Loosing Weight Healthily

Do you think that the best weight loss products will help you achieve your ideal weight and thereafter help you to maintain that weight permanently? I don’t know as I have never tried weight loss products. I still think that the best and healthiest ways to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight is to eat healthily, cut down on fatty foods and food that is high in empty calories, reduce white flour products, ensure that calories output is higher than calories input and most importantly, EXERCISE!

Not An Ounce Of Fat Gained

Tomorrow is Chinese New Year but I had already chomped down many of the cookies that I had bought weeks earlier. I have been eating so much cookies and CNY snacks that I now feel nauseated at the sight of them. Thank God I did not gain an ounce in weight and don’t have to get those top fat burners to help me slim down. My daily morning exercise and all the stress managing my kids and online business have been helping me burn all the fat away.

She Wants To Be A Doctor When She Grows Up

The other day, Alycia told me that she wanted to become a doctor when she grows up. I was surprised that she said that as I doubt she really knew what a doctor’s job entails. Maybe she said that to please me or maybe she likes our pediatrician and wants to be a doctor like him. I’ll be the proudest mummy on earth if ever Alycia becomes a doctor.

Guess What She's Doing?

Guess, guess, guess...



Clap, clap, clap....

She's eating tangerines and cherry tomatoes while watching nursery rhymes karaoke. Her 2 jie jies were at school and I had some work to do, so the TV was the next best babysitter :)

She Made My Day

Baby made me burst out in a guffaw a few days ago and really made my day when she did this. You see, Baby did something that made Alycia really, really upset. Alycia was so upset that she kept scolding Baby. Baby was shocked initially but after several seconds of looking stunned (coz Alycia is normally very patient with Baby), she nonchalantly began clapping her hands as if nothing had happened.... and then to my surprise, she began to sing the nursery rhyme "oh where, oh where..dog gone.." and hummed the tune of "Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone"! Oh gawd, she is becoming more and more like rascal #2 (when she was around Baby's age) who used to sing and act cool when I scolded her.

I must say I am proud of Baby as she seems to be musically inclined and can memorize the tunes and lyrics of nursery rhymes quite well though she is not even 2 yo yet.



Looks like Baby's gonna be another junkie lover!

Welcoming Baby's Terrible Twos

Baby's Terrible Twos symptoms are clearly displaying now, though she is still 2 months shy of her 2nd birthday. She has started to turn stubborn, wants certain things done her way, knows how to choose her own clothes and hair accessories, demands for things and will roll on the floor and wail when her whims are not met.

The other day, my mil brought Alycia and Sherilyn down for swimming. She could not go and was obviously really upset, so she lay on the floor wailing her lungs out like this:


But I always give in and sayang her back within minutes coz I know she is strongly capable of puking if she cries too much, just like rascal #2. See how manipulative she is!

On another note, Baby's speech is improving by the day. Yesterday she said "mummy, help me" and over dinner she called everyone 'sek fan' (eat rice - the Chinese' custom of greeting your elders before you eat) by saying this "mummy... fan, mah mah... fan, cheh che... fan". She voluntarily greeted everyone when she saw her 2 jie jies greeting us at the dining table.

MOON, MOON, Mummy...

A few nights ago, there was a really huge and bright moon in the sky. It could be seen very clearly from the 5th floor of our condo unit. When Baby saw it she ran to me and said "MOON, MOON, MOON, Mummy....."

She quickly climbed on the couch next to the window and stood there admiring the big moon for a good 5 minutes and said "moon, come, come, come....." as if inviting the moon to come to our house, SO cute! She says this too whenever she sees animals on TV, as if inviting the animals to come to our house haha!!

How Do You Explain The Dreaded Question To Your Child?

I didn't tell her about the birds and bees. I told her "you'll learn all about these in school when your teacher teaches you Science" hahahah!

Alycia finally asked me the dreaded question several days ago when she overheard me talking to hubs about it. Don't jump to conclusion, we weren't talking sexy or anything intimate ok. We're too old for that lol!! I was telling hubs that I read in the newspapers about how great our fertility specialist was (the doctor who helped us get Alycia via IUI). This doctor helped a woman conceive via IVF by implanting an embryo that's frozen for 10 years into her uterus!! Now, the baby girl is 1 year old. This case was recorded in the Malaysia's Book Of Record recently.

