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Awards Time

I'm very thankful for the awards given to me lately. I just didn't post them earlier. Here they are:

From Lalaine to Ruby for giving me tips on SEO.

From Aisha to Noemi, Lits and Lalaine

From Ruby to my hubby

From Ruby to Raq and Analyse and Aisha

I still have some more to grab... will do them later.

Web Hosting

I've been thinking actually of having my own web host. So I've been searching high and low for the perfect web hosting for my personal blog. I have asked a few friends and I still can't decide from which web host I'm gonna buy. Until I found this web hosting choice which is an advertisement free guide to choose the right web host for you.

Compensation For Me?

I must admit, I thought that claiming for compensation for injury last time was a scam. Like... you just purposely injure yourself just to claim a compensation? It's weird. But I have discovered that you can actually do it... not on purpose though. I mean you don't purposely injure yourself just so you can earn. You can have an injury compensation if it happens accidentally. Sometimes, there are jobs that put our physical aspects at risk. There are unavoidable things like accidents and getting sick because of the nature of our job.

I am happy to know and tell you that we can indeed claim for Accident Compensation. It is a great thing to know that there are legal services that do this. When you experience some illness like asthma, asbestos related illness, dermatitis or noise induced hearing loss from an industrial related work... then fret no more. You just need to register yourself and be assured that some nice and concerned people will be there to back you up.

At Keypoint, they give you an honest and professional advise. They will fight for you in order to get the compensation which is rightfully yours. And of course, when you take it on them, everything will be simplified... like you just sit and relax and they will do all the hard work for you. Now that's what I call a real compensation for your hard work indeed.

My First

I was chatting with my friend online and she was telling me all the companies that she is writing for and it reminded me that I have applied for Bloggerwave. I immediately signed in and guess what... I had an offer to write. It is nice. This is gonna be my first "post" after getting the PR3. This is going to be my debut in other words.

If your passion is writing and you wanna earn money from it, bloggerwave is the right place to go since it gives you the opportunity to earn by just writing. It's an exciting thing to do. You just blog about the things you love, and you will be paid.

My Real Page Rank

Looks like I'm really having it. Now it's time to celebrate. I ordered Pizza Hut for dinner tonight... there's reason to celebrate, wasn't there? We usually order Domino's Pizza coz hubby liked it better. But I got sick and tired of it and had Pizza Hut... for a change. It tasted better. Samantha loved it like crazy. She finished one whole slice of Hawaiian Supreme.


Now I can relax. Hoping (with fingers crossed) for more and higher *offers*. That's what it is all about, isn't it?

Thanks, Google.

Smile

Mitch has tagged me.

Simply post a photo of your child/children smiling:

My Boy when he was two years old.

My girl (sweaty coz she's been playing at her granny's garden)

I wanna tag: Lalaine, Ruby, Rachel and bernadeth

Google's Visit

Google has visited my blog. I t was kind of a joke though. Yesterday, when I opened my blog, and looked at the toolbar, I noticed there's a green color on the bar already. Now I wasn't really expecting that. So I opened a new browser (I'm using Mozilla Firefox browser) to see whether it's really there. I saw it. Green! PR3! If that wasn't enough, I went to open hubby's notebook and opened my blog there. It was filled with green. 3/10 PR. I was happy and ready to celebrate but when I opened my blog again last night, the green thingy was gone. I felt very tricked. When I visited my friend's blog, she said the same thing. Oh well... to my disappointment, I slept early last night. (It could be a good thing too, hey? lol)

Again, today, I opened my blog. Again, I wasn't expecting anything but when I checked out the tool bar, I saw the green color again. I have a PR3. I'm not gonna celebrate until I'm confirmed that I really have one. How to confirm? I don't know. Play it by ear. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Page Rank 3;
Please don't go away.

Miss Malaysia World 2007

Hubby was going to have a meeting with her. Deborah Preeya Henry. Miss Malaysia World 2007. And I was so filled with envy. Hehehe. So I suggested a lot of silly ideas to him: What if I go to your office too and just take a look at her? Or even take a stolen photo? My hubby thought it was silly. So he decided to have the meeting in our house! Yippeee!!! I was going to meet her and I was very excited. She's coming over for breakfast in the house, along with other friends. So now, there's no reason to envy my hubby. I could get to meet her too.

