Thursday, August 30th, 2007
Have I mention that BOTH kids are going to preschool very soon?! Like, NEXT WEEK. Seb attended preschool last year before we moved. Last year it took him nearly 2 months to get over the anxiety/fear and actually enjoy going to school. I anticipate something similar will happen with him as it will be a new school. Poor child, he has such problems making adjustments.
Also, Fiona will be attending the TWOS program. The first day of school is the day before her actual 2nd birthday. Hubby thinks it is too early to enroll her. However, you might think I’m biased here but I think she is extremely advanced for her age as she has an older sibling to learn from. Her large and fine motor skills are excellent as are her vocabularies and verbal skills. The girl can sing about 10 or 15 nursery rhymes!
As she is younger, and is less fearful / dependent than Seb, she might adjust very quickly. However, she is the type who internalizes a lot of her emotions and the type who sobs silent tears, with puppy watery eyes. Sad pitiful and just makes you want to hug and hold her and never letting go.
So yea. It will be a rather FUN (not) adjustment period in the next couple of weeks. I’m hopeful both of them will enjoy it immensely, once they get over the anxiety/fear/newness. Seb’s is 3 days while Fiona’s is 2 days per week. They will both be at the same preschool so hopefully that will help with logistics. The school is further away than we would like, but we registered late and all the ones close to our house are very full to the brim. I couldn’t believe how far down in the waiting list we are with some schools!
Can still remember the days when they spit up and smelled like a baby. Or when they first rolled over. Or when that first tooth poked through. Time flies by and they grow up so fast. Sigh.
Wednesday, August 29th, 2007
Please? This is important.
I would like to ask the literary bunches of you this question:
What is the difference between “wriggle” and “wiggle”?!
I checked the meanings on dictionary.com and just not quite sure they mean 2 very different actions, or 2 similar yet different meanings? Or the same, as in, they are interchangeable?? You must pardon me, although I have spoken English for more than half of my life, English is still not my first language and it’s usually not the language that’s used when I have dreams.
Thanks for your input!
Update:
A thank you to all of you! I needed to know because of writing descriptions on these products. It’s a difficult task! Especially when there’s hundreds upon hundreds.
These toys will WIGGLE (sway from side to side). Not wriggle. Yes?
They also make the coolest clacking sounds that babies / toddlers love.
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007
Many of you are probably wondering if we are EVER going to launch our store, KangarooBoo. I promise you, we will! Sign up for notification, pass the site URL to your friends, spread the word. It will be The Next Biggest And Hottest Site (we hope to be and are working hard to achieve that)!
Meanwhile, I have hundreds and hundreds of product entries to put into our system, and adding many more as the weeks go by. Pictures to be sized and put up. Packing materials, shipping boxes, various accounts at various places, shelving units, contacting people here and across the globe for various things, and the list goes on. One night I stayed up until 4 a.m. because I wanted to make sure that I talked to someone in another country during their business hours.
We are learning a lot in the process of setting this up, and having a lot of fun as well.
Thank you for your patience and Stay Tuned!
Thursday, August 23rd, 2007
I love comments as much as the next blogger. Some bloggers interact/respond with their readers via the comment section, others via email. I tend to fall into the latter group, although I am not very good at keeping up with replying to each and every comment, and honestly not each comment warrants a reply. That said, there are a few that I have been meaning to respond to but have not had a chance to really sit down to write. And often times I create excuses such as “I’ll do it tomorrow.”
(To the ones I owe a response to, I will write soon.. soon as I emerge from the endless catalogs and price sheets and forms and faxes to take a breather)
If you respond to your readers comments, how do you do it? And why do/did you choose that method?
For me, I would much rather go with the email route, simply to save time on everyone’s part. This way, I don’t have to keep coming back to my comment section when I want to reply to a new comment, and the readers don’t have to keep hitting “refresh.” Instead, they get their responses directly into their in-box.
Unless of course, if the response/info I’m providing is something that other readers will benefit from. Or when I feel like needing some love and getting a comment notification from myself. I don’t think this should be equated with giving oneself a hug.
Monday, August 20th, 2007
We were at the mall this evening, after having sushi dinner at a local restaurant (a late celebration for my birthday). It was not the worst sushi I’ve ever had, but it was far far from the best.
The men (Hubby and father-in-law) took care of the kids while my mother-in-law and I shopped. The men don’t like shopping, plus there are lots of places for the kids to play such as the play area, the train tables at certain stores, some toy stores etc etc.
So off we go. I soon found a pair of Str*de R*te shoes on sale! Size 6! And it was the last pair on the shelf. Fiona’s cheap p*yless shoes are rubbing her feet too much, and I’ve been meaning to buy her a new pair of good shoes. So I paid for the shoes without having her try it on. She was somewhere in the mall and I couldn’t be bothered looking for them and dragging her there to try it. Worst thing that can happen is if it doesn’t fit, I’d have to return it. So naturally, it does not fit her. It’s too small. Grrrrrr. Now I have to hunt for another pair of reasonably priced good shoes. Stop it - don’t laugh.
