a day of pampering

See the letter above? Check out the date. Yes, I won this contest back in May this year. I entered the contest much earlier. What did I win?

This package is worth RM480. It includes a welcome tea, 90 minutes full body relaxing massage, exfoliating full body scrub, warmy steambath, detoxifying foot spa and a nourishing milk bath.

 

The spa is located at Menara Standard Chartered, Jalan Sultan Ismail. It is right smack in the middle of KL. I took leave on Friday to utilize the voucher because it expires on 31 December 2012. If I don't redeem, what a waste it will be. Upon entering, I was greeted by the staffs and they gave me a welcome tea. Then one lady took me to the consultation room to explain to me the package that I won. There are several types of massages i.e. sensual, Japanese, traditional and Swedish. I am not one who frequents spas and massages so much and my pain threshold is really not high so I opted for a relaxing massage that does not have a strong pressure on my body. The lady explained to me that some people whose bodies are not used to massages may experience body ache the day after if the pressure is too strong. She suggested I take Swedish massage. I was also served with another cup of tea during consultation.

After consultation, I proceeded to do my detoxifying foot spa. What they did was soak my feet in hot water for about 20 minutes and put a small cup of salt in the water. That's it. I don't know how that can help to detoxify but whatever. They didn't even scrub or massage my feet. :(

Again, I was served with another cup of tea. By the time I was done with the foot spa, I had the urge to go to the toilet to pee. >.<

Then an Indonesian masseuse led me to the massage room where I was required to change into the disposable G-string and was asked to lie down for the massage. The massage was good, she asked me every now and then, whether the pressure is ok or too strong. After the massage, she scrubbed my whole body with some sea salt. After the scrub, I went to have a warm steambath for about 20 minutes. After that, the lady asked me to shower. I thought I was gonna dip in a milk bath but nope. All I did was shower with johnson&johnson milk bath. -_- I guess that is their equivalent of a milk bath. After showering, I went back to the room to dress up and a cup of tea was waiting for me. 

Then the staff called me into the consultation room again, also with another cup of tea. She started asking me my experience and of course she started promoting their packages. I had to say no simply because I don't want to commit myself. The location itself is inconvenient to me as it is right smack in the middle of KL so you can imagine how expensive parking will be. Plus, as much as I love doing spas and massages, I don't see the need to sign up. I don't want to pamper my body so much as people said, including the masseuse herself that once your body is so used to massages, it will become manja and always wants to be massaged. I don't know how true it is but mind you, it is not cheap. I politely said no and walked out of the spa feeling energized, refreshed, skin as smooth as a baby's butt and wanting to pee.

I left the building and went shopping at H&M. I ended up buying 3 outfits for Babycakes and one for me. I was itching to go to other shops but it was a Friday and I don't want to get caught up with the traffic madness on a Friday evening so I left at 3ish. Went to tapau some food, went home and watched a dvd before I picked Babycakes from the nursery.

Milk supply for Babycakes

OK I can upload photos again. Actually this has happened once before and after a while, I was able to upload photos without having to upgrade the storage. Now it is happening again. Perhaps it was a technical glitch on blogger? I don't know but I am happy that I can now upload photos.

One time I received an sms asking me to reply a YES/NO question to stand a chance to win a milk supply from Wyeth. I don't normally reply to such sms-es but that day I did. I have forgotten about it until I received a telephone call from a representative from Wyeth telling me that I have won a two months supply of S26 PE Gold. Their letter came not long after.

I had to collect the milk myself at Jaya 33 so on 12 December 2012, after attending Court in Shah Alam, I went to Jaya 33 to collect the milk.

Jaya 33 parking is horrible. Most parking are reserved for tenants and the visitors parking were full too. I had to make so many rounds to find a spot. In the end, I parked illegally because I was sick of looking for parking. My car is small to fit in anywhere anyway. By illegal I meant not in a proper parking lot. Wyeth's office is on level 12 and it can only be accessed by those with access card so I had to register at the concierge and the lady used her access card to allow me to go up. However, instead of level 12, she pushed level 13 so I had to come down again, tell her and then only she pushed the right floor. The security measures are really strict.

This is what I won for Babycakes.

