Terrible 2s

This morning Channery wokr up really early. She actually wanted to go to work with Joe. She is a stubborn girl. The temperature today is low about 8 degrees and she refused to put on her jacket. She really must get over the terrible 2 stage soon if not I will be very stressed.

Yesterday I was not feeling very cold so I slept early. Sometimes I think I wanna get away from the kids. The boys were not helpful. Yesterday early in the morning they could wake up and had pillow fight. They made such a din that I lost my temper trying to ask them to keep their volume down. I throw a hanger at them and missed them - causing a loud thud. They really not so cooperative. This morning they had to be reminded to change and get ready. Prepared Prawn and celery snadwich for them and only Charlynn agreed to have it for lunch. Good if they come back hungry. They only packed Apple juice and a pack of biscuits. I think they will have to learn to pack their own lunch then. Will only guide them in future. It's most frustrating to pack lunch for them and they said not nice etc.Yesterday the boys were scolded for stealing marshmellows. Told them they could have some but not more as dinner would be served shortly but they turned a deaf ear to our urgings. Joe kept scolding me of buying all these "unhealthy" stuff for the kids but I think it's wrong to deprive them. Moderation is the word but of course my boys were really not capable of being responsible.

Now Channery is sleeping soundly. She was really quite a monster just now demanding this and that. House not cleaned yet but I am in no mood to clean up - only did the dishes.

Boring here in Sydney? Not a bit since I seem to be doing chores and thinking of what to cook. Just gotten recipe for celery soup as I got a big one waiting to be cooked. Sometimes cooking can be really sian when I just cook the same thing over and over again.

Take care all of you. Btw Charlynn and I are now ok after taking the medicines. Told Joe I hate taking the antibiotics as seems must take for 2 weeks. That is a very long time. Wonder if Charlynn took her medicine today??

Joe's birthday

Yesterday was Joe's birthday. Our birthdays were only 4 days apart. I am 4 days older than him. Men aged at a slower pace than women and I already feel so old and seem to have no energy for many things. Joe still look as though he is in his twenties except for a few strands of white hair. Yes, he has white hairs but no obvious la.

He brought Chantz to work yesterday as he had already brought Charlynn and Charles to work last week. Children supposed to start school yesterday but their school declared a day off so they stayed at home. Charles was as usual quite attention seeking and I nearly gave him a spanking. Luckily for him I changed my mind. We met Joe at 2.30pm as we wanted to get Chantz a new spectacle. They really get on my nerve of damaging their spectacles easily. His was broken as he fought with Charles. The cost of a new pair would ne $100 plus. Very expensive to have glasses done here. In the end, I decided against it as I remembered we had an old pair that we probably can make use of. We did some shopping for fruits and bought a cake. Before long, the rain started falling and we made a dash home as I left the clothes outside. It was still hot and sunny when we left the house but the rain clodes came very quickly. After we took in the clothes, the rain came down. We wanted to enrol the kids for weekend Chinese lesson so we went out again. By the time we come back the sun was shinning again. Told Joe to think of what to eat for dinner since it was his birthday. He could not decide so I decided to cook at home. Nothing special just Spagetti and baked vegetables. We had Cake for dessert after that. The weather suddenly turned chilly so I wanted to get into bed. Very cold yesterday night and this morning.

BTW today Joe wanted me to walk the kids to school today so he drove the car to the carpark near the kid's school. We agreed on it as he said I am not doing enough exercise. Okay I took the challenge. Actually no big deal at all except that the kids were feeling very cold. Their lips turned purplish as the wind was very chilly. The walk was only 20 mins as we had no stroller and had to walk slowly with Channery. At one point I even had to carry her. I carried her on my hips while crosswing roads and climbing the overhead bridge. Actually I had walking exercise when I go shopping. Every day shopping is about one hour form one point of Beamish street to the other end. Must tell Joe Children can't take the wind. I can do my daily shopping and that will do. The children were excited that they are back in school but I tell you the happiest person is me as I don't have to face them for 6 hours --hooray...

