the girl with a golden heart

Last Saturday night, I went to grab Ramlee burger. If you know the best Ramlee in town, it would have to be the one at Seapark. It is truly and amazingly delicious. Not sure if the 2 whom I also bought for had the same sentiments because by the time we ate our burgers, it was soggy, wet, cold...just not the same when having it just out of the pan. I am chinese like that. Nevertheless, we ended up with cold burgers, chatime (who does not love Chatime?) and cigars. 

So, anyway, what happened was, if you know Seapark, it's quite an old PJ town. The shophouses, the homes all have a distinct 70's look to them. But, I love Seapark more for the food. How can you not love the food? The old uncles and aunties who continue to feed us with their secret recipes..they are to die for. I mean, TO.DIE.FOR. OK la, I've been told I am such an old china-apek. Can't blame me when it's a place I grew in, a place I used to frequent and wait endlessly for my mom to finish her marketing every SUnday. How I hate the wet market. I still do actually. 

Oh dear, but I digress.

Hubby parked his car in the opposite direction of where the Ramlee station was because we were on our way home from the in-laws place. He got out to grab 3 Ramlee Daging Special for me whilst I stayed in the car with the girls. Mini slept cos she was super tired but not Ash, she was as chatty as ever, asking me a thousand whys. I am telling you, I feel like being on the phone with a Japanese customer -- by the 5th WHY, you'll start peeing in your pants (or panties).

After about..oh, I don't know, the 50th why, Ash spotted a man rummaging through garbage right in front of our car. He was about 50-ish, had a torn but pretty clean white shirt and black knee-length shorts. He held a plastic bag in one hand while the other was free to search for more...err..rubbish?. He went through one trash can after another and another and eventually, pushed opened the glass door into public bank..hahah...sanitize your hand if u are a customer/employee at that branch. 

The whole scene must've gotten the curious side of Ash and she started to ask me why. Here's how our conversation went :

Ash : Mommy, why the uncle (see..she's even polite to call him uncle when society deems such people as trash) doing with the rubbish. 

Me : Oh, because the uncle is searching for food. He's hungry.

Ash : Rubbish got no food. Just rubbish.

Me : Because uncle have no money to buy food. Those people cannot finish their food, throw in the rubbish then the uncle pick it up to eat lor.

Ash : Oh...but but..I will help uncle. 

Me : How can you help the uncle?

Ash : I will give the moneys. 

Me : Where are you going to find all the moneys?

Ash : There...the coins. I will give all the coins to the uncle. Then uncle will love me (she associates love with gratitude, thankful, acknowledgement of good deeds..not love, love kind of love). Because I am a brave girl Mommy.

Me : That's very sweet of you honey. Yes, uncle will be very grateful (I didn't say love because well, he is after all very much older than her and he just went through trash) and you are really a brave girl.

And that was the end of it because the father came back to the car and I quickly asked her to tell her father what she saw in case she seriously wanted to get down to pass the uncle some cash. We drove off and that was that.

But, it was really really thoughtful of her. She's really sweet my girl. Can be annoying but sweet, kind and compassionate. So proud of her we are...and blessed that she's got such a good head on her shoulders and a truly a golden heart.

a post with no title

I've just had one of "those" days. You know, those days where you feel absolute crappy and trapped and trying to get out of the hell-hole you're in. You know, one of those days. 

Oh, you've never had those days before? Well..good for you. I sure have them plenty lot. Not everyday, just possibly if you want to quantify it -- once a month. Especially during/after/before aunt flo drops by for a visit. I don't know, I mean, ever since having kids, my hormones have gone mad!

I try to be positive, think positive and smell the roses..what roses? Those in my house are either fake plastic or possibly dying from mal-nurtition. Many already died. So, no more flowery plants. God knows I don't have green fingers. The only one who pots away is dear hubby, and to a certain extent, my lovely neighbour who cares too much to let living things just rot away. She's taken over as our plants' care provider. Bless her indeed. 

