Zaria’s Drawing March 9, 2010
Posted by Zara's Mama in : Zaria, development , 8 commentsI was meant to post this earlier, but so busy with so many things.
I think Zaria is very much influenced by Zara, because Zara draws a lot, Zaria too likes to join in and does her drawing, and I think she’s quite good for her age. I like it especially when she adds a story to her drawing, explaining what she’s drawing.
These were done by Zaria a month ago.
She said, “This is a princess with her beautiful bed. See the crown or not?”
“And then the wicked witch casting a spell, and the magic is zig zag zig zag coming out of the wand.”
And then during Chinese New Year, she started writing her name and adding ‘faces’ to it. Nobody actually taught her how to do it. o.O”
It’s become kind of like her signature.
She’s growing up so fast. And I’m enjoying her cute drawings and her cheeky conversations very much these days.
The little artist (the ‘crystal’ on her chest is a sticker ‘pendant’ Zara gave to Zaria. Since Zaria doesn’t have a necklace yet)
Visit To Dong Zhen 佛光山東禪寺 March 2, 2010
Posted by Zara's Mama in : going places, notable , 8 commentsA couple of times I’d seen Jasmine posted about her visits to Dong Zhen temple, and the beautiful photos she’d taken, and I’d told Daddy that we must also visit this temple one day.
On the 3rd day of Chinese New Year, since we didn’t have anywhere to go, we brought the girls on the long car ride to Jenjarom, to visit the Dong Zhen Temple (Actually, I don’t know why it’s called Dong Zhen, because the Chinese pronunciation for 東禪 is Dong Chan. Maybe it’s how it’s pronunced in another dialect).
We had a simple panmee dinner at some open air eatery before the temple, when we’re done, it was close to to 8pm and the road towards the temple has already been blocked. We had to park and walk about 1km.
The temple was very beutifully decorated, with red lanterns, fairy lights, and colour ligh tubes everywhere. They have very good lantern display, beautiful lanterns in all the Chinese zodiac signs, as well as in other auspicious forms were scattered around the big temple ground. The place has also drawn a very big crowd.
They had some Chinese New Year show on as well, and when we arrived, the Dragon Dance was being performed but we didn’t manage to catch it because we didn’t know the way to get to the performance area (heard it but couldn’t see it).
We only managed to catch a mini parade.
When the girls wanted to go to the toilet, I thought the nightmare has come. I assumed with such a big crowd, the toilet would be filthy. To my surprise, it was very clean. The volunteers who cleaned the toilet did such a good job I had to say.
We then got caught in a rain fall, which lasted about 20mins. The rain didn’t cool down the place, but made the ground a bit soggy (and I didn’t like it).
I didn’t want to walk any more but just sat at a bench with the girls, while Daddy went around to take more photos.
Although the whole place was beautiful, the stiffling night heat took away all the fun. Both Zara and I agreed that if Daddy wanted to go again next year, he’ll have to go alone, as we don’t want to be drenched in sweat any more.
>Clamp Those Idiots<
Posted by Zara's Mama in : girls' angpow , add a commentI really hate all these cars parking at illegal spots in shopping mall, causing traffic jams, or even proper parking spots very difficult to access or exit.
There are always these clamps that they threaten to use lying around, but I wonder if they really make use of it.
And will a single digit car number plate discourage the law enforcer from clamping the car?
>Eye Power<
Posted by Zara's Mama in : girls' angpow , add a commentI used to wear glasses 12years ago. After I came back from my studies, I decided to stop wearing them, and miraculously, after that, when I go check up my eyesight, the power has decreased and gone to almost perfect vision. It’s as though I’d gone to do lasik surgery Mexico.
However, end last year, I’d started wearing glasses again, my power is very low, and this is mainly to reduce the tiredness I always feel on my eyes after a long days work.
>False Alarms<
Posted by Zara's Mama in : girls' angpow , add a commentWhen my father was admitted for his diarrhea problem, the doctor let him wear an oximeter to monitor him. Boy, every time he moved his body to lie on different position, some how it got deactivated or caused some problem, and then we’ll hear the ‘dooooooot’ sound on the monitor. We’ll get all worried and called the nurse to find out if my dad was ok.
They should have made something which clings on the finger stronger and not give scares to patients’ family members.
>Circuit City<
Posted by Zara's Mama in : girls' angpow , add a commentEvery time when we want to buy electrical appliances, we have to go to several different shops to check out the different brands. Wouldn’t it be good if we have something like circuit city where we can find everything under one roof? Better still I can shop online and some discounts are provided.
I do hope Malaysia will move towards that direction soon.
Chinese New Year Photos February 24, 2010
Posted by Zara's Mama in : celebration, home affairs, my two girls , 9 commentsFirst day of Chinese New Year, we always go to my MIL’s first. This year, since they moved to our same housing area, we saved a lot time travelling. Managed to get there early, and leave for my brother’s house early too.
At my brother’s place, the girls showing off their first few ang-pows.
Then they wanted to take photos with the cousins (or was it the other way round?)
Zara loves her new dress, because she can twirl around and make the skirt puff up.
We have a simple lunch (and if you want to know what, hope on over to my other site), and then started with the tea ceremony and family photos taking.
Yearly, we do this ritual that everybody in the family will serve my dad tea. From the eldest to the youngest.
Zara wanted to tell Ah Kong 身体健康 (wish him health), and struggled a bit with the Chinese pronunciation.
Zaria just said 恭喜发财.
Tasha was very interested in the camera while the rest started their card games.
