arale's world

Eya and her Iqra' class

2012-01-25T13:04:00.000+08:00

Eya is 6 years old this year, so we decided to send her for Iqra' class. We have been searching for the class since last year but most of the class offered is for adult.

Then, hubby learned that one of our neighbor is doing Iqra' class. Her house is located on the first block of houses in our row.

There are only 3 boys in her class so hubby asked if we can send Eya there. She said she can accept one more student. The class is 3 times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 8-9 p.m.

So, I took Eya for tudung shopping. Luckily, Shazzmin was on sale and I bought her a pink dual-tone tudung. As I never wear those kind of tudung, it was kind of pricey but luckily, due to the sale, I only paid RM 30 for Eya's tudung. Then, I have to look for her baju kurung. I only made 1 baju kurung for her each year, and she outgrown most of them. So, we managed to find only 2 baju kurungs.

I did ask her to wear her night kaftan but she refused, so 1 baju kurung for each week.

She managed to finish Iqra 1 in 3 days time. Currently, she is reading Iqra 2. She is quite fast as she also learn Iqra in her school.

Stress, perhaps???

2011-10-13T15:07:00.001+08:00

I was a little bit down for these past few days...had my normal migraine attack, and not feeling well...I went to a doctor to get my medicine and found out that my BP was on the high side, 140/90...something that never happen before.

I was very shocked to learn that my BP was high. The doctor gave me 3 different pills, and ask me to come again on Friday to have my BP check.

For me, I blame it on the stress. Its not that I don't love my job. Frankly, I really love my job. With the new admin job, plus with my normal responsibilities of being an academician, I really do think that I can manage it.

Maybe I expect a little bit more from myself. I'm a perfectionist, by the way.

I analyse everything to the little bit. I tend to over analyse everything. Maybe I have to take a few steps back, relax a little bit and enjoy life more.

However, I seriously hope that I won't have BP permanently. Maybe I should be more relax.

Eya's Fifth Birthday...

2011-09-30T15:22:00.003+08:00

Eya's birthday, as usual will fall on either Syawal or Ramadan, being a girl that was born exactly at 1st of Ramadan 5 years ago. This year, initially I was planning to celebrate it at Kepong.

As we still in Syawal, cu planned to gather all of us during his open house. He will do the cooking and later, all of the LL clan will have a sleepover at his home. So, I agreed and thought that Eya birthday should be celebrated there.

Eya, being 5 years old, know what she want for her birthday this year. Me, hubby and her opah will buy different things for her. She is not into expensive toys now, and her choices are much simpler.

She asked:

Me: Dora stuff, so I bought her a set of Dora plate, mug and tumbler
Hubby: Cars coloring stuff, so he bought her Crayola Cars and Princess coloring set
Opah: She asked for masak-masak stuffs, all kind of plastic foods

Her acu bought her bedsheet + Mickey pillowcases, Uncle Shamsir bought her a set of dolls + clothes and Cik Yong bought her smurfette.

As for the cake, I ordered a small cake with Powerpuff Girls - Blossom on it. The cake was gorgeous, and it cost RM75. I ordered from an online store that is based in Bangi, www.babycakes2u.com. Even the owner is a nice lady. Really loves the cake.

We also bought her a set of tiara and wand, as she told us that she wanted to be a princess this year. Even that two things is costly. Luckily, my friend lent her daughter's fairy wing to Eya. Another RM40 was saved.

Overall, her birthday was a nice one this year. A funny scene was when Zidane blew her candles everytime hubby light it up. She cried her heart out. We have to console her, and later she told us she cried because she didn't know how to blow the candles out.

Eya, a princess for her 5th birthday....

Lil Update: Puasa, Raya, GH, etc..

2011-09-30T10:28:00.001+08:00

Its been almost 2 3 months I wrote to this blog. The main reason is I am so busy. Not that I'm complaining, just that I don't have any spare time to write.

Nothing much has happened in this past few months.

The major one will be Syawal just ended. As for this year Ramadan, we didn't go for any Buka Puasa buffet and we only been to Param for a few times only. Reason for not going to param was all of the params in Bangi are boring. Too many lauk and a few kuihs. Our favourite stall will be the one in front of our housing area. We will get our daily dose of karipap from the kakak.

As for Raya, as usual, we will celebrate it at Kepong and Taiping. Few days before Raya were spent in my mom's house. The normal raya dishes will be rendang ayam, daging+limpa+paru and of course sambal goreng for my siblings. My favourite dish of all time will be rendang limpa. Not many person can eat limpa but this is totally my favourite.

Me and sis baked a few raya cookies and our chocolate chip is a must. I baked sandwich cake and kek masam manis, and this year everything were perfect. Really love the Kenwood mixer.

No special things happened during Raya. Hubby's sibling were all at Taiping except for Abang Duan and Kak Jah. And, as usual, we will travel back to Tanjung Tualang to visit tok chik, and the new LL clan tradition is going to Penang to have our dose of nasi kandar line clear. I didn't spent the night with my family but headed back to Taiping.

As for our GH, we have more neighbors now. Left and right are occupied by female students from MFI, and none of them are friendly. We also managed to attend a few open houses organized by our neighbors.

Wondering......

2011-06-03T10:11:00.001+08:00

A few weeks ago, my hubby's family lost one of their family members. It was Aiman, our nephew, son of hubby elder brother. He was 10 years old when he was diagnosed with a third-stage lymphoma cancer, and after the first chemotherapy cycle, he left us.

I didn't know how Kak Jah and Abang Duan could handle that their only son was not here anymore. They are so strong, and I know that I could never be like them.

After this incident, I do wonder sometimes if this happen to us, how do we cope with it. I told hubby yesterday, that if its happen (IF, notice the word, IF), for sure I will be temporarily insane. I could never be strong like my in-laws. I respect them too much for able to be strong.

I could never be okay if I lose my baby. Hubby will need to be super strong to support me. I know that people assume I am strong at heart when it comes to something sad. I come from a family who does not know how to cry. Although, there is 1 person in my family that is more on the sensitive side. The rest are stubborn at heart, and tears is not something that we tolerate. I can even count how many times I cried through out my life.

It was when my abah was sick at Tawakal Hospital, the time when the Dr. Halili told the family that my abah was dying, when I lost my second baby and a few times when I received good/bad news about my exam, which are UPSR and PMR.

Deep in my heart, I know that I will be mad if something bad happen to my baby. I did read a few blogs about mother who lost their babies and believe me, they are strong women. If I am in their shoes, I don't know how I will cope.

Seriously, I hate people who simply dump their babies or kill their babies. It is so hard for some couple, including us to get another baby. Sometimes, I think it is unfair as couple who do not want baby, easily get one while others like us, it is so hard to conceive one.

I can never imagine my life without having Eya and hubby at my side. I really need to learn to be stronger.

Al-Fatihah for our dear Aiman Ridzuan...

What hubby get for his mid-life crisis???

2011-04-20T10:57:00.000+08:00

Actually, hubby does not turn forty yet. He has a few more years before he reach that age.

What he did recently was something that I equate to a mid-life crisis, which people says will happen when some guy turns 40.

He kept telling me that he would like to have a bigger bike for his ride to work. All this while he been using a 16 years old kapcai to go to work, which I bought for him when he was in his workshop business. However, when he was working with his previous employer, he need to go outstation quite regularly. He cannot use the car since I need it for my ride to office, so he suggested to buy a bigger bike.

It was something that I didn't agreed in the first place since owning a bike is much more expensive than a car. I keep thinking and reluctantly agreed as I think he really need that bike.

He started searching for 2nd hand bike in Mudah.my and our weekend will be spent going to Kapar and Meru to look for bikes. After a few weeks, he managed to find it at USJ but when we went there, the bike was already sold. Someone beat us to it. Then, we went to look at Nilai but it was too pricey.

After thinking hard, I thought of going to Lunas, Kedah to look at a bike advertised in Mudah. So, we decided it will be a short, long distance trip to Penang just to view a bike. It turned out the bike was still good and well maintained. So, I agreed for hubby to buy it. The main reason why I agreed was the bike came together with side boxes that cost RM 5000 and it was red.

So, after 2 weeks, we went to Penang again to take the bike and settled the payment with the owner. It was shocking to see how a guy bond so much with a bike. The owner took photos of hubby and the bike. It showed how much he loved that bike.

We sent the bike to KL using KTM as I didn't think hubby can ride it all the way to KL.

As for the accessories, including jacket, helmet and gloves was already bought by hubby and I tell you they are damn expensive. Hubby even bought a helmet as a present for me.

So, this is the present for hubby this year for his birthday. He didn't want anything from me as for him, letting him to buy a bike is more than enough for him.

Hubby's new love...

Happy Birthday, Abang...

2011-04-19T16:54:00.004+08:00

My birthday boy....

I didn't know why this year I wanted to plan something different for hubby's birthday. Not that special, just to have something different. I wanted to plan a weekend getaway for us but since hubby just started working, he could not have a day off. Now, he even work on Saturday, which makes it harder to plan anything.

My plan was to go to somewhere with his new bike, but doing that means Eya will be left behind. So, need to think of something that can include the three of us. The only plan I got was to have a high-tea, dinner or lunch somewhere special.

After doing some googling, I found out that Ritz-Carlton have a nice, lavish afternoon tea but I don't think he will loves it. They also have Sunday Roast Lunch but I afraid that the choice is limited, so to save time, we went to somewhere nearer.

We decided to have a buffet lunch at Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside. The spread was not that many but I thought it was ok, considering the price. We tried all the food since it were not that many. They have Malay dishes with white rice, Mexican cuisine, thin-crust pizza, all kind of appetizers and also desserts.

Eya loved it since she got to eat all the cakes, pudding and ice-cream. She even tried cotton candy but refused to eat it since it was quite weird for her.

Eya so happy after eating a lot of cakes...

Hubby being adventurous that day tried eating fresh oysters but I kept reminding him of Mr Bean, who ate the spoiled oyster. The oysters were very tasty, according to him.

We spent a few hours, eating and talking, just spending quality time together.

The loves of my life...

We did this on a day before hubby's birthday. Exactly at 12 a.m., I sang Happy Birthday to him and handed him the card. Eya sang right after me.

To hubby, Happy Birthday.....Eya and me loves you very much....

Am I doing the right thing??

2011-04-15T10:01:00.001+08:00

Being an academician was something that I chose because of my love to hubby and now for Eya. The first few years was a total blur to me as I still didn't get the hang of it or what to do. Back then, I didn't even know how to write a paper. Now, at least I have improved but still it was just an average quality of paper.

Being a academician means you have to keep improving yourself in terms of paper qualification. When I decided to do my Master back in 2004, my main objective was just to go to UK, and it didn't worked well for me. Although, I managed to get my Master and got a conversion from MARA.

A few years have passed, and most of my colleagues had went to get their PhD, locally or internationally. I was among the few who are so reluctant to continue my study along with 2 of my close friends. Last year, suddenly 1 of them decided to do her PhD locally and that left only the 2 of us.

I don't feel really the urgency in doing it as I really want to have the passion and be prepared for it. Many people said doing a PhD is like another journey of your life. It can be smooth sailing for someone or maybe a journey someone wish that he/she would never take in the first place.

I got my calling from one of my ex-student who was going to further her studies. She kept persuading me to continue my studies just like her. I didn't think anything of it until one day, I googled for oversea scholarship.I did this for almost 2 weeks when suddenly I saw an ad in Berita Harian.

The next day at work, I went to the website and registered for it. Then, the journey of finding a university began. Looking for a university was easy, the hard part was looking for a supervisor who want to supervise you. I had made 3 applications and hopefully 1 of it will go through.

Even making a research proposal was tough. I had to discuss with my boss about this and luckily she gave me 2 topics feasible for PhD. I chose the one which had a clear outcome, although the area was not my cup of tea.

I don't put my hopes up, but if I get it, it will be my motivation in getting my PhD. If not, maybe its not my time yet. So, whatever the result is, it will be a sign for me.

Supper at Little White Cafe...

2011-03-11T13:28:00.002+08:00

Sometimes, after dinner, I had the urge to eat something sweet. The easiest dessert will be a short trip to McD drive-through or according to Eya, the 'tingkap'. For the past few weeks, we will have that short trip almost to 2-3 times a week. Nothing fancy, just a sundae cone ice cream for the 3 of us.

Eya was given the green light a few weeks ago to eat ice-cream since my mom said the creamy kind of ice cream is ok. According to our own paed, if a child has a fever, give them ice cream. Not the iced one but the creamy kind.

So feeling a little bored with the same ice cream, we chose to recce Little White Cafe, just opened beside Amani Hotel. What attract us to the shop was its lovely decor.

We looked at the food they displayed outside, and at first glance, the price was quite expensive. So, we thought maybe the rest of the menu are ok, so we decided to give it a try.

When we browsed through the menu, everything were expensive. The menu was quite simple but the beverage choices was limited. All three of us except Eya ordered a slice of cake. I ordered the Red Velvet cake, which was priced at RM 13.90. I assumed the cake will be super marvelous due to its price but I was so wrong. The cake was just ok, not that fluffy or moist. A little hard, I might say.


The Red Velvet

The Choc Fudge...

Taste Rest has better version, according to hubby...

Abang ordered carrot cake, but he said the one at Taste Restaurant tasted better. Eya had cupcake which was quite hard, and priced at RM 4.80. Only abang ordered drinks, which supposed to be freshly squeezed orange juice, but when it was delivered to our table, the drinks came in shotglass size. Guess how much was it? The price is RM 5.00.

The so-expensive drink...

The owner came to our table to ask why we didn't ordered more drinks, but thinking of ordering any more will cause more holes in our wallet, we decided not too. Me and adik stopped at 7-E at Shell just to buy our drinks.

Overall, I would say that the place is nice and suitable if you are on a date. If you have a family, I think it would be better if we dine somewhere else. The menu is great if you can offer it in lower price.

For me, I wouldn't dare to go there again as the price is too much for me. I'm willing to buy Secret Recipe as I can buy 2 slices with the price of their cake.

p/s: This is my opinion and if anyone feel offended or do not agree with it, I'm sorry.

I think I'm paranoid...

2011-02-14T11:42:00.000+08:00

I knew everything about hubby's history...every little part of it...I also knew his ex and she was a friend...not a close friend, but we can say hi everytime we met until a day when suddenly she stopped acknowledging me. Its not that I care but I just feel weird, why was the sudden change?

So, I happily married with hubby up until when a few years ago, hubby called and informed me that she is now one of my SIL staff. Yes, its mean that she have access to hubby's family. She may know whatever is happening with the family. I didn't know why I cried when I heard the news. Maybe something deep inside of me was not that secure.

She was quite close to both of my SIL, as she was quite a charmer when she dated hubby. I'm more on the reserved type, and being almost 20 years younger, I'm not that close to my SIL. I don't know if they know that I'm uncomfortable knowing that she is close to them. I do hope they understand what a women would feel if the ex is still in close relationship with a guy's family.

I tossed away that insecure feeling from my mind after hubby keep consoling me that he no longer have feeling for her. Both of them, hubby and her, have their own family now. So, feeling okay with that, I keep reassuring myself that nothing will happen. SIL will be professional and will not ever mix business with personal stuff.

Then, last night, before sleep, hubby revealed to me that the woman's father gave MIL a taxi ride from SIL house in Subang to Nilai. I was so shocked and all the past feeling and emotions came rushing back. Maybe it just a sincere help of offering a taxi ride or simply a business. Still, I'm not sure of the woman intention. Out of all the taxi in KL or even Selangor, why the help come from someone that I'm not comfortable. People may say it none of my business since it was a deal between my SIL and the driver, but still why him?

To make things worse, she even send her daughter to one of the school I'm thinking of sending Eya. Why fate is so cruel? It been almost 10 years and I still cannot escape from her. My SIL think it is good since I can send Eya to school together with her daughter. She even can get a ride from her father as it seem that he fetch her daughter everyday from school.

Hubby really do not understand my feelings. He said there is nothing to be worried. It just purely coincidental and she means no harm. She just offering her help, with regards to the ride. I'm feeling so insecure knowing that everything can happen nowadays. Something, men are being so naive. Deep in my heart, I really feel she is up to something. I don't know what but it hurts me to think that she is in the same circle where my family is.

Is it just me being stupid and emotional or is it just fate playing cruel tricks on me???

Our Own Micasa....

2011-01-18T15:19:00.002+08:00

I collected the keys to my new house on 10th November 2010. I was the second buyer to collect the keys as I didn't have major issues of the charges, compared to other buyers.

Our initial plan was to move in after 2 weeks, as we would like to move in in December.We thought it will be hard for us if not to move as we have to pay the installment and the rent for our rented home in Sepakat Indah. Yes, the first installment will be starting in December.

We went straight to the house after we got the keys. Just to check for visual defects and have a brief walk-through of the house. We did have some defects, which has been written onto the list of defect documents. Some of it were:

Rusty doorknobs
Windows that cannot be closed
No water supply

It just weird of not having the CF for new properties. We found out that after 2007, the developer use CCC in delivering the vacant possession. It do have its own pro and cons.

The cons in our case was not having the water supply. This however do not deter us from moving into the new home, a week before December. We had Hafiz doing the kitchen cabinet, Abo and Shamsir for the lighting, wiring, curtain railing, etc and the rest was just the two of us, me and hubby.

Hafiz managed to finished the kitchen cabinet in just within 2 weeks. We chose red for our KC, which a lot of the neighbors are also using. (Hafiz used our house for his show room). Abo and Shamsir installed all the lightings, wiring, railing and also did the painting. Nothing fancy about the color. It is blue for my room, pink for Eya and purple for the living room.

A lot of money was spent for the move in. The grille, we managed to find a cheaper prices. We found it by accident, on our trip to Jusco Cheras Selatan. It was RM 1K less than the first quotation. Then, we went to Kamdar KL for the curtains, for the whole house.

All in all, we had spent almost RM 20K in moving to the new houses, and there was no renovation works involved. Our main objective was just to move in and have all the basic necessities. All renovation can be done in the future, as long we have the budgets.

And, to think that only the three of us will live there, the existing layout is big enough for us.Our future plan is just to install wood flooring and to have electronic gate.

As for the water supply, until now, we still don't get our own meter. Luckily, the developer provides us with free water. However, I'm still not happy until I get my own water meter from Syabas.

See...Eya was so happy to get her own water meter...

Updates on 20/1/11: The meter has been installed. We waited for almost 2 1/2 months for it. I'm so thrilled to have it. Yeay....

The awaited water meter....

I've cleared it....

2011-01-18T14:43:00.005+08:00

Last weekend, I received a registered letter. At first, I thought it was documents from my house lawyer or banks as I've been receiving a lot of registered letter from them.

