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Showing posts from October, 2009

Look Mommy, No Side Wheels!

It took her only 2 days to practice - about 20 minutes a day. And now, the little side wheels are off! Her cycling is still a bit wobbly, I cringe seeing her cycle fast, but she can cycle on her own now. Credit goes to Hubby who coached her by holding on to the mud guard while she cycled and balanced. Berpeluh-peluh ajar anak berbasikal. Today she graduated to cycling to her Pak Ngah's house. Even her Pak Ngah was impressed. No more side wheels!

Aliyah's Latest Interest

Remember Aliyah started her taekwando class many moons ago? Ok, she dropped out. And I actually think we have a little bit to do with it. She was so enthusiastic at first, waking up early every Sunday to go to her classes. Then H1n1 epidemic started, we found there were cases at her school and forbid her to go to her classes for a few weeks. Then when things started to get better, number of cases not so alarming anymore, we asked her to continue but I guess she lost interest, giving excuses like Master so garang la, etc. So now, her taekwando uniform is nicely hung in her closet still like brand new. After that we tried to get her to take up a hobby, an interest, anything. We thought 'revisiting' the driving range, but then Hubby pun dah lama tak pergi. Then, during one of our visits to open houses - Hissham Rizal's - we saw his kids (his girls too) play guitar. Aliyah commented that playing guitar looks interesting. So, one fine day we were at our usual mall - Alamanda - t

Going-ons on a Sunday Afternoon

It's been a boring weekend actually. It's work, then rest, then work, then housework, then work again... Didn't go anywhere. We spent the weekend baby-sitting our "menantu". Jimie's wife gave birth to a baby boy and they spent the weekend at the hospital. So, Fifi the cat was left outside and dengan pandainya came over. But Bubu doesn't really fancy her though. Fifi tu berlagak sikit kot. The going-ons at our home: Ini lah Fifi We had tea at the patio - cekodok ikan bilis and a pot of hot tea with daun misai kucing. Masa bawak food outside, I told Hubby we are having tea outside, terus teringat cerita Madu Tiga: "Bang, lepas mandi kita minum dekat laman. Hah? Mata-mata datang bawak saman?". Anyway, that's him siram rumput lepas kenyang pekena cekodok. I think I've taken this angle for hundreds of times. I dunno, I just love this part of the house. The fishes have grown. Many many weeks ago, we had dinner at Bagan Lalang with Yatt. She lat

Pre-New Year Resolution

Is there such a thing as pre-new year resolution? I watched Oprah's Best Life episode yesterday - it's actually a new year's resolution episode for 2009. My hunch says someone is trying to tell me something. I've been hearing this phrase for the past 2 weeks: "What do you really want?". Bette Midler said it in The Women . Oprah said it numerous times throughout her one-hour show. The same exact phrase, almost the same exact situations. The phrase has now irritatingly started to stick to my head. I know someone is telling me something. It happened before. What do I really want? I seriously don't know. Every time I think of an answer, it actually involves someone else - my daughter, my family, my company. Never me - only me. I am not a selfish person, but Bette Midler said a woman has to be selfish, then things started to get better. Maybe she's right. But I still don't think my answer will be different. Anyway, I'm thinking of taking the little

Papadom for All Papas

Dear Afdlin Shauki, We went to watch your movie Papadom last Sunday. Me, Hubby and our daughter Aliyah Maisarah. Yes, our daughter yang for first five years of her life has been called "Sarah" (sebab I rasa nama tu glamer gila dan I boleh buat slang Mat Salleh sikit kalau panggil dia), but one fine day she came back from her kindy and told us to call her "Aliyah" instead (sebab dia kata nama Sarah tak sedap and warned me lain kali kalau nak bagi nama, tanyalah dia dulu!), who just recently liked the name "Maisarah" sebab dekat-dekat dengan nama "Miasara". Mula-mula my daughter tak nak tengok movie you. Ada ke dia nak tengok cerita Jin tu? I told her ala-ala Mak Dara - "pannnthang nenek moyang aku tengok wayang cerita yang tak de kualiti! Siapa itu Jin? Lawyer? Magistrate?". No lah, that's my overactive imagination. I told her I forbid us all watching a low quality movie kat wayang. Kalau nak tengok cerita macam tu, tunggu Raya tahun

The Present

Both of us spent lunch hour getting Aliyah the bicycle she wanted. She wanted a pink bicycle which we couldn't find at the shop we were scouting. There's a red one though, so we got her that. She actually didn't know she's getting the bicycle today. We told her we'll buy it end of the month - bila Mommy & Abah dapat gaji. So, we took the bicycle home, then only fetch her. We expected her to jump up and down in excitement seeing her present, but she walked into the house, looked at the bicycle, and thanked us politely. But she was grinning and grinning. My daughter is so very prim and proper! She can't ride with only two wheels yet, so we got the little wheels by the side installed. Her first ride was to her Pak Ngah's house two blocks away, with me walking beside her. I must remember to wear my jogging shoes when we go out again. The red bicycle! I forgot to take her picture today. She's already fast asleep. I love you so much my little princess.

