Little Hobb has a "Gatai!!"

We finally bought little Hobb a mini guitar. The problem is, he was only excited with it the first time we bought and gave it to him. As days went by, he tend to abandon his "gatai" (the way he calls a guitar) whenever he sees our guitars, he will throw his own mini guitar away and tries to snatch our guitars away from our hands. Now don't assume we are a family born guitarist. We are no where closer to that. It was out of our sudden interest a few years back that we decided to indulge in some guitar lessons but then it died down once little Hobb came. Yet the only one remaining active in practicing is Hobbit. His partner in crime, me, had ditched her guitar and saxophone almost a decade ago! Next in Hobbit's list of purchase is this cool guitar pickguards at musicians friend.

Sport's Day Chaos to Home

I am home after being entertained by all the screams and drums by the cheerleaders from each color houses who are enjoying the sports day in school. I thought home would be a good place to soothe my ear drums a bit and away from all the chaos but the minute I came home, little Hobb is awake and active that you can go deaf from all his screaming and moves! Yeah, he is at that age where screaming is a way of soothing and a sort of 'bribe' for the parents! Great huh? Sometimes I become so confused of my son's emotions and behaviors but when I realized that all these are part of their growing up process, I learn to let them go. Right now, I am entertaining Little Hobb while he 'performs' with his papa's guitar! His guitar strumming can be 'annoying' at times because it is oh-so-random! What more if the guitar is plugged on epiphone amplifiers at Guitar Center?! Okay, enough rambling...I better get back to the chaos before someone notices me missing in action!

I'm Sticking with My Current Hobby (hopefully!)

Several days ago I blogged about my brother getting married very soon. Today I am actually on an errand to do some brochure printing and at the same time checking out how much it would cost to print invitation cards. Then maybe check out some materials for my sewing project. Yes, I'm sewing again! Hopefully my excitement won't just die after a few days because I tend to get very lazy when something else is distracting me from my current hobby! I wish to do more projects next year and even plan to upgrade my sewing machine! Planning and planning. Sounds good to plan but to actually do it, takes a lot of courage and motivation! So, wish me lots and lots of courage!! Ha!

The Pleasant Weather Is Back!

The temperature shows 21 degree Celsius this morning and it's our school's sport's day today. Despite the political turmoil, sport's day has to go on because preparation has been made and students have been anticipating for this day to come. We are fortunate that our school is not anywhere close to where the mobs are taking place but everything can be very unpredictable so precautions are still taken to ensure that everyone stays safe in school. 

Here's what I harvested from reading my tweets this morning...

Wedding Bells in June

So my youngest brother is getting married! How time flies. He was the tinniest when he was growing up and I couldn't even imagine that he would someday settle down and start a family with a girl because my family and I thought all he would have as a wife would probably be a mustang! Yes, CARS!

He first drove (pun intended) us crazy by driving our dad's pick up truck away for about 30 minutes to a nearby village when he was 10 years old. Yes, 10 years old! How would you feel having a 10 year-old leading the wheels?? My dad panicked when at that time he noticed that his truck was gone missing! Who would have thought the little boy who was actually seen cycling not too long ago, ran away with a truck that heaven knows if his feet would even reach the brake pads?? But my brother did. He drove to a next door village, about 2 kilometers from our village, and those who recognized our dad's truck actually thought a ghost was driving it since no head popped out at the driver's seat! They had to ask dad about the spooky incident and it was all because of the little mischievous lad...

Today, my brother actually line messaged me if I could help out with his wedding plans. I see this coming ever since he got engaged but little did I bother of how I would feel when he would seek my advice about wedding preparation. It all sounded "too soon!" But here I am, enjoying looking at Reeds rings, wedding gowns and door favors online. I need to learn to leave those notions I have about how little he knows about the world but ponder upon how much he actually have learned about the world that he is willing to take the plunge to drive to the gates of marriage!

Tantrums Oh Tantrums!

So we came home from our weekend shopping yesterday and little Hobb was not in a good very mood. Hobbit parked the car and unload our things. I had to do the most dreaded thing (something we recently discovered), that was to take the boy out of his seat in his sleeping state. Now, how nice can a sleepy boy get when he knew he would be taken out of his comfy seat and out of his ultimate 'rocking' car?? Not so nice. So I unlocked the belt and tried to carry him out of his car seat. Guess what? He screamed non-stop that Hobbit and I needed to find the right thing to say to calm him down. 

