School-Girly Me (aka P is for Pain, Passing, Purchases, Peelable Polish, Parcels and Presents)

Before you get excited about the school girl in the title, it's not what you think. 

1) As a child I used to have tummy aches from anxiety around exam season. Recently I've been dealing with tummy aches again, like bloat, or indigestion or something. Not sure what it is but for now it's neither my appendix nor my gallbladder.  Which is good, at least. We're treating with Famotidine twice a day and keeping a food diary. It seems to be about 75% successful at keeping the pain away. We'll give it 2 weeks and see how that goes.

2) I'm also back to school. Or rather, I got back to my course and am now done with it. I've finished my final assessment and am now certified in "Lifestyle Medicine - Improving the future of health care". Let's see how much I can impact that future LOL. 

3) The girly thing I am referring to, is the fact that I've recently become obsessed with beauty Advent Calendars. They're not out yet where I live, altho I did manage to get hold of the W7 Beauty Box from Amazon. I've linked the one from Superdrug in the UK cos that's where I first saw it, and I would take a photo of it for you except it hasn't arrived yet. I've seen a few unboxing videos on Youtube from the UK stores already, so maybe you guys are just ahead of the rest of us over there.

4) What HAS arrived is last year's Sephora 24-day Advent Calendar which I bought at 50% off because, well, it's last year's! I haven't unboxed it yet tho, which surprises even me because I WAS looking forward to doing that before I left for music school this afternoon - it arrived as I was leaving the house! And that's all I was looking forward to coming home to, really.

5) Instead, what I found in my mailbox when I got home was even more tempting - a set of water-based, peelable nail polish. I wanted to see if it really was as quick-drying and convenient as the influencers say. So far, drying time is brilliant. It does smudge a bit (water based after all) if you go to do the dishes within 15 mins of putting it on, but then because #Chemistry, somehow the rough smudged bits just sorta smoothened themselves out as my nails dried. Dissolved into a lovely shiny layer! (They say don't let it get into water for 4 hours.... I supposed the best thing is to paint them then go to bed?)

Here's a video... the shine was totally a surprise to me. I wasn't expecting it to be glossy or shiny at all.

6) Now little girls love presents and I'm no different. Especially when they're pressies I like! 

BIKSS was in London recently (and we're planning a trip there next year!) and came back with some delightful treats for me - 

Mini Paddington Tote. Love it!

Self-explanatory box

The rose/orchid was a little bit sus. We gave that one away. The other two were fine. I'm also very surprised that the one with Jasmine didn't make me feel ill. I can't smell it at all, in fact. There are two oils I don't agree with - Jasmine and Wintergreen. They make me throw up. I shall pray I never need Deep Heat or Counterpain rub in my old(er) age.

Knowing my penchant for shortbread, BIKSS got me this box. I was so looking forward to it, till I put one in my mouth and bit down. It was hard, and tasted like orange. That is NOT shortbread. Still, a bikkie is a bikkie. But now I have tasked him with getting me some REAL shortbread fingers from Marks & Sparks.

Another Paddington treasure. He went on the fridge as soon as I got him.

That's all for today's letter P round up. Oh and P is also for Paddington innit??

I shall leave you with this pic that BIKSS sent me earlier. Seen on socials.

 

Random Things to Share with You All - Glamping and Italian

On our most recent trip to the beach for our exercise walk we saw a bunch of "glamping" tents and marveled at why people would pay $200 to rent one of these things just so they could sleep on the floor in public with no access to amenities. It's definitely NOT for me... can you tell?

Still, some of them are quite pretty. I apologise that they're not the best pictures, but if you look closely enough and ignore the grainy images, you can see the fairy lights in the tents. I think that's the prettiest part of the whole thing. And there are little window flaps that people can shut when they want some sexy time privacy! 

We also went to our favourite Italian / meatball place recently but sadly our friendly Italian chef has decided to quit making Tiramisu as he ended up with too much wastage (Covid has hurt him quite a fair bit).

He HAS however changed his menu a little and there are more low-carb options now. I'm loving the chicken wrap with teriyaki and mayo sauce with truffle oil drizzled over the top, as well as the garlic tiger prawns tapas!

(The inside of the wrap)

(Those were pretty huge prawns, the bowl just happens to be huger!)

Given that it's just a little bit outside the business district and in an area where food isn't expected to be cheap, this meal was a steal at just under USD$15. Our cheapest dinner there yet! 

