Two Days of Daddy

I'm glad to say those icky feelings that went away last weekend after our chat didn't come back. 

Daddy came back on Wed and we spent Thur and Fri afternoon / night together - mostly running errands and getting supplies... 

He came and got me from work and then we got the mother and dropped her off with my sister for a day out with her and my BIL. 

BIKSS also gave mum his ex-office orchid (he starts at his new workplace on Monday!), and since she loves (and is good with) plants.. well.. he figured it would be in good hands. 

The pot it came in had some moss but they agreed it would be best for George (that's what I named it) if we got some charcoal for his new pot... so I posted an ask on FB to see if anyone had some lying around somewhere and it turned out my cousin did. So we made a small adventure of it. Cousin wasn't home but he gave me directions to the back courtyard of his house via a small lane that one had to get to via this road, which was off that road... and all in all I felt like I was on some covert mission. 

I live for these kinds of fun adventures with BIKSS! He's very sporting about going on quests and missions with me too, so that helps. 

We also managed to lug back a whole bag of groceries and then we had some spanking time! Finally! 

The mother was out, the helper was out, the tenant was out! 

PeRfEcT!!!

And a quick romp... then we were out to dinner. 

On Friday we went and collected my new passport, picked up some sanitising hand-rub that I pre-ordered (if you've been following the news on #Covid19 you'll know it has been near impossible to buy these off the shelf almost anywhere that there's been a spike in cases) and also went and collected a mattress for mum that someone donated. I know this can be gross to some people, but it's a good almost-new mattress from someone who had just gotten it a couple months ago but now wants to remodel the whole bedroom. Why the heck not. I figure lots of antibacterial spray and some new mattress protector and sheets and we'll be right as rain. 

Again, I realise this isn't for everybody.. but the people in this house don't mind so we went ahead and got it yesterday. 

After depositing everything at home, we left mum and helper to it and headed out to catch a movie. There's a new mall pretty nearby where they were showing something we both wanted to see... so that's where we went. After the movie I picked up a long cardi from Valleygirl (*waves at my Australian readers*) for 4 bucks. Again... why the heck not right? 

I thought it was a lovely (and not quite my usual) cheerful colour, and figured it would be a refreshing change from the neutrals / cools that I usually wear. Fine. Black. I usually wear black. Everyone, meet my turmeric throw-over LOL.

 << - FYI, this is turmeric.

After that we went on a DATE date. We sat outdoors at a beachside cafe and had waffles and coffee... and altho it wasn't GOOD waffle, it was a fantastic date. It was kinda windy too so I got a chance to wear my new cardi straightaway! Here's the waffle that looks better than it was. Ah well. 

Fun Things Tuesday

Happy Tuesday :)

1) BIKSS sent me this with the caption "This is me!" 

And it is. He's the one that'll smack my butt as I'm walking about the room.

2) Power is always fun to have - and use UNwisely

3) I had to read this twice. And then I groaned.

4)  And I know plenty of people who would make this same argument

5) I think this one is my favourite

6) I wonder what *this* is about

As always, let me know which was your favourite!

Talking and Accidental Waffles

Yes accidental. 

We went to a new Jap place for dinner. The pics looked ok, so we thought, hey why not. PLUS one of the items on their menu was chicken and waffles. You all know about me and chicken and waffles, so of course I was sold. At 30% off it was definitely worth trying out. I say again, this discount-restaurant-reservation app is awesome for exploring new places. 

The battered prawns looked promising so BIKSS decided we would have that. 

Sadly, when it arrived we both looked at the dish and weren't sure if we should laugh or cry. 

I don't know if you can tell, but it was a tiny plate with even tinier prawns. That's a regular credit-card sized card. Meaning to say, the plate was small. And I could have fit at least 8 prawns on that card. That's how tiny the prawns were. And that's with the shell on. And battered. I can't imagine just how miniscule they'd be if they were naked. SHUDDER. It tasted ok tho. So um, yeah, thank goodness we didn't pay 10 bucks for them. 

The rest of dinner was much better. We also got a salad which was refreshing, cold, and tasted great with just the right amount of tangy, sweet and umami. 

