World Book Day

A few days ago, Ace came home with a brochure that looked too good to be true. It was a brochure from a bookstore called BOOKWORM and they were giving out FREE storybooks for World Book Day!:) Ace said he wanted to get a free book and I told him that he could if he could wake up early in the morning as I aspect lots of people to arrive and queue up and snap all the free books up within minutes based on my experience with FREE stuff in Singapore as the event started at 8am in the morning. "Ok, I will wake early..." Ace promised.

Ace was so "on" about this that the night before, he actually asked if I could set an alarm to wake us up on time. Alas, my alarm rang but no one bothered to wake up, so I continued to sleep lor:) Wahahaha..My good son suddenly realized that it is morning and finally woke at 8.30am... He quickly woke me and Max up and we finally left the house at around 9.30am...

When we arrived, to my surprise, the crowd was very very small. To my super surprise, they were giving out two books instead of one cos there were leftover books from last year! Gosh! How generous! And how incredible tat there was no long, snaking queue.. in fact, the books were just placed carelessly at the table in front of the shop. Anyone could walk in and take a few books away and no one could be wiser! I think if they were to do it this way in Singapore, some parents will definitely take 10 books on the sly and not buy a single thing! Wahahahahahaha


The very happy Ace chose 2 books that he liked and we went into the bookstore to take a look. Ace fell in love with this book about spying and so Max bought him the book...



Ace was so excited he started to open everything up and read immediately when we were in the car.

And for the next 1-2 weeks, I was constantly bombarded with request to do experiments or to read things aloud with him as he was constantly reading his spy books and his giant book of cool things which included jokes and science experiments as well. I havent had a chance to really look through the spy book but I know Ace has been happily using the invisible ink pen to write secret messages and has requested that his dad print 6 photos of him for him to make his spy ID and also some "fake IDs". Hahahahaha...

I just got a message in his SOS book that there is a dress up day on 26 April and the kids are encouraged to dress up as whatever they want to become when they grow up. I asked Ace what he would like to dress up as and thinking that we shouldnt waste his halloween costume, I asked if he would like to dress up as a policeman and he said, "No, I want to be a spy.. I want to dress up like a spy..."

"Erm, how do you dress up like a spy?"

"Just wear like James Bond lah.. and carry all the spy tools and toys that I have.."

Hahahahaha... Real spies dun dress like James Bond lor!!!! Will certainly take pics and post here when the day comes....

Previous Post: Deans Fujiya Japanese Supermarket

Deans Fujiya Japanese Supermarket

All the Korean Dramas made me hungry for korean food...

So one night, while we were watching the drama leads eat bibimbap, I told Max maybe we could try making it at home...

"Haiya, just spend 40aed to eat it outside lah.." he said.. thinking that it is very difficult to make the bibimbap..."

But the graphic picture of the bibimbap planted a seed in my mind:)

So the next day, I decided to make some bibimbap after following an internet recipe. Since I did not have the sauce, I just mix watever I think can recreate the taste lah:)

As it was a great success, I am keen to try and do MORE:) Alas, the Japanese Korean supermart tat we frequent does not seem to sell alot of the things that i want. And also because we are running out of the Japanese sesame sauce that Seok Ling bought for us to make our fav burdock salad, I am determined to find tat elusive "other" japanese supermart that everyone has been telling me is near where I live...

The search started online and everyone mentioned this name Deans Fujiya. BUT, when it came to address, all it said usually is something like "near lamcy plaza.." And some websites listed it as within Karama.. some listed it as being in Oud Metha.. wa kauz.. even the people who drive there cannot describe it's exact location.

At last resort, I asked Max to call the shop with a number I got from the internet to have them give directions about how to get there.

No wonder we couldnt find this supermart. We passed by this supermart a million times but NEVER thought it is a japanese supermart cos there is nothing REMOTELY japanese about it and if you do not look closely and read the words on the sign board, you just miss it totally! Bad marketing I would say.. If it were up to me, I would put some posters and pics of Japanese foods at the window display..

