To My Fast Growing Son..

Photo taken two days ago..

Looking at this photo now, I am choked with emotions.   I am amazed how much my boy has grown! No prize for guessing which foot belongs to who though.   We shared the same shoe size last year and now look, his feet has outsized mine by an inch and he only turns ten next month! *sweat*  No, no, no early empty nest syndrome, please..  I don't want my "best friend" to grow up so fast and the he will soon spread his wings and have his own circle of friends and life.   Ok, I lied a little.  There are times when I hope I can have my life back, not worrying about meals not cooked, household chores not done, not preparing him enough for exams and the list goes on.   

 

Having said that, the boy is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  This year marks the fourth year I become "Just A Mom".  Life has never been rosy and smooth but seeing the boy grows up happy and healthy is all a mother would ask for and no amount of salary increments and bonuses could beat that, ya, I am such an "useless" and "hopeless" being to some who are not on the same wavelength. Never mind that.  With all the good words that he gets from relatives, friends, and neighbours, I know I have done something quite right.

 

Though he drives me up the wall sometimes, if given a second chance, I would still choose to hold his hand and walk his growing up journey together.

 

No amount of gold could ever compare, to the gift of love that my son shares.
He gives reason to get through another day.
Maybe it's how he loves me in his special little way.
And when I feel down and dejected....
He wraps his arms around me and says God will make things right!
From sweet gentle touches to his bear hugs and a kiss...
He makes this hell on earth seem more like a peaceful bliss.
That great big kool-aid smile and the twinkle in his eyes....
Every time I look at him it makes me want to cry.
But they're not tears of sorrow; they're tears of pride and joy....
To know that all the love in heaven is wrapped around my little boy

I Love You, Son. I Honestly Do..

Book Depository

 

 

 

 

Ordered this book for the boy from book depository UK 3 weeks ago. The book arrived in my mailbox yesterday. It was sent all the way from UK and I paid US$8.08,approx. RM24.70 with free postage for it. The selling price is RM37 at Kinokuniya online. I so love you, Book Depository..

 

On our way home after fetching the boy from school, I passed this book to him.  He was so excited that he started reading it right away, in the car.  The story comes in a series of 10 titles and this one is book #10 and hey, he now owns the complete set of "How To Train Your Dragon" book series!   Upon reaching home, I had to nag him to go shower and ate his dinner.  After homework time, again his eyes were glued to the book until bed time. *roll eyes*

 

Boy: I can't wait for tomorrow to come!

 

Mom: Why?? Got something interesting happening tomorrow??

 

Boy: So that I can continue reading my book!  The book is so so gooood.... I think it's the best of all 10 (books)!

 

Mom: ^.^

 

I have had ordered books via book depository several times and it has always been reliable.  I did blog about the first time I received my book here.  I highly recommend this site to those who are into books. 

 

 

In His Own Time..

A mama hen does her part by sitting patiently on the egg,

keeping it warm, turning it over every now and then.

She can't force the baby chick to hatch.

She can't break the shell and force it to come out when it's not ready.

It will die, but when the baby chick is ready, it will hatch on its own,

and that's wonder to behold.

 

 

I saw this picture on my facebook timeline this morning and shared it with the boy after he had his breakfast.  I waited until he has finished reading the lines...

 

Mom: This is so meaningful, don't you think?

Son: Yes, very...

Mom: Wah, you can understand the meaning ah?  Tell me, tell me...

Son: It means, everything comes from within my own will and initiative to do or succeed in something, no one can force me from outside lor.. Like the egg, if we force open the shell, then the baby chick inside will die lor.. When we do things with a strong will from within ourselves, then miracle happens lo.

Mom: Che wah!! You really understand wor.. but do you do it or not?

Son: Hehehehe.. *sheepishly, leans closer and gives the mom a beary hug*.......

Mom: I have been waiting until my neck also grows longer like a giraffe.. Can you plan your own time to do revision without me having to nag you?

Son: I am trying, mom. Give me two more years, mom.. I hope I can have that kind of inside force before I hit teens, you told me teens start from thirteen years old and teenagers are rebellious and hard to teach and it'll be too late then, right?

Mom: Hmmm..  Trying only huh?

Son: No, I must do it!!!

Mom: omm.. ommm. ommm..

 

This boy of mine still needs lots of pushing when it comes to doing revision.  He will obediently finish his homework every evening before going to bed but not the revision part.  He still needs loads of guidance, nagging, nurturing and motivation from the mom.  To be fair to him, I must have this recorded down.  During his first term exam week, he woke up early almost everyday  just to catch up on some last minute revision.  I would like to think that it's a good sign as he finally shows hints of wanting to excel, from within.  I'll have to continue my hair pulling moments until he finally gets there.  See, parenting is fun! *laughs hilariously*

 

How about your kids? Do they plan their own timetable and do their revision just because they want to (inside force)  and not they are forced to (outside force)? If yes, congrats and you have finally got there!  I am envious.. ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yoke Fook Moon Hong Kong Dim Sum@ Jalan Leong Sin Nam, Ipoh

