BOLD, SMART AND BEAUTIFUL

Journey of life has not been straight forward, was born with a diamond plate that turned wooden at sometime, which again became Diamond.
Death of my only brother, a pain that altered the way I reasoned forever.
Medical school of so much hard work that no one ever spelt out for me.
Some mornings of pure tiredness and evenings of sullen eyes and tender muscles.
Competitions from colleagues who feel I'm a threat to their success or that i remind them of how they slack. Especially the male colleagues who constantly feel demasculinized  by one's efforts.
Then the men of my life with their dramas,
Love, break-ups, make-ups, love again, then the cycle rotates.
Loving men who will not love fully in return.
Loving men who my parents will not approve because of their tribe.
Men loving me because they sense the greatness ahead.
Some days the body is wrecked from much pressure, the allergies attack, the flower of me fades a little, and then the lady at the mirror who stares at me is sickly and very tired. Yet, yet I stand tall
I dust myself up, and whisper to her at the mirror.
You are great
You are strong, you will be fine, move on, walk straight, sway your hips, fling your hair, because you deserve all happiness. The lady at the mirror smiles at me and moves on.
She's Bold
She's Smart
She's Beautiful
She's Miss Kenny!

IMMIGRATION JOB PALAVA!

Our clever Government, still have not exhausted their attempt with their white-washed spiels on how to rob Nigerians, Alas, our gullible youths in their naivete and their quest for a white collar job,didn't know the scam ahead,over two million applicants for a job meant for far less spaces. What's more? Each of them paid one thousand Naira to participate. Since when do one pay in other to get a job? The applicants just fed the government with more money, the rich getting richer, the poor masses poorer. The story gets worse as 7 people have reportedly died from the  stampede, people who had hoped for a better life, only to have their 'managed life'  snatched away!  I wonder how their families feel, God is watching us all with 3D like a spectator in an arena and we are the players, let's try to show more compassion. May the souls of the dead applicants Rest in Peace. Amen

Below are some pictures from different centres;

Nigerian Dishes and their Calories content

IF YOU WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT, YOU MIGHT WANT TO PAY ATTENTION TO THIS.                                                                   Based on a 2,000 calorie diet:

Normal cholesterol intake per day is 300mg:  if you have high cholesterol or high LDL, your cholesterol intake per day is to be 200mg or less. Most people who are dieting don't want to exceed calories 1000 a day!

How much is a serving? A serving is about the palm size of your hand, Mouth- gaping but true.

Basic Nigerian Dishes

Egusi Soup

The basic Egusi Soup enriched with few chunks of stockfish and two pieces of meat contains a total of roughly 700 calories per serving!!! Imagine eating it with about 3 wraps of pounded yam which is about 600 calories.

The largest food group it contains is Fat, Egusi is very high in fat content. It has about 60% fat, imagine more calories for those who love adding lots of palm oil to our egusi soup. It also has about 11 percent carbohydrates. Proteins make up 30 percent while other elements make up the rest. Cholesterol - 306mg.

Okra Soup

Okra soup with about one or two pieces of fish and a minimal amount of palm oil would be very good. Okra soup alone contains about 105 calories only per serving. Here is a summary of what it contains:

Okra has about 2.8g of Fibre per serving, 3g of Fat, 4g of Carbohydrates and 11g of Protein. So for those trying to lose weight, why not try okra soup ALONE any time you are tempted to eat your Pounded Yam or Eba.

Ewedu Soup

Ewedu is one of the good soups for weight loss. If you are looking for a low calorie meal, you can count on Ewedu, especially considering the fact that her brother Gbegiri is also low in calories. A serving of Ewedu alone without meat contains only 97 calories!

Let's break down each of the food groups:

Fat content of 4g out of which 10% is cholesterol.

The Carbohydrate content is 300mg (0.3g) and Protein is 18g. Ewedu comes first to mind. Ewedu leaves are also called Jew's mallow and have been used

for many medicinal purposes.

Snails

The calories in snail aren't always too accurate,because different snails come in different sizes.

