The Over Supply of Covid Self-Test Kits: From Scarcity to Abundance

When Covid self-test kits first hit the market at the height of the pandemic, there was a frenzy to purchase them. People rushed to pharmacies and online platforms to secure their own test kits, fearing the unknown and desiring peace of mind. Stocks flew off the shelves though these kits were very costly, and shortages became a common occurrence. It seemed like the demand for these kits would continue indefinitely.

Fast forward to the present, however, and the situation has drastically changed. With the passage of time and the decline in Covid-19 cases in many areas, these once-scarce test kits have now become an overabundance, readily and cheaply available in pharmacies and shops. The enthusiasm for self-testing has diminished significantly. People have grown complacent, feeling less inclined to test themselves even when experiencing flu-like symptoms. Consequently, the market has been flooded with an overabundance of Covid self-test kits. This surplus has led to unique marketing strategies, such as offering the kits for free as promotional items or incentives.

One such example is the supermarket chain 99 Speedmart, which recently provided free Covid self-test kits to customers who spent a certain minimum amount on groceries. This initiative aimed to encourage customers to take the test and ensure their safety. While it may have attracted some individuals who were previously reluctant to purchase the kits, the larger question remains: Why have people become less inclined to test themselves when they feel unwell?

Covid self-test kit, given out as free gift by 99 Speedmart recently.

While many people may have grown complacent, it is essential to emphasize the importance of continued vigilance. Testing oneself when feeling unwell can help identify potential infections early on, enabling appropriate measures to be taken to protect oneself and others. Despite the surplus of test kits, it is crucial to maintain a responsible approach to self-testing.

In our family, we continue to prioritize self-testing whenever any of us have flu-like symptoms. It serves as a precautionary measure and allows us to make informed decisions regarding our health. 

Do you still perform a self-test when you feel unwell with flu symptoms?

New Disposable Face Masks

The girls' face masks were running out.  And someone was pinching her sisters' face masks secretly as she had utilized hers and didn't want to use other brands, designs, and colors. She's really finicky when it comes to her face masks.   Of course, her two sisters soon found out and were not happy about it.  Soon, there was a 'mask war' at home and I had to quickly replenish their supply to stop the war! 

Mind you, these fussy girls complain about the cheap masks that I bought. They claim that the cheaper face masks have ear loops that hurt their ears, make their nose itch, and cause maskne (mask acne) on their face.  I think I  have to agree too.  They have to wear masks for more than 8 hours each day, almost every day. 

After trying out more than a dozen brands of KN94 face masks over the past three years, the girls unanimously agreed that the brand MediShield has the best KN94 face mask.  These masks are individually wrapped and are not as expensive as Medicos, Yukazan, and Neutrovis.  After buying this brand of face mask for almost half a year, these masks in neutral colors are now sold out everywhere, leaving only bright colors like wine red, dark green, and dark blue available, which are too gaudy for daily donning to school.

After days of browsing Shopee and Lazada for face masks, I found another brand of good quality and individually wrapped KN94 face mask at Lazada. It's a Japanese brand, not too expensive, and comes in soft pastel colors.  However, I think they're manufactured in China. Nonetheless, the masks are soft and the ear loops won't hurt the ears.

I also bought another brand of 4-ply medical mask (Icon Protective) and a pack of super cute Yukazan Hello Kitty masks for myself.  Both of these are sold by Touch Pharmacy on Lazada.

Our stockpile of face masks. These can last us for another month.

I super love this Yukazan Hello Kitty duckbill mask @ RM8.80 for a pack of 10 pieces. These days, I only wear duckbill disposable masks or Uniqlo washable masks as they're thinner and more breathable.  These HK Yukazan masks are washable and reusable for a couple of times and won't turn cottony/furry after a quick wash. However, I don't recommend washing your disposable face mask after you've worn it to a crowded place or hospital.

New Lian Hua Qing Wen Granules

If you follow my other blog, you would have read that Alycia was down with Covid 2.5 weeks ago. It was her second Covid infection in four months. 

