more cny cookie

one more cookie today. the easiest of all to make- egg cookie.
actually aunt also made another variation of cornflake cookie, but it turned out almost the same like the one i took yesterday, so no need to take photo lah.

flowers are ready at the prayer's altar.

and today, while searching high and low for past year's cny decorations, mom found the wrong box and we took time to browse through these instead:
how old was atticus at that time?? and look at grandma's glow. gosh, those were the days. he was so cute right? so innocent. but i won't use that word on him now.

so cute and sweet. wish he is chubbier now so i can pinch his cheeks when i see him in his annual trip back here. but all i have is skin and bone and a head that is already much taller than mine.

anyway, i will always remember atticus as the cute cousin no matter how big or tall he has grown because he says i am his favourite cousin (i am sure he says that to every cousin of his too). have to keep his sweetness in my mind especially when he gets on my nerves. that is the only way of not making my top blow. muahaha...

more cny additions

the kitchen and the oven were busy again today.
it was so wet and it has rained nonstop since 10a.m. almost 12 hours now. i think it is going to rain till tomorrow.
bad....you know we will have so much to wash before cny...and the dog badly needs his bath.

anyway, the rain does not dampen the mood in the house and the cold is very much welcomed...shiver!!! haha

making muruku. call it one malaysia spirit lah.

cornflake biscuit

some nuts and raisin biscuit

my favourite- more pineapple tarts!!! this photo is specially dedicated to karen: come and get your tarts muahahaha

some festive air in da house

i am too tired to think much. so better express them in photos.

some kids have started jogging in anticipation of chinese new year. to them, cny means eating all sorts of cookies. on the contrary, i keep my appetite to the minimum when i attend open houses during this period. the only biscuit that attracts me is pineapple tart...and i guess i am bias, ours is still one of the best. haha....
top left, i got a can of fried seaweed and spring roll at work. dad said no to buying fried stuff. so i had no choice but to finish that one can in one week in the office. made good bites and no wonder i ended up with a hoarse voice at the end of the week. ;P

as for mandarin oranges, i am not taking any. just don't like them. have not eaten oranges for so long because of what the chinese sinseh said about blood circulation. i miss orange juice.

and the bottom right picture- dried duck meat. rm30 for 500g. if you buy pork's, it is at least rm35 for 500g. to me, they taste almost the same. but definitely better than the jerky aunt brought back from australia. no wonder atticus loves malaysia's version so much. those in australia are as tough as leather literallly and not as tasty. so breakfast now consists of an apple + buttered toast + dried duck meat. muahaha....satisfied.

we only have hung these at home. still feel so bare. feel like maxing the decoration a bit this year just to get into cny mood. the haul of cny card is not bad (mid bottom picture). i got one card from behrang adun lagi. mom could not help from scolding when she saw his picture on the card. he was one of those who jumped ship after being elected.

and i got this box instead of a greeting card. such a creative idea. the carrots are easily identified but the rabbits are kinda distorted right? still, i think this is such a novel idea.

i hope i will have more things to come related to cny. more 'ong' and more decorations hanging in the house!

aah....one week break

are you in chinese new year mood yet??
all the neighbours in bidor have colourful lights hung outside and their houses are lighted beautifully every night. they do put me in festive mood.

and today- mom was busy in the kitchen
tomorrow i will take more photos of the festive things already in the house. hmmh.....i wanna hang things outside the house too. some shopping on sunday??

in the meantime, my dog bite scar is still recovering.
it is still red and it still feels raw. that is going to be a permanent scar right. it has been almost 3 weeks right...or more? i think it happened on 3rd jan. gosh....one month. i still try not to exert too much pressure on the area because it still feels painful. ;(

and aunt is back from australia today. that means i am out of my room again and back into bro's room. and i also got a tube of pimple cream from atticus. gosh....my skin condition is really not good. i am using the same pimple cream that my 13-year-old cousin is also using. sob sob. atticus was the one who introduced this cream to me when he came back recently.
so there are a few breakouts now due to the monthly hormonal changes....so the cream comes at the right time. please let all of them disappear before chinese new year.

