You guys wanna go WHOA ! kan ?

You guys wanted to see my blue toe kan ?

Okay.... get ready....
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EEEUUUWWWWWWW ... kan ? Horrifying isn't it ?

And like this which is the worst view of it, I think.




I still wince whenever I look at this picture. *Shudder*

So for weeks my condition looked like this;




Which is kinda embarrassing. But it was okay. I could manage. Doc wasn't sure I should go to work on account that I looked ridiculous. But I told him my Boss doesn't give a hoot how my legs look like. He cares if I come or not.

So now, after like 5 dressings and about RM 250, it has dried up and Doc said I could leave it exposed to the elements.



Still not very pretty, but much better. Still can't wear shoes yet though.

Maybe......

I believe that most wives are haunted by nagging feelings that their husbands do not love them. This feelings could be constant or sporadic or whatever.... you know kadang-kadang, jarang-jarang or banyak-banyak.

The littlest of thing eminated from the husband, be it word, gesture, sigh, grunt.. which probably means nothing could be taken as (or miscontrued as) a sign of disinterest, hate or worse a girlfriend tucked in somewhere.

I know....! How could a woman decipher that from a mere jelingan from sang suami... ? It boggles the mind, doesn't it...? But we just can..., I promise you we really can.

Anyway... me... the champion of this subject matter - I once had a restless night because in the middle of sleep... Kamil... hahahah....(I know it sounds silly now but it was soooo crystal clear at that moment)... who slept while holding my hand suddenly let it go during the night. I was woken up while he did that and afterwards I couldn't sleep a wink because I kept thinking he let my hand go because he has a new girlfriend.... CK and Hjh Esah knows how traumatic this lack of hand holding waktu tiduq could be for me....And how did I put the 2 and 2 together and came out with 6 could not be explained so don't bother asking.

Anyway....I had been feeling so unloved by Kamil eversince my toe became blue because you know he wasn't being very sympathetic to my pain when it happened. He nagged and got angry and was generally being barking mad while I was hopping around with pain.

I suppose the assumption that his love was gone for me at that point was not so silly because he failed to act like a loving husband should... which is meraung macam orang gila tengok aku sakit. Or at least lift me off my feet (my weight doesn't count during moments like this) and rushed me to the hospital where he demanded the doctor to do something quick as he couldn't bear to see the love of his life (aku le tu) in pain.

So... I had been going around these past few weeks quite convinced that he has a girlfriend (which is I assure you the natural progression of this tuduhan melulu...)until ... yesterday morning that is. Yesterday morning I finally took a brave step to get over my iron-o-phobia by ironing my own shirt at the scene of the crime. As I lifted the iron, I suddenly noticed a pair of hands holding the board still.

I looked up at him and he was intently looking at the board, keeping it steady.

"I think we have to buy a better board..." he said while I gawked at him. He stayed during the length of my ironing and carefully lifted my shirt up (from the board le... not off me... itu lain dah....)for me.

And again this morning.. he was hovering near me while I ironed, making sure the board tak buat perangai lagi.

Awww..... you sayang I yek.... Awat tak habaq awai-awai ?

But... hmmm........

Maybe ......... he was doing that not because he cares.... but because he has a hot date today and he doesn't want to be late by sending me to the hospital again.

Hmmm.... possible, possible....

You do the math lah....

MALES CONTINUE TO OUTNUMBER FEMALES ! screamed the headline of a famous daily today.

With that, married males... please give a chance to your single and equally virile species to have a mate.

If you pasang 2, there will be 1 more of your friend who must do without.

Okay, to put things into perspective...in Johor apparently there are 112 males to 100females. So.... really if geography is a syarat to marry, 12 men in Johor will be confirmed bachelors.

You get me so far ?

So if one of these men took 2, there will be 13 confirmed bachelors now. So you do the math lah if 10 men pasang 2. Itu baru 2... kalau 3 ? 4 ?

Don't be selfish mates... Have some pity for your friends.

It is all in the math, bro. All in the math.

Stories

Funny story

We had just arrived and we were busy unpacking and sorting out things when the room phone rang. Abang was nearest to the phone so we asked him to quickly answer it.

