What's Going On?

These stuff:

1. I am not going back to Malaysia for good.
2. We were originally planned to move to Oman.
3. A few days before christmas, we received a call that we're moving to Dubai instead.
4. Since Christmas, I have been frantically searching for schools and potential homes online (thanx Dayah for loaning her laptop and broadband thingamajig). ALhamdulilllah, we managed to enquire and get responses from a few schools even though some of them were closed for the holidays.
5. We drew up an action plan for the move. (you know me... control freak)
6. 30th January we flew back to Saudi, got necessary documents copied/printed and ready for submission.
7. 4th January we flew to Dubai and started school visits and Ilham took his placement tests.
8. After visiting 2 schools, we decided on Jumeirah College and Jumeirah Primary School for its location more than anything else. Alhamdulillah all of our applications were accepted! yay!
9. After viewing at least 6 houses a day for several days, we finally settled on an independent villa that we liked, but the agent/owner was horrible, so after a few days of quarelling, we decided to scrap that house and picked another one, 1.3 kms from school. (I'm gonna walk to send/pick up the kids from school on good weather days. Taufik is hoping I can kurus. Yeah right.)
10. Yes, the villa has a guest room. Please do come and visit! :)
11. We're now back in Saudi to settle some stuff with school and do last minute shopping (I am STILL eyeing that kitchenaid tee hee) and PACK & MOVE.
12. We will fly to Dubai on the 20th, and kid will start school on the 24th.

I'll write more later, like what I think of Dubai and that drama with the real estate agent.

Called my mom

I called my mom yesterday.
I wanted to tell her first before I blog about it and in effect, tell everyone else.
I told her I had good news and bad news.

Good news:
We've bought our flight tickets home, and our flight is on November 17th. (Lunch Ladies sila ambil perhatian).
We'll be back before raya haji, and will be spending raya haji in Kelana Jaya. I'm planning a small kenduri with sedara mara. (Honeytar sila ambil perhatian)

Bad news:
We are flying back to Saudi on December 30th.
Why are we flying back to Saudi, you ask?
Well, the thing is, there is a possibility that we might not be able to go home for good just yet. We are sure we'll be leaving Saudi though. We're just not sure where we're going next. The upper management haven't made their minds (or they have, but have not officially informed us) yet.
So we're kinda in a limbo.
That's why we decided to just book our tickets home first. Whatever happens, we would come back to Saudi end of December and pack our stuff and go wherever we're supposed to go.

I hope we get firm news before we go back home though. Coz if we could go home to Malaysia (Taufik and I are still really hoping!), I would have to make time to visit schools and register the kids and stuff.

So right now, we're just going with the flow, living day by day, see what happens.
The tiny control freak in me hates not being able to plan ahead though :P

I want to ...

... be Yves Rossy when I grow up.

... get Anis's baju kurung over with coz I need to make cookies!! :(
but,

... take a break sometimes, so some of you might be a target for my sudoku fix. My apologies!!

... reply to comments, but don't really have time at the mo. Will get to it soon, ya?

... blog about 'Syawal in Trengganu', but again, (read above).

... wish all my muslim friends and family -

Eid Mubarak ya habibi!

Maaf Zahir Batin sekiranya ada salah dan silap, sengaja atau tak, sedar atau tak, kecik atau besar.. rest assured that I would do the same to you :)

Drive Safe, Celebrate Well!
Think of me when you're eating all that yummeh malaysian dishes!

Interesting Iftar

First, let me explain to you why I did not post the picture of my raspberry cheesecake:

1. There was no raspberry cheesecake. I thought I had bought raspberry topping, but it turned out to be strawberries in syrup (Note: Never shop while you're hungry, coz the lack of glucose affects your eyesight and brain capacity). There is nothing uglier than un-fresh stawrberries. It tasted okay though.
2. I had procrastinated so much (I played Sudoku!! *hangs head in shame* I think I have a problem. Dr. Phil help me), that I was late in baking the cheesecake. By the time the cake had cooled down sufficiently for me to slap on the whipped cream and arrange the strawberries on top, it was time to leave for my friend's house. I did not get a chance to take any pictures before it was all cut up and eaten.

