Catching Up With The Wiles...

Enter the dragon(s) with a huge bang(s)... :P

2012-01-24T20:37:00.000+08:00

Chinese New Year Dragons at The Wiles' Residence

2012-01-24T20:36:00.000+08:00

Hello 2012!!!

2012-01-03T08:44:00.004+08:00

Isnt this a gorgeous pic? We take them to the studio every end of the year for our annual Christmas cards... but this one didnt get done till too late so didnt add to the cards... love how cheeky lanner is..and what a sweetie my girl is turning into.

Another year has passed and I haven't been much of a blogger.. life got in the way. Tons to do... between teaching regular school... lecturing.. giving talks.. being a wife/mom/woman/friend and more recently a semi-pro baker ... life is overspilling most days.. i've had a nice close to 2011 with a great beach party and fireworks and even a disco under the moonlight... rang in the new year with a bang indeed.

As you can see.. kids r getting bigger n cuter (every mom thinks so,..) and life is good in so many ways... there are some downs.. but I will assume that 2012 will solve all my woes... and that i can reach enlightenment... oh ok.. maybe not the last bit.. hehe but it's good to try.

Boy is an angel... but hasnt developed linguistic skills yet.. i think he's in the silent period.. absorbing .. understanding.. but not producing yet. Lots of people tell me that when he starts.. i'd wish he'd pipe down. hehe.. we'll see. He loves his lil flower lime green pillow to bits... but we hv hidden that now cos the pillow filling (micro Styrofoam balls keep falling out in making a mess where he's bitten yet another hole in the darn thing!) ... he's so intelligent and spends his time making guns with his blocks and shooting everyone in the vicinity... and he puts his plate/bottle back in the sink when he's done.. :P love this momma's boy of mine.

Besra is also a gem... she keeps saying the funniest n wackiest things like
a) i wish for world peace (customary for us to make wishes when crossing a bridge)
b) look at lanner doing the dishes, he's my minion! (do YOU know what a minion is? my 5 year old sure does!)
c) (after i've scolded her like hell when she released my hair clip) but mommy i just wanted to put this tiara on your hair cos you're my queen (awwwwww... )

anyway.. she's in her final year of kindergarden this year... knows her alphabet well and spells a few words no prob (esp her name :P) but has yet to master reading. one day she'll read superbly and wish she never knew how cos of tons of homework.. so i think i'll let her enjoy being a baby a lil longer n not pressure her.

ok.. will try to be a better blogger this year. :P World peace everyone!

Car ride with the headbangers.. :P

2011-05-22T07:37:00.000+08:00

Introducing our talented children Lanner & Besra!

2011-05-22T07:35:00.000+08:00

Besra Playing Hopscotch

2011-03-26T08:10:00.000+08:00

Lanner my lil Malaysian Idol

2011-03-26T08:09:00.000+08:00

Lanner vs Scotty

2011-03-26T08:08:00.000+08:00

Lanner & tour of my surroundings

2011-03-05T07:47:00.000+08:00

Lanner dancing

2011-02-19T00:17:00.000+08:00

Lanner running on our balcony

2011-02-19T00:04:00.000+08:00

How to beat up Uncle Scott!

2011-02-03T17:08:00.000+08:00

BUNNY GIRLS WISHING HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR

2011-02-03T16:57:00.000+08:00

New Year, New Resolution.. :P

2011-01-23T07:22:00.002+08:00

Well Besra's birthday was last Oct... so i guess i've played AWOL for way too long now. LOL... life gets in the way, and laziness is a disease! In real life I haven't been lazy at all.. in fact i was back to being a supermom... working all the hours god sent, raising two children, and being a baker chick. was on holiday from nov 19 to end of dec and pretty much spent it making cakes and more cakes. my record was 30 cakes delivered for christmas eve. by the end of the month, i was all baked out. :P nevermind, the money is money.. we all need more money in life, don't we.

Now it's january.. and it's back to work. life is hectic as usual... but i guess it's worth it. if life were too easy we wouldnt appreciate it as much. then again, give me a money tree and i wont have to work myself to death and i would pretty much appreciate life from the couch. hehe.. that can't be a bad life either eh. hehe.

Besra is now in Kindergarden 1. Next year is Kindy 2 and then its primary 1. haha.. she's still a baby. she can write and spell her name... but she can't read yet. as a teacher i should be pushing her and drilling her so she will be the smartest in class. but i dont have the heart to do that. the way i see it, she will spend her whole life studying and reading once she gets the hang of it, so why no let her be a child a bit longer... let her enjoy this 'stress free' time. she's already doin homework, writing out her letters... and her spoken english is quite perfect, so why force her to become an overachiever at this young an age. i dont want her to burn out too fast. so anyone reading this post, what do u think? should i start drilling her so she can read or do u agree that i should preserve her innocence a lil bit longer. hahahha.. besides, she can sing the whole collection of barbie songs, word for word. :P

Besra's latest gems:
1. she goes n gets a broom n dustpan and sweeps up while saying: "Do I look like the nanny?" hahahhahhaha
2. i wish lanner was a bug so i can keep him in a jar because he is sooooooo cute.
3. what the heck? (is this acceptable for a 4 year old?... hmmmm..)

Lanner is growing up into a pretty handsome boy.. he's not speaking yet but you can tell he's a smart kid. he goes crazy when there is music on tv, esp american idol, and starts dancing like mad... hehe.. his latest move is to dance then breakdance with his head on the floor and bum in the air. u hv to see it to appreciate it. hehe.
Here's some things that he does naturally, without being forced.
1. He feeds himself with a fork to poke things and spoon to scoop great big portions n stuffs his face. After he eats, he walks to the sink which is taller than him and throws it in perfectly. He also knows to aim for the sink with his cup or anything else he deems ready for washing.
2. After removing his diaper for him, he carries it to the kitchen, out the back door n subsequently plops it into the bin which is as tall as him. smartypants!
3. He knows how to open the fridge and ask for drinks and food... and points at the cookie jar when he's hungry.
4. He can say mum-mum, nod his head, shake it for 'NO' and he does do the lippy-thing, the pathetic look when he's being scolded. hehe. works like a charm! Oh and his favourite word is "Uh-oh" when he does something wrong. hehehhehe so adorable.
5. and he loves to sing even if it is one word and one note: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Anyway, kids grow up way too quick. I've learnt that I've got to spend the time with them, put in the hours, even though i'd dead beat all the time now. they're only young once, and when they get more independent, i'll be the typical mom, pining for their attention. hehe.

Right, so happy new year to all out there. a bit late. but dont worry, chinese new year is coming...
9 days holiday!!! weeeeeeeeee! hugs to all!

Besra's 4th birthday

2010-10-27T15:57:00.000+08:00

Have I lost interest in bloggin...?

2010-09-17T22:55:00.009+08:00

Daddy's pond.. :) Day 1.
Reunion of sorts with my highschool mates.. :)
Lanner can feed himself ! Cool boy!
Martin n his fish..
And another fish..
Regular traffic right in front of our house, headed to our part of the river.
Another regular visitor to our jungle house!
Lanner n i up on a hill somewhere called Kokol Hill.. gorgeous view!
my lovelies
Family pic... :) sun was bright that time.. can u tell?
i likey!

i'll protect this house, mommy, dontcha worry!
besra my lil helper baker
peekaboo!
leaf insect... !
i can walk!!!
my famous cheesecakes!
at the butterfly farm
Babagon river, priceless!

Martin's 46th birthday. Blueberry cheesecake this time, no a bit of choc in sight!
Happy children!
Another bug!!
My cutiepie!

Hmmm... i think i've been really enthusiastic over sites like FB but less on bloggin cos this actually takes some brain matter action. hehe.. nevertheless, here's a short update on life with the wiles.

Lanner: Has just turned 1 yr n 5 months old today. :) Has 6 teeth, nothing else seems forthcoming but we are not worried. Walks on tippytoes most of the time so we wonder if he'll be a pro male ballet dancer.. hehe laughs all the time as u can tell from the pics, has the sunniest n the sweetest deposition for a child of any age if you ask me, today had a jealousy display when he pushed Besra out of the way cos his mommy is his and his alone! hehe.. loved that! 12kgs, tall for his age, skinniest member of the family as the other three most definitely have guts (beer gut, food gut, baby gut), lanner is definitely the studmuffin! Sleeps through the night so mommy is no longer a night owl.. and can finally get 8 hrs sleep a night for a change. phew.. raising kids is hard work!

Besra: Is a very lively and amazing girl. :) wonder where she gets it from eh! she spends most days singing barbie or butterfly songs n nursery rhymes from memory, pretends she's a princess and talks to her left hand almost everyday cos it is her imaginary friend 'baby spider Jameslah'. She adds 'ing' to almost every thing from mandi-ing (bathing), lay-downing and the most interesting one was when she crossed her legs in the buddha position, put her palms together and declared that she was 'chinese-ing'. Her active imagination also makes use of the 'pretending' concept.. and she usually pretends to be all sorts of characters including my cake mixing machine, or pretending to have a milk bottle to feed her baby spider. the other day i tried to make her promise to be a good girl and she wouldnt say it and when i asked why, she said she was a pretending statue and couldnt talk! cheeky git! haha. funny child. my current fave comment from her was when she was helping me ice the cupcakes and she said 'i love you mommy, you make my life exciting'. spot on, babe, spot on!

Martin: Has been fishing n socialising with new fishing buddies lately.. and has been published in a national fishing magazine as well as a local touristy magazine called 'breeze'. So he's been keeping busy and now busier still with the pond finally kicking into gear. they say it will be done in 3 weeks... will keep you guys updated with weekly pics of the pond's progress. Still keeps fit by strimming the grass around our 1acre plus land.. and he just bought two new toys. another strimmer and another reel. whatever keeps him happy. :)

Audrey: Has been working like a dog up until two weeks ago when school broke for the muslim celebration, hari raya combined with the mid semester holidays. phew!!! running courses at state level to retrain and share new info with teachers is hard work when you're the only one writing the modules and designing every aspect of the course. but someone has gotta do it eh. anyway, there was a lot of politics going on with this whole issue but i wont get into it. suffice to say i did my part in shaping the future of students in sabah and that in itself makes me happy. On the baking front, i've gotten order after order.. so my sideline business is taking off. :) ppl call me to make anything from my signature cheesecakes and cupcakes to apple pies and my biggest order to date is for blueberry cheesecake and brownies for 200 people for a wedding on 10th oct. wow. even i'm impressed. oh.. i forgot to mention that i went to kl for 3 days last week to attend a wedding but i forgot my camera battery so that's that. no pics until the wedding couple post some online.. even then i didnt pose much. ah well... it was still nice to kick back n relax.. finish read a dan brown (god i love him!) book in 3 days and just catch up with old friends n pretend to be a teenager again, out partying till 5am! hehe.

right, so that's life on this side of the world. hope everyone is doin well.. esp those with new babies: my cousin martin n his newborn John Paul.. and Norsham n Christophe with their lil boy. The circle of life, gotta love it!

Lanner riding his horsey!

2010-09-17T21:39:00.000+08:00

My boy's idea of fun

2010-08-05T13:45:00.000+08:00

happy kids

2010-08-04T21:27:00.000+08:00

Un-joyful ride,,,,:)

2010-07-31T03:24:00.000+08:00

Hauntingly perfect.. Neil Young - Like A Hurricane

2010-07-29T20:33:00.000+08:00

All good things must come to an end...

