Goat's milk

While browsing the supermarket today, Eric and I came across this gem. It's goat's milk!

Have you tried it before?

Well we have not, and why not try it when it's on 85% DISCOUNT!!!!

See that many bar code sticker on the bottom right of the carton. It must have been reduced and reduced and further reduced. The grand total we paid for was.........50 ...er, I cannot find the symbol for it... .... Oh well.... 50 CENTS!

So, I had heard many ppl who claims giants milk is better than cows milk. Better absorption, easier to digest than cows milk. Good for ppl with allergies and asthmatics. Better for lungs?

And since Eric is still coughing, and he is intolerance to cows milk, why not try this, since it's only 50 cents. Hohoho. 

So, what's the verdict?

Hmmm... goats milk does not have the same taste as cow's.... It taste like... errr... Goat. Or according to some ppl who commended online, it taste like a sheep pen that hadn't been cleaned. Lol.

This was Eric's expression after the first sip.  >o<

Even though his favourite meat is lamb, and I'd say the milk taste like kambing soup, he finds the milk difficult to swallow. 

Taste aside, it is very smooth and creamy. 

I think I prefers it warm than cold from the fridge. Makes the lamby taste easier to swallow. I have a feeling that I may be the only one finishing the goats milk. Will try it with milo tomorrow and see how it fares. 

Has any one tried goats milk before and do you like it?

Gd night!

Kcan

Grieving

This is a sad post of events that happened since the Thursday before. (Which by the time I finish writing, was almost three weeks ago)

7 August was supposed to be an exciting day for Eric and I. We were looking forward to meet the little one that had been growing in me for the last 11 weeks and 6 days. Yes, it was almost the end of the first trimester! Dispite the disapproval of my gp, whom he kept insisted that I need not needed any scan untill the 16-18 weeks, I asked around for second opinions. However, the feedbacks from my many friends and even from my bible study leader  ( who is also a gp), suggested I get one done at least before the first trimester. So I kept pestering and insisted on getting one done. And finally, we couldn't wait to that day to arrive.

Throughout the pregnancy, it had been quite smooth sailing. Apart from the cold which I caught from visiting the doctor, I had been quite fit n well. There were always the slight pulling sensation on the tummy during the day, and the frequent trips to the toilet at night. Nothing as uncomfortable as the constant coughing which I got from the doctor.

On Thursday, Eric accompanied me to church where I taught English to the new migrants students. Then, we went for a yum cha lunch, before heading in together to the radiology clinic for my ultrasound appointment. During the scan, we saw the baby. It had a head, and a curving body. Omg, I was so excited! 

But then, things were not right. The lady performing the ultrasound could not see any heartbeat. So she request to do an internal scan, but the result were the same. The measurement for the baby, states that it was the size of 8weeks 3 days. Not 12 weeks. Eric and I were shocked. 

We waited outside for the reports. That felt like the longest wait. There were no tears. Just confusion as to what had just happened. The radiologist suggested that we bring the report straight back to the gp immediately. And so we did. But thinking back, we regretted going back to him. 

Clinic as usual was busy. Gp was quite shocked to see us waiting. So he took a quick look at the report faxed to his office, and called us in to the empty room next door. He started blabbering about the dating scan result, showing 8weeks fetus, and trying his best to explain why it would be different to his predicted 12 weeks. It got us confused and Eric and I had to cut him short, telling him that the scan showed no heart beat of the fetus, and the baby had not grown since 8 weeks. (Oh man....)

Then he read the report clearly, and realised his mistake. He left the room, seen another patient, and then bring us into his room again. -_-"

He gave a very brief generic pep talk about miscarriage, and went right into the D&C procedure to get rid of it. He scribble a clinic name on a piece of paper, and passes it to us, saying no referral is needed. Wondering about other options available, like a more natural way, he immediately dismissed them and  insist that the procedure is very safe (not true) and would want us do it ASAP.

So that made us very kancheong. So immediately when we left the clinic, Eric called up the clinic to see if there are any bookings for over the weekends. We also have to reorganize my work for the weekend and the following week as I was supposed to relief another practitioner at the city clinic. And there are the midwife appointment which was to be happened in two weeks time....

I don't know how, we reached the car park at our church ground. It was so devastating. We sat in the car, wondering what to do next. I looked up to see where the 'clinic' was to get the procedure done, but only it realised that it was an abortion clinic! Feeling disgusted, we decided to call the midwife which was assigned to us. She was really caring. She was shocked about us being refered to an abortion clinic. She suggest that we go back to the gp and get a referral to the hospital, where we can be better looked after. And if there are any massive bleeding, we should just go to the emergency department immediately.