So there you have it. No raspberry cheesecake pictures.

Yesterday we got an invitation for iftar with the folks at Sm1th at Le Meridian Hotel (again). Taufik had wanted to go to the Holiday Inn this year, and I was excited about it coz from the outside it looked like they erected traditional bedouin tents or something (or maybe it's just the entrance? *shrug*), but then Holiday Inn couldn't accommodate the whole office+families, so they bought tickets for Meridian instead.
Food was okay, same like last year. I ate lotsa salmon (so did Izani). I had these yummeh grilled eggplants, and a stuffed eggplant baked in tomato sauce and topped with mozzarella. I so want to eat that again, but i'm afraid if I make it myself, no one else would eat it, coz no one else in my house likes eggplants. Maybe I should try to make it at the next gathering, whenever that may be.

Just like last year, they had a lucky draw at the end of the evening. Last year we didn't win anything, so we weren't that hopeful this year. The prizes were mostly crap anyways (electrical items, lotions from a neighbouring spa), except for the final grand prize, which was one return ticket to Abu Dhabi. That never stopped the kids from being excited about the possibility of winning something though. Ihsan and Anis eagerly held on to their tickets and checked their numbers every time. Ihsan kept asking me, "if I win, I can go up there and take my present?" and I would exasperatingly answer "Yes....".

So we were listening to the guy announcing the winning numbers, and he said "Four, Wahid, Two, Sifar", but the mixture of english and arabic numbers confused us and I thought it was 4127. We waited for the announcement again but somehow the guy went on and on about the rules and regulations for entering the lucky draw for a car pulak dah. At taufik's table, one guy had 4119, the other had 4121 so taufik thought, "the winning ticket must be among us". I asked him what the winning ticket was and he said "4120".
I asked Ihsan what his ticket number was and he said "4120!".
"4120! You won, Ihsan!" I said excitedly.
"I won? So I can go?" , he was equally excited and unsure at the same time.
"You won! Go!" I urged him, coz they were about to pull another number.

You should've seen the way he skipped to the stage and take his prize. It was just a small portable cassette recorder FM/AM radio thingy, but he held it like it was gold. He brought it around everywhere he went. He only put it down when he went to get more dessert (He said my cheesecake was better than the hotel's cheesecake. *wink* such a charmer), and even then he asked me several times, to seriously, look after his radio.

We went home and tried it out. Ihsan was so happy as he danced to Sultans of Swing in the living room.
We pointed out to him that maybe this is Allah's way of rewarding him for fasting for 15 days straight.

"What's a 'cassette'?" he asked me. :D

*rolls eyes*
I feel old.

Not a food post.

I thought it'd be good to take a break.
Plus I'm gonna make a raspberry cheesecake today, so I'll save that torture for tomorrow. *mwahahaha*

Let's talk about mundane things like politics and tv and such.

I didn't get to catch the democratic convention on TV, but I did get a glimpse of Rudy and Sarah talking at the Republican Convention.
It was chilling.
It was like watching a devil worshipping cult movie or something, especially when they were chanting "Drill baby Drill".
You citizens of america better make your choices carefully.

What in the world is going on with my country lah?
I dont understand why you keep voting for these ***holes when they are so obviously ***holes.
*geram nih*

I saw Spiderman 2 for the umpteenth time and only recently noticed something - that receptionist chewing gum and refusing to pay for her pizza order because it was late, she's Bones!

During Ramadhan, MBC4 shows Americas Funniest Videos instead of Oprah. My kids and I are hooked! We sit together and laugh our ***es off at the really funny videos. Izani loves anything with animals and babies so he enjoys it too.

I really should take a break from Sudoku and return to catching up with my tadarus.

My husband is on Facebook. *horror*
but he doesnt have time to maintain it, so I had to help. *leeerrrrr*

I'm gonna go mandi now.

