My Favorite Wife by Tony Parsens

My Favorite Wife is the story of a lawyer, Bill Horden who brings his young family from London to Shanghai, China. He will be made partner in a couple of years so that he and his family can have better life.

However not everything in Shanghai are what they have expected. There are farmers have their land ripped away from them, babies being thrown into trashcans, and there are women selling their bodies to earn a living.

Their lifestyle also has changed a lot. Bill always leave the home early for work and come back after his wife Becca and his daughter Holly have gone to bed. He spent very little time with his family and most of his time at work, entertaining the clients after working hours.

After Holly's sudden asthma attack, Becca shock at finding a baby in the trash, and at the same time worrying on her sick father back home, Becca demands to go back to London. Leave Bill alone in Shanghai.

In Paradise Mansions, the place where Bill and his family are staying has a group of young women being kept as mistresses by rich married men – some local, some foreigners. After Becca and Holly went back to London, Bill gets lonely and strikes up much more than a friendship with the beautiful JinJin Li, one of the ladies from that group of young women. And you probably can guess what happen next.

The second half of the book mainly talks about Bill being alone in Shanghai and his interactions with JinJin Li. I dislike the fact that he knew he should not do it, he knew it is wrong and yet the next minute he has forgotten about it and go all out with her.

The story of the book made me in low mood for quite a while as it brought back some bad memories. I feel dissatisfied about the ending of the book. Not that I don't like the ending but I feel it is a bit rush. The author jumps to the ending without talking much about the interactions between Bill and Becca on this issue. In fact this book mainly focuses on Bill. There is no much mention about Becca after knowing her husband has betrayed her. There is no much details about her feelings and how she can forgive her husband on this matter.

I won't say this book is not a good read. In fact it is a very interesting book because it’s a Westerner’s point of view of Asian life. But it's not a book to make you feel comfortable, not for me.   

I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Then Sings My Soul Special Edition By Robert Morgan

Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan is a compilation of 150 Christian hymns and the stories behind them, of the people whose faith led them to write these wonderful seasonal hymns and the people whose faith was affected by reading, hearing, and singing the songs. The book includes the music and lyrics for each hymn, along with a brief synopsis of the lyricist and/or composer. Hymns range from Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Patriotic, and other well loved hymns. The music and lyrics and the stories are printed side by side so it is very easy to read and make reference to each other. If you enjoy history, you will find this book to be an enjoyable and enlightening read. This book will also make a great gift for anyone who loves the religious hymns of the seasons. 

I rate this book 3 out of 5 star. 

Note: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

November

This month is my birthday month, but that does not bring any good luck to me. On the other hand, I feel I was doomed from the start of the month.

I'm still waiting for my last year birthday's prezzie. Yes last year. I did not get my birthday present last year that I requested. So I requested for something else and I'm still waiting for it. As for this year birthday present, I will only get it next month. Because it only available early next month.

And within the same week, I feel like I have lost two friendships. One of them accused me for things that I did not say and did not do. Later he realized he made a mistake. He mistaken the person was me but in fact it is someone else. I feel hurt and disappointed, because he was not a stranger to me. We know each other for quite some time and I was surprised that he believed I would say such thing. This show how weak our friendship is. On top of that, after he had realised that he made a mistake on it, he did not even come apologize to me! I know he has his other own issues and problems but hey if you made a mistake, don't you suppose to say sorry? Everyone has their own issues and problems. But I think we should be responsible on our action. Have done something wrong, then say sorry and apologize. I'm teaching my 2.5 years old to say sorry too!

Another incident happened due to some friends from other country did not understand our culture and belief. I did not blame him for not understanding but please stop attacking us. We are the victims and yet we are the one being blamed here.

I also could not get full support and help when I need it. I have been constantly helping, guiding and doing lots of favor for people but now what am I getting in return? Should I go back to the old me, close up myself from people around me?

Just when I was feeling sad and down, there is this friend who never stop cheering me up. And what most, he offered his help. I should feel grateful at least there is still someone who treats me well. Sigh. Despite he is just someone who I met in the online game, we never met each other in real life, and we also don't interact with each other outside the game, and yet hubby got jealous about him. I have never met someone that will never reject a request if within his capability. And in return, I also return all favors that he asked. In another way, I don't want to owe him anything. You help me, I help you back. That's all. To me, there's no reason for hubby to be jealous. It's not that something will happen. This guy is more than 10 years younger than me! And I'm a very rational person. Feel like hubby does not trust me. Sigh.

