This happened on Monday in the car on the way home from school. She almost dropped the bun she was eating and her immediate reaction was "F**k!" I couldn't believe my ears! If I weren't driving and having to keep my eyes on the road I'd probably have reacted rashly with a glare and a shout.
"What did you say?!" I asked....Thus, began a series of probing questions on how she learnt that word, if she knew what it means. To my own surprise, I was calm and collected in handling the situation and talking to her in the hope that the word will never ever be repeated in future.
Going to talk to her teacher when I go to school in a few hours' time to fetch her back home....
She learnt it from a classmate sitting behind her recently according to her. She doesn't know the meaning and actually asked what it meant....Didn't want or know how to describe the meaning as I think she's too young to know so I changed the subject as I realised my mission in letting her know that it's a bad word and she should not use it and should not use words she doesn't know the meaning of has been accomplished.
Sigh...kids are exposed to so much these days. I didn't even know that word existed until I was in my 20s and working!!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
This and that
I've been back at the old place to use the computer daily this week so far. Had to come back today to write a piece for my contribution here to be published next Tuesday....
Made a list of outstanding chores for both the new and old place that need attention asap. I'm tired of living in makeshift fashion honestly. Some things I can do, some I can't. But finding the time to do them is hard with daily routine demands.
While waiting for our kids to be dismissed from school yesterday afternoon, Caitlin's classmate's mother was lamenting she hardly has time for anything. She is a stay-home mum like me. She has two kids, one seven years old (Caitlin's classmate) and another four years old. She has a daily part-time helper to do all her household chores. Her mother-in-law who lives in the same neighbourhood cooks her meals for her. In my eyes, all she seems to be doing is send her two kids to school and kindy, surf the net, drop her daughter off at her MIL's place while she goes to fetch her son from school, help her kids with homework, and then drive to her MIL's to collect her dinner....and yet she says she has notime. Aiyo, I hope she doesn't google me and find this post! I don't mean anything negative here but in comparison with me or employee/businesswomen mums, if she doesn't have time, what about us?
I only get part-time cleaners for two hours a week, not daily. I also have two kids, one seven years old and one five-month-old four-legged one (Believe me, Rusty is accorded child status as I've to pick up his poop and wash the floors at least 3 times a day, feed him, pamper him, train him, trim his fur and bathe him...). I write for pocket money on a fixed basis fortnightly and adhoc basis when someone is in need, I cook, do laundry, tidy up 3,388 sq ft of living space, drive here and there to do grocery shopping, run dozens of errands, send and fetch Caitlin here and there to school and other classes....and I only have two kids and am a stay-home mum.
What about mums who work from 9 to 5 or run their own business and have more than two kids and no maid or part-time help? Hats off to them. I'd literally go crazy if I were in their shoes. I've tasted the stress of a demanding fulltime job as an employee with a demanding boss and juggling life as a new mum with an even more demanding baby and incompetent maid, two years of sleep deprivation (Caitlin was not a good sleeper) and doubt I want to go down that road again, money or no money.
As for stay-home mums, regardless of whether they have only one child or ten)who are fortunate to have a rich husband and faithful, capable dependable maid(s) and even chauffeurs, thank your lucky stars and be considerate of others less fortunate. I would think these are the mothers who would have more time on their hands to do as they please.
However, I conclude that every woman is different. Every child and every family is different. Should not, cannot compare in fact.
Made a list of outstanding chores for both the new and old place that need attention asap. I'm tired of living in makeshift fashion honestly. Some things I can do, some I can't. But finding the time to do them is hard with daily routine demands.
While waiting for our kids to be dismissed from school yesterday afternoon, Caitlin's classmate's mother was lamenting she hardly has time for anything. She is a stay-home mum like me. She has two kids, one seven years old (Caitlin's classmate) and another four years old. She has a daily part-time helper to do all her household chores. Her mother-in-law who lives in the same neighbourhood cooks her meals for her. In my eyes, all she seems to be doing is send her two kids to school and kindy, surf the net, drop her daughter off at her MIL's place while she goes to fetch her son from school, help her kids with homework, and then drive to her MIL's to collect her dinner....and yet she says she has notime. Aiyo, I hope she doesn't google me and find this post! I don't mean anything negative here but in comparison with me or employee/businesswomen mums, if she doesn't have time, what about us?