This, however, is an estimate of the average snail which weighs about 100 grams. 1 snail contains

90 calories. Of this, 1g is fat, 16g is protein and Carbs comes to 2g. So while it is a healthy food; relatively low in Carbs and Fat, remember it's high in calories.

Fried Plantain

1 Slice of Fried plantain contains 68 calories

Wheat Flour

1 cup of wheat flour contains 455 calories and.the nutritional values are as follows.

Carbohydrates 96g, Protein 12.9g and Fat 1.2g.

  

Calories in Eba/Garri

Here is the calorie content of a cup of Raw Garri. Garri has 360 calories of which 99% is carbohydrate

Pounded Yam (Iyan)

Iyan (Pounded Yam) is one of our highest calorie high carbohydrate foods. Imagine you are dividing the amount of pounded yam eaten into cups (milk tins), then one cup of pounded yam is about 400 calories. I doubt if anyone eats that small a serving, so if for instance you eat 2 milk

Tin-sized balls of pounded yam, you are already at 800 calories. By the time you tot up the value of your soup, you are looking at a very high calorie meal indeed.

 

Indomie Noodles

Depending on the size; super pack is 640 calories and the average Nigerian would double this

Tuwo (White Cornmeal)

One cup of white cornmeal (tuwo) is roughly 450 calories

Rice

A cup of raw white rice is 693 calories you can further increase that with the way you cook it

Beans

In Nigeria, Beans is one of our favourite meals. It is loved by weight loss experts because of its high protein content. A cup of beans is somewhere around 378 calories

Oiled or Roast Corn

A large corn cob between 7 to 9 inches in length contains 123 calories of which 80 percent is Carbohydrate. In a medium sized cob of corn, between 6 and 7 inches in length, you can expect about 88 calories and 80 percent Carbs. In a small corn cob, about 5.5 to 6 inches in length, there are about 63 calories.

Eko, Pap, Akamu or Ogi

Eko/Pap/Akamu/Ogi is a meal made from corn. Eko is the solid form of pap, and is usually eaten with vegetable or stew as desired. For Eko, the calorie content depends on the way it is made and its consistency so it is difficult to quantify, but we can come up with an estimate based on the values of Pap. Since everyone prepares their Pap to different consistencies, we can appropriate the calorie content of the raw pap (the thick one that you store in the fridge and take from when you want to cook). 1 tablespoon of raw Akamu/Ogi/Pap contains 91 calories of which 99.7% is purely Carbohydrate.

Irish Potato

128 calories in one small to medium size potato

161 calories in one average medium size potato

278 calories in one medium to large size potato

Most people have a misconception about fruits, they feel they can take as much as they want, forgetting it also has its own calories!!   Shocking but true, what do one do then?  Moderation is the key word!! And of course exercise, here are the list of some fruits common in our environment and their calories too!!

Fruit.        Calories (per piece)

Apple.       95

Avocado.   150

Banana.    107

Grape.       30.

Grapefruit. 100

Lemon.       20

Mango.       40

Orange.       65

Pear.            45

Pineapple.    50

Tangerine.    26

Tomato.        94. 

Enjoy healthy dieting knowing exactly what you are taking!!

Don't hold on to Offences (Part 2)

For three days hubby did not return home not even a phone call. I was so furious, since mother arrived,  had been trying my best and putting up with her, what else do you want me to do? For no reason, I keep having the feeling to throw up and I simply have no appetite for food, coupled with all the events happening at home, I was at the low point in my life. Finally a colleague said "LD, you look terrible, you should go and see a doctor". The doctor confirmed that I'm Pregnant, now that became clear to me why I threw up that fateful morning, a sense of sadness floated through that otherwise happy news. Why didn't hubby and mother, who had been through this before thought of the possibility of this being the reason that day?.

