Sometime in January, my maid went home for a week visiting her ailing mother.

We were at Melaka one day to pick her up at the port. The kids saw the signages for the Zoo Melaka a number of times already and since we’re still ahead of the schedule, we thought we’d pay those Melaka-ed animals a visit.

It was amazingly big and clean zoo. I’m sold.

Kiddos sitting atop a fake turtle, eating ice-cream for the 4th time that day and MrGart (ignore the belly, yikes!)

They also have this long bridge on stilts over a safari. Kalau sakit kaki, jenuh jugak nak menapak. But the kids were excited. It’s drizzling and there were a pack of zebras taking shelter under us.

After Andes safely arrived, we saw this Taming Sari ride and the kids pestered us. So, there. MrGart was trying o hide his gayat-ness. Although this is really high, but sangatla harmless.

This is the most melt-in-the-mouth-before-you-blink chocolate cake ever. This was so good, even I had seconds.

This was Aliya’s 11th birthday cake on the 9th January 2009.

And here’s the clan and their cousins.

Aliya doesn’t like thick icing on cakes, so I choose this cake, which is rich and does not need icing. Just a dust of icing sugar. Scrumptious!

This came from the book Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. I am just a huge, huge fan of her book. If you need the recipe, just shout!

A note found in Asha’s school bag on Monday night :

Untuk Ayisha. Mula dari esok bawa :

1. Satu kotak.
2. Beads.
3. Kertas Manila warna biru
4. …
5. …
6. …
7. …
8. …
9. Duit 30 sen hari isnin-khamis, 20 sen hari jumaat. jumpa kami di lobi 3.

*takes deep breath*

WHAT???

Initially MrGart thought it was a list of Arts class, except that item 9 was super-suspicious. I lost sleep Monday night pondering this over.

Should I talk to her teacher ?
What if I speak to the teacher and she suss these kids out and then they retaliate against her for ratting them out?
What if this destroys her budding confidence ?
Should I speak to the suspected bullies themselves ?
Haven’t I made myself visible at the school enough that these kids would see what Ayisha’s mother would like ?
Do we give her too much money to school that she immediately becomes a target?
Was that note a sick joke ?
Who would write such a note ?
Are these extortionists boys or girls ?
How old are they? In the afternoon sessions, there are only Standards 1,2 and 3. Ayisha is Standard 3. Could these be her friends ? Classmates ?

Questions. Questions. Questions.

No answers yet.

I have not had a chance to speak to Asha seriously about this as she has tuition last night and was just tired and got into bed.

But yesterday, while I was at school waiting for Asha, I climbed the stairs to the school’s office. There were 2 lady teachers and I cordially asked them if there’s any reports of money extortion at the school this year. And I told them of the note. They were suprised and agreed that there could be a threat in it. I did not think any of Asha’s friends I know, would have the mind to do that.

But then again, I could be wrong. Not some months ago, I blogged about Asha being targetted as a “Fund Manager” for a girl who used that fund to generate income for her, no interest nor dividends was disbursed to these Fund Managers, mind you!

So, you see. Need advice. I’m not sure how should I broach this topic to Asha without her feeling as if she’s ratting out on these kids, nor should she feel that she’s running to Mommy everytime trouble hits. I also need her to know that she can and should tell me everything, right or wrong.

*worries myself sick*

p/s btw, a BJ kindy and the addaris is closed for the rest of the week for an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFM), so folks, keep an eye out.

*worries even more. HFM is a viral infection with high-grade fever.*

Remember this ?

and this?

and this?

and of course, the infamous this? *shudder*

and this chubby baby who coaxed even the most grumpy person on the street to come and pinch his cheeks and would always always be shocked to know how an 8mo baby could weigh 11kg and worse, he’s on full breastmilk, no solids whatsoever?

and who could forget this sunshine-y little benjol-ed 1 year old?

Well people, let me tell you this. I’ll shout this in fact.

ARIZ ZUHAYR IS A BIG 4 YEAR OLD BOY!!

Cake is Moist Chocolate Genoise with Dark Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache, easily decorated with Spiderman cake toppers and a Spiderman candle. Mummy ada sedikit malas!

Look at him, my little man !!

He turned 4 on 14th February 2009 and it’s such a great joy to see him today, all lean and muscular and happy and mischievous and pretty much a nuisance, as only 4 year old boys know how to be.

We celebrated his birthday at my parents. I baked his cake, a two-layered chocolate butterless genoise because I know he won’t mind as long as it’s chocolate and as long as it’s covered in chocolate ganache that he could lick. The girls have specific requests! Grrr!