Back to Alycia. This was our conversation in the car:

A - mummy, what did you tell daddy?

Me - oh, I asked him what we should eat later. (I knew she'll grill me until she got the answer from me!)

A - No, what did you say about the doctor who made me?

Me - Oh, this doctor helped a woman get a baby by putting a 10-year old frozen egg (embryo) into her. Something like how he helped mummy get you.

A - How to put the egg inside?

Me - put into a syringe and inject inside.

A - Inject where?

Me - Inject inside stomach.

A - How to inject inside?

Me - through the pet pet (more refined way of referring to the down under to a young kid)

A - what did the doctor inject inside?

Me - you ask daddy.

A - daddy, what did the doctor inject inside mummy?

Daddy - SPERM.

A - what is sperm mummy? How to get sperm?

Me - next time you will learn in school when your teacher teaches you Science ok?

How do you explain this to your young child?

Clean & Cool Green Tea

I got a surprise yesterday morning when the delivery man from a courier company called me to inform me that my Clean & Cool green tea had arrived. I did not know that they even work on Sundays. I then told my maid to go down to collect the package but my maid came up again asking for a trolley. I got a bigger surprise when I saw not only 3 bottles of green tea but 3 big boxes of Clean & Cool (C2) green tea. Now, that was really cool!!



Rascal #2 and #3 quickly helped me rip open the boxes and removed the bottles of drinks from the boxes. I could not wait to try all the flavors.



The C2 green tea comes in 3 refreshing flavors - lemon, apple and forest fruits. Rascal #2 quickly grabbed a bottle of the lemon flavored C2 green tea while I tasted all the 3 bottles immediately. The lemon one tastes like ice-lemon tea, the apple one tastes like apple juice and the forest fruits tastes like Ribena. The C2 green tea tastes even better when chilled or drank with ice cubes.

What I like about the C2 green tea is that they come in a cute convenient 350ml resealable PET bottle, which enables you to conveniently drink your green tea on the go. Rascal #2 even brought her bottle of lemon C2 green tea along with her when we went out for lunch yesterday.

Clean & Cool (C2) has all the goodness of natural green tea leaves of Camellia Sinensis variety which are known to contain Catechins. C2 is brewed and bottled on the same day to preserve the freshness and flavor of green tea. It is non-carbonated and ready-to-drink with a cool and clean taste. It is definitely a healthier alternative to carbonated drinks.

The 3 boxes of C2 green tea arrived at just the right time as the hubs now no longer has to buy soft drinks and packet drinks for CNY. Our guests will now be able to drink chilled refreshing flavored green tea!

C2 green tea is now available at Jaya Jusco, Mydin, Giant, 7-11 convenient stores or your nearest mini market. Go get a bottle to try today!

Getting Bright With Baby Bright

Baby has been watching this Baby Bright VCD for several months now and she is getting hooked on it. When she was several months old, she was hooked on the 'Your Baby Can Read' VCDs, then recently she got hooked on the Barney's 'Firehouse' VCD. Now, she's hooked on this Baby Bright VCD. Baby Bright teaches infants and toddlers colors, shapes, the concept of size and cause and effect. I bought this VCD for Alycia and Sherilyn 4 years ago.

Baby in her morning routine....



When Baby saw me sitting and arching my back on my fitball, she too followed suit... on her "bawoon" (balloon), cute!!

Just One Of Sherilyn's Samseng Acts

Rascal #2 was caught unaware that I had snapped this pic of her doing some acrobatic stunts while eating her lunch:

She even rocked her body by pushing her feet against the backrest of the chair *slaps forehead*

I wonder why she is so terribly fidgety and can't even sit still when she eats!

Instant Indonesian Rendang Curry

What do you do when you had accidentally mixed up the good quality chicken meant for cooking with the loh kai por (old hen) meant for boiling soup? It would be such a waste to use up all the chicken to boil soup, so I made chicken rendang with the chicken.

