The Malaysian Housewife In London

Progress Report & Ramadhan Ramblings

2011-08-19T09:46:00.000+01:00

Posted 2 days late...

Already it is the 17th of Ramadhan and Mr S and I are starting to feel the lethargy that only people who have fasted for days and have not had enough sleep could feel.

It's normally the middle of the fasting month that it gets bad for me; the early part being supported by the initial excitement of Ramadhan, and the thrill and rush to be on track reading the Quran, whilst towards the end, I get rejuvenated by the fact that Eid is near and Oh dear! What a lot of tidying, cooking and cleaning for me to do!

So yes, right about now, I would and should be feeling sluggish, and truth be told, all I want to do right now is lie under my comfy duvet and just sleep!

But because I AM a supermom *groaaaaan* - life goes on as usual...

Just want to update everyone ont the boys. They have been following their 'plan' albeit not according to the allocated times and progress hasbeen a bit slow because they're doing it mostly on their own without my constant supervision. And oh yes, the reading Quran after Subuh thing? The boys could hardly open their eyes during sahur and fajr prayers so reading Quran afterwards is completely out of the question!

Takpelah...at least they are reading and revising the Surahs they have memorized at the madrasah every morning. That is good enough, I think.

I have also added something else to their list of things to do. Bought this 'Learn To Speak French' thing for them a few months ago that comes with a CD and card game and I thought when else would be best for them to do it but now - during the school holidays?

So yes, learning French is part of their daily routine now although as I mentioned above, progress is also a wee bit slow. But Okay la..

Oh yes, Before I forget, Little H finished his jigsaw! Here's the finished product!

Well done Little H, who did 95% of it by himself with mama and Big H sometimes crowding behind him trying to get a few pieces in! Dunno what to do with it now...probably get a cheap frame somewhere and try to fit it in...:)

At least somebody has finished something so far!

As for moi, I am on track (sort of) alhamdulillah in my Quran readings and in between that and juggling Little N and the boys, I've also managed to well...let me see..Have I checked out any baju raya for myself? Nope! The children? Well, we got them a new pair of shoes each. No baju raya yet..my mum said she sent some for the boys tapi tak sampai2 pun...

What else? Hmmm.......

I think it's safe to say that I have made no preparation for Eid yet and this is normal for me, especially since I started living abroad. I think every year it's just, "apa yang dah ada je lah" and as usual, my attempts at kuih raya are always, well, to put it simply, FAILURES!

Nope, I've never been good at making raya cookies..

But still, it wouldn't be another raya without ANOTHER attempt at it so I was thinking that I should start looking at cookie recipes after I finish the Quran. However, at the rate I'm reading right now, I won't have any kuih raya this year at all!

Okay. So maybe I should start baking 1 or 2 soon. Next week, I think.

Will document it here, inshaAllah..

Summer 2011 'Plan'

2011-07-28T12:05:00.017+01:00

Summer hols are here!

Unfortunately we're not going anywhere as it will be the fasting month soon.

As usual when the kids are at home the whole day and night, that means Mama is 'working' the whole day and night!

It's not even been 1 week and I'm already feeling tired! And Ramadhan is just around the corner too!

For this long school break, I've had a little 'meeting' with my kids (my mother who is a retired school principle taught me how to have 'meetings' with children a long time ago!!) and we've decided what is to be done during the holidays.

The list goes like this;

Big H:

After sahur: Read the Quran

10am - 11am : Revise Juzu' Amma and Juzu' Tabaruk and Juzu' Qad Sami'

11am - 2pm: School work

2pm - 3pm: Memorize Asmaul Husna

9.30pm -10.30pm: Read novels

Little H:

10am - 11am : Revise Juzu' Amma and Juzu' Tabaruk

11am -12pm: Finish the Maths workbooks and English workbooks he's had for ages but never finished

2pm - 3pm: Memorize Asma ul Husna

Free time: Complete the 500 piece jigsaw puzzle

9.30pm -10.30pm: Read big novels

Big H said he wanted to finish reading the whole Quran this Ramadhan. I told him that he needs to read at least 20 pages daily for that. He said he'll just try anyway..

"So at what time of the day do you want to read the Quran?" I asked. I wanted them to have a timetable and specific times to do all that they want to achieve so that it's more organised and more achievable for them - and also so that Mama can chase them if they're not doing it!

"My Muallim said the Prophet said the best time to read the Quran is after Subuh so that's what I'm going to do."

"OK." I said encouragingly but dalam hati: MashaAllah anakku...tapi iye ke kau boleh buat ni??

Little H specifically wants to read 'BIG' novels during these holidays. He had already declared to me previously that he 'prefers thick books rather than thin ones' and has already finished the 'BIG' novel that is Black Beauty just yesterday. :) Not that he hasn't been reading many thick novels already - he's already finished the whole of the Harry Potter series, mind - no other kids' books gets thicker than them!

So, okay..that's fine.

Both the boys love reading now, mashaAllah, although this wasn't the case last year.

So how did I change them? I practically forced them to read books in the beginning - but to me there's no other way about it - I needed them to discover the pleasure that is READING and they needed to do that by reading on their own. I bought books that I thought would interest them, I took them to the library, I encouraged them to read comics i.e. Tintin initially to gain their interest. I set a time at night just for reading. I read with them at first because they like their Mama to read with them. And finally, finally it worked, thank God!

After a few weeks of being 'forced' to read, Little H began to get immersed in his story books and later on Big H joined the fun too. Not that Big H didn't enjoy reading before that, mind. He loved reading but ONLY information books e.g. about football, sports, history books, Islamic books...funny, right?

During these holidays I let them play a bit on their Wii after dinner until half past 9 by which the rule is to be on their beds reading their books until half past 10. During school days they have to do whatever work from school or normally, from madrasah (as schools here don't normally give homework except for the weekends) after dinner and then it's straight to books as well.

Fair, me thinks.

Anyway, Little H has a new hobby now which is jigsaw. He's finished one 200 piece one recently and has asked for another one as a present for his good results. Mr S bought for him a 500 piece one - 'upping' the game so to speak - so all the free time he has, he's sitting at his desk trying to complete it!

Better jigsaw than sitting in front of the TV playing games and bickering with his brother every free time they have, right?

So this is how I intend to have some 'control' over the kids' activities during the holidays.

It's going to be tough, what with Ramadhan, the baby, breastfeeding and knowing me, my cravings to eat and cook this and that during the fasting month.

Allahumma Yassir...

Hopefully I'll manage.

Fun Day Accounting

2011-07-22T22:13:00.014+01:00

Last Thursday the boys' school held a 'Fun Day' - a day of fund raising for the school and for the parents' association, a day for making money and getting rid of unwanted and old stuff for some parents who came and set up stalls in the school compound, and a day of games and spending money for all the children and also parents who wanted to join the fun.

Back in Malaysia, from the the tender age of 7, school children were given pocket money to spend at the canteen during lunch time but over here, there's no where to do a spot of 'jual-beli' at school - you either have 'packed lunch' i.e. have your lunch from your lunchpack/ lunchbox your mum packed for you from home, have 'home dinners' which means a parent/ carer would come and pick you up at lunch time to bring you home for lunch, or you were having 'school dinners' which means your parents paid for you to have your lunch at the school dinner hall (in some cases, this could be free if the children's parents were getting benefits from the government - how cool is that?).

Self explanatory, really. ;p

Basically the children here would not be very exposed to using notes and coins, unless they do so outside of school.

So of course, the boys were excited to be allowed to take some money to school on their Fun Day. Mr S didn't give them much - only £3.80 each, of which £1 is for a compulsory donation to the school. So they had only £2.80 to spend which was more than enough because I know that at the Fun Day, cakes/food and drinks would be sold at 10p or 20p each or at most 50p. (I told them not to buy anything else besides food and drinks.)

Since they were excited about spending money, I was excited too to know what they would buy for themselves. So, I instructed them to write down what they had spent for the day, knowing from previous experience that sometimes they just misplace their coins and didn't spend much or in some cases, they actually did spend their coins, only they couldn't report back to Mama because their young minds have forgotten exactly what they spent on and how much the things had cost.

I told them before they went off to school, "Write exactly what you spent your money on and how much - write them down on a piece of paper at school before you forget, okay? Don't wait until you reach home to do it!"

The moment I saw Little H running towards me from his classmates and friends when I came to pick them up after school, I knew he had listened earnestly to what I had said. He showed me 3 pencils and 2 rubbers which he had won in some of the games stalls - which, he said, he didn't have to pay anything to participate in - and he showed me that he had £1.04 left over in his pocket. He then began to tell me about his list of expenses which he had written down but said that he didn't want to show it to me first because he had some 'corrections' to do.

"Alright." I said to Little H. "Well done, masyaAllah!"

Big H however admitted that he didn't do what I told him to do, which was really, typical of him. "It doesn't matter," I said to Big H, "You can write them down at home - try to remember what you bought - start from the beginning!"

"Okay.." he said slowly, obviously dismayed that he still HAD to do it!

A little later, at home, this was what the boys showed me;

Little H's Expenses for Fun Day

Big H's expenses sheet which he did at home!

Little H's explanation of what transpired during the day was complex - he spent a lot of his money on food and drinks but there was also a lot of 'swapping' money - or giving away, really - but my friend didn't have any money so I gave him some! - and then somehow the person whom he gave the money to would also give him a certain amount back!

But believe it or not, after all the trading and exchanging he did that day, what he wrote on paper and the amount he had left in his pocket TALLIED!! Which means he had written everything down correctly!

I was SO amazed!

Big H however, tried his best to remember what were his purchases for the day exactly but in the end, he had 50p unaccounted for. Hmm..Tu la, Mama suruh buat terus kat sekolah takmau!

Sigh.

But guess what, that £1.04 Little H had in his pocket at the end of the day? £1 of it was actually generously given to him by none other than his own big brother, Big H! - "Go buy a lollypop", Big H had said! Aww..sweet isn't he?(Pun intended!)

All I can is, WELL DONE Little H for listening to Mama and for doing exactly as you've been told - you've been very responsible and you've paid attention to the details. Good job! Ada gaya boleh jadi CA like Mr S ni! ;p

And Big H, there's always a next time. (Listen to Mama next time!!)

Results (And A Lesson Learnt)

2011-07-14T11:27:00.005+01:00

Right, the boys have gotten their results. And I am happy to say that they have both performed really well this year, for both school and madrasah.

Alhamdulillah.

Both Little H and Big H achieved a level 'above what is expected of their age group' at school, which is beyond Level 3 for Little H and beyond Level 4 for Big H. For madrasah, Big H came 2nd in class whereas Little H came 1st! Poor Big H - he should have come first for the year because he got first in the first term but due to a little miscommunication/ misunderstanding on his part on what he was supposed to learn in his Supplications, he was short by a few points and the boy who got no 2 last term got no 1!!!

Takpelah, takde rezeki...I consider their achievements amazing. This is because the other boys in their classes are mostly of Arabic speaking nationalities and would have found their lessons - which is conducted mostly in Arabic - easy-peasy, when my boys know nought of the language! And yet...

Little H had been leading in terms of the marks from last term and from the daily reports he gave me during the exam week this term i.e. semua asyik full marks aje, we already expected him to come 1st in his class, MasyaAllah.

I think I should really thank Mr S this time. He was the one who has been hounding the kids to study, testing them at night weeks before the exam and testing them again the nights before the exams. Not to mention texting me on the phone from work to remind me to make sure the boys were studying during their holidays. Of course, that was exactly what I was doing anyway - making sure the boys were not just playing games during the day - but I do appreciate Mr S playing a bigger role in the kids' revision this time around, without me having to prompt him as usual!

Thanks Mr S. I know the boys may not understand now - they might complain and whine making things difficult for us everytime we ask them to study, but when they are older and wiser, inshaAllah they will remember our efforts and hopefully they will appreciate it and love us more for it. Amiin..

*****

Saying all that, I was really upset with Little H on the last day at the madrasah - which was also their end of year party and prize giving day. I was waiting outside the madrasah door to pick up the boys, waiting for the Muallim to call the boys for me when Little H and Big H both appeared at the door, carrying a big box each. They both got a big water gun each for their wonderful exam results, apparently. I smiled at them but instead of smiling from ear to ear, Little H had a grimace on his face, and whilst he was still within the Muallim's earshot (not to mention all the parents there who were also waiting for their kids) he said loudly, "RUBBISH, RUBBISH, RUBBISH!" - clearly indicating that he was talking about their prizes!

For those of you who have been following this blog previously, you may know that Big H once received a bike for getting 1st in his madrasah class. The year after that, however, the boys did well once again but all they got was a large plastic bag filled with toys each.

To be honest, I wasn't surprised that their prizes that second year were just toys because I know how much we paid for the boys' fees, and I can guess roughly how many children there are in the madrasah and I know how many teachers teach there. It's not difficult to estimate their profit and loss account - the madrasah doesn't earn very much - I wouldn't even be surprised if they are a registered charity. So Big H was very lucky that year when he got the bike - a generous and charitable person must have donated them to the madrasah for prize-giving day.

Thus really, the boys were fortunate to get anything at all from their madrasah for their hard work during the year. And for Little H to complain loudly like that...I was really embarrassed and of course, angry with him! I quickly told him off quietly, on the spot, telling him it's rude to complain about a gift someone has generously given to you but he wasn't really listening. I then asked the boys to walk quickly to the car, ignoring any more complaints from Little H (Big H wasn't complaining - he had his neutral face on, 'graciously' letting Little H do all the whining!) because there were dark rain clouds in the sky and it looked like it was going to pour any second and since I was carrying Little N, I was obviously concerned about getting caught in the rain. But then I heard Little H say, none too softly, still within earshot of some of the parents; "But this came from a Pound Shop*, Mama!"

*(A Pound Shop is a shop that sells cheap things mostly for £1, here in the UK)

THAT was when the dark clouds in ME burst open! And do not doubt that there were thunder and lightning too!

As expected, I gave the boys a long and harsh lecture in the car on the way home about being grateful and thankful for what one receives and not to be so arrogant and snobbish about receiving less expensive things. And of course, I told them that they're learning at the madrasah to be good muslims, for Allah's reward later, not for the prizes they might get at the end of the year!

Little H was very quiet after that and of course, he wasn't in a good mood for the whole evening. He is a smart kid and very eloquent and fluent for his age but that doesn't mean I'm going to let him off for the inappropriate things that might come out of his smart mouth. Saying that, a kid is a kid and he was disappointed with his prize - which he was so excited to receive in the first place, so me being me, I had to 'console' him by showing him and Big H how cool actually their new toys were - they were huge after all and the water jets would go as far as 12m (according to the writing on the box) - you certainly would enjoy shooting at each other in the summer!, I told them. Thank God, that brightened Little H up a bit. And I reminded them that their Papa had promised them a present each for their good results so hopefully both of them will feel well rewarded for their hard work for the year when they receive them.

Sigh.

ALL that aside, masyaAllah, alhamdulillah, I am thankful to Allah for the boys' good achievements again this year. Hopefully both of them will work hard to keep it up - Mama will always pray for your success in this life and the hereafter, InshaAllah.

A little note to my boys:

Growing up is never easy, boys, and it's NOT just about getting good results. There are many things to learn in life and yet life is short. All I can say to you right now is work hard, be good, pray hard and be humble always and in the end just try your best.

InshaAllah, Allah will grant you your prayers.

Amin, inshaAllah.

At 9 Months

2011-07-06T19:51:00.006+01:00

Little N knows when she's had enough of her food...

The mouth says it all.

Priceless.

Birthday Lunch

2011-07-04T11:49:00.020+01:00

It was Big H's birthday yesterday, 3rd July.

MasyaAllah he's TEN now! How time flies! If you've followed this blog before this, you'll know that I like to go to town and try to be creative (key word: TRY) with my kids' birthday cakes. Remember these..??

Monster Cake

Little H's 3rd birthday party

Big H's 7th birthday: Earth Cake

Spider Cake

Little H turned 4

I feel amazed at myself every time I look at these pictures! What a lot of time and energy I had in those days! I have not been able to present my boys with any more of my ehem, err..'creations' since, well..I think it's been three years since I last iced a cake and used some of my creative juices to make the kids happy for their birthday! Mak takde taim lah anak-anak semua... Look, look! This was the cake I made for Big H yesterday!!

