Ramadhan 1429

I would like to take this opportunity in wishing all my Muslim friends and blog readers a very happy Ramadhan. May you be blessed in this holy month.

Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka!!

Happy 51st birthday, Malaysia!!!

May we have peace and harmony for many, many years to come!

Summer Olympics 2008

Did you watch the Beijing Olympic opening last night? I thought it was absolutely spectacular!! Admittedly I didn't watch the whole thing, but what I did watch held me in complete awe. That dance-handwriting routine on the painting scroll... amazing!!! And that moving blocks... fantastic!! That the performances were practiced since the last 8 years was well worth all their tremendous effort!!

Feeling The Blues

I think I'm coming down with something. Got a tummy ache, I hurt all over and I feel like throwing up a time or two. No.. it's not the P word!! Just a bug, I'm sure.

I'm going to have an early nite tonite. So, nitey-nite and see ya!!

{Fishy} Update

For those of you who have been wondering about Nadiah's fish... I have good news and I have bad news.

The good new is that she loved the fish so much that we've been adding more and more fish of different types. At the last count, there were about seven of them.

The bad news is, one night was I prowling around in the semi darkness looking for something (I don't remember what) and I think I must have kicked the wire to the oxygen/filter thingy and apparently it was a good hard kick that the socket came off and stopped all O2 from flowing into the water. Then next morning I see 7 dead fish floating away in the tank.

Yup!! That's me... the fish murderer!!

This Blog Desperately Needs Updating

Yes, yes, I know. Don't need to tell me. I've been lazy and neglecting this blog. Plus, I've been neglecting my friends' blogs as well. Don't really know what's happening in their lives as of this moment. Some of them has probably gone private and block me from their sites. Ok, I'll try to be a better blogger from now on. But mind you, TRY is the operative word here. I'm not making any promises!! :D

Anyway, things has been happening in these last few months. Well, 4 months couldn't have gone by without SOMEthing happening, right? In this case, it's mostly in my scrapbooking world. I've been chosen to be in the design team in another scrapbooking site - ScrappingGlitz. It's new, it's fresh and has lots of new product brands. At the same time, I've been reinstated as a Guest Designer's Team with Scrappingville till the end of the year. So that's another great thing!! I guess that's why I've been a little busy lately. With projects to complete, challenges and online crops to host etc, etc, etc.... Do visit my scrapping blog here to see some of my latest work.

On the home front, everyone is doing fine and dandy. Nadiah, especially. She is doing so much better this year in school and NASOM. Teachers are all happy to report that she is talking so much this year. Also, she's not afraid to do things that she was last year. So that is very good progress. Next week, Nadiah is taking part is the school's Sport's Day. Last year, she absolutely refused to go down to the grounds even for practices. Simply dig in her feet and started crying hysterically. But this year, oh she's been enjoying the practices so much that I'm so proud of her. I especially love the times when I fetch her from school and she would tell me "That was great!" as soon as she comes out the door. Keeps repeating it until I acknowledge her day. Those are the moments that I treasure most!!

It's just over a month to Ramadhan and a month after that, Hari Raya comes along. It would be very soon that I'll be swamped with beading work, I'm sure. So I'm taking what precious days I've got and take things easy and enjoy life.

Till the next time, my friends!!!

Gold Fish

We got Nadiah 2 gold fish today. One is named Dorothy; as in Elmo's Dorothy. And the other is named Goldy. It's been 5 hours since we brought the fishes home and since then Nadiah has fed them at least 7 times. I just hope they'll still be swimming around tomorrow morning... *sigh*

12th General Election 2008

9.25am

Right! I did it! I've done my part. Now we'll just have to wait till results' time...

Another Tag

I got tagged by Liza. Finally going to do this..

You must post the rules before you give your answers. You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name. Each fact must begin with that letter. If you don't have a middle name, just use your maiden name. After you've been tagged, you need to up-date your blog with your middle name and answers. At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and need to read your blog for details).

H = Honest

A = Adventurous

S = Scared of a flying cockroach

N = Nice & friendly

I = Independent

I'm tagging: Hani, Anis, Sha, Naddy, Ida

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Gosh!! Feeling really tired this morning. Had a late night last night with online cropping at Scrap-n-Crop Forum. But before that, we went to Sg Petani to take Nadiah swimming. Most of the family was there also and everyone opted to have dinner at the club. I kept looking at my watch, hoping that dinner will go quickly and we can be back by 9 pm when the cropping starts.

Arrived home a few minutes before 9 and had to quickly rush through my shower, getting Nadiah into her PJs and printing photos for the crop. By 9.30 I was in front of the pc and all ready to go. The crop was fun and the challenges were... well challenging. Mainly because my brain was tired and it was refusing to work and I just could not think artistically!! Anyway, you can view here for the layouts.

