Big Things Comes In Small Packages?

that describes yaya in certain ways.
she is small build for a 2 1/2 years old child, but she has high pitch voice
bisa bingit telinga kalau dia menjerit and it is so irritating to hear her sing let alone cry
i dubbed her a 'midget', biarpun kecil tapi 'bekeng' yang amat
i hope she wouldn't have problem to make friends with her 'bekeng' nature
she maybe small in physical and age comparing to her brother, but she's the first one to eat with her own hand
and my oh my she does have a big mouth!

on the way back to our car after the weekly supplies shopping, we drop by the second hand bookstore at the lower ground level. after getting our hands on a few winnie the pooh miniseries, i proceed to the counter to pay for them. the guy at the counter, he has this shoulder length 'kerinting maggi' sort of hair style, which maybe looks so stylish for other people but definitely not in the eyes of my innocent little yaya.
came out from her innocent big mouth "mama, napa 'ambut owang tu 'acam..."
translation "mama, kenapa rambut orang tu macam ..." and the voice went dead when she finally realised that she had said that aloud and attracted the subject of conversation ears.

and i realised that it is too late for me to cover her up, because the guy understood what she's about to say and with a smile he asked "nak buat rambut macam uncle tak" ooops wrong question kataku dalam hati because i knew there's no way yaya going to say yes. and yaya quickly shake her head and hide behind my back. we were so embarassed at that point, luckily that guy was so quick in changing the subject by inviting us to the book fair this weekend at somewhere-i-dunno-where in PJ.

malunya.... and i recall that was not the first time.

Masih Terpacak

aren't they just so handsome?

fahmi & his cousin brother, Upie sepakat buat style 'rambut terpacak'. mama sengaja puji2 fahmi macam 'penyanyi Hong Kong'. fahmi walaupun he don't understand what mama is talking about kembang kuncup hidung dipuji2 macam tu.
i cut his hair semalam. yeah i cut it myself. and fahmi said he would pay me a ringgit for the hair cut, which he hasn't pay yet. it cost me rm25 for his raya hair cut, which hubby kata macam tak gunting apa pun. i asked the lady hair stylist to give him a cool haircut tapi it turns out she did nothing but just get his hair trimmed, tu je.

yesterday, i got so fed up with his rambut yang dah makin panjang, just imagine baru je gunting before raya sekarang ni dah panjang. i trimmed his hair all over tinggal 1.5cm, and left the top slightly longer so that it can be styled the way he likes it most "rambut terpacak".

fahmi sangat2 menjaga rambut terpacaknya, sampai bila dia terjatuh tengahari tadi pun, first thing that he checked was his hair! just to makesure that it's masih terpacak! ;-)

Once Is Not Enough

as planned i took the children for a bus ride this morning. while hubby is very busy getting ready for his " strictly male gathering" i manage to dragged him in to the bus ride trip. not that he hopped in the bus with us, he needs to play a role in the whole bus ride plan. the part where he is supposed to play a role is to wait for us at the petronas station nearby my office to pick us up from there.

i actually wants to go to care4, for our weekly supplies. since yaya wants so much naik bas, so i thought hey why not we take the bus from our place and stop somewhere in the middle of the route to care4. if only the bus goes to care4, we'd complete the route. but care4 is not in their route so we have to stop somewhere.

it has been years since i last took a bus. kekok lah plak macam orang tak pernah naik bus. we took the metro bus, wanted to take the rapid kl tapi bas belum nak bergerak lagi, i don't want to wait for so long not with this two over excited kids.

fahmi & yaya both really enjoyed the bus ride. they talk and share with each other what they saw sepanjang perjalanan (it was a short ride sebenarnya). the airport terminal, the planes that they always saw looks differently to them from the bus ride. they saw the things that they normally sees dari kereta in a different perception. they were so caught in their own thought that i seems merely an onlooker sharing a couch with them. seronok tengok budak2 ni...

fahmi asked me, "kita nak pergi mana mama?"
me : kita pergi jalan2 naik bas
fahmi: lepas jalan2 kita pergi mana?
me : kita pergi carrefour beli barang
fahmi: lepas pergi carrefour kita pergi mana lagi? (there's a smile on his face)
me : kita balik rumah lah... (at this point his smile dissappear)
fahmi: tak nak balik rumah kita jalan2 lah lagi (naik bas he means)

we stopped at the petronas station. both fahmi & yaya tak nak turun. they want to continue with the bus ride.

surely, once is not enough for them. :-)

kenapalah mama selalu lupa bawa camera to capture pics?

