Chap ayam brand

I read an advertisement in The Star recently that says “Your skin is your brand.” I can’t remember the rest of the line but the tag line was too overwhelming for me to ignore. Wait a minute mister...if this was true then my brand is definitely the cap ayam one. The no class one you know...

This advertisement definitely adds to my (already) low self esteem over my severely damaged skin. The good news is after 2 sessions at New York Skin I could see some positive result...alhamdulillah. And of course, the beauty consultants tried their very best to push me to purchase other products that they say will speed up the recovery process - which of course would cost thousands of lemons (and as you’d expect it, monies that I don’t have, much less to spend). I feel that these people just simply don’t understand the phrase “I can’t afford it”. By the way, because of the severity of my skin condition, instead of every 10 days, I have to undergo treatment every 3 days instead.

I’ve also started taking tomato lycopene supplement to boost my skin recovery process. I am hoping and praying very hard to see dramatic result in the next 2 months, InsyaAllah. Otherwise, I may lose all hope at seeing my skin close to being flawless ever again *sob sob sob*.

Yesterday, my cap ayam eyes also had to be ‘repaired’ again. Looks like everything on me is chap ayam, none is top-rate brand except for my BRAIN...hahaha *perasan tahap dewa*. I suffer from a condition whereby I have excess calcium under my eyelids. But according to another doctor, it’s concretion of mucus. I seriously don’t know who to believe. But both think that the underlying problem is the lack of moisture in my eyes, and they both claimed that they have never seen such case during their entire career as eyes specialist - more specifically one is an opthamaltic surgeon and another is an opthamologist (fyi one of them is 70yrs old!) Camno tuh? My aunt once said jokingly that my dear husband is too good of a husband that I seldom cry. I need to cry more to cure my eyes...itu macam pun boleh ka?

All I know is once every 2 or 3 months, my eyes will start hurting because the calcium deposit (for the sake of writing this post, let’s call it as such) will start scratching my eyeballs. Imagine having tiny and sharp sands burried partially in your eyelids – that’s how painful it could be. It affects my eyesight as well, I've became super sensitive to light because the oil surface that protects my eyeballs has diminished significantly. Hence why you always see me wearing my dark shades. I wear them not just for the sake of gaya, but for health reasons too...please take note ok.

The only way to remove them is by manual extraction, i.e. using needles and cotton buds...got the picture? I say sudah nasib badan...*redha dan pasrah*

A meaty affair for my birthday

Alhamdulillah...yesterday I celebrated my 37th birthday. Although I wish the day would never come (ever!), it was finally here yesterday. For a day, I felt like a celebrity with so many birthday wishes on my FB wall. I have never received so many birthday wishes in my entire life! I feel so blessed to have so many friends around me. I love you people!!! At this juncture, I’d like to congratulate Mr. Mark Zuckerberg for a splendid job. I say this man deserve some sort of award for making friends around the world connect and reconnect (and turning millions into addicts, including yours truly)...ngeeee

My darling hubby took a day off to celebrate my special day yesterday. For my birthday lunch, I wanted to have some meat (this doesn’t sound right somehow) and I wanted to go somewhere farther than 1U dan kawasan-kawasan yang sewaktu dengannya. So we settled for Tony Roma’s at Pavillion. I had steak, hubby and the boys had rib – a meat eating family indeed we are. Ariana had her all time favorite fish and chips. Sophie was sound asleep when we had our lunch - it was such a bliss to be able to eat peacefully without having to chase her around the restaurant (which we still ended up doing so after she woke up just before we had our desert).

After lunch, we walked around the mall aimlessly. Being surrounded by so many outlets selling beautiful, gorgeous and stunning handbags *drooling* made me feel a little bit restless. I felt like I was surrounded by a buffet of mouth watering food but can’t eat them...huwaaaa! This is why I prefer to go to 1U. I feel more at ease there...hehehe.

Now come to the fun part of any birthday celebrations, the present. My eldest son bought me a mouse that I so desperately need to farm more efficiently at Farmville...hehehe (tak tau bila nak insaf). Thank you Daniel! Kyle made me breakfast in bed with help from his big bro. He also gave me RM90 cash (this boy of mine is rich!). Thanks Kyle! My darling handsome hubby got me a surprise. Just when I told him not to buy me anything coz I had charged his card for my New York Skin treatment, he still went ahead and bought me a present (you really didn’t have to sayang). Thanks for the present baby, it was indeed a surprise, love it love it love it!!!

My birthday surprise

Quest for flawless complexion (part 4 - New York Skin)

As an update on my skin condition, it didn’t get any better after I completed a full round of Dermalogica treatment. It in fact, became worse than before! Something is not right about my hormone, it has gone hair wired to the max. I feel like I'm metamorphosing into an ugly looking witch @nenek kebayan *sob sob*.

At first, I was really tempted to get myself SKII skin care range for a change. It came highly recommended by friends after my last post. However, after a deep thought I decided to take a more drastic measure – skin treatment. I don’t think any amount of cream could save my severely damaged skin at this point. Hence I signed up with New York Skin last week. For someone with no fixed income like moi, it is a huge investment indeed. I was literally sweating when I passed the consultant my supplementary charge card. If this didn’t work as well, only God can help me or perhaps I am destined to be ugly forever (not to mention hard earned monies going down the drain huwaaaa).

The package comes with 10 treatment sessions (every 10 days) plus 5 types of product to use at home. However, this first round of treatment does not target my pigmentation yet, it’s supposed to hydrate and rejuvenate my skin. Treatment for pigmentation would come later. Actually they wanted me to have both treatments concurrently, but I can’t afford it. To have both at the same time would cost me a whooping 8K! Where do I find such money lah...I’m so the very poor you know, ibarat melukut di tepi gantang gitu (betul kah peribahasa ini?).


(These are the 5 products that came with the package - milk cleanser, refreshing wash, hydrating toner, mosturiser and soothing cream)

I am hoping and praying for the best for my skin, insyaAllah. They say it’d take 5 months for me to see visible result (I wish they’d say 5 weeks instead...moi is kiasu tahap gaban nih, helpppp!).

An Italian affair for Kyle’s 9th birthday

For the first time in a very long time, I threw a birthday party for my 2nd son yesterday. The last time I threw him a birthday party was exactly 5 years ago. I’m not exactly a model mother any kids would dream of having when it comes to birthday parties. I am way too lazy and lack the motivation to organize parties at home especially birthdays - it calls for lots of planning from sending out the birthday invitations, ordering the cake (which I forgot to do so and we ended up getting one from Secret Recipe instead), organizing games, preparing party packs to food and lots more. In short, it’s not easy to plan a party for a kid, you need to devise a plan to keep them entertained throughout the party and ensure they have food that THEY like. I actually prefer short cuts like having it at their school or at my mom’s (coz then I don’t have to go through all the troubles and cook!).

Being a very resourceful mom, just before the school holiday started I gave 2 options to Kyle Harris, a fancy birthday present or a birthday party. He picked the latter. Just a week before his birthday, I asked him the same question again (hoping that he’d change his mind), but his answer remained unchanged – he wants his party. Hence, my journey to planning a perfect party for him starts.

The first thing that came to my mind was the food. I wanted to prepare the food myself rather than use catering services or order some fast food instead (yup, you are absolutely right - I like to trouble myself and make my life difficult than it already is). The truth is, I like the challenge. I wanted to challenge myself to throw a perfect party for my son. So I decided (and determined) to serve ONLY healthy and wholesome homecook meal at the party.

Kyle is a huge fan of Italian food – he loves pasta, particularly macaroni & cheese and lasagna. Thus, I thought the theme should be Italian (the food that is, not the party – how on earth do I organize an Italian themed party? By the way, I love everything Italian too, especially the soccer team….those who watched the last World Cup would surely agree with me on this one...hohoho). Oh in my attempt to masuk bakul angkat sendiri, I am quite good in preparing Italian food. My hubby said I could marry an Italian coz I could whip up decent Italian food - according to him, I passed the test...don’t play play arrr muahaha *perasan sendiri gitu*

Back to the food, on the menu yesterday was baked mac&cheese, spaghetti with meat sauce, seafood pasta olio and laksa Kedah (the last item is obviously not an Italian food, in case you didn’t know!). Lasagna was not in the menu coz it requires a lot more time to prepare than the rest. For side dish there were chicken sausages and wedges (these two were not homemade, in case you are wondering and thinking that I am a supermom already). I wanted to prepare kuih as well but during my trip to the wet market in the morning, I saw some yummy looking kuih talam. I couldn’t resist and bought 3 types of kuih talam instead. For drinks, I settled for packet drinks and teh tarik. I didn’t have time to prepare the teh tarik myself so my maid was responsible for it – and the result wasn’t so nice, it definitely lacked umpph.