I used a sachet of Asian Home Gourmet Indonesian Rendang Curry Gulai which my sil bought from Singapore:

Since I could not get fresh santan (coconut milk), I substituted it with 1.5 cans of evaporated milk and cooked the chicken for almost 2 hours.

The chicken was tasty and not too spicy (the gals could eat them without any complaints) but the meat was still a tad tough. Next time round, I must remember to cook the old hen for an extra hour or more!

A Good Neck Pain Pillow For A Good Night’s Sleep

Some people are pretty prone to getting stiff neck, stiff shoulders and backache. I am one of them in the unlucky lot! If I sit in front of my PC working hard for many hours, I am bound to have a nagging pain on my shoulders and neck for several days. I also tend to sprain my neck easily, especially when I sleep on my sides at night while I nurse Baby. That’s the reason why I must have a neck pain pillow when I sleep. I have been sleeping on a neck pain pillow for several years now and the incidences of getting a stiff neck or stiff shoulders have reduced significantly, albeit I still get them once in a while. When Baby was hospitalized for 3 weeks after her surgeries last year, I brought along my neck pain pillow with me to the hospital!

I am considering getting an orthopedic pillow for myself and for my hubs too. He suffers from occasional stiff neck and stiff shoulders too. An orthopedic pillow is designed to improve neck support for back sleeping as well as maximize comfort during side sleeping. A curved design allows room for shoulders while an indented center helps to support the neck while sleeping on the side.

Did I tell you that my backache made a vengeful return for the past few days? It has been under control for a long time and I don’t know what actually triggered the problem again. I must have carried Baby too much and did not bend my knees but bent my back too much when I carried her or other heavy stuff. To control the back pain, I have been diligently arching my back on my fit ball every morning. I may even consider getting back pain treatment in the form of a sitback rest with hot and cold therapy if my fitball back exercise does not stave off the back pain.

Blood Boiler

Rascal #2 made my blood boil yesterday morning. I was in the wet kitchen when she walked in. When I went out to the dry kitchen, I told her to close the mozzie netting door, to which she replied me rudely with furrowed eyebrows and a pissed off glare: "Huh!! Why always ask ME to do things? You think what, you think I'm your assistant ah?" This is not the first time she answered me or my mil or my mum or other adults rudely. I gave her a good piece of my mind and told hubs about it later. Hubs then chided her off and told her to apologize to me, to which she cried and ran to me saying sorry and hugging my legs. Lately, whenever I ask her to pick up her toys or anything that she had messed up with, she will answer me rudely and give tons of excuses to shirk responsiblity or ownership.

I wonder what has become of my #2, who used to be so sweet and lovable. Is the arrival of Baby C to be blamed for her transformation into a little monster? Or is this just her inborn character? Or is it simply because she is a middle child and this is just plain middle-child syndrome? Many of my friends tell me that this fler has 'character' and a strong personality. I don't know, I just hope that she will not transform into a wayward, problematic teenager and adult.

Our Saturday

Last Saturday, hubs was in a mood to bring the gals to the park in the morning.

Baby who has not drank her milk yet has to be spoon-fed the milk in the car. I tell ya, spoon-feeding her milk 3x a day is no joke and is one of the most unpleasant and stressful chores for me. Thank God, I can tai chi this chore to my maid in the morning, with me coming in to rescue her when Baby fusses.


From the car to the park, it took almost half an hour for me to finish spoon-feeding her 4 pathetic ounces of Pediasure (only 1.5 scoop of milk powder to 4 ounces of water as Pediasure is very sweet and thick and Baby just hates thick and sweet stuff).

After she had finished her milk, she was allowed to play, like a dog on a leash let loose.


Rascal #1 and #2's pants were so black that I had to place a plastic mat on the car seat before they sat on it.


After sweating it out at the playground, Daddy then brought us for breakfast at a nearby coffee shop for another sweat-it-out session.

After breakfast, we 'pong chan' the street vendors and bought more CNY cookies and snacks.

Though this outing is not as fun-filled as a stay in a Puerto Vallarta rental, the gals nevertheless enjoyed themselves to the max. They told me that they would love to have this sort of outing every week. Kids, they really are easy to please, aren't they?

