If you like to expose your 5-year-old to photography, give him more than a 5megapixel
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008K is invited by a photographic society to do a big lecture in a few days. He organised hundreds of photographs and since he only has two hours to talk, he tried to time his projection show by practising in front of us in our bedroom.After discussing la…
How to impress yourself, your mother-in-law, and your wallet
Monday, October 6th, 2008With the credit crunch and all that, I try to tighten up my belt when it comes to usage of energy at home. Take for instance the use of shower. All four of us take a shower twice a day. Now, that’s a lot of water and electricity used. When the bill com…
See me smile
Sunday, September 28th, 2008I just had my final exam. I’ve never felt so awfully free than today where I just stayed in bed until 3pm, only getting out to get something to eat. I’m so giddy from immeasurable relief that I didn’t mind turning the webcam on beaming to my relatives …
Lesson 1
Thursday, September 18th, 2008I let Zak stand in a corner for pushing Lewis. I sat directly in front of him while trying to pacify the screaming little one.After a couple of minutes, he came up to me and said, ‘I’m sorry Mummy. I thought about it and I’m never going to do it again….
Does this remind you of your grandmother?
Wednesday, September 17th, 2008Oh please don’t lecture me about time and household management. I need somebody to train my husband the art of domesticity!
Sunday, September 14th, 2008I don’t like ironing clothes.And I don’t like putting them away in drawers and wardrobes.I also don’t like cooking, and dish washing, and toilet-cleaning.So what does that say about my day today?Frustrating and exhausting.I ironed clothes while Jose Ma…
happy birthday to you!
Saturday, September 13th, 2008.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } happy birthday to you!, originally uploaded by Soyy.
Flop debut
Friday, September 12th, 2008I can’t claim to be politically sound but I do have a little bit of political awareness. The interview debut of Sarah Palin just reinforced what I and a lot of people thought of her. I cringed all the way through the painful interview, and not just bec…
God help me
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008I’m trying to work on my computer. I needed to come up with a 2,500-word essay about what some bloke from Cambridge University said. If I don’t do this well, all the work I did for the past 9 months would just go down the drain. Now, I’m not a writer,…
Black Hole
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008About 10 minutes ago, the Large Hadron Collider was powered on. I sat on the couch with my laptop perched on the arm. Lewis dumped his cup of water on me and I froze. I shouted for tea towel to absorb the water while my ears were glued to BBC Radio 4 d…
Back to school
Monday, September 8th, 2008Zak - first day of Reception class. 7 September 2007. Zak - first day of Year 1 class, 7 September 2008. Zak started school today. I shed more tears again, silly me. I thought, well after 6 weeks of school holiday, our routine will be back to norm…
How to be British
Sunday, September 7th, 2008There is only one way to become a citizen of Britain: know how to talk about the weather.You don’t need to become a weather forecaster; you just need to have an eye for the weather and the right words and phrases to go with it. Learning to say somethin…
Cycling
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008Cycling around Ladybower Dam, originally uploaded by Soyy.I ditched my mountain bike 11 years ago.Today, I thought I wouldn’t be able to pedal anymore. I practised on my 5-year-old’s bike but it wouldn’t move a jot. I thought, oh maybe, the wheels are …
I thought
Monday, September 1st, 2008Of facial reconstruction. I can’t understand why people take me so seriously, like everything I say is etched on two slabs of the commandments, and that everything I do or don’t do has moral connotations! Don’t they know what ‘dry sense of humour’ is?I…
Lost in translation
Sunday, August 31st, 2008Lewis came in bringing books to his Nana and said, ‘Nana, wee books pee!’His Nana said, ‘Oh dear, did you wee on your books?”No! Wee books!”Ok, darling. Let’s go to the toilet and have a wee.’ My mother-in-law said helpfully.’No! wee books pee!’ Lewi…
War at the home front
Saturday, August 30th, 2008My mother-in-law said she was scared that K and I would have a big row at home. I told her we already did, although it was only small scale considering what happened. My husband, by some sudden inspiration, went off to a shop and bought new curtains an…
Faithful but liar
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008We talked about his friend. He said, ‘well, he’s monoganous’.I said, ‘you mean, monogamous’?He insisted, ‘monoganous’!So I got up from our breakfast table and fetched the Oxford Dictionary. I showed him the word that says, m.o.n.o.g.a.m.o.u.s. I said t…
Action word
Friday, August 22nd, 2008The previous Scotland theme for my layout did not seem to carry out well. Two reasons: I found out that hyperlinked words appear the same way as the unlinked. I can’t be bothered to tweak it any further. And also, I live in England, so why should I hav…
Countrylife
Saturday, August 16th, 2008This week, I took my boys to a country show. It’s not really like there are people jiggling their bottoms on stage to entertain fed-up farmers. It’s more like a show of well-shined tractors, much to a lot of disappointments of children who are not allo…
It will take him one year to eat this… or one minute. And then his teeth will all fall off. So what’s the moral here?
