I'm a full-time mummy

** Disclaimer: For those of you who do not have a positive perception on young children playing with Barbie dolls, you may skip this post of mine. I just had to write this out first as there are some of you who believes that playing with Barbie dolls will make children think that being thin, or big breasted or wearing makeup etc etc is the norm. FYI, when I had my Barbie doll, those thoughts never ever crossed my mind. Not even to this day. So with the same belief, I continued on this tradition with our girls and hope that they will have beautiful memories playing with these dolls just like me.

My history...

I got my first Barbie doll when I was around 8-9 years old. It was the "Peaches 'n Cream Barbie Doll 1984", a bridesmaid model exactly like this:

I still remembered the many dresses and blouses and skirts that my late mum personally sewn for my Barbie doll and sad to say, I threw the doll away a decade ago before I got married, silly me did not realised the sentimental values of it then. Sigh.. can only see picture now... So anyway, sometime ago, I told my hubby that we should only give Barbie dolls to our girls when they are around my age.

Few months back, there was this McDonalds' Happy Meals toy which gives out free small Barbie dolls (like 4-5 inches tall) and I got one for our 3 years old girl to test it out on her. She loves it! Hubby at first was laughing and teasing at me for caving in and later ended up buying another one for our girl hahahaha...

Fast forward few weeks after that, I joined this preloved group on Facebook, a group that buys and sells preloved and/or new items. Then I saw this...

Someone is selling 2 preloved Barbie dolls for RM30 (that is about USD8.55) The picture posted was exactly as shown above. I thought 'Hey, for RM30 I get 2 Barbie dolls and some princess-ey dress why not?' So I bought it. As I was liaising with the seller over FB private message, the seller told me that one of the Barbie dolls' right leg is broken. I was like 'What?!' It turned out that the seller has previously posted this item and mentioned about the condition, hence the reason for selling 2 Barbie dolls, as she meant it to be a buy 1 free 1 thingy. She apologised for not stating the condition in the picture as it was quite some time posted already.

At this point, I'm like halfway hooked and I asked her to send me a closer view of the broken leg. I saw the picture and thought 'Maybe I could DIY something and fix it. If I failed, I waste RM30 rather than paying double for ONE Barbie doll' So I went ahead and bought the preloved dolls. When I received the dolls, to be honest, I felt a bit disappointed.

There are things that needed to be fixed on BOTH dolls. The one with broken leg has messy hair, long and clean but messy and sticky hair. I held the doll and noted what are the changes I needed to do for it. The other one, all OK but her hair.. oh dear... it got chopped off here and there like dog's bite. It looks dull and lifeless.

It took me 2 months to do the makeover as I also had to rush up the Christmas gifts for hubby's clients this year, then went on a 4 days 3 nights family holiday trip and only managed to secretly do the makeover and fixes late at night. I did not tell hubby at all about this until I completed the makeover. Yes, I do not want him to laugh at me again.

Makeover process?

First makeover - The broken leg.

You see, the shoes are glued up to the foot and previous owner tried to take off the shoe and ended up accidentally ripped out the leg as well. The seller uses some loytape to keep it intact. What I did was, gently peeled off the loytape and wipe the leg clean and dry. Even attempted to take off the shoes but failed. It stayed glued to the leg. I then use a super glue (which I bought on the pretext of preparing clients gifts, need to use super glue as well lol) and slowly squezeed out a small dollop of glue on both leg surfaces which is to be glued together. I let the glued part dry off a bit before joining the legs part to fuse them together. Do note that the legs color differs in before and after shots as I had to do these under dark and/or yellow lighting most of the time.

Second makeover - Doll 1 with long sticky messy unruly hair vs. Doll 2 with cropped dog bite lifeless hair.

What I did was I took out the dolls' head and soaked the hair in a plastic cup which I put about 1tbsp of my precious shampoo. Soaked it for a night and the next day, let it dry and then comb it. Picture below shown in done on doll 1, the one with long sticky messy unruly hair.

Ahh... I'm getting good at this makeover thing huh? LOL. At the time of writing this blog post, the 2nd doll's head is still being dried up so I don't think it will be given for Christmas on time. I'll just have to give the 1st doll to our 3 years old girl first.

