Pening Kepala ..

I don't get headaches that often, so I say. So does Nobita too. But when we do get one, it's the sort that makes us wanna hempuk our heads on to the nearest sofa and get someone to hayun a fist to our heads. So, so, so sakit or rather we have such low pain threshold? I have such great and renewed empathy for migraine suffers. My dad takes so many panadols in his life to counter his headaches that he takes them now before the headaches come. Hmmm.

Showers won't do it. Massage won't do it. Even sex won't kill it. Trust me, I've tried. *sigh*

So, I down 2 panadols with a glass of iced water and half an hour later, I re-emerged as Queen Gorgeous again as The Grumpy Witch has gone in hiding for fear of those panadols wielding its white sticks.

Anyhow.

Yesterday, I had a mighty headache. We were at Genting and Aliya MADE me queued and got on this Solero Space Shot. Gosh! I thought I was made of sterner stuff. I thought I could never get scared. This is Gartblue, hokeh! I got on that Nemesis at Alton Towers 3 times in a row and I never turn down any offers for those white knuckle adventure rides. Any!

Boy, was I wrong! First we were shot straight upwards to a thousand metres at least, okay okay ... maybe a hundred or more. The place was very very super-foggy that day and it was really chilly. We abruptly stopped in the middle of nowhere and we might as well were floating in the sky cos I couldn't see anything underneath my feet.

Then the terror begun. We just plunged down, free falling and my heart just stopped. I felt like my insides were left in the fog UP there. My butts were floating in zero gravity and it was an eternity before we were snapped rudely and shot upwards again, slightly lower and up and down and up and down. I screamed shamelessly. *shakes head*

Then Aliya said. "Let's go again, Mummy!" Terbeliak mataku. Anak daraku memang tak takut langsung! Cehs.. I was still doing a count on my insides to see if I got them all back in me and she wanted to go again? Sheesh! When did she turn from my baby to this brave, I can-do-it-all, am-fearless girl ? Gosh! But secretly, I'm so proud that she gets this off me cos MrGart has a serious fear of heights. Even the first floor of Eiffel Tower sent him clinging to the railing.

That didn't cause my headache but the huge harmless looking swings got me. These buai swung you in circles and threaten to propel you in a trajectory should any of the cables snap. That did not deter the girls. Aliya and Asha went 3 times, Adani twice and MrGart and I went once and came out groggy!

Sighs of not-so-young age, maybe. Oh tidakkkk!!

Headache No:2.

Ariz was at school today for his first ever orientation day. And it did not go that well. He sat for 5 minutes and then declared he wanted to go home. He didn't cry though. He just clung to me and punched me to make me carry him. He refused to do anything and everything the teachers of his other classmates were doing, except eat snacks and take the party pack.

Ouch! I can feel the kepeningan for the first week of school. *shudder*

Far From Merry, It's Ugly

Malaysians, that is. Some of us, apparently. Not all, though.

Anyhow.

Since the Kebun trip never materialised, we traipsed down (or rather duduk dalam kereta, emitting CO2 contributing to the worsening greenhouse effect) to the I-KE-A and its big brother I-Ka-No.

You know the long queue near the cashier I-KE-A counters to get cheap ice-creams, we were there. There's this Chinese girl who awkwardly manoevered a "tall" soft drink cup to fit the nozzle for the coffee machine. I thought, maybe she thought it was a soft drinks machine. But no, she pressed "cappucino" and then pressed it the second time since the first fill came up to half of the cup. Hmmm.

Obviously 2 presses caused the hot cappucino to overflow from the cup. BTW coffee cups are thicker and shorter and obviously soft drinks cost RM1.50 per cup and coffee/tea cost RM3.00 per cup. All are free refills and based on honesty basis here.

The girl now was in trouble cos her cup was too full and too hot and she couldn't get it out as it's now stuck under the too-low nozzle. It's not supposed to fit there in the first place, silly! Now, the father came to her rescue and tipped down half the content and walked off nonchalantly. WHAT?

