Time to Quit Looking at Shopee

There is an awesome shopping platform that is in app form and downloadable by country. This means the shops that list their wares on the site are likely able to ship the items locally. This means cheaper shipping costs and shorter waiting times.

So far I've ordered more bra extensions (aside from those comfy bralettes that mum ended up swiping we also tried these so she can continue wearing her existing bras - they work great, btw); a pair of run-off Nikes, some jelly sandals, and two pairs of insoles.  

The weather has gotten crazy hot too, recently, so I also ordered a few sleeveless tops (I have 6 now that I wear all the time for work), 2 more bralettes in nude and white for wearing under light-weight (and light-coloured) blouses, and a bunch of mid-length culottes - the definition of which for the purpose of this post is "flare pants that look like skirts". (There seems to be many definitions...)

Now I do already have cropped pants but they tend to be either denim (too thick), fitted (too warm) or made from a stretchy fabric (too clingy).

The flare pants I do own are full length and those are proving too warm for the 35 degree weather we're having. Don't forget the 90% humidity. I'm sticky all the time. And not in a good way. I  have two knee length summer skirts that are work-worthy but that's not nearly enough either. So I went looking for light weight culottes - kinda like the ones in the pic ➔.  I prefer pants to skirts for work cos I regularly have to climb on a step stool to get at the higher shelves.  

Mum's pants are also getting tight around the tummy (hurray for her gaining some weight) so she needs some new ones too. And since the sizes on these shopping sites tend to be a bit hit and miss, and she's a size smaller than me, I figured I would just order a bunch and see who fits into what. Whatever's still too large I can offload on the sis (one size bigger than me). Whatever's too small I can offload on the caregiver (one size smaller than mum). I don't foresee too much of a problem there. :)

I'm also waiting on this contraption. I could do the stretches myself, lying on my tummy and pushing my upper body off the floor / bed, but that would put a lot of stress on my not-great shoulder. So I'm going to try using this instead.  

Let's see... um I've also ordered some headband tube bandana things... I wear it on my head when I exercise and it keeps the hair out of my face AND helps soak up the sweat so I don't drip all over the place. You can wear it many many ways!

What else... what else... Oh the warning light for my printer ink has also been blinking so I ordered some from the app too. The computer shops are all still closed so it's not like I can just go out and get some. It seems so far, I've been able to get all the stuff I need (and some I don't need) online. Which is fantastic. It means I only have to go to the store for food. And 'tato chips. 😈

Blogger, Comments, Tea and Chips

I received an email from PK telling me she couldn't leave a comment on my blog. 

Would y'all do me a favour and leave one on this post to see if it's still working? And if it's not working could you send me an email? I wonder if it's the case for everyone (after Blogger loaded their new format option) or it's just an issue with her account / email address.

I really dislike change. And this is ONE change we all don't need, judging from the general mood around blogland. 

Anyway, it seems blogger now looks a little more like gmail... which I do use. So it's not AS difficult for me to navigate I think.

I'll try inserting a pic to see if that's the same as old blogger. Here's a pic of yesterday's "English Tea" that I curated for us. For lunch. Instead of teatime. I had seen a friend post their English tea the day before... and it came with a whopping $77 price tag, including delivery. I decided I had a hankering for some scones and pastries too but didn't want the hefty bill that came along with it. So I went off to the bakeries and procured some of my own treats. 

Well the picture inserting is a little different from before. Somehow I don't seem to be able to change the size of the picture. If someone has figured out how to do this please let me know. 

Still, here it is, some finger sandwiches, a tuna croissant, chicken puffs, a couple of cakes, scones, and buns. We didn't finish all of it, cos I think I bought too much... so I get to have more for lunch today. 

In other news, this time around my period has decided to behave. It seems last month's 2 week long intermittent bleed might have been a one-off. Still, I shall investigate in the coming week - I have an ultrasound planned and then we'll talk about whether I should get started on some pills to regulate the frequency and duration of my periods, not to mention the likely benefits of fewer PMS symptoms and a generally lighter flow - all of which are pluses in my book. 

The weight seems to be coming back down to something approaching my normal. Thankfully. It's slow, but steady, and I'm not panicking as much. I'm still a kilo away from my REGULAR weight, but I can live with that. Better than being 3kg over.

Oh, and on the way back from the bakery I passed by one of my regular snack shops and would you believe they were clearing their stocks of potato chips! 

Regular price - $3. Clearance price - $0.60.

I bought 6 packets. 

The expiration date is 23/6 on the earliest ones, and mid July on the ones farthest away. Pffft. They'll all be gone in 2 weeks. I asked BIKSS if I should go back in the coming days to pick up more. 

