Over My Head

This has been a real issue for me, because I know if I don’t start planning or asking now, I will jeopardize my sons’ academic future. Even though, my eldest is in Year 2, that would roughly mean, another 4 more years to go, before he considers High School, the competition is tough here, and one has to start ‘booking’ their place as soon as possible.

I’m considered fortunate, because I’m in the vicinity of a good High School. But guess what? In 4 years time, does that mean, that it would still be considered a good school? See… if the school is not managed properly, everything will go downhill, which means, I’ll have to look for Independent Schools, within the area, and within the budget. Should I consider, totally Private Schools, semi Private schools, or just Public Schools? I’ve been facing this headache everyday, and have talked it to death with some of the parents… it is all very worrisome. Sometimes, I think I’m over my head with this…without a proper focus or objective.

Sometimes, it’s like you just want to do it because other parents are doing it. Sometimes, you do it because you don’t want your child to miss out on great opportunities. Sometimes, sometimes, sometimes.

Being a parent, really REALLY sucks. Especially when you don’t have the answers.

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Scenes from “Before-the-Party”

As some of you know, I recently had a party for my 5 year old. I never intended to have another party, after the massive one I threw for my 2 year old. Ok, not quite massive, but it was considered massive for me, because I had to cook every single thing. When I was living in KL, I would just pick up my phone and cater. It was so affordable..and of course, I never had to worry about food, cutlery, plates, decorating, etc. The caterers did everything..and it was always worthed every penny. Even cakes, I would NEVER dream of baking them, because it was so much easier to call someone and pay them to bake them.

Over here, it’s a completely different story. One has to do every single thing yourself, or you pay through your nose. Unfortunately, I don’t have a really big nose, so, I can’t afford it.

The decision to have a party only came 2 weeks before the date. My 5 year old insisted that he have one, because he never ever had one before. Which is partly true. When he was 1, I threw him a big party, hired a house, hired the caterers, hired cleaners..it was wonderful, only except he didn’t remember it, because he was too young. Subsequently, I could not bring myself to throw another party….because I was really too lazy.

Well, then, 2 weeks before the party, I write down every single thing I would have to do for the party. I planned what to make for the party. I practised baking the macarons, I really wanted to serve macarons because they looked so pretty..and have all the trappings of a sugar-hi dessert!

But, as you can see… I failed.

Failed, because I arrogantly thought that despite it being my first time, I would’ve been able to nail it. I sure did…and it cracked everywhere! Except for those 6 beauties..which is still a mystery to me, how did this 6 get feet?

Ah..the mysteries of macarons.

Anyway, I then decided to make hot dog rolls. Seemed like a cute idea, making your own bread, rolling it up and sticking ice-lolly sticks into cocktail franks. In my first practice run, it was quite a failure. The rolls rolled out by themselves in the heat. It came out hard as rocks. I had to re-steam it to eat them properly. Gah!

But at the day of the party, I improved it and…I would consider this a success..if you eat it fresh. Like right out of the oven. Not in the next hour or so, because then it would just be a weapon of mass destruction.

Well then, that’s the food.

Then came the runaround for the party bag. I had originally wanted to get plain brown paper bags, but Mr.T cleverly suggested that he would make them. I was thrilled! That would mean I did not have to travel all the way to the craft warehouse, which was like 30 minutes away, with a very impatient toddler. Hooray! Small miracles. Well… that did not work out and I ended driving at the very last minute to a craft shop, 10 minutes away to get those damn bags.

The intended party bag. A prototype, which failed in my expectations.

Handle - Fail : Too thin for lil rough hands.
Cut out wordings - Fail : Fingers could get lodged and too difficult to take out without adult supervision
Size of bag - Fail : Too wide, too short.

FAIL FAIL FAIL!

Well.. then there was the party games. I literally wrecked my brains just thinking of what to play. Thankfully..and I say without any gender biasness (which is kinda hard to), that this party was only for boys. If he wanted to invite girls, I would have killed myself. I’m kinda glad that I didn’t have to hire a bouncy castle, magician or pay any hire money. Letting kids (and their friends) play with the current toys and making it competitive (esp. amongst boys) is always the best party games you can have.