2010-07-26T13:20:00.003+08:00

My 2010 AMC Conversational English group on their last day of lessons... after 20 lessons and 4 months, I hope i've made a difference in their lives. :-) I always close with drama presentations by each group and I give out hampers ... but this year we also had a sing-along session and watched some of the drama replays.. and it was a day of endless laughter and memories. ;-) congrats everyone!

One of the drama groups... all adult learners with a child at heart.

Me on the way to AMC.. hehe... testing the camera.. LOL.. or simply being vain.

So all good things come to an end..that is the cycle of life.. when one window closes, a door opens.. trick is to find that other door... lol.. not as easy as it seems right!

Anyway.. we just hv to appreciate the good ol memories, and try to make new ones and hope that along the path of life, we make some really good friends and be thankful that we had a chance to hold hands with some kindered spirits in this great big world.

Our kids r growing up... ;-)

2010-07-23T19:58:00.010+08:00

Both of them love one another and always have fun together.. can u tell by how huge their smiles are?! :)

Besra is my ever-willing cake tester! Here is my pink spongecake with fondant icing. ;)

Lanner being loving.. sighs.. he is growing up sooo fast! soon he wont want to hug his mommy!

n here he is cuddling up to daddykins.. ;-)

Yup.. besra goes to nursery now.. my baby's growing up fast!

Here's how she scored in her mid term exams... she aced all the main subjects and got 3rd in her class! hehe... hw adorable! wonder where she gets her brains from.. ahem.. hehe

She has my genes!!!!! hehe

*clap clap* well done baby girl! keep it up!

Besra and jane doing arts n crafts pottery painting at the kids' club, marina harbour. ;-)

hehe... lanner sure loves mommy!

besra popping bubbles and having a screaming good time on our balcony.. thanks uncle wally n auntie chris for the lovely gift!

Besra took this pic.. she's super clever using the digital camera.. unlike the patriach in the family.. who don't know jack!

Just the 3 of us... ;-)

Besra's first trip with her schoolmates to the local wildlife park.. ;-) can u find her?

All aboard the Besra train! hehehe

Besra said as i was taking my time trying to frame this picture: "Mommy, you suck at this!"

Don't look, it's a nekkid boyyyyyyyyyy!!!!

Two lil sweeties! :) Arts n crafts time!!

Besra doing some arts n crafts with mommy... :) her lil butterfly mask!

Thanks auntie sharon for my pretty dress which fits perfectly! how summery is this!?!?

Lanner having a DIY haircut at home... we r on our balcony... the patch to the right of this pic is the empty pond yet to be completed.. and in the green background somewhere is our river... :) pretty scenic.. i wish i could explain in words just how beautiful this place is... :)

Martin's recent fishing exploits..

2010-07-17T06:49:00.002+08:00

Labuan International Fishing Tournament this year.. 27kg grouper.. didnt enter in the prize but we did manage to sell the fish for a good price.. :) no way am i gonna clean that thing!

on the same tourney he also caught two huge escolars or otherwise known as oilfish with razor spiny spikes all over its body. one way 40 and the other 20kgs

Matin's big catch at the Sabah International Fishing Tournament. a 4kg puffa fish! quite cute really.. hehe he'd make a mint if he were in japan!

Another newbie.. a hairtail fish.. i like the bright silver colour and its 'parang' like shape.

This year has been a year of interesting fish caught. Some very nice firsts for martin as you can see from these pics. ;-) If you didnt know, he's on the executive committee of the Sabah Anglers' Association where he's been elected as Sabah's Angling Master.. A large group of anglers came from Philippines recently and we had a full course Chinese dinner at Winbell restaurant. Half way through the meal Martin was invited to give the phil anglers some pointers in fishing sabah waters and he did so brilliantly.. hehe Well Done, honey!

How beautiful is this?

2010-07-16T12:16:00.002+08:00

i love my government, my income tax dept.. ;-) hehe.. how beautiful is receiving a cheque u never expected.. with such beautiful numbers>!!!?!?!? heheh.. in chinese 8 means fortune.. hahaha... so i've banked it in... and am waiting to reap the benefits.. gimme suggestions on how to splurge!!! hehe..

on a different note, besra has coined a new term again and it was hilarious... hehe she wanted to say 'sharp' but she didnt remember the word so instead she said: "Mommy, this stone is POINTICATED." mommy ze english teacher is very proud of her and her morphological skills! hehehe..

hahaha.. Lanner is still a stunner. I'll upload more pics in the next blog. just wanted to get this online here n now.. hehehehehe *floats!*

My professional life has been taken a step (or two) higher

2010-07-03T06:01:00.006+08:00

huge thanks to eric for being chief judge, mel and adam for being such a stunning couple, lesley for caring to judge our simple competition, nazirah for being a great judge and a great sport.. and then there's me, in black, as usual. hehehehe

my winning team, how proud am i? immeasurable! :)

some of the girls with their typical peace signs.. hehe..

just before going up on stage. the first girl is our conductor, Michelle Wong. great job, girl!

wed afternoon we had an extracurricular assembly and my kids presented their choral. ;-) this is their final stance. ;-)

i spent wed night baking 40 plus cupcakes for my students.. and i think they were super happy to get one each after the competition. hehe. ;-) choc fudge double choc chip cupcakes are always a hit. lol

well well well.. whaddaya know... life is finally what i consider 'BLISS'. esp where my career is concerned. this year has been a year of achievements, no matter how small. i've been put in charge of the badminton club and we won our way past two minor level competitions to reach the state finals in kota belud. needless to say the school and boss were proud. on the english teaching front, this year i've hit the jackpot with the debate competition (that's two years running now) and with the choral speaking competition i'm sure you already know that we won second place. never won before so literally we went from zero to hero. hehe and this week there is a public speaking competition and i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

now the juicy bit. so choral ended thurs, and the very next day i went to school as usual. half 8 am i got a call from the Director of Education for the Papar District Office (Mr. Abidin) and he summoned me to his office for a 10am discussion. phew.. that was a long 1.5hrs wait.. u never know what it could be: praise or punishment. hehe.. in the end, i found out, it was a bit of both. lol

praise because he had heard that the choral speaking competition which my school organised went so smoothly even brylcream would hv been proud! hehe.. ok.. no one uses that hair gel anymore and i'm digressing. anyway, he was really impressed that our school did so well (again, zero to hero) and that the competition was a resounding success esp since i managed to garner the help of Lesley Hewitt as one of the 3 judges. (thanks too to Nazirah n handsome Eric Banana). basically he was intrigued that i'd managed to get an orang putih (westerner) to come judge our choral speaking competition. (thanks again lesley!) and then here's the clincher.. he's decided that next year we will present a choral speaking presentation during teachers' day by the Papar District Teachers Choral Speaking Dream Team... comprising english language teachers from the primary and secondary school around this district. and who, i hear you ask, is in charge? hehehehhehehe... MOI. ME. YUP. AUDREY. hehehehehhe...

i quite like the idea of this momentous task... esp since the man himself declared that i am to be the conductor and coordinator of such a program. self inflicted punishment because i can see tons of challenges and pitfalls along the way, but hey.. the view from the top must be nice right? hehe.. so we discussed for a while longer and then i went back to school to report to the principal.. and he took the news smilingly.. and proceeded to ask the oddest thing: had i gotten my APC yet? (it means the excellent performance award) and i answered not yet.. and then he just smiled. hahaha.. thanks boss, i appreciate the thought. unlike some accusations, i'm not power or glamour crazy (well not all the time!) and it is just so good to have our sweat and toil recognised, even if it's just in the thought that it crossed his mind that i deserve the award. hehe... i told him not to worry about it, and that i can wait.

on the minus side, i've made a few enemies in my life and i dare say i hv one breathing down my back right now. she said i labelled her (i swear she's a slacker! hehe) and then does the hypocrite by labelling me "The Principal of English" because i'm so "Bossy" and that i'm "Gila Glamour" (Glamour Crazy) and that "Saya mau tampar perempuan itu" (basically she wants to slap me). Oh how professional. haha so i've decided to fight fire with ice. hehe.. i went to school and said good morning to her and oozed pleasantries to her the whole morning. guess she thought i'd gone insane. hehe.. make love, not war. hehehehe. i was just telling everyone that i can forgive her almost everything (including the comment that my body has been this size even since before i got married),.. all except for one thing she said in front of me, right to Lanner. she said, and i quote: "Anak cina memang tidak mandi pagi kan? then chuckled as if she was funny." translation: "Chinese children never take baths in the morning, right?" How dare she insult sweet, handsome Lanner!!! some ppl are full of crap. hehe.

anyway, so that's my life right now. we've had great news from aunty sharon regarding our ex-house in england, so thanks sooo much for your help. family stick together.

Besra said an amazing thing the other day, she was sitting in the buddha position (lotus?) with her palms together, closing her eyes.. and when i asked her what was she doing, she replied: "I'm Chinese-ing." hahhaha.. what kind of 3.5 year old thinks up such things? hahahhahaha very cute.

Lanner can walk quite well now, and he is such a joy to be around. never cries unless he wants me to pick him up.. eats anything esp sweet fruits like watermelon and mangoes... plays happily with his ball, shapes and simply finds pleasures even in the simplest things.. like gecko droppings which he likes to pop into his mouth when we're not looking! hahahhaah

anyway, this blog entry has been a long time coming. i'm just so glad to have a computer again. hugs to all... where ever u may be in the world, be safe. xxx

The Besra Slide Moves..

2010-07-03T05:09:00.000+08:00

Welcome to the family!

2010-06-24T10:10:00.004+08:00

Unveiling my latest addition to the wiles family.. this is my 10.1 inch baby dell blue inspiron mini.. gosh i hv missed blogging and getting online n catching up with you all.. sighs. how strangely wonderful it is that we hv internet in this day and age.. to think of all the friendships lost and found over the net.. to wonder at the miracle of just knowing someone out there cares to pop by.. all thanks to technology..;-)

A toast, to being connected, in more ways than one! xxx

I Love Majakir...

2010-05-20T08:43:00.004+08:00

As vice president of the teachers' union in my school (i was forced to take it on but popular demand/vote.. urgh!), I had the opportunity to present a card signed by all of us to my principal, Tn. Hj. Abdul Aziz last Tuesday after our curriculum meeting. I read out two interesting passages which I will include here:

"Guru umpama mentari yang memberi sinar ke seluruh alam, tanpa cahaya mentari, sang rembulan pun akan hilang seri."

("Teachers are like the sun which lights up the entire world, without sunshine, even the moon will loose its glow.")

and

"Teachers are the heartbeat and pulse of the nation, without us, the country would be lifeless. Thank you for being a great teacher!"

Happy teachers' day y'all!

(to view report go to my school's website.. it's very canggih ya! : http://www.smk-majakir.net/modules/news/

Well teachers' day has official come and gone but the celebration is ongoing. National level is usually on 16th May, but schools normally drag it out a bit longer.. our school level official do is sometime in June so there will be more stories to come later.

