Valen’s Vanity Square

Last night I finished baking cookies around midnight! So didn’t get to exercise on my elliptical machine. So today I have to double my exercising time to 30 minutes.

The main purpose of having an elliptical machine at home is so that hubby can exercise any time he wants. He doesn’t need to go to the gym, and we don’t have to struggle to wake up on weekends to go to the park. Also, I read that exercising using an elliptical machine has less impact and is therefore gentler for the knees compared to running on a treadmill. Since I occasionally experience knee pain, I figure having an elliptical machine at home is to my advantage as well.

However, I’m worried that I might eventually have to start taking joint supplements, and visiting websites like www.jointsupplementreviews.net to learn more about supplements for joint health or to relieve joint pain. You see, my left knee gives out a cracking sound whenever I climb the staircase, or bend my knee. Well, not always though, and it doesn’t necessarily hurts. This could be an early sign that I will be developing some form of knee arthritis 10 years down the road.

Jeez, perhaps I have to start researching on this topic to help my knee if I want to remain active and still be able to walk by the time I’m 60!

Jeez, I’m so hungry. I had a very light lunch - a simple tuna sandwich and one of those small oranges. I forgot to pack something for today’s lunch when we’re out shopping last night. And I’m bored of eating instant noodles.

I’m now waiting for hubby to come back with packed dinner. I’m not cooking tonight coz it’s another cookie-baking night.

You know how one can so easily gain weight by baking cookies? Coz you tend to bake and eat at the same time, haha! And I told myself last week I have to lose 2 kg by CNY. There’s only 4 days left to CNY, and I don’t think there’s any weight loss product can help me now, haha!

And what I’m going to bake tonight is gonna kill, really kills - peanut cookies - made purely from of peanuts, flour, sugar and peanut cooking oil. That’s oh so fattening!!

I think I have to get onto that elliptical machine and workout for at least 15 minutes before I go to bed and zzzz.

Not everyone has the habit of taking vitamins or other supplements everyday, despite we all are well aware that we are unlikely to meet our daily nutrient requirements even with the healthiest diet.

If you are pregnant, then it’s even more important to make sure your daily needs are met, for the sake of your health and the health of your growing baby inside you. The vitamins needed while a woman is pregnant is called prenatal vitamins. Prenatal supplements contain numerous vitamins and minerals, and are specially formulated to make up for any nutritional deficiencies in the mother’s diet. Several substances are especially important - folic acid, iron and calcium.

You can easily find information about the recommended prenatal vitamins from books and the internet.

For women who are planning to get pregnant, doctors also usually recommend prenatal vitamins (or more correctly, preconception vitamins). Folic acid is particularly essential even before a woman get pregnant, because it is needed to prevent serious birth defect of the brain and spinal cord. These organs develop very early after conception, and the reserve of folic acid in the mother’s body must be enough as soon as she is conceived.

Whether you like the idea of colon cleansing or not, many people are doing it right now, mainly for health reasons, to get rid of toxins piled up in the body (a process known as detox), so that one can feel healthier, feel more energized, their skin looks better, and probably could also lose a few pounds!

There are quite a number of colon cleansing products in the market. I haven’t really researched any of them coz I personally don’t favor this idea. But if you have come across a colon cleansing product called Colonix, then you might be interested to read this colonix review before you decide if it’s what you’re looking for. Other brands include Colonetix and Cleansonix. Basically these products contain ingredients to help cleanse and purify the colon.

If you don’t like to take tablets and pills, you could also use juice fasting to detox your body. This is a more natural way to detox coz you’ll use fresh vegetables and fruits to prepare your juice beverages. Of course, the downside of this is inconvenience and time consuming.

People are all the same over the world. When it comes to festive seasons and special occasions, we all will want to look our best. At these times, for those who have acne problems will be crazily looking out for the best acne medications to clear up their zits and blemishes in a couple of days.

But there are so many types of acne medication available, which one should you choose? Well, first of all, you need to recognize the type of your acne, because different forms of acne requires different types of acne treatment. There are different ways to handle the different kinds of acne, you will get good results if you get the right help.

Acne generally has three stages as it develops - a beginning, middle and end. The best time to use acne medication is at the beginning stages. In the early stages of acne, the pores will enlarge and create thick oils. The pores will be filled up with black and white matter, resulting in blackheads. This is what that will cause acne and needs to be treated immediately. Also, it is important to exfoliate and remove the dead skin at this stage.

Generally, acne medication creams and gels sold over the counter in drugstores can be used to treat all types of acne. Of course, some may find that these treatments work very well and in a short period of time.

If you have a serious case of acne problem, then you might find the OTC acne medications not working well on your skin. You might then have to take it to your dermatologist. Usually, your dermatologist will prescribe some form of ointment or sometimes oral medication to get your acne under control, or even recommend other forms of therapy to help relieve your acne problem. In this case, it will take some time to clear up your acne. So it’s best that you get help way before the day that you want to appear looking clean and radiant.

I think I’m almost done with all the necessary shopping for the coming CNY. Basically we shop for stuffs to give away when visiting relatives this festive season, not for ourselves, haha!

We still need to get some plants to decorate the house though. We’ve just changed our curtains not so long ago, so we are not going to change them again! We have a set of new bed sheet and pillow case, bought few months back during the sales, so that part is settled too.

Our carpet and two single-seat sofas are in red color, so our house is pretty much in a CNY mood already, haha!

The only thing that we have to do now is to clean the house! That’s the tough part…

Hmm, what else do I need to do….

Oh, I must remember to remind hubby to get a replacement battery for his SMARTag device (an automatic payment card for the toll) and reload his Touch N Go card, since we’ll be traveling in the town quite a bit this holiday.

And finally, I am going to bake cookies. I did bake butter cookies and oatmeal cookies last week, but the recipes I used ain’t so nice. I’m going to modify and experiment with the recipes again this week. :p

Ouch! It hurts! Both my left knee joint and my wallet, haha!

Walked for several hours yesterday coz was shopping for clothes. Spent several hundred bucks on a pair of jeans, a skirt, and 5 tops for myself, plus 2 polo t-shirts for hubby. I think I have spent all my clothing budget for the first half of the year. So, no more shopping for clothes in another 6 months, haha!

Oh, and how age is catching up. Felt so exhausted after spending about 5 hours in the shopping mall, and my left knee was aching slightly after walking so much on my heels. I was in One Utama shopping mall, walking to and fro the old and new wings. I thought I would take it as the exercise of the day, but ended up moaning about knee pain.

Now, I can’t help to wonder if it’s time for me to start taking some joint health supplements. Oh, may be I also need some supplements to prevent white hair and hair fall, to sooth fatigue eyes and improve vision, for stronger nails…

Argghhh…. getting old!