At the hospital entrance, I saw my hubby standing there. It had only been three days, but he looked haggard. I had wanted to turn and leave but one look at him and my heart softened, I couldn't resist and called out to him. He followed my voice and finally found me but he pretended that he doesn't know me. He has that disgusted look in his eyes that cut right through my heart. I told myself not to look at him anymore and hail a cab. At that moment, I have such a strong urge inside me to shout to my hubby: "Darling, I'm having your baby!" And have him lift me up and spin me around in circles of joy. What I wanted didn't happen and as I sat in the cab, my tears started rolling down, Why? Why our love couldn't withstand the test of one fight?

Back home, I lay on the bed thinking about my hubby and the disgusting look in his eyes, I cried and wet the corner of the blanket. That night, sound of drawers opening woke me up. I switched on the lights and I saw hubby with tears rolling down his face. He was removing the money. I stared at him in silence, he ignored me, took the bank deposit book and some money and left the house, maybe he really intends to leave me for good. What a rational man, so clear cut in love and money matters. I gave a few dried laugh and tears started streaming down again. The next day, I did not go to work, I wanted to clear this out and have a good talk with hubby. I reached his office and his secretary gave me a weird look and said, "Mr Tan's mother had a traffic accident and is now in the hospital". I stood there in shock, I rushed to the hospital and by the time I found hubby, mother had already passed away. Hubby did not look at me, his face was expressionless, I looked at mother's pale white thin face and I couldn't control the tears in my eyes. My God! How could this happen?

 

Throughout the funeral, hubby did not say a single word to me, with only the occasional disgusted stare at me. I only managed to find out brief facts about the accident from other people. That day, after mother left the house, she walked in dazed towards the bus stop apparently intending to go back to her old house, back to the countryside, as hubby ran after her, she tried to walk faster and as she tried to cross the street, a public bus came and hit her. I finally understood how much hubby must hate me. If I had not thrown up that morning, if we had not quarreled, If. . . , in his heart I am directly the killer of his mother. 

Hubby moved into his mother's room and came home every night with a strong liquor smell on him, and me, I'm buried under the guilt and self pity and could hardly breathe. I wanted to explain to him, tell him that we are going to have our baby soon, but each time I saw the dead look in his eyes, all the words I have at the brink of my mouth just fell back in. I had rather he hit me real hard or give me a big and thorough scolding, though none of these events happening had been my fault at all.

Many days of suffocating silence went by as the days went by, hubby came home later and later. The deadlock between us continues, we were living together like strangers who don't know each other. I am like the dead knot in his heart. One day I passed by a western restaurant looking into the glass window, I saw hubby and a girl sitting facing each other and he very lightly brushed her hair for her, I understood what it meant, after recovering from that moment of shock, I entered the restaurant, stood in front of my hubby and stared hard at him, not a tear in my eyes. I have nothing to say to him and there is no need to say anything. The girl looked at me, looks at hubby, stands up and wanted to go, hubby stretched out his hand and stopped her, he stared back at me challenging me, I can only hear my slow heart beat, beating, one by one as if at the brink of death. I eventually backed down, if I had stood there any longer, I will collapse together with the baby inside me. That night he did not come home, he had chosen to use that as a way to indicate to me; following mother's death so did our love for each other.

He did not come home anymore after that, sometimes when I returned home from work, I can tell the cupboard had been touched he had returned to take some of his stuff. I no longer wish to call him, the initial desire to explain everything to him vanished, I lived alone; I go for my medical checkups alone, my heart breaks again and again every time I see a guy carefully helping his wife through the physical examination. My office colleagues hinted to me to consider aborting the baby, I told them No, I will not, I insisted on having the baby, perhaps it is my way of repaying mother for causing her death.

One day I came home and I saw hubby sitting in the living room. The whole house was filled with cigarette smoke, on the coffee table, there was this piece of (divorce) paper. I know what it is all about without even looking at it. In the two months plus of living alone, I have gradually learned to find peace within myself. I looked at him, removed my hat and said: "You wait a while, I will sign" , he looked at me, mixed feelings in his eyes just like mine. As I hang up my coat, I keep repeating to myself "you cannot cry, you cannot cry" my eyes hurt terribly but I refused to let tears come out from there. After I hung up my coat, my hubby's eyes stared fixed at my bulging tommy. I smiled, walked over to the coffee table and pulled the paper towards me. Without even looking at what it says I signed my name on it and pushed the paper to him. "LD, are you pregnant?"

