#bolehmyass

There will be no Fab 5 Friday this week. I'm just not in the mood. Instead we will discuss my new favorite hashtag - #bolehmyass.

Here in Malaysia, boleh means "can." Can you give me directions to Timbuktu? Boleh! Can you email me the document? Boleh! Can you fix my electricity issue? Boleh! 

Now, sometimes, things really do happen - documents arrive, reservations get made, directions are correct. But, if you are dealing with a contractor of any sort in this country...Boleh is the equivalent of "Maybe, but not likely, but I'll try...until it's lunchtime...and then maybe I'll be back next Tuesday to try again, but don't plan on it being fixed."

You might remember my washing machine repairman who read the manual - starting at page 1 - as he attempted to find my issue.

My latest problem is the 2nd floor breaker box which keeps flipping off, causing the first floor box to switch off, leaving us with no power. Tuesday some bozo showed up and insisted he had fixed my problem. And for 36 hours he had, until 10:30 Wednesday night - well, you know what happened. No power. 

So Caleb and I slept on the couch (because as long as I leave the power off upstairs, the ground floor will stay on) and Grayson slept in his little sweatbox of a room. 

Sleeping on the couch has left me in a most foul mood and resulted in a Facebok rant with the hashtag #bolehmyass. 

I will now be using this hashtag all the time when I have my "Malaysia moments" - and I encourage my friends to do the same.

#bolehmyass 

My Grama...

My dad called to tell me that my Grama passed away yesterday. We knew it was coming. She had been sick with cancer and recently was in great pain...which none of us wanted. And while you know it's for the best, it still sucks. Cancer sucks.

I wrote this and I'm thankful my brother will read it at my Grama's funeral on Wednesday...I know I never could've read it...it was hard enough to write.

It is not easy to express how much I love my Grama...not easy at all. The last few weeks there has been nothing more that I wanted than to be home with my family, but situations as they are, it was not possible.

But, I have spent the time reminiscing about all the times we spent together...and the times continuously bring a smile to my face.

When I was little, Grama was our number one favorite babysitter. There was no one better to take care of us when mom and dad were going out. I think we probably encouraged my parents to go out so that she could come watch us. Afterall, she never yelled at us…ever! She always had treats for us – Wink soda and Cheetos were amongst my favorite. And we could always count on being up an extra 30 minutes past our bedtime – without a word being said to Mom and Dad.

As I got bigger Grama taught me some important things. Well, they were not the conventional things that you would think of like baking cookies or knitting…people always think of grandmothers teaching grandchildren those types of things. My Grama taught me the importance of the numbers 1-75 and how those numbers correlated to the letters B-I-N-G-O. My Grama loved BINGO and while the love of BINGO skipped a generation with my mom, I LOVED to go to BINGO with Grama. She and I would laugh at the people with their troll dolls and silly good luck charms and we would just roll our eyes when people would yell out “Chicken Legs!’ when the number B11 was called out – because 9 times out of 10 we didn’t even have B11 on our cards and this silly yelling was just wasting time until the next number could be called. And, I was always amazed at how many cards she could keep track of when she played…to me it seemed like dozens. 

My Grama also loved to shop…this I’ve known since I was little and this is a family trait that has been consistently passed down through the generations. When I was young, Saturdays were our shopping day – and it always included lunch at Friendly’s. Always. As I got older, we continued to shop and grab lunch. Last summer I was shopping with my mom and Grama and volunteered to buy lunch for them – maybe someplace nice. But, what do they choose? Hot Dog Charlie’s. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Hot Dog Charlie’s, but they sell hot dogs that are about the size of your pinkie and my mom and Grama spent the next 3 days laughing at “What a big spender” I was for buying them lunch at this fine establishment. I probably should’ve pushed for Panera at the very least, but I’ll always remember the good-natured teasing. 

And lastly, if you want to know how wonderful my Grama was, all I can tell you is that my senior year of college, I spent spring break in Florida – with my Grama. While my roommates were heading off to the craziness of warmer climates, I was heading to Boynton Beach to see her. It was a week full of shopping, BINGO, lots of laughs, breakfasts at the local bagel shop, and cold beer for me and vodka and tonics for her. There was no place I would’ve rather spent my spring break. 

