the fever

Are you in on it too? The 'fever'?

I am..only because there's nothing else on tv except the sports ch. This is because we only have one tv in this house. oh, that's quite normal, you say. But believe me, it really isn't when you have more than 2 people living under one roof. I've known of some with a minimum of 3, one for each room!

Anyway, this fever happens once in every 4 years. In truth, hubby isn't really a hard-core footie fan. He watches it simply because it's the world cup. After the month is over, that will usually be it; no more football (or soccer for some of you folks). So, I tend to join in the fun as well and will root for whoever he's rooting for..hahaha...

So, hows the family apart from the fever? Well, as you would remember from a couple of posts back, lil Em turned 13 months. She's started walking too. Still wobbling a little but getting there. Ash is her usual cheeky self. We think that her 'terrible 2' was delayed somewhat. These days, she's seriously testing our patience. She'll try to stretch it as far as she possibly can...and with crocodile tears to follow too. But, we won't back down. We will fight till the end!! hahah...**evil laughter**.

Ash and I were supposed to go swimming at Ash's playgroup friend's condo this week but I declined. Oh, it's not the pool, it's clean with awesome pool filters. It's just that we slacked the past weekend from doing some housework so I had to get somethings moving. Otherwise, the work will continue to pile and it will be a lot more difficult to clear. Hmm...sounds like 'work' doesn't it? Trust me...it is (work)!

pretty boy

It's still early for me and I for one, am in no mood to be nice. So...this will not be a normal post from me.

You have been warned.

My annoying neighbour. Their son to be exact. He is the same age as Ash. Whenever he's home, which is ALL THE TIME, he'd call out for Ash, screaming "pretty girl..pretty girl.."

It's no secret that I am one (a pretty girl) and no doubt that my girls are (pretty girls) too *ahem*. BUt, they have names - Ash and Em. They are not "pretty girls...pretty girls". Knowing my somewhat pariah neighbour, I know she's been telling her kids that Ash is 'pretty girl'. "there goes pretty girl...see, pretty girl". In fact, it's translated from the canto version of "leang lui". Hello...this is not pasar malam!!!

I'm sorry but it's kinda rude no matter how flattering it may sound to some. I will only allow me, and myself to be labeled 'pretty girl', not my girls.

I know, why don't I just have a word with the mother? Nothing. I never approached her. Seeing how she hates my face (lord only knows why...maybe I am prettier than her) and knowing the pariah-ness in her, she'll only be too happy to see me annoyed. Besides, she's hardly around and the kids are always with the maid.

So, what did I do in the end? You know how they always say "if you can't beat them, join them"?

Well..."pretty boy!! oh pretty boy!!! There you are pretty boy.."

p.s : Lately, he's been singing this annoying tune from the Wondergirls..Gosh, I don't even want to repeat it. It is sooooooo....freaking annoying!! Probably learnt it from his elder sis. As it is I am having the allergies (maybe from all these inner distress and I swear, from now on, more eczema is gonna come outta me!!

at Elise's

One Saturday, I can't remember when but one of the Saturdays we had our brunch in this quaint little cafe at Plaza Damas called Elise's cafe and coffee house. Yeah, I think that's what's it's called.

The place is small and cosy. I think, there were only about 10 tables including a couple you see outside the cafe. From the outside, I thought it looked kinda cute and decided to check it out.

We were the only people in there at 11am. Either we were late for breakfast or too early for lunch. But, nevertheless, we were greeted by ELise herself and of course, she took our orders.

Just like the number of furniture they had in there, the number of dishes were also correspondingly few but to me, it's enough. Many might say it's too little but I think the idea was/is to service a manageable number. YOu know, not to over-crowd and to over-do. They serve a mixture of local hawker flare and some western as well. So, we ordered a little of both..just for taste.

My verdict (on the food and the ambience) : it's nice. My kind of place to hang-out even though, at the time, it was practically empty. Plus, they were missing some convex mirrors though I'm not sure how much of a difference it would've made cos if they did, it'd be right there. But, I can imagine it being absolutely lovely early in the morning for breakfast or sipping your afternoon tea with scones. Yes, she has them..**drool**..Definitely a place I'll go back to.

Some more pics from my mobile to follow. I simply gotta share. It's just too cute :-)

the maid-less issue

I have been wanting to talk about this but never got a chance to. Well, there will never be one (a chance) if I don't seize it, right? So, anyway, here's the story :

We did have a maid but for a short while. More like 4 months to be exact. What happened to her? We sent her back to the agent. It wasn't because of her or her work but the agent's.

See when we were scouting around for a maid last year, hubby's friend gave him the agent's contact. Since he got his maid stuff done up pretty quickly, we decided to give it a go.

The maid we got had no legal working permit. We knew that even when taking her in. Why did we even bother? Well, because the agent assured us that she would be able to get a working permit for her within a couple of weeks. So, we said "ok". Giving her the benefit of the doubt. Besides, we needed help during that time because it was our most difficult period with lil MOnster. We just let it slide. Furthermore, we didn't pay anything up-front, just her salary every month. The agent told us to only pay after she's done with the paperwork.

OK now, I know that should ring some kind of a warning bell but we chose to ignore it because we liked her. Even my MIL liked her. Things were going well. WE just went along and chose to wait.

Months passed and every time we asked the agent for her permit, she'd give all sorts of excuse. The boss wasn't in to sign, it's stuck at Putrajaya etc...all sorts. Then, it was the last straw. She exhausted all her excuses and eventually told us that she couldn't do it. But, she will want to give it another try. That was it. Hubby and I decided that no point risking the kids, the family and my MIL too since she goes there to help out occasionally, we told the maid we'd be sending her back. She did ask us to give the agent another chance but because of all the stories she fabricated, we didn't trust her anymore.

We felt bad for the maid. It's like denying someone of a job despite her/his good performance. Of cos, not forgetting, we felt bad for ourseleves. Imagine having to do the dishes, wash the clothes, the house...everything all on our own now...hehehhe...:-P

Still, we didn't want to risk it. Oh..why didn't we just get another agent? Well, you see, I believe it was almost divine intervention because when she came, handling Em was the most difficult. She helped us out alot - mentally and physically. When she left, that 'difficult' period was already in it's decline. We figured that, having to wait for another few months for a new maid to come, get her settled in, Em will be able to walk! So, we decided not to go through the hassle.

And now, here we are - 7 months on the road..without help on a full-time basis. The part-timer still comes around once a week. Yes, I am still pretty hopeless :-P. But, we've regained our privacy though we did eventually get used to a stranger in the house. We also gained wrinkly fingers. More now. But, we're surviving.