from my brain, through my eyes, into my heart

Quality vs quantity

2011-01-10T12:30:00.004+08:00

I'm back after hibernating hehe..

Been too pre-occupied with life that I had to abandon the blog although many a time, I have pictured myself blogging my thoughts inside my mind.

Aaaanyways, saja nak share my thoughts in the recent reports about a wife's complaint that her husband wanted a divorce just because he wanted to marry a foreign housemaid, citing the reason that he wanted out of the marriage was because her b@@bs were no longer attractive. She reasoned that she needed to BF all her children, tu pasal jadi camtu...

Lepas tu hari2 ada follow-up reports about wives yang banyak anak but can still maintain body bergetah sampai ke usia emas dan perkahwinan kekal bahagia sebab pandai jaga body, makan jamu, cakar harimau blabla... And they called these wives, 'Super wives'

What crap was all that about?

1) Alasan b@@bs dah tak kenyal dan mantap tu cuma sebab tak ada sebab lain dah agaknya. Orang kalau dah nak sangat sesuatu, memang ada je alasannya. Kalau body mantap macam primadona sekalipun, kalau suami nak menggatal kat orang lain pun tak boleh nak buat apa..

2) What makes a wife 'super?' Adakah the ability to breed like rabbits makes you super? And kalau anak berderet dan body masih mantap tapi anak2 tak berapa nak menjadi, should people label you super?

3) Dah tak ada berita lain ke nak sensasikan? Duh!

CRRRRAAAPPP.....

Excited..

2010-11-25T02:39:00.000+08:00

Hubby called a few hours ago before boarding his flight back from Jeddah for his R&R. I have been keeping mum about his Ayah's return, but when I mentioned airport while conversing with Hubs, he suspected something and demanded to speak to his Ayah. And Ayah told Daniel that he's coming home, and the boy immediately got so thrilled, his voice went up a few notches. And he said that he was so excited that Ayah is coming home. Syahdu hati Mummy.. kesian, anak rindu sangat dengan Ayah dia... Huhu... looking forward to almost 3 weeks of quality family time!Yay!

Progress

2010-11-19T23:22:00.001+08:00

Last Saturday was Parent-Teacher Meeting at Daniel's school. Went there to meet with his teacher to discuss his progress this year and what he has learnt in school.

As he is only 4 years old, there was no exam yet. Only five and six year old kids have examinations at the school. His progress was basically determined on how well has he mastered the social and life skills, how well he follows instructions, do'a recitations, introductions to science, maths, geology (wow!), history, biology, zoology, botany, solar system, islamic studies and arabic language among other things. He was also judged from his interactions with friends, attitude towards school work and other activities including crafts, writing, coloring and many more.

His teacher's comments:

1) Smart
2) Loves physical activities rather than writing
3) Short span of focus
4) Very mature for his age
5) Loves being praised when he did anything right
6) Matured vocabulary and expressions
7) Good communication skills and loves to talk and tell stories
8) Out spoken
9) Demands that his friends be quiet during learning time
10) Good attitude towards his friends
11) Cries easily when somebody accidentally hurt him while playing a.k.a manja sangat..
12) Very sensitive
13) Good at maths
14) Good manners
15) Kurang makan and kurang ke toilet

Now, how do we tackle his short span of focus problem eh? Kalau tengok TV or main PS tu boleh pulak concentrate....Hai lah anakku....

Aidil Adha 1431H

2010-11-19T22:58:00.004+08:00

Since Hubby was not around, (tahun ni both raya were celebrated apart...huhu sedihnya!!) and my parents-in-law are also doing their Hajj, we went back to my parents house for Aidil Adha. Not so much of a celebration, but at least my siblings were all there, and as usual we got our doses of nasi himpits, lemangs and rendangs. We did a bit of qurban this year, so we got a lot of 'daging qurban', hence the sup tulang, nasi daging, daging kicap, daging bakar etc etc heheh!

I went to see the process of qurban at my parents' house's surau. There were 12 cows altogether for this year's qurban, and all 12 were 'down' before Zuhur prayers. I brought the 2 boys along to watch.

Me: (Trying to wake Daniel up that morning) Daniel, wake up. Mummy want to see cows. Do you want to follow? (And I went straight into the bathroom)

Daniel: Mummy!!!!

Me: Yes?

Daniel: SELAMAT HARI RAYA MUMMY!!

Me: (Surprised that he even remembered) Selamat Hari Raya, sayang...

During the qurban process, he asked a lot of questions, and I tried to explain in the simplest way on why we slaughtered the cow, the process, why the cows' body shook on their few last breaths etc.. And before we went back, he waved goodbye to the cows and said, "Bye bye cow!!!"

Later that afternoon, while I was coaching him with a little bit of pre-school maths..

Daniel: Mummy! Today kan hari raya?

Me: Yup. Today is hari raya...

Daniel: Then, why are we not going anywhere?

Me: (Terdiam kejap...ehehe...) OK lah...Let's go hari raya to Wawan's house. Go and ask Nenek to get ready to go to Wawan's house.

Daniel: Yay!!!

* Wawan is my sister's mum-in-law :)

I should be happy but...

2010-11-15T16:35:00.003+08:00

I'm feeling a tad sad. Just received Hub's call from Muzdalifah a while ago. Tonight he'll be moving in to Arafah, insyaAllah.. I am truly happy for him because he has been invited by The Almighty as His guest in a way that we have never thought of. But at the same time, I am sad because I couldn't be there with him, performing the fifth pillar of Islam together as husband and wife.

I pray that all will be well, and may Allah grant him with Haji Mabrur... Ameen...And may He invites me to be His guest some time soon so that I can perform Hajj with Hubby. And may all Hubby's prayers there be granted by Allah SWT... Ameen....

Muhammad Yusuf Firdaus

2010-10-25T21:58:00.004+08:00

In about two weeks His Little Highness II will be 6 months, InsyaAllah...I still owe him write-ups about my pregnancy with him, minus his Ayah. Have to get it done soon, else they might fade, judging from my state of mind which forgets things easily nowadays...Dah meningkat usia la katakan..hehe...

His weight during my check up last Saturday at KPJ Specialist was 7.945 kg.. I am still breast feeding him (no formula), but have recently introduced some solids into his diet as recommended by his paed to solve his colic issue. So far I have given him rice cereals, rusks and orange juice, and so far he has been eating well and from the looks of it, he is digesting well. Let's hope this continues, and he would not face digestion problem like his brother. Yes, Daniel's digestion problems only improved after he was 3 years old. Kesian Daniel..

So far his growth has always exceeded the normal chart. And his progress was on par with the paed's expectations.. Alhamdulillah... He has rolled over, could interact with people, has recognised me, his brother, my parents, my sister and my brother. I guess we would have to see whether he recognises his Ayah when he returns for his R&R next month, InsyaAllah.. And by recognition, I meant that if one of us offered our hands to pick him up, he would excitedly extend both his arms towards us hihi... He laughs at his brother's antics, smiles and cooed when we speak to him..He loves his toys, but he could amuse himself with his feet for long minutes..heheh.. He loves to suck everything; his fingers, his knuckles, other people's fingers, his toys, his feet, our shoulders, our clothes, his muslin, our lips, our cheeks...you name it... haha... But he doesn't really like to drink expressed breast milk in the bottle. He would just toy with the bottle's teat using his tongue. Direct from Mummy is better, eh baby?

I am expecting his teeth to grow soon, because he has shown signs like wanting to chew something every time, sticking out his tongue, but luckily no drools.. hehe..He also seems uneasy at times, and for the past week, he would cry if I don't hold or carry him around. Sakit pinggang den.. And I could hardly do any house chores or any other work. But, I am not complaining.... Baby, I'm yours...

Oh, and I love the smell of his mouth... wangiiiii... hehe....

My good friend..

2010-10-22T03:19:00.003+08:00

Wow lama sungguh tak update blog.. Banyak cerita tapi was busy managing life with the two boys, and penyakit M was the main contributing factor too heheh...

Anywaaaaayyy....

Me: Eh! Who gave you the bread (cream roll)?

Daniel: Alia..

Me: Why Alia gave you the bread?

Daniel: Because Alia likes me..

Me:Huh?

Daniel: Alia is my good friend. Alia gives me sausage, kuih.. Kita makan sama-sama....

Me: Oooo....

What are you good at?

2010-09-06T13:42:00.003+08:00

On the way home from school the other day.......

Daniel (from his car seat at the back of the car): Mummy!

Me: Yes?

D: Eating is what I do best.

Me: Oh really???

D: Shopping is what Mummy do best.

Me: Huh? Apa dia? (I thought I heard wrongly)

D: Shopping is what Mummy do best! (with an emphasize in the word 'shopping')

Maka Mummy pun tergelak besar sorang-sorang kat depan....wakakakaka......

Whaaaaaaaaaaat Raya?????

2010-09-02T21:34:00.004+08:00

Sob...sob...

Guess we won't be having a blasted Raya this year since my other half will not be coming back to celebrate it with us... So, as of now, I REALLY do not have any plans for Raya... Been doing the Raya preparation for the boys mostly.

In our 5 years of marriage, this will be the first Raya we are not celebrating together. Last year we didn't celebrate the Raya in Malaysia, but at least the three of us were together. So, I couldn't imagine what my Raya, especially the first day, would be like. Yusuf Firdaus will be celebrating his first Raya, insyaAllah, and Ayah would not be around... bleargggghhhhh!!!!

I AM SOOOOOO SAAAAAAAAD.......

p/s: Someone scratched the WTX bumper yesterday....Hwaaaaa!!!

Pantun hari ini...

2010-08-20T22:12:00.001+08:00

Bosannya berbuka puasa tanpa teman...
Nasi seperti tak mampu ditelan...
Isk..isk..isk.... kesiannnnnn.....

hehehe....

Same old, same old...

2010-08-10T13:13:00.003+08:00

Yeah, the stories on quality of services by government officers. I've always excused their bad services because of the lower wages (not really the current situation, given the varied amounts of allowances they get nowadays), attitudes inherited from their seniors and maybe their personal problems or mood swings.

Bad service is one thing. Bad manner is another. Personally, I'd rather face a bad service than a bad manner.

I was having a difficulty with an online application with one of the agencies. There were a lot of pages to be filled, and every now and then they simply change the information needed to be filled. Maybe I was unlucky. My earlier application which was done last 2 weeks was pending approval because of an enquiry, which I didn't know until I checked on the status (it was overdue but nobody bothered to call to inform that it was overdue. Hey! What's the use of filling in the contact details there, eh?) Eventually it was rejected, after I made numerous phone calls to them (getting through to the officers was really, really difficult). The officer told me that she would reject the online application, and I need to submit a new application.

After a week, the old application was still not cancelled on the webpage by the officer, so today I had to make a number of calls again. Finally, it was rejected online, so I submitted my application again. I didn't change any other details apart from the address, but my application couldn't go through because it said that a section in the application is not completed. How strange!!! It went through the last time, but this time it was not completed?

So, I called the support hotline. There were 4 numbers to call: the office in PJ, the office in Putrajaya, the office in Sabah and the office in Sarawak. I called the office in Putrajaya. A lady answered the call, and spoke to me like I was an idiot who did not understand Malay language. No doubt her voice was soft, but the tone was definitely sarcastic! Well, sarcastic tone still sound sarcastic even if you soften your voice, ya? Told her my problem, and told her that my previous application went through but this time didn't when I didn't even amend anything on that field, but as expected, I didn't get any solution. She just told me "Ada yang tak lengkap la tu...Cik tengok la pastu save bla...bla..." I got fed-up, but as usual, I do not like to argue or scold people and create a scene. Just told her that I would try again and put down the phone.

After more tries, I got fed-up because I didn't know what was wrong. So I called the PJ office. Another lady answered the phone. I explained my problem, and she breezed me through on what I should have done. Maybe it was a common problem, because she identified it very quickly. I managed to submit the re-application this time around.

Yes, I understand that you have to answer many, many calls in a day. Maybe they were the same questions over and over again asked by different callers. But, IT IS YOUR JOB!! If you don't like entertaining calls, don't work as support staffs or hotline staffs! It's that simple. Find other jobs that suits your personality more. If you can't find the right job and are stuck in these kind of jobs, well, SUCK UP AND DO YOU JOB WELL OK???

Hadoiiiiii!!!

Conflicting ideas..

2010-08-05T19:33:00.003+08:00

Yusuf Firdaus is currently fully breast-fed. I am trying my best to prolong this as long as possible since I failed to do so with Daniel Hafiz last time. Since Firdaus was born in a 'baby-friendly' hospital, I got many information about breastfeeding from the brochures and breastfeeding consultants there. And I read a lot about breastfeeding before Firdaus was born. It was like a new experience all over again although I did breastfeed Daniel for about 2 months last time.

I read from the brochures that the breast milk contains enough food and water for babies from birth up to 6 months. One consultant told me that I do not need to give plain water or any other water to Firdaus until he is 6 months old. Very well.. I have followed the advice.

Today I found out that a friend's baby was warded at a hospital because of oral thrush. I googled about this on the internet, and walla! I read that we should give babies plain water after each breastfeeding / formula feeding session. And all these past almost 3 months, I have given my little angel nothing but breast milk! Well, maybe squirts of plain or zam-zam water every now and then. But definitely not after each BF session!

And I am feeling like a failure once again for failing to know about this much earlier. It was the same feeling that I had when I signed a form at the hospital on the first day of Firdaus' birth to allow the nurses to feed him with formula milk since my breast milk was non-existent on that day but he was crying furiously out of hunger.

Duh!!! A second time mother but still clueless about many, many things.... Haiyoooo!!

Plagued..and sad...

2010-08-04T23:22:00.006+08:00

We've been plagued with sickness lately. First, it was Yusuf Firdaus with high fever for 5 days. Then, Daniel Hafiz got the flu. And as usual, whenever my kids got sick, I would be sick too, although when I got sick, they usually didn't. Which is good, actually, because as you all know very well, taking care of sick children require extra strength and patience, which I do not have whenever I got ill.

And after almost 3 weeks, I still have the remaining of the flu and cough. Maybe the immune system has receded tremendously with the pregnancy, labour and breastfeeding. Which means, I should start taking extra supplements and vitamins. Lucky for me that Mr Hubs came home for a two-week R&R, which means extra hands and more TLC for us.

Hubby went to his new site in KSA yesterday, leaving me alone with the two angels. On the way back home from the airport, Yusuf Firdaus cried inconsolably in his carrier at the back seat of the car. Tried soothing him with the pacifier to no avail. I finally decided to park my car at the side of the highway, switched on the hazard light, went to the back seat of the car, lock the car and BF'ed him there and then. I have never done this in my entire life heheh..

And last night, I have never felt more lonely in my life. Seeing the two boys asleep, I felt loss, helpless and alone in the house. I was also anxiously waiting for Hubby's call to say that the had arrived safely at the new site. Finally fell asleep at about 2 am. He didn't manage to call, but did SMS informing that he has arrived and couldn't get through the line to call me. Alhamdulillah..

And, Yusuf Firdaus was down with fever again. Maybe it's the changing of the month, or he misses his Ayah, I do not know. He has been crying since this morning, and required cuddling every other minute. My back is aching, I didn't get the chance to prepare any meals for myself (lucky Daniel Hafiz was at school) and I felt so tired and frustrated. And there was nobody to share the workload with me. I finally broke down in tears a few hours ago. Just to release the pressure from my aching heart and tired body. Yusuf Firdaus finally fell asleep at about 9.30pm and I finally got the chance to have a proper meal for the day. Alhamdulillah...

I meant to do some paperwork but my eyes are just too tired. Perhaps I should go to bed now and rest before Yusuf Firdaus wakes up for his feeds. Guess the paperwork would have to wait for another day. They have been overdue for many days, anyway..

Well, hoping for a brighter and 'sick-less' day tomorrow, insyaAllah...amin....

Daniel Hafiz vs Yusuf Firdaus

2010-07-16T00:13:00.000+08:00

Perbualan yang biasa didengari sekarang:

Satu:

Mummy: Saaayang Firdaus....

Daniel: Daniel Hafiz?

Mummy: Saaayang Daniel Hafiz....

Dua:

Mummy: Mmmuaaahhh (kissing Firdaus)

Daniel: Daniel nak kiss jugak..

Mummy: Mmmuaaaahh (kissing Daniel)

Tiga:

Mummy: Saayang Firdaus...

Daniel: IT'S NOT FAIR!!!!!

Oh well.....

Tapi,

Mummy: (joking) Amboi! Biasa dia Firdaus ni! Asyik nangis jer! Babab dia!!!

Daniel: NO!!!! Don't babab adik. Don't marah adik....

hehe...

