OK, so everyone has gone all quiet on me. FINE. You’ll just have to hear my banter.

I am Chinese, and my parents have brought me up to learn that education is the number 1 thing that will drive your success in life. How many As you get will prove how many Zero’s that follow on in your future income…( 7 As…7 Zeros – 10000000) How well you do depicts how you will do in life. Whether this is true or not, I wasn’t given much room to have an opinion. Anyway…

My parents migrated here so that I would have a better education. IT IS THE PRIMARY reason why we migrated, and I would assume so for many asian migrants. So I can understand when many asian parents expect the school to be EDUCATORs. That is, we are there to learn our ABCs, and 123s. But seriously, tell me that as a kid, all you learnt in school was your ABCs and 123s.

You learn more than your ABCs and 123s at school…heck I know I did anyway… like the birds and the bees…how to socialise (can’t learn that from parents! lol)… how to lead, how to be lead, how to deal with conflict… boys.. girls……etc… etc… and mainly, also How to be me…you. AND I think what newly migrated parents lack in understanding this… Or atleast, they have forgotten, or lost perspective. (Heck, don’t get me wrong on this. Not all ASIANs are like this. I think some Aussie parents think this too but more so a high degree of asian parents think this…Anyway, I speak for myself here so don’t bash me).

Anyway…I remember when Missy A was in Montesorri, and one of the parents kicked up a fuss when asked to be involved in the working bee and to help cut fruit. Her response was “What!? Isn’t that what we pay them for?”. I swear I wanted to bitch-slap her. (note: SHE WASN’T Asian! She was Aussie… just to prove my point above….) LALALA… anyway… Ok, maybe not a good comparison, but this is how I see it.

You send your kids to school and in that 12 hours that your kids are awake, 6 hours of that is at school….which kinda works as 1/2 of your kids life. Is it really SO hard to be involved for some part of it… or are you really more than happy for someone else to be responsible for 1/2 of your kids life???

ANYWAY, I think I digress from THE DISCUSSION. What am I talking about again? I don’t remember!

GAaaH! MY CONCLUSION… I understand why some parents only think that a school is where they are taught their ABCs and 123s, and I understand why they don’t get involved with the school….BUT I just think that IT is a fantastic idea that the school is teaching MY kids the IB PYP Learner Profiles because afterall, the school grounds is an environment in which my kids are going to grow and learn to be who they are and would be in the future AND yes their ABCs and 123s as well.

SO… IF parents think that it is the schools responsibility to teach our kids everything without requiring our involvement because that is the service that they are providing as educators…they need to THINK AGAIN.

Get involved with your schooling community because afterall, it is what’s shaping who your child will be.

NOW, darn it… I think I might have just shot myself in the foot because now MY RESOLUTION to this is that I have to get involved my school’s community.

And here’s some pics for those who have just skipped all my banter just to look at pictures of my life and don’t really care what I think.

Ok, so Missy A’s school holds a monthly craft night where like minded parents meet up and get crafty. My first night we made key fob thingies, which I have to take pics of to show off because its such a handy thing to have, and last week, we make fabric flowers as decorative pieces. Previously, I think they made button hair ties , and printed T-Shirts. Cool huh?

I think so. Anyway.

Other than the crafty get together,  I joined the group for a few reasons…

One is really to make more friends with the school parenting community. Afterall, I will be seeing these faces for the next… 7 years… I should get to know them alittle more than a “Hi, how you doing but I really don’t care to wait for your answer” type of relationship right?

It is an amazing thing how one commonality can bond a group of people, and I have to be honest, that I felt right at home when I first met them. What helped more is that one blogs, and the others read blogs, and well, I was honestly just happy for them to even KNOW what a blog is. SO a special HELLO to my new readers!

Anyway, SECONDLY… I joined yes with the hope that we would ‘click’ BUT hoping that it would be a great excuse to escape my little and BIG terrors so that I could go off for a bitching session about anything…. like … kids… and husbands! Maybe even somewhere in there, have a swag of vodka just to get the conversation happening (hahaha…ok no….).

But  what didn’t occur to me is what MORE I would get out of it. Just last week, I learnt a great deal. The meeting itself sets as a platform to bridge the schooling community and parenting community – afterall, one is a teacher at the school, and another is a PTA member. (Hello again!). We even have a teacher from another school (Hi Hi).

