Monday, January 24, 2011
Had my lower two wisdom teeth extracted last Sunday. Didn't know that it will swell up quite badly. For days too. And so, I've decided to keep track of my swell and to a after-extraction entry.
Ok, photos are not for the faint-hearted. :p
The first day was quite horrible, I had to lie on my bed and swallow my own blood just so that it doesn't flow the wrong way. The gaze was a pain that I abandoned upon reaching home from the clinic. By night time, it was slightly puffed up than the morning. Didn't take a picture then..
One thing for sure though, I wasn't able to eat properly since Day 1. The swell made my molars quite weak (maybe due to the pain or whatsoever). But well, the pain was quite manageable throughout the recovery, except the numbness on the first day.
With a much swollen face on Monday, I went to school for class despite the MC. But I skipped work so that I could go home and rest. The pain made me moody and tired that day.
The swell is a good gauge of how I will look when I grow super plump. Chinless. Hahahaha. A face so square. I think I look like a pirated sponge bob. :p
Day 2, parents decided to cook duck, prawns and what's not. I couldn't really bite still. But because I went to a seminar in the afternoon to clear one of my module, I had the honour to swallow food. From cakes, to fish and honeydew and pasta. LOL! It really wasn't a good experience.
On day 3, I packed some kuehs and beancurd from Tuesday's dinner to school. I was going to be in school from 9am to at least 10pm. And school food consisting of rice and noodles are not for me. :( Came to school with full gear of medication, salt, water and what's not. I had to guggle after meals just so that bateria don't stay on my wound. My FYP partner thought I was biting on something in my mouth all along. It's just puffed up! But slightly better than earlier.
Woke up on Thursday morning to find green patches on my face. I had been stupid to go rub my wound, thinking that it would de-swell. I ended up getting my face bruised. LOL. The bruise is still there today btw. :x
On a road to speedy recovery! Getting less and less swollen..
Still slightly swollen by Day 6, I went back to work. Colleagues decided to have bak kut teh for lunch. For the first time in a week, I ate rice (I seldom eat rice even if at home). I heck care about my wound by then. Just hungry.. hahahaha. The only problem is that I couldn't open my mouth too big still. But I could already feel my wounds recovering. The small hole for my wisdom teeth growth are covering up. The quick de-swelling allows me to bite food, like finally!
Day 7, the lorry-learning day. Not much remains of a swollen face left. :) And the threads are sinking all over the place cuz of my 'normal' eating. Couldn't want for the removal by then!
Total cost of extraction inclusive of consultation, medication and x-ray (2 trips): $75 cash + $1100 ($550 x 2) medisave. From NTUC Denti-care. Cheap eh? I got away from wisdom tooth woes with just $75 cash. Extracted it not because it's giving me any serious problems as yet. It's only a preventive measure that I took in case. There wasn't any space for them in my mouth. Removing them now, covers the original small hole that I have. It sure needs a little adaptation now that the 'hole' is gone. hehehehe :p
Extracting it is not that painful actually. Anesthetic jabs were given. The numbness to the gums make me not feel anything throughout the procedure. The swell was more like a mental torture than a physical pain. Other than that, I quite enjoy the full process of recovery. Btw, a 6 days MC will be given for such extraction (at least that was what I was given). I still go sch nevertheless.
Such once in a lifetime experience is worth recording in my opinion. hehehehe :p
More importantly, for $75, I've slimmed down a bit. :p
7:58 AM
Saturday, January 08, 2011
It may be the start of a new yr. I have to fulfill my parents' dream in 2009 that I have missed. Yes, I'm picking up Class 4 again. I. failed two times so far. Felt really sore then. Firstly, I didn't want and don't understand why I have to go through all these when I already have not enough time for myself. Besides, none of my cousins (females especially), are forced down their throat to go. Well, in a way, my parents say they didn't force me. But as their daughter, I know well what they are thinking. How would you react if your mum comes to you one day, saying that daddy is thinking of going for a minor operation that might make him incapable to work, and thus hoping that I could help take over? That's my dad's plan. And my mum really did say all those to me! Not that I am against Class 4 drivers or what. My boy wanted to take Class 4 with me at first, and he cleared all the driving licenses before I even passed my lorry license.
If you ask me why I wanna re-take this license while it's not going to make me any happier nor sadder, I have only an answer with two reasons. I don't deny that I am doing this for my dad. In fact, I AM. 101% sure of that. But I am a willing party. That's my responsibility as his daughter, and perhaps the most sincere act that I can give back to my parents for their time and effort in bringing me up. And I just found the second reason recently. I want to be reminded of my roots. I am not afraid to say that my parents are only O level graduates who can't read or converse in proper English (but daddy is definitely a pro in Chinese, all my grandma's children are). But so what? They still brought us up all the same with the heavy vehicle driving license of theirs. We might not have the best of the world, but we have a happy family. Mummy and sister's occasional grumbles are short-lived, and nobody really shows black face over family dinners.
