Family Memoirs

2011-12-14T11:11:00.002+08:00

It's school holiday. D just finished his SPM yesterday but he's still in Johor. I guess he's trying to get things straighten out at school, then meet with friends before coming back to Kuantan. Y is waiting for her PMR results to come out, which I was told sometime after Christmas. Before the holiday started I was so worried if the kids were just going to stay home and watch the idiot box or just play with computer games. Alhamdulillah I managed to arrange a Quran camp for them. All in all, there are 11 of them attending the camp - 4 of my kids plus 7 others from around here. It started on 28 November and insya Allah will end on 29 December. So far, the kids are enjoying the program which starts at 8am and ends at 4pm with a 2-hour break from 12noon to 2pm. They said muallim Shafie is a great facilitator and he's definitely not a boring teacher :)

I am very happy with the program although it brings extra responsibilities for me. Normally I would go to the office around 8am and stay there until 5pm regardless of whether I have classes or otherwise. Ever since the program has started, I have to be back between 12 and 2 to take care of the kids when they come back for lunch. Four of them live quite far from here so I offered them to come eat and rest at my house. So, instead of feeding 4 kids, I have to feed 8! Most of the time I try to cook but once in a while (like today), I think I will just go to the nearby restaurant to get some food for them. Feeding them is not a problem because they are not fussy about food. Most are just too happy to eat rice and eggs. They are big enough to feed themselves if they are left alone but I just want to be there during that 2 hour break to ensure that they are not making too much mess :) I don't mind if papers, books or toys are thrown all over the place but I simply can not stand food remnants all over the floor. Ooops, it's almost time for them to be home, I better start moving...

2011-11-15T15:01:00.002+08:00

I love teaching but I dislike marking exams with a passion. Never in a million years that I thought I would end up teaching for a living. I still remember the second day I came back from the US after I graduated. I was in a deep sleep (from a jet-lag) when suddenly my late father came running upstairs and excitedly asked me if I wanted to replace a teacher who was on a maternity leave at the school near my house. I remember telling him that I did not want to teach ever! But more than 2 decades later, I found myself in a classroom talking to very eager youths who would probably believe 95% of what I say. So I learn to never say never. Like I said I love teaching. However, marking exam scripts is a totally different experience. Why can't we just give them bunches and bunches of multiple guess questions? That would be a breeze wouldn't it? Unfortunately, life is not like that. As you may have guessed, I am in the middle of marking midterm exam scripts and I need to take a break before I become stressed and give poor marks to some unfortunate kids. I must be very good to my students with the hope that God will inspire my children's teachers to be good to them, ameen. I think my mood to mark is back so I better continue so that I can finish all of them before attending a meeting at 5pm. See you folks soon. Take care...

Special Day

2011-11-11T11:36:00.004+08:00

There is one special date which occurs every year since 2001 and today is one of them, 111111. I heard many couples plan to tie the knot today and some pregnant ladies have even made appointments to have Caesarian section! What a crazy world we live in. As a practicing Muslim I do not believe in any day or date to be special because each moment is special for as long as God allows me to breathe the air and live a healthy life. This morning was special because we had to get up at 4.30 to send Harris to his school. He needed to be there by 5.00 am in order to join a leadership camp trip to Kelantan. I guess by now he has already arrived at wherever that camp is supposed to be held. The schedule for the camp is quite packed and I really hope that he will learn something that will benefit him for a long time to come.Yesterday was special because I took Najla, Hannah, Yasmin, and Balqis to IIUM swimming pool. Yasmin learned how to swim when she was 4 years old and she could still float and perform some breast strokes. She told me that she has forgotten other styles. Hannah was excited because she managed to float after being taught by a few ladies who were there in the pool. Najla had a hard time learning but if we go often enough she might be able to do it soon. She has been bugging me to send her to a swimming class. I talked to the life guard and was told that her class will only start in March next year. I think Najla swallowed a lot of water from the pool because she had stomach upset at 2am. She woke up crying and said she needed to vomit. After several attempts, nothing happened. Luckily she felt better half an hour later. There are 2 things that she really would like to learn: swimming and riding a bicycle. Well she shouldn't feel so bad because I learned how to ride a bike at the age of 24 and only knew how to swim in my 40s :)

Danial came home for Eid Adha celebration last Friday (Nov. 4) and stayed until Wednesday. As usual we celebrated our Eid in my mom's village. It was a nice family-get-together time. All the other kids were at school on Wednesday and Steve was at work. Since I was on leave, I managed to bake 2 batches of my wonderful chocolate chip cookies. I was so engrossed baking that Danial almost missed his bus! Alhamdulillah we got to the bus station just in time.

Eid Mubarak

2011-11-05T10:00:00.003+08:00

Salam and hello to all my fellow readers. I know I have been neglecting this blog for over a month! How and when am I going to be consistent with my writing? Well, only time will tell. Since tomorrow is going to be another big spiritual celebration for Muslims (Eid al-Adha - please forgive me if I spell it wrong), I would like to take this opportunity to wish Eid Mubarak to all Muslims around the world. Every year around this time, it brings back memory when I was in Mecca performing hajj in 2006. I really miss the place and would really love to go there again. Unfortunately I have other commitments which requires lots of $$, such as kid's school, family visits, etc, etc, I have to put that wish on hold indefinitely:( Anyway, for those who are driving long distance to visit family members please be patient and drive defensively. Selamat Hari Raya Aidi Adha, maaf zahir bathin.

Road Safety

2011-09-07T13:42:00.000+08:00

While driving to work yesterday, I turned on my favorite radio station, Radio IKIM. The topic of the day was about road safety/Malaysian drivers. Frankly, I am tired of this topic because it has been discussed by so many people in so many programs but the problem remains the same. The most popular question asked is "why are there so many accidents? Are they caused by the road condition or the poor driving habits?" I think any Malaysians regardless of age, race, background, and academic qualifications can answer this one in a second. Of course their poor driving habits. In my opinion, there are two major ugly Malaysian characters that contribute to road accidents: lack of patience and lack of tolerance. No matter how bad the road condition is, if the drivers are patient and tolerant, accidents can be prevented. Many drivers just ignore stop signs whenever they are at any junctions. Those who stop completely (trying to follow rules) are frowned upon as if they are committing the biggest sin! Many drivers also like to drive on the shoulder of the road, which makes it difficult for emergency vehicles to pass through at critical moments. Malaysians are proud of being friendly and hospitable, but the moment they sit behind the wheel, they transform into monsters!

Salam Raya

2011-09-06T14:28:00.003+08:00

Assalamualaikum and hello to all. Today is the first day of work after a week of spending time with family, relatives, and friends. Not to mention spending time to eat! I always have mixed feeling during Raya (Eid) celebration because I love and hate it at the same time. I love having off days, being with family, visiting friends and relatives. However, I hate being around so much food and feeling obligated to sample at least a cookie (yeah right!) every time I am at someone's house. Nobody can eat just one cookie! Who am I kidding? I love the way my waist line felt in Ramadhan when we were fasting. All the hard work in a month can be destroyed in a few days, what a shame. Anyway, that week is over and now my family and I are back to fasting for another week. My body is thanking me for it. I can almost hear it, thank you, thank you :)

Wedding of the Century

2011-08-17T11:55:00.001+08:00

Some people get married at such young age and others opt not to marry at all. But my dearest friend who happens to be my loyal housemate when I was a student at IU found her soul mate a bit later compared to many of my friends. But boy isn't she the luckiest of all because not only she got a husband but she got 8 instant children! Wow! On top of that her husband is going to open a spa for her to manage! Husband, children, business, 3-in-1, not a bad deal at all. So it was worth the waiting. I was shocked and very happy when she called and told me the news a few months before the wedding. Of course I would not have missed the ceremony for the world. My whole family (except for Danial) went to KB to attend the wedding. We stayed at a very nice and cozy inn called Barokah Inn. I got the place through a friend's recommendation. I think for RM 70 a night, the room was really worth it. After all, we only need it to sleep for a few hours. They provided 1 queen-sized and 1 single-sized beds. The worker told me that they have 9 rooms in total. It it located on Jalan Kebun Sultan and the telephone number is 013-988 7929 (in case if the inquiring minds want to know).

Blog oh Blog

2011-08-16T14:54:00.002+08:00

I was browsing through Prof Kamil's blog and as usual he wrote so many entries and he did it so consistently. I would love to be a prolific writer (at least in my blog) but somehow it doesn't happen! Reluctantly I browsed through my own blog and then I noticed something was wrong with the setting of the pages. I couldn't really see all the postings like I used to. I wonder how long it has been like that and I also wonder if other people were also seeing the format the way I saw it. I was so frustrated and decided to change the template. To say the truth, I don't really like this new one but it will do for now because I am not an expert when it comes to technology. I don't like this new template because it looks a bit cluttered. God knows how to get back the old one. Maybe it's time to pay my friend Lin a visit at KPTM. Hidayah used to be my Guru also but now she's in Iowa, little good that will do me. I lost my Hijriah calendar! I don't know how to get a new one. It says to click at the picture to get the new code but when I did, nothing happened! Errrgggh!

Birthdays

2011-08-16T10:16:00.004+08:00

The kids with Yasmin's BD cake (I forgot to take it out of the pan)

Yasmin just celebrated her birthday last week. She is the first kid to celebrate her birthday during the fasting month. So we didn't perform our ritual which is going out to eat at KFC or Pizza Hut but instead we ordered 3 pizzas (1 large peperoni, 1 large Hawaiian chicken, and 1 regular veggie lover)for breakfasting. Sorry Danial, you missed that one. Yasmin wanted to have a cellphone as a present. Steve almost gave in but hey I have the veto power. So she got a few novels instead. Not a bad deal considering the extra costs - money wise as well as health wise - that will be incurred by cellphones. I got my first cellphone when I was 40 years old, as a birthday present from Steve. So I think Yasmin still has many more years to wait (maybe not until she's 40) to get that little gadget.Well, we can not have what we want all the time.

Harris was cutting his BD cake

They got to eat out at their favorite restaurant

Last month was Harris' birthday. I didn't get the opportunity to be there with the kids because I was busy playing tennis at the inter-varsity tournament in Malacca. We only managed to enter the quarterfinal round but we had a great time. We got RM200, two weeks unrecorded leave, and most importantly we had a chance to meet with friends from other universities around the country. Anyway, this entry is not about the tournament but it's about Harris' birthday. Sorry, I digress. Where was I? Oh yeah, I was not home when the celebration was taken place. However, I left my camera with Steve so that he could take some photos for me to see when I got back. Of all the places that he could have taken the pictures, he took them in the middle of the mess! That's why I had to crop the first 2 pictures (if you guys noticed :)). I guess that shows how creative men are ;) Like I said earlier, I was not home ( for almost a week) therefore my house was in a shambles. At night they went to have their regular birthday dinner at one of the Pizza huts in town.

Ramadhan Mubarak

2011-08-03T09:33:00.003+08:00

Assalamualaikum and hello everyone,

When I was running around like a chicken without a head when the semester was on, I thought to myself that I would write more during the long break. Huh, what a joke. Before I realize it the long break is about to be over in a month. I guest we are not created to have so much "free time". That's why the busiest person has the "most" time because he is the best at managing his time. Anyway, I would like to wish all my Muslim readers Ramadhan mubarak and hope that this year's fasting is better than the previous years'. While fasting we are reminded not only to abstain from taking food and drinks, we are also required to abstain from seeing/watching, listening, and talking nonsense. Therefore I would like to present to you a great piece of reminder from our beloved prophet (peace be upon him), which is his last sermon. I found it at a wonderful site below :

http://www.thedeenshow.com/nonmuslims.php?id=506

Prophet Muhammad’s Last Sermon: A Final Admonition

Beloved Prophet Muhammad, may God send His praises upon him, was born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia circa 570 C.E. He is an example for all of humanity. He was a remarkable man at all times. He excelled in all walks of life by being a prophet, ruler, philosopher, orator, soldier, husband, friend, father, uncle, nephew, and a grandfather. He was a man of love, patience, courage, wisdom, generosity, intelligence and magnitude who inspired millions of lives throughout the world.

