Spending spree...

I'm a big spender actually, can't deny that... when it's time to add new things or replace old things, my true self unleash...

While on a working cum shopping trip, we found this frame on sale by exhibitor from China. The word is Jia means 'Home/Family'. I've been searching for this type of big calligraphy for quite some time, I can't resist it, thus immediately bought it back. To me, every home should have one that could bring everybody home and keep us together...


Also, we got some new electronic item added to our home - a new LCD tv. The searching ended yesterday after few visits to electronic store Harvey Norman to hunt for the right purchase. It's a 42" Toshiba. Hubby could uses it for display and presentation to client as well instead of an OHP projector.

Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion & Penang Hawker

Some family members from Ipoh came over to visit. Brought them to a few tourist spots, also not forget to bring them to savour some of local hawker food. My long time preference still pancake! It does comes in few 'version' of Penang pancakes. The picture above, Uncle Guan's pancake is located in Burmah Road. I bought because my kids would love to have something to munch on while going for a longer travel; not really my preference : P

Another discovery of Penang, it is Baba and Nyonya Peranakan Mansion located in the central of Georgetown. No doubt that I've been living here for more than 30 years, I haven't been to this place before. And again, it's the tourist that brought me here..lol...the entrance fee is RM10 per adult. Kids under the age of 6 is f.o.c. Sorry, no photo cos' no camera inside.

Kindergarten blues...who is right who is wrong?

This is the time that I will usually evaluate the performance of my sons after a schooling year.

Sadly, my eldest, Ryan keep throwing words like: I headache to see you... more headache, no good bla...bla... I believed I didn't use these words, same goes to his dad. and that make me wondering is he picking up these from his teacher?! Then I started asking, did your teacher says this to you: "headache, more headaches"? He said: "Yes, whenever I cough." Because just these few days, yes he is coughing... (sigh)

...unlike Russell, I can catch a few new words here and there in his progress and his teacher is a better one who is a more senior. So, not much to worry about.

For me, being a teacher, the personal trait is very important. It is not smile or not smile (b'cos this can be pretended), but the wisdom within that eventually will be shown indirectly to the children in the class is important. Children tend to pick up value / charactor shown by either their teacher or parent indirectly.

As for me, the values that we need to instil to our young children should come first than merely knowing ABC and 123. As the saying goes: if you want to shape the bamboo tree, start it from the shoot.

So, should or shouldn't change the school? : P

Weekend Visit To The Aquarium

After both my sons recovered from chicken pox, we still haven't really bring them out for activity. During the last weekend, we went to aquarium - Penang Aquarium and Marine Research Centre.


Daily Opening Hour: 10am-5pm
Closed on Wednesday
Notice: It is temporarily closed due to some upgrading work.

So, we only could see pool and koi fish pond nearby...

Chicken pox disease and more sewing

Both my sons were down with chicken pox few weeks ago and the mader stayed up throughout the nights to give them medication and to sooth their itchiness... gosh! finally it was all over. For the past few weeks, their everyday food were my home cook, and I can't go anywhere besides cooking! Kind of like 'you eat what you cook'... sigh!

According to some old people, they can't take food which could cause itchiness for 4 months, that's a long way to go... But, I start to give them food like egg, some fishes like garoupa fish fillet, shark fillet, no chicken yet. So they switch between rice, porridge, glass noodles, rice noodles and instant noodles - this definitely make my life more easier : P

And i managed to squeeze some time out of the blue to make a few items out of the sewing machine, these are my sons' handkerchieves in Japanese print...


and a sun hat...
I'm a person fansy of hats, but seldom wear them. So, there will be more to come.

How to become a smarter credit card user?

Money is hard to save, it is as hard as you earn it... agree with me?
Not to mention other people, there's one here : (
Sometimes, there are just so many wonderful things that make us tempted to buy, buy and buy; especially those online store..ayerr... itchy finger, can't resist the temptation, then take out the plastic and with just a few clicks and press on the button - there you go, money gone!

Here's one article in giving us some hints as well as tips to make us a smarter credit card user...

Grade yours on a 10-point scale.

Nobody's perfect. When it comes to our financial lives, we've all done things we later regretted -- whether it's getting slapped with a $3 fee for using an out-of-network ATM or going on a Las Vegas bender and losing the house on an overly aggressive poker bet.

The key is to understand the scale of the transgression. With credit card blunders, that's no easy task -- is it worse to take a cash advance or to pay a bill a day or two late? Experts graded a range of credit card mistakes on a scale from 1 (losing a few bucks to a cash machine) to 10 (losing the house). Find out which worry the pros most -- and which may (almost) get a free pass.

