Frugal Saturday

It's the eve of Christmas and I honestly didn't feel like doing much today. There's something about the end of year that slows things down, I guess it's time for 2016 performance review and new year planning.

I still went to Starbuck right after I woke up to just get "some" things done. When I'm not working or sitting in front of my laptop, I feel like I'm wasting time, yes, yes, I know...

I went online to order groceries from Tesco (still can't believe they deliver to my area) and managed to spend just over RM 100, good job! I love how you can choose the amount of product you want in grams/kilograms and not be stuck with a pack of this or a bag of that. I saw that they have store brand diced tomatoes in a can for half the price of other brands, so I got 2 cans to stock up my pantry. They even come added with basil and garlic, sooo can't wait to try. I still need to get a few things from the Hero supermarket (walnuts and blueberries, maybe beef) and I'm set for the week.

I'm in between skincare products right now and using a generic brand, but my face is breaking out with those small "rice" pimples, also reddish and itchy all the freaking time. I went to the online Sephora store to check out the price for Clinique facial cleanser and moisturizer. I used them before and loved it, but due to some financial restrictions at that time, stopped and never got back to it. So I registered and linked my Sephora card to collect points. The stuff I wanted costs RM 90 and comes with a free sample-they give you 5 options and you may choose one- and before clicking pay I dug around the wonderful world of Internet for an online discount coupon and found one for RM 10 off, yay me! So altogether I paid only RM 81 (the coupon was RM 9 at the checkout instead of RM 10, but whatever) for my purchase, just a little over the RM 80 minimum purchase requirement for free delivery.

I'd say for a lazy Christmas eve, it's a good day. The more frugal things I do, the more addictive it becomes. Happy clean and frugal living!

In Search of the Perfect Gym

In my 4 years in this fitness journey, I've been to many types of gyms and I know what works for me. 

First off, it must be no more than 10 minutes away because if it's far, I won't go. It can have the best facilities, the most amazing classes - heck, it can even have a desert bar - I simply won't go. It's hard enough to motivate myself to work out some days, why add the stress of commuting to it too?

Secondly, price. In this case, I blame Priority Fitness in Bayan Baru, Penang. That was my first (gym) love. 2 storeys of weight lifting space, a dedicated Les Mill spinning area, and a separate studio for classes. People at the counter can prepare you a post workout shake should you need one, they have bananas for instant energy (not free of course, it's not a charity house), and Pak Abu, who trained some very well known body builders in Malaysia. The sense of community is strong, even an introvert like me made friends there. All this, for RM 50 a month! Alas, I moved to KL and have yet to find a gym I love as much as I do Priority Fitness.

Thirdly, workout equipment. My previous gym was 2 minutes away from home but it's very poorly maintained. Nobody wipes after themselves, and don't let me get started on the music. It's like you let your 80 year old grandpa have a go at the turntables. At first I was like whatever, it's 2 minutes away. But last week I almost died, "Death by Treadmill". I was running when the treadmill stopped abruptly. I'm lucky to be alive, pheww. Dramatization aside, I decided that that's it. Time to shop for a new gym.

3 days ago I found one 3 minutes away from home. It's one of those very modern, very new franchise gym with a worldwide network. It's open 24 hours (that's their USP actually) and after signing up, you get an electronic key that can be used in all their gyms all over the world. The space is CCTV monitored and should something happen to you while you are working out or in the shower, you can press the panic button and they will immediately call for help. Fancy much? Oh yeah, it costs a bomb too. I was so happy that they are so close that I forgot to be rational and immediately filled in the application form. It was a lucky thing I didn't pay on the spot, because today I sort of came to my senses.

I don't want to work out in an uppity gym. (I have a theory that the more you pay for a gym membership, the "colder" the place is. I want to go to a gym that is warm and welcoming. I joined another uppity gym 2 years ago, everybody was so busy admiring themselves in the mirror and no one talked to anyone.) I want to make friends at the gym, compare notes, have a workout buddy. So today, instead of going to the 24 hours gym to pay the enrollment fees, I turned to Google and did another search. There is another one also 3 minutes away, whattt? And just like that, I found my second love.

My first workout experience there tonight was great. It's very clean, not too busy and all the equipment works, yay! The girl at the front desk was nice and chatty, the owner personally welcomed me and gave me a tour, everyone I smiled to smiled back at me :-) All for just RM 60 per month. I'm a lucky girl.