Muhammad Yusuf Firdaus

2010-06-20T11:59:00.004+08:00

Went for his first month check up and Hep B (2nd dose) jab yesterday at KPJ Specialist. Current weight is 5.64kg and height is 57.5cm. Head circumference lupa nak catit... hehe..

The doc said, "In term of growth, he's doing very well. See the chart here. This is his statistic on the graph (pointing to the chart). Weight and height are both well above the normal line. Lagi sikit boleh jadi obese...hehehe"

My son took the jab with a bit or crying and stopped as soon as the needle was out of his chubby thigh. I stood about a meter from him sebab tak sanggup tengok anak kena cucuk...tsk tsk...

Semoga anak Mummy terus membesar dengan sihat dan menjadi anak yang soleh...ameeennn...

Suka sangat!!!

2010-06-18T23:00:00.002+08:00

Di kala ku kehilangan
Di dalam kegelapan
Kau suluhkan sinar petunjuk

Di kala ku kesedihan
Kau ukirkan senyuman
Dengan penuh sabar memujuk

Engkau menyambut tiap kali aku terjatuh

Andai hari esok langit akan runtuh
Tabahlah menjunjung bersamaku
Andai hari esok dunia gelora
Takkan ku gemuruh selagi ku ada kamu

Di kala aku tak pasti
Kau tampil dengan berani
Membimbing agar lebih yakin

Dan bila hidup penuh soalan
Kau berikan jawapan
Melengkap semua kekurangan

Engkau menyambut tiap kali aku terjatuh

Andai hari esok langit akan runtuh
Tabahlah menjunjung bersamaku
Andai hari esok dunia gelora
Takkan ku gemuruh selagi ku ada kamu

Tidak mungkin diri ini mampu
Hidup tanpa doronganmu

Andai hari esok langit akan runtuh
Tabahlah menjunjung bersamaku
Andai hari esok dunia gelora
Takkan ku gemuruh selagi ku ada kamu

Dedicated to Hubby... missing you.......

The journey with Muhammad Yusuf Firdaus

2010-06-07T13:10:00.002+08:00

I wanted to document this for keepsakes, just like what I did for Muhammad Daniel Hafiz.

When we first arrived in Nottingham last year's April, I had discussed with Hubby, the plan to have a go at another baby. Kesian Daniel takde kawan.. So, we had been trying, and alhamdulillah I got pregnant in October 2009.

From the start, we have decided to keep mum about the pregnancy. I only informed my parents. Even the in-laws didn't know about the news. This time around, the tummy was a bit small during the first and second trimesters. I chose loose clothing when attending party invitations and wedding, and managed to cover the truth...hehe...

The experience while pregnant with Yusuf Firdaus differed from when I had Daniel Hafiz. And this time around, as you all have already known, Hubby was not by my side throughout the pregnancy. It WAS difficult. What with all the raging hormones, the loneliness and a 4-year old boy to manage. Many a time, I ended up by crying myself to my heart's content.

Nevertheless, Allah is Great and Most Gracious. Like the previous pregnancy, I never had morning sickness. And this time around, I wasn't bugged by leg cramps at any time of the day, especially in the mornings when I woke up, unlike the previous pregnancy. With Daniel, I got the cramps almost every other morning, and Hubby was the one who helped to ease the pain. No Hubby, no cramps... I was very thankful for this.

(to be continued)

Sadness...

2010-06-05T22:04:00.003+08:00

I have been experiencing brief moments of sadness for the past 2 weeks, they made me wonder what's wrong with me. The moments lasted just for a few seconds each time, but during that moments, I was totally washed by sadness, but I did not know what caused the sadness, and before I could delve into the matter, it disappeared..hehe... Maybe it's the sign of post-partum depression (PPD), or what the Malays call 'angin meroyan'?

I have read through the definition of PPD in Wikipedia, but the symptoms are not the same. Could boredom be the cause? But I did not feel bored during confinement. In fact I am enjoying the relaxation and pampering at the moment. So, what is the problem?

Maybe it's because I'm missing Hubby, and I am wishing that he's here to take care of me and the children. Perhaps...

Anyway, I hope these are temporary. Hopefully by the time the confinement period is over, the feeling would disappear and I can enjoy the new life with 2 children. Better still, we could all fly off to stay with Hubby there. Hmmmm.....

5 years and counting..

2010-06-03T12:05:00.003+08:00

It's our wedding anniversary today. No celebration though, as we are separated in 2 different continents... sob..sob...

However, my present for today is a 39 deg C fever...duh... Got an antibiotic jab last night to lower down the temperature. Yusuf Firdaus also cried non-stop last night because of colic and by 2.30 am, I was totally drained of energy.

Happy Anniversary, my dear Husband. 5 years maybe not that long. But I sure do hope that we'll get better together, and be blessed by Allah with more love, happiness and health so that we will be able to celebrate more anniversaries in the future.

You, my dear Husband, Daniel Hafiz and Yusuf Firdaus have all completed my life. I love you with all my heart..

Kenapa?

2010-06-01T16:49:00.002+08:00

Kenapa orang awam yang hanya ingin membantu sesama manusia yang ditindas perlu diserang, dicederakan dan dibunuh?

Kenapa mereka menyerang orang yang tidak bersalah ini di perairan antarabangsa? Mereka masih belum lagi menceroboh perairan kamu...

Kenapa perlu mencedera dan membunuh mereka yang tidak bersenjata dan tidak menyerang balas?

Kenapa minda mereka terlalu kejam dan sadistik? Takkan tiada seorang pun di kalangan rakyat mereka yang berpelajaran, bertamadun dan berfikiran waras? Mereka tak terfikir ke yang tindakan mereka tu sungguh barbarik dan tidak bertamadun?

Semoga Allah melindungi mereka...Amiin...

Conversation with Muhammad Daniel Hafiz this morning..

2010-05-26T18:05:00.002+08:00

We were watching the TV this morning when the 'Kami Prihatin' video clip was aired. You know, the song about abandoned babies sung by a bunch of popular Malaysian singers.

Daniel: What happened to the baby, Mummy?

Me: The babies are dead, sayang.. Kesian..

D: Why is the baby dead?

M: Some bad people who don't love the babies threw them away...

D: Why they throw away the baby? I love baby!

M: Yes, I know you love babies. But there are some bad people who don't love babies..

D: Bad people love what, Mummy?

M: (Thought for a sort while) Bad people love syaitan kut? hehe... (yes, I was out of ideas..)

Muhammad Yusuf Firdaus

2010-05-25T17:14:00.003+08:00

We brought him for his follow up this morning at KPJ Selangor Specialist for his jaundice. Alhamdulillah the paediatrician confirmed that he is free from the sickness and he is doing very well. His weight has also increased from 3.5kg last week when he was first admitted, to 4.3kg today. That was a 0.8kg increase in a week. Well done, boy!! hehe... I was actually concerned when his weight dropped from birth time (3.75kg) to 3.5kg in a week last week, but the paed said that it was normal, since for the first few days of baby's life, he didn't feed very well yet.

Yusuf Firdaus was actually born in my 37th week of pregnancy. It was totally different when I had Daniel, because Daniel was born just short of a day from his EDD. Since my menses are very regular, my OB/GYN predicted that this time, the baby would follow suit on his EDD, but Allah knows best.

My prayer throughout this pregnancy, apart from for the baby being born safe and healthy, was that my Hubby would be here with me when I deliver the baby. Hubby booked his flight home last February, and if we follow the actual EDD, Hubby might need to extend his stay here and cancel his flight ticket back to UK. But Allah The Almighty had granted my wish, when not only He gave me a healthy and almost perfect baby, He had also sent him to me just a day after Hubby came home from UK. Alhamdulillah, I couldn't thank Him enough. Alhamdulillah....

My journey throughout this pregnancy was also different from when I had Daniel, but the story will have to wait for another entry. I am now a contented mother of two.. Alhamdulillah for all His blessings..

Day 17...

2010-05-24T15:40:00.004+08:00

And his Ayah had had to return to UK. In fact, this was Ayah's return which we did not really do much or go anywhere... Sigh...

I have often wondered whether I would be able to take care of my two sons alone. It made me frightened at times. At the moment, I have my whole family here with me at the house, so help is ample. My parents have offered tremendous assistance, at times I feel really guilty for having them doing chores for me instead of the other way round.

We have finally registered the baby with JPN last Friday. It took so long for us to agree on the name for the baby, but finally we settled with Muhammad Yusuf Firdaus. Yup, not at all similar with Daniel's name to signify that they are siblings :-) I hope this baby will live up to his name, and most importantly, I pray that we would be able to guide him and his brother to the right paths, and in return, they would become the sons that we could count on until the end of time.

I leave you with the photos of Yusuf being treated at the KPJ Selangor Specialist Hospital for jaundice. We were all admitted there for 4 days last week :-)

Introducing the latest joy of our lives....

2010-05-12T12:29:00.005+08:00

Born last Saturday at 12.04 am at KPJ Specialist Hospital, Shah Alam, weighing 3.75kg via normal delivery. As of now, we still haven't decided on the name yet, but when Nenek asked big brother Daniel they other day, he said his baby brother's name is "MISTER NUN" hehehe....

Photo taken yesterday, when baby was 4 days old...

Poisoned...

2010-05-06T11:36:00.002+08:00

Yeap, I've been poisoned since Sunday. Food poisoning, that is. And today is already Thursday. Still, it doesn't show any signs to stop soon. I've taken the charcoal tablets and the salt. And the best thing was, I was bugged during sleep time at nights only. The trips to the toilet every other hour when everybody else were sound asleep. *Sigh*

Time to take the second visit to the clinic, I guess. Power sungguh racun kali ini.. I remember the last time I was severely 'poisoned' was in 1991 when I was a first former in TKC... huh! Dah lama dah tu.... huhu....

"Daniel good boy, kan Mummy, kan?"

2010-05-03T23:44:00.004+08:00

This has been a repetitious statement by my boy for the past few weeks. He would get very upset if I didn't agree, so layan je lah...

And lately, he would say, "If Mummy say no toys (while we were shopping or any other things that I forbid him to do), I don't say anything. I just keep quiet (meaning tak throw tantrums la tu). I am a good boy, kan Mummy?"

Iyer la sayang... Awak memang good boy.... Please continue to be a good boy till the end of time, ok? I love you so much!!!!

Malas nak layan....

2010-04-13T21:28:00.002+08:00

Sometimes when I got fed up with Daniel's tantrums or whining, I would tell him, "Mummy malas la nak layan Daniel" which loosely translated as "I don't want to entertain your tantrums any more"

So yesterday while I was having my afternoon tea, I couldn't help but smile when I heard him told his cousin, Dhiya off "Dahlah...Malas nak layan Adik Dhiya!!"

Bapak borek, anak rintik...

2010-04-12T21:39:00.003+08:00

Last week, I did my grocery shopping at the usual shopping mart with the family. I was turning into one of the cashier's lane when suddenly I heard some chaos. An elderly man looked fumed, and I heard him shouting something like, "Kurang ajar! Not even saying sorry! Ba*%ard!" His whole family was with him, and when I looked at them, I saw the rest of the family members looked rather sheepish. But right after the old man uttered the 'B' word, a small boy of maybe 5 or 6 years of age, whom I believed was his grandson also shouted "Ba*%ard!!!!"

Oh well... The apples won't fall very far from the tree, eh?

Gloomy Wednesday...

2010-03-24T16:14:00.003+08:00

Well, the sun is shining very, very brightly outside. The only gloomy thing is my heart.

I am stuck. And there's nothing I could do about it since I am depending on others to finish their jobs so that I could become unstuck. I've got 3 major things to settle within 3 weeks, but with the slow progress, I have serious doubt if these major things could be completed in time.

And I am having a terrible back pain today, which resulted in me couldn't do anything but lie down. Plus, the flu and cough bugs which have been attacking me for the past 3 weeks just don't want to go away!

To add salt to the wound, I am missing Hubby very much. And he's not around to share my woes. Hwaaa!!!

Hope tomorrow will be a shinier day. At least for my heart. Although I am very, very sure that all the above would not disappear tomorrow, at least I hope my heart is strong enough to just ignore the pains..

When your unwanted past found you on FB...

2010-03-22T17:47:00.001+08:00

What do you do? I clicked the IGNORE button... huhuhu...

Sayang Anak Tangan-Tangankan..

2010-03-18T21:08:00.003+08:00

Which loosely translate as 'If you love your kids, you've got to learn to punish them so that they could differentiate the good and the bad' or something like that..

I was at one of the fast food restaurant with my son to have an early dinner just now. We proceeded to the upper floor of the restaurant so that Daniel could play at the play area while we ate. There was just a family eating at one of the tables closer to the play area. We took another table close to them.

Then, a burly Malay guy came upstairs with 2 of his children. They went to the rest room area which was at the far end of the room from us. They approached 2 female workers who were cleaning the area, and he confronted them. The conversation went something like this:

Man: (asking his children) Siapa yang marah tadi? (Who scolded you just now?)

The kid must have pointed to one of the workers (I didn't bother to look at the incident)

Man: Kenapa awak marah anak saya tadi? (Why you scolded my child just now?)

Worker: Mana ada marah Encik! Lantai ni licin tadi saya cuci, jadi saya tak bagi diorang main kat sini takut jatuh. Mana saya ada marah diorang! (I didn't scold them, Sir! The floor was slippery just now after I cleaned them, so I didn't allow them to play around at this area so that they won't fall. I didn't scold them!)

Man: (Shouting to them, very angrily) Sampai menangis budak-budak ni tadi kena marah! Diorang ni budak-budak. Diorang tak tau apa-apa! Awak tu sebagai orang dewasa kena faham la. Jangan sesuka hati nak marah-marah budak-budak. Kalau tak boleh guna tandas, cakap baik-baik. Diorang bukannya faham! (You scolded them until they cried! They are just kids! They don't understand! You as adult should understand. Don't simply scold the kids. If the toilets couldn't be used, tell them nicely. They don't understand!)

And then he continued lecturing them on top of his voice for maybe another 5 minutes.

While I pretended not to care about the chaos, I couldn't help but feel pity for the worker, but also the guy for his lack of intelligence. It was not such a big deal that should have caused such a scene! First of all, he shouldn't have let his children wander around themselves upstairs when he was downstairs if he really cared about them. And, if that was they way he treated his children, it's not impossible that they would continue to be spoilt brats whom would cause more trouble to the people around them in the future.

Hallo brader! Orang lain pun sayang anak, ok! Rilekla...Kalau nak marah pun biarlah kena gaya dan tempatnya!

Tumpang bangga...hehehe...

2010-03-12T12:15:00.000+08:00

Taken from BERNAMA

Seramai 7,987 Calon SPM 2009 Cemerlang

PUTRAJAYA, 11 Mac (Bernama) -- Seramai 7,987 calon Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) tahun 2009 memperoleh gred cemerlang (A+, A, dan/atau A-) bagi semua mata pelajaran yang diduduki, berbanding 6,277 pada 2008.

Ketua Pengarah Pelajaran Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom berkata daripada jumlah itu, seramai 214 calon berjaya memperoleh gred Cemerlang Tertinggi (A+) bagi penggredan baru yang mula diperkenalkan tahun lalu.

Beliau berkata gred Cemerlang Tertinggi diperkenalkan sebagai gred yang lebih tinggi daripada gred 1A bagi memperincikan lagi kecemerlangan seseorang calon.

"Saya gembira memaklumkan bahawa pada keseluruhannya pencapaian calon pada kali ini amat membanggakan, melebihi pencapaian tahun sebelumnya.

"Pencapaian calon meningkat dari segi peratusan bilangan memperoleh sijil, cemerlang (A+, A dan/atau A-) dan lulus semua mata pelajaran yang diduduki," katanya ketika mengumumkan analisis keputusan SPM dan Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia (STAM) 2009 di Kementerian Pelajaran di sini pada Khamis.

Katanya seramai 465,853 calon telah mendaftar untuk menduduki peperiksaan ini pada tahun lalu.

Alimuddin berkata daripada 59,433 calon persendirian, sekolah swasta dan sekolah-sekolah tajaan agensi selain Kementerian Pelajaran, seramai 41 orang memperoleh gred Cemerlang Tertinggi (A+).

Beliau turut mengumumkan Gladys Tan Yee Kim dari Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Green Road, Kuching, Sarawak sebagai pelajar terbaik bagi SPM 2009 dan Sekolah Menengah Sains Seremban, Negeri Sembilan sebagai sekolah terbaik.

