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.

Last day of 2012

I can't believe that today is the last day of 2012. Soon it will all be over and we will be entering 2013. I'm glad that I can blog comfortably now. It was difficult before when my computer broke down and ended it's life so suddenly huhuhuhu.....

I'm still struggling with my health.....not sure when all this suffering will be over but still I'm always grateful that even though I'm like this, Allah still bless me with a lot of good things.....certain things that happened to me this year seems like a dream that came true.....to be honest, a lot of my dreams came true this year and I'm still pinching myself coz I still can't believe so many good things happened to me......I can't wait to start anew and really look forward to a brand new beginning in the new year. I got a lot of motivation from watching how others have carried on with their lives no matter how hard life  is and how bad their health is....they still achieved a lot and still make it happen.....there is no such thing as giving up.....never give up....and I'll never give up!! As long as I'm still alive, I'll keep on doing what I love.....don't care what people say....all I care about is getting blessings from Allah.

Hmmmm......my 366 days project was abandoned.....guess that today will be the last time I'll label my post here with that 366 days project tag.....and I'm pretty sure that I won't be doing it again for 2013 or the year after that.....because I just don't have the time for it anymore. But at least I did try my best..... ;)

Just like all the years before.....each year, I've gained so much of new knowledge, lots of new experience and done so many new things in my life.....it's pretty life changing....and I love it. No regrets! Alhamdulillah.....I love 2012.....thank you for all the wonderful things that came my way....unforgettable indeed!!. <3 <3 <3