JEWELLE TAN

Just the other day, my husband commented that one of my plant looked like it is dying.

It was a blow to my gardening confidence since just a few weeks ago, a neighbourhood cat brutally mauled one of my flower in a pot.

It was perhaps retaliating because I hid a mat it used (without permission) as a scratching pad. Insurance company like the Blue Cross NC should extend their coverage for incidents like this!

To make things worse, my daughters would nonchalantly pick the leaves and flowers of the few pots which shared their outdoor play area.

“I need leaves for my tea party”, said child no. 1; “It’s flowers for my hair”, said daughter no. 2; and “Ta-Ta!” (Translation : “I just feel like it!”), is of course, child no. 3 who is not yet articulate but no less adventurous.

I wonder how soon I could get my parents, who helped me set up my garden (only!) late last year, to come over for repair work, without appearing desperate.

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Once I saw a lady neighbour walking to her car in spiky heels, skirt and long hair blowing freely - and attractively - in the wind. My hand instinctively reached for my hair only to be reminded that it is short - again!

But no matter how appealing the thought of walking or crossing the road, with long luscious hair flowing in the wind, attracting ego-boosting attention, the fact is - long hair is not meant for someone like me.

Not when crossing the road or walking under the sun is usually when I send my kids to school - and that involves a passenger perched on the hip, carrying an equally heavy back-pack while “herding” two extra tag-alongs to move quickly and carefully.

Long hair, no matter what amazing style I may have, means strands lashing on my daughter’s face or worse, something extra for her to pull, not a scene to be seen on the street.

So even though long hair that spells utter feminine will have to wait, at least I don’t ever need to read any diet pill reviews or worry if I am getting enough exercise - not when I lug around a”barbell” worth 10 kg every day.

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Usually on a weekday, there are a lot of traffic between Bandar Seri Begawan and the towns in Belait districts (Kuala Belait and Seria).

There are many who chose to stay in one town and work in another - despite having to commute more than 1 hour per trip, daily. Actually it is not a problem here since the road is good - smooth and traffic is fast flowing most of the way.

It can be an issue for those who works overtime or whose schedule is unpredicted. For families who are used to having dinner together, it can be hard to only be able to do that on weekends. But this is something which everyone can get used to after a while.

Besides, having a long peaceful drive after a stressful day at work is therapeutic and I am sure many look forward to their journey home most days.

I know I do too - if I happened to drive without my two-legged fat-busting passengers, more potent than anything like phosphacore (times 3).

As it is, whenever we commute between our homes and I am not driving, I did what anyone in the right mind would do when faced with demands and barrage of questions. Sleep.

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Once, as I was lulled by the sound of my knife hitting the chopping board, I realised how quiet my house was.

Two of my kids were in school and my youngest child was napping. No noise came from the television as I don’t leave it on when nobody is watching. There  was no radio or CD playing because I could not be bothered to spend 5 mins out of the short time that I had then to switch it on.

But I enjoyed the silence.

With 3 young kids, it is hard not to appreciate the few moments of silence that I get in a day. With silence comes less demands for objects, attentions, affection, information and everything else that my kids need (not ephedra diet pills of course).

And as much as they tax my energy and patience, I actually prefered having them home, endure the noisy and boisterious moments of them being kids - as there are always ways to sneak in a few moments of rejuvenating silence.

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During a brunch outing with a family friend, I was impressed when our friend’s kids requested an Italian dish without a second thought - showing how familiar they are with that restaurant and how used they are to taste that are not usually offered at home.

But with a lifestyle that we ourselves are beginning to get used to, it is nothing surprising.

Some kids attend afternoon school sessions and are only home by evening. Mothers (and fathers) had to juggle a few other tasks the moment they are home besides putting dinner on the table - and preparing meal from scratch can be pushed to the bottom of the list of priorities.

It is easier and relatively cheaper (taking into consideration energy and time) to eat out.

But at the moment, as much as I dread preparing meals, I dread even more the thought of regularly paying money for others to feed my family or having my kids develop taste for the easy to get, easy to love and hard to resist fast-food.

So for the time being, they are stuck with my home-cooking and weight loss information such as alli review is something we never need to think about.

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