analog versus digital

i am referring to alarm clock here.
i think most people rely on their handphone now for the alarm right? i also wake up to green day singing from my mobile phone every morning, but the room seems incomplete without an alarm clock.

got this few months ago. it was less than rm40. i actually wanted one hello kitty alarm clock....but the person i told to help me get it from in kl refused to pay rm100 for it. she was not paying for my clock ok....i had to pay her back. anyway, she got me this instead because she said it was silly paying for such an expensive alarm clock.

however, the clock only ran well in the first month. after that, it was down hill all the way. i thought it was the battery. so i changed the battery. but the problem still persisted. the clock was always slow!!!

so this month, i have decided- enough is enough. i am going to get another alarm clock.

and this is what i got yesterday at kinta city, ipoh.



it is no hello kitty but i love it. and it is even cheaper than the first clock. so i wonder if the quality is going to be worse???? hmmm....

play the video and you will know why. it is so cute with its changing lights and all the sounds of nature used as the alarm tone. plus, it is a digital one so i can set the time to the exact minute.
setting time with the previous clock was never exact. i wanted to wake up at 6.05a.m. but the clock rang at 5.55a.m. aaahh!!! 10 mins of sleep ah! hahahaha

well, let's keep the fingers crossed that this cute white bubble above will serve me fine.

so what is your alarm clock??? or you don't need one at all?

a none public holiday

it's a public holiday- thaipusam but it is still work for me. lots of markings to do and is till have not finished yet. looks like the night will be spent reading 'how to eat wisely'-2 classes.
and tomorrow, i have more books coming in. the sight of the brown cover of the exercise books can instil fear in me now.

spotted in the newspaper this week:

an advertisement of dried meat. why do i take this down? well, the company is owned by one of mom's relatives and that is where we get our annual supply of sweet meat gwai fa meat. atticus' favourite. i have not seen their advert in newspaper before, hence i took a photo of it.

what is chinese new year without dried meat eh? ok, they are not good for health and so on, but how often do you have them? i don't think i will be seeing any pork dried meat in the house since the price of pork has increased a lot. i am going to order dried duck meat instead from bidor. people cringed when they hear duck meat, but to me, once the meat is marinated and grilled, the taste is almost the same lah. i am getting the duck meat for rm30 per 500g.

next up- sharing the different sizes and heights of tiffin carriers found in my house today. as we get more environmentally-friendly, we will see more of these in houses right? the largest one is used to hold my daily dinner from the caterer- 3 dishes and rice at the bottom. the other two, well, the kids brought me some food yesterday and this morning, and they also chose to use tiffin carriers. bravo. the young generation is also conscious about the environment. the one on the right is really cute because it is the smallest tiffin carrier i have ever seen, like the size of my palm.

and i am supposed to do some homework tonight........but now i have to cancel because marking is more important. a colleague lent me this book. among the four who are travelling to paris in june, i think i am the one doing the most research work. the rest plan to follow me, but what if what i want to see is not what they want to see?

wanna ask about moulin rouge. has anyone been to this show in paris? is it worth paying to see topless cabarets and can-can dance? i checked the price online and it is almost rm400 for a 90-minute show. i was kinda shocked by the ticket price. that sort of puts me off.

this sunday...

more blings blings from swarovski to wash the eyes.
i helped a friend to order them.

this merry-go-round pendant is so cute.
she was actually going to order my milady trinkets pendant....but changed her mind after i ordered it first. so she ordered a milady cross instead.
this is a charm. only 11euro. cheap hor?

grandma is better today. i guess it is a yo-yo condition. sometimes she is bright and alert, sometimes she is puzzled and bewildered. aunt is telling me to make her drink some 'energy' drink from fitline. hope it works.
drove her out to town for a haircut.

beanie needs another injection for his skin. who is going to put the muzzle on?? hope it won't worsen lah. bro is coming back this coming weekend. hopefully he can help to put on the muzzle then we bring him to the vet in front of our housing area. he has the medicine for the injection. mom walked him to the vet this morning. but i don't think the vet dares to inject him without a muzzle.

