My Wash Room Came in The Mail!

Posted on April 25, 2012 by The Giddy Tigress

washroom

No, I’m not kidding…

Yesterday, the courier man brought me a package and it was something I had been looking forward to receiving for the past couple of days.  I was first *introduced* to the Wash Room from Deuteronline.com when I saw it on My Women Stuff and it was truly love at first sight; and what bliss, there was a giveaway for it too, so I put in my entry…and lo and behold, I was selected as the winner!  Yipppeeee!!! 🙂

It’s the perfect traveling companion for anyone.  Well, actually it appeals to ladies only because of the flower motif on the front, but really, guys, if you can see past that…this is a really cool bag to lug around.

washroom1

Like its namesake, the Wash Room can very well tote your entire wash room in it.  It’s immensely spacious, and I am so looking forward to using this because every time I travel I’ll need an extra bag to carry all my toiletries and *girly* stuff in.  This would be so much classier to tote around!  I bet my hubby would be glad that all my travel toiletries actually fit into one nice bag now!

It has a hidden hanger contraption at the back, which you can extend to hang it on railings, if you like.  This would be especially useful in hotel rooms or in places where you don’t want your bag to be placed on a wet counter.  Trying out the hanger on my towel rack:

washroom2

This is the first Deuter product I own and I am truly impressed by the impeccable quality.  Very sturdy and well made!

As far as space is concerned, I’m really surprised by how many things this baby can hold.  I *tested* it with some of my stuff, and there was still space for more things after I was done.  See how the makeup brushes are held in place using the elastic organizer strip with loops?  Awesomeness!

washroom3

err…. please excuse the untidiness of my dresser, which seriously needs some spring cleaning…

And oh by the way, I ended up testing it with full-size products, not travel-size…and I haven’t even utilized the mesh and zippered pockets at the side!  There’s also ample space for my toothbrush to stand upright!

Well, I have only tested this with my toiletries and granted, that was what the Wash Room was intended for in the first place, but you know what, I can think of a few other useful ways this Wash Room can be used as well:

Continue reading →

Posted in Relax & Celebrate, The Fairer Sex | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I Caught HFMD from My Daughter!

Posted on April 23, 2012 by The Giddy Tigress

When my daughter was diagnosed with HFMD, I did everything in my power to minimize any contact with her brother.  This included:

  • taking away her mattress from her brother’s room into my room
  • moving all her pillows and blanket into my room
  • moving her towel into my room
  • only changing her in my room
  • barring her from entering her brother’s room and vice versa
  • disallowing them from kissing or hugging each other, or even holding hands.  If done accidentally, they would need to wash their hands immediately..

However, I had not expected that with all these *instructions* in place, I would be on the receiving end of her contagious virus.  Day 4 after my daughter was diagnosed with HFMD, I had at least 4-5 ulcers in my mouth, sore throat and I noticed tiny red spots on my palms and soles of my feet.

hfmd spots

The ones on my feet weren’t really noticeable until I felt the soreness when I walked.  They felt like blisters, except when I checked, all I saw were red spots.  The spots weren’t really OMG-itchy, but there were times at night when the itch came.  Not that they’d turned into blisters anyway.

Recovery was not too much to handle, as I loaded myself on lots of Vitamin C and water.  I fully recovered from HFMD in about 2 days but immediately after that, I developed some weird symptoms which I am not sure if they are attributed to HFMD.  My neck and arms were aching like crazy, I was severely fatigue and I had stabbing pains in my head and earlobe.  On top of that, I was on the verge of succumbing to a fever and I couldn’t hold anything properly because my hands were slightly shaky.

After yoyoing with some PCM, I forced myself to see a doctor only because I was going to be on my own taking care of my 2 kids for the next 4 days before my hubby returned from his business trip.  The diagnosis was Muscle Spasm, and I was prescribed painkillers and muscle relaxants.

Despite me being wary of the doctor’s strange behavior, I was back to being normal after 3-4 doses of the medicine, thank goodness.

Definitely a chapter of my life which I closed by heaving a GREAT sigh of relief.

Posted in Close to Heart & Home, Parenting & Motherhood | Tagged , | 3 Comments

“They Complete Me”

Posted on April 20, 2012 by The Giddy Tigress

Late last year, I learnt about a writing competition organized by MyChildMalaysia.com: the My Life, My Story Writing Competition.  I had it in my head to submit an entry, but because I had so many things on my mind at that time, this got shelved away and when I remembered it was a few hours past the deadline.  I remembered the dateline was 5:00p.m. November 30th 2011.  Thinking it was just not meant to be, I shrugged it off.

However, when I checked the competition page a few days later, praying that somehow the deadline had been extended, I was in for a pleasant surprise when I found out that indeed it had!  The organizers had extended the deadline till the end of December 2011, and this time, I was adamant on completing it.

It was tough, given that we had our family vacation in Singapore in December then, and with the school holidays in full force, I hardly had time to pen a few sentences even!  But a few sentences became paragraphs, stories…and after some edits and writer’s block here and there, I completed my story and submitted it.

It had been almost 3 months without any word from the sponsors, when suddenly an email pops up in my mailbox congratulating me as the first prize winner!

Wheeeeee!!!!  I was literally on cloud nine!  Such a pleasant surprise indeed!

The prizes were couriered to me last week, but the article just got published today.

