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.
Lappie was sick, but now it 's back...
Getaway for the 3 of us...
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
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.
As for the short vacation, overall everything was great. Looking forward for another one soon.
Attack of Rotavirus
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...
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
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?
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.
Puzzle n more of 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.
