Salam Maal Hijrah & Happy New Year

I typed the title of this entry on the eve of maal hijrah, so as to lock the date.

New year's resolution moving forward into Ma'al Hijrah?

Read more
Learn more
Recite more
Pray more
Practice more
Help others more
Exercise more
Talk (of nonsense & merapu) less

Simple eh? But non committal enough you think?

By right any objectives must be SMART i.e. specific, measurable, achievable/agreed, realistic & timebound, isn't it?

But it's ok ( to me ) - because the standards of achievement will not be based on worldly desires rather really towards getting closer to Allah swt. So I must say, every little helps for me. It would be meaningless if I achieve the specified standards that I set for myself but which carries no credit towards the ultimate objective of getting closer to my creator.

And so I shall uphold my new year's resolution as above.

Help me God.



Salam,
E-boo

Tagged - 16 random facts

16 only? Alah..... kacang la Shana oiiii.... hehehe... I know, I have a series of tags that I haven't answered yet. Most of them from Shana by the way.

Anyway, before I begin, about this tag thing - it reminds me of one of my childhood games in Kg Pasir, Johor Bahru dolu-dolu, it's called RAM-RAM-RIT. It was quite close to 'police & thieves' (which masa kecik2 dulu sounded like 'police century' to me, hahahaha!!!)- whereby the 'police' would run after the 'thieves' , 'cuit' one of the thieves & that particular thief in turn became the police and must then run to catch the next thief. Except that this RAM-RAM-RIT - there's no police no thief, but still with one running after a few others with the intention to 'cuit' one target and the target would in turn become the one to catch the next target.

How did the initial person got chosen to be the chaser or the catcher in RAM RAM RIT? Easy..... All players, boys & girls alike, gathered around. Someone would volunteer to held out his or her palm, and everyone then touched the center of the palm with everyone's index fingers. And then we all sang our hearts out:

RAM RAM RIT
ANAK UDANG KENA SEPIT
NAK KAWIN TAKDE DUIT
CARI BINI ATAS BUKIT

(No...I don't think Pak Malim, kucing ray yg alim crafted this pantun... hehe!)

Immediately at the end of the pantun, we would all pull back our index fingers. And the one whose finger got caught ( yakni di cekup!) by the palm extender would automatically be considered the first catcher. I.e. He or she would have to run after the rest of the gang who have to run helter skelter bertempiaran tunggang terbalik pusing pokok, balik reban, belakang garage; with the intention to cuit someone. Then that someone (yang dicuit) would be the next catcher. And so on, and so forth. Until today, I have no clue what the rationale behind this game is, but it sure was a lot of fun. And besides, as kids, who said there is any need to rationalise to have fun? What I can still remember, it sure looked like a good scene for MILO to sponsor: "Minum Milo Anda Jadi Sihat & Kuat!". It was a damn good aerobic exercise for us kids.

Zaman dolu - dolu.... Senangkan? No software to be downloaded, no battery to be re-charged and no worries of being limited to 2 or 3 players only. Mainlah seramai mana, and sampai bila suka - which always ended up sampai sweaty & smelly, sampai petang hari or sampai Mak sapa2 jerit, "Oiiii!! Balik mandi!!! Dah nak masuk maghrib ni!!!! "

But of course, RAM RAM RIT being an outdoor game, it was surely subject to inclement weather.

Hmmm... tu lah dia.... tags... always remind me of RAM RAM RIT. Dolu dolu physically have to cuit a friend who then will have to chase and cuit another friend. Today, we can still do this through the cyber world, through cyber touch. RAM RAM RIT di alam maya!

Woiitt! Bukan Maya Karin yerk! Cehhh....

Eh! Wahhhh.... Jauhnya digressed. What was it that I have to do just now? Tag eh? What kind of tag this time? 16 random facts about myself?

Alah..... dah pukul 3 pagi dah ni.... tak kuasaaaaaaa la pulak nak jawab tag! Esok je lah Shana ek? InsyaAllah, before tahun hijrah yg baru.

hehehe...Jgn marah Shana, nanti kena jual over the counter, AS IS basis. hehe...

Ta-ta.... LOL!!!!

Makcik Bloggers Meet

Huh.... nak kena update jugak ker?

For immediate dosage, hop on to WanShana's or MrsNordin's blog. You'll catch some glimpses of us makcik2 and you'll also be linked to other blogs' update on the same.

As for the same story but from my perspective.... uhuhu... nanti sat kompol idea, no?

hehehe... i have to keep up with my reputation maaa... bagi blog bersawang sikit before bagi update. hehehe...

Salam...
Ibu

p/s dah tak jadi cinderella dah.... yeayyyy!!!

Missing much

Ameer: Ibu.... Do you miss Bibi?

Ibu: Oh yes.... very much! Indeed! (while wiping off the sweat on my forehead so that it didn't drop onto the dinner place mat that i've just wiped clean. penat woi lap place mat... hehehe)

Ameer: Ameer pun miss Bibi....

Ibu: Ye ker?

Ameer: Hmmmmm ....

Ibu: Shian Ameer. So.... what are you going to do?

Ameer: Nanti, bila Bibi dah 'balik' ke Ghawang, Ameer nak makan aeghoplane dia!

Ibu: HUH? Makan aeroplane Bibi?

Ameer: Ha'ah... ya!

Ibu: Why?

Ameer: So that aeghoplane Bibi ghosak!

Ibu: Kenapa pulak nak rosakkan aeroplane Bibi?

Ameer: So that dia tak boleh pergi Indonesia lagi. Duduk sini jer dengan Ameer kat Ghawang!

Fuiyooo.... sampai begitu sekali Ameer miss Bibi.

And heh.... sebut2 pasal makan... macam nak perli Ibu jer Ameer tak cukup makan in Bibi's absence? Ishhh......


Salam,
Ibu
who's still sweating much, tak menang tangan.

Lapuran lintas langsung dari Kuantan

Hari ini masuk hari ketiga semenjak bibi meninggalkan Malaysia untuk pulang bercuti ke kampung halamannya di Demak, Semarang, Indonesia.

'Pemergian' beliau .... sebenarnya.... masih belum terasa.

Mengapa?

Kerana kami anak beranak sekarang sedang melepak di MS Garden Hotel di Kuantan, mengekori Ayah yang terpaksa bertugas di luar kawasan musim raya qurban ni. Atas dasar keperihatinan seorang isteri mithali (konon....), Ibu sanggup berkorban sama, maka tak lah 'balik kampung' untuk raya tahun ni. Sebaliknya kami semua melepak di Kuantan.

Pagi semalam selepas Ayah selesai solat Aidul Adha, kami anak beranak bertolak ke rumah Mak Uda yang cuma sepelaung saja dari hotel ni. Merasalah juga juadah hari raya seperti rendang, lontong, kuah kacang dan segala. Tok (ibu Ayah, ibu mertua Ibu) juga sebenarnya masih di rumah Mak Uda. Jadi suasana hari raya masih dapat dinikmati sedikit sebanyak walau tidak sehiruk pikuk suasana raya yang lazimnya di rumah Mak Long di Damansara. Petang semalam, Ibu membawa empat orang anak-anak Mak Uda (semuanya perempuan la pula!!! Alangkah bahagia nya....) dengan tiga orang anak-anak ibu pergi menonton cerita animasi Bolt. Seronok rasanya.

Hari ini, di saat menulis lintas langsung ini pula, anak-anakku yang bertiga itu sedang terkinja2 dan menjerit2 sesama sendiri, dilamun 'terlebih perasan' menjadi juara lumba kereta atau wira Jepun yang terulung. Bahana bermain PS2 di bilik hotel.

Pagi tadi, tidak seperti hari hari yang terdahulu, cuaca cerah - memberi peluang kepada mereka bertiga bersuka ria di kolam renang hotel, tak ubah seperti itik jumpa air. Bezanya cuma itik pandai berenang. Ibu mengambil peluang mengemaskini sedikit polisi dan menghantar email melalui akses internet tanpa wayar di tepi kolam - sambil menjeling-jeling "anak-anak itik" itu.

Kedudukan hotel ni memang strategik, hanya beberapa langkah saja jaraknya dari Berjaya Mall. Ada restoran makanan segera, ada panggungwayang, ada spa, ada Parkson, dan macam-macam lagi. Jadi tak gusarlah Ayah meninggalkan Ibu dan anak-anaknya di sini, kerana beliau sudah sedia maklum dengan Ibu yang boleh 'survive' dengan cemerlang kalau ditinggalkan berdekatan pusat membeli-belah. Alangkah bagusnya kalau Ayah berbuat demikian sambil meninggalkan kad kredit 'supplementary' sekali? Tapi itu lah... dia memang sudah sedia maklum kepandaian isterinya. Jadi mungkin dia harus berwaspada atas kewibawaan dan kecemerlangan Ibu dalam acara membeli-belah.

Dengan gambaran di atas, tidak hairanlah kalau pemergian bibi setakat ini masih belum terasa.

Apakah panas akan terus berpanjangan hingga ke petang? Oh tak mungkin.... kan musim tengkujuh ni! Gerimis dan hujan lebat pasti menyusul tak lama lagi.

Kita nanti kan saja lah ulasan berita mutakhir bagaimana Ibu menangani pemergian bibi pulang bercuti.

Buat masa sekarang ..... kita enjoyyyyy dulu..... muahahahahaha......

Home Science 101

I was up till almost 3 am last nite (eh, morning?) helping Bibi to pack her luggage. Yes - she's going home for her biannual vacation this afternoon for 2 months.

Temp maid service has been arranged but she'll only be available from 20th Dec onwards though. I'll be on leave the whole week next week, so I reckon - no problemo. The week after, I'll most probably drop the kids at Kak Long's house, so no prob too I hope.

After the packing and after I taught Bibi how to lock & unlock the suitcase, it was Bibi's turn to give me a few pointers on this and that. Baju itu di laci ini, seluar itu di almari sana. Sabun2 dan 'pewangi' (softener) di tepi situ. Rempah2 nya di sini, bawang2 & kentang2 nya di situ, minyak masaknya di bawah ni. 'Kompor'nya, kalau di cuci, hati-hati jangan sentuh di situ. Singkinya begitu begini.

Half way through, it hit me........

OH MY GOD!

Bibi is going home in less than 24 hours. And I've just officially discovered where the rempah-ratus and the onions are kept?

And OH MY GOD!!

We started using the new washing machine since we moved in a few months back. I don't even know how to operate THIS washing machine!

And heck! When was the last time I ironed Ayah's shirt?

OH MY GOD!!!

