A birthday and an anniversary

Happy 5th Birthday to Amri Siddiq!!!!!!!!!

He arrived 5 years ago, 10 days overdue, bundled as our wedding anniversary gift.

Today however, Amri and I celebrated our big day by ourselves. Ayah was not around until much later in the evening. We went out gallivating around town followed by an open house at Section 2 .

Happy Anniversary to darling hubby.

Our Annual Aidilfitri Open House

Nothing special actually...just our annual eating galore in conjuction of Syawal. But it was a great excuse to see friends and families and catching up with each other. Things like, who arrived with a new member in the family or going to be new addition in a few months, who work where (surprisingly, quite a number will be going to middle east), who has put on more kgs than moi etc etc. Most of the guest were the usual crowd as previous years but somehow ended up driving around in confusion looking for our house. Reason? We changed the gate & fence to what i called pagar sultan melaka :) Hehehe...sorry guys. Didn't know that my previous senget gate was a landmark of its own.

The foods were okay but I wish I had time to come up with something better. It was planned to be on 27th, thus celebrating Amri's birthday and our anniversary at one go but unfortunately, dear hubby would not be around so we had to brought forward the date. Of course, my regular caterer couldn't make it so I had to make do with any available resouces. The birthday cake for Amri arrived very late as well so we had to shelve the birthday do as well. Oh boy..... Amri did not mind though.....he did not find the idea of people singing happy birthday to him and him blowing the candle and cutting it anywhere near FUN. He was very contend with cutting the cake with only us as witness and Adam to help him butchered the cake

All in all the open house was just as usual, starting around noon as lasted all the way into midnight peppered with rain in the evening. Anyway....we noticed something interesting about Amri. Somehow he had acquired a good host skill. He waited for the guest at the gate (in the rain, of course) greeted them complete with customary salam, showed them in and brought foods for the kids. If any kids were giving their moms a hard time, he would brought a few toys to pacify the kids. He even helped to guide one crying tod to his mom who was occupied at buffet table, albeit a wrong mom :) . If he had time to spare in between entertaining his friends, he would pack some sweets and chocs to the parting kids, and of course...duit raya. So..to those people who arrived late and you kids did not get any chocs, sweets and all the junks, you knew what happened :) I'l make sure to double the stock next year. I honestly did not know where Amri picked up this peculiar skill. We certainly did not throw party every few weeks for him to pick up any PR lesson. Perhaps it was the in things for kids of his age. Perhaps he tought it was his birthday party

Battle on

Back to work. Ready to battle on. Surprisingly, I did not suffer any post holiday blues. I was feeling very refreshed, battery fully charged and quite anxious to get back to office. This would be a hectic week but it's fine with me. I'm all geared up and ready for war...hehehe. At least, my room looks like a warzone. But....but...I draw a line at dressing up and meeting people. Puhleessee. This week I just want to dress in old pants, bury myself with the mess on my table and speak only to my potted plants.

All will be well.

Goodbye Losong

We were finally ready to leave around 10am. Made a few million stop along the way. I was wondering what if I were to have 5 kids....how many millions more stop I would have to make and how many times would I have to change clothes because my precious kids decided to puke on me. But I guess, its all worth it.

Reached home sweet home at 6.00pm. Missed my home and my new pagar sultan melaka :) Immediately started the Aveo engine. Went to nearby shop later for some raw material to cook but all were still closed. Very well, cooked canned sardine and egg soup for dinner. Plus salted fish from Pasar Payang :)

Final Day

I was contemplating a dressed down day, after days of dolling up and prowling about. It would be nice to be back in rags with a laptop on my expanding tummy or a book. And eat simple food. My tummy could accomodate a whole set of PC if I carried on the eating binge.

Ummie however, wanted us to attend a wedding at Bukit Payung. Well...okay I guess. It had been quite some time since I last attended an east coast wedding. Plus, I could drop by at Kak Emy/Abg Ipin place which was somewhere there. Better still, Amri had dissappeared so no need to bring him along.

Turned out, Kak Emy was back at Air Itam for her cousin's wedding. And the wedding we attended was simple one since it was on the groom side. We ate, said thank you to the groom's parents plus the customary salam keruk (a hand shake with money attached) and left. When we reached home, Amri was still not back. So I quickly changed into rags and we went shopping at Pasar Payang....yey!!!!!!!!

Truth is, I rarely shopped at Terengganu. There is nothing there that couldn't be found somewhere in Klang Valley..though at higher price. This day however, I was in shopping mood. Plus I wanted to buy my stock of anchovies and salted fish. A pair of silk dress wouldn't hurt either.

The stall owner was shocked when I said I wanted a kilogram of the nice ikan bilis and the whole of that big ikan talang masin. Had to repeat a few times though. By the time I finished my shopping list, the pakcik was grinning from ear to ear. He must have been thinking.....who was this idiot that bought everything without even haggling a single cent. Haiyaaa...forgot la..plus it was already very cheap I wouldn't have the heart to ask for discount.

Guess who we met at Pasar Payang foodcourt? Our next door neighbour...Kak Mala & Abg Rajman minus the broods. It really is a small world.

When I reached home, Amri didn't even realised I was away.

That night, Adik went back to Kuantan. Hubby packed half of our stuff and left the rest to me. He knew perfectly well that I would have left the packing to the very last minute. In the meantime, I was making a list of damages done by my boys. Amri broke one cookie container and burnt one of Alif's book. Adam has broken one cookie container and one drinking glass. Must remember to replace them all on my next trip.

