Category: Family/From the Heart

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Gift From Tokyo, Japan

I’m so touched !  you don’t know how touched I am today ! when the postman came with this huge box of gift from Tokyo, Japan.  You see, my girlfriend from Singapore (home) went on a vacation to Japan and instead of just relaxing and having fun, she bought all these goodies of food and gifts for Chloe and mailed it to us here in Canada – all the way from Japan !  tell me how heartfelt this is right?  I mean come on .. who would go on vacation and pick up things for a friend and send it from Japan ????  not many people but this dear friend Alice did!

Inside the box were goodies from Japan and toys and a huggable bear for Chloe and lots of stickers as well as fridge magnets.  Oh so thoughtful this girlfriend of mine.  She is always so kind but she isn’t the only one, I have lots of girlfriends from home who sends me stuff all the time.  And for your friendship and thoughtfulness, I am forever grateful.

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Chinese New Year 2014

Chinese New Year is tomorrow and as I sit here looking at the “ang pow” that came in the mail this morning for Chloe from family and friends, I cannot help but miss home.

When I was a kid, Chinese New Year was not only about wearing new clothes, stuffing our face with junk food and candies all day or receiving “ang pows” from our parents as well as aunts and uncles and neighbors and any elders, it’s about family gatherings.  Chinese New Year was a tradition, everyone come home to celebrate whether you are far away or you are in Singapore.  It’s about close family ties and bonding and meeting up with cousins that we don’t see often and exchanging stories and sharing the children’s achievements in school and of course, lots of gossiping about the family.  It was a time of joy, a time where we show our appreciation for our parents and grandparents.

Chloe and I made our usual call to my mom and our uncles and aunties today and wished them “Gong Hei Fatt Choy” and as usual, they want to know when we are bringing Chloe home to meet them. They are so excited when they hear Chloe tell them that she will come visit soon and of course, my mom tells her how much she misses Chloe.  Bitter sweet, every year and every year I just have this urge to pack and fly home immediately.  *sigh* ! yes, bitter sweet, every year but we will be home soon.

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Gifts From Advertiser

I did a review on a night cream for an advertiser in the States and today I received a surprise gift from them.  I wasn’t expecting it because they had already paid me for the video review and beauty products are a sure hit with all my readers on my youtube channel.  But they were so sweet and wanted to thank me for my unbiased review and they had gotten so many good response from the review, so they wanted to show their appreciation.

The packaging was very nice and I wondered what it was inside too.

It was an Estee Lauder perfume set.  Pretty neat eh.  I love my job!

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Priceless Moments

Tis’ moments like this that I am so happy I fell in love with the father of my brat.  Here he is lovingly drying and combing her hair after she had taken a shower and washed her hair on a Sunday.  You see, every Sunday, it is PB’s time with the kid, I do nothing on this day, he cooks, he cleans the bathtub for her to shower and feed her and do everything for her on Sundays.

The brat loves her daddy time, she misses him when he is at work although she spends every waking hour with either both of us or one of us if she wasn’t in school.  But yes, I’m very blessed because PB just do things for the brat and never ever say no when I need him to run an errand for me even if he was hungry and wants to come home to eat and rest.

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Kid’s Fun Is Good

Many months ago, my publisher asked me to comment on kids going to spa and having a manicure and pedicures with their moms.  While I go for manicures and pedicures whenever I have the time, I never bring Chloe along with me.  Well, occasionally I bring her to paint her nails with her girlfriends on special occasions but not often because too much, too soon is not good according to my mom.  Maybe, we are old fashion or maybe, it’s because we want them to stay a kid as long as we possibly could and not rush them to grow up.

I don’t let Chloe wear make up or lipsticks even on special occasions, she can get her nails painted but no coloring of her hair either.  Why?  because too much chemicals on a kid’s face, lips or on any part of her body, cannot be good for them, so my dermatologist girlfriend told me many years ago.With all those harsh chemicals that are in nail polishes, make up and hair coloring link to cancer and reproductive problems investigation, going el naturel will be the way for Chloe for a long time yet.

