Free Ringtones Created From Your Music!

When you are in public places, it is so common that you hear a wide selection of songs being played as ringtones whenever someone's mobile phone rings.  I always find it soothing and heart-warming to hear those personalized ringtones with babies' voices, be it babbling, crying, laughing or singing.  I am a parent myself and I can understand the urge of hearing the voice of someone close to our heart anytime, anywhere. :)

Making your own customized ringtones is so easy.  You just have to download the free ringtone maker app to your smartphone and that's it!  You can also use MP3's to make your own ringtones for any mobile phones in just seconds.  Fret not if you don't own a smartphone, I just got mine a cool ringtone. So, what is stopping you from getting yourself a free ringtone?

Handcrafted Travel, Anyone?

There's none in the family other than myself who is the most eligible candidate to wear the hat of a holiday planner for any family holidays.  No family members' votes required, it just falls into my lap probably because I am the only one having so much free time at my disposal as I hold nothing other than a fulltime housewife position.   Only God knows how tough the life of a Stay-At-Home mother can be. 

Back to planning a holiday, we usually go on free and easy trips on a budget.  Arranging a trip can be pretty stressful when there's not only your enjoyment riding on it, but that of your partner, friends and family!  There is so much to do from the day you start planning to the day you actually leave for your holiday.

Don't believe there is so much to do?  Listed below are some of the things you need to consider when planning a holiday:

What does everyone enjoy doing?

What do we want from this holiday?
How long can we go for?
Do we like cold or warm weather?
Do we want to travel or stay in the one place?
What is our budget?

I always suffer acne-attack whenever I work on a holiday planning, too stressful!  I really have to seriously think about passing the headache to the Travel Specialist should the family decides to go for Italy Tour Vacations in the future.  A personalized and handcrafted travel service would be all I wanted for booking and planning complex trips like such. Our itineraries will be tailored to our needs and I, the family holiday planner, can have peace of mind knowing everthing is being taken care of by the travel expert! Bliss..  

All I Want For Birthday..

All I want for Birthday is my two front teeth, my two front teeth, see my two front teeth!

No, I don't really want two front teeth for my birthday... :)

ALL I want is my boy comes home with all homework DONE tonight!  We have basically sealed the deal just before I dropped him off at school this afternoon.  He was so persistent in getting me a birthday present that when we drove past a bike shop on the way to his school just now, he made his final attempt trying to convince me into getting a bike for me with his own money.

Prior to that, he had been asking his dad to drive him to the florist so that he could get me a bunch of flowers ever since he came back from a working trip on Valentine's Day.  That didn't materialize as his dad has been home late ever since. 

The moment the boy got up from his bed this morning, he begged me to drive him to the nearest florist.. He said he wanted to get me those flowers and asked what type of flowers I fancied.  He then 'threatened' to get to the florist himself on his bicycle when his request was not met!  Hahaha.. As much as I love the thoughts of my boy presenting me with flowers on my big day but in reality, I will never allow him to do that.. for practicality reasons.. I have always been a practical person if you don't know me already and for the fact that we are a single income family.

As we have plans to go out for dinner tonight, I told the boy the only present that I long for is a stress- free night on a school day!  He gets more and more homework as the exam day approaches and this dilly-dally boy of mine never fails to drive me up the wall these days!  So, my boy....

All I want for Birthday Is A Stress-Free Night, A Stress-Free Night, See A Stress-Free Night! (Sing to the tune of "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth")

On another note, I thought hubby would have arrived home very late on Valentine's Day.  It was a pleasant surprise when he turned up earlier than expected with this....

A cute heart-shaped cheese cake!

Happy Valentine's Day!

A double 'V' for lovey dovey couples

A single 'V' ~

for singles.. you can be just as happy as him on this special day!

Errr.. What's this??!!

