Kad jemputan

Finally, after lama menunggu, dapat jugak I tayang kad jemputan kahwin kat blog ni sebelum we all berangkat pergi ke M’sia. Sempat jugak my adik email me the kad tadi. And this was what he wrote in his email.

“ My wedding invitation card for u to publish in your blog. abah dah risau klu kawan2 angah yg datang smpai 10ribu org.hehehe..takde tempat..hehe..”

I really hope Abah I was only joking when he said that, wehehehehe. Dia ingat anak dia ni a famous blogger macam Che Det or Cik Mat Gebu or Aznil Nawawi kot, yang ramai sangat peminat, wakakaka ;-).

Let me tell you Abah a little bit about my blog and the people who frequent it. My blog ni mostly revolves around the food I cook (which is nothing grand), the family I raise (with your son in law’s help :-)) and about the life we lead here (but obviously I don’t write about every single thing we do and say lah kan). Kalau nak letak every single thing, memang dah awal2 I kena privatekan this blog lah and just for my eyes only, hahahaha. So basically the stories I write most nights are pretty ordinary and most probably happen to a lot of other families out there.

Some people have been reading this blog since it’s inception and they’ve been such good loyal readers of this blog. Some people pulak only started reading this blog throughout the years and mostly come to this blog through blog hopping (which is a very cool way to find good blogs to read kan :-)). Some who like my style of writing stay attached and link my blog to theirs which I really appreciate. Some who find my blog not to their liking, have gone away to other interesting blogs :-). And some readers come and go. But believe me Abah, the readers of this blog memang tak sampai mencecah 10 ribu, jangan lah takut. Gelak guling2 I baca email adik I tadi, wakakakakakaka…..

But I’m really hoping adalah readers out there yang selalu tegur I kat chat box and selalu letak comments in this blog yang sudi datang ke majlis keramaian tu nanti. Nak lah jugak I merasa upstaging the pengantin (kan Ros & Akeem), hehehehe…

So, sudi2 lah ye datang memeriah kan suasana majlis adik I ni and bagi my Abah dapat panic attack sekejap, hehehehe…

Kalau map tu kecik sangat, pandai2 lah ye besarkan sendiri or pakai magnifying glass to see the map :-). I’ve tried making the wording and the map clearer but this is the best I could do.

Psst… the phone numbers tu semua belong to my brothers so kalau you all sesat barat nak cari jalan ke Kampung Batu 8 Ijok tu, call call lah diaorang ye mintak tunjuk jalan. They are really really nice people, hehehehe….

And another psst… kalau you all tak boleh datang hari Ahad the 13th tu, jemputlah datang hari Sabtu (the 12th) petang tu sebab kenduri kat kampung ni, hari Sabtu petang and malam tu dah ada orang datang mem’becek’ which in Malay means ‘pergi kenduri kawin bawak money for the tuan rumah’ or something along that line (but I know it involves the money, hehehe).

What am I going to do?

Miss 6 asked me a very innocent question the other day..”Mummy, how come you are the one making all the dresses for the flower girls and not their own Mummies?” :-D. And I pun jawab, “because Mummy made a very silly mistake of volunteering myself to make all the dresses and promises have to be kept :-).” The moral of the story is don’t make silly offers, hehehehe….

And seperti biasa bila tengah busy nak cuti2 makan angin ni, mood nak berblogging pun terus lah merundum jatuh. I think for me sebab bila tengah menaip N3 and at the same time, my brains are busily churning thinking about all the things that I still need to do before getting on the plane! So, masa ni lah tetiba terpanic sekejap sebab I should spend my time wisely kan dengan membuat kerja2 berfaedah like kemas rumah and what not :-).

Anyway, tonite’s entry will be short and sweet (macam tuan empunya rumah ni, wekekeke). The Other Half kata, nasib baik lah I ni pakai scarf sebab senang dia nak cari I in the crowds. Kalau I tak pakai scarf, memang dia tak kan jumpa I lah sebab susah nak nampak I yang pendek ini bila dah dikelilingi oleh Mat Saleh yang tinggi2, hehehe. (Lerr, melencong jauh I, ciss….).

I saje je nak tayang gambar kat bawah ni. You rasa kan, ada tak gaya2 rumah pelarian? Ini lah rupa our longgokan bukit benda2 yang nak dibawa balik ke M’sia. Ini baru barang2 yang orang kirim aje, belum lagi masuk our clothes! Pening kepala betul I sekarang ni memkirkan macam mana I nak sumbat all these things into the luggage and the boxes! Dalam box yang besar tu mostly chocolates aje you! I know our luggage allowance is 80kg, but I rasa we all ni memang dah terover, hehehehe… What am I going to do? Help someone!!!! I need your baggage allowance so I can sumbat some of our stuff, wakakakaka…

The people on public transport

I ni jarang guna public transport but occasionally when we have to/need to go to the city centre, we normally take the public transport. Sebab utama nya is the lack of parking kat city especially during weekdays and then bila dah jumpa a parking spot, terbeliak mata nak membayar the exorbitant parking fee. So, jalan yang paling mudah is to catch the public transport.

