Eid Mubarak!!

Eid Mubarak to every Muslims around the world. May this Eid brings you lots of joy and happiness. May you have had a blessed Ramadhan and hope that we will meet another Ramadhan next year, inshaa Allah.

This year our Hari Raya is shadowed with sadness as everyone is reminded of the loss of our beloved brother, Rizal. He was the firecrackers supplier in our family. The one who always brings the lemangs for hari raya. As always the kids played with firecrackers the night before Raya, but it wasn't as 'happening'as the past years. Nadiah, as usual will only try her hands on the harmless sparklers. She imagined that she's a magician; calling herself "The amazing Nadiah". 

On Raya morning, like always the men go out to the masjid for Eid prayers. By 9.30am they are all back and I have got Nadiah up, showered and dressed in her pretty pink baju kurung. Ok funny story about Nadiah's baju kurung. When I gave the material to the tailor, I did not realized that the material was only 2 meters long. Which is only enough to make the baju or the kain but not both. So 2 days before raya me and mom had to rush around looking for a long skirt that would go with the baju. Thank God the baju is a plain pink colour which makes it easier to match. Heee... 

                                       

We had to stop at Domino's for lunch because Nadiah does not eat ketupat, rendang, nasi beriani etc, which were what people are mostly serving. Who serves white rice with fried chicken during Raya? Thank God Domino's was open.

All in all it was a pretty simple Eid celebration for us this year. We had our relatives coming to visit for the 1st and 2nd day. But surprisingly this year only a few kids came by to collect duit raya. Not like in the past years where they would come in groups of 8-10 kids. I miss those times. My brother, Rizal would usually make them sing or answer silly questions before he give out the money to them. Ohh.. those were the days...

                                     

Ramadhan Kareem 1434H

Ramadhan Kareem to all Muslims all around the world. May you have a blessed Ramadhan full of barakah.

I am thankful for the arrival of another Ramadhan. I hope this year will be a better Ramadhan spiritually for me and my family than the past years.

Amin, ya Rabbal álamin.

Selamat Hari Raya

We wish you a Hari Raya,

We wish you a Hari Raya,

We wish you a Hari Raya,

And a Happy Holiday.

*sing to the tune of 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas"

LOL!! That is Nadiah's hari raya song for the year. 

Since we're still in the month of Syawal, I would like to wish all my Muslim readers Eid Mubarak and may Allah bless you always.

Modern Day Hari Raya

When I was just a girl, Hari Rayas are usually loud with the TV blasting out with raya shows and us kids running around the house and the adults gossiping around the kitchen table. But these days, us kids are all adults and even our children are big kids now and are more likely to sit around a laptop than running around stepping on each others' toes... literally.

Sometimes I wish the kids would take a page out of the old days and just enjoy being kids!!



Even Nadiah is sitting around the computer... or rather she is surrounded by computers....

SALAM AIDIL ADHA
TO ALL THE MUSLIMS AROUND THE WORLD

Ramadhan Comes A Calling Again

As the first day of Ramadhan passes, one thing struck me as always being true. And that is a big, fat migraine on every first day!! It's there every year without fail. Today the migraine was so bad I can hardly open my eyes. And as soon as I break the fast, I downed 2 tablets of Panadol. Usually I just let it be and let it go off on it's on once food has settled in my tummy. Not today, though But I should be okay tomorrow.... hopefully.

This year I promise myself that I will not be doing any beading, or at the very least to leave it to the minimum. But somehow rather I ended up with lots to do. I was doing up a schedule on Excel and to my horror, I seem to have only two days of free time before raya. How did I ended up with that? And it doesn't help that Nadiah has a week off from school and plus Merdeka day holidays, she has roughly a total of 11 days off. How the heck am I suppose to work on schedule with her at home all the time?

I mean, I love having her at home when I don't have to work. But when I do, it's just impossible. Sigh... I'll just have to work around the clock again this year, I guess.

Well anyway, one day down, 29 more days to go. So to all the Muslims around the world, happy fasting and may you have a blessed Ramadhan Al Mubarak!!

Wishing all the Muslims SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILADHA.
To those driving back to their respective kampungs, do drive safely and take care.

