Family Portrait

There is something about family portraits that is intriguing. I always look for one when I am at someone's home. At my mother in laws house, there are faded family photos on the wall. It catches the era it was taken in with the 50s and 70s hairdo and fashion. And I will scrutinise each of their faces to see if they are looking happy or sad. I will ask my mother in law their stories. At my mother's place there are family portraits of her mother who adopted her but whom we never knew as she passed away when my mum was a teenager. Family photos gives me a sense of belonging and continuation. I have been wanting to have my family picture taken for some time now, since Arjoonha was 2. But procastination got the better of me. But then again it will not be a complete family without Bhaarath around. So since we have Bhaarath(my 2nd son) in our life now, it feels just about time to get it done. Here we go...all of of us.

2009 ARRIVES!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I am well into 2009 now! We ushered in the New Year with about 40 friends and family,while eating 12 grapes each when the clock struck 12(supposedly a Philipines tradition as a symbol to have 12 sweet months), and watching the display of fireworks from the Twin Tower! We hugged and wished each other a very happy new year,and we came home about 2am. And wallah...we are in 2009! My hope and wish for this year is to live it with humanity in mind and to be joyfully optimistic.

Resolutions!

I have not been much of a blogger lately. My internet is down at home and also I cant seem to find my camera cable. Tt has been a frustrating journey getting the telecommunications department to do something about it. I tried being polite, angry, rude, and sent a few emails across. Got a reply to one today and they said they will get it up and running. But when, I need to no when! But that aside I am not going to let this ruin my holiday spirit! So I have to steal some time during work to blog. Everywhere I go there seem to be some christmas songs playing, the shopping complexes are all decorated with christmas decorations. And people are genetally more relaxed, and happier during this time of the year. There is something hopeful and warm about year ends. Something refreshing that we can get things right again. When I was younger year ends were about holidays, sleeping till late mornings, and just lazy days with family and friends. Now being a mother it means planning fun time for my children and catching up with friends. I just love year ends. We will be having friends over to stay for the next few days, so it is going to be a noisy and fun time for the family. My resolutions will be to be happy in the 'now' and to spend fun time with family and friends! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Tooth Fairy's Visit!

The tooth fairy visited my 5 year old yesterday! My son, Arjoonha lost his first tooth the night before. We were woken up early Monday morning by Arjoonha who was so excited that when he checked under his pillow. The Tooth Fairy in exchange of his tooth, left him an hotwheels car a card and 10 bucks. He was all so excited that the Tooth Fairy knows exactly what he wants! He is hoping more tooth to drop to enjoy further rewards! But I told him it only happens to the first one! But the joke is our maid, Awi from Indonesia was equally excited as she thought Tooth Fairy is for real, and said solemnly that it never visits her village in Indonesia! I had a hard time controlling my laughter!

THEY ARE AT THE SAME TABLE AND NOT TALKING!

When my husband and I wasdating back when we were in Penang Island, we used to go everywhere in our honda motorcycle. We will talk and talk and talk more, wherever we are! For meals most days we go to our favourite shop tucked away in Bayan Lepas, and used to watch couples both young and old at other tables. One of the games we used to play is to create imaginary lives by looking at other couples. Once we noticed this couple with 2 children at the table having their meals. They look probably married for 10 years or so, and throughout dinner they only uttered 2 words or so. And I remember telling my boyfriend then, that I hope we wont get to a point where we wont have nothing much to say to each other. That would be very sad!

CHANGE IS INEVITABLE

I may come across as being adventurous and independent; but I realized that I am such a coward when it comes to changes. I need the push, the kick, the pull and the encouragement to take the first step, and once I am there right in the middle of things I adapt pretty fast. So I am in a few changes in my life now...and keeping fingers crossed that all will turn out great, and my friends can tell me I told you so. And luckily for me I have friends around me who are willing to bear with my moans and groans and fears...and just encourage me through it.

I HAVE MOVED!

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Moving house is indeed stressful! And I only moved 45 minutes away from where I am now. How do people move to another country or continent! Dont think I will survive it! Gosh it is amazing the amount of things we manage to collect in that small apartment of ours. Yes we have finally moved to our new place, and it is slowly beginning to take shape. Slowly but surely we are getting settled in. New neighbours, new lanes, new schools, new markets, new playgrounds, many new things to adapt too! Will post more stuff later! Just to say I am back! I have a new colleague in my office, so a few changes in life, and i realise I am not very good with changes!

