Owh wow, kemalasan berkadar langsung dengan penambahan usia.

Work life is pretty hectic, once I'm back to work in October - kerja macam gunung daik bercabang tiga, given the fact that we're still short of staff since forever.

My eldest is in standard 2 now, and a pengawas to boot. She's pretty excited about being a prefect at school and I'm just so relieved that we don't have to bother about white uniforms and white shoes anymore. It's all black and blue now - so easy to be cared for.

Owh, life of a mum of three is no joke. The only time that I get to really relax is when the kids are asleep.

Weekdays lah paling penat, I feel like an octopus (yea, sesuai la sangat mascot company pon Octopus.lol). I usually leave the office before 5.15pm, pickup the lil man and later wait for the eldest to finish school. Once we're home mak kena pump seround (depending on my pumping schedule yang pretty haywire at work, it's a miracle that I can still produce as much as I do, looking at my pathetic pumping schedule, sat lambat, sat cepat, sometimes sempat pump once je.haih).

Then I hafta figure out what to cook for dinner. Sometimes the kids are cooperative and don't mind eating what we are eating. Sometimes lorat and requested for something else, so I hafta cook different food for the adults and the kids. Macam kat kedai dah ok? Sambil masak sambil basuh the baby's bottles and pumping stuff. After dinner, the kids gonna mengaji so I get to do my ironing whilst the other half look after the baby (whilst he ajaq the older kids mengaji,lol, nak anak ramai kan? Sila la multitask) and if the baby runs out of food, mak kena la prepare a fresh batch of baby food. I usually cook enough to last for a few days and that includes the frozen purees.

So yea, kalau I can actually tidoq in less than 5 minutes after I got into bed, memang lah bukan satu keajaiban. I am that tired okay?

I know it sounds like I am whining - tapi nak buat macam mana - but I'm okay lah. Tired but okay and happy. What's there to not be happy about? Makan cukup (or terlebih), ada roof over our heads, baju terlebih cukup. I just need to remind myself to be thankful for everything. There are people out there yang lagi susah daripada kita, some people wished that they are in our shoes (just like how kita dok tengok those tai tai and rasa macam owh bestnya depaaa) so bersyukur la okay?

My (once owh so glorious) hair is starting to shed these days - which is menakotkan, given the fact that I already cut it short (shoulder length is my definition of short) but luckily I'm still enjoying my good skin moment.

Ever since the pregnancy, I've been blessed with normal-blemish-free skin - like I'm a combination-hormonal-acne kinda girl (ya know, with the pesky spot that gonna keep popping on the chin every freaking month), tapi for the past 12 months, satu hormonal acne pon tadak but since my skin is no longer oily, I hafta tweak my skincare routine a little, as certain products are pretty drying on me now.

It's either the pregnancy or memang I'm finally getting there..due to hmpp...old age. T___T

On a lighter note, my baby girl still detest to be bottle-fed - like it doesn't matter how early I introduced the bottle, tetap la tak mau. I initially thought that I won't have to face this kinda issue again now that I'm a mother of 3. In my mind macam, okay, I got this, but nope, all of my kids hate the bottles.

The first two only tolerated the bottle when they started with their solids and when they weaned off the boobs and started on FM, they weaned off the bottles too - as they took their FM (at daycare) and fresh milk (at home) with sippy cups. The only consolation is, we don't have any issue to wean em off the bottles which apparently is an issue for some kids. So yea, you win some, you lose some.

On another lighter note, I got myself a new ride during my confinement and said bye-bye to my 4yo ride but it's nothing fancy - because first and foremost, I'm a cheapskate and the car is solely for me to get to work (which is only 50km back and forth). I also still couldn't be bothered about the scheduled maintenance (coz the other half gonna take care of it) and whatnot - hence why waste money on something fancy?

In my other half's words  
" Until you learn to take care of your car, pakai jer lah keta macam ni". By keta-macam-ni, he meant the car manufactured by his company (so that we'll get staff discount for most of everything and it's convenient to schedule and send the car for maintenance .lol #cheapskateunited) .

Owh well?

Oleh itu, as long as the other half works for that particular car manufacturer, forever after lah saya jadi maskotnya. After all, we made a pact to only go crazy on rides once we're in our 40s. Yea, after all, I still wanna get my hands on one of those Countryman - tho I'm not sure if I'm willing to part with so much money for a car. Designer bags, yes (tho almost 2 tahun mak tak beli bag, another feat). Car? I'm not sure - but girl can dream no?

Owh wow, more than a year without an update - such a feat.

Konon I'm going to write so that I'd be able to read up and reminiscence once I'm old pruney but life has been pretty hectic these days - what with the newborn (yasss, I'm a mother of 3 now, I just checked my 3-kids-before-35 from my to-do list.lol).

So yea, I just got back to work after 3mo of maternity leave (why lah not longer?) and work is quickly catching up, it is as if I'm picking up where I left off - sungguh pantas. Mainly becoz we're understaffed - sebab most of our contract staff went MIA, but let's not go there. Malas mak nak pikiaq.

Owh yea, let's write a bit on my 3rd birth story.

It's in the same hospital as the 2nd, tho with a different doc ( because my fav doc was too busy and I just cannot bear the long wait), but thankfully the chosen lady doc adelah pretty nice tho she's not as chatty and informative as my fav.

The labour was pretty quick for me this time around, the contraction started around dawn so I asked C*** to not go to work (again, sebab few days before dah stopped him,but ended up false alarm T__T ).

So yea, we left the kids at home with MIL and checked-in to the labour suite around 8am - had a quick VE and CTG - of which dah 5cm dilated but I was totally fine je, then I'm not sure why they got me hooked to an IV and the doc came over to check on me around 9.45am, I was already around 7-8cm dilated (but I swear to God I was still smiling and laughing to C***'s jokes) and the doc was like "Okay, lagi sejam boleh la ni" and the next thing ya know, I felt like I was ready to push (and kick people in the face if they ever tick me off) around 10.15am (ya,the clock was right in front of me,I was mentally jotting it down.)

The doc came and the rest is history. The baby was out after 3 pushes and I only got a quick lil stitch (which healed within 3 days and boy, it makes all the difference, rasa macam dah boleh berlari,tho obviously I didn't. ) :P

Owh, I accidentally ripped off my IV,so there was blood everywhere in the labour suit - but at least I got it taken off me pronto, so ok lah.

We stayed in the hospital for our 3 days 2 nights getaway (we even got the same room masa beranak the 2nd) - which was fine tho it's a lil sad that  my lil man hafta sleep without us for the time - tho the other half brought them over to the hospital everyday after school.

The hospital stay was alright. This time around they offered the confinement menu (fish porridge, grilled tenggiri, black pepper ginger chicken etc) along with veges and fruits, so tadak lah tiba-tiba serve nasi dengan ayam masak merah.lol

Owh, had my confinement at home and not in Kedah like the first 2 - so I was already cooking for myself when I got back home, like cannot mengada2 sangat lah okay. I'm eternally grateful that it was pretty easy this time around, so I was not that miserable and tho pantang cowboy, I was pretty contented but still -  how I missed berpantang with my mum (at one point I was so hormonal that I cried whilst talking to mom on the phone.lol). Haih.

Owh, it's a girl! :P

On a lighter note, the last time I checked, I'm already 9kg lighter than my pregnancy weight (I gained only 1kg throughout pregnancy, because I lost weight during the 1st trimester due to my severe morning sickness - so it's true that I hafta beranak to kurus.lol). Semoga I'll be able to lose more. Berusahalah!

Well, how's that for an update?

Well hello, I'm still alive and kicking - just a tad busy at work and at home - so this is gonna be a quick one, kot.

