Day Trip to Melaka

Mana la MrGart ni?

Entah-entah tengah makan cendol kat tepi masjid kot? Or melantak nasi briyani pak wan?

Cis .. we are ready here.

Beg, siap. Baju tukar, siap. Air sirap dalam botol, siap. Asam, siap? Kids, dah siap mandi and itching to go. Mummy, dah lama dah siap, orang dah la ambik half day hari ni.

Drebar?

*geramnya*

p/s Congrats to mosh for his new addition to the family. *high-five* Alhamdulillah both baby and Shina are doing alright. *wonders bila mosh nak update blog dia ni?*

When Mummy Complicates Matters

There are specific moments in all my kids' lifes that I would not be helping, instead, I would be a stumbling block.

Like mornings school send-offs.

Last Wednesday, I sent off Asha to KAFA and then Ariz & Adani to preschool. Adani was much too eager to go, ever ready for academic challenges. In fact she's been counting the days for when she enters Standard 1.

Ooohh .. I should also mention here that yesterday she's doing such a wonderful job of counting how old would everyone be when she's 5, 6, 7, 8 etc. She would be like "When I was 5, Mummy was 35, Daddy is 37, Aliya is 10, Ayisha is 8 and Ariz is 3". "When I'm 6 ....."

I was so impressed that my jaw hit the floor. Even I had to think a while to get everyone's ages right, hokeh! Then I picked my jaws off and started to hush her when she was at "Mummy is 40 ".. Shhhhhhh .. we're in public now, dear .. no one should know how old I would be, or am! Hehehe!

Anyhow.

Ariz was so eager to show me his class and then once we got there, he spent 3 mins in and decided to become a clinger and refused. Half an hour later, we went home. Shheeessshh!

So there. I complicate matters, when in comes to schools.

Yesterday and today are Daddy's turn and he gleefully hopped on Manjit's vans and even came home with a lantern. Ceh! Menyampah!

p/s Andes sms-ed yesterday asking us to pick her up at the melaka port today. YAYAYAYAYAYAYYAYA!! Alhamdulillah. I know I miss her. More importantly, the floors miss her, the stack of unironed clothes miss her and Bubbles sure miss her too.

Unwanted Visitors

Aiyooohhh !!

Tasha & Dhamiral who live a few houses away from ours since the past week ( I suspect for much longer time but I wasn't aware of) have been ding-dong-ing our place at all hours of the day.

Tasha is 7 and Dhamiral is 10. Ariz who'll be 4 next month and Adani at 6 as well as Asha who'll be 9 in Dec love to have company. Aliya is indifferent.

I don't mind these kids coming around to play with mine.

But, they come at 8am. They gave salams at 1pm. 2pm, 4pm, 7pm and every hour in between. I have to tell them that "Ariz is sleeping". "Asha is doing her homework". "Adani is eating lunch".

And I don't like that at all. Keep telling the kids that I'm okay with them playing but they have to come at 5pm and play at the park. Remember, Andes is not around and Mummy's playing house, so Mummy doesn't appreciate picking up other kids' mess. But even after being told to come at 5pm, they still come-a-dind-dong-ing at all hours of the day. Penat aku nak bagi alasan.

But seriously, I for one, would never let my kids wander off to neighbours' place uninvited and at such ungodly hours too. Orang nak tido la, orang nak tengok Brothers & Sisters ke, orang nak terlentuk depan tv kat sofa ke? Dah la orang takde la dress vogue dirumah selalu. Aiyooohh!

So, during the long weekend, we watched 1 movie a day for 2 straight days. Just to get out of the house. But I thought InkHeart was really good and Bedtime Stories was so hilarious, I could hear Aliya cackles of laughter all the way.

Anyhow. Nak buat macamana ni? Tolong!

Bruised Knuckles and Rough Skin

Such a whiny, I tell myself.

Andes, my faithful helper for 7 years is currently home at Pekan Baru visiting her unwell mom. She should come home tomorrow. Otherwise, I should seriously be in trouble. Insyallah. *panicking*

Anyhow.

Was on leave yesterday and today and tomorrow are MrGart's turn.

It's a blessing in disguise actually when your helper goes home and leaves you with housework you normally take for granted.

Like the freshly vacuumed and mopped floors. Empty and shiny sinks. Emptied bins from the toilets and particularly the kitchen's. Clean, sterile Bubbles' litter box. Things get picked off the floors and jumped ito their respective boxes/containers. Wiped toilet counters and clean loos. And the list goes on and on.

