Friday, February 27, 2009

18th post of the month (only)!

Dont feel like blogging these few days .. dunno why ... but when I saw that for the month of Feb 09, I only have 17 posts posted so far, I decided to do one more ... to make it 18 ... I like the number 18 ... auspicious number for the Chinese .. hehehe .. me very "3 8" (sam pat) right?


I am not into numbers feng shui or numerology or wat-e-va your call it but my SIL is. She is a member of Visiber. Never heard of it until she began calculating for all of us using our birthdates (without our permission some more!). Dont know how they calculate and not interested either but she is a firm believer! Hope whatever she "calculate" for herself works lah ...

Moreover, this "calculation" services dont come cheap. They charge by the thousands! Wonder how much she made so far .. hmmm. She wears a gold pendant (they actually have their own jewellery line - no wonder they make tonnes of $$$) with a number that is specially 'calculated" for her. She places the number 1-6-5 in the kitchen and another 1-6-8 in our living room. So, we all sure "fatt" this year *smile*.



At Visiber, its all about numerology and their believe on the underlying power of numbers which can tell us everything about mankind and the universe .. phew!

Are you a believer of numerology?

Note: Pics courtesy of Visiber website.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Pregnancy & Delivery Story Tag

Been feeling a bit down yesterday and today, and did not plan to do a post. Gladly, Agnes tagged me with this ... so I kinda got mood to share my stories now .. so here it goes ...

1. Was your first pregnancy planned?

Yeah, we deliberately planned for it. Did not want to get preggie during the first year of marriage as we wanted to make sure we are both financially and emotionally ready to welcome the love of our life.

2. Were you married at that time?

Yes, we were exactly one year into our marriage.

3. What were your reactions?

Reactions .. err ... well, we were planning for it ... so kinda expecting it too. My reactions were pretty "cool", did not jump up & down, etc. Hubby was like ..really ar ... first time try for it already "kena" ar .. wow!

4. Was abortion an option for you?

Nope, not at all. We were welcoming him with open arms :-)

5. How old were you?

I am one of those who had a baby in my late 30s. Something I would not recommend .. body aches all over now.

6. How did you find out you were pregnant?

My period is very very accurate each month. So when I missed it by a week, I knew it. Coincidentally, I was falling sick (mild fever), went to the doc and while he was prescribing the medication, I told him I "might" be pregnant. He tested for it and there was a very faint line. Too early to say, he says, but yes, I could be pregnant. A week later, I bought a test kit and yeah, confirmed preggie.

7. Who did you tell first?

Aiyoh, hubby lor .. cos I did the test at home mar .. since its our first time .. must show hubby how the test kit works also mar .. hehehe.

8. Did you want to find out the sex?

NO! We asked our gynae not to tell us. Until I was almost 7 months preggie, then he "accidentally" showed us the "bottom view" .. so we knew.

9. Due Date?

10 April 2007.

10. Did you have morning sickness?

Yes but just mild. Damn sleepy though during first trimester!

11. What did you crave?

Nothing in particular but loved hot & spicy food. Disliked cold and bland tasting food.

12. Who/What irritated you the most?

Hmm ... no one and nothing really. Overall a good pregnancy.

13. What was your first child sex?

A boy!

14. Did you wish you had the opposite sex of what you were getting?

Nope, both hubby and I wished for a boy. In fact, while planning for the baby, our cousin shared with us a book on how to increase the chances of conceiving a boy .. we followed 80% of it and tried out its recommendation. It works! It works!

15. How many pounds did you gain throughout your pregnancy?

This is a scary question! I had put on almost 20kg!!!! And I am still having that 20!!!!! Darn!!!!

16. Did you have a baby shower?

No lah. We only had a full moon lunch at a chinese restaurant. It served buffet dim sum ... loved it. We had about 20 tables.

17. Was it a surprise or did you know?

Of course I knew. I had to know to invite my own relatives and friends right?

18. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy?

Nope, none at all.

19. Where did you give birth?

Pantai Medical Centre, Bangsar.

