Mumsie's Travels

OMBAK RINDU

2011-12-02T00:13:00.005+08:00

I must declare that it is the best Malay movie I've seen in a lonnnnggg time!! Kudos to the producer, director and of course the actors and actresses! The kind of love story that has been missing for a long time!!

I've been following the making of this movie since the beginning through the gossip forum cari.com. Mula-mula tu because I've read and enjoyed the book and its 2 sequels. So, i was interested in the casting of the main characters. Dalam forum cari.com tu ramai doubted the casting of Maya Karin as Izzah since Izzah ni is supposed to be a really kampung girl. Some also doubted that Aaron Aziz should be the match for Maya. They had wanted the remy-tiz combination or fahrin-fazura. I, of course would vote for remy-tiz for all the chemistry between them..on and off screen!

Anyhoo..Maya, Aaron and even Lisa Surihani proved the critiques wrong! they were superb!! Maya is such an accomplished actress, i tell you. Lakonan dia sangat berkesan! So was Lisa...her screaming scenes made an impact and not easily forgettable. Aaron...is Aaron...too gorgeous for his own good!! Babak-babak dia all jiwang and menangis was like ohhh-emmmm-jeeeee!! And there were chemistry flying alll over the place between alll of them! Ok, i exaggerate but memang matchinglah depa tu...

As for the story line...i know the novelist was a bit upset coz she was not consulted for the adaptation but to be fair i think they tried their best to stick to the book. tak der lah lari jauh sangat...

It was a love story yang i think Malay film producers has forgotten about until now. Ye lah, semua ghairah nak make violent movies based on hantu or mat rempits and gangsters. This was about boy meets girl...they fell in love but family status got in the way...there was tragedy...misundertanding...but the ending was of the fairytale kind...the kind that makes you go aaahhhhhhhh....so, the recipe is complete if you ask me. Tapi i bias laaa buat dek Aaron Aziz tu! hahaha...

The music makes you want to menghayati the movie...makes you cry with the characters...dahla scenery was outstanding... cantik Malaysia ni!

Hmmm...have run out of nice things to say about it...part tak best: too much kissy kissy scenes...tapi bukanlah yang berat-berat so maybe boleh di terima laa...wardrobe is horrid alhtough Maya pulled off looking sexxay in kain batik lepas! Aaron had this horrible looking white shoes which distracted us from his face! and Lisa kept on wearing really wide belts which makes her look out of fashion rather than trendy, actually...and that lady who acted as Aaron's mum - that Azizah Mahzan - her makeup was so horrible that she looked like hantu half the time! hehehe..

Oklah..pegilah tengok and judge sendiri, kawan-kawan. I went with my sister, my dear cousin KakDor (who had doubts but eventually enjoyed herself! hehe) and my two elder daughters who has fallen head over heels for Aaron! they even cried during the touchy-feely scenes!! KakNgah also declared that it was the BEST Malay movie everrrr...until the next one comes along lah!

Things I do not Want to Forget

2011-09-07T16:57:00.004+08:00

Blog ni dah usang....sigghhh...

I just want to jot down my latest thoughts...just for my own record. I don't think anyone reads this anymore...siggghhh

A lot has happened in the past year...we moved to our house...our own! a cute single storey bungalow at the edge of Putrajaya! this is it...this is where I will live till the rest of my life...insyaALLAH...

***After so long, i have forgotten my password into this blog! and i've forgotten even the gmail password!! jenuh i menggodak sana sini...went into recovery system and alhamdulillah...am back in!! i hated the thought of "losing" this blog. I have no interest to make a new one...ah well...all is good. i managed to save the blog!

sambung balik..the story of my life...i feel like i have finally grown up since we moved here...difficult to explain but i finally rasa apa yang mak-mak kita rasa, i think. Since the house is tiny i've been baking and cooking quite a bit. and my children, ALLAH swt bless them always...are my profound supporters, enjoying every bit of the dishes i serve them. half the time they refused to eat out and insisted i cooked the meal they want to eat...some of them had even announced that they feel like heaven when they smell my bakings!! all together now...awwwww...

last Aidil Fitri was the highlight of my life...one that i will replay in my mind over and over again for a long time to come, i'd think. You (whoever you are who may be reading this) see, we celebrated Raya eve and morning in our own house. It was made sweetest when all my siblings decided to congregate here the eve of Raya tu. and Abah brought home the group from Surau to takbir in our house!! first time ever! first time in my WHOLE life!! orang datang bertakbir! oh, i feel so grown up then! i didn't exactly know what to do when they came but Abah helped and we managed. I was ever so proud...kesian I kan, umur dah 40 lebih baru nak experience all this!insyaALLAH..this is hoped to be an annual event for us from now on. Lepas sembahyang Raya baru balik kampung. Penat memang penat..the cooking and trying (with minimal success) to put the house in order...tapi tersangaaaaat lah worth it! tersangaaaat la puas hati!

to be continued...hopefully not too long from now! :-))

p.s. this post was completed on 31 October 2011...

Of places and airplanes...

2011-07-23T01:14:00.002+08:00

Sejak BossBesau make the ruling that his officers no longer to travel using M$$ but instead fly the cheapest airline on commercial rate, Mumsie finds herself using Qatar Airways quite often...mula-mula dulu macam depress lah jugak sebab no longer travel biz class. But of late Mumsie redha kan ajer...no point complaining. Kerja tetap kena buat and BossBesau tu tetap kena diikut cakap dia selagi dia belum pencen.

So, today (p.s. am now in Doha Airport, waiting for my flight home after a sojourn to Ankara), I find myself appreciating Qatar Air a bit more. It's quite convenient, really. We are checked in through to final destination, so tak worry about luggage at transit points. Airport dia pon ciput jer so no worries about having to walk miles and miles from one terminal to another. Surau dia selesa and clean. Toilet pun selesa and clean. Ada paip air in every cubicle. Air panas pulak tuh. Hehe.

Only one complaint ~ things here are expensive. Burger meal bodo aje pon can cost about rm50!! On certain trips, the connecting flite is hours away (like today ~ I have 5 hours to kill!), so the ciput airport does not help! kalau besar sikit macam Dubai airport tu seronoklah jugak...can cuci mata kat kedai duty free! Hehehe...

Oklah peeps...will now go back to my people watching activity. Macam-macam jenis orang ada!

I Agree with Blogger Usang Lagi Bersawang - NurKasih the Movie tak Best

2011-05-30T16:29:00.002+08:00

Mumsie was an ardent (betul ker use of this word kat sini?) follower of Nur Kasih the Series...best giler drama tu...I soooo suker tengok Nur and Adam, especially after they fell in love with each other. Banyak syiok!

So, naturally, when the hype about Nur Kasih the Movie started, Mumsie pun ikut hyper...excited. Nak tengok Nur and Adam melayari bahtera kebahagiaan...nak tumpang syiok laa, basically...but boy, was I disappointed! MEGA disappointed.

Nur and Adam tak happy pun...okey laaa...ada laa a 5 minute scene which showed them happy. But like that Dr Hatim said, 99% of the movie was about the musibah the family had to go through...ooohh maannnnn...anything that could go wrong went wrong for them!! Kesian betul!

Khabir Bhatia and his wife pushed their luck, I would say. Half way, the film ceased to be interesting and we (MakSu and I) began making fun of it and started giggling like idiots. tapi in between tu adalah jugak Mumsie menitiskan airmata...like when the son declared that he misses his mommy (who apparently died in an accident whilst chasing after a kite....like, HOW UNLUCKY ARE YOU GUYS, EH??)...

A lot of other things too that contributed to this being a Tak Best movie for me - I didn't get to get all mushy for Nur and Adam. NOT AT ALL! There wasn't any corny lines which I can quote over and over again..NOT AT ALL!

and the ending...OH EM GEEEE...did they have to make Nur Amina to be an old woman with Alzheimer???

Dear Nin

2011-02-16T22:19:00.007+08:00

i present to you snippets of Istanbul....

Inside Aya Sofea...the church that
turned into a mosque and now its
a Museum.
Aya Sofia...

Apparently this place sells the best baklavas...memang sedap sangat!

Inside Topkapi Palace

Entrance to Topkapi Palace

i think this is Suleyman's Mosque...in the middle of the city

The inside of the famous Blue Mosque!

ENtrance to the Blue Mosque...people are seen leaving after friday prayers

My first impression of the Blue Mosque.

Just to thank you for your support to this blog...its comforting that you are around.

Love is in the Air

2011-02-16T10:19:00.004+08:00

14th February came and went...big hoo haa about warning Muslims against celebrating valentine's day. Just as well my other half has never bothered...not since day one and never even cared to justify his tak-kisah-ness with the usual line - "I don't need a specific date to tell you that i love you"! Sedih, kan?! But fortunately for him too that Mumsie accepts this part of him unconditionally since day one. Pasrah ajelah...kalau tidak, tak kawin pulak! hahaha!

but on that day, i was blog hopping as per usual and found many love stories. Ada cerita about a lady finding love with someone who's been in front of her for a while already...that was sweet. She has finally accepted the guy and now is busy planning a wedding, i believe, and planning her migration to Australia (I think) to join him once they've tied the knot. I wish her luck.

Ada cerita yang confusing sikit...about a couple handling long-distance love but it seems the lady doesn't have much confidence that the relationship will lead to anywhere in particular...am not sure she's ready to accept that but the relationship has been going on for a while already. I wish her luck too.

Ada jugak cerita about lost loves. sad. I stumbled on a blog which describes the feelings of the writer since losing her husband to an illness last october. Sedih coz she kept writing about how much she misses him still and she has 2 small kids. I really wish her luck and great strength for days to come!

Ada tu writes about her divorce. Hmm...this one susah sikit. I feel for this lady but somehow i just don't think its right for her to be so public about it. whatever she wrote, she should realize it reflects back on her and thats not entirely good. But am not to judge. She'd probably say that its her blog so suka hati dia lah and that i wouldn't know apa yang dia rasa dan lalui. so, i will not judge and i wish her luck...

Last but not least, i really enjoyed reading about Madam Puteri Kama and her daughter saving a mummy cat and her kittens. now, thats LOVE!

Wowwww!!

2011-02-13T23:30:00.003+08:00

Wow indeed!! lama betul tak masuk sini...masuk sekadar nak baca balik post lama-lama and reminisce about the good ole times...hehe.

2011 has been hectic, its unbelievable! we moved house just before the new year so since then its been about the unpacking and us making this house a home. Babah and I bought a bungalow just outside Putrajaya. A dream house as far as Mumsie is concerned coz it is single storey! hehehe....Mumsie dah tua...dah tak seronok duduk rumah dua tingkat!

Anyways...slowly but surely we are settling in. Banyak hiccups but we are managing...and we're having loads of fun! we're almost bancrupt but we're having fun! hehehe...

Anak2 pun bikin Mumsie sibuk. ahhhh... when i look at them now, its hard to imagine how i ever lived without them! 2 of my girls are now in secondary school already and both are just about as tall as I am. they are my worst challenge for now and i can only pray that we've put enough sense into them! I must say that i love their company although am not sure they feel the same way coz half the time look like they wished mummy would just do her own thing and leave them alone!

One thing that is changing is the relationship between the four sisters. they seem to be getting along mucccchhhhh better nowadays...Sarah is less temperamental and KNgah seems to be more patient with her! I daresay half the time they even enjoy each other's company!! wooot wooot, i say! so, nowadays, dinner time is always the best time in our house!

Kerja? hmmm...citer pasal kerja tak jadik kerja lah kita....hehehe....

Diary Ankara

2010-12-02T02:53:00.005+08:00

Mumsie is in Turkey. For the first time. and my first impression....NOT GOOD!

My first stop is Ankara. Am here for a 3-day meeting. I find orang Turki sombong-sombong. They don't smile much and they are not interested in listening to you. Am generalising, of course but this is the impression given by 90% of the Turks that I've met.

Food...its all meat...meat...and more meat. Eaten with bread...bread and more bread! and apparently they drink a lot of tea. I tried it. Its VERY strong tea drank in a small glass. I've yet to try Turkish coffee. I hear its equally strong.

Ankara is not all that pretty either. no real character. Apparently banyak shopping malls kat sini. Ada 14 of them katanya. I went to one when we first arrive. I like it sebab banyak kedai jual peralatan dapur...pretty things for the kitchen but i didn't buy anything. Nanti berat beg!

To be fair, i enjoyed the visit to Ataturk's meusoleum. and i do like the weather. Its not that cold and its sunny.

So, i'm looking forward to Istanbul. Will be there for a day and a night before flying to Delhi...again!

Qurban

2010-11-23T21:41:00.002+08:00

Mumsie was reading Madam desert rose's blog - www.lifeisbydesertrose.blogspot.com - and she opened my mind to the this whole concept of Qurban. It is indeed beyond those who goes for Hajj...beyond those who partakes in the sembelihan and agihan of lembu, kambing and unta...

Qurban is for everyone...at all times...dengan ganjaran yang dijanjikan ALLAH swt...mungkin sebab itu some finds it hard untuk berqurban.

Mumsie is actually simply thinking of my life situation. how I must "qurban" anak2 and suami demi kerja by going far away from them for a long period of time...and how anak2 and suami must berqurban by being independent to support Mumsie's qurban...insyaALLAH...

dan qurban kami is simply through sabar...

exams

2010-11-15T08:39:00.003+08:00

so, result UPSR came out last week. Alhamdulillah, my KakNgah scored the As she wanted. with her, in fact with all my children, to me its not about the As. Its about ensuring they get what they want. KakNgah in particular puts herself up there somehow. Mesti nak do better than everyone else...sigghhhh...tapi usaha tak nak lebih! yes Ngah, you know Mummy is right, kan?!

I think i've written before that am not that perihatin kinda mum when it comes to the girls' academic life. Like i told Sarah's teacher when he was trying to comfort me about Sarah kena turun class last year - its OK, cikgu. asalkan anak saya happy and besar nanti dia jaga saya dan tak lari ke lombok, saya sangat bersyukur. turun naik kelas is VERY small matter. hehe...you should have seen the teacher's face!!

So, me not one of those moms yang hantar anak tuition ke hulu hilir. well, simply because we cannot really afford it and because i do not have the patience and energy to send them ke hulu hilir. hehe...am also not one of those yang sit and study with them. I just nag, told them to switch off the TV (but apparently KakLong and KakNgah needs to have the TV on whilst studying!) and study. then i'll go and do whatever it is that i have to do. whether depa really belajar or not after that, i cannot tell. well.... i know they do a little bit, at least.

Anyhoo, thanks to our experience in geneva, i continue to believe academic achievements are not everything. Of course, it makes me damn proud that my girls do well in school but i meant what i said to Sarah's teacher...i just want them to be happy and healthy. Jadi anak2 solehah who will always respect and love Mumsie and Abah!

Hidup Biar Berkat

2010-10-27T22:55:00.002+08:00

I believe, firmly, in keberkatan...not just directly from ALLAH swt but also indirectly through ibubapa kita and niat hati kita. therefore i believe, firmly, banyak kejadian and tragedies today adalah akibat tiada keberkatan.

Contohnya, generally negara kita tak boleh maju sebab tak berkat...ditadbir oleh orang yang tak amanah. The couple who ended living under the bridge sebab marriage diorang tak berkat...they married without the parents' blessing. But now that they've patched things up, insyaALLAH all will be well.

So I believe, firmly, setiap yang berlaku...kita mesti sentiasa muhasabah diri and strive for keberkatan.

Amacam, can?

Photoblog

2010-10-23T21:17:00.002+08:00

Mumsie tengah rajin nih. I tengok a few people puts up their pixes in photoblogs so I pun tiru! hehehe...problem is, i don't have nice pictures like they do (Yes, Nin, i do envy your pictures!!).

But I'm thinking...tak per...slow-slow laahh, kan?! So, if you want, pi-lah visit mumsiepixes.blogspot.com. Baru ada 2-3 gambar. am going through old albums and starting with favourites of mine. hope you'll enjoy them...feel free to leave comments, especially those that can help improve my pix-taking, OK.

Ralat

2010-10-22T19:43:00.002+08:00

Minta maaf..i telah buat tuduhan melulu...

the girl did ask the parents to break off the engagement...parents dia yang tak mau...so, how? lari lorrrr! :-)

Lost girl found

2010-10-21T23:07:00.002+08:00

Did you guys read about the girl who went missing after shopping with her fiancee? she was found safe in Bukit Bintang. kononnya she ran away coz she no longer wants to marry the guy and she's too scared to tell her parents.

wow, i'm thinking. why couldn't she tell the truth to her parents? to her mom? kesian dia. tapi kesian parents dia jugak...kesian tunang (or soon to be EX tunang) dia...and kesian polis yang free-free kena spend time and resources to find her all the way sampai ke KL when they should spend all that energy protecting us from real crimes and criminals yang makin hari makin berani menggugat keselamatan kita.

As a mummy, i wouldn't want my girls to ever feel that they cannot talk or discuss things with me. So, to anak-anak Mummy yang membaca blog ini, whatever problems you think you may have - be it about boys (yes, am sure this is/will be one of the MAIN problem)...friends in general...school...life...plese don't think twice about coming to me or Abah. We can always deal with whatever it is together...You know we love you and we will always be there to guide you through life...even bila you all da besar, da kawen and da beranak pinak nanti. Deal? Don't ever do what that stupid girl did, OK?!

Sigghhh...tiba-tiba I miss Bapak all over again. I ALWAYS go to him for my problems....

hey

2010-10-20T23:35:00.003+08:00

wow...lama betul tak masuk blog ni although blog orang lain i still masuk regularly, almost daily! but i've been too lazy to write!

macam mana boleh rajin pulak tonite ek? hehe...am not sure, actually. its not that i have anything in particular to write about. nothing particularly exciting and/or interesting to report and/or record here.

Ah well...i'll think of something to write about soon. this entry is just to "break the silence". can?

weekends

2010-07-07T22:12:00.002+08:00

every working day i'll obsess about the coming weekend...especially those weekends where we have no particular plans...

i'll think about about going to out-of-our-way restaurants that i've been reading about in the newspapers...about getting together with my cousins...about cooking lunches and dinners for everybody...baking cakes, cookies...about watching movies after movies after movies...and watching TV all day long...inter alia.

Alas...there's only 48 hours in a weekend!!

TV

2010-07-06T20:37:00.002+08:00

I've been VERY lenient. I've let the girls watch alllll the TV they want. TV... DVDs...in the house..in the car...yes, i've not been a good mommy.

But today I came home and declared a no-TV evening. KNgah fell asleep not 5 minutes after i impose the ban...KLong is just walking around mindlessly, playing with the kittens every now and then. Sarah is with the computer. Soraya is the only one reading...but reading her sisters' novel! sigghhhh...

Maybe its good for UPSR and PMR be done away with! Good for me...

Perhimpunan

2010-07-05T20:45:00.002+08:00

Volunteered to go hear the PM this morning...apparently "transformasi" is the in thing in public governance today...PM was impressive enough though...he spoke off the cuff and all gung-ho about transformation and high performance. and i'm all...yeah, whatever!

its just me...

