Living with Sarah

Finally the day came! The night before penuh la rumah I dengan family my Kak Long. Rumah dah la jarang berkemas especially ever since we opened the shop. Early in the morning, breakfast at Angah's house. Semua orang siap-siap except Hubby and I yang datang pakai jeans and T Shirt je. Maklumlah, akan bertugas di clubhouse. After wishing Ejat good luck, off they went to Masjid Sg Ramal, while Hubby and I got ready to go to the clubhouse. At first, both of us thought our task will be a difficult one. This was based on my previous experience with weddings of Nizam and my BILs and SILs. There were always a lot of things to oversee and do. With that expectation, we went "full force" to the clubhouse. However, it turned out that we actually have the easiest task of all. Because - Angah engaged the most professional caterer I have ever encountered. When we reached there, the place was buzzing with activities. The staff were working at their stations with the speed of lightning ...

The past 3-4 days have been very hectic - the wedding preparations and the shop. I try to help out with the wedding as much as I could. On Friday the final preparations climaxed. The night before, my SIL Kak Ros sent a message saying the choc moist for gift packs have arrived. That morning, I "deposited" Aliyah at her Pak Ngah's house to help out while both of us went to the shop. At around 4pm, I went over to help. The chore was simple but tedious. Then we stopped at 6.30pm and came back at 10pm (after close shop) to continue until 12.30am. Penat weh... Sambil-sambil tengok MLM 2013 ramai-ramai. The next morning I called my Kak Long asking her to come back earlier to help out and bring along my other sister and her kids. Less than half and hour later, Kak Ros called my Kak Long in panic. Apparently, some people (ehem, the other side...) promised to come and help but didn't show up. So, my Kak Long assured her they will come in a jiffy. (There goes our initial plan ...

Sometimes life can be so harsh that one can forget the little good things in life. Mode #feelingloved #feelingappreciated. Two small things made my day yesterday.  1) My brother Angah finally visited our shop yesterday. He stayed for 30mins and we talked. He asked where everybody was (my little family that is) and I told him that the 3 of us are at separate places at the moment. Hubby is in Kuantan, Aliyah is at her Mak Long's place. "How did you come to the shop?," he asked. I told him I rode on my bike. Anyway, it rained late afternoon and stopped just before Maghrib. So, around 8.15pm when I was sure that there might not be any customers coming in, I went back. Just as I reached home (oh, last night I clocked 20mins!), I got a call from my SIL Kak Ros, asking me where I was. She said Angah was worried as I didn't call any of them for a ride home as it was raining.  It feels so good to be remembered, fussed over, worried over... 2) I have started to invit...

Alhamdulillah, our shop "Mysa Bike Hub" is officially open for business. While we were holidaying, Linda manned the shop. Now, as Hubby is in Kuantan till tomorrow, so I'm manning the shop. Semalam balik rumah lepas Maghrib dengan basikal. Tu lah kan, rasa-rasa macam fit, tapi bila dah ride memang tak fit. Ok la jugak 22mins to reach home. Good exercise. This morning took another route via Bangi Lama - 21mins. Almost same distance. Sampai kedai kemas-kemas sikit, etc terus mandi. Now keeping a set of toiletries at the shop. FB page pun dah buat:  https://www.facebook.com/mysabikehub . Sila-sila lah Like ya. Sambil-sambil buat that other Mysa project, tengah plan activities for the shop. One thing for sure, nak kena organise "Kayuhan Bukak Kedai". Insyaallah on 12th Jan.

We just came back from a short 3-day stay at Awana Genting. Very refreshing and very relaxing. It's been such a long time since we last went to Awana, or Genting for that matter. The last time was when Aliyah was not even in kindy. Dulu-dulu pergi sebab selalu kena attend Strategic Planning with my old company, and I brought Hubby and Aliyah as well. Aliyah was so fond of the place that we would go there for holidays a couple of times. On Saturday, there was a problem with the air-cond compressor that Suan, the contractor, had to come back on Monday to finish up. Both of us were really irritated. I think we had enough of dust in the shop. After giving explicit instructions to Linda on Sunday, we went for the holiday, praying for the best. I hope when we come back, things will be in order. What did we do there? Catching up on sleep! Yes, that what we do mostly. We have not had good night's sleep for the past weeks. And the weather and temperature was really conducive for tha...

