Back to House Cleaning

The friend from Florida I mentioned in my earlier blog, is arriving tomorrow. So now I have to get back to house cleaning, a job that has been deferred too many times. House-keeping has never been my forte.

Having a friend come for a short visit is always a good a time as any to really spruce up the house. There are surfaces and tops that need to be dusted. Floors that need vacuuming and mopping. Windows that need shining. Cob-webs that need removing. Tables and counter-tops that need clearing. And cars that need cleaning inside and out.

I may complain and moan about having to do the work, but once it is done and the house and cars look in decent shape, there is always that feeling of satisfaction and achievement. Yes, then I get to reward myself by asking dear hubby to take the family out for a meal. You don't want to mess up the kitchen just before the guest arrives now do you? :-)

New Blogskin

I've only been blogging a few days, yet I find that I had to change the blog template! Nothing wrong with the previous one, but I like this one much better. I've been browsing bloggers' sites from blogger.com and looking at the look of each blog. It is a good thing that blogger.com has some nice and contemporary looking ready-to-use blogskins.

I admire those who can make little changes to the set template and make the look totally their own. I guess, there's more I need to learn first before I can even attempt any change to this current template!

I've seen blogs where they show what other blogs look like. :-) There's a whole world of bloggers out there. I'd like to be able to do that too, because when there is nothing better to talk about on my blog, I can always talk about other blogs! ;-) Hence, I need to learn about web page capture. Are there free software out there I can use? Hmmmm .. No sense in buying something if there are free stuff out there.

Reality Show for Sperm Donors

From CNN.com

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands (Reuters) -- Billionaire television producer John de Mol, behind the pioneer show "Big Brother," will test the limits of reality TV with a program in which a woman searches for a potential sperm donor to conceive a child.

His new TV station Talpa, launched earlier this month, confirmed it will air a program called "I want your child ... and nothing else!" but gave no further details about the show due at 1830 GMT on Wednesday.

"The plan is that we visit potential donors and -- of course on camera -- decide which man is most suitable," the 30-year old woman who will feature in the program said in an interview with De Telegraaf newspaper."Afterwards there will be artificial insemination," said the woman who was identified only as "Yessica" and who has bought a house with a room for a child. ....

I heard about this reality show from BBC News on our local PBS station this evening. I have never been interested in reality shows because personally I think there is nothing real about those shows but when I heard about this show which involves sperm donors and a woman .... well!

I don't know what word or words to use to describe such a show. Poor taste? I wonder what kind of man would submit himself to being tested to see if he has the best supply of sperms. Makes me think of stud services in the horse raising community! :-)

This gets me to thinking about people who had children from annonymous sperm donors. What if in a city, one man happens to be the donor to several women. And what if when the children are grown, they meet each other and fall in love and have children of their own. You see where I am going with this? I won't be surprised if such a scenario has already happened.

Hand Made Jewelry

I love making beaded jewelry. Last Christmas I gave crystal bracelets and ear-rings to a few friends. I also made some bracelets for the daughter of one of these friends. Since then this friend, Elsie, has got herself hooked on the hobby! :-)

These pictures are for Elsie. She says she needs some ideas on her designs. I have several more, but those are for another day! :-)

This necklace is made of quartz and clear swarovski crystals.

This one is made of brown glass beads and 4 lampwork beads.

I love rose quartz! I have added 4mm rose swarovski crystals to this necklace.

Another necklace using lampwork beads, strung on leather cord. The pendant has tiny rhinestones on it.

Aventurine comes in many colors and I love orange! This necklace is made of faceted aventurine beads and round pale gold beads.

This is made of aventurine chips with gold heart pendant and barrel shaped beads.

I received several types of glass beads from my mother-in-law, and this is how I made use of some of them! :-)

The necklace, bracelet, and ear-rings set is made out of agate and colorado topaz swarovski crystals.

Another necklace made out of aventurine.

The orange-peach and grey beads are old beads from eastern Europe. I've added some pale colored swarovski cyrstals and silver colored beads to the necklace.

Here's another necklace made out of old glass beads that I got from my mother-in-law.

And another one!

The tiger eye beads were from an old necklace that I've had for more than 20 years. I decided to restring the necklace and add some gold beads to the necklace.

This is made of lampwork beads. I love the antique looking gold beads that were used in this necklace.

I love the colors of this tiger eye beads. They have greenish and brownish colors. I added colorado topaz colored crystal beads.

Merdeka!

Malaysia's national day, also known as Merdeka Day, falls on August 31. It has been several years since I was in Malaysia on this day.

This year, together with other Malaysians living overseas, I have put my Merdeka Day message in a poster designed by a talented Malaysian student in Australia. This poster called Proud to Be Malaysians is the brandchild of Raymond See, the founder of a web community known as MyBuddies. We want to show the world that we are proud Malaysians, and the fact that we are living overseas does not mean that we are any less patriotic when it comes to remembering our country's birthday! :-)

I've been sharing this special Merdeka Day project with some friends in Malaysia. One of them told me that it was nice but it was hard for him to feel enthusiastic about it because flying the Malaysian flag is a common sight around this time of the year in Malaysia! :-(

Visit the Proud to be Malaysians project on MyBuddies site.

Datuk Marries Celebrity

What is it with the Malaysian Datuks, and for that matter royalty, and their attraction to celebrities? Is it a case of the powerful needing the famous to enhance their name and status? Or is it the other way round? I guess it takes two to tango ....

Yesterday I wrote on the Sultan of Brunei marrying a young TV personality. Now we read of Malaysia's Home Affairs Minister, Datuk Azmi Khalid, 64, marrying celebrity, Normala Shamsudin, 41. Isn't she already married? Or is she divorced now?

