When all his pants are loose :-)

The Other Half has lost 12kg so far which is really good for him. He looks leaner and his love handle pun dah makin mengecut .

But yang tak best nya, segala seluar dan baju dia dah sangat2 longgar! I have been buying him new t-shirts and pants for the past few weeks tapi tak banyak lah and yang murah2 aje. Sebab rugi lah kan kalau beli yang mahal sekarang ni sebab he is still losing weight.

I have also selongkar balik all the old clothes in the vacuum bags to look for his old clothes masa kurus2 dulu .

Sape nak pakai nanti t-shirt2 yang dah longgar2 but still baru2 lagi tu. (Adalah yang I cilok and bega2 utk buat The Little Misses nightgowns nanti tu, hikhikhik).

But pagi tadi masa dia nak pergi painting class with Miss 11, berlakulah perkara yang sangat tragis….

I saw him kept on hitching his pants up. I pun tanyalah kenapa. Dia jawab, “my pants are so loose and I’ve used the last hole in my belt but they are still so loose.”

(dia nak tayang dia dah kurus sangat2 lah tu, hakhakhakhak).

Pastu, dia tunjuk lah kat I his pants and belt. Memang lah sangat2 nak terlondehnya seluar itu!

I tanyalah dia, awat tak pakai his other belts. Dia jawab, belt yang lain lagi lah besar nya, memang dah takde holes, hehehehe.

Pastu, (nasib baik lah bini dia ni quick thinking), I pun carikan my belt yang pakai buckle aje for him to try.

Muahahahahahahaha…..

Nasib baik lah ada belt yang boleh dia pakai so seluar dia tak terlondeh.

He said, “Oh man! this is so much better. I don’t have to keep on hitching my pants up anymore!”

Pastu sebagai isteri mithali, I pun pi lah tulis ‘BELT’ on the shopping list I gave him, hikhikhikhik…..

But satu pun dia tak berkenan and came home empty handed. Nampak gayanya, next week ni, I jugak lah yang kena pergi meronda2 cari belt yang I think he might berkenan.

Sementara itu, I’ll be losing 1 belt lah sebab dah dijadikan rete dia.

2 hari ni I malas nak tayang gambar food sebab balik2 benda masakan yg sama aje (ala2 makanan kegemaran kambing and arnab, hikhikhik).

So, I tayang gambar yang I ambik masa tgh bosan gilers tadi .

selalunya I biarkan aje bunga2 ros tu kembang and layu di pokok.

Tapi hari ni I terajin pulak letak dia dalam pasu, hehehe

Segala warna ada kecuali the purple ones and the deep red ones. They are not in bloom presently .

And ini pulak rupa ‘sarang burung’ kat atas kepala Miss 7, hikhikhik…

Nasib baik the magpies tak nak hinggap menumpang bersarang .

perbualan antara anak dan bapa

Malam ni I nak tulis dalam Bahasa lah. Bukan sebab nak bergossip tapi sebab nak cerita pasal budak2 tu (well, tentang 1 budak sebenarnya ).

Sekolah baru aje mula 2 minggu lebih. Tapi 3 hari lepas, anak I yang sulung tu bisik2 bercerita dengan bapak dia. Anak I yang tu memang anak bapak sikit, apa2 aje cerita rahsia, dia akan cerita dengan laki I tu. Mungkin sebab Emak dia ni garang bebeno agaknya, tu yang dia lagi berani cerita dengan Bapak dari Emak, hehehe.

Bapak dia jenis yang dengar cerita sampai habis, pastu fikir masak2, pastu bagi nasihat bernas. Emak dia pulak kadang2 jenis yang dengar cerita baru separuh jalan dah buat tafsiran dia sendiri, pastu mulalah kadang2 hangin aje, hikhikhik…. Memang I pun takut kalau dapat Emak macam tu kan .

Anyway, seperti biasa Laki I tu akan ceritakan balik lah ke I (secara rahsia sebab dah berjanji dengan anak dia yang dia takkan bercerita kat I, hikhikhik). Pastu, siap bagi amaran kat I lagi jangan sampai anak sulung tu tau yang I tau.

Eleh, I pandai pegang rahsia lah tak macam awak tu, hahahaha.