Katanya bagi 10 sekolah pelajar terbaik, sembilan pelajar yang lain ialah Grace Kiew Sze-Ern (SMK (P) Sri Aman, Petaling Jaya, Selangor), Khadijah Ahmad Jais (SM Agama Persekutuan Labu, Negeri Sembilan), Akmal Hidayat Sabri (SMK Derma, Kangar, Perlis), Syamilah Mahali (Kolej Tunku Kurshiah Seremban, Negeri Sembilan); Lee Wei Ling (SMK Taman Melawati, Selangor), Nur Syuhadah Muhamad (SM Sains Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra, Kota Bharu, Kelantan), Lai Yin Kwin (SMK Tinggi Melaka, Melaka), Corinne Gunn Huey Min (SMK Taman Melawati, Selangor) dan Hu May Khei (SMK Convent, Taiping, Perak).

Katanya sembilan lagi sekolah terbaik pula ialah Kolej Islam Sultan Alam Shah, Klang, Selangor; Sekolah Berasrama Penuh Integrasi (SBPI) Gombak, Jalan Sungai Pusu, Gombak, Kuala Lumpur; Sekolah Tun Fatimah, Johor Bahru, Johor; Sekolah Menengah Sains Alam Shah, Kuala Lumpur; SBPI Rawang, Selangor; Sekolah Menengah Sains Muar, Johor; SBPI Temerloh, Pahang; SMK Infant Jesus Convent, Johor Bahru, Johor dan Kolej Tunku Kurshiah Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.

Daniel's school is currently being sealed!!

2010-03-10T19:38:00.003+08:00

My goodness! I was shocked when I saw the 'X' taped all around Daniel's school compound when I sent him there on Monday morning. Macam a scene from CSI pulak! 2 of his teachers were waiting in front of the gate and told me that the school's activities would be held at the Dewan Masyarakat near there.

Upon reaching the hall, I asked the waiting teacher what had happened. She told me that the school was sealed because a particular resident (the neighbour of the school) made a complaint to MP** that the school was noisy, some times parents parked their cars in front of his house when sending off the kids and some times the drivers honked.

I tried to call the owner of Daniel's school that day but she didn't answer, but I did saw her the next day when I sent Daniel for school. She explained to me that the neighbour kept stressing to the MP** that he is a pilot, and he needs his rest. And he couldn't rest because of the noise that the kids made during lessons. The thing is, he normally flies during the school period, and when he's back for his rest, the school normally would be over. Maybe some times the time clashes, but it was not every day. And furthermore, he's going to move out soon. So, we really do not see the point of him protesting against the school!

Anyway, the Residents' Association there is on the school's side. They will be meeting again with MP** next week to debate on the issue. Too bad I am a committee of another section's RA, so I couldn't join the meeting. I hope they could resolve the issue soon, because as of now, I am very concerned about the comfort of the kids having lessons at the hall, what with the minimal facilities there and the current heatwave. Daniel's school is not the only kindy at that section. In fact there is at least a kindy at every streets at that section. The other kindies are not facing any such problem. Maybe their neighbours are not pilots, eh? Some people.... sheeeshhh!!!!

Today's Tazkirah..

2010-03-01T15:03:00.004+08:00

I was flipping through the TV channels last Friday, during the Maulidur Rasul holiday, when I came across the programme 'Usrah' with Dato' Dr Fatimah el Zahra as the host. The discussion for the day was "Wasiat Rasulullah SAW kepada wanita" or something like that. It was such an interesting usrah and I would like to share some of the points that I remembered with you:

1) When Rasulullah SAW was on the Isra' & Mikraj journey, he saw many women inside hell. One of the reasons was women has 'too many mouths' for e.g. always argue with the husbands, are not thankful enough to their husbands, always talk bad about other people etc. There fore, women MUST always istighfar and sadaqah because these 'amal' could erase all the small sins that we 'unconsciously' do every day

2) Fatimah r.a, the daughter of Rasulullah SAW, once sadly told him that she was too tired doing house chores without any helper. She requested for a hand/maid to help her around the house. Rasululllah told her to recite "Subhanallah (33x), Alhamdulillah (33x) and Allahuakbar (34x)" every day before going to sleep. With this 'amal' we would feel strong to do all the chores without the help of any body, we would be patience with all the difficulties in our lives and most of all, we will gain endless 'pahala' as the reward from Allah SWT

One lady from the audience asked Dato' about the 'hukum' of a woman who treats her own mother and her mother-in-law differently. She said that we should treat both our own mothers and our mothers-in-law equally. As a matter of fact, we should treat our mothers-in-law better than we treat our own mothers, because we married the sons that they bore and bred with all the difficulties, and we took our husbands from their mothers 'ready-made' so easily. Therefore, they deserved to be treated nicely by us, the daughters-in-law

Those were some of the points that I could remember. Semoga bermanfaat, InsyaAllah..

Gone again..

2010-02-24T15:36:00.003+08:00

Yes, after a good 2 weeks break with the family, Hubby took off late last night for Nottingham again. I was bracing myself for the hysterical wails and tears from my soon- to-be 4 years old son when Hubby went down to the Immigration counters, because this boy had been extremely close with his Ayah for the last two weeks, and had expressed his desire to follow Ayah back to 'Nottinghome' (that's what he calls Nottingham) a few times for the past few days.

His reasons to follow Ayah were always:

"Mummy always marah-marah...Ayah tak marah..."

"Mummy naughty...Mummy cubit....Ayah tak naughty....Tak cubit..."

"Mummy cubit sakit..."

"Ayah's house has Tom & Jerry game... Ben 10 game..."

"Ayah's house has snow...I want to make snow man, make snow angel, play with snow ball..."

So, last night, his Ayah has made a pact with him that Mummy won't be naughty, won't 'marah' and he would bring him a lot of toys the next time he comes back for a short break.. And that cheered him up a bit, hence no buckets of tears were shed last night.. hehe...

Here's hoping for the reunion again, hopefully somewhere in May, insyaAllah....

Surprise!!!

2010-02-09T11:14:00.004+08:00

My loved one who likes to eat spinach is back home with me!!!

It came as a surprise because he wasn't supposed to come home for a break until another 3 or 4 months down the road.

The Little Highness is ultimately happy for his return, what with his Ayah always allowing him a little extra freedom to do what I normally wouldn't allow him to do. For 2 days in a row now, he had been refusing to go to school (which of course I didn't allow) and he got few minutes of TV watching before going to bed at night.

I just hope when he is supposed to be here in about 3 months time, there wouldn't be any problem for him to come home. Ameen....

As of now, I am UTTERLY HAPPY!!!

Bayam a.k.a spinach

2010-02-02T21:26:00.002+08:00

Every time I cook or eat you, I'm missing my Hubby more....

Because you are my Hubby's favourite vege....

I am pathetic, I know...sob...sob.....

A heated entry..

2010-02-01T21:37:00.003+08:00

The sun was blazing like nobody's business and the air-conditioner in the car didn't help much. Traffic was so bad in front of S*mm*t and and from the junction that I was coming from, the cars couldn't move at all although the traffic lights had changed a few times already since stupid, inconsiderate drivers from the main road entered and waited at the yellow box of the cross junction.

I was fast losing my patience, and to top it all, my stomach was kind off upset. Daniel also complained of stomach ache. Darn! My car was the 4th car on the most left lane and the traffic lights kept changing colours but we were still there, fuming.

Suddenly, a red Isw*r* stopped right next to my left, intending to cut queue. It was driven by a young male driver with another male friend on the passenger seat. Maybe some college students or something. The rudeness was something, the don't-care attitude was something else.

As expected, my already boiling temperature raised to the maximum limit. At the next available opportunity to move forward, I spared no chance to them. There was actually no space for them to move forward, but still the driver persisted. We were separated by mere inches and our side mirrors practically touched each other.

Suddenly, the passenger of the car in front of me opened her door and came out. I didn't realize what had happened until she inspected her rear car's bumper. Turned out that the stupid Isw*r*'s driver had hit the car in front of us! PADAN MUKA!!! Tau nak gelabah ya? And then the driver came out, an elderly man and he started giving them a lecture or something. Lucky that nothing happened to his car.

And you thought the punks had learnt their lessons. Tapi kalau dah dasar kurang ajar tu memang kurang ajar jugak la.... They still persisted to cut in! The driver started ramming the engine as loud as the car could. Korang ingat aku heran ke? Hey, my car engine could ram too, ok? I was desperately minding my language since Daniel was sitting right next to me.

When I started ramming my car engine, the two punks became more moronic than before. Somehow, they got the idea that they should switch places as the driver and passenger. Agaknya yang passenger tu lagi hebat kut driving skillnya... Ptuiii!!!

At the next traffic light change, all drivers from the same junction as me spared no chance any more for the oncoming car from the junction from our right. I moved forward, unheeding of the stupid, stupid red Isw*r* and they also dashed forward, still intending to cut in. And as soon as we reached the yellow box, they got blocked by a car which came from the right junction and was waiting in the yellow box. Oh! Sweet victory!!! And I could hear their horn blaring for the car to move out of their way. PADAN MUKAAAA!!!!

Moral of the story:

1. In traffic jams, everybody wants to get out of the jams as quickly as possible. You are not the only one in a hurry, so be considerate and do not cause more jams.

2. If you are rude, you would be treated rudely in return.

3. If you have made a mistake and you are in that emergency lane unexpectedly (which was not in this case), please give signals, and show sign or something with your hand to apologize to the car driver whom you wanted to cut in into.

4. Please do not think that all women drivers are intimidated by male drivers.

The passing of Bibit...

2010-01-25T21:03:00.002+08:00

Hwaaaa!!! I just wrote an entry about them cute bunnies and just now my brother arrived at home to tell me that Bibit had passed on. It was still alive when I went up for my Maghrib prayers just now but it was quiet as usual and not active at all. In fact it has been like that since my brother brought it home late on Saturday.

Had my brother dug up a grave for him at about 9pm just now and we buried it. I actually went to a vet clinic this afternoon to bring the rabbits for check up, especially for Bibit because it was not active and responsive, but the clinic was closed. Terkilan jugak ni... Sedihnya!!!!

Bibit and Bobot

2010-01-25T20:23:00.005+08:00

They are the latest additions to our small family. Daniel was ecstatic when his Acu brought home the two cute rabbits because he has been pestering me for 'bunny' since we were in Nottingham. I do not have a clue which is male and which is female, but I named one Bobot because it's bigger, has better appetite and more active. Bibit is the complete opposite from Bobot, and I am quite worried it.

Officially, I have more things to do now that we have those two on top of an aquarium full of new fishes that I bought with Nisa the other day. Hopefully they can occupy some of my lonely times when the loves of my life are not around me.

So, today I went to Taipan to buy rabbit's shampoo and some other accessories. Then, I stopped for a bit at one of the banks there to deposit a cheque. When I came out of the bank, I was surprised to find an officer tying something to my side mirror. Aiseh!! I actually double-parked my car in front of the bank and I was inside for less than 5 minutes to deposit the cheque at the machine. You guys know what parking is like in the Taipan area, right? The officer saw me, and he untied the side mirror, but told me "Tapi itu compound sudah ada ya?" and I saw the hated piece of paper on my windscreen. Dang!!! It has been years that I last received any sort of summons or compounds. Blurggghhhhh!!!!

Immediately after that, I went to MPSJ to settle the compound. Got a parking space outside of the building, and walked a few hundred meters to the counter to collect the queue ticket. And I was taken aback again when my number would only be up after about 300 more people!!! Grrr!!! I took my lunch at the cafeteria inside the building and then proceed for my Zuhur prayers and still after all that, I have to wait for another 200 people. Adios amigos sahajalah jawabnya....Tak kuasa nak tunggu lagi... I have never had an experience waiting for so many people at any sorts of counters or government hospital even. Strange but true.... hehe....

And Daniel and I are both down with coughs and runny noses... *sigh*

How did I celebrate my birthday yesterday?

2010-01-19T10:27:00.003+08:00

By spring cleaning the house... Yes...What a nice way to celebrate. I didn't feel like it was my birthday in the first place. Maybe it's the age.. Maybe it's the fact that Hubby is not here to celebrate with me... *sigh*

Anyway, thanks a lot to my friends for the wishes in FB. It brightened up the day a little. And, I hope every doa that they said for me will be granted by the Almighty Allah...Amin ya rabbal a'lamin..

My best buddy Nisa came by the house for a sleep over last night and she is buying me lunch today. Wee hooooo!!! Thanks Babe!!!!!

For my birthday present, I wish my Hubby is here with me... Enough said... isk..isk...isk...

Getting older (and wiser, I hope)

2010-01-15T16:30:00.004+08:00

I will be 32 in a few days time, InsyaAllah. I've never really cared about getting older or ageing, and I found no reason to keep my age a secret.

However, I do really feel very old when teenagers or high school kids call me aunty or mak cik. hehe... If small children, no issue. Maybe because I don't have high school going children yet, I think the term makcik is not really suitable....nyehehehe...

The first day of school 2010..

2010-01-04T11:00:00.003+08:00

Just came back from sending Daniel to school this morning. He was kinda hyped up to go and woke up really early today. But, as soon as we reached the school, he started acting up and 'attached' himself to me. The previous year's teachers still recognised us although we were only there for 3 months last year. And some of Daniel's classmates were still in his class. But all these didn't help at all!

As soon as I untangled myself from his hug, he started wailing very loudly. I had to 'disappear' immediately because me being there would not help him to adjust. "Nak Mummy!! Nak Mummy!!" he cried wholeheartedly... And as usual, it shattered my heart to pieces. Rasa macam nak menangis sama kat situ...isk...isk....

I waited outside of the school compound until I couldn't hear his cries any more. And then only I left the school with a heavy heart. I know he would be ok, but I just couldn't help to feel sad...

So now I am home, alone, with the emptiness inside my heart and the deafening silence. Sedih betul!! Been keeping myself busy with house chores, especially the laundry. All the travelling on every weekend in December left me totally spent and the house in a shabby mess. Yes, house chores would definitely keep me busy and not to think of my loneliness at least until it is time for me to fetch the piece of my heart which I left this morning at the school...

Peace maker...not?

2009-12-21T17:25:00.003+08:00

What is your reaction when somebody picks up a fight with another in public? Will you step in the middle of the confrontation and try to be the peace maker? Or, would you pick a side and cheer the fight on?

In a way, I am very much alike with Hubby on this aspect. When we are within sight of a fight, we glance at the scene, try to finish whatever we are doing at that moment as quickly as we could and disappear from the scene just as fast. We wouldn't bother with the details of the fight, let alone try to be the peace maker between the fighting people.

Reason: We don't like to amuse ourselves with strangers' businesses. And, we also fear for our safety, because a small fight could really become a huge unwanted incident. So, the best option for us is to elude the scene. And, though as normal human being, sometimes we just couldn't resist the juicy (or stupid) details of the fight's cause, but we always chose to back away.. hehe....

And why am I writing about this? Some couples picked up a fight at a fast food restaurant at Ayer Keroh Overhead Bridge when we came back from my MIL's house last week. We quickly finish our food and took off, and when I asked Hubby why were they fighting (since I had my back to the scene and Hubby was watching), he said "Orang tu marah sebab lawan dia tu kata ayam orang tu kecik." Suka hati dia je buat spekulasi... hahaha.....

Oh ya, I did hear some one trying to stop them from fighting saying, "Eh! Kenapa bergaduh? You orang sama bangsa pun mau bergaduh ka?" hehe.... Some peace making lines, eh?

The end of a nice fortnight..

2009-12-21T12:34:00.003+08:00

The best fortnight we've had for quite a long time now, indeed... Hubby returned to Nottingham on a 2 am EK flight just now, leaving Daniel and I at the airport, mourning for the loss family time yet again.

I am just not on the right mindset today. Have tonnes of work to be done, but all I can think about is just to sleep away my sorrow... Duh!!!!!

Ouch!! and Yayy!!!

2009-12-04T09:54:00.003+08:00

Coming back from a week holiday to Johor for a friend's and a cousin's weddings on 2 consecutive weekends and Aidil Adha celebration left the 3 out of 4 of us being unwell. Abah was down with high fever and after much persuasions, he went for a treatment at a clinic near to my house and was further referred to HTAR for further observation. Found out that his platelets level was below normal and he was on drip although not warded. And he had to come for a platelet count check everyday until the doctor is satisfied that his platelets count is normal again.

My son got the conjunctivitis from one of his cousins while we stayed overnight at my PIL's house. And he also got a fever which I managed to control with the pharmacy's Nurofen and the cooling sheets. He is recovering well and surprisingly I had no problem when I needed to put the eye drops into his eyes. Such a good boy! I remember the struggles we had to endure when my sister was in primary school and my mum needed to put eye drops in her eyes. It took 3 of us (my mum, myself and my late brother) to hold her still!!! hehe....

