Mobile blogging

I am getting a hang of using my mobile to do email, facebook and
blogging. Its not as good as my laptop but for the moment it has to
do. Its too bad that i am not able to post the update of my house.
But i hope to be able to do it when I get the chance.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Black Friday, 26 March 2010

On Friday at about 11pm, we came home from Cell Group and discovered that the whole house was in a mess. The back gate and door was pried open.


Clothes and books were strewn everywhere.


Cupboards and drawers were opened.


Shock and disbelief that our place of solace was intruded.


What a violation of privacy.


What a betray of trust towards humanity.


A realisation of what greed does.... from one Greedy to Another.


Anger? Yes.


Fear? Yes.


Frustration? Yes.


The children was upset. They have every right to be. So was I.... to discover the laptops, Hubby's expensive camera and foreign currencies were taken.


It was Black Friday because we have not really got over Pastor Mark's passing (the funeral was in the morning) and then this. This is emotionally draining....


Thank God, we are safe but I want to leave this house now!!!!


P.S. I am blogging from an internet cafe.

Laptop less

Its a long story . . . But the short version is . . . Yesterday, the
robbers came and went away with my laptop. I am blogging from my
mobile. Testing how this will turn out. Here goes!

Till We Meet Again

I just heard the news that the friend whom I visited on Sunday had passed away.


Pastor Mark is home.


He is at a better place as of 9.30pm tonight. Left this journey on earth to start a new chapter in eternity with his Maker.


They say that place is a magnificent place. The "in" place to go after our expiration date on earth.

Rose (wife) & Pastor Mark

I am trying to imagine Pastor Mark having the time of his "new" life without the confine of a sick, aching and aging body. I am happy. But I am sad.


Such contradicting emotions.

Pastor Mark (in the middle) and all of us

When we were in the hospital on Sunday, Ethaniel said a beautiful prayer for Pastor Mark. He laid his small little hand on his frail hand. It was all about asking God to make him stronger, able to leave the hospital, feeling better and never sick again...


Was this an answer to his prayer?


By the way, Pastor Mark, I never really had a chance to Thank You for being a patient, kind and loving Shepherd. You alternated your role as a Pastor, counsellor, Shepherd and Boss. Your care and concern towards my family and I, has made an impact and helped in ways I am not able to articulate. Indeed, you have been a blessing.


P.S. Since you will not be able to visit me in my new house, I will visit you instead... In due time.... Till we meet again...

My New Neighbor

Guess who came by to say, "Hi" today.... I wonder if he left the whole clan behind and how many more of them who might pay me a visit...

Please... Let it be

I was at the hospital today afternoon visiting someone. He is in a critical condition due to the late stages of cancer of the intestines.


I was quite overwhelmed with emotions.


The last time I saw him, a few months ago, he looked well and chirpy. But today. He was weak and unable to speak clearly.


I was overcome with sadness. Split between the feeling of wanting to cry and being brave. For his sake and the others around me.


When we arrived, there was already a crowd. Eventhough he was not very aware of his surroundings, I greeted him and he nodded. He knows me. I was happy, eventhough it was an awkward moment with more than 10 other people standing quietly and solemnly inside the hospital room and beside his bed.


The last time we spoke, he asked about my house and me. So, I really wanted to continue that conversation. I wanted to let him know that I have already received my house keys, I am a proud owner of the house, he and and his wife went over to pray for... I have also started renovation of the place and I wanted to show him the pictures of the progress.... I also wanted to invite him over to the house after we moved in....


And I did.


I told him about the house, how Joel & Ethaniel are doing in school and that I wanted him to visit us when he gets better.


"If God is willing", he said softly.


So, God... Are you?


Please... Let it be.

Day 3 & 4: Clearing debris & foundational works

There were heaps of debris as a result of the demolition of walls & removing of old tiles. The contractor has arranged for a lorry. According to him, they get a package of RM300 for 10 trips. While I pay RM270 per 3 tan container from Alam Flora.


Its compulsory regulations by the MPSA (local council) to get from them. So, I ordered one for formality sake. After all, I had to put down a RM1,000 advance payment for those bins. Whatever bins I rent, they will minus from the RM1,000 and the rest can be taken back later.

Tractor clearing the debris onto a lorry

The Tractor did a good job of digging a long trench for the foundation of the fence and the back of the house. I specifically told the Contractor that I wanted to have a proper foundation and didn't want the house to crack in a matter of years. Yes, its cheaper just to have a wall up without proper foundations but I think, in the long run, its more expensive to have a house destroyed together with all the furniture inside. After all, there are earthquake tremors reaching Malaysia too.

Bakau wood for soft foundations/soil

The Bakau wood is used to strengthen soft foundations and apparently the wetter the soil, the stronger it gets. So, these woods were used to keep my house afloat for a long long time.

Metals were also used for the beams structure

I am clueless when it comes to construction, so, the experience of seeing what they do its really educational for me. But I am not going to be in a hurry to go through another shop-buy-renovate-move house experience in the next 20 years or so.

Master bedroom toilet tiles practically done. They broke the toilet bowl cover :-(



Ethaniel & Joel having fun burning dried leaves

They get such 'kick' out of that... Hmm... I remembered when I was young, I used to love burning dried sticks and leaves too. What happened? I no longer enjoy it. Maybe its because I start fires everyday while cooking lunch/dinner. I guess, when you do something that often, it takes the joy out of the activity.

Ethaniel is lovessss playing that and can spend hours sitting around a camp fire.
Marshmallows, anyone?

Write Upside Down

I know this is quite meaningless but thought that it might be fun...


¿noʎ uɐɔ ˙uʍop ǝpısdn ǝdʎʇ uɐɔ ı


http://www.typeupsidedown.com/


Try it if you are bored or curious.

