Ushering into the Roarrrrrr Year

CNY Eve

Headed over to my parents-in-laws' place for reunion dinner. It's a yearly ritual. Weather was hot and humid. It was crazy... urghhh..

The variety of cookies my MIL made. She's a super-woman I tell you!!

Everybody arrived shortly after we did. They brought food for the night as well to complement our reunion dinner together.

Can you guess what these bunch of people are doing?? So sneaky hor...

They were preparing the 'Yee Sang' for the night!!

Here's everyone having a go at it, except me, because I was the camera wo-man!! ;p

One of hubby's cousin asked, 'eh, Gerry, you don't want to 'lou' meh?', and darling hubby replied on my behalf, "trust me, just 'lou' only.. she with her camera, she is very very happy already!" Lols! Hubby understands me soooooo well.. Love you, baby!!

Checkout the amount of food we had!! And this amount is X 2 (meaning 2 tables servings!)

CNY, Day 1

11pm, Midnight

We welcomed the CNY at 11pm on 13th Feb 2010. According to Chinese calendar, the official start of the day is 11pm, and not at midnight. Anticipating the hot weather the next day (14/2/10), we (parents-in-law, SIL and us) decided to headto the temple at 11pm.

Unfortunately, I was advised not to bring the new toy for safety reason. I agreed. So no photos for this. Thea and I only went into one temple because I wanted to show her what a temple was. But we did not light up any joss sticks at all because I felt that it was smoky enough and didn't wish to contribute to the already-unbreathable air. So Thea and I waited outside after a short walk in the temple. When the others proceeded to the second temple, Thea and I loitered around in front of a flower shop which was still opened. I used to take my stocks from there when I still owned a florist shop. They are actually a wholesaler to the florists all round KlangValley. I bought a packet of mix flowers for bathing purposes. When Thea and I were left alone, we looked at the flowers and even made a purchase - but this story, I will share later in another entry. ;)

We finally departed KL at about 12ish midnight. We got home, changed Thea and then slept. It was a peaceful sleep, knowing that we won't have to force ourselves awake just to head to the temple the next morning! Lols!

Afternoon

We arrived at my uncle-in-law's place at about 12:30pm, where my grandma-in-law resides. What I had initially expect of a full feast of lunch (as previous years) was consoled by a pleasant surprised when I was told that we were having 'mee-hun-kueh' for lunch!! How splendid! It was easy to cook and light for lunch!! Especially after a whole night of feasting just the night before!

Preparing lunch! The dough was cut into smaller pieces to feed all of us! Lols!

Here, everyone was helping out to put the cut pieces into the soup. One of our aunties commented that if we were to open a stall, we would surely lose money because we need sooooo many people just to help out with lunch! Lols! Another aunty laughed and said that this whole thing was actually fun because it got everyone (all the ladies + one boy cousin) involved as it is always nice to do things together! I couldn't agree more.. eventhough I was not involved in the preparation of lunch myself.. lols.

My MIL & Thea

Late evening

We visited Dad came last evening after each one of us had a nap after lunch. We just needed to S-L-E-E-P!! And here's dad and Thea huggin' wishing each other 'Gong Xi Fa Chai'!! :)

My Dad & Thea

We had dinner and played some cards. I can't remember if we stayed long. But it was a loooooongday for us, despite the nap in between.. lols!

CNY, Day 2

Gerry Can Cook!!

My dad has this ritual too for the family - 2nd day is 'hoi-nin-fan', meaning opening year rice in direct translation..lols!Please don't ask me what it means. I was just in-charged of cooking 2 dishes - the 'lap mei fan' and the 'hou si broccolli' a.k.a. dried oyster with broccolli.

Apparently, turned out to be yummy! Lols! So, Gerry CAN COOK!!! LOLS!

Luncheon

After lunch, we played cards. It was really fun.. unfortunately, we couldn't stay long because we had to visit theTais(hubby's colleague) and they had requested me to cook 'lap-mei-fan' too! Hmm, I must be talented in this dish. ;p

So to make up for the lost time with the siblings, all of us agreed to meet again the following evening for dinner together and games. We just wanted to spend some sibling time together. It's nice and cozy. :)

Evening

Proceeded to the Tais' new residence after the cooking storm. The kids had lots of fun; hubby had lots to catch up with his other colleagues whom he doesn't meet on a frequent basis due to their roster; and me, I was busy snapping away. ;)

Andrew & Vinnie

Thea having her dinner while playing with the Twins!

Poor Elaine was really tired by the end of the night. Coupled that we only left at about 1amish, so we only got home at about 2am. Thea was starting to sniff a little and I got a little disappointed.. because I made plans to visit Alina, Mike and Cash the next morning. :( I am too blessed for Alina's understanding when I
text her of the situation. We agreed to meet some other time.

