2010

We are already in the second month of the year 2010. This year certainly brings a few big changes to my family. The biggest change is not having Danial in the house anymore because he is now enrolled at a boarding school in Johore. We had a very hectic schedule on the weekend of 9 January because of sending him to that school. We hadn't even finished unpacking our mess from our month long vacation in the US then, and yet we had to pack again to go to Johore.

The second big change is that we have to move into another house. Our landlord informed us that he needed the house for his son who will be doing a practical training sometime in April. We have been renting his house for 14 years. Wow, it has been that long! Although we have bought a piece of land several years ago, Steve and I are never in the hurry to build our own home because the rent is very inexpensive. You would never get that price if you were renting in the Klang Valley area. We asked our friends around the neighborhood and we found another rental house which is a duplex. Since we are so used to staying in an old but comfortable bungalow-style house, it's going to be quite an adjustment to do in terms of space considering the amount of junk we have accumulated all these years. It's ok because it's only temporary until we build our own house. I haven't even started packing anything yet. It's so overwhelming and I have no clue where to start! I think I will begin this weekend because it's going to be a 3-day Maulidur Rasul holiday.

The next big change is of course the adventure of building our own home! I was informed that the plan which we submitted to MPK has just been approved. I have yet to see it. I believe it is with the person whom we hired to draw the plan. I am too busy at the moment and will only be able to see the draftsman when Steve is back from his trip to an international school in Bangkok.

The final big change is my career. I will not say much for now because it's still too overwhelming to say and broadcast it worldwide.

FORUM PERDANA EHWAL ISLAM

Salam and hi to all. I came across this info a while ago and thought of sharing it with whoever is interested in joining the program.

• Sekolah Kebangsaan Bunut Rendang,Kuantan dengan Kerjasama KRT Taman Sri Indrapura,akan menganjurkan Forum Perdana Ehwal Islam bertajuk peranan ibu bapa dalam memastikan kecemerlangan anak2 pada hari jumaat ini 26 Feb 2010 pukul 9.00 malam bertempat di Dewan Utama,Sekolah Kebangsaan Bunut Rendang,Kuantan(Bersebelahan Taman Sri Indrapura)
• Ahli Penel Terdiri Drp:
• 1)Ustaz Hamdan Yusi Yusoff.
• 2)Ustaz Mahmud Mat.
• 3)Ustazah Intan Salwaa Hassan.
• Kepada muslimin & muslimat di jemput hadir.

Old RM 1 Coins

I don't know how many of you still remember these old one Ringgit coins. My late father loved to collect and keep the new ones in huge cracker cans. Sometimes he also stored them in tea dust cans or even tobacco cans. He passed away in 2003 but my mom just found 30 of them stashed away in a small tobacco can when she was cleaning her bedroom last month! She asked me if these coins can still be traded. Since I had no immediate answer, I took them home and showed them to the bank workers. They did not have an answer to my question either but they suggested that I bring the coins to the Central Bank in KL. I wonder if any coin collectors out there want to buy them from me.

CNY Holidays

I wonder how it feels to have a permanent 4-day weekend. We sure had a grand fun this past Chinese New Year 4-day weekend. My family and I went back to our kampung in NS and my mom was so excited when she introduced to me her "foster grand children" from USM. Apparently someone in my village had arranged an outreach program for about 60 USM students to stay with foster families. My mom "adopted" 2 girls (one is a pharmacy major and the other is a physics major) and my sister took in 2 boys - a biology major and ... (I forgot what's the other boy's major). They had such packed activities that I hardly saw them except at breakfast and dinner times. They climbed all the way to the top of Mount Angsi. I must admit that I have never climbed that mountain because I am not much of a jungle person. I hate creepy-crawlies so tennis courts and pingpong tables are my territories.
At the same time my cousin from Singapore also came and spent the entire 4-day weekend with us. It was so good to have him with us because we haven't seen each other for years. That was his maiden solo travel to our kampung. I think he really enjoyed himself being away from the hussle and bustle of the big Lion city. My husband took him to a miniature version of Angsi climb. They went to our small rubber estate which is very closely located to the Angsi mountain. After checking on our rubber trees, Steve decided to take my cousin hiking along the path which has been cleared by the National Electricity Board personnel. They had such a wonderful conversation that they lost tract of the way back to our estate. Luckily they didn't get "lost" for very long.
On Tuesday morning we had to drive all the way to JB to drop my cousin at the bus station to return to his hometown. Then we went up to Senai to send my eldest son back to his school. After everything was settled at his hostel, the rest of us continued our journey to Kuantan. The moment we arrived which was a little after midnight, I realized that we had been on the road for more than 12 hours. Time really flies when we have fun.

9th Birthday

We celebrated Hannah's 9th birthday early last month. We had our normal rituals which involved cutting a homemade chocolate cake followed by a pizza dinner at one of the "fatty outlets" in town. In the past we frequented the one in Ktn Parade but this year we went to ECM. I think that was the first time or maybe the 2nd time I went to that mall. It looks nice from the outside but it's not as user friendly as I would like it to be. Other people seem to be enjoying that place. I guess it's just me because I am not a shopping freak. This year I decided to bake 2 different shapes of cake: one was a regular round one and the other was a heart shaped. The kids liked the heart shape and Najla has already requested to have one for her birthday which is coming up next month.