1st Ramadhan

Yesterday was the first day of Ramadhan.
Ilham and Ihsan woke up for sahur, and they were quite okay even though we kept having to prod them to eat and not sleep at the dinner table. After awhile they were awake enough to finish their food and have some tea. We went over the 'rules' for fasting, what they can and cannot do. I told them to try their very best at controlling their desire to eat/drink. This is after all, the ultimate test against yourself. I also reminded them that fasting is not an excuse not to participate in school activities. Just make sure you eat right during sahur and do not over-exert yourself during play time, and you'll be fine.
We prayed fajr together, and they went back to sleep.
I had to drag myself out of bed at 6:15am to wake Anis up first, coz she's the only who needs to have breakfast, and only woke the boys up 15 minutes later. They were so happy they got extra sleep time coz they don't need to have breakfast. Ilham yippeed that his schoolbag is lighter without his lunchbox. (And I yippeeed coz I only had to prepare one lunchbox!)

The kids came home in good spirits. Ilham and Ihsan were tired, but they were proud of themselves for surviving. Ihsan was happy he could hang out at the sand dome playing card games with the other fasting kids during lunch break. Ilham asked me if he batal puasa if he killed an ant. Ihsan said he almost drank some water but remembered that he was fasting.
Reminds me of how grown up they've become. I remember a time when Ilham would reply "Ilham tak kuasa" while sucking on his milk bottle when I ask him if he was fasting.

I had wanted to go grocery shopping with the bus, but I had a cold so I scrapped that plan. That decision left me in quite a dilemma : I had wanted to make prawn fritters but had no prawns. How now brown cow.
After procastinating by playing sudoku and watching Monsters Inc over and over again with Izani, I decided to take a walk to the mini market and get me some frozen prawns. It's not as good as the fresh ones (frozen prawns tend to shrink and become tough when cooked), but it'll do.
Ihsan helped me pound dried shrimp, Ilham helped me make air sirap, and Anis was the official taster. Ilham helped me decide on making chicken rice for iftar, coz my brain was dead.
So that's what we had for the first iftar of the year - sub-standard prawn fritters, and chicken rice.
I have NO idea what to cook today :P

On the taddarus front, due to my annoying cold, I only managed to muster 23 ayats of Al-Baqarah in between frying up fritters. Shameful. I hope I'll do better today.

How was your first day?

Selamat Merdeka dan Ramadhan Kareem

mercutanda
Selamat Merdeka
Today is Malaysia's 51st Independence day.
So why do I feel that even though our nation is 51 years old, we are still acting pretty immaturely?
You know what I'm talking about.
There's name-calling, taking away someone else's toy just coz you dont like him/her, throwing a tantrum when you think someone's gonna talk bad about you, swearing to god you didn't do something... I am just waiting for someone to chant and jeer "Ayok, tak tayor, balik rumah makan sayor" (or something to that effect).
Grow up.
Perhaps one day we'll be grown up enough to not need parties and fireworks to celebrate our own birthday.
A good present - abolishment of tolls? Reduction ( a real, substantial one) in fuel prices? a trustworthy government? - would do.
eh, but i digress.
Selamat Hari Merdeka, Malaysians :)

Ramadhan Kareem
Tonight is the first of Ramadhan!
Ilham and Ihsan are excited coz they get to "wake up in the middle of the night an eat". I've got tempoyak, sambal daging and plenty of eggs for emergency lauk. I bought a Malaysian cookbook, just in case I suddenly crave for something.
I again, will attempt to finish reading the Quran within 28-30 days. This year I will read the regular Quran and not the tafseer, coz I find the translation distracting and slowing me down, though I feel that defeats the purpose of reading the Quran in the first place. But i just want to be able to say "I managed to khatam my Quran this year!"

I would like to take this opportunity to ask for forgiveness from all who read me, just in case I've written or said something that hurt your feelings.
I would also like to wish you all a blessed and peaceful Ramadhan, may Allah widen our path and award us with opportunities to do more ibadah than we did last year.

Insya-Allah.

Kalau beli kueh kat pasar ramadhan tu, ingat2lah kita yang jauh dan terliur ini..

MyPhone

wah 6 days flew so fast.. I have no excuse for not blogging, but heck if I'm not gonna try to give some.
My internet was unstable. I had laundry to do (I dont understand why I always have loads of laundry to do after a long holiday. It's as if I did not do any laundry at all when I was where I was). I forgot I was lactose intolerant. Correction - I thought I had gotten over being lactose intolerant, but I was wrong. (I drank fresh milk and suffered headaches and diarhea, i dont know how to spell that word, for 2 days. too much info, I know). I had to finish 21 sudoku challenges! (berpinau mata).
I was malas.

aaanyways.

