My XX number of honeymoon

Many people told us that it's good to take short breaks and go away with yr partner to somewhere. Well! Joe and I try to do so but somehow leaving kids behind kinda scary. Don't know if they will be good and behaves themselves while my parents babysit them. Actually, Channery ahs been skipping childcare as maid is not trained to bring her there. With the other kids at home, she also finds it hard to leave home for school. Been thinking if I should enrol he rin a school nearer to my place.

Okay back to my short trip. First day, we touched down at aout 8am but waited a long time for the over-size luggage. Luckily for us, they did not open our bags to do checks. The custom only sent their trained dog to sniff around our things and we were free to go. Wai Yan came to fetch us and sent us to hotel. We managed to have an early check-in as Joe had called them a day before to inform them that.

W went out for lunch and we ended up eating hor fun and laksa. After that, Joe went to University and I went to Campsie to close my bank account. Total is $5k plus and all transferred to Joe's account. Being a housewife also means I manged to save up even though I had only $350 per week at that time. Not forgetting I taught Chinese school on weekends whereby I was paid $28 an hr. Anyway, glad that every thing was settled. I walked around my old neighbourhood for a while and realized that not much changes have occurred. Sydney is a place where I don't see drastic changes as people here like to conserve and recycle more - even old buildings. Went to my usual supermarkets and even teh cashiers look just as good. Bought a lot of things there. We had baked chicken, salad, bread for dinner. Also bought breakfast cereal and milk as eating out here is not a good option. Cheapest is $4.95 at hungry jack.
After eating, Joe and I watched "Australia Master Chef junior Finale" and the show always amazed us as to how people can come up with so many fantastic dishes.Junior means this time now its the kids having competition and yet it's really amazing to see isabella and Jack being so steady. After the show ended, we decided to sign up for Movie deal. To watch as much show as possible in 24hrs timeframe. I really enjoyed my day in the next day catching all the good shows like "letters to Juliet", "Flying the distance", etc.

The next day Joe was off to office and I just watched movie after movie. Joe bought back dinner for us and we ended eating vegetarian pak thai and frie noodles plus fried popiah. AFter dinner, we watched more shows and "konkask" at 12 plus.


on Wednesday, I bought a one day buses, trains and ferries pass and took a ferry to my favourite beach, Manly beach. Nothing changes there and I ended up buying lots of things from Aldi. I took the bag and went to meet Joe's friends for lunch. Late as the ferry took more than what I expected. We had Thai Food and the seafood green curry was yummy. aFter lunch, Joe went back office with friends and continued my shopping. I took a train to Paddy's market and went about shopping happily. I again bought lots of stuff.

Went back to Joe's office around 5 plus to go facebook. After that, we took a train back to hotel. At around 7 plus, we walked down to King's wharf trying to find a decent eating place but I finf the places too crowded and noisy. We had steak, salad and fries plus nan bread and curry at the food court. After dinner we walked around the place and walked to star city Casino as we had never set foot inside. Very sad as the ang Mo security checked the ang mo before us but never asked for our ID. Maybe they do not care so much about Asians. WE walked around the place - noisy, crowded and bright. We used $5 to play jack pot and ended up wining $7. WE decided not to continue playing after half an hr as the winnings keep going up and down. We walked back to hotel and shared an ice cream with the money we won. Fun night whereby we just relaxed and chit chattd and had fun.

On Thursday, Joe went back to Office and I slept in till about 11 plus. I took a train and met him at Marrickville. We met Jean for lunch and it was a pleasant reunion. She looks good and still quite the same. We talked about our lives and how our kids were doing in Singapore. After lunch, we went back to Jean's place to wrapped up my kids' art pieces. WE ended up with a bag full of fragile items :>

After lunch, we went to buy a box of chocolate for Wai Yan and Larissa as we were supposed to go and pick up our stuff from their house. Not nice to go empty handed la. We packed up and Waiyan had to lend us his big trolley bag as we simply have too much stuff. After that, wai Yan drove us to a Korean BBQ buffet restaurant and it's really nice and value for money. We had a fun time talking and eating all the food. We came back to hotel around 10pm and started packing till around 11 plus before we hit the pillow.

