Some Awards For You

This is a scheduled post. While you are reading this, I'm enjoying myself with my family without the internet.


I wish I could pass this award to everyone in my blogroll and everyone who reads my blog but this time, I have to just choose a few. So, if you don't get any award, please do not feel bad cos I love visiting all your blogs and welcome your visit as well.

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(1) Arte y Pico Award

This award comes from Abby.

The rules of this tag are as follows:

1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4) Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

http://arteypico.blogspot.com/

Make sure you visit the link above.

I'm breaking the rules. I'm only giving this award to one very creative blogger: Trinity. It's all yours, Trin.

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(2) Friendly Blogger Award

This award is from Aunty J.

This award should go to two bloggers whom I think are very friendly. Dora and Sandy, take this home. You deserve this. You always make me feel welcomed in your blog and your visit always warm my heart.

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(3) A Rose Award

This award is from Shireen Loh.



A rose for you, LB, for you to propose to your future bride.

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(4) Sweet Treat Award

This award is from Dora.


There are many blogs which I love to read but there is one which I love visiting. U.Lee, reading your blog is like reading novels. There are so many wonderful and interesting stories in there that I enjoy reading. This award is for you, U. Lee.

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(5) Five Star Blog Award

This one comes from Trinity.


You deserve this, Tammy. You are a fantastic blogger and you are one blogger who receive many awards from all around the globe. Tell me who I should present this award to if not you, Tammy?

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(6) Blogging With A Purpose Award

This is from Trinity.



Wen and Shireen Loh, you got to bring this back with you. I know both of you started your blogs with a purpose and I love visiting your blogs.

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(7) Fantastic Blogger Award

This award comes from Wen.



There are many fantastic bloggers out there but I would just choose a few. The fantastic blogger award goes to:

Ginie - I got your name spelled correctly this time. I feel we are very similar in many ways and I do hope to meet you one day.

Siew Ting - I think you are a genuine blogger and a very kind one too.

Jacss - Do you know what I like about you? Your ability to be direct and straight forward.

Martini - I think we became closer through Love Q. I'm always looking forward to read your answer in Love Q. Other participants are great too, don't you think so?

Gargies - You write pretty well, you know?


PS: Sorry, I didn't link to any of you. I'm short of time!

Mothers

Warning: Long post

When I read Tot’s Mom’s post on whether we should pay our children to do house chores, I knew I would say NO. Let me share with you this story and see whether you agree with me.

A little boy handed his mother a piece of paper with a note that he wrote. The mother took the paper and started reading.

The boy had written in big handwriting:

$2 for washing the dishes.

$1 for making my bed this week.

For running errands, $2 I seek.

$2 for sweeping the floor.

My other friends asked for much more.

$5 for my good report card, Mummy!

Clearing our garden - $3 is due for me.

So Mummy, you can see very clearly, you owe me quite a big sum of money.

The mother looked at him standing there expectantly. A thousand memories flashed through her mind instantly. She picked up the paper and turned it over. The words she wrote would make you think and ponder.

For the 9 months I carried you, growing inside me,

NO CHARGE.

For the nights I sat with you, doctored you, prayed for you,

NO CHARGE.

For the time and the tears and the cost through the years,

NO CHARGE.

For the nights filled with dread, and the worries ahead,

NO CHARGE.

For advice and knowledge and the cost of your College,

NO CHARGE.

For the toys, food and clothes and for wiping your nose,

NO CHARGE.

Son, when you add it all up, the full cost of my LOVE is,

NO CHARGE.

When the boy finished reading, tears welled in his eyes. He realized one lesson in life – Love is PRICELESS.

To his mother, he said, “I sure do love you, mummy. I’m sorry.”

Then he took the pen and in big letters, he wrote

“ALL PAID FULLY.”

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With this, I would like to participate in this meme tagged by Lena, to write out a quote about mothers.

Here’s it:

To a child's ear, "mother" is magic in any language. ~ Arlene Benedict

Share your favorite Mother's Day quotes and place your blog/name right after the piece of artwork.

1. Irresistible Fascinations / Naomi 2. Manna from Heaven/Lena 3.And Life Goes On/Lena 4. It’s All About Play/JO-N 5. Places To Visit, Food To Taste/JO-N 6. Shower Your Children With Love – The Right Way/JO-N 7. Your site name/your name

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Now, let’s dream.

A tag by Wen and Sting on what I really want to do on Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day is meant for mothers. Although I yearn to have some time for myself to indulge in something that I like without the children, it will not be what I really want for Mother’s Day. That will have to wait til another day.