All in all, the best helper was my friend, who not only helped make the cream icing for the cake, slapped on the spidey icing on the cupcakes (which btw, took me FOUR FREAKING HOURS to make 12 pieces), helped in my OCD-ness..and actually took off when I asked her to. Without her help..I think it would have been a really really stressful and grumpy time for me.

No more parties for me. For now.

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Getting crafty

It seems to be a trend, to be crafty. To make things from your home. Seems like a good idea, you spend time on making a hand-made item, you give it away, and the person remarks, “AWW.. you made it? Wow”. Whether or not they actually like it, sits with you for a long time. Does that person actually like it or were they just saying that.

Let’s say, I’m thinking of making some cute lil bead necklaces for your nieces. I have about three. I would have to get me some Beading Tools. Then, I’d have to get me some funky lil beads and a ball of nylon..or whatever that holds the beads together. Ok, I give up..completely hopeless in actually thinking about it.

Let’s now move on, to say, sewing. Ok, I’ll stop there, because I can’t seem to sew a straight line even if it kills me.

I know! I’ll bake them yummy things, and hope they’ll forget I don’t have any Xmas presents for them. Y-up, I’ve already got down to thinking what people would like for their Xmas. After all, it’s only 4 months away. And you know time flies fast.

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Sil..oh SIL.

Now, I’m not sure if you know my SIL got into another accident, and well, her entire bonnet is gone. After a week of that happening, she happily went out to buy herself another car. Granted that she was supposed to get another car for quite some time now. I guess, this left her with no choice.

Therein lies the problem. Her bumped up car was left in her garage for over a month. Naturally, the battery dies. As she tries unsuccessfully to get the car to the mechanics (twice over a span of three weeks), I wonder if she learnt her lesson at all. This is not the first time her battery has died. It has died many times before the accident.

The lesson? To take good care of your car. To service it in a timely fashion. If you take good car of your car, it will take you places, safely.

I now wonder if she is reading up “Reviews on cheap auto insurance rates”, because, at the current rate she is going, I’m sure her insurer is going to increase her premiums up up and up.

Anyway, she finally managed to haul her car to the mechanics, and it’ll take another 10 days for it to be ready. Once it’s ready..I wonder what she’s going to do with it. Having one car is bad enough, but two? And a girl who can’t be bothered to check her engine oils/water level/tyre pressure? Hmm….

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A Winning Phase

You know what? I think this is my winning phase. This. Now. Right now!

Should I be buying lottery at this moment? Is this my lucky winning phase? Is there such a thing? I never believed it. Honestly, I have only bought lottery tickets, twice in my life…always hoping I’d win that BIG WIN.. but of course, if I did, I’d be blogging about what I’m doing with it.

The first win was a first aid kit. This is a full-fledged first-aid kit. It came from the source, Ambulance Victoria. I got into their site, because the kids asked me to (something to do with school), and saw that there was a competition going on. Entered it..and a month later, I get this suspicious email saying that I won..and I should call them. I did, and I really won! HOLY MOLY! When I got it.. it had EVERYTHING! From bandages, to creams for burn treatments, to medical disposables like gloves and masks. They even included tweezers..and all the little things that make me so happy!

My most recent wins were from the local shopping mall. We have this lil machine where you scan your barcode in, and it’s basically like the one-arm-bandit… a computer generated ‘win’. Well, it was my 10th time there (once a day)..and I won! A set of kitchen utensils (spatula, tongs and whisk)..all in a fashionably red colour!

What do you think? I rarely win anything. This is a very rare phase for me.

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As they grow

We discard things one by one. I remember, when No.3 grew out of his lil baby rocker. I normally lock him in while I shower the two older boys. But, it looked like it was getting more and more ridiculous, as he seemed to perform houdini acts, escaping the ’straps’. So, that was the first few items to go.  Seemed like there was a little bit more space. Then, I had a portable cot, that was placed on the ground floor. I normally put him in, when I don’t want him crawling around, while I was busy with my chores. It was only a couple of months ago, that I packed it up. He used to like sitting in there..but I think, seeing his big brothers running around, with heaps of toys, got abit more exciting. Well..now, there’s this gorgeous big space at our dining area.