When Hobbit, little Hobb and I reached home, little Hobb didn't want to take his shoes off and didn't want his feet to touch the ground just because he didn't have enough of his car ride yet. He kept pointing to the direction of the car and we were loaded with shopping bags. We had no choice but to put him down hoping that he would calm down when we shove him his 'neh!' Guess what? We shoved him almost everything and nothing worked. He was yelling and screaming while standing alone in the middle of the living room, not wanting anyone to touch nor hold him. 

So we left little Hobb to cool down by himself and hopefully will play with this toys and vic firth drumstick with free esb bag, but nothing happened. He just cried away until it attracted our neighbors. 

Now my point is, I know clear well that I have sweet boy and people do tend to look at him as a pleasant toddler to be with. Yet, he is no different from other kids in terms of throwing tantrums and rolling on the floor hoping mama and papa would read his mind! I really don't want people to think that I have a perfect kid but I want them to clearly know that he is a toddler and not being nice once in a while is totally a growing up process that all of us had to go through. Right?? :)

Politics and Disasters of Late

Hobbit and I came home and talked about the situations in Thailand and in the Philippines this evening. We didn't get too overwhelmed by the result that Cambodia, not Thailand, has sovereignty over a disputed promontory around a 1000-year-old temple, but we got too emotional over the sufferings in the Philippines. Reading all the news about the Haiyan typhoon just broke our hearts especially when children were involved. We could totally imagine children crying for their parents or parents crying for their children. The following is an example that demonstrates how even in the midst of a huge disaster as the Haiyan typhoon, God is present in the lives and sufferings of those involved. Read the story here.

Stop Using My Son to Sell Your Product!

I was upset last Sunday.

Thing was, my family and I walked out of our home and wanted to enjoy the school fair. Then we met a friend, who worships all his direct selling products and even swears that they all worked wonders!

Get the background of this story - I bought one of this friend's (lets call him A) products just for occasional use since it does help supplement what our food is not giving us. 

So, at the school fair, he came to us and all of a sudden dragged my son to see one of his future customer and made a self-proclaimed testimony about how healthy my son was after taking his product and that his future customer should try it too since there's a 'living' testimony standing right in front of him. 

Come on! How much does he knows about what my son's health? Attributing to one particular supplement and not considering how the person takes good care of their health is not the way to sell a product and make money! 

Later, I came home and decided on a good status update to post online just so I could take away my inner frustrations about what just happened. When I meet up with friend A again, I would really want a good explanation.

How Many Months Now?? Are You Kidding Me??

My students thought me preggo when I brought a row of packet milk to school!

I was standing right in the middle of the classroom and noticed all eyes were almost literally 'painting' my whole body like they were brushes -- up and down and up and down.

I was curious and so I stopped talking...caught a Korean boy who looked at me suspiciously!

Me: Hmm...Why are you looking at me like that? 
Wonk: Nothing...
Me: Why??
Wonk: Maam, can I ask, how many months already? 
Me: *perplexed* What kind of question is that? 
Sarah: He is asking how many months are you pregnant now...
Me: *being sarcastic and felt like crying* Me? Oh...Errr...10 months?! How did you know? 
Sarah: You always sit in the classroom during lunch time and you have packet milk on your desk. 
Me: Ooooooh....Now I get it...So yeah, 10 months...Any problem with that? *gave them a sharp glance*

Everyone looked at me seriously and went back to looking at their books, embarrassed. I, continued on my lesson.

Still, they didn't ask about me being 10 months pregnant!!

ROFL!!

I Don't Know How Working Mothers Do It

It was really hard for me to leave the house today. Somehow my little Hobb woke up early, knowing that I have to go to work. Yesterday was Sunday and the day before Sunday was Sabbath and he was fine and didn't react the way he did, this morning. How do toddlers know and sense these things?

I don't know how working mothers divert their child's attention so their child won't be too clingy before they leave the house door. What I think I know is how most working mothers must have felt before or after leaving the house. They wish they are WAHM (work at home mom). That's how my boy made me feel this every morning.I need a full extension slides.

Earlier, at 3:15am this morning, I had the urge to just talk to God and I don't know of what. I have this strong urge to write to Him but I don't know for what. I used to have a habit of recording everything in a journal/diary. But after my little man came, I thought ahh...I don't have time. But I think I feel much better when I express myself through writing, especially writing to God about my feelings, my life, everything...

So back to my urge of talking to God, I feel a great need to again own a diary and start writing to Him. Not that I don't write, but now I keep records of my son's daily progress, activities, etc. So see, how can I catch up with myself when I am busy catching up on his life? I think I need to relearn how to actually spell the word B.A.L.A.N.C.E.

Nevertheless, I managed with a heavy heart walked out of the house and go to work this morning. I could hear little Hobb calling 'Mama' and wished that someone would come over from the school and told me that I am fired but that didn't happen. I persevered and continued to.