20. How many hours were you in labour?

Err .. I really wonder when I started labour ... cos there was no pain no nothing. Just had a few spots on my undies ..and it was a day before the EDD, so midnight I went to hospital (after shower & washing my hair). Then nurse say, aiyah,nothing lah, maybe you go back. I told her my EDD tomorrow wor .. then she said ok lah, you "check in" now lah. Abt 5am, feel back & hips pain, then feel as if "down there" got pressure. Told nurse to check, aiyoh, 8cm dilated - so fast! Call doctor!

21. Who drove you to the hospital?

Hubby lor ... after his table-tennis game, we went back to shower and I wanted to wash my hair ..then take a slow romantic midnight drive to the hospital .. hehehe.

22. Who watched you give birth?

My gynae, 2 nurses, hubby and a bunch of trainees .. which I did not mind. I said, can, can, come in lah. Else how are they going to be good at their job next time right?

23. Was it natural or C-section?

Totally natural with only 2cm tear. (I practised hypnobirthing mar ..)

24. Did you take medicine to ease the pain?

Only the gas for the last hour before the doc arrived. Hypno-breathing helped a lot!

25. How much did your child weigh?

7.7 pounds .. I prefer the pound measurement ... hehehe.

26. When was your child actually born?

On EDD day itself. Cool eh? So accurate!

27. What did you name him/her?

Bryan. At that time, I was crazy over tennis and loved the Bryan Brothers! I still am! To name him Federer or Nadal would have been a bit over the top right?

28. How old is your first born today?

22 months.


Walau! Quite a long tag lah .. so tired typing! But fun also lar. Hope you enjoyed reading it. I wonder how many mommys out there heard about Hypnobirthing & tried practising it?

Monday, February 23, 2009

Dining Table @ Haus

I think I found the dining table that fits my dining room. It was kinda like a love -hate relationship at first but after I saw this particular table, I just had some feeling for it. I kinda felt like it just fits in well.

Dining tables over here are usually round or rectangular. But recently the trend has been square tables. When I first spotted them around the furniture malls, my first impression was ... they looked like mahjong table! I didnt like the concept.

We visited Haus at both their outlets in Puchong and Damansara Mutiara. They now have a much larger showroom at Tropicana Mall.


As an alternative, we also spotted this rectangular table. This will be our 2nd choice.

Both the dining tables are made from MDF (medium density fibreboard) material and not chipboard of ABS material, so its quite sturdy and solid. Of course, if you compare it to solid wood (like teak) its nothing great.

From what I have observed, they would usually have a 40% discount during their sale time to clear existing stock and colors and once cleared, they would bring in new stock and some new colors but hey, how different can colors of dining tables be, right? So I really dont mind "old stock".

Do you believe in Feng Shui? All I know is the smoother the surface, the faster your "fortune" or "luck" will slip off! So most fengshui masters would actually recommend wood-based dining tables. And the dining table is one big element that matters in our life. Err .. me not fengshui believer or master .. just reading up for fun here & there *smile*.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Easy Banana Cake

When I first wanted to learn how to bake, I was looking out for real easy recipes that used only basic ingredients for the cake. I just did not want to spend a "mini fortune" buying all those fancy gadgets and ingredients and only use it once or twice in baking.

I also tried the non-bake cheese cake recipes quite a number of times but they failed terribly. Perhaps I do not know how to dissolve the gelatine properly, hence they dont turn out so "well done". So I stopped trying those because cheese dont really come cheap these days you know.

Moreover, knowing that I am starting from ground zero, I better learn the very basic cakes that we usually enjoy every now and then. Other than the butter cake, I tried baking banana cakes quite a few times then (before I had my blog). It has been a while since I baked it, and so I did it again.

My supply of bananas are usually from my MIL as she uses them for prayers and some for own consumption too. Surely there will be some that are ripening too fast for us to enjoy them fresh, so off they go into my baking tin *hee hee*.



