Christmas is coming!!! weeee! ;-)

havent blogged for ages.. been super busy and super fed up with the slow connection at home. haha.. been spoilt with the fast connection at work that it's the only drawback of being on holiday... i dont get to use the school's broadband! nevermind, at least i'm blogging now!

hehe.. here's a pic of the first batch of christmas cards that left my hands a couple of weeks ago... because i couldnt find some other addresses, hehe i had to go back to the post office a number of times over a number of days to get them all sent... if u hvnt received one this time round, it's cos i dont have your address.. hahahaha... so get in touch with me n i'll put you on my list for next year! basically every year we do a christmas shoot.. which i put on facebook or here only after christmas cos i dont wanna spoil the surprise for those receiving them in the cards. this years pics were done pretty late.. but i assure you they are top quality... lanner is a star.. smiled so gorgeously for the cam and besra of course was a lil lady. ;-) look out for it in the mail ok!
here's my daughter Besra and my goddaughter Natalia on our italiano lunch do with godma Luvy to exchange gifts for christmas.. hehe.. lunch and chat was lovely as expected and the girls had fun poking and prodding the christmas tree. there was a silver stalactite or stalacmite (which one's the one going downwards?) and both the kids put it on their heads and called themselves unicorns... imagination is priceless eh.. oh to be young and naive again, with not a single worry on our lil minds!
Besra's first christmas tree... we decorated the tree in our sparse new house... she was really impressed and had plenty of fun doin it. cant wait for a time when we can put up a real big one..
kissing the angel at the top of the tree... ;-) how sweet
big sister duty.. hehe.. he really didnt want to sit still! haha..
from the balcony looking in... my pride and joy... who would hv thought curtains could inspire such bliss!


Sowhat have i been up to? too much on my plate right now.. but it's a good thing. spend most of my days cleaning and mopping the new house and it's starting to look more like a home now. the curtains r in (love em... so gorgeous!), so r the aircons and the water heaters... water tower has been successfully erected and i hear they are installing the water tank tomorrow (it's green, do u know why? lol). My stove unit arrived today.. yippee!!! furniture will be delivered some time next week, the astro cable tv guys r coming round tomorrow morning and we r installing the phone line hopefully before christmas... yikes! this moving business is hard work! i've booked the lorry for 26th dec so that's the big move.... gonna spit roast a turkey (if i can find one, or an overfed chicken will have to do!) to feed all the extra hands that day as a thank you for helping me with the boxes on literally Boxing Day! hehehehe... cluck cluck.. i'm starting to become pretty houseproud... lol.. anyway, fingers crossed we get in there with no hitches.

only downer now is that i'm having a tough time finding a bank that will remortgage our fully paid apartment for us. we're sitting on money literally and the idea was to release some funds to furnish the new place properly, while the new tenants paid off the monthly installments. sighs... bugger all banks! if it's not this, it's that. i'm now putting my apartment on the market... it will be on www.mudah.com.my pretty soon so if u know anyone who wants to buy a resort apartment, 2 rooms for a steal at 85,000 ringgits (45 mins drive from kk city, 5 mins walk to a pristine beach) ... point them in my direction ok! sighs.. will be sad to lose this place but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!

anyway... another great piece of news is that our fishing charters website is finally up.. and we've got close to 300 hits already. some enquiries are already coming in and hopefully more will ensue. lots and lots of pics of martin and his fish and a couple of me with some of my fish. www.borneoangling.com have a look and tell us what you think! ;-)

right, so spread the christmas cheer and love to all.. sorry we didnt make it back again for christmas in england.. i do miss my white christmas... to all my dearest friends who take the time to read my ramblings, i wish you every blissful moment the year ahead can infuse into your life, and may you always be healthy, happy and thankful for all the plusses and not focus too much on the minuses. ;-) hugs all round!

Here's how to hv a good time on almost zero budget!

thank you thank you thank you Leon & Ashley for letting me cruise the streets of bandar utama in this super sexy BMW convertible! how cool is that? haha... this is just me being vain, then again, when am i not!?

Another priceless picture..

And another! It was smooth as silk driving it down the road to our destination, and there wasnt any traffic that day, so all in all, a brilliant outing! the only other sports car I've had the priviledge of driving is a green MG in Dorset, England belonging to a friend of martin's, lovely Jan. ;-) sighs... oh but to own one one fine day, indeed the day would be oh so sweet!

