When I was surrounded by.....

Today I took kommuter to go home as I don't have my car with me. Well, I sent my car for service this morning, and I thought that it would be ready by evening. At 3.30pm, the service advisor called me and informed that the brake pad and disc need to be replaced.

Since I have not changed it before, I gave the go ahead, and the moment I said proceed, he told me that the car cannot be ready by today. I called my hubby and told him that I would be taking kommuter home since the car is not ready.

I didn’t leave early knowing that the station would be crowded with people. So I left office late as I want to take the 7.30pm train thinking that there would be less crowded. As I had my teh tarik with Yati, I was thinking of how I would enjoy the quiet ride home, and read my BAD BOYS DO book by Victoria Dahl.

I was surprised. When I went down to platform 6. there were so many people waiting for the train. I was lucky that I didn't have to wait long. I went into the first coach, and it was packed like sardines. I looked around and saw very few women in that coach.

“Where are the women?” I asked myself.

I didn't know what happened to the ladies, until I reached my destination. I found out that  KTM has reserved the middle coach for women only.  Ahhh... No wonder when I looked around, I only saw men. I was in the wrong coach.

My dream to enjoy my book was totally dashed. Instead of reading the delicious Jamie, I was hanging like a monkey, holding to the holder and leaning into the rail. Furthermore, I was carrying my backpack and handbag.

When I reached the UKM's station, I was hoping my hubby would be waiting for me. Again I was disappointed. He was not there, as he has to go to the hospital to send his dad first. Ha ha finally while waiting for my hubby, I could enjoy my little Jamie. 

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.

Oh! I'm in pain....

I’m on medical leave today. I hurt my backs two weeks ago when I fell down at Ikea.  For two weeks, I was okay until yesterday in the office when I felt slight twitched on my back.

I thought it would go away, but it didn't. The pain had gotten worse last night. I couldn’t move or turn. Every move I made, it hurts. The whole night I didn’t sleep. I guess my husband didn’t either because I made a lot of noise.

And today, I had to walk very slow. It was the slowest walk I ever had because every step I took was very painful. My hubby took me to the Emergency Room at Hospital An-Nur, and the doctor referred me to my Orthopedic Surgeon in Ampang Putri. He gave me painkiller to reduce the pain, but it was not enough as I still felt pain every time I made slight move.

I thought I could use my ING at Ampang Putri, but ING declined saying that Hospital An-Nur is not their panel. I need to go to my normal GP to get my referral letter.

I was stumped. I didn’t go there for fun. I was in great pain, and I need to see a doctor immediately. Since I was in pain, I didn’t want to make any fuss. I just want to see the doctor and get my treatment. I told the receptionist that I would pay myself. However, I would not stop pursuing this with ING, as the cost of the treatment was more than 3 digits.

When I went in to see my doctor, the first questions he asked me, where was the  pain and do I felt any numbness along my leg. I said no numbness just pain. After more than 30 minutes of discussion and lectures, he gave me a bunch of medicines, and one of it, would have caused me nausea, dizziness and drowsiness.

“A-ha,” I said. “Now I know why the last time I felt dizzy every time I took my medicine.

“Yes, it would do that to you, but for only three to four days. So please, don’t stop.”

Ughh!! I hate to take medicines, and the doctor said two of those medicines, I need to take it like, forever. Ahh!!! It reminds me of my dad and mom and their medicines’ boxes.

Oh yea! On the brighter side, I was given four days of MC...Yeah!!!

A weekend at Masjid Sultan salahuddin Abdul Aziz

I was away with my husband during the weekend for 2 days 1 night stays. It was not a vacation. We attended the final practical training for our upcoming Haj trip in October.

The event was held at the Masjid Sultan Salahudin Abd Aziz in Shah Alam. There were 4,000 plus people attended to the event. Well, the training was actually a simulation for all the rites that we have to perform there. It is also a good training for my children to adapt themselves to be without us for a month.

The training started from 2pm, and during the registration, we were divided into 8 big groups. Every one was asked to wear ihram, and for the men, they have to wear. It is jus a simple two pieces of white cloth which has no stitches on it. The organizing committee kicked off the day, and after the Asar prayer, the practical training started.

The first training was Tawaf, circling of Kaabah, seven times. It was about what do we need to do and what kind of prayer do we need to cite. Wow! I was sweating especially, and by the time I reached the final laps I was very happy.

From Tawaf, we did a practice on Saie. It is another 7 laps of walking between two distances, which is known as Bukit Safa and Marwah. I did okay here too, and I was glad that my knee and my back didn’t cause any problem.

After the training, the leader answered questions from the group before we break for dinner. Ah, Dinner! We have to collect it under the tent where it was packed in a container. It was rice with fried fish, beef curry and one vegetables. I didn't finish mine as I was too tired to eat.

I took the opportunity to take my bath, which I was glad to. There were a limited number of shower stalls, and I have to queue for 20 minutes. The event continued after the Isyak prayer with a forum and followed up by more practical.

I started to feel pain in my back, and I told my hubby that I needed to sit. At that time, it was 12 midnight already and to end the night, we were given coffee or tea before calling it a night.

Hmmm… I wonder where to sleep since so many people. Some slept in the mosque, some around the corridor and for us; it was near the escalator at the main entrance. There were not so many people there. Before that, there was an announcement made that the next event would start at 4am in the morning.

Well, it was a challenge actually to sleep. First, I’m not used to sleep without pillow, and secondly my back and legs started to hurt. In fact, I had difficulty to sleep that night, and I don’t know when I finally slept.

When I got up, it was almost 3am, and I quickly took my things to the toilet again. Whoa… there were so many people already there. I had to wait for 45min before I can have my shower again.

The second day event started with qiamullai and followed by the morning prayer. After the prayer, we met again at the lower level of the mosque to continue with the second day activities. I was not really looking forward to as my back was getting really painful.

When they announced that there’s a change in the plan, where it would be replaced with Q&A session instead of practical training, I was relief. The Q&A was done very well, and any doubts and things which we were not clear, were addressed by panels of experts.

After the breakfast session, we continued with the session. It was basically, a feedback session where the head of the programs, provided feedback based on the observation made.

The event ended at 11.30, and the closing ceremony was graced by the Tunku Panglima Besar who represented the Sultan of Selangor.

By the time we reached home, it had been 1pm, and the kids were very happy to see us. After spending 20 minutes with them, I took my nap. It was the longest nap. Four hours of sleep.

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.