PonyTales

I love to plan for holidays and come up with the itinerary. Doing all the research, with the very handy Google is fun and allow me to distract myself from my job (for a while) - can also train my multitasking skill. Sometimes I find it more fun doing the itinerary than the actual holiday, cause in my imagination, the holiday is always perfect

Sunny blue skies, perfect beach, fun games with friends and delicious food

Below is the itinerary I did for my cell group retreat. We have 3 days and 3 nights and we want to do all the things that we can do in:

• Ipoh (land of pretty girls, fat taugeh and delicious chicken flu) 
• Penang (land of assam laksa - spicy sourish rice noodle, char kuay teow - fried flat rice noodle and tau sah peah - mung beans pastry)

Day 1 – 23 Mar (Thu)

Day 2 – 24 Mar (Fri)

Day 3 – 25^th Mar (Sat)

 Day 4 – 26^th Mar (Sun)

Did it happen as planned..well…almost. That is why…the planning is always more fun

There has been quite some changes in my life after I got married. Enough changes to justify that they need to appear in my personal journal

Single - Usually after work I arrive home to a nice home cook dinner by mom.
Married - “What do you wanna eat tonite honey? Mixed rice again ar?”

Single - My clothes are all ready for me when I need them, ironed and folded neatly by my mom. Thanks Mom! I miss you more now…sob….sob…
Married - There are always clothes for me to wash, fold and iron. The backlog will never clear. (Mom warned about this once when I told her I want to get married..keke)

Single - I rarely make my bed (single size only)…excuse…always rushing to work early in the morning
Married - I must know how to make a queen bed + fold the quilt + teach hubby how to make bed + wash and dry bed sheets and all

Single - When I am very sad at times, I will cry in front of all my soft toys (most of it given by hubby, then BF la)
Married - When I am very sad, I cry on hubby shoulder on my queen size bed with air-cond on to cool me down

Single - I did not keep my things properly and when I get home from work. All is back to their places, miracle! (Mom! u r my miracle)
Married - I go around the house picking up newspaper, rubbish and try make sure all dishes is washed before I go to sleep.

Single - I get nagged by mom for sitting at the sofa, watching tv and doing nothing.
Married - I am the one nagging hubby and SIL. Since when I am so like my Mom..Help!!

Single - Positive cashflow during CNY
Married - Negative cashflow during CNY

Single - I help to clean the house only during special occasion and when my mom scold.
Married - I must remember to clean house every weekend, when I last cleaned it and nag everyone in the house about keeping the house clean, even the lizard get scolding from me cause poo poo everywhere.

Single - I have nothing much to do after getting home from work. I will be delighted if friends called and got reason to go out
Married - There are always things to do at home. When friends called to go out…ler…kacau! I want to wash clothes la…

Single - I did not even know when my rubbish bin is emptied and cleaned.
Married - I make sure that I used the correct plastic bag for different rubbish bin and collect all the rubbish together when I cleaned the house, and implement an effective trash management system.

Single - I think about getting married.
Married - I think about having children.

Single - When I spend too much early in the month and have not enough to last until end of the month. I get very worried and embarrased to ask from parents, the money I gave them early in the month.
Married - When I spend too much or did not worked for 3 months, my hubby gave me money to pay my loans and go shopping

Single - I miss my hubby (then BF) when I don’t see him
Married -  I miss my mummy and papa

Single - I usually plan my holiday from the first day until the last day I am not working.
Married - I allocate at least one or half a day to do all the clean up after a holiday. And I try to make sure I clean the house before holiday.

Single - I dare not watch any horror movie at night cause when I go to sleep later, my imagination will run wild….scary…arrrrr
Married - I can watch horror movie at night…no problem, hubby is there…hee hee

Overall, I am still happier and fulfilled being married, at least I know I am more grown up now

As I am writing this, my muscles still aching

Last Sunday, all of us follow Uncle Ong to Sg. Chilling and it is very fun. Crossing rivers, getting lost a bit here and there trying to figure out the path. I guess this is one of the most confusing trek. Thanks to our more experienced friends and the MNS people who guided us the right way to the upper part of the waterfall.

Wow! The waterfall is majestic and as I look at the vertical fall all the way down to the pool (I think at least 20 - 30 feet), my legs become like jelly…scared that if I miss a step while climbing up (because I am clumsy)…I may just fall all the way down (like cartoon). I am just wearing my old and loose sandal at that time, so the grip is not so good as compared to a hiking shoe. But hey! that little girl barely 12 years old wearing a pinkish "barbie" sandal also can hike up ahead of me…I cannot give up…so malu (embarassing).

One thing that always makes me very happy in hiking trips are the people. We might come from different backgrounds, race or country, but in this type of trips, we will always end up helping each other to go to the top or cross over the obstacle. It is a good feeling when someone that we don’t even know their name, extend their hand to help us balance or go up further a few steps. After all of us reach our destination, it is really not much effort at all for us to mingle together and get to know each other better. We already broke the ice while helping each other climb up or cross the river earlier…hee hee

The water in the pool is icy cold, all of us who went in for a swim got goose bumps all over immediately, but it is fun splashing water at each other and the air is sooooooo fresh…all the negative ions (mists) generated by the waterfall is so so refreshing and good for us  
Really felt like a kid again playing water at the pool….carefree and all worries gone.

