mott’s mutterings

Scene 1:

I just walked into the shopping mall. I was rummaging through my carry-all bag for my grocery shopping list. A lady stops me and asks..

Ms. Blonde : Hi! Would you mind if I asked you a couple of quick questions?

Me (still rummaging - I know..very rude) : Errr….no, I guess.

Ms. Blonde : Do you have a credit card?

Me (still rummaging) : Errr…no.

Ms. Blonde (shocked!) : Oh! Why is that?

Me (again…rummaging) : Err…because I’m not working.

Ms. Blonde (even more shocked!) : OH! MY! WHY IS THAT???

Me (Getting annoyed… so damn ‘pat’ one this woman!!) : Because I’ve to stay home and take care of my kids???!!!

Ms. Blonde : WHAT?????????????? BUT YOU LOOK SO YOUNG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok… felt better after that.

Scene 2 : Someone knocking on the door FURIOUSLY, at 7ish pm! I opened the door and see three teenagers standing outside.

Teen 1 (smiling brightly) : HI!!!!

Me (WTF??? DO I KNOW YOU?) : Errr..yes???

Teen 1 : Hey..is your mom in??

Me (replay in my head very slowly "Is-my-mom-in?" WTF is this kid on about???) : ????!!!!

Teen 2 (sees No.2 running towards the door) : GASP!!! SHE’S THE MOM!!!!!!

WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH PIANG!!!!!!!!!!!! Even teenagers think I’m young!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YA HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Oh..what’s the tip? 

Dress sloppily. Not like the aunty-sloppy. But the teenager sloppy. 

WAKAKAKAKAKAAKAKAKAKAKAKAAKAKAKAKAKAAKAKAKAKAKAKAAKAKAKAKAKAKAK!!!!

Hope y’all had a great weekend!! I WAS BANNED FROM THE INTERNET!!!!!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

On Monday, Mr.T and I caught a movie. I don’t NORMALLY go out for movies, because it’s very expensive here. But, due to foreseen circumstances looming up…we decided to ‘pak-tor’. Sigh..will explain later.

ANYWAY….. as we were coming out of the cinema, we noticed this crowd gathering..and lots of activity going on. Suddenly, I saw red and blue lights flashing and saw many fire engines parked nearby.

OMG! FIRE!!!!!!!

Being the KPC that I am, I nudged Mr.T for a closer look. But, he was being very cautious and veered me out onto the opposite side of the street. There was alot of smoke…but I couldn’t see any flames. Then, I saw that one of the Asian Grocery shops was affected. Now, this Asian Grocery Store is one of the stores I frequent..and it was heart-breaking to see this shop on fire. 

Then, it reminded me of something that happened near my home a few weeks back. I was supposed to blog about it, but I forgot.

So, here it is!!!

See…what I saw outside my house?

When I saw this fire truck outside my house, I excitedly called my boys and told them that there were fireengines outside. I was SOOOOOOO VERY EXCITED. Was it because I get to see firemen? They were cautiously excited and when I told them to go outside with me to check it out…they were hesitant.

AI? How come my boys aren’t excited to see fireengines??? So, I pulled them out with me, in the freezing cold…and walked to where the action was. There were at least 3 fireengines…and many firemen. Ahem!

BUT! I couldn’t see any fire. These firemen were just hanging around, talking kok.

BLEK! So, I walked back and saw my neighbour, John. He’s an old carpenter…very cute, in his dark blue overalls. I meant, cute in an old man way…not the *wink wink* way ah!

Apparently, he said there was a little incident in one of the units. He said it would cost them AUD1200!!!! 

YIKESSSS!!! Everytime you call them, these firemen CHARGE you AUD1200!!!!!!!!

So, Mr.T panicked, went out and brought home these….

 These only cost AUD20 each. He bought it especially for me.

I am very prone to creating fires. I sometimes forget I’m cooking something. Once, I even burnt three AVENT bottles to smitherenes. Imagine……my kitchen was filled with ash. I’m so ashamed. 

Anyway, always remember your emergency number. Yes!! To those in KL…I visited a firestation once, and YES! They do respond to emergency calls very promptly. They take it very seriously..and you are very lucky, because it’s FREE!!!! Unlike here, where I’d have to pay AUD1200 each time I call them!

