Getting fit again

Part of SAHM - feeding kitty

Hello! It has been a while since I update anything here. Didn't do it on purpose, but I was busy. Busy with my new life as Stay At Home Mom. Frankly speaking, all those years working in big corporate world didn’t prepare me for this kind of storm.

It has been two months of tiring world for me, and I am still adjusting to the new role. Well if it took three months for me to be confirmed when I was working so I guess I need that one more month to be confirmed that I am fit to be SAHM.

Ha..ha.. ha… whether I’m fit or not I will be stuck with this new role. Well not everything is bad in this new role. There are good and bad things… more good things than bad actually

Ah.. enough of my boring stories as SAHM. So what else have I been working on besides SAHM?

Well, working on my health. Well it was always my priority to get myself fit again. Years of neglect and abuse on my body did take a toll on my health. I was basically having big mobility issues last two years and guess what, the two months that I stayed at home has improved my health a lot. Especially to my mobility.

Last weekend, after months of avoiding going shopping I went to Alamanda. Heh! I walked for quite a distance before my back started to get cramps. It was basically walking, stopping, sitting and walking again for me. I was happy with that progress as previously I could only walk for 50-100m before my back started cramping and causing the whole body stiff.

And on Sunday, I went to Kajang Metro. This time shopping for printer. I was without printer for almost a year, and finally after putting off buying it for a few months, I finally get a Canon printer. Good enough to cater for my current needs.

Ha..ha..ha…..again, the same technique was applied as I was in Alamanda, but this time, I covered quite a distance before I need to rest and sit. That was an achievement, right? Yes, indeed!

But I have to pay for the price of overdoing this. My knee suddenly gets locked up, and I had a problem to stands for a while. Luckily I have the cooling pad that the moment I reached home, I applied it over my throbbing knee. It helps, but the soreness is still there.

And today, I feel much better. And I plan to do nothing for today…I need to give my knee some more rest. And also I’m going to cook curry – not chicken but crab… Wanna join me for dinner tonight?

Hahahaha....Okay..... got to go, and it rhyming with Let it Go which I’m listening to now… Chiao…

No matter what...

Haha..not sure what's got into me. I'm updating both blogs on the same day. It must be a miserable day that I have today. It's too early in the morning for me to feel this way, but hey.. this feeling has been there for months. It was dormant, and this morning, it was really strong until I have to ponder what I want to do in my life.

Well , the only think that keep me firmly on what I'm doing today are my kids. They are the one keeping me slogging through my life. Well... mother loves never know boundaries right. No matter how tired I am, when one of my kids asked for help, I would not hesitate.

That's what happened last night. I reached home around 8pm after on the road for more than an hour. Thanks to the traffic jam. When I got home, my brother in law and his wife were there. They came over to visit my sick mother in law and also to discuss something with my husband. I let them talk and discuss their family affairs. No interference from me.

I thought I could rest for a while, but Syafiq came and asked me to help him with the C++ Programming. He has his exam this morning at 8am. Good luck son. He has some problem with understanding some of the C++ terms. Being a mother and also I know the topic, I sat down with him. Yeah...at that time I was still not having my shower or my dinner. No matter how tired I am, I still helped him.

From helping him, we moved to discuss music. I saw his playlists, and he introduced me to some of his favorite singers, which are not popular at all. After that, he went and played The River Flows in You on the piano. It made me relax as that is one of my favorite song.

After he left, I have other tasked, which my kids think that only me can do it. Not even their dad. Do you know what? It checking the text books, taping what ever need to be taped and wrapped it. Haiyahhh... at that time I was still not having my shower.

Hmm...by the time that I can really chill down and enjoy my reading, it was almost 11.30pm. But I'm grateful and thankful to Allah for giving me four lovely kids who occasionally drives me crazy with their antics. They are my world no matter what they do.... 

Kids, Books and Reading Habit

Salam.
 