I was shocked when I opened it and discovered that I got a summon. I've been driving for 12 years, and this is my first ever summon. I read the details of it and found out that I got it when speeding through Penchala Link. I just find out that the speed after the tunnel was only 80 km/j, and frankly I didn't realize it, although I've been using it quite regularly. I was speeding 93 km/j and it was not much compared to the allowed limit but nevertheless, I still had exceeded the allowed limit.

I was quite sleepless the day I got the summon but hubby told me to relax, and I can pay when the police give discounts. I've been gathering ideas on how not to pay the RM300 as stated in the letter.

Hubby told me that I could write an appeal letter and enclosed a money-order of lesser amount. If the police accept it, its good but if they want me to pay more, they would reply the letter and return the money order. So, I'm thinking of doing that later today when suddenly I had the urge to explore MyEG to check for my summon.

So, I registered at MyEG.com and check for my summon. It was listed but there was a column saying 'Incentive Amount'. It seemed that violation, if to be paid within certain period, will be given a 50% discount. So, I proceed to payment page and paid for the summon for RM 150.00 plus RM 2.00 for the service charge.

After I finished with the payment, I checked again and my summon was clear. I even printed the receipt as I afraid that Malaysian system is not that reliable. So, if the police ask for any payment evidence, I had the receipt.

So, now, I'm free from any summon. I will definitely be more careful when I use the Penchala Link next time.

p/s: I also checked my Kejara Point, and I am free from any offences. Yeay!!!

Sport Days @ Ana Montesorri

2010-11-09T00:08:00.000+08:00

The sport's day was organized on 31st October, which was a few weeks ago. We were quite excited as it was Eya's first sport's day.

The event started around 8.30 a.m. at the Sports Complex in Section 15. We registered her and got 2 goodies bag, containing sandwich and several snacks. Me and hubby also signed our name for the tarik tali event.

The 3 and 4 years old were combined into 1 group. She was in the same group as her best friend, Aqilah so she was quite comfortable being in the group. The games she joined that day were:

Eya waiting for the event to start

The children queuing up...

Eya with her group

Eya running during the bean basket

Aqilah, Eya and Aril...

Me and Eya before the passing baton event

She participated in 4 events, and almost all the games involve running. She being the biggest in her group, looked so cute when ran. She was lucky to have Aril in the group as he was quite an athlete. She lost in the tug-a-war event as the other group parents' helped their kids. It seemed unfair as the games was meant for the kids but for us, we were happy Eya enjoyed all the games.

The event finished around noon and all the kids got several present.

The moment will arrive...

2010-11-07T13:15:00.001+08:00

After waiting for 2 years, micasa is almost ready to be lived in, not without any issues.

We have to pay the late payment charges before collecting the keys. After a few push from the residents, the developer, Esatek Sdn Bhd willing to give 2 waiver, which resulted in us only paying RM300. Plus with the water and electricity deposit, we ended up paying almost RM1400. Luckily, that amount was deducted from the late delivery charges. So, one problem solved as we no need to fork out any money when collecting the keys.

That was not happening to some of the other buyers. Some of them have to pay up till RM10K before collecting the keys. Most of these cases were buyers who took government loan. They are still fighting the cases.

For us, we decided just to pay the extra RM300. The hassle of going to developer, PKNS and lawyers are not worth it. And the best thing was all of our lawyers, just disappeared mysteriously. Our lawyer moved to Shah Alam from Wisma Central without informing us. Maybe just to escape the buyers' wrath.

There are a lot of cost in moving to new home. They includes:

grilles
kitchen cabinet
curtains for the whole house
furniture
fans, lamps, etc. plus installation charges

Luckily, I'm a simple person. So, everything is simple for me, no expensive item or any lavish spending. As long, I have the basic items needed for a house, it is enough for me.

So, our planning is to move in somewhere during the hari raya haji holiday. Hopefully, everything goes smoothly for us.

4 is just a number....

2010-09-26T19:52:00.000+08:00

Eya celebrated her 4th birthday last Friday, 24th September in 2 occasions, the first was at her school's Jamuan Hari Raya and the other one was celebrated at her tok ayah's house later in the night.

As last year, I had to pack 50 goodies bag to be given to her friends at the nursery. For this year, her acu did the tag for the goodies bag. The tags were very nice, and we got the tags printed and cut out at a printing shop. She was quite mama's little helper that night as she helped me to pack all the goodies bag.

Her 4th y/old goodies bag

For the cake, we booked a simple chocolate buttercream cake. So, on the morning of her birthday, I sent all the goodies bag and cake to her school. Ticer Farah told me that she will celebrate her birthday during the jamuan.

Once we arrived at her school that afternoon, she was eating with all her friends and asking when she will blow the candles. The teacher prepared all the cakes and gathered all of her friends. This year, she was good as she didn't cry when people sang her the birthday song. Being 4 this year, she can blew all the candles on her own.

As for the celebration at her tok ayah's house, her cik yong bought her a delicious Dora's cake. She was ecstatic when she saw the cake.

For this year, opah gave her a nice pink bicycle for her 4th birthday and Zidane got a green tractor.

Eya with Aqilah, one of her good friend

Eya surrounded by her friends

Eya cutting her birthday cake

Happy 4th Birthday, EYA....

Harness for kids...

2010-09-20T10:27:00.001+08:00

I spent my Saturday afternoon playing 'Little Big Planet' on PS3 while hubby web surfing beside me.

During the surfing, he read an article from Kosmo, about usage of harness in young children. In the article, most experts asked rejects the use of harness in children as they damper their growth.

I started using harness on Eya since she started walking, which is almost 3 years ago. I knew about harness while I was staying in the UK. Most parents there will strap their young children with harness when they go out in public. At first, it was quite a shock to me but I thought the idea was great as you can easily know your children whereabouts compared to releasing them, and when they are not in your sight, you call out for them.

So, when Eya started walking, I searched high and low for the harness. It was not available in any children store, so I had to search for it quite some time before I managed to find it. It was from Taiwan and it cost around RM30-40, I really forgot the price of it.

As Eya was quite young at that time, it was not that hard to strap her with the harness. I still remember using it on her during our trip to Ipoh Parade. Almost everyone keep saying bad words to us, and looked to us like we are harming our little girl. Even a young kid (I still remember until today what she said) said to me, 'Macam bawak anjing' (like taking a dog). Not just her, a few aunts and people around my age stop and giving rude comments to us. For me, I didn't give a damn on what people think as long as I know my baby was safe with me.

Just imagine if I let her loose, without any strap. She will wander aimlessly on her own and if I couldn't keep up with her, she will be lost, just like that kid that got lost in Sogo. With that strap on her, I had a feeling of relief that she is with me all the time. Eya loves to hide behind clothes rack and wander into shops, so sometimes its hard for us to find her. So, using the harness, we knew she is just beside us.

Using the harness, you could not simply pull her anyway that you like. She may fall down, so the harness is just a tool that keep your child with you.

When she almost 3 years old, I bought another type of harness, more suitable for her age, which was a wrist harness. Instead of strapping the harness at her back, the wrist harness, was strapped at her wrist. It still has the same concept, but it was less restraining to her.

Until now, I don't think people still accept the usage of harness as they equate it to restraining an animal. As for me and hubby, we like to know that our daughter is with us safely, so we don't really care what the public thinks when we put the harness on her.

Now, just a few days before Eya turns 4, we had stop using the harness. Now, for every visit to the mall, we will put her in shopping trolley (if available) and sometimes, hold her hand. But without the harness, we still worry about losing her in the crowd of people.

Updating my micasa status

2010-08-20T11:58:00.000+08:00

My new house is supposed to be ready in these few next months. In the signed S&P, it should be ready by end of this month. My house is already ready, just waiting for the completion of 2 other models.

As for now, hubby has taken measurement for all the windows and doors for the quotation for grill and curtains.We had done some window shopping for the furnitures. In fact, we had done a little bit of shopping at Ikea during the sale. Mostly for Eya's room. All the lights also had been bought, along with the curtain railing.

Not that many things to buy, just:

Bed for Eya's room
Our wardrobe
Sofa and dining table

So, here are some pictures of our new home:

View from the front


Kitchen area


Dining and living area

View from Master bedroom

Balcony area

Still in progress

As for now, the road has been done, together with the landscaping. We estimate that the house will be ready by November or December. Really couldn't wait.....

Making my first-ever kuih

2010-08-20T11:46:00.000+08:00

I never spend much at pasar ramadhan. I will only buy 1 or 2 type of kuihs for my 'break-fast'.

My favourite kuih will only be the kuih displayed below:

Karipap Kuih lapis

Buah melaka Cara manis

This year pasar ramadhan was very costly. 3 buah melaka will cost you RM 1, compared to last year of 7 pieces. But, I have no options of not buying it, so I close my eyes every time I paid for the buah melaka.

Then, one day, Lida's FB status read as 'Buat onde-onde for berbuka'. Not her exact status, but something like that. So, I commented on her status that next time, if she is doing buah melaka, she should save some for me.

Ended up, she leave a message in my FB inbox with details on her recipe. It seem easy to make it but I'm not interested in making my own kuih.

So, I asked mom on the level of easiness in making the kuih. Mom said it is an easy kuih to do.

We went to Tesco to buy the tepung pulut and gula melaka to do it. For the green factor, I used pandan leaves for it. The total cost of the shopping is only around RM5.

First thing that I did was to blend the pandan leaves with water. The, sieve it to get only the green liquid. Pour it into the 'tepung pulut'. Then, using your hand, blend the pandan water and tepung until you get the right consistency.

After, some times, make the mixture into balls, place gula melaka in it. Unlike the pasar ramadan sellers, I put big chunk of gula melaka in it.

Then, hubby being helpful, helped me in boiling the balls and kaklong helped me to mix it with grated coconut.

Walla! this is the result of my first experience making 'buah melaka'. The green color is not that nice as I didn't use any artificial color. The reason why the kuih looks so tempting in param, green artificial color.

My creation of buah melaka

With cost of doing it for only RM5, I can get only 15. I'm doing it myself, I got almost 100 of buah melaka.

Aleya's third admission...

2010-04-29T16:03:00.001+08:00

Last month, Eya was admitted to hospital due to rotavirus. Just 2 weeks ago, she was admitted again due to high fever.

On that particular Thursday, she told me she had a fever. I thought she was lying and just making excuses not to go to school. So, I asked hubby to check her temp using the digital thermometer and it turned out that she was not lying. Her temperature was 39.5.

I asked hubby to take care of her while I went to work. Exactly at 5.15 p.m., I clocked out and rushed home. She was asleep at that time, so I packed all her belongings and mine.Hubby told me that her temperature was still high, although she ate the medicine form a clinic that morning. We were worried if Eya's fever reach 38 or more as it may cause fit or a very high fever. So, thats why we resort in going to Assunta.

We rushed to Assunta, taking all the shortcuts. The doctor took nasal swab, to check for H1N1 and also a blood test.

As her temperature was very high, 40, I agreed when the doctor suggested she should be admitted. This time, the admission process went smoothly.

So, after 2 blood test and 2 urine test, she was diagnosed of having UTI (Urinary Tract Infection). I wondered how a small kid could get UTI, so I googled it. I found out kids that like to hold their pee, is likely to get UTI.

She was released after 3 days in the hospital but for a few days, she was very restless. I left her with my mom but I didn't know why, she refused to stay with her opah. She refused to eat and only drank water and milk for the 2 days she was with my mom. Me and hubby decided to take her back and hubby need to leave her with mom for the 2 days while we are at work.

So, the followup after she was discharged was done yesterday. She need to take an ultrasound test to check her kidney and another urine test. As for the kidney, everything looks normal but her urine was still dirty.

Eya waiting for the radiologist to start the ultrasound test.

Dr Mary decided to do a culture test for the urine to check for any growth. She supposed to call me today but until now, still no call. I assumed everything is fine then.

Research Assistant opportunity

2010-04-09T11:08:00.000+08:00

I am looking for a full-time research assistant. The project title is "Campus IT Governance: A Good Practice Framework to Govern IT Processes and Resources in a University Campus Setting". The duration of the project is for 12 months and the RA will pursue their Master degree while doing the project.

No one is going to pretend that RA pay is lucrative but I promise that the successful applicant will be “paid with opportunity.” If you fit the bill or know someone who might, please send this along to them. For more information, just leave a comment with your email.

Lappie was sick, but now it 's back...

2010-03-30T02:03:00.000+08:00

I was not being able to update my blog as usual before this due to my sick lappie.

It could not start properly and the screen was fuzzy, with a vertical black line in the middle. When I tried to google it, most of the surfers said it maybe due to faulty screen.

So, I asked Hamdi to repair it, and he sent it to his friend in lowyat. The friend tried to replace the screen with all screen that he got, which was almost 10 types of screen and none successful. He tested it for a few weeks.

That didn't work, so the last resort was to call Dell. I didn't call Dell initially as my lappie warranty had finished and I read on the net that their parts is very expensive.

So, hubby called Dell and explained the problem. Remember that before calling Dell, you need to be prepared with your Service Tag and Express Service Code, and also to try troubleshoot your lappie online.

Luckily, we called Dell as it turned out that lappie has a year extended warranty for its motherboard.

2 days after the call, Dell rep came to my office and changed the faulty motherboard. The guy told me that if the motherboard is damaged, its better to buy a new lappie. BTW, the guy is new to the job and took almost 2 hours to open lappie.

I was so relieved and happy that lappie is healthy again and hope that it can serve us for a couple more years.

Getaway for the 3 of us...

2010-03-30T01:42:00.001+08:00

These last few weeks had been quite hectic for me. I decided to have a weekend getaway for us.

Me and hubby searched for the best place for a getaway. Among our ideas were:

Genting - cheap but can be quite boring if you don't want to play at theme park, plus we cannot take our car
Boulevard - which is our fave hotel but hubby said it was boring, as we don't want to do any shopping
Bukit Bintang - too hectic
somewhere near river - no river provide any proper accommodation

So, at the end, we decided to go to Port Dickson. I wanted a modern hotel but not that expensive. At first, I wanted to try Avillion or Legend Water Chalet but the attraction is just the chalet on water, nothing else plus it will be quite dangerous for Eya. So, after a few surfing session, I chose Avillion Admiral Cove.

My first impression was the hotel has good location. The hotel environment was nice and the room is great. We booked the deluxe room for it king-size bed, while the pangkin daybed is actually a single bed. So, the room can fit 3 person nicely.The only downside was the room was not carpeted and we have to walk quite a distance, took the stairs if we want to go to restaurant or the swimming pool.

Talking about the swimming pool, me and hubby discovered something new of Eya. A hotel patron lent Eya his baby's life jacket. We noticed that Eya was very confident in the water using the jacket.

She could walk on her own in the pool, dive into the water and float on her own using the jacket. It was something that she could not do before.She showed hubby some beginner techniques in swimming. We were quite puzzled as she didn't start her swimming class yet due to her hospital episode this month.

We asked her if she did learn it from school and she said yes. So, we thought that maybe she followed her friends to the swimming class but just practiced it on land. We were happy and surprised that our baby now is confident in the water.

We could not wait for her to start her swimming lessons next week.

As for hubby, he tried the Segway, which is a cool ride. We got it free as it came with the hotel package. THe ride cost RM35 for 10 minutes. The Segway costs about RM32K, which was made available in Malaysia by some Datuk. It can only be found in Avillion and Langkawi.

Both hubby and the trainer name are Rizal, and both from Taiping

As for the short vacation, overall everything was great. Looking forward for another one soon.

Attack of Rotavirus

2010-03-01T09:48:00.003+08:00

During a few weekends ago, Eya was having diarrhea, together with vomiting and mild fever. We brought her to clinic to get some medicines. Having taken the meds and still not getting better, we were really worried. She could not eat at all as she would vomit right back. Although she was really hungry, she was scared to eat as she knew she will throw up anyway.

So, on Monday, we decided that hubby would take care of her while I went to my class that morning. I told hubby that if she was still not feeling well, we would take her to Assunta. The only thing we were afraid was she will be dehydrated and starving because she didn't eat at all.

So, we went to the Emergency ward and the doctor told us that she need to be admitted. Actually, we were hoping that she would be admitted as we thought she need to get drips.

We went to the Admission counter and waited for almost an hour to get the GL. The officer was new as she told me that I need to pay some deposit before Eya could be admitted. She didn't even know that UNITEN is under TNB, just because the PMCare logo did not have a TNB logo. What a crap!!

I told her that she had been admitted before and no deposit was needed. She still insist on the deposit, so to move faster, I decided just to pay.

I opted for a single bed but the children ward is quite limited and small, so the only thing available was 2-bedded. I got the same room that Eya was admitted 2 years ago.

Eya's nightmare began when the doctor wanted to put her on drip. She screamed like hell and kept pulling the drip tube. She told me that it hurts so much. Hubby told me that the doctor only managed to put the drip after the 3rd attempt. No wonder she cried so much. Later, I asked the nurse to checked on it and her hand was swollen.

The guy doctor was better on putting the drip as it took only 1 attempt. Not every doctor or nurse has the skill to give a proper injection. As for me, I prefer the veteran as they have more experience and it does not hurt that much.

The doctor needed a stool sample and it cannot be mixed with her urine. I failed to do this and asked hubby to do it for me. He managed to do it on the first attempt.

After they tested the stool, it was confirmed that Eya got Rotavirus. I didn't gave her the vaccinations when she was a baby. Luckily, we brought her early to hospital as the nurses said that some parents only brought their children when they are really weak, and it takes a long time to get well.

Dr Mary told us that Eya was quite a strong girl. She no longer vomit but she refused to drink. So, she had to be on drip for a long time.

Zidane was Eya roomate a day after Eya was admitted as the disease was contagious. So, by that time, Eya had Zidane and me had kaklong for a roomate.

The cause of Eya's rotavirus was unknown as it can easily spread, through contact, surface, anything at all.

So, Eya was in the hospital for 4 days and 3 nights. The longest period of me staying in a hospital. I was getting crankier on the second day as Eya would not drink at all and need to stay for another day. I was mad at her for not drinking as her lips was so dried and bleeding. Due to this, Dr Mary needed her to stay for 1 more night.

Eya was advised not to go to public area for at least 10 days as the virus can spread easily to other kids. So, mom stay with Eya during the week to take care of her as we could not send her to nursery. Poor her as she also could not start her swimming class as she need to avoid going to public area.

Maid from Hell....and you can go to hell,Ana...

2010-02-17T21:33:00.000+08:00

People may asked why I have maid to take care of my only daughter. Actually, I never really need a maid to take care of Eya but last year, when I found out I was pregnant with my 2nd child, I need to hire a maid as my mom would not be able to take care of me and her 2 grandchildren during my confinement period.

