Months ago, in order to meet the minimum order to led light bulb

Kylie wanted some color paper to bring to school. She said everybody can participate in the contest in making the Happy Teacher’s Day card. So, she waited until she came back home, searched my box of color papers and she found some treasure inside the box as well. She saw an old table calendar with animal pictures. She checked all the months and found a missing month/picture and then she recalled having seen the picture before. Definitely she has. I have turned the Tiger picture into a small jigsaw puzzle for her to play. She wanted to learn the art of making handmade jigsaw puzzles and requested me to teach her. How I wish I have the time. I have to work on this Saturday. This Sunday is out as we have so many things to do.

Kevlar Riding Jeans

I am working late everyday. I wonder when is the official end date to this project. According to the plan, the end date was weeks ago but we are unable to meet the dateline. Hence, we are required to put in more efforts. The big boss just told me to be prepared to work until 2am.

This week is also the exam week and I did nothing to coach Kylie, in Primary Year 2, and Kylin, in preschool. Hubby is not in town too. He has to travel up north and hence, Kylie and Kylin were left uncoached or supervised with their revision. I am not worried for Kylie but I am worried for Kylin. Kylin is the average type and needs more coaching.

Let’s see how both of them fared this time round when I get their results paper.

Since I am so busy with my work, I am left with little time for my kids & practically no time for household chores. The house is in a mess. Floors were not swept or mopped until weekends. Clothes were washed, dryed but not folded. Luckily, I still have the old faithful washing maching to wash the dirty clothes. Else, we won’t have any clean clothes to wear. And now my wardrobe is almost empty with daily wear or full of formal maternity dresses that I am yet to pack away. Even my kids have to dig under the mountain high pile of unfolded clean clothes to find a matching pair. Terrible? Yes!

Last Saturday, we went to Yamaha Music Center. The results of the overall examination were printed and pasted on the notice board for all to see. Obviously, I wanted to know the overall results too. There were less than 100 students sitting for the exam. Only 7 students scored Distinction, 21 students scored Merit and the rest Pass in Yamaha Grade 9 examination.

In Kylie’s class, 2 students scored Merit and the other 8 students - a Pass. Now I know where she stands - a little bit above the average. Well done Kylie. You made me happy.

Last Saturday, also a Wesak day, Kylie had her music class. Even though it was a public holiday, it was a replacement class. We were a bit late to the class, about 10 minutes late and the moment Kylie walked into the class, her teacher announced this - “Kylie is the top scorer in the class. One more mark to distinction.” and everybody clapped their hands while I was closing the room door from behind. Her teacher handed the examination certificate and the comment sheet to Kylie. She scored 3 As, 1 B & 1C. She scored As in her hearing and free selection – expression & basic technique, one B in her accompaniment/improvisation and one C in sight playing.

A = 2 marks
B = 1 mark
C = 0 mark
D = -1 mark
E = -2 marks

Pass = 0 to 4 marks
Merit = 5 to 7 marks
Distinction = 8 to 10 marks

Overall, she scored 7 marks in Yamaha Grade 9 Examination. I am proud of her achievement considering that I knew nothing about music. I don’t know if this is an excellent result or an average result. I don’t know the results her friends achieved too.

Kylie could not graps what the teacher had annouced. She looked the same until I told her that she is the best in the class, better than the rest of her friends. It was then only she understood what the teacher said and showed her happiness. Her teacher even asked her if the exam was easy for her and she did not know what to answer her teacher too.

Kylin is already 5 years old and that also marks the number of years I started this blog. Six months after her birth, I started this blog to keep tab of my children’s progress. I needed a log somewhere where I could easily refer to. Hence, this blog is born. I wasn’t searching far and wide, searching for a host to this blog. I grab the nearest and the cheapest host to host for this blog. Since then, I have never looked or once searched for another host until I lost some of my data. Hubby started searching and reviewing some web host, and even suggested that I switched after reading about Exabytes and Joomla hosting reviews. But I am lazy to switched and so I sticked to the same host. Moreover, they managed to recover part of my blog and extended the expiry date as part of the compensation. I am easily contented and therefore, decided to stay put. Well, if it happens again, “touch wood” that I lost my data once again, I may not stay with the same host. It is a nightmare having to restore a blog.

April 18, 2012

This date is a special date for me. Three months from this date, marks the beginning of my new life – a life that I have been planning and longing to have. Years ago, I set my target to be a stay at home mum or work from home mum and I wanted to achieve this before Kylie stepped into Year One. Kylie is now already in Year Two and I am still a full time working mum.

I have been working long hours in the current employment, reaching home near midnight for many weeks, having late dinners, working on weekends, and even during the not so peak period, I reached home at about 9.30 pm to 10pm. Too many things to do and with limited time and resources – I have to sacrifice my valuable family time.

I used to sacrifice my family time too in my previous employment but it wasn’t for such a long duration. This time round, the duration is just far too long for me to bear. And lately, what I really cannot sacrifice is my health. I had very late dinner recently and soon after I ate, I accompanied my children to bed. Then last Saturday, I have upper left chest pain coming & going throughout the day. It continued until Sunday. I have the same pain weeks before last Saturday but only for a little while. However, this time, the pain worsen when I swallow any food and it flows right to the heart. This really scares me.

By Monday, I decided to see the doctor. Dr said my esophagus inflammed – a condition caused by the backflow of acid containing fluid from the stomach to the esophagus. “How did I get it?”, I asked the Dr.

Dr suspected that I ate my dinner late and went to bed soon after. How true.

At the same time, he referred me to see a cardiologist to get a second opinion/confirmation. I didn’t get the second opinion. Instead, I took the medication Dr gave. By Tuesday, the pain is still the same. The pain worsen when I ate.

How to end this? How can I make sure I won’t get esophagus inflammation again or worst still – heart attack? The answer is right in front of me – I have to quit. I have to kick start my plan to care my children. It is now or never.

So on Wednesday, April 18, 2012, I braved myself to write the letter and handed it over. I believe I have made the right decision & I shall not look back. A new life, a new routine, a new budget control is about to begin. Here I come, my children, to guide, to teach, and to care all of you a lot more than now. I pray hard that I won’t be a mad woman, screaming at them for every little wrong doings.

Two weeks ago, for the first time, hubby saw our gold fish floating upside down at the top of the fish pond. We went crazy, changing the water few times that afternoon, trying to save the gold fish from dying. We used to have an outdoor fountain for the pond but it broke down and hubby had just replaced it and changed the water the day before. “It could be the water or the food that the fish cannot adapt to?”, we thought. Anyway, the fish survived and 2 weeks later, I can still see the fish resting upside down before swimming again. Being curious, I googled it out and found that this fish has swim bladder disorder - caused by food getting into the swim bladder. To cure it, I have to raise the pond temperature a little higher so the fish can regurgitate it from its system.