leave my children alone...

This morning in the papers, one mother declared this saturday to be "Independence Play" day where you are supposed to leave your kids in the park and let them be socially independent for the day. Nope, we can not be somewhere nearby spying on our kids to make sure they are okay. We are supposed to teach them the art of survival by letting them roam free in the park. Are you CRAZY, woman?????!!!??? and the age that she suggests we start this "independence training" is around 7 or 8 years old. Once again, are you CRAZY, woman???!!!!??? With all the cases of kids being snatched away by people and not being found until today, what in the world are you thinking? Actually last year she put her 9-year-old son on the subway ALONE and asked him to find his own way home. Luckily he got home safely. Yer la, kalau tak sampai, I doubt she would carry on with this crazy and so so so stupid thing.

Normally, I would stopped myself at judging people but boy, do I judge this lady. She says the goal is to "teach youngsters independence and social skills - within limits". I mean you still can teach your kids to be independent and to be social with other kids without leaving them alone in the park or whatever place your kids are at. There are a lot of pedophiles out there that have so many ways of luring kids to follow them and 7 or 8 or even 9-year-old kids are not wise enough to be on their own while all these sickos are everywhere. Seriously, this woman need someone to put some sense into her head. She is saying that you can just "drop your kids off alone and the park and hope for the best" Hope for the best???? You are like playing with your kid's life by trying your luck!!!! It is like you're saying "If he is okay, then okay, if not..don't worry..I can get another kid" Hello..we are not talking about a puppy or a cat here!!!! Gosh..I am so furious right now. Ok, the papers have set up a voting poll to see if we think this is a good idea. Well, I know which way I am going to vote...

The world is full of ideas..including the stupid ones!!!

in cooking mode

This week I am in my unusual, very unusual cooking mode. By that, I mean I am being so interested in trying to cook something new. Last Tuesday, for the first time in my life and in ten years of married life, I attempted to make beef lasagna. My daughter was whining that she wanted lasagna and we tried one from a Mediterranean shop but it wasn't good. So I tried and didn't fully succeeded. Well, the taste was good but it turned out to be to "wet". Maybe I used too much sauce or maybe because I covered it during baking. But anyhow, my kids were happy and my hubby said it's okay. Not truly happy but then again, for a first attempt, I would have to say it is pretty darned good. Next project was baked chicken with mushroom sauce and roasted potatoes. For some people that would be a walk in the park. But for me, it was indeed a big deal. Checked quite a few recipes and a few more until I got confused about which recipe to use! By the end of the day, the chicken was okay, a bit over baked but the potatoes turned out great!!! There are a few more on my "have to try to cook this" list but it all depends on my cooking mode which doesn't come by ever so often.

What's for dinner?

Mother's day...

Had a wonderful mother's day yesterday. Woken up by hubby and kids barging into the room, shouting mother's day..yep..woke up late yesterday..mother's day what!! kasi can la..anyway, my son was complaining that mommy's mouth stinks (whose doesn't in the morning? All the stories which show people waking up in the morning and kissing each other is total bulls**t..heheh). I got a really cute picture frame and a few cards, even got one from hubby (that's a first!). Then hubby made breakfast (well, weekends are always his cooking anyway) and then went out for lunch and watched Iron Man 2. As usual, my son didn't want to go and was making a big fuss about wanting to stay home during weekends and relaxing. I had a slow talk with him and said I really wanted to spend this day with my family and by that I mean, watching Iron Man..:)). So we went and he did enjoy it!!!

Happy as I was yesterday, it was a bittersweet day actually. This is the first year that I couldn't wish my mom happy mother's day and only God knows how much I miss her. The hard part is that whenever I think of her, I think of all the suffering that she went through and wish that she didn't have to go through all those things. For me, my mom had a hard life and just when I thought things were getting better for her, she was hit with the cancer episode. But God knows what is the best for us and whom am I to decide what is good and what is bad and what is unfair? I can just hope and pray that she is in a better place now. I really miss you, Ibu, I really do and I love you..Happy Mother's Day...

friendly people..

Today, I met a few friendly people. I was waiting in line at the post office and this lady who was behind me started talking about the weather (that is always the opening line) and we just hit it off. I mean it was a short conversation but it was really nice talking to her. Plus she gave me tips where to find designer clothes at a fraction of the price. Yeay!!! She told me that she heard a Malaysian singer at a jazz bar in town and she was good. Too bad she didn't remember her name. And we talked about going to the gym. Well, she talked about going to gym and she goes EVERYDAY!!! As for me, nada!!! I just do it at home. I find it intimidating to go to the gym, takut orang tengok la, malu la. Perasan jer, padahal no one cares really..anyway, I just do my pilates at home.... Anyway, back to the nice lady, she is a freelance art director. Not really sure how that works, but it sounds interesting. After saying good bye to her, got my stamps (chit-chatted with the lady at the stamps counter for a bit, she's friendly too) , I went to do some groceries and this nice man working there asked me how was my day. And I sort of blurted out that I was feeling tired because last night I didn't have enough sleep. I think he asked me out of courtesy, but when I told him that, he seemed really concerned and wished me well and hoped I can get a good rest tonight. Somehow it made me feel good. I guess meeting friendly people is good for your health and what is even healthier is that we can be friendly ourselves. But that comes with some consequences as not everybody is friendly, so sometimes we would end up being like a fool if orang tak layan our friendliness..but there is no harm trying.

Smiles make the world go round...