Maisarah's 8 Today

She's 8 today. She's so big, so wise, talks so much, and she's only 8? We celebrated yesterday. After dragging her to two open houses, we finally let her spend the day her way. A few days ago she wrote us a letter (we were working at our study, she wrote it at the kitchen table, then she gave us the little letter complete in a small envelope) telling us she wants to eat at Secret Recipe. So, after Dr Marisa's open house, we spent the rest of the evening at Alamanda. We checked out the bicycle she wanted, binged at Secret Recipe (she ordered lasagna, Oreo milkshake, brownies with ice cream, ate everything and got nauseated), then watched Papadom. I kept repeating in my head - she's 8 years old... Time sure flies. It felt just yesterday that we were carrying her around, today only Hubby could carry her up the stairs to her room. She's so heavy! Our little girl has grown. The birthday card we made her. She's so happy, she put it at her side table. p/s there'

The Women

I managed to watch The Women again yesterday at Star Movies. A star-studded all-female movie. Yup, no men! It's a movie about women, must be watched by women, and must be watched by men/husbands. I don't know if things would have turned out differently if I had watched this before. But then again, God sent me an angel to guide me on what to do in the pretty form of a friend. So, I was OK. I hit rock bottom, but I bounced back. And life is so much better now than ever. It actually depends whether you survived or not. I survived, we survived. My only regret, and at times concern, is that I am not so easy at forgetting. To tell you the truth, there is not a single day in my life that I was not reminded of it and depending on how the memory was sparked, I can be either sad, or angry, or sick, or revengeful, or thoughtful, or crazy, or feel so hilarious... or the emotions can get so mixed up I ended up staring at a spot and ask myself - why?. The answer never came. The friend did s

A Load of Work

The last Ramadhan month was a lalalaaa time for me. Tak ada kerja sangat. We have this project that was almost completed and I have Hubby & Hajar taking care of it. Besides a sebutharga and presentation, I spent the time writing the book I promised myself to complete last June, which has been stuck at Chapter 1 for ages. (Note to self: Woi, bila nak habiskannn???) Two weeks into Raya still lalalalaa time for me, though I'm starting to get worried. But people were mostly busy with open houses and stuff, so understandable. Starting from last week, terus dapat 3 projects at the same time. Alhamdulillah... There is this one project I'm currently doing with Hubby. It's for a friend, yang actually tak lah friend sangat at the beginning having introduced by Atom, but now has become quite good friend along with the wife. We decided to accept the consultation work even though payment is very, very ciput because we know the value of the project they got pun ciput juga. But in vie

Flourishing Vege Patch

My vegetable patch is flourishing. So are the weeds! Anyway, I happily snapped some pictures this morning in the cool morning-after-the-rain air. Pokok misai kucing doing well. This patch used to be the planted with pokok limau kasturi but it died a few weeks ago. This patch keeps too much water, not suitable for pokok limau. Apparently, pokok misai kucing loves water, kejap saja the bush dah banyak daun, Have replanted my sawi... My sister-in-law Azah gave this plant. She said it's mulberry. The leaves look very similar to hibiscus though. She bought this but decided to give me instead sebab dia kata I ni green fingers :) At the wall are two plants of peria yang besar tu. I put two lines up to the grill so that the plants can climb up. I love that kind of peria - my father panggil "kambas". Goreng belacan and cili api sedap... Pahitlah sikit... Those are coriander plants. Dulu I tak suka coriander leaves - pernah chew on a garnishing atas spaghetti, the taste was too ove

I Dapat Menantu You...

Jimie, our next door neighbour came asking Hubby's permission to "kahwinkan" our cat Bubu with his new cat (which name anak dia tengah fikir nak bagi apa). Then he came over bringing the cat - to introduce to us. This whole scenario is actually really bizarre and funny. Macam orang nak terima menantu pulak! Ok, the feline is so comel, so manja, looks a lot like Bubu but of different colour. We said Ok, no problem. So, tu dah kira akad nikah lah kan. Just now Hubby thought he saw Bubu coming home, but then bila cari tak ada pulak. Sah-sah ada kat rumah sebelah kat rumah in-laws dia. Bubu ni handsome, patutlah ramai terpikat. Banyak girlfriend nih! Kat luar memang macho, tapi bila sampai rumah... mengada...