Paying Late
How bad is it? 6
The details: Credit card companies are notoriously prickly about late payments -- even a payment that's late by a few minutes can pile up fees, interest charges and other penalties. Depending on how late the payment is, your card issuer may also report the problem to any of the credit bureaus, which can wreak havoc on your credit score. The good news, says Stacy Francis, president of Francis Financial, is that the error may be reversible. "You do have the option of giving the credit card company a call and asking them not to report it," she says. "If you've generally been an on-time payer, they may waive the fees and not report it."

Paying Only the Minimum on Your Card
How bad is it? 4
The details: Credit card companies love it when you pay off your debt slowly, but you should loathe it. It won't necessarily affect your credit score, but that doesn't mean it's a good practice. Sending in only the minimum payment "is definitely going to keep you in debt longer, and you're going to pay a heck of a lot more in interest," says Francis. "You may be paying twice as much -- or more -- as you would by paying in cash."

More reading here...

Girly Print Mouth Cover

I sew more face masks / mouth protectors over the past few days ... my non-cooperating younger son refused to be my model for the photo shoot. This is the best picture I got of girly print...


Also, I made a kid's tote bag to be given to my son's friend as her birthday present. Promised so earlier, so must keep the promise. I kinda loved this bag which is made from thick Japanese canvas, my creativity and idea with her name sewn... It's priceless!


Get packed and ready to be given out...
While I'm writing this post, I'm enjoying a cup of my favourite Penang coffee and this...you too, can sit back and relax :)

The World's Most Successful Dropouts

I'm not discouraging you guys from going to school, but... we have some interesting facts and news circulating around in this financial turmoil...

For your reading pleasure...

More people are going back to college and taking on huge debt to do it, despite questions about what the degree is really worth - education bubble.

Last year, the amount borrowed by students and received by schools grew some 25% over the previous year, to $75.1 billion. That's a huge amount, especially with weak, low-paying job prospects for graduates in this economy.

As we've noted, all this student loan debt is crazy. Despite the desire to see more subsidization of college, we suspect there will be a collapse in student loan debt availability and desire to take on new debt.

The pop may be starting already. As Bloomberg reports, as many as one-third of all private colleges surveyed said they expected enrollment to drop in the next academic year. And almost 40 percent of those colleges said some of their students dropped out due to personal economic reasons and a quarter said full-time attendees switched to part time. Half said families had to cut back their expected contributions as the value of college savings plans dropped 21 percent last year. (article picked from Yahoo!)

They are some of the exceptional college dropouts...read here

Hurt caused by broken razor blade

Two days ago, while hubby was doing beard shaving, suddenly the razor blade was broken. It had caused some hurt on his face...the cut was quite long and deep. We don't really understand how this could happened...



Hence, are these blades safe? you got your say... it's time to switch to the electronic motorized shaver...

One of my friend, Mei Li, she is sharing an old and practical method how his father and brothers doing their shaving job - that is take 2 x 10cents coin, put them together and pull off the growing hair of mustache and beard. This way, you can pluck away its hair root altogether. So, you won't have thickening hair growing the next batch... not bad isn't it this method of doing?!

This is my community service message...

How to Prevent Swine Flu

Associated Press/Kin Cheung
A kindergartener in Hong Kong washes her hands before entering her classroom.

Swine flu is similar to seasonal flu in its method of transmission. It is spread from person to person (no swine is involved, so it's perfectly safe to eat pork) via the infected droplets from a cough or a sneeze. After an uncovered cough, the droplets of virus hang in the air, a phenomenon that happens more easily in winter, as a humid summer tends to weigh the droplets down so they fall. When the droplets do land, they are still infectious for up to eight hours [source: CDC].

To keep the infection from spreading, you should always cover your nose and mouth when you sneeze or cough, and throw any used tissues away immediately. Wash your hands with soap and water often; alcohol-based hand cleansers will also take care of the germs. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth so that germy droplets left on objects and surfaces don't have a chance to get close. Most importantly, stay home if you're sick -- no work, no school, no errands, no trips other than the ones to your doctor. The CDC recommends staying home for seven days after your symptoms begin or until you have been symptom-free for 24 hours, whichever is longer.

While you may have only very mild symptoms, it's important to understand that the H1N1 virus might affect the people around you more intensely. You could go to work and infect a male co-worker; he might have mild symptoms as well, but the disease could be immensely dangerous to his pregnant wife. This is one of the reasons why swine flu parties, in which participants gather around someone with a mild form of the disease, are discouraged by public health organizations.

As we've mentioned, the 2009 H1N1 virus may remain mild, or it may become deadly. It's important to maintain a middle ground between panic and complacency. While no one needs to head to their underground bunker, use this as an opportunity to create or revise your family preparedness plan and readiness kit. Such a kit should contain a two-week supply of water, non-perishable food and health supplies.

Sources from here