This morning Joe and I checked out of the hotel around 9am and I had been shopping and wondring around since then. Now is 2.16pm and it is nearly time for me to go back to hotel. I bought a monorail day ticket and can take unlimited monorail rides in city centre. Went to fish market and really miss coming here with my family to buy fresh seafood. Got to run now as time runninglate

Lifestyle changes for my family after Lose to win

As a mother who does marketing, I can buy whatever I like for the family. After joining lose to win, I am now more cautious of what I am putting into my loved ones' stomachs.

Starting from breakfast, I now switch to reduced sugar soybean milk instead of cow's milk. Less animal fats and equally good in protein and other minerals. Do you know that in order to get some calcium from milk, we have to lose some calcium first in order to get the amount? Furthermore we need a daily dose of vitamin D and C so as to receive the necessary calcium. As for cereal, they now eat YOG Active -rice grains cereal with probiotic yogurt and real strawberries/blueberries or post selects - whole grain cereals cranberries almond crunch/ crunchy pecans. Still occasionally buy coco crunch cereal as kids grow up eating that so cannot totally take it out yet. A s for bread, now we eat the Gardenia Low GI Nutrigrain bread. At first I had lots of complaints but now the kids are used to the taste and texture. Low GI bread means they actually feel full as glucose is released slowly into our blood stream so they feel energetic for a longer period of time.

Lunch and dinner needs more creativity and patience. I will try to have a balanced meal of carbohydrates, protein and vegetables. However, many a times kids do not fancy rice in afternoon so it's usually noodles for them. Tried having bee hoon for kids but they still prefer yellow mee. Will need to find out where do they sell brown rice noodles. Simple fare for afternoon and kids sometimes prefer to eat bread even though we cook.

For evening, we have brown rice for dinner, either chicken, toufu or fish for protein, mixed vegetables- preferably 5 types of colour. Boiled Soup is usually served also as kids love having something on the rice. Now I have a special scoop to scoop up all the oil that floats on top of the soup before I dish out the soup to my family. Lots of fun preparing food with my domestic helper. However, I must confess that my kids still prefer their fish fry in pan than bake or steam. Little oil is used as the special pan is able to fry well with little oil. Finding good cooking utensils also is good for health. Oil for cooking is now Ntuc home brand olive oil. Tasted quite the same as other brands so sticking to the cheaper version.

As for fruits, my kids are able to get as many variety of fruits as they like in the fridge. No sweet treats for them nowadays so they will get fresh fruits instead. Lots of apples, oranges, plums, bananas for them and good to see they enjoy their fruit daily. I do buy Marigold power veggies and fruits twice a week to satisfy their cravings for sweet drinks. Think these two are the better options available.

What else? Well! My kids love mushroom soup so now I will buy low fat carnation milk to replace full cream. Taste quite the same and kids still enjoy having that for lunch. Coffee and tea now I go for Kosong - meaning no more sugar or milk added and so far still enjoying the unique taste and every cup is like a little achievement for myself.

Exercise for the whole family. Yes, we sign up for courses together, swim together and play together more. My 5 yr old can climb 12 storeys staircase non-stop from basement up. I still take a breath somewhere but she is good. My 3 older kids always beat me in the swimming competition. Lots of fun now when we exercise together. Hubby and I make time to go gym if we did not exercise during the daytime. Lots of time set for exercise rather than sleep as we realized our bodies feel better after a swim or a workout.

Anyway, these are the little changes I do for my family. Can't control what they eat outside the house but at least I am proud to say that they are eating right at home :>

Lose to Win Team Mates

Before Lose to win, Me and Janet are serving in the same grassroot organization Admiral Garden WEC. Due to the difference in age group, I was not really close to her. She is like a mummy figure in our committee and she is always busy. With this competition, I get to know her better and I must salute her. She is a dedicated teacher and co-worker. She has faced a bit of challenges in her life but she has overcome them. As a grandma, she is willing to spend time looking after her grandchild. That is already a very good example for many senior citizens who simply refused to help in their kids' childbearing years.

Next is Mr Terence. He has the ability to ruffle my feathers. He is caring in his own ways and he is honest in his interactions with me. I do feel he is too straightforward and too forthright but he has my salute as he dares to be different and has his own opinions. Do I like him? Yes I do love him as a pal. He can be my pal but not my husband la if not sure quarrel everyday. Anyway, these few weeks he has been really nice and very confident of himself. He actually shines and have the X-factor already.

