sweetisu

I got tagged with a million bucks by mumsgather. Oy how cool would it be if I had a million bucks! I shall achieve.. Can it be done??? Can ANYONE be ANYTHING they want to be?!

I hope it is a million bucks after tax, because tax is so effin hefty here in the US, and yet you don’t get the social / health care benefits as you would in say, Canada or any European countries. Seriously. Did you know my friend in Sweden got 18 MONTHS of PAID maternity leave, 100% of her salary, after having her child? (by the way she was a professional, news anchor to be exact, not married.. but she said that type of benefit is quite standard for everyone.) Not the 6 or 8 weeks of 60% crap like here, which two out of those weeks are your own vacation time; and many don’t even get ANY paid maternity leave…

Anyhow. Here’s my break down of the million bucks.

* Donate some $$$ to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

* Donate some $$$ to breast cancer research.

* Hire someone / some group to facilitate volunteer work in remote China, where many many infant baby girls are being killed simply because they are born a girl and not a boy, in a country where families are often only allowed to have one child. Perhaps set up drop off points where babies can be saved and put up for adoption?! Or to provide education and empowerment to local women/men?! I don’t know. This problem is too big… in fact, for the last couple of decades, population in China has been skewed worse and worse, experts predict that very soon, men in China will not be able to find a wife within their own country easily and pretty soon the whole country will be like 90% male! (since many if not most families only want to have male child/ren..) Any ideas?!

After I solve some word issues (only if it’s that easy..), I’ll tackle my personal stuff.

* Hire a few experienced people to expedite the start of our business. Area of expertise will include these but not limited to: retail, graphic design, PR, writer/content person, marketing, QA/tester, etc etc.

* Hire a nanny / au-pair to look after the kids part-time, as we have NO family nearby.

* Move my parents closer to me and my brother; buy/build them a quaint 2-bedroom house in the metro outskirt, so my mom can plant veggies and flowers and my dad can have a 4-car garage.

* Put some money in the market to invest and grow. Like a constant fountain, or a money tree, if you will.

If there’s any money left after that, which I doubt, Hubby and I will take a nice long backpacking vacation to Europe and eventually end up in Thailand, by way of train. I think this will have to wait until after the kids leave for college though.

Whoa. I think all that will cost more than a million. Ah well, one can always dream big.

OK. I’m suppose to tag 5 people. But what the heck, I’m going to tag whoever comes to mind :

Amie

IBM person

Let us hear what you will do with a million bucks. Either do it on your own blog or use the comment section, thanks.

p.s. I just realized I don’t have even one male reader (at least none that I know of). am I that boring to the opposite sex?

You entered our life, our world, our hearts 4 years ago. My heart doubled in size that day. It has not been the same ever since, and we are so lucky and grateful to be your parents. Some days it’s a huge challenge but there are certainly no dull days! The other day I bought a t-shirt for you, it says “Center of the Universe” on it. I think it is rather true; you are the center of our universe and cannot imagine life otherwise.

Here you were at almost 20 weeks (they call it gestation), all curled up inside Mama’s tummy:

A few minutes after you arrived in this world:

Your first birthday was celebrated with Mama, Baba, Porpor and Gonggong (Mama’s parents). You had just learned to “walk” and was eager to go lots of places:

Your second birthday, where you requested a Thomas the Train birthday cake, with just you, Mama & Baba. And received one of your biggest presents: a train table!

Your 3rd birthday was so much fun! You had lots of helium balloons, which you and your little sister, Fiona, eventually released all into the blue sky where one almost hit a helicopter.

And today, you are turning 4. You have anticipated it for so long and talked about it for so long. It has finally arrived. I hope all of your dreams and wishes comes true (I think one of them involves eating lots of chocolates?!) Your Yehyeh and Marhmarh (Baba’s parents) are here to celebrate it with you; the first birthday that they are with you. It is a beautiful day. Your day. Happy Birthday Dear Sebastian. Here you are licking the frostings off the cake decorations. Life is delicious.

Much Love,
Mama

How cool is this?! It is a really innovative idea. The only problem I see is the bottom of the slide it too close to the staircase. Otherwise, I think this is an awesome concept.

Life. Is. Good.

Little Miss Fiona has been singing to a lot of tunes.

The very first songs she ’sang’ was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I quoted ’sang’ because she only sang the last word of each sentence, while I sang the rest of the words. She’s been doing that since last Winter, I think it was around Christmas or prior?!

Now at 22 months old, she sings many songs. She can sing most of the letters in the alphabet song, often times breaking out “now I know my ABC, nest [sic] time won’t you sing with me”? She also knows words to Marry Had a Little Lamb, Row Row Row a Boat, I Love You, Round and Round the Garden (THE coolest finger play song!), Itsy Bitsy Spider, etc etc - I can’t remember all of them at the moment - but she’ll sing and hop / jump around dancing for us. Of course I’m partial, but she is just DARLING when she does that. She’s a bit soft spoken / gentle / on the feminine side despite having a very rough big brother, so that just makes it extra Princessy.

