nite out

had a date with daddy last nite...we got an invitation to the omega flagship store launch. got all dressed up...dresscode is stylish...eh...as long look nice can la! daddy got the car ready...washed it...so make it shinnier...big date woh! daddy was very smart...black shirt & pants...mommy no like black...so wore a lime green embroidery silk dress.

erika was happy to see us dolled-up...kiss us goodbye a few times...

so we zoom down to starhill...valet park at marriott...style a bit la...gotta style all the way tonite loh... was a little early...actually only 10 min...so walked around, browse...its a watch haven!...funny thing is we couldn't find the store even though we have seen it before when we were there a few weeks back...it was because it closed off with soft flowing cream curtains for the function...walked in...signed the registry...very nicely decorated…a flowing water fountain…red red roses…then we saw 2 twiggy female models posing the watches...aiyooo so skinny...half my body size only...they really look bulimic and so tall…i thought they would break into half anytime…dad say too thin…a turn-off la…men prefer real woman…then when i turn, the 2 hunky guy models caught my eyes…wooohooo…was distracted for a long while…so regret didn’t bring a camera…quickly pretend to see their watches and get closer to them!!

as more and more people came, some very gorgeous, some weird, some pathetic like a young kept-boy and his old girlfren, and some wannabees superficial people…pretend to hug and give flying kisses! quite funny la watching people and notice most of the people wore black...

sipping wine…after 1 glass…already tipsy…so after the speeches…daddy say we better sober me up and left for dinner at jogoya…since the function only served finger food…and real people like me cannot survive on that la…

wah at jogoya…sapu the oyster…so huge & fresh…ate and ate until cannot move then went back to omega store to check out the collection, now that the crowd has left, we can ogle at the merchandise for as long as we want! wishful thinking la! maybe christmas present leh??

went home, wrapped the shiny car with car covers...happy day.

short trip to singapore

mission for the trip is to bring yeh yeh to see his doctor and to cheer him up! so we brought our very own cheerleader ~ ta..daaa erika! yeh yeh's fave grand-daughter...solly lah...to all the other grand-kids but this is a fact loh! not bragging.

ellisa will be staying home with po po & kong kong...no pas-si-port! (daddy hates govt. departments) solly darling...maybe the next trip when you are older....you are still a handful and with a mind of your own, mommy will be tired out before we even reached johor...some more cannot bring kakak as there are so many of us in the estima, there is no place for you or kakak....yes...mah mah(s) are coming, so is ku-ma....7 seats for 7 people!

my personal mission is tony roma's ribs...thought it was gonna open one in sunway??...still waiting.

relieved!

friday, took the 2 girls to see the paed, synn yi also tag along...as the erika & synn yi were supposed to be flower girls for a fren's wedding but when they reached the church...they refused to walk during the rehearsal, so don't waste time...i took them to the clinic instead!

before reaching the clinic, erika made a big fuss, complained she's tired, wanna go back & sleep, don't wanna see doctor or take medicine...u know just like what laundryamah talked about...whinigitis!

so practically gotta drag her along with ellisa & synn yi...once they reached the clinic...as i was registering...the first thing erika ask the staff was..."do you have any sweets to give me?"...so i said after seeing the doc, she will get a sweet.

as usual paed clinic have all sorts of toys, big playhouse, see-saw....the 3 girls had a ball playing house...ellisa kept saying "open, open" then opened the doors..."close, close" closed the doors...give me an idea, get them a huge box make into house or set up the tent.

so finally met the paed, check ellisa 1st, told her her allergy story, and was advised that it was a bad reaction and to give her anti-histamine if she ever gets an allergic reaction again, her skin still a little dry, to sapu more cream on her...so i was happy to take home some emergency medicine.

erika's turn ~ checked her ears, was happy to know it was perfectly dry and looks as normal as it should be...phew! so erika was happy she don't need to take any more medication and she got her sweets...so she said she likes this doctor! only advise from doc to her was - "no more sucking thumb!"

so all of us were happy, and the girls didnt want to leave the clinic as they want to play some more, so let them play another 5 minutes before we left!

fish! fish! fish!

