project : reviving garden

Having a garden on my own has always been a dream since childhood (even though I do not have green fingers and sometimes plants that come to my hand die)

I always dream of having the time of my life to do gardening. 

(which explain why I insist to keep the part of our house a garden instead of cementing it).

And I always tell my kiddies that they can help me plant many many different type of plant in our garden. Now I started training them with watering and helping me with the potting.

When I got married, I did have a little nice garden (not something too big or fancy) but just enough to make me happy.

However, as time goes by, my garden turn from one with many plants to being a field with lots of weeds. 

So I made myself a vow to revive my little garden, this time with a twist. 

I'm going to make it a more edible one. 

Yes, at last the practicality in me took over the decorality in me.

So I started dreaming again ... of all the fruits / vegetables / herbs I'm going to pluck from my little garden.

It is not really a right time ... with the draught, haze and water condition in our area. 

But it still has to start, if not now then when?

Sounds crazy, but I do have a list of plants I wanted : 

papaya

custard apple

rozelle

aloe vera

raspberry

spring onion

avocado

pandan leave

curry leave

lemon grass 

ginger

kunyit / turmeric

kafir lime

vegetables

herbs

and I created a little spot for compost of garden waste with the hope of better soil for my future plants.

Another bad habit developed : I started eyeing what plants other people have in their garden / compound and am thick skin enough to ask for some stem / seed if I wanted it badly...LOL 

 Lemon grass, ginger, curry leave (which is still struggling to survive). Thanks to dear & kiddies for helping me pluck baby curry leave plant from nearby field.

Some kind of plant which help to clean the air @ home they say. The taller ones had turned all yellow due to renovation and all before I start to revive it. Smaller plant given by someone who saw my eager'ness in gardening.

Here's the nursery / rehab place : growing more roots for pandan leave, growing different types of lucky bamboo, a pot of japanese rose given by people, and another plant growing from the stem.

some other plants saved from older times.

Japanese rose with different colours. Too bad there are not flowering yet.

ps. if you do have any plants / seeds / gardening things which you wish to dispose, please do consider donating it to me. thank you very much =) 

missed it ... going to catch it

Almost everyone is talking about this movie since chinese new year.
Yes, even my mother in law ask us to watch it. 
Since I missed it on the big screen, sure will grab the chance to watch it when it comes to small screen.

"The Better Half " 完整版 《一路有你》片尾曲首次曝光

inspiring

Louis Koo secretly built 61 schools in china

source : http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com

itchy hand project 2 & 3

I'm crazy about being healthy and natural lately...
so explain my projects below

mosquitoes catcher 
verdict : mosquitoes too smart to get trapped in, but some other not so smart insect went in instead.
fruits vegetables leftover enzymes cleaning liquid 
verdict : don't know yet as have to keep 3 months before sieving to use.

itchy hand, itchy mouth

Nowadays, I'm getting itchy hands and itchy mouth over the past few days / weeks.

So trying to get some nourishing soothing food / drink into my system.

started with red bean soup

then lemongrass + ginger + pandan leave slow boiled water

then pork rib chinese herb soup 

and hoping more to come ...

a different ball game

ah dear was airing some plastic box and plastic drawers the other day.
I was feeding little ah bi when the kor kor jie jie keeps bugging me to play with them.
So out of desperation, I came out with a different ball game for them.
Asked them to pour all the balls into the plastic box, took a ball of each colour and place them into different drawers.
Voila, a new colour ball sorting game. 
and they repeated the game for 3 rounds ... sorting and mixing back and sorting and mixing back.
To up the ball game, I told them got TIME LIMIT
so they got excited all over again....LOL
(ya, I just pretend to count down ie..10 minutes left...9 minutes left... 8 minutes left...)
Well at least the excitement lasted for about half an hour, just enough for me to feed ah bi and let her sleep.

which one should come 1st?

my to do list 

getting more and more each day 

(and mind you, one piece of note paper has more than 1 to do item)

sometimes, I have this feeling that 24 hours really not enough

if write, I feel overwhelmed ... got so many things to do, which one should do 1st (has not included daily routines which need to be done)

if no write, also '4' cause I couldn't remember a thing I need to do and end up with nothing done and very disorganised.

yes, I know there are apps which can help me track and send reminders, 

but the old fashioned me still find nothing beats cancelling off an item completed on the notice board.

and out of the so many things that need to be done ... 

