One for One

Taa daa!!!! drum roll please!!! This is my new honey; my husband said it's his new sweetheart, please handle with care).
Cepat.. cepat.. jom main teka teka..
Kereta apa kah ini?...

So Long My Love!!!

Sayonara... I feel sad.. really sad...

I have to let go my beloved kenari to a bigger car. Ya lah kan, anak2 dah ramai.

My Kenari. The special color, the sport rims - it's beautiful. I'm missing you already.

I've been using my Kenari for 4.5 years and I don't have any problem with it except once with the cooling coil. Itu pun still under warranty; Perodua replaced it for free.

My Kenari is a tough baby. She handled my kids very well. They eat, they drink, they play and they sleep in this car. Luckily, the special edition Kenari comes with the leather seat. No stain, no smell. Kereta baru nih, kena lah control kan? No food, shoes on the floor, tak leh pijak seat... Adushh!! kesian the kids.

My Kenari - the interior

The number that I've bought. My husband's car is 6444. Btw, this Kenari tak pernah kena saman. Pemandunya berhemah :-).

The spidey to cover up scratches made by a motorist.

the Month of Ramadhan

Umaira has been to the day care (full day) since 1st September as Maktuk won’t be around during Ramadan - she’s busy with her tadarus, khatam and etc. Yuppp… it’s quite exhausted for me to manage my three kids ALONE during the weekdays (the capitol letter is for my hubby’s eyes) but I'm OK. Basically, my life starts at about 4.45am when I wake up for Sahur; I watch tv while doing the house chores, prepare the kids stuffs and sometimes I’m on the internet; reading news and blogging.
Btw, Ammar goes to the full day kindergarten as well. He’s having his afternoon nap, learns iqra’ and learns how to pray (fardhu ain) in the kindergarten. Umaira on the other hand, would be playing, singing and eating only -she’s still young though. However, she learns a few doa as well and manage to recite doa makan, doa bangun tidur and doa selepas mkn fluently. Umaira seems happy to go to the day care. May bethe caregiver has the genuine love and likes to entertain her.

The labelling done by the day care

My routine - I will send Ammar first, followed by Umaira; and then Ashraff to my sister’s place and head to the office. After office hours (my office hours varies from 5.00pm to 6.00pm. If I didn’t finish my projects by 6, I would still go home and continue them later) I will pick Ammar, Umaira and move to my sister’s place to pick Ashraff and break- fast (iftar) there. At 8.30pm, we’ll be at home - upstairs; messing all the toys and books. At about 10pm, everyone has been sleeping. I will wake up later, at about 10.30pm or 11pm to wipe the floor and tidy the house.

Mama being creative - uses the glass paint to label the bottle. Next step,
embroider the towel. My husband will grin and say -"in your dream".

Ammar and Umaira’s task - They have to locate all the dirty clothes from the day care into the laundry basket and put their bags in the store. Ammar needs to finish his homework before goes to bed. Umaira never fail to perform her task. She will right away bring her bag upstairs and empty it. Ammar on the contrary, need to be reminded a few times. Sometimes, I need to raise my voice in order to see the progress. Still, most of the times, he will only completes his homework in the morning.

I even washed the bottle to make sure the paint is still there.

Salam Ramadhan

Selamat Berpuasa to all the Muslims..

I would like to take this opportunity to appologize if I have ever stepped on your shoes - conciously or otherwise..

May Allah bless us always and hopefully our Ibadah and good deeds in this "month of blessing" will be accepted.. Amin...

Secondly, I just got to know that Syafikah (Syaf's niece) is in ICU. Let's pray for her health and strength. Hopefully, she will recover and get well soon. Amin...

F.O.O.D.I.E.S

Food In Cameron Highlands

Food On the Way Back from Cameron Highlands

Food after Cameron Highlands

Drawing Together

Biasalah… Friday mesti ada issue punya. I’ve tried my best to finish all the projects as soon as possible so that I could go home at 4.30pm. Tak boleh jugak!! Damn!!.. Dah ler yesterday, hari pertabalan was not recognized as public holiday. Cemana tuh? (Btw, this is the back-dated entry for Friday 27th April).
At about 6.30pm, I arrived home. Ayah tgh busy di kebun; memasang para utk kacang panjang (the only sayur yg Ammar tak akan refuse) and kacang botol.
Ammar and Umaira in the garden; painting. Umaira was excited to see me. Melompat lompat ajak mama melukis. I went up right away, change my outfit, put Ashraff in the stroller and head to the garden. Susahnya nak tolak stroller atas rumput. Tgh sibuk2 dgn Ashraff, I saw the brown pastel color on Umaira’s mouth. “Adik! Tu bukan chocolate.. tak boleh makan!” Terjerit jerit mama macam orang gila. Umaira just grin with her cheeky face. Although it is a non- toxic pastel color, I hope Umaira didn’t swallow the color. Yucks!

