Dedicated to Kakyah Cantek

KakYah is homesick ye...shian nyer...kakyah miss geneva, Mumsie lagi seribu kali lebih miss geneva tu! I miss my friends...but most of all, I miss the cold winter!! hehehe..Malaysia ni panas arrr...

I got no mood to post but just to tell kakyah..Mumsie is here, babe..just a phone call away...

inabes...Mumsie and brood baru lepas dinner..today payday so we had...chicken rice from the Chicken Rice Shop..i ordered the family set which includes taugeh goreng, kerabu mangga (yati..still not as good as yours!), steamed tofu, pai tee, sup bebola ikan, beef stew and of course, roast chicken. Uncle had KFC, Kak Long ate the cheezy wedges..and for desserts...Auntie Anne's almond pretzel with caramel sauce! pergggghhhhhh!!!! Wa cakap sama lu....hehehe...as you can imagine, my chef hat dah terbang melayang!!

BTW, Kakyah..KFC Singapore halal ker?

Kepada semua yang demam out there..get well soon! drink loads of water, k.

Another Dedication to Inabes

Dahling...Mumsie is the buzziest woman in the world!!!!! Thats why no time to update selalu....hehehe....

Loads are happening! Mumsie meeting everyday...kat M*T* pulak tu..sikit punya jauh nak commute babe! Penat wooo...make me miss my office in Geneva even more! I miss my boss...I miss Franie!!!

Then Kak Ngah demam! Last week 2 hari MC. Then she went back to school and pegi participate in a pratice cross country run so, semalam start demam alllll over again!

Sarah has since absolutely refused to go to sekolah ugama in the afternoons so, Abah and I has decided to succumb to her refusal. So, for now, dia dah berhenti sekolah ugama!! sigggghhhhh...Even in the morning school pun she's still struggling to fit in. Of late, dia asyik cerita the seronok-ness of sekolah kat Geneva dulu. Trying to make us feel bad?? From time to time she asked why we can't go back there. When we tell her its no longer possible coz Abah has started work, she asked him to quit! Alahai kids...everything is so simple to them kannnn....

Soraya is still treating school like its her home...Mengaji when she wants to, nap/watch TV when she doesn't want to!! Arrrggggghhhhhhh....

So, it seems like Kak Long is the "uneventful" one...

On miscellaneous issues...Sharlinie still has not been found and I'm scared for her...

Am reading reports on the inquiry into V.K.Lingam's famous (or infamous) tape. Can't say much but today I watched a movie - All the King's Men - Sean Penn's character said ..." Time brings all things to light". How apt, I thought.

OK...its waaayyyyy past my bedtime. Esok dah Monday...why can't we have a 3 day weekend???? Oh, but Pak Lah announced Thaipusam this Wednesday will be a public holiday for Putrajaya and KL as well. Hidup Pak Lah!!!!

Good News and Bad News..

So..which one do you want to hear first?

Good news...

Received a call from Soraya's school on Wednesday...she's to be "upgraded" to class of 5-year olds! hehe..you see...when I enrolled her, me and her teacher agreed that since she just turned 4 in December, perhaps it would be better to put her in class of 4-year olds first as this is her first school-going experience then for the school to evaluate her middle of year nanti. but last week, the teacher called to say that she is too "advanced" to be in the 4-year old class!! waaaa...Mumsie giler punya bangga!!

Alamak..tu jer good news that I can think of laaaa...

Bad News...

Got quite a bit of bad news, I'm afraid!

First, I received another call from Soraya's school this morning...she malas mengaji!!!!! Apparently, since Wednesday after morning class, she'll start crying and claims to be too tired to mengaji! So, the teacher has been letting her off and allowed her to watch TV instead until time to go home at 2 pm!! Teacher said she'll monitor some more and report back to me on weekly basis before deciding on next "course of action"!

I went to fetch her this afternoon but the teacher said today she was alright and had joined the mengaji class! Phewww!! Ada-ada jer la diorang ni!