And yesterday, I finally caught the virus. And mine was more severe than Daniel's. My head was throbbing, my eyes were blurry and swollen and when I lower my head for a bit, my eyes felt like they were about to be removed from their sockets! I was totally defeated, and got so little energy to take care of myself, let alone to take care of my little highness. Luckily, my parents dropped by the house yesterday in the late afternoon, so I packed a few of his clothes and sent him over to his Atuk and Nenek's house.

When I called him last night, I asked him whether he was enjoying his stay there. He said yes. And when I asked him "Don't you miss Mummy?" his reply was "Hmmm... How about if I go to your house tomorrow?".... heheh!!!!

Hubby's work permit problem is finally resolved and he is coming back for his holiday tomorrow!!! Yay!! His leave application for 14 days was cut down to 10 days only by the site manager, though. Bummer!!! The 14 days application would have been coincided with the Christmas and New Year break so we would have a longer time together. Urgghhh!!!

Well, at least I have something nice to look forward to apart from nurturing myself back to health.. Alhamdulillah....

Missing..

2009-11-18T19:05:00.003+08:00

I was browsing through my FB and Hubby's when I simply asked Daniel "Who is this, Daniel?" while pointing to his Ayah's photo. "This is Ayah! (excitedly)...Mummy, I miss Ayah...I miss Ayah...I want Ayah to play car with me"

Oh, it so break my heart...isk..isk....

Kok iye punnn...

2009-11-17T00:27:00.003+08:00

I managed to watch a Malay drama yesterday. Quite a good storyline, about a poor family whom migrated to KL and their lives changed for the worse. The Dad continued being a two-timing jerk, while the daughter became a 'kacang lupakan kulit' kinda girl. In the end, she hurt her mother's feeling, Si Tanggang-style, and her mother kinda 'cursed' her. She was constantly hot and feverish, and vomited worms (urghh!!) And, her mother didn't forgive her in the end. Sad...

While it was quite a good drama, I couldn't help but laughed while watching some of the sad scenes.. hehe.. Well, something about the actress rather than the storyline, actually. You see, the family was supposed to be poor, and the mother tailored clothes to make ends meet. Suddenly, in one scene, you could clearly see how nicely done the mother's manicure was. Kuku panjang macam eksekutif, ok? Mascara tebal lagi.... haha....Memang tak sesuai dengan watak ya? hahahaha....

Manner Police

2009-11-04T20:22:00.002+08:00

The other day my sister complained to me:

Sis: Tadi orang sendawa tau... Pastu Daniel cakap, "Acik! Say Alhamdulillah, echoose (excuse) me!!"

Me: (Tergelak) Memang la...He'll say that everytime other people around him burp or sneeze. Selagi orang tu tak cakap Alhamdulillah, excuse me dia akan ulang lagi suruh sampai la orang tu cakap Alhamdulillah, excuse me.. Kalau cakap Alhamdulillah saja pun not enough..Kena sambung the excuse me part..

Sis: Eee...nyampahnya!!!

Me: Hahahahaha....

The fuss...

2009-11-02T21:15:00.003+08:00

I have never been a fan of discussing 'harta pusaka', especially when it involved greed and fighting. I really hope when the time comes, we siblings do not have to go through such ordeal, because if we really have to, I would go out of my mind!

The usual cases that I have heard about the battle of the harta pusaka thing:

1) The fights between siblings until 'putus saudara' just to claim the rights over a very small piece of land left behind by the ancestors

2) One or more of the siblings got angry because one of them took the initiative to fully utilize the piece of land by growing vegetables or fruit trees for fear that they are messing with the land, only to come back for the harvest later

3) One of the siblings never receive any part of the inheritance, just because he/she had been independent from childhood days (clever enough to find own pocket money for schooling and migrated to other states far away from home to find job and start a family). Despite that, he/she still made effort to go back home as frequently as he/she could and never forgot to give money to the parents and foot the medical bills for the parents and the other siblings when needed. And also helped when the others were facing financial problems when they needed to renovate and expand their houses or when they wanted to hold kenduris and marry off their children. When this happened, and that particular sibling took offence and never come back again to the home town, who was to be blamed? Is he/she wrong to take that step?

4) The rumah pusaka was strategically built on the piece of land which has been divided to two recipients. One of the recipients still lives in the house and the other comes back occasionally to visit. The one still living in the house, after all these years, suddenly insisted that they separate the land title properly so that one do not have anything to owe the other. And insisted that the deceased owner had promised the house to him/her, which literally means that if the other wants to come back occasionally after this, he/she has to find other accommodation. What the heck??

5) The other siblings accused the one sibling who is taking care of the elderly parents of trying to woo the parents to award him all the harta pusaka. Even accused him/her had cast evil spells to the parents so that they will give him/her the inheritance. Do you have to go THAT low??

There are many more stories which I have heard, and I really despise them all. Boleh bawak ke kubur ke nanti harta pusaka tu? I don't know about you, but I always believe in working hard to earn your own wealth, and to not concern yourselves so much about the inheritance. And for the parents, please divide your wealth (if any) properly among your children. You do not wish to flip in your graves when your children fights over their inheritance, don't you?

May Allah guide us all in the proper ways...Ameen...

I'm back!!!

2009-10-25T22:17:00.004+08:00

Yeah! It's been quite a while since I last wrote anything here.. Have lots of things to say, but was just too lazy to type them out.

I am back at my PH house. We are slowly returning to our previous routines here, plus and minus some stuffs. I have lots of stuffs to be cleared out of the house i.e expired foodstuffs, old newspapers and magazines, Daniel's broken toys etc. In fact, that was what I have been doing for the past week and they shall continue indefinitely. My garden is quite messy, but I just couldn't bring myself to tend to that yet.. Many of my flower plants perished during my absence. Sedih...

In a blink of an eye, it has suddenly been 3 weeks since we return to the homeland. And I am sorely missing my other half who is still in the UK. His application for work permit extension has been rejected (after about 2 months waiting) because the HO said that he did not attach his photos. Duh!! If he really didn't submit the photos, his HR would have noticed and informed him earlier, man!! So, he had to resubmit the application, and now have to wait for indefinite time for the approval. Which also means that he will not be able to utilize his 3 weeks rest period to return home until the application is approved. It sucks!!!

I have been meeting my long-lost primary school friends since I returned home, thanks to FB. It feels like yesterday that we left the primary school, and strangely, we never felt odd, although we have not seen each other for the past 20 years! Must arrange a proper reunion soon. It should be a blast!!

The Little Highness is also adjusting well to the old surroundings. Clingy still, and manja more. He loves to spend time with his Atuk, Nenek, Aciks, Acu and Cousin Dhiya. But my problem now is, when we are about to leave my parents' house (or my parents are about to leave our house after visiting), he would cry like there's no tomorrow. He wants us all to be in the same place together with him. I always ask him to follow Atuk and Nenek to their house, because his Aciks and Cousin Dhiya would be there too, but he would always insists that I follow him too. Hangin jer!!!

Not only that, even if we were all going to the same place but in different cars, he would cry if he couldn't see his Atuk's or Acu's or Aciks' car in front or behind our car! I always try to be patience, but sometimes, his antics really got to my head! Geram betul!!!

My sister sat with him on a journey to a dining place last night, and she complained that Daniel talks non-stop, her head hurt... hehe... It was just a 30 minutes drive, sis! Imagine what I have to endure....wakakakakak!!! Nasib baik anak sendiri...hehe....

Right now I am watching Man U and Liverpool's clash. Esok sure fans masing-masing saling kutuk-mengutuk...Bosan...Macam pasukan negeri sendiri pulak...huhuhu....

Daa!!!

Salam Aidilfitri 1430H

2009-09-20T05:33:00.000+08:00

Maaf Zahir Batin semua!!!

Takde keje, eh?

2009-09-12T16:26:00.003+08:00

I am not a big fan of Y*ut*be... Only use it when necessary (like finding songs that I like) and that is not very frequent. But when I looked up the raya song just now, I came across loads of videos of contests. Singers from different countries' performances' videos were compiled and compared, to see who has the better voices, better looks, higher notes etc. And the videos became battle fields between people from the countries that were being compared, to ridicule and make nasty comments about each other's countries. WTF???

The makers of these videos really ought to be whipped in public or locked up in some dungeons where nobody could hear them or read what they write. What is the business of creating opportunities for people to fight each other? Even this simple thing could create so much hate, anger and cruel intentions, and yet these people kept on going to find ways to play with fire.

You are entitled to your own opinions. People have different tastes, likes and dislikes. If you think a particular singer is superb, other people might not agree with you and think that that singer is lousy. But it doesn't give you the right to give nasty remarks to the other person for not liking your idol!

And mind you, not only these comments touched about the singers contested, they also were nasty about the other citizens of the respective countries as well. Haiya....Habis semua isu-isu dalam negara terlibat..

I am speechless to see the levels of maturity of these people....Grow up, will you? And find better and more productive things to do, ok??

I wonder whether the respective singers know what their fans are doing...hehe....

Dari Jauh Ku Pohon Maaf

2009-09-12T14:36:00.002+08:00

Dalam dingin subuh hatiku terusik
Kenang nasib diri di rantauan
Bergema takbir raya menitis air mata
Terbayang suasana permai desa

Rindu hati ini inginku kembali
Pada ayah bonda dan saudara
Tetapi aku harus mencari rezeki
Membela nasib kita bersama

Hanya ku sampaikan doa dan kiriman tulus ikhlas
Dari jauh kupohonkan ampun maaf
Jangan sedih pagi ini tak dapat kita bersama
Meraikan Aidil Fitri yang mulia

Restu ayah bonda kuharap selalu
Hingga aku pulang kepadamu

Hanya ku sampaikan doa dan kiriman tulus ikhlas
Dari jauh kupohonkan ampun maaf
Jangan sedih pagi ini tak dapat kita bersama
Meraikan Aidil Fitri yang mulia

Restu ayah bonda kuharap selalu
Demi anakmu yang kini jauh

BFF

2009-09-06T13:37:00.003+08:00

Daniel suddenly came up to me the other day and said, "Daniel nak Mummy....Mummy my best friend." I was taken aback for a bit. Now where did that came from? Pengaruh TV la ni...hehe.... Nevertheless, I felt all warm inside..

So, I replied, "Yes, we are best friends.. Best friends forever"

If only he knew how much I love him. And I hope and want to be his best friend till death do us part. I want to be his best friend when he is old enough to make his own decisions. I want to be his best friend all through his teenage years when all his hormones will be raging inside him. I want to be the one that he consults and confides. I want to be the one whom he shares his worries and problems. I want to be there whenever he needs me. I want to be able to give him wise advices and guide him throughout his life. And I need him to need me.

Ya Allah... Please let us be best friends forever....Ameen...

Phrases that tickled me...

2009-09-04T17:07:00.004+08:00

His words to me, which, if uttered by other people would get me pissed off...hehe....

1) Smell my feet, Mummy!
2) Steady, Bumpy Dog!! (of Noddy's fame)
3) Come on, Mummy! No time to waste (if he needs something and I ask him to wait)
4) Why Mummy tido lambat-lambat? (his Q if he wakes up earlier than me)

Confused

2009-09-02T13:50:00.003+08:00

As most probably knew, this is my first time ever being in the UK. So far, the stay had been lovely, the weather could be very tricky and people are generally nice.

What questioned me though, has it always been that prominent labels here are made in other countries, such as China, Egypt, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Thailand etc? I didn't mention Malaysia, because so far I haven't found one. Has this always been the case?

Once in a while, I'd like to purchase branded stuffs for me or the little highness. But then, when I saw that they were made at these countries, it usually dampened the desire to purchase. It's not that I am against these countries or what, by the way. It just made me wonder, if I go to the specific country, say China, would I be able to get the same branded stuffs with lower prices? Are they the same? Or is it a new marketing strategy to sell under-priced or imitation products with higher prices at these branded UK boutiques?

Or maybe I should change my perspective. Those so-called imitations from Thailand or China, are actually the real thing sold at a different country. Begitukah???

Bugged again..

2009-09-02T13:09:00.003+08:00

Couldn't get this thing out of my mind, so I might as well put it down in writing..

To me, it is one thing to break the law, but it's another thing to tell it to the world, and worse, brag about it. For instance, if you've decided that you will skip fasting for a few days in Ramadhan just for the heck of it (no dire situation whatsoever), by all means, go on and do it. It is between you and Allah, anyway. But when you do it, and then brag about it to the world, I think you are insulting some people who worship the Holy Month!

It's like, you purposely ran the red light at a junction. No one saw you, and no accident happened. You felt happy, and nobody else cared. You, then, went on and advertised it in the newspaper that you have successfully ran a red traffic light. Would this insult anybody? You bet at least one person would be insulted, a traffic police officer, maybe?

What I am trying to say is, whatever you do, please be a bit more sensitive. It would only reflect yourself in the eyes of the public, and worse, in Allah The Almighty's sight...Wallahua'lam...

Amazed and speechless...

2009-08-10T20:28:00.005+08:00

I have just been buzzed by an FB friend. I actually do not know her, but we apparently share a few friends in common. Well, actually it looked like she knew a few of my cousins. So, I thought that she is one of my sedara jugak using a different name...Hence, I accepted her friend request.

The conversation went something like this:
FB Friend: Assalamualaikum
Me: W'salam wbt
FBF: Buat apa tu? (bear in mind that this is our first ever communication)
Me: Takde apa...Duduk2 je..
Me: Ni Nurul ke? (Nurul is the name of one of my cousins)
FBF: Nurul?
Me: Eh sori..Sape ni? Nama tak familiar la. And gambo pun takde.. (Actually ada gambar tapi I memang tak kenal siapa dalam gambar tu..A little girl's photo, so I thought it was her daughter's photo)
FBF: Ini *** la..
Me: ***? siapa ya? ingatkan sedara tadi.. Sebab yang sama2 kenal ni semua sedara..
FBF: Sebab baru je buat akaun FB ni..
FBF: Owh? Ya ke?
FBF: Umur berapa?
Me: (Mula start pelik) 31. *** ni kat mana?
FBF: 9 tahun. Kat kajang. Eh sori nanti chat lagi...kena sign out sekarang.
Me: (Dalam hati) ???? WTH??

So, I dug her profile and voila! She is actually my cousin's young daughter's friend i.e my niece's friend! And that put 2 and 2 together...Alahaiiii!!!

And, in her profile, her age is 24!! I think her parents seriously needs to monitor this girl..hehe...

And to think of it, kids nowadays fear nothing, eh??

One Tree Hill

2009-08-10T19:20:00.003+08:00

I am late jumping into the bandwagon, I know, but I am LONGING for the DVD Box set of OTH from season 1-6. Strange, because I haven't even watched a single episode of the series! I have often came across the series being aired on TV previously but I haven't give them another glance each and every time they were aired!

Tried from my usual source, but since it has been so far along running, the earlier seasons were no more around to be downloaded! And, I do not want to start from the middle like season 4 or later...Haiyaaa!!!HELP!!!!

I have requested Mr Hubs to purchase the sets for me, and I desperately hope that he would give me face..*buat muka kesian*

I WANT!! I WANT!!! I WANT!!!!!

Well, if I am in Malaya, I would have gotten my fix from Vid***sy, just like I did with FRIENDS. There is a B**ckb**ter here, but I am too lazy to become a member and rent. haihhh!!!!

I WANT!! I WANT!!! I WANT!!!!

Bugged...

2009-08-10T19:03:00.004+08:00

I was really bugged and annoyed at the rate people are fighting against each other now. People calling other people names, people meddling in affairs that they knew nothing of (setakat tahu permukaan saja dah nak komen-komen pasal dasar) and made it public, hence causing religions and races stir or public humiliation to certain parties/people in a country, people yang sibuk jaga tepi kain orang... KORANG NI TAKDE KEJE LAIN YANG LEBIH BERFAEDAH KE?? A hell lot is happening in the world today, and you keep on fighting like brainless, uneducated people!!

And people who intentionally make small things big are the biggest jerk of all!! Sengaja je nak besar-besarkan cerita sampai satu dunia tau, so that people can share your ideas, is it?? Why can people with negative thoughts keep their thoughts to themselves??

I am refraining myself from reading the local newspapers now but the news kept coming via other channels. MENYAMPAHNYAAA!!!!!

Buat saspen jer???

2009-07-28T20:12:00.002+08:00

I was washing the dishes after lunch when Daniel suddenly came up to me...

D: Mummy...Nak go doctor Mummy!!!
M: (terkejut) What happened???
D: (pointing inside of his mouth)
M: Why??? (panicking already)
D: ada ayam...
M: laaa....ada ayam stuck dekat gigi? ingatkan apaaa la tadi...(phew...legaaa...)

Good Morning..

