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I bought my first gardening book last weekend – because it has basic information (which is not so basic for a novice like me) such as how to weed and prune. Besides, I am dying to know the proper names for the plants that I currently have.

Imagine being told that the common name for 3 types of very different plants was “money plant” (or feng shui plant!).

But my book (Garden Plant : Survival Manual) is not on tropical plants so as you can guess, none of my plants in there. Still, it has some good information and even though it has none of my current plants, this book is for keeps. There is an online service where you can sell textbooks or fiction books are only applicable to the US market.

By the way, I learnt how to find the seed for this particular flower in the picture.

Spot them if you can.

When my late maternal grandmother was still alive and strong, she would never leave her house willingly, even for a few days. If she was, she would agonised over her garden, convinced that all her flowers would be dead by the time she’s back.

I used to smirk whenever she was in one of her dramatic imagination mode as I was sure that I will never be in that position to lose sleep over plants.

But coming home after being away for Chinese New Year, I was dismayed to find that a few of my flowers in such a sorry state. The worst thing was, as I was nearer to home, I was actually looking forward to seeing them, having visions of them blooming in glorious pinks and purples.

Fortunately, with some much needed water and pruning of dried leaves, they look almost decent again. In fact, some of of my pink flowers look set to bloom again tomorrow. My purples may need a few more days to revive itself and that is a picture of it in its glory days.

Now I understand the bond that binds a gardener to the garden – and if there is such as thing as health savings account for plants, it’s not a surprise that die hard gardeners would invest in one.

The thing about living in a place with more people is that – there are lots more sickness and more health threats as compare to small town living where health culprits like stress is limited to a small group of individuals in certain jobs and income level.

Like us in my adopted district of Belait, stress from traffic is non-existent. In my home town of Kota Kinabalu, just thinking of going out for the nearby shops which is less than 5 km away is already stressing me with the thoughts of the jam and parking.

But the good thing about life in a bigger city is that, with more people, it is easier to share resources such as colon cleanse reviews and there are more radical ideas thought up by those who refuse to do it the usual way.

Such is the reason behind the creation of this weird concoctions that my parents  have for breakfast a few times a week. I am not sure who taught them the recipe as just the thought of eating aloe vera is already a huge turn off for me.

That’s right – raw, slimy aloe vera.

If that is not strange enough for you, they also add fruits like apples, fruit yoghurt and honey to this mix. They insist that it is delicious and extremely nutritious but I am not adventurous enough to give it a try – yet.

Christmas is over and all that frenzied gift buying activities which turn Kota Kinabalu into a no-enter zone (unless you want to be stuck in the jam for hours) is thankfully over!

That was why even though there are cheaper toy shops in Kota Kinabalu, I bought all my kids’ gifts from a mall outside the city centre. The funny thing was, these two boisterous kids only play with them when the adults in the house are fed up with their constant barrage of questions – and demand that they sit still and play with their new toys!

Perhaps, my two adventurous and rowdy girls would prefer a more interactive kind of toys (they love computer) such as those playstations or Wii games.

This UK shopping site where you can compare prices from up to 30,000 stores have a long list of Wii games that even I am interested to browse – if only to compare the cheapest price I could get for a particular item.

I especially like the store reviews feature as it helps to know what other shoppers think about any store. Sometimes even though a store offers the cheapest price, they might not always provide the best service. However, it would be better if they have a simple rating system that is immediately visible without having to read reviews.

I hope the Wii Fit (with Fitness Board) will be cheaper at the end of this year because I think my husband would enjoy this as an exercise and fitness tool.

Anyway, if you’re shopping for these popular Wii games or even the more traditional gaming range like the Play Stations 3, you know where to check first.

Because we did a little work in our living room in Lumut home, I actually plan to scout around for table lamps now that I am in Sabah.

However, I have been here for nearly a month and I have yet to step into any lighting stores – and you can blame that on the busy roads as there is nothing that I hated more in KK (and its surrounding suburbs) than the jam and the heat.

How I wish that there are online lighting shops like the Farrey’s for their huge range of lamps and lightings of all kinds – table lamps, floor lamps, desk lamps and etc!

How easy it will be to shop for the perfect lamp when all I need to do is switch the computer (even in my pyjamas), browse through their collections, choose one that I like, pay for it and wait for it to arrive!

By the way, after a bit of feng shui reading last night, I now needed to get not only a couple of table lamps for the living room, but I also need to “invest” in a red lamp for the coming Chinese New Year!