Tio's Little Ones: March 2015

Something to think about ...

Whether we wear a $300 watch or a $30,000 watch, they both tell the same time.
Whether we carry a $300 handbag or a $10,000 handbag, the amount of money inside is the same.
Whether we drink a bottle of $30 wine or $3000 wine, the vomiting is the same.
Whether the house we live in is 30m2 or 300m2, the loneliness is the same.
Whether you fly first class or economy class, if the plane goes down, you go down with it.

One day, you will realise that you true happiness does not come from the material things of this world, but from the simple pleasures of this world.
When you have buddies and old friends, brothers and sisters, family members to chat with, laugh with, talk to, sing to, or sometimes, just to spend quiet time with, that's true happiness that money can't buy.

Don't educate your child to be rich. Educate them to be happy.
So when they grow up, they will know the value of things, not the price.

Eat your food as your medicines. Otherwise, you have to eat medicines as your food.

The One who loves you will never leave you because even if there are 100 reasons to give up, he will find one reason to hold on to.

There is a lot of difference between a human being and being human. Only a few understand it,

You are loved when you are born.
You will be loved when you die.
In between, you have to manage!

The SIX best doctors in the world:

Exercise
Diet
Rest
Sunlight
Self-confidence and a Positive Attitude
Friends

Maintain them well in all stages of life, and you will enjoy a happy, healthy life!

I'm not sure what got into me.

I must have been insane, leaving my small handful of faithful readers in total darkness.
(Aisha, Cheah Huay and Shio Yen, I am so sorry...thank you for keeping faith in me.)

The unimaginable Long Silence of Three Hundred and Fifty Five days ends here today.

I have to put right my guilty conscience.

Young or old, rich or poor, we all have one thing in common.

We only have twenty-four hours in one day.

Somehow though, I feel that my twenty-four hours seem to run faster than most other people's.

Most Other People can still tick off their to-do list with ease and yet have time to indulge in Candy Crush, Subway Surf, etc. (I lose track of those mindless games found on those Not-So-Smart-phones).

I like to think that my To Do list is longer than Most Other People.

Or maybe I am just not as efficient as Most Other People.

Mr T says the reason I take longer is because I'm a sticker for perfection!

I beg to differ. I am not a perfectionist.

I am just a firm believer of the principle: If You Want To Do Something, Do It Right. Do It The Best That You Can.

Perhaps the reality is just that my time management skills are lacking, as is my self-discipline and a general lack of will power to sacrifice beauty sleep over flushing out my thoughts on the keyboard.

In one simple sentence, I have no one to apportion blame to, but myself.

Here is my list of "distractions" for the last 12 months.

You be the judge to decide if the Long Silence was even a teeny weeny bit justifiable.