In The Month Of Ramadhan

Everyday, time and time again, I would tell myself that "today I will update my blog". But today becomes another day, and another day etc etc... Mostly it' s because I've been swamped up to my head with beading. I hardly have any time at all for anything else. It's the 21st day of puasa and I've only been to the pasar Ramadhan twice. But I am happy to report that the beading is coming to an end and hopefully by Friday I'll be beading-free. Well, except for my own baju kurung, which is looking like I'll probably be going bead-less again this year. Don't have the energy or the enthusiasm to work on my own baju.

Despite the workload, I did managed to go out once in a while to do my shopping for the coming Hari Raya. I'm glad to have done most in my list. There's just the kuih raya to get for Nadiah's teachers, MIL and for our house. Then it's to the kitchen for the back aching work of preparing our traditional cookies: makmur and cornflakes cookies. Mom has already warned me that she'll be sitting out for this year's cookie-making. Said she is too old to sit for hours on end shaping the makmur into perfect ovals and thus leaving everything in my capable hands. Oh dear, I am hoping this week would go slowly so that I'll have ample time to rest before the back-aching work starts.

Ok, I'll update again later on. I'm feeling really tired now and can hardly get my eyes open. Till then, selamat berbuka puasa...

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.

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???

Selamat Berpuasa

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

May you have a blessed Ramadhan.

Hari Raya Aidilfitri 2006

It was the night before Hari Raya and I was still labouring away with my kuih makmur. This year everything was a last minute occasion. Two days before Raya and Mom realized that she’d forgotten to order the ketupat. All through my growing up years, the ketupats were wrapped by our maid, Kak Yam, who has been living with us for more years than how old I am. But since the past 3-4 years KY has not been very well so Mom had to order from someone else. But two days to Raya no one wants to take on the job anymore, so super-maid volunteered to wrap them. And since Chik left for her kampung to visit a sick relative, Mom was in charge of the cooking for berbuka. That left me, a one woman show, to bake the remaining cookies and cakes. I could have gone out and buy cookies at the shops but these are the "tak ada tak sah" sort of cookies. So by hook or by crook, they had to be done. And Nadiah was left with Baba to babysit for two whole days. But that’s a story for another day.

The last night of berbuka, brother #1 and #2 and their families joined us. So it was a case of squeezing oneself at the dinner table. The kids were shooed away to eat at the kitchen island so that mommies and daddies can all squeezed together to have a decent meal. After isyak, it was time for firecrackers. I took Nadiah outside to join her boy cousins for the sessi mercun. But the sound was so loud that she ran away in fright. So I went back to my cookie making and left Baba to entertain her.

Mom wasn’t feeling well after all the cooking she had been doing all day and it didn’t take us much guessing to know that her blood pressure must have gone up again. So told her to go up and have a real goodnight’s sleep and leave it to KY, Chik and me to get everything ready for the next day. By the time I finished topping the chocolate cake it has gone past midnight, and there wes still so much to be done: lay out the table, line all the dishes with doilies all set for the cookies and cakes, get the plates and glasses out, get the cutleries out and make sure they were polished, rearrange the tables around the main dining table so there will be places for the buffet stuff, change all the table cloths and some other dozens little stuff that needs to be ready for tomorrow morning. It has gone 2.30 in the morning by the time I climbed up the stairs to my room.

6.30am woke up for subuh and woke Shukri up for him to get ready for the Raya prayers at the mosque. The prayers are scheduled to start at 8.30am and knowing my Dad, I knew he would want to go at least a half and hour earlier. Since Baba is the kind who spends hours and hours in the bathroom doing God knows what, so it’s 6.30am it is!!! After laying out his baju melayu, samping and songkok, I went back to sleep until it was time to help him with the samping. Only then did I took a shower and put on my new bead-less baju kurung.

After the men came home, it was time for salam-salam and minta maaf. Then me, the "cina gambaq", went to work clicking everyone’s pictures except my own. This year Mom broke the laksa tradition and made mee curry instead. So it’s eat, drink and be merry.

Around 11-ish Nadiah finally woke up and gave her a quick shower and put on her new dress that my Mom had made for her. It’s a cute pink creation that she laboured away for three days. As soon as I buttoned Nadiah up, she started to cry insisting I took the dress off. I refused and the crying went on and on. Tried distracting her and for a little while she forgot about the dress. But as soon as she saw her reflection in the mirror, the crying started agai. In the end I changed her in to her jeans and t-shirt. There goes her girlie-girlie dress for Raya.