OK..where was I? Yeah, so, positive..positive chants. Frankly, they don't work. Really. But, what does it for me mostly is my 6 year old niece. When I think of her, I will slap myself silly (not in an erotic way, you guys), and wake up in an instant because other people have 'real' problems. I am just whinning away. Real people with real problems. 

My niece, she's autistic. You won't know it if you look at her but she is. The sad truth is, she may remain this way for a very very long time. It's hard as it is raising normal kids. I mean, we all parents can testify to that. How many of us threatened to throw our kids to the bin when they were naughty? We don't mean it of course, but you know, we have that thought. So, imagine having to deal with a special child, day in- day out, not having any help i.e a maid, and feeling so drained out mentally and physically because she will never understand. It's tough x 1000-times. It's really hard on the parents who not only has to deal with her but her brother who is a 100% normal. How do you balance that?

They are not alone, I am certain. If you read the newspaper, or have a colleague, you will realise that many are actually having to carry this gigantum weight on their shoulders. And, boy, it.is.heavy. 

Whenever I think about them, I snap out of my childish thoughts immediately. Pronto. It's enough to make me wake -up and clean the house (not with glee...but just less resentment). Then, when I am actively doing something, my mind usually stay focus and most unhealthy thoughts will slowly disappear. And then, it's another day. 

This post isn't going anywhere. It's easy to complain when we don't have to deal with difficulties. But, it's certainly another when we are burdened with them. Am I making any sense? Apologies if I am not. I am merely spewing out random incoherent meaningless thoughts. I will return with more...err...normal posts I guess..

exercise for moms

Apart from housework, moms need some form of exercise to keep fit and healthy. We need all the energy that we can muster especially dealing with children and the house. Believe me, it's far more exhausting than sitting in an office and staring at the computer.

One of the more effective and easier form of exercise is taking a nice morning stroll. Or if you're younger and have more energy to burn, running may be more suitable for you. Or if you have energy and money to burn, join a gym or yoga classes. Much more fun to exercise with nice funky yoga outfits, and apparatus such as yoga blocks. It's definitely a reason to work up a sweat if you ask me. 

5 year plan

So..have you ever planned anything to happen way way waaaayyyy in the future? Even my wedding I only planned it within 6 months. The only thing that took more than 6 months was having kids. Other than that, a 5 year or more plan has never happened to me. Maybe except when I was in Std 5.

You know, how in those days, pre-UPSR days, we had the Penilaian (Assessment) exam in Std 5. I never really wondered why STd 5 and not Std 6. If it was in Std 6, I would've skipped it all together cos my family went away to the US for a year++. What's your point? I have one - just bear with me. After the Penilaian exams, it was literally honeymoon. I mean, teachers weren't teaching. They were in class, but just allowed us to do what we wanted, which was essentially to play. We would bring games to school. I remembered a couple of kids in my class on an impromptu basis, acted out a scene from Mind Your Language. Take a wild guess which character I took on? hahahha. It was hilarious. People from other classes started peering into our classrooms from the outside, wondering what the heck we were up to. They stood to watch.

Believe me, I DO have a point. I will come to it shortly.

You get the idea of how 'free' we were after those exams. Free but still had to compulsorily attend school. More like forced to attend. My friends and I, the 3 of us - possibly bored out of our minds - made a pact that when we grow up, we would live together in an apartment like Three's A Company. And I was to become a kindergarten teacher (oh, how thankful I am it was only a short term fantasy), another would be in the police force and..I can't remember what my other friend wanted to do. But, oh, we had these dreams. We were so serious that to avoid any sort of conflict, we divided house-chores amongst us. I wonder who's been keeping that chore list. We definitely had plans.

So, that was the longest I have ever planned for anything. As you know, none of anything materialised. As a matter of fact, after I returned from the US, all of us went separate ways, had different set of friends, were in different classes. Until now, I have no idea where and what they are doing. Perhaps I should start searching.

Told you I had a point.