If he continues to have these low carb things on the menu, I just might want to go back there more often. 

My mood pic today ~ 

The Year So Far - Gloomy with a Chance of Pissiness

The good news is that I'll be getting my Covid jab this Friday, and then another one on the 5th of Feb cos you gotta do two shots 3 weeks apart or some such thing. 

But so far the year has already given us some sucky things. Landslides, crashed planes, the White House. Rising Covid numbers aren't helping either. I don't go looking for them, but there's always a ticker tape at the bottom of the news channel with daily numbers... 

And I've already attended 2 wakes this week. 

I'm beginning to think the end of the world is nigh. 

Oh, and I've gained 2 kg since Christmas. I'm working super hard to bring my weight back down to what it was before. 

BIKSS has been very good about his diet and his numbers are great. It's pissing me off a little that his glucose count was lower than MINE! 

I suppose that's a bit of a wake up call for me then. Great timing too cos it'll be MY turn to get my bloodwork done this week. And I think the boss has decided that with some government scheme I could even test for cancer markers. That's good at least. 

This weekend I have been working on my diet. I went on a 23:1 fast on Saturday, and today I skipped a meal and a half - just a bit of a flexi-fast to reduce calorie intake. It's not a huge hardship, I'm not dying of hunger or anything,  it's just hard cos I just LOVE eating. Sigh. 

It reminds me how tough the weight loss journey and dieting in general can be and I'm extra proud of BIKSS for keeping to it. 

I mean, it was a lot easier when there was no one in the house but me. Now with the helper and mum and the niece all living here, it's like there's an abundance of food and I can't SEE FOOD and NOT EAT IT. Well, I can, but SOME food I have absolutely no defence against. LOL. Croissants being one of them. And I happen to have some in the fridge cos it was part of last week's food rescue. And of course I kept some for myself before redistributing. 

The other problem is the weather. It's been wet, wet, wet. Torrential rain. This means I can't go for my usual hour-long walks. That's causing me some grief too. I've had to be content to just hop around my room with aerobics videos / ballet barre exercises. Great for strength building, but I tend to get less cardio. (I live in in apartment, so I steer clear of the cardio-heavy jump around videos.)

You can imagine that all the bad news plus the rain plus the weight gain cannot be having a positive effect on this little girl. But with birthday dinners and lunches coming up and Chinese New Year baking about to start... one can only hope that the busy-ness of the season will keep any sad feelings at bay long enough for the sun to come out again after this monsoon rubbish we're having is past. 

My mood pic today~

Slowly Getting Back Into The Swing of Things

Last year I bought an A5 sized planner thinking I would be able to free up some space on my desk top. Turns out the planner was just too small and I felt irritated at some points at not having the space available to scribble all the stuff I wanted to. 

This year I've gone back to using an A4 sized one. I've put in all the birthdates that need remembering, friends, family, students, ex and current colleagues. And I updated my digital version too. I have been using Birthday Alarm for as long as I can remember, and they are a very reliable website, sending reminders a week ahead of the birthdays and anniversaries I've put in, and if I'm not wrong, again a couple of days before. 

I've also made birthday plans with friends, and my cousin, to celebrate their and my birthdays. And these have also gone into the planner. 

This afternoon I repotted my plant babehs. Someone had given me some shoots from her own garden and they've rested for a week now. I gave them their own pots today. 

This is what my lift landing looks like now. I'm not a plant keeper. And definitely not a plant grower. I kill anything that lands up in my hands. But mum loves her pots and so now we have plants. Surprisingly the pussy willow (extreme left) from last Chinese New Year hasn't completely died. SO I'm just leaving it there. 

Today was also one of those Sundays where I go off with my goodie bags to distribute stuff to some of the less food-secure elderly in my neighbourhood. On the first Sunday of the month we get together and have dinner together, but since Covid this has become a lot smaller in scale - we give them some packed food, supplies to last the month (coffee, milk, biscuits etc.) and I try to pass them things that might help defray the cost of living in general. Today's pack had shampoo, shower foam, some medicated plasters (kefentech anyone?) and medicated oils (think Tiger Balm but in oil form... it's a very Asian thing I think). 

Apparently you can buy this on Amazon

Sadly, by the time I arrived at the usual meeting place, half of them had left, as it was a cold rainy day and I suppose they wanted to get a move on homeward. I shall have to save the giftpacks that weren't given out for next month. So that took me out of the house for about 45 minutes. I'll just think of it as exercise. 

