My lesson for the day

Not to accept the responsibility of organizing something until I fully understand what it entails. If it gets too much, learn to say no.

Not to listen to niggling voices. Some people just love to complain. Its THEIR issues, not mine. DO NOT accept the responsibility of helping them. They would need to help themselves, not me.

If they commit to something and offer to pay me first. ACCEPT IT! They may forget to pay me later. Especially since they might change their mind later and I have already paid for them first. I keep on losing money this way. Its time for me to learn this lesson well.

Stay away from toxic people. They wear me down.

I will concentrate on people who can make me into a better person. Life is too short to dwell on the small stuff.

I will learn my lessons well so I don't have to keep on repeating them.

Thank you Allah for the oppurtunities for me to learn.

Chocolate delight

I attended a "chocolate" class with Chef MM For me, these classes are not just about the knowledge about food that I obtained but also the friends I meet and the different cultures I get to learn.



D & B are preparing the chocolate truffles. The three of us took cooking classes at Four seasons about 2 years ago. It was great to catch up with them again.




Peach salad



Chocolate parfait with peach salad



Chocolate Mousse with chilli sauce



Chef MM showed us how to roll the chocolate truffles in our palms before dunking them in cocao powder.



I had so much fun and had a huge chocolate rush that I forgot to take more pictures of the truffles! Since it was a toss up between sampling the food and taking photographs, guess which one I chose to do?


Since then I have made some chocolate mousse and its a hit!

Just for today

I am glad that I have someone to clean and polish the house new again, after it looked like a whirlwind swept through it.

I am thankful that I have a husband who is supportive of my dreams, ideas and hobbies. I cannot thank Allah enough for the love he has given me.

I am grateful that we are in the financial position to afford more than just what we need. A good education for our child is within our means. That its not a toss up between a meal or the child going to school.

I am honoured that we have friends who enjoy our company. Who seek us out even when we don't feel like going out to socialize. Its a gift really to have friends who love you and enjoy your company.

I am happy that I have the freedom to choose. Whether it is the best for my child, the convenience for me or the joy for us.

I will concentrate on the wonderful things I have in my life. And my health will be better in no time at all.

When a door of opportunity closes, another one will open.

Let it be so.

The Best part of my day...

Was when the Little One could express "I love you" to me unsolicited. She even said it with a smile in her sleepy face.

Was when my DH appreciated the simple dishes I cook for dinner today.

I am lucky that I am loved.

Cooking class with Chef Marianne Mussi

Starter

Potato creme soup
Served with spiced sausage, crispy coutons
And Sherry fillet

Main course

Oregano/lemon stuffed chicken
Potato rosti and parsley Fume

Dessert

Vanilla parfait with caramel sauce
And strawberry salad

Chef MM made everything looked so easy and everything we, yes we all had a hand in preparing the food we got to eat, made was amazingly delicious from simple ingredients that can be bought locally.

The potato creme soup was smooth and delicious. the sausage added an extra zing and the fish added another texture for the soup.









The chicken and rosti was amazingly simple to make and she even showed us how to serve the dish gourmet style.

And the parfait is to die for!!! I was so inspired and excited after the class that I made some immediately the same afternoon!

Out of respect to Chef MM I will not be posting the recipes for her dishes here but please email me privately if you are interested. In the meantime I will ask her views about this.

Present for Umi

I know my blog seems a lot more like a mommy blog now rather than the travel blog that it started itself to be. But such is my life now.

My 27 month old daughter is trying it on now. She is testing her limits and her boundaries as far as she can get away with. It does tire me out sometimes. I have to constantly remind myself that she means well.

Just the other day, she insisted in opening the roll of wrapping paper we just bought in IKEA. Gone were the days when wrapping paper just used to cost 20 cents, wrapping paper seem to cost a premium here. I was reluctant to waste the wrapping paper.

When I was not looking she quickly grabbed the roll and started to unroll the cutesy paper. So I obliged, I cut her a piece that she could play with to save the rest of the roll.

And guess what she did? She came to me with a “parcel” of the wrapping paper I gave to her.

“Look Umi! Present!” She handed it to me with great excitement.
[ In my heart I was going.. ohh nooo what a waste!]

“Whats this Am?” I obliged her.

“It’s a present.” She answered.

“Who is it for?” I asked.

“For Umi.” She said with a smile.

So I began to unwrap the present.

“What’s inside?” I asked her.

“Bread,” she said gingerly.

Yes my daughter had wrapped a slice of garlic bread as a present for me.

I had to smile. I gave her a kiss and said thank you for the present. And hugged her.

My darling, I will always remember the first ever present you gave to me. May your life will always be enriched by wonderful gifts that you will receive throughout your life.