A visit to the man in White.

Arjoonha (my eldest one) has a skin condition and it looks like brown patches on his body. It started when he was 6 months old, and we have taken him to many doctors who was not able to diagnose it. Then about 2 years ago it was diagnosed as Uticaria Pigmentosa, which is a harmless condition which will eventually disappear as he reaches puberty. I am not sure if I imagined it, but I thought the spots were becoming darker, and I was concerned if it would be something more serious like skin cancer, especially after watching the episode of Oprah on skin cancer. So I decided to take him for another round of check up. I could have kissed the doctor when he said it was nothing to worry about but to bring him for quarterly review to observe it. He also gave him a topical cream to help fade the patches! Arjoonha was excited that he can have the day out with me. So we had fun having breakfast at the Starbucks which was located at the hospital; yes hospital is much fun nowadays! I remember my own mum taking me to hospital for routine checks as I had bout of sinus when I was a child. But it was not as easy as I have it nowadays. In those days we did not have a car, so my mum has to take me in a bus journey of almost 2 hours, and we have to stay at a relatives place to attend to the hospital appointment. I remember the highlight of the visit when my mum and I enjoy the delicious bowl of soup noodle at the hospital cafeteria!

Simple and Old Fashioned?

Serious about Pictionary

Arjoonha took a picture of a cat




Shopping complexes are perpetually crowded all year round in Malaysia. It is either we are spending money always, or during our free times sadly we do not have other useful activities to do. We really should have better things to do in life then going to the shopping complexes as a ritual; such as putting your time to good use, having friends to visit or willing to have you around, or you having friends over or maybe volunteering for a useful course...If week after week if we only have the shopping complexes to visit then it is time to reevaluate our lives, our values and maybe our everything. Yesterday we were invited to a friends beautiful home, away from the buzzing noise of the city. It is nestled in a real pretty green area of Seremban. We really did not have any plans, except to visit.So we had lunch, we had tea, children played to their hearts content in the large compound, we played pictionary and we had the old fashioned fun! It was really refreshing. I am indeed grateful to be surrounded by good friends who are willing to have us around!

HEART vs POCKET

Got the keys to our hew home, and now the real work starts. Met the contractor last night and we went through on what needs to be done. I realised what I want a lot to be done(yes Louis you were right all along, I do want a lot). I was thinking with my Heart and not with my Pocket. So the list went on and on, and mind you we have not even come to the part of new furnishings yet! I will be receiving the quotation on Monday and will 'sit down' before viewing it, in case I faint with shock. If you are wondering why my husband is not mentioned here with the contractor, BECAUSE my husband is from Mars. He believes in 'simplicity' to a fault. If I leave it to him, we will move into that house as it is, with its lavender exterior and worn out floors and broken doors...! (Then again I wish I can be like him at times so I will not have the burden of wanting all in order...). I am feeling anxiety attack as there is a lot to be done..and decisions to made...

Say NO to ISA! : If it is to be, it is up to me.

I live my life at times bordering on "If it is to be, it is up to me' or 'Who died and made me King?'. Yesterday I chose the former! The Internal Security Act a draconian law has been used again in this so called democratic country, and 3 people have been jailed. With the ISA you are denied your right to engage a lawyer or to defend yourself! People are crying injustice and are telling the government that they will no longer tolerate such abuse of power. So Siva and I went to join the candlelight vigil last night to release those who are held and to give them a fair trial. The rain and the presence of police did not dampen the spirit of those who wanted to stand up for what they believe in. The presence of the police was intimidating but the spirit was high. This is my first time joining such a vigil and it was indeed a special experience.

Old Friends, New Friends

Arjoonha my oldest boy makes friends easily. Nothing makes him happier then playing with friends other then watching TV. My youngest one Bharath tags along happily. We live in an apartment and the only common place to play is in the swimming pool or the little play area around it. So my children spends many a day basking in the pool. Arjoonha has a group of friends he plays with and for some reason he chooses friends who are much older then him. His partners in crime are Ruby, JR and Joon Joon. He is going to miss them much once we move to our new place next month,and I am sure they will miss him too. I sure do hope he will make good friends in our new place. Speaking about friends, 2 very old friends from my primary school has managed to get in touch with me via facebook. How cool is that. And we have not met for like 25 years! We are meeting for lunch tomorrow and I am so excited! Must take lots of photos!