The next group member whom is everyone's pet is Tan Chee Weng whom we all call Weng. He is the baby in our group. Being baby as he is very playful and always trying to liven the atmosphere. I can never associate him as a father of 2 kids as he simply does not act as one. He can appeared as happy go lucky but he is actually a very determined lad. He wanted to lsoe weight so that he can see his kids grow up. That is one thing that I really admire about him. He has lost 27kg with lots of passion. Love his energy and can do attitude. With him around, life is never boring and he is a big inspiration to all of us.

Lastly, we have our lovely Siew Hwa Auntie. She has retired but still goes back to work. She joined this competition with her sister. She did not join us in our exercises as she joined the Chengshan group with her sister. During Mediacorp filming, she has to come and join us. Even wihtout a lot of time together, we keep in touch via sms. Many a times I see a very independent lady with a will of an iron.

As for me, I have a lot of faults la. I take things too seriously and pushes others too hard sometimes. Anyway, I hope our team will stay together and stay in contact with one another and to constantly remind each other to have a healthy lifetyle and body.

Filming for Lose to win

Many people asked me how it was like filming for mediacorp. Frankly speaking, this is not my first time doing any programme for them so I kinda know what to expect. Now they are showing the last 3 episodes but a lot of shots that we took were not shown.

Besides going for the group exercises, we also have to go mediacorp for filming plus taking time off to NTUC and Kopitiam. All the filming were done in August except a few of it in September. Weng and Terrence cut their hair and were chided by the producer as he will have a hard time doing editing.

Actually the filming crew and director had been quite nice to us. They were the ones who helped to polish all the sinful food we saw on TV, thus sparing us from gaining extra weight. Alfred the director always wants to be Mr Nice and yet sometimes it was difficult to please everyone. We all gave him a big Hug on the final assessment for a job well done. Love Ponsak the presenter as he is really very friendly and supportive. All the time spent with him and I never even take photographs with him :>.

We have finally come to the end of our lose to win journey and I think the extra media exposure did help in pushing us to do our very best. Well! It's on national TV so sure must lose weight if not how to face everyone?

Btw did I tell you all I actually wore my swim wear and won the swimming contest? No Bikini ok. I wore my aqua aerobic gear. Cool!

Community Day

Were asked by Alex to do a write up for Woodlands Community Day. The following is what happened on that day:

Held on 31st October 2010 at the open field beside Causeway Point, from 8.00am to 4.00pm, Woodlands Community Day was as what the Daddy’s Rockers had sung “It’s a Beautiful Day”.

That morning started off with line dancers dancing away to wonderful and upbeat music. Their vigour and enthusiasm kickstarted everyone’s day with lots of energy. After that, we had the Briskwalkers warm up with the Great Singapore Workout before Ms Ellen Lee, MP for Sembawang GRC and Advisor for Woodlands Constituency, flagged them off for a brisk walk around Causeway Point. Those who participated in the walk were given a lucky draw ticket after that.

At 8.50am, Ms Ellen Lee launched the new interest group “Performing Arts Group” for Zone 11 RC. The objective of this interest group is to train, cultivate and showcase Woodlands talents who would perform infuture Woodlands events and they definitely managed to do so that day by mesmerizing the audience with their song and dance.

At around 9.30am, our Guest of Honour, Minister for Health, Mr Khaw Boon Wan, arrived to grace our event. He was welcomed by Ms Ellen Lee, our grassroot leaders, Woodlands FLC Percussion group, Lion Dance troupe, Malay Silat performers and Indian Bollywood Dancers. Mr Khaw could not help but stop at the exhibition showcasing the work of People Association (PA) from kampong days to modern Singapore along the entrance.

After all our guests were seated, Evergreen Secondary School and Sweetlands Childcare Centre took centre stage, giving a band and dance performance respectively. At around 10am, Mr Khaw was invited on stage to launch the Northwest Green Kitchens campaign, which sought to encourage residents to reduce clutter in their refrigerators as a green living lifestyle and to emit less greenhouse gases.
At around, 10.15am, Mr Khaw gave out the awards/plagues for the Rice Donors who had contributed generously to needy families in Woodlands. They were Evangelical Free Church, An-Nur Mosque, ShangDi Miao Chai Kong Temple, Mr Lim Tju Eng, Ms Alice Sim and Mdm Helen Wong.

