Been Ages, eh?

Wow, it's been ages since I last updated anything here... Well I felt like writing today since I'm off tomorrow. Work has been pretty crazy. We have our busy as hell days and we have some quiet days. We are understaffed - there's only two of us to handle EVERYTHING there is to do..



Anyone went to queue up when Shell offered petrol at $1 per litre a week ago? I didn't but I got to watch the situation. From 10am till almost 4pm the car queues were crazy. Honks didn't stop and the buses didn't get to ply their routes on time. Bus lanes were just useless. See the picture? This is the situation that happened outside my workplace, till 6pm. Crazy. A man with a large advertisement board on a stick walked up and down, counting down the hours. 4 hours, 3 hours, 2 hours... bla bla bla. I didn't queue though I had a quick thought. My petrol was about half full and by the time I reach the petrol station, I might have wasted the other half tank away...

It's only two weeks left before the school holidays comes in. I hope my girls won't be too bored. Intially our plan was to go back Penang for the long holidays but then, now that we have a business to run, it will be difficult. So I really have to find some activity for the girls.

I also think that I need some time to 'plump' up before I see Mom. I've lost weight tremendously and I don't want her to be too shocked. Moms will always be mom, she might start thinking unnecessary stuff. Work keeps me on my toes and many things on my mind gives me some stress. My body handles stress this way - lose weight. Forget all those 'kiam pui' centres, stress tops them all. I don't eat and sleep as well but at least the consolation is, I am able to put back on my old clothes which I thought I'd never get to. LOL

Forgive me if I had not been bloghopping too. I do want to but most of the time, I either have small pockets of time to either check some mail, fb mail and do some time on BBlitz. I don't even have time for my FarmTown, my crops have all died and withered.

I will survive.

Wide Comparison

I still get many queries from some of my friends who started blogging. They always ask me about domains and web hosts and which is the most suitable or best host for blogging and creating an online shop. What can I say, I may have spent some time blogging in the past few years and have owned some personal domains with unique names but I do not have the full wide experience nor answer to which web hosts has the best service, pricing package nor best ratings. I can never really do a comparison with other hosts because my experience lies in the two hosts I use and not several which one can then put together and compare.

Unless one has covered almost every web hosts in the market, then one would be able to comment. However, to make things easier, I always ask them to visit a web hosting site that not only provides ratings, it is also the place to go to when you need to understand all the queries about hosting, bandwidth, service, price and many more. That is because everything you need to know is all compiled for you, including useful articles you can read to gain more understanding about the subject.

In this site, you can read many reviews from independant companies and individuals and also some webmasters. This way, you will know what consumers are looking for when it comes to setting up a blog or commercial website or even just for educational purpose. And you will be able to avoid the little pitfalls that may happen.

Invaded

I've not been updating my blog for a while. I've been busy working and when it is knock off time, there's so much to do at home and some time to spend with the girls, then it's off to bed early. That is because I need to get up as early as 4.30am daily to get ready for work. I usually have just a cup of coffee to perk myself up or I'll never get through the day. The girls have learnt to adjust to their new schedule, to take the school bus since I cannot fetch them to and fro now.

I hardly get to read the daily newspapers and when I do, I would bring the previous day's to work to catch up on news in my pockets of time. When I am away, my girls have now taken over many of my stuff...lol They invaded my room with their toys, fancy stuff, books and they have been hogging on my laptop after 'killing' my desktop. I have no time to look into the problems in my desktop..



See, even my dresser is now filled with the kids' hair bands, rubber bands and whatever they can just find to hog it... They even started to put on my clothes and wear my shoes!

Lea turns 5

Just a little update on what happened in the past week. Lea turned 5 on Tuesday!

Lea, up to her antics again...

Here is a picture of Lea and the birthday cake I made in a dash on Tuesday morning. We took the day off so we could spend some free and easy time with her when she is back from school. I had also arrange to let her celebrate her birthday in her kindy so managed to pack some 30 bags of goodies for her classmates.

I was exhausted from work on Monday but still managed to bake a simple Bitter and Moist Chocolate Cake which the girls always love to eat with ice cream. Never mind if we didn't order any designer cakes like Barney, Barbie or Ben 10 cake this year. This year's cake was baked with LOVE and AFFECTION, albeit the not so finished look, eh? Hope the girls will look back to this day when they are matured adults and do the same with the children.

Everything about Hosting

It's been almost 2 years since I started blogging. Time certainly flies. Along the way, I had accumulated few other blogs, the latest being my food blog, Fad About Food. Each time, I seeked tips and advice from blogger friends, especially when it comes to purhase of domains and hosts for blogs. I hear many different views from different individuals but not quite enough to know which of the web hosts that work well, give value for money or if they offer essential online help for bloggers like me.

If you are new to blogging or seeking advice with regards to web hosts, domains, pricing and more, you should check out Web Hosting Geeks. I remembered how some of my blogger friends asked me which webhost provide cheap hosting as well as a free domain registration for a start.

