National Eye Health Awareness

Did you know that children should get their eyes tested for eye health as young as 6 months, and that the average age of children wearing contact lenses is 13 years old?

Well these were among some of the facts that I learned at the National Eye Health Awareness (NEHA) campaign, held recently at Kidzania Kuala Lumpur. Aimed at reinforcing good eye health among children, the 'Vision for Children' campaign urges early and regular eye examinations by optometrists to avoid vision impairment.

Hubby and I really appreciated the informative sessions held during the campaign run. Since kids won't know how to tell if they don't have good eyesight (they'll just assume their blurry vision is the same view that everyone else is seeing), we as parents should be trained to spot eye problems early. It can be something as simple as observing your child. If he/she rubs his/her eyes constantly, squints to focus, or have to resort to going close to something to see it properly (like sitting close to the TV), then perhaps a trip to the optometrist is urgently due.

Optometrists work hard to get to where they are! As primary eyecare providers, we should trust them to screen for eye diseases in our kids before it's too late.

Comprehensive eye examinations for children start as young as 6 months old!

We also learned a lot from the tips that were shared during the sessions. Here are some of them:

• Visual stress - avoid kids from reading or watching something too near or too long in bad lighting. Invest in good lighting.
• Posture and distance - Educate your kids about the correct posture and try to maintain these recommended distances (usage of tablet, books - 30cm away, usage of computer - 50cm away and watching TV 300cm away).
• Lighting level - use daylight or full spectrum lighting. Do not allow kids to read under dim light condition.
• Balanced nutrition - encourage your kids to eat vegetables that are good for the eyes.
• Time - Implement the 20:20:20 rule. For every 20 mins you look at something, rest for eyes by looking at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

Aiden and Ian - 300cm away from the TV, please!

This is a subject that is very close to my heart. Thanks to early comprehensive eye examinations, I was diagnosed with lazy eyes when I was 3 years old. I had surgery when I was 6 years old to correct them.

As part of the 'Vision for Children' campaign, bring your kids for a free eye screening at participating outlets until 31st December 2017. Contact the Association of Optometrist (AMO) at +6011-2610 2010 or email secretariat@amoptom.org for more information.

Regrets

This is an extremely tough post to write, especially since I have buried these memories for the past 15 years. But I am called to write this in my blog, as I want Aiden and Ian to read a piece of my journey with my mum… caring for her until she passed on due to lung cancer.

Before she was diagnosed, she had a prolonged cough and started losing weight. We were scheduled to head to China to visit the Great Wall of China, so she went to the doctor to get a checkup before our trip. The doctor did a chest x-ray (which showed some congestion) and a biopsy; but told her that a bit of fresh air during our holiday would do her some good.

So off we went and had the time of our lives. Only to come back to the results of the biopsy that showed that she had lung cancer... at stage 3B.

Lung cancer is the most common cause of death from cancer worldwide; 1 to 5 cancer death is due to lung cancer. Closer to home, 10 people die of lung cancer daily. It is one of the most aggressive cancers, where 60% of those diagnosed die within one year after diagnosis. Patients with advanced lung cancer have a 5-year overall survival rate of only 2%!

Why didn't we detect it earlier? Unlike breast cancer which manifests itself in a lump, there is really no early diagnosis tool for early detection of lung cancer. Most patients do not have symptoms until the cancer is already at an advanced stage. When eventually diagnosed, 9 out of 10 Malaysians are already in the advanced stage (Stage 3 & 4). What makes it more depressing is that the symptoms are generally occurrences that you would typically push away as 'common sickness', for example shortness of breath, lethargy or weight loss with no known causes.

It was rough on us the first few weeks. I was barely 19 then, hence due to my age, the doctors never really considered me as the primary caregiver. I was never really given a clear prognosis and timeline. Looking back, if I had known that my mum was only going to be around for another 8 months, I would have dropped everything to spend every single precious minute with her.

Due to this lack of information, I decided to continue with my university classes, albeit less credit hours. (Cue huge regret here.) In reality, I struggled with my role as primary caregiver in combination with my education. I juggled caring for my mother in between classes. The hospital became my home, and I would commute between hospital and university daily. I learned to drive all by myself, and became independent all on my own.

