I miss you my friends – the next time I come back, I’m bringing my family with me.
I want to show Chloe where I left my heart.
I’m So Proud
I’m so proud to call you friends because it seems that only my friends back home can understand the humor like the poster above. My g/f has a kid who has Asperger and instead of wallowing, she had taken time to educate the teachers/principal in her kid’s school and help mothers with kids like hers. She humbles me – she is very successful in her own field and yet spend countless of hours taking care of her kid. She is also able to laugh at things and enjoy the humor of some very sinister people who insist on knowing what is best for an Asperger kid and make judgement about him without knowing what Asperger is.
Sometimes, it’s easy to point fingers and lash out and think that you or your kids are hurt or disturbed but have you thought about the other party when you started complaining about them? or making snide remarks or conclusion about the other kids/person before knowing how he or she felt? or what the real reason behind the behavior?
I’m so proud to call you friends because I see the difference in my friends from home and how intelligent they are at dealing with the not so informed. Some of you have been friends with me for more than 20 years and you know who you are and even though we are so far apart, you are all so very good to me in so many ways. I’m so blessed to call you friends.
Fruit Season For Chloe’s Class
Yes, it is that time of the year again – fruit season at the Wallace Brother’s Apple Farm in Port Maitland. And since we know Andy and his wife so well, they are such special people to Grammie when she was alive, we try to keep the tradition going even though Grammie is not with us anymore. This year we started late as we had so many things going on in the store and at home. Apples are for Chloe’s little friends.
And pears for the teachers as well as PSA. It is common for us Asian mothers to bring fruits and other things for the Chloe’s classmates and teachers because they are so good to Chloe in every way. I hope I can still get some plums for the teachers and kids this year. Next week, the Macintosh apples are going to be ready for picking, so we will be heading out to the Apple Farm on Sunday to pick apples for the class and teachers again. We usually bring in a few rounds of fruits till the end of the season.
I Feel Bad For You Mom !
My ! my !! I have a really good kid ! why? yesterday was anti-bullying day and usually the school will take the kids out for a walk with their pink clothing. Usually, they take the route to downtown but this year they took another route. Yesterday morning, Chloe had asked if I was giving out candies in which I had replied – nope. And Chloe said to me “Ohhhhh ! i wished you were” and I didn’t reply at all.
So happily we sent her to school and before sending her lunch to school, we had gone to Bulk Barn to see if I can find any pink candies but there were none to be found that are individually wrapped. So we bought these rockets to give out to the entire school, if they were to take their walk downtown. But the school took a different route, so we still have the candies and when Chloe came back from school, she explained to me that they had walked a different route but she was thinking of me – and said to herself : ” Oh ! I feel so bad for my mom now!” hahahhahaha!! so cute right? and of course, I asked her – “how did you know I was giving out candies? because I had already said no ??” And her reply? I know you Mom! you always try to do nice things for the everyone! lol ! oh my! she is truly my daughter! She just cracked me up!
Corporate Branding
I’ve just finished working on a corporate branding for a company in the States and this job was a referral job from a company that I had worked with last year. Corporate branding are so fun and they actually makes the most money. Sure it’s a lot of work but the caliber of the people that I worked with are highly professional and simply enjoyable. The going back and forth is always challenging and the conference calls that I make and take can be at all hours of the day but I don’t mind it at all. Plus, I’m very blessed because both PB and Chloe understands when I am working and they try not to interrupt.
My corporate branding jobs comes very often and word of mouth in our industry is so important, of course a good page rank from Lord Google is always good. Not many people around here knows what I do and when I try to teach them what I do, they usually, don’t want to do it because so much is involved from getting the right gadget for logos to HTML coding and different platforms to learn before you can get a good referral. I’m very lucky and blessed because some 6 yrs ago, the industry wasn’t so competitive and some companies I’ve worked with have continued working with me and as the economy picks up in different parts of the world, the more jobs I get.
A professional corporate branding specialist can easily command a 5 figure payout and I have to say that the companies I’ve worked for are very generous. I’ve never once had my work rejected nor not get paid for by any company. Companies pay me 50% upfront before I start work and after my first draft, I get paid the rest of it. Upon finishing my work for them, I get paid another 10 % as a bonus when they are very satisfied with my work and I always get the 10 % extra. So if you see me up all night till wee hours in the morning, it’s gotta be that I’m working on a Corporate branding. I love my online job!