Cicero wrote, “The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.” Rest assured Grama that you have given us a lifetime of fantastic memories. 

 

Fab 5 Friday...

Happy Friday y’all! Another week is coming to an end…and it’s been a much better week. We currently have bank accounts open after last week’s epic fail. (Yes, more than one account…at more than one bank. Lesson learned.) The kids are back into the swing of things at school and are filling their time with homework and sports and all sorts of stuff. Blaine is busy at work and getting ready to head to Penang next week for meetings. And, I’m…well, I’m finding my way again. Back blogging…back at Crossfit…back cooking…the usual.

And, Fab 5 Friday is making its return this week!! Here’s some highlights from the last week!

1.  Stannard’s Goodbye Party.  Now, in no way, shape or form am I happy that the Stannard Family has moved to Brisbane, but the party last week was lots of fun. LOTS! It was a stressful week and Friday night was just fun hanging out at Estilo’s and chatting with good people. Plus, there are just people you know you’ll stay in touch with…and Shannon is one of them. 

2.  Golf with Blaine. Monday had Blaine and I heading out for 18 holes at KGPA in the afternoon. It was a gorgeous, but freakin’ hot day! Yeah, yeah…it’s Malaysia…always hot, lah! Anyways, it’s not like I shot a fabulous round, but I did not end up in the water or in any bunkers and I had a couple of good, legitimate bogeys! I’ll take it!

3.  Book Club. I finally made it to a book club this week. I like the format of the new book club as it’s really more of a sharing of what you’ve read so that you can recommend (or not recommend) your reads to others. I banged out 5 books over the Christmas holiday and enjoyed hearing what everyone else was reading. Of course, since the holidays, I’ve only read about half of a book…need to get better.

4.  Media Team. I’m joining the media team for the Asia Championships. This is a non-sanctioned Crossfit event that will be happening in Asia. Happy to have some writing to do again. I have volunteered to help cover the South Sectionals – which will take place in Brunei and I’m hoping to be able to help at the finals in June. Anyways, I do have an initial article which needs to be written – so I should probably get to it before the boss starts cracking her whip! (Just kidding…she wouldn’t do that!)

5. Friends Coming. Yes, next Saturday, January 31^st, Betsy and Kirk arrive. I am so excited! They will be here for almost 3 weeks and I’m looking forward to having company. It will be so nice to have visitors! I think it will be fun to play tourist in KL while they’re here (heck, there are lots of things on their list that I haven’t done and I’ve been here 18 months), plus, we’ve got a trip to Siem Reap and Melaka thrown in there!

Wishing everyone a great weekend! We’ll be busy chauffeuring our kids to sports and birthday parties this weekend! I’m starting to see why parents look forward to their children becoming licensed drivers!

I have a child...

who drives me absolutely freakin' insane! He is an attention seeking master manipulator and he's using this skill at school.

In December and January I have received 8 calls from the school health office - and I've probably missed a few in there - because my hypochondriac/attention seeking child is in the nurse's office. I can tell you that he is not dying. He is not sick. He's not bleeding. He doesn't even have a freaking paper cut. He either wants out of something they are doing in class or he just loves the attention that the school nurses shower on him or both.

In December when the calls from the school nurse were coming so frequently that I wanted to change my cell number, we had a long talk with him about this...how he was wasting the time of his classroom teacher, the nurse, and the student who walks him down to the nurse. We even made him write apology notes to the teacher and nurse for wasting their time when he truly wasn't sick. We talked about the story of the little boy who cried "Wolf!" and that he needed to be very careful when he went to the nurse because he truly has a medical issues that might need the nurse's attention one day.

And yet again, today, I received a phone call that he was at the nurse because he was coughing. Give me a break! 2 hours ago the kid was running up and down the stairs acting like a maniac - and yeah, he might have coughed once, but it was nothing serious.

So now I am back wondering what I should do? My immediate reaction is to take away his electronics and not allow him to play with his friends for a specified period of time or take away one of the birthday parties he's been invited to this weekend. But, the punishment doesn't seem to fit the crime.