Activity-wise, a few days before the big day, I had a brainstorming session with my eldest son on the games. We came up with 5 games: musical chair, the last man standing, burst the balloon, scavenger hunt and trivia questions. I prepared some exciting prizes for the winners. Daniel was put in charge of the games and music. My very resourceful son downloaded some music from the internet and SOS his two friends to back him up during the party (which fyi is NOT free. I paid them RM35, to be split into 3. My son being a good friend, only took RM5 and gave RM15 each to his friend). But I made them worked for the money and asked them to do some cleaning as well…smart eh?

Being a school holiday, it wasn’t actually easy for us to invite his friends. Only a handful managed to get the invitation. But I took the opportunity to invite a few (since my kitchen is not equipped to prepare food in large quantity) of my neighbors and friends to the party as I haven’t actually had any proper makan-makan at my home with the neighbors since the day we moved in. It was very delightful indeed having neighbors and friend at our home. I think I should definitely do this more often (but not sure whether mr. hubby would agree with me).

Post mortem:
1. It was highly successful. I am proud of myself. Since no one bothered to congratulate me on job well done, I have to do it myself - splendid job Azura! (Boleh ka camtu? Don’t care lah...hehehe)
2. Party should start at 3pm instead to give me more time to prepare for food presentation. I invited the guests to come at 2pm.
3. Guests should be invited at different time slots to give hubby and I ample time to entertain guests better and more efficiently. We had to split up to entertain different group of friends at the same time.
4. Daniel should be put in charge of photography as well. We didn’t snap that many pictures as both my hubby and I were too busy entertaining.
5. I need to get myself more huge cooking pots.
6. I need to invest in some serving dish for better presentation – you know the huge catering style.

My girl Nana is already excited when I told her that I will throw one for her birthday next year too. She said she wants a party like Abang Ayis’s. That will be another challenge; I am already thinking of clowns, face painting and lots more. Are you game for it hubby?

By the way, a certain someone who was assigned to take pictures of the food didn't do such a good job, so no pictures of my glorious food here...grrrrr.

Happy 9th Birthday Muhammad Kyle Harris. Momma loves you very much...XOXOXO!

What in the word?

I don’t know whether you are aware of the recent rave about the latest motor plate number in the WP of Kuala Lumpur - WTF. For the uninitiated, WTF is short for "What the F**k". Lots of friends joined in the craze by tendering for the number, even those who lived in the East Coast (and I’m sure they spend lots of hard earned monies to secure the plate number too). Tak percaya? Percayalah...

That got me into thinking, what makes people wanna have WTF in their car plate. What’s in the word or number for that matter? 4 years ago, I made my husband pay RM500 for my 1972 plate number that I love so much. If I were to get a new car again soon, I’d definitely ensure that it has a 1972 plate number too. Not that I love to let people know that I’m THAT old but the number carries great meaning to me. It was the year I was born into this world. What could be more significant than that? The year I reached puberty? got married? graduated? have kid? started working? (Oh by the way, in my life, these events are actually in chronological order, not your typical chain of event huh?) Na... I don’t think so. The year you were born is superlative.

But WTF, why?? Perhaps I’m not that initiated after all lah...somebody call 911!

Cuti!

These last couple of weeks I’ve been keeping myself busy enjoying the precious school holiday to the fullest. You won’t believe how happy I was when the school year ended. I think I’m way happier than the school kids themselves... muahaha!! The thought of not having to drive the kids to school from early morning to late evening and prepare lunch and dinner on time for school is really liberating indeed, more than you could ever imagined. Happy happy joy joy...

I’ve done a few projects since then, both good and bad *grin*. The most notable one was the second project rumah anak yatim with fellow tai-tais of Bukit Jelutong. A good neighbor of mine, Izza, did an outstanding job initiating a collection drive for the orphanage. We brought food supply and other necessities to the kids at Rumah Harmoni, Paya Jaras. This time I took my two boys with me to the orphanage so that they could see for themselves how lucky they are to still have parents to love, care and cherish them. It was heartbreaking to see how the kids have to look after themselves. A 5-year old girl has to care for her 3-year old brother, a girl just had a heart correction surgery yet there was no one to nurse her...sad isn’t it? Being in the state of unfortunate makes them mature fast, unlike my kids who still have to be fed, cleaned and bathed by the maid till they turn 6!

Anyway, I’ve also watched a movie during week day, went out with fellow tai-tais, had lunch with ex-colleague and lots more lah. In short, I’m having a vacation of my own...lalalalala. Talking about vacation, I have yet to plan any for this school holiday. In fact, I am not really looking forward to one this round. Why? Because (1) we have a huge problem with transportation. I hate having to travel in 2 cars (2) Sophie is getting naughtier by day. She’s giving us a hard time travelling long distance on land and I don’t think she’s ready for air travel yet. This little girl is a screamer and can’t sit still for more than 5 minutes (3) I have some writing jobs to finish before Christmas (4) Budget constraint. I’d love to take the kids overseas but my shallow pocket says an absolute NO to it *sigh, sigh and sigh again!*.

Oh, did I mention that we have 3 birthdays to celebrate this month? My 2 boys are celebrating their birthdays in December and yours truly too will be celebrating sweet 17th birthday mid of this month. OMG, 3 more years to the big 40!!!! *panic, seram & perasaan2 yang sewaktu dengannya*

LAZY is my name

Of late I’ve been so darn lazy. Lazy to do just about anything - even to watch TV or go out shopping. I did not cook for the last few days, even when my parents were here to send my siblings off to Mecca. My parents even went out shopping for groceries for me - that’s how lazy I was, that bad huh? Lazy has been my middle name for the last 1 week or so.

My laziness seems to come whenever my hubby travels outstation for more than a week. He was supposed to be away for only 8 days but his visit to the godforsaken country is being extended to almost 2 weeks...*sigh*. My biggest problem now is him - a problem that can’t possibly be solved.

4 years ago when he was stationed in Shanghai for 2 months, I almost had a breakdown. I had a very demanding job (if having 13 projects at the same time is not demanding enough for anyone, I don’t know what else to say) and Ariana was only a year old then. I worked from 9am to 9pm every day – that’s 60hrs a week with peanut salary. Thanks God I came to my senses and left after only 6mths (and the person who inherited my projects gave 24hrs notice a day after I left!) I have felt what single mothers have to go through every day. It was both an exhausting and a lonesome 2 months for both of us. He came home more than 5kg lighter and gained it all back in less than a month. I am that good of a cook huh? I know, I can’t believe it either...

Another alternative explanation is I lack something new and refreshing in my life... like a new handbag or a new car and things yang sama waktu dengannya. In short, my laziness is caused by excessive boredom. I think I like this explanation so much better. It highly curable - all I need is ka-ching and problem solved!! Like Dak Wan suggested, one LV could boost energy level and increase productivity...I loike!

Back to the root cause, my excessive boredom could have been caused by the fact that I’ve got nothing much to do. I don’t have to do house work, I don’t socialize much and I’m not very mobile coz I have a baby who is very attached to me and kids to ferry to school from 7am to 6.30pm every day. Sometimes I wish that I’m working again. At least I have time for myself to do my own stuff (while earning fixed income to buy things on my own)...*triple sigh*.

Kerja salah, tak kerja pun salah...someone please slap me.

Tetamu Allah

Two days ago I bid adieu to my 2 siblings, my only sister and my youngest brother, who left for Mecca to perform their Haj. I can’t help but feel sad and happy for both of them. Happy that they finally get to perform the 5th rukun Islam after a long wait and sad for no obvious reason. This part really bits me, why is it when people leave for their pilgrimage, we feel sad when we were supposed to feel happy for them? Happy that they're chosen to be amongst Allah's guests in the holy land. It’s not like they will be gone for a year...Weird huh? Anyway, here’s moi with the future haji and hajjah. I hope my turn will come soon...insyaAllah.

p/s: I'm so not in the mood to write these few days. I'm as lazy as a donkey to do just about anything, even cook for the kids. Moi is in desperate need of a mega mood booster...a new handbag would do it muahahaha...(I hope a certain someone is reading this)

This is it

Yesterday, my eyes started becoming all teary at the start of the movie. I knew what I was about to watch was going to be history in the making. It would have been the greatest comeback concert in history, no doubt about it. Sadly, it became a history with his sudden death instead.

The movie was basically about Michael Jackson’s “This is It” concert rehearsals and behind the scene actions. It was purely intended for MJ’s fan to have a peek of what “This is It” was supposed to have happened. The amount of efforts and preparations put into making his last tour a success was really overwhelming. Dancers came from all over the world to audition for the concert. So if you’re not a fan of his music, don’t waste your time and money at the movie.

Health-wise, MJ was at his top form during the many rehearsals - he sang his lungs out (although he kept saying that he shouldn’t sing, and that he should save his throat for the actual concert instead), he danced and performed with so much passion. You can tell that he loved his music deeply. He was indeed THE King of Pop.