Yes, only those none too shiny silver balls to brighten up the pathetic thing! Thank goodness for the pretty candles Mr S bought to add some colour to it! Yet my boys loved it and was excited when they saw it! Poor boys..it's been a while since I did something special for your birthday cakes, I know boys...I've been working and then getting pregnant and now even though I'm at home all day, with baby N around I'm lucky to be able to get any time at all to put in any extra effort in the kitchen...Kesian anak2 mama...

But yesterday we did have a little gathering for Big H's birthday. I wanted it to be the usual quiet celebration at home with the family unit but Big H pleaded with me to invite some people over! Mr S and I relented and decided to invite the two Malaysian families living in our area aje, Kak A's family and I&H's family. We invited them for lunch.

And what did I make? I wanted to cook the simplest and easiest food I could get away with! But the food had to be special and nice too, of course! So I decided to cook these:

Lemon couscous and and a simple lamb tagine, and some dishes I always cook and hence will have no problem with: lasagna and fried meehun! If you know your tagine and couscous, you'll know that they are hassle free dishes too! And for dessert, on top of that sparkly birthday cake, I made a pudding with banana sauce from a recipe that I've been itching to try for some time...

All in all it was a nice little get together, alhamdulillah. I'm glad that even with the baby and all I still managed to pull through this time - not without the help of darling Mr S and also of course, the boys! (with a little bit of nagging and screaming involved on my part - as usual!).

I do really like to cook for people, I do! It gives me a certain kind of satisfaction to see people enjoying the food that I had slaved in the kitchen to make. I hope this is the start of more invitations to our house this year, God willing!

Next event inshaAllah will be Little N's first birthday! Can't wait! :)

Olympic Ramblings

2011-06-25T10:48:00.003+01:00

Olympic Basketball place - pic taken from behind some bars - how apt!

There has been a lot of traffic jams, roadworks, road closures, bridge closure, bus route changes and not to mention dust in my area for the past couple of years. That's because I live in Stratford, London - that's right, where the Olympics will be held next year. I live just a few minutes away from the Olympic Park. Put it this way, I open my front door and look right, I can see the Olympic Village at the end of my road.

I remember when they first started the construction work on the site a few years back - Mr S would have to think many times before washing the car because just 1 day later, the car would be covered in a thick layer of yellow dust. And the dust would creep into our house too. Just a few hours after vacuuming and dusting, the floor would feel dusty, the dark mahogany of the piano would change into a murky lighter shade (okay, I'm exaggerating a bit here ;p) but truly, you could run your finger on the furniture just a few hours after wiping them with a damp cloth and already you would get some dust on your finger! (True Story!). Suffice to say, we had our share of hardships dealing with the huge construction project just a stone's throw away from our place. We suffered but we were also proud and excited to be so close to the action!

The Velodrome - so near yet so far!

The boys were excited about watching the swimming events and diving events live and I wanted to watch a few of the hockey matches (having played hockey at school) and badminton, hoping to catch Malaysia in action. Mr S was more interested to watch the athletic events and we didn't want to miss the opening ceremony, did we? So, when the tickets were opened for 'registration', we registered for around £1k+ worth of tickets - confident that we would at least get 'some' if not all. In case you didn't know, due to the expected high demand for tickets and in a bid to be 'fair' to all, all UK residents who wanted to attend the events needed to 'register' online for the tickets they wanted to buy and a scheduled ballot would then determine which tickets you would get to purchase.

If we were successful in the ballot, we would know by means of our money would be taken out from our account on the 31st May 2011. Mr S checked his account on that date and unfortunately for us, no money was deducted - which means we didn't get any tickets at all, NOT EVEN ONE!! The result was baffling for many people and left many disappointed. For us though, it was doubly so, knowing that we live so near the Olympic Park, (after all we had to go through during its construction!) and reading in the papers that some people got ALL the tickets they registered for (for several events!) when many others like us, got none at all! There's definitely something very unfair about that 'fair' ballot system!

It looks like we'll be watching the Olympic events from a TV screen after all. Maybe we should go back to Malaysia during the Olympics and watch from a TV screen in Seremban or Melaka. After all, a TV screen is a TV screen, no matter where you are it would be the same.

Damn that ballot system...

Or, wait, wait! Maybe I should just boycott the Olympics next year completely and just sulk...no, no, no..I should do my own 'Olympic race' instead! The events would coincide with our holy month, right? So why not I race my grandma/my mom who always khatam the Quran twice during Ramadhan? Come to think of it, what a great idea!

And totally impossible to achieve.

Sigh. Anyway, one more Ramadhan to go before that one. Here's hoping that I'll be getting a medal for that race this coming Ramadhan, huh?

Amin, InshaAllah.

A Little Update

2011-06-22T12:58:00.010+01:00

Gawd...it's been ages since I last looked upon this blog of mine.

So many things to write about, don't know where to start! I've been busy, of course. But really, I have to remind myself again and again that this blog is important for myself and family, to record our lives and our children's stories and developments - otherwise all the precious moments would just fade away from our memories and finally simply disappear!

Baby N is already 9 mths old now masyaAllah..her favourite food is rice+ fish+carrots+cauliflower cooked until soft and pressed through a sieve. She also loves yoghurt and cheese and likes some cheesy omelette for breakfast! She has yet to crawl but is slowly moving her body and feet now to move around and to get to where she wants. But there's nothing wrong with her talking abilities - she's a magpie through and through, always noisy, yap-yapping and babbling all the time! MasyaAllah. :)

This week is an important week for the boys. It's their madrasah exam once again. Big H is already in class 5 now and Little H in class 4. Mr S is helping them with the memorising and he's been testing them with their surahs, hadeeths etc. when he comes back from work. Hopefully they will do well again this year inshaAllah..

I have problems feeding Little H nowadays - he's such a picky eater! He's gone really thin now that we jokingly call him 'stick boy' sometimes. It's not funny, I know, he NEEDS to eat!! Mealtimes are stressful indeed!

Big H on the other hand has put on some weight. He eats a lot and requests for all types of cheesy food from his poor mum. He's not fat but he's rounder than before - I love to watch him eat!

Alright, this is all the time I have for now. InshaAllah will update with more stories soon!

Presenting Little N!

2010-09-24T21:07:00.003+01:00

Little N was born on the 13th of September in a London Hospital. The picture above was taken the next day, when her brothers came to visit.

Both Mama and Little N are currently at home and doing okay, alhamdulillah....

Backyard Fruits

2010-07-04T10:06:00.002+01:00

Just want to show off the cherries that we picked from the tree in our backyard. The tree is nothing to look at but the cherries are a different story altogether!

We normally don't get to eat any of the cherries because the birds would always get to them first even before they are ripe. But somehow this year, there were only two birds who stubbornly kept an eye on the tree and came over for breakfast - as opposed to about 5-6 of those black feathered fiends with bright yellow beaks who would have their breakfast, lunch and dinner in our backyard.

So here they are!

They are absolutely yummilicious and the flesh is thick and sweet - much, much better than the ones Mr S bought for me from the supermarket, I tell you!

The landlord was the one who planted the tree. He did ask whether we enjoyed the fruits a few summers back to which we answered in surprise, no..not at all..there were none left for us!

Banyak pahala landlord dapat tahun ni ...:)

The Proof Is In The Graze...

2010-06-27T14:44:00.001+01:00

Remember when I used to be so worried about Big H because he didn't know how to play with his friends during their break time?

He used to walk around by himself, not feeling sorry for himself or anything like that - according to his teachers, his friends would always call to him to play with them but he always refused. It was either he didn't know how to join in or he simply preferred to play on his own. His Year 1 /Year 2 teacher was a little concerned as well because she said that playing with friends is part of learning and growing for children and he was missing out on that...

I remember I used to drive over to his school and sit in the car to spy on him during his playtime - but I always ended up feeling sad and sorry for my little boy - up to the point that I felt that there was no one I could turn to for help but for the Almighty! And so that's what I did! Doa, doa and doa that he'll be better at making friends and playing with them! I know the issue may sound a little petty or trivial to many but it breaks my heart to see him playing by himself when his friends are laughing and playing together. I really wanted him to improve his socializing skills...

But guess what? Big H has slowly, since the middle of last year started playing with his friends! He even has a 'best-friend' now! Admittedly, for a while it was only this friend *R* who considered Big H to be his best friend when Big H didn't want to have anything to do with him at all. In fact, Big H had complained to me in his very innocent way, " I don't know why *R* likes to follow me around!" To which I had answered, "Maybe it's because he likes you and wants to be your friend?" But I didn't need to persuade him too much because they soon became good friends and frankly, I was very, very relieved!

Now, Big H has other friends too - they all play together during play-time. At first it was simply some "made-up" games which when I was a kid was the best kind of games I ever played. But then slowly, Big H and *R* was called by other friends to play football.

In the beginning Big H told me that *R* didn't like to play football (when Big H did) and *R* had walked away when Big H wanted to join the others in the game. But slowly, slowly, *R* also started playing football during playtime and even slide-tackled Big H one day and made him fall and graze his face! Oh dear!

I was a little bit concerned because Big H hardly comes home with any sort of playtime injuries - obviously for the reason that he has not been playing a lot, but to be honest, they really made me very happy!

It was because the injuries were proof to me that he has been playing with friends at school and he was finally able to assimilate himself with the other children! *Phew!*

Oh Big H, I'm so sorry about the scars that you have on your face now but I am also happy and glad that you have now finally 'grown' a bit and able to play with the other children and make friends....Mama is so proud of you!

A Yellow Belt for Little H

2010-04-09T17:16:00.008+01:00

It's now the second week of the Easter Holidays for the kids, hence the reason why I've been a little too busy to dive into the blogosphere.

But right now, the boys are at the madrasah, and Mr S had helped to cook dinner last night (cum the boys' lunch while we were both at work), so I think I'll make a quick entry about Little H's karate grading last few weekends specially for the family and grandparents back in Malaysia!

After about a year wearing his white belt, Little H's sensei finally gave him the green light to take the grading to yellow belt. And boy, was Little H delighted!

Big H, Mr S and I helped him to practice at home for the grading - pointing out what he was doing 'wrong' or 'funny' and he took all our pointers in and alhamdulillah, did very well during the grading. (Big H didn't do his grading this time around because he just went up to his green a few months back.)

There was 1 part during the sparing though, when Little H's partner had to do a face punch and Little H had to do his upper block when the Head Instructor had asked him to repeat his move - but in our opinion that was just because Little H's sparing partner was well, to put it frankly, rubbish. I know, that's harsh, but it's true!

Pity that little boy. It's really appalling to see some overly ambitious parents (particularly the parent of that little boy) insist that their child is ready for the grading when they have only attended the classes 5-6 times! I pity too the instructor who had to deal with the parents - we saw 2 separate cases when parents went to the sensei to insist that their child was ready to take the grading even when the sensei expressed to the contrary! How kiasu of these parents! Kesian the kids!

Anyway, here are some pix of Little H's karate grading. He had checked my blog a few weeks back and had asked why mama hasn't put up his karate grading pics in Mama's blog! Sorry darling, I've been busy ye...hopefully, I'm not too late...here they are;

Little H ready to perform his kata.

Yay! Little H presented with his license book by one of the senseis

which states that he had passed his test!

Little H proudly holding a certificate (actually that was Big H's - Little H's one wasn't ready yet!) for the photo op with all the other participants.

Little H proudly holding his yellow belt.

Mr S bought Little H his yellow belt straight after the grading!

Big H with his Green Belt Certificate.

Little H still full of adrenaline at home - showing off in front of the camera!

I'm Not Your Friend!

2010-03-26T09:49:00.015Z

"Why is Mama's body changing?" asked Little H to a bemused Mr S.

"What do you mean?"

"Well...her breasts used to be down here.." he said, using both hands to indicate somewhere between his chest and tummy(!!!), "but now, it's up here!"- his hands now pointing some where between his collarbone and chest!

Obviously Mr S was laughing by this time. But Little H wasn't finished yet.."And her tummy is fat!"

Oh joy.

Ok, people. Time to come clean.

I haven't gotten a boob job like some of you may think. And neither have I been pigging out that I have grown a spare tyre around my middle. The fact is, I am actually, right now, as of today, thirteen weeks and 5 days pregnant!

Alhamdulillah.

So you can understand why Little H has been harassing me with his moods of late. He cries at the slightest provocation from his brother and threatens us all with the all too frequently used; "I'm not your friend!" every little chance he gets - so frequently that Mr S, the teaser, has even made up a little 'melody' for it. Teruk Mr S! And of course, it annoys Little H even more when everyone especially Big H roars with laughter at Mr S's teasing.

Cian dia.

But that's really being unfair - Little H has been adorable too. He leaves his games and Legos from time to time to check on me in my room whenever I'm feeling a little bit down during my 1st trimester. He cheers me up with his cheeky smile and little stories which always start with, "Mama, shall I tell you something..??"

And....he gives helpful comments when I try out clothes at the shop! Little H likes to follow me into the changing room to look at me trying on clothes that I want to buy. I remember when I was trying on some maternity jeans at a NEXT store, Little H comments were like these; "That looks fabulous on you Mama!" and "No, that looks funny." And in a shop when I was trying on a rain coat because spring is upon us now and I need a nice water resistant and hooded piece, Little H decided to announce loudly, "Mama, when you wear this coat you don't look fat anymore!"

Well, that was it then! Of course I had to buy that coat. It's just wrong not to when my loudest critic has given his blessing!

Oh well, I guess we all know where Little H's mood swings are coming from. Soon inshaAllah, he won't be the baby in the family anymore and he knows it. Mr S says he's using up all his 'baby credits' quickly now because really, he has always been the more 'matured' and 'sensible' one between my two boys...

So takpelah...

At the Tracks

2010-03-18T09:12:00.008Z

The boys had a wonderful weekend last week.

Earlier in the week, we received an invite to a birthday party of a friend's son to be held on Saturday. But that wasn't what that had excited the boys - parties are pretty commonplace these days and in my opinion, birthday gatherings here are more fun for the parents really who get a chance to catch up with friends and eat some nice Malaysian food while the kids play together or do activities with the entertainers.

What was different and exciting for the boys this time though was the treat that my friend, the father of the birthday boy, had generously organised for about 10 kids between the ages 6-8 before the party. They were to get a chance to do some indoor go-karting! So boys being boys of course they were over the moon about the whole thing!

Due to unexpected heavy traffic that morning, we arrived quite late to the venue but not to worry, all the children were divided into two groups to take turns on the track anyway, so Big H and Little H were put into the second group and were not disappointed!

Big H looked nervous while waiting for his turn to have a go.

A short briefing on how to drive the kart - all the other kids had their briefing in a special room but because we were late, the boys had to have a quick lesson just beside the track! The red pedal is for stopping, the green is for moving. No problem!

Getting helmets that best fit them.

Of course, Big H had to get a slightly bigger-sized one!

Looking pretty cool and all ready to rev up the engines!

Our turn next. Tak sabar...

Finally! It's the boys' turn!

Big H.

He was fast but careful - took over other drivers

whenever he could but was careful around the corners.

Little H however didn't know the meanings of 'break' or 'corner'!

He just flew around the bends and quite a few times rammed

himself into those red and white tyres!!

After 1 hour of fun, 15 + 15 mins for each group, everyone received 'certificates' and the birthday boy got a medal. And we had a photo op at the podium - of course, nearly everyone wanted to stand at the centre of it!

After that at our friend's place for the actual party, after the food

it was back to the 'usual' activity.

The boys even had a round of Guitar Hero with some other children at the party, playing to Deep Purple's Smoke On the Water and Joan Jett's I Love Rock & Roll!

Overall, Big H and Little H really had a good time. They had so much fun actually that they were talking about their go kart experience even the next day, laughing loudly at their own driving and 'accidents' while watching the videos Mr S took of them going around the track.

A bundle of thanks to Uncle Shamsul for all the fun. If the track is somewhere nearer to us I really don't mind bringing them to it often for something to do during the weekends but unfortunately it's quite far away. Oh well, it was good experience for the kids anyway and who knows, they might be able to persuade Mr S to drive them all the way there for a few more rounds during the school holidays.

Back to Business As Usual?

2010-03-11T11:55:00.008Z

Salam everyone!

Am so sorry that I have not been updating - am feeling a little bit regretful about it actually.