Like today, I kena pergi ke Department of Immigration & Citizenship in the city sebab kena transfer our PR visas from our old passports to the new ones. Biasalah kan, beginilah hidup as PRs ni (for me and Miss 10 that is), setiap 5 tahun kena renew passport and setiap 5 tahun kena renew our PR visas and then lain2 tahun pulak tu renewal nya. But I love the DIAC new location which is right next door to Harbour Town shops! Pakkal aje lah I pergi tadi pun dah tengah hari sebab pergi lepas kerja so tak sempatlah nak bershopping sakan, hish…. By the time, my business dengan DIAC dah selesai, I had only about an hour to shop around. Manalah cukup kan one hour tu untuk bershopping (can never be done right! :-)) so I dengan terpaksa rela, cuma window shopping aje lah… Takpe, I pujuk hati I dengan berkata, our luggage are already full and overweight so memang tak boleh nak sumbat apa2 lagi dah, hehehe….\

And then lepas habis berwindow shopping (sambil pejam sebelah mata), I had to take the train home. This was the best part because masa ni lah you can see all these different people from God only knows where. Macam2 perangai kan manusia kat muka bumi ni and you would normally find them on public transport, hehehehe…

Have you noticed how some people will tell you their whole life stories without being asked? I pernah duduk sebelah orang2 macam ni. You tak boleh tersilap senyum kat diaorang langsung because they will take it as a sign for them to talk to you and tell you about themselves sepanjang2 perjalanan tu. Mak oi, telinga I yang cuma mendengar and kepala I yang occasionally mengangguk aje pun boleh penat dengar cerita diaorang, I tak tau lah macam mana diaorang ni tak boleh penat bercerita. Pastu, yang heran nya, senang betul diaorang mencurahkan perasaan kat total strangers kan, pelik pelik….

Macam tadi in the train, I could hear this 1 guy was telling his whole life story to this girl who was sitting next to him. I knew they weren’t friends sebab they didn’t come into the train together, hehehe. And yang nak buat kan I tergelak sangat2 sebab tengok muka this girl. Terkulat2 muka dia and nampak sangat yang she was so totally bored out of her minds, hahahaha…. But at the same time, I bersyukur sangat2 sebab I wasn’t sitting next to that guy, wehehehehe…. Can you imagine muka I yang terkulat2 ni? So not pretty let me tell you, hahahahaha….

But maybe, cuma passengers kat Perth ni aje kot yang perangai lain macam :-)….

Anyway, since I balik lambat today, I pun masak lah benda yang simple aje. Meat and 3 veges which is the ‘typical’  Mat Saleh food. I ni memang jarang masak steak or lamb chops so bila sekali sekala makan macam ni, The Other Half memang melantak sakan (ye lah kan, terkenang zaman dia kecik2 dulu makan his Mum’s cooking, hehehehe)…

Patutnya kalau nak lagi pure meat and 3 veges, I kena boil some peas and carrots or cabbage. But since ni Mat Saleh modern sikit kan and since bini dia malas nak masak lebih2, I just buat green salad aje. Our dinner tonite, marinated lamb chops with mashed potatoes and greens.

Separated at birth?

How was your Eid celebration semalam? I know, ramai lagi yang masih beraya sakan hari ni and esok. Kat rumah Makcik I kat kampung tadi pun masih meriah dengan orang berkorban 4 ekor lembu! I rasa bila we all balik next week, sure masih banyak lah daging lembu kat dalam freezer tu nanti, hehehehe.

Our Eid celebration yesterday was very low key. We went to Rockingham mosque pagi2 tu utk solat raya and makan2. I like the makan2 there sebab memang tersangat lah sedapnya the food people donated. I cuma bawak cupcakes aje semalam sebab I malu nak bawak lauk pauk and nasi. Memang tak sama  taraf langsung dengan nasi and lauk pauk yang orang lain bawak, believe me! The Other Half makan sambil tak berhenti saying, “this is really really nice food!” Nampak benor isteri dia ni tak pandai sangat masak makanan melayu yang best2 kan, hahahaha…. Miss 6 pun makan sama laju macam Daddy dia, memang betul2 anak Daddy lah yang sorang tu :-D.

Kat masjid tu terjumpa sorang kenalan blogger yang menetap kat Perth ni, Rus dengan anak dia Qis yang comel aje bertudung, hehehe. Miss 10 biasalah, mana boleh jumpa budak kecik, kalau boleh dia nak dokong aje :-).

Some photos of The Little Misses masa kat masjid tu.

Oh, sape yang nak tau I masak apa semalam for Raya. I tak masak apa2 special pun semalam sebab ada malassssss banyak :-). I cuma buat mee goreng aje you untuk dinner, hehehehe… Takpe lah kan, dah dapat makan best masa kat Masjid tu so tak lah terasa sedih sebab tak masak apa2 :-D.

