He Loves Me!

Just few days ago, I suddenly had the craving to eat Nonya Kueh (local snack usually make from coconut milk) as have not been eating for sometimes.

We were having home cooked dinner last Thurs and I casually commented that it d be nice if we can have a few pieces of the Nonya Kueh as dessert.

My love was so obliging and he went to get from Bengawan Solo immediately after dinner.
The Kueh was sweet and nice and the thought that my love specially went to get for me made it sweeter!
I know he truly loves me ........

Frugal Life Style

When I first decided to quit my job, I knew very well that our life style will be impacted.

True enough, I am very careful in every cent I spend, unlike previously, I d spent on expensive jewelleries, bags, shoes, clothes with no hesitations.
Now, shopping means window shop with no purchasing!
Even weekend meals now with RY are in food courts and hawker centre, unlike last time we used to have expensive meals every weekends
The only time we splurged was the weekend when I first came back to SG and really missed the Italian food at Casa Roma along Bt Timah Rd.

Maybe we will go for restaurant food once a month ....... Or when there's a reason or occasion to celebrate.

Despite being jobless, I still give my parents monthly allowance.
I d rather thrift on myself then to stop their allowance totally!

Is it hard to imagine that the once materialistic high flying & income executive is leading such a frugal life style now?

I admit that sometimes I do miss the "ability & freedom" to spend (the 5 figured monthly salary had enabled me to lead a very comfortable live previously) but I do appreciate the simple live I am having now as it is pretty stress free!

Currently, the only "stress" is to think of what to cook for dinner" and wonder if the food will turn out well!

Bad Eczema

I wonder if it was the change of weather which leads to a bad outbreak of eczema over my body.

Ipoh was very hot compared to SG, I would say it's drier and hotter.

After a week of returned to SG in early Sept, I began to have bad itch on my body, thigh and arms. Despite the generous slap of moisturiser, the itch still exist and very unbearable.
It was so unbearable that I kept scratching and left unsightly scars all over my body.

Last week, I finally threw in the white towel and went to The National Skin Centre to see the skin specialist.
It was not cheap to consult a specialist as it cost SGD60 just to consult him and gotta add additional cost for the medication, especially when I am jobless now. So I was procrastinating on the specialist's visit.

This skin doc have been my regular doc for the last 20 years ever since I was a teenager as I ve eczema history dated all the way then.

I was really shameless to tell him that I am currently jobless and asked him to give me repeat medication prescription to avoid having to consult him to get medication.
He obliged and even prescribed cheaper medication which cost SGD20 for a month's of supply.
He had suggested that I become a subsidised patient but the catch is I will never be able to consult him since he is a senior doc.
I was rather reluctant so I said I would think about it.

The medication prescribed consisted of a mild steroid Dermasone to apply after bath, pirition to consume when ever I feel itchy, potassium permanganate crystal to add into a tub of water for wash.
After a week of applications, the condition has improved and I gotta be diligent to continue with the medication for another week and hopefully it will recover.

Decided!

Yep, I've decided Not to go to Ipoh in Oct and shall stay here in SG to keep RY company.
So it means I gotta break the news to MIL.

I was torn over this and am now feeling really good having make up my mind!

My mom is also glad that I am staying put in SG.

Mommy's Love

My mom is very glad that I am doing my own cooking now.

We used to visit my mom almost daily for dinner and at times when she was not cooking, we would eat hawker food.

Now that I start to cook my own meals, mom is really pleased.
I would call her up for cooking tips and ideas of what to cook.
She would also call me up to check how am I coping and even buy cooking ingredients (fish, meat, veg, fruits etc) for me and asked RY to go to her place to collect the goodies.

I think I gotta learn how to do marketing in the wet market for fresh ingredients.
I ve been doing my shopping in supermarket which may be more costly.
Now with single source of income, I gotta learn to manage the household expenditure better.

Should I go back to Ipoh?

I am in a dilemma as I am not sure if I should go back to Ipoh ........