It was very comforting talking to the midwife. But we were not willing to go back to our gp for the referral, after what he had 'refer' us to. In desperation, we gave a call to my bible study leader whom is a gp, and explained the situation. She immediately told me it go see her first thing tomorrow and she could write a referral to the hospital clinic for early pregnancy issue. 

And the next day, when we arrived at her clinic, she squeeze us in even though she had a very full and busy schedule. She had even organized an appointment for us the night before (after we called her last night) at the hospital, so that we could see the doctors first thing on the following Monday. Oh that so put our worry at ease.

So for the weekend, we waited. With sadness and praying that things will be smooth on our visit to the hospital on Monday. I still went to work on Saturday, but I had to cancel the two day of work (Monday and Tuesday) which I was meant to relief my colleague.

On the early morning of Monday, at 5am, I had a very severe pain in my tummy. Like a very very bad period pain. Eric was with me to help comfort, get me painkillers and help me to the toilet. At the toilet, is where I had 'given birth'. 'Things' just kept coming out and the pain was better when it had all finished. I was exhausted. I rested in bed for another few hours before getting ready to go to the hospital for the appointment.

There were a few emergency appointments at the early pregnancy unit in the hospital. We waited for about an hour before seeing the doctor, even though we had an appointment made. She was kind and caring, explaining to us and letting us know how things will proceed with the miscarriage. The hospital generally do not encourage d&c procedure unless necessary as it may cause scaring, puncture etc to the uterus. And because I had the severe pain and bleeding just few hours ago( meaning my body had started to do its job to clean it out), she suggest that we should come back in a week to check if everything is expell out of the body. 

Sometimes, women may take about a week or two to fully expell everything. So there are no hurry to do anything as yet. (Phew! That was a great relief!)

Out of curiousity, I asked if I could do a scan, just to check if the baby is still in there. (Because quite a lot of things actually came out) The doctor did not say no, and we waited for half an hour for the scan to be performed. The radiologist was very gentle and explained what she saw on our screens. The uterus looks empty. The baby we saw just few days earlier, was not there anymore. It was quite sad, yet relieved to know that nothing was left inside to cause inflammation or other nasty side effects. 

So I am not pregnant anymore. =(

The doctor was surprised that things had cleared out so cleanly in such short time. Something we still give thanks to God for. We were given the all clear, not needing any follow ups and no invasive procedures. 

So we spent two days resting at home and I started my 'confinement'. 

Eric and I had our crying moments on and off since then, but we were more thankful for having each other's presence for support and love during this tough time. 

If asking me what I had learned through this short pregnancy? I would say, it is to get a good gp who specialise in seeing patients for pregnancy and knows what to do, when the expecting mum had some doubts about the pregnancy. There were many signs during when I was unwell, which suggested that something was not right. But all the concerns were quickly dismissed by the gp. And I felt horrible, needing to 'beg' him for the scan at 12 weeks, only to know then, it was too late. 

I'm doing much better now. The bleeding had stopped and I'm still taking my confinement herbs to strengthen my body. I hope I'll be better prepared the next time I'm pregnant, and be able to bring good news to you all, instead of a sad one. 

I thank God for the many church sisters and brothers whom had showered us with love and care during this time, and also my dear Rong Rong whom is a good listener and councillor during my time of tears. 

Gd night.

Kcan

Contageous

I'm now down with a cold. Been feeling phlegm build up and coughing since the weekend.

What happened? The GP passed it to me!!!!

I was all good till I enter his clinic. OMG, it was so stuffy in the clinic. Each time he came out to get another patient, he was coughing here n there, and at times you can hear him coughing in his consultation room. >_<

Then behold, it was my turn!
I was quite scared entering his room. During the consultation, he turned to the wall on his side of the room n cough. (fair enough, if he covers his hand, he will pass it to me when he write things down for me) BUT.... in that tiny room, where ever he cough, it will just pass all over the room. >_< And true enough, I was down with his cold 2 days later. *sad* And that was just to see him for getting the script for BLOOD Test.

To make things worse, I'm now not able to take my usual medication because I'm under observation. So I can only stare longingly at my cough medication, while Eric helped me with Moxibustion on the Acupuncture points. In the meantime, I am having ginger tea and warm Lime and honey all the time to stop the cough from worsening. (working so far, yay!)
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.

