August Break Part One: A Birthday, Good Food...

18th-26th August 2012

This week marks the 2nd week of being maidless whilst maid is vacationing back in her homeland.  We initially wanted to plan a getaway - maybe like a short holiday but because this was so last minute the plan did not materialize.

Unfortunately also, as I was web surfing my laptop got attacked by a very vicious and stubborn virus called the Live Security Platinum which cleverly disguised itself as an antivirus software but was actually a spy to steal sensitive information from my laptop.  Thank God hubby suspected it as it was so persistent in "scanning" my laptop for viruses and insisting that I "remove" these viruses.  My laptop immediately went offline and hubby later discovered a more problematic virus was sitting in my lappie, called the Trojan Horse.

To cut the long story short, after a week of sleepless nights on hubby's behalf, and various attempts, a reinstallation of the latest Norton antivirus software, the LSP got killed, but the Trojan Horse remained like an unwelcomed guest.

I heard from hubby that during one of his late nights working on my laptop, the virus even launched into a man's laughter in the background, and a few times it auto-played some music too.  Fortunately I was not there, as I have a weak heart this.

I've gone off track here.  Anyway, my laptop was finally reinstated over the weekend (Dad's brilliant idea) that my parents came up, and thank God for that, so we didn't have to go through the hassle of reformating and I didn't have to junk it and get a new lappie.  Hah!

So this virus problem detoured us there, and no holiday plans were made.  Just a week, might as well just bum around KL we say.


19th August:  Popo's 65th birthday

We drove back to Seremban the day before for a short 3D2N stay and also to send Mama home after her one week stay with us.   To celebrate, we had a simple Chinese dinner at Silver Dragon Restaurant.

With Grandkids No.1, No.4, No.3 and No.2.  Grandkids No.6 is outstation and No.5 is overseas. 

Happy birthday, Popo!  May you have many many more years of good health and laughter in your life! 


20th August:  Makan makan at Dengkil

MaMa and Yeh Yeh brought us to this place in Dengkil, around 20 minutes drive north from Seremban for lunch on our way back to PJ.  Dengkil is a very small town, with mostly chinese residents, and we discovered, good food and good pau too! 

We ate chilli sauced prawns, loh mee with prawn, deep fried fish, meehoon with braised pork belly and a couple of other dishes at Yew Hin Restaurant.  We arrived at 12noon, but the place was nearly full house, and by 1pm, the place was even more crowded and the waiters had to open two more big tables along the walkway.

Ate halfway then only remembered to take a picture.  This taste glorious! 

Curry pork ribs

I think this is called chilli prawns.  Fresh and yummylicious.  I'm a die-hard fan of prawns, especially those that needs a few mouthfuls. : )

Mee hoon with braised pork belly (kau yoke).  We couldn't finish this, so tapaued.

If you can read Chinese, let me know what it says.  All I know are the phone numbers. 

Then we bought some "yau char kwai" and "ham chim peang" next door.  The stall apparently just started business so I noted how clean and new its appliances are.

Then we headed to the pau shop.  This shop was also full but we manage to get a table in the corner.   I sampled some pau that Yeh Yeh ordered, and tapau some paus back.  The paus here are really nice and soft, they being home made.

Upon arriving back home in PJ, we all took much needed afternoon nap. What better way to nurse a full stomach than to sleep it off, right?  I think I did some house chores after I woke and as I could even slip on the layer of dust after being away 3 days.

I don't remember eating dinner that night,  although the kids did at one of the SS2 kopitiam.  We wanted to walk to the night market after that but it started drizzling so we abandoned plan and headed home.

8 hours after lunch and you'd think my food would have digested by then, but I still felt full.  I think the only way was to sleep it off. 


21st August:  Korean Dinner with Korean friends

I had prebooked hubby's time for today - roping him and the kids in to help with a mini revamp of my garden during the absence of my maid.  Remember the garden issue with her?  So I took the opportunity to plant my new Japanese roses (bought three new colours), and pull out the old ones, replant them, clean out all the pebbles in the garden, and added new soil and fertilizer.

The whole exercise took us easily 2-3 hours but God was kind with the weather being gloomy in the morning.  The sun came out late nearing 1030am but towards noon it started drizzling.  By then the boy was helping Daddy hand vacuum the car (and car windows) whilst the girl helped trimmed the lemongrass for me.

The feeling was great, I can't say exactly but I look forward to all my Japanese roses in full bloom, with 5-6 colors that I've mixed them. Best of all, we added in lotsa love together with the fertilizers. 