Tu baru in the kitchen. I already felt my head spinning. I pictured one of those big colourful tops from the east coast from Awang Goneng stories. My head vs the top, I wondered which one spinned faster. All I could think of was that my head was 'lagi terror' because it could spin that violently even without the help of any manly hurlings, so violent that it could potentially cause the first ever earth tremor in Rawang!

Oh Oh...... I'm in trouble, big time.

Some more perasan can cope with 2 weeks maid free?

You can bet McDonald's, Pizza Hut's & Ali Maju's sales would be up a few % the next few weeks. And so would Ah Lin's laundry shop.

All in the name of precaution against home hazards.

Say a prayer or two for Ibu pls?





Salam :C

Of motivation & rewards

Some intrinsic, some extrinsic.

So, are we less worthy of a human being if what propelled us to elevate to greater heights tend to be motivated by extrinsic material rewards?

Cannot be la, hoh? At least not in all circumstances.

For example - how can you say your child is less worthy of a child if what motivates him to study hard and obtain good grades in his exam is a Sony Ericsson handphone, with a camera & web access function in it?

To cut the long intro short, that was what Abang Idin had been eyeing for. And eyeing so for one good year, he had.

Of course I had a part to play in it. Being the not so generous Ibu that I am, no way would I just senang lenang buy a handphone for a 12 year old who most of the time cannot even remember where he last placed his wallet (which, in the first place, should have been easier kept in his pocket, shouldn't it?!!) So I said, if you want it, you go get your 5As for UPSR.

So, yeah... my Abang Idin was deprived of a handphone. And we kept dangling it as an invisible carrot. Handphone? UPSR! Handphone? 5As! Muahahaha....

Come to think of it, I'm sure he must have been wanting it since umpteenth years ago.

When he was barely 6 months old, we registered him for a baby crawling contest (at Jusco Wangsa Maju that time). It started off as just for fun. When we saw the other babies & their kiasu parents, Ayah & I looked at each other and thought...opps! Would we be exposing our child to the concept of failure & frustration too fast too soon? But then we thought ... hehh... he was just a baby lah! He wouldn't understand. So we thought. When the race was about to start, we noticed the other parents were all geared up, ready with teddy bears, teethers, pacifiers and other toys to be used as motivation for their babies to crawl forward! Alamak... we brought nothing at all (other than his milk bottle!). And sure enough, when the whistle was blown, all the other parents started to motivate their not-as-cute-as- ours babies(hehehe) and most of the babies started to crawl towards their toys instantly. Abang Idin? He just woke up from his afternoon slumber and he just sat there at the starting point, heavenly sucking his thumb, oblivious to the fuss of the cheering crowd around. Alamak anak aku nih, tengah mamai lagi la agaknya? Thinking on his feet, Ayah reached into his pockets and pulled out his wallet from one pocket and one heavy as a sepatu Nokia handphone from another pocket (imagine macam hero cowboy pulling out his guns ready for a showdown... hehehe...). He started to dangle the wallet & handphone in front of Abang Idin's eyes and voila!! Abang Idin instantly moved his diapered butt, got down on his knees and started crawling. Ayah moved one step faster. Abang Idin followed. A few more steps even faster. And ... you wouldn't believe this, Abang Idin lifted his knees and started crawling like a bear! Two arms, two feet, no knees at all and yeah!! He was fast!! He started to catch up with the other babies and even got to the leading top three crawlers in no time at all. The crowd was cheering loud. I thought... Oh yes! He could be winning this. Oh yes... Oh dunia! Lihat lah.. That's my boy!

But then suddenly, he stopped midway. Eh? Apasal?! Oh dear! He stopped midway sebab 'dok' looking at a cute chinese baby girl trailing slightly behind in the next lane. We tried calling him a few times, yet he ignored us and just kept looking (drooling?) at the girl. Oh my, what a sight! Aiyaya.... kecik2 dah pandai distracted by a girl? The crowd actually laughed at the scene. I'm sure at that minute it was ayah's turn to be cheeky; claiming 'That's my boy!'

Apalah Abang Idin!!

After a few good laughs, I nudged Ayah and he came right back on to his senses and started to dangle his wallet and phone in front of Abang Idin again. Thank goodness Abang Idin came back to his senses too. He dashed forward with his bearish style crawl and managed to catch up again. As soon as he reached the finishing line, Ayah rewarded him by letting him 'play' with his handphone. Hmmpphh!! Habis dia gobbled up the phone! (Would you use a hand phone covered all over with a 6 months old baby's saliva? Euwwwwww..... exactly!) But oh well! He deserved it. He finished off as a runner up, the only 'boy' winning. Not bad at all, considering his late start. Won himself RM200 Jusco vouchers and a big hamper (jimat sikit poket Ayah masa tu, no need to buy diaper for 2 weeks or so). I think we have a photo of it. I'll try dig his baby years album and post the photo later (tahun depan boley?).

Much later when he started primary school, he wanted a hand phone still. By then, he could come with some creative reasons for the need of it, I tell ya.

Once, he said he's too short to reach the public phone at school. So he argued we should buy him a handphone so that he could easily call us in case there was an emergency at school. Yeaaahhhh right!

Our rebuttals: Who ask you to skip your lunch & dinner too often and be too choosy of your food? You eat a lot more laaaaa so that you grow taller faster! Besides, if there was an emergency at school, just run to the teacher, pakcik canteen, makcik cleaner, gardener, jaga or bus driver and shout for HELP - whether they have teeth or not, it should not matter! That's what you called emergency. (Mean parents, no? hehehe)

But what about if it's emergency outside school? He tried still.

Our rebuttals: What outside school? After school, you come right back home, straight home, in Mrs Jaya's van, you hear?!! (Mean still, yes? yes, yes, yes....)

Another time, after coming home from a school trip, he related the incident of his friend who lost his handphone during that trip. His friend called his parent using another friend's phone and then related to Abang Idin, "Mak aku kata tak per lah... nak buat cam mana? Nanti dia ganti lain." And so Abang Idin questioned, why was it that other parents could easily provide their children with handphone and his parents could not?

Our answers: Oh! If you want parents that could easily provide you with a handphone, you could easily change your parents! Just go la try ask if they want to easily adopt you. Then maybe you can easily move to their house and after that easily ask if they could easily buy you a handphone. (Meaner? definitely, hehehe)

Not so generous maybe. But mean? Actually, no, I don't think so.

To Abang Idin,

It's not that we could not afford one. I'm sure there are plenty of 'under water' handphones somewhere kat Pekan Rawang tu. We know but we don't care if others can easily provide their children with material rewards without demanding some kind of efforts & achievement. And even if they do, we don't want to and we choose not to understand why the bar is not raised as high as what we've set for you. One thing you can't change - you are our son. Tough luck! And as our son, you've got to start learning from now on, boy;

No pain, No gain!

And we want you to learn this, not because both your parents were not born into this world with silver spoons. Our childhood is our childhood. Yours is yours. Eating roti canai outside once in a blue moon was already a great childhood reward for us . You? You got to eat McDonald's every so often without much Q&A. Be thankful. We've come a long way.

But one thing you've got to learn early, the world out there is not one holy charitable organisation. And since you may not be sheltering under our roof forever & ever, you've got to knock this into your head, heart & mind: You want something? Work hard for it, dear! Earn it with your own sweat & tears. Your own stripes & strides. You will then truly appreciate the reward. It tastes much sweeter that way, you'll savour the after taste.

The intrinsic part of it would come naturally indeed, I would think. That you would challenge yourself to proof that you can do it, that you have what it takes, that you are not easily susceptible to negative influence and distraction for short term gratification. There is always light at the end of the tunnel, provided you move towards the end of the tunnel!

Having said that, the ends does not justify the means.

Don't go cracking your head overtime strategising to rob a bank to get the money to buy a handphone!!! Duhhh....

If the ends is a much longed Sony Ericsson handphone with camera & web access function, and the means is by way of you scoring 5As in UPSR - then I must say, you've earned it very well my boy!

Congratulations on a job well done! You deserve the reward. We're proud of you, Abang Idin.

Don't forget to say Alhamdulillah, thank you Allah.

Let me say one thing; THIS is just the beginning!


Luv,
Ibu


p/s I heard next is Manchester University? So that you can watch live Man U football match every so often? ( Hmmm... that's not that far from my wanting to study in US so that I could go to Disneyland? hehehe....mana la nak tumpah nya kuah kalau tak ke nasi? ) So I would say, GO FOR IT, BOY! You've got 5 years to prepare. Muahaha....

p/s If you haven't, you should thank Ayah ok? I invoked the motivation & dangled the invisible reward. He's the one paying for the tangible one. hehehe... pandai Ibu kan?

Another live show tonite....

But this time, teater bangsawan "Batu Belah Batu Bertangkup".

Nak ikut? Jom beramai-ramai ke Panggung Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur.

Malam ni, malam esok, malam lusa.

Of blonde bombshells, dish washing & waiting

"Is office attire ok?"
Ayah's email message was as short & straight to the point as his verbal conversation.

I had to match - coz I was in a hurry :), so I replied,
"Dress code: lounge suit, so office attire's ok. Grab your blazer".

That was last Thursday, when he relented to accompany me to the british musical commedy playing in town. He said he's not much into this kind of thing, opposite moi - who just love stage shows, both performing and watching others perform. Especially if the tickets are complimentary. hehehh...

Besides, we missed to catch one when we had abundance of such opportunities just last month. I left the 'city' drooling over the posters, adverts & pamphlets of all sorts. Sigh....

So indeed that evening, we finally went to watch the Blonde Bombshells of 1943, the musical play by Alan Plater.

It was scheduled to start at 7pm. But a 'higher calling' tasked me to text the host as a sign of courtesy, who graciously indulged my excuse to join the party slightly later. I was least worried about joining the pre-dinner cocktail late actually. I don't fancy lingering around people sipping reds or whites (with me sipping coke or orange juice) for the sake of small talks. It's not the reds or whites that bothers me really - I'm just not genuinely interested to put up fake smiles while engaging in skin deep small talks with people I barely know. I would lose terribly if I were to stand for any political election I know. hehehhh....

Digressed.

Anyway... I met Ayah at the lobby after Maghrib. With his blazer on and his unmistakable silver highlights , I thought he was quite a sight for sore eyes. I hope only my eyes lah kan? We marched up to the ballroom foyer and was saved by the bell (they were really ringing the bell as a signal for guests to make their entrance & be seated), which means we skipped the entire lingering around, much to my relief... hehehe.... (I am soooo not suitable for a PR job, I could read your mind!)

I requested to be directed to our designated table which happened to be right in front of the stage. Wahhh!! Above expectation. And thankfully, the other fellow guests around the table were a bunch of easy going & friendly lot too - which made us settled in pretty fast actually, exchanging topics ranging from serious but still skin deep corporate updates to what we did last summer.

