Assimilation

I was talking to Ruey yesterday on the phone. I'm fussy about my food.... amongst other things.

Where I came from, bread is ONLY a breakfast food, if it even makes it to the breakfast table, that is. Growing up, breakfast is usually hot food. It can be congee, soupy noodles ... etc. If bread, butter and jam were served as breakfast, us kids will know that MUM is feeling lazy today, doesn't feel like making breakfast. But we'll still eat it. As adults, most of us will even go out to the hawker centre and have breakfast before heading to work. And even if we just had toast with butter and kaya (a coconut jam), it always has to come with boiled eggs. In other words, something HAS to be cooked. LOL ... ask any Chinese family living in Singapore, they'll tell you the same thing. Maybe our parents are traditional, and hence we are too.So to me, bread or sandwiches CANNOT be lunch. I sufferred so badly when I first moved to Australia because bread is staple. I can't find hot food for breakfast! Everyday felt like a lazy day cos bread was the only option. And people have sandwiches for lunch!!! How unreal??!!

{OK... I have to first define my original definition of sandwich - 2 pieces of bread with something in the middle, be it cheese OR ham. Technically, that IS the right definition, right? I had the biggest argument with a Pommie sales manager when I used to work in Singapore as a PA to the Sales and Marketing Director. He wanted me to organise sandwiches for lunch for his meeting. I did. I gave him butter sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, ham sandwiches..... and of course, he wanted fancy schmancy sandwiches from delis and cafes. He threw the biggest fit, abused the crap out of me, and even got a bit racial. I didn't back down either. The fight attracted the biggest crowd - other managers as well as a whole gang of secretaries. My boss had to step in and split us up.... lol. Well, it was truly a cultural miscommunication. What can I say... kekeke }

Anyway, back to my early days in Australia. Some days, some of my colleagues will have a cheese sandwich for lunch, some will even have a salad sandwich for lunch.... eeeks! See, to me, that's rabbit food. It's green stuff! Which corner of my stomach is that going to fill? I need meat!!! But food is expensive in Australia... PERIOD. In Singapore, I spend $5-6 at a food court, I get HOT FOOD cooked right in front of you, and drink. Sometimes there's change for dessert! HERE??? I can only get McDonald's fast food with that money if I wanted a "meal". If I wanted to have hot food with a drink... $10... easy! And would you believe that those fancy "sandwiches" will cost about the same!!!! And that's just BREAD!!!

7 years later, I still disagree with a cheese or salad sandwich for lunch. But now, I have a new-found definition for sandwiches. I will sometimes make my own "newly-defined-sandwiches" at home. And the fillings (a cool word) can be cheese, onion, tuna, mushrooms .... or ham, cheese, onion, lettuce. And I have one of those fancy pancy sandwich grillers at home ... I've assimilated.

So this whole introduction story, just to give you a background of my post today.

I was feeling lazy yesterday. Who am I kidding? I feel lazy everyday. I asked the kids what they wanted for lunch and Ellen "ordered" a mushroom pasta. Yeah right!!!!!! I'm really going into the kitchen to make a pasta for lunch. So I said,

"We can have mushroom pasta another day. Can I make you fairy bread?"
"No."
"Why?"
"That's not food."

......

Is she my daughter or is she my daughter? I wasn't sure what to think. I'm sure she thought of me like I did when my mother gave us bread for breakfast - SHE'S FEELING LAZY TODAY!! Except back then, I wouldn't dare say NO to what my mother put on the table! I'd be asking for trouble!

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Last week, I visited Ange (Warren). We had a cuppa and chatted, the kids played. It was a beautiful Friday morning. I was talking about toilet training Phaedon. And she told me about her friend who did this magic trick with her son when toilet-training him.

Phaedon is behaving badly right now. Everything and anything you ask him to do, expect a straight NO from him, that's if you're lucky. If you're not, you'll hear him scream and cry. I try to ask him everytime I change his nappy, if he wants to go to the toilet. Of course, I'll get the most violent objection flavoured with whining and screaming.

So the trick was - to get ping pong balls to drop it in the toilet bowl. Get them to aim and shoot, and that becomes a game. I thought that was a BRIGHT idea - for grown-up men too! Might just buy a few ping pong balls, for the men in my house.

