The Coffee Flavoured Paper ...

Day 92/365

Coffee flavoured paper, anyone? That's my girl's latest innovation. She was given a task - a Bahasa Malaysia portfolio. It's a simple and straightforward assignment. Other students her age might just grab a pen and a few pieces of paper, and voila, there goes their assignment. But, for Lin, she'll not be happy with just a pen and paper. She scoured the Net for wild ideas. She followed steps given on YouTube religiously.

One late Friday evening, my tiny kitchen was hijacked. There were coffee sachets, a tray, a paint brush, pieces of A4-paper and a hairdryer on the kitchen floor. She mixed the coffee powder with some water. She dipped the paper into the concoction. The result wasn't encouraging. The coffee paper didn't turn out well. She resorted to paint them piece by piece. In the process, she spilt the coffee mixture on the floor; cheered by swarms of tiny ants. Eventually, she  blew dry all the coffee flavoured paper with my hairdryer.

The painstaking process didn't end there. She had to caligraph the title of the story. She needed tracing paper and various other stationery. Her forever supporting Dad bought her all the necessities. Hope the assignments would be completed soon. I dreaded to see her burning the midnight candles completing the task. Deep down inside, I'm proud of you, girl. 

I fine ... Thank you.

Day 74/365

Watched this movie with hubby and daughter just now. 

My girl seldom requests for a movie unless it's a very good one. 

It's a good watch. 

No regret.

Will write about the movie in the next post.

Sophyta

Daybook 5

Good morning peeps! 

For today  ::  June 4, 2013

Outside my window. . . the sun is peeking through ... it might rain later in the evening ... looking at the grey clouds across the eastern sky... but the sun is doing its darnedest to put its mark on the morning. 

I am thinking. . . of how grateful that I've just recovered from a fever and diarrhoea! I fell terribly sick on Saturday ... the high fever was on and off ... accompanied by abdominal cramps.

From the kitchen. . . hot chocolate and fried vermicelli.

I am wearing. . . tiny floral-print leggings and a baggy T-shirt. . . I hold on to this... be comfortable and practical, but neither sexy nor frumpy.

I am remembering. . . my daughter ... she must have reached the City of Angels by now since they left Songkhla at 7.00 p.m. yesterday.

I am going. . . to whip up a pot of chicken tomyam.

I am reading. . . nothing at the moment ... couldn't make up my mind ... there's a heap of new books in my stock! 

I am hearing. . . children's talking ... and motorbike zooming past.

Around the house. . . still pretty much quite ... 

One of my favorite things. . . getting to read my favourite book at home.

A favourite quote for today . . . However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?

From my picture journal. . .

No comments? It's fine...just click the LIKE button.

My Girl ...

Time flies. It flies real fast. It was like 'yesterday' I enrolled my little girl in the kindy. She was ecstatic to be there. Thank God that she was persistent. She wasn't happy in the first kindy where harsh punishment was inflicted on tiny-tots for a mere baby cry and whine. She was real lucky to have such caring and loving teachers in the new kindy. Thank you very much Madam Lee and Madam Yu!

Six good years have passed. She had gone through tough tasks and challenges. It wasn't easy for a 'dragon' to compete with other fiery dragons. The brainy kids in her class were all the motivation that she needed to excel in her study. 

And to my girl, the only thing that always holds true is the value of life. She leads her way of life with the motto "Not to do evil, to do good, to purity one's mind"!

She was chosen to represent the whole 'dragon tribes' in her school to give a speech at the annual prize giving ceremony. Thank you Madam Ng.! You're the teacher behind her success.

Her 'pride and joy' is the dance that she performed with the girls in her class.

To quote the great Mahatma Gandhi,

"Your beliefs become your thoughts,

Your thoughts become your words,

Your words become your actions,

Your actions become your habits,

Your habits become your values,

Your values become your destiny."

And, the values led her to the Most Outstanding Student of the Year Award!

The Most Outstanding Student of the Year 2012, Jerry and Lin.
Yeok Chee teachers, thank you  very much! Your love and care meant a great deal to them.

With her beaming dad.

And...her mom.

No comments? It's fine...just click the LIKE button.

The Battle ...Day 1

She was accompanied to the hall. She was showered with blessings.

Her teachers and her mother saw her off at the entrance of the brightly-lit hall.

Both teacher and mother went their separate way.

One and a half hours later, she emerged from the judgement chamber, unscathed!

Her sweet smile dismissed her mother's and teacher's fear.

She entered the hall for the second and third paper consecutively.

She smiled broadly again.

To a mom, one third of the battle was fought...and it was a battle well fought.

Terima kasih, Cikgu Amira!

No comments? It's fine...just click the LIKE button.

The Cotton Candy Tree...(Part 2)

The following is a guest post from Lyn, my daughter. 

Lyn is a twelve- year old who loves singing, reading and 
she's the girl who upholds what is just, especially fair treatment 
and due reward in accordance with standards, honour and law. 
And, the best of all she has a great passion for writing and storytelling.

This story was written and shared during her recent holiday camp.

The great old man started telling...

"When I was a kid, there were special trees and they were very beautiful. They were called Babutra tree..."

The impatient Mark asked, "What kind of tree was that? Tell me more. I'm very curious...."

"Ho!Ho! Ho! That tree looks like ...ummm...the cotton candy. It was very good."