I love my boy, to the moon and back.

Do Re Mi Fa So!

The Bible said that if you stop using your talents, God is going to take them away from you. 

Exactly what I thought when I was practicing with a choir group last weekend. How can I not hit the right notes?? How can I not be in harmony with the rest? How can I not be in perfect pitch? 

They say, practice is key to succeed in playing any instruments. Guess my voice box needs some twitching and tuning. Time to practice vocalizing again. Otherwise, I won't even be surprise if God takes away my precious voice! Time to check out cad condenser mic at musician's friend tonight.

We Do Press On

My biggest horror today was when I looked and studied our school calendar. No holidays until October! What??? Now I really wanna blame it on the early retreat we had. Why do we need to retreat when we just had a long summer vacation? Duh! Well, if you think this speaks for me alone (as a teacher), try asking the students...

I am not complaining. Just thinking about how tiring it will get.

It's almost 4pm right now and I am still in school. I haven't gone home during school time ever since school started, given I live just a 3 minutes walk away. How sad can that get? When I do, I would immediately put my mama gear on and become a full time mom for my little Hobb.

I miss my boy!

Ciao!!

He Turns One, Five Months

My little Hobbit turns one year, five months today!

Yay!!

We actually had a mini celebration for little Hobb yesterday. We took him to play at his favorite place, Kidzoona, at Gateway, Ekamai. His parents also decided to pump up the celebration a bit with liable excuses:

"We took good care of little Hobb and therefore we deserved a good massage!"

Yup, we treated ourselves to a one hour massage at Gateway while the toddler went monkeying with the nanny at the children's indoor playground. Clever huh? :)

Hobbit had a foot massage while I opted for head and shoulder massage. Actually I just did foot massage two days prior to this recent massage. Speak of good service. Oh, but the counter lady wasn't very friendly. Pfff!

Hobbit and I found out that one hour at the indoor playground was enough to deplete our boy's energy. He was totally uninterested with everything after an hour of rigid play. The nanny told us that all he wanted was to "Go! Go! Go!" which translated to "I want to get out of this place already!"

Haha!

Thank goodness he didn't used up his gold dollar coins!! 

My Confessions of the Month!

I am so ashamed to say this, but due to the starting of the new school year, added work loads, and other unforeseen circumstances lately, I have been on tea and caffeine! Caffeine, for crying out loud!! My juicing habit has been neglected and my 5 minutes exercise has been pushed aside as well. I am currently in my second week of burning the midnight oil, almost every night. 

Not good...

Not good!!

I need to start afresh next week (still want to work otherwise can't catch up) and that is to stop the caffeine (my body has learned to accept it ggggrrrrrhhhh!) and start my one month detox regime. I also need to exercise already!

September, please remind me of my little pinky promise! Thank you and wish me lots and lots of luck!

P/s: Oh and Mr. Coffee, I am going to ditch you soon. I never wanted you in me, anyway. But thanks for keeping me 'in tune' when I really needed the 'boost.' Because of you, much was done.  

Knock and You Shall Receive

It's amazing how God answers prayers. Last night I specifically prayed that Hobbit didn't have to go to work on a Sabbath day. I started by telling a good friend about it and asked her to pray too. Then I left it there and then and talked little about it to Hobbit except asking him to pray for it too! After praying about it, he told me that he will not go (well, according to his school, if you miss work for a lame excuse as in church, then there will be big possibilities that you'll get fried aka. kicked out). So I thought, hmm..but what if he gets fired? What's our alternative plan? How will we support little Hobb? Perhaps it's a new adventure? So, I left my thoughts and questions without trying to look for answers. Whatever happens, then it's God's will.

Then morning came. Hobbit got a message from his boss asking where he was. Hobbit replied truthfully that he was about to attend church. Then in came the reply that he was excused. Imagine how much of a relief I felt at that moment! Minutes after that, I received a Line message from the friend whom I asked to pray for Hobbit. She told me that she was praying the whole night and morning and decided to asked me about our decision. See, how good is God? We should never doubt his greatness and love! :)

On another note, I am currently looking at affordable audio technica at803b at guitar center. Planning to use these for my class that is going to start soon! :)

Head Ticking Like A Clock

It's 1:36am right now and I am not in bed yet. My brain is working like a ticking clock after doing some cleaning at home and after a round or two of the ever so popular online game Candy Crush. I am tuning in to good peavey classic 30 at musicians friend while trying hard to work both in my head and on the lappy of what I should do for my classes the coming school year. I am upset with myself and the school for having countless meetings two weeks before school starts and even more so that I failed to really plan what I wanted for this coming school year. Urghh! Why does it has to be so hard?

