Salah Potong ...

Monday, December 24, 2007

Nothing life-threatening. So, you guys can sit down now.

It's 5:42 now and we're still at home. I was mem-fitting-kan school uniforms for the girls and since I have smaller than average Asha, a lot needs to be done. Btw, once I was finished, Ariz and Adani fell asleep and MrGart has been nappping loong before I started the sewing.

Anyways.

Get this. While I was mulling over the girls' kain buju kurungs and thinking about the emails about the pahala for a wife/mother who sews her own clothes and feeling good about it. Well, not that good, cos I kept poking my fingers with the darn pins.

I got Aliya and Asha to line up and try the bajus and kains in front of me while I pin the amendments to be sewn. While I mused over "keciknya si Asha ni", I cut all 4 kains about 4 inches off. Then suddenly realised that I tried Aliya's bajus andkains on Asha!

Damn!

Opps .. Ariz's up. Gotta sambung later, kay?

Post Raya

Fooohh lamanya tak kerja ..

Still on leave, unlike SquareAss who's lounging aimlessly trying hard to work at the office. BTW, glad you decided to hop over here for good. We sure miss you. *uwek*

Anyways.

Just had lunch of soto just now and the kids have all now tramped up here and watched Asha's concert video. Jangan kacau aku sudahle.

We came back from Sg. Petani yesterday. Was there since Hari Raya Haji. Selamat Hari Raya to y'all! We missed the korban this year to a shortage of dough and bad planning.

Nothing much happened at Kedah. Took the kids to mandi sungai at Tupah. The girls grinned and bear the cold while my macho Ariz refused flat to get in the water. He hated the stones and upon a lot of persuasion, sat of a big rock and spent the whole time throwing stones. Cehs!

Saturday was spent at my MakTam's place in Jeniang and it was foodie affair. We had sup daging korban cicah air asam, and air lawa. Hati & limpa masak kicap, ikan pekasam, ikan patin masak tempoyak, jellies, fruitcakes, spaghetti bolognese and entah apa-apa lagi la. Pasti aku naik barang sekilo dua. Cehs!

Ooooo I finished the Ayat-Ayat Cinta the much talked about novel. Definitely a novel pembangun jiwa as it was touted. I had much admiration of Fahri and Aisha and Maria. The language although is Bahasa Melayu still sounded a little Bahasa Indonesia to me and I didn't understand certain words. Kena tanya diah nanti ni. But I thought it was beautiful story, weaving many little stories centering around Fahri and it certainly taught me a lot of things I never knew before. Btw, I hardly read Bahasa Malaysia story books and this sure suprises me. May get more, who knows!

Just realised that nextx week school reopens. We've gotten the books for Aliya & Asha, their school uniforms ( 4 sets each), High School Musical bags for all 3 girls, paid Adani's kindy fees and her uniforms. What I need to do now is to amend baju kurung, fix school badges and ooo schoes! We haven't gotten them yet, along with socks. Ni kena pegi Subang Parad@ jap lagi ni.

Opps.. Ariz nak memanggil. I shud be in the office by Wednesday.

Water Babies and Clowning Around

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Dated pics actually. These were taken during our excursion to JB last month. Lucky we were there then, otherwise we'd all be swimming around in floodwaters by now, looking at the recent flood woes affecting Pahang & Johor.

Anyways.

Ariz, Adani & Asha were just ecstatic to discover the bath tub in the hotel and would not miss each get-ready-and-shower time to splash about in the tub. Apa-apala. Asalkan bahagia. Bukan aku yang nak kena basuh nanti. Heh!


Adani in her typical pose.


The three water babies in the tub.

And these are clown cupcakes from the night before. Scrumptious really! They are Nigella Laws0n's basic cupcake recipe and it's truly a fail-safe recipe. Trust me! If I couldn't mess it up.

All Better Now

First of all, I'd like to wish Roti Happy xx Birthday and hope that she has a wonderful birthday she so deserves this year. And I hope that Firhad finds a bakery shop which sells the cake with as many candles as he needs. He he he! Muahs!

Anyways.

Thanks for all your well-wishes. Ariz is better now. He got better as quick as he got sick. On Monday, I took another day off as I woke up on Monday morning groggy as hell, as I was up from 2:30 to 5:00 am sponging him down with a 38.6C temp. But he was just warm, no shivering nor shaking, so I just gave him PCM and skipped the suppository.

By Tuesday morning, Alhamdulillah we went through 24 hours without any fever at all. Alhamdulillah! I'm just so thankful and so blessed that Ariz is better now. And immediately he got back to his mischievious self. Climbing and tumbling over gleefully and becoming bossy again. I was ecstatic to end the Ariz-the-Grump days and my hips can relax from carrying him 24-7. Phew!

40 Degrees of Separation

Saturday, December 15, 2007

From the office, that is.

I've been kept from the office since Thursday. My love-leh mischievious lil' boy came down with a snifffles, a runny and comot nose and has been for the 2 nights, running a 40 degrees fever on me, every 6 hours.

Adoi!

And biasala. My normally working ear thermometer refused to work, even with the mahal than normal lithium batteries on. So, last night I had no choice but to get new themometer. Sengkek babe!

And to make matters worse. Ariz simply refuses to take meds. Makes me wonder. All this time of begging of meds only work when one's well. Bila sakit tu, siap kena pelekoh (to quote Mrgart). 2 adults has to restrain him and I had to squirt a little, manage his bubbling and his hissing spits! Dang! I just hope enough got into him.

Tonight, I surrendered and succumbed to antibiotics for Ariz. Right now, I still smell of Zithrom@x from the struggle half an hour ago. He's chirpy and active now and I pray that he'll sail through tonight with no 40 degrees fever.

The past two nights, I was in constant alert mode. I checked him temp at least 50 times during the 39-40 degrees periods. This time the virus or bacterial his body is fighting are hardier, I think cos even after a supp up his butt, it took more than an hour of sponging down to get him cool again. And Ariz threw a HUGE tantrum every time I had to sponge him down. He cried and I would cry too. Sedeh woy! Kesian. This time apart from getting lembik, he would shiver, violently. That makes it doubly hard to sponge him when he's crying out. "Mummy, cold, Mummy, s-juk".

Anyway. Pray for his speedy recovery and I hope we'll pass this through with no febrile fits. Insyallah! *ngantuk*

Eye Candies

Thursday, December 13, 2007

I dunno about you guys but I've never thougt of myself as being married, old and not worthy to appreciate eye candies in the form of gorgeous men.

It's not that I'm in some strange ways dissatisfied with my life and it's not that I'm looking for something MORE. It's just like looking at flowers. Checking out new species of flowers, a new breed, an eye-catching at that too.

Anyways.

Before MrGart threw me yet another murderous look, a disclaimer here. MrGart is by far and wide (he!) is the handsom-est guy ever. He knows it and I know it. We are a happily married couple. Have been for 11 years and 13 days. We are content.

But I love looking at other men, no intention to do anything whatsoever. Just looking. Remember the looking at flowers, new breed metaphor. It's like that. I'd love to guess what theire lives are like.

Anyways.




Enter MysteriousGuy #1.

He came with his whining, cutesy 4 year old girl who joined Aliya, Ayisha and Adani (now out of the class)'s swimming lessons. MysteriousGuy #1 has the soppy, droopy looks on his face. His eyes are not unlike those of the Hush Pupp1ies' dog's, very please-hold-me, and i-need-you as well as you-are-my-everything just oozes out of his eyes. He's not muscular, but slender. He walks with such a lazy stroll and his hands are just screaming hold-me-comfort-me. Yup, THAT type.

So, since I was doing nothing the whole hour by the poolside (light 's a but dim for reading), I imagined that this guy was a divorcee. His wife ran off with another man, his best friend, maybe, that's why he's so solemn and sad.

And for the first 3 lessons, he came alone, holding his frail little baby girl's hands and looking away so full of thoughts. Well, imagien my suprise when he turned up Tuesday night with none other than his wife. At least I think she was. But they didn't hold hands, or anything like that. In fact on the last few minutes, both of them were sitting side by side, each curled their legs AWAY from each other. AHA!

Now MysteriousGuy #2. I know his name, I know where he lives and he knows I'm amrried with 4 kids, especially when I brought Ariz to him last night for his fever. Not so mysterious but triggered MrGart's jealousy. MrGart didn't know that while I was in the consultation room, I found out that he lives in BJ, he rarely goes out, he's attached to Hospital K1ang. He's drop dead gorgoues I can you that! So, when I was very friendly-ish bid him Goodnight before we left the clinic, MrGart launched into his "oo dulu kata I hensem, dah boroi sikit, mulalah tu".

And then the kids joined in.

"Mummy ada boyfriend baru ke?"

"Nanti Mummy kawin dengan Dr R, Daddy pulak jadi doctor" - Adani's jibe.

And a whole lot of boyfriends talks.

Hmmmmmm .. Ooohh I almost forgot.

These love-leh cuppies are called the Black-Bottomed Cupcakes a.k.a Bontot Hitam. Ha ha ha ah ha! Sorry babes, I just couldn't help myself. It's chocolate at the butts and creamcheese topping on top. Bontot Hitam .. ka ka ka ak!

