A panicky state of emergency

The current laptop I'm using now - Lenovo Ideapad 710s was launched in 2016. It doesn’t belong to me, it was hubby’s and then I ziam the laptop and downloaded printer, Picasa, Photoshop, Lightroom, all my clip arts etc…and then it became mine 😆. Anyway, at that time he had another laptop for gaming so he hardly use this. 

I’m quite a sentimental person. This laptop has gone through many itinerary planning, scanning to keep all the girls fantastic well-done exam papers (like real!) over the years, all the favor designs, blogging and whatever bots. 

This laptop has probably gone through one servicing many years ago. Just yesterday (28th), after a month later, I turned it on wanting to transfer some photos from SanDisk to the hard disk and THIS BLUE SCREEN OF DOOMSDAY came on. 

Then followed by a BLACK screen to BOOT system. OMG!!!! I press button and nothing moved, I searched for Mr Google and can’t find any help. I panicked coz I have some Documents in laptop which I have yet to transfer. Not knowing what to do, hubby bochap me, decided to bring it down to the servicing centre. To see what can be done, at least help me re-start so I can quickly transfer the Documents and whatever handsome men pics I have inside laptop 😂 over before it really KAPUT! 

Went down to CT Hub today. Bloody hell! Make me go all the way there and the laptop managed to turn on. Actually I should be happy right? The staff laughed at me. I felt so dumb. No time to lose, I reached home 3+pm and had to do work before settling the transfer. No time to visit mom in hospital coz I think the laptop is more important than her 😂. Don’t say I’m heartless, I did call her when I was driving otw home from CT Hub then coz she wanted me to help her get something from medical hall so I ended up diverting my route and reached home later at 3+. 

But where is my extra new hard disk?? I thought I have a 2TB hard disk? Ahh…. Cannot find so will have to drop by Challenger tomorrow. Torlong Torlong please don’t die yet. Let me quickly transfer my stuffs over. 

Back at home asked hubby if he has any laptop to pass to me, he says no point for each of us have a laptop at home. Yah! That’s why I asked him right? I thought he had two at home but he got rid of one I don’t know when. Now left with his humongous ugly black thick gaming laptop. Yeeeeee…… but I like thin dainty laptop. I feel so unfair why everytime I need to use somebody’s stuff? Why can’t I have my own? 

Ground floor woes

Living on the first floor for the past 10 years, I have seen more cockroaches within one year compared to 13 years in Pang-gol. What invaders have we come across all these 10 years in this house? Not much actually, we’ve had a black cat who strolled into the house. 

Recently have noticed wasp flying into the house from the yard area, I suspect there’s a nest somewhere at the back area. For the last one week I didn’t open the windows but merely flipped the louvres to allow air in. Told hubby I will need to do the insect netting coz I really need to open the yard windows for cross ventilation. 

Today, decided to open the windows again coz the house air feels so stale. Whole day was rather uneventful until dinner time hubby exclaimed “ a bird 🦅 in the house! Where it came from?” The moment he said that the bird panicked (maybe from my scream?), I panicked and screamed coz it was flying next to me 😱 from the main door to the living room to and fro in a frenzy. And I was having my dinner so worried about hygiene if the bird came to the dining table where the girls have yet to have their dinner. Luckily neither girls were there if not hubby will hear three squeaky high pitch screaming 😂. I briefly saw it was black and asked if it was a bat and ran off to the rooms. Instinctively usually if there’s any intrusion, I would run to close the room doors, toilet and kitchen doors so it will be confined to just that space to fly/walk/crawl (🐈‍⬛ 🪳🦎) around. The man was trying to chase the bird out of the house with the sofa arm cushion (quite a comical sight actually but I must applaud his bravery coz I was so afraid) but uncle just open the living room door to PES so small 🤦🏻‍♀️. I told him to open the main door so it can fly out also but with the bird panicking and flying so fast, he also can’t make his way to the door lest he get wing slapped in the face 😂. I could have been more brave if I had something in the house, he with cushion and I with another silly armour to battle with the bird together. Alas! If only I didn’t remove the flattened boxes to the recycle bin in the day time. 