So this morning was the morning to see her. Live in person. Okie. That's a redundancy. Hehehe. It's my first time to have people come over for breakfast. And we still have a couple from Australia staying with us for a week. I made omelette for everybody and to be safe, I served cereal (Post Honey Bunch with Almonds - my favorite) with fresh milk too and fruits and tea.

You know you're a success when you hear them say: Wow this is like a hotel breakfast. I'm glad they liked it.(I didn't take any photos of breakfast coz I was too embarrassed to do it). Well, we had Miss Malaysia World 2007 in our house. I had to prepare a nice one... right?

After Breakfast photo

Well, actually, when you meet these type of people in person and talk to them, you realize at the end of the day that they're just normal people. They're just better than you financially and popularity wise. Hehehe. But they're just normal people. And she's too skinny... like anytime she could break. LOL. Very fragile lah... that's the right word. And she's beautiful. She's still reigning... until July this year.

So there went my morning. It's like one of those rewards of being a stay-at-home mom... that although you don't go out there and meet a lot of people, yet God makes a way for you to meet one important person. I'm just so blessed to have a hubby like mine. He shares his blessings to me... like when he's invited for a dinner at a 5-star hotel/restaurant, he would go out of his way and take me with him. He would be excited when I go with him to such important functions. And when he's meeting somebody that's a "somebody" he would like me to meet them too. I'm so blessed. :)

Wedding Photos

I'm joining Aisha's Meme of posting the wedding photos. The time when we got married, we didn't have digital camera, so we took photos from the "real" camera. The photos i got here are from friends. I remember uploading them in my slides sometime back. So i'm basically posting the slideshow here. I need to scan more of my photos and post them here next time.

Weekend Snaphot 12

After a week of just staying at home... we decided to go to Sunway Club and had swimming with the kids.

My boy is all geared up to swim. :)

My girl in her water car.

We all had fun. Had dinner at the The Palm's (Sunway Club's restaurant) after that. Sunway Club had just its major renovation. The dry sauna was converted into steam sauna which I like better.

I hope everybody had a fun weekend.

How Fast Are You?

Got this idea from Aisha. I tried it also coz I wanna know my typing speed. i know i'm slow. i type with my two fingers only.


51 words

Speedtest

Awards Time

Got this award from Rachel. It is a very sweet award. Thanks Rachel.



I wanna pass this award to my new blogging friends whom I wanna get to know better:

Sher, Cathara, June and Lynn.

One In A Million - Malaysia

I finally remember One in a Million show tonight. I always remember to watch it during its repeats on Wednesdays. My 2 favorites, Sarah and Ayu are in top three. But Shila is realling shining... I like her too. So tonight there were three of them left. All girls. Girl power - that's what Marion Caunter said. Sarah is still my top bet though.

By the way, I like Marion Caunter. She started doing the 8TV Quickie. From there she became a famous host. Now that she has grown her hair, I like her even better.

And after One in a Million, I was gonna turn off the TV already but American Idol came next. And I found out there's another Filipino on top 24. Ramiele Malubay is the name. She did wonderfully beautiful. Simon Cowell just commented she out-sung everybody else tonight. Hopefully she will be the next American Idol winner. I just got a photoof her from Americanidol.com. She is really a great talent.

I stole Marion's photo from 12wap.net

I'm A... What?

just tagged me.

So I'm an as$ (i replaced s to $). What does it say about me?

If you are an As$ : A very loyal and sweet person. Your loyalty can never be doubted. You are quite honest and sincere when it comes to your attitude towards working. You are a very simple person, indeed. Absolutely hassle free, humble, and down-to-earth! That explains the reason why your friends cling on to you! You have a good taste for clothes. If your wardrobe is not updated with what is trendy, you sure are depressed. Popular and easy-going. You have a little group of dignified friends, all of them being quality-personified.

LOOK UP YOUR BIRTHDAY AND SEE WHAT YOU ARE. FORWARD ON TO PEOPLE THAT YOU THINK THAT WOULD GET A KICK OUT OF THIS... INCLUDING THE PERSON WHO SENT IT TO YOU. PUT YOUR BIRTHDAY ANIMAL IN THE SUBJECT LINE AND PASS IT ON.

Don't forget to scroll down to see what it says about you.

