There are beauty in imperfections.

Finally! Finished watching The Heirs. All the casts are so good-looking. And I wonder how many of them undergone plastic surgery? Love the pairing of Lee Min Ho and Park Shin Hye, two of my favourite Korean casts.

My girl watched a few episodes with me and asked why are all these people so handsome and beautiful? 

I remember she once came home from school and told me that she didn’t like her big nose. Obviously someone must have pointed it out at her. One of her friends, told Eryn that Eryn’s good in everything and she’s lousy. Another friend told her that Eryn is a nice, cheerful girl, while she is quiet and unknown.

My little girl has this special gift in telling people to accept their imperfections and to improve themselves where they can – in their studies, in their sports, in their writing.

My little girl has grown. Like most little girls, she loves all things pink and pretty. She knows that imperfection causes insecurity. I hope she continues to be an inspiration to others just like how she is now. 

She knows that some issues like being obese, not by birth, but by diet and lifestyle, is a flaw. Or that, having an ugly heart, is a flaw. Or being a bully, is a flaw. And it is because issues like this are based on the progress on one's lifestyle, upbringing, attitude, and character of that person. And that, is what real imperfections is all about.

I was born average-looking. And have been called by people that I have panda eyes, stick-out ears, serious-looking, bittergourd face, ugly eyebrows and I don’t even know what else. I never felt that I was imperfect until these were all pointed out to me.  But I’ve come to terms with my imperfections, acne scars, wrinkles and all, I think.

In one particular part-time job I took up, my superior at that time loved to pick on the way I dress. “You’re too old-fashioned”, “You should put on more make-up to meet clients”, “You need to be a little bit more dressy and wear some jeweleries”. I tried all that. But now, I wear what I want, without my accessories most of the time, unless I have important meetings or special functions. The only thing I still carry on is having my make-up on in meeting clients. 

Yes, I do feel imperfect still. And thus, a little make-up that brings colour to my face and certain clothes help ‘enhance’ my appearance when I meet bosses. Despite my imperfections, my friends are still my friends. My clients are much appreciative of what is in my brains than what is physical. I don’t think anyone has run away from me because of the way I look.

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.  

Be your own kind of beautiful. Afterall, we're all beautiful.

My baby girl



Little Korean Princess.



It's around this time of the year that kindys have their school concert. Eryn had hers last month. She looks demure dancing a very beautifully choreographed Korean dance.

I see Eryn dancing at home in front of the mirror all the time, saying that she has to dance well since she's standing at the front.They have practiced for months.

In the earlier practices, Eryn complaint that she's not keen in the dance as it's boring and it's so repetitive. Part of the kindy schedule for the second half was having a dance practice slot almost every day. She was clearly bored.

As time passes and the timing between the girls were perfected, they were then introduced the fans which sparked up the interest in practicing harder.She stood at the front, just like her last concert, and performed the dance extremely well with her group of little 'korean princesses'.



My baby girl is no longer a baby. She's grown into a little girl with a mind of her own. Just can't imagine that she'll be entering primary one next year. It is really hard to imagine how 6 years have flown by just like that.

Eryn's self-entertaining passtime

How does your kids entertain themselves when they're alone?

For my 6 years old Eryn, she plays imaginary house or be an imaginary princess or watches her favourite Barbie stories. At most times, she gets hooked on her drawing, or cutting up pieces of papers and glueing them back again, or do her own "fashion-designing" and colouring. She can go on and on doing these things when her kor-kor doesn't want to play with her or when kor-kor is in school.

Here are some of her latest stuffs...



Eryn's castle made from brown paper, a drawing torn into two and bits of papers. There's an angel in the sky. How sweet. Notice the drawing of the car? Can you see the words on it? It says "Buy This". And as for no. 5, I don't know what she meant by writing the word deb, while no.9 looks like a bra.



Here are the bits of papers and brochures that Eryn cuts up and pasting here and there. The green cardboard box at the bottom right is actually the packaging for a kids' Darlie toothpaste.



Torn papers glued together to look like a notebook. She says this is her menu order for her customers. The bottom piece of paper is folded and glued together and she says this is a secret letter.




Eryn designing some clothes (and a pair of boots!) for her cardboard paper doll. I'm surprised that she draws and colours these by herself! You can read about the DIY cardboard paper doll  here.



