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Homemade popcorn

Tuesday, August 5, 2008 –

A couple weeks ago, I saw this cooking program on TV on how to cook pop corn using a simple non-stick pan or wok. Since then, I have been dreaming of piping hot, crunchy yummy home made pop corn, which is generously coated with butter and a hint of caramel. Yeah, it is unhealthy, but that’s the way I like it.

Since Jusco is having a sale, I better go grab myself a brand new non-stick pan. Then I can start to prepare some home made yummy pop corn for my family. Getting a non-stick pan will definitely be cheaper than investing in popcorn machines.

Shooi | Wish bank | Comments (0)

My first DIY ring sling

Thursday, July 31, 2008 –

Last Friday, my friend and I went hunting for ring sling fabric again. We did not see anything we liked, but just as we were about to leave, this piece of fabric at the bargain corner caught our eye.

It was just want I had wanted. I wanted a sling in red and black. And coincidentally, this fabric is only half-printed. We bought 5 meter of fabric to make 2 slings.

This sling was really easy to do. Just cut the 5 meter into half (2.5meter each). And then fold the fabric lengthwise, and sew the sides together. Here’s how the fabric looked like after sewn.

Great isn’t it. A dual sided sling - One side printed and one side solid, and so easy to sew nia.

I had bought a set of sling rings and it matches the color of this sling perfectly.

I chose not to sew the rings in so that I can use it with other sling fabric. No need to buy so many rings mah.

So I just followed the instructions on this website to thread a no-sew sling, and voila…here’s my new sling.

How much did it cost me?

The fabric was only RM6.25 because I got it from the bargain corner. (it was RM12.50 for 5 meters). The rings cost me RM15++. So all in the sling cost me less than RM23. Great isn’t it. And here’s how I looked like in my RM23 sling.

Shooi | Parenting | Comments (15)

Blog categories housekeeping

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 –

I have almost 25 categories in my blog, some of it duplicates of each other. I have categories of vacation & holiday – sheesh, both essentially meaning the same thing. It is just so messy and I really need to limit my posts category. And of coz this includes transferring my blog posts from one category to another.

To date, I have 300 over blog posts. If I had to manually change the category of each one of them…it will be virtually impossible.

So I searched the net and found this great plugin for mass changes to the blog category. It is really easy to use and I was able to housekeep my 25 categories into 7 in less than 1 hour. This plugin also enable me to mass-change or add tags to my blog posts. Very useful!

I really admire these people who have the talent & passion for creating such helpful plugins and the selflessness to share it with everyone. And this blogger is also clever enough to direct you to a donation page when you click in the download button. Of course there is no obligation to donate to download the plugin.

I found the plugin really helpful, and thus I made a small donation. I think it is a nice gesture to express my appreciation. After all, I do make money from blogging (though not much), so it is nice to give back as well.

Shooi | This & That | Comments (0)

Mystery guest

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 –

Since we moved in to this house, we have been getting “guests” in the bathroom downstairs. One of our first “guests” was baby centipedes. I found them underneath the bucket where I soaked Dylan’s diapers for the day,

Next were cockroaches. I usually find this one first thing in the morning when I open the bathroom door. And when I see them, I would smack them with the toilet brush, and flush them down the toilet. Good thing I keep my bathroom doors closed most of the time. Otherwise, they would have escaped to the other parts of the house.

One of my friends advised me to put a brick over the drainage hold cover to prevent creepy crawlies from crawling their way up. But then I am the queen of procrastination….. :P

And last Sunday morning, husband discovered another guest. He opened the bathroom door and noticed a dark object darted quickly into the drainage hole. The drainage hole cover was open, about 2 inches wide. And he described the object as about 2 or 3 inches big,

What could it be?

My first guess was it is a MOUSE! Cockroaches do not need to push the drainage cover up 2 inch to come up. Neither are they smart enough to dart back into the hole when they see us.

I told him that I had noticed that the drainage cover was open on Saturday morning too. But I pushed it closed and thought that somebody in the house may have opened the cover, though I can’t imagine for what reason. So this is not the first time our “guest” visited us.

We are not taking any chances. I told my husband to go to our garden and find a piece of rock to put over the cover. He couldn’t find one. So he put our old stainless steel padlock on top of the cover.

Hope that is the end of guests in our toilets.

Shooi | This & That, Wish bank | Comments (1)

Breastmilk is best

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 –

I was at the PD office waiting for Bryan’s turn. Opposite me was a lady who appears to still be pregnant but is in the typical confinement attire – jacket, track pants, socks, sandals. Next to her is a man, my guess is her husband, and a old lady carrying a baby. My guess – Confinement lady (CL)

The baby started fussing and the lady whipped out a milk bottle, made some formula milk and passed it to the CL to feed the baby.

When I got home, I related the incident to my husband

Me: Poor baby. Don’t get to drink mummy’s milk.
Husb: Aiya, people look at you also pity your baby la. Got a poor mummy who cannot afford formula milk.
Me: If she really think like that hor, I really really pity the baby got a stup*d mummy, who did not know that breastmilk is best!

It’s true; there are still many people out there who thinks that bm is inferior compared to formula. But I am happy to say that I noticed that the situation is improving. There are certainly a lot more bfg mothers at my work place.

A few are 2nd time mothers who are exclusively bf their kids up to 6 mths and beyond. And these mothers did not do so the first time around, due to lack of knowledge.