Pening lah dengan budak sorang nih. Dah ler cheeky, cepat lak tuh.
Ammar pulak keep complaining; “Ammar buat I love you kat mama, Umaira bg tumpah air”. Ammar is on the gentle side; Umaira lak terlebih cerdas. Memang Ammar selalu give in lah.

When everything settled; Mama pun nak lah show off kan walaupun mama nih tak berseni. Biasalah, nanti mesti these kids ingat mama terrer. I tried to finish up one drawing in 10 minutes. Tapi, tak sempat. Anyway, Ammar loves it.

P/S: When I went inside the house, I saw a drawing on the fridge from Ayah and the Kids. Thanks dear.

Ash- shu- qaff

That’s how my Debab pronounce his little brother's name. She used to call him Ash-shaff; as her vocabulary improves, she started to adjust the pronunciation of her words.
Btw, sorry lah gambar tunggang langgang. Malas lah nak rotate.
Ashraff is 5 months old today.. tapi, lupa lak nak ambik gambar latest.

Kopitiam

If we (me and my lunch-mates) are not in the mood of eating but in the mood of gossiping or lepaking, we would go to Kopitiam for lunch. I noticed that although we just ate 2 kinds of bread, we sometimes lingered there for almost two hours. Normally, I would choose 1 set of Kaya and Peanut butter toast and would try another different type of toast on each visit. Most of my colleagues love the French toast. This is how the Kopitiam prepare the French toast (from observation). They spread peanut butter on each slice of bread and put them together like a sandwich. Then, dip the sandwich in the egg and fry it or may be cook it on the skillet and serve with butter on the top and honey by the side. Sounds delicious? Memanglah! And fattening as well. As fat as our dosa of complaining. Usually, we would complaint about our bosses. I didn’t have anything against my present boss but I still hold grudges against my previous boss. I think he is prejudiced (should I mentioned narrow- minded?) and emotional. You know, a kind of person yang “aku boleh buat apa aku suka sebab aku boss!” type. No point of arguing or having open- discussion with this type of people. The dialogue won’t lead to anywhere and you won't win although you're on the right side. Hmmm... I think, I better stop here before venting bertukar menjadi melenting. Har!har!har! Enjoy the yummy picture.

Menu last Friday; French toast, Kaya and Butter toast and thick toast. Drink: Iced White milk tea, mocha coffee and rich hot chocolate.

Must Haves for the Year

Besides things to complete our house like dining table for 6, a simple chandeliers and Ammar's bedroom set, these are the five things I wish to have at the moment. Hopefully, my husband could online from offshore and read this entry :-{).

1. Digital Camera - at least 7.1megapixel. Be it the slim Lumix with a cheaper price or the stylish Cybershot, Sony DSC- T100. If possible, I would like to have it before our next holiday trip.


2. Sport shoes – Somebody (Mat Fit kut) had stolen my sport-shoes/ sneakers – 2 pairs of Adidas and 1 pair of Nike. I need to replace them as I'm going to start exercising as soon as I get the shoes. Kah!Kah!Kah!.. Alasan.. alasan.. But seriously, I prefer to wear sneakers or my Nike sandals if I have to walk a lot; like going to Ikea or travel with my children. Light and comfortable.

3. Fisher Price Kitchen Play Set – I need to get this for my Debab’s 2nd birthday. It is a Kitchen cabinet with microwave on the top, washing machine at the bottom and ironing board at the side. I think, it comes along with the cutlery and crockery set, iron and hangers and a few more things. I don’t know whether toy r us has this set or not but I knew that Jusco Queeenbay has it and I always go to that section whenever I go to Jusco to check whether they still have it or not. So far, Jusco still has 3 boxes. Hopefully, no one is buying them until May. I wanna get it right away but I want it to be a surprise as well; so that my kids will know how to appreciate special days like birthdays and anniversaries or the day I get a good result and my parents will reward me.