Hmm…still have no time to download the photos yet, will post up a few shots we took once I got the time…tonite tonite…must do it tonite!

Today’s newspaper was showing some statistics on the yearly percentage of women who are in workforce - going up. It makes me ponder for a while because I also contribute to the statistics. I am wondering whether this will help make it easier for women who are working full time and at the same time, have a family with children to care for. What I mean is whether companies and government will set up some policies based on the women’s interest.

You see…I used to wonder why in sports game and some other stuff, they will set goals or rules that are lighter for women. Like in badminton the game point for women is 11, but for men it is higher (15). But, when it comes to work, women have to work the same hour like men (sometimes longer), and after that need to rush home to wash, clean and care for the kids somemore. That way in long run, women really have to be much stronger and cannot afford to fall sick

I know there are some fortunate ladies who got jobs that gives them flexi hour and can work from home. But, in reality…I think there are only a few lucky ones.

Another option is to look for jobs that are not so demanding, maybe teaching in kindy or tuition for half a day. But women will have to trade off their higher paying job for that, and not to mention the numerous questioning by others on why they wanna let go of their qualifications and experiences.

Well…some may even say that we can explore the possibility of running own business (I personally think this requires more time and effort - at least for 5 years) or just marry a rich guy. But hey! I am talking about the majority of us who are working out there. Juggling between family and career.

It would be really great if one day, there are ‘women friendly’ policies or options such as:

• Women who need to be in office work shorter hour (1-2 hour shorter) so that they have enough time to still cook a healthy meal for the family.
• Working mom given flexibility to work from home if it is really not necessary for them to be in office all the time. Submit work through a web portal.
• Offices have proper nursing room for working mothers (instead of smoking room).

These are only a few that I can think of but I am sure there are many more. I think it is really very important points to consider and can contribute greatly to the social health. Women plays a very crucial role in nurturing a healthy generation for the future. I am not saying that men has a less important role, but women ought to be given more flexibility and options.

I hope if we take the first step now, it is still not too let yet

Count it all joy in all circumstances (at least at most circumstances ).

During difficult times, even the slightest things can hurt or break us. It is very difficult and makes us want to just hit the "game over!" button. But wait, if we just hold on a little longer…just a little longer, we will see joy one day. That is the time when we know the meaning of joy - truly.

If we hike up a mountain, feet tired, sweaty and muscles aching, what can we expect next?
Keep walking and we will see that the path will go downwards, sometimes without realizing it. Even if the path will go up again, we know that every going up, has a coming down until we reach the peak. Once we are at the peak, the feeling is "on top of the world" cause we have reach our destination.

I also came to know that even if our destination is the peak, we also must enjoy the journey. As we climb, there are lots of feelings we experience and lots of things we see. There are times when we will walk alone, feeling scared and lost. There are times when someone catch up with us, and we feel surprised and challenged. There are times when we catch up with a friend ahead of us, and we feel glad and happy.

Do you think life is like climbing many mountains? The more you climb, the better you are at conquering more difficult mountains…

Maybe we have waited quite a while and gone thru many trials…but remember to hang on a little longer to see joy and in all circumstances along the journey, count it all joy!

Yesterday in office, almost everyone is talking about petrol price.

"Take LRT to work la, still cheaper than driving mar"

"If we cycle to work, it is cheapest! can exercise and not pollute the air…Ha! Ha!"

As for me, I am reminded again that my faithful SLK (small little Kelisa) is again not going to cause me to eat less everyday just to pay for its expenses. I am glad I have a small car with less tolerable petrol consumption. Again, I am proud to drive my humble little car around as I still remember its tagline when it was launch about 5 years ago, "Engineered for fun"

Recently, my hubby and me has been feeling a little peer pressure of having a bigger and better car, but we do not really need it at this moment. We have friends who are driving bigger and better (non-local) car than ours. Cannot deny that we felt pity sometimes, but I am still very proud of our SLK. So, I wanna just jot down some little reminders here for me to consider, apart from the one above. In case one day I decide to trade off my faithful SLK for something bigger and better. My SLK has:

• Faithfully serve me without much problem for almost 5 years.
• Never breakdown on the road before.
• Travel to so many places with my hubby and me (Penang, Kota Bharu, Cherating, Ipoh, Melaka and many more)
• No need to spend more than RM500 for service before.
• Protected me without a single scratch in a bad accident with a bigger and better car. (bigger and better car not moving after that, but my SLK can still move ).
• Road tax now cost less than RM40
• Looking for a parking is never really a major issue.

Once, I thought that I could not save enough because my car expenses is very high, but after all the experiences that I have gone through with my SLK, it is worth it all