It’s pretty self explanatory from the pictures shown above.
Just shape the pillsbury biscuits to look like a donut. Spray the air fryer tray and the donuts with some pam spray. Bake it at 375 for 6 to 8 minutes. Make the donut glaze by combining icing sugar with a little milk or cream. Spread the glaze all over donuts and it’s time to DECORATE!!!! 😀
Let’s face it. Work from home (WFH) never looks this relaxing, tranquil and cool. Well, unless you have the perfect home, no kids or you simply are one of the moms who has all her shit pulled together. Not this mom. In fact, most days, my house looks a mess. I call it organized chaos 😛
First off, my coffee mug in the morning never looks this small. Just the refills would be a waste of my time. I have one of those uber big mom mugs that I set on my coffee table in the morning and it gets cold before i can get to drinking half of it because there goes “Mommy Mommy Mommy” roll eyes emoji plsss 🙄
I have been super slack in blogging since the start of the pandemic. Don’t get me wrong. I am so very grateful that the nature of my position provides me the flexibility to work from home during this pandemic and keep not just our family safe but my colleagues too. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t struggle at all. And after so many months of working from home, I think I have a much better handle on it for sure.
The first month, I would say was the hardest. I have a really supportive team and boss but it wasn’t them as much as it was my own expectations of how work should look like. And my traditional definition of work life definitely doesn’t include feeding my kid, cleaning my kid, answering my kid, swearing at my kid, yelling at my kid, pacifying my kid etc…you get the drift.
I like and hope that I’m someone flexible enough to consider all aspects when it comes to doing my work but at the heart of me is a traditional me that has never wanted to even consider the option of working from home. My home, in my mind has always been the separation between work and life and it has always served me well. I like the roads well travelled for myself. I don’t need many close relationships but the few ones I value, I believe are deep, real and authentic and I find them easier to forge and maintain face to face vs working from home. As an INFJ, I need to take some time alone now and then to decompress, recharge, and process my thoughts and feelings and home is where I do that so when home and office becomes one, I need to adapt and find a different way to recharge.
I like my going to work and being in office routine. I enjoy seeing my co-workers and my team. I like that I have a reason to get myself decently dressed to go to the office. I like that during those work hours, my child is safe and happy and engaged somewhere else (& by that, i meant far far away from me 😂😂 lol). I like that my work hours are filled with adult interaction. So many likes I can give you about going to the office. I like that when lunch time comes, I only need to think for myself and not try to fix a meal for a very vocal toddler 😏😏
So when Covid happened and I started working from home, my work life as I have always known significantly changed. Most people around me think I love change. I don’t actually but I do think I adapt quickly to changes. And it isn’t because I like change. It definitely isn’t because I am just naturally an adaptable personality. I. AM. SO. NOT. LOL
I think I tend to adapt quicker because even though I don’t like it, I accept that Change is a part and natural of life. Acceptance of what is natural of life cycle is, in my mind key to ironing the kinks and embracing the changes. In today’s world or some cultures, acceptance has a more negative or defeatist connotation as if to tell you to expect little of life or to be happy getting less of what you feel you deserved. In my mind, acceptance is the complete opposite. Acceptance sets the ground to uncover underlying opportunities that you would not have seen otherwise. Acceptance is owning that the situation isn’t always going to be what your vision has been but instead, it can be better. Acceptance is quickly identifying how to not only make the best of your work situation but how to make it better. Now, all the above is in the context of work. My personal life and acceptance – HA! that’s a totally different story. My hubby would probably tell you my acceptance level for personal life is super low lol. Hey, I never said I was perfect. Acceptance takes practice. Buddhism is all about diligently practicing. And nope, not a Buddhist but I do find that the older I get, the more I love reading up on Buddhism beliefs.
