To The Orient Seas We Go!

It all started as a desire to visit the Golden Triangle... through a backpacking trip. I'd been telling (convincing) friends to join me in this trip. Actually, hubby's the one who's been encouraging me to give myself a treat to go out with girlfriends somewhere.I am a very obedient wife. So I started considering it.

Well, that was last year when my bloggy earnings were accumulating (smug face). Hubby didn't wanna spend it... even for shopping. He would always offer to pay for my shopping. And so... I started asking around. I met with my girlfriend Loretta and told her my desire to go the Golden Triangle. She got so excited. For me lah, coz she's been there already. But she told me she was planning a trip to China. It rang a bell. I have always wanted to go to China too. Then we parted.

Towards the end of the year, things were shaping up for her China trip. She casually mentioned it to me and I got all excited. Or maybe, casually mentioned is understated. she actually mentioned about Shenzen as a shopping paradise. LOL. I told hubby straight away.

As you can guess, my doting hubby got me more excited some more coz he was all for it. The plan was to go to 5 cities. Macau. Hongkong, Shenzen, Chionqing, and... I forgot the name... What was it? Hmmm... somewhere in China I can't remember.

However, for us to visit 5 cities would require more days... say 3 weeks. I started doubting whether I could leave my family for 3 straight weeks just to go on touring around with girlfriends.

Last December, hubby and I went to Phuket for 8 days, left the kids with their grandparents. While we were holidaying, both hubby and I couldn't help but wishing we were holidaying with our kids. And I was so in dilemma. What if I pursued my trip with the girls and leave my family behind. I probably wouldn't enjoy the trip. Epiphany, epiphany... Why didn't we all go together? I could still save some because our planned trip would only be in April-May.

And so... it started that way. We booked the whole family's tickets. Since I couldn't afford to take my family to 5 cities, I decided to just go to 3: Macau, Hongkong, and Shenzen in China. And just skip the shopping part. I could live with that.

The best part of it? My parents-in-law are going with us. You know I always have this wrong motives once I get the kids' grandparents involved? And all the mothers in the house say...

Go for it, Janet!

(giggles)

Yes, now while holidaying with kids, hubby and I could go out at nights... paint the town red, while parents-in-law take care of the kids!

Kind of worth it to have them tag along, yes? And Ita and Dewi, if you happen to read this one, just keep quiet okay? LOL. OOpppsss. am I in trouble now?

Anyways, whatever, I just wanna enjoy the trip. To the Orient Seas we go!

it's me,

Work at Home Mom?

It tickles me funny. Two times in two days now people (my neighbors so to speak) asked me what I do at home while the kids are in school. And it so amused me to answer them that I worked at home. I'm a work at home mom! LOL.

I actually feel that it's only a hobby, to blog. But I am earning from it... so I can call it working at home, right? *big grin*

Anyways... my earnings are not much... but sure can go holiday places, and shop too. So, way to go "work-at-home moms!" Cheers to all my friends who stay at home, blog and earn at the same time!

it's me,

Langkawi Sunset

Langkawi is a beautiful place. It was fun getting around the island. We stayed at Langkasuka Beach Resort - the only private resort in Langkawi, thanks to our friends who gave us a 5-day free hotel stay. I enjoyed watching the sunset there... and enjoyed the dinner by the beach/pool.

Click here for more of our Langkawi Trip. I haven't finish journaling our Langkawi trip yet. Will post some more soon. For the meantime, you might wanna know what happened on our first 2 days while there.

it's me,

F1 2009 Malaysia

I didn't even know that F1 2009 Malaysia has come and gone. I was just curious to check it out because my friend Loretta is such a fan of this race. She has her personal favorites and from the sound of it, she knows all the names behind those cars. I don't. I don't even know the names of the cars. Well, at least I know one. And that's Ferrari, right? I don't know why I am not so much into it. It's probably because I haven't seen any of those races. If I like watching it, I would probably feel very blessed to be in Malaysia because they have it every year here.

I wonder about those drivers behind those fast cars. Don't they get scared? Don't they get nervous? Well, I know there's auto insurance for high risk drivers. So they are insured, I presume. But what if something bad happens? Oh well... something happens even to those people who don't drive. So why worry? Life is not our own. It goes back to the Giver when it fulfills its destiny.

I have been thinking so much about "life" nowadays. Will blog about it more next time.

it's me,

Wedding Motif

Hubby's cousin is getting married next week. This time, I'm not going to wear my saree. The last time I tried wearing... which was 3 weeks ago, I couldn't fit into any of my saree blouses. In fact, I have accidentally torn the other one. And we don't have time to shop or sew a saree blouse.

I am wearing a dress which hubby bought 2 months ago. I have worn it a few times but it should be okay. And the wedding motif is red. Amazing. I love red so I am happy with it. Now All I need to do is buy a new pair of shoes. Maybe get a red pair of stilletos. Or maybe get a pair of Ecco shoes. I hope I will have time to buy. I really need a pair now.

