Balanced diet breakfast

Another healthy balanced diet breakfast...😁

Carbo - fried 10 grains rice

Protein - hard boiled egg

Minerals - cube carrot, sweet corn & green beans 

I wonder how long I could keep up with this. Huh! Huh! 😅😅

Philosophy of the day: Try till you get it right!

I'm a hoarder. I like to keep things. When I was younger, I didn't like my dad keeping old things because it made the house messy and full of rubbish. But now that I'm older, I understood. We keep because some bring back old memories, some are still useful and most of all, we have the idea that "we might need them ONE OF THE DAY." 

So, I have loads of plastic containers. Rectangle and round ones. Today when I needed a round one, I took one out but the cover just didn't fit. Because there are loads of them, I had to try one cover after another. 

It reminded me of a lesson:

DON'T QUIT TRYING. You'll eventually find the RIGHT ONE. And I did! 😊

Hand made bags

Hmm... I should take photos of the pouches that I have sewn before giving them away. 

Frankly, I feel a bit embarrass to give them away as Christmas gifts because someone dear to me keeps saying they're just not good enough. 

Yesterday, I had a chat with my best buddy. And she's always good at assuring me that what's matter is the effort and love put into making them. And she suggested that I venture into sewing pencil cases because she likes them! She won't mind how they look as long as they're practical with many pockets and space to keep all stationeries in. 

💪💪 Now, instead of giving up, I feel inspired to try on new style and patterns. 🙏

Note: Words can either build or break someone. Use them wisely! 😉

Have a great weekend! 🌈

How does God answer me?

I asked God a question. He didn't answer me straightaway. 

But today, He did. 

I went to a place which I was not familiar with and I used Waze as my guide. Because I trusted the signboards better, I refused to follow Waze completely and had a detour and got stuck in the jam for more than an hour. During that one hour, I passed by many old buildings. If it was not because of the detour, I wouldn't have taken that route. I wished I had been more "obedient" to the Waze. 😰

I was quite amused that I wasn't really mad or frustrated at myself as I used to be. 😏

In fact, I had peace. What I had in mind was that everything is in God's hand, be it good or 'bad' at the moment because all would settle perfectly in the end. 

As the traffic began to ease, I passed by a building and many memories started to flash back to live. My heart was flooded with tears. Oh my! 

My God is so great! He knows me more than anyone does, even more than I know myself. When I was convinced that no words from the lips of human or even books could penetrate through my heart which was saturated with hurts, pain, anger and disappointment, no words were needed. Just the building brought back many memories that are able to erase all the hurts and revive love.

What can I say? My God knows so well what is the best way to melt my heart at the right time and the right place. He works miraculously! Praise The Lord. 🙌🙌🙏

Backside vs. Back

Backside VS Back

Today while waiting for my son who was competing in a challenge, the head invigilator announced, "Invigilators, please stand at the backside." 

The parents who were sitting behind me laughed immediately. Though it was not heard by the head invigilator, I felt they shouldn't have acted so. 

The husband and wife then discussed about the word "backside" used by the head invigilator. While I understood that she meant "后面”, it is totally different from 'the back' in English. 

"Backside" in English = bottom or buttocks which you sit on. 

The mistake is due to the direct translation of "面” to "side". Chinese use "面” in all directions which differs from English which don't. 

前面 = the front 

后面 = the back 

上面 = on top / above

下面 = under / below 

So, you can say, please stand at the back but not "please stand at the backside." 

And the main point of this sharing is, none of us is perfect. We shouldn't laugh at others when they make mistakes in languages as all of us are learning and learning is a progress. It never stops. I'm sure the head invigilator has better Mandarin than I do or the parents sitting behind me.

Please line up...

Queue up, please..

My whole family moved to Setapak 17 years ago. I took public bus to the city to work when I was 24. I had to be at the bus stop at 6:30am or I would be late for my 8:30am work. Taking bus was not something fancy because the bus stopped at every stop to pick up people and we were most often sandwiched between each other than getting a seat. Nevertheless, the most unforgettable experience was the moment of stepping and being stepped on while getting on the bus. It was no surprise that NO ONE actually line up for the bus. When the bus came, everyone rushed to it, elbowed and stepped on each other to get on it. It was like a WAR each morning! 

Now, fast forward 12 years later, I was impressed to see the TAR College students lined up for their bus to the college. Well, I don't remember seeing this before. But ever since the bus stop was renovated or upgraded with roof top, the people lined up. Or maybe, once upon a time in Setapak, there was a HERO that started the principle of lining up and hence, everyone does it today. 

I believe that not many like to line up. They line up just because they have no choice but to follow the majority. So, for a LINE UP culture, someone has to start it, and others support it. 

It is disheartening to see people nowadays jump queue at traffic lights or toilets or anywhere if they could find an excuse to do so. 

We should "upgrade" our mentality like how we wanted to upgrade our facilities.

Civilized mentality?

Nothing is better than waking up earlier than usual and taking a very deep, deep soak in God's words. 

And after that, it's time to fulfill the physical needs (to reduce the fats in the belly!😱). I enjoy going for a walk of nature rather than cycling on the stationary bike. 

While walking around the lake, we enjoyed the gentle breeze. Hand in hand with my little girl, we saw green grasses and the big fat cat that was sleeping on it, enjoying its morning nap. It's amazing to see water lily grows amidst muddy and rubbish-filled lake. We also enjoyed looking at the birds flying freely in the air. Alas, I don't have a good camera to capture the birds in motion. Otherwise you might be able to enjoy the beauty of nature from pictures too. 

And then, an uncle walked pass us. He was wearing just slippers but it was fine for him. Not having branded sports shoes didn't stop him from going for a morning walk. 

