Two New Bottoms

Just before Australia Day in January, I bought myself two new pair of bottoms from Target. I wore the denim shorts on Australia Day and wore the other grey cropped pants on the first day of CNY on Valentine’s Day. I desperately need new clothes. In fact, both of us need new clothes because more and more clothes are becoming too big!

With Summer coming to an end, many end of season clothes have been drastically reduced in shops such as Target, but we don’t really dare to buy any because if we lose more weight during the year, they may not fit by the time Summer comes around again at the end of the year. The new shorts we bought M in January 2009 are now so big, they don’t stay up without a belt. LOL. The new belt he received for Christmas is also becoming too big. He is down to the last hole. Is there a place to go to punch another hole? Mr Minit?

My own need for a transition wardrobe started around April 2008. I noticed that I constantly need to hitch up my jeans every few steps. I thought there was something wrong with my jeans and it was happening to all of them. It never occurred to me that my weight was dropping. So, I solved the problem by wearing a belt but by the time AFL Grand Final came around in September 2008 I had no other option but to ditch those jeans. Reluctant to buy new clothes for the warmer months because I tend to only like to play dress-ups in the cooler months, I went digging in the wardrobe for pants/jeans that I wore back in 2004 and found some Levi’s that fitted just nice. They looked alright still but they didn’t last. They too were becoming too big by May 2009 so I went back to the wardrobe for another dig. It was like going on a trip in a time machine. So until I bought the two new pairs of bottoms from Target last month, I have been wearing clothes from circa 2001! LOL. Believe me, the clothes from 2001 do look quite outdated and I don’t mean in a fashionable vintage kind of way. I did buy a few new pieces for Winter last year to mix and match with the old clothes but I just can’t bring myself to buy a whole new wardrobe every time I drop a size. That is just too wasteful don’t you think?

M and I are not on any miracle diets. We love food, including junk food. As I type this now, I am craving for some Pulut Udang - ewww… to some but absolutely delicious to me right now. We have however added more vegetables into our meals and we walk everywhere. I think the walking is playing a big part in the weight loss because I think we are losing more from the waste down. That doesn’t mean that my upper half is not shrinking. It happens a little slower than the rest. When M and I were queuing to buy super cheap Korean instant noodles last year, some guy behind us was going on and on about another guy’s unusual weight loss. He insisted that his friend must have undergone some kind of treatment (e.g., liposuction) because the resulted weight loss was ‘uneven’. LOL I tried desperately not to laugh at the time. Someone else I know also insisted that walking alone does not result in weight loss because according to her, walking is a good exercise for your heart only. I beg to differ and I think M will agree too that all the walking we had done had also contributed to greater improvements to our lower halves.

A Walk to Docklands

Spring is definitely around the corner. We had beautiful blue skies this morning. The temperature was mild enough for me to wear an unlined denim jacket over a long sleeve t-shirt. Since M didn’t have to go to work until after lunch, nosey us decided last night that we would walk to the Docklands to see Costco. It’s their first day of operation. At the entrance, we were given the impression by this lady that we had to sign up for membership before we could enter but M thought that anyone could walk in and that only members could purchase anything. The place looked very busy. There was already a long queue of people entering another door to either sign up for membership or to pick up their membership cards. The membership fee is only $60, an amount that is not too pricey in the eyes of many shoppers but is it worth getting one since there are only the two of us in this little household? On top of that we didn’t have all day to wait around because we had to be home before lunch time. In the end, we decided to ditch Costco and went window shopping at Harbour Town instead.

This is the moment when we first spotted Costco. I was given a few stares by a father and son team for taking this photo. There were no signs indicating that photography was prohibited in that area.

Oh, just look at this poor Ferris Wheel. It operated only for a few weeks and is now getting taken down because it is already broken due to the drought apparently.

We bought a Swabian-Hall piglet and a Gnu calf from Toy Kingdom to add to our collection of Schleich figurines. We also picked up the latest catalogue.

Cute Magic Pudding Statues

When we were out walking on the Tan Track last Friday, we snuck into the Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden @ the RBG to take photos of these beautiful statues of the characters from a popular children’s book called “The Magic Pudding”. We didn’t really sneak in. Two gardeners were near the front gate when we marched in. They saw us and one of them even smiled. So, it is obvious to them that we entered without any little humans and it didn’t seem to be a problem or they would have asked us to leave. That was the first time I entered the Children’s Garden and we stayed only long enough to take a few snaps of the statues. How I wish to hang around to see if the award winning garden is an ideal place for me to take photos of plants for my pretty empty Montessori Botany box. I am aware that there is the rest of RBG for me and other adults to enjoy but I really do wish to learn more about the design of the Children’s Garden. I often wonder how they select the plants and whether they relied on any child development principles. Maybe one day a book about it will be released.