Before I left for SG last month, we had planned to go back to Ipoh in Oct to continue with my vacation stay.
PIL are looking forward to my return and had even deep frozen the home baked moon cake for my sampling.

This is my 4th week back in SG and I am rather reluctant to leave RY alone and enjoy myself in Ipoh while he suffers here alone.
He told me that during my stay in MY for the last 5 months, he was eating hawker food for dinner and would dozed off in the study room while working late at home.
The weekly over night bus rides were very tiring since he hardly get any good rest.
I feel very sorry for my love.

During the past few weeks, I ve been cooking simple dinner which he really enjoys.
On the other hand, MIL has been chatting with me over facebook telling me how she misses me and looking forward to my return .........

I must make up my mind soon and hopefully by next week .......

Happy ROM Anniversary

Today marked our 11th ROM Anniversary!

I thought RY would ve forgotten about it as he didn't mention anything for the past few days, but to my surprised, he wished me "Happy Anniversary" the moment I woke up from bed.

My love has bought me a bouquet of roses and had wanted to take me out for dinner.
But I declined to go out, instead I cooked him a healthy meal which consisted of grilled salmon belly, toasted salmon skin, green veg with soup.

I had also bought a slice of Exotic Choco cake and another slice of Strawberry Shortcake from FourLeaves as dessert.
The 2 rectangular shape cakes signify the number 11.

The cake was supposed to be a surprised to RY.
After dinner, he had wanted some apples, but I was worried that he may be too full to eat the cakes after fruit, so I pretended to volunteer to peel the apples for him.
Then I surprised him when I presented the cakes to him.
He was very happy.

This is a very simple anniversary celebration with no expensive meals nor gift, and I hope we can celebrate many more happy years together!

Sleepy Sleepy

It's amazing that despite doing nothing in Bintan for 6 days, I came back with a tired and sleepy body.
I was back in SG last Fri afternoon and had spent almost the whole of Saturday & Sunday sleeping.

I don't usually napped in the afternoon but yesterday, Monday, I actually dozed off on the sofa while watching TV.

This afternoon I was out for lunch and did some grocery shopping, so didn't have any chance to nap.
But I can feel the sleepy bugs bites ........ Soon I'll be in the la la land ......

R&R in Bintan

Yep, I am currently relaxing in Bintan Lagoon Resort with RY (not really a vacation for him since he is at a seminar in the resort).

RY came to Bintan last Thursday and he went back to SG on Sat to bring me here on Sunday.
By right I should come along with him on Thursday but due to the President Election last Saturday, I can't go till yesterday, Sunday.

It has been raining whole day in Bintan so there isn't much outdoor activity can be done.
So I've been lazing in the hotel room.

Prior to this Bintan trip, I ve read about Bintan Lagoon Resort and the comments in Trip Advisor.
The most common complaints are about the expensive food & beverages prices.
I gotta admit that it is indeed very expensive to dine in the resort, basically once you're in the resort, you're "trapped" here and no where to go unless you pay for the expensive transport to get out of the hotel to dine elsewhere.

Fortunately I am with RY for a company functions, so all meals are provided.
Else each meal on average would be SGD40 per pax, which I would not want to pay.

This is my first time in Bintan and I hope to be able explore this island during my 6 days stay.

Heavier Women May Have Less IVF Successes

Gotta watch your weight for fertility treatment!

But too skinny also may have problem too.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/25/us-fertility-idUSTRE77O0R520110825

California Couple Sue Fertility Doctor over "Lost Embryos"

A terrible IVF mistake by the clinic!

The clinic had implanted a couple's embryos into another!

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/california-couple-sue-fertility-doctor-lost-embryos/t/story?id=14355815

Home Sweet Home

I'm back in SG!

Last Fri, I had followed PIL to KL and we stayed at SIL's place.
RY arrived KL in the late afternoon and we had a "mini" celebration of FIL's birthday in Taman Desa chinese restaurant since last Fri, 19 Aug, was his exact birth date.
It was a mini one because RY's younger brother had work commitment and not able to join us, and we had previously planned to have a serious celebration on Saturday.

