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Something’s Not Right, Part 2

29 Jul

My woes continued over the weekend. As if the stomach cramps and backache were not enough to give me sleepless nights, I had a swollen left eye too! Haish…

On Thursday night, I was carving and drilling, so I suspect the dust from this activity was the culprit to my eye problem. By Friday, it was rather swollen, like a goldfish.

Over the weekend, after many eye washes with Optrex, it subsided a little, thank goodness. Something may not be right but life goes on with activities to keep busy for I can’t put it on whole with all these problems trying to derail me.

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Don’t stare…

Something’s Not Right

26 Jul

My Endometriosis pain has returned unexpectedly.

On Monday I was hit with the most excruciating pain (like the good old days) that I had to cancel my gym session. I couldn’t even sit straight, let alone walk properly, what more workout at the gym? Something’s not right.

The week before, there was pain building up but I did not think much of it. However I did wonder whether it was my food intake that’s causing my misery? After all, I did drink more beer than I should that week and had indulged in more chocolate than necessary.

This week, the severe pain struck me to the core literally and I had to resort to pain killers to manage. If the pain persists, a visit to my O&G is inevitable to have the problem checked.

Suddenly It’s Too Big

23 Jul

Last year we planned some family time with M2 before she went off to Ireland to study. Since we decided on a beach outing in Penang, I dug up my old Sunseeker bikini. But guess what? As it had not seen much action the last few years, the rubber had hardened, thus no more elasticity and was out of shape. I was aghast, my favorite set.

So instead of fixing it (there wasn’t enough time), I decided to buy a new set but something different that came with underpads for the top piece. Now this was in December before I knew of this 16/8 diet.

Towards the end of February this year, I started the 16/8 diet and it’s been almost five months that I am at it and have lost weight generally, save for the couple of pounds gained lately due to a disrupted eating schedule. Two weekends ago, I pulled out the new set to try them on because a beach trip is coming up soon. And guess what? This time, the new set felt at least one size too big now because I, err… couldn’t fill them up!

Well, I certainly don’t want to grow back into it, now or ever, so I may have to buy yet another set (without underpads) or perhaps get the rubber fixed up on my old favorite set. We shall see…

New Objective

16 Jul

I thought I needed to set a new objective all over again as far as the 16/8 diet is concerned. Although I gained only a pound from the recent US trip, the weight fluctuated the last two weeks and hoovering mostly on the up side. It felt like a set back–my Uniqlo jeans was a tad too snug–gaining weight back home and not from the vacation. Ugh.

There could be several reasons for this, number one being my leftover jet lag and number two, my eating habits.

The first week when I was back, I was eating breakfast when normally I don’t. By the second week, this need was overcomed but I found myself eating more and bigger portions for the two meals that I ate. Hmm…

Then last night, I went to the gym despite a cough developing. But it was a good workout as I sweated the excess water retention. And this morning as I stood on the digital bathroom scale, the weight has gone back to normal. Yay.

Having said that, I still have to be disciplined and have an objective. With my eating schedule back to normal, the new objective should be about fitting into another outfit rather than that Zara dress that I wore for M1’s Commencement.

Still Can’t Get Over It

15 Jul

This jet lag thing is still getting to me. Towards the end of last week and even the weekend,I kept getting up at 5.30am like clockwork. I can’t seem to get over it.

The only consolation was on Saturday, when I had a morning golf game and normally I would wake up at 5.30am to get ready. I didn’t need the alarm and woke up on the dot before the alarm went off. And on Sunday, my golf game was scheduled for an afternoon round, I still woke up at 5.30am! Eeesh.

More Tea Gadgets

12 Jul

On top of my delightful discoveries and purchases, there are tea gadgets too added to my collection now. M1 knows I prefer tea over coffee for health reasons, so it was very sweet of her to get me a couple of tea brewing gadgets.

Introducing my Deep Tea Diver and Loch Ness Tea Monster! Aren’t they adorable? Forget them tea bags, tea leaves are the way to go now to enjoy a nice cuppa.

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I will dive for you…

So if I want to see the effects of my Diver especially from the side and not the top, I need to get a glass cup to use instead of my existing ceramic mug. But if I choose to use Nessie, the mug will do; Nessie will just chill and stick her head out of my cuppa. Totally cute to the core, love ‘em!

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Nessie and Snoopy contemplating life over a cup of tea

When Will I Recover

9 Jul

It’s been nine days since we returned from the US and both of us have not fully recovered from the jet lag! My goodness… it’s taking rather long.