(Updated: He says this is his own version of sunglasses sign worr)

Hubby is not in town so today will be just another day to us.  We will most likely have a simple celebration on my birthday which falls two days after Valentine's Day. :)

Here wishing everyone :

Sunday Outing With My Valentine

My little valentine. :)

We went to The Big Bookshop Warehouse Sale at Subang Avenue Shopping Complex (beside Carrefour Subang) this morning.   We had this complimentary dessert coupon from TGIF on our last visit so our plan today was to dine at their Subang Parade outlet after the book sale, without hubby as he is on a working trip. 

My boy's 'Kids Eat for Free' meal ~ Chicken Fingers and fries

My order ~ Sirloin Steak (medium well) with mild mushroom sauce 

and side dishes of garlic butter broccoli & Cheddar mashed potatoes. Yumz! 

Complimentary mini desserts

We ordered a glass of refillable Iced Lemon Tea to share.  I got a pleasant surprise when the bill came and the staff congratulated me for being selected to be one of the lucky ones to enjoy a sizzling fajitas FREE on my next visit!  He then explained to me how it worked.  The friendly staff told me the free fajitas is not sample size but real plate size from the menu with beef, chicken or combo to choose from.

All I had to do was to login to their website indicated in the receipt, answer a few questions in the online survey form and when I was done, a code was generated.  This code needs to be copied onto the receipt and brought along to any Friday's outlet to claim the meal.  Ain't that great? :)

My haul from The Big Bookshop Sale.  The book sale is on now until 19 February 2012 (Sun).

Only RM1 each!

RM2 each!

There are loads of fiction novels going from RM5 each only for paperback and for hardcovers, RM10 each, I think. 

RM5 for this pocket size dictionary.  Bought this for the boy to check new vocab while on the go.  He seems to rely too much on this walking dictionary aka yours truly which sometimes gives inaccurate answers.. ^.^

RM6 each

Bought these from MPH Bookstore. 

Introducing to him the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne.  Hope he likes them as much as he likes Geronimo Stilton

We truly enjoyed our day-out together today!  The poor boy had to do his homework until 11.30pm on a Saturday night as it was a school day at his school yesterday in replacement of the CNY long holidays.  

As I am writing this post, the boy is off to his art class. He loves going there and I guess he finds a way to de-stress through drawing.  He likes to scribble, be it some stick men,  designing 'new' gadgets and whatnots on papers after revision, probably that's also one of his ways to de-stress after sessions of 'grilling and drilling' by his 'perfectionist' mother.  My poor boy..



3D/2N Getaway To Fraser's Hill

Rawang town

We reached Rawang town around 11+am, hubby asked if we were hungry and wanted an early lunch there.  We were still quite full from our breakfast at KFC earlier so I suggested to have Hainanese western food at Nam Cheong in KKB later.  Hubby and I had tried the food there, though nothing to shout about but I was eager to let the boy try out.

We continued our journey to KKB.  As it was the 5th day of CNY, Nam Cheong was still closed so we settled for Yogi Cafe located few shoplots away.

Kuala Kubu Bharu (KKB)

Yogi Cafe

It was a cyber cafe cum food cafe.  The food there was not bad and the price was equivalent to KL's hawker stalls.  KKB  is a small and sleepy town, nothing much to see so we continued our journey after lunch.

We spotted a waterfall along the winding road to Fraser's hill and stopped for photo taking.  Contrary to me who grew up in a 'kampung' environment, my boy and the hubs are literally city kids.  I took off my sandals and soaked my feet into the cooling water with my boy followed suit.  He exclaimed the water was so cooling! :)

Fraser's Silverpark Resort

We checked-in at Fraser's Silverpark Resort around 3pm.  I got discount coupons from an online discount company at only RM58 per night for a studio unit and from the reviews I read online and honestly for the amount that I paid, I didn't put much expectation on the resort, afterall, we just need a clean and safe place for two nights' stay . 

Just a week before we left for the trip, I read from a blog about a family's horror stay at the resort which was labelled 'A hotel from hell'.  Oh, Gosh..  I tell ya, I would be lying if I told you I wasn't bothered by the remark!   It even crossed my mind to just give up on the coupons and make a fresh booking somewhere but what the heck you have to experience it to believe it, right.. I am glad I didn't as the resort turned out to be not too bad afterall!

