October 2007 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Diaper-Free During Naptime

Alycia has been diaper-free during her afternoon nap for over 1 month already. I don’t even have to wake her up half way through her nap to bring her to the potty to pee. She can now control and hold her pee until she wakes up, which is a 2-3 hour nap. However at times when she’s cranky and tired, she would demand to put on a diaper. I know I can start training her to go diaperless too at night but lazy me just keep wanting to procrastinate this training. Maybe I should wait until next year when she’s more ready.

No. of times viewed = 167

My Little Social Butterfly

My sil from Hong Kong came back yesterday. We were to have dinner at hubby’s aunty’s house nearby. As Sherilyn was still having high fever with a temperature of 39.3 degrees Celsius, we decided that only Alycia gets to go and Sherilyn should stay home. Sherilyn was also crying throughout dinner as the ulcer in her throat was hurting her badly. Though my maid had cooked her oats, she didn’t eat a single spoonful of it. She was just munching on cool Japanese cucumbers, some beans soup and cool water. She loved the cool water and kept gulping it down. It really hurt my heart to see her suffer.

When daddy was about to leave the house with Alycia to koo poh’s (hubby’s aunty) house, Sherilyn cried and said she wanted to go too. There’s no way she’s going to be left alone at home. She cried so pathetically that daddy and mummy felt sorry for her. So we dressed her up and off she went with us. At koo poh’s house, no one believed she has high fever with a big ulcer in her throat as our little Miss Social Butterfly was so lively and energetic to see her her koo pohs and little aunty (hubby’s cousin who’s only 4 years old). She was jumping and hopping about and talking to everyone. Her personality is the exact opposite of Alycia.

No. of times viewed = 167

How Do You Prevent Cats From Coming To Your House To Poo?

This is the picture of my backyard. Something must be really attractive with this wall coz the stray cats keep coming to our backyard to pee and poo and they stink like hell! We’ve tried spraying the area with aerosol and my mil even suggested putting mineral water bottles filled with water on top of the water but that did not prevent the cats from coming back. Why mineral water bottles? She was told that when the cats see their own reflection on the mineral water bottle, they will get a scare but I don’t think this trick worked on those tough stray cats.

Does anyone have a better idea of keeping those stray cats at bay?

No. of times viewed = 272

Early Gifts From Santarina

My eldest sil from Hong Kong is here again. As expected, she brought everyone goodies. For the gals, she never fails to bring them lots of souvenirs from HK Disneyland. This time, she got them a girl’s vanity bag filled with hair doodles, hair scrunchies, hair brush, mirror and cute clips, among others. Alycia also got what she wanted – a pair of hipster jeans from Zara kids that’s just so hip and cool – 3/4 and with a slit on both sides. My mil also got the gals some very pretty socks and panties with cute Disney and Forever Friends cartoon prints on them.

As for me, I got a big box of dried birds’ nest! Shall snap pix of these things and post them in my blog when I’m free.

No. of times viewed = 221

Daddy, I Want To Go Too Please!

When daddy brought Alycia to the paed’s office on Saturday, he didn’t bring Sherilyn along as we didn’t want her to breathe in virus from sick kids. Ms Social Butterfly was very upset that she couldn’t tag along and cried for an hour until daddy came back with Alycia.

For one hour, she lay on the floor next to the front door and wailed out “dadddeee..eee….eee….eeee…… daaddeee….eee….eee……eeeee, open the door, I want to go” just like an Indian drama queen wailing away in one of those sob stories Indian movie. She looked so pathetic but hilarious at the same time coz she really sounded like an Indian drama queen, LOL!

My maid had to comfort her and fed her watermelon whilst waiting for daddy and cheh cheh to come home.

No. of times viewed = 191

Was Your Wedding A Dream Wedding?

Was your wedding a dream wedding or do you wish it turned out way better than you had expected? My wedding wasn’t my dream wedding. I had wanted many things for my wedding 7 years ago but because hubby and I ran out of budget, we couldn’t make our wedding my dream wedding.