On top of all the above concerns, PB doesn’t want me to send the wrong message to the kid, in his opinion, too much too soon might send an inappropriate message to the kid.  Exposing what is meant for an adult is like rushing them to grow up and they won’t be enjoying their childhood as much as they should.  Plus, all kids are beautiful on their own and I want to teach mine that she is beautiful without needing anything else and that inner beauty is much more important.   So when Chloe came out from the computer room with a paper cutting like the above and doing funny actions, I cannot help but be glad that she is still child-like at 10 years old.

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Gratitude Jar

A girlfriend from Australia posted an article about Gratitude Jar and after reading it, I realized that if I had a gratitude jar, mine would fill up very quickly.  Why?  because I’m always grateful and happy for anything and everything.  I never wake up in the morning and complain that I don’t have enough sleep or that I didn’t get to shower last night or that I’m not pretty enough , well you get the picture.

I’m grateful for every little thing in my life and try not to sweat the small stuff in life.  But having a gratitude jar is definitely a good idea to pass on to Chloe.  So this year, I’m starting a gratitude jar for Chloe and I – that way we can learn to appreciate all the things in life be it little or big.   Everyone should learn to cherish life and yourself.  If you haven’t try it !

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The Lesson Of Giving – Chloe

Everyone who comes into our store ask Chloe how her Christmas was this year.  Well, this year as her parents we didn’t give Chloe anything for Christmas nor her birthday except for her birthday party.  But Santa gave her the 2 gifts she asked for and some stocking stuffer.  Why?

Well, this year we wanted to teach Chloe about giving and taking care of others first instead of  ourselves.  We’ve been so blessed throughout the year and since Chloe is the only child, we didn’t want her to grow up with the one child syndrome, whereby she thinks that she will get everything just because she wants it.  Chloe was really good about it and never argued with us and agreed that yes, we should take care of others first.

So this year for our family and friends, we bought more than our usual and gave more than our usual.  As for the money that we were supposed to spend on Chloe for Christmas and birthday, we chose to give it to 2 organization who needs it more than us.  I’m very proud of Chloe because not once did she whine about it nor did she say we didn’t get her anything.

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I Love My New Neighbors !!!

They are awesome!!!!  Now I have great neighbors on my right and on my left!  woohoo!! life at home cannot be any better now.  One of my neighbors who saw PB shoveling on a blizzard day shouted across the lawn to ask him to be careful on the roads because she heard they were nasty on the radio.  Now tell me how can you not love neighbors like that right?  No, we don’t chit chat like we are old friends most of the time, but when the big stuff is concern, they do show that they care and it really touches my heart when they do that.

My new neighbor is quiet and that is awesome !  they let the kids play and make noise and they never complain at all.  They don’t have dogs or cats running around our lawn and pooping all over.  They are just wonderful !!!!  the way they are.  No trouble, no worries about anything because all my neighbors are great ppl now.  Thank you, Lord!  This is the first thing that is going into my gratitude bottle of 2014.

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Presents From UK

Chloe and I are truly blessed, we get gifts from all over the world from friends and family.  This is from Pearly and it came all the way from UK with lots of food and chocolate for me and Chloe.  We are so grateful for awesome friends who think of us during every festive season and feel so blessed not because of the presents we get but because of the fact that we are in their heart and thoughts.  Thank you so much Pearly for being such an awesome friend and to all of you out there (you know who you are).

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My 10 Years Old Miracle

10 years ago today, I gave birth to a miracle baby – Chloe.  I was 39 years old when I had her and gynecologist from back home had told PB and I that I may not have a baby then because I had a huge fibroid and complications as well as being old.  But 3 years after I migrated to Canada and got married, I gave birth to a very healthy baby.  I carried her till full term and was sick all thru’ my pregnancy.  But if I had to do it again, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Chloe had been nothing but joy to both PB and I.  She is smart, compassionate and funny all the time.  Don’t get me wrong, she can be very bratty too but overall, she is a very good kid.  She can be sassy at home but she knows what is right from wrong.  She is hardworking in school and wants to do her best and she always care for her friends.

I thank God everyday for this miracle and I’m hoping that we will bring her up the right way.  To be honest, to have integrity and to do her best and to show compassion to the less fortunate and not to be afraid to speak her mind.