Since mother's accident, this is the first time he spoke to me. I could not control my tears any further and they fell like raindrops. I said: "Yes, but its ok, you can leave now". He did not go, in the dark we sat, facing each other. Hubby slowly moved over me, his tears wet the blanket. In my heart, everything seems so far away, so far that even if I sprint, I could never reach them. I cannot remember how many times he repeated "sorry" to me. I had originally thought that I would forgive him, but now I can't. In the western restaurant, in front of that girl, that cold look in his eyes, I will never forget, ever. We have drawn such deep scars in each other's heart, for me, its unintentional; for him, totally intentional. I had been waiting for this moment of reconciliation but I realized now what had gone past is gone forever and could not be repeated. Other than the thought of the baby inside me, that would bring some warmth to my heart, I'm totally cold towards him, I no longer eat anything he buys for me, I don't take any presents from him and I stopped talking to him, from the moment I signed on that paper, marriage and love had vanished from my heart. Sometimes hubby will try to come into the bedroom, but when he walks in, I will walk out to the living room. He had no choice but to sleep in mother's room.

 

At night, from his room I can hear light sounds of groaning, I kept quiet. This used to be his trick, last time whenever I ignore him, he would fake illness and I will surrender and find out what is wrong with him, he would then grab me and laugh. He has forgotten that last time I cared for him and am concerned because there was love, but now, what is there between us?

Hubby's groaning came on and off continuously and I continuously ignored him. Almost everyday he would buy something for the baby; infants products, children products, and books that kids like to read, bags and bags of it stacked inside his room till it is full. I know he is trying to use this to reach out to me but I'm no longer moved by his actions. He has no choice but to lock himself in his room and I can hear him typing away on his computer, maybe he is now addicted to web surfing. But none of that matters to me anymore. It was sometime towards the end of the spring in the following, one late night, I screamed because of a sudden stomach pain, hubby came rushing into the room, its like he did not change and sleep and had been waiting for this moment. He carried me and ran down the stairs, stopped a car, holding my hand very tightly and kept wiping the sweat off my brow, throughout the journey to the hospital. Once we reached the hospital, he carried me and hurried into the delivery suite, lying on the brink of his skinny but warm body, a thought crossed my mind; in my lifetime, who else would love me as much as he did? He held the delivery suite door open and watch me go in. His warm eyes caused me to manage a smile at him despite my contraction pain.

Coming out of the delivery room, hubby looked at our son and me, eyes filled with tears of joy and he kept smiling, I reached out and touched his hand. Hubby looked at me smiling and then he slowly collapsed onto the floor. I cried out for him in pain. He smiled, but without opening that tired eyes of his... I had thought that I would never shed any tears for him, but the truth is, I have never felt deeper pain cutting through my body at the moment. Doctor said that by the time hubby discovered he had liver cancer, it was already in terminal stage and it was a miracle that he managed to last this long. I asked the doctor when he first discovered he had cancer, Doctor said about 5months ago and consoled me saying "prepare for his funeral", I disregarded the nurse's objection and rushed home. I went into his room and checked his computer and a suffocating pain hits me. Hubby's cancer was discovered 5months ago, his groaning was real and I had thought that . . .

The computer showed over 200 thousand words he wrote for our son: "Son, just for you I have persisted to be able to take a look at you before I fall, its my biggest wish now . . . I know that in your life you will have many happiness, and maybe some set backs, if only I cab accompany you throughout that journey, how nice would it be. But daddy now no longer has that chance. Daddy has written inside here all the possible difficulties and problems you may encounter during your lifetime. When you meet with these problems you can refer to daddy's suggestion . . . Son, after writing these 200 thousand words, I feel as if I have accompanied you through life's journey. To be honest, daddy is very happy. Do love your mother, she has suffered, she is the only one who loves you most and also the one who loves me most. . ."