How come he didn’t think to turn off the fan? The worst is if the bird kamikaze and blood splatter in the house (as if the other day’s yucky sight wasn’t bad enough. No thank you, I don’t need another within a span of few days)

A while later the bird was exhausted. He wanted to move towards it but I stopped him. Asked him to help me lookout and tell me where to duck if the bird flies. Can I trust him he will do that? Coz usually when I’m driving he doesn’t tell me “left” or “right” but just “there there.” I had to ensure that the space is wide and no blockage for it to fly out, unlock and pushed the grille door to one side and open the sliding door wide. It took less than 30 seconds before the bird flew out of the house. And the bird lived to tell its momma the adventure it had in our house. 

After the drama, he asked where the bird came from. I suspect it must have flew in from the yard as our living room doors are closed. 

Looks like I really need to start doing the insect netting soon. Sigh….. seems like an easy task but it took super long last time to do the two toilets windows, what more now the yard area window is super high

How about living room. Really want to do so we can open the door without worries but ….. how much will it cost? 

Slap head moment

N was talking about Method laundry detergent just the other day when I mentioned I switched to eczema friendly laundry for che-che recently. I suddenly recalled that I was using my last handwash bottles that I use in both toilets. 

Should I finish my hand gel? I have another 2 refills bottles that I use as a handwash in the kitchen. But I do not have any dispenser bottles left to transfer the handwash. Both bottles in the toilets are the foamy foamy kind. 

In master room bathroom: Not a fan of this fragrance but I got this FOC with my huge haul purchase of house cleaners so using this. 

I used to not like this smell (I prefer foresty, citrusy, oceany smells) but after using this for a long time [we bought the huge refill packs from US] and finishing it to the last drop I kindda like it. 

Took these pics on Sat after returning home. Then I totally forgot all about it. Until when I did it was a day plus later. Quickly made the purchase before I forget.

Alamak! Blame my tired eyes, my non-existent brain and fat fingers. I only realised I pressed wrongly today after checking thru my emails. I wanted the green tea + aloe foaming handwash not waterfall. Now my hands will start smelling like my mirrors and glass and windows 🤦🏻‍♀️. 

Salute!

I really salute all nurses. How do they tolerate cleaning patients’ poops 💩 and pee? How do they tolerate cleaning patient’s vomitus without they themselves feeling 🤢?

When mom vomitted on Thu night, I gagged. I don’t think I’ve ever cleaned her before, maybe a long long time when I just happened to be at Tampines (?) If she ever vomitted before, it would likely be bro or sis who cleaned her. 

When I was cleaning up the vomitus on her, on her bag, on the blanket I wanted to vomit myself. Even when I hold my breath, my eyes cannot unsee the vomitus. Twice I vomitted into the plastic bag when I was cleaning. I used to be able to do this. Onboard and even when dealing with the girls’ vomitus long time ago, but still will always feel like committing myself. This time, I couldn’t tahan n my own stomach churned 🤭 next minute I vomitted. Haha! So useless! 

Then lil’ one told me che-che vomitted too when they were cleaning up her bed. 

Makes me hold nurses in high admiration.how they tahan huh?  

Unexplained heel pain

On Tuesday (14/10) evening I felt a slight pain on my left heel. Visibly there was nothing, it was like the knuckle pain I had no obvious swelling or whatever. I lightly massage my heel. 

The next day it was more painful and I was limping around the house. Massaged and put ice pack on it a few times. Then used the eye mask gel which I had left in fridge. It’s flexible so I can Velcro it securely. Didn’t really help tho and it cooled down so fast. 

What kind of pain is this? After the knuckles pain I wonder if this is related to arthritis or whatever as well. I mean this also came out of the blue 

Checked podiatry website. Is it heel spur? But not the correct spot leh! 

Hint hint to hubby - your wife cannot use her hands to do housework. She also cannot walk around end house to do housework. I NEED MC!!!!!!

Treatment : Rest, ICE. Elevate 

Hubby asked me if it’s gout. I doubt so coz altho I’ve never had it before to know how it feels like but when I read the symptoms, doesn’t sound like it is. 

