Time Flies

* Note: This post actually appeared in early January 2015. Due to a technical error the original post was accidentally removed. I am reposting it again here.

I don’t know why but yesterday I decided to re-visit this blog. My last post on this blog was in 2011… Gosh! 2011… That’s like four years ago!

Then I got to thinking, what the hell did I do in the past four years, where have I been, what have done, why didn’t I continue blogging.

If you’re reading this, please bear with me cause I’m really writing this for my own benefit.

So let’s start with 2010 and 2011 – a combination of a really bad and really good year for me:

• I lost my job.
• I got pregnant. Hurrah!
• Managed to get a great job in a cool agency while I was pregnant.
• Then I was diagnosed with molar pregnancy  and was in and out of so many hospitals seeing so many doctors that I literally lost count of the number of specialist I met and hospitals I went to.
• I gave birth to my eldest baby boy. Blessing.
• I had post pregnancy problems and had to go for emergency surgery two weeks after I gave birth. Post-surgery, my wound stitching opened up and I was going around with an open wound for two months and had to go to the hospital EVERYDAY to get the wound cleaned up by the doctor.
• I was also diagnosed with a GTD and had to take another two months off from work to go through mild chemotherapy.
• After two months the doctors said they’ve cured me but just in case I shouldn’t plan for a baby for at least a year to ensure that my body was stable.

Moving on to 2012 – generally an okay year but I was struggling with work and motherhood quite badly.

• Because I missed out a lot at work, I had a lot of catching up to do.
• I was also struggling as a new mom juggling with my full time job.
• Accidents happen but this was a good accident, I got pregnant with my second child. Since I was still under observation for my GTD, I had to go in and out of the hospital for check-ups quite often.
• I gave birth to my second son at the end of 2012 without any incidents and I was also officially cleared from my GTD diagnosis.

2013 and 2014 – Honestly I don’t know what happened in 2013 and 2014. I think I was just moving like a robot: wake up, get kids ready, send them to babysitter, work, pick the kids up, come back home, cook, clean, spend quality time with the family, sleep and repeat the process again the next day for the next two years...LOL.

I’ll openly admit that I am not a super mummy and I think after almost four years of being a mom, I’m just only getting the hand of handling multiple responsibilities. Believe me it’s still a struggle but I’m coping with the challenges at work and at home much better than when I first became a mom.

My kids are a bit bigger now and a bit more independent so I have a little bit of time to spare for myself. They are truly a blessing despite the problems that I went through.

So, I may not have achieved much or blogged much in the past four years but I am a proud mom of two boys now.

Last year I was able to pick up my reading habit more aggressively (thank you audible) and I also dabbled with blogging on another site; Family, Work & Play. The reading bit is coming along well but the blogging bit is neither here nor there.

I miss blogging at Ulat Buku in the City. Though I no longer live in the heart of the city as I did when I first started this blog, I feel that I can still relate to this blog site better than my new one. Maybe I’ll start blogging actively again on this blog, maybe. I don’t want to say I’ll do something and end up not doing it. My life is very much focused on family, work and me-time whenever I can slot this in. Blogging is not top priority but it’ll be nice to reconnect with the friends I’ve made through this blog.

Anyway, if you’ve read this post till the end, I’m sorry for the random rambling.

Point is- I miss blogging. I miss connecting with other book readers around the world. I hope I will find time to pick up blogging aggressively just like how I pick up the habit of reading again.

By the way, this is me now, a happy mommy.

Till next time, 

Book Review: The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Interrupted Tale - Book 4

Written by: Maryrose Wood

Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren

Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Reading Level : Ages 8-10

Of especially naughty children it is sometimes said, "They must have been raised by wolves."

The Incorrigible children actually were.

Turning 16 is a bittersweet occasion for Miss Penelope Lumley: Her parents remain disappointingly absent, and her perfectly nice young playwright friend, Simon Harley-Dickinson, has not been heard from since he went to visit his ailing great-uncle Pudge in the old sailors' home in Brighton.

Luckily, an invitation to speak at the annual Celebrate Alumnae Knowledge Exposition (or CAKE) at the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females provides just the diversion Penelope needs.

Optoomuchstic as ever, Penelope hopes to give her CAKE talk, see some old friends, and show off the Incorrigible children to Miss Mortimer, but instead she finds her beloved school in an uproar. And when Penelope is asked by the Swanburne Academy board of trustees to demonstrate the academic progress of her three wolfish students so the board can judge the true worth of a Swanburne education, the future of her alma mater - and of her job as governess to the Incorrigibles - hangs in the balance.

My thoughts:

I started listening to this series quite some time back. It really is a great book. There is always excitement, drama and mystery. The main characters are really lovable. If you are listening to the audiobook version, better. The narrator is super excellent in bringing the characters come to life.