He ran, stopped short, looked frantic then panically yelled, "Which button do I push ?"

Eh ? Oh.... hahahahahah !

"Pick up the receiver, lah !"

Our fault for not having a land line at home. Thus... my son does not know how to operate one.

Sad story

IRM took us a to a nice secluded beach. We had a fun time mucking about. Those that wasn't medically required to keep their toes dry and clean played with the water and those who do (there was only 1 person)had to wobble around looking for a place to sit like an old biddy while worrying about the right big toe penetrated by sand and the left ligament torn ankle ...errrmmm.... tear its ligament further as it was quite a task to walk.

Anyway, we hitched a ride in my brother's van. When we arrived at the hotel, I helped Ana down first as she was sitting on Kamil's lap next to me. As soon as I got out of the car, I reached out for her hand again and as soon as she held mine, she asked me the million dollar question.

"Mummy... saya suka lah Ibu...."

Excuse me ? The little one repeated the same statement.. I heard her just fine the first time but entahlah... reflex I suppose.

"Mana ibu ?" And she had to ask. Mummy had to steel herself from bursting into tears. Just the day before when I checked in the hotel, I bumped into Shera's brother. We talked for awhile and I of course cried a little.

Probably Ana asked because she saw her uncle too and he reminded her of Ibu.

Anyway... my stupid answer to her as she squinted at me was, "Ibu kan duduk dengan Allah sekarang. Allah kan sayang Ibu... so Allah nak Ibu duduk dengan dia.... Ibu kan baik... jadi sebab tu Allah nak Ibu duduk dekat dengan dia....."

"Ibu buat apa dengan Allah ?"

"Allah banyak keje sayang jadi Ibu kena tolong Allah.... Ana duduk dengan Mummy aje okay ? Dengan Ayah, dengan Tok, dengan CT... Nanti bila akhirat karang kita jumpa Ibu balik okay ?"

She nodded and smiled her sweet smile while I cried.

Shera... I pun suka you. You know, Ana is starting kindergarten soon and she had a 1 day kindy trial last Friday. The teachers love her and they complimented on how clever she is.

You are sooo lucky to have a special girl like that praying, loving and thinking about you.

Abang's birthday

Today is my firstborn’s birthday. He is 10 ... WAAAAAAAAAA !

My baby.... my baby... Dah besar.

Now I understand my dad, why he always tried his darnest to stop us from growing up.
“MI/CY/CA/MJ jadi baby lah.. toksah besar sampai bila-bila...” he used to say. A lot. And I always rolled my eyes because I hear that countless of times. And I will let out the heaviest of sighs when he added, “Nanti Ayah takde toy...” Aparaa... I’d always thought. Go and buy one lah.....

But now... Sob Sob.. I finally get him because my toy has grown up and doesn’t want to play with me that much anymore.

He doesn’t want to follow me everywhere anymore, unlike his sister. He doesn’t need me to be in front of him that much anymore, like his sister ... and... I saw him rolled his eyes behind my back when I was being silly.

And the thing that hurts the most was he doesn’t share anymore.

On Adik’s birthday we went to Toys R Us as Adik wanted a toy. Aku rasa toys are the most wasteful of purchases. I wasn’t really keen on it but Babah jeling at me so I let it be. I know she would fully utilise an MP3 player or an iPod instead of the Hello Kitty tea set she chose. I was right, she kept on bugging us to let her use our handphones to hear her songs and kept on hogging the car stereo. Dok ulang lagu-lagu dia aje. The Hello Kitty set, although very cute was already relegated to her working station (yes.. she has one) and remained untouched since a day after her birthday.

So coming back to Toys R Us on Adik’s birthday, when Abang wanted a toy too Babah wouldn’t let him without giving any other explanation except “It’s expensive !”. Babah actually had bought the Chelsea jersey and the goalkeeper gloves like he wanted, but Babah didn’t tell him so because he wanted it to be a surprise. Tapi Babah ni tone dia tak kena... he sounded like he was angry.

So my son sebek sat and mula le bergenang ayaq mata and started to walk ahead of us.

Aku ni memang kesian sangat kalau tengok Abang kena marah sebab really... when I sit down and think about it... he is one of the good guys. Sure he can be naughty but overall... he is one great kid.