2010-07-04T22:52:00.002+08:00

wanting to say hello...wanting to just put something in this blog...

i had a good weekend. Dah lama tak dapat weekend macam ni..where we just chill around the house. i wished i had bothered to bake. i bought Golden Churn Butter coz Kitchen Guardian said it is good for baking. but that was the extent of it. Butter is still in the fridge.

actually i also bought cornflakes. Coz i had a crazy thought that i want to make cornflake cookies. so...thats on the agenda as well. next weekend...maybe.

actually watched a football game - Argentina vs Germany. simply because KNgah showed interest to watch that game. turns out she has a crush on Messi, the argentinian player. and turns out we enjoyed it. KNgah MEGA upset with the result, though. Haha..

actually, i get to watch quite a bit of TV this weekend. I loike...

India

2010-05-30T22:12:00.005+08:00

Yes, peeps. Mumsie was in Delhi, India last week. It was my second trip. the first being in 2008. Masa tu Abah came along and we went to Agra, and visited the Taj Mahal...and i blogged about that already...hehe

So, this time Abah dah tak mo ikut. So, Mumsie went on my own...attended the meetings and explored Delhi with fellow delegates. Delhi was HOT! Temperature wise, that is. Some days it reached 46 degrees! When you open the door, it was like opening an oven door! But that didn't stop us from venturing outlah! hehe..

Despite the heat, this time i find myself appreciating India more. Perhaps because of the DSLR. I found India to be even more colourful and full of "characters". On the afternoons and days we (as in me + a few other Malaysian delegates) were free, we hired a car to take us around. As most of us are women, the agenda is mainly shopping laa...hahaha...Shopping for what? For kain sari laaa...wwe went to this place called Sarojini Nagar Babu Market...kat situ tersangatlah banyak orang menjual kain saree and salwar kameez! Macam-macam colour and design..sampai mabuk kita memilih.

We also went to this place called the Nehru Place. More materials...but this place sell by the meters and cannot bargain. Ni macam Gulatis/Jakel lar...tapi Mumsie tak enjoy sangat kat sini coz tak leh bargain tu (tak enjoy, tapi beli tetap beli! hahaha!)

Makan pun OK. Tapi after 3 days of the same thing, jemulah pulak. Asyik-asyik tosai, idli, paratha...so, the last 2 nites, we makan KFC, setelah di sahkan ke-halal-an ayam KFC di sana tu.

Best of all, Mumsie managed to take pictures. Like I said...the DSLR opened my eyes to the colours of India. Most pixes can be found in my FB. Mumsie thinking...nak bawak the girls to India, one day....

Masyarakat Penyayang

2010-05-20T20:30:00.002+08:00

Eversince Abah started working in KL, Mumsie has taken over the job of sending the girls to school. Somewhat surprisingly, I enjoy it. On a good morning we'll be singing all the way to the schools...on a not-so good one, Mumsie will be lecturing them...about oh-so-many things...but mainly about being responsible coz selalunya yang bikin kacau pagi-pagi tu is any one of them looking for stuffs for school...name tag lar...tie larr..homework lar...pantang betul Mumsie bila dah pagi tu baru nak carik!!

Anyhoo...Mumsie suka tengok parents lain when they drop off their kids. Most would hug and kiss the kids and some would even wait until the kids enter the school. I would wait until diorang hilang dari pandangan..

its so comforting to see many loving parents...physically loving, that is. Some dads, even. Apparently most men are no longer reserved. They hug and kiss their sons and daughters...so sweet!!

I'm comforted...ramai orang buang anak...tapi lagi ramai orang yang sangat sayang anak-anak mereka...

Babysitters

2010-05-17T21:04:00.002+08:00

Was reading about the 8-month old baby who died at the hands of his babysitter...how heartbreaking it was to his parents...Sampai hati babysitter tu, kan?! and mind you, this is not an isolated case...its not the first and i'm afraid it won't be the last....

i kesian kat young parents in this big city today...its not easy...especially when both has to go out an earn a living. Kalau tak dapat live-in maid, they have to send the children to babysitters. No much choice there. Either way...they have to leave their children in the hands of other people, more often strangers to the family, in the beginning at least. You simply have to trust those people...

I had my share of babysitters when my girls were babies tapi alhamdulillah, rezeki anak-anak i murah in that sense...they had very loving babysitters!

First, when KakLong and KakNgah were babies, we had Abah's long lost relative who lived near us then (Gombak) take care of them. Ohhh...Ani (the kids called her Umi), her parents and her children treated the girls like their own!! They took care of KakLong and KakNgah better than I did! I never took leave when the girls were unwell, coz Ani and her mom would know better what to do to comfort them!! Everytime we send the girls after the weekend, Ani's dad (Atuk) will question us about the scratches and the mosquito bites!! haiyaaa...Sadly, after almost 2 years, we had to move to Melaka.

In Melaka, we sent the girls to Abah's cousin, who called herself Mak. Again, Mak and her family took care of KakLong and KakNgah like their own...so much so that when we decided to take in a live-in Indon maid, she really merajuk with us!

Cut long story short, that maid ran away and by that time we had little Sarah. I asked Mak whether she can take the girls back but she refused. Sigghhhh...macam tulah orang Melayu kalau dah berkecik hati...so, we had to send them all to this tiny nursery run by this lady called Umi Munah and her sister in law called Umi Fiza. They had just opened and we were their first "clients". The nursery is a tiny little building attached to Umi Munah's mom's house. So, Nek Jah was also around to take care of the girls! Again, an entire family took to caring and loving my little girls!! We are so blessed! I remember one time, I was busy talking to Umi when KakNgah fell and hurt her head. Umi's husband simply scooped her up and ran to his car and drove off to a nearby hospital!! It took me a while to realize what was happening and chase after them! hahaha....

and then we had to move again...to Putrajaya...and our "adventures" with the Indon maids began...thats a whollle story for another time pulak laarrr....

Till today, we try very hard to keep in touch with all the Umis and Maks. At least during HariRaya. I never want the children to forget them..We owe them....

Mumsie, Malaysia and the Thomas Cup

2010-05-16T20:34:00.003+08:00

Those who know me would know that I'm no sportswoman...i'm a couch potato kinda woman! hehe...

But i do enjoy watching live sportsgame...i discovered this many moons ago when I used to watch Wimbledon live in..errr...Wimbledon!! Those days when Martina Navratilova and Stefan Edberg...and Michael Chang was at the height of their careers! AAhhh...nothing beats the suspense and adrenaline rush of seeing points scored after a long rally or after a fast, aggressive serve and volley. Yeap...i knew of those cool terms as well!

When I came back to Malaysia, soon after it was the 1992 Thomas Cup. Ahh...I was there for the Semi and I was there for the Finals. And I remember till now the excitement of that day!! Seronok hingga tak terkata, bak kata orang.

Thats why, when Thomas Cup is back here I made sure we get the tickets! And boy...it brought back the reality of the memories! Let me try and tell you what i think of this year's Thomas Cup, and in particular what i think about the Malaysian team...hehe, now you can imagine where this is going kan....Mind you, these are mere thoughts of mine...not meant to mempengaruhi sesiapa, OK.

The quarter finals was DA BOMB! we were on a roll! there was enough suspense to hold us to the end of our seats...i screamed till i had no voice. And the minute Hafiz Hashim buried that Dane, it was like we had won the tournament!! Hafiz, who played like an ass during the group fight with japan was instantly dubbed Zero to Hero...macam lah dia sorang jer yang main that nite! truth was, the Dane lost it. Lucky for Hafiz, he played the crappier game. Kesian dia, whilst everyone was celebrating, I saw his coach scolding him! Looked like he really got an earful then!

The semi finals...ooohhh I was soooo excited! I was at the Stadium early and joined in the songs and chants with thousands other Malaysians!! Spirits were high...so high that it scared the players!! Oh My! they were a miserable lot that nite. All games were lost in straight sets to the Chinese. Paling kesian kat Lee Choong Wei. He could do no right! Apparently, he was thinking too hard that he couldn't be himself! Can arr like that?

I think the supporters worked the hardest that nite. We cheered and cheered but we couldn't get the players to rise to the occassion! Sigghhh...we kalah teruk that nite.

Hafiz didn't even need to play so I suppose he remains a hero...hehehe.

We bought tickets all the way to the Finals so we went to the Stadium today. To see China wins against Indonesia. Well...at least the Indons went down fighting, unlike the Malaysians! One thing about China though...no doubt they are good...they are VERY strong as well...physically and mentally! Imagine the entire Stadium was cheering for the other side...but they seemed to block all those noise and just went on their game like nothing bothers them at all!! Sheer mental health, i tell you!

i stayed on till the prize giving ceremony. It was nice to see that the Malaysians still appreciate our players. We still scream for their names and cheer for them when they went up to get the consolation prizes.

But i wished it was reciprocrated. The players merely gave us half waves and half smiles! Macam terpaksa jer...well, i hope its because diorang rasa segan. Although they kalah, but we still give them face? ya think? Oklah...marilah kita bersangka baik....

tak perlah malaysia...next time we try harder. But apparently we don't have apprentices. so how?

Anyway, bagus jugaklah kita tak menang...kalau tak berabis lak nanti kita kena bagi diorang bonusss....tanah....datukship laaa...and we'll hear no end to it! Seme orang mesti nak claim credit! So, biarlah kita kalah...so that we remain firmly on the ground! hahaha

Boss...

2010-05-06T20:20:00.003+08:00

Dulu-dulu Mumsie pernah jadi Boss. Would like to think that I was quite good at it. hehe...Am generally nice but selalu jugak marah-marah, tinggi-tinggi kan suara...but i would like to think that I do what needs to be done under the circumstances. I doubt orang yang I marah tu share this view lah kan...

Then I came to this current workplace about 7 years ago...although on promotion, at that time I was no longer a Boss. Aisehh...tension giler bila kena marah. Tapi i paling tak tahan bila kena sindir!! Masa tu lah I promised myself that if ever I become a Boss again, I would be a much better one than those i was (and some I still am) serving.

As of 1st April baru ni, I was made a Boss to a small bunch of people. The thing is, am discovering that it is VERY difficult to be a nice Boss. I find myself editing my emails allll the time to make sure that my irritations are not made obvious. Baru sebulan jadi Boss, dah sekali dua jugak I tinggikan suara...once I've even slammed down the phone on someone! sigghhhh...I didn't enjoy it. But my patience fell off its boundary at the time. Tapi tak per...so far I would like to think that things are under control. Best of all...at least, insyaALLAH, i will not be a B#**h of a Boss..like some people I know (sadly, the people I'm still answerable to!!).

So, how? How can I be a nice BUT effective Boss?

p.s. would like to welcome back Zue to work next week...be nice, Zue!! hehe...

Its Late

2010-05-05T00:36:00.004+08:00

and i can't seem to fall asleep. Something's bothering me but i'd rather not blog about that for fear that it'll make things worst...sigghhhh

i've been thinking about the police-shooting-the-15- year-old saga. My conclusion: salah newspaper - for reporting that the police shot a 15 year old "penjenayah/criminal". If they had stopped at describing him as a 15 year old boy, then maybe the family would not be as upset as they are now.

Ohhh...i don't know...why laaa the boy acted as he did...keluar te-tengah malam..bawak kereta without licence...boys will be boys??

Maybe the police did what they had to do under the circumstances. Maybe they should not have been too trigger happy, though. Whatever, i did not appreciate their Chief getting all defensive the next day, threatening to pull off his men from the streets! WHAT is that all about??

NEITHER can I appreciate the hungry lawyers swarming around the deceased's family macam shark dah 7 hari 7 malam tak makan! WHAT were they thinking when they organized that press conference by the boy's friend who was with him that night?? That's not fair play, if you ask me.

OOhhh...i don't know....what is the world coming to?

Tis Been Awhile!!

2010-03-31T23:05:00.004+08:00

hasn't it? many a time i thot of just closing down this blog tapi sayang pulak. And LadyMarko and this person called geeHam who left their comments are proving that people still "visit" me. To them, i thank you.

But i also see a lot of other bloggers are also "slowing down" in their postings. Tak ghairah macam dulu and many are blaming Facebook and Twitter! I ada banyak excuse but malas is the main one. tapi hari ni macam ada mood sikit, so here I am. Am not sure what to tell, though.

Should i tell you about what i think about...

a) malaysian politics? I thinks its the pits. Sangat-sangat tidak bermaruah. The thing is, I think malaysian politics is the way it is now because the politicians are NOT listening to their voters!Yang dah menang, go and tukar2 party lar...resign lar...tak amanah namanya tu, kan? Then, the double standards - you can be an alcoholic and/or a gambler if you're with the pro-gomen side. But once you switch sides, you're deemed un-islamic, or worst - un-melayu! can arr like dat?

b) malaysian social woes - this i don't know what to think. It scares the hell out of me to think about it. kes buang babies...masuk pensil dalam kawan...lari beratus batu ke rumah boifren even when you're only 15...kes dera anak...tuang asid atas bini...S-C-A-R-Y, okey!

c) artis-artis malaysia? i think they are one of the contributing factors to the social woes in this country. All, except anuar zain. he's just too gorgeous to be bad! hahaha....

ok lah. dah masuk bab merepek ni. Nite nite peeps!

p.s. this post is dated 31 March coz i started it then but today is 22 April already! just a useless piece of info, fyi jer...

Merajuk

2010-01-27T14:18:00.002+08:00

Interesting that there is no english word for merajuk. Why arr? Omputih tak pandai merajuk ker?

Well...I'm a kuat-merajuk-kinda- person. For as long as I can remember. Masa kecik-kecik, i would merajuk to make sure Bapak would get me the things I want. I recall one occasion we jalan-jalan dalam kereta (Bapak does that alll the time - take us on spins in the car - going nowhere in particular). I wanted candyfloss but Bapak said it was out of our way. So, i merajuk. refused to speak until he made one mega turn towards the shop that sells the candy!!

When I was bigger - working in KL - living on my own - I would merajuk if Bapak makes too much (according to my standard) fuss about my so-called social life. I merajuk by not calling him and not going back to visit. In the end, Bapak wrote to me - apologising - explaining why he said the things he said - how he will not repeat them if it angers me so. I cried buckets reading that letter and went home soon enough!

Unfortunately I married a man who doesn't understand the concept of merajuk. siggghhhh...A man who treats silent treatment with another silent treatment. A man who would make fun of the merajuk wife in front of the children. Apparently his style of memujuk! hampessssss! Lagi stress dibuatnya!

Oh, but i still merajuk. I still rasa jauh hati when people doesn't seem to notice me...doesn't invite me to gatherings and get togethers...doesn't send me nice greetings on FB when they send it to others...when kawan-kawan from Geneva balik Malaysia and for some reason did not even call...when husband dear doesn't remember our anniversary...doesn't remember to give me duit raya...bila anak2 tunjuk sangat they prefer to balik Melaka than Pahang....

hehehe...banyak pulak sebabnya, ek?!

yes, i still merajuk but now, i pujuk diri sendiri...

Again...i spoke too soon about sarah

2010-01-21T11:51:00.005+08:00

I'm bored. kerja kat ofis tengah tak banyak. Bosses are behaving themselves (hehe). Found out today that we 're re-connected to FB at the office. OK lah sikit. Tak lah rasa macam katak bawah tempurung!

Baru jer puji...Sarah buat perangai this morning. takut pergi sekolah sebab homework tak siap. shissshhh! the thing is she has to be contoh to adik nowadays. If i simply bagi dia ponteng, then adik will be asking the same soon. Semalam for the first time Sarah stayed back in school for Co-co. Akibatnya, she came home tired and grumpy. I didn't have the heart to harass her. She was fast asleep before 9. Sian lah pulak. So, I asked Kngah to explain to her teacher. Rasanya cikgu OK kut coz she was alright when i picked them up from school. Macam-macam lah depa ni, ek.

Losing Our Children

2010-01-20T10:32:00.002+08:00

Nothing is sadder to Mumsie than hearing/reading about deaths of children. Nothing is more heart breaking for children to pre-decease their parents. It is simply not right. Tapi itulah kuasa ALLAH swt. Mati is decided upon you, tak kira usia....

My condolences to the parents who lost their children in the recent dragon boat tragedy. Sedih baca that most are harapan keluarga. Very much loved by family and friends. Especially kisah the only child who was conceived only after the parents have been married for 12 years!

Hari ni pulak ada a 3-year old chubby little girl died lepas kena hempap ngan TV!

Ohhh...i don't know...how paranoid should we get? as it is, I've hardly ever allowed my girls to go off on their own...school outings/camps/trips have been minimally allowed. Itupun only after I've ascertained there'll be NO activities relating to water...i know the accompanying teacher(s) -whom i will be calling and sms-ing at an annoying rate !

I know...orang selalu kata anak-anak ni pinjaman. Amanah dari Allah swt. For us to nurture but not for us to own. But to me...my girls ARE my own. I always imagine that i will die if any of this were to happen to me!

Its been 19 days...

2010-01-19T20:38:00.002+08:00

into 2010...so?

So...nothinglah! haha...routine macam biasa..hantar anak-anak gi sekolah...pegi keje...balik..makan...tidur...sembahyang in between, but of course! :-)

Updates on school going small people -

KakLong is in secondary school already! She pakai tudung - it makes her look 17! She seems to enjoy herself. Macam-macam cerita about her new teachers and new subjects. Nampak macam banyak homework coz she's always writing...haha!

KakNgah...am not quite sure how she's doing. I know she damn frust tak dapat jadi Head Prefect or Assistant Head. She voiced her disappointment in her FB status - her teacher saw it and apparently she got ticked off. hmm..i'm not acting on that although i rasa the teacher should take it easy lah kan. KakNgah was merely expressing her feelings. Apa salahnya, kan?! But then...sapa suruh KakNgah berFB ngan cikgu-cikgu dia, kan?!

Sarah - has been made Pengawas Pusat Sumber!! wooohooo! she looks damn cool in the uniform! so the responsible looking! My Sarah is slowly but surely growing up to be a young lady!

Soraya - where do I begin? Generally she's enjoying school. I think. We discovered a week after school opens that she can't write properly! her handwriting is soooooo buruk! Rupanya selama ni in all her cleverness to write and communicate with people was via the computer's keyboard!! We never imagined that she couldn't write! haha! and last nite to this morning she nangis tak nak gi sekolah. I asked why. She said coz "Cikgu Jabarali marah adik..*sob*sob*coz adik conteng meja....*sob*" So, i told her to calm down and that its a small matter but she sobbed even more coz "conteng tu banyak!!!" haiyyyaaaaaaa...apparently the crying continued in school sampaikan alllll her friends kena tolong dia bersih kan meja dia. But she later proudly told me: "Adik dah explain kat Cikgu Jabarali that most of the conteng was already there before i sat at the table!"

Habis satu episode....

Making bread

2010-01-03T09:08:00.004+08:00

A couple of months back Mumsie beli breadmaker yang macam dalam gambar nih! It is sooooo cool! I first got the idea when i found this blog - http://www.tiffinbiru.blogspot.com/ - a blog owned by this person who calls himself Mat Gebu. He has a lot of yummy recipes, including various recipes to make bread which he makes easy by suggesting the use of breadmaker to deal with the dough.