Watching him in his top form (he even looked very fit for a 50year old man, albeit a little too thin) makes me wonder what had actually killed him. He looked really healthy performing on stage live, dancing and all. Oh, if you were wondering who’s the girl with frizzy hair who sang during his funeral concert - she is Judith Hill, one of his back-up vocalists in “This is It”. She was supposed to sing one song live with him during the actual concert. And I have to say that his (male) dancers are all so damn gooood *drooling*. They remind me of the movie 300...ngeeeeee.

Back on more serious notes, there are a few theories circulating amongst his fans about the actual cause of his death (or more like who killed him). There is one very interesting version connected to the rumors about his conversion to Islam. I like that version best. However, I am too chicken to spread the rumors here (sorry people I don’t wanna leave hard evident for people to trace it back to me...takuts! If I suddenly disappeared from the face of this earth, it’s the CIA! Call KGB for help pronto!!!).

A Case of Ditelan Mati Emak, Diluah Mati Ayah

I wanted to write this post earlier but I was not in the mood to write, hence the delay. A few days ago I was so engrossed with FB that I forgot to pick up my son from school. No need to raise the alarm yet...I was only 20+ minutes late and he is a teenager. The latter fact is to justify that it’s not like I made a young child waited for 20 mins at school (did I justify myself enough?). Nonetheless, he was the last to leave school on that day, I think.

When I was a kid, I cycled to school every single day. Before I knew how to cycle, I walked to school – about 3km each way. I walked to school when I was in standard 1 with my heavy bag, alone. When you were only 7 years old, 3km felt like 30km. There was no one to send me to school. Right after school I walked again to madrasah to attend sekolah agama. I didn’t have the luxury of having my mom fetching me in a luxury car every day. Yet, I never complained...ever! I knew that it was my own responsibility to get to school every day, not anyone else’s. Oh, I even escaped a kidnap attempt on my way to school once (I’ll tell the story some other time yah).

These days, the role has reversed – we the parents are responsible to ensure the kids get to school safely every day. Not just to ensure they get there safely, but to ensure that they go to school every day too. When I was a kid, I was so scared to skip school that I attended school even when I was sick enough to be hospitalised. The goal was to have perfect attendance. If I ever forgot to do my homework, I got so scared that I was sick in the stomach and felt weak in the knees. I think I speak for most of us who grew up before the mid 80s and the 90s.

My kids on the other hand, if I didn’t ask them to do their homework, chances are they won’t do it. Study and revision? The two words don't even exist in their dictionary. And my kids are not exactly the slack type, they are amongst the performers. Yet, they behave in such a way – complacent. My hubby always said to my eldest son over and over again - don’t be complacent. But like it or not, they are.

Have we ever asked ourselves why? My bet is they are too pampered with too much luxury at hand that have caused them to think that their future is somehow secured. They think that they don't really need to work hard like we did, because their lives are already very comfortable, we had to because we wanted to have a better life.

Unlike us (I may not speak for everyone here), they have never once experience what not having everything they want feels like, what being SUSAH is like... They are spoiled to the point that even cycling 3km to school is hell to them, 20 minutes late is a huge inconvenience... I could provide a thousand other examples but I’m sure you get the not-so-pretty picture.

But, of course we are to be blamed for this. When I started to have my own family, I told myself that I will give my children what my parents couldn’t get me when I was a kid. I remember admiring Barbie dolls from afar. I didn’t have one because for my parents RM11 (I think that was the price tag then) was expensive for a toy, and buying toys were complete waste of money. So when I have my own daughter, I bought her Barbie dolls even when she was still too young to play with it and I bought my kids toys until I ran out of space to store them.

On top of it, parents often succumb to pressure too. For example, we buy Playstation because our friends have them at home, we buy PSP because we see other children have them...we don’t want our kids to feel inferior! So, how? I say this is a perfect example of ditelan mati emak, diluah mati ayah *sigh*.

Malaysians' Obsession with Crocs

I say Malaysians are obsessed with Crocs. No not the man-eating animal but the colourful, oddly designed, light and very comfortable footwear - another clever invention by the Americans. It’s becoming a fashion cult!

Have you ever passed a Crocs store and not see a single customer in it? I haven’t. Yesterday, we had to brave ourselves in a sea of customers to get Sophie’s first pair of Crocs at 1Utama. It was grab and go for us in the cramped store. No time to really test it on Sophie’s little feet because I think I could faint in the overcrowded store plus my patient was running thin too. People were hogging the store like the slippers were on sale for only RM10!

I wonder what makes people keep buying them. It’s not exactly cheap - the price tag could reach up to RM300/pair (we are talking about slippers and sandals here people!) but it's a very good buy indeed. It’s so light and comfortable that it doesn’t hurt my feet at all even after hours of shopping (what a godsend huh?). My kids too have grown to love them. A pair could last them for the entire year. Good buy eh? Now even Sophie has her first pair of Crocs. Love ‘em so much!

Sophie’s little ballerina Crocs – cute eh?


A few years ago when Crocs first made its way to the Malaysian shores, I was shocked to see the colourful slippers with its very odd design. I said to myself who would wear such an ugly pair of shoes – only idiots, the colour-blinds or the fashion-challenged people perhaps. Little did I know that I too would become a huge fan not long after I made that discriminating statement...haha.

What could have changed people’s perception towards this rather unique footwear? It could possibly be because of the more trendy designs they've been producing in recent years, ideal for the fashion savvy, on-the-go mommas who fancy comfortable slippers like moi...muahaha (perasan...the fashion savvy part that is!). I say they have evolved from hideous to chic footwear.

Did you know that it is also becoming a hit and a must-have item for people performing the Haj and umrah? Yes, certain travel agencies even made it a compulsory item in their list! Amazing huh? More business for the Americans! Perhaps in the next boycott for American products, we should include Crocs too...muahaha (or is it already in the list? Don’t know, don’t care...peace!)

Karaoke, anyone?

I love to sing; I sing and hum at home all the time. But I absolutely don’t like to sing in public, it gives me the jitters. If there is one in this universe that I still haven’t got it till today – it’s the love of karaoke. I just don’t understand what makes people love to karaoke.

I’ve been to karaoke a few times (well, it’s actually more like I was dragged there by my ex-bosses) but in all honestly I didn’t enjoy myself at all. Each time I was there, I made myself busy eating – I stuffed myself silly with the buffet spread trying to avoid having to sing. But once you’re in a karaoke, there’s nothing that you can do NOT to sing. You have to sing no matter what. Hence, the whole experience makes it even more horrifying, it makes people like me develop phobia of karaoke – I’m a karaokephobic!

I actually have quite a pleasant singing voice. Contrary to my talking voice that sounds like a duck, I sound almost like an angel when I sing...believe me, it’s true (I just hit the 50th floor button!!! ngeee). But when I’m under tremendous pressure to sing, I sound like a frog singing out of tune. Why lah??? I don’t think performing in public is a major issue here, I’ve have emceed big events during my corporate days before and performed on stage in school – I even sang on stage for a musical. But for some very mysterious reasons, I hate karaoke, hate it, hate it, hate it...!!!

As a karaokephobic, I’m always stunned at how much people enjoyed karaoke-ing. Last night I watched friends in the neighbourhood karaoke-ing in complete amazement. They seemed to enjoy themselves to the fullest while I was cleverly trying to avoid having the mic being passed to my direction (which I succeeded in doing so hehehe). But I wonder how much longer can I avoid the mic? God help me...takuts!

I say life is full with so many colours...it is impossible for you to like every single one of them. Allah Maha Kaya.

Condensed Milk vs Sweetened Creamer

It came to my attention last night that not many Malaysians are aware of the temporary extinction of the popular sweetened condensed milk (CM). This warrants a dedicated entry in my blog...tak boleh jadi, tak puas hati nih. Let me educate my fellow Malaysians on this very important subject.

By definition, they are:

Condensed milk, also known as sweetened condensed milk, is cow's milk from which water has been removed and to which sugar has been added, yielding a very thick, sweet product that can last for years without refrigeration if unopened (source: Wikipedia)

Sweetened creamer shall be the product obtained by combining vegetable fat or oil with sugar or any other sweetening substance, milk constituents or other food for sweetening and whitening of beverages (source: Ministry of Health Malaysia)

Under the guideline by the Ministry of Health Malaysia:
Condensed milk or sweetened condensed milk shall contain not less than 8 per cent of milk fat, 28 per cent of total milk solids and 670 International Units of vitamin A per 100 g, whereas...
Sweetened creamer in liquid form shall contain not less than 10 per cent fat and not less than 24 per cent non-sugar solids (note: MILK is not even a compulsory ingredient!)

