Exams

It's EXAMS WEEK! The 3 older kids kept asking me if I think they'll do well? Of course I answered "YES, of course you'll do well!!" That answer satisfied them for about 5 mins, then ....

"What if I don't get an A?"

"It's ok, exams is not about getting A"

"But teacher say must get A!"

($%$$^##@ the teacher!!)

"Just do your best"

"How do you know what's my best?"

"I'm your mother! Of course I know when you do your best!"

"But what if I don't get an A?"

"It's ok"

"But teacher say ...."

(aaarrrrrgggghhhh.... someone please save me!!!!!)

Jeremy was the only want who seems so calm and cool about the whole exam thingy. Kor-kor asked him if he's prepared. Jeremy's answer was "Exam only-wat!" (what's the big deal huh? Way to go my boy!)

Then, today, at around 10.30am, Jeremy's teacher called me on my handphone. She said that Jeremy refused to do his BM test! Oh dear! What to do? I'm with a client and I can't just leave and go to school and threaten to kill him to make him do the test! So I told the teacher it's ok, please just let him be.

When I got home, I asked Jeremy why he didn't do the test?

He said "I don't like the teacher!" No wonder he was so cool. He already knew he's not going to do the test!

Happy Teacher's Day

Kids' school celebrated Teacher's Day today. There are about 40 teachers in the school. Amongst my 4 kids, there, there are 20 teachers teaching them. So, that means - I have to get 20 presents. Every year we give each teacher something. This year we got them this:

Ok-la, cheap and useless - just what the kids like and what the teachers expected!

Oh, they were also selling flowers in school so that those who didn't bring a gift can buy one - to raise funds for the 'Special Education Program' (a regular school program for those mentally challenged students). But i find this weird (or 'tasteless' is the correct word) - like imposing on the kids to get gift for the teachers.

Damian was asked to play a piece on the keyboard. He couldn't choose between Beethoven's "Fur Elise" or "Mamma-Mia". I told him to do "Mamma-Mia". He ended up playing 'Sonata' or something, after which he admitted didn't sound so great on the keyboard. (see, should have listened to your Mother!)

Oh, Damian also won 3rd prize in the Wilayah Teacher's Day Writing Competition. A total of about 50 schools participated. He collected his prize ($30 and a certificate) yesterday(Thursday) at Stadium Tititiwangsa, where the Territory's Teacher's Day celebration was held.

And then the day before (Wednesday), Damian participated in the inter-school Kuiz Kesihatan (Health Quiz). Team of 3 students. They scored the highes in round one (written quiz), which qualifies them into the finals (oral Q& A). It was very close, and they came in 2nd. (Only 2 marks short of the school in 1st place (SK Methodist 1). They were disappointed, but we (adults) assured them that it was a very great effort for their first time participation.

Opps, supposd to be about Teacher's Day.... as usual I digressed. What to do, bragging about my son is more interesting.

Anyway... Happy Teacher's Day!

Playing Maid

Phew. Just got back from Singapore for a business trip. As I was maid-less, 'Antonsiti' (name given by KT) took over! My hubby, Anthony took leave for 2 days to play maid. But this 'maid' declared that he can't cook. So, thank God, my sister agreed to come over to do the cooking. And she also came in early on Friday morning to tie the girls' hair for school. My sis is an angel!

While in Singapore, I called back a few times to ensure that all is well at home. Then I got back on Saturday night to a sinkful of dirty plates, tons of washed but unfolded and un-ironed clothes. Well... at least he knew how to turn on the washing machine! And while I unpacked, Antonsiti quickly washed the dishes. The house is - well messy - but tolerable. Oh, he did iron the school uniforms for school on Friday. And he did mopped the floor. Ok-la for a man! Yes, he's an angel too.

Then on Sunday, when I was preparing dinner, I found a surprise in the wet-kitchen. I lifted the lid off the pot sitting on the gas cooker, and OMG - the smell of putrid soup!! My sis made very nice soup for Friday dinner, and Antonsiti forgot to put the letovers into the fridge!

Well, I still appreciate Anthony taking 2 days leave, and doing all the housework. He rushed off to work today in greater spirits. Must be a big relief for him now that I'm back.

As for me - hey, keeping house isn't that bad. Manageable-la, just not as great as when I had my maid. Of course I've also no time to do anything else. Can't do my biz work. How-la? Keeping my fingers crossed and my prayers moving upwards that my application to get my previous maid back will go smoothly.

