What a miracle... for my grandma.

I visited my grandma during Chinese New Year more than a month ago. She was ill in health but I could still see the smile on her wrinkled face, she was a naturally open-hearted and happy woman.

With 9 sons, 3 daughters and more grandchildren than I can count, and few other great grandchildren, she passed away on Thursday night peacefully.

I'll be heading back in a while to attend the funeral. While this is a sad occasion cos I lost a grandma who is always jovial and fun to be around, I am happy that she received the Lord earlier this year when my 15 year old cousin witnessed to her.

For years I've shared to her about Christ but she kept saying that she could not forsake her ancestrial beliefs... so her salvation is a miracle.

God's timing is always at its best... and with Him, all things are possible. I know my grandma is in a better place.

SupahStar Saturday - Cecile

This week's Supahstar Saturday features Cecile from Work at home musings.

I remember Cecile as the one who helps to create the PPP Wannabee blogroll for those who have blogs pending for PPP's approval. Like me, she's a work at home mum who enjoys connecting with people. I just discover that she is hosting this fabulous Question of the Week meme which I would be participating. This is a nice way to mingle and get to know other bloggers who share their opinions based on the question of that week.

Maybe you should check it out too!

I want the Carribean Islands!

I was tagged by Msau and believe it or not, I actually blog walked a few blogs to understand HOW to do this tag... I got a little confusing at first but I think I got it.

Kinda like this one cos' I'm a travel bug... I love holidays! Yea! I've travelled to Hong Kong, Grand Canyons, Las Vegas, LA, Japan, Bali, Hawaii, Australia (all states except Adelaide and Canberra), New Zealand, San Francisco, Koh Samui, Bangkok, Phuket, Jakarta and East Malaysia. So where do I dream of going next?

*** Place your 2 -3 paragraph of where you want to go here***

I want to go to the Carribean islands! I've never been there but I read from some advertisers' websites that some of these all-inclusive vacations come with a beachfront property and a stay-in nanny who will look after your kiddo! Wow, that means DH and me can go snorkelling, beach walking, jet skiing, do all the extreme adventures without worrying about little Clayton. And the crystal clear waters in the Carribean is marvelous! Just by looking at those vacation pictures, I'm already in that vacation mood.


Plus, these family-friendly resorts cater fun activities for children so they too can enjoy themselves while the adults have their time of relaxation and serious fun too! Let's see - Jamaica sounds nice... sipping cocktails by the beach and witnessing the most beautiful sunset... all these sounds too enticing!

**********************************************************

**Start Copy**

Proposition : Where do you want to go Next, OUTSIDE OF YOUR COUNTRY, for tourism, work , study, whatever.

Requirements: Find some info about the place, itenary etc, pics if possible so you get MORE Traffic coming in, and maybe some people can find somewhere to go to. Excludes your NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOUR, ie Singapore,Malaysia,Brunei, a country that borders yours.You must register for MyBloglog so we can blogwalk ah…..get it?

Quantity : FIVE PEOPLE.

Tag Mode : Chain Link. 15 of them.
You leave 15 people and their DEEP LINK of their Blog Name and TAGGED POST and hit out for five more. So it will look like

Azrin going Down Under
MaRLinda in Disneyland Paris
Athira Baby and her Balamory Antics
Msau to Japan

**Add in the blog you get the tags from and tagged post.**

I am going to TAG these PEOPLE who always go walk about :

Sesame
ParisBeaverbanks
Adam
Ah Pek
Wokkingmum

Check this if you are a blogger!

Love a blog post? Hate a blog post? Do you have a favourite blog author? Like to nominate him or her? Head down to HighFivez!

Let's get real here. There are millions of blogs and bloggers in the blogosphere and other than those you are introduced to or stumbled upon, there are some which you will never, never discoer, no matter how good or informative they are.

So here is HighFivez.com, a web community for you to search and promote your most exciting blog posts and bloggers in the blogosphere. When you are joined as a member, you will be known as a HighFiverz and that qualifies you to share posts and blogs with other members of the community. If you like it, give it a HighFive. Otherwise, Pound It.

You can view at one glance the most viewed, most popular and most talked about posts. Blogs and posts are categorized in different subject interests and most importantly, you get real opinions from humans, and not ROBOTS.

It's absolutely free to be a HighFivez. And know what, you may some good traffic for your blogs and posts in this exciting community. What a great place to be 'seen' and be 'found'... but keep in mind, submit a good post and you become a fave, a bad one, a thumbs down :)

Have you registered with FUMMO?

Have you signed up with FUMMO, the latest program to make money online?

In any 'make money online opp', it has to be FREE to join. If you need to pay to be a member, forget it.