Thursday, August 14th, 2008Weddings
Sunday, August 10th, 2008Summer being the wedding season, I am always dragged by my husband to ceremonies and receptions. Yesterday was another of those weddings where you see stressed brides wearing the wrong hairstyle, unable to breath because of the corsets being too tight….
Eco-babe
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008I’m a nagger at home.They always hear me say:’Don’t play with the tap. It’s a waste of water.”Turn off that toy (battery-operated) if you’re not using it. It’s a waste of batteries.”Turn off the TV as soon as you finish watching your programme.’Etc,…
Score: Love all
Friday, August 1st, 2008I’m knackered again. This week, Zak has been learning tennis, and because he could hit the ball only about 1 out of 30, I practised with him until the ball hits the racket and not under it. Sometimes, K would think that really, Zak is not cut-out for s…
What’s in a name?
Thursday, July 24th, 2008Celebrities nowadays give their children unique/strange names. Non-celebrities follow suit. Take the case of ‘Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii’. What kind of name is that? Her parents must be totally bonkers! The worst name ever, in my opinion, is ‘Num…
Disaster
Monday, July 21st, 2008What is the worst way to die? To plumett thousands of feet in a plane, crashing into the sea or worse, the side of a mountain? Or, what about in a ship in a typhoon at night? The fear is incomprehensible. I suppose with a plane it would be over quickly…
Zak’s race
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008zak’s race 1 This is my boy in action! I wanted to add here a thousand exclamation marks not because I think he is the best but because I was so surprised that he showed a competitive spirit in something other than reading or being smart. I never thou…
Fold a T-shirt in 2 seconds!
Monday, July 14th, 2008If you’re like me who is always buried in heaps of clothes that need ironing or folding, then you should try this amazing tip of folding a tshirt in 2 seconds. I tried this and it really works. It saves a lot of time, especially if you’re like me who h…
Comedy in the bathroom
Saturday, July 12th, 2008Comedy in the bathroom
Saturday, July 12th, 2008At about 2 this morning, Zak came into our bed crying from a bad dream. Eventually, after a few minutes, he fell asleep again on his daddy’s chest. So when K got up to move Zak back to his bed, I staggered into the bathroom, half-asleep, one eye closed…
A day in the city
Saturday, July 5th, 2008Metallic work against wood, originally uploaded by Soyy.In our family it’s illegal to use the words ‘retail’ and ‘therapy’ and ‘day-out’ in the same sentence, unless of course it is a declarative statement like this. We also use the word ‘illegal’ all …
Taking time off busy, crazy life
Monday, June 30th, 2008Today, we went out for a 9-mile walk. Zak was in school so Lewis had us all by himself! The reservoir seemed deserted and the cloudy sky didn’t help but it was a great time to talk about things that don’t concern dishwashing and schedules of toilet cle…
I’m a nanny
Saturday, June 28th, 2008Saturday today and I got out of bed annoyed and fed up with the word I kept on hearing for the last two hours: SMART.Zak came to my bed and asked if it’s school day today. I said no, it’s Saturday today and we’re going to town to buy a new lunch box - …
INCOMERS
Thursday, June 26th, 2008If there is one tv program you should watch this week, it is this one. Incomers.INCOMERS is a must-see documentary dispelling the myth that all immigrants in the UK are either asylum seekers or benefits-scrounger. It follows Joy, A Filipino, who chose …
To all French-speaking bloggers
Thursday, June 19th, 2008My son told me that he could pray in French. The only French I know is Belleville Rendezvous, you know, that film, and so I said, ok, let me hear you pray in French. He was so serious about it, like hey, there’s something I know that you don’t. But….
therapy again: best speech ever
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