GO GO LEGOLAND!!!

I can't remember if I do play Lego during my childhood. But for sure, I do not own even a single piece. I think that's the reason why I'm less creative compare to those who grown up with Lego. :-b

So, to nurture a more creative generation, I strongly encourage my kids to play Lego. Ian shows strong interest towards creating things with blocks, his sister just stacking the blocks with no direction.

Everyone was delighted when Legoland built near to our place. We bought our annual pass this Jan. Waited patiently and finally, we get the email, noticing us on redemption date. We received their pre-opening preview invitation and decided to get there. Kiddos enjoyed themselves and since our very first visit on 12-9-2012; everyone shows a great interest towards my tub of blocks.

Mini landmarks fascinated me the most. I salute their efforts in bringing the world famous landmarks to live in a small area. I spent our last half an hour of our first Visit in Mini Land. Kids busy pressing buttons which control the sound, fountain or movement in each of the landmarks.

Kiddos enjoy the rides. As like other theme parks, they do impose height limit. As usual, I will expect sour face when the young and shorter one can't join the rides.

Since then, we plan to visit Legoland whenever weekend evening weather is permissible = cloudy. It's like a booster to the kids to grow more interest and more ideas when they play Lego. Also, they will try to behave, looking forward for the next trip.

Smart mom house chores tips

House chores can be a pain if you do not have a helper. Well, I'll feel it very soon as my maid is leaving next Tue. Looking back, 2 years before, I'm working Mon to Fri and yet, I still able to manage my household task well. I'm no longer working Mon to Fri now, I should be able to handle it better. Well, here are some survival tips for those who are having house chores phobia.

1. Once you take out something from storage, return to its own place right after you used it.

2. Washed your dishes immediately after used. Kids always having their snack in a small bowl, even just a piece of fruit. They have learned that after eating, they must put the bowl on kitchen top near to washing basin. Wash/rinse it right away as it's normally not difficult to clean.

3. Separate greasy dishes. Oily dishes need more attention and you may need to clean it with tissue before washing. Thus, wash non-oily dishes 1st. Sometimes, soak greasy dishes with hot water can be a great help.

4. Invest a little bit in smart tools, like spin mop, microfibre cleaning tools or even a robot vacuum.

5. If you have 4 or more family members, do your laundry everyday. Don't worry about your water bill as washing machines nowadays are very smart and savvy.

6. Hang your clothes to dry and you can easily keep them back into your wardrobe without all the hassle of folding.

7. Make use of your shower time to clean your bathroom. It's important to keep a set of cleaner as well as the bathroom broom in each of your bathroom. Clear the water after shower with swivel sweeper.

8. If possible, try to iron your kids uniform right after laundry. You will save time in spraying water on the dry clothes, and dry it again.

9. Wiping your coffee table and tv cabinets, mopping the floor, or even folding clothes while you are enjoying your favorite tv programme.

10. Reduce your display items as you will spend a lot of time cleaning each of them. If you have a choice, install cabinets/storage with door. Open concept most likely will turn into an eyesore after sometimes.

11. Very important one, TEACH YOUR KIDS HOW TO DO HOUSEWORKS. Everyone must share out the task. Get them learn up as young as the age of 2. Starts with keeping their toys after play.

12. And the most important one, housework can never be done unless no one is eating their meal at home, everyone is naked and everyone stays outside until bedtime. SO, NEVER stressed yourself to be perfectly clean and perfectly organized. (I really need to remind myself about this)

Stew Duck recipe

First time in my life to put my hand cooking duck. I'm not a duck meat enthusiast but my roommate likes duck meat very much. He will make a trip to a place that is 40mins away just to have plate of roasted duck rice. He can sit patiently waiting for more than 30mins for that plate of heavenly roasted duck rice. Thinking to please his taste buds, I take up this challenge.

