On the road Kedah - Tganu

Left for Tganu sometime after 9am. We decided to take this Timur Barat route. Didn't feel like calling it hiway. It was clearly not a highway, or at least not the highway that I was used to. We stop at Bukit Bunga because I heard so much hype for that place that spelled retail theraphy. Sound like my kind of place. Well....somehow i found out it was not my kind of place. It was rather dusty,hot and one shop was just a replica of the next. Couldn't find anything interesting to buy, which surprised hubby a bit :) Since i was already there, I bought some fruits as buah tangan. Okay.....now that I've seen it, I didn't have to think about it anymore.

Reached KT about 4pm and found Adik & family were still there.

Later on, Adik & co left for Kuantan about 6pm but called 2 hours later saying they were caught in very bad traffic jam and was still somewhere at Marang. They gave up the idea of driving back to Kuantan and drop by at Gie's house for dinner and returned to KT later for another night at Mie's house. Wahhh.....ramai juga orang Tganu staying outstation ye...

On the road Shah Alam - Kedah - Penang

We left sometime after 6 in the morning but still...a bit of traffic jam at Rawang. Seemed like the whole of klang valley were making their way out of town as early as us. The boys went back to sleep as soon as we hit the highway and only woke up when we were already in Perak area. As usual, Amri was gung ho about stopping at R&R. He just loves R&R . The food was so so and since there were more travellers than usual....even our nasi lemak ran out of eggs. But to Amri, it was still the best :)

Arrived mak's house close to 12 noon and of course, no lunch. Luckily Ajoe was there to tapau some lauk for us.

Left for Bayan Lepas airport at 4pm and reached there sometime after 5pm. An airport staff told us the flight arrival might be delayed to 7.30pm. Alamak!!!! parkinng was full so we parked a little bit out of the way. Couldn't find mak anjang and co but met with Mak Cik Esah instead. She said her friend from airport called saying that the flight would arrive at 5.30pm. Aik...pulak dah. Well...it was soon 5.30 and no announcement of arrival coming so we decided to grab something to eat at nearby cafe.
Shortly after 6pm, Adam decided to poo poo and i had to practically drag him into the toilet. Honestly......just how many fire extinguisher a 2 year ols had to inspect to be satisfied enough? While i was changing Adam''s diaper, mak anjang called to say mak and abah had arrived. Already????????? I gave up dragging Adam, I just hauled his 16kg self to the cafe where hubby & mak cik esah were still eating. Eh....mak cik esah was missing. Never mind lah...she's a local, she'd know where to find us. Dragged Amri & hubby to where it looked like arrival hall. So many people waiting for their love ones coming back from mecca at such a tiny airport. Finally I spotted them. Mak, Abah, mak anjang & pak anjang. Pak anjang had special pass that allow him inside the airport anytime, so mak and abah did not need to follow the queue. Oh...thank God....mak's knees and joints surely could not cope with all the waitings. Hugged Mak & Abah. mak looked so different. Abah was still coughing like mad. Amazingly, Mak was okay. Just a bit of dry cough for the last 2 days. Her gout, diabetis, hypertension and what not was not acting up at all.

Finally, all the luggages and air zam zam were already inside hubby's car trunk and mak was already half way into the car when mak cik esah made her sudden reappearance. Heh....! More hugs and kisses then off we go home.

Arrived at mak's house sometime after 8 and guess what?????????? No dinner for us. Bertuah punya adik adik. I shoved Ajo out with the mission of buying dinner which turned out to be a n hour long wait. Duhhh...

All in all....I'm mightily glad mak & abah were back and all are well. Minor sickness could be dealt with later

AidilAdha @ Home Sweet Home

Happy AidilAdha everyone!

No balik kampung trip this time. For many reason. First and foremost, Mak & Abah are at Mecca, performing their haj, so that one particular kampung definitely has to be ruled out. What a balik kampung trip without grandparents to spoil your kids rotten. There was also the ultra hectic schedule at both of our workplaces to juggle with, which translated to working on Monday. Yuck!!!!!!!

