Busy and Eventful Saturday

My Favorite Exercise CD

I started off my day doing a stomach exercise by following the Billy Blanks’ Taebo workouts CD. Then I proceeded to my closest neighbors’ house to help them with whatever last minute preparation for their youngest child’s engagement ceremony. I wanted to help them last night but was too tired and sleepy. Around 10am I had to leave for Kuantan town to pick Hannah up from her piano lesson. Then I went back to my neighbor’s house, and it was time to eat already!

Before we went back to the neighbor’s house, we actually went inside our house to use the bathroom. For whatever weird cosmic reason it was, I decided to go out through the back door. I asked Najla to go to the front entrance to get her slippers. Naturally she locked the front door as soon as she got back inside and then she came to meet me at the back. Without thinking I locked the back door and started to walk towards the neighbor’s house. Only then I remembered to ask if Najla locked the latch from the inside of our front door too. She said “yes”. Great! I have the keys to the front door but the latch from inside was locked and I didn’t have the back door keys. I called my husband who was at work (yeah on a weekend!) and as usual Mr Cool said “just hang on, I will be back in an hour”.

When he came back we tried so many different ways to unlock the back door. To make the long story short, we finally got it opened just in time for me to take the girls to the salon. On the way back from the salon I took Yasmin to see a doctor because she got a high fever. After I gave her the medication and sent her to bed I contacted a friend of mine to play ping pong. We played from 6 to 7 pm and it was great! I am so addicted to doing exercises these days that I feel restless if I don’t do anything in one day. Is that good or bad? I guess it’s much better than being addicted to drugs or something similar to them. Tomorrow the official ping pong training will start at 9.30am. It’s going to be another busy day and I can’t wait! Anyway, I am beat and ready to put up my feet and watch a James Bond movie on TV. Good night folks.

Fever Season

I think some kind of virus is in the air now. I know a few of my friends’ kids who are having fever. In fact Najla was not feeling too well on Monday. Yasmin also complained of having runny nose and itchy throat yesterday. I told her it must be a fever season. Today, after she came back from her extra class, she had a high temperature. Since I have made an appointment with the hair salon, I didn’t take her to the clinic right away. But as soon as we came back from the salon, I stopped by the clinic near Taman Guru and had her checked. The doctor told me that her temperature was 40 degrees Celsius. Wow, I am glad I stopped by. The doctor gave her 4 or 5 different types of medicines, for cough, headache, runny nose, fever, and of course antibiotic. The doctor also gave her an MC slip in case if she needs it on Monday. She seems so weak and she’s sleeping at the moment. I hope she gets well soon.

Girls Salon Day

Before Haircut

Today I took Yasmin, Hannah and Najla to my friend’s salon near Bukit Goh. Najla just had a hair cut not too long ago due to problems combing it every morning. Her hair is so fine and was too long for an easy and quick maintenance. Anyway this time she had it cut again for a different reason, lice infection! Yuck! All the girls get them and I don’t know when and from where (or whom). They haven’t had that problem for a long time until now. I have been noticing Najla and Hannah scratching their heads more often than usual the last couple of weeks. I suspected that they had lice on their heads but too busy to check. Yeah! Yeah! I know. It’s such a lame excuse. But hey! Who likes to deal with lice? But enough is enough. I took them all to the salon and had their hair cut very short. They like their new hair styles. I am glad we did it.

After

Yasmin's, Hannah's, and Najla's hair

Red Rose from Hannah

Nothing feels better than being loved and appreciated by your own child. That was how I felt on Monday 20 April 2009 when suddenly Hannah came to me and gave a stem of red rose (though not a fresh one) and said “this is for you and abah”. How sweet. Hannah is always the most sensitive of all 5 of my wonderful children. Thanks Hannah, I love you.

Favorite Shirts

I am so glad I bought the t-shirts for the kids while I was in PD. Najla loves her Upin & Ipin shirt so much that she refused to change into another shirt. Hannah, Yasmin, and Harris love theirs too. But I am not too sure with Danial whether he likes his or not because he never said anything. Perhaps, his is a bit too small but he’s being a nice son not to complain.

Harris Joined Al Irsyad KRS

Harris joined his school’s “Kedet Remaja Sekolah” (School Youth Cadet). Starting from last Saturday he has to practice marching from 8.30 am until 2.30 pm (of course with a few breaks in between!). If he is selected, he will be going to Kedah in June 2009 for a course to be promoted to a sergeant. Way to go Harris! I hope he will be successful and become a highly disciplined person.

