Good Luck

Today is the start of SPM. All the best to G. Hope you'll do well. Hope you are prepared, and even if you are not.. well... too late to do anything else!!!

I made a card for him and all of us wrote something in it. My favourite is the advice that Amir wrote for him, which reads : "Good luck, jangan loklaq". Well said, Amir!!

So G....

GOOD LUCK
ALL THE BEST
BONNE CHANCE
GAMBATE KUDASAI
GUID LUCK
and all those good wishes....

More on cats..

We just came back from KL yesterday. Nadiah didn't even miss her cats. Hmmm.... this probably means that she is over her cat-crazy phase. This also means mama and baba are stuck with taking care of the cats. Darn it!!

As soon as we arrived back, my mom brought Orange to Nadiah, and she promptly took the cat back to it's kitty house. Under lock and key. Poor cats.. no freedom at all.

We left the cats for 3 days and they stink to high heaven. Sheesh!! This morning we gave each a bath and a blow-dry and they are smelling nice (as nice as a cat could smell, that is!!) and fluffy again.

The Magnificent Four

Nadiah had fun yesterday playing with her cousins. Everybody had a bike each so they were racing around the house to Nadiah's "On your marks, get set.. GO!"

It's good to see her having fun with the others. I see my dad watching from the porch, happy and proud to see his cucus enjoying themselves. I wish Irfan could have been here. We could put him in the stroller and he could join in the race too.

I caught this on video:

Oh BTW, yesterday was Irfan's first birthday. Too bad we all couldldn't be with him to celebrate. Maybe we'll have a little party over the school holidays and take a trip to the zoo or something. That would be so much FUN!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, IRFAN..
Hope you had a blast at the aquarium looking at the fish... :D

Cats

We now have 2 cats living with us. It all started with Nadiah going ga-ga over the cats at the pet shop a few weeks ago. Everyday we would stop for 15 mins or so at the pet shop so Nadiah can have fun poking, pulling furs and feeling the texture of the cats' ears. Then one day, 2 kittens suddenly appeared at our house. Nobody seemed to have any claims on them so Nadiah declared them hers. As I am allergic to cats, I stood as far away as I could just taking pictures of Nadiah. Shukri had to do most of the work like bathing the cats, feeding and the best job EVER... scooping up cats' poop from the sand dish (thank God for my allergies!!)







Anyway, in order to make sure the kittens are clean and well fed, Shukri made a kitty house. He took two days build it from scratch and I must say that it was a job well done!! Hats off to Baba!!









Although there are two kittens, Nadiah only like playing with the orange one, which she aptly named Orange. The other kitten which is grey had different names almost everyday before we finally settled on ChitChat. I pity Orange because she's stuck in the kitty house most of the time and whenever we let her out to run around, Nadiah would scoop her up and take her for a walk everywhere she went. I fear Orange would suffer from laziness eventually. Sometimes she would take Orange on her bike, but refusing to let the poor cat sit in the basket but would hold the cat in one hand. As seen in this video:



Then she would take Orange up on the swings with her. But Orange would just curl quietly in her arms making absolutely no fuss (probably dizzy from all that rocking!!).

Happy 17th, G

Last Wednesday was G's 17th birthday. There wasn't much of a celebration except for a cake and some cards from various family members. With SPM just around the corner, I think he would rather not take time for a party. Instead would postpone till after the exams.

Here are some pics taken of him with the cake:

Of course, since I had started scrapbooking, I had to make a card for him myself or it would not have been worth spending all that money on SB supplies. Click here to view the card. G loved it so I'm happy.

Raya, Raya, Raya...

Yes, I know. It's almost the end of Syawal and I am just writing about the Hari Raya celebration. So sorry but I have been busy, busy, busy. Everyday through the month of Ramadhan, I've done nothing but sew, sew, sew. I was even sewing beads on my own baju kurung on hari raya it self. Luckily I managed to finished it by noon and the cina gambaq was due at 1 o'clock to take pictures of the family. Or my undone work would have been framed up on the wall for everyone to see for many, many years.