2009-07-22T16:22:00.003+08:00

Daniel and I were walking to the town the other day when we passed by a house where an elderly couple and another middle-aged woman were having a conversation while puffing on their lawn. The elderly couple had greeted me a few times in the past, so I smiled at them as I was passing through. The old lady said "Good morning!" followed by the other two, and I said good morning back. Then she said "Good morning young man!!" to which Daniel replied by showing up his right hand (a'la Obama while addressing the people in a speech) while he was looking down...It was a hilarious sight if you were there to witness it, so everybody laughed and we continued our journey.

Then I looked at my watch. It was nearly 1 pm. "Morning???" I asked myself. Maybe they were mistaken and didn't realize that it was noon already.

Then we brushed shoulders with another lady. I smiled at her and she smiled back, greeting me "Good morning!" Now that couldn't have been a coincidence, right?

I wonder when do people here wish "Good afternoon" then. Our cut-off time in Malaysia is 12 noon, right? Simple. From 12 noon to about 7pm, we wish people "Good afternoon."Hubby said that they don't have good afternoons..They go straight from "Good morning" to "Good evening." People at his work place even called lunch as dinner! I don't know whether it is the practice of the people in this town only or these are common to all Britons...hehe....

By the way, most of the cartoon series here are translated from USA English to British English. I don't really understand this, because for me English is English...hehe... Hubby said Malaysians are thought British English but we talk USA English. That is why we simply don't realize the difference...hehe...

Entah laaaa....

The sweet and the cheeky...

2009-07-22T16:13:00.004+08:00

The sweet:

"This my mummy!!" while hugging you tight at any point or time of the day..

"What's wrong Mummy? Why mummy crying?" when he saw me crying watching a movie...

The cheeky:

Coming towards you and out of a sudden, he would scratch any part of your body accessible to him. And when you spontaneously screamed "Ouch!!" he would point his little finger at you and laughed (buat-buat punya gelak) and then would go "nyenyenyenyenye!" while making a silly face....

That's my little prince....UPDATED....

What will I miss when I return home..

2009-07-17T19:12:00.002+08:00

The greetings that you receive at the cashier's tills...As soon as you put your stuffs at the counters or the conveyor belts, you would be greeted with "Thank you" or at least "Hi/hiya!!!!! And with the return of your changes, definitely you would get your "thank you", "cheers!", "see ya"

In Malaysia, it's very rare to get this kind of treatment, eh? Nak senyum kat customer pun payah, apatah lagi nak berterima kasih kan?? "Bukan kedai aku pun" attitude, perhaps??

Crazy, crazy world...

2009-07-10T17:09:00.003+08:00

Just during my 3 months stay here, I have read about so many crazy things that people do. Some of them were just unthinkable! There was this one case of a man being burnt by some thugs as he was dozing off while sunbathing in a park. Maybe it was a prank played by some naughty teenagers. Nak sangat sunburn, meh kitorang burn ko terus...agaknya laaaa...

There was also a case where an elderly woman was found dead after 5 years at her own home. How could this happen? Nobody smelled anything foul, was it? Or the place had always smelt bad, so that was why nobody noticed another bad smell? They only found her after her down stair's neighbour filed a complaint to the local council for a leak that came from her apartment floor. yikes!!! It just showed that people don't care about each other any more. Even I don't really know my neighbours in this apartment building (except for the guy downstairs who came and complained about the noise Daniel makes). It is a common lifestyle now.

And what about knife crimes? These thugs just randomly went and stabbed people to death! The government is taking step to overcome these crimes, normally done by teenagers gangsd, but from what I read yesterday from an interview, these gangs said, they would only hand in their knives for change with guns. "We kill. That's what we do" they said. SICK!!!! And SCARY!!!! Na'uzubillah!!!

And we haven't touch about racism yet. What people could do because of racism are just beyond belief. It's like we have never learnt from past experiences and still living in pre-historic era.

During one of the subway rides in London, I witnessed an act of racism, though a mild one. We were seated at the rear most area of the coach where the it was linked to another coach. Two guys from the next coach kept throwing small pieces of rubbish into our coach and then laughed out loud. I didn't know what their intention was, whether it was really racism or they were just playing the fool (they looked really foolish, by the way). I pretended that nothing happened and I wasn't bothered by the act. We were going off at the next station, anyway.

Just as we were about to get off of the subway, another Mat Salleh guy looked at us and began shaking his head. He looked pissed enough with the foolish guys' antics. He started cursing under his breath and said to us "What fools are they?" to which my dad said, "I thought they were your friends and they were joking with you." "No, no! I don't have stupid friends like those idiots!" He was really angry.

And as we got off the subway, the guy in our coach stood up, and screamed at the idiots, "What the hell! Bast#&d!!!" and shut the coach's window with a thump. Served them idiots right!

These sick, sick people are everywhere in our world now. May Allah prevent these psycho people from harming us or the people that we love...Ameen...

My London Adventure Part VI (finale)

2009-07-10T16:27:00.005+08:00

At the Emirates Stadium, home of the Arsenal Football Club

We took off from my aunty's house at about 10am that Sunday and took the train to Arsenal, which was only 2 stops away from Turnpike Lane. A game was about to start and there were a lot of stalls selling the team's merchandise. But as I was not a fan, we didn't buy anything. Just took some photos at the majestic stadium and we continued our journey. Our next stop was Covent Garden.

Huge, huge crowds and a lot of acts were there. Again, I felt like I was in Malaysia's Central Market..hehe...

We didn't stay long though, because I still want to go to many other places. We then went to the Embankment. I wanted to take my parents on the river cruise, but they didn't want to go. So, we just sat at the riverbank, enjoying the breeze and the scenery.

After that, we went to Baker Street. I thought we could have lunch there, but we couldn't find the halal restaurant that I was looking for. Walked for a bit at Oxford Circus and then we took the subway back to Bayswater Station for lunch. Well, at least I was confident that we could find many halal restaurants there rather than we wandering around looking for a place to eat in the other places.

By the time we finished our lunch, it was about 4pm already. I had thought of going to Stamford Bridge (home of the Chelsea FC) and Wimbledon, but we were short of time. We did some last minutes souvenir shopping at Bayswater area, and my Mum bought another hand luggage...hehe...

I asked the ticket salesman at the counter whether our passes could take us to Heathrow, and he said no. So, we upgraded the passes (no fuss this time and definitely NO SWEARING) and we headed directly to Heathrow Airport.

By the time we reached there, it was about 7pm and Hubby had already reached there waiting for us with Abah and Mak's luggage. My parents came to the UK with 2 large luggage, and they left UK with 2 large luggage and 4 hand luggage...wakakakaka! I do not know how much would I bring when I return home later..hehehe...

So, they repacked everything so that the checked in luggage wouldn't exceed the 20kg weight limit per person. A lot of other people were also doing this, which made the scene quite funny...hehe..

I helped them checked in and after a few more moments together, it was time for them to depart. Soooo sad!!! My parents had left their last worn clothes for Daniel, in case if he should miss them or having trouble sleeping at nights because of remembering them. So, when my Mum cried before she went into the departure room, I jokingly asked her whether she would need Daniel's 'kain busuk' in case she would miss him later...hehe...

It was a tearful goodbye. We left the airport for Newark at about 9.30pm and reached home at about midnight. My body was aching from the extreme walking for the last 4 days and I couldn't sleep from the maximum exhaustion. Sempat basuh baju dulu and dry them all up before retiring for the night.

What an adventure!!!

My London Adventure Part V

2009-07-10T15:46:00.003+08:00

Daniel at Turnpike Lane Station

And why were we at the Turnpike Lane Station instead of Kew Bridge Station for our next hotel check-in? It was because we couldn't find the darn hotel!!! We had stopped at Kew Bridge initially after the parade. I called the hotel for direction and was given the so-called direction to the hotel from the station. She said "Walk straight ahead and then turn right at the end of the road. We are there. You wouldn't miss it because there is a huge sign."

So, we walked, and walked, and walked, AND WALKED... It must have been about 2-3 km of walking. I became suspicious, so I called the hotel again. The same direction was given, so I thought maybe it was correct after all. A few hundred metres ahead, I stopped a passer-by and asked him the direction to the hotel. He said, "I have never heard the name of that hotel. I've been living here for quite some time but no, not that hotel.." huh???

So, I called the hotel again. This time, we had already reached the end of the road, and you've guessed it right, NO HOTEL. I tried using the GPS on the i-Phone but hampeh as usual...When I told the girl that we are at the end of the road and I gave her the road name, she said, "Sorry, I am not a local. I do not know that road, but if you had followed my direction, you would have been here by now." WTF??????

We stopped at a bus stop and I asked my parents to wait there while I walked further up for any signs of the hotel. NIL. ZILCH. Urggghhhh!!! I felt like wanting to squeeze somebody's throat..Why must you put someone who is not familiar with the area as the receptionist? Do you think that everybody who is going to stay at your hotel would be coming by car? Seriously, if you look up the London hotels in the website, they would usually give you the way to reach them by road (meaning that you are driving) and not by trains or any other public transports! Well, except for taxis, I guess, since we can tell the taxi driver that we want to go to that hotel and he would use the 'getting there' guide by the hotels!! ARSE!!!!

Fed up with the whole thing, I decided that we should take a bus or a taxi to reach the hotel. My parents had insisted that we just stay at the long-lost relative's house (which I have blogged about a while back). My dad had actually managed to call his aunty earlier that morning, and she had welcomed us to stay at her house, which I had declined since we had booked the hotel.

Anyway, we took a ride on a bus, which should have stopped at a place and we should have changed into another bus that was supposed to reach the hotel (according to my GPS). But telling the driver where you wanted to stop apparently didn't mean anything because the driver wouldn't stop unless you ring the bell. And since we didn't know where the place that we were supposed to stop was, and the screen on the bus also didn't state the place that we wanted to stop at, we actually rode the bus until we reached the final destination, which is in Hammersmith (and what a winding road too!)

And yes, I got really, really pissed off that I asked my dad to call his aunty again and told her that we were going to stay at her house for the night after all. Yup, lucky that we had an emergency back up plan. If not, we would have need to take the cab to the hotel and I just couldn't imagined how much we would be charged for the fares.

That was why we ended up in Turnpike Lane, and finally, we met with the long-lost English aunties and cousin. They had another visitor, so we had to sleep in the living room, which was not a problem at all. Just thankful that we had somewhere to sleep for the night and furthermore, had the opportunity to meet with the relatives. And had a good dinner that night (my dad's aunty was a chef at a hotel before she retired) so apalagi??? Hentam habis lah...Siap ada sambal belacan lagi tu....hehe....

(to be continued)

My London Adventure Part IV

2009-07-10T14:28:00.011+08:00

After we checked out of the hotel the next morning, we walked towards the Earls Court Station. And as we reached the cross junction, we just realized that the station has a rear entrance which was very, very, VERY close to our hotel! The front entrance that we took when we arrived yesterday was quite a distance! hehe...The hotel should have put in their advertisement that people should take the rear entrance if they want easy access to the hotel! haiyaaaaa!!!

So, we went in via the back entrance. There were only machines selling tickets there, no people manning the ticket counter. There was a staff helping passengers with ticket purchases, so I just went ahead and bought the passes for the 3 of us at the machine. The guy helped me with the purchase, but he chose wrong ticket zones for us. But he said that I could upgrade the tickets before I travel, but it had to be done at the front ticket counter! haih! And then, he told me that the all-day passes were also good to travel on buses and trams. What??? And I have been purchasing all those bus tickets for the last 2 days for charity, was it? huhuhu...Takpe, takpe...Kita tak tau.... *bengang sebenarnya...hehe...*

At the front ticket counter, I waited for some time before a guy came to the ticket window that I was standing at. I explained to him that the guy at the rear entrance wrongly pressed the button at the machine for my tickets and I would like to upgrade the tickets so that they would cover more zones. He asked me, "Why did you purchase these tickets if you want to travel to more zones?" to which I replied that it was a mistake done by the staff at the rear entrance. He walked away with an angry face and I could clearly see from the glass window that he was cursing at me! I could actually read his lips!! Blardy fool!!! Manyirap la darah akak! Rasa nak give him a piece of my mind jer! Kurang ajar betul!! Kalau nak curse pun don't let me see it ok?? It was their staff's mistake, anyway!!!

My mood immediately soured after that. Since it was still quite some time for the next check in at the next hotel, I decided that we should go and see the Changing of the Guard at the Buckingham Palace. By the way, that day was Saturday, and there were quite a lot of upgrading services taking place at the underground stations.

When we reached Buckingham Palace, there were a huge crowd already waiting for the ceremony to start. By 10.00am, the security guards had already gathered people around and nobody was allowed crossing the area and we had to stay inside our group. The sun was glaring, but everybody waited patiently at their places.

Anyway, snippets of what happened during the ceremony. This happens every single day of the year, and every other day during winter. Letihnyaaaa jadi guards!!! hehe....

Just as I thought we had had enough (2 hours standing under the sun in a crowded space), and we were about to walk out of our standing places, the lady security told us that we were about to miss the best part of the show! So, we waited for a while longer, and voilà, the gate nearest to us were opened, and the troops actually marched pass us! Many people had left before us, because we were not informed that the gate would actually open. Must be because they did not want everybody to flock in front of the gate..huhu...

Anyway, prior to that, we were informed and warned by the security people to take extra caution of our belongings because pickpockets and thief were at large during the ceremony everyday. Since we had our luggage with us, the security came to us many times to remind us to take care of our stuffs. And the lady security actually pointed to my Mum's pocket-sized and zipped al-Quran which she put inside one of the outer pockets of her luggage. She asked me, "Maam, is that a wallet?" to which I said no. "What is that? Is that some thing valuable? Because we have many bad people here everyday stealing stuffs from unsuspecting tourists" I said, "No, it's not a wallet. Just our Quran.." To which she replied, "That IS valuable, because my bible IS valuable to me" and then she laughed. Of course it is valuable to us la...But what I meant was it has no value for the pickpockets....Unless lepas dia curi Quran tu dia insaf ke...bagus gak....hehe....

After everything was over, we stayed a while under the trees at the park, eating sandwiches (sandwiches je la pun yang senang nak dibawa ke mana-mana kan?) They had set up lounging chairs in the park for people to have sun bath. Panas lah...tak kuasa...hehe...

Then, we took the subway to our next check-in hotel, the Kewbridge Hotel near Kew Garden.

(to be continued)

My London Adventure Part III

2009-07-09T19:36:00.003+08:00

After a few photo shots at the Canary Wharf, we took the subway again, and headed to the Wembley Stadium. It was quite a distance, and by the time we reached there, it was nearly dark and only a handful of people were left in the train. We got stopped at the exit gates. Apparently, the tickets we purchased were not including the rides to the extended zone that Wembley was located. Thank God the lady at the exit let us out. I thought the whole day passes could be used to travel anywhere, but actually there were zones that were covered by a specific type of pass. Mano la den tauuuuu...hehe....

So, we took photos and lingered for a while there, eating our sandwiches for dinner. There was a concert being held at the Wembley Arena, and lots of people came for the concert. It was getting dark, and since I feared that our subway passes wouldn't let us ride the subway, I decided that we should take the bus. After all, I did purchase the all-day bus and tram passes also!

The bus ride back was quite an adventure, too. I couldn't seem to find the right route back to our hotel, because the bus stops at the Wembley area were quite scattered and the routes that each bus took were confusing. I decided to take the one that went directly to the final stop of the area, and then we would take another bus to go back to the city. But, when we arrived at the last stop, there were also different stops for different areas! I thought all buses would stop there, so it would be easy for us to find the right one to take to our hotel. Macam kat Puduraya kan? Haih!

So, after walking about some more (my legs were really killing me at the time), we took a bus. It was about 10pm already at that time. I thought of going to Oxford Street and then we could take a train to Earls Court. But, it was getting late, and I was scared that there would be no more trains when we arrive at Oxford Street. So, when I saw a subway station, I quickly asked my troop to get down so that we could catch the next train.

Alas! The services at that station were already stopped for the day! I could feel the blood draining from my face! Dang!!! And I felt really guilty for having to drag my parents along. If I could feel the pain in my body from the long walks, how would they feel then? Guilty, guilty!

So, I went back to the bus stop, studied the routes, changed to another bus stop, studied again, changed again and finally I saw the correct route that went directly to Earls Court. After waiting for quite some time, the bus came and I felt really, really relieved. Lesson learnt: Do not wander along until late at night if you don't know precisely how to get back to the hotel...hehe...

We all fell asleep as soon as we got ourselves cleaned up...

Tee hee hee....