Lol.. faux fur seems to be the super in thing (not that i'm that trendy!) now in kl... so a cheap thrill is to put them on and snap a pic n pretend to be super rich.. hahaha.. the prices for these things r ridiculous! dont worry, no furry animal was hurt in the synthetic production of these articles of clothing. ;-) purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrso soft! purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

not very clear but i love this shot... illusion of being skinny! i wish!

how about this furry bit around my neck.. hehe.. no it's not strangling me! sales lady at the back was not impressed with the photo taking. LOL.. but later she warmed to us! hahahhhaha

and here's a shot of my last day in KL, the Tuesday ex-college mates breakfast club! left of me is contessa@titi who used to be in English like the rest of us but broke free to be an interior designer instead, on the right is aniqah who like me is still faithful to the government, secondary school teacher... gave me a really cool book to read on the plane (main message, to be successful, ignore the facts!) and on the far right is dear Ashley, super hot mama! i think she's the last pure chinese chick in malaysia.. (perempuan cina terakhir!) LOL... thanks for coming from all the corners of the world just to hv breakfast with me and send me off! hugs.. we'll do it again soon!

and finally, i wished i was made of money cos i would hv bought this green gown... priced at 500 ringgits, it was going for 50% off but i couldnt justify spending that much on a dress no matter how gorgeous i THINK i look in it. haha.. your opinions may differ. ;-) but check out the dressing room.. haha... the size of the room with mirrors and raised stage was as big as my own living room in my papar apartment! hehee... and the sales lady was fussing over me.. oh to be a rich bitch.. LOL

Anyway, tons of cheap and entertaining fun in KL... was good to get away, and not teach or worry abt the mundane things in life. big hug to all for making it sooooo memorable! same again next year, ashley? :-)

Happy birthday to me! heheheh...

hehe... most normal ppl hv one cake for their birthdays.. me, well i got 6 different flavours and they were fabulous! ashley chose the restaurant called Delicious at Bangsar Village and we had a fabulous time just chatting n stuffing our faces n laughing our heads off... from the top was the applelicious pie with vanilla ice-cream, peach frangipane pie with vanilla ice cream as well, i chose the strawberry pavlova, sticky date pudding with what else, vanilla ice-cream and butterscotch sauce (yummers!!!!), banoffee pie and last but not least carrot cake with cream cheese that contessa chose! haha.. we played musical desserts, each of us taking one or two spoonfuls of every dessert before passing them on... ! ooooo it was heavenly!

here's a pic of lyanna, cutipie! thanks for the perfume, love it! hugs!

that's me, the birthday girl! ;-) another year older n more wrinkly!

ashley the gorgeous 'perempuan cina terakhir', titi the hot countess! and lyanna the cool chick! 4 beauties galore! oh thanks hunny for buying me this velvet dress... love it!

group pic! weeeeeeeeeeeeee

this is me before i blew out all the candles... thanks everyone for making it to my simple but great bday dinner in KL... it was priceless! ;-)

this is me posing with baby danial, zai and jacques' lil boy... he looks a bit scrunched up here but overall was a sweet baby... congrats again guys!

and here i am with my favourite aunt in the whole wide world, Sharon who looks so youthful and hip eventhough she's much older than you think. in the red is my dearest friend Tang, whom i will miss like hell cos she's migrating to Perth... not going to be able to sit down and chat and eat dim sum with her like this for a long long time... girl i wish u well and that your future will be blessed with joy and happiness all the way. keep in touch ya!

at the moment, i'm still in KL, staying with Ashley who's an angel... dunno where i'd be without her. have had a fabulous time so far, esp with her lovely son Ryan and hub Leon... one day i'll bring Besra and Lanner and they can have fun together... kl is great cos i get to catch up with my good friends from the good ol days... and wonder where the years have gone. I do miss my lil ones but this time tomorrow i'll be holding lanner in my left arm and cuddling besra with my right. ;-)

here's a cute pic martin took before we left for KL... Besra and Lanner in his automatic swing! how cool is this contraption?

Lanner's milion dollar smile!
Uncle Richard Ekin givin Lanner his first sip of Chardonnay! lol... he was enthusiastically trying to drink it as well! my sweet boy!

New Personal Best: 8kg Patin!

Went back to the pond again, this time with richard ekin and myself and bettered his best by 3kgs... isnt this patin an absolute beauty?! ;-)
i caught 4 tilapia and in these pics, a soon hock or marble goby that is about half a kilo.. after the fishing we went for a seafood dinner and they were selling soon hock at RM105.00 a kilo so technically i caught abt 50 bucks worth of fish here! hehehe
so it was really quite an enterprising trip and before any of u even start to salivate thinkin up ways to cook these fish, we'll hv u know that they are safely back in the ponds, swimming away without any memory of this ghastly experience except probably a sore lip. hehehe... at least they are alive to see another sunrise! hahahaha...