Anyway, since I was too busy beading, we did not make any kuih raya this year. There was simply no time at all. So my brothers (and me too :( ) had to forgo mom's kuih cornflakes and kuih makmur. All I managed was chocolate cupcakes and even that was the instant-pour-from-the-box-and-mix type.

These were the only ones I managed to pipe the icing and they look presentable, which was then taken to the in-laws. The ones left at out house were never served to the guests because Nadiah sabotaged the icing by piping herself. She managed to get more icing on her fingers and mouth than on the cuppies.

At the in-laws I met Nadiah's new cousin for the first time, who was then only 22 days old. Little Mohd Shahrul Ilham. Baby Shahrul was born a couple of weeks early but there was not much complication that he was able to go home with his mom few days after birth. I took a picture of him looking so innocent in his sleep.
(*have got the picture somewhere...)

Unbeknown to us that that would be the last picture ever taken of him because baby Shahrul passed away early the next day. So the second day of Hari Raya started with a solemn note. Shukri rushed to the hospital when he was first taken because he had difficulty breathing. But a few minutes later the doctor informed that baby Shahrul had passed on. I can just imagine what my BIL and his wife must have felt like to loose a child they had only for 23 days.

Day 3, I went to an old classmate, Awein's house and also took the chance to meet up with Iza. Another classmate was also there with her hubby and daughter. So that was a nice reunion. The next day I decided to ask them over to the house, plus a few more friends with their respective families. It was great fun to gather again and took that moment to catch up. But as we all grow older, each with their own children, I find that conversations usually comes back to the kids. What mothers do not like talking about their offsprings??

All in all, this year's raya was quite with ther exception of the mini reunions. The most important thing is Nadiah's collection of duit raya was almost as much as the duit raya that I was giving away. So that was good.. hahaa!!

More raya pics

Nadiah in her first day raya dress

me and Irfan

he's soooo CUTE!!

Nadiah giving a bollywood pose

I love this picture

Nadiah being naughty

I'm Lovin' It

Last night, hubby said the most wonderful word.

He said “Let’s go to McDonald’s”

McDONALD’S….. *sigh* music to my ears.

It seems like forever since I had my last bite. Every Ramadhan I promise myself that I’ll try not to eat McD for the whole month. But every year I’ll succumb to the smell and sound of the food. Yes, SOUND because me and hubby had to sit and stare and listen to Nadiah munching on all that fries twice already since the first day of puasa. Nobody makes fries like McDonald’s.

Hubby came back early from tarawih last night but even so, we had 15+ minutes before closing time. So I rushed to get changed, get Nadiah out of the room, run downstairs and get her shoes on in just five minutes flat. Usually it would take like 20 minutes just to get Nadiah to put on her shoes. So last night was certainly a Guiness Book Record moment. Even she understood all the rushing around like crazy because she heard the word McDonald’s and ice-cream. Nadiah rushed back into the room to get my handbag which I had purposely left opting for just my handphone and purse. But no, I had to bring along my big fat handbag too. She was jumping up and down, hurrying me along because I took 30 full seconds just to put on my shoes.

We got to Star Parade with 5 minutes to closing time. Even the parking attendant was nowhere in sight so that means no parking fees. Woohoo!! That’s a first. By the time we got in, the shutters between Pacific and the outer stores were half closed so we ducked under it and slammed right into the long line of people waiting for their turn at the McD dessert stall. Hmm… I guess we weren’t the only ones desperate for some sweet and tasty treats. So we decided to line up at the main counter where lines weren’t that long.

Finally our turn came and let’s just say that I am now full with greesy fries and fishy burger and the white, smooth and cool stuff. I think that would hold me till the end of Ramadhan.

So far puasa month has been smooth sailing. We haven’t had the woke-up-late-and-rushing-through-sahur morning yet. Which usually happens once or twice every year.