 

From play school to primary school to secondary school to university, to work and even in dealing with questions of love, everything big and small was written there, Hubby has also written a letter for me, "My dear, to marry you is my biggest happiness, forgive me for the pain I have caused you, forgive me for not telling you my illness, because I want to see you be in a joyful mood waiting for the arrival of our baby. My dear, if you cried, it means you that you have forgiven me and I would smile, thank you for loving me. . . These presents, I'm afraid I cannot give them to our son personally, could you help me to give some of them to him every year? The dates on what to give when are all written on the packaging. . ."

Going back to the hospital, hubby is still in coma, I brought our son over and placed him beside him. I said "open your eyes and smile, I want our son to remember being in the warmth of your arms. . ." He struggled to open his eyes and managed a weak smile. Our son still in his arms was happily waving his tiny hands in the air. I pressed the button on the camera and the sound of the shutter rang through the air as tears slowly rolled down my face. . .

A fatal misunderstanding and the person who loves me most in this world is gone forever. . . .

"Cruel misunderstandings one after another disrupted the blissful footsteps to our family. Our original intends of having mother enjoy some quiet and peaceful moments in her remaining years with us went terribly wrong as destiny's secret is finally revealed at a price. Everything became TOO LATE"

 

This is a true story; Moral of story: "Do not hold on to offences"

Happy 2014!!!

 Welcome to 2014, I'm glad we all made it out of 2013. 2013 was a wonderful year but the former can never be better than the latter so 2014 is going to be much much wonderful, packaged with God's blessings and many wonderful awesome things. 2014 is a year of Prosperity, Promotions and Success in all our Endeavours. 2014 will bring 20 uncommon favours and 14 supernatural breakthroughs. In this year, we shall not struggle for the blessings God has packaged for us and our family, He knows you by name and has engraved you in the hollow of his hands, therefore no torment shall touch you. This year shall bring forth good fruits of Joy, Happiness, Favour, Blessing, Grace and so much more that would be beyond you. You shall never have a reason to lack this year, there shall be Open doors of Prosperity and success around you, you shall be hidden from the eyes of the evil ones, no weapon formed or fashioned against you in this year shall prosper, Testimonies shall full your lips and the Lord God almighty shall never remove his hands from you and your Family. Amen!

Don't hold on to Offences(Part 1)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I read this true life story somewhere and I felt compelled to share it with you all

 

How easy it is for us to get carried away with our feelings. There's power in communication not holding back and sincerity.

 

Just 2 years after our marriage, Hubby brought up the idea of asking mother to move from the rural hometown and spend her remaining years with us. Hubby's father passed away while he was still very young, mother endures much hardship and struggled all on her own to provide for him, see him through to a university degree. You could say that she suffered a great deal and did everything you could expect of a woman to bring hubby to where he is today.

I immediately agreed and started packing the spare room which was a balcony facing the south to let her enjoy the sunshine and plant greenery. Hubby stood in the bright room and suddenly just picked me up and started spinning round and round, as I begged him to put me down, he said "let's go fetch mother"

Hubby is tall and big sized and I love to rest on his chest and enjoy the feeling that he could pick me up at any moment, put the tiny me into his pockets. Whenever we have an argument and we both refuse to back down, he would pick me up and spin me over his head continuously until I surrender and beg for mercy. I became addicted to this kind of panic-joy feeling.

