a great summer vacation

August, Bahija brought mummy to visit sister and nephew in Los Angeles, took a 7 days vacation in Canada visited Canada Rocky Mountains, Vancouver, Victoria - very nice .....good for my eyes :) , every day we saw many lakes, and the best was left to the last day - Peyto Lake ( photo attached ), quiet glacial lake :)

Glad to chat and skype with YaYa , Chu Chu and HT and my american host family who are now staying in Virginia.

Timing wise - it's perfect, August is fasting month, usually less work issues during this month, so perfect time for me to be overseas, PLUS my contract ended, so I could 'break-free' and just enjoy to the max without any 'liability'. On top of that, found a good special child center which could take in my brother and take care of him. All in all - I am grateful for everything.

Now that I have visited Canada, I kinda like Vancouver, for me, it is like San Francisco yet not so crowded. oh well, tourist view is always not the same as permanent resident .... one thing I like about Canada was immigration checked into Canada was easy and smooth within 15 mins. Likewise I spent 4 hours in LAX.

Life is short , time flies ..... 1 mth vacation over - now back to reality :)

stress ....

A friend of mine went to a fastfood chained chicken farm up north. Her work report on the chicken farm was like this : "the team which was assigned to conduct a 100% physical inventory count decided that it was not practical to perform a 100% physical inventory count on the parent stock as the female parent stock are in the process of laying eggs. A physical count exercise may stress the female parent stock and have adverse after effect on the productivity and quality of eggs produced" ......this is a real report, the chicken is well protected - coz they are the 'rice bowl', producing eggs for $$$. I want to bring to our attention that human being is the same too, thesedays a lot of issue/diseases are caused by stress. Aiii, if we can avoid stress , that be nice , easy said than done ....

ino mobile phone for the elderly

Hi Hi ....part 2 of the ino phone... It is available in Challenger Computer Hypermarket Singapore. Recently, it opened its HQ in Msia at Mines Shopping complex , huge store. Now, it also opened its branch in KLCC - COOL ! smaller branch but good enough for us la...this phone is retailed at RM380, right now if you go purchase it, you get RM30 discount coupon to purchase other things in the store. So, go check it out !!!

phone for the elders

My brother in law bought this inomobile phone for his 78 years old mother. I find this practical, a good sharing. This phone is manufactured in Singapore. It has big screen with big fonts, SOS button - when this SOS button is pressed for 6 seconds, it will sms / call to 5 phone numbers ...it will keep calling the 5 numbers until one of them replied or called back. It has a GPS feature to locate the current location of the phone as well, thus when the old folk 'terlost' somewhere, she/he can be easily found. I think this is neat, while the younger generation going after for ipad2, iphone etc etc , the elders go for ino phone ... my brother in law's mother is so happy to have her new phone, and she is on 1 month training lesson :) hehehe.... at the end of the training, there is a Mock SOS training to all her 5 phone numbers stored in her phone leh....cool yea :)

Bahija on air on BFM

Bahija was invited to BFM radio station, for a pre-recording session. I was invited as a caretaker for my epileptic brother, so I got a short air time to share my caretaker experience on my brother la ( on air ) ....it was very cool for me, at the same time, also very 'kat cheong' la , to me, I could have said better things la, but it's over , great memories. After the BFM session, the neurologist belanja I lunch, was very blessed to be able to spend 1 hour with the doctor. Of course being me - the kiasu sister, I always took opportunity to squeeze in my questions about my brother la ....doctor again told me, he reminded me years ago that medication will not work well for my brother, who has severe brain damaged. I challenged him and said "If there is a chance to improve his quality of life , such as reducing his seizure frequency, I will try my best to go for it...even though he is mentally challenged, he still deserve a better life ...." I felt like I was being prophesized over the lunch. Dr somehow said that everyone has a life purpose on earth, my brother is brought to this world having this epilepsy as well as mentally challenged, perhaps his purpose is just as simply as being who he is now , so that the people surrounding him can be affected. Dr said I am the one who gain the most, who learn more from him .... Wow, at that moment, it's too philosophical...but after some thought, it's true to some extents, thru him, indeed, I am a different person. I didn't tell him my side of story, here I want to say it out loud , thru my brother, not only do I gain something, I suppose I also give up a lot of things in my personal life ..... so it's complicated, hahahaha. Nevertheless, something is stirring within me , I don't know how the future will be for me .... but hope to walk thru it positively and END WELL. My pastor always said people tends to start well, but how many can end well .... I hope I make it to the 'end well' category, it's not easy .......

group deals

with the popular group deals goin on in town .... there is so many things/activities to do at discounted price. Bahija bought a 4 hours baking class, attended that 2 weekends ago, it was great, fun and tiring - hand made bun leh ....hopefully I could practise it soon , then open house, ajak some of you over to sample yea , muahahaha

taking a break ....