Every night the whole of last week, we were waking up twice in the middle of the night at two hour intervals. The only one night I slept throughout until morning was last Friday when I went out for dinner with my golf buddies and I drank whiskey. I think it helped. The other nights were normal routines without any aids or meds to expedite the recovery.

So how long does one take to recover from jet lag?

From what I read online, it would take about a day to recover for each time zone crossed. Hmm… the time difference for us is 15 hours, so about two weeks to recover? Gosh…

Generally, jet lag is worse when traveling from West to East. We started out from Portland, and headed East to Salt Lake City, Amsterdam and finally Kuala Lumpur, that’s going East all the way. With the extra one stop (at SLC), long transit time and flying, maybe that’s why we are taking longer than a week to recover. Our 2012 trip to the US, we flew from East to West, San Francisco to Kuala Lumpur and that time, I took a week to recover from the jet lag.

Well, I woke up once at five this morning instead of twice before sunrise. Maybe a sign that I am recovering. Hopefully by the end of this week, the body would finally catch up with the time zone I am in and totally recover from the jet lag.

All Good on the Home Front

5 Jul

Now that the bag delay issue is settled, there are other matters to tend to.

Official pet number one, Rooney, was confused then happy to see us when we got home. Generally all was good on the home front except for two things – the Marimo Moss balls and the cocoon still hanging on the tree in front of the house.

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He loved his new chew toy

The moss balls would need some serious TLC to recover as they have turned brown but this wouldn’t be an issue to revive them. The cocoon is quite a challenge though. It’s been too long at this stage. Did we miss the emerging moment and deceived by the cocoon shell, still hanging up there? Maybe I should brave climbing up the tall ladder to have a closer look. Hmm…

I’m glad I didn’t gain too much weight, only a pound. I thought it would be more considering the 16/8 diet was thrown out the window the minute we arrived at KLIA and had a beer and indulged in snacks at the Premier Lounge before we boarded.

It wasn’t just the things we ate in the US but when we ate which was always late dinners past seven and sometimes even nine or ten at night, hardly at five or six like we normally do back home. And I ate breakfast constantly eating because it was cold and I needed food to fuel the body to keep warm.

Being back means being back to routine and I am pretty sure that extra pound will be shed in no time especially once I get over my jet lag. So it’s great that all’s good on the home front.

The Bags are Still Not Here, Part 2

3 Jul

The perils of jet lag continues! Waking up at 5.30am yesterday morning not for golf but due to jet lag seem to have clouded my senses.

I misinterpreted the information on the status of our bags as stated on the website that KLM provided. Bag One will leave Amsterdam Schiphol Airport on 2nd July, not arrive at KLIA on the said date. And the airport baggage claims office called yesterday evening to confirm this.

What this means then is that Bag One will arrive on 3rd July, today and delivered to us in the evening. Haish…

Meanwhile up till yesterday, Bag Two was still being traced. Dear oh dear…

Work and worry took the toll on me and last night, I crashed at 9.30pm; I couldn’t hold up and brave the anxiety anymore. And this morning I woke up at 3.30am. I’m not complaining though because there was a text message from KLM saying Bag Two is currently being transported to KUL! Yay.

I checked the website and indeed, Bag Two was labeled ‘Rushbag’ and on flight KL809 en route to KLIA. I hope it’s the same flight as Bag One.

We hope to receive both bags this evening. Fingers crossed.

Oops, The Bags are Not Here

1 Jul

It’s mind boggling when I look back now at the total time of the whole journey inclusive of the car rides. So from the time we left Corvallis for the airport, the flights, transits and our taxi ride home, it was 43.5 hours! Goodness gracious me.

The delay of the bags added to this and it could have been worse if the delayed flight departures were longer. But being under half an hour each time, the flying itself made up for it.

Yesterday when we touchdown at KLIA, all I was thinking of was a nice cold shower and a good sleep to start my recovery from the jet lag. But our checked-in bags never arrived. With this clouding our minds, how to sleep snugly?

We stood at the baggage conveyor belt for more than half an hour and our two checked-in bags never came. They are still in Amsterdam, along with the bags of several other travelers who transited at Schiphol Airport.

Some of them were connecting from Paris and Japan, and us from the US. Like them, we lodged a report and this took time too as the office was packed. Initially I thought we had to go to the airport this evening to get them but hubby said they will be delivered to us instead. I await anxiously for them.

This morning I woke up at 6.20am. I had a good eight hours sleep with four and a half of it being deep sleep. That’s good, maybe a faster recovery but the nagging headache is still there, I don’t know why. Hubby on the other hand, woke up every two hours. He said he was still in airplane sleep mode and each time, he was expecting to be served a meal or ice cream! Hahaha…

We jumped right into work this morning, not wasting any time to rest.