One and a half month more, year 2010 will end and another new year is coming. Feel like I have accomplished nothing in this year. Looks like I need to plan a day off to do things that will make me feel better.

Adventures in Booga Booga Land - Volume 1 (DVD)

Adventures in Booga Booga Land - Volume 1 consists of three stories, all based on the parables of Jesus. The three parables are Workers in the Vineyard from Matthew 20:1-16, Wise and the Foolish Builders from Luke 06:47-49, and Lamp Under the Bowl from Matthew 5:14-16. Each story is about 15 minutes long.

The stories are presented in a fun and humorous way. The two main characters are Marty the monkey and Gerard the giraffe. Marty is a monkey who acts without thinking much while Gerard is the smarter one between the two. My 4yo enjoyed watching it very much and asked for more while the 2yo did not seem to show much interest on it. Nevertheless he stayed with us to finish watching the whole DVD.

In summary the stories are fun. It would be better if they could have more emphasis on the Bible story and how it relates to us.

I rate this DVD 3 out of 5.

Note: I received this DVD free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

My new washing machine

Absolutely love my new washing machine. :D I used to have a semi-auto washing machine. Not so much on want to save money on buying a washer during that time, it's more on want to keep the water for reuse purpose. Since I was young, my parents have been using semi-auto washing machine. So an automatic washing machine is an alien to me. Every time we need to rinse the water, we will keep the water in pails to be used for flushing the toilet. We save lots of water by doing this way. This has never been changed even till today. My parents are still using semi-auto washing machine at their home.

However after I get married and started living by ourselves, just the two of us at the beginning, we did not use much water. The pails of water were there for few days. Worrying that it might encourage the mosquitoes to breed, I actually stopped collecting the water after a very short while. Even now with the additions of the kids, we still did not use much water as most of the time we are not at home. The monthly water bill is just the minimum amount to pay. The only time I had to pay more was during the confinement month. Another problem is, since it is semi-automatic, it requires human to operate it. We found that it is time consuming to get the laundry done as most of the time, we were doing something else in other room and not somewhere near the washing machine. We could not hear it has stopped and need our action. I could take half a day to get the laundry done. I only do laundry twice a week - kids' clothes on Saturday and me and hubby clothes on Sunday. If it rains on Saturday, then the clothes may not get dried enough, I would have the problem on where to hang the next batch of laundry. And I have to get up very early if I want to slot in to wash our bed sheets for that week. If we need to go out during weekend, I also have issue getting the laundry done.

Few months back, me and hubby decided to get a fully automatic washing machine. It should help us save time spent on the laundry and make our live easier. As I have limited knowledge on automatic washing machine, I went to search some info from the internet before making the purchase. I found this washing machine review website very useful and information. It lists the factors I should consider before deciding on what to buy. During National holiday, we went to shop for the new washing machine. We did not really go to different shops to compare the prices. As long as I could find one that can fulfill my need and reasonable price, I would just make the purchase.

After standing there reading the manual, comparing the features, at last I chose the Hitachi model. It has energy savings, water savings, delay timer, and can load up to 10kg. Just as what I have needed. I know 10kg is big, but it is good when I need to wash bed sheets, sofa covers and curtains. Moreover I just do laundry once a week. so it is a lots to wash. I was actually not sure whether I should go for Hitachi or Samsung. At the end, I decided to go for Hitachi as it used less water as compared to Samsung. The price after discount was slightly more than 1k. It sounds reasonable to me with that big capacity.

The shop did not have ready stock for that model. So we waited for almost a month (partly due to Hari Raya) for it to arrive. It was not as difficult to learn to use it as I thought. It comes with very detailed manual. With the energy savings option turn on, the whole laundry cycle just took slightly more than 1 hour! I just need to sort out the clothes before putting them inside the washing machine, choose the right program and press Start, that's it! I even manage to wash our bed sheets in the following week! I was actually thinking of getting dryer too. A friend told me it could save our time too. But hubby was against the idea. He believes hanging out under the sun is still the best way to dry the clothes as the sun can kill any bacteria. Anyway laundry has become a breeze now. I get to have more time to do other things. Feel so happy. ^_^