Christmas 2012 and my 800th post

Apart from the slashing rain and an all-day headache, I had a lovely Christmas at home. Thankfully at the time of writing, the rain has ceased and we have sunshine again. Heaven.

Family photo on Christmas Day 2012

The children had great fun opening their presents, we were really happy for them, and we have plenty of chocolate, cookies, sweets and a cake and gingerbread house to finish off!

We also skyped with my parents in England for a while. The girls enjoyed showing all their presents to grandma and grandad!

We bought a DIY doll house for Lauren and boy is it a demanding job. Fidelia has been doing most of it and is steadily getting through it. Fixing walls together with glue, and constructing all types of tiny furniture is so tough, but it's looking great!

The front garden of Lauren's DIY doll house

Front porch of Lauren's DIY doll house

Cute post box in Lauren's DIY doll house

Lauren is waiting very patiently for us to finish it, but she does have plenty of other toys keeping her occupied in the meantime!

Incidentally, this is my 800th blog post on *Our home called Kuantan*! This time next year I may have reached 1,000!

Could I ask for some help from my blogger/facebook friends?

Yes, I need just a little help from my friends on blogger and facebook.

Many of you have complimented me on my interesting articles, great photography, cute children, by saying so in a comment. Today I'd like you to write one more comment at the following link, if you enjoy coming to view my blog.

*Our home called Kuantan* has been nominated by expatsblog.com for the Expats blog award 2012 - Top Blog.

Here's the link:

Vote for my blog at expats blog!

You will just have to scroll down the page until you see this:

Your support will be gratefully received. Thank you once again to all who visit my blog and help to make it what it is!

Blog-hop Saturday (13 Oct, 2012)

For those of you who may be interested in this blog's statistics, *Our home called Kuantan* is closing in on 150,000 page views, which should be reached by next weekend.

So this gives me the opportunity to thank each and every visitor to my blog, whether I know you or not, whether you drop a comment or not, whether you are old or new followers. Thank you for visiting and showing an interest in what I have to offer. It's been great getting to know a lot of you better!

This leads me in to an announcement for next week. It's my 30th birthday coming up on Tuesday and I'll be having a guest blogger on Wednesday. Leovi is a talented guy and I'm really pleased that he'll be heading here next week to show his amazing work to you!

Today it's blog-hop Saturday where I show you around some of my other blogs.

First up is Horne Learning Services. Our English learning company is growing with new students filling up our classes. In the most recent post, I'm discussing the important factors that make up composing a great essay.

Over at my Kuantan nature blog you can view a couple of hot pink flowers gracing the roadside.

And finally you can browse my participation in Teaser Tuesday over at Dan Brown Portal, my reading blog dedicated to Dan Brown and other good books.

I hope you enjoy your tour of my blogs. Do drop a comment on any of my blogs to let me know what you liked. Wishing you a great weekend!

Blog-hop Saturday

Hi everyone, today is blog-hop Saturday. I have 5 blogs which I am independently running, so today I'm inviting you over to explore my work outside of *Our home called Kuantan*

At Dan Brown Portal I am introducing a fascinating book entitled "Secrets of Angels & Demons". Any Dan Brown fan will love this blog!

At Horne Learning Services I am discussing how our first English lesson went via skype to Russia!

At my Kuantan nature blog you may browse some summer pictures of flowers in great colour to brighten up your day!

And here you can have a look at some of my favourite photos from down the years in Kuantan.

I hope you find something interesting from these picks. Which blog did you visit?

Have a great weekend!

Announcement: Guest Posts coming soon!

I'm delighted to announce that I have two guest posts coming up soon on *Our home called Kuantan*.

This is a first for my blog and I'm thrilled to have fellow bloggers and friends who have been willing to contribute to this blog by sharing some great posts.

The first is Diane, who will be featuring here on Thursday 4th October, 2012. Second will be J. C. Martin, who will be guest posting here the following Thursday, 11th October, 2012.

If you are reading this and think that you can offer something to my blog by way of a guest post, please drop me an email and let me know what you can contribute. Anything on the topics of travel, expat adventures, having an international family, or anything to do with Malaysia or Singapore, would be most welcome!

"Z" post - Zany Zebras ZigZag ZanZibar

A-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. A 26-word paragraph, each word beginning with a letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, beginning with the assigned letter for the day. A video composed of a sentence where each word begins with the assigned letter of the day. This is *Our home called Kuantan* stretching the alphabet in April . . .

