15 Questions

Another tag from Adita:

1.When you buy a greetings card, are the words or the picture more important to you?
:: Both - but I'll pick the prettiest cards before checking the words.

2. What's your favorite kind of cake?
:: Cheesecake. Taken with a cup of coffee.

3. Do you ever make gifts for people, if so what, or do you buy them?
:: I can't remember if I ever did. Nowadays I just buy gift vouchers. I'm not Martha Stewart.

4. What's your favorite holiday?
:: Probably my first ever overseas trip that included London, Boston and Los Angeles in the itinerary. It was April 1982 - there was snow in Boston, sunshine in LA and neither in London. It was my first Chinese fortune cookie, my first Disneyland and my first sighting of a colourful Mohawk hairstyle that left me gaping (it was the punk era, after all). I wish I could afford that kind of holiday for my kids.

5.Are you going on holiday this year? If so, where?
:: Obviously nothing like the answer to number 4. Initially we wanted to take the kids to Australia but Aiesyah is still too young. I might join Hubby at one of his FAT's early next year though...

6. What was the best party you've ever been to?
:: My new nephew Ziad's 7th birthday party, which happened to be last week on Malaysia's 51st anniversary of Independence and also the eve of Ramadhan. His mum runs a kindergarten in Mutiara Damansara, and that was the venue. Nuaim and Nu'man had a blast playing on the slides and swings, and the clown really got everyone going (except for Nuaim who was too scared of him).

7. If you are married, describe your wedding. If not, what would your ideal wedding be like?
:: My wedding was not exactly my dream wedding, except for the dress. But given that I was in Kerteh up to a month before it actually took place, I can't complain much. The colour was a peachy salmon pink, the venue was Dewan Perdana Felda which managed to sit 1000+ guests (most of them my mum's friends) and the 'cake', courtesy of the venue management, was a 5-tier fake. But the ambience was wonderful with strings of fragrant jasmine buds adorning the walls. Instead of a merenjis ceremony, we sat on the pelamin (wedding dais) to the narration of several verses of Surah ar-Ruum and its translation. Dalcha Duo provided the entertainment for dinner and there was a homemade slideshow prepared using Powerpoint (which, according to Mally, showed what an overachiever I was).

8. What's the most romantic thing that's ever happened to you?
:: When Hubby proposed. It was Christmas, I was in Kerteh, and he flew up for a day trip to meet me in Kuantan just for that purpose. Apparently, his car broke down on the way to KLIA and he missed the first flight. After all that, how could I not say Yes? McDonald's at Teluk Chempedak will always have a special place in my heart.

9. What's your favorite girl's name?
:: Errr, can't really think of one. Zulaikha, maybe.

10. What's your favorite boy's name?
:: Gibran.

11. Which celebrity would you like a dream date with?
:: I'd like to say a double date with Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt, but I think both Hubby and I would end up ogling Miss Jolie and poor Mr Pitt would feel left out.

12. Which female celebrity do you find beautiful?
:: I have to agree with Adita here - Aishwarya Rai is so out-of-this-world gorgeous.

13. Which male celebrity do you think is attractive?
:: I used to really love Tom Cruise until he left Nicole Kidman. Right now? Arjun Rampal (okay, too many Hindi movies already).

14. What is your best character trait?
:: Perfectionist.

15. What is your worst habit?
:: Procrastination.

In Dian's Kitchen

For lack of ideas to write, I'll start by responding to Adita's Kitchen Tag.

Five things I want in my kitchen

1. Time
2. Space
3. Being able to cook without referring to the recipe every 30 seconds
4. An island unit - but refer to item 2 above
5. Jamie Oliver - so he can do the cooking for me instead

Five things I plan on cooking pretty soon*

1. 5-spice chicken
2. Honey chicken a.k.a Ayam masak madu
3. Chicken kurma
4. Macaroni tuna
5. Spaghetti bolognese

*Of course, pretty soon depends on when I actually have item 1 on the first list. And since most of these come out of ready-made Maggi mixes I already have at home, I don't need to refer to a recipe book so much.

Five things I have to get from the grocery store / supermarket

1. Vegetables
2. Dishwashing liquid
3. Bread
4. Nutella for Nuaim
5. Ready-mixed 3-in-1 Coffee for me

Meet the New Family

9th Aug 2008. An important date to remember...

Mak and my new Baba (the roses are gifts from my sons, picked from one of the 'hantaran').

My new Abang and Kakak on the left...

And 6 more grandchildren.

Happy Birthday to Nuaim...

...and to me, too.

Granted, this entry is a day late.

Yesterday I turned 32. I wish I was still 22. Physically I feel like 52, I think like 42, and depending how my day goes I behave anywhere between 12 and 62.

Anyway, as Nuaim rightly pointed out to his Cik Ain, it was His Birthday, not mine. He had been bugging me for toys since Thursday night, but I told him to wait till it was his birthday on Saturday for me to get them.