Do you see the different? One is made of condensed cow’s milk and another is made of oil, being the main ingredient. For a person who is very particular about food, it makes a gigantic different to me. I could tell the different from the colour, the consistency of the liquid and the aroma (I’m sure a lot of concerned citizens like me could tell the different too lah).

Who’s to blame of the temporary extinction? You see, CM is placed under the government controlled items list, i.e. manufacturers have to adhere to the price ceiling set by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs for the sake of protecting our rights as consumers (the same goes to other necessities such as rice, sugar and flour). Hence, when the price of raw material shot up, they have to think out of the box to contain the cost within reasonable budget and still make huge profit at the same time (this doesn't come as a surprise lah kan). Then, some smart alex in the FMC industry decided to change the ingredient to palm oil instead of milk...hence the birth of sweetened creamer @krimer pekat manis.

But fyi, I was not the only one mourning for the loss of CM. About a year back, the Hitz.fm morning crew even made a tribute to CM on its show. A lot of people called to relate their stories about CM. What they ate it with, how much they missed it bla bla bla... One caller even said he ate it with rice. Malaysia boleh!!!

My personal favourite is to eat it with ketupat palas and roti canai. My late grandma liked to eat it with banana.

I say thank God it’s making a comeback. I hope this time it is here to stay. It sure makes a lot of people like me a happy camper...ngeh ngeh ngeh. I love you CM!!!!

Sweetened Condensed Filled Milk is Back!!!!

Yes, it’s back! After a long absence, sweetened condensed filled milk has finally made a comeback (don’t believe me? See pictures above).

I was so very happy to see it on the shelf of a small sundry shop in Kota Warisan last night. Sadly, I have yet to see it in my housing estate (or perhaps they have just arrived yesterday, hot from the oven?). So I bought 3 cans (I should’ve bought more though coz I’m now left with only 1 can after entertaining so many people today).

All I wanna say is my teh tarik, milo and Nescafe will once again have ummph – milkier and aromatic like the way they should be...huhuhu. I’m so happyyyyyy (yes, small things like sweetened condensed filled milk CAN make me happy. It’s so damn easy to please me...a new handbag could also make me happy :-)).

I say bye bye sweetened creamer, so long you sweetened condensed filled milk wannabe! Muahahaha...

Encounter of the third kind

Last night I’ve witnessed something that I’ve never seen or experienced before – an encounter of the third kind...

After Isya’ prayer, I took my 2 little girls downstairs to play at the second living room which sits across the main door of my house. While playing, my 1year old girl suddenly walked hurriedly and sits between my husband and me. She pointed (yes, she POINTED with her index finger) at the door and started crying. Thinking that she was just imagining things, we kept playing with her but she kept looking at the door looking very scared.

We then decided to recite some verses from the Quran – 4 Qul, Fatihah and ayat Kursi and brush it off. We later went to the kitchen. Again, Sophie refused to even take a glimpse at the main door. When she accidently did, she would quickly crawl into my maid’s room, again looking like a scared kitten and crying. She is otherwise happy and playful.

At that point, my hubby quickly performed ablution and prayed. I followed suit and we both recited surah yassin. I did it both in my room and at the living room while my husband continued reciting other prayers in the living room. Alhamdulillah after the yasin recital, things turn to normal.

Honestly, I did not feel anything – I wasn’t scared nor disturbed. I was calm and cool as a cucumber. My only concern was that ‘it’ may continue to disturb my little girl deep into the night.

We did a post mortem after the incident, and we both think that it was because my hubby took the girls out during sundown. Something could have followed them home.

I say the moral of the story is, the next time your mom tells you not to go out during sundown, do listen to her. It’s not just a myth...trust me, I have experienced it first hand. Wallahuwa'lam.

Did I marry the right person?

I recently read this article posted by a friend on FB. I ought to share this in my blog as I find it a very good read and may be relevant to all of us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

During one of our seminars, a woman asked a common question. She said, 'How do I know if I married right person?'

I noticed that there was a large man sitting next to her so I said, 'It depends. Is that your husband? In all seriousness, she answered 'How do you know?'

Let me answer this question because the chances are good that it's weighing on your mind.

Here's the answer.
EVERY relationship has a cycle. In the beginning, you fell in love with your spouse / partner . You anticipated their call, wanted their touch, and liked their idiosyncrasies (unconventional behavior/habit).

Falling in love with your spouse wasn't hard. In fact, it was a completely natural and spontaneous experience.
You didn't have to DO anything. That's why it's called 'falling' in love... Because it's happening TO YOU .

People in love sometimes say, 'I was swept off my feet.' Think about the imagery of that __expression. It implies that you were just standing there; doing nothing, and then something came along and happened TO YOU .

Falling in love is easy . It's a passive and spontaneous experience. But after a few years of marriage, the euphoria (excitement) of love fades. It's the natural cycle of EVERY relationship . Slowly but surely, phone calls become a bother (if they come at all), touch is not always welcome (when it happens), and your spouse's idiosyncrasies , instead of being cute, drive you nuts.

The symptoms of this stage vary with every relationship, but if you think about your marriage, you will notice a dramatic difference between the initial stage when you were in love and a much duller or even angry subsequent stage.

At this point, you and/or your spouse might start asking, 'Did I marry the right person?'

And as you and your spouse reflect on the euphoria of the love you once had, you may begin to desire that experience with someone else. This is when marriages breakdown. People blame their spouse for their unhappiness and look outside their marriage for fulfillment.

Extramarital fulfillment comes in all shapes and sizes. Infidelity is the most obvious. But sometimes people turn to work, a hobby, a friendship, excessive TV, or abusive substances.

But the answer to this dilemma does NOT lie outside your marriage. It lies within it.
I'm not saying that you couldn't fall in love with someone else.
You could.

And TEMPORARILY you'd feel better. But you'd be in the same situation a few years later. Because (listen carefully to this):

THE KEY TO SUCCEEDING IN MARRIAGE IS NOT FINDING THE RIGHT PERSON; IT'S LEARNING TO LOVE THE PERSON YOU FOUND.

SUSTAINING love is not a passive or spontaneous experience. It'll NEVER just happen to you. You can't 'find' LASTING love. You have to 'make' it day in and day out. That's why we have the __expression 'the labor of love.' Because it takes time, effort, and energy . And most importantly, it takes WISDOM . You have to know WHAT TO DO to make your marriage work.

Make no mistake about it. Love is NOT a mystery. There are specific things you can do (with or without your spouse) to succeed with your marriage.

Just as there are physical laws of the universe (such as gravity), there are also laws for relationships. Just as the right diet and exercise program makes you physically stronger, certain habits in your relationship WILL make your marriage stronger.

It's a direct cause and effect. If you know and apply the laws, the results are predictable... you can 'make'love .

Love in marriage is indeed a 'decision'... Not just a feeling.

Remember this always :

'God determines who walks into your life. It is up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let go.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I say how could you not agree more with the writer? But of course there are certain circumstances that the rules don't apply.

Quest for flawless complexion (Help, my skin is behaving like a teenager's!)

I just came back from a neighbour’s house for Raya lunch and my brain is totally not back in its working mode yet – it’s still celebrating Raya. Since morning, I’ve been trying to write a few articles, all to no avail. I can’t event complete a paragraph (sigh). That’s the problem when you work as a writer. You need aspirations to write. A slight distraction could make your mind go astray and you are stuck with no end or even a beginning. Hence, I decided to write in this space instead. I have plenty of aspirations to write here. Who knows, it may even help ‘warm up’ my brain too...

During the many gatherings and open houses, I’ve met many friends and family and there is one thing that really caught my attention BIG time - their complexions are tip top (versus mine that’s getting worse by day). This is frankly making me feel a little bit inferior. I feel like a construction worker (or a cleaner dan professions yang sewaktu dengannya!)

Pigmentation being my main problem (despite 2 types of products of 2 different brands used), my face is now being attacked by blackhead and pimples….urghhhh! Having itchy hands doesn’t help either - I keep squeezing the blackhead and pimples with my fingers (I can’t help it, I love doing it. My husband is my usual victim and my eldest son is now my latest victim...muahaha). As a result, I am now left with scars too!

Just now my neigbours were joking about my pimples. They said that I should be happy to have pimple, they are too old to have it! Uwahhhhhh....

So, after years of neglect, I have decided to start doing something about my complexion rather than just wait and hope for a miracle to happen. I actually started taking some action just before Raya. I had a looooong overdue facial just 2 days before we head back to my in-laws for Raya holiday - my first facial in 19 months, the 3rd facial I’ve ever had in my entire lifetime (it’s kinda hard to believe isn’t it?).

I went to Aster Spring which I happened to see when I was shopping for Raya. I’ve had 2 facials since then (the 2nd one was a FREE facial, or so they say lah padahal depa dah charge with the first facial). It cost me RM198, and I purchased their products as well – Dermalogica (I know...I fell in their traps). They recommended so many different products to use that it confused me at first. The consultant had to write a ‘prescription’ to tell me what to use when. I’ve been using it for 2 weeks now but honestly, I’ve yet to see any improvement. But then again, it may be too early to tell.

