Tax submission for business owner

This would  be the 1st time that I submit my tax return as a business owner. The date line is on 30 June. 

I have been organizing the bills, banking documents and other accounts  related documents a week ago in order for me to update them into the accounting system.  I am using the UBS accounting  system at home which is similar to the system  I am using in my employer's office, so I am quite familiar  with it and that's  make  it a lot easier for me.

I have one more week to finalise my business  account and do the submission online for the Assessment Year 2012.  Previous years, I only have to report my income as an employee which is very much straight forward.

My shop assistant

Before I started my business,  I never took note of people talking about how frustrating it is to employ a reliable shop assistant.

After operating a shop for exactly 5 months as of today,  I have started to realise employing a good employee is not as easy as I first thought. 

We have to ask my staff to leave because she has becoming dishonest and taking advantage of our kindness.  She has been coming late to work and taking leaves with only giving me one hour notice with all sort of reasons she can think of.  We have given her warnings repeatedly for such a behaviour.

We have to finally laid her off on last Saturday when she turned in to work 3 hours late. 

Without an assistant,  we have to temporary closed our shop while looking for a new one, luckily not for long. Thank God that we managed to get a replacement after spreading words around.  Hopefully the new shop assistant will be better than the previous one.  She will be commencing her duties tomorrow.   I am relieve at the same time worry whether she can handle the job alone as she is very young and inexperienced.   I am unable to be in my shop because I am still under employment with a boss.   Just hope that I can becoming my own boss very soon on a full time basis.

Here are very cute singlet and pants set selling at my shopping for 2 to 7 years old.

Online food ordering and home delivery service

After a long and tiring day at work, we are basically out of idea of what to serve for dinner each day.  I can only come out with only 1 -2 simple dishes in less than half and hour.  My kids have started to complain about the similar food that I serve them each time.  My cooking is always prepared in the shortest time possible just to fill up our hungry stomach and allow time for me to do the cleaning up after meals, and thereafter do the laundry, check on my girls homework and other house chaos within 2-3 hours time before rushing my girls to bed.  

I told my friend that she is lucky to have her dinner readily served by their parents or house helper, and have time to put up their legs to enjoy a good series of drama after dinner.  

Eating out could be an alternative but it is costly to dine out nowadays not to mention the queue.  I am very much prefer to enjoy a nice dinner at home.  

Recently I came across a brilliant website which offer online food delivery service to homes, Foodpanda, orders can be made online or by phone for food to be delivered in and around Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Penang and many more areas.  I am very disappointed that their services have not extended to Kota Kinabalu.  We would definitely be their regular customers if their delivery service is available here.

After further check on their website here you could find more than 300 restaurants offering international cuisines, besides our local Malaysian food.  All can be conveniently ordered through online and delivered to your home or office.  This kind of food delivery service will help to cease the burden of working class mum a great deal. 

The view of Mount Kinabalu

After living in my current house for almost 3 years now, I only came to realise that the view of Mount Kinabalu is clearly visible from our first floor bedrooms.  I noticed it when I went to close my girls' bedroom window one fine morning before rushing to work (rain in the afternoon is very frequent here so I have to make sure all windows are closed before leaving the house each morning).  

Honestly, I always envy those who have houses with nice view of Mt. Kinabalu all this while without realising our house is one of them too..I am so very pleased.

Here is the view of Mount Kinabalu taken from our room on a clear sunny morning. I cropped the picture to get a nearer view.

Breakfast Time

I enjoy having to start my days with nice breakfasts.   How I wish I can take my sweet time to enjoy my breakfasts.
Most of the time, after sending our girls to school,  Clet will always asks me what breakfast I prefer. He knows very well that I can't decide, because deep down in my heart,  my preferred choice would be a nice buffet breakfast.  Since we can't have my preferred choice due to time and price, I always try to be adventurous to look for variety of breakfast choices. 

Here's what I had for breakfast that I remember to take photos.  I do not always take photos of what we eat. I am a moderate food blogger..:) But I enjoy food very much.

