End of Dilemma

When we first move in to this house, previous tenant did gave us one sofa bed, because they didnt want it anymore. Well, for first timer like us, with not much furniture, we accepted it. Its velvet cloth and after a while, only then I realize that velvet cloth traps much dust and dirt and is triggering my eczema. And so do Harris. As for my husband, well he has hardcore skin so it does pretty much nothing to him. So its been a while I am unable to enjoy my time in the living room watching tv because I dont have comfortable sofa to sit in and sitting on the floor aches my body. And the condition of the sofa bed is so bad already that I think its time to throw it away. So I've been proposing to my husband for a new sofa. So I can at least enjoy my time netflix-ing and get rid of that sofa. It was quite a while that we've been delaying on that because of finance and also because of MCO what not. I've been aiming this one L-shaped sofa that can be a bed too from IKEA and just when we have the money, they ran out of stock. And it seems like it wont be in stock for quite a while. Being the impatient me, I just couldnt wait for another month with that sofa bed even though its been one of the earliest furniture witnessing our ups and downs for years in this house. 

My brother did offer me his L-shaped sofa which needs refurbishing but we've been searching for shops and it costs us 1k+ which is almost the same price as new one. So after deep thinking and me just cant wait anymore, I went sofa hunting with my husband today. We were aiming this one shop but my brother said the quality of the sofa is not that good. So we went to the shop suggested by my dad and impatient me just dont want to keep hunting for lower price because I'm lazy (?) and I dont want to have too many options which always gives me headache at the end of the day. Turns out the shop we went was on 50% discount for sofa and offers free delivery until the end of the month. And also because I already found the sofa I wanted for affordable price. But I am not really sure of the color choices though. I have too many colors in my house already. I just couldnt make up for one theme. Also because I have to match everything with most of owner's furniture, so I guess its just going to be a mix of colors then. I am starting to regret the color choices. Oh my.... this is frustrating. 

Well, guess what? I think I have to give a phone call to the store tomorrow. 

Wasalam. Love, Nina M. 

Mr DIY Haul Part II

Yes, I did another haul at Mr DIY but too bad I didnt get any photos of it. It was actually unplanned. Since I am currently venturing into selling Surico cakes, I feel the need to decorate a bit on the boxes so that was my only reason to go to Mr. DIY again. Well, also because I didnt get the chance to really shop on my first visit. 

So what did I get? 

- Some decorations for the cake boxes

- Phone casing

- Toothpick

- Harris's water color & sketch pad

- Toilet brush

- Air freshener

- Dehumidifier

- Kitchen cloth (few of it, each has their own purpose) 

 - Fire rescue toys I've been meaning to get for Harris

- Fridge deodorizer (very important since I'm storing my cakes in the fridge) 

So basically, things I need for the house. But I'm pretty much satisfied with what I've purchased. I mean, I needed the time too. I just feel bad I am unable to bring Harris to shop with me, because he loves shopping so much. Mom guilt made me get things that'll make him happy. I just hope he understands why I had to do this. He knows that we're battling with the virus but sometimes seeing my husband going out and about makes him jealous too. The best I can provide for him is taking him to my parents house or my brother's so he'll be able to play with his cousins. A toddler like him needs more time outdoor and exploring the ground, the nature, and learning the outside world. Not being able to give that to him makes me worried. Before the pandemic, I always take him to the park, let him mingle with the neighbors and do shopping with him. I know he misses all that and I cant keep him caged at home the whole time. It's been a struggle. There have been phases where his screen time is too much that he shows quite a tantrum. Getting him back to toys means you gotta physically immersed yourself in his imagination too. Hence, all the new educational toys, magic pen, water color and what not.  

I just hope this pandemic ends and we can go back to our normal lives. Amin!!

Wasalam. Love, Nina M. 

Sunday Night

Mood just came in and I indexed my recipe book. Well, its not exactly a planned recipe book. It just happens to be an empty notebook from my husband's previous company that are still unused and I jot down all tried recipe in there. But everything was a mess inside there. I mean, for few recipes, I can always check one by one but as recipes piled up, I think I need to index everything. 

So everything is kinda in order now. And I am more happy to try more and more recipe. As a housewife now, experimenting my husband's taste buds is becoming a hobby. We both have different favorites. I am quite a picky eater but he is not. His taste is mostly on lauk kampung while me, not so kampung. It is somewhat hard to explain but I dont eat most of his favorites. But he eats most of mine. So yeah. It's a complete two different taste buds. 

During previous grocery shopping, my husband bought ikan pari because he loves asam pedas ikan pari. And today, I made it for him from scratch. I didnt know there was a paste for it because I dont eat asam pedas. Neither is ikan pari. But it turns out, alhamdulillah, quite delicious for him. Totally my first time. All two pieces just for him. I did try a bite, but I dont like it. Haha. 

And maybe after this I might have to explore on rebung masak lemak and jantung pisang all sorts. I dont like rebung. My husband did forced it on me once, and I was forced to finish the whole bowl. I'm pretty sure its delicious but I've no intention of repeating it. Lol. 

Well, as for me, it is one of my biggest achievement and skills added to myself. Alhamdulillah. 

Next in the list - marble cake and my most repeated chocolate chip cookies that finishes in less than 2 days. 

Wasalam. Love, Nina M. 

After months Mr. DIY haul by yours truly.