Gathering With Old Classmates At Jungle Gym @ Bangsar Shopping Centre

Jenn, my childhood friend of over 3 decades is back from the U.S. We had a small gathering at Jungle Gym on Monday, which was a public holiday. It was really good meeting Jenn as we had not seen each other for 4 years since she left for the States. At the gathering were my 2 other close friends, Su May and Steph. We were all former school mates and have known each other for over 20 years.

While we had lunch at Stuff Your Face Cafe, the kids played in Jungle Gym.

This is what we had:

Hubs' Nasi Lemak. The rice was cooked with turmeric. Very delish!


Mac & Cheese with ham for Sherilyn.


Mac & Cheese with meat balls for Alycia.


My Hainanese Chicken Chop.

Mini beef burgers for kids with mashed potatoes and mashed green peas.

Stuff Your Face Cafe is located on the third floor of Bangsar Shopping Complex, tucked away between Jungle gym, Kiddie art class and a roller-skating rink. The Cafe is pretty kids-friendly and has tons of kids' books on a rack as well as toys at a corner.



After spending over 3 hours at Jungle Gym, we went to Cold Storage to get a pack of organic alphabet pasta for Baby.



Rascal #2 and #3 enjoying cucumber maki bought from Cold Storage.

How To Remove Celo Tape Glue From Surfaces

Rascal #2 loves to play with the double-sided tapes that I keep in my drawer. She sticks them everywhere. The other day, a few pages of her book had come off. She could not find any celo tape, so she fished out the double-sided tape and taped them everywhere on her book... and left traces of the tape on our marble dining table.


My maid and I tried to wipe off the tape on the table, but it just didn't budge. It stuck to the table like glue.


When my mum saw the glue on the table, she dabbed some cooking oil on a piece of toilet paper and wiped the table with the oil. After several minutes, the glue was completely wiped away! You can use oil to remove sticker price tags from brand new tumblers and containers too, it works the same, very effective!

Tangerines Crazed Girls

My 3 gals and I are tangerine lovers. It's the tangerines season now and since 2 weeks ago, we have been feasting on tangerines. Hubs has been buying a few kilograms of tangerines from the pasar malam every week. Baby who does not fancy eating fruits is absolutly crazy over those sweet tangerines.

She eats about 1-2 small tangerines everyday and occasionally some red raspberry leaf.


Munching on tangerines and glued to the idiot box. I hope my gals won't develop a chesty cough from eating too much of those tangerines.

Tasty Kids And Toddlers Meal - Mushroom Soup Macaroni With Fresh Mushrooms, Fish And Mixed Herbs

First marinate the fish slice with mixed herbs and some sea salt.


This is the type of mushrooms that I use. You can use any type of fresh mushrooms.


Once the pot of water is boiling, pour in the mushroom soup powder mix. I use Campbell's mushroom soup powder in sachet form. It's MSG-free. Stir well. Then dump all the shiitake mushrooms and fish into the pot. Cook for another 10-15 minutes. Add in 1-2 slices of cheese for a more cheesy taste (optional). When it's cooked, pour in the macaroni and mix well.

The macaroni / pasta / spaghetti can be cooked separately in another pot.


Once cooled down, store in small air-tight containers for deep freezing. These will be for Baby. Most of the time, rascal #2 will pinch 1/4 of it from her baby sister!


Rascal #1 and #2 enjoying their mushroom macaroni.

Daily Morning Struggle

This is what happens when Alycia does not get enough shut eye:



If she sleeps after 10pm, she will be struggling to keep herself awake when I wake her up at 6am sharp in the morning.

Yesterday morning, we were down at the lobby 5 minutes late and the transporter wasn't too happy. Alycia was ready but rascal #2 woke up at 6am, started to whine and fuss and scream and woke Baby up at 6am too. When the other 2 monkeys wake up at the same time, things will go hay wire. I told my maid that from tomorrow onwards, she and me, we must wake up at 5:45am and wake Alycia up before 6am. It's really bad to keep the driver waiting, though we have to pay her RM180 a month.