For me, I must make a stop to this shopping place whenever I go down to KL. I will squeeze some time from the busy schedule of family and friends gatherings. It is none other than Ikea. I am not sure why but I love looking at household stuff. By the way, I grabbed 5 catalogs while I was there. If any Penang folks want a copy, let me know.

There was one item in my list for me to get in Ikea. My children love to go there because the get to maneuver the trolleys around and play with the children furniture there. It is a great setup for children to have some fun there.

What did I get? I got some decoration stuff, some children plates, cups & pens, some small bowls and a big item. After a long one and a half hour there, Timothy decided to take a rest on top of box. I will let you know in details what the big item is, in the next post.

I got a little gift for Emily and she is really fascinated with it. I got her a star pendant, first time bidding in Ebay. I must say that there are lots of beautiful jewelries in Ebay. The little pendant came with a nice box. She have been asking mummy to put it on for her. To avoid any accidents, I didn’t allow her to wear to sleep. She keeps it in the gift box after she takes it off her neck. Girls being girls, they will want more of this to keep them beautiful when she grows up. By the way, she has cute hair pins in her collection. Next I may want to get her a jewelry box.

Do you think I should start piercing her ears? I know a gal who is younger than Emily, pierced her ears. Maybe I wait till she is older. I pierced mine when I was 20, mainly because I was afraid of pain.

Gbay: First Timer With Ebay.

Before I was married, my hubby and I love to go visit any show house or apartment. I love to look at their decorations and the way they renovate the place. Penang property is expensive and the space is not very big either. Many interior designers here will make the tiny area looks spacious and presentable. We go there to leverage their ideas.

Today we didn’t have any plans for the weekend and we went to look at a show unit near Queensbay mall. The place was decorated very nicely. I like one of the children room, it has pinky wallpaper, pinky carpet, pinky chair and a little pinky seating area. It was lovely and Emily keep saying, “Come come to my room”. It gives me some idea how to decorate my children’s room. However I will not put wallpaper because hard to maintain and install.

By the way, the show unit was only 2388 square feet and you have a guess at what it is priced at? It is greater than 0.7 a million and it is only an apartment. The only plus point is it has a seaview.

Look! It is Timtraman and Emtaro in action. I got them some mask for them to play. It cost RM3 each, so costly hor. Anyway the mask is a good quality one with holes so that they can breathe easily. It has been a long time since I saw this mask. I remember when I was young, I used to play mask with my brother. It was made out of paper cardboard. You know the 10 sen kind of quality. My children ones are made out of plastic. Oh well times have change.

What do Timtraman and Emtaro do? They make me laugh when they wear the mask. Both are my lovely heroes and I know I can count on them to rescue me when I am not in a good mood. I also got them some foam sword for play fighting. Those foam material is pretty safe, not painful when it hits. Of coz play under supervision of parents or any adult.

Chinese New Year is 3 days away and have you packed your red packets yet (angpow)? I know a friend who lists down how much money the children gets from friends or relatives. She will use the same list to distribute the same amount out to the same friends or relatives’ children. Do you do that? Wow, she must spend a lot of time analyzing it. I don’t do that. I usually give the same amount to everyone, closer relatives will get more.

For some, they look at the economics trend, good times they give more, not so good times and they give less. There was one year where everyone was changing coins to give out. They are heavier in mass but not in value. :giggles:

Do you know that the Cantonese family gives out individual angpow from each parent? When I was young, I received 2 each per family. However the Hokkien family gives out 1 from both parents. There will be some savings there.

I have a friend and he is in his early 30s. He had all his angpows untouched in a little piggy bank. 30 years of angpows and that could be a lot of money there. As for me, I banked in my children’s angpows money into their accounts. Even their full moon angpows are all in there. I can say they are richer than me. 😥

For those folks who do not know what angpow is and why we give them out. It is a Chinese tradition and it is a belief that it brings blessings, longevity and prosperity which we all want. It is given by married people to unmarried people during Chinese New Year or special occasion like birthday or full moon of a newborn. Children love to receive it.

I am so not ready for CNY. I just got back and I have not done my CNY shopping. No oranges, no drinks, no cookies and no kuaci. Today I rushed to the back to change money and get the angpow packets. I must do some last minute shopping else anyone comes to visit me, I can only offer Jelly Beans. :giggles:

Suddenly I just want to write about Apples. I am seeing too many things that have apple extracts in my home. Kleen Floor Apple Fragrant that cleanse my floor. I have Apple Glo detergent for washing the dishes. I have Apple soap for washing my body. Not to mention, my ribena now has apple extracts. I wonder if there is an apple fragrant perfume. My friend once said she will never use a fruity fragrant perfume because she doesn’t want to be a walking fruit. :giggles:

I am not sure how this is true, some mothers’ tales claim that if you eat an apple a day during pregnancy, your baby will have lots of hair.

In Tasmania, the land of apples, they have so many apples that each day they will throw a lot away. Why? The farmers do not want the price of apples to drop for their own gain.

Lastly, there is a children rhyme that goes “An apple a day keeps the doctor away. If the doctor is handsome, throw the apple away”. Ha.

During my primary school days, I am one of those junkies, eat a lot of junk food. I love to get this bubble gum that cost 5 sens for 2. I will eat the gum and behind the wrapper there is a picture. With that, you can tattoo the picture on your back of the palm. You take a few drops of water. Make the picture a bit wet. Then paste in on your hand. Later the picture will appear. Have you ever had that? Those were the days.

A few days back, I got this Bob The Builder tattoo that works on the similar concept. For my children, it is the first time they ever seen it. They thought it was a sticker but they couldn’t peel it. I showed them how it is done. Emily was pretty excited with the picture on her hand, kept asking for more. Tim was just playing cool.

I hope this bring back some childhood memories of yours. Ooh by the way, I love those bubble gums, I can blow a bubble as big as my face and pop it so that my entire face will be cover with gum. It is easy to peel off and my parents won’t have a clue.

Guess the hands:

Finally I am done with all my Christmas shopping. It is really convenient to have a big mall near where I worked. You can get everything in 1 place. Yesterday I took a long lunch break to get Christmas gift. I got 2 huge gifts for Tim and Emily, both the same thing, preventing them from fighting. With that, it has already burned a hole in my pocket. Anyway, this year my hubby and I got good bonuses, so why not. I really love to see their expressions when they open the presents. That is the 2 big yellow boxes. I got the gift idea from a blogger. Have a guess?

Next, my hubby is a Christmas Eve baby. I thought of getting him a cake that shape like a canon camera. I contacted Mama Min because Sasha was here in Penang, she offered to help me to deliver it. However I am a few days late, it was too short notice to do 1. I got him a gift that is as good, something related to his interest. That is the red gift.

The smaller yellow gift is for my nephew. Ohh, I also need to get 2 small gifts for the nursery Christmas party, they have a gift exchanging program. I donno about you, I just love giving out presents during Christmas. More joy for me in giving than to receive.

Mummy: Pa what cake you want for your birthday?
Tim: I want swimming pool cake.
Emily: I want Tigger cake.
Tim: Swimming pool cake.
Emily: Tigger cake….
etc…
Mummy: Hey Look! See what that uncle doing. *you get the point*

Have a Blessed Christmas To You and Great New Year!