What is FUMMO? Fummo is advertising company where our members can earn free money doing simple and free offers, Searching using our search engine, viewing advertisments, and Inviting friends to join under your referal link!

FUMMO is free and the attraction is, if you refer a friend to join, you get paid $5 plus 10% of their earnings... how does that sound?

FUMMO aims to sign up 400,000 members before its launch on 21st May...

Check out FUMMO and find out more about the program!

Place Your Ads for FREE!

Whenever I read something about UK, I think about my friend, Janet, who has taken the bold step as an entrepreneur in starting her own ceramic business with the support of her husband. This is admirable for a 24 year old girl and I am glad that she has recently launched her business online.

As she is constantly looking for exposure for her business, the free ads placement in itsmymarket.com would be a great community site for her to check out. This is not only a classified ads site for the UK community, there are other useful resources on what's on, news on local weather, blogs and even free dating features.

Well, you don't have to be a UK resident to leverage on these great features. If you have business whose target audience is those of the UK market, you can place your ad for FREE in the classified ads.

To add to all the above, I find the website friendly, attractive with those colourful navigation buttons.

The Watershed Addiction Treatment Program

Following my earlier posts on drug treatment centers, I come across The Watershed Addiction Treatment Programs that offers those suffering from alchoholism and drug addiction in a conducive and pleasant environment setting.

The Watershed has a team of highly-trained professionals, psychiatrists, medical doctors, nurses and counsellors who are able to provide long term recovery to those desperate ones who need to reclaim their lives back physically, mentally, emotionally and psychologically. Anyone suffering from the addiction of alcohol or drugs will be advised on the appropriate treatment at the center prior to admission.

The website is educational with information on educating people about drug addiction and how to go about identifying the symptoms and signs. And for those who are uncertain about their condition, there is even an online assessment to help clarify that. If you know of someone who is suffering from an addiction, this would be a good site to point them to.

Clayton and his flash cards

My boy is into flash cards and my, am I impressed with the learning abilities of children these days?

I bought him the first set of fruit cards 2 months ago at Popular bookstore. For only RM8.90, there are 20 odd cards in a box and best of all, they are bilingual. We always want Clayton to be proficient in Mandarin so I prefer to expose him to the language as much as I can.

Well, this first set has led to another construction vehicles set (which he loves) and others such as numbers and alphabets and shapes cards. The amazing thing is he is learning so fast and can read most of the cards, in Mandarin and in English. I don't think I can identify a digger from a bulldozer when I was 2.5 yrs old! Sometimes, he will shout out a Mandarin word for carrots - Hong Luo Bo - and DH will look at me and ask, "Correct ah?" And I will look at him and grin.

At times, he would mess up the cards and they will be all over the floor... this would also mean discipline time! With this fast progress, DH has no qualms about me buying flash cards now. I'm so thankful that these cards keep him occupied while we work, though he would prefer mama to sit with him to go through the cards.

For that, I'm eternally grateful to be a SAHM and WAHM. Nothing beats the quality time with a growing child. I can say that I'm truly blessed.

Tracking leads for our business

In any business, one of the most important thing is to maintain a close contact and strong relation with your clients. Same with launching a marketing campaign, you need to have a proper system to track your campaign results and measure your ROI, and most importantly manage your leads. Leads often refer to potential clients, visitors or prospects for your business.

In the last couple of years, we began taking this seriously. Only when we manage and track our leads can we determine how successful the campaign was and how our investment had paid off. DH was looking into an appropriate sales management software that is feature-rich, affordable and effective in tracking the visitors to our website. Managing this area of our business is necessary to increase our ROI for our business and sales campaign effectiveness.

Clayton's favourite foods

Clayton is going 2.5 years old and I am so thankful that he is a healthy, active, cheerful, smiley little boy. He is quite puny in size (just like mama) and has fairly tanned complexion. My friends tend to think that we bring him to the beach for suntanning - where do you find beach in Kuala Lumpur? No lah, he's born tanned, like mama lor..
Foods he loves and craves:
Seaweed: He'll do anything to get an extra piece of that!
Mushrooms: He keeps asking for that in all his meals. He'll be happy to see mushrooms.
Biscuits: All kids love biscuits.. don't they?
Vegetables - All greens - thank God
Cherries - Expensive taste, right?
Oranges
Grapes
Bananas - One of his favourite fruits
Jackfruit - He's tropical
Carrots
Tofu
Fish - only the smooth ones - no tough or chewy ones
Breads
Pasta
Pizza - Cos he just learnt the word
Noodles

For Science, technology and gadget geeks

Social networking sites are big now in the internet. Whether you are an artist or a geek, you can find a social networking site that suits you. Believe it or not, this has provided windows of opportunities for internet marketers, business people or individuals.

