All About Your Child

As most of you know, I was forced to end ended my retail business of 6 years last year in May. But I’ve got sooooo much stocks to clear, you can only use your wildest imagination OR you can get a glimpse of the amount of stocks I have in the 3rd picture of this post.

I’ve been going to low or no rental bazaars to clear my handmade accessories at S$1.00 each since last year every now and then. OF COURSE, AT $1, EVERYTHING IS PRACTICALLY BELOW COST!

But the 3-day bazaar which just ended yesterday would be MY LAST. Going for a bazaar now can easily upset my little Binbin and Allan’s appointments with his clients. Moreover after we have sold the van, it was extremely mind-cracking to squeeze all that into the tiny car.

I still have lots of beads, lots of parts and pieces, lots of handpainted clothings, lots of mobile phone accessories, mannequin, clothes hangers, jewellery-display gadgets, to sell away….so I’ve decided to give eBay a try and I got to know a forum (got this from one of the retailer during this bazaar) where people look for 2nd hand items for their pushcarts business (which I definitely have lots to sell to them).

Of course, I’ll continue giving consignment as I have been doing since last year, but that’s just too slow. When you give consignment to a retailer, they (naturally) will concentrate on their own products more than yours, completely understandable.

So I’ll be beading away as and when I feel like it and no longer need to rush out hundreds of earrings (before the every bazaar) just to meet the ‘expected sale quantity’ for each bazaar.

And my Keatkeat need not help me do this anymore, go see how great a helper my boy was (last year), this is a MUST SEE POST!

And no more of these moments…..

So goodbye to long hours of standing…

goodbye to late nights setup….

goodbye to not-able-to-take-my-meal-in-peace….

goodbye to sweaty and dirty hands after every setup and tear-down…

goodbye to the fear of not earning enough cover the rental and the cost price of each item and not even considering my salary…..

goodbye to all of that….

And many didn’t believe that it was Allan who decided to start this retail business and who was also MY TEACHER before I start to create my very first handmade jewellery.

So wish me lots of luck in clearing my stuff at the forum and at eBay too, won’t you?

After buying the piggy bank for Keatkeat - my little ‘money-magnet’, Binbin has been looking forward to a day he gets his own. Finally his wait is over.

We bought this from Mini Toons at S$3.95, pretty expensive (to me. Ah, me and my retail-stinginess), but his dad decided to go for it.

There were 4 other characters but we chose this because its green, one of Binbin’s favourite colour (for now). There were 3 words written on the back of the Froggy, “Less is More”. Allan and I had the same response when we saw it.

We couldn’t quite understand what does that mean, somehow the phrasing seems funny. It means that by saving a little at a time, eventually, in time to come, you would have saved more, IS that IT???

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Time flies. Indeed it does. We have received the notification that Binbin is accepted into the same school as his elder brother next year.

My little rascal is finally going to get his very first school uniform, be alone for more than 30mins without any of us (the familiar faces), start making friends on his own…..just seems so exciting, will he cry for the first few days, I bet he will!

His brother cried for a week, lets see if sticky-Binbin is going to break that record!

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I woke up with a bump on my pinky finger a couple of days ago, its still subsiding…

I used to get this almost every now and then when I was a kid and my dad used to have an unusual explanation for it. Now (it was my turn) I’m reciting the same story to my curious kids.

Binbin: “Mommy, what is that?”

Me: “The mosquitoe bit me and left his saliva inside my skin.”

Binbin: *Frown*

I used to burst it with a needle in order to squeeze out the liquid but no longer now, can’t be bothered already I guess, with so much things on hand waiting for me to do, even a few seconds is precious.

But seriously, does any of you know why does this happen? Is it caused by the mosquitoes?

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I enjoyed having my ear dug. It used to be something that my dad would do to my sis and I whenever his ears needed to be dug. I like the feeling of the ear-pick massaging the inner skin of my ears more than the thought of having my ears cleaned.

I noticed my boys like that feeling too, ‘cos they are ‘begging’ for their ears to be picked EVERYDAY, so I’ve decided to change the metal ear-pick to a wooded one so that its more gentle on their tender skin.

It has a cute top. The funny thing is, the moment the kids saw it, they shouted in unison, “La Bi Xiao Xin!”

*Laugh* I never saw the resemblance, but now I do!

But seriously, if you really want your ears to be cleaned by a ear-pick, please get the metal type, ‘cos the wooden kind is way too big and too thick. The chances of pushing the ear-wax further into the ear is higher than getting them out!

