I am wondering if my kids are watching too much television. Today they turned Ashley's bedroom into a sort of club house. I think its more of a cafe. To enter, you need to swap some cards. Then I overheard Aloy picking up the phone and talking to someone... mentioning that there are some monster/aliens appearing down town and needed their help. Next Aloy was calling for Ash, that its time to transfer form. I popped into the room and asked what they were doing. Aloy said he is transforming into Robin (a character from Justice League) and Ash is transforming into Bloom (a character from Winx Club) and they are off to fight crime. You can hear all the speical sound effects of fighting. Wah... hahhahahah..... I am trying my utmost best not to laugh and look serious.... ok go fight. Kids.. they sure know how to entertain themselves. Brings back memories of my childhood days too, when I will play supermarket with my siblings. Anything in the house is for sale... and using the money from the Monoply game. We even had cheque books.

Aloy just came running into the room telling me that his pet tamagotchi (aka Robin) is sick but refused to take his medication. By the way, tamagotchi is an elelctronic pet. Apparently its so sick that it just died and gone to heaven. So have to reset the gadget. Aloy was abit shocked for the moment when I told him Robin is dead. However, facial expression quickly change as he knew it can be reset and a new pet will come along... and its a boy again (the first one was a girl and he wasn't really happy about it). This time, he name it Beast. Happily went to feed and play with it again.

Its time for Ashely nap. Got to go.

Its been quite awhile since I have last posted any entries. Have been receiving reminders from friends that I have not update my blog. Its the lazy bug.... plus its the school holidays.. plus I have been busy scanning music scores into my computer...

Finally settled everything for my trip to Bali (with hubby and kids) in December. After reading information from the website... still have not figure out what we are going to do there. Maybe just laze around the pool or the beach whole day. Maybe we will take up my cousin's suggestion, submarine ride... I don't know. Anyway, at least we are going somewhere :) Promise I will take lots and lots of pictures.

Yesterday, I borrowed my sis's mp3 player (Creative Zen M). Was thinking of getting one, so borrowed hers to try it out. I am deciding between this model or ipod. I kind of like ipod cos its slimmer and lighter. The thing missing from ipod is the radio function, which creative has. Was playing with zen all night... quite a cool gadget. At least I can listen to music or audio book or watch movie while waiting for my kids to finish whatever classes they are attending.

My mind not in the blogging mode right now. Continue some other time.

My latest craze, korean drama - Princess Hour. The crown prince and princess are so cute, especially when they get on each other's nerves. Not only am I crazy about the show, also love the songs in the show - "Perhaps love and Stay". I have attached the MV from youtube for your listening pleasure. I think Ashely likes the songs too cos she will try to sing along whenever she hears the songs playing... yes singing in korean.... hahahha.

Stay


Perhaps Love


I am trying to find the music scores for these two songs, so I can play on the piano. Talking about piano... my lessons are coming along fine. Enjoying myself.

Its EXAMINATION time! Stress, stress and more stress! Not my exams but Aloy's. I think I am more stress than him. Actually I am not really stress from preparing Aloysius for the exams but rather stress from his constant whinning. Complaining day in and out that he has to do more revision than usually. Just getting him to learn his spelling for the exams is a chore to me. Was I like that in my younger days? Don't recall that my mum has to constantly nag at me to study. Or maybe my mum give up on me.. ahahha! Anyway, I turn out ok, though deep down in my heart, knew I could have done even better. Just not hardworking enough. Thats why I always tell Aloysius to pay a little more attention to his school work. Then again, which kid would listen to that kind of advice.

The Russell Peters show came at a good time, helps to release some of the exam stress. I was laughing non stop throughout the entire one-hour show. I bought his outsourced DVD, so anyone wish to borrow it, let me know. Imagine, he was suppose to perform only 1 show, end up he did 5 shows and all tickets were sold out. By the way, Dom Dom, he will be in Australia in December. He is performing in Melbourne but tickets are all sold out. Unless you want to drive/swim/walk/fly/hitch-hike to Brisbane, maybe able to catch him. Check out his website - www.russellpeters.com.