So far Babycakes is not a picky eater, alhamdulillah. She eats basically everything, even without having any teeth. She just recently popped her lower and upper teeth, past 1 year of age. I hope she will like the milk and I hope once the milk is finished, she won't mind switching back to Ducth Lady or Dugro. She's been drinking Dutch Lady since she turned one and she seems fine. I don't see the need to switch to other brands of milk. However, it is her rezeki to get a carton of S26 PE Gold.

it's full

My blog storage system is full so I am unable to post anymore pics unless I upgrade and purchase the storage. Would I pay to post pics? Don't think so. What bout you guys who post tons of pics on your blog? Did you run out of space? 

A blog post is not interesting without a picture or several pictures, right? For now what I am going to do is upload my pics on photobucket and provide a link to the album or the pics in my blog post. If you are interested to see the pics, feel free to click the link. If not, no need to click. Simple as that. Of course I will make the blog album on my photobucket open to public.

Till my next post.

Winning ain't easy

Oh dear, December is here! December is a special month because it is hubby's birthday. It also means we will be closing in on the new year, which means our wedding anniversary is also near. We are almost 2 years young, insyaAllah.

Anyway I am still very much a contest junkie. However i haven't been joining, let alone winning stuffs lately, which is a bummer. I am an avid RHBonline user and they are currently having a contest called Italia Mania. The weekly prizes are 5 x RM100, the monthly prize is 3 x Trip to Italy for 2 and the grand prize are 5 x Vespa GTS300. The contest period is from 16 October 2012-31 December 2012. I honestly think the monthly prize is way better than the grand prize, don't you agree? I am so pissed off with RHB at the moment because I can't enter the contest. For whatever reason, the reference number I entered is not valid. I called for assistance and they too seem a bit oblivious with the t&c and they weren't able to solve my problems. They asked me to try again tomorrow. GRRRRR. This reduces my chance at winning. Sigh.

Speaking of winning, I recently won a bottle of SKII Miracle Water from Bella NTV7. Isn't that awesome? I was required to collect the prize at Media Prima but I got my lil bro to collect it for me. I can't wait to try the miracle water and see if it truly is a miracle. My skin now is OK, not flawless definitely but OK. It does get oily towards the end of the day and I do get the monthly zit before or during that time of the month but other than that, alhamdulillah my skin is OK. I only use Olay's facial wash and Olay Total Effects. I don't use a toner, I don't use a nightcream, I don't use any serum, I don't use any whitening products so I hope this miracle water will help enhance and boost my skin's condition. And I hope my skin won't be too pampered with it so much so that it will no longer accept Olay. But then if it really does wonders, I might consider using it in the long run.

The Miracle Water. P/s: This is not my desk. This is lil bro's desk. He sent me this pic after he collected the prize.

Hold your breath

It's a technique that everyone should master, in my opinion. OK if you can't hold your breath, at least learn to breathe through your mouth. Thank God I know how to do both because there are certain places where I just have to hold my breath or breathe through my mouth. The places are (in no particular order):

1. Public toilets, the office toilet, every other toilet for that matter, except for my own toilet at home (unless hubby just used it beforehand to do his big business) and some fancy restaurant or hotel's toilets.  Speaking of toilets, I hate going to Tesco or Giant's toilet and I dread the day when Babycakes is potty trained and/or old enough and wanted to go to the toilet with me. Gaaah!! I mean, you know how public toilets are, right? OK let's not divert from the topic.
2. In the elevator. The moment I enter an elevator, I would either hold my breath or breathe through my mouth. It's automatic. You know how crammed elevators can be sometimes and you are barely inches away from the other person. Some people don't really smell nice even in the morning. Even if there are nobody in the elevator, I would still hold my breath or breathe through my mouth sometimes because some elevators are kepam and doesn't smell fresh and sometime other people's smell linger even after they have left. Bleugh.
3. When I pass by certain chinese herbal tea shop in shopping malls. I am sorry I don't mean to offend anybody but I just can't stand the smell of the herbs or tea boiling away with eggs. If I do not hold my breath, I would feel nauseous.
4. When I pass by certain restaurants near my office. Same as the above. I just can't stand the smell.
5. When I pass by security guards, contractors, workers etc because let's be honest, they stink. Please don't get me wrong, I have my utmost respect towards them for they are earning an honest living but my oh my I just can't stand their smell. 

