Amri's little teeth

2 days before

Truth was, his front teeth were a bit loose for quite some time. We could see permanent teeth sticking out underneath. But Amri was adamant to keep his sacred front teeth for as long as he could for a very vain reason - he wanted to look handsome at all time. Especially now that Adam spent half a day everyday snapping Amri's pictures. (Yep....Adam is a pro with digital camera).







Amri however, found it quite amusing to play with the loose teeth with his tounge. He might have overdone it a bit that night when all of a sudden I heard hubby yelled for me to come down. One of the teeth has dropped on the floor and Amri was panic stricken because he could see a bit of blood oozing out. We gave him cold water to rinse his mouth and he was quite allright afterwards. But he kept checking his mouth on the mirror and complained that he did not have enough teeth.







One hour later, we found him asleep hugging the handheld mirror. Vain!

Little Feet

First, about Amri's visit to dentist yesterday. Yes, it turned out he has a small but deep cavity on one of his molars. Nothing that the kindly Dr Aishah couldn't fix though. She was great with kids and able to pacify a nervy Amri long enough to clean up the cavity and put a filling in there. Amri was as good as new 10 minutes later. Thanks Ninuk, Azida, Gartblue and friends for recommending her. Convenient too, since the clinic was just 2 minutes away from my house.

So since your highness was back to normal and started rummaging the fridge every few minutes, I decided it would be a good time for a day out. No Ninuk, you wouldn't want these two boys in your house or you'd feel a free bellydance session is too cheap a price to ask :) As it happened, hubby's briefing at masjid wilayah was postponed to thursday so he decided he could join us. Cool!

Instead of my all time fav midvalley megamall, we decided to go to tgv bukit raja. Less crowd and hopefully not too many people decided to watch the same movie. Yup...we were right! Those who watched Little Feet with us mostly came accompanied with young ones. Mostly girls. I think this movie would very much appeal to girls. The penguins are cute and fluffy. The songs were good, I hope it was onsale. Amri by the way, lost interest half way through and went off to play with similarly bored boys. Adam started to fire off a few millions questions to, thankfully, his father so I got to enjoy the movie in peace.

This movie is highly recommended to parents with daughters. Dont bother to bring the boys unless they were under 3 and still not yet weaned from pingu.

A birthday and an anniversary

It was Amri's 6th birthday yesterday. And our wedding anniversary. So we planned to have a birthday cum anniversary dinner somewhere last night.

Anyway, the plan went awry even before it started. Shortly after I reached home from my workplace (or lepak place) Amri was crying inconsolably saying that he had toothache. Now here, Amri was a bit of a drama queen. I've been through too many drama to actually pay much attention to it. Furthermore, Amri was diligent in caring for his teeth. He dutifully brushed his teeth twice daily, sometimes more. As far as i know, all his teeth are still intact with no sign of cavities whatsoever. The only thing is, the teeth look weirdly small compared to his growing jaw.

So i ignored the wailing. Hubby however was concerned and tried to validate the claim by checking his teeth and gum. Not that he could notice anything anyway. But the wailing continued all the way to our dinner place. It was not like Amri to cry over a pain or injury that long. Or even cried at all. So I was beginning to get concerned. Sent SMSs to a few supermoms that I knew. They suggested salty mouthwash and paracetamol for the pain. Tried it and managed to pacify Amri long enough to eat quick dinner. No candle blowing or singing. Surprisingly, Amri polished off his dinner plate and his drink. Biar betul mamat sorang ni......

Amri insisted to see a dentist after dinner so we checked out a few clinics around that area but all were already closed. It was quite late, by the way. Amri however had forgotten to start crying again so we just drove home and made the boys slept as early as possible.

This morning i sent sms again to the same supermoms. Amazingly, they all suggested this one dentist that was so near to my house. I was so grateful. Brough Amri there immediately but was disappointed over the long queue. So we made appointment for 4.30pm today. Hope all goes well.

Belly Dance Workshop

I'm organising a 3 hours belly dance workshop at Seribadan next month (16 Dec). Anyone interested, just email/call/sms me. Due to space issue, I'm limiting the class to 20 pxs. But worry not, if there are more than 20 people who want to dance with me, I'll arrange for one more class the next day.

Print the voucher above to get the discount :)

Homemakers Day Out

Of course, with kids in tow.

Intan & brood were staying at Xanna's since yesterday. So we tought, a day out at KLCC wouldn't be so bad. I had promise Amri & Adam their LRT ride for quite sometime but never get around to actually took them.

I was 30 minutes late. Been waiting for the house cleaner before I could get away. Intan & Xanna bought us Petrosains tickets while waiting for us which was very fine with me.

Adam and Amri were extremely excited with their annual LRT ride. But nothing beats the excitement of meeting their friends. They ran around wild, which made the harassed looking Xanna looked even more pained.


Xanna & Intan helping Irfan into a tilt machine








Amri & Adam with their passion - CAR (like father like sons)








Filmmaker at work











Dania and Farra. Xanna's little princesses. So between the three of us, we have 7 kids. Of which, six were intented to run away as fast and far as possible. Preferably lost in the crowd.

Went home around 4pm. Amri and Adam slept during the LRT ride home. Luckily it was easy to wake Amri up and asked him to walk. Adam however was a different story. So I ended up carrying 19kg Adam all the way to car park. Adoi la.

I arrived just in time for 6.15pm aerobics. It was bodyworks class so i gave it a miss. I've done enough cardio and weight training today to last for the next 36 hours. Berat tau 19kg tu. I only played with 5 and 8 pound weight at Seribadan.

School Holiday Survival Tool

This is one of them. I have a lot more but lets reserve it for next month :) I'm pretty sure there'll be a few more groups of little house guest in the weeks to come. It rained heavily everyday so we were a bit time constrained when it comes to taking the kids somewhere. God help me if I were caught in a flash flood somewhere with 5 kids in the car.

Little House Guests

Batrishia, Adam, Irfan, Amri and Afiqah




The superb parents - Intan & Arip from Kemaman

Sunday stories

I was looking forward to a lazy sunday. No need to make any trip to market because I wanted to sleep in late. Followed by a long breakfast plus Sunday newspaper. Then a lie in with a book. Would think about lunch only when somebody said hungry.
Hubby was already so kindly volunteered to buy breakfast.

It didn't quite turned out the way it supposed to be.

I had a good serving of yummy spicy nasi lemak. Then pop in a cute kuih cara while reading sunday star. Munched. Then noticed a funny taste. Spat out the kuih cara on my plate then probed it open. Yuck! YUCKKKK! It had a cockroach egg in it. Ewwwww....... All my breakfast promptly ended at kitchen sink. I was retching so bad that I felt the acid was flowing out as well. Yuck! I brushed my teeth like ten times, gurgle and all but still.....yuckkk! Lost my appetite for breakfast and ended up eating the kids' pringles instead. All that sodium did quite well to wash off the taste.

The kuih cara was bought at pasar tani shah alam, by the way.

Went to Bukit Jelutong afterwards. I was thinking of going to seribadan and collect my textbook (and read up on nutrition) but there was a wedding reception there and the place was jam packed. So we headed straight to Tropika 2 showhouse - one of the many houses at Bukit Jelutong. Not bad. All corner lot houses were booked, not that we could afford one anyway. A few end lots were still available at around 750k++ but to me personally, end lots felt like an intermediate house with extra land thrown in. You still could not enter the house from the side or park your car there. But still, you could have a koi pond if you were into it :) For a maid less me, intermediate unit was good enough. Enough bedrooms for everybody and possibly a library for me. Maid's room was a tad too small in my opinion but since i do not employ one, that shouldn't be an issue. That room was big enough to be my laundry room (read : the place to throw in all washed laundry until somebody has to dig into it to find a pair of sock). Kitchen...okaylah...for somebody who spent less than 30 minutes cooking each time. The porch looks big enough to park crv and merc side by side so that settles one of my concern. Plenty of windows for the boys to climb. Will we buy it? Dunno yet. Still waiting for money to fall down from trees or sky or any other unimaginable rezeki tergolek.

Best part of the day? An sms from Intan saying that her gang and her would be arriving at our house tonight. Woohooo........ Our good friends from Kemaman. Amri was excited to meet Irfan again. Adam couldn't really remember the kids but seeing that Amri was so excited he decided it must be wonderful indeed. We rushed home from sweltering tropika 2 to prepare for a grand welcome. Kemas guest room etc etc.

Because of all the rain and traffic jam, Intan & her family only arrived sometime after 10pm. So we stayed up till late at night catching up with each other. Macam dah takde hari esok.

Last one for today......Happy Birthday to Kak Lin and Happy Anniversary to Khairi&Nina

Amri has graduated

from kindergarten :)

He'll be in primary school next year. Time really flies.