Anyway, what did our dearest Najib (prime minister) give us? some wishy-washy talk of monetary incentives if any school manages to beat 300 other schools in ranking (like that's gonna happen anytime soon!!?!?!) and shovels! yup, you heard right, no pay rise, no extra allowances, just cangkuls/shovels for a national level gotong-royong (clean-up) day to celebrate every ounce of sweat we have poured out as decidated teachers in exchange for an equal ounce of sweat as national gardeners! hah!

still... it was quite fun as you can tell from the pics below. To all my fellow Majakirians and all teachers of the nation on our combined destiny to shape the younger generation towards excellence, fantastic job n keep up the good work! *pats ya on the back*

An artsy shot of me, spent more time posing then actually gardening! hehe.. *responsibility avoidance in full action*

I did snip some Okra (ladies fingers).. lol.......... History was made that day, I actually saw and touched an okra plant! did u know they okras grow upwards? who would hv thought eh!

The moment i stooped down to do some weeding, a thorn drew first blood!!! hence i was jumping up n down screaming "I'm injured.. help me.. i can't do it any more!!!" (*another classic example of duty diversion.. lol*

My good friend Aina n I.. we were contemplating the meaning of life and why this galaxy exists and how we came to be in the same solar system... yeah right! LOL.. more like thinking what to have for lunch after all the hard work! hehehehehe

My fondant project..:)

2010-05-12T14:49:00.003+08:00

Here's what i've been up to lately.. cupcakes with fondant frosting..mmmmmm they went down a treat! ;-) What shall i make next?

FB works.. ;-)

2010-05-01T05:05:00.005+08:00

My signature peaches and creamcheese cake. RM60 medium, RM80 large.
Carrot walnut cake with cream cheese topping... RM60
Double choc chip choc fudge... went down a treat! RM2.00 to RM2.50 per piece or neg. ;-)

As you guys have mostly noticed, i've been uploading pics of the gastronomic creations i make from time to time on fb.. ;-) suffice to say i enjoy baking n spreading the joy around. Last december (amidst crazy packing n moving house) i thought it would be fun baking for the christmas season so i put up my two signature cakes, peaches and cream cheesecake and carrot walnut cake with cream cheese topping on fb and the orders started coming in like crazy. lol.. it was mostly hard work, creating and then delivering to town which is abt an hrs drive with traffic, but the satisfaction of people eating and loving my cakes was priceless.

Anyway, recently i've been making cuppies or better known as cupcakes.. and hv taken them to school and teachers have literally fought over them. lol.. tickles me to know that they want it that bad. hahahahha.. so far i've done double choc chip choc fudge cuppies and the ones the other day was real vanilla choc chip choc fudge cuppies. ;-) tomorrow's attempt will be orange zest choc chip with cream cheese topping cuppies.. will tell u how that one turns out.

Right, so what is the point of all this self-praise (is no praise, or so the saying goes)... well.. a friend has been following my (occasional) progress on fb and has since contacted me to supply her new delicatessen in a posh area of KK in the near future when it opens its doors for business. My question is, should i jump head into this sideline business? Or will it kill my love for baking. Making cakes cos i have to can't be as fun as making cakes for pleasure right? But it will bring in delicious dosh... of which we all can do with more, not less! haha.. so what say you guys? jump in or pass up? *scratches head*

:)

any orders for kaamatan and mid year hols? hehehehe.. ;-)

Lanner LOL

2010-04-30T17:59:00.000+08:00

my happy child.. ;-)

2010-04-30T17:57:00.000+08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmayhDfGGUI

More birthday pics. ;-)

2010-04-29T09:30:00.004+08:00

Lanner had his big bash in where else but the resort (Langkah Syabas, martin's ex-employers). Love the place especially since they've added a new wing for private functions. So now my precious is a big boy already... he still crawls as if he's running, isn't interested in walking but does like hanging on to the furniture to see the world. Bet the whole party this just went over his head but he'll look back and know that we love him sooooooo much we threw him a simple but nice party just like we did for Besra. ;-) Thanks everyone for making the effort to come and celebrate with us.. ;-) can't believe that a year has passed so quickly.

Ordered this cake from Strawberry bakery which is super famous for its super delicious moist choc cake. Went down a treat cos lots of people had seconds. ;-) must learn to make this cake, it's one skill that is still eluding me. hehe..
this pic is blurry cos it's actually a clip from the video clip. hehe.. ;-) if u watch the video below you'll notice that lanner keeps looking at his dad... instead of his cake! and i had to 'focus' his head on the cake at the end. lol.. hehe.. dont worry, i didnt hurt him. and guess who screamed out something about wanting to eat chocolate!? who else but princess Besra! hehe..
This was taken at home. Josephine, bless her, bought this rocking horse for lanner.. u can tell he is amused and bemused by it.. there were other gifts including a non-halal (non-kosher) piggy book and a tractor to name a few. Thanks ya'all! But mostly, thanks to those who gave the traditional Chinese ang pows (red packets filled with mulah!) hehe..
Perry, a senior in my college and now a very competent colleague in the education field took some really super shots. With a bit of editing on my part (getting rid of fat arms n such, lol) the pics are featured here and they are pretty spectacular!
I gave out lil goodie bags and besides the customary chocs, jellies, sweets and crackers, I like to add notebooks and pens.. hehe.. so nice to see the girls just stretch out on the floor and draw together.. this is Besra (now 3 1/2) and cousin Alicia (4 years). how sweet... sweaty.. but sweet nonetheless.
I so love this pic... esp how the pig and Lanner both seem to have flawless skin! hehe..
My boy, chewing hard on Perry's lens cap. such a thinker.. i wonder what he's really thinking about?
After a long day, Perry manages to catch him yawning. Natural. Beautiful.
And last but not least, this one is definitely a keeper. Daddy n son shot. ;-) awwwwwwww

Lanner's first birthday party.. ;-)

2010-04-28T00:09:00.000+08:00

My boy turns 1 today!

2010-04-17T22:08:00.008+08:00

Lanner ate tons of his choc chip fudge cake... just the cake bits, not the choc.. guess who stuffed herself with the leftover choc!? no guesswork needed eh! hehe

SO HERE'S THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT ALL...

How amazing is it that this time last year I had been hospitalised twice and was to the point of no return in terms of having every kind of symptom and suffering listed in the pregnancy books.. hehe.. 24 hr puking (my best friend was mr loo, and no he wasn't chinese!), piles (oh gawd no!!!), all kinds of pain or numbness or bloatedness or all of the aforementioned! definitely not a walk in the park! yet today i look into his lil brown eyes and see them shining, acknowledging his mommy, and that killer smile of his and i think that indeed all the pain and sufferings were damn well worth it...

if i have achieved nothing else of significance in this lifetime but to be a mother to two beautiful children, then my life has not been a waste. i love them dearly and i hope they will achieve their destiny one day, whatever it may be. most of all, i wish them happiness and contentment. ;-)

as for me... i've been up to entirely too much! hehe... won the district level debates again this year.. hahahahahahah my girls were fantabulous! also this year i've been upgraded to technical advisor for the entire district, lol, dunno if that is something to be proud of or not, extra work for no extra money.. but the 15 seconds of glamour makes up for it! hehe..

also been lecturing here and there.. at UITM for the third time (i'm really glad they keep calling me back, must be doing something right!) and various other secondary schools. plus every saturday I have the adult learners' class which is super fun, but long hours. i'm not really complaining, cos i really love the attention and the fact that i'm contributing to their quest for knowledge.. haha how corny!

let's see... lanner is 11 plus kgs now, has had two bottom teeth for the past 3 months now with no signs of the others popping out anytime soon... he can crawl like a demon, and pull to stand well, cruising using the furniture or any available person to hang on to, and has a penchant for screeching like a 'velociraptor' (martin's nickname for him, how fatherly!) my boy still grins and laughes and there is no better sound in this world than that. sighs.. love the lil buggeroony!

as for besra, gosh she's grown up big, and real talkative now. last week during american idol she declared that she loves the brown haired guy (tim urban) and that when she is big she will marry him. what the f*%&!!!!!!! she's only 3 for goodness sake! this week she raced to the tv when he came on the screen, screamed "My prince!" and subsequently climbed the glass top table to kiss the tv screen. holy smokes! what's a momma to do-a?

martin is away tuna fishing right now.. wont be back till sun night. guess i'll be fishmonger's wife again, not looking forward to that but do miss the old bugger. lol... luckily i have another young man around to sleep with every night.. haha. seriously though, the website is starting to pay dividends and we've had good news from his sister in UK re the house, so fingers crossed that life will be much much easier soon.

must train myself to blog less but more often.. haha.. bloody facebook takes up all my time these days esp my addiction to scrabble. hahahhaa.. no worries, bingoes are the highlight of my life in addition to my two angels and the archangel martin. LOL.

These are my MUET form 6 students carrying out a newspapers in education activity. ;-) haha.. it was a fun lesson esp since the winners won my ten bucks! hehe.. amazing what a bit of dosh stirs up!
here's my baked cheesecake with a hint of lime. mmmmmm... was for a friend's birthday.
this is 1 of 2 apple pies i made for the school staff's potluck... there were no leftovers, haha.. as if there would be! not!
Lanner with his super killer smile! i love u i love u i love u!!!!!!!!!!!!!
chicky babe besra with her choc chip vanilla fudge cupcake... can u tell she loves choc? haha
martin got this book for me which came with the silicone moulds which can withstand up to 300 degrees celcius.. amazing or what!?!?!
tadaaaaaaaaaaaa! with colourful heart shaped sprinkles as well!

made meat-free lasagna.. some to eat and others to freeze... for his highness of course, when i'm not available in the kitchen to slave for him..

and fisherman's pie with fish, mushrooms, onions in a white sauce topped with mashed potatoes... yummers!
my glorious debate team! congrats for being champs! weeeeeeeeee!
me after guest lecturing at the local Mara University
a hall-full of students completely engrossed in what i had to say.. love the feeling! hehe.

here fishy fishy fishy...

2010-03-14T22:46:00.008+08:00

Yup.. martin has been fishing again. and this time, he brought in a lovely 10 kg wahoo... pity his wife though.. she didnt get married to him to become a fish hacker! yikes, u shoulda seen the balcony after i made the fish into serving size slices... plus the worst bit, when i sliced open the stomach.. out plopped two of the ugliest most gross stomach parasites ever.. black n blobby and still writhing. yuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkksssssss!!!! i cant believe i married a fisherman!
this is martin with his mate paul.. paul got a 6kg one.. and no, i dont know if its guts was the home of more parasites. urgh! martin also brought home 50+ reef fish, so u can imagine how full our freezer is right now. hehe.. i'm thinkin fish for breakfast, lunch, dinner n supper.. ;-) lol

anyway, tot i'd also blog abt when beatrice and rick were here.. they stayed over at our place and had a nice time.. kids loved them, we love them, they love us, what could go wrong eh! hehe.. love u guys!

rick n bea... awwww...
my son's got huge hands! hehehehe... hope he grows up into a tall, fair, handsome stud!

bea used to do my hair.. now she's in charge of her goddaughter's gorgeous tresses!

i love this pic... except for the choc milk patch on besra's top! hehehe lanner's almost 11 months and he looks huge in this pic.. either that or i've shrunk! hahahah i prefer the latter!

here's us having a swimyswim at Nexus Karambunai where bea n rick were staying for a week. was really nice cos there was a canopy overhead to keep the heat away, and the kids (big n small) had a blast playing with the waterguns besra got for her birthday last year.. haha..

this is a really pathetic lookin donald duck.. but i suppose the kids would like this pic included for posterity one fine day when they look back at this blog. it was jane's 8th bithday and they rented the whole playyard at 1Borneo hypermall.. how posh is that?!

and last week has been a crazy one.. but very satisfying. here's my badminton team which i took to the district level and we won 2nd place. i love badminton.. haha.. and the kids were super.

now that it's our 1 week mid semester break.. gosh i can breathe easier. i am guest lecturing at a university this tues.. but hey, i love doin it! other than that, the week will be a restful one.

anyway, there's been so much happening but words dont do them justice. suffice to say that i'm happy, my family members are safe n healthy, my house is paradise and life is beautiful. ;-) beat that!