Ini yang dia bisik2 kan kat bapak dia…

Ada budak lelaki sama kelas dengan dia ajak dia pergi dating tengok wayang!

Anak I tu terkejut giler bila budak ni ‘tanya dia keluar’ (alih bahasa ke english sendiri lah ye ).

Pastu anak I tu tanya lah budak lelaki ni, “ada orang paksa/suruh/dare kamu ke suruh ajak saya keluar?”

Dia jawab, “eh tak lah. memang I nak ajak you keluar tengok wayang.”

Anak I, “kenapa saya?”

Budak lelaki tu jawab, “sebab saya rasa kamu cantik.”

Anak I jawab, “saya cantik? betul ke you tak silap orang ni? entah2 budak lain tak yang you nak ajak keluar?”

Budak lelaki, “memang betul saya tak silap orang .”

Anak I, “saya kena tanya mak pak saya dulu sama ada diaorang benarkan ke tak.”

Ahhhhhhhh…… anak I dah memikat hati orang, muahahahaha

Selepas berdiskusi dengan bapak nya, bapaknya kata, kalau nak pergi tengok wayang beramai2, boleh aje. Tapi kalau nak pergi tengok wayang berdua, tak payahlah. Dan kalau nak keluar dating, tunggu lah bila dah besar masuk uni nanti. Sekarang ni, baru sekolah menengah, tak payah lah susah payah fikir pasal pakwe. Keluar aje ramai2, lagi best. hikhikhik…..

Anak I sebenarnya cuma excited bila budak tu kata pergi tengok wayang aje, bukannya dia nak pergi dengan budak tu. Best weh tengok wayang kat panggung ni . I rasa kalau budak tu bagi dia tiket pastu dia tengok sendiri, lagi dia suka, hahaha.

Pastu, esoknya dia bagi lah jawapan ke budak tu…

Budak lelaki tu tanya, “macam mana? apa Mak Pak you kata?”

Anak I, “diaorang kata tak boleh. Tapi, kalau nak pergi ramai2 boleh lah.”

Pastu, anak I sambung, “btw, you tau tak yang saya ni belum pun 12 tahun. Bulan April ni baru nak masuk 12.”

Budak lelaki tu, “Apa? No way! Saya ingat awak macam kami2 semua, dah 12 atau 13 tahun. Minta maaf banyak2, saya tak tau awak masih belum 12 tahun lagi.”

(anak I tu lompat kelas setahun, tu yang budak2 sekelas dia semua sama ada 12 atau 13 tahun, hehehe).

Tapi nasib baik lepas tu, budak lelaki tu tak berperangai malu2 dengan dia and still kawan dengan dia macam biasa.

So, sekarang anak I rasa macam 10 kaki tinggi sebab baru 11 tahun dah ada orang terpikat dengan dia, kehkehkehkehkeh….

Mak Pak dia pulak yang fening lepas ni sebab ada lagi 5 tahun of sekolah menengah.

You all rasa kan, akan ada tak perbincangan diskusi ala2 ini lagi lepas ni?

btw, anak I dah tau yang I tau sekarang ni. Dan I pun tak make a big deal out of it with the hope yang next time, dia akan cerita pulak dengan I .

Psst… I pun dulu masa Tingkatan satu dah mengada2 ada pakwe, kahkahkahkah….

The proof that it was that hot

I think I know why I was feeling under the weather malam tadi. It’s because of the weather! .

Dah beberapa hari ni, Perth has been sweltering in hot and humid weather. Memang macam duduk kat M’sia but much much hotter! At least kat M’sia, selalu jugak hujan petang2 to cool it down kan. It rained semalam kat somewhere North of Perth but tak sampai ke rumah we all langsung .

My pokok kesum dah macam rupa orang puasa sebulan, tak minum 24 jam, melepek and kurus and kering all the leaves. Padahal hari2 we all bagi minum but still tak cukup jugak.

And semalam the temperature outside the car was a scorching…

43.5°C!!!!!!!!!!

Ni masa I went to pick the girls up. Panas gilers! Nak jalan tu pun rasa tak larat sangat2. Dalam kereta dah rasa macam kat sauna aje (as though I tau macam mana steamy panas kat sauna tu, hehehe).