was feeling lazy, rather lack of continuous sleep during the night, had to make milk, pacify ellisa from her bouts of crying (dreams?) and zapping those irritating mozzies with my electric racket! so decided to take thursday off to spend time with the girls! i don't really do this because the house is full of people and i don't have any peace to rest or have the luxury of the house to myself and the girls. we only have that during sunday and some saturdays ! wish my house is bigger, the only place to hide from them is my room.

already stated in my earlier blog, that i am no maternal material! so the motley crew of nieces & nephews can really irritate me to my bones...since they are in my house...the only escape for me is not to go home! if i were home, i will be like a home&safety police stopping them from poking at the piano keys, jumping on my furniture, screaming for kakak to do something for them, playing with the food, sitting right in front of the tv or drawing on my house or playing soap and water! yes...it is more stressful than work...i really admire those school teachers! i try to look the other way and close 2 eyes but its not easy. they are also at my computer...which we quickly segmented so that they can't touch or change anything important!

of cos this motley crew are considered angels compared to a lot of children...but since i see them everyday...i need to put down some rules lah! or not i dunno what becomes of my house.

but all this doesn't seem to exasperate po po, she in fact thrive in this crazy situation, while even kong kong get frustrated with the kids and need some time-out by going to the garden and killing some trees (luckily i have a few for him) or moving the lawn to vent out some steam! ~ very productive energy.

since there are already 5 happy kids in the house, i don’t understand why sometimes my aunt will dump another 1 or 2 kids here…oii we don’t open a nursery…even then, there are also limits! we gotta adhere to…luckily we now have 2 maids helping but that is not the issue…it makes me really angry not at the kids but the inconsiderate parents! and it makes me doubly angry coz kong kong is definitely not a happy man when he sees the other invaders infesting the house! and i hate to see my dad unhappy…i am super close to him, in fact much closer to him than my mom…

another point is ellisa is allergic to lots of stuff, when it comes to meal times with the motley crew, the food is laid out on table and in an instant ellisa will swoop into their food, and yesterday, she took some forbidden food ~ fish!! just a tiny bit and within minutes we can see her face transformed with bumps, left eye swollen until almost closing, face red, body itch!! had to rush her to see paed but not open…so quickly went back…bathe her with lots of neem leaves (heard they have anti- inflammatory powers)….made her drink lots of water hopefully to flush out the toxin and clear the allergic reaction and put some cream…luckily the swelling & itchiness was over in an hour but her eye was still one big one small! this morning, eyes much bigger but still not 100% original yet!

no matter will still have to take ellisa to see the paed and see if there are any emergency medication we must keep at home, in case it happens again!


picture taken a few days back!

kindy concert

here is the photos of erika's kindy concert...she sang a song in the tune of "jingle bells" but with different wordings...and she has a big pink "oink" pig poster...they are part of the farm animals on the barn/manger where jesus christ was born...

talking about pigs...she loves her barbie (babi!) dolls and i try to discourage her and tell her it means a pig in malay...but it never seems to deter her...in fact...she seems to like pigs too! i am not against playing dolls, the reason is i feel barbie may give her a wrong impression of a woman's body and pyschologically affect her when she is older! all the diets and exercise will not make a barbie out of any girl! try not to be so negative too or else she yearns for it more...you may be thinking, so don't get any for her...but its also hard to stop barbie from invading my house...they come in wrap in a disguise of a nice package with a bow from her cousins & yeh yeh!


waiting after their perfomance...restless class of 5 year olds!



finale...joint performance with the sunday school, play group & kindy! she sang very loudly and with her whole heart!

blink blink

last sunday, i cleared our amazon jungle with 2 maids (got a temporary one - thank god! and my sis's maid to help)...it is now tamed enough to be called a tropical garden...then daddy cleared the flat cement roof of the maid's room...moss & plants were growing by water supplimented by the 3 air-cons! he then painted it with water-proof paint...after that...daddy was dooshed & slept the whole noon-time! it was also raining...good excuse to snoozzzee

after all the hard work...felt so energized...erika learned to make mashed potato in school...so boiled some potatoes for her to released some energy!...quite yummy...she added butter, milk, salt and pepper!