There is an niche social networking site for science hobbyists, technology and gadget geeks, and science fiction fans. Sci-Edge will be officially launched on April 2 so if you are one of those mentioned above, look out for this new and interesting networking site.

Not only can you share ideas and connect with like-minded people, you can make money online with your passion. Basically, you are able to submit articles, reviews and videos related to science, technology and science fiction and if your content is original, creative and interesting, you will be remunerated.

Now, this is a new site to be launched which means you will be one of the first to test-drive this site and be part of this exciting networking platform. See it for yourself!

Rice Bowls of Pan-Asian Models in Malaysia Threatened

If you are a model with Pan-Asian looks in Malaysia, you may be in for an early 'retirement'. According to a recent article in Asia Media, Malaysia's government feels that "with so-called "pan-Asian" features were not representative of Malaysian demographics." How true is that?

While that will seriously affect the creative industry and the rice bowls of non-Malay models, the Information Minister claims that, "Using pan-Asian faces means downgrading local faces," he said. "We have to give priority to models with local looks."

In 1997, this ban was shelved after much complaints from the public but it seems that this ban may be revived as the purists think that Malaysia should promote "l'ocal faces' in the media."

Honestly, this is one of the reasons our family is migrating in few years' time - too much of these political nonsense and it basically stirs up more dissatisfaction among the other races.

Another Money Making Opportunity Online

I just learnt about another money making opportunity online... and my criteria is: it has to be FREE to join and this one is FREE. What more, if you refer a friend to join, you get paid $5 plus 10% of their earnings... how does that sound?

FUMMO aims to sign up 400,000 members before its launch on 21st May...

I suppose there is nothing to lose, isn't it? Find out more about FUMMO now!

For the Creatives Out There

I thought this must be an interesting concept - connecting artists, designers and style conscious people together in a community site. Not only is it for networking purposes, this group of creatives can take a further step to know each other better and perhaps end up dating. The Whole 9 is set up for creative and artistic people for networking and dating.

I kinda like the website design especially on the portfolio page where you can view the works of members who may be photographers, directors, graphic designers, web designers, artists, models producers, architects and basically any sort of creative profession. While some may be interesting to meet and mingle with new friends, this is also a great place to share your love for art and design. You will surprise yourself to see that there are so many talents out there yet to be discovered. Their portfolio will tell you so.


So if you are in the creative profession and would like a place to showcase your works and talents, this is a fantastic place and resource for you. Join the forum and learn from other creatives as your enlarge your networking circle in your passionate field. And who knows, you will even meet prospective clients for your next project commission.

Our First New Zealand Trip dot Com

One of the things that got me hooked on blogging was when my family took our first new zealand trip in Oct 2004. My husband was so eager to get me started on starting our first website that he agreed on a handsome budget for our vacation. And it was one of the best vacation our family had taken since Clayton was born.

It used to be hosted with Sitesell but recently, we had migrated it to our own hosting as it was too expensive to maintain a site with Sitesell. Due to that, we had to change our domain name and thus, it was as good as starting a new site.


This New Zealand trip site contains reviews of all the hotels and accommodations we stayed and places we visited in both the North and South Island. It documented our entire itinerary for the trip. So if you are planning to visit New Zealand one of these days, this site will be a great guide for you. Check it out and tell me what you think and if you have any questions, just ask!

Reorganizing our home office

Having a home office is a blessing that DH and myself treasured. The only thing that bothers us is the computer cables that are lying in a mess on the floor and on our tables. We have been thinking on securing them in a neat and orderly, and safe manner as we have little Clayton running in and out of the office. I found a new USB Adapter that will be helpful for our needs. With various different connectors on the adapter, we can have the flexibility of use and most of all, we can have lengths customized accordingly to our preference. It is needed to look into this important aspect of keeping the home office safe and in good order.

What happen to dorischua.com?

Few hours ago, my heart was throbbing like I had completed a 3km run. I couldn't logged onto my health blog after I received an email from my blog buddy, Paris B. I was worried. What happened? Was my blog hacked? Why was my account suspended?

I called up my hosting company in the US but found out that this health blog was not even hosted with them. Oh dear... where did I host it then? When you have 10 domains and with a couple not hosted on the same hosting company, it can get confusing. After some trackbacks, I discovered that my health blog was hosted with another company. It was a FREE hosting I got from attending an Internet seminar.

After some inspection, I tracked down the person responsible for this and he promised to get my site up in a short while. True enough, it was up an hour ago.

My lesson learnt from this incident - get a reliable and credible web host. I 'm serious. If you don't, your account can get suspended and if your web host can't be located, you can say 'good bye' to all the information in your blog. The second lesson: Backup your blog. You never know what can happen. Your hosting company may shut down or your site may be hacked.