Last Sunday we went to the Powerhouse Museum again. The museum has a Diana's lifestory exhibition and will end on 3rd May. We were there on 23rd April after their Art lesson and by the time we went in, it was already 2 plus. We did not managed to see all the exhibits so we decided to join as members. The family membership is only $107. Our one time entry is already $35 for our whole family and that excludes Diana's exhibition. The children love the Zoe's playhouse where they pretend to be Bob the builder. They actually have tracks for mines and such so the kids were fascinated. This museum is just like our science centre and quite fun to be in there. It was converted from an old powerhouse so it's huge inside. Charlynn was lost last time when we visited the place and she was brought to the information counter. We rushed to the teary Charlynn after we heard the announcement. She told me she wanted to go play a game and after that she could not find us. On Sunday,we told the kids that we would meet them at 12.30pm outside the Diana's exhibition and they were happily playing when we went to fetch them. Guess children needed some sort of assurance that they were not being left behind.

At about 1 plus, we went our for lunch. There was a Malaysian Restaurant" Kopitiam" near the powerhouse. We had Char Kuey Teow, Nasi Lemak, Hokkien Noodles and Chicken Rice. The chicken rice is nice but not so for the other dishes. They were just normal. The chicken was tender and chilli very nice. The meal with drinks cost us $49.60.After lunch, we decided to take a walk to Darling Harbour. The Sydney population like the place and we probably know why. There was many activities there for the children and family. Children had fun and refused to go back. We even thought of going to the Wildlife and aquarium nearby but in the end we decided another was probably better as it was getting late.

When we reached home, we had chicken porridge. It was the left over chicken which Larissa and hubby brought. IT was so nice to have visiting friends. Hope all of you will try to make a trip down to visit us if possible.

We miss you people k

Today Charlynn is feeling better after taking the antibiotic. Her earlobes still infected and can see pus forming at the tip of her earlobes. After taking the antibiotic, I felt better too. The neck area not so tender and painful. Bad infection can really be really scary.In fact I have just read from online article that the pus from wound is infectious and can cause infection in any open wounds. I have been doing first aid for my boys and then cleansing my own wound. My boys' wounds were oozing with pus and I always have to cleanse that. Maybe the cross infection was done because of my carlessness. Will really have to take care of the family properly. However, I was really angry with the doctor of removing both Charlynn's earrings.

Today Joe's colleague, Larissa and her husband came for a visit. It was really nice to have visitors from Singapore. Did some cooking and they also bought grilled chicken over. Children were quite cooperative and left us to chit chat with our guests. They were here to attend their friend's wedding tomorrow. After that, they will got o Cairns. How nice to be able to tour around. With kids, Joe and I were tied down and not able to make the trips around the world.

Now feeling tired really must go and take a rest.

Infection

Charlynn started feeling sick yesterday afternoon. Her earlobes started to get really big and it seems to be a really big infection. No choice so Joe brought her to the doctor. Doctor insisted that she took her earring out as she having serious infection. She was still okay yesterday till I applied the alcohol for her. Wondered if it was my fault? She will not have ear rings till she is bigger then. Actually a little infection is okay but doctor is afraid she is suffering from septicaemia.( bai4 xue3 bing4). No point in trying to be expert so Joe decided to do what he had been told.

Actually I am having a bad infection on my face. The wound is getting bigger and it is not healing. Today I told Joe to go get the antibiotic doctor prescribed last Sat. Doc was saying if I my pain at my lymph nodes (lin2 ba1) did not get better, I have to take the antibiotic.

Well! Will wait and see how it goes. The wound is about a 5 cent coin. Hope it will heal soon. The boys had wounds on their legs and the wounds also not healing. Wondered if it is because of the weather / air that the wounds are not able to heal for such a long time.