Row, row, row your boat!

Daddy's latest fish!

hubby caught a patin fish, estimated abt 5 to 6 kgs caught in the pond where he hooked his last catfish. it's his biggest patin to date so he's quite chuffed abt it. martin n his fish eh... haha.. typical! ;-)
as mentioned in an earlier post, besra went with daddy to the crocodile farm.. and here she is, balancing on a live 9 feet long croc... how cool is that?! LOL she's a brave girl, my besra! ok..ok... it's real but just not live... like duh!!! ;-)
martin n besra posing with a binturong or bear cat in its cage...
my lil princess feeding the samba deer.. careful of your fingers girlie!
and here she is lookin like she's giving an expert tour and talk on the ostriches! hehe... can she rival bindi irvin? lol you never know what they'll grow up into do ya!

from what i hear, besra had a brilliant time with her daddy minus me. i was having my last day of lectures that day and couldnt join them. then they went to the water park. ;-) nevermind, there will be other times. and next time, lanner will have a chance to pose with the live croc as well! *wink wink* ok.. it's not alive.

The Sunday that was...

These r my lil angels.. hehe.. see how happy my boy is..what a killer smile he has, n u hvnt even heard his adorable high pitch screech!... n look how cheeky besra is... love em to bits!

Bes just spent the whole sunday with daddy yesterday visiting the crocodile farm and water park with roly and elliot who've come to visit from england... they had a fab time, will upload pics in the next blog.

As for me i spent the weekend finishing up my adult classes at amc college. for the closing ceremony the 3 groups prepared drama presentations. there was a modern cinderella who instead of leaving her glass slipper behind, left her mobile phone, and the prince would marry whoever could unlock the password of the phone! hahaha.. n then there was snow white and the 7 big feet and below here in the pic is about a witch doctor called Tok Bomoh... LOL... very creative and entertaining! It's so nice to see adults so wiling to learn and have fun doin it!

I was extremely touched by their effort to collect money and buy me not one but two presents. This glass case had the words 'We Love You' inscribed, and it really is nice to know they care so much. They also bought me a hot red handbag! Great taste, guys!
Hv to mention a bit abt this student above in the brown outfit, Rosnah. She's a nurse for the govt and I've never met a more giving person. She's such a great character, able to organise people and especially FOOD! the party was fantastic, thanks Rosnah!
Anyway, here they are... good luck guys, and don't give up on mastering English! ;-)

ramblings on the week that was... super busy but super happy too!

This is me doin my thang! hehe in case u didn't know, last week was a really busy one cos i developed a Newspapers In Education Module from scratch for the Borneo Post, SP Setia Foundation and Sabah Education Dept's state level NIE program. It was a lot of hard work but i managed to get it together without a hitch. LOL.. the only hiccup was that I was supposed to do a 10 min demo lesson during the launching ceremony at SMK Bandaraya, but they scratched that. So Eddy the chief editor was not impressed that it was cancelled without his knowledge so he insisted that i be given the opportunity to give a speech instead! haha.. me being me, well i love the mic, so it was fun to get up there n talk non-stop on NIE for 15 mins. hehe... am i murphy brown yet? Anyway, the guests of honour were VVIP Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye (wearing the cap) who i have to admit is a supberb orator.. he kept switching from BM to English with such ease and managed to drive his message home, playing the crowd into his hands with every enunciated phrase esp his talk on 1Malaysia! haha.. politicians will be politicians! was really proud when he came up to me, shook my hand and said that i gave an excellent speech. ooooo compliment from a Tan Sri!

Also there was Datuk Normah in her green outfit here, whom i went crying to when my ex principal gave me hell. she successfully ignored me the whole time.. ah well... i hear she's going to retire early so no need to angkat-angkat her lah.. not that i do such stuff! lol

Was publised in The Borneo Post for 2 days with a colour mug shot on the first day... one for the launching n one for the workshop.. hehe.. i know it sounds like i'm blowing my own trumpet, but i'm just genuinely happy. 15 years ago i used to work as a reporter for this paper, and now i've come full circle because i'm the person being reported. weeee!

Have to also mention a huge thanks to the multimedia dept of my beloved school, smk majakir. our website is very updated so hv a look if u r free... www.smk-majakir.net Sejahtera Majakirains!