Day 1 & 2: Demolition & Hacking

Renovation work on Day 1 & 2 was basically hacking down walls and removing old tiles.

It started with a hole....

Existing kitchen area being demolished

Not too long later... All is down. The utility room & toilet - disappeared

Cleaning up debris and continuing with removing tiles. Indonesian
workers, hard at work





Debris scooped up and left outside for the lorry to pick up



Tiles in the toilet upstairs being removed

It Was Like A Bad Dream

Have you ever had a weird, bad dream...? Like dreaming you wore your pajamas in public, had huge large feet or often walk in slow motion...especially when some monsters are trying to catch you. Ever had those?


Yes?


Me too.


Unfortunately what happened to me today was no dream.


Let me explain...


I often put a natural fruit mask on my face whenever I am at home. Most of the time its tomatoes or cucumber. They are easy and often found in my fridge. It's just a thin layer - often not obvious except for a few seeds that dries up and patches up on some part of my face.


This morning I was probably in so much of a hurry and too many things on my mind.... that.... I actually went out with a tomato mask on my face. Only discovered it after I went to the restaurant to pack lunch and McDonalds drive in. While waiting at the McDonald's drive-in, I looked into the mirror and saw patches of tomato puree on my nose and chin. What is that? Oh no! How could I have forgotten to wash off??!


Eewww... so embarassing!


What to do?


Just laugh at myself and glad I did not bump into anyone I knew.


If you saw me today, just pretend you didn't. Or rather it wasn't me. I need my self-esteem intact.

Contractor

After months of talking about renovation, the moment-of-truth has arrived.


Renovation works started yesterday, 14 March 2010, Sat *pinch myself*.... Long awaited, overdue moment.


It was a long tedious process of hunting around for a Contractor. After so many scary stories of Contractors doing shoddy work, incompetent, running away in the middle of a project, over-charging, gamblers, mafia leaders/members and etc. You won't blame me for having some kind of hesitation and apprehension... would you?


Eventhough I would like to get a Contractor with recommendations, I was careful about taking on someone I know from Church or a personal friend. After all, I prefer to keep them as friends. So, let's separate the two.... business and friends.


I found Ah Pang from the internet link forwarded by Hubby. This guy who was going through renovation was doing extensive work on his house and posted his experience in his blog. So, I took down Ah Pang's number and called him up.


Ah Pang has a typical humble Contractor look. Drove a worn out Proton (probably unwashed for some months), tattered jeans, sun-scorched skin, uncombed hair, measuring tape in one hand and calculator in the other. He was well-versed in Mandarin but stammered in Cantonese. So, I had to endure his broken Cantonese for I could understand 100% of it and 30% of his Mandarin. So, he graciously accommodated and spits his best Cantonese in our discussions.


A day before I confirmed him, I was about to put a downpayment on another Contractor M. Well, before I was to pay up, I prayed... "God, if this is not the right contractor to do the job, make some kind of foil-up". A few days later, I received a call from Contractor M asking for an increase of RM10K to the existing quotation. That was my sign.


I guess it was also not by accident that Ah Pang called me up around the same time, the same day. I had not spoken to him for almost 1 month, after his initial quotation.


Anyways.


To cut the long story short (if its not already long enough), Ah Pang re-quoted based on new requirements and work started the next day! Talking about short!


As of yesterday, the back area of the house has been demolished to make way for our new design. It looks like an earthquake has strike. Looked interesting. For the next 3 days, its going to be "demolition phase".


Below are the layout plans...

(click to enlarge)
This is original layout of the house but the land on the side is not visible on this drawing




(click to enlarge)
This is the new layout with the side land drawn

With the help of this website at Homelement I was able to design it online.

Our Home

As of yesterday, Tuesday 9 March 2010 - we have received the keys to our new home.

*dancing around the house*

My family and I are now proud owners of our house.

Our home ......

Our very own nest.

A place we can go to unwind.

A place of solace.

To come away from the stress of traffic jams and work stress.

A place to wash our tired bodies and fill our hungry stomachs.

A place to churn out all kinds of culinaries and maggi mees.

Where laughters will be created and tears to be wiped.

Childhood joys to be imprinted on the little hearts.

Where toils will be worth the while.

Where future generations can look to the past.

And they sit on the seat of their forefathers.

This I long to dream.

For you my Sons and the Sons of your Sons.

This is home.

If You Give A Mom A Muffin

If you give a mom a muffin, She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it..
She'll pour herself some.
Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.
She'll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she'll find dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,


She'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan for supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She'll look for her cookbook ("101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger").
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The check book is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.


She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two year old's diaper.
While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.
Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.
She'll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
And chances are...


If she has a cup of coffee, her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.



- Original Author Unknown

"I'm glad that I'm not a woman"

"I'm glad that I'm not a woman", exclaimed Joel.


Hmm.....


Should I feel happy or insulted?


Happy - because he is so confident of his manhood. There are untold numbers of young men in Thailand who aspires to be a female. You can see teenage boys wearing make-up. Its an awful sight. Trust me.


Insulted - because he doesn't want to be like Mummy. Haha. I should be so glad!


"Why are you glad you're not a woman?" I asked.


"Because I don't have to give birth to babies. So painful", explained Joel.


"Yeah. You are so fortunate. I am glad for you too," I agreed.


As much as I have accepted my womanhood, I do agree to a certain level that being a male has many advantages.


In the Asian culture, eventhough most women work, yet, they are expected to juggle their family lives simultaneously. Not only there are children to be taken care but housekeeping, cooking, marketing and the general well-being of the family is usually undertaken by the women.


In some countries, the women are really oppressed. Its really sad.


Are my Sons really fortunate born male?