If you are looking for a good hosting company, check out Hostgator. All my domains including DH's are hosted here except for my health blog (which I would be switching soon).

Are you facing stress & anxiety?

I am a firm believer of maintaining a body balance and achieving wellness via natural remedies and alternative treatments. As such, I am opened to explore traditional chinese medicine as well as other physical therapies when my body runs into health condition. For the past many years, I discover that many people are experiencing certain ailments and pain in their bodies not due to sicknesses but rather, their conditions are caused by stress and anxiety.

Stress and anxiety can lead to headaches, sleep disorders which in turn can cause body aches and other physical conditions. Where do you do to when you experience any of these symptoms? You may like to check out this New York Sports Medicine website that provides resourceful information on certain body conditions and its causes and suggested treatment options.

Sunday outing with Clayton

It was another nice Sunday outing for Clayton and myself. I took him to the KLCC park and he had a real treat of picking his slides and crawling in and out tunnels. This was one of those rare opportunities that he had such a huge playground to run around. And I must say that KLCC Park has the best playground in the entire Malaysia!!

We had lunch at Dragon-I at The Curve and then on to Borders, as promised. I was quite surprised with the crowd at The Curve on the weekends it was a dead mall some months back. With all the F&B outlets opened up, there is a wide selection of food choices from local to Vietnamese to Italian to Shanghainese.

I checked out Crocs flagship store but was glad that I could resist the temptation of adding one more to my collection. I'm waiting for the new sandals to arrive!

So that was our Sunday - nice, easy, fun, relaxing and pleasant. How was yours?

A blog on financial news

When it comes to festive seasons, the average spending of a credit card holder would usually increase. I suppose this is common and the widespread of credit card usage is convenient and consumers are also 'encouraged' to spend more during this time by credit card issuers. They do that by rewarding customers with prizes, lucky draws and promotions.

In line with that, some people tend to overspend and get caught in the bad debt trap. If you need some information on financial issues and payday loan news, this may be the blog you like to check it out. Actually, I'm not familiar with payday loans until I read few posts by the author. According to the author, many people have misunderstood notions about payday loans and it is about time that people need to be educated of how they should spend their money and not consider payday loan as a "gift from Santa."

AuctionAds: Increase the bid on your site's income!

Last week I received an invitation to sign up for AuctionAds . What is AuctionAds and how does it work?

Basically, AuctionAds allows you to monetize your website by displaying live eBay auctions next to your related copy. It is simple and can be explained in these 4 steps:

1. Sign Up

Sign up to be an AuctionAds publisher.

2. Insert Our Code

Insert our ad code on your web site.

3. Place Ads On Your Site

We place auction ads targeted to your content on your site.

4. Make Money

Users buy products they're interested in and you make money.

The good thing is you can run Auction Ads along with Google AdSense as it is not a contextually based ad product and is compatible with all other ad systems.

When your site's visitors click on an Auction Ad listing and take an action on eBay you earn cash. Actions are defined as a Winning Bid, a Buy-it-Now or a confirmed user registration. AuctionAds is committed to paying out a minimum of 100% of eBay commission revenue. See eBay's affiliate program for details on the payout.

If you still have more questions about this program, check out the FAQs.

Another postie friend added to the community

I'm so happy that Bokjae's blog has been approved by PayPerPost - congrats, bro. I know you need to work-at-home opportunity and am so glad that you are now part of the PPP community. I think some people have misunderstood the concept and idea of blogging for cash. As I will not attempt to change any skeptics' point of view on this, many can agree that writing paid posts have opened up opportunities for stay-at-home moms and dads, and even retiree like my good friend, Bokjae.

So you would like to explore this opportunity with PayPerPost, submit your blog for approval. Before you do this, make sure that you are above 18 years old, have a blog that is more than 90 days old with at least 20 entries in the past 90 days. If just around 90 days old, your blog must have 20 pre-existing entries. No blogs with gaps over 30 days.

If you fulfill these requirements,click to get started!

Grokodile Directory

Calling all bloggers who live in North America - there is a new blog directory that is newly launched. You can find your local community and add your blog or website in the directory. Being added into the community most relevant to your site means you get a more targeted audience and that may be a good way to network with other bloggers in the same community. Besides, you get to increase your site/blog traffic too.

A Relaxing Saturday with Clayton

This is Clayton and myself chilling out after a long day out in the mall in KLCC. DH was attending his Qi Gong Workshop and I decided to bond with Clayton in the mall.

