Chloe was sick again .. yesterday.. ! fever up to 103 degree and going up every hour. So i was in a frenzy to get her to take her medication .. which she refused. I got PB to make an urgent appt to see her family doctor.. and luckily .. he would take her in. A quick rush to the hospital.. and by the time we were done it was 5pm.

Rushed home.. gave her the medication with lots of persuasion, which normally never even need any coaxing. She slept the whole day.. and refuses to eat at all. So 2 days without food.. this morning.. her fever gone.. and luckily ate a wee bit.. and came to work with us.. in the afternoon. Thank God for babysitters too..!!

I’ll have to say.. that after almost 9 yrs together physically and another 6 online had made PB pretty smart .. where our relationship is concerned. Firstly, the man is able to set his priority straight and put me and Chloe first before the business. How do I know..??

The day before, after cooping in the house for a few days with Chloe being sick and all, she acted up. Firstly, because we didn’t have a sitter for almost a week too, she was sick and secondly Chloe wasn’t have the greatest week either. She was sick with a fever, hacking cough and then she lost her caps a few days ago. And when she didn’t wanna come out from the toilet because she thinks she needed to poop after 40 mins, PB came right home. Yesterday, he went to work late, because Chloe didn’t get up and we wanted to let her sleep as much as she can and then she acted up again. The man had to close the store and come right home again to help with the brat.

Yes, had the man not done that.. i think he would be hearing no end of it.. plus i might had pack and left because it was Chinese New Year, i missed home and the food, friends and family. So yes, the man knew .. i was on thin ice and pretty much gonna snap anytime soon. Smart man ..?? yes very..!

Chloe is finally well enough to go to school .. but it had been snowing overnite.. and the day before .. so we had quite a bit of snow.. where her school is. But being a kid and all .. she wanted to walk down that little slope.. instead of going to the pavement.. and who am i to deprive her of it right.. ?? afterall, she is the kid.. who insisted that ipods was the next thing we had to get for her. Anyways, of course i didn’t wanna slip and fall on my butt .. like i did a few years ago, during Boxing day in Hectanooga, so i held onto PB’s hand .. and he helped me. He then asked me.. ” what kinda mountain goat are you..??” in which i promptly replied.. ” a city one!” muahahahahha!!!

Yes..! what a Chinese New Year..! i thought i was gonna be sick as a dog .. since i didn’t feel so hot just before Chinese New Year.. but instead.. the brat got sicker (if there is such a word) than myself. Poor kid couldn’t eat.. fever .. and hacking away.. and then lost one of her caps (she had caps done last year for some of her teeth) .. and poor chloe said to us last nite .. after whining about her lost caps .. that she wasn’t having a good day yesterday.. in which PB replied.. ” i think it is more like the week .. dear”… muhahahaha!!!

Our babysitter was even sicker before Chloe and I got sick.. so i donch know if we passed it to her.. or the other way around. So no babysitter.. sick kid.. store to run.. and of course obligation to my movie fans.. luckily i donch need any acne treatment yet. My consolation..?? PB did everything right.. from going into the store later.. and closing early .. to help me with Chloe and putting us first. I guess after years of being together..and having a kid together.. he smarten up .. FINALLY..!! MUHAHAHAHAHAH!!! ya.. ya.. I’M EVIL..!! never said i wasn’t eh..

Keegan our babysitter turned into a pink head a few days ago, she had gone to “evil” S*** to get her hair done. Remember the gal who was working for us some few years ago, and quit. The one who showed her bum on the WWW, anyway .. i digress.

The first time Keegan came back with her new hair colors it was disastrous.. we could see that Keegan was almost in tears. Yah.. she did look pretty dull with the first hair color, then she went back.. and got this color done.. when she was still on recovery from her flu last week. This does look a lot better than the first time she came back with the other hair color.. but still not as desirable as the old stylist she used.. Corey .. i think her name is. But young girl .. like Keegan, they dare to try everything.. which is good lah. I just applaud her for being so brave to use “evil” S*** because she is pretty new with the hair thingie. And by this town standard, she charged exorbitant price ..!!! ouch!!

PS : A picture of evil S***, popped up on the computer today.. and I asked Chloe if she remembered who she was.. she said yes.. but why did she turn evil chloe asked. In which I replied, she was evil all along.. but we just didn’t know before. We’ve made such bad choices with our ex-employees.. and vowed never to hire again .. after evil gal left and truth be told.. we never felt so blissful.