DAMN! Just when I thought I have done the coolest thing on earth by putting music on my blog, just found out that it does not WORK!!! Seems like it only works on my own computer. Argh..... Considering I spent more than 2 hours reading help pages and sourcing information on the web. After finding the html code, still had to figure out where to put it on the template. Now back to the drawing board :(

I will not give up... GOT TO GET THE MUSIC PLAYING ON MY BLOG!

Guess what... I managed to figure out how to put music files onto my blog. Cool! As advised, you will have to click play to listen to the music. Don't want the music to auto-start because some people might not like to have any background music while reading. I will change the songs from time to time. Hope you will enjoy the songs that I have selected.

I think I am becoming a mouse potato. Spending most of my waking time in front of the computer... either playing games, blogging, listening to radio, chating with friends. Occasionally I am even having lunch in front of the computer... very unhealthy! You will not see me at the computer only when my hubby is home cos he will be the one hogging it... hahaha!!!!

I bought tickets to the Russell Peters show. [For those who don't know him, Russell is a standup comedian. His jokes are real funny, especially when he does different accents. Check out his video on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRFwyw9GvvY).] I booked the tickets online from sistic last week. Drop by their outlet (at Jurong Point) to collect the tickets last Saturday, however their system was down and was told to come back in 10 mins. I went back in an hour, the system was still down, so told the lady I will come back another day. Went down today... the system is still out of order, the lady don't know when it will be up again, asked me to try another outlet at Jurong East...hhhmmm. What luck. Anyway, I have until 6th October to collect it. The show is on 7th October. Can't wait!!!

Oh... my princess is up from her afternoon slumber... got to go entertain her. She will probably want to use the computer too, to play her elmo games. Now I have another contender for the computer!

Blog again soon.

Finally got hold of a photo of Jerome. Photographer aka aunty Beatrice not providing enough... (GET THE HINT!!!) haha.

Had my 2nd piano lesson today. Learnt to improvise on 2 pieces of music - 'Wonderful world' and 'If we hold on together'. Really enjoyed my lesson. I have asked my teacher to search for the music scores for 'For the first time' and 'I finally found someone'. Hope she is able to find it, if not maybe she can write out the scores for me.. heehee. My goal... to be Joseph's wedding pianist. He is getting marry next year September. Joe was suggesting that maybe I could play the piano for his march in. Wah liao, that is a tall order for me man! Lets see what happens in the next couple of months.

Oh! Lee clan's first heir, Jerome, entered into this "chaotic" world on 16th September. No pictures to pose yet.. anyway, got to get his parents' permission before I can post them on my blog, least I get slap with lawyer's letter.. hahahah. Jerome looks sooooo cute and quite handsome I must say. He looked even cuter when he starts to cry. I will put up some pictures soon (, since everyone is so eager to see Jerome, especially aunty rachel).

Ok, I am going to play 'old maid' with ashley now. For those who don't know what 'old maid' is, its a children card game. Least you get any wrong ideas. Will blog again soon.

My friend asked.. how is SAHMs better than working mums? There is no better off or worse off.. just what you want in life. I chose to be a SAHM because I wanted to spend more time with my kids, plus there wasn’t anyone to help baby-sit them. Leaving them totally under the maid’s care is not an option for me. I am lucky to be able to choose to stay home and still have domestic help as well. Hubby say, my job is to be with the kids, spend quality time with them, as he don’t get to do that enough.

Here (in my opinion) is a list of differences between SAHMs and working mums.

SAHMs:
1) More time with kids
2) More time with spouse
3) More time with self
4) Can take vacation anytime of the year
5) Sufficient sleep
6) Don’t have to worry about datelines
7) Dont have office politics to bug you
8) No lunch hour rush time, can have extended lunch and tea break every day
9) No stress from work

Working mum:
1) Less time with kids
2) Less time with spouse
3) With less time with kids and spouse = no time for self
4) Limited annual leave, so means limited vacation. Want to take leave also must depend on work schedule
5) Everyday not enough sleep, worst when there is overtime or urgent reports to do
6) Datelines, datelines and datelines
7) Politics, politics and more politics
8) Limited lunch time, can’t take extended lunch or tea break unless boss not in town.. hahaha
9) Stress from work

With the above, does it mean SAHM is better than working mum? You decide for yourself.