ANYWAY (sorry I digress). What I learnt.

There was THIS DISCUSSION of parent involvement in the kids learning. It was brought up that given our school has a strong ‘cultural’ base (being lotsa asians and indians), parents expectations of the school was primarily to teach them… English and Maths. Education, that’s what its called right? And so, while the school is trying to incorporate and encourage the IB PYP learner profiles for students to be “Inquirers, Communicators, Principled….etc…”, the teacher acknowledged that our current parent community cannot see past that “It is the schools responsibility is to educate the kids, rather than for all that to be brought back home and requiring parents to follow through”.

So here then is the downfall on the system. Parents think that it is the responsibility of the school to teach them everything… and Schools, think that parents need to get involved.

I am chinese, and I was brought up in New Zealand and Australia, so I get both sides. I have an opinion on this but I’d like to throw it in to see what you think….

So stay tuned for my conclusion, and resolution… (still in working progess)… OH and pics of the flowers and key fobs too!

Make LEMONADE! Yes I know, cliche… cliche…

BUT seriously, it is lemon season now, and everyone’s but my lemon tree is in full bloom with golden liquid sour gold bundling off their trees. I tell ya, the neighbours at my parents place have this medium sized lemon tree and it’s got SOOO many lemons. Lumps of yellow hemorrhoids just drooping off… and I bet you they’re just leaving it all there to show off! Grrrr….

Unlike my lovely neighbours, they bagged the lemons, and leave them in a bunch free for people to take. How nice huh? So despite me having a lemon tree… I have no lemons, so I grabbed a bag. Note to self : Write thank you card for lemons to neighbours.

Anyway, so with all our lemons, I thought I’d teach Missy A how to make lemonade – In case she ever wants to set up a lemonade store (random).

Homemade Lemonade Syrup Recipe as adapted from AHandmadeLife

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups water

2 Cups lemon juice

Basically, just put the sugar and water to boil. Then stir in the juice! So simple.

When it came to juicing the lemons, I thought I was going to dislocate my shoulder from all the twisting so as a TIP in juicing the lemons and getting the MAX out of your lemons….cut it length wise…

See all that wastage from the lemon on the left in comparison to the one on the right. OOOohh you say…. go try it . Also I heard that if you stab your lemons a few times, and then nuke it in the microwave for 10 secs, it makes it easier to juice. I was going to try it but cutting them this way was easy enough.

I figured that cutting thing after my 5th lemon… grrrrrrr

Well, I have my lemonade syrup so I’m happy. Into the fridge it goes. I know there’s heaps of sugar in it but at least then you can control the water ratio when you mix it up for the kiddies AND you know for sure what is really in the syrup unlike the stuff you get at the shops that have preservatives, flavouring and colouring… right?

I’ve been trying to document the food us Lee family eat, so stay tuned for a few more of my easy peasy recipes!

And… sorry for the lack of “What I wear each day” because, well I’m sure you probably won’t want to see pictures of me in my 1 week old PJs, and grubby jumper and uggs look. HEY, I have my days too….

Just like my lunch orders, I will soon run out of things to do. SIGH. Well, can’t say that I’m not trying right? Darn kids… why do they have to get bored to quickly!

Today we spent half the day moping around the house… and then had a light bulb moment! It’s 6 degrees outside…. LETS GO SWIMMING!

YES. I booked Missy C in for Creche for the first time and Missy A and I went swimming.

It was a really great opportunity for me to spend one on one time with each other, and it was great because OFCOARSE always after a swim… everyone is HUNGRY. So lunch went down without a fuss. We dropped by to pick up a DVD and set for home.

We’ve started a bit of a vegie patch and herb garden so we also had planned to set up our mushroom box. AND speaking of our herb garden, I swear that there was one night that I thought our neighbours were stealing our herbs!…. or worse…ALIENS!

I went out to pick some parsley one night and discovered this!

ALL OF THEM WERE PICKED! Just their leaves!