I acknowledge that breastfeeding is not easy for everyone. And if you are a full time working mother, it can be quite challenging to pump at the work place. But any amount of bm is good for the baby, especially in the crucial first few months. Even if you don plan to bf when you are back at work, at least plan to bf during the first 2 months, when you are at home.

If you are preggie now, pls plan to bf your bb. Cow’s milk is for cow baby, BM is for human baby. Give the best to your bb.

Shooi | Breastfeeding | Comments (6)

My acne solution

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 –

I used to have problematic acne-prone skin when I was younger. I had tried many products – skin care as well as health supplements. Nothing seems to work. Not even the expensive facials that I had signed up with.

Then I discovered an inexpensive solution to my problems. I found in a website that the best way to get rid of acne is to rub salt on the pimples as salt is antibacterial. So, what I did was, I washed my face as usual, and rub the salt gently on the pimples. Then I rinsed it off, followed by the usual toning and moisturizing. It really worked to keep my skin zit free.

My skin improved further when I was preggie with Bryan, probably due to hormonal changes. And now, instead of having oily skin, it is even a bit dry at some areas. But I think this one must be age catching up with me.

Shooi | Health, Wish bank | Comments (0)

Wedding video

Monday, July 28, 2008 –

During our wedding, hubb and I decided not to employ video services.

We decided not to because most of the wedding videos that we have seen of our relatives are usually very ‘pretentious.’ The cameraman will usually ask the couple & the family members to pose a certain direction or do certain thing so that he could record it in the video. When they know that they are being videoed, people are usually quite uncomfortable and they appear very awkward.

Hubb and I find that it is a waste of money to employ such services. Instead, we borrowed my aunt’s camcorder and asked our friends to help record the events on our wedding day. It is more natural as we do not have anyone directing us on how to behave/ pose.

I remember one of the wedding videos I watched. The camera man actually asked the bride to show the all the new clothes she had hanging in her cupboard. These include all the bridal lingerie in her cupboard. Aiyooo…If I were her, I would find that scene terribly embarrassing.

Shooi | Wish bank | Comments (0)

*Touch wood*

Monday, July 28, 2008 –

There are 4 bedrooms in my house.
3 are furnished
a) 1 with a king sized bed + playpen bb cot
b) 1 with queen sized bed + playpen bb cot
c) 1 with queen sized mattress

There are 4 person in my house yesterday night. 2 adults + 1 toddler + 1 baby.

And everyone slept in room (c), on the queen sized mattress.

Bryan is down again, this time is cough with a mild runny nose. It started on Saturday and we noticed that it got worse yesterday. He was coughing quite constantly last night, so I asked hubb to sleep in the same room with us – to help take care of Bryan/ Dylan if necessary.

Why didn’t we sleep in the other room?
1) Dylan don’t sleep in the playpen bbcot at night, he co-sleeps with me.
2) Bryan still insists that I sleep with him
3) Bryan doesn’t want to sleep anywhere else except his own room. He wants the room with “star-light” one.

So no choice, all 4 of us have to squeeze onto his queen sized bed, in the other direction of course, ie with our legs sticking out at the end. The kids slept fine as they occupy whatever space they need. It is just adult that have to sleep in the weird angle.

And it is good that hubb slept with us as Bryan coughed so bad in the middle of the night (3am) that he woke up and vomited. Good thing, hubb was prepared with a potty to catch the mess. But it was hard for Bryan to get back to sleep due to the cough. So I massaged Vicks on his chests & back constantly and he asked me to pat his chest. And because of the commotion, Dylan woke up. I nursed him for a while but Bryan demanded that I attend to him. He refused to let his daddy pat him.

OK, since he is not feeling well, he gets the priority. It was hard to get Dylan back to sleep with Bryan coughing away loudly. So hubb took Dylan to the master bedroom and tried to get him back to sleep.

Bryan only fell asleep at abt 5am, and Dylan was still awake. The earlier feeding wasn’t enough. He looked kinda pleased to see me. So I took him back to Bryan’s room, nursed him and soon he was back to Zzz-land.

I think I really have to stop blogging good news.

P/s: Bryan was still coughing very badly this morning. Initially I did not want to send him to school but he cried and threw a huge tantrum. I had no choice but to go back home and send him to school. I told his teacher that I will bring him home if his cough is very bad. His teacher called me at 10:30am and told me that he hardly coughed, so I need not worry. Hmm…that playful boy. Get to play then forget that he is sick liao.

Shooi | Family, Health, Parenting | Comments (5)

GPS

Monday, July 28, 2008 –

Hubby’s frens are thinking of getting GPS machines since the service is now available here. Hubby asked if we should get one too. It would be very useful whenever we go for holiday.

The problem is, now with 2 small children, it is going to be quite challenging to go for family holidays.

So I guess, we will hold on to the GPS purchase plan until the children are bigger.

Shooi | Wish bank | Comments (0)

Let the shopping begin!

Monday, July 28, 2008 –

Finally the mega sale had reached the shopping mall near my house. I had been waiting for the sale to begin as I really need to do some shopping. And I can start my shopping now as I am already back to my pre-pregnancy weight. In fact, my weight may be even lower than my pre-pregnancy days. Why? Because I can already fit into all my old jeans and some of them are in fact a little too lose. So I definitely need to get some new pairs of jeans.

I thought that I will have more difficulty shedding my weight the 2nd time round. But fortunately, it isn’t. Hahaha… looks like having 2 kids = 2 times faster to lose weight.

Now I do not have resort to looking through the list of best diet pills available in the market. No slimming to worry…but firming,…errr…is another issue.

Shooi | Wish bank | Comments (0)