Now guess, what's is the scroll about and what is in that Apollo box? Make a guess, before you scroll down for the answer  (^__^)

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Tah dah! The content of her scroll. A girl by the name of Arora, with a rainbow and a butterfly. Gotta ask her what are the two rectangular pieces beside the girl.

 

and, in the Apollo box, are the cardboard paper doll and clothes that I made for her a few months back. I didn't know she still keep this in her drawer.

  

And these are some of her "treasures" : her "jewellery-box", two wallets, a little princess pocket notbook, a cute wolly puppy handbag (its nose makes a sound when pressed), one of her McDonald toy which she pretends it to be her face powder in a tiny red bag (came as a door gift in a recent wedding we attended) and a handmade card with her name on it.



Yakkety yakkety yak.

Eryn has been following me everywhere during this school holidays. She goes with me for my meetings, appointments, library, grocery shopping and everywhere else.

Eryn can talk and talk and talk. Her conversation ranges from the things she does, the show she watches, what she's learnt, what she likes, and the list goes on and on.

Recently, I was driving DH's car with Eryn when DH was out of town and one of our conversation goes like this :

Eryn   : Mummy, I think daddy is very lazy.
Mummy : Why do you say that?
Eryn   : You look at daddy's car. You just push this button and the door will open
              (she was referring to a small little pocket compartment where
               the little cover will open at the push of a button. It's not automatic,
               but it's designed to slowly open on its own due to a mechanism).
Mummy : haha... This car is created that way, Eryn.
Eryn   : But your car is not like that. So, that means you're not lazy. Your car must lift up the door to open it. Daddy's one you just use one finger to push it. That's why daddy is a lazy man.

At another time, one conversation goes like this :

Eryn   : Mummy, poh-poh says you cannot sms or talk or sing when you are driving.
Mummy : Ya, so we must concentrate on the road right?
Eryn   : Look! That car no manners one. Never slow down when the traffic light is amber.  Why some people don't know how to stop or signal when they overtake other cars?
Mummy : Maybe because they are impatient and don't know the rules
Eryn   : Then they must go back to school because their brains are old. They cannot remember things.

On missing Brendan,

Mummy : Do you like Brendan to be here or in Kluang?
Eryn      : In Kluang
Mummy : Huh?! Why? You don't like kor-kor is it?
Eryn     : I like. But Kor-kor says he wants to go to Kluang to stay with poh-poh for a while, that's why I said that I like Brendan to be in Kluang.
Mummy : I see. At least you don't have to fight with kor-kor when kor-kor is not here
Eryn    : Ya, lor, no need to fight. But I also miss Brendan. We are children, so it is normal for us to play and fight together. Children sure fight one lah..
Mummy : 0 - <

Oh boy! She can yak from the time she wakes up in the morning to the time she goes to bed, and without her kor-kor around, I'll just have to entertain my little girl with all her funny conversations during this school holidays, when I'm driving, cooking, sleeping, even when I'm in the toilet!

Playing dress-up with cardboard doll

When I was younger, my main entertainment at home would be playing the piano, painting, drawing, playing board games and cycling whenever my mum permits. I seldom watch television and or listen to the radio. So, I'll find ways to entertain myself during the school holidays or the weekends.

One of my favourite game would be to draw my own cardboard dolls, and create various outfits for my little cardboard doll. I would then play dress-up with my sister using the cut-out cardboard dresses, bags and even hats.

I made one set for Eryn almost 2 years back but the doll and dresses very quickly torn up as she was only 2+ old at that time. So, recently, I got some old recycled cardboard boxes to draw a doll with accompanying clothes for her to play. Cheap, entertaining and she loves it! Now, she's asking for more dresses to mix and match.

Cardboard doll and dresses for Eryn

Just some of the samples

Eryn playing with with her cardboard doll set.

Daddy-daughter went fishing

Two weekends ago, DH and Eryn went for a malay wedding lunch. Brendan didn't want to go as he dislikes crowded and noisy places. So, he followed me for my business unit meeting.

Anyway, after the wedding lunch, DH's friend and his friend's wife invited DH and Eryn to go fishing somewhere in Semenyih, and they only came back home after dinner! Eryn was so happy go fishing for the first time that she got daddy to call me to say she's going to catch me a big fish.