God says in the Quran that he was sent as a mercy for the people of the world.

“We sent thee not save as a mercy for the peoples.” (Quran 21:107)

His Prophetic Mission began at the age of forty, circa 610 C.E., and continued until 632 C.E. From the path of ignorance, mankind was lead to the straight path and was blessed with the guidance of God.

Shortly before his death, Prophet Muhammad delivered a sermon during the Hajj, which came to be known as his “Final Sermon”. This final sermon was not only a reminder to his followers, but also an important admonition. The final sermon confirms the end of his Prophetic Mission.

Year 10 A.H. of the Islamic Calendar is considered to be one of the most significant years for three reasons. Firstly, this was the year when the Prophet delivered his Last Sermon during his farewell pilgrimage to Mecca. Secondly, this was the year where number of deputations came to the Prophet to announce their Islam as well as their tribes. Thirdly, it was the golden period of Islam when multitudes of people embraced the faith by accepting the message of the Prophet.

Prophet Muhammad undertook his farewell pilgrimage in the year 10 A.H. His farewell pilgrimage to Mecca is one of the most significant historical events in the minds of Muslims, for it was the first and last pilgrimage made by Prophet Muhammad, as well as being the model for performing the fifth pillar of Islam, the Hajj.

Prophet Muhammad’s final sermon was delivered during the Hajj of the year 632 C.E., the ninth day of Dhul Hijjah, the 12th month of the lunar year, at Arafat, the most blessed day of the year. There were countless Muslims present with the Prophet during his last pilgrimage when he delivered his last Sermon.

The Final Sermon:

After praising, and thanking God, the Prophet, may God send His praises upon him said:

“O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore, listen to what I am saying to you very carefully and take these words to those who could not be present here today.

O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that He will indeed reckon your deeds. God has forbidden you to take usury (interest), therefore all interest obligation shall henceforth be waived. Your capital, however, is yours to keep. You will neither inflict nor suffer any inequity. God has Judged that there shall be no interest, and that all the interest due to Abbas ibn Abd’al Muttalib shall henceforth be waived...

Beware of Satan, for the safety of your religion. He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things.

O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have rights over you. Remember that you have taken them as your wives only under a trust from God and with His permission. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers. And it is your right that they do not make friends with any one of whom you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste.

O People, listen to me in earnest, worship God, perform your five daily prayers, fast during the month of Ramadan, and offer Zakat. Perform Hajj if you have the means.

All mankind is from Adam and Eve. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab; white has no superiority over black, nor does a black have any superiority over white; [none have superiority over another] except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.

Remember, one day you will appear before God and answer for your deeds. So beware, do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.

O People, no prophet or apostle will come after me, and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O people, and understand words which I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the Quran and my example, the Sunnah, and if you follow these you will never go astray.

All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and it may be that the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly. Be my witness, O God, that I have conveyed your message to your people.”

Thus the beloved Prophet completed his Final Sermon, and upon it, near the summit of Arafat, the revelation came down:

“…This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My Grace upon you, and have chosen Islam for you as your religion…” (Quran 5:3)

Even today the Last Sermon of Prophet Muhammad is passed to every Muslim in every corner of the word through all possible means of communication. Muslims are reminded about it in mosques and in lectures. Indeed the meanings found in this sermon are indeed astounding, touching upon some of the most important rights God has over humanity, and humanity has over each other. Though the Prophet’s soul has left this world, his words are still living in our hearts.

Amal Jariah

2011-06-15T16:16:00.003+08:00

Salam and hello everyone. I pass by this site everyday going to and coming from work because this is supposed to be the new surau (musolla) at my new housing area. We were all so excited when the first column was being erected (sometime late last year or early this year) and everyone was so enthusiastic and felt confident that it would be ready by Ramadhan which will start on the 1st of August. Unfortunately as I drove by this morning, this site still looked like it is in the pictures below. I don't think it will be ready by Ramadhan unless if some miracle happens. I was told that one generous donor was going to donate RM70,000! Yes! You heard that right! Unfortunately after he or she gave the first RM10,000 the money stopped coming in hence the abandoned project. I would like to take this opportunity to call upon all Muslims or non-Muslims who would like to make donation so that the musolla will have a second chance to be built. I am sure there are many who would like to contribute so that it will be part of our jariah for the next life. In case if you have doubt about the project, you can come and visit the site itself by calling the listed phone numbers of the people who are in charge of the collection of the fund. You can also send your representatives to check out the site. May God bless us all.

Yaumul Ihtifal

2011-05-15T14:00:00.001+08:00

This year, Yaumul Ihtifal (awards day) for both al Irsyad Secondary school and al Hidayah Secondary school were held at locations other than their own campuses. Irsyad had theirs at KIPSAS hall while Hidayah had theirs at UTM. We attended both ceremonies. Yasmin got a few awards which include being the 1st in the class, public speaking contest winner, and choral speaking group winner. Harris got a consolation prize for public speaking.

The winner of the coral speaking group contest performed during the ceremony

These are the presents Yasmin and Harris brought home :)

Yaumul Ihtifal for al Hidayah was held at UTM on Sunday, 10 April 2011 and we stayed at the Scholars Inn on UTM campus. It was a two-room apartment, with a kitchen, air-conditioning, and even an astro on a flat-screen TV! The kids loved it especially Danial because he wanted to watch Mann U played that night. I could have enjoyed myself more but unfortunately I had to finish marking all the final exam papers for my students. Danial got 2 awards, one for good academic standing and the other for getting a second place in inter-school debate.

After the ceremony ended we went to his friend's house. He lives near UTM because his father is a lecturer in the Architecture department at the University. It was a good visit. It was on the way to his friend's house that I found out Danial performed in Dikir Barat! I was really disappointed for not realizing it because when the group came out, I was in the toilet with Najla and Hannah. Danial's friend's parents gave us a wonderful lunch. We left their house around 3 pm and reached home at 10 pm.

Danial and his good friend Huzaifah

Najla's craft

2011-05-14T18:56:00.007+08:00

These are the pictures of "ice cream" Najla brought home recently. The ice cream looks so real that sometimes I am tempted to chomp on it!

A few weeks before she took home the "ice cream", she brought a "giraffe". The poor giraffe has no mouth so it can't eat. Najla must have forgotten to draw the mouth for it :)

Prof Kamil

2011-05-14T18:26:00.000+08:00

Prof Kamil, an inspiration to many.

During the talk at IIUM on 6 May 2011

The first time I heard his name was when my friend lent me a book written by him titled "PhD Kecil Tapi Signifikan". I was not planning on doing my PhD (neither am I now) but for some small but significant reason, I started reading from lines to paragraphs to pages and before I knew it, I had finished the whole book! Then my friend suggested that I read his blog, which I did and still do until today. Then I heard him over the radio and occasionally watched him on TV. The style of his speech is very simple and down to earth. He always uses his own experiences as examples in his talks. Then I was told that he was coming to the mosque where I used to stay and of course I attended the session. Again, I attended his talk when he came for the second time. Since that night, I was determined to get to know him in person. Coincidentally, by that time I was already working at IIUM, so I told myself that I would invite him to my university. A few months after that I was contacted by Fatiyah who told me that Prof Kamil was coming to KPTM on three separate dates. I said to her, "You can count on me to be there", and I did on all three occasions because it was a good opportunity for me to approach him about coming to IIUM. Right after his session ended, I made sure that I stopped him on the way out of the mosque and I blurted the question, "Prof I am working at IIUM, would you come and give a talk if I invited you?" To my excitement he said, "Yes. Just write a short note to the Director of UiTM Johor (Segamat campus) to make things easier". I did, and the rest, as they say is history.

Some of the audience at IIUM session on 6 May 2011

Some of the KPTM students who were present at his April 19 Session

Having supper with Prof at KPTM Cafe on 29 March 2011 session

Four days ago I stopped by the entrance to IIUM to take the picture of the banner when Prof came to our university. Then, with the help of a very good officer from the IP department, I took the banner down and kept it with me. I will treasure the knowledge and experience he shared with us with the banner as a proof that he came to our campus!

Just after I finished writing this entry, I read his blog and there was the long awaited news of his early retirement from UiTM so that he can migrate to Taibah University in Medina. I wish you all the best in whatever you do Prof. Thank you so much for everything.

Finally

2011-05-12T12:27:00.000+08:00

Alhamdulillah. Finally. Last March (31 st to be exact), we managed to move everything out of the old rented place into our new nest. I really hope that we do not have to go through such process anymore. The very first move we did as a married couple was when we moved from KL to Kuantan in 1994. At that time it was not so bad because we had not accumulated so much junk! Then we moved again in 1996 because the former landlord wanted to move into that house. We stayed at the newer place for about 13 years! Three of our kids were born in that house. Late in 2009 we were asked to move out by the second landlord because his son was supposed to occupy the house while doing his industrial training in Kuantan. Later, we found out that his son didn't want to stay there! Well, he owns the place. In April 2009 we moved again just a few houses down the street. At that time we decided to build our own house on a small piece of land which we bought in 2001. I guess that was the big plan from the Big Guy up above. If not because of that we would still be renting. We stayed in the temporary house for exactly 8 months and 17 days but we continued renting it for another 3 months after we moved to give us time to sort the things that we really wanted.

This was how the living room looked like when we left.

These were the junks that we recycled

This was how much we received from the recycled stuff (RM 32) :)

These were the little junks that we left in the house (with the permission of the landlord of course)

Baby chair

I am not sure about you guys but I am very sentimental when it comes to my kids' belongings especially when so many wonderful memories attached to them. For instance this baby chair shown in the picture below was bought for my first born. I don't remember where my husband and I bought it, maybe at Parkson in Kuantan. It is such a good chair (2 in 1) which can be used as a high-chair for eating or as a study table when you take the chair apart from the table. Some people might have thrown it away but we took it to our new house. Hopefully someday we'll send it to a furniture store to have it fixed.