So let me not digress further. After all these months of working from home, here are some of the things I do to make sure I stay productive and sane. Bear in mind what works for me & my family might not work for yours but hope it helps 😘😘
Setting up a designated work area just for work and making sure it is comfortable but also has privacy when needed
Always always keep my boss and team posted of my schedule and work. That’s just basic respect
Be upfront and transparent about challenges encountered while working from home but always always bring a solution and not just the problem to your boss
If possible, take a short walk around my neighbourhood during lunch (ermmm, this one needs a lot more practice on my part lol. I am very very very guilty of never wanting to walk 😂😂)
Make ahead tons of freezable breakfast choices during my weekend so when my son is “HANGRY” on my busy workday mornings, pop goes a frozen breakfast sandwich or mini pancakes to the microwave and he has something semi healthy to eat within 5 mins.
Plenty of snacks. Can’t emphasize that enough. My 3 year old is constantly eating!!! If i had to stop work every time he wants a snack, I will never get any work done. I have an area where i place all his easy to eat snacks and juice boxes. My son is a pretty clean eater but even then, messes happen when he eats. I try to strategically buy snacks that doesn’t make as much of a mess e.g, popcorn, applesauce, small bite size crackers/cookies, nuts etc. Unless I want a reenactment of the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel where the children leave a trail of bread crumbs, I try to reserve the crumbly big muffins for after work or lunch time. And I try to just cringe & roll my eyes a hundred times internally, breathe and let it go when he accidentally makes a huge mess.
Keep the kid entertained. During the weekends, I also try to plan out some easy & small learning activities for Ryan throughout the week. And I get all the daily supplies ready on Sunday and make sure those activities take only 15-20 mins of my weekday time. When all else fails, I give him my Ipad. YES. He calls my IPad his IPad. There’s also Netflix and YouTube lol
Unless you have to self-isolate, I still would sign Ryan up for daycare, babysitter or preschool. And make arrangements for him to go to a family member or a mom friend (in your social bubble) on some days for a playdate so you get those alone time at home to work
Plan for interruptions especially when I have a busy toddler. I don’t believe I should subject my co-workers and supervisor to my kid bugging me non stop during a meeting. Your boss might not say anything but it ain’t right and it sure ain’t professional. Doesn’t mean it will never happen but at the minimum, planning for that would minimize such situations from happening. I always try to make sure Ryan is with someone else when I have video meetings. People would only give you grace for this long & really, why would you expect your coworkers and boss to be okay with that?
Unless the whole family is on a self-isolation order or daycare is simply not available due to Covid, working from home is not a substitute for child care entirely. Sure, some moms might prefer to keep their kids at home entirely. If it works for you, great. That doesn’t work for me at all.
Be honest. WFH doesn’t work for everyone.
And most importantly, cut yourself some slack. Am I doing enough for work, enough as a mom, enough as a spouse? So many questions.
And really, stop feeling guilty or the need to explain myself why I give my kid my Ipad. This is a really odd year for everyone so let’s just cut ourselves some slack. No one is going to do this perfectly. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. But if your kid uses too much Ipad, watches too much cartoons or eat too much junk processed food this week, it really isn’t the end of the world for you or your child.
And lastly if you walk into a room full of tissues all over or if your kid spills juice over the couch for the 15th time, just try to LAUGH & breathe ☺️☺️
At least, he helped to clean up lol
Do you work from home? Share with us your challenges, successes and tips in the comments! Would love to hear them 🥰
August is a month of many birthdays, starting with my mom’s birthday, followed by my nephew followed by Singapore Birthday! And this year, Singapore is turning 55!! HOO HOO!
Last month, we celebrated Canada Day with a chocolate cake so I was cracking my brains on what to do for Singapore Day that I could involve Ryan too. Turned to Pinterest but everything look more complicated than the level of energy I had lol. While I love creating indoor activities with Ryan, my criteria is that it can’t take too much time to assemble it. Otherwise, I be tired even before he starts the activity.
I know I know! We sing Happy Birthday for every occasion we can think of lol
Took a look at my pantry. TA DA!! I have Frozen Toaster Strudels!! Yeah to frozen convenience food lol.
