SimplySiti New Age + review

I've been thinking to restock my facial care products. Currently I'm using Michelle Lazar complete from cleanser to anti ageing products. However due to recent economy climate which has caused increase in prices of things, I felt I really need to rethink the RM1,000++ I'm about to spend on my existing facial care range. I am constantly evaluating what I've spent my money on. It might be more beneficial to spend my money on something else. With GST and increase in toll rate (the rate gone up from RM1 to RM1.80!), I'm opting to find something cheaper but works. 

Attractive
I haven't been to Guardian or Watson for ages. Last 2 weeks, I stopped by to restock my contact lense cleaner. Once entered, I knew why I avoided such pharmacy... Everything there looked yummy and pretty and reminded myself how a girl need to take care of herself. With all the cosmetics, facial and body care, supplements in cute packaging and displayed nicely, I couldn't resist to buy at least 1 item less than RM5 in mini sizes.


SimplySiti New Age +
Then I saw the SimplySiti products section. Recently SimplySiti has launched a new product range called New Age +. I think there are about 5 products in that range. All packaged in orange which to me look vibrant and fresh. All products priced at below RM70 I think. No price was displayed and I didn't check with the salesgirl though.

I was impressed with one of its lipstick long time ago. I don't know why I was willing to try one of the New Age +  but I guess it has a lot to do with the price. So I bought the Regenerating Serum, purely because of the word 'serum'. Paid about less than RM55, that is 70% lower that Michelle Lazar Firm Up serum. I compared with Firm Up because the feel after wearing is the same. I feel a tingling feeling, the same effect when I wear the Firm Up serum.

Verdict
After applying for 3-4 days, somehow I feel the Regenerating Serum has done something to my skin. I actually felt 'prettier' when looking at the mirror. I can't really tell whether it regenerates or lifts my skin but it does alter the way I feel about my skin. It's a 4.5 star out of 5!

Now I want to get either the moisturizer or the toner. Or I might get all the products under that range. It costs about RM230 the whole lot, reduction of about 85% from what was offered by Michelle Lazar during its recently anniversary sale.

Chinese Med and Nasi Lemak Cik Chom

Chinese medicine practitioner
We were in Batu Pahat last weekend to bring my helper to the 'sensei' who've made her better. The history of what happened to my maid here. My mum brought her to this chinese medicine practitioner in Batu Pahat 1st time during the Raya Aidil Adha break 4 weeks ago. Previously we brought her to normal clinic where she was given nerve medicine and injection apart from advice to do an MRI scan. The pain didn't really subsided. We also called in 'tukang urut' (masseuse), who knows it would work if the injury relates to sore mucsle or 'angin' (wind). The pain was still there. Thus my mum suggested to bring her to a chinese medicine practitioner which afterwards she progressed from unable to step her legs to the floor to able to do simple chores. It was advised to bring her again to ensure she is healed completely thus we decided to bring her last weekend. Alhamdulillah, she has recovered and started to do house chores again.

My husband who has experienced back pain lately also wanted to give this a try after seeing our maid has progressed tremendously.

The 'clinic' in chinese. Don't know how to read it

Array of small drawers.

He need to lie down for 30 min. He was attached to a machine.

A tool to align his back bone? I don't know!!!

Nasi lemak Cik Chom
I usually eat nasi lemak for breakfast. Some people can have them anytime. Regardless, I brought my parents to try Nasi Lemak Cik Chom in Sri Gading.The place only opened in June 2015 but has gone viral in social media and made to the TV1 news

Do people notice there's RM3 set? I don't

My verdict
The nasi lemak is acceptable. I was afraid it might be bland but it was alright (I don't know how to rate nasi lemak). My husband liked it. I guess to me the special is in the set that comes with the nasi lemak: big squid, siakap fish and quarter chicken. Not to forget, slice of green apple as substitute for cucumber!
Would I recommend people to come and try? Yes
Would I come again? Yes, because I want to try the fried siakap and fried chicken.
Is it worth the money? Possibly because you get cooked fish and nasi lemak for the price of per kilo siakap.

People queuing.

I personally think this is bigger than 'gelas besar'

 

Lutfi and his sirap bandung.

They provide scissors to cut the squid in pieces. How thoughtful!

My mum and my dad.

Another edge. They serve green apple to substitute cucumber. How ingenious!

