Low Time, High Time...All times

I have been feeling a little blue lately. Not sure who the culprit was, PMS, being in love with Gerard Butler, something someone said, Ms Chong...I am not sure. Today I am down with a cold, and my nose is blocked, eyes are teary, house is a mess, political climate in our country a real pain in the you know where, but I am feeling happier. Not sure why? I feel more certain, more in control and definitely much happier. Hope this cold will clear away...I want to breathe in the weekend. Does chicken soup really help with cold? I am going to make me one anyway!

Movie struck! PS: I love you

I cried my heart out for this movie. PS I love you was the perfect movie.I am so in love with Irish man now, and I want to visit Ireland! It was all so beautiful.The songs in the movie was also beautiful. If you are looking for a movie to curl up on the sofa with, on a nothing much to do weekend, then stop your search. Go and buy a DVD and watch this movie.Gerard Butler was all so hot here! Go to youtube to listen to the tracks. Here is the URL. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDQj_des6Gs

Family That Eats Together Stays Together

Not that easy for all family members to come together for dinner. With both parents working, children with extra classes and schedules I suppose this has become more difficult. We try to have family dinner time at least 4-5 times a week. Reason why it is not 7 times a week is, sometimes Siva(my husband) works till night. My youngest son Bhaarath is only 2 but he can eat by himself, with some mess of course. During this time we ask each other about his/her day. Other then saying prayers together in the mornings and evenings this is the only other time where we sit down together to do something as a family. I sure do hope we will continue doing this even when the children are all grown up!

What happens on some Sunday mornings!

We normally have friends over for devotionals or simply for breakfast over at our place on Sundays. This Sunday I was in a lazy mood, but then got a call from Gina asking if there is anything going on. So invited her over with another friend and soon we were all at my place chatting and having breakfast. It was a treat as Gina brought along her cutie-pie son and we were all goo-goo, ga-gaing over him! Sorry forgot to take pictures of Joshu (gina's baby).

Mydin please be environmentally friendly

I do grocery shopping at Mydin weekly. I try to reduce on the usage of plastic bags and bring my own bags to cart the goods. Yesterday when I at the payment counter and asked the cashier to use the bags she refused saying that it is Mydin's policy to used plastic bags. Gosh..! I was furious and tried explaining to her, but she just could not comprehend. So the supervisor came over and made some sill facial gesture and I told her again that I do not want to use plastic bag. And then people started looking at me as though I committed a crime, for not using plastic bags. So I made some fuss and noise and then they allowed me and I came out there determined to send an email to the local tabloid and Mydin. If their policy is not environmental friendly then they better start doing something about it!

“Every man dies - Not every man really lives.”

Today could have easily been Friday the 13th. I came to office excited that it was a Friday and looking forward to the weekend, but then a friend of mine was very upset about something and she was really down, then I received another call with news of someone I know having ovarian cancer, and then another news that my hubands good friend is in ICU with a lung failure with a slim chance of surviving. I am a little shocked with all these news, as me or my loved ones could have been one of these people. Life is so fragile and unpredictable, and it puts us to shame that we worry about trivial things like if my butt looks big?? I wonder what will go through our mind when we are on our deathbed? Death comes unheralded, and I must remind myself of this the next time I start worrying about some trivia matters! Live life!

Come over to my place...

I remember my mother bringing me along to visit families, for reasons such as someone is not well, funerals, births, or just visiting a friend or family whom we have not met for some time. When we were younger we did not have a car, neither telephone,so we were not able to inform the family before visiting. We used to take the bus or cab for the visits. The families will welcome us happily, and will serve us tea and biscuits, or if nothing is available then they will quickly run to the shop and get us something. Nowadays with the ease of having a car and all, casual visiting is almost a forgotten art.I have heard of people who says that they were upset as they had friends just dropping in without letting them know or given a short notice. I wonder is it because we have lost the 'community'feeling and are too caught up with our busy lives, or maybe it is true that life is indeed very busy, with career, traffic jams, more demands to earn more, etc...? We felt tired after work today but had a neighbour in hospital down with dengue. So I thought to myself what my mother would have done? Sigh...I have to visit the neighbour, so we went to visit her with a copy of the Oprah magazine to cheer her up. She looked happy that we visited, and I was glad that we did. We were able to show the kids the importance of caring and visiting, although they went to bed nearer to 10pm and not 830pm!

Monday Blues..House and Holiday///

Yesterday I had a serious bout of Monday blues. I really mean blues! My colleagues can vouch for this. I was feeling down for no reason,sad for no reason and my spirit was truly low. Came back home and was cheered with the faces of my boys. I was saved by the prayer session we had that night, which made me feel immediately better. The power of prayers... I felt my spirit being refreshed and gladdened. So today I am back with better spirit and goodwill. Yahoo, we are signing the S&P tomorrow to seal the purchase of the house; it is 17 days with no TV in my house. Still contemplating if I should introduce it after 21 days or drag it to another 30 days. And I am also looking forward to our holiday next month to Cameron Highlands...Okay it may not be New Zealand but a holiday nevertheless! No pictureslah today...let me see if I can get something on Cameron Higlands..