2 months ago when I was de-cluttering my things, I gave away some of my shoes. And when it's time to wear a good pair, I accidentally wore the one that's about to break off. I didn't even notice until I walked on the floor at SIB church... and I heard some kind of click-clacking... only to realize that my shoes had finally broken off. I had to walk barefoot while the graduation program (for the Cross-Cultural training school which hubby directs) was going on.

And I saw two friends who were happily wearing the nice shoes that I just gave. I hardly wore those shoes. But I felt rather generous when I gave them away. I didn't check what's left.

Lesson 1: next time I give something away, I make sure that I have something left for me to use. LOL.

Lesson 2: when I give something away, I must make sure I shop for another one. You know, one out, one in. ROFL.

it's me,

Packed and Ready to Go!

I just finished packing for our trip to Langkawi. And yes, I made it. I packed all our clothes in one bag. Everybody is bringing a backpack so whatever extra we need to bring, I can just put it in. It's a good thing that the kids are older. They can now bring their own things. For example, I packed Samantha's nappies in her Barbie bag. I'm packing Schenker's books and homeworks in his incredibles backpack.

I am still thinking whether we bring one laptop. But I am thinking probably the hotel will have a computer with internet access. Hotels nowadays do have that kind of service. They even have that in Cambodia. I am hoping they have that in Langkasuka Beach Resort. Yes, that's where we're staying, courtesy of our friends.

After our Langkawi trip, where to next? Argentina travel? I wish.

it's me,

Samantha's Performance

Yesterday was Q-Dees Flip Tech Showcase. They do this once a year, after the first term of the school year. I took video of the presentations. Here's Samantha's performance. You can tell teachers dote on her. Enjoy!

it's me,

I'm in Dilemma

I am in dilemma. I have created another blog (as if 7 blogs are not enough). But this time, I am not sure whether I am going to monetize it later. The 7 blogs I just mentioned are all having their own domain names and half is outside blogger, at wordpress. That means, I bought a domain for them and have it hosted somewhere else.

Now this blog is born out of my hobby. I am so engrossed with my latest hobby I just wanna have an outlet. And so far, I am enjoying writing about it in my "outlet."

My dilemma is that, where should I host my new blog? In wordpress or in blogspot? For now, while I'm being indecisive, I have it in blogspot. If ever I have come up with a decision, I can either leave it at blogspot or I can easily export it to wordpress. I am so torn between blogspot and wordpress.

To continue with my dilemma, what if I decide to monetize it someday? Will I be able to that, having 7 blogs I monetize already?

If I ever decide to do that, I would then face another dilemma of which web host to use. You know there are just too many of them. The webhosting I am using now for my wordpress blogs has lots of spam coming in. My friend told me it's normal because it's self hosting. She had me installed a plugin that would ban spams, in fact. But I ban IP's that spam, another IP would come and spam my blog.

Good thing there's this web hosting choice that would allow you to see which is the best web host and which web host is the cheapest and have a service that is satisfactory. I am indeed going to check all the web hosts recommended here once I decide which platform I'm going to host my new blog.

For now, it is in blogspot.

it's me,

Olympus Evolt E-3

I am so into photography now. In fact, I have a new blog that show cases my photos. I am still using raw ones. (You can check it out at: Subang Jaya and It's Surroundings.) For me, it's the best way to show the moment. Like really real ones. But of course, I know that once I get much deeper into photography, I would do post-processing for my photos. That would take time to learn, I think.

Anyways, I am wishing for a nice DSLR and I took a quiz from Facebook: What DSLR Camera should I have? The answer was Olympus Evolt E-3 10.1 MP Digital SLR Camera.

I looked it up the internet and this is how it looks like:I was very excited to see it. But the price? $1,399.00 (that's without lens). It will probably take me YEARS to save up for this one. Plus a good lens. A good quality lens is probably more expensive.

it's me,

My Day Off

Today is Wednesday... I usually meet Anni, my Finnish friend, for a date.We don't do it every Wednesday because it's either she's busy or I'm away. But everytime we meet, it's on a Wednesday.

We did something different today. We went to Sunway Pyramid. Her husband drove us there. Had lunch at Tony Romas. I had beef rib steak... Tony Romas has the best beef steak in town, I tell you. I simply loved it.

While having lunch, I was telling my friend I do paid blogging. She asked what that was. I said I write reviews for a company and they pay me. And she wowed at it. She asked me how much do I get? I said for 60 words, one link, I get 5$. Then she LOL'ed. She actually thought I was getting 50$ for a post. LOL. Well, what can I say? Finland is the richest country in the world (if not one of the richest). So 5$ is probably nothing to them.

After lunch, we both went to British India. And I gawked at the sight of it... 70% sale. I felt like Rebecca of Confessions of a Shopaholic. I must take advantage of the sale... as I always do at British India's. Of course I was already planning to buy me at least one top today. So I did. And I was happy with my buy.

I had a whole day to spare because Peter decided he could work at home. But Anni had to leave early. So at 2pm, I saw her off at a Taxi stand.

