Special Birthday

Out of the blue, I decided to bake a cake to celebrate Merdeka Day.

Simple recipe:

1. 250g Optima flour
2. 50g water
3. 5 pcs eggs
4. 65g corn oil

Mix 1, 2 and 3. Whisk till fluffy, gently mix 4 well and bake for 40-45 mins at 180 C.
Here's a cake ready to celebrate...

Here's wishing everyone:

HAPPY MERDEKA DAY!

Indonesian maid

My husband finally hired a maid for me after much persuasion. He never believed in getting maids.

So we got the first one. She was with us for only a month. She said she couldn't stand my kids. They were noisy and playful.

We sent her back to the agency and the second one came after a month. She too didn't stay long, just two months.

She was nice, did what I asked her to do. I taught her how to cook and do the housework. She also had to take care of my kids.

Everthing was fine. On Sundays, she would follow us out for shopping and dinner. One Sunday, she decided to stay at home. I asked her why. She replied:

Saya pening kepala.

Since she stayed home, I asked her to change the curtains for me. I also decided to leave my little girl with her. But last minute, I just left the maid alone. I told her to rest after she had done her chores.

Late in the evening, when we reached home, I noticed that the curtains were not changed. Quickly we went in the house. She was gone. Found a note near the phone. It read:

Saya sudah pergi dengan seorang lelaki.

Mu husband reported to the police and the agent. We were asked if we wanted replacement. My husband said:

No more maids!

So till now, I had to do my own housework. Luckily my mum came to stay with us. Otherwise, I would have to quit my job and be a full-timed housewife.

Adjective game

I had attended an English course for Form 1 syllabus in 2002. We learnt a lot of stuff. One of the most interesting sessions was the adjective game.

Each one of us had to give an adjective for our own name. It was fun. Usually we tried to give the best adjective for ourselves.

But in school, I did some changes. Instead of giving an adjective, I asked my students to give an adjective to each alphabet of their names, eg

J-Jovial
A-Adventurous
N-Natural
E-Eccentric

Ok, all good stuff about JANE. What about bad stuff?

J-Jealous
A-Aggressive
N-Nuisance
E-Evil

Myself:

W-Wonderful/Worrisome
E-Energetic/Egoistic
N-Nice/Naughty
N-Noble/Noisy

What about your name?

learning through songs

When I was teaching the Year 1 and Year 2 students, I usually liked to teach them through songs.

Songs such as
Are you sleeping?
Clementine

What I did was I substituted the words,

I taught my students about the topic, Personal Details, ie,
What is your name? How old are you? Where do you live?

Clementine chorus tune
What is your name?
What is your name?
What is your name, my friend?

I am Annie,
I am Annie,
I am Annie, my friend.

How old are you?
How old are you?
How old are you,
My friend?

I am seven years old.
I am seven years old.
I am seven years old, my friend.

Are you sleeping tune
Where do you live?
Where do you live, my friend?
My friend?

I live in Ipoh.
I live in Ipoh, my friend.
My friend.

So much so my students got drilled through singing.

Next, I gave them an oral test. I asked them questions about personal details. They would think about the songs and sang out the answers. Funny, haha.. Anyway, they passed with flying colours.

spider web

overcoming physical limitations

careful planning is the key

The Spider Web activity was a very challenging one. We need to go through the spider web without touching the web. Otherwise, we had to start all over again. Every member had to go through different path.

First and foremost, we had to discuss our plans and cooperated well in order to pass this challenging obstacle.

It took us the whole night to pass the test.

The Challenges

Finding the safest route
Strict time constraints
Physical task
Safety high priority
No one may touch the web

Skills Required

Planning
Time management
Co-ordination
Balance
Communication
Space awareness

Trust Fall

I was at a leadership camp few years ago. There were few tasks that we had to accomplish. Among those were:
spider web
bungee jump
soldier crawl
wall climbing
trust fall

I would never forget the trust fall.

I was blindfolded when I got to the top of the platform. On the ground, there were members of my group pairing up face to face holding each others' arm tightly. They were ready to catch me when I fell.