So why this nasi lemak is so famous in such a short period of time? These are factors which I assumed made this place famous:

1. People will always want something different. The set priced from RM7 to RM17, considered expensive for a nasi lemak but that hasn't stop people from coming to eat. Why? Because you can choose between giant fried squid, fried siakap or fried chicken to be served with your nasi lemak.
2. Opens at night. Usually nasi lemak stall opened in the morning as it is a breakfast dish. We always get them for breakfast before going to work. It is packed for people to take away.  However here, the place opens from 4pm. Customers can laze around and chat after work here while eating. Or bring people for special treat or occasion, get away from fancy or thai seafood restaurants. Furthermore, the meal served is a big portion (even the drinks are served in humongous mug!) so that also take some time to finish. You can stay there until they are closed if you wish.
3. The location is perfect. Right next to the main road between Batu Pahat and Parit Raja. At night, most other shops are closed so Cik Chom's looks so vibrant and happening. That should attract and entice by lookers to check the place out.

I enjoyed my nasi lemak. Another attraction in Batu Pahat!

What's next?

Renewed determination

I'm heavily overweight right now at 72kg. What can I say. I didn't control my intake I guess and very low on physical activities.

However, I feel renewed today because I have a goal to help my colleagues to lose weight as well. They target to lose 5kg over 10 weeks starting today. I myself target to lose 1kg per week so that's 10kg until year end.

Gym
I really felt I need to do something which lead me to join HIIT class at Uptown Sports last Friday. Walk-ins charged at RM10 which I think was worth it.

Apparently my exercise buddies also don't mind to try out gym after work so we are planning to go to Lily Fitness at Bangi Gateway tomorrow at 8.30-9.30pm. Walk-ins are charged at RM15 per session.

Focus
My focus this time is to control my carbo intake. Also need to help my buddies as well. Their achievement will be my accomplishment.

To watch out
We have 3 long weekends in the span of two months Nov-Dec. I should be able to do this, like I did when I was in the Herbalife Weight Loss Challenge. I should be able to expect what I am up to: temptation, temptation, temptation.

Now Kasyif can ride!

'Mama! Mama! Abang sekarang dah pandai naik basikal! Kalau nak tengok, nanti keluar lah!
Kasyif was so excited about it yesterday at about 5.30pm. From his expression, I knew he couldn't himself believe that he could do it. I'm so happy for Kasyif and he now has something to be proud about himself.

Alhamdulillah! My husband has been diligently giving moral support to Kasyif to ride on 2 wheels since early of the year. It has been my husband goal to ensure Kasyif can ride by the age of 7. His mission accomplished!

Kasyif in my words
He has symptoms of asthma but not as serious as asthma yet. His breathing will be affected sometimes by smoke, cold or junk food.

As he grew older, I found his behaviour is a bit 'manja', pampered since things are done for him. In turn, He always wants things his way and get really upset when he doesn't get what he wants.

He has a poor eating habit. Earlier on, he didn't know how to feed himself apart from not knowing when to stop. Although he has just eaten, seeing other people eat will still entice his appetite. Always showing tantrum when he doesn't get what he wants. Things would fly across the hall, chairs dragged and turned upside down, everything which can raise my blood to boiling point. Always delaying when asked to do something.

Sometimes he also has quite a low confidence in himself. Since people has been labelling him as 'fat', sometimes he resist to do something new without even trying. He is afraid of everything... the dark, worms, water getting into his eyes. He doesn't brush his teeth when no one's looking.

My regrets
I've been surrounded with 2 girls before so I may not know how to handle a boy.

I don't blame anyone except myself. I have paid less attention to him as we hired a maid when he was born. I was too dependent on my helper. There are things that I didn't agree with what she has done but didn't say anything thinking that it might upset her or it was not a big deal.

I love my son

Ever since I have these regrets of not taking take of Kasyif properly, I always remind myself that he is just a boy. Only turned 7 last 13th October. I still can guide and nurture him to turn into an excellent person. Because he does have the good qualities as well. He's bright, friendly, sometimes attentive, loving towards smaller kids, listens to his parents and many more. I always regret afterwards if I scream at him because I don't want him to pick up and learn bad thing from me ie yelling.

Things I should start doing and maintain:

• My support to encourage him to try
• Always compliment him and notice things he does whether good or bad
• Show my affection to him, kiss him on his cheek and pats on the back

The next time I write about Kasyif, it should be more about the good side.....

Sesungguhnya Dia lebih mengetahui

Just recently on Monday, I wrote about being happy as things seemed to be in place. Then later that day, I found out someone is getting promoted whereas I felt I deserve it more.