Hi ALL :) After entering the workforce for 15 years, it is really great to have a small break. ( haa, not everyone has this opportunity leh ). Bahija completed her 3 years work contract, currently is taking a one month break - to relax, to run errants, to complete the outstanding personal tasks , to visit friends, to catch up with many things. Already enjoyed one week of break , so fast ....gosh, and enjoying every single moment. The only one still lack of dicipline is EXERCISE, out of 7 days, only exercised once, aiyuh. pengsan....

i or no i ....

my phone is kind of old and out of shape lately , sometimes jam, stucked and couldn't dial the numbers..now itchy thinking of iphone - but I am also worry about the additional 'unnecessary' costs .... and most important, I takut the kids will always come to me and ask to pinjam my iphone to play games, as it is , most of my friends - their kids or other kids fighting to play the iphone games ( if tak ada ipad la ). Aiii, I kiasu and kiasi sikit - if I am using an iphone, i don't really want to openly leave my phone to the kids lor , what if they ter-delete my contact, messages or ter-read my confidential things ???? If I don't pinjam, I will look like an arrogant sombong auntie whereas the rest of the uncles and aunties happily pinjam their iphone.....perhaps I am giving excuses not to spend money on this gadget, it's not time yet.

non stop rains right before CNY

weird things happening all around us , especially the weather.... here in KL, usually Jan, Feb are the hottest dry month, yet this year , it's a wet and cooling month....friends who came back from OZ said they loved the cooling weather here, it's very unusual, and now we are just 4 days before the CNY, the weather is still wet. Today, it has been raining since 5 am this morning ( I think la, i was still in dream land ) ...... non stop rains, wonder if some folks are moving away from the flooded area, kesian lor ....meanwhile, Bahija quickly took a nap which is filled with fresh negative ions, it's very nice ......this is a treat which make me very happy and refreshed.

Kind Offer - part 2

Last sunday , talked about the kind offer....this sunday morning, it happened again, so as promised...this morning, when another kind gentleman asked to help , I almost wanted to say 'No' , BUT managed to stop on time ....I kindly said 'yes , please'. So the kind gentleman learnt to wheeled my fatso to the class, looked like his first time pushing a wheel chair, I was glad that he helped and he learned about one of the way to use wheelchair :) , it's not a bad experience after all. I am so used to doing most of the things by myself, the good term is called 'independent' , the bad term is called 'san fu'....I'm going to learn to let go more and let others help as and when I can la ....enjoy their company, PTL !

teddy bear is away for 5 days ....

As I am writing my post here, I am missing my teddy bear :( . I sent him to a home care last night, spent 1 night with him at the center, left the home this morning at 11 am, teddy bear looked sad when I said bye-bye to him. I know the owner of the center, met her at one of the special children center. She bought a spacious corner house, her family stayed upper level, and down stairs is for school. She takes care of any kind of special children from 9 am to 5pm. Her husband leaves the house at 7 am, drive around town to pick up the special children from Ara Damansara, Puchong, Old Klang Road and Subang. I like this idea, at least this will free the parent's or guardian's time. Teddy bear is her FIRST day-care 'business'. Teddy bear is staying in a small room downstairs. He sleeps by himself at night. Bahija have asked many people to pray for him since last week, we hope he is doing well at the center. This is a testing programme, there will be times where my mum and myself needed some break, and we need someone to take care of him. So, we hope this home care is good for him and things work out well for all of us. The good part about this place is that it is not the miserable old folks home, it is a center for the special children, the teacher will teach him some fine and cross motor activities. I hope he enjoys his stay there, missing him so much liow, sort of feeling 'kelian' for him, to send him away at a home care lor ..aiii, he's so kuay, I told him days ago about the plan, and he seem to understand the arrangement, kuay-kuay obliged padahal deep in his heart, perhaps he wish he could be cared for at his own sweet home .....

kind offer ....

