A Homemaker’s Diary

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be —
I had a mother who read to me.

~ Strickland Gillilan

I found this poem from a blog that I stumbled upon – Elegant Word Art By Bethany. She is a mother of 5 who creates wordart to be used in digital scrapbooking. Gosh, somehow I am amazed and really don’t know how mothers like this can juggle it all between hobby, real life, family and daily responsibility..huhu! I bookmarked her blog and hopefully I will be able to indulge in such hobby soon.

It’s Ramadhan time of the year and we had a good start since yesterday. Bought all the vege, chicken, beef, shrimp and fish from pasar borong on Friday since Jusco was out of stock..made me wonder semua nak puasa ke nak raya ni? haha..maybe because it is school holiday now and people have to buy more food to feed their children and perhaps keep more supply for bersahur.

So on Saturday we grilled some beef and brought it to SIL’s house for berbuka. We went to our old housing area pasar ramadhan and bought some more food. And I made agar-agar merah and brought sebekas for berbuka, well you know the otai, basic agar-agar like the one you can expect to eat during kenduri in kampung..heh! I still have two more cups in the fridge.

Today, we decided to try pasar ramadhan near our housing area and it turned out satu lauk or main dish pon nampak tak menyelerakan for me..huhu! Hubby bought nasi ambang for his berbuka.

They actually have a lot of choices for kuih muih ( I bought cara manis, cara berlauk, vadai, bubur lambuk, rojak, tako, akok) but the rice dish..hummm..I ended up balik rumah masak singgang, budu and goreng sayur. Perhaps next time I should just buy anything since I didn’t eat that much during berbuka..macam buang tenaga pulak masak beriya-iya..huhu!

Well, that’s it for this week update. Hopefully I would be able to write every now and then next week.

I found this making money ads online which called itself Flip Switch Profits. It is a unique, new, simple system to make money online that even a complete newbie can get their head around – as it doesn’t require all the usual stuff. You don’t need a website, you don’t need to be a ‘techie’ and you don’t need any start-up cash.

So reading further, here are the steps on how the system works:

1) Locate web sites with email lists AND an affiliate program that don’t send out quality free, content to their email list every week (they are EVERYWHERE online)

2) Contact them and offer to write them a weekly email newsletter for free (don’t worry you won’t have to write a word if you don’t want to) as long as they include your affiliate link to their product at the end of the newsletter

3) Each week you send them a newsletter and they send it out to their list of thousands,tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of subscribers

4) You make tons of cash as an affiliate without ever needing your own web site, product, marketing skills or any start up cash

The inventor of the program says that we might have to put in a few hours a week to keep this ticking over and generating consistent pay days. But a three or four hours a weeks work to earn tens of thousands in days is all he puts in.

Over a period of two months he started to test a new way of using the Flip Switch Profits business program. And, he claimed that within a few weeks his work was down to pretty much zero. It took ten minutes a day to ensure all things were in place.

Well, it sounds very tempting to me. After all it’s a great money making opportunity. Of course I would have to pay for the program for a one time fee of just $47. He also said that if you’re not completely satisfied, within 60 days, you can ask for a full refund. Plus, you can keep the ebook and instant business programs!

If I have $47 now, I would give it a try, but I am still way behind the payment time from my sponsored blogging..heh!

Even since our son has been (and still is) super clingy to me, it becomes so hard for me to cook these days. And being in this housing area is a big mistake since all the kedai makan we tried sucks! huhu..there are times that I yearn for home made meals and since there’s no one else to cook for me, I have to train Hubby to do the cooking..heh!

So up till today, Hubby has managed to cook sup daging, ikan sweet sour and goreng bilis with bawang and caipo..(masak nasik tak kira la kan..hehe) of course he cheated here and there like the time he cooked sup daging and the sweet sour using the leftover that his sister brought on Sunday..but still, it was a great effort on his side. Imagine coming back from work, terus masuk dapor masak..I know how tiring it felt during my working years (and that time I only cooked on weekend, 1-2 times in a month)

I hope this clingy phase will soon be over..I miss having the chance to cook whenever and whatever I feel like eating..nevertheless I take it as a life experience and the inconveniences of raising a son. To Hubby, thanks for being my chef!

Unexpectedly, SIL #2 decided to pay us a visit last weekend. Actually it was SIL #1 who brought them to our house as they came to KL earlier for nephew #2 degree registration in KLMU.

Well known to the family that she likes gardening and has the eye of landscaper..(ceh!), after the late lunch I purposely went out to check out my garden. Actually I wanted to put aside those keladi and lily plants that I promised to give to SIL#1 (we always have this arrangement whereby I will semai new plants, once gemuk and sihat, SIL will take it to her home)…I asked SIL#1 whether she wants to take the old orchid pots I have since I don’t have time to take care of orchids now and then SIL #2 came out and voiced out her opinion about my garden. One thing led to another, it turned out to be total garden makeover.

I will update this entry with picture later once I managed to snap one or two. We were rushing to go to Bagan Lalang after the garden makeover that I didn’t have the chance to take picture of my new garden arrangement.

I was so happy with my new garden since Hubby said the front yard looks more spacious now compared to the previously scattered, tak berseni arrangement I had..hehe! (That was not garden, that was more like tapak semaian..haha!) And SIL #2 said I should buy more plants to fill up some lopong space..(and all this while I thought I have no more space to add in new plants..heh!)

For those who ask about Montessori books that I am currently reading, here are the titles:

Teaching Montessori in the Home: Pre-School Years: The Pre-School Years by [Teaching Montessori in the Home] by Elizabeth G. Hainstock

How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way by Tim Seldin

I chose these 2 books to buy after reading the reviews from amazon.com..plus I am planning to incorporate some of the Montessori methods in my daily learn and play session with the little one. I recently discovered Google Books whereby you can read some of the page previews although not all books provide the limited preview.

As of now, I am previewing Your Child at Play – One to Two Years By Marilyn Segal, Raising A Son by Jeanne Elium and even reading Raising A Daughter by Don Elium (just to pick up some point of differences between boys and girls..haha!)

Oh, the other day I was previewing Raising Boys: Why Boys Are Different – And How to Help Them Become Happy and Well-Balanced Men by Steve Biddulph and one part I find alarming is the fact that boys shouldn’t be sent to day care before the age of 3 as they suffer the separation anxiety more or what is called the sad/angry boy syndrome..huhu! I’m sure many working moms will disagree with the author on that issue but then again it’s your decision to make after all..(and I am glad that I am a SAHM..heh!)

Well, that’s it for now. I want to continue reading the preview pages before deciding which books I will buy next.