Last Saturday, my kids attended Krystal’s 3rd Birthday party at McDonalds. When I told both Le-Ann and Ee-Thern that we are going for Krystal’s birthday party both got excited and can’t wait for the day to come. Even on that Saturday itself, when I asked them to go and take their afternoon nap, without much hesitation both slept for about an hour.

Got a request from Irene, she asked me to do cupcakes for her.  I told her I can do it for her but if the cupcakes tak sedap don’t marah me ya. Hahaha… the usual me, baked a batch of boring butter cupcakes. That is the only thing I know how to bake, either choco or butter. Boring right?

Start working on the fondant few days before the party so that it can dry up in time. Hmmm… I started to have interest in fondant. So there you go, the garden theme cupcakes for the little girl.

I quite like the cupcakes and it is so colorful,  sweet and cheerful when you took a photograph of it.

The birthday girl with Mommy and Daddy. ( Photo grab from Irene’s FB ). Love the combination of the cuppies with the Choco Cake she bought from Secret Recipe. It makes a nice center piece.

Oh ya… I was late for an hour to the party. Irene was SMSing me asked me where am I. So sorry because I am waiting for my drebar ( Dearie Suki )  to come back to fetch me and the kids.  When we reached McD, she was preparing for the cake cutting and my cupcakes came just in time for her to display around her Choco Cake. Lucky me. Phewwww… so pai seh… blame it to Dearie Suki who is si peh moh.

Meet up with few Mommies bloggers too.  Haizzz.. I felt so left out in the blogsphere now. Don’t know who is who. So sorry ladies, now I know who are you.

Kids playing around and look at Ee-Thern whole hair wet!

On our way back, out little girl, asked her Daddy whether she can have her birthday party in McDonalds. Hmmm… maybe we should plan one for her either in McD or A&W or KFC. She must be very happy if we plan like this for her!

8th Day of CNY. It the eve of Pai Ti Kong night. It is one of the grand night for the Hokkiens. Every year I am looking forward for this day to come because it is much more merrier than the other days of CNY at home. There are many food preparation for the prayers. The kids at home are just having so much fun playing with fireworks and indeed the whole neighborhood full with the blast of fireworks and firecrackers once the clock strike 12 midnight. Here you go some of the pictures taken during that day.

The array of food being layed on the table for prayers. From seafood to chicken to cakes to fruits. Wah, so many to eat after that.

 The whole roast pig is a must for us. This year it is really a big fat pig.

 Le-Ann and Ee-Thern with their beloved Chek Kong.

The Momster with dear cousins.

 Both my kids playing with their Joe Kau Fu and cousin, Edmund.

Lighting and letting go the GIANT lantern full with our wish list. I wish to earn more money. I wish life is full with happiness with kids and husband. I wish all at home stay healthy and pretty. Next wish… I wish I strike LOTTERY la. Hahaha

 Open burning….Pollution, pollution, pollution on that night.

There you go, after the prayer its time to let go the firecrackers. Guess who light it up.?Haizzz… off course my little brave Le-Ann. Last year Gladys did it and this year its her turn. Damn brave.

Its makan time after the prayers. While mom cooking the yellow soup noodles, Dearie Suki and the kids can’t wait to eat the egg tart, pau and cupcakes on the table.

Look at their face expression when they ate the cupcakes I baked for that night. Beh tahan them with their action. After having our supper, we head back home at 2 am in the morning. The next day the kids didn’t attend school and all of us slept till 11.30 am. Hahaha

A batch of butter cupcakes is what I contributed for the Pai Ti Kong prayer. Every year without miss I will baked a batch of cupcakes for it. Must pai pai a bit and hope Ti Kong will make me huat huat huat.

 My cincai do cupcakes. Hahaha

14th day of CNY. Its the eve of Chap Goh Meh. A get together dinner was planned for the Wei’s family ( Dearie Suki’s side of family ). We had dinner at one of the restaurant in Tmn Teknologi, Semenyih. I remembered when I just get married to him, I am not so used to see such a small family because I come from a very big family. Every time we had a family get together dinner, there will be more than 15 tables. For his side, the max is only 3 tables. Over the years I am happy to see the number of family members has been increasing and this year the kids had a table by themselves!