Conversation with Najla

2011-03-28T11:29:00.002+08:00

Yesterday while washing dishes Najla came to me with her new umbrella and the conversation goes like this:

Najla: Mak, look at my new umbrella. It's only 8 Ringgits. Abah bought it at the co-op.
Me: Really? What happens to your red umbrella?
Najla: I don't know. Hannah had it before. Besides it was torn.
Me: What? It's a new umbrella and it's already torn?
Najla: Yeah. I don't know how to take good care of it. I am not like you. You have many children.
Me: What is the relationship between having many children and umbrella?
Najla: Well, you can take good care of your children, and taking care of children is more difficult than taking care of an umbrella.
Me: ??? (Smart kid ;))

Yasmin's Back

2011-03-24T17:06:00.002+08:00

Tuesday night Yasmin arrived, from her trip with Uncle Husni and family to KL, at about 1.30am. Before arriving Husni called and Steve got up and waited for them in the living room. I must have slept like a log because I didn't hear the sound of the phone or the bell ringing. All I know Yasmin was in the toilet taking a bath yesterday morning. So now our family is back to normal, with 4 kids at home and us. Harris was really hopeful to go to KL on Saturday with them but unfortunately Husni's car was really full. There were 3 big bags for Khadijah to take back to Egypt, Omar's bags to take to his school in Johor, Husni's family's bags with enough clothes for 4 days, and a box full of goodies from us to be sent to Danial in Johor. As soon as Husni's car left, Harris went to his room and shut the door. Usually that's what he does when he's upset about something. Luckily we had a wedding to go to that afternoon so Harris was happier. Najla and Hannah were fine because they would not dream of parting from us (yet). Harris said "Yasmin always gets to go. When she's in a boarding school, I will go places with uncle Husni". Poor Harris:(

Birthday Time

2011-03-10T10:20:00.003+08:00

Today is Steve's birthday. As usual we don't celebrate or give each other present anymore because for us everyday is a celebration, hahaha. But it is different with our kids' birthdays, we must celebrate or else... Since yesterday was Najla's birthday, Steve baked our family tradition's moist chocolate cake. At night we went to eat at ECM Pizza Hut. I guess the kids were really starving because they ordered 2 large pepperoni pizzas, 3 orders of bread-sticks, 3 cups of mushroom soup, iced lemon tea, orange juice, and pepsi. I ordered a regular crispy-crust veggie-lover's for me. Before we entered the restaurant, we bumped into parents of one of Steve's students. Just for the sake of conversation, we mentioned that it was a celebration for Najla's birthday. Little that we know, about half an hour later they gave a box of present to Najla. Wow! That's what we call rezki. My mom who is with us for this whole week, also bought a present for Najla. As soon as everyone "inhaled" the food, we left the mall so that we could get our beauty sleep before enjoying another day of life. These are some of the pictures I took yesterday:

Hijrah Iman Talk

2011-03-07T21:54:00.003+08:00

Alhamdulillah, the talk went smoothly on Friday night. Many students showed up to listen to the young Ustaz sharing his bitter sweet moment of finding Islam. He was raised to be a priest and his ambition was to convert all the Muslims in this country into his previous faith. But as God said in the Quran, humans plan but God is the best planner of all. I really would like to thank my students for spending so much time making posters and planning the event, especially Pudin, Epi, Fathi, Sarah, and Bela. Please forgive me if I missed some names. We managed to collect around RM1,400 and all of the Ustaz's books, Hijrah Iman - Satu Anugerah Agung dari Tuhan, were sold out. I hope that he will get enough funds to further his studies locally or overseas.

Breeze

2011-03-04T08:00:00.000+08:00

Every day I pass by this breeze way. It really fits the name because it is always windy and breezy. I can definitely say that this is one of my favorite spots at work. Whenever I pass by, I feel like being at the beach rather than at work. There is one student who shares this feeling with me (I guess) because I often see him sits there with his laptop on. What could be better than surfing in a breezy afternoon?

Proposals

2011-03-03T11:00:00.000+08:00

When the semester started, it felt like it was going to last forever. I was wondering if it ever was going to end! Suddenly, we are already in the 11th week, which means that the students have only one and a half weeks to write their proposals before they have to hand them in on the 11th of this month. Panic! Not me, but the students! Just take a look at the pictures above. They are very serious discussing the issues. I am really not looking forward to reading all the papers. But the good news is, we are going to have the longest semester break ever, nearly 5 months!

Eat, Pray, Love

2011-03-02T11:10:00.002+08:00

Is it normal to have an image of a character in our head when we read a novel? I hope it is because I always have faces for all the characters in any book that I read. The same happened when I read Eat, Love, Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert which I just finished a few weeks ago. I have been wondering how close the images were to the real characters (if they were real). In Eat, Pray, Love, there is a character named Ketut Liyer. Gilbert made it sound like this old man is so wonderful, warm, adorable, and even cute like a teddy bear. So naturally a certain image came to my mind to fit all the descriptions. But when I saw an article about the real Ketut Liyer in NST last Monday, I was disappointed because the image I had is no where near the original one (in the picture above).

Writers Block

2011-03-02T09:49:00.006+08:00

Salam, hello, hi, aloha, etc.
Writer's block? What is that? It's a big word for an excuse:) Well I hate it when I feel like writing so much but I just could not put anything on paper, or in this case, in my blog. I just realized that I only wrote once in the month of February! Suddenly on Monday, I saw an article in the classified section of the NST newspaper about overcoming writer's block. I said, whoa, the writer must be talking about me. According to the writer, writer's block is caused by a variety of reasons such as "social, academic, and personal factors which increase our stress level and interrupt the free flow of ideas". Yeah, tell me about it. But the good news is, it can be overcome by following a few steps: brainstorm and organize, uninhibited writing, and grouping. If you want to know the details, you just have to read the article.

Social? I can think of one social reason for me. I am very busy coordinating a talk which will be conducted by a young convert at my neighborhood mosque, at my kids' school, and at my work place. The idea of inviting this young speaker came at around the time that I stopped writing! Wow, I don't even realize that the coordinating job is very stressful. No wonder I cannot write.

Academic? Definitely. At the moment I am swarmed with mid-terms to be graded. Well, it's not like reading the Twilight Saga, ok? Some of the stuff the students wrote can give someone a heart attack. I am teaching 5 sections of writing classes! Yes, isn't that ironic! I guess it's a lot easier telling students to write than doing it my self. So I must be gentle on them;)

Personal factors? Wow, this is the main bulk of the problem. I know just the biggest personal interference of my writer's block problem! It's definitely something to do with my moving into a new house. Boy, moving is no joke. My family and I have officially moved into our new house last December but the process of cleaning, repacking, etc has not finished yet. In fact there are still boxes and plastic bags in the old place that need to be scrutinized before we transport them to the new place. We are given until the end of the month to do that. By hook or by crook, everything must be hauled by the 31st of March. No wonder I am so stressed out. The pictures below are the proofs of the mess that we still have at the old place.

Flood

2011-02-02T10:33:00.003+08:00

The weather doesn't look too promising today. I hope the rain will stop poring just for a few days. Well, I am not complaining because it would be terrible if we do not get any rain at all. I am sure rubber tappers were so excited last month because the price of rubber has shot up really high. I wonder if this is God's way of telling those who stole rubber to STOP stealing! How? By pouring lots of rain so much so that the rubber tappers cannot tap their rubber trees and consequently no latex to be stolen! But unfortunately, it is bad for the tappers also. I hope they are patient with the "test".

Well, that's not my real worry. I guess I am selfish because I am more worried about my son and his friend. Danial is scheduled to come back from Johor sometime today and I really hope that the bus he takes will not be in any danger. I hope the driver will have some sense to stop and not play a "macho man" by plowing through the flood. All I can do now is to say my prayers for his safe return. Insya Allah.

Blessing in Disguise

2011-02-01T08:08:00.003+08:00

I never thought I would see the day that Harris can actually sit for hours to read! I am so grateful and excited that it finally happened. Danial and Yasmin are definitely crazy about reading and Hannah is beginning to follow their footsteps too. Sometimes Hannah reads while walking and I hope she will not fall doing that. Anyway, back to Harris. He is so addicted to the computer games and it really worries me. A week ago he did something that was really upsetting to me and I banned him from the games for one whole week. I guess out of boredom he started playing outdoors with my neighbor's son everyday after school. Then at night he picked up a book by Anthony Horowitz's the Power of Five series and he fell in love with it. He finished the Evil Star in 4 days! For Harris to be able to read a 240-page book that fast is really a record time! If Danial or Yasmin did that it would not be unusual. It is so true that computer games are really stealing our kids' valuable time. I do not want to be left behind so as to go against the technology but I guess everything has its draw back. Though his one-week ban has been lifted yesterday, I am pleased to see that he still read the 3rd book of that series last night. He told me that Horowitz is definitely his favorite author for now. I even took a picture of him reading (below) as a proof :)

Excited and Motivated

2011-01-26T17:18:00.003+08:00

As usual after my afternoon class (which ends around 4.45 or 4.50) I would hang around the class room. This is the best time for me to keep updated on what my friends are saying in their FB and also to check and clean my emails. In addition to that I would read one of my favorite blogs, which belongs to Prof Kamil. How exciting! Today I had an opportunity to read an entry that was written by his niece. It was so interesting that I felt motivated and excited to update my own blog. Thanks Aniz for giving me the motivation I really need. I like her style of writing which is very natural and relax. She made it looks so effortless!

Happy birthday

2011-01-13T13:47:00.003+08:00

Today is Hannah's birthday. As usual we bake a chocolate cake as that is the kind that all my children love to eat. It has been a family tradition to bake a chocolate cake the day (or night) prior to the day of celebration. It is safe to say that Steve and I have become experts in baking it so if one cannot do it, the other will automatically takes over the responsibility. Since I was busy cooking porridge and chicken soup (along with hot and spicy soy sauce, yum, yum) he baked the cake. It is exciting because Hannah's birthday is going to be the first to be celebrated in our new home. I wonder if Steve has bought a present for her yet. I feel bad because I said something unpleasant to Hannah this morning because she has a habit of not using a prayer rug when she prays. I hope that incident does not spoil her day. I feel even worse after I read Prof Kamil's and Zaid's blog entries about raising children this morning. I know all the theory about raising children but when it comes to practice ... I guess that is part and parcel of being a parent. Happy birthday Hannah :)

School Time

2011-01-07T10:01:00.004+08:00

It was that time of the year again. Luckily my class started at 8.30 am so I had ample time to send the kids to school after such a long holidays. This year it's very special because Najla is entering the first year of primary school. She was so excited and her excitement is still shown until this morning. I really hope that it will last until she finishes her PhD. When I sent her to the classroom, there were two girls who were already seated at the cluster of 4 tables that I chose for her. They are Auni and Alia. Soon after another one named Ainun joined in. We had a nice ice-breaking session with the girls. Najla seems to get along with them well.

Happy New Year

2011-01-07T09:48:00.003+08:00

Subhanallah, wow! It has been more than 2 months since I last wrote an entry. Time flies so fast and before you know it's already a week in the new year. Alhamdulillah, thank God, now we have finally moved into our new home, on 18 Dec. 2010 to be exact. We managed to move all the big stuff but we still have tons of the small stuff to be sorted out. Since both Steve and I are so busy with our new semester, there is just no way that we can find time to clear the old house right away. So we asked the old landlord to allow us to rent the house for another month or so. I am so looking forward to the Chinese New Year 4-day weekend break in early February to select only the needed stuff to be transfered to our new home. Most of the stuff are books, papers, and old clothes. Both Steve and I have the tendency to keep everything, "in case" if we ever need them in the future :) I miss my old neighbors. Fortunately all my new neighbors are just as wonderful. We had an opportunity to get to know each other last weekend when we had a small gathering. I am very sorry for not being able to invite all my friends and old neighbors but maybe we will do something someday...

Taking a Break

2010-10-28T10:54:00.002+08:00

Salam and hi. What? I haven't written any entries since August 2nd? Unbelievable! I should be marking term papers for my students but I need to get away from it just for a few minutes. There's so much to tell and let's see what to mention first. I went to KL yesterday to attend a departmental meeting. I promised myself not to spend so much but the moment I entered Kinokunia, I went berserk! Luckily I managed to control myself and just bought 2 books. One is for my class reference and the other is Love, Eat, Pray! It's a wonderful novel which has been made into a motion picture recently. I wonder if I could still catch it on the big screen or I just have to get a CD.
Anyway, I stopped by Auntie Annie's place and bought 12 huge pretzels. My kids just love them! I think if I really sit down and follow the recipe, I could actually make them or even sell them! Maybe I will try that after we move into our new home. Speaking of that, our new house is almost a 100 percent ready. We are just waiting for the electricity to be installed. After that we have to wash the floor and have a small feast or housewarming gathering. I can't wait.
Early this month my niece got married and the wedding was held in the kampung. It was a wonderful ceremony where I had a chance to meet many of my relatives and friends. I guess we have to wait for a long time to have another big gathering like that because my nephew (the Malaysian side that is) said he needs between 8 and 10 years to establish his career. My kids are also still too young.
Najla had another tooth pulled last night while I was in KL. Steve said she refused to have her 2 teeth filled. I asked her why this morning and she said, "I want to do it with Mak". Isn't that sweet? Speaking of Najla, she is no longer enrolled in a kinder garden because she said she knows everything that is being taught there already. In the beginning we sent her to the nursery just to play with the younger kids but at the beginning of this month she requested to go to Mak Bedah's hous. Kak Bedah is our good friend cum baby sitter for the rest of the kids before. I guess she's happy there helping Mak Bedah and watching TV whenever she pleases.