Yesterday we had a small meeting to discuss the wedding at Angah's place. Actually there's not much to do. It's going to be a simple wedding. Pagi akad nikah kat masjid, lepas tu reception. Kerja pun dah dibahagi-bahagi. Hubby and I were given the task to monitor the caterer at the reception venue. So, while the others go to akad nikah (me gonna miss the akad) in the morning, both of us will be at the other side making sure things at the dewan are OK. Insyaallah... Lepas tu went to Nilai 3 with my 2 sisters - survey gift boxes for my SIL Kak Ros and to buy the goodie bags for anak yatim and tahfiz being invited to the wedding. There will be around 100 of them. Now tinggal nak beli barang-barang yang nak diisi dalam goodie bags ie chocolates and stuff. Sempat jugak membeli kain untuk buat baju kurung for the event. Kain murah-murah je. Meeting. Discussionnya 10 minit je. Lagi 1 jam tu borak-borak, kutuk-kutuk, ketawa-ketawa, makan-makan... The goodie bags and conta...

In a few days' time, there will be no more "shop renovation". Insyaallah, it will start operating this week. The only pending installation are air-cond (Suan promised to come tomorrow) and Unifi (also tomorrow). Sunday night, the first batch of stock came in. Now, as I write this, I believe our partner Archot is waiting for the 2nd batch at the shop. So, tomorrow I will start working on the inventory and other related matters while Hubby will work on moving his stuff and the bicycles he's currently servicing to the shop. We have 4 bikes at home now. The furniture from our current office - will see... perhaps on Wednesday night. We are not bringing much - just 2 chairs, the sofa, file cabinet and a few pedestals. We are still maintaining the office after all. Anyway, I plan to just open the shop, regardless whether the stocks have been arranged or not.  Three bikes already in. A few others are still in boxes. Hubby will need to assemble them. That black 29ner l...

Alhamdulillah, alarm system installed albeit got some wiring issues which will be ironed out tomorrow. Netting frame pun Hubby dah install dengan penuh kepayahan tapi looks very sturdy and neat. Insyaallah Sunday stock akan masuk. Not much for a start but we need to start somewhere.  Magic - patut kena screw 8 tempat, tapi ada 7 sahaja. Hehehe... Janji kuat. Banner dah siap. Tinggal gantung je sementara tunggu licence application approved.

Remember my story that we got awarded with a grant to develop an iBook? The one that we submitted the proposal about 3 years ago? The one we had to revise from being a web-based game to an iBook because after 1 year, we only got a respond and by then the game was already not-so-brilliant anymore? The one that we presented and pitched last year in April? And the one that we got letter informing we got the grant after the elections this year? Yup, we finally got the first cheque last Friday. Crazy! Three years! But I am not complaining lah. Alhamdulillah... Allah knows best kan... Amru, our partner doing the animation and video, has come back from his Hajj. So, timing is just right. Suddenly rasa macam banyak sangat benda nak buat. Memang banyak pun! In between working on the shop, now I have to start executing all the plans for the iBook. And funny that both projects going on concurrently are called "mysa". I came up with the name "mysa" for the children's we...

We were supposed to go to Jengka 19 last Saturday for the second leg of my SIL Mija's wedding. Everything already prepared. Discussions were mostly conducted via WhatsApp - what time to meet up, where, etc with the rest of the clan. However, on Friday, Hubby got a bad food poisoning + gastric + fever. Saturday morning he was still not well. So, we had to cancel our plans - we didn't go. We "followed" the journey via WhatsApp. Alhamdulillah, everybody selamat pergi dan selamat kembali. On Saturday afternoon Hubby was slightly better. Since the original plan was to stop by my Kak Long's place after the journey to go scout for some stuff, Hubby told us to go there instead. I cooked beef porridge (cincang halus-halus senang "hadam") for him to make sure he always have food (put in rice cooker on warm). Then, Aliyah and I went over to KJ. Last week, my Angah called saying our nephew Ejat's wedding planned for 2 Feb next year is being brought to 29 Dec...