We managed to find some really good beancurd skins to make inari and found that they sold the sesame sauce I wanted (just that they were out of stock when we went there....) Unfortunately though, they did not sell the hot pepper sauce used to make bibimbap. I will have to get tat from the other jap supermart..

While we were there, I found out they had a card with a MAP. I cannot understand why they CANNOT just post it on the website so that everyone can find the place easily. And so, to spare everyone else the agony of searching for the address of Deans Fujiya Dubai, I have decided to take picture of the card and post it here:) hehehehe...

If you cannot read maps, it is actually right round the corner where you can see the Adidas factory outlet diagonally across lamcy plaza.. just drive round tat bend and continue driving till you see Sunrise Supermarket on your left. Deans Fujiya is right opposite:) Funny how we can drive past this place so many times but miss it!

Anyway, the happiest person has to be Ace. I bought some corn soup powder (for making white sauce spaghetti.. another one of his favourites) and some inari skins. Am definitely coming back again!:)

Previous Post: Money, The BEST Motivator

Money, The BEST Motivator

With his obsession with art and craft, Ace has been spending alot of time just putting things together and not so keen to do any work.. it did not help that I have been starting to prepare dinner earlier as well and have less time to coach him on his school work...

All the encouraging him to finish his work and also all the talk about working hard and doing well in school did not seem to work for him.. promise of chance to play kinect or iphone also no longer very attractive to him till Max came up with a brilliant idea...

Everynight before Ace slept, Max would go in, play with him and made him go through the 3 and 4 timestables.. and after practising for a few days, Max asked Ace to write them down tomorrow as homework...

"If by the time I am home, you have not done your homework, I will take $10 from your bank..."

This strategy worked like a charm!

The next day, without any reminder from me... and before he started playing, Ace just took out his notebook and started writing! wahahahahahahahaha... all by himself!

By the time his dad emailed me to ask me if his son has completed his homework, Ace has already finished writing everything out:) hahahah...

I guess his dad really knows which buttons to push! hahaha

Previous Post: Is This Boy Or Girl?

Is This Boy Or Girl?

Someone became a JGS fan like me and watched Baby And I... A Korean movie about a high school student (played by JGS) who found a baby and tried to take care of it, thinking the baby was his:)

The baby in the movie is super cute lor:) His name is Mason Moon and he is a mixed blood.. ang moh dad with korean mum and his brothers are also all very cute..

Anyway, this person, after watching the movie became a newly converted Mason fan.. and so, knowing tat I knew how to use photoshop and can do simple things like wallpaper and all tat, she asked if I could help her make a MASON wallpaper for her computer and also her iphone wallpaper and background...

Since I had a little bit of free time and I quite like Mason myself, I decided to make for her lor...


How did you like my handiwork?:) Actually it was just a matter of finding pictures, resizing it and just airbrushing the not so nice parts away.. not much design involved.. except for the one where I had to put in icons for the pages where you dun have apps:)

Anyway, the Mason fan also went to find some other nice pics of Mason and used it lah..

I showed Max the picture and he also exclaimed that this baby is very cute.

And then, I showed Ace the picture and he said, "So cute..." paused and asked me.. "Mummy, is this baby a boy or a girl huh?"

"Boy lah.." I told him...

Pointing to the red hat that the baby was wearing..."Then why he wear this sort of girl hat?" Ace asked me... Wahahaahahahahhaahhaa...

I think if any one is preggy, maybe they should use Mason's photo as dream board lah.. since the baby looks both like a very handsome boy and a very pretty girl at the same time:) wahahaha..

But leh, Mason has grown up already.. so now not so cute liao.. cos is little boy sort of look instead of baby look already...

Come to think of it, Ace was also quite cute when he was this age:) Too bad I din have professional photog to take nice nice pics of him:)

Previous Post: Ace Da Vinci

Ace Da Vinci

Remember how I said tat Ace recieved an '1' for his art and craft.. which means he is good in it... Somehow, ever since he realized that he is doing that best in school, he has developed extra interest in creating things and has been making and drawing things at home all the time:)

Everything can be "recycled" according him into a book or a toy! He got a goody back with a Ben 10 toy at a birthday party and recycled the packaging by cutting out the pictures on it to make this little booklet with all the ben 1o characters in it...

