My Hair Affair

It's been almost 4 months since my last hair cut and I'm starting to itch again about whether or not to fix my hair. That's the problem with having short hair - it needs more regular fixes (means cost more time and $$$!!!)

I don't remember who cut my hair up till my teenage years. I'll have to ask my mother that.

Then in my teenage years, I went to my mum's hairstylist who works from home. Each hair cut cost RM5.

Even when I came to KL to study, I would always go back to visit her for a trim each time I went home to Penang. RM5 haircuts became RM6, and then later RM8. With just 2 hair cuts a year, it cost less than the price of a 1.5kg tin of Milo to maintain my hair.

Eventually, I got married and started working and it was no longer feasible to keep going back to Penang for my hair cuts.

So I went to the RM12 kwik-cut places where they cut your hair for RM12 in 12 minutes. With inflation, it became RM13 for 13 minutes and if I'm not mistaken, it's currently RM15 for 15 minutes!

But it didn't always turn out they way I'd like. So I thought I would go to a proper hair salon. And I did! I tried out the RM20 dry cut at Derrick Hair Salon (opposite Carrefour in Midvalley Megamall). It was ok.....for all of 2 weeks. Then I started having bad hair days again.

Finally, in January this year, I gave myself a birthday treat by having a proper wash, cut and blow. I tried out Snips at The Curve. The junior stylist cost RM30 and he took over an hour! This was by far the most I had ever paid for anything to do with hair!

after the RM30 hair cut

I told him that I wanted to grow it long but the ends were sticking out in the process and I didn't like that. So he suggested cutting it more even so that the bottom was heavy and wouldn't stick out so much.

It worked....until the hair reached my shoulders and started sticking out again. During this time, we were in Melbourne and it really didn't matter because the lack of humidity resulted in static which kept my hair flat and in place. I also didn't have to bend over people's mouth so it didn't matter that my hair was unruly and all over the place.

When we got back, I just couldn't find the time to see a hairstylist. Finally, with 2 weddings approaching in August, I had to do something!

Out of mere convenience, I walked 100m to my 'neighbour', Chezz Technique during my lunch break while at work. I paid RM62 for the hair cut by a senior stylist, setting a new personal record.

3 weeks after the RM62-hair cut

This senior hairstylist cut a bob for me - longer at the front, shorter at the sides. It looked pretty modern and stylish to me.

I'm glad to say that almost 4 months after this most-expensive-hair cut, I still like my hair. Most days, I don't even bother to comb. I just grab a chunk from each side and clip it at the back. My hair stays out of my face and out of my patients' faces. And the ends are still behaving themselves and not sticking out.

Sometimes I wonder if I should do something more than cut....like maybe perm or rebonding or colouring.....but the cost and the time needed just puts me off.

I'd rather take the family out for a satisfying meal at some place like Shogun. And who has time to sit for hours at the salon?

So now....my dilemma is to either let it grow out (and thereafter cut once every 6 months) pay another visit to Chezz...

New Blog Store

Announcing the launch of my new blog store...



A million thanks to HuiWearn for doing all the set up.

Now go over and browse!

My princess at 21+ months

This time last year, I was already planning for Joy-Anne's 1st birthday party. I've always felt that the first year creeps by minute by minute. But once we've passed the 1st birthday, time flies!

Her 2nd birthday is now less than 3 months away. I've got her no.2 candle already (bought in Australia) but there won't be any big party. Just a cake and dinner with family.

I find that she's very advanced in her speech. And very demanding too.

this is how she folds her arm and says, "not fair!" - learnt from kor kor.

She says things like...

scratch my back!

pat here (puts my hand on her chest)

let me go down!

I want to.... go playground/play piano etc etc

mosquito bite here....put skin oil!

enough!!! (when she doesn't want me to put cream on her mosquito bites)

this is how she feeds Matthew water

She is also very naughty at times. We have used the cane on her a few times. She will then rub her thigh and say, "Pain. Very pain". But the next minute, she's back to her nonsense.

and this is how she makes Matthew shee shee. She will say, "good boy."

In my opinion, smart = naughty.

Or at least the potential to be more naughty.

she can also pat Matthew to sleep.

Just this morning, she said, "No way!!!" when we tried to feed her milk. Guess where she learnt this from... kor kor of course!

Smart as she is, she is not doing very well in the toilet-training department. Unlike Joseph who obediently pooed in the potty, she absolutely refuses to deposit anything in the potty. She will sit for hours without any produce. Then as soon as you let her off, she pees on the floor. And then she stands in the puddle of pee and says, "Help!!! Wet wet!"

So we'll scold her and ask her, "Is this the toilet?"

Joy : No.

Mama/Nana : Shee shee where?

Joy : toilet.

Mama/Nana : Where is the toilet?

And she will walk to the toilet and point to you. Is that naughty or what?

a good laugh for today

I was flipping through today's Star and came across this so I browsed this blogger's site and came across this video that had me in stitches....so funny!

weekend with grandparents

Kong kong came to KL on Thursday. We went to 1-Utama for dinner at Zuup (yes, again!!!).

It's quite a kid-friendly place. The waiters brought out children's books to keep my kids entertained while waiting for the food.

There was also a Barney car just outside Zuup that helped keep them entertained.
We tried some new soups. They were pretty good. Unfortunately, they ran out of the bread bowl.

Only 5 choices of pastas (buy1free1).

This is the Beef Ragu with roasted vege and cheese. Not bad.

After dinner we walked around. Joseph was so fascinated with the touch screen information 'counter'.

And then they climbed around the mini coopers on display.

