Have I lost interest in bloggin...?

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!

My boy's idea of fun

happy kids

Un-joyful ride,,,,:)

Hauntingly perfect.. Neil Young - Like A Hurricane

All good things must come to an end...

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... ;-)

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..

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?

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

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..

Welcome to the family!

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...

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..:)

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.. ;-)

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.. ;-)