Second act

I hope I comprehended right  what second act means when I read about people in the USA who took a turning in their lives to scale down drastically or to purposely live down in order to save themselves from the economic gloom. They leave their expensive lifestyles to a much more basic and simple lifestyle to cut cost before the cost cut them.

In a sense I was very fortunate to have lived frugally last time ,  when I had learnt the value of money so now my second act is more or less  my first act.  Even when our ministers try to convince us the economic gloom in US and Britain will not come here, I am not convinced because the trikle down effect happens all the time.

Even now when the girls had grown and have their salaries and scholarship, the hardship still stays in my heart, engraved forever.  I remember  when every dollar is stretched to the moon and every penny counts.

I just wish to emphasise in my blog today the importance of being penny-wise during these times. We should not be stingy but should stop the unneccessary spending.  Scale down, save up. Shine up old stuff.  Buy less new stuff. Save for rainy days because rainy days seems to be everywhere.

Lets save. Caiyok Caiyok

Puffy Fluffy Cream Puff

Today Hajar is going to make cream puffs.  La tahzan, ai.

What would make me happy

1. A pony for ecotherapy or pet therapy
2. An edible garden
3. A lucrative hobby
4. more books by Adibah Amin and other malay english books writers
5. A trip to London weight management
6. A trip to the spa
7. An old friend
8. An old love
9. A new jewellery
10. Join Mercy

Elderly friends

Yesterday I made a point to visit Kak Ros,  my elderly friend in Kelana Jaya, to see how she is.  Actually, I like to visit old ladies, especially the ones that is still holding up splendidly at their age.  My charm seems to work better on them than on men.  I really enjoy amusing them and let them pour their woes on me.  I would listen and absorb like a sponge. Laugh at their opinions which others take as 'a nyanyok tendency', and in the end, I would fish for an advise, a tip, a secret that keeps them so 'well maintained' and feisty.

I lined up many minutes for the bubur lambok at the Masjid for I know Kak Ros will like it. A widow of many years, she lives with her son in front of a small masjid, the place we first met when she was a committee member than who handles the food section. She makes a mean nasi lemak.

She looks tired and frail, maybe because she is fasting. We talked and shared.  Kak Ros told me, her health  had been withering these days.  Had gone to the hospital and clinics, put on drips, given tablet under her tongue, x-tray, sleeping pills  so on so forth.  Then she was given the results.  STRESS. Nothing wrong with her.

So she told me, the cause of her stress is her son.  A stress she cannot separate, therefore not much medicine can do.  She told me, certain things you cannot run from, it is just for you to redha or accept with a open heart and ask Allah for help for He is the only One that can help us. Everyone has problems, she is syukur, grateful  she has her pension and a good roof on her head. She hopes she does not trouble her children at old age and will die without much trouble.

So moral of the story here, sons give mothers illness.  hehe

Last  few months I met Kak Habsah at an Ibu Tunggal event.  She came over to Adi's booth and gave us all a sample of her muruku.  I don't know what made me  chase her to get her number. I liked her muruku but there is more than that. A few days later I called her up and ordered 30 packets.  For what, I don't know. 

She too is elderly but does not look 75. She looks 60, widowed for many years. I got to her house and as soon as I switch to sponge mode, she started telling me that she is forgetting alot these days and it is worrying her.  She has a mentally handicap daughter , is taking care of her mentally handicap brother ,a sickly son and she feels she her health is deteriorating, showing me the bruises from needle pricks due to her blood tests.  Her daughter though handicaped,  can take care of herself, only very low in IQ. Kak Habsah makes nasi lemak for her the brother to sell in the mornings. Financially she is good, for she told me she had been penny-wise since young, saving while spending and investing wisely.  Her main worry is her daughter, what is to happen when she is gone. Kak Habsah so far has coped wonderfully, but age is wearing her down, nevertheless.

Moral of the story here, be smart with your money, for it can lessen our burdens in the future and to start exercising soonest. Learn how to make mean nasi lemak.

Brain Gym

The other day Kak Hanim was teaching us brain exercises founded by a doctor of anatomy,  to integrate our left brain and our right brain for maximum thinking.  To mentally impaired people, they will not be able to do these exercises or would do it poorly.  Simple it may seem, though not scientifically proven, the exercise works and Kak Hanim had been successful with her pupils at her kindergarten.

First, we identify which side of our body parts are dominant. Left leg or right leg, which ear, which eye.  Then it explains the outcomes and causes.  Its  funny eventhough my rights are dominant, I look with my left eye. Which means I use alot of my right brain. 

That shows I look at the big picture and poor in details. Emm...quite true...

But what is important to me at the moment is, I concluded that I can call up my left brain!! Good, huh? ( Calling, calling, left brain, please surface now, need help here)

I heard somewhere we humans do not use our brain to the fullest. We only use a few percent. They pictured our brain like an iceberg. On the surface of the water is only a small part of the iceberg. Underneath, there is a huge portion unseen.  So, there is a huge chunk of our brain up here somewhere not being used yet.

I really hope my brain is not a tiny loose iceberg.  So now I will do these exercises using my right eye, maybe I will tape down my left eye while we do this and start tapping on my left brain for the right brain has quite worn itself out with life's challengers.

About smiles

1.1 tree can start a forest. 1 smile can start a friendship

2. A smile is a curve that sets everything straight

3. Smiling always starts the healing

4. A smile is a way of writing your thoughts on your face

5. A smile is a language everybody including babies understands

6. Every morning is like a painting. You need an inspiration to get you going and a smile to brighten it

7. Life gives you a hundred reasons to cry and  a thousand reasons to smile

A painful love story

Eventually, Shushu and Giogio fell in love.....and became the cutest of the cutest furry couples.

Giogio does not have any experience in 'making babies'. So, I don't think, with all that process being done without the slightest inhibition or embarassment anywhere and at anytime, infront of everybody, that we end up running for cover , that Giogio got it right. Maybe Giogio is still young, or too clumsy or Shushu is longer than him, it looks like an unfruitful effort.

Giogio bit Shushu's neck so often and so hard that it bled.  It became a patch of open wound all red and watery, it got us all queasy and squirmy at the sight of it, what more with Shushu stratching on it all the time made the wound bigger.

So we brought her to the vet,  went through hell when she fought the vets with her ferocious  temper that cames out when she knows something painful is going to happen her. And with me trying to pacify her with my frantic  'sayang Shushu', 'sayang Shushu' which I am sure made me look like a nutty cat owner, she finally got her jab.

That night,  the wound did not improve.  So we cleaned it, apply  medicine, covered it with a panty liner (the cleanest and most hygenic material around the house) and tied it with a ribbon. We took Mimi's socks and pulled them on all four legs,  fastened it with rubberbands so that she does not stratch her wound.  She tried to escape and ran around all funny and comical.  We quickly put her in the cat carrier to confine her and minimise any form of movement. Okeh!  job well done!

Only then Mama could sleep soundly when I know Shushu  is not scatching her wound to bleed.  But.... At five o'clock when I woke up for Sahur, I see Shushu looking at me with a frown, free from the carrier, panty liner and socks, scratching her wound, with all her sisters fast asleep.

Somehow, someone did not see this through....

Doctor's orders to separate this two lovers so most of the time,  Shushu stays in my room.  Giogio would go searching for her and sit outside my door with its lovelorn face, looking hurt and pining for his love......