News Griiles For Our House

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls!

Presenting our new set of grilles that would deter / prevent would-be shoe thieves or burglars to enter our compound. Since the cctvs are not a deterrent (blame it on the ineffectual police force in Malaysia) and the robbers sincerely believe that even if footage of them indulging in criminal activities will be presented to the police and they still will not be caught, we have taken it upon ourselves to destroy the aesthetical value of our front porch and install tall grilles.

However, when the grilles men came for installation today, we happily realised that the grilles ARE PRETTY! YeaY! :D Now, even if robbers climb gingerly into our premises to steal grass/ bonsai / bamboo / alan's millionth pair of shoes, they would not be able to get out so easily after the alarm triggers. WoooHoooo.

Baking for Myanmar Children

A couple of weeks ago, I had offered to bake muffins for the orphaned refugee children from Myanmar who are currently housed in 'orphanages' in Bukit Bintang and schooled in a church there as well. Marie-Ann, my friend (Alan and I had met her whilst we were scouting around for houses previously - she's a housing agent) had graciously promised that she would provide courier services.

So, commencing 330pm yesterday, En and I were kept busy in the kitchen. I experimented with the muffins recipe and tweaked it a bit here and there so all the 135 muffins we baked came in differing sizes. hahahaa. But hell, as long as they taste good....

MA JUST popped over (at 1145am today) to pick up the muffins for the children :)

A Closer Look at the Choco Chocochip Muffins
5 boxes filled with alnatural goodness

Hope the children enjoy themselves this afternoon sinking their teeth into the muffins! :D What a great sense of achievement (and it's certainly worth it even though my ankles are swollen again now) hahhaha :D *beams*

p/s: Thanks Belle for posting the Muffin Day for the children on the Myanmar Children's Blog.

http://mybeautifulmyanmar.blogspot.com/2009/10/muffins-for-everyone.html

My last few visits to the Gynae

Today, I went down to see Dr Ravi alone. Alan has flown to Jakarta already and immersed in a whirlwind of stuff. Poor baby. Raymond came very punctually to fetch me at 915am and I was late for 10 minutes at the hospital - which wasn't enough. Had to wait a fair bit for Ravi to see me.

I was astonished that I had only put on 400g for the last two weeks (I had gone to see the doc on 31/9) and after doc scanned me, he declared that Ethan had not put on any weight at all. oh dear. :( Thankfully, Ethan is still in the 'normal' range for the various aspects that were tested. Sigh.

If things keep going haywire, then I may have to have a C-sec on my 38th week (which is ard two weeks later) instead of delivering Ethan on the week commencing 9 November. Pray for us!

4D3Ns countdown

The countdown has started: no no , not for the delivery of Ethan Tan but for The Return of The Husband...hahaha sounds like another episode of Star Wars. :P
Alan has left early this morning to fly to Singapore to meet up with his bosses and then he's due in Jakarta on Tuesday to look at the ops and see how things are run to familiarise himself . Ethan has since promised not to see the world until Daddy gets home (so that Mummy can abuse him in the delivery suite). An Eye for An Eye, I say!

He will be back on Thursday night and a No Fly Zone shall be imposed after that. Tomorrow, I shall make my way to the gynae's alone (for once) for my regular check-up.

Sunday 12 October 2009

We roused early 8am to bring the doggies for their obedience class. Jay Jay was HORRIBLE in behaviour and very affected by the neighbouring Alsatian. He REFUSED to down stay and do his normal tricks. Thank heavens this is just a refresher course for him - he has already passed the Pre-Novice examination with 94%! Coco was a good boy and an angel - he always seems to behave himself only in class. : P Let's hope he keeps that up for his exam is next Sunday! :O

After the class, Alan and I bought noodles back for brunch and then I drifted back to sleep for an hour + before ALan woke me up to go for our beauty treatments. We went to The Gardens and had a quick dessert (yam and sweet corn / ice jelly) at Jonker Sweets before heading to Cres at 3pm.

They kept us waiting again but it was worth it. My stem cell facial was heavenly and Alan's back was cracked under the strong hands of the massage auntie. Both of us fell into a stupor for 1.5hrs.

After that, it was time to SHOP. Isetan was having a sale and Alan bought a pair of shoes (to replace the robber's loot) at 40% off from Rm369. (Ermmm.. He wore it this morning and it promptly gave way after less than 3hours. sigh) Then, we headed to the Crocs section (going for 40% off) and I bought another pair of Mary Janes and Alan another pair of colourful slippers. He wanted to replace his orange colour shoes (the one that the bugger had stolen, but there was no size). Next, he picked up a shirt from Raoul for 50% off and then we headed to the cashier (after signing up for the Isetan card). hahaha

After leaving The Gardens, we picked up En (and dumped all our purchases at home) and sent her to TMC to pick up some groceries. Alan and I then headed to the Pasar Malum to pick up fresh seafood (two huge slices of cod fish for Ethan, some prawns and 2 small pomfrets) and some vegetables and fruits. Then, enroute, we picked up En (who had done the shopping at lightning speed and was waiting for us) at the carpark area.

Alan and I had banana leaf Indian food (mutton rendang - chewy and bland, honey chicken - tasty and succulent and fried calamari, together with rice and vegetables and curry) washed down with sweet lassi. Ohhhh. delicious! Alan's craving was satisfied!