The doctors recommended chemotherapy at an upcoming private cancer institute, about an hour away from town. Our financial funds depleted significantly due to this. I had to keep digging into my mum's savings every few days or so. Not to mention daily expenses and bills to be paid. She worried about money, especially since she knew that I would need the money to survive if she were to pass on.

Despite all this, my mum was a brave and strong woman. She never really showed me how much pain she was in, despite the fact that she kept asking for stronger doses of morphine. She was an easy patient to care for, and she kept apologizing for asking her own daughter to shower and change her. Oh Mum, if you only knew that deep in my heart, I never minded. I would gladly do it all over again if it meant that I could rewind time to spend more time with you.

Let's take a step back and question why my mum contracted lung cancer. Smoking is by far the leading risk factor for lung cancer. But she doesn't smoke, and we don't even have a history of cancer in the family. She worked in an office and was never exposed to harmful substances in the workplace. The simple answer is, we do not know. And if my mum who had zero tobacco use was diagnosed with lung cancer, do you think YOU should take your chances by smoking? Food for thought.

Image from https://visual.ly/community/infographic/health/lung-cancer-causes

As time passed by, her cancer got even more aggressive, which in turn shrunk her veins. Every time the doctors wanted to put in a needle, I would walk away because I just could not bear listening to my mum cry out in pain. Oh if only I could share her pain, I would gladly offer my veins in her place.

Her hair started falling off due to chemotherapy so she would wear a head scarf to cover her imperfections. I never saw them as imperfections though, but she would constantly get so subconscious about herself that she refused to meet with anyone other than immediate family.

As her health got worse, she kept depending on pure oxygen flow and morphine to last her the day. She would wake me up, sleeping on a recliner chair just beside her on the hospital bed and ask for more morphine in the middle of the night. She was in extreme pain, but she did not complain excessively. It was sad to see her withering away. So sad that I actually wished that God would ease her from her pain and take her quickly. Cue huge regret again. After I lost her, I had a hard time accepting the fact that I had actually registered such thoughts. It ate at me so much, that sometimes I would cry myself to sleep apologizing for wishing her away. It took me years before I could actually forgive myself.

Early on in her cancer journey, my mum once told me that she would like to be brought home to pass on. I sincerely do not know whether that was an effort to reduce the hospital bills, or whether she sincerely wanted to be home. Close to the end of my mum's journey on earth, the doctor (now finally comfortable with my role as caregiver) told me that I could bring her home if I wanted to. I remember clearly that morning in my head. She complained that she could not see clearly with her eyes. I responded by telling her that I was making preparations for her to go home. Her eyes widened, and she understood that she was very close to the end. She started saying that she didn't want to go home... lamenting about how would she survive without oxygen flow and such. I coaxed her into the ambulance and I remember her telling me on the way home, "Min... Mama takut nak mati." (Min, I'm scared of dying.) All I could say was "I love you Mama..." Till today, I still feel as if I forced her home when she did not want to. I thought I was honoring her wishes, but what if she had survived another day in the hospital instead of home?

But my biggest regret was to actually agree to chemotherapy. I understand why my mum did it... It was simply the natural thing to do. It was to treat her cancer. If I was in her shoes I would probably do the same. Accepting the decision to not do chemotherapy would be accepting death. But the side effects made her so weak, so quickly, that we did not manage to do anything else other than stay confined in the hospital. After what I've went through with my mum, I sincerely believe now that there is no point in lengthening life if it's not quality of life.

So, what are the other treatment option for cancer? MSD organized a lung cancer and melanoma workshop recently to educate the public about the two types of cancers. Given that this subject is so close to home, I attended the workshop with hopes of learning about other treatment options. In return, l learnt about newer cancer treatment option.

Fellow bloggers and influencers at the MSD Lung Cancer and Melanoma Workshop, listening intently to Dr Tho Lye Mun - Consultant Clinical Oncologist.

Immunotherapy is the newer treatment option that uses certain parts of a person's immune system to fight cancer. Our natural immune system usually destroys foreign substances, but sometimes cancer cells and normal cells do not have distinct differences, allowing these cancer cells to escape detection and destruction.