This time she had moderate symptoms, unlike the previous infection with nary any symptoms.  On the 8th or 9th day when Alycia tested negative, she started to lose her olfaction.  Her food tasted bland and she could not smell very well.  It could be caused by her blocked nasal.

Two weeks after Alycia recovered from Covid, I started to feel unwell.   I kept feeling extremely sleepy and took naps several times a day, felt lethargic, sluggish, and heaty.  The weather lately has been stinking hot and I had indulged in quite a bit of Musang King durians.  So I'm not sure whether it's caused by the durians or my immunity succumbed to the virus.

Today I remembered about the Lian Hua granules that I'd bought four months ago and gulped down a sachet (mixed with water).  I wasn't convinced that it could help me feel better but my friend who took it told me that it worked like a charm for her. 

True enough, all the feelings of malaise and heatiness vanished several hours later. And I didn't feel lethargic and sleepy anymore. I can't believe how effective Lian Hua is.  

As with all herbs, I would advise against consuming Lian Hua excessively as herbs have the potential to harm our liver, if consumed in excess amounts.  My gynae had told me not to consume any herbs as these may encourage the growth of my fibroid. I have a 1.3cm fibroid in my uterus and it's a second fibroid after the first one was removed via a laparoscopic myomectomy five years ago.

A box of New Lian Hua Qing Wen granule costs RM48 for 6 sachets.  It tastes similar to Ho Yan Hor herbal drink.

Negative

I've been feeling languid with headaches for the past few days. My throat feels strange too and I have pain in my nape. I also have had an insatiable thirst with extreme sleepiness the past few days.  Ever since two members of our family were down with Covid a month ago, I have been feeling paranoid about being infected.  Usually, when one or two members of the household are down with Covid, everyone else eventually gets it.  That is the trend I see.  

But there is also another Covid trend that I have observed which is surprising.  When all the children and the husband in a family got infected with Covid, the mother was spared despite her taking care of the Covid-zens and not even wearing a mask. I have seen this in my eldest brother's family and two other friends where kiddos and husbands had severe Covid but my SIL and friends were spared. 

Today I finally had the courage to do another Covid self-test when my headache and lethargy didn't abate.  It's a negative.

With this, I suddenly remembered that I may be experiencing menstrual migraine. I'm also not new to period flu. I had similar symptoms when my AF visited last month and I thought I had Covid.  Darn the hormones! 

Nasal swab test result.
I find it easier to administer a nasal swab vs. a saliva test. It's torture to collect enough saliva to fill up the test tube. Who's with me on this?

Pan-fried miso salmon and stir-fried Korean-style baby octopus whipped up by our teenage chef. 

I ordered the salmon and baby octopus from Fully Fishery Malaysia at Lazada and they were delivered to me in an icebox.  I paid RM12 for shipping and RM3 for the icebox.

The salmon cost RM6.99 a slice, octopus at RM15 a pack, and tako leg (octopus) at RM8 a pack. These are imported from China, thus the low price, but tasted fresh.  The salmon slices, however still had scales on them and tiny bones in the flesh.  It's very tedious to have to remove the bones and scales. 

I don't think I will buy the salmon slices again though they tasted fine but will definitely buy the octopus again. My girls are fans of squid and octopus 😁

Random Updates ~ 15 April 2022

I haven't been posting regularly on what Sherilyn has been cooking and baking.  Ever since Cass and Sherilyn returned to school, I have had very little time left to update my blogs.  

My bedtime has been adjusted from midnight to 9.30 p.m. Bedtime throughout the lockdown and school holidays had been a little before midnight. Now I go into my room at 9.30 p.m. and wake up at 4.45 a.m.  I also have lesser time to spend online coz of school runs and my writing assignments.

I think I won't be renewing my contract with the online news agency that I'm currently working for as a part-time content writer as they have recently restructured their compensation scheme for all content writers, which is less rewarding. So yeah, I think I will have more free time after July 2022. Yay for more me time! 

I may also be on the lookout for other freelance jobs to do from home after my contract expires this July. 