.

.

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Fast forward to 5 days later....

I went back to get the blood test result. The doctor is STILL coughing around the clinic!

Omg. And behold, I'm now coughing like that doctor around the house. >_<

I hated coughing. Not just because it caused my rib to crack back in 2010, but that I will have difficulty sleeping from this cough. =( now, we had moved back to my MIL's place, sleeping in the living room on my reclining chair at night, so that I can sleep peaceful-er than on my flat bed. 

I hope whatever the virus the doctor got, will get defeated by my immune system soon.

Take care everyone!

Kcan

Bush walk

Two weeks ago, after work on Saturday, Eric and I decided to go bush walking together. It was one of the last remaining warm Autumn, before the setting in of cold winter. So we decided to take the opportunity to exercise and get some Vit D from the dear sun before it becomes 'history' during winter. 

Here is me, all geared up with my walking boots and walking sticks from my China trip. Oh how I missed using the walking sticks! These are the cheap imitations you can easily get in HK night markets. BUT oh boy, they were SOOO useful for us during our climb in China. They are much heavier and thicker than the professional branded ones, but oh well, it serves its purpose and had battle scars all over it. =D

Oh, and that's my Tomato behind me. ^_^

So, our bush walk trek is nothing far away. It's right 2 mins away from our door step!  

Our first descend onto the trek welcomes us with this view.

The steps where we descended from.

Us happily taking selfie, not knowing the route ahead. Apparently, Eric had only travelled on this trek once before (back in his younger days), and it was not even the full length of it.

The first detour from the trek, was a path down to the secluded beach!

I was here!

So we head back onto the main trek and continue the journey further. Excitement awaits.....

We heard water tickling down somewhere... and we saw a mini-water fall!
This place would look so much spectacular after a heavy rain. (not sure if it will be safe to walk on though)

The path was rocky with boulders bigger than us. >_<

One needed to climb onto the rocks on all fours.

At some parts of the trek, we can see nice water views and the suburbs across the river.

There's this weird looking rock.

Lots of Australian native plants.

At one stage, the narrow trek was right next to this bard wire fence, along a very steep descend >_<

We also saw a big tree which had collapsed and was floating on the river surface.

In total, it took us a whole 2 hours to complete the whole trek and get back home. It was such a relief as we reach the main roads as my feet were wobbly from trying not to slip n fall from all the loose rocks on the trek. The bush walk was indeed an intense exercise option which was both Cardio and Stamina workout, with all the uphills n downhills and climbing up n down rock faces.

Along the way home on the main road, we met a young boy who was playing outside his home driveway. We asked him for some directions and he was so polite and helpful. This was something we have not seen for quite a while in Australia. (Don't get me wrong, not that all Aussies are rowdy, but I found that kids these days lack the manners, like in the older generations) What a blessing he must be to his family. And I bet his parents would be proud to have such a well mannered son like him. Hope he grows up to be a find young man too.

We were dead tired after that walk. haha.

kcan

Interview

Eric is having an interview tomorrow for a short term contract which allows him to work from home.

Pray that it will goes well and that God willing, we will have some income boost from his work.

We are in the mids of scouting for suppliers for the various products we are selling through our business.

In case you are interested, we are setting up an overseas Chinese medicine confinement service. Our company works to help support Asian ladies with their confinement needs while overseas. We provide home visits of Chinese medicine and acupuncture services for women after labour to help them recover during confinement time. Our main aim is to make our site as a global point of information for confinement and it's purpose. We want to encourage people to do it, do it well, without the contradicting myths, legends and superstitions.

Feel free to pass our site to your friends who are pregnant or are in the process of doing confinement. 

Confinement Care

Kcan

It's a long bean!!

I had a surprise today when I went around my vege pots.
Long beans!!!

I had always wondered what plant that was in the same pot as my corn plants. It was bulldozed when the possums attacked it many months ago. So it took a while for it to regrow it's leaves, and started spreading.

Spreading??

Yes, it was spreading everywhere! I had a hunch that it was a 'capsicum plant' because I had been pouring water with capsicum seeds in there to the various pots when watering plants. And there were a few others in my 3 tier plant pots that is now fruiting capsicum. So therefore, I thought I had another lot of capsicum plant in my corn pot.

But what mystify me was that, a capsicum plant, like the chilli plant, is a 'tree' structure. BUT this 'mystery plant' creeps n spreads Everywhere! I thought it must have regained more 'energy' from it's bulldozed incident, that it wanted to grow n spread more. haha.