On a different note, Nadiah had another appointment with Alex in Loh Guan Lye Hospital last Saturday. She had another one-to-one session with him and me and hubby had to wait outside (which we spent trying hard to keep our eyes open). The last 15 minutes of the hour-long session, Alex called us in and said that he was happy with Nadiah’s progress. I asked if she said anything to him and he said yes, she did say a few words which he did understand and was able to communicate with her. She also told him to shush when he talked too much but that’s beside the point. The main thing is, they are able to make each other understand. I have been worried because we, hubby and myself, seems to understand her wants and needs well enough. Maybe that’s because we spend a lot of time with her. But most people don’t seem to have a clue with what she is trying to convey. So that is an improvement. I guess all those times in NASOM and school are really paying off. Next appointment will be in January 2008.

After the appointment, we made a quick visit (when I say we, I meant me and when I say quick, it was like an hour) at the only scrapbooking store in Penang. I had visited Smidapaper online many times and was really excited to be going to their store. It was pure heaven. They have so many things and everything was colourful and I was like a kid who just stepped into a candy store. It was a good hour spent although not so much on my credit card. We had the foresight to bring along a laptop so that Nadiah was occupied waiting in the car for that hour. Can’t wait for that appointment in January. But then again.... maybe I DON'T have to wait till January to pay visit now, do I???

Rest In Peace, Little Girl

When a little girl of 8 went missing on the 20th August, the country was sympathetic and help search for the girl. Almost a month to that day, another little girl was found dead in a gym bag, all battered and bruised and worst still, sexually abused. The whole nation went in shocked. When the authorities confirmed that the missing girl and the girl in the bag were one and the same, the whole nation was outraged. How could this happen to a little girl? An innocent and sickly little girl. What has become to this country when parents are afraid to let their children play and enjoy life in fear of the same tragedy?

Perhaps there is a hikmah that the said little girl did not survive the ordeal. Imagine what her life would have been like relieving the nightmare again and again. The psychological impact to her life would have been tremendous that she would probably wish for death itself. I pray that the end was quick for her. I pray that she did not suffer for long. And I pray that the monsters that did those despicable acts on her die a thousand death and suffers every single time!!

Our religion teaches us to forgive and forget. But how could her parents not wish for death for those people? How could the parents forget the look on their daughter’s face as she laid in death? How could we forgive if we were in their shoes?

Let us mourn for the loss of innocence. Let us mourn for what has become to this country. Let us mourn for little Nurin Jazlin. May she rest in peace and may her soul be blessed by Allah Almighty….

Al-Fatehah

******************************************************
We say,

"FIND THOSE BASTARDS!!! AND CUT THEM UP INTO PIECES!!"

Selamat Berpuasa

Here's wishing all the Muslims
"SELAMAT BERPUASA".

May you have a blessed Ramadhan.

I Hurt

Uhuk uhuk!! I had an accident riding a motorbike 2 days ago. I loss control and slammed into the pillar of our porch. It was all me, me, me!!! Nobody was moving and no car was nearby except the one that was parked on the other side of the porch. I did it all by myself and have no one to blame but big 'ole me!!

And now everything hurts. I have a long gash on the inside of my cheek which got caught between my teeth and the pillar. Bruises on my shoulder and wrist and my muscles ache everywhere. Even in places I didn't even know muscles existed.

What's worse is that it all happened right in front of our neighbour doctor who was on the other side of the fence where the motorbike fell in the end. I think my dignity took the worse beating than my body. Thank God the blood in my mouth stopped or I would have had to go to him to get stitches. Argh..!!! The embarrassment

Crafty Nadiah

While I'm  busy scrapping in my tiny scrapping space, Nadiah would come and menyibuk nak scrap as well. She would be sitting on her little table and work on her "spider". That's when she would take a piece of A4 paper and fold it down the middle. Then trace the palm of her left hand and cut out the picture. Then cut out her "thumb" and unfold. Voila!! You'll have an eight legged spide look-a-like. Cut out 2 small circle shapes for eyes, a triangle for the nose and a smile.



