My latest impulse shopping treat

I wasn't planning to shop. I was hoping to save up as much as I can, as fast as I could. But one day, I accompanied a friend to a shoe store because she needed shoes. I wasn't planning on buying any but when I saw this lovely pair in just the right colour and height, I found myself reaching for them to try on.

Did I buy them in the end? Yes I did. What a weakling!

You see, women sometimes just can't say no to shoes. Somehow, people design all these pretty and appealing women shoes for a reason - to make you keep buying them although you may not need them!

But still, I blame myself for the indiscipline, no one else. Not the designer who designed the shoes, the storekeeper who said the shoes are perfect for me, and not my friend who kept nodding in approval when I tried on the shoes. It's me and just me.

Women and their impulsive shopping, it's dangerous! But you know, I somehow am enjoying that little splurge and treat for myself. It's been quite a while since I bought shoes :)

Less places to shop at

The economy has gotten so bad that many retailers have closed their doors. The first of them were Woolworth in England followed by many others afterwards. Some who are still in business have also downsized and cut back on the many outlets they have everywhere.

Recently I heard another unfortunate retailer to join the bandwagon in closing shop is Circuit City. I wonder who's going to be next...

The new Nikon DSLR

Just 6 months after I bought my very first DSLR camera, I read that Nikon has released the newest entry level DSLR model in the market, the Nikon D5000. I read the review and found that it's actually a little higher level than just an ordinary entry level camera.

It comes with some great features adopted from the Nikon D90. Not that I know how to use the many functions, but what I found to be great on this new model are the live view, the digital camcorders capability and the size. It is said to be a little smaller than the usual DSLRs, but the reviewer thought that small is not really that great. I would beg to differ.

Anyway, if you are looking for a good DSLR camera, do have a look at this one. It's all the good features in one and it costs around RM3,288. A little more expensive than the usual entry levels, but look at all those features packed in! It's worth it.

Farewell, Michael

It is indeed sad to know that Michael Jackson is no longer with us. I'm not the biggest fan, but I do have some fond memories from some of his more meaningful songs.

The tributes that have been shown on the various TV channels are simply amazing. And I watched some too just because I know it will be a long, long time before they will be shown again. You don't see much of Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui's stuff on TV anymore, do you?

One of those tributes I caught on TV was a concert that he held. The crowd at the concert was simply incredible. To think that one man can hold up such a crowd, to be so loved...it's really amazing and something to celebrate.

The crowd was so huge that a lot of people were fainting and had to be taken out in stretches. It was quite a scary scene. I wonder if these people have any Rochester personal injury lawyer signed up before going for such a crowded concert! Not sure if they can be insured in such an event altogether.

I remember that the King of Pop came to our shores for a concert that one time. And that was the year that I left for my studies and missed the concert. I heard later that the crowd at that concert was also insane. I can't imagine what it must've been like to see Michael Jackson in person and to be wowed by his performance. I guess I will never know now.

May this most misunderstood soul rest in peace and may he finally see himself as the perfect creature that he is. Farewell, Michael. You have certainly made this place a better place for us with your wonderful music.

Enjoy the pregnancy first, worry later!

Some of my colleagues at work are pregnant. I'm not very close to them but I do feel happy for them. After having gone through pregnancy and having a wonderful kid, I do understand how life changing it is and how great life is with some tiny feet pitter-pattering up and down the home.

However, before some of them are even close to their delivery dates, they are already worried about losing their pregnancy weight and have started to enquire about ways to lose weight effectively once they've given birth.

One of them was sharing with the rest to read up on some phenphedrine reviews that were said to be good. I just kept quiet.

I'm not sure that diet pills are the answer to losing pregnancy weight. For those who are breastfeeding, they should really find out the side effects of such pills before subjecting their babies to substances like that.

My boy is down with the flu

No, not the swine type. Just a normal flu. He's been having fever for over a week now, sometimes on and sometimes off. We've been to the paed a couple of times and he hated each one. I don't know why but nowadays he screams bloody murder the moment we are at the paed's office! It's not like the paed hurt him or gave him any injections before, but he just doesn't like it there.

Anyway, we're very lucky to have a babysitter who's very caring and genuinely cares for his wellbeing. Not only did the couple bring him to the paed while I was at work, they also care enough to make him barley and some double boiled herbs that are said to help in the recovery of a fever.

God bless these kind souls.

The babysitter even bought some supplement that will help to improve his appetite as he was refusing food and eating a lot less than he used to. I didn't even know she did this and was about to go pick up something from the pharmacist. Isn't that just so kind of her?