Now that the epoxy paint has dried completely, today we paid for the display cabinets and got them placed in the shop. Then, went to Nilai 3 to buy netting frames. Air-cond still not installed. Our trusted contractor's store got broken into last week. Lots of his stuff got stolen. We just have to wait for a few more days until he's ready to come over. Hubby is really concerned about the back door which doesn't look too safe. We plan to get alarm to be installed and if budget permits, perhaps a small grill for the back door. You know, the ones which Chinese shops like to install. Those don't look so nice but they sure are sturdy. The contractor for our display cabinets said - "mahal sikit la, tapi malam-malam saya boleh tidur!".  We are actually good to start. Insyaallah tomorrow we'll start cleaning up.  The contractors setting up the display cabinets.

The charm bracelet I ordered on the day Aliyah got her UPSR results came on Tuesday. Very cute. Only get to give it to Aliyah on Wednesday night. She has been staying with her Mak Long since Sunday.  Alhamdulillah, with her well taken care of, both of us could focus on the shop. On Wednesday, we finally finished painting work - epoxy painting for the floor. The experience was horrible. The smell and fumes of the paint can really get into your head. I had headache the whole day especially since I worked on the edges with a brush. So, the contact to the paint was closer. By 4pm, I couldn't take it anymore. Had to let Hubby finish off the work while I had to sit in the car for some fresh air. Not so fresh la but since it was raining, there was no where else to sit.  Now that the bulk of the work is completed, next will be bringing in the display cabinets, installing wire netting, installing the air-cond and bringing in stock which before that needs to be ordered, then record...

Finally, semua walls dah siap cat. Including the walls at the entrance. Hari ni plan lari sikit. Our contractor yang patut pasang air-cond was not well. So, tangguh esok. Which means, we have to wait another day till the installation is finished before we can clean up the floor for the epoxy paint. Selagi ada benda-benda lain yang melibatkan any drilling atau yang sewaktu dengannya, we cannot start work on the floor. I really hope we can finish up everything by tomorrow or latest Thursday. Lepas tu dah boleh start putting stocks in. And then we can open shop. It doesn't matter if there are minor stuff unfinished, as long as we can start opening the shop. Rasa dah tak larat jadi buruh kasar nih! Tadaaa... dah siap! Entrance kena cat sikit sebab original paint was quite bad. Tapi buat macam "pintu gerbang" saja sebab ceiling agak tinggi tak sampai nak cat. I think the effect looks quite nice la kan... The whole shop is still full of fine dust. Dah banyak kali sapu pun...

Alhamdulillah... selesai my SIL's wedding. Lepas ni no more weddings! Semua yang patut kahwin, dah pun kahwin :). Kenduri kahwin memang sangat memenatkan. For both of us, it's double penat because we have been working on the shop. Even on Thursday, the day before balik Melaka pun we worked like crazy. Malam tu buat vanilla cake pulak untuk trifle untuk meja pengantin. Esoknya, pagi-pagi morning dah start buat trifle. Masukkan dalam small plastic containers bentuk love. Then glue ribbon and flowers. Ish, terlupa pulak nak ambik gambar... But looked very very nice :) Kat Melaka pulak, after helping out with all that needed to be helped (macam-macam lah, termasuklah menjadi bidan terjun membuat hantaran dengan Angah Mas sebab belah lelaki tetiba je bagitau nak tambah lagi 2 dulang hantaran - last minute suka-suka hati kan?), I went upstairs with a very bad migraine. By then dah 11pm. Then, anak-anak sedara yang kecik-kecik datang - "Mak Longgg, mak long dah tido keee......

What a productive day. And such a tiring day. Bangun pagi je dah rasa macam tak sempat nak buat semua benda yang kena buat hari ni. Mula-mula lepas breakfast, Hubby pegi jumpa our very first client - cikgu sekolah menengah yang tengah organise kayuhan this Saturday. Increase budget (yeay!). After that, dropped Hubby at the shop for him to start on painting work while I went to the office to finish other tasks. Dah settle a few things, pegi pulak my parents' place untuk petik rambutan. Sebenarnya, I ni dah dekat 5 tahun tak makan rambutan. Sejak ada allergy yang menyebabkan batuk yang sangat teruk once kena (like now), dah tak makan rambutan lagi. Tapi, oleh sebab hari-hari my father call (3 days in a row), I pun pergi lah. Ok gak, boleh bawak balik Melaka. Setelah kaki dan tangan kena hisap dengan nyamuk yang bermaharajalela, dan setelah memetik 9 ikat rambutan, dropped Aliyah and Linda to office and joined Hubby mengecat kedai. Alhamdulillah, by 6.30pm tinggal nak touch up sikit...