Chinese New Year Eve Reunion Dinner 2010... some pics.. ;-)

2010-03-01T21:52:00.005+08:00

The Koh Clan... from left to right: alicia nicole, martin, besra ai-ying, joanne, alex and dylan koh jun, lanner hon-yang, me, my dad jimmy, mom belinda, aunty grace, scott and michelle, jordan james in the AIG shirt and bro steeve and his wife joeanne in front. ;-) 'twas a nice reunion.
The Wiles... ;-)
Loving cousins... both cutting the mandarin orange butter cake which i made for the reunion dinner at my mom's...
whatcha lookin at!? wanna fight?! hehehe... dylan and lanner.. they r only 2 days apart n will perhaps become the best of friends one day... ;-)
my lil tiger ... purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs more than growwwwwwwwwwllls

Enter the year of the tiger!! 2010

2010-03-01T02:45:00.000+08:00

the months that were...

2010-03-01T01:47:00.004+08:00

my strapping lad!
marji the nanny n besra... u can see my living room in the background..
lanner in his prison gear.. hehe
besra the rock chick in front of her playhouse which i brought all the way from kl.. remember ashley!? hehe its pretty cool and well worth the money!
Besra posing in my room... my dressing table n lanner's crib... ooo n i'm so in love with my own curtains! hahaha very houseproud at the moment!

Heya... i know this is a long time coming but i've been really annoyed with blogspot cos every time i tried to upload pics it would end up as error... surprisingly i'm doin it now and its being as obedient as a kitten... hmmm... let's see if it publishes!

So how is life, everyone? my fellow bloggers hv remained quite constant, from fely to doria and everyone in between. sorry i've been so slack in reading and commenting on blogs. i wonder what got over me! hehe.. anyway, i'm back and as you can see, with tons of pics!

Jan: let's see.. the month was a bit crazy cos i went from not working for almost 2 months to 7am to 4 or 5pm every day cos school reopened and there were meetings after meetings. yikes... but i have to admit, being in a school that appreciates what i do is a godsend. hehe...

also jan was a whole month to prep the house for our chinese new year open house celebration in addition to our house warming party. i catered food but made all the desserts... haha next time i'll know to make double the cakes cos they went down pretty fast with the happy lot that day. was a great feeling to actually be in this house and able to entertain properly...

talkin about entertainin, i've had a number of gourmet dinner parties.. hehe some up to 4 courses! so if u want to be wined n dined, hehe .. make a date with us and we'll show you the royal treatment. the guest room awaits anyone n everyone who makes the long trek to our house in the jungles of papar! it is a bit of a drive to the novice, but old hands like us take it in our stride...

in feb, we threw the cny n house warming party which was a super success.. thanks all for making the journey, hope it was up to expectations!

hv been working like crazy like i mentioned earlier... last week alone i had a course in beaufort (1hr drive away) on tues, a meeting in a school which is hosting the district level english language debates (i've been appointed technical advisor for the entire district.. ahem.. hehe.. i'm actually rather pleased n proud of this!) on wednesday.. and on thurs i gave a 6 hr course to 50 plus students in KK Highschool on MUET Strategies... very very satisfying and rewarding week..

as for the kids, both babies r growing big n fast! i mean, where the heck does the time go... besra is stringing sentences together that are so impressive (esp to and english teacher) as she's only three and can say things like 'daddy let's look at the bug with the magnifying glass' or 'there r too many complications' and i was clipping her nails and she called them her 'claw-ses' as in the plural of a claw is claw-ses. haha... she has claws? my lil kitten!

lanner is a super stud.. such a loving, handsome and happy child. he's almost 11kg now that he's almost 11 months. ;-) pretty good with anyone manhandling him but the moment he sees me he goes frantic and tries to literally jump or fly out of the other person's arms to get to me.. awwwww... how endearing that he knows who his mom is. ;-) adorabubble! he's crawling very well now and pulling to stand and can cruise along the furniture. so developmentally, he's doin fine, like any other child his age. thank goodness there doesnt seem to be any ill effects from the jaundice and blood transfusion he had to go through when he was a week old. i love my lil tiger!

as for martin, he has his hands full doin stuff for the house everyday... and runs besra to school and back every weekday... we also have resident swallows and swifts he looks after and the neighbours dogs just gave birth to two lots of puppies so now he's daddy to about 5 lil pups. we will probably need to rehome them in abt 2 months... so anyone out there lookin for local pups.. pls take em!

right, i think i've rambled on a bit too much... i've had another two set of pics come up as 'error' and unloadable... so i think i'll just publish these pics first n go to bed. will try again with others later. hugs all round! xxxxxxxxxxxx

Besra the Storyteller!

2010-01-26T11:20:00.001+08:00

Christmas and Bes goes to school!

2010-01-26T09:23:00.005+08:00

Christmas came and went and i havent managed to put up many pics cos of the moving and unpacking... and the fact that i had terrible internet connection at home... so here's a few...

Here's me in my Christmassy dress.. although it doesnt look anything red or green.. haha.. but my signature black.. with a bit of white thrown in... got tons of christmas messages so was busy texting the whole night... some ppl whom i expected to message didnt but some whom i didnt expect did... so nice to hear from ppl i havent heard from in ages..lovely to know they still care.. so to all my ex-students, ex-colleagues and childhood friends, hope u guys had a wonderful christmas with a fabulous new year ahead..

Katie, Besra and Cora... three lovely girls with their Christmas ice-cream sundaes.. talk abt a sweet tooth!

Every christmas we go to langkah syabas for the seafood extravaganza... haha.. and the carolers... we're not that religious but it's just nice to celebrate the holiday.. plus besra loves the girls... oh n when the carolers came, they sang a few songs and then they asked for requests and Besra literally screamed: Jingle Bells!!! and she was pretty upset when the choir said they hadnt practiced it beforehand so couldnt sing it for her... i mean, who the hell cant sing jingle bells? pity the lil besra..haha.. no worries, i sang it with her enough times for her to keep her happy.
Bes goes to school now.. this is her bright orange uniform... ain't she sweet?
This is her in her Friday sports gear... ;-)
And here was a pic of her first day... when she was allowed to wear anything cos the uniforms werent ready yet... so pink outfit with rara skirt and white boots it was! the school is nothing fancy but it does include computer lessons and montesorri practical living skills so i guess it should be worth every cent... haha... but the teachers tell me that besra still sleeps in class sometimes, i guess at the end of the day, she's still just a baby, my adorable baby girl! We love you, Bes!

Christmas Photoshoot 2009

2010-01-19T10:47:00.003+08:00

Every year we take a family pic... and the family is slowly but surely getting bigger and healthier... ;-) this year's theme is brown.. hehe.. i supposed you noticed? ;-)
Isnt Besra sooo sweet here... love the dragonflies on her dress... ;-) she goes to school now... gosh how time flies...
I think this pic is absolutely priceless... dont you?! heheheh... my adorable pumpkin... sighs... soon he wont be a baby anymore!

Hugs to all from the Wiles in Borneo!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!

2010-01-11T10:05:00.003+08:00

WISH FOR NEW YEAR: GIMME THIS HARLEY!!! Although i hve no blinkin idea how to ride even a bicycle! hehehehe..

Havent been so slack abt blogging for ages! hehe... basically December was a busy bee month... packing boxes and moving house and unpacking boxes.. seems to be so much to do every day... but it is a comforting feeling knowing that we're finally in our new place. house is simple but gorgeous.. and definitely befits its name: River Sanctuary Lodge. ;-) we hv plenty of space and guest rooms now so feel free to visit!

Besra went to school for the first time last week. The first day was fine, but the second, she ended up crying and puking and making her daddy sit with her for more than half an hr before i came over and he left and then i left her crying.. but when i picked her up she was fine...;-) happy to see me and not too traumatised... had a busy weekend and now she's got a runny nose so i think we'll let her skip a day of school or two. poor lil cherub..

Lanner is a big and strapping lad.. 9kgs plus and almost 9 months old. he's a lil Velociraptor according to martin cos he makes this really high pitch screeching noises as a means of communication.. and he swoops down on you with his walker (now that we hv tons of space for the kids to run) and besra freaks out and jumps on the couch cos when the walker hits your leg, damn its painful! ahahhaha..

Anyway, back at work now after more than 1 month and half off... good to be back and tons more responsibilities this year.. including vice president of the teachers' union. yikes! haha.. will also be tutoring in town mondays and fridays... so will be pretty busy from now on. havent taken many pics or downloaded the ones on martin's computer so... ah well, will find the time some other time.

Hugs and kisses to everyone, may this year be better than the last and may it be filled with passion, pleasures and perfection... xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Christmas is coming!!! weeee! ;-)

2009-12-18T23:21:00.005+08:00

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!

2009-12-05T04:42:00.005+08:00

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...

2009-11-30T17:50:00.006+08:00

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!

2009-11-29T22:06:00.002+08:00

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!

2009-11-20T09:19:00.000+08:00

Daddy's latest fish!

2009-11-19T14:22:00.004+08:00

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...

2009-11-16T11:33:00.005+08:00

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!

2009-11-10T11:47:00.007+08:00

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?!

2009-11-03T07:47:00.000+08:00

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

Goodbye Mr. Loh... wish me luck Sir!

2009-10-31T16:36:00.000+08:00

My boss n I, for the last time as Majakirians.. *sniff sob

Today has been a day of mixed emotions. Happy that we celebrated our annual lunch for my school in a posh hotel (newly renovated palace hotel).. but it is also the last day of service for my principal Mr. Loh Kok Cheang (Pengetua Cemerlang). He will be moving on to another school called SMK Tebobon. as you all might remember, last year was a horrendous one for me where i was kicked around and treated like absolute dirt. mr loh came to my rescue and saved the day for me.. but now he's going away, and gosh.. this will be my third time facing a new principal. no one knows who it will be... will it be another fanatic nightmare of a man/woman? only time will tell... so wish me luck Sir and everyone out there.
We had a graduation ceremony... can u spot me? ;-)

I wrote him a poem and i think i'll post it here so that when i look back, i will always remember how much i owed him, and what i promised him. This is dedicated to an inspirational leader.. Mr. Loh Koh Cheang.

In my darkest hour
there was a glimmer of light
piercing into my cave of despair
when the waves of woe
threatened to flood this cavernous dungeon
you became my beacon of hope
saved me from being helplessly swept away
on the tumultuous tide of remorse
rescued my weak heart from its drowning fate
when you reached out your steadying hand
and righted me against the tempestuous winds
that were beating my sorry spirit down..