So I haven’t left the house since Tuesday after I reached home from picking lil’ one up from work, all the way until Sunday (19th). Oh! I forgot I walked across to the clinic on Sat with lil’ one. Didn’t want to walk too much the other days, skipped FightDo coz no way this right knee bai-kar left feet pain person can even do a kick or move feet so much. My left leg definitely can’t stand and support my right knee when I need to do a kick or whatever. Just guai guai stay at home. I can slowly limp around the house doing houseworks. 

Photos taken on 16/10 (Thu). More painful.

I didn’t go out with them on Sat for dinner. Beginning to feel less painful so I’m resting at home eating and clearing whatever we have in the freezer for dinner. 

Anyway happened to be at bro’s place to visit mom on Sunday. Was talking to him about what sis said, he mentioned about fire pain for arthritis. But no leh.. I don’t have so it’s not arthritis. Then he describe the pain for gout, it’s not gout for my feet. So what is it? I really don’t know. Haiyah! Just a BIG HINT I shouldn’t do any houseworks lah! 

photo dump here just incase I need them next time 

Tonsillitis

6th Oct (Mon) 

Messaged me she’ll return home early. Only one hour early. Grabbed home for $43. Peak timing! 

Got an idea on how she was sent home by Ms Lim. The CFO happened to walk by lil’ one’s desk and noticed she was flushed red and asked if she was alright. Ding ding dong dong and by then allowed her to leave office early, just an hour early.

Saw doctor. Measured and said have low grade fever. Strangely Dr Loh didn’t give any paracetamol so I gave her from our supplies at home. 

Medication given : 

1. COF-LESS (hexylresorcinol) lozenges 

2. Serraptase 10 - inflammation 

3. Atrizin (cetirizine) 10mg - runny nose non-drowsy

Medical charges : $55.92 ($55 by CDC) 

“Daddy! Stay away from me!” 

7th Oct (Tue) 

Hey! It’s supposed to be my declared off day. I asked her to help me mop the floor, only to be told off by hubby “she’s sick and still ask her to mop the floor.” “Make her perspire.” Hubby is so biased right? Cannot let his precious daughter take hardship then when the wife is sick he don’t say the same thing. Pfft! 

Che-che WFH today and likes to go to her room to get her laptop charged. AR meanwhile had to sleep outside on the sofa during the day time. Poor thing. After some time she asked to sleep in her sister’s bed as sleeping on sofa is rather uncomfortable. 

8th Oct (Wed)

On MC so rested at home. As she was feeling sniffly, she has been sleeping without the aircon for 2 nights. Pretty unsettling sleep coz so used to sleeping in aircon room. 

9th Oct (Thu)

In the morning, hubby can tell her to “take MC.” Ehh….words from a HR personnel? Here I am telling her to go to work and he’s the opposite, sending wrong message to her. I explained to her that she’s an intern, it wouldn’t look good on her records. 

Went to work by bus but after I came out from my class she messaged me that she’s tired n wants to go home. End up I had to go off immediately to pick her up, thus can’t pack lunch for mom. Called hubby to help me defrost the mince pork as I will cook porridge for her for lunch while I was driving. 

Dr Tan started giving her antibiotics this time round after I asked him if he should do it as it’s her second time seeing a doctor this week. 

Medication given : 

1. Soden (Naproxen) 275mg - inflammation 

2. SW Decondine (Triprolidine 2.5mg/pseudoephedrine 60mg) - runny nose n cause drowsiness 

3. Pulmoxyl (amoxicillin) 500mg - antibiotic

Medical charges : $54.50 ($54 by CDC) 

Ultimately I ended up cooking porridge for dinner coz she wanted to eat at foodcourt after the consultation. Since I was going to cook with pumpkin I cooked for che-che’s dinner as well. 

10th Oct (Fri) 

On MC. Still sniffing away, tired. Haiz! Everytime she gets this even on school days, it takes days to recover. 

11th Oct (Sat)

Said throat feels better so I suppose she should have been given antibiotic right from the start, but doctors often don’t do that. Thinking to self, if we had gone back to Dr Lee (PD) since the beginning when she had this problem a year or two back, would she be given a super strong antibiotic from first consultation? Would things turn out differently for her? 

Today we all only went out for lunch at Sushiro @ Waterway Point then packed dinner home. Time for her to rest again. 