I taught some classes today and it turns out I wont have lessons tomorrow afternoon cos the two young ladies I teach on Mondays have some after-school thing going on, being the first day of the new school year for us. This frees me up to take mum to the wake of our dear friend who passed yesterday morning. I suppose you might call it providence. 

I'm glad I had stuff to do today. It'll get me back into the swing of things when I go back to work tomorrow. The next 4 weeks we'll be administering a bunch of tests for the employees at the factory where my clinic is located... routine health board requirements like testing for blood manganese levels and eye vision tests to make sure the staff are all safe from potential exposure to chemicals and what not.

I expect it will be quite a busy month ahead. 

The niece has also descended upon us. She's unpacking her stuff and getting ready for bed. I might have to get up a shade earlier as our wake-up-for-work times are about the same. I told her to go kiss her grandmother in the mornings before leaving for work, or else grab a post it that's by the dining table and leave an "I've gone to work see you tonight" note for her so she can read it when she wakes up. That's what I've been doing for about half a year now. It makes mum feel thought of, and she sleeps better knowing that I'll peep to see if she's awake before I leave, and pop in to give her a kiss if she is. I feel I need to explain this:

At one point I realised she was waking up earlier and earlier and would come out from her bedroom to sit on the couch in the hall so that I would see her as I left for work. Half the time she'd have fallen asleep again while waiting for me to get dressed and come out of my room. 

I asked her why she didn't just carry on sleeping instead of dragging herself out to the couch. And the helper said to me "She wants to catch you before you go off to work... she's always in a hurry to get outside in the mornings and will often ask if you've already left." 

So I assured her that I would look in on her to say bye before I left for work. But that if she's asleep I wasn't going to wake her... so I'll leave a note instead. She's been sleeping heaps better since then. Sometimes not waking up till an hour after I've gone. 

And at this age, sleep is good. The last thing I want is a sleep-deprived elderly person roaming around the house. BP and balance issues and all that, you know? Plus it's not like she has a whole lot to do and when she's up it means she's thinking about stuff - sometimes good happy stuff, but more often than not, nasty brother stuff. Nuh-uh. No thanks.

And so I've given the niece explicit instructions. SOP if you will. Kiss the mama goodnight before bed, and have a peep in the morning before you leave. If she's up, give her a quick kiss, and then say bye. If not, here's where I park the post it pad and pens. Leave her a note. 

I think having her here for a month will be good for mum too. There'll be more hustle and bustle in the evenings. I just hope she doesn't start fussing unnecessarily. The good thing is that my niece is a very calm "whatever, sure" type of personality. She'll let her mum and grandmum say whatever they feel needs saying... (read: nag) and then just shrug it off with her usual "ok, mm, sure" and then she puts it out of her head almost immediately. I can SEE it all over her face. Like it's so obvious she's shutting her brain off to what they're saying. I'm surprised they don't see it. In any case, I am totally NOT like her in this regard. Perhaps I should try it. LOL

Well, that's it for today. Sundays are wash-the-sheets days so I've now got to make my bed before I can sleep in it!

My mood pic today - 

Saturday Snippets

I haven't yet had a chance to take my new Karl bag out with me. We're hoping this coming week will present some dinner opportunities. 

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On Thursday morning I tripped and sliced a bit of my skin off my little toe. Good thing I carry EVERYTHING with me in my bag (hat tip to PK) as I managed to fish out some antiseptic wipes, tissue, plasters and a little ziploc bag to dump all the rubbish into after I was done with a temporary dressing. 

It was a "shaving cut" as we call it, and was bleeding rather a fair bit. I managed to switch out bandaids midway through my bus ride, and then when I got to work my adjunct doc (boss was on another mission) dressed it properly for me. 

The wound has stopped oozing, and my toe, hopefully  is on the way to recovery. 

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This weekend I'm detoxing a little bit. It's a no meat / no fry / no sweets weekend. That means no chocs and chips either. I'm having egg, fish and zucchini for lunch now. Let's see how long I can keep this up given the existing stash of foods I have in the fridge / larder. It's a good way to use up things I don't always reach for. 

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Last weekend the brother came and announced his retrenchment. I suppose his company is harder hit by the Covid pandemic that he expected. They will be giving him enough to last 2 years - he proudly told mum. 

