My own brand of Accomplishments

I feel very accomplished this week. I wish these accomplishments can be accounted for in my annual appraisal but aiya, no such luck. I bet my boss would faint if I list these down as accomplishments. Check them out…

First accomplishment: Yes! I can make Roti Bakar…and give Old Town Kopitiam a run for its money 🙂 That’s what my hubby said. 🙂 I tried this out early this week one night for supper and it tasted really good. The key to getting roti bakar done just right is to use BUTTER instead of margarine. And the butter needs to be cut into pieces (as opposed to being spread on the toast) immediately after taking it out from the fridge. Watch and salivate while the chunks of butter melts onto the hot toast. Can you just see the butter oozing out from the bread in the picture below?

Second Accomplishment: I managed to buy the jumbo pack of Mamy Poko diapers at an unbelievably dirtcheap price of RM42.90! The promotion started in Tesco last week, but there was no stock for size L, which Ethan currently uses. Yesterday evening, a good mommy friend of mine (you know who you are, dear!) called me up right before my dinner, and told me Tesco had restocked size L. She was already in the midst of buying hers. So Pete and I hurried over to Tesco after dinner and after picking Ethan up, and kiasu-ly grabbed 4 packs (we were only allowed 2 per customer). Good thing we were there early too, as there were only 2 or 3 packs of L left after I took those 4. Here’s our loot 🙂 :

Third (and final) accomplishment: YATAAAAAAAAaaaaa!!!!!! We watched Episode 19 of Heroes last night! If anyone wants spoilers, you can email me directly. But it is edge-of-the-seat nail-biting exciting, aitelyooooo! I can’t wait for the next episode… 🙂

Posted in Drooling & Cooking, Thoughts & Scribblings | 9 Comments

Chore Busting

I often find myself overwhelmed with household chores.  With no hired help, my hubby and I have to self-delegate tasks around the house, like vacuuming the floor, mopping the floor, cleaning the toilets, taking out the trash, ironing clothes … well, you get the idea…the list goes on.  The chores always seems unending, and you know, we have even considered getting extra help, what with house cleaners now available for several hours at a minimal price.  However, my hubby and I feel strongly about having strangers in the house, even for a few hours and because of this, we would rather do away with hired help and get the chores and tasks done ourselves.  Yes, it is sometimes stressful and I don’t doubt that it is difficult, but it definitely can be done.

As such, I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered Chore Buster.   Chore Buster, very simply, is a website which enables one to organize one’s household chores, and most importantly, everyone in the household gets a FAIR share of the workload.  This means that with Chore Buster, no one gets away with shaking legs and not doing anything.  Isn’t that great?  I just signed up for an account (it’s FREE by the way), and proceeded to enter the names of the people in my household and a list of chores that needed to be done.  There is also a very cool option to import pre-existing chores specified by Chore Buster, i.e. chores that most people might commonly have, such as cleaning toilets and taking out the trash.  Of course you can also add in your own specialized chores.  I was also able to customize these chores by complexity, frequency, dates I would like them done, and the start date.  On top of that, if I wanted to escape doing a certain chore, I just simply selected the option to exclude myself from that particular chore. Heh heh….

Now, the thing I like about Chore Buster: it will send periodic emails to the people you have assigned these chores to.  You can choose whether you want the emails sent out weekly or daily.  This will ensure you get bugged with emails if you do not complete your chores.  The chores for each individual person can also be printed out on sheets, much like a to-do list.  And when chores get listed, they normally get done faster than when they’re not.

I am amazed that so many people are already benefiting from Chore Buster.  Now I know why.  Go ahead, go check it out today.  Getting chores done at home will never be the same again.

Posted in Close to Heart & Home, Rainmakers | 2 Comments

You’ll Never Walk Alone

When you walk through a storm
hold your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark.
At the end of a storm is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.
Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Tho’ your dreams be tossed and blown.
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone,
You’ll never, ever walk alone.
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone,
You’ll never, ever walk alone.

I want to capture the haunting and meaningful lyrics of this song, which touched me so last night as Jordin Sparks sang her heart out in American Idol. Being a Kopite*, and this being the theme song of the club, I wanted to remind myself of what this song meant… that we’ll never ever walk alone.

Not ever.

Not even when Chelsea scored a goal against us in the Champions League early this morning.

Walk on.

* I changed the initial “Liverpudlian” to “Kopite” after my hubby corrected me that a Liverpudlian is someone who was born in Liverpool (which I am not), whereas a Kopite is a Liverpool fan (which I am) 🙂

Posted in Thoughts & Scribblings | 6 Comments

Goo-Bak Koay Teow

…or better known as simply Beef Koay Teow.

Back in Ipoh, my favorite beef koay teow stall is the one in Woolley Center. It was formerly a stall in the Kampung Simee market, but moved to Woolley Center several years ago. Since I don’t go back to Ipoh very often nowadays, I really miss the beef koay teow there. The lady at the stall always recognizes me whenever I stop by. Talk about store loyalty!

Since I have relocated to Penang for about 10 years now, I’ve not found a beef koay teow stall which meets my standards….chewah… until recently. This quaint stall has a signboard in Mandarin, save for a few English words like Large, Medium and Small, and the prices. It’s located at the corner coffee shop very near the Taman Sri Nibong police station, along the same row as the Ayamas shop and Yosenabe steamboat restaurant. The beef koay teow’s soup is just right in thickness and exudes a heavenly aroma so inviting and addictive, you just can’t help but love it. My hubby and I frequent this stall about once a week now, because it is just so good it keeps us coming back for more. Customization is also available for each individual bowl as you can choose what to include and what to exclude. Compared to Ipoh, the price is slightly steep, at RM8 for a large bowl, RM7 for medium and RM6 for small. But it is still cheaper than a bowl of beef koay teow at Pho Hoa 😛

Yesterday evening we went there for dinner again, and when I started to explain how I like mine customized, the man said he already knew and when he repeated it to me, it was correct! Say…I wonder if they have frequent diner discounts there? *hopeful*

Posted in Drooling & Cooking | 8 Comments

Online Shopping Cart

Many people may not know that I am actually a distributor for baby sleeping sacks and other baby sleeping items. In fact, I have been looking for an online shopping cart software to enable me to display these items for sale. Coincidentally, I recently stumbled on Ashop Commerce, which is an Australian-based ecommerce software site that makes it so easy to create your own online store!  It has so many customizable designs that would appeal to various people from all walks of life; check this out: with 50 editable themes, fully customizable unique shopping cart theme editor and support for all external web animation and graphics, what more could you ask for?  And if you run into problems, there’s live help available too.  At the affordable price you pay for such a professional software, you would be amazed to see all the features you get.

Well, if you’re still in doubt, why not test drive an online shopping cart before actually signing up?  You can choose to view an Admin Demo or a Shop Front Demo.  There’s also a 10-day Free Trial for the software available.

Besides, with such an impressive customer base, you really can’t go wrong, right?

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