Baked these last night in gratitute to Norlizma, Amin, ZulMN, Day, Mosh, Hez, Haiza, Aini and a few other who I frantically managed to pester to find ONE lousy but super-important 1998 letter which finally miraculously turned up. PHEW!

Project Rainbow Cake

Monday, December 10, 2007



Last night's results.

Forgot to do the clouds at the foot of the rainbow but I guess this was alright. Ayisha beamed and the kids were swooned.

He he he.

Me. Smug.

Being a Boy

This is not a friendly territory. And an alien one at that too. At least to me. Especially for me with my three gorgeous girls.

But I guess this is a welcome relief from months of seeing him with a nekkid Barbie under his arms, pushing a purple stroller.



And this is definitely a major phew from months of persuading him to take off that purple tudung off his face, while he feeds a green teddy from a small pink cup and Ayisha & Adani tending to a sick teddy on the same bed.

PHEW !!

There was a time when he was into lions (from Narnia) , zebras, elephants and eagles, I was kinda of happy for him being developmentally sound. Until he really thought he was one of these animals. Remember the roaring and growling to EVERYBODY and crawling under tables, and eating off the floor and licking EVERYTHING.

And since we never have robots, or these Power Rangers or GranSazer things at home, he was never really introduced to them. Except at Nobita's place. Her Imran and Irfan are staunch fans of these laser-fighting tight-wearing undies warriors. I'm not a big fan to these things and am more worried about the violent nature of it.

It never caught on.

Until Transformer the movie came up. Even I was a sudden fan.

Ariz was transformed. Everything is a o-bot (robot). Even the transmission towers dotting the landscape of the country are o-bots. We succumbed to the fascination, especialy MrGart. WHo has bought a small squadron of these robots at home.

Boys really do take these things at heart. He plays with them contently. He takes a robot and bangs them against the lion. Again and again.

Last Saturday, while we shopped at Tesco waiting for the girls from their English & Maths lessons, he made me pick these up. Nasib baik murah!



And this was where we were and what he did, while we waited.

I have a boy, alright!

Bacteria Macteria .. Me Gone Bonkers

Thursday, December 6, 2007


Let's not make any mistake.

I have tonnes of work, but I just can't stop thinking about this.

You see, I read that if you theoretically speaking, take every single bacteria from the face of the earth, and down it's core and spread them all over the earth, even the seas, they'll cover a depth of 15 meters all around the earth. Makes me squirm!

And there are peculiar things about them. One I know that that they divide super-rapidly. One single bacteria is able to replicate about 280 million times when we are barely completing one single division. And 1 in every million division will result in a mutation which most times just die off.

But sometimes, the mutation gives them an edge, an advantage and probably an immunity against an otherwise potent antibiotic. And the magical is that the bacteria who gains this info, SHARES it with others. Unlike some people who kedekut ilmu. Ha ha ha .

And that's how a whole species of a bacteria becomes immuned to an antibiotic which normally kills them.

There!

Now I can start to work. Bit late eh?

Embergris

Or was it ambergris?

Anyways.

It's what's been accumulating in the sperm whale's stomachs whose staple diets are giant squids that no one has ever seen before. When a sperm whale eats a giant squid, the beak which is indigestible accumulates and over time turns to embergris.

And guess what?

This enbergris is used as a fixative in perfurmes. So, next time you spray our Channe1 Number 5, or Eternity M0ment, or take a whiff from your man's chest of Dunhill, remember that one of the must-have ingredients are giant squid's beaks!

Yikes!

Teeming With Trivial Points

You know I mentioned that I'm reading Bill Bryson's A History of Nearly Everything. Very slowly, I should say, since I'm also reading 5 other books at the same time.

Anyway, very slowly too cos I love it too much and I keep going back and forth, back and forth. You see, I'm a sucker for scientific titdbits. I love facts about the planetary system, the black hole, the Big Bang, how dinaosaurs dissapeared off the face of the earth, the Earth's core, the unicellular beings whose number outnumbers us greatly.

But this book tells me about the metals in the earth's core and about theories how life began on earth. I'm a scientific person, I love to think how things come together but I also am a failthful servant of Allah. And I know Darwin's theory is wrong, but this book tells me a lot more than that. It tells me that although man now, knows more than we did 200 years ago, what we know is what Allah lets us know. It's nothing new to Allah. It's his rules and his creations, like us too, God's creations.

There are a lot of things we have yet to understand like how giant squids become the sperm whale's staple diet when no one's seen one ever. And we know more about the surface of Mars than we do our own sea beds.

But the more I know, the more I affirm my belief in Allah because it really is a miracle, this Earth we're all sitting right now.

Allahu Akbar!

Water Babies

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

These are my 3 girlie water babies, busy kicking in the water during their lessons last night at Pus@t Aku@tik Sel@ngor.



Aliya can actually do breaststroke well, but she never finishes her free-style, so I guess she might as well start again. The class was pretty basic for her but I guess she'll just have fun then. When she goes up her levels, then she'll start getting competitive.

Asha refused lessons with Instructor Lee, 2 years ago together with Aliya and since she's the free willy type, very the adventurous and jumps into deeper water with just the chest-squares-body-harness float which only she is comfortable to use, I guess she'd better start learn proper swimming strokes and she loved it from the wide grins on her face last night.

Adani is the cautious one, look before you leap kind. But we're taking a chance here since both sisters are in, let's just slot her in. She's not afraid of water, none of my babies are ever. But she's very safe. She wouldn't thread on places she's never ventured before i.e. "I'll stay in my float if I can't feel the bottom of the pool" or "I'll hang out at these steps". True enough. Last night, she refused to join the class but in half an hour's time, she came and said that she was ready to join and there she was having a bubbly time. I was glad that she took hold of her fear and realised it herself cos I don't think forcing her would do it.

By the way, the entry level is called the JellyFish level. They're not expected to do much, just emulate what jellyfishes do, with extra pair of hands and a few tentacles short.



Now, Ariz, Ariz, Ariz. He's the fearless type. We introduced water to all the 4 kids as early as 6 months old and almost twice a month, so I guess if they're fearless, they were trained to be so. None of the was afraid of water at all. But with Ariz, lucky us, we drilled into him to put his ring float on when he jumps into the water. So that really a comfort to me,though you can't blink when he's in the water. He hops, he jumps, he runs and jumps into the pool. He flip-flops and he splashes. He really has a whale of a time in the water, this one is.

And if anyone needs swimming classes, he and Asha do. But they've refused Ariz. Too young, won't be able to take directions. True true true. So, there he was last night, swimming around by himself.

By the way the pool was abuzz with activities last night which suprised me tremendously. There were about 7 lessons simultaneously in the 2 pools outside, from beginners, intermediate and even advanced swimmers. I did not peek into the indoor pool. My oh my! Shah Alam kids sure are busy in the water, eh?

Cuti-Cuti Malaysia .. Phewww!

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

We're back!

I'm back and what a whirlwhind trip that was.

First of all, the camera, fully charged was left taking pictures on top of the TV cabinet at home. So, all these were taken by MrGart's N95 and since I'm not a huge fan of phone cameras, I just stayed away from taking, just standing in one or two.

Anyways.

Spent 2 nights at JB. Danga Bay was a BLAST!! Giler happening! Both nights were spent there. Dinner, rides, train rides, walks by the seaside. And of course the kids drained MrGart's wallets with wanting to get on EVERY ride there was. I physically bodily took him away from his favourite brown horse ferris wheel.

We spent Saturday night at my auntie's place in Jasin, a bungalow in a middle of nowhere and I had goosebumps but it was good meeting relatives. Sunday was spent driving from Jasin to Ayer Keroh. Ariz saw the bullock carts after we had lunch at the eMcD and we went for a round. Busuk! Another leg from Ayer Keroh to Senawang, visiting my Mak Ndak and ailing Tok. After devouring the late lunch of udang galah, we hopped over to Nilai 3 where my Mak Ndak, Mak Lang and the soon to be engaged cousins were and met up.

Then another leg from Nilai to my twin's place at Cahaya Heights to pick up the maid and finally, home sweet home. Penat!

I'll just let the pictures tell the stories then.


Ariz on a horse. He rode on another horse an hour after this.


Ariz & Asha on one of those kiddie roller coasters. Apart from Adani who looked absolutely terrified on these high-speed rides, the others were laughing very loudly and happily, while we parents, counted the remaining money left.


Ariz suprised us when we rode the bike effortlessly and managed to avoid hitting other bikers. Atta boy!


On the bullock cart, right after the black bull smacked Asha with his tail, trying to hit a fly. Busuk weh!


After the drama of "Nak naik" and the excited faces on the bullock cart, Ariz was screaming to get away from the bull, Aliya put on a brave face, trying to laugh at Ariz, Adani clung to me for dear life and Asha stuck to Aliya. Cehs!

I Yelled At Her

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Busy busy Monday I had yesterday doing absolutely everything.

Anyways.

Asha is now taking English lessons from the kewl Teacher Claire, together with Adani. I swapped Asha over to English from Mental Arithmetic as she needs to firm up on her spelling pretty soon. Aliya is still doing her Mental Arithmetic by choice. I picked them up on Saturday and had a long chat with Teacher Claire.