Note: Before and after we entered the Children’s Garden, M read the information erected near the gate. We are pretty sure that there was no mention that adults not accompanied with children were not allowed. In the website, there is a little note reminding adults that they are solely responsible for actively supervising children and keeping them safe while in the garden.

A Fine Day For Walking

After weeks of stressing and worrying, I decided to start this week by going for a walk on The Tan yesterday. This time I chose to walk in the opposite direction and it is a tad more difficult because the uphill part is longer. I enjoyed the challenge though. When I got to the corner where I was bitten by a wasp/bee, I made sure that I walked closer to the road just in case the wasp survived; it and its mates might be waiting for revenge. LOL. The weather was pleasant. It was sunny but the cool breeze made the whole walk all the more enjoyable. The best thing was that there was no need for me to perform any ‘civic duty’ throughout the whole walk yesterday. I too like to be left to do my own thing just like everyone else.

Note: The picture was taken last month.

It Was Like a Penicillin Shot

I went walking on the Tan Track on Monday. I did it all by myself and am very proud of my mini achievement. I wasn’t bothered by any weirdos and I didn’t suddenly need to use the loo. Although I was hoping that I didn’t have to perform my ‘civic duty’ at a place like the Tan Track, I unexpectedly was subjected to it once today. That’s ok. Once is better than multiple times in just one visit to a busy shopping centre.

There was however a minor hiccough. As I was walking towards the Yarra, opposite MGGS, I took my hat off to air my sweaty hair. I was still unhappy that I was subjected to one ‘civic duty’ that had taken place just minutes before. Less than a metre after I turned left, a bug flew into my long black hair and got stuck. Its buzzing sounded angry as it tried to get out. I tried to help and it landed on my left cheek and promptly stung me before moving back into my hair. The pain was like being given a Penicillin shot on the face! So, I tried to frantically get the little devil out of my hair using my hat but was unsuccessful. The sight must have been comical because a couple of drivers actually slowed down to watch. Runners and joggers going past also slowed down. LOL. Luckily, this gentleman stopped to assist when I requested his help. He was unable to find it at first and asked if I was sure that there was a bug. LOL. I told him that I could hear the buzzing noise. Crazy people can hear lots of stuff too, I later thought. LOL. Eventually he found it. It took three attempts to get the little bugger off the left side of my head before it flew straight back to attack the right side. This time the gentleman managed to get it out in just one attempt. He even tried to step on the nasty bug as he explained that it could be a Wasp or a Bee. I thanked him and continued walking.

On my way home, I desperately wanted a mirror to see if I had reacted to the sting. Most of the pain subsided after about 5 minutes but I still wanted to see if I had turned into a monster. The people running past me didn’t seem to react but may be the kind of people that run on the track weren’t the type who would react to physical disfigurements. Where were ‘those’ people when I needed them to ‘criticize’ me? As soon as I got into our pigeon hole, I dashed to the bathroom to inspect my cheek. Except for a dot, there was absolutely nothing. My face is not one bit uglier than when I left home. Nevertheless, I iced the area and applied a liberal amount of Tea Tree Cream just to be sure. This antiseptic cream is like a cure-all for us. LOL. Growing up in an ‘outpost’ situated at the edge of rainforests might have built up my resistance towards insect bites.

I suspected that M would react to my account by saying, “That’s it. You are not going there on your own again.” He didn’t though. He also didn’t ask me to cut my hair. It turned out that he found the whole thing hilarious. I think I will tie my hair before putting my hat on next time. Investing in some bug spray might also be a good idea. Tuesday is going to be another super hot day with gale force winds arriving tonight. So, it’s best for me to stay home. Thursday is likely to be my second walk at the track this week.

Making Use of The Tan

Reading blogs of people living in their spouse’s homeland is one thing that I really like doing when I surf the web. A recent post by this lady blogger inspired me to increase my walking. M and I are already walking to and fro to get our shopping and errands done. We even walk on days which I used to deem too hot (over 34°c) to do anything active (not including swimming in the pool) outdoors. In fact, I now find it cooler to walk to the city on warm days than to ride in a super stuffy tram.

There are splendid parks located very close to where I live. We go there quite often but we have never made plans to regularly exercise there for FREE. Inspired by the blogger in Japan, I am going to start making use of the Tan Track that is so conveniently close to our little home. The Tan is a 3.8km walking and jogging track that encircles the Royal Botanic Gardens and Kings Domain. Heard that I was interested, M and I went to check out the track a couple of weeks ago. We instantly felt the difference between walking on the track and walking on a typical footpath. Slightly more effort was required for each step on the track because of its surface. I took some photos on the day and here are a couple of them.

Not wishing to set myself up to fail by doing too much, I am hoping to start walking on the track at least once or twice a week before gradually building that up to three times per week during the cooler months. My plan is to start this week and will post about my progress in here every now and then. M is not quite sure of letting me go there on my own but I think it should be safe. I did see individual female runners or joggers when we were there. The track is very popular with residents nearby and city workers. So, it’s not quiet and spooky.