I've got a picture of the finished spider somewhere. I stopped taking pictures as she makes the spider 3-4 times a day since she learned it about a year ago. Sometimes the trash can is full of finished and semi-finished spiders.
---------------------------------------------------------

A few days ago, Shukri bought Nadiah a box of 24 tubs of poster color. It's the one thing that I always try to avoid buying for her. I usually get her those that come in tubes. The thing with Nadiah is, she would always try to use up the whole box in one sitting. So the safest choice would be tubes. But Baba being Baba... just could not resist being twisted around Nadiah's little finger, and so bought her the big set.

When we got home, he was worried that she would use up the whole 24 tubs. So he went out again and bougt a kilo of flour to make his very own finger paints. He tried 3 colours: red, yellow and green. Nadiah loved it. She loved the icky, squishy feel of the goo. Not only did she paint with her hands, she also made footprints everywhere in the room (thank God I had the sense to remove all the carpets in the room or it would be hell to wash!!).

Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka

Happy 50th Merdeka to Malaysia and all the people of our beloved country. 

MERDEKA  

MERDEKA  
 
MERDEKA

Scrapbook Mini Album

When I went to KL, I went crazy over scrapbooking stuff. I went to practically every scrapbooking shop in KL. I alsogot to me my best friend, Wina and her daughter, Dania, while she's back from London for the summer. Wina got me and Nadiah some clothing stuff as gifts and also brought back my purchases from eBay UK which includes Making Memories Mini Flower Brads. Five packs of them, which would have cost me a bomb if I were to buy that much here for something so small and tiny.

Anyway, I was thinking of something to give to Dania before they went back to London and decided to make a scrapbook mini album.

Am too lazy to upload detailed pictures here but you can view them in my scrapbooking blog. But here's a picture of Dania with the album.


I'm told that Dania already has 7 or 8 scrapbooks, secret diaries etc but hey.... this one is handmade by Aunty Yatie so it's got to be something special, right??

Of all the stuff that I got in KL, the best was a circle cutter which I found in my brother's old drawer chest crammed with his architecture rubbish (ok, to me they are rubbish... maybe not to him) when he was a student. It's ancient but still in good working order. Woohoo! What a treasure!!

Melaka Trip

Our trip to Melaka was from 20/8 to 22/8. We went to Ayer Keroh and stayed at Paradise Melaka Village Resort.

The building was a little old and needed lots of refurbishment. But at least it was clean. And the swimming pool area was nicely maintained. Lucky for us because we spent most of our times at the pool. The problem was ,you could see the pool from the room and Nadiah kept looking out the window. Excited to see people swimming and she kept running around the room saying,

"Schwiming, schwiming!!"

As soon as we entered the room when we first arrived, and she saw the view, Nadiah had all her clothes off in record time.

Nadiah enjoying herself at the pool

That's our room, top right, taken from the pool

Living and dining area

The swimming pool taken from the room

The next morning we planned to go to the zoo. But had to postpone because the pool was too tempting for her. So we went in the afternoon and missed some of the animals because they were napping. But those that we saw were great and Nadiah loved the zoo.

When we moved from one animal to another, she kept saying "Bye-bye, see you later". Just like Baby Bop did in Barney's Visit To The Zoo video.

Enjoy the slide show

Back in KL, we spent some time with baby Irfan. He's so cute and cheeky. I caught this incident on camera on him trying to get Nadiah's attention

1. Irfan eyeing Nadiah

2. Getting closer....

3. Hold out his hand to get attention
And Nadiah looked bored and uninterested in all those pictures, not to mention very unphotogenic (if there's such a word).

And here's a picture of Irfan, zoomed in:

HUNGRY!!

Yesterday Nadiah told Baba'

"Eat. Hungry, hungry."

