Juice: Papaya

Out of so many types of juices, the juice that I like best now is the papaya juice with milk. This drink is simply sweet and tasty. Besides, papaya contains of a lot of health benefits.
Health Benefits of Papaya:
Nutritive values : Per 100 gm.
Vitamin A : 1,750 I.U
Vitamin C : 56 mg.
Calcium : 20 mg.
Phosphorus : 16 mg.
Potassium : 470 mg.
Carbohydrates : 10 gm
Calories : 39
Also contains Vitamin E and K

Papaya contains the digestive enzyme papain that is why it is valuable for aiding digestion.
The ripe fruit is easily digestible and prevents constipation.
It is shown in a study that this fruit when taken alone for 3 days has a beneficial tonic effect in the stomach and intestines.
Papaya juice helps in relieving infections of the colon and can help break down pus and mucus.
May help prevent cancer in organs and glands with epithelial tissue (ripe papaya).
Prevents nausea (includes morning sickness and motion sickness).

Source is from here.

Bravo! Little May

Since today is the Wesak holiday, I let April put up a night at her ex-nanny house last night.

After sending off April, I started to think of where May should sleep. I asked my husband whether one of us should go and sleep with May, or should let May come to our room and sleep with us. To my surprise, my little May didn't ask anything about where she should sleep without her jie jie's companion. I'm pretty sure, if is April, she will definitely start bugging me before the sun set.

After changing into her pajamas, Little May went straight to her own bedroom, I was spending a little while with her there before we said good night. Then, my husband also spent a short while of one-to-one time with her. When my husband returned to our bedroom, he told me that May was going to sleep alone in her room tonight. I was a bit concerned, but he said no problem, as he was quite certain that May has no issue to sleep alone.

Until this morning, when I went to check on her, she was still sleeping soundly on her own bed. She was really brave to sleep alone without her jie jie's companion, even her 6 years old jie jie also couldn't be as brave as her. Bravo to my 4 years old. Mummy is really proud of you.

Happy 4th Birthday to Little May

Today is my little princess May's birthday. She had celebrated her birthday a day advance in her school.
A Snow White birthday cake.

With Jie Jie.

With her classmates and Jie Jie.

With all the 4, 5 and 6 years old schoolmates.

We had also prepared some goodies packs for her to treat her schoolmates. We brought her to dine at Auto City yesterday. Will blog about it next.

Here, mommy and papa are wishing May Happy Birthday, be good and be healthy always.

Happy 8th Wedding Anniversary

We are celebrating the 8th wedding anniversary this Wesak day. In actual fact, we have legally married for 10 years.

I foresee and expect,

• there is no fine dining or candle light dinner.
• there is no flower, no chocolate, no wine, no diamond and no gift.
• there is no cake and no card.
• there is no vacation.
• there is no party and no celebration.
• there is no special greeting and no love poem, nor those 3 little words of I love you.

.(teary eyes, sob, sob..., but every time)

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when I was rushing to send the children and getting ready to work, he would pack the mixed juice for me to bring to the office. when I tried to skip my lunch after seeing the figure was increased on the bathroom scale, he would make me the banana smoothies to make me feel full a bit.

when I was coming back from yoga lesson and too late to take my dinner, he would juice the most healthy fruit and the lowest calories vegatable to quench my hunger.
Happy Anniversary BaoBei, I love you.

2 contests in a month time

25 April, April was taking part in UCMAS Arithmetic contest which organized by the United Youth Movement of Malaysia (GBBM Negeri Perak). This was her second time participated in the UCMAS Arithmetic contest. April and another participant from the same center as her.

There were also participants from Ipoh, Penang and other parts of North Malaysia.

April and the rest of the contestants were getting ready at their place.

Contest started.

April didn't won any prize, except a trophy for the participation and also a backpack bag from the lucky draw. Bravo, April for additional experience gained from the contest.

23 May, April was taking part in the colouring contest, which was organized by the Community Centres (Rukun Tetanga) at the housing area next to the garden that I stayed.