I sometimes wonder how many is of it is really for ME

the truth is I dare not venture into THAT, afraid of knowing the answer. 

reminiscing honeymoon on 'love is in the air' month

You may not believe it
but I'm not lying
the last trip (overseas) I had was way back in early 2009 
that was like 5 years ago and that was our honeymoon

So the day before yesterday, I got this crazy idea
Since we don't get to go for trip what more honeymoon
so just do something to reminisce our honeymoon to land of kimchi

I think it's a great idea... (syiok sendiri)
making KIMCHI ...yes, you heard me right K-I-M-C-H-I
it's the perfect type of food to prepare for a wife who doesn't really know how to cook to begin with
and even if she cooks, not sure if the food she prepare is edible

So what's better (for the wife) to prepare than some food that can be left to ROT (oopppsss...I mean to ferment)

So last midnight, I started reminiscing honeymoon 

ps. so on 14 Feb, hopefully we shall see our love got better with time just like kimchi  

6 years

2/2
It has been 6 years since we decided to sign on that piece of paper consenting 
to end our bachelorhood
to start new life together
to give up partial of our freedom
to share a part of our life

February is the new january ... resolutions after CNY

This year I reso :
1. sleep early 
2. exercise
3. be healthy 
4. spend more quality time with family
5. do the best I can, one small thing at a time
6. be thankful, be grateful
7. unplug - back to basic 

finally

Finally hopefully we can get our peaceful and clean home sweet home back

For those of you who had been to my house during the previous 11 months (almost a year) will have noticed the massive renovation on our neighbour's house. it's like building a house from scratch

While I think my neighbour are sure to be very happy to be finally be able to move in to their DREAM home, 

I guess I'm the HAPPIER one around.

For we have live in constant UNpeace of mind for the almost past 1 year.

it's like I'm staying in a PRISON and yet I'm in my home.

Imagine living next to a construction side,
so much so that we have to seal the house (meaning all door and window closed) in order to avoid the whole house being polluted. 

- the amount of noise 

- the amount of dust 

- the amount of toxic (cement, paint and i don't-even-know-what)

- the amount of inconvenient (we can't hang our clothes to dry outside... or it will be dirtier than before wash, constant cleaning of porch and home required...etc)

- the amount of ugly sights 

- the amount of rubbish (you know what happen when you have that BIG construction rubbish disposal metal box bin, plus it's the festive spring cleaning season)

- the amount of mosquitoes due to the above (don't even mention the smell)

- the amount of stress - drilling, banging, knocking, you name it. Also thinking the amount of toxic my children are breathing in every single day. Also the chinese believe that there should not be renovation of house during pregnancy....the list is just endless

- the damage the renovation caused to our already old house (and deny it's because of them)

- the 4 different batches of foreign workers (some are ok, some are scary)

- the deprivation - fresh air, gardening time, play time with kid outside house, the chance to have a clean house

- the entrance of house being blocked- loading unloading, worker car

oh...I can go on and on...

yes, exactly, I really sounded like an old grumpy nanny complaining. 

I was eager to celebrate western new year with PEACE but I didn't get to...

I'm thankful though I get to celebrate chinese new year with PEACE ... 

Before this I used to have a little intention to extend the house... but now, I don't think I want to ... a small house is just good enough for us, we stay close & warm and sweet with lesser cleaning. 

Finally, we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel...

After having endure so much for the past almost 1 year, I'm don't have the 'gas' to complain anymore, i'm just plain grateful that it's all coming to an end...

and here's to a new beginning

Having said all the above, don't get me wrong, I do not blame my neighbour ... 
it's just the timing and it's just our luck ... 
perhaps god wanted us to learn something ... to learn to appreciate what we have, to appreciate things we taken for granted and things we do not realised we have all along.