Web Hosting Geeks provides more than a basic list of web hosts, as a matter of fact. You can find answers from budget hostings, blog hostings, top 10 web hostings, where to find free yahoo domains, features, independant reviews, customer reviews and more. Find out which of the many numerous hosts make the list in web hosting awards for each category so you can get a clearer picture about good web hosts. If you find that the lingo or terms are not too familiar, fret not. They also offer good posts and information such as Web Hosting Guide or How to choose the Best Web Hosting or Reliable Service. These information are invaluable to a person especially when he or she really has no idea where to start. So remember, when you need to find out everything from hosting, value, service and more, Web Hosting Geek is the answer.

Farewell My Dear Friend, HNKP

In sembang room, I remember always
Funny, happy chats, we once enjoyed,
Your sudden leaving left a space
So hard to accept, so empty and void.

Special thoughts stay with you forever,
Fond memories rush thru my mind
A friend, a blogger and PGHK member
We always remember till end of time



I dedicate the above verse to my PGHK friend and blogger, Hainam Keipui aka Joze. She passed away recently and left many of us feeling shocked. I had been busy the past few weeks with some personal matter. Then when I logged on to facebook two days ago and saw some of the condolences messages by Dragon, Taugeh, Boone and few others, it came as a shocked to me. It was, and still is hard to digest this news.

Joze was a bubbly person. She contributed to many shows in the PGHK podcast. On a personal level, she came across as a friendly person, honest and frank. I knew her since since 2007, in sembang chatroom. It's a place where PGHK members regularly share news, chat and joke with each other about anything under the sun and their love for Penang Island. From skype chats we all moved on to multiply, blogspot and facebook. That was how the members kept in touch with each other.

We shared many personal and private chats and although she knew this was coming, she still lived her life the way she wanted - Happy. She told me how she dreaded this day but she quickly perk herself up and change subjects as she didn't want to burden others with her personal problems, and didn't want that kind of pity.

She had many people who loved her, her aunts, uncles and her boyfriend and best friends. She told me how she wanted to travel but she could never go far because she had to bring with her bags of solution and a stand for dialysis. She had to be home often because she needed to have dialysis done regularly like every 5 hours a day. And never once did she complained about the inconvenience to her friends. NEVER.

She was so young and still so full of life. I once went in search of a nearby dialysis centre so I can make sure she won't have to bring a stand and her solutions of Baxter along should she come over for a holiday. Now, that day will never come. I won't have the chance to see her here. Now that I am looking at the remaining stickers I have yet to send to her, I feel so sad. She had been complaining of being bored. I thought she could do more scrapbooking and momentos. I had been eager to see her work in her blog. Now I won't get to.

She is far more matured than any people I know. I am sure God must have taken her for a good reason. God must have special plans for her. I am sure she is in a better place, without fear, pain and only happiness, reunited with those who left her when she was so very young.. How unfair but perhaps this is the only way. Reunited, back as a family.

I can't help feeling remorse over this. Perhaps that is when we should take a lesson. Look around us. Joze is a heroine in her own way. She tried to fulfilled her life even though she knew what may happen one day. She played, danced, ate, shopped, blogged and she loved to take photos. She was really full of life. She showered her family and friends with love, laughter and joy. She didn't burden us with sadness nor her fear.

Goodbye Joze, I'll miss you. May your soul rest in peace.





A video done by Ang Ku Kueh in memoriam of Hainam Keipui.

Make Money

There was a time when I bought unit trusts. Some were good and made good yield. Some were a big mistake, causing me to lose about half of the money invested. In the past 5 years, I had many offers from banks, insurance agents and other financial institutions offering different types of investments from bonds, shares, structured investments and even more. Then recently I heard about something different, called the revolutionary binary options, an online trading platform at EZTrader.com. Sounds attractive, because it is suppose to offer an opportunity for one to make up to as much as 75% return in just an hour! What do you think. It sounds attractive to me. The investment is at a low minimum, suited for trading beginners. Try their demo first.

Endure

I will be busy in the next couple of weeks, or even months ahead. My family and I have some sudden loose ends to tie up, thus I probably will be blogging a little less. But I have been blogging a little less lately too. If God help me, I probably have time to but there's so much to do. Will definitely keep you updated on my life. Although you may not see as many posts, I still hope you will drop by still.

I am trying to look at many things positively. But it is hard when one falls. I know I am sounding rather vague now but if there is a new low, I have been there before and I can pick my life up again, just work a little harder. I thank God for my life and being able to be of existence in this world. Life had been good in the past. Now is the time for action. I am plague by bad economy news, high cost of living, recession news, arrows pointing down and thumbs pointing down.

I don't believe that life will always be a smooth journey. I am praying for a safe journey. And a happy tomorrow. Here is a poem, how I am feeling now.