Happy birthday

Today is my 36th birthday. Hong remembered my birthday and left a sms with Joe. Every year I would call mum on my birthday and asked her to join me for a meal. Actually mothers bring babies to this world with lots of sacrifices. A mother had to suffer 9 months of pregnancy which she has no figure or looks. Being pregnant is a beautiful time for me as I don't really have to bother about my figure. The time to give birth is a terrifying experience. The first time I gave birth to my baby No 1 Charlynn, I was really ignorant. The pain was so intense that it really like someone cutting me into 2 halves. I was told not to take painkiller and I really listened to my mum. After 13 hours of labour, enough is enough and I took the epidural. Chralynn was not born 5 hours later. Total labour time 18 hours. The last pregnancy I was admitted at 12am and only gave birth at 1533pm. Total time was 15 hours of labour. Luckily for me, I had my epidural jab at 4am. I really felt very painful and I was trembling all over. Low threshold of pain and the nurse was also alarmed that I was shaking with pain. God! Mothers are magical creatures. Without them, there will be no future generations.

The other day I was telling Joe that if I happened to be pregnant again ( if accident happens), I would give up my baby for adoption. He looked really disturbed. Well! Rather than having the baby to suffer with us, I would give him or her up to a family that wants a baby. Actually having four kids is still quite comfortable in terms of our finances but with one more coming, I wonder what the outcome will be. This world is not kind to families with many kids. Going to friends' house for Chinese New year is really embarrassing for me as they have to give more as I have more kids.

Anyway Happy birthday to myself and I just want myself to be healthy and my kids to grow up to be sensible adults.

Day out with Daddy

Yesterday Charles went out with Joe. Joe decided that he would bring one kid to office so that they can communicate and bond better. Well! The kids were really excited about their day out with Dad. As Joe ususally leave home at 7am, the kids made it a point to sleep early and wake up early for breakfast.

Joe said Charles had short attention span ( not new to me). He was quite well behaved but could not stay in a task for a long time. They were back really early at 3 plus. After that we went out to shop for groceries. The boys took a long time to get themselves ready. They said they hate shopping and so on. I told them to wait outside the supermarket and did the shopping myself. Total time for 10 items only 20mins. When we reached home, told them to go to the park as the weather looked fine.

They were back early and I had not finished cooking dinner. Luckily I was frying some wanton so they get to eat the snacks as entree first.

Today Charlynn's turn to go Joe's office and they did not call back. I know Charlynn is a good girl and Joe will have no problem taking her along. The situation at home was bad. Boys very naughty and kept misbehaving. Channery played with my medicated oil and cried out in pain when she rubbed her eyes. I had to quickly rinse her eyes. Better keep my bag away. Anyway it's a good lesson for her. In fact today is her not so good day as she fell from the chair just now while I was preparing lunch in kitchen. Boys were useless can't even look after their baby sister.

charlynn's new earrings

Charlynn is very happy to have her ears pierced. No it's so easy to the ears pierced. Do you know how I got my earholes? It's very primitive. My mum decided that the girls will have ear holes one day so she decided to DIY herself. The free procedure as follow:

1. She used axe oil to rub on our earlobes.

2. She put two raw ginger slices between our earlobes.

3. She pierced a sewing needle with red thread down between the ginger slices after estimation.

4. She remove the ginger slices.

Lucky for me, the holes are perfect. After that I live with infected earlobes and she had to pull it now and then to prevent the holes from closing. Time to heal properly i think about 2 months. Benefit is that my earlobes holes never close up even though I never wear earrings.

Interesting what mothers can do when they have limited resources. :>

Art Creations of my darlings

These are some of the art creations of my 3 darlings. So how? Think they are as what the art teacher said creative?

Ear rings and Cookies

Yesterday I brought Charlynn to the Chemist to pierce her ear. She had been asking for it for several months. When we reached there, she had cold feet and even wanted to back out. AFter much persuasion, she finally had it done. The total cost is $27.90 - included a pair of earrings and an alcohol washing solution. She was happy that she was able to get it done.