After meeting so many friends with flawless complexion over the Raya weekends, I am actually contemplating taking a more drastic measure like going for skin treatment. I’ve heard of New York Skin and Dr. Murad. But me being a skeptic, I have serious doubts. I don’t wanna spend so much money which may not yield results at the end of the day. Plus, with very little moolah to spend, I need to be assured of the result. Do they (the treatments) actually work?

Or could someone out there please produce a miracle cream to solve my problem pleaseeeee? Urghhhhh...

19 years later (part3)

I am actually supposed to work on the Harley-Davidson anniversary coffee table book, but I just have to post this entry first...I can’t wait to tell about the recent gathering my hubby & I hosted at home.

Meeting friends, old and new, always bring joy to our hearts. So I jumped at the opportunity to host a gathering I’d like to call Raya get together of KPP friends and Farewell Party for a dear friend Wan Mazwan who is leaving for Bahrain again next week.

I’d like to give credit to Liza Mamat some of the following pictures which I ‘borrowed’ from her FB

The ladies (from my lense - 1 of the 3 photos I took)


The husbands (from my own camera - 1 of the 3 pix I took)


The guest of honour aka mamarazzi with her very canggih gadget


Where was I?


I was so excited preparing food on Wednesday. My so-called amateur cooking skill was put to test preparing food for quite a huge group. It was the first time my hubby and I ever hosted such a big gathering at our new home (well, it’s not exactly new, we’ve lived here for almost 2 years now). We are both extremely happy that it was a success despite the fact that it was kind of ad-hoc as we only decided to have it 2 days before the actual event, thanks to CikZ who brought up the subject on FB.

At this juncture, I would like to thank the FB team again for making this possible. Note to my hubby: Sayang, my hours spent on FB did produce some very good result after all dear.

The first guest to arrive was Liza and her 3 beautiful kids. She brought along a yummy cheesecake which we later used as birthday cake for a few people. I lost count how many times we sang birthday song before we finally cut the cake. Wenky also brought a cake which doubled as birthday cake too.

Guest who was the last to arrive? It befits her title as the guest of honour to reach my place last... Wan brought pasembor which we didn’t have time to eat as we were too busy chatting! The same happened to the delicious sate that Shikin and Rosli brought. Only the guys had time to eat them. We ladies were too busy chatting while menganyam ketupat...hehehe. Our guest of honour also brought along more goodies from Bahrain, chocolates & the much talked about baklava.

Zana sponsored the sirap bandung gembira (i.e. sirap bandung with ice cream soda). Saf came bearing yummy beef rendang; CikZ and Salina came solo, they brought fruit; Linda&Pete came too with raya cookies; Eika (who came in her glittering get-up)&Ashem came to the area much earlier to visit my two neighbors who are also our mutual friends. All in all we have about 8 families + 2 solos with I think close to 20 kids. So imagine the noise we made last nite. It was FUN!! Even my kids had a great time having so many people at our home, including my little Sophie. Everyone was surprised to learn that she's already a year old - she's way too small for her age! She's got momma's gene.

I should’ve taken more pictures but I was too engrossed with entertaining that I forgot to do that. Now I am starting to regret it. I should learn from the master who always takes her very EXPENSIVE and very canggih camera everywhere...

The following conversation may take place somewhere in Bukit Jelutong in a very near future:
W: Sayang, can I have one like that pleaseeeeee?
H: No, it’s too expensive. I know you will not make full use of it.
W: Ok lor, I’ll work harder and get it on my own then...

I say let’s do this again and again and again people... I love you all *hugs and kisses*

My birthday princesses - Sophie is 1 & Nana is 5!

I am gonna say this again...I can't believe how fast time flies. My two princesses, Sophia Amani (aka Sophie) turned 1 year-old on 17th September 2009 and Ariana Suraya (aka Nana) turned 5-year old on 22nd September 2009.

Sophie's birthday fell just 3 days before Raya. So we didn't really have time to organise anything amidst the Raya preparation chaos. I just bought a cake, pizza and everything I saw at the Bazaar Ramadhan (that was my first and last trip to bazaar Ramadhan in Shah Alam - I bought food enough to feed an entire village!). Sophie had her first taste of cheesecake on her birthday and she loved it. Happy birthday my little angel...

Here she is enjoying a piece of her birthday cheesecake


Here she is with her birthday present courtesy of papa.


Nana's birthday fell on the 3rd day of Raya (3rd day before Raya and 3rd day of raya...what a coincidence!). As we were travelling from Shah Alam to my kampung in Alor Setar on that day, we didn't have any celebration whatsoever for her on her birthday. All we did was sang her a birthday song. Coincidently, the family was organising an open house cum my mom's birthday on the 8th day of Syawal. Hence, we decided to celebrate Nana's birthday together with my mom's.

As for her birthday presents, we only managed to get them for her after we came back home. Needless to say, she likes my present more...yippie!

Here is my clone celebrating her birthday with my mom. My mom celebrated her 63rd birthday on 27 September 09. Happy birthday mak.


My clone. If you're wondering how I looked like as a little girl, wonder no more... This is me 32 years ago. Pretty eh? *perasan tahap dewa*


My two princesses, my sweethearts, my angels. Momma love you so very much my little darlings. May you grow up to be anak2 yang soleh, berilmu, beriman dan beramal... (it was impossible to get Sophie to stand still, this is the best I have of the two of them together)

Work, work and more work!

OMG right after Raya I've been given more and more work! Just as I was finishing up Taylor's job, I have another from Harley-Davidson and now another potential - UNICEF...urghh! There goes my Raya mood.

It's kinda hard to adjust the brain to working mode again after a very long (and very fattening) break. Despite my lack of interest to work I have to force myself to sit in my office (while resisting the temptation to log on to facebook and to blog very very hard indeed!) and at least pretend to work. Having had to go in and out of the house to fetch the kids to and from schools doesn't help either. It makes me super tired! How lah?

But the good thing is I feel good that I am working again. The fact that I am helping my husband making ends meet makes me feel 'useful' and no longer 'wasted'. What can I say, I am an isteri mithali...muahahaha.

Anyway, on a different subject I've been viewing friends Raya photos on Facebook and I envy some of them because I don't have single nice photo to put up...really, not even one. How sad is that? When it comes to photo department, I always fail miserably. I promised myself to conduct a photo session this weekend in our complete Raya gear. Please pray for me that it'd materialise. I need to carefully devise a plan to make it happen, Domino's pizza might just do the trick.

Speaking about Raya, I have spent the last 11 days of my Raya holiday eating from morning to night. I had rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner, sometimes in between too. Cakes and cookies in between meals and gallons of sweet drinks. My pants are all tight when I came back home. But frankly, I couldn't care less, what is Raya without eating, right? Raya = makan.

OK break's over, I have to go back to work now...sob sob sob.

I say a good wife is always ever willing to help the husband in every way possible. Not sure about those who are willing to share the husband with other women though (in lights of the recent polygamy club fuss). Me? Honestly, I would rather be dead!

Eid Mubarak!

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish Eid Mubarak to all Muslim friends around the world.

Selamat hari raya aidilfitri buat semua. Ku susun sepuluh jari memohon ampun, maaf zahir & batin andai ada tersalah dan terkasar bahasa, tercela ataupun terguris hati pembaca. Ampunkanlah segala dosa-dosaku – baik yang lepas dan yang akan datang. Sesungguhnya yang baik itu datang dari Allah subhanahu wata’ala dan yang keji itu dari hamba-Nya yang kerdil ini.

Marilah kita bersama-sama berdoa semoga kita dipanjang umur untuk bertemu Ramadhan sekali lagi di tahun hadapan, amin amin ya robbal a’lamin.

Can Facebook wreck a marriage?

Since March this year I’ve spent so much time on Facebook – catching up with old friends, looking for old buddies and of late playing games too. This has inevitably taken some of my precious time away from my loved ones. I ask myself today, is this affecting my relationship with them?

Out of curiosity, just now I googled “Facebook and marriage” and I was dumbfounded to find 4,360,000 results on this subject, to be exact. Apparently it has ruined and ended so many marriages around the world. It’s shocking to learn this fact, isn’t it?

Based on my brief research, the most common denominator of the problem is jealousy. The spouse gets in touch with his/her old flames and some old feeling may resurface. Another underlying issue is the spouse is flirting (or assumed to) with newly acquired friends.

I don’t know about the rest, but the main reason I joined the largest social networking community is to reconnect with old friends. I have successfully tracked down a large number of friends whom I have not met since high school, college and university, plus ex-colleagues that I’ve worked with in the past. To me, it’s a wonderful tool to find long lost friends, keep in touch and mengeratkan tali silaturrahim. At the same time, I have also ignored so many friend requests from strangers, particularly men out of respect for my husband.