He says I should. Now that's the best thing ever. When a lidl with a penchant for chips asks and Daddy agrees that it's a good buy! Chips, Here I Come!

(Edit - it says on the top banner that "The legacy interface will still be optionally available."  I think I shall probably be exercising that option. The new interface seems to take up too much space, buttons on the top editing bar have gone missing only to require an extra click on "more" to get to the alignment options, and as I mentioned, I couldn't figure out how to change the picture size.)

Savoury Granola Anyone?

I prefer savoury snacks to sweet snacks. If you know anything about my addiction to chips, this will come as no surprise to you. 

So I thought, why do granola bars (which ranks quite high in my books for the yummy nutty chewy munchy-ness of it all) have to be so sweet? 

Now I've recently tried making my own, and that has helped some. At least it's not SICKENINGLY sweet. And I can put the stuff I like, and leave out the stuff I don't. I also don't bother with cranberries or raisins or anything that ADDS to the sweet factor. Sometimes I'll have dark chocolate but that's a different food group right? 

So one day last week as I was sitting around with my home made granola bar and chewing through an episode of Supergirl I thought, I wish these were salty, like chips, but healthy-ish, like granola. That would be perfect. 

Oh. Hm.. I wonder. 

A couple of clicks later I had some tabs open showing recipes of savoury granola. Perfect! 

Now where I live there aren't a whole lot of people who actually LIKE this stuff. We're Asian. Granola is more, well, Western. 

So if you HAVE heard of savoury granola, I do apologise for sounding like I've been living under a cave all this while. But I hadn't. I didn't know it was a real thing. And now I did. And I had a new mission!

The recipe I saw was for granola. Like the crumbly clumps. Not a bar exactly. But I figured why not just set it into bar form? 

So I did. But I made a mistake with the nuts. Thinking that my immersion blender could chop (it said it could, the liar...) evenly... I stuck it into my 1 cup of nuts and what I got was a VERY uneven mix of almost-nut-butter and whole un-cut nuts. Ah well. That'll have to do I guess. Any attempts to get at the whole nuts just made the already mushy portions, um, MORE mushed up. 

The other thing I didn't do that I was supposed to was add an egg white. I was just plain ol' lazy. There was oil in there, there was honey in there... I figured those were enough as far as binding agents went. I was wrong. 

bendy breakable bars

My granola bars were soft and bendy. It was still awesome tho. Taste-wise - the best snack ever (especially since it's SO guilt free!) but it was going to be difficult to transport. In the past I would just grab a couple of bars (I portioned and stored them up in zip bags) and chuck the packet into my tote on my way out to work. These would not travel well in the same manner. I ended up putting some in a container and managed to courier them to work with me anyway. But I needed them to get into travel-able condition! 

So today I did it all right. Didn't blend the nuts. Chopped them up by hand instead. OK. Crushed. I crushed them lol. And I made sure to add an egg white. 

Ta da! Success. Crunchy nutty savoury granola bars that are strong enough to travel in a bag. And now I'm tempted to try some without the honey altogether to see if the egg white and oil mixture is enough to hold everything together. Then it'll have NO sugar in it at all (save the carbs that are naturally found in the oats and nuts). 

I'll update :)

Recipes for both sweet and savoury versions available upon request :) They really ARE very easy to make. And if you don't want to make bars, just clump them up on a baking sheet and dump it in the oven willy nilly like, and toss them around a couple of times thru the process so the top tips don't burn. I just prefer the bars so I know how much I'm eating!

And it might just be a fun project to get the kids involved too. They can decide what to throw into the mix. (And help stir everything up!)

Tuesday Yay

Here you go.

1. For the record, I steam my veggies a lot. Never thought of them this way tho.

2. I groaned. 

3. LOL-ed at this one! 

4. Another punny one.

5. Geddit? Geddit? 

6. This phantom music thing happened to me a couple of times... it was so annoying. 

7. Me too!

8. Never mind 2020 - some of my regular days felt like this too.

9. Passive aggressive neighbour slamming

10. I made this bigger so it's easier to read. But this was my favourite one today!

As always, have a great week ahead. Stay home, stay safe, and let me know if you had any favourites!

The Passing of Time and Monday Shoe Shopping Updates

It's been a long weekend for me cos the place where I work had a furlough day last Friday. And this Sunday was Hari Raya which is a public holiday so Monday is a holiday for all of us too. I must admit, if not for still having to go to work, I would probably not be able to tell what day of the week it was. The days all look and feel the same... it's quite disconcerting. 

Speaking of the passing of time, here's a very interesting article on how we "view" or "feel" time. 