*Sigh*

Even when I was busy or unwell, I really should have updated my blog...because now, during all that time that I have been silent - a lot of what had happened will be 'forgotten' especially, especially about the kids. And they grow up really fast, that I tend to forget that every day with them is really, really precious - and that I should really write everything down so that I will always remember and I can cherish every moment! (Wish I was in a reality show like those Kardashians where a cameraman would follow us around and record every minute of our lives - and edit out the bad parts too! LOL!)

But I hope from now on, I would be more persevering in updating this blog. It has been tiring these last few months and to be honest - I really couldn't spare the time to even visit this blog and any one of my friends' but I will, try my best to keep this blog active from now on.

God willing.

**Pic is of the boys hogging the pc - as usual! One of my excuses for not updating this blog!**

Inadequate

2009-08-23T11:13:00.004+01:00

"You need to be super quick," Mr S said.

It was because we were due to meet up with the group for a tour around the important mosques and sites of Madinah. I had nodded - I had about 1 hour before the time we were supposed to meet up with our guide at the lobby of the hotel - I was confident I could make it.

And so I walked with Mr S and the boys - they were going to send me halfway and just wait for me outside the mosque, in front of the men's entrance, as I wont be long. I waved to them once and walked briskly towards the women's entrance of the Masjid Nabawi, towards the back of the mosque.

I was nervous.

I was within the vicinity of Rasulullah SAW and I felt small and unworthy. I am not qualified to kiss the soles of His feet and I felt inadequate - even to ziarah his Tomb.

But I have to ziarah no matter what my feelings were because it would be rude and inappropriate not to if you are in Madinah.

There were no rows and rows of people seated or standing in prayer lines in the mosque as was the norm during solat times. There were some women praying but I could probably count them with my hands - mostly there were small groups of women walking about, all either going towards the Maqam area or coming from it. And there were the Indonesian cleaners too, busy mopping, vacuuming, wiping, cleaning - I can imagine what a huge task they have to do daily or even hourly as the mosque is never empty.

Once I entered the mosque, I had to walk from the women's entrance at the rear end of the mosque back towards the front of the mosque where the Maqam is situated. Of course, this time I get to do it without squinting at the brilliance of the sun and instead, my eyes had to adjust in the cool and dim areas of the fully air conditioned interior of the mosque.

I walked fast - the clock was ticking - I was wearing my stockings and really, I was sliding on the cool marble floors where the carpets were rolled up for the morning mopping. And then, suddenly, I was stopped by a dark skinned female guard in burqa.

"Indonesia?" she asked me.

"Malaysia." I answered.

"Sana ibu.." she said, pointing towards a group of South East Asian women, all sitting down together, some praying, some reading the Quran. I walked towards the women and sat down beside a young woman. I was a little confused. The last time (about 16-17 years ago) I visited the Maqam of the Prophet (pbuh) during the women's visiting hours, when the door opened, it was open season and the women simply, well, charged. There was no segregation of countries, no organisation whatsoever.

I looked around and saw that there were several other female guards holding placards with the names of countries; India/ Pakistan, Iran, Malaysia/ Indonesia and some of the guards were even giving talks in various languages to the groups of women, all seated according to their country of origin. I didn't need to be a genius to figure out the system - we were only allowed to enter in groups according to country and each group will have to wait for their turn to get in.

Bother!

I glanced at my clock - 40 minutes before our rendezvous with the guide.

30 minutes.

20 minutes and I was still waiting.

At that time, looking at the peaceful looking women who were patiently waiting, praying and reading the Quran around me - I thought I would gladly take the pushing and shoving to get in the Raudah any day - especially today when I don't have the time to be patiently waiting. I calculated; it took about 5 minutes to reach the entrance from where Mr S and the boys were waiting. Another 5 minutes to walk across to the front of the mosque to the Maqam. And it will take 5 minutes to walk back to the hotel. So I needed about 20 minutes in all as I had to go up to our room once we reach the hotel to get my bag.

Sigh.

I said my salam anyway to the Prophet from afar, got up and walked carefully over and around the women in the group, careful not to step on anyone and quickly made my way out. As I slid across the cool floor once again towards the back of the mosque, I thought, maybe Allah has decided that I was inadequate to visit His Prophet after all....

But I did not give up and tried again the next day...

To Be Continued.

Whosoever Sows, He Reaps

2009-07-16T14:08:00.010+01:00

The boys standing in front of their madrasah building.

For readers who have followed me since forever, you may remember that I took Big H out of the madrasah that had a teacher who was not very good with children and had actually hit the children if they didn't read correctly. Poor Big H was one of the victims of that teacher's impatience. He was so traumatised by his experience at that madrasah that he refused to attend the classes and in the end I had to pull him out from them even though we've paid the fees in full.

I decided to enrol him into another madrasah last September, one that was a bit further away from our house but was highly recommended by some friends. I have been teaching both the boys at home but I haven't given up on the idea of a formal Islamic education for my children. Big H had rejected the idea at first but I gently persuaded him and somehow, he had relented.

Anyway, this time Big H wasn't alone - Little H was old enough to join the classes and many of their school friends also go to the same madrasah so I think he had really enjoyed the classes from the beginning - sebab ada kawan. Even now, when the madrasah is taking a long break for the summer holidays, both Big H and Little H keep on asking - when will they be going back to madrasah??

And mashaAllah..it has been good. The boys just...fell in love with the Quran. They recite the surah by themselves and help each other before they go to bed! Little H said, "Mama, I can't stop thinking about the Quran!" Imagine that? And I know he really meant what he said.

I've been told by the other mums who send their boys to the same place that most of the teachers (muallim) who teach in the madrasah have been teaching there for a long time. I'm not sure if this is true but they are indeed very good at what they do - the kids learn really fast - they can memorize the long surahs without much difficulty and the muallim(s) are teachers who seem to naturally like children (in fact, they are truly amazing with the children!). The muallims are Algerians I think and according to the mums who speak Arabic, the Arabic Language of the teachers is refined and tak kasar and this is what they're teaching the children.

Alhamdulillah.

(FYI, besides Arabic, the children also memorize the Quran, starting from Juzu' Amma, of course and they learn Hadeeths, Fiqh, Tauhid as well. The teachers speak English and Arabic in class.)

Little H got a remote control tank that can climb up walls for getting number 4 in class :)
Pic was taken with Big H's bike while he was still on the camping trip.

Last Friday was their prize and cert giving day.

Parents were asked to bring food to the madrasah and everyone was so generous. I saw a dad bring 5 big boxes of cream cakes, a mum with SIX types of dishes and someone also brought in briyani! Samosas and kebabs were aplenty, of course! I myself made 1 bowl of tiramisu topped with lotsa juicy strawberries - I think the presentation made up for the fact that I only brought ONE thing (I hope!) although sadly, at the end of the event, when I asked for my bowl back, I found that it was still pristine and uneaten because the muallims had put the bowl in the fridge and had forgotten all about it!!

Actually, when the muallim opened the fridge, I saw other dishes in the fridge that were still untouched as well - there were too much food brought in by the parents! Too bad I had to take my plate back, if I had made the tiramisu in a disposable bowl then maybe the teachers could have eaten it later on...

(But no matter, I had sedekah the tiramisu to a Malaysian family anyway after that since that was my intention in the first place - sedekah!)

To top it all up this year at the prize giving event, the madrasah gave boys who got number 1, 2, 3 in their classes bikes for prizes. BIKES!

Big H was happy to see the bike but he wanted to see his result slip first before riding it!

There were 6 classes in all I think, so all those kids who got the bikes went home happily wheeling their new bikes. I wasn't surprised when on the board, I saw Big H's result. He got number one during the first term and from the way he recites his Quran, (carefully and without mistakes) I was expecting about the same...yup, Big H got number 1 again. Little H, who was in a different class than Big H but nevertheless were amongst children who were 1-2 years older than him got number 4, which to me was so amazing considering his competition (and mostly depa ni anak2 arab pun..).

At first, I didn't know about the bikes so I was surprised to see the teacher wheeling a bike towards me that I was a little speechless - but my shocked expression no doubt turned into a wide grin when he told me about the prize. Big H was actually absent from the event - he was away at a scout's campsite near Southend, enjoying himself on a camping trip with his classmates on that day - so Mama had to do the 'wheeling home' instead!

Mr S and I already decided to give the children the thing that they've been begging us for for a while now - a Nintendo DS each - if they do well in their madrasah exams. We had already bought them actually, without waiting for the results, together with some games to start them off with and had carefully hidden them in Mr S's clothes cupboard in the master bedroom.

Mr S and I knew that the boys have worked hard for their exams and will probably do well (we thought kalau Little H tak dapat no 1 pun takpe because he's only 5 anyway and he's worked hard for his exams too) but what we wanted to do was to instill in the boys that if they do well in their madrasah that it's a BIG THING, something to be really proud of. And we needed them to understand the fact that their religious education is very, very important.

Hence the 'big prize'.

Little did we know that the madrasah itself would be giving away even better prizes to encourage the children!

What an incentive for them to do well, huh?

Just wonderful. Simply wonderful.

First Solat

2009-06-12T11:20:00.008+01:00

The man who greeted us at the airport was polite and well spoken.

He was a tall Arab man with dark skin and he was wearing the traditional red/white arab head dress with the agal on his head. He directed us to our fully air conditioned bus where the children and I climbed straight inside to escape the heat while Mr S made sure the bags were safely deposited in the luggage compartment underneath the bus.

And then slowly, all the other people in our group climbed in. As you might have guessed, a group of Muslims from London would comprise of people from many nationalities. There were Indians, Pakistanis, Iranians, Afghans and Egyptians. There were actually four other families travelling with children, and from that only three families were with young children. One particular family had five young children with them but they also brought along their grandmother - I can't imagine what a challenge the journey would have been for the parents if they had to handle all their kids by themselves! The first thing that our guide - who said his name was Sheikh Al Abbasiy - informed us about was the prayer times. He said, in the way teachers like to prompt their students, "After all, we all came here to......?" And like good students the people in my group answered, "PRAY..!" At that moment, I blew out a long breath of air. I thought, "That's right. This is it. We are here to pray." I looked at the children and prayed that they were up to it and everything would be fine.
A few weeks back, at home, Little H had asked me, "Can we bring Wii to Saudi Arabia?"

Mr S and I had looked at each other and we both had shaken our heads simultaneously. "Nope."

"We are going there to solat ye," I said, "not to stay at the hotel to play Wii..."

And surprisingly, there were no groans nor complaints in response. And I had stressed to them many, many times;

"In Mekah and Madinah, we must go to the Masjid to solat, ok?"

"OK!"

"Five times a day, ok?"

"OK!"

And I had gone through with them other things as well to prepare them for the trip. I had drawn roughly the maps of Saudi Arabia a few times to show them our journey on paper, drawn the Kaabah and Masjidil Haram to show them the actions for Umrah, taught them the dos and don'ts of the ihram, the talbiah and the niat for umrah.

I'm proud to say both Little H and Big H memorized them all, mashaAllah. Kids! They are like sponges that absorb anything... it is really up to us to provide the good things for them to learn.

******

We were kinda late to go for our first solat at the Masjidin Nabawi.

The wait at the hotel lobby for our room cards took a good thirty minutes and we had about 20 minutes before the Zuhur prayers started.

After rushing the kids and then ourselves to wash, do our ablutions and change, Mr S and I took the children in hand and walked to the mosque in the blinding heat of the sun.

It was really, really burning hot. There was wind, but it felt like wind coming from a furnace and it did nothing to relieve us.

The nearest gate to our hotel, which was less than 5 minutes walk away was the gate next to Jannatul Baqee, where Saidatina Aishah r.a. Saidina Uthman Al Affan r.a. and numerous companions and family of the Prophet SAW were buried. All the shops were closing for the Zuhur prayers, everyone was walking towards the mosque in a brisk pace and we joined them - all walking in a straight line for the Central of Madinah.

The boys followed Mr S - simply because the men's entrances were numerous and directly in front of the gate - so the boys didn't have to walk with me in the heat. I wasn't certain of where the women's entrance was because I still haven't gotten my bearings but I followed the train of black robed throng of women walking slowly beside the mosque. I found that I had to walk all the way to the back area of the mosque, in the heat, around all that yellow tape surrounding certain areas outside the mosque (that made the walk longer than it should be, of course), to enter.

It was a challenge indeed but I walked fast, slipping through slow moving crowds where I can, determined not to be too late. It was easy when you're walking all by yourself without your kids in tow - it was like I was a single young woman again, free to do whatever I want, without any responsibilities, at least for half an hour of solat time.

The few women entrances were blocked by people standing to be let through by the strict women guards of the mosque, clad all in black jubahs and niqabs. Handbags were opened and checked on entry - handphones were not allowed so I slipped my small Motorola underneath my bra strap just below my left shoulder beforehand. Phones are vital in Mekah and Madinah in my opinion - it's the only way you can meet up back again with your family or friends in the mass of people - especially in Mekah.

I stepped into Masjidin Nabawi and felt the air conditioning and marble flooring cooling me down even though it was packed. Stepping in between lines of people already in their prayer lines, moving quickly in front of some who are praying before the start of the Zuhur prayers, I made my way further in, further in front of the prayer lines to find a good spot.

About three minutes later, I found an empty spot near to the 'walkway' across the middle of the prayer lines, near to the front but not near enough that I got to pray on the carpet. I realised that I was late - solat was going to start in a just a few minutes - so I faced the fact that this first time, I could not pray in the first few safs.

And then I heard the beautiful sound of the Iqamah. All the women around me started to stand up to correct the lines, Qurans were sent to the shelves, some empty spots were filled, little children were put down and handbags were put safely right in front of their owners.

The Bilal called out 'Sauf! Sauf!' and then, the prayer started.

I raised my hands in Takbiratul Ihram following the Imam to start my prayers and out of nowhere, tears started to flow down my cheeks like a perpetual stream.

Intention

2009-06-10T10:27:00.015+01:00

It's funny that while we were having a light dinner at Heathrow, and I was looking around while chewing on the warm toasted cheesy panini Mr S bought for me with my left hand around the tall cup of hot latte I had ordered, the people I noticed , from the many, many people walking about, eating and drinking, all waiting for their flight there were the people who were also going on the same flight with me. One in particular was the teenage girl who was sitting on the tables and chairs reserved for the opposite cafe, eating a foot long sandwich. Her hair was ample, long, dark and curly, her face fair and beautiful and she had an air of well..."I AM RICH" about her. She was sitting opposite a similarly haired figure in front of her whom later I realised was her brother. She was tall and thin and was wearing a skimpy Burberry miniskirt and she was socialising with the other teenagers on the plane right next to Mr S's seat across the aisle. There were quite a few of them all looking bored and clad in designer clothes and bags. At first I thought they were children of British expats going to visit their parents in Saudi Arabia for the half term holidays. But then, I heard them talking together in English - with a foreign accent...

Oh..they were actually sons and daughters of rich Arabs who send their children to boarding schools in England..

Well, at least at the airport in Jeddah they would know how to speak Arabic and won't feel a bit lost..like I did the moment we stepped onto the hot and arid desert land...

It's not easy when you wanna go to a non English speaking country all by yourself. You feel a bit lost at times - especially at the airports where the workers there just shut you out when foreign words come out of your mouth and when other local travellers take advantage of you just because you look different.

I did feel a bit lost at the airport in Jeddah because of the differences in language, culture and system although I have to say, the workers there do understand a bit of English and we managed to check in our luggage for the domestic flight without any problem. But still, when you're travelling with kids, you feel a little bit more anxious than normal although Allah knows the kids themselves don't feel anything at all - only excitement.

We, as the parents are the ones who worry.

That is the reason why I had in the beginning wanted to treat our trip to Mekah and Madinah as a 'holiday' for the children.

It was because of my worries.

I worried that they wouldn't feel comfortable in the heat, they wouldn't like the crowd in Masjidil Haram, that they would be too tired to go to the mosque all the time and I worried that they wouldn't be able to benefit from the trip.

But most of all, I worried that because we had to look after them, Mr S and myself wouldn't be able to benefit as well.

And that would be the ultimate disappointment.

But even more than anything, I wanted so very much for Mr S to benefit from the trip.

So that left me. I decided I will have to be the one who will have to let go and sacrifice my time and extra ibadat there - for the children.

Crazy, I know. But that's just my demented way of thinking.

In order to quit myself from worrying, I made myself think this; "No...this will be just a holiday for the children..and I will not expect too much of them and I myself will not expect to get a lot from this trip."

There! Easy! So, it will be a sort of holiday for the children and I, no more.