End of Year Spending Spree

So yesterday I went to D'Pulze Mall for work, but in all honesty I was craving Boat Noodles. I had been feeling particularly blergh for the last two weeks because I have a big project deadline looming in the very near future and the thought of working on it (so.much.work) sort of paralyzed me. What a genius, instead of hunkering down to work on it bit by bit, I agonized over it and procrastinated, which benefited nobody!

After lunch, which took well over an hour, and with no particular motivation to sit and work, I walked around the mall to try to "summon" the work goddess (or whatever you call it). In a sports shop, I saw a beautiful, crazy-print workout tights and I knew right that instant that I had to have it. Please, please, let them have my size. It still hurts when I think back of how much I paid for that pair of pants, especially in relation to what I found at FOS later, but I felt happy. I've been wanting a pair of crazy-print tights forever. You see those gym freaks on Instagram with their rainbow hued workout gears and crazy toned bodies and you wonder if you should buy the clothes first to get that body or get the body first, and then the clothes? Catch 22, so I took the fast route.

And THEN, I found out that FOS now has their own line of sportswear, that offers surprisingly good quality pants (almost no difference with the Reebok tights I bought 2 seconds ago). And at 1/3 of the price, what!? Want to cry also cannot edy. In consolation, the FOS ones didn't come in awesome prints. Still, I bought 2 pairs and called it a day. The last time I bought any workout clothes was 2 years ago, so hopefully these babies will tide me over to the end of 2018.

Some undergarments were bought too but no need to talk about that, yes? The last time I bought any of that was 2 years ago as well, so it's high time because nothing is supporting anything anymore if you know what I mean. Total damage for everything was around RM 550, a paltry sum really compared to the bounty. I had a mild anxiety attack for a bit and kept recalculating because it's been ages since I shopped for clothes and parting with the money was hard. I've started a strict budget now (to pay PTPTN, dammit) and every single ringgit is accounted for. Turns out the spending anxiety was the perfect trigger, right after the shopping was done I went to Plan B, ordered coffee and started working, typing so fast my fingers hurt.

I never used to worry about spending money to buy clothes and back then, in my closet you might find shirts with the price tags still on, and more clothes shoved at the back of the closet, never seeing the light of day for months on ends. I culled my wardrobe two Sundays ago and sold everything I don't like, don't wear or don't fit into anymore. Now I have less, but I love and would wear them all. Apart from work clothes, which I, in my 11 years of professional career, still can't seem to master, I'm all set. In the core, I am a laid back, harem pants and t-shirt kinda girl. And I have an awesome, crazy-print gym tights, yes!

Frugal and Clean Living

I've decided to write about living frugally, as part of my effort to live clean. I'm disgusted with the amount of waste we accumulate individually and as a whole, what with prices at an all time high right now. I just finished reading On A Dollar A Day, by Christopher Greenslate and Kerri Leonard - essentially not a book about frugality, but on poverty in the U.S. and how some people are forced to feed themselves on a dollar a day - and became very excited and inspired. I am already practicing some frugal living but this book made me want to amp up my efforts.

I see it as a game (games are always fun, right?) of minimizing costs and maximizing profits. My goal is to eat good, nutritious food (organic when I can find it) at the lowest cost possible. Some things I'm already doing frugally include:

Meal planning
I plan my meals for the week before I go grocery shopping so I know what I already have. I have a list and usually disciplined enough to stick to it. Unless there is a sale for Lays Sour Cream and Onion. WEAK SPOT.

Grocery budget
My budget is RM 600 per month for 2 people, and that includes toiletries, cleaning products, kitchen towels, detergent etc. Grocery shopping is done (ideally) once a week, but sometimes I need to do a second run in the middle of the week for vegetables. I discovered today that Tesco delivers to my area and placed my first ever order with them. So excited! There is a Jusco 5 mins from home and I've always shopped there, but looks like things are about to change. My groceries are coming to me, not the other way around. They have better prices, reasonably fresh products and delivery costs RM 3. Win!

Not Waste Food
I only buy produce that I can eat within a week so they don't end up as wilted, brown things at the bottom drawer. Or worse, a disintegrated jelly mass of brown stuff. Yikes. Another thing that I carefully monitor is cooked meat, sometimes it's easy to forget them containers lurking at the back of the fridge.

Batch Cooking
When I cook, usually on Sundays, I make double batches so I always have lunches and dinners ready when I'm too lazy/tired to cook from scratch in the middle of the week. The usual suspects are baked chicken/fish, vegetarian chili, hummus.