I only get part-time cleaners for two hours a week, not daily. I also have two kids, one seven years old and one five-month-old four-legged one (Believe me, Rusty is accorded child status as I've to pick up his poop and wash the floors at least 3 times a day, feed him, pamper him, train him, trim his fur and bathe him...). I write for pocket money on a fixed basis fortnightly and adhoc basis when someone is in need, I cook, do laundry, tidy up 3,388 sq ft of living space, drive here and there to do grocery shopping, run dozens of errands, send and fetch Caitlin here and there to school and other classes....and I only have two kids and am a stay-home mum.
What about mums who work from 9 to 5 or run their own business and have more than two kids and no maid or part-time help? Hats off to them. I'd literally go crazy if I were in their shoes. I've tasted the stress of a demanding fulltime job as an employee with a demanding boss and juggling life as a new mum with an even more demanding baby and incompetent maid, two years of sleep deprivation (Caitlin was not a good sleeper) and doubt I want to go down that road again, money or no money.
As for stay-home mums, regardless of whether they have only one child or ten)who are fortunate to have a rich husband and faithful, capable dependable maid(s) and even chauffeurs, thank your lucky stars and be considerate of others less fortunate. I would think these are the mothers who would have more time on their hands to do as they please.
However, I conclude that every woman is different. Every child and every family is different. Should not, cannot compare in fact.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Monday madness
It's the start of a new week. The routine and dreadful cycle of daily life begins again. Dragged myself out of bed at 5.50 am to get Caitlin ready for school. The morning rush gets adrenalin pumping pretty quickly and the droopy eyelids have no time to fight the ticking clock. In between making/packing eat-in-car breakfast for C & E, I feed the dog, shout out frequent timechecks to the two upstairs who are dressing up and gobble down my own breakfast.
Pick up after the dog and C & E, make the beds, tidy up clutter and kitchen and breakfast stuff, do laundry. I then decide to give Rusty a fur trim and overdue bath. Meanwhile, soup is simmering on the stove for dinner tonight. Rusty is naughty and gets an accidental bald patch at his ribs. The 'detachable fur-length adaptor' from the electric trimmer falls out during a struggle while I was running the trimmer down his ribs......
Rush to get out of the house for a late morning appointment. Just realised I had to print out something for the meeting ...no printer or computer so gotta go to old place. Clicked 'print' and it says "Printer out of paper"....aargh, no spare paper here at the old place....guess I have to send the document over later....
While driving here I was wondering how people can plan their activities far ahead. Some have their children's schol holidays marked out and have booked tickets in January for December holidays. For ACE? or at least me? gosh....even what we're gonna do this weekend is still a question mark let alone holidays or activities in May, June,...September....December.....
Ok, late morning is becoming afternoon soon so I have to leave this poor lonely computer here....
Pick up after the dog and C & E, make the beds, tidy up clutter and kitchen and breakfast stuff, do laundry. I then decide to give Rusty a fur trim and overdue bath. Meanwhile, soup is simmering on the stove for dinner tonight. Rusty is naughty and gets an accidental bald patch at his ribs. The 'detachable fur-length adaptor' from the electric trimmer falls out during a struggle while I was running the trimmer down his ribs......
Rush to get out of the house for a late morning appointment. Just realised I had to print out something for the meeting ...no printer or computer so gotta go to old place. Clicked 'print' and it says "Printer out of paper"....aargh, no spare paper here at the old place....guess I have to send the document over later....
While driving here I was wondering how people can plan their activities far ahead. Some have their children's schol holidays marked out and have booked tickets in January for December holidays. For ACE? or at least me? gosh....even what we're gonna do this weekend is still a question mark let alone holidays or activities in May, June,...September....December.....
Ok, late morning is becoming afternoon soon so I have to leave this poor lonely computer here....
Friday, April 3, 2009
Pictures
Some pictures I took with my mobile phone during this Internet-less time after moving.
Lunch treat at the new Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant at Sunway Pyramid. They have one at The Curve too. First time I ate at this place was in San Francisco ten years ago. I don't remember them having that "Stop Forrest Stop" signages then for you to get the waiter's attention....
An interesting presentation of unagi sushi at Sakae Sushi
It had been a long time since I had this version of tea - Marie biscuits dunked into local Malaysian black coffee
At Dinotrek/Petrosains...the two car racing fans couldn't resist trying out the simulator.