And hari ni pulak, we spent the whole morning tidying up the house before leaving it for 3 weeks. Ye lah, kesian pulak our house sitter nanti kalau we all tinggalkan urmah bersepah2 and kotor kan. We had to tidy up the guest bedroom, tidy up his wardrobe and chest of drawers and then tidy up my sewing room so we can shove all our junk from the guest bedroom to that room! And then piling up all the stuff that we want to take to M’sia into 1 area so takde benda yang tertinggal. Punyalah banyak kerja kan, hehehehe….I’m definitely going to be flat out next week with packing and tidying. Nak bercuti 3 minggu aje tapi macam2 kena buat….

Lepas penat mengemas rumah, we went to a friend’s house for her engagement party. It was a fun time sebab we all ni memang jarang2 sangat keluar ber ‘sosialise’ dengan people like this, probably sebulan sekali kot if that :-). So, bila sekali sekala keluar jumpa so many new and friendly people aka adults, memang lah seronok kan, hehehe.

And at the party we met this 2 siblings, a brother and his sister. The girl is the same age as Miss 10 and when I first saw her, it suddenly struck me how similar they look, this girl and Miss 10. This girl has an Asian and a Caucasian parentage as well, Mak dia Chinese and Bapak dia Mat Saleh. And since Miss 10 kan memang ada rupa anak cina so memang boleh kata adik beradik lah. Even people yang kat party tu pun asik pandang diaorang berdua aje sebab ingat adik beradik, hehehe…. Kesian Miss 6 sebab rasa terpinggir sebab muka macam anak Arab, wakakaka….

Camner? Lebih kurang tak rupa diaorang? I guess yang nampak sgt sama nya tu sebab mata sepet both of them kan, hahahaha… (But I think Our Miss 10 lagi ayu kot, sebab dia ada genes Jawa yang tersangat lah ayu nya kan, wehehehe…)

Ini pulak gambar yang I had to take sebab Miss 6 nearly merajuk sebab I asik ambik gambar Miss 10 and not her!

My first wobbly tooth

Esok dah Raya Haji tapi biasalah kat sini, tak terasa sangat ke ‘excited’ an nak sambut Raya Haji ni tak macam Raya Puasa hari tu. Maybe our family aje kot yang rasa macam ni since it’s still a working day for The Other Half esok and we all tak buat korban apa2 pun, hehehe. But The Little Misses’ school sambut Raya Haji besar besaran sebab sampai 2 hari cuti untuk Raya Haji ni, Esok and Monday! So, I have to take  a day off tomorrow to look after them and on Monday, they’ll be going with The Other Half to work.

I still tak tau lagi whether nak masak something special untuk esok or not. Macam malas aje rasanya :-). We all aje pun yang nak makan nanti kan. But I kena bawak a plate of food ke solat raya esok so I might just make some muffins or cakes tonite.

By the way, Miss 6 came home yesterday from school feeling so proud of herself because she has finally got a wobbly tooth! Kawan2 dia yang lain semua dah ada wobbly teeth and some have already got 1-2 adult teeth. So, dia terasa dia masih kecik lah banding kan dengan kawan2 dia yang lain. So, bila she finally got a wobbly tooth, punyalah excited nya dia, hehehe. Kejap lagi Mummy kena jadi tooth fairy lah kan :-). Last time with Miss 10, I only became tooth fairy for the first tooth yang tercabut so with Miss 6 pun, awal awal lagi I dah bagitau dia yang the tooth fairy will come only for the first tooth. But dia tak kisah sebab dia tau yang tooth fairy tu is the same as Mummy, hahahahahaha….

And then she also told me that she corrected her teacher’s mistake. You see, they have spelling test every week and for this week one of the words was ‘seagull’. So, I’ve been teaching her that seagull has 2 ll’s and then she told me that Miss J wrote it with 1 L on the whiteboard and in the book. I told her that I am pretty certain that I am right with it having 2 ll’s. So, semalam in her class, she went up to her teacher and said, “Miss J, my Mum said that seagull has 2ll’s and she said she’s sure that she’s right about it!” Aduhai anak I tu, memang so tak tactful betul. Nama I jugak yang naik as a smart aleck! But nasib baik lah cikgu dia dengar cakap dia and looked it up in the dictionary for the correct spelling and then told the whole class that the correct spelling for seagull is with 2 ll’s. But yang I heran nya, macam mana lah cikgu dia tu tak tau even a simple spelling like that??? Pelik kan! Nasib baik lah Miss 6 dapat parents yang a bit prihatin with her homework so could notice the mistake. Kesian betul kat budak2 yang the parents tak kisah langsung tu kan and rely on the teacher fully.

But one thing about Miss 6, obviously dia tak takut dengan her teachers unlike me masa kecik2 dulu, hahahahahahha……

Nanti lah ye I letak gambar diaorang. I haven’t been taking photos of them lately, cuma ambik gambar dinner and food aje, hehehe

Our dinner last night. Nasi goreng udang with sambal sotong and telur goreng :-). Very very sempoi tapi sedap, hehehehe…

And sempena Hari Raya esok

Happy Eid-ul- Adha to everyone out there who celebrates it. Have a safe and joyous celebration.