Why Time Seems to be Going Faster While We are in Lockdown

If you manage to read thru' it, let me know if you're a Friday or a Monday. I'm definitely a Friday!

Next - My workout shoes have finally given up the ghost. I tried glueing them back with some of my good ol shoe glue... it lasted for another 2 weeks but this is truly it, I think. RIP. We walked many many miles together and I will miss you dearly. (Ok, not really.)

(shopee.com)

Now because everything is closed I had to look online to procure some new walking shoes. Found these - they look suspiciously like runoffs from the factories in Vietnam... so I figure why not. I refuse to pay over a hundred bucks for shoes to walk in... and this seemed like a really good deal. I'm loving the colour too. And for $16 it's a bloomin' steal! 

(wish.com)

A day later tho, BIKSS mentioned that he had ordered some stuff from Wish, so while I was there looking at his purchases, I stayed to browse and see what could be seen... and lo and behold they had a "free" promo on these fake-o Filas. I just had to pay $2.80 for them to ship it to me. 

Why not right? I got a pair each for me, for mum, and for my caregiver. I figure we could all do with a spark of joy right about now.

I'm usually more fussy about shoes I exercise in, but considering I'm not doing any serious cross training nor intending to engage in a specific sport, I figured those run-off Nikes would do the trick, and these ones we can just wear to run errands, NOT to exercise in. 

Anyhoo... on the topic of shoes... I HAVE been in the market for some summery sandals cos I mostly live in thong slippers for regular day to day functioning... you might know them as Havaianas - altho we have no-brand versions in abundance here for something like 4 bucks. And I wanted some "nice" ones for my strappy maxi dresses.

Well, some time back I saw some pretty slippers on Shea's fashion youtube channel which looked pretty interesting. The dupes she mentioned cost about 20 bucks - while the original Valentinos are selling for about $250 (see pic on the left). When I checked Wish at the time they were pretty expensive, about 20 bucks too. So I abandoned the search and forgot all about it. 

(shopee.com)

But since I happened to be hanging out on the Shopee site I decided to give it a try. I typed in "jelly rivet summer thongs" and found these for $6 (inclusive of shipping).   ⇨

(shopee.com)

 Mission accomplished.

This is how you afford glam at a *FRACTION* of the price! Besides, the circles I move in probably don't know or care that they're Valentino copies anyway. And the brand isn't the point. I just think they're unusual and so SO pretty!

 ⇦ Of course I  needed a pair of black slides too... so after a little more browsing, ta-da! At the same price, it was a no brainer! 

I suppose I can thank the death of my workout shoes for my new footwear collection - now to wait patiently for them to arrive. In the meantime... I shall have to settle for walking in my other slip-ons. 

(Prices shown in USD)

It's All About the Numbers and My Skin Needs Help

No, not the Covid numbers.

The number on the scale.

I'm still battling with weight gain. Recently I've found that with the pills I'm on to regulate my period (14 days of bleeding was madness ok?) it has been REALLY easy to put on the kilos (I'm metric over her... just go with it). 

So I re-downloaded one of those calorie counting apps and started monitoring my numbers again today.

I think that with the quarantine (and slow down in general activity), aside from scheduled walks, sitting at home on me arse in front of the lappy (watching tv) has been detrimental to my body's metabolism. It's probably slower now with the lack of activity, plus the reduction in calories burned from NOT moving as much, and the ease of weight gain helped by the hormones. And ta da - I'm 3kg heavier today than my usual weight.

IT'S DISGUSTING. Try as I might over the last week (ok, well, some days of the week) I haven't been able to keep it down... it'll drop then go back up the minute I have a Kit Kat ... or pop corn... or some chips... 

Yes yes, it doesn't take a genius to see where all the extra weight is coming from - but in my defence, I haven't been snacking more than usual (ie. pre-quarantine), so I suspect it's all the factors (mentioned above) put together that have changed the way my body's dealing with the calories, even tho I may not exactly be eating more nor differently than before.

Which means... it's time to shock the system back into some semblance of efficiency. 

And becase I love numbers, I took a look at some of the stats from my walk last night - 

Every 10 mins I manage about 1100 steps. For my weight and height that works out to 35-40 calories burned. This means a 40 min walk takes care of about 150 cals. And an hour's walk is about 225 cals. That's a handful of nuts, or a bowl of chips. Or a 1.5oz / 42g KitKat bar. Or 3 cups of oil popped popcorn with minimal butter and salt. 

Speaking of which - I popped my own corn yesterday (heh.. fine fine... don't judge) for the first time in my life. I thought it was rather an accomplishment that I didn't burn any of it. Hurrah!