Next, an Indonesian maid came and did the same thing. A well-dressed Chinese man. A rather tackily dressed Chinese woman. An Indian woman can did the same thing too. In fact out of 4 people who used the machine, only 1 paid the right amount. The other 3 wanted coffee but refused to pay the additional RM1.50 and just slithered their way for it. Shamelessly. In full view of the long queue of people who were waiting. I was beyond shock.

I was so shocked. I never thought to do that and there I was feeling like a kid in a new school. Very very humiliating attitude these people have.

Then, we went to I-Ka-No and all the kids joined in the craziness of those polystyrene snow balls at the concourse area in front of the stage. There were kids of all ages and sizes, throwing snow balls and making snow angels on the floor. Men, women, boys and girls were picking up snow balls from the floor and played and played gleefully.

Adani having fun.


Ariz. Wayyyyy too much fun. He was literally on the floor, lying and swimming and generally having a whale of a time.


Ayisha & Adani.


Aliya, looking as smug as ever. Notice the chaos at the background?


We then went outside as Adani & Ariz were itching to go for the pony rides.

There we saw a blackberry-wielding Chinese woman was angrily chastising another CHinese woman who ran the pony-rides business. Something about the pony-lady shouting to the blackberry-lady's son. Something also about the pony-lady was trying to protect the boy from being kicked in the face by the pony where the blackberry-lady ignored her.

Things got seriously bad as the blackberry-lady called up her hubby and her oso-blackberry guy cam charging and screaming abuses to the pony-lady. OMG!!!

I wish I had gone up to the pony-lady and said to her that .. "I believe you. Some people just don't deserve what they have in life."

What ugly lot I saw today and it was supposed to MERRY? Yikes!

The Kebun Trip That Didn't Happen

Today's a public holiday. Adani asked me yesterday what would we do WHEN it snows today. Hmmm .. we don't get snow, dear. We get the sunshine. Yikes!

We (the clan of Cikgu Samat) were suppose to spend the morning chopping down errant bushes and generally maintaining the kebun (or orchard) my dad has kept awsomely in shape well before he retired, somewhere at Rawang.

We're supposed to pick the many different varieties of fruits (durian dah habis season) and vegetables and whatnots. We're supposed to bentang a large tikar under the durian tree and eat breakfast. And probably take shelter in the little hut if it gets a little too hot, whose pillars are the actual ragged trunks of manggis trees originally felled from the same kebun.

The kids were excited to hear that their Wan has populated the pond with some little fishes where you normally pay a hefty RM34 per pair of feet for a little deadskin feast for those poor fishes. Safe to say, they've been saving their deadskin for those fishes.

Me? I'm looking forward to my mom's nasi daun or rather herbal rice made from this pucuk lemuni (eh betul ke?). It's speckled grey in colour with sambal ikan bilis and cucumber slices for condiments. In my effort to poorly meet my mom's effort halfway, I baked 18 of those Mexican Coffee Buns and they're sitting in the kitchen, all 15 remaining buns or less now that Aliya & Asha are downstairs.

But my dad texted me early in the morning to say that the kebun trip was off as they had to rush to Kuantan to attend the funeral for my Pak Ndak's mother who passed away early this morning. Al-Fatihah.

Okay, okay. I know ppl should write about what has happened. Since it didn't, I thought I should write about what would've happened but did not. Hehehe. We are off to some shopping malls now to satisfy some itchy, restless little feet of the residents of the house.

Me? Off to eat those buns.

Feeling Orange-y

I am the office now.

Trying hard to work but not much juice flowing at the mo.

So, I think I should write a post to keep y'all updated on what naughty things I've been up to. And plus, it'll keep MissPB occupied for a minute or two since she's already in her "please update, peeps!" mode. You heard me. Go post an entry. Like, right now. Go. Post. Now.

Bossy eh?

Anyways.

I would've snapped a pic of my Orange Glow Chiffon Cake which I made yesterday afternoon. The came smelled so heavenly while it baked and afterwards it came out perfectly and it's the softest chiffon I've ever made ever. Well, this is my first one, so sue me. Hehe.