Walaupun I dah guzzle loads of water tapi still rasa dehydrated.

But I’m feeling much better hari ni, Alhamdulillah.

So, dapatlah I pergi hadiri majlis khatam quran one of the ladies I know from the masjid tadi. The majils went really well.

But the amount of gorgeous malay food was just unbelievable! .

I makan sikit aje nasi but took all the lauk pauk without having seconds. So, dapatlah my tekak merasa sambal goreng jawa, ayam masak merah, daging masak gulai, sambal udang, rojak buah, serunding tanpa rasa senak perut from overeating, hehehe.

And lepas tu, the dessert pun was marvelous. I had bingka ubi, kuih lapis, kasui. Kek2 semua I tak sentuh sebab kek boleh buat sendiri. Kuih2 melayu ni lambat sikit lah I nak membuatnya kan, tu yg makan tadi.

I nak ambik gambar lauk pauk tapi orang dah beratur nak makan so tak jadi lah. And I cuma guna handphone aje pun .

So, my dinner malam ni (while the rest of the family had burger, oven baked chips and salad) cuma salad with a bit of burger meat scattered on the salad, hehehe. Sebab my perut was still kenyang from the lunch.

It was a good enough dinner for me .

Can’t think of one

Not feeling great. Slight sore throat and not feeling 100% so might go to sleep early malam ni .

Layan gambar our dinners aje lah ye…

On Tuesday/semalam, I made slow-roasted chicken. I baked it for a loong time (about 3 hours kot) in the oven at 120°C aje. It made it so juicy and succulent but crispy skin.

It’s a huge chicken! I froze the leftovers so boleh guna for other meals like pizza, pasta bake, mee goreng, salad ke .

That thing that looks like metal grid under the chicken is silicon ‘wire’ tray. You just put that tray on the oven rack, pastu letak the meat you want to roast on top of it. Make sure you put a tray underneath the oven rack to catch the dripping fat/liquid.

It makes apa yg kita roast tu crispy all around .

The Other Half kata, next time masak lama2 macam ni sebab all the flavours meresap cantik aje.

I cuma rub the chicken inside out with a mixture of grated lemon rind, lemon juice, garlic, five spice powder, salt and pepper. Then I sprayed it with olive oil spray.

We all makan with lentil salad. First time we all makan lentil salad ni, it’s not bad at all actually, hehehe.

I have a small get together esok and I ingat nak bawak cake. So I made orange cake but I changed a few things in the ingredients.

It tasted really good but….

So ‘ringan’ and very orangey, tapi did not come out intact, pecah sana sini . So, it ended up being eaten by us, hehehehe.

Terpaksalah I masak another cake tadi which so far looks ok, hehehe…..

Kids, lunch and school

How was your Maulidur Rasul celebration? Kat sini, mcm biasa, mana ada cuti, so I still kena jadi supir/bibik/makcik kantin, hehehe.

Malam semalam for dinner, I masak japanese style food. Dah lama sangat2 I tak buat maki zushi or sushi roll ni. Walaupun sushi roll ni healthy sebab not much fat in it but banyak carbs in the form of nasi so tu yang dah lama I tak buat. Kalau makan sushi roll ni, mesi habis at least 1 big roll which is quite high in calories.

But last nite, kesian kat The Little Misses, I made them smoked salmon maki zushi while we had stir fry veges with grilled ling and rice on the side. The Other Half pulak instead of makan the japanese rice, he wanted to have brown rice. So, I pun masakkan untuk dia medium-grain brown rice but still letak sushi flavouring so rasa lah mcm makan japanese rice jugak, hehehe.

Kuranglah sikit calories dia sebab makan sayur lagi banyak dari nasi, hahaha.

Everytime I want to plate up The Other Half’s and my plate, kena letak plate/bowl tu dulu atas the weighing scale so we know how much each item weighs .

(kalau buat masa tengah lapar giler, memang berdondang sayang perut tu dulu baru dapat jamah makanan, hikhikhikhik).

And hari ni The Little Misses took the sushi roll for lunch at school.

