Pedal exerciser

I wanted to write about the new love of my life since mid November but I was too busy to do so......but today seems the right time to do it. But before I do so, I gotta say something about what happened today first. Actually I'm feeling a bit emotional right now because today is the last day I saw my bicycle. I handed it over to someone else.....someone who needs it more than I do right now. Been thinking about letting it go for quite some time now. But I couldn't do it until today. 

With the help from my Mother's friend......she managed to find a school girl who needs a bicycle to go to school everyday. I don't know why.....the minute I found out about it, my heart was ready for it. I was ready to let it go. So off we went to see the girl and handed it over to her. It was then when it really hit me that I was never going to see my bicycle ever again.

It was funny how excited everybody was to see my bicycle.....they complimented on how good it looks....how fancy it is....and how surprised they were about the condition of the bicycle. They imagined earlier that I was giving away an old, old worn out bicycle....but my bicycle was not like that at all. But when they found out why I decided to give it away, they understood my decision. Everybody was so happy......and of course, so was I. I never thought I would be feeling happy about it. I guess it was a mix of happy and sad at the same time.

The girl is 12 years old......she will be able to use that bicycle for the next five years of schooling. That bicycle will be of great service to her during that time. Before this, she walked to school everyday. I'm so glad they found the right girl for my bike. She had the height....and she rode it well. My bike is suitable for tall people. And she fits the bill.

I'll always remember Mr Raleigh and how much fun I had riding it all these years. But now I have a new love.....and my new love is special in its own way. It's pink in colour and it's one of the best thing that ever happened in my life. 

In mid November this year, I learned about the pedal exerciser from my Mom. She knew about it when she went to do her physiotherapy at the hospital. She knows that I would benefit from this simple machine and when I was introduced to it, I immediately feel in love with it at first cycle. From then onwards, there was no turning back. It has become one of my daily routines to cycle at home. It has helped me tremendously because now I can cycle at any time of the day and as many times as I like. No more excuses to not do my exercise everyday. 

I can cycle while watching TV, I can cycle while doing certain work at my table, I can cycle while browsing the internet, in fact, I can even cycle in my own garden too! Yes! It's so portable and lightweight, I can take it anywhere with me. 

But the best thing about finding out about the pedal exerciser is, how much it has helped me with my muscle cramps....I don't have it anymore. It seems to have disappeared. I also feel so much better, I can walk faster. I have the stamina to do more work everyday. I can even see how my abs and thighs are getting more and more toned.

Another great thing about it is that how many people I know has benefited from it too. My Mom and I have been promoting it to all our friends and we found out that many of them are suffering from muscle cramps, tingling and numbness at their feet. Old people and those who are having health problems can benefit from this machine. I'm not that old, but I do have health issues. But that is not the main reason why I got this pedal exerciser. Whatever the reason may be......the main thing is that I am so thankful that Allah sent me this product at this age. At least I get to use it when I am still young. It keeps me fit and keeps me happy everyday.

Pied-fantail bird in the evening

Ok....it would seem like I'm a little obsessed with taking videos or photos of birds at my house right now because in my previous post I posted something about birds as well. Actually I'm not obsessed....I'm just taking the opportunity as they come. It's not always that I get to see a bird at a very close range.

It just so happened that when I was doing laundry in the evening, I saw the Pied Fantail bird looking for food outside our cage like space at the back of our house. I could see that it was searching for insects to eat. It didn't realise I was there taking a video of it because I was in the cage like section of the house. So it kinda camouflage me in a way. So it didn't notice me at all and kept searching for food..

This is by far the coolest experience because I've never been so close to a Pied-Fantail bird before! It was so cool to be able to look at it closely as it fan open it's tail every now and then. :)

The White-Throated Kingfisher in my garden!

What a lovely lovely surprise! I was happily having breakfast with my Mom this morning and suddenly we saw this White-Throated Kingfisher in our garden. What a rare sight! I quickly went to grab my digital camera and started taking videos of the bird and also snapped some photos of it. I was so afraid that the bird would notice me. Luckily it didn't! I was very very quiet! hehe!

I've seen this bird many times before in our neighbourhood. Every time I  go out for my morning ride at the park, I would see them on the telephone line or up on the trees. It's never easy to get a shot of it. They are not that tame and are easily scared whenever they see humans staring at them hehehe.

