Merdeka!

With Merdeka round the corner, I don't know if Merdeka means anything to the kids now since they're still too young to even know about the world. They only know merdeka when they see Malaysia flag.

With the current situation in the company, I reserve my comments on my feelings and thoughts on the current development.

However, over the weekend, I had a good long chat with both my mum and my second eldest cousin. My maternal grandparents, had 15 children, of which 13 survived.

My mum and my second cousin talked about how tough life was during the Japanese occupation. My grandpa came all the way to China and worked his way through to support his family here in Malaysia and his siblings and parents back in China. No subsidies, no outside help. Life was tough. They stayed in the jungle, and had many encounters with the gurkhas, the Japanese soldiers, the British soldiers, and the danger the lurks everywhere around them - poisonous snakes, hornets, bobby traps, etc.

Merdeka truly meant a lot to people like them where they saw the development of the countries and now enjoy life to the fullest.

People nowadays are just spoilt for choices. Talking about human rights and this rights and that rights, but forgetting the reason and the strength that brought us so far.. Hope the unity of one single Malaysian race won't be forgotten...

Still, here's wishing everyone, especially to the older generation who saw through the pre-independence days.... "Selamat Hari Merdeka"

Steamboat at home..

Once in a blue moon, we like to have a steamboat meal at home. Hubby will normally get the ingredients from the morning market consisting of prawns, various types of fishballs, dumplings, vegetables, mushrooms, etc..

I will boil the stocks using fish bones, chicken or pork bone, garlic, celery stalk and half a handful of tai-tou-choy (big head dried veg) and cook some rice. I’ll make my own chilli dip which I’ve yet to master the right texture and taste.

We always start with the prawns, fishballs and lots of pre-fried shallots and shallot oil to give the soup more oomph! before continuing with the other ingredients. Spring onions, parsley are optional as the kids dislike the taste.

We normally end the meal by adding the cooked rice into the soup with an egg in it to be made into a delicious and sweet porridge. Mmm….. simply refreshing and yummy!

mini Olympic 2008

It's the Olympic now in Beijing. Back at home, we have our own little olympians :-) With the Olympic fever happening everywhere, I took some fun shots of the weekend exercise the kids enjoy having.

Eryn's tooth chipped.

At home, I'm always telling the kids not to jump here and there, not to do this and that, and it's only natural that I do so. Sometimes, it maybe due to my mood, but most of the time, it's a mother's instinct to tell her children not to endanger themselves.

The children tend to listen more to their daddy as daddy will not hesitate to hit them real hard that will send chills to their spine. However, I can be screaming my head off, give a smack and 'nagging' the kids non-stop and yet they can still laugh and continue with their little business of being active little children. (bully mummy eh?)

Most of the time, I'll leave daddy to put the kids to sleep after brushing their teeth cos somehow, they get it done faster with daddy around. However, when hubby is not around, I have to be the one doing it, and I go crazy doing it. The kids tend to take me for granted!

Two nights ago, hubby wasn't back from his outstation trip, and so, I have to get the kids to brush their teeth. As usual, they'll be laughing and jumping and running while I'm calling them and reminding them to do what they are supposed to do. Eryn then fell and started crying hard.

That made me start screaming at them and 'nag' even more. "Very, good! Always don't want to listen to mummy!..... Tell you not to jump you want to jump!.... I've said it many times, and yet you do not want to listen....blah... blahh... blahh..." Then, I dragged Eryn to the bathroom to brush her tooth for her and noticed slight bleeding in her gums.

I then saw that one of her front tooth was chipped! More like broken, to be exact. I tried to find the missing piece, but I guess she could have swallowed it.

Really makes me go crazy sometimes.... Eryn's only 3, which means, her two front teeth won't be dropping out any time soon, until she's 5 or 6. So, she'll have to be in her new look at least for the next 2-3 years.

Sigh! Want to be patient also cannot... Tell me, what are your experiences and incidents you have to face, dear parents? Sigh!

Pea eggplant

My mum is a garden herbs enthusiast. Recently she showed me a cluster of tiny green peas look-alike fruit which she claims is good for anaemia. She's now planting it in her mini-herbs garden.

I did some finding and realised that the round pea -shaped fruit is known as pea eggplant (or Solanum torvum).

Apparently, some people cook this in their curry.

I'm keen to know more about this if anyone can provide some medicinal info and cooking method on this.

The skin seems a little tougher than the normal brinjal, probably due to its size, and the taste is somewhat bitter.

Died of dengue

Yesterday, I received news from a friend that another friend, Jon, whom we've just known recently, had died of dengue last week.

It was a very shocking news to hear. I don't know him that well, but it was so unexpected that it makes my 'mission' even stronger - the mission to explain why it is necessary to get coverage and protect our family and have an income replacement in case something untoward happens to us.

In Wikipedia, the signs and symptoms can be described by "a sudden onset of fever, with severe headache, muscle and joint pains and rashes. The dengue rash is characteristically bright red petechiae and usually appears first on the lower limbs and the chest; in some patients, it spreads to cover most of the body. There may also be gastritis with some combination of associated abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.