I am at quandary

I am at quandary between changing the school for my daughter and keeping her where she is.

Why do I want to change?

The owner of the school and her sister who is one of the teachers in the school is showing too clearly how untrained and unexperienced they are. Most recent example, my daughter's finger was burnt with glue from a glue gun. Why do they have to use gun guns for a craft for 2 year olds is beyond me. They claimed that the glue gun is the only glue strong enough to put the button on the tin cans wrapped with crepe paper. She even went on to say that my little one was , I quote, their "guinea pig," the first child to do the craft and thus her finger because they didn't realize that the glue was hot.

How incredibly stupid!

Why I keep sending her there?

1)Convenience. The school is within the compound, thus 5 mins walk away.

2)Familiarity. The other children in the compound goes there too including my little one's best friend. She plays with them in school as well as in the afternoons at the skate park and play ground.

3)Cost factor. Sending her to a school outside the compound means more money on transport. That or we would have to get a driver.

In general she is doing well in school. Partly because she is used to it and partly because she is excited to see her best friend Mariam in school. She enjoys her singing sessions and I even caught her singing to herself. I often hear her chant "Eeee ya eee yaa yooo."





I am not the only one unhappy with the school. I guess us mothers tolerate it because its convenient. But I am not sure if I can live with myself with the excuse of convenience.

I have only just begun to enjoy my free time. Not that my time is free mind you, I have a planned schedule for everyday of the 3 days in school. If I didn't send her to school, I wouldn't have the time for my own self development with sewing, Reiki and Yoga. And I believe that I will be a better mother with all that.

And what do we do on the two days she isn't in school you asked? On Saturdays is our bonding time, either spent on the bus or whatever strikes us, be it painting, collecting flowers/leaves or even climbing trees.



And look what she was up to last Saturday:



We were examining the trunks of trees and she wanted to feel whats its like being on one.

And on Wednesdays, we have Kindermusik with Hanna,






Kindermusik is coming to an end though. We no longer will be doing Our Time but will switch to ABC and Me programme if we have 12 people together. I'm hoping that we can round out 12 people!

Are you interested?

Life lessons

Hoooraaay! I just need to sew a little bit more and will be done with my challange quilt and I don't have to sort out my demo till later.

1) I must remember to be here and now and not rushed off my feet going 200km/hr and then feeling lost after. Yesterday was one of those days I was rushing through things. Didn't have proper conversation with people, looking half stressed. Came home feeling relieved but at the same time a little bit regretful. Perhaps I didn't take enough people. Perhaps I didn't make the effort to make proper conversation. Perhaps I forgot to thank a few people.

I must remember to be present in the here and now, to enjoy each moment as it unfold.

2) Keeping in touch, even if its a one line email is very important. [Re: I have a few emails and even smses I have yet to reply.] It may seem like it can wait or unimportant to me but may be important to the other person.

3)Learning to let go
Whatever grievances I may have, I must learn to deal with it, put it past me and move on. Because if I don't. I'd just be bitter and catty. Especially if the issue is long past and everyone else has moved on.

Its amazing how the short interaction I had yesterday yield 3 more new life lessons for me.

A peek into their lives

One of the most interesting aspects of life on the road, is the opportunity to meet new people, of different professions and backgrounds. They provided insights into some life lessons and experiences, some of which I would not have the opportunity to peek otherwise.

The two gentlemen were ex-armed forces, here on business. One recounted to us his experiences in wartime Bosnia. The other was his trainer.

The third is a heart surgeon, born of a military family that grew up in hardship. Listening to his stories about his childhood made me realize how lucky I was to have a good childhood. My childhood seemed luxurious compared to his.

Between him and his two siblings and their mum, they shared a can of sardines and rice for lunch and dinner. They had occasional keropok for snacks. How his mum sold keropok and batiks to earn extra money for her children.

His father physically abused his mother, who continued to stay with him despite the children asking her to leave her husband.

He took his ticket out as soon as he could. He went to boarding school and later earned a scholarship to study medicine in England. Through sheer hard work and a strong will, he became a specialist.

More than anything else I learned that we are all only human; The Majors, the heart surgeons, the doctors, the politicians, the songstress, the ambassadors. It may be obvious to others perhaps, but it all drove home for me this time after my conversations with them.

We are all in search of the same thing. Happiness, family and means to pay off our bills and mortgages. We all have the same struggles in life. We all have our own life lessons to learn, and we can all attain everything that we dream for, as long as we believe in ourselves and we work hard to achieve our dreams and goals.

The roads may be different, but the journeys are similar.

Thank you for giving me this insight.

