pancakes/hotcake is nice and buttery... eaten with a dap of syrup and butter... really yum!... ADD ice-cream from a sundae or cone... even better... they do have their own ala-mode... with strawberry ice-cream... but they won't give u the syrup and butter if u take that.

Do try it for once... if u haven't.. just for the taste... it's nice.



p/s: available in selected McDonalds outlet (most of the 24hrs ones)

this was the first time for both me and julie to go to her office in Kuantan... it was like a reconnaissance visit.


after about a 15 minute drive from the hotel we came to the industrial area of kuantan, Gebeng. Whoa... the plant was HUGE... it was the first time i have seen such a plant... clean though... very clean... (what u see coming out is vapour)


after signing in (security is quite tight in such plants) we went to the office or admin block which was a separate building. There we went to all the 3 floors of the office... Julie's collegue showed us around. It was a cosy and nice office. Very modern too.

Overall our Kuantan trip was an eye opener... it's a bit bigger then i expected, but still abit ulu... we did go to the major shopping mall in Kuantan, Berjaya Megamall with Parkson Grand as the anchor. It really felt like Pertama Complex or Maju Junction at its best... trafic condition was as expected... low... but the traffic lights were annoyingly long.

Our main minus for now is the housing areas. Most of Kuantan is made of small/tiny housing developments... ranging from just a row to several rows of houses per patch all slowly growing into a "Taman"... like patchwork... with no playgrounds in the middle... not your proper taman. only the newer ones which are further away are planned as such. Since we had little time, the ones we managed to see left us wanting...

living expences in Kuantan seem like KL prices, maybe just slightly cheaper on certain things...

the Pluses so far is u get BLUE skies everyday and great beaches at a stones throw...


when we first heard, that it was just recently refurbished... and at julie's corporate rate of rm340 for 2 at a seaview room inclusive of breakfast... we were expecting some bit of luxury...

abeit to say... we were somewhat dissapointed.

firstly... the refurbished rooms are ONLY for the Regency Club Wing... the even more expensive rooms...

secondly... the rooms...

Hyatt Kuantan is beautiful... from the moment u step in, the wind will greet you and the lobby grand enough... step inside a bit and u can see the first pool and the beach on the horizon.... a very beautiful beach...

alas... this is a 27 year old hotel... and the age of the rooms do show... it's well kept but not up to standards in my opinion plus they were tiny...

granted... if u just stay outdoors... the beach and amneties is top notch... just don't expect to stay in the room... it's strictly just for knocking off...

(the nicest picture i could take of the room)


the beach was a pleasure to see... no rubbish! clean... not pure white... (i have yet to see a pure white beach)... the waves too are nice and big...

in the evening we had our welcome drinks in a sampan marooned at the beach, converted to a semi-bar, real cool... unfortunately my pix of that moment didnt turn up due to in-adequate lighting.

couldnt sleep properly so decided to catch the sunrise...


then breakfast... one word : NICE!


the view from the restaurant... nice too...


summary : Hyatt Kuantan, over-priced with a great view...

when we arrived at kuantan... "food" was our first agenda... since it was kinda late, we had stopped twice on the way... once to refuel and another cuz phoebe was getting really restless and wailing...

so we decided first to straight head to a restaurant recommended by julie's collegue... it wasn't where it was supposed to be... so we decided just to stop in food court and just eat anything... "Teluk Sisik Food Court" it was... there was a "Tai-Chow" shop and we ordered.


we had : stir fried tapioca leaves,


marmide "phai-kuat wong",


"kam-heong" lala


& steamed "hong pan".


the lunch was good... till the bill came!

RM110 for fish alone! What the whack is "hong-pan" @rm100 per kilo!... we had been "thong-ed"

the total bill was only rm150, meaning the rest were relatively cheap... cuz it included another 6 drinks.

so... our first impression of kuantan... marred...

well... tomorrow we are off to Kuantan... but first we eat!...kekeke!