Adani is assessed by Teacher Claire a self-starter, eager stduent and with appropriate attention span which makes it easy for her to concentrate and progress. Ayisha on the other hand, has short attention span and is very easily distracted. It's not that she doesn't know the stuff, she just finds OTHER stuff more interesting to look at. And I had to agree with her, and kicked myself in the backside for not realising this sooner. I suspected Ayisha of everything, worse things but this, though very obvious, just whooshed by me.

This explains why in exams she's pretty much exceeds her normal home and class work cos she has to concentrate under strict supervision but when she's asked to do something, unless you're centimeters away from her, it doesn't get done or it does in a long time and shabbily sometimes. And this also explains why she's having a bit of trouble progressing in her Kum0n in that she knows them at the required time, but wastes time being distracted.

I really like and trust this Teacher Claire as she seems genuinely interested in the girls' progress and she takes special regard of Ayisha, even putting her on her lap for Asha to focus on the task at hand. And Adani & Asha adore Teacher Claire. So, pardon my bulging eyeballs when she told me that the whole of December she's not gonna around and a replacement teacher is coming in her place. Sigh!

Anyways.

Intervention with Ayisha. TV in the house is turned off between 9 and 10 at night, every night, well, probably with the exception of the Kum0n nights. And everybody ages 4 and up will READ through this hour. Anyone below, depending on moods and temperamental will do as he pleases, though reading normally takes his fancy.

The hour begins with kum0n for 15 minutes, then the reading begins.

But it all did not go so smoothly every night. The night before, I sat with Ayisha yelling at her for 20 minutes while she does her English exercises. I think I yelled myself hoarse and felt really really bad that night. She cried a bit but impatience and sheer lack of control on my side, egged me to yell some more. If I had been a bit more apathetic and see that she was trying, I wouldn've been a better teacher and a better mother. I yelled at my own daughter! Preposterous. I should be shot and I still call myself a mother.

Yesterday's drive to the office, I thought about this and it hurt that I did that again and again and again, no matter how much I vowed never to do it again. MrGart has accused me of being so MrsGoodyTwoShoes in my blogs that I never published things that are demeaning to me. I did not retort back cos he wins anyway. There's not much that I can do except to again and again not to lose my patience. But it's a hard thing to do when you're being smothered with every other requests in the house when all you wanna do is to help the one who needs it most. Women they say are great multi-taskers, but we do it at the expense of our sanity and that sanity often hangs by a thread before it snaps.

There are 2 things that MrGart says that hurts me the most. One is that he thinks that I'm a fake for not telling ppl that I am a mean mother to my kids and the other is the way he describes to everybody how easy it was for me to give birth to everybody and that I don't deserve the attention I do because I was on epidural. It's bad enough that I have to fend myself from ppl who think that I'm such a woos for taking epidurals, to have myself described as such by a person closest to me is almost cruel.

Anyways.

I suddenly feel sad and gloomy which I think a trip to MidV's Metr0's Preview Sale will cure soon. Hmm.

Bye Bye Birdie

Friday, November 23, 2007

Remember I blogged about the moment of insanity MrGart suffered and in that instant agreed with the kids to get a bird?

It was an English budgie and I'm still not sure whether it was a he or a she. I never really had a chance to snap a pic of that bird that set us back RM300, that did not include the fanciful cage and the paraphernalia the girls got that little Birdie.

Birdie's wings were clipped, cruelly, I suspect so that it would be able to fly very high and very far either. I knew this AFTER the purchase, lest I'd throw one of my thou-shalt-not-hurt-God's-creatures sermons.

Anyway, wings clipped, Birdie was supposed to be tame and to make it even tamer, we're supposed to take it out of its cage daily, caress it, talk to it and generally shower it with love. Theoretically, that it. The truth is that, ALL the girls are afraid of any animals or creatures. Aliya would crouch her shoulders and in constant position to scramble should the bird attacks her. Adani would stand away from the bird and just instructs MrGart what she would like to have done on the bird. Ayisha is yet another bird-lover from afar.

Ariz is excluded in this picture cos we don't want him NEAR the bird. As much as he likes it, he's fearless too and if Birdie just walks around, he'd tailgate it and tries to hold it. I've had images of a crushed Birdie, neck twisted in a sordid manner, mangled by my schweet little prince. *shudder*

Anyway, this is a long way of telling you that it was a mistake. I hate pets. I don't have a fondness over animals, which I did have when I was child. I guess when you switch roles from a cared-for to the one that cares for, another liability is what you're trying to avoid. Birds are smelly, and I have a soft heart. I don't like the fact that Birdie lives in a cage. I feel it's so cruel. And I don't like to be the one feeding it when it's hungry and having to think of it everytime. But for the kids, I gave in. That, and also they wanted either a hamster, dog or a cat. So, a bird is a HUGE compromise.

Well, my parents and sisters dropped over at my house and suddenly we realised that Birdie's gone. It's highly unlikely that the bird opened his own cage from OUTSIDE, so someone did it for him. That someone has not been smoked out yet, maybe ever.

Well, MrGart and others for a search and rescue. But how the heck do you find a bird? 2 hours later, MrGart spotted it high up on a branch of a tall tree's 30 meters from the house. He called to her lovingly, which I laughed it off. Soon, it flew to another tree and since it was getting dark and us, being clueless on how you entice a bird to get back into its own cage, we caved in. If it's meant to be, Birdie will come right back to our lawn.

It's been 5 days and the cage's quiet and Birdie is hopefully happier on a branch of a tree somewhere. He's an imported British budgie, so I guess he'd better learn the local dialect fast, eh?

Me? I'm mourning the loss of Birdie deeply. Sadly. I'll miss him/her.







YAYYYYY!

Road Blocks Aplenty

In the past few weeks, I've seen far too many road blocks around KL. Intensified yesterday and today, and I bet will culminate during the weekend in support of the planned much publicised rally on Sunday.

Reducing the 4 lanes of the Federal Highway to just 2 lanes on a Friday morning rush is just cruel and frustrating. Guess their mission to thwart and dampen the eager rally-goers' spirit and enthusiasm is partly achieved.

Anyway, road blocks on massive highways are one thing, but road blocks on deserted lanes in front of neighbourhoodly shops are another. Last week, we headed out to Ar-Rafi in Sec. 13, Shah A1am for dinner and amidst the turnings of the small, lanes there were 4 whopping roadblocks. I purposely did not include the sighting of a policeman hiding behind a TeeeNBee feeder pillar with a notebook and a walkie-talkie. Now, I'm not sure whether it's reassuring or it's unnerving.

Heavy police presence is sometimes welcomed and some to a certain extent induce a false sense of security and subsequently complacency in the community. But it also means that there's a bountiful of criminals living amidst ourselves and it's chillingly scary. Especially when the dailies' frontpages splash murders of innocent children, hapless mothers, fathers, suicides and even our celebrated MrSecondSpaceman was not spared the brutality of our so-called civil society.

I quiver and I shudder at the future my children are facing. Sigh!

End of My Golfing Days

Thursday, November 22, 2007

True. True. True.

The end of my glorious golfing days ended today. A total of 1 month and 2 days of actually holding a golf club.

3 years back, at the height of MrGart's fascination in golf, I was intrigued. I've always shared interests with him, sports-wise.

When he was hooked on snooker, I was there on the snooker table, aiming for the cue ball using the spider cue. We went for countless snooker sessions at Peterborough downtown, sometimes until the wee hours of the morning. We watched Jimmy White and whoever-that-redhead guy was. Now, he's off snooker, I think since I don't think he knows where his prized cue is at this point in time and I think the belly's making his target more difficult these days..

When he was into football, well he was never off it, ever. I followed him to countless matches, Manchester United matches and even in Europe, during our Inter-Railing backpacking trip, we walked all over Milan for Juventus' home ground.

So, naturally I thought I'd be great at golf. Bought the set. Practised at the local driving range. Missed more than I actually hit. By a yard. Went to our neighbourhood's pitch and putt for a session. Failed miserably. Thought a bigger course would do me justice. So we were at uUPeeM course, full of mosquitoes and I was a disaster.

Thought I'd give it another round but was abruptly cut short when I found out I was preggy with Ariz. There!

So, a week ago, I listed the golf set on eeBay and oh my! It was a hit. In the end I had 6 people actively outbidding each other 52 times to get their hands on it. I asked for RM300 and ended up with RM557.50. Yay!

Anyway, today casa1238's friend came to pick up the set he bought for his wife and he's very kind too, even inviting me to his home in Miri, if I happen to be by.

Well, I hope casa1238's wife will be happy with the golf set. I hope she can put it to a better use than I was ever. As for me, no more thinking of golf. I'm into baking now. Something the gals at my office appreciate better than golf.

Just One Measly Hour

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

One teeny-weeny measly hour of no TV in the house last night bought me :

1. 2 repeatedly read books with Ariz & Adani.

2. Completed and checked kumon worksheets.

3. Discussion on what Ayisha name means and Aliya regaling us of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w)'s marriages, the ages of the wives and all.

4. Sirah revision for Aliya's KAFA's exam today.

5. Sleeping kids by 10:00pm

6. Nursing & sleeping Ariz by 9:45pm and Mummy's explore into troposphere, about Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit & whathisname Celcius. In case you're wondering I'm still on my Bill Bryson's A Small History of Everything. Exactly my type of reading pleasures.