I had a coffee while he took his nap. It was a moment I treasured as I didn't this luxury of sipping coffee quietly these days. I missed those days when I used to pop into cafes for some solitude and time-out sessions.

We had a lovely time at the bookstore and he had a couple of fun rides on those machines too.

Dinner was at Nippon Tei and we shared the Soba Gozen again - that was 5 small bowls of soba (all different styles) in one serving. Yup - we finished all of them! Then we headed home for a chill out session... it was another nice, casual and relaxing weekend with my little boy.

Can't wait to get the latest iPhone

When news of the Apple iPhone was first released in the local newsapapers, it initiated waves of excitement among both Mac users and the mobile community. My husband brought me the news first thing on that morning and was I thrilled... after looking at the iPhone photo - YES! In fact, I just blogged about it in my shopping blog two years ago.

Now, AT & T's acquisition of Cingular is intended to bring a revolution to the digital wireless network community and to kick that off, the collaboration with Apple iPhone. Cingular has the largest mobile coverage in the US and offers the widest GSM/GPRS network across the nation. Launching the Apple iPhone under the name of Cingular phones spells an unparallel partnership in assuring customers the best wireless coverage and support.

Having the largest international coverage of any U.S. wireless carrier allows Cingular customers the connectivity to six continents in 190 countries. So with the latest in design and best in digital wireless network combined together - it is almost a formidable collaboration.

OK.. let's look at some feature highlights of the Apple iPhone and you may be convinced why is it causing such a hype in the digital world. With With a sleek body and a high-tech touch-screen interface, the iPhone combines its chic design with next-generation cell phone functionality. It serves as a wide-screen iPod with 4 GB of storage space for music and video, performs desktop tasks, and delivers all cell phone advanced features.

A quick peek of the Apple iPhone:

• Combine all Multimedia features: music, audiobooks, videos, TV shows, and movies
• Futuristic touchscreen auto-rotates from portrait to landscape based on how its held
• 16 million colours display
• Full HTML web experience with GPS and location based services
• 2.0 megapixel camera/camcorder
• Bluetooth wireless technology and WiFi wireless technology
• Full email and messaging experience
• Complete synchronization with your Mac or PC
• Supports most HTML web browsers
  

Are you convinced now?

Update on Clayton goes to school...

Clayton has decided not to nap since he starts his nursery at Peter & Jane. Being the youngest in the school, he is labelled the 'baby of the year'. He still wouldn't sit still during circle time and I guess he is just restless. He would only sit straight in full attention when Teacher Sophia is doing something interesting.

But the nice thing is I don't have to sneak away anymore. I could just settle him down and say, 'Mama is going home'... bye bye. Teacher Sophia tells him that mama is going toilet, for the fear that he will whine. I gather the confidence and say, 'Mama is going home'. And he is fine.

I don't like to lie to children in this way. Telling the truth or teaching them how to accept the truth is better than a lame excuse or temporal distraction.

Everyday, he will be beaming with joy when I pick him up. He will be shouting 'bye bye, teacher' and 'bye bye Kaka'... and then, by the time he gets home, he is overstimulated so there goes the nap.

As such, bedtime is 8-9pm. It's quite good this way cos I get more time to update my blogs and do some blog walking. I only face the challenge of him waking up at 5am and tries to start a conversation (Arggrhhh...)

Yea... I'm taking Clayton out again tomorrow as DH has his Part 2 -Qi Gong workshop... It's bonding time in the mall!

Your one-stop place to find coupon codes

Yippee! Another resource for my shopping blog and you readers who are into online shopping.

I'm sure by now, you may have heard about shopping with coupon codes and the savings that come along with using those promo codes. The only problem is if you are not familiar with coupon codes shopping, you may not know where to find these codes when you are checking out in your shopping cart.

UltimateCoupons is a one-stop place for coupon codes. Here are some of the coupon codes you can use for your next online shopping spree (Remember: you save with coupon codes!):

Overstock coupons
7% off any size order, $15 off $150, or $30 off $250 through March 31, 2007

Kohls coupons
10% off through March 31, 2007

Bowflex coupons
Free Shipping on Home Gyms and SelectTech Dumbells through March 31, 2007

Jewelry Television
10% off one item or Free Shipping on one item through March 31, 2007

VitaminShoppe coupons
$10 off $50 through April 30, 2007

"As for me and my blog, we will serve the LORD!"

"As for me and my blog, we will serve the LORD!"

This proclamation comes from Cass's Midlife Musings and I say 'Amen' to it.

I have known Cass for several months and she is an awesome knitter, capable mom to EIGHT children. Did you hear it right? Yes, she has EIGHT great children! How did she manage all of them? If you ever need mothering tips, you know who to ask.