They will do. They are rectangular in shape and will make do as a flag Ha! I am so impressed with myself lol especially since I just forgot to pick my son up from daycare last week. Turns out most mommies have done that before lol but I digress.
Here is my easy Peasy laZy mommy Singapore National Day Activity for Ryan.
Ingredients:
Pillsbury Strudel as the Flag
Store Bought Red Icing or Strawberry Jam
Store Bought White Icing
White Bread for the stars & crescent moon
Cookie Cutters to cut out “I Love SG”
There you go. An easy Peasy way for him to learn about the Singapore Flag.
And while Ryan was not born and didn’t grow up in Singapore like I did, it’s so important to me that I help him understand and get to know Singapore culture and traditions.
And while I get sad at times because all my family are in Singapore and I wish he could be there for his grandma birthday, his cousin birthday and every milestone of his Singapore family, I’m going to choose to focus on how lucky Ryan is that in spite of the long distance, so many people in Singapore adores & loves him, that he’s been flying since he was 5 months old and how lucky he is to be exposed to 2 awesome cultures – Canada & Singapore!
Never celebrated Easter before. Certainly have never colored Easter Eggs before either. If there is anything I have learnt from embarking my motherhood journey, it’s that there are so many things, songs, activities for kids here that are very different compared to if Ryan was growing up in Singapore. Sure, there are many similarities too but definitely a lot of differences as well. I think differences are great! They allow our kids to learn and be exposed to so many different experiences 😀
Back to Easter. Easter and Good Friday has never meant anything to me except they were statutory holidays. I sometimes worry if I would be a good mom because there are so many Canadian childhood rituals that wouldn’t make any sense to me. It wouldn’t be intuitive for me to create a Easter Egg hunt for Ryan & his buddies. Neither would it be intuitive for me to go Trick or Treat with Ryan on Halloween door to door or carve out a pumpkin lol. But my worries are unfounded, so far at least. If anything, it gives me the opportunity to be as excited as Ryan because it wouldn’t just be Ryan’s first time coloring eggs. It would be this Mommy’s first time too ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ .
While we weren’t able to meet up with family for our usual Easter Dinner, we had fun and we are grateful that we are healthy and are all together. At the end, that’s all that really matters.
We hope you enjoy our little Ryan video of us coloring Easter Eggs for the first time & of course, HAPPY HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYONE! 😀
Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. I am not a Young Living Distributor and I receive no compensation from this review. Please always use caution when using essential oils, and always ask the advice of a professional. All content is based on my personal experiences of a Lazy Mommy and purely for informational & entertainment purposes and should not be relied on as professional advice.
Okay. First of all, who doesn’t like a diffuser that looks so darn cute 😛 . Secondly, his name is Feather…How adorable is that? LOL
So it says on Young Living website that this is a Kids Ultrasonic Diffuser but ya, there is no way that Ryan is monopolizing Feather 😛 . Sharing is Loving, they says lol… But yes, Ryan adores it as well and it does go pretty well in his little cute bedroom
It’s supposed to be a Ultrasonic Diffuser. I have no frigging idea what Ultrasonic meant and if I were to be completely honest, I really don’t care too much about that. I’m a pretty low maintenance kind of mom. Only reason why I needed a diffuser was because we live in extreme cold and dryness. So unless i want us to wake up every morning breathing through our mouth cos our nose is all dried and stuffy in the morning, we need a diffuser. But now, I am sort of curious what does Ultrasonic meant so naturally, I went to Google lol
Read through it but all my googly eyes could see was “Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah” LOL & all I could comprehend out of my reading was that an Ultrasonic diffuser runs on water instead of steam. Okay, it still doesn’t mean anything to me but I figure I did google, read & conquer so I’m good haha 😛 … But if you truly have any interest on reading about it, you can read it ➡ Organicaromas.com
I could go on and on about the features about this diffuser but really, it’s a diffuser. Everyone can google what a diffuser does. So I’m gonna spare you reading that on my page.