Once upon a time, when they were young

It has been very quiet here. Well, I have been busy updating my other blog.. my malay blog. Lately, I found it difficult to write in English. Not sure what caused it, but my instinct says that I have been reading too many Malay novels, and my thinking is now mainly in Malay. It used to be in English. Hah! I need to train my brain to think in both languages simultaneously. Can I? Inshaallah boleh…

Well, of late I have been reading again. At one time, I was kind of lost interest in reading, but Alhamdulillah I found the joy of reading again. Sometimes, I feel that I spend too much time on reading; staying late night just to finish the books. But, it was worth every minute.

I try to instil the same reading habit with my kids. Do they have the same passion as me? Aaahh… let start with my youngest.

Zaara or I call her my Drama Queen. I read to her every night before she goes to sleep. That was before she knows how to read. Most of the time, I enjoy our time together. It is bonding time between mum and daughter. But, there were times I just want her to go to bed without me reading her anything. 

   

She will also dictate what story or book to read and when we were out of books or stories, she will force me to come out with my own stories.

Now she can read on her own, it eases me a lot. Just like me, she will have her book next to her bed. I will be sitting next to her bed with my book and she with her book. She will read two to four pages before saying goodnight. I really enjoy the moment.

Zaki a.k.a the drummer boy or the joker. He doesn’t read all the time like Drama Queen, but whenever he has a new book, he will finish it up within a day or two. Until I buy him another book, he would spend his time practicing his air drum. Yup, this boy is going through his rock music phase. Two years ago, it was KPOP and today it is Avenged Sevenfold. With his drumsticks and iPad, he will bang my sofa to the beat of the Avenged Sevenfold song until I ask him to stop.

Amir a.k.a the engine boy or the serious one. He likes anything to do with engines. He can spend hours looking at youtube on plane, train and cars. The engine boy likes to read. He loves to read mystery and thriller books, and every week he asks me to buy a book for him. Did I get it for him all the time? Nope or else I will be broke. But, whenever he didn't have new books, he will asked for my book. Haha… I can’t share my books with him yet. It is too early for him to read my kind of book.

Syafiq a.k.a the big brother or the musician. Oh… this one, I have tried to get him to read since young, but suffice to say he is not a reader. He is like the drummer boy, into music. Not to say he didn’t read at all. He does but depends on the book. He likes inspirational book and autobiography. Other than that, I didn’t see him read much. Most of his time is spent playing his guitar or fiddling with the piano.

What about my dear hubby? Well, he reads the newspaper and magazines only. No fiction for him. Sometimes I told him to be creative and read fictions. He is my point of reference for my grammar, and my English teacher.

So, what is the best book that I have read? Obviously, it is the Al-Quran. No doubt about it.

Starting new life...

My son is now starting a new phase in his life, as a college student. He is now in Uniten, staying in the hostel as required by the university. Well, Uniten is not that far from my house. It is about 15-20 minutes drives depending on the traffic.

Well, I believe Allah has answered their prayers. I remembered few months ago, before heading to the lala land, my husband was saying that he hoped that Syafiq would get into the nearby university. "Hmm, why?" I asked curiously. "Easier to go and see him."

Well for Syafiq, he always wanted to be independent and to stay in the hostel. "Why," I asked. "I wanted to be independent." So both of their prayers were answered.

So, on Saturday 19th May, dressed smartly in black pants, white shirt and blue stripe tie, he went to UNITEN to register himself as a new student. Well he didn't go on his own. He was accompanied by his dad, mom and his favorite sister, Zara.

We reached there at 10.30am, and the place were already full of people. It looks like carnival at the admission hall. Parents, grandparents, who are proud of their grandchildren entering university, brothers, sisters and maybe cousins or friends.

We had to wait for two hours before he came out from the hall, smiling, carrying a UNITEN back pack, his student's id and his apartment key. We then left the admission hall and headed to his apartment, which was quite a distance. We have to drive further in  to reach his apartment, and I was surprised to see that the campus was beautiful. I told my hubby maybe I would come again to take some photo.