And the book ends with a smiley face Flip-O-Rama (again, influenced by Captain Underpants)

But dun ask me what the book is for. I don't really know.. I think it is some sort of game book tat says how many points each character gets or something..

Here in Dubai, I get to celebrate Mothers' Day twice.. once is the UK one and the other one is the Arabic one.. this is the card Ace made for me in school for the ang moh Mothers' Day:)

This is an ALIEN that Ace made.. very nice right:)

Here is a drawing of all his favorite foods... which includes broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, oranges and apples. Really colorful vegetarian selection.

That is Ace sleeping and having a dream... about him becoming a POLICEMAN!:) wahahahaha

Can you guess what it is? Clue.. take a look at the material being used.. Yeap, it's your noodles.. your brains! Geddit?:P

This is a giant Mars bars.. maybe he was feeling very hungry when he was making it.. hahaha

This is his latest obsession.. remember these? The open mouths we fold and put numbers and messages inside? We ask people to pick a number and open and close the mouths and then read out what they have chosen.. I remembered playing with this alot when I was 7 too:)

That is Ace experimenting with the different flooring that we have in the living room and in the kitchen.. and he decided to develop it into a "love letter" for me:) hehe

That is Dubai's skyline.. made by Ace...

This one is Ace when he is in one of his "I-wanna-be-a-spy" mood.. Content copied from this library book he borrowed called Boy's Books Of Everything You Need To Know To Be A Spy.

This is a lovely rocket tat Ace designed and made in school..

As the topic was then SPACE he did alot of space related worth... That is a poster for a wanted alien:)

This is a pair of underpants he designed for the alien.. because they were reading the book Alien Loves Underpants in school...

This one I saw Ace drawing and making lots of sounds tat sounded like a ball whishing around and someone commenting on the match. Ace told em that everyone plays this in school.. this is a game called paper soccer:) cool right... i dunno how to play it though...

A few days later after I get the Mother's Day card.. I get one in the form of a scroll with the arabic words "I Love You" written on it...

This.. is a piece of art that Ace made using the computer during his ITC :)

Anyway, Ace makes good use of what he has learnt. The other day, we went to his best friend, Lee Sir's house and they were playing mahjong. Ace was feeling bored and so got a few pieces of paper to do some drawing. The moment he finished drawing this and gave it to Lee Sir.. Lee Sir zi mo and was eventually the biggest winner tat night!:)

That is Ace playing with his makeshift rocket.. nowadays very good.. save alot of money cos I just need to pass Ace boxes from all the food we buy and he will make it into his own toy. The best part, they can be taken apart and remodeled into something else when he gets tired of it!:)


That's Ace's rocket...

Ace wondering what to do with these two boxes:) hehehe...


That is Ace with the boomerang that he and Max made together... Too bad he forgot about it and left it at the restaurant...

Actually, Ace has this whole notebook filled with scribblings.. when I have time, I will take picture of it and post it here:)

PS: As I post this now.. he has just made a box (with Daddy's help) while I was sleeping and is currently making his own set of trump cards... currently colouring the RED DRAGON card.. wahahahahaha... Reminds me of how my mum made me an UNO set... Popo... like Popo like grandson lor!

Previous Post: I Eat Chilli When I Am 6 Y/O

I Eat Chilli When I Am 6 Y/O

When Ace was 4 years old, he would balk at eating anything spicy and then inform us that he will learn how to eat spicy stuff when he is 6 years old...

And then he turned 6... and in a blinking of an eye, he is turning 7 soon but he still does not take to spicy food much and would reject eating anything tat is slightly spicy or has anything that looks like chilli inside it...

But about a month ago, he somehow just stared to change his eating habits! He started to look forward to our weekly visits tot he indonesian restaurant! He started to pour curry sauce on his rice when he eats with us...