It is indeed! you just dump all the ingredients in the breadmaker and an hour and a half later...voila! bread dough is alllll ready for you to shape into shapes you want! not much effort nor khudrat needed! hehe.

Cuma, bread takes a long time to make. after the 1.5 hours in the breadmaker, you'll spend about 10-15 minutes to shape them..then you have to let them be for another 1 hour to allow the dough to rise...lepas tu baru boleh bakar for about 20 minutes. So all in all lebih 3 jam!

Anyways, i've made a few batches of this roti naik - apparently its johor's version of plain roti manis. Sometimes i tabur gula and sometimes i tabur shredded cheese on top of them buns before i bake them. THe children loves them either way!

and i've made sausage rolls too!

On the last day

2009-12-31T10:31:00.002+08:00

2009 dah sampai ke penghujungnya....tapi tak der rasa apa-apa pun. Rasa dah tua ajer. I've said that before, haven't I?

Anyhoo...rajin pulak meng-hap-det dua tiga hari ni. Just nak corat coret about today thus far -

FB kena block today kat office ni. I wonder if its just for today or is it blocked permanently. Boring arrrr kalau permanent. How to start the morning on working days like dat! I'm so used to logging into FB first thing to find out how people and friends are...how they are feeling...what they have been doing the last 24 hours prior....what they plan to do...then barulah aman nak start buat keje! hehe! FOr the record, i don't play the games on FB tau. Not Farmville, not Cafe WOrld, not MAfia World either! Bangga! Memang I use FB purely to kepochi about other people's lives and to brag about my bakings! :-)

Adik pergi "orientation" kat sekolah. Dah nak masuk Darjah 1 dah baby Mumsie! Sigghhhh...She was excited so she was up and ready by 7.30 am. Orientation tu start at 8.30. Abah kata she fell asleep masa taklimat! hahaha!

Was reading Utusan Online. There's a report that Zizie Ezzete and her 50-something politician husband has gone to Europe for their honeymoon and will be back next week. Haiyya...itupun masuk suratkhabar? Ada orang kesah ker? Reporters dah tak der citer sangat ker?

Semalam berita pasal Sultan Kelantan's second wife's revelations. Was thinking: Wow! I baca dalam cari.com, the first wife very the garang and very in control within the Istana. Pun boleh terlepas laki kawin lain?! Not good for womankind!

Oklah. I should go and earn my living. DO real work. dah seminggu makan gaji buta!

Blog vs. Blog

2009-12-30T15:09:00.003+08:00

Was reading the blog of a famous designer. I like it. Ada laa unsur-unsur berlagak but he seems to have a nice life...filled with designer handbags!! hehe...

Apparently he has received some nasty comments from a particular reader. A reader who did not appreciate the way he conducts himself in the TV programme he hosted. So the reader kutuk dia and dia kutuk the reader back! Then semalam I discovered that the reader has set up her/his own blog! It seems to me that blog was specifically set up to kutuk this designer!! waahhh! kacau! Ini macam punya orang pun ada! I bukanlah nak defend the designer...tapi to me, kalau dah you tak suka orang tu, janganlah baca blog dia, ye dak!?

Which reminds me of a "situation" i put myself in some time ago. I wrote in this blog about not appreciating this particular woman's blog coz she wrote as if she's perpetually having the bestest life and times! let me tell you now...i didn't know this woman personally. And i didn't think she knows me either. I found her blog through a friend's blog. I was a silent reader. Never did i post any comment on any of her entries. Yes, initially i put her on the reading list of my blog but that was done without her permission so i assumed that since she doesn't know me, she wouldn't know that. When i wrote that i was deleting her blog from my reading list, i NEVER mentioned the name...neither her name nor her blog's name. If you don't know me, then it could have been ANYONE as far as you're concerned, right?! This is what i wrote:

"But not all blogs are enjoyable to read. Some concentrates too much on our oh-so-happening political on-goings...one blogger wrote only about the good stuff in her life. She's too ceria to the point of annoyance!! I cannot tahan so i've deleted her from my reading list! Life can't be that good alllllll the time, okeyyyyy..."

BUT...apparently she does know. She was allllll upset about what i wrote. After that posting i never went back to her blog but somehow, someone told me that the lady rant and rave in her blog trying to justify her writings and how upset she was with me!!

And I was like....whadddahelllllll????? HOW did she know i was writing about her??? I never told anyone. HOWWWW did she know?? Sampai hari ni i pelik.

hey!

2009-12-29T15:52:00.002+08:00

well...well...well! long time no blog, eh. For many reasons. Malas. Malu (malu?? yes, malu bila baca blog orang lain yang sangat articulate and leading interesting life and very tidak takut untuk menyuarakan pendapat dengan menggunakan bahasa bahasa kesat tetapi menghiburkan!). No time. No idea. Too entertained by Facebook.

hari ni terpanggil pulak untuk menulis. About what?

1. anak-anak - my favourite topic. My girls are ok. Excited about school reopening soon. Adik dah nak masuk Darjah 1. Which means all of my children dah sekolah. I feel old. You think I should another one?

2. the new year - what about the new year? will it bring good things? I sure hope so. Seperti tahun-tahun lepas, I'm not bothered about resolutions. Never have and Insya ALLAH never will. Tapi i nak lebihkan usaha to become a good Muslim. Have not been a good one thus far. siggghhhhhh...

3. the year 2009 - for me, it has been an OK year. Picked up a hobby - photography - when I bought a DSLR. KakLong went through her first of many major exam - UPSR. She survived with a 4A and a B for Science. OKlah but i had secretly thought she could score straight As but somehow I redha because i rasa dia tak rajin study. Things at the office is improving. Bosses are still the bosses so there are still shitty days but I'm learning to cope better. Maybe because we have moved into a new building and I now have my own room where I can just not care.

4. cooking and baking - yeap, i've gone into some kind of baking frenzy. Bought me-self a breadmaker. So, have started baking breads as well. Syok coz my children enjoys my cookings and bakings. Then again, they enjoy most food anyway - home cooked or otherwise! :-)

5. health - OK but not perfect. Am seriously getting old!

Cuci The Musical

2009-11-12T21:37:00.004+08:00

Again, copied from my FB notes :

After reading my FB status a couple of times, a friend remarked: "everything is the best with you. Betul ker?". well, i suppose it just so happened that i enjoyed most of the movies/shows i've been to. perhaps because my expectations are not all that high...or perhaps because i'm easily amused. hehe. Whatever it is, memang pun i enjoyed most of the movies/shows i went to and its my rating. Everyone is most welcome to judge for themselves. Tapi kalau belum apa apa dah declare "I don't watch malay movies, they are stupid" nothing i can do/help laa, kan?

Anyhoo...this time i want to give my review of CUCI the Musical - which I enjoyed SO Much that i went to see it twice!! In all the musicals i've been to, this tops them all. Tersangat menghiburkan is an understatement!The story is simple enough..adopted from CUCI the movie. ABout 4 brothers (Hans, Awie, Afdhlin and ACMIzal) working as building cleaners, trying to make it big in KL. They took part in a competition - Window Washing Olympics. up against this giant company headed by a mean man. OF course they lost but simply because the mean man paid the eldest brother money to make sure they lose! then its about them breaking and making up and love stories in between.

I first went in the first week of the showing. It was hilarious then. Even the actors were laughing as they go along. Yesterday, i went again - to their very last show - and this time with all my girls and their Abah. Yesterday's show was outrageously funny. the actors were no longer following the script! the impromptu ad-lib was out-of- this- world- funny!! kelakar mau mampus, bak kata orang Sabah! the actors themselves were laughing so much that they keep forgetting their lines and then had to keep on making up their own lines!

AC Mizal was of course the funniest of them all. he was so natural. the kids loved him. Awie was my favourite. Not at all the rocker we know. Sooo the cutest dengan lagak lemah lembut dia! Afdhlin, of course is in a class of his own. His singing...his acting...first class! Hans...siggghhhhh...Hans was sooo handsome!! 4 great actors who got along so well and had that much chemistry between them.

We sat in the very front row during that last show. Our highlight was when Awie sang solo and sat at the edge of the stage right in fornt of our faces!! he even said to KakNgah: "apa gelak2?"

:-). Thennnn...he jumped down and sat in between KLong and KNgah!!! we were screaming!!! excited nyerrrrr....hahaha!

Too bad CUCI has ended its run ... Otherwise, i would go back again...again....and again!!

Mumsie suker gilerrr gambar nih!

LEMBING AWANG PULANG KE DAYANG

2009-10-27T22:12:00.003+08:00

I wrote this review in facebook:

I love the movies. Who doesn't, eh. People who knows me would know my entire family is a fan of malay movies and dramas. I proclaim to be a penyokong industri filem melayu. hehe...tapi i pick and choose laaa...tak der lah i nak menyokong citer-citer like Jin Notti or Sifu dan Tongga yang sah-sah akan memperbodohkan minda kita.

Anyhoo. when i heard that my dear friend Man actually produces a movie. I was all excited. And he (and Gina the wife) has been promoting this movie - Lembing Awang Pulang ke Dayang - for the longest time. We were enticed with beautiful posters and barisan pelakon yang menarik - the likes of Farid Kamil, Zulhuzaimy, Kuswadinata, Mustafa Maarof, Rosnani Jamil, Uji Rashid and Hattan. For those yang tak minat citer melayu other than P.Ramlee movies may not agree with me but i consider them good Malaysian actors.

JAlan cerita - simple enough - Awang and Dayang are in love. Awang pinang Dayang but Dayang's dad imposed conditions - hantaran of considerable amount, kain apa entah yang masa tu susah nak dapat serba sepersalinan plus selendang and he has to merantau for 3 purnama to supposedly educate himself. So, off he went and whilst he was gone, bad guy Bachok kacau daun. The movie was basically about Awang's adventures and BAchok's attempts to win over Dayang. After almost 3 years, Dayang's dad decided he couldn't wait for Awang anymore and married Dayang off to Bachok. On their wedding day, Awang came home with some magic lembing he won at a chess game with a King somewhere. Ending...ha you go lah see the movie! hehe...

Man and Gina invited me last Saturday to a special screening of the movie. So, i dengan excitednya pergi-lah. I brought KakLong, my cousin KTam and her daughter Ika with me. Excited coz first time i know a film producer personally and sangat teruja to show him support. And excited coz i thought i'll get to meet some of the pelakon! Nope. None turned up. Only Man and GIna was there! haha.My take on the film? OK laaaa...tapi ok-ok jer laaa. My main complaint is the heroine. An actress called Siti Elizad. Sorry folks but the girl CANNOT act and she's not pretty enough! There's just no chemistry between her and the men who wooed her! and no connection to me as an audience. I just don't feel sad when she's sad and am not happy when she supposedly is. Know what i mean? Banyak adengan sedih for her - among others when Awang left on his adventure and when she was forced to marry Bachok - tapi she did not shed any tears!!! (which reminds me of Erra Fazira in Kabhi Kushry Kabil Igam - she was sooo good that i cried with her sampai bengkak mata, okeyyy!!).

Flow cerita pun kurengg lah sikit. Ada parts are lost on me...like when orang kampung thought Awang was dead. Why they thought that, i'm not sure. Also, what happened to the characters of ORang KAya and that Ketua Kampung?

But i love the costumes!! they were glorious! Although a bit over the top laa when the actors are immaculately dressed ALLLLL the time! hehe...

I may not rasa that i should rush back to GSC for another round of the movie (like i feel after i watched PAPADOM) but i would like to recommend those yang belum tengok to give this movie a chance. You may like it, you may not but hey, it can be the case with hollywood movies too, kan? SO..pergilah tengok. Sokonglah industri filem melayu!!

mumsie with mr and mrs producer

Seminggu Ber Hari Raya

2009-09-25T13:46:00.005+08:00

Mumsie and brood is finally home in Putrajaya after a week of ber-hari raya sakan! Mumsie sangat seronok this Syawal because setelah sekian lama we beraya in Lipis/Raub first! Since balik from Geneva we have gone through 1 Raya Puasa and 2 Raya Haji before this and alllll of them was spent and celebrated in Melaka!! Tak aci, kan?!

Anyways, this time we balik beraya ke kampung Mumsie. Pagi Sabtu we balik Lipis. Silly us thinking by that time everyone would have gone back to their kampung so leaving the highway to us! Boy we were mistaken!! A trip that usually takes 2 and a half hours took us 6 hours!! Crazy, kan?! I blame it on the Kelantanese. Bukan apa...its like they are the only ones nak cepat balik kampung. they were cutting queue nak masuk bandar Bentong and Raub tu kiri dan kanan! Jalan 1 lane boleh jadik 3! And i bukan tuduh melulu...the jam only occured for as long as we were sharing the route with them. Lepas bandar Raub towards Lipis there was no more jam coz they had their own route terus ke Kelantan! Shissshhhh!! After that day it was difficult for me to feel sympathy for victims of road accidents coz after that day i kinda believed 90% of those victims deserved what was coming to them! When they cut queue, they not only put themselves in danger, they put the rest of us too at risk! Betul2 they didn't think that! And police also did not do their part....they did NOT do ANYTHING to ease the traffic!

Siggghhh...ni kira dah lari topic dah ni! Rest assured that was the only downside to my raya celebration! After that I had good plain fun catching up with cousins and aunts and uncles yang i tersangat jarang jumpa. Here...let the pixes tell the story...

Petang Raya, among others, we made these..

Orang Melaka took charge of the ketupat

Kanak-kanak riang

Anak2 IT di petang raya!!

Mumsie's complete family

The lovely ladies in my extended family!

Our gracious hosts...terima kasih laa bebanyak!

OK..dah malas nak upload more. Must say...my Raya is still not complete. I have not visited Bapak!

Sembang Mak Ngan Anak

2009-09-17T08:04:00.002+08:00

Alkisahnya...anak ikut mom and dad pegi fetch kueh raya then for teh tarik session malam semalam. Anak tanya mak: "Miii...betul ker dolphins tu baik?"

Mak (wants to concentrate on her roti telor+bawang): "yeap"

Anak: Like how?

Mak (wants the sembang to end coz she'd rather sembang with Abah): Like if there is a shark coming after you, the dolphins will come and save you.

Anak: Like how?

Mak (OMG..this is not gonna end now, is it??): They'll carry you on their back and run away.

Anak: then what will the shark do?

Mak (siggghhh...): It depends. If it's not hungry, it'll just let you go. If the shark is hungry...it'll come after you and eat the dolphins and you!

Anak pause with mata widening and narrowing. Then : Miiii...what about crocodile??

Mak (allaaaa apa lagi ni??): what about crocodile?

Anak: what should we do if they are near us?

Mak (seriously??): you should be very still so that dia tak perasan you are near.

Anak: what happens if i move?

Mak (this is never gonna end, is it?): It'll nggggaaaappppp you!!

Anak: Miiiiiii!!!! Adik, Jom gi tido ngan Wan. I'm scared!

MAk: THANK GOD!!

My kids need to watch more Discovery Channel and Animal Planet rather than Astro Ceria!!!

Sembang Suami Isteri

2009-09-16T09:59:00.006+08:00

Adalah sepasang suami isteri nie...pada suatu hari (OK...Monday baru ni!)..selepas selesai mengerjakan solat Maghrib bersama dan lepak2 kat sejadah sambil menunggu Isya' (almaklum makan-makan lepas buka puasa..Maghrib pun lanjutlah sikit!), sang suami telah berpaling ke arah isteri seraya berkata:

"Jom kita ada anak sorang lagi nak?"

Isteri: "Kenapa? Yang 4 tu dah cukup laaa"

Suami: "Alaa..diorang tu dah besar laaa..tak best! (isteri starts frowning!) kalau ada baby best boleh golek golek, main main..."

Isteri: "Alaaa...nanti i gemuk arrr..i baru buat banyak baju.."

Suami: " Alaaa..sekarang pun you memang dah gemuk!!"

Isteri dalam hati: "hellooooo...that is soooo NOT the thing to say to get what you want!!!"

Isteri: " I think we should concentrate on the ones we have. KakLong and KakNgah demands more of our attention sekarang ni..."

Suami: "We need to try for a son...otherwise nanti hilang nama kita...coz their children akan ber-bin-kan bapa yang ber-bin kan bapanya, etc, etc"

Isteri: "Alaaa..bila mati nanti, talkin kita kena bin-kan mak juga...tak der ke mananya nama bapak tu...Also what if we have another one, keluar perempuan juga? Plus, kalau dapat anak lelaki macam abang i tu pun lagi tak guna!!"

Suami: "Well...kalau macam tu kira rezeki kita lar...tapi i can imagine in years to come i will be lonely..no one to share stuffs with."

Isteri: "Why not? The girls are more than happy to share stuff with you! Or just get a hobby to keep you occupied!"

Suami: "But i cannot take them to watch football games ... kat mesia ni bukan boleh orang pompuan pegi. bahaya!!"

Pause coz azan Isya' berkumandang kat TV. Tunjuk gambar Mekah.

Isteri: "I have another reason - i betul betul nak pegi umrah hujung tahun ni. I cannot go laa kalau mengandung!"

Suami : "okeyyy laaaa...taknak sudah.."

demikianlah sikit lebih kurang sembang suami isteri itu...konklusi-nya si isteri saspek, with that conversation si isteri no longer can tell whoever yang suruh we try for a boy : "I tak kisah..dia (pointing to suami) yang taknak!!". So now..suami can use that answer laaa...very crever my husband, kan?! ooopss!!! Ne-mind...asal dia bukan nak cari sebab!!

Cucu Tok Mummy

2009-09-04T09:33:00.003+08:00

This is my cucu...cucu sedara laaa...nama dia Fakrul Radzi (am not quite sure how it is spelt). Am not quite sure as to how old he is tapi dia dah ada adik. This little guy is interesting coz he has a baby squeeky voice and is afraid of a LOT of things! Dia takut orang gemuk...takut belon ...takut Barbie dolls...he's even afraid of gambar Cookie Monster on his aunt's T-shirt!

Couple of months ago I taught him to say "mangkuk hayun"! I swear it is soooooo cute when he says it!! Later i taught him to point to his dad whenever we ask him "siapa mangkuk hayun?". Hehehe...now dia dah pandai. He doesn't need to point anymore. He'll just say in his cute squeeky little boy voice "Abah!" whenever anyone ask him about the mangkuk hayun!

One of his uncle taught him to say "pergi jahanam" (we're talking Melaka people here...these words mean nothing to them okeyyy). So, whenever we ask him "Radzi nak pergi mana?. He'll say "pegi Nyahanamm.." Cute giler, okey! We will ketawa tergolek golek with the free entertainment!

Yeap...right now Radzi is our entertainment. He is adorable...and the adults around him are terrible teachers!!

Happy 8th Birthday, Sarah!

2009-09-03T21:34:00.007+08:00

For the second time, Sarah's birthday falls in Ramadhan. So, once again, it was a low key celebration. Mumsie made her favourite dish - ketam masak lemak and baked her cupcakes - black bottom cupcakes with cream cheese topping.

Wan made pulut kuning and rendang dendeng (yang ni terlupa nak amik gambarnya!). After makan nasi, we nyanyi lah happy birthday for her...