After that we went shopping for groceries as I want to do oatmeal cookies. In the end, I also bought two pineapples as I wanted to do pineapple tarts. When we reached home, Charles and Chantz were playing computer games. Yes we left the boys at home and went out. It was only for an hour or so.

We immediately set out to make the cookies. It was great fun. Hallf way through, the mixer stopped and gave us a fright. It was a new mixer as I broke the one we brought from Singapore. Children enjoyed the cookies and I continued to prepare pizza and baked Spagetti for dinner as the oven was hot and ready. After dinner, Joe said he would like to bring the cookies to office as he received $250 for his award and must give a treat. I volunteered to do pineapple tarts. I started preparing at 7 pm and ended making it about 9pm. I must go get the recipe from Adeline as mine is not so fantastic. Anyway, taste is still quite authentic and good. I like my siblings ones as they are moist and creamy. Mine is dry and not so buttery.

Okay will try to put up pictures k. Joe said he put some pictures in the previous post. Did you all see them?

Wednesday - Outing

On Wednesday children went to Jane's place for Art lesson. They were taught carbon drawing. Using Charcoal to draw pictures. Jane said children are quite talented. Well! I need to upload their finished products on this blog and you guys can be the judges.

After that we went to Metro Shopping Centre for lunch. Children loved fast food so we had KFC. The meal was not cheap a total of $28 and I went to buy a Chinese Stall noodles for $6.50 as I was afraid that they would be hungry.After eating, we went to Aldi to buy some groceries. I decided to buy some Uggs boots for them. It's sheepwool slipon shoes so that they can be kept warm during winter. Bought 3 as size 1 is still rather big for Channery. On that day we wanted to go and register for the English Test but it was raining. I thought it was not good to let children walk in the rain so we headed back instead.

When we reached home, I immediately set to work. I had the pork ribs defrosted so I quickly get the other ingredients ready. We were having pork ribs radish soup. Children love this soup. I love to add in two or three dried oysters to enhance the taste. The soup was fantastic but it needs cooking time of 3 hours. I also fried Kailan with bacon and cabbage with carrots. Simple and easy.

Anyway, I think it's good to bring children out. They simply have too much energy. Will write about the cookies now in next post.

Holidays for kids and Hell for Parents

These few days been really quite busy looking after the children. Saturday we stayed in and only went out for Korean food in the evening. Now the sun sets at 5pm so we had a rather early dinner. Another reason was that we wanted to catch Harry Potter on TV. Btw Charles used his pocket money to buy plums for us and they were really sweet. The meal at the Korean restaurant cost us $60 but I think the meal is quite nice. Guess what we allowed the kids to stay up late on Saturday so they only went to bed at 11pm.

On Sunday we woke up at the usual time as we were going to the Nature Reserve. We did not prepare any picnic food as we only expected to be there for a while. When we reached there we drove from one end of the reserve to the other end before renting for a row boat. The children took turns to row so Joe and I were quite relaxed. We stopped along the way to visit toilets and then continue our journey. However, we started to hear thunder so we quickly made our way back. Joe and I decided to row the boats as we thought we can row faster. Interesting Joe and I kept going Zig zag and many a times we were making slow progress. The other rowers who came late were able to ovetake us. We rowed so far out that we actually took a long time to row back to the boat shed. By that time all of us were drenched but we still considered lucky as the rain came down cats and dogs so suddenly while we were taking shelter in the shop. We quickly changed the clothes of the kids. Joe managed to change into his dry tshirt but mine was in the car so I had to wait. Just as the rain came suddenly, it stopped after half an hour. It was actually quite fun to try to race against the thunder and lightning. I was so afraid when we were noway near the shed as it started to have lightning. What if the lightning strike us as we were in the open water? All turned out well and it was actually quite interesting. Many years downt he road I think our whole family can still remember the incident. :>

On Monday, Children had no school as it was the beginning of their 2 wks holidays. Joe said he was considering to go one day trip to Canberra. Will wait and see. He has to do the booking and liaison. He told the kids we will go to Jane's place on Wednesday morning. Good as the kids were/are driving me mad at home. They simply can't stop making a din. In the end, I took them out shopping for groceries and I ahd some peace. When we reached home, we made carrot cake and that kept them busy for a while before Joe came back.