12th Oct (Sun)

Nothing out of the ordinary happened today. Nuah, rest. Basically laying on bed not doing anything strenuous. Everyday also not doing anything strenuous. Her not exercising, not fit make her 一点点 so weak, worst than the weakling me. 

13th Oct (Mon) 

Messaged me she’s coming back early coz manager told her can go home if she’s not well, manager was going out for meeting then go back home to continue work. However when Ms Tan told her that she had already ordered Grab food. Ate then packed her work laptop back home at 12.46pm. 

Oh! This was the day when Miss pretend-to-want-to-save-money girl insisted on going out for lunch and use the money to Grab a ride home. But she’s already so tired didn’t want her to exhaust herself. Grabbed home, this time cheaper at $17++ 

She met me outside the main gate as I had to bring her see the doctor again. Runny nose got worst last night, couldn’t sleep so I have no idea whether her fatigue came from her illness or from lack of sleep. Wah…I tell you this girl ah … so weak!

Dr Loh asked if wants to do a test to check, anyway it’s free. She couldn’t take the discomfort after swabbing one side. He explained that test may not be accurate. 

She was left with last 2 or 3 amoxicillin and Dr Loh told her to stop, he gave her a stronger one - Enhancin 625mg (amoxicillin/clavulanate)

Gave her 2 days MC to cover today and tomorrow. But she didn’t use it and went to work. It wouldn’t look nice on her internship appraisal if she were to keep going on medical leave. 

Medication given : 

1. Enhancin (amoxicillin/clavulanate)

Medical charges : $44.15 ($44 by CDC) 

** this antibiotic may cause diarrhoea. N she really lao sai 😂

Cooked porridge for her to bring to work tomorrow

14th Oct (Tue)

Forgot to take pic of the packed porridge. Packed chrysanthemum in a thermos flask together with 板蓝梗 powder sachet for her to mix in the office later. 

Sent her to and fro work today so she won’t be exhausted. Only today I will do her this favor.

15th Oct

@ 1.03am - prepared rice in Ms Thermie before going to bed. Will save time 6hrs later. 

I’m just so good in being a lazy mom

Got up at 7.05 and cook rice and turn the knob to beat up oven while I prepared the satay chicken on a disposable liner. Pop into oven and prep the drinks - boiled chrysanthemum + 板蓝根. 

ART results - Dr Loh called back in the morning. Results showed negative for bacteria and virus but maybe coz it’s an inaccurate test coz only dig one side. Could be caused by the other bacteria that is not in the list of 20 they were testing. Other than that we all know it’s the same recurrent problem she has. 

Aiyoh! Smart to cook extra rice this morning for dinner but dumb to forget to cook extra for tmrw’s lunch, kept my rice for her. I can count the grains in my bowl, I had to scrap the simmering basket

Took out pork n wanted to marinade so can steam next day. She couldn’t finish the teriyaki chicken so decided to pack that for her lunch tomorrow. 

16th Oct (Thur)

Steamed everything together. Did chawanmushi for her

17th Oct (Fri)

WFH

18th Oct (Sat) 

Last antibiotic taken in the morning. Dropped by clinic and Dr Loh is on duty. Throat doesn’t look inflammed anymore. 37.4 deg cel and asked does she have a higher temp baseline. I only remembered when she was very young she usually has higher temperature in the mornings but also cited that if us walking across plays a part (coz aunty me is feeling hot and leg pain 😀). She reminded me that during covid period when they had to measure temperature daily, 37.4 is her normal temperature once she hits 37.5 she has fever. Wah…. How can I forget this important details? 

He asked me if I measured her temperature daily since this whole thing started, nope I didn’t I only took when he said have fever so I took and monitored at home. After that no more. Hmm… I think this makes me an irresponsible mom 🤭. So I better have a chart at home ready and chart it down. 

Medication given : 

1. serraptase 10

Medical charges : $31.61 ($30 by CDC) 

Throughout I’ve been ensuring there’s a supply of chrysanthemum in the fridge. Coz I boil the drink with 2 other herbs, she says it’s better for her. So from now on until forever, I will try to boil it every time. 