2009-07-01T21:31:00.003+08:00

Yesterday's conversation with His Little Highness:

Daniel: Shaponer....Shaponer...Shaponer.....
Mummy: Bukan shaponer la....TRANSFORMER....Trans...For....Mer....
D: Trans...po...ner....
M: Bukan ner, MER...MER!
D: Mer..mer....Shaponer....
M: Hmmmmmpppphhhh.....(gave up)

Later on yesterday:

D: Shaponer...Shaponer....
Ayah: (Mimicking him) Shaponer...Shaponer....
D: MER la Ayah! MER! No NER!!!!
Mummy: (Stumped for a moment, then....) Wakakakakakaka!!!!!

Inilah yang dikatakan ketam mengajar anak berjalan betul...kekeke....Dia sendiri pun salah sebut, ada hati pulak nak betulkan Ayah dia....kakakakaka.......

Pity Daniel...

2009-06-30T18:45:00.003+08:00

Last week, our down stair's neighbour went up to our apartment and complained that he couldn't stand the noises coming from the top of his ceiling. Hubby had mentioned earlier to me that this guy is very fussy about noises coming from this apartment as soon as we set foot in here. He actually buzzed the intercom the last time (before Daniel and I came to this country) because apparently he could hear Hubby's music 'seeping' through his ceiling...hehe...He also loves to park his car so close to ours (makan space la tu....mentang-mentang kereta kitorang cute jer...) but so far we haven't made any complaints... This guy seemed to have some troubles up in his brain.

He actually asked me, "Do you have a child in the house making the noise?" and I said yes. We've actually bumped into each other a few times and of course he knew that we have a growing toddler!

Now, how do you control an active, growing toddler from jumping around the house? To me, Daniel has done minimal noises actually because he only jumps or runs around when he's extremely, extremely excited. And not without me reprimanding him from doing that for fear that the noise would trouble the below neighbour every time he did it.

And just nice, my boy has recently developed interests in exercising and dancing. So, from time to time he would ask me to watch him 'perform' the routines. They were funny moves, of course and he seemed to enjoy doing them very much.

Because of this guy, now we have put the mattress from the second bedroom in the hall for Daniel to jump or dance on if he feels the need to do so. And we constantly reminded him not to jump or dance or run whenever we thought that he was going to do so outside of the mattress area. This quite broke my heart, because I felt like I was curbing him from somewhat enjoying his childhood...*sigh* Macam terbantut je excitement dia tu.....

Well, my upstairs neighbour does not have kids but we constantly hear loud thumpings from above. And we are not complaining, because we know there must be reasons for that. Normal people won't do anything unpleasant to other parties (especially not known to them) on purpose, right?

Well, kalau tak nak dengar bunyi bising dari siling, duduk la kat rumah setingkat ke, banglo ke? Tak pun duduk kat apartmen tingkat atas sekali...huhuhu!

Revenge of the Fallen

2009-06-26T00:25:00.006+08:00

..banana....hik hik....(Memang ler takde keje lain yg lebih berfaedah kan???)

Pisang yang dah terlalu masak...

Peel off the skin and cut to pieces

.

Tadaaaaa!!! Transforming into pengat pisang.... Sedap dimakan untuk minum teh hari ini.... nyum...nyum....

Kolej Tunku Kurshiah muncul juara orkestra

2009-06-25T21:58:00.000+08:00

PUTRAJAYA 20 Jun - Kumpulan Orkestra Kolej Tunku Kurshiah, Seremban yang mempersembahkan lagu Disney Festival muncul juara dalam pertandingan orkestra sekolah berasrama penuh dan sekolah kluster atau Finale Festival Wind Orchestra 2009.

Kejayaan kumpulan tersebut menewaskan tujuh pasukan lain, membolehkannya membawa pulang piala pusingan, hadiah wang tunai RM1,500 dan hadiah iringan.

Konduktor kumpulan orkestra Kolej Tunku Kurshiah, Nur Hamizah Zainal, 17, turut diumumkan sebagai Konduktur Terbaik menewaskan tujuh lagi konduktur yang rata-rata diwakili oleh pelajar lelaki.

Hadiah disampaikan oleh Timbalan Perdana Menteri yang juga Menteri Pelajaran, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin di Pusat Konvensyen Antarabangsa Putrajaya (PICC) di sini hari ini.

Turut hadir isteri Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Puan Sri Noorainee Abdul Rahman; Ketua Setiausaha Kementerian Pelajaran, Tan Sri Dr. Zulkurnain Awang dan Ketua Pengarah Pelajaran, Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd. Dom.

Kumpulan orkestra Kolej Tunku Kurshiah yang ditubuhkan pada tahun 1997 kini dianggotai oleh 110 orang pelajar tingkatan satu hingga lima diangkat sebagai juara berdasarkan keupayaan teknikal, persembahan dan alunan muziknya.

Dalam pada itu, kumpulan orkestra Sekolah Dato' Abdul Razak, Seremban mendapat tempat kedua dan membawa pulang wang tunai RM1,000 dan hadiah iringan.

Sekolah Menengah Sultan Abdul Halim, Jitra pula mendapat tempat ketiga dan membawa pulang hadiah wang tunai RM750.

Lima lagi pasukan yang turut bertanding pada peringkat akhir ini ialah Sekolah Sultan Alam Shah, Putrajaya; Kolej Melayu Kuala Kangsar; Sekolah Seri Puteri, Cyberjaya; Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Ipoh dan Sekolah Ave Maria Convent, Ipoh.

Tunisia, you said????

2009-06-24T18:12:00.001+08:00

From Tunisia.com dated Jul 2008

The Global Peace Index: Tunisia is ranked the 2nd in Africa and the 5th in the Arab countries

Tunisia is classified among many other countries about the level of peace and stability in the world. according to a report done by the Global Peace Index, Tunisia , ranked the 44th at the international level, is the second in Africa after Botswana, and the fifth in the Arab world after Qatar (16th) Oman (21st), the UAE (40th) and Kuwait (42nd).

Tunisia which reached a score of 1698 points, is ahead of other countries such as Greece (57th ) and the United States of America (83rd ) . New Zealand is at the top and is considered as the most peaceful and stable country followed by Denmark and Norway.

The report, which has been elaborated jointly with The “Economist Intelligence Unit'', based its analysis on the situation of peace and stability in 144 countries around the world that revolve around several criteria, including
democracy status , the degree of security for foreigners, level of corruption, government efficiency, the people’s cohesion and integration , international relationships , investments climate , the involvement of countries in armed conflict and the level of military spending.

This is good, right? I am of mixed emotions now....

Muhammad Daniel Hafiz

2009-06-24T16:44:00.005+08:00

Daniel in front of our apartment in Newark, Nottinghamshire

Daniel @ Bullring Shopping Centre, Birmingham

It has been a while since I last blogged about this little highness of mine. He is about 39 months now and has learnt so much, especially on how to answer back to you (with some very, very creative answers unimaginable to us) and also on how to negotiate. He is not very 'pelat' and we can communicate very well with him now.

Currently this boy weighs 14kg and stands at 94cm. Cheeks masih tembam walaupun tak segebu masa baby dulu...hehe...

Current normal communications:

D: Mummy! I want bla...bla..bla...
(please note that want is pronounced as 'WONT'...very the slang one...hehe...)

D: Mummy! Ayah kata boleh...
If I refused something he wanted...when my Hubby had never consented...and if he asks from Hubby, he would say "Ayah, Mummy kata boleh!")

D: Mummy boli bla...bla...(normally toys)
I don't know why he pronounce beli as boli...Orang nogoghi anak den ni...hehe....

D: Mummy I'm too hot!
When everyone else is cold...This is one condition which baffles us...Why does he feels warm and sweaty when the rest of us are cold? Any meds explanation kah?

D: Daniel takuuutttt!!!!
He's practically scared of everything, even the cartoons on TV...Not on any ghosts parts, but more on actions part...I do not know how to overcome this...hadoiii...

He loves singing and scribbling on papers (never on walls yet and I pray that he never will...ameen)

He hates to clean up his toys mess (will always give the reason "Daniel tired...." sambil melemah-longlaikan badan when I ask him to clean up the mess.

He can count up to 20 (but with some holes from 15 up to 20..hehe...)

When counting in Malay, he would say "Satu, dua, tiga, empat, lima, tujuh, mato!" (tomato)...Entah apa-apa la Daniel ni...hehe...

He can read ABC until Z, both upper and lower cases

He can read the Jawi alphabets as well from Alif till Ya

He knows most of the basic shapes but still doesn't know how to draw them

His current favourite cartoon series are Engy Benjy, Captain Mack, Bob the Builder, Pocoyo, Jimjam and Sunny and Bo on the Go. Ben 10 dah tak dapat tengok selalu since we don't subscribe to Kids channels on Sky TV. Only on Saturdays jer...kesian Daniel...huhu...

He always ask me to bake cakes and cookies for him

He is still having some troubles in bowel movement department. Payah betul!

He hates having his teeth brushed. Hence the 'black' 2 or 3 front teeth

He is currently being toilet-trained tapi Mummy memang tak sabar orangnya. Rasa nak suruh dia stick to wearing diapers sampai besar jer...isk isk..Oh! And in my quest to train him, I bought Ben-10 undies for him for GBP10 (7 pcs).. Mummy's undies pun tak semahal tu ok?...hehe...

He can recognize the places that he has been in photos. Like the other day, the London Tower Bridge photo appeared on Hubby's PC's as the screen saver and he immediately said "London! Daniel pergi hari tu!" and when he saw photos of Kaabah, he would say "Allah abar! Daniel solat sini hari tu"

He is still having trouble to see where we point. He just couldn't gauge where some things are when we point them to him. Often, he would come to you, really see where your finger is pointing, then only he could see the thing. Is this a medical problem too? I am quite concerned about this actually..

He is afraid of heights...Gayat rupanya...huhu...

Robots to him are BOBOTS...hehe...

4 years...

2009-06-24T13:48:00.003+08:00

....of mixed emotions, ups and downs, fights and make-ups, laughters and tears..

We celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary earlier this month. Well, not really celebrating in style or whatever, just us commemorating the years that we have spent together (bearing in mind also that we were apart for more than 2 years...hehe....)

Four years might be short or might be long, depending on our own perspectives. Sometimes we felt that it was only yesterday that we cut our wedding cakes and all, and sometimes it felt like ages ago (especially when we were having fights...hehe).

We might think that four years are quite a long period to know your spouses inside out. But for us, we are still in the learning process. We learn something new about the other half every other day. And we are still in the process of adapting to each other. So, to me, if some couples in love claimed that they knew each other inside out, they are soul mates yadda..yadda before they get married, boy, I think they have to really re-evaluate their notions...hehe...

Some times I do feel that my husband really knows me. Heck, he even knew when I was about to be visited by THAT friend every other month a few days beforehand. Even I didn't keep track. I guess it must have been the changing of behaviour and mood swings...hehe....

I also have a lot to cope in the food and drinks department, i.e what he likes and dislikes, how he likes his food to be cooked and drinks to be made etc. Like the other day, I just found out that he also loves to eat cili potong with hirisan bawang besar in kicap...just like I do. And after four years? Even I was amazed...hehe...

Anyway, here's hoping for more years happily together (boy I just hate it when we fight..and YES...we do fight A LOT!!!!) Maybe because I am hot headed and I do like to stand up for my thoughts (which could be so annoying to him..biasalah ego lelaki kan?)

But I am more mellow now (dah tua maaa...) so I know better when to speak or shut up, and I know when would be the right moments to bring some things up for discussion. And I think we are a lot better now.

So, Happy Anniversary darling (albeit a little late) and I hope we will continue to grow our love, commitment and understanding towards each other... May we improve ourselves and our bad habits to better accommodate each other so that we can lead a peaceful and meaningful live together...And may Allah bestow upon us all His blessings until the end of time...Ameen...

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

My London Adventure Part II

2009-06-17T04:12:00.002+08:00

We checked out of the hotel after a meager breakfast at the hotel. This time we took the Bayswater Circle Line and took off to Victoria Station. This time, I bought day travel passes for the 3 of us. Then, we took the bus to Trafalgar Square. Since we all are not museum-liking people, we saved quite a lot of time visiting other places than the museums (London banyak betul museums… and theaters…and we are not theater people, either..hehe..)

While looking at the map, I saw ‘Liberty’ and my mind quickly imagined The Statue of Liberty… And while cracking my head to read the map on how we would get there, suddenly a thought came across my mind.. Statue of Liberty bukan kat US ke? Dang! Haha! Nasib baik tak tanya orang ok? Kalau tak buat malu jer…kakakaka…. Turned out that this Liberty is some sort of a shopping place…hehe…

After Trafalgar, we took the bus to London Tower Bridge. We didn’t get into the tower, or go for a cruise bla..bla…Just taking photos around the area and had our quick lunch there before checking in to the next hotel that I pre-booked before the journey. In case you are wondering why we didn’t stay at the same hotel throughout the trip, well, the answer is, there was a Bank Holiday Monday at the same stretch of our trip, and my guess is many people took the time off to go for a break. So, no hotels could offer us rooms for our 3-night straight stay. Before boarding the subway to Earls Court Station, I saw a signboard showing the London Bridge, so we decided to go for a quick photo session. But halfway throughout the walking journey, I suddenly felt too tired to walk anymore, plus suddenly the signboard to the London Bridge went missing…hehe…so we turned back to the station and boarded the train.

We came out of the station, and again, I tried to use the phone’s GPS…and failed again, miserably. So, I went to ask for direction from a street hawker, and she gave me the direction to the hotel. Quite a descent distance and I was not complaining. When I saw the signboard saying ‘Earls Court Hotel’ I immediately went in to check whether it was the correct hotel since our hotel is Earls Court Studios. I had to knock on the window because the reception seemed pre-occupied with something, and when I asked whether I was in the correct hotel, he just said no. And when asked where was the correct hotel, he just shrugged smugly and said “No idea” Duh!!!

So, we walked further up across the street and voila, the hotel is no more than 30 meters from the first hotel. Kut ye pun competitor…huh! Rang the bell on the door and was greeted by the owner a few minutes later. This was a three-floored apartment converted to a hotel, and there wasn’t even a reception area. Our room was situated at the basement of the apartment, and it was much better compared to the first hotel that we stayed. A descent bathroom, a stove and microwave for cooking complete with all the cutleries, plates, pots and pans, a better TV set, a fridge… At least I felt it was worth the charges. We were given the main door keys (since nobody would open the door for us) as well.

After a quick rest, we went out again. Today we were more determined to cover as much of London as possible. First stop was London Bridge Pier. (London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down…hehe…) Then, we took the subway to Canary Wharf. I think it was the most beautiful station of all the stations that we have been. Here, brokers and executives in tie and blazers flocked around for a drink at the bar near the London Stock Exchange building (sorry, I do not know the name of the building).

(to be continued)

At last...

2009-06-17T03:46:00.004+08:00

I haven't been able to blog because my broadband service provider seemed to block blogger dashboard. Our Sky broadband has finally been activated, and with the wireless router, connection seemed better. Lega rasa dapat blog balik...hehe...

Without realizing it, it has been 2 months already since I set foot here in the UK. Life has been pretty much the same everyday since my parents left for home.

My day normally starts at around 4 am-ish. Normally, around 5.30 am I would finish cooking lunch for Hubby to bring to work. Hubby would normally leave for work latest by 7 am and return at around 6.30 pm where we would have dinner. By 8 pm normally I would be so sleepy already but usually I would wait till 10.30 pm for Isya' prayers. Kalau dah terlelap tu memang susah dah nak bangun balik for prayers...Maghrib pun 9.30 pm baru masuk waktu...huhu....

I try to go the town at least once a week (normally on Wednesdays) since there would be a big day-market. Sometimes I bake cakes or cookies if Daniel requested to eat them. If I am in the mood, I would prepare curry puffs, or lasagne, or spaghetti, or pizza, or fried meehoon for tea. On weekends, if we are not out for grocery shopping or jalan-jalan, I would cook something different like nasi ayam or what nots, depending on my moods also.

I spend most of my daytime reading emails and FB-ing, handling some matters related to business and at the same time attending to all Daniel's needs. He is a very demanding young man now. I am considering to send him to a play school here, but since we will be here for a short period only, I am not sure whether it would be a hassle.

There you go...My mundane life, for now. But what's more important, we are with Hubby now. My heart and mind are at peace...

My London Adventure Part I

2009-05-28T17:18:00.002+08:00

It was quite an adventure, so I need to type it down so as not to forget it.

My parents left the UK for homeland on Ssunday, May 24th, so as my last treat for them, I took them to London. By train. Because Hubby was working (we went from Thursday to Sunday). My parents argued that I'd be spending a lot of moolahs for the 4-day trip and we should have gone from Saturday to Sunday only. Well, no doubt it costed me a bomb, but I didn't want to rush everybody around in a short span of time, especially when we do not know our whereabouts in the city and we needed to travel on public transportations and walk a lot. Luckily I planned it that way....I didn't even know about the adventure that awaited us...