Julie's dad is in town... so julie decided to take her father to a nice place for chow... we decided on the mustard tree... well because... the ambience is nice... and the food palateable... with some value ones too...


anyways... this would be our 3rd time to the restaurant...

the first time we came was because of the recommendation from PASTOR himself... kaka... imagine that!... he mentioned about this place during one of his sermons or was it an off hand conversation... can't really remember... anyways... he said it had a nice environment and was run by a christian fella... quite obvious by the shop name...

tonight... we ordered, Chicken Piccatta Breaded (chicken breast served with Pasta and tomato concasse) for Hannah, Salmon Pasta cooked in white wine (dressed in rich white cream cheese sauce) for me, and Julie + Father shared a Mustard Tree Platter for 2 (Honey Mustard Lamb 2 piece, White Fish Steak with Grilled Herb, Butter Tiger Prawn)


the value for money award went to Hannah's choice... quite a big portion and nice!...

the service was excellent... but due to quite a big table, which ordered before us... food was a bit slow today... BUT! they gave us a complimentary plate of garlic bread to hold our hunger pangs...

the total bill was rm150++, probably due mostly in part to the "Platter". I fully recommend this place for a nice dinner for 2 or a cosy dinner for family... if u stay off the red meats, the bill wont be too ex too!

and i also urge u to hurry and try as soon as u can... cuz from the website... they are looking to sell off the business!!! go while u still can... hahaha!

p/s: they are closed on sunday's... be warned!

NOTE : AS of 1st April 2007, stated on its site : IT HAS CEASED OPERATIONS... I pray it's just an April Fools Joke, if not... what a loss...


this weekend trip to kuantan... is looking nice... we have confirmed we can claim for accomodations... so we are going to stay in Hyatt Regency Kuantan... :) looks nice eh... the pix...

looks nice from the website... will see how well kept the place is when we arrive...

one of julie's collegues is also following along to check out the town... & julie's father is tagging along just for FUN... (he's retired... so lots of time at hand)

will be looking at housing (prices and size), what's there to do around town... (if it's as bad as we have heard), hopefully schools around and churches too..

and of course what ever time to "sun, beach & relax" & makan-makan all about town...


Hannah will be thrilled to play at the beach...

we shall see how phoebe holds out in the 2.5hr expected drive to Kuantan, she has gotten better since chinese new year... but we'll see... will see...

p/s: looks like our show-of commitment indication deadline has been moved 1 extra month. So we don't have to make a rushed decision... TQ God!

so..... the news is... Julie's business unit in her company is definately moving to kuantan... weather we will follow suit will depend on the renumeration and other factors...

our deadline for a show of committment is mid-April, Final announcement of details & GO-AHEAD in JULY. So the final "question" of the "status" of the TAN family will be known by middle of the year...

fuuh!... need direction man... (*** Help! God! ***)

anyway... for the meantime, before we can make an informed decision... we are going to kuantan to check the town out and her office in kuantan... so this coming 1st April... we will be off to kuantan... under company expense too! wah ha ha...

heard the coffee and durians are good there... also the seafood... :) makan-makan also lah...

from our initial research, kuantan looks to be smaller then Ipoh!, rental at 1/2 KL prices... and overall a sleepy town...

p/s: did i mention... if we go... i've got to look for a job!

p/ss : phoebe's really growing... all kinda chubby and heavy... and her sleep patterns are really getting better, and more playful... hannah's getting jealous nowadays... some serious feelings of neglect i think... must really need to be more nice to them... oh! Phobe's getting dedicated this weekend!

thursday has came and gone... and little to no news has flown by...

the news regarding Julies standing in the company didn't materialize... so we are currently stuck in limbo... hmmm... sounding familiar, seems lots of our fellow christian bro's and sis's are also stuck in limbo... regarding spirituality and life... so nothing really "new" there... hahahaha...

But the good news is... woo hoo! Phoebe and Hannah were little (slightly terror) angels the whole time... no doubt my Mom handled Phobe during the night... but it is certainly a big step forward... no problems at all!!!

Looks like phobe is growing and getting better ... not so much crying... but can sleep longer during the nights... Hannah, well her usual self... will play till she konks off... :)

WELL!!! Julies going to be back tonight! YAY! Hannah's missing her lots already... I guess Phoebe will be happy too in her own way... (i can't see any expressions yet...)