Today I have not intention to go out so they had a caning just now from me for being naughty. The boys really need to be reminded to obey and behave. Well! They wanted to make some cookies later maybe that will kept them occupied for a while.

Lunchboxes

This morning my children went to school in their casual clothes as Campsie Public School's Student Representatve Council was having this as a fundraising activity. All pupils were able to wear their home clothes but they have to donate a gold coin -either a dollar or the $2 coin.

My children were so excited that they were ready before 8.30am. They were so excited they could not contain their excitement that they kept asking me to send them to school. Afraid that they might wake up our neighbours, I decided to drive them to school early. When we reached the school, there were not many students as they were really early. Anyway, dropped them off and came back to catch "Elmo" on TV as Channery loves the show.

This morning when we were on the road, the children said that I was lazy in Singapore that I did not prepare lunch boxes for them. Well! I reminded them that I did last year when the boys refused to go to school. I even put in little slips of paper to remind and encourage them to attend school. Of course in Singapore, I put in snacks that they like titbits like bear biscuits and other easy to eat stuff. Here their lunch is important and I need to make sure they will not be hungry.
I remembered that last year I had to find time to prepare and write little love notes to them. Kinda interesting that they like to hear what I feel about them. Maybe I should not be lazy and start my little lunchbox love note again.

Okay gotto go as Channery is once again on my laps. She is really a super glue now.....

Amazing - Power of Love

Just read an email from my friend. A woman in UK gave birth to a premature baby and doctor told parents the girl won't make it and leave her on the blue blanket on the side. Mother decided it was the last cuddle she ever will give to baby so took her and put her on her body. Baby's heart kickstart and soon began to turn from greyish to pink. Just when all the experts said that the baby won't make it, the baby decided she wanted to fight for her own life.

Many a times people will start telling you that you won't make it and you will start to believe it. The story of the frog below is just that:

Once there were some frogs that live at the bottom of a well. One day, there was a competition to climb to the top of the well. The sides of the well was slippery and wet and one by one the frog came down as the other frogs at the bottom was shouting, nobody gotta do it, it's insane. It's too slippery and dangerous. Come on down you fools etc. Well! to everyone's surprise, one frog made it to the very top and he saw what had to offer. The world is beautiful, not just the little area that shows the sky and clouds passing by. There were beautiful flowers and plants and everything. He told the others what he saw loudly and everyone was shouting for his attention but the frog seemed to ignore all.

Guess what? The frog is actually DEAF. While the others take in the negative comments made by others, he took in nothing and only know he had to climb to the top. He succeeded because he was focus and did not sway from what he set out to do.

Well! Life's like that many a times.

Monday and Tuesday

It was a raining day on Monday and children were not so enthusiastic about going to school. I made fried bacon and egg sandwich for them. When I fetched them after school, I realized that I did not bring the umbrella so I had to run in the rain. I had not informed the kids on wet weather so they actually waited at the little play house at the playground. I was thinking they should have commonsense to wait at the assembly area. Anyway one by one we fell sick. Charles had sore throat and I got it that very night. Channery's runny nose started on Tuesday. Now I have sinus and blocked nose and breathing not very smooth.

On Tuesday, children did not go to school till about 11am as the teachers were having a strike. We had mushroom soup and bread and I prepared fried rice for their lunches. After school, Charles came back with a soaking shoes and he was complaining of cold. Charlynn said he had stepped on dog's poo and he went to wash his socks and shoes. Poor child he must be feeling so cold with wet feet. Anyway sent him to bed and after the sleep, he was better. Chantz threw tantrums at night when we wanted him to complete his Chinese homework. Children hate Chinese language and always complaining of hardwork and difficulty in understanding the language. I just do not understand why they cannot appreciate the language.

