Weekend of 19th and 20th Nov 05

The eagerly awaited weekend of 19th and 20th Nov finally came :) After work on Friday, we already told maid that we're going away for the weekend and she doesn't need to do any washing or whatsoever. (Ialah, kalau tak pesan kesian pulak dia basuh baju bagai nak rak and lepas tu baju yang tinggal tu masam pulak coz lembab over the weekend) I packed enuff clothes for the kids and me & C till Monday.. mana la tau just in case anything happened. [kira macam instinct to "sediakan payung sebelum hujan" la coz memang at the end we stayed till Monday as C was tired to drive back on Sunday]

That Friday evening, we had to take Faie to the clinic coz she looked so weak and been sleeping everytime we came back from ofis. When i asked whether she's OK or not, she'll answer that she's OK but she'll go back to sleep right away. Dia nampak macam "high" after makan ubat demam or selsema. But when we asked the maid she said Faie's like that sebab "tak tidur siang". I was not satisfied with the answer coz selama hari ni pun kalau Faie tak tidur, she'll be very active.. with her mulut becok and running around. She's just not her normal self. At the clinic i was quite annoyed with the Dr's explanation. The Dr said it's normal for kids to be weak when they're recovering from fever. I was not satisfied so i brought up an issue saying that Faie is under-weight. To that, he even annoyed me further by saying "No, she's normal" until i insisted for him to jot down her weight. When the nurse said to the Dr that Faie's weight is only 12kg, the Dr agreed to monitor her weight everytime she comes to the clinic.

Saturday morning, after the kids had their breakfast, we drove down to the kenduri in Batu Pahat [BP]. Since we started our journey at about 11am, we expected we'll be there around 2.30pm. It was raining all the way from KL to BP which really didn't help us. We sorta looking for which exit we should take so that we'll get there on time since perut dah mula nak main lagu keroncong. Out of sudden, my phone rang and the caller was my auntie. She and her family were actually on their way to JB. We stopped at the rest area and sembang. C asked my uncle on which route to take. After getting some ideas on what to expect, we moved on with our journey. Anyhow, to cut the story short, we all sesat sampai entah ke mana-mana and at the end we called the bride's house to ask for direction. We finally arrived at the kenduri at 3.30pm in the rain. The couple looked so lovely in matching color of golden yellow. According to the couple, they're lucky coz the rain started while they're having "makan beradab" [lunch at the special table]. Old people says, kalau tengah makan beradab hujan turun, sejuk rumahtangga. InsyaAllah :)

After some catching up with the couple, we made our move to Kluang. That small town didn't change much as it's still quiet and peaceful. Managed to show C and kids my primary school of Tunku Mahmood 1, which now is on it's own. Last time the compound was shared with Tunku Mahmood 2. Also kids jakun sekejap tengok train bawak barang lalu kat tengah town. Went round Kg Melayu and area Gunung Lambak. C took a pix of the house me and family stayed in 1980 fro 2 years which to my amazement still looked the same. The same as exacto mundo, as if nothing was done to the house, not harmed by the rain and sun, still standing steadily eventho it really looked old now. We didn't get to see the other houses and areas i wanted to see as we're rushing to meet up with C's cousin somewhere along the highway. I made a point to myself that i'll go back to Kluang again so that i will get to do some visiting later.

To cut story short, we reached JB at around 9pm feeling really tired and sleepy but hungry. While C's cousin went out to buy dinner, we freshened up ourselves. Eventho it's kinda late, kids were still very excited bcoz they saw many big toys in the cousin's house. They were playing till close to midnite. Kena paksa tidur baru nak tidur :? Told them that they need to get up early the next day coz we have another wedding to attend.

We arrived at the wedding close to 1pm. Best dapat pegi wedding with this open house concept. The food was awesome :D Host had the delicious mee rebus Stulang, infamous otak-otak Kempas, yummy beriyani with all the lauk pauk, murtabak special Singapore, tasty kuih bakar and the rich fruit cake. I saw all the guests were smiling from ear to ear while they sampled all those delicious food. The newly weds, who looked stunning in turqouise green outfits, went from one table to another entertaining the guests while groom's mom and sisters busy running in and out of the house to make sure everything is in order. Relatives and friends came from near and far. After hubby sent back kids to his cousin's house as they're getting restless, we're joined by TC, Tie, Silmi & baby; Feruz with Zalina & Aaliyah; Adi, Penny & Nayli; CK, Noreez and Sheryl :) We took quite a number of pix as you can view at CK's, Noreez's and Sheryl's blogs. We were so busy excitedly updating ourselves with all sorts of stories sampai tak sedar dah petang :D

...alamak.. penat la coz dah tiga minggu dok type cerita ni tapi tak habis gak lagi.. nanti la sambung lagi..

Happenings since i last blogged.. part 2

The one and only time me and hubby break fast outside during Ramadhan was when we gathered with C's batchmates for their annual Arietans buka puasa gathering. They'll have it every year, fixed on 3rd Saturday of Ramadhan. But this year, they had it a lil bit earlier because many were not able to attend bcoz Friday 21st October was a public holiday in some states for Nuzul Quran. So, they had it on Wednesday 19th instead. Eventho the crowd was smaller this year but no doubt it was still a FUN one catching up with these cool budak koleq and their families :) Among the better half attended were Abby, Lissa, Jojie, Suzany, Chech, Inaiza, Tie, Amy and a few others [please pardon my goldfish memory :( ] Also, got the chance to meet Zahari, my primary school classmate. We didn't see each other after my family moved from Kluang to KL in 1980. I only heard stories about him from hubby all these while. Having to meet him face to face brought back some childhood memories. We made a point that we need to catch up with each other again. One fine day maybe..

