Raya 2012 Long Weekend

This Raya I am glad to be taking it easy at home, and also thankful that I was able to do several things:
   1. Bought 2 Math books for Yuan from Popular and coached her to do it for 2 hours to understand why     she has a problem with Math.
   2. Slept in for 2 days, getting some much needed rest.
   3. Watched Battleship with J.  It is a great movie, whoever first told me that it wasn't good, causing me to delay watching it?
   4. Finished reading "How to be a Zillionaire" by Chellie Campbell.
   5. Bought an electronic insect repellent from Groupon, hopefully it can repel the cockroaches from my house.
   6. Started reading halfway through "Inside Steve's Brain" - about Steve Jobs.
   7. Cooked one of the kids' favorite meal: Spaghetti with mushrooms, tuna and cherry tomatoes.
   8. Pampered myself with a relaxing facial session.  Bought a Royce chocolate hamper.
   9. J played badminton with the kids, while I concentrated on increasing my pedometer steps.

Parkcity evening walk

10. Went through some webinars taught by Marcus De Maria's course.
11. Caught up with friends at 2 Raya Open Houses, immersed in the spirit of "Maaf Zahir & Batin".
12. Spent lots of time enjoying Baby Xin and her many antics.

13. Spent time with Mom and my siblings at lunch and dinner
Wow, that's a good list of things that I had done.

Royce Chocolate Hamper

A special hamper with our favorite Royce chocolates from Hokkaido.
When I saw this offer, I cannot resist, because it is about time to replenish my supplies, plus the kids get to eat this chocolate!! Yeah!
So what happens to the container basket when I take everything out? It becomes my wardrobe organizer as well.
Nothing goes to waste.

Plans for Adopting a Pet

After reading about so many sad stories about animals having to be put down in SPCA and various other animal shelters, due to overpopulation and lack of adopters, I asked the children one day if they would like to have a pet dog.  Not now, but one day after we moved to a house.

Photo from: http://www.dailypuppy.com/puppies/phoebe-the-husky-mix_2009-10-05

Immediately here are the responses:
Yuan: Yes, please, can we adopt a husky?
Me:  There are no huskies in the SPCA, people don't throw away dogs like that.
Wei: Then what breeds are there?
Me:  No breeds, just mongrels.
Wei:  What are mongrels? Cross-breeds?
Me:  Yes, cross-breeds.
Wei: Then can we have a cross-breed between a husky and a golden retriever?
Me: There are no dogs like that.  Look, that dog on the street, that's a mongrel, the dogs are going to be like that.
Wei: Stupid!
Me: What?!
Wei:  I mean cute! (This boy twists his words very quickly).
Yuan: Yes, as long as we adopt a puppy, it will be cute.

I then went on to explain that having a dog is a life-long commitment, not just playing with it when it is a cute puppy and then when it grows up, it is no longer cute.  The children thought about that and is yet undecided if they can shoulder the responsibility to care for a pet.
Well, since we have a lot more time before we actually move house, we can still think about that.

Sunday at Home

It is a very unusual Sunday that we have absolutely nothing to do, nowhere to go. J slept in for watching Olympic games late last night and the kids were in the house playing. Later in the morning, the kids have fun playing badminton, and walking around our home compounds.