Last nite while trying to put the brat to bed… Chloe said she wanted to do a puzzle. It was late .. i was tired.. and hungry.. and trying to chomp my food down.. and didn’t wanna fight with her.. so i said.. yes. So off she sprinted away to the computer room where PB was.. and looked for her puzzle to fix it onto the fridge. She came back after abit.. it was closed to 10.30pm. . and turned around and asked me.. “Mom, were you paying attention to me… when i asked you about the puzzle..??” in which i was shocked. .and i said “yes.. ! what do you mean??” in which she replied.. “well you always just say .. uh-huh, without really paying attention to me” *Slap forehead* See they know..what you are doing.. donch you think they donch know.. ! note to self : better give undivided attention to your brat.

Yes, we make the brat clean after herself most times. .and she does it willingly. She loves to think that she is helping and doing something the adults do too.

She does a good job too ..! and she is really earnest about it.

Mommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…!!! Phil is ANNOYING me..!!!!

Yes.. !! she knows her big words.. when she wants too.. but yet.. she is not up to par..??!!!?? *roll eyes*

Chloe comes home with work sheets. .and songs she had learned in pre-school, this is one of her craft work she did at the pre-school. Unlike her other school, she really seems to enjoy it.. because she said .. it was so much more fun. So yes, learning the fun way should be the way to go .. in the very first place.

Please note that i’m writing my experience here .. so that you won’t make the same mistake we did with Chloe. We were very brave to had thrown her into school.. without giving her anything to bring along in terms of preparation and knowledge beyond the everyday stuff. She must really enjoy school now, since she puked this morning. .and still wanted to go to school. It is also a nice change to see .. both teachers eagerly greeting us first thing in the morning.. whereby .. it wasn’t the same in chloe’s old school. A talk with one of our customer tonight .. may see Chloe attending not her old school but another — but we’ll see.

Chloe settled nicely into her new school this time. No crying goodbyes.. no waving till the classroom door is closed, no asking why i didn’t go pick her up from school and after just 1 hug each.. she didn’t even look back when we closed the door behind us.

On Monday, her new teachers handed out the worksheets that they worked on that day.. and told PB that they were more and more confused everyday. Confused about what..?? Confused that Chloe’s old teacher/s didn’t think that Chloe was ready or that she needed special help - with speech and other aspect. As far as her new teachers can see, they felt that Chloe could understand them.. and them her.

But having said that, I am really glad we pulled her out of grade primary because I was reading another blogger’s blog.. and her daughter is a few months older than Chloe.. yet she is still in Kindergarten .. but she can write full sentences already.. because she had been in a child care that nurtures the kids and prepares them for Primary School in North Carolina.

So for those in Canada, I just hope you take note that Pre-school does play a very important part in preparing your kid for real school. Even if your spouse did not go for pre-school when he was a kid.. nor his cousins or brothers and sisters.. please note that we are in a different time now. I wished i had done it differently but better late than never right.

As you all know we own a video/gaming/computer store, it is therefore inevitable.. that the brat would be seen playing video games at the store.. or watching a movie.. if she just came back from school. On school days, we are usually not too anxious to push her to do extra homework.. but believe in letting her choose the thing she wants to do. Plus, it is a good way to bond with her daddy .. when they are home during the weekend, since PB is into games too. As you can see, most times.. i feel that the lighting is not good enough when she is playing or reading and I don’t like it when she sits too near the tv for fear of having to use eyeglasses in the future. What about you ..?? are you worried about that too..?? I started wearing eyeglasses at a young age of 9 .. but the kids here.. some even younger than chloe.. but already wearing glasses like the chicken shit neighbour’s kid.

2 nights ago .. at exactly midnite. .we heard some motor noises .. right at our tv room. The brat had gone to bed late.. and we were just about to transfer her into her bedroom. At about 12.05am.. the noise was still going on.. what a racket i was thinking. Didn’t really think much of it.. since it was really cold that night.. and a snow storm coming. When the noise continued .. we tried to locate where the motor noises were coming from. .and in the middle of the night.. and in complete darkness.. i saw someone riding on the lawn beside our house.. on a lawn tractor. You tell me lah.. can die or not..?? after a while .. he stopped.. but not without going a few more rounds on the lawn. Firstly, we can’t understand it… it’s darn cold out there.. no grass .. since it’s winter..and even if he was fixing his darn lawn mower.. you wouldn’t think he would take it out for a ride at that kind of hour.. and in the cold. You see lah.. I got “xiao” neighbor or not..??

