Powderpuff Mae

I used to have problems wearing under-wired bras. They don't fit properly. The wires kept digging into my chest and the pain was excruciating. I gave up on under-wired bras and started wearing the "grandma" bras without those horrid wires. They were comfortable but comfort came with a price obviously. They just don't give you the shape, support and umph. Plus I feel so unsexy wearing them. And after a few more washes it turned dimply. Bras are supposed to enhance and accentuate our God given assets. Even the less endowed women can now have her desired curves, if worn correctly. So my grandma bras just weren't doing it for me.


Bra with the wrong cut that causes "digging-in"

So I decided to go bra shopping at Metrojaya. I went to the Wacoal counter and asked if they had grandma bras and the salesgirl just gave me that look...as if I am some lost cause fashion faux pas. They didn't sell grandma bras. So I moved along to XIXILI. I asked the same question but this woman, my saviour she was God sent. She somehow knew her mission was to save this poor soul from the eternal damnation of grandma bras. She asked me "why do you wear that kind of bra, you are still so young. Tell me what your problem is". This woman I LIKE. I poured out my problems to her about the "digging-in" like a helpless baby. "You are wearing the wrong bra, let me show you which one is the right bra for you and next time just buy this cut. It will fit you" said my saviour. "By the way what is your bra size?", she asked. This question took me by surprise cos I wasn't sure but I was sure the cup size should be A cup. Without hesitating and also to save me from further embarrassment she just took a measuring tape and measured my boobs. "You are a B!" she said. "I'm a B?? Are you sure?" I couldn't believe I had grown one cup larger. Thanks to child birth, breast feeding and hormonal changes. But I could be wrong, read here.


The right cut for me. Right fitting bras are comfortable and gives the body the desired curves

I went to the fitting room and my saviour asked if I knew how to wear a bra. Come on, I've been wearing bras since puberty but she insisted that she should come into the fitting room to show me how it should be done. Now that felt really weird. Apparently I was supposed to lean forward 90 degrees to my legs, then fasten. Wriggle slightly side to side to get boobs centered into the cup. Then stand up. Then my saviour put her hands into the bra to push my breast from the side to the centre of the cup so that my bosom sat nicely into the cup. "See how nice they are now" she said with beaming pride. Honestly they do look great. So I got a few more from her.

That day, I walked out of Metrojaya, still a little embarrassed by the whole incident but I walked with my head held high knowing that I will never ever wear those grandma bras ever again and those wicked, sexy new push up bras, my husband will LIKE. And the promotion to B cup, real cool.

I had a stressful week. Jesse's week at the kindi did not turn out that good. He cried a river or tears when teacher Lavender asked me to leave the room. By the third day all the parents were out of the vicinity of the classroom except yours truly. Jesse insisted that I stay. When I left, he wailed. That had a ripple effect on the other children. One by one the kids started to cry.

I was out of the room and my heart broke when I heard how he screamed for his "ahmie" and requested for some "neno", Jesse's version of milk. Sigh, no one could understand my boy. Then he decided enough was enough, he went for his school bag and headed for the door. My son caused a riot as other kids decided to follow the gang leader, of course teacher Lavender stopped him.

I witness the whole ordeal and I am still shaken and stressed out. The kindi allowed parents to accompany their kids until today. By Monday Jesse has to go to kindi without his "ahmie". It will really break my heart if he cries for the whole 3 hours. I just have to let go and trust the teachers, that is what they tell the parents.

Right now I need some alcohol and shopping (all expense paid by the husband).

Regular bowel movement essential for smooth clear skin around the chin



Some time ago, I went to see Carol for a facial. Besides the usual gossiping about our neighbours, I learn something new from her each time I see her.

"Do you have constipation?" Carol asked while she was extracting the pimples under my chin. "Ya, how do you know?" I replied as I quivered in pain when she popped another pimple. Apparently, if you have breakouts around the chin area, it means constipation problem. If there are breakouts near the eye area, it means cholesterol problem.

No wonder I kept having breakouts around the chin. I had constipation after giving birth to Jesse and nothing I took could help ease the problem. I read Psyillium Husk could help cleanse the intestines. Psyillium Husk is sold by most pharmacist and it costs less than RM20 a pack. A tablespoon of psyillium husk with a glass of lukewarm water each morning should keep the bowels moving.