And no, I didn't eat all of that. I had slightly less than half. Mum and the helper had the rest. 

The other thing I've taken to doing is sticking a facial mask on every other day. For some reason when I'm home a lot I don't put as much stuff on my face as when I am out and about. Serums, sunblock, moisturizers etc all take a back seat... and after last week's sick leave where I basically just slothed in PJs all day for 3 days (and nights), my face took a hit from the eat - shower - bed - eat - shower - bed routine. No creams, no lotions, no nothing.

And so I went and got a box of Double Moisturizing Power!! facial masks (that's what it claims) and stuck them on. I must say, it has helped. My skin feels somewhat normal again. =)

Ah this Covid is sure bringing with it a lot of changes, besides the obvious ones... have you been affected in a way that you didn't expect? Let me know in the comments! It'll be interesting to hear about any challenges you might be unexpectedly facing as well!

Something Fishy

Yesterday I learned about things totally outside my normal scope of knowledge. It all started when I saw that Zefrank had a new video - so I clicked on it and was thoroughly amused by True Facts about Batfishes. (Incidentally, I found this in one of the telegram sticker packs. LOL. Bat fish. Get it?)

Here it is if you want to watch it.

Having shared that with a friend (who loves Zefrank as well) on a group chat where one other person is an avid diver, we started sharing pics of other sea creatures. One click too many later, I found myself watching a documentary about the Megalodon. 

And why Great Whites don't fare well in captivity -

While chatting with BIKSS that evening during our walk 'together' at our own respective parks (because #SafeDistancing), I told him about some of the videos that I had seen earlier in the day. He likes learning new stuff too... so I shared some facts with him. And then as conversations go, he shared something too - 

"Oh have you heard of a coelacanth?"

A what now?

So off I went.

And then because Youtube is your friend, and throws up helpful suggestions, it told me to watch this next... so I did.

And that's all the stuff I watched on Fishy Friday. I guess I'm jumping on the homeschool bandwagon too. No reason why I can't teach myself stuff with a little help from Google and Youtube. The greatest teachers of our generation!

Dr Mike's Plandemic Fact Check Video and My Back and More Exercises

Last week I mentioned the horrid conspiracy theory documentary Plandemic in this post. 

A couple days later I saw that Dr Mike had put out his response to the claims made in that video. I'm glad we have responsible social media personalities who can use their following for the good of society. If you're interested to see what he says, click the link or watch the video I've included below.

Doctor Fact-Checks PLANDEMIC Conspiracy

In other news, my back feels better where the disc was probably pinching a  nerve or seven. But the muscles that surround the area are still stiff from having spasmed during the event. 

Isn't the human body a fabulous thing? Part A gets injured, parts B C D E F go into a pain response to protect part A. And now that part A has gotten better, one has to slowly undo the pain from parts B to F. I suppose that's ONE way (or 5) of ensuring you don't go injuring the same part again too soon. 

I did manage some Releve Pliés on day 2 of sick leave. 

And I'm finding barre workouts more enjoyable than Pilates proper. Also, having to get into "rounded back" stretches during almost every Pilates video is probably not the greatest thing for my back. 

As one dude pointed out - these are probably the two WORST postures for people with a history of herniated disc. Aka, me (and probably BIKSS).

Here's the video if you'd like to see what other postures he recommends staying away from if you're a herniated / prolapsed / slipped disc sufferer. I've linked it in the title as well.

Exercises To Avoid for Herniated Discs and Sciatica

If you would also like to try a barre workout, have a look at this video - meant for seniors and beginners. Of course there are tons more by POPSUGAR Fitness if you're interested in something a little more energetic. Personally I enjoy their videos more than some of the others available out there. 

Beginners Ballet 1 Exercises - for Seniors & Beginners

A lot of the time I feel that people don't know what's available out there that they could be doing IN HERE (at home, I mean) so they compromise on exercise or feel that they don't have enough room / space / equipment etc to follow along to a step aerobics glass or crossfit routine. 

But really, all you have to do is look. As I've said in earlier posts, there is probably a workout suitable for you - you just have to find it. 

My frequently searched keywords often include  - small space, barefoot, no equipment, seniors, beginners, low impact, bad knees, bad back, recovering from joint pain and well, you get the idea. 

If I know what I'm looking for specifically like lower body, upper body, barre, aerobics, fusion, I'll add that in as well. But most of the time I just let youtube's search algorithm surprise me. 

That's how I discovered senior Pilates and fusion low impact cardio barre workouts that you can do barefoot in a small space! LOL.

Have fun and stay safe everyone!

