NAILS IN A RUSH

Did this in a rush…

Really, who has the ‘time’ to put nail polish when you have a 7 month old baby boy? Everything you do, from eating (breakfast, lunch, dinner) tidying up the house, going to the bathroom…yeah, I now drink my coffee like water but it never seemed enough to perk me up in the morning. I never had a normal sleep ever since I gave birth.

But enough about that, I’m not complaining; I just want to point out that when you have a baby, you learn to do everything in a rush but with precision; and multitasking is a MUST! Like what I did here – I finally got to put on nail polish (again, in a rush) while my baby slept. I got my nails done in 20 minutes, tops. Believe me, you don’t want a wet nail polish on your nails and your baby wakes up, hehe!

I used local brands here, I only used two nail polish, Frosted White for the French tip and glitter nail polish with a pinkish shade. Uh, sorry…no base coat – in a hurry, remember?

To quickly do the French tip, I used tape. Yes, tape. I simply placed it below the white part of my nails and began putting on the frosted white nail polish. After that, when the nail polish is semi-dry, I carefully removed the tape. Then I put on the glitter nail polish. Hmm, no top coat either, but the glitter nail polish does the job of looking like my nails has a top coat, right? I’m not expecting the nail polish to last long, after all, doing housework can simply shorten the life of the nail polish. At least I have pretty nails to show off even for a short time.

TRUNKING – A NEW TREND

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth…if only we can do the same thing to those ‘animals’, (and when I say ‘animal’ I’m referring to a human being who facilitates ‘trunking’) put them in a car trunk and let them fight to the death, if they don’t, let the dogs attack them.

TRUNKING is a new trend in illegal dog fighting and is gaining popularity in Florida, USA, but who knows where else? People put two dogs in a car trunk and for 15 minutes, while the car stereo is at full blast, the driver goes on a joyride with the two dogs inside the car trunk, fighting to the death. The dog that is dead or most injured after 15 minutes is thrown away.

Sad, but true. People are doing this now. It’s such an ugly truth. Even if you’re not a dog lover, just the thought of two dogs killing each other to please their master and most of all, survival is just plain horrible, disgusting and sick! I can use every adjective in the dictionary to describe this terrible act but doesn’t make it any better.

I’ve signed an online petition to Florida’s governor to help stop this crime. I hope you do your part as well, maybe not as an animal lover but as a human being. Please click on the link below if you want to sign the petition. All that’s needed is your name and your email address.

http://forcechange.com/64627/put-an-end-to-dog-fighting-in-car-trunks/#gf_1

YESUNG HAS JOINED THE ARMY!

Okay, so Yesung has finally began his two year mandatory military service, I wonder who’s next in Super Junior?

MY MOM + BAKING = DISASTER

         I’ve always thought baking is a science; there should be perfect measurement of ingredients as well as exact temperature needed to bake even the most simple pastries. I guess you can call me OC when it comes to baking, I’d throw a fit if you don’t follow baking instructions to a T. Although I did not throw a fit when my mom and I baked a ‘chiffon’ cake, my patience was running dangerously low. Why? Well, this is what she said while we were making the cake batter: “That will do, put it all in now.” That’s what she said when I was measuring cups of flour, I haven’t even leveled it to an exact one cup! “Is the oven on? Put the cake pans in, now.” What?! No pre-heating the oven?

          Honestly, there were a lot of things I needed to explain to my mom when it comes to baking. And she wasn’t listening. All she did was to apply her own cooking principle – always in a rush and her mantra ‘that will do.’ And it does NOT work with baking! I could only imagine if I left her alone to bake a cake, the results would be a disaster, like our chiffon cake. I bet my mom wouldn’t use the measuring spoons and do the ‘a pinch of this and that’. Argh!

          And our chiffon cake? It was a definite disaster. It didn’t fully rise up, it wasn’t fluffy, and it was like rubber. Yeah, I have no idea how the cake got to a rubber like consistency but I wouldn’t be surprised because my mom has something to do with it.

          So, lesson learned… I will never bake with my mom again.

김계란 말이 (KIMGYERAN MARI) ROLLED EGGS AND SEAWEED

A very tasty yet simple Korean dish

Know how to fry scrambled eggs? Like seaweed (the black, paper thin wrap used in maki)? Then this simple Korean recipe might just be the perfect dish to get you to start cooking Korean food.

          It’s called 김계란 말이  (Kimgyeran mari) or rolled eggs and seaweed.  All you would need are oil, 2 eggs, salt and pepper to taste and seaweed or laver. It’s just like frying scrambled eggs but this time you have to add the seaweed and roll the egg instead of turning it over, oh and cook it in low flame. Before rolling the egg, you have to make sure the other side is cooked enough so it will not break.