“Minggu Persada Ilmiah” (Academic Carnival Week)

In this context I am not so sure what the English translation for “persada”is. Anyway, Al Irsyad secondary school conducted it the whole week from the 13^th until 17^th of April. Both Danial and Yasmin participated in different competitions and they won several prizes such as trophies, ring files, note books, bags, a bath towel, and a CD holder. Below are pictures of some of the presents:

Danial's Presents

Yasmin's Presents

PD Workshop with KPTM Rector

Talk about good timing! Now that I have a new camera, going on a trip is a welcoming event. The workshop was on the 15^th until 17^th of April at the TNB Resort in Port Dicson. I didn’t even know how to use the camera fully because I need to read the manual before I can understand how it operates. I asked Danial to set it in such a way that I just have to aim and click and that was what I did throughout my stay in PD.

Pictures of the Resort

A picture of myself, Noreha (KPTM Alor Star), Dato’ Razali Agus (the Rector), and Zabidah.

Pictures of a few participants from the different KPTM branches

My New Camera

Finally, I bought my first digital camera. I have been using Yasmin’s camera to take pictures for my blogs. It’s about time I got my own. So on Tuesday night I asked Amylia (our counseling exec) to accompany me to Megamall to look for the camera. As soon as we arrived at the mall, I met one of my neighbors and he informed me that he got his camera at Teruntum for a bargain price. Amylia and I decided to choose Olympus FE3010 , 12 megapixel as a model to compare our prices. We checked 4 or 5 shops at the mall before we made our move to Teruntum and Kuantan Parade. Finally I bought the one at Teruntum because it was the lowest price (RM580) among all the shops we surveyed.

The Fast and Ridiculous

Last Wednesday I took an unrecorded leave because I worked all day on the previous Saturday taking care of the final exams. So happened that last week Steve’s school was on its Spring break. We went to Kuantan for a date. Well, actually I needed to fill my cavity which was the size of the Grand Canyon! The dentist told me to do it about 6 months ago, but I kept postponing it until last week. This dentist (Dr Anitha) told me if I am lucky the filling would stay, but if the tooth starts bothering me, I have to do root canal, again!! Anyway, the filling went smoothly as I hoped. Steve went to pay our land tax while I was at the dentist. Then we went to the banks and “tabung haji”. After that we had lunch at the restaurant called Santap. That was the first time we ate there. The food was alright, lots of choices. The last stop was the Mega Mall where we watched “the Fast and the Furious”. It was fast alright, but to be honest it was truly ridiculous too. I hope this movie will not inspire Malaysians to do stupid stunts on the roads. We have enough stupidity going on as it is. Since we didn’t leave our house with such high expectations, we were actually quite entertained, not so much by the movie, but by being together without any distractions from the squids, I mean, our kids…

Dinner Last Night

I was suddenly attacked by a cooking mood last weekend so I decided to cook rendang. After many hours spent laboring on the preparation, the long awaited rendang was ready to be eaten. But then I had to go to my piano lesson at 3 until 4 pm yesterday. So I didn't have a chance to sampel my own cooking. I said to myself "nevermind, I can always eat it tonight". Right after I finished my piano lesson, a brilliant idea entered my mind, which was to get a serving of "kerabu mangga" from Sara Thai Restaurant which was very close to the Yamaha music center. It was a brilliant idea indeed. Check out what we had for dinner last night.

Rendang
Kerabu Mangga
Papaya chunks for dessert

Yuummm...

Rendang Mak

If Perak can boast their Rendang Tok, I can boast my Rendang Mak. I call it Rendang Mak because I got the recipe from my mother. Today I made some “Beef Rendang” which turned out to be everyone’s favorite. Below are some pictures of the before and after process of making it.

2 kilograms beef

Lemon grass, tumeric, and hot chillies

Sliced galanga (lengkuas) and ginger

Small Onions

Milk from 4 coconuts

"Asam Gelugur"

At the beginning

After 1 hour of cooking

After 2 hours of cooking

Ready to be eaten!!

Fruits from Our Backyard

This morning Steve plucked 6 papayas from the trees just behind our kitchen. I cut one up for dinner tonight and it was delicious! We will have plenty more to enjoy for the next few days. We also have a lot of young mangoes

on the tree in the back yard. They should be ripe in a few weeks or 2 months.