The 板蓝梗 powder 

Other thing advised her was to maybe try gargling her tonsils with salt + warm water. Might help to kill any bacteria lingering in her mouth. 

Note to self is to check on TCM treatment. But tiring leh! TCM must keep going to consult, where got time to go every 5-6 days? 

Dr Chong’s recommendation is to do a tonsillectomy but she doesn’t want the surgery. We know that the pain will always come back if she don’t do this. TCM is also not a permanent solution. I also don’t have the energy to keep bringing her to see TCM doctor. 

to give her a better quality of life. Give me too! Why must make me worry for all the family members, all got dai ji one.  I don’t have the energy to keep bringing her to see the doctor. Had to remind her that this time alone she had 4 doctor visits, how much did we spend? $186.18. Count the past 2 years how many times this has occured over and over again and the number of doctor visits each time. 

New tulips over the days

 15th Oct (Wed)

Oops! I typed wrong date on this collage

16th Oct (Thu)

17th Oct (Fri)

Loving this. The acupuncture works! Wah……how many tulips have I disabled all these years!!! 

My “work” at home always must 等等

Thermomix has been washed, dried and pushed back to its original position even before lil’ one reached home. But when I do that it means lil’ one’s rice will be cold.  

@ 7.50pm : 

Another relaxing or in other words - tu xi gang (in dialect) before I can only finish washing all the dishes + clean kitchen after lil’ one finish her dinner. Reaching home only at 7.31pm this girl takes forever to eat her dinner. 

Really! If they all can do their fair share of washing, drying and putting their crockeries and cutleries, I would be able to finish everything faster and then 收工 and adjourn back to the room to relax. 

In the meantime, this music accompanied me while I’m editing my taking-forever-to-update blog

@ 9.09pm - this music kept me going when I was drying and keeping the crockeries / cutleries. As well as taking out the thermos flask and preparing other things for next day. 

Taking a short break …

It’s 5.13pm and taking a short break. The dinner dishes are in the convection oven to keep them hot for dinner. Will re-steam the rice to make it hot for 6mins later once che-che reaches home from work. 

I can only do this coz hubby packed the dishes for dinner from the economical stall 😂. I only ‘boiled’ the pre-pack teriyaki chicken as the girls don’t have much dishes they like for dinner. If it’s me doing the 3-4 dishes dinner cookout, I wouldn’t even have time to relax like this. 

Sitting with the tulips smacked right infront of me, music on Spotify and a book which I’ll flip and bookmark the recipes I want to use. When I’ll cook them is another story 🤣🤣 #懒惰的我# 

For the past dunno how many months I’ve bookmarked and subscribed to some Japanese content creators who do bulk cooking. Should I do that? Do a massive cookout for one week’s meals. But if the man only likes 3-4 dishes typical chinese meal, how the heck am I going to store the dishes in the freezer? My refrigerator is only 460L (Dimension: W700 x H1825 x D726 mm） the freezer is considered too small for bulk cooking storage! 

Ah Soh goes shopping

I don’t like to go shopping walking from boutiques to boutiques but I enjoy walking down the aisles. Typical ah-soh 😊. Decided to go to the Jap and German mart today.

Meidiya @ Millenia Walk

I saw German sausage at the entrance for Oktoberfest (earlier on in DonQ bakery in Taka they had rolled out some German bakes. I bought the currywurst bread). Although I didn’t like what’s in the sausage (stabilizers, sodium citrate, sodium acetates etc..) I took it coz I wanted German food. German Market sells another brand sausage which I believe will run out by the time I get there. So I think this is a good ‘no-choice 没办法’  choice until I get hold of my top choice of sausage which is 100% natural but more expensive which I have to go to another part of Singapore to get them. Better still, maybe I should make my own sausage. Hee!  

The reason why I wanted to go Meidiya was to see what koikuchi, usukuchi and amakuchi sauce they have. Hopefully I can do my research slowly back at home after that. I won’t be writing a boring post on the bottled soy sauce and their long stories as what I did for the soba (only to lose the draft after that. Pfft!)

Couldn’t find a small bottle of usukuchi so didn’t buy that, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise coz back at home I read that there’s usu-shio (low salt) similar to the low sodium LKK soy sauce we use at home. Perhaps buying shoyu is a waste of money? Coz I used our LKK soy sauce and the girls didn’t complain. 

