We never did get our flu shots till last year - but this year - we were all quite gung-ho about taking our flu-shots and of course Chloe had her flu-mist - that goes thru’ the nose. She was a wee bit frightened of it initially because she had almost forgotten about it - but after taking the flu mist - she decided it’s not that bad after all. Plus, she met her favorite doctor this visit - Dr Randall - who gave her a hand drawn sticker on a sticky note - like last year - boy! was she tickled. Then we had to get our flu shots - and she didn’t want to look at it - so she went out to play in the hallway where all the medicine carts were lined up in front of the doctor’s consultation room. The girls at the clinic was very nice and let her hope around it - and explained to her what were the medicine carts for and what were in them. We left the clinic after half an hour for we needed to make sure that we didn’t have a bad reaction to the flu shots. Thus far, we feel that the flu shot had been good for us - for we’ve noticed that we don’t get sick as often as we did the previous years. So for now - we will continue taking the flu shots every year. Flu shots are free in Canada.

So PB bought me the Bamboo Capture from Wacom ! woohoo!!! i’m pretty pleased with it - although I haven’t had much time to play with it yet. So why do i need a bamboo capture since I’m not good with drawing - I hear you asking. Well, I can still work on the pictures for my webpages - and re-design templates of my own and when I get the chance I want to learn more about web designing. I have lots of interest in it and I think it’s a great way to make more money online.

Many of us remember when educational toddler toys began and ended at alphabet blocks and pull-string toys that emitted animal sounds. These days, however, the emphasis on encouraging your children to use their minds from an early age means that the field of educational toys has exploded. There are some wonderful toys out there created specifically to feed your child’s brain from infancy onward.

1. OLLO Action Robot Kit

If you want to give your child a head start on those mechanical engineering programs you hope to inspire him or her to delve into later, this OLLO kit is an excellent educational toy. Five different pre-planned robots can be built from the same pieces included in the kit, including a windmill, walking T-Rex, dog, and more. There are also plans not included that can be looked up online. All of the designs work on a single AA battery.

2. Creative Puzzle Peg

Intended for children 18 months and over, this unique puzzle toy goes a bit further than your typical sort-and-stack toy. It encourages problem-solving skills and helps to develop fine motor control. The base comes apart in four puzzle-piece shapes and each piece has a post featuring small nubs. The included brightly-colored shapes stack on the posts, but they first have to be manipulated to move the opening of the shape over the nubs to get it down to the bottom.

3. First Time Gear Clock

This child-friendly clock is based on the first mechanical clock’s design. It teaches how gears work, as well as how to follow directions, and encourages cognitive development. The color-coded set of directions shows your child how to assemble the 27 parts into a working clock that runs for over eight hours without requiring a battery.

4. Mozart Magical Cube

The popular theory that Mozart’s music helps to improve spatial-temporal reasoning in infants and toddlers continues with this toy. This is a bit more than a music box, though. It features five large buttons that are easy for small hands to work, each of which plays a different instrument – piano, violin, flute, harp, or French horn. A sixth button plays them all in a choice of eight of Mozart’s compositions while the toy flashes to the tempo.

5. Chinese Magnetic Poetry

In a world where everything and everyone is connected, being multilingual has never been more important. Many schools are teaching foreign language from preschool on up now. This magnetic poetry kit builds on this by providing an array of 140 double-sided magnets with a simplified Chinese character and its pinyin pronunciation on one side and the English translation on the other, allowing for vocabulary-building. The set comes in a hard plastic case to keep them organized.
Learning just got more fun!

I have been quite lucky of late and managed to find some really good antiques right here in our county. This musical box is so unique - I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it - it plays Edelweiss - a song i love very much too. These days - I spend a lot to time buying things for myself - instead of looking out for other people, I learned that I have to make myself happy first - before taking care of others. No matter what others think of you - for it’s not important - what’s most important is myself and my family. So yes! I’ve been spending some money on myself - but of course, I continue to buy things for my friends’ kids too - how can one not love kids right? they are just too cute. But please don’t buy anything for me and Chloe because we really are already very blessed.

