Kangkong

It is about time to weed the grass at my backyard. I found kangkong at my backyard.

It is more than enough for one plate stir fry kangkong.

Harvested the kangkong for my dinner.

 

Washed. How nice, rest assured of organic vegetable as it grows at my backyard.

Stir fried with garlic.

Old Age Spot-Treatment with Tretinoin Cream 0.25 & 0.05

My dermatologist said my skin is fairer and does not allergic to Tretinoin 0.25% after using Tretinoin 0.25% for 3 months. He asked me to continue to use it on my whole face every night on clean, washed face, avoiding the eye area, both side of nostrils and around the lip area as the skin is sensitive on those areas. In addition, he asked me to apply Tretinoin 0.5% on the old age spots. As for the neck, he said most people find it sensitive to use on neck. Yes, I felt itchy on my necks when I tried on my neck. So, leave the neck out.

He has also asked me to use Tretinoin 0.5% on my hands. I must remember
1.  to wash off the cream on my face and hands the next morning as the sun will cause 'chemical' reaction on the cream, and make the skin more vulnerable to UV, causing more spots.
2.  to use sun block on my face and hands
Checking the information, I found out that the active ingredient in tretinoin is Retin A. It breaks down in sunlight. In KK, every day is hot. So hot that I can dry almost anything under the sun in a day. Just imagine how much sun I have exposed to over these 53 years.

Cosmetic Products with Tretinoin

The Malaysian Health Ministry bans cosmetic products containing Tretinoin and Hydroquinone because they could cause reddening of the skin, discomfort and skin hypersensitivity.

I have been using Tretinoin cream since Jun after seeing my dermatologist for my old age spot problem. The doctor asked me to apply the cream thinly on my face at night and wash off when I wake up in the morning. He reminds me to avoid sun after using, and to put on sun screen at all time. Otherwise the old age spots will get worse than not using Tretinoin.

I don't use it every night if I know I have to drive a lot the next day. About 70% of the time, I use it. After applying on my face, I feel tightening sensation of my skin. I don't have second opinion to observe the changes in my house as my husband and my sons don't seem to bother about my concern. Haha. Anyway, probably the very fine lines on my forehead has gone, and my face looks fairer. 

My bed is just next to the window. I usually draw open the curtain so that there is good ventilation in the room. The sun rises around 6am every morning. I always wake up to the sunlight,worrying about the chemical reaction it can have on the tretinoin on my face, I immediately get up to wash my face and to put on sun screen. Frankly speaking, I feel quite burden to get up as my natural intention is to continue sleeping.

Seeing the news about tretinoin, I have a good reason to discontinue for a while. Next Thursday is my next appointment with the doctor. I shall inquire him on this to decide on my next move. 爱美是女人的天性。爱美就失去很多的自由。

Looking forward

My younger son has gotten his driving license and driving my Persona around confidently. We are glad about that. This means that I have all the time to myself other than preparing lunch and dinner if anyone choose to eat at home.

I shall be 53 on my next birthday in November. If I were to live another 30 years, what should I do now to start a new life? In this era, to me, retiring is not the type of lifestyle that I shall applause. Living, is finding a means to move on. If I live in rural area, and do not require material things, I would just grow my own food, and raise my own poultry, and catch my own fish. Living in the city area, naturally, living is to find a means to earn money, and to exchange that for the food and material things that I require.

Thinking back 30 years ago, when I was 23 years old, I started my career as Software Engineer, and worked for 20 years, changing 5 jobs in that 20 years. Did I like my jobs? I wouldn't say 100%. Perhaps 30% of the time. Doing software engineering was really brain drained. And made me a machine thinking personality.

After that, in order to have more times for my 2 boys, I chose a flexible hour job as insurance agents, selling unit trust and do Will Writing for my customers. This allows me to have some income, though never worked hard enough to win incentive trips. Because it was not my priority.

Now, my two sons have grown up. I want to make a decision like when I finished my matriculation. What do I want to do for my next 10 or 20 or 30 years? I should know better than I was 18 years old.

At this age, I don't like to drive around, I don't like to approach new customers, I like doing things at home, I like baking, I like to do online shopping, ha2, perhaps I should try my hand on online business selling baked food like business.

Unit Trust With Dividend

The Bursa Malaysia is running high for a few years already. Most dividend funds are making money, distributing good dividend.  Before the dividend reaches the unit holders' hand, the taxable dividend already have its 20% taken off.

For those unit holders whose income has touched 20% tax bracket, it is really a loss, and rather have funds that don't distribute the dividend.

However, if you have large investment on dividend funds, it may be worth keeping track of the financial year for those funds. You can consider switching the funds to the money market fund that don't charge you initial charges to skip the day when the distribution is declared, and switch back the following day. This may save you from paying the 20% tax from the taxable dividend.

One thing is watch out is the terms and conditions for switching charges from equity fund to money market fund, and vice versa.

Sick Little Chick

This chick is another casualty. I found it sick and lying while the other chicks kept "accidentally" stepped on it.

I moved this poor chick away in a shoe box lined with newspaper. It didn't move much, trying to drink water and eating some feeds with great difficulty. Its head shaking. When I looked at it, it looked just like a baby, helpless. Several time I thought it was dead, but I could still see its body breathing. Poor little chick. It didn't even know who its mother was. Factory incubated chicks do not have the right to own their mother to take care of them from birth.

Another batch of chicken

We bought another 10 chicks on 24th June 2014. This species grow very fast. 30 o 45 days are big enough to slaughter. The chickens we raised have less fats in between the meat, and we can grow until they are mature enough to slaughter. As for those sold in the market, I think they are only slightly older than 30 days.

Day 1 on 24th June 2014

Day 2

Day 11

We lost 3 chicks. 2 chicks died because my husband didn't realize that there were 2 chicks covered by the newspaper while doing cleaning. LOL. While one disappeared into the long grasses as we have not asked people to lawn the backyard for quite sometime.