Tuesday Fun Things

Before that tho... I've been on sick leave since Monday. I should be able to get back to work on Thursday... but it depends on how I feel. I have an issue with a prolapsed disc. It hurts every 5 years or so... according to medical records.

On Sunday night I was getting out of a chair and felt a twinge in my lower back.

I am now on pain meds and bed rest.

So while I'm lying in bed watching tv, here you go, enjoy these.

As always, let me know which is your favourite!

1. The "teacher" angle didn't cross my mind either. Oops.

2. I'm sure all the dads would agree with this one. 

3. It does look like it's smiling :)

4. I worry about BIKSS sometimes... he sent me this one... 

5. I've seen so many couples holding hands and hanging around - they're way too young to be married, so I suspect they're just stealing some time together. Mask on, tho. There is that.

6. This one made me LOL

7. Took me a little while to 'see' this. And I wish it were that easy to shut people up.

8. GROAN. 

9. I totally agree with this.

10. And a cute, slightly more clever one. 

Have a good week everyone!

More News To Piss Me Off

This Texas restaurant told their employees that if they want to return to work, they had to leave their masks at home. It's irresponsible and unnecessary. In fact, I would be glad for ALL f n b outlets to encourage their staff to wear masks ALL the time, regardless of Covid - it's just more hygienic. This is why the people who work at food factories have masks and hair nets... right? So your food is clean all the way to the kitchen of the restaurant then all bets are off. Pfft. Story below.

Reopened restaurant tells workers: Don't wear face masks — or don't work

"The employees said management also told her that face masks don't complement the restaurant group's style or level of hospitality."

Sure, masks don't look good, but I suppose Covid looks better.

This twit (well, if you're going to use twitter I'm going to call you a twit, deal with it) was pissed that Sunday River was going to remain shut. Because he had no better argument for why they shouldn't be shut, he just flung them a slur intended to hurt their ego. It didn't work. But why in sanitizer's name in the first place did he feel he had the right to say anything at all? If they're going to remain closed, then suck it up. People like that piss me off.

Then there's that video that everyone was sending to everyone else about the coronavirus conspiracy theory  blockbuster, "Plandemic". In it Dr. Judy Mikovits, 'science genius', claims she was thrown into prison and silenced cos she doesn't play ball with the bigwigs in power. My sister still refuses to believe she could be a hack, and if she were American I swear she'd be a very Republican Republican. No offence to any Republicans out there. But you know... she's a fanatic. And extremely pro-Trump.

I don't care what her politics are (and besides, she's NOT American so who really cares right?) but STOP SENDING ME SHIT. 

So I sent her this to set things straight. But of course she's saying that it's fake news. 

I'm so sick of it. 

But if you don't agree with the Plandemic video and want to send an answering link to the person who sent it to you, have a look at this. 

Discredited Doctor and Sham ‘Science’ Are the Stars of Viral Coronavirus Documentary ‘Plandemic’

Also, this one : 

Fact-checking ‘Plandemic’: A documentary full of false conspiracy theories about the coronavirus

You're welcome. 

Thankfully the video isn't available in the usual places online anymore (which is a good thing, imo), altho I'm sure it can probably still be found if you knew where to look. If you had to good fortune to have missed it, thank your lucky stars. 

And finally, the most triggering one of all.  COVID PARTIES. I mean, what in the actual fuck? 

‘COVID parties’ blamed for sharp rise in coronavirus cases in Washington state

Ok state officials have retracted their statement and said that maybe these are "innocent" parties after all, and people who caught the virus there did not know they were exposed to someone who had it because they might have been asymptomatic when they attended. 

THIS IS WHY THERE IS A QUARANTINE DUH! If it was something we could see straight off the bat then we wouldn't need to be stuck at home for weeks on end right?

I am borrowing this from Jz... because it is SO accurate. 

And now my rant is over. Have a good weekend everyone. 

If You're A Senior...

If you've got aches and pains and don't want to do a strenuous workout, try this. It's meant for 60+ but I did this routine after my Oz Style session today and it was really good for toning the muscles and stretching out the back and shoulders, even for a 40+ year old. 

Since Pilates is supposed to be great for building core strength, I sent some shorter videos to BIKSS as well to see if it'll help with his lower back pain. And no, it's not an Italian dish. (PREFECTDT - this cartoon is for you! LOL)

It's a great way to stay flexible and keep moving during quarantine, and this particular video requires no special equipment, and can be done barefoot too!

Let me know if you enjoyed this, or if you're already a Pilates practitioner and how it's helped (if it has).

Here's the link and the video : 

Standing Pilates for Seniors- 30 minutes of exercise to Improve Strength & Build Confidence