I am just gonna tell you what I love about Feather 😀
It is Cute. C’mon, I am allowed to be superficial once in a while 😎
It is Kid Friendly. Believe me. I took a video of Ryan testing it out and it was super easy for a busy toddler
It comes with the usual bells and whistles of a typical diffuser – white noise options & a variety of LED light options, Honestly, I have never been one to care for these options anyway. When I sleep, I just want NO NOISE and NO LIGHT lol. But I find myself being surprised that I don’t mind the white noise options they have in Feather. They have 5 white noise options. Ryan likes the lullaby one the most. My favorite is the Ocean Waves white noise. I still dun really like going to sleep with the noise but i find myself enjoying it when i just need a 30 minutes MOMMY time. There is something about their Ocean Waves noise that relaxes me.
It’s easy to clean
While I do not consider myself a regular consumer of Young Living products, I am always up to learning about products that might benefit me and family and usually, I send my bazillion questions to my girlfriend who is totally into Young Living and she always is there to answer my questions.
For those of you who is interested to know more about Essential Oils and Young Living, you can visit her page HappiOily on Facebook.
Thanks Elaine!
❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ Now I hope you enjoy our little video of little Ryan trying out Feather, Young Living Owl Diffuser ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
Honestly, the beginning of this weekend has been rough for me & maybe even for Ryan. He’s turning 3 soon & I didn’t realize till recently that if he is not potty trained by 3, his daycare can’t have him anymore. Not his daycare fault. His daycare is awesome! More of me not reading the handbook properly.
In any case, this marks the beginning of our weekend when I started him fully on potty training & mind you, I actually have displayed more patience than I thought I would. And I know that 1.5 days is hardly what anyone would call enough potty training & we will get there but what frustrates me is that as soon as I start, he holds his poop in and now he is constipated and unhappy.
I try my very best to not let him feel his mommy’s anxiety of worrying about him not having a daycare or a babysitter to go to if we can’t get him potty trained soon. I know this will pass just like all the other babies stuff but right at this moment, please dun tell me not to worry … I’m not worried that he will never be potty trained … I’m worried that we can’t get him trained within this short timeline.
In any case, this potty training thing & the fact that it was snowing today, I decided that he & I should play with Play Dough & what best way to play with it than to let him make it himself (for the most part) 😀 He had a great time making and playing with it 😀 I had so much fun playing it too with him that it was a great distraction from my worries 😀
There are many play dough recipes online. Some call for cooking & some call for using cream of tartar which I’m not entirely sure is that common an item in every regular household. The recipe I found uses neither.
No cooking required
No cream of tartar required
No matter how many colours you are planning to make, you can do all the different colours in one mixing bowl. We did 3 colours all in same bowl! Yup! You heard right. 2 less bowls for me to wash is a winner! 😀
So easy even my toddler can help with it. Only part he is not able to help as much is at the very very end when you just need to knead the dough together but otherwise, he could help with every step
It smells amazing
It is non toxic unlike the ones you buy in the store
And it is so much Fun for the kids 😀
So the ingredients you need are so so simple:
1 cup of flour
1/4 cup of salt
1 packet of Kool-aid
1/2 cup of hot water
1 tbsp of cooking oil
Instructions are so so simple too:
Place all dry ingredients in a big mixing bowl. If your toddler is just starting out, get as big a bowl as u can find. Just makes for easier cleaning
Add oil and hot water
Use a spoon to mix it first
Once water cools down enough for your hands, knead it altogether into a dough. Took me less than 10 seconds cos that’s all you have with a busy toddler lol
If the dough still feels too sticky, add a bit more flour but otherwise, you should have a nice smelling play dough now
I bought 3 packets of Kool-aid with different flavours and I basically just got Ryan to start the same process again in the same mixing bowl
