Mothering Corner

I’ve been going through a blog diarrhea posting as many assignments as possible as for the past 2 days, and it’s quite fun. I missed the days when most of us could make money from blogging, even if you are a stay-at-home mother. The job is easy, and all you need to do is just complete the assignment. But that was more than 2 years ago!

I was rather surprised to see the assignment pouring out again, just like most bloggers. Maybe it’s just once and for all.

I hardly make much from blogging, and frankly, I’ve almost given up. LOL! My other friend is still making well, with more blogs and seo optimization software. She’s putting a lot of effort it in, so it’s not surprising that she’s doing so well.

With my kids getting older day by day, I’ve begun to think about the possibility of going back to work. Helping hubby is not as busy as before, and I’m getting restless.

If I’m still in Malaysia, I would probably start looking for jobs now, even if it’s not going be to easy under this economy situation. But over here in Thailand, it’s not easy for expats to get a job, unless you have years of experience in specified fields. Being away from the engineering world for so long is not making things easier either.

There was a time when I considered about getting an online degree, especially in teaching. There are numerous colleges that offer online teaching degree, such as Western Governors Online University. It will be easier to get a job from the international schools, if you have a teaching degree.

But too bad, I’m not interested in teaching. I just don’t have the patience! So, I guess there isn’t much option left for me, if I want to look for a job here.

It’s my first day at the office after a short break since Christmas, and I’m soooooo reluctant to get back to my busy life so soon. But then again, I’m looking forward for the next break in Chinese New Year, when most of our family members will be here in Bangkok for our annual reunion.

We have been staying in Bangkok for close to 2 years, and I am glad that we have really settled down, and my kids love this place. Business wise, it’s still a struggle and a long way to go, but hubby is working hard on it. As for myself, I try not to set any new year resolution because I might not be able to hang on to it until the end of the year. LOL! Nonetheless, I will have some short term goals, like NO SHOPPING this month (I broke my budget in December ), check out the dental discounts and see if it’s still possible to have a bracelet at the age of 32, and get back to my knitting projects which have been left unattended for 3 months.

So, do you have any new year resolution? Care to share?

This month is full of celebrations for us, so my mind is all about spending great time with my kids and hubby.

I turned 32 yesterday, and we had a great time at Hilton. Thanks to hubby for all the planning, and it’s one of my best birthday “pressie” ever. A wonderful memory and time spent will be cherished more. Of course, I secretly hoped for a nice gift, but I know my hubby too well, he’s not good at shopping. All the while, I’m the one who shops, and he can’t beat me in getting the right gift. Maybe I should just get myself another gift and let him pay for it. LOL! I’m actually checking out a few items online now. You can basically get anything including cigars online these days, what a luring trap for shopaholic like me. *faint*

Besides that, a expat friend baked me a cake last week and I’m so happy about it. It’s nice to have someone baking you a birthday cake, and it’s my first one ever! *thanks Nicole*

The weather changed slightly after Loy Krathong, and it’s windy and cool some times. Thus, most of us will just sleep without air-conditioning, and just turn on the fans and open all the windows. But yesterday, hubby read the newsletter of our mooban (gated community) and there was a burglary in our neighborhood. So far, we have heard of 3 cases throughout our stay here, but luckily no one gets hurt as the houses were mostly empty when it happened. There are security guards patrolling from time to time, but I doubt that they will do it often once it gets colder at night.

So, I wonder if we need wireless alarms now? I don’t think any of the houses in our mooban installs any alarm system!

I haven’t seen most of my friends for many years, especially after I moved to Ipoh with hubby. Partly, it’s my fault also for not making the effort of meeting up with my friends when I’m back to Penang or travel to Kuala Lumpur. Thus, when I knew that my old friend CK is coming to Bangkok for exhibition, I was very eager to meet with him. He’s working in medical equipment line, and there is an exhibition of equipments, health insurance leads and other health related products at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center.

Since he jokingly “requested” a bento, I fixed one for him.

My friend CK with his first bento.

Too bad the banana cupcake was a bit moist after 12 hours! *he’s a such a drama queen. LOL!*

I fixed the bento in the morning, and I was out and about with the pressie. By the time we met at Siam Paragon, it was 12 hours from the preparation time. So, the cupcake was moist, but my friend walloped everything. Thank god he didn’t complain.