I have threatened. I have pleaded. I have punished. I have praised him for his good qualities. And now, I am open to suggestions. How do I get my child to stop being a frequent flyer at the nurse's office? Please...Tell me!

This Week...

Sorry folks...there will be no Fab 5 Friday today. Why do you ask? Well, let this tell you everything:

No other way to put it. 

It started with our bank back in the States closing all 4 of our accounts. Not freezing - CLOSING. I went online to pay some bills last weekend and there was nothing.

So a panicked call to the 24 hour hotline was absolutely no help except to learn that the money was not missing, we had not been hacked and that we would have to wait until Monday evening for any additional information.

So Blaine went to the office on Monday to find a letter from our bank saying that had decided to "end our banking relationship." No reason why.

Monday night had us finally being able to talk to a person who said that the accounts were closed because I made a mobile deposit - yes, DEPOSIT - from Malaysia. Not a withdrawal - a deposit . Now, 9 times out of 10 I make mobile deposits at home via the VPN, but back in October I made one when I was out and about and that was the one that deemed us as sketchy. No phone calls or emails to ask us about this - just cut us off.

So, this very helpful guy said he would do everything in his power to get our accounts back open, but checks had been mailed for everything in our accounts and the checks were somewhere between Kansas City and  Kuala Lumpur. Fabulous. No open accounts, no money in the States.

And try opening a checking account while you are halfway around the world without a permanent address in the States. You look like a homeless terrorist in the eyes of the banking industry.

Now, I'm going to say, by yesterday afternoon he had our accounts reopened, but our money is still in limbo. And with the help of a good friend of Blaine's, we were able to open a secondary checking account, but it's also empty.

Now, lessons learned this week:

1. Keep a good eye on your accounts. I check most of our accounts every 24-48 hours. Our bank account had been closed within that 48 hour window - it can happen that fast.

2. Do not have all of your accounts at one bank. No matter how great your relationship is with your bank - and we thought ours was great - things can go awry quickly. I will now be sure to have a couple of accounts at a couple of banks all containing a decent sum of cash.

3. Cheetos are my go-to food when I'm stressed. Please ignore the orange fingerprints on my keyboard.

Please think positive thoughts that some checks appear this week - and that we can somehow get them deposited. (Yes, they mailed cashiers checks which need to be presented in person with identification. We'll cross that bridge when the checks arrive!)

1600 Pandas...

The 1600 Pandas MY tour has made it to Publika. Currently there are 1600 papier mache pandas on the main floor of the mall across the street from our house. These pandas are made from recycled materials and are representative of the estimated 1600 pandas which remain in their natural habitat worldwide. They are meant to draw attention to the causes of animal welfare and environmental conservation.

I just couldn't help but grab my camera and snap a few shots of these guys...

 

 

So there they are! They are on display at Publika for about another 10 days...if you live here in KL - you should definitely go check it out!!!

 

Far Away...

Sometimes it is hard to be far away from your family...like when a loved one passes away. Even when you've known it's coming, even when you know it's for the best...it's just not easy.

But, I have lots of great memories...and I love this quote:

I will remember you always Grampa Henry...

Fab 5 Friday...

Poolside greetings from Kota Kinabalu!

I'm attempting to do this blog from my phone - which is not the best way to jot down your thoughts, but I'll see if I can make it work!

That being said, I'm going to keep it brief!

1. Summer Rental House Contract Arrival. The contract for our Glen Lake house arrived this week. Yay! So happy to be heading there for another 6 weeks -  and the kids are ecstatic. Everyone will be happy to see family and friends once again and enjoy all that summer in Upstate New York has to offer.

2. Golf. Had the chance to play my first full round of 18 holes last week. I still suck, but I didn't find myself getting super frustrated and it was fun to play with friends. I start lessons again on Monday and I'm totally looking forward to it. 

3. Books.  I've spent the last 3 weeks reading again...and it's been fantastic. Reading is such an escape...

4. Shangri-la Rasa Ria. That's where I am today. We tagged along on Blaine's business trip to KK again and we've had a relaxing poolside week. Lots of sunshine, the kids have made new friends and we're well-rested.