On Tuesday Steve brought home a lot of novels which we have ordered from the Scholastic Book Club. I think more than half of them are Yasmin's. She's really "wild" reading them now. Harris, Hannah and Najla also got a few books each. I wonder where we are going to put all the young adult novels we have. Since Danial is staying in the hostel, he didn't get to order any. I hope he'll find something he likes from Yasmin's selection.

Fruit Season Again

2010-08-02T15:22:00.003+08:00

Salam, hello, hi,

Here I am sitting in my quiet office enjoying a bunch of "rambutan" and some "dokong" fruits. We took a lot from my mom's village yesterday. Normally my family and I would go back to see my mom once a month but since the fruit season started we have been going for almost every week! I feel kind of bad because it seems that eating her fruits is more important than seeing her. But then again, she would insist that we do just that. I think this past weekend would be the last time we go back until sometime before "Eid" which will be around the 11th of September. Anyway, the "durians" are almost gone but "rambutans" are a lot more on the trees. I think the "dokong" will be gone soon too. I forgot to check whether the "mata kucing" were still intact. I am not surprise if the bats have clobbered them all. Wild boars have been having some feasts over durians as well.

Lately, I have been neglecting my blogs as well as my emails and FB. I have a lot to do for my classes. I prefer teaching EOP to EAP because I can actually relate my past experiences as an administrator to my EOP class. But it's a good learning experience for me.

My kids are growing fast and soon Harris will be as tall or taller than me. He hasn't been back home every time we went because he was busy with school activities. He will be sitting for his UPSR soon. I hope he'll do just as well as Danial and Yasmin. I wonder if the Government is really going to abolish UPSR some day. Well, it doesn't make that much difference to me because none of my kids will go to boarding schools at the age of 13! They are still too young to be separated from us. Once they leave the house they will be gone! I want to keep them for as long as I can. Also, with or without UPSR, Malaysians will still be crazy about exams, grades, and tuition classes!

Danial has entered 2 debate tournaments and a spelling bee contest since the last time I wrote an entry to this blog. Yasmin has entered a corral speaking and public speaking contest in Terengganu. I am quite envious of my children because they are so active in school. Hannah has not participated in major events yet but maybe she's a late bloomer. She loves to draw and she is still going to the piano lesson regularly. I am curious how Najla will turn up once she goes to elementary school. Speaking of school, she is no longer in kinder garden but she re-joined her nursery where she doesn't have to learn anything in a formal way. She said she was bored with the kinder garden because she knew most of the activities they asked the kids to do. We are not too worried because she can read and write in both English and Malay. Lately, she said she will go back to the kinder garden after "Eid" so that she will be qualified to walk on the stage to get her kinder garden certificate at the end of the year.

We are all excited about our new house. We just saw it this morning. I think it's 80 percent ready. I was told that it could be finished by October. We really hope to be able to move in by November or December. That will be the perfect time because the kids will have their school holidays. Hopefully they will help packing and unpacking the stuff. Argh ... I hate thinking about moving, again! The aches and pains from our recent moving are still very much alive in our muscles and veins. But we hope, this time around it will be different because we are finally moving into our own home!

Reading

2010-06-17T11:32:00.001+08:00

Recently I have not been so good at keeping up with my reading. But I am glad I have gained back the momentum. Thanks to Danial for bringing a series of 4 books called the echoes series. I think I started the 1st one last Sunday and now I am just beginning to read the third book. I really hope to finish all four of them before Danial goes back to his school this weekend.

These books are written by Jamilah Kolocotronis, an American Muslim author. Frankly speaking I have never heard of her or read any of her work. I am glad I get to know this writer because I like her books, so far. It's a refreshing change to read English novels based on Islamic perspectives. It's good to read something positive about my faith because I am tired of reading, watching, or listening to all the bad reputation of a religion which is very dear to me. I think we have to be practicing Muslims to feel and understand what I am talking about. There are so many hate sites on the internet. Sometimes they depress me but I am glad my faith helps me to sort my feelings. I definitely can relate to the books by Jamilah Kolocotronis .

School Holiday Activities

2010-06-17T10:26:00.004+08:00

I pray that Yasmin will win in the public speaking competition in Terengganu today. She also participates in the choral speaking contest. She left very early this morning, probably around 5am with a group of students. They stayed overnight at their school to make sure that they left on time. I hope Yasmin won't have any trouble without her name tag and her IC. She did send an SMS to Steve late last night but neither of us heard it because we were so tired and were sleeping like logs. While Yasmin was at her school practicing last night, the rest of us went to the theater watching The Karate Kid. The movie ended slightly after midnight and by the time we reached home it was 12.30am. When Steve finally saw the message and called her this morning, she was already on her way.

Last Saturday she participated in the spelling contest at M.S. Garden hotel which was organized by MELTA. There were 18 groups from schools around Kuantan. Hers was one of the four groups which was qualified for the final round and they got the fourth place. They were given the opportunity to choose either scientific or technological terms. In the first round all 4 groups chose technology but during the second one, Yasmin's group changed to scientific terms. I believe they could have won if they chose scientific terms from the beginning. Well, winning is good but it's not everything because the most important thing is their participation.

Before we dropped Yasmin off at her school last night, we stopped by our friend Zul's house to pick Danial from his camp. He joined a 3-day youth camp which I believe was also held somewhere in Terengganu. Steve sent him to Zul's house at 6am on Monday (14 June). I am not sure who drove Danial and his friends but they had to meet at that house. That was the second of a 6-part motivation-cum-character building camp. I certainly hope that that all my kids will be highly motivated adults with superb personality. Who wouldn't?

Hello Again

2010-06-08T13:12:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone, I am back! There is so much to share but so difficult to compose. All of a sudden my passion for writing disappeared. In fact I lost interest in keeping up with the Facebook also. But for the past 2 or 3 days I have been checking my emails and messages from friends. I guess my mind is totally preoccupied with monitoring the development of our new home.

Let me see, I guess I will start with my eldest son came home for the school term holiday. So far we just sent him to Johor once, when he first registered there. From then on he came home on his own by the express bus. So far he's doing quite well in his school, keeping busy with many activities. Right now he is at his friend's house having a mini-reunion with his former classmates. It's hard to believe how tall he is now. By the end of the year, I think he'll be just as tall or taller than his father.

I have to admit that today is the first time I opened this blog after I wrote the last entry. As soon as I opened it, I realized that Yasmin's blog is not accessible anymore. I have to ask her later what she did to it. I know she likes to write but I guess she just doesn't want to share with others. Her trip to Pulau Redang today has been canceled because all her friends who are supposed to go have other commitments to fulfill.

Harris is going to take his UPSR exam this year. I just found out that he's the type who likes to study in a group, kind of like his mother :) He's doing ok with most of the subjects except for the Malay language (the writing part). I do not really believe in sending my children to tuition classes but when he asked to go for Malay subject Steve and I had to agree. So we enrolled him in the tuition center beginning the first week of May. Unfortunately he only managed to attend once due to his involvement in many other school related activities. Last weekend he missed it too because he attended a holiday camp at his school which he really enjoyed.

I do not expect all children to be the same but Hannah is quite different from the others. She seems to be so scared and sad majority of the time. I wonder if I was like that at some point in my life. It has been so long ago that I was at that age, I obviously forgot how I was like then. One thing for sure, she loves to draw pictures. Sometimes I gave her a hard time for "wasting" too much paper but then again she might be the next Monet or Van Gogh. She always remember to give me cards which she drew on her own for my birthdays and mothers' day.

Najla insisted on following me to work and I guess she must be bored because she's asleep near my table. She was bugging me to go to the cafe but I refused. We both ate rice before we left the house this morning. So what's the problem Najla? She has been complaining to me that one of her friends had given her a hard time at the kinder garden. She said the girl told the others not to play with her. That's mean! I am not sure how much is the truth but for a kid that age, that sort of incident means a whole lot. If it happens to me, I just slap the woman's head! Just kidding ;)

Ladies Coach

2010-04-30T10:54:00.003+08:00

Kudos to KTMB for providing special coach for ladies in the train from Sentul to Port Klang. I am sure there are some who will not agree to it by saying we are moving back in time etc. As expected we can not please every body all the time but we can definitely please somebody some of the time. I just hope that the service will be provided not only on commuter trains but also on buses.

I am sure some of the female riders who have experienced sexual harassment are very happy. Believe it or not I have an embarrassing experience back in the 90's when I was riding a bus from Bandar Baru Sentul to Bukit Bintang area. I was standing right next to an Indian man who was in his 40s or 50s. He was rubbing his *@# against my arm! Since the bus was so packed with men and women all the way to the steps, I couldn't move to another spot. I do not have to elaborate what happened after that but suffice to say that I had to wash my arm the first chance I got when I arrived home.

It would be great also if we have separate public swimming pools because not everyone has a body which she is proud to flaunt around. If we have for ladies only pool, I for one would change allegiance from walking to swimming in a flash!

I think it's high time that we give choices to women who want to be separated from such animals.
I think those who complained are those who have never had any bad experience like I did or they simply enjoy being molested. Those are the only reasons which I can think of their objection.

Irsyad's Sports Day

2010-04-29T13:10:00.002+08:00

Never in the history of Irsyad School having its annual sports day at the Kuantan football stadium. When I was told that this year's event was going to be held on Saturday (April 3rd) at the stadium I was ecstatic. It was a grand event for my kids Harris and Hannah who are still in the elementary school there. I don't know about other parents but to me and my husband, our kids' activities are very important and significant. No matter how busy we think we are they must be celebrated and enjoyed so that the kids feel that they are being appreciated.

Coincidentally on the same day our new Big Boss was scheduled to come and visit our campus in conjunction with the entrepreneurship day function. I went to see my boss to get an excuse not to attend because I wanted to go to my kids' sports day. As expected, the answer was no, and I was very disappointed. Since I am leaving this College real soon, I could have just ignored my boss' request. However, being a good employee as I am (though not many appreciate that!) I still attended the function but my heart was at the stadium. Everbody in my family was there except for Danial. I kept on looking at my watch and finally when the function was stopped for a break, I took off and joined my family. I missed all the games etc but I managed to watch the end of the award giving ceremony. Thank God Yasmin took some pictures.

Anyway, when it was over I went back to my College and continue attending the afternoon session which finally ended at 5 pm. It was a win-win situation because both family and career are important (though not equally important). That reminds me of the speech by Bryan Dyson, the former Coca-cola CEO who said that life is like a game in which we are juggling five balls in the air namely work, family, health, friends, and spirit. He said work is like a rubber ball because when you drop it, it will bounce back. However, the other four balls are made of glass. If we drop one or all of them they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same. Therefore, I do not feel too bad for leaving the function momentarily becausel it was a Saturday and we were not given any unrecorded leave or anything like that. Even if we were I was already decided to forfeit my share. Such an angel I am :)

Just look at their faces, how could I not want to celebrate together?