We’ve chatted with a few parents from different schools and chloe’s old school.. and all of them feels that we’ve made the right choice to pull Chloe outta school now and return this fall. But having said that.. and having heard from a parent from Chloe’s old school where they are encouraged to use only french for show and tell, we might not go back to the old school for French. And because of where we lived.. we just might have to send Chloe to the closest school which is what is expected if she was gonna be in just English.

I took Mandarin as my 2nd language .. and English is compulsory as first language back home but my teachers back home didn’t say we can’t speak in other languages when we were in school. Over the last week or so, we had spoken to several parents who have had kids in high school doing French too, and from what’ve heard.. the French classes were quite NAZIs . .if you know what i mean. That kinda scare me a little.. because .. hey..!! we spoke in English & Mandarin and dialects plus a little of Malay back home.. and we all coped.. and none whatsoever gave me the feeling while growing up.. that the schools or teachers were NAZIs about the language. And here i thought .. Singapore was a NAZI country.. muahhahahahaha!!!! I guess i was wrong eh.

Barb is a truly good friend ..!! one cannot ask for more in a friend.. ! she knows how much i miss home and the food from home… and she thinks of me. .everytime she goes shopping .. and then her hubby, Andy is someone i really respect (reason/s I cannot tell here), he would go and send stuff out to me. She not only think of me. .but always thinks of Chloe and send encouragement to me .. and never ever intrude when i am busy. It’s hard to find someone who gives so much but never ask for anything.. and for that i’m truly blessed and grateful for her friendship. Even though we haven’t been friends as long as other bloggers, she truly has rise above the call of being a friend. Thank you .. Barb for your friendship .. bless your kind heart.

I received this package last week … but because of the storm and more bad weather.. we didn’t get to the post office till this week. All the way from Malaysia.. from a blogging friend.. that I’ve known since I started blogging. Thank you so much Wang Tai Tai aka Bookworm.. yer the best..!! Thank you for making my Christmas wish come true. Now i can have some more Scallops with sambal. I sent PB to get me some more scallops tonite.. mmmmmmm… !!

When you bring your kid to work.. like we do, you have gotta be careful what you tell them.. because they will in turn tell the customers. I’m sure you all know we own a video store.. and yes.. we rent adult movies and sell them. They are stored in an adult room.. and we tell the brat that she cannot go in there.. because it’s a “yukky” room.

Today a customer came in and went into the “yukky” room. .and guess what the brat said to him.. ??? She said.. “Eeeewwwwkkkk… you went into the yukky room..!!! that’s gross!!!!” muahahahhahahaha!!! can die laughing or not.. ?? in which the customer replied.. beet red in color .. “yes.. it’s a yukky room” .. muahahahha!!!

Whether you’re a blogger or a website designer/administrator, you and I know that having reliable webhosting is very important. Firstly you want to be able to do your blogging online whenever you want to, and for those who have company blogs or websites to take care of you certainly don’t want a potential customer to think that you didn’t pay your bills for hosting your website just because your site is down sometimes. It gets really annoying when you keep getting messages like “you have exceeded your CPU limits” or an error page about bandwidth issues.

No one wants the hassle of changing webhosts because it really is a hassle, but when you get those error message as often as we did, then you know you need a better and more reliable hosting solution. More so if the hosting company you are currently with asks you to upgrade to features you don’t need, like dedicated servers, when they don’t even know that what you are using does not need dedicated servers at all. It’s like selling you a duck when you only need a chicken to cook chicken rice. I never want to deal with incompetent people anymore.

Most bloggers are like me who use less than 10gb of space and 20gb of bandwidth, therefore even though I’m no expert in stuff like that, I’m not entirely clueless. So don’t get sucked into something you have to pay a fortune more than you should be paying. With Canadian Web Hosting, the up time is guaranteed at 99.9% and they also promise fast and reliable service with offices in Canada. Since I’m based in Canada I encourage people to try them because they can be contacted locally and won’t mess around with you. With a 30 day money back guarantee, you can’t go wrong eh? Packages start at just $3.95/month.