Taking a car ride out to Chloe’s grampie’s or anywhere in the country, we’ve noticed that there are quite a number of dead zones - where we cannot call out or receive calls. So whenever we need to leave the store and head out to the country - we sometimes worry about not being able to receive calls from the store. Paranoia I guess - but the store needs to know that they can reach us anytime - so we went out to our favorite store at the mall to get a cellular booster , that is said to be able to improve the signal on any vehicle. We did find one at the mall - and for $39 - I think it’s a good investment - so no more dead zones for us when we are in the car. That should make PB happy and the store happy as well - for I know PB don’t like to be in a dead zone at all.

Looking back to my life before living in Canada makes me smile - because never would I have thought I was so passionate about supporting our local businesses and online shopping. Where I come from - we have shopping centers 8 stories high in department stores. Where I am now in a remote area in Canada, it’s really hard to shop for everything in town. I’m passionate about buying local because the spouse owns his own business - a small one - and without the support of the local community - we could never have a comfortable life. Therefore, whenever I can - I will only shop locally or within Canada - it’s smart move to shop within Canada because shipping is cheaper and in a lot of cases it’s even free. Most importantly, I don’t have to pay for brokerage fees. If I needed to buy a big item like a painting (made the mistake once and paid as much for the brokerage and shipping fees as the painting itself).

Since I can’t head to the city every time I need something (because of the store and Chloe at school), shopping online at places like Centrsource or Roots are my best options. I like to shop for everything under one roof, so it’s great when you find an online shop that carries most of the things I need. And I never shop for anything that is not on sale or has a deal/great offer, for I get a little carried away when I shop - don’t you? I’m checking out Centrsource as I write and it’s very unique, it brings you to the site the offer is on - and you deal directly with the seller/shop - pretty neat. And I can shop after Chloe has gone to bed so I can read up on the things I love and get the best deals. Now if only they carried Asian groceries I’d be all set.

So we invested in a little cottage by the lake in Pembrooke - and this is our little getaway during the weekends - we just loved going there with our little bass boat and while PB and Chloe do their water sport thing, I just lazed around the sun and get a tan. But because Pembrooke is out of town, our cell phone signal isn’t the strongest but have no fear for in Canada - they have cell booster antenna that you can get from your local store in the mall - not expensive at all - and with that you will never have to miss a call. Although we say we are going there to relax, you all know that we need to keep our cellphone ready and available because of the store, so yes! thank God for gadgets like the cell phone booster else I doubt PB would want to buy this little cottage out in Pembrooke. The cottage was cheap and it has lots of potential, come spring next year, we are putting up a sunscreen porch and inviting friends over for more BBQ. woohoo!

We had brought in some apples for Chloe’s class like we usually do every fall. When the Apple farm where grammie works has apples for sale we usually get a 10lb bag every week. They are very cheap, and sometimes grammie will pay for it or there is no charge from the good Wallace owners. We are grateful always for such kind people in this area and cannot thank them enough for being so kind to Chloe. We are really blessed because just on the weekend - Chloe received a huge teddy bear - one that is bigger than her, from our customer - Gillian - just because, therefore I always have thank you cards handy, so that I can write out thank you cards to all these wonderful people who’ve not only been kind to us but also touched our lives.

A friend just told me I’m a Godsend but little does she know that she is the one Godsent and I cannot thank all of them enough for always sending food and gifts from home for Chloe and I - even all the way from Australia. And I’m usually so busy and even sometimes forget to send thank you cards to all these wonderful people, therefore, we do our bit for the kids here and pay it forward. Friends who sends food and gifts to us never expect anything back but I’m always grateful and want to do kind things for others because of them, so they are the ones who are Godsend. Once again, I cannot thank them enough.

Every little girl needs a dollhouse don`t you think? I think so ! and when we saw one up in the city - that we feel that we can justify - we went back to MicMac Mall to get it for Chloe. She was a happy girl even though she was very sick but I guess I wanted to get it for Chloe because I didn’t have stuff like that when I was a kid and I sure envied my friends when they talked about their huge dollhouse. Deprived of a lot of stuff when I was a kid, I want to make sure that mine gets a reasonable amount of stuff but I wouldn’t go overboard on any toys for Chloe and what other people do with their kids is none of my business. To each their own - and more power to those who buys expensive toys for theirs, it is not for me to judge. But having said that Chloe’s grampie will be paying for Chloe’s dollhouse so I’m buying him some Padron cigars that he likes for being so generous.