2nd Philips Juicer at Home

Remember my post on Updating Home Appliances? Well, when we went home to Malaysia for a short break, we decided to bring our juicer with us too so that we could juice everyday for our little Hobbit. Guess what, we then thought mom and dad needed to get into the habit of juicing too, so we left the juicer with them and came home with none. The next day right after we came home, we got another juicer of the same brand with our old one, just a different brand and capacity. So, introducing our new kitchen love...

Get Me to Yoga!

I have been trying to make myself a fitness freak lately but to no success. I really thought that my abs needed some workouts but apparently the weather and time are not kind enough to give way to exercising. I consider watching clips of yoga poses is a good start for someone like me since I can do the poses in my brain but not in reality. Thanks to yogaglo.com. So sometime this weekend, I am determined to go hunt for cheap yoga mats and comfortable yoga attire just to hold on to the motivation I have burning inside me. Blow me some encouragement, please? Thank you!

So They Intro the Intranet

Just came back from next door asking information about our intranet. Needed some computer help and support. We are going to have our own intranet soon, how cool is that? Well, I am no where close to being too hopeful just because nothing is really solid even though the skeleton is up. Yet, I am looking forward to how I can fully utilize the system with my colleague and students! My skills with Web 2.0 is definitely rusty but I don't mind opportunities to brush up some of the existing skills and learn new tricks. :)

He Holds Our Every Tomorrow

A tour bus driver is driving with a bus full of old aged pensioners when he is tapped on his shoulder by a little old lady. She offers him a handful of peanuts, which he gratefully munches up. After about 15 minutes, she taps him on the shoulder again and she hands the driver another handful of peanuts. When she is about to hand him another batch again, he asks her "Why don't you eat the peanuts?" "We can't chew them because we have no teeth", she replied. "We just love the chocolate around them."

Like life itself ~~ When we are not aware of our surroundings and simply go with the flow, life can be easy. Once we are aware, and once we know the truth, life can be tough and hard. Yet, we need to always smile through our sufferings and the things that we know not because even then, we know who holds our tomorrows.

Online Catalog Printing

Wow! I wish I have online catalog printing at home. Why? Well, whenever I see something cute and nice for arts and crafts, I would want to print those things immediately and have a good hard copy to put them into my collections of arts and crafts. With Little Hobb on board, I have been collecting crafts that he will enjoy as so to keep him occupied while the parents are busy doing housework or other work. Besides Little Hobb's crafts collections, the Mama has something similar too but more or less different. Hobbit has been complaining about me saving most of the arts and crafts pdf files into his tiny laptop. Now what did I do?? You, darling, get me an online catalog printing soon, please!!

Nyum-Nyum Foot

Little Hobb has learned the words "nyum-nyum" which means eat, "foot/feet," and "mouth." So two weeks ago I asked him to show me his little stunt. I said "nyum-nyum foot!" The above was what he did for me! :)

Excited for My 'New' Kitchen

I almost trip in my house slippers. Yes, my house slippers. I need spenco arch supports please! Thank God nothing was wrong with my ankles. I thought I just sprained them. Gah!

We Hobbits are going to shop at Makro for cheap grocery today. Thanks to Sam who took us there for Little Hobb's supplies. Sure saves much more time on the dicing and chopping and with our new appliances in the kitchen, I just can't wait how much easier baby food preparation can get. Well, the old, traditional way of doing it only gave me more muscles and full swing training from the kitchen. Don't believe me? Try peeling, dicing, chopping 10 raw sweet potatoes in one sitting?! :)

Lets see, what's for juicing?....Apples, beet roots, carrots, papaya, celery, whip cream...

Rain, I Beg You. Stay!

Apparently my friends think that having a pair of english riding boots for men does not rescue you from flood.

I thank God for the early morning shower yesterday. The weather has gone too far in terms of the jokes that it has been telling. My living room had basically turned into a burning oven for the past 2 weeks or so. My fans has been complaining about working a tad bit too hard for what they are getting, and my electricity bills had been giving me the sinister smiles ever since the heat found its way into people's home.

Today is not too bad. Lets hope it stays this way. Rain, rain...don't go away. Please stay until another day.

Multitasking Guru

I feel like I am an inpatient drug rehab today just because I did so many things last night that my whole body is aching like crazy this morning. Working in school is much better than working at home. Working at home might seem easy and all that, but when you count how many things you did for you and for the rest of the household under your roof, you would begin to ask yourself, where the moon did you get all the energy to pull off such tasks! Having a toddler definitely 'helps' a lot. When they climb cushions while you are 'happily' washing and putting plates away, when they crawl under the table and you are trying to get your vacuuming done, oh and when they follow you to the bathroom when that was your only chance to go to the bathroom to pee?! Well, I can't complain. Infact, I had been warned that these moments would surely arrive. Now to treat my aching arms!

