Hari Terakhir Yang Tragik

My last day working in 2010. It's now 7.50pm and am still in the office. Dah kemas barang sikit-sikit. Punyalah 'best' last day, seharian takde air-cond. Panas ya amat.. dah melekit-lekit badan rasanya.

Coachie! Coachie! Coachie!

Taraaa... my first COACH. Actually bag ni (or ikut bahasa orang-orang yang well-versed dengan subject handbag nih... this is a SATCHEL) telah menghuni gobok baju for quite sometime (by my standard yang kurang kesabaran nih, even 2 weeks is a long time okay). Bila fikir-fikir balik, after this, my main KPI will be handling Iman (mostly chaffeuring him around) so this satchel is a bit too much for that I guess (I need a FOSSIL crossbody!! - very specific), terpaksalah acik melaramkan bag barang dua tiga hari nih before masuk balik gobok nun.

Anyway, it's in Scarlet. I just don't know what is happening to me. First it was a scarlet satchel, then I nearly buy red open-toes!

Anyway, since I'll have ample me-self time, I have made a pledge for a greener earth. In the month to come, I'll be sewing my own shopping bags (sewing okay, bukan buying). Sort of killing two birds with one stone la konon. Towards greener earth and spending my time doing something beneficial. Rather than eating kan, I'm sure Tebby would prefer me doing this (the scale tipped 55kg last time I stepped on it, the very not good). Anyway, I'll be buying some fabrics nonetheless heh heh.. We'll see la how. This is my KPI for July 2010. I'll be updating on the outputs, no worries..

Of Popeye's & Shoes

Usai melawat Smah di Pantai, kami (saya, Yati, Zarid, Farra, Jah dan Zu - lunch buddies neh.. tapi dalam ramai-ramai ni, akak le paling senior heh heh) ke MidValley untuk isi perut. Agak tergesa-gesa sebab dah spend masa lama kat Pantai.. melawat sambil menceceh. When seven mothers met, there's a lot to talk about, don't you think? It was Friday, and Robinsons had a Member's Preview sale, finding an available parking lot was a lot of stress. After rounds and rounds, we ended up parking Zarid's CLK at an illegal spot whereas Zu's CLK was somewhere else. It was late and we were hungry. A not-so-good combination. Headed straight to Popeye's and had lunch there. After lunch, I stayed (I was on leave btw) in MidValley and serbu where else, Robinsons!!

So, what did I get? A pair of flat pump in light brown and a pair of black wedges sandal. I almost buy a pair of red open-toes (tho I myself perplexed at the idea of buying RED ones, instead of the usual brown, beige, black and grey). Thank God takde size for that open-toes. Balik rumah when I showed them to Tebby, he said, I neved had such huge collection of shoes. Well Yang, neither did I. Am I having a near mid-life crisis? I thot mid-life crisis only related to the opposite sex? So, here's to feast your eyes upon...

my 4th and 5th itti & otto

Other than that, I also memborong things under the label Triumph. Takde gambar yer.. hilang akal apa nak tunjuk seantero dunia??

Well, that was all lah. Kena ingat-ingat sikit, hujung bulan depan, tekan dinding duit tadok kluar okay.

Read my first 3 itti & otto's here, which in November 2009.
Read the last time I bought another 2 pairs here, which was in April this year.

Shoes overdose eh?

Of Baby Ariff & Confinement

Went to visit Smah (better known as Sikulat in cyber world). Kami sama pregnant tahun lepas dan sama-sama keguguran after that. She decided to try again while me and Tebby decided not to anymore. She got pregnant again later and just given birth semalam.

Name is Ariff Farhan. Mama Ariff said, it's with 'i' not 'e'. Am not sure if the name has two 'f's or just one. Mandai-mandai aje letak Ariff. Born at 3.12kg, this little bundle sure full of spirit. Time kami visit, kalau dia marah, merah-merah muka and meronta-ronta sampai keluar tangan kecik dia tu dari bedung. Baby Ariff, good boy now okay. Jangan grumpy-grumpy okay.