I had to fold my arms, took a deep breath and fell backwards.

They caught me in one piece. It was a successful fall.

But,

my sister was nervous. She had to fall anyway. She let go her folded arms and fell awkwardly. She even accidentally scratched one of the members' face.

For this special task, we learnt that:

we need to trust the people whom we have entrusted to do something for us.

gifts

A good friend of mine presented me with a poster:

8 Gifts

Eight gifts that do not cost a cent:

Listening..

But you must really listen.
No interrupting, no daydreaming, no planning your response.

Affection..

Be generous with appropriate hugs, kisses, pats on the back and handholds.

Laughter..

Share articles and funny stories.

A written note..

A brief handwritten note may be remembered for a lifetime.

A compliment..

A simple and sincere compliment can make someone's day.

A favour..

Go out of your way to do something kind.

Solitude..

Be sensitive to others.

A cheerful disposition..

Extend a kind word to someone.

My friend's wig

Sungai Rejang Flume Ride

Every time when I was at Genting Highland, I never liked to go for the theme park. But one day, a friend tricked both my friend and I into taking the Sungai Rejang Flume Ride. We thought that it was just a simple boat ride.

So off we got into the boat waiting for us. The boat was moving slowly and suddenly I realised that it was going upwards at 45 degrees or so. Suspense, we were already at the top and zoom..it went down, down also at 45 degrees.

What was in my mind at that time? I felt that I was going to be thrown out of the boat. Splash! We landed, still in one piece as the boat was still moving very slowly.

There was another one shot waiting for us. This time I was more prepared. I hold on tightly and holding on my breath, telling myself:

Don't be scared! Stay cool!

But my friend who was behind me shouted:

My wig! My wig!

We searched hurriedly and found it just underneath my seat. Nervously, we were ready for the second shot.

So the second one was sort of fun.

ahn-nyong-ha-se-yo?

War Museum

Lotte World Theme Park

ahn-nyong-ha-se-yo? (How are you?)

Since my passport was almost expired, I decided to go to Seoul, Korea. I was there in Sept 2003. It was spring at that time. Perfect weather.

Been to :

Gyeonbok Palace tour

Changgyeong Palace

Seoul Tower

DMZ tour

Dongdaemon Market

Namdaemon tour

Lotteworld Theme Park

Yongsan Electronics Market

Korean War Museum

Gyeong-dong Oriental Medicine Market

COEX Shopping & Entertainments Mall tour

Han River boat cruise

Girl Scout

Buat Habis Baik!

Scouts are organised into units/troops averaging 20-30 girls/boys under guidance of a team of leaders. Units subdivide into patrols of about six Scouts and engage in outdoor and special interest activities. Wikipedia

I had never been a scout before when I was in school. So when I was in college, I became a girl scout. Funny, without knowing me, the scout master chose me as the treasurer and a patrol leader.

Accepted the challenge, I was a dedicated treasurer so much so that when the members saw me coming, they would run away. But I always got hold of them and made them pay for the monthly fees.

Being a patrol leader was very challenging. I need to make sure that my patrol was always active and responsible. We even had a cooking competition and we got second.

We had to go for camps which we enjoyed very much. We learnt to build camps with proper knots, march, sing and play lots of games too.

The best part was the camp fire. Every patrol had to perform. I remembered my patrol presented a dikir barat. Very funny yet fun.

Diarrhea

Diarrhea Remains Second Leading Cause Of Death Among Children, Despite Effective Interventions:The Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report

When my little girl was about a year old, she had diarrhea. I guess it was due to the milk bottle. I had stopped sterilising her bottles.

I took her to see a doctor and he advised me to admit her to the medical centre. I was so sad and in tears, I drove all the way and got her admitted.

I stayed with her and the nurse just gave my little girl oral rehydration salt dissolved in water as her drinks. She was hungry so I kept feeding her. When I asked for more of the salt, the nurse said:

You can't give her so much.

I replied,
What to do? She is thirsty.

Never mind about that. Even the doctor was bad. He wanted to take some blood from my girl to do a test. Each time he poked the needle into her tiny hand, she was struggling and crying loudly. Finally, so many bruises on her hand. I was so upset.