SMSNS Reunion

2010-04-26T17:04:00.005+08:00

Last Saturday night was a really special night because it was a reunion for my classmates when I was at Sekolah Menengah Sains Negeri Sembilan. I was so excited to go ever since I was informed of the gathering. My plan was to leave early in the morning so I could spend a lot of time visiting with my friends. Unfortunately, my kids' school had an award giving ceremony on the same day from 8.30am to 1.00pm at Vistana Hotel. Well, it was not a 100% unfortunate because Danial received 6 or 7 awards and Yasmin received 3 or 4 awards. Anyway, after the ceremony ended, we rushed home to perform our Zuhur prayer and left Kuantan around 3.00pm.

As usual, when we traveled with the kids, we had to make a few stops for different reasons. By the time we arrived in Seremban it was already dark. Since we were so unfamiliar with the housing area where the reunion was held, we had to stop and ask for directions 3 times! Finally we made it around 8.00pm. A few of my friends and the teachers had already left. Many more were still there. I think that was the most high school friends I had seen in one gathering. I was surprised at the amount of food being served. Kudos to my friends Siti and Ajim who have done a great job planning and preparing for it. It was really exciting and I hope we will continue doing it from time to time, at least twice a year.

I am quite disappointed because my camera quit functioning just a few days before the gathering. I couldn't take any pictures but I am hoping that my friends will email me some soon.

Busy Weekend

2010-04-16T17:00:00.000+08:00

I thought weekend is supposed to be the time when we can rest and catch up with unfinished business. However, things don't work that way when you have 5 growing children. Poor Steve looked more tired in 2 days than he did in the entire week last week! We did a lot of unpacking, rearranging, and throwing things.

On Saturday morning I went alone to piano lesson because Hannah participated in coloring contest at KPTM. Besides, she left her piano books at Da Vinci Art Center last week, so she couldn't finish her theory assignment. Najla was supposed to have art class that morning but she refused to go. She insisted in participating in the coloring contest also. Luckily the art teacher allowed her to do the make-up class at 3 in the afternoon. Both of them won and received a hamper each.On Sunday I took Najla to the telematch at KPTM. She participated in 2 games: filling an empty bottle with water and carrying a ping-pong ball in a spoon. Her groups won and they received 2 hampers. Harris came with us but Hannah and Yasmin went to their art class with Steve. The telematch was over around 11.30 but I had to wait until 1pm to get my present for winning the ping-pong match which was held a few weeks back. I got a medal and a small hamper also. By the time we got back I was tired and sleepy. I always feel that way when I stay out in the sun. That's why I prefer exercising early in the morning.In late afternoon all of us except Yasmin and Danial stopped by the contractors' houses to give our house plan. We are looking for a few quotations before we can decide which contractor to hire. Unfortunately both contractors weren't at home. Missions not accomplished. That means we have to see them this week.

Evil Guardians

2010-04-16T12:35:00.003+08:00

What a wonderful site to see. I wish all babies are loved and cared for like the one above. It is very sad and shocking when we read about babies and kids who are being abused or killed by so called parents or guardians. Yesterday I read the sad news about a 3-year old girl who died from abuse by her step father. So now the cycle is complete: the 1st 3-year old who died from child abuse a few months ago was a Malay girl, the 2nd child was an Indian girl, and the one yesterday I believe was a Chinese girl. When will it end?

Done Moving

2010-04-12T13:05:00.000+08:00

Finally we are done with moving. Now comes the hardest part, to unpack and rearrange things. It has been 12 days but our living room still looks like it has just been hit by a "twister". We planned to label all the boxes and pack items according to their importance etc, etc. Unfortunately things don't work out that way in this life for us. Only the first few boxes were labeled. Then we took a break from packing, and suddenly, boomed! It was time to get everything out! So we gathered all the junk into huge plastic bags and started piling them into our car. Now we are paying for it. We can not find things when we need them. We said " the next time we move, we have to be more organized". Yeah, yeah, sounds familiar?

We are still adjusting our routines at this new place. Harris said he has trouble getting up in the morning. At the old place he was the first kid to get up. I guess the main reason is that the internet is not working yet at this new place. Usually he would play some internet games after he did some math problems in the morning. That brings me to the topic of our super frustration with TM (Telekom Malaysia). We followed the proper procedure in that we filled out the form and submitted to them a week before we moved, along with the RM50 fee! They were supposed to reconnect the line on the 1st of April at the new house. We waited for 3 days and nothing happened. So Steve decided to call them and was told it was "under investigation", or in lay man's term "nothing was done yet"! A week passed by and still nothing happened. Steve went to the office and talked to someone at the customer service counter. The response was "there was no line". What? We just moved around the corner for heaven's sake! Surely there is a line. If nothing else they could just use our old line! Then the person asked Steve whether the housing area is new. Gee, that was really pushing it too far. Today, it's the 12th of April and the telephone line is still not in. We are really upset!

Back to School

2010-03-23T17:05:00.000+08:00

Danial has gone back to his school in Johore. Yasmin, Harris, and Hannah are in school and Najla is in kinder garden. We sent Danial to the bus station last Sunday after having him home for the whole week during school holidays. I took off from work that whole week also to do some packing. We managed to pack many boxes of books and some have been sent to the other house. We are still moving little stuff which can be transported in our car at nights. The big ones will be moved this Saturday. I have sorted out lots of toys and children clothes and I managed to get rid tonnes of them. Some were given to the nearby nurseries, and others were sent to an orphanage. My house is in such a shamble and I hope no one will stop by unannounced.

Yasmin spent the first half of the school holidays with her friend and our friend Husni in KL. She had a great time iceskating, an activity which I have never ventured in my life. Although busy, we managed to sqeeze in 2 movies, Alice in Wonderland(AiW) and Percy Jackson & the lightning thief (PJLT) on Saturday 13 March and Wednesday 17 March. Yasmin watched AiW with us but she missed the second movie because she was already in KL by then.

Poor Harris reluctantly attended a 2 day UPSR clinic which was organized by NST and held at Shah Putra on Saturday March 20 and Sunday March 21. He said it was boring and he was a little upset when he got home that Saturday. But then again everything is boring to him except for playing with computer games! I asked him to attend the session on Sunday but we would get him at lunch time. Surprisingly he agreed. I guess children are different. Danial and Yasmin didn't have any problem at all attending seminars or motivational camps like that. We just have to wait and see how Hannah and Najla will react when their times come.

That Saturday morning, while Yasmin, Hannah, and Najla attended their art class, and Harris was at the clinic, Danial and I went shopping for a ricecooker and a vacuum cleaner. My old ricecooker always gave me trouble lately so I decided to get a new one so I could make "nasi minyak" on Sunday, on Danial's special request. When I mentioned our shopping trip to Yasmin she said, "So you had a mother and son bonding time huh?".

We are so involved with this moving bit that we have been neglecting our agenda to build our new home. I have made copies of the newly approved plan but haven't found time to contact the potential contractors. I think I will settle one thing at a time. Come April, I will have more time to deal with it.

Mini Reunion @ TC

2010-03-23T13:30:00.005+08:00

Thursday 12 March was our friend As' birthday so she asked me if we could get together with a few friends somewhere in town. We named a few possible places but in the end we both agreed on going to Telok Chempedak beach on Friday after work. She contacted Musab and Yani while I contacted Niki, Madhi, Amba, Lynnette, Tipah, Azie, Gie, Syamala, Ahmad, Joyce, Intan, and Gamini. They were all sounded excited to join but in the end only 5 of us actually showed up. Syamala had to give tuition, Joyce was too busy, Amba was tired, Intan was planning on going back to her "kampung" and Gie is no longer in Kuantan! Ahmad and Tipah said they were coming but only God knows what happened. I guess Niki was caught in the jam on the road as well as at home with her kids. Somehow, Azie, Lynette, and Gamini never replied until today. I wonder what went wrong. Oh well, maybe next time. We had a grand time anyway except that As had to leave early because her son had a terrible pain in his ear. Here are some shots at the beach.

Artist

2010-03-23T13:03:00.001+08:00

As soon as Yasmin comes back from school she would lock herself in her room and does one of the three of her favorite things : reading novels, writing in her diary, or drawing cartoon characters. Sometimes I get a little upset especially when I am tired and would like for her to help out in the kitchen or do something around the house. But, when I see some of her drawings, like the one shown here, I feel that my frustration dissipates completely. She is definitely more talented than I am. Lately we had a discussion on what she would like to do in life. She said she loves mathematics and science but she would like to further her studies in art so that she can draw, paint, and write when she graduates.

3 Categories

2010-03-03T10:05:00.004+08:00

Last week I heard a talk on IKIM radio station. The speaker said that there are 3 categories of people that we must see or visit as often as we can:

those who are sick/ill so that we value our health
those who are in prisons so that we appreciate our freedom, and
those who are dead in order for us to be grateful that we are still alive.

2010

2010-02-24T17:04:00.001+08:00

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

2010-02-22T09:57:00.002+08:00

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

2010-02-18T17:06:00.001+08:00

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

2010-02-18T17:05:00.001+08:00

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

2010-02-04T13:05:00.001+08:00

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.

Cooking Class 5 Nov 09

2010-01-25T12:11:00.001+08:00

I am having a tough time putting things in writing since my vacation last month. However, my mood to read is unbelievable! I have been reading all kind of stuff lately, both fiction and non-fiction. This entry is meant to be published before I went to the US but it was kept in the draft folder.

I went for another cooking lesson which I believe was on Saturday December 5, 2009. We made "apam balik", egg tarts, butter rolls, and watermelon smoothie. I hope Lin will teach us more yummy goodies soon. Those who are interested in joining the class can contact Izad at 0139388797.

Hello Again

2010-01-11T17:02:00.004+08:00

Outside of the Mosque after Friday Prayers Y and H on Mom's deck
Kids Sledding
Kids with Snowman
D & Y Enjoying SnowSalam and hi to everyone. Wow! It has been a month since I wrote my last entry. My family and I just got back from visiting relatives in the US and boy it was freezing cold! It is sad to leave them because we don't get to see them often enough but I am very happy to feel the warmth again. My skin is definitely thanking me for the moisture from our humid weather. The exact time spent for the complete journey from our door to my husband's mom's door is 48 hours! No wonder our bodies are screaming with pain and not to mention the sleepiness. But all in all it was well worth the effort.

Good People

2009-12-09T17:05:00.002+08:00

A few weeks back I was in KL to take care of personal business. I didn't know where to stay and didn't know how to get to that place. I contacted Husni, a very good friend of our family and he managed to contact a lady to help me. As soon as Husni dropped me at a bus stop, that lady gave me a ride to her friend's apartment. Since the place was sparsely populated she sent another person by the name of Herna to accompany me that night. I was thinking how lucky I was to be able to meet with such wonderful ladies who were willing to bend over backward to help a total stranger from Kuantan. I am glad good people still exist.

Muffin Tarts?

2009-11-23T17:37:00.000+08:00

Making the pastry

Making the "pau"Pita bread halves

Tart shells

Stuffed Pita Bread

Steamed "pau"

Muffin tarts

Garlic bread

Almond Oat Bread loaves

Participants were enjoying garlic bread slices

Products we took home. Yummy...