Anyhow, I noticed it was flowering, so I went to peep at the flowers when I realised there are many 'strings' hanging down from the stems!!!

Will update with the photos later in the day. =D

kcan

It's 2014!

Sorry for not updating since my last post. It had been quite a big roller coaster ride since my last update.

Well, things at home were still quite a big frustration for both Eric and I. It's like almost to a breaking point where it was affecting even our own relationship with each other. Going to the women bible study every Wednesday morning helps to allows me to be with other older women, who would listen and share experiences. And at times, it was amazing that the discussions would touch my heart, to the deepest point. 

One day, I received a book from my pastor's wife Carmi. She asked if I would like to join their book club, reading through this book together and discuss as a group every 2-3 weeks during lunch.

This event was a God sent. The book they were going through was not only helpful for a newly wed wife like me, it teaches us how to be a Godly wife to our husband and family. 

It talks about how to love and communicate with our husband. How we work with our husband, so that we are there for each other's needs. How to love and teach our children. How to prioritize our life's, with work and home, of want and need. How to not succumb onto temptations of sinful nature, such as greed, anger, bitterness. Oh how it touches my heart! 

It wasp quite hard, trying to seek the truth and admitting to the sinfulness of my own. But praise God for softening my heart. Thank God for the many older women who were there to share their struggles and their listening ears to mine. Everyone who were there, had struggles of their own, as a wife and mum to their family. It was a good opportunity for us to open God's words and read the guidance God has for us. It felt so supported, encouraged, and guided. No one teaches us how to be a wife, especially Godly wife. No one teaches us how to raise a child. Examples from our own families may not be the best model. Oh how much I learned. 

Eric and I also met up with the pastor for counseling one afternoon. It was a great opportunity for us to talk about things which had been bothering us for a while. Like the house renovations, moving out, living with in-laws, clinic work.....

So Jeff, our pastor sat there and asked abut our issues and listen to our situation. It helps a lot as there is now someone who can see it from a third person's point of view. So the conclusion at the end was that we should moved out from this place and Eric should get his decision ready and get things moving (for both the renovations and clinic work). 

And so we did! We moved out the following week after the session with Jeff. We moved our beds there, so we are sleeping there at night. However, the rest of the house is still in a mess. Or day time work is either at the in-law's place inspecting the construction work, or at the other home, doing the wall paper removing. And I'm still in charge of cooking at the in-law's place. So we will have dinner together before we head home. 

At the end of November, my clinic work finally started too! My first patient is our friend at bible study. And since then, I have another two regular patients. We promoted our clinic at Eric's uni friends gathering around Christmas, and we got a few interest clients. Haha. But so far, we are just thinking of going slowly and just treating people we know, because we are doing home visits. Eric is not comfortable with me visiting stranger's place. 

Relationship wise, has been much better between Eric's mum and me. His sister's absence for a month for her holiday in HK, helped a little. (Less people to worry) His mum had a sudden scare of sciatic pain shortly after the Boxing Day, which sees us sending her to the hospital's A&E, staying in there for 6 hrs and finally discharging with just a script of painkillers. They could not find what was wrong with her. So today, after 3 weeks in pain, she finally is going to see her GP for a referral for MRI scan. This had caused a bit of stress in Eric with his mum, as it was so difficult for us to coax his mum to take pain medication. It was like coaxing a small kid, and without the medication, she could not sit, stand, lie down, nor even go toilet! What's more, there's three levels of stairs for her to climb at home to get to her bed room! Sigh.....

To add on to the stress, there was the construction at the front of the house to fix the foundation of the house. It is now finally done! Took 3 weeks in total. 

For the Christmas, we invited Eric's aunt and uncle to our house for Christmas dinner. His aunt had recently became a Christian. So happy that at least we have another relative who is also a Christian. She is my in-laws sister. I made some food for that night. Also baked the Japanese cheese cake for dessert, but it did not turnout as pretty. Taste wise, it's awesome. Hehe. Need to brush up my skills. 

Then new year was a time where we were look after the 'kid' who refused to take pain medication, and also housing a visitor from Canberra. We brought him to see the famous new year fireworks on new year eve. O my, it was sooooo chaotic! 

We went together with three other friends from our bible study. 

Unfortunately, the location where we were at was not ideal for the fireworks. Our conclusion for the night was: sitting at home watching tv for countdown, would be much more comfy than being at the site where we were. Think my brother who saw it live on tv in Perth,have a better view than us. Lol.

