Payback time!

Just a quick note on the happenings of last weekend, since it's still fresh in my head. Anyways, promised myself that I'd spend the weekend with Hady and Hariz. Miss them lots so it's now quality Papa & Mama time!

First up - it was VM's sports day on Saturday morning. Both Hady and Hariz participated and I make it a point to attend all their activities, want them to know that I care whole lot about them, that I'll always be there for them no matter what.



Papa arrived slightly later but just in time for their race, he had to work the whole night before the poor thing, but as I said, we make it a point to be there for them, no matter what..



Race was good, Hady won a gold medal and Hariz won a bronze medal, and since both Ami and I hadn't had breakfast, we decided to have brunch at my all time favourite girlie hang out place, Delicious @ BV II. It was good to be a family again after being apart for quite some time, so I treasured that moment immensely.



After that, I decided to have a hair cut at my hairdresser's in Puchong. Been going to him for 20 years now, and I wouldn't want anyone else to cut my hair. Ami slept in the car whilst waiting for me, penat babe, whilst Hady and Hariz tagged along upstairs.. Why did I need a hair cut? Well because that night was Turkey Night @ Farni & Avian's! We'd been planning a surprise do for Farni as it was her birthday, and it turned out perfect! The Turkey was perfect, kudos to the chef, the company excellent, and we all agreed that it was a perfect night for all of us to de-stress. Thanks to the host, we all had a great time! Who's birthday is next?



The next day, we had brunch at my favourite Char Kuey Teow place in KJ, yes again, best lah! Thereafter, I decided I needed to make it up to my boys and headed to Low Yat to check out the latest toys.. After walking around for a bit, I decided that it was time for them to get a playstation.. So that was what I got them 3. With 2 consoles and 10 games, thinks Papa had the biggest grin amongst them 3!

We had to rush back as my cousin Zul was having a birthday do at his pad in PJ, so balik siap, and of we went to PJ, fuh nasib baik sempat! Happy Birthday to my nephews Aidan & Ariez!



It was there too that Hady felt his tooth coming out so he ran to me and said Mama Mama, my tooth is coming out! Pull it out for me NOW! So tadaaaaa.... I became an instant dentist! Putting that in my resume now "able to extract tooth on the spot when needed".. Heh.. I could see a new tooth coming out too.. He's growing up to fast!



Then, to top it all off, Ajax, Aida, Harfad and Shamsul asked us to follow them to the look out point in Ampang for some dinner and night shooting. What can I say? The view was amazing.. If not for the jerebu, it would have been perfect, with the breeze and all.. And the company, hillarious as usual, mmg pecah perut nak gelak all the time!



So that was my weekend in a nutshell.. Hope Hady and Hariz didn't feel as though their Mama and Papa were ditching them, we're not Sayang, Mama and Papa need to build a future for you both.

Till next time, bye!

Mama's helping hand

As Ami and I work crazy hours at the moment, Hady and Hariz are placed in the care of my mum. Thanks Mama for babysitting them. So in the mornings, we have to go fetch them and send them to school.

And this is what I saw when I arrived.. Hady helping out cleaning Opah's garden! He's a big boy now, and I give him certain chores to do at home since we don't have a maid. Setting the dinner table, picking up the laundry, putting the laundry in the washing machine etc..

Granted my house isn't shiningly clean, as the boys do like to play with their toys everywhere and eat everywhere too, but I wanted to instill in them a sense of responsibility and not having to depend on other people what you can do yourself.

Mama's proud of you Hady, Mama sayang sangat2, may you always have a blessed life..

All about Rezeki

Today we were given a treat by our boss, as it was a birthday a couple of days ago. Many happy returns of the day Puan NCD, may you be blessed always. Her secretary initiated a pool so that we were able to get her a gift. It wasn't that much, a mere token, but when you get 90 people to contribute to it, it came out to quite a lot.

Her secretary, Kak Raffy, than went ahead to get Puan NCD lunch, thinks it was KFC and a hamper from Famous Amos. We hope you like it Puan. Now, in return, today, Puan treated all 90 os us, to a serving of Nasi Beriyani - each! That's delivery boy Azril doing his round distributing the Nasi Beriyani. Thanks babes, siap ada trolley segala!



Now here comes the point of the entry. I used to think rezeki only comes in huge sizes, a house , a car, a big fat raise etc.. But over the years, I've began to appreciate the smaller things in life. To me, rezeki now comes in all shapes and sizes.

