Dieting vs stitching....

First of all, thanks to Barbara from Sanguine Stitcher for dropping by and wish me well ...for my speedy recovery....appreciate your thought...yeahhh i guess i will be in pain forevehhh.... he..he...

Monday 28th May was the 1st day I am on diet..hhhmmm... I had decided that I should not eat rice, take less sugar ( I had set my rule that I can only take one teaspoon a day), drink more plain water and start taking the green tea which my good friend, Chen, gave me during his visit to our house last year. I also set a target that within 6 months I will lost 18kgs. In short, I should loose 3kgs a month (average 0.80++ kgs a week....arrggghhhhhh...)..I have so far successful this week in sticking to my regime but still can;t stop my craving for rice...I am still taking rice but only about 1 table spoon just to satisfy my craving....I hope there will be 0 rice next week...I start my routine with coffee & creamer (according to the book that I read from Atkin diet, it's ok to take creamer...hhhmmm...) and half bowl of cereal with low fat milk....I had restricted myself to only consume wheat bread, using low fat milk instead of coconut milk in my cooking, eat lots of vegetable as my main dish and no more snack in between meal. No more meat in the house. In the event that I am hungry, I can only take cereal with low fat milk or taking green beans....hhhmmmm....Rozi is very happy with my new attitude and he is always watching me on dinner table...the dateline is in November...I had also resticted that I can only check my weight end of the month (1st due in 28th June)......

The reward....

I had set my own monthly reward once I had successfully trim my kilos.....

June - Juicer machine (yeahh I need one to prepare more fresh fruit juice in the house...)

July - DMC Color Variation Set (I had been eyeing this from the day they launch it!!..still keeping my finger cross...)

Aug - Shopping my stitching need online (there are a few that I have been checking already..)

Sept - A trip to my favorite craft shop & spend RM100 on my stitching thread & fabrics

October - Nice & quiet evening with Rozi since our birthday falls in October (we were borned 3 days apart...)

November - Holiday trip in conjunction with our 17th wedding anniversary (we had choose to fly to island of god...hhhhmmm...I guess if I am successful in losing my weight, it will be the best anniversary gift for Rozi...)

I received bad new from my boss that he is not renewing his contract in Malaysia and had decided to go back to the UK. It is also partly due to the project getting lesser here....he also mentioned that some of us will be send to China...hhhmmmm...considering the place it could be disaster for us...I just put the thought aside for the time being...but, I had figured it out in case it happen I should be prepared to bring more stitching supplies to kill the time at a boring place.....whatever it is I may just accept wherever destiny may take me...ha...ha....ha...

My youngest sister Adda pay a visit on sunday nite, her children had requested that I cook some western dinner. She is in town for school holiday. I had decided to prepare some dory fish & chips, salad with blue cheese dressing and baked macaroni n cheese.....but at the last minute my daughter changed the menu to roast chicken instead of fish & chips.....I use some dried basil & rosemary on the chicken and stuffed some onion, garlic and potatoes... there goes my diet plan.....too bad that I totally forgotten to snap the photo (see age is really cathing up.....)

Rozi came back the other day from work and surprise me with the latest handphone model S500i series (yes, someone in RTP might be reading my blog...ha...ha...)...but I still can't let go of my walkman series....sorry Darl I have to admit I love my W810 more than the latest one....thanks anyway for the thought .....that's what happen if you are not into gadget...anyhow I will try to figure out on how to operate the phone as not to discourage Rozi to bring me new one next time (ha...ha....ha...)

Father's Day is around the corner and I have not decided what type of gift I should get for Rozi....I guess I will settle for Touch n Go card that he may need....I can write anything here since he is too busy to notice .....

On my creative fingers...I sew some beads on my youngest girl rhythamic costume, Nadhirah a.k.a Ueya...it is just for her training costume..I choose simple pattern with my own design...she is very proud of my work and can't wait for her next session to show it off to her coach. Thanks to her coach, Af, for giving me the go for this. I am trying to give her some motivation to train harder while she is at home...here she is on her costume...