The kid’s table ordered their own menu. They had fried rice, fried Hokkien mee, and Melon soup. Hahaha… all of them are so cute. After eating, all cabut and running around the restaurant and us having the full 8 course dinner.

After the dinner, we went over to cousin’s house for gambling and chit chating session. The kids were playing with fireworks and Dear Suki gave them all and get them to finish it. He said “Next year… buy again.”

15th day of CNY. Its Chap Goh Meh. How time flies and in just a blink of eyes the 15 days of CNY is over. On this day, how can I not forget to invite my group of Ci Muis over for a luncheon at home.  I’ve prepared steamboat for them and we had a great time eating and chit chating. Its nice to have them drop over for lunch. We are still as closed as ever during our UNI years. I just love to see and hear the house filled with noise.

Last but not least, we finished off our CNY with Lou Sang. Yup… we must make sure we toss high high.Well, thats my CNY at home. Till then, we will celebrate again next year. My life is back to work and looking forward for my confirmed holiday trips to Thailand in April, Vietnam in May and Hong Kong in August. Life is just so beautiful!

I discovered  some mini ceiling fans which is only 30′ in width. Pretty small right. I am trying to find a small fan for the kids room but then having a room on the ceiling is dangerous because both my kids is going to sleep on a double decker bed. Dearie Suki suggested standing fan but I don’t really like it.  How ah? Unless only have the air-con in the room.

It is kind of frustrated when you go to the supermarket’s barcode scanner and try to scan the product for pricing and it is not working. Arrrggg… this is not only happened in TESCO but also in Giant and Carrefour. I wonder why can’t they invest on a better barcode scanner like the ls2208 model from Symbol? Furthermore there is no price tag on the product and you need to walk all the way to the cashier counter to ask for price. Sigh…

In my life I never like finance. I nearly flop my finance paper during my last year of UNI years. Can you imagine that how bad am I in counting. But then lately I realized a lot of teenagers are studying finance. If you asked around, 8 out of 10 are studying finance. Maybe it is easier to get a job and those who are graduating soon, it is time to do the finance job search. Good luck to all of you!

Gong Xi Gong Xi Gong Xi Fatt Chai.

I am still on the new year mood. The lazy bug had strike me over the new year and I am so lazy to update my blog. I drag myself out from the bed today just to upload and touch up the pictures and it is only 50% done. Those who are in my Facebook, you can see all my updated CNY activities at home. I find that Facebook is much more faster and easier than doing it here.

Back to the office on the 10th day of CNY. Yup, I took long leave over the CNY. Back to the reality again. Work has been piling up in my mailbox, got to beat the traffic again, got to teach the kids in study again… sigh…. so many things to do. I think I have gained some weight. Have been having Lou Sang Luncheon and Dinner for the past few days. Few more to come next week. I think I had Lou more than 10 times starting from our family pre-CNY dinner till today. Few more to come the next 2 days and next week. Gosh… so jelak about it.

For this CNY, I think I stayed at home most of the time. Only get to go back to Ah Mah’s house and my in law’s house. Reason being I was grounded at home by Dearie Suki and not allowed to drive the kids out.  Why????? Because I met an accident on the 1st day of CNY. I drove with the kids and Dearie Suki in the car and I doze off. Bang the car to the opposite road and into the drain. Thank GOD… all of us are safe. All of us are traumatized especially me, Dearie Suki and Le-Ann cos we had bruised all around the body. Will post the whole story later once I am free. But I am thankful to GOD that everyone is OK now. A lesson to be learnt by me. “NO DRIVING WHEN YOU ARE SLEEPY”

Here are some updates of my CNY preparation at home. I am lazy to elaborate. As usual, my every year CNY is almost the same. Nothing much to shout about. CNY for me is all about preparation, food, eat, gatherings, open houses, gamblings and most important is have fun with the kids, relatives and friends.

On the eve of CNY, get the kids to help me with the decoration at home to create some CNY mood.

When the lights on… tadaa… aren’t they pretty?

I love to decorate the altar.

My DIY CNY plant uses ngaku ( arrowroot head ). Can save up a lot of money eh from buying potted plants.

Clockwise from left : Meringue Kisses, Crispy Crabsticks, Pineapple Tarts,  Mut Foong Tow, Melting Moments and Ngaku Chips.