He’s been off diapers completely and since he’s still on the breast (that seriously needs a review), no formula milk is available in the house at all. Since he started kindy, he’s used words like “huge elephant” to MrGart’s suprise and he’s talking less about his imaginary friends, though he’s constantly fighting aliens with his animals and ben10 friends and transformers’ peers.

He goes to school willingly these days, if you consider, showering and dressing him while eyes tightly closed is “willingly” la. At least he WANTED to go to school and goes EVERY MORNING without fail. He kisses girls in the van, which I think needs a man-to-man talk with MrGart.

Hes’s crazy over ribena and requests for a “Ribena yang SEDAP” every now and then. Because I used to make him (and the family) diluted sirap or ribena, just to be less sugar, but he equated that with “tak sedap”. Now he gets Daddy to make him Ribena yang sedap. Insulting eh?

Anyhow.

Alhamdulillah that he is 4 now. Alhamdulillah that he has been healthy and happy and just being a 4-year old. Alhamdulillah that I get to breastfeed him as long as he wants to and I want to. Alhamdulillah that we are a much happier family since the day he was plopped on my chest, the day, I gave birth to him. Alhamdulillah.

Sorry folks for not enlightening you of my rather sedentary and less colourful life these days. Just feeling slightly lazi-er than normal.

But since Jo & azGROWLen were so eager to get me to post stuff again (after which I guess they’d regretted their choice words in the comments), I guess I just couldn’t stop.

Kids wise .. inspired by Loll‘s adventure in islaimically educating her brood, I’ve started my journey with the kids too. Our first Aqeedah lesson was after Maghrib prayers and it was last week. Adani & Ariz are still talking about it, especially the part of “if Mummy doesn’t see you punch me, ALlah does”. *kurang khusyuk sikit bila dengar macam tu, heh! bangga pun ada!* But I shall blog more about it later.

Baking wise. I’ve gone completely crazy over ROse Levy Beranbaum. I have all 3 (minus the Pie & Pastry book) books and I’ve been baking crazy. Saturday, I took an order for a tray of lasagne and a 2-tier chocolate & vanilla cake, retro design. Raving reviews for the lasagne. I made a little batch for us for dinner and the kids were licking their spoons and plates. Me too! Sedap weh. I impressed myself even. Kah kah kah! Perasan! That I shall blog more later too.

What I need to break to you guys are .. jeng jeng jeng ..

WE BOUGHT THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR TO OURS!

It’s confirmed. We put down the downpayment yesterday, after winning the bid. It was really cheap, considering the British owner was desperate to let it go and he let it go real cheap. The kids are happy. We have doubled our living area from 2100 sf to 4100 sf and I have images of a island in my large kitchen, a bedroom for each of the kids, the extra master bedroom which will be turned into a walk-in wardrobe and a musolla and a large study. Weeheee!!

Walaupun we’re not sure when to do these things. But the house is ours now!

*doing a chicken dance. Not pretty. But super-excited*

Yeehaaaaa

Guys!

I need things to read.

Reflections to ponder upon.

Puns and jokes to make me keel over and break out in stitches of laughter.

You guys have been so quiet.

What’s up?

Blog, people blog?

I need you.

p/s I guess that goes out to me too eh? This blog counts?

Hmm rare indeed.

Am at my fav gynae waiting for my number to be called. Nope. No babies. Just removing my soon to expire impl@n0n and insert a new one in.

gabra jugak sebab being reading reviews yang scary. But machola katakan.

Will sambung later.

Mana la MrGart ni?

Entah-entah tengah makan cendol kat tepi masjid kot? Or melantak nasi briyani pak wan?

Cis .. we are ready here.

Beg, siap. Baju tukar, siap. Air sirap dalam botol, siap. Asam, siap? Kids, dah siap mandi and itching to go. Mummy, dah lama dah siap, orang dah la ambik half day hari ni.

Drebar?

*geramnya*

p/s Congrats to mosh for his new addition to the family. *high-five* Alhamdulillah both baby and Shina are doing alright. *wonders bila mosh nak update blog dia ni?*

There are specific moments in all my kids’ lifes that I would not be helping, instead, I would be a stumbling block.

Like mornings school send-offs.

Last Wednesday, I sent off Asha to KAFA and then Ariz & Adani to preschool. Adani was much too eager to go, ever ready for academic challenges. In fact she’s been counting the days for when she enters Standard 1.

Ooohh .. I should also mention here that yesterday she’s doing such a wonderful job of counting how old would everyone be when she’s 5, 6, 7, 8 etc. She would be like “When I was 5, Mummy was 35, Daddy is 37, Aliya is 10, Ayisha is 8 and Ariz is 3″. “When I’m 6 …..”