Chauffeuring duties have become more hectic this past 15 months since the Little Man started studying at his new kindergarten right along the Federal Highway. Every school week, Monday to Friday, I have to literally crawl through 2 massive traffic congestions, one just outside my neighbourhood and the other greets me at the start of the Federal Highway, just to reach the Little Man's kindie. It takes almost 40 minutes to reach his school to pick him up (compared to the normal 15 minutes it takes to drop him off in the mornings). 40 minutes of traffic madness, every school day. What can I say...it's a very long-established and reputable kindergarten so that my little banana boy can learn his Mandarin that his Mat Salleh Mum can't teach him. After sending lunch to school for the 2 younger princesses and taking into account my 15 minutes lunch break, I have just a little over 2 hours 30 minutes to myself. And that's if I don't have errands to run for that day. Most of the 2 hours 30 minutes is now invested on Item #2 below.
In the second quarter of 2014, I had signed up for a 12 months self-study online internet marketing course (which burned a slight hole in Mr T's pocket), and the clock is ticking for me to complete the course... like yesterday! I am still slogging through and trying very hard to find a suitable niche market (:-( that masses of people have not penetrated yet) to focus on.
One of my dear SILs celebrated her wedding in Brisbane and Kuala Lumpur in October last year. Being the first family wedding in years, a considerable amount of time was spent searching for the perfect coordinating outfits (for the day and night events) and accessories for not just for Mr T and I, but for my FOUR young bosses too, who were the flower girls and ring-bearer. It took an especially long time for us to find the perfect dresses for our rather skinny First Princess. After many, many hours of shopping and researching over the internet, we finally found the perfect outfits that complemented her bony frame. She looked fantastic.It was a beautiful wedding, really memorable and needless to say, great fun for the kids. (I will post the beautiful snapshots in a separate post.)
Then of course, there was also the planning AND COMPACT packing for the entire family for our two week holiday Down Under. We had to prepare clothing for contrasting weather... chilly spring in Melbourne (which greeted us with cold, blustery winds!) followed by the sweltering heat in Gold Coast and Brisbane. The kiasi side of me prepared for every contingency that I could think of, apart from first aid kits, I also packed a variety of western medication as well as traditional chinese medicine for the kids. The medicines came in handy as Nos. 1 and 2 developed a sore throat and a nasty cough in the first week of our holiday! We still had a great, great holiday.
My outsourcing service provider went home to Philippines for a one-month break in December. So there was a lot of gotong-royong to be done at the Zoo with the cleaning and endless laundry. The trickiest part was keeping my sanity whilst feeding, entertaining and managing the zoo inhabitants especially when the CFO was hard at work (or perhaps he was just escaping the chaos at the Zoo :-[ ). To manage the potential chaos, we balik kampung to Singapore for over a week ... that was wonderful, precious time spent with my extended family there.
Perfecting my baking skills! A burning passion of mine.... only if I had more time! And less fat, flab and bulges so that I could bake more and enjoy more sinful baking pleasures! It de-stresses me, enriches my soul (and the kids' too!), adds a wonderful aroma to our home and puts me in a happy mood (which is really good for everyone's soul!) unless the baking turns out disastrous which thankfully does not happen very often. In the last few months, I have experimented with numerous sponge cakes, durian cakes, pineapple tarts, almond tart, fortune cookies...gonna try making my own muesli bars filled with healthy organic rolled oats, almonds, walnuts, pistachios and cranberries! I'm sure the kids would gladly have those for breakfast rather than plain wholemeal bread!
Other more routine "distractions" include guiding the Little Empress (who is not so little anymore as the Tween is going to be eleven in 7 months) through her Theory Exam last year (and the efforts were thankfully well rewarded as the Tween scored a Merit for her Grade 2 Theory - her mum could only obtain a pass in all her theory exams); and working hard on the Aural Tests together with the Little Empress and the Little Genius for their piano and violin exams respectively. Rather ironic really, for one who always used to fail her aural test dismally ...truly my one weakness...it cost me my distinction for my Grade 8 piano exams all those years ago. Hence my determination to ensure my girls sail through their aural tests!
My last "major distraction" was my decision to undertake major spring cleaning at our beloved Zoo grounds during the year end holidays. I packed away those toys that were way past its play-by date as the kids have outgrown them. Soft-toys were also segregated into 2 categories: Category (a): 'Can't Live Without It' cuddly-toys; and Category (b): Off To A Better Home To Be Better Appreciated cuddly-toys. Both category of soft-toys were lovingly showered and dried before entering a new lease of life! The sweat and toil was worth the effort as our cupboards and shelves had new-found storage space, the kids LEGO Collection had a display table of its own and the kids at the United Learning Centre had new furry-toys, bags, stationery, hand-me-down clothes and the like. Mission accomplished.

That's my short list of excuses.

I am happy to note that having decided to sacrifice my beauty sleep and my thrice a week exercise for the last month or so, I now have more time to invest in my writing and in my internet business self-study course. Of course on the downside, dark eye-bags and extra flab now reflect back at me in my bathroom mirror! C'est la vie.

I have been jotting down my thoughts and snippets of various events happening at the Zoo in my Little Purple Book. So whilst the memories are still fresh (almost!), I'll be flushing them out here real soon. Trust me.

.....fingers crossed.

Flashbacks.... how time flies...