I hope that means he will continue to provide her with some pocket money and not use this as an excuse to cut her off. 

He has also very self-importantly stated that he will take this opportunity to find a new career now that he has graduated with his Masters Degree. In - get this - counselling. 

Apparently the sister in law from hell has ALSO gone and gotten herself an advanced dip in counselling. 

I don't know why they think they're counsellor material.  They don't listen to people's problems, they want to push their own agenda, they're only concerned with being right and knowing everything all the time. Oh wait, this gives them the right to tell people what to do. OR so they think. Pfft. Whatever. At 56, in my country, it's REALLY difficult to make a mid-career switch. Our official retirement age is 62. 

Good luck. 

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In some lighthearted news - I was watching this dude on Youtube, Hyram - link here - or you can watch his video re US vs Korean skincare : 

Of course since he recommended the Stylevana website, I went to take a look. And this is the first thing that popped up as a "recommended" item : 

I am NOT going to order it, but if you do, let me know how it went!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Just A Mish Mash of Everything - Me, Mike, Money

1. Me 

I got some popcorn for snacking cos I'm off the chips for a bit.  Ok I'm off POTATO chips. I did get SWEET potato chips... lower GI and all that.  And I bought some roast chicken cos I happened to be at the store where they sell 'em at an affordable 5 bucks a pop. Since I'm going back to no carb meals... chicken has always been a great distraction for me. 

Last night as I got off my arse to go for my daily walk I discovered a weird feeling in my left leg. Turns out it was swollen around the calf area.. and the top of my foot didn't look right either. Puffy. 

That word reminds me of puffin. Which reminds me of The Mating Dance of the Puffin video.  Which reminds me... he's got some new videos which are cute and funny... and well, go watch them. 

But if you're too lazy to click there, here's Pets in Isolation :

Where was I? Oh yes. Swollen. Boss says it could be cos I sat with one foot under me for an hour while watching TV. And before you raise an eyebrow - I have been known to sit still in one position for extended lengths of time.

There was no significant denting (I prodded my shins in more than a couple of videos which I sent to him) and walking didn't make it worse.

After that I came home, showered, lay in bed and slept. This morning I didn't have to wake up early cos I took two days off work. The extra lay-in-bed time was brilliant. And my leg looks like it's back to its normal size. 

What else? Oh I also thought, yesterday evening, that my computer was dead as nothing seemed to work when I clicked on the icons. 

I restarted the lappy then realised while trying to launch my browser that the computer was working, it was my left-click button that wasn't. 

So now I'm waiting for a mouse donor. 

2. MIKE

Dr Mike that is. This video. Very informative. Enjoy. 

The TRUTH About Coronavirus Antibody Tests

3. Money

So the reason I was out today was because I had to go to the bank. I wanted to close my personal loan account and cancel a credit card that was linked to said account. The guy was young. He said I had to apply for internet banking, then log in and request for a refund because there was a credit balance of $240 on the card which I could cash out. 

That would entail waiting for the PIN and log in ID to get sent to me etc. So I said no thanks. How about you close everything now and just cut a cheque for the $240?

He then says 1) after you get your withdrawal request done online, you can also cancel the credit card online; and 2) if you cancel the account now you forfeit the money in there. 

OK. No. I am NOT going to sign up for ONE MORE THING so I can cancel an existing thing. And since when is a customer's money forfeited when they close their account at a financial institution?

It's mine. Give it back to me. 

So he gets up and goes to his supervisor I assume.. and after a bit he comes back and says - we didn't see the payment of $240 being made to the credit card, so there's no money there after all, so you can close the account and there will be nothing more.

Now wait a damn minute. So I told him to please check the loan account, and you will see the payments that were made right up to March. And then if you check your log, you will see that one of your banking officers waived the last 3 late payment fees of $80 each (which I had paid) because YOU guys for some reason didn't send me my paper statements for 3 months and out of the blue I received an email saying I had to pay XXX amount. 

You will also see that despite not getting those statements I *still* made monthly payments to cover the installment. I just didn't realise that my payments were AFTER your cut off date for each cycle, and so by the end of March I got a shock when I was told I had been late 3 consecutive months. AND I PAID UP anyway.

So he goes away again and comes back saying that they did indeed find the payments as I had said, and therefore they WILL be giving me the refund. 

But it was quite some time ago, he says, and that's why he couldn't find it at first. 