Where else....so far the above 5 are a sure bet situation where I will either hold my breath or breathe through my mouth. What about you? Do you do the same? 

Merry Go Round

Having a baby/toddler will definitely bring out the kid in you. When was the last time you went on a merry go round? When you're an adult, you won't be going on a merry go round just because, right? Unless you're in Genting Highlands or a funfair lah but not an open merry go round in a shopping mall. So when you have a kid/toddler/baby, this is the perfect opportunity to go on one. Don't tell me you don't get excited when you see a merry go round. Come on, admit it. I won't tell! 

Last Sunday I was in Sunway Pyramid and on the lower ground floor there was a mini funfair of some sort. I am not sure if it is permanent or temporary but I got all excited upon seeing a huge ferris wheel, rides and merry go round that I just have to take Babycakes on it. Hubby was not with us as he went to see his client so he dropped us at Pyramid and the both of us went on the merry go round. There were a few other rides but Babycakes was too small to go on it. I was excited to take her on the merry go round and she was excited too! Her expression is priceless. I just had to record it on video but at the same time I had to hold on to her to make sure she doesn't slip off and fall. That would be tragic. Check out her video below. 

online shopping basics

I am not so much of a shopaholic but I am an avid online shopper. I love browsing online shops and I've made quite a lot of purchases online.I especially love buying stuffs for Babycakes online. I can't help it that the clothes for baby girls are too damn cute. The prices vary so I try to shop diligently. I do buy clothes for me online too but sometimes I don't trust the sizing guide that much. It's unfortunate that my body is out of proportion so I can't really rely on the sizing. If i buy, it's a gamble, really. 

Anyway, some online shop owners are very friendly and efficient while some are just plain annoying and not to mention cocky. 

First example:

On FB. When people ask the price for an item, is it so hard for them to just reply it in the comment box? If they do, others will see it too so there's no need for 10 people asking for the same thing. Some would reply in the comment box with the price but most will reply "I pm u ye" or "Please pm for best price" or "Please LIKE our page and send us a message for the price" or  "sorry I can't pm you because you are not in my list/you haven't LIKED our page yet". Gosh I find this annoying. I may be interested in one item in your shop but that doesn't mean I LIKE your page. And are you that hardworking and efficient to reply the pms one by one?

Second example:

Also on FB. People ask, "How much is this?" They would reply by providing a link to their website. Aiyoh is it so hard to reply RMxx. And why not go the extra length and say "RMxx not inclusive of postage. Postage is RMxx."

Third example:

I left a comment in the comment box for an item on the website. I receive no reply to the comment. I sent an email asking about the item. I asked a few questions in detail. "Is this still available? How much is it? Which year is this product? Is it brand new or preloved? If it's preloved, how long has it been used? Are the functions still functioning? Are there any items/parts missing? Do you have a picture of the item?" Yes, I believe if you are really interested in an item, you might as well ask everything you want to know. I don't want to be exchanging emails and asking questions one at a time. If you are the seller, by right you should answer all my questions. You should not answer only one out of 10 questions. Example of an email reply: "Masih ada. Yes, preloved" And that was it. The rest of the questions remain unanswered. If I am in a good mood and still very much interested in the item, I would ask again. If I still get a nonchalant reply, you know what, thank you bye bye. If you are not interested in replying my email and answering my questions, I take it that you are not interested in selling so I shall take my business elsewhere. It's your loss.

Fourth example:

This is for the buyers. Some sellers on FB clearly put the details of the products in the picture i.e. the price, the sizes available, the sizes that are sold out, the price per piece, whether it includes head band or not, whether the price is for a set, price for postage, whether it includes postage or not, how to order etc. Basically everything is provided for. All you need to do is either comment that the thing is cute or comment to reserve or follow the instructions on how to order, if you wish to order. Some people would still ask "How much?" or "Saiz xx ada tak?" when the description clearly states the sizes available. Duhhhh!!