Mission Accomplished

For Amri’s white t-shirt, that is. Following eiseai suggestion, I headed to giant yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately, couldn’t find any that was of Amri’s size. So, to tesco instead. Found one that could fit Amri nicely but it didn’t have a price tag/barcode on it. The rest was either too small or too big or long sleeves. Not a big issue though. I took a size S t-shirt together with Amri’s and paid using the size S barcode. Mission accomplished with one big icecream each as a reward. And that heavenly choc cookie that was coated with oats :)

Amri will be having his rehearsal today and I’m supposed to collect him afterwards at Shah Alam Museum Muzium Sultan sumthing sumthing Shah). Where is it, actually? Guess I’ll just have to tour that part of Shah Alam until I found something that resembles a museum. Help....

This time of the year

Its concert time again. Amri will be having his concert cum graduation day this coming Saturday. As usual, I need to look for part of the costume. But this year I had it easy. I just need to come up with white t-shirt. Easy huh! Compared to last year when I had to hunt for black shoe. It wassn't easy buying shoes for Amri and still is. He has extra wide feet that even without colour restriction is difficult enough to find, what more when narrowed down to only black. Clothes however, was always easy. Amri has shed most of the baby fat and grown taller instead of wider like moi. Buy anything that is labeled 6-7 years and it will fit him perfectly.

But where do I find white t-shirt? Giant ada ke...or tesco?

By the way, Amri will turn 6 on 27th Nov. I just can't believe he is just 6. The way he manipulates people around him to get what I refused to give him made me feel like he is 5 going on 16! But sometimes I feel like he is just a baby. More so when he is scared about little things like loud thunder, dark room or that I would go for a drive without him.

FISAF Training - Day 4

A whole day of practical lessons.

Unfortunately, I've not been exercising since 20th Nov. Plus with my 10 days raya holiday which I spent either eating (a lot) or lounging around either at my parents place or my in law's like a belched hippo. Needless to say, whatever muscle strength I had acquired was slowly evaporating, plus a stamina that was not even half of usual.

Anyway. The coughing & runny nose rescued me. Because the trainer was concerned that I looked (and sounded) so sick, and my blood pressure drop down to a dangerous level (theoretically) I was excused from most of the show. But the trainer, a petite Germany lady, was pregnant and she was so fit. So the ego made a show. Instead of admitting that I was sick and would be unable to perform most of the stuffs, I joined in the show. If a preggy lady could do it, so could I. Plus, I've practically lived with below average blood pressure all my live.

Trouble started from the beginning. For a fitness testing module, I was deemed unfit, due to my low BP, erratic heart beat (blamed it on the cough syrup & that flu pill) and a whole lot more. Resistance training was a nightmare. My lunges, squat and whatever posture done were horrible. At one time, I couldn't stand up from a lunge position. Then came the weight. Even with the lightest dumbbell, my arms felt leaden. Duh! Don't even get me started on bodybar. And core conditioning lesson? My body didnt have a core anymore. It was just leaden arms and legs plus a painful head :)
Adoiiiiii.....I couldnt have picked a worse time to attend fitness course.

The good thing was, I made lotsa new friends. A super cool salsa dance instructor, a yogi from Ipoh, a super fit japanese lady, another super fit japanese+germany+portugease+american expat, a chinese professor, a bunch of fitness instructors from CF which I certainly could count on for emergency replacement instructor and an ex accountant from sabah who owns a travel agency and promised me a 'friend' rate should i ever wanted to tour sabah. Cool!

FISAF Training - Day 3

It is a Saturday. Obviously, the traffic was so clear and smooth. If only we could have this kind of traffic everyday, I wouldn't mind commuting to KL every day. Dream on!

I was still unwell but definitely better off than yesterday. Since today was supposed to be all theory day, I was dressed in jeans and boots. Didn't bring any gymwear. Of course, it turned out a bad decision. The instructor decided to put in some practical stretching so there I was, on the floor with my jeans and all. Luckily I was not the only one. Duh! Anyway, I was finally ablle to enjoy the class and made some small talk with the others without ending in a coughing fit. My cough still peppered the class steadily throughout the day but I didnt think the others minded it very much. Except for one yogi, the rest surely were not used to quiet classroom.

errkkk...I polished off one packet of hacks! Wonder how many hacks in there...

FISAF Training - Day 2

I was a wee bit better.

But anatomy class was giving me headache. A big one. By lunch time, my head was pounding and the fever was threatening to make a come back. I cancelled lunch date and spent lunch hour crashing at kinokuniya instead. With a mighty cup of coffee. And a nice book.

FISAF Training - Day 1

Well...I seemed to be always falling very sick during the most inappropriate time. E.g ...during my wedding (hubby's side)though everybody thought I had a nice glow throughout the day (seri pengantin konon....i was burning with hi fever), while relocating my office from kelana jaya to phileo damamansara, while taking care of adam during 8 days hospital stay, the whole fasting month when amri was almost 1 (i lost 6 kg though and looked good on hari raya), heading a joint marketing blitz with jaring & lord of the ring movie and now......an intensive 4 days fitness crash course. Help me God...

I zoned in and out of nutrition lecture, promptly vomited out my lunch afterwards (luckily nora couldn't make it to our lunch date)and tried desperately to stay alive during flexibility training. One good thing was that, flexibility training required to to mostly stay on the floor, which for me, was waaayyyy better than being on my two shivering feet.

I made it home in one piece though

She's back!

My previous aerobics instructor cum good friend cum fitness mentor cum personal trainer is back in town, albeit for a week only. The person who, within 3 months managed to singlehandedly knock off 6kgs of my weight :)

Happy is an understatement.

She joined today's class, but not as instructor. More to meet the members than to exercise actually.So, I'm going to con her into teaching bodyworks class tomorrow. Yey!!!!!!! Miss her so much

Amri is fasting

But not for the whole day. He break the fast at about 3pm. Nevertheless, we were impressed. More so because during sahur, he only managed to drink half cup of his favourite tea and a few mentos. But then, training this pint size big eater to fast is really going to ruin us financially :)But promise is promise, especially when he exceeds expectation. So he was rewarded with a toy of his choice.

Ramadhan is back

Alhamdulillah...we are blessed with another round of Ramadhan

On the other hand, I think fasting month in Malaysia is more of a food fest month. So much so that I didn't cook much come ramadhan, prefering to buy. Come to think of if, the whole family seemed to eat more during this month compared to other time. Isn't it ironic? Ramadhan should be the time when we let our body detox itself, instead of dumping multiple amount of toxic on it. And solat terawih? Other than collecting extra good deeds during this holy month, solat terawih is also a great workout. Forever missing out on yoga class? This solat is all about yoga movement and more, that is if you take the effort to do it properly. Not the popular rushed version, but a proper one, with all the surah being read with the correct breathing. Do it and you get the reward physically and spiritually.
Now, who volunteer to babysit my boys so that I could go to mosque?

And...who could teach me how to teach Amri to fast? Bribe/reward does not work. Peer pressure does not work. Long story about how Allah love kids who fast does not work either. So how?

Amri was born on 1st Ramadhan, 6 years ago. Happy Birthday to Amri!!!

Merry-Go-Round

The Hatha Yoga class at Seribadan was such a big hit that I finally decided to add one more yoga class, this time for morning slot. I hired a new instructor. Since she's coming all the way from another fitness centre at subang Jaya, i went to great length explaining the road to Bukit Jelutong, right down to the number of traffic light, junctions, etc. Only to find out that she was from TTDI Jaya afterall. To be exact, her house is behind my next door neighbour.

Great.

She'll be teaching power yoga from now on

Keropok Lekor

Hello earth...I'm back! But only for a brief visit.

Here is the latest news....the authentic keropok lekor was finally out in the market. Distributorship application is now officially open (except for Putrajaya, Segambut & Section 13 area which were already taken up). Contact me personally for details of distributor and consignment price. Order 50kg in one Purchase Order and you'll receive one week free pass at Seribadan Aerobic Centre :)





Retail purchases available too but do let me know first before you drop by at the factory so that I could reserve a few packets.

Seribadan Aerobics Centre - The Visual

Adjustable bench for Step Aerobics



Dance floor ... eh no ... aerobics studio :)


Fitballs, floor mats and yoga mats


Weights of all pounds for bodywork session








Drinks and towels















Kiddies area

Little Caliph Sport Day

I was busy MC-ing the sport day for Amri's kindy on Saturday morning, so sorry for those whose phone calls I didn't pick up. No, I was not a professional MC of any sort but I was a master of last minute arrangement. So I agreed to be the MC with less than 24 hour notice.


Starting the event




Where's everybody?


Blue Team


Amri & Osman


Amri in action


Mdm MC misusing her mike to cheer her son :)



Prize giving ceremony

Friday evening class

Today would be dance aerobics. So see you gals at Seribadan this evening, 6.15pm :) You gonna love this class. The instructor would be Azizah.

I'm kinda proud with Seribadan. For such a small time aerobic centre, it has three FISAF certified instructors on its payroll.

Seribadan again....