Take for example, we all contributed less than RM 5 each for Puan NCD's gift and in return we had an RM 9 meal given to us. Alhamdulillah. Us accountants would calculate the return on investment (old habits die hard), and and we actually made a 70% return on our initial investment. Tak besar tu?

Another example I have is about a month ago, I went to the Mattel Warehouse sale to stock up on birthday gifts. Barbie dolls were cheap, going for RM 10 per doll so I bought more than 20. I didn't want them all, just a few that I could keep for future parties (habis kantoi with all my friends now.. he he), so I asked my collegues, kot ada sape2 want some dolls for their kids or nieces. And whaddya know, 20 dolls were taken with a particular friend grabbing 6 dolls (you know who you are and I know you're reading this ;) ). Anyways I was asked why I never marked up the prices of the dolls, maybe to RM 15 per doll, so that I could make a clean profit of RM 100. Well, bukan niat I pun nak menjual, sekadar nak tolong anyone since I went to the sale and it isn't accessible to everyone, to me it would be good enough to know the recipents of the dolls would be happy!

So I left it at that, and whaddya know.. 2 weeks later I got an sms asking me whether I wanted F1 tix from FNgah and AA, of course I want them! Ha ha ha.. You know what, god is great, instead of that RM 100 that I supposedly could have made, he gave me something else better, two RM 1,200 tickets each, yep you read right, each, for the recent F1 race in Sepang. Nak I kira rate of return on this ke? Thinks you can do the math ;)

There you have it, rezeki comes in all shapes and sizes, my apologies if my explanation doesn't really appeal to everyone, but I do believe that god works in mysterious ways and there's always something waiting for you down the road, and in the mean time, go ahead and enjoy these small pleasures in life that he gives you along the way.. Kita bersyukur diatas segala pemberiannye k?

I know I analyse a lot of things all the time (again, old habits die hard, and WKA is probably nodding his head when he reads this, keh keh keh..), but I like to see things from a different perspective, whether it's right or wrong, well, it's a person's perception kan, but this is my thoughts on this.

In the meantime, I'm about to enjoy my rezeki for today, thanks Puan NCD once again, the smell is so yummylicious, I'm going to have to stop now!

And the winner is..

Just a short review of my findings at 2 am last night.. Do no can percaya or not since I was half asleep whilst testing, but here's what I remember.. he he!

a) Plug and Play
Izzi - Have to put in login and password
WiMax - Auto login when I switch on the computer

Winner - WiMax

b) You tube
Izzi - You gotta be kidding me? Never been able to You tube at home before
WiMax - OMG, the video practically didn't stop!

Winner - Wimax

c) Portability
Izzi - Small and mobile
WiMax - Big modem and non mobile

Winner - Izzi

d) Home access
Izzi - Single Computer
WiMax - Router it baby!

Winner - WiMax

e) Facebook
Izzi - Nak tengok gambar? Jgn harap boleh load
Wimax - Wah, byk gambar2 kawan2 ku sebenarnye yang cantik2 eh?

Winner - WiMax

f) Nickelodeon
Izzi - Sian my babies nak main game online, Mama why is it still loading?
WiMax - Nyeh nyeh nyeh, Mama pulak yang beria2 main Sponge Bob malam tadi sorang2

Winner - WiMax

g) Gtalk, YM, MSN Messenger, FB Chat
Izzi - Sometimes can't connect, and keeps reconnecting, grrr.. not when I'm in
the middle of gossiping!
WiMax - Hik hik.. Gossip away, woo hoo!

Winner - WiMax

Oklah, you can see so far who is leading.. Will I recommend it? Let me have it for a few more days, and give you my opinion on it eh? But so far better lah, haven't tried streamyx before, so wouldn't know if it's better in comparison. Plus I was half asleep whilst giving this ago..

Showdown..

Managed to get back home before 10pm last night, and as soon as we reached home, we noticed that the P1 Wimax booth that had been set up a few days ago infront of our condo was open, so we decided to check it out.

Been hearing alot about this new Wimax service, and since they had a 7-day trial, we signed up for it. They couldn't activate it last night itself, so am anxious to go home to try it out! Still at work unfortunately, duty calls alas, but the prospect of going back to a much faster internet service is keeping me going tonight!

Show down between P1 Wimax and IZZI will be happening in a few hours, so will keep you updated on my findings, ala2 kasik review ler.. He he! Back to work now, lots to finish and so little time..

Latape and his breakfast

Been craving for a great plate of Char Kuey Teow lately, so Ami agreed for breakfast this morning in Kelana Jaya so that I could get a dose of my fav CKT.