But when you dedicate too much time on Facebook and other stuff on the internet (blogging is another good example), you may invite some discontentment and disapproval from the people you love the most. You may be seen as ‘neglecting’ them while you are pursuing your new ‘hobby’. I have personally gone through this phase. May be it’s about time for me to spend less time in cyber space and spend more time with the human race.

I say, life is such that we can never get everything that we want and we can never please everybody. Bak kata pepatah Melayu, dibuang mati emak, ditelan mati ayah.

Glokalmama is signing off.

Just for a good laugh

My son showed me this recently - a BM essay supposedly written by a student which was forwarded to the world via the internet. I laughed my ass off (pardon my language!) when I read it and I thought I should post it here. It's damn funny.

"Pagi itu pagi minggu. Cuaca cukup sejuk sehingga mencapai takat suhu beku. Sebab itu saya tidak mandi pagi sebab air kolah jadi air batu dan air paip tidak mahu keluar sebab beku di dalam batang paip. Pagi itu saya bersarapan dengan keluarga di dalam unggun api kerana tidak tahan sejuk. Selepas itu emak saya mengajak saya menemaninya ke pasar. Tetapi saya tidak mahu.

Selepas emak menikam perut saya berkali-kali dengan garfu barulah saya bersetuju untuk mengikutnya. Kami berjalan sejauh 120 kilometer kerana pasar itu letaknya 128 kilometer dari rumah. Lagi 8 kilometer nak sampai pasar saya ternampak sebuah lori kontena meluru dengan laju dari arah belakang.

Dia melanggar emak saya. Emak saya tercampak ke dalam gaung. Dia menjerit “Adoi!”. Lepas itu emak saya naik semula dan mengejar lori tersebut. Saya pun turut berlari di belakang emak saya kerana takut emak saya melanggar lori itu pula. Pemandu lori itu nampak kami mengejarnya. Dia pun memecut lebih laju iaitu sama dengan kelajuan cahaya. Kami pula terpaksa mengejar dengan lebih laju iaitu sama dengan dua kali ganda kelajuan cahaya. Emak saya dapat menerajang tayar depan lori itu. Lori itu terbabas dan melanggar pembahagi jalan lalu bertembung dengan sebuah feri. Feri itu terbelah dua.

Penumpang feri itu yang seramai 100 orang semuanya mati. Pemandu feri itu sangat marah. Dia pun bertukar menjadi Ultraman dan memfire pemandu lori. Pemandu lori menekan butang khas di dalam lori dia..lori itu bertukar menjadi robot Transformer. Mereka bergaduh di udara. Emak saya tidak puas hati. Dia pun terus menyewa sebuah helikopter di Genting Highlands dan terus ke tempat kemalangan. Dia melanggar pemandu feri yang telah bertukar menjadi Ultraman itu.

Pemandu feri itu terkejut dan terus bertukar menjadi pemandu feri semula lalu terhempas ke jalanraya. Pemandu feri itu pecah. Pemandu lori sangat takut melihat kejadian itu. Dia meminta maaf dari emak saya. Dia menghulurkan tangan ingin bersalam. Tetapi emak saya masih marah. Dia menyendengkan helikopternya dan mengerat tangan pemandu lori itu dengan kipas helikopter. Pemandu lori itu menjerit “Adoi..!” dan jatuh ke bumi. Emak say menghantar helikopter itu ke Genting Highlands. Bila dia balik ke tempat kejadian, dia terus memukul pemandu lori itu dengan beg tangannya sambil memarahi pemandu lori itu di dalam bahasa Inggeris.

Pemandu lori itu tidak dapat menjawab sebab emak saya cakap orang putih. Lalu pemandu lori itu mati. Tidak lama kemudian kereta polis pun sampai. Dia membuat lapuran ke ibu pejabatnya tentang kemalangan ngeri itu. Semua anggota polis di pejabat polis itu terperanjat lalu mati. Orang ramai mengerumuni tempat kejadian kerana ingin mengetahui apa yang telah terjadi. Polis yang bertugas cuba menyuraikan orang ramai lalu dia menjerit menggunakan pembesar suara. Orang ramai terperanjat dan semuanya mati.

Selepas itu emak saya mengajak saya ke pasar untuk mengelak lebih ramai lagi yang akan mati. Di pasar, emak saya menceritakan kejadian itu kepada penjual daging. Penjual daging dan peniaga-peniaga berhampiran yang mendengar cerita itu semuanya terkejut dan mati. Saya dan emak saya terus berlari balik ke rumah. Kerana terlalu penat sebaik saja sampai di rumah kami pun mati. Itulah kemalangan yang paling ngeri yang pernah saya lihat sebelum saya mati."

I say only a child can have an imagination so wild...

It’s a sexist world we live in

It took me years in denial to finally have the courage to accept the fact that as a woman I live to serve others (the opposite sex in particular) – both now and in after life.

I was born in a family of 6 children – 4 males and 2 females. The 2 females were the only children in the family that have made it to university, both abroad even. My father, who was then a teacher, taught me to be the best that I could be regardless of my gender. I was never told that I couldn’t do this or that simply because I was a girl.

At school it was different. The teachers wanted to appoint me as the Head Prefect when I was in standard 6, but changed their mind because I was a girl. So I was appointed the assistant head prefect instead. Thank God I went to an all-girls secondary school; hence I was not exposed to further gender discrimination during my teenage years at school.

My husband has made it clear that he wanted my sons to study abroad but my daughters to study closer to home. This comes from a man who married his wife overseas. A man who studied in the same foreign university that his wife did. I find this a little bit hard to swallow. I feel sad for my girls.

My son once asked me, “momma, can a girl be a xxx (I forgot what was the profession)?” My response was “if you put your mind into something, you can achieve the impossible regardless of your gender.” His many gender related questions (which he’d normally asked after school) has made me realized that our education system is indirectly teaching our children to be a sexist. They are taught that boys can do certain thing that girls can’t.

It’s everywhere actually – at home, work, politics, etc. You can’t escape sexism, much like racism. I can’t help but wonder if Hillary Clinton were a man would she win the Democrat party presidential nominee? I think she would, with flying colours.

Where does this lead us to? Should I feel sad that I was born a female? Or should I celebrate it? Celebrate the fact that I was born to complement the opposite gender. To make his live complete, to raise his children, to be a faithful companion. I guess I should and I must (or perhaps I just need a job!).

Well...I guess I have to accept the fact that I was made from tulang rusuk seorang lelaki. Wallahuwa’alam.

1malaysia or is it really?

I am in the mood to write today so I will keep writing what’s in my head till it drains out.

There is so much being said about the concept of 1Malaysia which was coined by the current PM. But at the same time we also hear plenty about the act of racism, which seems to be on the rise recently. Why? Did he really mean it or was it just a line of attack to win people’s heart (will I get arrested for saying this? I hope not).

I am writing as a mother who has 1 child each in secondary school, primary school and kindergarten. Ariana seems oblivious of her friend’s racial mix; she has Malay, Chinese and Indian friends. She is still living in a true 1Malaysia spirit. She doesn’t even know what does race means yet. Kyle used to have a Chinese boy named Joaqim as his best friend when he was in standard 1. They spoke in English with each other and eat home cook meal at the school canteen together during recess. Since we moved to this neighbourhood, his friends only comprise of Malay boys and he no longer speaks English with his friends. Daniel only has 1 Indian friend in his circle of friends. When I asked why didn’t he befriend Chinese students, he said they (the Chinese boys) prefer to be in their own circle. I think the act is vice versa for the Malays students. You tend to stick with things/ people that you are more familiar with.

I always encourage my children to make friends with people from other races and background. When I was in school my friends were all Malays. There were none non-Malay students in my primary school and only a handful in my primary school. My working life is of the opposite. My office mates and friends were mainly Chinese and some Indian. I didn’t have that many Malay colleagues in some of the companies I worked for. I learned more about Chinese and Indian cultures in the last 10 years than I did before.

Back to the concept of 1Malaysia. What does it mean exactly? In my humble opinion, there will never be 1Malaysia for as long as there are preferential treatment for bumiputera (being born in this 'privileged' group, it's kind of hard to swallow if people want to take that away from you isn't it?), more than 1 language being spoken in the country, political parties that are established based on religion and race, vernacular schools still in existence and politicians that are playing the race card for their advantages still roam freely.

Take our nearest neighbor Indonesia for example. Over there, you can’t even distinguish between races because they speak the same language and have similar names. Correct me if I am wrong but I don’t think they have political parties that represent the Chinese, Javanese, Sundas or what not. They are close enough to living in 1 nation state. But I am sure there is racism to some degree over there too. Heck, racism and hate crime even existed in America - the so-called land of freedom! It’s an incurable disease.