Third makeover - Glam up the Barbie doll

When I first bought these 2 preloved dolls, I don't intend to use their clothes as I wanted our girl to have a princess-ey doll. So I've been watching and monitoring the preloved FB group that I joined in and as luck would have it, I saw someone selling doll dress! Very very very cheap doll dress which can be fitting for Barbie dolls! I jumped at the chance and privately message the seller that I want to buy the dress! The picture shown below is what the seller posted. It doesn't look like Barbie dolls at all but since seller said can fit Barbie doll, I went ahead and bought every different designs there is. Total of 14 dresses in 4 colors all different designs. Each dress costs RM1 (about USD0.30)

The Results for Barbie doll #1 - Before & After pictures

Final outcome is what we are all waiting for right? So here you go... from the broken leg, long sticky messy and unruly hair, to a long clean straight hair in a princess-ey dress! *insert heavenly sigh here...* 

The Results for Barbie doll #1 -Close up view

I took this picture in our bathroom at midnight and sent the pictures and explained the whole story to my hubby over FB text message (he was working in his office room next door) then wrapped up the doll in a nice gift wrap paper and put it under our Christmas tree.

I hope our 3 years old girl will be excited to have her first Barbie doll. I'm sorry to give her a preloved doll but really hope she doesn't mind. Oh, before I forget, I also want to share why I'm letting her have a Barbie dolls years ahead of me. You see, when I got my doll, I was 8-9 years old, and I only played with the doll for a year or so before early teen phase came and I grew up and was into other things. So, I thought maybe she will be able to play and enjoy these dolls a few more years than me? Nevertheless, I hope our girl(s) will have a beautiful memories playing with their Barbie doll now.

What do you think of my Barbie doll makeover attempt?

 ** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.

For this post, I am sharing my next food recipe, Simple Stir Fry Minced Pork with Garlic. I am not a fan of pork until I married my hubby in 2007. Hubby tried to teach me to cook this dish end of last year but only recently I gave it another go after stumbling onto a picture of it in a cookbook I bought from a book fair. It is a simple and easy to make dish so without further ado, here is the recipe for Simple Stir Fry Minced Pork with Garlic:

Ingredients:  

* Minced pork (quantity up to you)
* Garlic (about 3 cloves slice thinly)
* Oil (about 1 tsp for frying minced pork)

Marinade:

Methods:  

Outcome:

It is very easy to make this dish, little ingredients, easy to follow steps. Our kiddos especially our 2nd one loves this dish! This recipe is definitely for keeps!

To view my other recipes, feel free to hop over to my Recipe Library page for more info!

Few months back, I wrote about a look back into my homecooked journey so far. Prior to this year, my mother-in-law cooked for our dinner mostly and since buckling up and slapping myself back into senses to take up the cooking task, I'm pretty happy to report that I'm getting more confident with my cooking skills now hahaha...

It wasn't until few months back that I overheard my hubby telling someone that some of his clients and friends asking him what are the gadgets and equipments I used for cooking and he told them the answer that made them surprised and wondered. I asked my hubby to tell me more on why they reacted that way and was surprised with what I hear from hubby.

So surprised that I feel I should write a post on my preparation when cooking.

Firstly, I have always been holding back from posting a picture of how our kitchen looks like and I don't think I will ever post it. It's definitely nothing like how Martha Stewart's or Nigella's or Jamie Oliver's kitchen would look like. As for gadgetry and equipments, what I normally use when cooking:

- steamer to steam rice (use every weekday) ** Philips food steamer

- frying pan to stir-fry vege, meats etc dishes (use every weekday) ** Cooka brand RM40 bought online

- single gas stove to cook dishes (use every weekday)

- slow cooker to make soup (use once or twice a week)

- metal pot for braising meat (use probably once a week?)

- airfryer to roast chicken (use probably once a month?)  ** Takada brand RM600 bought from Parkson during year end sales

Nothing fancy. No branded stuff. Really.

Right before I start to cook, my gas stove counter will look something like this:

Like I said earlier, I won't be posting picture of how my entire kitchen looks like so this is the most I can allow myself to show to the public. Frying pan all ready on gas stove (I've been looking to get a 2 gas stove instead of the single one we've been using since we shifted here 7 years ago). My trusted wooden chopsticks that I use to stir the ingredients in the frying pan. I don't like to use wooden spatula or the wok spatula as I feel clumsy and uncomfortable holding big utensils like that hahaha.

On the right side, you can see the ingredients in plates and bowls all ready to be tossed into frying pan based on what dishes I planned to cook. I will also have plates ready on the left side of the frying pan (not shown in picture above) so that I can easily and gently tossed the cooked dishes onto the plate to be cooled down before serving.

That's all. This is a typical look on how it is when I'm cooking most of the time. Again, no fancy smancy gadgetry or equipments. Just plain old greased up frying pan on a greased up single gas stove.

To be honest, I used to feel embarrassed with the condition of our kitchen but after listening to hubby's story that surprises me, I feel happy that I can churn out delicious food for the family without all the fancy smancy gadgets and equipments that people used to think I am using or relying to do my cooking. So, there you go, a tiny peek into my cooking utensils and equipments and my cooking preparations :)

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.