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 :)