A Homemaker’s Diary

It has been more than a year since my last update. With the other social media channel like instagram, Facebook and who know what else, it’s hard to keep everything updated.

I hope next year I will be able to continue blogging as often as years before. I miss writing and sharing with hope that it could benefit the mankind..haha!

Reading is an important skill for a child to learn and there are different teaching methods that can be used to help a kid develop this knowledge. One of the ways is to introduce a young mind to games to teach reading, especially games that have been designed to improve a child’s cognitive development.

What is cognitive development? It is a process through which a person improves their ability to think, learn, reason, remember, understand, and take meaning from the world that surrounds them. Reading is a cognitive activity and it involves more than simply knowing letter sounds. Kids need to learn how to combine their letter knowledge with other clues that exist inside and outside of text in order to gain true value from language and become effective readers. Thus, games to teach reading that focus on the cognitive processes that lies behind reading, and provide kids with various opportunities for practicing will help them develop better thinking habits, making them better readers.

Learning how to read effectively isn’t only simply a matter of learning the alphabet, recognizing letters and sounding out words, it’s also a matter of gaining true comprehension of what is being learned through critical thinking and problem solving strategies. Hence, games to teach reading that provide these types of challenges command the attention of a child and help them develop the many skills that are essential for reading. Such interactive games can be found online.

If there is one thing I really hate, it is packing and unpacking for moving..huhu! Of course if you have to move abroad or even locally to a new town or new house you just bought, there are options like hiring moving company to do all that messy tasks..which usually will cost a bomb especially when you are a hoarder like me with a lot of junks..haha!

Well, unless the company you are working for is paying for the relocation costs, make sure you have done your homework and survey around for the best Moving Company Quotes before you decide on which moving company to hire.

Make sure the company you want to hire is bonded and insured. And do check out what others have to say about the service. You wouldn’t want to risk your family valuable heirloom in the process of moving if the mover is doing a lousy job in packing.

And be warned that the cheapest quote is not necessarily the best as the company might hide details on other charges such as refuels or insurance coverage that you have to bear later. It is advisable to get on-site moving evaluations from as many of moving companies available before you settle for one. Those online evaluation is not very accurate as they could never estimate how much work and total inventory of your household goods that need to be moved just by reading the details you fill up in their online form..heh!

Personally, I find that besides packing and unpacking, the next gruesome task when relocating is the scheduling and coordinating the switching of utilities from your old residence to your new home and streamlining the service activation of all the important things, like TV, Internet and phone.

The last time we moved to this current home, it took us more than a month to settle everything, not to mention the changes of address for billing, magazine subscription and official letters. Luckily some could be done through online and phone. Hopefully we won’t need to move anywhere else anytime soon!

Have you ever heard about AMACO/Brent? Amaco (American Art Clay Co., Inc.) is the company that have been “Modeling Imagination Since 1919” when they made the first American modeling clay! Since then, they have been an industry leader in classroom safety. Whereas Brent is the brand of the most popular potter’s wheels on the market known for their strength and durability.

If you check out the website, they have all kind of art glazes. Altogether they have 586 lead free glazes for school and professional use. Oh, they do ship to Malaysia as well you know!

Have you ever heard about bisque ceramic tiles? Bisque is the term used for unglazed pottery after first firing. The bisque ceramic tiles could be used as part of a lesson to make Persian tile art like this.

For those who are looking to buy your own ceramic kilns, you should consider getting one from AMACO. The AMACO kilns can last for 20-30 years. When they built their first kiln in 1931 they have started a commitment to quality that has withstood the test of time. They have two distinctly different types of kilns – Amaco (square/rectangular) and Excel(round).

I wish that Malaysian school system has all kind of art program especially ceramic art since the cost to buy all the materials are quite expensive. It would be good to introduce our future generation to such beautiful craft.

I was having a conversation online with a friend about her plan to buy a house. In Malaysia, people usually buy houses that have been built by developers so we have less choice to choose what type of house plans we desire. Unless we are really rich, can afford to buy vacant plot and pay for contractors to erect the house of our dream, we are doomed to buy whatever designs that the real estate developers come out with..huhu!

I was browsing through the website of HousePlansandMore.com. I wish one day when we have enormous amount of money, we could have something like this cottage in a quiet area.

They have so many cabin plans to choose from. You can even estimate the cost to build such house by inputting the zip code (available in USA only!) And with their Cost Estimator feature, you can also locate the house floor plans within your budget.

They also have so many styles to choose from – ranch, Tudor, Victorian, contemporary and many more. Check out their list of qualified builders. With their Builder’s Advantage program, builders get to receive discounts, free plan books and many benefits.

If you are building your own home, what features would you put as a must? I am all into large family area, 6 bedrooms with attached bathroom, and a kitchen fit for a cooking master. What about you?