False advertising??

A stack of envelopes was waiting for me on the shoe rack this evening. Couple of bills & another invitation from a bank for credit card application. The phone bill came in today - let's see....opps! there's no credit back again!!!! We've been billed for services (internet) that we never have. And it's all becos I wanted to have the digital camera that come with the internet subscription. Hubby was so excited when he received the modem 3 mth ago, but we could not get connected that very same day! (Good thing we never cancel our current provider) Well, we waited for 1 day, 2 day & later they said it could take as much as 1 week!! WTF?????!!!!

They are supposedly one of the best (?!!) provider in this province & it will take like a week to get us connected?? Frustrated, we returned the modem. But we kept getting billed for internet & the last straw was when they sent last month for $200 overdue!! Pak Labu was furious & screaming at the CSR side to get their records straight!

So, today according to their records,it was fixed; except that they did it AFTER the cut-of date of billing & hence, that $200 overdue still reflect in our current bill. *sigh*


But according to their latest update, our bill now stands at $40 - GOOD!

Fireworks, finally!!!

The last fireworks I saw was in 2001 in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. Since The Soo is a border town, we had the chance to watch 2 fireworks; one on July 1st and another one on July 4th. And we don't even need to watch them by the waterfront, just a block away from the apartment building and we could ooohhh & ahhhh. Such good times.

Then we moved to the west coast & I've been bugging Pak Labu to watch the fireworks every year! The 1st year, he fall asleep right after supper, woke up at 10pm & by then it was too late! The 2nd week, the kids were too young & it was way past their bedtime. Finally made it this year, still pass the kids' bedtime but hey, it was Canada Day & they can sleep in the next day since it was still a holiday.

Didn't leave the house till 9pm but we still made it in time in less then 45mins. Almost lost our way but a phonecall saved us from turning back home! Phewww!! And all that hassle & the fireworks only lasted less then 30mins!!! But the kids enjoyed them. Me too.

The First Day of Summer

June 21, 2007 is officially the first day of Summer, as shown in my calender. Woke up to rain (??!!) that morning. It's Sunday afternoon now, and looks clear outside. Maybe we'll get our summer after all?

Let kids be kids

Couple of things was happening at Whalley early today, despite the slight showers we had - Community Festival by the library and Pinoy Festival in the mall 1 block ahead.

Before that,we were at few yard sales in the neighbourhood. Got a tripod for my digicam for a tonnie while Papa Labu paid 50cts for his bunny/hamster water bottle! We even got a box of freebie! They were almost done up for the day & don't want to haul anything back in the house. Among the things in the box, I found a handfan (the kind where geisha uses in her dance) and a seahorse shape watergun. Needless to say, the fan broke within 30mins of showing Abang how to fan & him sharing it with Baby! The watergun remains in the backyard, where they can have fun squirting later.

Back to the happenings in Whalley, watched a bit of the Kid's Talent show at the Pinoy Festival. A little girl abt 8 or 9 yrs old was singing some lovestruck song?! The audience (or maybe family members/friends) clapped when she hit the high notes. Maybe it just me, but I cringe everytime I see or hear little girl sings 'I want you baby, I need you'. The same thing too while we were watching America Got Talent audition few days ago, where another younger girl strain her vocals 'tell him I'm gonna stay' or wateva the song was. Why can't these girls sing a nice simple song like a Rainbow connection or My Favourite Things?

We did not stay long enuff at the mall to see who won the Talent show but as we were leaving, we saw another little girl in a wedding dress!!?? running after her mom. Maybe Fancy Dress Contest right after the Talent Show. Good luck girls!!

Word to my little girl - Don't grow up so fast, k?

119 days and counting

119 days more to go till I step on Singapore soil!! Last time I was there was Dec/Jan 2001. Gosh, I miss Everything there! Friends here who have made the trip home kept telling me abt the heat (like I don't know, eh?) One even got lost in Taka coming out from the MRT! Have Singapore changed so much during our absence or have WE changed?? Guess I'll find that out soon, eh?

In the meantime, I've done a little bit of shopping for family back home. I'm really looking forward to finally meeting my niece, (she's only 4 days apart from Baby!) and my grand-nephew & the latest addition, my grand-niece who'll be 6 mths when I see her. Everybody is anxious how it will be when all 5 kids (all under 5!) will react when they meet. I'll know my kids will ever be so shy & hide behind me. It'll be awhile for them to warm up to the rest. But once they do, I'd better keep those earplugs handy!

I hope I have the time to bring them all over Singapore. I wanna take them shopping at Geylang for Hari Raya shopping, Orchard Road just to chill & have coffee with my frens and introduce them to ice-cream potong & ice-cream roti! (Do they still have that along Orchard Road?)