Now I'm just chilling out waiting for the time to go fetch Nadiah. I do have some beadings to do but really not feeling up to it... Will probably play game on the pc instead!!

38 Question Tag

This is in reply to Spectacularwave's tag which she did ages ago and I am only just doing.

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
My daughter, Nadiah when she tried to cut her cat's fur.

2. What were you doing at 0800?
Updating my blog.

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Still updating my blog.

4. What happened to you in 2006?
Can't remember.. must dig up my old diary

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
"Nadiah, go to sleep!!!"

6. How many beverages did you have today?
None as yet. It's still early... or could the milk in the cereal count??

7. What color is your hairbrush?
Black.

8.What was the last thing you paid for?
A mini shelves in the shape of a house... which was a steal at RM25.00!!

9. Where were you last night?
Home.

10. What color is your front door?
Mahagony Brown.

11. Where do you keep your change?
In the coin compartment in my purse.

12. What’s the weather like today?
Hot.

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor?
Vanilla and Chocolate.

14. What excites you?
Newly arrived scrapbooking stash and recently watching Capt Jack Sparrow in the Parites movies...

15. Do you want to cut your hair?
Definitely.. if only I could find the time

16. Are you over the age of 25?
Yup!!

17. Do you talk a lot?
Depends on the company.

18. Do you watch the O.C.?
Nope

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
Don't think so... can't remember right this moment

20. Do you make up your own words?
Oh yeas... like 'merapu' + 'merepek' = 'merepu'

21. Are you a jealous person?
Not normally but there are special cases.

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’.
Anis.

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.
Kay Own

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?
My mom

25. What does the last text message you received say?
It sas, "Mebe next time i dtg plk... ehehe", Nad smsed me all the way from Perth

26. Do you chew on your straw?
Never.

27. Do you have curly hair?
Yes.. although it's more wavy rather than curly.

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?
The post office.

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life?
I'm fortunate in never have met a person with extreme rudeness.

30. What was the last thing you ate?
Cereal

31. Will you get married in the future?
I'm already married. What sort of a question is this???!!

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?
Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End (ya I know, I know.. I'm a little ketinggalan!!)

33. Is there anyone you like right now?
Oh... it has always been Brad Pitt.... heheee!!

34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
Last night

35. Are you currently depressed?
No.

36. Did you cry today?
No.

37. Why did you answer and post this?
Because Spec tagged me and it is polite to do so when you've been tagged and plus, it's something to update my blog....

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
I'm not going to tag anybody

2 Months in A Flash

Yes, I know, I know... I have been MIA again. But if you noticed, I have not been away completely. I have been updating my scrapbooking and beading blogs. It's just this one that I've been neglecting.

Many things has happened in this past two months. Some sad news and some good news touched our lives. I shall share the sadness first. One of our cats has passed away. Chit Chat or Chat as he is usually called, one day just became sick and deteriorate from then on. It started with a nose bleed. We took him to the vet but he could not find what is actually wrong with Chat. The vet said he could have had an accident or was in a fight or might have fallen from somewhere. Chet did have bruise at the back of his neck, but that appeared ages ago and we suspected a fight. After the vet had stopped the bleeding, we took him home. But he refused to eat and drink. After two days he just passed on. Poor cat... now Orange is left alone and missing her brother.

Honestly, Nadiah didn't really feel anything because she does not understand death. Furthermore, Orange has always been her favourite and nowadays she seldom play with the cats anyway.

The good news is, I have been selected as one of the Designer's Team for Scrappingville, a scrapbooking store in Bangsar Shopping Center. It will be for 6 months and I get to showcase my work at the store. I have done a few projects and you'll be able to see them at the store. So do visit Scappingville and have a lookie!!

Through scrapbooking I have met many talented ladies around the the country and also from Singapore and Brunei. Now if I go down to KL, I'll try to meet up with some of them. Most times are with Nad and Michelle. One of the times I was there, we had a cropping session at Michelle's and Nad brought some yummylicious cupcakes!!! And she even initialed the cuppies with a Y for Yatie and N for Nadiah. Nadiah loved it .. and so did her mom, naturally... :D. Nadiah also had a great time making art with Mich's kids, Clarissa and Sean. (psst.. guys, I know this was long ago but I just had to put up those photos of the cuppies... heheee!!)

Last weekend when I was in KL again, I dropped by Mich's house again for a lovely chit chat and she presented my with a handmade box full of creativity. She's such a creative lady!!
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First there was the socks phase..... stripy and colourful ones....


Then, came the wellies phase.... a fiery red ones!!!

