Making a Kinder Choice with Kinder Soaps

Posted on February 24, 2014 by The Giddy Tigress

My quest to find a way to completely cure and heal my littlest one, Emma, from the excruciatingly irritable skin condition known as eczema has led me to this range of products from a local company called Kinder Soaps.

If you’re a believer of the adage “everything happens for a reason”, you will certainly see how this discovery could possibly be, what is called, “meant to be”.

It all started when my daughter’s teacher told me about this interview her husband had heard on the radio about Kinder Soaps.  So I checked out the company and its products and found that I could relate very well with its owner and founder, Michelle Ho.  Michelle started formulating and making these special handmade soaps when her daughter suffered from eczema.  Basically her intention (as is with almost all parents whose kids suffer from eczema) is to create a cure for eczema which is non-steroid, natural and effective.  Turns out a couple of my friends were also using or had used Kinder Soaps on themselves or on their wee little ones.

I’m always a little apprehensive to try out new products that claim they are able to cure and heal eczema, because I know for a fact that eczema is very difficult to heal.  What’s more, one product that works on someone might not work on someone else.  But there was something about Kinder Soaps products that appealed to me, yet I don’t know what it was.

Excitedly, I promptly emailed Michelle with some questions pertaining to my condition and my Emma’s condition (yes, I have eczema on my hands too), and she was quick to reply with some answers.  She also kindly consented to sending me some samples to try out because my skin was hypersensitive and I needed to be sure it did not flare up before I tried out products on a larger scale.

So you see, if my daughter’s teacher’s hubby had not heard the interview, I would not have known about Kinder Soaps at all.  So was it sheer coincidence or meant to be?

Call it what you may, but two days later, I received a parcel in the post, and let me just say that it was the most awesome-smelling parcel ever.  Yes, even though the products inside were bubble-wrapped and sealed up, I could just smell how yummy they were.  The products lying inside that parcel smelled like a spa, and I could not wait to open it up.

Here’s what I received:

  • 1 x 3pc Sampler Pack of Kinder Soaps bar soaps, consisting of 
For the past week or so, I have been adhering to the following routine for Emma:
  • Twice daily, bathe with Goat’s Milk & Patchouli soap.
  • While skin is moist straight out of bath, warm up some Double Duty Balm and apply liberally on affected areas.  For Emma, this was mainly the lower part of her legs, her cheeks, neck and arms.
  • Three drops of Eczema Support Oil, warmed up in hands and massaged into affected areas, as needed.
  • Several drops of Baby Bliss Oil, warmed up and massaged into rest of body and a little on her cheeks and head.
  • Apply Double Duty Balm and Eczema Support/Baby Bliss oils as needed throughout the day, even in the middle of the night, and during diaper changes.
Well, three days into my routine, I discovered Emma’s skin began looking dry and it started peeling especially on her face and neck.  I then increased the frequency of oil application on the dry areas and thankfully the peeling went away.
After a week of usage, however, I am pleased to note that I do see significant improvement. In fact, I had already felt the improvement on my own hands, since I use my hands to apply the oils and treatment on Emma.  Emma’s skin is now more supple and smoother, although she still scratches.  The redness has diminished and hopefully will totally be gone in the coming few weeks.  I’m hoping the scratching will stop soon too.  There are still a few dry patches which I am treating with the Eczema Support oil and Double Duty Balm.  This combination appears to work really well to provide immediate relief.  
The Goat’s Milk and Patchouli soap too is a very moisturizing and easy-to-use soap.  I love its smell!  Upon initial usage, broken skin might feel a little sting, but after a few seconds, it is very soothing.  The skin feels incredibly soft after rinsing off, not taut and dry like commercial soaps.  It lathers well too, by the way.  My one complaint though is that I don’t have a proper soap dish for my soap.  Bummer.  
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Goodbye With A Heavy Heart…

Posted on January 19, 2014 by The Giddy Tigress

After about a month of shuttling back and forth, carting our belongings from old to new house, we finally completed our last round three nights ago.  The many late nights had begun to take a toll on us, and of course it also affected the kids.

Truth be told, the experience was indeed bittersweet especially for me; saying goodbye without any emotional attachments is never an easy task for me.  But I’d say I handled it pretty well.

The following day I handed over the keys to the new owner, and thereafter it was farewell forever to our home of almost 10 years.  We were leaving the place where memories were made and cherished.  Our first home would always hold a special place in our hearts, but move on we must.  And those memories will be extra special ones we would always hold dear.

Yup…gonna miss that gorgeous timber strip floor big time too…

Our next task: unpacking the loot in our current living room and organizing them! Just tear out my hair now, will ya?

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Shoutout From Our New Crib

Posted on December 30, 2013 by The Giddy Tigress

Yoohoo…it’s been a while since I said hello here…but I have a perfectly good reason.  We’ve been really tied up with our move, and getting the house ready.

Plus…when we had moved all our large stuff over, we did not have any broadband!  I very nearly exhausted my 3G quota that time!  Just recently set up our Maxis Broadband a couple of days ago.  Sorry TM…you couldn’t even give us even 1MB in speed, and that just ain’t gonna cut it.

Well anyway, here’s a “long story short” account of what happened in the past 2 weeks or so leading up to our move.

During the weekend prior to our move, we exhausted ourselves overseeing the final few renovation “hurdles” as we got ready to move in (finally). There were still quite a number of issues that need to be addressed such as air conditioning issues, plumbing, flooring, wiring… Gee, sure seems like a lot huh? Anyway these will have to be rectified whilst we are living in the house. 