Mother brought along her countryside habits and lifestyle with her, for example, I'm so used to buying flowers to decorate the living room, she could not stand it and would comment, "I do no know how you young people spend your money, what do you buy flowers for? You also cannot eat flowers" I smiled and said " mum, with flowers in the house, our mood will also become better" Mother continues to grumble away and hubby smiled "Mum, this is a city-people's habit; slowly you'll get use to it" Mother stopped saying anything, but every time thereafter, whenever I came home with flowers, she would ask how much it costs, I told her and she would shake her head and express displeasure. Sometimes, when I come home with lots of shopping bags, she would ask each and every item how much they cost, I would tell her honestly and she would even get more upset about it. Hubby playfully pinched my nose and said "you little fool, just don't tell her the full price of everything would solve it". There begins the friction to our happy lifestyle. Mother hates it most when hubby wakes up early to prepare the breakfast, in your view, how could the man of the house cook for the wife? At the breakfast table, Mother's facial expression is always like the dark clouds before a thunderstorm and I would pretend not to notice. She would use her chopsticks and make a lot of noise with it as her silent protest. As I'm a dance teacher in the children's palace and am exhausted from a long day of dancing around, I do not wish to give up the luxury of that additional few minutes in the comfort of my bed and hence I turned a deaf ear to all the protest mother makes. From time to time, mother would help out with some housework, but soon her help created additional work for me, for example: she would keep all kinds of plastic bags accumulating them so that she'll sell them later on and resulted in our house being filled with all the trash bags. She would scrimp on dish washing detergent when helping to wash the dishes and so as not to hurt her feelings, I would quietly wash them again. One day, late at night Mother saw me quietly washing the dishes and Bam! She slams her bedroom door and cried very loudly in her room. Hubby was placed in a difficult position and after that, he did not speak to me for the entire night, I pretended to be a spoilt child, tried acting cute, but he totally ignored me. I got mad and asked him: "What did I do wrong?" Hubby stared at me and said : "Can't we just give in to her once? We couldn't possibly die eating from a bowl however unclean it is, right?" After that incident, for a long period of time, mother did not speak to me and you can feel that there is a very awkward feeling hanging in the house. During that period of cold war, hubby was caught in dilemma as to who to please. In order to stop her son from having to prepare breakfast, mother took on the "all important" task of preparing breakfast without any prompting. At the breakfast table, mother would look at hubby happily eating his breakfast and cast that reprimanding stare at me for having failed to perform my duty as a wife. To avoid the embarrassing breakfast situation, I resorted to buying my own breakfast on my way to work. That night, while in bed, hubby was a little upset and asked me "LD, is it because you think that mum's cooking is not clean that's why you chose not to eat at home?" He then turned his back on me and left me alone in tears as feeling of unfairness overwhelmed me. After some time hubby sighed: "LD, just for me, can you have breakfast at home?"

I am left with no choice but to return to the breakfast table. The next morning, I was having porridge prepared by mother and I felt a sudden chorn in my stomach and everything inside seem to be rushing to my throat, I tried to suppress the urge to throw up but I couldn't. I threw down the bowl rushed into the washroom and vomited everything out. Just as I was catching my breath, I saw mother crying and grumbling very loudly in her dialect, hubby was standing at the washroom doorway staring at me with fire burning in his eyes, I opened my mouth but no words came out of it. I really did not mean it. We had our very first big fight that day, mother took a look at us then stood up and slowly made her way out of the house. Hubby gave me a final stare in the eye and followed mother down the stairs. (To be continued)

The love life of vitamin B12(cobalamine)

She's pretty, gorgeous but barely smart. Her name is vitamine B12 and her native name is cobalamine.
Her complicated love life started in the mouth as a teenager when she met R-binder,who was her very first crush, but as she progressed into the stomach(Adulthood). R-binders couldn't shoulder the responsibilites of that stage.

She met Cublin, the sweet tongued guy that raised her level of maturity to the small intestine where she connected to 'intrinsic factor' it was love at first sight she thought he was the one, everyone called them best couple until he shatterd her heart and left her stranded.

Then also was the handsome twin brothers; Transcobalamine 1 and 111. They flirted with her and tried to love her but she was too depressed to look at them despite d fact she found them attractive and had a great affinity for them. People were already calling her a slut,she didnt care.

Nothing mattered anymore to her till she met Transcobalamine 11, the elder brother to the twins. He was not her kind of man, he was too quiet, calculative and knew what he wanted, when he finally bound to her, they got married(they entered into the plasma of the blood)her destiny finally fufilled, she now works with folic acid to create more cells ....This story is about how the body absorbs vitamine b12(that helps build the blood) and different receptors encountered. Hope you enjoyed it :D