She said he was getting thin and she couldn't bear to see him being flesh and bone, and wanted to beef him up. I was very happy to hear that she really cares so much. Actually, I do feel quite heart sick too to see him not being as fleshy as he was during his younger days. But maybe that's a natural progression as he grows up. Some parents have been telling me that I do not want to see him growing up being obese in adulthood and then going for pills like Anoretix to slim down.

Whilst that is of course true, I just wonder if we're doing a good job as parents to keep him more beefed up. He is growing taller which is a good sign, but just not the weight. Is this worrying? I seriously don't know.

Anyway, our focus now is to get him well and fully recovered from his flu. It isn't such a nasty one, but his running nose and cough just don't seem to go away :(

Half a year gone!

Can you imagine, half a year has gone by, just like that! How time really flies when you don't realise it. How have your year been so far? Mine has been very fast moving and so many things have happened in the last 6 months. Most of them have been rather exciting. Well, on the personal front, that is. Work wise it's always boring and I'm so wanting to quit anytime I can! :P

Now is a horrible time at work, and I wish the next couple of weeks will quickly go by with not much "casualties". I got back from a short trip not long ago but still yearning to go on another. Hopefully to somewhere further away, like some Vegas vacations or something.

But now is a bad time to head there with all that swine flu scare in that part of the world. It's scary to think what our world has come to these days with all the diseases, don't you think?

Anyway, I just heard my little one's voice. It means he's up from his nap time...gotta go!

Things have been crazy!

Lately I've been busy with some personal projects. I've only just begun and it's been taking quite a lot of my time. Nevertheless, I'm enjoying every second of it although I'm having a lot of late nights, working on the computer endlessly. I sometimes do worry that my eyesight will be affected since I spend so many hours staring at computer screens but what to do? Who can do and work without a computer these days? But Ray was very kind, he installed some new lighting in the living room as well as the bedroom to make it brighter and I have to say it is easier on my eyes.

I just hope that as time goes by I get to establish some of these projects a little more and I can somehow run it on semi auto-pilot so that I get decent hours of sleep again. But I don't know how long it'll take to reach that stage. Or maybe nothing really ever runs on auto-pilot!

I'll wait and see how it goes...but life is sure a lot more exciting :)

Funny question

I was recently introduced to a friend of a friend's and in making small talks, my friend mentioned that I was once in sports and had to maintain slim as part of the requirement to stay competitive. Upon hearing that, her friend wasted no time in asking me which top diet pill I used to diet and stay slim!

I guess she just didn't know that no athlete would really turn to using diet pills to stay slim. All that work out in training would help to make you fit. At the most, if one is still considered over weight, you might be asked to put in more effort to work off the weight or go on a healthy food diet to help lose the weight. As far as I know, none of the sports people I've known take to such pills.

I didn't quite answer her in such a long reply. I just said I don't know because I didn't use any. I don't know why but I didn't quite feel the chemistry of being friends with this friend of my friend's.

Happy Mother's Day

Here's wishing my family members and friends who are mothers a Happy Mother's Day. I hope you're enjoying the day and basking in all that attention showered on you by your loved ones. For my new mummy friends, I'm sure you're proud and excited to celebrate this day for the first time. It's the loveliest feeling being a mother, isn't it?

I hope all mothers around the world, no matter who and where they are, will be in the hearts of their children. I hope no one ever forgets the woman who gave life to them, and showered them with lots of unconditional motherly love.

Every mother, whether she's a single mother or one that has gone astray and spending time in locked up cells or a drug rehab, or one who's living in an old folk's home, deserve to be loved by the ones they have sacrificed for. I now understand what it takes to be a mother and I've got to say it's not the easiest and rosiest part of life, especially when you're just starting out learning the ropes of parenting.

So let's hope that at the very least, every mother in the world will be cherished and loved on this day if not everyday.

Back from a holiday

We got back today from a holiday that was supposed to happen earlier last month but couldn't because of the unrest in Bangkok. So we went a couple days back and had a great time walking, walking, walking, walking and walking some more!

I think this is the one time we walked so much that it's enough to make up for our lack of walking for many, many years! Seriously! But it was a good trip despite our feet hurting and buying 2 pairs of slippers each to ease the painful soles.

Shopping wasn't exactly that cheap like we expected. I guess since the last time we were there which is 3 years back, things have definitely gone up in price. But I enjoyed this trip nevertheless although we bought a lot less. I got to know Bangkok more in terms of transportation. Last time, we mostly travelled by taxis and tuk tuks but this time it was 100% train and walking. That explains the painful feet.