Then came the main event - Chicken and Waffles, served with either a wasabi mayo or maple syrup. We often see it only accompanied by syrup so we thought we'd try the mayo for a proper savoury version. It's not a huge dinner-plate-sized waffle so portion wise it was perfect for us. (I forgot the mayo so after we attacked half of it I re-assembled the remaining half and added the saucer of mayo LOL). 

Did I like it? Yes. BIKSS enjoyed the chicken more than the waffle. He liked the flavour, but not the texture, so much, he said.

I liked the karaage chicken well enough, but that waffle was delish! Enough crisp to last right up to the last bite, yet just dense / chewy enough on the inside. The hokkaido milk they used added to the overall fragrance and egginess too, I thought. 

It was so good that midway through our savoury waffle I told BIKSS we should try their sweet version. So we ordered a plain butter/syrup waffle for dessert :) 

I like that the waffles come in small servings. Which makes it a little bit pricey, but at least it's good - the worst thing is having unsatisfying food! 

After dinner we went to sit at the beach for a bit, cos I needed to get all the yucky stuff in my brain out into the open. 

We talked, and I told him all the things I needed to let out. Mind you, it's not anything that he did or didn't do, or nothing that was his fault. 

I was just feeling bad about some stuff - I think it's just the place I'm in right now - and I guess I needed to let him know. It was a good talk, he held me, (Mission Bear Hug accomplished!) and kissed me and wrapped me up in the Daddy Cave that I was missing. 

And now he's gone on a family holiday - which I'm not feeling bad about at all - so I can hunker down and finish this course. 

But I'm glad we got to have that talk last night. 

And waffles. I'm glad we got waffles. 

Being Testy And Vietnamese Comfort Food

Me that is. I'm the testy one.

This period is pissing me off. I'm bloated. And bleeding way more than I normally do.

Something to do with perimenopause it seems.

Which means I'm on NSAIDs to reduce the amount of blood loss. And that always upsets my stomach. And no amount of omeprazole seems to help.

Yesterday I had to load up on a whole ton of gastric meds to counter the sick that my Naproxen was causing.

The upside is - no cramps. *small hurray*

I would just prefer it if I didn't bleed like Niagara Falls in the first place.

BUT. Feeling sick in the tummy means I'm irritable. And that means I snap at BIKSS.

And he's a saint about it. But sometimes I wish he would just wrap me in a bear hug and tell me to shush.

I think when we don't get so many opportunities to cuddle / play / spank, I unravel ... and the DD/lg cord unravels too. 

I dunno. I think what he's doing is giving me a wide berth. But maybe that bear hug might work better. 

Perhaps it's because I've been dealing with a lot of stress and feeling overwhelmed recently too, and it's uncharted waters for both of us - some of the stuff that's stressing me out isn't your regular "work stress" type of thing. 

For sure one of them is the father's passing. I know it has been a few months but from time to time I get burried under waves of sadness. Not because I miss him or anything, but I think a part of me wishes his last years weren't so difficult for him. It's not anything that can be helped even if he were still alive. But you know, thinking. 

This Covid-19 that's making the rounds in Asia is also very trying.  I work in a clinic so there's new protocol every single day and we all know how much I like change. I'm also trying to keep mum indoors as much as possible without scaring her. I mean, it's not like we should never leave the house, but given that she IS a "high risk" candidate, I prefer that she should NOT fall sick.  

Which is another thing. The mother. You know how kids demand all your time and energy? So do mothers. She isn't demanding. Don't get me wrong. That's not what I mean. I mean, ok, I'm sure you knew that. I'm just clarifying. Where was I? Oh yeah. Mum. Having her here just takes up more of my time and energy. What's for lunch... does she need a drink? Should I get her some afternoon tea? What did she have for breakfast... would she be hungry by now? 

I know I know, you're thinking, surely she can sort out her own meals... But that's the thing. She'll just go without eating if I left her to it. That's how she ended up losing so much weight in the first place. Whenever she didn't feel like eating she'd stick a straw in her meal supplement drink pack and have a liquid dinner. NOT GOOD.

Since she's been here she's at least put on a little bit of weight. We all know one of the hallmarks of a still-robust elderly person is a good appetite. Her appetite is da suck. I need to make sure she eats. And that's why having her here is also taking up some of my brain space.

Last but not least I'm trying to get through the last of my nutrition courses. The deadline is Feb 28th. So I'm in a bit of a hurry. It's hard to hunker down and do work when all of the other stuff is happening at the same time... and because I'm a planner (you all know this, right??) I get very stressed out when I have to cope with unplanned things getting in the way of my planned things. 