We needed to bring our own desk and chair. Those didn't bring one, have to sit on the floor. T___T.

Pity those have to bend their back to do colouring for approximately 2 hours. Never expect that the colouring paper was so big, there was so much work to do. Especially to colour all the background, without leaving anything in blank.

After 2 hours of colouring, everyone were forced to submit their paper. There were still some people couldn't finish their work.

Surprisingly, April emerged as the champion for Category 5 and 6 years old.

Taking picture with her big hamper. Bravo April for gaining a new knowledge in her colouring work.

Soup of the week:Corn, Carrot, Apple and Lean Pork Soup

Another new soup that I want to learn from this SOUPS recipe book was,
Carrot, Apple and Lean Pork Soup (page 48).

All the ingredients were the same as in the book, except that I added in the sweet corn.

The ingredients were,

200g lean pork,

2 carrots,

1 sweet corn,

2 apples,

and 4 honey dates.

This was the sweetest soup that myself ever cooked. lol! According to the book, you can substitute the apple with pear, or put both fruit. Then, discard the honey dates, if the soup is too sweet. My children loves this soup, and it is so encouraging for me to keep trying out new recipe.

Other than the soup which was full with vitamins, I also cooked french beans omelet for the additional protein and fiber.

Saturday Lunch at A&W

The shopping mall has a newly opened A&W Restaurant. April has just completed her mid-year exam with quite a good result, so We decided to bring them to celebrate at A&W.

While waiting fo the father to queue and order for the food, the children were posing for some photos.

April was scoring full mark for all the subjects. I was the happiest person after knowing that.

These were the food that we ordered.

May was showing off her mini soccer ball, it was the free gift from the kid meals.

They were enjoying the ice MILO very much, which they seldom get the chance to feast on.

Decorate the bedroom with Feng Shui

The purpose of us to have the Feng Shui master over is to check on the children's bedroom. The master bedroom had very minimal decoration of Feng Shui. In a good feng shui bedroom, every item will reflect the clear intent for love, healing and relaxation.


The master bedroom

Another Hu Lu “胡卢”was hung on the top of the mirror of my dressing table. A musical box was placed at the bedside table. A feng shui musical box is believed to promote better relationship.

Stair Case

A pot of money plant in soil was placed at the corner of the 'L' shape stair case to extract good energy, and as well as good fortune.

Feng Shui applied to children's spaces can bring a vibrant, healthy and lasting sense of joy, at the same time providing relief from an overwhelming clutter chaos often present in children's rooms. Young energy is expansive and vibrant; it needs a sense of uninhibited space in order to thrive. Feng shui can help promote a harmonious growth, thus avoiding cluttered, busy and chaotic energy around the children. Fresh air and clear organization are always the main priorities in children's rooms, as theirs are the spaces that see the biggest influx of toys, gadgets, clothing, and various other items and accessories. Monitor the air quality and open the windows often.

The children's bedroom

This was the old room that April and May stayed. I have yet to move the princesses poster to their new room. The pink painted wall was wasted, as their father purposely had someone to paint it for them.

All blame to the beam on the ceiling. The beam on the ceiling caused a lot of pressure and negative energy to the room owner. Besides the window of the room faced the lamp post at the back street. Thus, we had to convert the room to a guest room now, and April and May were shifted to the guest room.

Their new room door. The master suggested to put the door curtain to block the negative energy which will flow from the master bedroom, because the master bedroom door faces the children' s bedroom door directly.

Their beds were joined together, because their new room was rather small compare to the old room.

4 writing brushes "毛笔" were hung from the wall, these are for promoting the study energy in preschoolers. The yellow curtain is purposely chosen, as they need the Earth element more. The color for creating feng shui Earth element is light yellow, beige or various Earthy/Sand Colors.

The main feng shui goal in transforming children's rooms is to create a healthy, loving and safe environment. A child's room created with feng shui in mind will serve as an emotional and physical support during many experiences of the child's growth.