For the past 5 days, I was the person who goes around the house, picking things up from the floors of which there are many things ranging from HeatBlast, cars, towels, spenders .. well typically Ariz's stuff. Kalau kakak-kakak punya, memangla nak kena. I vacummed the floor, mopped them, upstairs and downstairs. I started loads of washing in the machine and hang them out to dry. Got the girls to get them off the hangers inside. Had to cook and also had to read to the kids.

And my aching back. Last night, I was up till 1am, folding 4 batches of clothes. The kitchen is sparkling clean after I baked 2 loaves of golden honet oat and a tray of brownies. There's mihun and soto soup in the fridge for MrGart and the kids today. I hope the house is still standing when I get home today.

I told MrGart that he doesn't need to do much. Maybe a load of laundry. But just keep the place tidy. Pick things up. Even that I have reservations. But all day yesterday and the past 4 days, I kept thinking that I shouldn't whine for cleaning the house.

At least I have a working washing machine to wash our clothes, I have kids to put the clothes on. I have a gorgeous house to clean and I have family to nag to. I am so blessed. Alhamdulillah.

But I thought I should be allowed a little whiny spot. Hehehe. First I burned my knuckles, okay ONE knuckle in the hot oven. Then that knuckle, even after 2 hours in ice water, started to blister. The burn was just about half a cm and I was whinging and whining like a baby. Hellfires are much much worse.

Well, yesterday, due to labour (macamla banyak sangat), 4 of my knuckles are now have bruises and cuts. Begitu berusaha aku membersih rumah. Taknak bila Andes balik karang, rumah macam tongkang pecah. Gua kena jaga maruah jugak!

Hutang Dengan Famy

Was at mamarawk's and remembered that I was tagged by none other than Famy for this tag. But of course, elisa's comment sungguh mencuit hati, jadi, elisa, you're tagged!

7 facts you may not know about me:
1. I get super-ticklish around the neck area.
2. I lost 5 watches (or was it more?) and 3 years ago, I stopped wearing any. MrGart pun kata takmph beli dah, asyik hilang aje!
3. I'm still slightly bengkek with my mom for not letting me go to Alanis Morisette's concert, the day before nikah. *sungguh jahilliyah*
4. I'm shorter -sikit je hokeh!- than my twin (who's younger than me by 1o minutes)
5. I create words from car plate numbers and count the number. *afflicted, I am*
6. I played hockey during sekolah rendah. Tak terer langsung pun.
7. I suka giler goreng pisang.

7 things that scare me:
1. Apa-apa jua cerita hantu, korea, jepun, mat salleh, semua tak boleh.
2. Things that crawl and things that slither.
3. Tidur kat lantai and things crawl into orifices like telinga and whatnots.
4. I can see germs. Betul!
5. Beddings, pillows, towels, baju atas lantai. Itu germs dengan berkoloni dengan banyaknya. Gua takutt!
6. Syirik & dosa-dosa besar
7. Night driving, alone and lonely streets and lonely alleys.

7 songs that I like the most:
1. What about Now? Chris Daughtry
2. Tattoo
3. November Rain - Guns & Roses
4. bernafas Dalam Lumpur - Wings
5. Paradise City - Guns & Roses
6. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen (with Freddy Mercury)
7. Anything Mariah, Madonna, Spice Girls, I know .. sick!!

7 phrases that I say the most:
1. Yikes!
2. You what what ...
3. As if ..
4. Oi. Tolong la ..
5. Gile ke hapa?
6. Duhhh
7. Puhleeze

7 of my precious things:
1. Cincin kawin (dalam save since saya tak pakai barang kemas langsung)
2. Beg besar ku yang berjenama "Teka" .. boleh masuk Ariz kalu dia nak.
3. Badge besi Pengawas Convent Bukit Nanas. ahaks!
4. Gambar dengan MrGart masa bercinta dulu, in a frame yang dah pecah, atas meja tepi PC kat rumah. I can see Lollies tengah gelak guling-guling.
5. The 5 quilts I made for Aliya, Ayisha, Adani, Ariz & MrGart. Heirlooms.
6. Our house. Though aku rasa macam nak renovate ler.
7. Phone ler .. e71 la katakan ..