There were many signboards to direct us to the apartment, and when we reached the apartment, we were directed by the committee members on where to park the car. When I looked at his key, he was assigned to Block D, third floor. Since the apartment is a walk up apartment, there was no lift.

"O oh! Can ibu gets to the third floor?" I asked Zara," who helped to carry his big brother pillow.

"Boleh," she said and waited for me at he first floor.

Alhamdulillah, I made it to his room. Slow and steady, and my back was okay. When he opened the door, my husband first remark was, "Dusty. Need to clean and mop the floor first." We went in to his room. It is a small room, and he is sharing with another guy. He didn't look so happy when he saw the room. He was disappointed that the apartment facilities were really basic, bed, table, chair, cupboard and sofa to sit and rest at the living room.

The kitchen was not bad as it has kitchen cabinet and an island for them to eat. Unfortunately, no chairs there. I guessed if they want to eat, they can eat on the floor, cross-legged.

My hubby disappeared for a short while and returned with a feather duster, mop and a sweep. Haha, Syafiq first task at his new place was sweeping the floor. He was lucky. No mopping as his  roommates started to come.

Since he has no activities in the afternoon, we took him home first. We thought of  sending him back on Sunday morning and help to clean his room, but somehow at 5pm, he said there's a briefing for all residence, and he wanted to attend. Quickly, my husband sent him back to Uniten, but hubby didn't get to help him clean the room.  Zara also cried when Syafiq left. She and Syafiq are close, and Syafiq likes to kiss her. He always gives Zara kisses before she went to bed, and before she left for school. Not only Zara going to miss the kiss, me too...

Well, frankly speaking, I miss him too. Every morning before I left for work, he would play his  guitar,  updates me on his activities, and help me to keep the house in order. Allhamdulillah, he is not that far. I will be seeing him regularly as the plan is he will come back on the weekend. I bet he will bring back his dirty laundry.

Okay before, I go, here is from Syafiq Safe and Sound, his favorite singer Taylor Swift.
Safe and Sound by Syafiq 

When kids turn into musicians...

It was a lovely Sunday afternoon today. It was hot and sunny, but we didn’t spend our time outside. We were inside, and scared to get ourselves burned by the sun. Because the weather was really hot,  we had to  switch on the air-con. The kids were around me while their dad was in the room taking a nap.

I was reciting my Al-Mathurat with Zara leaning against me. She was doing her maths when suddenly Syafiq brought his guitar and joined me in the living room, and started playing “Pumped Up Kicks” by the Foster the People.

As he played his guitar, Zara started to hum and Zaki started to join to sing along. I stopped my recitation and listened to the three of them. I was surprised that Zara and Zaki could sing this song.

After "Pumped up Kicks", Syafiq played “Someone Like You” by Adele. Ahh…that was one of my favorite song, and he played it well. After that, Amir who was at the dining table doing his homework abandons his homework and joined us. Zara also quit doing her maths and started to take her guitar and strummed to whatever song that we decided to play even though it was out of tune.

It was a lovely sight to see all four of my children singing and playing music together, even though it was out of tune most of the time. Oh I don’t know whether I would be able to see all four of them playing together in one band where Syafiq at guitar, Zara at piano, Amir at bass or violin and Zaki at drum. It would be a long wait, but I can always dream about it.

Here I share with you "Pumped up Kicks" by Foster the People.

Birthday Party and K-Pop

Today is my youngest sister’s birthday. Happy birthday Arda! Welcome to the 40’s club. It’s a good club.

On Saturday, her husband, Zali, threw a party to celebrate her birthday. He did it on Saturday because he wanted the rest of the family to join and celebrate the big day with him. Unfortunately, me and my husband didn’t make it to the party because my immediate neighbor has kenduri, but we sent our kids to join and celebrate the big day.