We were into fishing lately. So this is Eric's catch of the day on last Sunday. It was really the catch of the day! The fish got hooked within 1 second! Really. ONE SECOND! And for the rest of two hours, we caught nothing. Haha. 

Tonight, we are inviting his aunt and family over again for dinner. His cousins will be joining too. We are making vietnamese rice paper roll for dinner. Nice and easy. Hehe. Lazy me.

I hope u all have a good start to your new year too!

Kcan

Bush fire

It is the bush fire season again. But unlike previous years, this is not even Summer yet!

The air for the past few days had been choked by smoke from the BlueMountain bushfire. It had travelled ALL the way from the west to our home. Clouding the sky into red orange with roasting wood smell.

Many homes were destroyed and 1 person died trying to defend his home from the fires.

Where I am now, faces the national park. I do hope that no stupid person will be silly enough to set alight the trees anywhere in this national park. I need a bushfire plan. Apparently, no one in the house cares or worries, even thought their house were one of the few houses here in the suburb labelled to be in bushfire danger zone. *rolled eyes... is this a sign of complacency?*

So if that day really do comes one day: I will take all my essential things, packed it into my tomato, and drive out far far away.

I pray for the many people who had lost their homes and for those who are fighting hard to protect their home. I do hope that people are ready, when the time comes.

kcan

Ice cream vs tennis ball

Eric and I had a frightening experience today.
No, not car accidents, near miss, or seen ghost. But accompanying our Canberra friend from old church to see the brain specialist. She, at age 25, is recently diagnosed with brain tumour.

So I picked up a desperate SMS on Saturday from Hongyan early in the morning. A call later, realised that she is coming to Sydney the next day, which was yesterday, for an appointment to see a brain specialist on Monday (aka today). She knew that I had worked with cancer patients in my pervious job, so she'd like me to be there to help her translate any medical information she may not be familiar with. And so we went, with Eric of course.

We picked her up early in the morning from her friends's place and brave the peak hour traffic to the hospital. During the journey, she had an episode of seizure.
Then during the consultation, she had an episode again, right in front of the specialist.
The doctor described her tumour as of the brain coverings, not of the brain itself. It is however though, growing into the brain, squashing the brain along the way as it grows. Like pushing a tennis ball into a tub of ice cream. The tumour is BIG. 5 cm in diameter. Imagine it's almost the size of the fist!

What is more frightening, was that the seizures were caused by the tumour squashing onto the brain. And today alone, it was as frequent as every hourly. Prior to that, was 2 weeks ago. So something was not really right. Initially after the specialist appointment, her friends were to drive her back to Canberra. So Eric n I drop her to meet up with her friends at a food court. We help her buy some lunch and said our good byes n all.....

However, 2 hrs later, her friend called, saying that they are still at the food court, waiting for the ambulance to come over. Hongyan's seizures were worst and her fever had peaked. They were unsure if she is fit for the long journey to Canberra.

So, the paramedics took her to the hospital to make sure her fever n seizures were well controlled. And instead of heading back to Canberra, she is to stay over in the hospital tonight, and maybe even possible of having the surgery to remove the tumour here in Sydney.

Please pray that she will continue to remain trusted in God and our Lord Jesus. Pray for peace n strength for her to go through these alone in a foreign place. Pray that her mum's visa to come here to visit n take care of her will be granted soon. Her family were far away (inner Mongolia) and very worried. Her mum had flew to Beijing awaiting the granting of visa.
Pray for the doctors, for the wisdom and knowledge, to do the best they can for Hongyan.
Pray that she will find calm in knowing that many people are praying for her, both in Sydney and Canberra. And lastly, pray that we as her only few friends here can help her as much as possible to make her feel comforted and loved.

I thank God for his perfect timing and plans for the various people/events/situations that happen. And we lift up all this into your hands for you are in control.

Kcan

Downs...

Sorry for not updating for the last few weeks.

Had been having really down times. Surprisingly, it coincides with the arrival of my in-laws. hur hur...

Anyway... I think I need some serious help. I just cannot help myself from crying and crying and crying. It is really frustrating living here. Seeing people sneaking here n there like a rat, hiding and stuffing silly things like news paper or plastic bags in every small holes/gaps you can find in the shelves.

I don't know why I had to endure at this place for so long. I hate it when they criticized me for changing their way to suit my way, when I am the one asked to help them clean up their filthy home.
And they had not even lift up their little finger to help! 9 Bloody MONTHS!!