so evening came...went to to the curve makan dinner at vivo's...met oscar's mommy & family...then as we were walking aimlessly...erika saw a pair of earrings (blink! blink!) at a counter outside metro.

e: "can i have it mommy? please buy for me? i like it"

me: " i will buy for you only if you have holes in your ears like mommy then can you wear that earring!" "you want to have your ears pierced?"

e: (thinking hard) YES!

me: ok (daddy was happy to hear that)

so we went to ask the cosmetic counters to find out if they know where to get this done or they know of a jewelry shop franchise ...they suggested there was one in tesco...scared she might change her mind if we don't do it then so even in the rain...we walked over.

at the shop...the studs for piercing were not as pretty but finally she chose a tiny purple stone stud earring...i sat her on my lap...hug her...she was so excited it didn't occur to her that it will HURT!...so they spray her loops with some cool alcohol...then boom!....you can see her left ear turning from white to pink to red! and she started crying "so painful mommy...i don't want to do again!" then she closed her right ear with her hand...alamak...how now? one sided only? cannot la...so had to coax her, pacify her and finally did the right ear....she cried and cried...but she was also smiling! then she finally said..."they sta-pe-lar my ears!"

erika was so proud! so were we...walked back to metro to get her the earrings she wanted in the 1st place.

ear infection

after we left for our trip to istanbul, po po and kong kong stayed with the girls. on the 2nd nite of their stay, erika cried the whole nite complaining that her ears were aching and she also had a bleeding nose...why do this happen when we are away? her nose bleeding problem has been on-going for some time...so po po quickly took her to see an ENT specialist the next day...found out she had a bad middle ear infection...heard that this is a real common problem (didn't know about this before)...just that she had a bad case...so had her on strong antibiotics, eardrops & some cream for the nose...unfortunately when we got back from the trip...the infection has still not cleared up....

follow-up visit to the ENT, another dose of stronger antibiotics...hopefully this will do the trick...the ENT advised if the infection does not clear, he would like to do a minor surgery!!! eh...i would like to get at least 2 or 3 opinions before operating on erika's ears. i have second thoughts about any doctor who requests for surgery...i have this feeling that all they want is to suck as much money from the patient if they can! and they get away with it too!

so all you mommies out there...if you any opinion on ear infection...i would love to hear your thoughts...would definitely make me feel better...

turkish delights

i think this was one of the longest time that i was sick and of cos not counting the times when i was pregnant! was sick before leaving for istanbul...was not 100% recovered there and was sick again back home...the weather didn't help

due to the long flight to istanbul, even longer transit, the transit was 9 whole hours!! in dubai...luckily we took advantage of that and did some sightseeing & even shopping!...as we arrived rather early 5am...we search hard to find a good comfy bench with cushion as our bed for a few hours before daylight. dubai is one amazing city...it is growing faster than shanghai...it is said to have the tallest building up in 2008...of cos only visited the outer gates of the burj-al-arab...daddy didn't want to pay $190 for breakfast each...then went to the mall of the emirates...there was a ski resort within the mall...quite mind-blowing! snow in a desert.

the first nite in istanbul...once we reached the hotel, brushed teeth, clean-up and slept...it was such an exhausting journey!

the second day...was up at 3am...then force ourselves to sleep...was up again at 5am...gave up fighting with the body clock...and got ready for breakfast....was at the restaurant at 6:30am...still closed! walked the streets...freezing cooooold! back at 7 sharp to get breakfast...after that armed with a tourist map, camera...we headed to the Metro and learned to use their subway, train and tram system...it was pretty confusing at first...signage was bad! finally we landed at the sultanahmet area and was nicely greeted by a local who offered to take us around for the day...of cos we have to pay him...but i think that was money well spent...it was like having your own personal tour guide and he was very well-informed and made our visit to the blue mosque, hagia sophia, the hippodrome and topkapi palace very meaningful...(when we walked into these historical sites....you can hear us saying...."wow! wow!") it was another exhausting day...we walked so much until our feet and back hurts...of cos we stopped for some very sweet fruit cha and purposely find a table and sat in the sun! at the side-walk cafe. as we gave up on walking...we decided to take a boat cruise down the bosphorous to the asian side of the city...even after reaching...we were so tired we just didn't want to move but we found out that everyone must disembark...so we went down...walk a little and quickly bought the return ticket and jump on another boat back to the european side...had dinner at one of the restaurants by the sea...very nice view and it was also opposite the spice bazaar and mosque. daddy loved the food-kebabs...i think he has a secret ambition to start a turkish restaurant in KL! i was too tired...and due to the time difference...dinner time is my snoozing time in m'sia...so the body automatically shuts down...





