Yes, Lord... I Heard You...

...LOUD & CLEAR...

Two days ago, when my eldest came back from work, she told me about her off days from classes and work. Earlier I've made her a promise that if ever she has a three-day leave, I will drop everything like a bomb and book the next flight out for a good holiday even if it's just for three days. So, now is the opportunity to do so. I was quite shocked actually but I try my best to keep to my words. I don't believe in the saying some might be practicing about "Promises are meant to be broken." I live on God's words about let your yes be a yes and your no be a no. I trained all four of them to keep to their words and not be fickle-minded.

No matter how last minute or spontaneous I am, I still seek God and tried to stay in tune with Him. I was searching for the flight. It looks like Fireflyz has the one I wanted at a promo price. I was about to click on it when my Internet crashed. Usually it would just take a few minutes to recover but I was already staring at the "Page Not Found" for almost an hour. I gave up and all of us drove back to the new house.

We came back and I tried again. The Internet was working but the moment I wanted to click on the flight booking, it crashed again. I was already having second thoughts and there was this tugging in my heart that we shouldn't go on this trip. When I woke up I told my eldest that it's best we didn't go but I was thinking it was so hard for her to get a leave from both school and work, might as well spend quality time together. Asked her again and she said ok, we should go. I tried other means to hear whether God is really saying no or I'm hearing it wrongly. I asked for my Thursday class to be shelved which was granted. Aha~! Should be the green light that I was looking for. By afternoon, I have most of the plans in my head already. I'm gonna make all the necessary payments and bookings at night after church. But it wasn't so.... yes, Lord... I heard you... loud and clear... 

After the evening service, I was having a quiet supper with hubby while waiting for the youth service to end. My mind was working over time as in which hotel to stay in and since it was no longer the peak season I should be able to get a good hotel, flight and car rental. Everything would be done in less than an hour when I reach home. Hah~! The youth celebration hasn't ended so I went in to wait for them while fidgeting around with my new toy. Then, all of a sudden hubby came and said that four cars have the windows smashed and mine was one of the cars. I was in a daze... I thought all those things only happen in movies...

The first shock wasn't the windscreen. I haven't come to that point yet... I was EXTREMELY upset to see the content of my pencil case strewn all over... those are very colourful pens... don't you think so? It's something I use EVERY DAY... hey, that's very disrespectful of you doing that to me... real idiot whoever that was... if you don't want any of it just put it back at where you took it from... 

What the %^&#$(*&@#^&*??? How did my dolphin bag ended up outside the car and I never have dog ears to my story book... why removed my bookmark as well? Are you such an idiot to think that I will stuff money in between the pages of my books... you must be having a hard time flipping through all the books... and I have lots more in the car... ASSHOLE~! I wasn't concentrating on the broken windscreen yet... The alarm was ringing loudly in my head... cancel whatever trip that I'm planning... just cancel it... ok ok ok... I got it... revive the Thursday class... get things going as usual.... no more changes....

Oh, well... that windscreen has been giving me problem whenever it was raining, so high time I changed that as well... see God's timing is always perfect... if it's not broken, the procrastinator in me will never change it. The procrastinator in me wouldn't even clean up the car. At least the culprit dug out all the old parking tickets from under the seat... wow~! The culprit even dug out things from the front drawer. You know I have always wanted to drive with the window down and today I got to do so... I was yodeling away while on the way to the police station... I wanted to howl like a wolf... :D 

The most upsetting part was my precious lost her whole bag with her wallet, her ID and her Chemistry and Maths book and her custom-made pencil bag. She has her tears streaming down and the only thing I could do was to assure her that I'm gonna buy her everything new again and I'm not going for any holiday trip whether short or long. I'm going to be around and get things done. My eldest was upset when we reached home. Upset that so many things that hold dear to us were gone just like that. She knew it in her heart that our trip should never happen. You see... I'm very proud of her, of them all... proud that they are sensitive enough to hear God's voice... Well... I'm the one who needed a loud bang before I obey...

We reached home around midnite... had some comfort food... my eldest was kinda surprised that I was still laughing about it. I think most people will expect me to cry...that's what I felt like doing at first but later, I find it kinda amusing... just felt kinda shitty that I lost ALL my ADD MATHS answer sheet that I worked so hard on. Now I have to do them again... and I wonder when am I gonna find time to do it.... and my Note II charger... hah~! Time for a shopping spree~!!!

That's A Really Big Bad Wolf...

Oh, yes... the big bad wolf has arrived. I was thrilled to know about the cheap offers. Instead of getting the books at RM32.90 or RM68 either from the Popular Bookstore or MPH, I got most of the books at RM8, RM10, RM12 and RM20. 

Fancy being greeted with guys holding empty boxes. I took two boxes and I was really floating in paradise seeing those neatly lined books. That's very prim and proper... at least readers know how to put back what they see and not throw the books all around like when you go shopping for clothes and the whole bin looked like a tornado has gone through it and dumped the clothes back down into one ungodly sight pile.

