Having a hard time teaching your kids mathematics?



Julie-trainer of the same day and daughter of the founder of Numero



Recently, I chanced upon this fun game called Numero through a workshop conducted by September 21 Enterprise Pte. Ltd. Basically, Numero is an educational game set helping children to increase the ability to do mental calculations and helping elderly folks to slow the process of Alzheimer.

A little history about Numero
Numero is created by Rev. Frank Drysdale (1932-2011) who  was forced into early retirement in 1989 when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. His own remedy to this situation was to keep himself mentally fit by playing mind games, many of which involved cards. He enlisted the help of his young grandchildren to help him pass the time by playing different card games. As a result,Numero® was developed as a product of these sessions with his grandchildren.

Numero® was demonstrated in public for the first time in 1993 when presented at the Mathematics Association of Western Australia annual conference. The reception it received prompted Frank and his wife Joan to print 2000 packs of Numero® which were collated and packaged in Frank’s back shed by a band of willing helpers. Numero® had been born and Frank and Joan Drysdale were kept busy holding workshops and collating and packing Numero® until, 40000 packs later, it grew to a stage where in 1998 they were introduced to R.I.C. Publications, an international educational publisher based in their home state of Western Australia.


Working closely with Frank and Joan, R.I.C. Publications further developed the presentation of the game and started to spread the news to other parts of Australia and the world. Numero® is now sold in many countries throughout the world, to children and adults alike. It continues to grow in popularity, spreading to more and more countries, and gaining enthusiastic endorsement from educators and players alike.


From the very beginning, the ownership of copyright of Numero® was given to Alzheimer’s Australia WA by Frank and Joan Drysdale. This means that royalties provided from the sale of every pack of Numero® are now channelled to the Drysdale Family Charitable Foundation Trust, which provides money to fund various dementia-related programs throughout the world.


Here's some pictures of the workshop which I attended


Photo courtesy from September 21 Enterprise Pte Ltd



                                         

Julie, the trainer for Numero was very interested to help children and parents to increase their ability for mental calculation and have more family bonding time . She mentioned that this game can help to allow children to have the ability to learn how to take risk and think out of the box. She is so passionate in training other on how to play Numero so as to help her father leave a legacy and also to help the alzheimer patients to raise funds via the sale of the Numero so that they could have better treatment.

I had my fair share of fun on playing the game and it is so interesting. Can't stop thinking about the game.

Currently, there is a promotion on the starter kit pack where there is instruction guide book and a pack of the game by September 21 Enterprise Pte Ltd @ $46.65.

For more information about Numero, you may go to http://www.numero.org .
For purchases, you may want to visit September 21's website @ http://www.educationalresources.com.sg

Victoria secret's model ab workout

                                 Photo credit to  www.blogilates.com

I found this on the internet and I am wanting to start this work out by tomorrow as tonight I will be rushing through my assignment. I am looking forward to have an ab rather than chunky love handles. Being a cooking blogger also need to be beautiful as well :P. Hope that helps for ladies who are keen in finding out the victoria secret's model ab workout

Tips on using Epsom Salts

Recently,  I read a book which provide some tips on using epsom salts to relieve some pain from achy feet and helping to ease the symptoms of cold. Thus, I decided to get it and tried it out after having a long workout with my heels the whole day.

This is the brand I got from guardian.  

 

I got my feet to soak in the lukewarm water for the foot bath and almost immediately the pain from walking too much with the heels was gone. I saw on the box itself that it could be used to remove temporarily muscle aches as well. Perhaps I should try it out one day. I realized that after soaking the feet with epsom salts the cuticle skin can be remove easily.  Hence , I decided to use my favorite body scrub from Nuskin to scrub my feet to get a nice home pedicure later one.

 

 

The skin of my feet become so soft now. Feeling happy and contented before painting my nails.

 

 

Hope this tip on using epsom salts helps u to ease away the long day of walking.

 

 

 

 

Before and after the SG Blog Awards Event

Being able to attend the SG Blog Awards Event was something I had never dreamt off. However, this year as a finalist for the best cooking blog award I got to attend it with a guest. Preparations for the derby dress code for this event got me excited.  As I am seldom interested in fashion trends, I ended up googling and shopping online just for it. I am happy with my purchases as it can be recycled for many rounds.