Store Brand
I used to be such a snob about brands, but then found out that the product quality of store brands don't really differ much from their more expensive cousins. The price of well known brands are higher because we are paying more for advertising, packaging and marketing. No more of that. I'll take my Tesco brand tuna at RM 3.99 over brand X at RM 6.99, thank you.

Disclaimer: I'm no cheap skate. I can afford to eat out everyday and spend on a whim, but I don't. I hate waste, both in money and time. I see many ways we can do better to live better, and being mindful about our spending is one of them. When you cook at home you save hundreds of ringgit every month, and possibly eat healthier at the same time.

I've wanted to write about frugality for so long but I fear that it's not a "fashionable" enough topic. Yes, I care about what people think :-) This post was so easy to write it made me feel stupid for procrastinating for so long. To end, here's a pic of my lunch, vegetarian chilli with zucchini and wholewheat pita.

Frugality

I don't know when I started to be interested in frugality but it could have been something that stemmed from way back when I was sort of seeing this guy who was an inspiring minimalist. Reading minimalist blogs led to frugal blogs, or maybe I was just poor and wanted to find ways to save money. Can't remember.

The good thing is most frugal bloggers are also health conscious and I am forever grateful for the exposure that I had, reading all those blogs and discovering how interesting the idea of eating healthy and living with less mess are. I'm always on the lookout for new frugal blogs to read. Tonight I tried Googling 'frugal blogs Malaysia' and sad to say, I came up with almost nothing. There were a few online publications extolling the virtue of being frugal by eating at home (please, newbies) yada yada, but truly, these people just wanted to complain about how expensive things are right now and then blame the government. You can tell that their piece of advice is clearly copied from somewhere else. How can I tell? Well, I'm  an experienced frugal blog reader (imagine if this is a real job haha). Frugality is a cause dear to frugal people, and when they share something with you - frugal tips, small wins, successful under the budget shopping trip - you can feel the excitement. I want to find something like this in the local blogging arena but so far, nada.

Should I start writing about frugality too?  This blog is gathering cobwebs,  I know. Sometimes I want to write about eating clean or working out but I worry that I might be too 'show offy'.

Hmm, maybe I will. 

A Dream World, an Alternate Reality

Ever since I can remember, I've always wanted to live abroad. Somewhere cold and snowy, where going to the grocery store would mean bundling up in a thick jacket. Somewhere you can walk everywhere and not drench in sweat. Where you can sip your hot latte in a cafe on a pavement and people watch. Where public transportation works and organic stuff don't cost and arm and a leg.

Life presented me exactly that and then took it away. I've been carefully but cautiously inventing a new life far away from here for the past 2 months but that cautious yet elaborate dream life went up in smokes yesterday, simply by a no, sorry  kind of email. I'm still processing, I thought that it may be appropriate to cry but somehow the tears didn't come. Maybe later? I tried to rationalize it and even tried to "learn from the experience!" What a bunch of new age crap. 

What I need now is to accept that my heart is broken, not to immediately dust myself off and stand up to fight another day. My heart is broken and I need to nurse my poor, broken heart. Even as I type these words my positive inner self is shaking her head and tutting at me. I'm always positive, but I need to take a few minutes to mourn, mmkay?

In this dream life, I was someone else, maybe truer to self than who I am at present. For in dreams we live the most dangerously and with abandon, and I love that woman. She's the girl at the gym with crazy printed tights, she's the one helping old ladies cross the street, who talks to strangers like they are both of the same kind. She can pack her bags and be gone in  a jiffy, off to another European city see you folks! This alternate life had existed in my head for so long and had been so badly romanticized that sometimes I get suffocated by all the pink frills and cute bows. 

I have had my few minutes to mourn. It may never be truly enough but yet again, that woman isn't dead. Why mourn something that is alive and thriving? 

Handbag, Finally!

This blog is supposedly dedicated to clean living AND pretty handbags. Alas, the handbag part has been on silent mode so far, but wait! I just got a new one today, yay.

I've always bought big slouchy hobo type handbags because they are roomy and kinda cool. Up until today, I didn't realize that cool is for other people, on me they don't do shit.