He also started to fall in love with the spicy toufu at Spring Bamboo restaurant. A month ago, he complained and whined whenever we asked him to eat toufu tat is slightly spicy... now, he cannot stop eating it and asks for it almost everyweekend as one of his meals.. he doesnt even mind eating it everyday during the weekend! Which works out great! Cos we will be travelling as a family together to China this coming April.. our little vegeterian will in this case have something that he can eat no matter where we go:)

Anyway, going out for meals is much more of a breeze now that Ace is a little more adventurous in his meal options (even though given a choice he will still choose sino chai or mac donalds for every meal!!) :)

So I guess we could say tat Ace DID keep his promise to learn how to eat spicy foods when he is 6 years old after all:)

On a side note, when we are eating at home, he has been constantly asking for gong gong fried rice.. which is fried rice mixed with olive veg and some veg ham and corn... or nai nai prata or nai nai chicken rice...

I think he is starting to miss his grandparents.. hai.. tahan tahan.. another 3 mths and we can be back home in SGP for a longer holiday! Yipee!

Previous Post: Visit to Singapore Consulate In Dubai

Visit to Singapore Consulate In Dubai

I was told there is some sort of charity bazaar being held in the Singapore Consulate and so, after 6 months in Dubai, I finally get a chance to visit the consulate of Singapore in Satwa...

The building is just like a typical huge bungalow and had a nice big garden, just nice for a bazaar...

There was food being sold and games to play.. Ace was totally focused ONLY on games and did not seem to understand why me and Max kept walking in circles around the food area.. wahahha..

In the end, Max told Ace he would give Ace 20 dirhams and he can decide how he want to use it and what games he wanted to play.

Within like 5 minutes, Ace played a few different games and finished using all his money! wahahaahaha... so we told him no more games... and he grumbled and grumbled.. so I explained to him that this is a training of how to manage your money. He could have gone and found out what each game cost and factor in which one he wanted to play most instead of just spending it on whatever he saw first... so too bad for him because we are NOT giving him more money for any more games.. and he sulked...


And even though we bought him a pandan cake.. (which he kept saying he wanted to eat since we came back from Singapore), he still sulked..

Finally, Max relented and said he would give him another 10 to do art and craft. Again, my son plunge head first into the first thing he saw instead of thinking how to spend the money properly.
There was a choice of 10 dirhams for a pencil holder made of paper or 15 actually for a vase... he chose the pencil holder which I felt was more boh hua but then I think it is more useful...

The pencil holder turned out to be a great choice cos it took A LONG TIME to put it together.. it occupied him for like half an hour at least:) Hahahahaaha


And he is quite creative:) It looks quite nice right?


After this was done though, we finally found a win win solution tat was FREE! We let him help out at one of the game stores.. he made a friend there and he got to help out and play games for free when there are no other customers around.... and he didnt annoy us and we were free to hang around with our friends and chit chat.. hahahaahha..

"Should have done this right from the start!" exclaimed Max. And Ace was so happy there, he and the friend he made there (son of the person who was running the store) promised each other that they will meet again next year at this event again! wahahaha.. But when I asked Ace what was the boy's name, our good friend say he doesn't know!:)

Anyway, we were a little disappointed with the bazaar cos other than the satay and satay sauce, the other foods were not really quite up to standard.. i think I make at home also taste nicer leh:) wahahahah.. see, now can cook liao can hao lian liao:) wahahaha.. But well, it is nice though to see lots of Singaporeans, Malaysians and Indonesians gather at one place though:)

Previous Post: Who Loved You Most

Who Loved You Most

When I was a little girl, I remembered being curious about how my parents met and why they got married.. and I was told that my mum and dad were matchmade by my aunty (my dad's eldest bro's wife) and my mum's boss.. who were friends...

And then they dated for a while and dunno how.. or why... my dad asked my mum if she wanted to apply for a flat.. and the rest, they say, is history lor:) They got married and on their wedding night concieved me...Not much romance or wat.. hahahaha.

So I am not surprised when Ace will randomly ask me about how I met Max and how we got together and I would tell Ganma Karen is our matchmaker....