On the actual day of the SG Blog Awards Event

Together with my guest , we arrived a little earlier. Thus we went shooting some photographs around the mall.

Here's some photos before the event started (Photo courtesy by my guest cum friend)

       
My favourite food blogger - Tony Johor Kaki ( glad that he won for his category )
Best Food Blog 2014

 

   the entrance view ( the lady in blue dress was the winner for the cooking

blog category- the domestic goddess )

My guest and me

Items in the goodie bag

                                    
                            


Inside the event hall

Haha this photo looks like I really permed my hair

Having fun at the photo booth

 

Guest of Honor - Miss Sim Ann (Minister of  State,

Ministry of Education & Ministry of Communications and Information)

 

She was a lady who is always on the constant move in upgrading. She was even presenting the award to her ex classmate , Ms Regina Chow for the best fashion blog.  Next, we had some dance performance by a group of dancers and fellow bloggers Smith Leong and Ninja Girls. Forget to take pictures as too engrossed with the performance.

 

 

Last but not least groupie photo with the category winners

 

We were all treated to some light refreshments after the event. Indeed, it was the experience to be able to join in the event as a participant, observer and also supporter for bloggers who I am admire. To me , it is the first lifetime achievement which I got for myself into attending big media event like this.  The takeaway from the event was being able to truly appreciate everyone's participation in the event. Without that , I guess it would not be memorable for all the category winners nor the fellow participants.I really thank my friend for waking up so early to join me at the event.

 

Last but not least, I want to thank all my friends, blogger friends for supporting me throughout my this blogging journey for making it so enjoyable and fruitful.

 

Controversial Issue about Slim Couture and Xia Xue

With the interesting and controversial issue about Slim couture and Xia Xue, it makes me ponder on what is on the minds of management of Slim Couture. I seriously do not know how badly Xia Xue has commented on her posting.As by the time I read her blog, she has taken down that blog post that might cause her a legal suit with Slim Couture. Seriously, when bloggers are being engaged to write reviews for companies we are given the ability to express freely about what we felt throughout the review for either products or services.However, it does not mean that the bloggers would only say good things on their blogs for the reviews.

Here's a picture of Xia Xue where the cupping marks did not subside after a few hrs as per advised by the staff of Slim Couture.

Companies must also manage their expectations that there might be some bad reviews as that it is not everyone will like everything. If all good things are said about the products or services , readers might think is it true. Plus if after trying out themselves and they find that it is not up to the standard as per what the blogger has mentioned earlier on they will also feedback to others. Companies should also take this opportunity when bloggers are there to do reviews, it is also time for them to take note of what is needed to be change to further improve on the packaging of the product or training for staff for better service.

For me, I stand on xia xue and nuff nang's point of view that xia xue should be given the freedom to write how she felt about the treatment. Though the treatment might work for others, it did not work for xia xue and xia xue is being honest to reveal that. I think that it would actually manage some expectation of the consumers who might be visiting Slim Couture. No doubt that advertisement is supposed to be a positive light, consumers today will go out to check reviews first before going to the place. So be gracious about whatever bloggers comment when they do the review. I would always prefer to be given the freedom to write on how I feel about the treatment, product and service. I blogged true to my feelings as I do not see the need to bluff my readers.

Tips for companies to manage on their expectation of bloggers doing blog review
1. Manage the expectations that not every blogger will write only good things
2. Set boundaries for the blogger if you are like targeting a certain image for the company
3. Provide QR scan code or printed vouchers for bloggers so that they can sort of work as mystery shopper as they write the review and the staff will not be on their guard.

 

Review of S & N Spa @ 488 Changi Road

S &N Spa which is located at 488 Changi Road is situated at the junction where frankel avenue and behind the Trumps condo. S &N Spa has been around for about 4 years. The range of services that S & N Spa provide are body massage(thai , javanese, tuina), cupping therapy, jacuzzi massage, foot massage, foot spa and foot massage,jade back massage, ear candling and whitening body scrub. They are fully operated on 24 by 7 daily. Most importantly, they are case trust.

Here's the outlook of how S & N Spa look like now

S &N Spa offers a ladies' room , a man's room and couple's room. This is to better facilitate that the customers to enjoy the service. Within the couple's room , there is a jacuzzi pool. Within the man's room , there is a shower room. As for the ladies' room, it is just solely for the ladies.