Sarah is still crying at school..she claims to be scared. Scared of what, she's not sure!! Arrrggghhhh....Am heeding to K.Tam's advise (thanks BTW, K.Tam) to give her (and me) adjustment time. But she'd better settle down soon! Very tired lah like this. Cannot go on to feel sorry for her because I see no solution...Sarah simply has to accept and adapt!! My poor baby.....

Those I suppose are the not so bad news with regard my own brood...other people has gotten it worst. Another parent has lost their 5-year old girl! And I'm scared for them! Pray that Nini will be found soon and alive! I cannot comprehend why people would want to harm little children. Why would people want to take other people's children??

I do hope the sister is telling the truth about Nini simply went missing. I hope she's not making up stories just because she's scared people would blame her for not taking better care of her sister...after all, according to the mom, they were suppose to go mengaji, kan? I say this because the pessimist in me am thinking - first the kakak said she looked behind for a split second and when she looked to the fromt again, Nini was gone. Then she said Nini was grabbed by a lady and shoved into a car. Why didn't she scream for help then?? Ok-ok..she's just 8. What does she know, kan? Lets leave it at that. But, Mr Policeman... please find Nini soon!

I was thinking...maybe Sarah is scared because we have been scaring her...about the "orang jahat" lurking around, looking to kidnap little girls. Maybe thats why she gets scared when she can't find her sisters after school...maybe? No?

There's all these people going around taking other people's children..then there is these people who goes around killing their babies!! Found a couple of those stories in the papers of late! Even Kak Long commented that there's only news about people dying in the papers! orang kena bunuh laaa...accident laaa....OK-OK, lets stop here before we get too depressed!!

By the by, I have a mixed news as well...Good news for everyone else, bad news for Mumsie!Abah took the kids to kedai mamak for dinner last Monday and they came home with a little kitten!!!! Apparently a stray outside the mamak shop. But I suspect it actually belongs to someone coz its quite cute and very the jinak. Mumsie and Wan was not all that excited coz we really don't need that extra "responsibility"! But its too late now. The girls are head over heels in love with - check this out - Koko Vanilla!! Abah too, I might add! MakSu is of course on their side! Hmmmpph!!

OK lah. Got to go unpack some more boxes..Bonne weekend everyone!

Happy New Year!!

Hehe...8 days too late, I know. But still, I wanna wish everybody a Happy New Year...may 2008 bring peace and happiness to us all...Amin..

And before I forget, Happy Birthday to Ika and Teeny. Gosh, you guys make me feel so old!!! Seems baru ajer Ika balik from US dengan American slang-nya and looking oh-so-cute-nyer and seems baru jer Mak Teh seronok-seronok babysit Akak and Abang everytime I follow my parents to KL...ahhh..those were the days...Now,dua-dua da nak kawen daaaaaa....

To superwomanwannabe and Mr, happy anniversary! I also remember waiting in the khemah for the groom to arrive and not at all surprised that he turned up a couple of hours late!

Loads happened sejak 2 menjak ni, as you can imagine. Starting with the girls and their new schools. As I "reported" before, the eldest three got into SK Presint 16(2) in the mornings. Then, petang sekolah ugama kat Sg Merab - about 8 minutes from home. Kalau tanya, they'd say they don't really enjoy the sekolah ugama coz they know nuts about Jawi and everything is in Jawi!! But sekolah pagi apparently is easy peasy for Kak Long and Kak Ngah! Action jer diorang tu!

Sarah is another story...we discovered she's "slow" in making friends. As a result, she has not had any playmates during break since school started and this morning we had a scare! Sarah didn't want to go to school!! She woke up crying and simply refused to get dressed. Abah called Mummy up and so Mummy had the horrible job of forcing the school uniform unto her and drag her downstairs. All the while she cried but its the "silent" cry - you know, the type where tears flow but you don't say anything - so, at some point it got to me and I started crying too!!! Oh mannnnn....this cannot be happening on only the 4th day of school! But I really can imagine how miserable she must be to be without any friends...