In my live (i must add, so far), I have been pregnant with 5 babies. Iman had a twin but the foetus never made it even in 1st trimester. Adam almost got a younger sister (my instinct strongly says it was a girl). Among the 3 children I gave birth to, Iman is the smallest and lightest at birth while Adam was the opposite. Giving birth to Iman was the most difficult thing to do (as well as the most painful) while Adam, despite his size, was the easiest. Kakak? All in the middle between the boys. Caring for Iman, well, was the most difficult stage when he was a baby. Menangis. Tak lapar. Tak basah. Cuma menangis. Alhamdulillah, I am blessed with such a wonderful husband yang sanggup melayan kerenah Iman yang didodoi sambil berdiri sampai terlelap semula. Besar sikit, mengamuk pulak. Since communication used to be limited, tak tau kenapa dia mengamuk. Difficult? You bet. With Adam, it was all easy. The kind of baby yang letak kat atas tilam, terus doze of tanpa perlu ditepuk-tepuk or dodoi. Kakak? She's in between the two. Difficult or not, painful or not, I love them all the same.

Anyway, confinement was tough during my 1st and 2nd tho I spent those back at my hometown. Those were emotional and full of tears. My 3rd, albeit being spent here in KL, minding 3 kids without any help (Yes, my husband did help but he has to go to work after paternity ended. He left me and the kids with enough cooked meal tho, thanks Yang). My mom is a strict dietician, the old way. Little water, no fruits, everything must be 'dry'. I can't blame her tho as that was how she was taught how healing process was after child birth. I ended up weak, not hydrated enough and a good case of constipation. During my 3rd confinement, it was mainly due to survival tho, I ate balanced diet. Of course kena jaga-jaga for food that are 'gatal' and 'sejuk'. I took bread, milo, horlick, vege, fruits and loads of plain water. Had soup, singgang, grilled chicken and all. In short, I was well-fed and well-hydrated. And I recovered relatively quicker than I did during my 1st and 2nd confinement. Of course I took all those medications as well as a good dose of jamu. After a week bersalin, I already did the laundry, masak, sapu rumah and all. It was mainly for survival, like I said earlier, but hey,.. I survived!

This is purely based on my experience. How you want to deal with your confinement issues are totally yours to decide. I am not against traditional method and nor am I against modern ones. Have it in anyway as long as you can keep yourself healthly and fit enough to care for your baby (and other children too!!)

I know Smah pon is more or less like me. Janji sihat kan, Smah..

Dan yang penting.. jangan stress!!!

TSAHM?

Clock is ticking and it's only approximately 8 more days before my TSAHM (Temporary Stay At Home Mom) term. Apart from ferrying Iman to-and-fro and help him with his school work, to be frank, I have no other plans at this moment. Will this gonna be exciting? Or will I be stuck in boredom? People say, life is what you make it to be. If that's the case, I'm making it fun. If it's not, just wait and read my hormonal entries in this blog hu hu.

I am at home today, feeling rather unwell. It's only 10.00 a.m. and I don't know what else to do. Think am gonna scout around for jamu or something later today. Oh ya, I need a good weighing scale. Not working while having a Bibik around PLUS an enermous appetite is not a very healthy combination I'd say heh heh. People, I have started doing sit-up last night. 20 kali okay (but I forgot to do it this morning tho).

OK peeps, think am gonna raid my wardrobe and re-arrange. Any better idea that that? Suggestions?

Al-Fatihah to Wan

My maternal grandma passed away last Thursday 17th June 2010. She was 80++, was still healthly and fit. Still going around minding her chores and could not keep still for long. I guess now I know what added up to my kids being like that (apart from the genes from Tebby that is).

I was not raised to be close to anyone, my mom, my dad, my siblings and my Wan included. But that's another chapter altogether. But still, I cried when I got the news. How fragile life is and how unprepared I am for all this, let alone, death. When they asked close relatives to have the last look, we all sobbed openly.

Wan left 7 children of her own and 3 step-children. She was married twice. Once with my mom's dad. With him she had 2 children. Then she married my late step-Aki, who had 3 children from his late wife at that time, and later they had 5 more. If I were to draw our family tree, it's gonna be huge, no doubt. And I haven't started on my father's side!

