Time to Change the Header and Birthday Eats

Every year around my birthday I tell myself I have to change that darn thing up there with the brief of who and what we are. I think I'm going to do away with the numbers altogether. At this point, it really doesn't matter. 

The updates so far - 

I've decided NOT to buy snacks and cookies for my home this CNY. It's too much money wasted on unhealthy food. I WILL, however, accept gifts of Bak Kwa (sweet bbq pork jerky slices) because that's one of my favourite things. So instead of shopping for myself, last night we bought some CNY treats for a dear dear friend of mine who has recently found herself in the same position I was in when faced with being the sole caregiver of a very elderly and care-needing mum. We dropped the bag off and surprised her with a text to let her know there was a delivery for her out front! 

Healthwise, I am still dealing with that subscapularis tendonitis. But it's less painful and I'm just learning to be patient while it heals. Thankfully the TMJ has been good. No clicks recently. 

In projects, I am on a mission to shamelessly ask for donations so that I can send stuff to the people in the Philippines who were hit by the last typhoon and are still trying to recover from it. My caregiver has a friend who hails from one of the provinces that were devastated by the waters. I'm going to send a box of clothes and sheets and school supplies and whatever else we take for granted on a daily basis to help them get by. (I hope to make this an on-going thing...)

In money, we're looking for opportunities to amass more precious metals to protect ourselves from whatever effects a certain new president's annonucements might have on the world economy when he takes office. I'm shocked at how quickly gold prices are rising. The maple coin we got was almost a hundred bucks cheaper a couple of weeks ago. 80USD up in a fortnight is scary shit. And he hasn't even been sworn in. (I also intend to make gold collection an on-going thing...)

I have begun my CNY lapis baking days. Today was day 1. I have 14 more bake days to go. But I'm taking it easy and doing no more than 1 batch per day (2 cakes per batch) unlike before when I would cram in 6 / 8 cakes per day. I'm not taking any personal days from work to do this, so it'll just be a slow and easy post-work bake until the 3rd of Feb, with some breaks in between.

In dining, we enjoy the snacks at this Vietnamese place near the gold dealer we go to. But the menu IS rather limited if one is not keen on having rice or noodles. We have just about exhausted all our options on the starter / sharing / snack pages now.

We also tried a slightly fancier restaurant last night which had Crab Bee Hoon on their menu! It was pretty good.

Anti clockwise from top left - 

1     Fruit platter sans pineapple
2     Tahu Goreng

(literally fried tofu - beancurd)

3     BUT this one had bits of stewed turnips stuffed into it - 

and I enjoyed it even tho I'm no fan of tofu (bottom right).

4     A variation of the popular Crab Bee Hoon from Singapore

5     And finally, a chef salad.

I might suggest this place to my ex church mates who are planning a meet up next month. 

In birthday news, the feasting has begun. I've met up with a couple of groups to celebrate the January birthdays... and there's one more coming up this Saturday.  This set is from a group that hadn't seen each other (not all 5 of us together anyway) in about 30 years. Of the lot, there was one lady in attendance whom I actually hadn't met in person at all in that entire time! 

There was a lot of meat on the table. This is just a part of it.

I also went for a dim sum dinner last week with another Jan baby and Betty, who bought us both dinner! And then we had waffles. Yum Yum. 

All this eating is dangerous... which is why I'm being very careful NOT to gorge. Just eat what you would usually eat, I keep telling myself, you don't have to EAT MORE just cos you're celebrating. One big feast might be ok. But if one is having a SERIES of birthday dinners... then they'd better just be 'regular' sized dinners. 

With more and more people dying unexpectedly (about 5 last year that I know of) at the not-yet-ripe age of anywhere between 30 and 60, a lot of my friends / groups have been more active in making obvious efforts to organise meet ups that I'm happy to say have actually come to fruition. That and the fact that I am AVAILABLE to go out and meet people (now that I'm not tied down by caregiving responsibilities) is giving my social calendar a right good workout! 

I'm busy! And actually have things to do and places to be on the weekends BESIDES work (which I still do, on Saturdays and some Sundays).

The plan for moving ahead with life is well underway. I am starting the year happy and fulfilled and I hope it's a sign that the rest of the year will be just as full and satisfying! 

(It's not quite my birthday yet but there's no law against starting celebrations early, right?)

F is for Finances, Fixed Ds and Full of Crap (F-cetera...)

I'm trying to sort out my life. More specifically, my finances. Like an adult. I've been putting aside some money every month towards paying off my main mega CC bill. That's finally showing signs of sorting itself out and I'm feeling very happy about the direction my bill is going, which is, down! 

I also looked around for a one time low-interest balance transfer facility which I've taken up so that I won't have to deal with escalating and accumulated interest debt. That's also been a great help and I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. 