Let's take a look at the ladies room

The men's room 

 The couple's room

After looking at the surrounding environment , I headed for my one hr massage. I was told that I will be trying out the tui na massage. As a usual personnel who goes to see chinese sinseh for tui na massage, my expectations are slightly higher since I could lay on the bed for tui na massage this time round. 

My overall experience with  S &N spa was average cos the time management of the therapist is not really good as she only focuses on 1hr for back massage and I never got to do the front. However, the massage did make me feel more alert and relaxed. The therapist's strength was good enough for me that I don't have to scream and shout like I usually do in the medical hall.  One thing I like was that there are no sales consultants doing hard selling as I stayed back a little to observe.

Currently, there is a promotion on going which is that when you get the 90 mins massage package you get to get an add on of either one of the following for free which is body scrub, ear candling, aroma oil, cupping therapy and gua sha. Further to that, after going for your massage you can head over to seng kee black chicken herbal soup as they are diagonally opposite S&N spa.

***Disclaimer "Though this is a sponsored review, I reserved the right to my own honest opinions. I do not believed in not being true to myself.

A night out at Alive Museum

Seriously, there are too many museums to visit nowadays as the government has allowed free concessions for locals . I have not been to a museum for a long long time. The last time I went was probably during my secondary school days.

Currently, there is so much hype about trick eye museum and alive museum.  I was wondering which one should I go first to....It so happened that I was given an opportunity to review Alive Museum as per invitation from omy and Alive Museum thus I am out to Alive Museum on a Thursday night.

Upon arriving at Suntec, I headed to the food court so that I could be linked to tower 3 & 4 via the foundation of wealth where Alive Museum is. As I was walking thru the linkway, I chanced upon the directions to Alive Museum.

Directions to Alive Museum via foundation of wealth~Guess this is huge enough for everyone not to miss it .

Upon arriving at the Alive Museum alone, I was suggested by the staff that they could get one of the staff to accompany me to tour around and take pictures. I actually took the tour of the place with the staff where she could explain to me how to better pose for the photos for the pictures in Alive Museum. There is also a baggage depository system at the counter where the staff would tag your bag with a tag.

Here's mine.

My favourite number

I began the tour with an famous art piece where most people would know. It's Mona Lisa which is animated version.

For art lovers, you might want to take this picture.

I have managed to get a model for one the photos. This lady is very kind to help me pose for the photo as I felt she look angelic while posing for that photo.Really thank her for posing for me and also the staff for helping me to ask

Up close look of the angel 

As for me, here's the range of the photos that I like.

I feel that I look so cute in this pic

 

I am flying with cartoon character

I feel like I am the modern yang gui fei

Overall , the tour of the museum was filled with tips by the staff on how to take better photos. There are pictures of Ames room which psychology students could go there to take to further understand concepts in cognitive psychology.  One tip is to go toilet before you enter into the museum as there are no toilets inside the museum. Further to that, it is best adviceable for ladies not to wear skirt and do wear dark colour cos u might want to lie down on the floor to take photos.

After walking the tour, one must be either tired or thirsty. Fret not, there is a current promotion that Alive Museum has tied up with Burger King which is just besides Alive Museum. All you have to do is to like Alive Museum on their Facebook page and get the free meal from Burger King with the purchase of a full price purchased ticket. Promotion ends on 30 Sept'14

Alive Museum SingaporeSuntec City Mall #03-372
(Between Towers 3 and 4)

Ticket Price:
$25 (Adults)
$20 (Children 3 - 12 years old)

Operating hours:
10am - 10pm daily
(Last admission at 9pm)

 

  

Thoughts throughout this blogging period for the Singapore Blog Awards

Seriously, this blogging period for the Singapore Blog Awards did kind of stressed me up. It is not just about the voting only but also coming out with recipes that is not too costly and time consuming for people to make.

I did learn that baking with prima bread flour and bake king flour is a lot of difference cos the moment i ate the bread. Though I am someone who prefers to cook rather than bake,  i get to learn more about baking. Like the teaspoon , it can't be a heap must be level. Oh, one thing must make sure in baking dun ever use granulated sugar .. it is supposed to be caster sugar.

However, I also get to know new supportive blogger friends and also got to know who are really my true friends. I did actually get to learn more about myself cos entering into this blogging scene onto the big scale involves lots of courage. It is no longer about just writing for the sake of entertaining my small circle of friends.