Other symptoms include fever, chills, constant headaches, bleeding from nose, mouth or gums, severe dizziness, and loss of appetite.

Some cases develop much milder symptoms which can, when no rash is present, be misdiagnosed as influenza or other viral infection. Thus travelers from tropical areas may inadvertently pass on dengue in their home countries, having not been properly diagnosed at the height of their illness. Patients with dengue can pass on the infection only through mosquitoes or blood products and only while they are still febrile.

The classic dengue fever lasts about six to seven days, with a smaller peak of fever at the trailing end of the disease (the so-called "biphasic pattern"). Clinically, the platelet count will drop until the patient's temperature is normal"

Jon left behind his wife and two very young children, some unpaid debts and funeral expenses. His wife is currently non working due to a minor ailment. His colleague called him a day before he passed away and Jon indicated that he's feeling better. News then broke out that his blood count was dropping and he passed away.

He was admitted to one of the local government hospital and somehow, was not able to make any claims due to the hospital report indicating that he didn't die of dengue. In fact, I was told that the family has to let it go that this unfortunate incident happened. What really happened, I do not know. But it got me thinking, that most people are ignorant on the importance of getting basic protection, not only for themselves, but also for the sake of the living family members, in the even of an unfortuante death.

Being in the wealth accumulation and wealth protection business myself, it sometimes breaks my heart when people are ignorant over this, and when something happens, it will be too late. We can only provide support and grief with the family..

My 'mission' goes on...

Brendan's first sports day

It was Brendan’s school’s sports day last Saturday. The number of students in that preschool is so huge that the sports day have to be held at a nearby primary school field.

The day started with the performance by the 5 year olds and the 6 year olds students who danced to the tuned of Hey, Mickey and Mambo No. 5.

Like all parents, I was pretty proud of Brendan, who played one of the instruments in the Mambo No. 5 performance. Well, not too bad, for a 5 year old.

I was extremely surprised to see the youngest child to be around the age of 2, or probably even less, judging from the way the cute little boy walked in his little toddler’s shoes. It’s simply amazing that children are being sent to preschools and daycares as young as 2! (or probably even younger). He had the opportunity to participate in the sports events as well, with the help of a teacher who held him by the hands.

Brendan’s participation in the sack race actually caused an embarrassment to his group due to his slowness and moody look. He started the day full of enthusiast and mid-way, he was already getting pretty moody. Oh boy!

I actually felt really disappointed cos I was a school athlete myself, having won numerous medals and trophies during my school days. I was a sprinter, a netball achiever, a superb long-jumper and a hurdler. But my dear son somehow didn’t inherit this little sports genes from his mummy.

Anyway, I shouldn’t expect too much from him, as I know all child are different. I’m still proud that he went through with all the hassle to be part of the mini orchestra and the gunny sack race. I felt bad for his team mates who were cheering him on.

But he’s my little boy, my champion, regardless of what happened. He did his best, and that’s all that matters.

The fun part of the whole sports day was when the D.J. announced for the volunteers of 15 parents to take part in a game against the teachers. He even hinted to get at least 3 fathers to participate which will guarantee a win. More than 15 parents volunteered. And the game….? Well, it was the tug-of war between the 15 female teachers and 2 male supporters against the more than 15 parents who won within seconds! Oh gosh, it was a funny sight.

jams and cracks and @*$&~#...

I had full day trainings this week and had to leave early to reach my destination which normally takes 40 minutes. Yesterday, of all days, I chose to leave extra early because I wanted to reach earlier to have my nasi lemak breakfast as I didn't have a proper dinner the night before and my tummy was growling.

Mana tau, the stupid jam caused havoc from my place all the way through LDP and to Kepong. It took me 1 hours 40 minutes to reach my destination. That's an extra one hour!! I didn't exactly know what happened until I heard over the radio on the various road blocks in Klang Valley. It was later in the day, that I was told that it could be due to Anwar's court case. Haiya..... I don't read much papers nowadays, how to know about the case?

Well, as if that is not enough, I have to face the fear of that MRR2 flyover as I went under it to go to Kepong. Some stupid cracks and problems. This one makes me lagi geram... RM70 million spent for repairs also not enough (RM70 million wei, not RM700 thousand or RM7 million). I need money to repair the hairline crack in my house leh, that also apparently caused by some development taking place near my place.

As I come closer to the flyover, I have to try to drive faster to past the place as quickly as possible. You never know what can happened. Accidents happened all the time. Nobody expected a bus that plunged down the ravine near Genting a few months back and killed a few people. Nobody expected the horror accident recently at the Cheras-Kajang road. Nobody expected another horrific accident at Puchong where one person was killed. Then, there's the incident of the monorail accident where some metal stuff dropped on one person's car and injured that person. Haiya!!

And then, reading about Halcrow not advising on the usage of some materials and blah blah blah... really bo-lat already....

As I was already late, I quickly tapao one cha-siew pao and ate hurriedly while walking up 3 flights of stairs to the training hall. As I was waiting for my pao, I saw and kept thinking of one old lady with a bad limp that went around begging for money at the hawker stalls. If only 0.01% of that RM70 million was allocated for a person like her. That money, could have help feed her basic meal for one full year..