the fine things

 ’c h r i s t m a s    i n    j u l y’

The green and red colors in this picture remind me that soon it will be christmas time! 

So today is the last day of July, unbelievable!  After July each year, somehow holiday mood seems to set in and days seem to pass by so much faster!  The so-many holidays in between now til’ year end is partly responsible for setting the mood in earlier. (ha blame the holidays!) Let’s see…we have Malaysia Day, National Day, Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Deepavali, Hari Raya Aidiladha, Awal Muharam and finally Christmas Day!  Did I miss any other holidays?

Oh ya, I do love all these holidays – can’t imagine life without them! *grin*

 Dozing off, feeling tired after a hard day’s play

Kids are just full of imagination, aren’t they? Ian often asks how lau-lau(refering to ghost) looks like.  He asks – whether this thing has a hole or holes  in ‘his’ head or body, if the color of ‘his’ teeth is black, and so forth. 

He knows that that sounds can come from somewhere/something.  He used to run and hide everytime he hears the sound of a vacuum cleaner or washing machine, now he helps with both vacuum cleaning and clearing up dirty laundry:)  He MUST be the one to stuff the machine full and switch it on! He still is not comfortable not knowing where certain ’noises’ or sounds are coming from tho.  

t h o r n    t h o u g h t s  

it’s a terrible thing when motivation fails us.  not good.  leaves us restless. in other words, it drains us mentally. when we are motivated, we approach tasks with energy and enthusiasm right? certainly not when we’re not motivated!   mind-bugging creeping problem like this is such a challenge to overcome! some kind of changes need to take place. 

andrew matthew, author, has a lot to say about motivation.  i absolutely love his books! 

       f r e s h              

Picture:   from Dad’s backyard

There were times that I stopped  in a particular spot, then started thinking, “this is nice! Perhaps  1 or 2 snaps here”. But I always end up  with half a dozen or more! I keep most of the snaps tho’ as I love the reflecting process - looking back at each one and reflect on the ’story(ies)’ behind it no matter how badthe picture turned out.   

A couple of months back, I found out about a new digital printshop at City Mall , infact a friend once before mentioned the service – compile pictures  of your choice, enhance, print, and have them ready for you in book form.  Why not? I could arrange pictures according to events, people, etc.  Something to try.  don’t send pictures to print anymore unless I want to put them on display or intend to give them away.

a l m o s t   t h e r e

While Mom tends her garden, Dad, on the hand has his hands full – tending his fruit rchard!   He has been looking forward to rambutan season – apparently arrive  2-3 months late this year!

His rambutan trees leading all the way up to the house are now laden with soon-to-be red juicy rambutan fruits!  There are just tons of them. ”We will share them with the squirrels!”, he said.   He was just joking!

l o v e l y    w h i t e

Visited Mom & Dad this afternoon. There are always  additions, something new in Mom’s garden.  ”Enjoying this white ones while waiting for the peach ones to re-appear”, she said.

P r e t t y    P i n k

And these pink ones?  I don’t know its name nor can Mom remember.  Aren’t they cute?  It appeared right infront of the verandah, what a perfect location! You’ll surely be entertained while sipping your cup of tea – if you enjoy nature that is

Enjoying your cup of tea?

Years back, upon reading its benefits, I did… attempt to make it a routine to drink green tea daily. This attempt resulted in an on and off affair with green tea!  I had high aspiration too - to be an everyday green tea drinker and it didn’t work!  About 3 months ago, I decided to revive this long lost aspiration; hopefully, eventually become a tea lover!  From my readings, insomnia seems to be the only negative side effect of green tea.

As someone who was not so fond of drinking tea but prefered plain water, carbonated drinks and what not, I was somehow initially sceptical about starting or re-starting the idea of drinking green tea or any tea for that matter,  for health.

More than three months have passed, I’m still enjoying Tea Mix- Lemon & Hibiscus (ShapeWorks).  “This tasty tea mix blends with green tea and orange “pekoe” with cardamon seed, lemon peel and hibiscus for  an uplifting and tasty treat”. And it’s true – it is tasty!

Useful links:  Salada .   Tea Flower

Note:  above picture was grabbed from Abby Lame’s flickr

Somewhat interesting findings caught my attention: the effects of praise on kids.  The author wrote, “praise can be a powerful form of encouragement. For instance, moms who praise their preschoolers for their good manners have kids with better social skills (Garner 2006; Hastings et al 2007). But in some cases, praise can actually undermine our child’s motivation. “  Read  more

Old picture of nieces: Daphne & Deidre. Miss taking their pictures!

Who would have thought that praising our kids could actually undermine their motivation? Is this really so?  I think I am like most parents.  I praise believing it is the key to my kid’s success – thinking that those flattering words can boost his self-esteem and performance.  Even adults do not mind being praised once in a while.

Personally, I don’t think praise is bad. However, I do think we have to be careful with the way we praise kids – certain ways that could label him or her bad or good. Recently, while driving to work early morning, I happened to listen to a discussion on similar topic being aired on the radio where parents could call in to express their opinions. Well, some said they’re all for praising kids while there are others who think otherwise.  What do you think?