January 01 - 09 ~ As$ (i replaced s to $)
January 10 - 24 ~ Slug
January 25 - 31 ~ Cockroach
February 01 - 05 ~ Parasite
February 06 - 14 ~ Bullfrog
February r y 15 - 21 ~ Skunk
February 22 - 28 ~ Snake
March 01 - 12 ~ Ape
March 13 - 15 ~ Cockroach
March 16 - 23 ~ Slug
March 24 - 31 ~ Parasite

April 01 - 03 ~ As$ (i replaced s to $)
April 04 - 14 ~ Snake
April 15 - 26 ~ Slug
April 27 - 30 ~ Skunk
May 01 - 13 ~ Slug
May 14 - 21 ~ Bullfrog
May 22 - 31 ~ Cockroach
June 01 - 03 ~ Slug
June 04 - 14 ~ Skunk
June 15 - 20 ~ As$ (i replaced s to $)
June 21 - 24 ~ Ape
June 25 - 30 ~ Parasite

July 01 - 09 ~ Slug
July 10 - 15 ~ As$ (i replaced s to $)
July 16 - 26 ~ Bullfrog
July 27 - 31 ~ Parasite
August 01 - 15 ~ Ape
August 16 - 25 ~ Slug
August 26 - 31 ~ Skunk
September 01 - 14 ~ Bullfrog
September 15 - 27 ~ Parasite
September 28 - 30 ~ As$ (i replaced s to $)

October 01 - 15 ~ Ape
October 16 - 27 ~ Skunk
October 28 - 31 ~ Snake
November 01 - 16 ~ Cockroach
November 17 - 30 ~ Parasite
December 01 - 16 ~ As$ (i replaced s to $)
December 17 - 25 ~ Ape
December 26 - 31 ~ Bullfrog

If you are an As$ (i replaced s to $): A very loyal and sweet person. Your loyalty can never be doubted. You are quite honest and sincere when it comes to your attitude towards working. You are a very simple person, indeed. Absolutely hassle free, humble, and down-to-earth. That explains the reason why your friends cling on to you! You have a good taste for clothes. If your wardrobe is not updated with what is trendy, you sure are depressed. Popular and easy-going. You have a little group of dignified friends, all of them being quality-personified...

If you are a Slug : Always up to some sort of a mischief! The mischievous gleam in your eyes is what makes you so cute and attractive to everyone. You are an extremely fun-to-be-with kind of person. No wonder people seek your company and look forward to include you for all get-together's. However, you are sensitive which is a drawback. People need to select their words while talking to you. If someone tries to fiddle around and play with words while dealing with you, it is enough to invite your wrath. God bless the person then!

If you are a Cockroach : Quite contradictory to your name, you are a peace loving person. You best try to avoid a situation wherein you are required to fight. An outdoor person, you dislike sitting at one place for a long duration. You are a born leader, and have it in you how to tactfull! y deriv e work from people. You love being loved and when you receive your share of limelight from s omeone, you are all theirs! Well, well... Hence some people could even take an advantage, flatter you to the maximum and get their work done. So be careful.....

If you are a Parasite : An extremely lovable, adorable person, sometimes shy, with a passion for quick wit. At times, you prefer quietness. You love exploring various things and going into depth of each thing. Under normal circumstances you're cool but when given a reason to, you are like a volcano waiting to erupt. You're a fashion bird. People look forward to you as an icon associated with fashion. Basically, you mingle along freely but don't like talking much to strangers. People feel very easy in your company. You observe care in choosing your friends.

If you are a Skunk : You are near to perfect and nice at heart! . The e xamples of your kindness are always circulated in groups of people. You, too, love peace. You wouldn't like to retaliate even to a person who is in the wrong. You are loved due to this. You do not wish to talk behind one's back. People love the way you always treat them. You can give, give, and give love, and the best part is that you do not expect it back in return. You are generous enough. Seeing things in a practical light is what remains the best trait of you guys.

If you are a Bullfrog : You symbolize a very happy-go-lucky approach in life. Whatever the surroundings may be, grim or cheerful, you remain unaffected. In fact, you spread cheer wherever you go. You are the leader of your group of fri ends! and go od at consoling pe ople in their times of need. You dislike hypocrisy and tend to shirk away from hypocrites. They can never be in your good books, no matter what. You are very methodical and organized in your work. No amount of mess, hence, can ever encompass you. Beware, it is easy for you to fall in love....