Now, back to the 5-year plan. In 5 years, there's this plan to take a trip to Italy. Yea, we want to do the whole "Eat"-thing. Do what the Italians do, or at least try to. Rome would be stunning, Milan would be fashionable, Venice would be magical and Florence....Florence is my old neighbour from my mom's house. Sounds like a P.L.A.N, don't it?

But, before this P.L.A.N comes to life, I need to save every penny I have. Eat bread everyday (I can always have good food later in Italy), stop splurging on RM200 pair of shoes, scour religiously for free online coupons...you know, just about ANYTHING to be able to get myself on that plane. 5 years is a long time to save.

Yep, sounds like a Plan...

ps : it's 2 in the AM. Serena's on court and I can't sleep with Wilson Philips' Hold On constantly ringing in my head. Lovely song :-).

Blogger's new interface

I am still not used to this new interface on Blogger. It feels strange typing out my blog posts. But, I am sure - as with all things - I will get used to it eventually. Just hoping that I do not lose any of my blog posts or information.

On to something else : Mini's been yakking quite a bit. She has now gone to the extent of saying "Go away..". Oh dear..did she pick it up from us when we tell her to go away when we don't want to be disturbed? Bad bad influence!!

It's thursday and it's the last day of our long holidays. Hubby's going back to work tomorrow even if it's only just for 1 day. Since he's been home, we have done quite a few things around the house. We've changed our filter water cartridge for one. We threw away old bottles and junk. According to he, our mini backyard is cluttered with too much junk. Then, just a couple of things here and there...basically spring clean and repaired the outdoor thermometer. Am I happy with the results? yes yes...of course..hehhe.

Back to the grind next week. Back to cooking. Back to the school run. Back to the kids' activities. It's a good thing I am still standing. 

the kid who can't wait to grow up...

Ash is 4. In fact, according to my "Indian calculation", she's actually 4 and a half. That's what we think or assume to be the case. But, not her. She claims that she's not 4, but 7. Huh?

As much as I like her to be 7 because that could mean that hubby and I can retire earlier than scheduled. She can start doing heavy-duty house chores like fixing the water pumps for instance. But, in truth, we don't really want her to grow up too quickly. HUbby and I were just saying how big she's grown and how much of her baby-hood that we've forgotten or slowly forgetting. You know, things like when did she start walking, when she said her first word. I have been a lazy mom and did not journal her milestones as diligently as I should have. I have photos but not enough taken.

And, I feel I am starting to slack off with Mini in terms of taking photos of her too. I am usually so so zoned out everyday that the only thing I want to do is plop myself on the couch and stare blindly at the tv. Or read my chic lit. I don't know...it could be the age thing. Or...pure laziness..I think it's more of the latter.

on being sick

Ash has not been well for the past 2 weeks. She had the sniffles first. Then, because she's such a light sleeper, her sleep was interrupted by stuffy nose and such. After that, sniffles turned into cough. Cough and cough, and cough. The worst is during the night-time. Sooo...what to do?

She definitely got it from school. And the cough is/was from her runny nose. In that 2 weeks, she saw the paed twice. The most recent was just this Monday. I told her doc that her cough has definitely worsened. Plus, she refused to eat. She's been off food for the past 2 weeks, and possibly the weeks before ever since her vomit episode. She hasn't been the same since. It didn't help that as soon as she recovered from her bout of bug infection, she welcomed another.

Anyway, her paed prescribed antibiotics as a last resort and no matter how much I try to avoid giving her antibiotics, this time, I gave in. I told the doc "please...anything". As soon as she took 1 dose, immediately her cough lessened. Immediately. Even though after the 2nd day, she was visibly better, she has to complete the course. 5 days that she has to take it.

School's about to start. I definitely want her to get well and go back to school on a regular basis (she's been skipping classes alot lately). Besides, this classmate of hers cannot sleep, eat nor function without her (OK..I may seem to be exaggerating here but trust me, this girl sticks to Ash like bee to honey).