I was so impressed that my jaw hit the floor. Even I had to think a while to get everyone’s ages right, hokeh! Then I picked my jaws off and started to hush her when she was at “Mummy is 40 “.. Shhhhhhh .. we’re in public now, dear .. no one should know how old I would be, or am! Hehehe!

Anyhow.

Ariz was so eager to show me his class and then once we got there, he spent 3 mins in and decided to become a clinger and refused. Half an hour later, we went home. Shheeessshh!

So there. I complicate matters, when in comes to schools.

Yesterday and today are Daddy’s turn and he gleefully hopped on Manjit’s vans and even came home with a lantern. Ceh! Menyampah!

p/s Andes sms-ed yesterday asking us to pick her up at the melaka port today. YAYAYAYAYAYAYYAYA!! Alhamdulillah. I know I miss her. More importantly, the floors miss her, the stack of unironed clothes miss her and Bubbles sure miss her too.

Aiyooohhh !!

Tasha & Dhamiral who live a few houses away from ours since the past week ( I suspect for much longer time but I wasn’t aware of) have been ding-dong-ing our place at all hours of the day.

Tasha is 7 and Dhamiral is 10. Ariz who’ll be 4 next month and Adani at 6 as well as Asha who’ll be 9 in Dec love to have company. Aliya is indifferent.

I don’t mind these kids coming around to play with mine.

But, they come at 8am. They gave salams at 1pm. 2pm, 4pm, 7pm and every hour in between. I have to tell them that “Ariz is sleeping”. “Asha is doing her homework”. “Adani is eating lunch”.

And I don’t like that at all. Keep telling the kids that I’m okay with them playing but they have to come at 5pm and play at the park. Remember, Andes is not around and Mummy’s playing house, so Mummy doesn’t appreciate picking up other kids’ mess. But even after being told to come at 5pm, they still come-a-dind-dong-ing at all hours of the day. Penat aku nak bagi alasan.

But seriously, I for one, would never let my kids wander off to neighbours’ place uninvited and at such ungodly hours too. Orang nak tido la, orang nak tengok Brothers & Sisters ke, orang nak terlentuk depan tv kat sofa ke? Dah la orang takde la dress vogue dirumah selalu. Aiyooohh!

So, during the long weekend, we watched 1 movie a day for 2 straight days. Just to get out of the house. But I thought InkHeart was really good and Bedtime Stories was so hilarious, I could hear Aliya cackles of laughter all the way.

Anyhow. Nak buat macamana ni? Tolong!

Such a whiny, I tell myself.

Andes, my faithful helper for 7 years is currently home at Pekan Baru visiting her unwell mom. She should come home tomorrow. Otherwise, I should seriously be in trouble. Insyallah. *panicking*

Anyhow.

Was on leave yesterday and today and tomorrow are MrGart’s turn.

It’s a blessing in disguise actually when your helper goes home and leaves you with housework you normally take for granted.

Like the freshly vacuumed and mopped floors. Empty and shiny sinks. Emptied bins from the toilets and particularly the kitchen’s. Clean, sterile Bubbles’ litter box. Things get picked off the floors and jumped ito their respective boxes/containers. Wiped toilet counters and clean loos. And the list goes on and on.

For the past 5 days, I was the person who goes around the house, picking things up from the floors of which there are many things ranging from HeatBlast, cars, towels, spenders .. well typically Ariz’s stuff. Kalau kakak-kakak punya, memangla nak kena. I vacummed the floor, mopped them, upstairs and downstairs. I started loads of washing in the machine and hang them out to dry. Got the girls to get them off the hangers inside. Had to cook and also had to read to the kids.

And my aching back. Last night, I was up till 1am, folding 4 batches of clothes. The kitchen is sparkling clean after I baked 2 loaves of golden honet oat and a tray of brownies. There’s mihun and soto soup in the fridge for MrGart and the kids today. I hope the house is still standing when I get home today.

I told MrGart that he doesn’t need to do much. Maybe a load of laundry. But just keep the place tidy. Pick things up. Even that I have reservations. But all day yesterday and the past 4 days, I kept thinking that I shouldn’t whine for cleaning the house.

At least I have a working washing machine to wash our clothes, I have kids to put the clothes on. I have a gorgeous house to clean and I have family to nag to. I am so blessed. Alhamdulillah.

But I thought I should be allowed a little whiny spot. Hehehe. First I burned my knuckles, okay ONE knuckle in the hot oven. Then that knuckle, even after 2 hours in ice water, started to blister. The burn was just about half a cm and I was whinging and whining like a baby. Hellfires are much much worse.

