Toys for Boys

Last Friday, Hubby bought this for the boys.

But if you ask me, I think it is just an excuse to buy it for himself :)

I love the sleek new look and pristine white casing. Even the various controllers and gadgets come in matching whites. The set came with bundled with Wii Sports - bowling, tennis, boxing and golf. It has been a great tool for family bonding thus far. It is actually quite amusing, watching how the kids anticipate the moves and respond accordingly.

Over the weekend, we browsed the shops for Wii games and we are drooling over the following :

We discovered that prices for the games vary quite significantly from shop to shop, even for the same game titles. Overall, it may be more cost effective to purchase them oveseas if we are buying more titles.

As with all computer and interactive games, Wii can be addictive. So we laid down rules regarding time and duration of play and play etiquette that must be adhered to. At the same time, it also presented us with opportunities to teach the kids about sharing and taking turns and reinforcing while playing the games. There are also platforms to talk about winning and losing and the more constructive way to react to that.

The Lows

I have been a little depressed lately and have been neglecting to blog. Inundated with the various issues, I just did not have the mood to come in here to write. However, today I felt that precisely that, perhaps I should, all the more, journal it all down to flush it out of my system. Sigh.....

It was 20 months ago when Little Buddy first displayed a dislike for milk. I thought then that perhaps it was just an infant thing to be difficult and would probably be just a passing phrase. However, it proved to be a prolonged passing phrase. Each milk feed turned into a huge struggle as he just would not take the teat, practically yelling and crying through each session. Then started a quest to unearth the reasons for his rejection.

Instead of direct latch-on, I tried expressing out my milk and feeding via a bottle, trying all the available types of bottle teats, varying feeding positions, etc. Till finally I gave up and spoon-fed him. It was a little better as it shortened each milk feed to a mere 20 minutes, compared to a 2-hour marathon which would still leave me with an unfinished bottle of milk.

Little Buddy was not gaining weight too well, so I decided to start him early on cereal at 5 months. He took to it rather well and I was relieved. But I was not to know that it was only a temporal respite. He reverted to rejecting his meals and I was again at a loss at what to do.

Since then, I have cooked all the different types of food - vegetables, meat, soup and fruits, in every possible way that a young child of that age can possibly try. Yes, I have even tried starving him, hoping that he would eat when hungry. Most people would give me an incredulous look and be at a loss for words when I share how I tried everything that had been suggested but have yet to see any improvement in Little Buddy's feeding habits. I have brought him to different paedatricians, sought opinions of other mothers, searched for information on the web but I still could not find anything that helped. The paeds told me there is nothing physically wrong with Little Buddy, it is just a passing phase. Other mothers tell me to vary the food and preparation methods and that it is a just a passing phase.

I have been told 'it is just a passing phase' so many times that sometimes I really want to strangle the next person who says that. Oops! Yes, that is how terrible I feel right now. I mean this passing phase is already a 22-month phase! And I am exhausted having already struggled 22 months x 30 days x 5 solid/milk feeds per day = 3,300 times! Honestly, the whole issue is really getting into me and making me worried and depressed, wondering how long more this is going to last. I now dread every feeding session.

I have been praying and praying and praying daily, asking for a breakthrough. Please God, please let the day come when Little Buddy begins to enjoy his meals.....

Attacked by malware!

MSN Live Messenger was installed on my laptop eons ago but only recently, I started actively using it as a tool for communication. It was useful for keeping in touch with friends through real-time chats and also an excellent channel for nightly catch-ups with Hubby when he is away on business trips. I particularly found it fun punctuating sentences with the custom emoticons. And so I enjoyed the various chat sessions.....

Till I was hit with a malicious spyware last Tuesday! It came as an innocent message from a friend, whom I have chatted sporadically with. There was a hyperlink in that message and out of curiosity, I clicked on that link and the moment I did that, my laptop hung and my heart sank. Soon after that various incidents started happening to confirm my suspicion of a malware attack - my laptop prompted me to set the system date and time, my wireless printer refused to print, error messages about missing startup files started popping up upon bootup and my internet browser started leading me to dubious websites whenever I go onto the net.

I am usually very careful about cyber security, only visting trusted internet sites, opening email attachments that I have been expecting and generally preferring to err on the side of caution rather than subjecting my laptop to possible virus infections and such. Thus the Tuesday episode left me completely frustrated and helpless as I sought to remove the malware. After several futile days of seeking assistance from Hubby and reputed online spyware forums, I decided to take the most drastic action of reformatting my harddisk.

Now that I am back online, I have increased my cyber paranoid and upped my security settings. Yes, I know, I know. I should have known better, what with my computer science degree and all. Well, all I can say is that I should have heeded my instinct instead of ignoring the antenna that had gone up. I will be more careful.....

But then again, those authors of malicious spyware, malware, virus, etc, are certainly getting craftier. I dread and indeed, may God forbid the day should any such script get past my firewall again. Sigh.....

Tau Sar Piah

Some weeks past, the Sunday Times carried an article on some great-tasting chinese pastries at Changi Village. It caught my interest as I prefer trying out 'recommended' food sold at nondesript locations. I reason that if people come in droves to such obscure or out-of-the-way places, it must really attest to the quality of the food.