It feels good to go back to the nature. It's so true that nature speaks of the mighty hands of our Creator. And thence, our thanksgiving for every little thing in our daily life. 

P/s: btw, I was wondering why people like to treat FREE things as something cheap? shouldn't we appreciate even more of the FREE lake? The FREE fresh air? Look at the rubbishes in the lake and around it and everywhere. What makes us simply throw our rubbishes- out of the car, on the road, into the river or lake, etc. etc?

Roasted honey chicken

Easy yet delicious! 😍

Roasted honey chicken

No frying or oil is needed. Just put everything in the oven for 30 minutes and then brush on honey and bake for another 10 mins and here they are!

Mackerel fish paste

You don't learn this in school...😝

I've seen my mom making mackerel fish paste and I told myself that I am not gonna do this in my life. It was simply too messy and too "complicated" for a simple person like me. I could buy it from the market with just RM14 a pack. 

Although the fish paste from the market smelled fishy and tasted fishy, I had no choice but to continue buying from the fishmonger. 

Last month my sister in law gave me two fish...I had no inkling what type of fish was that. So I had the first one steamed. And it ended up that the whole family had a VERY VERY frustrating dinner because the fish was full of tiny little bones and it was such a hazard to feed the fish to the little one. 

In frustration, my husband said, give the other one to Hooi Thiam please. I asked my sister in Christ, Hooi Thiam, and she asked me, "Is it 'sai-tou' fish? It is a very delicious fish if you make it into fish balls."

Then she started to teach me how to un-flesh the fish and so on... Following her instructions, I tried for the first time in my life to make fish paste. It wasn't good but at least we had a good dinner without bones.

Being one that didn't want to give up, I bought mackerel fish and tried again. The second time ended up bad as well because I added too much of water. I called up my friend and asked her some more - wishing to pick up on details which I had missed previously. 

And today, I bought mackerel again. I AM NOT GOING TO GIVE UP! 💪💪

And TA-DA!!! This is the first successful mackerel fish paste and there will gonna be more and more and more by God's grace...🙏😊

I have to give special thanks to my sis in Christ who is always ready to teach me something I never learned in the school. And I can't praise the Lord enough to let me have a friend like her so that I can taste the love of Christ and smell the fragrance of Him. 🌈

Zipper bags

Phew! Finally... I've completed two zipper bags to be used as busy bags for my son. ✌️

I wanted to save some money from buying. But I used almost 1 and a half hour from cutting the fabric to sewing. Is it worth the time? 

Fun & Cheer is selling bags this size for RM2-3 each only. 

😣 feeling confused

Laugh again, hope again

When someone asks you, "How are you?", what would you say? Most often than not, we would say, "I am fine, thank you." And that's what we taught our kids too. 

As I was reading the book, "Laugh Again, hope again", I was exhilarated. Yes, I definitely need this booster. 

Human is so superficial nowadays. We asked questions but we didn't really want to listen to the answers. Everyone is so busy. We would "touch & go" on a subject rather than having a lengthy talk about it. And even when we opened up, we may retreat when we sense that the other person may not like what we are saying. 

According to John Powell's "Why am I afraid to tell you who I am?", there are five levels of communication which are presented in a concentric circles, from the most shallow (outer circle) to the deepest (smallest circle at the core). 

Level 5, the outer circle and the most basic one is called cliche conversation. Eg. How are you? 

Level 4: report facts. There is no personal, self-revelatory commentary. Eg. Little tales about others 

Level 3: ideas and judgment. May retreat if the listener raise an eyebrows or yawn. 

Level 2: feelings. 

Level 1: absolute honesty and openness (usually between spouses)

We rarely reach level 2. And to be exact, we may not even be able to stay in level 3. That's a pity. We rarely open up our feelings and be authentic! If we are open, we fear we will get hurt. So we rather closed up. 

We fear to be too authentic. We fear to reveal our weaknesses because we don't know what would the other person think of us. We don't want others to think less of us. 

Worries, stress and fear steal our joy away! 

It's so true. I was always worrying what the other person might think of me. Would she think I'm crazy? Would she think I am incapable of handling a task because I'm depressed? If not, why is she distancing herself? Why did she say what she said? Shouldn't friends be authentic to each other, without hiding any feelings? 

Well, I've been worrying too much. Why should I put my joy in the hands of others? Why did I put my joy solely by looking and keep rehearsing the expressions of a friend (keep yawning😵😵) in my mind? Ok. I guess she's being authentic by not hiding herself under the table to yawn. 😬

That's enough. 

Joy here I come! 🌈 praise the Lord for there's rainbow after the rain.

The hand of God

What do you do when you are in need and there was no one around and your phone was not working?

My heart was breaking. I wanted to cry but I was too busy fumbling with my phone. I wanted to talk. I wanted to talk to a close friend and poured out my bitterness. But the phone was not working and it made me even more desperate. Some time later, I gave up. I slumped myself on the floor and looked at the sky blankly. My heart was wrenching and no words could come out of my mouth. Tears started of flow freely and all I could mutter were "My Lord" and "Jesus". 

After some time, I was filled with peace. A peace that said that the problem still exists but I do not have to face it alone. God was with me. He was and He is and He will be with me! Nothing feel better than the affirmation from God. 

I thought I depended on God. But I didn't. At least not 100%. When I faced with difficulties, I looked for friends to share with me rather than God. But when God closed other doors, I had nothing but Him alone and that's when I knew, ALL I NEED IS HIM ALONE. 

I am in God's hand. Whatever that has happened, happened for a reason. And I can be rest assured that God is watching over me!