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… to read, write, make jewelry (now retired ) and cook up a storm.

What are your hobbies?

I sing bawl in the car when I’m driving. It helps move the traffic along!

All my kids were reading by age 4. Steev and Raine, my older ones, could read Peter and Jane books by the time they were 3 years old, and Skye around 4. I started late with her because I was too busy with the two older ones. Not an excuse but you know how everything becomes a blur when you work full-time and have 3 kids. But I guess as long they learn to read before they turn 25, they should be okay.

We know we can always count on Steev, our resident movie guy, to whip up some excitement for us girls on a lazy, hazy afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon, he got us all settled in to watch Confessions of a Shopaholic, a movie that Raine couldn’t wait to watch again although she’s watched it with her friends when it first came out.

In a nutshell, if you haven’t watched it or read the book, it’s about a shopaholic, Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) who just can’t resist… shopping… till she runs into a huge credit card debt.

Well, of all people, she ends up writing for a magazine, run by a guy called Luke Brandon (Hugh Dancy), advising women on how to be wary of overspending and landing in debt.

OMG, you can imagine how hilarious it all turned out to be. We were rolling on the floor laughing from start to finish. Rebecca and Luke are both such charming characters and I warmed up to them immediately. She’s beautiful and he’s good-looking and British but thankfully so unlike Robert Pattinson (the white-faced guy from Twilight) whom I find infinitely irritating .

This is definitely one of those movies I’ll want to watch over again. I really hope they make a sequel. I’m tempted to read Confessions of a Shopaholic, the book too which Raine, my bookworm, has read long ago. And… this picture reminds me of the shoe queen I used to be before my kids came along .

Raine and I had a really great brainstorming session last night. Like me, both my girls love to write. I’m glad some of their teachers notice this. Yesterday Raine was asked to submit an article to the school magazine. All afternoon while in the car, she and I were tossing ideas at each other.

Should I write about Twilight, Mom? Everyone’s so crazy about it at school but I think it’s way overrated . Or should I do a book review? How about fashion trends? I sure have a lot to say about, oh, never mind, forget I said that *giggle*.

Come dinner time, she’d finally decided she was going to write about Twilight and we discussed the angle. She showed me the piece later and asked me to proofread it.

Going through a piece together is always a great time for us to bond and discuss the finer points of writing.

I see great potential in my children’s writing. They write very well and I love cheering them on. I was never a cheerleader at school but I swear I’m getting pretty good at it now . Raine was so excited about her piece last night I could almost sense the feverish tingling from across the room. Rah!

We got a note from the guitar teacher that the girls have been moved up to Grade 2 whatever that means. When we signed up, it was supposed to be a fun class, no grading, no tests so this came as quite a surprise.

Anyhow upgrading is great but the fees have gone up too, definitely not so great! I wouldn’t mind the fee increase so much if the teacher would take his job more seriously and have a little more structure in the way he teaches.

He promises to teach the girls one thing next week and when next week comes, he does a totally different thing! At one point, he asked the girls to name some songs they like so we gave him a CD of the girls’ favorite songs. He taught 2 or 3 songs from there without so much as a chord sheet and our CD has never been seen again!!

After the girls practise what he’s taught, he changes the chords of that same song the next week and they have to start over!! I’m no expert but I don’t think that’s any way to teach music. The girls told him they want to learn how to read chords but he says no, just play it by ear. That’s certainly not how I learnt to play the piano so .

He has taught them a number of techniques and I’m pretty happy with that. But his style of teaching sounds awfully unstructured, haphazard even. The girls are confused and losing interest. Frankly I’m confused too. Does anyone know if this is how guitar classes are taught?

I had breakfast with a girl friend this morning. We have breakfast regularly but I haven’t seen her since Chinese New Year. She’s been out of the country, as usual. I really envy her lifestyle. She is a swinging single, recently retired, and she has all the time and money in the world to, you know, see the world.

The economy may be bad, yet she can still afford to jetset regardless of how much air tickets, hotel rates or international travel insurance cost! So travel aside, what else are you up to? I asked her.

Guess what, she’s signed up to do a professional baking course. I’m freakin’ green with envy. Hey, that’s what I want to do! But I’m really happy for her. And for me too . No doubt, it’ll soon be raining cakes and cookies and pastries at my front door!

I’ve been showing up early at the gym this week. Chinese New Year the past two weeks was my excuse for slacking even though I really wasn’t that busy at all.

First thing Wednesday, I jump on the scale at the gym. Not obsessing about my weight. Just curious since I’ve been such a slacker lately .

I peek at the scale just as I feel it sink under my weight. Whoa, 57kg (125lbs)! I jump on the treadmill next to my gym buddy and walk 3km while chatting away. I jump back on the scale after that and it says 56kg. Okay, whatever!

First thing yesterday morning, I hop on the scale and it says 56kg. Three km and an hour-and-a-half later, it says 58kg. Cute! The more I exercise, the fatter I get .