My kids were very excited because it has been quite some time since they been at their Mak Net’s house. They love to be at my sister house because they can swim and they can perform. True enough, when my sister Arda sent them back on Sunday morning, I received a full report on what they did.

Amir, Zaki, and Zara performed their K-Pop routine in front of my family members, and was joined by my grand niece, the Little Maryam. What a surprised because they are normally shy kids. But I guess they are no more shy kids and ready to show their skills.

Zaki has been practicing his dance routines every day without failed whereas Zara and Amir would only practice as and when they like. I wonder if they can be fully dedicated to their K-Pop, why can’t they be dedicated to practicing their music or to revising their studies. Hmmm…. I must find a way to make them practice their music and do their revisions.

Zara and Zaki also drew something for her favorite aunt and gave it to her as her birthday presents. You can see the different here. Zara is the better artist than Zaki. Agreed? All my kids seem to inherit the artistic side from their grand father except Amir, who is into sports. At least one of them followed my foot step. Sport!

Okay, it’s lunch time now, and my stomach is growling. Time to hunt for lunch.

Salam.

They wanted a cat.

My kids wanted a cat for a pet. They have been talking about it for months. They have been luring stray cats to the house, and tried to keep them, but the cats know better. They better be guests to this house than becomes a permanent resident.

After months of waiting patiently, they cannot wait for it anymore. On Saturday, they asked me to go and buy them a cat for them. I told them to ask their dad first. Zaki was the first to go and asked his dad.

“Ayah, we want a cat,” said Zaki.

“No,” replied his dad.

“Why?” he asked.

“Are you going to clean the cat poop, pee and everything?” asked his dad.

“Yes.”

“So there a cat poop outside, Go and clean it. If you can do it, you can have the cat,” he said.

“Okay,” he said, "I do it," but didn’t move a bit from where he was.

Their dad looked at the rest of them, but no one went to clean the cat poop.

“See, I made my point,” said the dad.

“But the cat that we want to buy has been trained,” said Amir.

My hubby continued to read. They didn’t give up.

On Sunday, after the music class, they persuaded me to take them to the Pet shop. They were very excited thinking that they would get a cat, but before they get down from the car, I told them not to expect too much.

When we went inside the shop, there was no cat. They were disappointed but didn’t give up. They asked me to ask the girl in charge.

“Yes, there are two, but they need to be cleaned first.”

They were excited when they heard that.

“Oh, how much is it?” I asked further just to appease the kids’ curiosity.

“These two are expensive,” replied the girl.

“Yeah, how much?”

“It’s Persian, and the price is RM1600 and RM1800,” she replied.

I turned around and looked at them. “Expensive,” I said.

They still wanted the cat, and when I said I didn't have that much cash with me, Zaki said, “Use your credit card to buy.”

Huh! There’s no way I’m going to fork out that much for a cat until they proved to me that they knew how to take care of their pet. Meanwhile, let them continue to dream their dream cats.

She's sad....

Last weekend, I went out to buy things that I need to bring with me for my Haj trip. I was happy to find my size in the shop. Normally it was not easy to find one as my size is an exceptional.

I bought 3 pairs, and I still need to buy some other smaller things that are required. The next challenging thing is how to fit all those into my luggage. One big luggage and one hand carrier.

I wanted my kids to be part of my preparation, so I showed them what I bought. The boys gave some comments, but Zara didn't. She looked at it briefly, and then continued to watch TV. From her face reaction I know, she didn't look for the long separation, and she looked sad.

I asked her what she thought of the baju ihram, but she just raised her shoulder. I asked her and Zaki to follow me to my room and explained to them where I'm going and for how long. I showed her the calendar when I would be leaving and when I would be back.

"Oh!" she said and still trying to understand what did it means to her.

Lately, every night she would come to our room and crawl into bed with us. I told my hubby to let her knowing that she won't be able to do that next month.