But I managed to take a shot of it coz we made a cage outside our house like the photo you see above. I just love having breakfast and dinner here because we get to enjoy the fresh air minus all the flies, mosquitoes and bird poo! LOL! ;) Even the birds don't notice us when we take photos or videos of them when we are standing inside the cage. The minute they see us outside the cage, they would fly away. So I guess the cage sort of like camouflaged us a bit hehehe. I can now take more photos of nature without disturbing them. Love it!

Ais kacang salji

Ais kacang salji special........yes.....that's what I'm talking about here....the photo you see above is my current favourite cold dessert! See how happy I am when I'm having it? hehehehe! Super happy indeed! I recently discovered about it while watching TV, when they did a feature about it in the news. Immediately I had to find out how to get to the place where they are selling it. It's quite far from where I'm staying....quite a long drive to get a dessert ehehehe. 

The photo you see below is where the ais kacang salji is located......at Restoran Dinalang in Simpang Empat Kangkong, it's right next to Balai Polis Simpang Empat...you can't miss it...... :). I remembered asking around about it from my friends in Facebook for the directions to get to this place. Luckily a couple of them gave me the directions and it was quite easy for me to follow.

Once the location is found, I just had to go and get a scoop! Actually.....more than a scoop....a bowl of it! In the beginning I didn't know that they served the ais kacang salji in two different servings. One is the normal ais kacang salji and the other is the "special" one! Of course the special one is extra special and extra delicious. The normal one looks like the photo below.....less fillings and less ice of course. The special one is like the photo at the top.

The taste of the ais kacang salji is beyond amazing. It reminds me of my childhood seriously. A very authentic taste that brings you back in time. They made their own sugar syrup, red beans and jelly for this dessert and they made them fresh everyday. That's one of the reasons why it tastes so good. Plus of course the ice is shredded so thinly that it looks like snow.....and feels so soft and smooth unlike all the other ais kacang I've tasted before. By the way......for those who don't know what ais kacang salji means...... ais means ice.......kacang means beans and salji means snow.....so it's ice beans snow eheheheh! :D

They also sell kuey teow sup daging......like the photo below......I love it too.....love the taste.....sometimes I like the bihun sup daging as well. Well, all I can say is that everything that they sell here tastes so good and the price is super cheap. That's the best thing about staying in Kedah!!!

Post mortem

It's been 6 months! Wow......I can't believe that it's been 6 months since I started my health improvement program. It all started because of the issue with my eczema. And now, it's more than that. It has affected my weight....it has also affected my overall health. I feel great, I look great and I'm definitely happier than before.

Thinking back on the time I started it, it included a sugar free diet and also excluding all the food that would trigger my eczema. But for the past 3 months now I've been on a gluten free diet as well. And that really hit the target. I really lost a lot of weight just by excluding all the food that are not gluten free. I was really surprised at how effective it was compared to the sugar free diet. But of course, the best part is that my eczema has reduced a lot. And it's been improving day by day. I'm so happy about it. Amazing how taking the right food for my body can make such a huge impact on my skin. I knew that it would work, I just needed some discipline and some motivation to do it.

It definitely it not an easy thing to do. Restraining myself from eating all those yummy food was very difficult. Even though I know that those yummy food would hurt my body but I still wanted to eat them. So that was something very hard for me to do. I remembered how sad I was during the first couple of months. I was not able to accept the fact that I couldn't eat what I had been eating before. The worst was letting go of bread. I love eating bread so much. In fact, I love eating bread more than eating rice. But I'm glad now I can live without it. And I'm especially glad now that I know I lost a lot of weight because I let go of it.

Total weight lost since 14th of February ----> 10 kg!!! And I managed to keep it off!! I haven't gained any of the weight I've lost so far and I'm trying to lose more. I still need to lose another 10 kg. Hopefully with me following my diet closely and also working out everyday will give me good results. I also hope that by year end, all the eczema will be gone. I'm so determined to get rid of them for good.

What I love about my daily routine now is my determination on working out everyday. I even subscribed to some Youtube channels that provides easy workout routines for me to follow and do everyday. I'm so happy that I can do them now on a daily basis. I was not able to do them before when my feet were in such a bad condition. Now I'm more flexible and even able to do Pilates and Abdominal workout. It's great! I'm focusing on simple routines first. But will slowly advance to more difficult routines hopefully in months to come.