We took off from Newark North Gate Station at 10.38am and reached London Kings Cross Station at around 12 noon. As soon as we walked out of the station, my mind went blank. Looking at the buses and people streaming on the streets in front of the station, and not knowing where to head or what to do next, I pranced up and down the sidewalk for a bit. Tried to study the bus routes at the bus stop near the station, but my mind seemed to stop working.

I decided that we should follow the throngs of people walking across the street, but halfway down the road, I changed my mind and we returned to the station. I tried studying the underground routes, and decided that we should use the tube instead. So, bought one-way tickets for the 3 of us (nasib baik Daniel travelled free..hehe..), and took the tube to Westminster Station.

At Westminster, we stopped for a while to take photos of the Big Ben and London Eye. There was a group of people picketing in front of the Parliament House, demanding Britain citizenships for the Nepalese/Burmese etc soldiers whom served the British Government during the wars, so there were policemen everywhere. On that very same day, the reunioun of workers for the Victoria Line decided to hold up a strike because one of their drivers was sacked following his mistake in opening the wrong side of the train doors while stopping at one of the stations. So, the whole line was shutdown for that day. No service for that line, causing chaos for the other lines and also the buses. Traffic was just horrible that day. Nice timing...huhu...

While trying to snap more photos of the Big Ben, I was suddenly stopped by a lady, whom immediately put a dried wild flower on my jacket. She asked me for some contribution for the children (which or whose I don't know). There were a few of them around, handling out flowers and pamphlets to the public. Suddenly someone came up to us, asking the lady something like "Are you collecting money for the children" to which the lady nodded and the other lady passed a 5 pounds note to her. So, I rummaged my purse, eager to get away (since she didn't seem like wanting to let me off until I give her something) and pulled out a 2 pound coin and passed it to her. She said, "Can you spare a paper note for the children? FOR THE CHILDREN" she emphasized. I felt cornered, but strangely enough, I obliged and gave her a 10 pounds note! That was a freaking RM60! And I regretted it as soon as I gave it.. Hilang pahala, I know, but I just felt like I was being cheated. For all I know, maybe the other lady who gave that lady the 5 pounds note was just acting as donor? Her timing was just nice, anyway..Well, I didn't even know if the lady was genuinely collecting the donations for the children, anyway. And I thought the money would be better spent to our own orphans or poor children back home in Malaysia...*sigh*

Aaaaanyway, after that my mood for more photos snapping turned sour, and all I wanted was to get to the hotel where we were supposed to check in that day. The GPS maps on the phone seemed somewhat stupid, because it told me that it would take about 3 hours for us to get to the hotel. Cheh...Ada barang canggih pun tak boleh guna...hampeh... so, I had to resort to the normal map. Nasib baik ingat nak bawak map..Kalau ingat nak depend entirely on the GPS, m*mp*sla kitorang kat London tu...huhu...

After a few minutes, I got the gist of the bus routes, so I bought 3 one-way tickets for the bus. I called the hotel, telling her that I was at the Parliament Square and asked her the direction to the hotel. She said she didn't know where was Parliament Square (WTH?? It's your Parliament, ok?), but she told me to stop at Queensland. Hopped on the bus which should have brought us to our destination. Little that I know that we were on the wrong side of the road, which only meant that we were brought even further from our destination (the bus actually CAME from our destination). Naturally our stop wasn't called out until the end of the bus route, so we hopped off when the bus stopped at its final destination.

By this time I was devastated already. We crossed the road, tried to find the correct bus route and bus stop, again bought the tickets (this time I bought the whole day ticket so that if we were on the wrong route again, we could change bus again and again) and hopped into another bus. I asked the driver whether he goes to Queensland, and he said yes. Phew..At least we were on a correct bus.

When we reached Queensland, I once again tried to use the phone's GPS to locate the hotel. Again, it showed us a haywired, stupid route, so I decided to call the hotel again. By this time, everybody's feet and shoulders were terribly aching already. The hotel reception gave me a direction, but alas! He gave the direction on the other side of the road! Again, it meant that we walked EVEN further away from the hotel! DANG! DANG! DANG!!!!

I asked a passerby of the hotel location, but apparently, he didn't know where it was. I told him the street name, and he said that we should have walked the other way round. He said that we needed to walk through Kensington Garden (which housed the Kensington Palace- where Lady D lived during her time as the Princess of Wales). So, we turned back, I asked my parents to stay behind at one of the benches inside the park, and I continued walking towards the end of the park. And you guessed it right- it was a dead end..huhu! Lucky that I brought sandwiches and fried beehoon along, so while we rested for a while at the bench, we ate our very, very late lunch.

I must have walked more than 10 km by that time, and finally the phone's GPS decided to give me the correct route! So, we walked towards the hotel, and halfway through, we saw a tube station- the Bayswater Station. Dang!!! Why the hell didn't the reception lady told us to use the tube for easier access to the hotel, instead? Stupid, stupid, stupid!!!

We finally reached the hotel (an apartment converted to a cheap hotel). Cheap by their standard la.. It costed me 75 pounds (RM400) for a triple bedded room, with a small bathroom and really, really cheap furnitures and all. Satellite TV pun tak ada ok? But, we were so thankful to have a place to stretch our bodies and rest our feet, nothing really bothered us that time.

It was about 6pm already, so after solat and a few minutes rest, we walked to the town for dinner. Halal restaurants were quite aplenty there at Bayswater, and there were a lot of souvenir shops as well. We dined at Halal Restaurant (yes that was the restaurant's name) and walk about town for a while. Initially we wanted to take the bus back to the city centre (we bought the all-day ticket earlier, remember? Rugi la kalau tak guna..hehe..) But, after thinking again, we decided to go back to the hotel to rest properly. I fell asleep as soon as my head touched the pillows...

(to be continued...)

Daniel at the Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester

2009-05-14T17:57:00.005+08:00

Apa khabar Malaysia?

2009-05-14T17:35:00.003+08:00

I am quite on par with the happenings in Malaysia, especially the political soap opera in Perak (sudah-sudah la tu berebut kerusi...) They should learn and take iktibar from the turmoils of the world, there are wars everywhere! Pakistan, Georgia, Sudan, Afghanistan and the likes.. And they have sound causes for these wars, and yet in the Bolehland, the war is to become the MB and Excos..haih!

Anyway, I am actually missing my home sweet home. I don't know what has happened to my garden. With my brother treating the house as hotel for sleep-ins only, I am sure most of them have died out of the draught season in Malaysia..isk..isk..

Oh ya! The day before I came to the UK, my cute car was 'kissed' by a van at a parking space. It was quite nasty, and I need to send the car for knocking and repainting. Apparently, in his haste to get out of his parking place to send off some kids to school, the van driver didn't realize that my car was parked next to his van. Dah nak jadi, nak kata apa lagi, kan?

They asked me to send the car for repair and charge the bills to them. Under normal circumstances, I might have, but then, this was not. I didn't have the heart to. Besides, I had received so many blessings and good news before that incident that I thought this might be some kifarah that Allah gave me so that I kept my feet on the grounds. In fact, when the incident happened, I didn't even feel the slightest bit of remorse or anger. Again, benda dah nak jadi. Bukannya dia sengaja pun nak langgar...

Will get my dad to send it to the workshop when he returns back to Malaysia, and I am sure by the time I return home, the car will be as good as before :-)

Relatives

2009-05-14T17:17:00.003+08:00

We have distant relatives here. By distant, I meant, REAAAALLLY distant. My grandma's cousin. Distant in the terms of the relation, and also the distance...hehe..

My grandma's cousin migrated to the UK since her younger days after some mishaps at her former workplace, involving a blue-blooded person. She practically ran off, and never returned for quite some times. She then married a local here in the UK, and got 3 children. I only met them once during our kids days, and another time a few years back when their Mum insisted that they have Malay wedding receptions in KL.

So, since we are here, my parents have mentioned that they want to go visit this Mak Uda (Nek Uda to me) and her family. We have got their home address in London and also the phone number of her youngest and only daughter.

The problem is, how do I call her and introduce myself? "This is your long lost niece" doesn't seem very right...hehe...Hmmmm...Need to ponder more on this...

How to buy fish in a supermarket?

2009-05-08T02:58:00.003+08:00

This happened on the first week I was here in Newark.

Was grocery shopping at a local supermarket in the town and was about to buy a fish. By the way, I don't quite fancy the fishes here..Pelik and rasa semacam hehe...

Anyway, I selected my fish (seabass if I still remember correctly). I lifted the fish with my hand to pass it to the lady to be weighed and packed. She was surprised at my action, but didn't say anything. Then, I saw a washing basin near where she stood, so I went in to wash my hand.

She stopped me immediately and told me that I was not supposed to come into her area. And apparently I was not supposed to touch the fish also. For hygiene purposes, she said. She took a handful of tissue papers and wet them, then passed them to me to wipe my hand, and took back the used tissue.

That was totally a new experience for me...Kalau kat Malaysia, lantak hang la nak pegang ikan ke, nak hanyir ke...hehe...

Alhamdulillah...Free...hehe..

2009-05-02T15:18:00.003+08:00

What was?

Daniel's medical treatment yesterday. It was for his constant coughing which has been going on for more than a month now. I had bring him to a paediatrician before we came here, and was told it was a normal viral infection only and it nothing serious because his lungs were clear. But until he had finished up the whole bottle of medicine and until today, the cough didn't cease. He had consumed 2 whole bottles of Boots cough syrup here and was into the 3rd bottle, and this got me quite worried.

So, we went to Lombard Street Surgeries to seek medical advice for him. I didn't know where else to go and I haven't seen any private clinics here in the town area. There is Newark Hospital within walking distance also, but I decided to try the Surgeries first.

I was told to come back the next day (which was yesterday) to fit Daniel into the schedule on Friday. Apparently, you cannot see a doctor without making an early appointment first. And I was told that since we are not permanent residents, we would be charged for the treatment. Initial registration fees might be 20 Pounds, which is about RM100++, so go figure the treatment charge..hehe... I remember I was charged about RM300 for treatment in Ho Chi Minh for a bout of diarrhea, so I was expecting the worst here :-)

When we came again the next day, I was asked a few questions about our stay here bla bla, and walla! Since we'd be staying here for about 6 months, we are entitled to a permanent registration with 0 charges. Alhamdulillah. They said normally we would only need to pay for prescribed medicines at the pharmacy, but alhamdulillah again, Daniel's was free. But my son had to be on Ventolin already now, and we shall see whether his condition will improve. If not, we will have to see the doctor again for the next best course of action. And no. He is yet to be diagnosed with asthma. Hopefully not, nau'zubillah...

Exactly a month after the last post..

2009-05-01T16:15:00.003+08:00

Life has been filled with so many things for the past one month that I left this blog untouched. As most of you, my friends, might have known, alhamdulillah Daniel and I have been reunited with our guy here in the UK. Reached here on April 11, 2009. We are currently residing in Newark, a small town in Nottinghamshire.

I was so busy trying to settle so many stuffs back at home before my journey, that I even needed to meet a client a few hours before departure time to Heathrow. Only managed to pack up the suitcases right after that, with a few hours break to meet my PIL who purposely came to my SIL's house from Melaka to send us off to the UK. Thanks Mak & Ayah! I was so touched by their gesture.

The journey was about 14 hours and quite smooth. Only a handful of Malaysian were on board of quite a full aircraft that day, and we had a nice, funny and experienced pilot handling the aircraft. There was a terrible turbulence while we were passing India-Pakistan border (which the captain later said was due to Indian and Pakistani mothers cooking a lot of curries..hehe...)

By the 8th hour on board, Daniel had became so restless that he was crying and asking us to go back home. Luckily, I had my parents travelling with me, so we took turns to calm him down. If it were up to only me, I wouldn't think that I could manage, with myself also being lethargic from the long journey.

Oh ya! For those of you whom are unaware of this facility, we could actually perform solah on board. Just ask the steward/ess about this on your next long-haul flights, and they would be able to assist you. From what I have read from believable sources, if you perform solah while sitting in your seats in the aircraft, you would have to perform the solah again when you have safely reached your destination, wallahua'lam..

It was extremely cold for the first week we were here, with temperature ranging from 0-10 deg C. Alhamdulillah none of us got sick because of the sudden change of climate. The temperature gradually increased, but the chill was still there due to the strong wind and occassional rain. Last week we had very nice weather, with sun shining every other day and the wind was just nice for days exploring in the town. But it rained again almost everyday this week, so there goes my hope of not having to wear those thick and many layers or clothes!

We are adjusting well to this place. Although it is a small town, Newark has a lot of shopping places (and that is the most important thing..hehe..) They have Marks & Spencer, Dorothy Perkins, Argos, Bon Marche, Mothercare, CG among others and there are a lot of supermarkets and value for money stores scattered along the small town. People walk a lot here, and most people have dogs as pets. Our apartment is about 5 minutes relaxed walk from the town, so that explains why we were out at the town almost every day. There is also a marketplace at the town centre, where the hawkers take turns to sell different types of things including antiques, clothes, pet food, accessories, veges, fishes, CDs and DVD's, shoes, magazines, books, you name it, every other day except Sundays (and yes, most of the stores and supermarkets are closed on Sundays).

Currently we are having longer daytime, and my day typically starts at around 5 a.m-ish, where I would be cooking lunch for Hubby to take to his office. By 5.30am, it would be daytime already, and we would still be able to see the sun right until about 8 pm-ish everyday. Hubby would go to his office by 7 am and normally would be home by 6 pm, when I would already have prepared dinner. Usually by 9 pm-ish I would have doze off already, what with the early start of the day AND the lousy TV channels that we had. But today, we have subscribed and installed the satellite TV channels (thanks Hubby- dia kata install sebab sayang bini...hik hik..), so maybe I will sleep later every night from today onwards..hehe..

I have posted some photos at my FB. Feel free to look them up (if you have got nothing better to do, that is..hehe..). Will try to update the blog more frequently now that I am currently 100%, pure housewife! Life can be pretty mundane, especially when I do not have my own car to roam around..hehe..Kalau tidak, sure dah jauh merewang ni...haha...

Will

2009-04-01T13:21:00.003+08:00

Have you written yours yet?

I haven't.

Though lately, the idea keeps toying in my head. I mean, life is so short and uncertain, eh? Not that I have a lot of assets and money, though...hehe..

I have named my beneficiaries for my KWSP (what was left inside it, anyway because I kept transferring it to UT) and insurance policies. But the rest of what I have, no.

What will happen to the house, car, cash, company assets and cash when I'm called upon by Allah The Almighty? I would certainly want them to benefit my son for his future. Hubby? Nanti dia kawen lagi susah la....haha....

I recently received a form from Amanah Raya offering the service at RM200 (since I am a Bank Islam credit card holder). I think it is a good offer and came just in time when I was thinking about the whole thing. Might just going to grab the opportunity but then I am not sure whether they can make it in time (I mean the processing and the will writing would surely take time, right?) before I take off to UK. Furthermore, I have not yet finalize all that I have and who should have them when I die into a proper list on paper. Or would they do this on behalf of me? Hmm...

Have you written yours yet?

Tagged by Ida (thanks Ida!)

2009-03-30T22:55:00.004+08:00

Tag adakah anda rasa anda hot?

Kadang2 hot, kadang2 suam2 kuku...Tapi yang selalu hot ialah temper ku...kekeke....

Upload gambar kegemaran anda?

Kenapa anda suka gambar ini?
Kerana ini adalah gambar anak kesayangan hamba... Tanpanya, sunyi sepi hidup hamba..

Bila kali terakhir makan pizza?
Semalam...Pizza beli kat La Boheme, Jusco Bukit Tinggi. Lembut, gebu, sedap dan menggemukkan...hahaha!

Lagu terakhir yg anda dengar?
Lagu tema cerita "Make Way For Noddy" from the TV just now..

Apa yg sedang anda buat selain dari selesaikan tag ini?
Buat quotations, layan Daniel, tengok Grey's Anatomy...eh...macam2 buat dalam satu masa..hehe...

Selain nama sendiri, anda suka dipanggil dgn panggilan apa?
Mummy, Honey, Ayang, Baby...awww!! Malu I...kekeke....

Tag lagi 6 org *soalan seterusnya ada kaitan dgn org yg anda tag!
1. Nisa
2. Lavenderina
3. Ana Adi
4. Modek
5. Nina
6. Jaja

p/s: Ida, apa soalan seterusnya yang ada kaitan dengan orang-orang yang ditag ni? Tag tergantung nampaknya..hehe...

Tagged by Nina (thanks Nins!)

2009-03-30T22:04:00.005+08:00

Mom of the Year Award..