Nachos and Sushi

After yesterday’s N3, do you know what The Other Half said? He said, “you should post more entries about me me me since obviously everytime my name is mentioned, you’ll get more comments..People certainly like me eh!” Cehhhh!!! Perasan giler hubby I tu, wakakakaka… I said to him yang I ni low profile tu yang I malas nak cerita pasal I aje hari2 kat my blog, hehehe ;-)…

I nak cerita pasal Miss 6 pulak sekarang. The other day The Other Half and I were talking about weight and what not in front of her and she suddenly piped up, “I know how much I weigh!” Then I asked her “how much do you weigh?” She proudly said, “3 rr!” The Other Half and I both looked at each other with a very perplexed look and asked her again, “what did you say your weight was?” Again she said, “3 rr”. You should see us wracked our brains trying to decipher what she talking about. Then barulah we all paham and ketawa terbahak2 when we understood what she said. We told her, “ It’s not 3rr. It was Err which means error” Hahahahahaha….. Lerr, anak I ni memang lah kadang2 gets her numbers and alphabets terbalik, padahal dah nak masuk Yr 2 next year, hehehehehehe…. Pastu, she promptly burst into tears sebab we all gelakkan dia but it was so funny, memang tak boleh nak tahan gelak dah masa tu… We told her she needs to learn to laugh at herself, hehehe…

Anyway, for dinner tonite, I made 2 dishes. The Other Half really wanted to eat chicken nachos but The Little Misses ni tak minat sangat nachos ni so I offered to make them sushi instead (baikkan I ni kadang2 ;-)). I offered to make them sushi sebab it was so easy to make, hehehe

And bila I tengah photographed Miss 10’s sushi plate for the blog, Miss 6 pun asked me to photograph hers too and asked me to put the photos up on my blog. So, for them, the photos as requested…

Which plate belongs to who you think?

And ini pulak our dinner, chicken nachos with lettuce and sour cream

The wise one

Tengah hari tadi I happened to be at the same place as where The Other Half was giving a seminar so I waited for him outside the lecture theatre and smsed him:

“Hi Love. I’m outside your seminar room. If you want a lift to work, I’ll take you there.”

You see, he had to rush off back to work from the seminar place and he had to catch a bus todo so. So I ni kan isteri mithali, since I was kebetulan at the seminar place just as he was finishing up, I offered to drive him back to work lah. Kesian dia, panas2 kena kejar bas :-).

But since he was giving a seminar, he had his phone switched off and so didn’t get my sms. Luckily, I saw him going out of the door so I pun berlari2 anak lah kejar dia. And then took him to work and since he had time to spare, we had lunch together at Freo berdua2an aje :-).

Then, I left him there and drove back home. Pastu masa tengah driving, I got an sms from him replying to my above sms. This was what he wrote:

“No thanks Love. Some hottie gave me a lift right to Freo!”

Hikhikhikhik… thank goodness he still thinks I’m a hottie ;-). Come on everyone, let’s go awwwww or uwekkkkkkk… (either one will do, hahaha).

Speaking of The Other Half, I’ve been telling him since God knows when that he doesn’t need to check his emails every hour especially after he comes back from work. I kept on telling him that let the students suffer and wait for a while before he answers their emails. He doesn’t need to attend to their demands ASAP. But everytime I told him that, he would tell me that it’s necessary to check his emails frequently. Until he read this blog “studyhacks” which details the life of this successful guy who’s doing his PhD while working full time and writing papers and publishing books which is currently the life of The Other Half. And one of the mottos of this guy form this blog is to only check his emails twice a day, once in the morning and once at night (or something like that). And guess what.. dengan tetiba sahaja, The Other Half has changed his email reading habit to follow this guy! Padahal, I’ve been telling him to do the same thing for yonks and he just ignored me completely! Mentang2 lah I’m not doing a PhD and working full time and writing papers and publishing books! Now baru dia tau yang wife dia ni is the wise one and is full of wisdom sebenarnya. He should listen next time butir2 wisdom ni come out my mouth kan, wahahahahaha…..

Anyway, enough of my ramblings, layan lah gambar our dinner..

Look at how much salad is on my plate, hehehehe.

Saturday and BBQ

2 more weeks before our cuti2 Malaysia and I have already written a list of things that we need to take there. Dalam list tu included a ‘food parcel’ for us as well. Kalau we all balik M’sia, memang we all akan take a few food ration along. Normally we’ll take coffee, cheese, nutellas, nesquick and a few other small things. Why coffee? We are so used to drinking coffee every morning from our espresso machine kat sini that bila balik M’sia, memang we feel so tak larat tiap2 pagi sebab tak dapat our coffee supply. We don’t like nescafe instant tu so we normally take along mocconna mystique which is instant coffe but freeze dried and it taste way nicer than nescafe 43 tu but still can’t beat the coffee fr the machine lah :-). Kalau hari2 minum kopi tarik kat kedai mamak, adalah yg terus kena diabetes bila balik Perth balik from the susu pekat manis yg berkilo2 diaorang letak in the kopi!