And what we shared about what we did last summer prompted me to write this entry.

When I said 'summer' - it was not about last week's hot scorching sun on our local soil, rather really about the hot & sunny season, except that the 'last' was referring to the good old college days.

It turned out one of the guests also went to the same college in the godforsaken midwest redneck county GMT minus 5 away from here (had it not been for the college town itself, we Asians would've probably succumbed to the bullies and ended up as their shooting practice targets!) The mere mentioning of the "home away from home" was enough to stir an instant bond amongst us.

We were relating those crazy things we did during summer breaks. My definition of crazy things to do during summer was about taking additional credit hours for 300 & 400 level Psychology courses (so that I could secure a minor in Psychology) and at the same time working my butts out waiting tables to pay for the additional text books for the courses. Fun & crazy indeed, no? But hey... I had my fair share of some adventurous trips made using whatever left overs saved from the same job of waiting tables.

Ayah shared his experience of the minimum wage dish washing job he secured on campus.

Waitress at fine dining restaurant on campus VS dish washer at the college cafetaria. So NOT the same class, I tell you! hahaha.....

The host and another couple also started to join & chip in their college days working experiences too. From as manual as waiting tables, washing dishes and delivering newspaper, to the more decent ones like book keeping assistance and researching books & articles for PhD students.

One of them asked if we met on campus. I said yes, but Ayah said not quite. He said we sort of knew one another before. I rebutted that technically we never met before, so it has to be 'on campus'.

By this time dinner has arrived. Our companies happily carved their steaks away while continuing to enjoy the acts of the two of us trying to defend each others' stand. I thought it was more of my verbal sparring against Ayah's merely raising of his eyebrow and shaking his head in disagreement.

Then suddenly Ayah blurted, "I even had to survive just on washing dishes, waiting for her!"

I could instantly hear the "Ahhhh....", "Ohhhhh...." & "How sweeeeeeeet...." in response to that.

Oh wow myself! That was quite a statement my darling! One hell of a curve ball I must say. And one bomb in its own form.

In a nano of a second, all those memories came flashing back to me in fragments. Him washing dishes on minimum wage at the college cafetaria, and me waiting tables at the on-campus Marriot Hotel's Tudor Room fine dining restaurant (read: lots of tips!)

That was when it suddenly hit me hard like a ricochet of a bomb shell. After 20 years of knowing him, it suddenly dawned upon me that I may have inadvertently taken Ayah's perseverance of me a bit too lightly - I think.

You see, Ayah is a feeler and a natural introvert. Put those two personalities together, you get one silent lover.

So how do you suppose I could read his mind why he stayed on surviving on minimum wage washing dishes while I happily scurried away to Washington DC as the first (ever) international college intern, rubbing shoulders with other interns at the White House two decades ago?

A mild extrovert thinker - I could not bring myself to 'feeeeeeeel' it was JUST to wait for a girl. I had to rationalise and it was around him buying time - waiting for arising opportunity as IT Lab consultant, to start building his fresh grad experience. After all, he made quite some earnings doing part time IT work before - finishing Masters & PhD students' project at very reasonable fees. hehehhhh... enterprising indeed.

People said (then) either I was in denial or simply a heart breaker. Some were diplomatic enough, acknowledging the possibility of not ready to commit and that I have the rights to still browse through the options on the menu. I must have just laughed & brushed them all off. That was a not a problem of the world that was worth me putting on my serious thinking cap. That was 20 years ago.

Now? With 3 kids, we are more than attached to our hips, I think.

The images of him "waiting for me" started to swirl in my mind though. Him washing dishes on campus waiting for me to return from my internship. Then when we were back in Msia? Him dozing off in his Proton Saga in front of my office waiting for me to finish my never ending work so that he could send me home safely right to my aunt's front door (thus marking his territory and cordoned off others away from me). After we got engaged? Him waiting for me to conclude the definite period of engagement. After we got married? Him waiting for me to be ready to start a family. After we got our first child? Him patiently reminding me to consider wearing the hijab and be willing to don it on my own accord. After the hijab? Him patiently inspiring me to perform our hajj early while we were still able bodied.

Today? He still have to wait for me to come home from my never ending work almost every night, so that we can have our dinner at the kitchen or dining table together with our kids (okay lah... sometimes he ate first). He still have to wait for me to choose at least 2 or 3 pair of blouses and pants, and then decide on matching scarve before we leave the house to go anywhere (used to be for fashion & color coordination, now more of which ones I can fit into comfortably...aiyaaaa!!). He still have to wait for me at a bench or game shop somewhere while I go berserk over the items on sales. Pendek cerita, he's still waiting for me on a lot of things lah.

I thought I was the one who was the "waitress". Looks like he's the real "waiter" after all. Except that when lovingly voiced out, it sounds like this, "Abaaaaang.....WAIT ARRR! Sikit lagi nak siap... tunggu ......"

Yes. He had to wait for me then. He still have to wait for me now. And a bit more waiting still in the foreseable future. He's doing it ever so patiently too, I must say. Sesuai dengan nama dia.

So what do I know really?

An evening to watch the blondies, but it's the silver haired that dropped the bomb on me - after almost 20 years!

Still loving him though.


And oh! The musical? Quite a swing indeed.

:)

Selingan : BRA

Last night Hafiz & Ameer quizzed each other on "Animals of The Land" (Haiwan Darat).

Animal 1
Hafiz : Dia black & white, ada empat kaki, dia ada BRA. Apa dia?

Ameer : IBUUUUU !!!

Ibu : Huh? (looking at myself - kebetulan I was wearing a black top. I take it that my kids consider me as fair, hence 'black & white'. hehehe...)

Hafiz: Bukanlah... Ibu ada dua kaki jer lah! And Ibu bukan animal. Apa lah Ameer ni.

Ameer : Habis tu?

Hafiz : ZEBRA !


Animal 2
Ameer : Dia ada ekor, tak ada kaki, dia pun ada BRA. Apa dia?

Hafiz : Ameer tipu lah! Mana ada animal lain yang ada BRA?

Ameer : Ada.... eleh... dia yang tak tau ....

Hafiz : Hah! Apa dia?

Ameer : COBRA !

***********

Tu lah anak-anak Ibu. Kecik-kecik pun dah ada inclination towards BRA... hmmmm alahai!

:)

Raya quickie...

It's been a while ... finally...

Thank you all for the well wishes for Abang Idin.

We waited nervously for his chest x-ray result that Raya eve. When the doctor was satisfied that there was no lung infection, she finally signed the discharged sheet. 9pm malam raya! Pheww........ :)

I still did manage to weave some ketupat (at the ward!) and so dapat lah a few. Boleh jadi tak sah kalau Raya tak de ketupat ni :)

Managed to grab songkok for the boys at Mydin too. One funny discovery, among the 3 boys, si 5 year old Ameer's songkok size is the biggest :)

Managed to find a barber that was still open at the 11th hour and Ameer had his hair trimmed - last customer :)

Arrived home, Bibi had started the ball rolling in the kitchen, legaaa.... I joined her in the frenzy. Tak sempat dah nak call 'Mak Ngah' to reconfirm berapa banyak halia and berapa banyak lengkuas to throw in (I have this ritual of final checking with my sis every raya eve for the rendang campak-campak, except this time around x sempat!) So bedal jer lah Bik. Sure jadi jer rendang tu. I went on to prepare the paste for ketam, lodeh and sambal udang. Standy to simmer & fry ... not just yet ... but in time before subuh :)

Meanwhile I set the table. Just like ketupat, table setting is another must have for Raya too :)

Shortly after, found sampin anak-anak in one of the boxes :)

Then I prepared the baskets for the Raya dishes for the neighbours :)

I didn't sleep. OH! Maybe lelapkan mata for a while just after Subuh. Then went on a duet with Bibi to prepare the Raya dish :)

In the end, we still managed to have a decent Raya in our new house after all. Alhamdulillah :)

We took our own sweet time for Raya breakfast this time instead of rushing to Mak Long's house - knowing that she would have known that Abang Idin just got discharged the night before. It was almost 1pm by the time we got to Dmnsara, much to the relief of the in laws, nieces & nephews - as they had indeed been waiting, but for the crab lahh! Not us. hahaha :)

Big smilessss :) :) :)

Photos? Coming soon..... Awaiting Ayah to upload the slides (saja ler nak manja, suruh dia buat kan.... :D)

Manusia hanya merancang .....

Have you heard this before?

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail"

So for Raya this year, I've got it all planned out, I tell ya.

1. Holiday planner - updated CEO's secretary (early this year!) on how many days of leave I plan to take, before & after raya
2. Block a tentative date in personal calendar for post raya BBQ gathering with uni mates
3. Block a tentative date in personal calendar - possibly for makan-makan session for my team & other colleagues from office
4. Purchased air ticket on line for my work/conference trip immediately post raya
5. Purchased air ticket on line for Ayah to join me a week later post work/conference - to merayap-rayap somewhere
6. Influenced ayah (successfully) to purchase on line the 'train' ticket & hotel for the merayap-rayap trip
7. Dusted off my luggage & have it on standby - ready for packing
8. 'Tempah' new cushion covers for the AV room & collected them just a week before puasa
9. Bought baju raya (both baju 'Melayu' & baju 'berbilang bangsa', hehe) for the kids & Ayah
10. Bought my own baju raya too .... phewittt!! Jangan tak beli....
11. Bought baju raya for Bibi too..... triple phewittt!!! Bling-bling you.... suka dia!
12. Bought the 10 pcs of 'pelita Raya' (the bamboo ones) & went to get a bottle of kerosene from Mak Long's house (her stock from last year! can't find any shops in Rawang town that sell kerosene any more)
13. Ordered some kuih raya - the usual ones; London Almond, Suji, Pineapple Tart, some kerepek & rempeyek, etc, etc
14. Bought some flat basket trays for ketupat & ketam Raya for breaking the ice with our new neighbours ( we just moved here a couple of months back remember? )
15. Last weekend bought daun kelapa for ketupat, ayam, daging, kerisik segala
16. Also ordered our big size ketam (jantan only!) - 40 pcs please, to be de-shelled and washed before collection
17. Bought a dozen of new clear goblets & placemats for pagi raya breakfast (table setting a high priority for me somehow)
18. And..... you'd better believe what come next : Blue key baking flour, custard flour, vanilla essence, butter, chocolate rice, castor sugar, the cute colourful cups, weighing scale, the measuring cups, the baking trays ..... my spirit to bake my own biskut sarang semut soaring sky high this Ramadhan.....muahahaha!!! Siap googled up & printed out the recipe for it!
19. Change 'duit raya' for the green packets - Ayah's department ni.
20. Transfer some money to Nenek & Atok for their raya preps

And I can happily tick off all the above from my checklist.

