First Leg Eid 2010

During our engagement period, Tebby and me have decided that Eid is going to be celebrated alternately between his and my hometown. Well, we celebrated at both hometowns each Eid, it's just that the first day of Eid, there has to be like some kind of 'taking turns'. Well, he defaulted our earlier arrangement by celebrating our very first day of first Eid as married couple at his hometown. I defaulted back by having to celebrate in my hometown 2 years in a row, few years after that, sebab bersalin on 20th Ramadhan. Obviously I punya justification was more valid than his kan. Personally I don't really mind where to celebrate (but I bet his and my parents do). Afterall, marrying someone means you're also 'marrying' his or her family as well.

I notice that when you have small kids, it is so hard to have a proper family photo taken. Here's ours.

Eh, mana Iman? Yang, keep still. Kakak, don't slump please. Adam, don't dial my boss!

Boysss!!! Please! Tengok depan!


Adam!!!!

Which is why I never had any Eid family photo framed and displayed.

First day was a relaxing one. Went for Eid prayer, came back. Very close relatives came. After afternoon, nobody came so we had sort of tidur berjemaah while watching TV!

The girls in orange thights are my nieces. Seluar polka dot tu Kakak and yang bergebor tu is Iman.

In my kampung, since as far back as I can remember, on 2nd day of Eid, we have this 'tahlil kubur'. Went to pay respect for our beloved arwah, sedekah doa, sedekah duit for the kids. A tahlil was held and while we were at it, money is distributed to kids. Balik rumah masing-masing sibuk kira duit raya. And due to the fact that ramai yang datang menziarah kubur, maka ramailah jugak yang datang beraya. I've been dishing out raya delicacies, washing pinggan mangkuk, bancuh air, ketuk air batu and whatnots from 10 am right up to almost Isya'!

Part of the crowd. Total stranger, fimiliar faces, long lost relatives and all.

Adam and Bibik. Taking a sip after membuas. Bibik bawak dia balik awal coz he went out of control *sigh*

Iman and Wan, sebelum mula membuas

3rd day is the day we usually part for the other kampung. So 3rd day kami balik Terengganu. Since last year, due to some reasons that we spent 1st 5 days of Eid in Terengganu, this year we parted Temerloh a little late (usually after breakfast dah bertolak), after Zohor and after a lovely lunch at my brother's.

Humble, yet really fulfilling

Oh ya, while we were busy eating lemang, rendang and munching cookies, my kids' slippers were munched by a dog.

Bad boy you doggie doggie.

Pre Eid 2010

Please note that this is a basi entry actually. This is written on 16th October but I backdated it to 10th September.

Anyway.

This is about our pre-Eid. Went back on the 9th, a day before Eid. Since the terrible congestion took place the night before, we literally had the road to ourselves. Well, almost. Macam hari-hari biasa je. No congestion and we were safely home in my hometown at around 11.00 am.

Sampai aje, kerahan tenaga pun bermula (but I escaped the tear-jerking moments mengupas bawang heh heh). We did Sup Tulang, Lemang, Nasi Impit, Kuah Kacang, Rendang Daging and Kari Ayam. Tu belum masuk juadah berbuka lagi. I did memerah santan 3 times earlier today. Each time sebesen besar. I had to take pills afterwards due to sore muscle. No joke.

My mom. Coordinator-Director of The Day. Problem was, she wanted to supervise every single thing that we did. Kasi empowerment sikit lah Mok.

En Tebby was in charge of Sup Tulang. When he's cooking, it means I'd be his assistant. Chop this much of shallot, pound this much of halia, add this much of garlic. Coarse sugar please. Aye aye captain. It turned out marbeles, as his Sup Tulang always is. I made sambal kicap pedas as accompaniments. I suffered tangan pijar until well after midnight. When the soup is so good, nobody even bother to ask who made the sambal *sigh and suffer in silence*

This is how we've been doing our lemang for the past years. Rebus, bukan bakar. Only after those are well cooked, barulah letak kat tepi2 bara api. The tong is made-to-order. Lemang memang every year without fail akan buat. Dulu ada gak buat dodol. Kalau buat dodol, siap sedialah bersahur makan banyak sikit. Long, tiring process.

tokey lemang for the day.

..... otromen part time jugek


cheap labour... sedang angkat kayu api

Macam Macam Iman

I said 'Iman, jom kira'

Okay Ummi...

One, two, thwee, four, five, shix, sheven, eight, nine, ten

Lagi?

one-teen, two-teen, thwee-teen, fourteen, five-teen, shixteen, sheven-eighteen, nineteen, twenteen...

owhhh... he's getting there nevertheless, isn't he?

After two months, he now reads Bacalah Anakku Series, book 4 already and for Easy Read, coming to book 3. I also bought him the similar series from Ameen Books and he's now reading the first book. Slowly but surely. InsyaAllah. Tak lama tak apa Puan, tapi kena konsisten. Lima minit pun cukup. Teacher Sharifah assured me when I told her about Iman's short attention span. (short = 1 page and he starts to look around and fidgets). But the consolation is there, he has the motivation to read. When at its peak, banyak pages dia baca. I remember one time when we just got back from Fibrecomm's Family Day and he hasn't finished one of his homework, and he was sleeping and the clock showed almost 10pm. Tebby woke him up and he did his homework without any fuss.

Math-wise, bad mommy that I am, I don't really concentrate on Math. Well, he can count (albeit tak berapa betul lagi for numbers after 10), he knows which is more and which is less. Which is bigger number, which is smaller. Now he's into addition. First there was small buttons corresponding to the number. You know, 4 + 3 and you draw 4 buttons on one side and then 3 on the other and then you total up the buttons and get 7. Now just numbers, so I asked him to draw the buttons. And he draws lotsssss of them. When I tegur him, he just said, 'Iman suka button banyak, Iman lukis banyak'. Well, it took me sometimes to explain and thank God, he understood between what is needed to be done and what he wanted to do. Well, for now that is.

Anyway, remember Sofeya? (read here) Well, it's a love-hate relationship now. One time he told me to drive faster so that we could catch up with Sofeya's car and that he wants to bring Sofeya back home, while the other time he told me he doesn't like Sofeya coz Sofeya's not wangi. They still run together to the swing after classes and call each other out if me and Sofeya's parent happen to send or fetch the kids at the school at the same time.

So, what about me? Am fine, thank you. I told Tebby the other day that I want to quit for good (which he is still considering). The satisfaction of getting that extra thousands to spend on things I don't necessary need or splurging on another 2 tubs of facial mask just because I don't have that flavour yet or buying another pair of black shoes because this one comes in different design is just not comparable to the satisfaction of staying home, helping your kids with their school works and just browsing the net for goblin shark, precious gems, transformer and all, and preparing meals for them. Perhaps because I have a maid at home. Perhaps because I got enough allowance from En Tebby. Kalau takde maid, haruslah ku stress jua kan!