by Penny on November 1, 2009
After more than a year of toying with the idea in my head and more recently making it a target to achieve, I’ve finally done it – leaving my job. Decided to bite the bullet and just go for it. There is someone that I need to thank for pushing me hard enough to keep bringing the date forward in biting the bullet!
So how do I feel? Great, really. I think of all the things I can do, all the things that I will have time for, and most importantly the time that I can have with Ryan. I may not have all these in the short term, but not long from now I will have it all. Short term pain, long term gain. I think this is my fastest way to the freedom that I want than the conventional way of making a living.
At the moment I’m still on top of the world from my action. Would I feel regret and maybe even the pain of biting the bullet too soon? Well I don’t think so. No regrets and if I ever have that pain from biting the bullet too hard, just fix an appointment with the dentist la! 
For all I know, it doesn’t even have to be a local dentist, I could find that long time friend who’s a Plano dentist! 
Although many think that the path is somewhat uncertain ahead of me, it’s alright. I never expected a smooth sailing one anyway. I just need the right support, effort and know what I am doing. I believe I have all that going for me, thanks to all the wonderful, supportive and positive people around me.
So wish me luck and if you too want to take this path, do it. If you don’t know how to begin, come talk to me! 
by Penny on October 28, 2009
Yes, that’s how Ryan gets my attention sometimes. I don’t know where he learned the term “son” from. He knows “sun” because of the Golden Sun song from his Barney shows, but I didn’t know he understood what a “son” is. In any case, it’s been very entertaining since he learned how to use it. One minute it’s “Mummy, what’s your son doing?” and another minute it’s “Mummy, your son wants to kick the ball!”. I get thrilled each time he speaks like that. Well, maybe for now.
He’s also getting more and more independent. Sometimes up to the point that he cries and insists on doing something himself. He even refuses help from us in any way, until he really can’t do what he thought he could. I don’t get it. Is this a phase they go through to make a point to us that they’re growing up? It seems like just yesterday that he was a helpless little baby!
But in any case, I do think it’s good development that he learns to do things for himself. Maybe I’ve been too protective and always think that he’s not capable yet to do this and that. But children these days tend to prove us wrong by being independent earlier and are also smarter compared to our time, don’t you think so?
The fact that he’s growing so fast has reinforced in me that I’ve made the right decision to bring forward the plan to be a work from home mum (read my previous post here). At least I will have some flexibility of time to watch his growing years. I don’t want to look back years from now and say “My God, my son now has his own road tax and car insurance! Wasn’t he just a baby who can’t even crawl, let alone drive now?!”
I’m sure you cherish those years watching your children grow too. Wonderful times, yes?
by Penny on October 24, 2009
Years back before I was married, I was a rather ambitious person in terms of work. Then when baby Ryan came along, maternal instinct kicked in and my ambition at work was quickly shifted to an ambition of being a stay-at-home mummy.
Then from wanting to be a stay-at-home mummy, my direction changed again to being a work-from-home mummy. I figured I can’t stay home and just look after the kiddo and do housework. I won’t be happy with that. So working from home was the next best thing and believe me, I’ve been cracking my head hard on this one, thinking how and what I can do to be a work-from-home mum.
That’s when I started toying with the idea of starting a fashion blog shop some 5 months back. I’ve no regrets although it’s a lot of hard work and late nights, because I enjoy doing it. I think I not only lost a lot of sleep over it, I lost some weight too, managing the A to Z of the business. Friends have been asking if I’ve been on diet pills!
But for what it’s worth, I’m truly happy doing this and of course I’m also reaping the rewards of being in business, albeit a very small one. But I believe given more time, and as long as I don’t give up and go after it with the same passion I have, I will continue to do well if not better.
Not long after I started the blog shop, I soon toyed with another business idea. Although this one will take me way out of my comfort zone, I feel that the rewards are too handsome to pass up and if I can just grit my teeth and go for it, there will be no turning back. That’s when I started gaining lots of momentum in motivation as well as some action.
