Spymama @ Mamakshop

Did you remember in September 4 2006, when Steve Irwin, popularly known as Crocodile Hunter died while shooting a footage with a Stingray? It was a shock to many who had been his fans especially when you see this fella had been fighting with the much more fatal reptiles like crocodiles and snakes. How did a stingray that looked so harmless be the cause of his death? Apparently sometimes we are so complacent that we never knew anything like that could happen. Stingrays are known to be such harmless creatures that many tourists flock to as far as the Jamaican waters just to feed, touch and swim with Stingrays.

In fact, in the footage where Steve was doing, the reports were that the stingray felt threatened while swimming alongside with Steve as there was a cameraman ahead shooting. That was when it raised the spike on the tail as a form of defense and it shot right into Steve’s chest.

Thus never let your guards down or be complacent in anything you do. We are always taught about learning to pick up after signs of trouble, distress and problems. Sometimes we are also caught unaware of things. I was a definite fan of Steve Irwin so when it happened it was something really quite a shock to me.

Anyway, what I wanted to say is that, look around you. If you have your love ones nearby, give them a hug, a kiss or even some kind words. These never go wrong, never fail to make someone better. Tell the person how much he or she means a lot to you. Never procrastinate, just do it. How long does it take for you to pick up that call and tell him or her you love/miss/are thinking of her/him?

And for tonight, I’m going to forget about cooking and go buy my favourite BBQ Stingray, lots of sambal chilly and lime on it. Would you like some?

It is Wednesday, hurray! That is halfway through the week for now. My mood has picked up slightly too. Tomorrow will be a day of school and Friday is the last day of school and there is a long weekend to come. Singapore National Day is on Saturday. The following Monday is also a holiday. How wonderful because that means I can be in my pajamas a little longer than I usually am.. hahaha.

Because, I have to send the girls to school, I have to get up before everyone else. Otherwise Spypapa will be hogging the bathroom and my girls will be hogging the other one. My helper will be using the one downstairs but there is no hot water and I am oh so used to hot water in the mornings! So I have to get to any of the bathrooms before Spypapa or before the girls. But when there is no school, I can relax and wait to use it after Spypapa leaves for work. That is a piece of heavenly time for me. Hate to start my day off feeling rush.

So Friday, I shall be feeling in good spirits. I will stay out of town on Saturday as the parade for National Day will cause lots of traffic jams. Perhaps can try taking the MRT for once.

I’m going to have sushi for dinner today. Want to join me? C’mon, don’t be shy. Want some wasabi? I love wasabi!

Anyway, Happy Mid Week, Bloggers!

It is the weekend again. Did you have a good week? I had not really given much thought of it, actually. It was only when Lady Brolly (she always carries an umbrella, thus I call her this) asked me, how was my week. I muttered something I wasn’t sure if it was coherant at all.. then I paused and smile. Gosh, that seemed sheepish, so immature!

I came back home then I gave it a thought. I saw a little book at the corner of my cabinet, one that I had left for weeks. It was a book about Buddhism. I wanted to read this because I picked it up from a small cubby in a mall that was left for anyone. There were free copies of books about Buddhism. It looked really interesting. There are many things in there which teach us to be grateful for the many things we have. We just don’t open our eyes to look at it. We complain of the things we don’t have but we never look at all the things we have and how blessed we are when we are healthy.

Then I started to count all the blessings, all the good things and how glad my family is here with me, all smiling and playing happily. And we have food to eat, a roof to live, compared with some nation who are dealing with some urgency of draught, disaster and some of the unfortunate who have lost love ones.

That is when I gathered my girls, gave them a hug and planted kisses on their faces. That made them happy. Simple things like that generate love. Why don’t you give someone a hug and a kiss today?

I hope you have a great weekend just enjoying your family. Wish you all lots of love.

Oh of course let me share my breakfast with you too! Fresh Cream Puffs!

Let’s learn what blogger’s favourite meal (Breakfast) is. Simple straightforward meme and great for link love. Have a good Breaky!

*Start copy here*

The Longest Breakfast Menu List

Everyone likes to start their day with a comfort food for breakfast. What kind of food do you take? This would be a good way to find out your blogger friend’s favourite food for breakfast.

All you need to do is to put your name down, the country you are in and your favourite breakfast meal. Let’s see how we can have this breakfast ‘menu’ travelled all around cyberspace and learn what each blogger living in different country and what do they eat for breakfast. This meme was created by a little lady with a penchant to spy around little baskets while marketing. Her favourite breakfast of the day is none other than Roti Prata, an indian flat bread. What about you? What is your favourite breakfast meal of the day?

1. Spymama, Singapore - Roti Prata 2. Add your name, country, food.

*End copy here*

I shall now find some random names from the blogosphere to add up to this list.

They are: yyun, caramelcorn, vicy, bernadeth, and heapup.

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.

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!