Just been Busy

Very busy since the last weekend (shopping for landscaping materials and plants) as we're getting enthusiastic about how to landscape our frontyard, backyard and the side of the house as well as the kind of plants we will be getting. Lots of work but it'll be therapeutic.

Bee turns 9 months today. Didn't even snap a piccy. Have also got a new blog for Bee several days ago but didn't have time to do anything with it until today. Have not decided which theme to use, ie the popular Blix theme or should I go with Connections theme? Not sure, time will decide. Am using Wordpress, hosted on Bluehost.com Will update on Bee's 9 months in the new blog instead, when I have the time.

Actually Kiwi G is the one who is doing all the tweaking and customizing of templates as well as setup the webhosting a/c for me, haha. I know nothing about PHP (too dumb dumb to understand). I'll announce the new blog's domain once it has some contents - right now it's just a shell, *malu* to show lah.

Today

Wah I really had NongShim noodles for dinner this evening, kosong (no adding of egg, fish balls, etc) some more!

Our new replacement Tallboy (original one was defective) arrived this afternoon. The delivery guy didn't have a trolley! I had to help him carry them (old and new Tallboys) some more!

So how did I managed to help him with Bee around? Strapped her to the stroller and play her current favourite Baby Macdonald Einstein DVD.

After the delivery guy left and seeing that Bee was still happily watching the DVD (she giggled and smiled at the puppetries), I swept and mopped the floor. Mopped the floors, Mopped the floors, Mopped the floors, finally ... my feet feels so much nicer walking on clean floors :)

Bills, bills, bills

Bills due this month (in AU$):

• Water for the period 1 Nov 06 - 2 Feb 07 (3 months)
  
  [compulsory charges (water service, sewerage, recycled water, river management) even if you don't use a single drop of water = $147.71]
  
  (actual water meter usage = $38.45)
  
  Total payable = $186.15
  
  
• Council charges for 3rd quarter = $276
  
  
• Electricity 8 Nov 06 - 14 Feb 06 = $272.28
  
  
• Phone bill = $25 (this is excluding ADSL $69.95 bill to come soon)
  

Grand Total of all bills payable this month = $759.43


That leaves us with Maggi Mee or Nongshim Noodles for the rest of the month ... the positive side is, the noodles are curry flavoured!

There is the gas bill which has yet to come, usually around +/-$130

Kmart here soon

I can't remember if I have mentioned this before; Kmart will be opening in a few months time ... VERY NEAR our home ... about 30 mins leisurely walk or 5 mins drive away. It's a project by Mirvac. There'll be other smaller shops to check out too, once the mall is opened.

Aiyoyo, how am I going to save money with such temptation within walking distance?? We don't often shop at Kmart (we actually prefer BigW - got most of our baby needs, beddings, household stuff, etc there) but it's great for bargains like baby clothings & household stuff during sale or weekly specials.

Happy Hearts Day!

and to all *silent visitors* of this blog - love you too!

Oooops ... and of course to ....

my two darlings; Kiwi G and lil Bee *muakz*

Friend's Wedding

Hurray! A dear friend got married today! We are very happy for him and his sweet wife. We are always happy to see a good friend getting married. The church ceremony was held at St Peter's Presbyterian Church Blues Point Road, North Sydney followed by a reception at Waters'Edge, Walsh Bay, Sydney - this place has excellent views of the Harbour.

Our lil Bee was very well behaved, non temperamental as usual. She got so tired towards the end of the reception at Walsh Bay that she slept through the blasting music for the dances. Photo here is of the guests dancing the choo choo train.

Sorry, unable to post pics of the bride and groom (didn't obtain their permission). Cheers to the bride and groom, a fantastic and beautiful couple!

Thankfully lil Bee decided only to poo poo till we got home at about 5pm!

Losing Weight

Felt like a long time since I posted Bee's photos. Haven't been taking still pics, only videos. This post is not about Bee, it's about me :P

I've been trying to lose weight and so far so good. I ballooned up to 76kg just before Bee was born. Worse still, I was already overweight when I conceived ie 56kg. It means I put on a whopping 20kg during my pregnancy. Terror or not?? *Bows*

After delivering Bee, my weight automatically dropped 10kg! So I was 66kg after being discharged from the hospital. I didn't really work hard on dieting (still ate like a pig) ... the weight slowly dropped to 61kg and from there onwards, I started watching what I eat (try my best not to snack at night but still do now and then, hahaha). As a result of that, I dropped another 3kg.