I so longed for home with my parents.

Late last week, I attended work seminar in the city. Ollie from uni days came with senior Jenny to attend too. It was a nice catch up with Ollie and Jenny. The only regret was not able to try out what I had learned with patients... Because I had none~! I seriously don't know why this 9 months had past yet the clinic had not started. Crap just kept pilling and pilling, and things that are not our business became out business, and then 9 months down the road, our goal was still no where in sight.

What crap and business you may ask? Well, these are some of the crap and business:
Crap includes the other house, where it had plumbing, trees, walls paper, and many headache things to consider. We thought we can move out to live there 2 months later, but there are many things which their greedy minds wanted to do. Like, rebuilt the place or extend the place, so it can fetch a higher selling price in the future. We drove all the way to displays homes and such during one fine day, and realised that it will take 18months to build one from scratch.
So now the place is left idle.

'Business' includes the kitchen, wall cracks and plumbing issue at THIS place. So that kitchen frame took a while for the pest control dude to declare good to replace. 3 Monthes! Then it took her another 2 months to get some carpenter or builder to come and fix it. But no! No Carpenter or builder came. She went to find the wood work guy to make her the window frame. He recommend his friend who is a licenced handy man to come and fix up the frame and kitchen, but no... No one came. By then, she went overseas, and Eric and I had to take it into our 'business', learning how to replace the plasterboard, fixing the frame and then later paint the whole dame kitchen, because the kitchen was a ugly PINK, where we could not find it's original colour.
Another 'business' was the cracking in the wall. The crack was always  there, but of course, people who stayed in the house don't give a blink, till people like us start questioning if it was actually safe? Because, the  tiles started lifting off the floor, showing a big gap of almost 8mm where by you can see down the concrete underneath, and the windows of the affected side cannot be close when you tried opening it. There's also the sinking walkway at the side of the house where it looks like a whole concrete pathway had detached itself off the top and side and is sinking down the ground underneath.
So that involves us having to call the engineers to come and access the damages and also to find out the root cause of the damage.
The first engineer came, gave some crappy solution which I do not buy. He wanted us to dig a hole at the side of the house to dig out 'stones/sand' that could have pushed the wall out from the rest of the house, that was causing the damage. It took me almost another few weeks to convince Eric to get another opinion. And the 2nd engineer came and found a gaping tunnel underground that showed signs of soil erosion which signifies a  burst pipe!
With that, we isolated the whole house to only 2 usable toilet and sinks. The top and bottom most level. That also meant that we cannot use the kitchen sinks, and laundry, for all the waters from that level goes through the leaking pipe.
We lived like that for almost 3 weeks and it was finally fixed this Monday.
With the plumbers, they also found a storm water pipe breakage and blockage. Storm water pipe channels all the water from the roof down the pipe onto the street. A major pipe that gets all the water from the roof from the pack of the house, and the back yard, was BROKEN!!! It took the plumbers a while to locate it's location as it was under a concrete pathway, but thankfully, we found that there was a way to get to it. It was always right infront of our eyes, but was blocked because his mum love to put the bins and empty pots n rubbish at it's entrance. So ALL the water from the rain pipe and backyard and the washings that she had illegally poured down the outdoor drain had all accumulated at the bottom of the house. GREAT.
The plumbers fixed the pipe back (yay!), but a water drainage test showed that the other end of the pipe was blocked! So they had to clear the pipe and found tree roots, mud, tennis ball!, ceremic pavers.......

So Eric started digging last week while I was at the seminar, to find the section of the pipe where it was blocked. Probably had to cut down some trees too. It was crazy.

BUT despite all of this, we STILL don't know what caused the cracks on the walls. *rolled eyes*

So yup....

kcan

The frame is up!

This happen last weekend.

The long awaited kitchen frame is finally up!

No longer a gaping hole through the plasterboard and wooden beams. It's now closed!

Eric here pre-joining the three edge of the frame.

Pre-drilling holes on the frame n wall, applying adhesive glue (also called liquid nails), and sticking it up.

The last gap showing before the final piece of frame goes in.

Eric pre-drilling before applying liquid nail adhesive.

Using the glue gun like a pro! It is surprisingly difficult to apply. Needs lots of strength.

And tada! Yay! 

It took us the whole day to put it up. After this, we still have to fill up the gaps, sand, paint.....

That should be for another day.