The day she finally left us, she went to 'paya' (paya is the word we use for abandon sawah. still rich with all sorts of fishes), like she normally did for as long as I can remember. She fell in knee-deep water and drowned. Thing was, my Wan consistently 'black-out' from time to time. Maybe, maybe, she blacked-out and fell. God Knows as she was alone at that time. She usually came back at around 6.00 to 6.30 each day but on that fateful day, she was not home when Maghrib was approaching. They (orang kampung) started searhing after prayers and found her close to Isya'.

Apapun, please recite Al-Fatihah for her (Munah Binti Yatim) and may she be amongst orang-orang yang beriman.

My first dinars!!

Alhamdulillah, ada rezeki anak-anak. Rezeki maknya? Tungguuu!!!

It all started when I bought my bling-bling from Habib last April/May. Salesman kat situ kept on coaxing us to buy gold coins or gold bars as investment, which I did not at that point of time. Acik baru beli gelang time tu, no more provision for gold. Since then, I got some info from the net and asked around. Thing is, the more I know, the keener I got to buy more gold!! Scary huh? When I voiced out my intention to my inlaws, sokongan padu you all! For one thing, orang pantai timur (with exception of orang Pahang), memang suka beli emas kan. Even TokBak (my FIL) pun menyuarakan sokongan. TokMi (MIL) suruh belikan Athirah gelang. Hok tu Mi kena bagitau Adi (Tebby's nama manja amongst his family. He has other panggilan but let's not dwell on that heh heh) Bulan depan saya dah tak kerja Mi.

Then it was Adam's birthday. Ever heard of Dinar Kelantan? As the name suggests, cuma banyak di Kelantan and some places outside Kelantan. And it's selling like hot cakes as well. Mintak kawan yang balik kampung belikan, takde rezeki. Mungkin bukan jodoh Adam dengan orang Kelantan.. eh... Dinar Kelantan.. Determined I was, cari jugak another name of Dinar. Found a few, Public Dinar, Dinar Sirih Emas (kalau tak silap), from Nubex pun ada but somehow I bought mine (er the kids' actually) from Public Dinar.

Yesterday I bought two 1 Dinars. One for Kakak, another for Adam. Adam has celebrated his 2nd birthday 11th May while Kakak will be 9 in August, which is not too far away. Balik tu Tebby tanya apsal tak beli 3 since we have 3 kids (3 at the moment.. statement apakah ini??). I said Iman's birthday is in November, lama lagi. Pastu fikir balik, emas makin lama makin mahal. Why not just buy now when I still have some dough? Terus beli sekeping lagi.

The agent came and delivered the first 2 coins right to my office lobby. Got some more discounts (cukuplah nak makan nasi ayam sama fresh orange heh heh) and free item. Nasib tak baik, free item takde stok. Ada sarung tapi takde isi. It was dirham sebenarnya.

Kakak's and Adam's. Labelled so when the time comes and cukup syarat, I know how much for zakat.

When he delivered another coin today, he came right in front of my office lobby and bawak sekali 1 dirham as promised. Terima kasih Master Jamal. Semoga murah rezeki anda dan saya jua.

For Iman, which came a day later (today).

Facts about Public Gold 1 Dinar

Diameter - 18mm

Weight - 4.25gm (all dinars weights 4.25gm each)

Purity - 916

To my children, Kakak, Iman dan Adik, I don't have much of things to give. I do have love with no boundaries, with no conditions for all of you. As for things, this is something small I started for each of you.

hok ni FOC

New Found Hobby.. Too Bad Its Pricey Too

Helppp!!!! I have a new obsession. Too bad it's pricey too. Acik dah mula hobi beli emas okay. Scary huh, especially when bulan depan sudah tara kerija yang masuk gaji.. Untuk meng-consolekan diri, gold is an investment kan? Kan? Kan? I am starting a collection for the kids actually. One year, one dinar each, how's that?

ps - nantikan update tertunda percutian kami di Cherating pulak yerr.. as for now, I have loads to do (and yet have time to update and tell just this???)