If you are a Snake : You are mysterious. You are someone who can handle pressure with ease, and can handle any atmosphere without going berserk. You can be mean at times, and love to gossip with your selected group. Very prim and proper. You like all situations and things to be in the w! ay you desire, which, sometimes is not possible. As a result, you may lose out in some relationships. But otherwise, you love to help people out from difficult and tight spots when they really need you.

If you are an Ape : Very impatient and hyper! You want things to be done as quick as possible. At heart, you are quite simple and love if you are the center of attraction. That way, you people are unique. You would like to keep yourself safe from all the angles. Shall your name be dragged or featured in any sort of a controversy, you then go all panicky. Therefore, you take your precautions from the very beginning. When you foresee anything wrong, your sixth sense is what saves you from falling in traps. Quite a money minded bunch you people are!!

I am passing this tag to

Also, not sure if these friends mind doing this tag:

Natural Remedies for Sore Throat and Cough

I'm a fan of homeopathy. If I can do it at home, I would do it... unless it endangers the family's health. Like what I've posted last time, i got a very bad case of sore throat, to the point of not sleeping at all at night (for two nights). I thought it would just go off by itself after the 3rd day. But today, when I got up, I felt that my sore throat has gone really worse. So like I always do, I googled some natural remedies for sore throat and cough.

I opened this website that says cayenne powder is great for sore throats. I didn't have cayenne, but the alternative would be tabasco sauce. Unbelievable, yeah? But when I opened the comments, they all said it provided instant relief! I didn't have cayenne powder. And I thought I still had Tabasco sauce but to my disappointment, my Tabasco sauce was nowhere to be found.

So this evening when hubby arrived from work, we went to a nearby shop and bought cayenne powder. I'm so glad I found it. Here's the mixture: 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne powder to a cup of warmish water. Gargle. You may do every 15 minutes. I can guarantee you it gave me relief. But only to the upper part of my throat. The infection has probably gone deeper so I still felt the pain and was still coughing.

I decided then to mix my own natural remedy to my new found one. Here's the ingredients:

fresh oregano leaves
lime
sugar (honey would be better but I ran out of it)
cayenne powder (1/8 teaspoon)
hot water (1 cup)

Procedure:

Put all the ingredients in hot water. Mix well... leave until the water cools down a bit. Then slowly, sip it. I used spoon like sipping soup. It was not bad at all. It's like eating tom yum soup! LOL. Now I feel a lot better. Thanks for the natural remedies, I don't have to see the doctor.

Red Tag

I love red and I love this tag. I'm just sorry that I didn't post it earlier. This tag was from my friend

Here are the rules:

1. Post your photo wearing red, may it be a red top, bottom, the least would be red accessories if you hate wearing red… If you can’t find one, you still have an option…. Either post your Significant Other’s photo or your child’s photo, if you have one. Of course, they should be wearing red.

2. Let us know the reason why you were wearing red that particular day. Was it your birthday? Is red your fave color or was it the shirt that you first saw in your closet that day?

3. Tag 3 people close to your heart. By the way, they have to be in your blogroll. No cheating heart please.

4. Once you’re tagged, please keep it going - just for this month.Just to remind you not to cheat: tag 3 people close to your heart =)
I love wearing red. It looks nice on my skin tone (pink does too). Last December, we went for a Christmas service in church. We decided to be all red as this is one of Christmas colors. I think both hubby and son look great in red, too. Here they are.

Now, I wanna tag: (still thinking coz most of my friends got this tag already and this month is almost over)

Ice Skating in Sunway Pyramid

We went there after church with friends. My boy has been wanting to go ice skating since he was two years old. But he couldn't because the age limit was 3 years old. So now that he's three, he's been bugging us again to go ice skating. And so, last Sunday, after church, we went there with friends. I didn't plan to go because nobody would take care of Samantha. At first, Hubby would come out and try to convince me to at least try. I've never done that before. I wouldn't wanna be convinced until my boy did it. He said "Mommy, you must go, Mommy, you must. Just hold Aunty Meeyaw's (thai lady that joins mcms training) hand. LOL. How to resist my son? And so there I went and I really had fun. Had to hold Hubby the whole time coz I still didn't know how to balance.