7 memorable first timers:
1. Jalan nak pegi kelas in the middle of winter, through a completely frosted over Crescent Park, Peterborough sampai menggigil, fearing that my ears were gonna fall off. sejuk siot!
2. Buka puasa dalam kelas dengan snickers, while glaring at an arab friend siap bentang fries during lecture. grrrr ..
3. the joy of epidural. ahhhhhhh... bliss.
4. The sight of Romah Mode inn Bandung. Shopping!
5. Breastfeeding. Bliss! Lepas tu manual express. Perrrgghhhh.. Terer!
6. Wasabi exploding in my head. Never again!

hahaha .. katun pulak la entry ini.

Feeling A Little Lay-zee

I spent the last half of December 2008 chasing my own tails, baking and sewing and worrying and wrapping and teaching and whatnots.

So, for the past 2 weeks, I took a little time off and just let things slide a bit. Well, the kids started school and I was like "done preparing and now's the showtime".

And that goes for my blogging too. Been off and on, very malas-ly.

It's not like there's nothing to blog about.

There's always the Ariz's adventure of the past 2 weeks of crying every school morning while I showered him and put on his uniforms and once he has his PS in hand, he'd be alright. And then Andes, the maid would have to get on the van with him and get off 3 streets away. And then he spent the last 2 weeks wandering around the school's compound and very minimal time in the class. But still, he went to school every morning.

I was losing hope an worried sick. Until Teacher Rani called me up on Friday assuring me that Ariz's boycott of classroom was officially over. He finally decided that he'd be in the class from now on. Not in Teacher Rani's class, though, where there are 8 other fun boys. No siree. He wants to hold hands and sit next to Alisha in a different 4-yo class. Errr .. fine!

There's always Adani who learnt in science last week in school, about materials specifically metal . I have just spent the whole outing today identifying which was metal and which was not. And did I tell you, her reading is phenomenal! She's reading Shel's Silverstein's poem book and really enjoying them. Mummy beams!

There's always Ayisha who has the most passion for Bubbles, the cat. She painstakingly coaxed the cat out of its hiding spot after Ariz stomped his foot scaring Bubbles away. She hugged the cat tight until he fell asleep. She'd be the one who puts Bubbles back in his cage when the house goes to sleep at night. And she's turned a new leaf, this year. She loves her tuition teachers and finding school fun.

Day 2 of school year, I picked her up and she promptly and excitedly introduced me to Erika, her new bext friend at school. The chirpy girl tried desperately to get me to put Asha on her school bus to which I politely declined to a pouty Asha. Then last Monday, Asha told me that Erika's moving to Bandung, Indonesia and I need to get her a present. I did and she gave her a pressie. Yesterday Asha told me that Erika's move to Bandung was cancelled. What??

There's always Aliya who this year has really mature. I'm seeing more and more of my pants and shirts walk from my closet to hers. And I've been buying a lot of shirts and stuff for her now that I've decided that she's having no more of the little girls' brands. She's got attitude and style these days. And don't get me started on the phonecalls. Safe to say, 3 out of 4 phonecalls these days are for Aliya.

Like I said. There's so many things to blog about. I'm just Layzie .. but do not in any way put me in the same boat as Mayzie the bird who was so lazy to sit on her eggs, she tricked Horton, the kind-hearted elephant to do just that for her.

I digressed.

The end.

Sorry Ye Abang Polis

A public apology.

This goes to the hensem Abang Polis who yesterday daftly patiently :

1. Narrowed the 2-lane SLIP road coming from Soobang eNKayVE toll towards the FedHighway to just one slim lane.
2. Even idiotically judiciously stopped the slip road traffic to the already moving FedHighway traffic.

Mental Note: *writes furiously, kertas dah nak koyak*
If it was a simpang and a traffic light was there, I couldn't have appreciated your presence. But, no! This is a highway and it's a blinking SLIP ROAD which means, it slips traffic into the main highway gradually and in no way slowing down traffic in the main highway. grrrrr!

Anyhow.

After a good 30 minutes of completely unmoving traffic and a chorus of beeping, angry cars behind me, I was ready to eat him for breakfast. My tardiness record this month has been clean. Sparkling! So, this soon-to-be-staining my perfectly stainless record was alarmingly about to be tarnished.

*singsing lengan*

Then finally, finally, we started moving and let me tell you this. I am a good person. Think of that when you read on.