Then, we headed home to pack for Alan's trip and Ye Seong came over to pick up the 1/4 banana cake which was promised to them and to say HeLLo to Coco and Jay Jay. :D Because Jay Jay would be celebrating his 2nd birthday (gosh how time flies) the next day and Alan wouldn't be at home, we bought him a big slice of Secret Recipe Pecan and Butterscotch cake and sang him a birthday song before treating him (and Coco) to the sinful cake.

For once, Alan fell asleep early (1130pm) before a flight the next day and he had a restful night. :D

Coco is ONE

A logn time ago, we invited a couple of friends to our house for a house-warming cum Coco's birthday celebration. The Tan family and their apricot-coloured poodle, Chloe, and Ye Seong and Sheena (Coco's inlaws) and their two doggies - Bizzy and Myra came excitedly over.

ALan and I had spent the whole day cooking. We served up Pork Chop with Apple Sauce, Seafood Aglio Olio, Salad and also Creamy Mushroom Soup. Phew. For dessert, there was the decadent chocolate fountain with fruits (strawberries / bananas) and marshmellows.

We all had a good time chit-chatting (the common topic was our DOGS) and the guests all brought pressies (for both humans and dogs). Sheena even bought lamb pies for all the 5 4-legged creatures and I had baked them a peanut butter and cream cheese cake in lieu of Coco's birthday. Meiting's butter cake was also mouth-watering, especially when it was coupled with the melted chocolate. :D

It was almost midnight when our guests left and Alan and I retired for the night.

Split & Sew

PHeW. Just "knocked off" from baby delivery class. We were at Christine's from 930am - 1230pm and then 2-5pm. Learnt relaxation techniques (which almost put us to sleep), breathing procedures, etc etc. I brought my moist banana cake ( I had baked the previous evening) to class to offer to all - it was a hit during tea times. hahaa

During lunch (1230-145pm), we went to have wanton mee at the coffeeshop and then picked up a ladder (RM200) for the house. Alan hauled it back to Christine's to be placed in the car and we had a short snooze before the class started.

At 145pm, Christine screened a traumatising tape on childbirth and I watched in growing horror as a little blue alien was squeezed outta the womb of a woman in 1988. Jiu ming ah. It makes me wanna forgo childbirth. Immediately!

At 5pm, after dismissal, we bade our teacher Christine behind and headed to Bangsar Shopping Village. We bought a small basket to store Ethan's shower essentials and another small little compartment for Alan's loose screws (for his RC car lah). We also purchased some light bulbs and florescent tubes for the car porch lights which had blown. Our aim : TO make our car porch really bright and unwelcoming for all the would-be robbers!

After dropping the stuff at home and a quick shower, we left for dinner at Robson's with En. Our maid is putting on a heck of a lot of weight and tonight we saw why: We had one claypot herbal chicken, one steamed fish, 2 huge prawns steamed and 1 plate of stir fried veges. Now we are relaxing at home again (Alan is busy spray-paintining YET another car body for his RC car.)

Madness in Bangsar

With the proliferation in criminal activities in Bangsar Baru, Alan and I have put in more measures to make sure our home is a safer place.

Yesterday, Mr Iron Grilles came to take measurements. Disregarding aesthetical value, we are installing iron grilles on the low wall adjourning our next door neighbour's house. It was their miserable excuse of a fence (those holely green wire things) and this very low wall that enabled the agile robber to get into our compound, in the first place.

He skipped over their green wire fence and hopped onto the huge water filter system (conveniently placed just beside the wall) and then heaved himself over our wall without much effort a week ago to steal Alan's shoes. All in all, Alan lost 3 pairs of business shoes (one brown pair which he paid a fair bit and was worn only a couple of times and once during our wedding dinner) and a pair of Crocs (orange with lace that Alan likes alot).

The SCARIEST part of it all, was that after the bugger made away with the shoes at 1230am, he came back again at 450am (on the same morning), and peered into our next door neighbour's house to see if more loot could be obtained. OMG!

After discussing our SOP against such perpetrators (which includes hammering nails to a long thick stick and beating the life outta the robber(s)), grilles was one of the solutions. We also upgraded our CCTV system outside the house to capture the identities of the robber(s) in greater details - soon we will be able to see how many nostril hairs they are sprouting...

Also, I've gotten myself a PANIC BUTTON. It's mobile (which is good) and once pressed will activtate our screeching , ear-piercing sirens , at anytime of the day / night. I insisted on it after hearing the trauma of Alan's friend.

MY( her initials) lives a few lanes down in the same vicinity. Whilst she was outta town two days ago, her father heard noises coming from downstairs in the house at TEN AM. He went down to investigate and witnessed three men trying to break into their house. They were equipped with crowbars and all and had already pried open the padlock. Thankfully, they were unable to get into the house because the grille sliding doors were locked as well.

And apparently, a week or two ago, there was another case (as shared by the next-door maid) along our same lane of a break-in on a Sunday Morning at 1030AM! The robbers in Malaysia really are very ballsy / desperate. They DARE to break in in BROAD DAYLIGHT. Amazing, but true.

I wanted to invest in a Rotteweiler for our front porch. But when we leave KL for home eventually, what's going to happen of him? *sigh* There's absolutely no space for 3 (we hope to fetch Ash home to live with us) doggies, 1 baby (by then toddler) , 1 maid and Alan and myself. *sigh* Hence, the structural measures put in place.

I wish the police / Residents' Committee here would do more about it. All the residents here are sitting ducks, just waiting to be targetted. Apparently, the old aunty who lives two doors away had her gold chain snatched whilst she was on a walk with her pals one day as well. And another neighbour had his house broken into when he and wifey were out for lunch from 1130am - 1230pm one fine day. This is MADNESS!