4. LCD TV – preferably at least 42” (hehehe). I fall in love with the LCD TV last Saturday in Harvey Norman. It all started when I asked my husband the differences between plasma TV and LCD TV. Since both of us were still confuse on the differences, we decided to ask the salesman. The guy told us the differences that cover the viewing angle, screen size, durability, brightness and contrast, running pixels, refresh rate, life span and etc. Then, we (only me and the salesman; my husband pinched my waist a few times) discussed about the PRICE and installment. I fall in love even more when I knew we could get 24 months installment with 0% interest.
Note to my Ayang : I would sacrifice my side by side fridge for the LCD TV. However, I'm convinced with your reason; anak kecik kecik lagi dok bertepuk tampar kat screen tuh...

5. Hmmm.. Hmmm.. I don’t have anything for #5. So, I guess I’m a PRUDENT SPENDER.

Que Sera, Sera

House is one of my favorite television series. Whenever House is aired, Ammar would say, “citer mama dah start” and I would sit in front of the tv, Alya will be laying on my lap and Ammar by my side; asking a lot of questions. Sometimes, if we watch the re-run, Ayah would lay on the couch as well. However, I’d to skip most of the episodes. Reason: I give way to my mom to watch the Malay series (and I would be playing with my kids or at the computer with them) and during the re-run, we’re out somewhere; eating or window-shopping.

So, my husband bought me the DVDs (season1 and 2) and he still owed me season 3. Ammar will always give in whenever I wanna watch House despite of what he is watching that time.
These conversations are common whenever we watched House.

Ammar: Mama nak Ammar jadi Dr. House?
Alya: Adik nak jadi Ha-uf (as in House)
Ammar: Umaira.. Umaira.. Uamaira nak jadi apa bila besar nanti?
Alya: Ha-uf (as in House)
Mama: House kerja macam mana?

Alya: Cucuk.. cucuk badan (with the cheeky action)

Mama and Ammar giggles
Ammar: Sapa nama doctor nih? (pointing to Chase’s picture)
Mama: Dr. Chase
Ammar: Dr. Chase ni pandai jugak kan? Tapi, dia bukan boss macam Dr. House kan?
Ammar: Ammar nak jadi Dr. Chase- lah (biasalah Chase lagi handsome dari House).
Ammar: Kenapa Dr. House tuh boss? Sebab dia dah besar ker?
Mama: A-a Dr. House dah tua. Dah lama kerja.
Ammar: Ayah boss ker mama? Ayah kan dah besar.
Ammar: Lagi sorang nih? (Pointing to Wilson’s picture)
Mama: Dr. Wilson the oncologist. Dr. Wilson pun pandai. Semua doctor pandai.
Ammar: Ashraff jadi Dr. Wilson
Alya: Adik ha-uf

Mama and Ammar giggles

Almost everybody wants to be a doctor when grows up. I still remember during my early years in Primary School. The class teacher would ask for 3 ambitions. Doctor will definitely be my 1st choice followed by teacher and policeman or fireman (commonly recognized profession). When I grew- up a little bit (may be in standard 3 or 4); I read Enid Blyton’s : Famous Five and Secret Seven. During that time, I picked detective and still followed by doctor. I think I would like to be a doctor until I was in form 4 where I realized I didn’t like to read that much. I enjoyed physics class more than biology class. I enjoyed doing experiment on kaleidoscope, telescope or motors more than on habitat, ecosystem or re-production.

After my SPM, I choose to further study in Electrical/ Electronics engineering instead of Medicine. During the 2nd semester in my Junior year, I realized that I should opt for Mechanical Engineering instead of EE. But then, it was too late to turn back.

I graduated during the recession period. So, I just grab whatever job offered that came first. It was from a computer manufacturing company. Actually, I was hopping for a job with a semi-conductor company, but the offer came two weeks after I accepted the 1st offer. Again, I never like computer and I had almost 0% knowledge on computer at that time (be it hardware or software). I’m quite proficient now (hahaha) and I’m happy with my life.

I still remember “Que Sera, Sera” song, taught by my standard 3 music teacher.

