Diary of a Blogaholic trying to treat her blogging addiction

Yesterday, I tried to treat my own blogging addiction by going cold turkey. How did it go? Well lets see, I was a good girl at first, I played playdoh with the kids which they love. I did snap some pictures of our playdoh to put in my parenting blog in the kids craft category later on. (Hey! I said I wouldn't go near my blog but I didn't say I wouldn't think about it right?)

I ate with the kids, bathed them, practised my piano, did my 20 minutes exercise routine. Then I sat down with one of them to teach him his ABC's online (Oops! Online again. But online for my baby not for me should not be counted right?). I nearly nodded off while looking at his ABCs. I don't do that when I'm blogging. I'm very wide awake. Hehe.

So, I was a good girl..... till 5pm when blog withdrawal symptoms promted me to write 3 blog posts in an hour. Oh dearie me. Cold turkey did not work! Nevermind, at least I aimed high and fell lower.

What I'm trying to ahieve here is blogging but blogging smartly. I have to find a balance. I'm trying to blog for shorter periods of time and still achieve the same delight and earnings in blogging. I'm trying to learn to blog at the speed of lightning so that I have time to do other things. Not only must I blog well, I must blog well and FAST.

Fortunately, I did some of my work assignments yesterday because there's more today and if I don't get them out of the way, they will snowball. I'm going to do the same today. I've written/published 5 blog posts this morning so I'm going to turn my back away from the PC for the rest of the day. But even as I write I received a pop-up mail from an advertiser. Fortunately, its payment, not another assignment. Phew! Otherwise I may be go back on my words and be stuck on my chair a while longer.

Ok. I'm off. Its Friday today. I will be back on Monday for another post but I will still be around in my comment boxes. Happy Weekend everyone!

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Mothers who spend too much time online

I'm afraid I'm one of those mothers. I can't blame it entirely on my blogging but it hasn't helped. Even before I started blogging, I spent quite a lot of time online, surfing, playing games etc. Then I started blogging and it got worse. Then I started paid blogging and it got even worse.

With blogging, I spend a lot of time blog hopping and socialising. With paid blogging, I spend a lot of time searching for jobs and doing them. I'm a one income family so when I found out that my blog had value and I could earn something from doing something I love, I was estatic. I thought that if money could drop out of the sky onto my blog, why shouldn't I claim it? Lol!

How naive I was. Money does not drop out of the sky. My blogs have value, yes, but I have to work hard to keep it that way. I have to work hard to make sure I get traffic, maintain my ranking by writing good content and I have to do research and write good, fresh, content for the advertisers who sponsor my blogs. At the same time, I must not forget my blog readers, those whom I had time to socialise more with earlier on.

What does that all mean? It means that it takes up a big chunk of TIME out of my life. Time is what my children need from me. Thats why I'm a STAY-AT-HOME-MUM. I did not stay home to give them distracted time and little bits and pieces of me. So now, I'm struggling to find a balance. I admit it. I've become addicted to blogging as well as paid blogging.

I wish someone could come up with a good suggestion on how to overcome my blogging addiction. I guess for today, I will go cold turkey and not look at my blogs all day (including anything else related to blogging like my stats, earnings, sponsorships etc) and see how that feels like. I will not even do the two advertiser orders on my personal blog which I've got a 24-48 hour deadline to meet. So there!

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How to become a good wife and mother

I want to be a good wife and mother. Its a very simple goal and one that I've yet to meet despite it being so simple!

So how do I become a good wife and mother I ask myself. The answer is very simple really. It is understanding the needs of my hubby and children and fulfilling them. It is all about knowing and understanding my husband and kids really well. It is knowing the way to their hearts. But knowing is not enough. The next step is doing or fulfilling their hearts desire.

For my hubby, the way to his heart is to become more dependable, more organised and to do things together with him more frequently. It is also to stop complaining so much. When I do this, he becomes happier and in return he returns my love. Yes, love really does go round. When you give love, you receive love.

For my kids, the way to their hearts is to listen to them and to play with them. Thats even simpler but again I have trouble fulfilling this simple thing. I have all sorts of excuses from me time to lack of time. I don't fulfil it and as a result I get kids who shout back at me when I shout at them to leave me alone so I can complete some of my own tasks. I know that the way to my kids hearts is to listen and to play with them. And when I do this, they don't act up. They become very nice, loving kids who listen to me.

So now that I've written down the simple things I need to do to become a better wife and mother, like any other goal, I must break them up into smaller more manageable tasks so that I meet those goals.

I was a good wife during the weekend because I tried. I may not always succeed but I did make my best effort to do things together with him as well as to control my temper. When I saw that we had become unhappy about something small which could have blown out of control into something bigger and spoilt everyone's weekend, I put out the fire when it was small and all was well again. That is a small step. Next time, I will do better and prevent the fire from starting. ;)

I told myself that I will try to be a good mother too starting this week. Its only Monday and I've failed. So now I'm going to break it down into more manageable goals. Here they are.