If I could just plan my wedding all over again, I would definitely cut out the elaborate Chinese wedding dinner that cost us more than RM20k. Instead, I would just have a small wedding reception and spend the money on more wedding jewellery and a honeymoon to a destination of our choice.

As we ran out of budget, hubby didn’t buy me much wedding jewellery. Even our wedding band was a simple and plain gold wedding ring. I had wanted some designer jewellery and gold jewellery like the ones from AstleyClarke.com but we just couldn’t afford them. Well, maybe during our 10^th wedding anniversary, we would renew our wedding wows and this time, I’ll make sure hubby gets me my designer jewellery and a romantic honeymoon too!

No. of times viewed = 186

Bovril Noodles

This is the picture of the Bovril noodles that I had written earlier.

Method :

1) Blanch meehoon and vegetables in hot water.
2) Remove them from the hot water with a colander and leave aside.

3) Fry shallots and garlic in sesame oil till fragrant in non-stick pan.
4) Add minced fish paste or minced chicken or minced pork (I used fish paste here).
5) Dissolve 1 – 2 teaspoon of Bovril in hot soup or hot water and add into the pan of meat.
6) Stir fry for about 10 minutes. Add a dash of pepper.
7) Pour out the meat and sauce into a bowl.
8) Mix some of the meat and sauce with the meehoon when ready to serve.
9) You can also fry some shallots till crispy and sprinkle them on top of the noodles.

No. of times viewed = 570

I Really Need A Larger Computer Desk

That’s the picture of my workplace. I took a snapshot of it on Saturday after the computer guy took my CPU away to have it fixed. With the archaic tower CPU, my desk is even more squeezy. That is why I can never eat and work at the same time coz there is just no place for me to put a bowl or a mug.

Maybe it’s time for me to get a larger computer desk. I’ve blogged about it in a number of paid posts on wanting to get a larger home office and hey you know, I’m not really bull-shiting in my posts, I truly want to get a larger computer desk for my home office!

No. of times viewed = 267

Our Sunday

Today, we skipped church as Alycia was still having fever and purging in the morning. After taking her medicine, her fever subsided and I decided that we could attend the bloggers’ meet at Bangsar Village.

The moment I stepped into Delicious restaurant, I was greeted with a wave from a familiar face inside the restaurant. It was Barbara (Mummy to ChumsyAshley), the lady whom I’ve wanted to meet for months. I could recognize her as I’d seen her pix before from her blog. She has never met me before but she could recognize Alycia and Sherilyn, thus the waving to me to direct us to her table. It was a really good gathering and I hope there will be more of such gatherings involving more bloggers in future. Read more about the bloggers’ meet here.

When we came home, Sherilyn’s body felt hot. I checked her temperature and as expected, she had fever. Aly’s virus must have spread to Sherilyn when she fed Sherilyn with a pinch of cake that she was eating yesterday. I quickly sponged her, gave her some milk and put her to nap. Though she’s having fever, she was nevertheless still very active and alert. Now, I have 2 sick kittens plus one sick big cat at home. Hubby’s also not feeling well as he’s got another bout of food poisoning and has been purging and vomitting. Looks like it’s going to be another sleepless night for me tonight!

No. of times viewed = 210

What Should I Eat For Breakfast?

It’s 8am now and I still haven’t gone out to buy my breakfast. I normally have fried vegetarian meehoon with fried egg for breakfast but today, I just don’t have the appetite for any food. Still feeling a tad nauseous and I just hate the smell of the burnt joss sticks coming from both sides of my neighbour – it makes me more nauseous and causes my nose itch as I have super sensitive nose. The air in my house is practically filled with smell of burnt joss sticks throughout the day and I’m worried it may cause harm to my unborn child.

Maybe I will grab some fried mee siam (fried vegetarian meehoon with thai chili sauce) with some yeong tau fu. No appetite to eat also must eat what, right? The baby has to eat too!

