of platinums and aminals!!

Sara and I have been reading Matilda by Roald Dahl for the past two weeks doing one to two pages nightly but last night we read four pages!!!

We're now at the part where Matilda punishes her father by replacing his hair tonic with her mother's platinum blonde hair dye. Sara can't get over how a little girl can do that to her father! She was kind of in shock as we read that chapter. She kept asking... Is Matilda a good girl or a naughty girl??! I felt bad... I have warped my child!!

And she had difficulty pronouncing platinum ... she kept saying plantimun!! but she has no problems pronouncing animal or anemone..

This morning, as we left for school and work, she declared that the plantimun chapter is the best one yet!! hahaha

Stress Buster!!

God bless girlfriends!!!

The wonderful thing about girlfriends is that they always ALWAYS know when you are sad, stressed, happy and upbeat, mad, raving mad or just need some bubble wrap to burst! A gf sent me this link! So opportune!!

Yesterday wasn't one of my best days. It was one of those heart vs brain thing again. Even Sara's jokes only managed to bring forth a weak smile. In the end she gave up and let me cry for a bit and then bring me to the pool she said!! Going to the pool is always good and but not always convenient and if there are no bubble wraps nearby, here's a good place to burst some virtual ones!!

http://www.therightfoot.net/mystuff/whatever/swf/bubblewrap.swf

confusing words for learners of the Malay language

Sara is still developing her Bahasa Melayu vocabulary... and this morning I let her read some of my Malay work. I asked her to translate a word and she gave the meaning of another but very similiar word. Made me realise how difficult language learning can be. I take BM so for granted, I forget she is still learning it.

This morning it was mengangguk. She thought it meant annoy.

The sentence was Fiza mengangguk. And Sara thought it meant Fiza annoys!

mengangguk - nod
mengganggu - annoy

I guess it's very easy to make that mistake. Another pair that gave Sara (and Noah! when he was expanding his vocab) some confusion is bulat and bulan!

bulat - round
bulan - moon

That reminds me... When Noah was seven, he came back from school with a question. He said, Mummy, What is sugar in Malay? I said, Gula. He pondered and asked, What is Heaven in Malay? I had to smile, because I knew he had Islamic Studies that day and they were probably talking about heaven and all. And his friends proably pronounced syurga (which is Heaven in Malay) with a silent 'r' as a lot of Malays do! Poor Noah!! He had quite a time learning the lingua franca!!

sugar - gula
heaven - syurga
candy - gula-gula

I'm learning French... so far so good... except for the pronunciations! A friend gave me this tip... he said dont say the last letter!! haha!! ok... yay!

Sara the Magazinator

Tuesday, Jul 23 2008, 7.23pm

She entered the car this evening announcing that she was one.

She defines a magazinator as a person who NEEDS (note the emphasis) and LOVES magazines.

Other words she coined to describe herself :

questionator - a person who keeps asking questions

.... hmm, I know there are more but at the moment can't remember any!!!!

Sara the Comedienne

Sara told a few jokes this morning. I was in stitches especially as she told it wearing such an unexpectant expression.

Why do the French like to eat snails? Because they don't like fast food.

Why are sausages rude? Because they spit when you cook them.

What does a lion use to comb its mane? A catacomb.

What is Beethoven's favourite fruit? Ba Na Na Na .... Ba Na Na Na (to the tune of Symphony No.5 - she didnt say it that way, but I knew straightaway, and told her how to say it the next time she told it... she said she's going to tell it at school today)

The Dark Knight

I saw the movie last night. And I saw the box office statistics this morning. I guess darkness, manic characters and depressive sell. I didnt like the movie that much, save for one scene on the ferry, close to midnight. It was too much mutilation and violence and car chases for my taste. I can stand crazy, being almost border-line crazy myself (sometimes ) - (hah, maybe some who know me well would beg to differ), but the over-the-edge crazy that they made the Joker out to be just got on my nerves. When he put the price on the accountant's head... I went... huh? Enough already!! (Heath Ledger's performance? I was impressed!)

My girls and I, Wisma Maxis

Having always been in the park/playground, watching my children play in the water, it was good to have a chance to look at the park from 37 floors up. Finally! We were up there in Wisma Maxis for Iman's interview two weeks ago.
I wanted to go out on the verandah but the doors were locked so these were the only outside pictures I could take.
My two girls! 13 years apart!
Trying to grow my hair as long as Sara's... naah... I prefer wash and go hair.
And the (almost) mandatory food picture...