*Backdated post*

We did not go for the famous Foh Sun dim sum as we were put off by the long queue!  It was the 3rd day of CNY and as expected the crowd was enormous.  We first planned to have breakfast at Ming Court Restaurant after reading rave reviews about its dim sum.  It is located across the road, actually there are three dim sum restaurants there within close proximity but it was closed for CNY and would only reopen for business on the 5th day of CNY. :(  Never mind, there's always next trip. :)

We ended up in the nearby Yoke Fook Mun Hong Kong Dim Sum which was as crowded but the hubs was lucky to spot a table upstairs.  To our disappointment, the quality of food was so-so and not up to expectations.  It was our first time there and I did read good reviews about them but then guess it's normal that food quality drops during peak seasons and it's more expensive too.

If not mistaken, the bill came to RM70++ including a pot of tea, not really too bad considering the box of durian dessert alone was RM12 each.  Ming Court is in our next to visit list should we visit Ipoh again!

Homecooked Thai Basil Fried Rice

 

We had fried rice for dinner last evening.  I plucked some fresh thai basil leaves from my herb corner and threw in for the aroma and we all loved it! 

 

 

 

And look at my little herb corner, it's expanding to the side of our house!  I plan to transfer some of the plants to my raise beds once they are ready.  I am still on the look out for wooden planks that can fit into my bottom two tiers of ladder to put my potted plants and also to paint the ladder white, my raise beds, landscaping and all... One baby step at a time... Omm... Having said that, I love gardening as it helps keep my sanity.  Can't wait to plant my okra seeds!! :) 

My Little Herb Corner

Repotted my rosemary and stevia plants and propagated mint and stevia.

 

Pruned my stevia plant and the stems bundled and hung to dry. Going to make my own natural sweeteners!  

 

My cup of tea made with mint and stevia leaves freshly plucked from my herb corner.  Tastes so sweet and refreshing. I am so proud of myself! LOL....

 

 

I am hooked on fresh herbs and planning to travel to Sg Buloh over the weekends the get more herb plants! I now have five types of herbs, namely rosemary, stevia, peppermint, Thai basil and mint in my herb collection. I will have peppermint tea for tea time tomorrow. LOL... 

 

I put all my potted herb plants at a corner of my porch so that they get to enjoy morning sun and the boy named this corner mommy's herb corner.  He says it can't be called a herb garden as they are not planted in the garden and I agree with him.  Wait till my raise bed is ready, then I will officially call it my herb garden. Stay tuned!

 

 

 

 

McD's Food In Bangkok

*Another backdated post*

 

A Ben 10 fan he bought from the nearby night market and I love the wall décor, this one at McD's, Big C.

 

 

We will eat at McDonald's at least once whenever we are in Bangkok.  The boy and the hubs love the pork burgers there, something that we can't find here at our local McD's.  We visited their two outlets on our previous trip there, the one at Big C near Pathumwan and another one near Robinson Silom.

 

 

 

Big Breakfast, ice blended drink, my cup of McCafe mocha and chicken rice. Nothing unusual

 

Spinach pies, pork burger and pork porridge, I think or was it chicken porridge?

 

 

The boy loved the spinach pie so much that he craved for it after we got back but unfortunately, they are not available locally.  Guess they are seasonal unlike apple pies where we can get to eat all year long. Hmm...

Holiday To Singapore

We are planning a holiday to Singapore during the year-end school holidays but have yet to make up our mind on how to get there.  The hubs volunteers to drive but I hate the long journey being confined in a car for hours. I know there are rest stops along the highway but I still feel it's rather tiring.  I scouted and compared deals of a few airlines that offer flights to Singapore.  The fares quoted seem to be affordable.  The only thing is we have to hire a car should we choose to fly there.  There are a lot of time and effort put into planning a holiday and now I wish we can afford to pay for a service where someone takes care of everything and it's just a dial away.  

 

Our boy was excited when we broke the news to him.  He has wanted to go to Universal Studio Singapore for the longest time.  We also plan to visit places like Singapore Zoo, Gardens By The Bay and many more.  We can't wait for the year-end holidays to come!

 

 

Tuk Tuk Ride In Bangkok

 

                    

 

*Backdated post*

 

 

When we were on a holiday in Bangkok, the boy was so tempted to ride on a tuk tuk and would bug me whenever he saw them on the street.  Frankly speaking, I do not fancy riding on a tuk tuk as we had unpleasant experience before years ago.  It was late at night and I was with the hubs standing in front of a shopping mall.  The hotel where we stayed was 15 minutes' walk away but we were too tired to walk we decided to hail a cab.  No vacant cabs was insight and this tuk tuk driver approached us and we showed him our hotel card with the address printed on it.  I negotiated with him on the fare and he suddenly got mad scolding us and throwing our card out to the street!  I picked up the card on the street and ignored him, refusing to mess with this crazy man, probably high on drugs or alcohol on a foreign land!  We took another tuk tuk and this one had no problems agreeing on the fare.