Then I walked back inside Sunway Pyramid to shop for Samantha's baby doll. But my feet took me to TGV Cinema... just to see what's showing. And again I gawked when I saw that Confessions of a Shopaholic was still showing. It was 2:15pm. The show starts at 2:30pm. I was alone. What was I doing? But my interest in seeing the movie overcame me. So I did. And laughed my heart out... like a real crazy girl I was coz I was alone watching the movie.

After the movie, I remembered I had to buy Samantha's Baby doll. I went to Toy City because they had cheaper toys. I was happy to see they had a cheap baby doll. Found a medical kit for Schenker as well. I didn't have enough cash. So I decided to use my credit card... only to be disappointed because their machine wasn't working. Good thing I didn't plan to go to other shops to buy sports gifts... otherwise it will be more disappointing.

So I decided to walk around and look for card reader for my Sony Camera (yeah, poor me, I don't have DSLR yet). It was easy to find. I gave my credit card to pay for it. BUT their machine wasn't working either. What's wrong with their machines? What's wrong with Sunway Pyramid? Hmmm... It's probably my credit card. What's wrong with me today? I felt so unsuccessful.

So I came back home. Took a cab. The driver was a Malay guy. He started talking to me and saying something about USJ 18. I thought I was smart enough and answered him.. but in English. My answer must be wrong. So he said... oh, you're not Malay. And I said "yeah, everbody thinks I am Malay." He asked me whether I was working. I said no. A student? I said no again. "I said my husband is Malaysian so I live here."

Later he said... ahhh I thought you were single that's why I asked whether you were working. Long pause. Then he said... because lots of Filipinos are working here... you know, at the night club. That made me grimace. Are we that bad? But I just said... "yeah, I know." What else was there to say?

Anyways, I was happy I made it home safe. I was also happy to remember Anni when she said my full name was the most beautiful name she's ever heard. It made my day and I didn't wanna ruin it by careless remarks.

So that's it for my day off. Hope you all had a good day today!

it's me,

Out of the Mouths of My Babes

Oh the joys of parenting... the quirks, the pains... It is just amazing how children can melt our hearts. My kids love each other. The boy is responsible over his sister. I can see that because everytime I go to school to pick them up, I would see him holding his sister's hand, going to the waiting area. It is nice that while still young, he is trained to look after his sister.

However though, there is always that bad days for both of them They fight, they scream at each other, they smack each other and what not. Normal kids, of course.

Listen to this:

(Samantha must have triggered the fight.)

Schenker: You are naughty girl!

Samantha: You are naughty boy! (yes, at 2 years and 4 months, she knows how to fight back already)

Schenker: Naughty Samantha!

Samantha: Naughty Anne! (older brother or kuya in Filipino)

Schenker: I don't love you. I only love Mommy and Daddy

Samantha: But I love you Anne, I love Mommy and Daddy u-so (also)

Schenker: You love me?

Samantha: Yes, Anne

Then they start playing again.

Children. When do the starty ceasing to melt our hearts. Never, I hope.

Schenker putting on his sister's socks and shoes (taken when we were in cameron Highlands, on our way to do family trekking).

A Good and quiet moment for brother and sister

it's me,

Baby Doll

I'd been planning to buy Samantha a baby doll. Now a grown up doll like Barbie Doll... just a baby doll for her to play with. She's been sharing toys with her brother and I thought it's high time she plays with girly stuff.

We went to Subang Parade after church. Subang Parade, by the way, is my husband's favorite mall. Went to Toys 'R Us after buying a book from MPH bookshop.

I went straight to the dolls department, hoping I could buy a cheap baby doll... only to be dismayed. The cheapest I saw was 119.50RM! That's about 1,500 Pesos! Imagine having a doll for 1,500 Pesos. I would have bought it if I was planning to buy no matter how much it cost. Sadly, I had a budget (which was less than 50RM).

So we went out of Toys 'R Us empty-handed. First time.

But I'm planning to save so I can buy it for her. She had fun playing with the doll there because it made some noises and it can hold up it's milk bottle. The one she liked was 169.90RM. Maybe I save until her birthday time. LOL. That would be another 7 months. I'm sure I could save in 7 months, couldn't I?

it's me,

Next Family Trip

We should get one of those rvs. My family has been doing lots of family recreation that I wish I have one of those. Of course it's a wishful thinking. Well, with my personality like this, I can do anything... in my dreams. LOL.

Anyways, for those who are really traveling, not just in their dreams but in reality, you might want to check out Charter bus NYC. That's specially if you're traveling in New York. They offer the best bus Charter and motor coach services for daytrips, corporate events, amusement parks, airports, trade shows and conventions.

You would truly enjoy your getaway with their professional, courteous drivers and efficient services. According to their website that I have read, their buses and coaches are well maintained and well serviced so you can guarantee of smooth and safe trips. They also offer group discounts so if you are traveling in groups, you sure can save and do more with your money. You get a bonus of meeting friendly staff as well. Nowadays, it's hard to get a very good and satisfactory customer service.

I wonder if they have that kind of service for our next family trip? I can only wish, I guess.

it's me,