Went to MIL’s next and had the sessi makan-makan again. This time it’s MIL’s nasi tomato although it’s actually SIL who cooked. After an hour or so BIL #3’s fiancé came over with her family. Future bride was the ayu-ayu and malu-malu, helping out in the kitchen, typical of all brides-to-be in front of future MIL. Me, the IL #1 sat at the lounge chatting with guess and goyang kaki saja. That’s the privilege of being SIL #1 and producing the first grandchild *wink*. Just kidding, actually I have 2 SILs plus BIL#2’s wife and the future bride, all crammed up in the kitchen so there’s really no need for me to menyibuk.

By the time we went home around 4pm, it has been raining really heavily and we found out that water had risen along the driveway almost to the porch area. Kids who were going from house to house asking for duit raya were splashing each other away. I noticed Nadiah had this longing look on her face and sure enough, as soon as Shukri opened the car door for her, she speeded down the driveway towards the water. There goes her new shoes all soggy and wet.

At night we went to my aunt Mak Teh’s house for nasi beriani. Again sessi melantak!!! Came home and everyone was very tired and went to bed early.


Second day of Hari Raya, all the aunts and uncles and cousins on both Mom and Dad’s side came over one after another. So it was a busy day for me, most of the time with washing and drying the dishes as Kak Yam and Chik had gone back to their respective kampungs.

Third day Raya, brother #2 called up to invite everyone over to his house. Mom wasn’t feeling very well and Shukri had gone out to a friend’s house so it was just Dad, G, Nadiah and myself. Upon arriving, we found brother’s son, Amir, crying his eyes out because his father won’t let him follow his cousins back to their house. Asked Amir if he wanted to play firecrackers with me and Nadiah. That got his eyes dry fast enough. Went out and borrowed Amir’s bicycle for Nadiah so she can ride around while we light up Amir’s firecrackers. This time there were no loud sounds from the firecrackers as Amir’s collection consists of sparklers. That got Nadiah really curious. She just sat on the bike ten feet away looking at us. After a while she got down from the bike and came closer and closer. Before long she was happily lighting away the sparkles and having a jolly good time.

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

All in all, Hari Raya 2006 has been a little quite. We didn’t go out and visit that much. But Raya isn’t over. It’s a month’s celebration, right!!! Come this Saturday, 4th November, we’ll be having an open house for Shukri’s colleagues. But if any of you were to be in Alor Star on that day, you’re welcome to drop by……

Raya, Raya, Raya...

Tonight is the 27th night of Ramadhan. My dad has turned on the raya lights outside. Hari Raya is just around the corner. I've yet to finish one more baju for a friend who's coming to collect this Saturday. Then there's my baju kurung to finish. Hmmm.. I think laziness has crept into my bones and I'll probably go bead-less this time!! I've made two types of cookies so far and there's still three more to go, and there is my traditional chocolate cakes for our hourse and mom-in-law's.

Pulled an all nighter last night to bake almond london and chocolate cookies. Sadly to say the almond london didn't come out as good as I anticipated. I made the mistake of not roasting the almonds till it's crunchy enough. So when you bite into the cookie, it'll be a bit tough and sticks to your teeth. Argh!!! What a waste of time... and precious sleep time!!! Can't be bothered to make them again. But the choccolate cookies came out delicious. They were more for Nadiah than for Raya. I cut them out into teddy bear shapes and there were also star, moon and heart shapes. Had Nadiah sprinkle hundreds and thousands on them today, but she ate them more than she did the sprinkling *sigh*

Raya this year will be the usual routine. Early in the morning the men will be going to the mosque for the Raya prayers. The woman folk will be at home laying out all the food stuff on the table for the guests. Once the men comes home, my mom and dad will be sitting in their special chairs while my dad would call out to the grandchildren to come and get the duit raya. That's the signal for all of us to queue up and take turns to salam and minta maaf with our parents and each other. Only the kids will get money though.

Usually my eldest brother and his wife and son comes back a day before hari Raya. The second one lives just a few minutes away so he will come back the morning itself with his wife and son in tow, after prayers. Brother no. 3 is in KL with his wife but will come back alternately every year depending whose side of the family they are celebrating raya first that year. But this year his wife is expecting a baby that's due on the 5th of November so they will be staying in KL. When the baby pops out, we'll be going to KL to see the new baby. Yeay!!

Luckily MIL's house is only 20 mins away from ours. So there's no fighting over whose house we should go back first every year. We'll probably go around noon and back again after a few hours.