Now I am 58kg ... still a lot more to lose. I'm a short person, whenever I hit over 50kg, I get high cholesterol. My healthy weight (according to Body Mass Index) would be around 40-45kg.

This explains why you don't see my pig face on this blog for such a long time, hahaha!

HTML & Digital Kits

I try not to talk about HTML lest others think I *berlagak* but since Angeleyes asked me this in one of her comments to my DIY blog post:

"G, I love the way you do your template... so pro!
How and where you get them???? Can share share???"

I thought I'd answer it here just in case anyone else is interested. Angeleyes, hope you don't mind me quoting your question :) and by the way, I'm not pro lah. Play play only.

Hope the answer will not disappoint. I create my own images, buttons, backgrounds, etc (with Adobe Photoshop CS) and write my own html source code using Notepad - so basically, I am afraid I did not get my templates from elsewhere. Believe me, if I had gotten them as readymade templates, I would of course credit the source! My templates usually consist of two column tables and if you want a third column, just add it in. Once you know how to write your source code (or if you wish to use the same tables as mine, just view my source code & copy it but remember to replace the images with your own), play around with Blogger's Tag. Blogger has a section that describes the function of each Tag. Just pick and apply whichever Tag that you fancy.

For javascripts, css, stylesheets, etc, my favourite places to obtain them are:

Dynamic Drive

The JavaScript Source

For HTML tutorial or reference, here are some good sites to visit:

Web Monkey

HTML Clinic

Then there are free Blogskins all over the internet which saves you all the trouble. I don't have any site in mind but I believe you will get thousands of such sites by Googling.

I might as well talk about the Scrapbook Layouts I often did for Bee's pics too. Some may have noticed, I often credit the source where I got the digital kits from, whether it is free or paid for. It is not to *berlagak* but just so that anyone who is interested in the digital kits would know where to get it themselves. It is also good "netiquette" and respect for intellectual property rights to give credit. Without those wonderful, gifted designers, we would not have such beautiful digital kits to put together as LO's (Lay Outs). I must admit, initially when I saw other bloggers with beautiful LOs of their babies, I thought they designed everything themselves. Then I thought they used a programme that easily puts everything together within a few clicks but no, no, I was totally wrong.

It wasn't until Anna mentioned about Two Peas In A Bucket that I realized how it is done. I have known about Two Peas a long, long time ago but they weren't offering digital scrapbooking kits back then. Anyway, long story cut short, Two Peas offers free digital kits, more than enough to keep you busy for hours!

Another website I downloaded freebies as well as made some purchases from is The Digichick - however, you are required to create an account with them before you are able to download the free stuff. Account creation is free of charge.

Then of course, after downloading the kits, you need to create your own layout, crop here and there, resize, flip, etc using a drawing software such as Corel or Adobe.

To get ideas of LO's you can check out the Galleries of those websites, but be sure not to copy other people's ideas 100%, it is just not ethical.

Unfortunately I haven't had time to check out more sites that offers great free digital kits. Scrapbooking Top 50 has the most comprehensive listing of scrapbooking websites worldwide! Worth checking out the sites for freebies if you have the time.

Oh my goodness, I sure could blabber on and on. Please feel free to ask if I have left out anything.

Backyard

I've uploaded two photos of our bare backyard to my DIY On A Budget blog if anyone's interested to have a view :)

Thanks, blogger friends

Thanks Shannon, for tagging me with the 70 Questions Tag but I think no one would be interested to read about me, haha ... so please kindly pardon me for being a bad sport. Also, thanks Anna, for mentioning this blog in your recent Tag. I honestly did not expect anyone to have any interest in my blog as it is not popular that's for sure. So, thank you girls!

I think I have mentioned before that when I first started this blog, I really did not expect to have anyone visiting to read my boring entries. I remember clearly, MamaBok was the first person to put in a comment on my blog and of course, hers was the first parenting blog I've ever read! When I got pregnant, my interest in parenting blogs grew but I couldn't remember how I began blog hopping from one mommy's blog to another. Due to time constraint, I could only read several blogs (mostly listed on my side bar) at a time. It is so nice to know that there are people who read my blog out of genuine interest, regardless of popularity eventhough I had no intention of blogging for an audience.

There are actually so many things I would like to change about this blog (the layout especially, now that I blog mostly about Bee) but circumstances just doesn't permit me to do it at the moment. I've pondered many times if I should take blogging about my Bee seriously ie getting a webhost and domain but then again, it's not like I haven't got my hands full already.