And then rumah Mak Abah I kat kampung so memang susah lah nak cari apa2 jenis cheese pun unless the plastic cheese aka sliced cheese. Jangan harap lah nak dapat cari cheddar or mozzarella or colby, hehehe. So tu yang we all bawak our own cheese just so I can use it to make pizza bila semua adik beradik berkumpul :-). And so The Other Half and The Little Misses tak kempunan nak makan pizza bila kat kampung nanti, hehehe. Tapi jangan tak tau you, kat pasar malam kat kampung tu sekarang ni dah ada gerai jual pizza! But I think I still like my own pizza, hehehehe….

Anyway, our dinner tonite since it’s Saturday was BBQ chicken. But seperti biasalah, I prepared everything while The Caveman just lit the fire and wait for the chicken to cook :-). I prepared the chicken, made the side dishes and also managed to make entree as well. Kiranya caveman tu untunglah kan sebab dapat bini cavegirl yang serba boleh, wakakakaka…. Sure tension aje dia kalau dia paham apa I tulis, hehehehe…

Our dinner tonite. BBQ chicken, salad with croutons, roasted sweet potato and birds nest potatoes. This was my pinggan, banyak giler kan I makan… Camner lah I nak lose weight before balik M’sia kalau tiap2 malam makan macam ni! Aggghhhhhh!!!!!!

Mummy the masseuse

Friday is The Little Misses swimming day and after such a hard week and tiring swimming lesson, I would normally give them a nice whole body massage. But dah lama jugak lah I terlupa nak jadi tukang urut ni sebab I terlupa and The Little Misses pun terlupa nak remind me. I guess we were busy with other things kot :-).

But malam ni, Miss 6 suddenly said, “Mummy, you haven’t given us a massage for a long time now and isn’t Friday night our massage night?” So, I pun angguk aje lah and sediakan the towel and the baby oil. I spent half and hour each person massaging The Little Misses. Punyalah seronok diaorang kena urut sampai tak nak berenti tu! :-). I guess it is very relaxing after a whole week of running around at school kan. Sebab I bukannya urut kuat mana pun, just enough to make them feel relaxed but hard enough to make them feel like I’ve massaged and kneaded their muscles. Kalau kat kedai urut kat sini, half and hour would have cost us $30-$40 kot. Kedai urut yg betul2 urut tau, bukan kedai urut adults only. I think kedai urut adults only tu rasanya would have cost more than that for a 30 minute service, not that I would know anyway! wakakaka….

Kalau kat sini, even new mums were thought how to massage their newborn babies after a bath to help the babies feel more relaxed and also to strengthen the bonding between the mums and babies. Because babies thrive on human contact and touch kan :-). So most probably The Little Misses felt like it was a bonding session lah between them and me while I was massaging them tadi, hehehe…. But now my shoulders pulak yang sore so I have to ask The Other Half lah to massage me tonite :-D…

Tonite I teringin sangat2 nak makan vietnamese chicken rolls. Tadi I had prawn rolls at the food court for lunch and untuk 2 rolls, it cost me $5.50 so sebab makan tak puas, tu yang I buat lagi malam ni. The Other Half had rice and butter chicken and beef vindaloo and potato curry which cost him $12 (tak sabar nya nak makan kari kat kedai mamak kat M’sia, hehehe).

My dinner tonite. But I made home made burger n chips for everyone else so tak lah diaorang terkulat2 kena makan chicken roll ni, hehehe…

Psstt… By the way, InsyaAllah kenduri kahwin kat rumah my parents kat kampung tu will be on the weekend of 12th-13th December so if you boleh kosongkan your diaries around that time, that would be great. Kad jemputan tak siap lagi so tu yang I tak boleh jemput secara rasmi lagi but ini I jemput secara informally lah dulu ye so you all tak buat other activities during that time, hehehe.

Rajin pulak I tetiba ;-)

Like I said last nite, since Miss 6 dah buat kan I termalu sikit, I pun sedekah kan lah food terlebih sikit dari biasa for the cake stall. Malam tadi I buat cream horn and chocolate cupcakes and pagi tadi I buat cheese twists. SIkit nya rajin kan I, hehehe.

But cream horns I tak berapa menjadi sebab I pegi uli the dough pukul 2 petang (well, the breadmaker yang uli tapi I yang dapat nama:-)) and then I peram bagai nak rak sebab sibuk dgn benda lain. Malam lepas dinner baru lah I ada masa nak lilit dia around the horns. Pastu I cuma ada 6 biji aje acuan nya so sikitnya lama ke nak habis kan 1 adunan tu! Nasib baik lah doh tu tak bertukar jadi tapai sebab peram sikit nya lama! But I baru noticed kalau you peram doh tu lama2 sgt, dia akan jadi more elastic but senang putus so bila you lilit the dough kat acuan horn tu, masa dlm oven, dia akan putus2 so jadi tak cantik and tak smooth langsung lah the horns. But once you sort of filled them with cream and decorated it with choc rice, the kids bukan kisah pun and all the cream horns went so fast at the cake stall.

Macam ni lah rupa my cream horn sebelum masuk dalam oven. Lighting is not that good so it looks so kelam :-).

And ini pulak tayangan the food before we took them to school. Seperti biasa, I malas nak decorate the cupcakes, I just sapu nutella and put choc freckles on it.

