Spymama @ Mamakshop

I can’t believe how time flies. A week goes by without me realizing it. Really, I was just trying to figure out how my new laptop works when I bought it two weeks ago. I’d only turned it on less than the numbers of fingers on one hand. The recent Saturday and Sunday also crept by and I don’t think it felt like I had spent a weekend at all.

It started to get cloudy when I got out of the house. I wanted to sit by the kopi shop for my usual cuppa Kopi and Toast but then I had not brought an umbrella with me. Aah.. so how? Never mind, just grab some breakfast and just go home. After all I had bought some White Pomfrets and a pack of frozen chicken thighs. I want them all still hard frozen because I don’t intend to cook the thighs today. Perhaps the fishies, fry them till they are crispy and eat them with soya sauce ala finger licking good. So guess what did I buy for breakfast today? Since I was already drooling thinking about the Fried Crispy Pomfret, I bought me-self a packet of Nasi Lemak.

Nasi Lemak is rice cooked in coconut milk and compliments with side dishes like ikan bilis (anchovies) cooked in sambal (chilly paste, belachan, seasoning, dried prawns all fried /saute) and fried fish and cucumbers. and thin omelettes.

I just had to rant about this. My girl had left her pencil case in the music room last Friday. She tried to look for it in the school’s Lost and Found corner but it was not to be found. Today being Friday, she approached her teacher to check if she had seen it. Her teacher told her she gave it to another student, who brought it to the school general office. So I thought perhaps someone in the office may know about it. What I couldn’t register was that the clerical staff in the office are all terribly rude and always pulls a long face. This is not the first time though, the last few times I had been in there, I’ve never seen them smile. Is this the way to welcome anyone? I understand at times they may have some busy moments dealing with primary school students who may be noisy and they may want to portray a strict disciplined personnel example to students but I think this is not a good start for anyone. Perhaps they do not enjoy their work. Then it is best they do not work in an environment where there will be visitors who come in all the time.

I cannot believe my eyes when I walk in and smile at this lady who just walk past me, without smiling and ignored me, when I said ‘Hi, excuse me..’ The reception area is so small, she can’t even see me at all? That was utterly rude! And everyone in the clerical section just ignored me, and mind their own business not even bothered that there was someone at the reception. Is this the way of hospitality?

Grrr…

I didn’t do any marketing the past two mornings. I was busy in the afternoon shuttling my kids to tuition and drama classes. I went to the supermarket to shop for some sauces and found myself buying 5 packets of Bak Kut Teh herbal bags instead. Well, they were on offer at about $1.4X each. I usually buy them at $1.80 per pack. I cook these once a week using spare ribs, soft bones and the part they call ‘twee’ bak. Is that the leg or the thigh, not too sure. But my kids love it and so do hubby. I bought about almost $60 worth of groceries in the end although my intention was just getting a handful only. And because I was late fetching my girl, I paid up the groceries with my ATM card instead of my cash voucher that hubby gave me the other day. That means I still have my cash voucher for use the next time I shop. Oh dear, I’m gonna be late fetching my girl now if i don’t stop yakking blogging. Catch ya later.

This morning after dropping the girls to school, I went to have my breakfast at the local eatery. I don’t have a good appetite today. So all I had was just a cup of Kopi and toasts with just Butter and Sprinkle of Sugar. An old lady walked past the table followed by another lady. The younger one was nagging the old lady. Sigh.. I hate to see this but it’s not for me to judge anyway.

It made me think of mom. Mom and I both are quite stubborn in our own ways. She is hot headed and has a fiery temper when she is provoked. As a filial daughter (I try to be) I would just let her have her own way. Most of her gut feelings, instincts are quite good. Perhaps that stemmed from years of being moms, and seeing the world in reality and not in rose tinted lens. She can be very blunt, forthright and unwelcoming, to a certain extent. I may not agree with everything she says but sometimes, it helps to just shrug it off than debate about it. After all, mom is older now, her fiery temper is still there though not as bad. Mom being mom, she wants the best for her children, no matter how old they have become, I am still her daughter.

I woke up a little late this morning. I usually set my alarm at 5mins to 6am. This morning I got up about 6.45am. “Wake up, my darling daughter” I had to wake her up cos it’s a school day. Came down to turn on my pc and went back up to brush my teeth and wash up. At this part of the year, second half that is, the day starts out pretty late. In the first half of the year, the sun is usually peeking about 6.30am but these two weeks, I find that at quarter to 7am it is still looking like evening with just a moon up in the sky. Perhaps that could be the reason why I have so much trouble getting up.

