Hi friends, how's your first week of January? Mine is quite busy as both my kids are start schooling this year. They went to St Francis Xavier Kindergarten here in Keningau, Sabah. My eldest son is in the second year and my youngest in his first year.
They only started their studies on the 6th of January and their first day at school was so terrible! Gosh, I can't stand it at first because I have to handle it all by myself! My mom was there to accompany me but only for an hour as she have to go back and my hubby need to work. It's normal for them to cry on their first day but I became so buzy when both of them vomit at the same time! I'm sure you can imagine that!
They are much better on the second day, especially my eldest son. He only cried for a few minutes then he stopped and focused on his studies. My youngest son? Hmmm...still crying, crying and crying! Luckily on his third day at school, he's much, much better. Yup, I miss those sadness moments on their first day! I mean, now I can really feel how hard it is to be a good mother. Sometimes, it made me so tired as I have to wake up very early (5.30am) just to prepare their breakfast, their hot waters, their uniforms, bla...bla...bla...
Well, luckily tommorrow is Saturday and then Sunday, so there'll be two days off for me..ha..ha..I just hope that there'll be no more tears on next Monday!
Finally, it's new year. Another chapter in a new book of 2010. How's your new year's eve last night? I'm helping my mom with the cooking for new year's eve dinner. I've tried a new recipe, Prawn Curry (which I've never tried before). It's yummy but I still prefer Butter Prawn or Sweet and Sour Prawn. Actually, I'm not really into spicy foods.
Udang Masak Kari (Prawn Curry)
The other menus are Ayam Masak Kicap, Ikan Stim Tom Yam, Sup Daging + Kundur and not forgetting my mom's hot and spicy Sambal Belacan! Berasap telinga..ha..ha..and for dessert, my younger sister is preparing Fruit Salad.
Fruit Salad
I'm sure you are having fun too last night. No matter where or how are you celebrating it, I wish you all a blessed New Year 2010!
Another family trip to KK last 17-19/12/09, just hanging around with our kids, watching the lovely Christmas deco in KK and of course, not forgetting the Big Apple Donuts!
17th Dec, 09 (1st day) :
1630hrs : Arrived at Grand Borneo Hotel (next to 1Borneo Hypermall) ~ After check in, we went up to level 15 for a complimentary cocktail ~ Back to our room, get some rest
1900hrs : Went to 1Borneo, enjoying the christmas deco together ~ As usual, went to Boo-boo Land, our kids fav spot in 1Borneo ~ Having our dinner at Chicken Rice Shop ~ Bought a box of Big Apple Donuts ~ Drop by at Orange 24hrs shop before going back to hotel
2300hrs : ZZZzzz...so tired, sleep early
18th Dec, 09 (2nd day) :
0930hrs : Having our complimentary breakfast at Level 2 (We really enjoyed the foods)
1100hrs : Check out from the hotel and proceed to another hotel
1200hrs : Check in at Imperial Hotel
1230hrs : Went to CP, doing some Christmas shopping
1400hrs : Back to hotel. My hubby got something urgent to do that day. ~ Suddenly, I realized that my youngest son is not feeling well. He looks so tired and even vomit. Gosh! I was so scared but luckily he went to sleep easily. 1700hrs : Still waiting for my hubby to come back. It was heavy rain and the road condition is so damn jammed. I can see it clearly from the window of our hotel's room.
1800hrs : I called my hubby and asked him to go to the clinic and buy a medicine seems it was heavy rain, I don't want to bring out our kids.
1900hrs : We have to cancel some of the exciting plans due to our son sickness. ~ Having our dinner in our rooms ~ Poor Randy, this is the first time he fell sick during our trip to KK ~ My hubby is so tired too. He decided to stay in the room with Randy
2030hrs : I went to CP again with Randall, my eldest son ~ Met my younger sister and her boyfriend ~ Another Christmas shopping for me..he..he..
2130hrs : Went to Yogur Berry in Warisan Square ~ My friend, Ollie recommended me to try the ABC there and it was yummy! ~ Having ABC with Ice Cream topping at night? Quite cold but Randall like it
2200hrs : So tired...back to hotel ~ Randy is still sleeping...poor Randy!
2330hrs : ZZZzzz
19th Dec, 09 (3rd day) :
0900hrs : Having our breakfast at the Roof Top Restaurant ~ I'm so glad that Randy feels more better and have appetite to eat
1030hrs : Went to Warisan Square, just hanging around while waiting for my parents. They are in KK that morning and planning to go back to Keningau with us later ~ Accompany my parents for breakfast at La Manila Cafe ~ Went to Big Apple Donuts (Take away) ~ Waiting for my parents. They do some Christmas shopping in CP
1200hrs : Check out from hotel ~ Pusing-pusing KK ~ Drop by at my kids' godmother's house in Papar
1600hrs : Arrived safely in Keningau
By the way, just for your information. Grand Borneo Hotel was known as Mercure Hotel before. It was the same building but different owner and I like the new one because they did add the some new levels. They even provide complimentary cocktail! I also enjoyed all the foods served during our complimentary breakfast.