So that was our first 2 days of CNY. Mostly busy, tiring and hot!! ;p

Babysitter of the Day

After I picked up Thea from school, we headed to Carrefour to buy butter in a dash. We had an appointment for Thea's manicure and promised to meet the Twins (Elise & Elisa); daughters of hubby's friend for a nail session as well. The families (as in ours and theirs) are considered as pretty close to a certain extend, so I offered to babysit them while they shifted into their new home at USJ Heights.

The butter was for Pauline. Promised my brother, Jon this morning that I would teach Pauline how to cook Butter Fish for their reunion dinner tomorrow night. As if I know how to.. lols!

Thea and I were just in time to meet the Twins as they arrived promptly in front of the nail shop. The girls were so excited to see each other! There, the Twin's dad left them to me and that marked me the official babysitter from that moment onwards.

I brought the 3 girls into the shop. They jumped and ran around the shop non-stop, laughing and playing. I had to think, think and think of stories or riddles or questions to make them sit put on the sofa by saying things like, "ok, there are 3 elephants in the zoo, 1 elephant fell sick and went to the hospital, and the zookeeper ordered another 3 elephants into the zoo, so how many elephants are there?" You get the drift.

When it was finally their turn for manicure, they were so awed by the whole experience! From choosing their colours, watching the aunty file their nails, putting on the base coat, nail colour, top coat and subsequently blowing dry their beautifully painted nails under the mini portable fan... They absolutely loved it!

Cost was really cheap. The Twin's parents kept on insisting on paying for it out of courtesy. RM10 per kid. Imagine if I were to take the money, I'd look like a cheapo right? Lols! Just kidding.. Secretly, I just wanted to treat the girls to a good time, so I wasn't going to let anyone rob me off that honour! Lols! The Twins love my Thea, and Thea loves them too. They have loads of fun together so it was my appreciation for their time spent with Thea. :)

After their nails were nicely done, we headed to the gelato parlour around the corner. Each of the kids (including me) had 2 scoops of gelatos each except for Thea. I guess she knew how much ice-cream she could take. She likes the taste, but can't really tolerate too much sweetness, so only insisted on 1 scoop. To top up the fun occasion, I ordered french fries. Lucky thing by the time the french fries arrived the girls were almost done with their gelatos because when the plate of french fries was put in front of their faces, they immediately pushed the bowls of ice-cream aside and said, "Aunty Gerry/Mommi, I don't want already!" and started grabbing on the french fries! Lols! Kids & French Fries = I'd say it's Perfect Combo! Lols.

When the plate was finally emptied, we all headed home. The girls took out their toys and played for a while before proceeding to their favourite activity whenever the Twins are over - swimming in the bath tub! Which, in adult terms - take a bath! Lols. Playing cook in the kitchen at that time, guardian angel was not able to assist me, so I took on the task all-by-myself. Tough I tell you, but fun! :D Everyone was laughing and splashing me wet!! They were practically splashing water all over the floor (spills from the bath tub) and me! Finally, when guardian angel was done with cooking, she came up to my bathroom, put on a stern face with towels folded on her arms, said, "ok! enough oready! everybody up!" Surprisely, the girls listened! Lols. Looks like she was in control more than I was! Lols! While she got them out of the tub, I dried and dressed them. They were all so cute, asking me so many questions of, "why?";"how come?" and "why?" Truly inquisitive young minds. :)

Being fresh, we played some more. Yes, we as in me too! ;p All of us had dinner together at Thea's Mamut table from Ikea (yes yes, including me!!) watching the Disney Channel together too! It was great fun. And when hubby came back, the girls' attention turned to him. As much as I had fun, I finally had a breather.. lols!

Fetched the girls back to their new home after hubby and I cleaned up. Found out later that Ethan (the Twin's younger brother) was raging with fever.. poor mom! Had to clean home, unpack stuffs and care for a sick baby. I started to appreciate myself that I actually offered to babysit the girls as I observed the mommy's tired face. :)

Tomorrow is reunion. The Twins kept asking me if we would go over to their house after the reunion, or if Thea could stay over. Lols. They are so sweet. Wanted to take multiple pics of them today with the new toy, but I was really too caught up with them. Not their fault, all mine.. because I was either having fun with them, or taking a moment to breathe from the exhaustion. Lols. In those moments of breaks, I remember thanking myself that I only have 1 kid! Lols!

