I'm a full-time mummy

I just want to share a quote and lesson to you folks out there who are still in the working world on what to do when it's time to move on to another working place...

Last time, whenever I made a decision to move to another workplace, I always remind myself with the quote above. Even to my ex-colleagues or students (I used to teach a batch of students on programming in my first IT job), I told them never ever to burn bridges should they decide to leave and I always leave them this quote above.

You never know when you need help from your ex-company / colleagues and so on. I've always made it a point to maintain relationships with my previous companies. Granted, I may not have a lot of experiences in moving around companies, throughout my 9 years of working in IT line, I've only changed jobs 3 times.

Days ago, I received a Letter of Demand from one of my previous companies stating that I need to settle an X amount of money in lieu of my short notice of resigning from the company. I got the shock of my life as:

#1: I tendered the resignation in February 2008 and it has been over 2 years, and only now I get this letter?!

#2: I've already paid up the amount in lieu for the short notice before I left.

#3: I even have a photocopy of the cheque I issued to the company together with the HR manager's signature acknowledging that they have received my payment.

#4: As my BFF pointed out to me via MSN (I chatted with her on this issue), the company will not let me go had I not pay up the outstanding amount and they definitely will not release my last salary as well.

#5: I'm a full-time mummy now.. a SAHM.. how the heck am I going to pay that money? (Believe me,  at one point, I even thought of starting Ben on kneading and stamping out cookies dough and entertaining thoughts of selling cookies to pay off the amount)

So anyway, back to this case, I tried calling the HR staff to clarify the situation (and to point out that they indeed are making mistake) but I could only get to their voice mail. Frustrated, I asked for help in Facebook. I had a large number of ex-colleagues who are on Facebook as well, and true enough, within minutes, one of the section heads replied asking me what's wrong. I shared with her what happened, she even tried to contact the HR staff for me and soon, I managed to contact the HR staff and in the end, clarified the whole situation.

The case has been closed, the HR staff sent me an email (as black and white) to acknowledge that they have indeed received my money years ago and requested for me to ignore the demand letter. I could make a big issue out of it (after all the emotional stress and trauma they put me through, of having to dig through my boxes of paperworks and documents to find back the photocopy of my payment slip and all with an active and curious toddler around) but again, this quote came to mind.

So, dear friends who are still in the working world, when you are in a situation where you are / about to / have decided to make a switch to another place, do consider this quote. You never know, one day a helping hand will come back to guide you when you need it the most!

Everytime before Ben takes his meals, we always go through the following routines:

1. Ben will push his high chair towards the dining table.

2. We carry Ben up and put him in his high chair.

3. Ben put on the safety belt for his high chair by himself.

4. Get ready with Ben's food and drinks.

* (If eating out, Ben would be either waiting patiently for his food, or busy wiping the table or his high chair with a wet tissue or tissue paper)

5. Ben prays before he starts his meal.

It takes a while but it's worth the perseverance to follow through and keep up with the routines. It's satisfying when I see Ben doing all this during his meal times.

I'm not sure at what age a child supposed to do all this, but I feel good manners starts from young. In time when he's tall enough or when I'm confident he can manage it, I'm going to teach him to put his plate and utensils into the kitchen sink after meal times. (of course, I'm not going to make him wash it.. yet.. heheheh...)

So what about your child? What routines do you guys practise when it comes to meal times?

This is my 4th post on sharing "My Two Cents Worth" throughout my blogging journey. In this post, I'm going to write about: Followers.

Why do we need followers?

* To make more bloggy friends, and through them, hopefully can find out more on other people / countries cultures and so on.

* Helps with your blog statistics when you are pitching for some product reviews (as some companies only go for blog with bigger following)

* Wider network / coverage to spread news about giveaways and/or product reviews.

* Blog audience... meaning, at least you know there are other people reading your blogs too!

How to get more followers?

* Regularly produce good written articles that can connect with your blog readers / visitors

* Join the many blog memes around the bloggy land (Check out my Tuesday meme post, these few memes helped me gained a lot of new followers!)

* Host a product giveaway

* Participate in a blog link swap (either through Facebook, Twitter and so on)

* Become guest post on another blog

* Leave comments (real not spam please) on other people's blogs and hopefully they will return the favor and in time form a bloggy friendship and become a follower

* Make sure your follower buttons are easily accesible and simple to subscribe

* Submit your blog URL to blog directories, Search Engines and so on

* Participate in other forums (some of my blog followers came from the Babycenter Forum which I regularly shared my experience and advice in the early days of becoming a SAHM)

So there you go... that's pretty much what I can squeeze out of my tired brain now on the topic of followers.

I've always treat my blog as if it is my child (ok, lower ranking than Ben of course!), and I think you should too! Nurture it, build it, have fun and make happy memories with it as how you would do with your child. It does bring joy to your heart! Feel free to leave me a comment if you would like to find out more on a certain topic. And do let me know your feedback and thoughts about this topic, will you? Until then, happy blogging!