The only ones remaining for final execution on my checklist :

21. Buy one or two new pair of pants & comfortable moccasin for the trip
22. Pack for balik kampung & for the trip
23. Bake the sarang semut cookies
24. Pasang pelita
25. Anyam sarung ketupat
26. Prepare the dishes on Raya eve - earlier please; not malam-malam buta hingga ke dinihari like last year (nanti pagi2 raya pegi rumah in laws with eye bag segala? hmpphh... tak ayu la kan?)
27. Pagi raya, deliver the ketupat & ketam to our new neighbours (I'm visioning my boys tagging along, complete with their baju Melayu, songkok & sampin carrying the baskets, going ding-dong-bell to our multi racial neighbours' front doors ...ohhhh......comelnya....)
28. Wait for Ayah to come home from Solat and we'll all have our extended breakfast
29. Then salam2 & photo session
30. Pack the dishes, luggages, not forgetting leaving lots of food & water for Blackie & the kittens

Then we can all skip along to Damansara (Ayah's family) and by petang, off to JB (Ibu's family). Yeayyy!!

So that is the grand plan.

20 out of 30 completed, that's 66.66%. Not bad isn't it? Just another one third to go.

YET, guess what? Where do you think I am at this very minute?

Hmmm...... at Damansara Specialist Hospital, tending to Abang Idin who has been warded since Sunday night, for prolonged high fever and bacterial infection. He's been on the drip eversince.

As at noon today, i.e. a day before Raya, he still cannot be discharged just yet. That means, Ibu also cannot discharge the remaining duties as planned above. Pelita ke mana, biskut sarang semut ke mana....

So you see...... I've got plans for the immediate future - for Raya this year that is.

And yet the naked truth about the future is that it still comes one day at a time.

Itulah yang kita namakan,

"Manusia hanya merancang, Allah jua yang menentukan"

The remaining of the plans are shelved for the time being and let's just hope & pray Abang Idin will be back bouncing on his feet again soon.

Salam Aidilfitri and Maaf Zahir Batin.


p/s Messages from Abang Idin :
Thank you Auntie Shana & the clan for the visit. And the doughnuts of course!
Thank you Auntie Onair, Auntie Abid & Auntie Joe for the well wishes.
Ameer & Hafiz .... Sorry Abang Idin has to keep Ibu away from you two for a while, lil' bros.
And Ayah..... errr... dah jumpa bunga api ke belum?

Hafiz's Finger Story

I was busy 'maybanking2them' when Hafiz approached me.

"Hi Ibu, please say hi to Finger."

I noticed the smiley face drawn on his index finger. How cute! That was so Hafiz. The creative one amongst my boys, the Da Vinci junior - Rawang version.

"Oh.... Hi Finger!! How do you do?"

"He's not happy la Ibu..."

"Really? Why?"

"He wants to go the fun fair...."

"Hishh... bulan2 puasa ni nak pegi fun fair buat hapa?"

"Entah lah dia... but he really wants to go there (pointing with 'that' finger to the direction of the fun fair from afar). Maybe just for fun I guess?"

"Bulan puasa laa...... And it's a Finger. It can't go there, can it?"

"Of course it can!"

"How?"

"This Finger is stuck on my hand la Ibu? So how DO YOU THINK Finger can go there?"

Ek eleh budak 7 tahun ni! Ceghedik nak mengenakan ibu dia .... bertuah betul.



;)

What matters most

My dear boys....

As far back as I can recall - zaman dolu-dolu, Ibu would never miss to get my baju raya. Those baju raya were 'new' to Ibu, but not necessarily brand new. Somehow, it didn't matter at all to Ibu whether they were brand new or not for Ibu knew Ibu Noi would carefully select among the best of her frocks/dresses/baju kurung that she had outgrown and reserve them for Ibu, specially for Hari Raya. Similary, Ibu Noi would get her share of the best reserved for her for Hari Raya by Mak Ngah. And it didn't matter to Ibu Noi either. I cannot recall where Mak Ngah got her baju raya from. It didn't seem to matter to Mak Ngah at all too.

There was one year when all of us girls got a pair of brand new baju kurung each for Hari Raya. What a treat! We found out years later that Nenek had bought a par of cloth, supposedly meant to be as a present for her sister-in-law to-be. She had offered to sew the curtains for the bridal room. Unfortunately, her sister-in-law to-be totally rejected the present and simply returned the whole par to Nenek - she said she didn't like the colour. So waste not want not - all 3 of us girls got a pair of brand new baju kurung for Hari Raya that year - same colour, same design, same material - all handmade by Nenek.

It didn't matter to us at all.

We saw them working hard day & night to raise us 6 siblings. What mattered to us girls then, was not to make Nenek & Atok worry too much over expenses of baju raya for their daughters. For we know there were other expenses that deserved higher priorities.

That - as far back as I can recall ......... zaman dolu-dolu.

And since 'zaman dolu-dolu', we've definitely come a long way, my boys. All because Nenek & Atok set the right priorities on what matters most for their growing up children then.

Matters that could not be sacrificed for immediate gratification.

Matters that could not be achieved without sacrifice.

Today?

I know Ibu Noi or Mak Ngah would buy at least a pair of 'baju' for Nenek & Atok every Hari Raya. And they would also ask Nenek not to worry about preparing Raya dishes as they would do that part and send one periuk or one kuali over to Nenek's house by eve of Raya.

Ibu? Even if we live next door to Nenek & Atok, you know Ibu can't offer to cook anything safe, healthy and edible for them. So Ibu would transfer some money to Nenek & Atok instead, for their discretionary disposal for some other expenses that may become a priority for Raya preparation.

This despite their assurance from the other end of the phone line that "There is nothing to worry about, my children. Just don't forget to balik kampung for Hari Raya, you hear? That's what matters most to us".

I know sooner or later, I may be echoing that very same line to you, my boys.


Salam,
Ibu

Politics 101

How truly democratic is it for a country to see a transition of power - not from the people's votes & confidence in its true sense - but from pledges of defecting MPs crossing over to different alliances?

How repulsive !!

So much for the hailed transparency, check & balance. Everything oso "what's in it for me" !!

Sudah lahhhh....... Menangguk di air keruh. Cakap tak serupa bikin. Cehhh.....

Moments of homely glory for Ibu

Oh! Oh! Oh! Second posting in one day? If I write fast enough, I may make it before 12 midnight.

So here goes....

I have made known how I am with cooking. But I have also said somehow, when some opportunities arise, I'd like to grab them - better late than never. Most of the times though, kurang menjadi of course. But sometimes, boleh tahan.....

And TODAY - I must savour one of those glorious moments that are hard to come by for Ibu.

All these jazzy feeling only because of ..... jeng!jeng!jeng! my home-made Roti John!!!

Inspired by none other than the frequent mentioning of it by Wan Shana. Hehehe.... She said Hanna really liked it - I thought hmmm... this must be 'good' for growing up kids.

I thought, why would people call it 'John' - not Jonas, Obama, Hugh, Nicholson, Nadal.... not even Clooney.

Just 'John'. Simply 'John'. Surely it must be simple?! I must try...

So I thought.... hahaha...

I recalled my colleague brought Roti John during our last dept pot luck before puasa, and I texted her on Sunday for the ingredients. Kot2 la.... cuti Sunday, I could try kan??? That request must have sent shockwaves to her, she replied with much zest, not just on what the ingredients should be but how to do it too. That was where I stumbled. Alamak.... minced meat di goreng and ditos kan until kering and then yadayadayadaya....... God bless her! Berpinar mata baca her reply. So I cancelled the plan . Firstly, because I didn't have minced meat. Secondly, the preparation of the minced meat sounded very labourious to me (what did I say about me & cooking?!). The spirit willing, the flesh sokmo weak...

But then this morning, Hafiz asked me if he could have Pizza for berbuka. He showed me the leaflet and told me, "We can just call for delivery Ibu.... you don't have to drive there!" . Bila dah pandai membaca... tu ler pulak masaalah nya. I asked how much, and he said "Murah jer, RM4.70". Eh!!! Biar betul?? Tak betul. Actually, it was RM24 ++, a savings of RM4.70 compared to regular menu deal. Rupanya..... Hmmmm.......

Somehow it popped out of my mouth, "Forget pizza. Ibu will make Roti John special for Hafiz today!" .

Too fast too soon. Terlajak perahu boleh di tarik. Hafiz was already jumping up & down excited ya amat upon hearing "IBU WILL MAKE " - a rare occassion indeed, as rare as the chance of finding a Panda that knows Kung Fu.

And so at about 5.00 pm, after Hafiz reminded me of Roti John special, I went into the kitchen & ducked my head into the fridge to look for what could be modified as Roti John's ingredients.

Found chicken breast and some other boneless parts in the freezer. Red bell pepper. Onion. Garlic. Tomato. Timun susu. Outside - Tesco Choice chicken eggs abundant. Safe for the timun & the eggs, I diced everything else. Stir fried them with sprinkles of Tesco Choice chicken seasoning, with salt & sugar sesedap jari menabur. I called upon my little food taster (yg puasa sambung-sambung tu) to taste and comment. After tasting it, he asked if he could eat it straightaway then. Ohhh....sedap lah tu maknanya.... hahaha.... Gumbiranya hati ku.

Beat 2 eggs and fried them. And sliced the timun thinly (this I know how to do excellently!) . I put them aside first and went on do some other things. At about 5 mins to 7, I sliced the buns, 'buttered and grilled' them, reheated the chix mix and cut the telur dada into 6 stripes. I stuffed the chix mix inside the buns, put 2 layers of telur dada and laid the excellently sliced timun on top of the eggs. 3 buns, cut into two, dapat berapa? Just nice eh.... One each (including bibik).

Come Azan, and the verdict?

Clap...clap....clap...... I was verbally awarded "Best Mom In The World" by Hafiz.

And Abang Idin asked for "it" - again soon, he said. An ENCORE!? Can you believe it?

So there you go... some rare moments of homely glory for Ibu!

True what U.Lee last commented;
"And there is no spectacle on earth more appealing than that of a beautiful woman by the name of Ibu in the act of cooking for someone she loves"

Beautiful kah Ibu? Ohhh...regardless..... I'm looking at this moment from my spek-mata and enjoying every second of it. An effort that was "sweating yet rewarding"! ehehehehe.....

(I'm sure Ayah is smiling reading this. Oiiii bang.... bagi chan lah darling you nak perasan jap, tak bley kerrrr? Jeles pulak!! )

Salams ....