I cannot seem to find the source for the recipe so I shall not post up the recipe here as yet. However, if you are keen to try it, do let me know and I shall work "harder" to find the original recipe :-)

Or if you have a good recipe to share, do let me know. I will be happy to try it too.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Signature Kitchen's Showroom @ Ara Damansara

We are not totally sure if we can afford an interior design company to take care of all our renovation needs. Nevertheless, we did go around town to check out some kitchen cabinet companies just to see what is the latest trends and what kind of costings they are offering.










Signature Kitchen is pretty known for its kitchen cabinets and now, even wardrobe as well. They are also well known for its pretty expensive prices and not-so-good after-sales service. We have a friend who had a hard time calling them back to do some minor touch-up work.






But our intention is to check them out and see what they have to offer. No harm right?



I was kinda surprised to find a pretty comprehensive collection of kitchen ideas available there. Of course having $$$ makes all the difference and I enjoyed browing around their show kitchens.






They offered to do up a mock design for my kitchen (for free) and I gladly gave them my layout plan for my kitchen (which is always in my weekend bag cos only on Sats I have some time to scout around for stuff needed for the house).

A week later, the kitchen planner came out with a design for my proposed kitchen. When it comes to designers, its difficult to find a good balance of designing vs practicality. Designers want to showcase their talent in designing but not really taking into consideration whether it works in the real world.

First impression, of course looks really nice. But when you think deeper and look closely, there are many things which may not work for my needs. White? Looks good but not practical. Open concept? Hmm .. very modern but might not work for me either. Costs? First quote does not sound scary .. only about Rm20k for both wet & dry kitchen ... but beware .. lots of things not included in the quote!

Look's like I got a lot of thinking and searching to do these coming few weeks.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

You've Been Tagged!

I feel so honoured that Jo decided to tag me again for another fun tag! That means I am in her mind all the time when she blogs ... hehehehe. Thanks again Jo for being my blog-peng-yu.

1. Have you ever been on TV?
Oh yes! In fact, was pretty famous then! Remember the good old time we hosted the SEA Games back in the late 80s ... well I was the official mascot! Well, I mean, I was inside the official mascot costume! Went all over the country and appeared in all the semi-finals and finals in most events. Most memorable was badminton & football finals. Was dancing with the late Sudirman on the stage during the closing ceremony! Interviewed by the press & TV media from all over Asia. Felt like a celebrity then!

2. Have you ever sung in public?
No lah, crazy meh .. wanna make others deaf is it .. no good lah right?

3. Have you ever dyed your hair blond?
You want my father to kick me out of the house? And now you want my husband to kick me out of the house????

4. Have you ever eaten frogs' legs?
Gosh! Cant miss this! Fantastic .. especially when cooked in porridge or stir-fried with ginger! But hubby does not like frog's or chicken feet, so I only get to enjoy this when my mom cooks at her home.

5. Have you ever received a present that you really hated?
Well, not really. Presents are given by people who love you. So all presents I treasured them very much.

6. Have you ever walked into a lamp post?
Nope, thankfully!

7. Have you ever cooked a meal by yourself for more than 15 people?
I have never cooked a decent meal even for myself ... what more for 15! But hope this will change when I get my new kitchen this year!

8. Have you ever fallen or stumbled in front of others?
Boy! Tell me about it! Many hundred moons ago, I fell into a large monsoon drain in front of all my colleagues while on our way to Hatyai. My foot swell immediately and turned as large as an elephants trunk .. no joke. I was on medical leave for 6 whole months! Now all is well of course but can feel it ache when it rains (fong sap I guess).

9. Have you ever done volunteer work?
Well, yes of course. We planned parties for the orphanage & visited the old folks home (while I was still single lah) and I am was then a regular blood donor (more than 10 times). Only thing I regret is not having the time to do so now.

I hardly tag anyone these days but maybe I should .. this time round! So dear friends, I would love to hear a bit more of you .. mind sharing?

Little Corner of Mine
Pei Mun
Mummy Gwen
Mommy to Chumsy
Sasha
Vicky
Ai Lian

I bumped into Lil Twinkle!

I was blog-surfing and was sooo glad to have bumped into Lil Twinkle! Its an amazing on-line store specially catered to boys! Good news for mothers like me .. cos when I go to the departmental stores, I can only see rows & rows of girlie stuff ... sweet and pretty .. but now, here's my chance to shop till I drop!