So the first thing he said to me in the morning was not 'Happy Birthday Ummi, I love you' but, "Pagi ni dah Sabtu, kan? Jom kita pergi beli train! (This morning is Saturday, right? Let's go buy a train!)"

We went to Toys R Us, where there's a large selection of 'Thomas and Friends'. Since Nuaim already has a few Thomases, the plan was to get some 'Friends', but Nuaim preferred some other generic-looking modern trains instead. I decided to buy a Friend (Ben, specifically) for Nu'man so he'd have something to play with, and decided to wrap the toys as presents.

When we got home, Nu'man was asleep. Nuaim proceeded to open his present (which consisted of three trains, a station and a tunnel) and play with them immediately. He seemed quite happy for about an hour, when the novelty wore off and he decided that Nu'man (who was still asleep) should 'share' Ben with him. Besides, the tracks that came with the station and tunnel were not long enough for Nuaim's three-carriage train, and Ben came with four pieces. Fortunately the tracks all fitted together, (coming from the same manufacturer, so from today I'm sticking to the same brand for trains) so when Nu'man finally woke up there was no fighting over the tracks. The only contention was who got to play with Ben.

A Princess and her two Hulubalang's

Still Alive and Kicking

I know, my two-week break turned out into a 3-month absence from Blogland. Kenapa, rindu ke?
The truth is I have been really super-duper busy. Honest. In chronological order, this is what happened after Hari Raya Haji:

Hubby came home for his 18-day RnR, but he extended it with the hope that the Sudanese will just forget about him. After three months, they noticed his absence and called him back.

We finished packing up for the move, and moved the furniture into the new house on the last Saturday of 2007.

Had a do'a selamat and proper moving in the next day, when my maid threw in a clanger - she REFUSED to move in with us (we'd all been staying at my mum's house then). For weeks she'd been asking to go back to her hometown in Sulawesi, saying her kids missed her and her dad was ill. Her two-year contract was supposed to end in April this year, and I was willing to give her a couple of weeks' break to visit them, but she wouldn't give me an answer as to whether she was still willing to come back here. So I terminated her work permit and sent her off for good. In the first week of January.

Nuaim started kindergarten. First day Hubby sent him - he was fine. Second day I took him - he wouldn't let me go. When I finally managed to leave an hour later he was clinging to the front door wailing his lungs out.

I was MAIDLESS for almost a month! Luckily Mak had a friend who could arrange for a new Indonesian maid almost immediately - otherwise I'd probably have to wait for another couple of months before some sense of domestic order arrived. She's quite old school (she's even got a 7-year-old grandchild already) but so far so good. I've had to travel to Kerteh several times with her and Aiesyah in tow (I'm still breastfeeding) and it helps that's she's a lot more talkative than the previous ones I've had.

My boys get along well with her too, but they're still pretty attached and cling to me whenever I'm around, especially when I come home from work. So you see, with Office blocking Blogger.com and hardly any time to myself, please excuse me when the sneak peeks into my totally hip and happening life are unavailable. The only reason I can blog now is that I'm spending the weekends at my mum's (now that Hubby's in Sudan again) so the boys' attentions are diverted elsewhere.

With all the activities and changes going on, it's no wonder that I am physiologically a grandmother!

8 Random Facts

Got tagged by Adita to do a simple meme.

The rules:
- Link to your tagger and post these rules.
- List eight (8) random facts about yourself.
- Tag eight people at the end of this post and list their names.
- Let them know they've been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs.

List eight (8) random facts about myself:

1. I’m an engineer. My dad was an engineer, so are my two surviving paternal uncles. My brother was studying engineering but quit halfway to sort his life out. I am married to an engineer. Guess what my children are going to be when they grow up? Definitely NOT engineers (if they have to, it’d better not have anything to do with Instrument, Electrical or Electronics).
   
2. If I hadn’t become an engineer, I would have pursued a degree in History. Or Egyptology. Or Theatre. Or even Fashion Design. Once I considered opening a kindergarten but after three kids I’ve changed my mind.
   
3. Between my sister and I, we have the whole Enid Blyton Rewards series. As a child I thought of turning our family home into a public children’s library but my parents didn’t like the idea.
   
4. I love to collect recipes but the only thing I can confidently cook is Garlic Chicken (from Ken Hom’s Hot Wok). And any pasta dish that involves an Italian called Prego.
   
5. I went to an all-girl’s school, but due to my voice I almost always played male parts in school plays. I finally got to play a female character in my final year because there were no male speaking parts available. But in university I reverted back to type and played Tun Perak.
   
6. I never played competitive sports until I started working, where I somehow got roped in to represent my company during a volleyball tournament. We played against 6 other teams – won 3 and lost 3. Guess which matches I played in.
   
7. I look good in maroon and royal blue. But now I’m into olive green and deep chocolaty brown. So Earth Mother…
   
8. I have found The Bag…
   
   I am tagging these people:
   CikMilah
   Careen
   Ubisetela
   Hubby
   Stingrayz
   Lina
   Ayin
   Lady Verde