Hand Foot Mouth Disease!

24 Jan 07 - Little Pixie's nose ran when Boringtazz and the Canton Pixie visited Yogibear. The Canton Pixie thought it was no big deal...

25 Jan 07 - Sent to the doctor's after a whole day of sputtering, choking, gagging on her mucus and crying whenever she couldn't breathe. Wakes from her sleep crying every couple of hours whenever she chokes. Ulcers in her tongue!
Diagnosis - Possible Variant of Hand-Foot-Mouth-Disease!!! How could this be? Two SAHMs, with kids well-insulated from daycare - ????

26 Jan 07 - Fever still on. Canton Pixie is worn out from the constant night-waking...help! Tin Hang Zai returns from out of town with a bad cough..

27 Jan 07 - The Pixies rush Little Pixie to the PD's early in the morning as the fever continues unabated. Diagnosis - Bad throat infection. Progress to antibiotics if fever doesn't stop.
As was with the previous Rotavirus episode - the entire Pixie Family is hit again. No more fried foods. The Pixie Family spend the day indoors feeling worn out by the virus.

28 Jan 07 - The fever is still here. Wish the promoters of 'Family Life' will show the heartbreaks a parent gets when your child is sick and you can't do anything about it except watch, and hold her whilst she cries. I swear this is one of the most agonising things you can go through as a parent.

My hopes died...

After the umpteenth row, I decided to call it quits.

I realised that things were never going to change with her. My hopes died with the finality of the realisation. That I am never going to have this particular thing in my life. This thing that I had been striving, working so hard to have all my 31 years.

Things never did change. They just got worse with each achievement (however trivial) I made.

I am not holding out anymore.

The lesser the contact, the better things will be. I am moving on with my life. To be the free spirit that I was meant to be. Free to live, to love, and to LAUGH.

The Invasion of Almighty Ants!!!

Airport had been breeding ants (red, biting ones!!!) in his Everlasting Oldies!!! The Pixies scuttled to return the songs after their battle with the ghastly creatures!

I have been eating trans-fats!!!

I'm getting really nervous, and started to stop eating those nasty chips and crackers..

ST Online Forum, 20 Jan 07
THE World Health Organisation recommends that the intake of saturated fat should not exceed 10 per cent of total calories, while that of trans fat should not exceed 1 per cent.

There is an important difference between these two numbers. Ten per cent saturated fat is the healthy level - because saturated fat is needed for many body functions.

By contrast, 1 per cent trans fat is a compromise level. Trans fats are extremely harmful and not needed at all. The healthy level for trans fat is essentially zero.

If we compare like with like - which is more meaningful - we will realise that all Singaporeans exceed the healthy level of zero trans fat. And we all exceed that level infinitely.

Both saturated and trans fats are believed to cause heart disease. But, historically, heart disease sky-rocketed whenever saturated fat consumption fell and trans fat consumption rose.

In many other ways, the two are exact opposites.

Saturated fat raises HDL or 'good' cholesterol, whereas trans fat lowers it.

Saturated fat enhances immunity. Trans fat weakens immunity.

Saturated fat does not inhibit insulin binding. Trans fat inhibits insulin binding, leading to diabetes.

Probably the biggest difference is this: Saturated fats are widely perceived to be harmful, while many people still do not know about trans fats - and think that products like margarine, which contains trans fat, are healthy.

When strong scientific evidence emerged during the 1990s to show that margarine was harmful, the industry came up with soft margarine, which contains less trans fat.

This detracts from the fact that margarine is produced by a highly unnatural industrial process.

In its original state, margarine is grey and smelly. It needs to be bleached, deodorised, artificially coloured and artificially flavoured before we eat it.

How can such a product be healthier than natural butter? Just because it has less total trans fat and saturated fat?

It ignores, among many things, the fact that butter contains CLA, or conjugated linoleic acid - a natural trans fat which protects against cancer, whereas margarine contributes to cancer.

Lawyer Stephen Joseph started the BanTransFats campaign in America because his stepfather, who was considered health conscious, had diabetes and died from a heart attack. Mr Joseph's stepfather 'ate margarine by the tonne'.

Readers who wish to understand trans fat at a deeper level are invited to visit my website, www.stop-trans-fat.com

Richard Seah Siew Sai

Domestic Innovation....

I thought this was ingenious!

Friends of the Canton Pixie have faithfully endured her different obsessions over the years...at one point in time, it was DIY-skincare. At another, it was baking soda. Some of these obsessions have gone, but baking soda is definitely here to stay.. and so is vinegar. Here are some more tips.

Her current interests include macrobiotics, cooking for Little Pixie and, of all things, doing nothing.

DIY parenting...

Boringtazz got a new book which sounded rather dubious! So here's my recommendation!

The sun, the sea......

For us vermins, this is really the life!

Vermin Birks

Cosmo and Beefcake are the Pixie Family's only links to the 'upper crust' of society (OK, so I'm still obsessed with baking). For the rest of the time, the Pixies are vermins who enjoy low-life pursuits.

These include freeloading on Airport, grovelling in frugality, and splurging on cheap Birk-wannabes.

I'm warm and walnutty!

Walnut Paste

This is easy!

1. Deep-fry walnuts (I was lazy and health-conscious - I roasted them at low heat instead of the usual recommendation).
2. Blend with water and raw rice till powdery. (I used Little Pixie's baby unpolished rice)
3. Add rock sugar (a 1-inch cube was all I could bear to put in, since I don't have a sweet tooth)
4. Simmer for 30 min
5. Voila! (You can see oil droplets floating in the dessert)

Hakka Lei Cha Fan (Thunder Tea Rice)

This is one of my favs! Anyone got the recipe? I found some comments here, here, here, here. But none with the recipe!!

Green Carrots?