I panicked! Called Dave and was totally freaked. I mean, one of or neighbours, not sure who and which one is kind enough to bring in our bin sometimes when I forget while rushing the kids off to school. So I thought, well, thats ok I guess that maybe then they thought that they could help themselves to the herbs as their reward/thank you. I don’t know… but it sure seems alittle invasive. Thats when I got scared. OMG, someone has the guts to go through out gates, walk into our garden and hep themselves. I ran into the house, locked up the doors….

Ok so maybe Dave is a little calmer with this and told me that neighbours wouldn’t do such thing and it COULD be something else. So I googled it. “MISSING PARSLEY” and found a few people with missing parsley due to a…. POSSUM!

Ok, not so scarey anymore. But still very angry.

ANYWAY… we borrowed Bandslam and…BANDSLAM IS AWESOME!! Hahaha… I love kids flicks, and I was a little hesitant because Vanessa from High School Musical is in it…( i find her annoyingly chirpy), but not so much in this movie, and I loved it. Oh and so did the girls . Highly recommend this flick.

Random. I know.

So I am the last minuter. Monday comes and I was searching the internet for things to do. In the end, with the weather crashing down on us… it was all about TIME AT HOME.

Scarey for some parents, but I sure prefer it. OK, we were not at home the whole time but for most of it… and it was fun. So far… so good.

1st Activity: Bunnings Warehouse, FREE Kids activity – Paint your own canvas.
2nd Activity: Grocery shopping for Gingerbread cookies!
3rd Activity: Bake Gingerbread cookies
4th Activity: Decorate cookies!

All smiles from here!

Missy C keeping herself occupied by going through my bag… sigh… She always seems to know how to whip out my credit card… hmmm the force is strong in this one…

Gingerbread man in budgie smuglers!

OOoh we were going to have Roti Canai for dinner and its quite ‘heaty’… so I made Chrysenthemum tea! HAHAHA MY grandmama would be so proud of me! I even added some gei ji (??) and some dates too…

OK so it doesn’t look appetising but IT WAS YUMMY! And Oh I’m so proud of myself for making it! lol…

Every morning, I wake up chuckling. I have my beautiful 5 year old sneak into the room and whisper in my ear…” Can I watch TV?”. SERIOUSLY… How sweet. Everytime now that she wants to watch TV, she actually asks ever since I told her …
“that TV was a privilege, a privilege to earn”…. and its just amazing how well she respects that rule. WEIRD.. and VERY cool. I wonder how long this will last.

ALSO, as I peer in to Missy C’s cot, not only does her smile make me H..H..HAPPY but this…

SERIOUSLY… I LOVE IT!

I am probaly spreading myself too thin, and my older bro has just told me that I should do a few things, and DO THEM GOOD, instead of trying to do everything.

I am a stay at home mum at the moment, and looking at options to… well, contribute to the home loan, or atleast some how contribute to my ‘buying more clothes’ fund.

So the past couple of weeks I’ve been looking to buy an acting business…. which did not work out because we couldn’t see the financial figures of the business, and well, I’d like to think that when you’re going to invest a huge chunk of buckeroosss, and sell half your soul, looking at the business financials is um… ESSENTIAL!

Anyway then I looked at starting an art school. I has a friend friend in M’sia who had an art school, and have been looking to have a good chats with her to see what the possibility for that to happen here. OI! I’m coming down to M’sia for 4 days (??) for “training” so yeh… should meets up yah?? You know who you are ….

But you see that will take alot of my time, and well, there’s a chunky investment there too, setting up a studio, and blah blah when it comes to dealing with kids… so this is still working progress on its viability.

I have another thing I am looking at and slowly starting to build which I may reveal later on. Need to concerntrate and getting that going bfore telling everyone, else, I fall on my ass and everyone knows! Like I care but yeh… just being careful here.

THEN there’s this OTHER thing I am doing… just for fun and see what that can take me. Missy A’s school is having a ‘Mother’s day” fair thing, and I was asked by one of the other parents to set up a table to sell stuff. ARGH if only these people would like me clothes! (NO. bad idea) And then I came up with this…

http://abcdiy.wordpress.com/

Have a look around, and let me know what you thinks.

Each week, I will try to come up with a new idea/pack… that is economical for everyone. BEST of all, its all recyclable!! AND BEST BEST OF ALL… I can do it all at home while Missy C and Oscar chews on my ankles…. g..r…e…a…t….