Welcome back, my dearie home :D

GO SLEEP EARLY

the title says it all.
I've been telling this to myself since the week before 2013 end ... so called resolution.
But it's far from practice and enforcement.
there's always excuses, ANY excuses
including most bizarre one : I don't want to waste time sleeping! Still got many things to do.  (Sleeping is definately not a waste of time)

UNTIL
I dozed off (more like passing out) yesterday night due to extreme exhaustion just right after putting ah bi down on tilam. Or I was already nodding off while breastfeeding? I wasn't sure actually.

and I woke up this morning FEELING GOOD 
It (sleeping early, sleeping well, sleeping enough) really does WONDERS.
Although it may not seem 100% possible (at least for me) 
I'll try to get as close as I can. 
This, a promise make to my body who seem to have not slept well since half a decade ago. 
(Even half a decade does feel like a thousand years when not enough sleep ... and I'm hearing 'A thousand years - christina perri' playing in my head.

Here's to GO SLEEP EARLY
Here's to SLEEP WELL, SLEEP SOUND 

would like to do this again

there are many things that I would like to do
but I may need to postpone them till when I'm more available
one of such things : 

those were the days : pen pal'ing

Chinese new year is 2 weeks away, 
and since I'm not working, 
took this opportunity to do spring cleaning / decluttering / overhaul.
and while digging up all my stuff,
I found some 'gems' 

I had forgotten that I've had pen pals.
Evidence showed I've 9 of them. 
And I wonder how on earth was I so free to write during those days (if I remember correctly during upper primary & secondary school).

and my pen pal were from Saudi Arabia(KSA), Nizip-Turkiye, Gaithersburg-USA, Phillipines, Auckland-New Zealand, Roswell GA-USA, & Klang valley. 
However, I couldn't remember how I got them as pen pals during then.

It was sweet but weird at the same time, reading back letters from the past. 
there was once upon a time when I share my time with nice people around the globe ... actually if you ask me where are those places (except Klang valley) on the world map, honestly I couldn't pin point (pardon my bad geography).

Those were the times when we have trust 
trust that our letters are collected from the mail box - post office - transport - recipient (the whole postal system works)
trust that our pen pals will reply 
trust that we are genuine people trying to get to know each other
trust that human relationships needs time and effort to keep.

While tidying this 'stage' of pen-pal'ing of my life,
ah dear say : at this rate, no wonder pack until tomorrow also not yet finish lo...
Haha, in fact yes, I took a whole full day.
I was like that little girl I was, opening each letter from the envelope, reading each letter while trying to remember my pen pals. 
I believe I love them all at that point of time.  (OK, I mean friendship kind of love).

At the end of the session of decluttering my precious mails & greeting cards,
I was happy to relive that moment of my teenage years.
However, I was DISAPPOINTED at one thing.
I was hoping (and hoping) to at least find a love letter (or at least a little love note) in that big pile of letters and cards in that mooncake metal box.
But NONE, not even 1 ... ARGHHHH!!!!

(I guess I just wasn't someone someone will write love letter / love note to ... LOL)

Cut'ted

At last, another round of cutting it short ... my hair, i mean

I guess it's just a matter of time to get it cut for a person like me who :

1. doesn't take care / manage her hair

2. full of white hair (no longer gray hair for my case...haha)

3. hair fall like nobody's business

4. is always in a mess

5. needs a dash of fresh hope ... a fresh cut is like a new beginning 

6. needs some time off to pamper herself 

7. need to have some 烦恼 cut off (i think this could be the very main reason)

ok, so CUT done, so what's next? UNPLUG?

ps. this post isn't a very appropriate post to start 2014 ho? 
this year marked the 10th year into blogging
and shall be a year to redeem myself after a record breaking low no. of posts for 2013.

the never ending story

the washing machine is really a good invention, a good companion!!

one of the many things

of the the many things ...

he did for our home.