Eid-Ul-Fitr Day 3

This was a day for long distance trip. Sorry Ninuk, couldn't make it to your house this morning...the itenary was very full. After a short chit chat with hubby's friend who came visiting with his family, we were off to Kijal. ('we' = aboh, hubby, my two boys, kakak - my niece, alif - my nephew and myself). 4 kids on board equals double trouble but, what the heck! It was raya afterall.

First stop was Nina/Khairi grandparent's place at Kijal. By my standard, it was not far. But the lack of highway or at least 3 lanes road made it a verrrry long ride. And also the fact that I carried four kids :) Actually, the traffic was kinda heavy probably because some of us outstation folks were making their way home, whereever home is. Nina/Khairi was kind enough to meet us on the roadside and lead the way to their place. As expected, my kids managed to create chaos. Adam touched a fragile cookie and noticed how easy it breaks into pieces. He then proceeded to grind a few more into powdery substance before Nina noticed it. Amri, being non-dairy person...dengan tak malunya requested for ice tea, instead of the served drinks. Once taken a few sips, i didn't know how it happened, but he managed to pour the whole mugfull onto himself. Duh. Sorry Nina but I knew you, of all people would understand :) Yes, I did carry a change of clothes for both of the boys but I was reserving it to a more serious case.

Next stop was an aunty's place at Dungun. Nothing untowards happened because the place has huge compound and all of the kids were playing there. Amri immediately joined them followed by Adam. Kakak and Alif joined after getting my green light. I finally had a breathing space and sipped my drink in peace. Another stop was at an uncle's (deceased) place. It had a moderately huge compound as well plus a bicycle so Amri and Adam immediately went for it. Again, kakak and Alif waited for my approval before they joined my boys. Hmph...wish my boys were half as good. Amri came inside sulking because Adam managed to wrestle the bicycle from him and sat skulking at a large easy chair beside his Tok Kie. Before the host could even offer him a drink, in a blink, the chair toppled! Whoa....that was two days in a row. What is with him and chairs lately. And of course, it was also a houseload of guests, though less formal than yesterday. And again, Amri took his time under the chair, waiting in no hurry to be rescued. Aiyoh.....

On the way back, we stopped at Gie's house in Marang and the kids helped themselves to ice lollies. While every other kids there were happy with one ice lollies each, my two boys had to bicker for one extra ice lollies. Duh....

Night was bbq time. My boys created enough ruckus to drive me up the wall at normal time. But tonight however, there were many people for the boys to harrass so hubby and I sat back, relax and stuffed our face with all the grilled offering.

Aidilfitri Day 2

Since yesterday evening the merc ended up with two flat tyres, hubby went out first thing in the the morning in search of tyre shop, hoping that it will not involved any odd parts. I stayed at home, serving foods and drinks to visitors and praying hard that whatever problem was with the car,none that couldn't be fixed then and there. Between hubby and myself, we had enough car and road hiccups lately to last us a lifetime.

Turned out, the tyres were just out of air...gee..hihihi. It really scared me, what with Eid holiday and today being Friday, which was also a weekend over here thus most of the workshop were closed

So, proceed with raya plan, albeit a few hours late. We, including Aboh and Mie, went visiting relatives houses and sampling delicious food here and there. There goes my diet plan......hahaha. We went home earlier though, since the men needed to go for their friday prayer. A four cars konvoy of close kin from Dungun arrived shortly afterwards. Thank God Adik has arrived from her in law's place so I had extra hand to serve foods and drinks. Turned out, one of the anak buah was working as a trainer at hubby's national service camp. Hmm...what a small world.

Continued with our raya plan after Friday prayer, this time to hubby's best buddy whom unfortunately was at his brother's house. So we went to the Dato's house and met Kamarul, Zariah and their kids there. Amri was obviously tired but refused afternoon nap. Result.......he sat on a swivel chair and managed to topple over in front of a housefull of very prim and proper guests. Hahahahaha....kesian anak ibu. Nasib baik tak rolled out of the sliding door terus (it opened to a neat koi pond)

Next we went visiting another his long time buddy from Kusza, Wan Zul, whom now became a lecturer there. Hmm...expecting no.3 kid soon.

Called Ninuk but she was still doing her raya round somewhere in Chendering :)

Eid Mubarak

Started the day earlier than usual. The boys had no problem to wake up earlier than normal, they had been early riser since Monday...mainly to play with their cousins. Official Eid breakfast for our family would be nasi dagang but Che' Non had already sent nasi minyak and a few more that I did not know where it came from. Amri already left to the mosque with his Tok Ki but by the time Eid prayer started, he was back at home, saying that too many people were there.

After prayer, we entertained a few guests then off to Che' Non's house followed by neighbours houses, most of whom were related to us. Then back at home for the kids' afternoon nap. Followed by more eating and visiting.

This Eid-ul-fitr was a lot better than the past few years. Last year was spent indoor with heavy rain as did the year before. The year before was worst because not only it rained day and night, the whole household was also sick with diarrhea. On top of that, I was seven months pregnant with a miserable state.

This year is great

Happy Birthday to Mak

Wishing you a very very happy birthday and to let you know that I'm missing you so much. Here I am, at my in law's place in Terengganu, trying to remember how to cook rendang and couldn't help wishing that I were at your kitchen at this moment. The ketupat palas, rendang ayam, serunding daging, nasi impit, kuah kacang ..... I wanna go home!!!!

Okay, maybe I should learn to cook properly.

Happy Deepavali

The deepavali spirit did not reach this part of Malaysia, mainly because the whole kampung was populated by Malays, all of whom were busy with Eid preparation. Back in Shah Alam, deepavali would be more meaningful, with two of our closest neighbour celebrating it. And also some of my office members.

The merc were fixed by afternoon and we were back roaming the street while avoiding town centre which would be jam packed with people doing their second last minute shopping