Recently, we went out with dad for a meal. I still remember the day the doctor told us that he may have to go home from hospital and ‘eat’ from a feeding tube for the rest of his life. A feeding tube is inserted into the nostril (or sometimes through an incision in the stomach) and milk is poured into the tube and goes directly into the stomach. You don’t get to taste your food or experience the joy of eating.

To be able to eat is actually a blessing. How many of us take that ability to eat for granted?

I am thankful that now dad can eat normal food. Although he is in a wheelchair now, has a colostomy bag, has to be helped around everywhere, needs someone to bathe him etc, this ability to eat anything (or almost anything) he wants and likes is a blessing.

We had bah kut teh with dad. Though his mind wandered through the meal, as it sometimes does, we are happy, that dad is able to be with us, to smile and laugh and ….. eat.

my samsung galaxy ace

I don’t have an iPad or a tablet computer though I hanker for one but I do have my Samsung Galaxy Ace phone.

After I got my Samsung Galaxy Ace, I discovered Zinio and I love it! Zinio is a free magazine app for reading magazines on the Android device. However, you would have to subscribe to the magazines. The titles available are very comprehensive and subscription is easy. I would certainly subscribe to some magazines if I had a tablet computer because reading would be so much easier then.

In the meantime I am enjoying my free magazines from Zinio. After I registered with Zinio, I received a $30 coupon which I immediately used for purchasing some magazines. Later on, I received another $10 promotional coupon which I used up too. In addition to these you can browse and download free magazines to read.

I love reading the magazines digitally. Some of the magazines have a text only section for you to select so you have a choice of reading the magazine as it is or text only. It’s like reading the real thing because you can flip the magazine and what I love the most is it does not take up my shelf space at home which is exploding with books. It helps save the environment too.

At the moment, I currently have these on my Zinio library. Some of them are single issues, some are one year’s subscription. The best part is… they’re all free!

I am currently reading these on my zinio..

OWL Magazine

OWL magazine for 9 to 13 year olds. It includes the science behind how things work, quizzes, contests, and topics on everyday life. My boy likes the comics in them.

Women's Health magazine

Women’s Health Magazine is for the woman who places importance on being healthy-physically and emotionally. I like to read mostly the fitness, nutrition and weight loss part.

Glamour UK Edition

I read Glamour for fashion and beauty advice. Well, even a SAHM needs a little Glamour now and then.

American Girl

American Girl Magazine is Created especially for girls age 8 and up, American Girl is an appealing, age-appropriate alternative to teen magazines. It features advice, crafts (I like this part),  puzzles, games, giggles, and more. This one’s for my girl naturally.

Cosmopolitan

Cosmopolitan is  the largest selling young women’s magazine in the world, Cosmopolitan is famous for its upbeat style. It focusses on the young career woman and often has candid and open discussions on the contemporary male/female relationship. Well, I’m still young at heart so I can read this one though targetted at the younger working woman.

Parent and Child

Scholastic’s Parent & Child magazine is an useful resource for parents who want to play an active role in all aspects of their child’s development and learning. I find Parenting Magazines boring usually but sometimes I read them to get some much needed advice and ideas on Parenting.

marie claire

Marie Claire offers solutions for the time pressed busy woman on fashion and beauty. It also includes global and cultural issues. Marie Claire is also targetted towards the younger working woman.

new scientist

New Scientist magazine has the latest science and technology news, putting discoveries and advances in the context of everyday life. New Scientist relates the advancements of human knowledge to the broader impacts on society and culture, making it  an interesting read for inquisitive people who wants to know why. This is one of the magazines I selected when I browsed for free magazines to download and read. It’s not what I would normally read but it is interesting.

I also have the local Her World Magazine and the WebMd Magazine on my Zinio Magazine reader for my Android Phone. I am currently reading all of them at the same time. What I like about a digital magazine reader is the fact that it automatically leaves a bookmark on the page where you are reading. The next time I read, I just continue from where I left off. My magazines are all downloaded for offline reading on my Android but I can choose to read them on  my PC as well if I like. I prefer my Android because it is more portable, that is all.

I also like the fact that Zinio delivers magazines from all over the world directly to me. Some of these magazines are not available to me on the local news stand.

So many magazines to read and all for free!

Don’t believe me? Take a look at the screenshot of my Zinio library below:

My Zinio Library

If you haven’t got it already, you just have to check it out. You won’t regret it. Here’s the Zinio link.