Every year my mom will cook laksa for the main dish during raya. There are also the usual ketupat and rendang and also nasi himpit (that's ketupat nasi for you guys in the South) and kuah kacang. My favourite is the nasi himpit with kuah kacang. Every house we go to will see me eat only this. Most of the time I'll be too full to eat anything but out of politeness I will try to eat the nasi himpit. Mom's laksa is well known amongst our relatives and every year they'll come back to devour the dish. Funily enough all of mom's children don't particularly like laksa. We'll probably try once and that's about it. But all her son and daughters IL are really hantu laksa. They will eat laksa repeatedly the whole day and the day after. Me? I think I only really eat laksa when I was pregnant. Most times not at all.

Hari raya usually sees the kids having a blast. I remember getting up in the morning excited to don new clothes and getting all those duit raya. Not to mention the joys of bunga api (firecrackers). It saddens me to think that hari Raya is just like any other day for Nadiah. To her it makes no difference that everyone is dressed in baju melayu or baju kurung/kebaya. When people give her money she would slap their hands away. When all the kids would be running aound with bunga api in their hands, she would rather be inside painting or watching tv. When all the relatives meet up and cousins gang up together to play, she'll be on her own doing her own stuff, in her own world.

I would love for her to enjoy Raya like I did. To relish the times spend doing nothing but play with her cousins on a day that only comes once a year. To sit at one corner secretly counting all the money she's got so far.

Hmph! I don't know why all of a sudden I'm feeling a little meloncholic. Must be all the stress and the lack of sleep. I shouldn't be complaning really. Nadiah is a happy child, hari Raya or no hari Raya. Just be glad that she's happy, right???

Okay, I need to go. SELAMAT HARI RAYA and MAAF ZAHIR BATIN and HAPPY DEEPAVALI to all. And have a wonderful holiday y'all!!!

Puasa Updates

Well I've been remiss in updating this blog for a while. Most of the time I'm busy either with Nadiah or beading and other times I was just plain lazy. A few stories to tell so I thought I'll try to cover everything in this entry:

Where's my ring??
I've lost my wedding ring!!! Argh!!! How could I be so careless!! It's wasn't that I had put it somewhere and couldn't find it. I am not THAT forgetful especially about something so precious. I usually keep it in the jewellery box when I'm at home and would slip it together with my engagement ring on my finger were I to go out even for a short while. I remember precisely that I had slipped both on my finger just before we went to the pasar Ramadhan. Then it was off to my in laws and back home again to break our fast. But when I went up to our room and took off my wrist watch and rings, I realised that there was only one ring. I had slipped both together earlier and I remember that well but how come there was only one left? I didn't go to the toilet or put on any hand lotion that would usually require me to take them off for a little while. Did it just slipped out without me noticing? Had I lost so much weight that it didn't stay put on my finger?? Nah!!! Can't be that!! Or maybe my finger lost weight where everywhere else stayed the same? Is there such a thing??

I dreaded telling Shukri about it but braved it out so that he can be on the look out as well. This is actually the second wedding ring that he had bought me. No, I did not lose the first one as well. It shrank and is now too tight to slip on my finger.

Well alright... it didn't shrink, just that my finger expended so decided to keep it in the safe and Shukri was lovely enough to buy another so that I would always have two rings on my finger.

But now I only have one!!! *sob sob*

Nadiah
Nadiah had a fashion show a few days ago. Not of herself but of her cat. The stuffed one, of course. She decided to don a t-shirt on her cat and started out with her Art Attack tee. Then proceeded with all types and colour that she could find in her clothes drawer but they were all too big. In the end I decided to dig out her baby tees and put that on. Along with underwear. Can't have the cat's bottom sticking out, can I?? She would be embarassed (the cat that is, not Nadiah.. she couldn't care less!!) So here are some pics




Oh notice Nadiah had a haircut? The second picture was actually taken the day after, after she had the haircut. We took her to the "sitting-in-front-of-the-pc-watching-Elmo" saloon. I actually cut the front of her hair but had trouble with the back when she started wringling everywhere. I accidently chopped a wee bit too much of her hair (whoopsie!!). Fortunately Mak Tok (my mom) came to the rescue so she did the back.

