.::. Swim, Swam, Shrunk .::.

I've started regular exercise yet again. Badminton and jogging hurts my knee, and the kickboxing I enjoy so much at the gym is somewhat far to go from office. I started swimming again after many donkey years. Surprisingly, I still swim well. I've forgot how much I loved swimming as a child.

Lucky for me, the pool is practically across the street, a 5-minute walk away.  I simply walk there with my suit below my clothes, strip and jump into the pool, then dry myself and walk back dressed in the same clothes. The whole workout takes about an hour and I still get to cook after swimming on weekdays.





Enroute to the pool in the evening.





The lap pool.  I love lap pools.  If I ever buy a condominium, I want one with a lap pool. Indoors (or sheltered) preferably!

I've set an aim for myself. To swim 1000 laps before the year ends.  I don't do things without setting aims. The initial plan was to do 50 laps a week.  I did it for quite a few weeks, but the rain and menses and the recent migraines put a halt to my somewhat ambition plans.  Somedays, I go to the pool when it's cloudy, only to realize that it's closed due to bad weather. That said, I will still do that 1000 laps this year!

Initially, it wasn't that easy going back to swimming full swing.  One lap of free-style made me breathless and tired.  I only managed to do a few free-style laps. Then it got easier after some time and I do alternate free-style and frog-style laps now.



I mentioned to the husband that I needed a stop-watch to time my laps.  These came in the mail few weeks later!



I wear the watch to my swims these days and time my laps.  It pushes me to go faster.



My fastest time for 30 laps is almost 47 minutes.  I hover between 47-48 minutes mostly and can't seem to get the timing down.

I'm aiming to go 45 minutes and below for 30 laps. Will try harder and report back when I manage to do it!

While hoping to shed some flab, the most important thing is to stay fit and healthy. I don't believe that anyone can stay healthy without regular exercise and being on your butt most of the time. I feel so much more toned and strong after these few months.

To fitness, health, and goals! =)

.::. Mirror Mirror on the wall .::.

So, we finally got a huge mirror for the wall above our sideboard. Pardon the mess, because we are simply not very neat people who make their lived-in homes look like showrooms. =P



This is the view from the kitchen/entrance.



And this is the view from the corridor.

We initially wanted to save some money, and got a 30x160cm mirror ($39 only) from Ikea and got our neighbor to help us mount it up.  It wasn't ideal, much too small actually.  I considered getting 2 mirrors to be placed above each other, but the husband opposed to it.  After a few months, the mirror started to warp, perhaps being unable to take the mirror weight.

So, we decided to get a big mirror, after recovering somewhat from all the renovation-wedding-honeymoon expense. I asked Mr K for a quote despite hearing that his prices ain't that cheap anymore and contacted some mirror supplier. Surprisingly, his quote was lower than the mirror supplier and he ended up charging us the 1m x 1.6m price even after we decided to get the 1.3m x 1.6m size. Perhaps out of goodwill and appreciation for all the customers we have got him.

The mirror was really of good quality and good workmanship with solid wood backing.  The workers came on time and I'm as usually impressed by them.  The guys took great care in installation and cleaning up, and polished my mirror till it shined.  They even helped us to sand our main door and commented/gave advise on the bad workmanship of our laminate (because we DIY-ed with our neighbors and just paid for the laminate!). Even the husband was impressed by the guys.

I am still very appreciative of Mr K and his dedication to his work of beautifying homes, the good attitude of his workers. After working with PRCs and Bangala, you really appreciate Malaysian workers with good work ethic and attitude. Not to generalize or discriminate here, but there's a marked difference. And sometimes, it's worth paying more for quality and to avoid trouble. You get what you pay for.

The home now look bigger and brighter with the mirror!  Moreover, if you believe in fengshui, mirrors facing the dining table reflects abundance and the good energy when family and friends gather.

We are also slowly working on small projects on our home, perhaps doing something with the bay windows and installing digital locks.

Have been wanting to do a before and after as the home is more or less done up, yet have been procrastinating since the home does not look like a showroom anymore. Soon, soon.

.::. Home-cooked .::.

I've been cooking a lot ever since we settled down.  I love cooking, I love delicious wholesome home-cooked food.  I grew up with my grandmother who was a really good cook.  We cooked everything.  We made our own dumplings during dumpling festival, made hainanese kaya in a charcoal pot, made all the new year goodies, gathered for charcoal steamboat. I went with my grandmother to the wet market and temple often, they used to cook huge pots of lamb soup and hainanese cabbage. Those bring back so many childhood memories, yet is very much lacking now.  My mum has never been a great cook, and she's so health-conscious now that food is for nutrition rather for taste. His family prefers eating out and don't have that sort of culture either.

I'm traditional in that way, I think that a woman should know how to cook for her family.  It doesn't matter what job nor qualification you hold. Without a mother who can cook and create that sort of family bonding and memories for the family, the children miss out on so much.  It's not something which restaurant meals nor maid-cooked meals can replace. Either the wife, or the husband got to be able to cook! Some men play such a role in the family these days (which is a great thing), and someone just got to do it for the family.