We had fun during our Perth getaway few months ago - yea, couldn't be bothered to write about the trip. Malas berkadar langsung dengan pertambahan usia. Anyway, it's a trip which I organized myself - sebab C*** claimed that it's my turn. Everything from the visa, car rental, apartments, itinerary segala and I think that I aced it - sebab there's no language barrier so takde lah mak mengagau.  So yea, what's next? Osaka? :P

Anyway, I think that I went crazy on the groceries, chocolate, fruits (so fresh soooo cheap) and kids' clothes. I only splurged on the drugstores stuff for myself. Makeup, facial cleanser, tons of lip balm/butter and makeup brushes. They are so cheap  - yes, even after the conversion that I wanna cry - especially the kids' clothes lah. No wonder anak mat salleh selalu berbaju comel. :P

Moving on, managed to try out a local Air BNB in Penang. I hafta say that it's a good one. I found a pretty luxurious condo that comes with its own personal elevator, salt-water pool (ada stingrays!), nice pools, awesome playground and whatnot. Money well spent.

Well, I hafta say that I'm at my heaviest weight right now, so much so that I decided to go for morning run with C*** whenever possible (especially when we're back in kampung - so there's someone to look after the kids when we're out running) and we'd usually bring the kids to the park during the weekend so that they'll be able to play and I'll be able to walk/run. Haih, hafta do something about this before I turn into a dugong. T_T

The eldest is going to the big school next year and I'm all serabut just thinking about it. Yet to figure out about the transportation and transit and whatnot.

The wee one is so talkative these days that he talks non-stop if you let him. Pot pet pot pet and his vocabulary is pretty impressive too for someone his age. He absolutely knows how to win your heart that little one. Kalau kena marah je, he'll go "Mummy, adik nak peluk" and just like that I'll melt into a puddle tho sometimes I'd refrain from giving in.

So yea, fast forward, we're supposed to go back to Kedah for EID Adha but mum decided to come over to KL instead - since Tok's here. Need to think of where to bring them jalan-jalan then and probably bring them out for a good satay hunt.

Well, Selamat Hari Merdeka & Happy EID Adha!

Still alive and kicking, so yeah, it's just that reality (kids, the other half, work etc) got in the way, hence the almost non-existent blogging life.

Well,one of my uncles passed away few weeks back, it's pretty shocking I hafta admit,tho we're not close - I was getting ready for work when I got the news, so texted C*** who was already on his way to work and we decided to go back to Kedah. It's sad to see his kids and wives being so heart-broken and all.

So yea, life is tough sometimes. Honestly, this is not the life that I envisioned it to be. In all honesty, I was hoping that once both of my parents retired from work (2 years ago), we'll be able to travel together, peform Umrah or whatnot. I'd like to treat them with a good relaxing family trip - now that I have the fund to do so, yer lah, early working days mana la cukup duit dalam tabung, tho it's not like the parents need my moolah.

Well, traveling was pretty tricky for my parents back then - or should I say, my mom? My mum adelah seorang teacher and tho she got her break during school holidays, but selalu lah our time clashed so we didn't get to travel together much - except for those occasional weekend getaways. Dad adelah a former jet-setter, he traveled a lot for works, local and abroad, so yea.

Now I don't know if that's even possible anymore - still possible kot but it gonna be quite tricky. Dad tires easily, so it's obvious that we can't do any long-distance trip - tho I'm eternally thankful that he's still around regardless the fact that he's no longer the dad that I knew for the past 30 years - as he no longer talk (before his stroke, he could talk our ears off).

I sorta miss talking to him over the phone or our usual video-call. Those days, he'd just video-call us, then we would be talking whilst him on the other side - siap dok tengok news on tv and makan kacang - as if we're in the same room as him.

You never know what you'll be missing until it's gone kan? I know I shouldn't complaint - this is our cobaan- as we're still blessed with abundance of rezeki in other form.

Moving on, enough of sob stories.

We're going for another family getaway in March. Prolly the last one before our big project kick-off. So I've been scouting for a new stroller. Yea, each time nak berjalan beli stroller, but it's not going to be a double-stroller this time. I'm just gonna stick with a (very) lightweight stroller. Probably a Mclaren Volo or Globtrotter - depending on my fickle-mind. Owh, probably gonna get a buggy-board too, tengok la macam mana. Lascal looks pretty good but I'm not sure how practical it is for our trip, so KIV dulu.

C*** was against my idea of getting a new stroller at first, tapi for the past few weeks, each time we go out during the weekend, Shariq mesti la nak sleep sambil kena dukung dek daddynya (tho kalau kat rumah, he rarely sleep, best kot tidoq kena peluk) and the little one is no longer that small, so daddy dia sakit pinggang, lantas daddy pon bersetuju untuk cari stroller baru. lol.

Initially, the other half was so sure that he could just carry the lil one whenever he gets tired of walking. Me? Dukung the kid? Ain't nobody got time for that, mak nak shopping. I need both of my hands and I don't wanna get a bad back from all the carrying. Cukup la mak carry 9 months dulu. :P

It's not like we can't use our old trusted Peg Perego, tapi sayang. It's our first stroller, I can't bear the thought - if something were to happen to it during the flight (owh, mak lupa nak cerita that during our trip back from Tokyo, AirA actually broke our double stroller, tapi lepas tangan.Phbtttt.....luckily we got a replacement from the seller.)

I still need to finalize the car rental stuff and also the visa (saya adelah the trip-planner, C*** decided that it's my turn). The apartments all sorted out. We decided to find a place that's well equipped so that I can cook for breakfast/dinner or at least something simple for the kids. Mak bapak dia don't bother much bout food when traveling (tho I've made a list of what I wanna eat when we're there) tapi anak-anak hafta eat on time.

I can't wait to roam Kmart, Coles, Woolworths and whatnot for groceries, I loveeee groceries shopping abroad. I'm so makcik like that.

Okay, tak sabaq nak travel. Ta ta.

It's already the 10th day of the new year and I can't even be bothered to wrap up last year and come up with a proper resolutions for this year, owh well.

So yea, where should I start?

2016 is a pretty good year for me,

I've come to term with how things gonna work at work (confuse much?),

we managed to take a bunch of short family trips here and there (KK, Singapore etc),

our house's development is progressing - tho a bit too slow for my liking,

Shariq got chicken pox (1 childhood disease off the list),

C*** got chicken pox (apparently you're never too old for chicken pox),

Shariq started going to school full-time (MIL no longer lives with us),

I started to take the whole skincare thing more seriously last year too. I got my hands on a bunch of stuff from COSRX (it's a Korean brand) and Paula's Choice and I'm hooked. I hafta admit that the whole hormonal acne thing was really bothering me back then, so gigih lah mak mencari the cure and tho it's not like my face is blemish-free these days, but it's so so much better. No more tiny bumps on forehead dan yang sewaktu dengannya - tho I still get a zit or two during the time of the month.

I even managed to get rid of those pesky whiteheads on my chin - things that I thought was natural, ya know, it was nothing but tiny bumps under the skin yang tak obvious langsung, so I never think too much of it - until la when it's gone, I was like owh, boleh hilang rupanya. I am THAT lame.

I hope to get fit this year - sadly I gained back all those kgs that I've managed to lose after child-birth - which is almost 3 years ago. So yea, dah macam kena pam balik - so now, I either need to get pregnant (so that after beranak can kurus again, ni proven formula okeh, I'd usually gonna lose more kgs compared to what I've gained throughout pregnancy, gained 10kg, lost 16kgs, yea macam tu lah, macam cerita hindustan, hero kalah dulu, menang kemudian, gemuk dulu, kurus kemudian :P )  OR senaman dengan jayanya. ha ha.

What a decision to make, but C*** already got ahead of me and gave me a set of soft dumbbell - yea, dumbbell for new year's gift.

T______T


Geee..thanks darling.

I also hope to travel for a bit this year. 

So yeah, happy new year okay, semoga dipermudahkan semuanya.

I cut my hair short, not short short but pretty short for my standard. I can hardly tie my hair up now, so yea, short lah okay?

Went to the saloon with mum when we went back to Kedah last week and even got to try the scalp treatment, the bill was pretty blinding. lol. Well, I'm the sort of person who doesn't spend much moolah in saloons - I don't do coloring, straightening etc. I'm more of a spa person, so yea.

