Living with Sarah

It's been almost a week now. I dreaded writing about this loss. Because it's just so surreal. A loss, any loss, can be so heart wrenching. My week, thus far, has been clouded in somber mood. I lost another sister-in-law, Lia, on Sunday the 23rd. She passed at 12.35am due to lung cancer. She's the wife of my brother Abang Ben. I said it's so surreal because nobody knew she was ill until the very last week. I went to visit the night after I got to know, but I didn't get to see her. At that time, the aim was to boost her spirits to fight her illness. So, too many visitors with teary eyes might send the wrong message. Two days later she was critical. Still I didn't get to see her. I was down with fever and my usual horrible, horrible cough. I planned to see her on Sunday morning. I believed I should be OK by then. But then, I received message on Saturday night from my brother at 11.20pm that my SIL has gotten worse. I straight away got dressed and both Hubbs a...

Life is as usual though less lonely because anak comel is home. Semalam dia call around noon -"Mommy, class Aliyah esok semua cancel. Nak balik boleh?". Hmmm... Anak bertuah ni memang ingat Melaka tu depan rumah je eh? Lepas settle buat laundry segala, dan selepas habis tengok episode 1 of Crash Landing On You, terus Mommy dia drive down to fetch her 😅. Mommy dia bukan ada benda nak buat pun! So, she'll be around till next week sebab study leave dah start. Semoga dia study hard and smart dan semoga dia berjaya dalam final exam dia starting next Friday. Doakan ya... I finished making the black palazzo for that customer on Monday. I ni kalau buat custom-make pants ni memang akan berdebar-debar. Risau kot customer tak suka. But then, this one I memang buat dengan sangat detail dan kemas. Benang overlock guna warna hitam. So, black thread on black fabric memang nampak very nice. Alhamdulillah the customer was very satisfied. Siap kata - great workmanship! Terharu akak 😅. ...

Tak ada ke mana pun... As usual, nothing much happened. My fitness regime masih ditahap lama. Kelas belum start pergi lagi. Minggu ni batuk pulak. Jadinya target minggu depan. Lama tak kena batuk macam ni. Jenis yang ada kena-mengena dengan allergy macam dulu-dulu. Dada dah sakit ni... Memang tak dapat nak tidur sangat. Baru nak lena, terjaga sebab batuk. Sighh... Samsung challenge progress - 2nd star dah lebur. 3rd star ni tinggal sehari saja. But then, disebalik malas nak bersenam ni, I actually lost 1kg. Without doing much. Itulah buktinya makan luar sebenarnya tidak begitu sihat. Kat kedai kalau ceduk lauk... mak ai... minyak dia boleh buat goreng lagi satu lauk. Since I sekarang masak lunch for myself dan dinner for both of us, memang cuba untuk eat clean and healthy. Most days lah! Ada hari masak rendang ok!  Dua hari lepas punya cerita. Ni memang Hubb's favourite - rendang ayam pencen. Rasanya sekali hadap, setengah ekor boleh habis dia sorang! I think Hubbs ha...

February brings new routines to our little family. Hubbs started a new full-time job starting Monday. He's been free-lancing and working from home for the past almost 8 months. Hilang sudah kawan lunch I 😔. Selalunya dalam 11.30am we would go out for lunch together. Hmmm... pasal tu la berat I naik kot kan 😄? Jadinya, mula minggu ni, pagi-pagi sediakan bekal Hubbs pergi kerja. So far egg sandwiches saja. Today mushroom pies beli semalam. Nak bekalkan nasi dan lauk dia kata nanti dulu. Bila tengok cara dia masukkan bekas bekal dalam laptop bag, tau lah kenapa. He would shove it in the side pocket. Adehh... kalau bawak bekal nasi dengan lauk, by lunch time, mau bercampur-aduk dah isi bekas tu! So, lunch sekarang I makanlah apa yang ada dalam fridge. Tapi bagus juga sebab dah tak ada kawan nak makan, baik I puasa! So far, dinner akan masak.  Semoga istiqomah!  Semalam merayap sorang-sorang ke Aeon Nilai beli groceries. Singgah makan kat Burger King. Bosan eh makan senso...

Sejak balik dari Jeju, rasanya sebulan at least 2 kali masak Korean Tofu Stew ni. Sementara masih ada lagi Gochugaru dalam simpanan. It's a very healthy meal. Dan senang nak buat. Bila orang tanya rasa macam mana, I cakap - Alaaa... macam rasa asam pedas. Tapi I tak guna kelp sebab tak ada, so ganti dengan kuib ikan bilis. Bila buat sendiri, ikut apa saja yang ada dalam fridge. Selalunya I akan letak soft tofu, ayam dan mushroom. Tapi kalau tak ada, belasah saja apa yang ada. Janji ada rasa stew 😋. OK anak comel dear, here's your Mommy's version of Korean Tofu Stew. Lama betul Mommy tak share recipe for you. Korean Tofu Stew 2 soft tofu (yang square) - cut into bite-size pieces 1 pack enoki mushroom 2 pieces of chicken with bones (thighs/ribs/drumstick/wings) - chopped into small pieces 1/2 white onion (bawang Holland) - sliced 2 garlic (minced) 2-3 tablespoon of gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes) 1 anchovies cube (selalunya guna Knorr) 1 stalk of green onio...

Time really flies. It's already February. Turbulent times we are going through now I must say, and it's only 2nd month of the year. Doa yang baik-baik saja... Anak comel tak balik minggu ni. Baru hantar dia balik Rabu lepas. Lagipun dia ada one mid-term paper this Tuesday. Then it'll be 3 weeks of classes before study leave. Then 2 weeks of final exams. Then, semester break and she'll be in her 3rd semester. Oh my!  While I ponder why things around me are moving so fast, my sewing project is progressing. I have started with the new batch of curtains. Dah siap 5. Kain pun dah habis potong. Should be able to complete this batch around next week, insyaallah. Material yang ni ringan sikit daripada yang sebelum ni. So, laju sikit jahit. I dah jumpa new K-drama to watch - Memories of Alhambra. Dah tengok 3 episodes. A totally different storyline from Chocolate. So far OK lah. Maybe baru sangat cerita dia belum develop. Or maybe because still tak boleh move on from...

Thursday 30th January was our 20th wedding anniversary. 20 years huh? That long 😅. Plus 8 years of knowing each other that adds up to 28 years. Mak ai! Rasa ancient gila 😆. We didn't really celebrate. Hubbs was out for meetings the whole day. I was also out and about doing errands. Around noon an ex-colleague sent me a message asking for quotation for translation service. So, spent the whole afternoon doing quotation, timeline and updated profile. Alhamdulillah masih lagi ingat macam mana nak buat project timeline! By the time nak keluar ke Tabung Haji for the errand, dah 2pm. Dah la tak breakfast, lunch pun tak sempat. Tabung Haji pulak ramai orang. Apparently tengah time orang buat rayuan haji. Bila Hubbs balik around 5pm, dia pun tak lunch. See... sehati sejiwa kan 😁? Jadinya we went out for anniversary lunch cum tea cum dinner at 5.30pm! Celebrate kat Satay Haji Samuri je! No, of course we didn't finish all those satays walaupun lapar ya amat! Happy annive...