Oh well, it was a gloomy day and I wasn't particularly pleased with the fishing trip as it was drizzling a little. Eryn came back home feeling extremely exhilirated and tired and with many, many big mosquitoe bites on her legs!

DH cleaned the fish and kept it in the freezer. We steamed it two days later and it was extremely yummy! The flesh was smooth and was fresh too! There wasn't any smell at all. Scroll down for the simply cooking method.

Fisherman Fishergirl trying her luck for the catch of the day.

Eryn posing with one of the catfish (ikan patin) caught alive.

Taking a break. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

Our simple home-cooked Ikan Patin :

1) Fry finely chopped garlic and shredded ginger. Put aside. Keep the oil to be used later.

2) After cleaning fish thoroughly, pour some hot water over the fish to remove excess slime from the body.

3) Steam fish (without any garnishing or flavouring).

4) Meanwhile, prepare sauce for gravy - mixture of soya sauce, fish sauce and sesame oil.

5) Heat the balance oil used to fry the garlic and ginger. Once heated, turn off the fire, and pour in sauce mixture.

6) After fish is cook, pour away excess water in the bowl. Add fried garlic and fried ginger on top of the fish and immediately pour the sauce mixture on top and all over the fish.

7) Garnish with chinese parsley and serve hot. *yummy*

(we forgot to take pictures of the steamed fish as everyone gobbled it up very quickly)

five and mischievous

Eryn turned 5 on the first of this month. She has been getting very mischievous and trying to gain everyone's attention by whining and getting into her baby talk.

When she's in the mood, she'll dance and move her jelly-like body. Sometimes, she tries to get cute by giving us her cheeky pose and twinkling smile. She would sometimes creep up to me, gives me a tight hug and not let me go.

That's Eryn, my little girl. Smart, cheeky, cute, adorable and very, very mischievous. She gets on my nerves at times, but she knows how to get her way out of 'difficult' situations. sigh!

She loves scribbling and drawing and she has different phases in her drawings. For one whole month in May, she drew and coloured faces in coloured boxes with tons of "I Love You" on sheets and sheets of papers. Very quickly after that, her enthusiasm died down and I do wonder what's next.

Just before this drawing, she was into writing numbers and drawing lots and lots of lines, just like the top left sheet of paper in the picture above. She claims that the numbers mean something. Sometimes, she'll draw lots of lines and request that I fill in the empty spaces for her when she goes to school. And when she's back from school, she'll ask if I've done my 'homework'. She'll take the same sheet of paper and then proceed to fill in the numbers herself. That enthusiasm died down too after about a month or two.

Her recent half year results were all "A"s. The principal told me that she has nothing to talk to me about cos her results are just simply good. Her teacher told me she loves to talk in class. She can yak and yak and yak non-stop - in school and at home. Oh boy! There's one particular boy, the biggest and fattest in class, she claims, who likes her and would only wants to go to school if he gets to sit with Eryn. Now, this pair makes a bad 'couple' in class cos they'll both talk in class. So, the teacher split the two up. Eryn sits in front and the poor boy sits at the back. They had the opportunity to partner with each other for a school trip to the High 5 bread factory though.

Anyway, life is so beautiful despite the ups and downs. Just like icing beautifying a cake, my kids beautify my life.

Fairy-dance..

Eryn received a pair of pink butterfly 'wings' and  wand from Auntie Rina and was extremely excited over it! She wore it for almost the whole day for the past few days, pretending to be a fairy.

I had wanted to try to DIY it myself but was just too lazy to get it done. I guess my wish came true! hehehe... At least I don't have to make it now.

Eryn pretended to fly and dance around in her wings and taking her wand to create imaginary magic tales. It was so much fun just watching her dance and flutter around like a little butterfly.

Such a pretty and happy sight.

shhhh... the dolls are sleeping

I've been noticed some strange things for the past few months, and decided to take some pics cos I find it quite amusing each time I see different 'styles'.

