Thursday, October 25, 2007

Days of Yore



So DD had a blast at Saujana - probably why she's ended up with a fever now. What is with kids and fevers? It seems to be a neverending cycle, no sooner is one finished another one starts. Short of locking them up in the house forever how do we prevent this? So tiring - for the mummies that is.

So I checked out Pavillion and its not my cup of tea - other than the doughnut mecca that is JCo (check out the queues at that joint - never knew doughnuts were such a "must-have"). The general ambience is not conducive to shopping.... or is the prices? Anyway I like my malls bustling and with lots of cheap and cheerful stuff to buy. And I rue the day Parkson decided to become an upmarket joint - everything you touch there now is upwards of RM400. Remember days of yore when you could pick up underwear for Rm8 for 3 undies? And a nice blouse would only set you back max RM70? Ah those were the days.

We are off to yet another open day at one of the kindies on our shortlist - kindergardens are getting very competitive now arent they? with open days, bake sales, fun fairs etc. Definitely a new phenomenon. Back then it was a case of "you want to come - come lah, dont want, dont". Most kindies were no nonsense joints where the teachers would eyeball you if you even so much as squeaked that you wanted your mumma - but now its all "maybe you can stay with your child for the first week so they get comfortable with their new environment etc.".....anyone who knows/has kids knows that the minute you stay they are going to think you are a permanent "take-along" to kindy. Dont do it people, drop and RUN - hey it worked for my mum. I was practically pushed out of the car at the gate of Tiny Tots Kindergarden in PJ with mum giving me the look that said "you'd better behave or ELSE" and me deciding life would not be worth living unless I plastered a smile on my face and went along cheerfully. Needless to say I enjoyed kindy tremendously and never once expected mum or dad to come along with me. In fact PTA meetings were anticipated with much gloom because there would be endless dissection of how I was performing etc. with mum trying to ferret out any whiff of laziness/bad behaviour on my part and the teacher nervously insisting I was a good girl. Of course mum never believed her and presumed she was trying to "cover" for me. How different nowadays when parents dont want to hear anything negative on their kids part and actually challenge the teacher to a duel if she as much as suggests that little darling is anything less than a genius/angel.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Selamat Hari Raya

Have you noticed that the festivities are rather muted this year? Wonder why that is? To me Raya is all about excess - excess cookies, excess kuihs, excess clothes shopping and loads of open houses to visit - its part of the season and to have that toned down takes the fun out of Raya.

For DD Raya is festive enough coz Mumma and Acha get to stay at home with HER - reason enough for a major celebration - cookies and kuih muih are optional. She was asked at school what her best friend's name was and she said "Mumma" ! ........ those apron strings are never going to be cut at this rate. My dad was telling DD that when she is big she must go to Oxford University (dad hoping granddaughter will be smarter than daughter) and she nodded her head enthusiastically and said "And mumma will come with me isnt it?". I guess she intends for me to go thru life with her. Puh-leese, am sure come her first date she wont be able to get rid of me fast enough....."mumma? mumma who?".

We are checking into The Saujana (Subang) for the long weekend - just for a change of scene - too lazy to drive far away for a holiday as we plan to go to Cameron around Divali....so given mine and DD love for hotels this will be a fun break. DD actually knows the difference between a 5 star and 3 star hotel. When we stayed at Sunway Lagoon Resort she declared it to a "very nice lotel" but the 3 star on at Pangkor was declared "a smelly lotel" - so yes she has standards my girl.

A friend of mine told me her sis-in-laws belief is that you must give your daughters all the best things in life - that way they come to expect only the best and thus will only marry a man who can take care of them well to the standard they've been used to and not some down-on-his-luck sap.......dont know if I agree with that but its an interesting approach.

Happy Raya to All Of You - Good Health and Good Cheer To All.