I was moving in a tortoise pace but as I walked further, I see that most of the titles and authors are not known to me at all. I must have stopped reading for some time not to realize what I have missed. But then again, I seriously don't know any of those books or writers. Should I give it a try? Nah... there are lots of romantic novels but I prefer those with complex cases that boggles your mind. If Stigg Larsson was still alive I would opt for his books. I can't even find David Baldacci's book and where's Sidney Sheldon? Can't find anything that I have in mind. 

 I don't know how I do it but I guess I have a splurging problem with me. It's either I buy tonnes of clothes at one go, spending in four digits for clothes and I did the same for books. For the rest of the stuff like paying a RM2 parking or paying 20 cents for a plastic bag, I will tell you that I can't afford it as they seem to be too expensive. I can tell you that a plate of seafood spaghetti costing RM17 is just too expensive but I don't mind eating a blob of ice-cream at the price of RM18. There you go... I have an hour and a half and I spent roughly around RM400++ on the books and got myself and my precious a t-shirt each with a 25% slash off the price. I thought I have bought enough, actually I have. When Logos was here, I spent more than half a thousand on story books. When Popular Bookstore held a fair at Straits Quay, I spent another half a thousand. 

 So I bought mine on Monday. Today (Tuesday) I was too busy with my long train of schedules. Hubby decided to go on his own. I thought he wasn't going to get anything so I left him the debit card just in case. Wonderful hubby that I have... he called before making the payment as any large sum of amount spent will have to be certified by yours truly. My heart did a somersault when the total amount skyrocketed to RM720. I wanted to say no but if I say no, I will have to go back there on Friday morning, and sort through which one I wanted and which one I don't want. Some of the books are for my eldest, like that big ugly blue book with the title 'The Ultimate Guide to Spirits & Cocktails'. Heck, I don't even drink. Have I ever mention that my favourite drink is plain water, icy cold? And what's with that Pilates book... I'll have a good laugh imagining myself doing it. All those recipe books that filled up my once new and empty shelves, those will last me a lifetime. I wonder whether I can finish cooking them if I target 3 recipes in a day. 

I'm contemplating of hitting the gym once again... but if I have to stand in the kitchen and cook out a storm all by myself, I will have no time for gym at all or any other things anymore. What am I to do now? My hubby is very supportive as he said, "If you want to go to the gym, then go. If you want to cook, then cook." Hah... that's a good piece of advise... and I only have a few hours free in hand. Should I wake up at 5 a.m. to cook? Nah... I enjoy sleeping with my comforter and my plush animals in both arms...

NNNNNNNOOOOOOOO~! I didn't survive the wolf... I'm still shocked over the RM720 bill... and I'll never leave the debit card behind anymore. I was thinking of going back there on Friday to have a slow walk again but looks like I'm not going back there. No more clothes shopping or book shopping until next year... I'm gonna be a scrooge...

Pretty in Pink...

I have been a faithful and loyal user to my Xda Atom. Six years it has been with me. I'm a very early mobile phone user. I've been using a mobile phone since I was 12 years old... if any of you remember the model Motorola PCN600... followed by Alcatel, then Siemens, the one I like most because it has waterproof lining inside the casing itself, then Nokia came about with the slimmest design... I have never like Nokia, I don't know why... After using so many mobile phones, I find no joy in using any of them. There are times I like going out without a phone so that I will not be disturbed but a mobile phone or a smartphone at that, has become our extra limb. 

My eldest sponsored me a new phone when my pda died of cardiac arrest a couple of weeks ago. You know, I have a very bad addiction towards Facebook. A few years back, I used to go online on average of 8 hours a day. I know it didn't sound that bad compared to the gamers but you see, I have a job to do... but I somehow abandoned my work just to keep myself busy on Facebook. When I went to China, I managed to keep my addiction under control because of the fact that there's no Google, no Facebook, no Blogger and no nothing over there. I was overjoyed to touch a computer but since I couldn't understand the Chinese characters, I can only shut down the computer... not being able to use it at all... thus the case of my addiction was shelved away. Now, with the smartphone, I have my computer switched on but I am busy replying messages through Viber, Line and Watsapp... 

Now there's the pinky limited edition... shucks... I should have just waited and keep myself without a proper phone for a couple of weeks then I can have that... ARGH~!!! I have the urge to get a Galaxy Grand for the dual SIM card function and also S4... hhhmmmm....

Raising Teenagers...

I've not been seriously blogging for long. Maybe I've lost the passion in writing. I've been staring at the cursor for quite some time, the clock is ticking away, yet I have no idea what I want to write about when in fact I have lots of things to say. This is somehow like an open diary to me. A place where I pour almost everything out in the open yet I do not care whether I'm going to be criticized for voicing out loud or for going against the norm of culture.