Anyway, just wan to say a big thank you to all who have voted for me!

 

Don't Worry, Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin- I know it says Marley ( sorry it...

Hope you guys out there have a happy midweek... Enjoy

Review of the book of David by Charles Swindoll-Part 2

In this part, I would like to cover chapter 5-8. As there are 24 chapters, I thought it might be good to develop it into 6 part series  rather than 1 whole lump chunk.

Quoting from Charles Swindoll, he wrote that God is always good cos He never shows us tomorrow. This stems out from Matthew 6:33-34. What comes out from reading the verse of Matthew 6: 33-34 was that we do not have to worry about what tomorrow will happen and not to worry on what we will eat and just be merry.

As he wrote about the issue of intimate friendship, he states that an intimate friend is willing to sacrifice, will be there to assist in whatever and whenever is needed. It reminded me of the relationship of david and johnathan, the relationship between God and me and also the relationship between veron and me. I am thankful that I do know that in this life I am able to find an intimate friend cos not everyone is able to be blessed to find an intimate friend.

In terms of relationship, can one find loyal defense in the partner ? There ought to be a need to give each other complete freedom to be themselves and be a constant source of encouragement for the partner. As in we can never reach a level where we are above criticism or we no longer need the input of others.

In life, there are bound to be some pillars or so called known crutches in our lives. However, there are 3 warnings we ought to beware of . The first one is that the crutches become substitutes for God - Deut 33:27 and Isa 41:10. The second one would be crutches keep our focus horizontal as we tend to lean on one person or another thing, our focus is not on God and hence that the human crutches paralyze the walk of faith. The third thing is that crutches only offer temporary relief whereas God gives a permanent solution.

When the crutches in our lives are gone, what do we actually do ? Do you actually change?
Change is needed . First and foremost, are you being hurt enough to admit  your own need? Secondly,are you honest enough to cry to God for help. Thirdly, are u humble enough to learn from God?

The need of coming back to God for refuge are simply because we are in distress and sorrow accompanies us, because of we are sinful and guilt accuses us and because of we are surrounded by adversaries and misunderstanding assault us.

So help yourself to identify your crutches today and submit to God on the issues.  Have a blessed weekend!

Ribena Berry Bread Recipe and Chicken Curry Party

Ingredients

100g of mixed berries- dried cranberry and blue berries
250 g of bread flour
2 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of milk powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1.5 teaspoon of instant dry yeast
10g of butter
150ml of cold water
40ml of ribena

Method

Firstly, I put all the necessary ingredients in the bread pan except for the yeast and mixed berries.
Secondly, I select menu 2 for it and also select raisins with music. So as to facilitate the putting in of the berries at 32 min. Last but not least, set the timer to bake and press start. It will end at 2 hrs later.

As for the chicken curry party, it was an impromptu decision last night between me and my friend cecilia. I offered to bake the basic bread to her house while she cook the curry. It was a day of baking 3 loaves at one go  with less than 1 hr apart from each loaf . You can't use it straight after baking one loaf for another loaf else the machine will prompt the word U50 to prevent you from using.

Here's the pictures of the chicken party.

My friend's kid even mentioned this is the first time that I would eat the bread crust.The curry cooked by my friend was super nice. Long time never had nice chicken curry. Next time , I shall share with you my friend's chicken curry recipe.

Food Review of Maggie Thai Chinese Restaurant at 1 Liang Seah Street

I am glad that I have been invited to this food review for Maggie Thai & Chinese Restaurant recently. The hospitable Ms Maggie made me and fellow bloggers so at home as she shared with us the history of Maggie Thai & Chinese Restaurant and a little about Liang Seah Street where no one knows.

History of Maggie Thai & Chinese Restaurant

  

Maggie Thai & Chinese Restaurant has been established since 1998. It was conveniently located at the heart of the city, only minutes away from Bugis Junctions .

Maggie started her first Thai food stall at Queen Street hawker centre. It soon became a famous eatery outlet. Customers packed up in an endless queue at busy hours. Encouraged by customers, Maggie and her family decided to move the business to Liang Seah Street in 1998 starting with only one shop unit. Maggie Thai & Chinese Restaurant was established since there. Years later, it was expended to two shop units. Despite the high rent of the city central area, Maggie insists to provide “cheap and good” food for loyal customers. 