On my WIP.....i managed to almost completing my Tulip Quartet last week but have to put on hold since I had decided to stitch someone a gift (last minute decision) for my cyber stitching buddy, Anasue...after scratching my head on the pattern, I finally decided to stitch scissor fob from Laura's design from Passionericamo. It is a very lovely pattern and easy to stitch since it only require one color thread. Anasue had been asking a favor for me to buy Sentiment & Saying from J Elliot since it's difficult to get a copy at her place. She had to wait for months for the shipment to arrive at a local bookstore just because someone had screwed up my order. The sales girl released the stock meant for me to another stitcher at a different bookstore branch. I had a word with the store manager and he promise to place another copy but I have to wait longer. Hhhhmmmm....there goes the pain of waiting!!! So to make her day I had also decided to put some stash together for Anasue ...some linen fabric I bought during my visit to Beijing, some button from my Jesse James fall & tiny bug collection, thread, scissors, cotton fabric, batting, a few needle etc...I hope she will enjoy the little give I gave her.......

This is the front portion of the fob. I choose DMC no 814 out of my stock....the fabric DMC aida 14ct..I hand dyed to lite chocholate...my 1st hand dye fabric...I had another color Navy blue waiting in line......

At the back portion, I stitched her name, my initial and the year...I stitch the same rose from one of freebie website (it seems that I can't remember who is the designer of this rose...could it be Laura ....hhhhmmmm....gotto check this one...)

I had finally complete the wedding gift for my
nephew Khairil. I will snap the photo again when
it is fully assemble on the weeding day.



I have plan to stitch some of the Lizzie Kate freebie soon....I guess it's time to line up all the stitching plan here so that I can see my own achivement....



Will come up soon with more stitching stuffs n the photo of my orchids blooming...

Peace to the world & happy stitching!!! Ooopss thanks for dropping by...

Life goes on.....

I do not have a chance to write since the first time I started my blog...hhhhmmmmm....the main reason was partly being hospitalized for my prolapsed disc....I had decided to write in my blog as and when necessary only....the rest of the time maybe just developing the blog with pictures to keep me accustomed to the setting, template etc...I still have a long way on figuring out how to manage my blog...I hope to be able to improve and start thinking on how to update my blog with pictures....I will also still have more books to be listed .....thanks to Sharonb from http://inaminuteago.com/blog/ for welcoming me into world of blogging.....hers is one of my favorite blog and I always enjoy her blog as she share her tips with other stitchers....I really appreciate her idea on TASTC....good work Sharon!!

We had a very quite and calm Mother's Day weekend. My SIL Ta invited us for Mother's' Day lunch at her place...as usual she cooked her specialty tomato rice with Korma chicken.....my children loved her specialty...thanks sis...I bought American fudge brownies from Secret Recipe Cake & Cafe (too lazy to bake myself) and everybody enjoyed eating at Ta's place...Ta is the closest SIL I had beside Da...I had known Ta since the day Rozi courted me....she had a very steady job with one of the biggest finance company in the world...very loving mother and a very nice SIL...Ta is the one who took care of me and Adam when I had my slipped disc right after I delivered Adam to the world in Dec 2004. She is always concern about my health since then. May Allah always bless our relationship..

I went to the office on the 14th May not knowing that I will be on long medical leave after that day...I accidentally fell at my office lobby before heading home on the evening of 14th May.....a few hours after I reached home...I felt a sharp pain on my back and immediately called Rozi home...headed to the clinic and the doctor injected pain killer....we had to on hold the journey to the hospital since there is no one to look after the kids...the next morning armed with some clothes for back up we went straight to Subang Jaya Medical Centre...I was on wheeled chair then...hhhmmm there goes again....Dr Muthu, the spinal specialist, requested that I need to be warded in order to attend my physiotherapy twice a day.....the ladies at the physiotherapy centre was so shocked once they see me on wheeled chair again...we catch up with a few words then started my session ...the last time I was there was in 2005....however, the best part is I still have a chance to catch up with my stitching on my 2nd day in the hospital....here is my photo sitting beside my hospital bed enjoying my stitching (ha...ha....my boss will kill me for this!!!)