What makes me a mother? Children! Without children, I’m not a mother. So, what I really want to do on Mother’s Day is to spend time with my children as well as my mother. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, movie and shopping, whatever we do and wherever we go, as long as we do it together, I would be very happy. Hugs and kisses, well behaved children, no nagging for a day and a happy look on my mom’s face, are what I wish for.

Don’t hold back. Let it rip! Will you share your Mother’s Day Fantasies on your blog. Then pass it on to other Mothers to share. Lets be silly and let our hair down. Then add your name and blog post url to the list and let it go around. I’ll start with mine. Anyone can participate in this. Just write your blog post and add your name to the list. Its that simple.

1. Mumsgather shares - What I REALLY want to do on Mother’s Day.

2. Kiddos Realm shares

3. Ruth shares

4. Jazzmint shares

5. Chanel shares

6. Karen shares - My Mother's Day Fantasies

7. Lemonjude shares - My Mother's Day Fantasies

8. Sting shares

9. JO-N shares - Mothers

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How about an award for all the great mothers out there to end this post? Received from Janice, Juliana and Trinity. Thanks ladies.

The tags and the award would be passed to: (if you have done it before or have received the award, it's ok and if I missed out anyone of you, do forgive me. This is meant for you too.)

Tammy, Trinity, Kerry, Laskigal, Kellan, Ling, Melissa, Juliana, Shireen, Shireen Loh, Gargies, Chris, Jas, Wen, Chinnee, Miche, Jesslyn, Leah, Huisia, Chooi Ping, Kelly, Jane, Mighty Morphin Mama, Kimmy, Siew Ting, Tot's Mom, Sandy, Elaine, Martini, Jacss, Janice, Ginnie, Sabinem, BP, delittleones, Mumsgather, Constance, Agnes, Chanel, Anggie, Shern's Mom, Lovelymummy, Elina, Deana, Jazzmint, Mom to Chumsy, Hazel, Menchie, Suzette, Kiro, Caramel Corn, Aunty J, Sue and Judy Leese.

The award also goes to a few mothers who have stopped blogging:

Clumsymummy, Stay-at-home mom and Lizzy.

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

House Warming Party

Welcome to my “NEW” virtual home. Well, not exactly new but I have a new layout, new decoration (header) and my very own domain name. How do you like it?

Before the party begins, I would love a favor from you, my buddies. Can you please change my blog’s URL in your blogroll from love4kids.blogspot.com to:

http://www.lovechildrenright.com

Please?

Let the party begins!

Look at the door gifts I prepared for you. There are several designs and colors and I thought of letting you choose but hey, if I were to say "All these are for you. Feel free to take it.", do you think it works for everybody? I really don't want you to return home empty handed, you know? So, I have assigned the door gifts. Just look for your names and that's yours to take home. (Note: you can find the original image of the awards in my sidebar):

Let's start the buffet! There are lots of food over at my dining and traveling blog. Do pick up whatever you wish to eat and enjoy yourselves. Be sure to pick up another door gift there, alright? Here's the ticket to my dining and traveling blog:

Pick Up Ticket (Please click).

Come on, don't go home yet. Let's stay til the end, ok?

Have A Great Weekend

Thank you my dear friends for joining me in the Chap Goh Meh's celebration. For those who are supposed to bring back awards, remember to get the original images from the sidebar of my blog.


For the Forever Friend Award, here's the code.


I have not been reading your posts but I will be back next week to visit your blogs. So, have a great weekend everyone.

Another Valentine's Day?

Today is the 15th day or the last day of Chinese New Year. In Mandarin, it is known as “Yuan Xiau Jie” and in Hokkien, it is known as "Chap Goh Meh".

So, what’s this day all about and how does it come about? There are actually two versions but I’m not so sure which is the right one. Let me share with you both.

First version:

"Chap Goh Meh" or "Yuan Xiau Jie" is regarded as the Chinese Valentine’s Day. If you have missed the February 14th Valentine's Day, don't worry, here's another chance for you to celebrate with your loved ones. This would be a day maidens get excited. They are excited because this would be the day they throw mandarin oranges into the river and hope that some men would pick the oranges up and find them. This is a belief by the Hokkien and there is a saying that goes: “Tim kam, che ho ang” which means “throw orange, find good husband”.

Today, I am going to throw some oranges, oops, I mean, AWARDS.

The first award: Breakout Blogger Award, given to me by Sting and Ling.

So, Healy, Gargies, Delittleones Mummy, Shoppingmum, Kiasumum, Michelle (Mybabybay), Janice, Juliana, Zara & Zaria Mama, Bryan’s Mama, Chanel, Lovely Mummy, Pek Imm, Twin and Yatie, are you ready with your basket or pail or tray or whatever to catch your award?