Last week I received an sms from Izad informing me about the cooking lesson for last weekend. I have joined the lessons at his "cooking academy" twice : how to bake/decorate cup cakes and how to cook spaghetti bolognaise. As usual the fee was just RM35 for 4 recipes (except for cup cake decoration, the fee was RM75). This time around the recipes were "pau pandan", muffin tart, pita bread, and almond oat bread. I have heard of tarts, and I have also heard of muffins, but muffin tart? I was curious so I contacted Izad and told him I wanted to participate. Each participant was able to take home 3 "paus", 3 muffin tarts, 4 or 5 small slices of almond oat bread, and 2 halves of pita bread stuffed with a wonderful filling made of chicken nuggets, tomatoes, latus, chilli sauce, and mayonaise. For those who are interested in joining the future lessons please contact Izad at 013 938 8797. Above are pictures of the participants and our cooking products from yesterday.

Keinsafan

2009-11-23T17:07:00.001+08:00

Saya baru sahaja habis membaca buku berjudul Travelog Dakwah yang ditulis oleh Prof. Mohd Kamil Ibrahim, Pengarah UiTM Johor di Segamat. Saya beli buku tersebut semasa berbengkel ISO di Kuala Lumpur pada minggu lepas. Itu pun secara kebetulan. Sepatutnya kami telah beredar ke Kuantan sebaik sahaja bengkel tersebut selesai pada jam 1 tgh di Hotel Seri Cempaka Cheras. Disebabkan kami terpaksa menunggu seorang rakan sekerja yang menghadiri mesyuarat hingga pukul 5 petang, kawan-kawan pun menyarankan kami jalan-jalan cari makan di Tesco. Dalam kesempatan tersebut saya menjengah di kedai buku Popular dan "terjumpa" serta "terbeli" 2 buah buku :) Salah satunya adalah buku Travelog Dakwah.

Isi kandungan buku tersebut memang sungguh terkesan di hati kerana saya pun lebih kurang sama dengan penulis dari segi kejahilan ilmu akhirat. Ilmu duniawi, no problem. Maklumlah, belajar sampai ke menara gading, di negara omputih pulak tu. Sekiranya buku tersebut ditulis oleh seorang ustaz untuk mengajak ke arah kebaikan, saya kira ajakan tersebut tidak begitu memberi kesan yang mendalam bagi diri saya kerana kita sedia maklum seorang ustaz memang baik dan tugasnya mengajak kepada kebaikan. Tetapi apabila seseorang yang jahil, dan menemui "jalan pulang", ajakannya lebih mengujakan saya.

Bila saya amat-amati segala yang diamalkan oleh beliau setelah diberi peluang untuk menjadi seorang "born again Muslim" memang tidak terikut oleh saya yang daif ini. Terjaga malam memang kerap, boleh dikatakan saban malam, tetapi hanya sekadar untuk melawat bilik air. Setelah selesai hajat, maka tidur semula adalah lebih menyeronokkan dari beribadah. Tetapi, seperti Muslim yang lain saya juga bercita-cita tinggi menggunung untuk masuk syurga tingkat teratas! Memang tidak logik. Walau bagaimanapun, Allah maha berkuasa.

2012

2009-11-23T17:05:00.000+08:00

Danial said there was nothing to do at school after the PMR exam was over so he wanted to do something different with his buddies. They planned to watch the new movie "2012" on the first day it was released in Kuantan (I forgot what date it was!). The show started at 12 noon and ended around 3pm. I wish the movie started at 11am so it would end an hour earlier. At first I was quite reluctant to let him go because it hurt my eyes whenever I see a bunch of teenagers walking aimlessly at the mall. On a second thought, I should let him go out with his friends once in a while. So far he has been a responsible teenage son. Knowing how rebellious a teenager can be, I better not be too strict with him. In the evening, when I asked him how the movie was he said "ok, but a lot of bad words".

This morning Danial just left for Hulu Langat to participate in a school holiday camp which was organized by JIM for 3 days. The trip was almost cancelled because the organizer couldn't find any adult to accompany the participants. I am glad they found a UMP student who is on a semester break to be the chaperon. Our whole family got up at 4.30am so we could send Danial to the chaperon's house by 5.00am. We thought we were late but when we arrived, 2 more participants had not arrived yet. I hope they have a safe trip there and back (this Wednesday).

Trip to Petrosains

2009-11-23T17:03:00.001+08:00

Yasmin and Harris went on a trip to "Petrosains" in KL on Saturday 7 November. That was the weekend after they finished their final exams. I wonder why Danial didn't go. Anyway, they left the school around 6:15am so our whole family had to get at 5am to get ready and send them to school. I realized that most of our time is used to ferry our kids around or to care for all their needs. It makes me understand more of what my parents have gone through. Understanding comes with appreciation...

Harris and friends

Lining up to get on the bus

Parents sending off their loved ones

Yaumul Ihtifal

2009-11-23T10:28:00.011+08:00

Our family was really busy last weekend because we had 2 "yaumul ihtifal" ceremonies (award giving ceremony) - one was for Najla's kindergarden and the other was for Harris' and Hannah's school. Najla's was on Saturday morning (21 Nov 09) and Harris' and Hannah's was on Sunday morning. It was raining hard on both days and we were soaking wet when we arrived at both places. Najla participated in 2 performances. She was dressed like a tree in the first one, and singing a "nasyid" song with a group in the second performance.Since she is not 6 years old yet, she will continue studying at the same kindergarden next year. I know she is very disappointed because she really wants to go to her brothers' and sisters' school as a first grader (standard one). We had trouble persuading her not to enrol because the school gives priority to those who are 7 years old.

On Sunday, Hannah received an award for one of the most promising students (whatever that means) and Harris got an award for getting the 3rd place in his class. Harris performed in a sketch and sang a "nasyid" song with his friends. Alhamdulillah, he will be promoted to the "best" class next year. I hope he will do well and get all A's in his UPSR. Hannah on the other hand, will go to "second" class. Well, it doesn't make that much difference because Hannah did well in most of her subjects by getting high A's. But, so many other students did better than her. Since the ceremony was for the elementary school children, Yasmin and Danial decided not to go. They both stayed home and did what they do best - playing with the computer!

Brave

2009-11-12T15:05:00.001+08:00

Najla is definitely the bravest of all my kids when it comes to seeing dentists. End of last month, when Steve was attending a conference in Manila, I took Najla to Dr Nazri's clinic. She had been complaining that her bottom front tooth was aching. It was close to Maghrib but the doctor who was supposed to replace Dr Nazri was nowhere to be seen. I asked Najla to go home and come back on a later date. She refused so we waited for another 20 minutes when the doctor finally showed up. As soon as her name was called, she walked into the room and sat on the chair calmly. She didn't make any fuss at all when the doctor injected her gum and then pulled her tooth! Later the doctor suggested that she pull the one next to it also because it was beginning to loosen and Najla said ok. Wow! What a brave girl! I still remember when Danial was about that age, he screamed, wiggled, kicked, and made all kind of other fuss that taking him out of the doctor's office was the best option. Maybe Najla would like to be a dentist someday...

Rezeki

2009-10-19T17:13:00.000+08:00

Wow! Besarnya kuih bahulu. Mesti sedap! Tak sabar nak kongsi dengan anak-anak balik nanti.

Kalau dah rezeki pasti tak kemana. Itulah ungkapan yang terfikir dikepala sewaktu kawan saya datang ke pejabat tengahari tadi membawa buah tangan dari majlis perkahwinan adiknya pada hari Sabtu lepas. Saya sekeluarga telah dijemput untuk sama-sama hadir ke majlis perkahwinan yang berlangsung di Temerloh tu. Memang pada asalnya kami teruja sangat nak pergi sebab ini dah kali kedua dijemput untuk ke Temerloh. Kali pertama semasa perkahwinan beliau sendiri tapi masa tu kami sekeluarga di USA kalau tak silap, tak ada rezeki untuk hadir. Jadi bila dapat undangan yang kedua ni memang bersemangat nak pergi. Malangnya manusia hanya boleh merancang tapi Allah jua yang menentukan.

Kebetulan minggu lepas (10 Oktober) jiran paling hampir saya melangsungkan perkahwinan anak bongsu beliau dan emak saya pun kenal dengan jiran ni. Jadi saya pelawa emak untuk datang ke rumah supaya boleh sama-sama meraikan kenduri kawin yang terakhir, sebab lepas ni dah tak ada anak beliau yang nak kawin dah. Emak pun setuju dan terus beli tiket bas untuk ke Kuantan. Tambahan pula jiran saya tu (yang lelakinya) sedang mengidap barah paru-paru di peringkat yang agak kritikal. Jadi tujuan emak datang selain dari dari nak tengok anaknya kahwin ialah nak ziarah dia sekali. Manalah tahu kalau-kalau kesempatan ini merupakan perjumpaan mereka yang terakhir. Tetapi malangnya, sehari sebelum emak datang, dia mendapat sakit sendi kaki dan lutut. Tetapi dikuatkannya juga azam dan akhirnya sampai juga ke Kuantan.

Selepas menghadiri kenduri tersebut, sakit sendi-sendi emak semakin teruk. Kami bercadang untuk memasukkannya ke wad tapi emak agak keberatan sebab takut kalau doktor tak benarkan dia keluar pada hujung minggunya. Dia nekad untuk balik kampung pada hari Sabtu 17 Oktober lalu. Maka rancangan kami untuk ke Temerloh terpaksa dibatalkan. Insya Allah jika ada lagi jemputan lain kali, mungkin kami dapat juga pergi.

Halal atau Haram?

2009-10-16T15:43:00.003+08:00

Wahai sekelian pembaca dan pelawat blog yang budiman. Saya amat-amat memerlukan jawapan samada mengiklankan GoogleAdsense haram ke halal pendapatan yang kita perolehi tu? Saya telah cuba mengemukakan soalan kepada yang pakar dalam soal muamalat iaitu Ustaz Zaharuddin A. Rahman atau ringkasnya UZAR. Tapi jawapan yang saya perolehi setakat ini kurang memuaskan, malah mengecewakan. Sebagai seorang Islam yang cuba untuk menjadi mukmin yang sejati, saya tak mahulah dapat duit banyak dan kaya raya di dunia ini tetapi menjadi papa kedana dan muflis di akhirat yang kekal abadi. Saya lebih rela hidup "miskin" selama 80 tahun daripada terbakar selama-lamanya diakhirat (nauzubillah). Kalau ada sesiapa yang pakar tu tolonglah jawab atau beri cadangan kepada siapa saya boleh ajukan persoalan saya ni.

Inter-racial Marriage

2009-10-14T08:54:00.003+08:00

On Monday I got a pleasant visit by an old time friend Nisa. She told me she just got married and is currently 3-month pregnant. Of course the first question was "where's your husband from?" She said "I am in a similar situation with you because I married a foreigner".

So, that was the reason for her visit, to get "an expert" opinion and advice. Hahaha. Well, marrying a foreigner is not as simple as it looks, especially in Malaysia where laws and rules are male-biased. When we were first married, we received all kind of "advice" from those who have no experience whatsoever with inter-racial marriage! Not to mention the sarcastic remarks from those with authority. I was thinking "if one of these days your daughter meets and marry a foreigner, you will find out how I feel". Some of them said, "why can't you marry a Malay man?" or "a wife should be where the husband is". That's right! My husband wants to be in Malaysia, so I must stay in this country and just give me the necessary papers!

Alhamdulillah, after 13 years of waiting (patiently) and after 5 kids , 4 applications, 4 rejections and 4 appeals later, we finally received the long awaited PR card. So my advice to my friend Nisa, and whoever wants to do what I did, be PATIENT. One more thing, if you want your kids to have Malaysian citizenship, never ever deliver them outside of the country. Once you do that your kids will automatically follow their father's citizenship. But if you are a Malaysian male, the situation is totally different.