So yes. Testy.

We managed dinner well enough last night despite a couple of incidents. Minor. But present still the same. At least it didn't turn ugly, which was good. (That's my assessment anyway, BIKSS might say differently. LOL) I think part of it was just BIKSS giving in. I do remember at one point I just blatantly said why I was pissed at whatever it was that pissed me off, and then decided I didn't want to talk about it anymore and then we just moved on to something else.

Energy. I don't have it. I'm spending so much of it on my patients, my students, my mother, my studies... that I just don't have any more to spend on anything else. 

Soup is comforting. As are spring rolls. And so is Banh Mi. All my favourite things.

Beef Pho, Fried Pork Spring Rolls

Chicken Banh Mi

The Blue Dinner Date

No, no, I wasn't feeling blue. I was WEARING blue. 

It was a fancy place we'd been to before. 

The WC has a nice sitting area...  for people who want to take a picture of their new bags, I suppose :)

And full length mirrors against one wall... for vainpots wanting to take an OOTD pic. :)

The shoes were super comfy, no blisters anywhere, and none of the plastic edges cut into my skin. Which was fantastic. 

The only problem was the "clacking"-slappety type of sound coming from my right shoe. It turns out on there was a small gap between the plastic and the wedge base, which I'm trying to sort out right now. I stuck some shoe glue between the loose space and balanced a mini mortar and pestle on top of it to weigh it down.

The mum and caregiver were quite tickled by my "art" piece. 

Dinner was bacon chowder (for BIKSS, cos I'm no fan of bacon... ) with a poached egg in it. That's the first time I've ever seen a whole egg dropped into a bowl of chowder. Interesting, but not something I would want to order specifically. 

The salad had way a lot of dressing - again good, cos most places don't give ENOUGH. 

And grilled chicken breast with a side of mushrooms for our main, followed by a regular brownie and vanilla ice cream for dessert. 

Did you spot the bag?

I love it! Definitely a win.

And on the way home - we picked up a couple of zucchinis.

We're going to dinner again tonight. That's 3 nights in a row :D

Maybe I'll take the bag out again. *Grin*

Macs and Playground Date

Yes.

We had dinner at macs.

Cos McGriddles!



Then we went for a walk near the water...

And there was a playground... and I sat on the swing. And we played on a few other moving things.

And then we bought groceries.

Sometimes the best dates are the simplest ones!

Loving My Trussardi

It's HERE!!!

I mentioned getting it in this post - but alas it didn't get to me before Valentine's Day. Still, a post-anything-day-present is still nice! 

I unboxed it earlier. I'm loving the size and the feel of it!

Dustbag - Check!
Certificate of authenticity - Check!
Wrapped zipper pulls - Check!

It opens up easy so there's no fumbling trying to get into the bag, and I really like that the top of the inside slot pocket is reinforced - and on the other side there's a zipped pocket.

I also love that the inner lining isn't a solid dark shade. Makes it a whole lot easier to find stuff inside without having to rummage about.

BIKSS sent me a bunch of fotos saying all I need is a big hat to complete the Audrey Hepburn look.

I HAVE A BIG HAT! LOL - in fact, I have two. One in an off white, and one in navy!

And that pair of gorgeous floral wedge slides to go with everything. But I don't have ANYWHERE to wear a get-up like that to. So maybe not all at one go eh?

In other news, remember that pretty lace bralette I got?

So recently the mother has been saying that when she breathes in it doesn't feel "satisfying". It usually happens when she's sitting down on the couch in front of the telly, and I've told her a couple of times now to try not wearing her bra and see if that helps. 

She says it feels better when the strap isn't fastened. The thing is, when she's home that's a good solution, but she can't walk around bra-less outdoors... Well, she can, but she won't. 

Enter the cushy soft and comfy bralette. I let her try the one I got. She's one dress size smaller than I am but it's one of those free size things anyway. Turns out she loves it. And has been wearing it all afternoon.

It's a good thing I ordered more in different colours. We'll decide who gets which ones when they arrive I suppose :) 

Kinky Bralette And Loud Kimono

I bought a lace bralette. It's not kinky. It arrived yesterday.