I'm 'HELP'less

So, my old Indon maid left on April 30th and I've got a new one on the same day. This new maid is a foreigner, but her hubby has been here for almost 5 years. She said she needed to work to make ends meet. Have to feed a family (kids, cousins, etc) of 10! She gets off work on Saturday morning and comes back on Sunday night.

And she just QUIT!!!! From her limited English and BM vocab, she said it's simply too much work!

My two indon maids in the past (the first was with me for 5 years!) did EVERYTHING! Cleaning, washing, ironing, cooking, Babysitting and bathing the kids when they were younger. And everyday, they managed to squeeze in at least 2 hours of sleep/free time in the afternoon. (I know coz I found them sleeping many times!)

This new one - No need to cook. No need babysitting. She has not even clean/wipe any wondows or shelves or fans or make the beds since she was here almost 2 weeks ago!

In the mornings, she takes an hour sweeping the floor, another hour mopping it. I put the clothes in the washing machine and she hangs them. She then spends the rest of the time ironing. Oh she does the dishes after meals too. But that's too much for her. So, today during dinner, she literally threw in the towel. Wants to go home NOW! So, I sent her home lor.

Sigh... I am now HELPless. No HELP to do all the housework, which up till now, I have taken for granted. Although the 2nd Indon maid was not that good, if I close one eye, she's really ok. Futhermore, my kids like her. *Wail* I really miss her!!!! *Wail*

Then.... (maybe law of attraction?) she sms me from Indonesia. Said she wants to come back work for me. I called her immediately!!! Now have to find out how to go about getting her visa. Wish me luck!!

Happy Mother's Day

Yeah, Happy Mother's Day to all the amazing women out there! I received not less than 20 sms-es. Great biz for the telco companies.

Woke my kids up early for church. I heard Damian saying "Come-on wake up. It's Mother's Day. Don't make her angry!" (Hmmm, how come he didn't say "Let's make her happy"? )

They were selling flowers in church, to raise funds for the endless activities that needed to be funded. So, yes, I received a carnation. And the wonderful kids also wanted to get a rose for each of their two grandmothers. Daddy paid first, but when he asked for the money from them later, Josephine and Jeremy were upset! They both said they can't pay coz they don't have $2.25 (their share for 3 flowers). They only have a $50 note!!!

We had lunch with Mother-in-law aka Daddy's mom. Tea time at my mom's. Dinner - all kids want to go home! Jeremy said he's soooo tired that he must go home before he dies!

How come on Mother's Day I still have to cook?

Breastfeeding Talk 9 May 09

Wow, I thought I have 12 couples signed up, but 13 couples turned up. I must have left out a name. 2 of the couples came with their own mother / mother-in-law. Overall, the class went pretty well, except for the initial heat. The class was at TheBungalow@ Damai, Ampang and we rented a room that could accomodate 20 people comfortably. But with 28 people, it's rather cramped and hot (although the aircond was on full blast!) So, during break, my initiative hubby moved us downstairs to the bigger hall. Much cooler.

I've been doing these classes for the past 6 years, and this is one of the biggest turn-out. I usually have only 4 - 5 couples signed-up. Pathetic isn't it? I can remember only another 2 times when I have more than 10 couples. The smallest group I ever had - 1 couple!

I really believe that the information I have to share regarding breastfeeding is really vital. And because my past participants agree with me, they helped by forwarding my emails to their friends. A very big THANK YOU to you!

My next class will be on July 11, and I was told that the downstairs hall is not available on that day. So we have to move back into the smaller room upstairs. And to make sure we're comfortable, I have to limit it to only 10 couples. So, anyone who wants to sign-up, better hurry up and reserve your seats! Visit www.breastfeeding.weebly.com

Thank you for bearing with me with this 'advert'

Super Dog, Poor hamsters

Remember Happy? Our adopted dog? She developed some rashes on her chest (or underbody, or whatever you call that part of a dog's anotomy with the nipples on it?) So we took her to the vet. Allergic to my floor, i think, poor dog. So she was given some medication for the itching. The vet advised us to let the dog wear a t-shirt, so that her claws wont be in direct contact with the skin when she scratch.

That's Jo's old T-shirt. It's one of the Incredible's family - Violet - the girl who can turn invincible. Maybe Happy is wishing to also 'disappear' but she has to bear the 'indignity' of wearing a shirt!