YOGA
We had yoga class on Tuesday. With new instructor. And three new members. Thanks Mdm Gartblue for showing up :)

I used to skip yoga class previously. When I was just one of the members. Not a chance this time :D . Plus, I have acquired enough flexibility during the past few months to actually enjoy the session now. That, and a bit of cheating help too hihihi....

I was glad and really relieved when old members love the new yoga and new instructor. They were used to Ashtanga Yoga in the past and now it is Hatha Yoga. Change is good, no?

By the way, new members could now show up 15 minutes earlier for basic course from the instructor. No, not just you Mdm Gartblue :) It was open for all newbies. Which I think would benefit me as well. I've attended like..ermmss...perhaps only four sessions in the past..hahahaha. I couldn't even pull a sun salutation by myself, let alone contorted my body into all those impossible pose.

ABT
Stand for Abs, Butt & Thigh. Come to this class if you want a strong, svelte body. People swear by this class for great bedroom tyrist. So much so that a few members told the instructor to squeeze in a little bit of ABT session on a hilo aerobics day. This happened on one morning when only my clueless assistant was there and I was at home battling with Adam. So, sorry to other members who didn't get full hilo that morning.Anyway, I swear that this class (ABT) was the ultimate reason I managed to squeeze into pre-baby jeans. Since now there is a new funky instructor for this class, I was counting on her to get me into my pre-husband jeans.

WEEKEND CLASSES
There would be two new classes on Saturday. Kickboxing & Bodyjam. The former was recommended to those who were going through a hard time with their boss. The latter would suit those supermoms going through brain jam at their workplace. Both classes are for beginners

My history with aerobics

Read an interesting post at Gartblue’s blog and felt compelled to write this piece…..

My first stint with aerobics was when I was doing my CIMA Stage 3. It was a tough time and I had my fair share of stress but nowhere to release it. So I joined UiTM aerobics class which by right was supposed to be for staffs and lecturers only. It worked like charm though at that time, I couldn’t be bothered with weight issue. I was rail thin and more often than not, my weight stayed below 45kg. Which was considered underweight for my height. After two months, I was no longer panting in the class. My concentration improved tremendously and doing number crunching all day long was a breeze. The stress disappeared. I slept like a baby at night and woke up feeling so fresh. Even dining hall food seemed good :) I continued with the classes way into my Stage 4, which was stressful enough by itself without the added problems the faculty decided to push into my way. I had an impossible schedule but managed to squeeze in the aerobics classes though it meant I had to almost fly from my class at business school to admin building where the aerobics class was. Then flew back down to dining hall to gulp my lunch before sprinting back to my room for a quick shower and getting ready for afternoon class. But I made it.

One year later, I started working and faced an entirely new version of stress. So, together with a few colleagues, formed a jazzercise club at the office. (Yes, a decade before jazzercise is known by Malaysian, we already danced to it) The management let us use one of the training room during lunch hour. The number of members kept on growing. The club and volleyball session after office hour kept me sane during those crazy years where I learnt office politics, lost love, newfound love and independence. I was still skinny though. Life was pretty good.

Then I get married. And had babies. As well as new job. The new demanding job came with a boss who loved having meeting either at pizza hut or burger king. Go figure! I now went to aerobics with the sole purpose of losing weight.

After getting bored beyond words with the aerobics classes at Pusat Akuatik Shah Alam plus having an awful time one fine day, I joined another aerobics centre which was nearer to my house – Seribadan.
And I lost weight, I lost the many, many inches, I gained many new friends, I was fit, I was strong and I had never been happier. I loved the place so much that I bought it.

It was not just about losing weight. It was a meeting point. It was where you meet your friends and neighbours. It was where your kids play while you were having fun with your friends on the dance floor. It was where you hang around while your kids attended Kumon and English classes.

Anyway, here are among the benefits of aerobics. Mind you, Seribadan offered Yoga as well and Pilates too (starting soon).

1. The most efficient and healthful way to control weight. An aerobic exercise burns fat, while building muscle. This may mean less dramatic weight loss, but since muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue, the result is longer lasting.

2. Following a regular aerobics program gives you a sense of commitment and control - two positive mental attitudes that help counteract stress. Aerobics also relax tense muscles, thereby relieving your body's stress response.

3. Regular aerobics increased the body’s production of endorphins.

4. Better coordination of muscles, and an increase in strength, flexibility and stamina. While improvements in these areas certainly help athletic performance, they also help reduce the risk of injury: Stronger, limber muscles are less susceptible to strain and sprain.

5. Exercising for 20 to 30 minutes three times a week can reverse years of cardio-neglect. In fact, consistent, regular exercise actually strengthens the heart, resulting in more blood and oxygen flow throughout the body. At the same time, aerobic exercise lowers blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

6. Achieving fitness goals leads to self confidence, improved body image, self awareness and esteem. In addition, the discipline necessary to accomplish personal fitness goals can have a positive effect on your professional career.

7. Boost the immune system, meaning better work performance, and fewer missed days of work and school. Exercise increases blood and oxygen flow throughout the body, including the brain. Those who exercise react more quickly to stimulus than their less fit counterparts, pointing to a possible link between motor and intellectual skills.

8.Enjoy life!!!

Break time...

Phew!

It has been a hectic week. With the boys, aerobic centre, missing cleaner and God know what else. Right after the last class on Friday evening, I was quite ready to collapse. But I've been missing proper lunch for three days in a row so tonight would be payback time, I guess.

Beriani kambing for dinner. Plus the sirap bandung. And mee bandung.

If only my instructor could see me. She'd scream surely :)

I missed the post morning aerobics teh tarik sessions too.....

A new day

Miraculously, I survived my first day of singlehandedly running Seribadan Aerobic Centre just fine. Except for a teeny weeny glitch...the aircond remote control was out of battery. At first, I thought there must be something about the aircond that I didn't know yet so I called the previous owner, Azizah. She arrived to my rescue 5 minutes later armed with new batteries....hehehe. I suspected that she has put herself 'on call', expecting SOS call from me anytime of the day. Aren't she sweet .... I must have done something really nice in the past to deserve all these kindness from her and her friends.

I'd better learn all the tricks of the trade quickly.

Note:
Thanks K.Azie for showing support and for introducing your friend :)

Scatterbrain on the loose

Went to Alam Sentral and found out that hubby's previous neighbour had opened a booth selling blouses. Cool. Maybe I'll drop by again when I am less pressured for time. Or wait till I lose another couple of kgs :)

Amin called asking for his free sample of keropok lekor. Sheesh! I have forgotten about that. Omg....I've given them all to Azida. Sorry Amin....really, really sorry. I'll reserve some for you when hubby's factory run another trial batch. One packet for each broken promise I've made to you & your wife this year. First, I promised to attend your wedding but I did not. Then I've invited both of you to my house for that sinfully cholesterol laden char kuew teow but I ended up serving keropoks only. But then, you both turned up 2 hours early, I didn't even buy the ingredients yet :( There was also one more wedding gift that I bought for you guys but I didn't know where is it now. It was supposed to be hidden from my boys but I hide it so long ago that i couldn't even remember where.
That made for three packets right?

Amri's sweetheart - part 3

When I came back from aerobic, Amri gave me a handful of cute jambu air (rose apple). Then he said, matter of factly, "Anis said to wash first before you eat".

Eh?

Anis?

Since when?

I thought it was Ika all the while.

Apparently, he dropped by at Anis's house on his way back from playground and Anis's parents told him to help himself at the jambu tree.

OMG.........

Seribadan Aerobic Centre

My much awaited Seribadan Aerobic Centre is now open for registration. Print out this post to redeem your one free trial session from Monday to Friday (6.00pm to 7.00pm).

All classes are taught by FISAF certified female instructors.

Location : Dewan Guthrie, No.7, Jalan U8/20, Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam

Class schedule:

Morning (9.00 am to 10.00am) - Intermediate Classes
Monday : Bodyworks
Tuesday : Latin & Salsa
Wednesday : Hilo Aerobics
Thursday : ABS (Abs, Butt, Thigh)
Friday : Step Reebok

Evening (6.00 pm tp 7.00pm) - Advance Classes
Monday : Step Reebok
Tuesday : ABS
Wednesday : Ashtanga Yoga
Thursday : Bodyworks
Friday : Hilo Aerobics/Latin & Salsa

Night (7.30pm to 8.30pm) - Beginners Class
Monday : Bodyworks
Tuesday : Pilates
Wednesday : Step Reebok
Thursday : Hilo Aerobics
Friday : ABS

Weekend (9.00 am to 10.00am)
Saturday : Latin & Salsa
Sunday : Belly Dancing

Fee Structure:
Full membership : RM150 per month (unlimited classes)
Limited membership : RM100 per month (five classes per week)
Non-member : RM15 per class
NO ANNUAL FEE

Place is limited to 20 pxs per class so email me to book your slot.

Cheers,
Na'aimah Mohd Nawawi
Seribadan Aerobic Centre

Amri's sweetheart - part 2

Amri insisted to walk alone to kindy. Since the kindy was just around the corner, we decided to let him go by himself. I was planning to stalk him on his way but boy....could he be so fast. By the time I was at the gate, he was gone. I checked with his teacher later and teacher said, yes, he was there allright. I breathed easier then.