I believe, you lose some and you gain some. I think the biggest think I lost is not been financially independent. I am the kind of person that buys what I fancy.. buying for kids, hubby or self. Now, I have to watch what I spend… because I am spending someone else’s $$ ;) Though hubby never say anything to my sendings… still its different. Well, I am slowly getting used to it. Spending less and more wisely... its a virtue.

Anyway I am happier now than when I was working. I am blessed.

I am so happy! Finally found the sheet music for Tong Hua (Fairy Tale) by Guang Liang. Played it on the piano this morning, lovely piece of music... however, I still need some more practise. Anyone out there also looking for the sheet music, let me know, I will email to you. Talking about piano, I have signed up for a pop piano course. First lesson starting 8 Sept. The staff at yamaha mentioned that I will probably skip some levels as I already know how to play the piano. Whatever, I just can't wait to start :) My first step to becoming a freelance (wedding) pianist??? Anyone wants to hire a pianist? Hahaha.

ALEX complained that I have not updated my blog for a week liao. So I am UPDATING now. Hahahaha.

Hmm what should I write about... no inspiration. What was I busy with just this weekend.. hmmm? Ah yes, busy chauffeuring people around hahahah. Had to drive hubby to airport, then drive my kids to Jas’s kid’s birthday party, then drive Aloysius to his swimming lesson then finally drive to airport to pick hubby. Thats what I did on Saturday, driving. Sunday was not that bad… hubby took over the driving part. Actually nothing much (or unusual) happened to write about.

I noticed that cake shops have started promoting their moon cakes. I have checked the calendar. 八月十五falls on October 6. Time to buy my durian moon cakes. No, I am not crazy about durian nor mooncakes… just that this shop, 727 makes a mean durian moon cake. Tried it once in 2004 and have been longing for it every 八月. Surf the web and found the address and tel number (of the main shop). Here it is for those who are interested to know –

Shop name: 727 Cakerie
Address: 22 Yio Chu Kang Road, £01-01 Highlang Centre
Tel: 64872777

PS: Don’t blame me if you don’t like it.. one man’s meat maybe another man’s poison.

Jas just had a baby girl 2 months back, Vera. It has been a long time since I last carried an infant. For a moment wonder if I could handle but hay… Vera fell asleep in my arms… hmm… such a nice feeling. Maybe I should pop by Jas’s place more often for hands on training… because I will be helping my bro baby-sit his kid sometime early next year. Anyway bro’s baby will be 4 months when I start baby-sitting, so will be easier to handle. Speaking of babies, my aunt just gave birth… everyone around is either pregnant or just gave birth or going to give birth.. hmmm… not that I am feeling sad… just a weird kind of feeling which I don’t know how to describe. No worries, mentally I am ok. I still do feel a little sad at times when thinking about my angel. On the whole I am alright. Guess this kind of weird feeling will never go away.

Got to give myself a pat on the back... managed to wash and vaccum my car all by myself today. Well done bren bren! Must say I was very very tempted to have it washed at the petrol station. It sure was tiring but a good way to workout. Wonder if my muscles will start to ache later, hahaha. When I got home from washing the car, Madelyn (aka Auntie Lyn, my domestic helper) was like, "Mum why you go wash car, want to wash, ask me to wash". (I left her a note saying that I went to wash the car, while she was preparing Ashley to take her afternoon nap.) The way she put it was like I have committed a crime. That leads me to think, is washing the car a domestic chore??? Subjective, I guess in Singapore context it is.. cos most employers make their maids wash cars. Madelyn's priorities are to care for the kids, cook and clean the house, never thought of asking her to wash the car. My friends say cannot be too nice to the maid, they will take advantage. My opinion, treat them like how you would treat your family, in return they will work properly. Anyway, I am blessed to have a helper thats not giving me problems (touch wood), considering most of my friends always have something to complain about their maids.