Got myself a Clark wedges sandal, but merely 10 minutes of wearing it, my kaki ached like crazy. I'm probably so used to Fitflop soles that I cannot tolerate this one - and luckily Fitflop is on SALE (in UK that is), so mari lah order some.

A cousin is getting married next month, so must find something decent to wear for both solemnization and kenduri.

I neeed to lose weight.

The kids were down with something last weekend. I don't know what triggered their puking-fiesta. Myra started it on Friday, followed by Shariq and they took turn throughout the weekend with on-off mild fever. I had a hella bad time trying to get them to eat. Shariq terus macam nampak kurus.(I wish it was me instead) Haih.

The kids need to be fatten up a bit. Need to cook more fattening (but healthy) food for them and less food for us.

I need to lose weight, like seriously, before I run out of baju to wear. :P

It's crazy you know, that the only way for me to lose weight for the past 6 years is to actually gain em first (by being pregnant), then only I'd be much lighter, lagi kurus daripada sebelum pregnant. lol. Like gained 10kg (throughout pregnancy) and lose 16kg after.

It's sooooo hard to lose em these days, nak shed the extra few kgs pon susah. Damn my makcik metabolic rate.

Bought Shariq a balance bike but yet to get Myra hers - since she wants a 'normal' bike, but it's amazing that Shariq is already pretty fast on his bike. Kids are a bunch of fast-learner.

Our house still belum siap. I want to rant over and over bout this, but ranting about it won't speed things up, so yea, may Allah ease everything for us. We just want a better place to live for the kids.

I'm still not over my chemical exfoliants phase in my quest to battle the hormonal acne. Just added AHA in together with the BHA - even managed to stock up on this last month,( I got my birthday discount you see?) but I'm not even half way done with the current bottle - a little goes a long way for this one. Probably should put it up for sale on carousell. Nasib la I'm not a beauty blogger, so I couldn't be bothered to make a before-after photo, but so far so good tho I hafta remind myself not to skip on the sunscreen.

Still making breakfast for C*** daily, besides sandwiches, also made him a bunch of pastry puff stuffed with whatever we have around the house, beef and mushroom, tuna and whatnot. I'm soo tired and sleepy sometimes, but it's true that you'd willing to sacrifice for your loved ones. Bertabah je la mak.

So okay, it's Friday, happy weekend!

I've been wanting to write about our trip. Ya know, to have a written memory of our recent getaway, but I've been really busy. What's new with that kan?

These days I woke up at 4.30am to prepare sahur, then if I'm lucky (or just really really tired), I'll get a short 20 minutes nap after Subuh, else sila lah tunggu malam baru tidoq - which is when the kids are asleep or whilst putting the kids to sleep, dengan mak dia pon padam. Like I'd just black out and the next thing I know, it's time to wake up for sahur.

Yea, age is catching up. I know.

 Moving on.

So yea, what about our trip? I had fun. We had fun. We walked a lot, like few kilometers daily, malam-malam rasa macam nak masak air panas rebus kaki. I've told C*** that I don't mind the walking as long as the weather is kind. Walking sambil melekit-lekit kepanasan is just not for me and since the weather was pretty awesome when we were there, so we walked a lot.

I should probably say that it felt safe to freely walk around their city, we even spotted a bunch of 6-7 years old kids walking home from school themselves, right smack in the middle of Tokyo like walking in a park.

Here in KL, I wouldn't think of letting my kids walk themselves home. The thought alone adelah scary. Haih.

Anyway, we went to the usual tourist spot, Sensoji Shrine, Asakusa (where I found my kuih bahulu with red beans), Euno Zoo - yang sungguh clean and awesome, we paid like RM16 kot to get in, FOC for kids under 12. I know I'm going to sound cheesy saying these, but the Japanese are so organized and bersopan-santun. Doesn't matter if the guy working at the 7E adelah seperti someone taken out of a Gothic movie, tapi sungguh la bersopan whilst at work.

We even covered the whole Shibuya, Shinjuku and even went to the Mitsui factory outlet. We went up the Tokyo Skytree too, I is lupa the ticket price, but I won't forget the fact that we experienced an earthquake (with 8.5 magnitude) while we're 350 floors off the ground. The tower swayed okay. I wouldn't mind a swinging tower if it's actually an attraction in an amusement park of something, but this one is none of that. It was scary then, it's still scary now. I'm just thankful that we're safe.

So yea, we even went to the Disneyland, probably one of the highlights of our trip - tho it would be better without the massive crowd tho we went on Monday. Rasa macam pegi fun fair. ha ha. The queue for most of the attractions were unbelievably long, so much so that we only queued for less than 10 times kot. Most of the time we were walking around, duduk-duduk makan ice cream, makan seafood calzone, tengok the endless parade, like eh ada parade and not so long after, eh..ade parade lagi, but it was a different one each time, so the kids loves em.

Owh yea, everything in Disneyland is super cute, even the water cooler pon comel. ha ha. Cuteness overload sangat. Walaupon dah mak budak, tetap la rasa giddy. Don't mind me. I'm still a kid at heart you see?

When it comes to food, I think we didn't have much problem, banyak sangat makanan untuk dimakan, unless you're the fussy type yang asyik nak makan nasi goreng kampung, then it cannot be helped. We didn't even bother to go for those usual kedai arab with nasi beriani/kebab.

I hafta admit that the choosing was breezy just because I always have my walking translator aka C*** with me. He'd read the labels or even ask the sellers if there's any bahan larangan added. So I got to sample quite a handful of desserts and a bunch of interesting looking food. Happy tummy, happy me sungguh.

Owh, it's also great to rent a place with a working kitchen - as we'd usually cook our own dinner. Beli fresh seafood from their (super clean) fresh market and most of the time I'd just pan-grilled the seafood with garlic butter. Nasi panas-panas (ready to eat rice in a pack, reheat jer), garlic butter pan-grilled seafood, scramble egg and salad = one happy family. Kenyang perut suka hati. he he.

Well, whilst we were there, some of the stores are having pre-summer sale. Like GAP was having 40% off everything. Like yea, everything, none of those off season stuff. Mak sungguh la gembira. We bought like tonnes of baju for the kids. Baju raya beli siap-siap. :P

I even managed to stock up on my LUSH stuff, decided to try a bunch of new stuff and replenish whatever that I've been using. Probably should write a review about it someday. :)

So yea, if you must know. I'm a cheapskate. A cheapskate like me loves Daiso. What not to love about em kan? Laden with cute practical and cheap stuff, so it goes without saying that I'd go to every single Daiso that we bumped into throughout our stay.  Plus, if you were to convert 100yen, baru RM3 gitu + tax, depending on currency exchange, about RM2 cheaper than our local Daiso yes? What with the GST lagi. :P

Besides walking til I'm weak in the knees, we took the trains and a bus once. If you think that our train system is confusing, think again. It's only fortunate that C*** used to live there, so he sorta got the hang of it already - tho we did get lost, twice. he he. Sekali tu tersilap line (but the train master was kind enough to let us change to the right one without additional cost) and the other, we got off at a wrong station. The trains were super punctual - should I mention, unlike ours? :P

On a lighter note, I think I've sampled one of the best croissant in the world, ever - when we stopped at one of those train interchange, we bumped into this quaint little bakery which sells nothing but croissant - truth to be told we followed our noses to it - like the minute we got there we were like " Bau apa yang sedap ni?" - padahal it was still early in the morning and we're still quite full from our breakfast - tapi tetap la nak tau ape yang bau best sangat tu.

Long story short, we got ourselves two bagful of mini croissant - chocolate and the normal variety. It was being sold for I-couldn't-remember-how-much per 100g - which were fresh from the oven. It was awesome when it's hot and still pretty great when it's cold. The kids love it. Menyesal tak beli banyak-banyak. I even requested to revisit the bakery, but time was pretty tight so we didn't get to drop by on our way back to our apartment later that day.