My Phone.
As I mentioned in my previous post, my old phone got stolen.
We were in Paka (Trengganu) sleeping at a friend's house (a very lovely house, lotsa windows, no grills, wooden floors, huge backyard filled with fruit trees and a view of the river mouth and south china sea) and I had charged the phone in the kitchen on the first floor and when I woke up and went downstairs I found both phone and charger gone. Someone(s) had broken into the house through a window with a broken latch and took what was easily reached and disposable. Also missing was a bag of duku, and I think a bag of instant keropok that my aunt Loni gave, coz I couldnt find it anywhere.
I wasnt really bummed that my phone got stolen. It was a really old Motorola E398, and the battery/charger was going all wonky anyways. I had to charge it everyday to keep it alive. Taufik had said that we should buy a new phone.
I was bummed, though, that with the phone, I also lost pictures of my kids when they were younger, especially Anis when she was chubbier and curlier, and everyone's phone numbers!!! (Last year Taufik accidently threw away my SIM card, so I kept all my numbers in the phone instead of the card, so now I have nothing. Nothing! except for maybe a few numbers that Taufik had kept in his handphone)
So if you're reading this and you have my Saudi number, please do sms me your number so that I could keep in touch with you.
And also because i lost everyone's numbers, I was not able to contact some people that I had wanted to meet up during my holiday. My apologies!!! (Especially you Farah.. dah beranak ke belum?)

anyways.

My NEW Phone.
I hearrrrtttttttt my new phone!
It's a Nokia 5310 XpressMusic, in red. Taufik chose it for me. I had wanted a different phone, but I am glad he forced made me buy this one.
I had just transferred PearlJam's Lost Dogs, Riot Act and the avocado album into the phone. I had also transferred some bootlegged songclips I had stored on my computer (like Stuff&Nonsense that Eddie did with Neil Finn at Karma Club).
I can now rawk to PearlJam while I cook in the kitchen. woo hooooo!!
awesome!
All I need now is either a headphone with longer wires coz the ones I have are really short and keep coming off my ears when I have the phone in my pocket and I bob my head, OR .. get me blootooth headphones. oh yeah...
hey hey I have a birthday coming up, maybe that's what i should ask for *wink*

More tomorrow or whenever I finish uploading pictures into Flickr.

almost over

Well, my 5 week malaysian holiday is almost over. It felt like it went like a flash.
Tonight we're gonna have a dinner with half of my family to celebrate mokciknab's birthday . 'Half of my family' - coz my mom is away to help tulisje with her new baby, The One Who Does Not Blog is away in Bangkok, and Mimi is down with chicken pox (hey hey go wish her get well soon!).
Tomorrow I've got to wake up early to get the kids ready and have breakfast and get in the cab at 9am to reach the airport by 10am and check in for my 12:15pm flight.
I'm almost done packing, except for the keropok (fish crackers) and ikan bilis (dried anchovies), and I just remembered that I didnt buy any udang kering (dried shrimps). :P

Actually, there are many many things that I wanted to buy but ended up not buying for one reason or another. C'est La Vie.

aanyways...

Just thought you'd be happy to hear that I'll be returning back to my regular blogging schedule in a few days ;)
See Ya!!

2 movies and 1 dramatic end

I caught The Prestige on the movie channel a few days ago.
I had seen promos for this movie and was intrigued by the story of rivalry between two magicians (plus the fact that it had Hugh Jackman *and* Christian Bale *and* Michael Caine). It was indeed a story about rivalry between two magicians, but it was also something more. From the get go, this movie was intriguing, and it stayed intruiging to the very last second.
Apart from The Usual Suspects, not many movies could keep me engaged and make me go Wow in the end like this movie did. I spent the next two days going over each scene in my mind, picking up clues in hindsight.
I have to warn you though, that the movie's time-line is a little askewed, coz there were many flashbacks within a flashbacks. Just get that straight and you'll have no problem.
I was also surprised to find out that one of the characters was David Bowie ;)
I would definitely recommend this movie.