Yesterday's the show Bondi Rescue was very interesting. People think too highly of their capabilities and many could end up dead if they were not rescue by the lifeguards. This is a reality show and yet people are just repeating the acts over and over again.

As for the shoe the biggest loser, it was nice to let the participants have a feel of how much weight they have shed after joining the show. Teh fact that with the extra weight they could barely walk is a reminder for the viewers as well so that they will not be in the same plight as the participants. Think will look into preparing healthy food for the family.

Sunday excursion

Sunday we went to the botanical garden to watch the Redbull Flagtug. This is a flying competition of objects from a point. It's the first time they have it in Sydney and even though we went one and a half hour earlier, we did not get a good spot. The carpark at the domain was full so we actually park at the one for Australian Museum. It cost us a falt rate of $12 so we decided to visit the Australian museum again. Last visit was in January and there was not dinosaur exhibits. Children were really excited to wanna see the dinosaur exhibition.

After we settled down on the grass, we started having picnic. I had prepared pizza for lunch. Only took 25 mins to heat them up and of course I always top up with lots of cheese. The competitors were funny. They took so long to prepare their object but it only take a few seconds to destroy them. People were laughing as the sight was funny seeing objects and people dropped from the platform.

As parents all of you might know that kids have no patience so after about 10 objects hit the water, we were all ready to go. Charles broke his sandals' strap again and I must find a way to fix it when we reached home.

The exhibition at the Australian museum was fun. Took some photographs maybe to share it online. Kids were exhausted after the trip. In fact they must be as the night before they stayed up till 11pm for Harry Potter.

It's another bautiful sunday and really dread the coming of Monday.

Saturday - Lazy Day

This morning woke up late and after that cooked beehoon for all. As the weather was really good and sunny so I did the laundry. Joe was not feeling well so he slept late. After that,we decided we should go out and we decided on the Sydney Fish Market. We drove about 30 mins to get there.
Parking for the first hour is $2 after that it is $5 per half and hour. We had fish and chips there and even went shopping and looking at the seafood. The oysters there look really fresh and people are eating raw with a squeeze of lemon juice. Children do not wanna try so we did not try it. This is our secind visit to the place and it is quite fascinating. The seafood maybe fresher as it is just off the ship but they are not cheaper. The fish shop in Campsie sell the seafood at a cheaper rate.

After paying $7 for parking we headed home. Told the kids we will come back for icecream. After reaching home, I did some cleaning up and felt really sleepy so I went to take a nap. Guess what Joe brought children to park and I woke up at 6pm. I quickly started preparing for dinner. Luckily I had the chicken drumlets defrosted and jsut have to cook some vegetables. In the end, they have cheese Cauliflower, mixed vegetables and fried chicken drumlets for dinner. Don;t think children knew what they ahd eaten as they were enjoying the show " DR. Dolittle". Guess what Saturday is movie time and after that, we continue with Harry Potter on Channerl 9 till 11pm. We let the children have their fun on Sat so that they won't complained we are lousy parents.

Ok gotta sleep. Good nite.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

A very busy Friday

On Friday, I was extremely busy. I woke up late at 8am and quickly prepared the children;s breakfast and lunch. Luckily I still managed to get their sandwiches and pancakes ready. Charles as usual said that he was not hungry and refused to eat his breakfast. I managed to get him to drink a cup of miloand a quarter of a pancake. After sending the kids to school, I came back immediately to clean up. After a while, Channery refused to watch the children's programme on her own and she made me sit with her. I took the opportunity to sew Charlynn's name on her jumper. Btw she found her jumper. It was in a corner of her Chinese Class. When I asked her to go search for it, she was not thorough and did not see it. After a week's suffering, she was lucky to find it. No more nagging and anger from parents. Luckily we did not buy her a new jumper on Monday. We actually made the trip down to Lowes but she changed her mind.