So I challenged the doctor,
You need to listen to me. I want to take my girl back. She will be ok back home.

The doctor had no say and let us out.

When I reached home, I simply get a soya based milk for her and she got better.

Regretted: I shouldn't have admitted her to the center. I had wasted quite a sum of money.

Proposal

After I had finished my teachers training course in Maktab Perguruan Seri Kota, KL, I was posted to Pasir Mas, Kelantan. I had a boyfriend back in Ipoh then. Imagine the time really passed by so slowly.

One day, the school received a note informing about the closing date for transfer form to be submitted. I got the form from the office and I told my headmaster about it.

He said,
Bukan senang dapat balik asalkan kamu sudah berkahwin.

That gave me an idea. I actually proposed to my boyfriend when I went back to Ipoh.

Shall we get married, darling?

He replied, Of course, sweetheart! But why?

I need to come back! It's so boring in Pasir Mas. I miss u!

So off we went and got ourselves registered with 2 friends as our witnesses.

When I submitted my form with a copy of my marriage certificate, my headmaster was shocked!

Cikgu sudah berkahwin..?

Finally, at the end of the year, I got posted back to Perak. It was the happiest day of my life.

Sayonara, Pasir Mas.

Christmas

daughter , sil, sil, bil
friend n me

My daughter and I celebrated Christmas in Newcastle, Australia in 2004. We visited my brother-in-law, his wife and their two sons.

Christmas eve was spent with their friends. We had delicious food, games and singing in the drizzle at the backyard of the house.

Christmas day was spent in their own house. Friends and relatives dropped by, also enjoying food and watching videos.. In the evening, everyone collected their own gifts under the Christmas tree. I had a white fluffy sheep skin. My daughter had a fluffy teddy bear.

Boxing day which was the following day, was spent in my sister-in-law's brother's house. Also eating and drinking..Both of us put on some weight, my goodness!

sil, daughter n bil

The best part was during the New Year's eve and New Year 2005. We were in Sydney! Oh, really admire the breathtaking and spectacular scenery! Fantastic!

me, sil n daughter

Well, we hope to visit Australia again next year.

tour guide

I went to China with a group of Malay friends in June 2006. It was a halal trip which was meant for the malays. They wanted me to go with them in the hope that I could help them to communicate with the Chinese in China.

So off we went. It was fun visiting places and even shopping. Those Chinese wouldn't call me but would call my friends to buy their stuff. I had to help to negotiate with the shopkeepers even though I only spoke few words of Mandarin.

Once, we were taken to a massage place. All of them had a foot massage except me. One of the Chinese asked me in Mandarin:

Are you the tour guide?

I had to pretend that I was one.

Next, when we grouped together and talked, a pair of couples asked me:

Who are they? Why do you talk to them?

I replied,

Oh, we are from Malaysia.

We even climbed the Great Wall of China.

We had a real fun time in Beijing.

Angels?

My sister and I were in Frankfurt in Oct 2005. Both of us were not qualified to attend the business meeting as we just newly joined the company.

So we decided to cross the border to Luxembourg. We got our train tickets and quickly got to the platform. There were so many trains coming and going. We were so confused and the people didn't seem helpful.

Out of the blue, a gentlemen told us to wait for the next train. We almost boarded the very next train. He came forward and said in a very gentle way:

Not this..The next one.

When the next one came shortly afterwards, we wanted to say goodbye to him, but he was nowhere to be found.

We stood all the way to Luxembourg. We were happily chatting away but the passengers were eyeing us strangely.

Finally, only left both of us with a lady and her two young kids. We made friends with them and got down together at the last stop.

We roamed the city and had our late supper. We couldn't afford to book a hotel room so we put a night at the railway station.

The guards directed all the people out except both of us. We thanked them as they told us they gonna lock the gates. It was 2am.

Cold and shivering, it was a long and lonely night. Very sleepy but couldn't sleep. Finally at 4.30am, the gates were opened. We quickly got to the nearest bus station and took the earliest ride back to Frankfurt.

