I'm a full-time mummy

I had the good fortune of reviewing a newly released book by David Erik Nelson called: "Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred: Seriously Geeky Stuff to Make with Your Kids"

Title: Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred: Seriously Geeky Stuff to Make with Your Kids
Author: David Erik Nelson
Publisher:  No Starch Press
ISBN: 9781593272593
Paperback: 360 pages
Dimension: 9.2 x 7 x 1 inches

David Erik Nelson is a freelance writer and former high school teacher. His fiction has been nominated for a Nebula award and has appeared in Asimov's, The Best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, and the forthcoming Steampunk Reloaded anthology. He developed the projects in this book at an alternative school, with plenty of feedback from his students. He is a contributor to the "Ask the Giant Squid" advice column at Poor Mojo's Almanac(k), a weekly online literary journal. You can also check out the author at his personal blog at: http://www.davideriknelson.com/sbsb/

The cover is a bit geeky for me but its title sounds excitingly dangerous and fun! Step-by-step books with illustrations, instructions and a book that comes with 24 quirky DIY projects that we can try on have always caught my fancy.

The book divides itself into 3 parts: Kid Stuff wherein the skills taught include basic sewing, carpentry, and electronics: Electro-Skiffe Band, which is an all music projects and requires slightly more advanced carpentry and soldering skills and The Locomotivated which is dedicated to flying and projectile toys.

Some of the projects, however, are too advanced for me, especially those under the Electro-Skiffe Band part. For example, the “x-Ray Talking Drum” project requires tools and supplies which are much more difficult for me to obtain, such as a large X–ray and a miter box.

I do love the fact that the projects in this book are designed to cost $10 or less and include kid-friendly crafts such as my favorites which are “The Sock Squid”, “Cardboard Boomerangs” and “FedEx Kites”, all of which are made of products which can be found in our home and does not costs much at all!

This book is a good choice for parents or teachers who would like to try their hands on craft-works which do not costs much and at the same time wants to learn useful skills in sewing, carpentry, electronics, and soldering.

You can get this book from Amazon, o'Reilly and even from the publisher website itself, which is No Starch Press.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a copy of the book by the publisher (No Starch Press) via my association with BookPleasures in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"

I read a blog post (I'm sorry but I couldn't find the post anymore no matter how hard I googled for it) a couple of years ago about this lady who prayed for her very very sick mother. Of how sad and heartbreaking for her to see her mother lying on the bed in pain. Of how she prays and prays for her mother to get well and yes, her mother did get well, but only for a while as not long after that, her mother fell more sick and in more pain before finally succumbing to her sickness. The post goes on with how the lady regretted and felt sad with her mother's passing. She realised that she should have prayed for God's will instead of hers. She thought of how God had planned for the way things are to be, only to be interrupted by her own prayers for her mother to get well, and eventually causing more sufferings to her mother.

When I first read this post, I asked myself how could God do this? And to her poor mother?  But after some serious thoughts on this, I realised something. You may disagree with what I'm going to say here.

I mean, think of it this way, if you know your beloved pet is going to die and you have no way to cure or heal it, what would you do?

Will you pray for it to have a swift and painless death? Or you would rather it just hangs on and you keep hoping for miracle and refusing to accept the fact that it's going to leave you?

Everytime something bad happens, the following came into my mind...

But we, as human, we think we have the power and the rights for things to be done our way.

We pray to God to spare the life of our loved ones, to heal them, to make them well again, to take the pain away, so on and so forth and we forgot about the part that everything is under the control of Him.

We think that God will listen and will answer our prayers. Of course God will answer our prayers! Read: Luke 11:10 (NIV)

But think again! Is it what God wanted? Is what YOU wanted, agreeable by Him? Read: Psalm 119:36 (NIV)

At this point now, you may say "Easy for you to say full-time mummy! You're not the one with the sick / dying / terribly in pain loved ones / friends / etc here!"

I will just like to tell you that it is not easy for me to say this but I did. Twice.