At 11 plus, my male neighbour came over and asked me to go over for coffee. I am really scared of this man. He seems and definitely the "Chi Ko Peh". He kissed me on the cheeks the other time and made me very uncomfortable. I am the openminded lady but his actions was really not the usual greetings. I have told Joe I need to keep a safe distance from him. He once told me his wife is away every Friday and I kinda had a shock to hear him inviting me over for coffee.
Well! I told him no I have lots of chores to be done and baby sleeping. He even said to go over to take a lolly for Channery. Well! I told him I have cooked lunch and baby to eat lunch soon so can't take sweets. Very uncomfortable with him around and sometimes when I go out to hang laundry I usually will take note that he was not around as he can always peep at me from his house. The wall separating our houses is only the height of my shoulder so I have seen him watching us.

Anyway, will take care of myself. He is a grandfather of 7 so he better watches what he is doing. I will learn to keep a safe distance from him. Okay back to Friday. I was very happy to send him away and decided to watch Tv. To my surprise, there was a movie "Le Divorce". It was a very interesting movie about an American lady in Paris. Well! People staying in different parts of the world sure have many differences and social etiquette and definitely some bias. Somehow the ways of doing things are very different too.

After watching the show, I quickly put Channery in the car and drove to the petrol koisk. Need to pump petrol and pump up gas for the tyres. Guess what I was so blurred I pumped the premium petrol and still not very sure whether if I had did the pumping of gas correctly. The pump here does not have beeping sound and just do it when you feel is okay. Funny way of doing things.

After paying I quickly rushed to fetch the kids. No parking lot so I actually walked a long way to get them. Friday is their Art lesson so we need to really rush a bit as I need to pick Joe up before sending them to Jean's house. However, Charlynn and Chantz did not follow my instructions and we lost one another. Needless to say they were scolded of not being cooperative.

After sending the kids to Jean, went shopping for groceries. Prices of things are about the same but we still bought quite a bit of stuff. After children's lesson, we decided to go King;s street for dinner. It is actually near Joe's school so we were back to that direction. We had thai food at a "Thai times 9 ". The food is not as fabulous as the one down the street. I have decided to learn how to cook Thai food so as to save us the $50 we spent at the restaurant.

Upon reaching home, Joe was hoping to catch a live telecast of football on tV but the kids wanted to watch Simpsons and other shows. Joe threatened to send the TV away as kids are addicted to TV. To me, I can't live without a tv so he probably won't have his wish.

What's in a name?

Many people asked me why I named my children Charlynn, Charles, Chantz and Channery.

Well! Actually they have the name because they kinda rhyme with their Chinese name.

Jia1 Xin Charlynn
Tze3 Hao2 Charles
Tze3 Kang1 Chantz
Jia1 Yi4 Channery.

Many a times when we named our babies we have no reasons or logic. Charlynn was named Jia Xin as she was born petite and Charlynn means Petite and feminine. Charles was a name my mother in law wanted as he is the first grandson. His name is manly and strong. For Chantz, his is actually Chance- short form for Chancellor but everyone was making fun of his name as the second twin so second chance so we changed his name before he turned one.

As for Channery, her name means wise and intelligent. The first two children have names starting with letters "Char" and our last two children have names with letters starting "Chan".

BTW actually one of my friend pointed out that I love dancing so maybe my children have names starting Cha...Cha...Cha... Cha. because I can't stop having music in my life........very funny ho???

Teachers in Australia

I wanna talk about the life of a teacher in Australia. My children will get their teacher's weekly lesson plan and they hand in whatever homework due on the last day of the week. After that no classes on Sat or Sunday. Teachers do not give remedial like in Singapore and they assign children to go home and do home reading with their parents. The parents are to help their children to read widely. I think it really force the parents to spend time with their kids.