of gloomy weather and more dog bite

beanie update- he bit dad's finger when dad was trying to check a red patch on his skin. haiz......that dog is almost untouchable now.
i still have a slight phobia when the thought of chaining him up cross my mind. i think i won't be doing that task for a while yet.
and his skin disease is bothering him again. he has red spots under his belly and near his groin. it is not pretty looking. can see small round bumps like oil seeds protruding. aiyoh....so leceh!!!! we can give dogs pills we take right? will ask the pharmacist to prescribe anti itch and something for his redspots. i wonder whether the redness comes from contact with long weeds outside.

another problem to worry about is grandma lah now. the old folks have been coughing for more than a week- both grandpa and grandma. for grandpa...well, it is almost a common occurrence lah...so he is sort of used to it and knows how to take medicine. with grandma...haiz...the cough is like saping the life and energy out of her. the cough is not that bad, in fact, it is quite slight only, but she can't get the phlegm out of her throat. you don't hear her cough one. her energy level is at red- very low. it makes her more prone to mumbling and confusion. i don't want to use the A word. just this morning, she picked up the phone, then she told me she had forgotten how to use it- whether to press the numbers first or to press the green dial button. huhuhuh. i ended up making the call for her.

the gloomy weather also does not help and they complain of cold everyday. maybe i should tell her to drink her brands chicken essence since she has them in stock also in her room. can help kan?

to my swarovski cyrstal fondness now. who does not like bling bling?? especially when the euro is so low now and there is 50% discount on the items??? and free postage when you buy more than 75euro.

so here are 2 items i ordered:

this is my colleague's. luckily she ordered something......that means i don't have to pay for postage lah. ;P

this is mine. it is 55euro. i hope the chain that comes with it will be long. well, i will only be seeing it in july. so wait lah.

healing just fine

latest condition of the palm:
i am healing just fine. come tomorrow, i will have no problem soaking the palm in water, i think. but as for exerting unnecessary pressure on the palm, i am not going to do that.
the bandage has been replaced with a small plaster.
many did not believe me when i told them i was bitten by dog on monday and tuesday. almost everyone thought i was pulling their legs. haiz....
it is a very fast recovery. thanks to the durian i had in the weekend which provided me with a rich source of protein for new cells building? hahah...
thanks everyone for their concern too.

i will finally be able to wash my hair using both hands. i need to use my feet to wash clothes and to wring the water. it was a very energy and time consuming activity. luckily the sun was out after many days of gloom. so those wet wet clothes were dried. still no high-five but should be able to do so this weekend.

what an eventful january and it is not even the middle of the month.

punctured by beanie

don't read this post if u can't stand the sight of blood!!!
u have been warned!

i will just go straight to the point.

i have just been bitten by beanie, my dog :(
and i feel so robotic now as i am typing this. the shock has almost passed but i can still feel slight dizziness.

it all happened at 1.50p.m. when i wanted to tie him before the kids would arrive at 2p.m. he was snuggling under my car and he refused to come out even after much coaxing. so i went near him, crouched down and thought of patting his head to talk him out. instead, he misunderstood that as an act of aggression and bit me accompanied with a growl.

my palm was facing up when he bit, and this is the deep puncture made by his teeth. i did not feel pain at that moment. it was more of shock as i watched blood quickly form a pool on my palm. shouted for mom and told her what happened. she brought me tissue, cotton, and disinfectant.

the dog crawled out of the car already by then and had gone back to his usual place behind the pingpong table. i gave him a light kick out of frustration. it was soft and no harm was done. he did not even growl when i kicked. did he know what he had done to me?

mom washed my wound but then i was quickly breaking out in cold sweat. a lot. then dizziness. and i blacked out and my knee wobbled and i just sat onto the ground. when i could see again, the head was spinning and i felt blood draining from my face.

walked into the house. mom called dad. i got my purse and phone. took the photo above and went into the car. mom could not drive me herself because she was also unwell and was dizzy.