With immunotherapy, our immune system can be enhanced to recognize and mount a response against cancer cells. The immune system can also be stimulated to work harder and smarter against cancer cells. Through immunotherapy, you can also supplement with man-made immune system proteins which give the immune system an extra boost.

Yours truly asking Dr Tho about the correlation of vaping to lung cancer.

A photo with Dr Tho and Niki Cheong, who shared his experience on how cancer has impacted his family and friends.

Statistics are showing great potential for immunotherapy to increase long term survival, with lesser side effects. A recent study showed a 3-year overall survival rate of 26.4%, a significant increase if compared to prior statistics. This is indeed emerging as a new and exciting breakthrough in treatment against cancer.

The impact of cancer is real, but a new era of cancer treatment is here. If you are struggling with cancer or know of someone who is, reach out to your doctor or oncologist for more information on immunotherapy.

999

At time of writing, I'm currently at 999 followers on Instagram. It's been fun, watching the numbers steadily grow from 500 to the higher hundreds, ever since I made my account public last year.

I wonder who's going to be my 1000th follower....

Update: And so... I hit the 1K mark, on the same day that Vivy hit her 1M mark. Goes to show that I am eons away from ever matching those kind of numbers *giggles*

 Nahhhh, I'm perfectly happy with my cosy number of followers; no worries!

Random Ramblings

Happy Sunday peeps. As you can see, I've been spending my offshore leave catching up on backdated posts. So here's a brief update on what I've been up to during my time at home.

I mentioned our house renovation briefly in this post. And yessssss it is finally going full swing! They started just two days before I came home and in just a week and a bit, most of the wet works are done. If you don't know what we're up to, here's a brief recap. The plan is to break the patio to make a new dining hall, while the current dining hall will be turned into a family hall. Hence the TV in the living hall will be moved to the back, so the living hall becomes more 'formal', and guests can chat properly without being distracted by the kids watching Disney Channel!

Still keeping to the subject of renovations, I spent my first weekend at dry land hunting for new furniture. I think age has finally caught up to me; I find myself admiring mirror furniture and chesterfield sofas. I went to check out SSF for mirror coffee tables and consoles... Nearly pengsan looking at the price. On the other hand, we were driving to Denai Alam to order curtains when we saw a signage pointing to a furniture warehouse sale. I went there with zero expectations and zero intentions (siap boleh main Pokemon Go lagi when we arrived). Pandang everything sebelah mata until my eyes landed on the one and only piece worth staring at. It was a suede chesterfield sofa. Hubby joked with the shopkeeper, "Nie kalau jual RM600 saya beli". I gelak gelak jer. Well guess what?? Since we started at such a low price (we were joking, seriously!), he sold it to us for 1K. We bought it on the spot! (Lepas tuh sekarang pening kepala mana nak campak our old sofa uurrghhhh!!!)

Sneak preview of our sofa. Wait for the official reveal later!

Even Ian is holding a four digit price tag!

Wannabe Avatars!

I took advantage of my offshore leave to fulfill some blogging expectations. I was at Malaysiakini early this week. To get there I had to drive by several factories, but when I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Malaysiakini office. A homely office with unfinished walls, quirky graffiti/sketches and a laid back ambience. Will you be reading about me in Malaysiakini anytime soon? All good things I hope! After the meeting my blog manager brought me for a damn fine banana leaf lunch at Kana Nasi Kandar. Blew my calorie count that day!

No, I'm not about to become a politician.

After more than two weeks at sea, everything looks too good to resist!

Hubby (and I) are bitten by the Pokemon Go craze. Despite my vehement attempts at deflecting the urge, I succumbed to the temptation and joined Aiden in his quest for Pikachu. Hubby's friends pulak memang gila main the game so he jumped on the bandwagon as well. I find myself driving out of the way just to get to Pokestops, and driving slowlyyyyyy (which is so unlike me) to hatch eggs. A few days ago, I actually called hubby up and the first thing I said was, "Yang! Kenape I tak boleh amik anymore balls? Dia kata the bag is full!" Hahahahahahahaha after he explained how to unload the bag baru we laughed about our conversation. And just yesterday we were soft banned because Hubby and I turned on the game on two different devices at two different locations. Berpeluh jugak when we couldn't collect balls from our usual Pokestops. In the end I calmed myself down, shut down the game and went grocery shopping. By the time I was done, it was working again. Phewww!!!