So a week later when I happened to be in the vicinity, I popped by the confectionary which was just a simple stall housed in the Changi Village hawker centre. There was an interesting array of goodies laid out on the shelves. My original intention was just to buy some tau sar piah (bean paste pastry) and lau po bing (wife cake) since these were the perennial favourites in my family. Eventually though, I ended up buying some pineapple sponge cakes, tapioca cakes, lau po bing (wife cake) and tau sar piah (bean paste pastry).

Tapioca Cake : It was cut into a large triangular piece and generously thick. It was chewy with a slightly crusty top layer. Good, I will eat it again.

Tau Sar Piah : Hmm.....the outer skin was just nice, not too thick to give a floury sensation. Fragrant mung bean filling was tightly compacted into the centre of each piece. It was a hit with my parents who are incidentally, highly critical of what they eat.

The lau po bing and pineapple sponge cakes were not too bad but not something that would make me go back just for them alone. But I will return for the tau sar piah!

I stepped into the Gym!

I am embarrassed to say that thus far, I have NEVER stepped into a gym. Yes, I can imagine the incredulous looks I am drawing from all those I-visit-the-gym-thrice-a-week people out there. I am going to further horrify even you, the average reader, by confessing that I cannot even remember the last time I really exercised. Unless of course, you consider those half-hearted attempts to do some briskwalking up Bukit Timah hill once in a year.....or those few laps that I swim when I feel like it.....or the time I spent chasing my sons round the playground, as exercise.

My fittest form would have been during my junior college days. I was in the Outdoor Activities Club then and as part of endurance training, we were made to run up and down the hilly streets behind my school for hours on end. Training in a group was fun as we paced and encouraged one another. Sadly, exercise featured less prominently on my calendar once I entered university where other more fun activities existed. And when marriage and subsequently motherhood beckoned, exercise was relegated to the bottom of my To-Do list.

Well, I decided to change all that. One of my new year's goal is to take good care of myself - both internally and externally. I took a honest close look at myself in the mirror and decided that although I may not be fat nor ugly, I can do with improvements. I am not talking about going down the route of plastic surgery to improve one's looks. Instead, I am suddenly more aware that as a woman grows older, her health becomes that much more of a precious entity. I certainly can change my health habits.

For starters, I have decided to begin following a strict exercise routine in my estate's gym. For someone who had never been into a gym, much less use the equipment in there, the first visit to the gym was intimidating. The array of machines and their controls can be mindbloggling to a gym virgin like me. I started with the threadmill as it looks simple enough. After fiddling with the settings, I embarked on a 20 minute run/jog. It was not too bad, I lived. Next, I decided to be brave and attempt to use this.



Then I realised, it's not switched on. Now where is the power switch?.....Finally I decided to ask another lady and was told that it switches on automatically when I start pedalling. Apparently it runs on kinetic energy. I felt foolish but nevertheless tried to remain cool. Hmm...it gives an oomph to the workout, I like it. After 20 minutes, I stepped off and called it a day.

That was three days ago. I have since found out the above is called an elliptical. Over the past three days, I have been to the gym daily and averaged workouts of 40 minutes, burning off 230 calories. Peanuts to more seasoned gym-goers I believe, but at least a start for me.

Toasted mixed cereal

I bought this from jones the grocer at Dempsey Hill on Saturday. The generous proportion of dried fruits to muesli was mainly what attracted me to it. The ingredient list includes an interesting mix of oats, wheat, sunflower, coconut, almonds, sultanas, paw paw, apples, apricots, wheat bran and millet.

Hubby and I had it for breakfast this morning. The toasted muesli was fragrant with a nice crunch to it, not too dry and hard. However, the mixed dried fruits were too sweet for my liking. Or perhaps the high fruits to cereal ratio made the serving overall sweeter. I prefer my breakfast cereals unsweetened; I even eat cooked oats plain, on its own.

Maybe I should stick to plain cereals next time and just add raisins or other fruits on my own.

Another beauty serum

I read numerous glowing reviews of the Cellnique Pro-series Pro Sebum Gel extoling its ability to clear blackheads and whiteheads. It has a dual function of clearing both clogged pores and reducing oiliness. In mose cases, satisfying results have been achieved within two weeks. The box also proclaims a money-back guarantee otherwise.

The mere mention of blackheads brings back unpleasant memories of painful extraction sessions at the hands of my facial lady. I vividly remember vain attempts to endure and not grimace nor tear reflexibly from the sheer agony that I can definitely do without.

A close scrutiny of my face reveals the presence of some tiny blackheads and enlarged pores at the nose region. Definitely not the most ideal complexion.

So with much anticipation, I bought a bottle of the Cellnique Pro Sebum Gel and tried it out last night.

Results and my verdict? Akan datang in two weeks' time. Watch this space for updates!

Edited on 11 June 2008 to add :
Oops! I forgot to come back to post my review on this product. I could see visible results in less than 2 weeks. My nose was clearer with less black heads. However after the initial 2 months, the Pro Sebum Gel seem not to be having any further effect on my skin.