Anyway, my point of this post was how KPC I was. But I guess, it got side-tracked in this fire safety message here…..heheheheheh!

Phoooo la mak!

I tell you, when someone went away for a skiing trip, I had the best weekend ever! Ok la..not really the bestest of weekends, but it was damn close enough.

What did I do? Wahhh.. I cooked. I was soooo stress-free, I cooked.

Ok. I have to mention here that I’m not dissing that someone. I don’t hate that someone until my brain completely fills up with voluminous blood. No..it’s just that I don’t have to :

1) Socially fart. Yes, socially farting takes up alot of butt energy and control. It makes me sweat everytime I have to do that. I could just let ‘em RRRRIPPPP during this weekend. My kids were going, "Who farted? Mama, you farted?? Oh..that was a silly fart!". WEKEKEKEKEKEEKEKEKEKEKEKEK!!!

2) Sing out-of-tune. Marvellous. Old Cindy Lauper/Madonna/Whitney Songs. Phoolamak! Talk about golden oldies man!!! Hey..there were a few Queen as well!!! Because "I AM THE CHAMPION! I AM THE CHAMPION!! NO TIME FOR LOSERS COZ I AM THE CHAMPION……OF THE WORLD!!!!!"

3) Burp! Burp! Burp! Oh..behave!!!

See…how much privacy I’ve lost eversince I had to stay with someone? I have to be a polite social farter. Ok..I just like that term "socially fart"! Hey..that’s what the maternal nurses asks when I go for a check up! It shows that you have good control. Ahem!

Well now, what did I cook?

Hokkein Mee! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO it was DEEEEEEEEEE-LIIIIIIIIIIII-CIOUS!!!!! Why? Because of lurvely lurvely wok-lickin’ LARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry folks, it’s really NON-halal!

Next, I redeemed myself by frying pork chops! Yes..I listened to you readers and fried it under a slowwwwwwwww fire. It turned out pretty well! Thanks y’all!

And last but not least…. SWEDISH MEATBALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ! The best swedish meatballs in the world! Ok…I lied la. But..it was damn good! Sorry, the picture here looked so kelam kabut, because halfway eating, I remembered that I was supposed to take a pic for u guys. It was sooo damn good. The kids could not get enough of it. Sadly, it’s all finished now. But! It’s so damn easy to make…so, if you like it..head over my very sad cooking blog..for the best recipe. It’s fail-safe…you will NOT fail making this meatballs! No frying either!!!! BEST NYA!!!!!

See…I think I gained a kg or two… But it’s ok. I’m back to my same ol stressed up self again. Yes, socially farting.  

Now, to those of you who googled "breasts" and "confused"… sorry, no wonder pictures here. Just a sad lil tale about my McBooby factory. So…bugger off!

See, the 6 month mark is coming up. Yes, I’ve started weaning my lil guy. My first kid, had 6 months of wonderful milk. This first experience was by far, the easiest. Being ignorant of everything, I just fed the lil bubby milk as and when. The lil guy grew fat fat fat! Now, he’s all skin n bones…darn!

My second kid, he had an extra month simply because I thought he would be my last kid. 7 wa-wa months of yum-yum milk. I had quite an emotional experience weaning him. It was really a bonding session for me and him. Sadly, he doesn’t remember a single thing about it.

Now, with the third kid, I have to say, with all honesty, I can’t wait to wean him. I mean, this round, my breastfeeding experience has been the most challenging one. I’ve had numerous blocked ducts and mastities. It has been very painful, with the cracked/blistered nipples, the red, tender and sore spots. And because I have two other kids to tend to, the time to breastfeed really took a toll on them (and me). They felt neglected and what little time I had, I’d be rushing around, preparing/organising things..leaving them very little time with me. I suppose if you are a reader of this blog, you would’ve realised that I sometimes went quite mad…. the whole thing has been quite tumultuous.

The ONLY time I enjoy breastfeeding him is at night. That was when I was most relaxed and could look at him with great joy and hold him tightly. The other times, were like, "Oh..hurry up! I have to do this and that!"

As I have started giving him a bottle, (surprisingly, he takes on formula quite well!), my breast factory was taken aback with the slight reduction in demand. It’s still producing as much milk. So, my poor confused breasts… I apologise. After all you’ve gone through.. it’s time to slowly stop producing milk.

