My First Time Cold Brewing Tea

I love my tea the way coffee addicts love their coffee. But in all my years of tea-drinking, I've somehow never heard of at-home cold brewing until Tina from Taiwan told me about it today. Haha. So super suaku, right??

See, Tina so very kindly surprise-gifted me two boxes of premium, organic Ali Shan Tea from the cold, foggy mountains of Ali Shan, Taiwan today. 

So, what better time than now

to gave cold-brewing a go!

Ahhhh!!! Loose leaves! 🌱 I love! 😍 I can't wait to see how this turns out. I'm told that this particular Ali Shan tea has a sweet aftertaste and goes down really smoothly. Also, cold brewed tea supposedly contains less caffeine which, I guess, is always a good thing. 👍 

Wanna know how to cold brew your tea? Watch this!

Raising Our Children Near Their Grandparents

One of the major factors that spurred our move back to Penang was the fact that we would be raising the boys near their grandparents. To finally being close enough for them to see my parents and my in-laws often enough to be able to build healthy, strong familial relationships with them.

I think we've achieved that.

We moved out of my in-laws' place and into our own home on 4 January 2020. Even so, the boys still frequently ask for yummy dinners and cousin sleepovers at Ah Kong and Ah Ma's house. They also always ask to visit Kong Kong and Por Por's house to do random fun things like gardening, playing fireworks, or even discussing Pocket Frogs strategies.

16 February 2020 – JJ showing Ah Ma some love one random afternoon.

8 January 2020 – JJ tickling Kong Kong's ear on the way to lunch.

29 September 2019 – Exploring the Penang Botanical Garden with Por Por.

22 November 2019 – JJ and JZ chilling out with Ah Kong after dinner.

Looking back at these pictures while I organise my Google Photos into albums, I really think we did the right thing by coming home. #familymatters #familyfirst

Girls Don't Fart 💨

SOMEONE – we all know who but the WHO didn't wanna admit 👀 – mysteriously farts in the car on the way home from lunch. A super duper smelly fart that makes lunch wanna come back out again. 😷🤢🤮 And so, begins the blame game. I have a family of XYs so I’m usually left out of the equation. For sure innocent ma. 🙆‍♀️ Thing is, today, everyone claimed it wasn’t them. 🤔


The Husband: Then it’s mommy la.

JJ: *immediately* NOOOO! 

The Husband: Yes! 


JJ: *defensively* NO! Mommy doesn’t fart! 

The Husband: *intentionally pushes the issue to rile him up* Yes! I heard before! V-e-r-y loud. And v-e-r-y smelly. 

 JJ: *getting angry* NO!!! Mommy NEVER! EVER! farts!! Right, Mommy???

You're right, Son.

Mommy never ever farts. 🙅‍♀️🙆‍♀️

Clever boy la, you. Sayang! 😘

Vowel Vs Voucher

While driving home from school, JJ says something (which, I cannot-for-the-life-of-me remember now) and I take the opportunity to teach him when to use a long "the" (sounds like "thee") in conversation.


Pam Song: When a word starts with AEIOU, it starts with a vowel. So you say “thee” instead of “thuh”, ok?

JJ: Okay.

Pam Song: What about “The End”? Why do you say “Thee End” instead of “Thuh End”? Because E is a...?

JJ: *confidently* VOUCHER!

😅😂 This may take awhile.

Hands-On Vs Handsome

During JZ's first swimming competition, we hear the principal of the school on the mic, MC-ing the event. It came as a surprise to me la (cos usually this sort of thing is beneath principals) so, I turned to The Husband and made a comment...


Pam Song: Ee chin hands on hor ee. (Hokkien for "He's very hands on, isn't he?")

The Husband: *sits up straight on high alert* HANDSOME???

LOL. Tak korek telinga. Jealous ka dia? 🤣

JZ's 1st Swimming Competition @ POWIIS Dragons Splash & Dash, POWIIS Primary

The Husband and I always thought that JZ was made for racquet sports – he has the build for it, and he's good at it. #knowyourstrengths But when the aquatics department at school sent JZ an invitation to represent the school at a Splash & Dash 25-Meter Swim Meet, the #asianparents in us overruled all manner of logic and sense and said, "SWIMMING?? WHY NOT??" 😂😂😂


So a little under 2 weeks later, we found ourselves poolside, sweating our butts off, cheering our firstborn on during his first swimming competition. 😅

List of names and events.

Eager beaver parents.

Supportive Didi.

...but wait until tired. 😅😂

And there he goes!

JZ in action during his 25m Breast Stroke.

I did it!

He also competed in 25m Freestyle but I didn't get good pictures of that.

My champion.

Actually we have no idea how well he did. I think he tanked his Freestyle and maybe got second place in Breaststroke but... we left right after he completed his turn, and didn't stay till the end. HAHAHA. So... 🤔🤷‍♀️🤭

Freedommmmm!!

Finished my final radiotherapy today. Whoopee!

That's 15 + 5 scar-boost – DONE AND DUSTED!

Radiotherapy wasn't horrible, to be honest. But going to the hospital every morning for a whole month was a real chore. Real scary too, considering how the Wuhan virus outbreak got more and more out of hand as the weeks went by. I personally felt that the hospital wasn't doing quite enough to ensure that everyone – especially the immunocompromised like myself – were truly safe from those carrying any germs but... #MalaysiaisMalaysia la, right? Whatever the case, I'm really looking forward to having a break from visiting the hospital. 2 weeks off! Wheeee!! #letsparty