Updates

The visit to smart reader that was supposed to take place a couple of months ago finally done today. I took the opportunity of the Friday break to pay them a visit and to find out what are the modules suitable for fahmi. Apparently they do have Saturday classes for children aged 3-6 yrs. Alhamdulillah… at least we don’t have to worry about who’s going to send him to the class. The once a week (4 times a month) class cost is rm80, apart from the one time registration fee of rm50 and books fee rm36++. Quite reasonable, in fact about almost the same amount I’ve been paying for his tumble tots class before.

Unfortunately, we can’t enroll him now. Have to wait until the new school semester begins in January 2008 as there won’t be any class during this school break beginning from mid November to end December. Alahhh rugi masa lah plak, by next year fahmi dah masuk 4 tahun. Menulis belum pandai, membaca pun belum apatah lagi reading. Uwaaa sumer salah mama & daddy dia… sekolah tinggi2 tapi tak ajar anak betul2. Isyyy

Still in raya mood, tonight we went going to our next door neighbor house baru kejap tadi. They invited us for open house. Esok pagi, I planned to take yaya & fahmi for a bus ride. Why bus ride? Si comel yaya been asking me if she can take a bus ride. Masa balik rumah my mom for raya boleh dia merengek2 mintak nak naik bas. Tiba2 je datang ilham dia tu… u just imagine lepas pujuk2 bawa dia shopping, masa nak balik tu we decided to visit hubby’s friend kat taman desarhu. dia nampak bas boleh dia merengek minta bas sampai muncung mulut merajuk. She cried for bus for the last time, lepas tu terus senyap… rupa2nya tertido. Letih agaknya merengek minta bas tak dapat. Pity her.

On Sunday morning, we’ll be off to my mom’s house. My sis nak buat majlis cukur jambul Mohd Faiz Akmal. It will be held at my mom’s house.

Oh ya I just remember, jiran selang dua pintu dah pasang khemah untuk open house dia lunch time tomorrow. Seems like before we shoot to manjung for hubby’s gathering with his frens we gets to makan2 dulu lah ye.

Emm sibuk ke sana ke mari bila nak sambung gardening ni?

Our Quiet Hari Raya

it was a quiet affair for the 4 of us, on this hari raya.
we celebrated eid at MIL's house in segamat. we left quite early on friday morning, hubby woke us up right after the crack of dawn coz he wanted to escape the very much anticpated heavy traffic, maklumlah kami balik beraya pun dah consider lewat that is sehari sebelum raya. before that, aku sempat juga drop by to the office to collect few things, sunyi jer office tinggal beberapa kerat non Muslim staff yang melepak2 rilek. ada yang terkejut tgk muka aku pepagi kat office... hehe.
surprisingly hi way from shah alam to seremban hingga tampin agak lengang. sempat jugak aku menyinggah rumah my mom, bagi sebiji kek lapis strawberri for my mom. sebenarnya bukan sbb nak kasi kek lapis tu yang utama, tu alasan je. i wanted to see for myself mcm mana keadaan my parents sehari sebelum raya, sbb kali ni mereka beraya berdua je. my sis celebrate eid with her in laws, my bro pun balik ke tasik chini kampung wife dia, dan aku sendiri pun beraya di rumah IL. tinggal adik bongsu itupun dia kerja sepanjang raya. sebak plak terasa nak tinggalkan my parents beraya sendirian... alahai dapat kubayangkan betapa bosan dan hibanya orang tua bila anak2 dan cucu2 takde beraya sama (itupun aku ada hati nak beraya di subang. eh taklah if beraya kat subang i have an even fair plan utk kedua2 parents & PIL)

i told my self balik beraya di rumah mertua kali ni i don;t want to force myself just to satisfy other people's expectation of me. i'll be myself. penat bekerja sampai malam sehingga suntuk nak raya, i think i deserve a good rest raya ni. oh yes i did help mil preparing raya dishes, but i made a mental statement that i'd refuse to stay sampai tengah malam buta buat hidangan raya utk 'orang2' yang tak reti nak balik raya awal tolong orang tua. petang raya tu terkejut juga aku dengan permintaan mil suruh aku masak kuah kacang. terkebil2 jugak aku, bukan sebab aku tak reti buat tapi apalah sangat kuah kacang aku yang ntah apa2 ni kalau nak dibandingkan denagn air tangan mil or sil yang selalu aku dengar dipuja puji mil. aku pun pelik ntah apa yang mil berkenan dgn kuah kacang ku itu, sehinggakan tiap kali aku beraya kat sana mesti aku yang ditugaskan masak kuah kacang. apa2 jelah... cepat2 kusudahkan task itu supaya cepat2 aku dapat lari dari bahang dapur... hihihi. honestly memang aku tak minat berlama2 sangat kat dapur tu, mengingatkan aku pada satu malam raya 4 tahun dulu... i don't know why tapi pengalaman 4 tahun dulu di dapur tu benar2 meninggalkan kesan hingga ke hari ni. mmm... dahlah i don't want to ungkit old story.