I'm actually referring to how Eryn places her dolls to sleep. Most of the time, when I want to sit on the sofa to watch tv after the kids have gone to sleep, I'll notice some pillows stacked up on each other. On a closer look, this is something that I see :

Yup, that's how Eryn 'covers' her barbie doll to sleep. This barbie doll was a hand-me-down from hubby's friend. Initially, I thought nothing about it until I keep seeing it happening each time I sit down to watch TV. In this photo, the barbie doll is sandwiched between two pillows in one corner of the sofa. Sometimes, it will be squeezed with 3 to 4 pillows. Sometimes, it's just a cloth.

Well, here's another scenario to another doll of hers :

Yup, you see it right. It's the same pillow covering the above doll which I bought when she was a little toddler. This time, treating it like a blanket. It's also on the sofa.

Here's another one of her doll, also a hand-me-down from hubby's friend. This one below is a little special cos' it sleeps in a little rattan basket, fitting it nicely. No blanket though.

Just 10 minutes ago, I saw another wierd position for her barbie doll on my working table! This is getting really wierd. It's placed on my table, with a used A4 paper as a blanket.

I'm wondering where and what it'll be next.

swollen eye

Eryn woke up crying this morning and complaining that one of her eye cannot be opened.

I took a look at her and saw the her left eye was quite swollen. She had been having a tiny bulging dot on her left eye for almost a week. DH had put a drop of eye gel when it first swell and it was ok for a few days before it swells morning. Could be because we didn't continue giving her the eye gel.Her first reaction was not wanting to go to school at be at home with me. Good excuse, and so I kept her at home with me.Took her to the kindy for a while though cos the lion dance troupe were at the kindy. She didn't want to step into the kindy and I had to carry her. She buried her face in my shoulders and didn't want to see the lion dance, her teachers and the classmates.

When her friends start calling her, she pretended she didn't hear. This little girl of mine is so cheeky.

Anyway, it's nice to be home with Eryn today. Gotta go give her lunch and am taking her out to visit a friend. hehe

girls will be girls

My little Eryn can be quite picky as to the type of clothes she wants to wear. On weekends, she'll want to wear a dress as I normally tries to avoid letting her wear a dress in the daycare as she runs and climb like a monkey. Imagine a girl in dress behaving so tomboyish. Nothing bad about that, but I don't trust perverts out there.

Whenever we go out, she'll sometimes request that she only wear a dress or skirt and not pants. She'll says, "all my girl friends wear pretty dresses every time". Oh well, she's a girl afterall. So, I'll let her be, depending on situation, but definitely not when we go to the park and swing on the monkey bars.

She likes to play make-up, comb her hair and look at the mirror, dance, sing, play princess and do the things most little girls like to do.

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!

"Jelly-good"

Eryn's nanny is one superb cook. She bakes cookies and mooncake to sell and she loves experimenting with all sort of food.

She once made 'gui ling gao' jelly with a few pieces of longans in it and gave us four cups to take home. It actually helps to reduce body heat. It has a slight bitterness to it, but when boiled with rock sugar, the taste is quite nice and refreshing.

Brendan didn't really like the taste of it but Eryn finished the whole cup. She actually asked for more!

Reaching for the stars

This was taken in our recent outing with our overseas guests. The pictures were courtesy of Andreas Dejok, engineer from Germany, who is also into photography, sports and also is a kite enthusiast who even flew his kites in the dessert of Egypt, near the Pyramid.

Hubby once air-mailed a huge wau bulan from Kelantan which was one of it's kind in the world. This particular wau won an award from one of the wau bulan flying competition. It's now in display in his shop.

Passion fruit

I've always loved passion fruit, especially when it's made into a glass of iced passion juice fruit.

My neighbour planted the passion fruit tree which bore so much fruit in her backyard. She gave us some of her home-planted passion fruit and they were surprisingly very sweet.

Eryn simply loves it as well as started digging into it, enjoying every single bite of it including the seeds.

Turning 3

Eryn is officially 3 years old. Born on 1st June 2005, she displays such a warm outburst that never fails to impress all at home with her antics and her very talkative stories - on the whys, the hows, the whos, the wheres and a whole bunch of wierd stuffs. Oh my, she can really talk and talk and talk...

Her sudden display of emotions always catch me by surprise.

One moment, she'll come squeezing me by the neck and hugging me, saying "I love you, mummy" and continue hugging and patting my back and another moment, she'll throw a tantrum and says "You don't be like that ar!! I don't like you!"