Right now I am taking "Organic Plus" which contains all kinds of greens, grains, enzymes and good bacteria. I was advised by my doctor to consume at least 7 cups of vegetable/fruits daily for increased anti-oxidant. I try to be as health conscious as I can but I find it quite impossible to hit 7 cups of greens a day. As such, Organic Plus serves as a good substitute. I just mix a tablespoon of green powdery stuff into a glass of water each morning before breakfast and by lunch nature will be knocking on the door. And trust me it comes out easily and beautifully. As for the chin, no more breakouts there.

I come from a family of vain pots. My grandmother had cosmetic surgery done to her eyes for double eye lids, so did my aunt. One of my relative went through a life threatening surgery to have her jaws sawed and shortened to look beautiful.

I recall grandmother telling me that it was perfectly fine to be vain (or in hokkien, "ai swee") after all God created everything beautifully and He loves beauty. Infact, she insisted that I should be "ai swee". She was quite creative to come up with this rationale to support her quest for vanity. Anyway lately my mother has been pestering me to get my eyes done. It has something to do with having eyeliner embroidery or tattoo done to the eyes. It all started when she had eyebrow embroidery done and she totally loved them. By some strange reason she some how felt rather strongly that I needed semi permanent eyeliners drawn on my eyes, well her rationale "with the tattoo or embroidery you never have to use the eyeliner on the eyes. You will get wrinkles around the eyes whenever you draw on your eyes and when you wash them off because you will be pulling the skin around the eyes". Then she will go on and on about aunty Veronica, Betty and etc... all look so nice. To be honest, they all look scary to me.

What can I say?? It is not the pain that I am worried about, it is "the look" that freaks me out. I know of many aunties who have tattooed the eyes and everywhere, it looks really disgusting after a decade or two, the black or brown eventually turns grey or grayish green. Just imagine when I am 70, old and wrinkly but I still have that faded tattoo around my eyes and brows.

At this moment, the answer is still "NO", however my cousin did mention that embroidery can look really nice on certain eyes......

"An Echinacea a day, keeps the flu away"

My mother should have been a doctor. She reads up alot on health matters and has from her many visits to the doctors and sinsehs accumulated much knowledge, sometimes she can even tell the doctors what and how much antibiotics to give her. She has a pill or something for everything and until today I still find it amusing when I see the buffet of pills, vitamins and mineral she displays in her medical cabinet. Also, in the garden a variety of plants or herbs for every ailment.

My mother will dispense her medical advise freely, whether you like it or not. One of her most recent "nuggets of gold", Echinacea is a good cure for cold, if you feel that you are about to come down with a flu take one echinacea 3 times a day with a Vit C effervescent, you will not catch the flu.

I like Redoxon effervescent the best. I take one tablet a day with the echinacea.

On the morning of new year's day, I woke up with a runny nose, body ache and a bad headache. I knew the flu was about to greet me very soon. I had so much plans for day, to take my son, Jesse to the park and playground, a family outing to KLCC...all these seemed so impossible.

Then I remembered what my mom told me about achinacea, I took an echinacea that morning and voila by noon the nose dried up and I felt so much better. We had a great time in KLCC and I lasted through dinner and a DVD session with James.

I really hate to admit this but my mother was right this time.

Everyone has their own secret little addictions which they indulge in private. When nobody's looking, only then we bare our true selves for fear of how others may judge us.

I have 2 addictions. First, I love to chew ice. I never knew I was addicted to chewing ice until I had this terrible cough and had to lay off ice for a few days at the doctor's instruction. I was miserable and all I could think of was ice and how good it felt in my mouth. I guess it was some sort of a withdrawal syndrome. I am still coughing but I NEED to pop in 2-3 pieces of ice a day to calm my nerves. Guess why I'm still coughing after 3 weeks.

My grandparents, mother, sister and I were introduced to a new form of addiction way back in the 80s when TV3 made its debut into our TV stations. The Chinese serial addiction. It all started with "Man in the Net" and henceforth every evening from 6pm to 8pm all 5 of us will be glued to the TV. We still had our family meals together - in front of the TV. I wasn't alone here, in fact most of my classmates and even teachers weren't spared. Chinese serials brought the students together regardless of colour, creed or religion. We had something in common to talk about at school, last night's episode.