During our many train rides, I couldn't help but notice that there were many disabled people who got in and out of the trains and were also filling the streets and shopping malls. I don't see that many disabled people back here, probably because our facilities aren't half as friendly. I wonder if they also have better disability insurance compared to what we have here too. I won't be surprised if they did. After all, I did find many things and services there much better than ours. Pretty sad.

Anyway, it's good to be back and the greatest of all is to be home with my little boy. I missed him so much and when I finally got to see him today, it felt surreal and I just stayed beside him and watched his every move. I was soaking in with fascination at how much he's learned the few days we were gone.

It's good to be home...but I'm not looking forward to going back to work. Argh!!!

What are the necessities to run a small time business?

Since I had my little boy, I'm always thinking of ways to quit my job and be a work at home mum so that I have flexi hours and spend more time with him as he grows up. As such, I'm always thinking about starting some sort of business but so far I've not really ventured into anything because of so much uncertainties surrounding the economy as well as my fear of not being able to earn a decent income, not to mention losing money!

But lately, I feel like I am getting a step closer, hoping that what I have in mind to offer in the market is going to be something that people need. Lately I've been very occupied in doing my research and trying to plan on how to start.

I keep thinking of what are the things that I need to first set out so that my little business is reputable and not deemed as a run-by-night business. I thought of incorporating a company to run the business instead of doing it as an individual, investing in things like a receipt printer to offer proper invoicing documents, investing in nice packaging to deliver the products in, and some marketing efforts.

But all these little things add up to quite a lot and I'm stepping back to consider carefully again which are absolutely necessary and important. What I deem as important may not really be, so maybe I should ask around for people's opinions on this. Do you have any for me?

I'm pigging out

I don't know why but the last few weeks saw me pigging out a lot. I could be quite full from a heavy meal but give me 2 to 3 hours later, I feel like having a snack. Sometimes, it's not just a small snack like a bar of chocolate or some chips, but a rather filling meal at tea time. It scares me!

No, I'm not pregnant if that's what you're wondering. If I am and pigging out like that, I won't be that worried. It's because I'm not pregnant but continue to have such appetite that makes me a little worried. Maybe I'm just being greedy. I know that if I keep this up, I'm going to balloon up in no time.

So I better do something about this. Either stop all that binging or go on some appetite suppressants! I don't quite like the latter, so I'd better be disciplined enough to stop myself. It could be the stress that's causing me to snack like this, so first thing I could do is to keep my stress level in check!

A whole mummy again

Last week, I felt like an empty mummy because we sent the boy to his grandparents' place down south and he stayed there for a week while we came back home. Although it was a break for us, I felt empty as a mummy. Every single day, I missed him and had to look for enough things to do to fill up my time and thoughts so that I don't end up crying!

I'm so happy that we have finally gone to pick him up and he's not sound asleep on our bed again. Whilst we missed him like crazy, he seems to have had a jolly good time with his grandparents. And, I'm surprised to learn that he didn't exactly bully them into giving in to him. Rather, he was just as easy to care for as his babysitter has always feedback to us. He seems to be harder on us, the parents, than anyone else! I suppose that's because he knows we are the parents and will be the ones who give in the most. Or at least that's true for me as the mother.

While he was back with his grandparents' for the week, he's gotten some new toys to play with, including his first bicycle and a rattan-made rocking horse! He enjoys the former more, he seems to be a little bit apprehensive of the horse though he did show off to us by rocking on it by himself and singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat while on it.

We didn't take the rocking horse back as we figured the bicycle would be enough of a distraction to him for now. He could learn to ride on it in the garden when the sun's not so scorching hot and punishing. We don't have any outdoor furniture so it's rather clear for him to run about once we remove the cars.

I've also bought him some new toys while we was away, as some surprise gifts when he came home. I gave one to him tonight, a stuffed toy and hoped that he will like it. As we speak, the stuffed toy is lying in bed with him. But he's had a tiring day and is sleeping spread eagle while the toy is casually strewn away. I'm happy enough just to look at that wonderful sight, to know that he is safely home and that he's had a happy week.

Would insurance get any cheaper alongside other things?

In times like these, where banks are lowering interest rates and many FMCG companies have lowered some of prices of their products to help people save more, I was wondering if the insurance premiums would be relooked at.

In bad times, all the more people need protection. And insurance policies don't come cheap for medical, life, travel and even car insurance. I would think that it would benefit everything if insurance premiums could be lowered and everyone can afford some form of protection against any untoward incidences.

I would also like to see the price of useful things like books to lower than what they are now. But of course that's a long shot because they are heavily dependent on the prices of books being imported from the western world as well as the foreign exchange rate.

What else do you think could be cheaper for the benefit of everyone?