Wait. No it wasn't. It is April. This happened end March. I rang the bank at the beginning of April. And the guy said come to the branch after the 22nd when the next billing cycle would be complete and your zero balance will show up on our system which is what you'll need it to show if you want to close the account. Today's the 23rd. I don't see how much sooner I could have come down here. 

He nods apologetically. Oh I see, he says. But that means I will be cancelling your credit card immediately? Is that ok?

I couldn't help but roll my eyeballs. IS THAT NOT WHAT I HAD BEEN SAYING RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING?

And this is how I managed to spend an hour at the bank doing something that should have taken 10 minutes. 

It also explains why I ended up comforting myself by buying chicken and popcorn at the supermarket. 

Bits and Pieces - Updates and Snippets

Here are my updates. In point form. Because it's almost dinner time. 

1. BIKSS sometimes comes walking with me... but not with me. He walks on the other side of the carpark. The hollering continues. 

2. There are a lot of stupid people around. And I mean, around, like literally surrounding me. People doing stupid things. Just Covid stupid (like not wearing masks, or wearing them but exposing their noses???) and other non Covid stupid things but still stupid - like stopping their cars in the middle of the road at the carpark and shouting out of it to the person standing outside to have a conversation... I mean, have you tried to use your phone to actually make a phone call? It's not just for surfing and Candy Crush you know? 

3. The hospital here has run out of Aspirin. Or at least they're low on stock. I went to get some of mum's supplies and they kindly let me know that I could only pick up half a month's worth. And I would have to come back again in 2 weeks' time to get more. 

4. I have been spending money buying food from small local eateries around me that offer delivery for a small sum, to try and keep things fresh for the mother, and also to support the shops. They're really hard hit, not just from people not hanging out or going out to dinners and such, but also because offices and work places are all shut so the usual lunch crowd has also disappeared. The university and college students could often be seen at the local cafes during lunch time too - but now that everyone's moved to home based learning, way fewer people are "buying" food in general - everyone is now a masterchef in their suddenly well equipped kitchens. Have you noticed? I guess the rat was right. 

5. I finished the last season of Game of Thrones - and I got really angry at the super long and inefficient White Walker war episode. I mean, I watched it at 1.3x speed, and then kept hitting the skip-forward button until I finished the entire episode in less than half an hour. Seriously. That was the best they could do? The final battle was way better. 

The episode title was "The Long Night". I should have known. 

6. I've also now watched all the Marvel movies up to Spider-man Far from Home. I also caught Bad Boys, Hustler, and Frozen II. And then the movie site I was using got taken down. Ah well, it was good while it lasted. 

7. McDonalds is Closed. 

8. Local transmissions are down to the teens which I am super happy about. But they've been actively testing the foreign worker lodges and the numbers there are skyrocketing. They live in close quarters and have a very communal way of life, so they share food and rec spaces etc... and well, that's a pandemic's wet dream I suppose. 

9. I'm going to catch up on all my tv shows. And to do that even more productively I've decided to take Thursday and Friday off work to stay at home and chill out. We don't have a lot of traffic at the end of the week, typically, and Covid has made it worse. So instead of risking my neck on the bus to and fro for almost NO work to do, and with all the leave days I have left with probably no where to go for the forseeable future, I shall just stay home and stay safe. 

Exercising, Brain Puzzle and No Sew Masks

During the lockdown we've been told that open air stadiums and running tracks would remain open for those who wanted to jog / run / walk. 

However due to the actions of some totally irresponsible eejits and arses - they used the stadium steps as gathering points to hang out and picnic - the government has now closed them all down. 

This doesn't affect me because I'm not one of those who used the track, but I'm sure if I did I would be really pissed. 

As it is I'm really pissed at the people who are ignoring the stay-home advisory and still cheating and trying to get away with it by hanging out in friends' homes etc. Fine. Do that. Well, don't do that. But then they're arrogant / stupid enough to take fotos and post them on Facebook. What? I seriously CANNOT wrap my head around how stupid people are. Just plain stupid. There's really no other word for it. 

Anyway. While exercising on Thursday night (yes BIKSS still comes to meet me to walk but we do so 1.5m apart and then holler to each other by way of conversation) a cat came walking across my path right in front of me. So I stopped to let it pass. It didn't. It walked right into MY path and then sat. What the? BIKSS turned when he realised I stopped walking and then laughed his head off when the fella sat himself down and then stared at me. 