Lunch treat at the new Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant at Sunway Pyramid. They have one at The Curve too. First time I ate at this place was in San Francisco ten years ago. I don't remember them having that "Stop Forrest Stop" signages then for you to get the waiter's attention....
An interesting presentation of unagi sushi at Sakae Sushi
It had been a long time since I had this version of tea - Marie biscuits dunked into local Malaysian black coffee
At Dinotrek/Petrosains...the two car racing fans couldn't resist trying out the simulator.
Still no Internet...and update
Obviously, you can tell from the title of this post that this has been my main grouse these few weeks. I'm back again here at the apartment to visit my lonely computer to catch up on email and other stuff, including overdue bills that I usually pay online.
And because I have other things to take care of at the new place plus going through the motions of daily life, time spent here is limited so less time to share long stories about ACE.
The one-week school break came and went middle of last month. We didn't go anywhere except Petrosains and their feature exhibition of Dinotrek which Caitlin enjoyed very much. Petrosains however is a larger area with lots of science-related exhibits which Caitlin did not have the attention span to stay on at any particular one to read their explanations.
Rusty was stressed out from the move to the new place and protested with his new living arrangements. The first two weeks there we kept him outside in the shelter of our covered backyard most times. We couldn't handle having him inside with all our clutter and half-opened boxes with stuff which he'd very likely chew on when we were not looking. I also wanted to train him to use the toilet at the back and not inside the house. That did not go well with him. He was reluctant to eat unlike before when he'd rush to his bowl when he knew I was coming with food, and gobble up everything within seconds. He took a sniff and walked away this time, finishing his food in instalments over a couple of hours. And during the times we leave him alone at home to go out, he'd protest by going to toilet at spots other than his usual designated ones....
He's happier now because I allow him in during the day when I'm at home. When we're out, he's tethered via two leashes joined end to end, to a pillar at the front car porch. Left him loose one day to frolic unsupervised and he chewed up Eugene's slipper, dug a hole in the garden and had a taste of some 'serai' (citronella) plant that my MIL planted for me.
Caitlin is enjoying the new place as she gets to cycle around every evening and yesterday, she visited the small playground nearby for the first time. Our neighbours opposite have schoolgoing kids too so she's making new friends too. I'm getting my share of exercise too, having to go up and downstairs many times a day, walk briskly to catch up with the rebel cyclist or rein in the curious puppy when he goes out for walks.
There's still lots to do for the house. Some things can't get moving because in order to do B, A needs to be in place first and is not....
Gotta end here now and start going into my banking sites to pay bills.
And because I have other things to take care of at the new place plus going through the motions of daily life, time spent here is limited so less time to share long stories about ACE.
The one-week school break came and went middle of last month. We didn't go anywhere except Petrosains and their feature exhibition of Dinotrek which Caitlin enjoyed very much. Petrosains however is a larger area with lots of science-related exhibits which Caitlin did not have the attention span to stay on at any particular one to read their explanations.
Rusty was stressed out from the move to the new place and protested with his new living arrangements. The first two weeks there we kept him outside in the shelter of our covered backyard most times. We couldn't handle having him inside with all our clutter and half-opened boxes with stuff which he'd very likely chew on when we were not looking. I also wanted to train him to use the toilet at the back and not inside the house. That did not go well with him. He was reluctant to eat unlike before when he'd rush to his bowl when he knew I was coming with food, and gobble up everything within seconds. He took a sniff and walked away this time, finishing his food in instalments over a couple of hours. And during the times we leave him alone at home to go out, he'd protest by going to toilet at spots other than his usual designated ones....
He's happier now because I allow him in during the day when I'm at home. When we're out, he's tethered via two leashes joined end to end, to a pillar at the front car porch. Left him loose one day to frolic unsupervised and he chewed up Eugene's slipper, dug a hole in the garden and had a taste of some 'serai' (citronella) plant that my MIL planted for me.
Caitlin is enjoying the new place as she gets to cycle around every evening and yesterday, she visited the small playground nearby for the first time. Our neighbours opposite have schoolgoing kids too so she's making new friends too. I'm getting my share of exercise too, having to go up and downstairs many times a day, walk briskly to catch up with the rebel cyclist or rein in the curious puppy when he goes out for walks.
There's still lots to do for the house. Some things can't get moving because in order to do B, A needs to be in place first and is not....
Gotta end here now and start going into my banking sites to pay bills.
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