I specially loooooove this pants! Low cut pants somemore! So cute especially for just-learning-to-walk toddlers. Cute eh. The price:RM38.90 only.


And how can I miss this cute backpack. Seems just too perfect for my 2 year old. The price : RM45.00 only.













And this is the first time I come across a multi-purpose bib cum bandana. Soooo stylish! The price : RM13.90 only.



And oh guess what, if you are a lucky blogger, you might just win a chance to win it for free! Wanna know how? Just visit the site for yourself. You'll be amazed at the collection they have at such reasonable prices. Come on! Join me!

Last but not least, for all those "princess" mommies, dont worry dear, there are collection for girls too. Start hunting the site now!

Total Price : Priceless!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Time flies ...

... and before we know it, my lil one will be turning 2 in a couple of weeks time! I feel time really ticked away so fast for the past 2 years.

Before we had lil one, we used to have social activities. We hit the gym after work and I used to join yoga classes too to keep myself occupied while hubby moved on to a new division at work that occupied a lot of his time then. Movies every single Saturday night. Usually 9pm show at Mid Valley. Then go for teh-tarik at mamak stall before we head home.

After the arrival of our "highness", every single minute of our free time (if we are not working or driving) is spent on him. He is still young. Needs our every attention. Moreover, now he is in his "terrible 2" stage. What more can I say.

The amazing thing is lil one can be as innocent as this ...


















but mommie can see his cunning looks even when he was 3 days old ...





Then he tried to fool us with his "kesian" look when he turned 1 last year ...



but in reality, this little fart is a rascal!

















Nevertheless, he is the most adorable rascal we could wish for. He brightens up our days when we are down with work pressure. He calls out to "Mommie! Daddie!" really clearly now and its a joy to see him come running to us the moment he sees us approaching mom's apartment :-).

Lil fella is learning how to speak. He can say lots of single words and now, very slowly, he is putting a couple of words together. One weekend, while I was at mom's place, he woke up from his nap and saw me in the room and he said "Mommie. Where Daddie?" I was almost in tears.

Now, every night, while driving home, he will say "bye-bye moon", "bye-bye car", "bye-bye star" ... semua pun bye-bye. Ha!

How can we not love this guy? Parents love has got no boundaries. Even if the child is a nuisance to others, we still love them unconditionally.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Practical Valentine's Day Gifts!

If you have read some of my fun tags or meme, you should have realised by now that I am not a shopaholic *not-so-surprised smile*. I am also more stingy with myself than others, meaning, I don't mind buying expensive meals or stuff for hubby or mom but I do mind spending it on myself. Strange eh?

So what did I get myself for Valentine's Day? Something really really practical. I bought a new slingbag that can work for both office & casual use (2-in-1). My old bag was a gift from my sis who bought it from Singapore a couple of years ago. Now so "koyak" and "charn" already. In fact, its not only a Valentine's Day gift, its also a "bonus cum new year" gift too (3-in-1).

And then I bought a purse to replace my 15 year old purse (which I still love to bits!). I really really sayang to replace this purse which I bought in Robinson's Singapore during the good old days. I still remember it costs me S$79 then. At that time, heart so pain but I feel in love with it. Until now, I cannot find another "love" that can match my "love" for my old purse. Love is blind indeed .. hahaha.

What did I get hubby? Nothing really. Cos so far we dont really have the "gift-exchange" thingy that we practise each year, but hubby did ask me if I wanted any special gift in particular. I told him, I will just go get a bag to replace the "koyak" bag that I am using now lor ...

But how can I NOT get hubby anything right? Heeeeee... heeee.... so I baked him a cake. Its not any cake okay, its a CREAM CHEESE LOVE BUTTER CAKE! Yeah, dont play-play. Got money also cannot buy it. Baked it on Friday night, after work, at Mom's place as usual.


You can get the full recipe here but for this version, I added 2 tbsp of fresh milk, and that's it! It was perfect. Not crumbly like the previous time. All gone by the next day!