For the past two weeks, she would wait for me to come home and have dinner with me. It didn't matter whether I reach home early or late, she would patiently wait for me, and then she would sit with me and told me what she did for the day.

The last time I was away from home was when she was three months old, and she didn't know what's going on. This time, it's different and I really hope she would not get sick while we are away, and I have to leave it to the creativity of her aunties, uncles and cousins to keep her occupied.

Am I Ready?

Tonight, my sister will be flying off to Madinah before heading to Makkah. She was very excited as I could hear it in her voice when she called me yesterday.

I’ll be going to see her at Kompleks Kelana Jaya. Besides seeing her off, this would also give me an opportunity to assess what time I need to be at Kelana Jaya.

My sister told me that we needed to be there at least two hours before the checking time. Since my checking time is at 8.30am in the morning, I have to be there latest by 6.30am. And what it means is that I have to leave the house by 5am in the morning. That’s very early for my young kids.

Ah, I’m not sure how my kids going to take it. To get up by 4.30am and getting ready to say goodbye to their parents. Ahhh…Thinking about that make me sad. But there is a high possibility that my house would be busy with relatives who would be coming to say goodbye and sending us off.

I know my mom would be at my house that weekend as I plan to bring her to my place on Friday. I would also be making a trip to the Tuan Haji Said Cemetery, and have the special moment with dad. He would be proud to see me off to Hajj because when he was around, he always reminded us to go to Hajj at the young age. Thinking about him brought tears to my eyes. I miss him a lot. He was my inspiration who spurred me to do well in my life. Thanks abah for that.

I still have a lot of things to do. I still have not done any checklist on items that I need to bring with me. And also I need to find a time to sit down with my kids and tell them to listen to Syafiq, their grandparents and aunties during our absences. And the most important thing is not to skip school.

Yup… it’s going to be an emotional moment for us.

Missing Schoolbag and House Warming Party

Zaki lost his school bag. Could you believe it? Actually he didn’t really lose his schoolbag.  Don’t know what happened on Friday at school that he totally forgot about his schoolbag.

Guess when did he realize it that he didn’t have his school bag? It was on Sunday night when he wanted to do his homework.

Gah! Sunday night! No one in the family has lost or misplaced it before.  The whole Sunday night was spent looking for his schoolbag. Did he worry about it? A little bit. He scared how to tell his teacher about his missing books and bag. I told him no matter what, he still has to go to school and face the teacher.  Finally after searching high and low in the house, he called his grandpa in Seremban, thinking that he might have left it in his grandpa’s car.

Pity the old man! He has to get up from his bed and searched for the bag too. We almost gave up when his grandpa suggested checking with the school’s guard.

Early yesterday morning, my hubby went to his school to ask the guard, and the bag was there the whole weekend waiting to be collected. The guard found the bag and kept it with him. Alhamdulillah for that, otherwise we have to replace the books, and it is not easy to purchase these books because they are loaners and not available in bookstores.

This also will serve him a lesson to  remember his bag.

Oh ya! On Saturday, we had raya open house cum house warming party. It went well, and the food was just enough. Not many leftovers.

Well, the party was to get to know my neighbors. I have move to this new place for almost 10 months, but I didn’t know my neighbors except for my immediate neighbors. So this gave me the opportunity to know them better.

The party was also to celebrate Hari Raya too, and to welcome my families, relatives and friends to my new house. What did I serve them? It was Nasi Minyak, Ayam Masak Merah, Ayam Goreng Berempah, Dalca, Sayur Acar, Satay, fruits and local kuih.

Hah! Could you spot what was missing? No? Yes? Well, there were no Raya cookies there. My kids have eaten almost all the cookies.

Can they cope with the separation?

Finally, I received my flight detail yesterday. Yes, I have been waiting for it for two weeks, and now with the flight detailed in hand, I can breathe easily, and focus on preparing for the trip.

