Living with Sarah

Frankly speaking, I jarang tengok news on TV and read newspapers - especially tabloids macam Harian Metro. Kadang-kadang bila terbaca macam buat dosa je baca benda mengarut yang boleh mendatangkan fitnah. Terlampau banyak cerita sensasi untuk lariskan jualan suratkhabar. Tak setuju walaupun I pernah kerja NST. Here's one story - a direct effect from such sensational story. Untuk friends working in the media - renung-renungkanlah. I am not trying to side anybody. I'm just writing from my personal observation. I don't personally know this teacher but I started to know about him when Aliyah was still schooling in Bangi Lama. Let's call him Cikgu H. Seorang mualaf and a divorcee. One fine afternoon, I witnessed one "scenario" that confirms why I am not a teacher, will never be a teacher and parents should thank God that I am not a teacher - while he is. I was waiting for Aliyah at the shades of a tree when I saw the teacher, very smart in his shirt and tie walki...

The repair works are almost completed. We saved up a lot on tiles. My brother Angah asked us to take the available tiles at his store. Mixing and matching. Hope they look OK. The affected areas in the kitchen has been painted, so is half of the washing area. I just don't get it. We discussed. Agreed it's to be painted light brown. Today I saw it's grey. Reason - light brown not suitable. Really? Why ask my opinion in the first place then? Might as well just paint it in whatever colour "suitable" and save me all the trouble. I don't like the colour. On its own, it might look nice. But to look at it as a whole - sorry. Of course, it doesn't matter what I think. Everything is expected to be completed on Friday. That means I get to start cleaning up the kitchen on Saturday. I plan to organise everything especially to make things easier for Aliyah - making drinks, getting cups, etc. When I'm done with that, I'm done with all. Now is to plan the next c...

Whenever I see posts on FB that say things like - TGIF, or Monday Blues, or yang sewaktu dengannya, I immediately know that those are the posts of people yang makan gaji. Entrepreneurs don't put such posts because it doesn't matter what day of the week it is, it's always work. Tak adanya nak feel relief because it's Friday or merungut-rungut that it's already Monday. Those yang ada business sendiri will say - "What? It's Friday already??" and "Good, it's Monday!". Because we need our staff to work! However, these past 3 weeks have been very hectic but time crawls like a snail. Today is only Wednesday??? With all the things that have been going on I thought it is already reaching weekend. Time doesn't fly this time around. I need the weekend to come fast because then our clients will be having a break and so can we!

Aliyah finally made me a card yesterday. She's been wanting to make it but sometimes things like this need encouragement or a little nudge. She was a bit depressed because she hasn't bought me a birthday present, and top it with the feeling of being "responsible" to make a card while her parents are busy with work, it can stress a little girl out. I finally asked her if she wants to make one. She was so happy that I told her I want a card! So, while I took a little (deserving) nap, she was busy at work. Later, we went to have roti bakar at Old Town White Coffee - her favourite - before picking myself a tudung at her expense. This is what some people don't get it in their heads - it's not about money. It's about spending some time with your loved ones to simply celebrate a special day. Just toast and coffee. Something that we don't usually have at the regular Hj Tapah nearby. Just a change of air. Just to talk. Just to laugh. And just for an hour. Tha...

Finally, after 10 solid days, the translation work was completed. It amounted to close to 90 pages. Kalau focus buat tu je, tak lah teruk sangat. But there are in between other work, proposals, meetings, deadlines, personal matters - a few times Hubby kena attend to my MIL yang tak sihat, dapur yang under maintenance, etc. Cabaran yang sangat hebat... Yesterday, orang kata dah tenggelam sampai paras hidung. From early morning I was tied up with the website (we completed the website in less than a day - replicate standard template, organise the contents based on client's brochures, add photos, customise tools ie map, etc - our partner was so happy next week insyallah ada potential project baru, yeay!). Hubby pulak only started work on the last document after 2pm - after he came back from Melaka bawak my MIL pegi check up hospital. By 6.30pm memang both of us rasa nak give up dah... Laptop pun dah merayu-rayu mintak rehat sebab lain macam je slownya. So, I asked for a few hours of ...