But the other day, out of the blue, Ace asked me some very interesting questions...

"Mummy, can I ask you a question?"

"OK, go ahead.." I said.

"Can you tell me about the people who fall in love with you?"

"You mean talk about my ex boyfriends?"

"Yeah.."Gee, when I was a young girl, it never crossed my mind that my mother had other boyfriends other than my dad and I never ever thought of asking this question before!

"What do you want to know?" I asked him...

"Who loved you most?" Ace asked me with a serious look on his face... I was stunned for a moment and wondered what in the world made him ask me such a question..

"Of course is Daddy lah.. " I told him.. And I explained that I married Max because he loved me most:)

"I mean other than daddy lah.." he continued.. which made me even more shocked:) wahahahaha.. this is getting interesting. I thought awhile about how I should approach this one and decided that like my primary school teacher, Mrs Lee Hon Eng always said, :"Honesty is the best policy..."

"Well," I explained... "They all love me in different ways and show their love in different ways. So it is not easy to compare..." And Ace asked me how do they show their love to me...

So I told him that before his dad, I had four other boyfriends:) Hahaha... first one shows me love by paying for me when we go out and buying me present even though he does not have alot of money cos we were poor students then. He also listened to me and support me when I am unhappy....

And then my second boyfriend well, also showed me love by bringing me to eat lots of good food and driving me around and driving me home from work and taking good care of me...

And then my third boyfriend did so buy buying me lots of expensive presents and flowers... and bringing me to nice restaurants to eat nice food...

"Oh man, shit man!" Ace said when he heard about the expensive presents and flowers... (I think he is rooting for his dad.. wahahahah)

"Why did he buy you expensive presents? Ace asked me.

"Because he is very rich lah.. and that is how he choose to show his love.." I replied.

And Ace got very interested in the rich boyfriend and asked me why is this person rich.. is it because he is a business man and what car does he drive.. blah blah blah.. I told him this person drives a BMW and yes, he is rich because he runs his own business...

"Wah.... I want to be rich when I grow up.. I want to drive a nice car like that.." Ace said with an envious gleam in his eye..

So I explained to him that while it is nice to have money and money can let the people you love enjoy a little more things in life and you can buy nice things for the people you love.. but when it comes to a relationship like a marriage or love... it is never just about money.. and cannot be just about how rich the other person is... the most important thing is still LOVE..

"And that is why I chose Daddy... because even though he is not the richest, but he is the one who loves me most.. and i love him most... " I explained to Ace and Ace giggled when he heard this..

"So, why do you ask me about this all of a sudden?" I asked him..

"Oh, I just wanted to know what happened to you in the past because I am worried that you were in danger or that your ex boyfriends did not treat you good.."

Hahahahahahaha.. so sweet:) My son is an interesting young lad, isn't he?

Previous Post: I Give Money To My Friends

I Give Money To My Friends

A financial issue came up today... That, is Ace crying.. over the financial issue...

Ace had a chocolate sale in school and he said he wanted to bring 20 dirhams to school to buy chocholates... According to the email I received from the class mum, the money goes to charity.. so I said OK.. he can take money from his piggy bank...

When he came home from school, the first thing he said to me when he got off the bus was, "Mummy, I gave my friends my money..." which made me upset for a few reasons..

Number one, I was afraid he was bullied...

Number two, I have bad experiences related to the linking of the words "school", "friends" and "money" relating to an incident that happened in kindergarten which created a big hoo ha among teachers and parents...

Number three, I just had a talk with him about helping people the night before and how we cannot help people by just giving them money... I wondered if Ace listened to me or understood wat I said at all!

And number four.. I dun think at his age it is right to give ANYONE money in school for tat matter!

But I made a mistake of not verifying the details... something just ticked in me and so, he kenna a big ticking off from me about how I am ok that he buys things for his friends but I dun condone giving children money and how I already explained to him that you cannot give people money just because you think you can help them... blah blah blah.. and I told him the money was meant for the charity chocolates, how can he use it on other things.. in that case, he shouldnt bring any more money to school in future...