Did I mention how much I hate eating out for reunion dinners?  I hate it that we've to book a time slot and finish our food within the allocated time.  I hate it when we've to choose from a set menu which is ridiculously overpriced. I hate it that people don't take the effort to cook for the family.  Grandma used to spend the whole week preparing for reunion dinner, from buying the ingredients from the fresh market a week before, marinating and preparing everything. Those are truly reunion dinners, where people put in effort to cook a meal for people they love. These days, nobody wants to put in the effort anymore, and rather pay for overpriced restaurant meals.

It's really a pity that I never get to learn cooking from my grandmothers.



This is my favorite childhood dish.  Hainanese cabbage. I could eat this everyday, a huge plate and still can't get enough of it.  It has a very distinctive taste that only hainanese could achieve.  And even so, grandma's cabbage was still better than those hainanese ones sold outside.  Mum tried cooking it, but the taste simply wasn't there. I tried it a few times, and I think I'm 80-90% there!

I hope that my children can grow up with memories that I had, of delicious home-cooked food and always looking forward to gathering for dinner at home.

Cooking dinner usually takes about 40 minutes these days.  It's possible if you plan ahead or simply cook some simple dishes.  Some days I use the slow cooker for soup, and I usually stir-fry vegetables that do not need much work - some spinach requires you to take off the 'veins' at the stock, or some needs more washing.  Sometimes I steam a dish together with the rice, things like steam egg or fish or minced pork. Pan-fry salmon is our favorite, so is sesame chicken or braised chicken with potatoes and carrots.  There's lots of possibilities, even for a 40-minute meal.

Some weekends, I try more challenging dishes.  The braised duck was quite successful, so was the prawn noodles (but the husband thought that the prawn taste wasn't strong enough).  I think next up might be to try replicate the Italian fish soup we had in Italy!

The husband usually makes Sunday brunch for us, and it's usually good!  I don't even want to step out of the house for over-priced brunch these days! Not to mention the ridiculous weather and crowd that really puts me in a foul mood.

Cook for your loved ones today! =)

.::. Loves of my Life .::.

This is the husband and the dogs the previous Sunday when his family came over for dinner. =) We used to have dinner together every Sunday, and I watched the nephews grow up throughout the years.  How time flies..



Time flies and Chinook is now such a big boy.  I still remember how excited I was when the husband drove me to the pet farm to pick a puppy for my birthday, how Chinook stepped shit all over me the first morning he was home, how I spent hours just looking at him and see him sleep.  He was so tiny then.  I didn’t realize how much he meant to me, till I cried when I had to leave him with the husband while I left for Sweden.  It wasn’t that long ago that I did not even like dogs, yet the husband brought me to dog shows frequent enough to make me fall in love with dogs.  I used to tell him (like what my parents say) that I might as well bring up a human than a dog.  Now, perhaps I might rather bring up a dog than a human.

We got Chikey because the FIL was too attached to Chinook and we couldn't bear to bring him over.  I missed having a dog around.  Chikey is the exact type of dachshund that I liked all along.  Years ago, dachshunds were rare and expensive and we settle for Chinook because there weren't any long-haired ones within budget.  Chikey is really cute and smart but really naughty!













They make me happy.

.::. 有苦难言 .::.

有时候真的会想家。嫁出去了，就是不一样。特别是觉得自己受到委屈的时候，总是想就跑回家躲起来痛哭一场。以后的路还有好长啊。真的可以一起到老吗？

.::. Religion & Respect .::.

"Do to no one what you yourself dislike." —Tobit 4:15

  "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." - Luke 6:31

How would Christians feel if you knowingly and purposely give them Buddhist scriptures or readings about other religion? How would they feel if you keep telling them again and again that Jesus is not god and does not exist?

Anyone who respects another's religion will never knowingly do that.

After receiving angbaos with bible quotes and christianity books, I've yet again received more booklets about Christianity.  At this rate, I am going to receive bibles soon.

And how do I feel?  How am I supposed to feel?

I swallow this, because I love my husband, because I try to avoid conflict.  I put up a facade and take all these that come my way, just because these are people I call my family.  Family who will never get to know who I am as a person, family who only thinks about changing my religion and do not respect me as a person nor my personal choice of religion. It's really a form of torture to me, having to constantly put up with these.

Why oh why, do Christians selectively follow bible verses?  What happened to respect? Doesn't the bible teach about respect?

.::. Living Life .::.

I haven't been blogging as much as I would like to, and I can go by days without even switching on my laptop at home. I've been busying swimming, cooking and studying these days which leave me with very little free time.  There're things I'd like to share and note down, but I simply haven't got around to doing so and time flies by so quickly. I'm thankful that I'm living my dream, savoring every moment and there's simply nothing I can ask for anymore.

There's this article I came across (it went viral online), which I found really meaningful (and true).

Top 5 Regrets of the Dying:
1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Would you die with regrets if death were to come tomorrow?

I think I've had the courage to fight for what I wanted and believed in life, at least those which really matter to me. Work is a small part of life and does not define me.  I shoot my mouth off and find difficulty concealing my feelings. I love my inner circle. I am happy. It's beyond happiness, it's this state of mind where I feel really contented, blessed, thankful...and invincible.  Unafraid, like I can take on anything that comes my way.

Sometimes I myself wonder, where all that courage, strength and faith comes from.

If I'd to die tomorrow, I would have died a very happy woman. =)