The first impression when we set eyes on the resort was it was a bit rundown, the walls were mouldy and desperately needed a fresh coat of paint.  The hotel lobby was a bit busy as it was still CNY holidays, it took a while to check-in.  The staff at the counter was friendly and helpful she even took the trouble to give us a map and explain to us the places of attractions around Fraser's Hill when I told her this was our first time there.   I learned from some of the reviews online that we could actually ask for a better/refurbished unit and I made a mental note on that.  We were given a studio unit on the 5th floor with magnificent mountain view.

The interior of our studio unit

The furnishing was a bit dated but acceptable to my standard though hubby complained about the curtains, the one hanging above the double bed in particular, being dusty.  We had some minor problems with the water heater but the maintenance guys came in a jiffy to settle the issue.

The view from our unit

We all love the mountain view from our balcony though the sight of mouldy and paint peeling off from the walls was not so pleasant to the eyes.

We did nothing much on the first day of arrival other than having early dinner at Food Garden, a place not far away from where we stayed, which we frequented the most throughout our stay there.  It's actually a food court with mostly non-Chinese owners except one. 

The Paddock

The next morning, we went for horse riding at The Paddock.  Hubby purchased one ticket each for his boy and yours truly.  As there was only one guy working, we didn't get to ride on different horses at one go so we opted riding on the same horse together instead, more fun!  Hubby then commented that we should have purchased the adult and child ticket for a ringgit saving but what the heck.. 

Horse riding

Storme is the name of the horse that we rode on and this is where he stays when his service is not needed.  Oops.. Was he a she or she, a he? Hmmm...

Archery site

The boy wanted to try his hands on archery too but he didn't seem to have strength to pull the string hard enough so an observer he was...  as you can see from the above picture. ;) ... 

Boating at Allan's Water

We then went to Allan's Water for boating.  It seemed like the weather was on our side the whole day, bright and sunny. Yeah!

I was so in love with the colourful and many species of flowers that I just couldn't stop clicking away.

Buildings at Fraser's Hill town

And I so love the buildings there, so English feel...  I wish I had a bungalow there.  Hubby heard when I mumbled to myself, guess what he said to me ...  Yes, if you wanna stay with ghosts there, those English colonial cottages are so spooky, you know or not? (He stayed in one, hmmm... 30 years ago during his dad's company outing).. What if Michael Jackson suddenly pop out in the middle of the night and start dancing break dance??  Cheh! Scaredy Cat... I am not scared at all.. not a bit! ;)

Buildings at Fraser's Hill town

A peek of where we stay on the top left of the picture.

Puncak Inn at the bottom right.  Just right in the town centre

Biking

I rented 2 bikes from a souvenir shop beside Puncak Inn at RM10 per hour each and we had loads of fun!  It has been like more than 10 years since I rode on one..  The one at home was just too small for me, gotta go get myself one soon!  

Fraser's Hill Golf Course

Food Garden not far from where we stayed

Some of the food we had

The playground

The playground just beside the food court.  Our boy had loads of fun there.  The weather was cooling and just nice for some exercise.

After horse riding, boating and spending some time eating at Food Garden, we proceeded to Jeriau Waterfall.  It took us roughly half an hour just to get to the other end of the 8km narrow and winding road and that's not all!  We had to walk further in to get to the waterfall with muddy water though it was definitely an experience for those who hardly walk the distance!  Fei Lou, hor... nyek..nyek..

Jeriau Waterfall

Pine trees can be seen eveywhere in Fraser's Hill

Doesn't this tree branch look like a dragon tail?!!

Smoke House was our last destination after Jeriau waterfall on the 2nd day of our stay

We ordered Bangers & Mash with onion sauce (RM20) and Devonshire Tea Set for two (RM18x2) 

The tea set comes with 2 scones, a slice each of apple pie, butter cake and chocolate cake and also cream, jam and butter.

The boy posing at The Smoke House

This was the bungalow that hubby and his family stayed during a company outing 30 years ago.  It has since refurbished and converted into different types of guest rooms. 