But Alhamdulillah all my food habis dijual and I heard from Miss 6 yang they managed to raise $A550 from the cake stall. I think all the cupcakes were sold at $1 each and I tak tau pulak berapa diaorang jual my cream horns tu. I asked Miss 10 how much was the cream horns. She said, “it was all sold out by the time I managed to get to the cake stall at recess time Mummy!” I guess cream horns ni lain dari yang lain kan so tu yang fofular, hahaha. Banyak lah jugak kan dapat so now everyone is happy because they can go to the Zoo (except Miss 6 that is!), hehehehe….

Cake stall again….

Miss 6’s class is going to the Zoo in 3 weeks time. But the cost will be a bit expensive for some of the kids so the teachers decided to have a cake stall after assembly tomorrow to raise money for the trip. And so bila ada cake stall ni, parents of the class lah yang kena donate the food to be sold kan. But Miss 6 had ‘kindly’ stated/asked her teacher, “Miss J… Since I won’t be here for the Zoo trip because I would have already been in Malaysia then, does my Mummy still have to donate food for the cake stall?” And jawapan her teacher was, “ Yes, she does! Even though you are not going to be here on that Zoo trip day, you still need to bring something tomorrow for the cake stall.” And tadi bila I picked them up from school, she straight away told me, “Mummy, you still need to donate some food tomorrow even though I’m not going to the Zoo!” Aduhai anak I itu, memang betul2 buat I malu aje. Sure lah agaknya cikgu dia ingat I yang suruh Miss 6 tanya kat diaorang sebab I malas nak masak, hehehehe…. Macam ni nampak gayanya, I kena donate lebih2 lah kot nak kasi cover malu, wekekekeke…. Nasib baik tak susah mana buat kek sempoi2 ni kan. This will be our last cake stall activity pun kat sekolah ni so tu yang takpe lah donate banyak sikit food :-)…

We had been a bit worried actually nak bercuti kat M’sia lama2 ni sebab this house will be left empty for a bit too long for our liking. Dah lah kat kawasan ni ada a few burglaries recently so tu yang susah hati jugak. We were thinking of asking someone to house sit for us but we couldn’t agree on who’s the right person to do that. Nak suruh student house sit, entah lah, rasa macam tak best aje pulaknya… But semalam The Other Half happened to mention it to his friend and his friend said that his son might be able to house sit for us. And today, he told us yang his son was very excited to do the house sitting. House sitting ni lebih kurang macam babysitting lah but we don’t have to pay the house sitter anything and the house sitter pun doesn’t have to pay us anything. I think I lagi suka jadi house sitter than jadi babysitter sebab rumah tak boleh menangis, tak kisah kalau kita tak bagi dia makan, tak perlu nak kena tidurkan or kena dodoi kan and yang paling penting, tak buat kita gerammmmmm…. Hahahahaha.This guy will get to live in our house rent free and bills-free for sepanjang2 we all kat Malaysia tu and we won’t have to worry about our house being broken into while we are away. Kiranya win-win situation lah kan! We just have to provide a room for him to sleep in which I guess would be the guest room and then he will help look after our house and ‘garden’ so tak lah mati kehausan all our plants nanti. I really hope that he can certainly house sit for us….

Anyway, this was what we had for dinner tonite. I made fried crumbed fried chicken with wedges and salad. Tak sabar nak balik M’sia nak makan KFC, hahahaha….

Other colours but pink

It’s quite common kan for baby girls to be associated with pink clothes and baby boys with blue clothes. When The Little Misses were young, I got them quite a few pink clothes tapi tak lah semua kaler pink, hehehe. I bought them whatever clothes I think would look nice on them, I didn’t really mind about what colours they were. Sampai sekarang pun, segala macam kaler baju diaorang ada including black :-). And I’m lucky sebab The Little Misses bukan jenis yang memilih baju sangat and they are definitely not brand conscious. Maybe sebab mak pak diaorang pun bukan brand conscious nya orang so tu yang diaorang ikut :-). They’ll wear whatever they think will look good on them :-). Kalau diaorang brand conscious, memang lah diaorang tak kan pakai baju2 yang Mummy buat kan sebab baju homemade mana ada brand kan, hehehe…. Maybe their tastes are similar to mine kot tu yang diaorang suka aje apa2 baju yang I buy for them…

Tadi in the car, I asked The Little Misses about their favourite colours. Miss 6 said, “I love a lot of colours Mummy but my favourite colours are black, red and blue!” And Miss 10 pulak said, “My favourite colours are purple and blue.” Then I asked them, “what about pink? don’t you like pink?” And then both of them said, “Umm… N..O..No! Especially not hot pink!” I thought they are girls and girls are supposed to like pink and all things frilly? And Black???? Probably Miss 6 will be our future Goth kot because of her liking for black! :-D But she does look good in black though because of her colouring, hehehe. Miss 10 has definitely outgrown her pink phase, ye lah, she thinks dia dah besar kan so tak main lah pink2 ni, hahaha. If I were to take them clothes shopping, memang dah gerenti they wont choose pink clothes, they would rather choose other colours but not pink. All their pink clothes (which is not that many) were bought by me without their knowledge :-). I’m a bit sad now because there’s a lot of cute pink clothes out there just waiting to be bought but obviously not by me since my 2 girls don’t like pink anymore!…… :-)

Dah beberapa hari I put up pictures of my jahitan and not my food kan so malam ni I’ll put up our dinners last nite and tonite.