This is getting too long, later lah.

I made my very first masak lemak cili api daging salai on Sunday.

Those who know me personally or has been reading my blog long enough would know that I don't do masak lemak or things that are santan-related before I'm married. For orang Utara, gulai (curry) is the equivalent of masak lemak. I don't even do curry to begin with, so yea, this is what marriage gonna do to you, making you do things that you don't wanna do.

Well, we still have I-don't-know-how-many kgs of beef from the last EID Adha. I guess we even have the oxtail and ribs in the freezer and also the smoked beef. FIL got it smoked right on the same day, hence the smokey goodness of the daging salai for our masak lemak.

It turned out great - bak kata C*** *flips tudung*.

It took 2 days for us to finish the entire pot ( masak banyak since I intended to freeze it for later, tapi nampaknya tak sempat). C*** managed to wipe em clean to the very last drop okay, siap makan cicah roti.

T____T

Yea, for C***, masak lemak is the equivalent of curry.  I used to be surprised about the food combination too, roti cicah asam pedas pon ada - but after 6 years of marriage, not anymore. :P

Next in the list, adelah oxtail soup or stew. Gonna try to cook it using the rice cooker this time around, since it has the stew/soup function.

One thing bout C***, he'd just go "Buat masak lemak sedap kan? Buat la eh tonight?", bukan dia nak tanya whether the wife actually knows how to masak the said dish or not. Pakai order je, and thanks to pacik Google, the outcome adelah yet to disappoint us. Either I'm such a good cook or the recipe is too awesome to fail or both. :P

So yea,looking forward to more cooking adventure. #imsuchamakcik

Owh rajin pulak makcik ni update blog.

Anyway, I've been making breakfast for C*** to bring to the office these days. Nothing fancy, so far it has been nothing but sandwiches. Egg sandwich, tuna sandwich, cheese sandwich, another variation of egg sandwich - repeat. LOL.

Can't bring myself to include cold cuts in his sandwich yet, konon rasa macam tak kesihatan. :P

Once or twice, I'd make some sandwich for myself, but more often than not, I'll settle with my cereal and cold milk which I have at the office. My current favourite is Great Grains Crunchy Pecans - tho at times rasa macam burung pulak due to its 'less processed' nature.  Shall stick to that until I get bored or something.

The kids, Myra loves her usual cold milk and cereal breakfast with the occasional biskut cicah Milo whilst Shariq, it can be anything, depending on his mood - sometimes whatever Myra's having, else he'll chomp on the wholemeal bread or biscuits. On weekends, french toast is their favourite or cekodok pisang (I actually have frozen bananas in the freezer for that).

So yea, it's pretty easy to feed my little family. Not so hard to please which is why I strive to cook for them everyday (except on some Friday - cause ya know, it's Friyay. Tukang masak cuti ) - walaupon at times, after work penat macam nak get into the kitchen to start the dinner pon dah kena seret-seret kaki. Takpe lah, lillahi ta'ala kan?

Moving on, Shariq is currently in his active learning-and-talking phase. Few weeks ago, he suddenly started talking - exactly like how Myra started to talk. He surprises us at times, like where did you get that vocab from son? Tak pernah ajaq pon. It's getting easier to understand him and it has never been a problem for him to understand us either. Taking in instructions dah lama dah pandai, tho sometimes when he's not in the mood, buat dunno je. T__T

He loves cars and all sort of moving vehicles and he's capable of naming them too, from garbage truck to the (mobile) crane. Dia panggil all sort of lori tu truck. Lorry, lorry tak main.

He needs his day-nap else he'll get cranky - cause whenever he misses his nap at school sebab sibuk sangat main, bersiap sedia lah mummy untuk melayan raksaksa gorgon - on those days, usually before 9PM dah padam. He'd come to me and go "Nak dooooo dalam bilik,sleep sleep".

He's still a bf baby. I don't know when or even how to wean him off - tho most of the time he'll nurse for comfort instead of food but him wanting to nurse pon adelah an indicator that he's thirsty/hungry. Like, he'll be playing and running around and suddenly he'll come to me "Mummy, nak ne" T__T

I'd usually just ask him to take a sip from his water bottle and if he return back to me, I know that he's either hungry or tired so he wants to nurse to sleep. A mum is a mind reader okay?

Myra on the other hand, is as talkactive as ever, tho she's a bit reserved with strangers. My clever little girl is great in helping out around the house too - when in good mood la, bila bad mood terus jadi ratu ayaq mata. She can be quite dramatic sometimes, dapat pulak adik yang asyik dok memberi cobaan je. I guess that's how I felt about my little brother when we were little. Having a little brother can be pretty annoying at times ya know? So I don't blame her. :P

Well, she loves drawing and her love for drawing is never-ending, so much so that we bought her a hard-cover sketch book during our recent date-day-out. I told C*** bout how funny it is to actually go out on a date with your spouse but instead of spending the day shopping and whatnot for ourselves, we ended up buying things for the kids. Once a parent, always a parent. Mak bapak syndrome sangat.

Well, happy weekend.

Getting back to work after a week long break is bleh. This (somewhat) old machine needs sometime to warm up. Owh, I turned 32 last Friday, a year older, so yeay? :P

Okay, let's ramble for a bit.

EID Adha was great - apart from the moment that MIL suddenly went "Nanti dD tolong masak sambal paru tu yer" to me on the eventful so called kenduri-day - cause we managed to korbankan a big healthy cow this year, C*** even went to hand-pick the bull whilst I locked myself in the car with the kids sebab the kandang busuk gila it gave me headache. I BS you not. T__T

Anyway, I don't cook on a large scale. For 6 pax adelah large enough for me, imagine cooking with a big-ass kuali for kenduri. Yea, still a kuali not kawah, if kawah, I give up. Cooking under the watchful eyes of the inlaws was not helping either. Owh well, one shall cook and move on. It's just sambal, how to screw up sambal right? It turned out okay, so yeah.*pats myself on the back*

Whilst we were in Malacca,we managed to somewhat satisfy our craving for Klebang coconut shake twice, tho now adelah macam ade sikit sakit hati sebab terpaksa beli yang special as they would always try to push you to buy the special coconut shake instead of the normal one and if you insist on buying the normal one jugak, kena tunggu like forever for the next batch.

I prefer mine normal sebab I think they got the sweetness and the vanilla-coconut ratio just right so I don't want to spoil it with the extra scoop of ice cream. Manis and too creamy okeh? Fine, some people like it that way, good for them. Why bother putting the normal one on the menu if you don't intend to sell it in the first place kan? Nak cepat untung ke camne? Is it so hard to put aside a bunch of non-special shake? Okay, emo sikit disitu. :P

Anyway, I didn't get to book myself a spa session on my birthday and I was having a pretty bad back from all the being-sandwiched between the little one and the other half - tidoq mengiring for like forever - regardless of the fact that the little one was placed on his little bed but sometime during the nigh time, he'd roll over to ours - sebab he'd be searching for his mum to nurse, so mak lah yang akan tersepit.

The only silver lining is, C*** adelah berbaik hati and gave me the most needed back massage. We don't have any of those aromatherapy oil and I don't like the hot oil so he ended up using the EVCO (that I bought when I was pregnant with Shariq, konon nak minum untuk kesihatan *cough*) - so yea, I smelled faintly like coconut but it's ok - I slept like a baby that night, sampai terover-slept and tak sempat to get up to make sandwich for C***'s breakfast.

Moving on, I forgot to write about our quick Singapore getaway during the peak of ZIKA.

T___T

Well, it's our long awaited quick getaway - dah beli zoo tickets and whatnot - so tawakal and I just made sure to spray like tonnes of mosquito repellent on the kids - walaupon I didn't see any nyamok. It has been more than 2 weeks since the trip and we're okay, Alhamdulillah.

