The Case of the Rotten Frozen Drummets from Tesco Delivery

Hi everyone! I've been meaning to blog about this for a while, but I've been rushing to complete a few tasks that I had on hand. Today I want to share with you my experience receiving a bag of rotten frozen drummets (yuck!) from Tesco Home Delivery AND how I got a replacement for them.

The bag of rotten drummets :(

I've blogged about using Tesco's Home Delivery service before, which is absolutely heaven-sent for me because trips to the supermarket are tough with Arif's autism and sensory sensitivities. But once in a while, a slip-up will happen, but thankfully they have a pretty good customer service team on hand to help customers. 

I had ordered a bag of Ayamas frozen Drummets along with my other groceries and was going to make some for dinner, but when I opened the bag, I was greeted with an unpleasant smell. No doubt the drummets had gone off. They were clumped together like they had thawed and refroze. There were black spots on the drummets too. I fried one in my air fryer and it turned out horrible. Just the smell alone made me gag.

So the next day, I PM'd Tesco Malaysia's FB page. They replied and said it is against their policy to offer reimbursement for frozen foods, but that I should call their customer service centre and explain. So that's what I did. I called them up and told them my situation. The lady on the line called up the Tesco branch in Puchong, which is responsible for delivering my groceries. They said they would give me a replacement.

Sensory bottles for Arif

As an autistic child, my two year old son Arif has trouble keeping focused and has sensory processing issues. To help him explore his senses and encourage focus, I made some sensory bottles (also known as calm down bottles) for him out of materials I have at home. I also got him a mermaid pillow case. He likes them a lot - Check out his reactions to them!

This is the first sensory bottle I made. It contains blue glitter and water. The glitter swirls around and provides a mesmerising visual treat.

This one was an experiment. I mixed water, cooking oil and a few lego pieces. The oil and water don't mix obviously, and the legos are suspended between them.

I made this one with clear water beads or orbeez. They capture the light and sparkle. 

In this one, I used only dry materials, like pom poms, rice, beans and sequins. It provides something to look at and sound.

Now this, is a "mermaid pillow," so called because it looks like scales. I got it online. It offers textural and visual exploration as it changes colour at Arif's touch :)

It's been a couple of months since I made these, and Arif still plays with them from time to time. If you're looking to try your hand at making sensory bottles. Here are a few tutorials. But before you begin, here's a safety tip - always superglue or tape the bottle caps securely to avoid choking hazards. 

Here's how to make your basic glitter sensory bottle.

Now here's something I;d like to try! Looks so cool :)

Understanding autism

Since Arif was diagnosed with autism back in October 2016, I stopped blogging for two main reasons. One, I kept myself insanely busy - learning all I could about autism and taking Arif to therapy, as well as taking on all the extra work I could find and selling my stuff online to save up money for his autism therapies. Two, I just didn't know what to write about from a personal angle anymore. All I could think about was autism and yet it was something quite difficult for me to talk about, since I am very new to it myself.

I worked so hard in the last few months of last year, that I was close to burn out. I have since pledged to take things more slowly and reduce my work commitments, so that I can find a better balance and be more present for both of my children.

Now at the start of 2017, I am feeling much more positive about Arif's autism and how we are coping. If I had to explain it, I guess I would say I think Arif is perfect just the way he is. I have also become quite passionate about spreading awareness on autism, and so for my first post in 2017, I'd like to share a few videos with you about autism :) These videos and others like them have helped me to understand Arif more. I hope you'll find them helpful too.