I'm even planning out on doing a timetable for me to organize my daily schedule. I've a lot to get done and I'm always missing something out each day. So I'm seriously hoping that the timetable will help me be more organized. Just talking about being organized is not going to help at all. Been there. It didn't work. I know now that I really need a timetable. I need to SEE what I have to do. So that I actually DO it. :)

The green tree snake

This video was taken on 30th of July 2013 but only now do I have some little time to blog about it. I was doing laundry at the back of the house when I thought of checking out the gherkin tree to see if there are any new gherkins available for me to pick out.

But as I got near to the gherkin tree, I noticed something that was out of the ordinary about the tree. One of the branch looked extra big and shiny. That's when I realised it wasn't a branch. It was the body of the green tree snake!! Yikes!!!

I got really scared and ran into the house. But I guess I wasn't that scared to take a video of it ehehe! So I did. Luckily there are windows in the kitchen that are just a feet away from the gherkin tree. So I just stood by the window and recorded a video of the snake. I was happy that a couple of the Yellow-vented Bulbul dropped by and made an appearance in the video too! heheh!

The cute culprits!

I took a video of the Yellow-vented Bulbul birds just the other day.......I was inside the house standing right by the window when taking the video. Those birds didn't even notice me standing there.....I was so quiet....never made a sound......while they happily ate the flowers of the bean tree.

They've been eating the flowers almost every day now. So much so that we could never get the chance to see the beans grow because they've been eating up all the flowers. Poor tree!

But even so.....it's always a joy to watch the birds eat....and flying playfully in the garden outside our house. We don't have pet birds but these birds are like pets except that they are free to fly and roam anywhere they like and be free to do what they want. 

I really enjoy watching them. It's the simple joys of life......simple things that makes us happy.....the little things that reminds us of our Creator.....and how wonderful His creations are. :)

Baby birds

I was spying on a couple of birds that were making a nest at our house a few weeks back. Soon enough the nest were ready and one day I saw 2 little eggs inside it. Guess where the nest is??? See the photo below! eheheh!

Below is the video I took of them before they left their nest......lots of fur on their bodies and they can fly now. I'm gonna miss them.

Below are the photos of the mother and father of these little baby birds. They are called the Yellow-vented Bulbul....or in Malay, they are called Burung Merbah Kapur. Sorry if the photo of the birds are not that clear.....I had a hard time trying to take a photo of them, since they would fly away once they catch me trying to take their picture ehehehe. I took the photos from the window in my studio....that was the only way they wouldn't notice me. :)

We got lemons!

Our one and only lemon tree in our garden has finally bear some fruits this year. In the beginning, I saw a lot of flowers on the tree......but after a while some dropped off and only a few remained.

Same goes with the fruit. Some managed to hang on to the tree and some dropped off. Only the strong ones remain and hopefully we will be able to taste them.

I can't wait to see the lemons grow bigger and turn really yellow like the photos of lemons I see in the internet. How wonderful it would be if there were many of them on the tree. 

It would be great not having to buy lemons anymore and just pluck them from the tree. The lemons that they sell over  here at the supermarket are so expensive.

I love using lemons with tea and also with fresh fruits......not to mention cooking them with fish.....so yummy! ;)

Gherkins!

I'm just so excited that we now have gherkins in our garden. I remember when I was younger, my grandmother used to plant them at her place. I used to eat them right from the tree itself whenever I play in her garden. She would always be wondering what happened to all her gherkins.....where had they gone to?? HEhehehehehe.......they all went to my stomach!! LOL!

I love eating them with nasi lemak......they are so crunchy and tasty. ;)

On the move again

I miss blogging here. Miss sharing my thoughts here. Been so occupied with work lately, and when that happens, I just lose the mood to write...... plus there were two deaths in my family in March and April.....one after another. That really made it worse for me. Totally lost the mood to write anything. My uncle died in March and my cousin brother died in April. Their death left a huge impact on me and I'm sure on to the rest of my family as well. I still can't believe that they've gone forever. They are in a better place now I'm sure...... :(

I started cycling again after almost a year I think......I'm not sure.....it's been so long since I last cycled. Both my feet hurt so bad since last year due to the eczema that I couldn't even walk properly let alone cycle. I started cycling again late last month and it's been wonderful. I haven't felt that way for so long. I just love cycling so much. I felt like fainting a few times when cycling though on the first day......I was out of breath and had to make a few stops to catch my breath and hydrate myself.