Well, yesterday, due to labour (macamla banyak sangat), 4 of my knuckles are now have bruises and cuts. Begitu berusaha aku membersih rumah. Taknak bila Andes balik karang, rumah macam tongkang pecah. Gua kena jaga maruah jugak!

Was at mamarawk‘s and remembered that I was tagged by none other than Famy for this tag. But of course, elisa‘s comment sungguh mencuit hati, jadi, elisa, you’re tagged!

7 facts you may not know about me:
1. I get super-ticklish around the neck area.
2. I lost 5 watches (or was it more?) and 3 years ago, I stopped wearing any. MrGart pun kata takmph beli dah, asyik hilang aje!
3. I’m still slightly bengkek with my mom for not letting me go to Alanis Morisette’s concert, the day before nikah. *sungguh jahilliyah*
4. I’m shorter -sikit je hokeh!- than my twin (who’s younger than me by 1o minutes)
5. I create words from car plate numbers and count the number. *afflicted, I am*
6. I played hockey during sekolah rendah. Tak terer langsung pun.
7. I suka giler goreng pisang.

7 things that scare me:
1. Apa-apa jua cerita hantu, korea, jepun, mat salleh, semua tak boleh.
2. Things that crawl and things that slither.
3. Tidur kat lantai and things crawl into orifices like telinga and whatnots.
4. I can see germs. Betul!
5. Beddings, pillows, towels, baju atas lantai. Itu germs dengan berkoloni dengan banyaknya. Gua takutt!
6. Syirik & dosa-dosa besar
7. Night driving, alone and lonely streets and lonely alleys.

7 songs that I like the most:
1. What about Now? Chris Daughtry
2. Tattoo
3. November Rain – Guns & Roses
4. bernafas Dalam Lumpur – Wings
5. Paradise City – Guns & Roses
6. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen (with Freddy Mercury)
7. Anything Mariah, Madonna, Spice Girls, I know .. sick!!

7 phrases that I say the most:
1. Yikes!
2. You what what …
3. As if ..
4. Oi. Tolong la ..
5. Gile ke hapa?
6. Duhhh
7. Puhleeze

7 of my precious things:
1. Cincin kawin (dalam save since saya tak pakai barang kemas langsung)
2. Beg besar ku yang berjenama “Teka” .. boleh masuk Ariz kalu dia nak.
3. Badge besi Pengawas Convent Bukit Nanas. ahaks!
4. Gambar dengan MrGart masa bercinta dulu, in a frame yang dah pecah, atas meja tepi PC kat rumah. I can see Lollies tengah gelak guling-guling.
5. The 5 quilts I made for Aliya, Ayisha, Adani, Ariz & MrGart. Heirlooms.
6. Our house. Though aku rasa macam nak renovate ler.
7. Phone ler .. e71 la katakan ..

7 memorable first timers:
1. Jalan nak pegi kelas in the middle of winter, through a completely frosted over Crescent Park, Peterborough sampai menggigil, fearing that my ears were gonna fall off. sejuk siot!
2. Buka puasa dalam kelas dengan snickers, while glaring at an arab friend siap bentang fries during lecture. grrrr ..
3. the joy of epidural. ahhhhhhh… bliss.
4. The sight of Romah Mode inn Bandung. Shopping!
5. Breastfeeding. Bliss! Lepas tu manual express. Perrrgghhhh.. Terer!
6. Wasabi exploding in my head. Never again!

hahaha .. katun pulak la entry ini.

I spent the last half of December 2008 chasing my own tails, baking and sewing and worrying and wrapping and teaching and whatnots.

So, for the past 2 weeks, I took a little time off and just let things slide a bit. Well, the kids started school and I was like “done preparing and now’s the showtime”.

And that goes for my blogging too. Been off and on, very malas-ly.

It’s not like there’s nothing to blog about.

There’s always the Ariz’s adventure of the past 2 weeks of crying every school morning while I showered him and put on his uniforms and once he has his PS in hand, he’d be alright. And then Andes, the maid would have to get on the van with him and get off 3 streets away. And then he spent the last 2 weeks wandering around the school’s compound and very minimal time in the class. But still, he went to school every morning.

I was losing hope an worried sick. Until Teacher Rani called me up on Friday assuring me that Ariz’s boycott of classroom was officially over. He finally decided that he’d be in the class from now on. Not in Teacher Rani’s class, though, where there are 8 other fun boys. No siree. He wants to hold hands and sit next to Alisha in a different 4-yo class. Errr .. fine!