Maria, our part-time helper no longer comes in 5 days a week like she used to before the pandemic. She only comes in 2-3 times a week.  I had to increase her wages twice within a month as she's now getting higher wages elsewhere. She is also hired on a part-time basis to clean up a datin's house. The datin's driver chauffeurs her to the mansion and then books a Grab car to bring Maria home after work.  Maria is on a roll lately with lots of jobs. I try not to be upset with her for telling me a bunch of lies each time she cancels me when she finds higher-paid work elsewhere, but I just hope that she will be more forthright with me.

Our talented baker whipped up sticky dates pudding last week as hubs brought home a pack of organic Medjool dates. The dates were super duper sweet and since no one liked them, our innovative baker baked a loaf of delicious sticky dates pudding -- which actually tasted like cake.  I loved it, albeit it was a bit too sweet for my palate.

Served with vanilla ice cream and homemade butterscotch sauce. Oh my, it's so very delish and calorie-laden!

My craving for cakes has now been fully satiated. I've had more than enough of fudgy brownies all to myself, cakes from Cass' birthday last week, this sticky dates pudding, and banana muffins that the mil baked yesterday. 😁

Covid Quarantine Meals For Alycia

The past week has been a busy one for me.  Alycia has tested positive for Covid and thank God, she has been asymptomatic.  

I actually suspected something when Alycia skipped dodgeball training with her college mates last Thursday. She said she was tired. And for the next few days, she kept checking her temperature and checked ours too. Other than that, she had no other symptoms. Is she lucky or unlucky to have caught Covid? 

Alycia has been enjoying her room service for the past few days and not having to do any of her house duties - no need to wash dirty dishes, no need to bring garbage to the refuse chamber, no need to mop her room floor and no need to even wash her own cup coz there's a full-time 'maid' to do it for her!

I'm glad that she's enjoying her room service while isolating herself in her room. She's got all her friends and college mates to keep her company throughout the day. I could hear her talk and laugh loudly at night 😂

Here are some of her quarantine meals:

Homecooked Japanese curry, Hakka braised pork, stir-fried long beans with siew yoke, lotus root soup and 'leong cha' suitable for Covid patients.

Grilled herbs chicken poke bowl from The Fish Bowl, Gardens Mall. A treat to cheer her up.  'Leong Cha' again, which Alycia would sulk the moment the 'aroma' of the herbal drink wafts from the kitchen and into her room.

Takeaway 'chap fan' for lunch

Maki, pineapple, hard-boiled egg, and coconut water for lunch.

Pau, fish balls and matcha for brekkie.

Light brunch before an early lunner on my birthday - Japanese rice crackers, pineapple and herbal egg.

My birthday dinner on 29 March 2022 - Pho Viet from Mid Valley Megamall, Grab-ed to us.

Viet noodles salad and bitter 'leong cha'. I hope Alycia didn't secretly pour away the bitter 'leong cha' as she hates eating and drinking bitter stuff!

Homecooked dinner - braised pork ribs with shallots, tomatoes and sand ginger, blanched celery, broccoli and cauliflower, Malabar spinach egg drop anchovies soup. Dessert of brownies (my birthday cake)

Tea time - homecooked 'pak kor yi mai tong sui'

Takeaway brunch - Taiwanese 'lu ro fan', matcha and brownies.

Alycia worked very hard and late into the night on her assignments last week. In this photo here, she had just reached home from campus at almost 10pm and she immediately sat down at the dining table to continue working on her assignment while zooming with her course mates.  She's been having late meals and sleeping late the past few weeks, especially during her on-campus classes week. I think this lifestyle is pretty unhealthy.

Sunday, 20 March 2022 ¬ Random Updates

Today is the last day of the 3-week end of academic year school holidays.  The new academic year will commence tomorrow.  Sherilyn will be in Form 5 while Cass has already started Junior 2 since January 2022. Classes will be conducted via online mode for a week for Cass and for two weeks for Sherilyn, after which they will be back to physical classes in school. Yes! 

