Moments in My Life

We are trying to save up more money for a down payment of a new home. I think my husband and I probably need to sit down one night (after son sleeps) and put our financial planning together to see how much we have now and how long more to go before we have enough down payment for the new place.

Lucky for us, we are able to manage our own finances and we owe nothing except the mortgage. I know some other people whom don’t even know what is saving up for the rainy days. Someone I know spends as much as he earns. Even he was making a lot of money, he doesn’t know where his money goes. He almost busted all his credit cards and now he only manage to pay the monthly minimum. He doesn’t own a home which is sad but he can’t afford it. I think the best way is for him to have Debt Relief Help from some place like Freedom Debt Relief.

Freedom Debt Relief offers a 10 free minutes of consultation at their toll free number. After the consultation, if you feel they are the company that you can work with to help with your situation, you should sign up and let them assist you with the financial debt problem. With them working with you, you can be out of debt within 12-36 months. They also can help to lower what you owe by as much as 50%. I am thinking to recommend this place to my friend and I do hope he will get things work out or else, one day he may need to file for bankruptcy which I hate to say.

Logo credit: Copyright © freedomdebtrelief.com

There are so many costumes and we have yet to decide what we should dress Brandon up as this year for Halloween. The first year, we got him a caterpillar and last year, we dressed him as an octopus - very cute! We usually go out for trick or treat at this specific area in South Torrance. The homes are usually decorated very nice for Halloween. I am almost a witch all the time. I have the witch hat, a orange color broom, and a dark piece of fabric which I cut here and there to make it look like an old witch rag. Hubby always in his regular cloth, may be this year we will be able to get him to dress up as someone or something.

This past trip was the first Brandon met his tong-tong.  Amazingly, he was quite attached to him considering it was the first time they met.  He always wanted to take picture with his tong-tong. You see, he even smiled for the camera with my father in it. I can hardly take a picture of him smiling with me in it ok?

My father arrived on 7/3 and we saw him everyday till we left KL. We also spent a full day together when we went to stay at the service apartment next to KLCC. It was a fun day to see how the kids (Brandon and Ethan) interact with their grandfather.

My son is very playful around tong-tong but rarely listen to him when my dad said NO or DON’T do this/that. Well, my son listens to nobody. He will only listen to ME or stop his mischief when I get angry/upset at him.

This is a picture of Brandon and his favorite grand aunty. The above picture was taken at Pasta Zenmai at One Utama. We were waiting for our food and Brandon was playing with the chopsticks and pepper/salt mill. I like this picture.

Unexpectedly, he was easily aquainted with my aunt immediately after we arrived. May be he recognized her from our previous trip. I was not sure. My son is not an easy person to deal with. I was able to go out twice by myself alone. Thanks to my aunt.  Once I went for facial at Lancome Parkson and once for haircut. I left for my errands immediately after my son took his afternoon nap. And my aunt took over to care for him (and Ethan) when he woke up. The first time I left him, my aunt was able to calm him down only after she they took him out for a car ride. From my understanding, he had woke up crying and looking for me. They weren’t able to calm him down with fans, tv, books, toys … but the car ride solved the problem. Second time was much easier. He woke up not crying and was playing with Ethan when I came back from my hair cut.

When we return to LA, my son woke up in the middle of the nite asking for, tam-poh (kam-poh). I think he misses her quite a bit. Well … tam-poh, you better come visit us quickly! Someone here can’t wait to see you again.

Two years ago, my father sold our condo and we moved all the furniture and things to his wife’s home in Prima 16. I was in Los Angeles and wasn’t able to help with that move at all. My father helped to pack the things that were in me and my sister room in boxes and moved over. My brother was there so he was able to help with the moving.

Now his wife sold her home in Prima 16 and we had to move again. This time, we were going to move the furniture to my sister’s condominium at Damansara Perdana. She has a three bedroom condo that is currently vacant so my father thought it would be a good idea to move all the furniture over so she can rent the condo as furnished. He had looked for many home moving companies and fortunately able to find one with full service on last minute notice.

If I ever needed to move, I will definitely check around at Moving Companies Online for best quote on the service. I am not sure if we need to hire a full service mover or DIY, but I can find quotes for both at Moving Companies Online. The moving companies that they work with are licensed, bonded and insured. Besides moving companies, you can also find quotes for storage, auto transport or truck rentals. So you can find all services you need for moving at one place.

My brother has planned to visit and work in Europe after his graduation. He had wanted to apply for any accounting position that was offered online through, AIESEC, the world’s largest student organization, as a student transfer to UK. However, there was a technical problem with his online application and his information and resume were available online for the prospective employers to view. Therefore, his plan was in a halt for a few months. And in early April, he decided to come here for a visit while waiting for any response from AEISEC regarding the technical problem that they have been working to fix.