Oh dear, I’d forgotten to buy bread yesterday. But lucky we have lots of steamed buns in the fridge. Have you eaten steamed buns before? It is my favourite. Steam it for about 10 or 15 minutes. When it is still warm, eat it with a little margarine or butter. It tastes fluffly and sweet and saltish altogether, like butter on toasted bread! Yum! No marketing for me today. I’m too lazy to walk around. Besides… yawn… yawn… yawn…

What a tiring day today. I was out from late morning till evening. My AL wanted to collect some free vouchers that he got from the credit card company for doing some balance transfers few weeks back. We headed to town at a large mall. The place was packed being Sunday, of course. With my girls and maid tagging along it was of course a family day for us. After that we had lunch and went to the Atrium to check out some food festival. I saw some Thai desserts. I have a weakness for Thai food. They sold the Sticky Rice with Mango at a box of $5.00 which is pretty cheap. Then I bought the tako desserts which is my favourite too. The girls had some yoghurt ice cream bars. It was yummy, they said. We went up to the kids’ level and let them play on some horsey rides and they got some candy floss too. Every Sunday, they give out free Candy Floss and balloons.

After that we went to games arcade, played some. The peak of the day’s activity was when we went down to check out the Computer Roadshow. AL checked one particular configurations and decided that I should get that. I’ve wanted a laptop for a while but never got to buying one. I had other more important things to buy. Like stuff for kids. So AL said I can pay it using instalment free plan which works out to about $75 per month for 24 months. That seemed ok. And I got it. I thought it was quite fast decision but to heck with it. AL wanted the free notebook that I was suppose to get in a week’s time. It’s as small as an UMPC but it belongs to the mini notebook category. Besides it is only more for email and chat purpose and I cant do much blogging there. So this one he suggested to me is a better option.

The only thing I dreaded was setting up the laptop.. Arrrgh.. i’m no good with things like that. And I’m pretty tired too. sigh..

I’ve got the antivirus installed and the bluetooth mouse working. The rest.. tomorrow… yawn.. i am tired. Goodnight. I’m pretty mixed up now. Guilty cos I scolded my little girl earlier. She’s asleep now. I always feel guity after scolding her. I love her dearly but she sometimes can be just too stubborn. And when she is like that, I get really angry and I’m shouting at her at the top of my voice. Now I am guilty. God help me. I shall be a better momma tomorrow. Amen.

Today when I sent my girl to her speech and drama class, she cried. sigh.. last week she was okay, but today not. She was close to tears when I brought her to class and I was at the window panel trying to reassure here that I will be waiting for her. I made a gesture with my hand (wait sign plus point down) to tell her I will be here all the time. But she started to cry. The teacher held her hands and brought all the girls and boys to the toilet to relieve themselves before class. When they were out of sight, I made my way out of the grounds because I needed to pick up my other girl who finishes the same time. I was worried the school gate will be locked too and I can’t drive out. And the same time, I have this heavy feeling in my heart about leaving my girl. The feeling was more of guilt.

So I quickly picked up my eldest, brought her home and got her to shower quickly, brought her comphrehension papers as we would have to pick up my youngest in half hours’ time. When I got there, I peeked at her and she seemed alright. The idea that I am there made my heart feel better. And while waiting for her at the foyer, I got my girl to read her comphrehension homework first.

Today I took the opportunity of having an early breakfast at the wet market coffeeshop. There were plenty of people. There was no rush of time for me, just watching people and spying at what their shopping baskets contain. I’m a busybody. Never mind, I’ll do it my way. Spymama way.

Can you tell a person by the kind of food he or she buys? Some are conscious buyers or thrifty ones. And sometimes you look into their shopping baskets and see lots of things that are more extravagant. I see an aunty buying small fishes, lots of vegetable of the leafy kind. She also bought a chicken and potatoes. Hmm, I wonder if she was going to cook the fish or the chicken today or perhaps both? With potatoes, there are endless possibilities! Curry Chicken? Braised Potato? Steamed Chicken? Chicken Soup? She bought the kembung fish.. I figured most people like to fry these little gems. It is nice when it is fried and hot and crispy. Simple marination of salt and pepper and brush a little of tumeric is good enough. Eat these with nasi lemak! A malay aunty with 3 kids in tow not only buys veg and fish, but she also bought a whole lot of crisps! Twisties and another one that I’m not quite familiar with. Look, she also bought carbonated drinks. Must be her kids, but then most malay friends I know love these carbonated drinks along with their meal. Or they will stir up glasses of syrup drinks. Different races different tastes. My mama doesn’t allow me to have those on the dining table. It’s only water if I must have or it’s going to be a bowl of hearty soup.

Catch ya later.

Each morning when I want to buy my favourite Nasi Lemak, there are queues all the time.. There are queues when I need to go to the bank, pay for groceries at the cashier, queue at the ATM, queue at the Docs, Dentists, Cinemas, everywhere. It then got me thinking..

Have you ever wondered how did the concept of Queue started? I am trying to find out.. but i found out that a Queue is actually a long braid of ponytail that was worn traditionally by Manchus. In the 16th century when the Hans surrenderred to them, adopting the Queue become a sign of submission. Those who resisted resulted in bloody death tolls. The symbol of queue ended (change in hairstyle almost overnight, people cut off their long braids) in 1911 when Xinhai Revolution too over. Xinhai or Shinhai Revolution was motivated by the resentment of governtment corruption, the resentment towards the Han Chinese that was dominated by minority Manchus.

Back to my Queue topic.. so did you think the length of the people lining up was what prompted lining up to be named Queue? Penny for your thoughts!