This mini cooper cabrio is really cool. I asked Joe, "Where's the roof?" and he pointed to the folded canopy at the back. Surprising to me since this is his first experience with a convertible upclose.

On Saturday, we went to Opulent Court at Pearl International Hotel for dim sum buffet. There's a Buy4Free1 promotion till the end of this month.

So Joanne was supposed to join us to make a total of 5 adults but she forgot about it at the last moment. Joe enjoyed eating this fried prawn wanton. He ate only the crispy part outside dipped in mayonaise. Joy-Anne ate 2 bowls of yummy porridge.

The food was not bad considering the price. But their service was quite crap. They were really short-handed and the food took quite a while to be served.

In the end they charged us RM23.80nett per pax for the 2 senior citizens, RM16.80nett for Joseph and RM27.80 for one adult. So they still gave us 1free.

Joe with his new 'toy parking' - collection of Bob The Builder toys in moon cake box

Yesterday, we went out to church in the morning, and then to a friend's baby's 1st birthday party.

Joy-Anne wore her very pretty dress which YeeYee and YeeTeow bought.

These videos were taken when we got home. Peace and quiet because kor kor knocked out in the car and continued sleeping on the sofa.

At night, Ah Mah and Ah Kong came for dinner. Lots of yummy food, keropok for the kids and a toy for Joe to share with his sister. Unfortunately the photos are in Ah Mah's camera.

It pays to fly with Emirates

Sometime ago, I wrote about our broken luggage after Daalin came back from UK.

So we wrote to Emirates asking for compensation. Daalin actually had a very pleasant experience flying with Emirates. He found it far superior to MAS and SIA. The broken baggage was an anti-climax to the whole trip.

After a series of e-mails between Emirates and us, this came by Fedex yesterday.

I'm satisfied with their customer service and will certainly consider Emirates for future travels.

I know full well that it could have been KLIA's fault. But I doubt I would even get a response from Malaysia Airports Bhd.

So anyway, my bag is paid for. Case closed.

family time at ikea

Joseph has been saying that it's been a long time since he went to Ikea. He loves that place and I used to take him there on my non-working days. Until he went to school this year.

So we made a trip there yesterday evening. Instead of father-and-son-time, we brought Joy along so it was family time.

On the way home from school, I asked Joe if he wanted to go to Ikea that evening. He was so excited! Once we got home, he undressed, dumped his clothes in the washing machine and zoomed to the bathroom for his bath.

He ate his lunch very fast and was ready for his nap by 12.40pm. I put Joy to sleep and then Joe said he wanted to pang sai. So I quickly put Joy down in the cot and took Joe to the toilet.
We arrived in Ikea at about 5pm. What a life....when people are still in the office, we are with the kids in Ikea.

I always tell Joe that he is so blessed to have mummy who doesn't work full-time and a fantastic grandmother at other times.

I think....in actual fact, I'm the one who is blessed to be able to spend more time with them.

They loved pushing the child-sized trolleys around.

Joy was just so happy. Joe was too happy. I had to warn him countless times to watch where he was going because we were surrounded by breakable stuff!

After a spin around Ikea, we went hopped over to The Curve.

And then to Pizza Hut for dinner.

The set dinners are the most value-for-money ones around. For only RM9.15nett, we get a very cheesy 6"pizza, a bowl of soup, 2 pieces of cheese bread and a glass of pepsi.
I'm so glad to report that Joy finished the entire bowl of soup and even had some of kor kor's soup.

forgot to bring bib...so make do with lampin

It was a good evening out. Joy was singing this on the way home....


She learnt it just by listening to the cassette tape that Ah Mah gave. We played it in the car a few times and she just caught it.

...a sweet end to a lovely day.

long tiring weekend

What a weekend! It flew by in a blink of an eye.

I had set my alarm for 5.30am on Saturday morning. But Joy woke up on her own at 5am! I left her on the bed while I got a drink, fixed some breakfast (for the journey) and then went back to feed her milk.

Joseph woke up at about 6am. I love how his bowels work! I tell him to poo at 6am, he poos at 6am. If I tell him to poo at 7am, he poos at 7am!

We left the house at about 6.40am.

Neither kid wanted to sleep even though I expected them to.
We arrived at Kuantan Wesley Methodist Church at about 9.50am. Just enough time to freshen up, change the kids, put on shoes and find a seat.

Dr Kuan is a long time friend since my teenage days. I'm so glad he has found a lovely lady to grow old with.

After the lunch reception and some chit-chatting with other friends, we drove back to KL and went straight to church.

Joe napped for over an hour and Joy slept for 2 hours on the way back. I'm so thankful for such easy-going kids. And of course for a wonderful husband who did all the driving and still had energy to sweep and mop the floor at night.

Joe says this is how he mix angry and funny face together

This morning, they got up, and we went straight to church...again. I had my Little Lamb duty so while I went to get the place ready, Edwin and my mum fed them breakfast in the concourse.

I think Joe was quite tired. After the afternoon nap, he declined our offer to take him out to the park prefering instead to sit on the sofa and watch tv. So I took Joy and went to pasar malam with my mum while Joe sat at home dishing out homework to his father.

Got to hit the sack now....good night!

round3 with Grace

Just got these pictures from my cousin who got married in August. All photos taken by Grace.


I love how she always makes us look so good.


Joseph was not very cooperative. But look...he can roll his tongue, and I can't.

I was actually very upset because I left the headwreath (that I had so painstakingly made for Joy) at home on the table. I only realized it when we arrived at Cyberview Lodge.

It was a good thing I had the other hairclip (meant for later when she yanks the headwreath off) in my bag.

Thanks Grace for the photos!