We actually turned the game into a family affair! We went to eCurve, sat down between two Pokestops (Johnny Rockets), turned on a magic egg and evolved a week's worth of Pokemon candy!

Aiden's 'calculations' for Pokemon evolutions.

Ian started potty training on Thursday. Since all our furniture and carpets were in storage for the renovation, it was a perfect time to try. (Clean ups are way easier on bare floors!) So far so good, sometimes he says "pee pee" and we rush him to the toilet. Other times he'll say "pee pee" while watching his pee streaming down his legs. *gasp* I hope he gets the hang of it soon!!!!

Still on Ian, he has somehow cultivated the habit of putting his fingers in his mouth. Every time I caution him, "Ian, finger out!", he'll calmly take it out but then fiddle his fingers near his chin as if he did nothing wrong. Macam macam perangai! Also, since Hubby started allowing him to sleep on our bed while I was away, we're having a tough time kicking him out again!!! He would bawl his eyes out in sorrow, and he would insist on holding hands - him on the mattress on the floor while hubby or me on our bed. Lenguh tangan weih! And then in the middle of the night, he would climb onto our bed, then at Subuh, Aiden pulak joins him. (Aiden memang penakut that way!)

Development wise, he's very chatty. Lovessssss watching us play Pokemon Go (poyeayonnnn), knows to answer his name and age, knows most alphabets and numbers, anddddddd stopped going to school. Yup! Since my maid came back, he refused to step foot at school again. I don't feel like forcing him (he's not even 3 yet!) so I guess I'll be doing the whole "first day of school" drama with Ian again next year.

My cheeky poyeayonnnn posing with his Pichu (Pikachu).

Aiden got some of his exam results. So far he has scored all As in his core subjects, and awaiting the last paper, Bahasa Malaysia. However, his Pendidikan Islam results were not good. If speaking Malay was a huge hurdle for my boy, imagine having to decipher jawi too. *sigh* Butttttt I have to give him credit for the below. Since jawi is written from right to left, he decided that his name and class had to be written that way too. Talk about thinking out of the box!! *chuckles*

Must give him points for creativity!

Anyway, that's all I have for now. Pray that we survive through this thick layer of dust surrounding the house, courtesy of the renovation!

Have a good week ahead!

Winner of the TRANSFORMER Giveaway by Hasbro Toy Malaysia

Hi everyone!

Aiden was given the royal task of choosing a winner for the TRANSFORMERS Giveaway by Hasbro Toy Malaysia. In case you missed the giveaway, you can read it here.

Anyway, here's a video of how we picked the winner:

So congratulations to lucky #6 - Jade Harun! *clapclapclap* Please email me your contact details at lizyahaya[at]gmail.com by 3rd July 2016, for prize fulfillment and shipment.

Disney’s The Lion Guard, and a Giveaway too!

*UPDATE* Giveaway closed! Winners announced below! 

Just the other day, I was lazing around with Ian in the living hall. He was watching the television (nowadays permanently tuned to Disney Junior), while I was just relishing the luxury… of doing nothing. *smiles* Out of the corner of my eye, I spied a cartoon lion on screen, prancing around to a very catchy African rhythm. I immediately exclaimed, “Ian look, it’s Lion King!”

I am a huge fan of The Lion King. It was released when I was at the tender age of 12, so I was able to relate to the coming-of-age theme of the movie. I marveled at how Simba transformed from a cocky and impressionable cub, to a true leader of the Pride Lands. And of course, the “Hakuna Matata” philosophy by Timone and Pumba seemed so easy to adopt; sometimes awful things happen which you can’t change, so why worry? (If only life was that simple!) Not to mention, the catchy, beautiful and sentimental tunes from the movie. Suffice to say, the heartwarming tale of The Lion King is a Disney treasure.

So imagine my dismay when Ian corrected me in his cute baby babble, “Lion Dartttt, Mummy!” Erm… Lion Guard? Whatever happened to the Lion King? Aiden giggled at my obvious facial confusion and in turn, gave me a crash course of Disney’s The Lion Guard.