Oh how the clouds of doubt magically cleared
and the flamboyant rainbow burst
into a colourful song of hope chorused by
the golden tune of sunrays dancing gaily
on the canvass of a pristine sky
orchestrating my life's new beginning
the rebirth of a fallen soul.

Thank you is a drop in the ocean,
gratitude is too feeble a word
gratefulness cannot contain the depths
of my sincerest appreciation
mere words seem lost in translation.

So in return..
I pledge to rise above the limits of myself
as you have led by example
and I shall bear the torch forward
lending my humble candlelight
so it may fire others into action
propelling them forward to meet
their flaming destiny
as you have had a fated hand
in shaping mine.

Besra's 3rd!

2009-10-27T07:34:00.001+08:00

My girl is a very lucky lil chick.. ;-) she's 3 now, and she's had a birthday celebration for each one. hehe.. so many people love my lil girl, and it shows. :-P had a great turn out... with lots of food, beer, pizza, cake (thanks steeve n jo!), desserts (choc brownies n peaches n cream! yum), water guns and paddle pools.. and the huge playground in front of our apartment too.. ;-)

Mommy loves her lil girl! Kiss kiss.. n here's a shot of her licking her knife.. haha, jordan, her cousin refused to eat the cake after that, but hey, it's besra's cake afterall..she can do whatever she likes with it! hehe

This pressie was from luvy... bes got tons of dresses, accessories and some great toys and educational stuff.. ;-) she's one lucky gal! Thanks ya'all for the lovely wishes n your great company! Besra will look back one of these days n remember how everyone loves her so.

This is me on my balcony with jordan, sis in law jo, and super Ericman.. hehe... we had great laughs that day, esp gossiping with paul n mior about a certain fella.. boy we're bad! but we're so good at being bad, right eric?!

And here's besra n the kids having a splashing good time in the paddle pools.. weeeee!!!

She does like her posing doesnt she! hehehehe... happy birthday again, my sweet angel Besra!

Couldnt resist!

2009-10-25T05:36:00.000+08:00

I was driving to work on fri and saw this amazing cloud... it looked like a shopping mall... haha. the sky was super blue and all the clouds decided they wanted to be huddled together, rising up from the ground with a swirl of straightness at the top as if to even out the building like shape. who can explain to me the name and type of cloud this is? omnibus? succubus? hehe i hv no blinkin idea! hehe..
anyway, cloud aside, this is the general view on the way to school. living in the suburbs means greenery all around accented by a few houses sporadically arranged along the main road and amongst flourishing rice fields.. i drive by it so often that the calming beauty and peace of the kampung lifestlye is rarely appreciated.. so here i am blogging about it, so that the kl-lites can go green with envy of my polutant-free zone.. and then for u guys to snigger that the big city girl audrey has finally ended up as a kampung chick (village girl)! interesting how life turns out eh!!!
and now for the continuation of my unending public works rant.. haha.. or in this case, private works. friday i went to the mall with good friend ainul, and my right heel slams into a tile that's jutting out... needless to say a lot of expletives entailed and i huffed n puffed away from the danger zone.. lo and behold, whaddaya know, the very next day i'm back at the mall (where i teach adult english classes at college in case you're wondering, not that i'm a shoppaholic!).. and there are actually people fixing the tiles at the crime scene which nearly took off my right foot! hehehe.. well, well, well.. whatddaya know!

anyway, i was reading the papers.. and the local daily actually printed this ad. and i bet they didnt think twice abt it, cos it's probably what the locals say! hehhehe... can u believe it?? 100 TAILS??? for those not in the know, in the malay language we have what is called 'penjodoh bilangan' which helps quantify the item. we also have it in english... like a 'bunch' of flowers, and a 'pack' of cards. i must say they r more creative in malay as they say things like a 'comb' of bananas and in this case, 100 'tails' (ekor) of deer! i'd blame the bloody malays for their direct translation.. but hey, it was posted by Mr Liew, aka mr chinaman! hahah... so who's to blame for this abuse of the english language??? hehehehehhehee... i dunno!

anyway, it's besra's 3rd birthday tomorrow but we're celebrating early as in 3pm today only cos sundays are more convenient. hving a pizza party. have already prepared peaces and cream... and chocolate brownies.. will do the pizza base just before the party. also having spaghetti and hot sandwiches stuffed with salami n melted cheese! hehehe.. anyone wants a tapau (take away)? ;-) happy birthday girl! mommy n daddy love you to bits n back!

princess n the orchids.. ;-)

2009-10-21T10:44:00.000+08:00

seems like my world has gone from complete madness n chaos to starting to be aligned again. planets are not fully aligned yet, but getting there. car is finally fixed. orchids are blooming, lanner just celebrated his 6 mth birthday... and daddy blessed him by anointing him with some ice cold guiness on his lil forehead.. ;-) before polishing off the bottle himself! besra will be 3 years old soon.. and on sunday we'll hv a small pizza party for her. lol.. she demanded to hv the same cake as last year, but this time she wants 'Two Mickey MouseS, mommy' and i didnt hv the heart to correct her plural error.. she'll learn in time. hehe.. just like i dont drill her with her ABCs so much, eventually she'll learn it and she'll prefer the time when she didnt hve to learn how to read n write. lol.. now is the time for her to be an innocent and naive child... !

as for me, i'm swamped with work.. but couldnt help dabbling with my blog today. hehe.. i've got new additions here on the right of the blog.. how cute is that? its called a 'lilypie ticker' hehe..

this month has been super busy and will continue being so for some time to come. just so that i dont forget, i'm going to list it down. so far this month i've conducted a seminar for post pmr creative writing (they successfully wrote their own poems!), a pre-muet intensive speaking workshop just last monday, on the 29th i will run a conversational english course for the teachers of sk st. joseph, hv my regular adult classes every weekend at amc college, and on the 5th of nov will be doing a full day workshop for teachers on Newspapers in Education organised by a local daily and the education dept. gosh my plate is full... ;-) but being needed and wanted and appreciated is so much more rewarding and heartwarming than what i was feeling last year, kicked around like a deflated unwanted useless football who's seen better days. well, u know what they say, once u hit rock bottom, there isnt anywhere else to go but up.
martin is back to strimming the land everyday. it looks more like the wild jungle cos it's been left untended for months.. but he's slowly but surely getting it back under control. we have people working on the electrics..but will hv to wait n see if it can be completed soon enough. time is running out cos roly n his son elliot are coming to visit from england in 2 weeks, and the plan was to move in before they arrive. slim chance if u ask me. anyway, will hv to wait n see.

pink ice-cream, peaches n cream! ;-)

2009-10-20T09:38:00.000+08:00

Was at the supermarket with besra last night (my pink ice-cream licking honey bunnie!) when i received a text from ashley... she had listened to eagles' desperado and that triggered memories of our friendship in our salad days. ;-) was very touched that i mean so much to her and vice versa... it's great to have really good friends. true friendship can withstand the test of time, and when together again, the time apart seems inconsequential, as if nothing has changed. that's what it's like with true friends who are kindered spirits!

martin likes to give me the evil eye when i mention the term 'best friend' because according to him, there can only be one best friend. i beg to differ. i have a best friend for different categories and that doesnt mean i love them any less! haha.. my best childhood friend is Linda, she was gorgeous and popular (started getting valentine's bouquets when she was in primary 4 for goodness sake!). Shui Han is my secondary school best classmate friend. Tang is my best school mate/blood sister. Luvy is my lifetime bestfriend and godma of my children. Ashley is my hostel days best friend, kindered spirit for life. Bea is my best friend in hard times & the bestest college days housemate. Doria is my wonderful London days uni mate. & Aloy is my bestfriend teacher/colleague & neighbour. ok ok.. it sounds funny to have so many bests.. but i assure you i love them all to bits! If your name is not on the list, i apologise, but i assure you if i could, everyone would be my Best, and then martin would really get annoyed! hahaha.. i hv a lot of love to give, so dont worry, if you're reading this, i love you!!!

couldnt resist again... haha remember the giraffe story.. lol... i told u they were takin down the bloomin lights... n i wondered if they were gonna replace em with orangutan shaped ones... well lo and behold, i drive past the roundabout in town again and not one, but Three giraffes were up doin the biz... i'm quite disappointed that the latest installments are stupid lily-like multi-coloured blinky flowers. like duh! at least if it were an orangutan or a rafflesia, it would mirror sabah better.. but stupid boring flowers? waste of cold hard cash if u ask me! grrrr!

Yummilicious... i used to make this sinfully scrumptious dessert all the time... abt 8 years ago.. and the teachers at SMK Inanam (my first posting) used to order it all the time. haha.. then i got bored of it but hv recently made it again because the food culture in my new school (SMK Majakir) is fantabulous! haha... so this is called 'Peaches and Cream', with a biscuit base, and cream cheese with sliced peaches arranged like a beautiful orange rose, topped with clear jelly. so incredibly simple to make as it is a no bake cheese cake... and the result is simply heavenly. was just tellin martin last night that if i sold 10 of these i'd make 150 bucks.. lol.. but it takes time and effort and giving tuition is easy money compared to hard labour! haha.. so maybe i'll stick to giving tuition eh. anyway, for those who would like to try it, i'm making it for besra's 3rd birthday bash this sat.. ;-) dont worry betty, i know you're hungry now but u gotta wait till sunday 25th! haha.. as for ashley.. hehe.. you'll hv to wait for me to get there in nov for me to make it especially for u! hah! hugs to all!

random pics.. ;-)

2009-10-13T10:24:00.000+08:00

This is what lanner does esp in the wee hrs of the morning when i'd rather be sleeping! hehe.. ain't he adora-bubble?!?! he has taken to flippin onto his belly with ease now, and spends most of the time bobbin his head up n down n giggling.. haha.. i've got a giggler for a baby.. thank god not a crypot! ;-) can u resist his smile? i know i can't! love u lanner!

dropped by the workshop yesterday, and saw my car.. most of the work is done (phewwww!) but still has to be resprayed and realigned. also some minor touch-ups and change of windshield cos sometime in the past a rock hit it and it has a crack. luckily i hv windshield cover but i pay 60 bucks for it annually and the cover is only 400.. hah! kena tipu.. after this i wont buy windshield cover anymore. bikin kaya insurans kompani oni! hehehehe.. anyway, come home soon vroom-vroom.. mommy misses ya like u couldnt believe!
came home late last night after a wonderful meal n chat with longtime school friend Jenny.. had cake in secret recipe which was quite terrible (the tiramisu was a heavy as lead!). anyway, when i got home i baked two carrot cakes with yummy cheese frosting and rainbow sprinkles. one was for a makan-makan (eat-eat) session in the school staffroom and the other was for my lovely colleague Zainah who let me hv her car from sat till tues.. sighs.. dunno where i'd be without good friends like her, so baking a cake in return for her kindness and compassion is a small matter!
this last pic i couldnt resist! another bit of ranting to add to my previous blog! haha... if u look closely enough, there's a giraffe head painted on the human carrier box thingy at the top of the crane.. and the crane itself is painted in giraffe spots n colours! how cute is that... the ranting part starts now so tune out if u dont wanna listen! stupid sabah govt spent tons of taxpayers money on stupid blinky lights in the shape of fake palm trees.. in the middle of the roundabout. one stupid fake palm lamp post is purported to cost around 100,000 bucks! i could be wrong it could be 10,000.. but it's still money right!!! n what are they doin here? mr giraffe is having a fun time ripping out the old blinky lights post.. no doubt to be binned before installing yet another horrific and money-wasting, privelleged contractor's pocket-lining scheme of a lamp post.. i wonder what shape or form it will be in next... an orangutan!?!?!?!?? thus ends my rant of the day. hehe.. sorry!