There’s always Adani who learnt in science last week in school, about materials specifically metal . I have just spent the whole outing today identifying which was metal and which was not. And did I tell you, her reading is phenomenal! She’s reading Shel’s Silverstein’s poem book and really enjoying them. Mummy beams!

There’s always Ayisha who has the most passion for Bubbles, the cat. She painstakingly coaxed the cat out of its hiding spot after Ariz stomped his foot scaring Bubbles away. She hugged the cat tight until he fell asleep. She’d be the one who puts Bubbles back in his cage when the house goes to sleep at night. And she’s turned a new leaf, this year. She loves her tuition teachers and finding school fun.

Day 2 of school year, I picked her up and she promptly and excitedly introduced me to Erika, her new bext friend at school. The chirpy girl tried desperately to get me to put Asha on her school bus to which I politely declined to a pouty Asha. Then last Monday, Asha told me that Erika’s moving to Bandung, Indonesia and I need to get her a present. I did and she gave her a pressie. Yesterday Asha told me that Erika’s move to Bandung was cancelled. What??

There’s always Aliya who this year has really mature. I’m seeing more and more of my pants and shirts walk from my closet to hers. And I’ve been buying a lot of shirts and stuff for her now that I’ve decided that she’s having no more of the little girls’ brands. She’s got attitude and style these days. And don’t get me started on the phonecalls. Safe to say, 3 out of 4 phonecalls these days are for Aliya.

Like I said. There’s so many things to blog about. I’m just Layzie .. but do not in any way put me in the same boat as Mayzie the bird who was so lazy to sit on her eggs, she tricked Horton, the kind-hearted elephant to do just that for her.

I digressed.

The end.

06/01/2009
Originally uploaded by Gart the Blue

Jangan tertipu. Gelak ketawa ini adalah hiasan semata-mata.

Asha willingly got on the van to Addaris and when I checked on her later, she was laughing in class. In fact, she gladly went home in the same van.

Adani and Ariz got on Manjit’s van and I rushed to school to see it all went. saw ariz was chatting up a girl. Hehe. He insisted that i went in his class. Stayed a while And tried to make him feel ok with aniq, a friend.

Then i snuck out and left. I checked on adani and she was fine.

Spent the morning drinking teh ais and lengthy brekkie alone at la nansa. Checke on ariz again to find that he’s been crying loudly and was at the pricipal’s office with another teary girl. I took a peek and he was busy memunggah. Hehe. I left the school.

Waited for the van and when it arrived, both came out smiling and grinning and here’s what they lookedd for the first thing.

We’re home. Let me tell you how Lil’Garties’ first day of school went.

Ariz.
I made dua to Allah to “permudahkan segala urusan” today and Ariz was suprisingly okay today. Minus the first hour spent clinging on my hips and then I switched class to Teacher Rani’s Titanic class (it’s a bit pessimistic to be naming a class after a sunk ship, dontcha think?).

This class has about 9 boys out of 15 and Ariz agreed to sit in the class. We snuck out and went for brekkie with fellow parents and came back at 11:30 and upon dismissal, we came running to me, tears streaming down his cheeks. After a great big hug, he started to ease and smile again. He said he “cried sikit” aje in the class and no mention about tomorrow. Hmm. I’m hopeful. Alhamdulillah.

Adani.
Adani will be in a new class today, Teacher Jaya’s class who’s rather strict but a very efficient teacher. A veteran at preschool, Adani went in the class nonchalantly and kissed me goodbye. Once class is dismissed, she came to me a little teary-eyed. Yikes! First day, I said to myself.

Ayisha.
Standard 3. While waiting for Ariz, MrGart arrived at the preschool with Asha in tow, tears streaming her face. She has refused to join her class at KAFA and now under a stream of threats by MrGart. Sigh!

She’s getting ready for SKBJ now and she seems alright. Agaknya esok kena suruh diorang ni naik van/bas, sebab kalau Mummy/Daddy ada, semua jadi kememeh.

Me
Just tired. We’re off to fetch Aliya and send off Asha to school. Then send Aliya to KAFA and then maybe take a nap-beramai-ramai before fetching Aliya again at 4:45pm.

Malaysians, that is. Some of us, apparently. Not all, though.

Anyhow.

Since the Kebun trip never materialised, we traipsed down (or rather duduk dalam kereta, emitting CO2 contributing to the worsening greenhouse effect) to the I-KE-A and its big brother I-Ka-No.

You know the long queue near the cashier I-KE-A counters to get cheap ice-creams, we were there. There’s this Chinese girl who awkwardly manoevered a “tall” soft drink cup to fit the nozzle for the coffee machine. I thought, maybe she thought it was a soft drinks machine. But no, she pressed “cappucino” and then pressed it the second time since the first fill came up to half of the cup. Hmmm.