I said many times.. and i’m saying it again — had i known that the weather here is so erratic .. i would never have come here at all. Yesterday we had freezing rain.. and today .. it was gusting winds.. up to 100km/hr .. and wind warnings. If you don’t know by now.. the cables for power and any kind of cables.. are all hanging up on poles .. like Singapore when we were in the 70s. Unlike Singapore’s government .. they didn’t advance at all.. and have them underground instead. So everytime, the weather turns bad.. i am fearful that we might lose heat and light. And no.. we do not have a wood furnace or a wood stove.. that i regret. If we are gonna continue living here.. i’m gonna have to consider putting one in .. which means.. another couple thousand of dollars… *sigh* ..!!! I HATE THE WEATHER HERE..!!! ok.. drama over.. move along now.

For someone who comes from a place that is summer everyday, jumping to 6 months of winter in Nova Scotia can be kinda hard to adjust to. With everything else we already need to do, including making sure that our winter wheels and tires. Given the road conditions here, we need to make sure that our tires are good every year. We try not to be cheap on the tires nor the wheels but you and I know that with the winter and power plus oil bills, you have to get the best price for both the tires and wheels whenever possible.

C0ming highly recommended was Wheelfire, they have many wheel and tire packages at discount prices, even custom wheels. Now that would be something to look at for those car lovers like someone I know from town, or actually half the town to be exact. Bringing you the latest in tire and wheel trends at prices you can afford. You are probably wondering about getting the right fit for your car, just like I was when shopping online for them, and I’m pleased to let you know that they have a fitment program that ensures that your car is properly fitted. Ordering is easy, shipping is also quick and they have tech support to answer any of your questions.

Wheelfire carries the wheels and tires in stock and you never have to wait for their orders to come in before they are delivered since they have their own warehouse. Being a member of the BBB (Better Business Bureau), you can check their outstanding record since opening. I asked the spouse about ordering online and he is comfortable with it, so we are all set.

So I’m sure you want to know how Chloe coped with her new school and new environment. She didn’t wanna wake up in the morning, due to the fact that she didn’t go to bed till late, even though we had warned her about waking up early to go to school the next day. She even choked a little this morning and tried to puke.. but having said that.. she said she wants to go to school (which is a real change because before she would try all means to NOT go to school).

We sent her to school.. and she didn’t fuss or cry.. just changed to her new school’s shoes .. and went along with her friends.. hugged us twice and didn’t look back. No calls from the school either.. and when PB went to pick her up.. she didn’t wanna leave. The teacher in the new school said she did fine.. no crying nor any fuss. I have a video to put up later.. so come back and see what she thinks of her new school eh. I’m happy she is happy.

I’m sure you know by now that I’m a picky shopper when it comes to buying jewelry. For one, I have to like the design and secondly the price has to be right. Like any woman on earth, we pride ourselves in knowing where and what to get at the right time. For Designer Jewelry that we like, I need to make sure that i can justify spending the money since it is not a necessity but a luxury and I’m sure you know where I’m coming from.

I also like to pick unique pieces of jewelry and not those that are mass produced because it can be quite embarrassing to be seen with the same piece of jewelry as someone else in a cocktail. Holsted Jewelers have a wide range to suit anyone’s budget, plus they offer free shipping and guarantee each and everyone of their pieces of jewelry. You can’t go too wrong with a place that had been doing jewelries for more than 30 yrs eh.

I have Gem of Life till Episode 60 and can’t wait to watch Episode 61, so if you want the links or watch it online, check my entertainment blog eh. Enjoy..!! For the person who said it’s immoral to download or watch online .. “POH LAH YOU..!!” get off your high horse . .because you are giving out links yourself.. to gain traffic .. Ptuuuiii..!!!

It was a very hard decision to pull Chloe out of grade primary now and send her to a private pre-school for the next six months, then send her back to grade primary again in September this year. I know she likes school, she likes her teacher and she is learning really well. From singing Christmas carols to writing out our phone number this evening. But as parents we need to make sure she is adequate and is prepared for the school environment, instead of struggling with her lessons.

We already knew that she didn’t recognize all her ABCs and 123s, but we had thought that that was the whole point of Grade primary, a place to learn the early stuff. Alas, we were so ill-informed and for that I feel terribly sorry for my daughter. Had we known that they had expected so many things of the little ones, we would not have let her go to Grade Primary this year. See, due to her age she normally wouldn’t have been able to start regular school yet this year anyway. As much as Chloe wants to go back to her current teachers class on some days and speaks well of her, we feel that another 6 months in the class is not gonna do her well and in fact may scar her. Having a child stressed up about school is not a good thing and during the last few days, the closer we got to school going back in session after the holiday, the more she would complain of tummy aches, and make frequent trips to the bathroom.