Although his plan didn’t work out as he wanted, I think one day, he still can visit UK as a vacation by himself or with his friends. I am guessing he may want to stop by the city of Manchester, since he is a big soccer fan. Since it will be the first time he is visiting, I think I will recommend him the Manchester Directory where he will be able to find information and reviews on restaurants, shops, car rentals, entertainments and more. With this directory, he can make his own itinerary prior to his trip.  He can make reservations or buy tickets to any event earlier even before he gets there.  I think there is one place that he as a soccer fan must visit while in Manchester - the soccer stadium.

We had a family gathering on June 7th at my aunt’s house in TTDI. It was a grand event for us as it was a very long time ago we had such an event. We didn’t get to have everyone to be in the picture as some of our cousins couldn’t make it on that day. But it is one of the most complete family portraits we have.

Initially, I’ve suggested that each family coordinates a different color top, but that suggestion didn’t get to everyone. It is difficult to get an agreement when you have a big group of people that doesn’t participate in group thread/email.  At the end, only my family (at least we tried) to wear WHITE color top with jeans. May be next time we can have custom t-shirts for each of us and it make the family portrait looks even better.

Here is the picture of our Kee Family: My sister and Ethan, my brother Joo Yee, Me and Brandon.

Our recent trip to Malaysia is the second time my son met Ah-Cho (great-grandma in Hokkien). She is actually my aunt’s mother and we call her che-mm-poh (grandma in-law in Hokkien). She is a very nice person to talk to as she has many many stories to share with us. And once she starts talking, there is nothing that can stop her. A lot of times I couldn’t sit and listen to all the ending as I either had to chase after or attend to my son. And my son loves her. Every morning when he woke up, he called her while walking down the stairs. And if he saw her in the living room watching the tv later in the afternoon, he would call her, “Ah-Cho! Ah-Cho! … “ 

Ah-Cho is a very healthy woman up till 7 months ago.  That evening, she was visiting a relative staying in a high rise secured building.  When she was leaving the luxury condominium, the automatic sliding door closed on her and she fell down on the floor.  She injured badly in the fall and was confined on the bed for the first few months. 

After many physical therapies and Chinese medcine, she is now able to walk with the help of a walking stick.  She can’t stand for too long as her back will hurt.  How nice if my aunt’s house has a walkin tub in the bathroom. Ah-Cho will be able to enjoy a nice and therapeutic bath by herself. For now she only takes quick shower with the help from the maid. I am sure my son misses her.

Anyway, here are two pictures of my cheeky son and Ah-Cho together.

One of the things I listed on my to-do list in Malaysia was to visit a Fish Spa. I took my knowledge that there are fish spas in two places from what I read the bloggers wrote about. There is one in Bangsar. Another one in Pavillion Mall.

What I didn’t know that there is a new Fish Spa Foot Master at One Utama, a shopping center which is much closer to where I was staying. The first time we learned about this place was because we were visiting an eatery (KTZ) next to it. The promoter was very friendly and even invited Ethan dipped his hand into the tank. But because our time there wasn’t for this purpose, we didn’t go for it.

The next time we went, we already planned it out. It was about noon time and the kids fell asleep while we drove from TTDI to One Utama, very short distance. We knew immediately we had to stop at this Fish Spa since our kids both were sleeping. We pushed the strollers to aside and 4 of us went to dip our smelly legs into the tank. Each 30 minutes session is RM38. But we signed up for the package of 10 sessions with free 2 sessions, so we only have to pay RM380 for 12 sessions total.

My sister was the first one to dip her legs into the tank. And immediately she screamed! It was ticklish. Then my cousin sister joined in and later, her brother too. I was the last one as I was a bit frightened to put my legs in. I slowly immersed my right heel first. Then I got the ticklish feeling too. It was like a little electric shock when the fish biting kissing on your feet. This feeling lasted very long and I almost stopped half way. But after about 10-15 minutes, it gives a very nice sensation. We continued for a total time of about 45 minutes.

We enjoyed chatting with each other. I think is nice to go with a group of friends or family. Can chit chat mar. JoAnn’s son woke up first so she left the session earlier than the 3 of us. So did our feet feel much smoother? May be a little bit. I have deep cracks on my heels which was hard to heal with just kissing from these fishes.

We went back again before we left KL. It was also 4 of us, but that time my cousin brother was replaced by my Aunt (kammo). My account still has 4 sessions left. It has no expiration date and I left the acct with my cousin sister, hopefully she will bring her mom there again to enjoy.

My relatives in Malaysia will sure be very happy when they see the title to this post - ‘Going back to Malaysia again?‘. How I wish I can. I really miss them very much too. I love the food, the people, the shopping and the weather too. I like the rain … kinda help to clean out the air around. You see, we don’t get much rain here in Los Angeles. The air is much polluted here.

Anyway, my itchy hands acted up again and I was checking air fare from EVA Air. Their total ticket price is the same as I paid for my recent trip and lower than Malaysia Airlines for the same traveling dates. If so I may be packing up and heading to the LAX again in the next few months. Just a hint … I may be sending beautiful personalized Christmas Cards from Malaysia. *wink*