Obviously 2 presses caused the hot cappucino to overflow from the cup. BTW coffee cups are thicker and shorter and obviously soft drinks cost RM1.50 per cup and coffee/tea cost RM3.00 per cup. All are free refills and based on honesty basis here.

The girl now was in trouble cos her cup was too full and too hot and she couldn’t get it out as it’s now stuck under the too-low nozzle. It’s not supposed to fit there in the first place, silly! Now, the father came to her rescue and tipped down half the content and walked off nonchalantly. WHAT?

Next, an Indonesian maid came and did the same thing. A well-dressed Chinese man. A rather tackily dressed Chinese woman. An Indian woman can did the same thing too. In fact out of 4 people who used the machine, only 1 paid the right amount. The other 3 wanted coffee but refused to pay the additional RM1.50 and just slithered their way for it. Shamelessly. In full view of the long queue of people who were waiting. I was beyond shock.

I was so shocked. I never thought to do that and there I was feeling like a kid in a new school. Very very humiliating attitude these people have.

Then, we went to I-Ka-No and all the kids joined in the craziness of those polystyrene snow balls at the concourse area in front of the stage. There were kids of all ages and sizes, throwing snow balls and making snow angels on the floor. Men, women, boys and girls were picking up snow balls from the floor and played and played gleefully.

Adani having fun.

Ariz. Wayyyyy too much fun. He was literally on the floor, lying and swimming and generally having a whale of a time.

Ayisha & Adani.

Aliya, looking as smug as ever. Notice the chaos at the background?

We then went outside as Adani & Ariz were itching to go for the pony rides.

There we saw a blackberry-wielding Chinese woman was angrily chastising another CHinese woman who ran the pony-rides business. Something about the pony-lady shouting to the blackberry-lady’s son. Something also about the pony-lady was trying to protect the boy from being kicked in the face by the pony where the blackberry-lady ignored her.

Things got seriously bad as the blackberry-lady called up her hubby and her oso-blackberry guy cam charging and screaming abuses to the pony-lady. OMG!!!

I wish I had gone up to the pony-lady and said to her that .. “I believe you. Some people just don’t deserve what they have in life.”

What ugly lot I saw today and it was supposed to MERRY? Yikes!

Today’s a public holiday. Adani asked me yesterday what would we do WHEN it snows today. Hmmm .. we don’t get snow, dear. We get the sunshine. Yikes!

We (the clan of Cikgu Samat) were suppose to spend the morning chopping down errant bushes and generally maintaining the kebun (or orchard) my dad has kept awsomely in shape well before he retired, somewhere at Rawang.

We’re supposed to pick the many different varieties of fruits (durian dah habis season) and vegetables and whatnots. We’re supposed to bentang a large tikar under the durian tree and eat breakfast. And probably take shelter in the little hut if it gets a little too hot, whose pillars are the actual ragged trunks of manggis trees originally felled from the same kebun.

The kids were excited to hear that their Wan has populated the pond with some little fishes where you normally pay a hefty RM34 per pair of feet for a little deadskin feast for those poor fishes. Safe to say, they’ve been saving their deadskin for those fishes.

Me? I’m looking forward to my mom’s nasi daun or rather herbal rice made from this pucuk lemuni (eh betul ke?). It’s speckled grey in colour with sambal ikan bilis and cucumber slices for condiments. In my effort to poorly meet my mom’s effort halfway, I baked 18 of those Mexican Coffee Buns and they’re sitting in the kitchen, all 15 remaining buns or less now that Aliya & Asha are downstairs.

But my dad texted me early in the morning to say that the kebun trip was off as they had to rush to Kuantan to attend the funeral for my Pak Ndak’s mother who passed away early this morning. Al-Fatihah.

Okay, okay. I know ppl should write about what has happened. Since it didn’t, I thought I should write about what would’ve happened but did not. Hehehe. We are off to some shopping malls now to satisfy some itchy, restless little feet of the residents of the house.

Me? Off to eat those buns.

You would have thought we’d be in the pool again, idling away the remaining time here at pd.

But no. We are now stuck here at a breakfast stall, after I sent mrgart to his hotel and i stopped to buy breakfast and the wish refused to start.

The car spluttered but never more than a cough.

mrgart is here now and where are those aam guys?

Sigh!!!

Today was a blast. The kids spent the morning swimming at the tee-en-bee kondo, waiting for 1pm when we can check in our villla.

The afternoon was spent at the beach and literally getting alll digits all kecut from too much time in the water. The water was clear and sea was calm. Even ariz enjoyed his time in the water.