But then again, I’ve heard many say that it is not necessary to get your ears picked….oh well…so long as my kids are happy, never mind what others say, so long as I’m careful while doing it on their ears, right?

Got this tag from Ling.

First

* First name: Angeline
* First screen name: Angeline
* First funeral: my grandmother
* First piercing: NEVER
* First kiss: my first boyfriend when I was 4 years old (I have photo as prove! *laugh*)
* First love: primary 6 school classmate

Last

* Last beverage drank: water
* Last food consumed: sandwiches
* Last phone call: to hubby
* Last time showered: 11.30pm
* Last CD played: Sentimental Instruments
* Last website visited: my own blog

Now

* Single or taken: taken
* Gender: female
* Birthday: 24 Sept
* Sign: Libra
* Shoe size: 5 half
* Thinking about: what would my total sales be after the 3 days bazaar, ending tomorrow (20th).

Participants:

1.) Me and Mine
2.) Creative in Me
3.) Little Peanut
4.) For the LOVE of Food
5.) Pea in a Pod
6.) SugarMagnolias
7.) Walkonred
8.) Buhaymisis
9.) Kathycot
10.) Whenmomspeaks
11.) Kathycotcooks
12.) Ours and our kids
13.) Jenny and Belle
14.) Growing Up Together
15.) All About Your Child

16.) your blog - tagging Sandra

Being a parent is having to wake up at 5am in the morning with eyes half open and mind still asleep, holding a dustbin infront of your coughing child, ready to catch whatever vomits that is going to come splashing out of his mouth like the merlion.

Then due to over-exertion, your little flesh and blood couldn’t hold his bladder and water came out from below at the same time as semi-liquids spat out from the mouth (OF COS THEY ARE OF DIFFERENT SUBSTANCE)

And you’ve got to wash the bedsheet, the bolster cover, the pajamas even before the sun is up. Clean him up real good to make sure he doesn’t smell like an unwashed toilet bowl and finally gave up your own bed for him to rest while you hang the washed mattress out of the window, waiting and hoping for the sun to do its magnificent work on that wet mess real soon.

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Being a parent is having to go through a conversation like this:-

Kid: “Mommy, why Henry’s Mommy buys toys for Henry even though its not his birthday?
Mommy (who is determined to stick by her principal): “Is Henry’s Mommy your Mommy?”
Kid: “No.”
Mommy: “Would you like to be Henry’s Mommy’s Son?”
Kid: “No.”

Mommy: “But if you become her son, you don’t need to wait till it’s your birthday to have toys.”
Kid: “I don’t love her, I don’t want to be her son.”
Mommy: “So do you love me?”
Kid: “Yes”
Mommy: “Do you want to continue to be my son?”
Kid: “Yes”

Mommy: “So if you love me and wants to continue to be my son, what should you do?”
Kid: “Listen to you.”
Mommy: “So what did I say about buying toys then?”
Kid: “You will buy toys only on my birthday.”

Mommy: “Agree?” (Sticking out the pinky finger)
Kid: “Yes” (Hooking his pinky onto the mommy’s pinky finger)

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Being a parent is having to harden your heart to give appropriate punishment at the appropriate time.

And after 5 minutes of ‘Quiet Time’, you come back and see the younger one was actually having fun (while being punished) with his tiny feet in his PaPa’s shoes and then you extended another 5 minutes as you get that pair of big shoes far from his reach.

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Being a parent is having to come up with a new story every night, with a good morale behind it and eventually made your little one cry because of your talented story-telling skills (*laugh* thick-skinned! But Binbin DID CRY over one of my made-up stories) and then wake up in the morning with wet kisses all over your face, good enough for a saliva-facial-treatment.

Being a parent is having to give up your leisure time, your me-time, you and your hubby’s lovey-dovey time and be the idol of your children completely.

Being a parent is having a couple of additional white hairs, a number of awful night rests, a hundred of worries, a thousand of laughters and a lifetime of bonded-love.

Panda eyes, worn-out body, additional stress, endless worries, challenging kiddy issues IN EXCHANGE FOR a bond so strong that only GOD could separate it (which HE would never do), this GAME OF PARENTING I’m all in! Are you in this with Me too?

On Wednesday (13th), my sweet sister and her boyfriend gave me a couple of hours of me-time by bringing the kids to the ONLY Disney Theme Restaurant situated OUT of Disneyland in Singapore Anchorpoint Shopping Mall. So whatever that is written here is what my sis and my boys narrated to me after the experience.

The entrance. There is a projected screen showing ‘The Incredibles’ the movie cartoon.