It's soft and comfy and very affordable at a mere $3 - but shipping cost me $4. Still, for 7 bucks it's a really good bargain. 

I got the one in navy. Then went back today to wish.com to get some other colours. 

But while I was looking for the same listing, I came across THIS kinky thing. 

Yup that's the FRONT of the bralette with no cups and the back has just the halter and back strings. 

Perfect for boob-smackings and nipple play I think. 

If you're keen on getting it - CLICK HERE. It says "FREE" - Just Pay Shipping (which looks to be $4 right now). 

And, no, I'm not getting it.

In other news, my maxi kimono style cardi arrived - and I wasn't sure if I was going to keep it or not... it's LOUD. I love it. But it is SO LOUD. 

<- Here's the pic. 

There's a lot of it. It's long. And tassles. And long sleeves - not 3/4, not push up, LONG sleeves. 

But what the heck. I bought it for a reason and to hell with society's judgements on whether that's too loud for an Asian girl. 

Keeping it I am!

Besides, I have way a lot of black dresses that would work under that. 

And now, back to studying... when will it be over?!!?!?

Social Enterprise V Day and A Delay Sneaking In

We went to V day dinner last night. I wore the boots.

Comfy. No blisters. No chaffing along the topline. And easy to walk in.

Tried and tested. And they passed with flying colours.

We ate at the pork knuckle place we discovered a couple of weeks ago, and this time we had the steak and a smoked salmon salad. 

The salad came with a very generous portion of smoked salmon. Hurray!

The steak was delish. The sides looked a little sad tho.

Thankfully neither of us over-ordered. We were full enough but not stuffed to madness, and had space for a McD's strawberry sundae after. I love the stuff. Don't judge. 

Before we left tho, one of the waitresses mentioned she liked my boots and we spent a few minutes chatting about shopping! LOL.

The cashier also mentioned that she recognised me from our recent visit. She was surprised we popped by again so soon. 

I told her the food was good, and the discount app made it more affordable for us to eat there a bit more regularly, plus I always try to support establishments that hire people who are differently-abled!

We were lucky to have gotten our V Day dinner a day early cos the V-day set menu costs something like $80 on average (that's per diner, mind you, not per couple) whereas our dinner cost us all of 30 bucks total!

We went for that sundae and then planned on sneaking in again but the mother was awake, and I could see the light shining from the living room.

We sat in the car for a bit, sharing news about this stupid coronavirus thing that's hit our shores, and after some time when the light still didn't go off, I told him I would head up first and see what was going on. 

When I got home the mother was watching telly. Some new program that she was checking out but she decided not to stay up any longer. Truth be told, I think she was worried about me and just wanted to wait up till I got home.

So off to bed she went and I texted BIKSS to scurry up and into the bedroom.

Alas, there was no girlfriend-ly or boyfriend-ly duties to be carried out that evening cos after a shower I was so tired that while snuggling I fell asleep mid-conversation.

It was hilarious cos I didn't even know I had drifted off. And he said to me "What was the last question I asked?" And I said "What's the difference between a goat and bear?"

That wasn't it of course.

I remember saying something about a picture of a goat popping into my head, then the next thing I knew he was chuckling that I had fallen asleep.

It was so bizarre. Well, now I know how he feels. He used to do this to me all the time - fall asleep mid conversation. The only difference is that he used to ramble and mutter some nonsense AS he was falling asleep. And it was usually something that made no sense.

He got dressed to go so that I could sleep properly. And that was our very non-eventful V day eve. 

Meanwhile, it's now ACTUAL V day here where I live, and since we're also battling the stupid COVID-19 crap - here's a sample of the V day cards that have been making the rounds on whatsapp and FB. 

In case you were wondering, they're bouquets of masks and other sanitizing supplies. 

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Stay safe!

The Boots are Here!

The snake skin boots are here. And I love them. 

I'm heading out for dinner with BIKSS later this evening. I'm thinking I shall totally break them in today! 

Why not, right? 

I also picked up a Topshop knit sweater blouse when I ordered these - and that turned out great too!

I was wearing a striped shift dress so I threw the top on over it to try the fit. Looked pretty good this way too. 

Sorry about the "noise". There were people walking about behind me. Oops. 

I think I know why so many people recommend the site - it's easy to use, it carries quite a good number of brands (from inhouse labels to high street fashion, and even luxury / branded items) and best of all - free returns. 