Disney’s The Lion Guard is an animated television series featuring Kion, second born and son of Simba and Nala. Each episode chronicles the life of fun-loving and playful Kion as he learns how to be the leader of the Lion Guard – a legendary team that protect the Pride Lands and defend the Circle of Life. If you’re familiar with the character Kiara from the movie The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride; well Kion is her little brother!

Whilst the firstborn cub of the monarch is destined to be the next King or Queen of the Pride Lands, the second born is tasked with leading the Lion Guard. As its leader, the cub is expected to be fierce; hence Kion is blessed with a magical gift called the Roar of the Elders - an intensely powerful roar in which the lion spirits of The Pride Lands past roar along with him, instilling real power in the cry. This gift is traditionally given to the second-born. Interestingly, the last owner was Scar (the villain antagonist in The Lion King), who misused it for evil and eventually lost the gift.

Each member of the Lion Guard has a special skill: Kion is the Fiercest, Bunga is the Bravest, Fuli is the Fastest, Beshte is the Strongest, and Ono is the Keenest of Eye. My personal favourite is Fuli the confident cheetah. Not only is she one of the fastest runners in the Pride Lands, she is also the Lion Guard’s only female member! She is also not ashamed to show her skills, as she shows extreme delight for being able to outpace a pursuer of any species. *girl power*

Aiden on the other hand, adores Bunga the fearless honey badger. Unlike his best friend Kion who goes by the rules at all times, Bunga is a free spirit with an adventurous streak. As Bunga is also the adopted nephew of Timon and Pumbaa, it is simply natural for him to be full of optimism and turn even the direst of situations into a fantastic time.

The series is designed to communicate positive lessons about teamwork, community and diversity, as each episode features the Lion Guards’ journey in merging their unique skills to work together. You can catch a new episode of Disney’s The Lion Guard every weekday at 930am on Disney Junior.

Now comes the fun part! Make your child’s day by answering a simple question about the show to win fabulous prizes. All you need to do is:

1. Like the Lizzieasamummy FB page at https://www.facebook.com/lizzieasamummy/
2. Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/lizyahaya/
3. Tell me which member of The Lion Guard is your favorite and why! Submit your answer and email address at the comment section below.

Five lucky winners will win official limited edition merchandise from Disney’s The Lion Guard. Good luck!

*UPDATE* Giveaway closed! Congratulations to Carmen Rudnick, Ezyana Jaafar, Awin, Zie Azi and Eka! Stay tuned, we will contact you via email for prize fulfillment and shipment.

TRANSFORMERS Combiner Wars Menasor, and a TRANSFORMERS Robots-In-Disguise Hyperchange Heroes Giveaway by Hasbro Toy Malaysia!

Aiden is absolutely nuts about TRANSFORMERS. He loves everything about action heroes nowadays, so when Hasbro Toy Malaysia approached us for a toy review, specifically the TRANSFORMERS Combiner Wars (Menasor), Aiden enthusiastically agreed!

The TRANSFORMERS Stunticons are a group of ruthless cars within the Combiner Wars range. Using the Stunticons, you combine them together to form Menasor, a mighty Decepticon that strikes fear with Autobots everywhere!

Beaming excitedly with his gigantic box of TRANSFORMERS Combiner Wars!

If you're new to the world of Combiner Wars, this is a range where teams of Autobots and Decepticons can be merged to become Combiner figures that either protect or take control of Earth. There are different Combiner figure categories, namely the Autobots, Constructicons, Protectobots, Aerialbots (that form Superion) and our favorite (of course!), the Stunticons (that form Menasor).

Cheeky Ian couldn't wait to get his hands on the Stunticons!

The two siblings fighting over who gets first dibs on the best car.