She's so full of grace and so cute with her baby-like voice and yet so tomboyish and behave like a boy.

She definitely develops fast, having learning to stand at 9 months and walking at almost 11 months, I think. Babbling at around one year old, and speaks in sentence by one and a half year old. She went off her diapers much later than Brendan. Brendan voted off the diapers at less than two years old while Eryn got slept without her diapers at around age 2.

We happened to be in Penang on her birthday this year and we didn't celebrate it much due to the travelling and eating and visiting.

Eryn wasn't a planned pregnancy, but she has brought me joy and tons of challenges in motherhood, in coping with 2 children with a close age gap of one and a half years old.

This post is specifically dedicated to Eryn, wishing you a life full of joy and laughter as it has always been for you. Your unique personality and expressions are a beauty to behold. While you can be naughty and 'stubborn', you certainly gives the aura, so cherub-like in times of darkness in mummy's life...

Wishing you lots of love and kisses unlimited, just like the one you so warmly display to mummy out of the blue, just when mummy needs it.

Eryn and her yoga poses

I've noticed Eryn doing some exercises and poses which looks like some yoga pose. She'll be showing off her stretching and posing in front of us whenever we sit down and watch TV.

I believe it's the "influence" or should I say, copy-catting her nanny at the nanny's place. Eryn does it so well, having no problem bending backwards, in a u-shape with her hands and legs behind her, or stretching her body out to touch her toes! I tried doing that and almost hurt my back! haha..

I took the opportunity to take some pics of her when she tried showing it off again.

"Cute hor"

From most than a week, Eryn's nanny was away to visit her grown up daughter. So, I was at home with Eryn for 2 days, and took her around with me for the other days.

Last Monday, there was a Raya makan in my freelance workplace. Eryn came along and had fun mingling with some of the aunties at mummy's workplace. She ate lots and lots of chocolates, cakes and sweets and that's all she ate for lunch.

Everyone commented that she looks like a boy and said that she looks so cute. Eryn will then give her widest smile and with a twinkle in her eyes, she'll say "Cute hor..." Everyone around her laughed at her cuteness.

Then, a few days later, mummy took Eryn to her other workplace and one uncle commented, "Wah... you're such a smart boy!", not realising what he had just said. When someone said, "You're so cute...", Eryn will again give her sweetest smile and say, "Cute hor..."

On a separate occasiona, Eryn followed mummy & daddy to a friend's wedding dinner in Eastin Hotel. A photographer spotted her and started snapping away... Eryn started posing for the camera and here are some of the outcome :

What the "F"?

No, that's not the four-letter word I'm trying to input here.


Lately, Eryn has the tendency to add an "F" in front of some words. She will go around saying the words "Funtie" (as in auntie) and "Funcle" (as in uncle). I'm not sure how fun this is cos I do worried whether her speech has changed to be more complicated. And then there's the "Fupstairs (for upstairs), "Fouuside" (for outside) and "Fie" (for I).


And she will also drag the "F" a little longer like "Fffffuntie" or "Fffffuncle".


For a girl her age, her communication skills is quite advance. So, I do wonder whether she's getting too advance until her words are now all jumbled up. When I correct her, she will say them correctly, but there are times, those "F" just can't seem to get away...


When we ask her what her what is her name? She used to say, "Jing Jong Jing" but now she knows how to say it correctly, i,.e. Lim Shu Jynn. When she thinks it's funny, she'll go back and say "Jing Jong Jing" again and starts laughing. I thought that was cheeky... but not the "Funtie" and "Funcle"..

Rasa Sayang

With this issue of the "Rasa Sayang" song belonging to Indonesia, I find it amusing that Eryn is singing this song very loud in some of the gatherings I've been having with friends.


She'll go like this :


"Rasa Sayang, Neh...Rasa Sayang Sayang Neh" (she prefers saying Neh than Hey)
"Neh.... Nananana Rasa Sayang Sayang Neh..."


Everyone thinks she's so cute.. and then, the talk about this song belonging to Indonesia will be brought up and makes everyone talk and laugh over it. Actually, I personally do not really know what the real issue here is.


I think mummy here is worst. When I was a little girl, I always thought this was a Singaporean song cos I always see this group of children singing and dancinc to this song on a Singapore channel when I was small. hahaha