Living with Sarah

The latest Harry Potter book is out today. For the first time since I started reading the books, I didn't grab my copy on the very day it's being launched. Should I? I don't know. Still thinking. Harry Potter is supposed to end at book 7. That's it. No matter how successful it has become, that was the promise made by JK Rowling. This new book is not a novel. It's the script of a play. I was at MPH this afternoon and I did have a look at the book. Quite pricey at RM119 if I'm not mistaken. And yes, it's a very thick script. I read some reviews and it's supposed to be quite good. But it's not really written by JK Rowling, even though the story is based on her ideas. I don't know whether I want to read about what happen 19 years later. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna and the rest will forever be kids/teenagers to me. In Book 8 they are adults with kids. I'm still thinking. Should I?

Adoii... have not been so well for the past few days. Flu lah kot ni. Running nose, kepala berat, rasa macam demam tapi tak ada temperature sangat. Paling tak best early morning and at night. Hubbs has been worry sick. Kalau dia ada memang terus masuk kereta pegi klinik. Since ikut kepala sendiri, memang malas betul nak pegi. Insyaallah esok. Anak kesayangan kata esok dia nak bawak Mommy dia pergi klinik. Ye la tu... I think what makes it worst is that I'm still doing this system testing. Memang mencabar kesabaran betul. Things yang dah pass previous test, bila test balik fail pulak. Give up betul. Sample test data ada banyak numbers yang kena double check every time before submit. Those numbers yang buat juling mata. Maklumlah, nak cater for juta-juta punya projek. Kita yang tak dapat projek juta-juta yang kena sediakan system :(. Aliyah will start her ujian lisan and oral test next week. There are 3 sessions altogether. Risau juga ni. I hope she can overcome her shyness and s...

It's Hari Raya makan-makan time with the usuals and a few more sometimes usuals :). As usual (berapa banyak usuals?), we do it on a working day. Alhamdulillah I didn't have to attend any meetings today. It's potluck and I volunteered to bring rendang hijau ayam. Terjumpa resepi viral di FB. Macam senang. Tapi still tak juga pedas menyengat. Kena tambah cili api lagi! Food lain sangat awesome. At this moment, I am still very full. But the best part was - I was told - hey, kau dah kurus! Yeayyy... walaupun the weight loss is not so significant, I guess puasa month, a bit of food control, water laced with lemon or pomegranate vinegar (supposed to buy apple cider vinegar tapi jumpa pomegranate yang nampak lagi menarik) and my jogs/walks did help to tone the body a bit. Tapi kalau nak kira dari awal tahun, I did actually shed 3kgs. Dapat lagi 2kg pun dah cukup :) Rendang hijau ayam or rendang cili api ayam yang pedas light-light saja. Juri-juri kelas masakan kata sedap. Al...

Hubbs was back during the weekend. Kali ni rasa lama sangat nak cukup 2 weeks :(. Sigh... It was a weekend of makan-makan. On Saturday, we started with lunch at our new neighbour's house next door. Nama pun Jimmy, sama macam neighbour lama. Lepas tu hantar Aliyah ke Anjung rumah terbuka kawan dia. Then, at 6pm we went over to Kili's house. Hubbs dapat juga makan rendang itik hasil masakan Nor :). Others were there except Pijal. Food sebagai bekalan pun agak plentiful. Today I just reheated the food we got yesterday - satay, rendang itik, nasi impit... Masing-masing ada deadline for tomorrow so focus on work lah. Hubb's flight was 9.50pm but then 6pm dah kena ada di airport sebab ada meeting. So, it was touch and go sahaja. See you in 2 weeks' time...

I finally realise that I have a 30-minute window between sending Aliyah to school and going to my mother's place. How come I didn't see it before? Usually, I would go home after sending Aliyah to school. I then spend the 30 minutes preparing food for my mother (if I'm cooking her something). Or if I plan to buy, I would use it to watch the news, or even catch a few winks. This morning I started my walk/jog. I just needed to adjust my time a bit. Start 10 minutes earlier than usual. So, while I prepare breakfast for Aliyah, I also prepare food for my mother at the same time. Then, a dash upstairs to get ready while Aliyah take her breakfast. Hasilnya? Yup! A good 27-minute of exercise. And amazingly, after Ramadhan, quite good stamina. I actually ran half the time (well, tak aci sangat sebab ada time turun bukit!). Must be because I've lost some weight :).  Setelah 2 bulan, kasut ini bergerak juga akhirnya! I parked my car just down the road at Legundi. Then ...

I'm supposed to be in Melaka right now. For that workshop. I was supposed to handle one group of SMEs for this module I am very familiar with. I am one of only 3 people who are familiar with the module apart from the developer and the team leader. I don't think the others know the module that well. All was OK until the last minute. I didn't feel good inside. Aliyah has been sulking every time I brought the subject up. On Monday, when I told her the things she needed to pack and do when I'm not around, still she sulked and started to act cold. I even got a bit angry that I asked her to please give me some support. I told her things are difficult for me now and I don't purposely want to leave her. I needed to work. She was OK a couple of hours later. It was then that I knew I couldn't go. I have learned to appreciate my daughter's instincts. And I know how uncomfortable it would be for her to stay at someone else's house even for just 3 days. I have ar...

Jaga orang tua bukan senang. Paling penting kena sabar. Banyak-banyak sabar. Selalu cuba jaga mulut jangan sampai terkeluar perkataan yang mungkin boleh sakitkan hati my mother. No matter what she does and say, sabar. Kalau rasa macam nak terkeluar tu, tutup mulut rapat-rapat. Jawab pun jangan. Pandang pun jangan. Just ignore. This story has got to do with the pisang tanduk yang Hubbs turunkan last week. Setelah seminggu lebih, satu biji dah masak. So, malam semalam I masak pengat. My mother memang sangat suka makan anything yang berasaskan pisang. Lepat, cekodok, pisang goreng, pengat pisang... Pagi tadi bawa untuk dia. I tak panaskan sebab she likes to eat little by little. Kadang-kadang dari pagi sampai petang dia ambil masa nak habiskan food. I guess the best way is to keep the pengat pisang chilled. Takut basi pulak. So, I was at the living room having short chat with my brother, as usual, when my mother called. She called my SIL's name first, then my brother's name,...