When I was just a little girl
I asked my mother, what will I be
Will I be pretty, will I be rich
Here's what she said to me

Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, SeraWhat will be, will be

When I was young, I fell in love
I asked my sweetheart what lies ahead
Will we have rainbows, day after day
Here's what my sweetheart said

Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be

Now I have children of my own
They ask their mother, what will I be
Will I be handsome, will I be rich
I tell them tenderly

Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be

Lives in a Project

When I first started to blog, I thought I’m going to update mainly on the progress of my house renovation. Unfortunately, until today I didn’t have a single post about my house.

Since we moved to our own house, we’re like living in a project. We have kitchen project, garden project, family area project and etc. My husband is a handyman. He likes DIY very much and IKEA is our favorite outlet :-).

Last Saturday, we went to Ikea again. This time, we planned to add an Island cabinet to fit our microwave and oven and some drawers for me to put the can food. Our first design cost us more than 2k (btw, we have a ciput budget for this) . So, we changed the design but it is still expensive. After reassess a few things like buying a few more things for other projects, we decided to design the cabinet as simple as possible and as cheap as possible. I need to reserve my can food drawers craving for later. I’m okay with the final design but unfortunately Ikea oversold some of the things we need.

However, It still turns out to be great. We will need to buy high chairs or bar stools to make full use of the counter top.

My Love.. My Life.. My Debab!!

My debab is not even two yet but she is so talkative..
These are some of her cute-ness and favorite words:

Cecebob cecepant” as in SpongeBob SquarePants - Ammar likes to watch this cartoon and whenever she saw it, she will keep repeating cecebob cecepant. We start to realize this a few weeks ago.

Soyeee.. soyeee… as in sorry.. sorry.. –whenever she hit people and the people say “adoiiii!” or pretend crying. Last week, we realize she add a few more words.. “soyee.. soyeee.. adik nta a-afff” as in “sorry.. sorry.. adik minta maaf”.

Btw, she addressed herself as adik and her adik as Ashaff or baby. Whenever people asked her about her adik, she will reply “ni” (pointing to herself).

We (me and my husband) like to hug her (who wouldn’t if the girl is so chubby). She will laugh at first and add “adik nat nih” as in “adik penat nih”. Kecik kecik dah penat. Tu lah debab sangat.

At first, she said “nak naik” no matter whether she wanna go up or wanna get down. We taught her “nak turun” if you wanna go down. Then, she used, “nak tuyun” for both; goes up and down. Recently, I think, she knew the difference already. She managed to say; “jom mama, jom naik” or “tunggu aaa mama, adik nak tuyun”

When she’s thirsty, she will ask for “ ayaq silap”(sirap) or “teh o-o” but we never give her teh “o”. (Ayah did the damage). When she’s hungry she will ask for milk.

She’s controlling everybody esp her elder brother; Ammar. She will run to get Ammar’s bottle when Ammar wanna drink milk and put it in the sink when Ammar finished drinking. She will get the slippers or sandals for Ammar when we wanna go out. She will wake Ammar up if Ammar were sleeping and we wanna go somewhere and she will say “Ammar nak pi jalan jalan”.

Whenever I drop my phone, she always offer to help; “adik ambik.. adik ambik”. I’m deeply touched every time she crawled under the bed or under the car to get it for me.

Whenever, I asked Ammar to do something but Ammar didn’t hear me because his eyes and attention were at the tv although he turned his face towards me, she will always gets up and get it done.

She will run towards the grill every time I come back from work – never fail. She will jump, jump and jump and will open my car’s door. Usually, I’ll take her for a ride to show my appreciation.

If I heard “dak.. dak.. dak.. " “ya zal ja la li wal ikram” (her version of saying it), I have to stop whatever I’m doing and attend my little boy. If not, she will continue to comfort her little brother. She will climb up the cot and pat his brother’s chest.

Recently, she tries to take my place. She will pull up her blouse and try to nurse his little brother.

I hope, I’m able to divide my attention equally to all my children. IsyaAllah.
Okaylah… Selamat berkasih sayang to everybody.

Abang ker?

Everybody keep saying Ashraff is exactly like Ammar. Well.. I'm uploading these pictures for reference. I knew that I'll upload tons of Ashraff's pictures later. So, we could compare.