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.

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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)