For the people of Malaysia

Have been a little tired lately but I think the people back home in Malaysia is even more tired and anxious about the rising prices of everything. But now.... rumours that political unrest may be happening with some repetitive historical event involving Anwar. I have been away for a while but the my hometown is still my lovely hometown. I hope peace will infuse into the bloods of the people of Malaysia especially the politician because it is the people who make the country prosper. Here, I would like to share a video by the artists of Malaysia.

Rising gas price is driving the world crazy!!

We do not go out as often anymore for drives. The gas price is crazy! It is now 132.99$/liter here in Canada. I wish that the dream for having fuel-less car could be realized soon. Apparently, a student from the University of Dalhousie invented a car that runs on air. They even place their research result on youtube, which could be accessed here. I wish I could tell the leaders of the oil producing countries in the world to please think about us, poor commoners of the world who worked so hard everyday to just live by and to be happy with our family. It is crucial to place a stop (even if it is temporary) to the surge in the oil price. It may sound crazy.... and absurd to ask of this but hey!! maybe one of the royalties may stumble upon this page and say," we must come out with a solution for this crisis!". Tough luck? Maybe.... but someone already did write a letter :-)

Pelican in the zoo

Pelican in the zoo
Originally uploaded by suepslew

I haven't been to the zoo in ages! To see the pelican makes me think of home when we are surrounded by seas. The beaches are calling me, my dear Pelican :-)
I wish my son could see the real beaches one day. It is sad that we only have freshwater lakes here. Otherwise, I would convert my little boy into a beach buff!
He is such a tease now. Throwing people some flirtatious smiles. Like it or not, this little boy is a lady killer. A walk in the fresh produce section of our grocery market will always attract 3 to 4 little girls who stopped and say hi to Deion. He is so funny. Not knowing how to talk yet, but flirting already! said his grandma.
I wish my dad and family could see him in real person one day. Perhaps next year when things are better financially. Our first year as parents have thrown off some of our expenses! No worries... I don't think we are the only parents in the world who had done that!

Spring tulips

Spring 045
Originally uploaded by suepslew

Here are the tulips

Spring Tulips

Spring 044
Originally uploaded by suepslew

Lots of gardening to do in our first year at our home. I am glad that the tulips bloomed beautifully

Banana Loaf

011
Originally uploaded by suepslew

It's been crazy busy with Deion lately. Haven't been upgrading my cooking skills much. I hate the fact that I am becoming more and more lazy these days in making dishes. I wish I could make more creative meals now just like how my mom used to do when we were still a kid. Banana bread or cake is one of my favorite tea time snack of all times. I have tried many different recipes but ended up making up on my own. It's nothing special..... just something that I've made up after trial and errors.

Ingredient:
2 ripen bananas (mashed)
4 eggs
1/2 cup of sugar (brown sugar is best)
2 cups of bleached white flour
1/2 tsp of baking powder (sift into flour)
a pinch of salt
1/4 tsp of baking soda (sift into flour)
1/3 cup of shortening
1/4 tsp of vanilla flavor

Method:
Beat sugar with eggs at medium speed until the mixture becomes creamy yellow with thick ribbon texture. In another bowl, mix mashed bananas with shortening. Add vanilla and salt into the egg mixture, then add 1/3 of the banana mixture. Fold in 1/3 of the sifted flour and alternate with banana mixture, ending with the flour mix. Bake in a lined or greased loaf pan at 375 deg Celsius for 1 hour or until brown.

McDull

McDull is never dull. I love this mini pig. Gosh.. my darkest day will brighten whenever I watch this little pig.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Refreshing spring has SPRUNG!!

How weather affects a person is beyond wonders. SAD or Seasonal Affect Disorder is just too scientific for some strange behaviors that one encounter sometimes. I just prayed that spring quickly arrives here this year. They say the groundhog prediction said that lady spring will kiss the ground early but we are sailing into the mids of April!! Oh come on.... I want to see flowers blooming again and the smell of fresh grasses on lawns. Winter has just managed to kill it's nostalgic values on me. Snow is not that romantic anymore - who am I kidding?! I am sure baby Deion would like to get out too. Poor kid. After an ordeal at the Children's hospital just 2.5 weeks ago because of a suspected meningitis case, he has not been sleeping too good. That means I am sleep deprived too. Who needs another grouchy mommy on this face of earth ?? I just want baby Deion to get back on his regular routine. Perhaps some cool and fresh scent of spring will do him good. Oh Lady Spring!!! I do hope you heard my cries.....

Happy New Year 2008

Every woman wonders at one point in her life, whether as a girl or as a grown woman how and what it will feel like to carry a child, and to give birth to one. NO kidding... even when a girl while growing up thought about being a single independent working woman one day, the unpredictible journey in life changes course of a person’s mind. No matter how independent a person is, there is a sense of need to belong to something, and most often this “something” turns out to be an undetatchable asset - the family. Lao Tzu once said, “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage”. I never understood this when growing up. Being a child surrounded by loved ones and always being pampered by parents who loved and nurture me unconditionally, I have for some time taken those for granted. Being naive was a perfect excuse. Yes, WAS and never is again. People asked, what gave you all those strength to be here alone all this time? I puzzled at the question. Alone? What alone? At some point in my life, I did feel that I may be lonely during those varsity years but that is a whole nine yard away from being alone. The nature and nurture of life when growing up failed to make me feel that I am alone. I do not believe that my parents will allow that or my siblings running away from me to leave me to rot. Two thousand and seven is a year that has been truly full. It was full of challenges, fear, happiness, and sense of content. It was the first year of my marriage to Howie, and the birth of our first child, a baby boy who we named Deion. Did I ever predict this to happen? I DON’T know. Let’s just say that I knew that at some point in my life that I will get marry and have child(ren) because that’s what I used to think all women will end up doing (No punt intended). Anyway, I am married and now I am a mother, so what is next? You see, this is the catch. There’s always this question about what is next. I am never good at revealing what is next. Being superstitious, I am always scared that revealing anything at all will jinx my plans (if I have any). My mind is too busy at the present time to even plan too far ahead. Being a person is hard enough, but now I have multiple roles that I have to perform in. That’s right, perform. How else should I put it? Like it or not, one is always graded (indirectly if not obviously) in each role that they wear daily like the outfits that we have. Did we do a good job or no, but always the worst critic is none other than moí. How does a person do a perfect job in all of these roles every day? I never know how my mom did it as a wife, daughter, and daughter in law, mother, sister, friend..... I only ask that secretly inside myself when I am all those but I am also an employee and a student. More complex? Lots of juggling and baby steps. I was not born to be a person’s wife, or a mother. In fact, I have lead a pretty much independent life for so long that it suddenly feels a little strange to hang on to someone so dearly. Life is full of turns and different twists. It is difficult to be perfect all the time and to make the perfect decisions. Although I never feel like things need to be done in my way, but the perfectionist in me wants every inch and specks to be free from dust. Extreme isn’t it? I think so too. However, I have learned in life that there are many perfect parents who made silly mistakes, and perfect couples out there who turned their heads away from one another because of the most absurd reasons. It baffles me, because sometimes it seemed, some of the most imperfect parents ended up having children who grew up to be society’s top elites. Life is just full of unexpected. I know this new year will be the same too. I still have a good 9 more months to go for my maternity leave. It will be challenging, but I am sure my little boy will entertain my life day-to-day.