Random Facts

[This posting was originally written somewhere in Feb '09. But I've been editing and re-editing it for a while now.]

I was about to sleep last night or was it woke up in the middle of the night and suddenly thought about this. No, this is not a random facts note about me. But about my parents. I want to put this all down now while I still remember. And this is more for Aliah and Jannah when they grow up so that they know more about their Tok and TokMi, because I didn't know much about my own grandparents and by the time I feel like asking they are no longer around and my parents couldn't answer my questions.

1. They met in Batang Berjuntai, in the 60s. Apparently, Papa was there with a friend who fancied Mama, but somehow they hooked up instead. And the rest they say is history (I still feel, there's more to this story but I can never get a straight answer from either one of them)

2. They finally got married on 19 December 1969. Initially, they wanted to have the wedding earlier but we all know what happened in May '69 so it was postponed. The groom's side didn't even want to come to KL at that time for fear of the riots.

3. They bought their first house in 1970 and that is where they have been living until 2009. For a while they rented a house in Sg Way up till the point my eldest brother was born. The price of the house then was 110k. And according to their story, they had to borrow the downpayment from my maternal grandma. This was also because they just got married, and most of their savings were used to renovate my paternal grandparents home in Kg Melayu Majidee.

4. It was an easy pregnancy for Mama while she was carrying Abang, but for the next 6 years they kept trying for a 2nd child to no avail. I was born after 2 miscarriages and a total bed rest for Mama during the pregnancy.

5. Both of them are retired government servants. Papa was the KP of NPC when he retired and Mama was the GPK of SRK DJ. Papa took the optional retirement 7 months before his actual retirement for reasons I cannot publish here and Mama being the devoted wife that she is took her optional retirement at the same time. (they both retired in Oct 1994)

6. Papa is going on 69 and Mama will be 65 this year, and they both can still drive their own cars. And both cars are manual pulak tu! (By the time I got this posted, Mama just bought herself a new Myvi - which is auto so kena scrap the drive manual cars statement)

7. Papa still goes for his daily jog and Mama goes for her daily taichi session every morning. But now, I'm not sure whether they still do. Having moved to Bangi and all that.

I can't think of any other things to add on right now, but I will add to this list later once I feel there are things of interest.

Finally!

Remember the anniversary tree? Well, it's finally here!! Hubby has been harping about liking the plant for a long time, and since I was open to any suggestions we opted for it. But I got to choose the colour. So, here it is. A red frangipani. Hopefully it will grow big and strong.

And so, since we were already at the nursery, we decided to do some tree shopping. Haha! We bought 3 palms (to shade the house a bit), a limau kasturi plant (that was the only edible plant I thought worth buying; i.e. - lots of harvest and little care needed) and some japanese roses (because I've always loved them and they were cheap too). And thus, I planted my first pokok. That's an achievement people!

This is the only flower blooming in the pot so far. Haih.. I hope they don't die on me! Haha..

And here are the palms, its called theManila Palm and at the nursery we picked the most bushiest and healthiest palms we could. We opted for palms because the roots are not akar tunjang (kagum ni ingat lagi!), tapi akar serabut. So it will not break the drain in years to come. For the next 6 weeks it has to be tied up like that to give time for the roots to settle. And for now, it need lots of water. Luckily that Bangi has been raining on a daily basis. Penat jugak nak tarik hose kalau tak. But, I can't wait 6 weeks! 6 weeks is too long! Argh! Tak sabarnya nak tengok the leaves kembang. As it is now pon, hari - hari I would spend about 10 minutes outside looking at it. Haha..

So, finally after 5 years we have some plants in our home. That in itself is a milestone ain't it?

Picture Post

Can someone please tell me again, am I raising a boy or a girl?


J is a big girl already kan?

But I have to admit, I don't practise gender stereotyping with them. If they want to play with trains, they can. If they want to be Ultra.man, Ben1.0, or whatever other boy characters from TV, they can. If they want to plays with dolls, Dora or Straw.berry Short.cake, they can too. Although diorang ni jarang lah nak play with girl toys. I just hope when they are old enough, they will realise that not everyone takes kindly to them playing with "boys toys". But it really does not matter what other people think.

...

.tired.

.demotivated.

.un-focused.

.need a break. .need a change. .need a new job. oh, crap. i don't know what i need anymore.

..same sh*t, different day..

*sigh*

48 hours

I think it was the most packed and hectic 48 hours of our lives to date. But I feel we managed to accomplish a lot during that space of time. So, all is good. I'll give a run down on the events of those 2 days.