Seems the cats are taking over my neighbourhood. As I was heading towards my lift lobby I saw another 3 cats lounging around. But about 2m apart from each other, so at least THEY knew how to social distance. LOL. 

Yesterday my boss sent me this pic. I thought I might share it with you... cos, you know, we could all do with some humour right now. 

And speaking of quarantine.. if you MUST go out, we all know the drill - wear a mask ok?

But I also know there are a lot of people who can't get hold of one, so tons of videos have popped up teaching people how to sew your own masks.

But I can't sew. And if you suck at it too, read on. If you don't have enough masks to go round or if you just want something to use for 5 minutes in the garden while your re-usable mask is drying out in the sun, or if you're stuck somewhere and don't have your mask with you but can find these items instead, have a go at one of these temporary / makeshift masks. Do note that they're by no means 'secure' at filtering  out all the virus-laden respiratory droplets, but the way I figure, any physical barrier is better than NONE at this point. I would use these only as a last resort -  

And after that bit of craftwork, if you want to exercise your brain instead... try this one - I could only figure out some of them... how about you? There are 27 figures of speech but I'm afraid I didn't even get close to half (I managed 9). And when I saw the answers, well, some of them were a little tenuous. I'll post the answers in a couple of days... in the meantime, feel free to leave some of your guesses / answers in the comments. 

Singing, Slips, and Zefrank... and Covid Updates of Course

Last week I signed up for a virtual choir. It's to show solidarity and support for our healthcare workers.

They sent the email out today with instructions on how to record your part, along with the music tracks and conductor videos. 

I don't know if they'll eventually use my submission in the compilation, but it was fun doing the recording. 

There were about 2000 respondents so it's going to be a massive endeavour. 

I can't wait to see the finished product. 

In other news it's getting really hot in these parts and while I usually like mucking about in my flare bottom wide leg pants, it's just too warm now for even those... so I've resorted to picking up a couple of slip dresses. 

Since it's not appropriate to wear it as is for work (spaghetti straps are a bit too progressive even for me), I pull a tee over top so it looks like I have a skirt underneath. 

Why don't I just wear a skirt? Cos #waistbands. 

And an extra tee provides JUST enough warmth to handle the a/c in the bus and at the clinic. 

I have a black one, and this blue one.

I really am contemplating getting another. 

And this morning when I woke up and looked at my Youtube subscriptions, I saw that Zefrank had uploaded a new video.

It felt like I had hit the jackpot. 

ENJOY. This is - True Facts about the Giraffe.

In Covid news, I'm following this, and hoping that it'll give the world a "way out" of this pandemic, but I'm not feeling very convinced. So before anyone starts spreading news that plasma can cure Covid19, watch this first.

We're approaching this with hope, but also with a lot of caution. 

And just for fun. 

(26 Mar 2020) A German baker has found a way of cheering up his clients by cooking cakes shaped as one of the country's most coveted items: toilet paper. Spreading cream around a marble cake and then wrapping it with fondant icing, 36-year-old Tim Kortuem from Dortmund started doing toilet paper-shaped cakes only for fun. Joking with a client about how impossible it is nowadays to find toilet paper in the supermarkets, he made eight cakes for the shop, advertising it on the internet. "All of a sudden everybody was calling and wanted more and more toilet paper, more and more toilet paper and since then we have been baking toilet paper all day long," Kortuem said. According to the German Press Agency, he now bakes 200 "rolls" per day, which helps keep his business employing 40 people afloat.

That's all for now.. Stay home, and stay safe, everybody!

Tuesday Toon #47 - Hospital - Exhausted

My father has been admitted to the hospital for postural hypotension. He fell getting out of or into the lift on Monday morning. I can't quite remember. All I know is mum rang and said she was advised by the eldercare centre folk to take him to the hospital for a check up. And so she actually woke the devil incarnate, I mean, her daughter-in-law up and got her to take dad to the emergency room. 

So I've been to see him on Monday and today, and managed a long-ish consult with the ward doctor. At least she's on the same page when it comes to managing the father's care - at this point, it's about quality of life, and making sure he's pain-free. And really, no one is expecting medicine to prolong his life too much. I had the chance to speak with her without mum or any of the other siblings around, which in a way made it easier for decisions to be made - mainly, take him off the unnecessary drugs and keep only the ones that are going to fulfil those two main objectives. The only drugs we're planning to keep him on are the heart meds and dementia meds. Everything else can go. 