The final post of the A-Z April Blogging Challenge!

Zygomas aching badly concluding doing essay-like, frugally gorgeous handwriting including jargon keywords lightly. Making new overstretched phrases quickly, resting seasonally to undo very weighty xeric yapness.

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by during the month of April, as well as those who have been good enough to leave comments on my A-Z posts! They have been much appreciated! I hope you enjoyed the A-Z paragraphs and video alliteration sentences - I certainly had great fun composing them.

"Y" post - Yachts Yaw YearlY

A-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. A 26-word paragraph, each word beginning with a letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, beginning with the assigned letter for the day. A video composed of a sentence where each word begins with the assigned letter of the day. This is *Our home called Kuantan* stretching the alphabet in April . . .

Yellow zigzags arch brilliantly, collide delightfully, encrust fully grown halos, imitating justiciary kudos. Lightning makes nice overlays painting quilts red. Superb tesselation uses vibrant wild xerography.

"X" post - Xanthic Xanthippes...

A-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. A 26-word paragraph, each word beginning with a letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, beginning with the assigned letter for the day. A video composed of a sentence where each word begins with the assigned letter of the day. This is *Our home called Kuantan* stretching the alphabet in April . . .

"W" post - Wishfully Whizzing Whimsical Wands!

A-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. A 26-word paragraph, each word beginning with a letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, beginning with the assigned letter for the day. A video composed of a sentence where each word begins with the assigned letter of the day. This is *Our home called Kuantan* stretching the alphabet in April . . .

"V" post - Vicious weather alert!

A-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. A 26-word paragraph, each word beginning with a letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, beginning with the assigned letter for the day. A video composed of a sentence where each word begins with the assigned letter of the day. This is *Our home called Kuantan* stretching the alphabet in April . . .

Valid weatherproof xyloglyphy yawed zambra-like against bullish currents. Deep emotions filled Glenda's hardworking instincts, jabbing keenly, lapdancing meanderingly nearby. Of pulpy quirks recurring, she took umbrage.

"V" is also for Vicious weather. We've been having a few thunderstorms and downpours of late so I thought I'd share a few photos with you. These pictures are all taken in Bukit Sekilau, Kuantan.

Have a great day. All the best from the evening storms of Kuantan!

"U" post - Anybody else chuffed with their collection?

A-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. A 26-word paragraph, each word beginning with a letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, beginning with the assigned letter for the day. A video composed of a sentence where each word begins with the assigned letter of the day. This is *Our home called Kuantan* stretching the alphabet in April . . .

Upon very wild xerothermic years, zoos arranged bears, cats, dogs, eels, fish, goats, hyenas, in jazzy kennels. Laxly missing neglected octopuses, people queued ruefully, sometimes tearfully.

"T" post - Taking iT's Toll

A-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. A 26-word paragraph, each word beginning with a letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, beginning with the assigned letter for the day. A video composed of a sentence where each word begins with the assigned letter of the day. This is *Our home called Kuantan* stretching the alphabet in April . . .

Thrilling utopia vanished while xeransis yanked zealously. All beautiful collections died effortlessly, failing greatly, hovering isolated. Jammed keys left me nowhere. Opacity prefaced quantum, ruins stood.

This is a real tongue-twister!!!

"S" post - Simple yet Stunning; Stretching the alphabet with SyStematic SentenceS

A-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. A 26-word paragraph, each word beginning with a letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, beginning with the assigned letter for the day. A video composed of a sentence where each word begins with the assigned letter of the day. This is *Our home called Kuantan* stretching the alphabet in April . . .

"R" post - A-Z ABC 2012

A-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. A 26-word paragraph, each word beginning with a letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, beginning with the assigned letter for the day. A video composed of a sentence where each word begins with the assigned letter of the day. This is *Our home called Kuantan* stretching the alphabet in April . . .

Rising slowly to unknown vaulted ways, Xavier yearned zero. Always brave, courageous, daring, energetic, frequently great, he instilled jealous knavery. Likely, most nomads only practised quiescence.

"Q" post - Being well-eQuipped makes for a Quick challenge

Just want to say thank you to those who voted for my blog after reading yesterday's post! If you haven't already done so, I invite you to hop over to this page where you can find my blog, duncaninkuantan.blogspot.com. You will be asked to sign in with your facebook account, and then just click 'vote' beside my blog.