School has started and I am still in HOLIDAY mode… gawwwwww……

So no pics as I have been rushing out the door, and quite frankly I’ve been lazy. *sorry*

Lunch Idea #13 – Monday: Pork Floss on Sour dough sandwich, dried mangoes, dried apples and Vitawheats

Lunch Idea #14 – Tuesday: Tuna, avocado and tomato dip with rice crackers, Vegemite vitawheat biscuits, dried apple and cranberries

Lunch Idea #15 – Wednesday : Avocado and cream cheese on sourdough sandwich, dried mango and dried apple.

So, slight variations there, and a good use of an avocado. Still sticking with the varied texture which still makes things interesting….. and gives their jaws an exercise not that Missy A needs it OMG she won’t SHUT UP these days!

Apart form lunches, I’ve been busy slowly decorating our little humble home. Here’s one of our walls.

I have been wanting to do this for ages in terms of ’summarising’ our year up where each month has a photo to represent that month and then putting it into a book so we have a collection of every year we have as a family and for the rest of our lives. So if you have a closer look, each frame has a month to it, and i’ve finally printed out up until March. Will wait for the end of April to decide on which pic we will use. I love it! Um… that big BROWN one is well.. June I think. hehehe I ran out of frames and also Js. BARh.. so its special for this year. This is super easy, and cheap too. I bought the frames from Ikea and these were the odd ones from the ‘As Is’ bins so they were even cheaper. Missy A and I painted them up with shiny black paint bought from Bunnings, and then hot glued gun the wood letters that were bought from Riot. I think it all costed up like… $12 for frames, $4 for letters and $4 for paint. *shrug* something like that anyway.

AND here’s a pic to melt your hearts…….

…she thinks its funny when we sneeze!

OK, so what are we up to now… #5??

Lunch Box Idea #5: Avocado sushi, mummy’s b’day cupcake, handful of grapes and Vegiemite Cruskits.

THe sushi was surprisingly easy to make. As I got out of bed, I put 1/2 cup of sushi rice into the rice cooker to cook, and by the time I got breakfast ready, got the girls dressed and organised, the rice was cooked. Then poured in about 1/2 teaspoon of sushi vinegar, mixed it up and spread it onto the skin. Squeezed a line of Japanese mayo in a line, line avocado… then ROLL and cut. FRESH AND REALLY EASY. OTherwise if you are pushed for time, just make the rice the night before and keep it in the fridge. Then in the morning, warm it up in the microwave and roll your sushi!

OKs so you see… I’m not a food photographer but you get the picture….

Lunch Box Idea #6: Chicken Avocado Wrap, croissants and grapes.

Again, so so simple. When you wake up, start up the oven. Bang in the chicken tender (you can find these in most supermarkets), set the timer 15 minutes. Brush teeth, get everyone else ready. When done, microwave the skin for about 15 seconds so that it is soft to work with, slab on mayo, line up avocado, and place the chicken in its place. WRAP and GO!

BTW, it was my b’day on Wednesday, and IT WAS THE BEST B’DAY EVER! Will write more about it over the weekend, but when that post comes up you will probably see that I’m one of the simplest person ever. Or atleast lucky for Dave… very Low Maintenance, and by LOW I mean like McDonalds for Anniversary LOW.

Ok, so every now and then, as a parent you get a few “Get Out Of Jail Free” cards, and today was one of them when it came to Missy A’s school lunch box.

I think that the less often I make sandwiches for her… the more often I could possibly make them during those times when I just… CBF don’t have enough time. Today’s lunch box menu consists of:

Lunch Box Idea #4:

Strawberry Jam sandwich on wholemeal bread, A custard bun (saved from yesterday’s Yum Cha), a few Ritz Crackers, and dried cranberries.

ANOTHER “Get Out of Jail Free” cards, in which I intend to use on those REALLY bad days are… LUNCH ORDERS! But then again, like the game Monopoly, there should really only be two of those cards in the game.

For the REST of the week’s School lunch box Menu:

Lunch Box Idea #5: Avocado sushi handroll and

Lunch Box Idea #6: Homemade quiches….. Hopefully….