I would be away for 32 days, and my kids would be left behind with their grandparents and with their aunties. I hope they would be able to adapt to that. Their aunties had made some plan for them, and they looked forward to that.

We also did a simulation last weekend. We left them with the grandparents and put Syafiq in charged of his siblings and the house.

We told Syafiq to make sure the brothers and sister do their homework, checked the doors and windows at night, no light on the stove and switched off the lights at night before going to bed.

He did that and text me at 11pm on the status. The two brothers completed their homework while the girl went to bed as usual, and the house was in order. Hah! I felt relieved knowing that I could depend on him.

But being away for a month will be a real challenge to them, especially for the younger two. They are very close to me, and I’m not sure what would be the impact to them later. I can only pray to Allah that nothing wrong with them when I’m away.  Insya Allah.

From now until the day I leave, I would have to prepare them for the separation.  Amir and Zaki seem to understand what I would be doing and where I would be going, but my little girl has not. She thought that I would be going for a short trip, and can come back as and when I want to. I really hope that, by the end of October, she would understand where I would  be and for how long.

So for now, I have to focus on them. Entertain them; spend as much time as possible with them, and slowly explained to them the benefits of this journey and why I have to do it, and pray to Allah that I would attain the Haji Mabrur.  Insya Allah.

May Allah bless us…. Amen.

When too creative can cause trouble

Aduh hai! Zaki has been very creative. Too creative for me to be proud of.  It is not creative in writing or drawing, but creative in causing trouble.

Well, what did he do? He cut his hair with his scissors. Just a spot on his hair and its not a small either.  It can be clearly seen from far.

I don’t know when he did it, but I do know it was yesterday. Normally we didn’t let him keep the scissor, but because of school works, we gave him expecting that he would cut the pictures and paste it on his books, and not his hair.

When I saw it last night, I was speechless.  He thought he looked good. When I told him that I had to shave his head, he went, “Nooo.”

Luckily, it was just one spot. What happened if it is more than one spot? It would be really disaster.

I don’t know what will be my husband reaction when he sees Zaki’s hair.

It is not the first time he had been creative with scissor. He cut his school uniform pants, his pajamas and few other things. He reminded me of Syafiq at his age. He too cut his school pants, but not his hair.

Because of this creativity, my husband and me didn't want to give them scissors, but most of school works required them to cut and paste pictures. Ugh!! I hope he will not cut Zara's hair because Zara has been complaining about her hair.

Ahh!!! That's the story of my kids. Without them, the house will be quite, and if they are around, my house will be the nosiest in the neighborhood.

Funny faces and pictures

There is an application on iPad2 called Photo Booth that my kids love to play with, and it produced funny looking pictures. The application can produced 9 different pictures, and you just have to select which version you want to capture.

Eventhough there are nine type, my kids love to take their picture using the stretch and the squeeze methods. Here is how they look like using the squeeze...


Zaki with his alien's look. Look at his happy face and his big head, small nose and small mouth. Will you run if you see him at night?

Wow...he really has a big head. In fact, he can share his brothers' songkok.

 Zara an alien girl. I can't see her mouth, but it is there. She looked happy here because she got my iPad. Sneaked it out from my room. Hah.. she's the only girl, and my hubby little princess....

Syafiq looks like a cartoon - using the stretch mode. A sad looking boy... with a big eyes, big nose... Ahh... he was taking a break from his study. Yup, he still has a few more papers to go through in his trial exam...

Amir with a stretch option too... He looks like a happy boy, big mouth, big nose and big eyes. He loves to laugh, and his laughter can be contiguous.

I have a lot more of their pictures either in squeeze, stretches or twirls. Sometimes when I need a good laugh, I would look at these pictures. It never fails to tickle me.

Zara and her Hari Raya gathering

Zara had a Hari Raya gathering at her school today. She had been looking forward for this since the teacher told her last week. When she got the letter on Monday, she called me and asked her brother to read the letter to me.