Here's a pic from AuntyYochana

Though mine looks slightly browner on the sides with some parts missing. Hehehe and very bumpy top.

We devoured almost a quarter of the very tall cake while watching Transformers last night. The kids and MrGart aren't huge fans of rich cakes, so I thought this is a nice no-fat departure and I was right. They loved it. Phew!

I sliced about half of what's left to bring to the office to delight the girls and thought about snapping pictures, but too late. It's gone now. Eaten. Zilch. None left.

Anyways. I'm sure I'll make this again in the future. It taste really really nice and soft and orange-y and refreshing and just heavenly. Gosh! I need a slice now. Hope the kids wouldn't eat all of the cakes at home just yet.

Well.

Oooo .. I forgot .. I did two more cookies classes at CakeConnection last week, an adult and a kids class. I thoroughly enjoyed the adult class as we had smaller than usual number of students and it was laidback and relaxed. The stduents who came were very enthusiastic and superbly creative too. Check out Mallini's blog on the class and the pictures of the cookies.

The kids' class was alright too. I had 5 kids aged 6,7,8,9 and 10. Yup, all ages. And these kids have to pipe royal icing too. But they were alright once they got the hang of it. But with kids, they would do theirs as instructed but then will plead that I do one for them to take home, or even whine to take my decorated cookies home. Haha. And the stories these kids tell during the 2.5 hours. Oh wow!

Well.

Saturday saw me peddling the kids from Ad-daris, to school (for books) to Masalam to get bags and then home again by myself as MrGart was at some badminton tourney. It was tiring and purse-denting but we had a jolly great time.

Sunday, we're off again to I-Kano for stationeries and we went to get some beddings for the rabbits and whatnots. Safe to say, going back to school shopping is DONE.

Now is the time to wrap school books, write names on books, organise school books on designated shelves, sew name tags of uniforms, shorten sleeves, shorten kain baju kurung, sew tudung baju kurung and whatever else in between.

Yikes!

Gotta go now ... that little pesky thing called work beckons. Ciao!

Not Been That Far, Just Away

I suddenly realised that I've not been posting anything for the past 8-9 days. Wow! That seems long. Pardon me, though .. as internet connection sucks bigtime where I'm at most days. Most waking hours, that is.

At home, it gets hard to sit in front of the pc and start posting or even plain browsing. My kids aren't the type who cordially let their parents sit leisurely for 15 minutes straight.

There's always drinks to fetch/make/add ice into.

There's always bickering/fights to break up.

There's always someone needing rescues from tight spots that someone always gets himself into.

There's always shouting matched to be referee-d and to say "ENOUGH!" to.

There's always cookies to make, cakes to bake and honey oat bread to make.

So there!

I hope enough excuses for being so silent.

In the meantime, work seems to be on a slow-motion pace. December is always a slow month, the best month. The month when almost all of the bosses will be flying to their choice overseas locations for their much-deserved holidays while small fries like us, enjoy the public pools or the zoo negara. Haha. *grins terpaksa*

This time around, we've done our share of holidays and hotel stays and the remaining days will be spent somewhere close and cheap.

Last night, we were at Hisham's sister's wedding and conveniently and for the first time ever, we sent the kids over to my parents' and only picked them up at 8:00pm tonight. They spent the night away from us, while we were like 20 km away! Wow! Now I know how missKLSentral does this.

It felt good to have the house to ourselves. Very very rare! So, wipe that smirk off your face! We only did what 2 grown ups would do, when left to our devices in a kid-less home! hahah!

But it quickly became quiet. Too quiet.

So, when we picked them up today, instantly it hit us. Regardless how noisy or bickery or annoying Aliya, Asha, Adani and Ariz may get, they are ours to enjoy (or to shout at).

We're home now and the house sure is alive again.

Hajj Beckons

I pray for Elisa, Jeni, Suriati and scores of friends and fellow brothers and sisters who are at Makkah for Hajj during these momentous days ahead.