We zoomed ahead,a sign that AbangPolis had finally stupidly judiciously *hokey, I used the word twice!, sue me!* let the traffic in.I passed AbangPolis standing guard at the last cone where he abused his power magically narrowed the 2 lanes into one and I slowed down, gave him my most
disgusted look my face could muster (which was plenty, I can tell you that!) and I raised my hand to gesture "Come on la, you sick sick person*. Not unlike MrGart's gesture to drivers who cross him on the roads.

He glared at me and I glared back, driving on, a tad faster this time. I saw him staring angrily at the Swift's butt from my rear view mirror. I was satisfied!

Hopefully he doesn't have a photographic memory.

Yikes!

And today, the traffic was smooth. He was there, but he just watched the traffic and did not narrow nor did he stop traffic like yesterday. Yay! I'd like to think he finally assed aced the situation and deemed his actions yesterday were a bit extreme and completely unnecessary.

So, kepada AbangPolis, sorry ye! *muahs*

Happy 11th Birthday Aliya!

Aliya turned 11 yesterday, 9th January 2009.

She's ecstatic to reach this age. I'm actually aghast to realise that I have a daughter who is 11 years old. Never mind that she's about 1 cm shorter than me and will easily overshoot me in about a week. Never mind that she can now wear my shoes and is smirking all the time too.

Aliya eating her cake.


Aliya blowing the candles on her cake, surrounded by Ayisha, Adani & Ariz.

Happy Birthday Aliya!

Disgusted And Helpless

I'm at work today. Cancelled my leave today as I thought the kids would be okay. Ariz & Adani were to go to school with their favourite aunt, Nobita and that took the edge and whine of Ariz. Called Nobita and Ariz was rather cembeng a bit when Nobita dropped off Imran & Adani at their classes. But when Teacher Fazillah took his hand, he willingly let go. Alhamdulillah. Now life can go on.

I feel helpless.

I feel such disgust and utter hatred to what's befallen our brothers and sisters and children over at the Gaza Strip.

I feel such strong emotion and could not stop tears from flowing from my eyes at the mere sight of children, young children the ages of Ariz and Adani, bodies broken and burnt from the shelling and the fathers whose legs are paralysed at the sights of their dead children, sobbing at their feet.

May Allah grants mercy to our stricken ummah.

May Allah brings down its soldiers onto these musyrikin.

But we, the ummah should collectively do something. I was listening to Sheikh Anwar Al-Awlaki this morning (the Muhammad saw's Makkan Period CDs #10) and he was discussing the commercial embargo imposed on the Banu Hashim & Banu Mutta'lib by Abu Jahal. This was when Banu Hashim refused to hand over Muhammad saw to Abu Jahal.

The Quraishites imposed the infamous sanction and caused sufffering among their own for these difficult 2-3 years. But one Hisham bin Harith (who's not part of Banu Hashim but has maternal relatives in Banu Hashim) went to Zuhayr bin Al Muhayr (not sure of the spelling here) to plan for ways to stop the embargo, seeing the suffering their fellow relatives endured. They were in such hunger that they would just grab leaves of the trees and eat them.

Anyway, Zuhayr asked that Hisham get him another men, and then the fourth and then the fifth. These 5 brave men then, during the Quraishites Assembly near the Kaabah started the ball rolling to stop the embargo. And they did.

The lesson here is that, one man CAN do something. It just took one man to start it all going and in the end the embargo ended. By the time, they wanted to tear the agreement posted inside Kaabah, they found that termites has eaten it all except for the name of Allah. Allahu Akbar! Soldiers of Allah, only Allah knows.

He also mentioned that since the time of Musa a.s., Allah has not sent any miracles to any ummah. Therefore, it is up to us to unite and work together.

I'm not sure what I could do, but I know I could make du'a to Allah for the victory and the lessening of the suffering. And I know too that what little money I could spare would help. I hope you do too. Insyallah.

Day 2

06/01/2009
Originally uploaded by Gart the Blue

Jangan tertipu. Gelak ketawa ini adalah hiasan semata-mata.

Asha willingly got on the van to Addaris and when I checked on her later, she was laughing in class. In fact, she gladly went home in the same van.

Adani and Ariz got on Manjit's van and I rushed to school to see it all went. saw ariz was chatting up a girl. Hehe. He insisted that i went in his class. Stayed a while And tried to make him feel ok with aniq, a friend.

Then i snuck out and left. I checked on adani and she was fine.

Spent the morning drinking teh ais and lengthy brekkie alone at la nansa. Checke on ariz again to find that he's been crying loudly and was at the pricipal's office with another teary girl. I took a peek and he was busy memunggah. Hehe. I left the school.