But that was when my mother told me in a telephone conversation, "Jangan....perbetulkan niat kau tu...pergi ni nak beribadat bukan holiday. Niat mesti betulkan."

And then Allah gave me some 'time' to think. It wasn't easy...but somehow, I just learnt to let go of my worries.

I corrected my niat: no matter what happens, I want this trip to benefit all of us. We will all prepare for it and doa for the best.

And then I left it to Allah.

A Different Experience

2009-06-05T10:40:00.004+01:00

The road to Mekah will never be easy for many people.

But then again, some people just loooovvveeee to ask for trouble - like yours truly.

The moment the words "it's just a HOLIDAY..." came out from my mouth, a dormant chicken pox virus in my body decided to reactivate itself and I started to get shingles.

Yes my dear readers, SHINGLES! The painful rash along the nerves that normally only people above 60 get!

You can call me silly, imaginative or maybe even 'superstitious' all you want but I believe, the moment Allah SWT sends an invitation to you to go to Mekah, you must set one thing straight - your NIAT (intention).

No doubt, when I was talking about our Umrah trip and said the word 'holiday' to my mother in a telephone conversation, it was in one breath with the word children i.e. what I actually said was, "It's just a holiday ~ for the children". But still, I do believe now that the word should not be uttered or even come to one's mind when going to Mekah....seriously.

Saying that, I also do feel that Allah wanted to cleanse me a bit before going there...you can say anything you want but these things happen...dugaan (test), some people may call it.

To me, I just think that Allah SWT pitied me and wanted me to reorientate my bearings, before going to His House - to have some focus, you know.....so that I will fully use all the time I have there. So that my time there will not go to waste.

So I had about 7-10 days to re-orientate myself, while suffering from shingles. And I thank Allah for it.

I have been to Mekah before, but at the time I was 17 years old and although it was a wonderful and exhilarating experience then, travelling with arwah ayah, my mother and my younger sisters, I was young, and saw everything with young eyes.

It's different this time around.

The whole experience was different and new. Not just because I was going again after nearly 17 years later - there are so many changes there, I can tell you that! - but also this time around, I'm travelling with my husband and my children who are my responsibility unlike the last time when I was more or less a 'free agent', being able to go to Masjidil Haram at 2 am without anything to stop me.

But it's also because we were travelling from the west this time around. Not from Malaysia with other Malaysians in our group, and Malaysian food served during lunch and dinner and tea and breakfast. This time around we were travelling with Indians, Pakistanis, Afghans, Iranians, some of them with British passports, some of them Immigrants.

The whole experience was different.

Will write more about my journey soon, inshaAllah.

Forgot!

2009-05-08T10:15:00.009+01:00

In a telephone conversation between Mr S and I today:

"Pa..bukan semalam kita punya anniversary ke?"

Pause "Eh... ah-ah la..."

"Kih-kih kih....camna lah boleh lupa pulak..."

"Aku dah ingat dah Monday..ingat nak beli card....tapi terlupa..."

"Tu lah kau..apa lah..."

"Eleh....kau tu yang tak pernah ingat..aku setiap tahun ingat.."

"Aku ada excuse...aku tak kerja dah lama..so tak aware sangat dates-dates ni....tahun ni baru aku ter aware sikit...ni yang aku teringat ni...pause...laaa..patut la semalam aku masak lasagne!"

(I made lasagne yesterday after like 2 years of leaving the dish out of my menu..and Mr S had FOUR helpings of it!)

"Kih kih kih...Tak apa lah...hujung minggu ni aku belanja kau makan KFC halal."

"Okay."

"Bye."

"Bye."

How pathetic was that?

The Blood Test

2009-05-06T21:34:00.003+01:00

NUMBER 83!

That's me!

I rushed into the little room where the male phlebotomist sat by the table, calmly writing down something on a piece of paper.

My doctor had asked me to get a blood test - for the gastric pains that I have...just in case I have ulcer...or something like that...

I wasn't expecting a blood test for gastric pains so I didn't come prepared. I was hoping to get that lady phlebotomist sitting on the opposite side of the large room...I had my little fleece sweater on - I hesitated a while because no way he was going to get to the upper part of my arm while I'm still wearing this thing..

The thing was...underneath the sweater I was wearing an even tinier little white top....pretty indecent for other people's eyes, not that my boobs would be spilling out of them once I take off my sweater but...I'm not used to showing off anything more than the skin on my face and hands...

So...camno?

I looked at the man again..he was writing something on my form...he looked like a mat saleh..although as I gave him a second glance, I changed my mind - maybe European kot....

OK lah..what to do...my sweater had to come off.

After struggling to appear modest even as I bend and twist myself out of my sweater, I waited for a few seconds, before asking him, well, to cover my awkwardness really, and you know...just to make some conversation...

"You're going to do it here, right?" I said, confidently, pointing at the upper part of my Michele Obama - NOT!- like arm.

He glanced to where I was pointing at and smiled, kindly.

"No..that's where they give immunisations. I draw blood here," he said, pointing his finger at the crook of my arm - the part where normal people would have exposed easily by folding a bit of their sleeve without having to take off any piece of their clothing....

"Ohhh!!!!" I said a little sheepishly, a lot embarrassed.

My face felt hot as I awkwardly put on my sweater again. But as usual, when I feel embarrassed, my smile gets even wider - until you can see all the way to my brownish coloured molars (courtesy of the antibiotics administered to me when I was small - cost me a whole lifetime of sepia tinted smiles).

But...s'okay.....no harm done what...this man doesn't care...he's mat salleh WHAT..........

The man kept his eyes down, his hand busy writing on the form...it sure takes a long time to fill up that form, I thought.

But maybe he was kind enough to give me some time to compose myself...after taking my clothes off in front of him for no reason...

The man was finally done with the form. He took out a long needle. Now it was his turn to make conversation - presumably to calm me enough for him to do his job.

"So are you from Malaysia, SISTER?"

Damn.

The term 'sister' obviously means that he's a muslim. And the fact that he's heard of Malaysia...

Sah.

Malunya aku.

Somehow it wouldn't be too bad if he was a non muslim...the fact that he knew that I felt exposed made me feel even more so. Me and my modesty...and I ended up with the worst case scenario.

My face felt warm again and my molars flashed dully.

Just Delaying My Chores...

2009-03-26T09:39:00.006Z

An observation since I've started to go into Central London a few times a week for nearly 2 months now:

Ramai mamat cina suka pakai cermin mata macam aku pakai and depa semua suka pakai bag sandang LV.

kuang kuang kuang

Yup. Believe it or not I've seen quite a few of these around in London. Is it a trend with these folks?

Well....it was just an observation....just wondering if anyone out there has spotted these guys walking around...:)

Anyway, four and half years of not working and I was recently painfully reminded of why I used to hate going to work.

BOSSES

Let me describe one that I have (ehem) recently...met...

emotional.takes out stress on staff.annoying.absolutely incompetent when it comes to financial management.actress.bitches about staff in front of other staff.makes empty promises.annoying.always talks highly of her/himself.annoying.blardy damn annoying.

Sound familiar to you?

I guess that's because apparently all bosses have these traits (a conclusion I made after talking to some other friends who are unfortunately working)....

Well...that's not being fair and you and I both know that but I'm just going to leave that sentence there anyway...(just to blow off some steam here, people - just let me be!)

Enough of that.

Another little observation: Rich people don't know how to raise their kids. Apparently.

Isn't it such a cliché though?? Alah anak orang kaya....memanglah perangai macam tu..

But I've seen it again and again! And I'm asking myself why must it be that way? Some of the parents are really good, intelligent and hard working people and yet...

If ill behaved and immoral kids come with the package - I'd rather not have all that money.

Honestly.

Sorry guys...this blog entry will definitely fall under 'Ramblings' - just had to let it out somewhere..

And another thing...

What's up with everyone talking about brands nowadays..??? This brand, that brand, I want to buy this brand, oohh..I'm saving to buy that brand...

And in these dark days of the economic depression too...

I don't know...brands just don't do it for me. Tried them once or twice but they just don't give me a high.

Nope.

And then I watched this on Youtube (saw it first linked from littlemuffins' blog):

Watch

And it strengthened my feelings on the matter....

And if there's a trend going on out there..well, I'm happy to be left out of it.

What I want to say to the people out there is: think. don't just follow.

Hey..But that's just me.

Enough rambling for now.

What have I been up to..??

2009-03-06T10:05:00.007Z

I've been busy.

You know how I've been contemplating work for a few months now? It's because my kids have been schooling full time since September and from 9am to 3pm I've been free.

But I've always treasured my time at home. So when Mr S told me that maybe I should work part time to fill my 'unproductive' time and to get some extra money - I was not really persuaded. Okay..I did some applications but nothing really came out of them...perhaps because of the fact that I was half hearted in filling out those forms.

And then suddenly the pound fell.

The economy of the whole world has not been doing too good for a while now. If all the currencies fell, then we would probably still be fine. The problem is though, the dollar and ringgit have been pretty stable when the pound has been falling.

And that means....more money to send home to pay for all our hutang piutang...and less money to spend here...

Mr S has been doing a brave job of shouldering all these responsibilities but after looking at our family's financial statements - believe you me, Mr S the Chartered Accountant makes a monthly financial statement for the family!! - I decided, it's time I lend him a hand.

So, I told him grudgingly; Fine! I will look for a job!! But for once after the 4 years that I've not been working, I was serious. But what a time to look for a job, huh? All these lay offs and highest rate of unemployment in this country and I've decided to WORK??

But Mr S was optimistic. Browsed a few sites, and forwarded to me via email some interesting part time jobs he found. I applied. Got a rejection for one and a reply on the same day to come for a 'meeting'. Went. And got a job!

Just like that.

Alhmadulillah.

So yes...I've been busy.

And damn blardy tired.

The first few days, my whole body ached and I complained and complained 'until the cows come home' - berlakon sikit la...saja nak make Mr S feel guilty that I'm 'forced' to work..kih kih kih..But he will just encourage me by saying, "Come on Kapten Hoki!!" and really made me want to kick something.

But believe you me, I'm not such a weakling. I am really a tough cookie inside (betul lah!!) although I like to act weak for the benefit of Mr S (kuang kuang kuang).... My job is part time and it's only a few hours a day and just 3 days a week but penatnya Ya Allah....I guess it was only expected after 4 years of staying home. The daily routine of cooking and cleaning, taking care of the kids and sending them to Madrasah everyday, making sure they eat, shower etc etc is still in the list of my duties of course...tu yang penat tu...

But after just 1 month of starting work, I somehow feel energised. Don't know why.

Now, I walk to the tube station instead of taking the bus and I walk back home too. For one, I get to save on bus fare (£2) and for another...my tummy macam semakin kempis la semenjak jalan ni....so I must be doing something right ye tak?!

And I don't feel tired much anymore...still have a lot of energy to send the kids and 'layan' them at night before they go to bed. I treasure the days that I don't go to work of course (Thursdays and Fridays) during which I always just lepak and read a book and clean the house.

What can I say? Besides 'Thank you Allah!' for His blessing on me and my family, that is...

So my dear readers... that's what I've been doing...

On my next entry, mayhaps I will tell you about my work place which is pretty interesting because I actually do the book keeping and financial admin stuff for a CLINIC! And the clinic is in a posh area smack in the middle of Central London so you can imagine.....interesting!!

Nanti lah I will tell you more when I have the time.

Whiteout!

2009-02-02T10:38:00.004Z

It's been snowing in London since last night and it's still snowing now. Here's some pics for our folks at home...

We went to the small park near our house.

Little H's words early in the morning when he woke up: "This is the best day of my life!"
(hehe..he can be a little dramatic sometimes..)

The first thing Big H did when we reached there...

The River Ride

2009-01-22T17:21:00.007Z

It was the X-mas holidays recently.

Therefore as usual, Mr S and I were desperate to create 'entertainment' for the kids. The thing about London is, there are plenty of tourist attractions but they are mostly pretty pricey.

The museums of course, are free...but we've been to almost all of those... And the kids, being kids, got to run around in those museums looking at paintings and statues and bones and mummies...but let's face it, that's not much of an entertainment to them..

And for us parents, running around after the kids in these places - where they're certainly not supposed to run or scream or play hide and seek behind the exhibits - is definitely not what we would call a jolly time either.

And so we had to look into other things to do...

That's our boat coming! Note that you can see through the middle of the boat.

View inside the boat.

Going on a cruise on the river Thames have always been one of those things that I had wanted to do with Mr S. I've always imagined though, when we actually did it, it would be a hot summer's day and it would be just us...cruising together, the wind and sun in our faces...looking at all those historical sites and buildings around us from the perspective of the river...

But fate determined that on the day we went a sailing along the Thames, it would be just a boat, instead of a cruise, we were with the children - not just us having a romantic time together, and the weather was f.r.e.e.z.i.n.g. cold.

View behind us from the QE2 pier - The O2

But surprisingly, I had a really, really good time. (As usual..I think I am quite easy to please lah!)

It was a surprise, really... We actually took the boat from the O2 pier which is the nearest pier to us (the pier is called the QE2). I thought I would be cold and uncomfortable (water sickness and what not) and I just thought it would be slow and boring and probably another session of running after the kids (this time to make sure that they don't fall over the boat)...but let me tell you, it was none of those things!

View of the David Beckham Academy next to the O2

First of all, it was because we didn't go on the actual 'tourist cruise' thingy. This one was basically a commuter. Thus, it was cheaper, which is always a plus point of course, and because of the fact that some people actually use this thing to go to work, it was quite fast!

The kids went in free and the adults only had to pay 5 pounds each and we didn't even need to queue up beforehand in order to buy the tickets - they have a conductor on board and we just pay when we're seated! Hassle free!

Just passed underneath the Tower Bridge

It was absolutely warm in the boat too and thus absolutely relaxing. And the kids were quiet - somehow they weren't running around as much - maybe they were a little amazed (just like their mum) by the fact that we were on a boat on the river Thames. Towards the end of our ride though, Little H did ask me if he could 'run about'...

Well, at least he asked for permission and of course, the answer to his question was NO.

We went pass Canary Wharf, and saw Mr S's old office building there...and then we went under the Tower Bridge, The London Bridge and the Millennium Bridge and passed the Big Ben, The Parliament Building at Westminster and The London Eye etc. etc....so of course Mr S took out the camera and we were snapping away....

I tell you, I would have thought that going on that red double decker tourist bus would be enough for tourists in London but I think now I've changed my mind.

Big Ben and the Parliament Building in the background.

I definitely recommend going on a boat (especially a commuter boat) on the river Thames if anyone of my readers come over to London. I think you'll enjoy viewing the normal sights with a twist - from the water.

For more info on the river commuters: Thames Clippers

Birthday Lunch

2009-01-16T12:25:00.014Z

Oh yes..

I forgot to tell you that Mr S also belanja makan for my birthday at the recently opened (well...not THAT recent) Jom Makan restaurant. For those who don't know, the restaurant is a Malaysian fast food restaurant, located just at the corner of the National Gallery, just across from Trafalgar Square.

Here are some of the pics we took:

It was zero degree that day so as we arrived at Trafalgar Square, it was literally freezing and the water in the fountain pools in the square had frozen over!

The kids horsing around in front of the restaurant.

Big H ordered nasi lemak. Although Mr S and I tried to dissuade him - as I just cooked nasi lemak at home a few days before that - he was adamant. Favourite food lah katakan...As you can see, the kids portion was pretty huge and the sambal and rendang tak pedas langsung!

Little H wanted roti canai - which, as you can see, was a disappointment. Not fresh and flat gitu...

And can you see that tall teh tarik glass? We wanted hot chocolate or milo for the kids but they didn't serve them and the only other hot drink (if I'm not mistaken) was Nescafe Tarik. Yang lain semua juice and since it was freezing outside, we gambled on the teh tarik for the kids. Every one of us had one tall glass each and I wasn't surprised when Little H couldn't sleep until 2am that night!

And that satay...Mr S ordered them as a 'main meal' but guess how many cucuk satay he got??

ONLY SIX!

And there wasn't even nasi himpit included! What kind of a meal is that? And it cost £8+ too!

I myself had mee kari (no pic, sorry!). The portion was big but Mr S thought the kari tasted like kari semalam....a bit harsh huh??

Hehehe..kesian chef dia...

These were our desserts.
Puding sagu gula melaka and creme caramel which they made using coconut milk (I think).
They were sweet and rich....now these were good!