ABAH

2009-08-28T23:06:00.002+08:00

Was reading Mrs GoodThings@Home blog and was reminded that she tagged me a while ago on basically how well in know my husband! Lets have a go, shall we....

1) He’s sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen?
Football, mainly...or anything sports...Prison Break and NurKasih on friday nights!!

2) You’re out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
Any dressing thats already on the salad...if he can choose, it would probably be Thousand Island.

3) What’s one food he doesn’t like?
Buah-buahan tempatan, except durian! Apparently he perasan omputih!

4) You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order?
Teh tarik and tosei/roti telur with bawang and cili or mee goreng mamak...depending on which mamak stall we're at!

5) Where did he go to high school?
SMS Sultan Muzaffar, Melaka. Apparently the only boy from his primary school who made it to a boarding school that year! member memang bangga pasal ni!

6) What size shoes does he wear?
Ok...i don't know the answer to this one. Would this render me a bad wife???

7) If he was to collect anything, what would it be?
He collected caps when we were travelling in Europe but right now all those caps are still in a box!

8) What is his favorite type of sandwich?
Any type. this is one guy who would eat anything, janji halal.

9) What would this person eat every day if he could?
Whatever his eldest sister cooks!

10) What is his favorite cereal?
He'll eat whichever cereal we bought for the kids.

11) What would he never wear?
Baju orang pompuan

12) What is his favorite sports team?
Liverpool

13) Who did he vote for?
I suspect it is for the Opposition coz he kept saying, "My heart is with UMNO but they need to be taught a lesson!"

14) Who is his best friend?
ME!!!

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn’t do?
Main spider solitaire

16. What is his heritage?
He's orang melaka through and through!

17. What is his favourite colour?
I don't think he has any particular favourite. He wears all colours, including pink. and he looks good in all colours, if i may say so myself!

18. What is his habit?
Balik kerja, tidur!

19. What is he proud of?
His family and himself.

20. Lastly, do you think he will read this?
Only if he happens to pass by the computer and my blog happens to be on the screen!

Hmm...i do believe i know my husband quite well!! hahahaha....
OK...am supposed to tag others so i tag....

Teeny, the not-so-new bride,
Jah (haha..this should force you to revisit your blog!)
and MrsNordin (simply bcoz i would like to read her way of describing MrNordin!!)

Semangat Kejiranan (or not!)

2009-08-27T22:15:00.002+08:00

Mumsie baru balik from our neighbours' house for iftar. The family who lives directly behind our house memang friendly giler. The husband is a Chinese convert. A doctor. The wife was also some kind of doctor but is no longer working full time, i think. I memang respect kat this couple. I believe that they live a wholesome life.

When the invitation came yesterday i thought they've invited a whole house of anak2 yatim for buka puasa. Rupanya, they and a bunch of their friends (consisting of their current and old neighbours) has adopted, or rather sponsored, a few boys from a rumah anak yatim in Perak. The boys has been spending the school holidays with their respective foster families and due to go back to Perak tomorrow.

I ni sebenarnya nak cerita that I am not and has never been a good neighbour. Another trait I got from Bapak, i think. I'm the kind of person yang balik rumah terus masuk and never come out to lepak2 outside. I don't do any gardening, to begin with and I'm not interested in the so-called fresh air...So...i hardly know my neighbours...Actually many of them pun macam i jugak. Hardly can be seen outside their houses except when they were getting groceries out of the car! But I'm lucky, I suppose. I have very good and friendly immediate neighbours. Sesekali they come over simply to say hello...I ni, tunggu depa jemput for khenduri barulah i pegi rumah diorang! hehe..tak perlah, i think. As long as hubungan silaturrahim tu dah wujud..betul tak?

Abah, on the other hand...is a very good neighbour! Tu lah...Tuhan tu Maha Kaya..pasang-pasang kan kita dengan orang yang boleh balancekan our lives....Alhamdulillaaaaahhhhh....

Hobi: Tangkap Gambar

2009-08-26T22:57:00.004+08:00

Just want to share with you, since I'm in the mood, the products of my latest hobby...in no particular order...

like bapak...i love taking pictures for as long as i can remember...bapak bought me my first camera - a Yashica - when i went to UK for my studies and i've not looked back. Late last year, i bought a DSLR - and i enjoy taking pictures even more!

Unfortunately, unlike bapak..i don't have the patience of sending the pictures for printing so all of the pictures i've taken are kept in various files in all of my laptops and computers!! (chewah...macam lah i ada banyak computer!).

Of course, zaman bapak dulu, we were still using films...so kenalah print kalau nak tengok gambar-gambar tu...but the thing about bapak was that he will take time to susun alll the photos in nice albums...he'll date the albums and categorize them...

Zaman sekarang kan kita dah pakai memory card....and anak bapak sorang ni tak de kosa nak print gambar and susun susun...i just love to take pictures and then syok sendiri depan computer!

Selamat Berpuasa...

2009-08-26T21:42:00.003+08:00

Not too late to wish all my friends and family a good Ramadhan, kan?! Baru 5 Ramadhan hari ni...

Hope you guys are having a good Ramadhan thus far...moga semua sihat dalam menjalani ibadah puasa and all the extra ibadah of sembahyang terawih and mengaji Quran...and preparing lovely dishes for the family (ni pun I'm sure di kira ibadah juga!)

Mumsie is having a relatively easier time this year...mungkin sebab anak2 dah biasa berpuasa and more importantly, I have a maid. A reliable one, so far. Plus, Ramadhan has not really started for me, yet. hehe...

What have i been feeding the family? Macam-macam! hehe...first 2 days of Ramadhan, since it was a weekend...i masak lah...masak nasi with all the favourite lauks of orang-orang yang berpuasa - Abah, KakNgah and Sarah as well as MakSU. We even did some baking. Chocolate chip cookies and a butter cake! I realized whilst baking that anak-anak I dah besar...dah boleh harap kat dapur! I only needed to put the ingredients together...they did everything else!! Alhamdulillaaahhh ...

But since Monday Abah ordered me to get food from the Putrajaya Bazaar Ramadhan...dia nak nasi kerabu laaa...nasi beryani laaa...anak2 nak nasi ayam laaa...roti john laaa..so since Mumsie tak puasa, he said i should make the trips to the Bazaar...okeylaaa...bagi chan. Tapi i told them that once i start puasa i am not willing to go through the jam and heat and ramai orang to go get food!! I would rather cook at home!

Esok our neighbour ajak berbuka and terawih kat rumah dia. Apparently they are inviting some anak yatim to their house and they want us to join them. So sweet, kan?! So, I'm looking forward to that...

Well...i hope you're having a good time as we are!!

what have we been up to?

2009-07-20T22:17:00.004+08:00

Quite a bit, actually.

1) Hi-Tea @ KL Tower

last-laassstt weekend, we went to KL Tower. My cousin - Abang Long Mahmud - celebrated his 60th birthday. So, he belanja seme orang up to 60%. Cool, eh! So, off we went, and for many of us, Mumsie included, it was for the first time! Happening rupanya tempat tu! There's a lot of activities around there. Animal Zone laaa...flying fox laaa...shopping and tempat makan, of course. Itu baru on ground floor. You can go alllll the way up to the observation deck (but only after paying mega bucks laaa) OR you can go up, like we did, to the Seri Angkasa Restaurant. Its a revolving one. Truth be told, for Mumsie yang not all that fond of heights, it was not all that exciting. Its hard to enjoy food when you keep thinking that you're at the brink of death!! Me exaggerating?? Yes, of course! :-)

The view from up there of course la cantik. We can see all of KL, jerebu or not. Food was so-so. MakSu reminded me that Puteri Kama the blogger had once wrote that the best bread and butter pudding is found up there. Can't say i agree with her but of course, to each their own, eh!

It was good fun, as always, to makan-makan with my cousins and anak-anak buah.

2) Movies

We've been going to the movies quite a bit as well. We've seen:

Transformers (good fun although jalan cerita ntah apa-apa),
17 Again (Zac Ephron was simmply yuummy..who cares about the jalan cerita!),
Jangan Pandang Belakang COngkak (a natural choice since we are hard core supporters of industry filem melayu...this one was hilariously funny, almost from beginning to end...jalan cerita? what jalan cerita? Filem Melayu mana ada jalan cerita! But it was good fun. The girls and I are still laughing over it. We can't wait for the DVD to come out!)

On Sunday, like millions of others, we went to see Harry Porter, and the Half Blood Prince. Mula-mula tu bimbang jugak coz Shafrina said it was boring. I am not a hard core Potter fan so kalau tak best i would not want to watch it. Tapi tiket dah beli wayyyy before reading Shafrina's review so kena laa pergi jugak. Turned out, we liked it. It was...cute! Because half the story was about the kids mengorat each other!! hehe...Wished Potter did not look so nerdy, though!

3) Cats

yes, the house is once again graced with the presence of cats. 2 to be exact. Caramella a.k.a Caramel and Mansor a.k.a Monty. siggghhhh...i'm resigned to the fact that they are here to stay and that they are not the last of them!

Caramel was picked up from the place where we ate Ikan Bakar alllll the way in Melaka. KakNgah convinced Abah that the cat was male. I don't know why Abah believed her. He should have known better to check for himself!!

Mansor (the name i insisted on giving him - simply - just to irritate the girls) was picked up by Abah at the Pasar Borong Serdang. Abah and I was eating breakfast and he came by and buat manja-manja kat Abah. It worked.

So, there you go. The children's lives are complete, as far as they are concerned. Although, of course a rabbit or 2 or a hamster would make them muuuccchhhhh happier and would probably make them pledge their lives to me for eternity!!

Oklah...ada lagi nak cerita..tapi i dah ngantuk arrrrr.....nite-nite, y'all...zzzzzzz

BM? English? BM? English?

2009-07-13T22:24:00.004+08:00

The policy maker keep changing their minds! Why is that? I do seriously believe its simply because their mouth works muccchhhh faster than their brains! The policy makers being politicians, i suppose you cannot expect much more.

I remember the kids headmistress had asked the parents to continue supporting the subjects to be taught in English because in all her teaching experience she can see that the students have improved much in their development. They may not be smart and scoring but she can see the students gain self confidence and are not shy to make mistakes. FOr maths and science, unlike English, teachers do not look for perfect grammar. It is sufficient that they answer correctly. E.g. water boiling can also be described as water is very hot. Something along that line laa..

So, am wondering, who did the policy makers consulted when they were mulling over this issue? Did they even mull over it? Kononnya, grades were dropping. Really? Then how come many many kids are scoring gazillion As for PMR, SPM, et al?

Anyhoo...how will this affect our children? Mine, in particular. Truth be told, I'm not particularly worried. Not because my children are smart. But because it don't make much difference. Although sekarang ni maths and science are supposedly taught in English, my children tells me their teachers ala-ala mengelat and teach in Malay from time to time. I tengok kertas soalan pun, ada both languages. So, as long as the kids understand the question, they should be OK. For maths in particular coz the answers will be in numbers. Science will be a bit tricky, I guess.

Am hearing radical reactions from friends who are parents. Less so from those with kids in private schools. I suppose they don't intend to send their kids to national varsities anyway. Ada cerita that some parents have taken their kids from public schools and put them into private ones as soon as the annoucement was made. Wow, i remember thinking. Radical nya! But i was also thinking...korang kaya, tak perlaaa...anak sorang dua boleh laaa...

I learned English from my Bapak who spoke English to us at home, who introduced us to the world of ENid Blyton since the day we learn how to read and who allowed us to watch American sitcoms through Singapore channels! I try to do the same to my kids. In the beginning, they were reluctant. They refused to converse in ENglish although they could perfectly understand what I was saying. Alhamdulillah, the sojourn to Geneva helped tremendously. The kids were put in the International school whilst there, and they "embraced" English whole heartedly. So, for us, masa kat Geneva we speak Malay at home. Now dah kat Malaysia, tukar cakap omputih pulak kat rumah. So, alhamdulillah my girls are bi-lingual.

I do hope the policy makers are thinking of a long transitional period. Hopefully, at least for a couple of years beginning 2012, they'll allow some flexibility. Perhaps they can let the students choose whether they want to answer question in BM or ENglish. And in the meantime, they can spend more money training the teachers coz i i actually believe, deep down, its the teachers who are finding it difficult to cope!!

Yaasin

2009-07-09T21:42:00.006+08:00

ni malam-malam jumaat macam ni Mumsie nak citer pasaal Surah Yaasin and how it has changed my life. Ini kisah benar tau!

For most of 2008 I had a very hard time at work. There was frustration and pent up anger. I had bosses who were (some still are!) very demanding. Very meticulous. Every comma, every full stop must be in place. Nothing i did was good enough. It was very tiring. Many mornings i woke up thinking of excuses not to go to work. I'll take leave just to be away from the office and i will cancel those leave if i find out the boss is away from office too! It was bad. Morale was low. Motivation was almost zilch.

Then, early this year, entah macam mana, lepas sembahyang maghrib one day tu I switched on Astro Oasis. There were showing orang mengaji and that prompted me to mengaji as well. I found a Yaasin booklet given by Bank Islam. Dalam tu it was written that whoever reads Yaasin first thing in the morning, all their wishes will come true. Insya ALLAH.

So I started. Everyday lepas tu I baca Yaasin EVERY morning. In the beginning, I baca and thought of the bosses at the same time. At the end, I baca doa minta ALLAH swt grant me a good day at work. Dalam booklet Bank Islam tu pun ada doa to be read after one recite the Yaasin. Among others, kita doa minta ALLAH swt "jangan jadikan kami berhajat kepada seseorang pun daripada kalangan makhluk-Mu dalam soal rezeki kami" and kita minta ALLAH swt "ikatkanlah lidah-lidah orang yang mempertuturkan keburukan kami..."

So, whenever I come to these portion of the doa, i will think of the bosses. It convinces me that rezeki i only comes from ALLAH swt. The bosses do not decide on my fate!

Alhamdulillah, it works almost immediately! My days at the office improved tremendously!! The bosses no longer screams at me. My drafts are approved almost immediately. Waking up and going to work is no longer a chore! Alhamdulillah! I told some colleagues about it and one of them started reading as well. She too claimed that she feels soooo much better at work (I wasn't the only one suffering, you know....)

I still read the Yaasin every morning. And i would like for you all to do so too! Insya ALLAH, berkat hari hari kita....

Putrajaya

2009-07-08T22:17:00.006+08:00

when i first heard of Putrajaya, it was being built...and there were only criticisms. Biasalah, when something is made political. Tun Mahathir had then stuck to his gun and went on building. I never saw Putrajaya until we had to move here in 2003. Masa tu only a few Precints (i love that the areas are divided into "precints") existed. There were hardly any shops or restaurants. Quite dead, really.

But i loved living in Putrajaya even then. It is beautiful and more importantly, convenient. Everything is 5, 10 minutes from each other. So what there was hardly any entertainment then. KL is not all that far away. Traffic jams are almost unheard of for there are big roads leading to just about everywhere. I particularly love the fact that it takes me not more than 20 minutes to get to work each day! Malam-malam the city dimandikan cahaya. My mom kata it reminds her of Mekah!

We lived in government quarters. The grade I'm in allows us to stay in a semi-D. I love the fact it is gateless. It gives out a sense of space and freedom. In the beginning it was even grill-less but with development came crime - house breakings started and eventually Government puts up the grills. Although i must say that didn't deter the criminals. We still hear horror stories of break-ins.

When we came back from Geneva, we managed to secure another government quarters. This time in a newly developed precint. This time Putrajaya has changed much. There is now a shopping complex - Alamanda - complete with GSC movie theater, bowling alleys and karaoke rooms! And our house is a mere 10 minutes away (i don't how far in km). Kedai mamak tak payah cerita laaa....its everywhere!!

A couple of weeks ago my office shifted to our own building in Precint 4. I was worried that it would take a long time to get to work since i have to pass some 13 sets of traffic lights to get there! But being in Putrajaya, it means that there 3-4 alternative roads and I chose the the 3-lane hi-way that leads me direct to the office within 20 minutes tops without passing any traffic lights!!!

I love Putrajaya...now i only need to find RM .5 million to enable me to buy a house around here!!!

Ina pun suka Putrajaya, kan?!

weekends

2009-07-06T09:37:00.002+08:00

I don't know about others, but for Mumsie weekends are often the busiest time for me! Dulu, masa kat Geneva weekends were all about spending time together. Yelah, mana ada orang lain lagi. And it was all about what we want to do...nak gi jalan2 ker...nak gi golek-golek dalam snow ker...nak gi bakar-bakar ayam and kambing kat park ker...or to just chill with friends. Whatever, its personal...semuanya plan dan execute sendiri.

Back here in Malaysia...banyak social obligations. More often, your weekends are not your own. Its all about, kenduri here kenduri there...get together here, get together there...its double when you are married, I suppose. Then there are the in-laws' kenduris and get togethers as well!

I don't suppose I'm complaining, really. What would life be without siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and in-laws? Sure lonely giler.

So, yes, I'm not complaining. I rather enjoy having my weekends booked until well after Raya! haha! Even it means that half the days after is spent recovering from the weekend!

Mumsie is in Love

2009-07-03T09:50:00.006+08:00

With Anuar Zain.

Mumsie + MakSu +MakTam + Shelly + Shafrina had a girls' nite out to watch Anuar perform last nite at Istana Budaya.

Anuar was simply awesome. He sang effortlessly, sounding exactly like he does in the CDs, backed by a 55 piece orchestra. There was even a harp!

And Anuar was simply gorgeous! In well tailored suits, highly suspected to be that of Armani, dengan budak baik's haircut...he was the kind of boy you want to bring home to meet your parents if you are young free and single OR to play with if you are not so young but free and single OR to buat menantu if you're me ! And whats with allll that story about him being gay anyway? He looked perfectly metroseksual to me :-)

Lets not get started on his moves...he didn't have any silly dancers prancing around him. It was just him. He danced just a little but whatever it is, he made it soooooo sexy! siggghhhh...

I just wished he had sang more. He spent quite a bit of time bantering with the audience. The ladies were screaming and throwing marriage proposals at him. Understandable, actually but wished he hadn't reacted to each and every one of them!

Still... thank you, Anuar. For making me feel young again...

I had a really good time last nite...but despite falling in love with Anuar and all, I must say that I actually enjoyed Sheila Majid's performance more!

p.s. Pixes courtesy of MStar.

DIET

2009-06-30T19:53:00.003+08:00

Garfield calls it DIE with a T.

For the umpteenth (how to spell this word arr?) time, Mumsie is on a diet. As of yesterday i started taking this thing called Juvanex which is supposed to detox your body. So far so OK. No extreme side effect. Pening-pening lalat jer sikit. Hopefully it means that there is not much toxin in my body to be rid of. hehe. fat chance ... pun intended!

Kejap tadi i had my dinner - salad! But, i ngelat coz i made the salad from lettuce, feta cheese, croutons and thousand island sauce!!! Tapi, justification nye- its a damn good start for someone who doesn't like vege to begin with! Once done with Juvanex (its a 7-day thingy), i will re-start on Herbalife. I bought the set already so that i cannot change my mind or dilly dally for much longer!

i have to lose some weight. For the last couple of months I've been feeling fat...bloated...sluggish..slow...malas... Some say its a sign of ageing...some say its pre-pre menopausal...whatever it is, its scary!

