A few milestones

In the last couple of months, Olivia has achieved a few 'milestones'. I'm not sure if it's considered milestones in the medical world but they are definitely milestones to me. :)

1. She can put on her socks and shoes by herself. I thought this was quite impressive at 2 years old.



2. She can ride/pedal a tricycle. I bought this tricycle with a parent handle when she was 21 months old. At that time she could not pedal yet and I pushed her around using the handle. Just before she turned 2, she was finally able to pedal on her own. I think it's time to get her a REAL tricycle.



3. She can sing these songs on her own - ABC song, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

She's growing up too fast!!

Season's Greetings

Our family is a mixed family. We celebrate Hanukkah, not Christmas. I still think of Christmas as a religious celebration, even though some might disagree with me.

When it comes to sending out holiday/christmas cards (a tradition in US), I had a hard time choosing the theme. Should I choose Happy Hanukkah or Merry Christmas? In the end I chose Happy Holidays as I didn't like the Season's Greetings template, even though I hate to be so politically correct. :)

So here it is. Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Winter Wonderland

So, we had our first snow storm of the year this weekend. It started on Friday and by nightfall, certain areas already had 7 inches of snow. My area had between 3-5 inches of snow.

The next day, we all went out to shovel the snow, which had turn to ice since it was so cold, and to clear out the side walk. We also helped clear the snow off our elderly neighbor's property. Olivia helped too, but she mostly just played and whined when her shovel fell off her hands.

Before putting Olivia to 'work', I let her run around the backyard to enjoy the snow/ice. She was very excited about the snow.



Yes, you can eat the ice but not if it's yellow.....hehe.



Let me tell you, shovelling snow is great exercise. I have not exercised in a while and after shovelling, my whole body ache. It's good ache though cos the muscles got a good workout.

Holiday food drive

A friend of mine, L, is kicking off a holiday wish/food drive. She is hoping to reach her goal of 2000 members at one of her sites by end of December. The site caters to bloggers specifically.

When the goal of 2000 members are reached, L will donate 8000 bowls of food through the Feeding America & Kraft Food matching donation program.

To all the bloggers out there, please visit http://blogenergizer.com to join free. There is no cost. New basic members are asked to upgrade after joining but it is not necessary to meet this goal.

You can also put a note about this in your MySpace, Facebook or any social networks.

Please help to feed the hungry in America. Thank you all in advance.

Sleeping position

I found Olivia in this sleeping position this afternoon, during her afternoon nap.

On her belly, on a giant pink dog and butt up in the air.

Can't be too comfortable, I don't think.

Noooooo.....it's too soon

A couple of weeks ago, I received notification from Olivia's daycare center that it's time to register her for nursery school for the year 2009/2010. I remember thinking it can't be....nursery school?? Where did the time go??

I also didn't realise that nursery school registration could be so competitive. There are several programs available and hubby and I have not decided which program to register Olivia in. So, when registration opened at 7pm on Monday, I didn't register her that night. The next morning, the administrator told me there was only 1 spot left for the particular program we wanted!!

Needless to say, I fill out the form there and then and paid the $200 deposit to secure a spot. Who knows if she exaggerated the fact that there's only 1 spot left. Never would I imagine I have to be so 'kiasu' in registering for nursery school. Come on.....it's only nursery school, right???

You bet I will not make that mistake again next year when registration open for Pre-K. YIKES...Pre-K??!! I don't want to think about it!!!!

Do you go out naked?

The title got your attention, didn't it? Haha....

Ok, I meant going out with your face naked, with no makeup. I know there are some women who would rather die than go out without makeup, even just to the corner store.

Yours truly on the other hand, is the extreme. I never wear makeup, to anywhere. If you consider slapping on some lipstick makeup, then yes, I wear makeup. I go everywhere au naturale.

I think this stems from 2 reasons. One being I'm lazy. The second is I have very oily skin. When I was still in Malaysia, with the hot weather, my skin would get very oily and if I were to wear foundation, my face would feel very cakey and uncomfortable. So, I never wore makeup and got use to it. If I put on makeup, I would feel not myself.

When I moved here, I did not change. I would put on some makeup - loose powder, eye brow and lipstick for job interviews. In fact, I don't wear makeup to work. Who has the time when I have to get a toddler out the door every morning, unless I wake up at 5am. No, thank you. I don't even own an eye shadow set!

However, as I AGE....I think I'd better 'take care' of myself and makeup a bit if there's a special occassion. Afterall, everybody likes to look at a pretty woman and I better make sure hubby don't look at anybody else! LOL.....

Cranberry bread

I have been lucky. Since I moved to the USA, I don't have to cook for Thanksgiving or Hanukkah. We usually go to my in-laws or hubby's cousin's for Thanksgiving and in-laws place for Hanukkah.

Perhaps one day I will host a Thanksgiving dinner but I'm not really into cooking a big turkey...hehe. During this time of the year, there are a lot of fresh cranberries available, so I decided to make a cranberry bread since the recipe is very easy.

This was my first attempt and the only variation I make was to substitute 1/2 portion of regular flour with whole wheat flour and added 1/4 cup of sour cream. The secret to adding the sour cream is to make it moist. You can add sour cream when you make a cake too, it will not alter the flavor.

It came out really GOOD. Moist and sweet and tart at the same time.

My pet peeves

Every country and culture has its way of doing and saying things and there’s no right or wrong about it. However, I do have a few pet peeves after living in the US of A.

1.People wear shoes into their house. The houses here have either nice wood floors or are carpeted but home owners and guests wear their dirty shoes into the house and into the bedrooms and bathroom. I don’t understand this. If someone were to walk around our house with shoes on, I would have to mop the floor everyday and where would I find time to do that. In Chinese culture, it is rude to wear shoes into our people’s home.

Since our house is ½ Chinese, we don’t wear shoes inside the house and we request our visitors to take off their shoes. I have a young child who puts everything in her mouth and sometimes roll on the floor, I can’t have people walking in with their shoes.

2. Here, a handbag is call a pocketbook. I could not find a person who can tell me why it’s call a pocketbook. It is a bag that you carry on your hand, therefore it’s a handbag. It’s neither a pocket nor a book, I don’t understand why it’s call a pocketbook.

3. Nicknames. If a person's given name is William, he is call Bill. If it is Robert, he is call Bob. If it's Richard, it's Dick....why? I think it is to confuse someone like me....haha.

Ok, I'm off my soapbox now. Thank you for listening.