Anyways, I bought them on Monday. And it did magic! Firstly, I did not get any more objections going to the toilet. Now he wants to go, "I wanna go shoot the ball!" Afterwards, I'll either hear "I got it!" or "Awww, I missed it." Isn't that a great trick to get the fear out of toilet training boys? Now I just have to train the big boy to do the same.

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I'm sick of the 4 of us (parents and kids) having to squeeze into our one and only 2.5 seater couch. Most times, Phaedon likes to lie down and he'll occupy 1/2 the couch. That leaves no room for the 3 of us.

So I demanded a new couch.

Sunday, we went and did some shopping. Saw it. Tried it. Bought it. The 3-seater + chaise version of this ....That's it for me now. I'll leave you with this hilarious image.... go to Quiz Galaxy scroll down and type in your name, click on see your Epitaph.

Butcher in the west

ROFL ... what a title for a blog entry!

I have a few requests as to where that butcher is in the west. So here it is...

Tasman Meats
26 -32 McDonald Rd
Brooklyn VIC 3012

I know they have outlets in shopping centres. But this one in Brooklyn is the wholesale to public place. It's a meat supermarket... tee hee... sounds awful, doesn't it? Yeah, but that's where I've been meat shopping lately. They also have deli, frozen seafood, frozen Ingham chicken varieties in BULK (not like the pathetic 400-500g ones you see in supermarkets), pastizzis... etc. My Greek husband is fussy with his feta cheese. And the ones he likes are like $25+ per kilo for a particular brand. I actually found one he likes in this shop! And because he's the only one who eats feta cheese, we have to buy small quatities. And it's only like $4-5 for that packet!

So... if you are in this area... do go past and have a look see. If you are always getting expensive meats like I do... you'll be impressed by this place.

Sorry, this is just a meaty post.

Blog again soon. :)

A {GROUSE} weekend

So... the party on Saturday went all right. I turned out having a very good mother-to-mother conversation with a friend who is also a mother, of 2 boys who are now 10 and 8. So she has been there, done that. I ended up spending quite a good 4 hours there. Not so bad after all.

Oh, by the way, I made this birthday card for the 4yo birthday boy. If you know my scrapping history, you would know that this is the 2nd card I've ever made .... EVER. If you don't, you can take my word for it. LOL.... I knew I bought those SEI Doodley-doo Boys papers for a reason. Those snails are too cute.


On Sunday, we took the kids to a Hi-5 concert. Just imagine a hall of thousands of kids ...and parents. LOL... Overall the concert was all right... not fantastic. I think they are over their prime. One of the team members, Kathleen (the Asian girl) is on maternity leave. In her place was a Korean girl, Sun. I tell you what, she would have been the most enthusiastic amongst them. You can see that she is the one putting the most effort into every song they performed, and the others were just over it. Whether they were over their fame, over their commitment... I don't know but it is clear that they were not 100%. The tickets for this concert were A$30 each..... adult or child. A family of 3 or 4 would have spent about a hundred dollars, not to mention merchandise! I do not mind spending the money if they were worth every cent, but they weren't. I know the kids won't be able to tell the difference if their favourite performers were putting the best show but that's what bugs me. They probably know that already, that it didn't matter what kind of show they put up, the parents will still want to spend the money and make their children happy anyway. They must looking at all the parents while they are on the stage, thinking ... SUCKERS!

Afterwards, we went out to lunch at one of our regular Malaysian cafes. The kids were surprisingly, relatively well-behaved. Maybe because we have been there enough times for them to feel comfortable. We all had our regular orders - Nasi Lemak for Peter, Mee Goreng for me, Fried Kway Teow for the kids. Yummmmm...... Overall, I had a pretty grouse weekend! :) :)

Monday - I actually had a true child-free day! Peter took the kids to daycare for me so I don't have to run around like a mad chook. So I had a pretty relaxing day and it was divine. I did this layout for The Scrapbook Scene (435 Highbury Rd Burwood East VIC 3151) with the rest of the Basic Grey Dasher & Fruitcake papers I was given. So yet another Basic Grey attempt, another multi-photo attempt. I am very happy with the end result, I must say.