I Googled on stew duck and find some recipes which I think are pretty simple to modify. To avoid failure, I read the recipes few days before the experiment date, prepare the ingredients & the most important one, for me, visualize the process. (it always reap success if I did this)

Here are the ingredients :
1. Duck 1x (normally weight 2kg)
2. 3/4 bowl of dark soy sauce, dilute it with water
3. A big chunk of ginger, sliced
4. 4-5 cloves of garlic (with skin) and 2x shallots (sliced)
5. 1x cinnamon stick, 3x anise, 2x dried mandarin orange skin (陈皮)
6. a stew bag. (滷包) *else, use 5 spice powder.
7. 2x of rock sugar. (size of a garlic bulb)

#1. Clean & wipe the duck dry.
#2. Rub salt on duck, then Set aside. *rub 5 spice powder on duck if you can't get a 滷包.
#3. Heat your wok with 2 tbs of oil. Saute ginger, cinnamon stick, star anise, shallots and garlic.
#4. Put in the whole duck, roll the duck on the spices for few moments. Then pour in the dark soy sauce; add in 陈皮, rock sugar & 滷包

#5. Simmer for 30mins, then turn it. *turn every 20m, until it is cook for 1 1/2 hrs.
**skim oil away from the gravy.

Cut stewed duck into pieces and pour gravy on it before you served.

I'm very happy with my 1st experiment result. I suppose to keep it for dinner, but who is on earth to resist this. So, I cut the thigh, scoop some gravy and eat with hot steaming rice. Hmmm.....heavenly.

Green for go, but how about ready-to-go?

Never in my driving life to expect this type of confusion. Well, take it easy. He is just 7.5 years old, to be exact.

One fine day, Ian says "our traffic light has 3 colors." He carried on by explaining what are the meaning for different colors. Suddenly, he asked, "we have yellow color for ready to stop. How about ready to go?"

"huh, there is no need a special color for ready to go. Once we see green light, we just go"
"but how drivers know it's time to get ready to go?"

I really don't know how to elaborate the simple fact to him.
"well, we only have 3 colors; when it's yellow, we get ready to stop. Then, we fully stop our vehicles just right before or when..."
"ok, ok....I knew all these...." to interrupt is his cup of tea.

"then why u keep asking for ready to go? Ok, let's put it this way. Green is for ready to go AND GO." I thought my statement can stop this funny argument.

"hei yoooo...." showing his disagreement & pull his face long.
"I say ready... to....go. Not go. I know green is for go." he tried to control his voice

I have to put this ridiculous argument to stop.
"well, I duno what are you up to to challenge this simple fact. U know, FACT. So far, no one as creative as you thinking to add in a ready-to-go light for Malaysian drivers."
****he kept quiet*****
As a conclusion, and the most important, to make him satisfy, I explained the sequence again. "Look, all the 3 colors are in use and have their own function. Since everyone knows green is for go, we do not need a special light to remind us."
"I've been driving for more than 10 years and never I see any needs for Malaysia drivers to have that, ok?"

"I don't think you've been driving for so long. Should be 7 years or less."
>.< I just wonder if he is born to argue or challenge a fact. This is annoying man!
"I started driving before you were even born. So, what else you still want to argue? "

"Ok, yellow light is for ready-to-go."
"What?! hey, I never say this."
"then, which light is for ready-to-go?"

I just skip the following conversation as basically it's like rewinding the tape. Repetition. I tried to satisfy his curiosity. But in return, he drives me up to te wall.

What do you think the conclusion likes?
He still carry on with his doubt for few more days until we passed through different traffic lights, and he gets to see enough traffic lights.

Cartoon!

How mom can still looks good with little of time? (part 2/2)

How about next morning? You hardly have time for make-up, except your lip gloss.
Well, here are the tricks:

1. Spend few minutes to decide your next day attire as well as the matching accessories before bed. If you have any documents that you need to bring along the next day, put it together with your bag.