Can you believe this!!!

2009-10-12T07:39:00.000+08:00

This really cracked me up!!! hahah... made me go bonkers when i saw this posted in karamunsing shopping mall in kk.. i've heard of serve no pork being bastardised to 'served no pork' meaning to say they didnt in the past but they do now!!! but this pic up here takes the top prize for the successful bastardisation of the english language.. hehe.. no pork service? lol... does that mean pigs dont wear waitressing outfits n serve you?!!??! hehehehehehehe... anyway, just thought this pic would put a smile on your face.

a long time ago.. maybe 10 years ago now.. when i was living in pandan jaya with beatrice in really horrible run down apartments zone, i saw another prime example of linguistic decapitation just by adding a single letter: hehe.. instead of 'baby sitter wanted'... the moronic advertiser wrote: "baby shitter wanted"................... hahahahahahhahahahahah beat that!!!

and this, ladies n gentlemen.. is a superb example of the quality of malaysia's public works. they paid literally millions to build sabah's mini putrajaya and look at it's condition now.. all the tiles they have put on the outer walls of the entire complex have had to be hacked off if they hadn't already fallen off onto the ground and smashed into smithereens! on the public's heads no less! so some greedy contractor out there is counting his dosh amassed from the million he save by using less cement gum or whatever u call it. and now another contractor is counting his million cos the govt has to pay for new outer walls.. if they'd done it right the first time, the tax payers' money could be put to better use! like to give us 2 months bonus this year! yeah, right.. wishful thinkin i hear u say! lol...

anyway, my last rant for today is the embarassment called 1Borneo mega mall..it was also put up sooooo superman fast that as you walk along the shops... you'll see patches of tile-less areas covered up by cheap tacky carpeting! the tiles hv literally exploded and cracked into millions of bits... cos of the shoddy work done in the first place. anyone who's gone out n bought tiles will know that a 20 by 20 tile is bloody effin expensive! money down the drain again eh..

i lied, i just thought about another thing to rant and rave abt.. what is it with sabah's unimaginativeness!!! property names have been flicked from others.. cant u tell? KK TIMES SQUARE, SURIA KK, BEVERLY HILLS APARTMENTS etc.. as if there isn't any other original names around.. lol.. for those of u who can remember who this character is.. lol.. i ever found a signboard in penampang that says: 'Lorong Flash Gordon'. I havent seen it in a while, but if i'm ever down that road again, i'll double check if it's still there!

haha.. ok.. nuff for today.. will post more pics of kids soon. lol... hubby away on a 4 day road trip with richard to sandakan for sabah's first bird fair... birdwatching.. something i can definitely live without! ;-)

windows n sliding doors at last!!!

2009-10-06T10:10:00.000+08:00

Here's a shot of the main man himself stadin on a mound in front of our hse.. sighs.. it's been a long time coming but finally the sliding doors n the windows r in. they r not up to white man's standards, so i can foresee a long list of complaints which will go to the contractor soon. ah well, me? i'm just glad we hv some protection from the horrendous winds n rains that have been hittin us lately... all we need now before we can move in is the electrics done, water connected to first floor (we hv water in all the pipes downstairs so that wont be rocket science right!??!?!) and then i can start installing curtain rails n curtains n air/cons n such.. i cannot wait to move in but it's really taking longer than expected so both martin n i r at the fingernail biting point.. soon we wont hv any left to chew on!!!!

in case you're wondering, its a very simple square house, 40 by 40 ft inside.. but with balcony its 52 by 48 ft. 1 master bedroom, 2 guest rooms, 1 nursery, 1 study, 1 kitchen, 1 living room plus dining area, 3 toilets, a 20 by 20 den downstairs for fishing stuff (but of course!) and studio 20x20 ft beside it. so when it's done, come one, come alll!!! between real beds and blow up beds and sofa beds, we could probably house 20 adults and 10 children.. haha.. lol.. i dunno, we hv yet to see if that's possible!

This balcony is were we'll put a comfy settee and maybe a mahjong table! hahah...its facing the river and on a clear morning, you'll even be able to see mt kinabalu in the distance.. gosh, i'm really counting the days now! one fine day i'll be servin cocktails on my balcony n we'll we sittin n laughing till the sunset disappears before hvin a delish bbq for dinner! cant wait cant wait!

anyway, ashley, doria and pat are three ppl really into house renovation right now, so i can associate with their euphoria and excitement of pimpin up my crib! it will take a lot of money, sweat n trial n errors before it gets perfect but i guess that's the joy of it. it will always be a work in progress and the day it's perfect is the day i stop being picky cos in reality, nothing will ever be 100% perfect right? that's life! ;-)

Lanner LOL... this is me tryin (n succeedin) in makin him laugh!) Adorableee!!!

2009-10-02T08:16:00.000+08:00

Some cheerful pics...

2009-10-01T10:26:00.000+08:00

I havent put this pic up yet i think... this was actually a few months ago.. when besra went to her first and only playgroup at Kinabalu International School... she had tons of fun there but sadly the school is in KK and on Tuesday so no one is free to take her there... but she had fun making her first masterpiece! if the nanny has kept it properly, it will still be around for her to appreciate her first work of art when she's old enough to comprehend it! Go girl!
This is Besra doin the pocahontas look.. hehe.. she's not allowed to cut her hair, as is mum, so my girl will have lovely long brown hair which according to daddy, will keep the boys keen. hmmmm...
This is Lanner boy havin a bath.. in his green tub.. it was besra's green tub.. who else chose it if not my green mad husband!! haha.. boy loves his baths.. no crying involved. he's now abt 8kgs.. huge, really strong and spends most of his days either sleepin or smiling and laughing... i'm really blessed!
Besra amazed me the other day.. she drew us freehand, with no guidance or tutelage and has gone from squiggles to stick figures with head, eyes and mouth along with body cum legs. haha.. amazing! could u draw like this when u were 2 years 11 months? i dont think i did!!!! hehe.. anyway, pic above is daddy and pic below is me. notice how she drew me with an hourglass figure!!! hahahahhaha... how cool is that!
anyway, life is back to normal minus the car n the endless papers chase now.. yesterday rushed from workshop to JPJ office to sort out driver's license but apparently u cant do that unless you've done the identity card thing first.. argh!!! will hv to go deal with that today.

anyway, am staying positive n thinkin happy thoughts. i'm extremely touched by all the lovely comments i've received both here n on facebook... it helps to know ppl care so much.. in fact, it's the balm that's healin my wounds right now. a million thanks u guys, n i hope i can be there for u too in your time of need! hugs all!

Pity my Vroom-Vroom!

2009-09-28T00:56:00.000+08:00

i think there is a chinese saying that one should beware of laughing too much as you will end up crying the next minute. and in a split second... that's exactly what happened. as you can see from the pic.. i've had an accident. dont worry.. i'm fine. it was mior's birthday dinner party at brass monkey restaurant, and we laughed the whole friday night and only started leavin at before 1am..

driving home right after that a drunkard rushes out of the u turn in putatan in front of matahari furniture store n slams into me. crashed into the front right of my car but luckily i came through unscathed. i'm fine, physically.. but really pissed off. to make my bad dream a freakin nightmare, someone took the opportunity to steal my handbag with everything in it including documents, cards and my digital cam. what effing bastard in the whole wide world preys on women in distress??

now i hv no car, no IC or driver's license, no money, cant withdraw any money cos no ID.. and its a vicious circle. the bastard also swiped my card at a petrol station at 3.57am and i only managed to cancel my cards at 4.05am. sighs. i found out the shell station details n will get the police to help me investigate n access their cctv recordings. hopefully can find the a**h***

i thank my lucky stars that not a hair on me is hurt but i also curse the moron who has no compassion. in fact i'm more angry at that idiot cos what he did was maliciously driven while the drunkard was just a stupid bastard.

sigh. anyway, now i'm on wild goose chase to redo all documents n cards n deal with bashed up car. fingers crossed that things dont get worse.

martin the cynic will be happy to know that i'm finally losing faith in the intrinsic good of mankind which has been my mantra for ages. now i hv to admit that not only are there evil forces abound, there are definitely evil people out there too. may they get only what they deserve in life.. pls karma, do your thang. sighs...

Watch Besra Ballerina!

2009-09-24T22:33:00.000+08:00

Besra the Ballerina!

2009-09-24T20:01:00.000+08:00

this is besra workin the ballerina moves like a pro! and no, she's never taken classes and this outfit was given to her by cora... ;-) how cute is she!!!!! my lil ballerina princess!

the 12 days off that i hv for raya hols r flying by on golden wings! hehe.. all i do is go online.. and watch american medical dramas (soooooooooo addicted to private practice!!!) and of course spend time with my kids... hehe.. wil update with more pics soon.

MV Doulous

2009-09-15T11:07:00.000+08:00

If you're in KK then you've definitely heard that the MV Doulous is here again, and you've probably visited this floating bookshop. i heard that it is going to be sunk soon n will never do its rounds anymore so hehe... well i was adamant that i'd drag the whole family onto the ship but i forgot to consider a few things before i embarked on my 'great journey'. haha.. firstly i neglected to wear proper footwear, so trekkin with my high heels while carrying a 7.7 kg baby boy up what must be the most ridiculous lookin stairs in the whole world (i regret not takin a pic of the weird stairway) was not entirely smart... i was huffin n puffin all along the 1km walk from the car along the pier all the way to the top and around the ship and later trekked all the way back.

hehe.. and we only bought one book.. and that was a lovely book on nursery rhymes. besra is like a lil sponge.. she sings along with mommy with full enthusiasm.. and now she can sing incy wincy spider and do most of the actions. hehe.. then we torture daddy to death cos together we perform for him to watch just to get him to clap for besra in the end. she thinks the entire thing is super fun! and keeps repeating the rhymes in her terrible singing voice, yes she's no siti nurhaliza.. but it's completely adorable! hehe

Oh here's a pic of besra having fun in an amusement centre. hehe.. my racer chick!
also really happy that i got to see my childhood best friend tang again, with her two kids.. she popped by at langkah syabas with her two kids and her niece and i brought both of mine so there were 5 kids runnin about.. ok.. maybe only 3 could run but u get my point. anyway, we had this fantastic platter of cheese and nuts n fruits and this huge salami... it was days later that the guy who gave me 2 salamis on that day ended up giving me more (another 15 salamis!!!) which r in my freezer now!!!! yay for meat! hahahahaha...

another great news is that tomorrow is a public holiday (yippee!) and the principal has just announced that thurs n fri are additional holidays ... so no school for me till 28th sept!!!! how freakin cool is that!!! the muslims suffer with the fasting and we get to reap the benefits! weeeeeeeeee! ok.. going now... time to kick back n enjoy the hols! have fun everyone!