And would you believe that after all this work out, I WAS STILL feeling full from all the eating in Seremban and Dengkil.  Look, it wasn't like I was a glutton then and overate, but my stomach seemed to have gone on a holiday too, I guess, so for lunch I ate only porridge in SS3.

That evening, we met up with a Korean family, good friends from cell.  He brought us to this place in Ampang where there is still little Korean community there.  You will not miss the number of Korean eateries and supermarket catering to this community.  We had this dish that comes in spicy soup filled with various parts of the pig.  I mean, you have the fats, the intestines and other stuff in there.  I love the kim chi there and it's free flow!

The decorative walls inside.  Feel free to add your own message, but no vulgarities please. 

Name and details of the place we ate at.  Price wise, very reasonable.  RM20 per head for a very full meal.

Now we ate this during our Korea trip two years back and that was waaaaayyyy better, but this isn't too bad either.  Sorry I didn't take down the name, it's all the pig's parts, and very popular with the Koreans. 

A few doors away was a bakery run by the Koreans, and there is this special bun with filling that's deepfried which our dear Korean friend snapped up everything.  She insisted to pay and we were having a minor "tug of war" in the bakery on who to pay.  Quite funny and first time I saw how "serious" she was... better give in since I'm in their territory, haha.  Will have more chance later. 

After dinner we dropped by the Korean supermarket.  We picked up some stuff and this time I succeeded in the picking up the bill too, hehe.  We were invited to their condo for more chit chat and snacks.  The kids played with their toy poodle, and William loved it so much he kept praying for the dog days after.

Victoria and William with Kami (which means "black" in Korean).  Kami is a very playful female dog, and even licked William's cheeks too.  Still thinking our garden is too small for a dog, kids. 

To be continued...

Part Two:  Homework and A Funeral.

Music and Magic

My 7yo is in her Book 3 (out of a total of 4 books) in her current Junior Advance Course with Yamaha Music School.  After spending 2 years in Junior Music School since 4yo and one year in the Advance Course, I find that her sight reading is still poor.

That irritates me quite a bit (ok ok, wwwaaayyyy more than "a bit") as she gets "spoilt" reading my fingers on the keyboard.  I reasoned that this is partially due to her young age but I do think I was able to read notes quite comfortably after 1 year into music class when I was a child and she has SPENT 3 good years into music class!!

So where did we go wrong?  Aaahhh... the main problem is the syllabus which on the other hand, the school says is its strength.  Yamaha syllabus focus on hearing, solfege  and ensemble (group playing - each with different parts) and very little time and focus on sight reading and theory.  ABRSM syllabus however may be more boring as Yamaha advocates would claim, because the scores are from Classical and Romantic times - names like Beethoven, Bach, Tchaikovsky and Mozart are common.  ABRSM trains the student to read notes and practice arpeggios and scales.  

Practicing piano may be a chore to Vic, and she can even ask me what to play.  I'm thinking to myself, didn't she go for the class and hear what her teacher taught and yet she doesn't know what to practice???  She used to shed many tears in the previous books especially when I want her to read the notes herself.  These days, it's lesser but still the off and on unpleasant episodes.

Just this evening I wanted her to read the notes of the song she was asked to sing.  The easy way out of course would be to just sing for her and let her follow after me, but that doesn't help in note reading, does it?  It's just like knowing how to speak but not knowing how to read.

To be fair to Vic, I give her credit for being one of the better students in class but some parents and I chatted and agreed that our kids seemed to have lost the momentum in music.  For me, I'm already decided to end the course upon graduation after Book 4, then migrate her over to ABRSM syllabus before it's too late.  Looking around soon for a good teacher, preferably private so I can minimize driving around, hehe.

On another topic, I am pretty sure I have identified the culprit and found a solution to stop the cause of the horrible itch and dry skin on my two fingers.  My right pinkie skin turned very very dry in February 2010 ( I remembered this clearly as I thought it was caused by the English weather when we were in the UK) and it never healed.  Off and on, it became very dry until my skin would itch and the only relieve was to scratch it non stop until it bled... aahh what bliss just by doing that, and I would desperately resort to steroid cream.  There would be breaks in the form of lines all over my finger and it would bleed.  Sometime this year the 4th finger also got "infected" by this dryness whilst all the other 8 fingers remained moist and unaffected.  That's so weird right.

Before my maid left, I bought the dish washing liquid from Amway, which was a total coincident as I was in their HQ with a friend.  I thought I'd just try it out and what better time to pamper myself than when my maid was not around and I have to do the washing.