I just wonder, if they could just produce 16oz of milk for the night time feed. Hehe..coz like I mentioned, night time is the best time for me! 

For those of you who would’ve thought I should express….heheh..unfortunately, my milk tastes funky when expressed. He rejects it everytime I offer him expressed milk. I tasted it myself..it’s really YUCKS!!!!! Heheheheheh… 

I am really struggling here.

I really wonder, how do you mums do it? Ok, mums with one kid aren’t included…sorry, but your lives are REALLY easy compared to mums with multiple kids. Heh! Also, mums with help aren’t included…again, SORRY! but…life for you is a wee bit easier when you have someone to help you!

I mean, day in day out…  I’m just dead tired! And I look at these other mums at No.1’s school, all looking refreshed and happy! And these are mums with at least 3 kids!!! Yes…it seems to be a trend here to have more than 2 kids! I think it has something to do with the Baby Bonus package the government gives..heh!

I just had to ask one mum of FOUR kids, "How the heck do you do it?".

Mind you, she has a flat …a VERY flat tummy, she’s slim slim super SLIM! And she has very nice straight hair..and she dresses rather stylishly. AND she has no HELP!

Me…? Everytime I go to school, I look like my house was on fire..and I just ran out of there! Sigh..yea…hair like a tumbleweed, clothes all frumpled and crumpled..and face…ah! let’s not go there! Sometimes I think I have mata-tahi ini my eye, because I forget to wash my face!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *gulps*

What was her answer?

"Oh! When you have three kids, having one more is no different already".

I swear…I just wanted to faint there and then! What the heck kinda answer is that?????!!!!!!

But she does admit that she hasn’t done her hair in ages (I think she meant 6 months..me? I haven’t done mine in YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!). She doesn’t have the chance to go shopping for herself. But whatever it is….her life is all about timing. Every spare time she gets, she’ll be very busy preparing stuff.

I must say tho…once you have your kids in school…life does get easier. I just wish that my No.2’s pre-school would take him in for 5 days instead of 2 days. And he only gets to start next year! I’ve got another 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 more months!!! They only start at beg of Feb!

Slowly…slowly…slowly…I’m going to pengsan……. 

This guy..had the unfortunate experience of choosing the wrong condensed milktin.

This company..had the unfortunate experience of meeting such a man. 

To Mr.Edward Skading, I really tabik your resilience. I’m sure if I were in your position, I’d be livid to firstly, find mould in my milk tin, and secondly to be summoned for nothing!

I think if it happened to baby milk formulae, one thing’s for sure, this company would never stand a chance. If a baby had consumed contaminated goods and fell seriously ill, hell hath no fury like a very angry mother. Unfortunately, this obviously happens on a rampant basis..and most unfortunately, most consumers just throw the offending tin away. Why bother, right?

In Australia, consumer advocacy is a very big thing. Do not ever mess with the consumer. There are just too many avenues for the customer here to win! I had on several occasions, demanded my rights as a consumer..and must say that I’ve always been heard and treated fairly. Free speech is always always very strongly protected here.

To the F&N’s shareholders…I wonder, why is this big-wig MNC spending all your money on hiring big-wig lawyers to bring this gentlemen to court? You could have saved all that money and put it into your big fat wallets.  

I’m just a simplistic mom… I think this man should get what he deserves. Respect. And a apology. All he did was buy that contaminated milk. And this is what he got!

Be accountable for your actions, be a responsible company, F&N Diaries.  

Water in Australia is extremely precious. Even though it seems to drizzle alot over here in Melbourne, water itself is scarce. My kids’ school just recently installed three huge rain water tanks, to help with their water supply. I think this makes sense. In fact, my neighbour proudly displays a sign saying that her home uses pure rain-water.

Given the fact that the Australian government is offering rebates to any homes who install Rain Water Tanks, I just might take it up. I’m just trying to figure out where in our small home, will be able to put those tanks, without any major obstructions to the kids. I mean, they are still young and love their space!! 

Well… nowadays, we all have to think have ways to help our planet. I still can’t believe how warm our winters are. Sigh.. 

My uncle-in-law just ran away.

Mind you, he’s a 50+ year old man. He has everything in the house. Home-cooked food, nice big comfortable home. He told everyone in the family that he was going for a holiday and he never came back. 

He’s not married and stays with his brothers and sisters who are also not married. They all take care of their elderly father.