Then the following day, RY brought me to cut hair at mid valley and also did hair henna at Bangsar.
We did some shopping and then came back in time to shower and dressed up for FIL birthday dinner.

We went to Unique Seafood restaurant at PJ, which was the same as last year when we celebrated FIL's birthday in 2010!
We were given the same VIP room with Karaoke facility.
It was a very enjoyable dinner as we sang out lungs out with the kids.
The dinner was pretty costly at RM1.5k!

We only reached SIL home at about 11pm and get tO sleep at about 1am.

The next day, Sunday, we had dim sum brunch at New Court Chinese restaurant.
We went to Tesco to do some grocery shopping before we drove off for SG at about 3pm.

We arrived SG at about 6.30pm.

It's nice to be home sleeping on my familiar bed with RY with me!

SG President Election 2011

In view of the SG President election on 27 Aug, I guess it's about time for me to end my MY holiday.

It will be a tough decision to make on the choice of the President.
I shall think carefully and make a wise choice.

This Fri we will go to KL to meet up with SIL to celebrate FIL's birthday and I shall follow RY to go back to SG on Sunday.

I am looking forward to going home and have gone shopping over the last weekend to get all the Ipoh goodies, like Heong Piang (a kind of biscuit with malt sugar filling), Orchid brand soya source and other snacks etc.

Home Alone

Last Thurs MIL received a sad news that her step mother (her dad had 2 wives, her maternal mum died years ago) passed away in the afternoon, so she and FIL went to the wake on Thurs evening after dinner with me. 
They returned home at about 2am on Fri morning and left for the wake again at about 11am same day.

The wake was in Kuala Kangsar (a royal town which is half an hour drive from Ipoh) and for 2 days.
The funeral is on Saturday, which is this afternoon and there will be a group dinner after the ceremony.

Since they need to attend the funeral early on Sat morning, they'd decided to stay in KK hotel for a night.

So I was home alone on Fri!

They didnt want me to go with them as they didnt want to tired me and also RY is arriving on Sat early morning, as such I need to be around to open the door for him.

Being home alone is fine except for the part on finding food for myself!

I had suggested to walk out to the nearby eatery for my meals, but PIL disallowed as Malaysia is generally not a very safe place to walk alone. They had refused to let me go out and also didnt want me to cook my own food since I may not be familiar with their stove, crokery etc.
Luckily we had home cooked fried noodle and fried rice for lunch and dinner respectively on Thurs and there was some left over, so on Fri, I had the left over noodle for lunch and fried rice as dinner.

I had the whole house (double storey semi-d) to myself on Fri till Sat morning and I was really lonely.

This was what I did to kill the boredom:

Friday
- At 11am, said goodbye to PIL and surf the internet till it was about lunch time.
- At about 12.30pm, I heated up my noodle and had my lunch.
- Surf internet and watch TV till 4pm
- Read my novel till 6pm
- Take my shower
- At about 7pm heated up fried rice and had my dinner while watching TV
- Chatted with RY before he left SG home to catch the bus to Ipoh
- At About 8.30pm, went up to the bedroom to surf the net and read my novel till I fell asleep at about 12 midnight

Saturday
- Alarm went off at about 5.30am on Sat morning and also received RY's SMS that he was arriving home via taxi.
- Hurray! RY arrived home at 5.45am (this was the best part since it ended my lonely ordeal!)
- From 6am onwards prepared breakfast and eat with RY and did laundry etc

I am glad that RY changed his mind to come to Ipoh this weekend, else I may need to spend a lonely Saturday too as PIL will only be back after dinner ............ and I may starve since no more left over food .........

Loving Couple

MIL has commented that RY and me are very loving and she is very happy for us.

I am surprised that ever since we've lived apart, I'm in MY and RY in SG, we have never argued or quarrelled.
As we only get to see each other during the weekends, we tend to treasure each other better.
This is unlike those times when I was living under the same roof as him in SG.