Oh..I forgot to tell you...During weekends the restaurant is offering free kids meals - we found this out while we were there, actually.

So, the kids' nasi lemak and roti canai were FOC! **BIG grin**

A little bit of help promoting the restaurant there...when we were at the restaurant, there were only 2 other customers...honestly, I would be surprised if the restaurant can stay open for long..

Overall I have to say the food was biasa je lah...nothing special.

I would say Malaysia Hall provides better tasting food and better value too.

But it was an experience and thanks to Mr S for the treat.

We had a great time anyway!

Double Three

2009-01-10T20:58:00.011Z

It was my birthday last Thursday.

Didn't do anything special - just cooked some nasi lemak..which is something I always cook anyway as the boys love it.

Got a card and a box of chocolates from Mr S...

Inside, among other stuff, Mr S wrote "Happy 33! - You look 23!" (kih kih...Bagi chance la, huh?..)

Oh yes..got a few handbags too...but that was given to me earlier...bought during the Xmas sale ;)

Not really one for handbags - been using a 50p canvas one that I bought from a car boot sale all this while..

I guess it was high time that someone got me a proper handbag, huh?

Thank you Mr S...love you!

Big H gave me a lovely card...

It was nice and colourful and I absolutely love it! And I know he put a lot of work into it because he's not a fan of drawing and colouring...

Thank you my lovely... :) Love you so much!

Little H also gave me a card.. he was soooo sweet about it!

Woke up in the morning, went downstairs, suddenly remembered it was my birthday and rushed back upstairs to get his card without saying anything to me. Came back downstairs with the card behind his back and surprised me with a very loud 'Happy Birthday, Mama!'

I was sooo touched.

Don't know if you can read what's written inside - there's a powim (poem) that goes like this...

Lad Glad
Mad Wum Bum

Don't ask me what it means...!!

The little darling gave me two cards actually...the second one (below) has a robot and a big heart in it (no doubt after looking at Big H's card he decided to draw the heart too...)

Thank you so much my dearest! Absolutely lovely!

No cake, though.

Mr S called me before he returned home from work and asked whether I wanted anything 'yummy' to eat that night...I told him to get some dessert (I cannot resist sweet food, you know..) and he got me a...(drum roll...)...

Strawberry Trifle...

Kuang Kuang Kuang.. (the sound effect for an anti-climatic ending..heheh)

Nevertheless..Alhamdulillah.

Another year of my life inshaAllah. I pray that this next year will be a blessed one for me and my family, amin.

One Day After School...

2008-12-25T01:10:00.006Z

Big H came back home from school one day and straight away sat on our blue futon...immediately, I saw that he was inexpertly trying to hide something behind his back..

Mama: What's that you have there?

Big H: Nothing.

Mama: Tsk...I can see that you're hiding something there....what is it?

Big H: It's nothing! (Sounding a little desperate..)

I looked at him...Ish budak ni...macam ada bawak something really 'wrong'...like drugs...or a porn mag...or something illegal??? But I shook my head to clear these crazy thoughts..for god's sake he's only 7!!

Big H: (Showing his empty hands to me confidently..) See...nothing!

And that's when I saw the small, glittering pink card hidden just underneath his jacket...

Mama: (Grabbing the little card..) Aha! What's this?

Big H: No..!!!! I don't want to go! (Really looking desperate now..)

Mama: Huh?? Oh..It's an invitation to a birthday party...pergilah. (I know the girl and the parents - nice people...)

Big H: But I don't want to! (Really adamant, really serious..)

Mama: Huh? Apasal pulak...Why don't you want to go?

Big H: Because...because..it's a girl's birthday party.

Mama: La....apa salahnya...doesn't matter if it's a girl or a boy having a birthday party. If we get an invite to one we should try to go unless we really can't, you know? What if it was your birthday party and all the people you invited didn't want to come?

Big H: But..but..

Mama: But what?? (Getting impatient...)

Big H: But I'm the only boy invited!!

Mama: Ohh....

La...malu rupanya...he he he he

But it turned out that he had madrasah to go to anyway that particular evening so I went to see the girl's parents to give my apologies for not being able to send him to the party...

My little boy has 'grown'...he really has.

Aidil Adha 2008

2008-12-10T09:36:00.005Z

It's been a long time since I've been to a masjid for solat jemaah.

Even for sembahyang raya.

It's either Little H was not ready.

Or Mr S wanted to be quick because he had to go to work straight after - so the kids couldn't go, therefore I couldn't.

Or we were all late, what with all the prep done the night before - which is a real shame...

But these are not excuses for me to skip the whole thing...I will always just do it at home if I couldn't make it to the masjid...

But that's not the same is it?

Anyway, this raya had been different.

Well, Mr S still didn't get any leave because too many people in his office were off already for some exams...but at least he got a few hours off in the morning for prayers.

And because I didn't prepare anything at all for raya this time - didn't bother because we had two invites that evening and even the day before and Mr S would be working the whole day anyway - I was well refreshed in the morning and was quite determined to go.

Yup...it's been so long that the beautiful voice of the imam reciting the verses made me cry.

It was good.

And I felt good.

There was no takbir raya before or after the solat. Just a quick explanation of the solat before we started and the peaceful sermon afterwards in which the imam encouraged us to recite the takbir as much as we can for three whole days..But I thought it was a really good sermon. It wasn't too long and it was clear and concise - about peace and humility.

I realised then that I'm parched for this kind of thing. I mean, really...I've not been to a majlis ilmu for a long, long time. Mr S is lucky as he gets his dosage from the Jumaat prayers.

So I'm thinking maybe I should just go to the mosque on Fridays...I mean, the kids will be at school, the mosque is a mere 10 minutes walk away...and I see women go there on Fridays all the time...

I'm just thinking...maybe I should.

But anyway, after the prayers Mr S went to work and I went straight to the kitchen - I had an order for some lopis and kasui for that evening and I wanted to bake a cake to bring to my friends' later after Mr S comes home - which was at about half six later in the evening and only then, we finally 'celebrated' raya haji this year with food and friends.

That's all.

But it was a good Aidil Adha to me nevertheless.

Don't Like The Cold

2008-11-25T10:09:00.008Z

It's cold.

Yesterday it was hailing and during the weekend there was some snow. In between, there was rain, rain and rain and add the freezing wind to that equation....

That is why I only go out when I send and pick the kids from school and the madrasah.

Talking about the cold, I have a friend who I have always tried to persuade to come and work in the UK but he had always refused with the same reason...

Tak tahan, he said. The winter is too cold. The weather is so gloomy and depressing and you get so lonely that you just want to crawl under that duvet and let the tears come until you fall asleep..before you have to haul yourself up to go to work again and go through the whole thing again tomorrow.He's tried it before you see, and you can offer him any kind of money - he would still say no.

Money can only get you so much happiness but when the loneliness and depression hits...

He's a single guy so I guess I can understand how lonely it can get here when it's winter - when you don't really fancy going to the pubs with the mat saleh, when all you wanna do is to go home but there's no one to go home to..

Hey, the weather can really pull you down here.

Anyway, this cold season, I have an extra grief on my shoulders..or should I say, on my fingers.

The joints on my fingers throb. They feel cold to the touch and some parts feel like they are swelling a bit although truthfully I don't really see any increase in their various sizes. My mother had arthritis or something of that nature when she was in her 40s so I can say that this thing is in our family's genetic make up.

I guess.

Mr S said it's because of the iced drinks I failed to resist just the week before the throbbing came. As I really don't drink ice that much and the previous few weeks I have been trying to finish the bag of ice cubes in my fridge, I'm inclined to believe him.

So I'm not touching ice in the cold season ever again.

It started long before the piano came, mind. I was quite worried that I wouldn't be able to play after all and it would just be one of those ironic episodes in my life - I save to buy a piano which fate suddenly rendered me unable to play.

Wouldn't that be just hilarious?

But alhamdulillah, it hasn't been so. Everyday now I take primrose oil, calcium and glucosamine sulphate - supplements, I have been told that can help me with my problem - but I need istiqamah, said my mum, to make it work.

And so far, thank god, so good. With my family history though, I don't think I should ever stop taking these pills. Ever.

Still, I am thankful to Allah that it is under control at the mo and even when I do feel the throbbing, I thank Him for small mercies.

Thinking about what my mother went through - believe me, it really could be worse.

Work Station Tag

2008-11-20T13:52:00.003Z

A long over due tag...I think I probably have a few more somewhere that I should be doing but I couldn't find the details/links to them. Have never been a fan of tags but you know..it's one of those things you have to do now and again when you're a blogger....and the last time I checked, I was supposed to be one...he he he.

The pic below is the tag - and I've included the rules as well (as you should do if you're doing this tag). As you can see, I have purposely not used the flash to take this pic...for fear that you might see the thick layer of dust covering my monitor, that is...(due to neglect after the piano arrived..;))

As much as I am curious to see the place where my fellow bloggers out there pour their hearts out on their little laptop/pc...I will refrain from tagging anyone...feel free to show off your work stations by doing this tag if you wanna....

| @LiYaNNuaR | azza |suzi | aniza | halwafy

Rules:

* snap work station anda
* then... taruk link blog anda kat bawah gambar work station anda...
* iaitu bersebelahan dengan link-link blog yang ada..
* tengok contoh yang dibuat nih...
* begitulah seterusnya sampai bila-bila, ok...
* sekiranya tag ini berkembang... pasti akan ada banyak link-link di bawahnya...
* kalau tak... terencat la dia... ha ha ha...lastly...
* tolong pass tag ini pada tujuh (7) blogger lain...pass la pada siapa-siapa..

Sorry I've Not Been Updating But...

2008-11-17T00:14:00.007Z

Trust me, I had my reasons...

But I'm touched that so many people were wondering where I went...it felt like I am (or at least my blog is) appreciated..he he he.

Anyway, here's some news..

Last Thursday 2 huge boxes arrived..

In them were items that were assembled by Mr S to make this...for me!
(A Yamaha Clavinova CLP 320)

Used the money saved from my little catering business to purchase my very own, brand new digital piano!

Yes, I play the piano...have always played but haven't played for a while - for 17 years, to be exact! But now I think it's time for this old love affair of mine to resume again.

Am a bit rusty, to be sure, but am loving every minute of polishing up again!

It really feels good to run my fingers across a piano once again...love it!

And Little H also enjoyed himself with the new arrival - by playing 'homeless boy' on the flattened boxes...he he.

The kids will now be taught by their mum to play the piano.

They've already had their first few introductory lessons using the same book I used when I first started playing when I was 8 years old. They seem to be enjoying it...

Just for pic's sake : the boys in their identical winter jackets sitting in a tube station...;)

Thank you Mr S for helping me to get the piano and in helping me to choose the best one for the money I had...love you!

Making Friends

2008-10-14T09:43:00.013+01:00

Making friends is a skill kids learn at a very young age.

So as adults, we should be really good at it since we have had years of practice.

Agreed?

After all, after only 3 years of doing my own cooking and my own baking, I am getting pretty good and more importantly, pretty confident at producing edible stuff from my
kitchen. So surely at the age of 30+ I should be a master of 'friendship building' and a specialist in 'the art of making friends'?

No, not at all.

It's not the same when it comes to making friends, is it?

Back at home, where one is surrounded by people who speak one's language, practice the same religion and tradition and when one goes to work - surrounded by perhaps, people of the same level of education and skill, one might find it easier to make friends...

...as compared to here, where one is surrounded by people who doesn't speak one's language, doesn't REALLY practice the same religion and definitely not the same tradition and when one goes to work - surrounded by perhaps, people of the same level of education and skill, but have a different way of doing things, a different way of thinking and definitely different ideals.

Thus, the reason why, over here, one looks for people from one's own country and one's own religion and culture to make friends with.

Most of the time.

Anyway, I do it so that I can cakap Melayu. Bosan la asyik kena cakap omputih je ni..Dengan anak kena cakap omputih, keluar rumah cakap omputih, TV cakap omputih. Internet cakap omputih. Bloody fed up with cakap omputih ni.

I know I can write pretty well in the language but when it comes to speaking it...I tend to be a little bit formal.....I think. And that's no good when you're trying to make friends.

Mr S and I have been trying to increase our circle of Malaysian friends lately. We have a group of people that we're good friends with but we realised a long time ago that we weren't happy to be close to just a few people. We want to have lots of friends and know a variety of people and we want to socialise a lot. What we don't want to do is to belong to a little 'clique'.

The problem is, Mr S and I are both pretty shy and reserved people. I know, Mr S can be clearly seen as a 'shy-guy' but one would never guess that I am the shy type as well. Suffice to say, we have not learnt a lot about making friends at all, all this time.

But both Mr S and I have been 'forcing' ourselves to come out of our shells and honestly, it's been a learning experience.

In the pursuit of new friendships these last few months, we have met quite a few people. We have tried to open up and be friendly - paste a smile on our faces, ask polite questions, try to make conversations - even invited them to our home. Some of the things that we had to do weren't easy for us but we tried.

And it has been good.

It's funny though, how some people just don't want to make friends.

Not many, just a few people we met. These are the types of people, when you meet them at gatherings, they don't put on a friendly face, they don't ask questions about you i.e. they don't show any interest to know you..they just want to talk to their own circle of friends and can't even be bothered to maniskan muka at you. Some people are just satisfied with their own group of friends, I guess...

But I find it funny lah...

After all kitakan sama-sama duduk di perantauan...ramah2 kan lah mulut and manis-maniskan lah muka tu....It's not such a huge community, after all.

Tak paham sungguh. Tapi..entah2 depa pun malu kot....tak tau lah...

But still, it has been good. I don't know what was the perception of people about me but what's important is that I tried and I quite enjoyed myself.

All I wanna say for now is, bring on more people! I want to improve my lousy friendship making skills...

He he he..pathetic.

Raya has been good

2008-10-13T09:29:00.006+01:00

Yup.

Although on the first day of raya - we celebrated raya on Tuesday - Mr S had to go to work as it was his last day in the office.

That's right. Mr S has moved to another company - into the industry, so to speak. But already he's complaining about his new job - boring, he said.

Men.

I myself would never complain if my work was repetitive or unexciting, IF my salary and perks were good. But not Mr S. That's the reason he ended working in the UK in the first place.

Anyway, thank God some friends came for raya while Mr S was at the office and some friends invited us over too and we went beraya as soon as Mr S came back from work - with lots of stuff and cards from his office mates - so it was a 'raya' for us nonetheless, alhamdulillah.

I made 5 types of kuih raya and friends from Malaysia gave 4 other types so we had plenty of kuih raya to go around and so I thought I really should invite lots of friends around this raya.

Plus, we had a sort of house re-decorating period during Ramadhan.

Suddenly I felt so desperate to make the house feel like a home instead of just a roof above our heads. Somehow I was contented all this while simply to leave the house as it is - alah..this is not our own place and we wont be staying here for long pun.. was the attitude.

Not anymore.

I was tired of living in a 'rumah sewa' environment. I reached the point where I felt that I didn't belong anywhere - not back in Malaysia and not in my own home. So we made some changes. Bought some furniture. Put up new curtains. Bought frames and hung up some pictures and a large mirror. Some plants and fresh flowers to spruce up the place a bit. Even dug very, very deep and dragged out what little talent I had for art and painting and produced some 'artwork' to be hung on my walls...ho ho ho. Couldn't find anything that we really, really like at the shops for the price that we liked so decided to just paint my own!

I married a generous man. To him, we were fine the way we were but still he acquiesced to my demands. Of course, it was his bank account that had to bear all these expenditures. And he was the one who helped me to hang the curtains, the pictures, the mirror etc etc Thank you Mr S - again! Love you!

So since the house was looking it's best ever since we moved in and we had plenty of kuih raya - we decided to invite friends over - not just the usual suspects but almost everyone we know on this side of London. I cooked loads of food and we had guests over from the early afternoon till about 1 am in the morning. I was tired for days after but it was worth it.

Just some pics for the people back at home...

Pagi raya

Budak-budak datang main Wii on hari raya

Just to show the pics we hung on the wall

And here's the result of 3 nights with paints and brushes - not great but I'm happy about them!

The kuih table during our 'open house' - the main dishes were served in the kitchen as usual!

Some of our guests...

Selamat Hari Raya

2008-09-29T17:13:00.000+01:00

Sticky Buns

2008-09-24T23:34:00.007+01:00

Tried this today. I absolutely recommend it! Yum!

