Back Again...

Absence makes the heart grow fonder?

It’s been a while, who am I kidding? It’s been more than a while but I’m glad to be back. No I wasn’t away, just been busy with this and that. I guess that’s part and parcel of becoming a SAHM, wish I could become those so called women of leisure instead. I wonder what they do all day. Hmm…

Anyway, what’s new with me? Well, I’m happy to report that I’ve lost a whopping 8kg. I am now able to fit into all my old clothes (plus a few new ones as well I might add, can’t resist the urge to brag ;)). And have gotten rid of all my fat mommy clothes. Good riddance to those. I vow to avoid them permanently. Although weight wise I’m not quite where I aim to be yet…but so far so good. Along with the weight loss, I feel pretty good about myself…oh who cares, I’ll just say it out loud…I feel like one hot momma. It’s nice to be able to see my hip bones and knees again. I’ve missed them tremendously! LOL

I really do wish I could fit into my old uniform when I was still in my premarital state; in fact that is what I’m currently aiming for. I reckon I could perhaps try squeezing into them, it may be a tight squeeze but I keep getting mental images of myself exploding out of the uniform ala incredible hulk. Not a pretty sight at all. I’ve decided I don’t want to risk myself being utterly traumatized and scarred for life so I’ll just leave that thought on hold first while I strive to lose more weight and gather the courage to bring myself into slipping on the uniform from my glory days.

The children are getting bigger. Mika’s turned 1 btw, and has even taken his first few steps. He did so a day before his birthday, and like all mothers, I’m convinced my son is an absolute genius! Unlike his sister at the same age, Mika is still clingy as ever. Yes, in case anyone’s still wondering, he still ‘accompanies’ me in the shower. Well, for consolation, at least mommy looks good now and nolonger canbe mistaken as The Good Year blimp's younger sister. Praise the lord! My little boy however, seems to prefer his daddy over me whenever the dad’s around (the little traitor!). Well, at least my girl is still loyal to me although now, whenever I freak out at her she’ll beg me to allow her to spend the night with her grandparents instead. The nerve of that little girl… Am I really that bad?

My bachelor grand uncle who took care of my late grandmother when she was alive has passed on a day before Mika’s birthday. The next day, on baby’s birthday, hubby’s grandmother passed away. It was truly a long and tiring week for me. I swear PLUS highway had made a nice little profit out of me having had traveled almost the entire stretch of the North South highway during that week alone. My prayers goes out to Tok Bah and Mak Tok. Al-Fatihah.

There was this incident relating to Chicken Pox during Mak Tok’s funeral which has shown me a whole new light on my SIL. Not a very flattering light though…but that’s another story which I will write about when I’m more rational and not as furious with her as I am now.
So, stay tune to my next update and hope all of my readers (if I still have any that is LOL) are well and in good health. Taking advantage of CNY, I’d like to wish all of you a year of happiness and prosperity. Cheers!

Healthier Body, Here I Come...

Since my last post, I'm happy to say that my plans in owning a healthier and fitter body is well on the way and is off to a good start. I've been exercising consistently and have been very careful in watching what I eat with the exception of a couple of nights. In my defense, I had to attend a birthday party and it was a shame to let the food go to waste since my friend had painstakingly catered for the event. And the other night? Hey...my mom got a huge promotion at work and someone from work rewarded her with huge Miri prawns. It was superb and I'm not regretting it one tiny bit. (Yeah..yeah...tell that to my cholesterol level...hardy har har).

Before I began, I had weighed and measured myself so I'd be able to see my progress. I'm determine to lose 1kg a week (I checked, and apparently losing more than 1kg a week is deemed unhealthy.)

After exercising vigourously for 30 minutes every single day, it suprises me that I do actually feel different. And although my arms, thighs and stomach muscles are aching like crazy (I'd rate the pain just a notch below labour pain) I actually feel 100 percent great! I feel so much more energetic. Before this, everytime I push the kids up the parking ramp at our place which is similar to a small hill, I'd be huffing and puffing like mad. Totally out of breath. The other day, both hubby and I was pushing the kids up the ramp while I was yakking away, by the time we reached the top I realized hubby was panting and completely out of breath (and looking a little faint I might add..haha!)and I didn't feel a thing. Whoa...I've more stamina. How cool is that?