Continue reading →
by Penny on October 19, 2009
I have wanted to start Ryan on swimming some months ago, but all I did was talk and talk and talk and then came the H1N1 and I chickened out bringing him to a public pool. But we did buy him his swimsuit, and it waited patiently to be worn. Then some weeks back the grandma bought him one of those play pools that we could use at home.
We decided to let him have his first swimming experience in that little pool last weekend. It’s a very small one, but just nice to fit him into it with lots of his “toy friends” to play with.
He was very excited about it and willingly let his daddy change him into the swimsuit. But when it came time to go into the pool, he insisted that he wanted to remove the suit! There was no way we could get him into the pool with the suit on as he kept struggling to get out.
In the end we had to explain to him that the suit was meant to get wet and he HAD to wear something to swim. He still refused and made us take it off. We let him sit naked in the pool for a bit and then forced a t-shirt on him. But I was still uncomfortable with him being half naked in there so it was through more persuasions that we managed to get him back into the suit.
But even then, he was really funny. He refused to sit in the pool. He kept standing, possibly to avoid getting the suit wet. Then slowly, he went down on all fours and stayed that way playing with water. At the most, he would sit in that kneeling position. He just refused to land his butt on the floor!
Continue reading →
by Penny on October 14, 2009
Ryan’s babysitter needed a day off yesterday to attend to some family matters. As such I took the day off from work and looked after him myself. We had a great day of fun. Well, for me at least it was very satisfying. And from the look on his face and all that he got to do, I think he enjoyed himself very much too.
I first brought him out to run some errands and while at it bumped into a new friend. She wasn’t sure enough to say that Ryan is my son so she hesitantly asked who he is. When I responded that he’s my son, she said I can tell people he’s my brother! Haha…that was certainly a nice compliment if I take it positively.
After that we went to lunch and instead of eating his usual meal of porridge, he was served a plate of salmon in cream sauce with potatoes and broccoli. He sure enjoyed the meal. After that off we went to play. He got to ride on some kiddie rides, a mini car that’s on remote control, an indoor playground and finally we stopped at McDonald’s for tea break.
He got his Happy Meal with a toy to add to his collection. He enjoyed his drink of Ribena and some french fries. Not very healthy, huh? But he sure was happy! We left for home and he was so tired that he fell asleep in the car not long after I got us on the road heading home. He slept for slightly more than 2 hours and when he got up he was in a very happy mood.
Continue reading →
by Penny on October 12, 2009
The weekend was a very busy one for me but I still managed to spend one-on-one time with Ryan and I’m very glad. We played and laughed, but in between he also caused quite a bit of frustrations in me with some of his demanding behaviour. But I take that all in stride and as part of his Terrible Twos stage although I wish he would quickly get over testing our patience and limits!
Nevertheless it was a great weekend. Ryan had a lot of fun playing with some of his cousins too. We had wanted to set up the inflatable pool for him to play on Sunday morning but it rained so we scrapped the idea and will do it another time.
Monday morning came and I woke up with body aches. I’m not sure why I ached, but very sure it’s not because I’m ill. Maybe it’s just Monday…do you drag your feet when you have to wake up to face work like this polar bear on a Monday?? I do!
And on days when I feel like this, I can’t help but to think how great it would be to be on a vacation. Anywhere will do. Even if you say a break in Penang, I will be gamed. I don’t need expensive and faraway orlando vacations to take away my Monday blues…quite easy to please right? 
Anyway, it’s end of the work day now and I look forward to going home and seeing Ryan although I do have to battle the bad jams out there before I get my reward of seeing my beloved son. No pain, no gain, huh?
In any case, I’m quite sure I will wake up refreshed and recharged tomorrow as I look forward to a great week that this will be. I’m actually looking forward to meeting some friends whom I’ve not met for years.
How did your Monday at work go? And for those mummies who are lucky and don’t need to drag their feet to the office, I’m sure your Mondays are much greater than ours! Keep up the good job. I hope to join you mummies soon!
