I had great lost today.

I am at my kitchen this morning around 11 am(Q8 time) , equivalent to 4 pm ( Malaysia time) siang udang, prep to make Gulai Udang when my phone rang. When I saw the name appeared on my phone screen - Ayah, it made me wonder. It's not his behaviour to call me since I went to Q8. Normally he will SMS or ask my mum to SMS. Not having anything in mind, I picked it up and 1st thing I hear was :

Ayah : Ngah, nenek meninggal ! Baru meninggal

Only silent reply. He repeated again :

Ayah : Ngah, nenek Bedok meninggal tadi. Ayah on the way balik Singapore, ayah kat Damansara ni.

Still in shock..

Me : Ummmmm.. ohh okay. Innalillah.

Then silent again..

Ayah : Okaylah.. ayah nak amik mama.

Me : Ok Ok..

I had no idea how to respond to this news like I was having a dream or something so I continue with what I am currently doing before the call. I continue siang udang, slicing bawang and so on. My mind completely go blank. My husband was sleeping at this time coz he just came back from work,night shift. I have no strength to wake him up. My hand even shaking while cutting the onion. 2-3 minutes after that, I heard him waking up and talking to the girls. Probably scolding them for making so much noise and disturbing his sleep I couldn't be sure myself coz I dun hear a thing. My mind was too busy processing the news.

He appeared at my kitchen entrance in groggy looking and messy hair. Without looking at him, I blurted " Dee, nenek meninggal ! " . As I say it outloud, it hit me. Real hard and I cried and weep and sobbed. He comforted me and then leave me to have moment of my own, and stay with the girls.

So today 29th June 2010, I lost my one and only nenek. I dun even had chance to meet her before I boarded to Q8 as we were in tight schedule and now, I realised if only I make times to visit her before leaving for Q8, it would be my last time hugging her, touching her and kissing her cheek. She's been un-well for quite sometimes. From what I heard, she passed away peacefully, while talking on the phone with her brother in Malacca. She had my auntie beside her and she inhaled 2 times which seems to be her last breath.

It is tragedy to us, it is indeed Qada' dan Qadar. We love her so much, her friends love her but Allah loves her more. For now, she's still in Singapore GH mortuary as they need to do post mortem and determined her cause of death as she did not died due to her illness it seems. From my mum's SMS, apparently a nite before, she's vomitting blood and was refered to hospital but discharged at 5 am on the same day.

Am going to miss her mouth-watering beriyani, am going to miss her constant advice to me " Ura, jangan lupe baca surah 3 Kul tiap kali kuar rumah, baca ayat kursi bile jalan jalan, Insya allah, di jauhkan dari malapetaka ", am going to miss her smile, am going to miss her tears everytime we had to say goodbye on Hari Raya ke-4. am going to miss her sambal udang, am going to miss her softness. On top of it, am soooooo gonna miss her.

To those who happened to read this, please make doa for my grandma and you will have my gratitude for your kindness.

AL FATIHAH.

And yes, I could use some miracle...private jet maybe to fly me over to Singapore so I could pay my last respect to my grandma, and importantly, to be able to kiss her cheek for one last time.


Dari Dia kite datang, kepada Dia kite kembali.


Hajah Minah Binti Abdul Aziz.
Born:
31/12/1933 Demised : 29/06/2010

P/S : Photo credit to my Pak Lang , Arshad Othman.

Few days back during En Muddy off day, we decided to bring the girls to beach, Mangaf Beach. tak tau la nama betul ke tak heheh we just called it Mangaf Beach.

I've been not feeling well since 2-3 hari sebelum tuh. Head ache and body ache causing me not having enough beauty sleep. Everyday nak tido kene makan Uphamol. If I'm lucky, boleh lah lelap mata 2-3 pagi, kalau tak 6 pagi baru terlelap. Not blaming on weather, but I think it may play some small role in my health condition plus I'm not really daily-7 litre-plain-water-drinker, which worsen the condition.

Well, by 5, when En Muddy decided that the temperature was bearable and safe enough for the girls, we make our move. If any of you remember, I've mentioned once in my previous post that my house was just nearby beach. Few buildings away. Around 400 meters. It took us 10 minutes walking. Boley sampai lagi cepat sebenar nyer if i weren't the fact that we have to cross 3 lane expressway hahahaha..The expressway delayed us indeed.

This beach was un-commercial beach. There's no facilities like bench, stall selling drinks whatsoever. It just a secluded beach, dirty one infact but the water was very clear and clean. Oh no, the girls are not allowed to swim, although there are few people I saw swimming in the ocean. We came here just for recreational purpose so that the girls can run freely, play with sands after 4 days being in cage.


-pelancong jepun melawat pantai Mangaf-

Alis Erin of course tidak membuang masa and terus mengambus dan main pasir. Me on another hand, melepaskan lelah nearby. It's hot alright although it's not worst case scenario. Still when the wind blows, can felt bahang nyer. A kiss of summer breeze on ur cheeks. Can't say it's inconvenient though, it just different.

I started to feel un-easy but decided maybe because of lack of sleep and head-ache I am having beforehand and it should go away after short rest by the beach.


- i dun feel well already when this pic taken -


- tak sehat or not, mother is still a mother no matter they go -


- latest of erin, muka dh merah, kulit dh tanned -


- my big baby -

As most people do at the beach, the girls plays with sand, with splash of water albeit my warning not to wet their pants coz I didn't bring any spare clothes, running and screaming out loud. In short, being kids. In between I gave them plain water we brought from home and I gobbled some myself.



We stayed around 1 hour so till Maghrib then make a move back home.

It's not long after we start our few steps when I suddenly felt dizzy. Ear buzzing, numbness can be feel in my head and things started doubled. It's not a good sign. I quickly set my bum on some stones and inhale as much as I can. When I started to feel okay, we start again and after few steps I had another blackout. This happened like 5 times and to make it worst, we had to cross 6 lane expressway in order to go back. During our way going to beach, we carry each girls while crossing. Hubby carried Alis coz she's bigger hence heavier and me with Erin although i think there's not much different hahahaha. Erin was putting on weight drastically ever since we reached Q8.

