Dad is still the more popular one!

my son's drawing in 2007

My little girl insisted I'm the "employer" and his dad is an "employee" even though he & I own and run the same company. Know why? My hubby is always telling the kid that "Mom is the boss."

My following Yahoo blog entry in 2007 explains how I earn this GREAT title in this family:

1) When my kids beg to play computer game at odd hours, their father who does not want to disappoint them (directly) will say to them : "Go ask the boss."

3) When my kids request some expensive new toys, their father who refuses to be the bad guy will say to them: "Go ask the boss".

3) When my kids ask for MacDonald's much too often until their daddy starts to get confused whether or not it is a healthy food will say to them "Go ask the boss".

Usually my duty is pretty simple yet cruel, that's to give them a big NO plus a big Disappointment.

"Aren't you the boss in the office? Can't you make the decision?" They questioned their father.

"Yes. But at home mommy is the Boss of The Boss!"

Am I thrilled with the title? NOT AT ALL!

Hey, it means "The Bad Guy of The Bad Guy"!!!

There's another blog entry in 2007 about my daughter's choice of shoe.

...We went shopping & she picked a pair of pink shoes with heels. I refused to let her buy because I did not want her to hurt her ankle. We ended up buying nothing.

But one fine evening, she and her father came home happily with that pair of SHOES! I was surprised + crossed and gave both of them a piece of my mind. My hubby "thought" I had given the green light and my clever daughter said nothing about it. ("Act blur").

Being the GOOD GUY, my hubby said, "for that pair of shoes, I'll be scolded by your mom for many days."

Being the BAD GUY, I bought my daughter another pair of shoes that I considered as "safe and healthy". However, as a compromise, I let her decide which to wear depending on the occasions.

The above was written 4 years ago. Today I must admit I'm still the bad guy and my popularity score does not seem to improve at all.

Once I warned him that he's going to spoil his daughters and his future son-in-laws will be suffering. Guess what he said... "Well, just let me enjoy my daughters and it's ok to let other men suffer."

Oh yes, he is also the good guy who would quietly bring our son for his favourite "bak kut teh" without letting me know. (I do not want them to have it too often)

My kids are truly blessed to have such a wonderful father.

Even though I'm not as popular, at least I know how to chose a good father for my kids, so they should trust my good judgements and listen to all my orders, right?!

As parent, it's important to do what's right and not what is popular...even though at times it's after much struggling.

I know being a good father is not an easy task too.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to every great father out there!

(Wishing Pakmat, Uncle Lee and mr cityding a happy father's day too)

I still owe my little girl a portrait...

In Dec 2007, I put up my son and daughter's portraits in my Yahoo blog. My hubby took the photos and I did the paintings (in year 1999 and 2000). At that time, I promised myself that I would do one for my youngest daughter as soon as I could find time.

Unfortunately, until today I've not done any...

Times flies, she's already in primary 3. Today she's complaining again that I've not produced one for her.

I decided to go through old photos and managed to find a few below...

She's my angel. I truly want to give her a beautiful portrait. However, I need to seriously polish my skill before I'm confident enough to put her on canvass.

(Zi, 3 years old) Daddy and Mommy. With a very unique "I love U"

(Zi, 5 years old) She witnessed me and her daddy kissing on one occasion and produced this masterpiece.

I'm sure a great painting begins with a feeling, not an idea :-)

My Kids, My Love

My mother's day gifts from my 3 wonderful kids...

LOVE from my son...

This year he added a chinese character 爱 .

I know he cares and loves me even though he didn't say "I love you" or hug & kiss me like his two younger sisters...

My elder daughter made me 2 cards. So far my daughters and I only managed to bake a chocolate cake together. I should learn to bake more...

Words from her that warm my heart...

My artistic daughter made another card using a white thread (she added colour to it) to form the heart.

Can't believe how time flies... that little girl who used to doodle on the wall is now the "little artist" of our family :-)

My youngest daughter's creative little card with the shape of a heart.

I enjoy teaching her. She's a fast learner.

In fact, she made special mother's day coupons for me too! I could use the "reading coupon" and "workbook coupon" to make her "study for an hour" or do "20 pages of workbook". She's so adorable!

Besides card, she used LEGO to form a "mom, I Love U."

I love that little full stop. Love in unconditional.

What A Cheapskate!

I was in an organic shop with my MIL yesterday.

While we were looking through products on the shelf, I saw a smart looking middle aged man talking to a shopkeeper at the cash register counter. He spoke good English, and looked educated and well-to-do. However, I did not listen to his conversation.

I wasn't even aware when he left. When it's my turn to pay, the shopkeeper showed me a box on the counter and told me that man had dropped the box accidentally and the bottle inside was broken (it was captured on CCTV too). Instead of apologizing & offering to compensate, that man accused the quality of that product as "lousy & easily breakable". Isn't it a common sense that glass is breakable and you got to handle it with care??!

That shameless man left the shop without paying a single cent...

I told the shopkeeper that if I were to know that earlier, I would have approached him and ask,"Sir, what if you accidentally drop & break a Swarovski crystal vase or an expensive perfume bottle, are you going to blame it as "lousy product, easily breakable"?

"Actually he's a "Datuk", but this type of "Datukship" you give me I also don't want..." that shopkeeper said.

Well...he's just a Cheapskate.

My first LV purse... many years ago

About 8 years ago, my beloved hubby bought me 2 LV purses. I used one and kept the other one safely inside my drawer.

During one lunch appointment with my 2 close ex-colleagues, I showed off my "prized possession". I smiled and let the 2 gentlemen guess the price of that monogram LV purse.

Both guys gave me the similar answer – “Must be around 1 to 2 thousands ringgit”.

I giggled and announced to them proudly, “No lah… actually my hubby bought it from the wet market and it’s only RM25. He is so smart you know, he got good deal as he bought 2 at the same time.“

Not realizing that I’ve made the biggest mistake in the whole wide world, I went home happily and told my hubby about it.

“我想妳這一輩子不用買真的LV了，因為妳用真的別人也不相信了。(He said: "I think from now on you don't need to think about buying any genuine LV bags, because nobody will ever believe it's genuine even if it really is.”)

Ouch... that's painful & SCARY... it sounded like a CURSE to me! (maybe it somehow hurt his ego too... fake one... from the wet market... and I was telling 2 men about it!!! BOMB!!!!!)

I must admit I was young and ignorant...

How I miss the mother bird!

In March last year, there was a pair of love birds building nest in my backyard. Few weeks later, the pendulum nest was abandoned after my hubby unintentionally scared their baby bird from the nest.

To our sweet surprise, a few weeks ago, 2 doves visited our backyard and started building their love nest. This time, we chose to observe from far when the mother bird was nesting, and even tried not to turn on the air con in the dining room as the compressor is close to the nest.

Sad to say, after nesting for a week or 2, the mother bird left her nest and never returned. And I didn't seem to see any baby bird inside that nest. I'm worried for her safety...

Rain or shine, she used to be there in her nest.

Maybe God sent her to remind me to be a more dedicated mother.

Paintings from my heart

I did a few water colour paintings back in the 90s. The following paintings are specially dedicated to my late father-in-law...

Watercolour, 1996

My father-in-law & my brother-in-law with a middle man who came to collect the durian.

Watercolour, 1998

A family portrait with 2 new family members who're born in 1997 (my son & my niece)

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them." - Bishop Desmond Tutu