Anyway, we’re waiting for dinner to arrive and i looked up to the sight of a crescent moon and 2 very bright and big stars. Hmm much too big to be stars. Could they be the orbiting satellites? Dunno. But they sure shine so bright.

The beached whale has landed.

In fact, the whole clan descended at this wonderful little resort called Residence Desa Lagoon at PD. Thanks to Sarah-fiz for mentioning the place to us.

Our villa was right in front of that gorgeous pool. It was also sepelaung from the beach. I love the fact that the kids have a larger area to roam while we while away the day, waiting for MrGart to finish his meeting and whatnots.

Pictures courtesy of SpeakingWithMyFingers

I think our villa was the one in the picture. Sweet and cosy. Love the colour coordination.

The villas are on stilts over these fish pond. They looked a bit too green for me though. Saturday morning, the kids gleefully pointed out to me a LARGE monitor lizard aka biawak swimming around. Naik bulu roma ku. Yikes!

The beach. We could actually walk to the beach from our villa on titi kayu and the sand was really fine, unlike the sand at Teluk Kemang which is a little pebbly and rusty in colour. The colour is like my foundation clour N4-Sand Beige. Ha ha.

Unfortunately, we could not spend as much time as we’d like to at the beach. Me refers to Aliya, Asha, Adani and me. Ariz hated and still does hate the beach. MrGrouchy would complain about needing to wash sand off his feet and the big waves, without even getting slightly wet at all. Sheeesh.

The girls managed toc ollect some nice shells this time around, though they’d like to stay longer.

This Monday to Wednesday, we’re off at the same place as MrGart is attending yet another official business there at PD. Story of our lives. Cuti-cuti Malaysia di taja oleh MrGart’s Kompeni.

Have fun working (or not!) at the office people!

Yay!

All 6 letters are now out. The many charts and graphs are all tucked into that thick report. I think I got my 360degrees covered.

I am beyond relief.

Crisis averted.

I kept my cool, this time around.

And tomorrow I’ll be beaching myself watching over the kids at a beach and get wet and just let my hair down.

Ciao!

We are now proud owners of a pair of 2 months old rabbits, as of yesterday.

A brown boy rabbit named Kiko and a white, pink-eyed girl Kiki.

The girls must think that rabbits are like dolls. Barely 4 hours in, I found the rabbits sitting on a baby head rest (the one you put on strollers) with blankets. Sheesh! And not to mention, the numerous pictures taken of the rabbits so far.

Ariz last night, in the dead of the night, came down all by himself and reported to me that the rabbits were still not sleeping. MrGart was sheepishly mumbling something about nocturnal habits of some animals who produce offspring like they do, farting.

I’m kinda okay with this arrangement. Because :

1. Rabbits stay in the cage. Thry don’t wander. They don’t irk neighbours. They don’t scratch my sofa and I will unlikely find dung suprises elsewhere in the house.
2. Rabbits don’t shed hair. Big plus!
3. Rabbits food won’t cost us an arm and a leg. Pellets aren’t that expensive either. BTW, I thought I could feed it green stuff or maybe carrots. But apprarently these kacukan rabbits eat only pellets and maybe occasionally cucumbers. They should not walk on earth. What????
4. Rabbits don’t need to be entertained. Like MrGart like to say, they eat, drink, sleep, eat some more and then get some “fun” and have babies. I retorted that that sounded like him.
5. Rabbits don’t need to be petted to sleep or need that much TLC before it starts bawling its eyes out for lack of love.
6. Rabbits’ poo are in little neat balls which can easily be washed (not by me, obviously) and does not stink all the way to the heavens.
7. Rabbits are rather cheap too.
8. Rabbits are not territorial and won’t mark its territories and start to pee all over the place.
9. They are cute and cuddly.
10. They keep the kids’ entertained for the long school holidays and off our backs with their constant demands to go here and there, do this and that and the perennial whinings of “Boring la”.

Boleh pakai ?

Woke up this morning, dizzy. In fact, I’ve woken up few times durin g the night as Ariz was fidgety and fussy. He ran a temperature and whenever he gets a fever, I shift into ALERT mode. Light sleep, ear thermometer by side ready to stick into hos ear every 5 minutes, the V-oltaren supp ready. Febrile fits are still my nightmare.

I called the office and said that I would be off on emergency today.

Anyhow.

Ariz finally decided that sleep would be impossible. Sat up in his 38.1C body and loudly declared that he was going to school. Hmmmm. When he’s made up hi smind, no fevers gonna keep him home. Yikes! This could get ugly.