Had Nasi Lemak @ Village Park yesterday and actually updated my twitter status on this, to which my friend Latape replied. Latape and I go way back, he was my senior @ Kent Uni and used to cook a mean daging masak kicap that I've had a couple of times, what with me being a first year freshie with zero culinary skills. Thanks for feeding me Tape, kalau tak kebulur kot I dulu kat Kent tu.. Ha ha ha..

Anyways, Latape also loves the food @ Village Park and was absolutely drooling when I told him what I had. The ayam goreng was to die for. He's now in Australia finishing up his PhD (damn proud of you Tape) so mmg lah teringin sgt nak makan Nasi Lemak tu..

Was telling him that I was going for some CKT this morning and his reaction was CKT Kelana Jaya! Omg! We so have the same taste in food! Ha ha ha.. So here it is Tape, the KJ CKT in all its glory, especially for you.. When you come back, we soooo have to breakfast it together over a hot bowl of fresh gossip k? Study hard now!

Sunday Blues

It's Sunday at around 7 plus in the morning. Just finished my laundry and a photo shoot of my in-house model, Ami Akhram, my hubba dubs.

Was out shooting the sun rise at around six plus when he came out to the balcony and just stood in front of me smiling, in other words, nak mintak ambik gambar le tu.. Ha ha ha..

So did an impromptu photo shoot with him there and then, rajin pulak dia nak pose for his wife this morning, thanks sweetheart.

After getting some good shots, he came back inside, whilst I continued my shoot. When I came back inside, this is what I saw. Ami hard at work.

I always wonder where he gets all this energy to work 24/7 and still manage to smile for me all the time.. Amazes me.

Oh, he wants breakfast before he goes to the office, feel like a good dose of Char Kuey Teow this morning can Yang? Been wanting some the whole week!

Gotta go, he's wondering why I'm busy typing non-stop, he he.. You'll know when you open up the blog later.. If you actually do have some spare time later ler.. :)

My first love

... not talking boyfriends here, more, of my first born, Hady Adam. He turned 6 this year and will be going to Primary 1 next year, how time flies. He's the exact carbon copy of me, from his looks to his mannerism. His Papa loves him to bits, so by deduction, since he's exactly like me, that would mean his Papa loves me to bits too (iklan kejap). ;)

Anyways, I did a potraiture of him one weekend when we were home, and I absolutely loved these shots of him.. To Hady, Mama is so proud to be your mum, may you be blessed always, reach for the stars my son, I know you can do it..

Linda and her left overs

Since it's Friday, we get two hours of lunch in the afternoon. Today Min and I decided to Jalan TAR it by bus (dah lama siut tak naik bas kat KL ni) to contribute to the economy (nyeh nyeh nyeh) and have lunch. Well Min contributed this week since I had my fair share last week, and then we were off to lunch.

Went to colliseum for some yummy chinese fried rice and dessert. And as always, I didn't finish up my dish. Thinks I'm so used to having half portions as I take the leftovers from my children whenever they eat. So I love my friends for being my personalised 'DBKL Clean Up Centre' for sharing my food or finishing off my dish most of the time.

Oh but Min, after second thoughts, I think I could have finished off the banana popiah roll with ice cream by myself, sedap lah pulak!

Cabinet Update

Azril and AFaz giving us live updates of the new cabinet line-up, we're getting live updates, as I write this. so cute them both! To the new ministers, congratulations, please discharge your duties honestly and in the best interest of the rakyat!

Baju Abang Sayang

Fairus today commented that i was wearing a 'Baju Abang Sayang'. I was like what? This was a kurung I had for Raya 3 years ago and I found it in my closet today, tried it on and it fitted! Amazing! Hahahahahaha..

Apparently a 'Baju Abang Sayang', is a type of kurung that requires the husband to zip up for the wife, as the zip runs the length of the kurung.

I thought about it and yep, Ami had to zip me up this morning (thanks sweetie), couldn't reach the zipper myself, he he.. Never thought a kurung would be called that, but I really like it, mesra bunyinye gitu, so here's to more Baju Abang Sayang's in the future!

A tale of two brothers

This is a typical scene in the early morning's at the Ami household. on the left is my first born Hady and on the right is my second born Hariz. I haven't seen them for two days, as both Ami and I are both stuck in the office preparing year end financial statements. I'm a true believer in promoting kindness in any way and this one touched my heart this morning.

I miss them both a whole lot, but alas,duty calls, but Mama promises to make it up to you both soon..

To Hady and Hariz, Mama hopes that you'll be there for each other through good and bad times, the bonds between brother's are a tight one, so lets start with helping each other with shirt buttoning k?