Putting first things first

My Reiki Teacher Ang@ shared with me an excerpt from Stephen Covey's First things first. He describes a story that one of his associates experienced on a seminar.

In the middle of the lecture the presenter pulled out a wide-mouth jar and placed it on the table, aside to some fist-sized rocks.

"How many of these rocks do you think we can get in the jar?" he asked the audience.

After the students made their guesses, the seminar leader said,

"Okay, let's find out." He put one rock in the jar, then another, then another--until no more rocks would fit. Then he asked, "Is the jar full?"

Everybody could see that not one more of the rocks would fit, so they said, "Yes."

"Not so fast," he cautioned. From under the table he lifted out a bucket of gravel, dumped it in the jar, and shook it. The gravel slid into all the little spaces left by the big rocks. Grinning, the seminar leader asked once more, "Is the jar full?"

A little wiser by now, the students responded, "Probably not."

"Good," the teacher said. Then he reached under the table to bring up a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar. While the students watched, the sand filled in the little spaces left by the rocks and gravel. Once more he looked at the class and said, "Now,
is the jar full?"

"No," everyone shouted back.

"Good!" said the seminar leader, who then grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it into the jar. He got a quart of water into that jar before he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, the jar is now full. Can anybody tell me the lesson you can learn from this?"

An eager participant spoke up: "Well, there are gaps in your schedule. And if you really work at it, you can always fit more into your life."

"No," the leader said. "That's not the point. The point is this: if I hadn't put those big rocks in first, I would never have gotten them in."

+++++++++++++++++++++++
The story made me think about my big rocks. What are they? And what should I put in first?

My beloved, my little one and my family of course. Then comes my quilting, my reading, my travelling and maybe even my writing. Self improvement also comes in first. I want to be the best person I can be, who is happy, contented and connected. Intellectual development and personal growth. And achieving my dreams and goals.

To have financial independence, to have the house of my dream, to travel all the time to different places, new and old, and to love and be loved. To be an inspiration to my child and at the same time have the capability to inspire her to be the best person she can be in her life. To support her to achieve her full potential.

And my darling, we didn't name you our hope for nothing. We hope that you will achieve better things than we can and go to places we haven't been, even if it is the moon.

I always want you to know that we love you and will always believe in you.


++++++++++++++++++++

I brought some wonderful books back from Dubai. Will have to blog about my Dubai trip at a later time. Although the trip was very short, I am very grateful that I have a wonderful and understanding DH who supports me in my interest.

I do digress. I am reading Weekend Life Coach by Lynda Field and oh boy, she is opening some doors for me.

Affirmation

I give myself permission to speak my truth. I allow myself to prosper so that I manifest everything I need, financially, spiritually, physically and emotionally.

And so it is.



******************

Back from Dubai. Recharges, rejuvenated and inspired. Have been sewing furiously for my Challenge Quilt and my demo.

Freedom

Some keynotes from today's class that I would like to remember:

Forgiveness is the key to freedom, "Would you rather be right or would you rather be happy?"

Perhaps it may be obvious to other people but the coin just dropped on me when I read those words today. Sometimes I feel compelled to correct people or I carry some sort of nagging resentment about some one (or two) about an (unkind) remark being made about me which I thought was not true.

Now I just have to remind myself to forgive them for their ignorance. It is not as important for me to set them right as it is to make myself happy.

With that I am freeing myself from any sort of imagined eyes on my backs. I will no longer care what people think or say of me. What is important is that I am true to myself and that god knows I am being truthful to myself.

I want to be happy. Happy with myself, happy with my life and contented with all that Allah has given me. I will not allow those words come creeping to get me. If the words do come, I will acknowledge them and then set them free again.

I will not criticize others and in turn, I will not criticize me.


+++++++++++++++++++++

I reaaally need to pack and plan my trip for Dubai! I am determined to have a very good time there! And I hope I will give The Little One some wonderful and new experiences! I am excited!

Generosity of neighbours

I walked as fast as I could to the store. The mission, to get 12 cubes of chicken stock. Of course they had absolutely no chicken stock cubes at the store. Passed by 2 neighbours, said brief hellos.

"She looks like a woman on a mission to me," remarked D.

"Yes well I went to get some chicken cube stocks but of course the store had none. I'm just having some company over and needed to make chicken rice."
"Tell you what, why don't you drop by and see if I have some."
Errrr, surely its embarrassing to be usurping your neighbors supply of chicken stock?

But I really want this chicken rice so why not.

We walked briskly to D's house. Pop into her larder and Wallah! I wiped out 8 of her chicken cube stocks!

I was just so touched by her generosity! I couldn't even thank her enough!