I have nominated *Our home called Kuantan* at MITBCA (Malaysia International Tourism Bloggers Conference & Awards) as I'm aiming for this blog to become recognised as the top Kuantan travel and destination blog in Malaysia! I appreciate your help :)

A-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. A 26-word paragraph, each word beginning with a letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, beginning with the assigned letter for the day. A video composed of a sentence where each word begins with the assigned letter of the day. This is *Our home called Kuantan* stretching the alphabet in April . . .

Quotatious rabbis spoke terms under vow with xenomorphic yarmulkes zeloticly arrayed. Bright colours decorated every follower - green hues, indigo, jade, kaleidoscopic lures, making none other parallel.

"P" post - Praising you people for your votes!

Just want to say thank you to those who voted for my blog after reading yesterday's post! If you haven't already done so, I invite you to hop over to this page where you can find my blog, duncaninkuantan.blogspot.com. You will be asked to sign in with your facebook account, and then just click 'vote' beside my blog.

I have nominated *Our home called Kuantan* at MITBCA (Malaysia International Tourism Bloggers Conference & Awards) as I'm aiming for this blog to become recognised as the top Kuantan travel and destination blog in Malaysia! I appreciate your help :)

A-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. A 26-word paragraph, each word beginning with a letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, beginning with the assigned letter for the day. A video composed of a sentence where each word begins with the assigned letter of the day. This is *Our home called Kuantan* stretching the alphabet in April . . .

Peter's quatrayle really seemed to unburden very wealthy xenophobics. Yearly zaitech also became crucial during every fall. Going home in Jeeps kindly labelled me 'neat organizer.'

This is a really good video!

P is for Please help me!!!

Please help me out!

For almost 3 years I have been keeping this blog, *Our home called Kuantan*, daily adding posts, widgets, gadgets, pictures to build it up and make it a place where people may enjoy learning about Kuantan.

I have blogged about numerous attractions, services, places of interest, restaurants and hotels, not to mention my daily expat life and raising a family here.

I've been amazed at how many people out there in the online world have taken an interest in *Our home called Kuantan* and followed my posts regularly and with enthusiasm. Thanks so much to all those who fall into this category!

Now I need your help!

I have nominated my blog at MITBCA (Malaysia International Tourism Bloggers Conference & Awards) under the category "Tourism Destination Blog". Would each of you who are reading this post and who like my blog, please follow this link, find my blog in the list and click "Vote"? It will take just a few seconds of your time and will be much appreciated!

Here's the link:

VOTE FOR MY BLOG!

I'm hoping to do well in this contest and see if I can gain a little more recognition for the hard work I've put in to this blog. I'm looking for *Our home called Kuantan* to become one of the leading travel and destination blogs in Malaysia. 


Thanks so much in advance!

"O" post - Over and out

A-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. A 26-word paragraph, each word beginning with a letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, beginning with the assigned letter for the day. A video composed of a sentence where each word begins with the assigned letter of the day. This is *Our home called Kuantan* stretching the alphabet in April . . .

Outspoken prisoners quizzed Robert spontaneously. Those uppity vagabonds wandered xerophyticly yearlong. Zwischenzugs aright became common direction, even foraging garages, hoping in jazzy Kia's locked minimally nearby.

"N" post - In need of naproxen?

A-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. A 26-word paragraph, each word beginning with a letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, beginning with the assigned letter for the day. A video composed of a sentence where each word begins with the assigned letter of the day. This is *Our home called Kuantan* stretching the alphabet in April . . .

Nostalgic ornaments produced quick reminders shattering the universal vow which xylology yielded zenzizenzizenzics ago before Carmen dear entered for good. Her ingenuity justified knick-knacks looking mighty.

"M" post - 2 weeks gone; is the A-Z a Mountain or a Molehill?

A-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. A 26-word paragraph, each word beginning with a letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, beginning with the assigned letter for the day. A video composed of a sentence where each word begins with the assigned letter of the day. This is *Our home called Kuantan* stretching the alphabet in April . . .

What word beginning with "M" best describes Lauren's mood?

Malevolent nuisances orchestrated pretty queans rioting staunchly through underground vaults with xanthopsia. Yikkering zounds altogether boldly came down every funnel, growing haphazardly, including jollified, kinky lechery.