Cass runs a wonderful carnival: Carnival of The Redeemed which I have passed it on to a couple of friends. And yes, I should be participating to... I haven't forgotten, Cass. I just need to fill in the right words for the post.

At the beginning of this year, Cass started DigiCass where she captures her 'life' and everything that surrounds her in a photo a day. Take a walk through her blogs and find out more about this 'very proper' lady.

This post is made in support of Geeky Speaky's Suparstar Saturday.

How about Black Dating Site now?

Niche business marketing is the trend right now. In any business, you need to have a niche to be noticed and unique, otherwise, it is hard to compete.

Well, it's like this even with lifestyle issues. If you want to start a food business, don't try to serve everything. If you like to sell apparel, narrow down to a selection, don't just go general - be niche.

Just look at the dating scene and websites these days. I mentioned about niche dating sites for selective groups. Now, there is a Black Dating Service Site. Interesting, isn't it? You meet singles in the same race and share like-minded cultural interests and preferences. Perhaps, that can mean less conflicts and arguments on cultural and lifestyle differences.

Anime fan

I was having a chat with a friend's teenage son who was a fan of anime, manga, digital gadgets and technology trends. At the age of 17, he is so savvy with the computer and well-versed in anything digital and cyber. His mum makes sure he balances well between his school work and his passions. Being a fairly discipline boy, he would make sure he finish his homework and assignments before spending time with his favourite things.

He was sharing with me about the creativity in anime and manga. Lately, he discovered a free anime website which offers more than 4 TB of his favourite anime series. At the time of our conversation, he was trying to convince his mum to approve his wishlist in subscribing to the downloads. As always, his reward and wishlist will be fulfilled when he delivered good results in his assignments.

In the design college where I used to teach, the students in the digital animation class were passionate about manga. They would go great lengths to research on their favourite characters and used the graphics creatively for their multimedia assignments. The honest truth is I was raised in an era where anime and manga were foreign subjects to me. But through this group of highly creative students, I had learnt to appreciate the artistic beauty of anime and manga.

If you still like to know more, check out how to get free anime here.

Camping with the family

Are you into camping?

When I was in primary school, I would look forward to every opportunity to hang out with my friends and nothing was more fun than a school camp! I loved the fun of adventures, activities and roughing it out with my girl friends. We were a bunch of young, fun, dangerous gals!

I know we live in this part of the world where family camping is not common. Tell me about camping here and I go: MOZZIES! I'll be equipped with few types of repellent - stick ons, spray-on, oil, creams, even bathgel that repels insects. I have eczema, you see, so it's safe to be careful.

Anyhow, my friend just launched a camping website: Everything you ever wanted to know about camping.. and never dared to ask! So go on, grab your FREE report on Camping with the family.

*This is NOT a sponsored post... just a favour for a friend.

Dating site for creative people

You heard about dating sites for Christians, Jews, single parents.... how about a Dating Site For Creative People? This is a little unique as it's an online community for artists, designers and creative people to promote their work, network with each other and possibly, end up dating in a relationship.Artists Set Up a Portfolio of Your Work, introduce your profile plus you can offer tips and recommendations on good restaurants, cafes, bars for people to mingle and meet each other.

This sounds a little different from the usual dating site, don't you think so? A resourceful place for those who love design/art and at the same time, socialize and exchange ideas with like-minded individuals.

Online hotel booking in Europe

I would love to go on a Europe tour when Clayton is a little bigger. My friend, Janet has been bugging on about visiting her in London and I have heard enough buzz on the shopping scene in Spain, the gourmet food in Italy, the beauty of Paris and the charm of France.

I guess it doesn't hurt to do my research early and excite myself with the attractions and beauty of European sceneries, musuems, architecture and cities. If you are travelling to Europe earlier than me, let Eurobookings.com be your guide and reference. Apparently, the online booking site does not charge any reservation or cancellation fee, neither do you have to pay your hotel bookings in advance.

Search from more than 30,000 hotels in 1,000 locations - you will bound to find something that suits your budget and preference. You can learn more about the cities by browsing through the hotel guide pages, which offer information on food, attractions and events.

Bookmark it for your next Europe holiday.

Wow - what lovely tiles...

My mum just completed her renovation on her kitchen and bathroom and it is looking so good. She has lived in her apartment for 20 odd years and I am so happy for her that she has finally taken the step to remodel her kitchen cabinets and flooring.

Being a meticulous person, she spent a lot of time discussing her plans with the contractor and went through a selection process on cabinet designs and the choice of tiles for the floors. I must say that she was so good at making decisions and liasing with the designer for the job.