Back at home I scrolled through the pictures. Saw a bottle of marudaizu shoyu. Aiyoh why are there so many kinds of shoyu? Pantry 不是堆到满满? 

Read up on a guide to soy sauces varieties, click HERE

Some jpop girls song playing on speaker, I don’t think it’s AKB48. Aunty slowly stroll, look left look right 

Saw these really small and cute cans of sweet corn but it’s so expensive and won’t be enough for what I need so bought the cheaper SW brand instead.  

I didn’t know they were having a Nagano Fair 

Saw this, couldn’t take pictures coz there’s a staff replenishing stock. In the mart I notice now there are lots of signages on ‘No photos’. Haha! Must be talking to me. This looks interesting tho. This popular raichō (rock ptarmigan) biscuit from Nagano is a souvenir from the greater Japanese alps region. When I was doing the alpine route (was in the alps) I didn’t see if they sold this in the souvenir shop, I skipped the shop coz I wanted to see the sights.   

I spotted a few during my hike aka slow walk coz it’s snow on most of the grounds. This is the third one I saw which I’m able to take photo. 

I spotted this on the way back after I managed to retrace my steps. Two Japanese ah-peks were quietly taking photos, their DSLR were making more noise 🤣. We observed them in silence and then one of them whispered softly to me “utsukushii” I agreed with him. Tho shouldn’t he be saying handsome? 

I needed potatoes to make curry and my potato salad. The last time I bought Japanese potatoes was in July. Then, there was only one choice of potatoes. Now I have to tikam tikam MCQ 4 choices choose 1. All these potatoes are from Hokkaido

About danshaku and mayqueen potato, click HERE

Comparison between danshaku & mayqueen

I didn’t have the time to google search for best potato to buy given that I have two contrasting use for them. Thus chose danshaku based on their recommendation chart. Let’s see how the potatoes turn out when I use them for curry next time, if they’ll mashed up until I can’t see anything 😂. Maybe this danshaku can be used for the cartoon moulded potatoes? 

A note to self on substitute angmoh potatoes. 

Danshaku = russet potatoes

Mayqueen = Yukon gold

I was trying to recall what potatoes I last bought and traced back to my Sep 1st post on ‘Japanese cooking’ 

For the million $ question that you might wonder if one is better than the other

Enjoyed the time there that I forgot the time. Unknowingly I had spent almost a hour in there. German Market closes at 6pm! While driving I realised I forgot to buy the precut veggies. I love that! 

German Market

After my blog post in September, I FINALLY found the time found the energy to drop by German Market. Arrived with only less than 20mins to closing time. It’s a small mart, can finish walking in less than 10mins but I’m happy. I’m the only Chinese customer there, there were 3 other customers at that time but I think they really blend in with us - slippers, shorts, obiang tote bags 🤣 - so I no feel like I’m in Germany or Netherlands 

Got what I wanted + more things that I didn’t go there for 🤣 and left the place in less than 15mins. Happy to know that parking is free after 5pm 👍.

Notice I have lesser things to write about German Market

The purchases

Haul from Meidiya. 

Going to make bread soon, maybe this weekend. Not sure if the recipe can substitute the flour to wholewheat but will try. I saw this cookie mix, wanted to buy but it was so expensive at $9.89. After that I noticed in the clearance section this box is sold for $3.50 with expiry date in end November. I wonder why they tend to clear things out so fast, not the first time I picked things from the clearance bin. 

Only Meidiya I can find this small tetrapak of milk 

* edit 19/10 just saw that NTUC sells the same sausage for 2 for $15.80 🤨*

Haul from German Market. I went there solely just to get the powder and ketchup but came home with more rubbish. 

Oh! I do pick up stroopwafels most times I’m there. Haven’t had this peppermint sweet for quite some time so pampered me must buy/splurge on this instead of the cheaper Made in M’sia mentos 😉

Oh yah all the snacks

And this hazelnuss chocolaty puddings which is yummy. Haven’t had the Zott Monte since the last time I was in Frankfurt when still jetting around. Yah I have vague memory of picking this up in REWE.