That should make him a little happier - I can't imagine what it must feel like to be presented with a buffet of pills every morning and night. 

The doctor says he might be going home tomorrow... so I'm on standby for escort duty. 

Meanwhile I've cancelled this evening's singing practice cos I'm so exhausted. It's not only the running to and from the hospital for dad, it's also this period that's been threatening to come for 4 days now. I'll spot heavily then it'll disappear. And I'm bloated and feeling hot and uncomfortable all the time,  and the hot dry spell we're having here is NOT helping. 

With my luck, it'll come during one of my performances this upcoming weekend. Oh did I tell you? The choir's singing this weekend! Hurray! I'm so excited. I've collected my choir robe and everything. :)

Right. That's all the news updates - now for the pics of the week ~

I'm glad all they do is save lives. 

I wish I could hang this on a lanyard around my neck.

An oldie but goodie.

Choir peeps had a lot of punning fun with this pic when I sent it to them.

I feel this way too. Only, the mama and papa bears in my family had their roles reversed.

And now I have a hankering for cake.

Fido, play dead!

This is me EVERY morning.

Awkward :)

Ouch. No more role playing for these two!

"Give us a hand, would you?"

As always, let me know which is your favourite in the comments. See you soon!

It's the Little Things

It's the little things he does that turns me on,

... like pushing my thighs apart a little too forcefully

... or grabbing my hair as he's fucking my mouth

... like ignoring the gurgling and retching sounds from having his cock too deep in my throat

... and slapping my face while he's at it.

this was the gif that got me interested btw

It's the little things he says that gets me wet,

... take it off

... lie on your front, face in the pillow

... what do you want? I can't hear you

... who's Daddy's lidl fucktoy?


It's the little things he does that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside,

... like when he climbs into bed and kisses my nipple before settling in beside me

... how he strokes my back absently while we're chatting about our day

... or the way he nose-kisses my forehead - like a sniff more than a kiss!

In the Interim

So my lappy is in the shop. One of the chipsets is dead he says. I'm waiting for it to get replaced. 

Meanwhile I've stolen BIKSS' laptop for a little while so that I can write a little update.

Anyway, the vacation was fabulous! There was lots of eating, lots of walking, and lots of being little! 

There were NO fights - HURRAY! and I didn't put on any weight when I got back - despite eating way more than I usually do. 

We had a lovely dinner out on a deck by the Saigon River, at a restaurant called The Deck. Go figure. 

(Oh, as I was narrating what I was typing I said to him, "out on a what? We had dinner on some planks?" Him: *spitting out the words and trying not to laugh* a DECK!  LOL. It was hilarious. OK, sorry. You had to be here maybe.) 

I have no pictures for you because everything is stuck on my fone and not here on this laptop and I can't be arsed to connect my fone to get some pics here and then repeat the process when my own 'puter is back safe and sound. So I'll just wait till I have it properly before I shove all the holiday pics down your throats. 

I would have been back here sooner too, if I hadn't lost my luggage to someone who clearly couldn't tell his own bag from mine. The airport staff were awesome. They identified a bag left on the carousel that looked like it could have been mine, but wasn't. Then they looked at the tag and assured me they would track the fella down and get him to return my bag which they were convinced was taken in error. 

After that was sorted (within 48 hours thankfully - I was really upset at the prospect of having lost all my holiday loot!)  I was again up and at 'em with ... CELEBRATING MY BIRTHDAY. Yup. I'm a year older. Which reminds me, I need to fudge with the introductory paragraph up top. We had a quiet dinner at a German bar type of place, but I didn't think the food was all that fantastic. It was pretty steep too, so I don't think we'll be going back there. Plus it was hot on the heels of the Vietnam trip where we had the opportunity to dine at some really lovely places which had super yummy food and great ambience. 

I got a surprise chocolate cake from a co-worker, which was lovely of her, and the boss gave me a unicorn stuffie! Score! It's a fiery red thing to match my personality he says HAHA. 

The day after my birthday the celebrations continued with my BFF Betty and some of our mutual friends at a local eatery - steamed crabs! I love seafood. It was good. They surprised me with another cake. Mango.this time. I ate too much. 

And thus was gained the extra weight. From birthday feasting, not holidaying. 

Now it's time to say goodbye to all our company...but don't worry... we'll be back to our regular programming once I HAVE MY BLOOMIN' LAPTOP BACK!