When he come back, I casually asked him about his walk to kindy. And I was gasping for breath again.

Apparently, he made a slight detour and end up at Ika's house. Ring her doorbell, greeted Ika's father with salam and asked whether Ika could walk with him to school. Guess he didn't fail badly in manners 101. Amri told me that Ika's father let them walk together to kindy. But real story was, Ika's mom walked both of them to kindy because Ika would be staying back at kindy's daycare so she had a big bag with her. Though her house was practically behind the kindy, they still had to walk downhill for 10 steps and uphill for another 10 steps. No shortcut.

Well.....I'll be stalking Amri from now on.

Amri's sweetheart

After months listening to all kind of stories about this one particular girl, Amri finally introduced me to his girlfriend, Ika. On one fine day after Qiraati class, Amri push forward a fiery looking girl, who screamed at him with all the grace of a chainsaw, and said...." Ibu, this is Ika". The girl, cute as a button, nearly went crashing into my car from the force when Amri pushed her. Goodness! I failed miserably to teach Amri some basic manners.

The young lady however, managed to skid just in time to avoid crashing into the side of my car, pull herself together and came up with a totally cheerful "hi auntie" before storming back inside. Isn't she sweet.....

Didn't know a boy could get a crush this early though :)

Superman Return

This was not a movie review. In fact, apart from 15 minutes of the ending, the rest was lost to me.

Anyway. I'm sure it was a splendid movie. The thing was, hubby and I brought the boys to the cinema for the first time. I was a selfish mommy, I never wanted to go to cinema with kids in tow. They were better off at home watching vcd with bibik.

Not this time though. I am maidless. Amri has grown up a lot. Adam has acquired attention span of more than 10 seconds. I no longer needed to wait till weekend and risked annoying the entire Klang Valley movie goers with my childrens antics. So there we were...the four of us, at gsc midvalley on wednesday afternoon. We decided againts gold class because we were not sure how long the kids could sit still. Most probably they would be running around after half an hour or insisted to go out. It would be waste of money then. We also did not want to annoy others who paid good money for a little bit of extra comfort. Plus, it would be too cold for Amri (but not for Adam).

Well ...... it was none like I imagined.

I imagined Adam would be scared of the loud sound but he was not. In fact, it didn't bother him at all. But it did bother Amri.
I imagined Amri would be so enthralled that he'd forgotten to speak. Nope. He was talking and asking questions non stop right through the end. And he was loud. And so did Adam, who added loud cheers everytime mr superman did some stunts. Sigh.
I imagined that Adam would cry and insisted to be taken out after half an hour. He did not. But both of them kept on switching places that annoyed me beyond words. I believed it annoyed others as well. Adam did cry though, some time before the ending because Amri needed to go to the toilet so hubby took him and left Adam with me. Now, where Amri goes, Adam goes. Adam yelled for Ayah but I guessed he couldn't hear him since both of them was already halfway up. So Adam gave out his loudest wail. That got Ayah coming down to get him so fast I didn't have time to put on Adam's shoes (which he kicked out earlier because he wanted to wear his new sandal). So with both boys out to gents with their ayah, I got to watch the ending in silence, about 15 minutes. Then after everyone were gone, I gathered our shopping bags and stuffs which were spread over four seats, shoved everything inside and went to search for the boys.

Tired lah taking these two boys to movie. I should have trained them since they were 2 months old, then it wouldn't be so hard. But.....I think I could do this again. Perhaps in a couple of months. But I'd be fully prepared. Like reserving seats as far away from others as possible. Making sure Amri emptied his bladder before the movie. Buying two seperate carton of popcorns so it'd be one less thing to fight about. No shopping before the show, unless it was entirely my stuff. Huge lollipops so that the boys would have something in their mouth and that would not make talking easy (masking tape could do too). A dozen bottles of Adam's milk. And...learn to calm down.

Now I remembered....

Yesterday I remembered what was niggling at me since last Saturday. I have forgotten to attend the parents talk for soon to be launched Islamic Intergrated School sumthing sumthing at Section 7. The owner was also Little Caliph kindy founder. Now, I was really impressed with what they did at Little Caliph and specifically the way Amri benefitted from the program but ..... section 7 was quite a distance away. Too bad. Amri would sure love to join that school. Plus, I am a bit frightened with national school curriculum. It sure didn't feel like a fun thing to go to school like it used to be during my school going days. More like a burden. Or pressure. Hmmph!
Well......poor little Amri just had to grit his teeth and made the best out of it, I guess. Remind me not to pressure him to score straight As next year, okay. I don't want to fall into that race. In fact, both hubby and I kinda agreed on that.

Anyway. We ate breakfast at a restaurant nearby the mosque so that we could just drop Amri for his tae kwon do class later. Luckily, Amri ordered nasi dagang tganu from nearby stall for himself. Good for him. Need all the carbo in it to run and kick for two hours. Last week he was out to class with only a piece of toast and by the time the class ended, he was so ravenous he wanted to buy all food in sight.

Sigh! It was a quiet weekend. Hubby was off to some hi tea he organised (we are so into organising hi tea this year people...just dont ask why) so it was just the kids and I. Amri was showing sign of oncoming cold and refused to go anywhere. He just wanted to watch tv all day long. Great. Boring with a capital B.

Welcome to big three oh club

....to my dear cousin, Kak Zehan :)

It's not that bad really. It actually adds credibility to your resume...hehehe. Have a good time anyway. Hope Abg Ijam gave you a pleasant surprise :)

Happy 30th Birthday!

Note to other readers :
I am older than the birthday girl but due to family hiearchy, the title 'kakak' is deemed necessary.

Quiet Wednesday

Mak & Ajo left for Kedah very early in the morning :(

I'll miss mak terribly. The boys too. We wouldn't be able to visit her as much as we wanted to this year. What with the frozen food factory just kicked off and my aerobic centre would soon followed.

The house would be so quiet.

Hubby sent Amri to kindy and took off to office(s). I took Adam with me to aerobic class.

Maidless and relieved

Sent bibik to LCCT in the ungodly hours of 5am in the morning. Duh! Why on earth did I entertained bibik's request to fly to Bandung instead of Jakarta. And where are the maid agencies when I need them. The thing is, the agents used to be superb, until i started to refer them to my friends. Then it went downhill. Not only my friends get cheated, I ended up arranging bibik's departure by myself. I just hope I get all the procedures correct. That I didn't mistakenly blacklisted her or something. Who knows if she needs to come back to malaysia in the future.

Anyway. I'm happy. I'd be maidless from today onwards. But one less liability to deal with.

The daily cleaner will start coming this Thursday.

Ajoe was here

This brother of mine was finally ready to step into real world. Meant that, he finally ran out of extra courses to take at Kuittho so he had no choice but to haul his body, soul and stuffs out of Batu Pahat and go somewhere. Thank God he'd finally disposed the self assembled go-kart.

The boys were happy to see him. Another poor soul to bully. Starting with a drive around the block and of course, as personal driver to Amri. Sending him to kindy and everywhere else he wanted to go.

Mak would be going home with him tomorrow. Sob! The kids would harass me instead.

Little Red Kenari

Picture for the benefit of Abah who missed all the fun yesterday. We went to have lunch at Pak Andak's house this afternoon. 2 cars though because kak cik would be going back to her own house. But she refused to let mak ride with us.

Half busy Saturday

Sent amri to tae kwon do first thing in the morning and changed him into his new uniform. There. No more long face. He and Adi could kick each other happily now.

Left four of the kids there and brought Adam with me to drive Kak Cik to collect her spanking new Kenari. Woohoooo.....new car. Mak tag along as well.

Collect the car and headed home. Mak decided to ride the new car....hehehe...and made kak cik nervous like hell. Drop by at grocery shop to buy some potato and took a peep at the tae kwon do's class. Still progressing nicely. So we went home first. Kak cik wanted to pump petrol so she volunteered to collect the kids on her way. Saw some kids already on their way home from tae kwon do so we decided to pick up the kids first. The class finished a bit early, I guess.

When we reached there, Iman was already sporting a long face, presumably after a fight with the boys or maybe chasing after Adeena. The boys were having even longer face, because the icecream seller was not there.

Kak cik pumped in full tank and took us for a ride...hehehe. Amri was beyond thrilled. Finally...a red car!

I got a feeling I have forgotten something. What? What???

Alhamdulillah....

The aerobic centre at BJ will be mine soon. As soon as I could forked out enough money to pay the owner :)
I am just so relieved. After all those hiccups in the beginning. No pain no gain, huh.

Alhamdulillah.

p/s : Now I knew why I couldn't make out what the trainee instructor was saying last wednesday. She was giving cue in Malay. This morning she took over cooling down session where music was softer and we could hear her well. Sound weird though.