So, hubby asked yong to find a maid for us from Medan. We had to pay RM4000 to get the maid. We thought this maid will be okay since she was referred by yong's maid which is so good. She has been working with yong for 5-6 years.

So, we settled everything on our own including the immigration process and FOMEMA. She is a widow with 1 daughter and live in rural area of Medan. She started working with us since May 2009. Before she came to my house, I left her with mom almost 2 weeks as I wanted her to be trained by mom.

She don't have a lot of tasks to be done as I live in an apartment. Her main tasks is to cook dinner, clean the house, take care of laundry and babysit Eya if she is at home. Eya sometimes goes to her nursery, and only stay home 1 or 2 days in a week. So, I think that's not too much compared to other maid.

She was quite okay until she made friend with another maid near my mom's house. She started to talk for a long time on the phone at night, after she finished with her tasks. As I didn't want to invade her privacy, I don't really mind as long she doing her tasks.

Then, one day, exactly last 2 weeks, mom called to inform me that she was running away. She was only waiting for her salary to be sent back to Medan, then only she will run. I was terrified that I asked adik to fetch Eya from home.

Later, all of us confronted her to ask about her intention. She kept quiet but looked so surprised that her friend betrayed her by informing us. So, we decided to sent her back without her knowledge. Later, we thought that if we did sent her back, her daughter will have no money to study so we decided to give her another chance.

So, after we advised her, we went for a late dinner with mom who just arrived from Kepong. When Eya checked on her, Eya told us that her kakak was missing. We realised that she had run.

Luckily, she did not take anything valuable. We made a report in Kajang and went to immigration to cancel her passport and permit.

Maybe its true that we are not supposed to be nice to them. If I going to have another maid, I will treat the maid like a semi-slave. No point in doing good to others especially to maid if they don't know how to appreciate it.

LL Family Trip to Penang + Adib + Broc

2010-02-17T20:48:00.000+08:00

Me and Kaklong had planned for this road trip a few months ago. The exact plan was to visit relative in Mata Ayer,Perlis. The plan was made as we did not attend a cousin's funeral last December. This cousin was one of our favorite cousin who had worked and lived in Langkawi. Every time one of us visit Langkawi, he will be our tour guide and treat us to a lavish dinner at the hotel he worked. So, to make up for that, we decided to visit his parent.

Our trip began on Wednesday night, and arrived in Mata Ayer around 6 a.m. After we had lunch at their house, we traveled down to Penang. We stopped at Pekan Rabu, Kedah as we never been there. we bought kerepek, asam jawa, all the normal stuff people buy there.

We managed to get to Penang around 6 p.m. and checked in into one of the apartment in Batu Ferringhi. As the Indians were celebrating Thaipusam, almost all hotel were fully-packed. After we freshen up, we went to our ultimate goal in this trip, to eat nasi kandar line clear.

It was 2nd time for my along + kaklong and first time for adib and broc. At first, adib told us that the nasi kandar was ordinary and nothing special but after a few hours, the taste kick in and he admitted that line clear was the best nasi kandar he ever had.

So, in total we ate at line clear for 3 times before we went back to KL. We also tried nasi kandar beratur which was so famous for its long queue. The only difference with line clear is their rice is fluffy and delicious, but line clear still won my heart for its curry and fried chicken. So, nothing can beat my love for line clear.

And if for those who are new to nasi kandar line clear, make sure your rice is being served by an old guy wearing sarung as he is the best.

As along is regular HRC visitor, he managed to get us in for free to see the live band. Only wearing slippers and did not have to pay cover charge, it was a great way to watch live band performs.

My family also went to try kuetieaw goreng doli in Taiping, hubby's hometown as we stopped by at MIL's house. The place was so packed that we have to wait a while before we got the table.

Overall, it was a good trip but for me any trip with LL clan is the best for me.

What do I expect in 2010?

2010-01-04T23:00:00.001+08:00

Its the 4th day of 2010. I think everybody has posted their resolutions or announce it to the world about theirs. As for me, I try not to make any not-achievable new year resolution as I know that I will be frustrated if I cannot accomplish it. This will be just my checklist to be done for the whole year of 2010.

So, what I expect to do or have for this year will be something common.

My home will be ready by May. So eager to get the key. Now, need to save more money to pay for the grille, cabinet, lighting, new furniture, etc.
A brother/sister for Eya. Really hoping this will come true.
To settle all my credit card debts. Will cut one of the card by next month. Try to use cash as much as possible. (Yeah, right! I still like to pay for petrol using CC)
Hubby business booming and more prosperous, which result in more shopping for me.
Looking forward for all of our birthdays and anniversaries.

This year we may have less vacation as we will start paying for the house. So, all vacation for this year will only happen in Bangi.

Puzzle n more of it....

2010-01-03T23:30:00.001+08:00

Our neighbor gave Eya a small puzzle, a 9-pieces for her to play with. It turned out that she really loves doing it.

She is very good with it. It only takes her a few hours to learn the puzzle and later she will know how to place all the pieces at the right place. Maybe she memorize the piece placement or she remember the whole puzzle. It still puzzled us on how quick she learn to do a new puzzle.

Everytime she finishes doing one and bored with it, we need to buy her a new one. We only buy her the cheap one, which is around RM 4-7. She only plays puzzle with the cardboard at the back of it.

Her strategy is she will turn the puzzle down. Then, she will put the puzzle piece one by one. With this way, she can remember the placement. Once the puzzle is finish, she will try it the second time by doing the side pieces first. Thats why she need the cardboard puzzle as it has the side to guide her. The third time, she already know all the pieces by heart.

Sometimes when we stuck doing her puzzle, she will say, "Mama, that puzzle is here". She know the exact placement.

So, up until today she has about 7 puzzles. Oops, no! We just buy her a new one at IOI Mall today, so the official count will be 9 puzzles.

7th Anniversary

2009-12-15T14:13:00.000+08:00

Yes, we have been married for 7 years. Time flies so fast.

So, this year, we decided to celebrate it at our favourite destination, Penang at Hard Rock Hotel, which is also our obsession. We booked the hotel quite early as the earlier you book, the cheaper you get. As our anniversary is almost end of year, most hotels will have peak rates. So, to cut cost, we decided to celebrate it a week earlier.

I booked the opening rate promotion, and it is still cheaper than the promotion rate. We also got a framed CD as complimentary gift, saying that we are the 3271 visitor to Hard Rock Hotel Penang. The frame was quite big, which why I love it so much. We're going to hang it beside our shot glass collection of HRC.

The hotel is located at the end of Batu Ferringhi, after Rasa Sayang. The moment we laid eyes on the hotel, we fell in love with it. It looks marvellous and amazing.

I never expect the hotel to be crammed up with people. The lobby is next to the swimming pool, so everybody hang out at the lobby. Once you checked in, you will be given 2 complimentary drinks, which I never experienced before.

I also notice that their staff wears shirt, bermuda or even crocs. I hate them for having such a cosy, relaxing working environment.

The hotel look brand new and you can feel the HRC aura anywhere in the hotel. We got a room facing the sea, which is a gift for us since we booked the one without the seaview. We were given a seaview deluxe, which was supposed to be more expensive. An unexoected gift for our anniversary, I presume.

The hotel furnishing is simple. I expected the bedspread to have the HRC logo but it was plain white. The room is equipped with iPod docking station, DVD player and a LCD tv. We even can enjoy the live band from Hard Rock Cafe directly from our room. Everything about the room was nice for me. I love the bathroom so much, which features an opened or closed bathroom wall.

The swimming pool is like a waterpark. You have slides, water gun, etc. Eya loves the swimming pool. She even can play with the sand beside the swimming pool.

As it was our annual trip to Penang, we didn't forget to have our usual dose of nasi kandar Line Clear. The moment we reached Penang, we went to have our nasi kandaq before we checked-in to our hotel. Some people doesn't really knows how to enjoy it. There were 2 couples beside us and it seem they were new to it. They ordered everything from ayam goreng, squid, prawn and the guys could not even finish his rice as he couldn't stand the spiciness of the curry. Hubby laughed at it since Eya can eat the curry chicken.

However, when we had dinner with hubby's friend, he told us that nasi kandaq beratoq was much better than line clear.We went to look for it and its fit its name, nasi kandaq beratoq. There was a loooong queue for it and it opened everyday at 10 p.m. Next time we going to Penang, this nasi kandaq will be our top priority and hubby has to be the one queuing up.

So, to hubby, I love you so much and thanks for sharing your life with me....

Eya has passed the night-train test....

2009-12-01T23:37:00.000+08:00

Yayyyy....We can save a lot now. Thats not quite a true statement. It just cut some of our major expenses in a month. So, now, I can use the money to spend on something else. Hehehe...

As in previous entry, she is diaperless in the day and only wear it during her sleep. After a few days the entry being wrote, she is now TOTALLY DIAPERLESS. Hooraayy for the three of us.

The chronology on how we started night-training her.

1st Day:

We asked her to wee-wee before she went to sleep. Later, we woke her up at 6 a.m., after the Subuh prayer. So, day 1 went smoothly.

2nd Day:

It was an accident. Hubby forgot to put the huggies on. He realised that she was diaperless in the morning. Pure luck.

3rd Day:

Again, asked her to wee-wee before sleep and again success.

So, the 4th day and counting, we did the same steps and she managed to be dry until morning.

We are a very proud parents of her. She is fully-trained at 3 years and 2 months old. Way to go, Eya!!!

No more pampers, mama....

2009-11-21T11:58:00.001+08:00

Eya has been successfully potty-trained a few months ago. No more diapers during the day, just for her sleep at night.

Her teachers at nursery also informed us that she doesn't want to wear the pampers I provide for her. When her teacher want to put it on, she told them that she doesn't want it. So, when she takes her nap, her teacher will wake her up so that she could go pee. Hearing that, we were quite shocked as it is impossible for us to wake her up from her sleep without she being grumpy and cranky. Maybe she obey her teacher more than us.

She also has outgrow all the Huggies size. Currently, she is wearing XXL, the largest you could find among all the dispo brand. Only Huggies and Drypers have XXL, but we stick with Huggies as Drypers is more expensive and it leak at the back. You could get Huggies for 44 for average of RM33.90 but for Drypers, yout get 32 pieces for the same price.

Now, she doesn't want to wear her Huggies at all during the day or even at night. We have to wait for her to be soundly sleep before we put her dispo on. The XXL Huggies is small for her that the side strap is hurting her. So, we only strap the Huggies as further as we can.

Now, I think we have to buy her only pull-up pant as the side is larger and maybe could not hurt her.

She also like to hold her pee for quite some time. I think she still does not understand when is the correct time for her to pee. Only after she really feels like it, she will go pee. We have taught her about this for quite some time but she still doesn't get it.

Now, she also does her 'big business' in the toilet. We bought her the potty seat few months ago but initially, she refused to use it. Only a few weeks back, she agreed to use it and now, she does all her business using it. Everytime she does it, we have to praise her, clap our hands, anything that shows that she is a good girl. Now, we only have to flush her 'thing', no more dispo. She will do it and we have to wait outside. After she finishes, she will call me or her ayah, and clean her up.

As for going diaperless in the night, we are still wondering and searching how to teach her on that. I asked my mom and even my maid, how did they teach their children, but it seem that they all forgot about the tips and tricks for teaching your children to go diaperless during their sleep.

I searched from the net and found out that you could set a schedule for your child to go pee in the night. As for me, I don't think its quite right to wake her in the middle of the night just to go potty. It may disturb her sleep and causing her to be moody in the morning when she wakes up for school. Some parents also said that you may successfully potty-train your child during the day but it may takes some time before they are ready for night-trained.

I think I can wait for that. She just turn 3 years old and we can train her slowly. Good luck to me and hubby.

Angel of Mine...

2009-11-11T13:56:00.005+08:00

We used to have a special song dedicated to our better-half during our early relationship.

For hubby, I used to give him a few songs. So, today, one of his song was played by a radio station. When I heard it, I remember why I gave him the song. The lyrics are meant/made for him.

Hubby, if you are reading this, please take a look at the highlighted lyrics.

It was 'Angel of Mine', by Monica.

The lyrics that I got from Azlyrics.com.

When I first saw you I already knew
There was something inside of you
Something I thought that I would never find
Angel of mine

I look at you, lookin' at me
Now I know why they say the best things are free
I'm gonna love you boy you are so fine
Angel of Mine

How you changed my world you'll never know
I'm different now, you helped me grow
You came into my life sent from above
When I lost all hope you showed me love
I'm checkin' for ya boy you're right on time
Angel of Mine

Nothing means more to me than what we share
No one in this whole world can ever compare
Last night the way you moved is still on my mind
Angel of Mine

What you mean to me you'll never know
Deep inside I need to show
You came into my life sent from above (Sent from above)
When I lost all hope, you showed me love (Boy you showed me love)
I'm checkin' for ya, boy you're right on time (Right on Time)
Angel of Mine (Angel of mine)

I never knew I could feel each moment
As if it were new,
Every breath that I take, the love that we make
I only share it with you (you, you, you,you)
When I first saw you I already knew
There was something inside of you
Something I thought that I would never find
Angel of Mine

You came into my life sent from above (Came into my life, yeah yeah yeah)
When I lost all hope you showed me love (Boy You showed me love, uh huh)
I'm checkin' for ya, boy you're right on time (But boy your right on time)
Angel of Mine (Angel of mine, oh mine)

How you changed my world you'll never know
I'm different now, you helped me grow

I look at you lookin' at me
Now I know why they say the best things are free
I'm checkin' for ya, boy you're right on time
Angel of Mine

Phobias....

2009-11-11T13:07:00.005+08:00

On the way to work, I switched on Hot FM and their topic for the day was phobias.

Some of the phobias that I heard was fear of 'mihun' (Vermicelli) . The guy was scared of mihun as he spent a few days in prison and all they served him was mihun. As for the girl, she said that she has phobias of man. In reality, she told the DJs that she has a lot of guy friend but afraid to have any serious relationship.

Its not that their phobias are not really phobias, but for me its just their attitude. For the guy, he can still see 'mihun' without fear. He just could not eat it. As for the girl, for me, it just commitment phobia as she can still become friends with man. Not that she cannot be near man at all.

Maybe for these people, they need to understand what phobia really is. As stated in Wikipedia, phobia is an intense and persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, or people. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive and unreasonable desire to avoid the feared subject.

Fear for men, as googled is the abnormal and persistent fear of men, androphobia. So, basically I'm correct as the girl is only afraid of having a normal relationship, not afraid of men. As for the guy, maybe he could not eat the food but he is not scared of seeing or touching the food.

As for me, my ultimate phobia is coulrophobia, fear of clown. I could not even be near to clown or even be in the same room with them. I would automatically cried and trembling whenever they are around. If I go to any shopping complex, hubby would inform me if a clown is around and would protect me from it. Protect in a sense that he would not allow me to see it and take a different way/route, to avoid from coming close with the clown. And it not just clown, mascot also are considered as clown to me. I could not handle Ronald Mcdonald, A& W bear or anything that is in mascot costume.

Although family and friends keep telling me to overcome the fear by hitting the clown or just touch it, I would not dare. It just something that I could not do.

How do I became scared of them? It just I had a traumatizing experience when I was a little girl. Since then, I could not be near to them. I watched the movie 'It' after I was in secondary school. I did not even watch the movie until it finish.

I also had some other phobias like claustrophobia (fear of confined/crowded places). Thats why I could skip a very good sales since I could not be in the crowded places. I could not even take lift that have transparent wall as I fear of high places (Acrophobia). I also scared of blood (Hemophobia), even my own blood. Thats my main reason to my mom why I did not want to be a doctor. Until now, I could not go to 'korban' as I afraid of seeing blood from cow being slaughtered or even chicken.

For the other phobias, I can still overcome them if I have the need to. But, for fear of clown, I could not cure/overcome it as it will be very hard for me. Very, very hard. Impossible.

Some interesting phobias that I found from my googling:-

Cacophobia - Fear of ugliness.
Arrhenophobia - Fear of men.
Caligynephobia - Fear of beautiful women.
Chrematophobia - Fear of money (this is weird in today's world)
Didaskaleinophobia - Fear of going to school. (if only children know about this phobia)
Mageirocophobia *- Fear of cooking. (I can be considered under this)
Macrophobia - Fear of long waits.
Novercaphobia - Fear of your step-mother. (How true?)
Paraskavedekatriaphobia - Fear of Friday the 13th.
Pentheraphobia - Fear of mother-in-law. (This is so funny)
Philophobia - Fear of falling in love or being in love.
Politicophobia - Fear or abnormal dislike of politicians. (For me, it will be abnormal dislike)

Unfortunate Event @ BSC

2009-11-11T12:47:00.002+08:00

No Kepong for last weekend as we decided to spend a night at Pullman Hotel @ Putrajaya. So, the day before, we did our grocery shopping in the morning and had a quick lunch at Jusco.

Night came and we were so bored doing nothing at home. Thinking and thinking, we decided to went someplace which has easy parking. No Midvalley or OU. So, the best option we had was anywhere near Bangsar and BSC it was.

We went there quite late as all the roads leading to Bukit Jalil was jammed. All because of the match between Kelantan and N9. Totally forgot about it since I was not a supporter for both of the team. I was once a Selangor fanatic when I was in maktab. During that day, I could sneaked during my prep to watch the match. How I love it back then. Now, I don't even know who are their players.

So, once we arrived there, our tummy was growling asking for food. We had our dinner at a 'small' cafe in BSC. After paying for the food, we wanted to go to SS2, to have weekly meeting with our dealer.

Hubby tried starting the car but failed. He tried for quite some times but still it could not start. It must be the battery, although the light and horn still work.

Luckily, our AIG insurance was bundled with AAM, so we called them to bring a new battery. If they could jumpstart the car, it will be great. They arrived almost an hour later, although they was just around Jalan Maarof. Anyway, the AAM guy asked whether we want to jumpstart or just buy a new battery. He said they have 2 sizes, with RM200 or 280.

Hearing that the battery was only RM200, I opted for the battery. Last year, when we bought our battery, it cost us RM230 for battery with maintenance. I don't know whether it could last for a year but as long we got a cheap battery for the car to start, it was enough for us.

I was so lucky that the battery 'kong' when hubby was around. If it just me and Eya, it will be a total chaos.

By the way, we also changed 2 tyres as they had totally wore out (in the morning). Another RM400 flew from our pocket. So, last weekend was shopping day for the car.

Due to the unfortunate event, we had to cancel our Pullman plan. Our car was so choosy that it planned to 'tersadai' at BSC with all the posh car.

Mama-Eya Outing...

2009-10-20T11:42:00.002+08:00

It was an impulse decision. We went to had a nice breakfast with hubby at first. Then, hubby went to work and the both of us had nothing to do.

