Health Freak Mommy
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Mom of 3 grown daughters, now in my 50s & settling back into my hometown with my soul cat in tow. A new chapter is unfolding.
I’m staying with my parents in their 80s as I rebuild life with lighter shoulders. Follow along for stories, reflections & videos
The past week has been a very busy one for me — and a very noisy one too! 😂
My older brother and his family came up from Singapore last Monday and stayed in Ipoh for a week. My younger brother came back from KL on Thursday, and then my daughters and their dad came back for a day as well. Everyone came home to celebrate Mum’s 80th birthday in advance. ❤️
We were eating out most days, and the house was filled with the sound of children, especially my brother’s 9-year-old twins. They are both very energetic, but the boy in particular can be very noisy! 😂 They were completely smitten with Haru, while poor Haru was absolutely terrified of them and probably spent most of the week wondering when these little humans would finally leave her alone. 🐱😂
Unfortunately, my brother’s entire family from Singapore came down with influenza, and now I have developed a sore throat too. Hopefully, if it is the flu, it will be a mild one since I had my flu jab back in February. Fingers crossed!
Our celebratory dinner was held at Sun Lee How F**k Restaurant. It’s actually quite rare for the entire family to get together like this. Sometimes, even during Chinese New Year, we don’t manage to have every single family member back in Ipoh at the same time. So despite the tiredness, noise and chaos, I’m really glad we had this opportunity to be together for Mum’s 80th birthday. ❤️
Cass, however, had an especially hectic trip back to Ipoh. She took the train from KL to Ipoh with her dad and arrived at 3pm on Saturday. The very next morning, she had to wake up at 3am to catch the 5am train back to KL because she needed to be at the skating rink by 10am for her part-time figure skating coaching job. Sundays are her busiest days.
And then, today — Monday — she started her first-term exams at UM, which continue throughout this week.
I honestly feel exhausted just thinking about her schedule. 😅 I’m not expecting or demanding excellent results from her. I know she is trying her best to juggle university, skating classes, practice, competitions and her part-time coaching job. There is only so much one person can fit into a day.
And there’s more to come. Next month, she has another skating competition, this time in JB. After the competition, she and her sisters will be flying to Taiwan to attend a relative’s wedding.
Looking at everything on her plate, I really do feel tired for her. My only hope is that she — and both her sisters — will stay healthy, safe and well through this very busy period. ❤️
Today, we sent all the bedding, blankets and towels used by our guests to the laundromat for washing. Yesterday, I spent almost the entire day cleaning up after everyone had left. So now that the house is finally quiet again, I’m catching up on sleep.
I barely slept on the night Cass had to wake up at 3am for her 5am train, and honestly, I haven’t had enough sleep for most of the entire week.
The house is now quiet again, the laundry is being taken care of, everyone has gone home… and I think I’m finally allowed to collapse a little. 😂
What a week. ❤️
Here’s a little video of our family get-together and Mum’s birthday celebration. It was lovely having everyone home, even if the house was noisier than usual!
10/09/2026
Today, my two older girls arrived from KL for my mum’s 80th birthday celebration this Saturday. ❤️
But, of course, a little drama had to unfold first. 😂
Someone either woke up late or got caught up with something in the morning, and somehow the 8:30am train became a bit of a challenge. So one daughter left the house for KL Sentral first, followed by her sister a little later.
Then I received a message from one of them: her sister had missed the train! 😅
I had a feeling this might happen because, well… this is just so her. She has a tendency to pile so much onto her plate that sometimes there simply isn’t enough time to deal with everything.
So, the daughter who missed the train had to buy a ticket for the 9am train instead, and asked her sister to wait for her at the Ipoh train station.
Of course, the sister who was waiting was fuming. 😂 She is never late, absolutely hates waiting for people who are late, and now she had to sit at the station waiting for her own sister!
Anyway, long story short, I eventually managed to fetch both of them from the train station. We then went to tapau some noodles because it looked like it was going to rain, so eating out was out of the question.