I also saw Becoming Jane, which made me cry a bit. Such a lovely story. Made me feel how lucky I am to be able to end up with a person I truly love.

In other news, I have had a dramatic but successful end for my efforts on weaning Izani! Yay!! Read about it on the bonda blab blog - Wean or Lose?.

FOR SALE: The Little Red Mixer That Could

I want to sell my little red mixer.

I bought it for SR700, and have used it for less than a year. It has been a really good beginner's mixer. I have made countless cakes, cinnamon rolls and cookies with it. (You may have even tasted some of them!)
I now want to upgrade to a more professional mixer ;)

Anyone interested?
It would be easier if you're staying around Khobar-Dammam-Dhahran-Jubail area, but I am willing to consider delivering it to you if you are from Riyadh, Bahrain or Qatar (or even UAE), or you can come and pick it up yourself and sample some of its potentials! (yummeh)

Leave a comment here, or email me (elisa_taufik@yahoo.com) or leave a message on my book of face, whichever is more convenient for you.
I want to sell it for SR500, make me an offer!

Cairo - Anecdotes

Okay before you guys complain "Tak habis-habis lagi ke cerita pasal cairo???", I promise you, this is the absolutely. last. one.

These are bits and pieces that happened that I didnt think fit in any of the other posts.

Jumpa Pelakon Melayu
When we were in Saqqara, we saw that there were a bunch of Malays. We knew they were Malays coz there was a makcik pakai tudung macam melayu (bukan style indonesia) and she was saying "eeehhh best aje dengar pakcik tu cakap arab shuey shuey shuey". They were walking past us while we were climbing up a slope so we couldnt say hi.
Anyways, when we climbed down on the other side of the slope, we met a couple melayu who sengih sengih at us. The guy looked really familiar and he was acting really friendly and smiling at us and he said Hi so we stopped to chat with him.
Taufik was like trying to figure out where he knew him. "where are you from?", "Where did you go to school?", "Do you work for Petr0nas?", Taufik asked. The guy's impatient frizzy haired friend offered, "He's on TV", and the first thing that came to my mind was, "Oh do you work for TV3?", you know, maybe he was mokciknab's colleague and we had met him at her house or something. Nope. The friend laughed and finally said "Dia pelakon" (he's an actor) and the guy gave a humble smile and said "I'm Khairil Anuar".

and we were like,

"who?"

It was so embarassing. Taufik even managed to muster up a "sorry, but we've been out of the country for a while" as an apology (for recognizing him, but not recognizing him).
Anyways, Encik Khairil Anuar (I dont even know if I spelt his name correctly, coz seriously, I do not know who he is), if you're reading this, I would like to apologize if we had inadvertantly hurt your feelings. I mean, if you looked familiar to us, you must be quite a prolific actor lah kan? Our bad.

Panic in The Street
We were walking down one of the streets in town in mid afternoon when most of the shops are closed and most egyptians are having their siesta, when we heard a loud screech. An old black taxi (for there were so many in Cairo) which had been barelling down the street a moment ago, had actually suddenly screeched to a halt about a meter in front of us.
The taxi driver jumped out , shouting angrily at someone. That someone turned out to be one of his passengers, who also jumped out of the one of the back doors. They continued shouting at each other and were only stopped from lunging at each other when a passerby intervened. We watched this commotion in amazement.
What amazed us more was that after the sounds of quarelling died down from both of these men, both driver and passenger got back into the taxi and the taxi drove off.
I don't know what they were arguing about, but if I were the passenger, I would not have gotten back into the taxi.
Now I wonder if the taxi screeched to a halt again further up the street.

Poor Doctors
We met some Malaysian medical students from Alexandria a day before we left Cairo. We chatted a bit, asking about what life was like in Alexandria and they were really friendly and happy to meet another Malaysian. We asked them how much allowance they got from their scholarship/loan and they told us it was between USD200 - USD300, which I thought was reasonable in Egypt, considering the cost of living there. I only got USD500 when I was studying in Illinois (that was to cover rent+utility, food, stationaries etc.).
The next morning we read an article in the paper about Egyptian doctors threatening to go on strike unless they get a pay raise. The article stated that the starting pay for doctors is LE300 per month. That means that medical doctors are making less than what Malaysian medical students get every month.
I thought that was amazing and apalling at the same time.

dah, finish.

grr-lah-bah (gelabah = panic)

okay okay okay.

first things first.