Ingredients

1-1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (45 degrees C)
1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons buttermilk
1 eggs
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used bread flour)
1/4 cup margarine, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon margarine, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup chopped pecans (I used walnuts, as always!)

Directions

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large mixing bowl. Add buttermilk, egg, 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/4 cup margarine, 1/4 cup white sugar, baking powder and salt. Blend 30 seconds with mixer on low speed, scraping sides and bottom of bowl. Beat 2 minutes on medium speed.
Stir in remaining 1-1/4 cups flour. Dough should remain soft and slightly sticky. Knead for 5 minutes, on a lightly floured board.
Form dough into a round and place it in an oiled bowl. Cover it with a damp cloth and leave it in a warm place to rise until doubled.
Roll dough into a 12x7 inch rectangle. Spread with 1 tablespoon soft margarine, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Roll up, beginning at wide side. Seal well by pinching the seams. Cut roll into 12 slices.
Coat a 9 inch round cake pan with 1/4 cup melted butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 1/2 cup chopped pecans/walnuts in each pan. Place 12 dough slices in each pan, leaving a small space between slices. Let rise until doubled.
Bake in a preheated 190 degrees C oven for about 25 minutes. Invert pan onto serving plate.

Summer Holidays 2008

2008-09-15T10:56:00.018+01:00

As I reported in the previous entry, there was nothing 'summery' about the summer this year in the UK.

I think we had at most about 5 good days. The rest were just rain and clouds.

But Mr S and I managed to take the kids out and about, thank god. Mr S took 2 weeks off, the first week was spent around the south of England, the 2nd week around London and in the Midlands.

Below are some pics taken from our trip to the south.

First though, we went apple picking and strawberry picking at the farm in Esher.

We actually stopped here to see some old friends on our way to Brighton. Thus, we didn't do much fruit picking as we were travelling and all - I was just excited because there were apple trees here - the farm where we normally go to in Epping doesn't have apple trees.

Somehow the apples on the trees were mostly green..

..as most of the red ones have fallen onto the ground.

The strawberries on this farm were planted on the ground and the field where they planted them was huge. We didn't actually put much enthusiasm in the picking and just picked the ones nearby but I saw some people who went to pick at the far end of the field come back with really huge and juicy looking strawberries..we just picked about half a small basket - for tasting.

After going for lunch at our friend's place and meeting some other friends (some ex school mates) there, we went straight down to Brighton. It was only a 1 hour drive from Kingston where my friend's place was. We went straight to our hotel and had our dinner there and rested for the night - ready to go out and explore Brighton the next day.

Surprise, surprise it rained the next morning but it cleared up by about 10am and so we headed straight to the beach and pier.

Brighton's pebble beach

Fish and chips on the pier

Just a quick click of the camera when the sun came out from behind the clouds.

Also went to visit the Sealife Centre..apparently the oldest aquarium in the world (so u can imagine the condition of it!)

After 2 nights at Brighton, we headed for the Isle Of Wight.

Had to take a 50 minute ferry ride from Southampton to the island.

Went to visit an old windmill on the island. The mill man (a mat saleh) was born in Melaka and used to go to school at SFI in Bandar Hilir. We spent some time melayan him reminisce about his good old times in Melaka.

The day was cold and very windy so the kids just played for a bit at Sandown beach.

The next day, took the chairlift down to the beach on the west end of the island to visit a geographical feature - some broken cliffs nicknamed 'The Needles'.

Down at the beach.
You can see behind the boys where the chairlift ride ends.

The boat ride we took to see The Needles at closer range. It was pretty cool, I thought.

The boys on the boat - behind them is part of 'The Needles' and also the lighthouse to warn off ships at the end of the jutting rocks.

The boys 'picked up' golf there too! :)

The view from the top of the cliffs.

After that, since the weather was really very good, we took the boys to the beach as that was what they wanted to do all along.. This time we went to Shanklin beach.

Spent 3 days on the island.
We then took the ferry back to Southampton and on the way...

..our ferry passed by the QE2.
It was really a lovely sight and a really cool ending to our IOW trip, I thought...
(I've always loved ships!)

Hey, I'm happy lah...

2008-09-12T22:47:00.012+01:00

(Warning: Below are my ramblings. Read to your own peril!)

This Ramadhan has been pretty tiring.

What with school just starting again, and sahur at 3.30am, and not being able to sleep any earlier than midnight. Not to mention berbuka at nearly 8pm at the beginning oh Ramadhan - what a big change from those 4pm iftars during my undergraduate days!

I think perhaps it's time for me to move down under now - they're having a grand time now that they're going to be having winter Ramadhans for quite some time..

But I have so many things to be thankful for too...

I just returned from an iftar gathering at a friend's place actually - these few months have been blessed really because I've made some new friends...yes, somehow we have made connection with some other Malaysians here in London as opposed to the usual suspects and I admit, I am glad.

And Mr S have been kind enough to layan me by buying a few stuff for me from Ikea and I am happy to say that my house now feels more like a home.

And we had such a wonderful summer holiday too. Well, the weather was 1 more thing for me to complain about but we went away for 1 week and a bit and alhamdulillah it was wonderful.

We went to visit some old school friends of mine - in Kingston and in Southampton and another friend from my 'pre-departure course' days in Fareham.

We went to Brighton - stayed over for 2 nights.

We went to the Isle of Wight - also stayed over for 2 nights.

Went to Stoke-on-Trent to buy some china - stayed over at Birmingham for 1 night just to take it easy on that particular journey.

It has been lovely.

Alhamdulillah.

And I am ever so thankful of course to Mr S who made it all possible.

Little H has started full time schooling (reception class) since last week and he has been truly amazing too. He settled in without any problems and in fact, on the first day, after a few minutes of 'helping' him to settle down, I was assured by Little H saying;

"Ok Mama, G-O-O!"

Oh how proud I am of my little boy, even though he still needs some help with his spelling...

And Big H has started his Year 3 and already getting pencil gifts from his teacher for getting the right amount of 'ticks' on his class' Tick Chart.

He is settling down nicely too...alhamdulillah.

And so I walk back home alone from sending the kids to school one day, happy and ready for some me time at home doing the things that I love - i.e. a long hot shower, reading and sitting in front of the computer - when I saw a group of mums - some people that I am acquainted with - standing together chatting.

So I stopped for a bit just to give them my salam and to ask how everyone's doing..

"..So you're free now and you can do what you like?".."

"Yes.." I answered.

"..I'm going to take up Reflexology..yeah..that's what I'm going to do.."
"..I think I'm going to take up a degree.."
"..I'm planning to find some work.."

"What about YOU??"

"Huh...?? Umm..I haven't really thought about it yet. Hahaha."

And I made my excuses but it was too late - the question spoiled my morning and certainly spoiled my peace of mind.

I regret stopping to talk to those women...

Nosy little ******s.

Kuih Cara Manis

2008-09-03T11:07:00.005+01:00

Just wanted to share with you this recipe that I tried yesterday.

Cantik pulak gambar guna my Sony this time..

It's an easy recipe for kuih cara manis.

The recipe instructed to 'blend' the batter but I simply whisked it manually till my arm (nearly) came off. After all, orang dulu-dulu didn't need no blender, ye tak?

The kuih turned out really nice, if I may say so myself. Saying that, Big H didn't like it much, although Little H kept returning back to the kitchen for more and more.. :)

You need to get the moulds to make this one, of course. I think you can get these moulds easily back in Malaysia if you look for them. You can also, of course, use the mould to make bahulu or kuih cara berlauk as well so rest assured your investment in such a mould would be worthwhile...he he he..

They're cheap anyway.

Righty-ho..let's get down to the recipe!

2 cups flour
3.5 cups santan (coconut milk)
1 egg
Some pandan juice..or just the paste - you can easily get this anywhere.
salt

sugar
oil

Blend the top 5 ingredients all together. Mixture will be thick-ish. Sieve into another bowl or a measuring cup (easier to pour later). Oil the mould and heat it up - once hot, make sure to turn the fire down and keep it low. Pour batter into each mould and then sprinkle or spoon some sugar onto each one. Cover. It will be ready in a few minutes, when the middle is fairly dry and you can see that the sides have browned a bit. Use a spoon to scoop it out gently. Stick two together to make green eggs...or so my son called them..

Told you it's easy!

Try it! InshaAllah you wont regret it.

First Day Of Ramadhan

2008-09-02T09:29:00.006+01:00

Big H wants to try fasting this year.

He woke up for sahur and had cereal with milk and some cake and fasted the whole day and also solat 5 waktu (normally he will miss subuh and isya' because the former is too early here at this time of the year and the latter too late).

He was pretty energetic the whole day up to about 5pm and he fell asleep by 7pm in front of the TV after mama promised some blueberry cheesecake at berbuka time.

He broke his fast with the cheesecake and then went on to eat (not a lot of) his dinner of nasi, sup daging, sambal telur and sayur campur..

He looked tired and went to sleep straightaway after isya'.

I told him not to fast today and he agreed after experiencing the tiredness yesterday..although earlier yesterday he was determined to not miss a single day!

I think for now, alternate days is best.

Tak sampai hati tengok dia.

Big H fell asleep at about 7pm...50 minutes to go before berbuka....

The boys' Autumn Term will start tomorrow thus am hoping that I will have more time for more blogging then...

Thank You Mrs V

2008-07-28T13:04:00.002+01:00

Big H and his class teacher, Mrs V

Big H did very well in his Year 2 SATs exams (top in class) and it was due to his teacher who understood his needs and his perangai.

1 good thing about going to school here, the teachers are always aware of the kids' behaviours and characters and problems therein and will discuss with the parents about this and also will inform the next class teacher of what is required for each child (e.g. extra attention, extra encouragement..etc.).

Big H can be a little funny in his behaviour, I tell you that - no doubt he is an intelligent boy but being just pandai belajar is not good enough in life.

Big H was categorised as requiring 'special attention' when he first came to Mrs V's class, 2 years ago, just because he didn't know how to make friends and doesn't really speak in class.

The problem with Big H is that he thinks too fast and doesn't know how to articulate his flurry of thoughts. He used to get very upset when we couldn't understand what he wanted to say and on top of that is also very sensitive to everything you say to him.

But Mrs V handled his behaviour very well.

Throughout the 2 years that she taught him, I could see improvements in Big H's speech and behaviour and I am so very glad that Mrs V didn't just discard Big H as 'beyond help' or simply as a child with 'problems' or even worse, to categorise Big H's behaviour as 'just normal for his age'.

Instead, she always gave me encouragement and gave me suggestions on how to 'handle' Big H at home. She was always very helpful and at the same time her suggestions also comforted me too.

To show my appreciation to Mrs V, I will always go to help her in class (parent volunteer) on Thursdays and on the last day of school, I made some carrot cupcakes for her - couldn't show enough gratitude to her! She won't be teaching Big H next term as she will be staying to teach next terms' Year 2 children so I'm a little worried about how the new teacher, a 'Mrs H' will be handling Big H and how Big will take to her.

Mrs V said she will sit down and have a chat with Mrs H about all the students so, 'don't worry' - but I'm still feeling a bit anxious.

Have to wait and see and pray for the best.

The cupcakes for Mrs V

Cupcakes

2008-07-24T09:44:00.006+01:00

Ok..here are my first efforts at cupcakes. The pics are not very sharp - I blame my Sony. You know, Sony cameras are not ALL THAT jugak...for anyone who's looking to buy a digicam, I seriously suggest a Canon or Nikon...NOT Sony! (And for a camcorder, JVC is always best.) Pics outdoors tend to be good but once indoors....without enough light the Sony camera cannot deliver!

In my not-so-expert opinion lah...

These were for a bbq at a friend's place in Hackney. It was gone in a few minutes.

Carrot cake and chocolate cake combo.
The top 2 are the carrot cakes. I enjoyed making those insects!

The order was specifically for Spiderman cupcakes..a major glitch though - the question mark is for one of BATMAN's nemesis!! Alamak..tersilap..I'm sure the receiver of those cupcakes will notice as she's supposed to be a real spiderman fan.. :(
(I haven't gotten the feedback yet.)

Ok..this pic is the worst...yellowish and blurry...seriously annoying. Not to mention getting a long lecture from Mr S who said "now the cake dah bagi kat orang, all you have left are these pics...after all your hard work, THIS is what you've got to show for it??!!!!"

Yes..Mr S was annoyed that I didn't move the cakes to a better lit area...bla bla bla
But funny lah Mr S, when he first saw the cakes he was so impressed that he gave me a hug and a kiss...and the cakes were not even for him!! He he he...

Well then..not that too many people read this blog but if anyone wants to order cupcakes for any occasion..just send me an email and we can talk shop... ;)

Another Grading

2008-07-21T09:46:00.007+01:00

Big H went for another karate grading on Sunday. He was a red belt going up to orange.

This was taken during his grading. Thank god for the boy on the left - they were partners during the sparring test and he actually helped Big H a teeny bit during the test!

Results were announced - the sensei called out Big H's name to tell him whether he had passed or not and Big H rushed to the front but the sensei still couldn't find him - kecik sangat... :) Can you spot Big H? If you can, then you can see the smile on his face when the sensei announced that he passed his 8th kyu.

Right afterwards, Mr S bought Big H's new orange belt and he quickly put it on for a pic - together with Little H, of course - the white belt wannabe! :)

Congrats Big H!

Big H's 'Sports Day'

2008-07-18T18:28:00.002+01:00

Just some pics of Big H's sports day earlier this week...

Remember our sports day when we were in primary school? We had all the real stuff like 100m sprint, relays, short puts, high jump, long jump etc. etc. right?

The kids here (Year 1- Year 2) normally have 'sack race' or 'three legged race' or 'egg on a spoon race' for their sports day more like our 'sukaneka' but this year, since the London won the Olympic bid for 2012, the kids were introduced to decathlon events, only, 'kids-style'.They didn't even care who wins or loses - so no medals or anything like that.

The whole thing was just for fun and to be enjoyed by everyone!

It was a cloudy a day but the temperature was warm all the same and I think the kids had a good time.

Little H feigned a tummy ache and wanted to go to Big H's sports day - instead of going to his nursery on that day. I knew his trick but just acquiesced - bagi chance lah.

Big H's shot put event was just about throwing a small and slightly heavy ball (a cricket ball??)

The colours of East London..he he he..

Big H getting ready for the bean-bag balancing race.

After all those Wii boxing sessions, Little H thought he should practice at the lamp post..haiya!

Jumping hurdles in one of the races.

Believe it or not - this was their 'javelin' event!

After the games, a pose with Little H.

And.....another one!

Big H's 7th Birthday

2008-07-07T09:47:00.010+01:00

We celebrated Big H's birthday with a small party last Saturday. Here are some pics:

Big H's birthday was actually 2 days before the party - on a school day. We simply celebrated the day with a small chocolate cake Mr S bought from Tesco with a card and present from both Mr S and I.

Big H with his present from Mama and Papa.

Pics of the food I made for the party on Saturday:

Ayam percik
(oven roasted, obviously!)

Rojak

Lamb Stew

..and some other stuff...

Not forgetting the cake!
Big H requested an 'earth cake'...baked the cake and iced it the night before.
Had to buy a semi sphere shaped tin for it!

Big H and friends singing the birthday song.
As you can see, it was a really small gathering - only 3 families invited.

Happy birthday Big H!
And may there be many more happy returns of the day, sayang :) !

Driving School

2008-07-06T12:00:00.006+01:00

Just putting up some pics and a video of the kids at Legoland last weekend.

The video is of the boys at the 'Driving School'. There are two such attractions in Legoland, one for 6-11 years olds, the other one for 3-5 year olds.

Of course, my boys belong in separate groups, Big H being 7 and Little H being 4. The queues were long as usual so while I was standing in the long line for a nearby boat ride, I asked Mr S to bring Little H to the 3-5 year old Driving School as there was a fairly short queue for it.

Mr S and the boys came back to me after 30 minutes with pics, videos and a story...

The kids were put into groups and each group had to listen to a short briefing on what to do and how to drive before they go on the Lego cars. Mr S tried to convince Big H to join the group and pretend that he's 5 - to his loud and vehement 'NO!!!'

Obviously he was not going to ever pretend that he is 5, being older and proud too to be older than his little brother.

Little H was getting ready to go into his yellow car when suddenly a girl in his group cried off and refused to go - running off to her parents who were standing nearby.