SK-II Facial Treatment Gentle Cleanser

Wanted to try out the much talk about SK-II, I purchased a tiny trial size Facial Treatment Gentle from ebay seller at RM8.00.  This tiny little thing was delivered from Hong Kong. It took about 2 weeks to reach me.  I am glad that it didn't go missing in the post.

At first try, its fragrance is so very familiar to me. It smells like the snow brand cleansing cream that I used when I was a teenage girl.  That snow brand is no longer available in the market now or probably it has changed its packaging over the years.

Anyway,  if this SK-II Facial Treatment Gentle proves to be good on my skin, I don't mind getting a normal size tube.  

Her name is Golden

We are very irritated by the noice made by the rats when they start running around on top of our roof. Our neighbours have caught number of rats and our dog, Lucky has also been chasing after the rats when they are within his sight.  I ever told Clet that we probably need a cat to scare those rats away.

After many weeks till yesterday, Clet brought back a little female kitten that he found in school.  Crystal told me that they put her in a box and brought it home after school to surprise me.  I didn't expect him to take my word for real.

I have a bit of resentment to see this kitten at first. Having additional pet means we will have to care for it which I don't have the extra time to do so.  First of all, we will have to toilet train this little kitten.

Golden is such a cute kitten, small but fierce. Our girls named her "Golden" because of its golden looking hair. She didn't want to eat the Whiskas Junior cat food nor the milk that we fed her last night. Occasionally I could hear it miao miao last night.  It must be hard for Golden to attempt to its new environment.

Hope Golden will do a good job to chase away all the rats. Most importantly do not poo and pee inside the house.

Admiring the little Golden

Trying to let her drinking milk

"Golden" is just an ordinary breed cat, the first cat that we rear.

All about Pizzas

Whenever our girls crave for spaghetti carbonara, we look no further but Pizza Hut.  Spaghetti  carbonara at Pizza Hut suite their taste.  Last Wednesday at Pizza Hut, we topped up additional RM5.00 to get a stuffed crust pizza, we love those cheese.  But their staff made a mistake in our order, serving us an ordinary Island Supreme.  Due to their mistake they let us have the "wrong" pizza and order their kitchen to bake the stuffed crust pizza for us.  We were all full after having the "wrong" pizza when the stuffed crust was served.  We had a slice of it and the rest were "supposed" to take away.  

Few hours after we reached home, I realised that I did not collect the stuffed crust pizza that I asked to tapau.   While waiting to pay, Clet brought Pearl to the car. I left the shop right after I got the change from the cashier, I hurried and forgot all about the delicious cheese crust pizza.  Since I am blaming him for going to the car earlier without waiting for the tapau, Clet asked me whether we should drive to Pizza Hut to collect the pizza or not, it's already 10pm. Of course no la..!! would you??  

This whole pizza that we left at Pizza Hut.  Can you spot a different slice of pizza??

At home, my girls put together their own pizza, my plastic pearl beads become their toys.  

Chinese Medicine

After few days of stomach upset and diarrhoea, and the intake of western medications, Crystal appeared weak, pale and having cold sweat.  For the past week even before the stomach upset and allergy problems, she took more naps  and always complained of tiredness.  She has less energy compare to her normal self and had to stop half way through her taekwando lesson last week.

We decided to bring her to a Chinese medical hall to get an advise on what sort of Chinese Herbs that is good for her to regain her health.  The Chinese medical hall introduced us a Chinese medical doctor just across the road in Foh Sang, Luyang.  

The doctor checked on her pulses and throat.  He suggested that Crystal should not drink any cold drinks, cooling tea, no chicken and eggs, no white radish (white lo pak) in her diet, for fruits, only red apple is allowed.  Here are the tablets she has to take 3 times a day 4 tablets each for 5 days.  Due to school time, we only managed to give her medicine twice a day. 

She is regaining her energy after taking the Chinese medicine.  Thank you Lord and His touch on my little girl for helping her to get well and  rejuvenate her body.  