Ho...Ho...Ho...I can't wait for the Christmas Day! As I mentioned in my post before, I love winter and Christmas is my favorite day of the year! Unfortunately, here in Malaysia, the public holiday for Christmas is only for a day! Even though Malaysia is a Muslim country, but I don't think there's a harm for us to be given 2 days public holidays instead of a day. Well, just to be equal with the Hari Raya and Chinese New Year celebrations, huh?
Anyway, I used to celebrate Christmas until New Year eve..ha..ha..Even my hubby and kids already decorated our Christmas tree a month before Christmas. I'm quite lazy this year, so it's their turn to decorate it!
I really enjoyed our Christmas last year! Two days before Christmas eve, we are in KK, spending our holidays there and doing the last minute Christmas shopping! Lots of sales during that time! On Christmas day, we went to Papar, meeting all my in laws there and later that evening, going back to Keningau, celebrating it with my family side.
We haven't decide yet where to celebrate Christmas this year but no matter where, I just want to be with my hubby and kids. That is more important huh? Of course with my other family members too, but seems I'm married, I focused more on my own family.
Know what? Since I was a kid, I keep on dreaming that one day, I'll be able to experience the Christmas day in winter season. Well, my favorite places to visit is Australia, Rome and Japan! Perhaps, one day huh?
Twilight vs New Moon? Which movie is more happening? Well, different people, different opinions...but to me, I love them both! Maybe I'm too emotional person, but I keep on crying after Edward left Bella in the New Moon...Gosh! It tear my heart into pieces...sob...sob...Oh yes, I am! Watching Bella just sitting on the chair, thinking about Edward, looking for him everywhere! While in Twilight, my favorite part is when Edward saw Bella for the first time and how he concerned so much about Bella's safety after James tried to kill her.
Actually, I seldom watch movies. Besides, there's no cinema here in Keningau or even at my hometown, Lahad Datu (There is before but not anymore). Thanks to my hubby for buying me the Twilight dvd and from the moment I watched that movie...I'm speechless! That is the best movie ever after Titanic! I don't mind to watch it several times either!
It might be weird, but everytime I watch my favorite movie, I try to put myself into the character. By doing that, I can really understand the story, rather than just watching it without any feelings! Must be boring...ha...ha...
Well, looking at the pictures above, it don't really bother me. I mean, which looks are better, either in Twilight or New Moon? I just eager to know what will happen to Edward and Bella in New Moon? I'm so happy that they are back together and I can't wait to watch the Twilight Saga : Eclipse in June, 2010.
By the way, I'd like to thanked my friends EE (Elizabeth Edward) for introducing me with the great movie. EE is really a huge fan of Twilight esp Robert Pattison (Oh well, I fell in love with him too after watching Twilight). EE even finished reading the fourth novel of Twilight editions. Hope I can read it too, a.s.a.p!
I love everything about him!
Finally, thumbs up to all the crew members of Twilight and New Moon!
It's been almost a month since I last updated my blog! As you know, my life as a full time housewife is so damn busy...ha..ha..Anyway, lots of good and bad memories happened in my life on November.
Last 3rd Nov 2009, my mom is on her way from Keningau - KK. She supposed to go to Lahad Datu by bus on the same day, later at night around 2000hrs. However, I received a call from her around 1630hrs, telling me that she was involved in an accident! OMG! I was so shocked and speechless but I asked her to calm down. I told my hubby and he went there to fetch my mom together with my youngest brother. Thanks God, she's in good condition just a bit trauma after the accident.
The Nui Luk Express Bus after the accident
On the 8th Nov 2009, there's a family gathering and thanksgiving for my mom. We are having a good time together but I was so sad because my dad and my three other siblings aren't there with us that night. My dad is still in LDU, my brother is on banking course and my other two sisters are studying outside Sabah.
By the way, on the last 14th Nov 2009, I went to KK together with my parents. We went there by taxi but what an unlucky day for me. I was 'mabuk', not feeling well along the journey! We arrived KK around 1000hrs. We went to Klinik Pakar Mata in Lintas as my dad need to review his eyes condition after doing his laser treatment a week before. After that, we went to Citymall and having our breakfast there together with my brother in law and his cute son.