Mr. Khaw was requested to stay on stage to launch our new FLC initiative - Daddy’s Rockers. Mr Khaw, together with Ms Ellen Lee and grassroot leaders led the group in playing a tune together. The impromptu performance given by our Minister, our MP and grassroot leaders was most admirable.

After launching, Mr Khaw visited the photo taking booth where residents had their photographs taken. By pasting one of their two photographs on the Woodlands Logo board, they participated in our attempt to enter the Singapore Record Book. With residents’ support, we managed to beat the record within record time.

Next, Mr. Khaw was greeted by the cute little faces of our PCF telematch participants. The little ones were all eager to participate in the games and every kid put her best foot forward. After cheering on these little athletes, Mr Khaw visited the Singapore Sports Council Booth where residents put in their well wishes to Singapore athletes taking part in the 19th Commonwealth Games in New Delhi and the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou” and also participated actively in the four sports games, namely football, Basketball, Cycling and Boxing.

Mr Khaw then visited the school booths and was introduced the programmes and activities in these schools. He was also keen to learn more about Sata’s Free Chest X-ray Screening and Realm of Tranquility’s free traditional Medicine Clinic.

At one of the booths, Mr Khaw was shown how Tzu Chi Foundation had been doing their part in protecting our Earth Resources and transforming used materials like plastic bottles into blankets and T-shirts. Many residents took part in this programme by exchanging their used water/glass bottles for a free gift.

Besides the various stakeholders like Town Council, NEA, Restroom Association, there were also stalls selling food and drinks. Mr Khaw was rather impressed with the AVA booth where a chef demonstratedliquid and powder eggs could be used in cooking. AVA was working to encourage Singaporeans to use alternative sources of eggs in event of a shortage due to bird flu.

Mr Khaw also visited our Admiral Garden WEC booth where our ladies make and sell jewelry, bags, pencil cases and five stones from recycled items. Mr Khaw was impressed with the many activities conducted by our ladies.

Besides that, Mr Khaw also visited our IRCC, Woodlands YEC, Woodlands New Media and Admiral garden Astronomy booths. He is impressed with what Woodlands Constituency had achieved over the years.

Last but not least, he was happy to visit the booths of Hospice Care and Centre for Enabled Living which were educating and assisting families in caring for senior citizens as our population aged increasingly.

At around 11am, we had a Jenga Challenge in which two families took turns to draw out gigantic jenga blocks from the lower rows and pile them up towards the ceiling. The final Jenga stack broke the Singapore Record Book. Everyone present was totally absorbed in the game as you could hear the Wo, Ah etc sound when the participants tried to place the mega Jenga piece on top of the stack.

Amidst all these activities, participating residents were presented a goodie bag with a great variety of handy items such as sunflower oil, fruit juice, drink and fan, plus a lucky draw ticket to win the top prize of $1,000 in cash. They were also coupons to exchange for delicious foodstuff such as Mee Siam, Roti Prata, vegetarian noodles, popcorn and candy floss. All these for a bargain price of $3!

The Woodlands Community Day was interesting and enriching and all ended well at 4.00pm after the Woodlands Made to Wear competition.

Well! That was what happened. Everything ran rather smoothly that day. I was especially proud and thrilled that day as my kids and husband performed together with Minister Khaw. They were tired as they needed to practice for 3 nights but luckily all turned out well. That was me, a really proud Mama that day.

Moreover, WEC booth was set up properly as planned and I managed to show case my needlework talent by sewing 5-stones on the spot. Managed to sell a few items for charity.

Volunteer work? Lots of hardship, tears but also lots of joy and friendship and support.

My Lose to Win Journey

My lose to win journey is something that will stay with me forever. Even though it has only been a 3 month's competition, it has totally changed my out look of life. When you are not looking and noticing, life happens. I have really no idea that I had ballooned so much after I returned from Sydney. Life was stressful without Joe and the way to escape was to eat and laze around.