I took a portion from all 3 doughs for him to play and cling wrap the remaining and place it in fridge for the next time
We had a great time & we hope you enjoy our little video 😀
I know I know 🙄 Halloween is still like a month away but all the stores in my town has already started displaying all their Halloween stuff so it’s difficult for me not to be excited about it 😀 we love Halloween! 😈 😈
I wanted Ryan to decorate some Halloween cookies together a couple weeks ago & usually, I will bake the cookies from scratch since I do enjoy baking but it was a busy weekend and honestly, he’s 2 years old. Anything he decorates right now probably is going to be messy so I really didn’t feel like baking cookies from scratch just to be totally messed up lol. So for mommies out there who wants a easier way, check out this easy Peasy Monster Cookies 😎 😎
Ingredients:
Store bought cookies (Mine was $1 shortbread from the Dollar Store)
Icing tubes of a few different colors
Candy Eyeballs (we had this at home but you could get them from Walmart or even some dollar stores)
Halloween soft candy (Didn’t end up using them at all so it’s optional)
Big Baking Tray (optional)
Commercial size aluminum foil (optional)
It’s pretty self explanatory from the pictures shown above. You could use other cookies shapes. I just chose the rectangular shortbread cookies so I can line them together so it is easier for him to decorate them. Bothe baking tray and aluminum foil is optional but they save me so much work in terms of cleaning up after. With a toddler, he’s gonna get icing all over the place. So I just use my biggest baking tray and foil. At the end, wrap the whole thing and dump it. Easy Peasy….the way this Lazy Mommy likes it. I rather use my cleaning time to play with him or relax and drink my coffee lol. That’s just me but to each their own 😀
Check out his video of decorating the cookies 😀 & share with us any other easy cookie decorating ideas!
Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. The Young Living Essential oils were sent to me as a personal gift from a girlfriend. I receive no compensation from this review. Please always use caution when using essential oils, and always ask the advice of a professional. All content is based on my personal experiences of a Lazy Mommy and purely for informational & entertainment purposes and should not be relied on as professional advice.
Okay. Confession of the day – I don’t use Essential Oil much. Other than the cheapo Thieves Oil and Tea Tree Oil that I buy to sanitize my house after a bout of illnesses, I really have never cared much for Essential Oil. So when a friend of mine told me that you could bake with Essential Oils, I was pretty skeptical. I mean why use Lemon Essential Oil when I can use Lemon Zest. But I’m always up to the challenge and when a girlfriend offered to send me some to try, there was no way i could have turned it down 😀
Thanks Elaine!
Being the typical cynic though (a typical Virgo trait lol), I set out to read and read online about Essential Oils. I had heard a lot about Young Living but hey, I wasn’t just about to trust on face value from their website. I mean which company would say their products suck on their own website? LOL.
So the CFA (Canadian Federation of Aromatherapists) actually recently just released a safety statement regarding essential oil usage. You can read the whole safety statement here. But to summarize for you,
Health Canada does not:
recommend internal uses of essential oils as a stand-alone product. What that just means is you should not be consuming a edible grapefruit essential oil by itself as if you are drinking water. Adding 2 drops to a cake mix is fine.
Now,I will never claim to be an expert after researching it online but KEY TAKEAWAYS for me after the online research says to me the following:
Never use essential oils without diluting them
A small amount of edible essential oil can make a huge impact on flavor in any dish. Essential oils are potent. I recommend using only 1-2 drops at first, or even the toothpick method when cooking with essential oils: Stick a toothpick through the oil dropper to absorb the oil, then swirl the toothpick through wet ingredients. Give it a taste and gradually add more flavor to your liking
Never consume essential oil on its own. Instead, use 1 to 2 drops of edible essential oil on a recipe
Essential oils can be great substitutes for fresh herbs, citrus zest and juice, and spices such as oregano, lime juice, or ground clove.