So, I decided to bring Eya to watch movie or just doing window shopping. The nearest place to go was Jusco Cheras Selatan. I browsed around Jusco to shop for my home knick-knack for a while before Eya pestered me to bring her to watch 'wayang'. So, I bought 2 tickets for Cloudy Chance of Meatballs.

She really enjoyed the movie and later told me that she wanted to watch another movie with her ayah. After the movie ended, we went back to Jusco to continue our window shopping before we went for lunch.

She ordered chocolate pearl bubble tea for lunch and fries. She was quite exhausted after lunch and wanted to go home but I need to do my grocery shopping. So, I found the trolley for her and continued with my shopping.

We spent almost 4 hours together and it was so fun. She went to bed early that day and I bet she know that going window shopping with her mum is a tiring task.

Eya turns 3...

2009-09-25T21:17:00.000+08:00

Eya, 3 years old with her birthday cake...

Eya, Ayah and mama...

This signified that my little angel just turn 3 on 24th September.

Again, I did not plan anything big as her birthday fall on a long holiday. The birthday celebration was just between the family. Initially, hubby planned to celebrate it at Taiping with all her cousins but something came up so plan was changed.

She knows how a birthday should be celebrated as every week her friends from the nursery will have a birthday bash. She kept asking us to have Happy birthday for her. Everytime she sees a big cake, she will sing the birthday song.

So, this year we plan to have a small celebration with cake at her favourite fast food restaurant, KFC. Kaklong volunteered to buy her a birthday cake.

We put the candles on and asked her to blow the candles. And she knew how to do it. Maybe from her observation at the nursery.

Me and hubby is happy to see her growing up so well but at the same time quite sad as she is no longer our small baby. I hope time will slow down as we don't want her to grow up so fast.

I can still remember the moments I held her in my arms 3 years ago. It was the best feeling in the world to have your own flesh and blood.

To Eya, mama and ayah will always love you. You are our little angel.

Bangkok Trip II

2009-09-16T10:06:00.002+08:00

At last, the continuum from Bangkok Trip I.

6/9/09

The plan was to go to Pratunam, which is a shopping heaven for those who want to find cheap and nice cloths. As we crossed the road from our hotel, a man told us that the place is closed due to the visit by the King. I was quite confused as I don't think a place like that would be closed. So, all of us went back to hotel and decided to go out after lunch time.

After we had our lunch at Makyah Place, we went to Siam area to find Hard Rock Cafe. Unfortunately, it was raining, so we strolled around Siam Paragon. One thing I can say is Thailand has the best shopping mall. It is greater than any mall we can find here in Malaysia. Hubby managed to buy 2 Wrangler jeans which was not available in Malaysia anymore.

Then, we went to Hard Rock Cafe. I bought a HRC t-shirt, one for each of us. Abo bought the collectors pin and adik bought the lanyard.

Our next agenda was to go to Suan Lum Night Market. My ever genius Abo and Adib suggested we took a walk in the Lumpini Park as they don't want to take the MRT. We agreed thinking the it was a short walk. The park was very nice and one thing that surprised me was they all respected their national anthem and stop jogging/walking. Something that we could not see here in Malaysia.

It was a long walk and we were truly exhausted when we reach the night market. The market was a heaven as I can find a lot of knick-knack for my house. I bought a few frames for the house and light balls. I planned to go back when my house is ready so I can buy a few more things for my house decor.

The final part of my Bangkok trip will be published soon.

p/s: Busy with the financial year performance.

Bangkok Trip I

2009-08-22T16:53:00.006+08:00

Bangkok trip was meant for my family vacation. My big, extended family. We purchased the ticket during the RM1 promotion by AirAsia last year. I thought everyone will go but due to the H1N1 break, only 7 out 0f 14 went for the trip. Nevertheless, it was a great trip and experience for all of us.

Planning

I was the trip planner. Once I bought the tickets, I started surfing for the trips. I searched on the best map, accommodation, transportation and anything that was related. After a few month research, I found out the best for everything was:

Map: Groovy Map for Bangkok
A complete, easy-to-use map that cover everything. My sis bought it from MPH Midvalley.

Accommodation: Samran Place
Budget hotel that near to Halal food, nice staffs and got a high ranking in Tripadvisor.com for its range.

Transportation: A mix of BTS, Boat, Tuk-tuk and taxi.

Shopping: Will be covered below.

The real itinerary

4/8/09:
Our day started with departing to LCCT. Our dear Chu brought us there. My flight was supposed to depart at 6.50 but we arrived at LCCT around 2 p.m. We did not take the same flight as mom and abo was in the earlier one at 4 p.m.

We hang around the LCCT, had a light meal at a very expensive Marrybrown. Although I hate anything that is associated with any celebrity that I hate, I need to put that aside as there was no any other cheap food. (Tips: The celebrity name start with M) If I had the money, for sure I will have my hot chocolate at Theobroma.

Exactly at 6.30 p.m., we boarded our flight. It was Eya's first time in a flight. She was not that excited as she thought it was just another mode of transportation.

We arrived on time and searched for mom and abo. Once I found them, we started searching for taxi to bring us to the hotel. They had public van but we were unsure what they meant by public. So to be safe, we took the airport limousine, but due to our number, they give us van. The van was so great, and it was large. It can fit 10 people, I think. It was called Toyota Kommuter. If they sell it here, my mom was sure to buy it.

The traffic was horrible although it was 9 p.m. The first thing we did after checked in was thinking what to eat for dinner. Although the halal food was opposite of the road, we were afraid it was closed and being just a small lane, maybe we could get lost finding the food.

So, me and hubby being an adventurer, we proposed to have dinner at the hotel. We asked for squid and shrimp fried rice. Mom ate fish and chip. Luckily, it was nice.

5/8/09:

Our first plan was to visit the Grand Palace.There was no bus or BTS directly to get to the pier. So, the best option was to take BTS to Saphan Taksin and from there, we would take boat from Sathorn, the Central Pier. The boat ride only cost 1.30 and we took the orange flag ferry.

The Sathorn pier was N1 and the stop for Grand Palace is at Tha Chang, N10 so it was quite a boat ride from me. I was not a fan of any transport that is related to water. Thats why I stayed near to the life jackets in the ferry.

From the stop, we need to walk a little bit before we arrived at the Grand Palace. We need to pay 35 per pax for the entrance fee. If you took any tour service, it will cost you the cheapest of RM70 for the trip to the palace.

The GP was quite a big area. Due to the hot weather, we just briefly visited some of the main attraction and left the palace.

The next plan, was to have lunch. So, the only thing I could think of, was halal food at MBK. The food was great but pricey. For fried rice, it was 80baht and for something like nasi paprik, it cost 150 baht. Food was expensive here even if you go to stalls. I love the Iced Milo there. It was heaven.

We rest at the hotel before going for dinner at Ali Selatan. The owner is a Kelantanese. All the halal food you find on Zabihah.com can be found here at the street. The food was marvellous and the sirap bandung was great.

The next plan was to go for Suan Lum night market. So we took BTS to Silom but failed to find the market at the Lumpini Park. So, changed plan to visit Patpong night market. It was similar to Petaling Street. If it just the both of us, I would go to see of the night show but as I went with family, I cancelled the plan.

The market is located in the middle of Patpong 1 street, so when you were walking, you can get a glimpse of whatever happened in the bar. I managed to see some pole dancing and girls doing their show. However, in the Patpong rate, it was still considered a decent view.

So, as I read that Patpong night market is expensive, I did not buy anything. Once we arrived at our hotel, we had a foot massage at a place beside it. It was cheap, just 200 for an hour. The guys tried the body massage for just 200 baht.

That was my trip for the 1st 2 days. Will blog the second part of the trip later.

p/s: Pics will be included later.

Keds and lot of bracelets...

2009-08-14T16:11:00.003+08:00

What was the happiest shopping moment during my trip to Bangkok?

Its when I discovered Siam Paragon does sell Keds shoes. I love flat shoes, in fact, now I have 6 of them . Mostly are Nike as they have nice flat shoes. So, once when I was web surfing, I found out that a US brand, Keds produce flat shoes.

So, I tried to ask hubby to persuade his friend in US to buy it from me as the brand is not available in Malaysia. But, his friend will be there for 5 years, so I need to wait for some years before I be able to wear it.

I never thought I could find it. So, during the trip, when I found Keds is being sold there, without any hesitation, I decided to buy it. The choice was not that many but I bought one. Even my lil sis bought one for her. So, now I have an extra pair of Keds.

The two pair of Keds...

The other highlight of my trip was to Platinum Shopping mall where I found a small shop selling bracelets. This shopping complex is known for it wholesales trade so mostly everything are cheap. All the bracelets and necklaces is similar quality and look to Diva's and DP merchandise but with very low prices. Usually DP or Diva bracelet cost about RM20 for the simplest bracelet but here you can get one for only RM3. So, I bought every colour of bracelet that I could find. It was such a happy day for me.

Now, I have complete collection of every colors for my bracelet combined with a few from my sis. Even my bracelet tree could not handle all the weight. I need to find a new tree for all those new bracelets.

.......................

2009-07-27T21:56:00.002+08:00

I was so shocked when I heard the news of Yasmin Ahmad. And I was sad when I woke up Sunday morning and my mom told me she passed away on Saturday night. At that moment, I felt like something going to be missing from my life.

She was the reason why I watched Malay movies. Although she entered the industry quite late, she did make a big impact to the Malay movie industry.

She was the reason why I started spending my money to watch Malay movies in the cinemas. I watched almost all her movies at cinemas, except for Talentime. I had wrote an entry that I was so frustrated that I couldn't watch Talentime. I even asked my friend to find Muallaf cd in Singapore as Malaysia banned the movie. Until now, I'm still searching for Muallaf cd.

I felt like Malaysia is missing a valuable icon in the movie industry. It is sad to know that there will be no more good Petronas ads, no more good movies to be watched.

This is the first time I ever felt sad when someone in the movie industry passed away. Even when MJ died, I felt nothing. But just hearing the news that she passed away, I was really sad.

Maybe someone like the DT or RM will feel happy that she can no longer make movies but for me, sincerely, I will miss her movies so much.

Now, I can only look forward to Afdlin, Kabir or Mamat Khalid movies. The next one will be setem. Need to make booking a.s.a.p.

At last, we succeed....

2009-07-20T21:51:00.002+08:00

We had been trying to potty-train Eya for some time. We knew that she could follow orders but the first time we tried, she was confused when its the small and big one.

When she told us she want to go, then, at that exact moment, she will just let go. I read from somewhere some children, they are confused when they want to let go. So, we did have a few accidents.Luckily, our home are not 100% carpet-covered.

So, I bought her a common, cheap potty. We told her everytime she want to go, just use the potty, instead of going to the toilet. The first few times, she did have accidents and didn't manage to use it on time.

Then, last week, suddenly she managed to use it and we were so happy that we gave her compliments. It turned out she did like compliments and we need to praise her after she do her small or big business. Now, she use the potty for both of her business.

It was a great achievement both for us and her. Now, she do not need to wear huggies in the house anymore. She still wear it when she goes to nursery or for outing as we do not know the nearest toilet.

Now, our next milestone is to transfer her from using the potty to real toilet, although she know how to use it.

A rockstar in the making...

2009-07-20T21:28:00.004+08:00

Rockstar in the making...

Abo and adik just bought a PS3 complete with the Guitar Hero set. It includes a guitar, drum and microphone, complete to create a rock band. As for the games, Abo had bought about 15 games from Ebay UK.

Previously, when they played PS2, they also played guitar hero using 1 guitar. So, when they bought the set, the old guitar could not be used with PS3.

I respect that adik and just anyone who could play the guitar as it was really hard for the player to follow all the colours from the game. For those who are unclear of the game, the guitar and drum have 5 colour keys/buttons. They have to follow the color exactly when it is being displayed on the tv.

For me, I could only play the drum set with easy level. The guitar was out of my league, it was quite hard for me to play it.

As for hubby, he become the vocalist of the band. To sing it is quite easy, as you only need to know the rythm and lyrics of the song. You need to match the tempo and lyrics.

As it was hard to follow the key colours, some people who play the guitar, concentrate really hard and was very static when they play it. So, we love watching Eya playing the guitar. She was really cute and act just like a true rockstar. She can sway to the music and move the guitar to the beat. She can do that as she don't play the game. She just follow whatever her Acu did and I did teach her to follow the colour keys.

Now, it become our family pastime favourite to play Guitar Hero.

Eya and Dede

We can sing, so surprising...

2009-06-27T14:37:00.004+08:00

Me and Eya having a good time

Just a gimmick! We still could not sing well like even a average person could sing. My SIL planned for the whole family to go for karaoke. I resisted the idea but love being with my family, no matter what, I just agreed to it.

So, last Saturday, after my cousin had finished her cupcake lesson, we headed down to Ampang Park. It was quite cheap compared to what Red Box @ The Curve charge. Just RM35 for an hour for a medium room, which can accommodate up to 15 people. So, my whole family including Adib went to have a 'melalak' session for the first time except for my SIL, who was quite a pro.

Along, Kaklong and Zidane

We booked the room for 4 hours which for me was quite long. My SIL said 4 hours was too short and we might ask to extend the hours. Me and hubby being quite an amateur in this area was quite 'kekok' with this whole karaoke thingy. We didn't know how to choose song and set for it using the karaoke machine.

Me and hubby chose our fav song which includes Hotel California, some oldies for hubby and for me too. My first choice of songs would be N' Sync but their collection contained songs that I didn't really like.

Hubby and me trying our skill in karaoke'ing

Hubby who was so reluctant to the idea at first started enjoying the singing. He tried to conquer the mic and almost all the songs. The funny part was he is tone deaf. He just follow the lyric blindly without knowing how the songs sounded. It was funny but it was exciting to see how hubby enjoyed the whole session.

As for me, I got to sing my most favourite song, Januari by Glenn Fredly. My Eya sang her Ketahuan song by Matta. Both she and Zidane enjoyed the session too.

Eya n Zidane is starting from young

Really looking forward to have another karaoke session when Abo is here. Okay, guys, start collecting money as it going to be a really long session.

Eya's eating habit...

2009-06-17T16:58:00.003+08:00

Eya is almost 3 years old. Only a few months before she turns 3. Her weight always like a yo-yo, sometimes up and sometimes down. For now, her weight is okay, which is about 17 kg. One of my friend told me that her weight was 19kg when she was in Standard 1. A difference of only 2kg. I think it is normal for her to be at that weight for now. The weight is reflected by her tummy. Yes, I do love the tummy. She knew it and when we asked 'perut sapa', she will replied 'perut mama'.

Lately, she eats like an adult. Sometimes more than me or even her ayah. We are not worried about worms as we had given her the worms vaccine.

In a normal routine, she will eat 3 times. These meal usually will be a plate of rice, with a 'telur mata'. She likes her rice to be a little bit 'banjir', just like her ayah. So, sometimes we put her with kuah sayur or kicap. She will finish the whole plate.

As with the milk, she still drinks her milk. She drinks Nespray 1+. So, when the ads with Sheila Majid in it, she will shout, 'susu Eya, susu Eya'. A lot if I might add. If she forget to drink her milk before sleep, she will wake up in the middle of the night and asked for it. Not everyone could prepare her milk. Depends on her mood before her sleep. Sometimes it can be her ayah or me. However, I always wish it will be her ayah.

She also loves Ribena. We introduced her to Ribena upon her paed advice. When she was a baby, she do not like to drink and always got constipation. So, her paed advised us to give her prune juice or ribena. She hated the prune juice but luckily she can accept the ribena. So, its Ribena until now. However, to balance it out, we only give Ribena when she is at home. Outside, we will give her plain water.

The best thing I ever saw of her eating habit was when we ate 'nasi daun pisang' as our dinner. After she finished eating the rice, she folded the daun pisang. Just like what we normally do after eating nasi daun pisang. Someone told me that if we fold the daun pisang towards ourselves, it means we like the nasi. So, Eya did just that. We were really surprised as we never told her to do that. Maybe she watched us do it and learn from it.

My mom also noticed that when she eat spaghetti, she will use her fork to twirl the spaghetti. Only after that, she will put the twirled spaghetti into her mouth. We never taught her this but I think, again she learned from observation. She will twirl even mihun.

She also likes to have roti canai for breakfast. However, she will only eat it if there is kuah dal or kari. She will dip her shredded roti into the kuah, and eat it.

I think she learned a lot by observation and I'm sure she likes to eat. A true AL clan by heart.

I will remember you always, no matter what...

2009-05-27T19:41:00.002+08:00

In my previous entry, I wrote that I received the best anniversary gift that I could ever hope for. It was actually I'm being pregnant for the second time. It was so unexpected as I had some late period episodes before.

So, in March, when my period was late, I bought the cheapest pregnancy test. Why the cheapest? This was because I always spend my money buying these stuffs but never get positive result.

I did the test after got back from work and to my surprise, I got 2 pink lines. I was so happy that I cried in the bathroom. It was 2 clear lines, not like when I was pregnant with Eya. Just to confirm that I really am pregnant, I decided to visit my obgyn. He scanned but it cannot be seen as I was only 4 weeks at that time. He did a urine test and confirmed that I was really pregnant. He informed me that my EDD will be on the 30th Dec 2009.

I straight canceled my Bangkok trip and decided to sell or change the tickets. I bought material for my pregnant shirt to be worn during Hari raya. I even think of names for the baby, a girl and a boy's name.

I was really happy and keep counting the days. I even registered again at the BabyCenter website for this second pregnancy. I was so happy.

Then, on Monday,11th May, around 11.30 am, I felt like I was having a lot of discharge. When I checked on it, it was bleeding. Not reddish, just pinkish but it filled up the whole pantyliner. I cried and called both hubby and mom. I didn't know whether it still can be saved or not, but I really want it to be safe.

I decided to visit my gynae. He scanned the fetus and it has a small pulsation, which mean it still alive. However, my condition is called threaten miscarriage, which later I might miscarried the baby. He gave me a few progestoren pills and I was injected with some progesterone hormone. I will have another scan the next week.

During the whole week, before the checkup, I was bedrest and just hoping for the best. I had some brown spotting on Saturday, which worried me a little bit.

Monday came and we went to have the checkup. The doctor scanned the baby and could not see anything. He told me he was not happy as at 8 weeks the baby should have grown and clearly to be seen in an u/s scan. So, he ordered me to have a detailed scan at the radiology.

The wait to be scanned was hell. I had to drink couples of litres of water and vomited afterwards. Although I was not a radiologist, I could see the fetus have no heartbeat. I was sad but I have prepared myself for this situation.

So, the next day, he informed me that I had to undergo a DnC procedure. At this time, I was terribly sad but I could not shed any tears. I just think that I'm lucky to have Eya. If this was the first baby, I would crack so much.