          This can be cooked in a non-stick pan, but I still wiped a bit of cooking oil before I started frying the egg.

Recipe from Aeriskitchen from Youtube. (I only added the salt and pepper, (my version). Video down below.

ME, THE FIRST TIME MOM

My baby boy is now 6 months old, in the span of six months my husband and I have had a heck of an adventure and misadventures taking care of our little bundle of joy, and we’re still on that endless adventure as parents.

          Let me begin by telling what kind of adventure I had the moment I found out I was pregnant, February 14 last year. I promise, I’ll make it short.

          We were pretty excited when we found out, just like any other couple who had been waiting for a long time. They say to keep a pregnant woman happy, you got to give her what she wants, especially what food she craves. During my first trimester, I was a happy, pregnant woman – except for the morning sickness part (in my case, it was afternoon sickness) I always get what I food I craved, burger, spaghetti and my favorite, chopsuey and rice.

          But during the second and third trimester, I was diagnosed with GDM (gestational diabetes mellitus), coupled with MVP (mitral valve prolapse) and hyperthyroidism, which I’ve had years ago, it never really went away. My obstetrician was quite concerned with my MVP and hyperthyroidism, fortunately, these two did not become the major issue with my pregnancy.  GDM, however, got the best of me.

          I just couldn’t eat the things I craved. I’m a big rice eater and the nutritionist cut down my rice consumption to just one cup a meal – heck, everything had to be measured before I can eat. I’m not allowed to eat ice cream, eating fruits had to be limited to certain amounts to control my blood sugar levels; and my endocrinologist wanted me to gain weight, which seemed impossible because everything I eat had to be limited.  Add to that the fact that I had to check my blood sugar levels 2 hours after each meal, you know, prick your finger and pray that the glucometer works with you and gives out a result of 120mg/dl or less, of blood sugar as a result. Hmmm, cutting back on every food I can eat and they still expect me to gain weight…that did not happen at all. In fact, I even lost two kilos when I was at my 34^th to 35^th week. That’s why I stopped seeing my endocrinologist, she kept on bugging me on how I should be gaining weight, requesting different blood works that required me to go back to her clinic every other week. Why can’t she just give me one whole list of complete laboratory exams so I can just head to the lab, get my blood extracted then go back to her clinic?

          I gave birth October 2012, by emergency CS – not really my choice. My water broke when I was just 5cm dilated, amniotic fluid was not clear (indication of meconium), labor wasn’t progressing well. All of these had nothing to do with my GDM,   although I am thankful my obstetrician made the choice that saved my baby’s life. It  turns out the umbilical cord was wrapped twice around his neck. It wound up tighter when my water broke. Still, my baby boy was healthy, all 6.6lb of cuteness.

          And so the adventure continues…next up, ‘The Search for the Perfect Feeding Bottle.”

TO HEEL OR NOT TO HEEL

There’s a 50% off on all heeled shoes at this certain online shop, as well as a ‘sale’ on my favorite scent of Bath & Body works lotion – warm vanilla sugar. Now I’m so tempted to buy something online…

Heels…I’ve always thought they were pretty…no, I always thought they always look good on any feet, partnered with a set fabulous gams. I always imagined myself wearing one, not that I haven’t worn one at all. Every woman, at least once in her life will get to wear high heels whether they like it or not. In my case, I had no choice. I had to wear a red, strapped, five inch heels for hours for just that one night – yes, it was a beauty contest and I had no choice but to wear those killer heels.

First off, I’m not used to wearing five inch heels. The ‘highest’ heels I’ve worn was 3.5 inches and I get a bit uncomfortable wearing those. So how about the five inch heels? I had to practice walking in them. That was not the problem. Learning how to walk in those high heels was a piece of cake but enduring the pressure it had on my foot was pure torture. When I finally took off the shoes, two of my toes were numb – for a week!

So now, I can only look at those pretty high heeled shoes on sale for 50% off. I can’t wear them anyway, I would prefer wearing flats, as always; and especially now that I have a 3 month old baby. Really, it’s not advisable to wear heels when you go on a trip with a baby. Plus, wearing heels can be dangerous too! It can affect your natural posture and your spine, your feet can develop pain and nerve problems and are at risk of becoming deformed by conditions such as bunions and hammer toes, and then there’s the risk of accident / injury. Even the expert ‘walkers’ can fall on their side and sprain their foot or twist their ankle…ouch!

 (My first post for the first month of the year…I wonder if I can keep this up, with a baby to take care of? I’ll try my best. After all, writing is my first love.)