No. of times viewed = 190

A Good Google PR Makes A BIG Difference

Yes, it does and the effect is immediate. Yesterday morning, I was taken by surprise to see 3 offers for me from this advertiser. I had not known of my promoted PR yet and was wondering if the advertiser made a mistake by giving me 3 offers. Hours later, I found out from Hui Sia that my Google PR has shot up to PR4. Later in the evening, I received another highly paid offer from this advertiser.

This morning, I saw another long list of opps for me at LL. My blog was approved by LL 3 months ago and I hardly got any offers from them but after the PR promotion, the opps just came pouring in. I still haven’t accepted any from them yet as I still have 13 outstanding assignments.

Yes, I’m happy that my blog PR has increased but am worried at the same time that I may not be able to handle the number of assignments. I guess I just have to strike a balance between earning money and spending time with my kids, even if it means having to forgo some opps and earning less.

No. of times viewed = 140

I Need A Hood For My Kitchen

I love to cook but I just hate making a mess of my kitchen. How I hate the oil stains left on the kitchen floor and walls after each cooking session, not to mention the air of the kitchen would be filled with smoke and vapor for the next few hours. When I step out of the kitchen, my hair and clothes would smell of greasy oil. That’s why I have to install a hood in my kitchen that can whisk cooking odors away whilst cleaning the air in the kitchen. I’ve seen a number of Broan Range Hoods from the electrical shop the other day when we went to shop for our HDTV. This brand of hood has multiple air cleaning functions which I find very useful. We almost purchased one but the stainless steel hood was out of stock and will only arrive in a couple of weeks.

No. of times viewed = 189

Update – Alycia’s Fever

Alycia still has a slight temperature this morning. Will see how she feels later after she takes her medicine. If she feels good, we will attend the bloggers’ gathering, else I will have to skip it again. The Augmentin antibiotics that she’s taking is causing her tummy discomfort and she’s been having watery stools since yesterday. I really don’t like giving my kids antibiotics as it weakens their immune system but for throat ulcer that’s so painful, our paed says antibiotics will rid the ulcer faster. Well, I’ll just have to supplement her diet with probiotics after Alycia completes her course of antibiotics.

No. of times viewed = 202

Fruitful Day

Despite my computer being sent to the computer shop for repair and a thorough disc scan today, I still managed to complete 9 paid posts and 16 non-paid posts for both my blogs, making a total of 25 posts in a day. I always feel I work better under pressure. I was trying my best to rush off at least half the number of assignments this morning before the computer guy came to my house at 10am and within a short time of 3 hours, I managed to finish off 10 posts. I’m drop dead exhausted now and feel nauseous. I haven’t gotten much sleep last night as I was up almost the whole night checking on Alycia. Looks like it’s going to be another sleepless night for me tonight.

No. of times viewed = 193

Airline Miles Credit Card

My brother and his wife are both professionals and they are required to travel overseas quite a bit in their jobs. Apart from business trips, they also go for frequent luxury overseas vacations. They can afford such luxuries as they can redeem quite a substantial number of mileage points from their Airline Miles Credit Cards as well as from their SIA frequent flyer cards. Maybe it’s a good idea that I ask hubby to apply for an Airline Miles credit card for ourselves too. Since we both have an Enrich frequent flyer card, we can combine mileage points from both our frequent flyer cards and Airline Miles credit cards to redeem air tickets to Hong Kong for a holiday next year.

No. of times viewed = 141

Sherilyn Loves Tagging Along To The Gynae’s Office

Sherilyn loves following me to my gynae’s office as she gets to shake hand with the dr, plays with a tiny black rubber ball from the dr’s office and most of all, she gets to see her little…. don’t know brother or sister on the screen. She also gets to eat some snacks while waiting for mummy’s turn and after the appointment, we normally have lunch outside. But it’s freezing cold at the dr’s office!

No. of times viewed = 150