seperti biasa masuk kandang kambing mengembek, masuk kandang kerbau menguak, so dirumah mil ni i have to follow the 'rules & regulations' nyer. to cover on the time that i stayed away from kitchen sepanjang malam raya tu, i made up by sweeping away the dust and re-arrange sofa & furniture kat ruang tamu. while mil, sil & bibik busying themselves in the kitchen i seek solace mengemas di depan. i don't mind doing it alone. especially when i have the freedom to do whatever (within the boundaries) i can do so long as ruang depan nampak kemas & presentable.

i don't really care what dishes was prepared for hari raya cos none of those prepared were my favourite. except this time around i did voice out to hubby that i wanted so much to cook nasi minyak makan dengan kari ayam, a must have dishes on our table di pagi raya if we were to celebrate it kat rumah my mom. i missed having them so much tu pasal aku siap bawa bekal beras basmathi. i have no intention of cooking it banyak2, the idea was kalau2 lepas solat raya aku masih terasa rindukan nasi minyak then only i would cook them. that's why i was quite surprised bila tiba2 mil tanya bila nak masak nasi minyak? ehh kenapa pulak mil tanya gitu? hmm tapi aku rasa aku tau sapa culprit itu...

akhirnya rancangan nak masak 3 pot nasi minyak bertukar jadi 13 pot semuanya gara2 mil suh masak periuk besar. i was reluctant to do that sebenarnya, sbb aku nak masak bukan untuk hidangan orang, setakat untuk makan aku anak beranak je. i don't want to break the rules kat rumah orang. mana pernah pagi raya rumah mil hidang nasi. anyway, nasi minyak aku tu habis disapu licin malah jadik hidangan tetamu2. hehehe... sil2 sumer tanya rahsia nasik minyak. at least ter'buka' skit mata orang sebelah sana... jangan ingat wanita berkerjaya balik malam mcm aku tak reti masak... renti2 kanlah pandang rendah kat orang mcm aku ye? ;-) aku tak bangga diri tapi kecil hati juga selama ni.

masuk hari kedua raya hati dah meronta2 nak balik rumah my mom. kesian kat ma & abah kesunyian di hari raya. masuk raya ketiga amboi riuh sakan umah ma & abah dengan jerit pekik fahmi & yaya. barulah ceria muka ma & abah.

to sums up everything, raya kali ni sunyi sangat rasa compared to last year. walaupun last year ma & abah beraya kat mekah tapi seronok prepare hidangan sambut ma & abah, pastu kami adik beradik pakat2 berjalan raya umah uncle kat seremban, ada unity kat situ.

apapun, aku ingin mengekalkan tradisi bergambar raya di studio. tradisi yang baru dimulakan last year. foto baru will be ready in 2 wks' time.

Sold Out!

puas hati sesangat buat makan2 kali ni. food sumer habis... thanks to all guests yang turn up.
honestly, it wasn't a well planned makan2. few days back hubby did ask whether we are going to hold a open house again like last year... i gave him a non-committal answer.
til a couple of days ago i still wasn't sure about the makan2 event. that's why the invitation came very late. thank you for those came for the makan2. and i wish to apologise to others who didn't get the invitation, would love to have all but due to time constraint & persiapan kurang sempurna tak dapat nak jemput semua.

it was a small makan2 anyway... small pun korban juga 4 ekor ayam. oh to those yang datang tu, just to let you know that ayam masak merah tu i guna ayam organik... hehe promo free. masak satu periuk sedang dalca sayur, 18 pot beras nasi beriani, acar mentah, 1/2 kilo daging rendang campak2 & setalam lasagna.
lain2 tu, kek lapis asam manis & my signature dish, carrot cake. beli lemang 4 batang tapi berbaki 2 batang... okaylah tu janji lain2 habis. alhamdulillah.

alhamdulillah sangat2 sebab makan2 kali ni dapat mempertemukan aku dengan kenalan lama yang tak pernah bersua muka. bayangkan dah lebih 5 years kawan tak pernah jumpa. thank you az for coming, and thousands apology sebab tak sempat borak panjang.

pics? seperti biasa, aku yang kalut ni lupa terus pasal nak snap pics, ada ke patut?


dah abis dahhh

tuan rumah kikis2 dapatlah isi perut skit, ni dah kol 6pm

Ramadhan V - Detik-detik Akhir Menjelang Syawal

anuar zain berdendang...
"berlalu lah sudah ramadhan,
sebulan berpuasa
tiba syawal kita rayakan
dengan rasa gembira..."