First Leg - KL..Kedah..KL

Done with Leg-1 of cuti sekolah kali ni. KL-Kedah(Sungai Petani)-KL. Keluar semalam jam 8.00 pagi, sampai KL semula jam 8.30 malam tadi. Perjalanan yang panjang dan memenatkan. Jauh satu hal (kira-kira 800km to-and-fro), traffic yang heavy satu hal lagi.

Saya, kalau kata nak bertolak jam 8.00 pagi, insyaAllah by 7.30 pagi semua luggage dah beratur tepi pintu. Jam 8.00 pagi tu bermakna dah naik kereta dan bertolak, bukan baru nak bangun tidur. The night before selalunya saya pastikan kain baju dah simpan elok, yang belum basuh berada pada tahap minima. No dirty dish dalam sinki or any leftover atas meja makan. Anak-anak saya dah pesan awal-awal untuk bangun awal dan bersiap cepat. Alhamdulillah depa memang jenis early birds so takde masalah sangat bab tu. There's a Bree (go figure the character here) in me, yes I admit (but I am definately not a 100% Bree okay) Makanya, hari Sabtu, jam 8.00 pagi, kami bergerak dari rumah menuju ke utara. My parents, yang sepatutnya bertolah jam 8.00 pagi dari Temerloh, bergerak dari rumah kira-kira jam 10.00 pagi dan adik saya pulak tiba-tiba nak ikut sama, which made them to move at 11.00 am.

Singgah breakfast di Restoren Jejantas Sungai Buloh. Banyaknya kereta, ramainya orang.. masyaAllah. Nak parking satu hal. Nak cari tempat kosong untuk makan pulak, satu hal lagi. Sudahnya makan kat kopitiam sebelah KFC. Food OK, servis pulak, seeeelllowwwww. Dah tau cuti sekolah, ada 2 orang je manning the whole outlet. Orang tu lah nak ambik order, orang tu lah jaga cashier, orang tu jugak nak pi toast roti. So... lamalah beratur kan. Kena plak ada minah kat depan tu, masa beratur lama tu tak reti-reti pikir nak order apa. Sampai kat depan barulah sengih sana sengih sini nak pilih makanan. Tolong ya, sapa-sapa yang ada sifat macam ni, anda menyusahkan orang lain ok. Irritating. Sejam gak lah kami kat Sungai Buloh tu.

Masuk aje PLUS highway, kereta dah mula banyak.. kira dari KL ke Sungai Petani tu memang on-off jam. Most of the time kena slow aje. Paling laju boleh tekan minyak cuma 120km/j saja. Sejak kawin 10 tahun lepas, ni journey paling jauh by road saya dan En Tebby. Nasib baik saya memang kaki stock-up makanan kalau nak bertravelling. So budak-budak tak grumpy lapar or haus. Selalunya soft roll, some junks and juice. Jangan tak tau sepanjang KL-Kedah-KL, anak-anak saya menghabiskan 16 ketul soft roll! Tu tak kira lah jajan lain or berapa botol juice yang habis.. layannn...

On the way terserempak Geng Caldina tengah konvoi. Berpuluh-puluh kereta. Bersusun-susun kat lane tengah. From the sticker, it says Drive For Charity or something like that.

Kami singgah R&R Sungai Perak untuk re-fuel kereta saja. Tak singgah makan sebab
1) Anak-anak kata masih kenyang (sebenarnya depa tak sabar sampai hotel untuk meng-spash dalam swimming pool) as Tebby put it, depa lapar nak minum air pool je tu.
2) ramailah amat orang, no free parking lot.

Sudahnya singgah di R&R Gunung Semanggol. By this time kami mak pak dah lapar.. budak2.. biasalah... in anticipation nak mandi pool, manjang tak lapar. Terpaksa makan kat bawah pokok aje pasal meja penuh. Ada yang makan kat tepi-tepi walkways aje. Kami nak park keta pon makan masa dekat 15 minit gak. Nak buat cemana kan, dah nama pon cuti sekolah, semua nak keluar time ni.

Sampai Sungai Petani jam 3.00 petang. Check in kat Emerald Puteri, very near to tol Sungai Petani Selatan. Lepas tol, di simpang yang mula-mula, belok kiri. Convenient la pasal dekat dengan kedai-kedai, senang nak makan. Saya book Puteri Suite, cukup besar nak accomodate kami 5 beranak plus sorang bibik. Bilik OK, it's a 3-star and room-wise, lived up to its number of stars. Kena pulak bilik kami kat tingkat 8, paling dekat dengan swimming pool.