Our kitchen is closed for maintenance. So is our washing area. The house is in such a mess. Dust is everywhere. The only place "liveable" is the patio and upstairs. The living area is quite OK, but I can't really stand dust. Why the maintenance? Susah nak kata kan. Hanya dapat doa pada Allah semoga orang yang bertanggungjawab tu tidak buat benda yang sama di tempat lain dan dimaki oleh orang lain. Now we have to fork out a few thousands to repair the place. Insyaallah everything will be OK. Just need to be patient these couple of weeks. So, no cooking and washing. Makan luar and hantar dobi. Sigh... Dugaan dari Allah. Ada hikmahnya Allah duga dan bagi pelajaran. Sekarang dah pandai dan boleh bagi orang lain advice :).  Dinding kena repair... Lantai kasi pecah and buat balik...

It was a very quiet and the most quiet birthday ever. Tapi tak apalah... bukan muda lagi pun :). Alhamdulillah... saya sihat dan gembira mencapai umur 41. Hati tenang dan redha. And I am so, very blessed with whatever life gives me. Dan alhamdulillah syukur kerana minggu ni rezeki sangat murah. Hari Selasa, sedang bertungkus lumus menyiapkan translation work (document yg buat U-turn tu + document baru), tiba-tiba dapat beberapa berita gembira. Our favourite agency di PJ tu offer one writing job which insyaallah will start early next month. Then, our Kuantan client sent email telling our quotation last March (yes! March!!!) has been approved. Tapi kena hantar quotation baru sebab dah lama sangat kot. Then, our new partner dropped one urgent web development project due today. That's the reason why my birthday passed like any other day. Both of us were stuck at the office till late last night to finish up translation job and in between working on the web development. Kesian Aliyah...

Orang tua-tua kata - kalau dah rezeki tak ke mana. In our case, rezeki itu telah membuat satu pusingan U. Alhamdulillah... Walaupun pusingan U tersebut agak besar, sampai juga balik pada kami. It's the translation work for the insurance company. Agak memeningkan pada mulanya. At first, buat semua 10 documents, then kena split sebab terlebih budget - so kena submit two quotations, finally last Thursday we were told to do only one document. It was an evaluation because since the project is worth more that RMX,XXX, they had to get another quotation. We were against this free-lancer who submitted a cheaper pricing. So, both of us were given a document each to translate. We managed to finish the work right on the deadline - Friday afternoon. The free-lancer didn't deliver, so we finally got the job to do the remaining 8 documents. Deadline was today. We spent the whole weekend doing the work despite having visitors to the house - my sister and also my MIL. Today we submitted all c...

My Kak Long was back during the weekend. As usual, kerja bila bersama ialah mengukur panjang shopping complex. Right after Aliyah finished her tuition, we went to Alamanda - my little daughter dah janji dengan Mak Longnya nak belikan I hadiah. Tapi, sampai habis dia tak jumpa juga suitable present. I was dragged by my sister to the ladies section. I finally picked my own present - a new pair of shoes with comfy heels. Thank you darling sis! Muaaahhhh...

I didn't write about this before, but I actually dreamed of going to Makkah three times. All three on Thursday morning. All three dreams have some similarities. I don't know what the meaning is. I'm still searching. I had the dreams many many moons ago. But I never forget. The first dream I had - I actually found a photo that clearly described the experience which I posted earlier. The second dream - I saw the Kaabah from a far, from a high rise building. That picture I can imagine in my head - and I actually saw this photo of Datuk Siti & Datuk K taking photo during their Umrah this year that showed the Kaabah similar to my dream. The third dream was a bit weird. I saw the Kaabah from an average distance - in the middle between the two dreams (the first dream was right in front of me, the second dream was from a far - real far). And I saw it partially - hidden by a few buildings. I just saw the top half of it. Why I said it looked weird was because there was like a...

This week was spent mostly at home. Went to the office only one day. Aliyah cuti UPSR exam so we worked from home. Lagipun, datang rezeki dari punca yang tidak disangka (banyak weh doa mintak itu) - a translation job from my SIL yang baru bertukar kerja ke company baru. Alhamdulillah... Seperti biasa, buat translation memang terperuk depan laptop siang malam tak kira masa - sama ada kat luar tu matahari atau bulan - (waktu mandi, makan dan pakaian apa yang dipakai adalah irrelevant sama sekali) dan yang pasti akan mengalami sakit tengkuk, bahu dan belakang yang kronik, yang hanya akan hilang setelah kerja yang final siap dihantar. And this weekend will see just that because the deadline is on Tuesday. Anyway, today was Hari Raya day at Aliyah's school, as usual - pakai baju raya dan bawa kuih raya. As of past events, sure ada makan-makan. Today, when I fetched her from school, I asked in the car what she ate at school and she said - "kuih raya je". Apparently, cikgu kel...