So exactly a week after starting my new regime towards becoming a lean, mean fat burning machine, I had weighed and measured myself to see if there were any progress. Yahoo! I had lost 2 kg (a kg more than what is categorized as safe...but right now I don't care coz I'm absolutely elated over the weight loss), and a total of 22cm in my arms, thighs, hips and stomach region. Woohoo! Who's the man? I'm the man!!! It's nice to know that that all that hardwork did pay off. And when there's immediate result...hardwork doesn't seem so hard after all.

So this week, I've decided to take things a little slow cause like I mentioned, my goal is a kilo a week. Anyway, I think breastfeeding helps as well because without the overload of 'fuel' that I usually put into me, my body is working overtime burning the fat within my body. It's almost like I've a treadmill strap onto me or something. LOL!

I'm being very realistic about this whole process and am determine to reach my desired weight by March. After that, I'll continue exercising in order to maintain that weight. Call it my New Year resolution.

I can't wait till I'll be able to fit into a size 8...err, who am I kidding, I'm a tall girl so size 10 will do. Whatever it is, I'll just make sure I never become like those 6' size 0 giantess strutting all the major runways. What the heck is size 0 anyway? To me, size 0 simply means you don't exist. You're nothing but thin air. So I'll just settle for size 10 (or maybe 8...I wish!)

Healthier body, here I come! :)

Confessions of a Reformed Dieter

I'm totally inspired. I've just finished reading AJ Rochester's Confession of a Reformed Dieter and am inspired to better myself, lose weight and lead a more healthy and active life.

It's a true account on how she (AJ Rochester) had managed to lose 50kg from 109kg (it's like shedding Calista Flockhart from her body! LOL) and dropped 8 dress size by changing her style of living and make healthy choices. It's an honest revelation and charts her high and lows during her incredible journey.

I truly identified with her (except I don't weight 109kg and if I did would have commited suicide long ago. Heck, during my pregnancy, when my weight hit 75, I was already contemplating suicide. LOL. ) Now I know that I've made unhealthy choices in my life and the effects of my action would influence how my children lead their life later on.

It's really inspirational and I'd recommend all to read it. AJ Rochester has manage to keep her wits and humour while battling with her weight problem. Reading her book itself is a life changing experience. I'm starting on her other book "The Lazy Girl's Guide To Losing Weight and Keep Fit." And the best part? Immediately after I finish reading, I did squats and sit ups while watching TV. Yup, I exercised!

I'm determine to make better choices in my life towards a more healthier life. I'm going to shed off those pounds by doing it the healthy way and keep it off for good. And I'm starting immediately.

Wait, I ade pasta today. Ooops...err, I change my mind. I'll just start tomorrow...err day after tomorrow. I have a feeling tommorrow is going to be another left-over meal day. Did I mention it's a huge pot? Hehehe. I promise I'll start day after tomorrow.

Ah-Choo! Sniff! Sniff! Cough! Cough!

During my absence from the Internet, the whole family fell ill. It started with the kids. Initially Sarah had the cough and Mika had the flu. Then I caught it and lucky me had both cough, flu and fever. I was in bed for like 3 days. I couldn't get up. It was pure torchure to bath the kids and prepare their meals while my whole body is aching and screaming, my throat feels like it's on fire and a stream of mucus continuously flows out of my nostrils. I had no choice but to turn to the ever dependable Pizza Hut. The delivery man and me are quite the chum now.

So for 3 days, the kids had nothing but Pizza Hut. Pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Even baby Mika although I don't see him complaining. In the duration of me falling sick, I think I've ordered everything within their Supreme range. I wanted to try that 4 flavour thingy but on the other hand...peanut sauce on a pizza? I'm not that sick.

Hubby had a lucky break because he wasn't around to take over my duties. So sickly moi, single handedly had to take care of 2 kids and nurse myself back to health. Due to breastfeeding, the doctor didn't prescribe antibiotics so my road to recovery was much slower than I would like. The doctor asked if I wanted an MC. I said yeah and could you write it out to my kids and my husband? And they dare say it's easy being a stay at home mom. Try being a stay at home mom with no maid, no husband and parents whom are still working and can't help out. After that ordeal, I'd better inform hubby that I'm seriously underpaid.

As I was recovering, hubby came home and then he fell sick. Although not fully recovered but considering that I was still in better shape than he was, my sense of duty and loyalty had me waiting on him hand and foot in nursing him back to health. (Why is it men can be such babies when their ill?) I even made myself wake myself in the middle f the night to make sure he takes his medicine and check his temperature. At one point I almost strangled him because he was actually fighting me off, refusing to take the pills and wanted to just continue sleeping. Hello??? You're 36 for crying out loud!