Finally got my Growing Up In Trengganu!!! Yay!! Thankyou Papa!
I was so suprised to read my father mentioned by name in the acknowledgements :)
I was also suprised to see a sticker saying the book was a gift from the Trengganu former state minister.. errrr
I was pleasantly suprised to see the author's signature .. I will treasure the book forever.
I've only started reading it, but I've already cried once, when he mentioned that the brass bell on to of Puteri Hill was hand casted by Trengganu makers. I dont know.. just the image of how painstaking it mustve have been, got me overwhelmed with pride, and also sadness.
Oh, I cried twice, coz then I decided to read the last chapter and I couldnt help reading the trengganu bits out loud and it got me cackling to tears.
'Dia laghi sapa kecik ppala!' . gosh I havent heard that phrase for a loooong time.

I'm going to riyadh this evening. more story when i come back.

I took some pictures today:


gotta go pack. bye!

back from cairo

but as usual, I can't blog about it yet, because

... I've got a few loads of laundry to fold
... I am dying for some curry and sambal tumis ikan bilis
... the pictures are still on taufik's laptop
... I have to catch up on election news, idol news, family news

in summary though-
we only did half of the stuff I planned coz we all got sick one after another, but we did get to do the 'important' stuff like visit the pyramids, the museum, citadel and lots and lots of old mosques.
I have mixed feelings about cairo. I loved it, yet there were some parts of it that I loathed. We did enjoy ourselves though, despite falling sick.

more stories later, kay?

Serangan Bala Tentera (Attacked by an Army)

I forgot to tell you what happened last weekend.

Thursday is usually the day we do major house cleaning. Taufik and kids would help me vacuum the carpets and mop the floors and wash 2 of the 3 bathrooms (I wash the 3rd), while I would clean the whole kitchen.
I would usually 'close the kitchen' and would only make breakfast and we'd go out for lunch (but I'd still make dinner).

So last Thursday was no exception. After breakfast of sausages and scrambled eggs and toast, we started cleaning the house.
It wasn't long after we started that I got a call from Kak Nora from r1yadh. I met Kak nora when we went to the Edge of The World last year. I knew her husband, Arimi, from when he was working with M0torola. She said she's in d4mmam. Of course I asked her to come over. She said she wasn't sure where we were and I gave her Taufik's number so that her husband can talk to my husband about directions. I asked her if she's coming for lunch and she said "datang singgah aje" (we're just going to drop by).

In Malay terms, there is no such thing as 'just dropping by'. There has to be at least tea and some finger food.
So while scrubbing the stove I had to wreck my brain for what to cook. Looking at the ingredients that I had (we were planning to go grocery shopping after lunch), I had decided to make a pandan sponge cake and fried meehoon (rice vermicelli). I didn't even prepare lunch for us coz I was thinking we could go out after they left to have our lunch. Furthermore, there was nothing to prepare lunch with.

I had put the pandan cake in the oven and soaked one packet of meehoon when Taufik came to tell me that they'd arrive in one or two hours (they wanted to drive around and sightsee first) and get this: there were 4 cars!
4 cars = at least 8 adults and if these were families, there'd be at least 8 children too! My pandan cake and a packet of meehoon won't feed an army of 16! *panic*
So we decided we'd go out for a quick lunch and buy more stuff to serve our guests. It took me almost an hour to finish up cleaning from the time we decided to go out , so by the time we were on our way, we got a call from our guests telling us that they were on their way to our house.
oh horrors of all horrors! how embarassing! We had to ask them if they could come an hour later instead, dengan sungguh tak malu nya.

So we had the quickest lunch we could at the only restaurant here that is equivalent to a banana leaf rice restaurant (Lollies, where we ate puri for breakfast the other day), and I scooted to the nearby indian food store and bought some banana chips and nuts. On our way back we got a call that our guests are already waiting near the entrance to our compound.
We arrived at the entrance to see 5 cars all lined up in a row, waiting for us. It was a good thing though, because then they could just follow us in without having to go through security interrogation.