Although at times his action or rather inaction 'kek sei' me

but when he does it ... it makes me smile, sometimes even better

makes me laugh, sometimes with cheeky little suprises ... lol

one of those things

for the past 2 - 3 months ago

yet everyday I had to on the pipe by turning the bolt hexagon shape knob with a piece of cloth (using plain fingers will be too painful)

on one fine night, suddenly my kitchen water pipe has a new 'upcycled' look.

see that blue little 'knob' to on the water pipe?

see that pureen baby washing liquid bottle on the left 'with its missing dispenser'?

so now 

he's happy ... she no longer nag about changing the pipe

she's happy ... no more difficulties with the pipe, in fact she smiles every time she washes the dishes @ the 'novelty' of such idea.

wallet & purse is happy ... no need keluar $ 

the earth is happy ... one more plastic item 'upcycled'

perhaps the pureen bottle is 'upset' having its' head stuck on someone else's body ...lol

some cheers for year end, or are they not?

I received an email from ocbc bank a few weeks ago.

It says that 

(a) we can get BBWS RM50 voucher for opening any type of savings account

(b) another BBWS RM50 voucher for opening any type of FD deposit 

during the promotion period.

* BBWS : Big Bad Wolf Sales - the biggest and baddest book sales in Malaysia offering new books @ a fraction of retail prices.

Here's the catch : 

(a) min RM1k for opening savings account

(b) min RM5k for opening FD account

(c) max per pax is RM100 voucher per person. 

(d) applicable to selected customer who receive the email. (apparently their criteria for the mailing list is customer who only has credit card with them. They want to bring in your deposits)

But here's the cheers 

(for me la) :

1. Getting RM100 voucher for BBWS is very worth it (if average RM8 /book, I get about 12 books free literally). It's the kind of voucher that's definately not going to be ended up not utilized for me.

2. In term of returns, about 5% for savings account (RM50/RM1000), 

1% for FD account (RM50/RM5000) on top of the existing p.a interest rate. 

Mind you, this is not even per annum rate calculation basis. 

3. the returns in item (2) is given upfront / immediate, upon opening of account (ok la, upon collection and usage of voucher). In other words, we don't need to wait for month end / year end / upon maturity for interest calculation and crediting.

4. There are no bonding / tie in period. Literally, it can mean you can withdraw the money you bank the moment / after you collected the vouchers. But then again, don't think anyone will do so right? FD withdraw prior to maturity will have penalty/ no interest.

5. I just discovered OCBC has a very attractive savings account which they call 'Smart Savers Plan'. It allow adult to earn interest rates like children account provided there are no withdrawal. It's good if you plan to use it for REAL savings and not day to day operating account.

provided no withdrawal, deposit of 

RM0 - RM49.99 interest rate 2.4% p.a

RM50 - RM999.99 interest rate 2.75% p.a

RM1000 above interest rate 2.90% p.a

(refer pic2 below)

help me see...did I miss any catch here? (since I think I'm blinded by the BBWS cash vouchers) 

ps. this is not a paid post. 

the above post is just the opinion of the writer.

 

longing for you

You

You didn't leave my mind the whole night. 
for many many nights...

And without mercy, 
you appear in my dreams ... making me want you more.

Every morning without fail, 
I'll peek at the window at you. 

Every evening before the sun set, 
I can't stop myself peeking at you for one more time.

Sometimes I blushed when our eyes meet

Sometimes I hide 
I love just watching you from afar ... letting my imagination run wild..

what will the suprise be when I open you up?

how juicy will you be when i taste you?

how good will you be (that you keep enticing me like that)?

how good will you be fulfilling the needs of a thirsty woman?

you know there are boundaries I can't cross

you know there are risks I can't take

you know there are people like me you can't flirt with

cause I might do anything I can just to have you next to me.

How could you be so cruel to me? (when I love you so much)

I'm desperately in love with you
I'm longing for you

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

financial education in primary school 2014, secondary school 2017

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Better late than never.
Let's not delve into details ... contents, resources, readiness, implementation.
let's just take it as good news to a humble mother for her children to have access to financial knowledge / information in which she has to learn the hard way. 

source of today's happiness : 
http://schooladvisor.my/?p=news%2Ffinancial-education-to-be-taught-in-primary-schools-from-2014
http://schooladvisor.my/?p=news/secondary-students-to-be-taught-financial-management