So long, farewell

I'm really really on a roll today! Just a quick update. Was in charge of buying dinner for my friends in office today, still doing our year end closing at the moment. Choice today was KFC so I voluntered to go and Lin & Mazran accompanied me. Orders were for 8 people with dessert, so off we went. But alas, on the way back to office, it poured heavily and we had no choice but to run back in the rain! Halfway, my slippers gave way, so I had to run barefooted the rest of the way back.. Loved these slippers, will definitely miss it, but on the bright side, it's time for another pair of slip ons! So long my faithful slippers, will miss you no doubt.

On a side note, am left with a severe headache now. Tak boleh kena hujan, I can just imagine my mum going 'mandi cepat, i know u and u'll fall sick!'.. Yes mum, will do, as soon as I get home, hopefully before the day is over :(

Lunch is served

I'm on a roll today! Just discovered mobile blogging today so giving it another go. Anyways, these are my lunch buddies Muz on the left and AFaz on the right. Yep. He's my mystery The Sun man :) We're @ our favourite joint @ CM. Happy lunching everyone!

Make someone's day!

Every morning for the past couple of months, there would be The Sun newspaper waiting for me on my table. At first I thought that someone must have left it accidently on my table on the way to the pantry, but when it became a daily event, I became suspicious.

No one ever admitted or acknowledged that it was him/her that had left the paper on my table, though I did eventually find out who it was. Thanks AFaz. He'd pick up the paper as he comes in very early everyday and leave it on my table so that I'd have something to read.

This simple act of kindness is something I look forward to every morning. It's nice that someone would think of you and do a simple deed for you and it's the thought that counts.

So have you made someone smile this morning? If you haven't, go right ahead!

Mobile blogging

Trying to see whether mobile blogging works.

Cheers!

A love of a sister

At Papa's do over the weekend, this particular moment made me remember how much a lot of people really did love Papa.. It was when Mak Chor broke down into tears, sobbing non-stop.

Papa is the 9th child of 11 children, himself being the youngest boy. When his 2 elder brother's passed on, it broke his heart and I think he never did recover from that since Tok passed away when he was little and it was these 2 brother's that raised him. Mak Chor is the eldest, and is herself a great-grandmother which means I'm a granny myself!

Mak Chor, kita maafkanlah segala kesilapannya yang lalu, kita sendiri tak tahu nasib kita bagaimana nanti.. Papa sayang kita semua, mesti dia rindu gelak ketawa kita semua..

The day they stopped the race

Yes, I'm already out of the toilet :) Please refer to my previous post if you don't understand what all this is about. Am ccurrently in bed, typing this out on my phone whilst waiting for the children to finish their homework. It's english grammar today. Quite happy that both of them can read already, though spelling is quite though on them. Ami is @ work, will try to wait up for him, but I am exahusted today, will prob snooze off before he comes in.

Anyways, Papa's do went well, all his remaining siblings were present, including his eldest sister Mak Chor. She broke down when she saw Papa, her youngest brother, lying there helpless.. That made me break down again in front of my Aunts and cousins this time, just couldn't stop crying.

Ami and I had planned to attend the F1 race after the do, which we did, with my sister Syida in tow. Had complimentary Ruby seats from FNgah and AA, thanks u both, really appreciate it.

F1 was something I did on a yearly basis with my dad and I hadn't gone back to the track since the day he fell sick, which was after the F1 race 2 years ago. We'd sometime just go to the track just the both of us, other times with Mama, Syida or Ami in tow. So F1 was OUR thing.

It was good to be back, though I wished Papa was there too, I still remember how he'd grin at the sound of the cars zooming up and down the track.. It was a historic moment, the race got stopped on lap 33 due to the torrential rain, could just imagine him complaining non stop asking the marshall's to start the race. yep, that would be Papa..

I'm lucky to have sooooo many people around me that I can count on.. I count my blessings everyday, ada rezeki dan kasih sayang tu dimana2 kan? Ok, the children have finished their homework so I need to put them to bed. Thinks Ami will still be awhile at work, so will nap it first whilst waiting for him to come back, am tired to the bone.

Have a good day everyone.

It's been two years..

As I'm writing this, I'm sitting in my old toilet at the parental units place with tears running steadily down my cheek. Mum's place is full of family from near and far as today marks the second year ish my dad fell sick with stroke. Didn't want anyone to see me crying, so here I am hiding in the toilet for some privacy.