I guess Normala isn't the first Malaysian celebrity to marry a Datuk. There were Ziela Jalil, Tiara Jacqueline, and others, and Mazuin Hamzah marrying the brother of the Sultan of Brunei, and Julia Rais marrying a Pahang prince. And we are not even talking about these ladies being the only wife of the Datuk or Prince! Well, except for Normala, who is marrying the Datuk who is a widower.

Add an Aged Virgin to Your List of Wives

Here's the Menteri Besar of Kelantan, Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat's, solution to the increasing number of aged Muslim virgins in Malaysia. He says Muslim wives " should not prevent their husbands’ plans by reacting violently as long as the latter could afford to take another wife.

“Just think of the situation faced by the aged virgin. She will be forced to remain unmarried when in actual fact, there is a man who desires her. Wives should thus give these men room.

“These things will not be resolved as long as people only seek to fulfil their own desires but not think of others’ desires as well,” he said." (Source: The Star quoting from Mingguan Malaysia)

I wonder what my Muslim friends think of this? :-)

Marrying Someone Much Younger Than Yourself

Here are 2 stories from The Star this week. The first story is about Mohd Riduan, a 27 year security officer who married Hasnah Abdullah, a 47 year old widow with 5 children and a 10 month old grandson. The bridegroom's family initially objected to the union but later relented and chose not to attend the wedding reception. The bride's children were shocked at the idea of their mother marrying such a young man, but after listening to her reasons they accepted their new step-father as part of the family.

The second story is about a 26 year old TV personality, Azrinaz Mazhar Hakim, who married the 58 year old Sultan of Brunei. There is no mention of objection from the young lady's family to their daughter marrying a much older man!! :-) I doubt there was much objection if any at all.

What's the moral of the story? An older man can marry a much younger woman if he wants to. An older woman can also marry a much younger man if she wants to. :-)

Bringing Your Husband to Heel

I was quite intrigued when I first heard snippets on the radio about how a woman, who was a dog trainer, was using dog training techniques on her husband to teach him obedience. When I researched further on the subject, I found that that was the premise of a television show currently showing on BBC2.

I'm sure we women would find the show entertaining if not funny, because what wife would not like having an "obedient" husband? :-) I've been thinking along the same line with regards to raising children. Are there obedience schools for children like there are for dogs or horses?

Back to training husbands, I don't think we women would find it funny at all if the situation had been reversed. There would be screams and howls of "sexism", "demeaning" etc from us women!

Visitors from Malaysia

Today I received an email from a friend in Malaysia. She and her husband are coming to the US for work and leisure. This friend has cousins living in San Francisco, and asked if Galt is any where near San Francisco. You can imagine how happy I was to hear that they would like to pay us a visit while in the general area.

Since moving to the US in 1999, I've had a few friends come by to visit us in Galt. One good friend in particular has been to visit us twice. We took her on a road trip on her 2nd visit and we got to visit the Grand Canyon in Arizona, drove through New Mexico and spent a few days in Colorado Springs, and drove through Utah, and Nevada before arriving back in California.

Also at the end of the month, an old friend from Malaysia who is now living in Florida is visiting us for a week. We are looking forward to her visit. Unfortunately her husband won't be able to come with her since he is a teacher and summer break is over. We hope to show her a bit of California during her visit. She has never been to California before (except LAX, which doesn't count!). We're thinking of taking her on a little road trip - to San Francisco, Fort Bragg, and maybe the central coast or even LA.

Summer isn't over yet ... :-)

First Official Day at Pre-school

Today my two year olds officially enter pre-school. They will attend three days a week of school. Last week they attended 2 days of summer program at the pre-school and have familiarized themselves with the place which is a great help. First day of school jitters have thus been avoided.

As much as they aggravate me while home, their absence takes some getting used to. The house is just too quiet without them! I'm not saying that is bad! :-)

They are two years old but their verbal skills are at a one year old level. :-( They understand a lot more than they can verbalize.

It is my hope that by being around children more of their age they will learn to speak more, and quickly! All that screaming and screeching when they want something can grate on one's nerves!

Also, hopefully they will develop better social skills. At home they only have each other to beat on, but at school there are children bigger than they and as such hopefully they will learn to share and play with others.

My babies are growing up ... sob...

D-I-V-O-R-C-E

I've been thinking a lot about the subject of divorce lately. No, my husband and I are not going through a divorce. But two dear friends are.

What makes a couple who have been married for 20 years want to go through a divorce? This being their second marriage for them both, does going through a divorce the 2nd time make it easier? I am not privy to all that they as a couple are going through. Maybe for them both, divorce is the best solution.

What I never expected is the heartache I feel for each of them. I am sad that they will no longer be a couple. I am sad that when I visit one, I won't see the other. I am sad that one has to leave the area and start anew. I am sad that each is no longer able to depend on the other for emotional, and financial support. I mention "financial" because one is living with a debilitating disease. A disease that is only going to get worse as the years go by.

I hate the word "divorce". I hate what it does to the people involved. I hate what it does to the children. Oh sure, people have said that they are better off divorced from the person they were married to. They say, they are better at being friends with each other than they are at being husband and wife.

Just musing .....

I'm Blogging!

Why blog? No particular reason. Practically everyone's doing it, so why not me? All the while, my excuse was that I don't have enough time in a day. As is, I am already spending too much time on 4 different forums.

BUT, I've been reading on and off some blogs and find them quite entertaining and informative, especially the political blogs. Hmm, I could also put to words some of my thoughts and observations. Nothing deep, though. Just musings .... mmmm :-)