Updating Home Appliances

We went shopping at Home Pro yesterday. We took home a multipurpose rice cooker, a juicer and a soap tray. We also got several small stuff from Ikea. Not bad. We went and got what we wanted. Trip was to the point.

Above is a multipurpose, fuzzy rice cooker. We bought it because I have been steaming and cooking from 3 different pots and pans for different purposes. To have one appliance that does all the job is just awesome for a full-time-on-the-go mother! Saves me from going to bed at midnight (and you don't want to know why). 

Then we also got this Philips Juicer. You have no idea how much work it takes to produce juice from a normal blender. Getting this is worth the investment, especially for Little Hobb. Yes, I went broke after our appliance replacement shopping, but come to think of the benefits and how much time I can add to spending time with my family, all worth the money. Afterall, what's money without happiness?? :)

Beyond a Toyota Conversation

My student's father owns a Toyota company and operates a Toyota showroom. We had a conversation one day about what is the best car to own in Thailand. I told him that I am currently a Honda fan and nothing can entice me unless I get to test drive the car. So obviously he was trying to buy me into liking Toyota and wanted me to change my current car. Yes, we argued about the pros and cons on both big names, but we also agree to disagree. And I really thought the conversation would stop there.

When I got home from work, I started to get Whatsapp messages. I thought it was one of my friends. Then when I look and read, it was my student, the one who had a Toyota conversation with me earlier. He was trying to persuade me to trade my Honda to a Toyota Prius from his show room. I thought he was kidding but he told me he was not. I was flabbergasted! Then he went on and talked about toyotapartshub.com for toyota factory parts. How do you handle this kind of conversation? Well, I told him that I have no intention or whatsoever to change my current car and thank you for your discounts! :) Yes, he said he would get a big commission if he could help his father sell a car. I knew he needed the money but hey, I am such a poor teacher! Yet, I no doubt am proud of him for being such a business minded boy!

He and His Addiction

My boy is addicted to ball. Any balls, anything round, anything circle and anything that looks like it except his own.

He Covered Our Backs

Matthew 6:8 - Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

I am thankful to God for knowing my needs before way ahead of time and answered even before I asked. If you are with a baby who needs to be watched and attended to 24/7, you will know the agony of losing a good nanny who has been working for you for ages. She didn't see it coming and she had to go despite wanting to work for us until Little Hobb goes to school.

Nanny is gone, another worry right? Surprisingly this time, I didn't worry. I sort of know that God got my back covered. I immediately thought of an acquaintant (now friend) who wanted to look after my boy if she is given the chance to. This sweet sister told me that she wants to do it because of love! How often do you get to hear someone say that to you?

So this month, my back is covered. God knew this was coming and I know He did this on purpose. Nothing is an accident to God. He is just too awesome to be mistaken. While I am at this blessing, Hobbit and I will enjoy is as long as it last because we know, when this opportunity is over, He will do it all over again -- cover our backs.

I am counting my blessings and checking out on water features. :)

Happy Birthday to Me

I had a happy birthday.

My birthday celebration started in school. My homeroom class surprised me with a birthday cake during our worship in the morning. It was a chocolate cake from Dolce. Then we had a simple party.

Then came break time. I was serenaded by a student's alesis and I was totally blown away by their voices combo! By the way, these bunch of students I am talking about are naturally talented. They love to sing on their guitars most of the time. Just sing any of the latest tune and they will automatically blurt out the singer/singers for you. One of them, made me sit down to listen to him serenade me with a Jason Mraz song called "I Won't Give Up." I was totally mesmerized for two whole minutes.

After the break, my third period came in with McDonalds and birthday cards. I was wondering how they managed to get permission from the office to receive their ordered food and they just said I wasn't supposed to know. Oh well...Did I tell you that this class almost made me cry? Yeah, their cards made me very emotional that I almost shed tears in front of my 'hooligans!' Hehe!

Then I managed to have another break on my fourth period. I took the opportunity to finish with my task - interviewing new students and their parents.

So my fifth class was kind of relax. They ordered pizza and gave me a sweet note from the whole class. How sweet of them.

I thought cake was over. But my 6th period came and brought me another surprise ice cream cake. I love the fact that the mini mouses on the cake were not edible. My students let me keep them. For their party, they ordered KFC. So we had chicken and cake all the way, which caused me to become full for my last period, if they decided to throw a party!