Well long story cut short, me and Erin survived the expressway but I had to make another stop shortly after that. Long one till I asked my hubby to proceed 1st and get me some cold drinks. I am short of breath, feeling dizzy and I felt intoxicated. Can't walk straight and I felt like the earth was floating. This is where I started to snap at everyone. I snapped at Erin for clinging to my feet. I can't even manage my own weigh. I snapped at Alis for running and not watching out for incoming car. This is Q8 !! U can't expect car to be just on the road, there's car everywhere even on the building pavement. I snapped at my husband for taking too long to get me water and for not controlling the kids and for not running and bla bla bla.. Most of all, I snapped at myself for not being stronger and for not be able to drag my feet. 1 single step at that moment seems like the hardest thing to do, believe me.

In blurry vision, I saw nearest building and I saw sofa in the basement, which I set as my target. I am not going to faint in the middle of nowhere, in the clearing. How am my husband going to carry me and the kids. It's not possible since the kids will start crying, he's start panicking and things will get out of control. So I must reach that building, even if I had to crawl, I will reach that building. Inspirational story tak ??? Agak2 ley wat drama bersiri tak?? Kisah survival seorang ibu melawan pengsan...Kah kah kah... inspirational sangat la kannn....

So, pendek citer ( dari tadi rasa asik long story cut short, tak abes2 pun citer ni kan ) I managed to reach my target sofa and lay my head to rest. This is the moment when I felt my right hand started to go into numbness. Based on my un-counted experience before, this is the beginning of the worst case scenario so I quickly told my husband to go get paper bag or plastic bag coz I started hyperventilating. This happened due to lack of carbon dioxide in one body causing all muscle goes cramp. In my case, it will always started with right hand, follows by another hand and both leg, then my chest muscle where I will started to get short of breath, and then eventually, go pengsan ! I've been in this situation countless time and I can see it's coming. Combination of tiredness, lack of calcium, lack of water and lack of sleeps caused this.

My husband ran to near restaurant and get me plastic bag which I used to breath in that, exhaled my breath in the plastic, producing carbon dioxide and inhaled back CO2 to replenish what seems to be lack in my system. Of course En Muddy had to hold the plastic for me coz my hands and legs all goes cramp and stiffed by this time. My condition sure scared Erin a lot coz she just refused to be anywhere near me after that.

Around 15 good minutes passed by, I started to feel my muscle loosing off, out of it stiffness state. I'm able to move and relax my muscle and my breath go steady and slowly. It's working ! En Muddy kept massaging my hand to help the muscle to soften faster. Once seeing my condition stabilized, En Muddy went again to the shop to get some food so I can eat. He bought Chicken Shawarma. Very tasty one indeed. So hikmah sebalik me goes cramp was we found nice shop selling shawarma in walking distance from our place. How nice is that ???

After eating, and me started to feel well again, we continue our walk home. Reached home safely, had hot shower and fell asleep in no time. For info, even though I'm already okay, the pain due to the cramp will still can be feel until today. It took days or even weeks to heal but I'm very grateful things doesn't go out of control and turned ugly. Alhamdullilah ! If you stay calm, keep yourself together, keep your mind together, things should be all fine. I dun mind having to rubbed my feet and hands with hot oil every nite, little extra work shouldn't do any harm.

This is the reason why I was banned from attending morning assembly during primary school.

This is the reason why I was banned from marathon during my secondary life.

This is the reason why I was being called "sotong", "lembik" and "budak pengsan" during my childhood.

How I wished I could reached finishing line in marathon with my friends, or singing Negaraku in que with my classmates instead from bilik guru.


I dun asked for this but apparently Allah The Mighty Planner has his own planned for me.

However, this "budak pengsan" had conquered 4 mountains including highest peak of Kinabalu, I just dunno how. So budak pengsan or not, sotong or not, I just love me and I know a lot of people out there feel the same way too.




- "budak pengsan" tgh termenung :) -

This is it by Michael Jackson was Alis and Erin obsession. They watched it everyday without failed. Never get bored of it, never get tired of it. Among many clips, Thriller was their utmost favorite part. Having said that, still the "ghosts" never failed to scared Erin. So mostly, she will snuggled at the corner of sofa or in my arms or beside Alis or behind papa during this scene.

Today, I heard 2 different versions of Alis's approach in comforting Erin during the scene.

1 st scene :

Erin was laying down on sofa, with pacifier, concentrating watching Thriller while Alis playing with her kitchen tools set without interference from Erin.

Erin : Adik tachoottt yahh ( Adik takut lahh )

Alis : Takper dik, hantu tu orang pakai bedak banyak jek. Jangan nangis kakak kan ader. Adik kan dah besar !

2nd scene :

Happened 5 minutes from 1st scene. The only different now is Erin decided to mess up with Alis's "kitchen" ....

Erin : Adik tachoottt yahh ( Adik takut lahh )

Alis : haaaa hantu, tangkap adik nih, de kacau kakak nye mainan. Tu antu betul tu dik, de suke budak kecik yang kacau kakak der punye mainan....










I just dunno whether to cry or to laugh !

Do you know that Q8 got no river and mountain at all ?

I didn't know till right now so I'm sharing it with you.. :)




Now as a return, do anyone outside there or do any of my reader (s) ...( hahaha geli nak letak plural) ... know how to amend or delete or change Japan style wording on top of my newly blog template ?


Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee....






Update : I figured it out already so help not needed this time. Terasa bijakkkkk sekalii bile ley selesaikan sendiri ..

During good day, really good day, it's not really hair-pulling situation to manage the girls. Their day will start with shower, then breakfast, main main kejap then lunch, layan Spacetoon, then tido. Sometimes Alis will do colouring or writing in between, woke up for tea time then dinner and shower before went to bed. Well.. most of the day. They do what they told to do, they eat when I asked them to, they took shower when it's times and they being easy to each other. They were like BFF and I even got scolded by Alis if I teased Erin and vice versa. In short, they just being beautiful beyond believe, look and act wise.