As parents, the least we could do is to teach our children to be unprejudiced and open-minded. We should not instill hatred in their hearts. The recent cow head protest was really a bad example one could give to the young generation. Imagine if people make fun of our prophet or the holly Quran. You would be freaking mad right? Treat thy neighbor the way you want to be treated. Where did that group of people come from? They should be thrown behind bars for life I say. There are other ways to throw your grouses; making fun of one’s religion is definitely not the way. I say hunt them one by one and put them away for good before they 'infect' others.

Pimples attack!

Of late, my complexion has turned for the worst. I’ve been attacked by pimples and blackheads all over my face. Not to mentioned my existing pigmentation problem. It’s getting worse too. What did I do? Or what didn’t I do? I know never having a facial might be one of the culprits, but besides that what else? I didn’t change my lifestyle or my diet, so why the sudden hormone change?

I have since stopped using AG2020. I was afraid that it could have triggered the pimples attack. I have also been taking a supplement called Bidadari for the last couple of months (oh this thing really work on tightening loosen muscle I tell ya!). That too I had stop taking ever since the breakout started.

I promised myself that I would get a facial this week. Judging from the rate I’m going I don’t think it’s gonna happen. It’s already Thursday and next week is the last week before Raya. Could someone please whip my lazy butt?

Will I ever get a flawless complexion? Most probably not unless I am willing to spend thousands of ringgit on treatment (which I can’t afford right now) and spend hours of precious time at the saloon. Right now I am going back to basic by using bedak sejuk at night and changed my skin care range back to Clinique. AG2020 has stopped working on me. Why, why, why?????

I seriously need help in this department.

One of a kind indeed

I wanted to write this post earlier but the puasa month really has this effect on my mood – I am too lazy to do just about everything but cook. So this one will be short (and hopefully sweet).

Sophia Amani bt. Fatzunnahar (aka Sophie) turned 1 year old according to Islamic calendar on Nuzul Quran - Monday, 17 Ramadhan 1430. It was on Nuzul Quran last year that I was wheeled into the OT for an emergency c-section because she went into breach position at the very last minute – my one-of-a-kind baby! She even surprised a seasoned OBGYN when she did that. No one had expected that a full term baby already engaged south bound towards the birth canal could turn head up. How did she do it? Only God knows. What I can tell you is her legs are really strong; she can kick pretty hard – a future sprinter or kick boxer perhaps.

Sophia Amani a few hours old.

All alone in isolation ward because momma had chicken pox right after the delivery. Poor Sophie was kept in the ward for 7 days and ONLY daddy was allowed to see her.

In isolation ward. I cried inconsolably from the 5th day onwards day because I missed her so much. Imagine giving birth to a child and not being able to see her at all for 7 days. Dr. Musa was really MEAN.

Can you see the wires? She was pricked and and poked by the doctor on her hands and legs to complete the full round of anti-viral medicine. Poor baby.

Sophie's first day at home. Happy to be home at last - can ya see her happy face? Momma was the happiest person on earth that day too

My motherly intuition tells me that she is a one very bright baby (but then again all mothers think that their babies are bright, don’t we?). She could understand almost all instructions and very observant. Give her a shoe, she’d try to put it on (she loves her sister’s shoes the most), give her a hair clip, she’d try to clip it on her hair, give her a bottle of eye drop, she’d try to poke it into one’s eyes, give her an iphone, she’d play game with it! Her favourite game on iphone is TAP TAP. She could salam and kiss one’s hand before she even turned 1 year old. She would kiss people when instructed and she’d do it willingly to the people she loves the most (like moi lah). When her daddy is outstation, she’d point to my handphone and say PAPA. I think that’s her way of saying that she wants to talk to her daddy. Isn’t that cute?

Her favourite TV show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She’d stop playing when the cartoon is aired on channel 613. When she’s in the mood to watch TV, and the show is not what she wanted to watch, she’d take the remote control and try to change the channel herself. She loves Aboo, our pet cat; likes to ‘torture’ him by pinching and pulling his ears and tail. At night she’d sleep with her tiger cub soft toy that resembles Aboo. Oh, she’s been sleeping in between momma and papa since she turned 9 months old. Her crib is now collecting dust in my room.

When I think that she WILL be my last, there is a teensy weensy bit of me that kind of microscopically regret that. Having 1 or 2 more babies like her would be a joy to our life. But my body is too old to go through the cycle again…tulang sudah rapuh mak! Wouldn’t it be nice if human were like animals, we give birth and the baby would get up, walk and find his/ her own way to survive without much care from the parents. I wouldn’t mind having 10 babies like that.

On the same subject, did you know that our prophet Nabi Muhammad S.A.W. was raised by Halimatussa’adiah until he turned 2? Apparently, the wealthy Arabs would give their newborn babies to the Badwis and pay them to nurse and care for them until they turn 2 or 3 years old. Only then the children are taken home. My dear husband once said jokingly that he wished we still practice that today...

Sophie will turn 1 year old in just a matter of days. With that, I have passed the topmost crucial milestone of bringing up a child – the first 1 year. Another 2 years as a toddler, then freedom!! No more babies in da house until it’s time to jaga my cucu...muahahaha.

I wonder how my mom survived having 6 children without a maid. I don’t think that I have the passion or the energy to have more than 4 (or have more than 1 without a maid). I salute you mak.

On a slightly related subject, I say we are too dependent on foreign maids that without them our lives will be difficult, especially for working moms (even a full time mom like me can’t live without them these days. I am too pampered to house chores on my own :D). Hence, I say YES to maids!!! Having a maid could even improve your love live as you get to spend more quality time with your hubby and most importantly you quarrel less (because you’re not so tired after doing the house chores). Your kids get more attention too because you have more free time. So YB Minister, please work it out with the Indonesian, Philippine and Cambodian government to ensure that we won’t be short of maids supply in the future. But I do think that the Indon’s demand for minimum wage of RM800 is totally ridiculous. That’s really over the top (although I am already paying my maid of 5 years RM750/month). Can’t live with them, can’t live without them *sigh*!

19 years later (part 2)

(I would like to credit Wan Mazwan aka mamarazzi for the picture. Nanti kena saman pulak!)

I recently met up with friends whom I last met 19 years ago. All thanks to FaceBook! It’s wonderful isn’t it? Being able to catch up and reminisce about the good old days again after so long.

I got a call from the most popular person in FB (almost a celebrity mind you), Wan Mazwan - who just came back from Bahrain for a long holiday - on Thursday morning asking whether I could meet her and Liza for lunch that day. My mind was going wild trying to figure out how to make it with having to pick up my son from school at 1.50pm. So I thought I had no choice but be there late. It was too late to make arrangement for Daniel to tumpang one of his friends home.

After I performed my motherly duty, I sped to Putrajaya at full speed, thanks to my hubby who provided me with a reliable car (ehemm bila nak tukar kereta baru?). I maintained speed between 140-160km/hr and made it to Putrajaya in 15mins! It was a record. I once drove from KLIA to Sri Damansara in less than 30 minutes speeding at 190km/hr on the highway. It was exciting; I could feel the adrenalin rushing in my system.

Anyway, back to the micro reunion, nothing much has changed – both still look as young and beautiful as they were 19 years ago. Wan’s humor is as refreshing as ever. You cannot possibly go bored talking to this chirpy lady. Liza really excudes a charm of a successful corporate lady – I’m so proud of you girl!

We ate and chat for hours in the restaurant that we lost track of time – it flew so fast with so many things to catch up! But I had to bid good bye and take my leave as I needed to pick up my son my school. It was so so so much fun meeting the two of them. We should do this more often people!

I say it’s wonderfull being able to meet up with old friends and make new ones. Friends make our lives more rewarding, fulfilling and animated. I love you people!!

Ramadhan Datang Lagi

Although 13 days too late, I would like to wish all Muslims Ramadhan A-Mubarak.

I’ve always loved Ramadhan even when I was young. When I was a little girl, I loved the atmosphere and festivity during puasa. Breaking fast, playing bunga api and mercun at night were like the best activities in the whole wide world at the time. These days it’s a little harder to get those wonderful mercun we played during our childhood, I pity my kids. It was sure FUN playing with mercun despite what the government says about the risk that comes with it.

As we get older, we look forward to another aspect of puasa - terawih and ibadah. Food glorious food is undoubtedly the main agenda too during Ramadhan – as much as we try to deny this fact, it’s very much true for us Malaysians. One cannot escape about thinking of going to the many Ramadhan bazaars around town.

Always on the top list are: Murtabak, ayam percik, ikan bakar, the sweet kuihs, pengat (or serawa as we orang Kedah calls it) and the ever faithful bubur lampuk. Yumm yummm!!