I had also spent the whole of yesterday morning stripping off the grout on one of the bathroom shower wall. Will apply the grout tomorrow, God willing. 

I'm now officially the handy woman in the house. Feeling man-ly. Haha.

Kcan

Busy Bee

Now that Eric had gone back to the uni. I'm now left with stuff that were left half done and needs me to finish up. That's so not new, consider I had to keep an eye all the time and pick up the things lazy people just gracefully left behind. *Roll eyes*

There are 3 main things that are on my plate now.

1. Leaking grout in the downstairs bathroom. This was annoying as the person who lay the tiles (probably some doggy trades people), used Concrete instead of Grout. And this makes taking out the joining groove difficult. I had already blunt a grout removing blade from my electric multifunction tool. There is also the difficulty of having the new grout to join onto the old grout/concrete. *bleah!*
2. Wall paper in the other house. That whole place is literally all wrapped up from floor to ceiling with wall paper. It will be a messy job trying to take it down. Not to mention there are various other things wrong with the place. *sighs*
3. Painting the fence. Something I won't mind doing and will give this moldy place a good fresh paint of same look. (well, it's the same colour) 

Hope this will occupy  me for a while and get things moving. Hated it that the kitchen renovations are still half done, with the kitchen still in a mess and things overflowing to the other rooms/corridor due to the dust n dirt. Now that he is back in uni, I really wonder when it will be done. =S

On another note, I had a bit of catch up with my ex-colleague D yesterday. Initially wanted to ask her when my ex-boss is going to be back from his holiday (a friend wanted to see a doctor, so I recommend him, since there are no others I knew), but instead, I got the news that she had quit! Ha. 

She said things had gotten from bad to worse since I had left last year. She was over worked, under paid (I don't think he had given her a good pay to begin with) and this year, he did not deliver what he had promised on the pay rise. (Even dragging me down by saying that I was over paid *rolled eyes*)

She also mention that his Greed had not change a bit since I left, but seems to have grown a whole lot BIGGER! He now charges a whopping $247 for his initial consultation!! (Why? Cause there are a highly likely chance that the patients will not return due to the high fees, so he 'make up' on the loss by charging astronomical sum in the first visit. Through the years, I had observed new patient turn over rate for him was so high and retention rate so low... as low as only 1 in 10 will actually complete the treatment cycle. However, new patients will still continues to come, because of his self-declared Reputation as the 'guru' in the area, PLUS he had the $$$ to splash around to make his reputation big with media advertising and connections)

Talking about splashing $$, I was told he had bought 3 pieces of land in Bali to 'invest' and build houses. So his patients are his cash cows, feeding his extravagant lifestyle. Demand and supply you'd say. Well, Canberra had it's unique community of people. High earners, career minded women who wanted to give birth later n later, not to mention the IVF clinics that are making lots of money too. 

I am sad that people who genuinely needed his help, people who had to give up their income just to see him, were treated as 2nd-class patients.

Sigh...

On the other hand, I am happy that D is happy and enjoying her work as a Chinese medicine doctor in a busy clinic in Sydney. Her health is much better now and she is also doing part time Honours at her uni too!

*yay! great ending for her*

Oh yes, before I end off, I had FINALLY manage to call through to the HR personal of the clinic I had interest of working at weeks ago. This is ridiculous!

What made me more mad was that she actually gave me the SUPER LAME EXCUSE of:

'Oh, we are having trouble with our email system for a few weeks. I had replied to your email, but I think the system is having trouble to keeping track... blah  blah blah...' 

Seriously, people lying with their EYES wide open. For goodness sake, does a quick reply via text, phone call voice mail etc also cannot? I  had sent in like 2 emails and 2 voice mails and 4 calls to your clinic  (all in the span of the last 3 weeks) to try to reach you. And you give me this excuse?! Even tried to MIA with being sick.

Anyhow, I had no desire to be working there anymore, BUT I do appreciate that you can let me know SOONER, so I don't have to keep waiting FOR TIME IS PRECIOUS!

Inconsiderate.

kcan

From the oven

During the days which I am sick of cleaning up the place, I switch instead to things which I love. Baking. 

Well, this is something which I had grew to liking only this year, as I hated the cleaning up from baking, unlike cooking. Anyhow, sister Grace had bought this big bag of bread flour from Costco. So I guess I had to bake something out from it, seeing no one does any baking here. 