I had to deal with a psychotic little dog as well who would try to chase me every morning on my way to the cycling track. Sigh....not really sure what is it's problem though......perhaps the little bugger was just excited about me cycling again and was trying to cheer me on.....but since I don't understand dog language, the little bugger and I would misunderstand each other everyday. LOL! Kinda stressful thing to go through each morning but I won't give up cycling just because of that.

I wanted to briskwalk too......which I have done so on the treadmill we have at home. So twice a day I'll have my exercise done once in the morning and once in the evening. I definitely prefer to cycle in the mornings and briskwalk in the evenings.

So far I've lost a total of 8 kilograms of my weight since I started the special diet in February. I still can't believe I managed to do that. I can't believe how overweight I was before either. The illness was the cause of me gaining the weight......and now it is also the cause of me losing it. Sad but true.

I had to get myself a new pair of sport shoes for my terribly swollen feet.....I couldn't wear my old sport shoes anymore coz they won't be able to fit like before. I'm glad the new sport shoes worked out well and I was able to cycle with no problem at all and it didn't give me any pain while cycling.

I love cycling nearby a park at my neighbourhood coz the place is so beautiful.....so many old houses to look at that are still in good condition. I would make a few stops when cycling and take a few shots of things that interests me. The fresh morning air is wonderful since there are so many greens there.....so many big trees especially. The perfect place in Alor Setar for me. ;)

Time to vote

Yesterday I practiced my rights as a Malaysian by voting in the 13th Malaysian General Election. Alhamdulillah everything went well and smooth. This is my 3rd time voting.  Felt very overwhelmed and happy that I was able to do my duty.

The general election has really opened my eyes to what the future of Malaysia will be like in the next 5 years. I only pray for the best for our country and may it prosper even more. 

This time around it was compulsory to have our finger painted by the indelible ink during the voting process. Felt a little awkward having to have my finger painted like that. But what to do, it's the rule.

I had mixed feelings when the results of the general election came out. Stayed up late at night just to find out who won. I was a little sad and happy at the same time. All I know is that I'm grateful no matter what. There is always a reason why things happen the way they do.

I hope the government will keep their promises and do their best for the people of Malaysia. Peace ^.^ v

Before and after

It's been about a little over a month since I started a little experiment on myself with the sugarless diet. If I am not mistaken, I started the diet on 14th of February 2013. At first I was really strict with it, completely no sugar in drinks and food.....but once in a while I cheated for reasons I refuse to explain here. It's just one of those days when I had to cheat.

Anyways, when I was strict with the diet.......I didn't see any difference whatsoever on my skin in the beginning.....I thought my eczema would clear off in two weeks but it didn't. Instead I kept losing weight. So far I've lost about 5 kilograms. It's really great that I've lost the weight and can wear most of the clothes that I couldn't fit in before but still what matters most is my health.....not how slim I'll be.

I ate low glycemic fruits for breakfast......and sweet potatoes for lunch....or brown rice with steamed fish or vegetables....dinner would just be for salads or steamed vegetables.....that was my daily intake....it's difficult to follow the diet at first but after 2 weeks, I was just fine with it. I didn't have cravings for sweet drinks or food anymore. 

If the weather was hot and I wanted a cold treat.....I simply just grab some fruits from the refrigerator and ate them. It's cold and refreshing! Felt so good after that. The cravings for some cold treats just flew by instantly.

I also found out something really interesting about avocados. I only started taking them just recently and I see really good changes on my skin when I eat it every other day. I never knew that it has such great benefits for the skin especially for eczema sufferers. 

It's also the first time for me to try eating avocados. I spoiled the first one I tried coz I didn't know how to eat it. But after doing my research on it, I had no problem eating them anymore and the best recipe for me right now is to eat it with red apples and drizzle some fresh lemon juice on top. Simply delicious! 

I really hope that after a few months I'll be able to see great changes on my skin and health. Who knows I might lose another 5 kilos of weight too! :D

 

I'm saying NO to sugar

It's  been 3 days ..........been 3 days since I started this sugar free diet. It's really tough since I have a sweet tooth but sometimes I just gotta do what I gotta do for health sake. I did gave it a try a few weeks ago for a few days but failed miserably......because I just couldn't help myself from taking chocolate drinks every day. It's a bad habit I know and it had to stop.