I've never spared a second glance to those teeny tiny handbags that you see other girls carry around because I thought they look ridiculous. Well you know what, today I found that ridiculous is actually perfect for me. Thanks Emmy for forcing me to try! For the first time ever, I looked in the mirror and actually saw my body and my handbag. And they are separated, (!) not joined together. Usually the hobo bag makes me look like a blob of a person, but the ridiculous looking teeny tiny miracle stood on its own, and I stood by myself. Two different entities, wow! I may as well be looking at someone else in the mirror (she looks thinner too. Are you me, really?)

Such a long rant over a handbag. Here's a picture. Yes, yes, I know. You're falling in love with it too.

It Gets Easier

I went to the gym last night. My membership card recorded an absence of over a month, yikes. I had been busy traveling for work, that's a bummer.

When I go to the gym, I always set targets for myself. For example, when I warm up on the treadmill, I set a very low target of how many minutes I will have to run (say, 3 mins out of 30). If I achieve that, I can basically do whatever for the next 27 minutes, walk, crawl, walk very very slow. I usually run more minutes that intended because the first 3 minutes fuels my body to want to run more.

At the beginning, this strategy seems slow and I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. Often, we get excited to work out and want to get fit, fast. You want to lift heavy, run fast and long, sweat buckets. I too was guilty of the same trap. I made myself work too hard too fast at the gym and ended up quitting altogether. It was 3 years after that incident that I stepped foot in another gym.

So back to last night. I set myself zero running minute at the treadmill, told myself I just wanted to move my body a bit by walking. I walked 2.3kms and felt fantastic. And then I added a few weight exercise for shoulders and back. Felt even better! I can't wait to go again tonight!

When Leo from zenhabit.com wrote about making change by starting with the very minimal, I didn't believe it could work. Too little progress to keep me going, I said. But last night was prove that it does. If I didn't set myself minimal goals at the gym, I might have not gone at all yesterday. I successfully went because there was very little challenge in 'walking on the treadmill for 30 mins'. I didn't have to think about it, I got dressed and got out the door in 10 mins.

I'm grateful for having the awareness to recognize this milestone of change. To witness progress in all its form, and keep working on being better :-)

Going Places

I'm at Kota Bharu airport waiting for the red eye. Got here way too early and now I'm sitting at a coffee shop, uncomfortable in my work clothes, too tired to read, too full to eat again.

I've had a wonderful 2 weeks of being constantly on the move. With back to back interpreting gigs, client meetings (an attempt to break the fear of expanding my business), family driver duty, I must have easily clocked around 1,000 kilometres of driving. Wait, double the number if you count flying. 2,000 kilometers of movement in the span of 10 days, phew!

I needed this, though. I like it even. Part of it is just me wanting to be out to avoid my messy home (cat hair!) but also, meeting new people at work is rejuvenating. I made friends with a (real) matchmaker, a millionaire bitcoin entrepreneur, an international company's Country Manager, same said company's Chairman, 2 petrol pump attendants and a sound engineer. This is a feat because I used to have only 3 friends, so...

On this Saturday night though, all I can think about is sleeping in and Sunday brunch. Let me call my initial 3 friends to set that up :-)

Bubbles

I met my girlfriends for dinner just now and had the most wonderful time. They formed a tight group back in uni that didn't include me (I was a cool lone wolf back then) and apparently had nicknames for everyone. This is the first time in 4 years all 4 of us got together and long story short, they decided I need a nickname too. I'm surprised and touched when they decided to name me Bubbles. These days I've started to think of myself as reclusive, not properly socially lubricated, and definitely not funny. It's heartwarming that my closest friends thought of me as bubbly, not just funny, or just happy, or just pleasant. Bubbly is all that and more, my God it makes me feel warm inside thinking about it. Thank you darlings!

In the same line of thought, I got assurance from one of my staffs last Saturday. Assurance that the work that I do is no small thing and I'm making a difference in people's lives. We were working in the booth and had time to chitchat. The conversation turned to work and I asked her if she's happy working for me, and she said yes. I thought, 'Shit, why did I put her on the spot like that?' But to my relieve, she wasn't just saying yes to please me but is genuinely happy that she doesn't have to wake up early, dress up and face the traffic to go to work everyday. She's happy that she can take 2 weeks off to travel whenever she wants and I'd be okay with that. I wish I can pay my people more and it does bother me a bit, but I forget that the "perks" that comes from our working arrangement could more than make up for that.

The lesson here? I need to get out of my head once in a while and meet people, in real life!

