I wake up to the singing of birds outside my bedroom window. How sweet is that, considering we live in the city and all! The girls and I dally for a while before heading to McD for a leisurely breakfast, a mini girls’ day out .

Then we drop Raine off at her class, and Skye and I head home, just the two of us. It’s really nice having my baby all to myself for a couple of hours. Later we pick up Raine and we’re singing all the way home.

I love days like this. It’s stifling hot out. The air is still. The house is quiet, save the whirring of the fan above and the occasional singing from the girls’ room. Wait, I think I hear the flowers giggle!

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Can’t think what to write . Guess those bananas didn’t help, huh? Skye told me they’re brain food so I thought surely they will send a blog idea straight to me…. *waiting*

Currently… “I gotta feeling” by Black-eyed Peas.

Used to be… “Isn’t a wonder?” by Boyzone.

So there I was at the grocery checkout line with the kids. It’s Saturday and the express line is long. Suddenly the guy behind us lets out a cough, then another. All four of us jumped. Eww!

It was almost like he’d opened a can of germs and waved it in the air. OMG! Instantly my 3 kids left the line and walked outside without me telling them (I’ve trained them well ) while I held my breath. I swear if the cashier had gotten to me a few seconds later, I’d have turned blue in the face and passed out right there!

Dang these people. Why can’t they cough into a tissue or just stay home? Because of this, I’m darned uncomfortable about going anywhere these days. There are so many kids coughing and sneezing in school as well and their parents are still sending them in!

We’re told to keep washing our hands as a precaution. Yes but it depends on where you are. If you’re in the cinema, what good would it do to keep washing your hands ? I mean, it’s spread through contact, yes and it’s airborne as well. All it takes is for someone to sneeze or cough, and there you have it! Duh!

I was so inspired after visiting Great Aunt at the nursing home where she now lives after her fall. Rarely is there such a fiesty and beautiful 89-year-old as my great aunt. In her younger days, she was a raving beauty. I’ve seen her black and white photo, taken wa-ay wa-ay before Photoshop, that bears testimony to her movie star looks.

Even at her age now, she sports a tuft of white punk hair and is slim and trim. As if her looks aren’t enough, she speaks fluent English (she’s English-educated like most of our family) and has the brains to go along with it.

She was her usual chatty self, thrilled at the sight of my kids and asking each in turn how they’re doing in school. She likes to keep herself updated and she usually has some motivational advice to dish out after hearing us out.

Of course, me being the proud mommy, I couldn’t help boasting about Steev being a good public speaker. Moms have a license to boast, okay ? Great Aunt was positively beaming with pride. After all, she watched my kids grow from the time they were babies.

Eager to dish out some public speaking tips to Steev, she leapt to her feet in a single bound from her sitting position on her bed and holding onto her walker, she proceeded to demonstrate how he should stand and make eye contact with his audience. I was like man, just look at her , she’s simply amazing!

Then she noticed Steev was wearing a t-shirt with words on it. She signaled him to lean closer and she rattled off the words on his shirt – I make everything look easy! Hahaha, I really salute this grand old lady. She’s somethin’ else. She’s truly inspirational. She’s an 89-year-old that everyone would be proud to be!

My bestest girl friend in the world swears she’ll never date someone who’s a vegetarian. Not even if he’s tall, dark and good-looking and has a house on a ranch in the San Fernando Valley which he built with his own two hands?

Me: No? Wait a minute, what are you saying? He’s a really nice guy and I can see he really likes you.

She: Uh-uh, I gotta have my meat, meat, MEAT *growl*! If I don’t have meat, I might just kill somebody, gawd! You know how I love to go out and have a nice filet mignon once in a while.

At any rate, we drove up to see his house one weekend. Beautiful ranch, beautiful house, beautiful view… until he started serving us bowls of salad and bird seed for lunch.

My poor girl friend took one look at “lunch” and turned to me with her evil eye when he wasn’t looking.

And I don’t blame her. To be completely honest, I can’t say I’m into bird seed either ! I mean, just looking at them makes me wonder how much I’d have to eat to get my growling tummy to shut up!

So yeah, I can totally see her going, um, I think I’ll have the grilled bird seed with mushroom sauce, medium rare please!! If she were to ever date him, she’d never, ever need anything that even vaguely resembles an appetite suppressant ever, that’s for sure! Just the sight of those bird seeds will make her thin .

I’ve just had my breakfast of homemade kopitiam kaya toast (coconut jam toast served in traditional coffee shops) except mine is butter toast. No kaya since it contains eggs which isn’t vegetarian.

Ah, that feels so good, I’m feeling all fat and buttery now ! Hopefully that’ll help make up for the 1.5kg (3.3 lbs) I lost from staying off meat for just one week. And this is only the first week! Dang, I was hoping not to lose any weight… honestly !

I guess this is what makes the world go round. Those who want to lose weight can’t seem to keep the pounds off. Those who have dark hair want to be blond. When you need to get some place quick, all the lights are red .

I’ve just had my very simple lunch and I’m happy. But that happiness is only temporary and will only last till I’m hungry again . While munching my lunch, I was watching a video by Ajahn Brahm, my favorite Buddhist monk, about how to overcome suffering and find true happiness.

He’s an amazing speaker with lots of humorous and insightful stories to tell, that’s why I love going to his talks when he comes to town. He gives talks all over the world so it’s hard to catch him. Well, in this video, he says happiness can be found not in your ancestry dna or by having carloads of money, but in places where many people never think to look.

I’m watching this video for the second time because I find it very enlightening. This is not a religious video, though Ajahn Brahm is a Buddhist monk, so even if you’re not a Buddhist, this video is still safe to watch, I promise .

The beauty of Buddhism is that it offers practical views that can be applied to our everyday lives and modern lifestyles. I think this is the main attraction for many people in the West, including celebs like Richard Gere, Tina Turner, Orlando Bloom, Steven Seagal, Keanu Reeves and Tiger Woods, who are embracing Buddhism. My kids think it’s really cool that so many of their favorite rock and movie stars are Buddhists too .