On another hand, during bad day, as anyone can ever expected, they just being difficult about everything, anything, every time.

Few days back was ugly day. Super major ugly. Since morning, they give me ultimatum about taking breakfast. Then when I was about to cook for lunch, they decided to pickup fight. Nothing si adik buat can pleased si kakak and nothing si kakak did was right to si adik's eyes. There's always something wrong somewhere. They play this "mengadu game" whole day and who got punished or scolded by mummy most, lost. Kejap kejap Erin melalak dtg dapur mengadu kakak bite her, 5 min lepas tuh Alis pulak melalak mengadu adik cubit or ketuk kepala. Y A A L L A H B E R I K A N L A H A K U K E S A B A R A N ! ! !

I had to use all skills I have, be it nice skills, soft-spoken-angelic-mummy skills, mean mummy skills, scream skills, sebat kusi dgn hanger skills and other skills exist by the book to resolve the conflict. U named it, I've used it. God forbid I had to use hanger or rotan on them coz I'm pretty much aware they're not very rotan-hanger-proof.

The fight, the screaming goes almost whole day. Case in point, even tergesel skit pun among them can lead to a very ugly fight and chaos. There's a point where I felt like called in sick to my hubby hahahaha. Call him and pretend I'm sick so he will come back and took over the girls coz I just can't take it anymore but it is very irresponsible and immature thing to do.. I was like waiting to exhale, but I can't even inhale a breath, left alone exhale. It's suffocating situation. This are among those moments when I need peace and quiet time more than anything in the world. More than Coach bag if you must know!

I survived the day though but my hubby had very good long lecture about my day in details when he got back home, like he had paradise had work. Just so you'd know, working in power plant industry, in desert, during summer was like being in the middle of war. Power usage increased to almost maximum and it just a matter of time Ministry will start to cut the power to avoid over-usage. Pressure everyday, all the time, to those who working in those related area. It's very intense. You sure wouldn't want to having ur electricity being cut-off right in the middle of summer peak in desert. So not cool !! And if it did, those whose responsible to keep the power running sure have hell a lot to answer, and by saying those, my husband is included. So, having pressure at work and a wife that couldn't stop mumbling about how her day was bad like roof gonna fell doesn't do any good to anyone. I am aware of that but I just had to detox. Get it out of my system. Him is the only person i have here. Neighbours is out. Sure i dun want to scare my new neighbor with my story huhh !! I can talk to my blog like I normally did, but in this case I need prompt response.

Being a good husband, or maybe he just had no choice hahahahaha, he listened. Then we decided there must be something wrong with Alis. She's not herself. She refuse to eat like normal. Well she use "nasik lembik" as an excuse becoz En Muddy accidentally terbeli beras wangi siam. We bought basmathi already and still she did not eating as normal. She was quite and rather sleep or stay in-active unlike before where I just couldn't get her to stay still even for a minute. Her temperature was normal so couldn't be fever. She did not complaining about stomach-ache either. It's mind boggling just to find out what went wrong and it was scared the hell out of me in-case something is wrong and we missed it. It took 3 days before she finally showing what was wrong or before I'll ask En Muddy to bring her to clinic.

On second day, she agreed to eat if only I cook crab and so I did. I cooked her crab and she ate maybe like 4 suap of nasik and that's all she had for the day. On third day of her abnormal behavior, again she refused to eat rice and when I forced her, she play vomit game. En Muddy consoled her and she requested to eat jagung so I made her jagung rebus. She ate about third quarterly before mentioned she need to go toilet. Confirmed one of our guesses that she was having stomach ache coz the poo was watery and very smelly. After done, she slept for few hours and then it revealed. Her temperature went up so another point confirmed, that she was having fever so we gave her PCM and after few doses, she was back to herself and started eating like she used to be. Contohnye today, I cooked Sup Ikan Merah and she ate like semangkuk nasik.

Am glad ! Am relieved ! Am happy ! Hati dah tak susah lagi !

Dengan tak malu nye, serta di mulakan dgn lafaz Bismillah hirrahmanirrahim, aku mengucapkan Selamat Hari Jadi kepada diri sendiri yang jatuh pada 12th June, lagi 3 jam mengikut waktu Q8 sebenarnye tapi sebab aku lahir kat Malaysia, aku ikut waktu Malaysia lah.

Tak banyak harapan dan wish list aku this year ( sebab kalau buat 15 wish list pun mmg tak kan tertunai hahahaha so the sooner I realized that and accepting the fact, the lesser hati ku akan keciwaaaaa )

Case in point, I just hope that I could lead a happy and meaningful life to my kids, raised them to be righteous muslimah and able to guide and to prepare them for the afterlife.

To En Muddy, I hope I am ideal wife enough for him di dunia dan di akhirat.

To my parents, belum terbayar jasa dan budi mereka, dah pergi merantau jauh pulak tapi insya allah, I will somehow put an effort to make it up someday, if not by money or material, insya allah by endless doa.

To Baby and along, kalau dapat handbag sebijik pun sodapppp ...

To all my friends and to all that i love ( you-guys-should-know-who-you-are ), thanks a zillion for everything, each pieces of love from all of you made me who i am today.

To good side of me, Happy Birthday dan bersyukur lah dgn ape yang dimiliki !

To bad side of me, Happy Birthday, cuba try carik2 bawah katil kot kot ade surprise gift!

Last but not least...


To ME, MYSELF and I, Happy birthday girlfriend ! Cant' ask for more, shouldn't ask for more!