Endure

If I can endure for this moment,
whatever is happening to me.
No matter how heavy my heart,
or how dark the moment may be.
If I can but keep on believing,
what I know in my heart to be true.
Then darkness will fade into morning,
and with this dawn a new day, too.

This poem is titled Endure, written by Bobi. It was originally published in Poems On Life.

Music to the Ears

I frequent Feng Shui stores quite often. I remembered when I once bought a crystal pendant, the lady of the shop would put the gemstone into a beautiful round bowl and used a short handle stick to go around the rim. This bowl is call the Singing Bowl because it produces a very lovely echoey sound like a song.

Since then, I've been looking to buy one for home but there are not many shops that offer such products. Well, that was until I discovered a website that actually imports such lovely unique items from Tibet and Nepal. Offering one of the world's finest collections of instruments usually associated with healing, meditation and relaxation, this online store carries products such as an assorment of singing bowls, Mala prayer beads, Tibetan herbal incense, gong symbols, bronze statues and more at reasonable retail prices. A great place to check it out if you are interested. They deliver to anywhere around the world.

So Good You Can Even Eat It On Its Own

Whoops! 2 weeks since my previous post! I didn't realize that, really. Perhaps because I've been in Farm Town too often to realise that time lapsed so quickly. And what have I been up too, besides Farm Town? Like what I wrote in my other blog and my food blog, same same. Baking Bread. Just crazy over baking them. Even before the bread is finished, I want to bake another loaf, another loaf and another loaf... I think by the end of this week, I should really stop baking bread. Too much already.

So how wonderful is baking bread at home? Well, get a cheap bread maker and find out. I lurve it of course! The kids are also eating them when they are normally fussy over the breads bought over the shelves. I make Milk Loaf for them because I'm just bought by the goodness of Milk Calcium. How does it taste? Remember Gardenia's "So Good You Can Even Eat It On Its Own"? Well that is what my girl said. Fresh bread is really yummy!

This is my Aquarium

I post this information of my Aquarium which Ah Boy bought last year. It seems that the fry that we had did not survive during the March holidays because there was no food for them over a whole week. Okay I gather that my fish must be either guppy, molly or swordtail because I only learnt recently that these fishes do not lay eggs but have their young born alive. Our little fishes that were in the aquarium were born from our first batch bought from the store and how happy we were when we discovered these little fishees in the aquarium among the artificial plants, shielding them from the adult fishes.

Umbrella Rec was so kind to post an article to help or rather guide beginners like me learn more about having planted plant with soil (as substitute food) in fish aquarium for food should one is away for the holidays. There are more detailed information so if you are also interested in breeding fish, check out this post - Planted Tank for Beginners

I told him that I would post some photos of the aquarium I have so that he could tell if it is suitable or not in terms of light source and etc.

Here are the photos and whatever helpful info I have about the aquarium:

The aquarium and it's measurements

Looking down

Opening the cover and Light information

Left, centre and right from top

Hopefully these photos are good enough for Umbrella Rec to advice if I need any other device to be attached besides a timer for light. And, Thanks!!

Joanne Peh is Best Actress 2009

I watched the Star Awards entertainment last night on telly. I think many of my friends really were shocked to learn that Joanne Peh came out as the winner of the Best Actress in The Little Nyonya. Many of them had thought Jeanette Aw would be the one getting this award. I beg to differ. I think Joanne Peh deserves this award. She herself had a pleasant surprise last night! Congrats, Joanne Peh!

Yes, Jeanette Aw did a good job in this show. But watching her in many of the other shows for the past years, she did not really get many dramatic roles to play. And because she always played the good girl next door, the only effort in The Little Nyonya was for her to talk less here and be less 'Manja'. But she did good in her roles, except I find her role did not really let her shine as much as Joanne. For Joanne, her role was more dramatic as a matter of fact. And having watched many shows, she really is an all rounder. Here she is demure and sweet but she did play up the dramatic roles when she was tortured and abused. I think this is the edge where she probably won by more than an inch.

So, the Best Supporting Actress went to Xiang Yun (who played Yue Niang's granny) and Ng Hui (who played Ah Tao). Ng Hui has never been in my favourite list of actress for the past years because of the roles she played but this show really showed off her strength in acting. And she is now in my A list. Xiang Yun is such a popular actress who have really shown and maintained her progress as years go by.

Surprisingly, this year there isn't much for our Ta Jie - Zoe. Guess motherhood has brought her to concentrate more of her family and kids than in our small screen.

A little lukewarm, this year's Star Awards, dunno why. Apart from the show The Little Nyonya and By My Side (which won Chen Han Wei for Best Actor).

I am now waiting for the drama - The Ultimatum starring Zoe Tay and Fann Wong which will debut in May 27, 9pm. Can't Wait!! It's been a long time I get to watch Zoe and Fann acting together! Fann getting married and Zoe, mom of two kids!