We came home late and by the time we came home, we were all flat. The next day, when I woke up, I had sore throat (really bad one) and a body pain. I didn't wanna get sick so I took two tablets. One bromhexin and one nasatapp. That sent me off. The whole day of Monday I was lying down. Literally. I couldn't get up because of giddiness and bad body pain. Hubby had to take the two kids to office becuase I couldn't get up.

Today, I still feel a bit dizzy but it's not like yesterday. This explains my hiatus-ness for the past 3 days. But I had fun. My boy had fun. Mike was the one who was with him the whole time coz Mike had been ice skating before. It's great to be going out with family and friends. You build some kind of lasting memories with kids, especially when it's you that they're with. I don't know when's the next time we could go ice skating again... Maybe it would take a long time again but I'm sure glad I went. And I'm glad that my son had a great time. :) There's nothing like seeing your child having fun.

Friendship Defined

I have compiled friends' meanings of friendship thru Aloha Friday. See what these friends' take on friendship:

Rachel said:

For me friendship is having ... someone you can trust ... someone you can share your thoughts and feelings with ... someone who cares for your welfare ... someone who understands you

Jackie said:

For me, friendship is having another person to have fun with, share lifes ups and downs with. The best friends are the ones that, even though you may not see each other every day, when you do talk it is like no time has passed.

Dee said:

friendship is a wonderful thing, it is trust, and love and loyalty, someone to do fun and crazy things with, someone to cry with you , laugh with you! Cheer you on, and occasionally scold you when you need it!

Sher said:

Hummm.....Actually I'm a terrible friend.

True friendship means being there whenever you're needed.

Charlotte said:
a true friend listens without judging.

Donetta said:

Learning to love another as I am loved by God and as They are too.

Thanks guy for taking time to answer my question. It's nice to hear other people's ideas... and at the end of the day, we come to realize that everybody needs friends whether we are terrible or being great in our friendship. We need to have that kind of reciprocity. When we love to give, we need somebody to love to take. And when we love to take, we need to have somebody that loves to give. I'm not even talking about material things only. It could be just listening ears, or just a shoulder to cry on, ideas, advises, etc.

But the best of all is that when we're feeling like nobody is around to give that kind of friendship, we are assured that somebody by the name of Jesus is always there, ready to take us into that great friendship.

photo courtesy: jirah kaye

Tasks

I just did 4 tasks today. Had to really do them otherwise I would have a bad reputation of not getting my job done on time. I had to crack my head up though coz the 2 tasks were the same, just different anchor texts and different links. Once you're in this writing business, you will develop your creativity in writing. LOL.

It seems hard to get a writing job in the latest one I applied for. Maybe it's because this blog doesn't have a page rank yet. My other blog had a page rank of 4 but then I think it got penalized for being there just for doing this business, i guess. Will have to clear that one off next month and apply for reconsideration. Google says you can. Will just have to wait for the right time to do it.

The funny thing is, I keep getting offers to write my posts there. This is really a confusing business. But anyhow, I'm glad I have one blog that's earning. Although this month is a bit slow. But it keeps going. I stopped dreaming for this blog's PR already. Maybe I'll just wait until this reaches its maturity age. I saw a lot of blogs that's nothing in there but it has PRs. And I checked the age. So the age really counts.

Okay lah. Will just have to wait. For the meantime, I enjoy writing the things I have in mind. I hope you enjoy reading too. Ciao.

Linky Love

VALENTINE LINKY LOVE
SPREADING LOVE ALL OVER THE WORLD

'For God so loVed
the world,
That He gAve
His onLy
BegottEn
SoN
That whosoever
Believeth In Him
Should Not perish,
But have Everlasting
life.'

Aloha Friday - Friendship

Join me in participating in An Island Life’s Aloha Friday! Every Friday post a question…a way to meet new bloggers. Come join in the fun! Get the details here. Nothing thought provoking. Just simple easy questions.

Although I don't live in Hawaii, I just wanna take my Fridays easy.

So here's my question:

What does friendship mean to you?

Friendship means give and take without reservations. Some friends just wanna take. Some share too, but with reservations. For me, once a friend, will always be a friend... in need or in full.

My Valentine's Day

The first thing in the morning on Valentine's Day, hubby woke me up and greeted me... with this three gerberas. It's our wedding flower so it has a special significance to us.

Like every year on Valentine's Day, i took my hubby to his favorite food, Japanese, in Sushi King. We've been going there for three years on Valentine's Day... always with kids on tow. As I've been telling everyone, our celebration of Valentine's Day FOR NOW is a family affair.