Thank God we were safe.

My sister said:
Do you know that it was actually a very risky adventure? Never ever do that again!

When we related it to our friends, they said that those people were angels.

Danone Dumex

Mamil Gold: Healthy System Improves Body Resistance




My hubby and I were invited to a Danone Dumex and Chinese Medical Hall Nutrition Seminar. It was held this evening at Oversea restaurant. Since we were one of the early-birds during registration, we had a lucky draw. Got a RM50 discount to be deducted from our previous invoice.

The Managing director, an English lady, spoke in English accompanied by Mandarin on the screen. The next 4 speeches were in Mandarin. Both of us hardly understood what they talked about. We just undersood those charts that were presented.

The most interesting part were the lucky draw. But we were unlucky, I suppose! The most valuable draws were the 916 gold.

Anyway, I enjoyed the food very much. I also loved the live band. The English singer was so well-versed in Mandarin, Cantonese and even Hokkien. She sang beautifully and got the people involved in her singing and dancing. Fantastic!

So much so, my hubby got drunk. I had to drive him back home!
The immune system is a complex network of organs and cells, that protects children from infections caused by bacteria, viruses and other harmful substances.

Cry Baby

SJ was a cute chubby baby. She was taken care by her aunt when she was a month old. Her mum had to work and had no time to take care of her.

She was a good baby who didn't cry much. Everytime she made a tiny noise, she would be fed milk by her aunt. Then she was put back to sleep. She never had the chance to cry. So you can imagine! She grew chubbier and chubbier but hardly smiled.

Then one day, her mum took her back home as her grandmother was able to take care of her. She was already 2 years old.

Since SJ hardly cried, her mum purposely let her cry when she was hungry. Eventually, SJ had the habit of crying until her voice became so harsh. Her mum commented:

Let her cry so that her lungs would be healthier!

SJ grew up well and now she has the sweetest smile.

loving hug

I loved to hug my children when they were young. You know, young babies and children are sweet and lovely.

But whenever I hugged my children in front of my mum, she would comment,

Why must do that? Don't pamper the children!

So whenever I want to hug them, I would do it out of her sight. Anyway, as time passed by, she changed her mindset and accepted the norms of my family.

Another thing about my mum is that she likes to nag. Children will definitely move away instead of chatting happily with her. I always reminded her to be a nice grandmother: talk to the children instead of commenting them. But I guess, she can never change. I love my mum very much despite that.

Dentist Phobia

My little girl had a fantastic experience with the dentist.

Her two permanent front teeth had grown out but the two milk teeth were still attached. Worried that the new teeth would be slanted in, I took her to the dentist.

Havoc at the clinic when it was her turn to be attended to. The nurse and I had to grab hold of her but WOW, both of us were being pushed off. How powerful she was! Now, she is as powerful as ever. She can push anyone away with all her might.

Well, the dentist, the nurse and I gave up. I took my girl back home and asked her to pull out those teeth herself.

I didn't bother about that until one day, she showed me her teeth. Guess what!

Her two milk teeth was stucked in the piece of bread that she wanted to eat.

ghost!

WK was a scary cat. He was scared of ghost pictures.

One day, he opened his mail box and he clicked an attached file.

Suddenly, an eerie looking face was staring back at him. He screamed and screamed and collapsed on the floor.

His mum was shocked hearing his screams and feared the worst had happened to him.

He was still shivering when his mum got near to him. Poor boy!

Next, whenever there was an attached file, he would ask his sister to open for him. His sister was a brave girl. Never fear ghost as she admitted that she had seen one when she was a little girl.

But her mum was not as brave as her. When her housemate passed away, she had to ask her daughter to accompany her until she had shifted to a new place. Btw, at that time, her mum was staying somewhere as she was taking up a course.

Locked!

"Once upon a time, there was a lady who decided to go to the ATM. She brought her little son along. At that time, she just wanted to be quick so she left the boy in the car with the engine on.