Anyway, the zoo adelah awesome, the animals, the landscape, the man-made streams, the tram, the facilities, everything - they even have a splash pool/water park for the kids.

This is a typical mak-mak syndrome, pegi mana pon nak bawak anak pegi zoo. When we were in Tokyo pon sempat pegi zoo. I can't help but hope that our local zoo(s) will improve for the better too.

Our national zoo adelah sungguh menyedihkan - well, okay, the last time we were there was probably 2-3 years ago, sekarang pon still tawaq hati nak revisit - tho the zoo is merely 10 minutes away from our place. I honestly don't mind the ticket price jika berkadar langsung dengan keadaan zoo. You get what you give la kan? I don't mind giving if I know I'm getting something proportional in return, ke zoo negara dah best sekarang?

Moving on, we found a new place to satisfy our craving for mee-tarik.  The noodles are so fresh and so smoooth. Ahhh..would absolutely need to go there again without the kids, how to enjoy a piping hot bowl of noodles with screaming kids? :P

Okay, bye.

I have a handful posts that I managed to write midway - which were then saved jadi drafts sebab I already lost the mojo to continue writing whatever that I was rambling about.

Kesan penuaan sangat nih.

Well, I desperately need a vacation right now - but we don't have the luxury of time for a long getaway like we did last year. C*** is busy at work - what with the new model and whatnot. I'm yet to take my compulsory block leave and I honestly don't know when I should be taking them - tho I'm going to take a few days off during EID-Adha.

Anyway,we're trying to put together a quick somewhere-near getaway for us. Dah mak-mak ni, all that you can think about when you're about to do/plan something is to include the kids - so this break is going to be something that the kids gonna love, hopefully.

On a lighter note, I'm sooo into skincare and makeup these days. ha ha. Another mid-life crisis, yes? I think I spent tons of moolah on em last month. I still don't wear that much makeup, not the complicated one at least. I'm still with my basic beginners makeup tho now I have like 20 eyeliners instead of 5. ha ha. I finally found my HG eyeliner that doesn't smudge on me and it's dirt cheap - bye bye pricey Dior eyeliner. I'm a big fan of Korean pencil gel eyeliner now. So cheap and so awesome. :P

I'm also in the midst of an experiment with one particular chemical exfoliant. The word chemical sorta freaks me out at first. Like yea, I'm going to slather my face with acid Pfbbttt.... This one is not cheap (I'm a cheapskate, so it's probably dirt cheap for you), but I invested on a trial bottle anyway and I sorta love the result but I shall wait until I'm done with the trial bottle for me to come up with the final conclusion and to decide whether I'd be repurchasing this or not.

C*** bought me a new rice cooker. Yea, after 6 years of marriage, instead of romantic gifts, you'll get a rice cooker instead. So makcik, but this is a rather fancy one with those multipurpose functions, ceramic coated spherical pot and whatnot. He paid close to RM400 for it as it was on sale, so yea, it's pretty awesome alright, makcik or no makcik. I cook on (almost) daily basis, so tidak lah membazir disitu. :P

I bought a new designer bag after berpuasa selama 2 tahun. *lompat bintang*

Told ya that I've grown out of my crazy bag-lady phase. Once every 2 years is just fine for now. The next time would probably be sometime after we moved in into our new place next year. Aminnnn.

Amiinn on new place okay, bukan new bag. I cannot wait to move out into our own place. Kids are growing up, they absolutely need more space and I hope to be able to give them their very own playroom - just like what I used to have when I was younger. Semoga ada rezeki rumah baru next year. InsyaAllah.

C*** wrote a complaint in our current place WhatsApp group - since we're having some issue with the water backflow from our yard's floor trap yada yada. He got sick of reporting it to the management office but getting no feedback/action in return.

I don't mind him going amok sometimes. The thing is, he intentionally wrote it in his annoying Manglish just to irk me up- gangsta paradise la konon, ayat bersepah-sepah - because he used my phone, so it looked like I'm the one who wrote em. Like urghh..I don't write perfect English, tapi boleh kah jangan dok guna bahasa tunggang langgang, kalau nak tunggang langgang macam nak masuk longkang, tulis la in Malay. Grr..grrr..

Then the maintenance guy pulak replied,  "I'll checked tomorrow."

Elok sangat laaaa tuu.

#grammarnazi
#tarikrambut

Ok lah, happy weekend. Tata.

I've been busy and lazy and it's not like anybody would be reading this anyway - not like I have any reader to begin with - except myself since it's pretty amusing to read what I've wrote years before - sorta give me an outlook of myself back then ya know?

Anyway, puasa has been good for us.

Yet to skip cooking (skip puasa is another story altogether. hehe), besides on certain I'm-so-tired-I-can't-think days - yea, I try to cook everyday for berbuka. Not because C*** loves my cooking too much and can't handle outside food, but because I don't know what to buy if we were to eat outside food. Geddit?

Like, when we went to the bazaar, we ended up with nothing or something that would only qualified for snacking. Like punya la macam-macam jual, tapi tak tau nak beli apa. Bazaar for me, is a place to find rare kuih/side dishes, not the main course. I'd go crazy if I were to bump into a gerai selling a decent arrays of kuih tapi kalau gerai lauk 100 jenis sekali pon, mak tak layan.

So yea, yesterday I made my first ikan merah masak lemak cili padi. Ya know I don't really do stuff with tonnes of santan in it, but C*** requested for it, so how could I say no? After all it's just a no-brainer 7-ingredients dish.  Also whipped up a plateful of veges to negate the fattiness of the masak lemak. Itu je la lauknya and I steamed a bunch of mini kaya pau and cut a bowlful of watermelon for berbuka.

It's just my luck that C*** is not fussy when it comes to food, so yea, unless I have a specific craving for something (last Friday it was roti nan with tandori), I'd be happy to cook for berbuka.

Moving on, we turned 6 last Saturday (June 25th!) but since we were back in Malacca, we didn't get to celebrate and tho we planned to go out for coffee and cakes later that night, tapi lepas tu macam malas pulak, so yea, we'll save the celebration for later, after raya perhaps?

Well, it's pretty surreal to be married this long, I know 6 years is nothing compared to those yang dah kawin for 40 or even 50 years but it has been a good 6 years, and I hope for more years and kid(s) to come.

Talk about kids, I'm turning 32 in Sept and I've decided to stop producing(kilang much?) when I'm 35, so yea, bila nak next ntah? 2 kids is tiring and handful enough for now, don't know if I can cope with 3 (& more) but yea, 2 is definitely not my stopping point. 3 is probably the magic number? Insyaallah. Nanti lah pikiaq. :P

On a lighter note, we're almost done with the raya shopping.

Bought loads of baju for the kids but yet to be able to find a pair of new shoes for Shariq - tho we already bought him a cute pair of capal (it's going to be useless I know, we bought it just untuk bergambaq raya), punya la syndrome anak ke-dua, umur dah 2 tahun, ade kasut 5 pasang je so far, how sad is that? Myra on the other hand, kasut banyak macam nak bukak kedai. So kesian, so yea, hopefully we'll find something for him this weekend.

Me? I'm a minimalist this year. Just bought a bunch of tops, a custom-made batik sarong and probably going to get myself a new pair of fitflop since C*** is against Birkenstock and because one of my fitflop got stolen (it's an amusing story, trust me, will write bout it later) and since my fitflop dah kena capped to 10 pairs at a time, so boleh la beli sebab nak ganti kan?

That's about it, happy puasa and selamat hari raya in advance.

More than a month hiatus.

Where I've been ey? Well, I'm still pretty much alive and kicking - on Instagram at least - my micro-blog when I need a quick rant and when I want to immortalize a moment - as long as IG is around that is. :)

Well, I've been busy at work. A good kind of busy. Satisfying-busy not the stressed-out-to-my-bones busy which is good. I know most of my friends already quit programming and the whole development thing, but I hafta admit that this is my thing.