Some candid shots i hvnt put up...

2009-09-14T07:37:00.000+08:00

At my sister's 40th birthday bash.. beach bbq... what do you think the speech bubbles should say if there actually were speech bubbles here!? hehe.. go figure!

The week before at my bro's wedding dinner reception. Me n my hot pink flamenco dress.. ooo n check out the red roses in my hair.. lol...

Luvy in her stunning green gown.. and my 12 years junior cousin shannon in a super hot black thingy!
And now for some baby shots! Cousin Dylan and Baby Lanner, i think my boy is trying to phone daddy up to ask him who the slug beside him is! hahaLast but not least, here's Besra doin her big sister thang! hehe... sooooooooooo cuteeeeeee!!!!

Seeing Double Angels!

2009-09-08T08:02:00.000+08:00

Lil Alicia (3 yrs) and Besra (almost 3) lookin angelic! the pro photographers at my bro's weddin sure were brilliant... they took shots from unusual but stunning angles. this one is one of their more direct shots but the smiles on their faces tell it all.. alicia absolutely adores besra.. and the two get on like a house on fire except of course when the former gets into her moody phase which is unfortunately, quite often. but when they're happy, they're really happy!!!

Besra.. when you're older n lookin back at this shot, pls remember that mommy, daddy and lil lanner love you soooo much! you are everything anyone could ever wish for in a baby girl. besra, you're lovely in so many ways, in fact you're an extremely well mannered girl who even coughs with your hand over your mouth while asleep.. you say your pleases, thank yous and you're welcomes without being forced and you know the concept of sharing and being nice. we r so blessed to have you for our lil daughter.. n one day when you're not so lil anymore, you'll appreciate how much we appreciate you and you'll be able to tell that we are so lucky you've come into our lives. you're definitely daddy's lil girl.. but at the same time, you're my lil angel! We love you, Besra!

I know this is ancient but it's still damn good! Dedicated to all my fellow bloggers n every gal i know!

2009-09-05T16:15:00.000+08:00

feeling melancholic..

2009-09-04T11:12:00.000+08:00

There comes a time in each of our lives to step outside our mortal bodies and reassess our lives. Have we done everything the way we wanted? Have we lived our life to its fullest potential? Have we any regrets? I think i've been feeling a bit blue lately because I want so many things (as in right this moment! - not too good with patience! ;-) but either reality has gotten in the way, or I simply can't afford it at the moment.

When i was younger.. i always thought i'd move into the limelight in some foreign country.. live the life of a corporate goddess, travelling and meeting people from all walks of life. for a time, i even thought i'd be the Murphy Brown of Malaysia. hahah.. After getting the scholarship to study english, i was seriously thinking about teaching english in foreign countries.. seeing the world and giving back to mankind... you know.. do my bit for humanity.

Then I became a teacher.. and i got married and i hv two amazing children.. and i dont think i'd hv done that any differently because it's my destiny. I love teaching, and family is everything.... but the reality is, as i'm sure every wife n mother will agree, that priorities have changed. now we spend our time, money n effort on kids and bills and what not.. and there's little left in the jar for traipsing the world on a great adventure! gone are the backpacking days in italy, spain and france... but they were wonderful memories.. ;-)

oh but i had a sweet lil escape for 10 days when i went to england. it was like finding myself again.. being young and carefree and able to do things that really pleases me... meeting ppl from all walks of life.. taking a calming stroll in the park, going to watch an opera and a play.. revisiting places i havent been to in years.. spending time with precious friends, old and new.. i know it was just 10 days of my life.. but it's renewed my perspective on life. i dont want to be a passive part of the living anymore, i want to Live Life.

right, so what's there to do now? i dont quite know the answer.. i guess i shall have to live each day like there's no tomorrow, dance like no one's watching and keep telling the people i love that i truly love em!!!! i love you all (do i sound like MJ?) haha.. and hopefully, fate has in store for me gifts of great adventures which i hv yet to unravel.. one day soon i hope.. one day soon. ;-) i want to be drunk on life!

Be Drunk
by Charles Baudelaire Translated by Louis Simpson

You have to be always drunk. That's all there is to it—it's the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk. But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk. And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake again, drunkenness already diminishing or gone, ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking. . .ask what time it is and wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you: "It is time to be drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish."

Bro Steeve & Joeanne's weddin... part one

2009-09-02T13:07:00.001+08:00

So my bro finally got hitched.. lol.. took him a long time as he's 38 this year! ;-) anyway, methinks he picked the right girl cos my new sis-in-law joeanne is a really sweet!

We had a hen's night for her on the 26th at an italian restaurant.. n forced her to wear pink bunny ears, matching pink fluffy bowtie and a bunny tail! she was really a good sport! hehe.. good on u girl! will post pics of that in part 2. ;-)

The weddin itself took place at their church in Tanjung Aru on the 29th.. and Besra was supposed to walk down the aisle by herself.. but it was too early in the morning and she didnt want to do it.. so guess who had to carry her down the aisle!? duh! me of course! but alicia was in the same moody frame of mind so my sis michelle had to lug her child down as well.. haha.. anyway, after the service, when the kids had time to acclimatise, besra had a ball taking pictures... u can tell she's not camera shy!! anyway, got some lovely shots of her as a fairy flower girl.. ;-) bless her!
i particularly like this shot!!!

steeve being a hero and carrying BOTH flowergirls..
martin was one of the groomsmen....
The Wiles!!!
How adorable is this picture!!!! hhahaahahahahah
The groom's side... all the relatives n extended members..
A natural shot..
all the weddin guests.. or almost all.. ;-)
besra, jordan and alicia.. all dressed up in white .. how sweet! as sweet as the cupcakes!
a 3 tiered cupcake wedding cake!? this is new!
the two flowergirls stuffin their face with crackers! haha
i love this shot! bes you r definitely a sweetie cake!

The following night we had a family dinner (groom's side) and i put on my new dress.. like it? ;-)
three generations here.. ;-) my kids were home.. didnt drag them out for a change.
quite a nice restaurant .. but the crabs they kept advertising were a serious let down! haha. ;-)

Wow!

2009-09-02T01:43:00.000+08:00

A close friend took this pic... with an SLR if i'm not mistaken, and it's too beautiful a pic to hide away. Andy says he took it in a zoo of some sort and this lioness was just standing there in her cage. I dont know the technical aspects but i've been advised that you have to underexpose the film in order to capture the natural light but hey i could be wrong. anyway, the effect is stunning! i think he captured the regal lioness in her prime, and i like to think that she was looking over the land fiercely in protection of her cubs, as every loving mother does.

So many of my friends are SLR crazy now.. haha.. or just that fate has thrown them into my path.. me, all i've got is my trusty dinky digital camera by olympus but hey, i think i take some pretty good shots with just a basic one! haha.. the trick is to take tons and tons n edit later... surely the law of averages means that one in 10 or 1 in 100 will look good! ;-) oh and it helps to have lil daughters who are as vain as their moms! hahah.. besra has been trained since birth to pose for the camera, can anyone tell?! lol

Anyway, cheers to good photography, the priceless pictures captured by the keen eye as everyone knows a picture tells a thousand stories and is worth a million words. ;-)

The week that was..

2009-09-01T08:06:00.000+08:00

phew.. the week that was has been completely crazy.. been on hol since 22nd till the 31st... as you all know, it was my bro steeve's weddin on the 29th so all the prep was done over the week and then the extended relatives arrived so there was a lot of entertaining to do.. ;-) all good though! anyway, here's some pics to sum up the week that was. will blog about the weddin in the next entry. ;-) happy merdeka everyone!

this is a smiley pic... i'm so blessed cos he's such a happy baby. now he answers back when u coo at him.. n yesterday he laughed out loud... oh the joys of motherhood! hehe..

this is besra in her new garfield dress.. so adorable!!! n look at the pose! hehe.. she had orange socks on n guess what colour underwear she had on.. lol..

again a killer pose.. haha...

i celebrated the start of the hols by getting a black nail polish pedicure! weeeeeeeeee! i'm such a rebel!

most days were spent lazing around the pool at the resort... here's a happy family pic!

besra and alicia... hugging cousins! ;-) how cute is that!

besra making leaf soup as she calls it! hahah..

tadaaaaaaaaaaa...
little lanner's first dip in the pool! u cant see it clearly but he's wearing duck undies with duck eyes n duck bill.. hehe.. so cute!

the girls havin a great time in the pool.. n lanner too!

aunty marji changin the lil boy.. hehe.. that's his intelligent look!

hah! got another smiley shot! 1 out of 10 is a keeper, thank goodness for digital and the delete button!

besra's fave pasttime.. long live macD!

besra n aunty marji... the shirt is for lanner but too big for him so bes is wearing it.. aunt liz from oz sent it (thanks!).. its jimi hendrix with voodoo (chile?) printed on it.. pretty cool!

bought her princess hot pants! lol...

look mommy, mickey wants to have his pic taken too!

People who matter... ;-)

2009-08-20T00:35:00.001+08:00

Just thought i'd blog abt the ppl in my life who are not always around but not far from my mind.. Here's a pic of Martin and Christina my favourite cousin in the whole wide world.. She's now off to london after almost a decade working for Star newspaper in Perak.. and the silly chit has only a diploma but has been accepted into the Masters program of creative writing in a uni in Edinbrugh.. haha.. no degree but a masters, how cheeky is that!!!! lol... Anyway, am super happy for her.. may you enjoy every second of your time overseas and snag a passionate partner or two.. hehe. ;-)

As for my best bud since secondary school.. Luvy, we've had our ups n downs in life.. sometimes we're in the same carriage careening in figures of eights in the bright blue sky, screaming at life's every corner! This one's for u girl, thanks for being there when i needed u most, for letting me abuse you when i was giving birth to Lanner.. for just being u...hugs to the godma of both my children, from your gorgeous girl's godma! ;-)

My childhood bestfriend's wedding, congrats Linda & Jassnie!!

2009-08-18T10:11:00.000+08:00

Linda lookin stunnin! Just the two of us.. ;-)

The lovely couple! The 3 musketeers!!!

Last Saturday, history was made.. hehe the last of the 3 musketeers is safely married away according to her father! i thought that was quite a funny way of puttin it! anyway, take a look at that dress! linda has always had a way of making ppl's heart stop, not just jassnie's that night! lookin more than gorgeous girl!

Lin n I have been friends since primary 4. used to hang out at her house alot.. n can even remember her mom taking us to watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the cinema.. haha.. spent alot of time just hanging out at her house... She's been gettin bouquet of roses for valentine's since primary school.. haha.. luckily i'm a strong character or it would have really bugged me to walk in her beautiful shadow all these years! hehe..

Another highlight of the evening was catching up with Deviana... she's actually Linda's other best friend (yeah yeah i know i have many best friends, but they r best in their own categories!) and it was nice to just chat with her and see where life has taken us since graduating from secondary school.. ;-) hey Devi, if you're reading this, after u finish your baking course, remember to call me for the tasting session! hehe!

To Lin & Jas, so happy for u guys, u both look great together! May you be blessed with many gorgeous children and a happiliy ever after! hugs n kisses!