My baking before CNY. Baked some cookies and fried some chips at home.

The food preparation at home for prayers and re-union dinner at MIL’s house. Roast pork and Pak Cham Kai for prayers at the altar. After prayers on the CNY eve, I cook Chicken Rice for lunch. Then cook 2 dishes back to MIL’s house for reunion dinner. As usual, my yearly CNY dish… Hou Si Fatt Choy and Stewed Fish Maw.

Also not forgetting, a batch of CNY Butter Cupcakes for the kids at home. A must for them. My dear cousin Faye, has been reminding me to make sure I bring the cupcakes back for her.

1st day of CNY. Took some pictures with the kids at home before we leave to MIL’s house and visiting to relatives house.

Ee-Thern with the Yee Yees and Kau Fu.

Awww…the gambling session. Its all the kids at home. They are only allowed to do it once a year. My son, wins me RM10. Hahaha… this has been going on for few nights. Kids are just so energetic.

5th Day of CNY.  CNY gathering with old friends from primary and secondary school at Equatorial Hotel, Bangi. Its nice to catch up with them after so many years of not seeing each other. The only main contact is thru blogs and Facebook.

The kids are just having so much fun while the Mommies chit chatting.

6th Day of CNY. The open house at home specially for the Wei’s family ( Hubby side). My usual preparation Steamboat and Yee Sang for them. Also cook a pot of Vegetarian dish this year but too busy to take a picture. Anyway, I was busy the whole night entertaining them. Hopefully my cousin can tag me some pictures over in Facebook.

This is only the 1st part of my CNY. I have another family dinner on this coming Saturday, eve of Chap Goh Meh and another open house at home on Chap Goh Meh day for my group of Ci Muis.  Oohhh… can’t wait for it. So stay tuned… for my Chinese New Year 2010 - Part 2.

Talking about insurance, I think it is pretty important for each working individual to get one for themselves and also for their kids or family. Why I say so because it felt that we needed to be protected by it. Please don’t get me wrong I am not promoting insurance. Why I said so because last week my BIL had an appendicitis operation. Though it is just a minor but the bill cost him RM15,000. Gosh… that cost a lot of money and for an average income person, how are you gonna fork out that money to pay the medical bills?  Please get yourself a life insurance policy if you have not get one. Get yourself protected today.

Oohhhh… I have been missing in action for the past one week and I was telling myself that today I am gonna update my blog on my new year’s bake. But it didn’t materialize again. Anyway going to do it during the holidays. I am busy reason being I am busy baking because there are few orders coming from friends. Also I have been busy helping Dearie Suki to re-paint some part of walls in our house. That is why all my Saturdays gone.

Time really flies and I just got back from the CNY reunion dinner at MIL’s house. We had a big makan feast in Ah Mah’s house then adjourned to MIL’s house for reunion dinner. Both my kids are excited and has been playing with their fireworks and pop pop right after dinner. Dearie Suki has been kind to the kids and he had spend RM200 plus just for the fireworks and pop pop for both of them.

I need to go and catch some sleep because I only slept for 2 hours this morning before I wake up to cook and prepare all the prayers stuffs. Tomorrow is another day and will be visiting all the yee mah ku cheh. Hehehe…Till then, wishing all of you who celebrate Chinese New Year a happy and prosperous roaring TIGER year. Keong Hee Huat Chai.. Huat, huat, huat ahhhh!

I am extremely tired and restless after the car accident. I have yet to recover from the shocked. The next day after the accident, I started to fell the pain on my chest and my neck. I even had joint pain!So can you imagine how bad is the impact during the accident.I wouldn’t dare to think more about it. The pain is everywhere and every part of your body. Gosh… lesson learnt. Don’t ever drive when you are sleepy!

Gosh… I had a very, very, very ugly dark circles around my eyes. I have been sleeping really late lately. Not because I am working, but have been crazing over a Taiwanese drama and makes me so addicted to it. Watching one episode to the next episode, it makes me stay awake till wee hours in the morning. When  I went to work, my colleague was telling me why I had such bad dark circles under my eyes. I am shy to answer her that I watch movie till wee hours in the morning. Hahahaha… anyone knows which is the best eye cream for dark circles? I think I really need one now.