Exit 168 yerr... ambik SP Selatan

Emerald Puteri, end of shop lots. Belakang tu ada Parkson Ria. Bilik pulak, living and bedroom separated by a sliding door. Bilik ayaq luaihh hat dalam bilik.. ada 3 stall, shower stall, toilet and a bathtub. Hat kat area living tu ada sink sama toilet ajaa..

Swimming pool, walaupun kecik, okaylah. Takde tiles yang retak or tercabut cam kat Impiana Cherating. Me, as usual kat kiddy pool je lah melayan Iman dengan Adam. While I was there, ada 2 orang budak kecik lost footing and jatuh tertiarap dalam air, floated but face down. Mommies, while at tempat berair cam tu, always look after your child. Seconds kita terlepas pandang macam2 boleh jadi.

Ingat nak ambik gambaq budak-budak bawah nih, tak dan apa-apa depa dah terjun pi dalam pool.

Anak jantan chek. Note Iman's new swimsuit. Hat lama dah tak muat dahh... Baju 'kwebb' katanya.. pasal ada gambar kecik crab kat dada belah kiri nun..

Kakak, tengah dok pasang goggles. Tu pun swimsuit baru pasal yang lama dah sendat.

Room service pun cepat dan efektif. I use their 'bell boy' service, mintak extra laundry bag and order food. Semuanya memuaskan hati. Drawback? Food (except for its kuey tiaw which I ordered via room service) and buffet area. Food tak banyak variety and rasa cam kurang sikitlah. Buffet area ada lipas kecik dok bersantai-santai buat lintas langsung.

My parents sampai jam 8.00 malam. Esoknya jam 12.00 tengahari bertolak ke Tikam Batu ke wedding adik my SIL. Waktu tu baru lepas hujan lebat so the weather was just nice. Tak panas, tak sejuk. Food sedap (to my tekak lah, En Tebby kata biasa je). I like rumah parents SIL tu, banglo setingkat, tak kecik tak overly besar. Just nice. And beautiful landcape too. Sayang tak ingat nak ambik gamba sikit...

Kami bertolak balik jam 2.00 petang. As expected, perjalanan balik pun sama sesak macam perjalanan pergi. Singgah di R&R Juru untuk solat dan salin baju. Minta maaf lah.. walaupun saya selesa ke ofis berbaju kurung, untuk perjalanan jauh dan lama, saya sanggup salin baju pakai tshirt dengan seluar panjang. Next stop selepas Juru was R&R Tapah. Mak aihhh... ramai sangat orang. Waktu kat dalam toilet pun ada orang ketuk-ketuk pintu.. to which Iman said 'ada owammm! ada owammm!' Kat pavement macam pasar malam! Sempat jugak makan aiskrim kat Baskin Robbin and beli jambu sikit. Kalau difikirkan ramainya orang, rasa macam tanak singgah tapi kesian anak-anak nak lurus-luruskan kaki dan hirup udara luar sikit kan. Especially Adam yang strapped in his car seat sepanjang perjalanan. Sangat membantu guna car seat ni ya puan-puan. Selain for safety, senang nak manage the kids. Tapi kena start awal. Sedari infant dah kena ajar dok dalam infant seat, then car-seat. Lepas Tapah, tak singgah mana-mana dah. Terus balik KL dan sampai jam 8.30 malam.

Tol Juru. Ada musykil sikit, pasal apa kena lalu tol walaupun belum exit PLUS hiway ek? All the way to utara is under PLUS kan? Or different concession?


Esok nak start 2nd leg pulak. Another 910km to go.. Cherating... here we come...

School Holiday Special

School Holiday is back! Yang pegi balik keje, lega sikit as usually traffic will be lighter during cuti sekolah. Bibik-bibik pening melayan kerenah budak-budak bercuti yang 24 jam ada kat rumah. Cikgu-cikgu dapat rehat sekejap.