The procedure was okay but when I was awake, I was crying. Maybe, it was my subconcious mind. The fetus was given to me and hubby decided to bury it at the surau near mom's home.

Really, I am sad that I lost my second baby but everything happens for a reason. I will still remember my baby always and love it no matter what. The baby will always be in my heart and mind. The baby will always be my second child.

A decade has passed...

2009-05-01T22:13:00.003+08:00

Me and hubby declared as a couple on 30th April 1999, which made yesterday, 30/4/09, a total of 10 years we had been a couple. He proposed to me to be her girlfriend on the phone at 2.30 am. after making several hints before that. I agreed without thinking and that decision was among the best decision I had ever made.

We had a few obstacles along the way before we were married. If he was not that strong, witthout the support and encouragement, I wouldn't be what I am today.

We never really celebrate the day we became a couple but this year, we had the best present we could wished for. What is it? I couldn't really reveal it right now but I might write about it later.

To hubby, I love you so much. Thanks for everything especially for the gift.

What kentut have to do with Eya and Hubby?

2009-04-24T16:18:00.004+08:00

Hubby and Eya were watching tv, while I was doing something in the kitchen (I think). Suddenly, hubby shouted, "Sapa ajar Eya ni? Tak senonoh."

I asked why and hubby told me that Eya farted in front of his face. It began when Eya complained that she smelt something smelly. Hubby thought she wanted to 'bom-bom'. Then, suddenly, Eya turned her back to hubby's face and farted at him. Poor hubby. He was so shocked that his lovely little princess could throw a dirty trick upon him.

I bet she must got this trick from someone at the nursery.

Eya's Mak is no longer available...

2009-04-15T16:39:00.004+08:00

Eya had her mak since she was almost a year old. I didn't give her mak but she started using it when I sent her to nursery, which asked me to buy it for her. Why? They told me she took other baby pacifier and it would be good if she got her own pacifier.

So, to make it easier for her to be in the nursery, I bought her first pacifier. The orthodontic Avent pacifier for 6 months and above. I never know whether the orthodontic is good or not. Is it proven to not damage a baby teeth development? What I knew back then, I wanted to give her the best pacifier. I never know that this would be my biggest regret in raising her.

Although she had her mak, she don't use it for a long time. She only look for it when she wants to have her nap or when to sleep at night. Only when she turned 2, I limit her mak to only at night before sleep. She also do not bring her mak to nursery anymore when she turned 2 years old.

I decided to wean her off her mak before she turns three. It still a long time before she reach 3 years old but I really need to act fast.

So, my mom devised a plan. She told her that the mak was full of ulat and need to be thrown away. Suprisingly, she believed it and didn't take her mak. However, at night, she couldn't sleep and my mom gave in.

So, we tried again the next day. I hid the mak and told her, opah had threw it into the large green dustbin. She didn't believe it. So, I took her outside (it was raining at this time, I was so determined) and showed her the empty dustbin. Luckily, that day was the garbage collection day. So, she believed it but was cranky for the whole day.

She did asked me politely, "mama, nak mak". I think she was just trying her luck with me. I told her the story of how her mak was full of ulat. She didn't ask for her mak anymore after that.

Because of her need for the mak, I have a collection of her mak. One is in my weekend bag, one is in her opah's home and another spare is at my home. We started her with Avent and finished with Japlo. Still the orthodontic type.

Until today, it has been 5 days since we weaned her off the mak. Because of the missing mak, we couldn't really have a good night sleep as she keep waking up at night. This is the price we have to pay for weaning her off the mak.

I want Talentime...

2009-04-09T11:10:00.002+08:00

I am a great big fan of Yasmin Ahmad and Afdlin Shauki. I always and will watch every movie that they produce.

So, a few days ago, I wanted to watch Talentime. I asked my lil sis to join me.

Once we got the counter, confidently we asked for 2 tickets. Then, the girl said, the only show available was at 6. At that time, it was still early. We were so surprised.

The show was released, about 2 weeks ago. How come the showtimes is so limited? As what my sis said, maybe they want to move it to make way for Jangan Tegur.

Why they movie industry need to be so biased? You can try to fight fair. Usually, Afdlin and Yasmin's movie are given limited showtimes, not like movie produced by Mr DT, YH and so called Prof.

They do have fans so please give them better oppportunity to sell their movies.

I really need to find place and time to watch it.

Free Burger for hubby...

2009-04-08T14:39:00.004+08:00

We had Burger King @ Alamanda for our dinner last night. Hubby being a fan of Whopper ordered ala-carte, while I ordered the medium set. As for me, I tried the new Salsa Grilled Chicken. It was quite nice.

In the middle of munching and finishing our burger, suddenly hubby stood up and went to the counter looking angry. Turned out that hubby had just bite a piece of plastic in the burger. The manager went into the kitchen to ask who had prepared the burger. We thought the plastic must have been the cheese plastic.

He apologized and gave hubby a new burger. So, hubby ate almost 2 Whopper last night.

Good Luck to you...

2009-04-04T23:26:00.002+08:00

I'm the type of person who believe in monthly salary. I had never been an adventurous person and is truly afraid of taking big risks. It is totally opposite with my other half.

Just yesterday, he made quite a huge decision. Being his partner, I need to support him. Although I would never do what he is going to do, I need to believe in him.

The first time he went into business, he was cheated by his friend. And that strengthen my believe that a business is very risky. During this time also, we experienced such a hard life. Back then, we were still a couple but as a girlfriend, I just could not abandoned him.

So, now after being married for several years, with much bigger responsibility and expenses to be paid every month, he decided to try his luck in business. As a wife, I need to support his decision. I gave him my green light and wish him for the best.

He resigned from his company a few days ago as he was very busy doing his job and managing his business. In this one month, he will be concentrating on the start-up of his business. Even, MIL has approved his decision and even helped him on some matters. All his siblings were really supportive of his decision.

BTW, this time his business partner will be his childhood friend and I truly hope this will work out successfully.

Don't worry abang. I will give you my support. I believe in you and I do hope you will do well this time.

Belanja makan...

2009-03-14T23:31:00.002+08:00

Recently, adik managed to get back her money from her uni. So, she decided to treat us for a family dinner. Usually, we would go for western food especially Chilli's but some of us are bored eating the same dishes.

This time, to be more value for money, I suggested to have it at a Muslim Chinese restaurant somewhere near our house. We ordered quite a number of dishes but it was nice and cheap. The total was below what adik had budgeted.

As for today, mom treated us for nasi padang at KJ. The food was great for us minang people but it was quite costly, compared with what we had the last night.

Tomorrow, mom will cook us nasi lemak for lunch. Yeah!!!!

Betul, betul, betul...

2009-03-14T23:12:00.002+08:00

I don't know where Eya knew about Upin n Ipin. I thought she might learned about it from her nursery. As she knew about them, we decided to bring her to watch the movie.

We promised her that she going to watch it someday, but after 2 weeks, we kind of ignored the promise. So, one day, she suddenly asked us when to watch Upin n Ipin. As it was kind of late, we told her we will bring her the next morning. She started screaming and crying to watch it.

As we knew it was our fault as we did promised it to her, we drove into The Mines around 10 p.m. We thought we could watch the 9.50 pm show. As I rushed in to buy the ticket, I saw from the counter that the 9.50 pm show was full. The next show will be at 11.55 pm. Eya would be sound asleep by then. We were quite worried as she couldn't watch the movie but it turns out, she was so happy to see the big Geng poster+banner. We were quite relieved as she didn't know what is a movie. She never been to a cinema before.

However, we still brought her to watch it in TGV the next day. Eventhough it was a early bird show, it was still full house. She was really good in the cinema. She was quiet and followed the story from start till it ended. She didn't make any noise, not cranky and was really happy watching the movie.

I think I want to watch Ice Age 3 with her after this.

I'm in the guessing phase...

2009-02-22T17:42:00.005+08:00

My mind is busy guessing and looking for symptoms. What kind of symptoms?

My last red flag was couple of months back. It was my second time of this thing so I was not sure that I had a bun in the oven. The first time, it was negative as after several weeks, it did come and it was shorter compared to now. I already did a few home test but the test came back negative, so maybe I'm not baking any bun. Seriously, I don't know.

However, I think this time it was a little bit different as I had spotting. It just like when I was confirmed pregnant with Eya. The first time I was pregnant, the line was very faint/blur and the doctor said that the baby was weak. (Now, I know as long it had line, the baby is okay). So, I think I couldn't really rely on those dip stick.

Mom and friends keep asking whether I had the common symptoms but as I don't want to be frustrated, I just ignore the symptoms. I blocked my mind from receiving and confirming the symptoms. And during the first pregnancy, I didn't have any symptoms. I was not having any morning sickness and all the common symptoms. (Thats why I really gain a lot of weight.)

I think I had a few of it but just not to be feeling down, as if I think of it too much, it will let my brain giving all the pregnancy symptoms.

I really need to see a doctor about this. Maybe in a few weeks, I could make an appointment to confirm whether eya will get a bro or a sis. If it positive, I'm grateful. If not, I could try for another one........

***Just to add couple of pics of me, eya and hubby...

Our hardwork had paid off...

2009-02-22T17:32:00.004+08:00

These last few weeks I was very busy finishing up tasks for my research project. Luckily, my team is made up of great people.

Although initially, the task was quite simple, once we reached it final stage, it was quite tough. Me and two of my team mates, had to test our finished articles using the program developed by other team members. The testing was quite tough and I was left feeling stressed for almost 2 weeks. At the end, only one of my 2 'job' was functioning correctly.

Due to the stress I had, I didn't cook for the whole time I'm involved with the project. After work, taking baths and had dinner, I would straight did my task.

It didn't help as I had quite other few tasks that need to be settled as well. Luckily, my moderator was quite understanding and let me finished my other job first.

The highlight of the project was competing in an exhibition. We were among the group that represented our department. All of us did not expect to win as we knew other projects were so much better than ours. We just enter the competition just for the exposure and experience we could obtained.

However, during the dinner night, our leader sms'ed us and told us we had win the 2nd place. It was such a shock and we were really grateful for it.

To my team members, congrats and to all of us, keep up the good work.....

Tag about nini...

2009-02-07T20:11:00.003+08:00

I just been tagged my ms aeniez....

Here are some facts about her...

her face always look like she is having a major problem
she likes music from slipknot, SOAD, and all those bands
likes to wear sneakers, especially converse
only wear t-shirt. Once, I went for a shopping trip with her so she can purchase girl-like clothes but end up wearing it for one or 2 times only.
loves black and red so much. Maybe she doesn't know other colors exist in this world
Now, loves collecting bags
Are so addicted to Internet. She can surf for hours without having to sleep or eat.
She likes to play searching for hidden item games. I'm the one who introduce her to this kind of games
she is so good in playing games, esp PS2 games. weird for a girl.
She knows MU in and out. Not like some girls who love football because of the players. She really knows it.

Ok, dik. I finished your tag. Don't keep tagging me so often as I am so beezee.

Eya admitted to hospital...

2009-01-22T11:50:00.002+08:00

Eya had a 'pink eye' for a few days, and we thought it just the common 'sakit mata'. We assumed she got it from her nursery.

After several days, we noticed that she did not have the usual symptom of pink eye. Her eyes was not watery, no pain, no itchiness and no discharge. Her upper and lower eyelid were swollen. She was prescribed to some eye drop from our panel doctor.

After using that drop for few days and the eye was still swollen, we decided to go to her specialist. Her paed suggested her to be admitted for a night so she could monitor her condition. I agreed with her suggestion as its been a week since she got the pink eye.

She was very restless staying in the hospital. She didn't want to sleep on the bed, wanted to go strolling along the hospital corridor, begging me to take her to 7-E downstairs. It just hard to take care of an active toddler in the hospital. She was very healthy and active and thats just made the nurses and doctor wonder what had happened to her eye.

The next day, she saw a opthamologist and the doctor could not diagnosed her condition properly as she didn't want to put her head on the device/equipment. The doctor prescribed a few medicine for her and wanted us to monitor her for another week.

Luckily, after using the medicine, her eye was better.

Welcome 2009...

2009-01-02T00:23:00.002+08:00

For me, 1st January is just like any other holiday, nothing special for me. No new year resolution whatsoever. Maybe there will be a few interesting programmes on tv.

The best thing today was that hubby surprised me by taking a leave. His company is a bit weird as they only take the 4 compulsory holidays plus a few others...We planned to go somewhere except for malls and people houses but Eya really make use of her holiday. She took a very long nap today so nobody can go anywhere.

And my precious car had a flat tyre at Jln Kuching. It was driven by my along. Poor car. I have to fork out my own money to pay for it. What a nice start for the new year. I really hope the car will stay fine for the rest of 2009 and if possible, forever. Still a long way to go...

So, night time, I was so stressed out, I asked hubby to go somewhere. Anywhere will do. I only need to be away to cool down my stress level. We decided to go to SS2 and returned the faulty DVD, 'Wild Child'. The movie was alright for me. Then, we went to .99 at TTDI to have our late dinner. The food was okay but a little bit pricey but for me, overall was okay as the portion was quite big.

Thats all for New Year holiday.

Bottomline, I want to have a happy year ahead of me. No more problem with the house. Salary increment if possible and if I am so lucky, I hope there will be bonus for us. Will try harder to control my spending. I managed to control it a bit last year. No more splurging using credit card. And the one thing I really hope to get is a sister or brother for Eya. A boy will be great as I will have a pair of children. Need to work out a strategy for that.

Another New Year...

2008-12-29T14:45:00.005+08:00

I never make any resolution for any new year. I afraid that if I make one, I will be devastated if I could not achieve it.

2008 had witnessed me doing something was quite a bit extraordinary for me.

I changed my job, quit from one of the big company and moved to a smaller one. Alhamdullilah, I had found my tune in this job. I love doing my job, so I hope it was a correct move.

I purchased my own house. It was an impulse purchase and a major price to pay. Thanks to the job I have now, I have a little extra money to pay for it. InsyaAllah...

I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Only a few years to go before we reach the 10 year marks. Hubby is my best friend, soulmate and husband. Love you so much...

Eya started walking in 2008, exactly when she was 18 months year old. One of the most awaited milestones..

I moved out from my mom's house and stay sumwhere near my office...just the three of us initially but now my little sis stay with me too...its been almost 6 months now..

My little brother flew to UK to further his study....need to browse e-bay more...

Got a nephew....Shafique Zidane...love you to bits....

A few things that happened that must be forgotten before I step into the new year...

One of my family member disappeared, vanished into thin air...(maybe this can be considered as sumthin good too...)

A few issues with my houses...was so angry with the bank...hope this issue will resolve soon...

Not many issues to be left behind but for 2009, I am so waiting and looking forward for our big family vacation....Bangkok to be exact...still have a few more issues to be dealt with...

Eya Unwanted Attitude...

2008-12-28T20:38:00.003+08:00

Eya mood change like the amount she change her diapers everyday. Now, it is so hard for us to put her in the stroller. It seem like we are in a war everytime we try putting her in the stroller.

The trick is to let her walk with us for a while until she feel tired. Then, she will ask herself to be put in the stroller. This is during her good mood. Else, she will ask to be carried and always the person she prefer is me.

She started having this attitude sometimes ago when we shopping at Alamanda. I never know why she behave like this. The problem is she is not ashame of other people. She will keep crying and crying, ignoring all the people looking at us. Our face have grew so thick that we do not tolerate her behavior. She can keep crying all she wants but we would not entertain her request.

We sincerely hope this is just another phase of her. It takes so much patience from me to tolerate this new attitude.

6th Anniversary and counting...

2008-12-24T18:06:00.005+08:00

Its our 6th year wedding anniversary. Usually, we celebrated it in KL but this year we wanted to go somewhere else.

The decision was to go to Penang. It was a little bit different this year as we brought along mom and adik with us. It will be a normal family vacation as we still havent fulfill the 2 times visit to Penang this year.

As usual, we will go to eat the famous 'Line Clear' nasi kandar at Jln Penang. It is custom for us everytime we in Penang to come here. We did nothing special. All we do is eat and eat. We sampled Sunshine Char Kuey Teow and the usual, nasi kandar.

We also went to Toy Museum in Batu Ferringhi. It was amazing to witness how a guy could buy all that toys. His collection was good but need better arrangement and a little bit of tidy up. I wish I can work part time for him and arrange all the toys neatly. It cost us 10 per pax to enter the museum but it was quite worth it.

Overall, it is nice to celebrate 6 years of marriage with someone you love dearly. Thanks, abang for the great, wonderful 6 years we spent together. Need to work out plan for next year anniversary.

This blog is created for...

2008-12-24T17:47:00.004+08:00

"My Daughter"

I always knew that being online has it own risks and problems but I never know that I was going to be part of the statistics.

This blog was made for my daughter. Initially, I used Yahoo 360 to be Eya's diaries. Her development from the moment she was born until now. I did this so I can keep track of her milestones and for her to view it when she grows up.

Everything written inside this blog is about her and sometimes I also write something about special moment in my life. It was intended to be a personal blog of mine.

I never expect people to come to my blog and accept everyone who discover this blog as my friend. I also go to other peoples blog and usually I am a silent reader. I only post comments on blogs that I familiar with. Even if I post any comments, I ensure the comments is not rude and acceptable for the owner to read.

I hope everyone who wish to give me comments, please do so politely. I accept any comments but don't be too rude or harsh. This blog is never for entries on sensitive issues, politics, anybody else. It is purely for my family life journal. I never force anyone to read my blog. If you find any entry on this blog that might hurt your feelings, I apologize for it. It is never my intention. You also have the choice to leave the blog without reading it.

Again, I want to stress out that the blog is my personal entry, especially for my daughter. I hope everyone out there can consider that fact and be nice inside this blog.

Lastly, thank you for your consideration.

Eya and the neighbor....

2008-12-05T10:50:00.004+08:00

Our neighbor is a single woman and lives alone. Sometimes, we say hi when we meet at the car park or when we are going to work.

So, yesterday, we arrived at the same time from work. We had to wait for hubby unloading something at the back, when Eya went to 'salam' the neighbor.

It was weird as Eya is afraid of strangers. If she takes the lift and sees someone else in the lift, she will hide her face against us. She even held the neighbor hand and walked together towards the lift. It was quite a long walk. Even, when she was walking down the stairs, she didn't want to let go the neighbor's hand.

She held her hand until we arrived at our house. Only after, we opened the door and asked her to come in, she let go the neighbor hand.

I think she knew the neighbor.

Mamma Mia...here we goes again...

2008-11-27T08:34:00.005+08:00

I bought the 'Mamma Mia' dvd after I saw the preview. The moment we watched it, we fell in love with it.