I need help

Especially from you girls that attended UiTM Shah Alam from around 90s. Either as students, staff or lecturers. More so if you joined aerobic class at HEP. I need to find my fabulous instructor during that time, her name is Rozie. She taught our lunch time aerobic session. By right, the class was meant for staffs and lecturers only but I attended it anyway. I need to channel the pent up stress of doing CIMA Stage 4 alone somewhere. She was a mom of 5 at that time and looked like she never had any. She was also a dancer with Kementerian Kebudayaan. I leant the rope of aerobic from her, the terminology and hand gestures and a little bit of choreographing. She was good. Years after I left UiTM, I joined many places for my shot of aerobic (great stress diffuser) but none come close to hers. Until I joined the current fitness centre. She's second best next to my current instructor. But still, if she is still practising, I have a business proposition to her.

So help me please.

Body Jam

I went to morning aerobic...expecting something light and easy. Some latin/salsa maybe. Wednesday morning usually was dedicated for some low impact body jam session.

However, my instructor was also a FISAF certified instructor. Meant that she could train new instructor. This morning she had two young ladies doing some practical or something of the sort. They had completed some of the requirement at some other fitness centre. So today they were going to get instructor signature for hilo aerobic or something (me think )

Trainee 1 handled the warming up. Quite okay. We could hear her but nobody knew what she said. So people just followed her step haphazardly. It was just a warming up anyway. Then our instructor took over the class and....started a very hi impact and fast aerobic for the benefit of her two students. Omg.......my stomach was so full of breakfast. Luckily it stayed put. I was practically panting during the last ten minutes and sweated by the bucketful. My pants and shirt were soaked through and through. My hair was flying everywhere because, expecting a dance class, I just wore an elastic hairband. My face had turned maroon halfway through and stayed maroon until way after cooling down. Oh my God.... that was a fantastic workout. Hope to have that again :)
Trainee 2 took over the cooling down. Nobody could hear her. Even if people could actually hear her, none would pay attention. Everybody just wanted to lie flat.

My morning buddies and I decided againts our frequent post exercise roti canai and teh tarik for this morning. Too tired to eat. Good eh? At least, the workout didn't go to waste.

Maid matter

Went to immigration to settle the things for bibik. She'll be flying home to Indon next week, for good. Well...good for her. I didn't think she was fit to work any longer. Even if she wanted to work, I was not willing to renew her service anymore.

Anyway, I managed to convince hubby that I did not need a live in maid anymore (am I mad?). I did not work full time and even if I do work sometime, it is at my own office. Surely I am allowed to bring my kids to my own premise. Amri prefered to stay at daycare though. Adam could stay there as well if I had to attend meetings or err...day out with my friends. I've contacted two agencies to provide me with quotation for house cleaners, so that would take care of household chores.

What else? Cooking. No problem actually. I knew how to work without messing up the whole kitchen. And I have a good microwave. That's a lifesaver.

Well....I'm looking forward to a maidless home. I intended to enjoy it while it last. I might need one though if I were to try for no.3 kid, which is not in the immediate future.

Wish me luck.

Hectic Saturday

I had an unusually busy Saturday. While I was buying breakfast, Azida called to inform me that the kids tae kwon do class was actually at 9.30 am and not 10.30 as was told to me before. I scraped the intention of buying food stuffs afterwards and went straight home to wake Amri up.

Why on earth did I let him stay up till midnight last night. Liat betul nak bangun pagi. Had to shower him myself. Then Adam's turn. Adam was not a morning person so I was quite used to handle his cranky morning self. But Amri usually woke up chirpy and ready to hit the ground running. Not this morning though. Couldn't even dress himself up. Anyway.....I still managed to shove some hearty breakfast into their complaining mouth (all the while Ibu looked longingly at chili padi) and made Adam his milk. Isk...geram betul!

At 9.20 am, drove over to Azida's house to pick up her 3 kids. (Note to hubby : I need the CRV back....I have 5 kids, okay). Arrived at ttdi jaya mosque, the place for tae kwon do class, on the dot. Registered Amri and paid all the fees. Adi (Azida's son) already registered last week so the master gave me his uniform. Dressed him up. Looked so cute...hehehehe. Amri ceased his running around to check out Adi's new uniform and promptly went into sulk mode. He wanted uniform too. Told him that he'll get his next week. Then Amri asked me home come i bought uniform for Adi but did not buy one for him. Gee....... Ibu dah fenin! Amri looked like he was going to cry anytime soon and refused to join the rest of the class in warming up. After a few cajoling and sugary promises, off he went reluctantly to join his friends.

Hubby drop by on his way to buy newspaper to see how we were doing and have a few words with the master. Sometime later he just turned and walked back to his car and Adam was running after him. Heading towards the main road. Luckily, Iman (Azida's daughter) saw him. I was busy filling in the forms and oblivious to this. So, another son to be calmed down and given a few sugary promises.

The class ended at 11.30 am. I thought it was supposed to end at 10.30am. I was planning to bring the five kids to BJ Carnival Read Aloud. Tak de rezeki... Luckily I didn't volunteer with Ninuk to read. Hehehe.

Sent the kids back immediately after class. Well...after one ice lolly each. Hubby was off to UiTM by the time we reached home. Then I went out to buy some chicken, vegis and fish for lunch. Lunch would be very late today. Luckily, still had some left over nasi dagang from breakfast. The boys could eat that. Hubby was home just after I finished feeding the boys and forced them to take a nap. Good. We get to eat lunch in peace.....though very late one.

Just after we finished lunch, mak called saying that she already arrived. That was quick! We rushed off to fetch her, taking only Amri with us. Adam was still sleeping.

Was so relieved once we reached home and I managed to get my loooong shower. And happy too that mak was here. I was pretty bored with my own cooking and missed mak's so much.

p/s - thanks kak azi for the laksa....

Celebrating Life

Today was my 3rd month anniversary with the fitness centre. Cool! Measurement day ...hehehe...

Let's see ....I lost only 5 kg of weight in three months. Could have been more if I could stop going for teh tarik after class. Mdm instructor said not to worry because it was body fat turning into muscle and muscle is heavier than fat. Okayyyyy......

Then body measurement. I lost 2 inches from chest, 3 inches from waist, 4 inches from hip, 1.5 inches from thighs and about 1 inch from arms. Not bad eh..... Another 3 months and I would have to change my whole wardrobe.

Stern reminder from instructor : get serious doing the chest press because it would prevent the breast from sagging due to of rapid weight loss.
Yes, madam!!!!

That's all about the losses (in a good way, of course)

Let's see what I gained, among other things:
1. Good mood (the hormon released put me on high the whole day)
2. Plenty of stamina
3. Amazing flexibility
4. Huge appetite (err...not so good)
5. Great friends

Number 5 also translated into what corporate people out there termed 'networking'. Like when people get together for a round of golf only this is cheaper and more intense. Plus you could drop all pretense and just be your silly girly self :)

Adam & Ultraman Nexus

It was quite some time ago, during school holidays. We went to nearby mall to get a few ultraman (dan yg sewaktu dengannya) vcds for Bibik's grandkids and saw the promotion for latest breed of Ultraman. With the receipts from bibik's vcds, the kids were allowed to take pictures with the Ultraman and whatever monster that was there. So they queued with some other kids. But...when their turn came, Amri suddenly had cold feet and to everybody's shock, jumped down from the stage. Adam looked scared too but didn't mind it when the Ultraman picked him up. He maintained his distance from the monster though :)

Later on, I asked Amri why he ran away. He said...the monster was bigger than the ultraman and in any case, he doubted the ultraman could protect him from the monster. Oh dear......I hope this phase would pass soon. I'm pretty sick with all those super heroes. And barney too.

Kenari on the way

Kak Cik wanted to buy a brand new Kenari. Specifically, a hot red kenari aero - auto of course. Personally, I think Perodua cars (except Kembara) are pretty damn good but however, Kenari sure looks weird to me. But Kak Cik was so in love with it and it was her money afterall so who am I to say otherwise. At the end of the day, she was the one to drive it, park in front of her house and admire it from her window or maybe park it right outside her classroom so that she could threaten her students to ohh-ahhing the cute little red driving machine.

Somehow Kak Cik managed to wrangle out a quick approval from Bank Rakyat, she being a not yet confirmed government staff with meagre salary. How huh? So off we went to Perodua showroom to sign her papers. She did things opposite way, this sister of mine. She got her loan approved first then go booked a car. Whatever! There's plenty of red kenari available.

Then we went to Bank Rakyat for her to sign her loan papers. First we had to wait for the officer. Followed by waiting for the officer to search the whole building for papers. Honestly, it seemed a tad strange to me. Credit department has its own floor so why go bother those downstairs with their busy (?) operation of catering to more people than chairs while opening only two counters. Can't they just keep the papers within the related department. It's not like my sister needs to open new account or deposit anything. Well...I've never worked in a bank so I wouldn't know the way things get done there. But I've taken enough car hire purchase with various banks to remember that the longest it took was 1.5 hours. And that was because I came during the officer's lunch break.