Now that I have some spare cash, or rather, I have managed to put aside some cash every month to force myself to start saving, I was looking at some Fixed Deposit (aka Time Deposit) account rates. I was pretty shocked. Since Covid, it has dropped by half. 

Last year I managed to secure an 11-mth tenure at 1.11% per annum. Sucky right? But when I looked a few days ago the max tenure was only 8 months for the bank which has the highest rate of... wait for it... 0.6% pa. Good golly. For every 1 thousand dollars I put in, I'll get $4 after 8 months. That's seriously awful. But it sure beats the savings account rates at the moment (0.05%pa). 

I suppose there aren't any better options out there right now (I need it to be relatively flexible so that in the event of a mother-emergency I can withdraw the monies without too much penalty.) So I shall do it! And hope that in 8 months time the rates will be better. Or at least NOT worse.

I also got some good news early this month in the form of a pay increment. It's not a whole lot, but it's enough to cover a small loss in income that will happen in the middle of the year as one of my piano kids will be finishing up her classes with me. She graduates this year and while I'm happy for her, it also means I'll be short of her monthly fees. 

This is hot on the heels of one other kid who left me last month because he has become unable to cope with schoolwork. Of course, piano and other extra curricular activities are the first things to go. One cannot just quit high school Biology, after all. 

The way around THAT was baking. I've resumed selling my lapis cakes. And business has been steady. I have lots of friends who are willing to support me (and happy to eat good cake). I've managed to sell two cakes per week, which is a comfortable rate and covers the fees I lost from the kid that left - doesn't tire me out too much, still gives me sufficient time for the other piano kids I have, and leaves me with enough free afternoons to run errands or write blog posts LOL. 

So all in all I'm kinda in equilibrium. 

UNTIL the fucktard brother came over to visit mum and tell her the news that he will be cutting her allowance by some small amount (which will only increase over time because I know how he operates). 

When he got retrenched he came by to announce it to the mother with pride and confidence. Now that I'm no longer employed, he said... I can start up my own psychotherapy practice, he said... cos I'm now a Masters Degree holder in Psychotherapy, he said. 

Pffft. Yeah right. Where I live, you need to jump through a million hoops to start up your own clinic. And be accredited with a thousand professional bodies. One does not just get a degree and open shop. When I told my friends about his proclamation they raised a collective eyebrow and said, "He does know that's not how it works, right?" I shrugged and shook my head.

There are very strict regulations here about making sure "quacks" don't go around charging good money willy-nilly for giving out advice to anyone willing to pay, without first having satisfied the government's guidelines on qualifications, ethics and a whole bunch of other things. Plus you need to have first worked in a government or semi-government facility to satisfy some sort of "training" requirement, to make sure you know what you're doing. Pretty much like a regular MD / GP / Doctor.

He has since realised that this phantom practice is earning him no money. So he moved into the master bedroom that mum vacated when she moved in with me, and has now rented out his old room for some steady income. 

Why they don't both go and get a job, I don't know. It's not like they have any elderly folk at home to take care of.  Full of crap, is what they are.

Well there is very little else I can do on my end, short of making the most economic purchases on mum's behalf, like getting her supplements and medications at the cheapest prices I can get them (thank God for online cashback stores with loyalty discounts etc).  And  I'm ever grateful for my boss who gets me mum's meds at almost cost price, even while utilising the government subsidy for 'oldies'. I mean, I'm not paying in cash, so he really doesn't have to do this for me, but he also realises that there is a limit on how much I can use per year, so the more meds I get through the subsidy, the less I'm out of pocket. 

Bless him. 

F is also for Food! 

I shall re-think our food delivery service. It was convenient and gave me some peace of mind knowing that I didn't have to rush home with lunch for the mother.  But it IS more pricey than if I were to just buy take out from our staff canteen. (I used to do that for a while but it was quite cumbersome with all the packing boxes etc.) 

I shall look into alternative packing-ware and see if we can work it out somehow so that I can save on daily food cost. It's a good thing I'm not a pork / beef eater (expensive in my country) and we don't have a habit of eating seafood (also expensive in my country). Occasionally a one-pound bag of 51/60 frozen prawns will be on sale for about $8... so I wait for that to happen. Fresh prawns, in comparison, go for about $12-13 for the same size / weight.

Mum's also on a mainly fish / chicken protein diet (as am I, but for different reasons) which, luckily, doesn't cost as much as pork / beef. So we're kinda lucky I suppose LOL. 

Salmon can be expensive so we don't eat it regularly, but there are lots of other fish available for a fraction of the cost... so we tend to eat more of those. (Altho' I did put a pack of salmon in the oven today.)

All in all, I suppose it's doable. I shall just have to pay more attention to the budget! Oh, and F is also for Frugal. 