I'm sure they'll enjoy the double-decker bus ride and the view from Mak Su's 13th storey! I just hope they can take the heat. Papa has already reminded me to pack lots of tanks & shorts for them!

The 'Other' Famili

Last week, we found out that the kitties are female! Neither of us know how to spot the sex, but a fren came by & flipped them over & showed us! Hahahha! Fortunately they both have non-gender specific names.

And here are the little ones

This is Starsky, Abang's favorit.

and this is Tanny, Baby's favorit (& mine too) They even like taking naps together!

And the mama cat is Cleo.

One Fine Saturday morning

Happy Long Weekend

Long weekend is almost over. Hmmm....what did we do? Oh yea, gave the car a good cleanup and wash on Saturday morning while the kids had their run & what not in the backyard. Had a quick lunch (leftover Friday's supper) and then it was movie night. Watched 3 movies:-
The Family Stone (suprised Papa Labu sit all the way thru!),
Walkout - Walkout is a 2006 Home Box Office film based on a true story of the 1968 East L.A. walkouts. Student activist and Mexican-American Paula Crisostomo (played by Alexa Vega), tired of being treated unequally, decides to take action and stage a walkout at five East Los Angeles high schools in 1968 to protest educational conditions and complain of anti-Mexican educational bias along with some 10,000 students.
ok, I just cut & paste that from Wikipedia.

We finished the evening with The Da Vinci Code (Boring!) - almost put me to sleep but I stick around cos Pak Labu wanted to watch it. Hey, if he can sit up and watched Queen Latifah's Last Holiday, The Notebook & The Lake House, I can too, right?
And Sunday, it was pouring out & we just chilled. I got to update my Slide & Tagged sites. I went around chasing the kitties with my camera like a mad paparazzi - or in my case - mamarazzi??

A few good things happened this weekend. Thanks to Tagged, I've gotten in touch with a handful of friends back home! It was very exciting and we all can't wait to meet up in Oct. Awesome!

It's Monday afternoon, weather is kinda muggy, you know the kind when u just wanna stay home & do nothing?? Yeah, I wish!

Dialog Klasik

Abang & Baby nak sarapan oatmeal pagi ni - the instant one - just pour & lepas tu campur air panas.

Abang: I want to kopek the oatmeal
Me: Not kopek, koyak

So I just koyakkan sikit aje & let him tear the rest.
But he koyak sikit aje, so just a wee bit of lobang on top.

Me: Let ibu bukak the lobang besar sikit.
Abang: No! Abang lobang!

Balik Kampung!!

Yes! Yes! Yes!!
In 5 months from today, I'll be on the plane to Singapore!
Got our tickets early this week - we're $3K pooorer - but I'm too overly excited to think about $$ matters now.

Next on the agenda - updating my contact list, souvenirs shopping & planning for my 3 weeks there. So far I have a reunion with my Primary school mates. M is flying from Perth just for this occasion while K is the party organiser. She is planning a BBQ/Karaoke session at Downtown East. It'll be fun! fun! fun! Group of women in their early 40s trying to sound like Mariah/Celine/Siti!

In the meantime, Abang & Baby are all set for sunny Singapore with their cool shades.

Abang's Birthday

It was abang's 4th birthday on Monday. After dinner, we had dessert at Dairy Queen.
He managed to finish up the cone in 20mins, while Baby shared a strawberry bowl with me.

It was heartwarming watching Baby sharing her ice-cream......

Hush Little Baby

That's my baby. Just like his mama, he can simply fall asleep anywhere! One time we found him asleep in the playroom surrounded by his toys!!

I could easily doze off anywhere too! I'm not a good road trip companion. I'll fall asleep before we hit the highway. One time me and my chums were heading out to KL from SG on a saturday nite. I fell asleep before we reached the Causeway. I need my 8 hrs sleep most time, I can stay up all night, just keep that strong coffee coming! No, RedBull don't work for me. Tried that - still sleep like a baby right after.

And here's my baby falling asleep in the hallway.

Here we go again...........

Ok, I'm back!! Keep losing/forgetting my username/password. Tried recover them and got nowhere. So I decide to just have a new one. Save me all the headaches & pain (T3 is running out anyway)

I thought I couldn't choose a better day to start blogging again. It has been raining for past 3 days and looks like it's not getting any better today. Isn't it spring already???!! I desperately need a haircut - a quick wash & dry style. If it keep pissing outside, guess I'll just have to wait another day....hemmmmmmm....

Alas, it has been a lazy morning for the Labus here. We just had our brunch & it's movietime for Papa Labu, Abang Labu & Baby Labu - Eragon. That should give me enuff time to rant here and catch up on my emails and chores. But, it's a Lazy morning as I've wrote earlier, I'll take it easy on the chores for now, eh?