The struggle (when you're given a task that you have little or zero knowledge about) and the victory (of having everything deployed in production) is my kind of high. Currently working on the real-time OPT-IN for debit card thingy - I work for a bank, so yea - and owh, I have zero knowledge on socket programming - until a few months ago. LOL. Never too old for new stuff kan?

All is well anyway, as it's already in UAT for testing. Hope to get it moving along as planned.

Works aside.

We brought the kids to Sunway Lagoon 2 weeks ago, on a Monday. We intentionally took a Monday off and it has been fun. We went out for roti canai breakfast then baru la drove to Sunway when most people were already in the office.

 I especially like the Nickelodeon theme park. We even managed to bring the kids to roam the animal section of the park. The weather was pretty awesome too. It was sunny but not scorching hot as usual - I slathered the kids with sun-block anyway. Shariq took sometime to warm up for him to enjoy the water park - all those splashing water thingy magicgy overwhelmed him. Myra on the other hand, acted like we go there on a daily basis.

Owh, no outside food allowed - tho the guy at the entrance checked on our bags with one eye closed jer - kalau bawak roti canai, nasi lemak pon boleh lepas kot. :P Still, we couldn't be bothered to bring anything except for the kids' water bottles so we had Burger King and we bought chicken rice for the kids - the pricing is a tad ridiculous, RM15 for a mediocre serving. Kalau beli Hainan chicken rice from my favourite place dah dapat 2 servings dah ni.

Owh well. Even the RM1 popsicle pon being sold for RM5 - since the park no longer allows multiple re-entery, bertabah jer lah - tho it's obvious that you'll be able to get better food next door. Like, I'm the kind of person who splurges on food, I don't mind paying, tapi sila la sedap.

Anyway, we decided to end our day-out when it started raining, tapi tak sempat nak get to the parking before it poured - it's hard to do something quickly with kids, sat nak tengok tu la, nak singgah to pat the rabbits la - so we ended up having a quick tea break whilst waiting for the rain to stop - Shariq siap tertido on the high chair. Like one minute he was munching on a waffle and the next minute dah tertidoq. :P

Long story short, we managed to beat the rush hour traffic and got home before 7PM. Made a quick dinner and the kids went to bed early.

Fast forward to last weekend, we went out on Saturday to stock up on our groceries and on Sunday, managed to drag C*** to satisfy my craving for Southwestern eggroll - yummy and fattening as always, so from BSC we went to The Gardens for our EID shopping spree.

The crowd was cray cray, hilang selera mak nak shopping but we managed to get a new pair of sandals for Myra and a bunch of clothes for the kids. Mak dia tak beli apa. Sob.

Owh, when we got back home, I made us a quick dinner - tho I promised C*** earlier that I'd make nasi daging, tapi mak penat and C*** was a bit kuciwa about it and I felt pretty bad so I decided to cook it for our first iftar the day after.

Jadinya when I got back home from work at 6PM after picking up the kids yesterday, jadi lah supermak. I boiled the beef, then I quickly cook the nasi daging. Made a bowlful of super spicy ayaq asam loaded with tomatoes and onions to go with it and also made a jugful of watermelon lychee. Tu jer lah for berbuka.

C*** had 2 servings and had to stop because we're currently on our 'eat-right' mission and because we wanted to have the nasi daging for sahur too. Terlebih makan nanti, there won't be anything left for sahur pulak. :P

 I made telur goreng kicap pedas and stir-fry veges for sahur. Also cooked an extra portion of white rice for MIL since she came over last night - masak on stove-top okeh? I don't do nasik on stove top but I was too lazy to dig out our backup rice cooker and it's a tad too big for just a small portion, so C*** had to show me how to cook nasi using the normal pot on stove-top. ha ha.

Nasib la the other half knows how to do it else I hafta ask Pacik Google.

On a lighter note, I'm still hunting for my baju raya. We decided to go boria this year - for the entire Kedah clan. We're going to get a proper EID photo taken too.

Semangat sangat.

Well, happy berpuasa then. May you have a wonderful and meaningful one.

Something funny happened last week, well, it is funny now - not so funny then.

Remember that Myra used to have cotton bud stuck in her ear? Well, this is somewhat similiar to that - as it's still in the foreign-object-in-ear department - tho instead of a plain old cotton bud tip, it's a tiny green bean (which she got from school) this time around and instead of a normal visit to our usual clinic - we had to go to a pediatric ENT specialist to get it out.

So yea, I took a half day off the next morning after we found out about the little bean - C*** took her to the clinic at 11PM the night before after she complained that her ear itched and C*** saw something in her ear tunnel but the doc at our usual clinic wouldn't risk trying to dig it out.

I googled for the ENT specialist and was pretty glad to find one at our usual hospital and he's a pediatric ENT surgeon pulak to. Brownies point there.

Parents kalau tak terlebih fikir, bukan la parents namanye. We already thought of the worst. What if it can't be taken out? What if she needs to be in surgery to get it out? Would she ended up with a huge scar? Would it damage her hearing? Nanti kalau tak dengar, would she needs a hearing-aid?

Adoi.

After all the worrying, the doc took one look at her ear using his fancy equipment and went "Owh, senang je ni. Don't worry. Kids at this age memang suka put things in their ears."

Yea, sure doc. Not like I've been feeling sick in my guts or anything. Mak relax jer ni. *blow nails*

After it-felt-like-a-year 2 minutes later, he managed to suck the bean out and said "next time we should probably let it sprouts, senang sikit nak tarik bila dah jadi taugeh kan?"

T______T

That was how I got back home with a happy little girl (coz I let her finish up a tall glass of iced tea when we went for Hainan chicken rice lunch), a green bean wrapped in a tissue and few hundred bucks poorer.

Kids and their surprises ey? Boleh sakit jantung mak kalau selalu camni.

Haih la anak. I could have bought a new Pandora charm with the money spent on the ENT specialist. Owh well?

Shariq turned two y/o, last month on the 18th to be exact. Yup, the terrible two. As much as I don't want to admit this, tapi memang terrible betui sometimes.

He rarely cries before, but these days, the slightest provocation would set him off. Menangis macam kena dera. The next door neighbour probably think that we dera our kids - now that MIL no longer stays with us. He would even cry when I'm in the kitchen, trying to whip up something for dinner. Having him in the kitchen would slow me down. He'd stand next to me or lean against my kaki or whines endlessly for me to pick him up.

It's no fun to cook with a crying toddler. It's not safe either. At times mak rasa like I want to quit the cooking altogether and just cuddle with him on the sofa - which is exactly what he wants me to do - but we might ended up with bread and butter jer lah for dinner kalau gitu.

Haih la. It's tiring, but being a parent is a hard work kan? Tadak sapa cakap senang pon.

Besides the extra clingy-ness, he's a smart one that little one. He understands every single instructions given. When being asked to put his dirty pjs in the laundry basket and his used nappy in the waste basket, laju je buat. After we unload the laundry from the laundry basket into the washer, he'll drag the empty basket back to our laundry room.

He would even dump the empty cups and plates in the kitchen sink whenever he's done with his food. He already got the hang of cleaning his teeth during bathtime. It's easier to clean his teeth these days. He even tried to dress himself - tho he's not quite there yet. He still loves orange. He doesn't like to blow his nose, but wouldn't mind if I remove his boogies using one of those snot sucker - that you have to use with your mouth - which grossed out C*** sebab he cannot tahan the sound of the hingus being sucked out. ha ha.

Like owh please darling. Hingus apelah sangat - luckily he's not squeamish when it comes to cleaning up after the kids. Kids and the big business could get pretty messy sometimes. I can't believe that I can actually tahan and not puke. ha ha.

Moving on, Shariq is still not talking yet. Myra started talking when she's 3 and it's hard to ask her to stop ever since. He has a bunch of words up on his sleeves, but that's about it lah - probably that's one of his sources of amukan, yer lah, he understands so well but yet cannot express himself kan?