Today's post was brought to you by the letter F

(click the pic above to find out more about the A-Z Blogging Challenge)

The Last Post

...of the year. 

Today I filled up a form for the vaccine. Since I'm working in healthcare I get dibs. The first wave of vaccinations have been reserved for medical staff and frontline workers. Once they've received my details, I'll get a letter / email / text message informing me which clinic I should go to, and when, in order to get jabbed. 

I was on the fence at first, but after listening to my boss whom I hold in very high regard, and watching some interviews and reading the research papers, I think I will go ahead with it. 

In case you wanted to watch an interview re the vaccine, this is a good one : 

Today my live in helper had the day off and mum had been curious to try out a new restaurant near her old place. 

The son that can do no wrong was supposed to take her there for Christmas lunch. But they ended up at some other Thai place and she still has no idea why... I told her it's probably because they didn't make a reservation. 

The place has some very good value-for-money set meals that are very popular and it's notoriously crowded. I rang yesterday to make a reservation for lunch today. I had booked a table for 1.30, which normally isn't a busy time for the eateries in this area. The restaurants to the left and right of it were empty. But when we arrived we had to wait for about 5 minutes as they got our table ready (we were a little bit early) and as we walked to our seats I noticed that all the other tables were occupied. 

She had a traditional Chinese fish head hot pot and I had the shabu pork belly and prawn set.

If weird Asian food freaks you out.. I suggest you say goodbye now and click out of this post. Or else keep reading for pics! 

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The table top was mega colourful! With an induction plate for the soup pot.

My bowl of mushrooms and veggies, I don't like piping hot food so hot pot meals for me are a bit of an exercise in patience. I remove the cooked food from the main pot then wait for it to cool.

Close up of the pork and prawns and chopped up fish head. I come from a country where many of us grew up with fish head curry, fish head steamboat (aka hotpot), and grilled fish head etc.

She seemed to enjoy her lunch, and I think maybe I should start a new tradition. Perhaps the last day of the year is a fine time for us to do some mother-daughter bonding. 

When I got home I found a package had arrived for me - I ordered a mat/rug for my room to exercise on. It arrived today and I absolutely love it. It wasn't the design I originally wanted, but everyone chose this one over the heart prints (they said it was too cheesy!) and I'm glad I went along with popular opinion. The pink and red hearts would have been a bit too loud in the little space on my floor that the rug occupies. 

Later my sister and niece are coming over to hang out and watch the online streaming of the fireworks. They're broadcasting it on TV so we intend to have a go at some blackjack while watching the New Year's countdown show on the telly. 

It's nice that she would come all this way, cos they don't exactly live nearby, and transportation will be expensive tonight. 

I am grateful for that, and for the day I had. (My boss also gave me a huge discount on my flu jab - almost at cost! And I didn't even have to pay for *that*, cos he's applying for some sort of govt vaccination subsidy scheme on my behalf.)

The last day of the year has been a pretty awesome one. Let's hope this is a sign that 2021 will be just as swell! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE

FFF #38 Recap and Singing on Saturday

It's almost the end of Sunday, but here's the recap, a little later than it was supposed to have been published. 

Olivia and her Ups and Downs. 

Roz's comment ~

As predicted, it was a bad week for me. Only 1 day doing my exercises and stairs 3 days. Hopefully I can get back on track now.

Downunder Don's comment ~

I know that I have not commented much lately; life just seems to get in the way. I am still on the FFF journey and continue to shed the weight, albeit very slowly. I am now averaging 73kgs but would like to drop at least 1 more kg to stabilise around my "ideal" (according to the quackologists) weight. Many thanks for keeping up the encouragement!

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As for that choir I said I was off to join? It was great. Better than the last one I went to try out for. The people were mostly (mostly because there are bound to be the few asses who think they're the best thing since sliced bread) welcoming and friendly, and a lot of the people who showed up were new recruits like me. The existing members had the week off after having just finished a performance last weekend, altho a few of them were present to help break the ice and get people involved in conversation while waiting for everyone to be placed in their respective parts. 

It has been many many years since I've sung with a proper 4-part-harmony choir, and it was like coming home. We sang some carols to start practising for Christmas carolling engagements, and I even went off with a few of the members to have dessert after. Look at me, being sociable and everything. 

I think we're on the brink of some very exciting times. 

Essentially Me

I couldn't think of a better title. 

The update this week - I've been thinking about doing a course right? So I spoke to a friend about my life, work, money etc. And I came home after that and thought about some of the points we discussed. I decided that I might talk to my BIG boss (not the usual one whom I work with regularly) about the possibility of an aromatherapy section in his practice. 