School is where children should be. I am so glad that they are going back to school, albeit their risks of getting infected by Covid will be much higher.  But staying at home for more than two years is just as damaging for their mental health as well as education. I am still of the opinion that online learning is not effective for most children, including mine.  

A common sight at home. Alycia does an RTK Covid test almost daily.

Cass prefers to prep her own meals these days and doesn't like to see food go to waste.  She likes to 'repurpose' overnight food. What you see here is mashed potato and carrots from the previous night's ABC soup, seasoned with pepper and soy sauce. 
On the right is tomato-flavor Mission wrap with Romaine lettuce, tomato puree, and chicken breast from the ABC soup.  She shredded the breast meat, added some Lingam ketchup, soy sauce, Japanese mayo, and black pepper, and microwaved it briefly.  

Cass made cheat pizza yesterday with tomato-flavor Mission wraps, tomato puree, cheese, mushrooms and yellow bell pepper.

With the leftover bell pepper, she made a baked bell pepper egg cup.  She stuffed the bell pepper with an egg and cheese and baked it for about 30 minutes.

Unlike Sherilyn who places great importance on aesthetic appeal in food presentation, Cass is more practical and her own-prepped meals are often short on looks. She just cooks for herself, hardly ever snaps a photo of what she cooks, and gobbles down her food in a jiffy.  

Cass - why decorate the food when everything is going into your tummy within minutes? 😂

Covid Scare

Last week the entire family had a major scare when hubs had diarrhea and a high fever. He was 101% certain that his diarrhea was caused by food poisoning as he had eaten a piece of fried chicken where the meat was not thoroughly cooked.  He was dumping several times a day and had a temperature of 38.6C.

Sherilyn and Alycia were terrified because they didn't want to get infected as they had many plans lined up ahead. They kept urging their dad to go to the clinic to do a PCR test.

Hubs did the Covid self-test thingy several times a day for 5 days and all the tests showed negative. Moreover, besides diarrhea and a temperature, he had no other symptoms.   While he was 101% certain that his diarrhea was caused by the uncooked chicken, we were worried that it was Covid as he was also in close contact with a friend who was Covid positive.  

To be on the safe side, I slept on the couch in the living room for 3 nights.   In my 22 years of being married to him, I have never slept on the couch before. It's always him who had to sleep on the couch whenever he felt unwell. 

I didn't sleep well the 3 nights that I slept on the couch. The couch was narrow and my right hand was squeezed, making my Carpal Tunnel Syndrome symptoms worse, even with a wrist splint. Plus I'm an ultralight sleeper - anyone who got out of the room to use the toilet woke me up.  Haru knew that I was sleeping in the living room and woke up early meowwwwwing away for my attention for her to be let out of her cage. 

We're very thankful to God that we're once again spared from this dreadful virus 🙏

20 January 2022 ~ Home Updates

Exactly one week after going back to in-person classes (after almost an entire year of online learning), Cass and Sherilyn are now back to home quarantine!

A classmate of Sherilyn was tested positive for Covid-19 and all the students in the class are now close contacts. Sherilyn will be doing her 2nd Covid home self test later and she has to submit the photo of the test kit result along with her IC to her teacher.

One of Cass' classmates' family members was tested positive for Covid and the entire class has to self-quarantine at home, with online classes. Cass did an RTK test and photo of the test kit sent to her teacher.

I have this hunch that this is going to happen very frequently. The girls will go back to school for a couple of weeks, then told to stay home when someone in the class gets infected or is a close contact. This is going to be the new norm now.

Poor Haru threw up late last night but no one knew. No wonder I heard her meowing when I got up at 1.30am to pee but I ignored her. Her loud meows woke me up at 6am today and when I checked on her, her entire cage is a MESS!  Oh. My. Gawd.  I hate cleaning up poop and vomit!!  

Where are the people who said they wanted a cat??!!  Yeah, I'm always the one cleaning up shit 😡

Maria Is Back At Work

Maria is back after a 6-month hiatus!