So how did we spend Valentine's Day? Well, we had to optimise the use of our only day off. I mean, only on Saturdays, we are free to do the things we want to do, without having to get into the office and without having to take care of lil one. And having the house ready soon, we have been spending most of the Saturdays window shopping, ideas-hunting, meeting up with suppliers for kitchen cabinets, interior designers, and also visiting expos and exhibitions every now and then. And last Saturday was no different. Had a follow-up discussion with a kitchen cabinet supplier and an interior designer.

For dinner, I stayed back at Mom's place cos my aunt & cousin was visiting with their lil one so thought maybe my brat could better spend his time playing with his lil cousin too. Dad was happily driving off to spend his Valentine dinner with his entire family. And this is the very first time since we met that we are separated for Valentine's dinner.

So what did you guys do on Valentine's Day?

Friday, February 13, 2009

Cute Blogger Award

Yippee! My 1st award for the new year *smile*!!! Thanks pretty Jo!









As per the rules of the award, I am suppose to say something about the person who passed me this award. And here it goes.

Josephine is a blogger I met through the Malaysian Bloggers Forum. At that time, we were both looking out for networks to build up our blogs. But ar ...this girl ar .. already got her first cheque from Nuffnang .. while mine is only at 50 sen now ... see, pretty girls ar .. sure got advantage one.

Another rule of the blog is, to list down 10 facts/hobbies about me. Well, I'm kinda boring person but will try to list down what I can see in myself lah.
  1. I am fat.
  2. I am really fat.
  3. I love chocolates with nuts.
  4. I love drinking half a cuppa coffee after meals.
  5. I prefer spicy (indian/malay) food rather than Chinese food.
  6. I love my hubby and son to bits!
  7. I love my mom and appreciate all her sacrifices!
  8. I can't wait to move into our own house after 4 yrs of marriage.
  9. I am currently "hot" on learning how to cook & bake (and hope this "hot" thing wont cool down once I have my own kitchen :-)
  10. I have been longing for a good night sleep since my son was born .. so still waiting for the day he stops asking for milk at night.
So, got 10 up there. Hope you enjoyed reading this. Does this make you feel you know me a wee bit better?

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Condensed Milk Pound Cake

This must be one of the most easiest cake recipes I have ever attempted. It is a perfect recipe for bake-dummies like me *grin*. In fact, it was sooo easy that I actually doubt it will work. Nevertheless, I decided to give it a try since I had an hour to spare at mom's place and mom willingly took care of the brat while I prepared the ingredients to bake.


Ingredients

3/4 cans of a large condensed milk tin
4 eggs, lightly beaten before pouring into dry ingredients
120gm of self-raising flour
50gm butter, melted & cooled

Method

  • Preheat oven to 180C and grease a 8in round pan.
  • Pour all ingredients together into a bowl and mix well. I used a hand-held mixer to bring it all together for 2-3 mins or so.
  • Pour into pan and bake for abt 30-40 mins or till cooked. Test with skewer for doneness.
  • Remove from oven and rest on wirerack to cool.
Some suggest that you sprinkle with some icing sugar while its hot but I omitted that. This cake is just mildly sweet as there is no sugar but just some condensed milk. If you still prefer it sweet like any other cakes, do try dusting the ready cake with icing sugar.

While baking, nothing happened for the first 20 minutes. I thought that most probably, this will go into the bin (just like a few other recipes that I have previously tried) but surprise .. surprise .. it raised well during the last 10 minutes and I managed to finish baking it at just the right time at the right doneness *smile*.

I only had one decent shot of the cake. Hubby commented that I always take the same shot of my cakes for my blog. So I decided to try another shot. Not being a pro at photography and on top of that, photo was taken at night, so please excuse me for a bad picture. The rest of the pictures were just blurrrr.....

If you are looking for an easy recipe without much fuss and simple ingredients, this is it!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

His killer lashes!