There are Disney soft-toys sitting on the top parapet and a small screen showing the restaurants’ Daily Specials.

They ordered a pizza for the 4 of them. Kids ate the ‘Ears’ and the adults ate the ‘Face’.

Cheese Macaroni for Binbin.

As usual, he gobbled down all the pineapples from the pizza and almost finished his big plate of Cheese Macaroni.

Then he took one sip on his strawberry shake and regretted at the very same moment.

Keatkeat ordered the Chicken Stew and loved the sauce, but he couldn’t finished his apple juice.

Then both of them gobbled down one banana each.

What kept them completely entertained were the PC. They get to play their favourite games which is similar to their favourite website http://www.disneychannel-asia.com. My sis chose a seat right next to the PC, so it superb for the kids.

See the Green Button (on top of Keatkeat’s head on his right-side)? Pressing it will release water from the glove to wash your hands and at the same time make the ‘black-stripes’ on the mickey glove change colours.

Here, little Binbin was helping himself to a balloon from the  balloon decorations and wanted to get one more for his elder brother but didn’t succeed…

So my sis went to the staff to request for one for his big brother, Keatkeat, before monkey see - monkey do.

And there you have it - 2 completely happy children!

Review of the Restaurant: -

Though the kids love the place, my sis was rather disappointed with the whole experience. Here’s what she has to say:

- The whole place was not kids-oriented.

- The sofas are quite far away from the table and hence Keatkeat had to stand in order to reach his food.

- The staff were not as children-friendly as compared to the staff at Hong Kong Disneyland, who are super friendly whenever a child comes near, but she hardly see the staff at this restaurant doing that.

- The food portions are NOT in children sizes. Everything were in adult portion.

- There are no kiddy utensils, so it was really tough if you have kids who would like to feed themselves but have problem holding the heavy metals in their tiny fingers.

- The food is consider expensive with regards to its portion and the taste. The four of them spent $50++ just for a meal there.

- Lastly, if you are driving, please note that a 2 hour parking could cost you around S$6.00!

So you decide if you wanna give it a try! But my kids gave a definite “YES” to going back there again!

Dominique and Cendrine gave me this.

Here are the rules that come with the award:

The rules are these:
1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Add links to these blogs on your blog.
5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.

I am nominating

1. Beck
2. Erin
3. Blessed Mum
4. Andrew&June
5. Tina
6. Ling
7. LZmommy

DURIAN!!!!

For my friends from another side of the planet who have not seen this fruit before, Wikipedia has the following explaination : -

…...the fruit is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk. The fruit can grow up to 30 centimetres (12 in) long and 15 centimetres (6 in) in diameter, and typically weighs one to three kilograms (2 to 7 lb). Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the colour of its husk green to brown, and its flesh pale-yellow to red, depending on the species.

The edible flesh emits a distinctive odour, strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact. Regarded by some as fragrant, others as overpowering and offensive, the smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust. The odour has led to the fruit’s banishment from certain hotels and public transportation in Southeast Asia.

But if I were to compare Taiwanese Smelly BeanCurd, “Eeeeewwww”, that is definitely the champion if we talk about intense disgust.

I like the durian sellers’ new style of serving their customers now - opening the THICK and PRICKLY husk, picking out all the flesh and packing them into the disposable box before selling to us, the consumers. Opening the husk need some skills and if you are unlucky, your fingers may bleed before you could even get to the flesh!

This is the first time for Binbin and he loved it! Lost count on how many he ate. So if a kid can be so crazy over it, you can imagine the smell - can’t be that bad, right?

After trying for so many times over the years, Keatkeat still refuse to take the 2nd bite.

A sight like this with the great banner “Durian Sales” or “Mao San Wang” the new species of durian are almost every where in Singapore. Durian is a seasonal fruit and so its not always available in large quantity. There are always new species coming out, for a certain year, it was XO and that sold like hot cakes!!!!

My FIL is an expert when it comes to choosing durians, surprisingly non of his sons are interested to dig into the knowledge he has, yet the whole family loves to eat durian. When I was still Allan’s girlfriend (not even fiancee), I often have durian as DINNER with his family members. Durian (a fruit) as Dinner was truly an eye opener for me.

So the inqusitive daughter-in-law (ME) got the tips from the ever-willing to share FIL and here they are: -

1st- know if it’s ripe by shaking with your hands or knocking the durian with the flat-side of a knife. If it is ripe, you can feel the flesh rock alittle. The sound of the knocking of the knife is different for a ripe and an unripe fruit. Too bad I can’t really explain how different they sounded. THAT’S THE REASON WHY all durian sellers holds a knife and knock on the fruit before opening it for you to test.