So now, I am 3 more weeks to my test. Probably the final one. Have to sacrifice my Saturday mornings just so that I can make it to my FYP lab in time after the classes. I certainly hope that those instructors will not waste my precious time 'disappearing' when it's time for lessons. I won't be able to afford much of that anymore. I need to maximize my time!
With more lessons put in place, I really hope that I will pass it this time. At least I know daddy will be proud of me if I do. And he'll probably be even more proud of I agree to take over his biz while he recuperate from the surgery that he planned.
As I was spring cleaning the kitchen lately, I was reminded of a small new yr saga that happened at my house last yr. I know there are some relatives who look down on my family. Some treated us non-existent, others think that no matter how we do spring cleaning, our food and house is still considered 'dirty' to them. Sad isn't it? And those are supposedly close kins.
4:50 PM
Monday, January 03, 2011
For the first weekend of my 2011, I made baked rice. :) Hahaha.
From my own recipe! :)
2 cups of fried rice
1 can of Campbell cream soup (or other cream soups)
1 packet of mozzarella cheese
1 packet of cheddar cheese (I used kraft cheese slices instead)
Well, I cooked my rice plain by adding only pepper before I fried it.
Ingredients for my fried rice :
3 Cups of rice
3 Big onions (cut into 8th)
3 Chicken drumstick (chopped to pieces)
1/2 Can of luncheon meat
1 Can of button mushroom (sliced)
4 Eggs
Butter
heh. I am good at gauging big portions of ingredients cuz my family is big. The recipe is good for 8 small eaters (6 for my family). :p If you dare to (or loves) sweet corn, it'll make the fried rice sweet and juicy. ;)
I've included butter in my fried rice to make it butter rice. It sure is fattening. Not advised to have it too often. ;)
First add in the ready fried rice into the aluminium tray for baking. Prefers it this way so that I don't have to wash up. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.
Add in campbell soup as much as you would like. The amount of soup added determines how wet your baked rice will turn out to be. Too dry will make the rice hard.
Please do not pour concentrated soup right off from the can. It's v salty and too thick!
Add in all the cheeses and fill the empty spaces! :) I've mixed two brands of mozzarella cheese so that I can save some money. heh heh. The lighter one cost only $4.95. Afraid that light = not much taste. Well, that's my logic alright.
I suppose that some ovens are different. For mine, I adjusted it to 200°C and have the rice baked for 20 mins.
End product?
A cheesey filled tray of baked rice. I think it's a good brown without getting burnt. If you like it lighter, lower the temperature to 185°C. It should be able to do fine too. :)
Labels: recipe
10:03 AM
During a random lunch chit chat the other day, me and my colleagues talked about spoilt kids these days. We believe that parents are responsible for such erosion of moral values (she's a mother herself). And we'll find ourselves at some point in time, guilty of inculcating the wrong values.
The logic? We are not born well-to-do.
Having grown up in a society whereby I get to see friends, and even cousins with wonderful playing toys, and annual holiday trips, I told myself to work extra hard since young. I told myself that I have to provide for myself. And being the eldest, for my family too. Even as I told my colleague that I won't spoil my children. I reflected on myself the other day. My parents do show signs of me spoiling my siblings already. Nope, I don't dote any one of them more than the other. I'm a fair person. Hahahaha. :p Well, to me, I thought it's a pride. Coming from a big family and not born rich, we have missed alot during our growing up years. Our toys mainly revolves around masak masak made from calender paper, had my first barbie doll only at primary 6 (I think my sister doesn't even have one). Even though working part time doesn't give me a huge income that I can do much with, I still try to provide for my siblings, like getting them supper and bringing them to shows.
Being a parent is not an easy job. I am sure my parents have done well. We know our family linkages, know what's right and what's wrong. We respect, cherish and love the family. I grew up being told off by my dad 'if you don't want to eat, then don't eat. Watch us eat!'. No one has the special privilege of choice, unless you mention it earlier beforehand. Daddy won't allow anyone of us to spoil our family time. As we grow up, meal times are the best time that I ever will have with my family.
My dad's strategy to his children's education?
'If u don't want to study, don't study. I won't be able to provide you for overseas collages or even local specialised schools. It's either you work hard to move on, or u drop out!' That's exactly how we made it where we are today. Fierce huh? That's my dad. What he says does make sense, my family won't be able to afford the hefty school fees. We just don't have that privilege. And so we work hard enough to earn us a place somewhere.
We may not have the luxury of a sedan car, neither do we visit the restaurants every week, but we have the most expensive item that one can ever have. The priceless of kinship and the strong love that we share at home. Never mind the calculation of budgets before 'special' meals out at restaurants, I've still enjoy the meals more than any others.
With graduation around the corner, I'm sure we'll be able to appreciate this simple beauty of life. Because, we have been through the ups and downs together as a family. We know what's going to come, is a privilege from what we have EARNED and not given and taken for granted.
Heavy topic I know. Seen too much lately. hahaha. I know that I don't have the confidence to be a good parent like my dad. :p
9:40 AM