I wrote the previous paragraphs few days ago. Today I realized she knows all the words to “Sing A Song of Six Pence”!!! I would start the sentences a few words at a time and she finishes them for me. She just wowed me away.. all the time. It’s amazing how fast this age group picks up things (is it that, or it’s just they are finally verbalizing everything they already knew for months and months??).

One of our routine stuff is I sing to her every day, most of the time nursery rhymes, and mixing in a few made-up songs as well. She lies down quietly in my arms and we rock and sing for a while before bedtime / nap time, apparently capturing all the words into her very busy brain.

I love this stage! She is still very obedient, not very many tantrums (all of which are easily thwarted) or meltdowns, no smarty pants talk-backs, and no negotiating techniques yet. Oh so sweet.

I’ve always been a frugal person, having been raised in the country side in southern China with what little money my parents made, food was just enough to go around the 5 of us (my great grandmother lived with us and raised my brother and I while our parents worked 15+ hour days, every day of the week). Luxuries were fairy tales that I hear from various sources like books and magazines, or better-off relatives who lived far away and couldn’t be bothered with us poor folk.

I started helping my parents in their tiny rice patties since I was barely 2 years old, picking veggies and planting rice, all the way until I came to the US at 12. And then proceeded to do another lifetime’s work at my grandparents restaurant, doing everything from cooking to cashier to waitressing to busing tables to rolling egg rolls for 20 hours during the weekends (and getting paid next to nothing…), until I went off to college at the age of 18, where I worked many part time jobs in which one of those semesters I held 3 jobs.

This upbringing has given me a unique perspective regarding finance that’s very unusual, at least in American society. And it’s sharper than ever because I’ve been staying home for 2.5 yrs now without making a red cent.

I’m one of those people at the supermarket or store comparing prices using a calculator, so I know exactly how much per ounce it costs to buy this smaller bottle of juice vs. that bigger bottle of juice (and buy the one that costs less per ounce). I have Costco membership so I can buy bulk.

I shop around and compare prices, making mental notes everywhere I go. I strive to only buy “staple” items on sale, things like socks, underwear, toilet paper, tooth brushes, flour, sugar… well you get the idea.

At the end of seasons, I browse the mall for sales and buy our kids’ clothes for next year, estimating their sizes. I generally don’t buy name brand stuff. The other day one of my friends mentioned LV handbags… I said “what is that???” I haven’t bought anything for myself for a long time. Before we moved, one of our then-neighbors gave me 4 huge bags of hand-me-down clothes that are just my style and size. I was beyond thrilled!!! So I cleaned out my own closet and finally rid off some of the clothes I’ve been wearing and hanging onto since high school, or even before that.

I recycle grocery bags into trash bags. I cook in batch and freeze, less than I’d like to though. I group my errands together to save gas and time. I clip coupons only for things that I normally buy. (clipping coupons is good, but it’s only good if you buy stuff that you need, not stuff that you (might) want simply because it’s on sale)

We go to the library quite a bit. We never go to the movies anymore, nor do we rent any movies. We hardly go out to eat, and when we do, there’s usually a coupon for a small discount. We used to have Voice Over IP phone service for our land line. Two months ago we got cable TV for the first time ever. Well sometimes you have to splurge a little!

I don’t know if any of these will ensure us an early retirement. I hope so.

These habits may be extreme for many people, but this is what works for us. Not to mention we definitely need it for the sake of our bank account.

This is so very very cool. It’s kind of long, but it’s just amazing. Absolutely worth watching.

At this time in 5 more days, my in-laws should be here in our house, safe and sound all the way from Malaysia. It would just take a hop and a skip to arrive at our front door from their front door: merely 47 hours or so which includes a 15+ hour transit layover in Singapore.

I bet they will want to jump into the shower immediately upon arrival, followed by a long night of sleep. IF they don’t have jet lag.

The last time we were together was when Fiona wasn’t quite 4 months old yet (she’s now 22+ months old).

My in-laws are extremely nice people. Most of the time I can converse with them as I would with my own parents, very frank and open. They thoroughly enjoy their grandchildren and can play with them all day long. My MIL is a really good cook. They don’t force me to convert to Catholic. They are very fun, adventurous people, willing to try new cuisines and things, unlike many Old Fashioned Chinese Old People (i.e. my own parents!). They are still very young - both in their late 50’s. The only thing is, I wish they lived closer!

To make the LONG and EXPENSIVE flight worth it, and to make up for the lost time being with their grandchildren, they will be here a few days short of 3 months.

I’m very excited!

I wanted to buy another bookshelf for Fiona’s room, to match the one that’s already in there. I don’t foresee any upcoming visits to the Twin Cities or Chicago, the 2 IKEA’s that would be closest to us, so I browsed online to see if I can have it shipped here instead.

Here is what came up on the checkout screen:

subtotal: 34.99
shipping & handling: $275.29
order total: $310.28

I’m not making this up. How would anyone make up something like this, because really, it’s so hard to believe!

Are you a number person?

Last year I remember some blurbs when June 06 rolled around. If my memory is still with me, there’s a tiny town called Hell. I think it’s in the state of Michigan.

Today is supposedly the Luckiest Day of all days. Who wouldn’t want to hit 777 on the slot machines?? Therefore, I wish everyone the best of luck, in whatever you do!