weekend project part 28

Last Saturday was a gloomy and cloudy day. The sun was shy to come out. I wish I could pull my blanket over my head and sleep in. Too bad it was only a wishful thinking. Having a baby will no longer give you the luxury of sleeping in on weekends. Babycakes decided to wake up before 9am. Great. Tak bagi Mummy chance langsung! Sigh. I had to drag myself out of bed because she was busy picking my nose, pinching my cheeks, poking my eyes, slapping my face, slapping my body, peeling my pants. -_- Hubby had work on most Saturdays now (pfft) so I was left alone with Babycakes at home. I gave her breakfast and let her play her toys in front. I then went to the kitchen and made Cheesy Popovers for breakfast. I found the recipe in The Sun newspaper on Friday I think. I copied the recipe and it was so easy. Here is the recipe:

CHEESY POPOVERS

Ingredients:

1 cup flour - It didn't say what flour so I simply used all-purpose flour I had in the kitchen

2 eggs

1 cup milk- I used UHT milk

3 tbsp butter, melted

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp sausages- The recipe calls for ham but I only have sausages so I cut them into tiny pieces

Cheddar cheese according to liking- The recipe calls for grated cheddar cheese (I can't remember the exact amount) but I only have the sliced cheddar cheese so that will do

1 onion- The recipe calls for spring onion

Pepper to taste

Method:

Beat eggs, milk and melted butter in a bowl. Add the flour, sausages, onion, salt and pepper to taste and mix accordingly. In the meantime, preheat oven at 220 degrees celcius and put a muffin pan in the oven to heat it. Take the muffin pan out, brush lightly with some butter and pour in the batter about 3/4 full. The recipe says to mix the cheese with the batter but instead I just shred them into tiny pieces and put in the muffin pan. Bake for about 15 minutes until they are golden brown. Take out and serve.

The recipe yielded 18 pieces of cheesy popovers. According to the article that came with the recipe, the name popover came about because the batter 'pops over' when baked. The author was curious with the name and he/she actually searched on Wikipedia. My muffin pan was not hollow so they are a bit flat. The taste is yummy with the bits of sausage and cheese. Of course you can vary the recipe and add stuffs to your liking e.g. chopped peppers/capsicum, mushroom, chicken pieces etc. Maybe if I use self-raising flour or add a teeny bit of baking powder, the popover will rise more. I shall experiment again. If you don't have an oven or a muffin pan, I guess you could try making them as pancakes as the batter is really the same.

A bit hangus coz I had to keep my eyes on Babycakes who was playing in front and also keep her away from the kitchen. We seriously need to get the safety gate to install at the kitchen entrance.

After baking, I gave Babycakes a bath and I made myself a nice mug of Nescafe and I sat down to eat my cheesy popovers. Guess who's sharing with me?

 

 

 Babycakes loved it!

no longer exclusive

At 1 year 9 days, Babycakes had her first taste of formula milk, brand Enfagrow A+. It was a Sunday so I thought I might as well let her try and see if she's ok with it.  She had her 1 year appointment with the pediatrician on Friday and her pedi was surprised to see that she barely gained any weight since the last visit. Well, she did lose a lot of weight when she was sick. I asked the pedi about formula and he said any formula will do. He then gave us 2 packets of Pediasure to sample.  So last night, Babycakes had a bottle of Pediasure. I told hubby that we needed to buy formula coz her milk stash is almost gone so hubby went on and bought Dugro, without even consulting me. GRRRR. I haven't even surveyed for the milk and I want to choose the best. I want to take the time to go through the various brands of milk that were available but mr. smart guy went on and simply bought Dugro. We haven't tried it yet but I hope Babycakes will like it and I hope it will not have any adverse effect on her.

So with a heavy heart I hereby declare that Babycakes is no longer exclusively on breastmilk. I still nurse her at night and still pump (although not much) so at least all is not lost.

dentist appointment

When was the last time you met your dentist? When was the last time you went to a dental clinic? Wait, do you even have a dentist to begin with? 

As for me, I can't remember when was the last time I met my dentist and I have no idea when was the last time I went to a dental clinic either. And oh, I don't even have my own dentist! It's that bad, I know. Aren't we all supposed to see the dentist every 6 months or so? Heh, definitely not me. Unless and until I have some tooth problem, then only I will make a trip to the dental clinic. Alhamdulillah I am blessed with a good set of teeth but of course they are stained with coffee and all. I take good care of my oral hygiene but one day, just a day before Merdeka, I made a trip to the dental clinic, after so many years. 