Malam tadi, The Other Half asked for kari but I pulak teringin nak makan ikan goreng sambal. So, on my plate I hade nasi with kari and ikan sambal and sayur goreng. I kena start kosong kan my freezer sebab dah nak balik M’sia kan tu yang masak macam2, hehehe (banyak lah alasan bila nak mengketedarah ni ;-)).

And my dinner tonite, toasted tuna sandwich. Lepas mengketedarah malam tadi, I felt so guilty so tu yang makan healthy aje. But I made scrambled eggs and chicken burger for the rest so they didn’t feel like they are being forced to eat healthy, hehehehe..

Home made bread lagi you, memang lah tersangat healthy nya kan ;-)

Sundays, house chores and takde kerja cari kerja…

As usual our Sundays selalunya are spent doing all the chores we don’t like doing but need to be done (cuci toilets, basuh bathrooms, vaccuuming and dusting and yada yada yada…). At the same time, Sundays are the days where we normally have cooked breakfast instead of the usual toast and cereals aje (ini pun depends on Mummy’s mood, rajin atau tak :-)). But pagi tadi since I wanted to start the chores early, I made the pancake batter and asked The Little Misses to cook the pancakes so I could cuci toilet n bathroom.

Typical kids, masa kecik2 ni bila suruh masak or main masak2, happy happy joy joy and tak merungut langsung. Cubalah nanti when they’ve reached their teens, mau nya banyak songel bila I suruh masak for the family and sure nya banyak excuses they’ll give :-). So sementara I still could kerah tenaga diaorang i.e child labour to follow my orders, I might as well use it to my advantage, betul tak!

The pancakes they made :-).

And ini resipi pancake yang I selalu guna:

Pancakes

• 1 1/2 cwn tepung naik sendiri (SRF)
• 1 sudu teh (tsp) baking powder
• 3 sudu besar gula caster (tbsp)
• secubit garam
• 60g butter , cairkan
• 1 cwn susu segar
• 2 biji telur saiz XL (59g)
• - Dalam mangkuk kecil, cairkan butter. Add susu segar and telur ke melted butter and mix them well.
• -Dalam mangkuk yang lain, ayak tepung naik sendiri + baking powder. Add gula caster and garam and mix it. Then buat lubang di tengah2 and add the melted butter,susu n telur mixture and menggunakan whisk biasa, just whisk it until smooth.
• -Tinggal kan adunan sekejap lebih kurang 20 minutes.
• -Gunakan non stick pan and api sederhana, masak pancake seperti biasa.

 

After breakfast, we finished off all the household chores. Then baru aje I nak lepak2 depan PC, The Other Half ‘asked’ if he could rearrange The Little Misses’ bedroom, siap bagi reasons why it’s necessary for him to do it, hehehe. I pun sebab baik hati (since he was so nice in helping me do all the chores pagi tadi) said to him, “do whatever you want to do as long as I don’t have to help :-).” Punyalah baik kan wife dia ni, hehehe…

So, The 3 muskateers did all the rearranging and the cleaning up that comes along with moving things around while I cuma lepak2 aje…

Masa ni the busy stage of rearranging..

They used to sleep on bunk beds but Miss 10 asik komplen aje sebab Miss 6 selalu tendang2 her bed at night time and dia malas nak panjat her bed tiap2 malam. So, The Other Half rearranged the beds and put them side by side now. The Little Misses wanted their own rooms actually tapi tak cukup bedrooms kat rumah ni for them to have that. Ada 4 bedrooms kat rumah ni but 1 room dah ada queen size bed for guests and 1 room lagi I guna untuk my sewing stuff, ironing room and store room so memang lah tak cukup bedroom untuk The Little Misses to get 1 each kan. Maybe 1 day when we can reduce the amount of ‘junk’ in the house, baru boleh we give them their own rooms.

Cleaning up their mess under the beds.

Finally, beds are made, things rearranged, carpet vacuumed and they are tired!!

Models and dresses

Sure you all dah jelak and muak bila I cerita pasal sewing yang tak habis2 ni kan, hehehe. Malam ni kita cerita pasal something else first kay! ;-)

Our Sydney trip next year is still undecided yet. The Uni still hasn’t given us the final go ahead or stop word yet so we all pun still terumbang ambing lagi. But at the same time, we still have to think and prepare for life in Perth in case we don’t go to Sydney next year especially when The Little Misses’  schooling is concerned. The Other Half and I had a chat a few weeks ago about taking both The Little Misses out of their current school and sending them to a different school.