ya benar, tinggal sehari saja lagi untuk ramadhan meninggalkan kita
kalau anuar zain berdendang merayakan syawal dengan gembira, tapi aku sejak mengenal erti & nikmat sebenar ramadhan menginjak usia remaja, terasa syahdu & sedihnya nak berhari raya. honestly i always, always hope that every month is ramadhan. i wish syawal would never come supaya aku terus dapat merasai ketenangan jiwa dan nikmat ramadhan. apatah lagi dalam usia dewasa ni, mengejar duniawi macamlah kita ni nak hidup seribu tahun lagi. setidak2nya aku rasa ketibaan ramadhan dapat mengetuk some sense into my (if not others) head yang hidup ni bukan untuk keduniaan semata2.

nak pulak ibu berkerjaya macam aku ni. sejak beranak pinak payah benar nak jejak kaki ke surau berterawih. banyak nyer lah alasan! malu! tahun ini dapatlah sekali jer... peluang yang sekali itu buat aku rasa rindu sangat dan buat aku tersedar yang aku ni dah lama jauh sangat dengan majlis2 ilmu. aduhhhhaiii buat aku terasa nak kembali ke zaman remaja dulu bilamana sepanjang bulan ramadhan masaku dihabiskan dengan berterawih di surau... damainya hati.

bila dengar takbir di malam raya mulalah rasa masin air liur kutelan... mau juga bergenang air mata. maunya tidak! mengenangkan betapa nikmat ramadhan itu akan datang semula selepas setahun lagi, ntahkan bernyawa ntahkan tidak kita masa tu.

dan sejak remaja setiap kali aidilfitri akan kupastikan diri ini menunaikan solat sunat aidilfitri, kerana aku rasa apalah ertinya hari raya kalau duduk di rumah aja di pagi raya melantak hidangan.

aku ni berat hati nak berhari raya sebenarnya. kerana aku yang jahil ini belum puas menikmati ramadhan. alangkah indahnya kalau dapat menikmati ramadhan sambil berumrah, hanya fikirkan ibadat sahaja setiap masa, tak perlu fikir pasal kerja, pasal langsir raya, pasal kuih, hanya fikir ibadat saja. teringin rasanya berpuasa di mekah. bila ye?

berat atau ringan hati nak beraya, aidilfitri tetap akan muncul jua. esok bertolaklah kami ke segamat menyambut raya di rumah MIL.

aidilfitri ni seronoknya untuk kanak2 aja ye? untuk yang dewasa, ramadhan lah raya kita.

Salam Aidilfitri from Me & Family. Maafkan segala kekhilafan.

p/s: oh ya shida, semalam masa buka puasa cum annual dinner co. aku, aku jumpa aziah classmate kita masa form 6 di smsa. rupa2nya hubby dia keje kat co. aku! and semalam, aku kasi award outstanding employee kat hubby dia!

Ramadhan IV - Meluah Rasa

i'm exhausted. i came back home from office at almost 1am semalam after spending the whole day menguruskan hal-hal annual dinner next week. and this morning went back to the office to continue doing the seating arrangement and logistic matters. alhamdulillah without interference from the 'top' jam 6ptg tadi siap buat seating arrangement tu. sekarang tinggal cut n paste kepada format floor plan.

rasa ralat sangat sebab di penghujung ramadhan ni bilamana umat Islam berebut2 mencari Lailatulqadar dan memperbanyakkan ibadat, aku sibuk mengejar keduniaan yang nikmatnya sekejapnya. tu belum kira kena hamun lagi... apalah ertinya penat lelah kita kalau tiada penghargaan kan? baik aku duduk atas sejadah mencari keredhaan Tuhan.

for the past 5 1/2 yrs working at this company, aku dah lali sangat dengan hal-hal renyah that i have to dealt with sepanjang bulan Ramadhan ni. mana nak mengatur printing kad rayanya, printing sampul duit raya, coordinate tv commercial utk raya lagi, pastu termasuklah organise annual dinner yang saban tahun mesti nak buat bulan posa. kalau dulu zaman aku jadik seketari bolehlah aku nak jaga semua ni, jadi mata & telinga bos... skg bila dah diberi tugas lain dengan 7 division & department nak kena oversee takkan hal seating arrangement for annual dinner pun nak aku jugak yang atur. adoiii!!! mana tak kerap aku kena migrain.