It started a few days before that when I felt something wrong with one of my molars. So on Thursday 30 August 2012, after court, I made a quick trip to a Klinik Pergigian 1 Malaysia (is that what it's called?) in Sentul. They accept walk-ins on Thursdays so I did not make any appointment. I know I can always go to some private dental clinic but I'm pretty sure it'll cost a bomb so I opted for the Klinik Kerajaan instead. :D

The clinic is located somewhere in Sentul, and it's not really easy to locate but with the help of my gps, I managed to find the clinic.

I wonder how old this clinic is...

The signage.

Up the stairs we go.

The registration counter. The nurses are friendly.

So they don't have the most modern clinic but the service is really good and efficient. Thank God there were not many people that day so I only waited for a few minutes.

The dentist is a young lady dentist, who was really nice. It turned out that my wisdom tooth has chipped! Gosh how the hell did that happen? The dentist suggested to do some scaling. Is it called scaling or filling? I forgot but it's tampal basically so it should be filling, right? She said it's best to extract the tooth, which required surgery and I needed to make an appointment yada3 but the best solution for now is to tampal the gigi. I told her, ok, tampal the gigi it is. I mean, hello, surgery? Extract the tooth? NO WAY! The thought of it makes me cringe. During the process, it was definitely not pleasant at all. I got so ngilu that I clung on to the sides of the chair. I kept telling myself "Childbirth is more painful, childbirth is more painful. If i can go through labour and childbirth, this is nothing!" It didn't really work by the way so I had to endure the ngilu-ness of it all. This is why I HATE going to the dentist!! Before I know it, it was done and the dentist advised me not to eat anything for at least 1/2 hour. And it was almost lunchtime. Tsk. I was told to come in again if the problem persists but for now, so far so good. Heck, it better stay good. I ain't making a second trip to the dentist.

 

The fee? RM3. Awesome. RM1 for registration and RM2 for the tampal. If I had gone to some private dental clinic near my office, I'm sure it would costs more than RM50.

So people, the government has provided such services for us, why not go ahead and make full use of it? ;)

we need an intervention

One can only plan but He decides. I plan to breastfeed Babycakes for as long as I can. When she was born, my short term goal is 6 months and when she turned 6 months, my short term goal is 12months. Now that she's 12 months, my goal is 24 months. I mean, I've survived and succeeded breastfeeding for 12 months, so what's another 12 months, right?

So, Babycakes turned 12 months last week, 27 September 2012. We bought a cake for her teachers at the nursery, we went out to dinner at Chili's BSC and on Sunday 30 September 2012, we had a birthday party for her together with my dad's birthday (which fell on 26 September 2012) and also a belated raya open house. It was pretty huge and the crowd was huge. Alhamdulillah it was a success. I'll blog about it in another post, Insyaallah.

One week before her 1st birthday, Babycakes got really sick. She was fine over the Hari Malaysia long weekend but she got really sick on Tuesday. She was restless, crying non-stop, she had fever, runny nose, she threw up milk, she had diarrhea, she lost her appetite, she was coughing and this went on several days and then she got a thrush/yeast infection in her mouth. It was a very tiring and trying week for us what with the lack of sleep and all. I had a full trial that week so we had no choice but to send her to the nursery. However hubby picked her up early. Due to the stress and lack of sleep, my supply dropped tremendously. Well, i would like to believe it was associated to that coz I am still eating as usual and drinking as usual. I did not change my diet at all but the drop was very drastic.

Alhamdulillah Babycakes recovered a few days before her birthday, albeit not fully. She is now back to her old bubbly chirpy noisy cute little self.

Whenever I pump now, I no longer get the amount I needed. I can barely make 3oz per session. Yes, it is THAT drastic. Her stash is slowly but surely diminishing. I almost bought a Shaklee set but gosh they were too expensive! I am still taking Pil ASI and I just started taking pil habbatus sauda. I may need to start supplementing with a formula soon. It is very sad for me to not be able to make anymore milk for Babycakes but I am still trying. I plan to still bf her at night and on weekends but I may have to send formula to her nursery. That way, she will still get the benefits of bm.

And how appropriate is it that I get a free sample of milk from Enfagrow A+ today? Tomorrow is Babycakes' appointment with her paed so I am gonna ask about which milk is best to be introduced to her at this stage. Mums out there, if you are reading, what milk brand would you recommend?

buns, anyone?