My friend and me.

It’s great to see him again after 14 years! Ya, 14 years!!! I must say, he doesn’t change much, except gaining some weight *ahem!* He’s still the same guy I know from high school, and best of all, he LOVES SHOPPING! We had a nice dinner, and great fun shopping together. Nice to see you again, CK!

I’ve just realized that I’ve been packing food for my kids for more than a year now. It started out as packing lunch when we first moved here. Our kids tagged along with us to the office when we first started and they rejected  Thai food. If it’s just a day or 2 of eating bread and snacks, I could just let it be. But I could not see my kids eating like that in the long run, and thus I started cooking and packing lunch for them. My only bento tool was a thermal lunch set by Thermos! LOL! I didn’t do any decoration as I was too tired waking up at 5am, adjusting to a new life in a foreign land and also busy helping hubby with his new biz.

As time goes, I found a few bento blogs and got hooked in bento-ing. I started posting about my bentos as my own journal at this blog, and I’m so glad that I did that. I could have just started a new bento blog, but I was too lazy to start one, submit to web directory, and waiting for it to “grow”. Thus, I converted my breastfeeding blog into bento blog. Anyway, I had retired from being a moo. LOL!

The best thing about having a bento blog is I gradually made a few new friends who share the same interest. Too bad I haven’t got to know any reader or bento-er from Bangkok, maybe it’s due to the fact that I don’t blog in Thai. I can’t read or write Thai. LOL!

Over the past weeks, I have been looking around for summer classes for my kids who are basically rotting in front of the TV most of the time. I feel that they should be doing something else than just watching TV. We read to them, but we don’t couch them a lot in academic stuffs. Furthermore, my kids aware that they can’t watch TV during school days, and they want to max out their TV time as much as possible during summer holiday!

There are a lot of summer programs available, but so far, I only picked art class and another summer camp which starts soon. I might enroll them to another class, but I’m still thinking about it as it’s pretty costly. Unless I do get some tips from options express and make some big bucks, if not I want to think about this first. When school starts in mid May, we will have to pay a lot of money for the new school term and it’s going to burn a big hole in hubby’s wallet again! O.o

Some times, I wonder if all these extra classes are necessary. But I grew up going to a lot of classes too when I was young. I may not turn out to be somebody, but at least I know “something” in nearly “everything“. LOL!

 I’m glad that we are celebrating CNY here with hubby’s family, even if my house is not sparkling clean for our guests yet. But then again, I try not to stress myself too much as I can’t do all the chores on my own, especially after a long day at the office. I was too tired to clean the windows last night, and I decided to give it a go. Hopefully, my guests won’t be too itchy hand to touch my windows! LOL!

On top of that, we haven’t seen each other for some time, and there is a lot of catching up to do. I think they won’t be bothered much about my house condition. We always joke about who’s getting the 3rd child, as most of us have only 2 children. Actually, I really don’t have plan to get another baby as education fee is very expensive here at international schools. It’s like buying a new Honda car with cash every year, just by sending my two kids to international school! Thus, I doubt that we can afford to send 3 children to the same school! Unless hubby is a millionaire now, if not, I can forget about getting pregnant again!

But if any of my sisters-in-law is interested to get another baby, I will let them know about this ovulation calendar. They are all above age 35, so if they really want to try for a baby, they better act fast and be accurate!

But tonight, I shall do my best to clean up the playroom and wash some bedsheets with a Comfort Pure fabric conditioner. Other than that, I don’t think I can do as much as I want to because Chinese New Year is only a few days away.

 I prepared Christmas presents for my kids, but I didn’t buy anything for hubby. We had an “agreement” of cutting down gifts for each other, considering that we haven’t made a profit in our business yet. He knows that I have the tendency to buy something fancy and expensive, so he told me earlier not to get anything for each other, maybe not this year.

I don’t mind much about gifts nowadays, and I think that as marriage and relationship grow, it’s the everyday gesture that counts. Frankly, I would rather have him helping me out with the kids and house chores everyday instead of buying me fancy gifts like holsted jewelry once in a while and doesn’t share the daily responsibility. I think I will be a grumpy queen if I have to do everything on my own. LOL!