Acts of Friendship

I received an expensive gift from someone and it really did not mean much. A friend braved through after work traffic jam to get me some petrol as my car stalled in the middle of the highway, another sends her husband to pass me some medication that I needed,one friend gives me a lift everytime I do not have the car to get to work, and another sends me home when I still do not have a car to get home from work, a neighbour sends her daughter who is studying for nursing to give my mother a good rub for her backache...I find the most valuable of friends are those who do things for each other. The gift of time and skills are the most valuable. Recently I went to a friend's son's one year old party. And being new parents, overwhelmed at throwing a large party, they forgot to charge their cameras. I offered to get the photos of the party, and later sent it to her in a CD. She was so very grateful to be able to capture the precious moments. If we do not to things for others or have friends who do things for us, then we really need to take a moment to wonder why we have not welcome people into our lives, and the kind of human being we have become...And that to me is truly scary!

It's raining, it's pouring..the old man is snoring...

I havent been much of a blogger recently. I have been busy with getting tenants for my current apartment and managed to get one. So one thing off the basket. The weather has been glorious, not many may agree; but after months of bright sunshine and blue sky, it has been raining heavily daily, and I so welcome the cool cosy weather. It is perfect when it rains over the weekend, like for now. I am at my dining table with my laptop, and hubby and sons are sleeping in the room. So the house is perfectly quiet. I am at my happiest now. I have been going through house magazines to choose colours and furnitures that I would like when I move to our house sometime October. There are so many to choose from, and so much to do, that reminds me to get a Gantt Chart up, so all will get done. We had pancakes with butter, honey and strawberry jam which I got from our recent trip to Camerons, this morning for breakfast. Family loved it so that made me happy. Here is the recipe:

2 cups of white flour
2 eggs
a pinch of salt
4 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
200ml water
50ml milk

Whisk all up, and heat up a skillet or a non stick pan. Pour a ladle full of batter and cook till golden brown on both sides. Serve it hot with butter, honey, maple syrup or fruit preserves.

My camera is out of battery, so will paste photo later.

Brown, Black, Yellow, White...Purple and Blue? The colour of Mankind

In recent times in our country racism has taken a turn for the worst. It has existed all the time. One tend to feel his race is superior to others, and feel more comfortable and secure surrounding oneself with their own race. It is a strange 'herd' syndrome! It is stranger still when those who claim themselves to believe in God or at least in their own mind thinks they are religious to be racist. I would have imagine the basic teaching they would have been exposed to is love mankind as all are God's creation. I suppose being in the faith I am in with multiracial followers, and having good friends of multiracial background, I find it difficult to feel that one race is superior to the other. Daily in our newspapers we read teachers being racist to students of different race, and in work, we have employers demanding to wanting to hire people of certain race not because they may be smarter or bring value to work, because they are comfortable surrounding themselves with their own race. Still baffles me...I suppose until we truly believe that we belong to human race and we are all the same regardless of colour or race, till then mankind is nothing better then wearing loin cloths and living in the cave! And seriously dont waste our time going to places of worship to bow and pray when we cant respect another being as equal.

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

Cameron Highlands Trip

Tea plantation




Aveetha, Arjoonha, Shervin and my brother Thiaga




This trip nearly got cancelled as mother in law (mil) was not well. But hubby asked to go without him as the kids have been looking forward to this for the last 2 months. So we went to Cameron's and on the way we stopped by at Ipoh and visited my aunt and cousins, and that was very nice. Kids got to meet the relatives. After a 1/2 day visit we headed towards the higland. The weather was pleasant but at night pretty cold, about 15-16c. But there were too much of development going and the authorities should keep a tab so that they dont destroy the beauty of this place. The tea plantation was indeed breathtaking. Kids enjoyed the long walk there (I decided to stay at the tea shop and drank hot tea, and stuffed myself with scones). All in all it was a good holiday, with my brother, mother and sister's family!

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).