The Standup Egg

Does everybody know that you can actually make an egg to stand up by its own on a specific day and time every year? Yes? No?

My niece took these pictures on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month of the Chinese calendar, aka Dragon Boat Day aka Dumplings Day, or Duan-Wu (in Chinese). She tested it out at 1200 noon sharp and it stood up for about 60 seconds (just enough time for her to dance around and took these 3 photos, LOL!)


Old people said that you will be lucky for the coming year if you can make an egg standing up on this particular day.But young people like us try to look for the scientific explanation(heehee!), such as below:-

The egg can standup easily is because the Dragon Boat Day is close to the summer solstice, which is the longest day of the year. The summer solstice occurs when the Earth's axis tilts the most toward the sun, causing the sun to be farthest north at noon. Sun reaches to the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere on the day of summer solstice. Before sun travels back to the southern hemisphere, it seems as if the sun stands still. When the gravitation between sun and earth are pulled each other to the most, an egg can stand up easier.

Well, this certainly sounds Greek to me, any other easier, more creative and less jargon way to explain this to a 3 year old??

TV commercial of LOVE - so touching!

Share with you two TV ads which are meaningful and touching...

E for Egg, B for Bird, N for Nest

A week ago, when i was just back from work, Kyra pulled me to the garden and showed me something very exciting - a bird nest on a small plant in my garden! There were two tiny eggs inside the nest, and what made us thrilled was who on earth would think there would be a nest built on a small plant in a flower pot!

I didn't manage to snap the photo of the eggs. Frankly, i didn't think the eggs would make it, i mean incubated. Nevertheless i explained to Kyra that the eggs would turn into small birds, the birds would grow bigger and bigger until they are able to fly away - just like her bedtime story for the week "Soar, Eagle Soar". Two days later, the eggs turned into these small creatures.


Due to the heavy pour, one of them didn't make it, leaving the only one struggles hard to live. Today, we saw him resting steadily inside the nest, waiting for his mother to feed him and it has grown lovely black feathers.


Kyra will be busy monitoring its progress and updating me in these few days, and i am not sure how will she react when she finds it fly away and never get back to its nest one day. But one thing i am very sure is she has learnt well on Egg, Bird and Nest after this experience.

Baby or no baby??

Cindy & Kyra (2 mth)

March'09 is "shopping for baby shower gifts" month for me. I spend almost every weekend to shop for the gifts and visit my best friend and ex-colleague and their newborns. And today i came to know my favourite blogger Karen, had delivered her third son, Liam as well (read her story at Karen Cheng's Snippets of Life). Oh, babies!

Kyra will be three in this coming July, and i have been thinking of having a second one. You know, to accompany Kyra so that she won't feel lonely, don't want to spoil her because she's the only child and bla bla...Ok, the truth is i wanted a boy so badly! Ya, ya in term of this, i admitted that i'm a typical old chinese lady with old-fashioned thinking. But don't you think one is too less and two is just perfect (especially it's a boy)?!

So, my question is when do you know it's time for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th baby...?
Do you consider financial factor (nursing care & education), emotional factor (family and sibling's feeling towards the new member), physiological factor (high/low risk of pregnancy, previous complications during giving birth), or you just know it's time and just do it?

For my case, well the biological clock is ticking, i don't want to be a high-risk pregnant lady and needs to go through procedures. I kind of miss the feeling of being pregnant, ya know everyone treat you extra nice, you are responsible to eat good and eat more (with not feeling guilty), you are told to rest more (just leave the house chores to your hubby, haha!) &...

My mother-in-law babysits Kyra for me while i go to work. So, the next question is who will be looking after the second one? I will probably need to hire a helper at home so that she can help my mother-in-law to babysit both of them or one of them will need to be sent to nursery or babysitter. Of course this will incur some costs, and economy is bad now!

I have asked Kyra whether she liked the idea of having sister or brother, her first answer was no. But after visited my friend's newborn baby, she changed her answer to OK. :-) Now, the only person to persuade is my hubby! He once told me that one is enough, and he seems so contented with just Kyra. People said, daughters were fathers' lovers in their past lives, i kind of believe it now...

So, Mommies and Daddies out there, any great advice?

Earth Hour - Malaysia is in the list!

Well, 4 more days to go before we have the global event of Earth Hour 2009, 28th March 2009, 8.30-9.30p.m. Proud thing is Malaysia is officially listed among the participating countries this year.

It will definitely be an amazing experience to see those important landmarks and buildings go dark in the city.Imagine some of the shopping malls, hotels, restaurants,KLCC, KL Tower, Penang Bridge will switch the lights off for that particular meaningful hour, can't wait to see "the scene".

For those who are interested in participating~Vote Earth by switching off the lights, here are some suggestions that you can do during Earth Hour:-

10 Things To Do During Earth Hour

1. Gather family & friends for a night picnic
2. Dine in one of the many Earth Hour participating restaurants by candlelight
3. Organise a family night playing board games
4. Throw an Earth Hour street party with your neighbours
5. Arrange a house party lit by torches
6. Take the dog for a night walk
7. Hand write a letter to loved one by lantern
8. Sit in the dark and share stories
9. Read a book using a book light.
10. Share a romantic night in with your loved one.

Still can't decide whether to vote or not? Watch this commercial, it sure motivates you to do so!

Kyra's new year fashion...

I know Chinese New Year is sooooo OVER. Just want to share with you my little princess mini fashion show...fyi, i only bought her one, the rest were picked and paid by her grandparents :-)

Long Lost Penpal-Found!!!

Gee, it was such a long break since i last updated. Well, there were so many things to blog about since beginning of 2009, mostly work and home stuff, but got so little time to write them down! So, i'm going to write something good as the first 2009 post.