And when I reached home on Monday night, she was waiting for me with the letter. The moment, I sat down she showed me the letter, and asked me to read it there and then. She was very excited about the gathering.

She already planned what she wanted to bring and wear. Last night, before she went to bed, she told me that she wanted to bring nugget. “Nugget?” I said as I planned to pack curry puff for her, and she nodded. I try to convince her to bring curry puff, but she refused to budge.

So this morning, I fulfilled her wish. I fried the nuggets for her, and while I was frying it, she came down. Wow! I was surprised because it would normally be difficult to get her up for school. Usually there will be lots of drama.

She also told me that she wanted to wear the new baju kurung. Her dad gave her the old baju kurung, and she refused to wear. Her argument is that teacher said everyone must wear the new baju kurung. She defied her dad, and went to her wardrobe, and took out the new baju kurung. Her dad just shook his head.

Don’t you ever wonder that our kids listen more to the teacher than us? Every single word that came out from the teacher’s mouth sound like a law. If I said the teacher was wrong, she would defend the teacher. That’s how loyal she is to the teacher. It is not only her, but the rest of my kids too.   That’s why, teachers have to be careful what they said and do.

When I came home tonight, she updated me on the gathering. She was happy because her nuggets were very popular among the kids. She further said it was fun, and there's a lot of activities.

Haha…I bet school would not be fun anymore next week, and the drama would definitely continue, again tomorrow morning.

Luck is not on my side!

Ughh… So far, it has not been a good week for me.  In fact, it started since Saturday last week. I was stuck in the stupid traffic jam for hours on Saturday. Maybe people were still in Hari Raya mood, and lots of people were hosting open house. So they would be going from one house to another in their cars, and clogged KL roads. Well it's free food, so enjoy it while it last. Hei! Hei! Makan, jangan tak makan!

Because of the traffic jam, my poor son, Syafiq, has to wait for us for almost one hour at Ara Damansara, and he was alone. After we had fetched him, we headed to Ikea, and for once, it was not that crowded. We managed to get parking easily.

But my joy was short lived. On the way to my car, I slipped and fell down at Ikea’s parking. Luckily there were not many cars or people. Zaki who was with me, saw me fell, and he quickly said,” Don’t move.” He ran, and called the rest.

When the rest of the kids came, I already stand up. Heh! I would not lie down on the dirty floor and embarrassed myself. Eventhough it hurts my butt and shoulder, but it was not so bad.

On Sunday night, we went out for dinner and groceries. The kids wanted KFC, and the best place to go was Warta, since Giant and KFC are in the same building. Parking was also easy to get.  When we reached KFC, there was a long queue at KFC, but the restaurant was basically empty.

Since I have few KFC discounts coupon from Hotlink, we decided to use that. The coupon entitled us to have 5 pieces of chicken, 2 burgers and drinks. When it was our turn, the guy told my son that the burgers are not available because they had run out of the bun. Furthermore, there were only 4 pieces of chicken left, and we had to wait for 30minutes if we wanted more. “OK,” I said, and by the time, the chicken ready, it was almost 10.00pm.

I thought my nightmare would end on Sunday night, but on Monday, it was worse. I was stuck in the traffic jam for more than 1hr 30min. The traffic jam was due to dress rehearsal for Malaysia Day, which is on 16th September. The traffic jam started before the Sg Besi Tol, and knowing that I would be late for work, I text my bosses.   Heh! I was not the only one. One of my bosses were also caught in the  jam. In fact, the whole KL was caught in the Monday morning jam.

And, my bad luck continued on Monday night too. I was stuck in the office until 8.10pm with Mr. Han to run through some financial numbers, while my family was waiting for me at home to visit our neighbors.  When I reached home at 9pm, I just dumped my bags and laptop and went out with them. I didn’t get a chance to freshen myself.