The second award: You Make My Day Award, given to me by Juliana.

This award is for you, Menchie, Keeyit, Lili, Dora, Kelly, Deana, Jazzmint, Jacss, Hazel, Suzette, Chooi Peng, Msau, Contented Mum, Anggie, Yenny, Siew Ting and Shern's Mom. Reach out and catch it please, all of you deserve this award.

The third award: Forever Friend Award, given to me by Juliana.

This is a cute award that I hope you will like. Are you ready, my friends? Kimmy, Lizzy, Julie, Laskigal, Silvery, Peridot&Sapphire, Sue Sue, Mommadiary, Moonlady, Eagle’s Wings, Agnes, Secret Agent Mama, Melinda, Mummy to Chumsy and Mightymorphinmama, this is for you.

Back to "Chap Goh Meh", here’s the second version, the origin of this celebration, one that I have not heard of previously and one that becomes a bedtime story for my children:

Long ago in China, there lived a girl named Yuan Xiau. She worked in the palace as a maid and made delicious glutinous rice ball. At that time, there was a minister named Dong Fang Shuo who was very smart and was the king’s most trusted minister.

One day, Mr. Dong saw Yuan Xiau crying in the garden and got to know that this girl was home sick. In ancient China, once you are a maid in the palace, you are not supposed to go home. Mr. Dong wanted to help the girl and so, he thought of an idea. He disguised himself as a fortune teller and went to town. People queued up to have their fortune read. Everyone was told the same thing, “Fire on the 15th day of the first month”. They were all shocked and Mr. Dong told them: “The fire god want the town to be burned and on the 13th day of the first month, a lady dressed in red top and green pants would ride a black horse would come by the town. Everyone must kneel down and beg the lady not to burn the town.”

So, on the 13th day, the people saw the lady as described and asked for mercy. The lady said: “The fire god wants me to burn the town but since you beg, take this paper to your king and ask him to think of a way.” Off course, the king called for Mr. Dong. Mr. Dong suggested that everyone would make lanterns and hang them on their doors, play fire crackers and fireworks to make the whole town look like it’s on fire, to deceive the fire god and everybody including the maids should be in the town to make the town crowded with people. He asked the king to pray to the fire god and offer the fire god some glutinous rice ball made by Yuan Xiau.

Mr. Dong’s plan worked. Yuan Xiau saw her parents in town. So, on the 15th day of the first month each year, people celebrate with lanterns, glutinous rice ball, fireworks and fire crackers.

Now, let’s celebrate with some fireworks:

Look at the fireworks in the sky, can you see an award too? The Wise Owl Award, given to me by Melissa. Can you see some names over there? These are the people who deserve The Wise Owl Award.

What about the fire crackers? Listen to the sound and feel the excitement. Look at the award and the names of people who deserve this award. The Excellent Award was presented to me by Ian and now, it's all yours.

Now, let’s have some food. See the little waiter named Trinity, bringing in the glutinous rice ball with an award, You Cheer Me Up Award? Trin, you cheer me up too!

There are many people who cheer me up by frequently visiting my blog or by reading my posts in their reader. Some of them even go to the extent to help me in many ways. This award is for you. Can you see your name? Just below this, can you see?

Here's the last award that Trinity presented to me and I love this award very much. To all my readers and supporters out there, this award is for you. All of you will always have a room in my heart.

Happy Chinese Valentine's Day to all of you. Go out and enjoy yourselves.

Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time, in a land faraway, lived a woman who has a passion which she has not discovered. It took her more than 30 years to find her passion. One day, her buddy introduced her to this world called the blogsphere and she began her journey down this strange place which looked like outer space to her.

When she first started, she had no friends and no support except for her buddy who introduced her to this place. She struggled to learn everything in the blogsphere by visiting each and every stranger she came across.

After some time, she managed to know some friends. Support and help kept pouring in and touched her heart tremendously. This place isn’t so bad after all. People in here are very friendly and helpful. She began to like the place and love what she is doing.

One day, her buddy Chinnee gave her the “Be The Blog Award” which says:

This award is presented to a successful blogger, one who can “be the blog” - making it their own, staying with it, interacting with the readers, and just plain having fun.

It came in as an encouragement to the woman to continue her journey. She thought some of the people she met would deserve this award as well. So, here she is passing this award to The New Parent, Tot’s Mom, Tammy, Melissa and Trinity for their capability to write creative and interesting posts. She really enjoys visiting them and listening to their thoughts and opinions.

While she was hopping around, she met a wonderful woman across the sea named Tammy who presented “Your Blog Is A Treasure Award” to her. She was very