It's just us

I've decided to change my blog name to It's just us instead of Read Me.. I am just a woman. After all, I've realized that this blog is not about me anymore. It's also about my family, friends and from the stuffs I wrote about my thoughts at times, I am sharing them with my wonderful blog readers too.  That's why, I've decided to dedicate this blog to you all- though I hardly have the time to update nowadays, which probably means my readers are probably becoming to nil! But to the remaining faithful ones, thank you sooooo much! Thanks for not condemning my english yang cacat. .. and for those who wrote kind comments and for sharing your thoughts, thank you!!

So don't click away, if you find my blog's name is no longer appearing Read Me.. I am just a woman. It's just us suits us better!

Pat on the Back!

I have been away from blogging for quite some time now. What to do, sigh.. it’s either I’m pretty poor in time management or I am just really, am very busy. Not complaining here, just a thought - in fact a thought that comes with a certain level of contentment to which I feel I deserve a pat on my back now. Hey, it’s okay to praise yourself once in a while although there’s a saying that goes: Self praise is no praise at all.

In my case, I think it’s excusable. You see, being an employee during the day ( that comes with many responsibilities, commitments) and then a mother after working hours with a lot of house chores to accomplish, the weekly 2 hours Saturdays commitment to teach basic computer lessons to the less-fortunate students, and then on and off popping in my husband’s shop and then back to picking up little Rosemary and taking care of her… can be pretty challenging. But thanks to my in laws who’s always been there whenever the SOS calls comes to take care of Rosemary, so a pat on the back also goes to them for indirectly making these challenging tasks accomplished for both my husband and me! (Okay, another pat on the back for my husband who works very, very hard as well to fulfill his fatherly responsibilities)

So at this point, I am also thinking about all the single mothers/fathers out there. I cannot imagine how stressful it can be for a single parent to fulfill these challenging tasks single-handedly and with that, my hats off to you!....the silent and the unsung heroes. I don’t meant to start being emo here but I can’t help it when such thoughts crosses my mind. With that being said, I think I am going to complain less from now on about the lack of time and just be thankful and be blessed instead that I am given an opportunity to do all these challenging tasks with the help from families and friends. You know, how they say, it’s only when you become a parent yourself, you would understand the sacrifices and the love any parents would give to their children. Don’t you think it’s true? I think it is, and the same goes to grandparents' love.  

Anyway, I am just writing all these jumbled up thoughts during my lunch time at work. I hope you are well and thanks for dropping my blog.

May the Force be with you on a gloomy day

What a gloomy, rainy Friday morning.  As I was driving to work, a couple of times my mind drifted away, imagining myself cuddling comfortably back in my bed, dozing slowly back to dreamland after reading and flipping through a few pages of my favourite bedtime story books - In grown up language literally means fiction books but not fairytale bedtime books if that's what you had in mind!! :)  Anyway, reality hits in when I was almost reaching office. I was prepared to face the long day ahead of me, or .... was I not? Too early to tell.

As I got into the office, I suspect many of my colleagues would have shared the same imagination as I did while I was driving. You could tell from their expressionless face on a gloomy day.

I was hoping the gloomy mood to improve by lunch.

And guess what? I just came back from lunch and to make you feel better reading my depressing blog today, I had a reasonable nice big bowl of Asam Laksa at Pak Hainan with a cold glass of Teh Si.  It was gooooood, considering also that it was a free lunch. *wink wink* LOL  -never mind to those who didn't understood the winking part-

Okay, I have to be honest. My article is heading nowhere today simply because of these reasons:-

1) It’s a gloomy day
2) I am in the mood to go to sleep
3) I am so in need of a…… HOLIDAY!
4) Fine. If holidaying is impossible for now, then a massage would be good…. it’s nice to be pampered you know.
5) Shhhhh… my boss is not around today……so gotta admit, my level of concentration is very, very low. It’s like.. how I wished I took leave today instead of sitting here whining about how gloomy both the weather and rose’s weather are. Geez… I could be lazing either at home now or having a nice massage somewhere! Ahhh..what a nice 2 minutes of that thought....
6) ...and finally, I’m missing dance classes. Yeah, at the back of my mind, I am constantly thinking about my dancing classes. In case some of you who are not aware, I have to stop my dance classes for awhile now due to my commitments at home after work. Time is so limited.