Devi & I.. catchin up! ;-) Devi & hubby!

Look at me! (Says Ms. Vain.. haha)

2009-08-17T12:42:00.001+08:00

I just couldn't resist... this pic is just too good not to share, even if i have to say so myself! Was out at the Cock & Bull pub and didn't get home till abt 3.30am. Some Kiwi friends came to town so had a nice time pub hoppin. ;-)

More happy shots!

2009-08-13T12:13:00.000+08:00

Last week Martin caught this African Catfish within seconds of flicking his baited hook in the pond.. haha.. we've discovered the magic of raw chicken guts.. pretty gross stickin it into the hook but hey, if it works, it's worth it!!!! If you wanna know where to go pond fishing in Kinarut, ask us cos we hit gold this time round!Besra doin her sisterly duties very well... watch over him girl, you're after all his big sister.. love him with all your heart, girl, just as mommy n daddy love u deeply too. ;-)
He he.. khaima n baby boy with squishy faces!!! Such joy!!!
A kodak moment for sure!!! Liza you're so cute! Aloy as adorable as the baby you're holdin and well, Martin's martin. hahah.
I swear daddy-o, if you use chicken guts you'll catch 'em faster and bigger!!! LOL Ask Koala, he knew this wayyyyyyyy before I did!

Happy birthday hubby!

2009-08-11T22:09:00.000+08:00

Yes, it's another chocolate cake to mark yet another year gone by! Celebrated in town at Texas Bar and Restaurant... invited tons of Martin's friends but told him that it was another friend's going away party as they were migrating to Sydney for good. He almost bought the story until some of his friends dropped him some really heavy hints!!! but all in good humour. silly man wasnt even going to show at one point cos he had a company fishing trip the next mornin with an obscene wake up call... haha i had to phone his boss to talk him into going to the dinner n gettin to the marina later than usual... phew! imagine a surprise birthday dinner with no birthday boy!!!! lol... my gift of the gab would surely be put to good use then!

Anyway, thanks to ya'all who showed up and made Martin feel young and carefree again.. hehe.. we haven't had a good sit down dinner with friends and family in such a long time... but for me the highlight was the after party cos while martin headed home, we got our lil bums across the road to a pub called Shenannigan's and partied till Cinderella's hour! I even played pool n practically beat the guy! gosh i miss my single n carefree days but at the same time my children are the centre of my universe now! Overall, we had a bloody good time and to Ivy, Kevin & baby Sean, all the best in Sydney, and we hope to drop by for coffee one day not too far in the future! PS tons of pics on FB.

Sistas in crime!
Cheers Ivy... enjoy your new life n dont forget us!
Aloysia n I, best buds!!!

Sisters!!! (younger sexy sister Audrey (moi!), hot chick sister-in-law-to-be Joeanne & hot mama tai-ka-jier Michelle! & Dowager Empress Belinda!
Like my dress?
Tequila shots at the after party!
Just the girls ... *wolf whistles!

Me by the pool...

2009-08-11T21:45:00.000+08:00

Had a brilliant time on sunday... just chillin at the poolside where martin works... marji stayed home with lanner while bes and i swam (or pretented to do so cos she only wades n waddles using her floatie). then we went to the beach to make sandcastles n i got bitten by tons of sandflies (still itchin now!!! bastidos!) before ending up in the pool yet again.. sighs.. if all sundays were like this, life would be paradise!!!

I've put pics on Facebook cos my school's broadband is down and consequently uploadin pics here takes forever via my mobile phone connection. this pic here of me on the pool sunbed was taken with my phone.. small file so very easy to upload.. anyway, will give the other pics a go in a min, keep your fingers crossed!

this one's dedicated to ashley, her lau kung n her prince charming!!!

2009-08-06T09:45:00.001+08:00

Pics were taken mid last year when i popped by kl for a visit.. ;-) i'm sooooo impressed that you're finally bloggin! haha, like i said, finally got you off your cute butt! am lookin forward to reading your every menial thought! hehe.. ;-)
How cute is that???? ;-)

Happy shots!

2009-08-05T10:04:00.000+08:00

They're lookin at me mommy... my first public oratory.. what shall i talk abt? hehe
I love this frog suit n so does my daddy!! hehe
the loves of my life!
Chitra taking the role of babysitter!
Kids having fun on their playdate... Karin, Besra and Anil.. ;-)
Aunty marji n baby boy!!! Look mommy my name's on the bib! Thanks godmama Liz!
My lil poser!
Daddy's girl... princess of our hearts.

Food Fanatics!!!

2009-08-02T02:35:00.000+08:00

wow, i've read 4 blogs today n they all revolve around food! Bea wrote abt philly cheesecakes, Fely is having a serious chocolate meltdown, escape has gone on a pizza rampage and the most shocking of all is doria is now popping pills for high blood pressure due to yummy food overload!!! Aiyahkahrambahhhhhhhh!!!

It's amazing what a hold food has on us and it always brings back my uncle's voice in my head as he said this when i was still a kid... "Do you eat to live or live to eat?" No doubt we the new and more affluent generation are connoisuers of the greatest commodity: Food oh Glorious Food. However, i think it's about time we all took a step back and reassessed our eating habits.

A cyclist friend of mine said that losing weight is a simple mathematical equation. less input, more output. simple as that. in other words, portion control n execise!!!

Ok.. so i propose we go NOT go on a DIET, but wholeheartedly undertake a LIFESTYLE PARADIGM SHIFT! Shall we call it the Breakfree Diet? Ok.. these r MY rules, you may adopt or adapt to suit your own needs...

Objective: Be fitter n healthier n make better food choices in life.
Target: firmer, leaner body n hopefully the weight loss will sort itself out. (

1. give up meat when you are feeding yourself either at home or when you eat out.
2. you can still eat meat when someone else is paying or providing as in they 'treat' or 'spend' you (haha what a malaysian term that is!) or you're at a party or 'kenduri' lah!
3. eat as much veg as you like but with tiny portion of rice or carbs, consider the difference between a) eating veg with rice or b) eating rice with veg (u should be opting for (a) cos rice should be more of a side dish than the main staple)
4. replace protien cravings with eggs or tofu where possible.. or hv a small piece of meat so u dont die craving but save it for the LAST bite!
5. and it's OK to have a slip-up once in a while.. life is not a prison state u know! just remember to spread the fat: if u r eating a slice of cake say, get a friend to eat the other half or give it to your kids. think PORTION CONTROL!!
6. my doc says 30 mins sweating n laboured breathing a day, 6 days a week for a healthier you. so find something u like doin n do it intensively for 20 if not 30 mins a day.. copulation counts as a physical fitness activity too! LOL

Anyway, you can all help by adding more rules/tips/guidelines by commenting here and i'll compile the Breakfree Diet n post it on Facebook.. lol.. maybe it will get so famous everyone will be doin it just like the Atkin's diet.. hehehehehehhe! but at the end of the day, i'm hoping our quality of life will improve after this..n we will break free from all health n weight woes! To enjoying life to its fullest in the healthiest state, come raise your glass with me n cheers!

A wondrous day...

2009-07-30T20:39:00.000+08:00

There are some days in life that God just decides to give u a big huge grin and make everything right. At this moment in time, my planets are all aligned and my rising stars are shining irridescently.
Basically I was observed by the principal (standard procedure) and got lotsa favourable remarks from him! I taught a bunch of Sixth formers a speaking lesson based on Task B which is a 10 min discussion per group of 4 ppl . I started by getting them to discuss then interrupting them with specific language structures (eg I beg your pardon but..., I'm sorry to interrupt but... etc) then i put all the language forms on the board and they guessed the category (interrupting skills). The fun bit was each student got 6 bits of paper which they copied the phrases on, and wrote their names on the back. then i put a jackpot container in the middle of their group n told them they had 10 mins to discuss and every time they used the phrase, they could throw it into the jackpot.. the winner was the one who successfully used up all their phrases! Suffice to say that the class was abuzz with English language being spoken (no matter how broken) as the kids competed to use up all their cuecards.. my principal had a smile on his face so that's always a good sign! The kids laughed n talked lots, n he gave them a positive pep talk in the end so that was that. *happy sigh

Anyway, I get back to my table n find a form faxed to me wanting my details for a promotion from DG41 to DG44 based on the form 6 teachers quota.. I missed the first phase in July by a whisker cos i'm still new here.. but apparently i made the cut for the second phase in August if this fax is anything to go by. Wow it's like striking the jackpot not once but TWICE in a day!!! lol..
The amazing part abt this is not the money (which will undoubtedly come in handy when it finally gets here via tunggakan!) but the fact that I got kicked out of my ex-school because my then Datin principal decided she didn't like the sight of me and thought that I didnt deserve DG44 eventhough I was a MUET (form 6 English) Teacher Trainer for Sabah (Jurulatih Utama) at one point. I'm not trying to blow my own trumpet, but I'll be damned if I'm going to meekly accept my fate being kicked around like a useless football without some sort of retaliation. haha.. the great plan is when i get the letter of confirmation, i'll make a copy, put on hot red lipstick, kiss the priceless piece of paper and personally deliver it to the doorstep of her highness Datin!!! lol.. ok ok i might not do that, but the thought of it really thrills me. just like the thought of saying to her smug face: "I got it anyway, no thanks to you, biatch, kiss my b**t!!!!" hahahahhahahahha anyway, i'm counting my chicks before they hatch but boy is it making me grin like a cheshire cat!!!!

also the contractor called today n said we now have a replacement electrician to replace the one that ran away with the deposit he gave the man.. been almost 2 months pending trying to solve this problem that's why the house hasnt changed much n i havnt blogged abt it much. but we went there as a whole family today (first time out in the car with both kids and the nanny!!!) and it's so great to see wires in the conduits for a change!!! hopefully my painstakingly chosen lights n fans n other fixtures will be up on the ceiling soon enough... then the sliding doors and windows n finally the curtains which are ready but cannot be installed because of the hold-up. Only then will the house be a home! can't wait!!!!

finally i'd like to make a comment abt all my close friends... esp the ones that i made in college.. funny how during college days not everyone had a chance to gel with every other person, and we were mostly lost in our own lil tunnels without appreciating the greater underground system of friendship... but with facebook and reading other ppl's blogs from time to time, it's amazing how letters of the alphabet thrown together seems to convey a plethora of emotions, images, smells n even tastes that has enriched our lives to quite a point. so to all my friends, old and new, i'm proud to be acquainted with u guys and thank you for taking time out to read what menial things i have to say here.. ;-) i read something that really stuck over the last few days, it's this: most of us forget to thank the people in their lives who make the time for you, because the very fact that they make the time for you, however little or after however long, it means that they really truly care. so there it is.. hopefully, you will all make it a point today after reading this to tell as many ppl out there as possible that you would like to personally thank them for making time for you. big huggles goes out to everyone out there... may you strap on super high heels of positivism and may your outlook be draped in a rainbow of beautiful experiences ! haha, hope that makes sense even if it sounds like a bunch of gibberish!

My prince charming!

2009-07-29T14:03:00.001+08:00

Take that!!!
You finally understand the theory of relativity?? Gosh I knew that like before I was born even!!
Look Ma, I can stand!!
Stretching in my bunny suit!
I'm a super happy bunny boy! hehehehehehehhehehe