Waited for the van and when it arrived, both came out smiling and grinning and here's what they lookedd for the first thing.

First Day of School .. Halfway Through .. Sigh!

We're home. Let me tell you how Lil'Garties' first day of school went.

Ariz.
I made dua to Allah to "permudahkan segala urusan" today and Ariz was suprisingly okay today. Minus the first hour spent clinging on my hips and then I switched class to Teacher Rani's Titanic class (it's a bit pessimistic to be naming a class after a sunk ship, dontcha think?).

This class has about 9 boys out of 15 and Ariz agreed to sit in the class. We snuck out and went for brekkie with fellow parents and came back at 11:30 and upon dismissal, we came running to me, tears streaming down his cheeks. After a great big hug, he started to ease and smile again. He said he "cried sikit" aje in the class and no mention about tomorrow. Hmm. I'm hopeful. Alhamdulillah.

Adani.
Adani will be in a new class today, Teacher Jaya's class who's rather strict but a very efficient teacher. A veteran at preschool, Adani went in the class nonchalantly and kissed me goodbye. Once class is dismissed, she came to me a little teary-eyed. Yikes! First day, I said to myself.

Ayisha.
Standard 3. While waiting for Ariz, MrGart arrived at the preschool with Asha in tow, tears streaming her face. She has refused to join her class at KAFA and now under a stream of threats by MrGart. Sigh!

She's getting ready for SKBJ now and she seems alright. Agaknya esok kena suruh diorang ni naik van/bas, sebab kalau Mummy/Daddy ada, semua jadi kememeh.

Me
Just tired. We're off to fetch Aliya and send off Asha to school. Then send Aliya to KAFA and then maybe take a nap-beramai-ramai before fetching Aliya again at 4:45pm.

Gold Tiered Cake Cookies

The trio for the Wedding Hantaran Tiered Cake and the accompanying Monogram Wedding Favors for the guests in the shapes of squares and hearts.

I had tremendous fun making these and I really really love its gold colours. Thanks for CakeConnection who stocks Aztec Gold Lustre Gold. Otherwise my gold would be a dull rusty colour.

Selamat Pengantin Baru Shahliza (eh, betul ke Rina, I was writing the initials, I forgot what theu stand for!) & Najib.

Bubbles, the Maine Coon Silver Tabby

Okay, let's start with something disastrous first. We brought home a 3-mos half-bred pure white,knotted tail and baby blue eyes kitten on Wednesday, straight home after the visit to the friendly vet. We called him Bubbles. However, Bubbles spent his life in the wilderness of the semi-d houses at Sect9, Shah Alam and was very very edgy and was in fact, terrified.

The morning after, I walked past the cage and it was wide open. Bubbles' gone. Zilch. However/whoever and aided or opened the cage was still a mystery. By afternoon, the kids were upset that Bubbles was still missing.

Then Asha spotted him. After a pursuit and a rather physical gruelling chase, we got him back. I was relieved.

Until, that night I looked at him. Hmmmm. This one has a long tail. I know Bubbles has a knotted tail. His eyes weren't baby blue and they're blue with brown irises. And his fur has that brown persian tinge. Hmmmmmm.

IT WASN'T BUBBLES!!

We had to let the Bubbles-impersonator go and the kids became upset again.

MrGart yesterday sms-ed about a friend's Maine Coon and I was ecstatic. We saw Maine Coon cats before at cat shows but it's just too pricey.

Well, to cut the story short. We finally decided to get this silver white 2-mos kitten and today MrGart brought him home. We named him Bubbles, after the Bubbles that we once had.


Our Bubbles. Pic just added 4th Jan 2009.

And true to his breed, he's one happy, domesticated cat. He runs and chases everything that moves and exhilarated the kids. I've already fallen in love with this cat. He's the prettiest boy cat and he's active. Very kitten-ish.



Anyway. New Year Resolution. Not making any.

But I aim to be a better Muslimah and read more and listen to lectures more this year.

I want to increase by a notch by baking skill as well as my cake/cookie decorating skills.

And I want to just relax. Think things through and not being rash.

I want to be a fun friend, an involved mother to my children.

I also vow to keep tempers down. No more screaming or yelling at the kids.

I'll pick my battles this year with the kids.

Yikes! And I said that I'll not make resolutions?

Ciao. Let's make Bubbles feel at home.