6. 2 hours of Internet time for Mummy.

This is soo gonna get permanent.

psstt even when the curfew's lifted, I was too engrossed and missed House at 11pm. Cehs!

Adani In Concert

Monday, November 19, 2007

As promised, here are 3 pictures of Adani, courtesy of Ninuk a.k.a Uqbah's Mak. Our pictures are so glap that if I post them, sungguh kurang berkesan.


Adani, in her typical pose. In the dressing room before the performance.


Uqbah the elephant & Adani the dancer. BTW there's only 7 girls and 15 boys in her class, so I guess she's entitled to 2 boys at any given time. Heh!



Stretching before her Madagascar.



My baby's a big girl. *wipes eyes*

Last Day of School

Friday, November 16, 2007

This morning Asha's being rather difficult. She told us last night that Teacher Sharmila said that there's no school today. I nicely told her, I did not think so, to a furrowed brows.

So, I called up MissKLSentral to confirm. Yup, I was right.

So, this morning, dressed and ready, MrGart suggested she bring a smaller bag to school and that triggered a "that's my bag" and "mummy.!".

Well, I left MrGart's to his device and left the scene with Adani in tow. MrGart called me later and said that she was bawling her eyes out in the car and that they went and saw mainly bigger kids at school and he sent her home. Heh!

Well. Adani still has 3 more days of school next week and there's a letter about a party and pot luck. Hmmp! Nak masak apa ye? Adani was talking about a BIG butterfly cake. Uh-uh!

Aliya's been feeling under the weather lately. She has cold and was sniffing last night and slept early. She was a little warm. She woke up about 11pm and promptly went downstairs, almost sleep-walking-ly and sat on the sofa in the darkness, in tears. We followed her and directed her to the kitchen for her nurofen & promethazine.

Aliya has a habit of that actually. Especially when she falls asleeps not in her own bed and when we wake her up for her to move into her own bed. She'll mumble and walks elsewhere and we haveto physically take her to her bed.

Teringat kat Najwa, roti's daughter. Is she still sleep-walking ?

Ayisha's Birthday Cupcakes

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

I've not gone crazy over cupcakes, but I have children who are born in the months of October, December, January and February and also a husband born in February, so expect more pictures of amateurish cakes and such.

Anyways.

Ayisha's birthday will be on the 1st December 2007. She'll turn 7. Yes she will. Only 7. The sad part about born that time of the year is that school's out. So, Mummy will always have to bring forward the celebration.

So, since this is the last week of the school year, I decided last week that today'll be the day. Cupcakes are still the easiest for me, so taking the cue from Adani's success. More cuppies today. A significant different though. I used buttercream icing, instead of the sugar icing. I prayed that it'd work and alhamdulillah it did. BTW, I got the recipe from CookingforEngineers website. Great great website!


All 52 of them cuppies for Asha to bring for her classmates.


Adani, Aliya, Ariz & Daddy's Cupcakes.


For Spinah, MoshTino, Hazel, Haiza, Ley & yts who all gobbled these up even before I could blink.


What's left of the icing.


Ayisha beamed this morning.

I'm just happy for her.

The cupcakes' are also therapy for me when I saw that she's number 31/39 in her class and 261 out of 313 children in the Standard 1. Aku sungguh sedih. Feel like a failure. I need help.

Facebook .. A Revelation

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Seems like everybody and I mean everybody is in Facebook these days.

It's almost a hype already.

Last week I was fighting zombies, slayers and vampires till I got sick of blood and started to crave for sago gula melaka instead and took a break. And today, I figured out I was promoted to a Level 2 slayer. Hmpfft! In my absence, people have been killing off my slayer again and again. The only explanation why my points kept increasing.

Anyhow.

The best part about it is that I get to get acquainted (from afar, silently) with friends I knew in the olden days and have forgotten them until I see them in friends' friends' friends. There!

So, this friend of mine. Sani. More like my junior at UMIST. He looks exactly how he used to any uni and that's like 12 years ago. Time flew but he looked the same. Except that he has a daughter on his lap. Guess 12 years did go by then. Sani was so innocent when I first knew him from Omot. And his friends were oh sungguh baik and bersopan-santun. Felt so inadequate. But they turned out to be a lot of fun too.

We all grow up, we all grow old. We all got wiser too, in the process, I suspect, though some slower than others. But it's always always very amusing to see them all again. Reminisce over the memories. Flashes of snippets of memories of lunches in the cafeteria, of the graduation ceremony, or the trips in the blustery wintry night across England. The smells of the past, the tingling and the butterflie in the stomach.

Friends are catalysts to all this mixed emotion. And I get to see what Abas has grown up into. Hmmmpphh.

p/s Entry ini sangat tidak berfaedah kerana saya ngantuk tadi baru makan nasi minyak, sago gula melaka, wantan soup at the offfice Raya do.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

*looks out the window*

Hujan!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Syawal Telah Pergi ..

Monday, November 12, 2007

Yup. Raya month is over. Phew! I now have a shot at reducing my weight now! Kalau pegi open houses tu makan tak ingat dunia .. no self-restraint at all. Sekarang, rasakan panahan asmara gmoks! Ha ha ha!

Anyways.

First of all, I should congratulate Gina on getting herself hitched and married on Saturday. I'm oh so happy for you. Truly I am and I'm still kicking myself for not being able to attend the glorious wedding at Ipoh. Sorry babe, will make it up to you later, kay! Dengan ucapan .. ehem ehem .. Selamat Pengantin Baru, semoga panjang umur dan bahagia selalu. Dah halal ni, sila kan la! Ish!

Well, next stop. We were at 4 open houses over the weekend. Meen's, Ita's, MrGart's older colleague who lives in BJ and who's youngest son sits next to Aliya in school and MrGart's friend's second wifey's house. There! I should tell you that Aliya was hiding behind my back the whole time we were at her boyfriend's house. Malu tak kira. That Farhan pun bukan main terliat sana terliat sini. BTW, if Aliya reads this, I can tell you she'll flip.

And the second wifey's house was gorgeous. With fish pond and all. They did a doa selamat & marhaban to celebrate the birth of their child and the aqiqah kambing .. giler punya sedap. Nak amik lebih sikit, malu!

Then yesterday was a BIG day for Adani. Her first ever stage concert was held at Kelab Darul Ehsan and her Titanic (Ninuk's still baffled why the school named a class over a sunk ship!) class went up second. ANd Adani was FLAWLESS!

She smiled. She twirled. She hooked hands with her cutesy boy partner and perfectly went into circles together. No flips, no accidental bumps. Just perfect twirling. And she's smiling all the time. She posed for pictures and she waved at the crowd when her turn's over. She's a real angel! I'll upload the pictures soon. It was such a great feeling seeing your baby on stage, performing a dance. Oh so proud a parent I was yesterday and always.

By the way, since this is beginning to be a rojak entry, I should mention that I've been pretty snappy for the past few months with the kids. But yesterday, at the concert, we were behind this much older couple whose daughter is in Std 2 and they looked like perfect parents. Nurturing, smiles all around and I made a resolution that I will not become the nagging, erratic, short-fused, perpetually angry, snappy, unstable parent that I am. I'm changing. Insyallah! I pray for your guidance, Ya Allah!

Opps .. to all the CBN'ers oldies, I met Mrs Manuel yesterday. She's the principal at CBN throughout the five years I was there. She was also the principal who bit my head off for leaving the school for Ser1 Puteri and who bit the rest of my head off when 9 days later, we (my twin & I) crawled back to CBN. He he he! What to do? I love the school too much and did I tell you, we had to sleep in dorms? With other people? Oh sungguh tragis! Wasn't that actually. We wanted to go to eMRSeM Beseri which my father veto-ed, so in retaliation, we bowed to his demand and got our wishes days later. Anak-anak yang sungguh mencabar minda mak bapak! Psst .. to parents of twins, b every wary, twins are cute, but they are wayyy too shrewd!

Well, I hope this Rojak has enough perisa. Signing off now to make my coffee.

Girly Cuppies For the Girls

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Sleepy!

Was up last night till about midnight baking 5 batches of the cupcakes. Then had to wake up this morning about 5am to ice these lil' cuties.

So, by 7 this morning, Adani's taking 34 cuppies, Asha's taking 9 cuppies and Ariz & Aliya can share the remaining 4. Should've taken the pictures while these were not wrapped in clingfilm. Heh! But I was running late and just remembered to snap some pictures to make certain colleagues at work drool. Sungguh kejam!

Cuppies1

cuppies2

cippies3

So, I hope Adani and her 22 classmates would have a grand time celebrating her birthday (a month late) and the Children's Day today. I also hope that Ayisha's is sitting smugly in her class right now, beaming from her 9 gorgeous cupcakes that her Mummy made especially for her and her 8 other friends. I told her that next week I'll make at least 50 cuppies for her friends to celebrate her birthday (she's born on the 1st December, so we'll have to bring it forward), but she insisted to bring some today. So, I hope no girlfriends of hers would be in tears today.And I also hope that Aliya & Ariz would've dived through the cupcakes and not smear them on the sofa. Hehehe!

*zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz*

Anak Jantan Ku Seorang

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Ariz Zuhayr !!




Arghhhhhhhhhh!


Blog Block .. Burp !

To all my six ardent fans, I apologise for not updating this blog for a rather long while. Not really sure why though. Here's a list of possible causes.

1. Too much blogging in the head i.e. talking to self.
2. Too much planning and not much doing. Refer to Number 1.
3. Too much food intake.
4. Too many open houses invitation and not much do-conme-to-my-house. Burp!
5. Momentum sudah lari.

Excuses mexcuses, Elisa would scoff if she reads this.

Anyway, I'm back and I'll make sure I'll post an entry at least daily.

So, hang in there you, you, you, you, you and you.

I love you all!

p/s perasan giler !

Helleweeen Night At BJ

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Disclaimer: I don't subscribe to the Halloween's idealogy, ever.

A bunch of kids swarmed my house last night in costumes. Terkejut badak makcik. Nasib baik I was properly dressed. Trick-or-treating around the neighbourhood apparently. Behind them the chaperones appeared, MissShell in afro wig and MissNiceHouse in err normal garb.

So, I scrambled for candies of which I have none. Luckily I remembered a couple of boxes of chocolates from the Raya hampers and they attacked those. My kids were ecstatic and upon invitation by their friends, all four promptly tagged along, dragging me too.

There were about 17 kids of all ages from at least 4 houses and they all knew each other. Even Adani has her friends from school. Ariz came equipped with his horse stick (for want of a better word) and his cowboy hat. He gallopped around to the delight of the other kids.

We went to 3 other houses, strangers I thought, except that the kids were saying "This is Dini Sofea's house" and all. We, chaperones got to peer inside ppl's houses while the kids devoured their candies. One house even have a pool, wahhh! Ariz dah teruja dah. The kids even got some duit Raya from a house who ran out of sweets.

Once we ran out of houses of friends, we called it a night around 10-ish. Aliya, Asha and Adani had those satisfied, fun look on their faces and Ariz err was on my hips, along with his horse stick cos one of the bigger boys spooked him with their scary masks.

I thought this unplanned night walk went extremely well, maybe because of its unplan-ness too and I'm just thankful that I live in such a great neighbourhood and my kids have friends all around them.

Well, the girls are making plans for next year. Gulp!

Tis Fine, Really

Monday, October 29, 2007

Guess you guys guessed it right.

I missed the promotion.

I'm selecting this version to go by. I lost it because a better, finer manager than me deserves it more than me. Rather than this version I had in my mind that had the words "eMDee", "hates" "me" or "double promotion", "the hell you won't" do.

I told myself I was fine. I joked with friends that I'll stick here longer to torment you guys. I know I'm fine. I know I'll survive. But reality slapped me really, really hard. It stung. I thought I was made of sterner stuff. I know I am, but I'm letting my softer side rule for the next 3 days.

I wanted the post. I needed to get out of here. Not because I was getting sidelined here, but because I was on my ultimate high here and I wanted to leave when I was cherished and needed, not when I was getting unwanted. I also needed the money. I needed new challenges. I needed a change. And also the damning fact that my degree (ignoring the fact that I have a MSc) prevents me from even dreaming of higher posts and that POST was one of the few that I can even dream of getting. And I was perfect for it. In my mind at least.

Alright. Enough sorrow for a blog already. I'm dripping with self-pity now and even I don't like me now. This morning, people have started telling me, in case I don't know already, I missed the boat. Sigh!

I guess there are better posts for me in the future. Probably much better than this. And it's all tersurat anyway. Tuhan Maha Kaya. This is the best for me. Not getting this, though it hurts so much, is BEST for me. I know this.

So, folks, thanks for your support. Need retail therapy now. :)

Patah Hati ..

Dah buat camana?

Dah takde rezeki. Aku pasrah.

Hugs are welcomed.

Boring Mak Aii ..

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Hari ini hari Khamis.

Esok last puasa, lepas tu nak Raya. Tapi saya masih diopis. Dah namanya kuli, kena la berlagak like one. Sob sob sob! Tapi saya tak kisah sangat la actuallynya, sebab dah ada deal dengan MrGart. Andes, the pembantu rumah sekarang sedang berhorey-horey di kampungnya di Pekan Baru, Indonesia. Sementara, kami majikannya masih bekerja and saya rasa MrGart at this point in time is trying to figure out which setting does the washing machine set on a normal day.

Hmm. Tapi takpe. Saya lebih rela terpaksa bertungkus-lumus takde help rather than have a helper during Raya monyok aje.

Anyway. Semalam & hari ini turn MrGart jaga anak-anak dirumah. He he he!

Semalam aku balik rumah, phew! Nasib baik masih boleh nampak lantai. Terer jugak MrGart pick up after the kids. Although I learned later, he’s lost his voice from too much jerkah-ing and yelling. Apa ra! Baru satu hari.

Anyway.

Sungguh boring hari ini. Saya ingat kejap lagi nak pegi cari baju raya. Saya takde baju rayalagi. Uwaaa! Nak pegi potong rambut seround. Tapi kejap lagi dah jajni dengan MrGart to go pik my car up from the mechanics. Camana ye ?

Well. I think there’ll be more posts today. Till then.

Adani Turns A Big Four !

Wednesday, October 10, 2007


Happy 4th Birthday, ADANI !


Last Sunday, the 7th October 2007 was her birthday. The day she has waited on for ever. I'm not quite sure why, but I guess the concept of time is a bit hard to grasp at that age.

So, I planned for a little family do on that Sunday. Somehow, the do was on Saturday instead, since we were off to Melaka to send off Andes, and my mother's minding the kids, so the whole clan came over to break fast at my place.

I made the cake for her. She's so thrilled. I've never baked a birthday cake, ever and am quite pleased with the result. I was also ignoring my twin's comment on the layers were a bit lopsided. Cehs!


She blew the candles twice amidst the many cousins and she looked oh so angelic. She's always so angelic, Adani is. She's ever ready to help and never one to fuss unless she's really tired or not feeling terribly good. But she's truly a happy girl. A princess. One who will model for the camera, tirelessly and one who will sing and shout the High School Musical songs at full blast.

Happy Birthday sayang! Mummy loves you very, very much!

Taggily Happy

Friday, October 5, 2007

Been tagged by none other than the woman of leisure, famyCun and since I have about 20 minutes before I can safely go traipsing down midV with a bunch of excited gals, I might as well do this.

5 Things in my bag
- brand new mata kumpuan sunglasses from the brand "teka".
- wallet hitam yang dah tercabut the zil holder
- notebook kecik to tulis apa I do on a daily basis
- surat to redeem voucher jasko
- 5 pens biru

5 Things in my wallet
- ATM card
- 2 credit cards
- voucher jasko
- membership cards gile banyak
- RM 210 and pelbagai duit syiling


5 favorite Things in my bedroom
- Aliya
-Ayisha
- Adani
- Ariz
- if I'm lucky, me!

5 Things I would like to do

- spa treatment, pedicure, manicure, massages
- bake, bake and bake
- learn to quilt
- learn water colouring
- sing loudly in the car


5 Things I am doing now
- tengok jam, lambatnya nak 12:30pm
- pikir nak beli apa kat midv nanti
- sapa nak drive
- oo blog again, apa lagi
- apahal aku banyak sangat outstation trips lepas Raya ni, Manjung, Gebeng & Kota Kinabalu. In demand ke aku ni ?


5 People I want to tag:
Disebabkan I'm always tertinggal bas, I think I'll leave to my fans, *chewwaah* if you, you, you, you and you wanna do this. Can ?

Left Her Crying

Thursday, October 4, 2007



I left Adani crying this morning. Right after our routine drive around the block.

I opened the door, called her Princess and picked up her bag and held her hand for her to get out of the car.

Then she uuhmm-ed and leaned on the car. Uh-Oh! It was 7:12am. Normally she would be happily salam-ing me, getting kisses and hugs from me and gaily hopped into the house to wait for the Auntie Manjit's van around 7:55am.

"Mummyyyy. Dani nak cocokrunch dalam the blue container tu."

"Okay, nanti kakak ambikkan okay?" Kakak is our maid, I never let the kids call any of our maids, Bibik.

"Ummm.. Dani nak MUMMY ambikkan." *eyes started to droop, lips scrunched up*

"Mummy's late la sayang. Please. Opps, your forgot your duit. Here's RM1. Okay ?"
Note: She gets a singgit everyday, which she insists after watching sisters get money too. Singgit or wailing? I'll take singgit.

"Uwaaaaaaaa"

I called my helper and asked her to get Adani what she wanted and to bodily take her back into the house. I had to force myself to kiss her, when she's slumped and refusing to be touched my the maid, arms outstretched for me. Adoiii!

Feeling guilty, I called home about 20 minutes later. Adani picked up the phone and was chirpily telling me that both her and Aliya was outside waiting for the vans. She didn't seem disturbed by the fact that she wailed and prolly woke up the whole street less than half an hour ago.

I guess kids forget easily. Not something we should take advantage of, actually.

Life's Like That

Am just reminded that this Saturday my helper's going home for her Raya for two weeks. Quickly made a call to my mom, to enlist her to watch the kids on Saturday while me and MrGart drove all the way to Melaka Port to send Andes.