P/S : If by any chance anyone noticed I did not mentioned Happy Birthday yang ke berapa, you're welcome to do your own math. If you must know, i wasn't forgot and it wasn't typo error. It was intentional. :)

Summer is in town. Everything is about summer. In shopping complexes, most promoter tgh promote perfumes for summer edition. Dulu kat KL, bile sales promoter had this promotion going about summer edition, I goes like, what's the different it could possibly give me ?? I know that most summer's scent will have this flowery fresh scent but living in country with same season all year long, i couldn't feel the impact, the true impact. Being given opportunity to live and breath in 4 seasons country, baru la aku dapat rasa dan relate to the importance of correct scent during correct season. Can't deny the influence!

Kat sini everything was about summer. Summer sales, clothing line, shoes, perfumes, life style and so on. Even Febreze pun ade kluarkan limited edition for summer breeze and I can't help but to get those for my home. Sangat refreshing I tell you. Serious sangat sedap bau de, mmg memberi kesan to ambiance and surrounding, serta mempengaruhi mood.

So far highest temperature ever reached was about 43 degree. Never reach 50 degree just yet but hey, we still have long to go. However, we had our 1st sand storm experience few days back. 1st for us and 2nd for En Muddy. I noticed about the storm somewhere around asar time. We were all watching movie titled "9". Kids and En Muddy watched halfway of course, by the end of the movie, pretty much i'm the only one awake. Soon after the movie ended, aku dgr azan so trus bangun for prayer. Tgh wudhu tu, I heard some kind of noises outside, like bunyik kereta tgh rammed or something, like someone tgh test power engine der and press the gas paddle. I dun really care at 1st coz I had workshop behind my house kat Puchong, mmg bunyik mcm ni nothing new to me but somehow I realized I am at Q8, this is ain't Puchong, so far tak pernah dgr lg bunyik camni kat sini, so I peeked. Outside was yellowish almost darken. Sand was everywhere and bile ade hollow, which in my case was my exhaust fan hole, the noises produced similar to bunyik engine mengaum. Quickly performed my prayer and after I've done, grabbed En Muddy's camera and below pictures were taken by me from my bedroom window. While taking the picture, I can't help but enjoying what was lay before my eyes. Kuasa Allah s.w.t. Sangat syahdu, sangat menginsafkan and give me goosebumps. Can't help but mengucap dalam hati dan beristighfar. I've seen many keajaiban dan kekuasaan Allah s.w.t before but this one, really touched me inside, will never failed to amazed me. Subhanallah..


- Some people may think this is bad thing, but to me, I think sand storm helps to cool things down. It did mengurangkan kesilauan and it brings wind which helps to cool the temperature -


- See ! -


- matahari camouflaged by the storm, looks like a moon to me -


- pasir pasir dan pasir di mana mana -

- A flock of birds seen using building next to mine as a shelter during the sand storm -


- More birds -

Soon after I've done with my last snap and enjoying moments of my own, alone... The kiddos woke up and tell what.. I had storm inside and out.


- Met my inside storms -


- U do not want to mess with this storms, like the one outside my house, this two storms also are un-stoppable, when they start, massive destruction ! -


- hik hik hik, mak kite panggei kite storm laaa -

The next morning, after pengalaman yang menginsafkan jiwa, again I discover something new to me yang memang betul2 menginsafkan. Kalau masa tgk sandstorm, all i could utter was subhanallah.. After my discovery below, all i manage to say was Astagfirullah hal aziimmm...





















- Sand dust everywhere. On the floor, atas rak tv, atas lantai bilik air, dalam tub, everywhere this small tiny little dust can reach. Hmmmmmmmm mop, mopppppp .. Mana kauu ?? -

If last evening, the storm did cooled down temperature muka bumi, the next morning all it did was raised couple degrees of temperature inside hahahhahaa...Subhanalah..

If last evening I was mumbling to myself, this is not so bad... the next morning I found me whining again to myself.. This is bad !

hahahhahahaa manusia mmg tak pernah bersyukur !

- Marhabannnn -


- Assalamualaikum -

A day lepas pindah to new building, we went out to buy groceries kat Lulu. Tgh angkat2 barang, someone approached us and bg salam, asking whether we're Malaysian. Obviously de pun malaysian la kan hehe so start la sembang. He lived at Level 2 with another Malaysian family. As he need to go airport picking up someone so we just had a quick chat and he left. Soon after that, his wife came to our house membawa cake sebagai salam perkenalan. From her, I came to know that there's 2 Malaysian family staying at level 2 and another 2 families at level 1. So far, I only met 2 ladies from level 2, which triggered me the idea to do house warming. Afterall, aku tak jumpa pun lagi wife wife Malakoff-ians yang base sama sama kat Q8 ni. Stakat jumpa di alam maya aka facebook, blogs.

Menu decided soto, meehun, nasik impit, begedil, honey cornflakes for kids, rojak buah for adults but cancelled due to kekurangan bahan bahan utk rojak kat sini like sengkuang and jambu, rojak then changed to buah-buahan sahaja hahahah. Since Lulu ade Mango Mania fest, so mango la menjadik pemenang kali ni. Ade yang cakap mango tak sesuai, beli je tembikai. Senang ! When it comes to jamu my guest, I am very much like them to feel satisfied, kenyang and tak serik datang. I'm not against tembikai, it just that selalu sangat tembikai kan, sesekali tukar la pulak buah lain hehehe. Ramai jugak suggest buat pudding or agar agar but I dun feel like making one for that day. Reason is I dun like to eat agar2 myself, I'm not good in making agar2 and pudding and it is like common desserts usually found during makan makan so I decided to lari dari kebiasaan. Hahahaha padahal nye tak reti nk buat, cakap je laaaaa... Anyway, I found sticky stuff not really un-appropriate for party with kids. My personal opinion okay !!! No offense but agar agar kan macam melekit lekit.. so nnti risau pulak budak2 ni nak makan then melekit2 tgn dgn baju, menyusahkan parents derang asik kene cuci kan tangan. So no agar agar this time, maybe some other time.

Air pulak adelah air manga sejuk and kopi untuk yang nak air panas. Dua dua laku especially kopi Aik Cheong ku...