I went home during lunch time to see how my two boys are doing and managed to do another interview before my last period.

Believe it or not, another birthday surprise from my eight period! It was also an ice-cream cake. For this class, they decided to have McDonalds too! So see, no reason why I can't have a happy birthday! :)

When I came home, Hobbit was pushing me to go somewhere to celebrate. I told him no more cake and I prefer to have a quiet birthday because that was how it has been ever since I started working. My friends seldom get to celebrate my birthday because it usually falls on the first day of the Songkran festival. Most of them even forgot my birthday due to the holidays too. Well, no big deal for me. Birthday are overrated anyways. :)

Yet before the day was over, when I finally decided to just stay home because of exhaustion (and wanting to spend time with my two boys), Dollie came and insisted that she gets to celebrate my birthday with me. Celebrate we did! We went to Beirut Lebanese Restaurant and had a good time.

Thank you Dollie, for the birthday treat. You're one awesome friend!

Happy Songkran Holiday 2013

I guess I am living my age. I don't find Songkran splashing and Songkran crowd fun anymore. This year's Songkran, Hobbit and I plan to only do one thing: Stay and home and spend time with our son. So far, we are doing just that. All is said, still...

Happy Songkran Festival to all of  you, young and old alike!

Hearing Test, What??

Upon turning one, little Hobb's learning ability has doubled if not tripled. I especially noticed him susceptible to picking sounds and tunes. I still remember donning on fear when little Hobb went to his second hearing test. He failed the first one and was asked to come back after he was a week old. Still, he failed the second one. The nurses told us to do further tests which would involved more gadgets and machines. That sounded too scary for us, new parents. Then the third time, my mom figured that he would have to be awake, instead of sleeping (like the nurses recommended he should be when taking the test). So my mom figured out to tickle him a bit when the testing machine was hooked to his ears. And it turned out that my mom was right! He needed to be awake to be able to hear stuff and for the machine to tick! We were overwhelmed with joy when he actually responded and the ticker was ticking! I forgot how many times I prayed in tears of joy and no longer having to test him by clapping our hands just to see whether he would respond! My dad even played the tambourine mf on his phone to make a big statement. Haha!

God is good, all the time.

He Turned ONE!!

From this tiny munchkin...

To this adorable pie!

 

We are just blessed. 

Through it all, Hobbit and I have learned to never underestimate what God can do in a person's life. His miracles are real for He is the same yesterday, today and forever! 

David King & Co Briefcase

If only I can get hold of this stylish david king briefcase, I would be so happy because not only I would want Hobbit to have one, but I want to have one! I particularly set an eye on a DK flap over portfolio double gusset! I wonder if they would have a faux paux ones at Chatucak market? By the way, I have learned from many shopping mistakes -- Do not think you are saving money by buying something cheap because it is the duplicate of something expensive you cannot afford. Usually cheap things don't last long because of the quality and materials they are made of. Not all the time too though because I did buy a lot of cheap stuff that lasted a donkey years as well. So where do we draw the line? I would say, look at the materials carefully and where it is being made. Sometimes labels with "made in China" is not so bad afterall!

No Telly Velly

So our neighbors just told us that they just got a good deal on a flat screen telly. Thus they went all the way back to Mega Bangna to get tv wall mounts after securing the permission from our apartment owner. This couple no longer gets enough sleep because they now can utilize their satellite subscription and enjoy hundreds of channels from all over the world. 

I told Hobbit about me wanting our telly to come back to life. Instead of a yes, he gave me a heap of advice reiterating on my own words exactly like how I bombarded him before when he wanted the telly to come to come alive. Oh well, I guess we can't live with hundreds-of-channels now that we have a growing toddler and a nanny who needs to be on watch for baby Hobb 24/7. 

Quarter 3 Almost Over

I am so glad that Quarter 3 is almost over for our school. I was so happy that this time I am quite on track with my gradings and assignments. This week, I have been enjoying listening to my students presentations. I am quite happy because they dumped their complains about me giving big projects that seem 'impossible' to them to finish, and replaced those negativity with appreciation of why I actually want them to do the project. They finally see the light! :) I almost cried when I read one of my student's composed poem about wanting his mother to come back to him. I wish I can put the poem here but maybe at a later post. I am quite amazed on how quickly they learn how to analyze poetry and short stories too! Let me share one love poem that my students and I actually like from one of my student's presentation today. It's a couplet: 

L.O.V.E

It just takes a few seconds to fall in love

But takes a lifetime to fix and rise above

When your heart breaks

It's really going to ache.