I selalu doa lepas solat - "semoga Allah anugerahkan rezeki dari punca yang tidak disangka-sangka...". Ada satu opportunity dari punca yang tidak disangka. Actually, not totally tak disangka lah. Just that timing tidak disangka. Salah timing pun iya juga. Our contact yang bagi project for Hubby to do that stint in Kota Damansara last year offered him another opportunity. Hubby had to decline and the offer was passed to me. It's a consultation work for an IT project in Bukit Jalil for at least one year. Very tempting. However, there were too many things to consider - transport (we are down to one car), Aliyah, the grant that was still pending, Aliyah, the new venture we are currently undergoing, Aliyah... Linda finally got hold of the officer handling our grant and was told that the grant will (finally) be disbursed earliest next week. We have been waiting for ages for it. Aliyah dah nak masuk sekolah menengah dah ni! The idea was first put forward when she was in Year...

Last Monday was literally a manic Monday. Early morning we registered Aliyah at her new school. Since anak gadis ku tak bawak balik surat penempatan when she was supposed to and put it instead in her personal folder at school, we didn't get to read thoroughly what was needed. So, first pit stop was her primary school to collect the folder - with all her certificates, etc. Then, to the new school. Apparently she was supposed to wear school uniform. Good thing the clerk at the school was not so fussy. Kena keluar kejap pegi photocopy some documents pulak and then come back. But very fast and easy registration. Come 31 Dec, we need to attend the official registration. After that off to JPN to make Aliyah's IC. Yup, tak buat lagi. Almost a month already! And salah timing as the place was packed with people. We had more than 100 in queue in front of us! Since dah pergi, hadap je lah. Mula-mula kena pegi update birth certificate (that took us more than 1 hour), lepas tu ambik nombo...

Aliyah throughout her 6 years of primary school... Sigh, she has grown up. Super fast! First day of school, Year 1, 4 Jan 2008. This was taken at sekolah agama which we eventually didn't enroll her. Isn't she cute?  This is Aliyah in 2009 - Year 2. She was still at SK Bangi. She moved to SK Seri Putra in April, if I'm not mistaken.  Last weeks of school Year 3, 2010.  Merentas desa in 2011 (Year 4). Masa ni Hubby ikut dia lari bagi semangat. She actually finished top 20 (again, if I'm not mistaken). Masuk marching Persatuan Bulan Sabit Merah masa Year 4, 2011.  2012 Hari Anugerah Cemerlang. She got first in class (Year 5).  First day of school Year 6, 2013. With Ain Maisarah her favourite author who came to her school this year.

Yesterday was the last time Aliyah walked out of the school gate as a student. As per my writing, I am so very emotional this week. Apparently, I am not alone (which proves that I am not insane). Hubby's ex-boss Hizwani shared the same sentiment. And it's his 4th child. And he shed some tears during the school's graduation ceremony. I am forever grateful to Aliyah's teachers - since her short stint at SK Bangi and then SK Seri Putra the year after. My prayer - semoga mereka mendapat ganjaran sebesar-besar ganjaran dari Allah swt. Amin...  That last steps through the gates...  Making faces... Rambut kena simbah tepung. Must be boys! Right after, lunch at her favourite place - Subway. Suka buat mata bulat besar macam tu!