Not all essential oils can be used in cooking or baking
Just like I would inform someone that I have nuts in my cupcakes (just in case that someone has a nut allergy), it just makes common sense to me to let someone know you used essential oil in your baking. When I brought my grapefruit cupcakes to work, I told everyone it was made with 1-2 drops of grapefruit essential oil. No one had an issue and they ate it happily.
Always follow the label instructions and never exceed the amount suggested.
Always keep out of reach of children.
If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult a health professional prior to use.
OKAY Now with all the boring part out of the way, I am wracking my brain on what to bake. I bake so many things with lemon zest and i always have lemons at home so I wanted to try something i typically wouldn’t have at home so I chose to bake with their Grapefruit Essential Oil.
YOUNG LIVING GRAPEFRUIT ESSENTIAL OIL (VITALITY SERIES)
I DO NOT LIKE to eat grapefruits on its own. Tried it once in my 20s when i was on a diet and Yucky 😦 . But I have always loved tasting grapefruit as part of a recipe. Although i love grapefruit flavored baking, I never have any grapefruits at all cos they would just all get rotten before I remember to use them, a Grapefruit essential oil might be this Lazy Mommy’s solution 😀
It was a Saturday. I have a bazillion things to do so am using a cake mix so it is easier to bake with Ryan.
#noshame #lol #dunjudge #whatever
So What’s my Verdict on Young Living?
I used the Grapefruit essential oil on both the batter and the frosting – 2 drops on each. Everyone likes it. While I probably will still use Lemon zest (as I have many lemons at home lol), I totally would use edible essential oils for ingredients that I don’t always have at home I already can think of a few that is making me super excited 😀 – Lemongrass, Lavender, Orange, Peppermint, Basil and Cardamon.
I really like it that Young Living makes it a breeze in helping you know which essential oil can be used in cooking and baking – their Vitality series. Their Vitality series of essential oil are specifically labeled for internal use with directions on how to do so safely. Vitality line is Young Living offering of essential oils that are safe for ingestion when label directions are followed.
I used to think that Essential Oil brands were all the same so I am really surprised at the strict quality control and standards Young Living set for their products. Not all essential oils are created equally. Young Living stand by their process of sourcing products from carefully vetted corporate-owned farms, partner farms, and Seed to Seal-certified suppliers and testing them extensively.
Along with our awesome fun adventures in the kitchen, this is the page we share our flops & mishaps lol. Obviously every mom plays differently in the kitchen with their kids. Some moms are really awesome in just letting their kids have free rein in a safe manner when they play in kitchen. Honestly I’m still trying to learn that.
In any case, allow me to present to you today’s featured mishap – Very Very White Peppery Omelette 😀
What a nice Saturday it was today. Ryan and I both slept in and when we woke up, both of us felt so refreshed that I thought hey buddy, wanna help mommy make omelette for brunch??
Got him to help me crack (with my help of course lol) and beat the eggs. I thought this is such a simple task that I didn’t feel the need to do what I usually do – pre-measure & place the dash of white pepper in a small bowl to pour in. Instead I gave him the whole pepper bottle & ok, the rest is obvious from the pictures lol.
Ryan mixing some eggs for mommy’s omelette Tip: Dun give your toddler the white pepper bottle directly & ask him to put a dash of it LOL. I think Ryan put like 1000x dashes of white pepper in it. I think my omelette is going to taste VERRYYYY PEPPERY Hahaaaa 😀
Since Ryan started daycare, I am forever searching for lunch ideas. I wish but his lunch box doesn’t look like this every day. Some days, I scramble to just get something half decent for him to eat at daycare. I have packed like KFC leftovers in his lunchbox 😅.
Fortunately, his daycare provides all the snacks. We just need to provide his lunch.
I’m going to start taking pictures of his packed lunches and post it here as it goes. I figured Hey putting the photos on my blog is like the Best way for me to remember & get inspired on those leftover KFC nights 🤣
How to cook "with visual instructions" "using familiar ingredients from your local grocery stores" healthy, traditional and delicious Japanese dishes!!
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LAZY MOMMY GUIDE 