12 yrs as a owner by association to the spouse’s business - you would think that he would get the hint and get me some business cards right? well apparently, my hint wasn’t that good - so I am going to get some business cards by postcards and the price is so cheap - the spouse cannot even say I spend too much on it. For as little as $6.99 for 100 business cards - you cannot go wrong with it - i’ll say. One can even upload your own photo if you so desire - for example if you are a realtor or a mortgage consultant and even a banker - like I get all the time when I visit my bank.

1000 of templates to choose from and if you are not internet savvy - no worries - they have a live chat person to help you along the way. But it’s very easy to do - just follow the instructions - and you will receive your business cards from as little as 2 days. I liked that moms like myself can order as little as 20 business cards just to have when we want to give them out to teachers, principal or other parents for play dates.

And since Christmas is just around the corner - I too am looking at making some personalized greeting cards with our family pictures on it - just like the ones I received every year from friends and family. I admired those cards tremendously and since they are so easy and cheap to make online - I’m going to try it out this year. So friends and family look forward to our family picture in our greeting cards for this year.

Chloe is currently in Grade 2 and besides her school friends - we also make sure she has friend from other schools. And since she is taking up so many extra-curricular classes, it is inevitable to be asked out for play dates and vice versa. But my play dates usually involves the mommies as well - that way moms can get together and eat, chat and drink - and most importantly relax. Thank God for electric grills , because we can grill just about anything for everyone. So everyone brings whatever they want to feed their kids and just throw it onto the grills I have and it’s that easy. I make lots of ice lemon tea and lemonade for the kids - and for us mommies - I add in a bit of my special liquor - like the cranberry ones that I bought locally from Lunenburg. My play dates are always a hit - because we have the trampoline - the swings and those big inflated castles for the kids to bounce and slide.

I’m so excited - we just booked the Westin Hotel at an incredible rate - and we are heading to the city for the weekend - a long overdue break - to be honest. We haven’t gone anywhere during the summer and it is driving me crazy - because I had hope to bring Chloe to the city to do some shopping. We didn’t even buy her any new clothes for school - for the local kid’s boutique here closed its door just before the summer. We bought some tourmaster jackets for ourselves online in preparation for the fall/winter - but we didn’t get poor Chloe anything. So this trip to Halifax we hope to get some good quality jackets like the Tour Master’s at kid’s size and of course at a sale price. I told the spouse that since we spent some money for ourselves on Tour Master - we should get a bit of stuff for Chloe during this trip too - like gloves, jacket and pants. I loved the leather gloves I got for PB from Tour Master - they were at a very good price - so lets hope we can get quality stuff for Chloe at just as good price too.

This weekend is Grandparents’ Day - although some may argue that it’s a way commercial business make you buy more gifts and spend money - I think it is important to acknowledge Grandparents who played a very important part in your child’s life. After all, Grandparents are the next closest relative besides the parents right? and even though grandparents don’t look for gratitude - I think it’s important to show Grandparents how much we appreciate their help, love and gifts they pour onto your kids. While I had gotten my mom gifts at Shari’s Berries - for grandparents’ day - we are going to order some cheese and flowers. So for those who are not aware that Grandparents’ day is this weekend - you still have time to order your gifts now - it doesn’t need to be a whole bunch of gifts - just chocolates, cheese or flowers are very nice gestures to show you appreciate them.

So I finally settled for a Wicker’s emporium Maize 3 drawers storage for a bedside table and plus it was 50% off - so I bought it for my bedroom. I had wanted it in a different color - but they only had this color or the multi-colored ones - so I settled for this color since our bedroom’s furniture are almost all brownish in color. Looking kinda gloomy I know you are gonna say - but not to worry because I ordered a painting from Etsy - and am looking forward to getting it - that way I can add a splash of color to our bedroom. I feel that it is time to dress up our bedroom since we haven’t for this long. We’ve been in this house for almost 7 years now and as surely as I am trying to dress it up - everything seems desperately slow - because I just can’t find anything I really liked. And I won’t settle for less or just an item - that I mediocrely liked. Like for my tv room/living room I would really like to get some calligraphy work for the living room - but of course to do so - I would have to go home for it - because you need to be quite selective - as to who write the calligraphy for you. Oh well - we’ll just have to wait then.