In just a short time from their arrival, my house was literally filled up to the brim.
The husbands occupied my small living room, the wives and babies (there were 3 cute fat babies!) in my equally small dining room, and the kids were spread throughout the house, including the play area, the TV room upstairs and my kids' room where the computer is.
I boiled 3 pots of water for tea, brought out all of my teacups, used all of my jugs and serving plates.
I didnt fry any meehoon coz they said they were still full from their lunch. Even then, my pandan cake was swiped clean and Ita, one of the r1yadh ladies, even brought in her banana cake to top it up.
I didn't get to take any pictures, Nonah, because I was too busy serving drinks and food and chatting chatting chatting. The house was filled with sounds of laughter and chatting (and exchanging of recipes) and occassional shrieking of little girls playing. It was the most havoc and the most festivity that my house has ever experienced! As we teranung folks like to say, "Kalu dok gegae, dok soh!" (something like, It's no fun if it's not noisy!)

I am really thankful for their visit. It was a lot of fun!
Kak Nora, Yan, Ita, Ramey and Nor, if you're reading this, Jangan serik datang lagi, ya?
;)

itsy bitsy

slow day, nothing major to write about.
so here's bits and pieces from my jam collection:

Love Jam

I found a website that is selling Laur3n by Ralph Laur3n!! I am *so* stoked. I was so loyal (and still am) to that fragrance since I bought my first bottle in 1990 after several months of saving up my monthly allowance from my college scholarship. I was so sad when they discontinued it. Then I started wearing Glamorous, but now I can't even find that in the stores over here. I really hate trying out new perfume..
So I am so happy I found that website, but I'm not gonna buy it yet coz I've gotta save up for something else first. (but if somebody wants to buy it for me, they're more than welcomed.... *shameless grin*)

Transmission Jam

I watched Juno.
I didnt think I would cry, but yeah, I did.. *hangs head in shame*
I like the dialogue. So 'bersahaja', erm.. 'relaxed'? And I am thinking of getting the soundtrack. I especially like that "Anyone Else But You" song.
oh and I also watched Into The Wild.
I found it kinda weird, yet liberating, yet disturbing. I wished I hadnt known so much about the movie, coz in supposedly solitary scenes, I kept imagining Sean Penn sitting there in his baseball cap with his hands on his chin and his crinkled forehead, and eddie beside him strumming his guitar. That sorta killed the mood for me. That aside, I thought Chris was a brat at first, but then as he 'grew' in the movie, so did my understanding of him. I hope his okay with himself, wherever he is.
I'm definitely getting the soundtrack. I felt like Eddie Vedder was singing to me the whole time I was watching it.

I watched American Id0L.
What happened to Leo??? He didnt make it, I gather? oh well.
And I'm sorry the Lampken siblings didnt make it either.
I like Asi'ah. and that Aussie guy. and that 16 year old (michael?). I'm a little iffy about Josiah. I liked his version of GraceKelly, he's full of passion, but not much in the vocal prowess department.

Travelling Jam

We are going to Cairo. *jumps about*
Taufik has a one week training first week of march, and he has decided to bring us along. yay!!
I think I mentioned somewhere that I am washing and ironing all my white shirts and brown pants in the hopes of emulating the "English Patient" look. HA HA HA.
We're planning planning planning. Hotels are so expensive! (USD200 per night, and we'll be there for 10 nights. You do the math ... adoiii!!!) I hope that we can get an apartment instead, so that we can afford a guide/driver.

Culinary Jam

The school had a bake sale yesterday so I made Red Velvet cupcakes using the Spongy Cake recipe and adding 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder and red food coloring.
Okay lah.

Blogberry Jam

I am trying to figure out who you are. I think I am getting close, mwahaha.

Melayu, Bekerja (untuk Kerajaan?), Bujang, Fasih dalam dua bahasa, Perempuan atau Lelaki? (besar kemungkinan perempuan). Betul?