We got Epi (the cousin who's helping us out whilst he looks for permanent job) to send them to school and Epi reported back that Sarah continued crying until they reached school, so he had to accompany her into the class but luckily after a while, a girl came up to her and asked her to stop crying and wiped her tears. I almost cried again when I heard this story...anak sapa laaaa yang baik hati tu...her mom must be doing a really good job with her! Anyway, Sarah calmed down after that and Epi quickly left. I called Epi to ask him to look into Sarah during her break but he said he's already asked the pak guard and was told no one is allowed inside the school compund after school has started.

So, I spent this morning waiting anxiously for morning school to be over. I hurried there during my lunch break and found Sarah still in tears!! Laaaa...I asked if she had still not managed to make friends with anyone but she said she has but could not explain why she was still upset! Ohh mannnn...anyhow, things got better after lunch and she was almost cheerful when they left for sekolah ugama just now...lets hope she's doing and feeling better and this morning was just a one-off episode...

As a mummy, I cannot help but worry although Abah and everyone else said that this is just a phase...that every thing is new so naturally Sarah feels a little unsettled. Apparently all she needs is time...but my heart ache every time I think that she is miserable for now...how laaaaa?

Soraya...is having a gala time at her kindie. I enrolled her at this place called Laman Cerdik. In the mornings she'll learn usual ABC stuff and for 2 hours in the afternoon she'll learn ugama stuff. So far, alhamdulillah, she's loving every minute of it and can't seem to stop talking about it! Oklah tu...

On another subject...our stuff from Geneva arrived during the weekend so the house is a royal mess!! There are just sooooo many boxes!! I gave up trying to make sense of things and simply unpack boxes as I found them. Boy, seeing those things brought back memories, i tell you! Make me miss Geneva alll over again...Unpacking my kitchen gadgets made me think of all the makan-makan we had at our apartment...of the cakes and mee bodo that everybody seems to enjoy...sigghhhh...

Tapi frust juga...some things were found broken, mainly the plates I bought in Karlovy Vary but alhamdulillah bits and pieces of Villeroy plates, the grandfather clock and Bohemian crystals are intact. Hehe...but Ita, confirm its my new tea set yang tertinggal tu! Arrrgggghhhhhhhh.....

Oklah..this is all for now. Will post pictures of the girls in their school uniform as soon as I find the camera amongst the boxes! Pray that we have not actually lost it!

Kak Yah..hope Singapore is treating you well...we miss you, darling! Next time, allocate longer time for us laaaa....

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Reunions

We've been having quite a few reunions...yang dengan family and extended families tu tak yah citer laaa...never ending story that one...

Am thinking about the one we had with Kak Sham and Nana the other day. Mumsie and gang basically self invited ourselves to Kak Sham's house for dinner on Xmas eve and Mumsie called Nana to ask her to join us. She readily agreed and together with Baby Zack (not so baby anymore...) voila! We has a reunion dinner! hehehe...

Let me also tell you about the food...lauk-lauk kampung yang sedap hingga menjilat jari and mangkuk sup!! There was sup tulang (courtesy of daging qurban), masak lemak ikan talapia yang apparently di bela oleh sanak saudara Kak Sham kat kampung...masak tempoyak ikan patin..rebusan segala daun i.e. pucuk ubi and the likes..there was also jantung pisang and fresh petai and of course....sambal belacan!! yumyum..is all I can say...

Then semalam...we met Kak Yah!!! Yeay! the moment when Soraya saw her and when she saw Soraya was indeed Kodak moments tanpa camera! hehe..in the excitement of yelling her name and extracting Giotto from her, mumsie lupa nak keluarkan camera yang purposely brought to take pictures of this particular reunion to be pasted in this blog! Haiyyaa...

Sadly, since we are not considered KakYah's sedara terdekat, we could not bring her home with us! hehe..tak per...there was promise of future meetings at some cineplex before she goes off to Singapore!

Hmm...suddenly there's this song in my head..."Reunited..and it feel so goooooddddd...."