Menu dh decide, problem nye adelah kaki tangan. So far if my mind served me correctly, I had two tangan and two legs. Alis and Erin dah tak masuk buku sebab mmg tak ley membantu sangat la kan hahahha.. menyepah adoo. En Muddy pulak was on 6 nites shift straight, which could only be means, he'll be sleeping during day time. There gone my most suitable helper candidate. Looks like I'm alone this time. Really alone. Before this, I've never short of helping hands coz in any occasions or kendurik, my mum and my sisters will always comes to help. Mostly my mum will cook and the rest will do the preparation. This time, I'm all about to do the preparations, cooking, serving, entertaining guests, cook lunch for kids and bekal for En Muddy keje malam, clearing dishes, cleaning the house....etcetera etcetera etcetera by MYSELF !. Senang cite one woman show .. huhuhuuhhu invitation already out, takkan nak cancel although at some point mmg rasa nk cancel wakakkaka.. Takperla, it's worth a try. Sedap ke tak sedap, chaos ke tak chaos our majlis, yang penting nawaitu nk menjamu tetamu dan merapatkan silaturrahim mattered most huhhhh...

Majlis as in SMS invitation starts after maghrib for families and 5-6 pm for bachelors. Rumah ku kecik sahaja wehhh.. kalau semua datang serentak mmg lah ade yang kene bertenggek atas speaker En Muddy. So 1st group of bachelors arrived around 6pm and start menjamu selera. While they enjoying their meals, I was at kitchen preparing for next wave after Maghrib. Rebus meehun, potong ketupat, potong manga, bancuh kopi bla bla bla then I performed my Maghrib prayer 1st. It is pretty embarassing to admit but we had only 1 sejadah at home, bawak from Malaysia that day meant to be shared between En Muddy and me. When the bachelors are here, they decided to sembahyang jemaah hence I'm praying 1st coz the sejadah will be used by "imam" of the day after me, Pak Udin from Indonesia. The rest of jemaah, aku lapikkan kain pelekat En Muddy. Afterall derang sembahyang atas karpet kat living hall hehehhee. Note to myself, beli more sejadah.


- tuan rumah menunggu tetamu -

Second group came one by one right after Maghrib and after chatting a while, bachelors group excused themselves to give some space for families. This is where I just dunno what to do at some points. I kept go back and forth tambah kuah soto, tambah meehun, tambah ayam siat, tambah begedil and in between bertegur sapa dgn jiran jiran baru, jemput derang makan, try to get to know each other, make conversations, clear garbage bags huhuhuhuhu Mamaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, datang Q8 segeraaaaa....tawakkal jek la hahaha...


- "Bachelors but not available" was leaving. They came on single package here. Wifey and kids were at Indonesia -


- separuh dari tetamu kecil yang hadir, separuh lagi tak sempat amik gambar -


- ade tetamu kecil, pasti ade tetamu besar. Sebahagian tetamu besar yang hadir, separuh lagi either belm sampai atau takdedlm gamba -


- among malakoff-ians yang hadir, En Izham dan En Sabri bersama pasangan masing2 Ayu dan Ema yang handal handal memasak belaka -

Among juadah yang ade dan termampu di sediakan pada hari kejadian :


- Begedil -


- cornflakes madu and keropok Semek Daik goreng, keropok ni 1st menu abes. Tak pelik sbb most tetamu adelah orang pantai timur. Rindu kopok ekkk ? -


- bawang goreng and cili padi kicap -


- 2 malam aku buat mendaalah ni so gamba kene lebey hahahah -


- chocolate for kids and strawbery pudding, courtesy of Mr Lim's wife, Lina. Our 7th floor neighbour yang sangat rajin masak dan sangat baik hati. Thank you Lina and Lim -


- ayam siat and adik beradik daun, bumbu for soto -


- manga yang terbaik dari ladangggggg, siyes de tabur baja gula kot-


- mother of all menu, takde kuah soto ni org mkn nask impit dgn air paip la jawap nye -

Overall, I can call my majlis a success. I think everyone went back with full stomach. Aku sempat peeked on my guests and some of them bertambah soto 4-5 kali so rasa nye all went well. Alhamdullilah syukur, my food doesn't go to waste. Kuah soto tinggal dasar2 jek, ngam2 seperiuk kecik, which ended up got reheated for next morning breakfast hahahaha, makcik penat wehhh, x larat nk masak dah. Cornflakes madu pun tinggal dalam 10 bijik jek. Thanks to everyone atas kesudian hadir ke majlis yang tak seberapa dan menu yang tak seberapa ini. Insya allah ade rezeki, kite bertemu di majlis yang lain.


- pompuan pakai turban tu la peneman setia aku kat dapur. It doesn't matter if you don't bake anything, yang penting u owned a very gedik glove. Motivasi diri ni walau setakat ni kegunaan de hanya lah utk kuarkan piring panas dari microwave kah kah kah -


- Kissy muahhh muaahh from Alis dan Erin -

Cara cara kentang mengejar cita2 menjadik begedil :

Step 1 :

Kentang di goreng sehingga kuning keemasan dan empuk seempuk sofa. Biarkan mereka bertenang dan sejuk.



Step 2 : Proses menumbuk

Kentang yng dh sejuk dan dah bertenang tadi perlu di tumbuk, di blend atau di-mash kan maka anda memerlukan batu tumbuk, batu giling, blender atau alat alatan yang sesuai asalkan kentang itu boley hancur. Oleh kerana di Q8 ni takde batu tumbuk( ade sebenar tapi x best, de made of kayu atau marble ), perhatian di alihkan kepada blender. Pun tak happening kerna kalau nk blend kena campur air which akan membuatkan kentang itu lembik. Lepas tu kene campur tepung yg akan menghilangkan keaslian rasa kentang. Dgn niat memintak simpati dari En Muddy aku pun mengadu. Jawapan yang di berikan langsung tak membantu. Kata En Muddy : Be creative mummy ! Masa ni la kene kreatif !