Having our bfast at Oldtown White Coffee Cafe in Citymall, KK
My cute nephew looking at the menu
My Ice Blended Milk Tea & Ipoh Chicken Hor Por
Tuna Sandwich & Hainanese Chicken Chop Rice
Nasi Lemak
Strawberry Float
After our breakfast, we went to my favorite Big Apple Donuts, just next door to the cafe. I'm very happy because finally, I had tasted some of the new flavors. Well, there's no donuts outlet in my place, Keningau. So, once I'm in KK, sure I'll buy a lot of Big Apple Donuts...ha..ha..
Some of the new flavors of Big Apple Donuts
Later that day, we went to my sister's house in Country Heights for a few hours. We went back to Keningau around 1500hrs and again, what a 'Mabuk' journey for me. Luckily I managed to sleep on my way back.
Well, it's school holidays until next January 2010. Oh well, time past so quickly and soon it will be Christmas Day! I'm planning for another family trip during this school holidays but I haven't decide yet where to go...any idea friends? I really hope to go to Genting and spend a few nights there with my hubby and kids. My last visit to KL is in 2000!!! Sure lots of places to visit then...
I love donuts and there are not much choices of donuts here in Malaysia. The famous known donuts outlets are such as Big Apple Donuts, Krispy Kreme Donuts and Dunkin' Donuts. Even though I haven't tried the Krispy Kreme and Dunkin' Donuts yet, but I'm sure they are all the same, the different is just the flavours on top of it or even inside the donuts.
Anyway, I'd like to share with you all about my favourite Big Apple Donuts. It's the only donuts outlet here in Kota Kinabalu (KK), Sabah. However, seems I live in Keningau, it took about 2 hours drive from my place to KK. Therefore, I can't have the donuts all the times but once I'm in KK, I won't forget to buy the donuts and even bring it back to Keningau and share it with my other family members.
Actually, in my opinion, the price is quite expensive. It cost RM2.70 for each donut but I used to buy 12 pcs in a box which cost RM27.00 (the price before is RM25.00) or 6 pcs in a box cost RM15.00 (the price before is RM14.00). However, I don't care much about the price because I seldom have a chance to eat donuts. Besides, the flavours are so yummy, I tell you!
My favourite donuts are Californian Almond, Say Cheese and Snowy. Nowadays, they have 31 new flavours but I don't have a chance to try it yet! Hmmm...I really can't wait to go to KK even just to buy donuts!!! O yes, I am donuts lover!
Another reasons why I love Big Apple Donuts are because it is less sugar and low calories, also suitable for those vegetarian. Some people might be bored to eat the same donuts everyday but not to me. Well, people are different but if I love something, I don't mind to have it everyday! It doesn't mean that I must eat 12 pcs of donuts everyday, 1 or 2 is just enough for me.
Well, I really hope to go to KK as soon as possible...ha..ha..
10th October, 2009 a.k.a 10.10.09, such a lovely date, isn't it? Such a lucky number to my dear hubby, the 10th child in his family. He used to play a soccer before and he wear number 10 jersey too. We even got engaged on the 10.10.98...
To my beloved hubby, hope today is really special, filled with love, laughter & joy, just like you make all of mine! Happy 37th birthday dear...
I received this email from a friend of mine, about 2 days ago. It's quite a long story but it's really touched my heart and now I want to share it with you all.
Father John Powell, a professor at LoyolaUniversity in Chicago, writes about a student in his Theology of Faith class named Tommy:
Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my university students’ file into the classroom for our first session in the Theology of Faith. That was the day I first saw Tommy.
My eyes and my mind both blinked. He was combing his long flaxen hair, which hung six inches below his shoulders. It was the first time I had ever seen a boy with hair that long. I guess it was just coming into fashion then. I know in my mind that it isn't what's on your head but what's in it that counts; but on that day I was unprepared and my emotions flipped. I immediately filed Tommy under "S" for strange... Very strange.
Tommy turned out to be the "atheist in residence" in my Theology of Faith course. He constantly objected to, smirked at, or whined about the possibility of an unconditionally loving Father/God. We lived with each other in relative peace for one semester, although I admit he was for me at times a serious pain in the back pew.
When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his final exam, he asked in a cynical tone, "Do you think I'll ever find God?" I decided instantly on a little shock therapy.
"No!" I said very emphatically.
"Why not," he responded,
"I thought that was the product you were pushing." I let him get five steps from the classroom door and then called out, "Tommy! I don't think you'll ever find Him, but I am absolutely certain that He will find you!" He shrugged a little and left my class.
I felt slightly disappointed at the thought that he had missed my clever line -- He will find you!
At least I thought it was clever.
Later, I heard that Tommy had graduated, and I was duly grateful. Then a sad report came.
I heard that Tommy had terminal cancer. Before I could search him out, he came to see me. When he walked into my office, his body was very badly wasted and the long hair had all fallen out as a result of chemotherapy. But his eyes were bright and his voice was firm, for the first time, I believe.