During Arietans' buka puasa gathering, one of his frens distributed his wedding invitation card which will take place in BP [for the bride side] and JB [for his side] this coming weekend of 19th and 20th November. InsyaAllah hubby, me and kids will be going over.. kalau tak de aral melintang. I'm excited and really can't wait to meet up with CK, FK and Yasmin coz they are invited too :D And hopefully we'll be able to meet up with Sheryl, Noreez and Raudz too *wink* Would love to go around JB and singgah my old school if time permits. Haven't been going to JB since 1990 when i last visited my sis before i left for US. Kalau la ada masa, nak jugak singgah Kluang to have a look at the town where i grew up. Nak tengok and tunjuk to hubby and kids my primary schools, those previous houses where i lived in during my childhood, a fren's family house [who used to be my buddy during primary school days. Heard she's a nurse in Sultanah Aminah hospital in JB but her family still live in Kluang in the same house where me and family used to visit dulu-dulu], another fren's family house [she was in the same class when we're in Std 4 and Std 5 during primary days and we went to same school and live in the same dorm for 5 years during our secondary days. She passed away after some complications after giving birth to her first child many years ago.. al-Fatihah.. I used to lepak at her house during school holidays bcoz her house was not far from the quarters me and family lived in. Hope her parents still live there.. or at least her brother's or her sister's family..] and some lepak places which i frequent to last time. My family spent many years in Kluang when my dad was still in the army. Dad's last posting was also in Kluang before he retired in 1984.

Will try to update more happenings later kalau semua my plans materialised :) For now, just thinking about this weekend, make me smile from one ear to another :D

Happenings since i last blogged..

Hehehe, have been VERY lazy and not in mood to blog or do anything :( But, so many things happened for the last 2 over months which i think i would like to put in writing. We celebrated wonderful birthdays of Faie, Simba, Mohsin and darling hubby/papa. Eventho we didn't do any grand celebrations but with cakes and gifts or angpows, everybody was happy. We only have another birthday to go, which is Milia's, before the year ends. Faie now has a few Barbie or other Barbie-look-alike dolls in her collection, Simba had some angpow monies in his bank account, Mohsin had a new Lego set and hubby got new perfume and shirt :) As for what cakes they had, SIL made yummylicious tiramisu for Faie, sinfully delicious cheesecake with powerpuff girls sugar poster for Simba and wonderful banana pudding for Mohsin. As for hubby, i bought him a simple blueberry cake but we enjoyed it nevertheless.

After all the birthdays, came Ramadhan and Raya. Eventho i think i shouldn't be complaining much about anything [and be grateful with all i've been getting], overall i didn't have a good Ramadhan. I had lotsa orders for the cookies i advertised after i gave out a lot of samples but i didn't get to deliver all. The kakak who made those cookies didn't have enough helpers to make the cookies ordered. At one time, she had no any helper at all :( She's lucky to get some help from some frens and managed to make some and delivered some eventho not all. I had to cancel about 50 to 60 pax of my orders too. But for me, it's better to get something rather than nothing.. alhamdulillah.

During Ramadhan also, hubby had to follow his mom to China for 6 days. MIL wanted to experience fasting with his 2 sons there and later they came back for Raya celebration together. MIL being not that well and having to transit a few times along the way may have lack of confidence to go alone, hence had to drag C along. Well, good for hubby coz he really enjoyed his stay there. In his exact words, "...it'll be good if we can go and live there.." :) He loves the place [he described it as LOVELY] and the politeness of the people there.

In the absence of C, to make things worse, my parents went for their umrah trip for about 2 weeks. Just like MIL who wants to experience fasting in China, my parents also want to experience doing their ibadah and fasting in holy lands during Ramadhan. I was so sad and turned moody when my parents didn't call. They finally called when they're in Mecca. Alhamdulillah everything went well for them until they arrived back in KL one day before Eid. A few hours after they reached home, and gathered things they bought for the relatives in Mecca, dad drove back to Kuala Kangsar to spend the last day of break fasting with my mom's sibblings.

Our first day of Raya was actually spent on the road and in KK. C had earlier prepared chicken chop for our family's Raya dish. After C came back from Raya prayers and we have eaten our chcicken chop [which was definitely YUMMY :D ], we went over to MIL's house. We had our "bermaafan" session with C's mom, sis and 2 brothers. At noon, we started our journey to KK while C's mom and sibblings went to Kg Pandan to join the rest of his mom's sibblings and their children for their Raya tour. I always long for this Raya tour bcoz we'll go in at least 6 cars to visit one family after another in Kg Baru. We usually start with Wak Ruby's house and will go to Wak Miah's followed by Wak Asip's, Nyai Mok's and the last one will be Nyai Busu's before we proceed to Bukit Indah. But we didn't get to join the entourage last year and this year. [Kalau panjang umur, next year and year after next mesti ikut beraya with them coz all the aunties, uncles and cousin mousin coz memang meriah la kan :) I mentioned 2 years bcoz next year the married cousin mousin will celebrate first few days of Raya with their inlaws so only the year after next they'll celebrate first few days of Raya with their parents]

[to be continued..]