All schools in New South Wales are going on strike on Tuesday 8th April from 9-11am. They termed it "STOPWORK MEETING". In their newsletter it is stated that "Teachers from Campsie Primary School will be stopping work because of various issues that are affecting schools in New South Wales". They are proeven testing against the ability of Prinicipal to determined hiring or firing staff. Well! Singapore teachers' unions are pro-government and such a thing will never happened. Even if the Principal is no good, nothing can be done to rectify that. One of the reason for my resignation is that I felt that I was unable to work under my VP and P. I felt that at that time there was no support and the pull factor to be with Joe and Children in Australia was just too great. I know that I had helped my colleagues and pupils while I was working. In fact this time back in Singapore supported my decision to resign. Somehow the survey we did for MOE did not reflect much on the teachers' grievences and believe it or our beloved heads of the school still think it was because the teachers lack professionism. I can only say that staff that leave Chongfu will be welcome anywhere in the other schools as teachers in the school, believe me for I was there for 10 years, are really dedicate and some are even pure perfectionist. Everything has to be done properly and of a high standard.

My children's Chinese Class teacher is from Singapore. My children only learn how to sing songs and no stress at all. WEll! Maybe it's time to find out how to be a teacher here.

Okay! that's all and take care everyone.

Connections

Sometimes I wonder what life will be if I did not choose to marry Joe. During our courtship he was already my LOG ( lord). Simply means he is like a log of wood. Over the years we seem to develop some kind of telepathy or connections but many a times we still will miss each other. Joe and I are quite different in Character. He is the steady type who seems to be able to handle all challenges threw on his way. People can trust him to do a good job and leave him alone. Quiet and steady and do not have to pay so much attention on him. I, on the other hand, prefers to show my emotions and many have said that I am an open book. You will get it straight from me is I don't see eye to eye with you. I prefer people to just be sincere and speak your mind. Those who like to keep things and don't say it really gets on my nerve. Life is too short to me to play guessing games all the time. My motto is to always try your best. Learn from your mistakes and don't be silly to repeat them. Failure is the mother of success. The famous inventor Edison onced said that he had not failed a single time, he only found many ways towards success.

I remembered being late for my ROM because I was so ignorant and did not book a cab on 1st October. All my friends were there and the bride was MIA ( missing in action). Being late for an hour and they still allowed me to be legally married. Sometimes that's how things are. I will have to pick up pieces along the way and find new solutions to my problem. I believe all things can be done be it this way or that so maybe Joe has a hard time catching up with me as my thoughts are always running wild and with different gears.

Anyway I am given this time to write as my baby is sleeping. She is getting a bit difficult to handle as now is the terrible twos. She just spilled milk all over my kitchen today but I was cool. I did not scold or punish her. I think it's better for my health if I just keep my cool instead of shouting and punishing her.

Okay that's all. Need to go clean up. Endless chores waiting.

Our worth

Today I went to Hong's Blog and realized that many things had happened over the years and I was quite ignorant. I am always so busy with things happening in my own life and I totally ignored to care.

During Asiawork leadership programme, I realized I wanna be a caring, courageous and responsible woman for sometimes I feel that I lack in these characteristics. Whenever I am stressed, I will hide like a hermit crab and wanna suffer in my own sorrows. I do not like to go and tell others what is wrong with my life. When I do that, I can't and refused to show any love or concern for others. Lack of courage in handling life's challenges, I sometimes wish that things will just go away at that time or simply walk away from the tasks on hand.

However, after attending the course, I realized that I have to be strong. The currents of life will continue to pull and push us but we must have the choice to stand firm to our beliefs and our foothold. My greatest strength is to love and care and take pride in whatever I do. I should not think too little of myself and kept comparing myself to others.

Anyway, Life is not a bed of roses for everyone. We do not have a magic wand to change things to our wishes but we can just give our very best. If our very best is not in other people's eyes maybe there is a lack of communication. We need to have faith and keep trying. A thousand mile journey begins with a single step. Have a vision and do not lose sight of life. I love staying alive so that I can enjoy smiling a rose, seeing the clear blue sky and receiving a big hug from my baby.

Think BIG and you will get it.