I asked The Little Misses, did they share their sushi with anyone. Miss 7 kata dia bagi 1 piece to her berst friend and Miss 11 kata, dia bagi 1 piece each jugak to 2 of her best friends. Nasib baik I bekalkan them quite a lot jugak of the sushi .

Miss 7 sekarang dah tukar best friend that she sits with masa lunch. I tanya lah kenapa. Dia kata sebab her ex-best friend hari2 mintak some of her lunch (not in a bullying way, cuma dia akan mintak untuk rasa sikit but kadang2 banyak). Sampaikan Miss 7 kata, dia nak makan her lunch pun tak senang, muahahahaha.

I said to Miss 7, maybe sebab her ex-best friend bila tengok Miss 7 makan her lunch, nampak macam sedap gilers tu yang dia mintak sikit.

Miss 7 kata kat I yang dia selalu jugak bagi especially kalau I bekalkan dia things like sushi or popcorn chickens or karipap or nuggets. Sebab senang nak bagi seketul aje. But bila dia start mintak nak rasa her wraps and sandwiches and sausage rolls, tu yang susah sikit nak bagi so she said, “No!” hahahahahaha.

(kadang2 kedekut jugak anak I tu, heeeeeee).

I guess sebab selalunya I bagi cukup2 aje for her lunch so kalau she shares it everytime with her friend, dia takut dia akan lapar nanti.

Dia ingat anak I tu kantin apa ! I tau lah I hari2 jadi makcik kantin tapi customers I tiga orang aje tau! Hikhikhikhikhik……

Ini salah satu contoh lunch box The Little Misses. Fruit salad, home-made popcorn and sausage bun. Macam mana lah dia nak share the sausage bun tu kan, hehehe.

story about The Little Misses pulak

Meh lah I cerita pasal The Little Misses pulak. Dah lama I tak cerita pasal diaorang kan. Asik cerita pasal low cal food, pasal exercise, pasal pinggang kerengga I (hikhikhikhik), muak I .

Sekolah has started for about 2 weeks now and so far they haven’t had any complains yet and so far takde lagi komplen from the teachers about the girls, phew .

(adalah yg nak kena sekeh dengan we all kalau dapat komplen from their teachers!).

I sekarang pagi2 dah jadi supir compared to last year. Miss 11 start 15 minit awal dari Miss 7. So, we all kena keluar rumah at 8 o’clock to be there by 8.15. Miss 11’s first class starts at 8.30 so dia kena ada kat sekolah by 8.15. Kalau dia lambat masuk kelas without a late note, they will get detention. Kalau diaorang terlambat until the first session’s finished without any note from parent/carer, they will be considered absent for the whole day. And kalau takde note from parent, the parents will be called to ask why the student is absent or late. Tak pasal2 I yang nanti kena marah, hahahahaha.

I guess with it being such a big school, truancy is quite common jugak lah kan.

And last month, they entered a Warner Bros competition online. The major prize is a trip for 4 to go to Harry Porter World in Orlando. The minor prizes were movie tickets, dvds, PC games. The second best prize was 2 Lego Harry Porter packs which cost $150, the quidditch match and the Hogwarts express sets.

And guess what? They won that prize!

The Little Misses were so ecstatic because they have been saving up for so long to buy the Harry Porter Lego sets. They’ve only got the castle set. So, memang gumbira hati lah sangat bila menang ni .

And their prize arrived on Friday last week so, Sabtu tu, they spent the whole day main Lego, hehehe.

The castle, the train and the quidditch players.

Some close up. I tanya lah The Little Misses, “I’ve never read about a bride in any of the Harry Porter books, how come there’s someone uder the bride veil?”

They answered, “Mum! That’s Harry under the invisibility cloak!”

Lerr….. hehehehehe

The Little Misses so happy with their Lego toys .

Miss 7 has lost another of her front tooth.

Let me tell our story

Terkejut semua orang tengok gambar I semalam tu ye? .

I pun bila tengok gambar tu, baru realised yang dah kurus balik I ni, hehehehe….

I nak cerita panjang about how I/we did it…(so go get an apple while you read this )

Selama ni I tau I tak lah gemuk mana. My BMI was still within normal range. But it was getting to be quite close to the upper level of normal. My pants semua dah a bit tight around the thighs and some around the waist. And I also noticed yang ada setengah pants dulu kena pakai belt, pastu jadi tak payah pakai belt. And I can feel my body getting a bit sluggish.