Every sunday morning, Bahija brings teddy bear to church, to attend the special children ministry aka special kids training. I am a co-teacher as well as a helper, and teddy bear is one of the student. This morning, as usual, we arrived at church around 8:45 am, I parked my car at the handicapped spot, then brought down the wheel-chair, then settled teddy bear. While doing this, a kind hearted gentleman purposely walked to me, and asked 'Do you need any help ?' ...he knew I was parking at a handicapped area with wheel chair, thus he came to offer his help....BUT BUT BUT this dumb Bahija , I was fast to reply 'no need, it's ok, thank you very much ....'. While I was walking to the class, I started to analyze...I think I should have accepted his kind offer, and let him help wheeled my teddy bear, since he was kind to ask ma ....but I didn't give face and quickly turned down his offer. See, situation like this, I should have enjoy the kind offer, macam la delegate the work a bit ...aiii - I told myself - in future, if I ever get an offer from a trustworthy person, I will be more than happy to say 'Yes, please ....' :)

tonite's dinner

Tonight managed to make a quick stop at YaYa's house, to say Bye to her before she fly back to US besok....Aii, Bahija been relatively busy lately, rushing for a new project and due next week. I didn't spend much time with YaYa and little K. Anyway, I am sure they have had a great mini vacation back home :) ....After visited her , I rushed home arrived at 6:40 pm. Went to kitchen - pin pin bla bla ....viola - our dinner was sesame udon with grilled salmon. All set in 30 mins. While boiling the udon noodles, I applied miso paste on the salmon, then grilled it in the oven for 20 mins. Then put 2 teaspoon of sesame oil , 1 teaspoon of soy sauce on a plate , when udon was ready, drained and mix together with the oil and sauce. Very easy and healthy...sesame oil is cholesterol free and good for our health... Salmon is full of calcium and omega-3, noodles can use udon or soba ( buck wheat ) - japanese and korean noodles are better choice for us than our local mee hoon or yellow noodle or kuay teow ( all these high carbo ). I banned all the local noodles at home. Readers, next time, if u are in a rush, try this recipe la ...

new starbie coffee

My friend YaYa visiting from US. She brought me a few packets of Starbie coffee....this is new, starbie decides to be like 'Lama-Town-Kopi', where we can get all the 3 in 1, 2 in 1 kopi from supermarkets. Starbie is also following this step. I got to try some of them :) ...Thanks YaYa !!

friday dec 31 .....

Hippie , tomorow is a public holiday :) ....PM announced it after Msia won the AFF suzuki cup. If I remembered correctly, the last time we had such holiday was from the Thomas cup many many years ago. Anyway, this come super handy , last day of the year, getting ready to wind up things and welcome the new year....I looking forward to the days.

Happy Blessed New Year !

new projects ....

Bahija tried to source for more contracts / projects ..... one of them tendered, should know the result very soon. Tomorrow 2:30pm , Bahija will be meeting a new customer and business partners, I have to do a sales pitch to convince customer and partners why they should hire me. Luckily dah 'rejuvenated' a bit with some retail therapy treatment in Singapore last weekend, had a short getaway to the Sin-island, buang some duit, got some motivation to work harder now .... Hopefully I could do well in my presentation tomorrow, able to secure a short term contract on my table. gementar a bit juga , hope the customer and partners appreciate my little expertise here ...wish me luck !!!

my first contra

Bahija's sister works in a security firm, this firm has friends and family package ...thus we are enjoying slightly cheaper brokerage rate (when we perform an online e-trading). I started to learn how to 'play' this game last year .... not an expert, not an active player, not interested to read the market reseach, not keen to study company's profile etc etc , basically, I am just a casual player , like casual drinker , hahaha.... Today, marked the day where I performed my first contra .... at 9:30am, I bought a share, at 2:30 pm, I sold it .... untung hanya $46 sahaja, very happy liow, sound good , but indeed a very risky business, entah-entah contra life pula .....play it for small fun once a while, suppose it is ok, don't get hook to it deeply !

past is past ....

A friend of mine said that his wife doesn't korek the old stories, if something happened in the past, she doesn't like to dig back and argue or talk about it , because what is past is past, can't do anything and not good to keep harping on it. I find that thinking or behaviour very good....today, I also told my mother that things / decisions we made in the past, let's just let go and no points of looking back and brought them out again.... we shall move forward and hope for the best ma :)

durian cheesecake

Tonight Bahija ter-met a friend at Lot 10. She walked with me to Ferenheit, then she insisted I must try the durian cheesecake from Su's bakery. I tried, for those who love durian, this is indeed a very yummy cheesecake....it's $8 per piece, it is an online srore, and now having a booth at Ferenheit ....next time if you are around that corner, give a try !

Contented Living

• Health enough to make work a pleasure
• Wealth enough to support your needs
• Strength enough to battle with difficulties and overcome them
• Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them
• Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished
• Charity enough to see some good in your neighbour
• Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others
• Faith enough to make real the things of God
• Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future

~ Goethe ~