"Tommy, I've thought about you so often; I hear you are sick," I blurted out.
"Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer in both lungs. It's a matter of weeks." Tommy replied.
"Can you talk about it, Tom?" I asked.
"Sure, what would you like to know?" he replied.
"What's it like to be only twenty-four and dying?"
"Well, it could be worse."
"Like what?"
"Well, like being fifty and having no values or ideals, like being fifty and thinking that booze, seducing women, and making money are the real biggies in life.."
I began to look through my metal file cabinet under "S" where I had filed Tommy as strange.
(It seems as though everybody I try to reject by classification, God sends back into my life to educate me.)
"But what I really came to see you about," Tom said, "is something you said to me on the last day of class." (He remembered!)
He continued, "I asked you if you thought I would ever find God and you said, 'No!' which surprised me.
Then you said, 'But He will find you.' I thought about that a lot, even though my search for God was hardly intense at that time. (My clever line. He thought about that a lot!) .
"But when the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me that it was malignant, that's when I got serious about locating God. And when the malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really began banging bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven. But God did not come out. In fact, nothing happened. Did you ever try anything for a long time with great effort and with no success? You get psychologically glutted, fed up with trying. And then you quit.....
Well, one day I woke up, and instead of throwing a few more futile appeals over that high brick wall to a God who may be or may not be there, I just quit.
I decided that I didn't really care about God, about an after life, or anything like that. I decided to spend what time I had left doing something more profitable.
I thought about you and your class and I remembered something else you had said: "The essential sadness is to go through life without loving. But it would be almost equally sad to go through life and leave this world without ever telling those you loved that you had loved them.'"
So, I began with the hardest one, my Dad. He was reading the newspaper when I approached him. "Dad."
"Yes, what?" he asked without lowering the newspaper.
"Dad, I would like to talk with you."
"Well, talk."
"I mean. It's really important."
The newspaper came down three slow inches. "What is it?"
"Dad, I love you, I just wanted you to know that." Tom smiled at me and said it with obvious satisfaction, as though he felt a warm and secret joy flowing inside of him.
"The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Then my father did two things I could never remember him ever doing before. He cried and he hugged me. We talked all night, even though he had to go to work the next morning. It felt so good to be close to my father, to see his tears, to feel his hug, to hear him say that he loved me."
"It was easier with my mother and little brother. They cried with me, too, and we hugged each other, and started saying real nice things to each other. We shared the things we had been keeping secret for so many years." I was only sorry about one thing --- that I had waited so long. Here I was, just beginning to open up to all the people I had actually been close to. "Then, one day I turned around and God was there. He didn't come to me when I pleaded with Him. I guess I was like an animal trainer holding out a hoop, 'C'mon, jump through C'mon, I'll give you three days, three weeks.'"
"Apparently God does things in His own way and at His own hour....But the important thing is that He was there. He found me...! You were right.....He found me even after I stopped looking for Him."
"Tommy," I practically gasped, "I think you are saying something very important and much more universal than you realize.
To me, at least, you are saying that the surest way to find God is not to make Him a private possession, a problem solver, or an instant consolation in time of need, but rather by opening to love. You know, the Apostle John said that... He said: "God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in
him.''
"Tom, could I ask you a favor? You know, when I had you in class you were a real pain. But (laughingly) you can make it all up to me now. Would you come into my present Theology of Faith course and tell them what you have just told me? If I told them the same thing it wouldn't be half as effective as if you were to tell it."
"Oooh.. I was ready for you, but I don't know if I'm ready for your class."
"Tom, think about it. If and when you are ready, give me a call."
In a few days Tom called, said he was ready for the class, that he wanted to do that for God and for me. So we scheduled a date.
However, he never made it. He had another appointment, far more important than the one with me and my class. Of course, his life was not really ended by his death, only changed. He made the great step from faith into vision. He found a life far more beautiful than the eye of man has ever seen or the ear of man has ever heard or the mind of man has ever imagined.
Before he died, we talked one last time.
"I'm not going to make it to your class," he said.
"I know, Tom."
"Will you tell them for me? Will you ...tell the whole world for me?"
"I will, Tom. I'll tell them. I'll do my best."
So, to all of you who have been kind enough to read this simple story about God's love, thank you for listening. And to you, Tommy, somewhere in the sunlit, verdant hills of heaven --- I told them, Tommy, as best I could.
If this story means anything to you, please pass it on to a friend or two. It is a true story and is not enhanced for publicity purposes.
With thanks,
Rev. John Powell, Professor, Loyola University,
Chicago
Randy with his sad looks on his 1st day @ school 
Randall's looks after crying a lot!
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