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY FARAH NABIHAH!!

Another overdue posting...sigghhh...am seriously getting old...

Anyways...Farah a.k.a Kak Ngah turned 9 on 12 December hari tu (I know..i know...am a terrible mummy!). Kak Ngah feigned an upset face when I told her of the lack of posting to celebrate her birthday but she knows...mummy dia memang first class procrastinator! Sorryla darling...

Farah is my funny baby. She get my (and her Maksu's as well!) jokes and sarcasm and i get hers. She does great impersonation and we know her current ambition is to be a superstar...not simply a singer or an actress...but a superstar! Good luck to her...hehehe...but note, mummy would rather you be a lawyer or a doctor, dear...

Jokes aside, my sweet Kak Ngah is a beautiful and sensitive girl and as with all mummies around the world, I wish her the best things in life, simply because she deserves the best! Happy Belated Birthday, my darling Farah...do grow up to be manusia berguna...

p.s. wish you could be more patient and nicer to Sarah...:-)

What have we been up to?

Quite a bit, actually.

First there was Hari Raya Haji - it was allllll about food! I spent it makan, tido, makan, tido..literally! In that order!!! I used it to really "catch up" with my favourite raya dishes...ketupat with sambal udang and satay goreng...and best of all...lemang!! Authentic ones from Alor Gajah (and today we had some from Negeri 9 - courtesy of Kak Sham)...damn syok!

Then there was the Raya movies...i must tell about the particular one shown by TV3 on the eve of Raya - called Janji Seorang Anak...about this mom who loved her firstborn too much but the son lied to her all the time. It started with 6 people in the family - the mom(Fauziah Nawi - who else!), the dad (excellent acting by Abu Bakar Juah as a cacat kinda guy, maybe because of a stroke), the Grandma, the 2 sons and a daughter. By the time the movie ended, everybody had died, except for the daughter! Let me tell you about the ending...the first son stole from the mom and kicked her on his way out. She was shocked to death, then he fell ill and eventually died. But when he died...there was the scene where ulat came out from his mouth and every pores of his body!! Then his keranda (or rather, his body) was soooo heavy that it punctured the tyres of the van that was carrying it to the grave. They had to get a tractor to pull it! Then, when the body was in the grave, they had to put a lot of earth coz the grave just won't cover up!

Moral of the story, of course, was jangan jadi anak derhaka...The ending was quite extreme, I thought...very Mastika-like...but it succeded in getting to me. Am promising myself to be nicer to my mom....Hope my girls would be nicer to me too!!!

Today...me and the girls plus their MakSu went to the movies kat Midvalley Megamall. Wanted to watch Alvin and the Chipmunk but it was sold out. So we ended up watching the latest Ben Stiller - The Heartbreak Kid. Ni first time I watch movie since we've been back but its the 4th time for the girls!! They've been to see Enchanted, The Golden Compass and Nana Tanjung 2! Ye laaa...while the aunts and uncles still rajin nak melayan....

Oh yes...yesterday was fun too. We went to Kak Tam's house. There was a celebration for December babies, i.e Kak Ngah, Soraya, and their cousins - Shafrina and Shaliza. Although I think it was supposedly mainly to celebrate our cousins' - Kak Long and Abg Long's wedding anniversary...There was the usual crowd of cousins but no aunts and uncles this time. We are also planning a big family day this coming Chinese New Year holidays. Complete with telematch and Karaoke competition!! Can't wait!

After the party we dropped by MakCik Dalia's house. She is Abah's aunt twice or three times removed...she and her daughter, Ani used to care for Fatin and Farah when they were babies. The girls call them Mak and Umi respectively. We try as much as possible to be in touch with them coz I feel that we banyak terhutang budi with them. They took care of Kak Long and Kak Ngah like their own. So, the visit yesterday was spent reminiscing on those good old days...will later post a picture of them...Kak Long is now taller than her Umi!

OK folks...suffice to say...Mumsie is slowly settling down..Geneva seems so far away.....