Arrgggh….with so many things on my mind, now you know why I can’t come up with a proper article today. If some of you are feeling the same way as I am now, then “Welcome to the Club*   Don't feel too bad, you are not alone! Hahaha..

Arite friends, you know what, it’s weekend.  Let's cheer up okay.  Here are my list of wishful wishes for all of us for the weekend; May we all be in a better mood tomorrow, May the day be brighter and livelier tomorrow, May all of us find peace in our weekend routine activities and last but not least, May the force be with you!

 

Narrow Minded

Firstly, my sincere apologies for being silent for quite some time as I have been quite busy lately. Plus I was on leave since Monday with quite limited internet access.

Anyway, today, I wish to talk about interacting with narrow-minded people. Have you dealt with people who simply can’t take small critics?

For instance, when you tell them something about them directly to them, (but in the nicest way) they quit talking to you after that because they got offended though any one with some common sense would know that you are actually doing them a favor by telling them straight forward than to bitch behind their back!. So here’s the outcome: they quit talking to you. Ok, fine, they got angry. They cried their heart out because they are under the category of extremely emotional people. In a simpler term: hyper-sensitive type of person. So now, each time they see you from afar, they quickly turn their face elsewhere so that by the time you are near them, it’s like a mutual understanding: I didn’t see you, I don’t have to say hello. Perhaps you have become like a danger zone to them.  Any nearer, it can be harmful.

Yes, I am smiling as I just typed that, hey not because I am mean! It’s just that I find it so ridiculous and in a way, funny too. Ok, maybe I am being just a bit mean now bitching about it here but I have already tried being as nice as I can by approaching that person!! OK in case you have my doubts on my story, here’s what has happened: -

NML (narrow minded lady) speaks quite rudely over the phone many times with anyone except with the bosses. Some others have complained about her phone etiquettes to me. And after experiencing it many of times myself, I’ve decided to call her back (just a minute after taking her rude call) and explained to her that her voice, her tone and her way of speaking over the phone is very rude and people who do not know her might mistaken her as a very rude, nasty person. By the way, she picks up incoming calls for the company and no, angry and nasty is not her nature ( I would like to believe that ) in case if you are thinking of that, because I’ve seen her in her jolly mood – totally different from the rude phone calls incidents. Meaning to say, she can choose to be nice over the phone if she wants to because she’s not a gloomy person. If she’s under stress, then I would like to suggest her to read my article on handling stress. I found out later that after the conversation with me, she slammed the phone down and started crying. I was like… huh????

I wish I do not have to be involved at all in this matter but, what can I do? My boss told me recently that I need to assists him with some human resource tasks and having said that, sadly it involves phone etiquettes as well. Hence, I have no choice. It’s either me or my boss to tell her. I honestly thought I did her a big favor by approaching her before my boss does. But of course, in this proven case, NML is not happy and in fact is keeping a grudge against me despite my soft approach. Perhaps, I should not approach her anymore on any other issues in the future. Perhaps, approaching my boss directly would be a better solution. As much as I would like to go up to her again and explain that I am not here to find trouble with her, my inner voice tells me not to. Let them be for it’s better to stay away from Narrow minded people.

Am I spoiling my baby ?? - Add On

I received an interesting article yesterday about 12 reasons babies cry and immediately I thought of my article which I wrote about Am I Spoiling my Child? And since it’s quite related, I am posting it here on the 12 reasons babies cry....

1. Hunger
2. A dirty diaper
3. Needs sleep
4. Wants to be held
5. Tummy troubles (gas, colic, and more)
6. Needs to burp
7. Too cold or too hot
8. Something small
9. Teething
10. Wants less stimulation
11. Wants more stimulation
12. Not feeling well

To read further in details for each point, click here to go to the related page.

Beware of hoax emails

I received an emergency email today from a friend of mine. At first glance, the email sounded pretty urgent and desperate and I have to admit, my heart skipped a beat reading the contents. But as I read on, the back of mind told me to call my friend to verify the contents and true enough, that email turns out to be a hoax.

Luckily I called her but oh well, I wouldn't have transferred any cash to her account just like that anyway. Yup, that email was about asking me to send cash urgently as my "friend" was stranded in Madrid, Spain. Though I NEARLY believed as this friend of mine happens to travel a lot, my common sense said - "check first".

And after talking to my "real friend", she asked me to pretend as if I didn't know it was a hoax and reply to the email requesting for an account number. Can you believe it, that "bogus friend" actually replied and provided her full details.