The more I scolded him though, the more lost I got. Reason being, I realized that I am not particularly rich and while I do not worry about money now, I do not have as much money in the bank as I would like ... and while I have taken years to learn about money, what is good attitude about it and how to manifest or more of it, I have been basically someone with lots of scarcity thinking in my entire life! Even when I make $20K in a month once, my habit was still to check out the prices before i ordered ANYTHING! I had to make effort to order wat I like.. not wat i thought my bank or pocket liked:) How the hell am I going to teach Ace how to be abundant and how to keep or manage his money? I know MONEY IS LOVE.. and how do I explain it to him? How do I tell him when it is ok to give money and when it is not ok...

And so I went rambling off to cover up all the thoughts I had and realized that he was not listening to me but staring at the leg of the table.. so he kenna one more round of scolding from me.... so he started to cry again...

But after the second launch of the tsunami, I finally let out enough steam to remember to find out the details of how he spent and what he spent his money on... and I also remembered that it is HIS money tat he gave away.. not mine! I actually have no business in how he wants to spend it!

And when I did finally put my anger away to find out exactly what happened, it turns out that I was basically worrying for nothing! I had forgotten that my little boy is Mr Abundance and Love... he was here as my son not cos I was to teach him about money.. he was here to teach ME about money and how money is LOVE!

After a little more question and answer, I found out that here is how he spent his money..
15 dirhams- chocolates (for charity)
1 dirham- brought home cos it was leftover
1 dirham- Paid to James cos James bought a chocolate for 5 dirhams and resold it to Ace at 1 dirham to Ace cos he wanted to give Ace a 4 off... (good investment actually for Ace)
1 dirham he gave to Fergus cos he would be leaving Horizon School for good to go Canada and so he gave him the 1 dirham as a souvenir as in "see this 1 dirham and think of me)
1 dirham he used to buy Jasmine a bottle of drink cos it was playtime and she was thirsty and did not have a bottle of water with her.

The only 1dirhamn I can really fault him for was that he also used one dirham to buy one bottle of water when he had a water bottle filled with water.. so tat is a waste of money.. hahaha:)

When I found out that I cannot blame him for anything other than tat bottle of water.. I apologized to him for making a big fuss and getting angry before hearing his explanation..

But I was sure unsure where or how to approach this. I mean his way of giving money is a form of showing love. What he did is not wrong but.. but... but... the scarcity bitch in me JUST cannot tahan the thought of giving money away... wahahahaha;)

I told him later that I am aware it is HIS money and he should be free to spend it anyway he likes.. "But, good money habits start young and if I do not tell you what to do or what not to do with your money and you were to go giving it away freely without any thought, will you become the rich man like like you want to in the end?" And after I said that, I felt it was not very "correct" as well.. and did not come across as what money is all about as well..

So I explained to him tat i am ok with him being helpful but I am not so ok with him thinking tat being helpful is giving people money.. he can share the chocolates he bought.. and he can buy things to give other people if he wants, it is his money.. but I dun like it tat he gave people money freely cos tat is not the way to do things.. he could have made a card for the one who is going away.. or bought a present...

As i was writing this, I suddenly saw it.. that there was actually no need to change him or scold him or do anything about this incident at all.. because money is love... it is just a form of energy, when given out in love, it always returns back to you multiplied by the amount that you gave out... (that is why one of my teachers taught us to say to our money, "Money money... please come back and bring more of your brothers and sisters to you.. I love you... " whenever we use cash to pay for something...)

Ace was just giving out the money with love:)

So I went to him and talked to him about it and told him I am very sorry that i was such an ass. I should have just trusted him and now that I think back, what he did was very right and very good and that i learnt a good lesson from him.. "Sorry, Ace..."

"It's ok.." Saint Ace replied.. "You don't have to say sorry to me mummy.. I don't need your sorry.. I just want your love..." And with that, we ended this chapter beautifully with a big hug and a big kiss:)

Thanks Ace, it was a lovely lesson:)

Previous Post: Lunch Out With Max