Here we go

.. again!!

So its confirmed. the letter's out and he's leaving first week of raya. back to being a lone range-ress and joining that special group of women who stays behind (albeit reluctantly) in the name of all thats good for the family!!

(and being separated from the hubs is good? hmmm..)

Better enjoy him while i can :)

(but i get to run again yay !! time for new shoes!!)

This time around, we've both managed to somehow 'built' ourselves these impressively impressive round bellies (god help me, i've put on at least 4kg).... product of an ongoing 'affair' with food-testing (or is it tasting?) lol. why does everything taste so much better when you're sharing it with the one you love eh? anyway, its going to take a lot of work tearing it down so.. that will keep me pretty occupied i guess.

(but i still hate being left behind)

Slow

.. and steady.

Its the only way to go when you're maidless & you have the whole household depending on you, be it physically (running around like a mad dog making sure loved ones are happy) or mentally (keeping positive about everything & anything so that they can remain optimistic).

Yeah, i'm the port they all return to at the end of their 'exotic forays' into the world. altho being a dependable 'port' can be tiring at times, i've long accepted my fate.. i have to be strong, physically & mentally.

A rather tall order isnt it? and the only way i can do that is by going about it slooooow & steaaaaady ;)

I'm not planning anything drastic this eid, just the bare minimum (tapi bare minimum pun penat jugak tau). lets see, i've launched my ongoing war on the roaches (and i'm winning i think?), i've tackled ye olde tapestry, i've spruced the place up a bit with new bouquets, i've located the 'bekas kuih' (stored out of sight until syawal) and all the other stuff that we usually need for eid, i've bought new mats/rugs for the kitchen (the existing ones should've already been disposed off a long time ago) and.... and... oh and i finally drove golfman crazy enough to get us those long overdue kopitiam tables for the terrrace!!! hehehe, my greatest achievement this eid :)

Now if i can only convince AH that new clothes will never materialize out of thin air unless she goes out shopping (or she's david blane's gf).

Eeeek... theres only ONE weekend left!!

I have nothing to wear either!! nothing new that is.

(Gawd.. i HATE shopping myself)

And i was also thinking of whitewashing the tembuk depan rumah... and maybe painting one of the interior wall a darker colour just for contrast.. and maybe parts of the terrace while i'm at it.. oh, and 1-2 pokok gayut2 from the nursery outside tesco would look nice hanging from the arches.

Hey, keep it to the bare minimum woman, remember!!

-__-' right.

OOhh and thank god i remembered to renew my driver's license in the nick of time, way too dangerous to forget lorh. kiddoes.... are your DLs ok? go check.

Adoi mak

... wa sudah tua lorh!!!!! hehehe, today yours truly turns 47.

Yup, its my 47th birthday people *HUGE GRIN*

And the best part is, i get to have the whole day OFF how cool is that ;)

(selangor cuti for nuzul quran)

Itinerary for the day:

1. first and foremost, i will be declaring an open war on my curtains. "ye be en guarde, ye olde tapestry muahahaha". i suspect its going to be a major undertaking but never fear, i have my strategy ;). after all i did survive the battle royale with the despicable roaches last week .

2. then after battling it out, with my minah korea as my only ally (read: daewoo heavy-duty washing machine), its iftah at hotel equitorial along with a few of golfman's golf buddies, yay.

Boys i really wish u were here too!!!

Alafasy

Yup its official. after 3 straight nites of nothing but gushing compliment upon compliment, i know for sure that my hubs is in the throes of a major major crush. the way his face lights up at the mere mention of the name, the barely suppressed excitement in his voice, the bemused smile.. he's showing all the classic symptoms!!

Alafasy. mishary rashid alafasy. a name that conjures up unbidden thoughts of the arabian nights. the mystery, the romance.

And their meeting was completely accidental. the hubs was surfing, checking out the latest at U-tube and who'd have guessed with just one click, he'd become irrevocably & undeniably hooked!! love at first sight? maybe, i dunno but it sure looks that way. and yes alafasy is a 'he', a male, one who is so full of facial hair that you could never ever mistake him for anything other than a MAN. he's the one golfman is going ga-ga over.

But mind you, i dont think i'll be losing any sleep over this one bcos even if it does seem to be the trend these days, i know for a fact he wont be going down the forbidden path. my man likes the 'straight & narrow' too much to deviate. no, this is a healthy crush (if theres such a thing).

It's alafasy's melodious quran recitation.. he's gone totally nuts over it :)

'They' have been reciting the quran 'together' at u-tube almost every night and when this happen 'they' are lost in 'their' own little world!!

But i think i'll just turn a blind eye and leave 'them' alone... for now ;)

Oh and to all our soldiers out there, thank you for all that you do:
Selamat Menyambut Hari Angkatan Tentera Malaysia ke 75

Halfway

.. we've crossed the halfway mark and it wont be long before we're into the last 10 days of ramadan.

