Juan Or's Picks at the Big Bookshop Warehouse Clearance (10th-19th Feb 2012)

Mommy first know about this warehouse sale from shoppingNsales, then later Mommy got very good recommendation from Small Kucing and My Little Sprouts. At first Mommy was hesitant to go despite the good recommendation because the book cabinets are going to run out of space soon and that Juan Or only seems to show interest for certain books only. But thanks to My Little Sprouts' suggestion that Mommy bring along Juan Or to choose what he likes, yes, Mommy was determined to hunt down the sale!

See the photo above? See how roomy and crowd-less the sale is? Yup, this sale is held at Subang Avenue Shopping Complex, which is just right next to Subang Jaya's Carrefour. Probably not many people are confident of this book sale (even Mommy was not confident at first!) despite seeing the advertisement in newspapers, most likely because there is no indication of which bookstore is organizing this sale, and plus the location seems unfamiliar. Another good news about this venue is that the parking at Subang Avenue itself is free and aplenty!

Juan Or had a good time though walking round and round the maze of display tables. Off and on, Mommy picked a book and asked him whether he's likes the book or not. Only those that he likes (including books of Mommy's interest) will end up in the basket. How's the pricing of the books like? Well, in Mommy's opinion, the prices very much resemble that of the recent Big Bad Wolf book sale. The books are generally priced at RM1, RM2, RM3, RM5, RM6, RM8, RM10, RM15, RM20 and RM25. In fact, certain identical series books that Mommy saw in Big Bad Wolf are priced lower in this sale such as the square-shaped Mickey Mouse Clubhouse storybook - Big Bad Wolf sold it for RM5, but here at RM2 only! Even some hard-covered children's non-fiction books about different countries in the world are sold at only RM3. Too bad, even though Mommy was keen to get them for Juan Or for his future reading, but Juan Or said he doesn't like them, so Mommy dared not take the risk. There are also Ladybird's Peter and Jane books selling for RM7, but Juan Or is also not keen on them.


Here are Juan Or and Mommy's yield, starting from the lowest priced ones. Total damage was RM65.

RM1 each. Dirt cheap!

Each for RM2 only! Dirt cheap too! That is the Mickey Mouse book that is sold more cheaply than in Big Bad Wolf (RM5). The Nightmare books are for Mommy's leisure reading.

RM3 books! The Vikings book is a construction model book to which Juan Or was not interested, but Mommy bought it anyway just in case he becomes interested in it when he is older and since it is so cheap. Only the hard-covered "Wok Cookbook", "Vikings" and "William & Kate" books are Mommy's interest, the rest are Juan Or's picks.

Here are the RM5 books! Imagine buying a university-level textbook ("Medical Dosage Calculations") for only RM5!? Since the price is a steal (although Mommy's area is somewhat related but not Pharmacy though), Mommy decided to grab it anyway, who knows it might be useful in the future. The rest of them are Juan Or's picks - 2 books on choo-choo trains and one is a Scooby-Doo full colour comic book.

Here are the RM8 books - Dr. Seuss books (Mommy's favourites!), known for its repetitive and rhythmical sentences.  At first, Juan Or was not interested in them, but after Mommy read a few lines to him, he became interested. In Mommy's opinion, these hard-covered Dr. Seuss books at RM8 each are cheap because way back in 2007 or 2008, MPH Distributors' Warehouse Sale sold it for RM10 (but not the exact same Dr. Seuss title though). 

By the way, this sale accepts credit cards with minimum purchase of RM30.

Penang Apartments for Rent

It has always been Mommy's dream (and Papa's dream too!) that one day, out of the many Toto bets that Papa normally places on weekends, Papa's bet hits the Jackpot prize! ^_^ If this really happens, then both Papa and Mommy can afford to have super-early retirement and enjoy quality life and quality family time with Juan Or. Quality life and quality family time, for Mommy, means not having to be bound by work schedules and work stress. That means we can go for vacation anytime, anywhere, whenever and for as long as we want to!

One place Mommy has in mind to go for our not-bound-by-time vacation is Penang because Penang is the place that has it all - food adventure, sight-seeing, beach, shopping, educational visits and historical sites. We can possibly rent an apartment there for one or two months to enjoy our vacation whereby it is going to be a relaxed vacation unlike those guided tours which are very hectic. And then while staying in Penang, we can also venture to other vacation places on the northern side such as Langkawi, Alor Star, Wang Kelian and other southern Thai destinations for food adventure and shopping.

Just to have a feel of part of the dream vacation, Mommy decided to make an internet search to see whether there are apartments for rent in Penang and what the price range is like. That is how Mommy stumbled on this Malaysian property website called PropWall Penang. What is interesting about this website is that it offers various kinds of apartments or condominiums (and even houses!) ranging from the economical to the luxurious types, a choice of unfurnished, semi-furnished or fully-furnished types plus those that come with added amenities such as swimming pool, garden, gymnasium and panoramic seaview. The rental price ranges from as low as RM600 to as high as RM5000  per month for condominiums and house rental from RM1600 to RM8000. Of course if Papa wins the jackpot prize, then the rental price of a reasonably luxurious condominium of say RM3000 per month wouldn't be a problem, but if you are a working class person who wants to go for a one-whole-month vacation, then going for one advertised RM700 per month semi-furnished condominium in Sungai Ara, Penang would be a good option. That means paying only RM23.33 a day for one month to enjoy a vacation in Penang instead of paying hotel rates. Not just that, you can even bring along extended family members on vacation without extra cost on accommodation because the condominiums generally have 3 bedrooms.