Overall, I think my lil one looks quite ok la. Not fantastically handsome and definately not unpleasant looking. In fact, at certain angles, he looks quite dashing .... hahaha... mother praising own son ... :-)


















One particular feature that he has standing out from the rest is his killer lashes! Oh my god .. me see also fall in love already .. dunno how the girls are going to take it when they meet my boy in his teens ...lol!

Even my SIL who sees and plays with him every night, also looks adoringly at his lashes everytime he sits next to her or on her lap. She keeps repeating that his lashes are sooo ... sexy!

















So girls, flirt with this guy at your own risk okay! Dont tell me I never warn you ah ... I warn you now ar .... 18 years earlier .. so handle him at your own risk ok! If you get heart-broken, dont blame me ar.

Ooh .. do I see some "side-burn" as well?

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

A glimpse of my new home

We purchased this property a year ago. Since then, there has been countless ideas of how we both wanna make this our dream home. We had all kinds of brilliant ideas ...but as usual, we try to stick to something that is workable in both our bank account vs practical use of things.

Progress wise, I think we should be able to receive our keys in Apr or so. To me, that is just round the corner!

Front view of the property (actual unit).


Many say that a practical budget for a home renovation is 30% of the purchase price, meaning if your home is Rm300,000, then a budget of Rm90,000 would suffice for your renovation plans. I surely do hope that this amount includes all furnitures and fitting as well cos 30% to me sound quite a big sum!

Having done a budget for our home, our renovation budget would be only 20% of our purchase price ... and bear in mind, the only thing we have currently that can be re-used in our new home is our wardrobe, dressing table and our bed ...hahaha! We have detailed it into a room-by-room budget (in excel sheet okay, dont play play) and I think we have to be very very careful in keeping to our budget as it is a pretty tight one.

Below is the view from the entrance of the unit looking into living area, courtyard garden area, dining area and staircases leading to upper & lower floors. (Pics taken 2 mths back).


View from the 1st floor looking down into our living hall & sliding door area. You can also see the porch area (which is not tiled yet).


Master bedroom's (below) flooring done.


















Our sunken bath area half done in the master bedroom. The sunken bath is large enough to be converted into a jacuzzi but we will skip that idea for now due to limited $$$. Moreover, dont have the luxury of time to soak in one :-(

What I really liked about this purchase is we were entitled to 3 units of air-conditioner, water heater, auto-gate system as well as the home alarm system. I do not know if those given complimentary would be suffice for our use but even if not, we only need to fork out a small sum to top them up for a better spec-ed system. So saved quite a bit there already.

We also saved up our credit-card points and after ALL THESE YEARS we plan to redeem quite a number of electrical items such as a food processor, a tower fan, and quite a few more .. can't remember, but I already circled them in the redemption book for hubby to submit soonest as they take a month or 2 for these items to be sent over. Moreover, not all items that we want might be in stock .. so let's see how this goes.

Certainly cant wait for the letter to arrive .. letter meaning asking us to go over to collect our keys lor .... so exciting. It's even more exciting than planning for my then wedding!

Friday, February 6, 2009

Random CNY pics

Took quite a bit of pictures during the CNY but too lazy to upload too many.

Below is a pics of our reunion dinner with my in-laws. We had it at Royal China (as in previous years). Deco for our dinner tables were soooo "ang" until like wedding dinner like that! Total 12 tables this year. I can hardly remember 10% of the names of those uncles and aunties that came .. so can you imagine my son, hardly knows anyone there.

Mommie decided that this year's theme colour would be "pink" for the 3 of us ... hehehe. So here is lil one posing in front of grandma's precious crysanthemum plants.





Posing with Daddie at the restaurant. Dont be fooled .. he only sat on that baby-chair for 5 seconds! Right after this shot, he was ALL OVER THE PLACE! And that is the No. 1 reason why there are no food pics although we had such a lovely 8-course dinner.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Lion Dance @ Office

The Lion Dance is pretty customary for corporate organisations or businesses. There are homes too who host this special significant event but as it is pretty costly, not all homes can afford it.


This year, I was "appointed" to be officially in charge of preparing for this at our office. Why I say "appointed" in inverted commas is because they had a meeting to decide who to take charge and I was not in the meeting! Terror management team I have here! We had this on the 3rd day of CNY (as "calculated" by my boss's sifu). At 7am!