A short while, she came out from the bank. To her horror, the boy locked himself in as it was central locking. Trying helplessly in asking her son to wind down the glass, she gave up. Luckily, the phone booth was just at the corner. She had to ask her husband to send her the spare key.

Once bitten, twice shy. She never left her young children in the car anymore.

Then once she was late for her meeting. She quickly left the car without realising that the engine was on.

Another time, she locked her room without taking the key with her."

Very careless of her. But this kind of incidents can happen to anyone.

Bribe?

I hurriedly drove my son to attend a taekwando test, therefore I jumped the queue n also broke the traffic light rule. Unfortunately, just right in front was a traffic police. I had to stop at the side of the road.

Firstly, he asked for my driving license. Then he told me about my wrong doings. I admitted my mistakes but he wanted me to follow him to the police station.

But we were in a hurry. So I said, "Tak apalah! Saman saja!" He was surprised and he reduced my wrong doings to just one, ie, 'melanggar lampu merah'.

I wonder why he didn't want to saman me in the first place????

Bribe????

Driving Lesson

I recalled my very first accident when I was learning how to drive. My boyfriend allowed me to drive his father's car around the field which was in front of my house. I had driven a few rounds when suddenly at a junction, I had an accident.

A little boy suddenly crossed the road n I got panic! Instead of braking, I accelerated. While trying to avoid hitting him, the car went into the drain! The little boy got panic too, I supposed, n he fell down.

My bf was watching me from my house. He quickly rushed to me and helped to remove the car from the drain. Luckily it was not a very big drain.

So when my bf's father asked him, "What happened to my car?'"

He replied, "Sorry, pa, I tried to avoid a buffalo and it went into a drain."

Precious Pets

We have 3 dogs:

1. Boxer, May-May, 9 yrs old.
2. Miniature Pincher, Dhurcy, 8 1/2 yrs old
3. Local Breed, Teddy Bear, 1 1/2 yrs old

May-May & Dhurcy





Dhurcy





Teddy Bear

May-May is a good obedient dog. She will quietly allow me to chain her when I need to do that.

Dhurcy is a cute pretender dog. He will pretend dead when I don't let him out from his kennel.

Teddy Bear is a greedy monster dog. He will gulp his food like nobody business. He has this habit since young at the vet's clinic. He was actually thrown away by someone. He was handicapped and out of pity, we brought him back to join May-May and Dhurcy.

Anyway, we love them very much! =)

Lost and Found

A little girl was lost and found 3 times..How did it happen?

1. She was just a year old. One day her mum was shopping at a supermarket with her sister. She entrusted her sister to take care of the little girl. So she went along with her own buyings. Later she was surprised to see that the little girl was not with her sister. When they searched high n low, she was found crawling upwards to the top of the stairs nearby. Found!
2. When she was 2 , her mum took her and her brother, 4 years old, to a pasar malam. She refused to hold her mum's hand but held her bro's hand. Her bro was holding his mum's hand. So at a stall, they were watching something. Then they kept going from one stall to another. Suddenly, his mum asked, "Where is girl?" And he replied, "Don't know." Both of them were searching and kept asking people around. Then they saw her holding an aunty's hand approaching them. Thank God! Found!
   
3. She was about 5 . They were at the Genting highlands. Her mum was going down the steps with her. They stopped to watch something. Suddenly, she was missing. Her uncle helped to search and guess what, she went to the other side to watch the roller coasters. Found!

How did her mum feel? Horrible! She thought the little girl had been kidnapped!

Sweet Sugar

Sugar has been a frenzy issue for the past few days. Since there is shortage of sugar, I put up the sign,

Sugar/Gula
Limited: 2 packets @

Thinking that would remind the customers about the shortage of sugar but to my surprise, more customers were asking for sugar.

So after 2 days, I took out the sign and instead changed it to 1 packet. Still the customers are as panicky as before. They are afraid that they won't have sugar for their usage.

I purposely teased them and said,

If you need 3 scoops for your cup of coffee, then reduce it to a scoop la.

Some found it amusing but others were rather angry that they couldn't have a proper cup of coffee.

Don't worry..Sugar supply will be back to normal. Btw, just reduce intake of sugar! Good for u!