We spends short but quality time.

Hopefully when I move back to SG, we can be as loving.

My Love is Coming this Weekend!

I am really happy as RY has decided to come to Ipoh this weekend to spend time with me!

As mentioned earlier that he was contemplating not to come as he just returned to SG yesterday, but since he can't bear to see me spending a lonely weekend in Ipoh, he got his bus tix for this weekend last min at the bus station last night.

Next weekend, we will go to KL to visit SIL and at the same time celebrate FIL's birthday there. So RY will meet us in KL for the celebration.

Happy National Day 2011

Happy Birthday Singapore!
This year, SG is celebrating 46 years of independence on 9 Aug 2011, tomorrow!

I am very happy as RY is spending this long weekend with me in Ipoh, as he took Monday off to stay from Sat to Tue (6 to 9 Aug).

RY has been taking overnight Fri bus from SG to Ipoh (arrive Ipoh on Sat early morn) for the past weekends And return on Sun night to arrive SG on Mon early morning.
Since mid July, he had been trying to get return ticket on 9 Aug (Tue) instead of Te usual Sun so that he can spend longer time with me, but with no avail since the bus ticket was sold out weeks before. He was lucky to secure the bus ticket to come to Ipoh on 5 Aug Fri night and according to the bus company, the Sun return tixs were plenty as many chose to return late on Tue to have a long weekend with their loved ones in Ipoh.

For the last 2 weeks in Jul, we were calling practically the bus company everyday to hope for a return tix on 9 Aug but the reply was negative.
Just when we were about to give up, on the previous Sunday while we were seeing RY off at the bus station, we made a last attempt to enquire about the 9 Aug night departure bus.
To our surprise, the counter staff told us that they happened to have one last ticket as someone had given up his seat!

We were so happy and quickly grabbed the tix!

As RY is spending 4 days here in Ipoh, he is contemplating whether to come to Ipoh this weekend.
He asked me if I would like him to come, I said my answer would be biased so I told him to decide.
I think most probably he won't come, which I will know tomorrow since he would usually buy the bus ticket for the next visit at the bus station before he departs.
So I will only see him the following week!

PIL Relationship

After spending about a month with PIL, I think I understand both of them better.

FIL is a typical Hakka man, very thrifty (he only sting in himself but generous to others) and also a male chauvinist who expects his wife to be submissive to him.
If MIL doesn't listen to him, he will shout at her and call her stupid!
MIL is a well educated lady who is a retired teacher so she is not a submissive wife as FIL would like.

Frankly speaking, I don't approve FIL's behaviour and feels sorry for MIL whenever he blows his top (don't get me wrong, he doesn't throw tantrums frequently and he certainly has never raised his voice at me. His usually target is MIL - his wife).

MIL being a very understandable wife will not confront him immediately while he is filled with anger, she will wait till he has calmed down then she will reason out to him.

She confides in me that she is not exactly pleased with FIL's but has learnt to live with him for the past 30 years.
She said when they were younger and while her mum was still alive, FIL was vey gentle to her and had never raised his voice at her.
But it changed upon her mother's demise.
She had tolerated FIL's bad temper for the sake of the family.
If not, she would have seek a divorce long ago.

I applaude MIL for her wisdom and tolerance.
I gotta learn from her to learn the trick to sustain a marriage.
I do hope that RY would never be like his dad.
I may not be able to take it if he ever throws his tantrum at me.

Impressive Fertility Journey of a UK Mummy

This is an impressive story using donor's egg and sperm!
She is an amazing mum!

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/editors-choice/2011/07/05/he-s-all-mine-the-amazing-story-of-how-one-woman-overcame-heartache-to-conceive-her-baby-86908-23248952/

Blood Type Affects Fertility

This is an interesting article.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43711661/ns/health-womens_health/


Apparently, blood type O female tends to suffer premature ovarian reserve failure, compared to other blood types.