Morning Joke

2009-10-09T08:05:00.003+08:00

It was 6:07 am. I was still in bed and I overheard a conversation between Najla and her Abah (Father). It goes something like this:

Abah: Najla... It's time to get up. Wake up Najla.
Najla: Grrrr
Abah: Najla wake up.
Najla: I don't want to go to school today.
Abah: Wake up. You have art class in the afternoon.
Najla: Get me at 1.00 o'clock (from her kinder garden)
Abah: Oooo, I'll get you at 3:00.
(Najla got up, being carried by Abah and stood at the door of the toilet and she said:)
Najla: You mean go to fart class? hehehe

Then they both laughed. And guess what? Najla really farted after that! Hahaha, what a conversation to be held in early morning. I smiled and decided it was a good time for me to get up as well.

Never End

2009-10-09T07:53:00.003+08:00

I have been reading this book on and off since I bought it on 24 March 2006! For whatever reason, I am still not even half of it yet. In between, I have finished reading so many others. The book is interesting but I tend to pick it up at my worst reading mood such as last night when my eyelids were so heavy. After 3 or 4 pages, I was out. But I will not give it up until it is completely read from cover to cover, regardless of how long it will take.

Parenting

2009-10-08T12:24:00.002+08:00

This book had just arrived at my office today. I ordered it last week from a fellow blogger named Zaid Mohamad. He's a senior manager in a multinational company and yet he's able to write a book on parenting! Ooooh, how I wish I could do that! I am not sure how I stumbled upon his blog but I am glad I did. I remember now! I read an article about him in the New Straits Times a few weeks back. At the end of the article there was his web site address so I started surfing and reading his blog entries. When I went to MPH I saw this book. I thought of buying it but I changed my mind. Then when I got back to Kuantan I contacted the author and was told that if I ordered directly from him, I could have the book autographed by him, so I did. I hope to get a few more tips on how to raise my five wonderful jewels.

PMR 2009

2009-10-08T11:20:00.001+08:00

Today, on the 2nd day of PMR exam, Danial will be taking 2 more subjects which are Science and English. Yesterday he took the Islamic knowledge and Bahasa Melayu papers. I got a permission to be at his school for 2 hours yesterday in order to give him moral support before the exam started. I believe the exam will end on Tuesday next week. However, as a student from a religious school, he will have to sit for 9 more papers either at the end of this month or sometimes next month. For him, to be the best in PMR is not to get 9 As but 18 As! I hope and pray that he will succeed so he will be admitted to the school of his choice for form 4 next year, insya Allah.

One of the many banners at the entrance of Danial's school

One of the signposts outside of the exam room

Students were lining up to be screened for H1N1

It was Danial's turn to take his body temperature

Some of the candidates for PMR

The exam rooms

Craving

2009-10-03T11:05:00.002+08:00

When we are fasting, we often crave for something even ordinary food like Maggi noodles. This happened to me yesterday when I was at a grocery store near my house. Originally I stopped at Miza Maju store to get my newspaper but unintentionally I saw rows of Maggi packets.
All of a sudden I craved for it. However, I didn’t want to cook with the condiment that came with it so I had to quickly improvise the recipe in my head. I went to the next grocery store to buy chicken, tempe, tofu, and fish balls. As soon as I got home, I boiled 5 eggs and started to prepare all the ingredients for my dish. Once the dish was ready it looked like “mee kari”.

The best thing was, all the kids said they loved it except for Danial because he was not home. He is having the final PMR camp at his school which will last for 3 days (Friday 2 until Sunday 4 October 09). He left yesterday and will be home tomorrow.

Books

2009-10-03T10:50:00.002+08:00

These are the ones we bought at MPH

September and October can be considered as book months for our family. When we went to MPH on Wednesday 23 Sept. we bought the above pictured books. Then on Tuesday 29 Sept. Steve brought home a bunch more which the kids have ordered through Scholastic Book Club. Two days ago my sister-in-law asked me to provide a list of books for her to get the kids for Christmas. When I mentioned it to them, they were jumping up and down with excitement but I still haven’t seen the list. I told them to be reasonable so that it won’t be a burden to their aunt :) We’ll see what they’ll come up with.

These are bought through Scholastic Book Club

These 2 were my choices hoping that Yasmin will be a famous mystery writer someday

On Thursday 1 Oct I finally finished reading “Dreams from My Father”! I bought it on 17 Dec 2008 and started reading it sometimes this year (I can’t remember exactly when because it took me too long to finish it). Actually, once I got to the last third part of the book, it was a breeze. I would say the ending was kind of happy but sad in a way. Does that make any sense? I guess you have to read it for yourself to really feel the way I do.

This one I recommend to all my Muslim friends and readers

When I was checking my e-mails yesterday, I saw one from Kinokunia ( I signed up to receive news letters from them). When I opened it I saw a book by Angelina Jolie titled “Notes from My Travel”. Out of curiosity I checked the title on the internet and read the excerpts. It was a really moving story about her experiences visiting a few refugee camps around the world. Ouch! Another one to get!

Sarawak Layered Cake

2009-10-03T10:20:00.002+08:00

I was just doing my own routine in the office when suddenly, Azizan, a student from Sarawak, knocked on my door, walked in, and blurted out in a hurry “I wanted to give this yesterday but I was busy. Here, a cake from my mom”. He handed to me a black with gold stripes plastic bag. I was so excited and took out a rectangle chunk neatly wrapped in aluminum foil. I unwrapped the aluminum, and I saw a very beautiful layered cake wrapped in a clear plastic. I supposed the cake has been kept in a fridge because it was cold and very tempting. I had to wait until dawn to be able to taste it because I was fasting. Hmmm… yummy!

Kelas Tambahan (Tuition)

2009-10-01T13:07:00.000+08:00

Perlukah pelajar-pelajar mengambil kelas tambahan (tuition)? Menurut pakar motivasi Dr Shukri Abdullah PhD, yang sentiasa keudara di rancangan-rancangan TV dan radio tidak perlu. Ibu bapa hanya perlu prihatin untuk memberi pengetahuan tambahan sekiranya anak-anak sangat memerlukannya iaitu dalam subjek yang mereka lemah sahaja. Dan kata beliau lagi jangan ambil pekej walaupun lebih murah. Contohnya anak kita lemah dalam sejarah. Kalau tuition sejarah sahaja harganya RM10 tapi kalau ambil pekej 3 subjek (sejarah, geografi, dan sains) harganya cuma RM20. Secara logik akalnya, lebih menguntungkanlah kalau ambil pekej tetapi sebenarnya ia lebih merugikan sebab anak-anak akan menumpukan perhatian kepada subjek yang mereka lebih mahir. Jadi, subjek yang mereka lemah masih tetap lemah.

Tetapi tidak begitu keadaannya di negara kita. Menghantar anak-anak ke kelas tambahan telah menjadi seakan-akan trend. Ibu-bapa berasa "janggal" atau "pelik" sekiranya anak-anak mereka tidak dihantar ke kelas-kelas tuition. Saya merasa lega apabila Dr Shukri menyatakan hal tersebut sebab saya dan suami sememangnya tidak menghantar anak-anak ke tuition. Nak kata anti tu tidak juga sebab kami pernah hantar Danial tuition penulisan Bahasa Melayu 3 minggu sebelum dia ambil UPSR . Alhamdulillah setakat ini kedua-dua Danial dan Yasmin berjaya mendapat 5A dalam UPSR malahan lebih dari 10A kerana mereka sekolah agama (ada banyak lagi subjek tambahan SPPM).

Isu ini berbangkit pada pukul 5 pagi tadi ketika saya, Mustafa, Danial, dan Yasmin sedang menikmati sahur. Tiba-tiba saya berkata "kesian anak-anak yang tidak sempat enjoy waktu malam dan hujung minggu kerana terpaksa hadir berbagai tuition". Apalagi, Danial dan Yasmin pun mencelah "mak dan abah sporting, kami tak rasa tertekan sebab tu kami ok dalam exam. Kalau kami dapat B dan kadang-kadang C pun tak de lah kene marah atau leter. Agaknya kalau kena marah mungkin kita orang akan dapat banyak gred D pulak". Saya terfikir, mungkin ada benarnya. Saya selalu berpesan kepada anak-anak supaya jangan tension atau stress semasa nak exam. Saya selau pesan "ala, senang je, mana ada Cik Gu soal benda-benda yang kita belum belajar dalam exam. Cuma yang penting anak-anak beri 100% tumpuan dalam kelas macam emak masa sekolah dulu (hehehe, masuk bakul angkat sendiri). Jangan sekali-kali ponteng, dan jangan menyakitkan hati guru sebab takut tak berkat ".

Walau bagaimanapun, kami suka hantar mereka ke kem-kem ibadah musim cuti, kem motivasi, kelas musik, kelas renang, kelas melukis, dan seumpamanya mengikut minat mereka masing-masing dengan harapan mereka akan sentiasa ceria dan bermotivasi dalam mengharungi kehidupan sebagai kanak-kanak. Kami juga sangat menggalakkan mereka membaca, malahan kesemua anak-anak saya adalah "kutu membaca" terutamanya novel. Sejak mereka bayi lagi kami telah "menyepah-nyepahkan" buku di serata rumah kecuali tandas. Kami pastikan yang kami pun sentiasa membaca di hadapan mereka. Ibu bapa adalah model terbaik. Mereka sememangnya bebas untuk menonton TV atau bermain komputer walaupun malam hari-hari peperiksaan. Tapi yelah, lain padang, lain belalang. Apa pun saya syukur kerana cara kami mendidik menampakkan hasil yang "lumayan". Cuma sekadar berkongsi pengalaman.

Raya 2009

2009-09-29T22:15:00.000+08:00

I was really looking forward to having a week off so that my family and I could go visit our relatives and friends whom we haven’t seen since last Raya (or before that). Unfortunately the first 2 days of Raya we couldn’t visit anybody who lives more than 20 kilometers away because my mom was not feeling well. She had neck and chest pains. She was especially worse in the mornings.

Since my mom was feeling much better on the third Raya day, we went to Melaka to visit my long lost roommate when I was at a university. It was so wonderful seeing her again because the last time we saw each other was before I got married and now I have been married for 17 years! I used to contact her when she was at UPM but after her retirement we lost contact. She has a beautiful English cottage which she “designed” herself (with the help of an architect of course!). She has a beautiful garden and she even has two date trees in her yard. We arrived at her house around 2.30 pm and stayed until 5pm! Time flew by so fast when we had fun reminiscing the good old days.

On the way home we stopped in Tampin to visit my aunty. A while later, my cousin’s son dropped by. Actually I have never met this guy. After we introduced each other he called his father (my cousin) and told him that I was at my aunt’s house. I felt obligated to visit my cousin whom I haven’t seen since the day I got married! We ended up getting back at my mom’s house very late at night.

My former roommate and I

On the 4^th day of Raya we went to KL to renew Harris’ and Najla’s passports. We were so lucky to have a guest from Morroco to celebrate Raya this year. On the way to KL we dropped him off at Seremban Bus terminal to catch a 10.30am bus to Kuantan. He had to go home early to find a new apartment because his apartment contract would expire at the end of September. After we were done with our business at the passport office, it was time for lunch. All of them wanted to eat at one of the fast food joints, so we visited Colonel Sanders and gained fat!

Our Moroccan guest & our kidsHannah & Najla at Col. Sanders' constructing their Sponge Bob

While the kids were eating I sent messages to 2 of my friends, Kak Ju and Marzi. We went to Kak Ju’s house in Ampang first because Marzi was out shopping at the Mid Valley mall. Marzi said we could come and visit at 4pm. It was good seeing Kak Ju again. I am not sure if we saw her last Raya or not. She is in food business making different sauces with a factory in Klang. Before we left her house, she gave us a bottle each of BBQ, chilli, mayonnaise, and pasta sauce. I would like to help promote her products (with no commission, ok) under the brand Jasma. Her products can be bought at Giant and other supermarkets / hyper markets in Malaysia. They are 100% halal products. Then we went to PJ to visit Marzi and her family.

