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Coping Well

30 Mar

It’s been slightly more than a week since M1 left. We are adjusting. Suddenly the house seems too big and too quiet despite the fact we still have M2 around. Life goes on… starting with a no carbo regime for me to get back in shape.

Thank goodness for technology, we ‘whatsapp’ all the time, sometimes at the oddest of hours forgetting the different time zone and Skype twice a day, once in the morning and again at night, our time. Both hubby and I are very happy and pleased that she has settled down well in the dorms and enjoyed her one week of orientation.

Classes start today.

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A Fat Mermaid

26 Mar

Last night I had my gym session with just my trainer and it felt strange. No hubby (he had a dinner meeting) and the girls around unlike the week before where it was the final gym session for M1 with my trainer. It was fun because M2 came along and we sweated together for the last time. I thought it was a necessary session (remember my weighing scale?) especially to rid all that guilt (and fat) from the constant eating during the last week before M1 flew off.

My trainer gave us a tough time and everyone gasped for breath. But that wasn’t all. While doing stretching on the floor, M2 commented that I looked like a manatee. The gall of her! Giving her mommy a tough time too.

My trainer perked up and asked politely, a what?

Unabashed, she reiterated the manatee mention and fueled it further with a fat mermaid description, and that I looked like both. Eeesh. But all in good fun, we had a great laugh, gasping for breath all over again. M2 was on a roll with her acid jokes.

Right after that, she also mentioned that a fat unicorn is actually a rhino in disguise. Geez… The things they learn from the internet.

Well, fat mermaid and fat rhino aside, I really have to sweat it out and was glad we had that session together last week. Another memory etching moment to cherish.

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Mushroom Head

6 Feb

As Chinese New Year is just around the corner, getting a haircut is one of the preparations. I visited my stylist three days ago, seven weeks from the last visit (I go for my haircut every six to seven weeks). For someone with short hair, that’s a lot of trips to the hairdresser in a year compared to the two girls with long hair. They have their haircut twice or maybe three times a year.

Whenever I come back with my usual short hairdo, it hardly gets noticed and when the girls do notice, they’d say,”Oh. You got your mushroom head!”

Eeesh.

This time, thank goodness they did not pass the mushroom head comment but instead admired the new color of the hair.

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Mummy is an Impostor!

27 Oct

As we get older, our physical appearance gives us away. I have a—how do you say—a little patch on my cheek which is a shade darker than my usual complexion. Hormonal changes and time had it growing from a tiny dot many years ago into a much bigger one now, sized like a five cents coin.

Vain as I am, I try to mask it by applying all sorts of whitening cream to camouflage or reduce its diameter. And it works.

The girls had gotten used to it over the years but not too long ago, they noticed the prominent ‘Mummy feature’ is no longer prominent. So much so, sometimes they say I am an imposter!

There was one night many months ago, M2 peered at me and queried,”Are you my mummy?”

“Of course I am!” I asserted.

“Do the Mummy test,” M1 said.

And I was given the Mummy Test: “What is one plus one?”

Obligingly I would say the correct answer and they looked at each other and beamed, “Phew! It’s Mummy alright.”

It is an on-going family thing that whenever they doubt me, they’d throw this silly question at me for verification. If I give the answer “Two”, M2 would raise her eyebrows and say, “You’re an impostor! Where is my mummy?”

The silly things and rules we have at home…

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It’s Been a Hazy Week

18 Jul

The haze is back. Sputtering in the opaque and almost apocalyptic atmosphere, it is not the best in ambience as far as health is concerned. I almost fell sick last week after returning from Kuching, hubby has been feeling lethargic, M1 is falling sick and M2 is experiencing headaches every now and then. My poor family.

On top of this, my virtual world has also been hazy. I have just not been very focused in my games. I am losing far more battles than I should in Zookeeper Battle; Farm Heroes has been very trying and every morning, I wake up hoping that Candy Crush will update for the laptop only to be disappointed daily. Not being able to move forth has made me very lost, like in a haze. While Candy Crush did update for the iPad, it’s pointless as it only (like so many times previously) had my avatar leapfrogged to the end of the new chapter. In desperation, I just play the current chapter to get more stars. Terrible, isn’t it?

I just hope and pray the weather improves and my games mojo returns, and of course, Candy Crush to open up the latest chapter in Facebook on the laptop.

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Will Grandma Disown Us?

24 Apr

It was during the family’s triple birthday celebration dinner at a Thai restaurant in early April when Grandma, my mom, commented to my girls about a patron with blue hair.

“Look at that!” she hissed forcefully to get my girls’ attention. Both girls looked.

“How frightening. Almost ghoulish!” Mom shook her head and dramatically shivered to emphasize her point.

It was pretty obvious mom did not think too highly of a blue-headed fashion statement. Later that night, my girls were sharing this with me and we all agreed Grandma was just very opinionated about certain things in life, hair color being one of them. Two weeks passed by and for us, it was quickly forgotten until last week.

I was due for my haircut. Every 6 or 7 weeks, I’d go for a haircut with alternate visits highlighting my hair. So the night before my appointment, I was just mentioning to the girls.

“I’m off to cut my hair tomorrow! And what color should I highlight my hair this time?” I asked.

“Blue!” suggested M1 playfully.

“Orange!” was M2’s choice.