Pearl Jam

My kids have this obsession with Man Of The Hour. They sing it in the shower over and over again.
Ilham came up to me one day and said,
"You know that part that goes 'and the bells ringing now and the door's open wide'? I think it's about Halloween"
I could have explained to him about the complicities of a father and son relationship, but I chose to giggle instead.
They really love Big Fish, by the way. But I think it's more due to the fantastic characters than the underlying story. They dont understand why I always cry when I watch it. I may have to buy the DVD.

fin.

The List

Kris's recent post (after a long absence, I may add) inspired me to write these down:

Things I want to do/see/visit before I die (in no particular order):

1. Perform hajj and truly repent (end of the year insya-Allah, and I will work hard on the repent bit)
2. Road trip through either Italy or Spain (quarter done)
3. See a live volcano (done, it was a sleeping one, but I guess that counts)
4. Swim with whales or dolphins
5. Go to Bali
6. Learn to play the guitar
7. Watch my kids graduate from college
8. See Jordan, lebanon, syria, morocco, turkey oh heck travel the world.
9. watch F1 live (done! yay)
10. Make a painting worthy of being put up on a wall in my house
11. Get a motorcycle license
12. Learn how to make mama's nasi dagang.
13. Climn a mountain (kinabalu?)
14. Sell durians/rambutans/local fruits by the roadside.
15. See the pyramids and sphinx (coming soon! tee hee)
16. Travel in a caravan or RV (inspired by chandramoon)
17. Publish a book
18. Meet the Tuaregs
19. Go on an african safari
20. See Pearl Jam, live. and, and, maybe shake Eddie Vedder's hand. (if that's not too much to ask)

err I'm sure there's more.. but can't think of them at the moment coz Izani smells.

random ramblings

i've been quiet coz my internet connection expired.I thought that I had forgotten to pay the bill (again!), and I was trying to remember how much a whole year's subscription cost the last time I paid, and then I remembered that the subscription was supposed to be included in the house rent and that Taufik had just renewed the contract for the house so it wasnt really my fault .. heh heh. So I called the guy in charge of the internet, but as usual, over here, it takes a few days to settle things so I only got my internet connection late yesterday afternoon.

----

Dont audition for amer1can id0l if -
. People tell you you should audition and it's followed by a laugh.
. When you sing, people turn and stare.
. Only your mama tells you that you are a good singer.
. You feel the need to put on a costume.
. People say you sound like Eddie Vedder when you sing "Moses Let my people go".
For gawd's sakes, take a tape recorder and listen to yourself before you go!

Having said that, I really really like Leo I-dont'-know-his-last-name. I hope he goes far in this competition.

----

The L0st Room has ended. I dont know if there's gonna be a second season. I dont know why it's so short.. maybe because of the writer's strike? *shrug*The ending was okay.. some loose ends, but he got his daughter back.

----

I have a barbecue today.
I made pandan sponge cake.*grin*

Now I have to go shower and make breakfast.
bye!

the truth is

The truth is, when Lollies arrived at my house, my kitchen was on fire.

We had bought some crabs and Taufik was deep frying it in a pan that was too small and the oil boiled over and caught fire. Our smoke alarm kept going off, the house was hazy with crab smelling smoke and I was going back and forth between the stove to make sure nothing else catches fire and standing under the smoke alarm flapping a kitchen towel at it to make it stop beeping. Taufik finally stopped the incessant alarm by removing the batteries.

Havoc, [I]wa cakap lu[/I]... very far from the goddess image.

8 days and counting...

I've been devoting my time on the chair covers. (and cooking and other daily duties... and even then some of the daily duties like sapu sampah are being neglected *malu*)
Here's what they look like:



2 down, 4 more to go!
So far I've managed to sew one per day, so I think I'll be able to make the deadline *grin*.
I am starting to wish I own a sewing machine though. It'll definitely speed things up and maybe I'd even have time to make a cover for my gawdawful sofas.

The guest room is ready.
The menu is not ready, but I already plan to go buy fish and makanan yang sewaktu dengan nya this weekend.
The rest.. i'll just leave as is. I am trying to convince myself I am not trying to impress anybody, but still feel the need to make my place look welcoming. and liveable.
is that a sin?
am I being vain/pretentious/crazy?
I think the last bit might be partially true.

*cuckoo cuckoo*