But it's not just about the chocolate drinks....it's the coffee...the tea....the hot sweet drinks that I crave for each morning for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I rarely eat chocolates....or take desserts....or eat sweets....it's not something I take everyday...or every week for that matter. It's the hot sweet drinks that I love the most and seem difficult to avoid taking everyday. 

But now it has all changed. Not only have I not taken any hot sweet drinks of any kind.....I have not taken anything that has sugar in it. Seriously!

I'm not sure how long will I last this time......but I hope to be able to do it for a month and see how it goes.....I'm sure that after a month my body will be accustomed to the new diet and I'll be able to go on with it for the next few months. In fact I hope to continue doing this forever because I know that my body is not able to take sugar that much and is having problems dealing with it. Will stay positive!!! :)

Buah Asam Gelugor

Yesterday, for the first time, I get to see buah asam gelugur up close.......because all this time I only get to see the cut up version that's all dried up and ready to be used for cooking like the photo below...

The smell of the dried fruit is very nice.....makes me hungry aahahaha.......

This is how it looks like close up....

The fruit itself look so pretty.....it kinda reminds me of buah cermai....but a much bigger version of buah cermai..... hehehe. Below are photos of my Aunt Norma and Kak Mus who actually brought those asam gelugor all the way from her fruit orchard in Negeri Sembilan.....as you can see below, they were processing the fruits for the drying process....

Spring cleaning 2.0

January seems to fly by pretty fast. We're coming close to the end of January pretty soon. Been so busy with work, I hardly noticed January that much.

My first spring cleaning started with my studio early this month....(not fully completed....half done) and now, it's the master bedroom where the dust collected in there dates back from January 2012!! I kid you not. I guess one year of dust collecting was enough to break the camel's back. I couldn't take it anymore. Something had to be done today and I'm glad I was able to do it. I couldn't postpone the cleaning anymore. I kept postponing because of my ill health. But now, whether I was 100% ok or not, I didn't care.....because I, the so called "cleanliness freak" was up to my neck already with all the dust!

Sometimes I wish I had a lot of money so that I can afford a maid to clean my rooms at times like this .....someone who can come over once a week at least to clean.....but can't afford it yet huhu......till then, it's all up to me. Actually I'm not the type who likes having a maid around the house at all....but when you don't have the energy to do it yourself, a maid can be pretty handy! Now I truly understand what it feels like for those who are weak or ill or too old to clean their house by themselves. It's not that they don't want to do it.....it's just that they have no energy to do so. That's how I felt.......no energy to do much. So I had to prioritize.....I only spend my energy on things that was most important first.....what can wait....shall wait till I have the energy to do so. Even if it takes a year to get it done :P.

I surprised myself, as I never thought I would let my room be so darn dirty. So dirty that up to a point where when I entered the room, I felt like I was inhaling dust. Hate it! And what a great feeling it was when all the dust were wiped clean and the air suddenly smells different. So clean and fresh. Feels good!

I also had a bit of a laugh while cleaning because I found some old stuff that was kept in the room (that needs to be thrown away!!).....like some old diaries.. :P.....when I read those diaries, I can't believe that the person who wrote it was me.....gosh I've changed a lot! I'm not that person anymore. Some of the diaries was written during my varsity days.....I can't believe that I actually wrote what I wear each time I go for my classes. I guess it was because I was afraid I would wear the same thing twice for the week. Hahahahahahah!! I didn't have a lot of clothes to change for each day of the month....didn't have much money back then. But I gotta say, those who didn't have much money had the most adventures!!! The things that I would do to survive sometimes can surprise me. Each experience I had during those hard times were the best teachers in my life :).

The worst part of the diary reading activity was when I can't even remember who are those people I mentioned in them!!! Gosh!!! I'm losing some parts of my memory!!! Oh noooooooo!!!! huhuhu....I guess I have to accept the fact.....I seriously need to do something about that....before it gets worse! 

I have kept those diaries with me for so many years.......I think it's high time I shred them to pieces before someone gets their hands on them and read them all......oh gosh, I wouldn't want that to happen! LOL! Too many silly stories and immature thinking in them  :D.