Uncle Paul read my blog and send me a msn saying my blog has too much details on the time I go about with my daily chores... thieves may come knocking on my door, so I have replaced the timing with X.XXam/pm.. haahaa. Thanks Uncle Paul.

This video is real funny... ! But I don't think it will be funny if it happens to you. Thank God my kids are not like that. Anyway, I believe the way children behave depends entirely on how the parents (themselves) behave and how they educate their kids.

You know when u don’t have a blog site, there seems to be tons of stuff u want to write about.. now started one.. brains went blank… hahaha how ironic.

Didn’t feel like having home-cooked food yesterday, so went out to pizza hut with my kids. It was a bad choice, well not the food but the day to eat out. There was some teenage talent contest going on and the stage was just outside the restaurant. The supporters were screaming their lungs out when their idol comes on stage, the noise level was really unbearable, so much so that I have totally lost my appetite. No matter how delicious the sweet n spicy chicken drumlets were or the cheese whoozing out from the pizza, I just could not enjoy. At that point, wish I was back home having my peaceful home-cooked dinner… hmmm. Swear I will not eat out during weekends, unless its somewhere QUIETER!!!

Got a sms from my old pal, Hwee Teen (aka Jamie but I still prefer to call her Hwee Teen) yesterday night. Suddenly memories of my school days came flooding back… those were the best days of my life. The only childhood or rather teenage-hood friends I keep in touch with are Hwee Teen, Linda, Melanie and Lienna. I think, the only person that I constantly keep in touch is only Lienna… as for the other three… sms once a blue moon. This is extremely terrible. Got to do something about it man. Some times I really envy my bro… he is still in close contact with his primary school mates (since primary 1, would u believe that). In fact the whole bunch of them goes on vacation together once a year.

Talking about keeping in touch, my hubby and I organized a national day get-together with his camp mates. I was just casually asking him about have a party on Aug 9, since he is in town for the holidays .. its amazing that he managed to get everyone (well almost) at such short notice. Though I was very tired from all the preparation and playing host, it was worth it. (Actually I enjoy hosting parties at my place.) Its nice to meet up with old friends after so long.

Everyone is always busy with their life. Someone just have to make the effort to do something to keep the friendship constantly burning. So to my friends that I have lost contact, if you happened to read my blog, PLEASEeeee send me an email so that we may be in contact again.

Before I continue blogging on and on, got to post a picture of my bundle of joy.

Finally I have started to blog like everyone else. Hubby said its just a matter of time that I will do this. Basically, other than playing computer games and suduko (yes I am a suduko addict), next best entertain would be to blog??? I have been a SAHM (stay at home mum) for about a year. Its really a mix feeling... on one hand I really feel like going back to work and the other hand.. tai tai life is great too. Whats my daily routine like you may ask ….

When hubby is overseas –
I will have to chauffeur my kids to school. Which means I have to wake up by 7.30am latest… yawnnnn... my princess starts school at 8am. Back home by X.XXam, drink my coffee, read newspaper then its computer time. At about X.XXam drive out to fetch my princess from school, back by X.XXam then at X.XXam its time to send my prince to school. Back home by X.XXpm and the rest of the day… computer computer computer, take nap, take high tea, etc, then 6pm drive out to fetch my prince from school, back home by about X.XXpm. Have dinner, coach my prince on school work, watch tv and then go to bed.

When hubby is at home –
Pretty much the same as above except no need to be driver to my kids.. hee hee, hubby does the driving. I will wake up about hmmm latest 10am (or till the sun starts to burn my butt… hahaha). And throw in some outings to makan places or shopping (with hubby) here and there.

Isn’t life just great or so it seems.

I do get bore some times… lately being thinking of picking up music lessons… or rather brushing up on my piano wif professional help then I do freelance like playing for people’s wedding or at lounges (I don’t know)… pick up knitting… study some thing (like diploma in law)… learn to roller blade… 101 things to do but need help to jump start.

To be continued...