It does something to one's heart watching the sea of people in white circling the Kaa'bah and it beckons to me.

Insyallah, my time will come with Allah's will. I hope it's sooner rather than later.

Insyallah.

They Probably Want Us To Work ..

The Kompeni, I meant.

I'm back from our 7 days break. Came home from PD late Wednesday with 4 tanned, burnt kids. They all are a shade darker than they used to. Me, too. Sungguh kelabu.

But we had fun. I should post pictures lest Rotidua would scream bloody murder. I have the camera but MrGart downloaded the pictures to HIS notebook. So, I have an empty camera. Hmmpftt!

Asha celebrated her 8th birthday by the pool, down by our baby blue and white villa. She's 8! I couldn't believe it. Eight! We haven't done the cake-cutting yet as I uhmm have not baked her cake yet. *malu* We've been away from the house almost every weekend and I did promise to have a TALL cake for her. So, next weekend, insyallah.

One thing I was most thankful for in PD was that all the kids were able to survive in deep water.

Ayisha was a natural in the water, almost always deeper than she is tall. And she's so at ease with swimming and snorkelling and just floating. And somehow, she's okay with no goggles. I'm just glad she picked up swimming wonderfully as she's always been adventurous and ever ready to jump in water.

Aliya meanwhile, just got better and better. This time around, I bought 3 pairs of fins and 2 snorkelling gear for the kids. And Aliya and Ayisha had their heads under water in the pool most of the time, with their fins kicking while they inspected the bottom of the pool, and other people's bottoms too. Heheh!

Adani used to be very timid and afraid of water deeper than her ankle. But since she learned to swim, she's been more open and she's willing to float and swim and just relax. But she needed her arm bands still, which I'm more than happy to put her in. But the constant bickering with her and Ariz was driving me insane!

Ariz has such strong legs and arms. He's a muscular boy, surely. Try to pinch him and you'd feel his taut muscle underneath the skin. Who would've thought a seriously big and fat baby he used to be could end up so lean and muscular. A boy, alright! He's the only one with no swimming lessons and I doubt that any swimming schools would take him in, at his age. But the great thing about him is his sheer fearlessness. He'd jump in the water with no qualms whatsoever. Other people would stare in disbelief at him jumping into water 3 times his height. But he must have his ring float, which is snug at the waist. Once, he was so excited he jumped in without it and alhamdulillah, I was close by and a lady picked him out. That out him out of water for eaxtly 5 minutes! Apart from that he'd be paddling hard and fast too, to wherever he pleases. He doesn't need anyone to push him either. He's so mobile on his own.

Me, I learned this time around to do breast stroke while my head remained above the water. I gave up free style a long time ago. Too much of a hard work. But I never seem to be able to swim freely with my head afloat. I learnt that if I relax, that it's a breeze really. It always does.

Anyhow. Back to the title of the blog.

Came back to work to a rude shock. The Kompeni has tightened its web security and has now blocked all chats (gchat or skype, forget them), auction sites, social websites (like mukabuku), fotopages (I bet multiply too) and countless other sites! Dang! I just tried picasa and it's blocked too. Grrr!!

This is a pain!

Flat Battery

You would have thought we'd be in the pool again, idling away the remaining time here at pd.

But no. We are now stuck here at a breakfast stall, after I sent mrgart to his hotel and i stopped to buy breakfast and the wish refused to start.

The car spluttered but never more than a cough.

mrgart is here now and where are those aam guys?

Sigh!!!

The Moon Tonight

Today was a blast. The kids spent the morning swimming at the tee-en-bee kondo, waiting for 1pm when we can check in our villla.

The afternoon was spent at the beach and literally getting alll digits all kecut from too much time in the water. The water was clear and sea was calm. Even ariz enjoyed his time in the water.

Anyway, we're waiting for dinner to arrive and i looked up to the sight of a crescent moon and 2 very bright and big stars. Hmm much too big to be stars. Could they be the orbiting satellites? Dunno. But they sure shine so bright.