Accolades won over the years by Maggie Thai & Chinese Restaurant

 

Upon arrival at the shop, one can see the decorations on  the walls via painting and the big sign board of their specialities.

 

 

Ms Maggie's hubby's collections~~~unique right

 

 

Here comes the actual food review of the food that Ms Maggie prepared for us

 

Thai Steamed Grouper

 

For me, this dish does not struck a chord with my taste buds even though I am someone who loves sour stuff. Perhaps, it was due to that the fish seems to be fresh water fish and not sea water fish. However, the sauce that was used to steam this fish was pretty good. The meat was very tender.

 

Rating of this dish is 3/5

 

Assam Fish

 

This dish is really appetising . The sauce when pour onto plain rice was so appetising that one could have a few bowls of rice if not controlled. The brinjal that was cook to just nice for its softness and lady fingers were well cooked that it was crunchy and yet not slimy. The fish meat was not filmsy at all and could taste the freshnesss of the fish. Ms Maggie also told us tat she used all the fresh ingredients daily from the wholesalers instead of the frozen ingredients.

 

Rating for this dish is 5/5

 

Salted egg prawns

 

What I liked about this dish is that the prawn is not heavily coated with flour when fried before stir frying with the salted egg .

 

Rating for this dish is 3.5/5

Cereal Prawns

 

As for this dish which I usually get to eat it at home, I feel that this dish is a bit not on par with my home standard. Perhaps it was the lack of the chilli padi in the cereal mix and the buttery taste.

 

Rating for this dish is 2.5/5 

Red Curry Beef

 

This dish though named red curry beef is not exactly spicy and the meat is really tender . I wonder if they have added any meat tenderizer. It kinds of melt in the mouth that kind of feeling.

 

Rating of this dish is 5/5

 

Thai Fried Grouper

 

The fish was deep fried till it was so crunchy and the sauce that was with it could not be more than awesome. 

 

Rating of this dish is 5/5.

Butter squid

 

This is one of the signature dishes in Maggi Thai. It does not taste like calamari cos it feels very qq and not a lot of batter was being added to fry. You are supposed to dip it with either the sweet thai chill sauce or mayonaise sauce to eat.

 

Rating of this dish is 5/5

 

There are also a lot of other items which are available for lunch time special. So people who is working around the gateway west or gateway east you guys can go and try.

 

Lunch Time Special Menu would be Black pepper udon noodles, Taiwan dry minced meat mee tai mak,  Thai mango fried chicken rice, Hong Kong style orange fried chicken rice, fried hokkien mee, Thai prawn paste chicken rice. This is solely applicable at the Liang Seah Street outlet.

 

For those working at the west, you may wan to head down to their food court outlet store for the cravings at  50 Jurong Gateway Road, Jem Food Court, #05-14 Singapore 608549

 

 

Address of the 2 outlets of Maggie Thai & Chinese Restaurant
(Main Outlet)
1 Liang Seah Street, #01-01/02
Singapore 189022

(2nd Outlet)
50 Jurong Gateway Road,
Jem Food Court, #05-14
Singapore 608549

 

 

For more info, please visit their website http://www.maggiethai.com. Do remember to make reservation on the weekends if u are heading down there.

 

Last but not least , I would like to thank Maggie for her generousity to treating us the bloggers for wonderful food and also street directory for arranging this event

 

*** Disclaimer: all the opinions of the food are of my own personal opinions.*****

 

Please remember to vote for me if you have yet to vote for me today ...Click on the finalist badge to link to the voting system.

 

 

 

Sch reopens for me

Today is the first day of my school reopen for my final semester in Unisim. First time getting around the block C.  Haven gotten around block c to see if there is any canteen anot ...This term I am going to take positive psychology. As for next term , I will be taking work stress and creative psychology.

Today's lesson was practically just mostly on the definition of positive psychology and on the concept of broaden and build theory by barbara fredickson . There is also something called the flow experience and savoring.

Actually, in life which type of emotions do u focus more on ? Positive or negative?  Positive emotions help ppl to expand the perspections to view things whereas negative emotions tend to narrow the views as negative emotions will trigger fear which will cause us to go into fight or flight mode mainly for survival.

Indeed when i feel loved, i tend to perform better and also find more opportunities in life. So keep yourself happy and you will find better opportunities in life.