So we hunted down some pre-schools and chose one which we felt comfy with, a woman with 23 yrs of experience under her belt, so we trust that Chloe will excel. The setting of this private pre-school is almost classroom like but in a more relaxed atmosphere, I can see how understanding this teacher is just from talking with her for a half hour. So I just want to let everyone know that this decision was a very hard one for us, and we only confirmed the placement at the pre-school today, so yes we have given it a lot of thought. We thank everyone for their support during this very trying time and appreciate everyones concern. I will update with Chloe’s progress in this new & private pre-school.

We went grocery shopping yesterday.. and instead of getting groceries.. we got 3 books for chloe and 1 for myself.. and a diamond heart shape necklace for Keegan - Chloe’s babysitter. Yes.. we already gave her “ang pow” for Christmas.. but i felt she deserved something more.. because she is a really good kid. Keegan helped me out a lot when i had my operation 6 months ago.. and after 4 yrs working with us.. i really think she is by far the best kid in town. Thank you .. Keegan.

9 Yrs in Canada.. and this is the first ring PB bought for me from here. Why..?? all these years.. i never found anything i liked here. I love our Chinese gold.. and the diamonds are not of the best cuts here. For someone who had bought the Lazare diamonds for earrings.. i’m sure you can understand why i don’t think other diamonds.. are just not for me. Yes..! i’m fussy with my jewelry .. and i rather not buy things .. that are sub-standard. I’m not high class, just don’t feel a need to waste money on something i don’t really like… i’m sure you can understand it. Why I bought this..?? it was an unusual pattern here.. you don’t see many of this kind here.. so i bought it. A grocery trip.. ended up.. with PB a few hundred dollars poorer . .because we bought Keegan something too.. muahahahahahah!!!

PS : Chloe took this picture… because she wanted this ring as well.

I was brought up in a different era .. and different culture. I came from a single parent family and i rarely saw my father and since my mother was not in good terms with my paternal grandparents .. nor her own.. I was not closed to any of my cousins nor aunts or uncles. Because of all the above, family is very important to me. I, therefore try to get Chloe’s grandparents involved in her growing up .. to build a special bond them. I also vowed not to bring up my kid up .. the way my mother brought me up ( for example : if she breaks something, I won’t scream nor beat her up).

If I look closely at Chloe, I see me in her.. and because of that.. i am very conscious .. not to get grumpy at her… because we don’t want her to grow up to be a grumpy kid. I’m careful with what I say in front of her.. because she follows my “that’s awesome!”, even when she is in school, encouraging a fellow classmate when they do their school work. So it is true.. that our kids reflect who and what we are and at the end of the day.. what kind of kid do you want your kid to be..?? when they grow up. Kids pick up everything you say and do.. without even trying. We said we were going to get New York Yankees tickets for Christmas present for a g/f’s family from the States.. and she was going on and on about it.. for days. And when my g/f called from USA to wish us Merry Christmas before Christmas .. chloe asked.. did you get your Yankee tickets..?? *slap forehead* . So moms .. does your kid reflect you ..?? talks like you ..?? laugh like you ..??? Are you checking yourself .. constantly..?? I sure am.. coz’ that brat of mine.. is too smart for her own good sometimes.

My heart warms on this cold snowy day even though we just had a blizzard last nite. But thankfully we didn’t lose power this time. It arrived at the post office before the storm but we were unable to get there in time. It came from Australia, from blogging friend - Charmaine Wan. Yes!!! All the way from Australia, as she had promised. I cannot be more grateful because all I wanted was a package of Sambal Tumis, but she sent so much more. How can I repay you Charmaine??

With a Christmas card as well, and the “ang moh” is called “Chris” kekeke!!

Nicely wrapped in Christmas wrappers.

In two ziplog bags.

And all these goodies inside. Not only Sambal Tumis, but also curry chicken, nasi lemak paste with assam fish and Lee Kum Kee black bean chicken. Thank you so much, Charmaine! First the pictures you sent for my quest to show Chloe the world and now these *hug* you have a heart of gold. I’ve gained so much from blogging and I’m forever grateful for all the kindness shown to me. Thank you Charmaine! God Bless You!

PS: I will update later on other packages that came in this week. Thank you all.