My two young sons too look forward to puasa, for that I thank Allah the Almighty. When I asked Kyle what he liked most about puasa he said he loves waking up early in the morning for sahur and he look forward to shedding some weight as well. Daniel used to look forward to the food for berbuka. But not this year. This year we really eat in moderation. We seldom go to the bazaar and I cook everything from lauk-pauk, kuih-muih and the drink. I hope the tradition would continue for years to come. In the past, half of what we bought ended up in the dustbin. So this year, I thought we should try to curb the pembaziran. Moreover, being a fulltime homemaker, I am determined to “homemade” this year’s puasa.

During the recent school holiday, I took the advantage to execute some home project with the kids in my endeavor to keep them occupied before breaking fast. We made doughnuts, karipap and other kuih as a family project. The kids loved it. It was a huge success. I shall try to do this more often during weekends and holidays.

Next week, my other half is leaving for China for a week – I don’t like this! It makes buka puasa definitely less exciting *sob sob*. I foresee that my cooking momentum may slightly decrease during his one week absence.

I say Malaysians are obsessed with food. We take every opportunity to celebrate with food, even in the month when we were supposed to eat less :D.

What's been keeping me busy

Wow!!! It’s been more than a month since my last post. My part time job has really kept me busy for the entire month. Now that it’s almost all done, I can start updating my blog again…yay!! Truthfully, I really miss updating this space. I have lots to say but so little time to write. My sons have since given up asking me to update it too.

In the last month, I have completed a job for Taylor’s and Naza. I may get another job from Taylor’s soon. If I could keep it up, I may not go back to work full time next year. Working from home is definitely more fun (although there are a lot of distractions in between).

Apart from busy working, for the last 3 weeks or so, I’ve been hooked to a game of farming in FaceBook, much to my hubby’s dismay because I’ve been spending more time in front of my notebook than talking to him! Well, in my defense, FarmVille is not just some useless game, it’s all about making the right strategy to move up to higher levels. You need to optimize your investment and purchase wisely to keep moving up to the next level steadily. I am proud to say that in just 3 weeks, I’ve moved from level 1 to 24...muahahaha. And I now own a cottage, a barn, a tractor, a harvester, a workshop, two tool sheds and lots more. I am damn proud of my farm huhuhu...

On the downside, my farm has been taking a lot of my time even at the expense of my part time work. Not very good lah. My hubby too has been complaining a LOT. Even Sophie is getting less attention from me because I was too busy farming (while at the same time working). Perhaps I should take it slow, can’t be the aggressive farmer that I was *sob sob*.

Statistically, I found out recently that FarmVille has attracted so much interest amongst FB users that it has grown to 11millions users in just 2 short months! It’s mind-boggling to know that there are other 11millions cyber farmers like me around the world. So honey, please take note that I am NOT alone...

A week of misery

Oh my, it’s been more than 2 weeks since my last update. First I was busy entertaining my parents who were here for a visit then I fell sick for more than a week, thanks to the haze!

It’s been quite a while since I last became that sick. I was coughing like my lungs were going to explode! With the flu, sore throat and fever, I could barely get out of bed. I slept most of the time during that 1 week except for fetching my kids to/from schools. The cough became very severe at night, perhaps due to the drop in temperature. I was prescribed the strongest cough syrup available in the clinic to no avail. After I finished a bottle, I went back to the clinic and I was given an alternative medicine, a bottle of Ivy leaf extract – sugar and alcohol free, made in Germany. Quite pricey for a cough syrup I’d say but it works a little better than the typical cough medicine and it tastes nothing like it either. It's like swallowing a spoonful of pleasantly flavoured liquid sugar...yummy! (They say it's sugar free, but how come it tastes sweet? It bits me la) The next time anyone in the family is down with cough, I’ll ask for this one instead.

By now, I have finished ALL the medicines prescribed by the doctor, all 5 of them plus 2 rounds of cough medicine. I am now taking Ubat Batuk Cap Ibu dan Anak, this would be my 3rd bottle of cough medicine. Although I still feel a bit down and still coughing a little bit at night, I thank God the Almighty that I didn’t pass the germ to my kids, particularly Sophie. I am actually quite amazed that despite hours of my severe coughing at night, she could sleep soundly next to me, she slept like a baby! Hahaha...(and the same goes to my other half who also slept like a baby!)

In that week, I was called by Taylor’s to come in for a short brief. Hence, despite being sick I lugged myself to the office. I was given a (freelance) job again. This time, to write for a 20-page prospectus. That will keep me occupied for the next 2-3 weeks. Hence, less time to update my blog (sigh!). I have submitted my copy direction and layout this morning. Once approved, I will be busy writing, writing and writing. I prefer editing actually, writing consumes more time and energy particularly corporate writing...boring!!!! But I already have plans on what to do with the payment...a new handbag, yeay!!! Heck, I don’t even know how much to charge them yet. But, it’s never too early to plan for your purchases kan?

I say life is full of surprises. You’ll never know what you’re gonna get. Everything you have today could be taken away tomorrow, including your health and wealth. Being sick serves as a wake up call to all of us to remind us that we are nothing but a hamba di bumi Allah. Allah maha kaya...wallahuwa'lam.

A celebration of love

There is one date that I really look forward to every year, no it’s not my birthday, it’s my wedding anniversary. A day where my husband and I celebrate our love, our devotion and our submission to each other. And yesterday, we celebrated our 15th anniversary as husband and wife.

I can’t believe it that it has been that long. 15 years ago yesterday we tied the knot at Indianapolis Islamic Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, sealing the deal hopefully forever and ever, till death do us part. I still feel like it was yesterday that we took the 2-hour drive with a few close friends to say our vow in the house of Allah in hope that we would make it through thick and thin together. And it was nothing short of thick and thin that we went through together in our journey as man and wife in the past 15 years.

15 years!!! I keep saying 15 because I can’t believe it’s been 15 years. Another 15 years I’ll be celebrating my anniversary with my grandchildren. It does make me feel a little like a veteran though...

Anyway, 15th being a significant number made me rather anxious and we both wanted it to be a special celebration for both of us. We had breakfast in the morning with our little angel (who by the way can’t stop smiling at the Bangla waiters. She just loves men of any age!) whilst the other kids were in school. We had lunch at home and after Friday prayer (and in between fetching kids to and fro schools) we went for a short coffee break at a nearby mall.

This year, for the first time, I’ve ordered an anniversary cake from a dear friend. Thruthfully, I actually needed an excuse to get a whole cake from Irma (I've been drooling at her pretty pictures posted in facebook for the past few months), so I jumped at the opportunity. I must say it was really yummy and I could the taste the rich chocolate lingering in my mouth as it melts. As a bonus she also brought some yummy brownies!! Thanks Irma, the kids love it so much.

The lovely anniversary cake:


The day ended with the much awaited anniversary dinner. This year I’ve been trusted with the dinner arrangement since I have lots of time to spend on planning. Based on the feedbacks I got from friends through facebook, I chose the one that I think befits the occasion the most. All I can tell you is that it was the most expensive dinner (or even breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner put together) I’ve ever had in my entire life! In my defense, we only get to celebrate 15th anniversary once in our lifetime, so it was all worth it.

The highlight of the celebration for me was the anniversary present (I can’t help it, who doesn’t like present huh?). He loves to collect watches and electronic gadgets. As I don’t have a steady source of income, gadget is totally out of my non-existence budget hence I got him a watch instead. Got a very good deal (really!), so I don’t feel guilty the he actually have to pay for it too later (I’m a dependant remember?). As for mine, he waited until after the dinner. So I was thinking since it was small enough to fit into his pocket, it must be a sparkle. And I was absolutely right. A certain part of my body is 0.5carat sparkler and it even comes with a GIA certificate….yahoooooo!!!!!! I can’t stop looking at it as I’m penning this article.

I say it is certainly not easy to build a life with another human being, but we should always make it a worthwhile journey together. It has been a worthwhile journey for me thus far and I look forward to another 100 years of journey together with my husband, insyaAllah.

LIMA BELAS TAHUN

(A special dedication to my husband of 15 years)

15 tahun yang lalu
Aku melangkah ke alam baru
Tanpa menoleh kebelakang
Tanpa sedikit rasa gentar
Yang aku ada
Hanya kamu diantara berjuta
Hanya satu janji yang belum tentu ada jawapnya
Hanya satu perjalanan yang belum tahu kemana penghujungnya
Tapi aku tahu dengan hanya satu itu
Aku akan mampu membina satu dunia
Yang penuh warna-warna
Yang tentunya ada terselit cerita bahagia
Kini yang sudah pasti
Duniaku sudah penuh dengan warna
Penuh dengan cerita bahagia, suka, duka
15 tahun yang kita bina bersama
15 tahun yang amat bermakna

P/s: Sayang, I love you with all my heart and soul, more than you’ll ever know...