Why I Need to Work?

Thought that I can be a "tai tai" and no need to work...

Although our 5 room HDB flat has already been fully paid, we still need to pay for our studio apartment at One North Residence. That house was bought mainly for investment and we were lucky that we bought it in 2008... Lucky in the sense that the private housing prices is rocketing and govt implenting cooling measures, etc, etc that are affecting investors..

My husband also bought another one at Montrosa in 2010 under his own name to save insurance cost for mortage if I have a share...) Sigh... was it good or bad to own another house???

Considering having these 2 houses, not possible that I sit at home not working...

How? In order to sustain to pay the 30 year mortgage loan and to have CPF, no choice lor... So, go back to work lor...

Chocolate Banana Cake!

Guess what is this black round thing?

It is a cake!

It is a chocolate banana cake!

Simply love this plain looking... nothing special... but superb yummy chocolate banana cake! I like it that the chocolate was not too sweet for me and you see the yellow thing in between? That was 2 layers of real banana! Awesome is the word I can describe.

My hubby bought this from Secret Recipe in Johor, Malaysia during his return work trip. Pisst... tell you something... it is much much cheaper than buying in Singapore outlet.


As my hubby's birthday was around the corner, we also took that opportunity to use the cake to celebrate his birthday. We normally don't have the habit to buy cakes for birthday celebration, so this is quite a memorable one to celebrate and to have a nice cake to enjoy.

Cakes are not something I fancy because of the creamy cream that is in there and the sweet high calorie ingredients that I want to avoid. However, this is the best cake that I ever tasted so far and will definitely try it again.

Sometimes, indulge in something "sinful" and delicious and enjoy this kind of lifestyle once a while...

To Give or Not to Give

Almost every year, there will be at least 2 charity shows on TV and getting us Singaporean to donate money to the charity organizations to help the poor, handicaps or needies. It used to have more of these types of shows until the infamous NKF scandal happened in 2005 and following of many scandals on charity organizations uncovered in recent years. Because of these, I became resentful of such things and have not been that "charitable" any more.

However, on that day when another Mediacorp charity shows on TV, I wanted to "educate" our Zozo  on being benevolent and unselfish to others. I told her that there are many poor and unfortunate people in this world and we must help and "give" whenever we can. I explained to her that we are living in a comfortable lifestyle where we can eat and walk healthily while others can't even talk normally. The poor are so poor that they do not have enough to eat, unlike her where she can have all the tidbits and sweets everyday.

I know my Zozo is very kind-hearted and she listened quietly. Suddenly, she asked me why we did not buy tissue papers from the poor auntie in the coffeeshop. Zozo mentioned that the 4 packets of tissue paper only cost $1 and we could just donate $1 to her... (Well.. some background... Almost every Sunday, before we go to do our grocery shopping at NTUC supermart, we will take our breakfast at the nearby coffeeshop where Zozo and my hubby likes to eat the dry "ban mian" noodle. There was this middle age plump auntie always "loitering" at the coffeeshop and will always stuff 4 packets of tissue papers to us and ask us if we want to buy for $1. She did this without fail every time she sees us, even though we always tell her we do not want to buy.)

My hubby and me were dumbfounded. Oops, how to answer her? Did we set a bad example for her to be not so generous or not "giving" to people? Yeah, it is just $1 only...

No, she was mistaken... Thinking for a while, I replied her that that auntie is just making a living selling things. I could not buy tissue papers from her every weekend. Similarly, I am not buying things every time or whenever people ask me to buy. Moreover, the auntie is not one that need our donation and I praise her for having the will and effort to sell rather than begging people for money.

This incident make me realize more that whatever we do, act or talk as parent and adult, our child or the young will see and follow. Therefore, it is important that we really need to show good examples to them so that they will be molded to a better person as they walk through life.

Happy 13th Wedding Anniversary

Me and my hubby has been happily married for 13 years!

No... not candle light dinner... no special present or flowers... no romantic moments like young couples... This is the common trait between me and him... very "chin chai" (easy-going) and not so creative and fanciful when comes to birthday or special occasions like today. Only greetings cards that we give to each other...

Well, he did buy me present once in the blue moon... As for me, not that I don't want to buy gifts for him but just that he got everything needed and I really can't think of what else he want. Therefore, we make it a point that exchanging with each other a greeting card is a must, at least.

This year, as usual, we just decided to go dinner out somewhere and with our daughter, Zozo too (**light bulb**). As both of us love to eat raw oysters, we decided to go for buffet dinner where we can gobble as much food as we want. We settled for a buffet restaurant called "Feast @ East" at Grand Mecure Roxy Hotel and went to eat a day before our anniversary.