No matter. I’m not going to return it. It is going to my 5 month old niece as her Christmas present. I know she won’t be able to use it for probably another year or so, but returning it just does not make sense, especially since it was on such discount.
I grabbed the image from eb*y to show you what I’m talking about
Makes me wonder, how much was the actual manufacturing cost price?
When we finally met up with the rest of the group, I wanted Fiona to try the new shoes on. She excitedly kicked her cheap a*s shoes off and sat down on the floor, while Seb was standing on the sideline watching.
He leaned over and said matter-of-fact-ly to me:
“Mama, my feet are growing bigger.”
Oh my sweet darling boy. You and your sister shall get new shoes soon.
Sunday, August 12th, 2007
I have not set foot on my old campus since I graduated 7 years ago. I did that today, taking the 45 some miles drive up there, and it felt quite surreal. A lot has changed, and yet a lot are still the same. The trees are bigger, the buildings looks a bit more worn, some new buildings are built upon the spots where olds ones once stood, but overall, it’s still the same feeling walking on the sidewalks. A sense of awe and inspiration comes over me as I walked around the engineering side of campus with the 2 kids and took pictures.
The campus was pretty empty, in fact, almost ghost-town like. The only exception was the dormitories. Parents and grandparents and siblings were helping the soon-to-be college students or returning students move in. The parking lots were full of trucks, vans, and trailer/tractor thingies. I can’t remember my parents coming with me at all, not even once. I never requested that they come, and they trusted that I didn’t need them there. The only time when my parents came to the university was for my graduation. Anyway, there weren’t many people walking on campus so we had the whole sidewalk to ourselves. I even went into the ChE hall, sat in the classrooms, peeked into the labs etc.
I have so many fond memories here. I remember the days when I lounged on the lawn in front of the library drinking my coca-cola, watching people go by. Or the days when the library was my 2nd home during exam times. And the memorable all-nighters in the ChE hall, finishing up class projects. The people in my classes, the girls in my dormitory, the guys I had crushes on, the professors who taught the lectures — what happened to them since then?! Where are they now?! Do they ever think back to the college days when everything was simpler? Do they wonder the what ifs?
So much has happened in my life since I started college here, since the days of thermodynamics and mass transfer. And even more has happened since graduation. I can’t help but be thankful that I have Hubby to stand by me now and always. And to think I almost fell for a frog is really laughable. The college days are behind me. They are locked away in some memory box only to be opened once in a long long while.
Friday, August 10th, 2007
I’m 31. Not too old, but I’m no spring chicken anymore.
Nothing is planned for me as far as I know. I do have to take Seb to the doctor for a physical / well visit at 2p.m. to get his preschool paperworks all filled out. It’s the only available time that the doctor has before his school starts.
I know there is going to be sushi though, whether it will be today or not is another question. Hopefully sushi here is as good as Vancouver, Canada where I had THE best sushi ever. HA, right. 
Being this is corn country, I’ll be happy if it’s as good as the Twin Cities selections.
I have several birthday wishes and I hope all of them will come true.
Wednesday, August 8th, 2007
NOTE:
Please feel free to add your advice / tips on selling a house, on moving in general, in the comment section. I’m sure you all have some fabulous ideas that I haven’t thought of or heard of.
* * * * *
First and foremost, work with someone whom you feel completely comfortable with and who actually believe in your home’s potential and value. If they don’t believe in your house, how are they going to make any buyers / buyers agent believe it?!
Interview agents. Interview the finalists for a 2nd time if you have a hard time deciding on one. Ask the same questions to each agent. Negotiate on commission if you can, the worst they can say is no. Trust your gut feeling because most of the time it is accurate. Once you have found the agent to your liking, then you need to trust his/her advice.
I personally don’t recommend selling a house by owner, because you have to do all the showings yourself and most people feel uncomfortable viewing the house if the owner is present. But if the market is in the upswing and in your favor, then by all means, give it a try if you are not on a time constraint. We didn’t want to pay a huge hefty percent to a realtor but we didn’t really have time on our side.
So, to the point, here are the bullet points:
* Price it right. The agent should provide you with a full comparative analysis and suggest a listing price. Go to open houses that are in the same price range as yours, who are in the same proximity, seek out the competition and see what they / their house have to offer.
* DE-CLUTTER, DE-CLUTTER, DE-CLUTTER! No one wants to picture living in a house filled with STUFF everywhere, especially not YOUR stuff. You want people to be able to “see themselves” in the house; how you live is NOT how you should show the house.
* Pack away all pictures that have adults in them (and children’s pictures too if they are older). For some reason, most people are OK with kids’ / babies pictures but not grown up pictures. I think pictures of grown ups hinders potential buyers from seeing themselves living there; it’s someone else’s house and not mine kind of thinking.
* CLEAN. Clean the whole house like you never have before.
* STAGE, STAGE, STAGE. Again, this is the “how you live is NOT how you should show the house” idea. Stage up your house, spruce it up with decorative items, make it as much “magazine-like” as you can. Rugs, pillows, candles, wall hangings / paintings, nice towels in the bathrooms, matching pillow cases and shams and bedspreads, etc do make a huge difference in presentation.