We spent three hours there. Sheesh! Luckily there was a bookshop and a restaurant downstairs. The beriani was not bad :)

On the other hand, Amri was thrilled that finally someone in the family was going to get a RED car. He always likes red car but I've already had one red satria six years ago so don't feel like going for another red.

Went to Section 13 pasar malam for the first time in search of small sate but only get a weird one with chunks of lengkuas all over the sates and funny looking peanut sauce. Now I sorely missed the ttdi jaya sate seller. Where is he?
Bought a murtabak. And cendol. Whoa....I went on an eating binge the day my aerobic instructor was off.

Yeeehaaaa!

Yey!!!!!!!!

Mak just called and said she's coming over this Saturday! Woohooo......lalalala. I'm so happy. The kids would be off my back and hehehehe ..... good food. I so missed mak's home cooked meals. Sure, I could cook pretty decent meals nowadays but lets be frank here...the only person who actually had anything nice to say about my dishes is Amri. Only Amri. And that is probably because right now he was going through ravenous phase where anything I come up with is good enough for him, as long as it is a curry with plenty of potato.

Now, on the other hand, was that normal for a 5 year old boy? To eat that much carbo. I get worried at times when I noticed that I've cooked enough to feed eight adults for one meal. But actually it was eaten (and finished) by 4 adults and 2 kids with one particular kid consuming the major portion of it. If I didn't cook a lot then Amri would supplement his lunch/dinner with bread, cereals, ice cream, biscuits, pudding, fruits or anything he could get his hand on. It was kinda scary to see a pint size body consuming that much food. What if he grow up to be obese. What if he'd develop bad eating habit for the rest of his life. But right now, he is fit and physically active boy. A bit skinny though. I took comfort from knowing that everything about Amri is seasonal. So maybe he is stuffing his face silly now but will be totally off food in the forthcoming months. Then people would start hear me wailing on a different issue.

If anybody come across me at Tesco/Giant with trolley brimming with foodstuff, believe me, it is for two weeks supply.

Happy Fathers Day

To all fathers. And fathers to be.

I'm still recovering from yesterday's event and didn't feel like throwing another party. I'll just take it easy and let the kids harrass their father. It is afterall, fathers day. Father child bonding day:)

To those who asked me about the pics for the hi tea...I'm so very sorry. It was a very private function....strictly ladies only. So...the pics were...ermm...to say sexy was kind of understatement. They were for private circulation only. Just the members.
Anyway....will it be enough if I say....it was size 8 jeans. Low cut. *smug*

The annual hi tea of my fitness centre

Really...it was the best i ever had. The best that I ever organised too. And I had quite a fair share of it.

I went early to help out and dragged my reluctant neighbour cum x-senior, Azida, along. I was alarmed at the hours she kept at her workplace and also her two hours max sleep time per night. A sure fire way to get early burn out or, God forbid, heart failure. So this tea dance was a perfect place to unwind. If she didn't fall asleep, that is.

So...off we escaped to holiday villa subang, dressed to the nines in denim and boot (yes...I could finally fit into size 8 low cut jeans), determined to have a good time. Spotted two other committee members cars along the way so I just followed behind them. Good thing I brought Azida with me, she was so helpful with our loads of gifts and she manned the registration counter too. Thanks a million Kak Azie. I'll help you with the wretched costing after this, I promise!

The turnout was good, the food was so so but nobody complained because, it was afterall, a fitness centre event. The members couldn't be bothered with food. Everybody was too busy head banging and swinging their hips on the dance floor. Wonder where these people got their energy. Mind you, we were not talking about 20 something girls. They were 40s and 50s. Except Azida and I. And oh...their daughters.

All the games and contest we planned, the dance we choreographed, the music we compiled and everything else went without any glitch. I was actually a bit sad when the party winded down and people started to leave. I loved the planning part of it. We sat down later to have a drink and cake courtesy of holiday villa and congratulated each other for the biggest and best party the fitness centre ever had.

Hopefully we could have another one, next year. Pray for me people, that I'd get to take over the place.

Went home to an empty house. The boys had gone to a birthday party with their father. Excellent! I was dog tired from half a day of hip swinging.

Rusty brain rejuvenated

It was a rainy morning. A perfect day to go buy our weekly raw materials at Pasar Tani Shah Alam :)

First stop.....a fruit stall. Bought RM13.30 worth of fruits and gave the seller a RM50 note. She asked me back how much the balance should she gave me. Huh? I was very tempted to say RM86.70...just to see whether she'd just trust the customer to do the math. But thought better of it so I just grinned and said RM36.70. The seller happily counted the money and handed me the requested change. Guess that if i were to say some other amount, she might just gave them away.

Proceeded to fresh section. Selected my various fishes (wonder what their names were), prawns, squids and some other sea creatures that I thought I might know how to cook. If I didn't, many kitchen goddesses were just a YM buzz away anyway. The seller weighted them all and packed in many small plastic bags while at the same time telling me the weight and the cost of each. After the third item, I noticed he expected me to add them up. Gulp! So..RM8.50 + RM8.20 + RM16.00. Okay...so far so good. The man paused in the middle of it to toss my big fish to his colleague at the back and asked him to scale it. Proceeded with counting. Paused again. Tossed my fish head to his friend and told him to cut into smaller pieces. I used the time to frantically double checked my calculation. Based on rusty memory, of course. No prices was written down anywhere. Proceeded with addition. Done. 11 types of various sea animals at RM63.20, all that I added up myself without calculator. He gave me 20 cents discount. Perfect.

Made my way to poultry stall. Asked for daging batang pinang. It was RM20 per kg so simple math. Not that any was expected from me. Bought a chicken later without cracking my head either.

Next...vegies. A few different types as usual. The seller had his math in top form. Unfortunately, while in the middle of weighing and counting and stuffing the greens into plastic bag......his assistant interrupted him. Continued. But not before he asked my confirmation on his last sum. Was it RM6.90? Errr.....think so.

I was so hungry after all those counting, I felt a wee bit dissappointed when I saw hubby bought just enough food for breakfast. I needed more.

I was good at math actually. Or used to. Though I once sent an add math teacher crying to staff room and sulked for days. And annoyed a lecturer during my stage 1 CIMA to no end, until she was forced to announce that I was too playful to pass any exam in my life. But then, years of working with calculator and spreadsheet and those amazing softwares had somehow put that part of the brain into sleep mode. I needed a calculator to count 19+5. Untill recently when I started working from home. Under the same roof with two boisterous boys. Who thought calculator was one of their toys. One by one the calculators ended up in their toys chest and drawers. The calculators naturally comitted suicide as soon as they reached there. Till I ended up with none. Then I was forced to mentally count because driving to stationary shop to get another calculator took longer time than trying to use my head for once. It was free too. There was also this hi tea event that i was co-organising where the other committee thought it was fun to have a meeting while dancing to Hips Dont Lie and left the number crunching to me, the ex-accountant. It didn't help either that these bunch of ladies were so full of ideas that they had to run what if scenarios every few minutes with the cost revised accordingly. It was a wonder I never run into a wall or the pillar yet. But I had millions of misstep in the beginning. If that was not enough, I had a husband who did his number crunching at breakfast table and if I didn't follow from the beginning, I wouldn't know where it would end. And of late, I had this habit of mentally doing business plan in the middle of high impact aerobic. Funnily, that was the time when my rejuvenated brain was most alive.

My add math teacher @ jenan would have been very pleased.

Cardio Circuit Training

Do you want to go to the gym but feels encumbered by anxiety & self-consciousness? Do work & a hectic schedule prevent you from having a physically fit & healthy lifestyle? Are you away from home often & miss you your regular aerobics class at the gym? There is no need to fret anymore because cardio circuit training is the answer to all your troubles.

Cardio circuit training is a type of cardio exercise where the individual completes one set of exercise & immediately proceed to the next set in rapid succession & with hardly any rest. Cardio circuit training is unlike any other exercise programs because it is not dependent upon equipments & machines to accomplish the exercises. This means that you can do cardio circuit training in the comfort of your home. You no longer need to worry about beating the traffic just to get to the gym in time, because you know no matter what time you get home you will still be able to do your cardio! The best part of cardio circuit training is the psychological motivation that you give yourself. This time around, exercising will be a personal commitment & not a must-do.

The body is divided into different zones, the Upper, the Middle & the Lower zone. Your goal is to target all these zones one at a time & one after the other with as little rest as possible in between.

• Upper Zone – There are different exercise that focus on the upper zone. Push-ups have always been favored for developing chest muscles, triceps & shoulders and has spawned many variations like the half push-up where elevation only includes the torso & ends at the knees. Dips are also great for shaping the triceps & the chest.

• Middle Zone – The abdominal area has always been a focus of both sexes. There is nothing worse than seeing a bulge in your midsection ruining a great outfit. Crunches & sit-ups have always been revered as the ultimate solution to an unwelcome paunch & it still retains its reputation as the number one abdominal trimmer. Bent knee leg lifts, although a little bit more difficult than sit-ups & crunches, are also very effective at working at those lower abs.