It seems that the award comes with a set of rules which are:

1. Admit one thing you feel awful about (involving being a mom). Once you have written it down, you are no longer allowed to feel bad. Remember you are a good mom!

Many a time, I would feel annoyed when he repeatedly calls me, just to satisfy the chatterbox trait in him. I always ask him "Why you keep calling Mummy, Mummy many, many times?" To which he would smile sheepishly, and say "Manyak, manyak Mummy! Like this (while counting his fingers): One, Two, Three, Pour (Four), Pie (Five).. Pie Mummy! Manyakkkk!!!" How to stay annoyed?

2. List 7 things you love about your kids, you love doing with your kids, or that your kids love about you.

a) I love it when he acts his 'manja' stuffs. Like whine in a very small voice with his eyes nearly closed, while putting his head in my lap or my palms

b) I love his singing. Very 'pelat' and with words only he understands. But the melody is correct, so we would know what he is actually singing

c) I love doing stuffs with him, be it shopping, sightseeing, eating out, whatever. My boy is such an easy boy to handle, because he doesn't run around in malls or misbehave or making scenes. Must be the shy trait that he got from his Ayah...hehe.. I hope he stays that way until he grows up

d) As a three years old toddler, I consider him a very obedient child. I never had the need to raise my voice to deter him from doing anything wrong. Enough with a stern look or a threat to pinch him (which I rarely had to do because he wouldn't proceed with the bad stuffs that he intended to do)

e) If he wants something and I don't oblige, he wouldn't throw tantrums. I also hope this trait would last until he grows up

f) I love putting him to sleep. Sometimes I would read to him. Sometimes I would recite zikir to him. He would ask me to pat him to sleep. And he would cuddle up to me for comfort. It feels like I am the best protector of the world

g)Above all, I love our daily communications. They keep me alive and sane. They keep me from being bored when contantly being left by Hubby for work. They made me realize how lucky I am to be a mother. They set my goal in life: to provide the best for him as much as I could afford. I also love our hugs, our kisses and our affectionate gestures and words towards each other, which I also hope will continue until he grows up

3. Send this to 5 other moms of the year that deserve a reminder that they too are the best moms that they can be. Remember to send them a note letting them know you have selected them, and also add a link to your post that directs people back to the person who nominated you.

Alamak... I think all my friends whom have blogs have been awarded and done this tag. Kudos to all my Mummy friends. You are all the best Moms alive :-)

Alamak...Lamanya tak update..

2009-03-30T21:23:00.004+08:00

Yes, I have been busy. Very. Hence the abandonement of this blog for a while.

What was I up to? Well, Hubby came home for a week last week for a training here in his Malaysia office. At the same time, I was struggling with the company accounts which hadn't been updated for a very long time. The accounts were due for audit so that we could file them with the SSM. Being a trained engineer, I know nuts about accounts- hence the struggle.

It was also the pick up time for the academic market. A lot of enquiries and requests for quotations came in. I needed to attend to that. And a few clients with products that I supplied needed my attention and help to solve some of their technical problems related to the products.

To top it all, I was down with the flu bugs. And Daniel was a little bit under the weather, too. So, I needed to nurse. And I did a hell lot of cooking since dearest Hubby was around.

Have I bored you enough with my whining? hehe... I'm not quite done yet!

2 days through the training, Hubby called from office, saying that his boss had instructed him to check in at a hotel nearby his office. Reason being, he was late coming in on both days of the training. Subang-KL in the mornings with the traffic and the rain were not helping him to punctually clock in the time for training.

So, that night, the 3 of us checked into Dorsett Regency, KL. Oops..I must mention that I brought my Mum to the Craft Centre for the Craft Fest earlier that afternoon. Went through the bad traffic crawl on the way back home, only to go back to the same spot merely 3 hours after that. (Craft Centre and Dorsett are very close to each other, for you who do not know..hehe..)

For the next 3 early mornings, I travelled back to PH to send Daniel to school while Hubby attended his training. Then I would do the laundry, cook, generate quotations, attended to technical problems, update the accounts bla bla until it was time for me to pick up my darling son from school at 3.30pm. Then, I drove straight back to Chulan Tower to pick up my Hubby.

Ekhem..Still not quite done...haha! My MIL came down for a visit on the third day of Hubby's training. She bunked at my SIL's house in Puchong. I was supposed to pick her up from the bus station in Shah Alam, but due to the heavy traffic on the way back from picking up my Hubby that day, we had to ask Hubby's BIL to do the favor. We went straight to SIL's house for dinner that night. Then, back to Dorsett. This cycle went for two days.

On the final day of Hubby's training, after picking both boys from their respectice places, we hurdled through the heavy Friday traffic back home, had a quick pit stop at Pyramid for a bit of shopping, back home for dinner and packing (yes, I also cooked that day) and shot to KLIA to send Hubby back to UK. Pit stop again at my SIL's house for Hubby to bid farewell to his Mak. Hubby checked-in, kiss-kiss, salam-salam, and off he went. It was past midnight when we left KLIA and we reached my Mum's house (slept there that night since my lil' bro was outstationed to Bintulu) way past 2 am, and I was totally drained out of my energy..

Now, I am done.. haha!

Good enough reason, eh? hehe....

Alang-alang cerita pasal alma mater...

2009-03-12T22:00:00.002+08:00

Was reading something somewhere about juniors preparing drinks for players during games/sporting events at a boarding school. Memang ingatan klasik yang akan dikenang sepanjang zaman la...hehe... Normally the first formers la yang akan kena buat air kan?

Kronologi penyediaan air untuk acara sukan di kolej:

1) Cari baldi atau baldi-baldi (depending on headcount of players for the game)
2) Cari volunteer siapa punya kordial/jus dan gula pasir yang akan dikorbankan untuk menghasilkan air
3) Tadah air kat water cooler...Mesti cari water cooler yang functioning well sebab nak air yang sejuk lagi menyegarkan untuk para pemain acara sukan
4) Setelah air siap, terhegeh-hegehla remaja-remaja kecil berumur 12/13 tahun membawa baldi berat berisi air minuman ke padang atau gelanggang (court) sementara menunggu pemain-pemain berehat untuk minum air

Cuba kalau sekarang ni orang suruh minum air dalam baldi yang disediakan oleh budak-budak kecik, korang nak ke minum? hehe... Just imagine baldi tu yang dibuat rendam macam-macam jenis pakaian termasuklah inner wears... Urggghhh!!!

And speaking of this, I remember one time, where the Siti Zawiah's first formers made cool Milo for the hockey players back then. I was in the team, so had no idea whose idea it was to prepare the cool Milo. Our team captain, kak N was so furious at that time. Granted, she was the most fearful Yellow House's fifth former la pulak kan? There and then jugak kena maki somewhere along the line of "You all ni nak suruh players muntah ke minum milo bersusu masa game? bla..bla..." Imagine her voice tu macam Linda Jasmine mengajar orang menari dalam AF... Ngeri...ngeri...hihi...

But then, bukan kah Milo merupakan minuman kesihatan untuk cergas bermain seperti yang sering diiklankan di media massa? hehe...Idea tu dah betul rasanya cuma tak diperkenan oleh penyimpan mohor besar games captain Yellow House kut...haha...

SPM results are out today..

2009-03-12T21:49:00.004+08:00

Inspired by this, I googled again the SBP 2008 PMR analysis (hari tu takde info pasal media kat Mesia ni sibuk citer pasal political turmoil in Perak..hehe) And finally, I found out the standings.

1) SM Sains Hulu Selangor (SEMASHUR)
bla...bla...
4) Sekolah Tun Fatimah (STF)
5) Sekolah Sultan Alam Shah (SAS)
bla...bla...
9) Sekolah Seri Puteri (STF)
10) Sekolah Dato Abdul Razak (SDAR)
bla...bla...
14) Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman (STAR)
15) KOLEJ TUNKU KURSHIAH (TKC)
bla...bla...
25) Kolej Melayu Kuala Kangsar (MCKK)

Aiyoo!!! What happened already? 2007 dapat 1st place, 2008 sudah jadi nombor 15 la pulak...

Sure kena drill la tahun ni dengan tahun depan yer? Sabar je la adik-adik...Untuk kebaikan diri sendiri (dan imej guru-guru dan kolej juga...hehe...)

Karena Ku Sayang Kamu- Dygta

2009-03-08T00:06:00.003+08:00

Jiwang alert! Jiwang alert!! Tapi boleh la abaikan video clipnya.. Tak jumpa cari videoclip original la..hahah!

Seandainya, kau ada disini denganku
Mungkin ku tak sendiri
Bayanganmu, yang selalu menemaniku
Hiasi malam sepiku
Kuingin bersama dirimu
Ku tak akan pernah, berpaling darimu
Walau kini, kau jauh dariku
Kan slalu kunanti
Karna ku sayang kamu

Hati ini, selalu memanggil namamu
Dengarlah melatiku
Ku berjanji, hanyalah untukmu cintaku
Takkan pernah ada yg lain

Adakah rindu di hatimu
Seperti rindu yang kurasa
Sanggupkah kuterus terlena
Tanpamu disisiku, ku kan slalu menantimu

Seandainya, kau ada disini denganku
Mungkin ku tak sendiri
Bayanganmu, yang selalu menemaniku
Hiasi malam sepiku
Kuingin bersama dirimu

Ku tak akan pernah, berpaling darimu
Walau kini, kau jauh dariku
Kan slalu kunanti
Karna ku sayang kamu

Kan slalu kunanti
Karna ku sayang kamu

And the list goes on...

2009-03-07T21:29:00.002+08:00

Even more updated list of new babies in 2009:

1) Eda
2) Dyda
3) Elly
4) Ainnal
5) Zizie
6) Widie (Muhammad Muadzarif born on Maulidur Rasul..Congrats Widz!)
7) Raz (sudah selamat dapat baby girl.. Ariessa yer? congrats Raz!)
8) Rina
9) Ziah (baby Ameena yang comel...congrats Jiah!)
10) Nina (Lavenderina)
11) As(mahani)
12) Zeti Shaik
13) Farah (Camelia)
14) Am
15) Lin Haida (Kaiesa Humayra Amani...congrats Lin!!)
16) Wife Ajey
17) Wife Amir
18) Nadiah
19) Bedah
20) Mala
21) Art
22) My cousin Syikin

Wah! Sungguh ramai! Rasa excited sungguh nak join the group..hehe....

Alhamdulillah...

2009-03-07T21:10:00.005+08:00

I couldn't help but to post this.

Penggunaan 'Alhamdulillah' dalam dunia kita hari ini:

a) A: Aku dengar ko dah dapat baby baru..
B: Haah. Baru semalam..
C: Alhamdulillah...

b) A: Pihak Pengurusan telah bersetuju untuk memberi bonus sebanyak 4 bulan untuk semua kakitangan tahun ni
B: Alhamdulillah...

c) A: Mak, saya dapat Anugerah Dekan semester ni...
B: Alhamdulillah...

d) A: Abah, saya dipilih jadi peserta peringkat akhir AF tahun ni!!
B: Alhamdulillah... (huh?)

I think there is something wrong somewhere here... Tak semua perkara yang menggembirakan kita tu patut diucapkan 'Alhamdulillah' kut.. Ni nak jadi artis pun cakap 'Alhamdulillah' rasanya macam tak sesueiiii kuttt???? Lebih kurang macam lepas dapat tau menang loteri first prize, terus ucap 'Alhamdulillah' pastu sujud syukur..

Apedaaaaa.....

Daniel

2009-03-05T20:44:00.002+08:00

The other day, I brought him to the pasar malam near my house to stock up the refrigerator. I stopped at the stall selling fishes etc. So, I asked him to stay put while I select what I wanted. He started telling me, "Look Mummy. This is crab" To which I said, "Yes, that's the crab." Then he continued the same pattern but with the prawn and fishes. Then I pointed to him the squid. "What's this?" "This is OCTOPUS!"

Mak aii...Terkejut Mummy! Giggling, I told him, "Bukan octopus la..This is squid. Sotong!"

Muhammad Daniel Hafiz is THREE!

2009-03-02T18:57:00.008+08:00

I just couldn't believe that it has been three years since he was pulled out from my womb. I could still feel the pains of the contractions, you see? hehe...

This year, we celebrated his birthday two days straight. I hosted a party at my house on Sunday, and the next day, we celebrated his actual birthday at the school with his 48 friends and 5 teachers.

This year's cake was Ben10 (at my house) and cuppies with various cartoon characters for the party at school. The school even sponsored more cuppies, with one set of FAREWELL cuppies...Alhamdulillah, he got a lot of presents from the kind uncles and aunties who made it to the party at our house, until I was stumped as to where to keep all those toys already...hehe...

To my dearestestestest (lama dah tak guna word camnih...hehe) son, Daniel. Mummy just hope that you grow up healthily and smart, and always be blessed by Allah The Almighty. There is nothing more that I want from you apart from you to be a good servant of Allah and a good son to Mummy and Ayah. We all love you so much!

I shall leave you with some of the photos from the parties. More photos have been uploaded to my FB..

Missing..

2009-02-20T22:13:00.002+08:00

I was trying to find a parking spot at T*ip*n just now when my cellphone suddenly rang. It was Hubby, all the way from up there. Chatted for a bit, and I found out that he is having the colds again..haih!

Me: Abang tak gi keje ker?
Hubby: Belum lagi..
Me: Eh? Apesal? Sekarang pukul berapa? (Glancing at the car's clock) Oo...baru pukul 5am yer?
Hubby: Haah..
Me: Abang tak rindu ayang ke?
Hubby: Rindu...Ni yang terjaga pagi-pagi dah call ayang ni sebab rindu ler....
Me: Hihi (oh! Berbunganya hatiku...kwangkwangkwang...)

Sabarlah hati...Lagi sebulan lagi insyaAllah kita jumpa ye sayang? hehe..

Warning: Jiwang alert again...Excuse me...hahah!

Mynn's Wedding

2009-02-20T21:38:00.009+08:00

Nisa, myself and Daniel attended Dr Mynn's wedding last Valentine's Day at Dewan Banquet, Wisma MBSA, Shah Alam. We reached there at around 2.45pm and saw no familiar faces. The lines at the buffet tables were also quite long, so we decided to take our seats first at a table far, far away from the dais (but near to the buffet table..hehe..) It was quite a huge crowd and the hall was quite packed.

Suddenly, we were bombarded by Dr Fatma's entourage...hehe... She and her Hubby (my Uni-mate last time) came with their four kids and a bibik. Merry, happy family! hehe...Ha! Barulah meriah table kami..

Many types of veges in a variety of cooking styles were served.. Doktor la pulak, kan? Kenalah hidangkan makanan berkhasiat..hihi.. And, as I was getting a second helping of the drink (I seemed so thirsty that day), Murni aka Dawam called me from the buffet table line. Haven't met her since our Matrics year (that was in 1996) and she looked more beautiful and feminine than ever...yeehaa! Must be the motherhood...hehe...

And, as we were about to finish our food, Dr Farah Hani and Huwaina came over to our table. Farah came with her daughter and bibik (Hubby on-call) and I wasn't quite sure whether Aina came with someone or she was alone. Had a quick catch up session with them and off they went. By the way, Farah has such a BIG baby girl! I was still astounded by her baby's size until the next day (in fact until today...hehe..). Her baby is heavier than Daniel! She is 14kg while Daniel is 13kg. But she is only 20 months old! Daniel is turning 3 years old next week! The secret, according to the Doc Mummy, is breastmilk and lots and lots of rice...hehe....

We went off at about 4pm, after a quick photo session with the bride and groom. The bride seemed a bit distraught or maybe too excited because one second she was ready to take photo with us, then suddenly the next second she walked off to meet other guests before our photo was even snapped! hehe...Takpe Mynn..Kitorang maafkan ko...kakaka..

Here are the two photos that we managed to snap with the VIP of the day...

This was taken by one of the official photographers that day using my kamera cabuk..By the way, the photographer tu agak comel juga...kakaka....

This was taken by the unofficial photographer of the day, moi...hihi...

Updated list of 2009 friends' babies

2009-02-19T23:14:00.004+08:00

1) Eda
2) Dyda
3) Elly
4) Ainnal
5) Zizie
6) Widie
7) Raz (sudah selamat dapat baby girl.. Ariessa yer? congrats Raz!)
8) Rina
9) Ziah (baby Ameena yang comel...congrats Jiah!)
10) Nina (Lavenderina)
11) As(mahani)
12) Zeti Shaik
13) Farah (Camelia)
14) Am
15) Lin Haida (Kaiesa Humayra Amani...congrats Lin!!)

Hmmm...Ramai pulak girl babies tahun 2009 ni... Bagus...Bagus... Senang nak pilih calon menantu nanti...hehe....