Glad to be confident in wearing my saree again. I just love saree. It makes me feel beautiful when wearing one.

They just recovered from the flu virus that's why they look like this. :) But our girl really enjoyed Japanese food.
While my boy enjoyed looking at the "running" sushis.
I had the Sushi King's Valentine's set while hubby basked in the goodness of sushis.

For a dessert, we usually go to Baskin Robbins but this time we went to New Zealand Natural for a change. They have lovely ice cream presentation. Loved their ice cream too. I can't show you the ice cream presentation because my camera battery went off before we could head off for dessert. Maybe next time.

Hubby wanted more dessert at home, wine and choc-dipped strawberries (he got the idea from my post about my ideal Valentine's celebration) but i reminded him i couldn't coz i'm still nursing our girl. So he promised to do it next year.

I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day yesterday. :)

Pianist or Receptionist?

Is she gonna be a pianist or a receptionist?



Towards the end, you will see how she says no and how she says yes. She's just adorable. Oh well, she's my child... What else can I say? LOL.

Khabi Kushi Khabi Gham

The best Indian Bollywood movie I've ever seen. I saw this movie 4 years ago when hubby and I went to Singapore for a holiday. The movie is in Hindi but it has an English subtitle which you can rarely find in Malaysia. Malaysia has only Malay subtitles. So we bought the CD. Well, I watched this film over and over again. Everytime we have guests at home, we play this movie. How many times have I watched it? Probably 50,000 times. Hehehe.

I saw this once again this week when my boy found it and asked me to show it. We all sat down and started watching. Although we had to cut in the middle of the movie because the kids needed to go to sleep. But I watched the continuation the next day. Alone.

Khabi Kushi Khabi Gam in Hindi means Sometimes Happy Sometimes Sad. It merely revolves around the relationship between children and parents. The reason why I like this movie so much because it depicts a very rich Indian culture, the way they embrace traditions and cultures wherever they are in the world, and the importance of respect to elders from youngsters. I never cried watching movies before but this one had me do it. The actings were so intense.

One thing about Indian movies is the musical production. If you don't like seeing dances and singing in a movie, then don't even try watching one. Indian movie is not without its musical production. I like it. I like the dances, the costumes and everything. Although it can be corny at times but I can tolerate it. I like the dance movements. So graceful... It is indeed an art. I wish I can be in one of their dance production one day, too. But of course, that's only in my dreams. I won't be able to pass... not because I don't know how to dance. I do. but probably because of my nose. LOL. I can't pass for an Indian look. Again, I'm not complaining. It's a Pinay trademark. It's not that all Pinays must have short noses though. LOL.

I have seen other Hindi movies but Khabi Kushi Khabi Gham was the best. It's a beautiful movie. Very moving. A work of art. I don't mind watching it over again the next time I have guests in the house. :)

6 unimportant things about me

I was tagged by Lynn.

Link to the person that tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Share six un-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
Tag 6 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
Let these random people know that they are tagged by leaving comments in their blog. (personal note: of course, how would that person know if she or he is tagged if you don't tell them).
Let your tagger know when your entry is up:

6 Unimportant things/habits/quirks about myself:

1. I always have two bottles of coke in my fridge. If the other one is finish, I have to replenish. otherwise i get panicked that i would run out of supply.
2. I started growing grey hair when i was in primary school. Now it has gone really bad so I have to dye my hair everytime.
3. I co-sleep with my kids. (of course, have to maintain intimacy with hubby even if that means sleeping late).
4. I like buying souvenirs for friends when on travels but end up not giving to them.
5. I'm very good in starting a project but it takes a real effort in finishing up what I started.
   
6. I love blogging (is that unimportant?)

I wanna tag: Lalaine, Ruby, Aisha, Lits, Noemi and Bernadeth

Another Award

I got two awards from ... Thanks sis.

I wanna pass this award to: (who's crazy... about her dog, too), my sister my newest blog friend .

I wanna pass this award to.

weekend snapshot - 11

Join us for fun at:Weekend Snapshot

It's Chinese New Year Holiday and it's time to visit friends. My girl, visiting her Chinese friend. Mandarin orange - only available on Chinese New Year season. In Chinese culture, it is considered luck to give Honey Mandarin Orange especially on CNY holidays.