I must lose weight! Baju banyak dah ketat. Suits banyak dah tak muat. My watches are getting tight around the wrist!

Wish me luck!!

Hobi: Membaca

2009-06-29T21:24:00.008+08:00

Am sure for most girls this is what they would write in forms that ask what their hobbies are. Mumsie semestinya. I've been reading for as long as i can remember! And there was a time that i read alllllll the time..tak kira masa and tak kira tempat! Ahhhh..those were the days!!

I read, still although not as much i want to. Al-maklum sibuk sekarang kaannn...hehe. No lah, like blogging, i now read bila ada mood. and i now read what i'm in the mood for. As a result, i have many unfinished books!! Oh, perhaps i should also tell that i also love buying books!! Currently i have a boxful of books, half of which belum baca and the other half is the half reads. This past week i've been in the mood to read romantic malay novels! hehe..some malay authors are quite good. Reading malay novels, i can imagine hero dan heroinnya! hehehe...usually they are the likes of fahrin ahmad....elly mazlein...hehehe!!

Alhamdulillah, anak-anak pun dah mula menunjukkan minat membaca. Especially KLong and KNgah. Sarah, not so. That one prefers the TV anytime. Soraya, currently is obsessed with Facebook, otherwise she would read too. From time to time, Abah would pick up a book but i doubt he ever finishes any!

Having said all that, i somehow feel the need to further explain that the one thing i don't read is those self help books. Never could hold any interest on those - the cynical pessimist that i am. And i read simply, which means i don't read those intellectual books, created by authors using big words. I don't enjoy reading and having to refer to the dictionary at the same time!!!

Anyhoo...nuf said. here's some pixes i took of us shopping for books and reading them!

in the last pix the girls were reading in the flight to Phuket recently. They read throughout the flite, prompting the stewardess to comment: "I'm impressed to see that your girls read so much. Did you read a lot when you were pregnant?"

Can arr like that?

Heellllooooooo...anybody there??

2009-06-28T21:44:00.003+08:00

Hehe...helloooo...masih ada lagi ker orang nak baca blog Mumsie nih? Dah lama Mumsie tak hapdet..bukan tak der idea tapi tak der mood! Can't really explain it but i didn't feel like writing for the past couple of months...didn't think anyone would miss me and sure enough, no one did, actually. Ohh..except Zetty! Hi Zetty!!!

Anyways, am planning to resume writing in this blog. A lot has been happening tapi i mostly update my going-ons in Facebook. So, friends and family tend to know what i have been up to. Basically, Mumsie has been buzzy, buzzy, buzzy...at work and at home!! Yelah, semua orang pun buzzy jugak ye tak?! I suppose dunia sekarang memang macam tu...its as if, if you're buzzy you're OK. It means you're doing good. Is it really? I wonder sometimes...Mak ayah, tok nenek kita dulu tak derlah buzzy macam ni rasanya. I remember, my mom and dad always..and i mean always come home for lunch on a working day. and we always makan sama-sama. Now ni...we're perpetually pressed for time. So sapa nak, pegi makan dulu...sapa tak nak miss the TV, go makan depan TV (although this is prohibited -although not strictly-now if Mummy and Abah are eating with you!) This is why I don't really mind eating out more often. At least when we are at the restaurant we have no choice but eat together until the end of the meal! Betul tak??

But i digress...i just wanted to say hello again!

Girlie trip down memory lane...

2009-04-20T22:44:00.003+08:00

If you haunt Facebook on regular basis as I do, then you would also be busy re-visiting your past! Thats what i've been up to of late - catching up with friends from yonder years!!

Through FB, I found friends masa sekolah menengah dulu...those from Sultan Ibrahim Girls' School (famously known as SIGS-JB) and those from SMS Muar.

I was in SIGS in 1981-1983. then halfway through Form 4, i succumbed to social pressure to attend boarding school..hence the move to SMS Muar.

Bapak was a civil servant who gets moved around the country every 5 years or so...hence i grew up in Taiping..Kota Bharu...JB...and Kuantan and so i attended banyak sekolah - i went to 2 sekolah rendah and 3 sekolah menengah!!

But somehow, the best memories are of my days in SIGS. Perhaps thats why i can remember more of my SIGS-friends. SIGS was a happening school back then. It had the best school band which won competitions around the country! Ahhhh...i can still recall the girls twirling in their mini skirts...In Form 2, my classroom was next to the field where the band would practice...needless to say i spent considerable time being told to stand whilst lessons was going on - as punishment for being more interested in the band's moves than the teacher kat depan tu! ahhh...and the crush we used to have on the drum major...i remember Wan Jay...hehe!

Anyway...after months of getting re-acquainted via FB...these friends and I have been "reuniting". I went to JB a couple of weeks back and met up with some of them - Sha, Orr, Nurul and Wan. We even took time to visit the old school...

But the meeting was too short..and there were too few of us...and so another one took place last weekend. Gempaq punya cerita! About 16 of us turned up and most have not seen each other since we left school some 25-26 years ago!! Some brought old photos and Prema brought the old school magazines. Bergolek-golek seme orang ketawa tengok gambar zaman dulu-dulu!! We were all so nerdy and geeky...so the 80s!!

Of course now most of us are a bunch of 42 year-old mums. Not so nerdy but definitely most of us has grown sideways! hahaha...Some had hardly change at all...some even wears the same hairstyle they've had since schooldays!! Like...OMG!!

Anyway..i'm ever so glad i found these girls again...and i hope this time we'll always be in touch..thank you FB!

mortality

2009-03-01T14:09:00.004+08:00

A colleague of mine died last week..at the young age of 26. He had heart problems..which i think was taken lightly coz he's young and seemingly healthy. He collapsed after a badminton game and died...senang jer. Macam tu lah kita selalu kata...orang yang baik-baik ni senang mati nya. Arwah memang budak baik.

But my posting ni is not a tribute to him. Mumsie sebenarnya tak kenal sangat arwah. So, beyond knowing that dia budak yang baik, i don't know much else about him. Kami tak pernah chit chat pun.

I just want to reflect on mortality and what it means to the people left behind. Like i said, arwah budak baik. So, when he died, those yang pergi melawat cried buckets katanya (I tak pergi melawat coz my handphone was not on that time...another story!). Bosses pun nangis lah, of course. I know Boss No 1 must be broken hearted coz dia memang sayang anak2 buah dia (i would like to believe lah).

Then i heard his desk at the office was cleared by Monday (he died the Saturday before). I was not in office then but i remembered thinking - cepatnya! but i also thought maybe his close friends tak nak tengok tempat dia in the condition as if he is still around. Plus katanya his brother was coming to get his personal stuff. So, OKlah i thought.

then, when i got back to the office, on friday i heard his cubicle is already occupied by a new officer!! Since Tuesday!! and i'm thinking...OOHHH MY GOD!! that fast?? that fast that management cari ganti and moved on???

I think i've said before that i love my job...but bosses is making it so damn difficult to see why it should matter and why i should bother! We are, obviously dispensible...

blast from the past!

2009-02-23T20:32:00.003+08:00

thanks to FB, Mumsie is now in touch with kawan-kawan masa sekolah dulu...mostly kawan-kawan sekolah menengah...especially kengkawan masa i kat SIGS JB and SMS Muar. It is great..this FB thing! this is some of us...last week...25 years after we left school!

Puteri Gunung Ledang

2009-02-22T19:18:00.003+08:00

ni review yang dah lambat...mumsie + Abah + MakSu + kawan-kawan zaman sekolah dulu went to see PGL Season III last Friday 13th Feb hari tu. Donno about the others but Mumsie pergi dalam keadaan berkobar-kobar coz one: i heard and read all the raving reviews and two: i trusted the reviews coz its the work of enfiniti production and three: i really enjoyed P.Ramlee The Musical and I thought PGL would be as good, if not better.

here's what i think of PGL Season III - without having the benefit of comparing it with PGL Season I and II:

Overall impressive laaa...the stage..the costumes...the dance routines...Mootz bought the tickets way back in December last year so we got great seats...thanks mootz!

tapi....Mumsie is thinking:

Hang Tuah should be M.Nasir. Stephen Rahman tu harap hensem jer tapi tak macho in the Melaka man kinda way, if you can catch my drift. cakap melayu ada pelat sikit and the pelat is detectable. and Boroi lah dia....nampak baju dia ngam-ngam jer boleh button!

Datin Seri PGL...is good, of course but she looks her age...in a good kinda way...cuma i rasa dah tak sesuwei lah dah nak jadi PGL yang sepatutnya be a sweet young thing...

language dia all funny (I knowlah they want to speak in that malay-javanese dialect coz they are supposedly in majapahit and stuff) and not helped by the not all that perfect sound system. so i find myself wasting time looking at the translation board at the side.

lagu-lagu banyak sangat yang jiwang...again, yes i know this is the love story yang jenis cinta tak kesampaian...tapi takkanlah masa Sultan Melaka and Adipati nyanyi duet pun dalam keadaan jiwang...so tak matching dengan lagak macho diorang and at some point, they look like a gay couple memadu kasih lah pulak!!

having said allll of the above, i must say i loved sultan melaka and adipati!! AC Mizal was scary enough although i truly believed he would be scarier if he had not sung the slow-with-a-touch-of-jiwangness kind of songs! Adlin Ramli was simply adorable! To Mumsie, the highlight of the entire play was when he did his little jingle of happiness when sultan melaka decided to send men to pinang PGL!!!

Malangnya, at the end, the meet-the-fans session, these two did not make an appearance. Apparently they have a family emergency. Adlin's girlfriend and AC's wife kan sisters....

oh ye...that nite, Mumsie also met up with kawan kawan sekolah masa kat JB dulu. Jumpa balik after more than 20 years! but lets leave that story for another day...

Anak-anak

2009-02-11T23:03:00.000+08:00

Despite my regular complaints and bi*chin about the bosses, i actually love my job...the substance of it...it gives me great satisfaction when i do it right (right di mata siapa is another story for another day laaaa).

but...with the deadlines and meetings and the travellings...sometimes anak-anak has to take a back seat... hefty sum to pay, i know. Although i try hard to pick them up from school every chance i get...spend any free time in the day with them, its not enough. those times are often spent in rush mode...buat apa yang wajib...cakap apa yang perlu..."dah buat homework?"..."dah mandi?"..."dah gosok gigi?"...

So, from time to time i find myself taking a step backwards...actually look at the girls...actually have conversations with them...about school..about best friends...about our favourite episode of Friends...

today i discovered kak long and kak ngah has been appointed Pengawas Pusat Sumber (kak long proudly told me that she actually lobbied for the appointment...tunjuk rajin depan cikgu and outrightly asked the teacher to consider her when she heard teacher was looking to appoint students!! shameless, i tell you! hehe). They are not school prefects but they get to wear uniform much like the prefects. So, it means buying new uniforms allllll over again but bila pikir pasal kak long's lobbying and that it would help their CV...oklah!

Kak Ngah also got a nomination to join a students exchange programme. Kalau terpilih, she gets to spend 3 weeks in japan in july!!! Mumsie filled up the necessary forms for her tapi hati ni tak sure whether i can let her go...she's soooo tiny and japan is soooooo far!!!

Sarah is also doing well...she seems happy in school but somehow selalu tertinggal homework Bahasa Arab kat sekolah! i have a feeling its ter-sengaja tinggal!

Soraya...i really have no idea what she does with her days!!! But i do know she reads A LOT! of just about anything she can lay her hands on...just as well i don't send her to any of those cekik darah kindies!! grandma is doing a good job in "educating" her via snake and ladder and Harian Metro! we tell people we are home schooling her! can??

I have good girls...despite their unruliness and messiness and no sense of disciplines...i'm blessed and ever so proud of them...they are good girls...so long as we feed them well!! hehehe

thankful

2009-02-09T12:51:00.002+08:00

Mumsie has a couple of things to be thankful for....

1. Kak Long nampaknya dah mula take her studies seriously...alhamdulillah...

2. that i didn't follow the rombongan cikkiah to jakarta...judging by mootz' phonecalls from there, i would have come home flat broke and/or knee deep in credit card bills!

3. i never registered as a voter...so i tak derlah terasa sangat kena tipu dek our disillusioned and selfish politicians!

4. that we spent this weekend at home...its been peaceful...alhamdulillaaaahhhhh...

Mumsie in Wellington....

2009-01-29T17:51:00.004+08:00

tapi tak leh nak enjoy sangat coz meeting dari pagi sampai petang...kedai tutup kul 5.00!!

tapi sempat enjoy minum kopi di cafe-cafe berdekatan

and sempat take walks dekat-dekat hotel. dah lama Mumsie tak jalan kaki ke mana-mana. Its nice to walk here. Angin kuat so temperature is cool

and discovering banyak nya restoran mesia kat sini! so far, i've seen about 8 of them tapi Mumsie tak masuk pun. Tak bestlah jalan jauh-jauh tapi makan kat restoren mesia kann...

tak shopping. cuma beli t-shirts for people back home and stephanie meyers' new moon for moi. barang-barang kat sini mahal! kasut paling bodoh pun about 99NZD. about RM200 lebih tu! tapi abah dapat laa dia punya ALL BLACK's ori shirt...

suka orang2 kat sini. Very friendly dan tersangat helpful. Service di mana-mana pun very good.

Malangnya airport kat Auckland macam hampessss!! kena check out bag...go through immigration and custom...then heret bag(s) to the domestic terminal and check in allllll over again untuk ke wellington! so, note to self: kalau kena datang lagi, go via sydney!

wishing i can see the beautiful part of NZ that people has been telling me about...tapi tak der chan la nampaknya kali ni. tak sempat!! yang sempat cuma ini...

The Kiasu-ness of Malaysian Parenting

2009-01-21T21:25:00.004+08:00

Kak Long is in year 6. In Malaysia that means UPSR. Apparently it is potentially a life altering event. It can be the beginning of it all...the first step for these kids towards real life...KakLong being my eldest, Mumsie didn't realize all this. Until last Saturday. I attended a briefing by her teachers where they gave the parents loonggggg explanation about the importance of UPSR and their work plan for the year to ensure they remain one of the best primary schools n Putrajaya. First, i never knew the school is one of the best in Putrajaya. Maybe the standard in Putrajaya is not that high, no? I'm just wondering coz out of 30 something student they had last year, only 6 kids got 5As. I don't think that amounts to much, if you ask me.

Tapi Mumsie tak kisah sebenarnya. Sebab tu i still send my kids to that school. I suppose i lebih pentingkan keselesaan and the convenience. The children are happy there, they tell me and its minutes away from home and my office.

And i like to pride myself in being a cool kinda Mum. I tak kisah sangat pasal their tests/exams results. Of course, i would feel proud when they do well and blog about it in here. But thats about it. I don't "harass" them about studying and scoring straight As. And Mumsie bukanlah jenis Mummy yang spend free time comparing markah anak dengan anak orang lain. Come to think of it, i don't know any of Kak Long's classmates' parents! So, i don't care how their children are doing in school!

I almost always simply tell my girls that i just want them to "berusaha". I keep telling them, if they show/prove to me that they've done their best, then Mumsie is happy with whatever grades they get. But of course, so far i don't think that their "usaha" is good enough. They spend wayyy wayyyyyyy to much time depan TV. I dah larang...dah marah but still diorang tak faham concept of studying for the exams. Pada diorang, as long as homework siap cukuplah! So, Mumsie memang tak expect much from my kids.

And one part of me wants them to enjoy their childhood. I don't want them to spend their childhood keluar masuk classroom and tuition centres aje sampai tak sempat nak smell the air..enjoy the sun, etc. Hence keadaan academic Kak Long today, i suppose. i am to be blamed. She's definitely not a straight A student. In fact, cikgu cikgu cakap she's too playful in school and she needs a change in attitude!

So, back to the cerita asal of this entry. The talk given by the school is a wake up call for Mumsie. I cannot take it easy anymore, especially where Kak Long is concerned. No..its not that i want to put pressure on her. But i want her to work hard. I want her to realize she has a responsibility. And i realize that i have to force her to work hard. hence, i succumbed to the calling of tuition teachers. I found out that her teachers are offering private tuitions in the comfort of our homes so i started signing up Kak Long.

Oh! Ada cerita. The BM teacher suggested i approach one of the mums (lets call her Mum A) and ask whether Kak Long can join the group of that woman's daughter. they live on my street and cikgu tu kata right now cuma ada 2 girls in that group he's tutoring. So, i did. Mum A said she'll have to ask the other girl's mum. She did and sms'd me that its OK for K.Long to join their daughters. Then, a couple of days later, Kak Long came home saying that the teacher asked her to join another group coz Mum A's house is too sempit! i remember thinking huh? rumah semi-D pun sempit? banyak sangat ker furniture diorang? I called back Mum A. Konon nak offer buat tuition tu kat rumah i ajelah kalau rumah dia sempit. After a few aaaa...aaa...aaaa...she finally confessed she and the other mum has decided that two's company, three's a crowd!! she stammered something also anak dia really lemah in BM. which i translated as: my anak so bodoh and i'm damn selfish! can? but after i've calmed myself, i really wish them well. ye lah...kita mestilah nak jaga kepentingan anak kita sendiri kan?! whatever laaaa...

tapi Mumsie got my happy ending. I guilt trip the teacher (it was his idea kan to get Kak Long to try join Mum A's exclusive tuition) into coming to MY house and give lessons only to MY children on Saturday mornings! yeay!

Anyway, I told kak Long, here's the deal: Mumsie and Abah work hard so that we can afford alll those tuition classes...her teachers work hard to provide her with all those extra classes and SHE needs to work hard by paying attention and practice answering questions and jangan tinggal sembahyang. I hope she understands and appreciates.

Allll about Mumsie

2009-01-20T17:06:00.003+08:00

Initially...i don't get this tagging tagging business...tapi lama kelamaan (chewah)..setelah Mumsie main lompat lompat melawat blog orang dengan kepohnya, Mumsie faham that tagging tagging ni adalah cara terkini untuk berkenalan...so, since I pun dah mula dikenali ramai (chewah chewah!!), i've been tagged a couple of times, latest by Zetty and prior to that by Superwoman and before that i think was by Azian, MrsGoodthings. So this posting is to honour those ladies and bare my soul to the blogging world. Mumsie tak segan sangat coz in the blog world, despite my perasan-ness and chewah chewah tu, sebenarnya tak ramai yang baca Mumsie's Travels. So, here goes:

Directions: Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a blog/Facebook note with 16 random things, facts, habits or goals about you. At the end choose 16 people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them. Don’t forget to leave them a comment or tag them in your note to read this.

1. Mumsie suka minum kopi - preferably "renverse" yang ada kat geneva tapi sebab dah berpijak di bumi nyata takkan ke geneva lagi, nescafe tarik is good enough. Old Town White Coffee pun boleh and iced coffee Delicious is also appreciated.

2. Mumsie suka tengok TV dan wayang. Its how i spend quality time with my girlsand its how i spend quality time by myself.