So I prepared a red platter, a large pomelo, 5 mandarin oranges, a bunch of fresh salad and a red packet consisting the fee for the lion dance.

Wah, didnt know these days these "kungfu" people can be so professional. After I googled them on the net (they got website okay, dont play play), they sent me a fax for job confirmation! Impressive! For those who are keen on their services, do check out Kee Ling Kok Lion Dance Association (ask for Xand Ting, young man, quite handsome too! Looks even more dashing in his lion dance kungfu pants!).

They do quite a bit of official launches and retail outlet openings such as Marks & Spencers and Eu Yan Sang. They even blessed the opening of Eric Tsang's outlet at Hartamas Shopping Centre ok, dont play play.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Cash 4 Gold

Just got to know about this site Cash 4 Gold that provides cash in exchange for gold. Sounds like a pawnshop that we used to have around town in the 70's? Well, taking about pawnshop, I wonder where they all disappeared. I remember seeing quite a number of those shops during the good old days.

Honestly, when I was very young, my mom used to visit those pawnshops to exchange her jewellery for cash as well. Yeah, we were pretty poor those days. But since coming across this site, things have indeed been given a new twist to the good old pawnshop! Not that I need it at all now but just that such services can be "modernised" too!

Cash 4 Gold makes the process for converting your gold for cash real easy. You just got to go online and register yourself for a gold kit. Once you receive the kit, place your jewellery in it and send it back to Cash 4 Gold via FedEx (which provides for tracking the package easily). Once it arrives, you will be informed by them. And if you sign up for the Fash Cash system, the money will be banked directly into your chosen bank account! Super easy right? And most importantly, it is safe. Check it out!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Platter for Prosperity

Every CNY, my SIL prepares this tray of "goodies" for the house, hoping for more prosperity *smile*. This tray consist of lots of "good" fruits & vegetables .... bringing special meanings by each of them. Don't ask me what they each mean ... I dont know all of them. But I can guess lah ... like mandarin oranges for "gold", dried longan for "sweetness", etc. etc.

Here is a closer look for the full "recipe". It consist of leek, mandarin oranges, pumpkin, nian gao, huat kueh, dried longan, pomelo, whole garlic bulbs and complete with a red packet.

Eldest SIL came on the 1st day of CNY and asked why never put pineapple. Then 2nd SIL say "you never tell me mah" ... and the conversation continued for another good 20 minutes.

Would I do this when I have my own home? Well, yeah, maybe ... but purely for deco purposes and nothing else!

BTW, do you like the red plant that is at the background of the platter? I love this simple plant. It looks lovely when the light green leaves sprout out. Something simple and with a bit of a modern twist for CNY!

Monday, February 2, 2009

CNY almost over :-(

It was hard waking up this morning. It is my first day back to work in the new Lunar New Year. After 12 days of being away from the office, actually I was a bit eager to get back to the routine .. simply because it has been darn tiring taking care of my lil one 24-7 for the past 12 days! His unending energy is .. is ... is ... (I have nothing to say, too tired).

Moreover, today is the 9th day of Lunar New Year, and being married to a Hokkien "lang", we had the "tien kong" festival last night. Lots and lots of preparation and had to wait till midnight before we can start our prayers. Probably fell asleep as past 2am this morning and by 6.30am, had to wake up to ensure we dont get stuck in the usual morning traffic as all of KLnites start work today due to the public holiday yesterday to commemorate City Day.

No pictures from me today although we have been eating out every lunch & dinner since the eve of CNY ... just no mood to snap any pics while attending to lil one.

I prayed hard last night for my lil one to sleep without waking up at night for milk or for any reason. Prayed that he would enjoy his night sleep from tonight onwards as he is a big boy now. Prayed that he would be an obedient boy and listen to mommie & daddie's words. So will have to wait and see if it works :-)

Today will be mostly spent blog-hopping as I have not touched my laptop for the past 12 days as well. So my blogger friends, here I come :-)