She has never express her hunger verbally before. Most times she would just go down to the kitchen and started opening and closing the fridge or cupboards. So this is a first. We didn't even realise that she knew the word "hungry", let alone knew how to use it.

Well done, Nadiah. Hope you'll be using a lot more words to tell us what you are feeling.

Pictures Tell All

I was going to update on my birthday a few days ago but have been so busy that I couldn't find the time. I am now in Melaka taking a break during this week long school holidays. As Shukri has taken Nadiah to the pool (for the third time since we got here yesterday), I'll take this chance to just upload some pics.

1. Birthday lunch at Damiral's Grill with Shukri, Nadiah and G. Parents and everybody else has gone to KL. No cake this year except for a slice of chocolate cake with ice cream for Nadiah.

2. We've been planning to go to KL for weeks. A day before the actual date, Bro#3 called up to say that his son, Irfan, has been admitted into Damansara Specialist Center due to very high fever. So mom joined us to KL to have a look at her youngest cucu. Irfan is so small that it's heartbreaking to think of him being injected with long needles and confined to the bed. When we arrived at the hospital, there he was in his baba's arms, greeting us at the ward entrance. The poor baby has got several mosquito bites on his face and legs. And his voice was so husky when he's moaning in pain due to some inflamation in his throat.

3. On our latest trip to Toys 'r Us, bought Nadiah a harmonica. At first she didn't know what it was and thus wasn't interested in it. But when I started to blow into it, she whooped for joy and grabbed the darn thing from my hands. And hasn't stopped blowing into it since. Luckily she left it in KL since we came here to Melaka.


I'll update on our trip to Melaka in a few days. Tomorrow we'll be back in KL to send off my parents for Umrah and will return to Alor Star either Thursday or Friday. I'm hoping Friday so that I'll have more time to go round the scrapbooking stores in KL. Have been to a few.... and ssshhhh..... will not mention how much I've spend on all those lovely, colourful papers, flowers, brads and god knows what else... Ta!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO

ME!!!

Coincidences

When I was 10, the 'jungle' next to our house was cleared to make way for a new house. Before long, a family moved into the new house and they had 3 kids. The eldest was the same age as me and we found out that we were both born in the same month. Not only that, but he was one day older than me. What an amazing coincidence. After years of living in this house, then suddenly a family moved in next door and they happen to have a son who is exactly a day older. Once in a while you'll hear of someone who shares the same birthday as you but usually not in the same year.

Another coincidence: my second brother, when he came back from the States, was introduced by his friend to a girl who works in the same office as he (the friend that is). So my brother started dating this girl and after exchanging infos on each other, they found out that not only were they born on the same date, they were also born in the same year. Same day!! Amazing!!

How many people can say they date a girl/boy born on the same day as them. Better yet, how many people can claim they married a girl/boy who was born on the same day. Yes, they got married.

And let me say that it proved that people born with the same star or in the same year, share the same traits. Because they are sooooo very much alike. I also know another person who shares the same birthday with them (but not the same year, of course) and share some of the same traits. Amazing!!

So to my ex-neighbour, Happy Birthday and many happy returns of the day.

psst... that means my birthday is tomorrow... heheheh

Found It!!

Cat has been found.

I repeat.

CAT HAS BEEN FOUND!!

A few days ago, I bought a big plastic box/container to put in Nadiah's old clothes. And in the box was where the Cat was.




Who else must have put it in there if not the owner herself.



Now everything is back to normal again.

MISSING: One Cat

OK don't panic, DON'T PANIC!!!

Nadiah has lost her cat.

It's stuffed, it's dead and it's wearing a collar with the name Tabatha around it's neck.

If you've seen a faded orange and white cat, who looks like it's been rolling around in the washing machine one too many time.... that's the one. It answers to the name CAT.

Below is the latest picture of the missing cat:

SEEN IT?

GIVE US A SHOUT!!