2. If you have elder kids who goes to nursery, you will need to pack their extra set of clothes, diapers, milk powder or even their hanky. Arrange everything and get them to pack into their bag themselves. This will eliminate any dispute in your rush morning hour.

3. Put on your moisturiser after you wash your face but before you change your clothes. Then proceed to help the kids clean up themselves and settle down for a cup of milk. Change them only after they have taken their milk.
*many nursery do provide breakfast, don't be too paranoid to stuff them with food and incur unnecessary battle. If you want them to have meal that you think is more ideal, pack them up and pass to their teacher.

4. Now, kids are done. Switch on tv for them but remember to tell them to switch off once you are done. Change your clothes and you can have a peace of mind to put on your sunblock as well as other basic make-up.
* basic make-up means eyebrows, eyeliner, eye shadow and blusher. For me, these 3 are most basic make-up that every working lady should have. If you afford to put on mascara, that will be perfect. But never ever skip your sunblock and your lip balm (or lipstick, or lip gloss)

@ If you find it's hard to get them switch off the tv, just call them to the kitchen and pass them a small packet of food. Then, all of you can walk out the house, start your day in the right mood. Looking good and definitely, feeling good.

How mom can still looks good with little of time? (part 1/2)

No matter you are a working mom, a work from home mom or a full time housewife, you need to look good. This is for your image as well as to boost ones self-confidence. Some has a misconception that to look good, you need to spend a lot of money and time. You barely have a minute to spare, don't mentioned about to book for a 2-hour facial session or hair treatment in the beauty parlor. Is really time a major constraint for you to look good?

Well, if you adopt some clever tricks, and personalized others' beauty tips, you can always looks good without spending too much time or money.

1. Fully utilize your shower time (about 20mins)
i. Before you turn on the shower head, spend few minutes removing your make-up with make-up remover. If you don't apply make-up, you still need to use cleansing milk to remove dirt or oil sebum. Massage in circular action, then rinse away cleansing milk but don't cleanse your face yet.

ii. Now wash your hair and put on hair conditioner. Leave on while you proceed with your shower. After shower is done, just nice for you to rinse off your conditioner. Comb your hair with a wooden comb. After that, use a pumice to remove dead skin around your heel.

iii. Lastly, cleanse your face with a mild cleanser.

@ scrub and exfoliate once a week.
@ put on a mask once a week, too.

2. 10-15 minutes allocated after shower
i. Use toning lotion with cotton pad & wipe through your face in upright stroke. Then apply night cream. (toning & mosturising within few minutes after you step out from bathroom to lock the moisture on your face)

ii. Followed by applying hair serum. If you have thin hair or hair fall problem, use tonic after you dab your hair half dry. Remember to massage your scalp with your finger tips for at least 5mins.

iii. Apply vaseline on your lips. Lastly apply body lotion on your hands (not to miss out your elbow) and your leg (also, not to miss out your heel)

Look! With less than 30mins a day, you wake up the next day with supple skin & lips.

@ A good facial care set is essential. Your cleanser should be able to cleanse your face thoroughly without stripping off the moisture. Your toner helps on to further remove leftover dirt and dulllayer of dead ski, while you moisturiser should retain your moisture without clogging your skin. A good facial care products must have no artificial fragrance, no artificial coloring, no minerals and no preservatives.

Lynn's parenting experience

Lynn's parenting experience

Common mistakes that parents make :
Mistake #1 - not setting a clear boundaries or poor execution

Every human has his own limit & expectation towards almost everything in life. Parents should extend the same towards their babies. I say babies, but not kids, because we need to start showing them what's all about boundaries the moment they come to this world. It gets more crucial in execution when the child is growing up. Well, this may sound like a communist system. However, if you have toddlers or kids, you will know the predicament for not having a clear boundaries or poor execution. Parents with toddlers will find themselves agree with me in the sense of how toddlers push our limit. If you are not giving them clear cut expectations, they will always challenge it. Once you tell them which is right and which is not, you need to stand firm on the rule(s).