For some reason, I’m still hanging on to his baby clothes, seemed quite sentimental about it somehow.

Well..the next is probably the Ikea highchair. The lil fler prefers to sit in his brother’s chair (elevated by kaboost). But.. that will take another few more months. I prefer the highchair..there is no escape. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAH.

Oh, then is getting them a car and never seeing them again only for special days. Sigh.

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Transport Challenge

The other weekend, the family had abit of a Top Gear Challenge. You know, where different transportation modes are taken at the same time, and it’s a race to the end, to see which mode wins!

We drove to the train station, and took a train to the city. But on the way back, we decided to see who would get back first. Y’see, we do have a train station really close to our home, but because we had earlier thought it would rain, we didn’t want the kids to get wet, hence, the park-n-ride.

Well, no need for ephedra diet pills, just pure adrenalin pumpin’!!!

The problem with this equation was that, Mr.T and No.1 were already in the train, as we stopped to get the car. So, me strapping up No.2 and No.3, took quite a bit of my time. By the time I was ready to go, the train had a good 5 minute headstart. Not ideal…in a challenge.

There I was, racing on the freeway, but of course, a huge trailer was right in front of me, going uphill. By the time I got to the station, both of them were waiting for me. No.1 was jumping up and down, telling me, I LOST. YEA I KNOW! I KNOW! I KNOW! RUB IT IN!

*grumbles* I know.. sore loser. But couldn’t help wanting to punch Mr.T, because he said, he had time to take a snooze. bah!

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Materialism must go.

I honestly wish someone would email me about a wrinkle cream review. I honestly wish it would happen. Just like how I wish I could win a branded handbag. Just like how when I glance through a property booklet, that I wish I had that house, or that house.. or that house. The house that has 4 bathrooms, 2 kitchens, 6 bedrooms, 2 living areas, 1 study, 1 solar heated pool, 2 garages and a huge backyard. Yes.. I do. If I only won the $10million lottery. Yes, all my dreams fulfilled.

And then I tell myself, that I should not have such yearnings. I should be thankful to be blessed with a warm home, food on the table and happy kids. I also then tell myself, that there should not be such booklets published..so that I won’t have a chance to glance at them!

LOL. Have you ever had that yearning? To have that car. To have that rack of clothes. To have that pair of shoes. To have that watch.

Just for that second.

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Hormones

I have truly wild hormones. It’s particularly wild when it’s almost time of the month. It comes out of the blue. It strikes without notice. I sometimes get myself in a fury of anger..and I realise.. hormones. I’ve been trying to find ways to controlling my anger. If only it was as easy as popping in Lipovox, as if it’s part of your diet.

But a couple of methods have been working for me, one is to literally take a step back, the moment I feel the heat in me. The other, is distract myself quickly. I tell myself, I can get angry, but I need to understand that acting angry will not benefit anyone. Especially my kids, who is already emulating my behaviour. My No.2 by far, is the closest to how I behave..and I have to be really careful. Whenever he gets angry, he blows into a huge tantrum. For him, I tell him to put all his anger into a red red red balloon and see it float away. As it floats away, he shouldn’t be so angry anymore. Red is his favourite colour, so I thought it may be what he want. Instead, he tells me, he doesn’t want a red balloon, he wants it green. Which happens to be his eldest brother’s fav. colour. Hmm…

Anyway, anytime my hormones try to get better of me… I have to remind myself that my little mirror is just there.

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Pimple placements

LOL, wasn’t too sure how to title this. But, this post is about it. Where your pimples appear on your face, tells you what’s happening in your body. Not even the best acne treatment can save it, if you don’t take care of that part of the body. Here’s the breakdown of it :

Forehead : Digestive system. You’re eating too much fatty, oily food. Stop! Moderate yourself. Drink heaps of water.

Cheeks : Respiratory system. Your lungs are crying out! Quit smokin’, or if you have asthma.. take up swimming.

Jawline : Hormones (for girls). This always happens to me. Which means, I have wild hormones. I really don’t like thm.

Well, these are just some of them. If you wanna find out more.. do what I do. Google.

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