I posted this on my GBS group today... #‎ UPSR‬  Semlm di FB semua kisah yg dpt 5A dpt ucapan tahniah. Hari ni saya nak kongsi cerita. Anak saya Aliyah keluar dari dewan dgn results di tangan. Muka kelat menahan perasaan. Dia tunjuk kertas - 3A2B. Saya peluk & cium - "Alhamdulillah, that is very good!". Dia terperanjat. Dia kecewa tak dpt 4A yg dia target. Saya rasa dia sgt kecewa sbb tak dpt 4A utk ibubapanya bukan utk diri sendiri. I told her - "Yeay, dpt result sama mcm Mommy dulu!". Lps tu baru muka mula ceria.  Saya sedih sebenarnya sbb anak2 kita jadi stress mcm tu. Apa pun yg anak2 kita dpt ialah yg terbaik yang Allah swt bagi. Saya akan terperanjat kalau Aliyah dpt  5A sbb saya tahu usaha & keupayaan dia. Saya bgtau dia - "Mommy selalu doa Aliyah dpt results yg terbaik, dan itu lah yg terbaik utk Aliyah Allah bagi". Lps tu baru dia reflect balik dan rasa puas hati dgn results dia. Dia kata - "OK kan Mommy? Dulu Aliyah selalu dpt 2A...

Finally, it's results day. Both of us went to the school at 10.30am. By then, the hall was already full with parents and kids. At the front, tables were arranged with all Year 6 class teachers seated. Everybody was waiting. The results were still at the school office. Despite being skeptical, Hubby sent SMS to get Aliyah results. I think the reply never came. The MOE's SAPS portal? Down. Why bother to offer online services when you can't cope with the traffic? If you can't cope, it's actually OK but you have to be honest. Just make an announcement saying the services will be offline from what time till what time (during the peak hours - I guess from 10am-1pm) due to the server's incapability of handling very high traffic. Then resume service. By then, people should have gotten the results already. I don't know. To me honesty is much more honourable than making people use your services and not getting any results.  Anyway, back to the hall. The headmaster ...

I realised something this morning... As I was sitting at the school hall this morning waiting for the ceremony to start, I looked around at the other parents. Most looked like they have taken time off from work, or leave. I know it's actually not easy for working parents to take time off or apply leave to attend such event. Some even come alone. Perhaps the other half couldn't make it. And I recall the years since Aliyah started school in 2006 (kindie at 5 years old), a year after I resigned from my previous company. Alhamdulillah, I can gladly say that I managed to attend all important school events throughout the years. I never miss any report card day. I attended all sports day that Aliyah participated, I sent her off to school trips, camps and classes, and fetched her right after. Yup, almost all events that needed a parent to attend - I attended. Except PIBG meetings. Because I just think it's a waste of time. Really. On the day my little girl graduated from prim...

We were at Aliyah's school today for her graduation ceremony. We were there yesterday because we had to come collect Aliyah's phone which got confiscated. And we will be there tomorrow to collect her UPSR results. Talking about spending time at her school these last few days of school term! Actually, duduk dalam dewan saja dah buat hati I ni sebak. My daughter is completing her primary school. She'll be in secondary school next year! Cepatnya besar... Sigh... And while waiting for the event to start, they played slideshows of photos of the Year 6 kids - from the day they pledged that they will strive to get good results early in the year, the photos of their journey towards it (the seminars, camps, classes, etc), their activities, and many more. Siap background lagu pun menghibakan hati... Sedih tau... We stayed till after Aliyah received her scroll and the performance during the first break - BM choral reading (entah apa berirama I dah tak ingat). Quite good actually. ...

Hari ini ialah Hari Kerahan Tenaga Sedunia. Hubby and I - we both did hard labour - painting the shop. Achievement tu... We started late because we had to attend Aliyah's graduation ceremony in the morning. After she received her scroll, take pictures, we both went for breakfast and then a short meeting with Hubby's friend to discuss signage for the shop. By the time we went back to school, the ceremony had just ended. We didn't miss much lah. A few pit stops - paid the grill guy and ordered glass display cabinets. Lepas tu terus ke kedai. We only stopped for lunch at 4.30pm. Itu pun after the Thai restaurant owner came for a visit. Then, the air-cond shop next door yang sama-sama sedang renovation work visited pulak... Alhamdulillah, so far our neighbours are OK. Semoga boleh sama-sama berniaga dalam harmoni. The work ended at 6.15pm. Kelam-kabut sebab Aliyah ada graduation dinner pulak. By the time we locked the shutters, both of us smell like Bangla lepas balik ker...