 It has been quite a while since I went out to store, to buy things on my own. I mean, ever since MCO resumes, my husband is the only one going out for shopping while I would stay home or stay in the car. And my last visit recorded in MySejahtera was for my monthly check-up. So after I went out to deliver cake and pick-up my laptop, I am just feeling not enough. So I told my husband I need to go to Mr. DIY to buy some stationaries since my collection havent been updated for god knows how long and I need that journaling/study/cute artsy thing vibes back to myself. So I ask my sister to tag along and we went out after Maghrib. I thought the store will be open until 10pm but of course not, by 8.45pm, they shut part of the store lamp already lol. So I got to shop for at least half an hour. Usually before I start queueing, I would filter things I need and dont because I kinda just put everything into the cart before deciding, but I just have no time for that. So I guess this is quite a haul, a short haul (so thankful for the existence of credit card) and a somewhat therapy for myself after a while of only online shopping and boy it was enjoyable at first, but becomes quite frustrating later.

I really needed the time out though. Browsing, window shopping, kinda a short me time. Even if its for only a while. 

So tadaaaaa!! 

I can assure you that its not my phone, its just me. I havent been taking flatlays for so long that even iPhone 11 Pro Max cant save that T_T

I also picked up wrong phone casing that I already gave to my sister for her to give to her friend that owns iPhone 11. What short haul did to me. Sobs. But its okay, husband said I can always go again tomorrow. But I dont think so. I am a crazy spender. Such long time will only hurt his and my pocket some more. Haha. 

But of course, there are some things that I couldnt find. Which is oil burner and some candle which can be found in Hinode but I'll look for it later. I am on a mission to make my house smells good so I am trying a lot of alternatives for long lasting and fresh fragrance around the house. 

Yeap, everything bought was everything needed! Which sad to say I am unable to grab few other essential things needed such as cloth, bedroom slipper, and many other things. But I guess its fine, this will last me for a while before binge (physical) buying vibes coming in again. Because I've been hauling quite a lot from Shopee before this which also still have two more parcel to receive. So lets find more money before I can spend again! 

And hello long weekend. 

Wasalam. Love, Nina M. 

 

Failed Windows

 So I have this habit of putting laptop to sleep instead of shutting it down and last night, it takes its toll on me. After days, suddenly everything went haywire. Things happen when I press keyboard and all sort of things. And it lags for hours, taking extra extra time just to open tabs and totally not helping especially when I need loads of pdf tabs and google tabs to be open at the same time. Last night, everything just went nuts. So I finally shut it down, only to turn it on this morning, knowing its not shutting down properly.

I've crashed many laptop during my study days and the current one, its not even mine. It belongs to my husband because mine were crashed and I didnt repair it, yet. So since my husband is currently using his office's laptop, his kinda become mine. For my classes, my assignments and all. I think this is the fifth laptop that I've crashed, be it physically or internally.  

Just at the perfect moment when I have like couple of days before thesis submission and I know I have to do something about it. Thank God it didnt crash completely and I am still able to export files needed for my work.

So not wanting to take any risks of crashing, I called my brother, ask him for extra laptop and to fix this laptop and went straight to his house which is just few kilometres away. (I just hope I wont crash this one too). 

Is this a sign for me to get a new one? A much more light and compact and focusing only on typing work and not on software. Maybe. I dont know. What I know is I dont have income for me to buy on my own and its up to my husband. 

Well, he did offered me when I told him this afternoon but I dont want to burden him for my own fault. Plus, my brother said the internal is too slow and need to defrag and upgrade and since its for free, I guess I'll pass the offer, for now. 

I kinda like the vibes of the laptop my brother lent to me though. Its sleek, compact and very light. But I guess, it'll just have to wait. Plus, I havent completely crashed the laptop yet. 

So here's to more laptop (I hope I wont) continue to crash. 

Wasalam. Love, Nina M. 

Eczema

The worst thing I've ever struggled and will forever struggling with is my sensitive, eczema skin. For the past months, I've been dealing with sudden inflammation on almost every part of my body. And I feel so bad about it, I mean, its obvious, on my fingers, feet and with someone with fair skin like me. So yeah, I get questions about it often. What frustrates me is that my usual to go lotion couldnt keep my skin moist anymore. And I become dependent to steroids and cream from the doctor which doesnt always come in big size especially when I have to cover the whole body with cream/lotion. Finding an alternatives is always a struggle because I have sensitive skin so to find something compatible means reading ingredients list and ensuring everything is up to my standard. 

So one day, my husband went to the store and I come across this lotion he sent picture (which wasnt the one I wanted at first) and I googled it and decided to give it a try. 

It turns out very moisturizing to my skin! Alhamdulillah. But note that, what works now, might not work later. So yeah, its always a try and error. Because previously I use Nivea, and then it doesnt work anymore, then I switched to other and then it become useless, and I'm back to Nivea again and I can say, this is my holy grail now. Definitely, my skin becomes less flaky and much supple. Still dry but less worst. However, for my fingers, since I cook everyday, and pretty much I cant really get my fingers to get better. I can always moisturize it but to get it back to normal would be so hard. 

I am so grateful for my husband that accepts me even in my worst skin condition. I just hope I wont pass this down to any of my kids because taking care of children with eczema means a high maintenance and putting a hole to your pockets. 

I know so, because I am dealing with it and my medication is not cheap. All the alternatives too. I mean, a 400ml lotion can only last less than a month because I wear it everyday after bath to my whole body. I just hope this lotion can last with me a while because finding other kind of lotion is really a hassle. 

I guess its the study stress, lack of sleep and emotional burnout that causes this inflammation to come back. Its been a roller coaster but with support from husband and family, I think I can manage. In Sha Allah. 

Wasalam. Love, Nina M.