Really. Friends have frowned when I said she's going back for Raya. Especially when she was home for 2 weeks in May this year. Since this year is the 5th year she's with us. I've struck a deal with her. You work with me a full year, I'll give you 2 months' salary as bonus and you get to go home twice in a year, two weeks each time.

I know it's a lot. But she's really good. The kids get along well with her. But not close enough to be called anak bibik. My kids are never THAT close to our helpers. I won't let them. I'm that possessive.

But she has a level head on her shoulders. Her husband left her and her 3 big kids a long time ago and she needed money to live. She's not into man and stuff and she's rather sensible. The house is a haven with her around. Not a speck of dust around. Until the kids come home and trash the place, which she patiently picks up after again and again and again.

One little snag though. She sucks at cooking. After 5 years, she can only cook ayam masak kicap. Remember the ikan masin acar buah? The fresh kerabu daun ceylom I bought which she heated and the dauns got so layu. But then again, it's my fault really. I never stressed on her to cook. All meals are prepared by me and cooked by me, with little sharing. Sungguh kurang manis, actually. I'd rather my family eats off my air tangan, than the maid's. Even if I have Ariz on my hips, stirring the kurma daging.

Anyway. I'm sure we'll survive the 2 weeks without Andes. We've done it before. I always thought I'd go nuts with the mess and the demands of the kids which all spell mess. But once we're at it, it all comes naturally. The kids will get a little annoyed that they have to do chores and pick up after themselves, but they're supposed to ANYWAY. I don't want to breed a lazy lot. I had maids picking up after me when I was growing up and I think I'm alright. Guess, my mom's way righted me, alright.

Well. Pick pick pick. I hope I won't yell as much as I think I will. I'm out to prove myself wrong here. Wish me luck.

She Is Curious

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Aliya is 9. Way too early to me to be having periods. No, she hasn’t got hers yet. But her cousin, Nor who’s 2 months older got hers about 3 months back.

That piqued Aliya’s interest a lot lately.

She’ been asking me when she’s getting hers. Told her that some girls get it early, some maybe later. I got mine when I was 12 going 13. And that seemed to be the norm in those days. These days, girls are getting matured much much earlier than we used to. Either time, relatively is flying faster or they’re growing much too fast. In the olden days (maacm la lama sangat dah tu!), if you get your periods in Standard 5, it’s early. Standard 3 is unheard of.

Anyway, turning this educationally, I reminded her it’s not about getting periods early that matters. It’s a big responsibilities and that one which she needs to prepare from now on. She merely nodded, deep in thought. Oh anakku sudah besar!

Anyway, was at UKS and found an email on how Lily explains to her kids about periods.

“Show them a diagram of a woman’s womb. Tell them that is where babies are created and where they grow. Every month, a woman’s body will build up lots of blood tissues in the womb so that when there is a baby in there, it will be protected from harm like bumps and stuff. If there is no baby, the body needs to flush out the blood so the womb is clean again, so that is why girls have their periods.

If they ask how are babies created? I just tell them that the mommy’s egg and the daddy’s egg meet in the womb. So far, haven’t gone much further than that… “

Hmm .. interesting. I’ll try that!

Isnin is Monday

Monday, October 1, 2007

Aku tengah tersengih ni. Bukannya apa. Hari ni hari Isnin. Teringat that Ariz was born on a Monday and my Tok, who's been quite successful in getting us (my brother alone, actually, us, the sisters have not been compliant enough) to name our children, her cucus.

It started with Faiz, then Firdaus. Good names I thought. Then my brother's youngest baby girl was born and she insisted that he named her, Saodah. I remembered rolling on the floor, breaking out into a hysterical laugh and shed a lot of tears when my mother was regaling us with her conversation with my Tok. Lucky my grandmother wasn't there to witness. Otherwise, I would be forced to content myself just a chuckle quietly. Saodah was vehemently veto-ed by my brother, as expected. Saodah is now a Shakirah.

A few names later, I gave birth to Ariz. On a Monday.

So, her being helpful, proclaimed that we should name the only boy I have with .. MUHAMMAD SENAYAN !

First, I had that disbelief look on my face which quickly turned to horror. You see, it was easy to laugh at my brother when he was confronted with such problem. When I was in one myself, it wasn't very funny.

The thought of breaking her heart by telling her ..

"Hmm Tok, nama Muhamad tu sedap Tok, tapi kan Tok, Senayan tu kan, kan .. ala Tok, tak rock la Tok. Nanti kat sekolah kawan-kawan gelakkan dia. Nama lain boleh tak, Tok? Tok marah tak ? "

Not pretty.

Finally, I came with with Ahmad Ariz Zuhayr and I think she's okay with it.



Now, loose cannon was what that little Ariz was last night at PeeJayHi1ton. Arghhh! I never fully understood the meaning of loose cannon, until Ariz came along. It's like he's gone just crazily happy, hopping hear and there, roaring playfully at everyone, crawling under the tables and chairs and singing Pricilla, the Mighty Gorrila at the top of his voice.

Food for Thought

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Sebenarnya takde modal nak ber-blog hari ni.

Opps .. got my first Raya card today. From none other than the infamous Rotidua. Whoaaaa!

Tergezut jugak actuallynya. Thanks honey! You made my day.

Come to think of it. I hardly every get personalised Raya cards these days. The cards do come, but mostly those who owe me money, who are already keeping my money or those who’d like to have my money. Oh sungguh pathetic!

Thanks to the email world and the sms world, we have all gotten more adept at sending out an email than buying a bunch of cards, write a personalised message in them, lick the envelope, lick the stamp on and post them off with receipient in mind, fondly.

I am guilty, alright.

I’ve never been terribly good at keeping acquitances. I have a friend, Idham who still berates me for not calling him or not sending emails or not remembering his birthdays. Or even Faizul who seems to think that if I call him, it must be terribly urgent thing that I need from him.

Perceptions can be wrong.

I may suck at keeping acquitances, but I love them all. And the same goes to you, you and you. Yes, you too right at that corner.

I treasure our friendship, our kinship and I shall never forget you. Muahhh!

p/s kot celah mana pulak this post turned out to be melancholically poetic? Uish! Sah kurang sugar in blood.

Nak Makan Apa Malam Ni?

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

See!

It proves my point again and again. That point being, me Mothers will always take our lillte charges’ interest at heart. When fathers go berjolly-lolly dengan kawan-kawan bukak puasa, while we, Mothers it out with our headstrong, precious dahlings!

What about the principle we had?

If one goes, everyone goes, and if none’s going, none goes.

But if you must know. MrGart was away for bukapuasa with friends last night and tonight too. To be fair, last week we trailed him to a do. I don’t really fancy buka puasa at hotels and such. Well, first of all, my kids are not the type who sit at their seats, munching food and listening to adult-ish conversation, peppering it with intelligent anecdotes from a kiddie point of view.

No sirree!

First Ariz would sit for a total of 45 seconds. Then he would run off somewhere. Or he’d be climbing off some ledge or grills. Or he’d cajoled the sisters for a hide and seek which will end with a run-around the place, sending waiters with trayful of glasses looking absolutely aghast. And I would look AGHAST too, apologetic more like it.

People say food’s great, especially when it cost you some RM65 per head. But do I have time to eat? I’d be spooning some fancy-named food in my mouth, with eyes scanning the place trying to locate Ariz’s bobbing head. I’d be munching on some chicken amidst issuing instruction to Aliya to go fetch Ariz or run after him.

Then the Maghrib prayers. Despite the constant shhhhhhhh, everybody suddenly has things to discuss in the surau. And I mean everybody comes with me, not with the Daddy, but with ME. And I’d go apologetic again to the other jemaah when Ariz runs and hops and giggles.

So, I always get hungry.

Yesterday, MrGart asked me if we wanted to come. Rebung is the new Chef Ism@il’s place. But it’s cramped and it’s right in front of a main road. SO I’ll pass. So we had mac n cheese last night. With oven baked fries, garlic bread, kuah durian and bought roti jala.

Som what do I cook tonight when MrGart’s not around?

I Do Try But ..

A friend said to me last week.

Anak dan isteri adalah fitnah dunia.

This was a response to my explaining why I haven’t been to the mosque for terawih prayers. Not in this year, or even for the past many years.

It got thinking actually. Have I been obsessed with my children all this while that I’ve been neglecting what my religious obligations are? Have I been too consumed with the care of kids that I’ve forgotten what my pillars are ?

But I think I need to put things into perspectives here. Terawih is sunat, a strong one. Pardon my lack of better words. But I feel that if I were to go nightly, I’d be leaving my children in the care of the helper who is already with them throughout the day. And that can’t be fun. You see, I’m a working mother. I leave my kids at 7am and return at 6pm and I don’t wish to spend any minute once I’m home away from them. And it’s not a mighty long time. It’s a mere 5 hours before they sleep. So, am I being selfish ?
So, I asked Mosh Tino.

She said to me slowly that. The fitnah part is right. But anak-anak is amanah to you. And women tidak disyaratkan ke masjid. Apalagi bila kita perempuan gaduh ke masjid, dah membuatkan tak cukup ruang untuk kaum lelaki.