My baby can draw!!! Nadiah had always loves crayons, or any types of colouring; be they paint or coloured pencils or magic pens (gosh! I hate those pens... always manage to "write" on her clothes rather than paper!!) Countless times we would take her to Toys 'R' Us and she would only get some sort of colouring. I think it's the multi colours that's attractive to her. But that means I've got a cupboard full of crayons and pencils and paints... whole, broken, chipped, plastered with cellophane tape, glued together, torned wrappers... you name it, I've got it!! Not only does she loves buying them, she loves using them.... on just about everywhere. We don't have to waste money decorating the walls because Nadiah has done it for us. No matter how many times I've told her not to write on the wall, she just keeps doing it. But at least now the habbit has lessen considerably. But I'm going to wait until she has stopped completely before re-painting the walls. Or it would be just a waste of time and energy.

But the other day she took out a piece of paper and announced "apple" and drew this:

The fact that she told us what she wanted to draw, rather than merely scribbling on the paper and leaving us to guess what it is, was simply wonderful.


Elaborate, please!!
Reading my friend, Iza's blog about when her daughter asked her THE question: what is SEX??, reminded me of a similar encounter I had with my uncle G. I can't remember if I've told you about G, but he is my mom's brother from my grandad's marriage after my grandmom passed away. Sadly G was only 5 months old when Grandad passed away and him and his mom (everyone calls her Chik or Tok Chik in the little ones' cases) came to live with us. G is now sixteen and he is more like a brother to me than an uncle. Anyway, the story happened when he was about 7 or 8 years old. One day I was driving around with him and he asked me :

G: Yatie, what is sex?
me: um.. ah.. ehem.. ahhh
My mind was reeling thinking what to tell him. How to explain in simple terms what it is. So in the end I asked him

me: where did you get that word?
G : I saw it in the school form. It says Sex: M or F
Ohhh! Sex as in gender. Phew!! *wipes sweat off forehead* That's easy enough to answer...

Another encounter I had was with my nephew, Daniel. He was about 10 years old then

Daniel : Mak Su, what is a virgin?
me: err... umm... ahhh... (alamak!! how to explain pulak!!). Where did you get the word?
Daniel : I heard Mama said the word. It's someone who only eats veggies kan??
me : oohhh... that's a vegen not a virgin!! *ran away before he could asked what a virgin is*

Moral of the story??? ALWAYS ask them where they hear such words. It could be something simpler that you might think.

Puasa, 13 days gone, 17 more to go
This year's puasa has gone considerably faster than before. Probably because I've been busy with my beading and didn't particularly give notice to what day or date it is. Most of the raya preparations are well under way except for the cooking bit. I've reserved the last week of puasa month to do the baking. I have decided to make most of the cookies myself rather than buying them ready made like we usually do. So that means I have to stop beading just before the last week or I'll be swamped with work and not have much time for anything else.

Must remind Shukri to get his baju melayu from the tailor of he'll have to wear last year's. He decided to make a black baju melayu suit this year. So we're going with black this year. Well, just the two of us that is. Nadiah will be in her usual pink and cuteness *grins* I really hadn't planned on having another baju kurung of which I seldom wear after hari Raya except for kenduris. But what the heck!! It's Raya. What's another baju kurung eh?? My next door neighbor's son is getting married in December so I can wear it again then.

Can't wait to pass the 15th day mark. Then puasa will go by even faster!!

Puasa

Phew! I've been so busy this past week and had absolutely no time to update. Been trying to finish some beadwork on time for the customers. I didn't even dare to go online on my Y!M in case anyone of my friends wanted to chat and I would get carried away with it and spend endless hours chatting. So here's some of the of the beading that I've been working on:







Sleeves to a Baju Kedah










A girl's baju kurung. So cute!!





I especially like the gold and brown sleeves. I spent so much time on them and the end result was pretty satisfying. Mind you, there are more than 3,000 beads involved and a very, very bad backache. On well... the feeling's great when the last bead was sewed on and would labour through it again (me thinks... after some deserved sleep time!!)

On the family front, everyone is doing well puasa-wise despite the pouring rain we've been having since day 1. It really spoils the mood for the browsing activity we usually do at the Pasar Ramadhan. In fact I've only been to the one near my house once, and that was really a quick walkthrough in search for air tebu.

Since being able to paddle a bike on her own, Nadiah is really taking biking like a fish to water. On one of the rare times that the rain actually stopped for a few hours to give people a breather, Nadiah "tricked" Baba into walking with her while she paddled away. Shukri ended up doing a kilometer walk around the neighbourhood. Talk about exercise during this fasting month. Heheh!! Poor Baba!