My mum has discharged from the hospital yesterday after admitted on last Thursday due to severe vomiting and diarrhoea.  Will bring her to see this Chinese Medication Doctor for some herbs supplements.

Free Kit Kat Mug with purchase

Free 1 Kit Kat mug with the purchase of 1 packet of 12 family pack of Kit Kats. 

I suppose this giveaway has been on since Chinese New Year. 

There are 3 designs to choose from, since I only bought 1 family pack I just let the cashier to pick any design for me.  I must admit that because of a free mug I bought a pack of 12 Kit Kits as opposed to purchase only 1 or 2 small bars for my kids normally.

 I like this mug for its bright red colour and it doesn't look cheap skate in quality 

 its size is just right for my coffee or tea but it is barley drink in this picture.  I boiled a pot of barley in slow cooker over night especially for my mum who has been admitted into the hospital since last Thursday due to severe vomiting and diarrhoea.

A pack of 12 kit kat and my free mug.  

Do you purchase more than you normally do because of free item??

School Holiday with my girls

I took a day leave from work last week while Clet attending a full day course.  I got to spend the whole day with my girls.  As a FTWM, it is not always have a day off like this with my girls.  

Crystal was in recovering stage from her stomach upset problem thought I would want to give her some nourishing food which I do not get to prepare for her and Pearl during working days.  I also managed to do get something done which has been long overdue, read on and you will know what I meant. "."

Sweet potatoes desert with sago.  Purple sweet potato is Pearl's favourite.  For Crystal to cool her body as she has got fever days earlier.

For breakfast, I cooked meehoon herbal soup with lean pork and meat ball.  The bigger bowl with loads of vegetable is mine, our girls rejected all the green vegetable I gave them though with just a small piece.  Hard to get them to eat vegetable "sigh".  

My eating capacity is big.  This egg sandwiches was part of my breakfast too.*.*

with a cup of vanilla coffee.  I am cutting down my coffee intake recently, replacing it with Horlicks in the office, but still can not resist to have coffee in between the days.

This was the Chinese New Year decoration for our house put up by Clet.  It was still there though Chinese New Year has long past.  Visitors came to our house would be questioning (inside them of course) whether we are going to keep this decoration till next year..??

Of course not la...I had made a point to pack them up nicely in a mandarin orange box that day so that we can use this decoration again next year.  

All packed ready to be put into the store room

Later part of the afternoon, we spent our time at the shop.  Our girls had their kon lou mein for lunch while enjoying an episode of princess cartoon.   

I also managed to get Pearl to become my little model for the new party and flower girl bride's maid dress.  She is wearing Size 8. Sizes available are Size 4, 6, 8 and 10.  Please check out the New Arrivals at my Kids Fashion Dot Com Facebook Page.

I didn't realise and Crystal also forgot that day was a Tuesday.  She missed her piano class.  It has always been her daddy sending her to piano class but it has totally slipped his mind during school holiday. When he read the SMS reminder from the piano teacher in the seminar, it has already way past the piano lesson time.  Apart from that, it was a great day spending time with my 2 little precious.

Good Neighbours

I must say we are blessed with good neighbours both left and right and the one right opposite too.

I am closer to our neighbour on the left, though I am always out of the house during the day, we always find the chance to chit chat and catch up a little over the fence whenever we happen to meet each other. 

These are some of the gestures of our caring neighbour :

1. They help us to switch on our garage light when the sun goes down so that our house is not in total darkness when we come back late in the evening.
2. When we are away for vacations, they help us to feed our dog, Lucky, by giving him food over the fence (most of the time leftover roasted lamb and bones as they are specialised in roast lamb business).
3. Occasionally they will pass a container of roasted lamb, fruits from the relative's farm for us.  They will hang it on the fence if they did not manage to meet us.
4. They will help to watch over our house when we are away for a few days.
5. They will bring back goodies and gifts for us whenever they travel abroad.  Not to mention Chinese New Year Celebration.
6. They will invite us over when they hold a party at home.

These goodies are from their trip to China last week.    