3. Mumsie suka bawak kereta. Preferably Beemer tua Abah.

4. Mumsie suka amik gambar. I recently bought a NIKON D60 and am soooooo loving it! I just wished that I had bought it way back when we were living in Geneva.

5. Bila ada mood, Mumsie suka masak and bake. Last weekend I made roti jala! Woohoooo!

6. Mumsie suka baca buku....preferably mindless chick lit ones...yang baca tapi tak payah pikir-pikir. Am in the midst of reading Twilight.

7. Mumsie tengah pikir nak tukar kerja but at the same time sedar diri that i'm too old for that kind of change. I do love my job and the places it takes me to but as you can probably guess from my past entries...am not so excited about the place and the people i work for.

8. Mumsie ni tengah sangat berusaha untuk kuruskan badan tapi hampeh! Meja kat ofis dah macam pantri...ada kettle..ada toaster...so how to kurus? Pasrah ajelah Baahhhhh....

(laaaa...baru nombor 8 ker??)

9. Mumsie ni kepoh-chi. Tapi i don't like crowds. Maybe its the age factor. I dah tak suka nak beramai ramai. I prefer to be amongst a small group of people...people who can keep me company, if you know what i mean.

10. Because i don't like crowds, Mumsie tak suka shopping masa sale. Tak bermakna Mumsie tak suka sale items. So, either Mumsie tak shopping or I take leave and go shopping when other people go to work.

11. Cakap pasal shopping, Mumsie paling tak pandai bargain! Rugi kalau bawak Mumsie pegi tempat macam Pasar Payang ker...tapi to cover...Mumsie katalah i nak tolong orang Melayu..so, tak yahlah bargain beria-ia..kasi chan diorang dapat untung lebih sikit....

12. Berbalik pasal me not liking crowds, maknanya Mumsie juga tak pernah pergi watch Merdeka parades or free concerts yang kena berebut2 tempat duduk. Pernah sekali pergi Karnival Jom Heboh kat Kuantan for the sake of the children.

13. Mumsie ni pemalas orangnya. I always say I'm allergic to exercise. so, kalau pergi Zoo or tempat2 yang sewaktu dengannya, i akan jalan2 sikit then wait for the kids and Abah at some bangku somewhere. Maybe sebab ni jugaklah Mumsie tak kurus kurus!

14. Mumsie suka menari tapi tak pandai. Kecik-kecik dulu pernah berangan nak jadi penari tarian tradisional tapi tak kesampaian sebab tak lembut enough.

15. Mumsie gets along really well with people younger than me. I suppose i need to make sure i feel young allllll the time.

16. Finally.....Mumsie suka baca gossip. Tapi cannot stand writings about Norman and Memey, Mawi and Ekin, Datuk CT Nurhaliza and Datuk K and Fasha Sandha. So, Mumsie tengok E! Channel jerla kat ASTRO since i can no longer afford to buy HELLO!

dah! cukup 16! Now I tag...Ina, Teeny, lawyerlyscrewed...alamak sapa lagi? Orang lain seme dah buat tag ni...how? will i be cursed for breaking this chain??????

Boycotting the Israelis...

2009-01-08T17:08:00.002+08:00

I'm sure ramai dah very aware of what the Israelis are up to of late. Bak kata Kak Ezza, we must do what we can to help the Palestinians. Hope you've read the plea from Mercy, asking for cash donations so that they can buy medical stuff. Kalau belum and you want to donate - go to http://bangkai.wordpress.com/. Mr B has the details.

Mumsie is also trying to begin by boycotting companies and products that helps the Israelis. if you want to get started about this - go to http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/298.
Plenty of believable information there.

Meh...meh kita ramai-ramai do what we can!

Sambung cerita semalam

2009-01-08T10:22:00.002+08:00

I spoke too soon! Pagi tadi Sarah couldn't get up and started crying! aisehhh! tapi Abah settlekan and she was OK by the time they left the house. phewww! the thing with Sarah is, dia tak pegi sekolah ugama in the afternoon...so, her routine lepas balik sekolah is lunch, homework, TV and eventually fall asleep!! So, bila tiba malam dia susah nak tidur...and bila tiba pagi dia susah nak bangunlah! and so it goes! quite the difficult to solve this problem. Tips, anyone?

This and that

2009-01-07T16:52:00.002+08:00

Mumsie is in trouble. I am at the office and I am bored. Can't seem to concentrate on work...at all. Can't seem to DO any work...AT ALL! Been spending A LOT of time blog hopping. Seronok gak baca kisah mak-mak yang dah start sibuk semula since school has resumed.

Mumsie pun happy gak sekolah dah start. And Alhamdulillah this first 3 days has been eezy peezy! We have Ika the maid who has taken over the job of waking the girls up and make sure they are dressed and fed before pergi sekolah. Mumsie cuma tengok-tengokkan and betul-betulkan rambut diorang je! Best! walaupun terlintas jugak kat kepala ni nak potong jer rambut mereka tu seme!

Pagi tadi Mumsie saksikan satu adengan yang amat mengharukan hati Mumsie. Sarah was getting dressed for school alllllll by herself!! And I teringat the last 3 years, particularly last year!
I realised...since Monday Sarah has not thrown any tantrums...not cried ...and not insist on Abah dressing her up!! Anak Mumsie dah besar!! aaawwwww....

eh! punch machine dah bunyik! i promised Kak Ngah I'll pick her up from sekolah agama. nanti sambung K

Selamat Tahun Baru

2009-01-02T15:50:00.006+08:00

Yes..a very Happy New Year Mumsie ucapkan to all friends and loved ones. Time flies, huh?! When you're having fun and even when you're not! As you can see...Mumsie is starting to make changes...first via this blog. How do you like the new layout? Biasa je la, kan tapi cooler than before, i thought.

So, nak reflect on what happened in 2008? tak payahlaaaa...orang kata yang lepas jangan di kenang...must admit that it was not a particularly exciting year for Mumsie. Hence, my reluctance to revisit 2008, i suppose.

So, nak express hope for 2009? Pun Mumsie rasa tak payahlaaaa...que sera sera...what will be, will be...kita just terus berusaha dan berdoa. I was reading MrsN's blog this morning and for a moment i thought she was writing about me! talk about perasan in the maximum degree lah! mrsN doesn't even know i exist! hehehe...the point is...i could totally relate to what she was writing about...her fears and aspirations for the year to come for her and her family. I pun macam tu so i think i'll just tiru her new year resolutions lah. You think she'd mind?

I'm not exactly sure why but i'm feeling melancholic here...must be the dim sum i had for lunch just now (huh??!!). Oklah...i leave this posting with pixes of a gathering which took place in Putrajaya on New Year's eve....there were good food...

and excellent company...

It was also a birthday celebration for december born babies...

Fine...here's wishing a healthy and happy 2009 for alllllllll of us....

Berita Norman untuk Zetty

2008-12-19T20:54:00.002+08:00

So Zetty...surely you read about how the court had to tangguh proceeding to allow for Norman "tenangkan diri"...what do you think!

Mumsie rasa nak bergolek golek ketawa...komedi terbaik mengalahkan los dan faun!!! siap rasa macam nak jalani hukuman mati lah konon...oh puhleeeeasssse!!!

tapi siang tadi Mumsie terdiam. SOmeone was telling me about his boss who has taken long leave to take care of her ailing husband. So I go and say..."see...pompuan siap amik leave nak jaga husband...if situation is reversed, would the husband the same?" that someone said...what about erema yang mintak cerai from seri bayu tu???

alamak...how? but me thinking...Mr bangkai sure happy Mumsie kena tanya that question!

Edward Cullen

2008-12-11T15:48:00.002+08:00

Mumsie went to see Twilight last nite. Had to see what the fuss is all about! I went with MakSu, K.Ngah and Sarah. The others would rather be with their cousins kat MokTeh's place.

Well...my take on Twilight? Okkkeeyyyyy laaaaaaa...must admit that i didn't know what to expect coz I have not read any of Stephanie Meyers' books (tries to get a copy kat MPH Alamanda but its sold out!) I thought citer vampire bunuh bunuh orang and the love story is only the sub plot. Rupanya, the love story is the main theme! sweet story that develops as time goes. eventually it did make me go aawwwwwww.....especially the part where Edward Cullen took Bella to his house and up a tree overlooking this MAGNIFICIENT view...oh..and the part where Edward went to Bella's house and they talked until Bella fell asleep...aaaaawwwwwwww....

my take on Edward Cullen...first impression was not great. Me wondering apa yang hensem sangat mamat ni? too pale and too much gel in his hair! but the lipstick they put on him was of a great shade! wonder what they call that colour?! but must admit...as the love story proceeds, he becomes sexier and sexier...not the sex kind of sexy but like yummylicious kind of sexy...soooooo brooody and sexy! hhhmmmmm...mumsie rasa macam a teenager all over again! i just love the way he "protects" the girl...sooo the romantic and deeeeep!

hmmm...i think i'll get k.ngah to put up a poster of him in her room ...

Berita Pilihan Tertinggi

2008-12-05T11:32:00.002+08:00

You can tell the state of the society you live in when you find that Berita Harian's Berita Pilihan Tertinggi is...jeng..jeng..jengggggg...Norman sekeluarga kunjungi rumah Memey!!! Like...what the **&&%%??? tapi...Mumsie not passing judgment...far from it. Sebab...Mumsie pun baca gak citer tu!!!! hahahahahaha....alah, macam lah kita ada berita lain yang lebih menarik, kan. between news about Norman and Zaid Ibrahim, I choose Norman. Sorry folks. that may render me shallow to some people but i'd rather be fooled by Norman's flimsy denials (saya melawat kubur kakak which happens to be near Memey's house which happens to have a birthday party going on? yeaaahhh, right!) than Zaid's accusations di aniaya UMNO management. Bukan i tak percaya...tapi zaid and the rest of them tu 2 kali 5 sepuloh...at least citer pasal Norman tak sakitkan hati i!

Super Buzzy Day...

2008-12-04T15:06:00.002+08:00

Mumsie took the day off yesterday. Plan nyer nak catch up with sleep..TV...grocery shopping...cooking and maybe, just maybe...kemas my room! Tapi seme tak jadi..kita hanya merancang...hehehe...saspen tak?

Jangan saspen...Mumsie had a VERY nice day semalam, albeit a super buzzy one! I bangun early enough. Woke K.Ngah and asked her whether she wants to go for a hair wash or to the bookshop in Amcorp Mall. K.Long was at Mok Teh's place so, it was just me and Ngah. She preferred the bookshop so off we went. Jauh gak laaa Amcorp Mall from Putrajaya rupanya campur ngan minor traffic jam here and there.

We spent quite a while pilih-pilih buku. I think many people know of this bookshop which sell books farrr cheaper than the normal bookshops. Mumsie was looking for Stephanie Myers. Wanted to know what the hype about her is all about. But unfortunately the shop does not have any. yet, apparently. But I don't think i can wait so, Mumsie need to make a trip to MPH soon. I ended with books by Dean Koontz and Du Mercier. they cost me RM9.90 each when other bookstores would easily charge me at least RM45 for each! K.ngah also enjoyed herself choosing books and reading some whilst Mumsie went about picking some books for sarah and soraya.

Mak Su came to join us for breakfast/lunch at this place called Seri Melaka. Food, ok-ok jer but dessert - Sago Gula Melaka was da bomb!!

Then, Mumsie thought...alang-alang ada kat PJ must make full use of the time so i got MakSu to take us to the DigiMall kat Section 14. Pegi beli CDs. We bought quite a bit - Greys Anatomy Season 5, Desperate Housewives Season 5, CSI Season 8, Friends Seasons 1-10, and about 8 movies! best, best! then alang-alang kat situ Mumsie pi shopping for portable CD player for my triple-e PC and a wireless mouse. Pastu, on our way out, teringat Abah has agreed to get K.Ngah an MP3/4 for her birthday. A quick call to Abah to confirm budget and we started looking for one. So, K.Ngah dah dapat lah birthday present dia...a red samsung MP4 ....muccchhhhhh to K.Long's dengki-ness!!

On the way back, Abah call kata he's taken half the day off and dia dah beli tiket to watch Antoo Fighter kat GSC Alamanda. Canteeekkkkkkk...so at 4.45 we went beramai-ramai, with the girls and 4 of their cousins. Have you guys heard of this movie? Its a local product - the latest fantasy movie starring Awie as Drakulat and Radhi OAG as Poh Jee the hero. it was good, i must say. Worth supporting. The jokes are funny and the actors can act!

We didn't think the movie would be very long but it was. Almost 2 hours. We went home at about 7pm and had to rush to pray and get ready to go watch Sinbad, the Kiddies Musical in Istana Budaya. Sent the cousins home and off we went. Nasib baik no traffic jam and the show started on time. Another pat on the back for our local entertainment industry. The Musical was very entertaining. Starred by about 80 kids and Raja Azura as the lone adult acting as Dewi Bencana. She was hilarious! Mumsie bought the cheapest tickets (RM20 each) and we found ourselves on the FRONT row! Mula-mula rasa tak selesa but it turns out that it was a blessing coz there was parts in the musical where there were interaction with the audience so, boleh la kitorang jerit lebih2! And there were part when the actors were right in our face! Anyways, the girls enjoyed themselves and so did Mumsie, Abah and MakSU. Seronok tengok the children. They are so talented! and cute!

We sampai rumah almost midnite. Ingat nak tengok movie on PC tapi tengok-tengok...i need to install something dulu baru leh pakai the portable CD player. hwwuaaaaaaa....so download gambar jer laaa. went to bed thinking it was a weekend but woke up this morning, upset upon realising it is only Thursday...i have to wear batik and go to work....siggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

tengok wayang

2008-11-27T22:28:00.002+08:00

one thing we missed masa kat geneva dulu was wayang. I think i've written about how expensive tengok wayang was over there. SO we hardly went. I think in the 2.5 years we were there we went about 3 times. but we kept abreast with the movies...via downloaded versions courtesy of uncle arm and via the pirated VCDs supplied from kampung! hehe! anak2, especially adik, thought of malaysia via those movies...their favourites includes those made for CD movies. those yang orang malaysia pun tak pernah dengar...like Cik Ton Wanita Besi...hehehe...and they loved zombie kampung pisang and man laksa! pathetic gila!

All that, of course is well in the past. Kat Malaysia, kami selalu tengok wayang. It's affordable and best of all, the nearest panggung is a mere 5 minutes away from home - GSC Alamanda! So, whenever we decide to go for movies, Mumsie will buy the tickets awal2, then go home for dinner and pick up the rest. We will go to the cinema in time to buy popcorn before the movie starts.We'll park the car illegally (alhamdullillaaahhh so far belum kena saman lagi!) right outside the cinema so all is hunky dory. Convenient giler! There were times when the gang even split into 2. Abah and kakak2 pegi tengok citer hantu. Me, sarah and Soraya pi tengok citer bukan hantu. Or me and the girls go watch girly movies, abah go see boy/manly (?) movies!

BUt of course, GSC Alamanda tu kecik jer. So, there were times when the movie we wanted to see is not showing kat situ. tapi tak der hal. there is TGV the Mines or the IOI Mall or the Sunway Pyramid or Midvalley which is 15, 20 minutes away from Putrajaya. Ni lah antara nekmat nya duduk kat malaysia ni...

actually, when i started writing this, i wanted to write reviews about the movies we've been seeing. Tapi sekarang dah ala-ala malas lah pulak! but okey...here's a brief review as to what i think about some of the movies we've been watching of late -

Mamma Mia - Best ever. I want to see it again and again tapi now only showing kat Midvalley at 5 pm. rather an inconvenient time. So, am waiting for the CD version. tak kira lah ori ke pirated!

High School Musical 3 - Boooring (sorry Tipa!)! I fell asleep in the middle of it! tak der jalan cerita..unlike the 1st (and the best of HSM, in my view)and 2nd one. lagu2 pun tak best.

Madagascar Return 2 Africa - Funny nak mampos! Especially King Julian! Long live the King!

Igor - we saw this last nite. Funny gak laaa...good enough to entertain the girls.

I have not read nor heard any good reviews about the latest Bond movie so macam tak de rasa terpanggil to watch that. But am looking forward to go see some local products - Antoo fighter..los and faun...will write about them kalau Mumsie rajin ye.

OKlah..Mumsie gotta go do homework. Ciao dulu. You guys be good now...i like to move it move it.....

Mumsie is feeling sorry...

2008-11-24T20:16:00.002+08:00

1. for shahrizat...to face Tan Sri Rafidah as a foe...Mumsie does not wish that on my worst enemy (well..maybe on the bosses!). TSR is one mean lady when she's challenged! But...why arrr she doesn't want to let go? Mumsie not a follower of politics so i'm wondering coz i really don't know! Apa lagi yang dia nak? she's no longer a minister. she's waaayyyy over 60 years in age and am sure wealthy beyond my imagination. so apa lagi that she's hoping to gain? More power? More wealth? is that possible? Kesian Shahrizat...she's being called so many names...by quite a few people. Of course most of the names are called by TSR laaa, the old bitch that she is! Mumsie not sure whether she deserves the names she's being called or not but i do think the woman is trying to do what she genuinely thinks is right so Mumsie is silently praying that she will win this fight. For her sake and also Mumsie thinks Malaysian politics should get rid of TSR. She's had her time...sudah sudah lah tu...

2. for Pak LAh...for all his weakness he does not deserve the disrespect of the people around him. Kita ni ada adab tapi Mumsie rasa orang-orang yang gila kuasa out there dah lupa (ye lah..Melayu mudah lupa!).

3. for Tun M. Kesian for the fact that he kept choosing to yak and yak and yak! apalaaaa yang dia tak puas hati lagi tu?? betul ke dia sayang sangat Malaysia ni?? betul ke dia sayang sangat kat bangsa melayu ni? somehow...mumsie yang tak berapa tahu pasal politik ni doubts that, somehow.

4. for Mumsie. I wish to go for Hajj tapi hajat ni belum kesampaian.

5. That model and his pregnant wife who got the boot from sehati berdnasa. But seriously...the pregnant wife should not be made to make the moves that she make. tak senonoh nampaknya! So, although I feel sorry for them, i'm also glad!

6. of course, last but not least, for abby abadi although i know she's one strong lady that does not need the pity of another. hehehe...

Its gonna be Monday again...

2008-11-23T21:45:00.006+08:00

Time flies..whether or not you're having fun! For Mumsie, malasnyyaaaaa nak gi keje ...kerja banyak kat office tu tapi tak der motivation langsung! Bozz No 1 has gone for Hajj and will not be back until next year. In the meantime we're stuck with her Deputies and helpers who thinks they're the greatest leaders born this century when in fact they're driving people crazy..making people spend precious hours moaning and bitching about them. Mumsie included and Mumsie is thinking...sampai bila nak macam ni?? I miss Bozz No 1 already. She's the only sane one in the top management section! Zue, if you're reading this : please don't turn into "them" when you come back! Please!