In May this year we had to tell Maria the most dreaded news again that we will have to stop her from coming to work in view of the spike in Covid cases. We had to protect ourselves as none of us was fully vaccinated at that time.  Since the lockdown in March last year, we had to stop Maria from coming into our house on three separate occasions, each lasting for several months. The longest hiatus is this time for a period of 6 months. 

Now that everyone in the house has been fully vaxxed including the girls, I made the decision to ask Maria to come back to work.  But there were conditions before she could step into our house.   The condo Management house rules is all part-time cleaners must provide proof of their digital vaccination certificate via My Sejahtera.  And I requested for a Covid test done in front of me using a Covid self-test kit.  I even gave Maria a fresh KN94 face mask and requested that she wore that instead of her own mask.  I was worried that Maria wore a recycled disposable face mask.  One time, Maria told me that she washed all her disposable masks and re-wore them.  

The entire procedure of the Covid self-test lasted 20 minutes - 5 minutes for collecting saliva and another 15 minutes for waiting for the result.  She did the test outside our unit. I had to watch the instructions via You Tube umpteen times to understand how to use this kit! 

Maria is also required to do a Covid self-test at her workplace where she works as a cleaner.  One of her duties is to clean the rooms of a Datuk and Datin.  The secretaries working for the Datuk and Datin would test her and other cleaners every two weeks. 

We're all so glad to have Maria back but the mil is still feeling a tad uncomfortable with having Maria around in the house.  I can't blame her as Maria was Covid positive 3 months ago.  

IMHO, I think we have to learn to live with the virus. According to WHO recently, the pandemic is far from over.   We will all have to mingle with people who were once Covid positive.  Three months ago, our neighborhood supermarket turned into a Covid cluster with almost all the staff infected. It was the same time that Maria was infected too as she stays at the same area, which was a red zone.  Residents are now going back to the supermarket, including myself.   We just have to take precautionary measures and remember to keep a physical distance, practise proper face mask wearing and sanitize our hands regularly.   

Homemade Caramel Popcorns With Hazelnuts, Hotteok and Tiramisu

Throwback post from last week.

After making Hotteok today, Chef Sherilyn made a small batch of caramel (for the popcorns), popped another batch of popcorns to make 'Garrett' popcorns with hazelnuts and in the evening, made two trays of Tiramisu (one with chocolate liqueur, one without).

Her 'Garrett' popcorns taste 99% like the real deal and the cost is only a fraction of the price of Garrett's. So dangerously addictive! I need to quickly walk past the tupperware of popcorns and resist the urge to open the lid to pop a few into my mouth! 🤪

Divinish Hotteok aka Korean sweet pancakes.

This time she used the trusty wok instead of saucepan.  No more burnt bottom pit and more popcorns can be produced.

It's not that difficult to make Garrett's caramel popcorns. We can sell our very own too and make good $$ 😆

Another dangerous dessert. One spoonful is enough to send you to dessert heaven!

  

There's nothing our teenage chef can't bake or cook. And it all boils down to interest and a burning passion. 

Lockdown Tales

Two days ago, we found out from our friend who runs a Chinese restaurant at our hood that two of her shop neighbors had died of Covid.  This happened at the plaza that recently had a cluster -- the same place that Maria stays. The same place where the supermarket that I go to is.   We are also friends with the two deceased. One is the owner of a photo shop and the other, the owner of a Chinese medicine hall. We had been patronizing them for decades. A few shops away, something unfortunate happened to the owner too (who is also our friend), albeit not Covid. He suffered a stroke and is now hospitalized.   Although our friend's restaurant had to be closed for 2 weeks twice in a span of 1.5 months due to confirmed Covid cases from her workers and shop neighbors, thankfully our friend and her family members who help out at the restaurant were spared. They had to fork out thousands of Ringgit on Covid swab test for the entire crew. 

I couldn't sleep after I learned of the news. It was only three weeks ago that I saw one of the deceased when I went to the plaza to buy lunch and he's now gone forever.  Covid could infect anyone, even the fully vaxxed ones.

Life is very fragile. Tragedies, illnesses, death and other unexpected bumps in the road remind us of that fact. Unfortunately, a long life is not guaranteed. Some of us will get to live to be one hundred while others will live a fraction of that time.  