I love the movie since I knew some of the Abba songs and the author was such brilliant person who could combine all the songs to make it as a movie. (The movie was based on a musical book).

I never know that Eya would love the movie so much. The dvd is at mom's house so every weekend that we go back, once Eya wakes up, she will take the dvd from the rack and ask someone to play it for her. She know where the dvd is placed, how to open the dvd player and how to change the tv setting.

So, mamma mia will be played sometimes up to 3 times a day. Not only that, as I bought the cd, every time she's in the car, the radio can only play mamma mia songs. No normal radio for us anymore.

We were amazed that she can memorise some of the songs. The funny thing is her favourite song is 'Super Trouper'. If you watch the movie, its the song during the party when donna and her friends performing for her daughter. Like her dede said, 'Eya was such an old skool girl'. Not only she know the lyrics, she even can dance.

I wonder when her love for mamma mia will end. Until that time, its all mamma mia in the house and our car.

Updates on Eya's health

2008-11-10T15:12:00.004+08:00

Eya was diagnosed with viral infection that infected her tummy. After I brought Eya to Az-Zahra, as I was not that satisfied, I brought her to Dr Mary at Assunta. She also gave similar diagnosis but a lengthy one, describing why it happens, sypmtoms to look out, how to nurse her, what kind of food to give.

Eya had the diarrhoea for about 2 weeks. I did some 'googling' and Eya's condition was something normal that happened to majority of young children. Luckily, she only vomited for the first 24 hours and continued with the diarrhoea. I found some information that saying it is okay if your children vomit for th first 48 hours, and continued having diarrhoea for maximum of 2 weeks. It is the symptoms of viral infection in the stomach or in medical term, it is called gastroentitis. Only if your child have both vomiting and diarrhoea, it is something that you should be really worried.

I called Dr Mary after a week Eya had the diarrhoea. She told me it was okay and if I'm too worried, I can consider to change her formula. She suggested Mamex or Similac, which are lactose-free or soya-based. Just like what I found out from the net, she said it is okay if Eya is only having diarrhoea. She also must drink a lot of water and she even suggested that I gave Eya 100 plus. I never know that kid can drink 100 plus but I know it is something that an adult drink if they are having a fever.

As Eya diarrhoea is not that frequent and she really is drinking lots of water, we decided to just gave her the usual formula. Yesterday, she stopped having the diarrhoea and her appetite is becoming back to normal.

Is there any good clinic around Bangi???

2008-11-04T14:56:00.003+08:00

Eya was well last Wednesday. After she went to sleep, she suddenly woke up and start vomiting. It was a lot of vomit. At first, I thought it was just cough like always and paid no attention to it. We changed the bed cover and put her to sleep again. Then, 5 minutes later, she vomited again. At this time, we were thinking its normal and just washed her up and changed her pj's.

Then, she vomited again and again for a total of almost 8 times in an hour. We were so worried at this time. The only thing that puzzled us was she showed no symptoms at all. She vomited everything she consumed earlier and the last one was just water.

We brought her to Pusat Rawatan Az-Zahra, which was the only clinic open for 24 hours. If given other choice, we will surely took her somewhere else. Before we went in to register her, she vomitted again at the entrance. I told the nurse that it was an emergency and really hoping the doctor could see her first.

She just nodded, took Eya's card and gave us the queue no. There was a lot of patients and all of them were adults with fever or cough. I still hoping that Eya would see the doctor first. We waited to be called and realised that here, all cases will be treated the same. Eya had vomitted again for a couple of times for the 1 hour we waited. Eventhough she vomitted in front of the nurse, she still acted like it was a normal thing. If you are an adult, maybe its okay but she is just a baby. She need the doctor more than the rest.

After an hour, she was called and luckily the doctor was good. If he was the typical Az-Zahra doctor, I will simply burst. She checked Eya thoroughly and concluded that it may be just a case of viral infection in the stomach. It was the first time I heard of such diagnosis. Usually, the viral infection caused fever. So, Eya had fever, diarrhoea and vomitting. He gave colic medicine and salt to be drank with water.

Eya still vomitted in the next morning and we decided to bring her to Assunta. Dr Mary said it maybe caused by food poisoning and prescribed Eya with some medicine. She was quite better in the afternoon but still was not her usual self. Until now, she still have the diarrhoea. Maybe I need to revisit Dr Mary.

Who is this??

2008-10-28T09:52:00.002+08:00

By now, Eya has know all of her family by names. She can recognise them if I point to anyone in a picture.

So, last weekend, I showed her my wedding pictures. She can identified her opah, dede, acu, abah, her ayah and mama. The weird thing was when I point to a MIA family member, she couldn't recognised that person. She went blank for a while and uttered the word 'nenek'.

This made me wonder whether kids have short term memory. That person has been missing from our life for a few months and Eya cannot remember her anymore.

Thats why every week when we chat with her dede, we would use webcam and always shows her the picture of her dede. Abo will not be here for 2 years and I don't want her to forget her dede.

This show that you need to be near kids always and don't leave them for a long time. You may risk the possibility of they not knowing you.

Something about the house is settled...

2008-10-25T13:17:00.003+08:00

There are a lot of things need to be settled when you buy a house. As for me, I was not that lucky as I was not a government servant. They only have to pay 1K for the deposit, but for me, it was 5K. That thing has been settled much earlier.

I also didn't get 100% loan for the house. I need to pay 10% of the price, again something that I was not lucky. I do not have that much money, so I need to withdraw my EPF Acct II for that purpose.

Before I can apply for the EPF, I need to get a bank loan and also the SNP signed. Research was done on which bank offered the lowest interest rate, and the bank must be the developer panel banks. If not, the lawyer fees will be so expensive. I managed to get one in 2 weeks time.

Then, I have to wait for the SNP to be ready. It takes about 2 months for it to be ready. The lawyer expenses amounting to RM650 need to be paid. For the land title, I need to pay another RM4K.

After the loan and SNP was ready, we applied to withdraw our EPF Acct II. It was not that much, but it help to pay off the 10% deposit and the payment for the land title. The rest of the money is saved to pay for the kitchen cabinet.

We heard from others and read from Internet forum, that it takes up to a month before the application is approved. I read all the procedures, download all the necessary forms, make copies of all the documents before I applied. The officer told us that it takes 2 weeks for any application to be approved and it depends on the officer itself. After 3 weeks if no money is being deposited into our account, we need to check with the EPF office that we made our application.

So, we decided that only after 2 weeks we would check our bank account. Then, one day, which is exactly a week after we applied, I was so shocked to learn that the money had been deposited. It was very fast. Having everything in order, the forms, document everything maybe had helped to speed up the approval process. I was the first to get the money and when hubby checked his account, no money was in the account.

Again, I was worried. I afraid that hubby application was rejected. The next day, I sent an enquiry through the EPF website and it takes only a few hours for the EPF officer to reply my email. EPF has proved that they are a very good service provider. Hopefully, their service can remain this good forever.

Once hubby got the money, we made bank draft and paid the 10% deposit. We was so relieved that a part of the house has been settled. After this will be the phase where we need to pay the interest payment.

It will be another 2 years before the house is ready but we need to save money for the house. The grills, lighting, cabinet, new furnitures, etc.

I have 2 brothers and 1 sister...

2008-10-24T16:59:00.002+08:00

***This entry is for my family reading only. If you are not interested, please do not read it. It is quite an emotional entry. You are warned!!!***

You must wonder why I suddenly want to highlight to the public that I have 2 brothers and 1 sister. Yes, I think all of my close friends or even strangers need to know that I am the second from 4 siblings. Some of you might be confused with these fact. You may refer to my lil sis blog entry of why I need to tell the world about this.

I was quite a patient person. From young, I was told to give in to that other person. Anything, you just named it. Clothing, mom had to buy us the same design, material as she will be jealous if she get something different from me. If I had a fight with her, I need to 'mengalah' as I'm the older sister. She was borned 1 year after me, which means I only had 1 year to get the full attention of mom and dad. But, being a sister, I do not mind as I know a sister should protect her younger sister.

When we grew older, I didn't see her that much as I went to different schools and later, went to a boarding school. So, we were not that close.

Then, when I was in uni, in a relationship with hubby, she also was in a relationship with her ex-bf. This was such a bad influence of her. I was by her side for a lot of things that our family did not know. At that time, I knew she really need my support and help. I did the best I could do to help her.

The most unforgiven thing that she did was during my wedding. I was so frustrated with her and some people at that time because of some horrid things that she did. I was so lucky to have mom's support and hubby's companionship to go through this problem. I never forget what she did to me. Because of that, I vowed to do something if she ever get married. But, don't worry, it will not be something as horrid as what she did to me.

Now, she did something bad again. We, the 4 of us, didn't really care if she doesn't acknowledge us as her siblings. In fact, we are happy she did that. Without her, we are really happy and all the moments we spend together is just pure heaven.

But, just like what my sis said, please think of what you are doing to mom. Although, she never express her concern about you missing in our life, deep in her heart, she misses you. I don't know why you are being so stupid by ignoring her. A short call, a simple sms will do. I don't think that is too hard for anyone to do. She sacrificed a lot of things for you.

You kept saying she is unfair to you. Before you throw that sentences, please take a look at yourself in the mirror.

Why we ignore you? You are the one who create stupid, untrue story. You always tried to create havoc in the family. But, me and the other 3 do not really care. Again, we are happy without you.

As for my daughter, as long as I live, I would not allow her to meet you. As long she is under my care, she will not meet you. Although mom had advised me that this is wrong, I simply don't care. Why should she be meeting someone that doesnt give a damn about her. I think by now you should have your own nephews and nieces, and maybe your own daughter or son. Maybe its original or someone else that you shared with your 'laki'. Please don't disturb my daughter or nephew for that matter.

If you ever come back home, I will not return to that house. I would not let my family to be under the same roof as you. I am not the one who made the mistake. It was you. You should ask for apologize from us, not the other way round.

Please do not create more stupid stories to strangers or anyone else to ask for more sympathy. Whatever that you do, we are happy especially without you. All of our trips together, vacations is much more happier and calmer without you.

I think even my daughter now forget that she ever have you as her makcik. For now and ever, she only have her acu and maklong.

Raya 2008

2008-10-09T15:04:00.006+08:00

Hubby and Eya...

Us with the kids...

This Raya was kind of different to me. First of all, we do not follow our normal raya traditions. Instead of baking and cooking on the raya eve, this time we finished everything early. By noon of raya eve, everything was ready. All of us had some extra time to do last minute shopping at Jusco. This was the first time we ever have extra time on raya eve.

Adik and me were in charge of baking all the cakes and cookies. Adik was brave enough to bake cake sandwich this year, which was something that we must have during raya. We also modified our chocolate chip cookies, instead of the normal walnut, this time we used macadmia nut. It was expensive. For a small packet, it cost about RM8. However, the result was great. Our cookies taste almost similar to Famous Amos.

Mom and Abo cooked rendang and sambal goreng.My rendang limpa this year (cooked by mom) was so great. Its the best mom ever cooked. Rendang was cooked a day earlier.

Sambal goreng was also modified this year. We cut the ingredients bigger so all of us can easily choose what item we like to eat. Before this, everything was so small and it takes us the whole day just to cut all the items. As Abo said, this year sambal goreng was cooked with lots of LOVE, SINCERITY, HARMONY & everything NICE !. Although along said it taste not so good as before, the three of us agreed this was the best sambal goreng.

Abo also treated us to a nice buka puasa buffet before he left for his degree, on the weekends before raya. After that, the 4 of us together with our cousin, nabila went to buy jeans at Pertama Complex. It was such a great moment. Eya and Zidane was asleep after the dinner and we left them with their opah.

On the day of Raya, the guys went for sembahyang sunat while the girls prepare breakfast. Eya was an early riser that day as usual. I dressed her with the new baju kurungs we prepared for her. This year she got 2 baju kurungs. By the way, our color theme for this year was blue, along was green while cu's family was turqoise.

Adik was our photographer for the day. She snapped about 150 pics for the first raya. We did a lot of different pose for that day.

My Only Family....Loves all of you...

This year raya was a little different as we going to send abo to the airport later that day. He is going to UK for his degree in electronics. Everybody important to the family were there, including several of Abo's friends.He went in about 11 pm. Adik and along were the saddest. They hugged and cried. As for me, I was sad too but I really couldn't cry. My one and only little brother. Make us proud. Next year raya, it will be just adik and me again.

Salam Aidilfitri

2008-09-26T09:56:00.006+08:00

I've stopped giving out traditional kad raya years ago. Its maybe after I started working. Giving raya card is something that I look forward when I was studying. Now, as e-card is easily available and with the help of blogs, its become easier for me to wish everyone 'Selamat Hari Raya'.

Note: E-card was courtesy of www.speedfinger.org

First Part:

I would like to generally wish all my best friends Selamat Hari Raya and Maaf Zahir dan batin.

For my special friends:

To Masyu, Selamat Hari Raya. I hope you could forgive me for any kutukan, sindiran, sesi umpatan bersama, email2 panas (if any) and anything that I might do that may hurt your feelings. I hope you will enjoy your raya with your family in Teluk Intan and do enjoy eating all the food especially lemang and rendang. Jangan risau sangat, tak lari ke mana TLS tu.

To Nurul and Ira, Selamat Hari Raya. Eventhough we may not be that close now, I still considered you as my best friends. I do apologize if I did something wrong to you, e.g. not contacting you as much as I can, didn't come to any events that you hosted. Irr, still terkilan pasal takleh gi potluck hari tu. Lain kali, aku try sedaya upaya untuk pergi. Enjoy your raya with family. If any of you is in Perak for this raya, do come to hubby's house.

To Oya, maybe you don't know about this blog but I still want to wish you something. I really hope you will be here to celebrate the raya. I just hope this year you have a nice celebration with Kairil.

Second Part:

To all my Sussex friends, especially Amy, Bett, Evi, An, lil Ardini, Indah, Rozi, Nor, Mas, Seha, Selamat Hari Raya and Maaf Zahir Batin from me and hubby. Really miss the old time.

To all my blogger friends, especially to all the links in here, although we never met, I really loves our cyber friendship. Selamat Hari Raya and selamat bergembira di kampung halaman. Don't forget to keep blogging...

Last but the most important part:

I really don't know how to do all the raya forgiveness drama, so I try to put here what I really want to say during that moment.

To abang, I really want to apologize for all my wrongdoings to you. Only you know what. Thank you for really understanding me.

To Eya, my baby, lil angel, this is your second raya. Its the first raya when you can walk and speak. Its going to be havoc. Mama loves you soooooooooooo(infinity) much.

To along and kaklong, this will be your first raya with Zidane. Enjoy it. Its awesome. Sorry for any mistakes that I might have done. Selamat Hari Raya. To Zidane, Selamat menyambut your first Aidilfitri! Makyang loves you so very much!

To abo, I don't know whether I can send you or not, but forgive me for any mistakes that I might have done to you. Have a nice raya celebration there. Remember me when you eat the choc. chip cookies. Really going to miss you. Next year, make sure you send the Salam Perantauan to us.

To adik, you are the best sister anyone could ever have. Thanks for everything you have done/bought for me. Although I'm the big sister, I want to apologize for any inappropriate actions that I have done. Enjoy your raya even if you're alone.

To mom, I will apologize to you personally. But, in here, I just want to say, forgive me for anything that I do to you that may hurt your feelings. Forgive me for my mistakes. Forgive me for everything.

I hope everyone will have a great Raya this year. I couldn't wait for malam raya when I will sit in front of TV to watch all the sampaikan. Need to finish baking a few more cookies and cakes. Only once a year.

Happy 2nd Birthday, my baby...

2008-09-26T09:40:00.004+08:00

Eya turned '2' on 24/9. Again, her birthday fell during Ramadhan, just like last year. I wanted her birthday this year to be something special for her to remember. Just a small party with my family.

No special, advanced preparation was needed. A week before, I booked Opera cake from Coffee Bean near my house. I didn't want to buy something cheesy as Eya don't like it. Her presents had already been bought a few days before her birthday.

Mom cooked her famous mihun goreng which became our main meal for berbuka puasa. I also ordered pizza as additional food. One great thing about pizza hut now is now as I can order online and pay using Maybank2u. I simply loves everything that has Maybank2u method of payment.

I dressed Eya in a lovely tier, pink dress I bought some time ago. I really couldn't believe that my daughter has grown so much. How time flies? I really want her to stay as a toddler as long as possible but that would not happen.

We put her in the highchair and started singing her birthday song. Everybody sang and suddenly, she started crying. Its so funny. This behavior she got it from my family side. All of us hate it when people sing to us birthday song. I don't know why but all of us really cannot stand it.
We just continue to finish the song and I guided her to cut the cake.

Later that night, Eya had a present opening ceremony. Thanks to Abah+Maklong and Acu for the lovely gifts. I'm so happy that she loves the present that I got her. The scribble pad however had some problem. The stylus/pen was missing and we need to go back to Toys'r'us to replace or to get a refund.

Overall, she had a good birthday celebration that night.

Happy 2nd birthday, Eya...

From mama and ayah....

Counting the days to 24/9...

2008-09-23T10:03:00.003+08:00

Its 2 more days until Eya's birthday. We finally managed to get her something for her birthday. We went to The Curve last Sunday to have a look at ELC toys, especially the drawing easel and the kitchen. I did some info-searching from the UK ELC website and fell in love with the 2 items.

I was shocked to know the Malaysian prices. It was so expensive and I don't think I should buy it for her yet. So, we decided to go to Toys'r'Us to buy her presents. During our window shopping, we bumped into Dato' Rafidah Aziz with her family. She was so damn rich that she could buy the large house, complete with all the furnitures for every room for her grand-daughter. I bet it cost her thousands.

As the present shopping was not successful, we did few shoppings for Eya and Zidane. As for mom, I bought her 'kasut raya' and all of us shared to buy her a 'beg raya'.

And yesterday, me and hubby went to MidValley to get her present. We really hope we could find suitable present for her. The Toys'r'us shop in MV was not that big but we managed to find the best present for her.

We bought her a scribble pad with colors, which was portable so she can draw anywhere she likes. And we bought her a set of MegaBlok, just for her to increase her imagination and creative skills. So, everything has been wrapped up and just waiting for Wednesday. It will not be a big party, just a cake and mom's cooking for the day.

Eya birthday is coming soon...

2008-09-19T08:19:00.005+08:00

Last year, for Eya 1st birthday, we got her a 2-in-1 walker that can be converted into a small car. It was a worth-the-money purchase as she learned to walk using that item.

For this year, we were quite lost on what to get her. We thinking on something that related to drawing, something like drawing easel, set of color pencil, etc. It was the first thing that came to our mind as she really loves drawing. If she goes to any store, the first thing she will grab will be book and color pencils. However, buying those things will be like common things we always bought her.