See?  The organizers were so thoughtful to take the extra step to gift-wrap the pressies too:

presents1

…all because they figured my kids would want to have a hand at unwrapping the presents…well, they were right!

presents2

presents3

presents4

Oh yeah, among the presents we got were 3 versions of UNO: the classic UNO, UNO Attack! and UNO Spin Travel edition.  I have not figured out how to play the latter two yet, but the kids are more or less hooked on UNO now. LOL!

Thank you so much, MyChildMalaysia.com!

And just in case you’re in the wee bit interested in reading it, here’s my winning entry 🙂

I hope you like it!

Posted in Close to Heart & Home, Parenting & Motherhood, Relax & Celebrate, Thoughts & Scribblings | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

How do you handle “Wrong Numbers”?

Posted on April 17, 2012 by The Giddy Tigress

57883hjt25ido0v

Image: David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Recently I had a rather rude awakening when I made a phone call to someone I knew.  I didn’t have her number at first, so I called her husband to get it, and when I called her up, I said, “Hi, is that Mary*? This is Joyce”.  And she immediately barked back in Hokkien, “You’ve dialled the wrong number la!”

And the line went dead.

I was rudely jolted that she would act and sound that way.  I was quite sure it was her on the phone because it sounded like her, and it wasn’t as if I didn’t tell her who I was too; but the way she handled a phone call, which she thought was a wrong number surely said something about phone etiquette.

I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt that she had not seen my number before, and she thought it was someone she did not know, but even so, there is really no need to bark like that.

Even me in my bitchiest manner would not do that.

I’ve had my fair share of wrong numbers.

“Hello, can I speak to Ah Meng?”

“I think you’ve got the wrong number, there is no one by that name here.”

(line goes dead)

“Hello, Aunty ah?”

“No person by that name here, sorry.”

“Oh sorry ah…” (at least he has the decency to apologize)

“Hello!  What place is this ah?”

“Yes? What number do you want?”

“Is this a house or a shop?  What number is this?”

“Can you please tell me what number you dialed?”

(Caller hangs up)

So, see?  It actually goes both ways.  There can be rude callers and rude answerers too.  I guess I have been on the receiving ends of both now.

How do you handle wrong numbers?  Usually the person who dialled the wrong number did not do it on purpose, but by mistake.  Don’t take it out on that person just because you were disturbed by the call.  Sometimes it takes a bit of consideration to tell them it’s the wrong number.  After all, they’re only human.

And if you indeed made a mistake by dialing a wrong number, the first thing you should do is apologize, not make excuses for making a wrong call.  Just a simple sorry and then hang up will do nicely.

Me? Hmmmph. I’m still a bit miffed over the “barking” incident.

*Name changed to protect privacy

Posted in Thoughts & Scribblings | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Me-Time Luxuries: Time for a Tea-Tree Oil Treatment

Posted on April 17, 2012 by The Giddy Tigress

It has been ages since my last facial pampering session, and hence it certainly shows on my face :(.  The lower half of my face recently feels really congested, and constant squeezing and picking (by who else but my good self), has made it quite unsightly, coverable only by using concealer, thank goodness.

I miss my silky smooth face.

So recently when I got my paws on the Tea Tree Healing Solution Essential Mask by Leaders Clinic, which claims to soothe troubled skin, I decided to try it out.

teatreemask

This brand is from Korea and I’ll be honest: I have not heard of it before.  But ever always one to be adventurous, I decided to give this a go.  This mask contains teatree oil, pine needle and portulaca ortulacea extract, and is individually packed as a sheet mask.

teatreemask1

First I cleansed my face with a cleanser and a light scrub, and then I placed the sheet mask on my face.  The sheet mask was very moist but surprisingly non-drippy.  It was also very thin compared to the other sheet masks I have used before.

Another thing I like about it is that it fits and conforms to my face perfectly.  See?

teatreemask2

You can still see the skin of my face under the mask.  It’s translucent, I would say, and very very soothing.

I left it on for about 15 minutes in the shower and then removed it and patted the moisture left on my face into the skin.  I didn’t bother washing it off and left it on overnight.  It didn’t have any scent actually, which suited me fine…well maybe like a light herbal scent, which did not bother my sensitive nose.

To be frank, I did not expect a miracle to happen, but I did expect some level of skin clarity with the use of this mask.  Well, my spots did not completely disappear overnight, but they did dry up and I was happy with how my skin felt the following morning.  It was smoother and clearer and the pores appeared less visible.  The spots looked less prominent and well on the way to healing, so that was certainly a good sign.

teatreemask3

It’s actually just like what a relaxing facial feels like.  And to maximize the use of the mask, I applied the mask essence to my skin again the following day.  Remember I said the mask was VERY moist?  I squeezed out the moisture from the pack and used that!  There was still LOADS to use!

The pimple scabs actually fell off 2 days later,and my skin felt healthier after that. I wouldn’t say it is 100% effective to “soothe troubled skin” but it would be something I would consider if I faced any skin congestion problems in future.

The Tea Tree Healing Solution Essential Mask by Leaders Clinic is available online at Hansaegee Nature.  Each pack costs RM8.90 (which by the way, is another good thing about this mask!)

Me-Time Luxuries features special things I pamper myself with once in a while.  Being a SAHM does not allow me a lot of me-time, but I make do with what I have and try to have those few minutes to myself as a form of *reward*.  I try to keep it simple, no-fuss and as best as I can, frugal.  After all, if I look and feel good about myself, I’d make others feel good too, yes? 🙂

Posted in The Fairer Sex, Thoughts & Scribblings | Tagged , , | 2 Comments