So we have finished our Gymboree sessions, and I haven’t gotten round to finding some other classes for Keira to attend.

Mainly because it is getting too tiring for me to take her to do active stuff, and also in one month’s time we will be going to Melbourne, so no point starting anything right? (Says lazy me).

But also my parents are coming to stay with us in 2 weeks time, so plenty of things for Keira to do with gong gong and po po!

In the meantime, I am trying to think of some interesting activities for Keira to do at home. Like finger painting:)

So far she has never really expressed an interest in art. I give her crayons, and she might doodle a few chicken scratches, and that’s it, no more interest. She prefers if I do the drawing… “Mummy, draw Mickey Mouse!… Draw Minnie Mouse…. Draw Daddy!” etc etc and etc….

But since she has never really been exposed to paints before, I thought I should let her try it.

I looked online for some home made finger paint recipes, and found lots to choose from… very easy to make!

This is the recipe I used… everything is edible, so safe for kids, you could even eat it!

Cornstarch Finger Paint

2 cups boiling water
1 and 1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup cornflour
2 tablespoons unflavored gelatine
blue, red and yellow food coloring

Directions:

1) Stir gelatine into 1/2 cup of cold water and set aside.
2) Mix cornstarch into the rest of the cold water (3/4 cup) and stir until a smooth paste. Slowly pour the boiling water over the paste mixture and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly.
3) Once the mixture becomes bubbly from boiling and clear, remove from heat.
4) Stir in the gelatine mixture.
5) Cool and divide into portions. Add colors to each portion.
6) Keep refrigerated.

So one fine day, Keira and I made our own paints and then did some finger painting

Here’s the paint mixture all cooked and waiting for the colouring to be added in:

Here’s Keira “helping” me stir in the food colouring:

And the finished products!

So bright and colourful! I bought three bottles of food colouring, blue, yellow and red, and then you know la, mix the colours to get green, purple, orange:)

Doing the painting… Keira’s first piece of artwork:)

She enjoyed it while I was painting with her, but once I left to cook dinner, she also lost interest… This girl! She’s so obviously a people person, always needs companionship. Buy anyway, it is a fun activity for me to do with her, and it’s good to give her new experiences hey

We’ve been doing some interesting things the past few days with my brother around.

Starting with Bath on Friday, we went to watch Pygmalion - the original stage version of “My Fair Lady” on Saturday - very funny! And on Sunday, we saw Iron Man (while Uncle KW babysat ) and also checked out the telectroscope.

The telectroscope is a giant telescope that tunnels through the earth all the way between London and New York. When you look in one end, you see New York on the other side.

That’s what the artist wants you to think anyway.

What it really is is a huge sculpture set up with LCD screens and cable broadband that allows you to see New Yorkers live standing in front of their telectroscope and vice versa.

Basically, as CY put it, like Skype, but without sound. (Thanks for ruining the magic.)

Anyway, I’m easily impressed by this sort of thing, so off we went. Keira got her own seat on the train on the way there. Hehe.

The scope is set up in front of London’s Tower Bridge and the New York one is in front of Brooklyn Bridge.

We had to line up about half an hour for our turn to look thru the telescope. But I got a cheap thrill out of it and Keira had fun banging on the glass.

The screen was crystal clear and there was no jerkiness in the transmission, so it did seem as if we were seeing the actual people on the other side.

The design and concept of it is like something out of a Jules Verne story. I like the steam punk look.

Here you can just about see the New York side at the far end of the scope. CY and Tower Bridge are reflected.

To communicate, people used a white board to write messages to each other. Like “Jump if you read this.” or “Hello, New York, vote Obama!” or “Red Sox suck!” Seriously, that’s what they wrote.

Most of us just waved. It was fun.

Gap had a sale recently and since Keira is outgrowing her clothes again I had good reason to go shopping

I can’t afford Gap for myself, and I don’t really like their clothes also…too plain for my tastes. But their kids clothes are alright. And a sale makes it even more alright!

Here’s a long sleeved babysuit I got for 5 pounds.

and baby overalls also 5 pounds.

I can’t wait to buy more summer clothes for the bubster. Mothercare has a whole new range of cute t-shirts and pretty dresses. hehehe.

I finally had to get steroid cream for her eczema cos it wasn’t going away with normal cream. The steroid cream really is more effective. Clear reduction in one day and she’s looking better already.

I did go shopping for myself recently as well. Bought a top and a dress from Camden Market. Cheap, cheap. Here’s the 9 pound top. I really like the half modern, half oriental design.

Camden market has lots and lots of clothes, jewellery and accessories stalls, and they specialise in alternative designer fashions as well as touristy stuff. I believe I bought the touristy stuff but what the heck, I am a tourist.

This video won the 2007 Youtube award under the Eyewitness category.

A baby buffalo is attacked by a group of lions and crocodiles at the same time and survives. Absolutely amazing! It’s the type of thing that will inspire a Walt Disney animation. It’s the next Lion King!

I can’t get over how it ends. Incredible. Click here to see it, if you haven’t seen it already!

I am a sucker for novelty items with your name here printed on.

You won’t believe how many stickers, photos and silly items I have had customised with my name on, all now lost, gone or disappeared.

But obviously I haven’t kicked the habit because I bought this cup yesterday.

I can now indulge myself by buying things with Keira’s name on it!

How cool is that cup? That’s one advantage of having an English name hey. Pity she can’t read yet.

It’s going to be her toy until she’s old enough to drink out of it… if it isn’t lost, gone or disappeared by then.