Thankfully each of us managed to kick off that addiction. I stopped cold turkey 4 years ago due to work and family commitments. In fact I sneered at those aunties and cousins who were still bound by the shackles of TVB and Wah Lai Toi (Astro's chinese station). Pride loomed over me. I now belonged to the elite group. We only watch highly intelligent English serials like CSI, Lost and Desperate Housewives (DH) once a week. I can hardly call watching an episode of CSI, Lost and DH "once a week" an addiction as opposed to the aunties who watched their no brainer Chinese serials daily. I was such a hypocrite. Anyway they say pride comes before a downfall.

It all happened when my mother-in-law stayed with us 3 weeks ago. She was an addict, so at 6pm sharp she automatically tuned in to TV3's "War & Beauty" (current serial). Since we live in a 900 sq feet condo, there is no such thing as personal space. While she was having her daily fix, I was bombarded with TVB's evil and filth. I could hear their conversations spoken in the "palace" cantonese where the emperor refers to himself as "cham". I was tempted to take a quick peek to see who this "despicable concubine" that my mother-in-law so deeply abhors. Give the devil a foothold and within one commercial break, I was glued to the TV. I told myself I was only "drawn" to this serial "War & Beauty" because, as the title goes, it had beautiful concubines waring against each other to win the emperor's heart and they scheme, kill, steal, lie, hate, love, deceive, conspire, cry, seduce to achieve a common goal ie to be chosen to "serve" the emperor "kau kau" for the night in hope that Emperor will summon them to "serve" him every other night. But TVB will also throw in sword fighting, brothels, betrayal, greed, vengence, infidelity, jealousy and pretty faces for maximum viewing pleasure.

I have 2 addictions, chewing ice and chinese serials.

I was plagued with pimples since 16 years old. At that time, I knew nothing about skin care and the only product I knew was hazeline snow. At 16, I had a huge crush on this guy but the craters on my face just made me feel really unattractive, so I distanced myself from every good looking guy in school. Until today, I still feel sorry for myself for missing out on so much.

I started going for facials when I was 18 years old. After spending thousands of ringgit and using almost every high end, low end and saloon brand...my skin was still so so only and the pores are often clogged. Every month during "the time of month", those rascals will just pop out right at that time, without fail, as if they had been programmed to do so. If I had to travel to another country of different climate, I would experience another volcanic eruption.

I religiously went for my facials every month. The extractions (where the beautician will squeeze out every white head, black head, pimple and every other shit I have under that skin) were unbearable. Anyway I usually leave the saloon with an enlarged face due to the beautician's rigorous harvesting of pimples. It was not a lovely sight. I had to stay indoors for at least 3 days before the swell subsided.

I figured it was hormone imbalance. When I was on contraceptive pills for 3 months, my skin was glowing and smooth as a baby's bottom. When I was pregnant, again the skin was flawless. After giving birth, it's back to square one. I had another problem, I was heavily dependant on foundation and powder to camouflage the flaws. I never went out without make up. This was obviously bad for the skin and most beauticians would advise against using too much make up. At that time, I couldn't live without make-up, my complexion looked frightful without them.

Then Carol came into my life. Beautiful, lovely Carol. She is my neighbour, who happens to be a beautician. I gave her a try, and was immediately hooked. Her facials are really "terror menerror" one and they can last up to 3 hours. She will extract the "impurities" "kau kau", nothing is left unharvested. My favourite session, the massage. This woman's kung fu is first class. Really very shiok.

She introduced me to a new range of products which I had to complete that entire course. She assured me "After using this product, your skin will be very nice and you don't have to come and see me every month already. You only need to see me once in 4 months. I introduce this product to you I lose business, you know".

The facial product recommended by Carol. It is my miracle product

After 2 months, I had beautiful smooth skin. I never used a drop of foundation since then. And Carol was right, I saw her 6 months later for the next facial. Thank you Carol.

This is me without make up after using Carol's product for 9 months and I am very pleased with the results