1. Stop to listen when they talk to me
2. Play with them at least 30 minutes each day (By this, I mean uninteruppted play. I wanted to write at least one hour but I think I'll start small ie 30 minutes. Hehe. I want to break that down further to spend time separately with each kid each day but I think I will try to meet this goal first)

Writing down, always helps me to think better and do better. From now, I will write down and review these goals periodically and add new ones etc in my goal to become a better wife and mother. Wish me luck!

If you like this post check out my collection of poems for mothers. I wrote this collection of poems over 8 years. It is all about the joys of motherhood including the self doubt we mothers sometimes have, all presented in poem form and short quotes for mothers. Buy now from Amazon Mother, Wife, Myself: Poems about finding yourself after becoming a mother and wife.

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Where to get your restaurant supplies and equipment

This post is for those in the food business. Whether you are doing a small home catering business, just starting a small family bistro or running a full fledged restaurant, you should know where to get your Restaurant furniture, equipment and supplies. You can try Galasource for your Restaurant business supplies. They have over 300,000 products from over 300 vendors.

From what I can see, the supplies are rather comprehensive. Whether you are running a Chinese Restaurant, a Mexican Restaurant or looking something for a Hotel Banquet hall or for your Church, you'll find something here. From commercial ice machines to Bakery Equipment, from janatorial cleaning supplies to kitchen cooking utensils, you'll find these items easily from the categories listed on the sidebar.

If you don't want to use the categories to find the equipment you are looking for, you can further refine your search by using the search tool provided. For example, if you're looking for Commercial Refrigeration, you can type in those words (remember to put them in inverted commas for better results) and you will be provided with a list of commercial refrigeration equipment in a wide variety of styles or by brand name if thats what you prefer.

You can find wholesale prices, volume discounts and commercial deals. Like I mentioned, it has something for everyone in the food business.

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Do You Have Harmony in Your Life?

• Do you have harmony with yourself?


• Do you have harmony with your spouse?


• Do you have harmony with your children?


• Do you have harmony with your other family members, parents, siblings etc?


• Do you have harmony at work ie have a good balance between work and family life?


• Do you have harmony with your health and body condition?


• Do you have harmony in your life?

If not, you better do something about it soon because not being in harmony in any of the areas in life leaves us feeling stressed out and it damages our health. So strive for harmony especially in areas close to your heart, whether its family, friends, or work. Strive for harmony.

At the moment I have disharmony in one or two areas so the point of this post is to talk myself to work myself back into harmony. I must make an effort. Harmony comes to those who make the effort. For example...

• If you want a better relationship with your spouse/family members, you must work for it


• If you want to have a better work life balance, you must make it happen


• If you want to have better health, you must exercise and eat right

We should all strive for a stress free life as far as possible. So make the effort. Work for it and it will happen. You will have harmony in your life. May Peace, Love and Harmony be with you, the readers of this blog. Have a nice day!

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Microwaved Chicken Stew

Here's another easy peasy recipe for lazy busy mums. Its Chicken Stew you can cook in 30 minutes (including preparation time) using the microwave oven.

I was done by the time I finished cleaning up the mess I left behind from cutting the vegetables so after eating there was very little cleaning up to do, only our plates. :) I hate cleaning up the dishes all at one time. Spacing it out like this makes it seem like less work.

Here's the recipe for my Microwaved Chicken Stew:

Incredients for Chicken Stew:

Chicken Thigh
Potatoes
Carrots
Bombay Onions
Brocolli
Cinammon Stick
Star Anise

Tip: You can add any vegetable you like eg baby corn, or those frozen carrot, peas and corn if you have no time to cut vegetables.

Seasoning and Sauce for the Chicken Stew:

Salt
Sugar
Pepper
Oyster Sauce
Light Soya Sauce
Dark Soya Sauce
Sesame Oil
Corn Flour
Water

How to Cook the Chicken Stew:

1. Cut everything into bite sized pieces
2. Place everything in a dish suitable for microwave
3. Pour sauce incredients over it
4. Microwave for 20 minutes
5. You're done!

Tip: Stop halfway through to stir and add cornflour to thicken stew as desired.

Go to my Mumsgather blog to view pictures of the Chicken Stew.

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For you mothers, when you're feeling down

I had started a category for Inspiring Quotes for Mothers a little while back. So I would like to take a moment to share this inspirational site which I often refer to for inspiration especially when I'm feeling down.

I love this inspirational site which plays beautiful inspirational flash movies. I found it when I first started blogging about 2 years ago on another blogger's sidebar. I always refer to it when I am feeling down and in need of some inspiration. I have recommended it to many of my online friends or I would sometimes send them a link to cheer someone up when they are feeling blue. The motto on the site is "One flash movie from this site is all it takes to leave a heartprint." It has certainly left and imprint on mine.