The 6 Stunticons in the box were Blackjack, Motormaster, Breakdown, Dragstrip, Offroad and Deadend. Each standalone car can be turned into its own Decepticon robot with just a few simple steps and transformations. Or you can choose to transform and combine them to form Menasor – his body and limbs. Hence why there are two separate instructions within the box - one to change each car into a Bot, and the other to turn each car into a specific body part to form Menasor. There was also a giant poster in the box too, perhaps just in case Aiden needs a blown up version of Menasor for his bedroom wall. *giggles*

Menasor is the ultimate Decepticon weapon, and Megatron’s way of breaking the Autobot’s dominance on the road. Unfortunately, he has one flaw - he is prone to menacing fits of unfocused rage. This is evident from his facial expression!

Check out that intimidating stance. 

Although you would expect Menasor to be in darker shades to suit its Decepticon stature, the cars are actually bold and vivid in colour. Each Stunticon Bot is very sturdy but easily transformed even with small hands. There will be a “joint” to combine each Bot to form Menasor. This concept also comes with articulation that you are able to pose the Combiner Bot in whichever way you fancy. You can choose to either make it stand straightened or model it with the torso slightly slanted to pose it in “battle mode”. Given the impressive height of the completed Menasor (it is quite tall!) you will have to work with the legs quite a bit for stability.

Bright vivid colours.

Another great thing in the package is the firepower; a giant sword, four other weapons and a cool chest plate. For the boys, the more weapons the toy has, the better! Remarkable detailing can be seen on each part of the robot. The finishing is pretty decent too!

Menasor's imposing chest.

In a nut shell, it was a great family experience to work together to transform each Stunticon Bot into the combiner mode. It provided hours of fun, both in its individual form and the combined figure. Aiden even turned it into a race, to see who could convert a vehicle into a robot the fastest, and vice versa. As for Ian, he was more than happy to just zoom and whoosh each car on the dining table!

Given the price tag, the glowing reviews available on the internet and the availability of a secondary market for preloved Combiners, this is definitely a collector’s item that is well worth your money. Well, if you’re into TRANSFORMERS, that is!

The happy TRANSFORMERS fan.

Now for the exciting bit! The generous folks at Hasbro Toy Malaysia are giving you the chance to experience this cool TRANSFORMERS series for yourself. With the TRANSFORMERS Robots-In-Disguise Hyperchange Heroes, you only need to perform 3 simple steps for a seamless sequence from robot to vehicle. Similarly, to win a TRANSFORMERS Hyperchange Heroes worth RM119.90, all you have to do is perform these 3 simple steps:

1. Like the Lizzieasamummy FB page at https://www.facebook.com/lizzieasamummy/
2. Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/lizyahaya/
3. Leave a comment below. Good luck!

Disclosure: I received a free product for review purposes. I did not receive any monetary compensation. The opinions are my own, based on my personal experience with the product. This giveaway is sponsored by Hasbro Toy (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. The winner will have to disclose his/her contact details for prize fulfillment. Lizzieasamummy is not responsible for prize shipment.

Lizzieasamummy Hits One Million!

My oh my!

I've been so busy at work that I missed recording this long anticipated mark of one million... By the time I realized that I had achieved this coveted milestone, I was already 213 views late!

Here's the snapshot taken on 2nd June 2016, 213 views too late. *giggles*

For me, this is an amazing achievement to be celebrated. It took me nearly six years to receive five hundred thousand views (my fault, I took various long break in between!), but only a year and three months to score the same number of views later.

Of course, this wouldn't be possible without you and you and you, for reading my scribbles and thoughts in this humble blog of mine. So here's a big hug from me to you! *hugs*

Nuffnang's Featured Blogger of The Month of March!

When I received the email from my blog manager, confirming that I was going to be bestowed as Nuffnang's Featured Blogger of the month of March, I was thrilled beyond words. Similar to when I was approached by Nuffnang to be featured for their monthly #NNFeatureFriday, I received the email while in the office. My colleagues probably thought I was slightly batty in the head, as I actually did a quick jiggle at my desk! *chuckles*

As part of the feature, I was asked to answer some questions. Some were easy to draft, such as why I started blogging, and whether I had a turning point in my blogging career. However, there was one question that I pondered for quite sometime - the story behind my blog name. Truthfully, when I wanted to start blogging, I never gave much thought to it. The name simply sprung in my mind, and I loved it because it rhymed!