And today, I was caught in another bad traffic jam, but this time it was due to a very heavy rain. Since I was fasting, I thought of leaving the office around 5.45pm, but there was no way I could leave my office in heavy rain. I only left office after 6pm, and by then the traffic jam was already started.

Since I have to fetch Syafiq from his friend’s house, I didn’t make it in time to break my fast at home. So, I decided to break my fast at McDonald with Syafiq. If the other three kids know about this, they would demand I took them to McDonald too. Sheesshhh, Don’t tell them, okay!

Oh! I’m not sure how Wednesday going to be, but looking at my to-do list and my calendar, it going to be another busy day.  What about you? Are your days better than mine? I hope so.

Salam.

When he expects me to know the answers...

Tonight, Zaki asked me to help him in his Arabic homework. Seriously, I don’t know what to do when he showed me his schoolwork. I have no basic knowledge of Arabic. Therefore, I found it tough to teach him, and he didn’t want anyone else to teach him except me. Anak manja.

So, as not to disappoint him, I took the book and looked at the homework.  I have no clue what to do as the instruction is in Arabic too. But I know that he needs to fill out the missing letters.

I looked at the previous page; the questions were to arrange the words in order. When he saw me, staring at the page, he said, “That’s the name of the day in a week.”

“Oh!” I said, and still couldn’t connect between what he said and the homework.

I flipped few more pages from the exercise book, but I still have no idea what is required. Finally, I asked him to bring the textbook.

“You won’t find the answer in the textbook,” he told me and handed me the textbook.

I didn’t say anything. I took the book and opened it up. Nothing looked similar. After some times, I gave up. I closed the book, and stared at the exercises book again, hoping for some clue.

Suddenly, a bright light appeared somewhere, and I could see some connection between the previous page and his homework.

“A-hah!” I said excitedly. “This page and this page is the same. It’s about the name of days,” as I pointed to the two pages.

“Yes. Didn’t I told you earlier,” he asked.

I didn’t answer. Instead, I told him how to do his homework, which he happily does it.

Nowadays, the young children are lucky. They have the opportunity to learn Arabic at the young age. When I was their age, I didn’t get to learn Arabic at school. There was no Arabic subject offered at all.

But it was not to late for me to learn the language with them. As I teach them, I also learned, but the only problem, I would forget what I learn few months later. Ahhhh!!…. I’m old already.

Goodbye Ramadhan, Hello Syawal

Today mark the end of Ramadan and the beginning of Syawal. It was announced on the national TVs that Hari Raya would be on Tuesday, 30th August. Huh! There's a lot of celebration around my area. Loud booms of fireworks can be heard until midnight.

To celebrate the end of Ramadan, we invited my sister in law and her kids to our house for iftar. Except for the oldest, who is in confinement,  the rest of her kids came for iftar. They brought rendang, peanut sauce, ketupat, while we bought lemang. As usual, teh tarik is a must have drink for iftar.

Before the break fast, we had tahlil, and this time, my husband’s nephew who is still in his early twenties led the tahlil. Eventhough he is young, but he has the characteristics of a leader and ustaz. Insya Allah, one day he will be.

Since this is our first raya at our new home, Villa Seroja, my father in-law decided to have Takbir Raya. After the maghrib prayer and a short rest, we continued with Takbir.  There was no one else except family, but it was good enough to usher the month of Syawal.

My father in law started the takbir and then followed by my husband’s two nephews.  I had never had any Takbir Raya at my previous home in Kajang. I hope this is a blessing to the new home.

After the takbir, Zaki and Zara can’t wait to play bunga api (sparkles). Well not only they played, but the big guys played too. But it will be more fun if we can other type of fireworks and firecrackers such the dragon eggs.

Hehe.... it is a rare occasion to have most of my husband side to be with us on Raya’s eve, so we had a photo session. But it was so difficult to get one person to sit in the photo session. Wanna guess who is that person? Who else? It's Mr. Misai…..

Selamat Hari Raya…

Salam.