I'll definitely think about getting more items from their website when I want to go shopping again. 

For right now, I'm done. I haven't any desire to look at any particular category of clothing. That's usually a clear sign for me that I'm shopped out. 

Now to wait patiently for the Trussardi, the Wish cami and bag insert, and another batch of clothes from that first website where I had purchased the first pair of boots... I had store credit after all. Among the pieces - a seafoam unlined blazer / blouse and a pair of red pants. I'm definitely stepping out of my comfort zone with these items!

In other news - my steptracker gave up the ghost. 

I had only just mentioned to BIKSS that I might go back to wearing watches after this tracker dies, cos I've got a Guess and an Armani just sitting in the drawer, wasting away. 

I suppose the time has come.

Thank you for all the years of step-counting! You have served me well. RIP.

Zaps and More Little Hanoi and A Personal Discovery

I wanted to use up the package that I had left dormant at my IPL place so on Monday I decided to take a trip to the new outlet that my hair-removal specialist had been posted to.

Turns out the thing had expired and I had gone over the "grace" period too... she was kind enough to let me use up the remainder of my shots but I had to finish the whole lot at one go... no more carrying it over to next time.

I thought that was nice enough of her, because it was within her right to say I had to forfeit the lot.

So we got down to it. Zapped all the hair below, did some underarm remedial zapping, decided what the heck let's have a go at the fine upper lip hairs, and when all that was done we used the remainder of the shots to work on some whitening treatments.

I had told BIKSS it would take 15 minutes. But that was BEFORE I realised I had to get zapped 160 times at one sitting.

When I finally got back to where he was waiting for me, he suggested we go for some Buncha since we were in the vicinity. Now the last time we were there we did say we would go back again to try some of their other spring rolls. Well then, Little Hanoi it is!

After wandering around a little bit (cos we had time to kill before our 830 reservation) we headed over to the restaurant.

He was immediately drawn to the pulled pork with traditional Vietnamese crackers. So we ordered that. And the soft shell crab slider sounded pretty delish too so we got one of those.

I must say, they weren't all that fantastic. BIKSS enjoyed his pulled pork mainly because he likes pulled pork. It's not NOT nice, I mean, I tried some. The flavour was pretty good, but I'm just not a liker of pulled pork. Like at all. In fact, he likes sesame too.. so those crackers were also right up his alley.

The crab slider was a bit meh. I expected more... taste as well as quantity.

Anyhoo, we also ordered the 3-duck pho, and 'The fat pork rolls' banh mi (or baguette).

OK. Now we're talking. These two more than made up for the shaky start to our dinner.

Lemongrass grilled pork with a mild sauce and all the yummy goodness of a fresh, crispy, toasted baguette. It was so good I ate my entire half of it. Usually I have like 40% and BIKSS gets to finish up the rest of whatever we're sharing... but this... oh this was good!

And after I had painstakingly removed ALL the green garnishing bits (I abhor coriander leaves) the soup was still warm, the noodles stayed unsoggy right till the very end, and that 3-duck combo was pretty darn awesome. There seemed to be more duck than noodles, which is always great value for money if you ask me. 

Now ordinarily I don't eat carbs in the form of bread or rice or noodles... but diet be damned. These two dishes were so yummy that they were worth the carbs!

The thing is, we'll have to go back there again cos the original plan was to try some spring rolls... which we totally didn't get round to doing! 

After dinner we rolled back to my place (I say roll because we were way too full to walk properly... more like waddled...) and BIKSS took advantage of a freshly zapped pussy and lavished quite a fair amount of attention on it. 

I've said in the past that I'm not really a fan of having someone's face in between my legs, but that night I came to a realisation - it's not so much that I don't enjoy it (for I do!) but that most of the time my brain goes into overdrive with worry that there'll be hair I missed while shaving, or that it's going to be prickly, or that (even worse!) I haven't shaved at all! Who knew! Well, ok, I should have known, but I guess it just never occurred to me that it was just plain ol hair anxiety!

That's one more mystery solved! 

Tuesday Things

The Word Edition

Enjoy :)

1. What the shit! 

2. Thank goodness they don't sell books!

3. I happen to LIKE Kevin Bacon bytheway

4. We've all seen this, but it's still hilarious!

5. Oh this is so so true.

6. I think BIKSS and I are BOTH guilty of this at times

As always, let me know which one was your favourite. Have a good week ahead everyone!