Hard Work

I'm in the middle of watching Burnt starring Bradley Cooper, its on pause because I needed to write this down. There is a line in the movie where his character talked about working 20 hours a day in a busy French kitchen and I find myself admiring the sentiment of working hard. I thought of functioning on 4 hours of sleep every day and realize that I haven't had to work that hard in my life, ever. That made me feel unaccomplished, like somehow I have missed a rite of passage to adulthood or even scarier, to success.

Younger people nowadays have things at their fingertips and those are probably the most overworked part of their bodies. I'm no better, translation requires nimble fingers and mind alike. Sometimes I feel the need to do manual, menial, hard labour. A part of me suspects that humans are wired that way, to move of course, but also we have an innate desire to stretch our muscles taut, lift more than we think we can, do magic by growing plants and so on.

A friend asked me to visualize my future once. When I do this, oftentimes an image of a white house by the sea comes up but also, I find that I sometimes yearn for a farm house, with cows and goats and chickens, and green rolling hills stretching as far as the eyes can see.

Grocery Love

I just came back from doing groceries. I have been doing this consistently every week for a month and I find that I like it.

It's probably a testament of my yearning for routine and order in my life. The grocery shopping ritual is tied to my meal planning for the week, thoughts of calorie intake, stock checking, avoiding waste, discipline in sticking to a budget; in summary, order in the midst of an otherwise haphazard living.

Every week I try to stick to a RM100 budget although these first few weeks I've overspent more often than not. At the end of every week though, I will have an access of produce and food stuff that I carry forward to the next. I expect to hit the RM100  budget consistently after a while as I learn to gauge my consumption better.

When I think back over the things I used to write compared to now, I'm struck by how different they are, in terms of style and substance. In closer examination, the writing also reflects who I am at certain periods of life, my priorities and values. Groceries though, 5 years back I never thought I'd be writing about it but here we are.

Same Same

I have a younger cousin who is about the same age as my brother. We used to call him itik when we were growing up, I have no idea where that name came from. He is a child of divorce parents and his grandparents took him and his brother in, raised them like their own children. I wasn't really close to him but my impression of him was of a weak and spoilt child.

He grew up and moved in with his mother for a while before moving to KL to live on his own. I had no idea what he was up to until we were reconnected via FB a couple of years ago. By the way, this is what I like about FB, how it can connect you with long lost cousins and in 5 minutes, you'll be up to speed on what they've been doing all these years you were apart.

He did a lot, man oh man I was impressed. He modeled, acted in a few local TV productions, opened a cool barber shop, flipped burgers at night with a few close relatives (they opened the joint together I think) and now he's in Australia picking fruits. And FB just updated me that he's going to the UK soon. He's so young yet so driven. Oh, what wouldn't the world offer a 22 year old kid? So much potential!

I'm ashamed for prejudging him all this time because I can see that we have so much in common. I identify with his drive, opportunistic mind and open mindedness. He's doing things I wished I had done when I was younger. In a way, I'm living precariously through him and I wish him all the best! I don't know if he's doing all this for money or something else, but one thing he definitely will have in abundance is valuable life experience. Life is, in any case, the best teacher you can get.

Morning Awesomeness

Today is rest day (no gym) but I have a short yoga session planned for later in the evening. Funny thing about yoga, I never took any class or had proper training, but when Alison and I were in Bali and we did this life mapping exercise, yoga came up strong at every stage of my future life. Like, I'd be 90 and still do hardcore yoga everyday kind of projection. I expect I'll seek a proper teacher when the time comes but for now, YouTube yoga it is.

Woke up at 5.50 am for Subuh today. I puttered around the kitchen for a bit, had breakfast and now I'm at my desk clearing up some work. I only have 4 things on my agenda today (phew, no pressure). I'd like to keep this morning productive routine going especially now that Ramadhan is near. In shaa Allah, its going to be  awesome one.

All change take time and you need to be patient with yourself. To fail is expected, to stand up and get back to it is a trick I'm learning to master.

Motion to Emotion

The last few weeks I was feeling pretty lethargic and blergh. I had no mood nor motivation to do anything much, work also suffered as I only did the bare minimum.

At the same time, I've been reading The Magic of Thinking Big by an author whose name escapes me right now, and in this book he talked about how you can change the way you feel by just moving. In his words, "Action creates emotion". So I thought, yeah, let's try that. I started with small things, like making the bed in the morning, washing the dishes after I'm done eating, tackling small work tasks. Guess what? It works :-) I know this must be old news or no news for some people but to me, it's a huge relief to finally figure out a fool proof way to pick myself up and feel better.