I miss Papa. I rarely talk about him anymore coz everytime I do the floodgates just open like this and I can't stop crying. Spent twenty years growing up in this house under his watchful eye, all the memories we had together just came flooding back.

At times like these, it's family I need most, and everyone is here.That shows how much we love you, Pa.. Ok, I better stop, before everyone starts looking for me. Just had to let it out.. Pa, I love you so much, I'll always be your little girl, no matter what..

Cobwebs! Get me out of this cobweb!

*Cobwebs everywhere* Sheesh!

I know I know, it's been ages since I've written, and believe me, a lot has happened in the past 2 months that I wanted to share, but alas had gotten a tad too *lazy* to write.. Perhaps it's the fact that I've got all my friends on FB, Gtalk, YM, MSN and twitter that I update them on my happenings regularly that I became lazy to update this blog. But then, when I'd be talking to my friends and going on about stuff, they'd be but Linda you didn't tell me that, er, I didn't? Aiseymen.. who lah did I update then? Tak ingat pulak.. Kekekekekekekeke.. So I thought best I blog again, so I tak le tertinggal sape2 and everybody gets all cerita's in full and not bits and pieces everywhere..

And us usual, Andrew had reminded me quite a few times that I haven't updated my blog, that I should.. So here I am..

Let's see.. one of the things that happened was Singapore, and of course Andrew was there. Eh Sayang.. I'm going to have to rename this blog the chronicles of Linda and Andrew coz I seem to update this blog whenever we go on vacation lah babe.. How? Ha ha ha ha..

So the 3 of us, Doni, Andrew and I decided to visit Najwa in Singapore where she resides.. All I can say was that it was great to be able to get away from it all a bit.. Not that I don't love my kids and Ami, just that I needed some time to myself and this was a good way for me to just get some rest.

As usual, all we did was eat eat eat eat eat eat eat gossip talk talk gossip eat gossip eat eat eat. Best! Was great waking up in the morning and thinking, oh yeay, I don't have to do laundry today or mop the floor or wash the dishes etc.. All I did was wake up, coffee was served (thanks Doni and Najwa) and just had to sit back and relax whilst relaxing in the living room with Andrew.. Nice to have an old friend around and topics jumped from one to another.

Nabs had a nice place in Singapore, enough to fit the 4 of us. Doni and Nabs took the master bedroom, I had the day bed in her study ish and Andrew slept on the couch out in the living room. Andrew drove down from JB so it was easy enough for us to get around, Doni and I had taken the flight down from KL the day earlier.

The highlight of the trip had to be our trip to the bird park! We're so aunty and uncle Andrew and I, strolling along the park taking pictures (he was my only model besides the birds) whilst Najwa and Doni stayed on at Orchard road. Oh, bumped into an old school mate at the bird park, boleh tak? Hi Izan! Of all places.. Ha ha ha.. Thinks I have friends everywhere ler.. And we also won great stuff @ the lucky draw at the park with Andrew winning a Nikon camera. Nasib baik compact je, kot dia menang D90 ke, pengsan I!

Oh, also had drinks with Bee Lian (another school mate, told ya I have friends everywhere) on the first night I was there, went to the esplanade and sat and chatted the night away... As I said, I had no complaints..

It was Ashvin's birthday when we were there, so all four of us called him to wish him. I had forgotten his birthday last year, to the point that he had to call me and go "Linda have you forgotten me, my birthday was a week ago..".. Damn it! I'm quite good with dates, so it was a big boo boo on my side to have forgotten that, so I made it a point NOT TO FORGET IT THIS YEAR, so the night before his birthday I made Najwa, Doni and Andrew to remind me the next to call him.. Ha ha ha.. So Ash sweetheart, Happy birthday, may all your wishes come true..

Having said that.. I had dinner with Doni and Ashvin last night. And we were talking again.. About another trip to Singapore, with Ashvin in tow this time.. How about it dude? We need to paint Singapore red!

To which this reminds me, Andrew, we haven't taken Ash out for his customary birthday dinner, give me a buzz the next time you're back in KL will ya, we gotta take him out :)

Other than that, the kids are doing fine, Hady's such a big boy already, so tall and lanky, just like I was when I was little..Hariz still clings on to me for dear life, and at 4, he's able to read a book from front to back meant for 6 year olds, so I've been busy entertaining questions from him everyday, good lah he has an interest to learn.. Oh, and they've discovered FHM, thanks to their Ayah Ngah.. Ami's quite proud at the fact that his sons are "men".. Huk huk..

Oklah, promise to write again.. Hopefully soon.. Take care everyone..