I've been wanting to write about how to raise a teenager. I raised four, not one. Have my hubby and I done a good job? That is for God to decide, not men. Over the years, truth be told, I wasn't very happy with the arrangements. In my opinion, I have sacrificed 10 years of my young adulthood taking care of other people's children. I'm 29 this year... sounds kinda old... and what have I achieved so far? Counting my blessings... I have everything that I've ever wanted but sometimes I feel like I have nothing at all. I look at others and I felt like I'm so incompetent. Hubby couldn't seem to understand a single word that I said. That's the most frustrating part. 

This is my eldest. The SPM result that she has just gotten, I was upset with her results, have always been pretty upset with her results. Well, who to blame? Me or her? I never have the extra time in hand to coach her personally. I can't even find time to mould her into what I wanted her to be. The only thing that I've truly done for each of them is giving them really good food. Their taste buds have been spoiled by all the good tastes, making them into picky eaters. God is gracious with her and she didn't fail any of the subjects. She did okay looking at how she has not been studying yet she still managed to get 4 A's. She's going to be a qualified chef real soon. I guess the 10 years that I've sacrificed standing in the kitchen has impacted her in a way that I could not understand. At least I can be sure that she will grow up into someone with a job, someone with a great future. Love you no matter what... 

That's my pineapple on the left and my precious on the right. In every family, there's bound to be favouritism. I can let my precious off no matter what kinda mistakes she has made. I hardly scold her unless she drove me up the walls by interfering with my working hours. The first and the last time she did that, I screamed at her so horrifyingly, I thought she was gonna cry her eyes out. So yeah, that was also my first and last time screaming at her. My precious, the one who knows what I've always wanted from her, my expectations and everything else. She has make me really proud of her with her string of straight A's. Now, I understand why MOST parents, if not all, like to boast about how well their children fair in the public examination. I gloated over her results for days... but at the same time I was faced with a dilemma.

My pineapple did not do well... cried her eyes out... I wasn't sure whether I should laugh because of my precious' success or I should cry together with her. I was so lost as I only know how to laugh and I hardly know how to cry and I have not mastered the art of consoling someone who cried uncontrollably. In the end, I took my pineapple to another state, drove up north and went to celebrate for she is still better than others. Love them both... I'm still telling myself that life is not about how well you do in an examination.

There... there my youngest who tested my patience. She has been a great help in the house and I'm pushing her to be a high achiever. Don't ask me why am I pushing her, but I just want her to be a great achiever as I know she is talented in every way, creative and innovative. She's artistic and.... oh, well.... I don't know what to say about her... 

In conclusion, it doesn't matter how well they fair in the examination. The most important part in raising a child, is to raise him or her in God's way. Seeing them in the Youth Celebration makes me really proud of them. They are able to support each other in prayer. They have the fear of God in their lives. They know how to thank God in good times and bad times, keeping their focus on Jesus instead of the worldly materials. I think we did right by bringing them to know the Lord. 

No matter how much I enjoy the peace and quietness in the house, my house is always not quiet. And I have to admit that I have come to enjoy the noise, their chatters when they're back from school, their antics and especially when they're enjoying the meals prepared by me... the chef in the house... 

Three more years and my youngest will graduate from high school... I wonder whether I am dreading the moment or looking forward to it... 

24 Hours A Day is Just Too Short...

I can't believe this. It's already the third month of year 2013. The days just flew by... I'm always jumping out of my bed and making a dash to have a shower... I'm becoming a real expert in doing everything at a rapid pace. I am able to wash my waist-length hair in 5 minutes and in 15 minutes, I'm out of the house dragging my eldest along. I have a class to attend to while she has her culinary class to attend as well. Looks like the three of us in the house work round the clock. By the time we come back it's just before midnite or slightly after midnite. There are so many things to do but so little time in hand. 24 hours is just not enough to do everything. Work seems to be endless.

Let's see what I've done for those two months. I've had a great time in January celebrating my birthday. I have somewhat a relaxing time wasting the time away during Chinese New Year watching movies after movies. What I hate most about the week is Monday and Tuesday went away too soon. Wednesday seems to be in the middle, visiting shortly, then it walks away, too. Before I know it, I'm working 9 hours on Saturdays and Sundays. I enjoy it to the max because the people whom I teach are very lively and makes my life more colourful. Without them, life will be dull. 

I'm currently hooked to Israel Houghton's song....  Jesus At The Centre...

Oh, by the way, I've been going to the General Hospital for some reasons not concerning me directly. I'm gonna have a phobia going to hospital. There's still a few more appointments. The long wait makes me feel like shitting my pants. My patience got tested in every way. Surprisingly, I sat there quietly with always a book in hand. Right until now, all doctors have been really great except for one who accused my pineapple for having psychological thought that came out with the pain in her abdomen. Could someone be actually creating a pain since 6 years old and lasted until now. That's absurd. If there's any finding that can be found, I would really love to sue the doctor for saying she's just concocting the pain in her head. It's really unprofessional of that kinda doctor. Why not just tell every patient suffering from deadly illness that it's just all in their heads, the pain didn't exist and and there's nothing to worry about. 

Hhhmmm... I really enjoy writing here. There's so much to write about. I'm gonna find time and spend at least an hour here...