Long story short, he was keen, he even sent me a link to the local centre for this sort of certification, and offered to speak to his marketing team. ONLY, as the conversation went on, it became apparent that he had NO clue how to do any of this. He asked for me to get certified (on my own account) then think about who my audience is, how to sell to them, what to sell to them, and how to retain my customers. Also, let him know what I think my USP (unique selling point) is and how I intend to market that. Not WE, not LET'S, not US - but ME. 

Heck, if I wanted to market myself, after paying my own way thru aromatherapy school, why would I do it at your clinic - and sell your brand of oils (which I think is way overpriced) - when I could think up the marketing strategy myself, go into business for myself, and sell the brand of oils I think will fly off the shelves more quickly at half the price of yours (for 5 times the volume, might I add!)? Then ALL of the profit would be mine. 

Anyway, I spoke to my regular boss when he came back from leave and told him what had transpired. He's not convinced the BIG boss knows anything about this business so he's kinda making use of my ideas to churn more money for the clinic. Yeah. No. Besides, I told him, we HAVE a marketing team. Isn't it THEIR job to figure this out? 

So I said, please don't think that I'm all talk and no action. I'm just choosing NOT to move forward on this WITH the clinic. If I do decide to get certified and do a side business involving essential oils, you can be sure it will NOT be under the clinic's umbrella. 

My boss was perfectly fine with that. 

In the meantime I'm looking at some brands and have already begun to resell some items. It's a pretty good margin, and my bff who was also my business partner on a couple of small ventures seems to think it's a viable model. I've already sold 4 oil kits (each kit is a set of 4 10ml bottles containing different essential oils) and one individual oil to 3 different people in the last few days. 

I'm in the process of working out how to get "wholesale" prices from 3 of the brands I've looked at, and will be taking a closer look at some of the others that are available on the market. 

Meanwhile, I've started compiling a product information catalogue, and that has kept me busy this week, mostly. 

Well, that, and a horrid muscle pull in my neck all the way down to my shoulder blade. I'm on NSAIDS at the moment - yes, I caved and took some yesterday. My boss thinks I should take them consistently for a couple of days instead of only when I feel the pain is "debilitating" - too dramatic?

So that's it for now. It's exciting, albeit overwhelming at times! But we'll see. It helps that Daddy's behind me all the way on this!

The Plan - Faux Balco, Unicornification, and A Course

I feel like I haven't had any time to read blogs or write posts. Mainly because I spend any time I have at home in front of the lappy doing research. Well, that and shopping. My favourite colour is teal. And burgundy. It's a toss up. And I love mocs. I bought some. They arrived yesterday. But they were a little squashed. And BIKSS was here when they came. This is my second pair. I've returned the first because it didn't fit. So I got a size larger. Which is really 2 sizes up from the size I wear. I know right? 

Anyway, I was a little anxious about them because the front of the shoe was flattened and I was afraid I was gonna have to resign myself to never owning / wearing such a pair. But BIKSS asked for some newspaper and plastic bag (to stick the papers in so the ink wouldn't get on the inside of the shoes) and he made fat balls of stuffing to stick in them. 

I left them overnight and wore them out today. 

So that research I was talking about? I'm seriously thinking about that faux balcony idea. 

I'm thinking perhaps I should stick a stretch of sliding doors - 

down the middle of my living room so that the view from the main door as I enter might look something like this - 

That could work. The view is similar too - I've a lot of trees right outside my apartment. 

Then I thought maybe fairy lights along the floor where it meets the window wall. 

Friends have requested a hammock. I said no. One has asked for a rocking chair. Again, no. LOL. 

Someone suggested a unicorn theme. Uh, not for the faux balco, I don't think.

But I *will* redo my bedroom - BIKSS has ordered me a set of 4 cushion covers that match Jyzel. 

They should arrive by the end of the month. Meanwhile, I'm on the hunt for unicorn bath towels, a unicorn blankie and unicorn music posters. I have a bunch of music sheet art things on my wall.

Like this - 

 I thought it might be cool if I could find music sheet unicorn art things. Like this - 

Only it's terribly difficult to find. I'm considering getting regular sheet music and then just printing out a bunch of unicorns on those. 

I'll ask BIKSS about that tomorrow when I see him. 

I'm also feeling a little dead and stagnant. Like my brain hasn't been doing anything recently. I know that's not true. I do a lot of thinking and planning and other stuff, but learning. I haven't learnt anything formally in a long long time. And there are these adult continuing-education centres that offer a bunch of things - from 3-hour programmes to 3 year long degrees!

The one I want to do is a year long stint but it's a part time programme that involves going to a campus 1.5 hours away, sitting there from 630 to 930 three evenings a week, then travelling back again. I feel tired just thinking about it. 

I don't think (and BIKSS isn't too keen either) I could handle that for 12 whole months. 

"You'll be grouchy. Don't do that particular one," he said. 

I agree. 

So it's back to the lappy for more research. 

Oh, and we're going to the movies on Thursday. :)