Shoe Update, Jeans and Breton Haul, and Friday Dinner

The snakeskin boots arrived but alas they didn't fit quite right. I think when ordering boots I might have to go one size up. They were too narrow in the front and my toes felt a bit constricted  🐍

(see what I did there... ).

Anyway, their return procedure is real simple so I've sent it back for store credit (you can ask for the amount to be credited to your card but I figure I would probably just buy something else, and this way the transaction goes thru way faster) but in the meantime I found another pair on ASOS. This one's 100% leather upper and comes in a wide fit so that looks more promising. I also went and looked at the boots I currently own and I was right - they're a size up from my regular shoes. 

These are the ones I'm waiting for now...

BIKSS, meanwhile, has been very supportive of all this unnecessary spending. I'm waiting for him to clear his throat and remind me to be cautious about this shopping spree I seem to be on because I'm not rolling in dough, but I think he's also waiting a bit to see if it will continue or if I've shopped myself out. 

Still, he knows I'm pretty prudent about money and I only buy stuff I really, really love. And my clothing purchases do tend to all be on the 'very affordable' side. Which reminds me... H&M spree!

Last Friday after dropping off the too-tight-boots at one of the collection points, I popped in to H&M (which was in the same building) to look for white jeans - cos I'm in the market for white jeans, as I told BIKSS last week - oh, and black jeans too, to replace the ones I have which I can't wear because they're just too baggy for me now. To my delight, I managed to find both. 

I'm not a fan of the truly distressed jeans cos I don't like holes/rips in my pants, but I CAN handle a frayed hem (see the white culottes). And they're both in the slightly more high-waisted and cropped style that's looking to be very *in* this year. I figured I would get a straight-cut black version with a sewn-up hem for more 'serious' or sensible occasions and a fun, fashionable white pair for date nights! 

(As you can see, a lot of thought and consideration went into picking the right styles for each colour! Didn't I say I was a planner?)

I also picked up two Breton tees (one of them pictured above with jeans), since the last one I got turned out to have black stripes instead of blue - which I still love, but I DO want something with the classic blue stripes. I could have sworn it looked blue in-store tho! 

Total - $54

BUT WAIT!

H&M has this recycle-your-clothes drive going on where each bag of old clothing you bring in earns you a 15% discount voucher that can be applied to any ONE full-priced item.

Since I had 4 items, I needed 4 vouchers.

So I asked the cashier - "Can I split the clothes that I bring to recycle into 4 bags? So that I can qualify for 4 vouchers?"
Yes, she said.

Hmmm. "Can I use all the vouchers at once and on the same day that I get them?" 

Yes, she said. 

"Can I leave these items here and come back in the evening with the clothes I want to deposit in the recycle bin?" 

Yes, she said... Just come look for me and I'll do the necessary. 

GREAT!

I was gonna run off home to submit an assignment that afternoon and then head out after to meet BIKSS for our show that evening anyway. It was merely a matter of a 15-minute detour to drop off the recyclables and pay for my loot. 

Now ordinarily I would roll my eyeballs at such an extravagant scheme just to get extra discounts... but hey, money is money and savings are awesome, and if they allow it, why the heck not right? And it's not like I was going to incur extra transportation cost or nothing. I was gonna be taking the train up to that same station in the evening anyway. All it would cost me was some extra steps. Which technically is BENEFICIAL, exercise-wise, right? Double win!

Eventually I ended up paying only $46 for the lot. 

Can't say it wasn't worth the 15 minutes and 2000 steps. Right. With treasure in hand, it was time to meet BIKSS!

Dinner was had at one of our favourite places - it was a quick and easy Chicken Salad with Japanese Sesame Dressing .......

And grilled Barramundi with Sweet Potato Fries

 and Sautéed Edamame with White Beans and Mushrooms

And then we were off to watch The Importance of Being Earnest.

If you haven't seen the film or caught the play, I strongly encourage you to do so if the opportunity presents itself. BIKSS had no idea what we were watching and was pleasantly surprised that it was a comedy! AND he enjoyed it tremendously.

As far as days go, I thought that was a very productive one! 

Have a good weekend everybody!