Hehehe.....now let's just hope Papa hits the jackpot soon, then all this will be a reality. ^_^

Juan Or's First Day at Kindergarten

Mommy knows this is already the 3rd week into school, but shy to say, now only Mommy finds the time to blog about Juan Or's first day at kindy. By the way, as usual, Mommy was really caught up with management matters during the end of the semester and dealing with countless students at the beginning of a new semester in Mommy's workplace. That's why Mommy has not been updating this blog for about one month already.

Juan Or is officially in kindy already! Here he is, ever ready and eager to go to school!

Here he is in his class called "Pre-K" for 4-year-olds. Good thing - no frets and cries from him - probably because he is mentally prepared after Mommy sent him for off and on holiday classes for the whole of 2011.

Mommy enrolled him for the kindy's daycare as well. In the daycare, the typical routine is lunch followed by nap time and then snack time at 4pm. If the child has finished his/her snack and the parent has not come yet, the teachers will guide the child with their homework (if any) until the parent comes to fetch.

According to the daycare's caretaker, Juan Or willingly ate his lunch, only thing is that he will take the spoon ans twirl and twirl and twirl the rice (instead of eating) if he is left to eat by himself. So the caretaker actually spoon fed him, otherwise he will end up 'eating forever'! ^_^ He slept well too during the nap time and ate together (ate by feeding himself) with the other kids during the snack time. In in all, Juan Or seems to be able to adapt himself well with the new environment  Here he is, eating together with his daycare mates.

A close-up pix of him eating....

(surprisingly he ate the jam spread as well instead of just the white bread - very much unlike last time!)


....and him drinking the milk.

Overall, Mommy is very happy and relieved that he adapts himself well both in the kindy and the daycare. :-)



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18th January 2012

This is the 3rd week into his kindy. Just yesterday, Juan Or was not quite himself when Mommy fed him dinner. He seemed withdrawn and kept on rubbing his stomach. So his Papa asked whether other kid punched him or not to which he said yes. So Mommy asked Juan Or whether he punched other kid first or other kid punched him first to which Juan Or could not give a consistent answer. He also could not give a consistent answer when Mommy asked whether the teacher scolded him or scolded the other kid.

So Mommy asked his class teacher, Ms. Ida as to what transpired. According to the teacher, apparently Juan Or and one other boy played rough with each other (i.e. shoving each other roughly) and playing while the teacher was teaching. So the teacher punished both of them by ordering them to stand at the corner of the class for 3 to 4 minutes (time out punishment!) and thereafter the teacher explained to them what wrong did they do. According to the teacher, after the punishment, Juan Or became more silent in class (Feelings of guilt? Or feeling bad ?)  and more mindful of things he shouldn't do in class (which is a good thing to Mommy!). Well, the fact that he couldn't hide his guiltiness at home shows that the time-out punishment has effect on him! ^_^

Of Litt Tak Toys Warehouse Sale and Man-Woman Sexuality

Currently, Litt Tak is holding her toys warehouse sale again (till this Sunday) and Mommy, being a fan of Thomas and Friends toys, is sure to be there.

Sadly this time, although there is variety in the kind of Thomas and Friends toys offered, nevertheless, the kind of price cut offered is by far the worst ever Mommy encountered compared to all other previous Litt Tak warehouse sales. Previously, the warehouse sale prices offered are at least 25% discount, but usually are 30% lower than what you see in Jusco and Toys R'Us. However, the current one is only 10% to 11% cheaper than normal retail.

The only good Thomas and Friends deal this time is the Stanley set, selling for RM60 (normally retailed at RM99.90 and previous Litt Tak sale price was RM75).

Mommy saw another good deal too. It's the Power Rangers figurines, selling for only RM2! So Mommy bought two characters only just for fun, after all Juan Or isn't exactly crazy about Power Rangers.

However, when Juan Or laid his eyes on them, boy was he crazy about Power Rangers to the point of bringing the figurines with him to sleep and no forgetting, showing off the figurines to the other boy whom the babysitter is also taking care of! ^_^


Not just that, when Mommy handed the figurines to Juan Or, Mommy was surprised to hear Juan Or labelling the green one as 'man' and the blue one as 'woman', which is factually correct according to the illustration and labels on the figurines' packaging. As if saying 'man' and 'woman' is not enough, he went on to show that if 'man' and 'woman' are together, they must 'KISS!'

Huh, now Mommy knows where does Juan Or's level of knowledge/perception on man-woman sexuality stand! ^_^

P/S: If you are keen to go to Litt Tak warehouse sale, see the details here.

Spoooooooky Hands!

Come late evening or night, lights have to be switched on in the house. So not too long ago, Juan Or spotted this shadow on the ceiling....

He said it's SPOOOOOOOKY HANDS!


Look here, look there, apparently this is the culprit.....

It's the clothes-hanger stand!

But Mommy knows where he got the idea from. It's from one of his favourite storybook called "The Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree"!