Mr S quickly took the opportunity and asked the assistant whether Big H can take the girl's place - there were lots of other kids waiting to go in but none of them have been briefed yet and fortunately for Big H, he was listening when the briefing was given to Little H's group...

And so, Big H being Big H - he went and enjoyed himself (I think) but pretended he was forced into it...hunching his shoulders and making a face although smiling when he forgot to frown.

He looked very funny while driving the car, pretending to be unhappy while he was really enjoying himself.

Little H of course, enjoyed himself tremendously. He could not stop talking about his wonderful experience at the driving school the whole time we were there!

After a few rounds around the track the kids were asked to do some moves just for fun (in the video) before their 'driving licenses' were given out and you can see how Big H was enjoying himself but quickly started to slouch to pretend that he was 5 years old - indeed worthy to receive the 'license'.

Kids.

(Video taken from a Sony T70 digital camera - left the camcorder at home!)

Kuih Kasui

2008-06-20T10:23:00.004+01:00

It's been a long time since I last put up a recipe. It's not that I have not been cooking - I have been cooking quite a bit lately - but it's because of the orders I get.

Yes, I have been doing some catering (with a friend) lately and have been taking orders too for my baking!

How exciting is that? :)

Well, very, very exciting - for me, at least.

Due to the nature of the business, I am more inclined to cook more Malaysian flavours nowadays - my friend is an expert in Beriyani Johor so I guess that is our speciality at the mo, but we also cook all sorts of stuff so anyone out there who may be interested in our catering, big or small, feel free to contact me via this blog or email!

That's my bit of advertising done.

I know that some people may think that one shouldn't share recipes if one is in the food business but I believe that all beneficial knowledge should be shared and spread around...after all, all this knowledge is from Allah and it won't be any use to any of us in the hereafter right? On the contrary, lagi banyak dapat pahala if we share our knowledge together, I think... :)

So here's my Kuih Kasui recipe for you to try.

The recipe originally came from an aunt who is a connoisseur of malay foods but I have tinkered with it a little as her recipe was not exact , as normally old recipes are and I think the result is pretty good.

The trick for the kasui is to make sure the batter is not thick AT ALL. Otherwise the kuih will be pretty hard and tak sedap.

Here's the recipe:

1.5 cups plain flour
1.5 cups rice flour
0.5 cup tapioca flour/ tepung sagu
0.25 cup sugar
2.5 cups water
1 Tbs lye water/ air kapur/ alkaline water

*1 cup brown sugar/ gula melaka
*2 cups water

Boil * until dissolved and leave to cool.

In a medium size bowl, mix all the other ingredients, blend well (in a blender or just use a whisk, which I did). Add the cooled sugar mixture, mix well and sieve into another bowl. Let rest for half an hour.

Heat up the steamer. Make sure your apam moulds are oiled lightly before pouring the batter into them so that the kuih will be easy to take out. Pour the batter into the moulds using a measuring cup - it's easier that way. Cook for about 20-25 minutes.

If you use a tin, you have to wait for the kasui to cool before cutting it I think. But if the mould is used, you can straight away use a knife/ spoon to scoop it out really, without ruining the kuih much.

Don't forget the coconut on top. That should be steamed too for about 10-15 minutes (to make it last longer) with a little bit of salt. If you use dessicated coconut, steaming is a very good way to soften the coconut bits and transform it into something similar to freshly grated coconut.

Good luck!

One more thing I bought..

2008-06-06T12:30:00.005+01:00

Got these books too at that car boot sale where we bought Zoyot (see entry below). Bought the whole lot for £5, which makes each one about 20p.

They're a collection of Enid Blyton's Secret Seven and Famous Five books - not the complete set but I think they were a bargain indeed - considering they were the early editions and they are in pretty good condition!

I would have been in absolute ecstasy if I were to be given these a few decades ago. But at my age, I still had a wide grin on my face when I bagged these books off the seller.

Now, I'm hoping to transfer some of my happiness to Big H - he is slowly beginning to read the first of the Secret Seven books, albeit with a pencil and a paper beside him to write those words he could not understand...

Dearest Yoyot...

2008-06-02T10:05:00.014+01:00

Yoyot during one of his surgeries.

For those of you who know my family or myself in person, you may know about Big H's cuddly toy, Yoyot (named after a doll (Yoyotte) in the lovely French film 'Ponette').

Yoyot has been with us since Big H's first birthday when I gave him the cuddly toy monkey as a birthday present. I myself fell in love with the monkey when I first saw it at Toys 'R' Us at Mid Valley nearly 7 years ago hence the reason why I bought it for Big H.

Little did I know that Big H would be so attached to it that he can't go to sleep without his Yoyot - even now!

So Yoyot, from the fluffy and cuddly soft toy that he was, is now a limp and sickly looking monkey which has undergone a few 'surgeries' on my operating table when I mended a torn tail or arm or fixed a 'dislocated' filling due to too many times in the washing machine and due to being thrown here and there, pulled, grabbed and jumped on - as young boys normally play with their toys, no matter how much they love them.

Some parents may be concerned about their kids being too attached to a certain item e.g. a blanket, a doll, a pillow but I am not really worried about his attachment to Yoyot as he actually has slept without Yoyot before when we went for trips and sleepovers - to me it's not a big deal, he will grow out of it in his own time and that little monkey won't last for too long now anyway...

Yoyot and his new found brother Zoyot.

But yesterday when we went to a car boot sale at Chigwell, guess what we found? An exact replica of Yoyot, only a slightly darker colour and it appeared to be unused and brand new!

The man sold it to us for £1.50, from £2. I bought it because it was such a find - I actually did try to buy another 'Yoyot' a few years ago because his condition was getting worse and worse even then and I tak sampai hati nak buang without a replacement at that time - but I couldn't find the exact same one.

We did look around at quite a few places back in Malaysia so imagine my surprise when I found it sold in a car boot sale here in the UK!

As soon as I bought it though, I thought...perhaps I shouldn't have bought it after all...what if Big H is going to cuddle to sleep the new one now as an alternative or replacement for his old Yoyot? That will mean he will sleep with that new monkey for a few more years yet because it's still in very good condition!

But as I have found out, I really have nothing to fear, really.

Yoyot is Yoyot and nothing else can replace it, even another monkey that looks exactly the same!

From what I saw from yesterday and today, Big H doesn't really care for the new monkey - only Little H keeps on cuddling it, and if I know Little H, he's just doing it to be funny - that little one's interests range more from Legos to guns and robots so I'm not too worried about him cuddling the monkey for a few days.

Since the new monkey is now owned by Little H, I asked him what he wanted to name his new cuddly toy. He said;

"I know!"

"What?" I had asked.

"Let me whisper it to you..." - recently he has taken up this new 'thing' of whispering his thoughts to Mr S's or my ears.

"Ok..." I had said, bending low so that he could reach my ear.

"I want to name him 'Monkey'..!"

Hmm..

We ended up with the name Zoyot, which Mr S suggested and Little H quickly agreed upon. (Mr S first suggested Boyot for 'brown yoyot' but Little H didn't like it so much so he suggested the former pulak..)

Even though I think Zoyot won't be a long term fixture in Little H's life - I'm certainly going to take care of Zoyot as a reminder of how dear Yoyot used to be. He used to be so shiny, soft and cuddly and in fact, he was taller than Big H when we first bought him! I think I mostly wanted to buy Zoyot for myself, really..as a part of my own memories of my first born in his growing years.

Below are some old pics of Big H with Yoyot in various times and locations...:)

The boys melanyak my bed.

Just waking up from sleep..

With a family friend.

During a trip to Melaka.

On Ateh's sofa.

Bonus Wednesday

2008-05-21T15:37:00.000+01:00

Just some pics taken last Wednesday when Mr S had some time off from work. Mr S was unwell actually but we dragged him to the park in the afternoon after picking up Big H from school because the weather was so lovely.

Big H is getting quite good at kicking and passing the ball.

Little H still has a lot to learn but enjoyed himself as well.

Big H doing a header.

Big H playing 'stick-ball' with Mr S (not in pic) - he's getting pretty good at catching and throwing too.

Intermission. Toilet too far away la... what to do?

A Tag - 8 Random Facts About Me

2008-05-19T09:56:00.008+01:00

After a long break in receiving tags (perhaps because I've not done most of the tags forwarded to me?? Sorry guys..) I received one from Flowerin and D.

Without more yakking, here goes.
_________________________________________________________________________
1. I'm asthmatic.

2. I'm a worrier.

3. I'm pretty artistic - have some talent in drawing and painting.

4. I'm very particular about my facial skin.

5. I'm not very particular about brands.

6. I have lots of shoes, some are more expensive than others but mostly, they're cheap. However, I have only 1 handbag and it's normally expensive and of good quality - I will use it as long as I can - sampai koyak, basically.

7. I sometimes sleep with 1 knee to my chest - proven by a pic taken by Mr S while I was sleeping. Looks damn weird, I tell you.

8. I love jewellery. Gold, silver, gems, beads - whatever. I love them all.

_______________________________________________________________________________
Done! That was easy! Anyone want to do this one? Feel free to to do it if you feel like it. Am not tagging anyone.

Right. This tagging business over and done with (for now), I'm off to the kitchen to do something that you all know I like doing - cooking!

Oven Malady

2008-05-16T09:47:00.007+01:00

When it's time to bake cupcakes or cakes, I will never use my fan assisted oven again.

An old pic taken while I was baking some cinnamon rolls - my fan assisted oven is the one lighted up, on the right side of the cooker.

Although it's supposed to be better - faster, better heat distribution etc. etc., I think the one I have in my kitchen has some sort of fan malfunction - the 'wind' generated from the fan is too strong that it actually blows my cake sideways!!

Look!

The one on the left was baked in my normal oven, the one on the right, using the fan assisted one.
Yikes!

Look at the right side of the bundt - you can see that it's clearly 'blown' by the over-working (or over-worked?) fan!

Annoying!

Now I can only use the fan assisted one to bake crumbles/ pies/ cookies/poultry i.e. for baking/roasting that don't 'rise'. Even then, it would be better for me to turn my baking around halfway through so that it bakes more evenly.

Hassle.

Thank God I have a second oven (see pic above: bottom left of my cooker) which is the normal (non-fan assisted) one that bakes fine.

But about that fan assisted one - anyone with the same problem? Or maybe someone can point out to me that I did something wrong?

Just For Me To Remember...

2008-04-29T11:04:00.012+01:00

The boys will always want to join Mr S and I while we solat together, normally during Maghrib or Isya'.

While listening to Mr S reciting one of the surahs, I could hear Big H reciting as well but I could also hear Little H's whisper;

"I love you Allah, so so so so so so so so so MUCH!"

That made my mouth twitch a little during my prayers.

Later, after we had finished, I told the boys to doa (ask from God for whatever). Big H as usual, will just say Amin, amin, amin, when he sees that I'm saying my own doa.

But I heard Little H's doa, a quiet whisper, only just audible;

"Ya Allah..I want a skate board..."

*******

While putting on Little H's pajamas after his shower in the evening, this conversation ensued...

"Mama why don't I have to wear my spender at night?" asked Little H.

"Mmm..because you don't need to, do you...? No one's gonna see your bird-bird if your pajama pants accidentally comes off during the night...." (I deserve whatever I get after this answer..)

"But do YOU wear your spender, I mean, your panties at night, mama?" (I had told him that Mama doesn't wear 'spender' - mama is too kelass to wear such a thing u see he he he)

"Err..I do...."

"But why?.."

"Because...mmm..."

I was still thinking hard for a good answer when he said,

"Mama, make sure, tonight, you don't wear your spender, alright? Because you don't have to wear it..nobody will see..."

"Okay.." (splutters)..."I'll make sure I don't!!"

*******

I heard a conversation between Big H and Little H while they were in the toilet brushing their teeth...

Little H: When your tooth falls out, put it under your pillow and the Tooth Fairy will give you money..

Big H: Yes, but when Horrid Henry puts his tooth under his pillow.... etc. etc. (they were discussing Horrid Henry, a children's book character with a cartoon tv series as well based on the books.)

Mama (cutting in): Eh! There's no such thing as a tooth fairy lah...it's just a silly story...

Big H: But there IS a tooth fairy!!

Mama: Tak ada lah...(getting a little impatient..)

Big H: But Papa said HE is the tooth fairy!!

Mama: Oh.. betul lah tu..(after all their Papa is the only one who makes money and can give any money around here..so I guess Mr S is the family's tooth fairy!)

Am Back!

2008-04-28T09:51:00.007+01:00

Finally, my pc is working again so I am back in the blogosphere!

Mr S stayed up until 4 am on Saturday to reformat and install everything back in so that the pc would return to its normal state after being out of it for so long. And he did it except for one thing - he forgot to save the hundreds of bookmarks that I had in the C drive!

Don't know how I can get those back again...

I think the reason for the breakdown is a virus that came in through a torrent that I was downloading the night before it happened...I think la...I dunno.

We're not even sure that it was a virus.

But whatever it was, Mr S, the IT engineer turned chartered accountant proved that he still has all those IT stuff intact in his grey cells by repairing and turning everything back to normal.

Thank you Mr S! Love you!!!

ANYWAY, just for a picture in this entry, I have uploaded my recent cake deco attempt on a carrot cake baked in a 9"x13" baking tin. Not an easy feat, decorating a cake with the kids around me and touching this and that - Big H even spoiled the icing at the beginning by leaning on the cake to reach for a tub of food colouring.

"That's IT!!!!! OUT!!" I had shouted, pointing towards the door.

The cake was for a friend who will be returning to Malaysia for good next week. We went to a farewell party for her yesterday and this was my contribution. Not perfect but boleh lah...

Righty-ho, I have to go now. InshaAllah, will update more soon.

April Snow

2008-04-06T09:47:00.014+01:00

View from my window early in the morning.

View from the kids' window.

The kids playing in the backyard while the snow was still falling.

Learning to make snow balls.

Wet but happy.
Big H said he was 'trying to look annoyed'.

Melting already by 10 o'clock...

About noon, most of the snow had melted and there were not even enough for slush.

It stayed freezing cold the whole day though, and later, we also had some sleet and hail too.

Isn't it supposed to be spring?

A Message of Warning

2008-04-03T21:21:00.017+01:00

When Big H asked for juice in his water bottle, I refused, and just filled it up with mineral water - he was recovering from a cold and he needed plain water not water with sugar added in it!

Later that night, I received a 'message' delivered by none other than Big H's little cohort, Little H...

"Dear Mama, I ask for juice, not water. I'm well. It can not happened again.
P.s: You've been warned" (Jolly Roger sign)

I heard sniggering in their room and walked through their door, carrying the piece of paper, one eyebrow raised.

"Is this serious or is it meant to be a joke?"

Loud laughter.

"A joke, Mama!! It was Hxxxx!!!" cried Little H, laughing like crazy. It was so very funny to him, apparently.

"Joke? Okay....nasib baik...!! Otherwise nak kena babab dengan mama...." I said glaring, making my voice very, very serious and went back to my room. (Actually, I was dying to laugh too, but obviously, warning letters to mum cannot be encouraged!).

The boys were unrepentant, of course. They laughed for a good two minutes after that.

Sabar je lah...

The little messenger.
"You have been warned.."

Karate Sunday

2008-03-31T10:03:00.011+01:00

Spent the whole of Sunday at Islington (pronounced exactly as it is spelled) because Big H had his first ever karate upgrading event.

Mr S commented that I was more nervous than Big H and I suppose he was right, although I tried my best to hide it from Big H so that he won't feel it too!

Horror of horrors: Although I wanted everything to be perfect, still something went wrong: we arrived at the venue without Big H's white belt and so he had to go through his upgrading without his complete uniform!! Poor Big H! And he nearly didn't want to do it too because of his missing belt!!

While he was standing in the row of white belters during his upgrading (they were doing it in groups of 6 or 8 children), he still kept looking at me, indicating that his belt is missing and asked me to borrow a belt from someone! But no one was moving around and the hall was completely quiet so I can hardly go around and ask any of the other kids who were already sitting on the mat in the centre of the room to borrow their belts!!

I was trying to tell him with 'sign language' that he should just do it and forget about his belt but I guess it was obvious to everyone that we were 'talking' to each other so his examiner called out his name loudly and told him to look straight ahead and not talk to the people outside the mat! Oopps!