Moving on, C*** has been so helpful these days - besides his usual task to do the laundry - everything from washing to folding - he would even cook (or at least take out the stuff for me to cook), vacuum the entire house or whip up something for us to munch on before dinner - goreng pisang is his favourite. he he.

Yea, I cook every freaking day after work. Tiring? A bit but I guess it's more tiring to eat out, what with the kids and whatnot. A take out, more often than not adelah tidak memenuhi citarasa - after all, we don't need a fancy dinner. Pasta, sandwich, rice with one or two simple dishes are on our daily rotation. Sometimes we even go for garlic bread with mushroom soup je for dinner - which is fine tho I'd always cook something 'heavier' for the kids.

Nowadays, I'm trying to make them eat something before sending them off to playschool too. Myra loves cereal with cold milk. Shariq would eat just about anything that his sister's having. Shariq is non-stop little eater when he's at home - probably to compensate his lack of appetite when he's at the daycare.

Okay lah, gotta figure out what to cook for tonight. The other half's coming back from his work trip - I've been eating toast for dinner for the past two days - just because I couldn't be bothered to cook for myself.

Tata.

We got back from our KL - KK - Kundasang - Ranau - KK- KL trip 2 weeks ago - and I'm still tired. Kesan penuaan sungguh.

Anyway, the trip's amazing. We got to relax and unwind for a bit (walaupon lepas tu bila balik KL, rasa tired all over again, it's probably the polluted air. :P).

During the 1st day in KK, the other half brought us to the wild life park. It's pretty decent I hafta say and the entrance fee is pretty cheap. A good visit tho tengah panas lit-lit and some of the exhibits were closed for renovation. We even stayed around to catch the animal show. It's nothing fancy, just ade the usual birds, snakes and err..racoon? I is lupa but the kids loved it, so time well spent.

The next morning, on a very bright Sunday. I dragged everyone to the Gaya street market. I always love to see this sorta thing each time we're at a new place. It's where you'll get to the see the locals and the local stuff. I managed to buy a handful of local kuih. Some I sorta like, some I cannot stomach. he he. That's what being in a new place is all about kan? Sampling local food and whatnot.

Talks about food. We ate tonnes of seafood for two days in a row - minus the day when we stayed in Kundasang, that day we're stuffed with barbecued chicken wings dipped in cili kicap instead.

We stayed at the hotel with probably the best view in Kundasang, Kinabalu Pine Resort - we opted to have the Superior Standard room so that we'll get a clear view of the Mountain else you'd be looking at the nearby kampung if you go for the standard package. Besides the awesome view - I can't say the same about the bed sebab adelah macam papan letak toto. I kid you not. ha ha. The breakfast and dinner spread pon boleh lah. It's just a simple, no frills hotel tapi it's clean and the surrounding is pretty neat and well kept. I personally like the pine trees and all. Calming yo.

Since we stayed in a room with an awesome view of the mount - pagi-pagi buta dah lepak at the balcony with a cup of coffee enjoying the view. I could absolutely live with the picturesque view, fresh air and all that - but untuk dua hari jer la kot. A slow and easy life is not for me (yet). Petang when it starts to get dark terus mati kebosanan. ha ha.

Since we're already in Kundasang, we decided to go to the Tagal Sg.Moroli fish spa. The fishes are huge. Nothing like those fish spa you bumped into in KL. So big, so manja and so geli. I don't mind the normal fishes - except for those freaking huge cat fishes. Yup, ada cat fish and this one is major geli. Geli macam tengok ular. ha ha.

You know lah what with its snake-like head and whatnot. Lepas tu dok terbuka-buka mulut dia. I is cannot tahan. I literally ran out of the water whenever it's near. The fish spa runs on a group-basis. Each group will be given around 10 minutes to beramas mesra with the fishes but we went there on Monday - a slow Monday - so when we were released to to the river, the staff couldn't be bothered to time us. We spent a good half an hour there - we left sebab dah tak tahan geli (& sakit kena gigit) - after all it's just me and C*** jer yang seemed to enjoy the fish spa. Others - especially the kids adelah takot.

Our next stop was the Poring hot spring. I like hot spring but not during a scorching hot day (I like the hot spring spa in Ipoh better, boleh berendam malam-malam). I spent like 10 minutes dipping my kaki lepas tu dah start rimas. Kepanasan is my major turn-off tho I couldn't say the same about the kids. They enjoyed playing in one of those personal hot spring pool - so much so that I had to ask C*** to pull them out, takot masak pulak nanti kena rebus air panas + matahari. Kalau demam ka nanti, sape susah? Mak jugak. I wouldn't want to risk them being sick on a holiday - tho I'm well equipped with the medicine and whatnot.

The rest is history. I bought some of the usual ikan kering and stuff. I especially like sambal sotong kering to go with nasi lemak - so I bought tonnes of that - but yet to find the time to cook it. :P

Nanti lah eh? It's sotong kering anyway, it can absolutely wait. he he.

Okay later.

Gosh. I haven't write in ages. I've been wanting to write but as I get older, adelah rasa like people gonna take whatever I write and put it against me kalau terlebih cakap/write.

Haih, but writing is my outlet to let off some steam.

I like writing tho I'm never good at it. Wait, I don't actually write, I'm rambling most of the time. Well, whatever rocks ya boat lah.

Anyway, I've been busy you see? Work is piling up but February has been great for me so far. Had another week-long Java training - which is still pending on the exam. Yup, tho I code every single freaking day - somehow at the back of my mind, I doubt that I gonna pass this - especially on the theory bits.

I took a day off sometime after CNY to go out with my favourite person in the world - C*** lah, who else?

We went for a massage, a laid-back lunch and a movie - before picking up the kids from school. Time well spent.

Myra's diaper-less-accident-free nights adelah tergugat for the past few days (she's been diaperless during the day since forever, cuma at night baru je few months. Ya blame us). Don't know why asyik lah terbabas tho she already went to the loo a few times before bed. Should I stop her from drinking like an hour before bed? Penat mak dok membasuh comforter and bed cover and countless of others each morning.

Yesterday morning, I even had to wash the pillow! Yup, I threw it into the washer. Semoga kering la else pillow itu akan melawat cik-tong.

Luckily today takde banjir. Mak urut dada lega.

On another note, these days datang pulak mood malas buat homework and when we asked her to finish it, malas la, tak larat la then being the not-so-kiasu parents that we are - we just let her be. She's only 5 after all tapiiii....the next morning whilst getting ready for school she'd fuss over the fact that she's not done with her homework. Mula la nak muncung2. Like, semalam tanak buat kan? Pagi baru nak lorat. Memang takde la mak nak layan. Dah, pegi siapkan kat school jer. Kecik lagi ni, mak bagi chance, dah besaq nanti. Siap!  :P

Moving on, Shariq is currently in his super-active-couldn't-careless phase. Like he knocked himself against a sofa and his inner lower lips split open, with the blood-gushing and all that - and 5 minutes later was jumping up and down like yea, blood what? Mak yang risau if it gonna hinder his appetite but he's eating and drinking like usual - siap makan orange macam biasa (while I cringed in horror, orange + open wound? Hows that sounds to you?).

Yup, he loves his orange. Whilst Myra would prefer rock melon and such. He only loves mangoes and orange. Sweet and sour is his thing. Manis tak layan.

I already lost track of his teething progress. His gigi has been sprouting like bean sprouts, sampai tak sempat nak keep track. I think he just needs to grow another bunch of molars to have a complete set of gigi susu. It's so hard to clean his teeth as he's too playful to take the whole brushing and cleaning seriously. Most of the time I only managed to clean for a few seconds and he'd ended up biting the tooth brush or clamp his mouth shut - so totally different from his kakak.

We're going somewhere for a quick getaway next month before Shariq turns two (& and we have to pay for his seat on the airplane). Somewhere near just because our currency exchange sucks and because I'm a cheapskate.:P

Okay lah. Hafta finish up my work.

Tata.

I'm feeling pretty demotivated at work these days. Long story and let's not go there.