This week I wanted to try something bigger. On Monday I went to the gym and worked out for an hour. By the time I got home, feeling psyched by the dopamine rush, I managed to finish some work that was way due. And then I did laundry. Then I showered, prayed Zohor, and drove to work. Phew, those few things don't usually get done in the SAME day, yet doing them that day seemed effortless.

Forward to today, I thought hmm, usually I feel good like this just for a day and the next day everything slows down and die down. I woke up at around 10 (later than yesterday, OMG this is not going to be a good day!). Decided why not go to the gym again today, after Zohor? So I did that, working out is harder today because of the achy muscles and the afternoon heat. After an hour, I went home and did laundry. Not having much work today, I find myself going through Iflix for new shows to watch. After 10 mins, I stopped watching and vacuumed the whole house instead. The cat hair situation has been bugging me for days so I decided to put a stop to the useless thinking-but-no-action. Man, it felt so good having a clean house.

After that I had an early dinner, showered, prayed Asar and drove to work. It is now 10.30 pm, I just reached home. Still feeling fantastic woohoo! What kind of magic is this?

Cleaning (Get out of my Brain)

I have a cleaner that comes once every week /other week to clean the house. I have used the same cleaning company for about 5 months now but I can't say that I'm satisfied every time. During these 5 months, I only feel satisfied with the work of 2 cleaners. Unfortunately, one has quit and the other is booked full most days.

When my house is dirty (read not spicky span clean all the time), I find it hard to focus on work because the mess nags at the back of my head, "Clean me, you slob!". It's becoming a problem because my work productivity actually dips as I spend too much time thinking about the mess, rather than spending it to actually clean.

So I have to find a solution here. First option, ignore it. Tried this, works for a little while but the nagging will come back for sure. Not a bad strategy but not a permanent solution either.

Second option, clean the house myself. I do think this is the best way to go since my standard is high for other people to achieve. Then I had a thought and figured that it's not really a high standard issue, I feel like the house is clean when I do it myself. So basically, its the satisfaction of doing it myself that makes me think that the house is clean. What a weirdo. I want to spend less time cleaning (and worrying about it) so I can do other more high reward tasks.

Third option, adjust my expectation. I have 3 cats, there are daily must dos that goes hand in hand with these furballs. First is of course, the fur. OMG they are everywhere. On my bed, my clothes, in my drinking water. Their poop box also needs cleaning twice a day. So I'm "expecting" these things to be there for me to clean everyday. Doesn't take that long actually once you put things in perspective.

Fourth option, book the one awesome cleaner for 2 times a month so she can handle more complicated things like bathroom, balcony, stairs and cupboards cleaning, while I do maintenance work by vacuuming and mopping once every week. Okay, I think this is the best option, plus managing the expectation bit. I also need to not be a lazy bum, house work counts as a workout too hehe..

I realize how trivial this is and I feel terrible for letting it consume my mind for so long, gah! There are so many rewarding things I could be doing than to worry about mess. Seriously this doesn't make sense, such a time suck, ergh.

Okay, in conclusion. I'm going to book that awesome cleaner for 2 times a week, while I do maintenance cleaning twice a month. Done! Pheww, what a relief.

Menu Planning 23rd to 29th May

This menu is for 2 people, one a hardcore carnivore and one a pescatarian wannabe.

Monday
Lunch: Baked chicken, baked sweet potatoes, raw tomatoes / Work
Dinner: Burger with sweet potato fries, raw zucchini / stir fry veggies with tofu, sweet potato fries

Tuesday
Lunch:  Lamb steak with sweet potatoes, zucchini / noodles with chicken soup and raw tomatoes
Dinner: Boiled chicken with potatoes, raw tomatoes/ Work

Wednesday:
Lunch: Hummus and pita bread, boiled chicken, raw tomatoes / hummus and pita bread, raw tomatoes
Dinner: Rice with turmeric chicken, zucchini / rice with fried eggs, zucchini

Thursday
Lunch: Lamb steak with sweet potatoes, zucchini / noodles with chicken soup, tomatoes
Dinner: Turmeric chicken wrap with veggies/ Stir fry veggies with shiitake mushroom with wrap

Friday
Lunch: Boiled chicken with potatoes, tomatoes / noodles with chicken soup, tomatoes
Dinner: Rice with fish head curry

Saturday and Sunday is a different beast, we might eat out. Gosh, meal planning is supposed to make things simpler right? Hmmm..