"Hah? What? A cotton candy tree? You must be pulling my leg. There's no such tree in this whole wide world. Change the story, please. This is fake! I want a real story from your childhood. Those stories were really really interesting. You don't have to make up one...."

"This is real. Once, there were such trees, but the trees were only planted in the Miracle Garden. I can prove it. I 'll tell you everything...I'll tell you why there isn't any  Babutra trees left on Earh," explained Mark's granddad.

The old man continued...

" When I was a little boy, there were many Babutra  trees. They were planted in the Miracle Garden. There were many kind of creatures living there. There was a bear called Bar-Bar-Loots. It was very cute. It had big and sparkling eyes. It had a brown furry body. It had twelve brothers and all of them had the same face.

There was an orange fish. The fish liked singing and humming. There were birds and swans and other creatures too. The creatures were born alongside the Babutra  trees. They lived there happily. They had never  fought nor quarrelled. They always helped each other.

One day, a man named Loo-Ler came to the Miracle Garden on a horse. He planned to chop down the  Babutra  trees and get their leaves. The leaves were to be made into a special cloth called GicClo. After putting down his tools, he started to chop. One of the trees were felled in a jiffy. The creatures were sad. 

All of a sudden, the sky turned dark. At a distance, the awe-stricken creatures saw a bolt of lightning strike the fallen tree, and.....


To be continued.
Check out Part 1 here.


Lyn


Image credit.

No comments? It's fine...just click the LIKE button.

The Cotton Candy Tree (Part 1)

The following is a guest post from Lyn, my daughter. 

Lyn is a twelve- year old who loves singing, reading and 
she's the girl who upholds what is just, especially fair treatment 
and due reward in accordance with standards, honour and law. 
And, the best of all she has a great passion for writing and storytelling.

This story was written and shared during her recent holiday camp.

A very good afternoon to our dearest teachers and friends. I'm Lyn, representing the Speak Out Team.
The Cotton Candy Tree is the title of my story. What on Earth is that tree? Have you heard about it? Yes? No? All right! Here is the yummy-looking tree story...

Long, long ago, there was a young boy called Mark. One fine day, the teenage boy was at a loose end. Thus, he decided to see his grandfather, who was a foot to the grave. Mark's grandpa loved to tell him stories from his childhood. 

Mark walked to his grandpa's house which was just a stone's throw away from his house. The old man lived in an old enormous wooden house. The house looked like a haunted house to many children and they usually tried to avoid from passing by the scary-looking mansion. But, no one knew that Mark's grandfather, Grandpa Fergano, was a generous old man. 

Mark was a little scared at times due to his grandpa's creepy house. Mark knocked at the door. Kok! Kok! A man with a walking stick came out of the house. It was his granddad. He led him into the house. It was quite dark in his house as the old man did not have electricity.  He used many wax candles to light up the house.

"What on Earth bring you here, boy?" asked the old man. "I was bored, so I decided to listen to some interesting stories from this wise old man," replied Mark.

"I'm not old. I'm only 80 years young. Don't you dare say it again!" Mark was not mad at his grandpa's words. It was the old man's way of saying things. "Simmer down. I'm just kidding. You're young, healthy and handsome. Oh! Whatever it is... I want to listen to stories now," said the witty boy with a broad smile. "Ho! Ho! Thanks for your kind words. And, here is a story for you...!"


To be continued.

Lyn

No comments? It's fine...just click the LIKE button.

She's a big girl...

She turned twelve on May 1. She was presented with two cute birthday cupcakes.

She celebrated her birthday with friends at school a day earlier.

On May 1, she had it celebrated once more and this time with her love ones.

Both her parents were there. Her big brother was present. Her grandma and grandpa, uncles and aunties...

cousins ...small and big...everyone was there, joining in the celebration.

And, the birthday girl is no other than my one and only daughter, Lynn.

From a bubbly chubby rosy-cheek girl, she's grown up so fast.

She would be issued her own identity document in a few day's time.

She has begun to have her say in buying and choosing her own clothes.

She pays more attention to her body.

Her chubby cheeks are gone. She has won the battle of belly bulge once and for all.

Nonetheless, she is still my little girl.

She is always be the young girl to me even though she is all grown up in others' eyes.

No comments? It's fine...just click the LIKE button.

Nelin, My Multi-talented Girl ...

My only daughter, Nelin Nisha is a gifted child (maybe only ... to me and my family).

She's a multi-talented sweet little girl.

With her multi-talented persona, Nelin loves singing, dancing, telling stories, playing the piano, acting, chatting and hosting an event. Most importantly, she's a girl with a flair for talking.

Her accomplishments were too varied to sum up easily, even at the tender young age of six. 


Coming up next ... Nelin at seven !

It's my girl's birthday ...

Today, May 1 is the Labour Day.
On top of that, what's so special about this day is...it's my only daughter's birthday!
She was born shortly after noon on May 1 eleven years ago.
My Princess is very happy with the fact that the whole nation celebrates her birthday every year.
For this year, we're going to make slightly changes to the birthday cake.
Instead of ordering the whole cake from the cake house, we plan to buy cakes from the Secret Recipe.
Various flavour of cakes would be pieced together to make a whole birthday cake.
The underpinning idea behind this move is ...instead of dividing and dissecting the whole, we would be 'uniting and assembling' the divides into a whole!
It's great, isn't it?

Lynn and her cousin Kitik at a dinner

The shared birthday cake (2010)