All work and no play makes kids extremely restless. The kids had a week off from school but I had to make sure they did lots of work. They had been sick a lot recently and missed a lot of lessons. The boy especially. It is no joke learning 3 languages in school. We speak English at home and he reads a lot of story books so he can get by. They teach him a lot of Chinese at school so he can get by. However, the standard of Malay is rather high and with little emphasis in school and at home he is swimming in a deep blue sea on his own. So he has a lot of catching up to do, especially in his Malay vocabulary.

As for the girl, she hardly has any time to do revision during school days with the amount of homework she has to do. We have to consider the homework as revision. So it was time for work for both of them on their one week off from school. The previous week off was mostly spent in bed and taking medicine as they were both sick. So, this week off, they had to do a lot of studies.

Studies aside, they still managed to …

• play with candles and lanterns on Mooncake Festival Day
• watch several dvds for shows they had missed out on when they were sick
• plant their brocolli and asparagus (I wonder how those will turn out!)
• bake their bat shaped cookies and other shaped cookies
• play monopoly
• play computer games
• start on a manuscript for a book by typing it out (the girl dreams of writing a Chinese storybook)
• read several storybooks and comics
• play card games
• learn to play a duet on piano
• make ice lollies and eat them too

I’ve been really busy trying to make sure I get all of the above done in addition to helping them with their homework and studies I hardly have the time to be online. So, now it is time for me to play catch up with my blogs.

I am on a low carb diet most of the time especially when I eat in. Well, it is not exactly a low carb diet. It is just that I eat less rice overall and opt for more vegetables and fruits. I used to eat a full plate of rice with vegetables as a side dish. Now I eat it the other way around. My vegetables are my main meal and my rice is my side dish. It helps. It helped me lose my postpartum weight. I lost close to 20 pounds that way. However, I haven’t been able to extend this low carb diet to the times when I eat out.

So what happens is each week, I would lose my weight all week and by weekend when I eat out, I would regain all the weight I lost. Such a pity. I think I may have to lurk around a low carb forum and learn some new tricks. However, more than new tricks, I think the key thing is will power. I just have to improve my will power for the times when I am eating out or not eat out at all!

I have been sick for almost a month and lost weight as a result. Weight which I quickly regained in less than a week since I recovered. Ouch! Why is it so hard to lose but so easy to gain? I wish it were that way with money! Hard to lose but easy to gain.

I stopped exercising when I was sick and lost my momentum. I’ve got to start my exercise regime again soon. Exercise takes will power too, perhaps even more than dieting depending on the individual.

Where can I buy Massimo Bread?

No worries, it will hit your regular bread vendors very soon. I got mine at my usual newspaper vendor who sells bread as well. You will probably have seen the advertisements for Massimo Bread in the local newspapers. So what is the big deal?

Well, to me the big deal is, at last we have got more competition within the bread industry. Yahoo! Previously whenever Gardenia raised bread prices, I had to swallow my complaints along with my bread because there weren’t many other brands out there accept for High 5 bread.

How does Massimo bread compare to Gardenia bread in taste?

What about taste? How does the Massimo Bread taste like? To me, the Massimo bread wheatgerm variety (in green packaging) which was priced at RM2.50 during the introductory period (till end July if I am not mistaken) loses out to the Gardenia wholemeal which seems more wholesome although the Massimo probably turned out better in terms of taste.

Both are the same height but one is cut into 12 pieces the other into 14 pieces

As for the Massimo white bread which is in a blue packaging, I think it tastes better than the Gardenia white bread. The price is the same. RM2.40. Massimo bread tastes better because it is more fluffy and fuller in taste. I don’t think the fact that the white loaf is cut into 12 pieces while the Gardenia one is cut into 14 pieces has anything to do with it either. They’re both of the same height and size exactly apart from the different number of pieces. So you essentially get the same amount, just different number of slices. Unfortunately you can’t see that in my picture as I forgot to take it before we ate some.

Which bread will I buy?

Massimo or Gardenia or High 5? I’ve never gotten used to High 5 since it has always been Gardenia for me. I guess I will buy both Massimo and Gardenia now that I have a choice. Each week we eat about 3 loaves of bread. 1 long loaf and 2 small loaves. I’m just happy that now I have more choices.