For example, you tell them no tv before they get their homework done. On and off, your child may beg for exemption, perhaps saying they do not want to miss their favorite shows. For the reason of not to disappoint them, you granted the exception, just for once. Do you think the previous rule still works? I'm so sorry to say, hardly. Not only on this particular one but other rules. They will apply the same tactic to seek for escape. Older kids may even confront openly when you try to reinforce rules on them. Typical confrontation sounds like this "why last time you said ok but now can not?"

If you are sure it's for their own good, explain to them; be firm & be fair on your execution. I was marked as a commander when come to ways I handle my kids. And, house rules are as rigid as army camp rules. When I look back, I feel glad that I was an commander. Kids grow up with higher ethics, more responsible towards themselves and better EQ. Kids know their limit and I have less hard time to deal with tantrums. They will nag or sometime try to negotiate when they demand something but never throw themselves on the floor or cry loudly to get what they want.

Family financial planning : How to plan it out?

Family financial planning refers to managing family members' financial goals and wealth. This includes a series of steps or specific goals set for spending and saving future income. Nowadays, more and more people realize its necessity; due to higher awareness as well as wider range of investment products available in the market. Yet, financial related troubles remain high, and in fact, showing an incremental trend in our society. Learning on managing one's family financial becomes crucial amidst economic uncertainty.

To make the illustration simple, our income always split into 2 main areas : spending & saving. The art of financial planning plays an important role in managing both. Here are goals that we should never miss out in our planning.

1. Retirement
- with higher population ageing rate, our life expectancy has increased. The latest data shows life expectancy increases to 75-80. In other words, we expect to live a longer life than our parents. With the increasing cost of living, and longer life expectancy; we must seriously plan for our post-retirement expenses. How much money we need to save for retirement? Is our EPF and savings enough to last us for 20 years or more after we retired? Saving for retirement can be achieved effectively through other retirement schemes than EPF, including insurance and unit trusts. We need to allocate at least 20% of our income for retirement plans, not including your contribution to EPF. There is a plan called Private Retirement Scheme which will be available soon. I'll post the update in my blog once the detail is available to me.

2. Education
- cost of education serves another big portion in our financial planning chart. I can't tell you how much will it cost as it depends on the course, country and tenure of the course. If it's out of Malaysia, we need to count in the currency factor. Parents will find their head spinning when talking about cost of education. I can assure you there is an easy way to handle this. How? By using the right products. Practice a regular saving on either insurance or unit trusts will make the job easier. I'd say unit trust serves a better choice as it has no cost going for other products than invest your money in funds as well as no term line. Your education saving should take up another 10% of your income.

3. Property/mortgage
- everyone needs a shelter and a vehicle, that's why we need to plan for our mortgage. Normally this will be taken care of by mortgage officer when you purchase a property/vehicle. In my point of view, mortgage loan should not exceed 20% of your income. That's why we should choose the property that fits our ability. Investment into second/ subsequent property only after your retirement plan is well taken care of.

4. Risk management
- insurance products serves as a risk management tool. There are different products design for specific purposes. You need to understand your needs as well as the product well before committing to a policy. For me, if you are looking at investment, please head to unit trust. Here, another 10% of your income is taken up.

5. Investment/savings
- invest in a mixed of short term and long term products is important to prepare as contingency/emergency fund or short term needs. Try to allocate 5-10% in unit trust, fixed deposits, government's fund or equities.

6. Expenditure
- balance after taken up by saving purpose, should goes into your expenditure. Household expenses should below 30%. How to manage your expenses is another big topic. Thus, I'm not going into it here. The correct way in managing your financial should put saving in the first place. Spend the remaining only after your saving plans are well taken care of. This will help to avoid predicament of running behind your expenses. That's is the reason why I put this as last point. :-)

With the variety of investment products available in the market as well as easy access to financial planning related info., all of us stand a higher chance to succeed in our financial planning.