2nd - Look at the shape, choose one that is oval, almost like an America Football or rounded. If you choose an irregular shaped durian, the parts that are indented are the parts without flesh or have baby-flesh.

3rd - Look at the torns, if they are widely spreaded, you know their seeds are small and the flesh is alot. If the torns are very close to each other, then the seed is big and the flesh is lesser.

4th - Durian have many different taste. Some sweet (my favourite) and some bitter-sweet (my FIL’s favourite). To know this, you need to train your nose to smell it out from the husk. You will be able to see a fine line on every durian husk, that’s the opening-line, put your nose there and you can smell the ‘taste’ inside. This really needs practise to differentiate the different taste.

So I leave you with 4 simple tips. I’m happy with the result of my first attempt on choosing the KING of FRUITS based on my FIL’s tips. So for all you durian lovers out there, go give it a try! *wink*

Blessed Mum and Sting tagged me on this…..quite difficult tag for me, but I’m still going to do it.

This is really hard from me because I’m more like a LAZY Worm more than a BookWorm after I left school. In fact the only thing that kept me going to school is the teachers, friends and the excitement during examination.

Do you remember how you developed a love for reading?
The only time I remember I got hooked to reading was when I laid my hands on the very first R.L. Stine book in the library. Forgot the Title.

What are some books you read as a child?
When I was super young it was LadyBird Series then during the teens I read almost 50% of R.L. Stine books, I love the suspense. I never grew up Enid Blyton or Roald Dahl like most kids.

What is your favourite genre?
Fiction - mystery and suspense

Do you have a favourite novel?
No but I have read Love Comes Softly more than once and its still in my bookshelf, unlike others, which were given away.

Where do you usually read?
If I like a book, I read everywhere and anywhere except in moving vehicles and when I’m walking, of ‘cos.

When do you usually read?
In the past, whenever I feel like it. Now, I hardly read books.

Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?
No way, I’m a one-at-a-time please.

Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?
I read nonfiction sitting up, ‘cos I need the knowledge to sink in. But I read fiction in a more relax mood or posture.

Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library?
In the past, it’s strictly borrowed. Now I buy books that can educate me in one way or another.

Do you keep most of the books you buy?
No way! If I had to pay for the book, I make sure I keep ALL of them.

If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them? Were they some of the same ones you read as a child?
So sad. Nope. ‘cos I am their walking story book. So all the LadyBird series stories like all the fairytales are told to them by my mouth. Now we read NEW storybooks together and discover New stories together.

Do you keep a TBR (to be read) list?
No. But I do have a few books I’ve been wanting to buy.

What’s next?
Who knows?

What books would you like to reread?
Secrets of a Millionaire Mind

Who are your favourite authors?

Do you remember how you developed a love for reading?
The only time I remember I got hooked to reading was when I laid my hands on the very first R.L. Stine book in the library. Forgot the Title.What are some books you read as a child?
When I was super young it was LadyBird Series then during the teens I read almost 50% of R.L. Stine books, I love the suspense. I never grew up Enid Blyton or Roald Dahl like most kids.

What is your favourite genre?
Fiction - mystery and suspense

Do you have a favourite novel?
No but I have read Love Comes Softly more than once and its still in my bookshelf, unlike others, which were given away.

Where do you usually read?
If I like a book, I read everywhere and anywhere except in moving vehicles and when I’m walking, of ‘cos.

When do you usually read?
In the past, whenever I feel like it. Now, I hardly read books.

Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?
No way, I’m a one-at-a-time please.

Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?
I read nonfiction sitting up, ‘cos I need the knowledge to sink in. But I read fiction in a more relax mood or posture.

Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library?
In the past, it’s strictly borrowed. Now I buy books that can educate me in one way or another.

Do you keep most of the books you buy?
No way! If I had to pay for the book, I make sure I keep ALL of them.

If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them? Were they some of the same ones you read as a child?
So sad. Nope. ‘cos I am their walking story book. So all the LadyBird series stories like all the fairytales are told to them by my mouth. Now we read NEW storybooks together and discover New stories together.

Do you keep a TBR (to be read) list?
No. But I do have a few books I’ve been wanting to buy.

What’s next?
Who knows?

What books would you like to reread?
Secrets of a Millionaire Mind

Who are your favourite authors?
Nope. No favourite authors.

This tag has been around for a long time now, so I guess I not tagging anyone on this. But if you haven’t done this before, please go ahead and do it!