Title : What Makes Me Happy - vegging, pretty things, hanging out with friends.


Thanks for dropping by.

I'm darn good!

I am blogging for the 3rd time this week! Mighty proud of myself! LOL....

We are going to a 4-year-old birthday party tomorrow... and I'm dreading it. Seriously cannot be bothered. Can I pull a sickie? *cough cough*

Last night, I made a lamb roast. Nothing special to most of you. But to me, it was a milestone. I PUBLICLY DECLARE THAT I HAVE NEVER MADE A ROAST BEFORE. Not that I can't cook. I cook very well. Chinese, curries, noodles (soup or stir fry), stews, casseroles, barbeques, slow cooker (crock pot) stuff ... not a problem. But I have never done a roast. Roasted potatoes, yes. Just not roast meat. Isn't that bizarre? hehehe....

I found this really fantastic wholesale meat place. Great stuff, great price, and the best thing is that it's not on the other side of town! Leg of lamb... boned and rolled .... $8.50/kg. I stood there and checked every piece on the shelf to make sure that they didn't price it by error. $8.50/kg ????? Boned and rolled??? I cannot find an unboned piece for that price! Most butchers here charge about $10-11/kg for unboned, and $16-17/kg for boned and rolled, and if they are marinated.... FORGET IT! And this.... THIS - boned and rolled AND MARINATED for $8.50/kg!!! OK... I've probably said boned and rolled that many times you heard me already.

So my baa-baa lamb went in the oven, while I whipped up 3 sides - potato salad for us adults (cos I like my spring onions and mayo and cracked black pepper), blanched Dutch carrots with butter for all, and blanched frozen peas and corn with butter for the kids. When the roast came out.... I religiously followed a recipe book ... stuck the thermometer in to check the temperature - PERFECT!! Covered it loosely with foil and let rest for 10 min (cos it wasn't a large piece), and carved it.

OH. MY. GOODNESS.

The way I like my red meats - crispy skin, ... tender and slightly pink in the middle... juices oozing .... effortless to chew....

I'm a genius.

Oh oh oh.... while the roast was resting, I whipped up a Hummingbird cake and stuck it in the oven to bake. An hour later... we had dessert! Peter was gratified.... said, "a complete meal". Kids were just happy that they had cake. Didn't matter what cake, they just LOVE cake. Me? I am a genius, and I'm saying that again. And you can say that too. To me, I mean. bwahahahaa ....... or if you are Ruey's son, you'll say "I'm a magenius."

Now I just need a nice carving set. *hint hint Santa**

I haven't done any scrapping the past few days after those layouts in the previous entry. Went into overdrive and burnt out. I might make a birthday card tonight for the 4yo kid tomorrow. Whaddya think?

Sunday, we are taking the kids to a Hi-5 concert. Will update that event afterwards.

Have a great weekend!

Kids say the darndest things

Better get back to this bloggin stuff before I forget things that have happened.

I made Beef Rendang for dinner a few nights ago. Although it is nowhere near spicy in my dictionary, I probably won't let my kids try them cos they wouldn't have those taste buds for anything more than pepper yet. But Peter wanted to experiment on my guinea pig of a son. He put a tiny bit of the gravy into his rice and spooned it into his mouth. I swear, we were like scientists watching him, observing a subject's. And we could just see his face slowly screwed up, and then the frown came... and then all he could muster from a mouth full, was ...

"I have a sore mouth!"

... but won't spit it out, or stop chewing. We had such a good laugh after he left the table. Interesting choice of words, don't you think? He wouldn't know the word spicy, but it hurt his toungue, so it was a sore! Nasty parents, aren't we?

If you don't know by now, my 4.5 year old daughter has attitude that is bigger than Ben Hur. Nowadays, she reprimands her brother with her hands on her waist, sometimes even pointing her index finger in his face while her other hand on her waist! Sometimes, in the midst of playing, she comes to us in the lounge room, and she goes, "Guys, we have a problem." Sounds a bit like "Houston, we have a problem." And when she's done with her Number 2s in the toilet, it is "Can somebody come and wipe my bottom?" Just last night, I was talking to Peter while he was looking into the computer. She interrupted us and said, "Daddy, when you talk to Mummy, you must look at Mummy."