If only she hears about Floorbuzz, she will fall in love with the quality tiles the website offers. Besides the Accent glass tiles, the ceramic tiles and the Travertine tiles are perfect to create radiance to the rooms. Best of all, she does not need to worry about water, stains or any spillage - remember what I said earlier - she is a meticulous person.

Well, I would save this reference for my next house remodelling or renovation project since the tiles on the patio are breaking up.

Getting the right contractor for the job

This is a fabulous resource and business idea - matching home owners with the right home improvement contractors for any home renovation or remodelling jobs. Imagine the hassle and stress of finding and selecting a good and reliable contractor who will deliver your job professionally and punctually?

DH and myself dislike any home renovations, whether it's for a minor job of fixing the kitchen cabinets or a broken pipe. Not only is it easy to get a qualified one, it is even tougher getting one who is reliable. What makes me mad is when the job is shoddy and not done properly. This can be a waste of time and money.

That's where OnCallContractors comes in handy. Contractors who are registered with the company are pre-screened which means you can rest assured that the contractors are qualified, licensed and possess good track records. That ease the problem of lousy work and job dissatisfaction. What is good about this service is that you can state your job requirement, select the service you need, get estimates and receive professional guidance throughout your project.

Sounds good, isn't it?

I love being 18 (again)

I'm tagged by Samm and Sesame on this music meme on what I hummed and sang along when I was 18. Somehow, it is nice to drift back a little... but you know what, I miss being 18.

Here’s how this meme works:

1. Go to PopCulture site.
2. Pick the year you turn 18 years old.
3. Get yourself nostalgic over the songs that year.
4. Write something about how those songs afffected you.
5. Pass it on to five more friends.

I don't know why but I don't seem to know most of the those hits on the year when I turned 18 - what's happening??? The one song that seems to bring me some nice memories is "What A Wonderful World* by Louis Armstrong". Here are a few others that I can recognize:

Red Red Wine - UB40 (This song was played in any pub, bar, music shop and retail outlet)
Don't Worry, Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin (I hummed along everytime it was played in the radio)
1 2 3 - Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine (She was hot then!)
Always On My Mind - Pet Shop Boys (The Remix)
Forever Young - Alphaville (One of my favourite bands)
Groovy Kind Of Love - Phil Collins
Faith - George Michael (I love the beat of this song)
Where Do Broken Hearts Go - Whitney Houston (I love Whitney's songs)

The artist I sincerely adored then was George Michael. I thought he was gorgeous, cool and masculine! I love his hair and unshaved look :) For whatever reason, I was never into Miami Sound Machine though I admired the powerful vocal chords of Gloria Estefan.

OK... it's tagging time. My 5 friends go to:
SweetPea
WokkingMum
Ah Pek
Msau
Franco Yong

Introducing a new Web Directory

Hmm.. offer a high bid amount and you end up in the home page of the web directory - that is what Big Web Links Directory is all about. This is a new web directory which offers a new concept to conventional web listing.

Basically, the top 10 bidders will appear in the main page of the directory, followed by the top 20 on the top links page. In other words, if you like to get more awareness and be found on the first page, you just need to offer a higher bid. Your bid can be adjusted accordingly and the results can be seen immediately.

So, like to get listed on first page? Bid high.

Clayton passed Level Two in BaoBei!

Today, DH came back with another update from Clayton's Mandarin class, BaoBei - Clayton had passed Level Two! This piece of news came as a real surprise and I was finding it hard to believe as it wasn't long that he had cleared Level One.

This means that he knows more than 200 Mandarin characters - don't ask me anything more cos' I'm still wondering what are the other 100 characters added to his list.

It's amazing how little minds can absorb and learn like a sponge. Can't wait to get the stack of cards from BaoBei at the end of the month.

*Bao Bei in Mandarin means 'precious' and 'treasure'.. that is the name of the Mandarin class that Clayton goes to.

Check these cool portable hard drives out!

My husband is going to love this! He has been contemplating on buying a portable hard drive to store his e-books, digital videos and internet marketing resources but he is complaining about how boring most of hard drives look.

Not only are these Pexagon Store-It Colors range of portable hard drives convenient, sleek, handy, affordable, they come in 5 trendy colours for your pick. While I find the red one is stunning, I know my husband would prefer the black or metallic silver.

Believe it or not - the 100Gb ones only cost $99 and you can even engraved your logo and name of this cool gadget. Just when my blogging buddies are complaining that I don't feature men's stuff in my shopping blog, this one will be making its way in the wish list for men.

Learn SEO from a Singaporean Geek

My fellow Singaporean blogger friend, who is also residing in Malaysia sure has a lot to teach and share when it comes to Google Page Ranking and Alexa Score. What I find it useful is his post on how we should learn to thank our visitors when they take the time to drop by our blogs. Even it's a simple 'Thank You', it is a nice gesture that goes a long way.