 

5. School. And, while vacation has been fab, it is time for my kids to go back to school! Come on Monday!! We're all ready for a break from one another.

Okay...back to my book!! Enjoy the weekend!!

Phuket...

I'm going to say that I was a little worried about our trip to Phuket. I was second guessing everything before we left - were we staying at an okay place, were we too far from Patong Beach, was the weather going to be okay, was Phuket too "trashy" to bring my family to? But, I can happily report that we had an AMAZING time! Just fantastic! The kids are already trying to plan a trip back for next Christmas and Blaine and I are thinking we will take a "date weekend" there in May! Perhaps we'll play a little golf since we'll be sans kiddos!

Okay...so here's the scoop on our trip. We stayed at a serviced apartment in Kalim Beach. We really liked having an apartment with a kitchen - which allowed us leisurely breakfasts which we cooked ourselves and a frig full of beverages! It was quite spacious and worked perfectly for us.

That being said, it was a tuk tuk ride into town (Patong) - which cost us 200 baht each time (Blaine is a good negotiator - as most drivers wanted 300 baht). I think it was worth it and we really had no trouble getting cabs or tuk tuks.

We are pretty easy going and went to Phuket with little planned. We hung out at the pool, ate Christmas Eve dinner at Acqua (which was delicious if you are looking for a finer dining experience), did an elephant trek (A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!), did a quad/buggy tour, saw the Big Buddha (Is it terrible to say that I'm getting to the point where I feel that if I've seen one Big Buddha, I've seen them all?!?!), went mini golfing, to the go carts, saw a monkey show, watched Thai boxing (missed seeing Beyoncé and Jay-Z by 2 days), ate Thai food, drank lots of margaritas, had many inexpensive massages, hung out at the beach (many days), haggled with the local vendors, watched the Fantasea show, made friends with Nadia, made many sandcastles, celebrated New Year's Eve at Coyote, lit our paper lantern and watched fireworks.

This was our place in Kalim

 

Christmas Eve with my handsome men at Acqua

Elephant trekking. This was my favorite part of the trip!

Quad tour, Big Buddha, Pad Thai and San Miguel Light

Dinner before boxing at a beach side restaurant in Kalim. The service was excellent!

Thai boxing. There were some good fights that evening. It started with two little boys - probably younger than Grayson - fighting. It was so awesome to see the two boys running around the stadium after their fight - just playing and being little boys!

We met a wonderful Thai woman at the beach who we rented chairs from each day and bought our Singha and sodas from. Everyday we would come and she would have "our spot" all ready for us! I love that Blaine and I opted for no Christmas gifts to each other this year and spent our Christmas money tipping some of our favorite Thai people throughout the week. Tipping is not a regular thing here in Southeast Asia and to see unexpected smiles made our holidays special.

Mini golf was a must! Caleb won that day, but I actually came in second - and I hate mini golf! But, I used it as a chance to work on my putting for the real thing!

Go carts! Grayson was stuck with his slow Mama! (Yes, we got lapped numerous times and I can tell that if we go back no one will want to ride with me!)

This was Grayson's activity choice. I have to admit it was more fun than I thought it would be!

Lots of interaction with the silly critters!

So thankful that my kids appreciate the inexpensive foot massages!

 

Patong Beach - and the site of many sand castles! (And topless women and banana hammocks - which all led to many funny conversations!)

Henna tattoos, Nadia and more sand castles

New Year's Eve! Loved lighting our lantern! There were hundreds in the sky that evening. It was a beautiful way to send away your worries and wish for good things in the upcoming year.

 

No pictures from the Fantasea show as cameras were not allowed, but we did really enjoy the acrobatics, elephants and dancing. It was definitely a nice way to spend an evening.

And I think that's it! We were going to do the boat trip to Phi Phi Island, but with Blaine's knee not 100% we didn't want to have him climbing in and out of a boat since there would be no real docks. We'll save that for next time!

I hope 2015 is treating everyone well so far! School starts back up next week and then we'll jump back to our normal routine! Or, somewhat normal routine!