Dan satu lagi. Boleh, bukan tak boleh bawak anak-anak ke masjid. Ramai jugak yang bawak helper ke masjid untuk jaga anak sementara ibunya sembahyang. Bukan aku tak nak, but sungguh pelik & takbetul pulak rasanya if I bring the helper to rumah Allah, untuk bekerja. Besar sangat kah aku? Bukankh kita semua hamba Allah juga?

Nak bawak anak-anak pun, bertempatlah rasanya. tengok saje si Ariz tu. Jenuh riuh masjid kalau dia pergi. Berlari kesana-kesini. Panjat atas, merangkak bawah. Adani pulak asyik suka menjerit. Elok aku pergi nak buat ibadat, dapat dosa sebab jemaah lain tak khusyuk.

So, this is my resolution. I’ll continue my terawih at home. Where the kids can do what they want without disturbing others. MrGart can go to the mosque. Until my kids are bigger, I think I’ll be with them. They need me more at home. And meriah is not what I’m after. And I think if I go because to kejar meriah, niatnya sudah berubah.

Allahualam.

Losing My Touch

I dunno why. But lately blogging has lost its appeal to me.

Maybe it’s because of the frustrations of destruction of efx2. Further compounded by the efx2blogs which is inaccessible by me during the working hours. It’s really hair-tearing and frustrating when all I wanna do is post an entry but I don’t even see the box when I can type the entry. Just the title. Sigh!

Moshimoshi said that I should post entries from home. Maybe I should but home is where I unwind and collect stories to blog about. Home is also a hard to blog venue, simply because I will have too many people calling me all over the house. Unlike Moshimoshi I guess. Men! (jangan marah ye Mosh!)

And plus, this is the fasting month. I’d be slumped in the sofa by 11pm on a nightly basis. All because Ariz is still perky at that hour. I don’t do much reading these days too.

So, I guess I’ll stick to this. Wordpress had kinda grown on me. I love its clean and neat lines. Minimalists, I’d say.

Anyways.

This is what I think I wanna do. I’ll stick to this. And I’ll pour my energy into this again. I love to blog. I love even more to read the posts I wrote 3 years ago and marvel at how changed the world has been and how I have changed, for the better or the worse.

Kids and Puasa

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Today is the 13th Ramadhan and so far so good for the kids.

Aliya has fasted for 10 days and only missing 3 days when she was sick. She started fasting when she was 7, but she has no qualms about it. Waking up at dawn for sahurs is fussless with her. Initially she would get very uptight over people eating in front of her but now she's gotten used to it.

Ayisha on the other hand, has fasted a total of 2 days. With Asha, it's the sahur that's the toughest. She wants to fast though. So, on days when we tried to wake her up with no luck, in the mornings she'd be banging her head, accusing Daddy of not waking her up and that she WANTED to fast. Grrrrr! But today she's fasting and was smiling at sahur. It's all in your head. With kids, you've got to tell me before they go to sleep, then it gets easier.

Adani has now gone off her Sust@gen but has become an eater. And she's been telling me that she's fasting but opps "I dah minum air tadi, kejap lagi I puasa balik, okay?". Hmpph! She's the matsalleh girl in the house. She refers to herself as I most of the times and during masa-masa injury, baru Adani this and Adani that.

Ariz does not fast, obviously but is interfering with my fasting.

First, weekends are hard cos he's draining me with his constant, demanding nursing sessions.

Second, his Mummy-s-not-here sensor is working overtime during Ramadhan. like this morning when I was finishing sahur with my sambal udang & petai, I heard the rustling and moving upstairs. Then a minute later, came the distress yells, "Mummmmyyyy". Normally after 2 calls, he'd be off the bed for a search & rescue. But not this morning.

Aliya helpfully offered to get Ariz downstairs, since I wasn't done. She came down with Ariz clinging to her, eyes closed and hands scratching head, mouth cebik-ed. He saw me and immediately extended his arms and wriggled free of Aliya.

He pulled my kaftan and wanted me to take it off and wear my nightwear, biasala tu, easy nursing to him. Ajak tengok TV kejap while I finish, tak nak. He insisted to go back to bed. Adoi! So, kenala Mummy makan kurma while atas katil.

Anyway, I hope Aliya will complete this Ramadhan with ease and Ayisha can fast as many days that she could. I hope I'll be able to fast throughou the month. Insyallah.

Tonight MrGart's breaking fast at the Rebung. I wanted to come too cos I know the food's good. But the place is kinda small and cramped and it's right in front of a main road. And I don't think my kids would stay at their chairs for long. So, I passed on tonight. Instead, we're having mac n cheese, oven fries and garlic bread. Need to think of haiwans, now.

Tara!

p/s I've been updating 3 blogs actually. This one, the wordpress and also the efx2blogs. Somehow I can't seem to post anything in the efx2blogs. Maybe connection is snail-paced these days. Not helping sungguh, especially when everybody is over there and I can't blog.

A Hectic Weekend That Was

Monday, September 24, 2007

Letsee if I can recall what we had over the weekend.

Saturday is always a busy day cos Aliya & Asha have their mental arithmetic classes and now Adani too has her English class with her fav Teacher Claire. So, once the girls were off, we took off to the wet market for the week’s supply of haiwans & dauns.

MrGart commented mesti orang kata kesian, dah tua anak baru sorang. Perasan! Well, nak buat camana. Persuaded MrGart to hop over to the baking supplies store in Shah Alam. Mak oii! Ramainya manusia. Nak raya punya pasal, manusia semata. There were truckloads of those red-topped cookie containers for people who sell cookies. Uish! Beriya-iya sungguh mereka ini.

MrGart pointed out the Kuih Samperit mould and said that he wanted me to make them. Errkk! Hmm. Ni kena google ni. Challenges, challenges. I like.

Ayisha fasted today for the first time and full too. Aliya was whispering to me how she caught Asha eating entahapaapatah but I chose to ignore. Cooked laksa johor to bring to my mother’s but she’s tired from the tadarus classes, so next week we’ll go there. I made the William-S0n0ma choc chip cookies and I thought they were gorgeous. Especially as Ariz was munching 2 in the mouth and another 2 in each fist. Leleh air liuq kakak-kakak yang puasa.

Saturday was also the day I pored and read the news on Nurin Jazlin. Sedih tengok pictures the parents burying their little girl. The picture that broke me was Nurin’s friend, a biy with tears streaming down his face. Sungguh sedih. Reading about the details of the murder, sickened me. Hanya binatang saja yang mampu buat begitu kepada kanak-kanak. Kepada ibubapa Nurin, ingatlah, anak-anak bukan milik kita. Dipinjamkan sahaja. Sampai masa kita perlu pulangkan kepadaNya.

Sunday was spent at the new Tesc0 Extr@. Besarnya mak oii! Ariz insisted to run around the place and akujadi gabra. Ish! Geramnya.

Balik tu, I made the Oatmeal Choc Chip Cookies, recipe courtesy of Frog Commissery in the States. I included raisins too. That night we had a berbuka puasa do with friends and I gave some to them. Mintak-mintakla sedap. Memang sedap rupanya. Perasan!

Well, that’s it. Asha completed her 2 full days of fasting. Aliya missed 3 days due to her being sick. Adani fasted and unfasted so many times, I lost count. Ariz still thinks he’s a lion. He roars at people and he lunges at people. He sondols people’s back and he crawls on the floor. Oh anakku!

A Mother's Grief

Friday, September 21, 2007

A friend lost her 1.5 year old daughter who was electrocuted in a freak accident yesterday.

The family had a koi pond and on that day, the electricity was down for a maintenance, probably and the they all had prior notice. The koi fish in the pond were thriving, big and healthy. So, father rented a generator set to keep the pond oxygenated throughout the power outage. When power came back on, mother pulled out the genset's socket with the genset still alive. Little Aishah toddled along and picked up the live socket and the rest was history.

And I sobbed and cried. It's just too harrowing. Little Aishah was so pretty on her death bed. She looked like she was sleeping. And I weeped.

Mother was beyond grief. Aishah had a 3 year oold sister who exclaimed to visitors that baby Aishah's sleeping. Too young to realise that baby Aishah's not coming back to play. The 3 elder brothers broke down and sobbed for the loss of their beloved little sister.

Father put on a strong facade, breaking down at last when the last rites were read and Aishah was lowered into the gravesite, where the dragonflies flew above our heads.

Anguish and grief enveloped the surrounding and I weeped some more.

Al-fatihah.

I’m Hopping Over There ..

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Well, i’ve been hopping here and there.

Setting up 3 blogs already trying to find where best to set my foot on.

I discovered blogspot’s actually very user-friendly and flexible.

I found out wordpress is oh-so-cool and full of widgets and gadgets and I’d love to stay.

But now that efx2 has been resurrected as efx2blogs, I guess that’s where my loyalty lies. I love the community and more it’s wordpress based, so I’d still have fun.

So folks, hop over http://gartblue.efx2blogs.com with me.

Lost in PKNS

Monday, September 17, 2007

Hmmm.

I don’t intend to publicly humiliate myself again, and again and again. Not since I-blinked-and-Ariz-walked incident last week. Not after I absentmindedly left Adani asleep in the car. And definitely not after WE lost Ariz in the lift of a hospital.

No siree. I never sell myself short.