And then there was Haru. 🐱❤️
My spicy little cat still remembers her sisters after all these months. She clearly remembers who is the overzealous one who likes to manhandle her, and who is the sister who is actually afraid of cats but is always so gentle with her. 😂
It was really heartwarming to see Haru reunited with her sisters again. Despite all her spiciness, she still knows her people. ❤️
This Saturday, my youngest daughter will arrive too. Then, finally, all three girls will be home.
I can’t wait to see my youngest and have our little family reunion. It’s not every day that all my girls are back home together. ❤️
PS - I managed to steal this pic of my girls when they were walking to my car, both looking sleepy and yawning away 😂
08/09/2026
Today, one of my daughters called me unexpectedly, and it gave me quite a scare because, in my experience, no call is ever a good call when it comes from my daughters. 😂
She was calling from UTC KL, and then she told me that she couldn’t renew her passport because….. she had dyed her hair pink! 😱🩷
Apparently, she is planning to fly to Taiwan next month to attend her paternal second cousin’s wedding. Now she’s stuck because she didn’t know what to do.
She asked me if she should buy a wig.
A wig?! A wig is not cheap! And I still remember when another daughter of mine bought a wig online, only for the actual wig that arrived to look like something straight out of a clown costume. 🤡😂
So I suggested that she wrap her hair like she was wearing a hijab (headscarf), but she told me that only Muslims are allowed to do that. 🤦🏻♀️ Yes meh, it that true?
At that point, I told her, “Then just skip the trip to Taiwan!” 😂
For one thing, she’ll have to miss university classes. She has already skipped a few classes earlier this year for a competition, and later this year, she’ll have to miss even more classes for another competition. That's a big no no for this Asian mum here!
So how now, brown cow? 🐄
I really hope she manages to settle the passport issue amicably. But honestly, deep down, I really hope she decides to skip the Taiwan trip.
Sometimes being a mother means wanting your daughter to solve her problem….. while secretly hoping she’ll just stay home. 😅
On another note, this is what we had for lunch the other day after our very heavy buffet dinner at Exquisite Restaurant — Mum’s homemade pumpkin soup with chicken breast, chicken paste balls and siew pak choy. 🎃🍲🥬
Simple, complete and tasty! Sometimes, after a heavy buffet, a simple homemade meal is exactly what we need. ❤️
06/09/2026
My Tea of the Day 🌿🌼🍋
Dandelion roots + pandan leaves + jasmine flowers + dried lemon + black tea.
I love teas with a naturally fragrant aroma, and luckily, our garden has plenty of edible plants and flowers for me to play around with. We have enough jasmine flowers for me to pluck a small handful every day to add to my green tea or black tea. There’s something so lovely about picking fresh flowers from the garden and putting them straight into your teapot. 🌼
Our pots of pandan are still growing, so whenever we need more, my dad simply gets some from our neighbour, whose garden is filled with long, lush green pandan plants. The fragrant pandan leaves add such a beautiful aroma to tea.
I also like adding a small handful of dried dandelion roots to my tea to support liver health and healthy blood sugar levels.
Then comes either green tea or black tea, depending on my mood. Today, I went with a little black tea. This concoction of dandelion roots, fresh jasmine flowers, pandan leaves, dried lemon and black tea turned out wonderfully aromatic and soothing. 🌿🌼🍋
Yesterday was Zumba day for me! 💃 It was my 4th Zumba class, and this time Mum didn’t come along. Her achy legs were hurting even more, so she decided to stay home and do some tidying instead.
And she has a very good reason to get the house ready because next week, the entire jing bang of our family will be back! My older brother and his family are coming from Singapore, my daughters and their dad will be back too, and my younger brother will also be home. They’re all coming back to celebrate Mum’s 80th birthday! 🎂❤️ So our normally quiet house is about to become a very noisy one!
