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…

Thanks Roommates!!!

Salam.

I have been home since Saturday, and I’m already back to work. Alhamdulillah, I didn’t face any major difficulties during my one month stays in Mecca and Madinah. I completed all the rituals as required with minimal difficulties. I have to thank my hubby, who was there all the time to assist me also my four room mates in Mecca and Madinah. They are wonderful people. Only Allah can repay their kindness.

I was glad that my roommates and I clicked immediately even though all four of us came from different background and age. In Mecca, two of my roommates were housewives, while the third roommate is a manager, but we are all equal.

The youngest in the room was 38 years old, but we called her Ustazah Kecil or Cik Yam Turkiye. The first nickname was because of her know ledges in Islam, while I’m not sure how the second nickname came about. Even though she the youngest, she is not afraid to give advised or shared her knowledge when it deems to. She is also very helpful and caring.

The oldest in the room was 54 years old and a Datin (equivalent to Lady). Eventhough, she is a Datin, she’s very humble and down to earth person. We respect her not only because she is older than us, but because of her involvement in the society. She also liked to share with us about her kids and her grandchildren. Oh ya! she was awarded AMN (Ahli Memangku Negara) for her leadership in BAKAT.

My other roommate is also highly knowledgeable in Islam, and between her and the Ustazah Kecil, I learned a lot. Hehehe....... She is also an IT savvy, so I don’t feel like a geek there. Since she works for Kelantan government, it was very interesting to understand what was really happening there. Among the four of us, she would be the first to head to the mosque at 3.30am in the morning. Sometimes she stayed at the mosque from 12am until 7.20pm. I admired her for her determination to stay in the mosque even though our hotel, which is Hotel Royal Eiman, is only 80 meters from the Baitullah.

We were in Mecca for three weeks and nine days in Madinah. Datin didn’t join us in Madinah as her husband has some urgent works that need his attention. The night before she flew home, we had pizza for dinner, thanks to Datin.

Since Datin didn’t join us in Madinah, we have a new room mates. Actually we already knew her in Mina. She is as good as Yam Turkiye in term of her knowledge in Islam, but a little bit reserve in sharing her knowledge. She would join the discussion when we asked her. She also clicked well with the three of us. In Madinah, she was also the earliest to get up and get ready to mosque. Normally, she would leave the room by 3.40am.

In Madinah, we stayed at Movenpick hotel, which was only 30 meter from the mosque, but due to limited space for women to pray in the mosque, she and the other lady would leave early so that they can pray inside. For me and Yam Turkiye, we normally left our room, earliest by 4.45am, and we would be praying outside under the open sky and cold weather.

In Madinah, I’m the oldest in the room, and Yam Turkiye is the youngest, but she played the role of a big sister to all of us. We didn’t spend all our time praying, or reading Quran. We also have time to shop, and most of time, we did our shopping in the morning or after dinner.

My roommates are good at shopping. They know where to hunt for good things, and they know how to bargain. Every time they came back from shopping, they would show to us what they had buy and how much. Sometimes I just smile looking at them.

The best thing shopping in Mecca and Madinah is that, the shop people speaks Bahasa Melayu, and it made it easy for us to bargain. At first I was surprised to hear them conversing and bargaining in Bahasa Melayu, but after some time I also spoke in Bahasa Melayu to them.

Okay, I think I stop for now, and would continue tomorrow for more stories from my trip.

Salam.

Passing through Little India..

Today, I went shopping at Mid-Valley during lunch hour. Yay! I seldom do that. We took a cab to Mid Valley. There was no point driving to Mid Valley on Friday during lunch hour because parking will be a nightmare.

Upon reaching Mid-Valley, we didn’t hit the store, but we went and enjoyed our lunch first at Chilis. We were busy talking, texting and tweeting that, by the time we finished eating, we have only 30 minutes to shop.

Thirty-minutes is not a problem to me because I already know what I wanted and from which store. No high heels for me, and this made it easier for me to decide.

And to make my decision easier, I have Metro voucher that’s going to expire on 24th April, so that’s where I spent my time browsing and trying for shoes.

After trying few pairs, I decided on Clarks. Not because it was pretty or what, but it fit my feet nicely and comfortably. That’s the most important thing to me. If I do have a pretty shoes, people won't notice it either.

On the way back to office, the cab driver took us through Brickfields. Actually Brickfields is only 10 minutes walk from my office, but I seldom go there. It is too hot to walk there.

Brickfields has gone through a major transformation. The old town that I used to live now resemble town in India. Last year, the City Hall, upgraded the area. Form a two-way street, it has changed to one-way. The road was also widened to avoid the congestion in that area.

Brickfields nowadays is also known as Little India. You can find all kinds of Indian goods and foods in Brickfields. There are Indian Restaurant, shops selling curry powders, Indian traditional cloths, Indian praying materials and Indian songs. You can also see people selling garlands of flowers in the morning for prayers and wedding.

If you are not Indian, you may not want to be there before Thaipusam and Deepavali. The place is full of people shopping for Deepavali, and the traffic jam is massive. In fact, on normal days also the traffic jam is quite bad.

Because of that we were stuck there for twenty minutes. The cab driver thought that the road will be clear. I don’t mind to be stranded in the jam because, during that short period of time, I came into the most colorful place in Kuala Lumpur.


Sekian..Salam.

Disappointed!

I went shopping yesterday at 1Utama but I was disappointed because the Jaya Jusco at 1Utama was closed for renovation. We didn’t know they are under renovation as we seldom go to 1Utama. That’s is one place that I will try to avoid during weekends or public holidays because it’s always crowded and parking is a nightmare there.

Since Jaya Jusco was closed, we went to Parkson, which was on the other building,  to get something for the kids. For me I was looking forward to go to the MPH bookstore to get some of my books.

Again I was disappointed because I can’t find the books that I want. All three books that I wanted were not available.  My hubby, who wanted to buy the latest autobiography book on Dr Mahathir was also disappointed because it was out of stock.

From 1Utama we went to IKEA. This time we were not disappointed. Hubby wanted to buy table for the fixed line phone. We found what we were looking for and at the same time, I also found my study table which we didn’t plan to buy. But I'm glad I did because I can do my work from my room now. No more sharing with Zaki or Zara.

By the time we finished shopping, it was already 8.15pm. Before we went back, we bought a dozen of curry puff and the kids love it very much. In fact, every time we went to IKEA, curry puff will be always top in their list.

On the way back, in the car, hubby reminded the kids that their hands were dirty and not to touch anything. And then my cute 7 years old son replied. “Your hands are dirty too, ayah. Please don’t touch the steering.”

Hubby was speechless with Zaki’s replied and for me, I just smiled.