Saturday, 28 Feb

8am : Woke up, read books with Aliah. She is improving tremendously with her Iqra' and her reading. Rewarded her with the Ben10 season 1 DVD. Happy happy!

930am : Gave Aliah her bath. Woke Hubby up. Took a bath. Had breakfast.

1015am : Left home. Jannah was very unhappy to be left behind.

1045am : Traffic jam on the LDP in Puchong. *ggrrrrr* Aliah too was not happy, as it was taking too long to get to her school.

1120am : Arrived at Mak's to pick Yon up. By this time, Aliah has fallen back to sleep.

1150am : Finally arrived in TTDI for Aliah's first day at playschool. We missed about 15 minutes of class I think. Luckily Aliah was oblivious about it. Hubby proceeded to Mama's to pick up more things to move to Bangi.

1230pm : Class over. Aliah had a really good time. She can't wait to show her Papa what she did in school today.

1245pm : Hubby still stuck in traffic (so what else is new?)

110pm : Hubby finally arrived. Proceeded to OU for our movie session.

130pm : Arrived just in time. Luckily I bought our tickets much earlier. So, immediately ushered everyone for the long awaited Geng : Pengembaraan Bermula movie. I have to say, we all really enjoyed it. And I think I laughed the hardest. Haha. Sangat kiut ok si kembar itu! Oh, FINALLY found the star stickers.. wohoooo!! Note to self : If you're out of star stickers again after this, please go to Toy.City. TQVM.

320pm : Movie over. Solat. Lunch.

445pm : Pick up yummy cuppies from Mamachak. Met up with Kak Lin yg dah slim melim eventhough baru beberapa bulan deliver baby Hannah. (Yes Kak Lin, I thought I'd never get to say this, but you are sooo much more slimmer than I am!)

530pm : Dropped Yon off back in Puchong.

6pm : Arrived home to a very sleepy and unhappy Jannah. She had this merajuk look on her face. She even had that face on during her nap about 5 minutes after we arrived. Punyala dia tak larat gila, tapi tak puas hati nak tunggu gak kitorang balik tu. Hehehe.. Kesian betul.

630pm : Getting ready to go to Istana.Budaya.

710pm : Contemplating whether to leave after Maghrib or not. Decided I've had enough rushing for the day and left pronto.

8pm : Arrived at IB.

9pm : The start of a 3 hours non-stop excellent music. Totally awesome. Worth every RM. (I am running out of extreme vocabs to use here)

Sunday, 1 March

1230am : Left IB, went for supper at Nasi Lemak Mak Wanjor.

130am : Arrived home and suprise suprise Jannah is still not asleep. She was extremely excited to see us.

2am : Jannah finally asleep.

930am : Woke up, woke the kids up, rushed to get ready. It was our last day to step foot on the PJ house, and I wanted the kids to be there too somehow.

11am : Arrived in PJ. Mama and Papa was still loading stuff into the car. It never ends! Haha. Jannah refused to take her shoes off in the house, seeing that it's all cluttered and in a mess. Anyhow, I walked into each of the empty room and reminisence on the memories it held. That was the house I grew up in, the house I got married in, the house I had both my confinements in.. heck it's the only home I've ever known. 31 years is a long time.

pic : Aliah playing with my 25y.o. sewing machine. Jannah still refusing to take off her shoes.

230pm : Left PJ for Iman Khalis' birthday. Amazing this Google.Map i tell you. I totally cannot remember how to get to Cor's parents' house but GM on Hubby's E61 did all the finding. Cool!

5pm : Left Setapak. Wanted to wait for a few other friends to arrive but didn't want to be caught in the rain.

630pm : Arrived home after a detour in Puchong to pick Yon up again.

8pm : Waiting game, we were supposed to be celebrating my nephew n niece birthday in the garden of Mama & Papa's new house. But it was still raining so had to change venue to Abang's house since the Taman.Universiti house is still a kapal pechah.

9pm : Finally had dinner and some relax time with the family.

pic : The 6 older kids. Not in pic.. J & Baby Maisarah who is going to be a kakak herself too by year end.

1015pm : Left for Nilai to send Yon back. It was however, not without excitement as Aliah vomitted in the car. Tsk. In her own words, "Lepas makan muffin (she calls the cuppies muffin), tak bole minum susu kan" I think she was more angry with herself for vomitting.

1130pm : Finally the weekend is over.

Penat sey.. Tiring. Very tiring. But it was a good weekend. Cuma next week kena strive not to stress ourselves out too much with driving all over the place. Haha.