Celebrating AidilAdha at our own place was less grand, mostly because I was a complete failure at kitchen. Sure, I could boil packets of nasi impit...but that was all to it. To make matter worse, my great chef of an aunt, Mak Su, has moved to Terengganu for good, leaving me without a complete guide of Cooking 101. Okay...I did have back up caterers but none could match Mak Su. To think that today Mak Su would be cooking for the whole Losong clan was enough to make me check out airasia.com

Well....have a wonderful AidilAdha! We'd be celebrating Adam's 2nd birthday in advance some time this afternoon because I was afraid that by 12th January, I'd be buried so deep in work (read: trouble) that by the time I checked out the calendar, it was already march.

Happy Birthday to Kak Cik

Have a wonderful birthday sis! Hope you get well soon. So sorry that you fell sick on your birthday. You could always drop by at our house tomorrow and join Adam's birthday celebration to make up for it. That is, if you don't mind sharing his batman birthday cake.

Back to kindy

It's a different kindy for Amri. I decided to switch kindy mainly for the reason that the teachers at his previous kindy scare me (not Amri). The way they reminded me of what's in store for PS3 class, one would be forgiven to think that Amri was sitting for his SPM this year end. The kindy was great, Amri was there for two years doing his PS1 & PS2 which were mostly sing song and play games. PS3 however, was designed to prepare childrens for Year 1 of government school. Which was, in fact, a practical thing to do. I however, decided not to stress myself (and Amri) with another year of homework and dreaded parent teacher meeting. That's all.

So i sent him to Little Caliph. Which was everything I could hope for. No homework, no school bag required, and Iqra class under one roof. Plus the principal was a genius gym practitioner. Amri was happy with his uniform, which bibik said looked like pyjamas :)

Hope all goes well.

It's the time of the year

When I get to play mom of four! Yes...my niece and nephew had flown in from Kuala Terengganu on Tuesday night to spend the rest of their school holidays with Amri and Adam. Once a year, I get to act like a seasoned mom, not unlike Ninuk and Gartblue and Azida. Maybe I'll also post a pic of all four of them here like gartblue. That is, if i can get all four of them to stand still at one place for a few seconds.

I have yet to plan their rezdenvous but I think the trip to KLCC Petrosain and Aquaria is a must, judging from Kakak's enthusiasm. Sampai menggigau!

Mak & Abah go to Mecca

The morning started well enough. There were many guests. Kak Cik and I fed them well (or so we thought). Both of us could not locate the plates and cutleries and cup. Adam managed to break one glass. The house was in complete mess. Amri went missing. So far so good......

A neighbour recite adzan and du'a and both mak & Abah boarded our car and off we go to Bayan Lepas. Only to make emergency stop half an hour later because Adam decided to puke out a bottleful of milk. Which was actually the order of the day. We were used to it. The only problem was that some of the vomitted out milk had dribbled to mak's dress, whom was sitting beside me. And mak would be travelling with that dress. To Mecca no less. The nine hours plane ride. The many many hours at Tabung Haji complex. The many many hours after arrival before they check in into their hotel. Oh my God...................

We furiously tried to wipe mak's dress down with wet wipe, which was heavensent at time like this. Lucky for us, Adam vomited out right after he downed the big bottle of milk so it had no chance to cuddle and turned sour yucky smelling yet. Okay...done with that. But still a little bit problem. I was drenched in puke....heheheheh. Eeeekkkk!!!!!!!!!!!

Saw to Mak & Abah checking in and stuff at Tabung haji complex. Thank God there were Mak Anjang, Pak Anjang, Pak Cik Tajul and Pak Teh Ali there as we were completely clueless. Stayed around till Dzuhur time then made our move since Mak & Abah would need to get ready for their solat. Drove around Penang and got completely lost looking for Holiday Inn Batu Feringgi. Duh. The authority there needed a refresher course in signboard placing. Managed to check in one hour later, dead tired and smelled wonderfully of puke.

This was one of the rare occasion when we ordered room service and was delighted by such thing.

Amri 5 Year Old

A letter to Pak Caq

Dear Pak Caq,

Ida might think she'd be able to hide the fact from you and knowing her, the bright and mischievous young lady, she'd find a way. But I just wanted you to know that, Ida managed to get her hand scalded by a pan of hot boiling oil. So, do not be surprised when you see her with err...discoloured hand. I also wanted to inform you that, I did try to get her to see a doctor but she insisted that her hand would heal by itself. Much that I love her, I do not intent to argue with a tae kwon do expert. Therefore, please forgive me for not doing much other than suggesting to her that I could fetch her from office or commuter station and bring her back to my house for further reprimanding.