third day still jet-lag! since we have familiarize ourself with the city, we went to the grand bazaar...all the shops sell almost the same things...belly dancing costumes, leather goods, stained glass momentos, clothes, carpets & kilims, tea-sets for serving turkish tea...it was a huge covered market...daddy wanted to get the belly dancing costume for erika...but i thot it was not a good idea! then we pass the university and went to one of the biggest mosque - suleymaniye mosque up in the hill...the i had to go to the little girls room...at the suleymaniye mosque, the toilets were ancient too!...of cos they installed proper plumbing....but it had very low ceiling....and small doors and you have to bend in order to go into one of the toilets...that was an experience....went down the hill...walked along the local housing areas...then we took a cab to visit the galata tower. the cabbie dropped us in beyoglu area about 1.5 km from the tower and asked us to walk!...eh...what to do...the road was closed...so we walked and to our surprise this was the best looking pedestrain street we have seen...wide open streets with beautiful ornate old tall buildings, churches, shops and restaurants on both sides...it was a very pleasant walk to the tower...on the way we saw lots of windows with yummy food...and we scheming on which to try when we get back from the tower...of cos we had lunch at one of the cafes...we took lamb, chicken and rice...actually a lot on our plate...then we notice the locals mostly eat...salads, soup and bread (they give bread free) for lunch...no wonder they all were slim! since already in turkey...we cannot miss the belly dancers...so we booked to have dinner with belly dancing!

no need to take slimming pills!



forth day...we wanted to do some shopping and found out that they have outlet malls...but quite far away from the city...went also la...quite dissapointing...not much outlets...but i was happy to find there was zara & levi's...so only bought some stuff there...on the way back on the tram...it was stuffy with lots of people...and my body must have been totally spent with all the walking, frezzing weather and the flu bug from malaysia that forgot to stay home...my whole body went numb & cramped up in the train...immobilizing me for at least 20 minutes...we were shocked as this never happened before...luckily...after the paralysing ordeal...i started to feel back my legs and was able to get out of the train!...we took a cab straight back to the hotel....and the horrible cabbie cheated us...as for the short distance we paid him about the same price we paid for our cab from the airport! i was informed that this was incidences are common...we didn't want to argue...we just went back and rest and hope to recover fast! evening...had to help set-up the meeting room even daddy help out!

fifth day...my meeting day...thankfully was well enough to run the show and everything worked out well! as daddy was exploring the city on his own today...at the evening, he took me back taksim square and to another part of beyoglu...had dinner there...more kebabs!

sixth day...last day in istanbul...visited the underground basilica cistern was built by constantine and enlarged by justinian ~highly recommended by our guide...he was right it was so peaceful inside with the columns and water...then we did the traditional boat tour (about 1 1/2 hours) through the waterway separating asia and europe. along the way we saw the skyline of the mosques, palaces, fortress, the old ottoman wooden mansions, marble places, small fishing villages and some spectacular homes! the boat tour was the cheapest and most relaxing way of seeing the city, for only 5lira each! still have time and energy to do one last visit...we went to the dolmabache palace...as we were running out of money and time...we decided to visit the harem section only as it was cheaper and i was more interested in this area as this is the living quarters of the sultan, the sultan's mother, his 4 wives and children....with only enough cash to bring us back to our hotel by metro...even though the hotel was very near...we didn't dare to take a cab, just in case it had a cranky&jumpy meter!


back to the hotel...change some money..so that we can have a last kebab meal before going home! as we were jet-lag all the way...coz our body clock only works in malaysian time...once we reached home...we wake up everyday as usual at 8!