• Lower Zone – The leg is one of the sexiest part of the human anatomy. But a flabby pile of fat wiggling somewhere in your lower zone is never attractive. Cardio exercises such as running, jumping rope & spot running are great ways to firm your lower zone. For additional toning you can also use free weights when you do your lunges & squats.

Cardio circuit training is great for women who want to lose all those extra fat but don’t really want to gain a lot of muscle mass. Women tend to store more body fat than men do, its not their fault that’s just how they are made. Losing weight is therefore a whole lot harder for women than it is for men but cardio circuit training can change all that!

All women want a slimmer, well-toned body that emphasizes a tiny waste & all her womanly curves. And she knows the road to her ideal body is dotted with bumps & obstacles, but with cardio circuit training no woman need to be afraid of exercise anymore! This is the time to say goodbye to those dimpled thighs & wiggly love handles!

Well....easier said/wrote than done though. I've done it twice. First, on early April when huffed and puffed and panted halfway through then practically dragged my feet a quarter of the time before finally gave up the final quarter of the training. Second time was today. I had the benefit of two months worth of exercises to build up stamina. Needless to say...I breezed through the most part of it. But slowed down the last few minutes. Still......nak pengsan!!!!

Truth is...this stuff is great and I'd be happy to do it once in a while, just to see how far could my body could go but, really, not everyday. Not even once a week :)

Apartment for sale

Service apartment for sale:

Apartment Indah, Prima Damansara. 750sf. 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom. With security guard & swimming pool. Selling at RM95k.

Till next holiday...

And so it ended...the shortest balik kampung trip. Amri woke up in the morning and promptly started whining and crying. Fortunately, Tok Kie has already left on a business trip so Amri cut it out pretty quick.

Alif was in tears when we were leaving and refused to come out from his hiding place behind the sofa even though Amri was giving a million of promises about being back again very soon. These two boys had become almost inseperable.

We drove straight to Shah Alam with a few pit stop along the highway. By 4.30...we were already home. By 5pm...I had dinner bubbling on the stove. By 6pm, I was at aerobic class....dancing the accumulated holiday fat away.

Happy Birthday to my other half

No need to mention figures here :)

But all the same, happy birthday to my wonderful husband, banker, best friend, chauffer and basically.... centre of my universe. Aboh & Ummi are surely the happiest and proudest people today. They raised as good a son as any parents could ever wish for.

However, this birthday guy insisted that no birthday cake is good enough for him, which I agreed. So we get full set nasi tomato cooked by mak su for 40 pxs. Plus a side dish of sotong goreng tepung. The best part was that, the ever blur moi finally learnt to make dalca from mak su. She was the fifth person who taught me and the only one who managed to get the message across. The first teacher was of course, my mom. Second was my late Mak Caq, third was my Mak Andak and fourth was my Langkawi Mak Su. All four already gave up on me loooong time ago.

Now...lets just see whether I could cook that dalca for 4 person, instead of 40 (as taught by teacher..hehehe)

Another birthday wishes to my brother in law, Nan, who shared the same birthday with his brother as well as to another brother in law, Abg Fazli whose birthday is on 6th.

A day to eat

Felt so good to wake up in a different room to a different sound. Our room at Ummi's house was so dark and soundproof that I didn't realise it was almost 9! Hubby was already long gone. The boys bunked in with me and slept like a log. It was so cold......none of us felt like taking shower. So we had our breakfast first. Nasi dagang, of course. The boys immediately went missing after breakfast. No shower needed. It was, afterall, holiday at Tok Kie's house. If Ibu went mad, they could always ran to Tok Kie, or Tok Mie, or Ayah Long, or Tok Su...or the whole kampung for that matter. Hmph!

Time sure moved slower at kampung...dunno why. I felt like I've done a million things and yet, it wasn't even noon. Ummi cooked ketupat sotong for us but for lunch, we all went to two different kenduri kahwin. The whole family actually was bored to death with anything to do with sotong, reason being that this was 'musim mencandat sotong' and you could find all kind of squids imaginable. But for us, plus Cu Nan, all the way from Shah Alam....this was heaven. Couldn't help it but we kept coming up with all things sotong that we wanted to eat and of course, Ummi felt obliged to dish them up. My sis in law said, she couldn't even looked at the squid without feeling nauseated. Gee.....that bad? It sure would be fun if we could bbq some sotongs but still nevertheless, we had our ketupat sotong and sotong goreng today.

Adam and Amri were gone most of the time, alternating between their cousins house, Che Non's house and Tok Su's house.

Balik kampung......

to Losong.........

Birthday wishes to a brother

Dear Ajoe....

Happy 23rd Birthday!!!!!!! Hope you realised it in between your go-kart project as well as house painting project. Mak, Abah and Kak Cik wishes you the same too. And oh...all of us think that you should reactivate that handphone, ok. Sure, email & YM are fine with us, but nothing beats an SMS. Of course, Mak needs to nag about a few things too, so a phone no is of an utmost importance.

Many Happy Returns. Looking forward to see you at the end of the month :)

Apartment to let

Service apartment to let @Pangsapuri Pesona, Permatang Pauh, Seberang Perai Utara. 3 bedroom, 2 bath. Rent : RM400 pm. Deposit 2+1.

Amneties : Security guard, multi purpose hall, playground,
Near UiTM, Politechnic, Carrefour

All in a day's life

Caution : Contained disgusting stuff and terribly boring.

Amri had fever so he was terribly unhappy when I had to leave him in the morning. But as soon as I reached home, he demanded to be driven around for a ride. Adam of course, hopped in as well...invited or not.

We barely leave our street when Amri said he needed to pee. So okay, I made a u-turn to home and Amri was whining that he really, really needed to pee now. We reached home all right but..... hehehehe......guess what????? Aveo's backseat has been turned into a toilet. Partially anyway. Grosssss!!!!!!

Luckily bibik handled the cleaning up without too much fuss. So I proceeded with dishing up express lunch. Just after I finished laying out gourmet lunch, put away the marinated beef for dinner use and start up the notebook, hubby called and guess what???????

Yay!!!!!!!! We'll be going out for da vinci code at gsc midvalley.

Took out the premature marinated beef and nuked it for hubby's lunch. Took a quick shower, dressed up, pumped in some more paracetamol into Amri and ready for lunch. Only to have hubby said that he was not coming in for lunch but lets just go immediately. Kesian itu beef.

We had lunch at midvalley anyway. And bought the promised power rangers t-shirt for the boys. Two pairs each. So that bibik wont be harassed about the shirt every time she had to wash them.

Bumped into long lost friend...Che Diin! She saw me first and recognised me despite I was 15kg more than she remembered. That girl! She still looked like the mischievous 16 year old and sound like one too. Amazing!

Da Vinci Code was great. Only that Tom Hanks would always equal to Forrest Gump to me. The big, ugly hair didn't help either.

Went for a bit of window shopping after the movie. Hubby couldn't find his favourite CJ shop so we just went back to metrojaya instead then bumped into hubby's old colleague. Really, did everybody just hang around midvalley on wednesday?

Reached home quite late and found out Adam with a bit of temperature. Amri was a lot better.

And also...bibik informed us that Adam's formula was totally finished. Oppsss...sorry Adam. Ibu forgot to buy. Well....just drink all those free cans of formula, ok. Somebody gotta finish all those.

Lotsa thank yous to hubby:
....for the wonderful date
....for the movie though I knew you were not really into that
....for my stock of S*II product (can't afford to buy them myself anymore)
....for the new reebok lycra pants and tops (my previous ones had become baggy, either from numerous washes or I had shrunk to one size smaller)

Movie matter

Many members were missing from class today, most of whom had went to watch da vinci code. I'd like to go too but certainly not on first day, or first week for that matter. And I don't really enjoy sitting in the arctic gold class. Brrrrr...... I'd be shivering from start till the end. Blanket???? I do not want somebody else's blanket, no matter how sterile. Plus.....watching movie bundled in a blanket did not spell fun time to me.

So I'll wait till next week and see whether I can manage to persuade hubby to go with me.

Sembang pagi

I was discussing some annual dance matters with a bunch of ladies when all of sudden this one kindly lady tap me on the shoulder and asked whether I've graduated yet. I gaped at her.

My first thought : I must have looked so young to be mistaken for fresh graduate

My second thought : Okay....maybe I looked like somebody finishing her phd or her 10th bachelor degree

My third and final thought : Could be mistaken identity case .....

Rearranged my face and told her that...no, I had graduated centuries ago but if she was looking for students, there are two of them in the club. One is Miss A, doing her master in medical something and is currently is attached at HKL. The other is the funky international student Ms S who is a superb dancer but I've forgotten what her major is. I think something to do with drama or theater. Rarely seen though...both of them.

The lady laughed and said that she heard from somebody that I was an ex accountant on looong study leave. And could the ex accountant please recommend any of her jobless friend for a vacancy at her place.