After 3 days, hubby was better and the next day he was off to work for 2 weeks. The morning that he went off, I woke up to discover 2 feverish kids in my hands. There goes my sleep. It's no joke running about sponging the kids down, medicating them, constantly checking their temperature, comforting and soothing them, cooking and cleaning and not to forget reconfiguring my computer and trying to crack my old password. It's a wonder how I still manage to remain sane. I think.

Now 10 days later, the kids are looking better, hubby's still not back and I've got a new problem in my hand. Baby hasn't been sleeping well for the past 2 nights. He keeps waking up screaming (in oppose to whimpering throughout the night when he had the fever) and thrashing about. He seems to be in a constant bad mood and lo and behold, I've discover another tooth coming out. No wonder he's been throwing such a tantrum and has been fighting off food. Now I must cope with a teething child.

Right now I look like a raccoon, have 2 enormous Louis Vuitton under my eyes and am about to declare myself bankrupt judging by the amount of sleep debt that I owe.

Sigh...another 4 more days to go till hubby returns and I get to dump the kids on him. Gosh, isn't motherhood a ball?

Kaput!

Eureka! I did it! I’m finally in…hehehe.

I’ve been missing from the blogging world for quite some time now. No, I was not abducted by aliens. I suffered a fate which was worse than that. Dearest hubby meddled with my notebook causing it to crash….aargh! Hell hath no fury like a woman without her computer!

Hubby rarely uses the computer. When he does, his activities are usually limited to playing FreeCell, downloading music (thanks to me for downloading the software), checking emails (which are mostly forwarded by moi) and checking his flight schedules online. This wonderful man I married is totally clueless when it comes to computers. Heaven knows why he owns an O2 PDA. Once, the computer went on hibernate mode whilst he was on the net and hubby panicked yelling “The computer crashed! The computer crashed!” Duuh…

Anyway, to make a long story short, don’t know what he did but my notebook went kaput. I lost everything. Stupid me for not having a back up. To think that every single photograph that I’ve downloaded gone just like that. I was doing a month to month picture project of lil’ baby to see how much he’s changed and grown and that too are all gone. So much for that project.

We had to send the computer to the experts and have everything reconfigured again. In doing so, I had to start again from scratch. I couldn’t automatically log into Blogger to add new entries because I had forgotten my username and password. To make matter worst, for the life of me, I couldn’t even recall the password to my old email to retrieve my username and password. Gosh it was hard. Day in, day out, it was like trying to crack some sort of government secret code or something. But as you can see from may latest entry, I succeeded. I’m ecstatic over this little achievement of mine. Perhaps this is how man felt when he discovered fire. LOL.

Hubby figured why risk my wrath again and is now a proud owner of a brand new Fujitsu notebook. That’ll be the last of him interfering with my stuff. I’m also happy to report that he has graduated from playing Freecell and is now using his computer solely for the purpose of playing some other sort of PC game called Pharaoh or something. Thank goodness.

I’ll try to be back ASAP to post other new entries. But baby has this 6th sense about waking up every time I log into Blogger. So right now, before little boy’s screaming gets any louder, I should check on the little master of my universe. Cheerio!

Handicap Parking

Hubby and I went to Tesco today to do a little grocery shopping. I guess everyone had decided to do some last minute shopping as well so as it could be expected, parking was scarce. Seems like the only parking available were the handicap bays which obviously are reserved for the handicaps. We had to circle the whole parking lot a few times before finally getting a parking spot.

I don't know if anybody had encountered this, but there has been several times that I've seen some numbskull who totally disregard the handicap zone and selfishly park their vehicle at those parking bays which has been specifically reserved for the handicap. Each time I've just had to suck it in and resist the temptation to do their car some bodily harm.

Well today, as both hubby and I were pushing the kids in their strollers, we passed the handicap bays and there was a smart looking brand new Honda Civic reverse parking into one of the space. Hubby was already grumpy because of the hassle of looking for a parking spot earlier so when he saw the car parking he started staring daggers at the driver and loudly bitching to me about the selfish and I quote, b@st@rd. I told hubby to calm down and lets give the driver the benefit of the doubt citing that he is perhaps a handicap. Hubby said it was unlikely judging by the car.