I received a message in my facebook inbox from an unfamiliar sender one day. By the time i finished reading her message, there were tears in my eyes, and they were tears of joy. The message brought back so many sweet memories of my teenage life... it was from a long lost penpal.

I remembered i used to have quite a number of penpals, from all over the world. It was the time my stamp books started to increase :-) and the feeling to see a filled mailbox had never been so great!

I couldn't remember how long have i been penpalling, probably 5-6 years, and then the mails just get lesser and lesser, lesser and lesser...Also couldn't really remember what had kept us from writing, was it studies? exams? boys? parties? ... and finally, people just don't write on papers and get them posted with stamps anymore! And we lost contact!!!Life goes on... study, graduate, work, get married...no time for "pals" who don't meet!

Becky Lowe - Thank You for remembering and searching for me! You took the initiative to search for me through facebook, and Facebook really works wonder!It got us back!!!...after 16 years... now we can continue our 'penpalling' through emails, it sure helps to save us some fortune on the stamps and fancy papers :-)

Becky, you reminded me that friendship never fades away, and this is for you...

Gifts from HK Disneyland

While we took Kyra to Langkawi Island for a short break, her grandma (my mother-in-law, Kyra's full-time nanny) and her aunt were actually having their vacation in Hong Kong at the same time. Ya, ya, grandma went to HK Disneyland while Kyra got to visit some historical and cultural places.

But, she was given so many gifts from her grandma and aunt when they returned. Guess they felt guilty of not bringing her along huh? LOL!


Kyra is Mickey's and Minnie's big fan ( i think practically every kid is their fans). She has a unique way of calling Mickey, it's "Mi-Mao" (without the "key" and the "s" sound of the mouse), kind of cute huh?!


I like this T-shirt, it has almost all famous Disney characters in one shirt, no need to buy several which have only one character each, save $$, haha!


Kyra just came to know this character when her cousin sister passed her a Toy Story VCD. Well, Mr Buzz Lightyear over here is actually a popcorn container!

After pouring out all these presents from the luggage and with Kyra hopping around of joyfulness, my mother-in-law said to me:" You are bringing her to HK Disneyland next year!"

Okay, okay, will consider about it...

Cuti-cuti Malaysia - Part 3

This post is about our last vacation of year 2008. We finally made it as planned to Langkawi Island last weekend. There were several "first" things happened during this trip, to summarize:-

1. First trio trip (Daddy, Mommy & Kyra, we were being accompanied by my mother-in-law in the past few trips)
2. Kyra's first fly experience! (though it was just half an hour flight)
3. Kyra's third visit to an aquarium but first time seeing penguins live!
4. Kyra's first night out at the hotel lounge! (her orange juice cost more than her dad's beer!)
5. Kyra's first time seeing crocodiles live!
6. Kyra's first time splashing water at the pool by her own!

and this is going to be my first long post (in terms of pictures, haha!)

Waiting excitedly for the plane to take off. Mommy, i am scared yet can't wait for the plane to fly!


Phew! We landed safely and Kyra showing no uncomfortableness during the 30 minutes flight. What a relief!


We spent 2 nights at Awana Porto Malai Langkawi Hotel, 4 star hotel with splendid seaview.

A sunrise view from our hotel room.

One of the major activities in Langkawi Island is island hopping and snorkeling. However we excluded this activity as Kyra is still small and can't swim yet. Anyway, we had a great time swimming in the hotel pool.


She used to be quite afraid of water and would hold on me very tight, but this time she just enjoyed playing with water by herself!


Well, we let her have the big, soft, comfy bed during her daytime nap. At night, she was being sandwiched in the middle by hubby and me. I did not sleep well for those two nights as she streched and kicked me most of the time!


It was not the first time Kyra been to an aquarium. Her first visit was to Penang Aquarium ( a small aquarium at hometown), her second was to KLCC Aquaria (world-class) and now The Underwater World Langkawi.

Both mommy and Kyra were so excited to see penguins live!

It took us about thirty minutes drive from our hotel to the Crocodile Farm. Can you see the crocodiles at the back?


We were lucky to reach the farm at the right timing where we got to watch the show and crocodile feeding.

Kyra posing at the Petronas Quay.

Mommy and Kyra posing in front of the giant eagle statue at Dataran Lang.
Kyra:" Mommy, the eagle is not going to fly away?"
Mommy:" No, dear, this is her home."

Daddy and Kyra on their way up to the waterfall at Seven Wells. We didn't manage to climb up to the seven wells (45 minutes of this steepish staircase!), just compromised with the small waterfall in 10 minutes walk.

Kyra posing with her jumbo lollipop.

Kyra's first night out at the hotel lounge. She loved the singing and her drink as well. Her glass of orange juice cost more than her dad's Heineken! (Langkawi Island is a duty free island, beers and liquor is normally cheaper than juices and mineral water, haha!)

Mommy and Kyra posing at the Porto Malai pier.

Daddy and Kyra strolling leisurely at the Porto Malai pier.

Being a "Couch Potato" lately...

I used to be a "couch potato", it's just that i wasn't overweight, and never lied on the couch with a bowl of potato chips :-) I watched all sorts of TV programs and movies: sitcoms, series, game shows, Hong Kong series, Japanese series, Taiwanese series & ...



Then, i started to have lesser and lesser of time to enjoy this~ get married, changed job, pregnant, babysitting and etc etc, spending much of the time in readjusting my life between a happy married woman and a busy working mom.



I couldn't imagine i actually missed out the last two seasons of "Friends", watched only a few episodes of "SATC" and "Desperate Housewives". But recently, i am back to catch up with all those "can't miss" series.



So now, should i finish "Friends" and complete "SATC and "DH"??