Online Coupons

Everytime before I go shopping whether online or at the mall, I would be sure to be on the lookout for any online coupons first!

CouponChief.com is a superb one stop site to get discount coupons from so many merchants! For those who love to shop at Amazon, don’t forget to check out its coupons here.

Since Valentine’s Day is around the corner, maybe a bling bling or two from Diamond.com would be nice!

I'll miss CNY!

I'll miss CNY

January 30, 2007

CNY is just around the corner, Feb 18! I miss celebrating it with my family and friends back home soooo much. All the food, the packet drinks, kuaci, mandarins (eat until cirit birit), *wolf meat* hahaha, etc etc. I hope when Bee gets older (maybe 3-4 years old?) I would definitely take her back to KL just to experience how CNY is celebrated. My parents have already sent by mail, Bee's first Ang Pow, got *Ten Lollar* inside woh, hehehe. I don't think my ILs would be giving Bee any as they didn't even give Kiwi G any Ang Pow all his life :P It's just not their practice to give Ang Pows.

I know I will get very jealous and homesick when almost every blogger in Malaysia will blog about their CNY day and worse still, show pics of the glorious fooooood!! Help me!!

We *might* (unconfirmed) make a trip back to KL sometime August this year. Why August and not during CNY - my older sister & her family in UK, requested that we meet up in KL in Aug, as that would be the only time her kids would be free (school holidays).

However, I don't foresee the possibility of meeting up with any KL bloggers due to my very tight schedule (appointments overload, sorry) every single time we went back.

Hotel Reservations

Ever since we got married, Kiwi G and I made it a point to travel out of Australia annually for holidays. Last year was probably the only year we did not travel overseas due to the birth of our baby. Now that Bee is much older, we are planning to travel again this year (fingers crossed)!

With our busy schedule these days, we could not afford to spend too much time visiting different travel agents’ offices to sought the best prices for our travels. We heard of an excellent website Hotel Reservations and decided to check it out.

I am impressed with the services provided, Hotel Reservations is a great one stop site to make ALL our holiday bookings from flights, cars rentals, vacation rentals, vacation packages and much more. The best thing is that their prices are competitive and we can save up to 70% off. It will certainly save us from having to spend a lot of time doing extensive research from one travel agent to another.

We especially love air fare finder. A few clicks (enter yourpreferred travel date and time) and it shows you the best fare and different airlines you could choose from – all within seconds!

To save even more time in booking, their Vacation Packages section organizes everything, from Flights to Hotels to Car Rentals! All within the click of a mouse.

They even have Special Internet Rates (which means even bigger savings!) for Group Bookings!

What I love most is that all their reservations are worldwide! It makes it so much easier to plan our holiday itinerary. Bookings can be made 24/7 online or by phone (they even provide a telephone number for international callers). Payments can be made online by credit card. Travel arrangements / bookings no longer seem so tedious anymore. Time to plan for our next holidays!

AU$10 for complaining

I didn't know that when you actually write a complaint about a product faulty packaging (in this case, the packet of cereal inside the box), they really took it seriously and responded within a week! I have blurred the product name for privacy purpose.

Not only that, they included a AU$10 voucher card & a shopping list as an apology. That's nice. The card can be used at Woolworths supermarket or Big W store (that's where we often buy diapers for Bee).

Lastly, it wasn't us who wrote the complaint nor bought the cereal. SIL lah, who else.

How to - new template?

I don't know how to edit .xml source code (new version of blogger templates), other than changing the fonts and colours for my DIY On A Budget blog. I also wanted to add in background and other images. Reason I wish to use the new version is the "Labels" listed on the side bar other than showing at the bottom of each post. With the classic templates, "Labels" is not enabled (I manually put the code in on this blog) on the side bar. I tried to take the shortcut by Googling for free blogger templates but most of them were made for the classic templates and still have not got the "Labels" listed on the side bar - maybe later there'll be many of them. Last solution is for me to copy this same template and modify it but that means adding the labels to the side bar manually which is possible but a bit troublesome for a lazy bum like me. Any tips, please feel free to post, thanks in advance.

Eh ...

Eh, what're these?