They do exist! But I didn't like the look and taste of the motley vegetable soup I cooked. Urgh!

Sharpen your saw....

After years of getting monkey performance from peanut-priced goods - I decided to splurge on a WMF!

Seasoning the wok

Bitten by the 'Chinese Cook' bug - I decided to get a traditional wok. Didn't know that it had to be seasoned using 'dog vegetables', fermented bean paste and lard and tofu though.

P/S I think the Golden Goose seasoned her hand too.

Gross!

Peanut Butter Honey Granola

Following Hillbilly Housewife always works

Yikes! I'm no aspiring baker!

Coffee Bean Man

Can you see anything?

Coffee Bean!

A daughter complained to her father about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it, and wanted to give up. She was tired of all the fighting and struggling. It seemed as though in solving one problem, two more would arise.
Her father, ( a chef ) took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil.
In one he placed carrots, in the second he placed eggs, and the last he placed ground coffee beans.
He let them sit and boil without saying a word. The daughter impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. In about twenty minutes he turned off the burners.
He fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them a bowl. Then he ladled the coffee out and poured it in a cup. Turning to her he asked. "Darling, what do you see?" "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied. He brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. She smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. She humbly asked. "What does it mean Father?"
He explained that each of them had faced the same adversity, boiling water, but each reacted differently. The carrots went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. But after being subjected to the boiling water, they softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But after sitting through the boiling water, the insides became hardened. However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.
"Which are you," he asked his daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?

How about you? Are you the carrot that seems hard, but with pain and adversity do you wilt and become soft and lose your strength? Are you the egg, which starts off with a changeable heart? Were you a fluid spirit, but after difficult times, have you become hardened and stiff. Your shell looks the same, but are you tough with a stiff spirit and heart? Or are you like the coffee bean? The bean changes the hot water, the thing that is bringing the pain. When the water reaches it's peak temperature, it just tastes better.

If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and make things better around you. When people talk about you, do your praises to the Lord increase? When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, does your worship elevate to another level? How do you handle adversity?
Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?
" Please God, help me to be a coffee bean! Amen"

I joined the Deaf Frog Society!

Yes! There is such a thing!! This is cool.

Lessons from Frogs
Two Frogs Climbing a Tower

There once was a bunch of tiny frogs who arranged a climbing competition. The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower.

A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants. The race began. No one in the crowd really believed the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower.
Heard throughout the race were statements such as, “Oh, way too difficult,” “They will never make it to the top,” “Not a chance they will succeed,” and “The tower is too high.”

The tiny frogs began collapsing, one by one—except for those who, in a fresh tempo, were climbing higher and higher. The crowd continued to yell, “It is too difficult! No one will make it!”
More tiny frogs got tired and gave up. But ONE continued to climb higher and higher. This one refused to give up!

At the end of the race, all had given up climbing the tower except for the one tiny frog who, after a big effort, was the only one who reached the top!

All of the other tiny frogs wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it. They asked him how he had found the strength to succeed and reach the goal.
It turned out that the winning frog was DEAF!!!!

Lessons
1. There is power of life and death in the tongue. An encouraging word to someone who is down can lift them up and help them make it through the day.

2. A destructive word to someone who is down can be what it takes to kill them. Be careful of what you say. Speak life to those who cross your path.The power of words... it is sometimes hard to understand that an encouraging word can go such a long way. Anyone can speak words that tend to rob another of the spirit to continue in difficult times.Special is the individual who will take the time to encourage another.[author unknown]

Always stay positive and focused. Be DEAF when people tell you that you cannot reach your goal or fulfill your dreams! Continually remind yourself, “I can do this.”

M'am, you need slimming?

Koala came home from Kiwi-Land and visited the Ethiopian Pixies. They took a walk here and checked out the spa.

Koala carried Little Pixie - and the concerned receptionist looked at Koala, Little Pixie and went

"M'am, you looking for a slimming package after childbirth?"

Poor Koala was traumatised!!!

"Ahem, that is my child".

Everyone had a good laugh. The salesgirls remained skeptical as we left - they still didn't believe that Koala wasn't the mother.

Against all odds...Dr William Tan

I was so inspired after watching this last night.

One thing he said about his parents (too poor and uneducated to give him a polio vaccine) was that 'They did their best'. And that is going to be on my epitaph too.

Another thing that struck me was - he got expelled for biting all his classmates who bullied him - the only way he could defend himself. .... life was unfair to him - it wasn't his fault - and he got expelled.

And the next school he went to - he endured all the bullying because he didn't want to let his parents down.

He didn't become a hard-boiled egg (which I did), or become a limp carrot (which I did too), but he became a coffee bean (which I will) and made a difference (and still does) with his life.

2007: I will BE a coffee bean

After 16 years....

I chanced upon a 'New Year Resolution' I did 16 years ago!!! And it had the same grouse that I have now - 16 years later!

After 16 years, I'm still attempting to do too many things at the same time, creating a treadmill that goes nowhere and from which I tell myself I can't alight.

When I was ....

A Student - I wanted to be good at everything. ECA, exercise, grades.
In College - I wanted to be good at everything. Biking, tuition, grades, exercise, church, friends.
Working - I want to be good at everything. Grades, family, friends, money, hobbies (cooking, volunteering, piano, blading, jogging, Pilates).

Now I am a mother - I still attempt to be good at everything. Wifehood, parenting, nutrition, trying to become the best cook, hobbies (all of the above plus being a walking health, food & nutrition encyclopedia), home business, 'meaning in life', 'fulfilment in motherhood', branching into TCM and macrobiotics.

This year, my resolution is to break this pattern.

I will have LESS resolutions - and SLOW DOWN.
SMELL THE ROSES.... and I will enjoy what I have been blessed with.