Routine

I've been self employed for almost 10 years now. Don't have to be in the office at 8 am or clock out at 5pm. Can work in my PJ's, don't even have to shower until I can't stand my own smell (even then hehe...). I still get work done well and on time, so, no problem, right?

Yes, problem. I lack routine, that frame for the day that most people have. The structure that guides them from one hour to the next. When the silent clock strikes 1 for example, they know it's lunchtime.

I see the benefits of having a routine. It helps with focus, discipline and gives you a sense of order. So I set a very loose daily routine that I intend to let guide me, as an experiment, in February. Writing things down, I already see the upside. All my daily goals have a place in this frame (my mental picture of this is a pigeonhole type of structure) and surprise, surprise, I discovered that I have so much free time, yay! By 2 pm, I've already done house chores, 5 hours worth of work, light exercise, had breakfast and lunch!

Maybe I will conquer the world, after all.
After the 2 pm siesta, that is!

The Revenant, an Exercise in Focus

I just finished watching The Revenant. 5 mins in and I thought to myself, what the hell am I doing here? It was hard for me to focus and follow the story along, let alone enjoy it.

I came with a friend so obviously can't just leave. And then I remember my training in "focusing", and decided to give it a go. I took deep breaths. I paid attention to details on the screen. I listened to the dialogues harder. I ignored my buzzing phone. It worked :-)

What was the problem with the movie? Nothing, really. It was beyond good, but it disturbed my brain's status quo. I've had a few off days and spent them watching Sex and the City and the likes, so having to digest a darker movie like The Revenant forced my brain to work harder. Man, it did not like the extra work. Sometimes when you think that something is not for you, take the time to sit with it for a while. Notice the discomfort, acknowledge it, accept it. You might change your mind.

I came out of the theater feeling heavier, like every pore in my body is filled with the essence of the film. I felt the pain of every wound on Dicaprio's body, his whole existence was pain manifest. I salute the commitment of everyone in this production.

I'm glad to have witnessed an incredible show of hard work, passion and determination personified in The Revenant.

January Goals Round Up

I had 7 goals set up for January. Tonight I opened my planner and felt a little defeated when I saw the goal list because I didn't feel like I can truly cross off any. But then I reframed my perspective and took it as a victory anyway. I aimed for the stars but landed on the moon, still higher than KLCC, no?

1. Shake 2 times a day
I wanted to form the habit of taking one shake for breakfast and one for 4 pm snack, and this has been happening more often than not. For February, I'm tightening up this habit.

2. Gym twice a week
Didn't happen at all. I had however, been fast walking around the neighbourhood once or twice a week, doing planks during work breaks, did yoga twice. For February, gym is happening. I'm actually feeling the need to be on the treadmill, shocking!

3. Solat 5 times a day
My problem is Subuh, I'm doing okay with the other 4 prayers. February, tightening up this habit by sleeping no later than midnight.

4. Set up ASB savings
I don't trust other people with my money hehe.. I guess that's why it was subconsciously pushed aside. Still not sure if I should.

5. Set up a team for work project
The project is going to really pick up in April, I'll wait until end of March. No point in making freelancers wait for work that is not here yet.

6. Meet up with expat friend for another project
Didn't happen, maybe Feb I'm not sure. This project is still at the researching stage. I'm doing this with my friend Emmy but she's got a new job and is super busy, we need to regroup.

7. Save RM 300
Finally, one goal 100% crossed off!

I'm glad I did this January round up. I read somewhere that when we promise ourselves something and didn't keep it, we lose trust in ourselves. I don't want to do that to myself, and this summary of my monthly goals proves that I am making progress to be better, I can trust that "myself" is working to get there.

Life is fluid. We can plan and set targets, but let's not forget to save some wiggle room. Now excuse me while I go tweak my February goals :-)

Happy clean living!

I'm so Awesome I Could Kiss Myself, and Other Things

Today I made baked salmon with sweet potato mash, with a side of fresh zucchini, for dinner. I've never been a fan of salmon due to the tendency of the meat to dry easily during cooking, but man I'm a convert now! I baked it for 15 mins with some butter on top to prevent it from drying, wrapped in aluminium foil. Here's a pic :-)

Now something totally unrelated. Yesterday I went back to Melaka to see my family. My nephew is out of the hospital alhamdulillah, and my other sister and her family came from JB. It was so good seeing everyone, and as per tradition we ate and talked way too much. We talked about many 'out of the ordinary' things yesterday, like should we get a lorry and start a transportation business, how to make organic cat food, and oh, my favourite, what to do if the Malaysian economy crashes and paper money becomes useless? Do we start buying gold now? In the event of emergency, how do you 'break' gold to buy rice? We came to the conclusion that the safest thing to do is to have your own emergency food stashed (canned food, flour, rice etc) and at the same time, grow your own food.