One of the inspirational movies I refer to often when I am feeling blue or when I am overwhelmed by my job as a mother is this one. Its called Mom's Journey. Although its more relevant for someone mourning the loss of their mom, I like to refer to it every now and then to remind me of my own journey as a mother. It is very beautiful and touching. I love the words and the music. I hope you enjoy it too.

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Time Saving Tips for Mothers

The other day I wrote about Money Saving Tips. Today, I want to touch on Time Saving Tips. Here's a few of mine. I have put them in no particular order or category, only whatever comes to mind.

1. Have a place for everything and a everything in its place. This reduces clutter and prevents things from being lost especially small things like keys, spectacles, handphones etc.
2. Wrap your oven toaster tray with aluminium foil. I learned this very useful tip from my dad. Previously I used to have to scrub my oven toaster tray and it still looked burnt. It was difficult to clean after each use. Now, I just wrap it up with aluminium foil. After use, I just throw the foil away and wrap the tray with a new foil. It saves me time from having to clean the tray out.
3. Minimize your house decorations. A clean look makes it clutter free and you will save time on wiping and cleaning all your little decorations and picture frames so try to maintain a clean clutter free look.
4. Do your filing as it comes it. Pay your bills on time as it comes in then file them away immediately. This reduces last minute rush and lost bills and fines. Once you have paid it and filed it away, you can move on to other things. Otherwise your todo list will just get longer and longer and overwhelm you.
5. Pay your bills online. Need I say more? This is self explanatory. Its definitely a time saver.

Thats all I can think of for today. If you have a tip to add to this. Please send it to me via email or leave a link on my comment. I will include your tip with a link back to you. Thank you.

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Chicken Rice Recipe for the busy mom

Its been forever since I posted or shared any recipes. Well, here's a simple chicken rice recipe thats too good not to be shared with other busy moms. Its really easy and tastes nice too.

Since I had a seizure and was diagnosed with epilepsy, it would not be safe for me to cook on my own using open fire over the stove so I had to find other ways to cook. My sister taught me to cook this all-in-a pot chicken rice that requires only the rice cooker to cook. Here's how to make the chicken rice.

Ingredients:

• Ginger
• Shallots or Small Onions
• Garlic
• Boneless Chicken Thigh
• Uncooked Rice

Seasoning for the Chiken:

• Salt
• Sugar
• Pepper
• Sesame Oil
• Oyster Sauce

Here's how you cook your chicken rice:

• Peel and smack the Ginger, Onions and Garlic to bring out the aroma
• Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and season
• Wash the rice and dump everything into the rice cooker, add water as you normally would when cooking plain rice and press cook
• Voila! You've got lovely smelling chicken rice in about 20 minutes.

Tip: You can leave a little bit of skin on the chicken if you're not super health concious. It makes the rice a little bit more oily and fragrant. If you like the smell of sesame oil, you can sprinkle some into the cooker just before dishing out and serving.

Sorry no photos. I'm a busy mom, remember. You can cook this simple chicken rice dish when you're really pressed for time. Frying some green leavy vegetable and a quick egg dish to go along with it will give you a complete meal for your family.

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Money Saving Tips for Mothers

Little clothing and toys costs so much these days. Why, those cute little clothes sometimes costs much more than adult clothing. I wonder why. Afterall, it requires less material!

Here is my money saving tips for mothers. Perhaps you would like to share yours too?

1. Don't buy branded. They grow up so quickly and little branded clothes and shoes will still look brand new when they have outgrown them. Well, ok, just indulge in one or two if you must. They are pretty pricey.
2. Shop during sales. You can buy bigger items in bulk during sales when they are being offered up to 70% off its normal prices.
3. Apply and use membership cards. You can do these for places you frequent. I have membership cards for eateries (usually fastfood when it comes to kids), bookshops, department stores, toyshops. They take up wallet space but thats ok if it helps me save 10-20% for each transaction. Plus you benefit from members only days.
4. Use discount coupons. You can get them from the leaflets provided by the stores. Cut them out and make use of them.
5. Buy larger sizes. You can do this for clothes but not shoes. Little feet need properly fitted shoes. Its ok for clothes though, especially pyjamas. You can fold up the sleeves and trouser bottoms.
6. Homemade is better. You can make toys instead of buying. However I'm lousy at this as hubby and I love to buy toys!
7. Accept hand-me-downs. I get a lot of lovely hand-me-downs books, toys and clothes. All still brand new. And they get recycled and passed around the family to the younger kids.
8. Eat in not out. Eating out is so expensive sometimes its more economical to eat in. The baby will be easier to handle too. I used to stay home when the kids were younger as it takes more effort to bring them out to eat but now that they are older we take them out more to experience new foods and places.
9. Breastfeed!!! Its free. Besides saving on not having to buy formula, you are also saving $$$ from needing to hit the gym as breastfeeding helps you burn more calories. (This great tip was contributed by Shireen Loh (Momsie Tales). Now, how could I have forgotten that! That should have been first on my list. :) Thank you Shireen.

Anyone out there would like to share your tip? I will include it in this post with a link back to you. Thanks.

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