Dalam hati trus terflashback cara cara orang dulu2 buat wine. De pijak2 kan grapes tuh.. Boley la kot aplikasi kat kentang ni. Dgn kelebaran kaki aku ni, 3 kg kentang rasa nye 5 minit pijak dah settle kot. Okay..let's try.....






















Kah kah kah.... gile ape nk wat menda bukan bukan. Anyway, ni la cara kreatif aku yang ley terpikir mlm mlm buta tu.




- I found out cara ni lagi pantas dan effecyive compared using batu tumbuk. I had around 3 kg kentang there and it only took 3 round of tenyehan and it's mashed as I want them to be. Ade hikmah takde lesung batu ni kat sini -

Bagi sape sape yang mempunyai masalah dgn anger management atau mempunyai keperluan utk menumbuk seseorang, proses ini amat sesuai utk anda kerana anda boley bayang muka sesape sahaja didalam loyang anda dan start menenyeh. Tenyeh dan tenyeh dan tenyeh. Lepas tu jgn lupe solat sunat taubat mintak ampun heheheheh..

Step 3 : Proses menggaul

Bahan bahan yang diperlukan bawang goreng( preferably home made, lg siokk ), daun bawang dan daun sup di racik halus atau sederhana halus, garam secukup rasa. Minced meat atau sebarang elemen lain boley ditambah mengikut kehendak dan selera masing masing.






- jika rumah anda seperti rumah saya yang ketandusan mangkuk besar, bahagikan kawanan kentang itu kepada dua seperti ini bagi memudahkan proses menggaul-

Bahagikan kedua dua daun dan bawang goreng secara adil dan saksama ke dalam kedua dua mangkuk bg mengelakkan mana mana pihak berkecil hati.



Step 4 : Proses membentuk/menggentel

Setelah daun2 dan bawang goreng serta garam sudah sebati mesra dan nampak boley click dgn kentang tu, boley la mula mengentel dan membentuk mengikut bentuk yang anda mau. In my case, sebab nak jamu tetamu yang ramai lebey afdal aku buat kecik kecik, bite size orang kata. Kalau nak buat besar penumbuk pun boley, takde sape yg marah.



Step 5 : Proses graduasi


- Yeayyyy, aku dh berjaya mencapai cita2 menjadik begedil. Dah ley start gi Jalan TAR nk carik kebaya pakai waktu konvo nanti.. yeayyy yeayyy -

Sabar ye kentang... Cita cita kamu masih belum tercapai.. Kamu perlu melalui satu lg final exam, iaitu ujian menahan marah dalam kepanasan yang tinggi. Jangan khuatir, tidak la sepanas yang kamu sangka, seperti mandi sauna sahaja feeling de. Owhh kamu tak perlu risau dgn baju konvo sebab ianye dah tersedia utk kamu. Made of egg lagikkk..













- Tahniah kentang ! Kini baru la cita cita mu tercapai. Kau kini rasmi nye bergelar sebijik begedil !!! Suka dgn jubah baru kamu ??? -

I've been meaning to update this post since like....... hmmmm forevah and evahhh.. This draft itself dh terperuk dlm ni dekat seminggu. There's always distractions.. Both good and bad. Be it someone ring the door bell nak anta dapur, nk tukar water filter, nk buat wiring baru... or it's almost lunch time hence kene start masak, or En Muddy offday so masa utk sight seeing, and most baddest distraction adelah our internet line was down for freaking 3 days. This one dh tak ley panggei distraction. Dh patut panggil cekik darah punye kes. Anyway anyhow, aku ade bnyk menda nk story kat sini, so one story at a time ek.


Kami pindah lagik ! Tu tajuk utama ari ni. Dari Mangaf Block 3 ke Mangaf Block 4. Block kat sini adelah macam kawasan or mukim ( hmmm aku x sure la ape sebenarnye, zone maybe???). Contoh macam Puchong Utama, Puchong Perdana, Setiawangsa, Wangsa Maju. Cenggitu lah kira nye. Block block kat sini on another hand di panggil building. Ntah kenapa setiap kali dapat rumah, kiterang mesti dapat tingkat tinggi sekali. In old building, tingkat 6, at new home tingkat 8. Sume tingkat paling tinggi hehhe.. Adekah ini sign bile balik Mesia nanti akan duduk pent-house ? Kah kah kah...keep on dreaming makcik !!!...Keep on...

To be truth, dari sampai mmg dah ade hint2 nak kene pindah so I decided not to unpack, just leave everything in the box as it is. Basically, for the last 2 weeks or so, we're living out of suitcase and out of box. Nak pakai baju korek dalam beg, nak masak korek dalam kotak. Asik ulang ulang baju sama jek hahahhaha. Malas nk kluar banyak banyak baju.

Reason perpindahan kali ni ade pelbagai tetapi cerewet was not among it. Bukan nak mewah mewah pun, yang penting selesa dan convinient for all sebab nak duduk 3 tahun. Infact, rumah baru ni lagi kecik dari rumah lama, takde laundry room ( washer, dryer sume peruk dekat dapur ) and comes with only 1 bath tub (rumah lama dua dua bilik air ade bath tub). There's reasons why we decides to move. Senang citer, this house suits our taste more, kene selera bak kata orang Malaysia ( cheh cheh cheh, orang Malaysia ek?? Lempang skit tuan punye blog ni, de tuh orang mana ntah )Nanti dh setahun lebey br nak pindah, barang dh banyak lagi leceh.