Besides that, I have also changed my clothes detergent from powder form to Dynamo to Melaleuca. Although I'm not a member, I used a few of their other household products like Sol-U-Guard (to kill germs and bacteria instead of Dettol or Demitze), Tough n Tender (to clean surface), Tub n Tile (to clean toilet - note:  no big deal this one) and Sol-U-Mel (to remove tough stains even stains on terrazzo flooring that is older than me).

I'm not doing any promotion or free ad here, don't get me wrong.  I'm just sharing this info as maybe it may help those who have very dry skin too.  So far, I'm into one week of heavily washing dishes and my fingers have showed no signs of itch.  Thank God for that and thank you Amway!  Hope I'm not speaking too soon, but previously it used to be very sensitive to even one touch of the normal dish washing liquid.

Also, having tried a few organic brands and natural brands of creams and oils, I'd say... DON'T BOTHER.  Just go with mild steroid to relieve those times of itch.  To me, that's a magical solution to my problem. 

Adios and happy holiday to everyone! 

Dear Diary...

Last Saturday hubby and I together with the two kids sent our maid off at the airport for her two weeks vacation back to her village in Cambodia.  She was dressed to the nines in her new platform shoes (RM40.50 from Tropicana City Mall), bling bling earrings (RM10 from Paradigm Mall), bling bling necklace (from church book store), skinny jeans and blouses (less than RM100 from Tesco).

Whilst waiting for Vic to return home from her art class, we had our lunch at home.  The kids ate in the car on the way to the airport.  Kakak had no check in, and took only a handcarry stuffed with gifts for her siblings and parents and minimal personal items.  I believe she do intend to return, but keeping our fingers crossed in case she gets brain washed back home.

We taught her how to find her counter to check in, how to look out for her gate to her aeroplane and what to expect.  We showed her where to wait for us upon her return in two weeks and some street smart stuff to guard her belongings.

She missed call us just as we requested to know that she arrived home safely.

Back in our own home without Kakak around, I replaced the Glo washing detergent with Amway Dish Drop for my overly dry fingers.   A little bit of pampering without the maid around, hehe.

That evening we went for a pre-planned lala dinner with some good friends.

Day One - Sunday 12th August

My first day without Kakak.   Opened the curtains in the living room and windows and thank God I saw no lizards.  Started the machine and hubby helped me hang the laundry.

We had Indian food for lunch - no surprise it was Vic who had the cravings.  After lunch we dropped by the mall near our house for less than an hour.  When we left, it started to rain and Daddy F1-ed home but it was too late.  The clothes were partially wet and I decided to give them a round of rinsing in the machine, then hung them up again.  Vacuumed the whole house and felt pleased with myself - not so much because I did the work but because the floor felt much cleaner.  However, I confessed that I did the omitted the mopping deliberately as I'd have passed out in my own sweat by then.

By then the re-rinsed clothes had dried and I took them in to fold.  Round up the thrash from all 5 bins into one, then had hubby throw them out for me. 

In the evening we went for cousin Theodore's birthday party.

Day Two - Monday 13th August

Day Two was a little more challenging as the kids had school.  Did two rounds of laundry with the good sunshine outside.  Mom in law who is staying with us this week, helped me fold the clothes and "watch" the kids whenever I had to go for my chauffeuring duties.

My freezer was almost empty and so was my vegetable basket in the fridge.   I tapau-ed lunch and an extra dish for dinner.  For dinner, I cooked vegetable soup minus carrots, stirfried romaine lettuce and steamed chicken with red dates and wolfberries.

Did a little more vacuuming today.


Day Three - Tuesday 14th August

Managed to find an agent who can provide a part time maid for tomorrow.   Yaaayyy!!

Cooked Indian curry this evening at the request of the Queen again, and as a consolation for the brother who cannot eat spicy food at all, I cooked fried rice for him and that also helped me clear off two containers of leftover food, hehe.

This round being maidless seem to be more manageable, maybe because this is just the beginning.  But honestly, I felt less stressed this time as compared to the last time when we volunteerily let Maid No.4 go.  Having MIL around and the kids being older and less dependent now definitely help.

It is a good break for all of us, I guess.  For me, it's just getting back to basics and learning the drill.  For the kids, it's teaching them responsibilities.  And for Kakak, hopefully she is reminded of her blessings and refreshed and more determined in her work when she return.     

Cinema for the kids... on a weekday?

A couple of weeks back, hubby and I toyed with the idea of watching a movie with the kids but we just couldn't find the right day and time because obviously, if that is to happen, their homework have to be completed by a certain time.

On that faithful Tuesday 24 July, hubs picked Vic from school and told her we could go to the cinema if she can get all her homework completed by a certain time.  The movie starts at 9pm and she needs to have her dinner, bath, homework and bag packed by 8pm for the plan to proceed.  As for William, he had a good long afternoon nap and there was no homework for him.