How to prepare a fuss free healthy dinner after work.

Many of full time working moms tell me that they are tired of eating out or catering from someone. Basically, here are the concerns:

1. Nutrition & healthy level of the food; which are oily, MSG added or too saltish.
2. Time wasted looking for food & waiting.
3. Repeatedly eating the same food from the caterer/hawker center.
4. Battling with kids over meal time as they may have taken their meal before mom picks them up.
5. Higher expenses incurred.

Some has come to me asking for tips and recipes. Well, reason being, I've been preparing dinner for my family for the past 11 years! Thus, I've develop my own way in preparing healthy, sumptuous and the most important is, fuss free! Here are the tips and tricks.

1. I'm a typical Chinese who can't live without soup. And this is a very important part of my stress free dinner preparation. Prepare the ingredient before you hit the sack. Wash them up & keep in a container. You need a slow cooker or the better, a magic cooker. Use hot water to reduce time of boiling/cooking. Just heat up the inner pot of your magic cooker with the ingredient (remember, don't open the lid before you switch off your stove to retain the heat) and place it into the outer pot. You can reheat it the moment you reach home in order to enjoy warm soup during dinner time.

2. Steam your food inside rice cooker. When the rice is cooked, the dishes is done too.

3. Wash vegetables the night before. Keep them in a good container. I'd say Tupperware freezer mate is the best choice so far.

4. Thaw meats or seafood in fridge the night before or in the morning. In case you forget to do so, just defroze in microwave. Or, change your meal plan.

5. Stock essentials food/canned food for emergency/rainy days.
Examples of essentials food : eggs, spaghetti/any types of pasta to your preference, onions, cabbage, frozen nuggets, sausages or ham, chicken breast, prawns or meat in serving size, miso paste, tofu, carrots.
Examples of canned food : mackeral fish or sardine fish, baked beans, spaghetti sauce, tuna.

6. Prepare extra and frozen it in preferable serving size for future use. Normally, I'll have more time for meal preparation on Sunday & I'll try to cook more to keep for Monday dinner. Perfect isn't it?

7. Pre-wash, pre-cut & pre-pack fresh food in preferable serving size. I always get these done the moment I return from market. This will help you to actually plan your dishes for the coming week.

8. Lastly, you may be the one who do the preparing & cooking; but do not forget that to let your spouse handle the cleaning & washing. If you have elder kids, get them to help out on taking care of the younger kids while you are cooking, setting the table or even wipe the table after meal.

Baa vs baa

Yvaine likes this set of board book very much. She will read the whole set beside me before bed. Her literacy rate is up to 80%. Bravo!

Tonight, as usual, she brings the box & sit close to me. I was holding my tab, playing wordfeud; at the same time listening to her reading. Suddenly she asked me, "mummy, why the baa, baa are different? One Baa has big letter & another baa use a small letter?"

"hmmm...." thinking if she can understand if I were to explain to her.
"oh, I know. The big Baa is for the big sheep & small baa is for small sheep."
=_=|||

God has satelite?

This conversation happened almost a year ago.

One day, my son's nursery feedback that he has been skipping his nap for quite a long time. He is not doing anything but just lying on the bed for more than an hour, with his eyes open & shut. His teacher says, there is nothing wrong if he can't sleep. As long as he is taking a rest & most importantly, he isn't disturbing anyone.

As usual, I can't be any happier with this remark. I want him to take a real rest. Not just lying with his mind spinning. I pulled him aside after dinner & try to understand why, again.

"I do sleep."
"I know, very rarely you fall asleep. What keeps you busy even during your nap time? All of your friends are sleeping. There is no one to play with you."
"but I do sleep. Why teacher says I don't."
"well, your teachers have been checking all the time. They can't be wrong."
<< silent>>

"look, maybe we can deceit others but not God." "He sees everything than human is doing"
*I'm not sure why I loop in God in our conversation. Maybe seeking for support, even virtual.