As much as I loved this series though, I was hoping that the mysterious plot would come to an end in book 4. At this stage I just want the suspense to be over and the plot revealed completely.

I didn’t realize until I visited the authors website recently that this is a six part series. SIX! Might be a little too much and make the storyline too drawn out. Nevertheless, I still love this series and am looking forward to read the fifth book when it’s out.

Apparently book five, The Unmapped Sea will be released sometime in April this year. I do hope that the author will be able to keep up the excitement and suspense in the next book so that it doesn’t become a draggy read leading to book six. 

I am now a digital bookworm

When I first became a mom, it was really, really tough for me to keep up with my reading habit. My first year as a new mother, I only managed to read two books for the whole year. I tried reading often but I was always too tired to finish a book. At that point of time I was already a member of Audible, Amazon’s audiobook store. I was purchasing books monthly on audible but never really started listening to them because I wasn’t used to “listening” to a book.

About two year ago, I moved in to stay with my mum and dad for a while and they live really far out from my workplace. It took me about half an hour to get to work … on a good day. On a bad day it can be between 40 minutes to an hour to commute to work in my car. I got sick of listening to the local radio station (our morning shows really suck by the way). So one day I decided to download the audible app on my iPhone together with all my audiobooks and just started listening to my first audiobook on one of my long drives to work.

The first book I really listened to from Audible was The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Really good choice for a first audiobook, the listening experience was great and I have been hooked on audiobooks since then. Thanks to audiobooks, I’ve managed to continue ‘reading’ despite my hectic schedule at home and at work. In fact on days that I am really lazy to read to the kids, we listen to audiobooks together instead…  LOL. That’s me making good use of technology.

I’ve since moved out of my mum and dad’s home, my commute to work is very much shorter now but I still listen to audiobooks whenever I’m in the car. I absolutely love the experience. I plug my earphones to listen to my audiobook whenever I can; when I go grocery shopping, manicure sessions or anything that I do that doesn’t require serious focus or communicating with others. Last year I went through about 15 audiobooks in total and I am hoping to listen to more this year. I absolutely love listening to audiobooks and the technology has helped me ‘read’ whenever and wherever I can.

I also invested in my first e-reader about a year back. Kobo e-readers are not available here in Malaysia or at least I couldn’t find a reliable source to purchase from. Fortunately for me, I managed to trouble a friend to buy it for me in Australia. I’ll explain my choice of a Kobo over a Kindle at another time; this topic deserves its own post. Again, it took a while for me to get used to reading on an e-reader. Transitioning from a traditional book to an e-reader took me about 6 months. The first time I held my Kobo and tried reading from it, I actually missed the weight, feel and smell of an actual book.

Late last year, during a long holiday I decided to start reading off my Kobo. I’ve since read five books and am now on my sixth book purchased from Kobo.

I am now so in love with my Kobo that I don’t leave home without it. It’s light and small enough to carry around in my handbag. At night if I want to continue reading, I don’t have to leave the lights on and disrupt my husband; who really can sleep through anything to be honest, lights on, off, loud sounds, an earthquake even probably… so the function isn’t that important to me but it’s quite nice to have. I can read anywhere I want and whenever I want; in between meetings, lunchtime, when I’m waiting for people. I just whip out my Kobo and start reading.

But… the coolest thing about going digital is that I have over 500 books with me ALL THE TIME; a combo of my list of audiobook and e-books in my Kobo and Audible library. That’s seriously cool, no?

I still buy books of course, but not as often as I use to. The only thing that I need to research on a bit is whether I can still get tax refund from audible and kobo bookstore purchases in Malaysia.

Anyway, I’m proud to say that I’ve finally gone digital and I’m loving it!

It's Monday What Are You Reading This Week?

It's Monday What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. We use this meme to share what we have read in the past week and what our plans are for the upcoming week.

Last week’s reads:

I’ve been pretty busy at work the last week but still managed to catch up on my reading and some reading with the kids. I finished the 4^th book of the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place Series: The Interrupted Tale on audiobook. As for reading with the kids, this week we read Pirate Pat, an Usborne publication as well as a Lego Star Wars book that basically has a shorter, children’s version of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back that can be read under five minutes. I think I enjoyed reading the Lego Star Wars book more than the kids did to be honest.

This week’s reads:

I started reading We Were Liars last week and was hoping I would be able to finish it over the weekend but it was quite impossible to since we had a couple of social events that we had to attend. Hopefully, I’ll be able to finish it off before this weekend. 

Yesterday, I also started listening to The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. Am only a few pages in so it’s still too early to tell if I’ll like it or not. As for reading with the kids well, I am planning to read another Usborne Publication to the kids this week titled The Dressing-Up Box and would like to start listening to Curious George Rides a Bike which I've just purchased on Audible for them.

Have a great week ahead and happy reading everyone!