I was surprised although there have been rumours about it. I was upset and the news really brought me down. The 'good' day I declared earlier then become totally the opposite. I started questioning myself why I haven't walked away from the company. I started to think that I'm a loser. I started to think that I'm misfortuned. I'm an ACCA affiliate, she has masters so maybe we are seen even. She's younger thus her total years of working is 2 years shorter than me so why her? All the negativity started to build.

Reasoning
Then I started reasoning. She has worked longer than me at the company (1 year apart). It is obvious that she'll be next in line as the vacancy is within her unit, not mine. I envy when imagining the salary increment. Truely, money is evil in this case. Maybe because I'm currently looking for opportunities to earn more and I didn't get this one.

OK, now I can accept the news except that I feel disappointed with the company in terms of promoting its staff. Although with ACCA and my work experience is longer than her, it didn't count as a criteria for promotion.

Accepting
I've been thinking about the news all night until I went to sleep. The only thing that made me accept this is to accept that this is all from Allah SWT. Jodoh, rezeki, mati semua di tanganNya. This is about rezeki... this is her rezeki, not mine. Allah knows best and always give the best for His followers.

What's in it for me?
Then, what's in it for me? Why Allah has put me in this situation and want me to learn? Alhamdulillah, Allah Maha Pengasih Lagi Maha Penyayang. Allah wants me to learn that no one is better than the other. Allah wants me to start to throw away my arrogance. I cannot carry that emotion during Haj (In Sha Allah) as my goal is to go for Haj prepared, physically and spiritually. I want a mabrur Haj so I have to start to seek forgiveness and cleanse my heart and soul.

Thus at the same time I learnt that to 'err is human'. Human always make mistakes. In this case, my feeling of arrogance indirectly says I know what's best for me whereas these are all what Allah SWT has laid for us. I was being arrogant to Allah SWT as well apart from being arrogant her. Asthagfirullah, Forgive Allah!

This makes me understand why Allah keeps saying to come back to Him, always seek forgiveness from Him because we sometimes always think we haven't done anything wrong. What we didn't notice is it was actually wrong in the eyes of Allah SWT.

The next day
Allah SWT also has given me the strength to talk to my husband about my feelings the next morning which I previously found it difficult. Allah gave me this new instinct that by letting it out, I would feel better. So I didn't expect anything from telling my husband about it, I just wanted to let out to him as he is my other half.

And it worked!

Regardless of what happened for the rest of the day, I calmly got through it. Thank you Allah!

Rest of the day
Lutfi had stomach ache but still wanted to go to school. So I did drive to his school but he was crouching. In split second, I decided to bring him to the clinic at my office. I was nearly late and Lutfi pooed in his pants when we reached there. The toilet is quite a walk away and I would be embarrassed if people saw us and the clock showed 9 o'clock. For my love for Lutfi, I decided to drive out and find toilet elsewhere. This was a pure emergency, why should I be afraid for not being at the office by 9.00.

So I cleaned Lutfi. His stomach ache went away after he pooed. He started being himself, talkative unlike this morning. Suddenly nothing else matters. I did what I think was right.
I followed my instinct.
I didn't really bothered about work.
I really put Lutfi first before work. And that made me felt content.

Once cleaned and changed Lutfi  to new clothes, we went back to the office around 9.30am. Lutfi was very good and got used to the environment because this was his 2nd time at my office. I sent him home at lunch.

Thank you Allah!
I was so grateful with how things turned out. Instead of thinking about the 'bad news', my mind was occupied with Lutfi's situation. And everything was OK in the end and I get to write it today.

I shall focus on what I can do for my family.

Things getting better

Alhamdulillah, I feel good today.

My helper is getting better. She has started to sweep and mop the floor and everything else. Alhamdulillah...  She even wanted to start cooking but I said it's OK. I'm getting the hang of waking up early to cook and actually feel satisfied that I get to cook for my kids.

Lutfi is looking forward to school. No need to go to the convenience store beforehand. Alhamdulillah. He even asked me why I took a different route on the way to school worrying we would be late. He said the teacher would say 'Mana Lutfi ni?'....... I just wanted to go to the gas station to refill fuel so I convinced him that we were ahead of time.

Work, nothing pressing so no stress.

Weight. I've started to go the gym again although just for 1/2 an hour. I'm planning to help my colleagues to lose weight as well.