Have you ever heard/tried papaya wine? I had a taste of it when we visited my future sis-in-law for CNY. It was very sweet. I couldn't drink much because I'm still nursing my girl. But I had a taste of it. I don't mind having it next time when I no longer nurse my girl.

And if you're up to having authentic thai silk scarf, you might wanna try joining My Giveaway. Entries are accepted before 5th of March. I'm picking up two winners by draw.

Coffee and Memories - BYBS

All three of them (hubby and two kids) are asleep now. They've been sick lately, actually... again. All of them. Except me. Again. I sound like i'm sourgraping. I should be thankful I'm up and healthy, yeah? It's a blessing to be healthy.

You know what I'm snacking now? Coffee and cashew crunch (Mrs Maya's Natural). Do you know that I was a coffee addict before?

Here's my story:

It started when I was in my final years in college. We used to have a group study where all of my classmates and I would group together and do our projects, designs and plates. We would do it at home. (I love bringing friends at home even from my younger days). And so, for a week, everybody would be staying awake. And one of the ways to keep us awake was to drink caffeinated drinks (coke, coffee, etc). Since we couldn't afford to have a freeflow coke everytime, we served coffee. Yeah... and it has to be Nescafe. I would be drinking coffee like one pitcher each night just to keep me awake. And it would last until.. at least a week, until we finished our projects.

The good thing with this group study thing was that everybody would try to keep everybody awake. And at 3:00am, everybody would be ready to share/hear jokes. This was the best part. 3:00a.m was always our goofy time. We would laugh until our stomache hurt... even to the corniest joke. I loved those moments... to be awake for some nice reasons. Oh well, to be awake now and be blogging/bloghopping is a nice reason as well. :)

After we finished our projects we would give ourselves a treat though... An overnight time at the beach. Yeah... night swimming. I loved those moments as well. The funny thing with my batch was that nobody liked anyboy in our batch to have a deeper relationship with aside from making projects and assignments relationship. So we would all be hanging around overnight at the beach drinking whatever you could think of and yet there's no strings attached. If you know what I mean. And this went on for three years. The final three years of my college days was this fun. We almost didn't wanna graduate. LOL.

Where was I? Oh.... the coffee story. So because of that, I became addicted to coffee... at least one cuppa a day to make my day. Otherwise, I'd be suffering from headache the whole day. I became a "coffee girl." Everywhere I went I became known as a coffee girl. Hehehe.

Until i met Peter (hubby) who's so health freak. It used to freak me out (and look who's sick now). Hehe. Anyways, like what I've said, it used to freak me out... but I became a convert eventually. And so at one point in my life, I was challenged to give up coffee altogether. I did it abruptly. So for 2-3 weeks, I was on withdrawal symptom. Bad headache. But I was successful and I got out of my coffee addiction. And I noticed I looked better after I got out of it.

I still drink coffee now.... especially when we pass by Starbucks, I always get tempted to have their java chips frapuccino. And black forest at Coffee Bean. I drink but not everyday. And I have a decaf coffee at home. So everytime I wanna have a cup... I could just give myself a treat. So there goes my coffee story. And please don't remind me of my coke addiction coz I'm not ready to give it up... yet.

I know this post is a nonsense blabbering. But hey, you got to know a little bit more of me and my past. :)

Aloha Friday - 1

Join me in participating in An Island Life’s Aloha Friday! Every Friday post a question…a way to meet new bloggers. Come join in the fun! Get the details here.

My question is:

What's your ideal Valentine's Day celebration?

My answer is:

A candlelight dinner with hubby (minus kids) with wine and chocolate dipped strawberries.

Cool Cat Award

I just got an award for being a cool cat. LoL. from ruby. Thanks .



Wanna pass this award to

My New Three Column Template.

I'm giving myself a pat on my back. I did it! After seeing Ruby's three-column template, I was encouraged to do the same. She took 3 hours in building hers. It took me half a day. LOL! I was actually experimenting with a few designs. I think I did 3 designs before I finally decided to use this template, Rounders II. Also, I discovered how to use the sticky post thingy which made my announcement look better. You might be interested in creating a three-column template. Check out Tips for New Bloggers for guide. It's very helpful, very detailed, very comprehensive. I never knew anything about html and stuff like that. But this guide is very easy to follow. I'm sure I'm gonna check that site again and again for more tips. I know I need to do a bit of polishing coz my blog looks a bit messy. But I need to rest now from all these html stuff. Will do it up again next time.