"Enjoy them" was all she said.

Note to self: I must get her something nice!

++++++++++++++++

The following day, on our way home back from school, we dropped by M's house to say hello. M is The Little One's best friend in school.

M has been suffering from some fever.

Her mum answered the door and told us that M was much better, thanks very much for asking. She was sleeping at that very moment and we would be seeing her for Kindermusik class the next day.

Just as we were about to leave, M's mum asked me if I would like a box of truffles. She knew I liked the truffles because she had offered them to me previously and I had confessed my weakness for truffles. These are Belgian Cocoa dusted chocolate truffles from Marks and Spencers no less! And apparently M's mum and dad didn't want them anymore!

Sheepishly I agreed to accept them. I didn't know what else to say except thank you!

Note to self: Need to get something nice either for M or M's parents.

What did I do to deserve such generosities? I am just so touched by other people's kindness to me.

Dear Allah, thank you so much for the generosity of my kind neighbors. Thank you for putting me in an environment surrounded by kind and generous people. I hope that I can be a kind and generous neighbor to my neighbors too.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Being far away from home, I am always so grateful that I have friends who consider me family. We were invited to a Chinese New Year lunch. Although I am genetically 50% Chinese, I do not know the Chinese customs or culture as much as my genetic make up. What I know are bits and pieces here and there offered by various friends, neighbours and colleagues.

To my pleasant surprise my Little One received many handsome red packets. I am ashamed to say that I didn't prepare any red packets for the other little ones. Note to self, please prepare some for next year if I do get invited again.

I even received a New Year present, a set of four soup bowls with a red packet inside.

I don't know what I did to deserve the wonderful people I have around me who are always generous towards me and my family. I hope they will always stay with me and enrich me.

If I am doing something right that endear me to them, I hope I will be able to continue to do so.

Thank you Allah, for the wonderful people you put around me. And for the enriching environment you allow me to experience. I hope I will be able to grow to be a better person all the time.

Taking responsibility for yourself

When the words were uttered, I had the greatest urge to write them down. To write them down quickly and clearly because I didn't want to lose them.

"Taking responsibility for yourself."

Some people believe that things happen to them. Others believe, things happen because they made it happen through their thoughts and behaviour.

I have always believed in free will. Don't get me wrong, I believe in predestination as well. Somethings are predestined but how you react to them, what you do are all up to your free will.

I will now watch my words because where words go, energy flow and that goes the same to my thoughts, where my thoughts flow, that is where the energy is directed to flow.

I will remember to be gentle and nurtuting to myself and to others around me.

Because I am solid gold inside, I will be able to do what I put my mind to do.

From today onwards, I have to start cleaning out my clutter inside. It will be tough and I have many issues to deal with. I know I can and I will. So here starts my journey of self discovery.

Energy

I have always prided myself in being adaptable and being open to learning new things. And I have been lucky enough to hangout with friends new or old who taught me a thing or two about life, its challenges and different ways of looking at something.

Tomorrow I will start learning about Reiki and self healing. I know, I know, what stress could I have being a homemaker and stay at home mum? Not being a corporate ladder management etc?

With the arrival of The Little One and her traumatizing beginnings with conventional medicine, I have decided to seek alternative therapies. I have to say that I haven't been brave enough to forgo innoculations altogether. In fact I have to admit that I could not get satisfactory advice on the alternative that I continued with the jabs. I am now looking into homeopathy as an alternative to conventional medicine and has found it effective for The Little One. It is somewhat challenging because I had to import my own medicine and depend on books rather than the consultation of a homeopath.

So tomorrow I look forward to a different sort of alternative therapy.

My child, if you only knew, what I do, the books I buy and read, the food I get, the toys, everything is the best for you. Know that you are loved by everyone around you.

Cheer up!

The door bell rang at 830 am. Its a bit early I thought. Could it be the maid? When I didn't hear the door being opened I quickly made my way downstairs.

When I opened the door, I found the compound driver holding a plastic bag. I recognize the contents in the bag.

"Madam, your friend from XYZ compound send this one for you."

I graciously said thank you and closed the door.

The Little One was awakened by the door bell. She had been suffering from fever and flu for the past week. She missed all three days of school. I had to forgo my Yoga and quilting classes. The joys of motherhood. She was a little teary eyed.

"Look what Auntie Ev@ sent for you."

She smiled and proceeded to explore the barn and the animals. She made some animal sounds. All is well again.

She even requested to bring the cows to Kindermusik class.



Dear Allah, I am so grateful that I have considerate and wonderful friends who can really make my day and spoil my child. I am just so touched that they think of and for me and my child. The generosity of my friends often humble me.