Mind you, he’s blind. My uncle-in-law.

But I so get it. He craved for his own independence. He had once stayed away in Brickfields for months, fending for himself. He so enjoyed himself. Free from the restrictions and the everyday nagging from his sisters.

I would be running away too, if I had to live in the same roof and adhering to everyone’s ‘rules’ and ‘restrictions’.

I wonder if this man wanted to run away so badly….why oh why isn’t a certain someone craving for her independence? I think that person should just run away from this house. That would make me a very satisfied and evil person. Heh…. 

Well, hello there, Sunshine Crew!

They say, ‘misery loves company’…I say, "misery makes pretty lousy company"! I so hate myself, when I’m feeling like that. Everyone in the family suffers…and it sucks when everyone is trying to cheer me up, all I do is show my ungrateful face! Although I still want to kill a certain someone..ah well….

BLEEARGGHHHH!!! Ptttoooooi all negative thoughts! Haacccccccckkkk ptttttoooooooiiii!

Like to take this moment in apologising to my dear No.3. It’s not your fault that you were born. I mean, after all, it’s your damn parents’ horniness fault!  You go ahead in crying all you want..as long as you’re crying healthily…I’ll be ok.

Today is a beautiful sunny and cccccold day! As we speak, minestrone (with gnocchi) soup is simmering on the stove…and I’ve already planned a good chinese dinner. Heheh..minestrone and chinese dinner? Ahh..as long as we eat good food…doesn’t matter what type of cuisine is on the table!

I’ve also decided to go half-green!

Eh?

Hehehhehhe..I just bought myself some cute re-useable diapers. Not for me la..for No.3. I’m getting a bit kiamsiap becoz disposables are soooo damn bloody expensive here! Plus, overnight, my lil friend often gets soaked. Can’t stand the ineffectiveness of the Huggies Diapers here. Over in KL, I was truly spoilt by Mamypoko. Sigh….

So, as his colourful cloth/wool diapers are being dried, I’m happy that I’m saving our landfills just a little bit. One less baby is using disposables…there’ll be one less mountainous landfill! Hehhehehehheheheheh!!!  

Right…here’s to happy thoughts again!

YAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM SENGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG! 

Had a particularly bad weekend. Just so y’all know, I tend to have these mini breakdowns every few months or so…just to give my kids some reality check, that ‘mu-um’ here ain’t no superwoman.

This time was quite bad. I became a horrible, terrible, screaming growly monster. I broke a plastic chopstick in fury, err…by throwing it on the floor..not the break-into-two-with hands-movie-type, ok?!  I blamed No.3 for taking away all my freedom, my time, my sleep. Yes…I lashed this out at him.

*hangs head wayyyyyy down low* Such a bad mu-um! Sigh…

Sometimes I hate myself for reacting this way…but I don’t know any other way in releasing all this stress in me.

I mean, hey! I had a bad week….I had to recover from a fever, cold, and still cough-hacking like mad. How come nobody pays me any attention? How come nobody makes me a nice hot breakfast/lunch/dinner?

Am I not allowed to have stress or some self-pity? I don’t have co-workers or horrigible bosses to dump my frustrations on. I don’t have a huge punching bag to release my anger on.

I did a couple of things that I had hoped that would help me get my stress out. I vacuumed like mad. But that didn’t help. I took my heavy duty meat cleaver, squatted on the garden outside and chopped 20 drumsticks into bite-sized pieces…that helped a bit. I think people should "cham-kai" when stressed. Just don’t "cham-yan"! I wish I could "cham" a certain "yan". Ahem!

Anyway… today, I read somewhere one line that made me feel a little better..and I hope that I will remember this line everytime I have the itch to go berserk.

"A path without obstacles lead to nowhere".

There. My obstacles includes the mundanity of my sahm life. I have to somehow be extra patient in waiting another few more years to break out of this ‘exciting’ life. My path has to lead somewhere….anywhere….and I am hoping to reach it in a happy, fulfilled way. Not as a unhappy, grumpy, depressed mu-um….!  

p/s: You know what happened after I lashed out at No.3? That night itself, he was a very good boy and didn’t cry one bit everytime I put him down for his sleep. He let me have a very good sleep. See la….I’m SOOOOOOOOOOOO a bad mu-um!!!