Book Review: Jack and the Beanstalk

Written by: Richard Walker, Niamh Sharkey

Narrated by: Richard Hope

Length: 12 mins

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

One day, when they have no food left, Jack's mom sends him to market to sell the cow. On the way, Jack bumps into a funny little man wearing a big, baggy jacket with big, baggy pockets. In the pockets lie six bewitched beans, but the funny little man has lost the instructions for them. Jack's adventure begins when he swaps Daisy the cow for six magic beans that grow to the land of the clouds.

My thoughts:

Jack and the Beanstalk is a classic which most of us have read when we were children and I really wanted to share this story with my two boys. 

To be honest, I found the music at the beginning and the end a bit annoying. But I suppose I am not the target audience. My boys love it and danced to the tune whenever we’re listening to this audiobook. (Not a good thing if you’re listening close to bedtime!) After a week of listening to it, I kinda got use to the music.

Apart from the music, the narration for this audiobook is actually really good. It’s quite animated and my kids paid attention to the audiobook from beginning to end. My 4 year old especially loves the part where the giant says ‘Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of a stinky man’ and now keeps calling everyone a stinky man. Sigh.

This version is slightly different from the ones I used to read as a child but the main storyline is still the same.

Anyway, I dare say that this is one of my son’s favourite audiobooks. I just had to post this video up. Yesterday, my four-year old was trying to tell me and my husband the Jack and the Beanstalk story at bedtime. Well, his version of the story anyway…

This video only proves how much he loves listening to Jack and the Beanstalk. 

Definitely recommended listening for the kiddo’s. I gave this a 5/5 on audible.  

February Blog Improvements

I recently decided to come back and blog on this site which has been left idle since 2011. Because of this, I felt that I needed a new look and feel that would be more suitable with the current times. I wanted to improve the blog design, layout and navigation. So in the past two weeks I was working to improve my blog somewhat. This will obviously be an ongoing project as I won't have the time to update everything at one go. These are the improvements I’ve done so far:  

Blog design

My previous blog design was implemented sometime in 2010 and I thought a refreshed look was much needed to suit my current style. I cluttered my layout with so many widgets and links to multiple sites that honestly would not benefit anyone who visited my site.

I worked with a designer I found on Etsy and requested for a design that is cleaner and minimalistic. The current design that you see is the new look. What do you think?

Pages

I’ve also created different pages with information that is more relevant to the blog’s purpose. Pages I’ve created:

1. An about page – This page gives a little more detail of who I am and the purpose of my blog.
2. Policy – When I did research a lot of the bloggers advise that one should have a blog policy featured. My policy page is really a brief outline of my blogging principles and also just a few words to say that the blog content is mine nothing fancy.
3. 2015 Reads and 2015 Reading Challenges – The whole purpose of my blog is to keep track of my reading habit and connect with other book lovers in the digital sphere. So I thought creating pages of what I’ve read and the status of my reading challenges so far would be of interest to other book lovers. The 2015 Reads page also links all my latest reviews for the year.

Widgets Column

As I mentioned earlier in this post, I use to feature so many widgets on my widget column. I’ve decided to review which widgets would be useful to keep and what should be deleted. I used to have widgets like number of people who visited the site, number of google followers, a live twitter feed, a grab button and also a Shelfari bookshelf that allows people to see the books I’ve read in the past.

First off, I don’t think people care how many visitors and followers you have on your blog except for you.

Secondly, if people wanted to read your Twitter feed or find out how many books you've read, they can follow you on Twitter or Shelfari.

Thirdly, no one wants your grab button or at least I don’t think they ever wanted mine. I assume if people like the content of my blog they can subscribe to my blog via the multiple widgets available to get updates on what I post.

I think the new widget column looks much cleaner than the last one I had. What I feature on the column now is:

1. About Me –Previously, I blogged under the pseudonym Ms Ulat Buku (don’t ask me why, I just thought it was cool at the time). The updated version of the about me section reflects the real me. It has a short summary of who I am and automatically links to my google+ account and a link to a more detailed background of myself on my About page. I think this is better because all my other social media sites uses my real name and not a pseudonym. Hopefully it makes it easier for people to find me if they wish to link up.
2. Social media links – the designer I hired designed all my social media links. This link is so much better that featuring my twitter feed or shelfari bookshelf.
3. Subscribe to - allows visitors to subscribe to my blog and get updates on posts and comments. 
4. Currently reading, currently listening to widgets – so that visitors know what I’m reading right now.
5. Archives and a labels widget- so that visitors can click and read what I wrote in the past.

Obviously, there is still much to improve on this 'ol blog of mine. 

For example, I’d like to develop a contact page, add a search widget, post sharing options etc. All this will require some time for me to do. So it will be a slow process but am gonna chronicle all that I do so that I remember what I've learned. 

If you have recommendations on how else I could improve my blog, please do provide some feedback. I’m open to ideas on how I can make my blog nicer and easy to man oeuvre.