Jasma Halal Products

Our final stop for the day was MPH at Mid Valley. The kids went wild searching for their favorite books and we spent around RM450 for all of them. By the time we got back to my mom’s house, it was close to midnight.

The next day my mom asked Steve and I to accompany her to the bank in KP and to buy groceries. On the way back from KP, we stopped by my uncle’s and my aunty’s house in Terachi. Only Najla came with us so she got extra “duit raya” compared to her other siblings. On Friday (the 6^th day), we didn’t go anywhere, just loafed around and relaxed. I bought a book titled “Travelog Haji” by Prof. Kamil when we went to MPH on Wednesday. I started reading it on Thursday night and finished it by Friday morning. It was such a refreshing read. I definitely recommend the book to any practicing Muslim.

Saturday afternoon we went to KLIA to send Yasmin’s friend off to Egypt. She’s the same age as Yasmin (should be in form 1) but her parents sent her to Egypt to study Quran. She seemed so matured for her age. Steve and I would definitely not send our kids overseas at such young age. We want to keep them under our roof for as long as we can because once they leave, they will be gone. That’s why we didn’t send Danial and Yasmin to any boarding schools although both of them got 5As for their UPSR.

Yasmin's friend & her mom

Since KLIA is close enough to Bangi, we decided to visit our friend AA and his family in BB Bangi. We arrived around 9pm and left nearly 2 hours later. We didn’t plan to stay that long but since we haven’t seen each other for quite sometime, we got a little carried away. For the third time, we got back to my mom’s house at around midnight. Alhamdulillah she was doing fine.

We wanted to go back to Kuantan on Saturday but my niece convinced us to stay until Sunday because her sister (my other niece) had an engagement at noon on that day. Her fiancé is from Perak so the guy’s family brought along pomelos, star fruits, and guavas. Finally, at 4pm we left the kampong. All in all, it was a good Raya despite the below expectation beginning.

Our Raya photo

Najla's Craft

2009-09-29T22:10:00.000+08:00

All of my children except Danial have created their goody box with a pyramid-shaped cover like the ones pictured above. This latest addition belongs to Najla. She made it at her art class sometime in early September. The day she brought it home, she asked me to take a picture of it so “you can put it in your blog” she said. I kept postponing it thinking that I would remember the exact date she made it. Unfortunately, my aging mind does not allow me to retain information more than a few days only. Finally on 13 September I took my camera and snapped a few shots of the box. All of them (Yasmin, Hannah, and Najla) seem to like their art class very much. Only Danial never got a chance to enroll because he was more than 12 years old when we first discovered the class. Harris was enrolled for a few months and decided to quit because “ I don’t like to draw based on a specific theme” he said. In my opinion, what he was trying to say was that “I am bored with it and I hate to follow instructions!”. That’s so like Harris.

Champions!

2009-09-29T22:05:00.000+08:00

Yasmin's trophy

Danial's trophy

Yasmin was so nervous a few days before she entered the Quranic reading competition. Danial didn’t seem so. Even if he did, he covered his feelings pretty well. When the day came, Yasmin hugged me and said, “please pray for me that I will be asked easy questions and surahs”. It was on Tuesday 15 September, which was a working day therefore I couldn’t attend the ceremony. I guess they must have had easy questions because both of them came home with a trophy each. They both got first prize for their category. I am very happy for them.

Web Cam

2009-09-29T21:06:00.001+08:00

Steve has been toying with the idea of buying this baby for quite sometime. Finally, on 5 September 09 he brought home the one pictured above. His mom just bought a laptop and installed an internet at her home recently. He wants to install the web cam so that when he talks to his mom, they can both see one another despite being thousand miles away from each other. Somehow, until today he still hasn’t used it yet. I am not sure what technical problem he’s facing. Well, I can’t help much because I am no techie.

Salam Aidil Fitri (Eid Mubarak)

2009-09-17T12:05:00.001+08:00

Salam to all my Muslim friends, fellow bloggers and readers around the Globe. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you the best and safest Eid. Please forgive me if any of my entries in both of my blogs have offended you in any way. I would like to share the following message which I received from a friend through my email. If you already know it, take it as a reminder and if it is new, I hope it will benefit you:

Suratul Faatiha:                  protects one from the anger of Allah

Surah Yaseen:                     protects one from the thirst of the Day of Judgment

Suratul Waaqi’ah:               protects one from poverty and starvation

Surah Mulk:                         protects one from the punishment of the grave

Suratul Kauthar:                 protects one from the enmity of the enemy

Suratul Kaafiroon:              protects one from “kufr” at the time of death

Suratul Ikhlaas:                   protects one from hypocrisy

Suratul Falaq:                      protects one from calamities

Suratun Naas:                     protects one from evil thoughts

My “Jewels”

2009-09-14T16:30:00.002+08:00

Danial:

My eldest just finished his trial PMR. I hardly saw him studying or reviewing his studies at home. Every time I asked him whether he was ready, his reply was “Insya Allah”, We’ll see when the results are out… I just bought him 3 or 4 novels recently and he finished reading them in a flash. Right now I think he’s rereading the newly acquired novels or sometimes he reread his old (or very old) ones. I don’t know what to do. I wish there are people who live around here with tons of novels which he likes so we can swap books. At the rate we are buying, we will have trouble storing them soon. Selling them as used books? Out of the question because he wants to keep them all! He still goes to a guitar lesson every Friday afternoon but I have never heard him play guitar at home. He keeps playing piano whenever his mood strikes. He goes to the “surau” most of the time when his father goes there for Magrib or Isyak prayers. He does his chores without grumbling (turning dry laundry right-side-out, washing dishes, and sometimes throwing trash out). He had attended a 2-day camp (Saturday-Sunday: 12 & 13 Sept 09) near Pantai Sepat. It was for form three students who will be sitting for their PMR in October

Yasmin's Certificate

Yasmin:

I just convinced her to open her own blog (http://yasmin128.blogspot.com) last week because she loves to scribble. She picked up reading much later than Danial, I think when she was in standard 4. She used to just sit in front of the TV every time she got a chance. I used to get upset with her about her TV habit. She loves to draw and we enrolled her in the art class at Da Vinci. She’s very good at drawing Japanese cartoon characters. It must be from watching those shows on TV! We sent her to piano lessons for 2 years but I never heard her playing after she stopped attending the classes. She wants to learn how to play a violin but I am skeptical to send her. Besides I don’t know where to send her for that around here. She loves to eat cereal and milk that’s why she has strong and beautiful teeth. I used to “fight” with her a lot. Almost everyday I had something to complain about her. I think because our characters are so much alike that we repel each other. Recently we have become better friends. She does her chores too (turning dry laundry right-side-out and washing dishes) but sometimes with grumbles. Last Thursday we had “iftar” at her school. Before the breaking of fast we attended a simple ceremony in which the school gave certificates to students who performed well in their UPSR last year. Yasmin was one of the recipients. Actually the gifts were from Yayasan Pahang but delivered to students by the school. Each of them received a certificate and RM100, so Yasmin can buy her own “baju raya” :)

Harris at the dentist

Harris:

Last Wednesday was a very memorable day because the date was 09-09-09 (9 Sept. 2009) and at 09 am Harris had an appointment to see a dentist at HTAA. We arrived 15 minutes late because I had trouble finding a parking space. We ended up parking at the housing area behind the hospital. It was quite far so we had to walk really fast. Poor Harris, he was fasting too. Finally at 9.40am the process began. Harris’ pain threshold is very low so he was groaning and screaming most of the time. It was hard for me to watch him in pain and not being able to do anything. It was over at 11.30am. I am very pleased with Harris’ changed in attitude towards reading. He used not to like it as much as Danial and Yasmin because he was always playing the computer games or watching cartoons. He did read bionicles books but not other novels. Since we bought Alex Rider series, he really sits down and read! I never thought the time would come so soon, but I am happy. His temper has improved some too. He used to be upset a lot more and screamed at us all the time. Now he is more “patient”. He’s doing better in school too. Wow, Harris is growing up! He lost a tooth on Tuesday night. On Saturday (12 Sept. 09) Harris performed in a sketch at his school during the “musabaqah” competition. He played as Abu Lahab or Abu Jahal. He likes performing arts.

Hannah:

She lost 2 teeth- 1 Wednesday (9 Sept.09) and 1 the day before at about the same time Harris lost his. Of all the kids, she’s the most sensitive, cries a lot and sulks so easily. Sometimes she drives all of us nuts. She can really stay up late but she can’t get up in the morning. We have to drag her out of bed or sprinkle water on her face. She loves to draw so much and she’s also enrolled at Da Vinci art class. She’s taking a piano lesson with me but she hardly practices her piano at home. She would rather draw greeting cards for us. She likes to read also but not at the same level as Danial or Yasmin yet. She’s so afraid of any creepy crawlies, and she definitely got that from me! She would really love to learn how to swim but we have to wait until MPK pool is fully renovated. So far she hasn’t broken any of her fasts yet. She is so flexible that she can lie on her tummy, arch her back, and touch her chin with her toes! She should enroll in a ballet or gymnastic class. But nay… they wear skimpy clothes. Best of all, Hannah is a very loving daughter.

Najla:

How could I be upset when I found out that I was pregnant with her? Since Najla is the youngest, she’s the most adorable and very smart. There were so many instances that she would say something that would catch me by surprise. She is a very confident person probably because she gets hug a lot. So she feels very secure about herself. She’s adorable when in good mood but terrible when she throws one of her stunts. On Saturday she was really mad because I didn’t take her to the store to buy her “baju raya”. Just like any kids, we can’t afford to make any promises unless we are so sure that we can fulfill them. She loves to draw pictures and she folds the papers, and gives them to us as greeting cards. She just enrolled in Da Vinci class last month (or was it in July, I don’t remember). She loves to read as well. She has been nagging me to register her at her brothers' and sisters' school. Last week I went to the school to get the registration form. I was told that the school’s priority is to accept 7 year-olds. Since Najla will only be 6 years old next year, she will be on a waiting list. I hope Najla won’t be so upset.

Our Ramadhan

2009-09-14T12:57:00.000+08:00

It feels like yesterday when we started our fast. Without realizing it we are entering the 24th day already. Only 5 or 6 more days are left. I am proud to say that our family has never been to or bought food from any bazaar Ramadhan yet. We are trying to keep the spirit of Ramadhan alive and keep our food simple (such as the ones pictured above). We do not serve many varieties either. Usually we have dates, rice, and one (or two max.) side dish. Once in while we made spaghetti or pizza. Alhamdulillah, our kids are not fussy. They are happy with french toasts, cereal, or "jemput-jemput kosong". Our regular beverage is the good old plain cold water. Sometimes the kids asked for canned soft drinks which we obliged. We thought we had more time to shop for raya clothes but suddenly it hit us that we only had yesterday as the best time to do it. Feeling semi panicked, we packed all the kids in the car and off we went shopping. So now everyone has 1 set of "baju melayu" or "baju kurung", except for Yasmin because she prefers "jubah". The kids have one extra set of non-traditional clothes as well. Najla got so excited, she took hers to her kindergarten today. We didn't buy shoes for anyone because our kids love to wear sandals or slippers. Everywhere they go (including our trips to the US) they would put on their rubber sandals. Alhamdulillah, our kids are very low maintenance children.