2nd week Ramadhan Overview

Today, 8th day of Ramadhan for Muslims, insyaAllah. The 2nd week commencing.

1. Latih tubi

Hafiz woke up, looked at his alarm clock, looked outside the window and asked me, "Ibu .... dah pukul 7.00. Dah nak dekat berbuka ke? ".

Ibu jawab, "Belum.... Ni baru pukul 7.00 pagi, Hafiz."

"Oh.... ", Hafiz jawab selamba, tapi mata kelat terkebil2.

2. Of puasa & its rewards

Last night, Ameer tried out his yellow shirt we bought for him at Jusco on Saturday. He would typically wear such a shirt as an 'outer shell' on top of another t-shirt. Then he looked inside Abang Idin's shopping bag and starting counting the contents. Then he switched to Abang Hafiz bag and did the same thing.

The anticipated question popped out shortly, "Ibu... kenapa baju ghaya Abang Idin & baju Abang Hafiz lagi banyak?"

"Lebih banyak dari apa?", saja Ibu nak mengusik.

"Lebih banyak dari Ameer punya lah. Kenapa bu?"

"Abang Idin & Abang Hafiz kan puasa? So bila dah habis puasa, boleh celebrate raya. Boleh pakai baju raya." I tried explaining in very simple sentences.

"Habis, Ameer?"

"Ameer puasa?"

"Puasa.... lepas minum susu jer Ameer sambung puasa!"

"Hmmm... kalau puasa sambung-sambung, boleh celebrate raya jugak. Tapi baju raya tak banyak lah, ok?

"Kenapa?"

"Sebab puasa tak penuh."

"Nanti tahun depan, Ameer puasa terus jer sampai petang, Ibu belikan baju ghaya banyak-banyak untuk Ameer?"

"Hmmm.... insyaAllah...."

"InsyaAllah tu .... boleh ke tak boleh?"

"Kalau Ameer puasa terus sampai petang, insyaAllah boleh.... tahun depan."

"Yeah, yeah....Thank you Ibu!"

Hopefully he heard the word 'tahun depan' !

3. UPSR looming

Tomorrow starting.

Other than frantically searching for his full length 2B pencils last weekend, Abang Idin seemed to look cool & calm.

Membawa maksud, hey anak ibu ni .... tak buat revision pun?!

Is it too late to drill him at this juncture?

4. UPSR leave

Mengalahkan anaknya, Ibu siap apply annual leave for this week because of Abang Idin's exam. Atas nasihat Mrs Engineer - show moral support for anak yg nak berjuang.

Tapi pagi ni Ibu dulu berjuang berpeluh-peluh after sahur.

Sakit perut memulas-mulas daaa..... entah berapa kali keluar masuk toilet, I lost count. Cabaran.... cabaran....



Salam...

Early Ramadhan Overview

Just some notes for anak2 Ibu - hopefully they will smile when they read this in the future.

1. Our 7 year old Hafiz - belajar puasa this year. Full day. Ohhh.... kesiannya....... First day, pukul 2.00 lebih dah tanya, dah boleh makan ke? Tak boleh..... sikit lagi.... And he finally made it through. 2nd day was a breeze. Alhamdulillah.

2. Our 5 year old Ameer - "puasa sambung-sambung". Lepas minum susu, Ameer sambung puasa. Lepas breakfast, Ameer sambung puasa. Lepas lunch, Ameer sambung puasa. Hmmm... iye lah tu....

3. Our 12 year old Abang Idin, puasa & solat fully on your own account this year bro. What upah2? Tak puasa & tak solat kalu, berat lah buku kat bahu kiri. Sendiri mau ingat

4. Ibu - balik cepat sikit la ibu oiii..... Kalau nak beli food, call Bibik first and check what is she cooking. Tak de lah jadi pelbagai resipi nasi ayam terhidang atas meja. Hahaha..... DAN..... kalau beli kuih, lepas bayar, jgn lupa bawak balik kuih tu. Hampeh!!

5. Ayah - jgn laju sangat.... tunggu kaum kerabat sat. Para makmum (especially si kecik tu) ada yang belum habis mengunyah! Kami semua pun nak 70 kali ganda jugak......

6. Bibik - iye lah bik, berbuka waktu Malaysia. Bukan waktu Indonesia.... Waduhhhh..... kan sudah 10 tahun di sini bik? Emmm... alahai......

Salam Ramadhan,
Ibu

Merdeka oh Merdeka!

I caught a glimpse of YB Shafie Afdal ( betul ke spelling?) commenting on TV, scolding rather, the public for their apathy for not flagging up the Jalur Gemilang. Why only wait for the government to do that, he asked? Alahai .....dato...dato...... Malas lah nak komen dato sorang ni. Tak de faedah satu sen pun.

I feel so sayu for this year's merdeka. Whoever is the appointed Public Relations advisor/consultant for the govt , aiyaaa... you all so lowsy one lah. You think banal patriotism is intrinsic mehhhhh? Aiya..... where got?!

Instill, instill, instill .....
Brainwash, brainwash, brainwash ....
Propagate, propagate, propagate .........
Visually, auditory, legibly, symbolically...... and heh! Let's do it the M'sian way - gastronomically even .....

And YOU let it slipped away. Distracted by the by-election lah eh? Tu lah.... Padan muka.

Oh... how I miss him. Him who? Guess who?

God, I miss him. I really do.


Sighhhhh.......

Cross-posting: Of Laksa Asam & A Good Friend

Recommended pre-read: the epilogue; Wanshana/2008/08/Laksa-asam-and-friend

My home science teacher (God bless you Cik Kalthum) would not have believed this phenomenon for a micro second I would think. But iye Cikgu, haritu saya masak Laksa Asam!!! (And I hear a thunderous applaud from all those reading this entry - clap! clap! clap! Thank you, thank you.....)

I have never been very good at cooking. Full stop.

As the youngest of six, I was often chased out of the kitchen - I was more of a nuisance than a helping hand whenever I lingered around in that department. My mother and 3 elder sisters would be happier for me to be lounging in front of our (then) black & white TV watching Sesame Street & Popeye The Sailor Man than to be wandering about in 'their' kitchen. So you see.... this notion that I can do no good in the kitchen has long been instilled in my subconscious mind. To further entrench this notion, I was whisked away to a boarding school at the tender age of 12. The school was only 5 'miles' away from home though. But distance did not matter. With no access to a 'live' kitchen (other than the school canteen and dining hall which access were also equally denied to budding female adults) , how can you expect one to bloom into a good cook?

Later when in college, I learned about this concept of "self fulfilling prophecy" in Psychology 101. Simply, the self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a statement, a prediction or a false definition, of a certain situation. The person believing this prophecy then evokes certain behaviours or alters his or her actions which makes the original false conception to become 'true'.

So this notion of me being a lousy cook is a self fulfilling prophecy, you think? Yeah... I think so lah! No doubt about it.

Rationalising my incompetency is indeed one of my competencies :)

But it's never too late, right? Better late than never.

So when the Ah So at Pasar Rawang offered me a few packs of laksa at half price (because the customer who ordered for them did not turn up as promised), I thought - hmmm.... this could be a window of opportunity for me to hone my culinary skills. Honestly, at that point, I only thought of boiling the laksa and mix them with Prego spaghetti sauce. A suggestion by Aso though, helped pushed me to a new frontier altogether. She "directed" me to buy asam keping, bunga kantan, daun 'punina' ( trust me, she meant 'daun pudina' or mint leaves, and nothing else), etc, etc, etc. And so I snaked myself through the crowds at the wet market looking for those ingredients.

As fate has it, that same week, I had also been clearing up some boxes of books to "restore" our mini library. The last few books that remained untouchable were a few good but dusty cooking/recipe books. GOOD because they fill up the shelves, DUSTY because they really are..... they have never been put to good use other than for ogling and salivating over the pictures of elaborately garnished dishes. And one of these dust collectors was none other than a special recipe book entitled "Dari Srikandi Untuk Srikandi". I suppose, I am not alone ..... especially amongst those who hailed from the same alma mater.

I flicked through to the mee & pasta section and voila!!! Two pages caught my eyes; on Assam Laksa & Laksa Johor.

Both are my favourites.

Both have never been served home-cooked in my kitchen.

Could this be my next fear factor challenge?!

In times like this, when faced with daunting tasks that could bring tears to my eyes ( because onions would be involved) - who did I call?

WAN SHANA !!!!!!

- to be continued -

Pet safari - not yet ....

Ameer has been nagging me for a new pet since the past one week.

We've already got 3 cats; a mommy, 'Blackie' and her two not so little kittens, 'Tompok' and 'Burnt' (you can imagine what colors their furs are). They are not that 'manja', can't cuddle them too long. But Mommy Blackie is good at catching rats (from the main road gutter I hope!) . And the 2 not so little kittens are good at playing with the their mommy's catch.

We also have some fish - of all colors - but which remain nameless. They don't do much at all, just swim all day long. If they were humans, they would have broad muscular shoulders by now. But they are fish. Their fins stay just the same so far.

Of late, we discovered we also have some toads. Or are they frogs? I suppose they are the grown up tadpoles which must have survived in the water cabbage petals that we transferred from the old house pond. And these toads (or frogs?) I tell you.... we've never seen them, but heard enough of them. They are very good at serenading us at night. Each time when they start the orchestra - which unfortunately usually happens when we are just about ready to fly into dreamland, we would be forced to lie helplessly staring at the ceiling feeling like being strapped to our seats in philharmonic auditorium and tortured to listen to some tone deaf idols wannabes trying very hard perfecting their falsettos. Yeah.... we are not quite the "cultured" type. Sorry. With the haze in the air, hopefully the rain will respond to their calling soon.

Occasionally, we spotted one or two lizards sneaking and scurrying from behind the cabinets. Not many (yet) dare to stride into sight though. Maybe they suspect one of my boys could be Professor Klon's alliance? Hide away is a better alternative.

So you see..... we don't need a new pet - I think.

But my view is not shared by Ameer. He insists (still) on a new pet.

And Ameer being Ameer, he would stop at nothing until he gets his demands. From asking politely, to sulking, to begging, to crying and ...... threatening.

***********************************************

"What kind of pet do you want?"

"Ameer nak ghabbit la Ibu!!

"RABBITTTT???!!"

"Ha... boleh la, Ibu? Ghabbit kan cute?"

"Yes... of course it's cute. But who's going to jaga the rabbit?"

"Ameer la. I will feed them and give them water everyday, I promise!"

"THEMMMM???? You said rabbit, NOT rabbitS! So why "THEM"?

"Alah... tak pe lah... nanti ghabbit tak de kawan, kesian...."

"Tapi susah lah nak jaga rabbit, Ameer. Who's going to clean them and their cage and all?"

