Ramblings of a Mami of Two

How Journaling Can Help You Stay Sane and Centered During a World Crisis Cut through anxiety with these simple yet effective writing prompts that get your words flowing and your mind clear Sílvia Bastos Follow Apr 1  · 15 min read In the midst of the current world crisis, everyone’s minds are all over the place. We are constantly bombarded with anxiety-inducing news; we worry about our jobs, about the current state of the world, about the health of our loved ones. Our routines and stability are turned upside down, and every day is haunted by a sense of fear and uncertainty. Now more than ever, we need mindfulness and self-care practices to regulate our anxiety, to remain kind towards others, and most of all, to make rational decisions instead of reacting to fear. However, exactly because of all the anxiety and restlessness we’re experiencing these days, it can feel especially hard to sit down, take a breath, and go within. Even for...

...is quite possibly the 2nd most time-consuming craft project I had ever taken on after Kimi's felt ABC book.  The idea came after my friends, Ain and Bibah (who goes by Beba post-SMSS) started talking about making busy books for their little ones.  I initially wasn't interested because I didn't know what they were talking about. It finally caught on when I found out that that's a whole lot of crafting in there!  I was on board just like that.  But then it wasn't an easy project, not at all. Being a perfectionist (I was diagnosed as one, but really I don't think I am, at all), I made a book out of used papers, making mind map of the book - concept, what kind of skills I want to teach from the book, and what kind of activities would achieve that.  Pinterest helped a lot. I spent hours of hours day dreaming of what the final book would look like, browsing through one after another pins and boards on pinterest. Really, that site is a poison to your...

Some time ago I came across this messenger bag tutorial and I thought how cool would it be to make one for Hadi with an ultraman appliqué and all. That was before I realised he won't be using it much so I made one for my niece instead.  So the ultraman appliqué pattern that I drew has been sitting in my sewing box since forever, waiting for the right project. Just last weekend I noticed that Hadi drinks a lot of water and I thought a water bottle holder would be a cool thing to make.  And I did. And it was cool, but would be way cooler if I had made the strap a little bit longer that he could wear it crossbody-style.  Anyways. He took it with him to bed the first day I gave it to him and he totally forgot about it the next day.  Mehhhh. If you're wondering why all of my projects are using black fabric, that's because 7 years ago Ach wanted to get me into a business that he had thought of and he bought a roll of black velvet-like to get me start...

So today, a doctor, a gastroenterologist, to be specific, confirmed that i have this, h.pylori bacteria in my colon. the test read "positive" with a reading of 22. (normal reading should be below 4). The dr, Dr Cheong Kuan Loong of the Columbia Asia Puchong said it is both bad and good news. Good because they know what is causing my cramps, bad, because, it could be something else.  So.  Tomorrow I am going for colonoscopy to check if it is something else or not.  I am terrified.  Bye. 

"Mami tak pernah berkasih sayang dengan saya" That hit me like a lightning in a bad thunderstorm. "Mami tak macam mak mak lain pun, main-main dengan anak dia" The whole world came crushing down around me. ***** Kimi said all of that when I he asked me if he could cook with me and I said no. 

Most of us are at war with ourselves — and we don’t even know it. We’re raised to believe that being tough on ourselves is necessary for success and happiness in life. Like the army drill sergeant hurling insults at their “soft” recruits, we grow up believing that we’ll always be weak unless we “get tough” with ourselves. And so we develop habits of harshness: We actively criticize ourselves for everything but the highest levels of performance or achievement. We endlessly ruminate of past mistakes, assuming that with enough self-punishment we’ll be motivated to never make them again in the future. We judge ourselves for feeling afraid or embarrassed or just plain tired because it seems like a sign of weakness or poor character. There are two problems with this belief in the necessity of harshness: 1) It doesn’t work. 2) It makes you miserable. I’ve never met a genuinely happy person who was constantly mean to themselves. And most of the successful people I know achieve...