Click on the snap shots for larger view.

Snap shot on the hoax email received:


and I replied: -


and she replied!! : -


So guys and gals, moral of the story, beware of such emails okay and remember to check with your friends first.

3 important men in my life

Father’s Day is just around the corner. To be precise, it’s going to be celebrated on 20 June 2010. Okay, honestly, I can’t think of what to do on that day though for sure I want to do something for the 3 important people in my life. If you can guess them correct, yep they are ….. *drums rolling*….... tada! my beloved father, my dearest husband and my wonderful father in law!

As I am writing this, I am recalling back to those days when I was little, my younger brothers and I will gather up our piggy bank’s savings (most of the times, I contributed the most!) and we buy little gifts for our dad. Of course, as we grew older, the gifts grew bigger too. But since we have all grown up now, the tradition of this gifts have somehow dissolved by itself and nowadays, it’s only celebration over dinner. As simple as it may sound, but to me, it’s the family gathering that matters and most importantly, this little gathering comes with love and utmost appreciation for my father who have worked very hard all these years to provide for the family. Words cannot describe how much I love my dad whom I fondly call Papi.. (okay now, don’t jump the gun, I am not calling him a little puppy! Papi simply means father in Spanish) So you see, with this coming father’s day, I am pretty sure it’s going to be another dinner celebration but as simple and common as it sounds, it’s a special celebration to us because it comes with love and gratitude and appreciating every moment we spent together as a family.

Next on the list, my wonderful father in law. For now, never have I heard of anyone speaking fondly of their in laws and I always thought to myself, geeee… I must be the luckiest girl on earth to have such wonderful and understanding in laws and yep, sometimes I brag a lot too about it! Okay, you may think that I am buttering up my father in law now. Honestly it does not bother me at all. I think my father in law whom I fondly call dad deserved to be told and showed exactly how important he is, including my mom in law, (mum) and for all they have done for me, I want to say a BIG thank you. Really, words cannot describe how blessed I am. So you see, for that also, even though it may be going to be perhaps, just over a lunch celebration, still it’s a very special celebration to me because this celebration comes with love and yes, gratitude too. I am so blessed too because they have been taking such good care of little Rosemary and I know little Rosemary loves them dearly.

Finally, my beloved hubby. A direct message this time....This is going to be your first Father’s Day celebration and before I say anything else, I just want to wish you a Happy Father’s Day! You have been a great husband and a wonderful daddy. Of course, we have our ups and downs, but we always managed to pull it through. We understand each other so well and no matter what, at the end of the day, it’s all about love and trust. You have been a great daddy to little Rosemary and I know too that little Rosemary is very proud of you. Thank you too for being such a great, loving, understanding husband and a wonderful daddy.

So on this Father’s Day, I am taking this opportunity to write here to my papi, dad and my hubby.. wishing you all, Happy Father’s Day!

Here's dedicating to all the wonderful fathers in the world... :)

An IT illiterate's journey on blogging..

Before I started blogging about one and a half years ago, I never know we can start a blog for free. I always thought that to blog, we need to pay for a domain and hosting. You see, back then none of my friends are bloggers, or so I thought!

I stumbled upon blogger.com by chance. I tried signing up for an account and was surprised to see how easy it was to start a blog! I then started blogging and I focused on my toddler who was about 14 months old back then. It was not so smooth sailing initially as I was a total IT idiot. I was not familiar with the HTML codes so I had difficulty in loading pictures and personalizing them into my post. I spent endless hours googling for info.

Then there was the money making side; I wanted to have ads placed in my blog but was not intelligent enough to understand the simple instructions on how to insert the codes! Again, I spent endless hours googling for help.

Looking back, there were many stumbling blocks that might have just stopped me from blogging but I persevered and was determined to learn my way out of it.

Today, my blog is running actively and I am now a full time blogger. I get invites to product launches parties, being featured on tv as well as in prints and many more. The perks that I am enjoying as a blogger now definitely makes all the hardship I went through in the beginning, worth it.

The only thing I regretted is not having my own domain earlier. I have just recently migrated my personal blog to its own domain and by doing that, I've lost the PR4 that I have just begun to enjoy! Bummer... But THAT will be told in another post, another day..

Merryn is a stay at home mother who blogs to share. Check out her blogs:
http://www.submerryn.com
http://www.crafty-crafted.com