Last Thursday Keira received a cool present from Auntie HP. A Fisher Price Rainforest Bouncer, and she loves it!

The bouncer plays all kinds of rainforest sounds and baby tunes, it has flashing lights and cute animals popping around, it vibrates and it bounces. So fun.

The first time I put Keira in and turned on the vibration, she fell asleep in it immediately. That was amazing.

Right now she’s just lying there smiling at the air and enjoying the vibrations. It is like a baby massage for her.

Here she is fascinated by the music and animation, and also the camera

And here she is having a snooze with the big toy mouse ah gong and ah ma gave.

Thanks alot HP!

So, my first movie since Keira arrived, and Keira’s very first movie ever is Stardust.

Thanks to the Odeon’s parent and baby morning movie session, and the fact that we live just down the road, I managed to hop over with Keira and enjoy myself for two hours, in a theatre full of babies, and at least two crying all the time! Luckily Keira wasn’t one of them because she’s a happy baby as long as she is being carried. hai…

I enjoyed Stardust. Tristan, the hero really cleans up well It is a romantic and adventurous fairytale of a fantasy movie and was well put together.

There’s evil witches, scheming princes, rollicking pirates and a handsome hero - all trying to get their hands on a fallen star - great fun! And a fitting first movie for us

One night, as I was closing our front windows before going to bed, got a bit of a shock when I saw this big kitty dead to the world snoozing on our car bonnet.

Maybe it likes the warmth of the engine - just like sleeping on an electric blanket. hehe. The cat really was having a nice nap. It didn’t wake up as I took pictures, even when I accidentally left the flash on.

Didn’t have the heart to wake it and shoo it away. He looked so confortable there

Yay! I got my new phone over the weekend! And I’ve gone PINK! Pretty Rose Pink. Hehehehe.

One of the coolest things about the phone is that when not in use, the cover (the top of the clam shell) stays blank and shiny but when someone calls/message received or when I want to check the time, the LCD screen underneath makes the text appear on the surface! See previous post for how that looks.

Another cool thing is the video call function. I can see myself and supposedly the other person’s face on the screen… if my MAXIS 3G worked that is!

Very frustrating, tried activating it all day yesterday with numerous calls to the customer service people. and it didn’t work.. grragh.

Otherwise have copied all my favourite songs into the phone, tried out the bluetooth and used the camera and video camera. all cool

CY had his company dinner last Saturday - the theme was a Masquerade Ball at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, including a night’s stay at the new Traders Hotel (which is connected to the convention center).

At first we thought we would just go for the dinner and go home afterwards so that we wouldn’t have to pack and all. But then decided to go ahead and stay at the Hotel - (after all it was free included in the event). Man, were we glad we decided to stay. Traders Hotel is really nice!

It is only a few months old and it looks super modern and new. The interior design is all shiny marble and clear glass mixed with modern zen/asian textures and elements. The staff, while I think are still learning and inexperienced were warm and friendly.

The room we got came with the now standard plasma screen TV that all new hotels seem to have, comfortable lounge and sofa and a beautifully lit bathroom - with a clever glass sliding door, open shower and bathtub arrangement.

But one of the best things about our room was this:

Do you see what’s outside the window? Full on unobstructed view of the twin towers. Man that was fantastic. Thank god we brought the camera, because the next morning we managed to take photos that look like this:

Best view I’ve ever had of the towers.

Have been shopping for a new phone lately and i’m getting very exited after seeing all the beautiful choices out there. What I’m looking for in a new phone:

And Santa, i think i’ve found the one i want.

The Sony Ericsson Z610i, satisfies all my requirements, and adds on a few more features which will be useful:

- USB connectivity (can even charge the phone via USB!) that’s good..
- and 3G (with a video camera for video phoning)

The drawback for me is that I don’t plan to use 3G, so I’ll be paying for something i don’t want. However, I haven’t come across other phones that completely 100% satisfy my wishlist so far, besides this one.

Reviews of the phone say it is a good all-in-one phone - the main drawback being that the shiny surface is prone to scratches and fingerprint smudges. And it doesn’t have FM Radio.

But I’m willing to accept these little negatives for this:

My only decision now is pink or blue?

My ex-colleague is a producer and left about a year+ ago to make his own movie. You might have read about it in the papers, it was promoted as Malaysia’s first chinese horror movie, with appearances from Amber Chia and Vick (Malaysian Idol 1) - and main actors Alvin Wong (Realiti) and Wong Tze Zen (Miss Malaysia World 2003/2004).

He was looking for some extras one day, so i volunteered. hehehehe

1 second of fame… This is the closest I’ll be coming to having a kid for quite awhile ok?

The movie is coming out on 28 December 2006. Do go watch it at the cinemas

This gift idea makes me giggle and cringe at the same time.. Who would have thought of it? For people who love their daily sudoku, and who are bored wasting time on the “throne”, this is the ultimate solution - sudoku puzzles on your toilet paper!

Urgh, do you still use it after you’ve completed the puzzle?

Oh, but also from the same site (iwantoneofthose.com), I’d like to have one of these:

Mukka Express, Cappucino in an instant. It is a stove-top cappuccino maker. And really easy to use. As the copy goes: “..simply add good coffee, milk and water and in a matter of minutes you’ll have a frothy and steaming cappuccino at your fingertips.”

And this is cool too!

A big, huge bean bag, called the FatBoy, can be relied on to give you squishy comfort in every position. hehe.

Hmm, i think i’m starting to enjoy online “window” shopping…