-___-

O_O

- O -

> o <

@_@

Cucumbers we got from our back and right neighbours yesterday. The short one is Lebanese cucumber. I forgot what the long one is called. The back neighbour gave us some and then our right neighbour happened to be in his backyard and gave us some too over the fence. Both neighbours plant a variety of vegies (lettuce, pumpkin, lemon, chilli, etc) in their backyards. A good hobby. Our garden bed is filled with weeds at the moment, haha. Photos next time.

Anyway, these are the typical cucumbers available from the supermarkets. Can't get the light green cucumber over here, never seen any.

Tahu Goreng?

Inspired by Mamabok's blog entry about tahu goreng.

I had trouble cutting the cucumber into strips with a knife. The cucumbers sold here are either lebanese or .. forgot what the other is called. The cucumbers are dark green and I find them not as crunchy as the Asian light green ones.

I thought I'd try this satay sauce. Not bad for AU$1.95 a jar! I hope I can find Rojak sauce (if there is such product on the market in Oz). I know there is Indo Rojak brand around but I don't think I wanna try Indo brand, yet.

Oh about the Sling ... alamak not comfortable to use on a hot day, haha ... sweated profusely just exiting the mall to the covered carpark. As usual, we got stares in the mall. Good thing it is always Kiwi G who wears it :D The lil monster now wants to face outward instead of inward when being carried in the sling which means she has to twist her body in an uncomfortable manner. Looks like the happy sling days are numbered. We'll need to get an umbrella stroller soon as the existing stroller is a bit bulky and tedious to carry around.

Asian Stores

Today we discovered a huge Asian Mart called G&L Supermarket with almost everything you would find back home in Msia. I was soooo happy! The price is also cheaper than all the Asian stores I have been to thus far.
Upstairs is a Chinese cafe run by the same management ... didn't have time to check it out, but surely will!

There is also a Chinese bakery right beside the supermarket and wow wow wow, fresh & cheap Chinese bakery. Don't need to go to Chinatown to get good stuff anymore. Now we only need to drive 5 minutes to get all the freshly baked yummies.

There is also another Asian Mart near to G&L but it was closed at the time. We'll have to check it out some other day.

We bought some goodies from G&L (who could resist?) but didn't take photos of them, very lazy ... had to feed baby and all.

Anyway, below are some photos of what we bought at Randwick Oriental (another Asian Mart) in Kingsford a few weeks ago.


The Curry Laksa for noodles is nice, almost like the real hawker taste.
I think I've blogged about the Vegetable Curry Mix before, it's pretty good too - very easy to cook, dump all vegies, pour the powdered mixture in the packet and bring to the boil.



Yee Mee (yum yum yum), this one I have not seen it available at Asian stores in Sydney for years until recently. It's now even available at Coles Supermarket Asian aisle. And wow the Ipoh White Kopi (sorry I forgot what the price was) ... slurp slurp.


I've tried many brands of spicy instant noodles ie Indo and Thai which are widely available here but I didn't take a liking to any. Then came Maggi Curry flavoured instant noodles sold at Coles (too bad there is no Cintan brand sold anywhere). Wow, that's the best at the time until we recently discovered this "Nong Shim" brand noodles that is sooo spicy, we absolutely love it. No more having to rely on Maggi mild (really mild) curry taste instant noodles.

I usually buy Singlong or Glory (picture above) brand sambal paste. It's the real thing. Sometimes I fry some ikan bilis and onions then add this paste and some sugar ... you get the real sambal, haha! Eat it with nasi lemak ... it's da bomb!



Lastly, this is the BEST I have tasted thus far ... really authentic red red red super yummy and spicy curry paste! Absolutely great for curry chicken! Once we finish this brand of curry paste, I'll be sure to try Prima Taste's curry as it looked very nice and red in Mamabok's blog!

Blinds Installed

Finally, we had timber venetian blinds installed on all windows throughout the house. No more garbage bags as curtains! We ordered the blinds(supply & install) during the half yearly stocktake sale and got a good 40% off the usual price, otherwise we would never be able to afford real timber blinds. Below are examples of what the blinds look like.

View from the backyard. Notice the bare soil. Next to do is the lawn.

Amazing Parents

Many times I tend to forget how blessed my life is. It takes some things to make me realize what a whiner, lazy and ungrateful person I am.

I admire people with lots of drive, never give up attitude and do the almost impossible. If any physically normal person feels she/he could not cope with a newborn, maybe this will change the way they look at parenting. Please click here to view the video "Amazing Parents" (don't forget to turn on the speakers). It is a segment from our local daily TV show, "Today Tonight". I think the first parent in the video is simply AMAZING but so are the others.