Finally It’s Done

12 Feb

Over the weekend, we finally pushed ourselves to get ready for Chinese New Year. And when I say get ready, it means putting up the customary red cloth at the entrance of the house. Finally it’s done. Yay. But am I ready for the upcoming festivity?

I think I am looking forward more to the break to relax and do nothing because lately, work has been overwhelming and a break is much needed. As for the festivities, merry-making and food, it will be a challenge to manage because my intestines are still a bit sensitive.

I have gone a week without coffee and somehow doing well. And watching what I eat, I have lost 1.5kgs already as a result of all this extra precaution. Who knows in three months’ time, I would lose a few more kilos! Let’s see how I hold up with during Chinese New Year.

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No Onions Please, Part 2

9 Feb

After the Monday onion scare, I find myself more wary of food portions too besides food choice. Generally I am not a big eater, so now my portions have become even smaller than before because normal meals would make me feel bloated and uncomfortable.

And I also find myself needing to stash little packs of comfort snacks everywhere within reach; I don’t know why. As such, I feel like such a hamster – small frequent meals, stashed food, feeling hyper then lethargic, you know…

I have actually abstained from coffee since Tuesday, drinking decaf Earl Grey instead! The other food items I think I can go on without them for the next three months but coffee… so far so good, there’s no withdrawal symptoms. Yet.

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A Mother’s Love

8 Feb

Nature is amazing and wonderful at the same time. One of hubby’s air plant had grown some offshoots, babies in simple terms. Normally, air plants do not die when they have offshoots.

Unfortunately, this little air plant wasn’t doing too well in the midst of the cold and hot weather that we were experiencing the last few weeks. But to ensure that the babies survived, the ‘mummy’ air plant hung on and gave all her nutrients to nurture them until her last ‘breath’.

When the offshoots look like they were stabilised and growing well, the ‘mummy’ air plant died off in order not to fight with the young ones to survive. Such motherly love.

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No Onions Please

6 Feb

Recently I was diagnosed with Infectious Colitis. Not life threatening but generally very uncomfortable. All this while I thought it was the usual monthly cramps getting more severe with age but no, it was them bacterias in my intestines all this time, having a wild party every now and then to create an unbearable pain and discomfort.

I was prescribed antibiotics for a week and it had been okay, no side effects from the meds. Because it was abdominal cramps and not diarrhoea, the doctor did not advise me what food to avoid and neither did I bother to check thoroughly although I have been careful on the choices which were nothing too extreme.

So almost a week after the colonoscopy procedure, I was fine and on the road to recovery; I even played a round of golf four days later. But I had the most unfortunate and unsuspecting setback yesterday.

I had a very nauseating spell all because I had some onions for lunch. It triggered a reaction a few hours later and was the most horrid sensation. Initially I didn’t know what it was until I got home and laid horizontal for a few hours to recuperate before going online to check.

I figured it’s best to know what I should avoid to minimize my discomfort because with Chinese New Year just around the corner, there’s bound to be a lot of eating, drinking and merry-making.

To my horror, the list included coffee, cereal, nuts, alcohol, chocolate, spicy food and of course onions, with limited intake of milk, ice cream, cheese and a whole lot of other stuff but the first three items on the list horrified me to no end!

It’s not so much of what I can eat (white bread, ugh!) but what to avoid. No coffee, cereal and nuts, my breakfast and snack staples? And no alcohol, chocolate and spicy food, my life! For at least three months! Oh dear…

I try to look at the brighter side of the situation; I will definitely shed some pounds. And unless I want to be constantly feeling bloated or nauseous, I better be disciplined about my food intake. And definitely no onions please.

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The Un-Sploot

5 Feb

You know Chinese New Year is around the corner when the weather turns scorching hot and unbearable! It’s so hot that even Rooney, official pet number one can’t take it, lying down in the oddest position at the garden terrace to stay comfortable!

Forget the sploot, this position is better to chill. Poor fella…

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Where Did Time Go?

2 Feb

We had two public holidays in a row in the middle of the week, Wednesday and Thursday. And suddenly, it’s February already! My… my… where did time go? While it was nice to have a two-day break, honestly, it’s wasting precious time when another long holiday is coming up soon.

This year, the Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year falls on 16th February and as usual, I am unprepared. With work catching up and the urgency to finish up as much as possible before we break for the holiday, I find myself hardly having any time to prepare for the festivities. Throw in my carving and wanting to play golf, 24 hours in a day is simply insufficient to prepare. Sigh…

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The Shoe Queen, Part 4

1 Feb

The Shoe Queen in me struck over the weekend! Not another pair of work shoes or sandals but golf shoes…

My current Adidas spiked pair does not seem to be holding up good. Although it has been under utilized (I haven’t played for nine and a half weeks), the leather on the surface has cracked and water does seep in occasionally if the fairways are soggy. And there’s mold and discoloration under the brand’s stripes on both shoes. Eeeeks.

During last Saturday’s game, my first game of the year, somehow the shoes held up but only because the fairways wasn’t soggy despite all that rain.

Now the new shoes was a good buy as it was on sale and I couldn’t resist, being the undisputed Shoe Queen. A Footjoy again, this brand’s a better golf shoes than Adidas.

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The Versatile Chopsticks

30 Jan

Chopsticks are the best. Most Asians use it to eat meals, be it noodles or rice. I use it too especially when it comes to noodles but I find myself doing more with it.

I eat my salads with chopsticks in the office instead of the fork, I take my toasts from the toaster with chopsticks, and I even cook using a pair of chopsticks.

From an omelette, testing the boiling spaghetti strands in the pot to stir frying a dish, I find the versatile chopsticks can do just about anything. Maybe I should pack a set with me whenever I travel. Hmm…

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No News is Good News

29 Jan

News headlines generally suck, world news suck and local news are no different. It is as though there are no positive news to update humanity. So it is better not to read the news than to learn what is going on around us to keep sane.

For this reason, I like to stay in my little bubble, away from all the shenanigans of the world for as long as I can manage.

So I carve. And I carve and carve.

After Monument 5 came about to kickstart the carving mood, everything fell into place. Within a few days, Monument 6, six Citizens and another Gnome were added to the population count of Gigglesville. No news is good news if this is the result.

 

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Serious Music

26 Jan

Yesterday I decided to bring my ‘boom box’ from home to the office to use as it is hardly used at home and just collecting dust. At the office, I must have music in the background for creative purposes. I feel the brain does not function well enough in an all too quiet environment. And I don’t like the radio because DJs in general talk too much regardless of the station.

The Altec Lansing inMotion dock speaker, although old and only works with 30-pin devices, will give my first iPod Mini another lease on its (the iPod’s) life after I retired it from use in the car last year.

It became a nuisance for the many cables required — an aux-in and a power supply, to hook up and it cluttered the gear area. These days, for my music in my current car, I use a pen drive which is hidden out of sight and not a nuisance at all. No cables necessary and everything is controlled within the steering wheel or the iDrive. This then renders the iPod even more obsolete.

So now with the speaker set in the office (all the Spongebobs, the single Patrick and the M&Ms dispenser had to make way for it but not the main gum ball machine), the iPod will have another chance with its 932 songs (it’s an 8Gb capacity) to stimulate me. I foresee creative juices will be in overdrive!

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