Dressed, Ariz in Adani’s gymwear, Adani in her school uniform and me in ah well, not particulaly ravishing looking, we set out to school. He remembered that he forgot his book and his favourite TopGear magazine. So, I made a deal with him and we left to get supplies.

But after all the bribes to make him less eager to go to school )when he’s not suppsoed to yet), he wailed and he screamed when he realised that we’re going home. Argghhhhh!!!

Susah sungguh la. Bila kena pegi, tak nak. Bila tak payah pegi, beriya-iya la pulak. Adoi!

Excuses Expired So far :
1. Kawan Ariz semua tak beli beg sekolah lagi. Next year, kita pegi okay?
2. Kawan Ariz tak dapat baju sekolah lagi. Next year, kita pegi okay?
3. Classroom Ariz tak paint colour black (his current fav colour) lagi. Bila siap, kita pegi okay?
4. Auntie Manjit (van driver) kata next year, kita pegi okay?
5. Classroom Ariz belum siap lagi. Roof and walls are not ready yet. Next year, kita pegi okay?

Luckily, we only have about a week left for this eager-beaver kiddo of mine.

Suggestions ?

I posted in my blog before about Asha and her “generosity” to buy ALL of her friends tidbits from the stationery store upon finding out Daddy gave her RM50 instead of RM1. I had to pick my jaws off the floor when I first learned of it. Wrecked my brain to find reasonable explanation and settled on Daddy’s mistake of handing out wrong note in the dimmed room. No hanky-panky there. Pure mistake on MrGart’s side.

Hokeh!

Then Asha’s friend’s mother came ding-donging at the front door. Unannounced. Should I worry ? Hmmm.

She came in, Sarah, her daughter almost dragged herself in, head bowed with an expression of pure torture. Hmmmmmmm.

Mine was the 3rd house she’s been that evening, she began. She’s still in her work clothes and it’s almost 8:30pm. I was desperate to make 4 trays of brownies for Aliya & Asha’s school do tomorrow. I was also sticky and in work clothes too. I was hungry and needing to get dinner.

Anyhow. Her story was l-o-n-g.

But I will spare you the pain and cut it really short.

Her Sarah, a Std 2 schoolgirl has been rather entreprenuer-ish. She drew pictures of a super car (don’t ask me if it’s a Porsche or a Beemer, believe you me, I asked and she din’t know), wrote RM1 on each and made 4 copies of them each at 10 sen a piece. She was selling them for RM1 to innocent, wide-eyed boys at school. She was caught, obviously as the school was weeding out unauthorised selling and buying at school.

Go pick your jaws off the floor, folks!

This is the interesting bit.

Sarah lied about making the copies at home. I shuddered to think that Asha conspired by making the copies at our house, which I knew she knows how to. But no, that’s not the case. Phew. Apparently Sarah paid to make copies at the same stationery shop Asha was caught dishing out goodies to her friends.

The mother doesn’t give any pocket money to Sarah at all for KAFA. Hmm.

So, where did Sarah get her money?

House No 1: Mom’s a fund manager for a bank. Sarah’s been getting 50 sen from her daughter on a daily basis.

House No 2: No details on this, but I guess we can call her FundManager Junior 2.

House No 3 (ours) : Asha’s been giving Sarah RM1 every few days. And the best part is that, Asha made Sarah her proxy. Remember Asha was caught although it wasn’t her fault, just her misguided generosity? Well, I think she’s now rather shy to go into the shop after the incident. So, I think she made Sarah a deal, or Sarah made Asha a deal. Asha gives her her money. Sarah goes and buys stuff and gives Asha a sweet or two and keeps the rest as payment.

Dang!

So, apart from a Fund Manager Jr 3, Asha is also a proxy master! On a losing end, pulak tu!

Folks! Jaws off the floor, please. You’ll trip someone if you don’t.

In the end, Sarah returned RM10 to Asha and apologised. We talked to Asha and the rest about not giving money to other people as well as receiving money from other people with no good reason.

Side Story: The mother also regaled me with a story of a 5 year old at Adani’s tadika. He’s been handing out Raya angpows with RM5 and RM3 to friends, telling them that the RM3 were to be given to younger brothers or sisters. The recipents’ parents sussed this out and alerted the teacher who immediately acted to collect back the money.

Either GenerousKiddo is :
1. A philanthropist who gives out his OWN angpow money OR
2. He found Dad’s stash of undistributed angpows and seeing how delightful kids are at receiving angpows, emulated the parents and took the stash to school.

You choose?

p/s Rasanya masa zaman aku sekolah dulu, takde benda-benda camni tak ? Adoiiii .. pening kepala makcik.