Anyway, my 2016 started off with a week long training, for Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) in Java SE7 Programming - yea mouthful. Another week of training coming during the 1st week of February and I have 2 exams to pass (hopefully,with flying colors).

What is the odd of being a JAVA developer (for 7 long years) tapi fail on the exams on Java fundamentals? ha ha.

This reminded me on why I'm yet to further my studies (if ever). I detest classes. I detest the long winded theory and those definitions for everything thingy magicy.

There's a huge gap between theories and actually doing em on a daily basis. I don't actually go "Owh, this error can be fixed with polymorphism". Sungguh WTF. Honestly, I can't remember the Java fancy terms for every single stuff that I'm doing, I just do it. If I need to create the getter and setter, I just do it, I don't go "I think I need to do the encapsulation here". Geddit? :P

Enough of geek talk.

Moving on. The wee one is doing good in day care. He refused to eat the breakfast porridge that I made for him, so I stopped making any (tho I still cook em for his dinner) - since the nannies insisted that he prefers to eat what others are eating. Baik lah nak. Apekah baru umur nak masuk 2 tahun dah malu nak makan bekal mak masak? :P

He was down with fever last week - as he was in his active teething phase. 4 molars are peeking out all at the same time, ouch! Come Saturday, since he's all better, we brought him to our favourite pediatrician for his long-overdue 18 mth jab. Yea, the vaccine was OOS like everywhere, we finally got a call from the clinic telling us that it's in stock last week, so laju-laju lah pergi cucuk.

So yea, no more jab for him for now. :)

He's very expressive these days - walaupon he's yet to talk. If he wants to have orange for breakfast at 7AM in the morning tapi mak kata No, he'd pout his lips and make the sniff sniff sounds - as if crying. Mana belajaq entah?

If you scolded him over something, he'll lower his gaze and pout. Pouting is absolutely his thing and he's also very the manja this one. He'll come for a hug or kisses without being asked.

Myra on the other hand is doing great in school. Eager when it comes to homework. Yup, 5 years old pon ada homework. She's been writing and whatnot and her handwriting is pretty good for someone at her age. She loves drawing on the portable magnetic board and she's sorta good in it too (probably a left-handed thingy, lukis cantik unlike the parents) and when she's not drawing, she'd be singing (her heart out), kejap in Malay, kejap in English. Whatever her heart pleases. We sometimes had to tell her to slow down a little, sebab bising sangat, we couldn't even watch the news on tv. T__T

Parents, bila anak kecik, tak sabaq suruh cakap, nyanyi segala, when they are at the unstoppable age like these, suruh diam pulak. Yea, I don't understand parents sometimes. :P

Well, since she's turning 5 in April, C*** is starting to teach her how to load the washer and separate the clothes. She's currently in her helpful phase, so she somewhat enjoys it. I think it's great to teach em basic chores like these - as long as it's harmless and age-appropriate. Takkan at 5 y/o nak ajar iron baju pulak? Way too dangerous.

Nanti adik dah besaq sikit, ajar dia pulak - coz I also think that both genders need to learn how to do house chores. No such thing as a boy couldn't be bothered to do the dishes or load the washer or lipat baju.  

Kot nanti kawin dapat wife yang tak suka lipat baju (like me), then how lah? :P

We had a long weekend last week. C*** got a day off on Friday and I decided to follow suit. I also took a half day off a day before to roam the Big Bad Wolf. The thing is about BBW, I always like to go there alone. It's an awesome me time I hafta admit.

Walking through mountains of books is sorta relaxing - tho the only stressful part about this whole BBW thing - is the fact that I hafta put a limit to my book-spree. Not financial limit but weight limit. he he. I gauged the limit based on my disability to properly maneuver the trolley. Ya la, kalau dah berat sampai nak terpeleot tu, paham-paham sendiri je la. :P

Got there sometime before 1pm and I managed to leave before 5pm to avoid the peak hour traffic. The books are alright (walaupon dah mahai a bit), but I couldn't find some of em books that I was hunting for. Dah habis kot. The food/snacks selection pon not too shabby. I had Thai Milk Tea with a set of salted egg siew mai for my quick lunch. The dim sum adelah from the exact company that we usually get our stash from.

So yea, I bought a handful from my usual writers - Jodi Picoult, Diane Chamberlain, Anne Bennet, Kate Furnivall &  Khaled Hosseini.

It's great that I managed to grab 2 new books by Ha Jin too. I was accidentally introduced to him years ago, when I borrowed a bunch of novels from a dear cousin (borrowed? More like buat harta, the novels are still with me back in my hometown, in our so called mini library). Novel tu nama dia - Waiting and it's a good one, I reread it twice or maybe thrice. I like his way of writing and describing things and for an old man, dia takde la tulis berbunga sangat sampai rasa annoying. ha ha.

I decided to give Jane Green a try too. I honestly never heard of her and I have no idea why (but I found her books in the Romance section, that's probably why. I don't do chick lit anymore) but 'Bestseller' was written on those books' cover, so yea, I decided to give it a try. Forgive my ignorance. Mana lah tau sebenaqnya she's as popular as Jodi Picoult tapi I've been living under a rock ke kan?


Bought a bunch of books for the kids too. I'm particularly thrilled with one of those paper dolls books. I actually bought 2. Ya know patung kertas yang boleh pakaikan baju tu. ha ha. One of it canggih sikit because instead of the usual paper, it's magnetic, so baju boleh lekat-lekat je.

When C*** saw it, he was like "You bought this for yourself kan? Awak yang nak main sebenarnye kan?"

Noooo silly. Of course I bought it for Myra. *cough cough*

:P

Anyway, I spend more than RM200 and I got a RM10 voucher and with that I got a RM12 worth of thing. That thing is a box that comes with a reusable bag and hurmm...other things - which I'm yet to discover - sebab tak dan nak tengok ape kebendanya. I just want to spend the voucher quickly and I don't want to spend more. So beli je benda RM12, so tambah 2 ringgit jer. Yea, I'm cheapskate like that. :P

Moving on, we went back to Kedah on Friday - but not before picking up a butter cake (which I craved for, I'm a sucker for awesome butter cake, butter yer, bukan majerin) and going to the clinic so that a cotton bud could be safely removed from Myra's right ear. Yup, tah ape dia buat as the night before she complained that her ear was itchy so when the ear-cleaner aka C*** (he cleans everyone ears, including mine. ha ha. He's just lucky I have dry ears - which is usually nothing beyond berhabuk - and not the waxy kind. Okay TMI ) wanted to clean her ear, ternampak lah the remanent of the cotton bud in her ear.

We freaked out but since it was late and she's not in distress over it, tunggu je esok. Parents of two adelah so cool, if this were to happen when Myra's still the only child, mau bawak pi ER terus.

The doctor took it out easily and quickly and before we left, sempat lagi dia cakap "Next time jangan korek ears sendiri, nanti ears kena potong" to Myra. ha ha. We've been telling her not to clean her ears herself like thousands times dah kot, I guess kid just doesn't know how dangerous that simple ear-cleaning act could be. Haih.

Well, long story short. We arrived in Kedah sometime after Maghrib, thanks to the bad traffic. Dah macam balik raya pulak rasanya. The next day, we went out for seafood dinner in Tanjung Dawai, lil brother's treat. It's my 2nd time there and the dinner was alright tho the waiters were a bit slow.

Going back home is all about food, and more food and catching up on the usual family stuff. I'm missing them already.

That's about it. On Monday the kids' playschool was closed, thanks to Selangor for winning the football match but no thanks because I work in KL. I hafta take a day off since C*** still hafta work tho his office is in Selangor.

So yea, I cooked and cleaned, even brought the kids out for some groceries. Myra wanted to have the Mexican bun aka Rotiboi for tea and I'm grateful for the new outlet which recently opened in our neighborhood Petronas. Bertambah senang la kerja mak menambahkan lemak. Haih, fresh out of the oven - crispy on the outside, buttery soft in the inside.

Okay, tata.