Visitors to our home often remarked that she has a lot of toys. What can I say, the people around her just spoil her!

For you my dear, may you always lead a blessed life full of abundance. May you always be loved by everyone around you. May you grow to be a sensible, humble, generous, independent and considerate person. May you always be surrounded by people who will care for you, just as they do now.

She likes school!

I am happy to announce that my Little One now enjoys school! She stopped crying when I dropped her off this week and even walked in willingly to greet her teacher. My DH was so amazed when he dropped The Little One in school this morning because she walked in all by herself without saying good bye to him.

I am also so grateful that we have a wonderful Kindermusik session going on. The Little One goes on Wednesdays with me and she seems to be enjoying the sessions tremendously. In fact she often asks, "Where is teacher Hanna?"

So much so I have started to sew again and have some time to myself. My schedule is packed jammed full that I just sometimes forget to stop and do nothing! Saturday mornings are for the shopping bus, Sunday for box making/quilting, Monday for Reiki, Tuesdays for Yoga and Wednesdays for Kindermusik. And I have the Guild once a month and Tuesday evenings for Quilting again.

I am so grateful for the full ane enriching life I have and a daughter who is growing into a brilliant gem as each day passes by.

Finishing up

To finish up my entry about the day before, naturally since I normally brought some sort of refreshment and hot water, the water cooler in the hall was empty. They knew I didn't bring any! Thank God there were other generous ladies who brought all sorts of delicious refreshments.

My DH who was suppose to pick me up, picked me up at the wrong location. SO I waited in the dark, luckily not too long though, just about 20 mins or so. Allowed me some time to browse through the library books I borrowed. Gave me an idea of what I could do.

Yesterday

Yesterday was one of those days I felt like I was on the treadmill all day. The morning went on well enough, I sent The Little One to school. It started going wrong when a mother remarked, "Where are your shoes Little One?"

I looked at her feet and to my horror I forgot to put her shoes on! I am ashamed to confess that it wasn't the first time I sent her off to school without shoes. Somehow just getting her and myself out of the door becomes such a big thing and I kicked myself mentally for not preparing everything in advance the day before.

After I said goodbye to the kind mother, ushered The Little One into school I walked home as fast as I could to fetch her shoes. No wonder I missed them! The shoes were not on the shoe rack but apparently assumed a life of its own and walked itself under the dining table under the kitchen!

I must have thought the shoes were on her because it was not at its usual spot by the door!

So I dashed as fast as I could back to school and dashed as quickly back as possible. I was determined to sew this morning. I have 3 deadlines to meet. Err actually 4 now come to think of it and I don't seem to have enough hours in the day to sew. I used to be able to wake up in the middle of the night to sew but seemed to have lost all energy and slept like a log the past week. Even though my husband can vouch that I slept for the full 8 hours it felt like I slept for just 5 mins and suddenly night turned into day.

So I checked my emails. Answered whatever I could and then started sewing. Of course I am working on 4 projects simultaneously so I am spoilt for choice! I decided to work on my crumbs quilts then remembered that I may want to change my presentation and therefore need to prepare new props/display. Started looking at fabrics. Put the new fabrics I bought in the wash. Ironed those already washed to be filed away. And my alarm rang. It was 11:30am.

Since I am determined to try and feed my daughter better I decided I was going to cook for her vegetable congee. So I quickly cooked it up and ran over to her school to fetch her.

There goes my morning.

We decided that perhaps her good friend M may want to come over to play with my Little One. M's mum was saying that all M ever asks for is "Ami" her name for my Little One. So the kids played. First at M's place then at our place. It was almost 2:30 pm then and we decided that its time to put the Little Ones to bed fo their nap.

I took a short nap with The Little One, about 15 mins or so and woke up. Managed to creep away without her waking up, went to the PC, checked my emails. Saw a friend got online. Chatted with her for awhile. Realizing it was almost 4 pm I excused myself and went downstairs to start cooking dinner.

Managed to put the pan on the stove, brown some onions and guess who woke up? She was all cranky too! So there I was trying to pacify a child and cook at the same time! And then "dING dONG!" A neighbour came by!

It has to be one of those days! I looked at the clock and told myself its OK I have 1 hr to cook, chat, prepare myself and my things for the Guild. But conversation was so good the minutes flew by in a flash and before I knew it I got a call from the friend who I was getting a ride from and she had already left her house.

So I ran round like a headless chicken picking up bits here and there beating myself for not preparing all the stuff earlier. Called the gate for a golf cart, jumped in the car and off we went to the location.

Have to stop here now because I want to catch the Limo for a coffee morning.

Another day and another rush!