 

The boy was so eager to ride on one that he squeezed himself into a mock tuk tuk when he spotted one at Tesco Lotus (top right pic) with his leg sticking out. LOL...  Another pic at the bottom left was taken in Siam Ocean World situated at Siam Paragon Mall and this one was much larger, can fit in the whole him. :)  Seeing his determination to ride on one, we went on one eventually, from Tesco Lotus, Rama 1 Road to Platinum Fashion Mall. A pleasant ride it was and the boy was thrilled and said he felt like taking a ride in a F1 racing car!

 

 

Overseas Property Investment

I have always been interested in buying an overseas property in Turkey and hope I can afford to own one in the near future.   A friend of mine who has a business in Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey travels a lot there. He loves the place and always sings its praises in front of me.   It is in its strategic location in Asia and Europe and that makes travelling there from Malaysia less hassle.  He tells me the people there are friendly and there are a lot of fun things to do, for both adults and kids.  Those who love shopping, Forum İstanbul is a shopping haven not to be missed.  It is probably Europe's largest shopping mall which hosts a giant aquarium within the mall.

 

If we owned a property there, apart from investment purposes, it could also be used for our family holidays and who knows we might fall in love with the place and end up spending our retirement years there.

Smoke Detectors

The boy loves to stay in a hotel.  Who wouldn't love to get away from the hustle and bustle of life every now and then, right?  This boy of ours will never run out of questions to ask and is forever curious. The most hilarious question asked would probably be this one, does the hotel bathroom have a stand-up or lie down shower? He actually meant if the hotel came with a standing shower or bathtub attached. LOL.... On one of our overnight trips while chilling out in the comfy bed of the hotel, he discovered two odd-looking devices sticking out  of the ceiling.  Curious as always, he started throwing questions. Daddy explained to him that they're smoke detectors stressing the importance and how they can help save lives when a fire breaks out.  To feed his son's curiosity, he added by saying that there's a sensor to sense the smoke and when smoke is detected, it lets off a loud sound to let people know.

 

The boy interrupted and said, Cool, dad. Lets go out now and get a few for our house!  :)

 

 

Star Trek Exhibition @National Science Centre, Bukit Kiara

During the school holidays, we went to the Star Trek Exhibition held at the National Science Centre in Bukit Kiara.  We didn't find the exhibition exciting though, probably because we are not fans.  The boy has no clue of the characters  thus didn't show much interest. Hmmm..

A piece of advice, if you are not a fan of Star Trek, don't bother going as it will bore you to death, okay, I exaggerated but you will likely feel the admission fees paid are money not well spent after all  if you are not head over heels with Star Trek.

No photography is allowed but I snapped some still as there was no sight of anyone on duty to stop me. ^_^

Costumes and props on display and errr... spotted a Bruce Lee look alike boy, sort of showing off his Kungfu moves in a Star Trek control room??

There is a booth selling memorabilia and photographs taken earlier by their professional photographers before the exit.  We didn't buy any of those and the whole tour took only 20 minutes to complete. 

Fullhouse Lifestyle Store & Cafe, Sunway Pyramid

 

We went for early lunch at Fullhouse Lifestyle Store & Café in Sunway Pyramid one fine day over the school holidays.  Our plan was to have our lunch first before heading to the archery shooting range which was in the same shopping mall.  As you may know, some of these discount coupons do have some restrictions and conditions to abide by and this one was to make reservation 3 days beforehand.  I did not make any prior reservation but as we got there early around noon time, they didn't mind to accommodate us as there were only three tables occupied at the time.

 

Really a lifestyle store as they sell clothing too.

 

 

While flipping through the menu, the boy was pleasantly surprised to discover comic strips on the last few pages of the menu.  Ambience was good and Korean songs were played in the background.

 

 

 

The chicken chop that the boy ordered tasted so-so but I loved my plate of spaghetti with chicken strips, olive and pesto sauce to bits though I only ate half of it only. Why? My son's dish came much later and he was famished that he kept asking for mine and every forkful that he shoved into his mouth, he praised it to the skies!

 

It's Cheng Beng holiday at our boy's school tomorrow.  I am planning to take the boy to the nursery after our morning walk to get some herbs plants and start growing our own herb garden! I want to make my own pesto sauce with ingredients fresh from our garden! 

 

 

Home Decluttering

It has been almost two years since we moved back to our landed house.   It's amazing we still have boxes sealed and unopened.  We really need to engage the service of  self storage with Lok'nStore for our personal storage.  I am glad that they are willing to accommodate our need to get a little extra space to store our personal stuff  on a short term basis while we are getting at decluttering our home. The contents of those boxes are mostly things that are not frequently used, some of which are no longer needed, my boy's outgrown clothing, toys and accessories to list the least. Due to space constraint, we had no choice but to stack up those boxes at one corner of the living hall and that creates an ugly sight especially when there are visiting guests.

How we wished we could store those boxes in our store room  but unfortunately the store room is also packed to the brim! You can't really blame us on this one though.  We are keepers of things that we think have sentimental values and they accumulate over the years, from old bicycles to baby's clothing, you name it, we have it!  LOL!!!