The buffet spread was not that fantastic in varieties actually and the food was generally ok to me. As such, I did find that the price we pay was a bit ex for this variety range. Anyway, we have a hearty meal as a family, tried all the food available and stuff ourselves with our beloved oysters, sashimi and dessert.

My lifestyle is very simple. There is no need for celebration for any special occasion. I truly just enjoy quality time spend together as a whole family, treat and love one another well everyday and it will be special everyday.

I love my hubby and my daughter dearly.

Remember When Zozo Was a Toddler...

My daughter Zozo, out of the blues, pulled out an old VCD and played on our "dust collecting" (long time no use) VCD player. It was a 15 minutes clips which I have taken with a camera when she was about 2 years old, playing on the home sofa and I had got my friend "burned" it into a VCD for me many years back.

I was totally engrossed watching that video and fond memories flooded in my mind. I was recollecting my memories when Zozo was so tiny and small. She was so adorable then, and now she is a 9 year old girl! Unbelievable!

I had taken many photos and videos of her since she was born. I selected some to print and stick on photo albums for easy viewing and saved the majority in my PC. Unfortunately, my PC crashed and most of her earlier photos and videos that was taken from newborn to 3 years old, were lost. I hated myself for not knowing the importance of taking backups... Grrr... So now, I hope that those printed photos can last long and don't fade forever....

It is truly a touching moment when you are seeing your children growing up from a cute little tiny creature to now that she is almost catching up my height... I know that time flies and we can't catch back lost time. So, I make it a point that I will treasure every moment and capture all beautiful and fond things in life into videos and photos so that we, as a family can view and recall the happy moments when we are older...

When Zozo was 4 years old!

T. Harv Eker's Millionaire Mind Intensive - No Fear

Last weekend, I attended T. Harv Eker's "Millionaire Mind Intensive" (MMI) 3 full days seminar, with my husband, Mike, at Singapore Expo. I must say that this is the best seminar that I ever attended so far as I have gained many valuable insights and profound realization about life and money.

One of my favorite session was the "The Power of Action". I realized that many at times, we do experience some kind of FEAR before doing something, e.g., fear of not able to complete a task, fear of people laughing at you if you can't do the task well, fear of the consequences if you did the task, etc, etc. This fear, sometimes stopped us from taking action.

While T. Harv Eker was explaining on this theory, he told the audience that we can break an arrow with the sternal notch of our throat (the part between the throat and the collarbone) and we are going to do that on that day! WHAT!!! He went on explaining and demonstrating in details the steps on how to break the arrow and even made us signed an indemnity form. He even scorned at us if we are not going to break the arrow with our throat. Then, with the help of his trainer restraining on the other end of the arrow, he broke the arrow with his throat on stage in front of everybody's eyes!!!

In my mind, I keep thinking that he must have some kind of training to do that... He was just trying to test our reaction if we are going to do it... He just wanted us to experience and overcome our fear that we are going through this "impossible" mission... He surely wouldn't risk our lives or allowing anyone to get hurt by asking us to perform such "dangerous" activities....Not in Singapore...???

Soon, we, about 5000 of attendees, were told to get into groups of 10. There are staff ready to distribute the arrows and goggles to protect the splint of the broken arrows from injuring our eyes. (...Wow... this simulation is very real... When is he going to say STOP?...) A leader was chosen from each group to collect the protective gears and arrows and each person got one set. (...Still not going to end the scaring tactics?...) We have to write down any fears or challenges that we have onto the arrow sticks and discussed with our partners. (...Serious?...)

Then, Harv gave the go ahead to start!!! WHAT!!! It's real and action time!!! We have to break the arrow with our throat!!!

Everyone got to do it anyway and no "chicken out" now. Mike, seeing no one taking action, volunteered to go first. (I secretly hope that he will not hurt himself or myself as we have our daughter Zoey waiting for us at home...) In just a couple of seconds, Mike adjusted the arrow head (of course the arrow head was not that piercing sharp type) with the other guy restraining the end of the arrow, gave a little push, the arrow bended and broke with a "thwack". Amazing! It was possible and done with little effort! We all cheered happily and so did other groups around us. I was eager to break the arrow too because I knew that I can do it too. My turn came and guess what? I broke the arrow too. Shiok feeling although my throat did hurt a little but it was a great feeling that I had snap the arrow in spite of fear that I couldn't do it.

That was a valuable lesson where I learned that "fear" is just an anticipation of pain or failure. Our mind is always scanning for what's wrong or what could go wrong in any situation. We are constantly thinking of "what if" and anticipating the pain that might come.

I am glad that I attended this MMI and participated in this challenge. It makes me realized that we have to change our limiting beliefs and fears, the need to be aware of our powerful and resourceful emotional states within ourselves, so that we can be prepared for all the possible challenges that we will face throughout our life.