I then found this shared on FB. Coincidentally, it sounds like a continuation. " God puts people in your life for a reason, and removes then from your life for a better reason ." Frankly, there are some people who have been removed from my life that make me feel so very glad. All is Allah's will...

Read this post shared on FB today: " We don't meet people by accident. They are meant to cross our path for a reason ". So very true. As I sit on my chair, I recall all the faces that gave impact to my life. Both good and bad!

Maha suci Allah... Just early tonight, Hubby was busy at his service bay with this set of gears (I think) that one of his friends sent over. Rasanya nak suruh switch to another bicycle. So, sedang dia membuka-buka tu, terjatuh satu screw dan terus hilang. Dah lah sizenya kecik, warna hitam pulak tu. Mula-mula dia cari sendiri. Tak jumpa. Then, roping in Aliyah, the three of us searched the patio using torch lights (macam cerita CSI tu - lampu terpasang pun pakai torch light kan). Rasanya semua tempat dah cari, malangnya tak jugak jumpa... Hubby dah agak cuak (is this the right word to use?). Makan pun dah tak lalu. Bendanya memanglah kecik tapi kalau hilang silap-silap kena beli one whole set! Before I went off for dinner with Aliyah, I pesan kat dia - "stop kejap untuk solat, minta Allah bagi ilham mana nak cari benda tu". Sepanjang dinner, I actually dok doa dalam hati semoga jumpa balik screw tu. Kesian pulak kat mechanic tu. Then, just after Aliyah went off to sleep, ...

1. I spent half day today doing wireframes for a partner's presentation tomorrow. Wireframes are seriously not easy even though the end product looks like - senang je buat ni... Most important is the content categorisation, positioning and flow of thought. Also, must create something new - meaning tak tiru mana-mana website sesuka hati. Doing a set drains one's energy... I sent the work over and got a big thank you from our partner. Insyaallah, kalau ada rezeki, it will be our first project together. Praying for a good partnership. 2. Aliyah makan sangat banyak at her Mak Long's house. The change of air seemed to suit her very well. Mak Longnya siap kata - duduk dengan dia seminggu guarantee can gain weight. Her appetite might be normal for other kids, but for her, to eat like that is just abnormal!   The truth is - we did a 3-day shopping mall marathon. On Sunday, we went to Subang Parade. Tujuan utama ialah mencari undergarments for my niece Titin yang sedang pre...

Ada orang kadang-kadang rasa dia hebat. Kalau dapat sakitkan hati orang, rasa dah achieve something big. Kan? Tapi, sebagai manusia, we have to see the two sides of a coin. Contohnya, kita hempas pintu bila orang datang menziarah parents kita untuk tunjukkan rasa tak puas hati dan marah kita pada orang. Puasnya hati dapat buat tu. Tapi, the other side of the coin is - kalau lah salah satu punca orang tak datang ziarah sebab malas nak layan hempasan pintu, agak-agak dapat dosa tak? Hmmm... Orang akan fikir - apa lah hal buat kerja bodoh hempas-hempas pintu ni? Kalau tercabut lah pintu tu, sapa nak repair? Orang tua jugak... Lepas tu, kita kalau terserempak orang kat luar kita pun tekan minyak kuat-kuat dan berdesup pergi tinggalkan asap dengan rasa bangga kita berjaya tunjukkan marah kita dan buat orang marah. Tapi, the other side of the coin is - orang tak marah pun. Rasa pelik adalah. Dan dalam hati akan berkata: "Kesiannya buat kerja bodoh macam tu...". Nasib tak baik, or...

Cukup 2 hari beraya di shopping mall. Sudah-sudah lah tu... Hari ni ke Paradigm pulak. Punyalah dekat dengan rumah my Kak Long. Masalahnya dia pun first time jugak pergi. Selalunya explore tempat baru ni seronok dengan Nizam & Zura. Barulah dia punya riuh macam nak tercabut bumbung kereta. Side effect beraya di shopping mall, seperti juga ke rumah terbuka (tapi makan free yek?) ialah perut yang sangat penuh. Hari ni melayan selera Aliyah. It's all about her kind of food, sampai Mak Longnya pun sanggup ke Sushi King walaupun sebelum ni memang tak nak langsung. Rupanya pagi-pagi dia dah isi perut dengan nasi impit dan rendang. Now, Aliyah is sleeping soundly by my side dengan sedikit tummyache. Kes makan macam-macam lah ni... She ate so much today! Right after Sushi King, kat Paradigm boleh pulak makan pretzel... Lepas penat merayau, singgah kat Pancake House makan banana pancake.