"AMEER! AMEER! Ameer can do that!"

( Yeah right..... istinja' pun with adult's assistance).

"Hmm.... I don't know la Ameer, I am not sure. I think you have to ask Ayah."

"But I am very sure. I want GHABBIT!!"

"So you just have to wait & ask Ayah, ok?"

"Bila Ayah balik? Lagi berapa kali tidur?"

(This was yesterday, Ayah had not returned from Umrah yet. So at least one more pet-tactic day to defer dealing with Ameer and his pet demand).

*************************************************

We went to KL Sentral this morning to fetch Ayah. I asked the boys what would be the first thing they would do or say to Ayah upon his arrival.

Hafiz wanted to salam, kiss Ayah and touch Ayah's botak head.

Ameer wanted to salam & kiss Ayah too. AND YES!! OF COURSE!!! Ameer wanted to ask Ayah if he could have a ghabbit as a new pet.

He had not forgotten, why was I kidding myself?

"Kalau Ayah tak bagi, Ameer nak buat apa?"

"Ameer panggil dinosaur, suruh dinosaur destroy ghumah kita!"

Fuiyoooooo ........

"Kalau rumah kita dah destroy, kita nak tinggal kat mana?"

"Kita beli la cage macam ghabbit's house tu!"

Hahaha.... But hey.... it's not a laughing matter to Ameer okay? He sulked all the way to KL Sentral thereafter.

****************************************

"AYAH!! Can I have ghabbit, please, please, please Ayah!! "

No need to guess who was pleading and showing all good manners to Ayah.

"Rabbit? Why... we already have three cats?"

"Yahhhhh... Blackie tu nanti scratch Ameer. I want a new pet la Ayah. Ameer nak ghabbit, please?"

"Susah lah nak jaga rabbit, Ameer. Nanti kalau Ameer tak jaga betul2, nanti rabbit tu sakit, lepas tu mati.... kesian dia. Kalau Ameer nak new pet, ikan boleh."

"Alah.... Ikan pun boleh mati jugak!"

Hmm.. apa nak jawab?

"Tapi ikan senang nak ganti. Ameer pun boleh choose banyak-banyak color! Ameer nak ikan apa pun boleh", Ayah trying to spin off some tricks.

That left Ameer quiet for a while. Gone into his thinking mode.

"Betul? Ayah tak tipu?"

"Betul...... Kita beli ikan jer ok?", pujuk Ayah lagi.

"OKAY LAH!!!" ( sulking mode setting in again).

*********************************************

"Ameer nak ikan apa?"

"Ikan yang panjang, yang mulut dia tajam"

"Uishh... ikan apa tuh? Electric Eel ker?"

"No!"

"Then?"

"DOLPHIN!!"

Dia jawab selamba jer.

Alamak..... Mana nak cari dolphin? Hah!!! Jawab......

Ameer.... Oh Ameer.....

Gunting ghambut

"Ibu..... bila Ayah nak bawak Ameer pegi gunting ghambut?"

"Ameer tanyalah kat Ayah."

"Tapi Ayah tu, Ameer tanya, dia tak jawab pun? Ameer kena gunting ghambut dah ni!"

"Ye ke? Why? It not's that long yet?"

"Dah...... see..... (sambil pegang 'ghambut' dia), ghambut Ameer dah turun bawah dah ni!"

"Uh? Turun bawah?!"

"Ha .... dah turun bawah sampai mata dah .... tengok ni!"

(Imagine Ameer pulling down his bangs to eye level)

"If we don't cut now, my hair will go down some more touching my nose, then go down some more touching my feet! So must gunting ghambut la Ibu!"

(Ibu tak tahan nak ketawa dengar Ameer 'speaking'. And of course his wild imagination of his hair 'turun bawah'...... THAT long until touching his feet?!! Ohhhh... but I couldn't laugh out loud though, so as not to discourage him 'speaking').

I combed his soft hair with my hand and assured him that Ayah would take him to gunting ghambut soon so that all his hair yang dah turun bawah tu can be cut short soon.

My hair memang sentiasa turun bawah, but maybe I can do with some shampooing, trimming of those split ends & shoulder massaging at the saloon? (Eh.... sapa kata kat Rawang tak de hair saloon? Melampau tau you all ni. Mesti lah ada....) Yeah... maybe I should do just that.

Hmm .... Ayah & the boys at "Mr Fashion" - the mamak barber - and Ibu just a few doors away at Alice's or Cindy's?

Yahhh... maybe that's what we should do today. Gunting ghambut activity....

Life is a stage

Driving home from Ali Maju roti canai & teh tarik session this morning, Ayah & I had the pleasure and pressure of watching our 3 boys through the mirror - they were all over each other in the back seat. One minute they were teasing, joking and laughing their hearts out over nothing. The next minute quarreling, squabbling and shouting, accusing each other over nothing. Ameer starting calling out for me, snitching - Abang Hafiz buat itu, Abang Idin buat ini. Hafiz started defending, mana ada... tipu, dosa! Abang Idin let out his growl, oii... diam la oiii...

I had a mild headache. I couldn't care less what the boys were fighting about. I thought they'd be fine soon. So I just let them continue with their on-the-road drama, adopting the attitude of Wanshana, ahhh... tak kuasa!

Ayah gave me a nudge at the elbow, "Look at the boys..... Reminds me of our politicians. Macam budak kecik! Craving for attention."

Hahahaha... We had a good laugh.

Whether we realise it or not, the switching of scenes and acts are actually common household drama. Whether we like it or not, as parents, we get daily dosage of such takes without fail. Sometimes we just ignore them, knowing that these are child's play anyway. Sometimes, though, they got on to our nerves and we ended up breathless, all charged up over nothing ourselves!

Just like the high powered political drama that is unfolding before our eyes these days. Not Kung Fu Panda, not Hancock, not even Wall-e can topple it from the top of the chart - just yet!

The twist and turns has given Pak Lah some breathing space at least. And I suppose behind the scene, Tok Guru would surely further his prayers to the almighty to let the truth prevail.

One thing for sure, the truth is yet to be availed.

So hold on to your seats ladies & gentlemen, save your commentaries on those twist & turns, save your breath, saliva and pre-judgement on who's right and who's left, I mean, wrong.

Go grab some popcorns and coke (or keropok lekor & teh tarik if you like).

Sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

Hey.... with the fuel & electricity tariff hike..... why complain when you've got in front of your eyes a free drama to enjoy?

**************

"Life's but a walking shadow," says Shakespeare's Macbeth, "a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more."

A dark thought for every man, but darker still for the actor who has his true existence only in his everlasting duel with the public. For if every man's life is no more than a play, the actor's life is no more than a play within the play.

And what of all the rest? All that took place behind the scenes when he was a man like any other? Was all that, too, a show, an illusion, a tale "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"?

All the world's a stage indeed. And all the men and women merely players; they will have entrances, and surely their exits.

********************

I think in his few words, Ayah has said it all. Macam budak kecik craving for attention.


Salam...

Stormy Weather

The Arrival

"Welcome to Hong Kong, Madam!" he said cheerfully.

"Thank you", I replied, glad that he could speak reasonably good English.

"Be aware Madam, they have issued No 8 storm signal!" he added.

"Uh? No 8 storm signal?", I asked, puzzled.

"Yes.. you know the typhoon that hit Philipines, that killed thousands of people? It may be coming here to Hong Kong."

Hurraaaahhhh ..... I said to myself.

"But don't worry Madam, the wind now not so strong. Low, low. Last time in Philipines, high, high. If you need any transport, just ask the hotel to arrange for you. Don't take taxi."

"I see, ok, thank you".

I think he meant well. But what a way to welcome and break the ice with a visitor!

****************************************************************

The Settling In

"Hello housekeeping?"

"Yes, how may I 'hep' you, Madam?"

"Do you by any chance have a compass that I can borrow?"

"I beg your pardon, Madam?"

"A compass?"

"Err... sorry Madam, I don't understand you. Can you repeat please?"

"A compass. Do you have a compass?"

"You mean Condom?"

"NOOOO!! No! No! Not condom! C o m p a s s !"

"Comm....pass....?"

" Yes, compass? You know compass? The thing that shows the direction of North South, East West?"

"Err... sorry Madam, I don't understand. Can you speak Mandarin?"

"Uh uh. I can't speak Mandarin."

"Should I send someone to your room to help you?"

"No, it's okay. I will call the reception desk. Thank you for your help"

"I'm very sorry Madam, I cannot help."

"It's ok, thank you."

Hmmm.... nice going. I have the prayer schedule, the direction of the qiblat, but no compass. Of course I don't have a condom either. Won't be needing that as much as I need the compass.

I called the reception desk shortly after and sort of got some basic help to start with.

As it is, the window is directly facing West and the wall on the right hand side is North. I have to estimate 286 degrees from North. Hmm.... I know it may not be spot on but I have to be 'yakin'. Semoga diterimaNYA.

Oh well.... at least there's a reason for me to hop outside later this evening (weather permitting) to the shops across the street to look for a simple gadget that I shouldn't have left home without.

Salam,
Ibu

The Emperor's New Clothes

Have you read or heard the story about the emperor's new clothes? Do you still remember it?

The story, originally written by a Danish poet and author, Hans Christian Anderson, is about an emperor who unwittingly hires two swindlers to create a new suit of clothes for him.

If you have not heard it or cannot remember it, here .... have a go !

The Emperor's New Clothes
by Hans Christian Anderson

" Once upon a time there lived a vain Emperor whose only worry in life was to dress in elegant clothes. He changed clothes almost every hour and loved to show them off to his people.

Word of the Emperor's refined habits spread over his kingdom and beyond. Two scoundrels who had heard of the Emperor's vanity decided to take advantage of it. They introduced themselves at the gates of the palace with a scheme in mind.

"We are two very good tailors and after many years of research we have invented an extraordinary method to weave a cloth so light and fine that it looks invisible. As a matter of fact it is invisible to anyone who is too stupid and incompetent to appreciate its quality."

The chief of the guards heard the scoundrel's strange story and sent for the court chamberlain. The chamberlain notified the prime minister, who ran to the Emperor and disclosed the incredible news. The Emperor's curiosity got the better of him and he decided to see the two scoundrels.

"Besides being invisible, your Highness, this cloth will be woven in colors and patterns created especially for you." The emperor gave the two men a bag of gold coins in exchange for their promise to begin working on the fabric immediately.

"Just tell us what you need to get started and we'll give it to you." The two scoundrels asked for a loom, silk, gold thread and then pretended to begin working. The Emperor thought he had spent his money quite well: in addition to getting a new extraordinary suit, he would discover which of his subjects were ignorant and incompetent. A few days later, he called the old and wise prime minister, who was considered by everyone as a man with common sense.