“Blue! Are you sure? Grandma would disown me! But I don’t think I should go orange either,” I chuckled as we all remembered the triple birthday celebration incident.

M1 asked, “If Grandma disowned you, does this mean she disowns us too?”

Gosh. That’s deep and profound.

“Let’s not have it come to this. Let’s stick to the usual safe brown, ok?” I reassured her in the end.

So no funny colors, just the usual cut and rich mahogany highlights.

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My New Gym Shoes

14 Mar

For years, hubby and I have a personal trainer (in short, a PT whom I sometimes dubbed personal torturer) and we have gym session once a week. This year, both girls decided to join us for this routine as they find it somewhat refreshing to also train despite a tiring day at school.

Week after week, we would diligently do exercise routines that focus on the core and stamina, nothing extreme but enough to break out a sweat and helpful especially for our golf.

Now, my gym shoes are old and ugly; despite its state of ugliness, I love my Reebok. It is comfortable and serves me well. However, with time and much use, it is falling apart and needs to be replaced yet I never got around to it.

But it has come to a point where it really needs to be replaced because it is quite an embarrassment to be wearing a pair of shoes that leaves little bits of trail around the gym everytime I move about. Yes, that’s how bad it has become, literally falling apart with each movement.

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Aren’t my shoes cute?

So recently, I bought a new pair of Reebok much to the envy of hubby, M1 and M2. So envious they were, it was also the perfect excuse for them not to exercise because they don’t have new gym shoes like me. And only me, with the new Reebok has the ability to train well in comparison to them.

“Nope! Can’t do that. No new shoes…”

“Sorry, no grip. Can’t do it!”

It was silly but we had fun. Will they be getting new gym shoes? We shall see.

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Not Etched in Stone

13 Jan

Two things I discovered with the new year. Discovery number one: life can go on without Candy Crush. It’s been close to two weeks that I have not played the game at all, can you believe it? And I have been going about life and routine without any hiccups. The candy withdrawal has subsided and I have coped well, especially with the discovery of Nora Roberts online to occupy my time. Proud to say I am maintaining my retired professional candy crusher status.

Discovery number two: life can go on without caffeine. Last week, I did a five day detox and diet program that had me off my coffee and tea, food and sugar. It was all fruits and water for the first two days, followed by fruits, water and some protein and fiber for the next two days and by the last day, a slow introduction of a little bit of carbs, more fruits, water and ending with more protein and fiber. All this while, no coffee or tea, no sugar and no carbs. The cleansing of the innards felt good, the tummy shrank, the need for food was manageable and the dependency on caffeine was overcomed! Proud to say I shed 3kgs.

So things that I thought are etched in stone all this while may not necessarily be so.

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Chat

It’s A Warzone Out There

22 Oct

I had to see an ENT to solve my sinus nasal congestion which had taken a turn for the worse. So here I am sitting in the doctor’s lounge while outside, along the corridor, it’s a warzone out there!

An elderly patient, waiting his turn, is talking loudly on his mobile and his booming voice is echoed so loudly in the cold quiet corridor! Perhaps he is also waiting to see my ENT specialist, hard of hearing, he does not realize how loud he is.

This may not be a patient ward level but still, it’s a hospital and everyone should be more considerate for others!

Then there’s this lady sitting in the waiting room with me and her phone goes ‘You have a new WhatsApp message!’ letting the whole world know she’s connected. Attending to her alert, the furious tapping by her is so obvious with the loud clicking sound. My goodness, please put it on silent mode!!!

Even in my hard of hearing state, the noise is most irritating.

I await my turn shortly. WhatsApp Lady has toned down her volume but I can still hear water bubble effect sounds, probably crushing candies. Warzone Uncle has also finished his conversation.

Phew.

I glanced over at WhatsApp Lady; she’s not crushing candies, her reactions are way too slow!

Ah… my turn.

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Ten White, Twenty Black

17 Oct

Whenever I look into the mirror and spot a white hair, horror would fill me and I’d get one of the girls to pull it out if I can’t reach it myself. Vain, silly or otherwise, one just cannot have a white strand sticking out, shouting to the world to be seen.

Just back from my recent holiday, I decided to do an overhaul — starting with the face with a facial, the body with a massage and the hair with an inventory check on black versus white. As it was a public holiday, it was perfect to get these done.

The going rate is ten cents per white hair but a penalty of twenty cents is incurred for them to pay back if a black hair was accidentally pulled out instead.

M1 is usually more obliging for this task and makes about two to three bucks from the hubby, and about one to two from me. However, whenever I am under duress from some super duper stressful project at the studio, three bucks is easily made. M2 would add salt to the wound by stating, “Mummy, you’re old.”

Coincidentally, I just concluded one half of a very stressful project prior to the trip to Bali.

And the evidence was evident.

“I found the loot!” M2, who was available and obliging, proclaimed. Ooh… That hurts. “How many?” I cringed.

“I’d say 30 but I’d just do 25 then I’m going to bed!” Well, I can’t argue with that.

M1 who just came out of the bathroom, giggled and rubbed it in, “Nah! I think there’s 40!” Hrmph.

“Argh! This one’s a scam! Half black, half white. Does it count?” The ever dramatic M2 asked then decided, “I think no. Okay, back to 23. Right, mummy… 23?”

Sigh, the perils of a stressful creative designer’s life.

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