We also went to visit my grand father in Kajang after that. It was such a hot day (and boy, I worked really hard the night before for Chinese New Eve dinner), I slept on our way there, and on our way home.
After my grandfather’s, we left home separately. We then headed over to MIL’s place for dinner.
On the 2nd day of Chinese New Year, we just stayed home, but had dinner with my family (my brother’s treat).
Girls chose to wear their cheong sum.
And they were very happy to see their cousins again.
It used to be Zara and Tasha being best of friends, but now Zaria is old enough and getting very vocal, they are now the two new best friends.
Btw, thanks for all the well wishes and concerns after the last post. Really appreciate it.
Shocking News February 23, 2010
Posted by Zara's Mama in : home affairs , 22 commentsIt’s more than 10 days since I last updated. I’d been busy with work (3 Shanghainese colleagues off for the New Year, so I have to back them up) and due to some family matters, I’d been feeling a big sluggish (in blogging). Now it’s time to be back.
So what happened during the Chinese New Year (CNY)? Photos will be coming, but here is to share something that affected me lots during these last 10 days.
7th Feb, my dad got his yearly check up results, and my sis (whom my father lives with) sms-ed us and informed us that his liver readings were not very good.
8th Feb, another sms-ed came in to inform us that my father has a very bad bout of diarhea and is in the midst of being sent to the doctor’s. I went to the doctor’s to see him, he was on drips, very tired and pale looking, just spoke to me a little and went back to sleep. My BIL updated me on what happened, i.e.
My dad had roti canai for breakfast (why so soon after he has his blood test results and supposed to be watching his diet, I don’t know), and drank up the whole bowl of fish curry. He then drove from Briekfields to PJ State to do his banking, and right after he parked his car, he had the urge to purge. He wanted to go to the nearest toilet, but when he got out of the car, he just felt so dizzy, he slumped on the the floor. A couple of attempts later, he gave up. Got back to the car when he felt he was strong enough, and drove to Pudu (He was being stupid! He could have fainted half way driving and had an accident), and on his journey, purged in the car. Upon arriving at Pudu, he just spent the rest of his time in the office toilet. His colleague then called my sis, and soon after my BIL came by to pick him up from the office and sent him to the doctor’s, where he was found to be very dehydrated, and his blood pressure very low.
When my dad’s blood pressure was back to normal, he complained the right side of his upper abdomen being very painful. So painful he was cringing when he got up, or when he lied down, he only felt comfortable being at a certain position. The doctor claimed it might be caused by the gas in the stomach.
He was discharged the same day. A couple of days after, he still complained about his upper abdomen being very painful. On 12th Feb (the last day of work before CNY for most people), my BIL brought him to do an ultrasound, and that’s when the shocking news came. The radiologist found a 14cm growth on his liver! No specialists were available to diagnose what this meant, so everybody’s mood was a bit gloomy over the CNY period.
I was especially worried when I saw him on 1st day of CNY with his very greenish, yellowish complexion. But luckily, 2nd day onwards, some pink returned to his face.
On 17th Feb when the doctors are back to work, he saw his first liver specialist, Dr. Ryan Ponnudurai. A CT scan was done, and the growth is actually around 14~16cm on the left lobe of his liver.
On 18th Feb, he went to see a 2nd specialist, Dr. MV Kudva, also a liver spealist. The options given were more or less the same.
1. Surgery to remove the growth, but because of his age and the size of the growth, it’s not recommended.
2. Chemotheraphy, Dr. MV Kudva said the best chemo option is to do TACE – Transarterial chemoembolization, a procedure in which the blood supply to a tumor is blocked (embolized) and chemotherapy is administered directly into the tumor.
His other chemo option is to take chemo drug in pill form.
3. Do nothing and hope for the best.
My dad, being the funny sort, asked me, “What if I go for option 2, and my hair fall off?” As though that’s the most important thing to him!
He’s kind of decided on option 2, now we are getting another round of check on all his tests and scans by the radiologist, Dr. Asokan R. Nair, and to see if he can have TACE done on him. It’s likely that he’ll be doing it in UMMC, because Dr. Asokan will be recommending another radiologist (a professor) from UM to do it for him.
He’s still driving himself around, going to work, to church etc. He stops eating out, and on a control diet now, while waiting.
For someone who’s rather healthy all this while, this is all hard news for him and us. I’d lost a couple of days sleep, worried about him, worried about myself (I was told I had fatty liver the last round I did my check up).
The girls, not knowing what really is happening, is praying in the night, Zaria will say something like this, “Jesus, please help my Ah Kong to be better, so that he don’t have diarhea and go on drips.”
>Photo Sharing< February 22, 2010
Posted by Zara's Mama in : girls' angpow , 1 comment so farI remember we used to need to developed selected photos and sending to friends when we want to share with them, and postcard printing with our photos seemed such a brilliant idea. It still is, but honestly, I’d only made photo books and developed passport photos, but no other photo printing since we bought our 1st digital camera. I have to make sure I do some next time, and send to my friends just to keep the ‘tradition’ going.
>10% Salary on Skin Care?<
Posted by Zara's Mama in : girls' angpow , 1 comment so farJelly claims she’s spending around RM100 each month on skin care alone when she goes out. For someone to be putting in more than 10% of her earnings into skin care, she must be very vain. Not that she has acne that needs special creams or acne cleansers, she has rather nice skin. It’s all the whitening stuff that she’s buying that cost so much. And she keeps complaining that she has not enough money to send home.