There is this one vegetarian bakery & cafe near my office which sells vegetarian buns. I am not a vegan and I have never really tried vegetarian foods. This bakery cafe sells buns, cakes, a bit of sushi, biscuits, the occasional fruits e.g dragonfruits, aloe vera, pomegranate etc. I've tried a few of their vegan buns and sushi and it is not that bad but I've tasted fluffier and tastier buns. Their buns are more dense. On some days, they would even have 'overnight buns' where they would sell them at 50% off. The cost for each bun is not expensive, ranging from RM1.40 to RM2.50 or so. Sometimes I would buy the fresh buns and yesterday I tried to buy the 'overnight buns' and they taste just like any other buns. I had a heavy breakfast so I bought some buns for lunch/tea. I bought three buns and they cost me only RM2.50. Pretty economical, right? I don't mind buying the 'overnight buns' as I can always dunk them in coffee.

The thing about buns with fillings that I don't like is that the filling will only be in the middle of the bun. See Exhibit A.

EXHIBIT A. Look how they 'tease' you with a sneak peek of what's inside. It's kaya, btw.

Now let us all look at EXHIBIT B. My first bite was quite big but there is still no sign of the kaya.

EXHIBIT C: When you come to the middle part of the bun, there is a huge dollop of kaya right smack in the middle so much so that it didn't balance with the bun. Refer to Exhibit D.

EXHIBIT D. Too much kaya in one bite.

Why can't they spread the kaya evenly all over the bun so that with every bite, you get a bit of the sweetness of the kaya to balance out the bland taste of the bun?
So that was my bun-eating experience.  Care to share yours?

oh dear, selamat hari raya!

I hope it is not too late for me to wish my CrAp ShEEt readers *ehem* Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir & Batin. If my writings have offended you in one way or another, I humbly seek forgiveness. I hope you had a good celebration with your family and loved ones during the loooong break. I sure had a great time as this is the first time I celebrated raya as a mother. It is also Babycakes' first raya ever. Alhamdulillah, thank you Allah for the blessings and for giving us this opportunity to celebrate raya as parents. It is a bit tiring having a very active baby on your hands but it is most enjoyable. Babycakes' behaved herself most of the time and only gets cranky when she's sleepy or hungry. She gets a lot of angpau too! I haven't counted them yet as raya is not over. ;) Thank you to everyone who has given Babycakes her duit raya. They'll definitely go into her savings account.

Some sneak peek of our first raya pics. 

 

Babycakes telling the world that it's her FIRST raya.

She was in such a happy mood after a nap that morning so we managed to capture her posing around in her little green baju kurung. Isn't she precious? :)

Project Raya Cookies Part 2

My second cookie for raya is peanut butter cookies. It is really simple to make, I don't even use butter and flour. For someone who has a very active and bubbly baby to tend to and also wanting home made raya cookies, I need a simple, easy and quick recipe that doesn't require much work and time. 

 

They're not the prettiest but they're really yummy and peanut-buttery, perfect for peanut butter lovers.

Alert when shopping at Giant

The above title says it all. I've read and heard of complaints from Giant hypermarket before this and it is true. In fact, this is the second time this is happening to me. The first incident was a few months ago, at the same Giant hypermarket in Section 13 Shah Alam. I bought Rafferty Garden's baby food pouches. The price for 1 pouch is RM7.99 but the promotion price is Buy 1 Free 1 so I took 4 pouches. By right I should only be charged RM7.99 x 2 but when I paid for the items, they charged me RM7.99 x 3. That means they did not count the second Buy 1 free 1 combo. The cashier can't undo the mistake so I had to lodge a report at the customer service center. I had to fill in a form and waited almost 1/2 an hour to get my money back, which is a total waste of time but heck, it is my money and it's RM7.99 mind you.

Another incident happened just yesterday. I dropped by Giant because I needed to go to the bank. Then I went in and bought some stuffs, including this pair of pants for Babycakes. It's hot pink, the material is good and it's only RM9.99. 

 A hot pink lycra pants for Babycakes. There are other colours too but obviously I chose this hot pink.

Check out the price tag. It is only RM9.99.

 When I went to pay, guess how much they charged me? RM12.99. Ridiculous isn't it? I asked the cashier, "seluar tu bukan RM9.99 ke?" She then looked at it and mumbled something. Then she called another staff who verified it. Duhh, clearly it is written RM9.99 and the price tag was on the pants itself.