This reminds me once again that I should live in the present moment and take it one day at a time. With so much uncertainties over the future because of this pandemic, we can no longer plan ahead anymore.  I am trying hard to enjoy my lockdown days, though it's not easy. 

To beat the lockdown blues, I do quite a bit of online shopping.  I really enjoy waiting for my parcels to be delivered. That's the only thing that I can look forward to now.

Last weekend I ordered something that I've long wanted to try - lemang and beef rendang from a Malay seller and paid a frigging RM15 for delivery!

The lemang came encased in a bamboo.

The seller sent me a You Tube tutorial on how to remove the lemang from the bamboo. Cass tried it with a pestle by knocking the bamboo with it and then squeezed the lemang out.

The beef rendang melts in the mouth and very delish. But I had unquenchable thirst after that!  I read the ingredients and saw the word 'flavor enhancer'.  I thought I was going to reorder from this seller  but after the terrible unquenchable thirst episode throughout the day, no thanks 😁
Nonetheless, we all enjoyed the lemang and rendang.

Lockdown Tales

The prolonged lockdown has turned Sherilyn into an accidental baker and chef and now - hair stylist.  Alycia has been complaining that it’s been super hot lately and her hair is bothering her.   As hair salons are still closed in the Klang Valley and our area is a red zone, Sherilyn offered to cut Alycia's hair.   While Alycia did not have confidence in Sherilyn initially, I convinced Alycia that I was very confident that her sister will do a great job as I was really satisfied with Sherilyn when she cut my hair last year during MCO 1.0.

Alycia agreed. She just wanted her shoulder length hair snipped off and didn't have the patience to wait for hair salons to be reopened.  Our country recorded a record-breaking high of 22,242 Covid cases today - 18 August 2021. It's getting from bad to worse.

It’s not easy to cut Alycia’s thick hair with the limited apparatus that we have, which is a pair of decades-old scissors meant for cutting baby hair and a hair clip.  Instead of the usual 15-20 minutes job done by a professional hair stylist, Sherilyn spent 1.5 hours standing inside the shower stall meticulously and patiently snipping her persnickety older sister’s thick hair with lots of huffing and puffing coming from Alycia, followed by hysterical laughter and shrieks inside the bathroom.  

I am beyond impressed with the outcome – Alycia has a 99% straight and perfect bob hair cut!! I gave Sherilyn a RM5 tip 🤭.

Impressed with Alycia's haircut, the mil and the girls’ grand aunt living a few units below ours  (both are equally finicky on their hair stylists) now wants Sherilyn’s service too! 

Sorry I have no photos to share. I actually stole the pix of them in the shower stall and when they realized it, locked me out of the room.  When they found out that I posted the blurred out images of them on social media, they protested vehemently and screamed blue murder, demanding that I removed the post instantly and even threatened to sue their mother, not realizing that it is their mother who is also their banker.  🤬

See la. Really 'char siu' daughters I have.  I also bemoan to them all the time that I have 3 ungrateful 'char siu' girls. I pray that they will grow up to be filial and loving daughters and not burnt 'char siu' that I have to discard.

That's the reason why at this age, it's best to have a pet at home. I can channel my love to Haru and she even knows how to reciprocate my love.  Now I see why most of my friends who are my age have several dogs and cats at home. Because their 'char siu' just don't know how to reciprocate love 😔

OK, nuff of ranting.  I'm stepping off the soapbox.

 

Missing Haru's baby face so much!

Our lockdown kitten. We fostered her during the lockdown early this year and one of the best things that we've done.

Friday, 13 August 2021

I got a shock this morning when I opened the washing machine door after the cycle ended. A wad of cash rolled out of the washer door. 

He forgot to remove stuff from his pocket again! 😣

I quickly air dried the notes and before he left the house, I passed the cash to him. To my surprise he said I could keep them.   🤑

 

My online shopping haul received today:

My wet and dry floor wipes and lint roller replacement tapes from Daiso, bought from Lazada.  As I couldn't get any free shipping from Shopee, I hopped over to Lazada and managed to get free shipping! Without Maria coming into our home to help me, most probably until this year end, I will have to rely on all these cleaning accessories to get all the daily cleaning done everyday.