"Go and see how the work is proceeding," the Emperor told him, "and come back to let me know."

The prime minister was welcomed by the two scoundrels.

"We're almost finished, but we need a lot more gold thread. Here, Excellency! Admire the colors, feel the softness!" The old man bent over the loom and tried to see the fabric that was not there. He felt cold sweat on his forehead.

"I can't see anything," he thought. "If I see nothing, that means I'm stupid! Or, worse, incompetent!" If the prime minister admitted that he didn't see anything, he would be discharged from his office.

"What a marvelous fabric, he said then. "I'll certainly tell the Emperor." The two scoundrels rubbed their hands gleefully. They had almost made it. More thread was requested to finish the work.

Finally, the Emperor received the announcement that the two tailors had come to take all the measurements needed to sew his new suit.

"Come in," the Emperor ordered. Even as they bowed, the two scoundrels pretended to be holding large roll of fabric.

"Here it is your Highness, the result of our labour," the scoundrels said. "We have worked night and day but, at last, the most beautiful fabric in the world is ready for you. Look at the colors and feel how fine it is." Of course the Emperor did not see any colors and could not feel any cloth between his fingers. He panicked and felt like fainting. But luckily the throne was right behind him and he sat down. But when he realized that no one could know that he did not see the fabric, he felt better. Nobody could find out he was stupid and incompetent. And the Emperor didn't know that everybody else around him thought and did the very same thing.

The farce continued as the two scoundrels had foreseen it. Once they had taken the measurements, the two began cutting the air with scissors while sewing with their needles an invisible cloth.

"Your Highness, you'll have to take off your clothes to try on your new ones." The two scoundrels draped the new clothes on him and then held up a mirror. The Emperor was embarrassed but since none of his bystanders were, he felt relieved.

"Yes, this is a beautiful suit and it looks very good on me," the Emperor said trying to look comfortable. "You've done a fine job."

"Your Majesty," the prime minister said, "we have a request for you. The people have found out about this extraordinary fabric and they are anxious to see you in your new suit." The Emperor was doubtful showing himself naked to the people, but then he abandoned his fears. After all, no one would know about it except the ignorant and the incompetent.

"All right," he said. "I will grant the people this privilege." He summoned his carriage and the ceremonial parade was formed. A group of dignitaries walked at the very front of the procession and anxiously scrutinized the faces of the people in the street. All the people had gathered in the main square, pushing and shoving to get a better look. An applause welcomed the regal procession. Everyone wanted to know how stupid or incompetent his or her neighbor was but, as the Emperor passed, a strange murmur rose from the crowd.

Everyone said, loud enough for the others to hear: "Look at the Emperor's new clothes. They're beautiful!"

"What a marvellous train!"

"And the colors! The colors of that beautiful fabric! I have never seen anything like it in my life!"

They all tried to conceal their disappointment at not being able to see the clothes, and since nobody was willing to admit his own stupidity and incompetence, they all behaved as the two scoundrels had predicted.

A child, however, who had no important job and could only see things as his eyes showed them to him, went up to the carriage.

"The Emperor is naked," he said.

"Fool!" his father reprimanded, running after him. "Don't talk nonsense!" He grabbed his child and took him away. But the boy's remark, which had been heard by the bystanders, was repeated over and over again until everyone cried:

"The boy is right! The Emperor is naked! It's true!"

The Emperor realized that the people were right but could not admit to that. He thought it would be better to continue the procession under the illusion that anyone who couldn't see his clothes was either stupid or incompetent. And he stood stiffly on his carriage, while behind him a page held his imaginary mantle.

The End

*****************************************************

Tonight, I will read the story of "The Emperor's New Clothes" to my boys.

I do not wish to see my boys growing up becoming like this , not wanting to tell the truth to their "emperor".

And I pray to God that if they were to be in "emperor-like" positions one day, their actions would not be dictated by their own sheer fear of the truth & not disillusioned with their own inferiority complex and that of others.

.

Pencil Tekan

One of my usual morning routines involves getting Ameer ready for school - bathe him, watch him brush his teeth, dry him up, dress up & 'after bath' hugs & kisses on the cheeks.

After moving to Emerald, my mornings have become less stressful because I no longer have to redah the downtown traffic jam to get to the toll/highway. That alone is a saving of at least 30 mins.

So, while the morning routines are the same, the quality of delivering those routines have greatly improved. I can even sip my morning coffee calmly at the kitchen deck, observing the neighbourhood surrounding and watching Ameer playing with the kittens at the same time too! Cool .....

Quite simply - I don't feel rushed in the morning like before!

That is good.

Now that I have extra 30 mins in the morning, maybe I should start exercising before I go to work? Hmmm... maybe.... maybe :D

Anyway... I digressed.

Yesterday, after helping Ameer get ready for school, the coffee, the kittens, I went downstairs (yeah...our kitchen is "upstairs" !) followed by Ameer from behind. Normally, he would watch cartoons while waiting for his teacher to pick him up. Somehow yesterday, he just followed me and just stood watching me picking up my handbags and this and that.

I asked him, "Ameer tak tengok kartun?"

He replied, "Ameer nak pencil tekan".
Short & crisp, but looking up to me with a pair of hopeful eyes like a puppy from the pet shop window.

Pandai budak ni nak psycho ibu dia, but I thought rationally ... heyyy... berapa banyak pencil daaaa.... the one box each should be more than sufficient to last 6 months ( no joke ok? not one, two or three pencils, but one box each!)

"Ameer kan dah ada banyak pencils. Why do u want a pencil tekan? Besides, susah tau nak masukkan pencil leads tu dalam pencil tekan ".

He started frowning.

Alamak... takkan pagi2 dah nak start sandiwara kot? Ni yg tak syiok nih.

He replied softly, "Ameer nak pencil tekan. Abang Hafiz tak bagi pinjam dia punya. Dia kata nanti Ameer rosak kan. Ameer tak nak rosakkan. Ameer nak pinjam ajer. Tapi Abang Hafiz tak nak bagi pinjam". And he said this with his eyes looking down at the floor - reminded me of a scene of a convict pleading for lenier punishment in court.

"Oh ye ker? Kesian Ameer....", memang pandai pyscho budak ni.

There is plenty of pencils of all sorts at the "shop" near where I work. I could grab one in a jiffy I'm sure. But heyyy.... I was not about to give in so easy ok?

So I tried another rationale,
"Tapi kan Ameer... Ibu dah beli baaaaaaanyyak pencil untuk Ameer haritu kan?"

"Ya"

"So.... duit ibu dah tinggal sikit dah ..... tak cukup nak beli pencil tekan".

Ameer kept quite for a while. Then he said,
"Ok lah Ibu. Sorry Ibu".

Oh! That was fast! An early victory for Ibu I thought. Good for me!

Then we hugged as usual. I love you. I love you too. I miss you. I miss you too. And he salam & kiss my hand. Then Ameer walked slowly into the TV room adjacent to the main door to get his morning dose of cartoons. Phewww..... I put on my shoes, grabbed my bags, checked if my handphone & car keys were in there and picked up my notebook bag.

Just as I was about to walk to the car, Ameer shouted from inside the TV room,
"Wait Ibu. Wait!"

Apa pulak lah lagi?

I poke my head inside and saw Ameer dragging his school bag out from the TV room. He put the bag right infront me and he started rummaging through his bag pockets, left, right, inside, out. I had no clue what was going on.

Hmmm... I came home late the night before and didn't get the chance to see his school work. Maybe he wanted to show me his drawing, I thought.

Suddenly Ameer said, "Ah! Dah jumpa! "

Then he stood up, opened up his small palm for me and asked,
"Ibu, is this enough?"

Staring blankly into my eyes were three shiny 20 cents coins.

"Cukup tak duit circle-circle ni untuk beli pencil tekan, Ibu?" he asked innocently.

I felt a lump in my throat. I just stared at the three 20 cents coins (duit circle-circle to Ameer) and Ameer's hopeful face interchangeably.

"Ibu boleh guna duit ni untuk beli pencil tekan untuk Ameer. Please Ibu?", he pleaded.

I had to hold back my tears - which I'm very good at.

I think Ameer really wanted a pencil tekan.




That's Ameer for you.


Salam,
Ibu

.

BBQ & Makan-makan

Kepingin BBQ bersama fellow blogger dari Istanbul?

Pencil this in your calendar:

Day/Date: Saturday, 14th June, 2008

Venue: Kota Emerald, Rawang

Time: Petang2 .... exact time to be confirmed.

Guests of Honor: Simah & Halil, all the way from Istanbul !!!

To all those who know Simah, why not make this date a memorable one? Come join us and let's get together-gether over makan-makan. To those who do not know Simah yet, hey.... this is the opportunity get to know her then.

But... but... but..... be alerted...... oleh kerana Ibu ni kurang pandai memasak (Ayah would disagree completely - he would say totally hopeless and tak pandai masak langsung!! Sigh.....), the main menu would therefore be......

BBQ laaaaaa!! Marinate over nite, then bakar jerr ... kan senang? hehehe.....

Sila, sila... don't be shy - this is the time to get to know Simah up close & personal, learn about her cinta 2 benua (kot2 la boleh buat skrip drama/filem? tak ker huntung tuh?) and how this Malaysian lass has survived being on foreign soil that she now calls it her home too.

Pot luck ker? Hmmm.. ntah lah. Datang lenggang kangkung pun tak per. Janji sudi makan BBQ yg ibu buat tu (pssstt..... standby eno pencuci perut?! LOL!!!). Kalau nak bawak periuk beruntung pun, ok jugak... hehehe....

Those interested, pls can you email me at cerita_ibu@yahoo.com and I'll send you further update in due course.

Salam,

Ibu

p/s Peringatan kepada yg ada anak2 lelaki - itu Hatice, anak Simah, ibu dah booked! hehehehhh..

NS camp tragedy: One too many

As the mood of Mother's Day lingers in the air, I can't help but feel very sad and sorry for the family of Hui Min, the latest casualty of poor health & safety administration at the National Service camp.

The scalding of Ameer's right thumb due to hot water spill a few weeks ago was enough to choke and haunt me. On the day the incident happened, I stayed half awake all night through, physically blowing his already bandaged thumb but emotionally feeling guilty for what happened to my baby and worried sick about his recovery.

Imagine how Hui Man's mother was feeling?

Waited for her 7As daughter to come home from NS camp to commence her Form 6, but was greeted with her lifeless body instead. Gruesome.

And all the Datuk could say .... 'She might have been suffering from it for a long time and did not know about it until her death'. And of course they are not going to scrap it just because one or two deaths only.

Just because one or two deaths only?