Anyway, head over to the Nuffnang official page for the entire write up. Here's the link: http://www.nuffnang.com.my/featured-blogger/liz-yahaya

They also posted the same in their official Instagram and Facebook, below are the snapshots. Best part is, they also included the link as part of their current bio. Go check it out!

As always, thanks Nuffnang, for the opportunity!

Wordless Wednesday - Officially a Bloggerati!

I am officially up on the Nuffnang Bloggerati webpage, here.

*blush*blush*

Thank you Nuffnang, for the opportunity!

Beebop Circus Garden Themed Party!

Hey everyone! Remember this post?

Well, the awesome folks at Beebop Circus will be celebrating their second year anniversary this coming weekend. In conjunction with this, they are planning a Garden Themed Party to raise funds for the at-risk children in Chow Kit (under Yayasan Salam). What is more wonderful, is that these funds will be used to sponsor these kids for a day of fun - the Beebop way!

This charity fundraising campaign represents BeeBop Circus' effort to contribute and do their part to serve the community, by extending and sharing the complete BeeBop experience with those children who would otherwise never have the opportunity to enjoy these enrichment activities.

Multiple events are lined up for the day, such as interactive story telling, face painting, costume runway, art and craft, cupcake decorating, balloon sculptures, magic show and of course - their award-winning instructor guided playgym sessions, because we all know how much kids love tumbling, climbing, and exploring!

If you are looking for a fun family day out, while at the same time raise funds to benefit the children of Yayasan Salam, the Garden Themed party is this Sunday, 28th February 2016 and starts at 12pm onwards. Admission is FREE!

Here are some photos from last year's event:

More information can be found at their official event page here: http://on.fb.me/1PTVPwd

Don't forget to dress up to the theme! There are fantastic prizes to be won too. Aiden and Ian will definitely be there, we hope to see you there too!

P.S: I am looking forward to the cupcake decorating activity. *giggles*

Beebop Circus

Unit 019 & 021, Upper First Floor,

The School, Jaya One,

No.72A Jalan University, 47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

T: +603 7492 4567

E: play@beebopcircus.com
F: https://www.facebook.com/BeebopCircus

W: http://www.beebopcircus.com/

Adsense Cheque

Call me outdated, but truthfully this is my first time receiving a cheque payout from any kind of advertising mechanisms on my blog. Like I said, I blog to document milestones, not necessarily to earn.

Which was why, when Adsense told me to choose an option for advertising payouts (heck, I didn't even know I had reached the payment threshold), I simply chose a method that (I thought) was familiar to me - cheques! Unfortunately, it turned out to be not as convenient as I thought.

I found out the hard way, that international cheques can only be cashed at the bank where you opened your account. Since I opened my bank account back when I was doing my university internship with SMART (yes yes the SMART tunnel that you use to get to work :p), my home branch is now all the way in Cheras! Not only that, the bank takes a cut from the cheque value and you have to wait for a few months for the cheque to clear. That is simply madness! *sigh* I was so hoping to take advantage of the high USD currency rate with this cheque. *double sigh*

Anyway as a consolation, at least there is picture proof of my first blog advertising payout. Which I can use to show off to Hubby ("See Sayang, blogging pays!" *giggles*) and of course, a photo for this blogpost. So here goes. A picture of the cheque which the bank will get a cut from and then deposit into my account about two months later *sarcasm*

Hence, take my advise. Choose Western Union Quick Cash or even wire transfer to bank, for cashing out your Adsense payouts. You get cash instantaneously, on the spot too.

Here's hoping you'll learn from my mistake!

Out With The Old, In With The New...

I've been procrastinating this for the longest time. Call me sentimental, but I love my blue polkadot background template; one that has been with me ever since I started my blog back in 2009.

I've finally gotten around to changing my blog to a crisp white, in an effort to make my blog more professional looking and (hopefully!) also easier to navigate. I'm still working out the kinks, so if you notice something that needs adjusting (yeah, that header photo doesn't really line up with the width of the blog, does it???), do holler. I need all the advise I can get.

Here's my last snapshot of the old blog template:

Those blue polkadots were adorable, weren't they??? *sigh*

P.S: If anyone is willing to give me a hand in adjusting my header to fit, do email me at lizyahaya[at]gmail.com. Thanks in advance!