We also thinking of getting her a kitchen as she loves playing masak-masak. She has her set of kitchen utensil so getting her a kitchen maybe good.

Bears is too common and she has a few already. Dolls, strictly a no.

What else, seriously, I'm running out of idea????

Eya a singer, huh!!!

2008-09-19T08:19:00.002+08:00

Eya, being a toddler likes to mimic what other people are doing. She is a fast learner.

In the car, she loves to sing along to the songs she hear on the radio. For the last few months until now, her favourite song will be Aizat's song, Hanya Kamu. She can sing the chorus on her own, especially the best part, "aku cinta, wooo, wooo".

So, last weekend, when we went back to Taiping, as we had nothing else to do, we asked her to sing in front of her opah tepen. She showed her skill from the first day we arrived. She went to her opah's bedroom and took her opah's tongkat. She used the tongkat as her microphone. We didn't showed her to use the tongkat as a mic. She also know how to improvise.

She sang the Aizat's song, burung kakaktua and lompat si katak lompat. The last 2 songs, I thought she learnt it from her nursery. I managed to capture her in action but going to upload it later.

She really sing like a pro. Everytime, she with her Opah, I will play the video again and again. How time flies? My baby girl has grow so much. Next week will be her birthday and we are thinking on what to get for her.

My Birthday Pressies...

2008-09-10T08:50:00.005+08:00

It was a day after Merdeka Day. In the old days, my mom told me that Merdeka Day was celebrated on the night of 31 August, not on the eve like what we currently are doing.

My mom wanted to celebrate the night and went to Dataran Merdeka. After the celebration, suddenly she feeling not that well and she knew she was going to deliver me. I was borned around 5 a.m. on 1st of September. I really like the 1st as all my other siblings were born on 11. Yes, 2 of them was born on the 11th. Only Along was born on the 18th but being the first child, he must be somewhat be different from all of us.

This year the celebration was not that great as it fell on the 1st day of Ramadhan. Nonetheless, hubby promised to take me for a buffet Ramadhan as my birthday treat. The last time we went for buffet Ramadhan was years ago as the price of a buffet nowadays is so ridiculous. Every year, hubby will treat me to somewhere special to have our dinner. This year he chose the place.

As for present, I received something great from my lil sis. Our birthday are quite near, as hers was in August. So, we decided to do some barter trade. I told her what I want and she told me her chosen present.

This year, I wanted to have a CD. She bought me Faizal Tahir, Aku.Muzik.Kamu cd. I really love it. Its either Faizal or Sheila on 7 cd, but I knew that Faizal have great songs. To adik, thanks so much. Now, think of what you want me to get for you.

Raya Shopping

2008-09-09T16:19:00.007+08:00

I was trained or taught by my family to do raya shopping months before raya. People will said, ' Puasa pun belum dah nak raya' but I felt its a waste of time to do shopping raya when places are so crowded. If you saw last week newspaper, you can see KL was packed to the brim with people. Claustrophobic is also the reason why I did my shopping early.

I bought my baju kurung material months ago, together with my mom and sis. That time, shops were empty and we are the only customers. I don't wait for sales that much as based on my experience as expert shoppers (konon!!); product during sales are product from last season or something they try to finish off. Sometimes, the price after reduction is the actual price. So, being a window shopper does bring benefits. Our baju kurung was also sent to tailor, Kak Hasnah months ago. Now, I think it is ready to be picked up.

Now, I don't really care much about baju raya. But as I need to go back 'beraya' at MIL's house, I need to have some new baju kurungs. I only make baju kurung once a year. Thats why I usually make 4-6 pieces every year. As for this year, I only made 4 baju kurungs.

My only focus is on Eya's raya preparation. I checked her wardrobe and found out she still has unworned clothes from my Bandung's trip. Quite a lot. She has grow up so much that she could fit almost in all the clothes. So, clothes was done. The only thing I need to get for her is shoes.

Her feet design is similar to her ayah, which is chubbier on top. Due to this, she can only wear certain kind of shoes. The only shoes she comfortable to wear until now is Crocs. So, we really have to find proper shoes to fit her cute feet.

Its been a long time since I bought her any shoes. So, as Raya for my reason to splurge on her, we decided to went to Sunway Pyramid to shop for her shoes. I only had one thing in mind, to buy her a Converse. It will look really cute on her. Luckily, Converse don't cost as much as other shoe brand. So, now, everything has been prepared to her. Couldn't wait to see her wearing her new shoes. I only need to pick her baju raya from the tailor, together with mine.

BTW, she also got a another new shoes from someone....

Eya's Converse...cute...

31st August 2008...

2008-08-31T21:25:00.001+08:00

Mom has planned to do kenduri doa selamat before the fasting month started. It was such a simple planning (according to my mom's standard). We decided to try a new caterer, which actually one of mom old, best friend. We suggested the menu and she said it was okay.

The only thing we need to do before the day was just to move the big sofas to outside. That's all. I really love kenduri at my mom's house as all the family members and close friends of Abo will be there. Cu's family came at 3 a.m. and we kind of expected it. Cu was known for his 'janji melayu'.

The day started around 9 and mom's marhaban clique started to arrive. Yes, mom decided to have a marhaban. Out of the blue, they suggested to have 'cukur jambul' for Zidane as well. Mom were quite stunned as we never do things without proper planning. We searched the house for nice bowl to place the cut hair and the 'bedak sejuk', nice tray cover to place all the bowls, the scissor and the leaf that was going to be used to wet the boy's hair.

Zidane was quite pleased with all the marhaban, and he even sang together. It was cute. We could hear him singing from the kitchen. Then, kaklong carried him while I carried the tray. Yes, I was trying to get some 'berkat' (blessing) from holding the tray. Who knows, after this I may have my own Zidane.

Later, in the noon, surau's men came to read some tahlil for my late dad. So, basically we have two sets of kenduri. One by the marhaban group for Zidane and the second was the tahlil for my dad.

After, everything was finished, we sat down, lepaking with all the family members and chatting. The boys together with mom's anak angkat/abo's friends ( a bunch of them) played cards. It was some kind of poker but instead of cash, they have to drink the syrup balance from the kenduri. One of them was so bloated at the end of the game.

The rest of us had a nice chit-chat. The main topic was about ghost or supernatural. Now, we know why Cu is such a scaredy cat. The chit chat last for few hours and then, we decided to watch 4Bia. It would be a really good complement. Chat about ghost and continue with ghost story. Really a good Thai horror movie. I really recommend watching it. While watching it, Kaklong and Aka cooked us Maggi Asam Laksa.

Eya with her acu....

Eya Here and There...

2008-08-26T13:19:00.002+08:00

Its almost 2 months since we moved to our rented house. We love it here. Every weekends, we will still 'balik kampung' to mom's house.

Every alternate week also, we will send Eya for her cuti sekolah (stay with opah for a week, away from nursery). We want Eya to have good sleep until noon, pampered by her opah and dede and free from my 'leteran'.

However, I noticed that every time we pick her up from her cuti-cuti at Opah', her attitude will change a little bit. This week, after we picked her up, it seems she a little bit garang.

Now, one of us have to sit with her every time she play in the living room. If not, she will scream and instruct us to 'duduk-duduk' (sit down), complete with angry expression and looking angry. But, she was really cute. Like what my mom said, 'macam guru besar sekolah'.

She also want to sleep in front of the tv every night. Only when she asleep, we would carry her to the bed. I assumed this she got by staying with her opah. My mom usually will fall asleep in front of the telly and later, abo will wake her up to go into the bedroom. So, I think this was where she learn to sleep in front of the telly. I am so annoyed with this attitude but knowing my mom, she will let her cucu does whatever she wants.

Eya also sometimes utter the word 'cebok' (sibuk/busybody) whenever someone scold her. She does this to everyone except me because she know that she couldn't mess with her mama.

And the cutest thing is she say the word 'no-no-no' complete with the hand gesture, escpecially when her acu disturb her or her ayah scold her. Yes, she was like a little makcik.

And up until now, she can count up to five, both in BM and English. Some words I taught her in English and some in BM, as when she with my mom, the medium will be totally in BM. At least, she knew both.

I also try to prevent her from watching 'tom-tom-bak'. For me, the programme is not useful. It teaches kids to be rude, and with all the talent show, some parents teach their kids some stupid things. How can a 5-year old dance provocatively with songs from PCD or even songs like 'makhluk tuhan paling seksi'? Don't teach your children that. Better teach them traditional dance like a school in Johor or if you have money, send your kids to ballet, or music lessons. Others programme in Astro Ceria is ok, I only have problem with tom-tom-bak and I hate the boy host in it.

She also loves cartoon. When she stays with my mom, all-day long, her dede will play movies like Finding Nemo, Happy Feet, Lion King, etc. She knows where to find the DVD and once she find it, she will ask her dede to play it for her. Nobody can stop her and for a week, her opah, acu and dede cannot watch other programs except for cartoons and Ceria. Pity them...

Tag along....here it goes...

2008-08-19T09:21:00.002+08:00

My little sis tagged me, so to honour her request, I just play along...

1. the rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. at the end of the game the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves a comment, letting them know they got tagged and ask them to play and read your blog.

starting time : 0922

name : arale
sisters : niez
brothers : along & abo
shoe size : depends on brand...the largest will be 8..
height : 5'5
where do you live : kepong n bangi.
favourite drinks : fresh orange, hot chocolate
favourite breakfast : nasi goreng with sambal tumis...
have you ever been on a plane : been on it a few times
swam in the ocean : don't know how to swim...
fallen asleep in school : I'm known for this...pernah kena balik kapur ngan cikgu wan masa add math..
broken someone's heart : pernah sekali...balas dendam kat org tu...
fell off your chair : waktu sekolah rendah...
sat by the phone and waited for someone to call : yup...waktu kwn ngan somebody...

what is your room like : simple...ada bed je...ikut fengshui...takleh byk2 benda...
what's right beside you : assignment bebudak....
what is the last thing you ate : nasi goreng for bf...

ever had...
chicken pox : ada masa darjah 6...jangkit ngan abo...masa baby pun ada gak..
sore throat : kdg2...
stitches : ada kot tp dah hilang...
broken nose : never...

do you...
believe in love at first sight : nope...tipu je benda2 ni..
like picnics : maybe if with my family...
who was, were the last person you danced with : kaki bangku...
last made you smile : my lil' angel
you last yelled at : takde kot...

today did you..
talk to someone you like : my hubby...
kissed anyone : my hubby...
get sick : tak..
talk to an ex : gila apa...
miss someone : sure...my baby...ada kat kampung...
eat : just ate my bf...
best feeling in the world : no...hv a lot to do....
do you sleep with stuffed animals : no need...i hv bigger version of stuff animal...

what's under your bed : tak tgk...habuk kot....tp baru sapu weekends lps...
who do you really hate : really hate tak kot....tp hatelah jugak...
what time is it now : 0930

5 things I was doing 10 years ago
1. 1st yr at uniten...
2. just got to know hubby...
3. jalan jauh gi kelas...
4. get to spend my time with Notorious X.I.S.
5. stay at ILSAS hostel...selalu takde air...

5 things on my to-do list today
1. finish marking assignment
2. finish marking quizzes
3. finishing up my paper
4. surfing
5. maybe games later....

5 snacks i enjoy
1. cakes from secret recipe/coffee bean
2. kuih lapis...mkn selapis-selapis
3. ice-cream
4. goreng pisang
5. keropok lekor

5 things i would do if i were a billionaire
1. buy better home..
2. settle my debt
3. travel around the world with my whole family
4. buy better car...BMW M5...
5. gi haji with my family...settle benda penting dulu....

5 of my bad habits
1. over-thinking...tu yg selalu kena migrain...
2. sometimes perfectionist
3. stress easily
4. garang...
5. once i hate somebody, it will be forever..( tp susah nk benci org)

5 places i have lived in
1. tmn bukit maluri
2. kuantan, pahang
3. uniten, bangi
4. nilai
5. mantin

5 people i'm tagging
-sorry, hv to broke this one rule...

Food makes me different from you...

2008-07-28T16:52:00.002+08:00

I'm quite choosy and picky when it comes to food. My friends always said that I'm weird. For me, I do admit that I'm quite different to other people when it involves food.

I don't like fillings, any kind of fillings especially in local kuih, especially karipap or even tarts or pastries. I will only eat the pastries.

As for ABC, I only have mine served of ice, syrup and milk. I always asked for extra milk as I don't want the extra things. Cendol, it is served only with ice, coconut milk and syrup. No green stuff for me.

I only eat plain cakes. I love butter cakes and plain cheese cakes. I don't eat cakes with creams, nuts or any extra ingredient. I loves only Indulgence from Secret Recipe and Opera from Coffee Bean. Other than that, I don't eat it.

I never eat durian. However, the weird thing is I love tempoyak and can eat bubur durian, but only the kuah not the durian. Maybe because my mom is a perakian and my abah was from KL, so I got a mixed genes.

I only eat certain types of fish. I don't eat fish that is handsome (e.g. keli and haruan). Luckily, I gave birth using normal method, so I don't have to eat haruan. Because I hate the fish, I vow to deliver my future babies normally. I only eat fish from the sea, which are kembung, bawal and tenggiri. These are my favorites. As for non-sea fish, I only can eat talapia merah. Others than that is a serious no-no.

I also eat certain fruits only. I love apple, oranges and rambutan. As for rambutan, my mom and MIL will peel the fruits and keep the peeled ones in fridge for me. At home, hubby will do it for me.

I don't like western food. If I go to Chillis or TGI, I order burger or sandwich. I cannot eat large portion of beef or chicken.

I love rice. Any kind of rice, especially the fried one. Thats why I cannot diet like other people. Rice is something that I need everyday, at least once a day.

I only loves squid. I don't like other kind of seafood. Only squid and some type of fish. If people serve me prawn, I will only eat if hubby around. Because, he will peel the skin off for me. If not, no prawn for me. I also don't like crab as it is a waste. Expensive but little meat.

I loves mamak food. Maybe because abah introduced it to me since I was small. Especially nasi kandar line clear. Really heart for it...

Internet vs. LCD Tv

2008-07-25T12:37:00.004+08:00

Yesterday, hubby asked me: "Which item do you like me to buy for the house?? Internet or LCD tv??

If for me, I would take the latter one, as I use Internet from 8 till 6 in the afternoon. Once I get back home, its all tv and family for me.

The cost for a month is similar. Internet you get almost anywhere, as for the TV, it a purchase that you will be really satisfied. You get to watch movies in larger screen and better viewing.

So, I hope you will make the right decision...

My BIGGEST purchase...

2008-07-25T12:16:00.002+08:00

I've been thinking of buying a landed-property as the current one that we have is a pigeon-hole. Somewhere not on the ground, and up in the sky. At first, I think we could live in it until we grow older, until the time when Eya has married, that kind of storyline. But, seriously, I really need a proper home where all my children can play in their own yard.

Seriously, I don't think I could afford it. Our current financial standing is just nice, plus having a liability of need to pay for an apartment that we don't live in. Don't get me wrong. I love the apartment. Its hubby first purchase and we have been living in it for a few years. I do love it...

I just could not go to any show house because I feel sad that I could not buy my own house. Almost all the new house cost more than a quarter of a million.

Hubby kept asking me if we need to buy a new house. I said just go for it if you can find me a nice modern house, that has an installment less than 1.5k. Hubby knowing that I had give the green light, start looking for every house that he could searched for.

Then, he told me that there was a new house launching at Bangi. He said the design was something that he knew I would love. So, last weekend we went to see the show house and guess what, it was love at first sight.

The house has a modern design, not the normal square house you always see. It really something that I would fall for. We had a few chit chats with the agents, asking about the procedures everything, and thought we really have to buy the house.

I asked for mom's opinion a.k.a approval and she was okay with it. The booking cost was a lot as I'm not a government staff but I was determined to buy it. So, I put my thinking hat on and thought how to get the booking deposit. Luckily, I did managed to accumulate the sum needed.

As some of my friends said to me (even hubby), this was my first quick decision in making a mega purchase. They were really shocked. They told me that it was like buying a cookie.

So, the house has been booked and now, its time to find the bank loan. With hubby effort, we managed to get a best deal from a bank and now, I'm gathering all the documents needed.

BTW, the house will only be ready by mid-2010. I really need to be extra careful with my spending after this. But again, its something for my family. I really envy people with wealthy parents who can buy them everything, even a house. For me, I need to do it with my own hard-earned greens.

The 'kais pagi makan pagi, kais petang makan petang' phase had begin. Brace yourself....

A week in the new house...

2008-07-13T12:35:00.002+08:00

Its been exactly a week after we moved. Everything has been settled including the drilling, nailing, hanging of pictures, etc.

Even Astro has been installed. The most important item in our household. The one that we couldn't live without. I even called Astro for several times as the smart card didn't arrived after 3-5 working days. We were so desperate to get Astro. On Tuesday, we called mom and luckily the card did arrive. Fuuuhh....what a relief....

As for cooking, I only managed to cook on the 4th day, as something was wrong with the gas cylinder. At first hubby thought it was the head of the gas but after we bought a new one, it was still leaking. So, the next step was to buy a new cylinder. Luckily, it was okay.

Previously, hubby did all the cookings but as he was tired driving around, I think this time its better for me to cook. Unless, I want him to cook something special for me. Yes, he is a better cook than me. I knew all the theory and can cook all the main dish but I hate cooking. Hubby loves cooking, so as a win-win situation, I prepare everything and he will do the cooking. See, how our partnership work out great.

Eya on the other hand, sleep with us. Sometimes, we put her to sleep on her mattress beside the bed but as we have a huge bed, the size was enough for the three of us. We want her to sleep on her own bed in her own room but we still do not have the courage to let her sleep on her own.

And as agreed with mom earlier, we will come home every weekend to accompany her. Along also is moving out. Kaklong had found someone to take care of Zidane.

Shopping at IKEA...

2008-07-03T11:48:00.002+08:00

I had spent quite a lot of money for the moving process. It were for the deposit, lorry, and buying new items for the house.

As adik going to spend her Monday night at my home, we need to buy her a decent mattress. I got the bedframe for quite some time but until today, no mattress. So, it was among the important things to buy in our shopping list.

I also had to buy a new, small dining table as our previous one was quite large. We left it at our home and bought a new one from IKEA.

One could not go to IKEA and didn't buy all the small, cheap stuff. Every room, I bought a few stuffs and at the end, resulted in a lot of stuffs to be bought.

From my planned shopping list drafted earlier, the amount sky-rocketed to almost double the price. Luckily, I have some backup money to use. No more major shopping after this.

New Place to Call Home...