We spoke to the marketing staff there and it looked like the place was newly refurbished and brochures were not available yet so I snapped the price list pasted on the wall for future reference.

The only chinese school in Fraser's hill.  I joked with hubby about the possibility of moving here.  The school is so small that it almost guarantees no stress when it comes to exams.. Hahaha... There is also a kebangsaan and Tamil school located not far away.  We stumbled upon the kebangsaan school when driving around looking for where the residents could possibly live. Yeap, we had so much time to dispense that we literally drove into all roads passable by cars on Fraser's Hill! Hahaha.. Back to where the residents live, looks like they live in blocks of flats built on a piece of flat land, no landed houses spotted other than bungalows and cottages and that explains how scarce and precious flat lands are on a hill like Fraser's.

Some of the bungalows there, there're a lot more such as Singapore House and all but I just took some random shots.

We checked out early on the 3rd day and it was all the way smooth traffic back to our home sweet home.

To sum up, it was overall a relaxing and enjoyable trip.  I especially love the serenity of the place. Would I want to go there again?  Absolutely YES!!  I would choose Fraser's Hill anytime to Genting Highlands!  This time, I will go for the 'spooky' bungalow as I just found out they rent their properties by individual rooms too.  I know, I know, I am weird.  Hubby commented it was boring there though with nothing much to do. Oh, well..  

The 9th Day Of CNY~An Eventful Day!

It was a holiday yesterday at the boy's school in conjunction with the Jade Emperor's Birthday which was also the 9th Day of CNY.  

We had two hours' revision in the morning before heading out for lunch at the boy's favourite Chilli Pan Mee shop.  After lunch, I drove to the nearby CIMB to deposit the boy's savings from his accumulated monthly allowance.  The area was so packed with cars and I failed to get a legal parking lot after making a couple rounds, ended up I double-parked by the roadside and asked the boy to wait for me in the car with the engine running.  I was the fourth in line at the cash deposit machine but as the machine kept rejecting notes, it took at least 5 minutes to complete each transaction.  The traffic condition outside the bank was horrendous with cars honking non-stop.  I peeped from behind the glass to the direction where my car was double-parked and everything looked fined, no towing trucks, no signs of the two cars that I blocked wanting to come out and all. 

I continued to queue patiently, now the 2nd in line.  Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice calling mommy, I turned around and to my horror, I saw my boy standing beside me.  He told me I was blocking the whole road (He assumed it judging from the car honking from all directions!).  He then decided to LOCK the car door manually with the car engine still RUNNING and rush in to alert me.   When I asked if he took the key with him, he said he thought the key was with me!  Boy, I was so mad with him that I couldn't stop nagging at him.  I ran back to my car and true enough the car was locked with my handphone and handbag inside!

A young man who worked nearby saw the situation and offered to lend me his handphone so that I could call hubby.  Lucky me he was at his office not far away but then it still took him an hour to come to our rescue due to the havoc traffic condition everywhere and having to make a trip back to our house to get the spare car key.  The young man and a security guard at the bank assured me that the two cars that I blocked (I double-parked, you see) would not leave so soon as they were staff at the bank.  That brought some relief but my greatest fear was still the towing truck, they wouldn't care less what your story would be, they only know that for every illegally parked car they tow, they get paid.  Overhearing my conversation with the guard, the boy offered to pay the fine should my car gets towed.  He knows he has a 4-digit savings with the bank and he thinks he is rich!  That sparked my anger even more and  I raised my voice and carried on with the nagging. 

He then offered some solutions, one of which was to borrow the car key from the same car model as mine. *rolls eyeballs*  Only if it could be that simple... *Sighs*.  Next, he walked to the car, peeped through the car window in deep thoughts, trying to figure how to get the door open.  When he realised nothing worked, he mumbled to himself.. I am stupid, I know I am stupid.. I am stupid.. the sky then suddenly turned gloomy and started to pour.  Not raining la.. just that someone was sobbing away. :(  What a day!