Maybe I should start planning for the spa treatment, mani & pedi and holidays! :-)

Milk Moustache Cafe

I've been eyeing this cafe since I knew the place when I sent my kids to Smart IQ in Kajang Putra. It serves korean dishes which I've been wanting to taste to know how different the dishes are compared to Japanese. I didn't have the guts to step in though as I wasn't sure whether the prices were on the steep side  similar to Japanese restaurant.

Then one day I wanted to treat my youngest brother after his exams. I was thinking 'what's different, seems special and nearby?' and the Milk Moustache Cafe (MMC) came to mind. Yah! Why not!

It was about less than 10 min drive from my house (the road was clear). The dining area is actually upstairs, downstairs is the kitchen. We were the only there; my brother, Kasyif, Lutfi and myself.

Menu
Looking at the menu, I can say it was totally a new experience for me. Definitely different from Japanese food. Given the menu, we didn't have a clue what to order. I knew I wanted to know how kimchi tastes like.

By the picture, the food seems to have lots of red in colour, look spicy and the names are... only known to Korea fans. Luckily there were pictures to guide us what the dishes were. Because we were not familiar with Korean food, we just ordered what we used to: fried rice and noodles while the kids ordered spaghetti carbonara. Yes, they do serve western menu but the choice is limited. The menu maybe a little under in terms of variety compared to menu of a malay food restaurant. Though I was totally new to anything related to Korea, so the menu that day seemed interesting and exciting.

Interior
Lots of cartoons and drawing on the wall, the colour is also vibrant. There is a kid's corner which has racks of toys but the space is rather limited. It has this cosy and relaxed ambience. We were the only ones there, so my kids were immensed playing with the toys.

TV shows to kill the time waiting for your food. Of course its Korean.

 It was Running Man when we were there.

My brother checking out the world map.

 

I find this cute.

The kids corner

If this cafe is inspired from their travel and love for Korea (or K-Pop), I really respect that. There are many pictures displayed which you can tell the travel maybe the most memorable one and they are K-Pop die hard fans.
 
Price
Looks OK to me if you feel like getting something other than the usual meal you have everyday.
Price per dish starts at RM7.90. I think mine was about RM9.90. Can't remember the drinks but they have  Oreo Cookies Milkshake at RM13.90.

Food
Food is acceptable, bearing in mind I've never tasted any Korean food before. I liked what I ordered because I like instant noodles and it tasted GOOD. I'm not sure whether the real stuff uses instant or fresh noodles. Will come back again to try the 'pancake'.

Mandu Raymun Kimchi Soup RM9.90 (could Raymun means Ramen in Japanese?)

Pasta carbonara with a touch of black sesame seeds

After 3-4 visits, I might not visit the place for a long time as there may be no more in the menu that I want to try. I might come back purely for seeking advice on traveling to Korea and repeat my previous order.

Overall, Yah! why not!

Getting anxious?

I have been doing the house chores for nearly 4 weeks now. I was not smiling this morning. Has reality started to kick in? Am I wearing off? I was complaining as things didn't go as I expected.
 
The challenge
Thanks to public and school holidays and me taking annual leave, last 3 weeks were not that bad. I seemed able to cope with the chaos.


 
For tomorrow however, I have to attend a training (change in my normal schedule) which means I have to leave early. I have to leave the house about 7.30am in order to send Lutfi to school and reach the place on time. It doesn't sound possible with current routine unless I skip either sweeping or cooking.

Alternative
In order to leave the house early, I can either get up really early (earlier than 4.40am) or skip one of the activities.

Skip cooking
I want to skip cooking because I didn't get to sweep the house this morning.

1. I remembered the 'mangkuk tingkat' service which may enable me to skip cooking. I called a service near my house. They only accept orders for weekly (5 days) or monthly (30 days) whereas I only want for 1 day.
2. I could call Pizza Hut or Domino's in advance?

Or I can skip sweeping and start cook at 4.30am. I should cook very simple meals. Maybe chicken kurma and fried fish. And wraps for  breakfast (use leftovers from today).

My point
I was not very positive this morning. Grumbling, blaming, feeling as if I'm doing things all alone. I need to change those feelings and think positively. I'm reasoning as this is the 4th week thus I might be wearing off. I need to be able to realize that sometimes all the negativity is because I'm myself tired from the house routine, not because of what others do or don't do.


I need to learn to focus on getting things done, not complaining on what should have been done or who should do it. And remember, everyone is playing their part. Everyone is chipping in.