As for us, sejak ada anak yang dah bersekolah, akan ambik cuti melayan anak-anak nak ke mana-mana atau balik kampung. Kalau cuti term lepas kami ke Avillion, PD, kali ni perjalanan agak panjang sikit.

First leg: KL --> Kedah --> KL
Ke Kedah untuk attend wedding adik SIL saya di Tikam Batu. One of my brothers and both my parents ikut sekali but we go separately. Diorang bertolak dari Temerloh, balik Isnin. Saya cuma semalaman je. Last minute book hotel (semalam!), nasib baik ada yang available lagi.

Second leg: KL --> Cherating --> Terengganu --> KL

Ni balik kampung Tebby sebenarnya. Tapi dah alang-alang lalu along the coastal area tu kan, singgah semalaman di Cherating. Asalnya plan nak singgah di Kijal tapi Awana dah fully booked on our chosen date. Jenuh jugak nak cari bilik kosong. Dari Paka ke Kijal ke Kuantan ke Cherating. Akhirnya dapat bilik kat Holiday Villa. (Bacakan 'persinggahan' pertama kami di Cherating di sini, June 2009) Di Terengganu tak sure berapa hari lagi tapi mesti cover makan seafood fritters di Batu Rakit, makan di Restoren Penyu, nasi campur Sofinaz dan nak melawat kedai emas kat sana.

So nanti kan update Kak Mon ya.
You all pulak macamana?

Artsy Beadsy Day

Who says you'll have lesser thing to worry about and work on when your kids are older? All the same.. when they are baby, you worry about their umbilical cord, when they toddle around, you worry if they fall and hurt themselves. When they are pre-schoolers, you worry if your kids mix around well with their friends or not. When they go to school, you worry about their grades. Been there done it. I can't comment more since I have none older than a primary school-goer. But I bet I'm gonna worry about what course they gonna take when they start college or who they are dating after that.

That's what mom does I guess. I worry (and spoil) my kids.

Such as recently. Kakak just sat for her mid-term. It started last Monday ended today. Her art (better known as Pendidikan Seni Visual) exam falls on the last day and from all the options, she wanted to make a bracelet from beads. That's the easiest one anyway (I think).

So, naturally I went worrying if she can actually do it or not. We had 2 practice sessions, an hour each. In each session I showed her how to do it and later she did it twice, under my super-close and super-irritative supervision.

Oh, btw, here's what I bought for her..

3 small tubs of beads, a roll of stretchable cord and went a bit further by buying a storage box to ease her up.


So, I went showing her what is the should-be length of the cord and that she has to tie one end to a pencil or something so that the beads won't fall off. I showed her the beading process and finally how to tie the ends together.

'Keep your beads according the colors. Green-yellow ones in a slot, the yello in another slot and same goes with the pink ones. Remember to tie one end of the cord to a pencil or pen' Say me.. more like membebel kot..


'Oh.. if the end gets messy, just snip it off with a sharp scissor but don't bring mine to school. Mine's new and I paid a lot for it. It's super-sharp too and definately not a kiddy-scissor'.. Me say again..



Done! Cantik kan. But....

But.. but... the beads are to heavy for the cord's tension. It went like this when held up. Buruk! I actually specifically bought these beautiful beads so that I can make my one for meself once she's done with it.

opsie... all droopy

So, we took some plastic beads from her sempoa instead hu hu. No photos, I was too frustrated heh heh.

I bought the items from Art-Friend (and almost went gila nak borong semua benda)

Note: -

She came back today announcing she had done the bracelet just the way I tought her. And the teacher took it away too. Thank God we switched to that sempoa beads!

Approved!

If you have been following my blog, you'd surely notice that I have put a countdown clock 2nd top-most.

Alhamdulillah, my application, which was lost somehow, somewhere, is approved! Syukran Ya Allah. I'll be starting my leave on 1st July 2010, right up to 30th June 2011. If everything went well before June 2011, I may be reporting back earlier.

ps - ha.. saja tinggalkan birthdate ku dlm gambar atas tu.. nanti sampai masa jangan lupa calling-calling daku belanja makan yerr.. heh heh

Read on me announcing the intention of taking leave here. And read how I almost jatuh kerusi here when the P-I-C lost my application, here.