Raya Paling Banyak Jemputan

I think this year's Hari Raya ialah raya yang paling banyak dapat jemputan disamping raya paling banyak terima jemputan yang datang rumah. Food is glorious and in abundance this year. Alhamdulillah... On Thursday we went to Residence Hotel's open house. Dah regular kat sana kan, mestilah dijemput :) The food was excellent! Everything! Siap ada entertainment lagu-lagu Raya lagi. Then on Saturday I cooked simple rendang ayam for Yatt. Today, we went beraya to our across the street neighbour Abang Khaled. Actually Hubby has been calling him Abang, while I have been calling the wife - Makcik. Today we both agreed it should be Abang and Kakak :)Sedapnya makan nasi minyak. And the main topic of conversation was our cat Bubu yang selalu bertandang ke sana. Tomorrow (well, today that is), we will visit another across the street neighbour Rohaizat pulak. Maybe the day after, it'll be our turn to host them. This weekend, the last Syawal weekend, dengar cerita my sister-in-law Angah p

Condolences to Two Friends

My deepest condolence to two good friends who lost their loved ones yesterday. Zameen and Sui lost their 2-day old baby (or 3-day's old, not sure) - Nur Sara Aleesya, while Enida lost her beloved mother. Their losses affected me deeply. I think Facebook and Blog have helped us all get really connected with each other despite being far apart. We are not what you can call the best of friends, but our friendship is enhanced a notch further via Facebook and Blog. Just days ago Zameen's status read: "wifey's water broke!" and I waited to read more, but yesterday his status changed to mourning the lost of their little princess. And as for Enida, I have read for months now about her mother's deteriorating condition and how she came back here from Moscow to spend time with her mother. I know it will be just a matter of time I will read her status on the passing of her mother, but when the time really came, it hit me on the chest quite badly. Al-Fatihah. Semoga roh me

Another Day of Makan-makan

My kgs are piling up. Today is another day of makan-makan. First pit-stop, our next door neighbour Jimie. Makan soto yang sedap, Aliyah finished up everything in her bowl. Good sign. Next, Hubby's golf buddy and my ex-colleague of years back - Hisham. Excellent kuah kacang. And beautiful house. Then, after a short stop to buy Aliyah's sports T shirt for school, we dropped by at my parents' place. And rezeki murah, more food came our way. A relative came over bringing fried mee and meehoon leftovers from a small kenduri which my father attended. So, another round of makan-makan. On the way home, we dropped by our previous babysitter's house - Kak Mah - my daughter's "Mak" yang dah lama tak jumpa. Nope, we didn't binge on food again to the relieve of my stomach. But here, we tasted home-made teh Misai Kucing. I have a pot of the plant at home but I never thought to research on how to consume it, even though I know of the benefits. The tea tasted quite go

Open Houses All Day

The day started early. I cooked daging bali to bring to my ex-ATPN potluck Raya gathering at a friend's place - Mize - in Sepang. At noon, Linda and another friend Ijun came over nak konvoi pegi Mize's house. These are my friends yang sama-sama tinggal kat asrama Yayasan Selangor throughout my secondary school years. We are practically like sisters. Kalau jumpa memang havoc. Today Hubby ikut, so I told them I "behave" hari ni! Hehehe... So, makan-makan punyalah sedap. Pandai masak rupanya kawan-kawan aku. Ijun's udang sambal was excellent. Yummy... Then at around 4pm, we went to my sister-in-law Nor's house at USJ. Again, makan-makan lagi. Jumpa lak sambal sotong dengan lontong. Excellent! Then, at 6.30pm, went back home sebab malam ada open house at our taman. Linda followed, and then my Kak Long, Kak Lang and mother came over to join the open house. Another session of makan-makan. Food biasa but they had BBQ chicken and fish. Yummmy lagi! Esok ada open house

Of Nothing Much This Week

I'm really, really free this week. Finished one sebutharga that we finally decided not to participate. Ish, ish, ada ka budget ciput tapi nak semua features selagi ada? Pas tu bagi reason sebab nak cepat, pakai LO, so sebutharga mesti bawah RM50K. Ingat company aku buat charity work? I have this principle - walaupun company I kecik, but I refuse to simply redah and do everything that comes my way for the sake of having projects. Nak buat kerja kena berbaloi OK. Kalau tak berbaloi, profit tak de, kepala sakit, jantung I stress, payment lambat - tak de project dan tak de duit pun tak pe. I rela duduk rumah main Farmville. Hehehe... But seriously... Anyway, I watched two movies this week - both so-so. First, watched Tsunami at Haeundae with Hubby on Thursday. Selalunya Korean movie will touch my heart (the movie "Sad" was so so sad!) but this one was really so-so. Adalah a few parts yang quite good especially the scene yang parents put their daughter onto a heli and then emb