Nadiah loves her wellies. As it had been a dry and hot month last month, all the water that she could find was in the dried drain which she sprayed water into. So that she could splash around.
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We also did a lot of swimming these past few months. Or rather, Nadiah did. It was either at the club or at home in our foldable pool. Sometimes with Amir, sometimes on her own. Nowadays Nadiah is more confident in the pool that she's refusing to use the floats on her arms and swimming float-less. She is also confident enough to get out of the kiddy pool and into the bigger kids pool, which she just decided to do so on her own. We have been trying to get her to try the bigger pool without any success. I guess she just decided that she's ready and just did it.

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Now that we're busy with school, Nadiah seldom has time to swim except on a few weekends. It's back to twice a day of school now. But her afternoon classes had a time change and now starts at 3 pm.

Ok, I now have two tags to write up and hopefully I can do so today. It's about time I catch up on my friends' updates....

Mighty Irfan

Nadiah is sitting on her stroller



But who is pushing her???

Oh.. it's a superbaby... it's Mighty Irfan....

Play And Swim

Took Nadiah and Irfan to the park today. Oh I forgot to tell that we are babysitting Irfan for 2 weeks because his nursery is closed for two weeks for Christmas. We are most happy to have him here. He seems to be enjoying himself chasing after the cats :D.

Anyway, park time was only for a few minutes because I cannot handle one kid whose wanting to walk everywhere himself now that he has started to walk, while the other kid running around and trying to take her shoes off so she could walk on the sand that's crawling with red ants. Uh-uh I SO cannot handle it on my own. Shukri had gone to the barber which was nearby so left me alone with the kids in the car. I thought I could handle both in the park. But decided to bundle them all up back in the car to wait.

Then after lunch we went to SP because Nadiah wanted to swim at the club. G was with us but we left him at Bro#1's house so he could "play" with Daniel. At the chalet, we met up with Amir who was all dressed for swimming. So I quickly get Nadiah changed into her swim suit and off we went. The kids had a great time in the pool and keep splashing me and Shukri. And we of coursed counter attacked. But they were already wet so there really was no point in it. But oh sooo much fun!!

After the swim, Shukri went out with Amir and his dad, and on the way picked up G and Daniel to go and get some dinner. It was fun having everybody gathered up like that while watching The Fugitive on the telly.

We all left around 9 pm. Sent Daniel back home and headed back to Alor Star right after.
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By the way, this is my 100th post. So happy 100th Post Anniversary to Beads n Sequins blog!!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning.... seems like any other morning. Nadiah got up early today. Most of the family had gone to Langkawi for dad's family gathering. We couldn't go because it will be a difficult thing to get Nadiah on the boat. Maybe when she's older, we could go if they have another gathering.

Since Shukri had gone to help out his dad at the shop, I took Nadiah out shopping. Well, not really shopping, but to exchange some of her clothes that I had bought because the size was wrong. Since it's Christmas time, they had a lot of christmasy decorations on sale and Nadiah especially liked the colourful garlands hanging on the rack. I found her buried in them and wrapping them around her neck. What fun she had :D. I just had to take these photos of her. Didn't much care if people were looking.. LOL!!

In the evening, all three of us went out for a drive. First we stopped at Gemilang Burger stall in Medan Kota. If you like those stall-made burgers, I would have to say that Gemilang makes THE best burger in all of Alor Star. And they are fast too!! Then we drove over to Tanjung Chalie to eat them burgers. It's a beautiful place along Sungai Kedah. Very tranquil, especially with the sun setting over the river. I've never actually stopped and parked at the tanjung. Most times we just drive past it without even giving it a second glance. They have now made a dataran or square and a tower where you can sit and just relax, looking out to the river.

This school holiday is turning out to be quite an exploration. We are taking the time to stop and really "see" what is in our hometown. One of these days we must go to the Padi Exhibition Center we've been hearing so much about. Dad has been bugging us to go for quite some time now.

Hari Raya Aldiladha

December 20th, 2007

Raya haji this year did not feel like raya. Very quite and not much fuss around it. We didn't even make any cookies, not even my very quick, very simple chocolate cake. The men were not even dressed in their baju melayu, except for the prayers, and they got changed immediately after. Shukri and my dad went to see the korban after the prayers and only got back around 2pm. And only then that we went to my in-laws. And by that time all the other in-laws had come and gone, so we didn't get to meet them.

After a few hours, were were back at home and some relatives came and went. So that was about it for this year's raya korban. But we did get G to take a quick photo of the three of us.



So SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILADHA to all the Muslims... err.. a belated one, that is.

Kuala Kedah Marina Habour

December 14th, 2007

I've been neglecting this blog again. Been meaning to post this one since we went there which was on the 14th December. We went for a drive one evening and decided to take Nadiah to look at the sea. So went up to the Kuala Kedah Marina Habour which is about 30 minutes drive from home. The castle-like building is the central point of attraction, I think, to those who come by this place. There is also the Old Fort (or Kota Lama) which is in ruin nearby, but this 'castle' is still the main attraction. Why, you ask me? This is why..