"who is God?" I really put my foot in my mouth.
"well, the al-mighty that stays above us"
"what is al-mighty?"
"a very very big one, biggest ever than anything in the universe"
"very big one that stays in the air?"
"hmm.....ya. Big one that stays out of the earth but He can sees everything that happened on earth. Including every single thing that man is doing"
"wow......" seems he absorbed my explanation pretty fast.
"but..."
"what?" I'm trying my best to think of a new topic.
"since He is staying so far away, how can He sees everything on earth?"
"erm, let me think how to explain to you" >.<

"ah ah, I know mummy"
"God is using satelite la. That's why He can sees what is everyone doing"
"ya ya. Satelite." @.@|||

home cook chicken rice

Sometimes, I'm just too lazy to think what to cook. Not going to tapau, and definitely not bringing the kids to have their meal outside. Meal times getting closer. Well, how if an all in one meal that everyone is happy with?

Here comes my creativity.
Thaw the chicken which has been pre-cut by the seller into bite size. Do not remove the skin, but you can choose not to eat it after that.
At the mean time, prepare below:

1. 2-3 cloves of garlic
2. A small chunk of ginger.
3. Half an onion
@ grind all above & rub on the chicken.

Seasoning:
1. 1 tbs of sesame oil
2. Pinch of pepper powder
3. 2-3 tsp of salt
@ add above seasoning to chicken & set aside to marinade for about 30mins.

Cook rice in rice cooker but reduce the water by half a cup. When the rice start to boil, pour in chicken; not to forget the juice. Check when the rice is done if it's not to hard.

And, Voila! The best ever homecook chicken rice is ready to serve!

@to complete the meal, serve with cili padi in soy sauce. Yummy!

My 1st post

After researching & planning for more than a month, finally my blog has come to life. I'm more than excited to start writing. Too many things to tell, to share & to ask. It may sound a bit old school by kick start my first post talking about myself. However, this should be the best ever 1st post that I can think of.

I used to be a working woman for the past 11 yrs. Working 9-6, Mon-Fri, ups and downs, happy & sad moments. Dealing with purchase orders, reschedulings, problem invoices not to forget quality issues. Mundane but secured, in my own comfort zone.

Two years back, my spouse relocated to a country which is 90mins ferry ride + 45mins car ride + 65mins plane ride away from me. I started pondering (seriously) about future. Kiddos' & ours'. At that moment, my son was 5 while my daughter was two.

To reduce the impact from house chores stress, he get a live-in helper for me. Yet, I found myself having very lil time to spend with kiddos, not to say for myself. Battling with fatigue, undone task, skype-ing with my bread-winner, oversee the new helper as well as spending time with kids. I kept reminding myself to allocate at least 1 hour for each of them. Teaching, guiding & interacting. Sometime, ended my day in despair; unable to accomplish the tasks.

A close friend said, there is no regret to let go your desire to pursue career advancement. They only need you now but not after they have grown up. It kept me ponder for some time. They are in their vital years that nothing can be more valuable than to be there for them. To be with them now is to shape them to how I want them to be, also to build a stern foundation; not only knowledge but their characters. With these noble thoughts, I decided to quit my job.

There I go & here I'm now. Forget about my career plan, forget about my pay day, forget about my nice working suits/shoes & trays of accessories, as well as fun luncheon chats with my fellow colleagues. Too, forget about worrying what to fill up in my resume after years & what should I do when my kids are no longer need me. In return, I keep looking at ways to add value to my life, to be more organize, and make full use of myself. I overwhelm myself with a long to-do list; with things that I can't do when I was working. Somehow, I found myself less efficient compare to when I was a working mom. Why? I suppose to have more time than before? Who stolen my time?

Well, I'll tell you why & how to overcome this in my next post.

Stay tuned. :-)