Your fav niece,
Nae

Caught off guard

Amri yelled from his bathroom saying that he did not any more toothpaste. Fine, I grabbed one from supplies cabinet and handed to him...half expecting him to whine about the unnecessary ritual of brushing teeth. Instead...he took the toothpaste from me and exclaimed "Wow.....new toothpaste!!! And a big one!" I was dumbstrucked. He then proceeded to peel out the box, get the tube out and squeezed a dollop on his toothbrush. His face lighted up again. "It's mango!!!!! Thank you, ibu." I was still dumbstrucked but managed a teeny weeny "Welcome"

This little person always amazed me. Honestly, there was nothing fancy with the toothpaste. It was the same brand he's been using for years, just in a bit bigger tube and different flavour. I'd never knew a new tube of toothpaste could be so exciting to a five year old. Nor would I imagined it to be. It was a reminder to me that I still had so much to learn. Even if I were to be a mom fifth time round, I'd still be amazed with those little monster...ehhh....angels.

We were invited to another birthday party at McD section 3. Well....Amri still had not recovered from his frightening experience with McD clown (or was it a bird?) last year, who appeared at play area while Anisa's girls and my boys were playing. The girls screamed and ran, which was understandable. The clown/mascot/big bird really looked ugly, with its dirty costume and all. But I really did not expect Amri to scream and run and keep on being frightened till this day...hihihi. Poor little thing. Just hope he does not sue me for phychological damage twenty years down the road.
However, no clown made any appearance but I still felt sorry for Amri and the birthday girl as well. Asya, whom is also Amri's classmate at q-dees was pretty sick and obviously did not enjoy her birthday. Hope you feel better soon Asya.

I finally managed to collect my gendong from Ninuk. However, there were only two left. So I bought one for Lah. Sorry kak Zehan & friend...yours had to wait.

Syawal? Zulkaedah?

I thought with Syawal ending yesterday, there would be no more open houses to attend and I would be able to watch over my food intake (and my expanding girth) even more closely. The meagre kgs that I lost during fasting month kept threatening to make a come back. Plus, I had like a few millions things to do, most of which were kept being posponed week after week.

I attended Little Khalifah open house (kindy) in the morning, feeling very pleased with the way they incorporated montessori and genius gym methodogy into the syllabus. Grabbed a few bites then rushed off. I would have to come back next week to register Amri. Hopped into hubby's car and off to Kelana Jaya. Rushed home one and half hour later and took kain batik terengganu for Amri's nenek and a new bottle of milk for Adam then off to Lestari Puchong. Second open house for the day. I was half suspecting it to be a birthday party since the date fell outside Syawal so I came prepared with birthday presents for both kids. The host was hubby's ex housemate whom had helped him a lot when he was in deep trouble years ago. The wife was a great cook and not surprisingly, single handedly prepared all the sumptious galore except for two items. All the while still maintaining the zen state of her kitchen, instead of turning it into a warzone. Amazing! I wouldn't be able to do that even if I were helped by an army of maids. Hubby met another ex housemate and chat away merrily. I used the time to get a third helping of everything...hihihi.

Hours later, we bade farewell to the host and made our way to Puchong Perdana, visiting Amri's ex babysitter whom had become like a family to us. Amri gave his nenek the kain batik we bought at Terengganu. It has become a ritual. Every year we'd buy a pair and presented to her though she'd probably has a whole wardrobe full of them batiks.

Said our goodbye sooner than planned because Adam had soiled his second diaper and I did not have any more stock in hand. Upon reaching home, bibik told that our neighbour invited us over for their open house do. Quickly showered and changed the very comot boys and made our way to another open house of the day. Since it was almost Maghrib, lets just call it our dinner :)

Phew!!!!!!!

A birthday and an anniversary

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

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

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

Happy Anniversary to darling hubby.

Our Annual Aidilfitri Open House

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

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

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

Battle on

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

All will be well.

Goodbye Losong

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

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

Final Day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eid-Ul-Fitr Day 3

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

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

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

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

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

Aidilfitri Day 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eid Mubarak

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

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

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

This year is great

Happy Birthday to Mak

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

Okay, maybe I should learn to cook properly.