I needed to lose 3kg aje pun to get back to my comfortable weight.

But I know from experience that it is so easy for that weight to creep up and push my BMI into the overweight range. Once dah masuk overweight, memang susah nak kuatkan semangat nak bagi dia turun balik. I’ve been there a few times .

Alhamdulillah, every time, I managed to get back to the weight that I like. And all of those times, we did it the right way, by reducing my food intake/jaga makan and also exercising.

But this is the first time we’ve used MyFitnessPal to regulate our daily calories. Sebelum ni we just did it ourselves by just reducing the portion of our food, kurangkan gula and lemak and stop eating junk/snacking.

We all tak pernah go on any so-called diet fads or any replacement meals or any appetite suppressant drugs/herbs. For us, they are too restrictive and can’t be sustained by us for a long time. Jiwa rebellious we all akan cepat memberontak, hehehe.

And what had been happening previously to make us gained the weight again, you might ask?

Well, selalunya it coincides with holidays to M’sia and makan tak hengat bila bercuti. And then bila tengah bercuti, memang lah takkan exercise kan. So, bila balik OZ balik, badan dah berat and perut dah kembang from too much melantak and semangat exercise dah zero bila dah lama bercuti, terus lah sambung the bad habits.

And the weight crept back up gradually….. .

You know what people say, “ It takes years for us to gain that extra weight on our bodies so it will take some time jugak lah for the weight to be reduced.”

Tapi biasalah kan, zaman sekarang ni, semua nak cepat aje termasuk lah nak lose weight. Kalau boleh nak hilangkan semua lemak tu semalam jugak! . Mana boleh macam tu unless you do liposuction surgery lah kan, hehehe.

You bayangkan, some of us gained 10-15kgs in a year from overeating and lack of exercise.

But then bila the dietitian or doctor or the nutritionist kata to try losing the weight at 500g/week, kita rasa macam lambat noh nak kurang kan berat badan and terus tak nak ikut cakap doctors. Padahal, if you calculate, 500g X 52 weeks=26kgs in a year! Lagi banyak dari yg kita gained kan!

Memang lah best kalau the weight goes down so quickly but the quicker it goes down, kadang2, the quicker it’ll go back up .

The Other Half lost so much weight in such a short time by really reducing his food intake to only 1600-1700cals/day but increasing his exercise to 1800 or more cals/day. So, his calorie deficit is quite big tu yang boleh lose weight quickly. He used to be in the obese BMI range but now he’s gone to the overweight range. He will keep on doing this until he’s in the healthy BMI and healthy waist measurement.

I pulak survived on 1000cals-1200cals/day and I do exercise daily on top of that. My exercise will normally burn around 300-400cals/day aje. I cuma buat elliptical/cross trainer or Wii exercise routine aje.

I don’t skip meals at all, I cuma tak snack sangat lah. I normally will have an oat breakfast because it fills me up the longest. Then I have lunch for around 300cals and then more calories at dinner time. Kalau our meals happened to be really low calorie meals, we’ll top up with fruit to increase the calories.

We all still makan nasi occasionally at dinner time but I only makan 1/2cup of rice which is around 110cals aje. White bread 2 keping pun dah 110cals jugak so sama aje the calories yang masuk inside you. Kalau I buat kari, I lagi suka makan dengan nasi dari makan dengan roti sebab I rasa lagi heaven makan nasi+kari tu .

But now since I don’t want to lose any more weight, I have to increase my calorie intake. And I’m concentrating on exercises to tone up my muscles. So, my bottom will become more pert, my thighs and arms won’t be flabby anymore and my abs will be more defined . Tapi, takdelah I nak sampai dapat 6-pack tu ye!

So, that’s how we did it and still doing it. We know we will have bad days where we over eat but hopefully not many of those days around lah, hehehe…. We just have to make sure we get back on the right track eh!

And this dinner we had last nite was only around 310cals aje!

Pasta with grilled chicken breast, pesto and veges.

It was still very filling tapi rendah calories .