The next day was the actual workshop i conducted for 24 teachers of 4 schools which were chosen as participants for this pilot project.

They were good sports, A-class teachers who didnt mind being students again and listening to my constructive criticism! ;-) hopefully they'll carry out this pioneer project successfully come the new term next year! ;-)

Remember Besra had a fever of 39.2 degrees? well at the waiting lounge of the clinic, she still managed to draw this!! haha... its a family portrait! can u tell whicg is me? dad? baby lanner? and herself? I have to say i tip my hat off to her for being so brilliant! her conceptualisation is above average for her age even if i say so myself! except in this portrait, daddy needs rehab or something, lol.. he doesnt look too good with a wonky eye! heh heh!
This is Lanner practising holding his own bottle! hehe .. he's not 7 months yet and almost 9kgs... such a healthy n bouncy child... so proud of him. he seems to think a normal day begins at4am.. hehe... but i dont mind. i appreciate lookin after this cherubic baby now that i've got the time to just enjoy him being a baby. i think with the first child, we worry too much, too often. with the second, we can kinda kick back n just be happy with the lil joys n endearing quirks... i love u lanner!

Well since fri afternoon last week, we've been having sports for the second time this year. it seems quite a number of schools are having sports at the end of the term so that they have nov n dec to train for the district level in jan... so this year i'm the green team's co-captain but as the captain is away on the course, guess who has to do all the work n run around the field shouting at kids?! MOI! of course! hehee.. but i dont mind.. it's fun! sure beats teaching in class! am gettin darker by the minute though... so that's not a good thing! grrrr

What is this strange contraption u ask me? hehehe i was soooo impressed at the ingenuity of it all when i first saw it earlier this year. it's made of recycled wood from an old student's desk, attached with a hinge, and when closed sharply as in the pic below, snaps really loud, exactly like a pistol shot! hahahahahha.. so impressive! that's what we use here for the on your mark, get set, go thingy for each race! LOL.. to add to its ingenuity, they rub the inside planes with chalk so that when they slap it shut, it kicks up a dust of chalk so its not only audio, but visual effect as well!!! how great is that!??!! well done, Jamalit, one of our sports teachers!

anyway, enough rambling.. but i couldnt resist this last piece... notice the delicious sauce mentioned here.... i literally rolled around the floor holding my belly.. it was that bad... just imagine it and i'm sure you'll be in fits too! hehehehehe... so crazy!!! anyway, i'm a bit miffed that The Borneo Post posted this article... bad bad editing!!!!!

Right, catch up with everyone soon.. for teachers, yay! the hols r coming!!! weeeeeeeeeeeeeee! hugs for all!

Popcorn, anyone?!

Yup, popcorn... that's what besra's tonsils look like. we didnt even know her tonsils had erupted. the poor girl had a temperature of above 39 and she was super hot and sweaty n cold all at once. poooooor thing!!! that was sunday.. and when i finally got home from work abt 5pm monday, we drove into town (40 mins) n waited almost 2 hrs for the doc to see her.. and the whole time besra was in tears n burning up n the whole pallava... what an ordeal.. at that point i couldnt figure out what was wrong with her except that she kept pointing to her mouth but i couldnt find any ulcers. doc terry was pretty impressed that besra could 'localise her pain' as in she was able to tell us exactly where it hurt... anyway, she's on a course of antibiotics now and the doc thinks its bacteria (strep throat) and not viral.. here's a picture of my girl, as we drove to town... oh how forlorn she looks!!! pity pity!

N here's a pic of my handsome boy... 8.5kgs..just over 6 mths old. hope he'll be tall as he's showing signs of being a long-ish boy. he still doesnt cry much which is fantastic, and at the moment his hobby is either laughing out loud in absolute glee or talkin in the highest pitch sounds u could ever imagine! soooooooo sweet... he's my lil hunk. martin heard him say dada the other day.. but i'm trying to use hypnosis to get him to revert to mama as his first word... u think that'll help? *grins*
daddy and his cherubs! wonder what lanner is thinkin?! anyone wanna guess his speech bubble?
n these r chocolate walnut brownies i baked for a friend's party piled up high... i made the same on besra's birthday and they were having a party the following wednesday so i offered to make another batch. gosh they live in a malaysian mansion.... three stories high house perched on the side of signal hill, with their own private swimming pool carved into the side of the hill... stunning scenery and at sunset, a double rainbow formed to accent the glorious view of the entire KK. words arent enough to describe it. ;-)

anyway, hope my girl gets well soon n doesnt transfer any germs to my boy... take care ya'll! kiss kiss hug hug