On the home front, its the school holidays, as you know. So the girls are at home 24-7!! But Oklah..they've been entertaining each other. Tu lah nikmatnya anak ramai, i suppose. tak delah diorang lonely duduk rumah. We've been trying with the entertainment bit. One Saturday we took them to Cosmo World. The indoor theme park in Berjaya Times Square. Last Wednesday we took them to see Madagascar. And on Friday Abah took them back to Melaka. They came back with 2 cousins. So, we now have 9 girls in the house and Abah is the lone boy...siannnn dia! hehe..last weekend we went to stay kat Marriot Putrajaya where the girls spend allllll the time in the pool!

As you know, MUmsie dah ada maid. hopefully for the next 2 years. So, nowadays Mumsie sangat bahagia..come home to a clean house, and especially to a clean kitchen where I spend time cooking nowadays! So much so that the girls are claiming they're bored eating home cooked meals! ada ker?? tak syukur, kan? My laundry baskets pun are only filled with clean laundry nowadays. So...i really pray that she will stay for the full term of her contract, at least!

Oklah...tu jer..boring update on the going ons in my life. Sebenarnya tak der mood nak menulis sebenarnyer....

Mumsie is....(again posting ala facebook)

2008-11-07T09:09:00.003+08:00

1. Recovering from last nite's outing. The whole gang went to see the preview of Impak Maksima The Musical (thanks to Mak Tam and her connections for the ticket!). It was fun, as it always is when we get together with MakTam, MakDe et al. The Musical itself...lets just say its a good effort by Ahmad Idham and his actors. One thing I must say...the Zulhuzaimy (I hope its him) is damn cute when he danced!!!

2. sooo the malas nak pack for this Lumut trip! You see...the place I work in is organizing this Special Project kat Lumut. Nak gi tolong orang susah kat situ...Management says kononnya nak bring us back to our roots sebab ramai orang kaya kat Division we all tu yang dah lupa asal usul apparently. Sapalah orang2 tu gamaknya? Anyvays...will post on that another day...sementara menolong orang kampung tu, we'll be staying at Damai Laut Resort. That, i loike!!

3. still rooting for Abby Abadi! hehe...kita pompuan must stick together! I say to h***lll to Norman Hakim!

Oklah..gotta go fetch the dry cleanings...later!

Note to Mr

2008-11-05T23:12:00.002+08:00

You know who you are...

it is now November...very the near end of the year...have yet to see/hear/witness change to situation you have put us (i.e. you, your family, my family...) in. Are you trying hard enough?

PLEASE...make up your blardy mind! Or shall i marry her off to someone else? DON'T under estimate my power over her! CAN?

Mumsie is....(post ala facebook)

2008-11-05T23:00:00.002+08:00

1. Feeling really sorry for Abby Abadi. Kesian dia kan!? Am sooo rooting for her to get rid of that no good SOB who had the cheek to say things like "I need Abby sebagai pembakar semangat saya and I need Memey sebagai penyelamat hidup saya!" PENYELAMAT??? PENYELAMAT??? Ladies and gentleman, if you ask me..inilah dia contoh terbaik lelaki thinking through the brains in between his legs!

2. Feeling guilty coz i'm yet to put up a post on Kak Long and MAksu's birthday. It was last week - 28 October. We had a couple of celebrations but malas nak write about it and very the laze to post pixes..can?

3. finding out that she doesn't care that Obama is the new President. Boleh ker rimau belang menukar belangnya?

4. beginning to get back the feeling of dread..bitchy bozz is coming to work tomorrow! Its been bliss the last 3 days without her!!

5. signing off...wanna go watch CSI!

Ciao folks...be good!

The end of Sea of Dreams

2008-11-03T19:18:00.002+08:00

Mumsie managed to see the ending on my way back hari tu (boring jer MAS had the exact same selection of movies for the trip back!)...

The ending...the town was in danger of flooding coz Grace (thats the girl-whose-soul-belongs-to-the sea's name) was going to marry the narrator of the movie and leave the town to escape the villagers' wrath. But her godmother (acted by Sonia Braga - i think she was one of Mick Jagger's exes) told her of her asal usul and asked her to do the right thing to save the village. Needless to say, she did...she ran to the sea and continued running until she disappeared into the sea...Poor narrator was left brokenhearted by the beach....end of story!

I'd say its a good movie...dah lama tak tengok citer macam tu...

Correction to earlier ramblings about santiago

2008-10-25T11:33:00.003+08:00

Just to add - Mumsie saw 4 movies in the plane heading to Sydney. The other one was Hancock. OK-OK jer cerita nya with a very disappointing ending. Merapu sikit ending nya.

And my plan didn't work. Although I was tired in the plane from Sydney to Santiago, I couldn't sleep dengan aman. As a result, I arrived in Santiago REAAALLLLLLLYYYYY tired!

Anyways, today finally get to jalan2 a bit. We were taken to this bazaar called Santa Lucia yang banyak jual local handicrafts. Tapi mahal laa barang2 kat sini so i only managed to buy some t-shirts and sling bags that KakLong and Sarah asked for. Have not managed to get anything for adik. But there's still tomorrow. My flight home is in the late evening so i'll have the day to roam santiago....

oklah...kalau ada lagi apa-apa interesting to update, i'll write some more then. In the meantime...gambar2 i dah upload kat facebook. Azian, you have FB account?

Mumsie in Santiago, Chile

2008-10-24T08:19:00.002+08:00

Yeap..you read that right!! Mumsie is in Santiago, as we speak! Tapi tak yah lah nak kata wow, glam nyer...

Let me tell you there is nothing glamorous about my travels of late...its all about meetings and reports! Boring babes!! Coming to Santiago took 26 hours! First leg - from KL to Sydney was OK. Ye lah...dapat naik MAS, Biz Class pulak tu! I had a plan.. i wasn't going to sleep that whole 8 hours so as to make myself tired for the 2nd leg. So, i stayed up and watched 3 movies! I saw Get Smart (hilarious!), Sumthing, sumthing the American Girl (OK OK jer), and this i think a Latin American English speaking movie called Sea of Dreams (damn interesting - about a girl whose soul belongs to the sea! So sapa-sapa fall in love with her will die coz the sea will get jealous! Pelakon-pelakon seme lawa-lawa and hensem-hensem! Unfortunately, i didnt get to see the end coz we arrived in Sydney by then! Altogether now..laaaaaaaaa).

Sydney singgah jap jer then the travelling began! We naik Chilean Airline called LAN. Its a teeny weeny plane and we had to travel economy for the next 15 hours!!!!! Sakit pinggang....sakit tengkuk...dah lah makanan tak halal!! Menderita babes!!!

Tapi alhamdulillah sampai Santiago dengan selamat...bag pun selamat! So far belum sempat explore Santiago coz sibuk ngan meeting. But insyaALLAH meeting is scheduled only for half a day tomorrow, so lepas tu boleh la jalan-jalan!! Weather kat sini panas. Its spring but its been very warm and sunny spring days since I arrive. I dunno...i tengok cam Mesia jer tempat ni! Very dry and dusty...cam Langkawi pun ada! Tadi sempat amik gambar kat depan the Presindential Palace which is in front of the place where we have the meetings. Nanti bila2 i will paste the pixes K...

so...what have you guys been up to??

of internet and blogs

2008-10-16T22:38:00.006+08:00

Mumsie ni selalu ketinggalan zaman...i only became interested with internet and e mailing about 5 years ago...when i was transferred to this current place of work, where emails are the main form of communication. From then on i was hooked! Tapi itupun limited to emailing and googling...

Until i discovered blogs....wow! that opened a whole new window for me!! Seronoknya baca the writings of others...i can't really recall how i found out about these blogs but find them I did. I started reading blogs of people I don't know...then link here link there, i found family and friends! I found Teeny..Ika...Haq...Shila...Ina's and Yati's fotopages..i felt connected with them...knowing what they are up to in their day to day lives...then link some more, i found their friends. And of late I've made some new friends through their comment boxes. I don't comment much but i would whenever i rasa "terpanggil" to do so, especially when the writer seems particularly friendly, even in their writings. People like Zetty ..Mrs Goodthings@home...

But not all blogs are enjoyable to read. Some concentrates too much on our oh-so-happening political on-goings...one blogger wrote only about the good stuff in her life. She's too ceria to the point of annoyance!! I cannot tahan so i've deleted her from my reading list! Life can't be that good alllllll the time, okeyyyyy...

Of late i've discovered story tellers...like Mr Bangkai, Puteri Kamaliah and Kak Teh Choc-a-Bloc. They write with such eloquence sampai i macam shy pulak. Shy sorang-sorang jer laaa...I feel my own writings are soooo boring and tak creative langsung! Tapi i don't know how else to write...so i suppose i should just be me..this is my own blog kan?!

I just want to mention the blog of Superwoman's friend who calls herself MrsNordin. I really admire her writings coz she bares all...she writes to her heart's content. Tak kira sapa baca and tak kira if orang yang baca will get upset by what she writes...Mind you, she doesn't write bad things about people...she just writes exactly what she thinks of people and things happening around her!

Me...i started this blog last year...konon nak tulis pasal kitorang gi jalan-jalan kat europe dulu tapi dah banyak melencong ni! but still i dare not write too much! i dare not take the risk of "upsetting" people! So i write about "safe" things...can arr? can lah ooh! My blog waaattttt... maybe one day..i'll write about how i really feel about things and about people around me (would love to bitch about bosses!!).

Now Mumsie dah jumpa facebook pulak! Don't you just luurrveee all these internet thingies!!

Ramadhan Rendezvous

2008-10-08T20:32:00.003+08:00

Been meaning to write about our experience berpuasa kat malaysia after spending the last 3 Ramadhans in Geneva. Let me say on the outset (vaaahhh...cam nak buat statement kat WTO jer!) that I missed fasting in Geneva. I missed the "pasar ramadhan" that we used to have...

But Ramadhan in Malaysia ... good, of course. Berpuasa di samping sanak saudara... and Mumsie did not have to cook alll the time. Penting tu..here's a list of ways we berbuka this time (in no particular order):

1. Mumsie masak some lauk, Abah top up with lauk and kueh from Pasar Ramadhan

2. Mumsie masak nasi jer, Abah buy loads of lauk from Pasar Ramadhan.

3. Mumsie tak masak apa-apa, Abah beli nasi kerabu/nasi beryani/nasi tomato/nasi lemak/ kuetiaw goreng/mee sup and loads of kueh from Pasar Ramadhan.

4. Abah gi kedai dekat-dekat rumah, tempah food and come home to fetch the rest of us. We will go back to the shop in time for buka. Makan and quickly balik rumah for prayers. This is Mumsie's favourite way of buka coz I don't have to kemas and basuh any pinggan mangkuk! We did this about 3 times. Anak-anak pun suka coz they get to order the food they want to eat...e.g nasi goreng ikan masin laaa...ikan sweet sour laaa...all freshly cooked! Not like the lauk from the Pasar Ramadhan. Once gi Secret Recipe, tapi food tak best and service was bad so we never went back...

5. Go for buffet buka puasa..once kat Penang Village tu and once kat Ancasa Hotel, Mak De belanja. Must say that I really enjoyed the one at Ancasa, not merely because Mak De belanja but also tempat tu very nice. Food was VERY good (we get fresh apam balik which was da bomb! teringak lak zaman buat apam balik sendiri dulu....) and tak ramai sangat orang. So tak de lah berebut2. Company was of course laaaaa VERY gooodddd... here's some pixes:

6. Balik kampung...one weekend tu we went back to Melaka, where Mumsie did absolute bugger all in terms of preparing food. Mumsie biar jer all the in-laws masak. They are good cooks anyway! Mumsie took the job of going to the Pasar Ramadhan to buy drinks and kueh-mueh. The badak berendam kat Pasar Ramadhan Duyung was out of this world punya sedap!!
Other weekends, Mak Su will join us kat Putrajaya. Dialah yang melayan budak-budak gi Alamanda before buka...beli Starbucks frapuccino laaa...Baskin Robbins laaa...yum yum!

7. For sahur 90% of the time Mumsie will bangun and cook. The rest I would just panaskan lauk lebih from buka time and once we went to McDonalds! Best jugak tu. Ingatkan tak ramai orang at 4 a.m tu tapi rupanya ramai yang beratur dah! and then ingatkan we all jer bawak bebudak at that godforsaken time tapi ramai families bersahur kat situ! Tu lah ..orang Mesia dah senang sekarang ni...

So, all in all, Mumsie had a good Ramadhan. I even managed to ikut Abah for terawih kat Masjid Putrajaya for at least half of Ramadhan. Good, eh?

Oklah...next time i citer pasal raya plak!

Am sooooo dreading tomorrow!!

2008-10-06T21:12:00.003+08:00

Mumsie starts work again tomorrow and am sooooooo not looking forward to it! Boring betul nak mengadap kerja yang tak pernah habis and bitchy bosses yang tersangatlaaa insecure nye itu!

But i had a good day today...hari yang aman. I spent most of it on my own since the girls were at school and Abah went to work. First I go tabung haji...simpan duit bonus Pak Lah kasik and yang i tersangatlah deserve nya itu. I got cita-cita to go Mekah, you see...Punyalah ramai orang but good to note most people were depositing money. i.e. signs that orang tengah berjimat cermat sekarang ni.

Then Mumsie decide nak gi tempat yang Abah tak suka pergi so I better grab the chance to go on my own so I went to Midvalley. Nak gi IKEA jauh sangat. Nanti tak sempat balik to fetch the children from school. Had breakfast at Toast Box then jalan2 kat The Gardens. Vaaahhhh..posh nyer that place. Tak de maknanya nak spend too much time kat situ but i bought what i set out to buy from there (i don't believe in window shopping!). i.e. a couple of M&S jeans yang tersangatlaaa sesuwei dengan tubuh badan Mumsie yang cun melecun ni! hahahaha....

On the way back i singgah Carls Jr to buy the children's lunch. Kononnya nak kan kelainan coz we haven't had Carls Jr since balik but then Mumsie tersangatlah terkezut when i had to pay RM52 for 3 burgers!!! waliao!! mahal nya!! cekik darah bebs!! I think we'll stick to Burger King and McD from now on!

Sambung citer...after hantar anak2 ke sekolah ugama (budak-budak tu tension nak explain their 1 month absence during Ramadhan but turns out the ustazahs don't really care...oh well!) I went to lepak kat Alamanda pulak. Tapi kejap jer sebab tak der aper nak cari. Then balik and watched drama Pondok Buruk with Sarah. This is a repeat. The first time I saw this when it first came out a couple of years ago i cried like a baby throughout the movie! Tapi hari ni cam tak sedih lah pulak. I think I dah overdose on Rashid Sibir's dramas this past couple of days. Aiyooo..he makes depressing dramas okeyyyy...allll about anak derhaka and dying parents!! and balik-balik pakai lagu Sudirman about ayah ibu tu. You know..the one that goes..ayah dan ibuuu...ayah dan ibuuu..itulah permulaaan kitaaaa....Sampai Sarah pun dah asyik hum that tune jer!

My day pretty much ended with me cooking Abah's buka puasa meal. Sedap Mumsie masak hari ni! hahahaha...talk about angkat bakul sendiri!! I cooked udang masak lemak (Abah's request. ada masuk tempoyak sikit so ada rasa terangkatlah!)...udang goreng sambal (Sarah's request! tak sampai hati nak say NO so i bahagi dua supply udang so dapatlah sikit-sikit between masak lemak and the sambal). Kangkung goreng tauchu which was nice enough to prompt Kak Long to makan sayur tonite! yeay! and ayam goreng tersangat garing!

Okeyla peeps. Penat arr puji-puji diri ni...am off to gosok baju pulak. Have i told you i'm dreading tomorrow???

SELAMAT HARI RAYA

2008-10-05T22:41:00.002+08:00

I know...i'm a bit late...but not too late kannnn...

So friends..Mumsie nak ucapkan SELAMAT HARI RAYA MAAF ZAHIR BATIN...I hope everybody had a good break. One that is well earned, I'm sure.

Mumsie and brood sure had a good Raya. Mumsie enjoyed the makan-makan and alllll the drama Melayu..Abah enjoyed the reunions and anak-anak....enjoyed the duit raya!! Kami balik Melaka and Pahang. Anak2 finally knows Mummy also has a lot of sedara mara...more than just Mak Tam, Mak De and Mak Ngah!! haha!

OK....details later. Dah malam ni...but here's us on pagi raya this year...

MAMMA MIA!!

2008-09-22T17:14:00.002+08:00

I got 15 minutes before punching out time... i just want to tell alllllll of you to go watch Mamma Mia!! The best movie ever! Meryl Streep, Julie Walters and Christina Baranski were hilarious. they are real performers! I'd never would have guessed that Meryl Streep could sing so well!

But Pierce Brosnan should just concentrate on acting. He can't sing!

We went to see the movie yesterday..we, as in Mumsie, Maksu and the girls. Amidst Abah's disapproving looks saying "aperlaaa puasa-puasa ni gi tengok wayang pulak!" Tapi dia tetap izinkan so kira okey lah tuuuuu...

The girls enjoyed it as much as I did. they had the lyrics on the screen so everyone could sing along, Sarah did a tad louder than others prompting Kak Ngah to nudge her ever so often! hehehe...After the show we went to two record shops in Midvalley tu but in both the soundtrack for Mamma Mia was sold out!! Last-last jumpa kat Alamanda..yeay!

OK then..altogether now...see that girl...watch that scene...diggin' the dancing queen....lalalala...

Watcha doin'?

2008-09-20T09:13:00.003+08:00

hey y'all...wattcchhaaa doooin'??

Me? Mumsie's killing time before I have to wake everybody up to go for their tuition so that lepas tu Mumsie can pay Sandra a visit!! Sandra who? Sandra is my tailor..who has been sewing Mumsie's clothes since Mumsie muda remaja lagi! and she's also responsible for causing the main dent in my pockets most months!!

Anyway...Mumsie nak gi fetch baju raya la ni...and for the first time, we asked Sandra to make baju for Kak Long. A lacy kebaya. Harap-harap it will be nice.

Mumsie agak teruja ni..iyolah, dah tiga tahun tak beraya kat Malaysia ni..so ala-ala excited menempah dan membeli baju for Mumsie and the girls. Cuma Abah jer cool. He's insisting that he will only shop for his baju raya bila dah balik kampung nanti. Apa-apa je lah Abah oiiii..

Tapi Mumsie tak delah going overboard. Dun vorry. The girls gets 2 new baju kurungs and a new dress each. Complemented dengan baju beli kat US and India, walaupun dah pakai a few times...voila! their Raya wardrobe is ready. Cuma tinggal nak beli kasut Raya for Sarah and Soraya. The rest seme dah dapat. Speaking of kasut...we have discovered that Kak Long now wears adult size 9!!! Waliao! Tak lama lagi kena tempah la gamaknya kasut-kasut for her!! How did she manage to grow like that??

Kueh raya? Pun Mumsie tak beli banyak. Sapa yang datang tunjuk sample, Mumsie will order one balang, simply to support his/her effort to berniaga tu. Tak ramai yang tunjuk sample puunnn so Mumsie has less than 10 balangs of kueh raya. Once I distribute to my mom..my in-laws...the ladies who clean my house...i should be left with one or 2 for my own. Oklah tu, kan! Ingat nak buat juga sikit...biskut nestum ke...biskut cornflakes ke...but so far ala-ala malas la pulok!