Next month Julie will be going for another week of training... so we shall see then How far Phoebe has grown...

this coming week, Julie's going to be away in singapore for training...

i'll be with phoebe and hannah for 1 whole week! Thank God, my mom's coming down to help... but... OMG... trial by fire man...

eventhough Phoebe has dramatically improved... but yesterday was scary... 1hr of crying while Julie was in choir practice... ughhh... dying... for no apparent reason too... she did finally dozed of after an hour and a half... (3x improvement on my side... as previously i was about to throw her out after 1/2 hour)

so we shall see if i will survive...

will blog any special baby happenings... :)

another trial would be the outcome of julie's job... this thursday... woo hoo! & we will know if any major changes will happen to the tan family...

THE WEEK OF TRIALS!...

sounds like someone's name...

or could be your neighbour...

johari

in short - a test used to find out more of yourself.. and what other think of u... the positive traits... in communication and relationships.

did it this morning for yinsern... so decided to set up one to check on myself...

FEEL FREE to do the test on ME... so I can learn more of myself... It's really simple, just choose 5 or 6 traits you think of me... that's ALL!... and you can set up one for yourself too! for others to fill...

***** FILL MY JOHARI REQUEST! *****

to ignore the test... and just see the results... just follow the link at the bottom(currently not really accurate YET! Cuz it's too new to see any results... got to wait till more people fill it up...)

BUT!

I seriously recommend, please do fill my johari first!...

***** VIEW MY JOHARI RESULTS! *****

chocolate balls... :p

swedish chocolate balls

yummy....

if you ever drop by IKEA... if you are sick of the meatballs (i think buying the frozen ones and cooking them at home tastes better - remember to buy the sauce too), or the crowd too big a mob to fight for space... or the quality seemingly fallen due to bad management... don't forget to try the swedish chocolate balls.... don't... DON'T FORGET TO TRY THEM...


at rm1.75 each... u can just try one for kicks... to test the waters...

u will never regret... believe me...

its super yummy... its a blend of oats, chocolate (cocoa), butter, coffee & coconut shavings...


one leaves you wanting more... two is the most u will take in one go... any more is overindulgence... (to eat more then 2, don't eat it all in one sitting... buy first and eat at intervals... :p hahahaha!)

woo... didn't occur to me what kind of year it was till today...

it's a non-leap year... hahahaha... so what! u say... yep... so what!... "saja aje..."

i guess we never actually keep track of leap or non-leap years... only those who are born on the leap day... will really keep track i suppose...

BUT anyways... man... the month sure flew past... soon it will be easter! then the whole year would have gone by... woo...

I recently fast-saw (see movie at 4x speed, reading subtitles) : A Good Year, Man of the Year & The Illusionist - don't ask why... just wanted the story/plot without any of the boring and drama parts... "A Good Year" is not bad... a very dif Russell Crowe... , "Man of The Year"... so so lah... BUT The Illusionist... was quite good... always liked Edward Norton... he was in a funny beard in this movie... and the tricks were nice... go & see!

Hannah & Phobe are growing up fast... Hannah is as cute as ever... now beginning to test our patience on her antics and disobedience... Phobe is getting cuter by the day too...

-finis-

p/s: a nonsensical post... bear with me... my thoughts are jumbled...

well.. it wasn't ALL a disastrous Chinese New Year...

yes... there was death (Julie's grandmom), there was frustration (The Jam!), there was money blown (AngPows!)... BUT there were also GREAT moments!

it was the first time all her little cousins was under one roof... (from Julie's side)... all dressed in cute cheongsams (qipau), bought in the Ladies Aglow FundRaising Sale Last Christmas...




Hannah's in red, Julie's bro's daughter in purple, and the other gal is Julie's fathers sister daughter's daughter... :p

next year we will have another 2 kiddos up and running... phoebe & julie's bro's other daughter, due soon in a couple of weeks...

TOTAL gal power eh!

oh oh... we are down to only 2 remainder grandparents.

Julie's grandmom passed away on 18th Feb 2006, the very First Day of Chinese New Year!... well, she was over 90... so she had a good long life...

so this year's chinese new year... wasnt really a celebration... more like a hethic oportune time... since she was buried yesterday, on tuesday... so all the cousins and uncles who had came up for a reunion could go back in time to start working again...

eye opening to see the crematorium in taiping... superb view... of rolling valleys and hills... very nice place to have a resort instead of a memorial park... :p

solemn... funeral... quick though...

according to Julie... it might be the last time she will see all her aunties and uncles + all her cousins all together... cuz after her grandmom's gone... there isnt any reason to meet... so we will see next year...

so there's only my grandmom (mom's side) and Julie's grandmom (father's side) left...

but anyways... after hearing on the radio the massive "JAM" awaiting us in the North-South Highway... we decided to extend another day in Ipoh... and came back this morning... it was a wise decision and the journey only took us 2 hours...