Kids. Can't live with them. Can't live without them.

My layouts this round.

Circle of Life - the journaling was extracted from the lyrics to the song Circle of Life (The Lion King). Very out of character for me, this layout. Basic Grey, multi-photo, and done in an hour or so!


I've never done a Circle Journal, EVER! Now I'm hosting 2, running concurrently. Am I a sucker for punishment or what??!! This is my CJ cover - What Are Your Idiosyncrasies?


This is the cover of the 2nd CJ - Your favourite scrapbooking products.


This is a DT layout for Scrap Pile. Have I told you that owner, Cass plays Santa Claus all year round?? hehehe.... Drop in to the Scrap Pile Forum and you'll see what I mean. We are always playing games, WITH PRIZES! Sometimes 2-3 a week! Cyber Crop prizes are fantastic ones too! You guys should join in the fun! The next Cyber Crop is Friday, 8 December 2006. Currently, there is a kit challenge/promo running too. If you purchase November's challenge kit, do your layout(s) and post them in the appropriate challenge gallery, and if you win, you'll receive the December's kit FREE!!!! How cool is that?!?!

Anyway, this is my 2nd DT layout for this month. Fun @ the Beach. Feature product - Memories Complete Circle Stickers.



That's all for today. Only a few more days to the weekend!

Lost. Drained.

This is a depressive post. So if you are some scrapbook celebrity or big shot checking out my blog for the first time, or if you don't need to hear more depressive stuff... don't go on reading. You can check out my previous posts.... those are OK to read. I am only human, and I am not afraid to admit that I'm not an angel. Sorry about not posting any layouts this post.

I'm always feeling like I'm lost. And when I finally come out the other end, I feel like I've lost so much time.... but then looking at what I've done... it's not even close to being productive. Hate it.

My kids are doing their usual thing. They won't leave me alone for more than 5 minutes. I'm so tired. Tired of responding. Tired of fighting with them and mediating their fights. Tired of thinking about what to cook for every meal. I used to look forward to my day outs or night outs when I go out to crops. But even those are not enough anymore. I seriously need to be away and on my own for a few days. Where I don't have to respond and say, "Yes?", "Stop it!!", "Time out", "Quiet". Where I don't have to think about what to cook for dinner. Where I don't have to be a mother and/or wife. I guess I just don't have enough love to spread around at the moment. If I have any left, I would like to start with me.

When I get stern and start raising my voice at Ellen, she likes to say "I wanna talk to you!". When you let her, she'll go "Erm, erm, ... " and then she'll come up with something totally off tangent. It's her sneaky way of saying "no, I don't want to do what you are telling me to do." But then, she also loves to come up to me every now and then, especially when she is having lunch or dinner, to give me a hug and a kiss. Just like that. I may find her totally physically and emotionally draining all other times, but how can you fault her when she does that to you?

With my son, everytime I tell him to do something .... ANYTHING .... it's just a constant "NO!" Be it changing nappies, going to the toilet, sitting down to eat a meal, getting changed, having a shower .... you name it. It's a constant fight before he finally gives in. But every night, he will give me his goodnight ritual - cuddle, kiss and nose-nose (rubbing noses). Then I'll forget all the things that happened today.

I am exhausted. Drained. I don't even know what will perk me up anymore. I don't think many people understand the strain I go through with my children, so I find it rather pointless talking to them. I wish I could say I feel like a zombie, then I would have no feelings. But I do. I love my children. I love my husband. But I don't know how to give them my best. It's one of those days. I dropped my kids at daycare. The staff said, "Have a good day!". The first thing that sprung to mind, was "how long do I have before I pick them up again?"

I'm a horrible person.

Last night, Ellen came up to me and hugged me around the waist. Then she said,"Mummy, your tummy is nearly like Daddy's". For those of you who know my husband, you'll know how big he is. Even if you don't, to have your tummy compared to a man's is not a funny thing (unless he's Brad Pitt).