Water, water everywhere

There are no shortage of beaches and water activities in Malaysia. When I was younger I used to live in Sitiawan which is 1/2 hour from Lumut and Pangkor Island. So we do go to the beach, though thinking back we really should have gone more often. I tried to learn swimming by sneaking out of the house to join my friends at the naval base but that failed. Then later at University a friend taught me swimming. So I picked up some breast stroke, and was beginning to feel at ease in water. And I did some snorkeling back then in Pangkor and Redang and fell in love with it, and even thought of taking up Diving(haven't found the guts and company yet). So as soon as Arjoonha was old enough I decided to enrol him into swimming class. Now he can do breast stroke and back stroke and is very at ease in water. Bhaarath is such a natural. That boy must have been born under water. He can dive and put his face into the water with ease. End of last year we went for a holiday to Pangkor and went snorkeling. The guide dropped us at a point and we had 2 choices either to hike up a hill or swim around the island to reach the snorkeling spot. So out of 20 of us, 6 of us decided that we would be able to swim across. And yours truly was insane enough to do this. I really regretted this temporary insanity of mine, 10 minutes into the swim. The current was strong, waves were strong, and I was thinking this will be how I will die. The Star tabloid will carry the heading, "Stupid woman drowned due to being over confident'!. It was one hour swim and my limbs felt alien to the rest of my body. Okay...what was good was, the underwater scene. The beautiful fishes! But then I was not able to see the bottom of the sea at all and heart missed a beat... Anyway I survived and later when I was calmer I felt good for being able to do it. I made a decision then to take up some lessons to brush up on my swimming skills.

IDIOT BOX Saga continues...

It has been 13 days without TV at my home. Kids were kind of restless the first 5 days or so. Slowly they are getting into a pattern or accupying themselves with other stuffs. I am seeing more toys being taken out and played with. I see them playing amongst themselves more. In the morning Arjoonha has been focusing on breakfast and all. So seems like worth the experiment. Siva and I are also sleeping earlier then usual. Hmm..so what do I do now, do I bring back the idiot box into our lives, or to leave it completely behind? I do believe TV in moderation and with guidance can be a great learning tool, but it's sometimes a challenge to set the limit, even for myself. I get hooked to E-News and in finding out which celebrity is divorcing, giving birth..etc. Let's give it another 20 days or so and let me enjoy the bliss of not having TV for some time! What do you think?

DOWN WITH THE IDIOT BOX

Today is the 6th day with '0' TV time in our home. Not that I have become an over responsible parent, but the astro decorder is faulty. Our first reaction was to get it fixed so we can enjoy having the kids leave us alone for a few minutes, or Siva get all glued up during CSI or House screening time, or me having the 'me' time by watching celebrity gossips! But we decided otherwise and thought this will be a brilliant time weaning kids of TV and also to see how the family functions without it. The greatest mistake I made as a parent is to let my sons have meals in front of the TV! Although I have limited the kids to 2 max 3 cartoons a day but still had tough time feeding kids without the TV on. So the last 5 days has been blissful. Instead of TV it has been replaced with books, and board games, and just doing things together. The kids are also forced to look at toys that normally they ignore and they play with each other more. Experts says kids below 2 years old should have no TV time, and above 2 no more then 1 hour. But most kids I know spend hours in front of the TV, watching adult shows that are inappropriate for their age. TV promotes too much violence, risky behaviours, sex, alcohol and drugs. So if you think your kids are watching too much you can try some of these:

1. limit the number of and kind of shows they can watch and stick to it.

2. set a good example by limiting your own tv viewing.

3. use good judgement on the kinds of show that a young child can watch (for instance too much sex in james bond, but young kids watches this freely)

4. come up with a family tv schedule and choose shows that they whole family can enjoy

5. talk to your child about what he or she sees

6. offer fun alternatives to TV ; board games, play dough, physical activities etc

Bottom line is limit your TV time...and I can say this bravely because we dont have a TV for now, and I hope for a very long time! Share with me if you have great ideas about limiting TV time.

Being a Friend to Earth

There is so much talk on environment and what is good and what is bad. I always wonder if all the talks, the articles will actually help, and if those at the grassroots really care or even thinks about it. I was pleasantly surprised as all the buzz and talks, and articles do help after all. I went to a small shop near where I work and the guy at the counter mentions about one should not use too many plastic bags, I went to Subway for a sandwich and the lady behind the counter mentioned that she is bringing up a suggestion the her management to switch to paper bags instead...And yesterday I went to a traditional hardware shop near where I live and when I refused a plastic bag for the things I purchased, he said all of us should reduce on plastics, and so forth. It looks like being environmentally friendly is close to everyone's heart. All this is fine but how do we do our part..We may not be carrying placards to protest but may find our own small ways.. In my family for instance we are trying to use lesser plastic bags. When we do grocery we bring as many bags as possible, when we buy our bread we refuse plastic bags, when we withdraw money on the ATM we try not to ask for receipts unless necessary, we also collect all unused things laying around our home and send them to the recycling spots, there are many around housing estates,.... Let me know if you have any good ideas and lets do our bit and be Enviromentally Friendly!

My Ist Day as a Blog Owner

Recently I have stopped watching television and have been busy reading blogs. I read on baking cooking, musings of life, bringing up children, health, etc. And wallah, I thought this is an ingenious way of keeping record of life...which is almost too short sometimes, and to be able to pen my thoughts, which may not be any worth to others but me. So this blog was given birth to! I am so excited. I am not too sure how to categorize this blog, but along the way it will get categorized. I baked a batch of chocolate brownies last nite and it turned out great. I shared it with both my colleagues today and they absolutely loved it, which was a great testimony.

I have 2 boys age 5 and 2, and when I come back from work which is about 530pm, it is like I am caught in a typhoon. Dinner, school work, putting them to bed, tantrum, and all. I am blessed to have a domestic helper, Awi is her name. She makes my life easier by taking keeping the home to resemble some kind of order... My time for the day is between 930pm till midnight where I have time to do my things, after the kids are in bed. And as much as I love my kids, that is a good time to be in, where I can hear my thoughts or just being a couch potato. Isnt life is indeed lovely!