We took her for a walk, and a man commented that she look like superman's dog - Super Dog! Happy growled at him. If dogs could talk, I think Happy said "Say that again man, you're dead meat!" *Growl*

Oh, on a more somber note.... our hamster just gave birth to 6 babies, but they all died!! The mother just cannbalised them . We didn't even get to see the pups alive.There were dead baby hamsters parts all over the tank. (It have birth before we woke up in the morning) Kids were putting on their shoes to go to school when we made the gruesome discovery.

According to http://www.hamster-zone.com/, it’s not at all uncommon to have a mother hamster eat some or all of her litter. There’s no hard and fast reason for why they do this, although some theories exist. For example, first-time mothers may be so shocked by the whole situation that they feel threatened by the new arrivals and simply eat them to remove the threat. Also, first time mothers can produce pups that are undersized or abnormal, thus causing the mother to reject and possibly eat them. Yeeewwww!!!!

By the way, this is our 2nd birthing. The 1st time the mother gave birth to 6 babies, but ate 2 of them. The mother died when her babies was around 2 months old. We gave two babies to my cousin (and they grew up to have 6 more babies!!!. None were eaten!) We kept two, and the female is the one who just gave birth and killed her babies! So sad!

I need more than 24 hours a day!

There's not enough time for all the things I have to do!!! Today, I did the following:

1. Get kids ready for school
2. Walk them to school (hopefully new maid can help me out here in near future)
3. Restocking the fridge and food cupboard
4. Exercise
5. Answer emails, check facebook
6. Update websites
7. MSN or yahoo-chat with some friends :-)
8. Keep in touch with cutomers
9. Answer at least 3 calls a day relating to Breastfeeding
10. Make at least 3 calls a day for Fitline
11. Meet prospect and make a presentation
12. Deliver products to certain consumers so that can keep in touch with them (build relationship, not becasue I like being a delivery-man)
13. Cook 2 meals a day (Thank God I don't have to wash up)
14. Supervise/teach kids homework
15. Take the kids cycling, at the same time, walk the dog
16. Break up fights among kids
17. Threatened Jeremy with bodily harm (like 100 times a day!)
18. Hug Stephanie 1,000 times a day (must squeeze hard! - so exhausting!)
19. Talk to Jo so she doesn't feel neglected
20. Assure Damian I believe he'll get 5A's (he believes too - just need daily motivation)
21. Make sure the new maid eats!
22. Prepare Happy's food
23. Make sure the kids don't kill the hamsters
24. Read books (I'm reading Gandhi, The Princess Diaries, St Therese of Lisieux, the Feb issue of Reader's Digest at the same time)
25. Think of new ideas to promote my biz
26. Update accounts for income tax
27. Pay credit card bills
28. Update my blog!

My eyes closing now. Got panda eyes. Must sleep. Anthony's in Penang for work, so I'll have the whole bed to myself (that is - if none of the kids crawl in in the wee hours of the morning!)

Night! *Yawn*

Bye-bye Old One, Welcome New One

My Indon maid left today. Completed her contract with me, and we mutually decided not to renew each other. Initially she said she'll stay another year (which I was ok with), then a month later, she decided not to stay (which I was glad as well, coz her work quality is getting from not-so-good to really-not-so-good).

Woke up at 3.30am to send her off to LCCT. She shed some tears, hugging me, saying all those 'kam-tung' (touching) thank-yous etc. Well, on my way back from LCCT, I started missing her already. Well, she can be really clumsy, and most of the time in her own dream-world, but she did try her best, and the kids really do like her. In fact, when I got home in time to help the kids prepare for shool, D and Jo actually cried, saying they missed kakak.

My new helper arrived today! And OMG, she could hardly speak English and BM! So, I drew up pictorial chart for her, detailing what she should do everyday. And I think I will not be able to go out very often in the next month as have to train her to do things my way. She seems ok.

I've been fortunate with the maids - first with Erni, then with Sur. And I really do appreciate the work they've done - cleaning my home, washing and ironing, cooking and babysitting. Running a household is a lot of hard work, and somehow, they did it! Leaving me with the time I need to do what I have to do - running my business and being a mom - guiding the kids in their schoolwork, taking Happy out for a walk or cycling with them, etc!

Thank you dear maids! May God bless you!