And the hospital food....hhhhmmmmm....

Rozi was so concern on my weight again...this time he stressed that I really need to loss weight due to my illness...yeahhhh....I guess the time has come for me to really think about it...he is very worried that if anything happen to me he is not around to help (due to his extensive travelling).....I had come up with some plan of my own to reduce my weight.. I started with taking some vegetable and whole wheat bread last nite for dinner and simple tuna sandwich for lunch today...I hope my will power will be very strong plus the support from Rozi and my eldest daughter, Ayong...hhhmmmm....I set a target within 6 month that I will reach my ideal weight (ha....ha....ha....)...in my plan I also work out a list by rewarding myself monthly in the event that I reach my goal....hhhhhmmmmmm...most interesting one is listing my wish list... DMC Color variation as one of my reward gift.....I wonder whether I will be able to achieve my monthly goal of losing 3 kg....arrggghhhhhh....maybe I am too ambitious...

On my stitching front....I had finally managed to mail out the needlebook i made for Eva a.k.a Angel in Labuan, east Malaysia...a stitcher I met at local stitching forum at http://www.cari.com.my/. This is the front part...I had forgotten to snap a photo without hiding her name (yeahhh age is catching up...)....I hide her name with the thought that I wanted to paste the photo in the forum but I changed my mind after that...I use some bead and beige color satin ribbon...

I stitched my name and year on the back part of the needlecase.....proudly to say that I use my own design for this needlecase from black work inspiration.....I have been keeping the piece with me for the past one month since I do not have time to drop by at post office....I attached some small gift for her...needle, Ondori thread and small rope...I hope she will like it and enjoy the needle which John brought all the way from the Workbox in Norwich, England. I am glad to know that she had received my package safely and she enjoy having it....... I am still struggling to finish my Quartet Tulips and at the same time have to juggle finishing the "Bunga Telur" my wedding gift for my nephew Khairil. I have 3 more weeks to complete ...however, I managed to finish the magenta and lite pink, and basically about 60% of red one and hope to start on the yellow this weekend....I wanted so much to start stitching Martina Weber design for biscornu but I have a very good reason not to start as yet since I do not have stock for the thread....I love her violet and roses design...thanks to her creativity and sharing her work with the rest of the stitchers!!!

I am happy now that I have made some improvement on the blogging knowledge that I am able to paste some pictures here...I hope to update more photos soon....Ok gotta go...peace to the world, stitch with love and cook with passion!!!!!!

A New beginning..

Finally, I had all the guts to start learning on blogging on this day. It has been sometimes I keep on holding to start my own journal dedicated to my love of cross stitching, cooking and enjoying my love life with a wonderful man and four beautiful children. I wanted to start this blog much earlier but due to my busy life and most importantly, I am not a computer wizard...it's quite hard to start on my first move.

I hope I will be able to figure out how to manage my blog and share it not only with the rest of my cybers friends but also my close friends Eva, Aini in the UK and Betsy in the US. I always wanted to have some place to write down on my stitching stuffs...my mags and book collections, my wish list, my completed project, my successfull in house cooking test and most importantly the love of my life, Rozi and the children..and this will be the little corner where I can test & practice my writing creativity which I have been wanted to do for so long.....

With the help from my small handphone camera (W810) in which I have always have a good faith, I hope I will manage to use the photos for my journal. So far, I always praise my W810, and by far it has been the best Sony ericcson series I ever use for camera...compliment to the designer of this phone and I wonder when I will get a new one....hhhhmmmmm...eventough I had hinted to Rozi a couple of times......and how I wish someone from RTP, NC will read my journal......

I'll keep it short this time.....till next journal....peace to the world and happy stitching to my buddy stitchers!!!