As always, the entire one-hour Zumba class was INTENSE. There wasn’t even a one-minute break in between — just dance, jump, twist, shake and repeat! 😵💫💃
And Coach Faisal’s movements were super fast. Sometimes he moved so quickly that my brain was still processing the previous step while my legs had already decided to freestyle. 🤣 There were moments when I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, so I simply kept moving and hoped that looking enthusiastic would count as knowing the choreography. 😂
I’ve also noticed that my weight seems to drop faster after every Zumba class. So, according to my very own highly scientific theory, I can eat a little more from Monday to Thursday, then one Zumba class comes along and plummets the weight again! 😜
If you find that your weight has been stagnant, try dancing and jumping non-stop for an hour. I’ll bet you’ll be very pleased to step on the scale the next morning. 😂
Of course, if the scale doesn’t budge, at least you’ve had one hell of a workout! 💃🤣
04/09/2026
Dad cooked a big pot of chicken stew last week, which we happily ate for two days straight. 😋
My parents, who are in their 80s, and I are very, very small eaters. What the three of us eat in an entire day can probably be equivalent to what some people eat in just one meal! 😂 Our stomachs simply can’t accommodate a lot of food at once, especially when it comes to meat. So, I guess that’s one reason why we’ve always been naturally slim.
Anyway, back to Dad’s chicken stew. It was packed with so many good things — bearded chicken, chicken breast (specially for me because I only eat breast meat), corn kernels, potatoes, carrots, long beans, tomatoes, onions, bay leaves and lentils.
I especially love lentils because they’re a good source of plant-based protein. With chicken, vegetables and lentils all cooked together, this is basically a complete meal in a pot. And best of all, it was absolutely delicious! ❤️
I’m very thankful that Dad loves cooking and Mum loves baking, because that means I don’t have to do either😂
I actually used to cook and bake bread and pancakes quite a lot when my daughters were growing up. Back then, we had live-in helpers, so cooking and baking weren’t too torturous because someone else handled most of the cleaning.
But now? I’m the maid at home. 🤣
And honestly, the thought of all the preparation, cooking, washing up, wiping down the kitchen and mopping the floor afterwards just repels the OCD me.
So I’m more than happy to let Dad handle the cooking and Mum handle the baking. I’ll gladly be the daughter who eats and clean up! 😜❤️
Yesterday, I joined my parents for dinner with our neighbours — people who have lived on the same street as us for more than 40 years.
I’ve actually known some of them since I was just a 12-year-old girl, but funny enough, I had hardly ever spoken to them back then because we seldom crossed paths. Then, at 17, I left Ipoh for the big city to pursue my studies and later my career. In what feels like the blink of an eye, 35 years have flown by.
Thankfully, now that I’m back in Ipoh, I’ve had the opportunity to reconnect with them.
Over the past decade, my parents and these neighbours have become quite a close-knit group. Once everyone retired and had more free time, they started travelling together, both locally and overseas, and going on lots of foodie trips. 😄
Now that I’m back home, my parents have started bringing me along too.
This time, our foodie outing was at Exquisite Seafood Restaurant, where we tried their RM49.90++ à la carte buffet dinner. One of our neighbours had tried it before and highly recommended it to the neighbour who usually organises all our outings, so a date was quickly fixed for everyone to go and try it together.
For RM49.90++, we could order an unlimited number of dishes from the buffet menu, with one important rule: any unfinished food or wastage would be charged at the original à la carte price. Each table is also given 1 hour 45 minutes to dine.
But honestly, 1 hour 45 minutes was more than enough time — especially for a group of oldies with our tiny appetites! 😂
My absolute favourite was the fried fish skin with salted egg yolk. The fish skin was incredibly crispy, not oily at all and seriously addictive. I ended up eating quite a lot of it, which unfortunately filled up my little stomach and left me with less room for all the other dishes.
The fried freshwater fish cooked in a claypot was also very good, as was the stir-fried prawns with celery. There were so many yummy dishes on the menu that I wished I had a bigger stomach. In the end, I could only manage about one piece of each of the meat dishes I tried. 😆
There was also a buy 10, get 2 free promotion. Since there were 11 of us, we qualified for it — yay!
For my parents and me, our total “damage” came to just RM144. Not bad at all for three people!
We enjoyed the food so much that when my brothers and daughters are back in Ipoh next week, we’re planning to bring them there too.
It’s quite special to sit around the same table with people who have been our neighbours for more than four decades, especially when I remember being that little 12-year-old girl living on the same street all those years ago.