2008-07-03T10:53:00.003+08:00

After the disclosure of our decision to mom, we had started the moving process. I took a leave just to pack all my stuff. Although, I had lived in the house for a few good years, our stuff was not that many. Me and hubby like minimalist design. It took us half a day to do all the packing up.

Last Saturday, we met the house owner together with the agent. They seemed like very nice people. The husband was around hubby's age and surprise, the wife is a TNB-ICT staff and she knew all my friends. Currently, she is on study-leave, doing her master at UPM.

The next day, hubby went to our home to move the packed stuff into our new rented house. We still use the same lorry, the one we used to move to our home few years back. Their service was quick and more importantly, cheap.

Next week, I'm going to take another leave as to tidy up the house and unpacking all my stuff.

COIT Family Day '08

2008-06-28T12:49:00.004+08:00

It was hard for us to organize our own Family Day. The same issues arised and just to prove that we can have great time without them, we still proceed with the plan.

The COIT Family Day was organized at Desa Waterpark. Hubby didn't join us as he works on Saturday, so it were only me and Eya. Some of my colleagues brought their children and Eya had fun playing with them.

I went there with Masyu and arrived there around 9 a.m. Kak Hani and family was the first family to arrive. With our committee effort, we managed to buy great presents, fab door gift from Masyu and the committee and nice bf and lunch provided by the park.

As Eya went in, she saw the water and straight wanted to have a dip in it. She really loves water. Some thing that she did not inherit from me and hubby.

The others went to play the telematch games, while me, Eya, Kak Sherry and her baby stayed to play and at the same time, to guard the others stuffs. Eya played around 2 hours, till 11 a.m. and I thought she was exhausted. I was wrong. After she got her drinks, she still wanted to go in the water. I had to stop her as I afraid that she might get a fever as the sun was really hot.

I changed her and fed her lunch. The others got their present and the event was finished after that. We went back to Masyu's house, got changed and later hubby picked us up.

I think we need to bring her to Desa Waterpark again.

We're going to move...

2008-06-19T10:43:00.004+08:00

Me and hubby think that this is the best decision. We need to move to somewhere nearer to our workplace. Thanks to Pak Lah and his people, which was among the reasons why I need to move.

The first thing that we have to be concern was mom's feelings. I could still remember the day when me and hubby wanted to move out to our own house. It was 6 years back, a few months after we'd married. She was so sad, devastated that she wouldn't talk to us for a few days, and that was when it just me and hubby. Now, with Eya, I really scared that she will be sad even more.

It took some courage for hubby to spill it out to her. Hubby told her our plan during our tea time at Coffee Bean last Sunday. Interestingly, she took the news calmly, but who knows, maybe inside her, Katrina typhoon was just starting. The words came out of her mouth was, 'Suka hati koranglah, dah besar, ada keluarga. Mak takleh nak halang'.

I told her not to worry as we will come home every week as Eya too will feel the lost. She has been surrounded by her aunts and uncles, opahs since her birth. Now, she will be living with her mama and ayah only. That will be a new environment for her.

Back to why I need to move. First, as everybody else, it was the hike in fuel prices. Every month, I spend at least RM400 on fuel alone. I travel to and fro every day about 100km. Now, with fuel being at RM2.70 per litre, I will spend more than that. I really couldn't afford that.

Next reason. Hubby always go for outstation at least once in every 2 weeks. I need to arrange my transport with abo every time. I'm lucky if abo can drive me back from home, else, I need to drive alone in the heavy traffic jam from Bangi to Kepong. So, being nearer to office, I can drive on my own or if hubby drives the car, I can go to work with my friends.

I also need to raise my daughter on my own, without intervention from others. She is growing and she really need to know her limits. Its not that living with your family, you could not raise your daughter properly. Its just being the first grandaughter, niece in the family, she tend to be spoiled by everybody.

I also need to have some privacy with hubby, which sometimes hard to find if you live with all of your siblings. Hubby also need to take charge sometimes.

Being a very calculative person, I think I can save some money by living nearer to my office. No more tolls, less fuel consumption and more family time for the three of us.

To my family, I love all of you and don't think that I'm moving out just because I don't like your company. To mom, don't worry. I'll be back every week so Eya can hang out with her opah.

My First Nephew...

2008-05-28T18:59:00.005+08:00

-Zid, My First Nephew-

Kaklong safely delivered her first child this morning by caesarean at around 9.30 a.m in Assunta Hospital. Along didn't went in as Dr Menon was not comfortable having the husband during the operation. Dr Menon was also my gynae during my pregnancy, but Eya was delivered by Dr Liew as he was in Australia for a vacation. Zid also has the same paed as Eya, Dr Mary.

The baby was named Shafique Zidane. His name begin with 's' as Kaklong name also begin with 's' and along's name begin with 'z'. Zidane was given by adik.

His weight was 3.3 kg, a little bit smaller than Eya during birth but I bet he must be chubby as he grows. Just look at both side of the family.

Eya must have felt a little bit inferior as everyone gave zid their full attention. She is now called yong, following the Perak tradition, Yong for the first daughter in the family.

We still didnt decide on what to call him yet. Adik will decide on that. For now, he is called boog. Why? We just wacthed Open Season and the main character in it was so cute. Boog was his name.

Counting the hours...

2008-05-27T09:50:00.003+08:00

My SIL was admitted to hospital last Sunday as her water broke. Not that kind of broke that its time to deliver but just an early warning.

She is expected to deliver tomorrow by caesarean, at almost 38 weeks of pregnancy. She will have to deliver by caesar as the baby is not coming down and the amniotic fluid is decreasing.

Today, she will start fasting for the operation tomorrow, at 8 a.m. I don't know how long a caesar ops take but I really hope it will finish quick. I couldn't wait to see my first nephew.

Why the anxiety? Its my first nephew unlike my other siblings who have Eya as their first niece. This will be their second. Its great that my along first child is a boy. By tomorrow, my mom will has a pair of grandchildren, a girl and a boy.

Maybe I have to take a day leave just to witness the birth of my first nephew. Couldn't wait...

BTW, we have already call him 'zid'. The full name will have to wait until tomorrow.

Help me...

2008-05-24T18:38:00.002+08:00

I don't have the ability to reveal everything in this blog. Why the title? I'm so stressed out.

Its not because of my work, my 2 beloved but something else.

I have found the solution but I don't know whether is the correct decision.

I broke down in tears just thinking about it. I don't have enough patience to deal with it. It can cause me to hurt everything near me.

Abang, I hope we had made the correct decision.

I just want to apologize to anyone who think that I've hurt their feelings.

I'm really sorry...

Its All About Love

2008-05-23T11:07:00.005+08:00

I've learned about this music video from Vern's website.

I really fell in love with it when I watched the clip. It was started by Pete Teo, who later invited all his fellow artistes friends, who contributed their voices, skills and time to do this video.

I simply loves the fact that the contributors came from diverse background, which shows how united Malaysian is.

I love the video for having all my fav M'sia artiste.

Thanks you guys for creating the best video ever.

p/s: Support their effort by clicking the link above to download the video.

What can Eya do now??

2008-05-22T12:50:00.002+08:00

My lil angel is growing and its hard to track her new development. Before she was born, I bought a baby diary to monitor her progress but I only used the book until she was a few months old. With the existence of blog, it is easier for me to write about her development in this blog of mine.

For now, she is almost 2 years old. She has a few months left before she reach her '2' digit.

She is very talkative. She can mimic what other people say. So, now we have to be very careful on what we are saying. She can say her own name, as well as a few other words that my family usually use.

She also call her acu by adek (my youngest sister). Her acu is trying so hard to get her to pronounce acu. Sometimes she call her de-de(ayah-de) with his name, abo. She tend to call them by their name as other family members call adek and abo (their names).

I tried to wean her off her 'mak' ( this is what she called her 'pacifier). By now, she is okay without her mak but when she wants to sleep, she need to have it. Still have to work on that one.

We called her 'Duracell Bunny' as she never stop playing. I don't know where she got the extra energy to play non-stop. (Mom, stop worrying as why she couldn't be more tembam)

She loves shopping more than I do. And worse, she know where the cashier is. When we go to a shop, she will pick her own item (she just know that its meant for children), and carry the item to the cashier. She will do this every time we go to departmental store.

She called her shoes 'ko-ko. Why ko-ko? It meant for her crocs. She doesnt know how to pronounce crocs, and ko-ko just come out of her mouth. Now, for every shoes she has, she call them ko-ko. For other people shoes, she call 'ke-ke'.

Everytime someone open their laptop, she will ask for 'pooh-pooh'. That means she want that person to open the official disney winnie the pooh website.

Loves book so much. Any kind of book. She can pretend to read it for a long time. And, she also loves to write. Now, I have to find the replacement for her washable magic pen.

And last, she loves advertisement with kids in it. She will stop doing whatever her doing, when she hear kids voices in the advertisement.

My 1st Tag...

2008-05-13T10:06:00.003+08:00

I've never been tagged before and this is my first tag. I do it as the tag came from my sis, else, I would just ignore it. Its also a simple way for me to write as the blog was empty for quite a long time. So, this is it...

7 RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME:

1) Love Winnie the Pooh so much (now Eya inherits it)
2) Quite an organized person
3) Love Arale Norimaki so much and also Dr Slump characters
4) Love reading chick-lits
5) Has to eat rice-based food at least once a day
6) Loves movie but has cut down due to Eya
7) Loves travelling, even going to somewhere near its okay for me...

7 THINGS THAT SCARE ME:

1) Clown
2) Dark
3) Water (a big mass of water, e.g. ocean, river, etc.)
4) Losing my hubby and angel
5) Ghost or any supernatural thingie
6) Jobless a.k.a. no money to spend
7) Tight spaces (I'm a claustrophobic)

7 RANDOM MUSIC AT THE MOMENT:

1) Ayu - Sampai bila
2) N Sync -Lions Sleep Tonight
3) Eagles - Hotel California
4) Il Divo - Unbreak My Heart
5) Matta Band - Ketahuan
6) The Rock - Munajat Cinta
7) Aizat - Hanya kau yang mampu

7 THINGS I SAY THE MOST:

1) Thanks
2) Ye ke
3) Bye
4) Bu Bu (for Eya)
5) OK
6) jap ye
7) yek

7 THINGS I TREASURE THE MOST:

1) my hubby
2) my angel
3) yours truly
4) my mom, siblings (family)
5) my bangle collection
6) my memories with abang for the whole 9 years and still counting
7) all of my items, including clothes, novel, etc.

7 “FIRST TIME” THINGS I EVER DID:

1) leave in foreign country
2) resign from my 1st job
3) study for my master
4) being a wife to my beloved abang
5) being a mom
6) went to my dream destination
7)went back to M'sia on my own (transit somewhere)

7 PEOPLE TO DO THIS:

I won't tag anyone, just feel free if you want to do it.

Happy Mother's Day, Mak....

2008-05-11T12:32:00.003+08:00

For every mother's day, I will treat my mom for a lunch. I only buy her present for her birthday. That is my tradition since I started working.

This year as all my siblings are around, we decided to treat mom for lunch together, meaning everybody will share to pay for the lunch.

I suggested to have the lunch at Waroeng Penyet but the menu was mainly rice-based. Then, at the last minute, we decided to got to Naili's Uptown. I even browsed thru their menu at their website and had decided on what me and hubby going to eat the next day.

On that day, when we arrived at Naili's, it seemed it had been closed and being replaced by a new restaurant. I didn't know what happened to Nailis, maybe it had gone bankrupt or maybe they couldn't stand the competition in Uptown. So, adhoc decision was to go to Curve and simply chose any restaurant.

Once there, we chose to have our mother's day lunch at Vivo. The menu was so vast, and we had trouble choosing our food and drinks.

-My adik and mom...-

For mom, Happy Mother's Day. You are the best mom ever. Thanks for everything you have done for me. Everything that I do in my life is dedicated for you, mom....

Makan Besar @ Klang

2008-04-30T12:07:00.005+08:00

My lil sis just got a scholarship for her degree studies and decided to treat the family for a makan besar. As our nucleus family is quite big, the most economical treat will be seafood.

I helped her to find the place and after a few searches on the Internet and suggestion from hubby, we decided to go to Muara Ikan bakar at Klang. As the place was known for its crowd, and we supposed to go a day before the labour day, I asked hubby to book a place.

I went there with Cu and his family, as it took ages if I had to go back home first. The journey to Klang was a terrible one, as the traffic jam started from Federal Highway. We managed to arrive there on time (afraid our booked place would be given to another person).

I ordered all the main item as adik was not that familiar with ordering food. (As usual, the elder sis had to do everything). I ordered 3 portions, as we occupied 3 tables. The usual item for seafood restaurants was ordered. It includes fish (siakap and kerapu), prawns, squid (my fav), tomyam for my maksu and all the side dishes.

The service was quick, as it was a working day and it was not that crowded. We had the longest table that night. A family came in later and asked about their reserved table. They kept staring at our table and making (angry) stupid faces, as if we had took their table.

When I arrived and asked about our reservation, the waitress simply said,"Its Mr Rizal's, right?". Yes, hubby was the only person reserved for that night and that family can simply thought that we stole their table. And another family, came to our table and waited for us to leave the table as we got the longest and comfortable table.

The most surprising thing that night was all of my siblings including my 2 cousins were wearing black t-shirt. It was noticed by my mom. And, we never agree on wearing the same color.

To adik, thanks for the treat. Couldn't wait for the time when you get your first paycheck.....

All of us are SICK...

2008-04-18T07:49:00.003+08:00

I was the first one to get the fever. It was for 2 days. Then, hubby and mom were the next one to get it. The fever was a kind of fever that was on-off for a few days. Mom and hubby got better only after a week. And Eya was the last one to get it. And until today, she is not totally well. Luckily, she didn't got her bronchitis this time or else she will vomit several times a day.

It was viral fever that all of us got. At first, we all feared that hubby and mom got dengue fever but after blood test was done, they were cleared. Hubby was supposed to be admitted to hospital but as I couldn't manage with Eya being sick alone at home, mom who was also sick, hubby asked the doctor to stay at home. The doctor advised him to get another blood test just to rule out that he was totally clear from the dengue fever.

As I was the first one to get better, I had to sacrificed a few days of my annual leave for emergency leave. Hopefully, by the end of the year, I still have a few days left for hari raya leave.

A harness for her...

2008-04-02T10:59:00.005+08:00

I once said to myself, if I have a baby, I would wear her with a harness everytime we go out. Before this, I never see any baby strap with a harness but now, I think it is normal to see baby in them.

Once Eya has mastered the art of walking, it is time to buy her a harness. I saw one in Mothercare and it cost RM49. As I like to have a few choices, I went to a few local baby stores and they didn't sell it. Maybe there are no demands for this kind of stuff.

Then, I ask hubby to bring me to Desapark City to find for a harness. Luckily the Chubby Chubby store stock a few harness. The Chicco was a bit short and kind of dragging the baby when she walk. The Gold Bug harness is the one with a animal bagpack but as Eya doesn't like anything on her back, I couldn't buy her that one. Lastly, the one that we chose are a brand from Taiwan, Farlin, which is quite ok for us. The wrist strap for the holder is quite long, so the baby can walk a little far without being dragged by the holder.

I know some parent hate to see baby in harness but looking at our condition today, its better safe than sorry. Even my MIL reminded us to get a harness for Eya once she can walk. Some said its look like you dragging your baby like dog but that not the case. Just imagine if your child is lost in a mall or stranger take your child, if she is strap, she will surely be with you.

I tested the strap on her last night and she felt okay with it.

I also fell in love with the new Croc sandal in the store but as Eya already got 1 Croc, I think the 2nd pair will be bought when she need a bigger size.

My New Addiction

2008-03-31T14:20:00.005+08:00

Eya's has changed her diaper brand quite a few times. During my pregnancy, I bought a few brand just to try them out. Some of the brands that I bought and my reviews of them are:

Mamy Poko: too costly
Pampers: clump easily
Drypers: leaking
Huggies Dry Comfort: clump
Pureen: Best used for the 1st 6 months
Huggies: Brand that I used until now

As I surf the net everyday, I always searching for baby's product when one day, I found out about a website that sell cloth diaper.

What is cloth diaper?

It work just like disposable diaper but you don't dispose it. Instead, you wash it and use it again. The downside of using CD is the first investment is quite high. Average price for a CD is around RM60. Just imagine if you have to buy 3 or even 5 of it. The cost may seem quite high compared to buying disposable. But in the long run, it is cheaper and more economical to use CD. It is cheaper if you use it quite early compared to me who discovered it after Eya is almost 2 years old.

Unlike disposable, you have to wash it, which may seem a lot of work to some mommies. Using dispo, you only throw it.

I have quite a stash now. I got 11 CD, with various brands and inserts to go with the CD. I have one size diaper, L-sized for my pocket diaper, All-in-One or fitted diapers. Currently, I have Drybees, Wahmies, Kissaluv , Happy Heiny's and Bumwear. Mom prefer to use the pocket diaper on Eya compared to fitted diaper. Which one I like the most? It have to be the Drybees as it got various color and patterns to choose from.

As Eya is almost 2 yrs old, I may stop buying it as Eya going to be potty-trained soon. Unlike mommies who have babies, then, you may need to buy more than me. Actually, I do want to buy more but mom prevent me from buying it. She said the stash that I got now is more than enough.

For nursery, I still supply them with Huggies Dry as it will be a lot of work for them. My last purchase of Huggies is 3 months ago. Now, I've no longer have to wait for Huggies pomotion.

Eya @ 18 months

2008-03-31T14:08:00.004+08:00

I didn't post any recent updates of Eya's development. So, here is a list of things what my lil' angel can do now.

Walked full-time now, she even forget how to 'ngesot'
Still have 11 teeth, no new teeth appear yet
So 'manja' with her ayah. Everytime she cries, she call for her ayah
Her ayah need to scratch her back everytime she wants to sleep. (Padan muka, tulah ajar princess awak tu lagi)
Can call 'de-de' (ayah-de) and be-be for her ateh
Really loves shopping (know how to choose her own stuff)
We notice that she is a bit 'penakut'. Have to sleep with lights on; if go back to Taiping, she has to sleep between me and hubby; afraid of big doll (Mr Sly) and even little Slimer
Very stubborn.
Finish taking all the immunisation dose. The next one will be during her Standard 6.
Loves eating 'telur dadar'
A little allergic to chicken

My car is sick...

2008-03-30T17:52:00.002+08:00

After the accident, which caused dent to my bumper, my car can only takes max of 4 people. If more, the car body will produce a sound like it was 'tersagat'.

At first, I thought it was the absorber, so hubby said we will go and replace it with new ones, if it really serious. I've asked the price of an absorber, and for my car, it cost RM175 each.

Need to collect money for a pair then.

Need to find a workshop to have a look at the problem.

Stupid man who hit my car.