Anyway, it was good fun. It's actually just a boring update this one. I felt like writing, so I wrote this. Perhaps also to encourage myself to spend more moments like these. Albeit tiring, but I learn a lot. Through these kids (because they are a year older than Thea), I am able to learn how else I could improve my own parenting skills towards my Thea. Not only that, Thea has fun with her friends. What incentive! And next time, I won't forget to capture moments with the new toy! Perhaps, I could make a scrap book for each of them as they grow up together. I think that'd be a nice thing to help them reminisce the fun times growing up together! Hmm, that is if I ever do get about doing it-lah... the scrapbook I mean. ;p

Be Thankful

Immediately after I published the previous entry, this quotation from Buddha appeared right after - as if supporting my give-thanks. :) And here I share with you the quotation: -

Let us rise up and be thankful for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so let us be thankful.

~Quotation from the Buddha~

TQ! TQ! TQ!

Baby Steps of Liberation

We think we can hide our pain, our shame, our guilt by hiding behind a strong facade, a victim facade, or a happy facade; the truth is even if we are able to deceive others, we could never lie to ourselves. And we think that as long as no one knows, we are 'safe'. That is silly.

Even if, we are able to psyche ourselves into forgetting what is there for us to face, someday when the container gets too full, the contents will spill over and we would be put in the exact same position again - to fully face our pain, our shame, our guilt.

We were always taught to 'forget' about what happened or, don't 'think' about it. Can we truly? I see only the possibility of 'transcending' what happened through the right effort, right understanding, right view. In my own journey, I find that the result after investigating the ideas behind a trigger liberates me. It does sound like a lot of work. Despite the occasional prompts of 'don't ask', I never seem satisfied with just that. My teacher reminds me to inquire; which I find brings about freedom upon the result of understanding - but warned me to be mindful of my intentions - for if I was 'asking' to fix a problem out there, then don't ask because I will never get an answer; but if I was 'asking' for the right understanding, then the 'right answer' will reveal itself.

It's freedom I am talking about here. Another of my teacher tells me, 'don't look forward to liberation, be liberated.'

How paradoxical. To seek for liberation, is to acknowledge that I am not liberated right now; and yet, to acknowledge that I am liberated, what else would there be for me to understand? Perhaps they all come in many forms, which means the same thing. I don't know. Well, sometimes I get frustrated because I do not know, for that would mean that I will need to work at knowing; but at times I love that I do not know, for nothing here means anything, so there is in truth nothing to know.. and that also I know, so it is not really that I don't know.. Get it? Lols. Now I am kidding myself in a merry-go-round!

I am thankful for a recent experience which had triggered me and an article that BB had written today on Shedding Away the Old Skin. The co-relation between the experience and the article had made me realised that I truly have no where to hide. The truth is, I could put on a perfect show and con the world but it does not ease the soreness that I feel in the heart - so for that I could never be free or liberated for that matter; until the right understanding arises. And yes, baby steps of right understanding has arrived, through right efforts.

Gratitude to all involved which made this learning ground possible for me. Love you all. :)

Lizards

Hate lizards. Have been scared of them since young and it got worst as I age. It's terrible, terrible!! Ask anyone who has witnessed my encounter with a lizard, they will nod their head and tell you, "eh, it's true one.. don't play afool.. she will cry one!!" And yes, it is true - I will literally SCREAM and CRY!!!!! Even if it was on the other side of the window. :-/  I just simply detest them.... erghhhhhhhhh.... The thoughts of them makes me shutter!! Erk!!

I screamed again last night because I saw 2 fat lizards crawling along my walls (can you imagine how long they could have been around until they got so fat??????????). Guardian angel came out immediately to my rescue. Obviously, by then the lizards had disappeared and I was left standing there with my hand on my chest, panting like a blardy fool. Made a mental note to remind hubby to call pest control. It's been a while. Hrmf, inefficient!! (my hubby who forgets to call the pest control. Hrmf! Hrmf! Hrmf!)

Guardian angel shared with me today that apparently, in Christianity (she is Muslim by the way), they are not allowed to kill or chase lizards away. To her knowledge, if many lizards come to your house, that means there is money coming to you. I smirked and looked at her funny and argued, "That is a crazy theory. Lizards come because there are bugs in the house! And bugs come because the house is dirty!!" She continued sharing that she read this in some Indonesian Christian Bible (which belonged to my dad's ex-maid) and there were pictures of lizards in the Bible. I didn't believe her, but shouted out to hubby, "Honneeeeee, Su said that according to the Christians, when lizards come to the house means got money wor...."

Guess what was his reply?? "Aiya, no wonder la.. you keep chasing the lizards away, no wonder I have no money..."

WHAT THE....? :-s

I told him that perhaps he could have a bug farm in the house so that he could lure and invite all the lizards to come to his house and that would mean more and more money going to him!!

And me? I'd definitely move out of the house.. :-s  To me, lizards and money just don't jive. Ergh!