so off i went with dad to look for a clinic which would be open on a sunday afternoon at 2p.m. it was an impossible task to find one i realised as we circled around town passing by closed clinics.
in the car, i still could manage an sms canceling the 2p.m. class. touch screen technology and prediction key function.

dad thought of a 24-hour clinic near the university....our last resort. reached there, a sign was hung outside- will be back at 2.30p.m. REST. OMG.

so the final choice- government hospital which we know will not have any attending doctors.
but it was the government hospital that treated me in the end.

went into the emergency unit and the attendings there asked what my problem was. i told them- dog bite and they said, no problem. they had to help me take out the identity card from my wallet. my right hand was numb.

a young female indian nurse cleaned and disinfected my wound. ouch, it was damn stingy. a young malay male assistant quickly got out a syringe and told me he would inject me on my right arm. i felt safe already then. now that i am typing this, it reminds me of the spirit of 1 malaysia. wouldn't my scene make a good advertisement to promote this unity we so want??? hahaha....ok i digress.

the nurse told me the wound would not be stitched as it is a dog bite. instead, i am to go back everyday to have the wound clean. ok, this will be done at the government clinic in bidor starting tomorrow.



i am given painkillers and antibiotics. the charge- rm1. fast, efficient and cheap. well done emergency unit, tg malim hospital.

the head was still a bit light on the way home.

had 2 pieces of roti canai with dhal and then took 2 painkillers. it was not really that painful, but just wanna numb the pain a bit.

so now my right hand is in the best position to hold a mouse. but unfortunately, my job does not require me to work in front of the computer and manipulating the mouse.

so how am i going to hold a pen? what will happen to all the work i get? the thought of all the books piling up is giving me a nightmare already. how am i going to wash and wring my clothes? how am i going to scrunch/tie my hair?

i am getting a nap now. exhausted.

time for more bling-bling??

swarovski sale has started!!! to stay away or jump in???

3 of my favourite pieces in order of preference- from least favourite to most favourite, all on sale.
can someone ask aunt if her friend is coming from germany next month???

anyone else wanna order??
go to www.swarovski.com and choose germany website, english.




do you like the 3 choices above according to my preference??? the brooch comes first because i don't usually wear one, but the blue bird is too cute to resist. the ring is kinda cool and again, big blue stone. i love the pendants!!!

i survived the first week

almost one week since i last posted anything. well, i still have not got the notebook from work yet. hahaa...okoko....i think i am the only one in the office without her own personal notebook. so what if i refuse to buy one? the one from work works well for blogging and typing and surfing....except going on my cafe world....i am not complaining.

i am surprised that i am still all alert, light on my feet and cheery after the first week is over. i am amazed with myself....hahaha. i thought i was going to be complaining everyday for the whole week and i was going to be bogged down by all sorts of new challenges which i could not face, and yet, none of that came. i must have feared too much and expected the worst cannons that in the end, what i got was soft spongy balls thrown at me.

the kids have been supportive and most of them are co-operative and understanding. except for the last class that i have, gosh, i think i need to bring extra dose of motivation and adrenalin to move those lost souls who are planning to while their lives away.

i am satisfied with the pace i had the whole week. it was manageable and i still could find time to breathe. the weather is a bit gloomy and wet though. clothes are not dry. but the nights are wonderful for sleep. i have finally finished the book-wolf totem i started last year. what a relief. no, the book is not a drag. in fact, it is a very good book. i am relieved that i finally have found the time to read again- bedtime reading. finished another book this week too- percy jackson's adventure at the sea of monsters. so i guess i will be catching up on my reading which i abandoned in the holidays.

now to food. haiz....food at the canteen sucks. so little variety and the prices are inconsistent. i crack my head everyday thinking of what to eat at mid-morning. my apple and coffee filled my tummy till 10a.m. then it is hunger time. dinner is settled as i have food from the caterer. lunch? i just snack along with whatever i can grab hold of....but i do try to avoid rice and fattening food.