Organic beet root powder from Lazada with a RM2 shipping fee.  Beets are rich in iron (something which I need for my anemia), calcium, magnesium and potassium.  Beets have impressive health benefits such as lowering blood sugar, lowering blood pressure, may prevent certain cancers and can boost brain health.

Alycia has overcome her fear of cats. She now loves playing with Haru!

Online Shopping Amid The Lockdown

I have never done so much online shopping in my entire life than in the last two months, no thanks to the protracted pandemic and never-ending lockdown in our country.  When the supermarket in our hood was recently closed for two weeks due to a cluster detected, I had to switch to online mode for the purchase of most of my essentials. Online shopping is convenient but can be a tad time consuming as I sometimes need to wait for the prices of certain items (non urgent ones) to be reduced or wait for free shipping and cashback vouchers before I pay for them.  Thus, I spend much of my time on Shopee and Lazada these days.  I even stay up to midnight several times in a month whenever Shopee has a midnight sale, just to save some $$. Online shopping can be tiring but it's therapeutic, just like mall shopping.  In such depressing times, shopping online is my little guilt pleasure. It's my only source of entertainment now since we can't venture out.  I can't even exercise at our condo grounds for the next two weeks because of a few Covid positive cases detected among the workers and guards at our condo.

My online shopping haul in the last couple of weeks...

An Ikea trolley storage rack for Cass to put her books.  As it now looks quite certain that online learning will be in for the long haul, I have to get extra storage for her to put her school books. 

Cass spent almost an hour assembling the trolley.

We love this 3-tier trolley storage rack - it even came with a screwdriver to help us with the assembly. This trolley is bought from Shopee, at a discounted price of only RM43.25 with a 423 Shopee Coins in cashback (equivalent to RM4.23).

Toilet papers. We're heavy users of toilet papers and I need to restock them every week 🤭

Bamboo tissue papers at only 60 cents a packet from Lazada.   The quality is superb - thick, large and even perforated.

I finally found Ora2 toothbrushes at Shopee. Ora2 toothbrushes are by far the best I've used. They are made in Japan and cost only RM4.60 each, which is way cheaper than at supermarkets.

Tena extra large wet wipes - I got them at a steal from Shopee (under Vinda Official Store).   These are sold at RM6 a pack at the pharmacy and I got them at RM5.40 a pack with discounted shipping and Shopee Coins.  I use these wipes to dry clean Haru and for general cleaning around the house.

Unscented, paraben-free and alcohol-free baby wet wipes at only RM20.24 for 10 LARGE PACKS (80 pcs per pack) with FREE SHIPPING from Lazada!!  Only RM2 a pack hey! What a steal! I use these to clean Haru's ears and face and for everything else. 

   

A heavy duty stainless steel towel rack at only RM59 with free shipping from Shopee! 

KN94 Korean disposable face masks from Lazada. A pack of 50 pieces only costs RM14.90 with a RM10 voucher from Lazada!  Shipping fee was only RM4.  These were shipped from China and took 10 days to reach me.  

Cat food, catnips biscuits and cat litter from two different sellers from Shopee and Lazada.

Nuts, matcha biscuits, vegetable crisps and pop corns from Signature Market. We love the nuts and snacks from Signature Market. They're always fresh and prices are very reasonable.  I buy them from Shopee or Lazada, depending on which platform offers me free shipping and discount vouchers.

With so much shopping done, being stuck at home doesn't look that bad eh?  

No, it sucks.  Being stuck at home for 1.5 years with our household earnings impacted badly is not fun.  But life has to go one and we try to make the best out of the situation.  Worrying won't help a bit, it may even cause more damage to our health if too much time was spent worrying about the unknown.  We can only take one day at a time.  And pray that we and our loved ones will not be infected by this invisible enemy that is already at our door step.