The other staff then keyed in something and then deducted the RM3 from the lycra pants as shown above. Sorry for the low quality of the images but I hope you can see it.

I also bought three cans of ice lemon tea at RM1 each (should have bought more, so cheap!) but when the items were scanned, it shows RM1.29. I just have to ask, "Air tu bukan RM1 ke?" The cashier replied, "Dia akan tolak sendiri". If you go to Giant hypermarket, at the entrance there are some items for RM1, RM3, RM5, RM10. This was where the ice lemon tea were. There was also bath towel for only RM10 and I took one piece. Again, when it scans, it was RM11.99 but luckily it automatically deducted RM1.99.

So please be careful and be alert of the prices of the items you take. The shelves may note different price but the cash register may note another price. I am lucky I caught this mistake before sales was concluded or else I will have to go through the hassle of claiming my money at the customer service center.  Know your price and know your right. Let this be a lesson to all of us. It is our hard earned money be it 30cents or 3 ringgit.

CIMBclicks suck

Online banking/Internet banking is supposed to make one's life easier and hassle-free, yes? Shopping online is made so much easier with online banking. But how frustrating can it be when you have to call the bank customer service every.single.time when you are performing a transaction? It is very, very frustrating and not to mention, annoying as heck. 

This happened to me once last week and another one today itself. I wanted to perform a transaction via CIMBclicks for the purchase of some stuffs. I filled in the relevant details and when I clicked on the TAC, nothing happened. I waited and waited and had to make sure that my session did not expire. The small window would pop up every now and then reminding me of the session which is about to expire. I then called the customer service and of course I had to give out my details, atm card number yada3. They asked me to clear cache yada3 and the next day, I managed to perform the transaction.

And then today it happened again. The TAC was not delivered to my blackberry so after several waits I gave up and called the customer service, yet again. And it's like deja vu. I had to give my details yada3 that at one point I blurted to the representative "This is why I hate calling customer service! I had waste my time calling you and give you my details. Online banking is supposed to make lives easier. Every time I had to call and waste my time. Don't you think I have nothing better to do?" The representative asked me if I changed telco. trust me, the questions she asked me were the exact same questions I was asked last week. It is annoying. Yeah yeah bersabar di bulan puasa and all. Don't give me that talk. I just can't tolerate this kind of nonsense. Of course the matter was not resolved. The representative even had the cheek to tell me to keep on trying. Right. Like I have nothing better to do than menghadap your website all day long and keep on trying. Great.

project raya cookie part 1

So I have already made my first cookie for raya on Friday. I made it after Babycakes has gone to sleep so I can bake in peace. I ended up sleeping at almost 3am! And of course I woke hubby up for an early sahur of bubur lambuk which I took from Masjid Wilayah earlier that day. My first cookie is Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, the recipe which can be googled. The ingredients are very minimal but it takes quite some time to make as you first need to refrigerate the cookie dough for about an hour or more before you shape them in tiny balls. After that, roll the balls in icing sugar before placing them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. The first batch I made, the cookies turned out huge as I did not know how to gauge the size. The recipe calls for the use of baking powder so naturally the cookie will rise and expand. So the subsequent batches were made smaller and make sure you spread them evenly or they'll stick together, like what happened to my first batch. I did not take any pictures of the cookie in progress as my hands were messy from rolling the dough into tiny balls. It has to be cold so you have to work quickly as the dough will get soft due to the warmth of your hands. While one tray is baking, I refrigerate the remaining dough until it is ready to be baked. This process was repeated several times as I can only bake one tray at one time, thus taking a lot of time to finish baking the whole dough.

Fresh from the oven

The end product. It tastes very chocolatey and sweet. It sure looks pretty too with the contrasting colours of chocolate and white.

raya cookies

I've always baked chocolate chip cookies for raya so this year will be no exception. But I have yet to find the time to bake them. Time is ticking and I don't have much time left. I've been wanting to bake on a weeknight but I find myself too tired even before 10pm. Sometimes I fell asleep along Babycakes when I put her down to sleep. This process of getting her to sleep also takes about 45minutes to 1 hour, sometimes longer.