Baking bread was always something I fear, for I knew how bread will turn out if not done properly. Rock hard, dry, dense and some can be so tough that it can bounce! haha. Still had vague memories of my mum baking bread back in Singapore. Oh how unfortunate lucky honoured to be the guinea pigs to tough rock hard saussage rolls. LOL. Using yeast in baking was always something of a mystery to me. How much yeast to add, how long do I leave the dough to proof, how to make the bread soft.... 

These were all questions which I had. And last of all, the kneading. I hate having stickiness mess all over my fingers!

Eric bought a bread making machine last year when we were in Canberra. That was after having the privilege of having homemade fresh bread during our honeymoon at one of the destination. And ever since then, we missed the taste of freshly toasted bread in the morning. But making bread on our own is not easy. It does not meant that you now just chuck everything into the bread maker, wait 3 hrs and Tada! you have a bread. 

Nonono. *wave finger*

So many mornings we woke up in the cold morning frost in Canberra, only to find out that the dough was not properly mixed or that the dough did not rise, or it had over proofed and  sticks onto the lid. The worst disaster was when Eric miscalculated the measurement for making a raisin toast. Ended up the dough proof too high, blocking the nut drop box, where the raisins were kept. And so the raisins could not drop into the dough and it melted all around the box when it baked. >_<

So this year, I wanted to learn from the Masters!

And I went to Mr Google again. And I'm happy to have found a good teacher. Her blog is HappyHomeBaking.

Here's what I've started making:

Homemade Char Siew Bao (baked)

My little babies baking in the oven.

 All ready to cool down on the rack.
Sorry no pictures of the inside, as it was all gone in minutes! >_<

Another of my favourite. Cinnamon Scrolls!
YUMMM.

 Cinnamon + sugar+ butter = YUMMY!

 I've always wanted to bake a loaf bread.
As the recipes allows me to make a nice soft textured bread, I've decided to venture out into making something of a loaf shape. Can last longer too. haha.

My Macha Redbean loaf.

 It's green! I used the left over Red bean from ages ago. It turns out good. =)

The problem with baking soft fluffy bread, was time. It takes 4 hrs from starting to end. Needing to proof a few times for an hr at times each. There was a few times I had to stay up late at night to wait for the bread to finish baking and then leave it out to cool before wrapping it in a tea towel. The winter cold is not helping too, as it will take longer for the dough to proof. So I had set up a warm spot in the oven to proof my dough. And there were so many times I had silly-ly walk way while re-heating the oven, only to forgot the time and had to run rush back and turn off the oven, open the door, cool the dough out... so as not to kill the yeast. >_<

Thank you Happy home baking for the wonderful recipes. Now a days, I'll go to her blog to look at recipes to bake. =)

Can't wait for more yummy bread for breakfast!

kcan

Mushroom flower??

Now, I had always wanted to re-pot the strawberries plant which MIL had grown. Reason being it was in a big foam box which had degraded overtime. It had became so brittle that if you tried to move it, it will just break apart. Like all the other junk around the strawberry box, it just lies on the floor, making the wide path from the laundry looks dirty (from the soil that spills out and Possum's dropping all around) and cluttered.

Anyhow, I had noticing for a month or so, mushroom growing in and among the strawberries! 

White round mushrooms. Then recently, I realised something strange happening to the mushrooms.

I thought there was a Spiderman's disc (it's RED and BLUE!) that flew across the fence from the neighbour's house which landed in the strawberry box. But on a closer look, it was growing FROM the mushroom! *shock*

It looks really creepy I tell you. It looks as if the mushroom had 'exploded'. 

Eric had no idea that mushroom will 'flower' either. So off to the Mr Google we search. We were worried that it is a new species that 'evolved' from this dirty place. haha 

Finally after many days of search..... We found the answer! It was not easy k! Cause when ever we typed Mushroom n Flower into the search engine, we came to the results that says: Mushroom don't flower. 

LOL. Yesh, of course I knew! I was a biology student. >_<

Anyhow, I decided to look through the Fungi images in Google and I found a match!

Star fungi they are called, or Aseroe Rubra. 

Apparently, they are a little like the giant flower Rafflesia! It gaves out this rotten smell to attract animals and insects to come and disperse it's spores but it is poisonous.

**interesting... Because there had been a signifant decrease in Possums activities around that area lately**

I'm contemplating into whether or not to throw away this whole box of strawberries as I don't think the star fungi is doing good to the strawberries because of the poison it had. Maybe I should wait till I get some off-cuts that survives before throwing the whole box away. 

Wonder what other weird things I can find in this garden. 

kcan