BAH!... Even when knowing what the Lord Jesus went through... the graphical description displayed in all gory-ness in the "Passion of Christ"... i still say "crucify them!" All that pain and suffering is an apt sentence for them...

the Tan's took off from KL this morning at around 9.30am...

our journey plan was to drop by ipoh, have lunch and straight to penang in time for a snooze then the reunion dinner at Julie's parents place.

we arrived at 7.30pm...

10 freakin hours!!! a journey that would have taken only 5 hours inclusive of stops... ended up double time!!!

granted, there were lots of cars on the road... lots of them... but the main culprits were the drivers who ignored common decency... incredibly selfish... moronic... totally self centred... those people who INDISCRIMINATELY DROVE ON THE EMERGENCY LANE!!!

CRUCIFY THEM!!! i am mum of any other words to express my utter disgust & rage....

CRUCIFY THEM!!!

CRUCIFY THEM!!!

CRUCIFY THEM!!!

aka. happens on the 14th of February... every year!


today's valentines... the day where florist's will make enough to weather the months till easter... it's the day when waiters get all huffy and restaurants get all booked up & dis-allow all the discounts they were previously having.

anyway... kinda overated... but a nice day just to step back and enjoy the company of your partner...

sometimes u say... oh! shouldn't waste money during valentines for a dinner and flowers... u should do that on normal days... it means the same and a whole lot cheaper... BUT u forget!... heh... after valentine is over... u forget your resolution to buy flowers... and go for a nice dinner... SO! the "Day" has it's uses... it's a day just to move u into action... i guess...

BUT! I shall buy my wife flowers AFTER valentines!...
I SHALL!... I SHALL!... YES! I DEFINATELY WILL... :)

p/s: CNY is around the corner... but whoa!.. not really looking forward to the "JAM" but i'm really looking forward to a short "break"... then back to the grind...

phew... the "Sick" week is over...

Hannah's over her fever and only the cough remains... and it's flammy... so no worries of a whooping cough there... Phoebe is all OK, and our maid too is feeling much better...

We also managed to shop yesterday... Julie managed to get her replacement casual shoe wear and a replacement purse also... alas our search for a replacement bag wasn't as fruitful... we spent a total 2.5 hrs in JUSCO Wangsa Maju with the entire family! WOO-HOO! the first time we are out with both Hannah and Phoebe for such a long time! A milestone achievement! Hahaha! but Julie had to feed Phoebe once though... Thank God JUSCO has a baby feeding room.

We also managed to eat in Shakeys despite Hannah's slight cough... it was the lesser evil among the other choices of fast food... There's nothing else to eat in Jusco!

Hannah, fiddling with her knife...

Why can't i drink the "COKE" mom?...

eating Malaysian style... with fingers... Hannahs bad habit...

oh no... Hannah's gotten her fever back... Oh Man! & her cough seems worse then ever... pray she doesnt develop dry cough... :(

Sigh! this happened on a public holiday too... hmmm maybe this is what comes about of parenting dilemma... when parents want to do something but circumstances in the family doesnt permit. So, we were stuck at home on a holiday...

We wanted to do some much needed shopping... some for julie, some for Me, quite alot for the house... but we shall see, when all these "sickness" has passed away.

I guess it does happen... when one member of the family gets sick... eventually it goes a full circle within the family... hopefully not so that when the last is well the first gets it again... !!! WOE! More Vitamins! and healthy food!!!!

Oh but I did manage to finish playing FINAL FANTASY XII!... Great Game!The Last Boss Had some ridiculous & impressive moves... but truth be told... abit of a pushover considering the sidequests where the enemies are like super... super... SUPER hard!