budak2 committee member ni pun satu hal. dah berbuih mulut aku perturunkan ilmu & wasiat, serupa nenek kebayan dah aku ni, naik kering tekak bulan2 posa ni nak mengajar diaorang. tapi sudahnya sia2 jer wasiat nenek kebayan bila ada benda tak siap & tak ikut spec aku plak yang kena tempias... bos aku ni patut dah kena let go aku sepenuhnya. biarlah seketari baru dia yang take over. aku dulu pun merangkak jugak nak paham 'taste' & preferance dia sampai no IC sendiri pun aku tak ingat! aku dah muak & dah cuak. jangan ingat aku diam selama ni aku terima jer 'peluru berpandu', 'bom atom' yang dilepaskan kat aku. orang diam ni makan dalam tau.

elok2 selsema & dedar aku nak ilang dah datang balik... ni dah dekat nak raya ni...

Ramadhan III - Pre Raya Mood

The kids is very much in raya mood. Just look at them, they are so excited to try out their raya outfit and willingly modeled it in front of us yesterday.


Our theme colour this year is blue, royal blue to be precise. Daddy & fahmi will be wearing baju melayu johor in plain royal blue. Mama & yaya will be wearing baju kurung in matching blue fabric with sequin… i bought the kain at a very cheap price of rm45 for 4mtrs, but since I only need 2mtrs for the baju and kain made from plain fabric (courtesy of daddy & fahmi’s lot), so we were left with another 2 mtrs. Akhirnya jadilah baju kurung for yaya… amboiii lip lap lip lap anak dara mama. However, the one that appears in the pics is a different one.

Basically we’ve had everything covered for raya preparation. From the bajus, kasut, kuihs, furnitures, fittings etc. Except for fahmi’s baju melayu, we are still in search for his samping. I went searching for his samping at subang parade & care4, but couldn’t find any. A colleague suggested jalan masjid india, ohhh pleaseeee don’t ask me to go shopping in kl, samping tak dapat sesat je yang lebih. So yesterday, me & hubby went to PKNS. It wasn’t our usual shopping place, I’d normally went back to seremban for shopping. Heheh dah 6 tahun duk kl/Selangor pun masih buta jalan lagi. Alhamdulillah jumpa jugak, and since we didn’t bring fahmi I wasn’t sure about the size so we ended up buying two pieces of samping, one L sized and another M sized. Both checked blue & white samping.

Sesampai kat rumah, I asked fahmi to try it one. He's so excited that when I asked him to put on the baju + samping, he looked dazzled. He thought that the samping is to be worn alone macam skirt! Aduiii, mama masih waras lagi hehehe.

I also bought yaya a pair of new baju kurung complete with bead trimmings at the colar (the one in the pics). It was so cute, and she really needs extra baju kurung for the company’s buka puasa cum annual dinner nanti. The gap between the dinner and hari raya was so close I don’t want to let her wear her sequin baju kurung and take the risk baju tak sempat kering nanti. Faham2 jelah dah suntuk masa sangat nanti semua bertaburan jadi tak organized. Not when I’ve tried my best making early preparation.

· sofa covers sent for dry cleaning, and it came back looking the same as it looked before laundry. pardon me but for someone who hates to do laundry and dish washing, i don't know how to get the stains removed

· hung the new sheer curtain yesterday. I purposely choose ready made sheer from ikea in purple and magenta shades. It look nice thou without inner layer of plain white sheer. Maybe when the white sheer is ready from laundry I’ll just hang it and see what difference does it made. If the effect look less presentable, I’ll let the white sheer berehat buat sementara waktu.



· the colourful flowers blend together with the wall paint and sheer curtain. It creates a romantic ambience especially under the shower of dim yellow lights.

· raya cookies ordered and received. the only homemade is going to be hubby's all time favourite pineapple tarts but i ordered some as well in case he & fahmi go through a cookies marathon before we celebrate raya. and i also ordered kek lapis sarawak from my sarawakian friend

· and i bought myself blue zircon bangles (is it bangles or bracelet?) to go with my blue kurung moden


· all my nieces & nephews dah dapat their baju raya complimentary from their auntie yang gila shopping baju budak2 kat FOS... pergi FOS jer rm450 terbang...

· buah tangan for MIL dah beli. dah tak tau nak beli apa, baju dah banyak sgt, so i bought a set of Tupperware food containers from her. this year around we will be celebrating 1st raya at MIL's house... iskk iskkk

apart from above apa lagi ye? i'm not good at doing and re-doing list... i had this habit of memorising everything but when the time comes there's a good chance that i'd miss out on one or two thing.

today's menu for berbuka is masakan ala kampung

ikan talang masin lemak nenas, sayur goreng style jawa, ulam selom (mmm my favourite!) and sambal belacan!