Been thinking about Geneva of late. Went to my previous posts where I told of our Puasa activities last year in Geneva....I miss those days..they were good fun! buka ramai-ramai...makan macam-macam...teringat lengat si Yati...kueh koci si Aishah...karipap sadin si Ita...apam gula hangus Auntie..and of course, nasi kerabu at TYT's residence....hmmmmmm...

well...puasa kat sini oklah jugak...tapi tak delah meriah berkomuniti...seme orang sibuk...and pasar ramadan makes it tak personal...know what i mean?

OK lah peeps...lain kali plak cerita!

MUMSIE DAMN HAPPY!!

2008-09-18T06:31:00.004+08:00

Why, you ask?

1. Mumsie's kitchen is clean and almost 80 % organized the way Mumsie wants it organized! Nooo...i didn't do it myself! Rather, Seri the cleaner came today so, Mumsie mengarah ajer laaaaa...

2. Tengok kitchen dah clean, terus tak nak masak! hehe..sayanggg...nanti messy balik, kan! So, Mumsie berjaya pujuk Abah to berbuka kat Penang House kat Alamanda!! First time kitorang buka kat kedai! Teruja la jugak. Buffet for 39++ for adults. Kak Long cost me 29++ whilst adik-adik dia dapat makan free coz the Manager recognized us as regular customers!! Bless her! Makanan nye..OK-OK jer. Nothing to shout about. But the Penang Fried Kuetiaw was da bomb! Syiok beb!

3. Semalam Nuzul Quran. So, Selangor cuti. So, Abah tak keje. So, Mumsie pun took leave. And we partake in our favourite pastime whilst the girls were at school! We went furniture shopping!!! I can almost hear Mak SU sighing...hehehe. Anyvays...we bought this:

Yup! Its a recliner chair...so comfy and soft! Idaman kalbu bebs! Da lama Mumsie mengidam this chair! Its now parked in our bedroom, facing the TV! yeay!! Never mind that it means that it is smacked in the middle of the room! We told the kids, they have to pay if they want to sit on it. RM1 each time. So far, only Sarah has paid and sat. HAHAHAHA!!!

See...it doesn't take much to make Mumsie damn happy!

p.s. the girls got a new cat. A kitten called Spot. Picked him (yes, according to them its a "he". Mumsie's taking their word for it. I'm not gonna check!) up kat rumah Nek Busu in Melaka...anyways, here's Spot who is not spotty at all...

Apparently we're not supposed to take picture of cats. It shortens their life. Apparently thats one of the reasons why Koko died...ye ke???

Death of a Cat

2008-09-11T11:20:00.002+08:00

Yes...Koko Vanilla has died. Whilst trying to give birth to her babies...its tragic and very, very sad. We don't know exactly when she died last night but we discovered at sahur this morning. KakLong cried like she has lost her best friend and I suppose to a large extent, she did. Abah is feeling all guilty for not taking her to the vet and is very sad as well.

Koko V has been a part of our family for a while already. The girls would definitely miss her. They have been very good in taking care of her...feeding her, cleaning her and of course, playing with her, even masa dia dah sarat...

Even I am sad...i never really cared for her but somehow, as a Mummy I know she was having a hard time during the pregnancy and the labour. So, I was worried and did ask the girls to harass their Abah to take her to the vet. I can somehow imagine the pain she was in but i never thought she would die....

So long Koko V...rest in peace...may you find eternal happiness with your babies (they never left her womb) in cats heaven...

Meeting

2008-09-05T22:26:00.002+08:00

one more story!

petang tadi Mumsie attended a meeting which was also attended by 14 Ministers and Deputy Ministers!! Mumsie so teruja to be in such close proximity with them!! Meeting was chaired by the YAB Deputy Minister. He did make a little joke about hoping that they will still be in business by this 16 September! hahaha...but i must say that my perception of him has changed somewhat. I think he can be quite smart, if he wants to. I mean, he showed that he understands what people were telling him just now, even the technical stuff and he showed that he can actually make some sound decisions. hmmm...must give him benefit of doubt from now on...

I was duly impressed that the Ministers speaks very good English! All that was there tadi although the Deputy Human Resource Minister tried to speak more Malay than English. I don't understand why since everybody else speaks mostly in English and her English was not bad at all.

But this I must say...the man who impressed me the most is the Finance Minister II. That man is sooooo smart...he so knows what he is talking about!! mind blowing, i tell you!! Minister of Agriculture was not so bad either...

Yang lain-lain tu...my bozz included...no comment!

an interesting point to note...everyone was referring to DPM as "Sir". waaaa...

hapdets!

2008-09-05T21:09:00.009+08:00

its been a while huh! Bukannya tak der idea...Mumsie ada banyaaaaakkkk idea to blog about tapi the procrastinator that I am (ya..ya..blame it on the disease!).

anyhoo...here's pretty much what we've been up to:

1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!

Sarah turned seven on Wednesday, 3rd September! Dah besar dah Domok Abah ni!!

Since it fell on the 3rd day of puasa, we didn't celebrate much (but we will this weekend, Insya ALLAH). First we allowed her to skip school (not politically correct, i know but its a damn economical birthday present, i tell you!!). But she slept so much that she woke up with a headache. So bad apparently that Wan made her buka puasa (she has been so good! with the exception of that day, she has been fasting! we are soo proud!!). Then, petang Abah bought a couple of cupcakes. Abah beli 2 aje, takut tak habis. True enough, the 5 of them could not even finish one! Satu lagi pass kat Angeli sebelah rumah!

So Sarah my baby, here's Mummy wishing you all the beautiful things in life...you will always be my baby ... and of course, Abah's Domok!

2. Soraya

Baby Mumsie yang satu lagi ni dah pandai baca!!! yeay!! she is sooooo cute when she reads! she pronounced every letter..like "pa-pannnn", "i-kannnn", "da-tukkk", "ba-tukkkk". get what I mean?

3. Trip to Kuantan

Last weekend we finally made the trip back to Kuantan. Mainly, to visit my Bapak. Its been more than 3 years since we last visited him. Anak2 pun dah lupa.

So..off we went on a rainy Saturday to Kuantan. Convoy ngan Mak Su. Siap lumba-lumba lagi on the hi-way...dangerous, i know but it was fun! and bukanlaa lumba macam F1 tu...tak de cilok2 sesapa pun...masa tu it was just us during the stretch and we were within the speed limit!! And at one point of time, we saw the rainbow...cantekkkk...

Sampai Kuantan dah petang, we went straight to Cousin Zizi's place to rest and spend the night. Yang interestingnya, Abang Zizi ni ada 4 sons, ages between 14 to 7 years old! hahaha..so lambat la the girls nak "connect". In fact, esok nye dah nak balik barulah ada tegur sikit-sikit! Malu lah konon! But at least, they complied bila kena "paksa" amik gambar togeder-geder!

After the photo session and yummy nasik lemak, we took off to Bapak's resting place. GOD, I miss him! Couldn't stop my tears for all the guilt of not visiting hin often enough. Silently spoke to him, hoping that he would understand and hoping that he can somehow share the "kesenangan" of our lives and somehow wishing that he could see my girls coz, if he can, I'm sure he is very proud of them...come 13 Syawal, it would be 8 years. Such is life, huh. Dari Allah swt kita datang, and to HIM we return to...But it doesn't mean I miss him any less...Moga roh Bapak aman dan ada bersama roh orang-orang yang beriman. ALfatihah...

OK..ok..enough sentimental story...you know (of course you don't so i tell you K), on our way out from the tanah perkuburan, I saw a man collecting earth from the top of a kinda new grave into a bottle. Curiousity got the better of me that I had to approach him to ask what exactly was he doing. Dia sempat cerita itu kubur father dia who just passed away. Since the passing of his dad, apparently he suffers from "semput", especially when he talks about arwahnya. So, ada orang (donno la bomoh ke, sapa) suruh dia mandi air and tanah from the grave!! Can you believe that?? For the water, he kept a bottle of water by the grave overnight. He came that morning to pick up the water and earth. Wow...kan?

Anyhooo..for us, from the grave we went to our old house. Its in a sorry state since it has been "abandoned" for a good number of years. Mak SU has plans for the house apparently. Since it is hers now, we'll just have to trust her...but I must say that the lawn is very well maintained coz MAk SU hires people to clean up the outside once a month. Even the old buai is still around. Kak Long and Kak Ngah still remember the time they spent on that swing....ahhh..precious memories!

From there, we went off to look for lunch and settled at a makan-makan corner by the river...

We drove back to Putrajaya that same afternoon. It was too short a visit. We didn't get to enjoy Kuantan. We didn't even get to go to Teluk Cempedak!! So, definitely must go back for longer time soon. And I did promise Bapak, I'd come and visit him more regularly after this....

We balik cepat coz Abah insisted on welcoming Ramadhan in our own home, katanya. He wants to start terawikh kat tempat sendiri katanya. Teruja to sembahyang terawikh kat masjid after 3 years katanya....ok lah tu...

Speaking of Ramadhan...its been OK for us. The girls, this time Sarah included, are fasting. and bangun sahur without much complain although Sarah makes some sobbing noise masa mula-mula tu! hehe..

Waktu buka pun OK-OK jer...Wan will cook 1 or 2 lauk. Mumsie also tries to cook at least 1 dish and Abah got the duty to go to the Pasar Ramadhan to find kueh and the likes. So far, tak delah membazir sangat coz we cook and/or buy small portions and budak2 pun tak delah mintak macam2. Except maybe masa 1st day. They followed Abah to the shop and came home with kueh and murtabaks. Then Kak Ngah followed Mak SU to pasar ramadhan and came back with yong tau foo and ice blended coffee!!! we had to throw away quite a bit of left over the next day!

Semalam i took the girls to McDonalds. Sarah ordered Fish burger and bubur nasi! and in the end she couldn't finish the burger! geram betul! tapi i teringat last year we berbuka kat McD Geneva. Spent CHF100 on fish burgers and fried shrimps and apple pies! thats almost RM300!! semalam I spent RM30 on a double cheese burger, 2 fish fillets, 3 bubur nasi and chicken nuggets! Betapa laaa mahalnya McD kat Geneva tu, ek!

What has Mumsie been cooking? Nothing exciting...masak lemak udang...masak assam ikan...and 2 days ago i made kerabu mangga, made from mangga plucked from the pokok depan rumah Kuantan! ok gakk Mummy's kerabu (thanks to myperiukbelanga's recipee!) but tak leh challenge lagi kerabu si Yati!!

Tomorrow we're inviting Mak Tam and some cousins to buka puasa and celebrate Sarah's birthday. Am still thinking about the menu...and tengah tunggu Abah balik from masjid so that we can go to Pasar Borong Serdang to get supply! best..i love shopping for food!

Oklah...dah panjang lebar ni...Oh, last story..Koko V is pregnant!! and i think dah menunggu hari nak beranak!! She is sooooo large and could hardly move, except when she's hungry!! SO, i leave this posting now with the latest pix of Koko...

RAMADHAN AL-MUBARAK

2008-09-02T16:14:00.002+08:00

Just wanna quickly wish everyone Selamat Berpuasa...moga kita semua dapat berpuasa dengan sempurna...like Superwoman said: kita mesti bersyukur that we dapat sambut another Ramadhan...

Will write another time of our Ramadhan in Malaysia once again!

Siblings

2008-08-14T23:09:00.004+08:00

This is a VERY rare picture...4 beradik in the same room...can't remember the last time we were all together macam ni...

Reunions

2008-08-14T22:35:00.005+08:00

Remember I told you a lot of people from Geneva is back for a holiday? Well, we met most of them and sangat terharu that they made the point of contacting and meeting up with us!

First, it was with Shidi and Yati...at Ita's little sister's wedding! tapi tak der amik gambar coz tak bawak camera! But Yati did, so we hope to see them kat her fotopages. Of course lah we met up with Ita and Azwa as well tapi tak leh borak lama with them coz they're tuan rumah so banyakla kena layan orang lain as well...

Then a couple of nites ago, Abang Y called to say they are coming to Putrajaya! Excited giler! Since rumah we all not fit to receive visitors (messy giler ...siggghhhh) we asked them to meet us kat Alamanda...and we lepak kat Penang Village! It was a great reunion. They girls met up with their best friends Nisa and Kak Min and it was as if they were never separated this past 9 months!

Mak ngan ayah depa tak yah citer laaaaaaaaa....

Tadi Ita and Azwa came by...and it was also like old times...never ending borak! ada-ada jer topic nyer! and another couple of best friends reunited Khaireen Noor and Soraya!! Seronok tengok depa kawan-kawan...

make me miss the good old days kat Geneva...the lepak2 and makan2 sambil main terup sessions....

Hmmmm...i hear Inabes is also in town..hellloooooo.....call laaaaaaarrr.....and KakYah..where are you?? Why so the quiet one????

Cameron Highlands

2008-07-22T22:20:00.004+08:00

Ni cerita yang dah agak basi...the weekend before I left for US, the gang and Maksu plus Wan went to Cameron Highlands! Not bad...we stayed at T$B banglo for their execs, courtesy of Maksu. Nice place..too bad we only stayed for a night!

We bertolak early2 (by Mumsie's standard!) Saturday morning. Singgah Burger King kat Sungai Buloh R&R for breakfast before heading straight to CH. Perrrggghhh...jauh rupanya CH ni! We arrived almost 5 hours after we left Putrajaya!!

After checking in (sesat a bit before that coz of missing signboards!). Then off to find food at a pasar malam close by. That was fun! We went ga-ga over the fresh vege...and bought loads of fried food...fried mushroom..fried shrimps...fried sotong...more fried mushroom...and of course, strawberries! Including those dipped in chocolate sauce. And we ate everything whilst walking around!

Pas tu we decided its still early so we went off looking for this Teh Boh shop that sells tea and scone. That was gooodddd...sipping masala tea (that started off great but became too masala-ish as it gets cooler...) and ate scones with cream and jam by the tea trees...nice.....

Balik..penat so terus tidur! hahaha....ok...ok...i'm sure maksu wants me to tell what really happened...Balik the banglo, Abah and Mumsie went straight to bed whilst Maksu and Wan had to layan the kids, including making them dinner coz they became hungry again before going to bed!! hahahahaha....oopsss, ok, not funny!

Esoknya ...we lepak2 and left for home by about 11 am. Singgah beli t-shirts for everyone then singgah another Boh shop for another round of teh (this time we stick to good old teh tarik!) and scones. Then singgah Lata Iskandar..wajib for the girls...its a waterfall, by the way! Wajib because we promised the girls and wajib coz adik muntah all over me minutes before we reached that place! eewwwww!!

Then singgah Tapah for lunch and terus balik Putrajaya...phew!! I leave this posting with gambar Kak Long and Mak Su enjoying scones and homemade choc cake on our way home...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABAH...

2008-07-22T22:01:00.006+08:00

Abah and his Obama T-shirt from Washington

Abah turned 40 today!! Happy Birthday Abah...Sarah suns it up for the sisters when she wrote on the card : "I'm glad I have you as a father...." haiyya...so jiwang one my kids!

According to Abah, today has been his best birthday ever! Waaaa...we try...

Pagi was spent with Mumsie...pegi breakfast at our favourite tosai shop..then went to Serenity Spa for some pampering...then OldTown White Coffee kat cyberjaya for some yummy curry mee for lunch. The girls ponteng sekolah ugama, using the emotional excuse nak celebrate Abah's birthday lah kononnya...

Anyways, Abah bought their plea..and we spent the rest of the day kat Sunway Pyramid...just jalan2 coz no dough to spend (belum gaji laaa...so Abah's birthday present had to wait! hehe..sedih jer!) but we did have dinner at Abah's fav place - TGI Friday! We had the staff singing for him when they bring out the desert! hehe...

All in all... a day well spent, i thought. Its a working day for everybody else so we didn't have to queue for nothing...Sunway was as good as deserted. There wasn't a single person queueing at J-Co!!

So...happy brithday my sweet baby! Hope we'll share many more days like this!!

Abe Lincoln

2008-07-20T06:51:00.004+08:00

On the last nite Mumsie was in DC, I went to see Abe. Awesome!

On my way home...

2008-07-20T06:38:00.003+08:00

Yeay!! Mumsie now kat airport Taipei. Donno what its called officially. Who cares! point being, in about 5-6 hours Mumsie will get to see my babies!! Double yeay!

It has been a loooonnnngggggg week! Meeting the Americans have been particularly taxing! Diorang ingat kita gullible. Unfortunately, there are Members in our delegation who gives them justification to think so! sigghhhh...

So far travel home is OK. FLite from DC to LA was on time although Mumsie macam orang giler mengangkut bag coz i kept getting into the wrong lanes to check in! Rasa da nak nangis takut terlepas flight!

LA to Taipei ni of course la OK..naik MAS and as government official dapat naik Biz Class. So tersangatlah comfortable nye...well, as far as comfort in travelling laa..I mean, how comfortable can you get in a plane, right?! and I also believe, bcoz the trip this time took sooooooo long (siket lebih kurang 24 jam tak termasuk waiting time kat airports!!) Mumsie has somewhat overcome my fear of flying! I remember thinking tadi when the plane bergoncang-goncang: hiyya...nak jatuh, jatuhlaaaaa...its probably the penatness+i- sooo-need-a-shower spur of the moment kinda thoughts laaaa...

After all that is said and done...must admit that i liked Washington. Wouldn't mind living there, actually! hehe... jom pindah, Bah!

Dresses from India

2008-07-16T14:31:00.005+08:00

My anak2 dara melaram....

Message for Superwomanwannabe

2008-07-16T14:28:00.002+08:00

Just to wish you SELAMAT MAJU JAYA in your new adventure....and much CONGRATULATIONS for the brave and very smart move.

Can apply keje kat you tak?

The White House

2008-07-16T14:06:00.004+08:00

Lunch tadi, a couple of mat salleh took my bozz and I out to lunch and as we walked, we passed the belakang of the White House. Mumsie sungguh teruja!!

Hopefully i'll have time to see the front part....hehehe...

teeny: Mumsie mungkin dah tak sempat ke factory outlet. Kalau kat High Street punya shop may be can tapi harga cam USD 200 above laaaa...next time, K (chewah...macam la akan dihantar for more meetings ke sini! ).

Iks: nak DVD apa? itupun mak teh cannot promise, OK. My meetings last until late everyday but hopefully i'll have some time on Friday before flying home, OK!

p.s. I had an interesting conversation petang tadi. This guy came up to me and asked: Puan, were you a magistrate before? I said yes la, of course and as I had suspected, he said: you know...i pernah kena marah by you dulu...masa i chambering and doing legal aid matters kat court!

hahaha...small world kan! That guy is now a diplomat here in DC...tomorrow must find out his name. tadi lupa nak tanya.

I also saw George York at his office. Remember last Ramadhan I wrote that I went to his farewell party kat Geneva? Anyways...it was good to meet someone that has that Geneva connection. Both of us was going on and on and on about how much we miss Geneva and the people back there!

But you know what...right now Mumsie is aching from missing my girls.....and Abah....rasa dah lama nya tak jumpa diorang....sob sob.....