Cheeks to Cheeks

A bunch of goofers? That’s us! The shots of Jon and I are by Belle. Pretty good for a toddler, ain’t it?

We can’t wait for Cassie to be older. It will be double the fun! Now you know where Belle got her goofy genes from.

Power Steering Pros have all the supplies you need if you want to get the highest quality steering box and steering rack. All the products sold by them come in full warranty and FREE shipping. Most importantly they carry products that fit most car models.

It is a pity Power Steering Pros weren’t around 10 years ago. We could’ve used a power steering wheel. Making 3-point turns would be so much easier (yea, we used to have a manual steering car). Back then only the dealers have privilege to quality boxes and racks. Power steering was deemed as luxury back in those days. With power steering, turning of the steering wheel is like gliding on ice. Without it, it is like getting an arm workout.

Power Steering Pros not only bring these quality products to the public but at a lower list price too. If you are thinking of replacing your steering box or rack, do hop over to Power Steering Pros’ site.

Nowadays when we take photos of the kids it is always just the kids. Both Mom and Dad are hardly in the photos. Even if there is, it will always me with the kids. Daddy is stuck behind the camera. There are also very few photos of Daddy and Cassie together. We try to remember to take as many photos of Cassie and Daddy now ‘cos Belle has many photos of her and Daddy together.

Unfortunately, we performed badly in that. Rest of the photos are just Cassie… Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever found your writing become illegible after writing your name and address numerous times? I have, and I know my husband’s handwriting is worse than mine. We have resorted to address labels; which we tend to get for free. Well, technically, it isn’t free because we have to make a small donation to a charity organization. Those charity folks are smart; they would send out the address labels and include a picture of a child with it. Who would be able to turn down that kind of donation request, huh? I would feel bad if I use those address labels and not donate some money for it.

I love those address labels and that means we don’t have to write our address whenever we mail our letters, but that isn’t a long term solution. We like to be a little greener too. So, Address Stamps is the way to go. I have written about Vista Print Coupons before and it looks like Vista Print sells address stamps too. All the address stamps could be customized and hear this, there is a coupon to get 50% off!

If you hate writing your address numerous times and want to help to save some trees, go get an Address Stamp. Remember to type in the code Stamps50 during check out to get 50% off for small rubber stamps.

Give a box to a child and this is what we get…

I caught her playing with the box and sat in there while watching her cartoons. If that box is big enough, we might as well pack her in there and ship her to her grandparents in Malaysia. Wouldn’t she be a nice Christmas gift?

Every morning I look at myself in the morning I see a 30-something, not so hot, a bit on the chubby side, double-chin, tired me. Where has the 30-something, think she’s hot, voluptuous me went to? Argh! I really need skin and body rejuvenation. A body wrap sounds good now. Oh wait, no time for it. Well, maybe a facial therapy. I seriously need to have blackhead removal done on my nose.

So, hon, where is the spa package you’ve promised me. It’s long overdue.

Last Tuesday we met up with the Huis for ice-cream. Baskin Robbins have $1 a scoop every Tuesday evening from 6pm till 10 pm. The girls have met a few times and they hit off instantly. We’re trying to have parent dates (yup, this is what I call them) with other parents and kids as much as possible. Parent date is essential for parents like us who work all day (M-F) and have no time to catch up with friends because we’re bogged down with chores, feeding and taking care of our kids.

Sometimes it is great to catch up with girlfriends but I think Parent dating is fun ‘cos everyone in the family gets to have fun. Here are some pictures of the girls…

I used to read quite a bit. It could be fiction or non-fiction. Then Belle came along, I realized book reading has became a luxury. Time is luxury; hence, taking time to read a book is luxury for me. So, it dwindled down to reading magazines. I was an avid Reader’s Digest reader and would catch up on my reading during the nights after Belle was asleep.

Now we have two kids, I had to cancel my Reader’s Digest magazine, and I would be lucky to find time to catch up on the Parenting magazine. Sadly, most of the readings are done during, yup, you’ve guessed it, toilet time. Lately I found another free time to read and that is during my pumping sessions.

It usually takes 2 days to finish a TIME magazine and 3 days for Parenting magazine. I find myself enriched from reading these magazines. With TIME I catch up latest world events, US economics, Arts, etc. Recently I read the article/interview on Nelson Mandela. I have a new found respect for this man and he is a very wise man indeed. If you haven’t read this article (published for July 21, 2008) you ought to borrow one from the library now.

So, yeah, this is as literal as I could be. I will probably go back to books once the kids are older. Now, would you excuse me while I go check on the real estate updates in my neighborhood? I hope it is better than Wilmington NC real estate ‘cos the property market is pretty unhealthy nationwide (as I read from TIME).

For the past two weeks Cassie was extra fussy and didn’t eat much during the day. The biggest problem was her napping. All she did was cat naps of 30 minutes, no more than an hour. I had a feeling she was teething ‘cos she drools quite a bit too.

This morning as I was wiping her face I ran my finger along her lower gum. Lo and behold! I felt teeth or maybe a tooth. Well, it hasn’t fully sprout but I could feel it. No wonder she loves to clam her gums into my teats. And, yes, it does hurt but I’m fully prepared for it. During the weekend I have started to pull out the teat whenever she did that. Gave her a good scolding and she would return to sucking (and not biting). I did that when Belle was at her teething stage too. It worked with her and it seems to work for Cassie too.

Do you know your credit score? Do you a five year plan (at least 5 year) written down? Most importantly, do you have a will? These are some of the questions that daunt us when comes to financial planning. At times it can be overwhelm, especially so if you have not nail down bills.

Recently I have taken up Bills.com’s IQ challenge. I score high on credit, debt, budget and wealth management but scored an above average (around 75/100) for life planning. This result makes me take a step back and start to evaluate what our family future financial plans should be. I also urge all of you to start doing it too. If you think it is difficult for you to pen it down, do not worry; Bills.com has all the tools to guide you.

Bills.com is a 1-stop resource. You can get information on Debt consolidation, and can apply to get Debt help, Mortgage Loans, Refinance Quotes and Credit Solutions.If you have friends who are need of Debt relief, this site will benefit them the most. Spread the news! I’ll close this statement with a haiku…

mortgage payment woes
like a barren snowy field
heavy it is so