Oh, by the way, My Giveaway is featured in Christian Women Online. So I'm expecting (or hoping?) for more participants from there. If you wanna join this fun giveaway, just click My Giveaway for more details. I'm giving out two authentic Thai silk scarves to two lucky people.

Also, my CBox is back. When I first created my blog, I had it posted already, got it from my friend Beth who blogs about her son. But I kept my blog in private for awhile so I thought it's of no use to have one. But it's back now. You may post any comments you like.

And because I feel very successful for creating my new three-column template, I'm giving myself a flower. A snapdragon that describes my personality.

I am a Daisy What Flower Are You?

Chinese Song

My son surprised me when one day he said "Salamat Pagi" (Good morning in Bahasa Melayu). He's learning another language alright. And I haven't even started teaching him my own language.

Also he loves to sing (he makes or composes his own songs sometimes) or music in general. I know that most (if not all kids) are musically inclined. But he's different. He could tell what instrument is playing by just listening to it... i.e. piano, guitar, trumpet and drums.

Today, he was in a singing mood. I couldn't understand what he was singing so I didn't really bother... until my husband started recognizing the language. Hubby studied Mandarin also when he was in kindy. He told me to listen to our son coz he's singing Chinese (numbers). I quickly grabbed my (new) camera and asked him whether I could take video of him singing. He said yes, so I shot a video straight away. (with his sister's voice in the background). This was the second time I heard him sing Chinese. The first time was when he came home after their Cultural Festival party and he was singing Gong xi.... gong xi... gong xi... gong xi... something like that. I recognized the song coz you can hear that all over Malaysia now, for their Chinese New Year Festival.

Meeting Deadline

One of the things my hubby does as a sideline is to do financial consultation. He's trained to do this. He does accounting and consulting. He'll be very especially busy when it's time to do taxes, especially in the month of October. The most tricky part in doing this job is filling up the tax forms. It's quite time consuming. Of course, when you do accounting, it also takes time, about 3 to 5 days, depending on the length of time the business has been going on. Or depending on how the business goes on. Sometimes for a period of 5 years, he can do this for 3 days. But some clients are doing very well it takes 1 to 2 weeks to get the accounting done even if the business is just 1 year old.

So... in filling out the tax forms, as I've said, takes time. And this is the first thing to do after consulting with the client and before doing the accounting. I found out there's a turbotax available online where you download the do-it-yourself tax software. What a great idea, isn't it? Actually, there has been a promotion going on. Just click on the turbo tax promo code and they will take you to their website where they give you discount just by using the turbo tax promotion codes. The promotion ends on April 16, 2008. You might want to check it out before the promotion expires.

My Giveaway

Because I love to give...





I am giving away. Since I cannot give to everybody, I wanna give away two things to two "lucky" friends... for now. Authentic Thai Silk scarves I bought from Northeast Thailand.


I will pick out the two winners by random.

Here's the rule of the game:

Open to bloggers only. International residents may join too.

To get one point:

1. Post a comment. Any comment will do as long as it's not harsh or rude or obscene.

To get two points:

2. Do the number 1, spread the word. Write a post (announce) with a link that points back to "My Giveaway" in your blog. After doing so, come back to me and post me a comment saying you have done so.

To get three points:

3. Do the number 1 & 2. And if somebody comes to me and mentions your name, i will add another point for you.

That's all you need to do. I will pick two friends after one month of posting this (March 5, 2008) and will announce the next day. The post fee will be on me. The winners should contact me within 3 days after the announcement. Otherwise, I will have to pick another winner to enjoy the giveaway.

I'm going to give away things from time to time so please check it out. Or better yet, subscribe to my feed.

If you have a giveaway of your own and want to join this meme, please, you are very welcome to join. However, I have a set of rules and guidelines:

1. grab the image above and post it in your post, including the line "because I love to give..." and don't forget to link back to My Giveaway. I am going to create a link on my sidebar to locate the My Giveaway post.
   
2. you can give away anything (old, new) as long as it's usable
3. gift vouchers (except discount vouchers) are acceptable.
4. any obscene materials or any materials that projects violence is prohibited.
5. must be willing to take responsibility for the posting fee, if there's any.
   
6. Let's make this meme a fun one.