Short Trip to MBK

I said I would never buy fake Apple products anymore because of one bad experience but yesterday I had to succumb to buying a lightning charger for my iPhone at MBK! I thought they only cost 50baht since I don't need the head plug. I was surprise to know that the little sleek thing cost 250baht! Did they tricked me because I spoke in English or that's the real deal? 

It is not all the time that I go to this huge tourist-populated place called MBK. It has been ages. Anyway, since I'm here, might as well search for headphones for sale right? I was fascinated by one of the shops on the 6th floor where they have different colors of headphones. I decided to get a red one since it is one of my favorite color. When I came home, I quickly tried it on my digital piano and it worked pretty fine considering the price I paid for. Next time I go, I am getting the guitar stand I left a mark on, when I was there! :)

My Valentine's Day Wall Messages

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and I have been asking my students to write love messages to their friends and teachers and post it on our Valentine's Day Messages Wall. The hearts on the wall are starting to grow as I distributed more paper hearts for the students to write on today. I hope I can take a picture of our Messages Wall once teaching is over today. The names are written on each heart so those who have names on the hearts can pull it down tomorrow and enjoy their love messages. I hope to write to some of my students as well. Oh, did I tell you one of my students brought cigars magazine to school? He said it belongs to his father since his father is a cigar dealer. When I actually asked him about cigars, he actually knows a lot. One thing really impressed me though...He said "although my father is a cigar dealer, he never smokes because he takes good care of his health."

Stages of Procrastination

I showed my students this cute drawing this morning just because someone mentioned the word PROCRASTINATION out loud! I love my homeroom honors class. They crack me up all the time! :)

Stem Casters Spell

When shopping at Big C last Friday, I accidentally kicked on the threaded stem casters of the pushing cart while controlling my baby's stroller at one hand. Very smart Hobbit Wife!! Yes, my life is all about multitasking, if you ask me nowadays. What can be a better reason for kicking on to a stem caster?? But you know, I really enjoy watching Little Hobbit flirting with all the sales girls and passersby at Big C. He kept calling them 'kaka' to attract their attention. Many waved at him and made him smile. Oh, they made me smile too until I hurt my foot!

Combined Celebration At our Embassy

I love the fact that Malaysia is a multicultural country. We get to celebrate different celebration of different backgrounds all year round. This year, our Malaysian embassy here in Thailand has decided to combine several celebrations that we celebrate in Malaysia and call for a makan-makan on a nice Saturday noon. 

What I like about attending any Embassy occasion is the food. Nobody can deny that haha! This time, we had nasi lemak, mee goreng, kuih-muih, satay and teh tarik only. Even though the variety can't compare to the previous gatherings, we still enjoyed ourselves. Anyway, another highlight is the quiz that goes with lots of giveaways and the music. One of the giveaways is a usb dj controller at musicians friend. Speaking of music, the joget is always the highlight. How many times can you see yourself dancing joget unless you do it secretly at home? :) 

Basically, we all had a good time. Looking forward for another gathering in the future!

Fell In Love With Pho

I have never paid a lot of attention to Vietnamese cuisine before but after that Pho beef noodles at One Utama, KL, I thought I needed to order 10 more bowls minus the beef that day...



I had a bowl of good pho fish noodles the first Saturday of this month and another awesome Pho beef noodles (Central style) from a very homey, well-known little restaurant called Xuan Mai, yesterday. Hobbit and I vowed that we need to go back there to taste the whole 'Vietnam'!! Food is good! :)

Baby Needs Non-O Visa in Thailand

It's weird how babies have to apply for visas. After talking to several parents and asking questions, we finally made the decision to apply a Non-O Visa for little Hobb.

The general understanding is, expat babies can overstay in Thailand without a visa until they reach 12 years old. The problem with going with this understanding is that, whenever the baby goes out of the country and come back to Thailand, the parents might have to deal with questions, paper work and a lot of clearance at the airport before the immigration officer would let the baby stay without a visa again.

I hate going through all the hassle at the airport, especially dealing with paper work and coping with language barrier. Jet lag and exhaustion is another thing. So we took little Hobb to the Bangkok Immigration Office at Laksi yesterday.

The distance of the immigration office from Bangkok is a pain. Driving there is a pain. Trusting google's gps is very 'helpful'. Yet we got there safely. We just gave the officers all the forms needed and little Hobb got to enjoy stamping with his little right thumb, said goodbye to a good 2000 Baht and we were done. Hobbit just have to wait for two weeks to collect the documents. Phew...