JMC

It's Junior Music Class.

I sent my son to Yamaha JMC when he was 4 years old. Parents were allowed to accompany their children during the music lessons.

Personally I never attended any classes conducted by a professional before. I loved the classes as much as my son.

We learnt the lessons together and even played the organ together. At home, I would be the guide and a pusher too. He had to learn the organ and also listened to the musical tapes.

My son was a fast learner and the teacher always praised him. But when he was seven, he had a new interest. He wanted to learn using the computer. So, I had to give this excuse to the teacher that he wished to stop learning the organ.


I thought all my efforts and money had gone to the drain. But, thank God. Now he's is so good in music and computer works. Well done, my son!

Plastic anyone?

I wrote a slogan,

Save the earth..
Say NO 2 plastics!

It's written on a love shaped apple green paper and I stuck it at the cash register. I was trying to promote the usage of paper bags as I made my own paper bags using the old brochures.

Well, some customers still insisted on plastics when I refused to put the small stuff into the plastic bags. Some understood the message very well and they themselves refused the plastic bags.

By coincidence, my little girl has just finished her Science folio last night. She did a lot of research on the Internet about pollution and managed to get it done all by herself. So when I browsed the folio this morning, I learnt something new:

Plastic packaging takes 400 years to degrade while
Newspaper takes 6 weeks to degrade.

Imagine that. Therefore, be eco-friendly and save the environment!

Skinny Marie

Skinny Marie was a song I learnt when I was in Form 4 at SMJK Convent Taiping. Till now, I still remember the lyrics of the song:

Skinny Marie kidin kidin, Skinny Marie kidu, I love you!
Skinny Marie kidin kidin, Skinny Marie kidu, I love you!
I love u in the morning, I love u in the afternoon, I love u in the evening.
n underneath the moon..

We sang this song during our camp. It was fun.

So, to make fun of my little boy, I would sing it to him. But I changed the name to:
Skinny Kaney..

By the way, he loves the song too.

In a nutshell, songs convey our feelings to other people. When u feel happy, just sing out loud!

Cool teacher

When I was a teacher in school, I love to communicate with the students. Believe me, I never even hit them before. Other teachers would be surprised at how I handle the students.

As I communicated with the students, I found out that they liked to be treated nicely and not being scolded daily. But other teachers would say that the students would become wild. Well, it's actually up to how we handle them. I liked to tell my students stories and they would enjoy listening. Sometimes I posed questions and encouraged them to give their ideas. Even if their ideas were so silly illogical, I didn't make fun of them. So they knew they could just speak as much as they could.

That's why they loved my lessons very much. Students would never forget our teachings. I believe all students out there would love to have a cool teacher. So I hope all the teachers out there would practice this technique.

Courtesy

It's not difficult for me to show courtesy to customers. Not actually difficult to say "Hello" and "Thank you". Customers love to be treated nicely as they are human.

Well, I used to be a customer myself at my husband's shop. I realised that the cashiers were not really courteous. They didn't seem to greet the customers or even thank them. What a sad case. Even though they knew me, they didn't act their best. Maybe they were rather stressed up.

Now, I become the cashier. I know how to treat my customers. I can see that they are glad that they are served nicely. Just simply smile, greet and thank them. I think I enjoy my present work a lot. Would you like to be treated that way when you happen to shop anywhere?

New found experience

Lets talk about customer service. My first real customer service was when I was doing a MLM business. It's about selling supplementary products. Usually I was the quiet type but since I started promoting the products, I realised that I was in fact talkative. I felt that I had something to talk about to people especially about being healthy. My first ever tried business was a success. I found myself getting to know more people and I was very happy.

Then there was a big obstacle. My husband couldn't bear that I became so talkative and I used much of my time meeting people. I was indeed sad as that was my first real interest in life. Anyway, I had to give in. Right now, I still consume the products with just a few downlines. I had lost almost a hundred of my downlines. How miserable! Well, I got over it as now I am in my husband's business, also dealing with customers. Well, nothing much to complain now. Have you had any of this kind of experience?