When my dad lies in the hospital bed drifting in and out of consciousness while the doctors are still struggling to find out what's wrong with him, I prayed for God's will.

When the nurses rushed in to resuscitate my dad as I stood outside his bed with my last memory of seeing the flat line on the heart rate monitor, I prayed for God's will.

When my mum lies in the hospital bed in so much pain that all I could hear was her troubled and difficult breathing through the oxygen mask, I prayed for God's will.

When the specialists stood next to my mum whispering to each other that her kidneys are still failing and that there's nothing much they can do, I prayed for God's will.

Despite how badly I needed to see my dad and my mum getting well and back on their feet again and for everything to return to the way it was, I prayed for God's will.

Despite how badly I wanted God to heal them and hoping that everything is going to be fine and dandy again, I prayed for God's will.

Read: Revelation 4:11 (NIV)

I pray that if it is their time to go, oh God please do it as swiftly and as painlessly as He possibly could.

I pray that if it is not their time yet, please God, let them get well again.

I pray that no matter what is the outcome, I trust that He knows what is right and what is best for ALL of us.

I trust and surrender to His will and will accept it no matter what is going to happen.

I told my dad and my mum I love them, I told them Jesus loves them and I told them to have faith and not to worry about us.

I am not asking for you guys to pray for God to end the lives of your loved ones just because you see them in pain and suffering. I am asking you guys to pray for His will. Forget about ours. You can pray for healing and everything, but remember to put God's will at the top most priority in your prayers. He knows what's best.

And please don't think that I want God to end my parent's lives. Just think, does it do anybody good if my parents end up suffering more (and longer) just because of my selfish need for them to get well and continue living and for everything to be a-oh-kay again instead of God's plan for them to move ahead and go up there and be with Him?

All I know is I am glad that my parents have got the chance to accept Him before they passed away.

I am glad that I'm able to tell them I love them and not to worry about me and the rest of us anymore.

I am glad and comforted that they are no longer in pain and suffering anymore.

I am glad that they are up there with Him.

So, please remember, pray for God's will to be done, not ours...

To: The Management Office of One Utama Shopping Centre,

I would like to express my dissatisfaction over the customer service we received while we attempted to rent the toddler’s ride on car (kiddie ride) at your mall recently.

We were told by one of your customer service staff to wait for 4 more months in order to be able to use the ride-on car and were then reminded about the requirements in order to rent the ride-on car. Did I mentioned that your staff said it sarcastically to us? Oh nevermind, we as parents generally have higher tolerance level for things like this...

Yes, it was then that I saw your notice board stating that the kiddie ride is fit for 2-5 years old and height below 90cm. FYI, my child is 20 months old and his height is 89cm.(Btw, a quick search on Google will get you to a mummy blogger who proudly mentioned that she lied when asked whether her child is 2 years old as "not that they even bother to check".)

We then mentioned that we have no problems using the similar ride-on car at Ikano shopping mall, to which a reply of “That is Ikano, this is One Utama” with an arrogant look shot back at us. Oh wow... first came the sarcastic comment, now we get an attitude as well?!!

Is that how your customer service staff is trained to communicate with your mall customers? I’m sure there are plenty of other ways to politely inform us about the reasons and such of your ride-on cars requirements.

We then asked for the baby stroller instead, and were told there’s none available. So what do you expect your mall customers to do? Wait until there’s one available? Or perhaps your customer service staff should have taken the initiatives to offer other alternatives to us? We get NONE. We were just left standing there figuring out by ourselves.

As we were about to walk off, one family returned a baby stroller and we rented that unit. After all, there’s not much choice we can take anyway… I mean, we already get the 'complimentary' sarcasm plus an attitude, what else can any parents (not to mention, PAYING CUSTOMERS) ask for?

You really have to look into how your customer service staff communicates to your mall customers. After all, if we have been treated politely, we would’ve enjoyed our shopping experience and spend more.

Really unhappy customer,