Heard from a FAQ... there is a hidden BOSS with 50 Million Hit Points... 50 Million! i kid u not!... which will take almost 8 hours of playing just to beat 1 Boss!... NO WAY I'm gonna do that!

worry... anxiety... and just plain "out of your hands" feeling...

sigh... our 2 gals are sick... Hannah fell sick on sunday... with a raging fever. Her whole body was hot throughout the day, eventhough with doses of childrens panadol. So on monday i took her to the clinic and even the doctor was surprised how hot her whole body was... not extreme temperatures but her whole body was eminating heat... diagnosed with cough - antibiotics and flu medicine... on tuesday... was chearful again... so the worst was over for her...

ALAS! Phoebe got it later that night... so yesterday evening... we noticed she was warmish... temps at 38, kinda hot for babies... + she was kinda lethargic...and off to the doctors again...

I guess it was Hannah that passed the bug to her... even our maid is showing signs of impending cough... sigh... a "sick" family... :p

Still monitoring Phoebe... if her fever doesnt break by tonight... we will have to bring her in again for a second diagnosis... pray it wont reach that.

UPDATE : WOO HOO! PTL! (PTL - Praise The Lord!) looks like Phoebe is out of the fever zone... and looks better too... ! Hannah's all up and cherrie, jumping up and down and back to her usual cheeky self...

WAH!HA!HA!HA!... saw this today... as I was window shopping in ACE Hardware... couldn't resist to buy and try. I think Ju blogged about it before... not sure... but I think i heard a favourable review... so i splunked down RM9 and we shall see...

Notice the "1 drop Smell Gone tag by ACE themselves...
all so corny...", even the "No More Smell When & After Passing Motion"
- i bet the copywriter had a field day churning that out!


impressive "Sh*t" logo! even a malay one!

equality in sexes... girl in front... guy squat type at the back...
+ "Berkesan seperti silap mata"... woo hoo!fuuunnnyyyy!

a question to ponder admidst all the mess the world is pouring around us nowadays... a very touching song...

"Who Am I" by Casting Crowns



THE LYRICS

Who am I?
That the Lord of all the earth,
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt.
Who am I?
That the bright and morning star,
Would choose to light the way,
For my ever wandering heart.

Chorus:
Not because of who I am,
But because of what you’ve done.
Not because of what I’ve done,
But because of who you are.

I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow,
A wave tossed in the ocean,(ocean)
A vapor in the wind.
Still you hear me when I’m calling,
Lord, you catch me when I’m falling,
And you’ve told me who I am.
I am yours.
I am yours.

Who am I?
That the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
And watch me rise again.
Who am I?
That the voice that calmed the sea,
Would call out through the rain,
And calm the storm in me.

Chorus 2x

I am yours.
I am yours.

Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear?
‘Cause I am yours.
I am yours.


p/s: if you want to know the origins and how to play this song... go HERE!

"oi mai lui lian mou?" asked the durian seller, just as we stepped out of "alex" shop after lunch.

I am an avid durian eater/lover... so sure! why not... and he soon showed us his fruits... we have mo sang, xo, belanda...
blah blah... types of durian... OK lah! still hungry for durian,
even though less then a week ago we had just bought 2 durians to eat...


OMG! i had just bought 5 durians... and it weighed at 11kg! at rm9 per kg... it was going to cost RM99!!! blink... blink... "make it rm100 lah" says the durian seller and, "and i add this 3 not so keng durians"... as i had chosen a mixture of XO and mo sang... hmmm... no lah... too much... "Aya! can lah" ... ok lah.. can... we closed the deal... (the dark side is strong...)

they even had guys to take the durians to my car... wow! good service... they even had great packaging - a nice paper sack... something like the cement kind... tough and had an inner strong lining... + the durians also looked nice...

I WAS CONNED!

Bleh!... WHAT mo sang and XO... most of them were more like "fan seui", the mo sang variant was barely edible... sheesh!CONNED!CONNED!CONNED! even the 3 not so keng durians tasted better... ARGHHHHHHHHHHH! CONNED!

sigh!... a truly sad day...

NEVER EVER BUY FROM THE VAN OUTSIDE ALEX SHOP CLAIMING TO GET THEIR STOCK FROM PAHANG! NEVER!!!!
I will stick to the Old Post Office ... make-shift shop in the car park one... opposite "Deen's" nowadays...

the nice packaging... for durians...

nice looking durians too...

the aftermath...

most of the durian ended up in the tupperware...
where we hope after being chilled it will improve the lackluster taste...