And when they started, Big H looked like he didn't really want to do any of it - he kept hunching his shoulders and not doing his moves properly but that only lasted for a few seconds because somehow or other, he 'got into' doing the movements and did actually follow all the instructions which was amazing to me because some of them were given in Japanese! I couldn't believe my 6 year old son can understand what that instructor was saying!

Belt or no belt, Big H did his 'kata' well enough although I have to say some other kids really looked like they were born into doing all those punches and kicks and karate chops. A little girl who was wearing a red belt and looked to be about 4 years old looked like she was ready to murder someone while she did her moves - her facial expression clearly showed that she was concentrating and dead serious about the whole thing. It was quite amazing to watch!

At the end of the day, the instructor announced that Big H passed and got his red belt (although we haven't actually bought him one - we were supposed to buy one for him outside the hall but there was no stock for the shorter ones suitable for little kids like him) and we took a picture of him, holding his license book, albeit without wearing any belt...

In the morning, everyone had a 1.5 hours training first before the upgrading started at 12.30pm.
And then they let the parents in for a photo op.
Can you spot Big H sitting on the floor? His sensei is the Italian guy standing on the left.

Practicing his kata before the upgrading began..

"Kiyai!"

Little H took these pics of Big H practising using their camera.

During the break before the upgrading, we had lunch at a Turkish restaurant at Seven Sisters. Food was glorious, seriously!

The upgrading started at about 12.45pm. Big H was in the 1st group of white belts to be called!

While waiting for the other kids' turn and also the results.

After the results: Big H with his license book - he's a red belt now!

Outside the venue: Big H with a karate stance and Little H with his Monster pose..

Easter Break

2008-03-25T12:30:00.023Z

We had a long weekend last week.

It started with Good Friday and ended with a Bank Holiday Monday. I wanted to take the children for an away holiday but since Mr S just recently purchased some overly expensive skin care products for me - at my own request, so I can only blame myself - he said, NO, a quarter of any holiday budget has already gone into them toners and stuff thus we have to spend the 4 day holiday in London!

Little H's Easter hat, Easter egg and chocolate nest in the paper cup made by the teachers and the children in his nursery. Little H said, "Mama..I want to have jewels and diamonds on my hat so that I can look cool and stylish..." Sabar je lah....

Big H's Easter bunny hat..I helped him to make those dangling carrots..

Yes, unfortunate as it was for the kids and me, we tried to make the best of it with lots and lots of activities hereabouts.

Friday morning, Mr S and I together with another couple played badminton. The whole hall which had 8 badminton courts was empty, so our kids had plenty of space to run around and we brought some toys and games for them too so that they wouldn't feel bored while the adults try their best to play some sort of game that resembles badminton.

Badminton venue - they couldn't decide the winner for best sign board competition.

We played doubles: couple against couple and although the scores were close, we lost, I think partly because the other guy was 6 feet tall and totally fit - he kept smashing the shuttlecock right at the more 'sensitive' parts of my body and caused me great embarrassment and also, well, let's face it...Mr S and I memang pancit habis...

I already felt the strain in my thighs and and arms and decided to leave the men to play the next two games (where Mr S was mercilessly crushed again and again..poor Mr S!) and sat at the side chatting with my lady friend while we watched our kids play. I haven't played any games in ages and although we lost all the games, the whole experience nonetheless made us feel...well..good about ourselves...no doubt all those feel good hormones being pumped out!

Thus the reason Mr S agreed to take all of us swimming that afternoon.

Swimming venue - where the children go for their swimming lessons and Big H for his karate class.

I have been pestering Mr S to take Big H to the swimming pool for some private tuition - Big H's swimming test is coming soon and he is still not very confident in the deep end of the pool where he is supposed to water tread and his swimming strokes still resemble doggy paddles.

I didn't really fancy getting into the water, partly because I just well...wanted to stay dry but also because I hate to change in the changing room...(it's just too much hassle for me) but Little H wanted to swim in the shallow pool so I had to change and accompany him there while Mr S instructed Big H in the big pool.

In the end however, we all played in the shallow pool - neither Mr S nor I did any 'swimming' - we just played with the children in the water, trying to teach them a few things at the same time definitely, but still, it was mostly play, play, play.

And it was a very pleasant and enjoyable day indeed.

But that night...

The adults in the family all suffered greatly from body aches and pains! Mr S while walking slowly and painfully around the house said, "Tu lah mama...kau dulu kapten hoki patutnya ajar aku warm up tadi dulu sebelum main badminton tu...arghhh!!" (Yes..Mr S will always bring up the topic of 'dulu kau kapten hoki' to point out that I should be many things that I am not now..e.g. thinner, more active, faster, healthier etc. etc. etc.)
"Laaa..." I replied, impatient with yet another kapten hoki gibe, "warm up lah sendiri...anyway, this hasn't got anything to do with warming up lah - it's just because we're OLD...!!"

Surrey Quays - background is the sports shop that we went to get them goggles.

Yes...Mr S and I walked around like rusty robots the whole night and the next day but no...we did not learn from our aches and pains. By afternoon, even while we were still suffering and were only assuaged by a couple of paracetamols, we took the children to Surrey Quays via the tube, to a large Sports Shop called Decathlon, to buy some new goggles and swimming socks for the kids.

The recommended goggles and the swimming socks left to dry at home after a lesson.

(One of the mums I met during the boys' swimming lessons had recommended to me the Decathlon brand goggles especially for Little H who doesn't particularly like his Speedo ones - he keeps taking them off and putting them on again during his lessons and I'm afraid his teacher might lose patience with him one of these days due to his lack of attention during the lessons. Apparently the Decathlon ones are really good for kids and they are also cheap! The nearest store is in Surrey Quays and it is just next to the tube station thus the reason we went there via the tube.)

Not a lot of choice for halal food at the Surrey Quays food court.

We already had lunch at home but as usual, the children gets hungry every time we go out and so we had some food in the food court there - and somehow between us we polished our plates clean!! Still, Big H had to have some more food at home for dinner just 3 hours later! I guess it's true what they say about kids always feeling hungry because they're growing!

After the food..Mr Bump and Mr Noisy were back to normal.

On Sunday, Mr S and I decided to take the children bowling.

Big H's turn to bowl ..or should I say - roll.

Little H's turn now..

It was the kids' first time in a bowling alley and they were very excited. It was really amusing to see Little H when his turn to throw came...either Mr S and I would help him carry the heavy bowling ball onto the roller and Little H would run as far away as he could from the ball and then he would run as fast as he could towards the ball and push the ball as hard as he could. It didn't matter if he had to go to the back of the seats and the tables and it didn't matter that he had to run over feet and in zig zags - he had to have the strongest momentum of all coz "I want to win!" he said.

Come on!!!

Of course, when the game ended and he came in last (this was because each time he shoved at the ball on the roller so hard, he would always tip the roller a bit and this made his ball and his aim go astray) he sulked and announced that he would never, never, never, never, never, never, NEVER go to 'Bollywood Bowl' ever again because he didn't enjoy himself - not even a little!

The funny thing is, later, when we reminded him that the game wasn't a competition and it was supposed to be just for fun and that it didn't matter who won or lost, he replied, "I didn't like it not because I lost, mama...but it's because I didn't like the place..it was too dark...!!"

Yeah right..pandai nak save face budak ni.....

The boys playing in the wet snow...

I think it was really a good thing after all that we didn't have an away holiday this Easter break. We would have felt tired by the journey and would not have enough time to rest before going back to the normal routine and not to mention we would have needed to spend a lot of money for the whole trip. The very, very cold weather during the weekend also, with bouts of sleet and snow made me feel thankful that we were safely at home and not gallivanting somewhere in other parts of Britain which many, as it turned out, had worse snow and strong winds compared to London.

Alhamdulillah, we found great activities to do at home and I think over all, it was a wonderful, wonderful Easter break.

The Mother's Day Cards

2008-03-17T10:34:00.006Z

Didn't have time to put up these pics of the cards my sons gave to me on Mother's day. They were done at school as one of the activities organised by their teachers on that day.

From Big H:

From Little H:

(the paper stuck inside provided by his Nursery teachers)

Snippets of the conversation that ensued when I received these cards;

"You're the bestest mom - I love you..." (Big H holds out card)
"I love you too, sayang...Wow!! Thank you!! - Did you make this flower yourself?"
"Yup!"
"It's very nice.."

"Mama, look what I made..I used glue to stick these papers on the card..." (typical Little H with his explanations...)
"Oh...Wow...(opening card) - Is this for me?"
"Yes...yes..because the teacher said it's Mother's Day today.."
"Thank you sayang...." (big kiss and a big hug before he ran to his brother at the pc who was playing games there, all other thoughts forgotten..)

I took the cards to the kitchen and scrutinised them 1 by 1. Not a work of art to be sure..but they made me feel wonderful, anyway.

I took some pics of the cards using my mobile phone and look them over one more time...

He he he...jadi lah....

Saturday Outing At The Wharf

2008-03-03T12:34:00.009Z

When Mr S has to work during weekends, he doesn't leave the children and I at home and doom us all to a boring weekend - he brings us all along to his office to make it a family outing!

Of course, this is only when he doesn't really have A LOT to do, just a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Canary Wharf is a nice place to visit after all - one can have a stroll along the river with the wind in one's face and then have a 'stroll' in the shopping malls before taking a break in one of the cafes there for some tea and cake. And it's really nice to walk along tall buildings too...it just reminds me so much of back home.

As usual, here are some pics to help me share with you our experience there...

Big H and Little H with the UK's three tallest buildings in the background (1 Canada Square, 8 Canada Square and The Citigroup Centre).

The boys with their 'typical' poses..

Nice view...but it was a little dark standing in the shadows of the buildings.

Whilst walking towards the Jubilee Place Mall.

A coin for the fountain?

In front of Mr S's office building..

Snack time: A muffin for Little H and a Victorian Sandwich for Big H.

Mr S and I shared a large tub of itsu noodles. Highly recommended, especially for cold days - hearty and filling, with lots of veges!

Back home, Mr S belanja Chinese food to save me from cooking after the outing and because it was Mother's Day on Sunday (Mother's Day treat, he called it)...food was surprisingly quite good and well worth it.

More Birthday Pics...

2008-02-18T20:57:00.004Z

Just some more pics taken on Little H's birthday...

I'm bored...when is everyone coming.....???

The guests had to wait a while before getting at the food - Mr S wanted to take a quick pic first! The pic was so 'quick' that it turned out a little blurry! he he he...You can see the cake container - it's the one covered with a tea cloth so to not spoil the surprise...;-)

Some of the guests sitting in the living room...

...and in the kitchen too.

The children seen here entertaining themselves...

But not before they made sure that there will be plenty for the adults to do later...

Time to blow the candles..

YEAY!!!!

And finally...presents!!
Big H is seen in the pic above lending a 'helping hand' in opening the presents....:-)

Little H's Bithday Cake

2008-02-17T11:15:00.009Z

It was Little H's 4th birthday yesterday. Stayed up until 3 am the night before to make his cake...

The beginning..

The "paints".

The "palette".

The blank canvass - Little H wanted a yellow cake...

...with a spider on it.

Then the wordings, with black icing (Mr S chose ALL the colours besides the yellow btw)...

The edges or "skirt" as Mr S calls it...

"Show time!"

The cake...after the fact..

The leftover icing used on some leftover cupcakes...

Arghh...penat!!!

Foggy Days

2008-02-12T17:25:00.004Z

The last few days have been quite warm - spring is here! - but started with really foggy mornings. Below are some pics I took on my way to school with the boys...

At the junction on the way to school - visibility was only about 100m.

The one in middle of the pic - very small and wearing a black and light blue jacket is Big H. He had to run to chase after his classmates because their teacher had already instructed them to go inside because it was too cold to line up and wait outside for too long.

By the time it was 9am though, visibility has improved a bit as you can see from the pic above, although the fog lingered until about noon.

Means To A Positive End

2008-02-05T11:17:00.003Z

"Come on then Little H..it's time to pick up Hxxxx and go for your swimming lessons."

Little H is going for swimming lessons together with Big H nowadays. They go to different classes although their classes are on the same day and same time - Big H goes to Beginners 2 (after passing Beginners 1) and Little H goes to 'Aquatots 2' which is a class for 3 and half to 4 and a half year olds.

The Aquatots 2 lessons are not really swimming lessons, obviously. They are just to help the young children with their confidence in the water and with using the floats. And of course, other types of learning will come naturally too, like 'listening to instructions' and 'making friends' in a non school environment.

Little H in his newly acquired swimsuit that covers his chest
and supposedly makes him feel warmer..ye ke??

Little H always used to find it a bore to wait for Big H to finish his swimming lessons - he would bother me non stop or just lie down half on the seat and half on my lap and fall asleep while waiting for his brother's lesson to end. So Mr S and I decided to enrol him into a class as well. Although he has been a little apprehensive about doing the many activities in the water, Little H seemed to be enjoying his classes and looks to be coping in his lessons.

But on that day, Little H said, "Swimming lessons? But I have hingus and cough, mama."

Cough cough..sniffle sniffle.

I looked him over and made a quick decision. "Sikit je...you're well enough to swim...the pool is very warm, right?" He was not feeling very well the whole of the previous week but he seemed to have recovered and has been well the last 3-4 days although I admit that he had a little hingus still, but it's not like his nose is runny or anything like that...

He just nodded.

And so we went for the lesson and he made some progress - at the end of the lesson, when the children were asked to line up by the side of the shallow pool and jump (not dive) into it, (I suppose it's just for the fun of the splash and also to help them overcome any fear of the water) Little H always requested his teacher to hold his hand when his turn came to jump but on that day, he jumped bravely and made a splash without his teacher's help!

Well done, Little H!

After all, he did keep going on about 'sinking' ("Noooo!! I'm going to sink! I'm going to sink!") everytime we asked him to lower his face into the water in the shallow pool during our holiday back in Malaysia. And he was wearing arm floats and I was holding him at the time too!

It was indeed a good progress.

But the moment we reached home, I saw that he looked tired and could only finish so much of his dinner and while I was praying upstairs, he fell asleep on the carpet. I checked his forehead and sure enough, he had a temperature.

That was when I felt soooooooo guilty about my decision that he should go for the swimming lesson that I had to sit myself down for a while and convince myself that I am not a bad mother and that it was one of those decisions that you make that didn't exactly turned out right, but still, sometimes we need to make a quick decision in life and well, life's never perfect.

But Little H made me feel worse when he said as I put him to bed upstairs, "Mama, I TOLD YOU that I wasn't feeling well.....I TOLD YOU.."

**Sigh**

Of course, I apologised profusely and hugged him tight and told him that he should have told me that he wasn't feeling very well - which he didn't.

Of course I could not let him blame me for it 100%!

And as a errr..'creative' parent, I took the opportunity to turn the tables around and used the situation to my advantage and told him that he should know the reason why he keeps getting sick, not like Big H who seldom falls sick. I told him that it was because unlike his brother, I have to force Little H to eat his fruits and as for his veg, well, forget it!

"Look at Big H!" I said to Little H. "He will always finish his vegetables during dinner and even request fruits for snacks before meal times. He always eat his fruit at school as well! That's why he doesn't fall sick as often as you do..."

Kesian..demam-demam pun kena lecture...

Mr S came back from work and I told him to give say the same to Little H as well and to tell him straight that from now on, he MUST eat his veges. Little H just kept quiet but I know we had convinced him.

Sure enough, the next day, when I tried to feed him some vegetables with his lunch, he just opened his mouth without the usual protests and chewed and swallowed without any problems. A big progress since he used to run to the nearest bin the moment he starts to realise that there's a piece of vege in his mouth...

Alhamdulillah until today (it has been a week now), he still eats his veges without any problems.

Thank Allah something good after all came out of that quick decision to take him to his swimming lesson, albeit looking back, it certainly wasn't the right decision, I think.

Otherwise, knowing myself, I would still be feeling guilty about the whole incident...

A Belated Birthday Cake

2008-01-20T22:26:00.001Z

I turned 32 a few days ago.

"Dah besar dah anak mak.." said my mum on the phone.

"Dah TUA..." I said.

Baked a butter cake today and did some icing work on it just for fun. Thought the colour of the flowers was too strong - accidentally poured too much red food colouring and didn't have any more icing to dilute the colour. At any rate, Mr S and the boys thought it looked good.

Well, good enough to eat at least :)

My boys sang the birthday song even though it was a belated birthday cake.

Thanks to all those who remembered to wish me on the day.

Many happy returns, huh?

Amin.