Does it not look like it came out of an English scenery? Somewhat Normanic or some sort like that. It just doesn't go with the surrounding area, which I might say is very, very kampung.

It's bad enough that this castle was build here, now take a look at this:



Don't you think that zinc roofing really top it all off?? I agree that the castle is beautiful, design-wise. I have no complains there. I just don't think that it should be BUILT there. So sayang. Such a beautiful building ruined by all that roofing. Maybe it's under construction or something and the roofs are just temporary. I hope they are.

Anyway, we went further along to stop at the beach and probably have Nadiah wet her feet in the water (although she refused to go any further from the car) and found that the beach has become a dumpster. There were rubbish everywhere.. I mean, literally everywhere. People over here are so lacking in civic mindedness (<-not sure if this word actually exist). They don't care about the beauty or cleanliness of the landscape. They don't care about having to enjoy the time and not have to step on rotten food. I just don't understand why they can't just throw rubbish in the bin. I mean honestly, how simple can that be??? Okay, enough of my ranting and raving. All in all, the trip was educational for Nadiah because she got to see boats, or rather tongkang. Plus there were a lot of real-life cows and goats to feast her eyes on.




That's as fas as Nadiah would go...


See all that rubbish??

Old Friends and New Friends

The power of internet sometimes still has the powers to amaze me. This couple of months, I've been introduce to Facebook. A netwoking program that has taken me everywhere, meeting up with old friends. Some of which I have not seen or spoken to in more than 20 years. Amazing!!

I've always like having friends and making friends. I think friends are the most treasured thing that you can find. And I am blessed by having a handful of really trusted and TRUE friends. If you've never tried or have never heard of Facebook before, go here and try searching for some friends of yours. Chances are, you'll find them there.

On the other hand, I've also made some new friends over the internet. Friends that share the same interest as I do: scrapbooking, beading and books. A year ago, I have never been into a forum or a blog and had no interest at all to try them. Then one day, I just thought why not? So I tried and a year later, here I am richer by a number of more friends that I did before.

Two days ago, I met up with two of my forum buddies, Nad and Michelle and had a great time just talking about scrapbooking... for 2 hours... non-stop!! Thanks, Mich for inviting and hope to see you guys again soon!

Then they were the friends I've made, but have never met... too many to count right this moment. But know that you are all appreciated and treasured. Hope to meet face to face one of these days...

Another Zoo Trip

*Please go here to see an Exploding Zoo Box that I've created.

We just got back from KL last night. This time we made sure that the trip to Zoo Negara was definitely on. No more cancellations. We have been planning to go for months and months but each time there was always something better to do... namely shopping... hahaa!!

So we finally did go this time. As this KL trip includes G and Daniel, we brought them along too. Two days before the actual day, me and Shukri has been feeding Nadiah with zoo ideas. We keep mentioning the word zoo or spelling out Z-O-O for her and calling out animal names. She got excited about it all that she was literally jumping up and down early that morning.

So the day came and I had the map in hand and practically memorised the road as we didn't want to get lost. It took us about 1 and a half hours from Bangsar to the zoo. The traffic was terrible that it actually took up more than an hour just to get from the front of the apartment to Jalan Duta. Luckily Nadiah did not make any fuss but was rather enjoying the sights of so many cars. After that it was smooth sailing.

I am too lazy to write up on every single animals that we saw, so just enjoy the pics

It's About Time I Blog Again

Gosh! I'm a bad, bad blogger. I update a day or two, then I'm MIA for a month. Sheesh!!

It's the school holidays now and I hardly have time for myself. Been cracking my head with what to do day after day to keep Nadiah occupied. She misses her school. I know coz everytime we pass the junction to her school, she would say "skool, skool". Poor girl. I wish the school would open even for just a few days. Even the thrill of having cats at home has almost gone. The only thing that she still does is getting the cats out of their kitty house and stuffed (I mean literaly stuffed!!)the cats into a smaller cage. Then the little madam would do her stuff - ride her bike, ride the scooter, go on the swings and running around having fun. Basically just ignoring the cats. But don't even think of letting the cats out because Nadiah has some magic eyes and she knows when the cats have escaped. I feel sorry for the cats. No freedom at all *sigh*.

Yesterday we all went out for a drive and Nadiah saw a kite flying high up in the sky. And so she cried out "kite" and pointing to it and baba straight away turned the car in the direction of the people selling kites. He thought of getting Nadiah the pretty butterfly shaped one but she wanted the stripey rainbow coloured one. Since it was a little windy, we decided to go to the stadium vacinity and have a go at the kite. Nadiah had a blast. And so did Baba. There was not that much wind and the kite only managed to go up a little over 15 feet high. But that didn't matter to Nadiah coz it was really flying!!