Random Shopping
Many years ago, before coming to Canada, I would buy a piece of jewelry every time I go away for work, and knowing that I travel so much, my local jewelers would call me up if they had new stock in house. Unfortunately, after coming to Canada, I cannot find the kind of gold I like here, i like the 22K gold and no Tiffany here as well, so I don’t get to buy as much jewelry as I liked.
But once in a while at Crescent, I do get to see some really good pieces and I would snatch them up immediately. I prefer buying jewelry when I can put them on and try them out to see how it fits me, so a month ago, I saw this ring and immediately liked it after I tried it and bought it of course. Guess what Chloe said to me? Oh no Mom! not another piece of jewelry ! hhahahah!!! You see I buy them but sometimes don’t wear them and leave them in our safe deposit box and forget about it and Chloe being Chloe, she knows me too well. But PB never complained, he always say – go ahead and buy whatever you want – muahahah!! i’m totally blessed right?
Chloe Is In Grade 4 !
Yes, time does fly ! I never fully understood when my mom used to write on autograph books for my primary school friends ” Time and Tide waits for no man”, now I do. Chloe is almost 10 years old now and it almost seems like not too long ago, she was a baby in my arms and I was so emotional and so overwhelmed and questioned myself as to how I can bring this tiny little girl up to be a useful person, a good person. And here we are 10 years later, all grown up and kind, mostly a good and obedient girl but of course she is a kid and thinks she knows everything and is quite sassy at times till we warned her that there is consequences for being sassy. But yes, overall, I’m grateful , very grateful for a healthy and good kid.
Chloe was very excited to go back to school, a few days before school re-opened, she told us that she can’t wait to meet her new teachers, her new classmates and everyone in school. She can’t wait to learn new things. This morning, she woke me up with such a big smile and hug, am I not the luckiest mom you tell me? So we sent her off to school and we quickly informed her new home room teacher about her asthma meds as well as her milk bottles, I’m hoping she will speak up for herself like her what her old home room teacher had taught her. But I’m pretty sure she is going to have a good year and she will be working hard and all, but this year, we are going to have to spend more time helping her out with her homework and PB had volunteer to do the homework part with her during his lunch time. Woohoo!
New Glasses For Chloe
We had gotten some new glasses for Chloe because she had complained that she can’t see that clearly with her old glasses even though it was less than a year old. A eye test with the optometrist and eye doctor was scheduled as soon as the school term ended in July and true enough she needed new prescription. We had wanted to recycle the old frames since they were still very new only to find out that with using the old frame, we won’t be getting the buy one get one free deal and it and if we were to get new ones, it would cost about the same amount albeit a little bit cheaper.
So we decided on getting her 2 new pairs that cost us about $500 because we chose the lenses which has that scratch proof thingie and very thin lenses, so that it won’t weigh so much on her. We then donated the old ones to kids who needed them. Chloe loves her new glasses and couldn’t wait to show them off to her friends at school. We are not spendthrift but when it comes to the kid, we want the best for her, especially if it is a necessity.
A Gift From Spain
Look what came in the mail for me ! woohoo! a gift from my ex-boss wife – Manuela. Yup! I did some translation work for their daughter who was in Shanghai working and needed some immigration papers done quickly. So when they emailed me the documents, I had done the translation work for her so that she can get it notarized and all but I had refused any money from them. So today, this came from Fedex and I was really touched because you and I know that a Hermes is not cheap but I don’t know when I will have a chance to wear it because unlike many years ago, I needed to attend company’s functions and cocktails, now I mostly go help out at the store or work on my online work and look after Chloe. Maybe, when I go on vacation eh – haha! when PB finds time to bring us for a short break, I tell you that man is a real workaholic! *sigh* ! oh well! Thank you, Mr Hernandez and Manuela!
Drummer Girl
For those of you who knows that we do carry some musical instruments at our store now, you will also noticed that Chloe loves the drum set so much that she wants to learn how to play the drum besides playing the piano. After much persuasion, we’ve decided that she can take up playing the drum as well. But first we have to buy drum cases for electronic drums at musician’s friend , so that she can carry her kid’s drum set to and fro to her teacher’s house. You see, she prefers to practice using her own drum set, which is perfectly understandable for her age, so the drum cases would come in handy not only for Chloe but for those who have kids and taking lessons or those musicians who wants to transport their drums to wherever they are playing their drums. It’s a win-win situation for us, now we will have drum cases to offer our own customers as well.