But this time, it’s kinda different.

I lost Ariz as well as MrGart.

The place was abuzz with people. I wanted to get baju kurung for the girls and since Ariz was in his I-can-run mode, MrGart was reining him in. I had the girls and we soon were separated.

Fine. Got the girls their baju kebaya and went to find them. None of us carried our phones tho. Idiots, really. So, common sense told me to go hover around the main front of the mall, in front of McD. The area was less crowded and that makes sense if I was lost. Furthermore, the stairs leading to where we parked our car was just THERE! And more, as it’s Raya sales, there’s a pony-tailed DJ there, blaring raya songs.

The girls were getting tired. We went traipsing all over looking for them and not finding. So we went back to sitting at the main entrance. Common sense rules! A lost boy was announced on the PA system and I saw the father looking cross claiming the smiling kid.

Aha!

So, I went there (after 1.5 hours of staring at him) and nicely asked the pony-tailed DJ.

“Kalau hilang suami dengan anak, boleh mintak tolong page kan tak, bang?”

He smiled and pushed a little notepad for me to write their names.

Kepada Encik MrGart dan anaknya Ariz, sila datang ke kaunter penerangan di hadapan McDonald’s kerana keluarga anda sedang menunggu.”

Ha ha ha ha ha. The four of us laughed so loudly at hearing it. All the aches of standing there for hours just dissipated at hearing such bizarre annoucement.

The announcement was repeated for 3 more times and each time, we laughed out loud.

People must think we’re such backwards people.

Tak reti pakai handphone ke ?”

Ni mesti prepaid dah habis ni ?”

Maknye la ni dok shopping tak inta dunia, sampai lupa laki pegi mana?”

Then, I saw them. MrGart carrying a sleepy Ariz with a rather idiotic grin on his face. Apparently he was sitting at some centre of the mall waiting for us and Ariz was asleep and how the heck didn’t I see him?

I was annoyed so I just didn’t answer. For all I care, he was sitting at the center of a small shop and tak pakai common sense ke ? And for all I know, he was sleeping behind a clothes rack and blamed me instead of not FINDING him. Hellewww!

Anyway, that was yesterday. Cooked soto for iftar and I thought it was uish sedap giler.

p/s Aliya & Asha are getting me worried now. Last week Asha had to be neb-ed for wheezing and last night Aliya pulak was breathing rather rapidly and coughing a bit, so another kid of the neb. Aku sudah risau.

Another Blog & Cerita Bazaar Ramadhan

Friday, September 14, 2007

Heh!

Tak habis-habis lagi. Disebabkan I'm like almost zombie-like today, I spent the whole morning looking at peoople's blogs. Even Keith's comment that he's now moving to wordpress. Hey!! I just set mine up at blogspot. Cehs!

So, I went over. I know Combi's there, and now OLAB is there and Nonah too.

And I was quite impressed actually, especially as I got my http://gartblue.wordpress.com back. Hehehe.

But I guess, I'll update both now.

Anyway. Ngantuknya!

We went to the Bazaar Ramadan at TTDI Jaya about 6pm yesterday to get some additional foodies. Last year, the bazaar was not bad and there weren't any rush. But yesterday, punyala ramai manusia. Lagi banyak orang dari makanan!

We couldnt' get close to any stalls. Kesian MrGart tak dapat his murtabak and popiah. Me no kuihs!

Well, I took Aliya & Ariz to a kedai nearby when MrGart held on to the other two. While I was busy spooning kuah durian into a bag, I told Aliya to keep a watch on Ariz. She nodded.

Once I'm done, I looked around and there were no Ariz around. *Gulp*

Damn! I hissed at Aliya and almost in tears cos there were a lot people around and I had no idea where to start looking. Images of the lost girl, Nurin Jazlin swam in my head.

I looked around and stepped off onto the roads and suddenly I saw Ariz coming to me FROM the bazaar. OMG! He must have wandered there alone and came back for ME! He just strolled along with no worries on his face whatsoever. Aliya was almost in tears too. But alhamdulillah! Tak terbayang rasanya if I couldn't find him. Rasa-rasa macam nak letak the body harness on him. Geram pun ada, lega pun ada, sedih pun ada.

Hari Ini Puasa

Thursday, September 13, 2007

First day.

Woke up at 4:14am and Ariz was fussy too. Quickly woke Andes and asked her to goreng telur and some ikan masin and I got Mosh's acar buah out out the fridge. Went back upstairs to nurse lil demanding Ariz to sleep again. I swear he has a mummy sensor with him. Whenever I'm like a foot away from him, it'll beep and he'll go looking.

Anyway. Had to set up another alarm at 5:00 am to sahur and got mrGart & Aliya down for sahur. Terkejut badak makcik tengok ikan masin yang sepatutnya digoreng dengan bawang and cili, perah limau sket .. tetiba telah di goreng dan dicampurkan dengan acar buah!

Oh tidak!

Maid aku telah terfonkius. And ruined Mosh's infamous acar buah. Tapi takpe la. Benda dah terlanjur. Marah pun tak guna. So, kitorang bersahur dengan telur goreng & ikan masin yang dicubit-cubit avoiding the acar.

Wanted to read a bit but Ariz's alarm sounded again.

Woke up late at 6:30 am and rushed to get ready but Ariz came into the bathroom, scrunching face and scratching eyes. Erkk! Terpaksa buka Lion King seround.

Adani's running a bit of fever and she's been coughing a but yesterday, chestily. So since aku pun dah lambat ni, told her she'd be at home, recuperating today. The day before, Asha had to use the nebuliser for her constricted airways. And Aliya & Ariz have been achho-ing and snorting gooey gunge hingus all week long.

Anyway, I'm at the office now and we just got clearance to come back in after one hour in the Tempat Berkumpul Kecemasan.

Another Sumatran earthquake this morning at 7:50am at 6.8 Richter and the buildings shook like legos. So we were evacuated.

I felt nothing, especially when I arrived at the offic, people have started to pour out of the builidng, looking up. And I was termalu-malu baru nak sampai ofis. He he he! MrGart's office in Jalan Timur, PJ has also been evacuated and the nearly rebung-ed menara telekom.

Ini kalau semalam, dah lama kitorang parked our butts at either mcD, devi's, raju's, berjaya's or mana-mana la for foodie. Tapi hari ni puasa, so ko tengok aku, aku tengok kau aje la.

Alrighty people, need to ermm work now. Cioa!

No Visitors ?

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Takkan la takde orang datang blog ni kan?

Sedihnya.

Biasala tu .. pindah rumah baru. Orang pun tak tau lagi.

Tinggala komen korang. I sedey tau.

Ngantuk Mood

I baked a batch of bagels last night. The second attempt and they turned out gorgeous this time around. The first time tu, balik anjing mesti mati punya.

Anyway, that's not even why I'm sleepy right now.

People ask how can I bake when I have 4 kids at home. Easy. 1 word. KITCHENAID.

ANd in my case, a sexy, red-hot KITCHENAID. Can't do without it now.

Anyhow. Was finishing the Memory Keeper's Daughter last night. It was a sad, soppy story and if your'e in the happy mood, leave it on the shelf cos it is so depressing. And long-ish and dragging-ish. I dunno. Maybe I'm just not cut out for that sort of stories.

Well, Ariz was still awake at 12:45 midnight watching Lion King, Nemo one after the other and not even appearind tired. MrGart has already been snoring with Harry Potter's book on his lap and eyes in La-la-Land.

Finally he agreed to get into bed and sleep and it's 1:15 am.

So mr so the very ngantuk.

Malam ni dah la nak kena start bangun sahur.

Adoiii!!

Ramadhan Beckons

Tomorrow Ramadhan comes again.

It never ceases to amaze me how time flies. Did I not just completed last year's Ramadhan? Itu la orang kata. Time's like a river. Once it goes, it goes. So need to make the best of it.

So, sempena Ramadhan ini, I want to at least pergi masjid buat terawih paling kurang pun sekali seminggu la. Nampak gayanya macam boleh sebab Ariz is bigger now. But then again, aku selalu rasa bersalah if I leave them for purposes that's not them i.e self-fulfilling missions. And bukankah, perempuan disunatkan sembahyang dirumah saja?

Betul tu. Tapi kat rumah kurang meriah la.

Tapi tak pa. Aku bercadang jugak nak buat sekali seminggu.

And kali ni, aku akan mempraktikkan makan seadanya dah tidak mengikut nafsu.

Tapi takut tak sempat ajer la nak memasak.

Insyaallah.

So people, selamat berpuasa. Sahur tu sunat, so bangunla. Aku harao this year, dapat masak for sahur. Last year, banyak Andes yang buat sebab Ariz's fussy in bed. Tapi Andes tu kurang adventurous masaknya. So aku jugak yang terer.

Kita tunggu dan lihat eh ?

A Fresh Start

Ah well!

Ingatkan panas hingga ke petang, rupanya hujan di tengahari.

Ingatkan efx2 boleh bertahan, rupanya kena phished pulak.

Dahla it's been like about a year since I moved over to efx2 from the now dead modblog, now efx2 too suffered the same fate. Maybe not entirely dead, but well, who knows.

Was getting cosy with the buddies over there and now alone yet again.

Sigh!