Saturday was a busy busy day. The furniture we ordered from Ikea arrived and the delivery guys were huffing and panting as they worked to move the items to the various locations. Just in case anyone was interested, delivery cost to Penang for a maximum of 1 ton lorry load is RM760 flat. Also, at the point of purchase, you have to choose and carry all the items yourself. We prepared a list hoping the Ikea customer service personnel could help us pick the items but no such thing happened. Not even when we showed our forlorn and tired faces with 3 kids in tow. In addition, we were told it would take something like 5 days to be delivered to Penang, but there is a high chance Ikea will call you to have them delivered earlier. We deferred till the agreed 5 days though, cos our home just wasn’t ready yet.  Oh, and bear in mind the RM760 does not cover installation. If you want it installed, you have to pay an additional 8% of the price of the item. (As a result, we still have quite a number of uninstalled items in our home, all packed up)

Two days after the Ikea guys came over, our team of movers arrived in our old apartment to move as many items as possible to our new place. Seems bittersweet spending our last night in our apartment.

And oh, before I go, here’s something that makes me happy… The blinds in my kitchen!!!

Aren’t the pretty? I didn’t get the stripey wall I had wanted, so I requested for my kitchen blinds to look this way… 🙂 Score!!

We’ve lived here in our new crib for a little over 2 weeks now, but we still make almost daily trips back to the old apartment to cart our items bit by bit.  It’s a tedious job, but someone has gotta do it.  So nope, we have not completely settled in, but we’re getting there…

A small selection of our fridge magnets gracing our fridge now, making it feel more and more like home:

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New Home Updates: Ups and Downs

Posted on November 21, 2013 by The Giddy Tigress

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of excitement and a frenzy of frustration (at times).  The renovation works in our new home started a while back but what we thought would be smooth-sailing, was tainted with hiccups and obstacles.

For one, there have been instances where we have been less than satisfied over the progress and the works that have transpired.  This has resulted in us having to micro-manage and oversee the overall renovation works despite staying a good 45 minutes away.  Not an easy feat if I have kids tagging along, I would say.  Stressful would be putting it in the mildest manner possible.

So, please bear with me these few weeks as I attempt to polish my juggling skills as I shoulder all these tasks all at once.  We’re praying that our home will be completed as planned so there will be no delays from our original schedule.

Nevertheless, every step of the renovation progress leaves us on a high, and most of the fixtures and renovation decisions were a result of both our combined inputs and suggestions.  Just watching it unfurl before our eyes is rewarding enough.

Here are some sneak peeks…

It took us quite some time, and several visits to stores comparing prices, and surfing the net, to finally decide on the type of fans we wanted.  We took into consideration the color, the price and of course, the design and shape of the fan; eventually we zeroed in on one with unique leaf-shaped blades.  It was trying enough sourcing for these fans, but we managed to get them all in the correct configurations.  Once they were installed, we knew we had made the right selection. 🙂

Another item which we had tremendous difficulty getting was the kitchen pendant lamps.  Hubby and I could not decide on one which both of us liked, and we went from store to store (kids in tow) until we found one.  But we resisted the impulse buy and decided to hold back for a while.  However, we ended up getting that same one, and we got it close to closing time that night.  It does look good though, now that I look at it…. (I love warm white lighting in my house) 🙂

We also ran into some hiccups selecting and procuring the downlights.  As you can see from the pictures above, we have decided on round downlights which are uncovered.  Initially we chose a mixture of square and round downlights because my hubby preferred the square ones and I, the round.  However, the square downlights we had ordered were all defective (loose casing, missing parts, rusty components, etc).  Well, long story short, we decided to have all our downlights round.  We chose uncovered downlights too, to prevent “dead mosquito buildup”, if any.

And over here, you see a sneak preview of the playroom on the 1st floor.  This one has the same leaf-bladed fan but in three blades.

I’m loving the marigold colored walls of this room and I can’t wait to embark on my personal project to decorate this room and set it up for the kids! 🙂

Hope to share more home pictures soon! 🙂

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go plan my next micromanaging session onsite….

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Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Posted on November 7, 2013 by The Giddy Tigress

It’s done.

Yesterday evening, we accepted an offer from someone who wanted to buy our home.  Actually he made the offer a day earlier, but we told him we needed to think about it first.  It had all happened too fast…almost like a whirlwind.

Credits
Elegant word art (Happiness Homemade) from Bethany 

I received a call a couple of days earlier that someone had wanted to come for a viewing, so we made the appointment.  I figured it would be just like the rest of the viewings I had hosted, i.e. potential buyer comes by, takes a look, I state my listed price and he’d say he would think about it.  Well, that’s how it was with the several few viewings I have had.

But this time, the potential buyer counter-offered and hubby suggested a price compromise.  A few counter-offers later, in less than half an hour, and the potential buyer was almost ready to write us a check!

Well, we took a good whole day to sleep over it and considered the pros and cons.  It wasn’t because we did not want to sell our home.  Of course we did!  It was just that there was a really strong emotional attachment that came with this home; it was our first home bought together, and one that we’ve stayed in ever since we got married.  We had so many memories here; so many that it was uncountable.  We started our family here – our first baby was born here.  And on top of that, all our decor were handpicked to the extent that there is a close bond to each item in this home…well, to me, at least.  We would definitely want to look for a buyer that would be able to give this home all the love we have given it thus far.

So anyway, we decided that selling our home would be in our best interest now, and we signed on the dotted line yesterday.  If everything goes well, the deal will be sealed within 14 days, assuming the buyer is able to secure a housing loan.

It’s a bittersweet feeling: on one hand we are ecstatic to have closed the deal, but on the other, we are gutted that we will be leaving a dear old friend behind.  We will never forget the memories, dear friend…but on the bright side, I am looking forward to making more happy memories in our new place soon.

After all, happiness is definitely homemade, don’t you agree?

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