I must say that SEO is more than just links, links and links. It's about putting in the effort to get to know others, learn about a new community, network with other bloggers and building a relationship.

Like to learn more about SEO from the geek himself, check it out here.

Catch the best videos on the Web

Watching short videos in the internet is no longer a novelty. Most of us have heard about Youtube videos and at least watched at least a video from our computer. In fact, some internet marketers have capitalized on this popular media and created much business opportunities out from this new technology.

While I do enjoy some funny videos, there are just too many to browse from with the massive number of submissions everyday at Youtube from all over the world. There is a new site that brings together the funniest, most amazing and best videos in one place which helps save you time from having to watch uninteresting ones. So if you are into online videos, pop over and check it out.

Whats the big deal about gold?

Drifting back to the time when I was a little girl, I loved visiting the goldsmith shop with my mother. While she chose her desired necklace and bracelet, entered into friendly negotiation with the jeweler, I would be scanning through the beautiful jewelries on my own.

At that time, I didn't understand why she invested her money on those goldie stuff til recently, when she showed me her 'well kept' treasures collected over the years, made of chains, bracelets, gold coins and rings. And when I asked her why all these collections, she simple answered, "For investment, the value would increase!"

True enough, buying and selling gold bullion is still a widely popular activity among investors. It is still regarded as a symbol of wealth and prosperity by some, in particular highlight among certain cultures.

In Asia, giving gold on a wedding signifies good fortune and honour to the brides, a common practice among the Indians, Chinese and Malays. Family members, especially the older generation still prefer to offer gold as gifts over paper money. This goes to show that gold is an undying trend much preserved by both the educated and those who aren't. The significance and symbolization outweighs modern trends and movement after all.

Who is the 1st Blogger you met?

Got this tag from my matchmaking and relationship expert, Violet Lim on "Who is the 1st Blogger you met?''

Who is the first blogger you met? The first blogger I met would probably be an 18 year old girl whom I have loved since she was a baby - Evangeline is her name. It's amazing... I used to bring her shopping when she was a girl, bring her to 'kai kai' and jalan jalan and 10 years later (today), she showed me tips on blogging! She is my 'consultant' when I first entered the blogosphere :)

Who is the blogger ‘You Most Want to Meet’? Eh... seriously, I never thought about it. Simply because I'm not that sort who run after celebrities, stars or famous people... maybe, Liz Strauss, if I have to name someone. She's such a smart and knowledgeable blogger.

Who is the ‘I can meet, want to meet, but somehow never got to meet’ blogger? I would say it's Lilian from 5xmom. She was there for the Bloggers Party in KL but I was too late for the registration so didn't make it there. It was through her influence that I'm into PPP.

Who are the group of bloggers that you most want to meet? Group of bloggers? Don't know of any though.. I network with individuals more than groups so... none at this moment.

Do you have any bloggers/blog readers that you would like to meet right now? Lots! I would like to meet Samm, Amy, Violet, Char, Randa, Adam, Sesame, my PayPerPost blogger friends... and many others who visited my blogs and wrote to me!

Ok... let me tag: Samm, Amy and Sesame.

Something for everyone

As always, I'm bringing you another online shopping site for you who loves accessories, artisitic finds, apparel, unique gifts and more! I came across another artist gallery which features quality handcrafted items perfect for gift giving for any occasion.

Being an ardent fan in handmade jewelry, I took fancy in some of the nice beaded bracelets and necklaces. Usually, I would hunt for these things in a flea market or artists' market in a local community so it's nice to find another great site that stocked what I adore.

There are also nice figurines and little sculptures to decorate your living room or office table. Check it out and I'm sure you will find something nice for yourself or a special someone.

Yes, and mother's day is coming too...

My Interview at 5 Minutes for Mom

Hi Mommies,
If you have a blog, website or an online store, you can do a little self promotion by submitting your blog/site/listing at 5 minutes for mom and it costs you nothing. This is a fabulous website that aims to bring moms the best in shopping, blogging, parenting and entertainment.
Check it out now!

The Apprentice Live Teleseminar

If you are into The Apprentice, these names are not strange to your ears: Randal Pinkett, Sean Yazbeck, and Kendra Todd, who have the privilege to work with one of the most popular business tycoon in the world, Donald Trump - you cannot not know who he is!

Tune in the a LIVE teleseminar to hear real stories and experiences from these winning contestants as they share secrets and tips on their 'professional lives'. Trump University Speaker Series presents topics that relate to real estate investing, entrepreneurship, sales and marketing from real life examples. Pick up some tips and strategies from real people. Oh yes, my husband isn't going to miss this!