Just because?

One or two only?

I don't care lah who's in charge, under which ministry, but 16 deaths over a span of 4 years? That's apalling statistically! And horrifying ethically!!

This latest fatal incident is an outright negligence by the NS authorities. Eh! No. It should be gross negligence. Yeah..yeah... yeah..... siasatan, siasatan, siasatan. Cut the crap and just admit it lah!! At the very least, be compassionate about it - say sorry & show your remorse. And if you are not going to scrape this whole thing - then for goodness sake, take the next steps to close the gap fast & furiously.

Aiyoyoooo.... only now they are talking about getting NIOSH certification? If this happened at the workplace, employers would have been taken to task within days - slapped with summons, compounds, imprisonment. If this happened in school hostels, the caterers and the school administration would be grilled alfresco.

But for the NS authorities? Oh...it's just one or two only - what's the big deal. Goshhh.... can you pls wash your mouth with chlorox arr Datuk?

Sigh... bila cakap banyak2, they say bloggers... itulah kerja diorang, exaggerating the truths.

Exaggerating eh?

HALLLOOOOO!!! Can we borrow your sons and daughters pls? Meh sini makan sama2 chicken rice tuh? Meh sini sama2 wait in line to be sent to the clinic? Meh sini duduk sebelah and join the joy ride of waiting for timely proper medical treatment? And if something serious happens to your sons or daughters, simply welcome the response of "oh... she might have had it before but did not know about it" and "ohh.... just one or two children of the many orang besar, no problem... we have room for more, let's just get on with it" with big round of applause pls, will you? Would you? ANSWER ME, YOU HEARTLESS MORON!!

Don't talk about NS camp lahhh... the primary and secondary schools pun you orang avoid kan? Almost all are sent to private or international schools. Some send overseas terus. And you expect all of us mothers to stay calm and collected and be happy with the condition that you put our children through at the schools and NS camps? %$@# *&$!(**>( !!!

(Have I not controlled my fingers, you would have seen all the toot...toot words appearing after the last sentence!)

When you take custody of our children for that short period, you are to assume full responsibility of their health & welfare. The signature that we pen down (or going to pen down 8 years from today) on the consent form, doesn't absolve YOU of the accountability of ill administration by the people who report to you. You should be jointly and severally liable for what happen to our children! The failure to ensure that trainees are rendered expedient medical attention when the need arises is a gross negligence of duty and that, from the opinion of this ibu, can tantamount to a breach of trust that all the ibu-ibu have entrusted upon you.

From the eyes of an ibu,
YOU,
ARE GUILTY AS CHARGED !!

To all mothers out there, selamat hari kita.



.

911

I thought the first thing that I would write about after the come back was on the moving house ordeal that has kept me away from blogging for the last month or so - the reason why Cerita Ibu has been collecting dust.

But what could be more important to update on than the grim domestic accident in our new house? Aiyaiya.....

It all happened last Saturday mid morning which started off well, bright and cheery as with any other non working day :)

We were all gathered around the dining table. Not for breakfast , no.... but for our usual weekend together-gether stuff. Hafiz was doing his Kumon, Ameer his coloring. Abang Idin not in the picture - went on school camping trip. Ayah & I were surfing the net. To be exact, we were fulfilling our statutory duty to e-file the income tax returns. Well actually, it was Ayah who did it all. I merely ransacked my bag, retrieved my income statement, passed it on to him and answered a few questions

1) books? yes, max

2) insurance/epf? yes, max

3) pelepasan anak? yes, 3 orang

4) parents medical? yes, RM2160

5) zakat? errrrrkkk... alamak bang! guilty as charged!

Those kind of questions. And Ayah said IRB owes me RM2,000++ ! Yipeeeee!!! By the way, I was making online payment for my credit card bills - which never seem to finish! why arrr?

As for the ambience that morning.... the dining area sliding doors wide open. The morning breeze and smell of grass refreshing. Outside, birds chirping & Blackie meowing. In the kitchen, Bibi grumbling - something about the dirty laundry. Cakap jawa - tak faham! From the backyard, the trickling sound of the backdoor's neighbour's swimming pool and water feature was therapeutic.

You see.... nothing could go wrong.

Or so we thought!

And how wrong we were.

Out of a sudden, Ameer appeared from the kitchen (when did he move from his seat??!), weeping. "Ayah...... Ameer sakit ni...."

I was like .... ishhh... apa lagi la budak Hafiz ni menyakat adik dia? I didn't even look up. I think neither did Ayah. Well at least not immediately.

Ameer persisted, "Ayahhhhh..... tengoklah ni!!"

And Ayah must have looked at Ameer and it was his "LA'ILA HA'ILALLAHHH! AMEER WHAT HAPPENED??!!!!" that startled me.

I jumped out of my seat when I saw what Ameer was weeping and complaining "sakit" about. His right thumb and a small part of his backhand! Burn? Scald? Oh my god!! Hot water! Outer layer skin destroyed! Redness exposed! Ouchhhh..... Oh Ameerrr.... my darling Ameer...... sakitnya anak ibu.... Cam mana la boleh kena ni?! Oh my dear baby.....

"Macam mana boleh kena ni Ameer!!?"

"Bukan Hafiz, bukan Hafiz!!! Ameer nak air kat situ....." said Hafiz, while pointing at the thermal pot and coffee making tray.

SHIT!! ( Uh! Sorry.... ) How on earth could he reach that high? Did he step onto something?

"Ameer sakit bu.... sakit ni!" Ameer continued weeping.

Ayah just stood there. Didn't move. Couldn't move? Half frozen, I think.

"Ok sayang... jangan nangis.... " I carried Ameer into the kitchen to get the 1st aid kit. Alamak..... kan baru pindah, mana pulak letak eh? Alahai.... Oh yes! Found it. But NO BURNOL!!! Ishhh....

Meanwhile, Ameer continued weeping, "Ameer sakit bu....sakit bu..... "

"Hang in there Ameer! Nanti Ibu cari ubat ni...." trying to console my baby in pain.

In my mind, the first aid lessons on burns & scald was flashing back & forth, back & forth - blurry vision. I was not good in paying attention in class. So in that zig zag of a nano second, I was helplessly trying to think of what home remedy I could resort to in this emergency situation. Something cold. Something cold. I must find something cold.

And I rushed to the fridge and took out - what else? butter!! Grabbed a spoon, scraped a thin layer of butter and quickly but slowly .... ( hey...apa daaaa... quickly but slowly???) I mean, gently applied the thin layer of butter onto Ameer's little thumb.

"Ameer sakit bu.... sakit ......"

My heart broke into pieces.

Oh my dear baby. My handsome Ameer. I kissed him on his forehead, hugged him and consoled him, " Ibu ada ni OK Ameer? Ibu sayang Ameer!" ( nasty thoughts began creeping in ... what a useless mother! Anak depan mata pun tak boleh jaga.... ).

Ameer, though still weeping with tears rolling slowly down his cheek, was actually pretty calm and composed. He didn't cry out loud at all. Merely weeping. I wiped his tears away again and again. Hugged him - gently of course, on hi alert by then and cautious of not wanting a burn & scald home accident to escalate into suffocation.

We took Ameer to the clinic in town shortly after. I had to "tiupkan" Ameer's thumb all the way to the clinic to soothe his pain. Whatever it takes to console my little one.

(Ameer 'blowing' his own thumb to soothe the pain)

The doctor asked what that creamy yellow paste on Ameer's thumb was and I told her I couldn't find burnol and that was the only thing that I could think of then. She smile generously, and I figured she must have been quite impressed with my home remedy (the butter!!). She said I could also use ice cube or ice pack in the absence of burnol (OF COURSE!! And there was plenty of ice cube in the fridge, and a brand new ice pack which we got as free gift when we bought that eyes massager few weeks back!! AH! If only I had paid attention in class....)


We went into the "dressing" room and the doctor expertly attended to Ameer's wound immediately. After cleaning the wound from the mess of my home remedy, she applied what appeared like a "whip cream" white cream generously over Ameer's thumb and bandaged it all up neatly.

Throughout the 'procedure', Ameer DID NOT cry at all ..... Not a single weep. Nothing. The doctor was pleasantly surprised with that. She offered Ameer some sweets thereafter but he did want to take any and just clung to me. It was Hafiz who offered his willingness for the sweets - which help draw some laughter from both the doctor and the nurses.

The doctor advised me not to worry. While the outer layer skin seemed destroyed, the burn was superficial and not severe she said. Nevertheless, she said she had to bandage it all up because knowing little children, they can be quite 'lasak' and would play outside the house, so that might expose the wound to gems. Well.. at least that's what I concluded.

Ameer.... oh Ameer..... I'm very sorry for what had happened, sayang. It's unthinkable for such a thing to happen to you whom we all know as the cute 'baby' of the house who hardly ever got into trouble. What's more with both parents at home at that time. It shouldn't have happened.


Until today, we still haven't figured out how he could have reached that high to press on that thermal pot button. Each time we asked Ameer about it, he would turned and walked away responding, "Ameer dah OK dah!". Hafiz on the other hand, was having his head "inside" the fridge to help himself with some yogurt when the incident happened so he couldn't be an eye witness to tell us what and how it actually happened other than "Ameer nak isi air panas dalam cawan kecik tu agaknya ...."

But accidents do happen, my darling Ameer. I'm sorry that it happened to you this time. Nevertheless, we must thank Allah that it was just that and nothing more. As we all know, there must be a hikmah in every single event. What a blessing in disguise - we now know you can quite comfortably write with your left hand. And you can colour with your left hand too without any problem at all. Ambidextrous boy in the making!

We are now still sending Ameer for his daily dressing. Not at the same clinic though - as on the second day, the dressing was done by a nurse who was sneezing & sniffing most of the time, who did not wash her hand and who blatantly disobeyed the doctor's (not the same as day1 doctor) instruction not to burst the blister! With the little recollection from what I had read on 1st aid before - it was a valid instruction from the doctor. And since that particular doctor on duty on day 2 was so not engaged with the treatment for my little boy ( as in "err... nurse! you do lah huh? this, that, don't do this, don't do that" .... and then straight back to his seat), I decided to take Ameer straight to Damansara Specialist Hospital (outpatient emergency) thereafter.

And everynight since last Sunday, we have been a regular at the emergency outpatient clinic. Jauhhhhhh weiii from Rawang, but anak punya pasal.... sanggup! The nurses washed their hands thoroughly each time of course.

Errrr... and how come the daily dressing at D'sara Specialist cost lower that what the GP charged? RM15 - RM20++ at DSH vs RM50 at the GP. I don't understand.

Anyway...........

A few more days to go Ameer and you'll have your right hand undressed in no time :)

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