So Hurricane Irene is coming our way - everyone in the East Coast was warned and told to be prepared. We don’t know what is going to come this way - it’s a hit and miss around here but everyone is busy putting away their patio furniture and swing set - and anything that is left out in the yard. We are very lucky because we have a wooden swing set that is nailed deep down into the ground - and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. So each time we have high wind or bad weather - the only thing that doesn’t need moving around is the wooden swing set. We bring in the trampoline, the patio set, the cloth hangers and even the mosquito net comes right down. I hope we won’t get a lot of wind and rain - because it can get nasty - so are you prepared for Hurricane Irene?

My nephew who will be attending University during this fall called to ask me about getting a new wardrobe for school. He thinks I’m fairly fashionable and would like me to go shopping with him and his mom - he was petrified that he would have to dress up the way his mom wants him to in University. I can completely understand his predicament - because my mom was the same way when I was a young adult - she wanted me to wear frilly stuff *slap forehead*. I found some armani exchange coupons for him and told him where he can go look at some of the more fashionable clothes and to show his mom what he liked before going shopping - that way she has an idea - what is suitable for him now. Like all moms - I can understand where his mom is coming from - but I’ve also been a young adult before and can sympathize with him. So here’s a win- win situation - for I really think that AX clothing are a great buy.

Definitely not an easy feat - but I have to say PB did a pretty good job - from the start - till when we had a tough time some 4 years ago - and now bringing the business back where it should be and even better than I had anticipated. Being in business for this long also means constantly upgrading - and the money that we made - always goes back into the store somehow. Besides the paying of bills - and stocking up inventory - and buying what is necessary to live on - we rarely splurge on ourselves. This year we are looking at getting a barcode scanner for the store - because it would be a lot easier if we were to hire on part-timers. We don’t have to specially train them how to punch in the codes and look out for the price difference - all they need to do is to scan the products and once scanned - the cash would balance and we won’t have to worry about missing money.

We are also constantly looking for ways to make things a lot easier on us - the initial part to put everything into the system using the scanner may be a bit tedious but in the long run - it would be a lot easier - we don’t need to hire a very skill person to man the counter for us - even a monkey can do it - like the sales person said. And yes - as we look forward to celebrating our 12 yrs in business at the end of the month - I hope this year PB would give out some free gifts like pens or memo pads - to our regular customers. What do you think? should we have cakes and coffee too? or get the local radio to come celebrate with us.

Chloe’s handmade hat from Vancouver got stolen just before school ended - and it was a pretty expensive one of a kind hat. She was devastated and I quickly got her another one - to replace the one that was stolen. Some people might think that I’m crazy to spend so much money on a hat for a kid - but when it comes to spending money on Chloe - I have no qualms at all. Call me anything you want - but if it had anything to do with Chloe - whether it is directly or indirectly - I won’t mind spending money on her. Of course, that doesn’t mean that I am going to go out there and buy her a iPad or a Iphone - you know what I mean right? I try to give her to best in terms of nutrition - and school stuff - things that is compulsory - and yes ! i do splurge on her like her hat - but I figured it’s a good hat and it will be used for a long time provided it’s not stolen by someone.

This is the girl who is afraid of real dogs - but insist on having a dog for a pet - a toy dog of course - isn’t that strange ? Yes! her pet dog’s name is “clever” too - hahahhaha!!! So I told her that she would love her Kai Mah’s doggy - because they are as small as her toy dog - she asked really? hahah!

I wanted to think of a title that won’t offend my Chinese friends - but there isn’t really a good way to put it - without upsetting some. But this only applies to those who are not technically inclined because the Chinese men that I’ve met - are not very technically inclined - well - except for the engineers I used to work with. But truth be told the Western engineers are by far more handy and knowledgeable when it comes to anything electronic. And I can prove it because PB is such a person - ask him about wires, cable or even digital video cables, he is able to tell you exactly what they are for and how to use it. But if I were to ask a chinese friend - I seriously doubt they are so good with it. Some of the chinese male friends I had known all my life - don’t even know how to tune a VCR to record what is on tv *slap forehead* so can you blame me for wanting to marry a chinese? well - of course, there is more to knowing about cables to choose from a Chinese to a Westerner - but that’s for another post and another day.