Just to name a few on priority basis :


1) Easy access to main road

Rumah kat block 3 ( famously known as Swiss Gym sebab ade Gym kat situ nama Swiss Gym. As simple as that. Most building kat Q8 ni known by its famous bakalah or any trademark nearby the building. Ade satu building was called Shrimpy because ade kedai nama Shrimpy kat tepi building tu hehehhe) was located a bit secluded from main road. Kalau nak kluar, kena jalan kaki keluar ke main road. During winter, it may be a pleasant walk tapi sekarang ni summer wehhhhh. Jgn kan jalan kaki, br kluar lobby dah kluar keringat keringat jantan. Else, another way is kene call chartered cab lah. Mostly this so called chartered car was not well maintained, could be dirty at times and mostly in very bad condition. Ade yang tayar takde angin pun, tapi taknak kalah speed smpi 150 km/h. Jadik pe pe kang sape nk jawap? Dah la aku tak sampai lagi 360 mall uhuhuhuuhh. Yang takde aircond pun ade. Feeling de ala ala macam duduk dalam kebuk wasap. Prebet sapu "Q8 mari" lah senang cerita. New building kat Block 4 on another hand, betul2 tepi main road. Kluar je ade teksi. At times, x sempat sampai gigi jalan, dh ade teksi stop. Tak yah tahan tahan.


- New building punye entrance, just outside the door dah mainroad. Mudah kan?? Sesuwei utk lazy bum cam aku hahahah -

So this is plus point yang membuatkan we all decided to relocate here. One more factor, Swiss Gym tu entrance de siap ade tangga lak weh, mcm 10 anak tangga gak la. Kalau sekali beli brg, paling tak kurang 20-25 plastic bags. Go figure !!!


- Entrance at Swiss Gym, mmg hebat-grand bagai tapi kurang convinient-

Building baru, entrance de trus direct ke main door and terus lift. Super convenient ! Cheh macam macam la alasan ko baiiii hahahahah...

2) New building, new facilities, new furniture


-Lobby building baru -

Block 4 ni building baru, just operate not more that 2 months if compared to Swiss Gym. Jadik, biasa lah bangunan baru kan. Facilities de pun baru and as new building, the piping system, tank system, wiring all are mostly terbaru dan terkini. Like i used to mentioned before, Swiss Gym punye air sangat slow ya ampun !, tend to be very hottttt dan air de a bit yellowish. Unlike Swiss Gym, water here are clear, at reasonable speed and the hot-ness are bearable. Thanks to newly water-tank or the water-tank system, whichever applicable. Alhamdullilah.. Allah made it easy for us.

There are gym facilities and swimming pool also, just like Swiss Gym. The only different was, we can actually use it for real compared to Swiss Gym. At Swiss Gym, they don't actually allowed woman/families to use the gym and pool as the gym was open to everyone including Kuwaitis, explained the strict rules. After few series of complaint made, sebab dalam contract ade tulis yang we can use the gym and pool at anytime we like, they finally gave kelonggaran and allowed women and children to use from 7-9 am daily. Another problem occurs, they did not consistent in opening the pool or gym. Kadang kadang 8, kadang kadang 8.30. Baru cecah kaki kat pool, dah kene halau. How larrrr ??? At Block 4, the building, or accurately, the pool and gym was closed for outsider. Only open for tenants and can be use at anytime we like. Ada yang ckp, ala kat Malaysia dulu, rumah ko ade gym jugak, ade pool gak. Tak mandi pun ari ari. Hahhaha betul betul betul. Kena paham yang kat Q8 ni, not much entertainment can be found around. Nak jalan luar, panas! Nak shopping, barang mahal! Nak tgk movie, banyak cite arab, else english movies de sume dari zaman aku still layan Feminine lagi. CSI New York de pun still season 1 ke season 2. Sedih!! Pool ngn Gym lah jadik pelepas stress cenggituhhhh..One more thing, pool de indoor so anytime pun boley guna. Berkat asik turun pool jek, Alis and Erin can kick correctly and able to swim from one edge to another by themselves. Ofcourse with floaties but I betcha, it wont take long for them to not needing the floaties anymore. Maybe I can borrows theirs if I wanted to go to 2m side hahahahahaha.....


-kinda small tapi cukup la utk kegunaan penduduk bangunan ni yang x berapa kerat ni-


- open concept gym, de terabur kan jek kat depan pool hahhaha -




- pemandangan dr depan entrance, building building jiran. You won't get more than this here. It's either brown, beige or in it's original brick colour. I can understand why coz no point spending thousand dinars on fancy glossy paint coz it's going to get covered in sand anyway. Furthermore, it blends more with nature. They compensate it with highly well decorated lobby entrance. Most all buildings here got somewhat grand entrance, wrough iron gate, fancy lift,fancy drawing at lobby,fancy carpet,fancy wall paper and caretaker that will welcome you everyday, everytime. Most of time ! -


- sedikit preview master bedroom. Please be informed, model is not including in the house package. King size bed were given for both room. Quite bermasalah for us sebab King size Malaysia equivalent to Queen size in Q8. Even though we took extra precaution by picking King size bedsheets in Malaysia ( bedsheets in Q8 are very expensive so we brought few from Malaysia), still it cannot fit both beds. Truthfully, it does looks exactly like me trying to force 5 years old Levis jeans into my post-delivery body kah kah kah -


- dun hate the orange shower curtain, peoplesss !!! I tried my very best not to hahahha. Of all colour, orenggg jugak pilihangg hati building manager ni nk match ngn grey background. Belasah la labu,dummy jek ni sbb bile budak2 ni dh masuk tub, jgn kan lantai bilik air, lantai luar bilik air pun lencun -


Di sebab kan Swiss Gym ni bangunan lama, so basically penyewa de dh bertukar ganti. We could be tenant number 10 or the number could be more. So most furniture dah worn out. Cracked kat dinding mmg dh macam corak. There's one incident, one of the room lamp pecah tiba2. Takde angin takde ribut. Owhh there's ribut alright tapi kat luar hhahhaa. Sah la mmg x pernah bukak tingkap kat rumah ni kan. Just imagine, penuh kaca atas katil, dalam beg baju ( kata living out of suitcase,so beg mmg terbukak ). Bile called building caretaker, de just ckp biarlah, bersihkan la, nanti nanti de tukar. Sampai sudah la x bertukar huuhuhuhu. Dapur de pulak, mmg dh ramai pakai kan so banyak kerja-kerja menggilap, menggosok, membersih lah yang terlibat. Tak la teruk sangat pun, ok jek cuma sense of belonging tu takde, feeling macam rumah sendiri tu takde. Mengada ngada kan hahahha...Isk isk sangat mengada..