Seribu syukur ke atas segala nikmat MU.. semoga di panjangkan umur kami dalam keimanan dan diberi kesungguhan & keikhlasan yang melimpah dalam mengejar kerahmatan 10 malam terakhir. insyaallah.

I'm happy the man's home. ramadan just wouldnt be the same without his 'fast & furious' jemaah tarawih... one would have to be pretty fit to match his pace; the children will certainly attest to that eheh.

Talking about the kids, both the boys havent been home for puasa. rindu kat diorang tapi apa nak buat, semuanya tersangat la bz. orang muda la katakan, masing2 tengah berusaha mencari haluan sendiri. sorang sibuk mengajar, sorang lagi sibuk with his nelayan documentary. sampai muntah hijau naik bot nelayan ek darling?! and the latest si AI tu terkena food poisoning la pulak ish ish. apa2 pun jangan la sampai terlepas peluang yang ada dibulan yang mulia ni k, rugi je nanti.

Owh and sad to say theres a great possibility that golfman will be leaving again right after raya, maybe for a longer stint this time, maybe its back to before, entah la. and it seems that the chief orang minyak will be paying a visit around the 8th so anak2 buah kena la get ready much earlier... which means he might have to leave sometime during the raya week itself. haish, people still in raya mood laaa!!

Truth be told its not something i look forward to but if he has to, he has to, no point on mulling over it kan. so...

Lets just seize the day people :)

He's back

.. and as always its the food he misses the most eheh.

i love you too babe ;)

Family

.. means everything to me.

Of course my life & all that goes with it is ultimately HIS but putting the obvious aside, my family is numero uno. yup, its the hub & kids that keep my life full and i like it that way. not having anyone to call your own is the loneliest existence ever. i know. i lived that way for a big chunk of my life and thats why i treasure & cherish my loved ones deeply.

The hubs is my rock. he keeps me grounded, he keeps me sane... he keeps it real. with him i dont feel as if i'm something that could be washed down the kitchen sink. i am me & i matter.

The children completes me. they help fill in the blanks. through their eyes i now see all that i couldnt (or wouldnt) have seen then. and the burst of glorious riotous colours that they bring with them have brightened up the darkest corners of my soul. i am a better me because of them.

My darlings... this is beyond love.

Playing house

With the golfman off to turkmenistan for a week and the boys tied up wherever they are the weekend wouldve been pretty bleak.

But instead it turned out to be quite fun... especially for AH. yup, she got to 'main masak2' with her bf and his bro!!

Once she had our permission to have him over for iftah, she was already in full gear planning the menu and the activities. she was even up bright & early to do the marketing with me (wonder of wonders heheh). the menu was going to be: grilled chicken wings, potato salad & udang masak lemak cili padi. oh and probably some kueh or other.

Heh, it was a merry time indeed in the kitchen and i was there only to supervise. it was really up to them how the dishes were going to turn up.. pedas masin masam or whatever. after all there's no wrong or right in cooking.. we just cook it the way we want to eat it. and they actually did a marvelous job, complete with blue & green coloured onde-ondes for dessert!!

Hmmm.. now i know what to do the next time i wanna take a kitchen break ;)

As expected

.. i already felt it in my guts. even before he processed the report, i could see from his response that he'd already set his mind.

Why else would he have been so evasive over all my questions?

"The results of the investigation will be out by tuesday. we will contact you," was all he said.

Yeah right. tuesday came & went and still nothing. i wasnt about to go against the police no siree so i waited. and waited. but its been almost a week. tak bole jadi la macam ni so i called the station up just as i got into the office on friday.

"Bla bla bla bla bla blah"... suffice to say i was told that in matters pertaining to my report only the officer attending to me that nite would be able to help me. unfortunately he wasnt available and would only be in the next morning.

Come saturday and in the short phone convo that ensued, i was then told very simply, "we've classified the case as RTI"

RTI - refer to insurance i.e. both parties to claim their own insurances. whadda eeffff? and the taximan gets away with banging my car? so its just "goodbye and goodluck to you" eh?

Laaa... you're telling me even the pics & sketches (which is pretty obvious) are useless then?

Ooh ok then.. we'll see.. tuhan maha adil.

Giving

.. a big part of ramadan is giving to others.

In fact i think its actually better for all of us if we could also bring forward the spirit of open houses into ramadan instead of having it all in syawal.

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, "Whoever feeds a fasting person will have a reward equal to that of the fasting person, without any reduction in his reward." [Related by Ahmad and Al-Nasai. Also verified by Al-Albani as sahih].

In a hadith narrated by Salman Al-Farisi, the Prophet (pbuh) said, "Whoever feeds a fasting person, will be recompensed with forgiveness of sins and salvation from Hell. He will receive the same reward as the fasting person without causing him any reduction (in his reward).

If only..

Ramadhan Al-Mubarak

Selamat Menghiasi Ramadhan to one and all :)