So it happened that she is looking for Internal Audit Executive. Anybody interested, email me your resume. Unfortunately, the company works alternate Saturday and the candidate is expected to travel extensively throughout Malaysia.

Err....I forgot to ask what was the company name. But, it was at Section 26 Shah Alam.

A day for teachers

HAPPY TEACHERS DAY

I helped Amri with present for his teacher as well as a card. He didn't want ready made card. Said he wanted to make it himself and draw his picture at the front and write a few millions words of nice things to his teacher.

After many discarded papers later, we compromised. We made a card using publisher, say a few nice things, inserted his picture and print in colour. He wrote his name and his teacher name by himself though I spelled out letter by letter to him.

A day for mothers

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL MOMMIES

Another trekking day

This time to the next door Bukit Cahaya Sri Alam aka Bukit Cerakah. Haven't been here for quite some time. The last was when hubby and I organised a reunion for x-PKL students last year. Amri and Adam seemed to enjoy the trip to FRIM last month and kept asking for more. I'm just glad they did. I'd just die if they turned out to be like Auntie Chik's students who peed in their pants during night jungle trekking. They were 12 year olds and for goodness sake, just a feet away from the pavement. Hardly a jungle. God forbid, my sons were not going to be anything like that.

Back to the trip....I planned to walk all the way in but Amri and Adam saw the bus and were so excited I didn't have the heart to say no. Adam especially. Never been on a bus, none that he could remember anyway. We board down at Taman Haiwan and paid a visit to all the animals there.
The kids had a great time feeding the deer. Hubby and I thought all the animals looked starving. They didn't have leftover food on their plate like those animals at KL Bird Park & Zoo Negara.

From animal farm, we took a leisure walk to the pool as well....our reunion spot last year. Luckily Adam & Amri didn't insist to take a dip. Things looked a bit better off than last year.

R&R


Canopy walk. The kids really frightened me by running all the way to the end. Gosh! Thank God the holes in the net securing the sides of the canopy were small enough to prevent the boys from accidently fall through them. Thing is, when they ran, I had to run as well to catch them. Then the canopy would sway like crazy. Imagine a hippo running on the planks...that would be close enough picture.

The boys were too tired to walk so we waited for the bus. Amri was exaggerating anyway.

Amri learning that rice originated from paddy, not tesco

Icecream on hot sunny day

June Tea Dance

Oookaaaay ladies....here we go. The annual hi tea organised by my fitness centre. Could be the last though because the owner is closing down the place *sob*.

Date : 17 June 2006 (Saturday - after school holiday)
Time : 1.00 pm to 5.30 pm
Venue : Holiday Villa Subang (anybody can help me get a better price here?)
Price : RM60 per pax
Dress code : Mama Rockers (die...die...i can't get into jeans yet)
Strictly ladies only

The members ruled out belly dancing because they already did that last year. So, it'll be hip hop and perhaps latin dance show by us. There'll be karaoke, games, contest, lotsa food, lucky draw and of course....dance till you drop.

Come and join the fun! I still have a lot of tickets to sell.

Parent Teacher Day @ Little Caliph

I used to dread this kind of day. Truth was...I still dreaded it a little bit. I knew Amri would never be one of those bright overachievers. Not yet anyway. I was not into pressuring him to excel academically...there will be enough time for that in the future. But I need him to be able to read decently and count money.

I went there late. In fact, i was the last parent. Well...no matter. Teachers could speak to me for as long as they wanted to.

Surprise....surprise! Amri had done fairly well. He read well, suddenly becoming good at hafazan & qiraati class, a lot less troublemaker and flunked math grandly :) Well...I guess I just had to teach him math my way. Somehow, he had acquired a longer attention span, perhaps due to maturity and peer influence. He was overpossessive of his stuff, which surprised me, because at home, he was a big mess and couldn't care less of his things. Teachers said he kept his things neatly at his locker and did not hesitate to get into fist fight if any poor soul ever touch his stuff without his permission. Really...that was new. Perhaps because at home he has bibik to pick up after him and his only rival is Adam...whom he considered to young to be punched.

I just hope that Amri would try reasoning many, many time first before he decided to punch anybody's nose. I'm getting really nervous now.....

Twist of fate

I went for morning aerobic and the instructor told me that the buyer for her fitness equipments was hospitalised for brain tumor. Emergency operation this Friday. Due to that, the instructor was postponing her plan to close down the centre until her buyer get back on her feet. Oh my....

I didn't know what to feel. It was bad that the buyer ended up with brain tumor. And a big one at that. She was just 42 and so full of life. Already had her fitness centre at Bangi fully decorated. Just waiting for the equipments. She'll either has to postpone or scrape it altogether.

Well...if she postpone than I'll have to postpone my plan as well. If she scrape her plan to open her own fitness centre, then perhaps I could buy the equipments from the instructor and do something with it.

Just wait and see.

Oh no....

Hopefully I wont get addicted into this. Found it at Elisa's blog, decided to try out and gee....can't snap out of it. Already Amri was harassing me to do him & Adam. Did the picture look like me? Perhaps so....after deducting 50% off my current weight and age :) Well...who cares. It was fun. Amri certainly agreed it really looked like me. Most probably because that was what I was wearing now...hihihi. The luxury of blogging and wearing whatever ridiculous clothes that took my fancy....aaahhhh.

That was not entirely true however. I was dressed up in gym suit because I needed to go off early to aerobic today. The ladies were having a meeting for annual dinner/hi tea or whatever they'll decide later. See....my fitness club has annual dinner :) And I was the committee member. Truth is, I'm not entirely sure of what am i supposed to do/organise. Belly dancing contest?

M.I.A

Nothing to do with chartered accountants anyway. I was referring to stuffs in our house that went missing-in-action from time to time. I have come to accept that as another facts of life when it come to living under the same roof with two undiciplined boys and not so competent maid. Many small items have went missing before...watches, cds, dvds, ring, feeding bottle, toothbrush, books, hairclips, broochs, screwdriver, lipstick, thumbdrive and a million other stuffs. More often than not, I'd be able to find them after I ransacked the places where the maid and the boys dumped stuffs in. Or they simply reappeared with no reason.

Well....not this time. The wretched pen decided to stay MIA even after I turned the house upside down. Not once, not twice...but many, many times. Every nook and cranny. Sheesh!!!! As if I didn't have anything better to do.

But then...the search itself was not difficult. It is a small house anyway. What made it a bitter pill to swallow was the fact that a peek inside my bags was deemed necessary in order to locate the stupid pen. Have I gone that absentminded not to notice that big ugly pen inside my bag which only carry a pilot pen at its most extravagant days?

Yes, admittedly...most of HIS belongings ended up as HER stuffs. Sunglasses, notebook, digicam, books, bank account, camera but honestly....a pen? Didn't it fell under the same category as belt and briefcase and shoes? Expensive and showy but hardly a unisex stuffs.

Maybe I should reconsider those web surveillance thingy. Or send the boys and bibik to 5S training.

One unlucky Sunday......

Somehow, I decided to do grocery shopping on Sunday even though I could very well go at any time on any day from Monday to Friday. When Tesco was practically empty. And, I dragged the two boys along as well, which was very normal to me but actually just adding to the extreme crowd on that Sunday.

I bought a trolley load of stuff and obviously had to let Adam out of the trolley to give space to 10kg of beras, 2 jumbo size diapers, 1/2 dozen of formula and practically something from every shelf at tesco.

So 2 boys walking by my side. As if! I had never been lucky enough to be able to walk elegantly while my two boys followed at my heel. Never. Not in a million years. I'll forever envied the mothers I saw everywhere with their kids that never seemed to step out of line. It simply will not happen to me. And I accepted that.

Back to the boys.

I walked three steps and noticed Amri was dawdling behind looking at some plastic watch that he already had one. Waited for him to catch up. Then Adam wanted me to carry him. Adjusted my bag strap and lugged 16 kg of a son on one hip and looked behind to ask Amri to hurry up.

He was not there. Not around the place either. Not at the foodcourt or playground. Sigh! I was more annoyed than worried. And cursing myself for doing my shopping on payday Sunday. I, who was lucky enough to be able to shop during weekdays. Duh!

I was not too worried about Amri. He was 5 and knew his way around tesco. Plus, I already drilled him of what to do in situation like this. That is to look for a guard and give him my namecard. Which I always put in both of their pocket.

But apparently, all of the guards were upstairs while we were downstairs on the way to car park. And Amri had changed to another pants just before we came out of the house so he did not have my card with him. Also it was getting late and Adam was sleepy and refused to walk. He was whining for milk too. Sheesh.....

Just when I thought I'd better pop up at the main tesco area upstairs and report to the security, Amri was seen walking in escorted by three young men. Hmph! He was already at car park. He did not cry though. But started wailing when I reprimanded him sharply. All the way to home. Apologizing profusely. Honestly, I've never seen Amri feeling sorrier than that and apologizing earnestly.