Block 4 pulak, dah nama block baru so everything was basically new. Furniture de pun more up to date, more modernize, and furnishing de pun cantik. It's rather small by 1/2 size compared to previous home but there's something about this house. Ade connection. Me likey !
The previous tenant was an American doctor who rented the house only on monthly basis as he came here on assignment. De duduk tak sampai dua bulan pun, he doesn't cook I guess coz dapur bersih berkilat tak bersentuh, freezer de tak berpakai lagi siap manual pun ade lg dlm tu, no trace of food inside which means he doesn't use it, and most all of kitchen stools provided by the management like toaster, cooking pots, fork and spoon still dlm either dalam plastic atau boxes. Somemore, since he came on single basis, only master bedroom's toilet was fully utilized as guest bathroom left untouched. Another alhamdullilahhhh... Again, Allah made it easy for us.


- setiap block pasti ade menda ni. Flyers utk delivery. Kat sini, tiap menda ade delivery. Thai restaurant, chinese restaurant, indian, turkish, krispy kreme.. segala mak nenek la ade delivery. Kat rumah aku ni dah ade berpuluh flyers. Sangat senang utk suri suri rumah yang di jangkiti penyakit allergic masuk dapur secara tiba2. Bile kena jek ngn penyakit misteri ni, all you have to do terabur kan sume flyers dalam koleksi, sebut teka teki teka tekuk, tengok mana yang kene, pehtu call jek. Mudah kannnnn -


- galley -



3 ) Neighbours

In Swiss Gym, most of my neighbors were US American soldiers base in Q8. Only 1 Malaysian family that I know off. Not that I have problem with that coz personally, they are nothing but nice and friendly. It just that we came to hear that there's a lot of Malaysian staying in new building in Block 4.

Infact, there's a lot of Malaysian living nearby.It's like mini perkampungan orang Malaysia. This triggers me something u know. Back in Malaysia, there's a time we gets worried about mini perkampungan Indo or Vietnamese yang tumbuh mcm cendawan lepas hujan. Could it be now Kuwaitis's turn to worried about us. Just like can be seen gerai bakso tepi tepi jalan, who knows tak lama lg ade pulak gerai2 Ramli Burger kat Q8 hahahaha...Acah jek, ngeri wooo sbb kat sini instead of normal police patrol car doing round, they sent FBI doing patrolling. Like wat the @#$%. FBI wehhh. I've seen them only on TV before and now, they're patrolling on road we use everyday. Wat malu Embassy jek kang ade rakyat Mesia kene tangkap coz setup illegal burger stall hahaha.

Okay, back to topic yang dh terlepas 3-4 simpang. So far, there's 6 Malaysian families including us staying here. 2 more on their way. It is indeed feel good being surrounded with familiar languanges, cultures and faces sometimes. Bukan tak nak bermingle dgn orang local or lain lain bangsa, it just the fact that En Muddy working on shift rotation. We dun have our priviliges like in Malaysia. We dun have car here. We certainly have no Columbia Hospital behind our backdoor and we obviously doesn't have parents staying 15 km away. In any case of emergency or kids got sick, it is indeed good to have someone we can trust and speak our language few floors away. Tu jek reason de.

4) Dekat dengan convinient store dan shoplots

Block 4 ni, as i kept mentioned was very near to main road. Near to seaside pun yer jugak. Near to Fahaheel pun yer. There's one convenient store ala ala Giant, opened 24 hours at sini. So senang la kalau tgh malam tiba2 nk makan ayam goreng tapi ayam takde, lari kejap gi beli. Sultan Centre pun dekat, within En Muddy's walking distance, so senang la kalau nk beli ape ape. Reason aku letak En Muddy's waking distance, sbb setakat ni de jek gigih jalan kaki. If i were to come along, sila la tahan teksi walau hakikat nye, 2-3 minit dah sampai hahahhaa. There's a lot of interesting shops can be found around this area if you keep looking. Most of kedai kat sini style de agak outdated. Style ala ala super kinta. Mostly all the good stuff located kat basement. Road level cuma entrance jek, we have to go few stairs down, masuk ke bawah baru la jumpa kedai sebenar. To those yang pernah pergi SuperKinta kat Ipoh paham la maksud aku hehehe. We found one store yang jual barang barang made in china. Mostly plastic ware and cheap household. Sangat sioookkkk . I'm sucker for cheap stuff. Takkan la nk beli mangkuk plastic, tapis sayur pun kat The Avenue kot hehehe. Trus En Muddy booked ticket anta balik Mesia. Lagi menambah belanja lak bawak dtg Q8.


- view from tingkap dapur, kat sini la aku skodeng FBI yang lalu lalang -


- another view dari tingkap dapur, motif sebenar nak tunjuk laut, dekat kan dr rumah aku, rasanye jln kaki smpi ni..kami mmg tak ley dipisahkan dgn laut. Lumut, Besut and now Qwait. -


- humble living room, sejengkal je hehhe -


- little project for alis and erin, called misi menghias bilik air mereka-




- end result cermin, jadik laaaaaaaa, ceria skit hahaha -

So, tu la sesi pengenalan kepada rumah baru kami yang cute ni. Dah dekat seminggu, so far alhamdullilah takde masalah. Hopefully this will last for 3 years and next relocation we have to face is when we leaving for good. Insya allah.

Till next post, satu pesanan dari penaja : Walau di mana anda berada, "Safety comes first, dan practice makes perfect". Ingat tuh !!!



- Mak saya kecoh, mandi dlm tub pun kene pakai floaties, kecoh kan de tuhhh ! Saya tgh prektis swim ni sebab mak saya kata cara saya "kick" ade gaya, gaya ratu renang negara !!! -