So yesterday was a night of good food, lots of laughter and, most importantly, good bonding with our neighbours of over 40 years. ❤️
Sometimes, life really does bring you back to where you started — and gives you a chance to reconnect with people you never knew you’d become friends with.
Mum and I go to the gym twice a week. Wednesday mornings are for our group strength training class, while Friday evenings are for Zumba. 💃🏻
On the days when we don't go to the gym, I do dumbbell workouts at home using free YouTube tutorials. I just randomly search for workouts that look good, are easy to follow and, most importantly, aren't too tough for me. 😂 I usually do these 3 times a week, which means I'm doing some form of weight/resistance training 4 days a week.
I've learned that our muscles need time to recover after a challenging strength-training session, especially as we get older. More isn't necessarily better. Exercise stimulates the muscles, but recovery is when the muscles repair and grow stronger. So there's really no need to do hard weight training every single day.
Besides strength training, Zumba and my dumbbell workouts at home, I also do 30–40 minutes of brisk walking about 5 times a week. 🚶🏻♀️
I can't say that I can visibly see bigger muscles on my arms or legs, or suddenly have six-pack abs 😂, but I can definitely feel myself getting stronger. That's actually what matters most to me.
One thing I have noticed is that I get hungry REALLY quickly after every weight-training session! 😆 I've been eating more protein to support my muscles, but my weight has remained pretty much the same.
Everyone keeps telling me I should gain some weight, but the problem is I'm naturally small-built, a small eater, and eating more than my usual amount makes my stomach feel so uncomfortable. So... I'm trying, okay? 😂
For now, I'm happy just to be getting stronger, staying active and keeping my muscles working. 💪🏻❤️
Mum recently baked this absolutely delicious flourless orange cake for me because she knows how much I love keto and low-carb cakes. ❤️
This is actually one of our family’s favourite cakes back in KL too. We used to get our flourless orange cake from Nutmeg @ Bangsar Village. My second daughter, Sherilyn, used to love baking this cake for us, so it brings back lots of lovely memories.
What makes this cake so special is that it uses whole oranges — skin, pulp and all! 🍊 The oranges are blended and briefly boiled before being mixed with almond flour/almond meal, eggs and Lakanto sweetener, a sugar alternative that is popular among people following low-carb or sugar-conscious diets.
And the best part? Despite being dairy-free, oil-free, butter-free and gluten-free, this cake tastes absolutely superb! It is incredibly orangey, fragrant, moist and so, so delicious. 😋🍊
This is one of those cakes I know I will never get bored of. I could honestly eat a slice or two of it every single day!
Best of all, it satisfies my cake cravings while fitting into my low-carb way of eating, so I can enjoy it without feeling guilty. ❤️
Thank you, Mum, for baking my favourite cake for me! 🥰🍊🍰
31/08/2026
Some of you have messaged me privately to ask where I bought my gym workout outfits. 😊
I don’t usually buy expensive workout clothes because I prefer affordable fast fashion and don’t expect to wear the same pieces for many years. So, I usually get my workout outfits from Lazada and SHEIN, and occasionally from Uniqlo.
I only wear padded workout tops with built-in bras, and Lazada has quite a number of sellers offering a good range of padded workout tops that are stylish, good quality and affordable. So if you’re looking for some, you can check them out on Lazada.
One important tip: Always check the measurements before ordering! 📏
I’m normally an XS, but for padded workout tops from these Lazada sellers, I usually order size L because I find that their cutting tends to run quite small. I also prefer my workout tops to be a little looser and more breathable, especially when I’m sweating and exercising.
For bottoms, I usually get size M for shorts and skorts.
So if you’ve been wondering where all my gym outfits come from, there you go! 😆 Most of them are actually pretty affordable—you don’t need to spend a fortune to look cute at the gym! 💕👟
I got my gym clothes from Lazada here >>
Padded tops >> https://s.lazada.com.my/s.ZdCP0g?c=t&t=p-i4LJNJ0-sOpHJc8
Skorts > https://s.lazada.com.my/s.ZdCP15?c=t&t=p-i59kzdq-sSw72cj
Padded bralette >> https://s.lazada.com.my/s.ZdCP2j?c=p&t=p-i5AaI5Z-sT47xLl
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