 ***

The little guy was obviously exhausted from all the kicking and jumping at the immigration. So we left him to our neighbors for a change of environment while we had dinner and fixed his food. While having our dinner, mMy nanny saw this cute studs I bought from the Mall and questioned why buy silver...Well, I had to return her the look that goes "because I like it...!!" Haha!

The day ended with our eyes fixed on the last episode of Twilight and Ashton coming home tired from all the play and walks. Thank you God for all the good and challenges of today.

Peds and Mans

Living close by gives me the chance to get free pedicure and manicures!  For two consecutive Sundays, the girls had been coming with their baskets filled with colorful nail polish and we did our nails while chatting about the moon and the sun! Always fun! :)

Little Hobb joined in the fun!

My cina-dusun toe nails

Hanamint Tuscany

All I need right now is another vacation! LOL! Going through hanamint tuscany at familyleisure was refreshing to the thought that my soul badly seeks another vacation! Those who wish to open a resort could seek stuff from this site. All the furniture are awesome! The set above is just perfect for dad's garden.

By the way, this Wednesday is a holiday for our school and I might take the little guy somewhere just to sit and relax a little. It's not only work, but home is a hectic place for me too because the demand of my little one is raising sky high each day. Many times I just have to imagine myself relaxing somewhere instead of getting stressed out on what I need to achieve for the day. I am thankful everyday for the ability to pray or else I would resort to something else just to find peace. 

So here I am, excited to plan for a day of family leisure somewhere this coming Wednesday! :)

Hambin is Baby Sling, According to Mom

Hey, spot the uncle?!

My family (the three of us) was sitting at a vintage 'kedai  makan' in Midvalley one day to please our crave with some Char Kueh cakes, nasi lemak and Penang laksa. It was on a working day and we were surrounded by office smelling lunch goers hoarding the restaurant for nasi bungkus and laksa. Little Hobb was cranky and hungry and I sat on the table assigned to us while adjusting my hambin so I could comfortably feed my little Hobb. Hobbit got busy preparing baby food and water. So you could see the both of us were busy with our baby! The 'uncle' came to get our orders but we kinda ignored him and just gesture 'later'. As I was all ready to feed our 'wormy' baby, my sideway glance chanced upon a group of ladies (must be in their 20s or 30s), pencil mini-skirts, sheer blouses and sturdy stilettos, were looking my way and kinda 'discussed' us-- young parents out of wed-lock, whiny baby, messy table, under parents-support, stale looking, military ring...

A challenge to feed....

Yup, their discussions were full in my head as Hobbit and I were struggling feeding our little lad...

...Hobbit?? He played the bent down game to pick up baby's dinosaur shoes he dislikes.

Can you spot what little Hobb is doing?

Little Hobb's hands after sticking them into my Penang laksa!

Look ladies, me being petite, wearing a mini jeans skirt and unfashionable slippers, equipped with a hambin on my shoulder doesn't make me jobless, out of wed-lock, parents-supported little missy okay...My perfect teenage-looking hubster and I sometimes just don't make the cut as having those parent-ial looks but we are perfectly fine raising a kid. So if all of you could kindly take your eyes out of our way and stop the mumbling, we would really appreciate it and I can scoop baby food out of the bottle without spilling any on my baby and me! 

I love this  baby food

Meanwhile, the 'uncle' came and took our orders. He too I felt, sympathized with the mess we made, kindly handed a box of tissue and speed up on the orders. 

The food came. Little Hobb was full and was reaching out the chopsticks and spoons. They nicely landed on the floor. 

In came another group of old aunties and sat slightly towards our left. With the landing of chinese utensils, they too gave us a 'kind' of stare for a bit and went on kepoh-ing away. 

Should I curtsey or should I bow?? 

So I asked Hobbit to take little Hobb away while I enjoy my Penang laksa. The feeling of freedom never felt so good. Ignoring all the eyes, I dug deep and enjoyed my laksa to the fullest! Such a feeling...wearing hambin while eating laksa... 

Now you see it...

Now you don't!

This is so good! Char Kuey rocks!

Then it was Hobbit's turn to gobble his nasi lemak! He returned me the boy when I wasn't quite done and way he devoured all his food. Just at his first bite did little Hobb decided to make special 'cake' in his diaper! 

You know, for a second I wished I was one of the ladies who side-glanced a family handling a cranky, fussy baby. But reality check brought me right back to why I had the hambin aka. baby carrier/sling on me. It's because I am happy having them on with my very own baby in it. It's because my little cranky and fussy babe brings me A LOT of joy! It's because family is my top priority now. And it's simply because I am a petite, blessed mother. 

I am living my life. My awesome, awesome life!! 

Remind me please, when one day I forget.

Me and Ma Little Man

At Midvalley, KL