Since Miss 10 is going to a different high school in 2 years time, next year we wanted to send her to the primary school yang bersebelahan dengan her high school so bolehlah dia berkenal2an dengan the kids she’s going to high school with kan. Tak lah nanti bila dia masuk high school, dia rasa terasing aje sebab tak kenal anyone there. But the primary school is out of our boundary zone so we had to apply to enrol in that primary school as an out of boundary student. And since we applied for Miss 10, we thought might as well tried our luck applying for Miss 6 as well. And then nak jadi cerita, our applications got accepted for both of them so they’ll be moving to a new primary school next year (if we are not going to Sydney lah :-)). Kiranya, they only have 3 more weeks untuk beramah mesra dengan their friends at their current school. I know they’ll miss some of their friends but nak buat macam mana kan, education is important….

And when we applied at that school, they sent us the book list, fees/charges list and the uniform list for next year. I pun tengok lah the fees and charges for next year. Terbeliak sekejap mata I bila baca Miss 10’s list sebab included in it is a $1500 charge for Year 7 school trip to Canberra! Ugkk… tak boleh nafas sekejap tengok how many zeroes in that, hehehehe. That’s 3 return tickets back to M’sia with MAS! I said to The Other Half, “this is only public school and yet there’s a $1500 trip to Canberra. Can you imagine how much that would have cost us if it was a private school!” But I guess Canberra is very far from Perth and with accomodation and meals included, tu yang mahal sangat2 jadi nya :-).

And then bila I baca Miss 6’s book list for Year 2 next year. Included in it is a USB thumb drive for them to use. Budak 6 tahun dah pakai thumb drive you! I masa kat Uni dulu pun masih lagi pakai floppy disc and I was way way older than 6 y.o. let me tell you, muahahahahaha. I’m just waiting for Miss 10’s book list in high school nanti sebab sure nya lah ada notebook or laptop in it kan.

Ok lah, dah abis cerita pasal The Little Misses, now I can cerita pasal sewing pulak… :-)

Untuk yang tertunggu2 gambar the dresses on the models, let me present the models to you. I still belum buat the finishing touches to the dress lagi, tu yang benang everywhere. And the top was a bit too besar for Miss 6 so I kena kecik kan and adjust the strap a bit. I ingat nak letak zipper on the back but zippers and I tak ngam, mesti nya akan a bit herot walau macam mana careful pun I jahit. So I’ve decided to put small hooks on the back ganti zips and buttons (but belum pasang the hooks lagi, esok kot or maybe next week kot, hehehe)..

Model yang kecik tu tak boleh jadi catwalk model lah sebab sure nya diaorang tak terima sebab terlebih berat badan, wekekekeke….. Yang besar tu kena tunggu dia habis pakai braces and meninggi baru boleh kot jadi catwalk model, wekekekekeke…..

Malas nya Tuhan aje lah yang tau :-)

I know I know semua orang tertunggu2 I tayang gambar my creation tu kan sebab sure semua orang ingat since dah 2 nights I tak post N3, surenya lah sebab I bertungkus lumus pulun bekerja sampai larut malam kan :-D. Tapi apakan daya, itu semua fantasy dan khayalan semata2, wehehehe…. Like I told you before, I cuma ada masa at night time aje untuk menjahit and the most I could spend in front of the sewing machine is 2 hours before I become so mengantuk, hehehe.

But last night I was feeling quite motivated sebab I was getting there. I could finally see light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. But nak jadi kan cerita tamil, my blooming overlocker broke down!!!!!!! It wasn’t working properly so I spent an hour trying to fix the problem malam tadi. But since I ni bukannya an overlocker machinist/repairer, by the end of the hour, it still wasn’t working. Geramnya Tuhan aje lah yang tahu!!!!!! I rethread all the threads, changed the needles, brushed off all the lint that I could get my hand to but one of the threads still kept on breaking off. I might just try my hand again at becoming Mr.‘fix-it’ tonite but if still tak jalan lagi, memang nampak gayanya kena lah hantar pergi repair macam ni. But I guess my fault pun in a way sebab sejak beli overlocker ni about 6 years ago, memang tak pernah hantar servis so tetiba dia meragam lah.. :-(((…… Of all the times that it could have broken down, it had to choose when I’m at my busiest!!!! Apa tak nya, dah setahun I tak guna, tetiba guna beria2 buat berpasang2 seluar pastu dresses, terus lah dia demam teruk, hehehe…

30 minutes later……

Alhamdulillah, our last ditch effort to fix the overlocker was successful. It worked beautifully now :-D. We unscrewed everything and vacuumed the insides (it was full of lint and dust, ugh!). I am so happy now sebab I can continue sewing this weekend and I don’t have to korek kocek cari duit nak bayar the repairer, hehehe…

But as a teaser, I letak aje lah ye gambar the dresses yang separuh siap tu…

The Little Misses dah tidur so takde models yang I can use to put the dresses on. The Other Half was way too big to fit into any of the dresses so tak boleh lah dia nak jadi model, muahaha. I boleh kot kalau tarik nafas panjang2 and tahan nafas to fit into the dress but lain pulak jadi nya nanti….

The satin sash I nak beli kat M’sia sebab murah lagi so balik M’sia nanti baru letak. The lacy hem maybe tak payah kot sebab the skirt is long enough.

Tengok lah esok, kalau senang, I’ll ask The Little Misses to menggayakan the half made dresses :-)