Crystal is very happy to see this mochi.  Unfortunately she is still suffering from stomach upset, have not totally recovered yet.  She has tasted a very nice ice cream mochi in the Philippines and she has been asking for a similar mochi.  

Smecta for diarrhoea

After I have recovered a little.  My precious Crystal got sick the following day.  We still couldn't figure out what kind of food that she is allergy to, she has got very bad allergy causing itchiness all over her body and swollen on her eyes and mouth on Wednesday.  Besides that, she also had diarrhoea in the day and fever set in later in the night.  She couldn't sleep well and both me and Clet had a sleepless night as well.  Crystal had sick leave from school on Thursday as a result.

Her diarrhoea problem persist until today, the doctor did not prescribed any diarrhoea medication for her because he reckoned it was the allergy that have caused her stomach discomfort.  

She appeared weaker than normal and complained of stomach discomfort and frequent to the toilet to pass loose and watery stool.  After her revision class from GMA (Genius Mind Academy) in the afternoon, she felt even weaker after using so much of her brain power in the class.  I closed my shop earlier and Clet sent us home so that Crystal can rest and take her medication.

I gave her the medication that the doctor gave her when she had diarrhoea and fever a few months ago.  Clet bought another 8 packets of the smecta as we have ran out of.  

 Pink one is for diarrhoea, fever medicine next to it, and a packet of smecta (it functions to collect all the bad becteria in the stomach and sent them off to the toilet).  Hope this medication will help Crystal to recover soon.

Clet bought extra packets of smecta in case anyone of us kenak diarrhoea. Eating out something is unavoidable. 

After 1-2 hours taking the medication, she is back to her normal self joining her little sister in the computer room, playing computer game, and she told me that she is passing out a lot of air from the tummy :) It is much better than seeing her feeling so weak lying on the bed having fever and stomach discomfort.  Get Well Soon girl..!!

The Photo Bank Booth

I often see in the movie screens that people taking photos in the photo bank booths but I have not been in one myself.  I can't remember seeing any photo bank booth in the city I live.  

Most of the time the photo bank booths are placed at where fun fairs, theme parks, tourist attraction are located.  I guess it would be fun taking photos with family and friends in the photo bank booths, where they can making all kinds of funny faces and postures. :D

To meet the current market demand, the service of dallas photo booth has extended to private functions like wedding celebration.  They have received overwhelming responses from their customers.  It is definitely a brand new concept to be introduced to any functions, where the guests and the hosts can have their memorable moments captured at an instant because the photos will be produced at the booth.  

These are some of the features for the dallas photo booth :

• Fast prints from the booth
• Unique round and spacious design 
• many props to choose from 
• can fit up to 8 persons in the booth at a time
• 23" screen with up to date slide show
• Touch screen monitor for easy use
• various background to choose from 

They provide flexible payment plans, basic & luxury packages, professional booth in attendance during the event, USB event photos, guest are allowed to choose their own colors and photos templates, and the theme background too
.

If your wedding is on the way, why not start planning to have wedding photo booth rentals at your reception,  your guests will sure be looking forward to have their photos taken in their best attires at your wedding.

Besides the rental of wedding photo booth, they also cater for company function with special designed themed background and customised features of your choice outside the booth. Please visit www.thephotobank.com for further information.   

Token of Appreciation - A new bag

A sensible supplier of mine sent me a lovely bag as a token of appreciation for our first business dealing.  Of course, I am very pleased to receiving it.  It is simple yet practical.  The quality is better than most that I have seen.

I was actually looking for a bag, a smaller and handier bag than the one I have been using.  I did enquire on one of the bag that she is selling but I decided not to buy for reason I forgot what was it. 

The bright pink colour is really outstanding, I wouldn't buy it if I have a choice.  But after using it for a while, I started to like its sweet and bright pink colour instead.  It is light weight which is suitable for a person like me who tends to carry many other stuff in my bag just to make sure they are available when we need them, especially for our 2 girls.   I am glad that this bag is big enough for me to load in one or two sweaters for my girls and a scarf for me.