With the promise of a cinema, guess what, sure full cooperation from the kids!  We were ready even before 8pm and armed with a bag with snacks (smuggle into the cinema ler) and water, we headed to the nearby mall.  It's wonderful when we do not have to get caught in any after office or buka puasa traffic jam and the best is new seats in the cinema.  I simply abhor old cinema seats that makes me feel like I'm sitting on multiple colonies of dustmites and oily sticky headrest.

Bought our tickets, walked around and we were in by 9pm!  We were going to watch Ice Age 4 and this was William's first time at the cinema.  The kids have watched all the previous Ice Age series from DVDs and internet downloads, so we were all pretty excited about this latest series.

It was really fun and we should do this again when another suitable movie comes along.  Not too bad for a weekday break.  : )

Oh, that lackadaisical attitude that fumes me!

We had a long weekend the one that passed, with Monday being a public holiday in Selangor.  Both hubby and I were "away" for two full days on Saturday and Sunday for a property convention, so I hardly spent time with the kids, but they were in good hands with their Popo Gong Gong.

This morning just before Vic and I left the house for her tuition, I asked her to do a quick check on her tuition work if all were done.  She had previously forgotten her tuition homework before and that irked me after a few times as she was making it MY responsibility to check and remind her instead of her own.  Since she had missed last Thursday tuition, I had assumed that she would have completed her all her work given on Tuesday by Thursday, right?

Right.  And wrong.  My girl forgotten about her Ejaan that her tuition teacher had given her a whole week to memorize and I was furious at that very moment besides feeling a little cheated too, as I had allowed her to play my Ipad last night in good faith that she had checked and completed all her school and tuition work.  I had even allowed her this morning to check my Ipad to "harvest her carrots, that unfortunately had withered, in her Smurf Village."

So I got her to sit down with her Ejaan work, and I tested her while lecturing her at the same time.  I rained down warnings on her that for each wrong she gets this time, I'm going to have to exercise the ultimate punishment on her, which is a deduction of 10cent.  So, if all 10 questions wrong, that's a RM1 off her piggy bank!  Quite mean of me, right, but how do you get a child serious about her work if not withholding or eliminating something previous to him/her?  I explained to her that this punishment only takes effect for those times when she didn't study for her Ting Xie, Spelling or Ejaan, but if she did revised and still got wrong, it was a genuine mistake and no money will be deducted.

At home, she got 6 spellings wrong - namely

1) mencabut - manjabut
2) membubuh - membobo
3) segar - sedar
4) bertiup - bertuip
5) kencang - canjang
6) berusaha - berhusaha

Tuition starts at 1030am.  We left the house according to my watch at 1025am.  Just as the gate closed, I asked her if she's got her water bottle in the car, the answer was no!  So we went back into the house compound and I sent her out to get her water.  With this, I told her that she's responsible for her own water bottle every morning to be in her bag before she left school.  No more relying on the maid or me.

I even rattled off about names of two of her friends who own an iPhone and iPad because they do well in their studies, so if she expect to own an iPhone by 10, she should ensure her studies are taken care off!  Of course this is just the summarized version.

But what's the big deal about getting correct spelling anyway, some may ask?  Well, I admit I'm a Tiger mom in this aspect, and even if it's not life and death whether a child can spell right or wrong at age 7, it matters to me.  The message I hope I'm sending loud and clear to Vic, and later to William, is that all areas of their studies is important. 

Dropped her off at the tuition place, fast forward blah blah blah... when I picked her up two hours later, I asked her what was her ejaan result... and here it is:

All CORRECT!  This girl ahh... she even told me happily that her teacher gave her an eraser as a reward for full marks!  So I asked who else got the reward, and she said no other student.  Hhmm... and to think I was short of ranting off to the teacher when I dropped Vic off, that this girl didn't prepare for her Ejaan.

But I think this is likely the power of short term memory, meaning, she had those words fresh in her mind when she was tested.  It happens to some of us, right?

I'm happy for Vic, but I hope she gets serious with her all her homework.  If I may rant a little here, I think she's pampered and that's not entirely her fault.  So far I'm trying to get her to take on more initiatives and responsibilities such as packing her own bag.  So far so good as she takes lesser time now to pack her bag - to the extend I'm even curious if she's packed her books correctly.

School homework wise, I have no issue with her.  I do think the Chinese teachers have drilled into the children that if they do not complete and hand in their homework in time, they "get it."  But tuition homework is another matter, as many times I have to be the one checking and reminding her.

Oh well... part and parcel of parenting, right?