olympic fever

A week ago we realised that we do not have sports channel on our Astro. Makes no difference to us as we hardly watch TV. Last Friday night, we called Astro to subscribe to the Sports channel. We were informed that we could have the Olympics channel for the two weeks for RM50. Well, why not? No point subscribing the Sports channel as we will not watch TV after Olympics.

Saturday morning, I woke up at 4.10am to watch the opening ceremony!!! Don't think I've ever done this before. Why did I do it? Daniel said there will be cows and sheep. Pastor said James Bond will be there. I had to check it out if it's true or not.

KC, Dan and I sat in front of the TV trying to understand the whole mess that was going on. I could understand it quite well as it was snippets of the British history, tradition, literature etc. After an hour I gave up and went back to sleep while Dan stayed up till morning (he didn't see any cows or sheep and he missed the Malaysian contingent because he dozed off).

Raising the Union Jack. The men in the uniform marched up the pole with the flag. Their marching was not too synchronised.

Later that day, we saw two foreign workers walking to the bus terminal carrying a big box containing a TV. The TV is bigger than ours!!!

Ms Liau's brother asked her to get a bigger TV that weekend. So her family is now watching Olympics on their 47inch TV.

My TV is turned on once we are home. I enjoy beach volleyball, equestrian and badminton. Lyn watches archery and shooting.

We feel so proud whenever we see our Malaysian team. Just like the diving event when we saw the two divers. Though they were at the 8th placing, we felt good to see our country in an international event.

Today we were so proud of our two archers who were competing against each other. They are very good. All the best to Mohd Khairul Annuar.

Interesting how something like this can inject excitement to our otherwise mundane life.

come what may

I met this movie quite by accident. Lots of shows on youtube is just mush but this one really caught my attention. In a world where values are loose and compromise comes easy; this movie has a lot to teach  the teens and young adults.

It's really rare to see a movie that upholds biblical values. The first issue is abortion. I love the way this issue is argued here and at the end of the day....what is my principle on this matter.

Boy girl relationships are so free nowadays. It's amazing to watch a movie that still uphold to the conservative Christian teaching which I learnt when I was a teen. Caleb asked Rachel for a date and she actually told him she won't date a guy unless he is serious and has marriage in mind. She was also taught by the father not to go into the car with him unless chaperoned. Wow....this is really conservative. How many Christian parents will teach their child this today?

Totally recommended to all Christian parents with teenagers and young adults. Fantastic show.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c41N1kAi2E&feature=context-vrec

peter and jane

My kids learnt to read through a variety of books. One of the most effective is Peter and Jane series. Found the set few weeks ago while Ing was here. I have up to Book 6...I think by the time they reached Book 6 they could read lots of other stuff.

Lyn was reading Enid Blyton books at the age of 6. I expected Dan to follow her footsteps but it didn't happen. He didn't enjoy reading as much as Lyn. Enid Blyton was totally out....too girlish for him. So I started buying books related to the animated movies he watched like Pirates of the Carribean etc. Then Geronimo Stilton came into the picture. Now he reads books like 'Hunger Games', the Eragon series and a lot more.

Every holiday we would visit the bookstore to get books for the holiday. For the past few years we had been visiting book fairs. The kids are hooked to books and they are not cheap. It's better than watching TV or going online/playing computer games.

Peter and Jane is one its way to Singapore. I told my nephews to read these books to their boys. So Wesley will have the books first and maybe after that Tristan. Told them that I don't mind having them back one day if they are still in good form. (They are meant to be passed to my grandkids...if I have any).

apple bobbing

I was asked to prepare a game for one of the parties last month. This is one area which I shudder...just don't have the creativity for fun activities like games.

After googling and searching, I could only decide on one game....which I think is simple enough for kids ages 4-11...apple bobbing.

So I went to church school with three new buckets and 30 apples. Filled up the bucket and placed 10 apples in each bucket. I removed the top stem from the apples so as to give the children more challenge. Little did I know that it was such a great challenge to them!!! (Maybe I should have tried it out myself at home to see the level of difficulty).

A few kids stood to the side and screamed to see saliva floating around. Emily kept asking me to change the water. She refused to put her head into the water. I did not of that and insisted they carry on with the game.

 There need to be a technic to doing this...push to apple to the side and try biting it...that's what the kids kept coaching the others.

En Hui was very determined to get an apple and she finally did!

Well, those of us watching had great fun watching and those playing had fun too screaming and being disgusted by the thought of saliva floating around.

American Fritata

American Fritata

Ingredients

·       4 potatoes, peeled and cubed

·       1/2 onions, sliced

·       1 tablespoon vegetable oil

·       8 eggs, beaten

·       3/4 cup cubed ham

·       salt and pepper to taste

·       3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1.     Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2.     In a cast iron skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft.

3.     Stir in eggs, drained potatoes, ham, salt and pepper. Cook until eggs are firm on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Top frittata with shredded cheese and place in preheated oven until cheese is melted and eggs are completely firm, about 10 minutes.