so one day, i got myself a bottle of chocolate milk and i had cereal for lunch. bought this box of cereal last year and it is finally opened this week. have you tried this before? it is yummy. they have almond and dried cranberries and multi-grain clusters. i think i can eat them from the box. so my morning snacks for next week???

mom told me we still have two glutinous chicken rice in the fridge (lo mai kai). so that can be my lunch for 2 days.

weekdays will mean moderate eating. but weekends.....feast lah at home. and today....durian feast again.
these 3 durians cost rm60.
had half for lunch just now. burp. i know friends in kl are craving for it, unfortunately, i am not going down. i think i can make special delivery if i go down. mom actually bought 4 durians, but she let one go for a pregnant lady whom she met who was also craving for it.

i am going to be filled till dinner time. i am still taking the chinese medicine i got last week. but i won't be taking them this afternoon lah. don't think i should mix them with a stomach filled with durian. dinner....enough of durian. so will have proper home-cooked dishes and then medicine.

can't believe that i am ending this with a smile :) i loved my week.

*i wonder if it is because i can see $$$ rolling in already

good health and strong support for the new year

from bling bling to colourful pills now.
naah....it is no big deal i think. i am not starting the new year sick.

it's just that i have been feeling numbness in the feet and hands these few weeks and it was more so at night when i sleep. so since aunt wanted to go and ask a traditional chinese medicine practitioner about her dry cough, i took the opportunity to follow lah.

so the sinseh took a reading of my pulse, listened to my symptoms and said that i had wind in my blood hence it is blocking the blood circulation. he said, i can't take cold things as they will produce the wind. and i have to stay away from fruits which have a lot of water content such as orange, watermelon and pears. well, there goes my vitamin c and refreshing cup of orange juice. i can still take banana, apple and grape. so my breakfast is not affected. phew! mineral water is a no-no since it is raw water.

i think i should get myself a bottle of vitamin c and multi-vitamins as prevention and to stay healthy for all the new challenges of the new year. that will be on the shopping list when i go to the pharmacist.

paid rm48 at the end of the visit.
all these will last me one week and urrghhh....the bottle of black liquid is the most bitter medicine i have ever taken in my life. just a smell of it will put you off. now i understand the chinese saying that akins bitter medicine to fast healing.

do you poooh-pooh the chinese sinseh's diagnostic? what will a gp do and what kind of medicine will i get???

talked to a colleague yesterday about my symptoms and she told me she experienced the same thing too. so i guess i am not alone. she also went for chinese medicine to cure her blood circulation problem but hers is worse because she has been experiencing it longer and it affects the regularity of her period too.
prevention is better than cure....now you know what fruits to buy me hahaha.

my uncle got me this original bluetooth headset from sony at rm70. it is a really cool headset but i don't think i need it. they saw me answering the phone while driving and was getting a bit worried about safety in the car so they got me this. hehe.....
actually i have handsfree kit in the car for the phone, i just did not plug it in. usually i seldom get phone calls but these few days, calls just come when i was driving.
so, i am going to return it to the shop and get them their refund and start plugging in my handsfree whenever i am in the car whether i am driving alone or with passengers so others do not feel unsafe or worry about my safety. save rm70.

it is back to work tomorrow and i have told myself to take it one step at a time. calm down. stay cool. be patient. take deep breaths occasionally. analyse the situation first before making a decision. organise time well. and most importantly, message to others- i am no superwoman but your support and encouragement can keep me going and stay strong. thanks in advance.

happy first day of 2011

do you like all the bling bling on the picture above???? yours truly spent the whole afternoon yesterday restitching the gems around the shoulder area of a newly bought blouse in preparation for chinese new year. hahaha.
2011 has definitely arrived and i better oil all the parts well so everything will run smoothly. there is no escaping from the tasks that have been bestowed.

thank you celeste from bag brag for making my first day in 2011 a great one! woohoo!!! a feather in my blog cap. yalah.....it was through blog that we met. so click here to see more of me.....err....my bags i mean.
thank you atticus for helping me take the photo and adding effects.