April is sleeping through the night since the night she first slept in the Feng Shui decorated room. My little May is waking up with smiley face every morning. This is the result that we want. Whether the Feng Shui makes wonder, it really depends. However, Feng Shui is definitely create more spaces and better places for living.

Decorate my living room with Feng Shui

Last month, I talked about April's sleep problem to a Yoga classmate after the Yoga class had ended. This friend asked me whether I believe in Feng Shui. Then, she gave me the contact number of her Feng Shui master. She asked me to try using Feng Shui to solve April's sleep problem.

When my husband came to fetch me back, I discussed with him on getting help from the Feng Shui master. To my surprise, my husband agreed. We have been staying in the house for 8 years, and this was the first time we engaged with a Feng Shui master.

After getting in touch with the master, I faxed over my husband, my children and myself's birth elements to him. The master was travelling to my house from Penang, Prai on the weekend that we fixed our first appointment. The master came again on the following weekend to help us applying the Feng Shui in the whole house. April and May were forced to shift their bedroom. The room that they were used to sleep was not suitable for April and May. That is why it created a lot of negative energy and pressure on them. I will talk more about it in my next post. I can let you know that April is sleeping through the night for 1 week already in her new bedroom.

After using Feng Shui to decorate my house, my living room has additional living things like plant and aquarium.

This plant is called Fa Cai Suan "发财蒜", I do not know what it is called in English. Anyone?

The mini aquarium, which currently contained of 8 small fishes inside.

This is Ju Bao Pen"聚宝盆". Next to the Ju Bao Pen is the children's coin boxes. April and May are first time having pets. They enjoy feeding the fish, and I feel so relax when looking at the fish.

A Hu Lu "胡芦" was hung from the ceiling, because on top of the ceiling is the stair case. Four Feng Shui bamboos were placed in a glass and put on top of the cabinet. 9 red packets were made into fan and pasted on the wall in the room which next to the living room.

A big glass of water which contained of 8 white rocks and 1 black rock, and a Yuan Bao "元宝" were placed on the altar table.

Grey floor mat at the entrance, a statue of laughing buddha 笑佛 and some money plant in a bowl of water were place next to the entrance.

I am diligently applying Feng Shui in my home, because best feng shui is to create a home that nourishes us, supports our energy and makes us feel happy and content.

After all the feng shui analysis is said and done, we are the only one to know what truly makes us happy. Clean, clutter free, good quality air and good quality light are the minimum good feng shui basics for any living space. Having a clear organization system is a must for good feng shui in the living room.

Soup of the week - ABC and Cabbage soup

I had bought myself a new recipe book for making different soups. My first attempt from the recipe book was carrot, potatoes, onion, tomatoes and cabbage soup. First, I cut corrot , pototoes, onion and tomatoes in big cube and boiled them with a pot of water. When the water was boiled only, I put in the lean pork meat (200g) . After boiling everything in medium fire for 2 hours, I put in the cabbage. Lastly, boil the soup for another 30 minutes, add in a pinch of salt, remove fire and serve. Apart from making a bowl of very nutritious and healthy soup, I also boiled 2 salty duck eggs and pan fried the luncheon meats for my children. I know salty duck eggs and luncheon meat weren't that healthy for children, but my children heart it very much. So I would let them have it once in a while, when I was running out of idea what to cook.

A wedding dinner in May 2010

We whole department were invited by the purchasing department manager to attend her daughter's wedding on Saturday. The wedding banquet was held at Traders Restaurant Sdn. Bhd.
The bride and groom's wedding photos were slide-shown on the big screen.

From left, Lorita, Hayley, Yvonne and me.

Stand: Celine who is Yvonne's younger sister.

Us again.

The bride and the groom.

These 2 live band singers were hired from Tao Japanese Restaurant at Autocity. Their performance was really impressive.

Hope you still not bored with our faces.

Lastly, a portrait of myself on the night.