When I first being asked to enrol for the programme, I thought why not, it will be like in the biggest loser in Australia and America and I definitely can do it. The fact that we get to go back to our family is the difference. We still have to cope with real-life issues, looking after our family or working hard at our work desks.

The exercise sessions by the coaches were good as they really push you to do your best. When you thought you could not do it, you simply outdo yourself. Many a times, I am most discouraged when I am made to do the exercises alone at home. It's really playing mind game with myself. I have to keep telling myself I have to do it. If not for myself, I have to do it for my team mate. Terrence once commented I am Kiasu, Well! I think I am just being a responsible team player. Those people who quit the competition halfway means their team could not qualify for the final selection. I feel for them. My motto is to always do your very best and live life to the fullest so that I will not have regrets afterwards.

Somehow life has a way of testing us, I was unable to do much for nearly 3 weeks as I had strain ligaments. Up to this day I still not sure how I injured myself, but I think the running plus everything adds to it. Being a flat-footer, I find running very tiring and definitely it adds pressure on my foot. Did my 5 km i-run with the others and really go all out for all the exercises. However, I forgot the coach's advice - always listen to your body. If you body says stop or slow down, we must listen and try not to overdo things. I was impatient to get back on my feet and somehow new and old injuries, everything adds up and I ended up resting for nearly 3 weeks. At the end, I am 300g short of reaching my 15% weight lost target.

What else is so good about lose to win? Well! I did a lot of research and found out many things that I was not aware of. We are really what we eat and I really did revamp my family's diet. My kids do not like the change at first but now they are used to it already. Someone has to be the catalyst of change and I am glad to be the one. The nutrition classes also help us to have a clearer picture of how we can have options and still enjoy our food.

Actually the ability to step out of the house and go to exercise is the greatest gift of all. Now I do not dread exercise so much as I used to be. Frankly speaking, I still sometimes drag myself to the pool or gym but once I start, there's no stopping. I simply enjoy the workout while the endorphins set in. (Endorphins are neurotransmitters produced in the brain that reduce pain). On days when I was dead tired, I still drag myself there and somehow at the end of exercise, I would have regain my strength. Exercise is also now the "ME" time for myself. It allows me to totally block out all the stressors of life and let me relax. With my MP3 plugged in, I simply work my body while listening to the music I like. No "mummy, mummy I want this, mummy mummy I want that". I am able to regroup myself and truly enjoy my own leisure time. I give and give to others and the 1 hr or so exercise time is the time I enjoy being with myself. When I accomplished what I set out to do like completing 10 laps of swim or an hr of gym, that's when I know I have done something for myself. Sense of achievement and contentment.

Besides all these, I find learning to say "NO" is okay. Used to be a "yes" woman all the time. Many a times, I am the rubbish bin for my kids' untouched food. For food that I deem not good for health, I have the ability to say no. We now know we should ask for less portions if can't finish all the food. We must also ask for more fruit and vegetables to fill ourselves up instead of having too much carbohydrates etc. The art of eating, taking small bites and share out the food with others. The one thing I learn too is not to deprive yourself. Taking treats once a while to reward yourself is essential for mental health. If you do not take it to satisfy yr craving, you will gorge yourself silly when you have the chance. The first Monday after the end of competition, I was gorging on Nasi Briyani and BBQ stingray. Think the calories for the day was nearly a hefty 2000. I simply had not touched these 2 in 3 months and I must have it immediately after the competition. Funny why I always have a thing for spicy food. Nowadays, I still try to estimate my daily intake of calories to be around 1200, not less than that if not our bodies will start to prevent burning off the energy and thus a lower metabolism rate.

Furthermore, learning that we need water, water and more water. Water is a very essential part of our diet. It helps to remove toxins from our bodies and helps in losing weight. Like food, when we have less than 2 litres of water, our bodies will go into protective mode and we have water retention.

Last but not least, I also find having an idol in the programme is good as he/she will motivate you. You may want to talk to people, interact and put yr entries in the lose to win web page so as to motivate one another.I find it most useful as it allows you to feel important and useful and somehow there are people who care and who bothers to acknowledge yr entries. One of them is HPB Hendrick who seems to be always there.

Used to say I can't do exercise and too tired. Now I know I can and I should just do it.