Weekend Activities

On Friday night we sent Harris and Yasmin to their friends Mawaddah’s and Shamil’s house so they could spent the night together. Mawaddah used to go to the same elementary school but after their UPSR exam results came out, Mawaddah chose to move to a boarding school in Terengganu. They haven’t seen each other for quite sometime. After we sent them, we stopped by Alif restaurant by KMC and had some Roti Nan except for Danial who ordered Nasi Goreng Pataya. We were so tired by the time we came home so we couldn’t finish watching “the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” movie on TV. On Saturday (yesterday) I had to work all day taking care of exams at the Kolej. I managed to play tennis with Steve after the afternoon exams were over. Najla came along and rode her bicycle on the tennis court. Danial and Hannah stayed home playing with the computer games. At night Mawaddah’s parents dropped Yasmin and Harris by our house and they gave us 3 “lemang” which they bought in Terengganu.

Pizza Recipe

I promised Neeza that I would publish the recipe of my quick and painless pizza. Those whose names aren’t Neeza, are also welcome to copy and use the recipe. Here it is:

Pizza Crust Ingredients:

1. 2 cups all purpose flour
2. 1 packet dry yeast (we usually use “mauripan” brand)
3. 1 teaspoon fine salt
4. 1 Tablespoon cooking oil (olive oil is better for your health)
5. 1 Tablespoon honey (can be substituted with sugar, but honey is healthier)
6. 1 cup warm water

Mix the first 3 items. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour cooking oil and honey, followed by warm water. Stir until well blended. The dough should be soft and sticky. Let it rise for about 10 minutes. While waiting prepare any of your favorite toppings such as cheese, vegetables, etc.

Pizza Sauce

1. 1 small can of tomato puree (220 grams)
2. 1 large onion, diced
3. 3 cloves garlic, minced
4. 1 teaspoon oregano
5. Salt to taste

Mix all ingredients in a pot and bring to boil. Simmer until sauce thickens.

Spread the dough on a well-greased pan. Half-bake it in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven. Take it out, spread the sauce then followed by your favorite toppings. Bake for another 20 minutes or until cheese melts. Good luck.

Dried Squid

On March 29, I wrote an entry that I could not wait to open the package of the dried squid which happens to be one of my favorite snacks. Finally on Sunday, 5 April 2009 I ripped the plastic wrapper opened! I took a plateful of it and stuffed my face with it. My initial reaction was pure contentment but soon after I felt bad because I wasn’t patient enough to wait until my friend Mona come and get it. But the good news is, I don’t think she will ever read this blog so she will never know unless if I call and tell her. Why would I do that??

Najla

Last night Najla sang a wonderful song while taking a shower. I managed to record part of it secretly. When she came out from the bathroom, I played it back to her and she laughed so hard. Then she asked for rice and chicken soup. I dished some in a bowl and asked if she wanted to use the small spoon (teaspoon) instead of the regular-sized one. She replied “ of course the small one so that it will fit my small mouth. Otherwise I have to open my mouth so wide like a dinosaur or snake”. Gee, why didn’t I think of that!

Weddings

Yesterday (Saturday 4 April 09) my whole family attended 2 weddings. The first was in Permatang Badak, behind the Permatang Badak School. It was the wedding of Linda, Shahrul’s (KPTM admin exec) niece. Her mom used to take care of Najla for 4 months.

This is Linda, the bride

Then we went to Azlan’s wedding in Sg Isap. Azlan’s mother, Kak Bedah, used to take care of all my children. She’s more like a family than just a friend. We got so many hard boiled eggs from the weddings, enough to feed us for one whole week!

This is Azlan and his bride

“Asas Mewarna”

On Friday 3 April 2009 Najla received 3 new books titled “Asas Mewarna 1”, “Asas Mewarna 2”, and “Asas Mewarna 3” which we ordered from her teacher last week. She was so happy when she showed them to me. After I picked her up at the nursery we went to KPTM to play ping pong with 2 students named Izzat and Amirul and an engineering lecturer named Mustakim. As usual we played until 7pm. While waiting for us to finish playing, Najla colored the first page of the 1^st new book.

Monday Blues

Last Monday (30 March) Najla threw a big tantrum when I dropped her off at the nursery. She cried and clung to my arms. She had a bad mood since she got up because it was Monday, the first day to school after a two-day weekend. All the kids behaved the same when they were at that preschool age. Two of the caretakers had to help separated Najla from me. I felt sad for her but I had to leave otherwise I would be late for work and Harris and Hannah would be late for school. Yasmin and Danial had a day off from school because they participated in the school camp over the weekend. Danial went to his friend Izam’s house and Yasmin came with me to my office. But she stayed until 10.30am only. I sent her home when I went out for a morning break When Najla came back from the nursery in the afternoon, I asked her whether she was crying for a long time after I left her. She said “nope”. So I felt better.