The driver took some time to park and all the while hubby continued bad mouthing the driver. The driver looked up and gave hubby a huge grin. Hubby exclaimed loudly, "Look at his guilty smile!" I was in no mood to pass judgement and just rolled my eyes at hubby in response while trying to hurry him along.

Suddenly, the driver swung his door opened and called out at hubby. "Encik, hello encik! Excuse me!" Hubby gave him a dirty look and walked past trying to ignore him but I pulled hubby back to a halt. Then the man continued, " Encik, tolong ambil wheel chair saya. Saya orang cacat" and swung his body around to reveal that he had no legs.

Hubby just stood there with his jaws hanging (one would think he'd never seen a handicap man in his life LOL) that I had to nudge him with my elbows and whispered loudly telling him to help the man.

I guess hubby felt really guilty that he practically bundled up and carried the man out of the car much to the man's protest. I couldn't help but to stifle a giggle at hubby's antics. Hubby was suddenly very concern and attentive that even after the man had settled himself into the wheel chair, hubby kept asking him if he'd positioned and secured the man's chair properly and if he could do more to help. At the rate hubby was going, it looked like he wanted to adopt the guy. LOL. The man in return assured hubby that everything was fine and gratefully thanked hubby.

Hubby was quiet after that and seemed to be reflecting the whole incident. I just couldn't resist and just had to rub it by saying to hubby " You know, there's a saying...never judge a car by it's look." Hehehe

The lesson learned today, have good, kind thoughts and it doesn't hurt to give others the benefit of the doubt. :)

WISHING HAPPY DEEPAVALI, SELAMAT HARI RAYA, MAAF ZAHIR BATIN & HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE OUT THERE. Hope the long break will be good one for all of you. Cheers!

My Latest Happenings

My life seems so hectic these days. I'm just so tied up with caring for my family and the mundane task of running the household that I find myself with no time to spare for leisure. I miss blogging and blog hopping. Even checking emails are something I can't afford to do. Last I checked, I've over 600 unread emails. And they dare say that house wives have it easy. I'm stealing some of my sleep time right now to write this entry. My biological clock has gone totally haywire.

Anyway, just like to report about some latest happenings in my life. We've just purchased a house. Although I was eyeing a semi-d or a corner terrace house, hubby has decided that we should just settle for this particular house that we've purchased. It's a 26 x 80 end lot terrace house with 9ft of extra land. It's being developed by a reputable developer and although the location isn't exactly what I had in mind, it's closer to the airport but still 20 minutes away from town. Well, it's better than some unknown part of the world like Nilai or Bagan Lalang. It's a really nice residential area bordering USJ and Puchong. And the layout design is just superb. As the brochure says, it's a house for life. Hubby's very excited with his purchase and although I'm quite happy about the house, it saddens me a little to see our savings dwindling down to almost nothing because of this purchase. Oh well, I guess it was bound to happen same day...now back at square one in the savings department again. So, I'm happy to say that I'm definitely on my way of becoming a typical suburban house wife. Wonder if I'd be able to get a gorgeous gardener to do my lawn. Lol.

There has also been positive development in the weight department. I've successfully managed to squeeze into my favourite Dorothy Perkin's jeans. It's still a little tight but at least I could buckle and zip it up nicely. I even wore it out the whole day today without collapsing from shortness of breath. Yay. Tried it on a few month ago and it was a losing battle for me in trying to get it past my thighs. Lol. Still feeling a little apprehensive about trying my low cut MNG jeans due to my love handles. I'd probably give it a couple more month before I attempt getting into that one. I'm taking little baby steps in my weight loss program. Lol.

I've been considering about going back to school. Although my background is MassComm, I'm thinking about venturing into a whole new area. After having the children, I no longer feel inclined towards PR. My priorities have changed and am looking into taking up a Diploma in Early Childhood Education. I've always wanted to go into teaching but somehow, things just didn't turn out that way. I'm seriously considering to do it after Mika turns one. Hubby is being very supportive about this recent development and I'm quite excited by the whole idea. Although I've sort of made my mind about where to do it, I'm still keeping my option open and looking around about other part time courses offered by various local universities and private colleges. God knows where I'll be able to fit it in between my already hectic schedule, but where's there's a will, there's a way. :)

Beside the lack of breathing space and always falling asleep even before my head hits the pillow, everything else is going on smoothly. I can't wait till everything goes back to normal but after 2 kids, I've discovered I haven't a clue to what normal means. Lol.