Wednesday 5 December 2012

Caring for Mothers

This is the first time ever I'm looking after an elderly.


I used to accompany my mom to take care of my late grandfather. But just accompanying. I didn't do any cleaning, preparing food, feeding, carrying, etc..

But at least I'm used to massaging my mom when she's tired from a hard day at school (she was a teacher, by the way) and when she has retired, she got tired nearly everyday because she's getting sicker everyday. She had a lazy arm, and it got weaker as time goes by till she can't use it anymore to do tedious work. One day she found out that her hand shook uncontrollably. After meeting a specialist, she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. What's even worse - we found out that it's heritable.

My mom really felt my absence at home once I got married and left home to live with my in-laws. She sulked at first. Haha.. But eventually she finally accepted that I'm now a married muslim woman, I have to faithfully be by my husband's side most of the time. (Plus, she has 5 other children that can take care of her. The house is always packed with more than 10 people. So I don't have to worry about her.)

Right now, I live together with my husband, my mother-in-law and father-in-law, brother-in-law and his wife. So it's us 3 couples under one roof. My sister-in-laws have their own place.

I can be considered lucky, as my mother-in-law is the coolest mother-in-law EVER! She's not the controlling mother-in-law that you see in Malay dramas (that normally end up with tears, shouting and divorce). We usually don't cook a lot, we normally eat out. Thank God, she's not the nagging mother type. (Because I lived with my nagging mother and 1 nagging mom is enough! Haha...) She can laugh at my jokes. Furthermore, she's very warm and lovable.

She had Miller-Fisher Syndrome (MFS), a rare variation of Guillain-BarrĂ© Syndrome (GBS), early 2011. It took her only 2 weeks to recover. Amazing, huh? God work in mysterious ways, because later that year, I got married to her son.

Last month she went to perform pilgrimage (Hajj) at Mecca - practically - alone.


She was hospitalized there right after completing the Hajj. Once she got back here, she was immediately admitted to a hospital before even getting to enjoy the comfort of her own home. We found out that she already wasn't able to eat for a week. She couldn't even swallow her own saliva.

She was diagnosed of having GBS. But it hasn't been 100% confirmed yet because the ONLY expert that we have in Malaysia on autoimmune diseases is not that expert after all. So they had extracted her cerebrospinal fluid via lumbar puncture (which is a very painful procedure) and placed them in 6 bottles. They had some of them flown to Australia for further analysis.

It is a rare case that someone could acquire MFS and then GBS. So she was constantly being examined by doctors, housemen and students. Even the head of division of neurology personally came to see her. Last Friday she finally ate solid food after 13 days of unable to swallow anything. So thankfully, she got to be discharged after a week being admitted.

Now my brother-in-law and his wife together with my husband and myself are taking turns to take care of her at home. And since I work just in front of our house, I get to spend more time taking care of her.

Waking up before 6am every single day, making her breakfast, feeding her, changing her adult diapers, washing her, help her to perform ablution (wudu') before prayers (Solat), taking her to the toilet to poo, seeing an elderly sick woman in her birthday suit - it's all a whole new experience for me.

It has only been what? 5 days? But I haven't been this tired. Nevertheless, I'm glad that I never loved the person, who bore and raised the love of my life, more than this. =)

Tuesday 22 February 2011

Options: RM2.00 Strawberry Jams

Okay.

I've made up my mind a few months ago that I want to have cute strawberry jams as one of the doorgifts for my reception.. They're so adorable!

(Credits - clockwise from doily wrapped jam: 1 | 2 | 3 |4)

So I made some surveys on strawberry jams. I searched throughout the jam sections of all of the stores that I've been for the past couple of months and I haven't found any that suited my budget. All are RM 3.99 and above and if not large, they are medium in size. But then I remembered bumping into Gourmandines.com and was very keen for their jam preserves. So there was Option #1.


OPTION #1:
Bonne Maman 30g Strawberry Conserve
from Gourmandines.com

They provide quality imported jams with the lowest price. (Thanks Sabrina for sharing this.)

Below are the information given by the people from Gourmandines.


Size:
Content: 30 gm jam
Dimension: 4.5 cm diameter x 4.5 cm height

Price:
RM 1.70 per 30g jar

Stock information:
Batch from: Jul 2010
Expiry date: March 2012

Customization (labels):
They're not able to do any customization as the jams are made & bottled in France .

Packaging:
2 options:

1 tray - contains 15 pcs; or
1 carton - contains 60 pcs

However you can order any quantity required.

Bulk Offers:
Order 200 to 500 jars, discount 5%
Order 501 to 1000 jars, discount 10%
Order above 1000 jars, discount 12%

Payment methods:
Mode of payment: Cash/Cheque only
Methods:
- Walk-in the office at Menara IMC jalan sultan ismail
- Transfer to their bank account

(Note: After making the transfer, they would need the Bank in slip or online transfer confirmation via fax or email)
Delivery:
They deliver in Klang Valley area only.
FREE DELIVERY within Kuala Lumpur City center, Bangsar, Damansara, Ampang KL, Mont Kiara for RM 250 and above per order. Below that, you'll be charged RM35.
Delivery days: Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

Confirmation of order:
Order through email.
50% deposit is required to confirm order.

Contact:
Email: info@gourmandines.com
Phone: 012 290 2135 / 5342
Fax : (03) 2026 4188

Extensive info, eh?!
They're very professional. =)


But I wasn't satisfied... Not yet, according to their description, the size was too small. Besar dia tak sampai 1/4 tapak tangan. (Errr.. Ke tapak tangan aku besar? HAHA)

So anyway, I opt for another solution: instead of imported jams, why not try searching for local jams? We DO HAVE strawberry farms here in Malaysia, don't we? ;) And it was then Option #2 came into the picture.


OPTION #2:
Home Made Strawberry Jam
from Cameron Highlands

I found another alternative. Its size is larger than Bonne Maman jam. Mak and Ayah scouted the perfect jam jars for me while they were having their 893578th honeymoon in Cameron Highlands.

The above image shows the difference in dimensions and err.. the presentation of the jars (sedih gila tengok label jam jar yang dari Cameron tu).

Here's the description of the local strawberry jam:

Size
Content: obviously more than 30g
Dimension: 6.5 cm height X 4.5 cm diameter

Price
RM 2.00
because they imported the jars, and its pricey

Customization (labels):
No. But you can request for them not to paste their labels on the jar. :)

Packaging
Individual
or
24 jars in 1 box

Extra Info
No Preservatives
No Artificial Coloring
HOME MADE
&
LOCAL PRODUCT

Contact Person
Alice
Tel: 013 524 7120

Bulk Offers
Mak successfully bargained RM 2000 for 42 boxes (which is 1008 jars) INCLUSIVE OF DELIVERY COSTS.

Terrer la Mak!

Monday 21 February 2011

Colourful Chocs by My Mini Muffin KL

Who doesn't love chocolates?




(All of the pictures are credit to Home Made Chocolate by My Mini Muffin KL)

I'm so lovin the lollichocs (last picture). I'm considering them as doorgifts to give out to kids for my reception.

Home Made Chocolate's pricing is quite cheap.
Lollichocs:
RM 1.80/pc (coloured)
RM 1.50/pc (plain chocolate)

Roses shaped chocolates:
RM 0.60/pc - RM 0.70/pc

Pralines:
are from RM0.70/pc - RM 1.00/pc