I think I'm going to start doing something about that. I'm sure Greece didn't think that their economy would collapse one day, but it did. Every time I go grocery shopping, I'm going to buy a can of tuna/sardine/baked beans etc, things that I do eat sometimes but don't usually buy because I prefer fresh food. This way, my stash will not expire should dooms day not happen/gets delayed because I will eat the ones that are close to expiration and at the same time, keep stacking.

Speaking of growing your own food, hmmm this is tough. I've tried to do the research so many times before but was so daunted by the complexity of it, I didn't even start. I think I should start small, like a small pot of ginger, or onions. Those are easy enough, my grandma used to plant them in pots around her house. Her method can't be simpler, 'Dig, shove in, leave it alone'. How hard can it be?

Happy clean living peeps!

Today I Got Up

I didn't feel like getting out of bed today, but I did anyway. I have a deadline to honor, cats to feed and things to settle. We all have days like this but we can never break down because once we do, it will become a habit and it's easier to break down again after that. I'm glad I listened to my better judgement, I got a few things ticked off my to do list and I feel much better for it.

Happy clean living!

Meal Prep and Motivation

This week I'm going to do another meal prep since my schedule for the week is getting full, and I really enjoy having food ready when I'm starving. My starving self likes to call McDonalds.

Last week's chicken soup was so good and and "clean", I'm going to repeat it this week. I'm also going to make a chilli kind of dish since I have some beans already cooked.

I have an interpreting gig this weekend, in fact I'm in the booth right now. Yesterday was so tiring I almost fell asleep on the wheels driving back. Got home at 6.30 pm and my lazy self just wanted to plonk my sweet ass on the sofa and take a nap, but I know a short walk would do me better. So I quickly did my prayer, put on my jogging pants and headed out the door. Man, the body is an amazing creation. 2 mins in, I started to feel my shoulders soften, my headaches dissipated and the whole body sort of let go. Its like melted butter on hot pan(ts). I'm glad I chose my trainers over sofa.

Motivation is not cheap. A month ago I would have chosen the sofa in a heartbeat. It's still not automatic, but my resolve to make better choices gets stronger everyday.

Happy clean living! Oh, here's a picture of my awesome chicken soup :-)

Food Prep

I work mostly from home and there is no excuse for me to eat out. Having said that, it's challenging to cook come meal times everyday, the prep, the washing up, oh. My way around this is to cook in a big batch for the week.

This week I'm preparing 2 dishes to last until Friday. Weekends are reserved for meals out with friends or if I'm extra bored and have nothing to do, I'll cook something fancy. Most times, this doesn't happen, but yeah, moving on.

I think this week I'll have grilled chicken and steamed fish. Having the main protein ready means I'll spend, at most, just 10 mins reheating and chopping up vegetables when I'm ready to eat. Some meals I take with carbs (sweet potato is the flavour of the month), some with just greens. I like having lunches and dinners ready this way because I don't have to think too much about food and can use the extra brain power to do something more useful, like save Mother Earth. Naahh...

I'll do a post on batch cooking tomorrow if I have time, and will definitely post pics. Until then, happy clean living!

Free Market

I've been minimizing my closet periodically since 2014. I can't say that I'm very disciplined about the whole minimalized wardrobe exercise, but I'm pretty good at letting go of things that I don't wear or no longer fit me. So far I've done 2 car boot sales (even made some money, yay) and next weekend, I'm giving things away at the Putrajaya Free Market.

It's organised by Emmy and her friends so do come and join us if you have time. I'm sure everybody  has things they no longer need and are just sitting pretty in the closet or lying around at home.                 

Contrary to popular believe, the free market concept is not donating items you don't need to "poor      people". Say you have lost weight and your clothes no longer fit, you can donate those and at the          same time find clothes that is in your current size at the free market, win-win, yes? You save money and clear clutter at the same time, sweet deal. Just make sure that the items you're donating are still in good condition and usable okay? This is not a dumping ground :-)                                                                                    

Happy clean living!