I haven't been cooking much for berbuka because we would normally buy 2-3 types of lauk, some kuih and I would just cook rice. We've been breaking fast outside too so that also saved me from cooking. It's not that I do not want to cook but it just takes so much time and hassle. I also need to entertain my Babycakes. On some days, she would be content in her walker running around or play in her playpen while watching her nursery rhyme dvd. On some days she would be very clingy and seeking attention. By the time I reach home after picking up Babycakes, it will be almost 6pm so I have about 1 1/2 hours to whip up something. I know frying a fish or chicken takes less time but the thawing, preparing and the cleaning up after takes so much time and effort.  So I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Ramadhan bazaar vendors near my house for without you guys, I would have to cook! haha. But so far alhamdulillah the foods that we bought were satisfactory and we haven't gotten sick or anything *touchwood*. The other day I asked hubby to buy kuih lopis and guess what he brought back? Kuih lapis. FAIL.

As for sahur, we take oats every day. And it's the instant kind. Just pour hot water and you are done. We would mix with honey or dates and milk.

That being said, I will bake my chocolate chip cookies, no matter what. I am also being ambitious of trying some new cookies recipes I found online. We shall see how many types of cookies I will bake this year. I will probably start tonight since we have no plans and tomorrow is a Saturday. Hopefully Babycakes will cooperate with Mummy and be a good girl tonight.

Not Impressed With ZALORA

Two weeks ago I made a purchase from ZALORA and one of the items sent was wrong. grrrrr. I was excited when I received the package but I was so disappointed when one of the items was not the item that I ordered. I had to call them and returned the item. And now they're telling me that the item is out of stock and they are issuing a store credit. Also, they are issuing a store credit of RM10 for the costs I had to bear for the return of the item. When I received their email, they only issued a store credit for the item and did not include the RM10. I had to call them (which took them more than 5 minutes to answer, btw) and inform them of this and they said they will issue a new one, which will be latest by tomorrow. Pffft. Frankly speaking, I am not impressed with their services at all. I've seen some people complain of the same thing on FB whereby they received the wrong shoe size and what do you know, it happened to me as well. I've been shopping online from so many online shops and this is the first time that I got my order messed up. So much for being one of the leading online business, huh?

See, even Babycakes was excited for  Mummy!

Salam Ramadhan

Last year it was the two and half of us. This year, there's three of us. Alhamdulillah ya Allah for giving us this opportunity once again to embrace this holy month. This year will be more exciting but challenging in its own way but Insyaallah we will be able to go through it. I hope my milk supply does not diminish during fasting. Ya Allah please help me be strong and please maintain my supply for my child. Amin.

glitter-graphics.com

when it strikes, it really strikes!

The baking mood has really strike me. A few weeks ago, I found this pretty cake mold at Aino, Desa Park City. It is really cheap, only RM16.90. There is also a gingerbread man mold and another mold which I can remember but I chose this design instead. 

The next day, I was so eager to try it out so after picking up Babycakes, I took her to the Cold Storage to buy the cake ingredients.

 Look how happy she is in the trolley.  And here she is figuring out which part of the trolley is yummy. 

 

I was excited to bake but a bit too lazy to start from scratch so this came to my rescue. After all, it is a trial run for the mold.

I wanted to buy the grease spray but it is expensive for such a small can. I know I needed to make sure I grease all nook and cranny evenly so that the cake won't stick. I merely used butter and flour but I made sure I leave no spot ungreased. The cake mix requires minimal ingredients so after mixing it, I pour the batter into the greased mold.

Somehow rather the heat in my oven is uneven, as you can clearly see. I sprinkled some colourful strands on the fireflies and put a few drops of red colouring on the butterflies. I also put some chocolate chips on the bees.

 My bugs cakes, fresh from the oven. They come out perfectly clean.

I should have put the colouring and the sprinkles on the bottom of the cake as the bottom of the cake will be the top when you take them out of the mold. This butterfly's antenna has broken and gone into my mouth.

 Can you see the details? They look almost real, don't they?

 

This bee was without chocolate chips as I want a few pieces to be plain as it is.

And then last Saturday I was bored as hubby was away in outstation and I had a sudden craving for brownies so I went to the kitchen and whipped up a batch of walnut brownies. I've been eating them everyday and I'm getting fat. pfft.