* Kitchen counter spaces should hold only a few essential / decorative items.
* Bathrooms should be close to spotless.
* Beds needs to be made and again, magazine-like. THEY don’t get to keep your bed or bedspreads, but it will make it so much more cozier and pleasing to the eye if you make the bed like a magazine’s would.
* Pack away off season clothes and hide them under the beds or put in the basement or attic. Make your closet half full to give the illusion that it’s bigger than actual.
* If you have kid(s), pack away bulky or loose pieces of toys. On the same note, pack away stuff that you don’t use often. When showing requests comes, you want to be able to whirl through the house and tidy in a speedy manner.
* Paint the interior. Most likely daily wear and tear has left some smudges on the walls, painting it a neutral color will make them go away and give the space a new and fresh look. This is one of the cheapest investment/improvement that will give the highest return when selling a house. Be sure the colors flow easily from room to room.
* Go through and fix the “little” stuff. The cosmetic things that will matter a lot. Such as blown out light bulbs, broken hinges, nail holes in the wall, leaky faucets, etc.
* Make sure the entrance, inside and outside, is clean and welcoming with rugs, and a place to put their shoes.
* Make your garden / yard as attractive but easy to care as possible. Repair any siding issues if necessary.
* If you’re going to do any remodeling, go with the kitchen first. Then bathrooms. For major remodeling, those 2 will get you the most return for your investment.
* Don’t refuse any requests for showings. Try to accommodate all requests because you don’t want to second guess if you might have lost a potential buyer. The people who bought our house requested their first showing time to be 8-9p.m. That’s right, P.M. Our kids’ bedtime is 8p.m. We ate dinner, cleaned the house, packed up the kids and drove around the city until they fell asleep. And those people bought the house after 3 more unreasonable showing time requests. As much as I think we could have done better in the transaction, the fact remains that we sold it after only 6 weeks in a not-so-hot market. For that, I’m very glad we didn’t refuse any of their unreasonable request times.
Selling a house is a huge daunting experience, especially when you have little children and or pets. I really hated the whole experience. The next time we move, if possible, I want to move out first because I just really did not like tidying up every single day and never knew what would happen that day. There are so many factors on why a house goes and why another won’t. But if you decorate it magazine-like then potential buyers are more likely to be drawn to the house.
Tuesday, August 7th, 2007
Couple of weeks ago while I was selecting merchandise for our store, KangarooBoo, Sebastian came into the office and sat on my lap. He said “let me see what I want to buy” and then proceeded to point out this picture and that picture, saying “I want this for my birthday, I want that for my birthday…” And then “I want a xylophone for my birthday.” Well his birthday was hours away and there was no way we could get him a xylophone. Besides, all his presents were already purchased and wrapped (one of which is a trumpet).
As usual, I went off on the tangent again. What I’m trying to say is, I can count the times I mentioned the word “xylophone” with exactly 2 fingers. This guy has a super memory for words! He sang one of the nursery songs that were at least 20 lines long to us during bedtime a few evenings ago. Hubby and I can’t even sing it without reading the book, even though we have read it thousands of times.
Not long ago I read somewhere that it is easiest for children to learn (foreign) languages before age 10. The ability and ease decreases drastically as the person gets older. I strive to keep the kids bilingual by speaking to them in as much Cantonese as I can. I know they understand everything I say, but it is a little discouraging when they respond to me only in English instead. I know it would be easier and they would absorb more if Hubby and I spoke Cantonese together — the problem is, he doesn’t know how! It would be best if the kids can learn to read/write Chinese as they grow older, but for now, I will settle for at least being able to speak it.
Do you parents of ABC’s or AB-other-ethnicity have problems teaching/maintaining the mother tongue at home?
Monday, August 6th, 2007
Friday, August 3rd, 2007
As a cancer survivor myself, and a parent of two kids, I am very protective of what kinds of toys they put into their mouths. I’m very glad to learn that San Francisco is taking a step in the right direction toward total toy safety. I hope the entire US will follow suit, however, I’m not optimistic considering our current president’s stance on many environmental issues.
The latest F!sher Pr!ce recall is just another example of how corrupted things are in Ch!na. As you can see, most of the recalls in the past has been real physical safety issues, whereas the latest one dated August 1 is lead paint. I read in a press release - too lazy to find the link right now - that the company has very good relations with the manufacturing factory and vendors, and very stringent rules but somehow a large volume of lead paint escaped into the line. So if even a major company like this could get contaminated by lead paint, who is to say the little guys are not susceptible?
Remember another recent recall, the train one? Also lead paint contamination. Also China.
Unfortunately, China is not alone. Lead paint is not banned in many many countries (such as Malaysia and Thailand, just to name a couple). It so happens that China is the largest producer / exporter hence it gets most if not all of the spotlights.
These toys are in the hands of young children constantly, and often times, in their mouths as well. Toys simply cannot be made with any toxic material. Period.
Bottom line is, lead paint needs to be banned in China. And the rest of the world.