I caught up with him and as usual asked him what was wrong. But to my surprise ... he said nothing, shook his head and took my arm off his shoulders. I was dumbstruck. Terkejut gila because usually, he would tell me how he feels.

And tengah-tengah Empire shopping mall tu ayaq mata aku pun bergenang jugak. When Kamil caught up with me, he was exasperated to see my tears. “He doesn’t want to tell me anything ! I asked and he doesn’t tell me... He doesn’t talk to me anymore !!!”

Kamil sighed as I looked forlornly at my son’s back. Kamil then said, “Namanya budak laki.... Budak laki memang macam tu lah... mana dia orang bercakap sangat.....” and he left my side to walk with our son. Kamil distracted his attention to some stuffs in the mall and soon he was laughing again. But I still failed to laugh because I am still hurt by his rejection. Of course, aku blame Kamil for being too hard on him sampai dia keraih macam tu.

Mummy’s baby boy... don’t put a wall between us. You are still a baby... and forever you will be my baby... Even when you are 40 you will remain my baby. Don’t grow up too soon as Mummy tak ada orang nak manja nanti, kay ?

Please ?

I love you, hunny bunny.

December 15 was here again...

Yesterday was my little girl's birthday.

Awwww......... dah besar anak Mummy ! Sob ! Sob !

She warned us that since it's her birthday, she can do anythings she wants ! Anything, you hear ?

Okay lah.....

"Mummy ? It's my birthday and I am just going to eat the Oreos ! I am not asking for your permission !" Then, yang hang susah payah call nak bagitau aku buat apa ?

"Mummy ? I want to drink the last Vitagen..." Minumlah... it's your birthday kan ? No need my permission, remember ?

Hehehhehe.....

Mummy's little girl dah besar. She is 7 now... Dah pandai cakap, dah pandai mintak birthday cake at the stroke of midnight to Abah's chagrin (actually dari dia kecik dia mintak orang gerak dia pagi-pagi to celebrate her birthday... dia memang kuat berangan) and finally dah tak boleh mintak dukung.

Actually, on her birthday, dia mintak Babah dia dukung and Kamil sakit-sakit belakang pun dukung jugak... Her birthday, kan ? For old times'sake, said Babah.

Happy Birthday, little girl. Mummy is sooo blessed as I am one of the few Mothers whom Allah bestowed a clown to.

Anak-anak

Yesterday in the car Abang said, "I wish you are pregnant right now...."

Errrkkk !

"Because I would love to have a baby brother to play with...."

Hmmmm........

"But then... when I think about it... when he is 7, I will be in college already so there's no point ! So better tak payah lah...."

Mummy didn't get to say anything at all... Tak sempat. He made his request, reasoned it out then made his decision all in one breath.

Ha ha.

Teingat kat Ana, whom I like to refer as Wife for Loyal Man only. Once she doesn't trust you, well.... she is gonna make your life very hard indeed.

We first noticed her perangai when one day her Ayah nak keluar rumah, she demanded where he was going. Ayah's "nak jumpa kawan sekajap.." did not satisfy her at all.

"Ayah lama.... ayah tak sekejap...."

"Iya... ayah sekejap aje...."

"Ana ikut...."

"Tak payah lah... Ayah sekejap aje..."

"Ana ikut !!!!" She insisted."And Ayah again said no need.

"No... Ana ikut sebab nanti ayah lama.." and she held on to his trousers.

Abang aku cannot say anything but took her with him. Kami yang dok tengok tahan gelak aje... Jangan lah dok kelentong dia next time kay....

HHheheheheh... padan muko. But the best one happened 2-3 weeks ago.

My brother's boss was involved in an accident. He called my brother requesting for his help and as my brother got ready, Ana was in motion already.

Question of ayah pegi mana was answered. She also said nak ikut but this time ny brother stood his ground as he knows it will be a long and laborious trip.

Ana insisted and ayah explained again.

She crossed her arms in what we thought defeat. But... apparently she is waaay too smart.

"Ayah tangkap gambar. Ana nak tengok betul ke ayah pegi tolong orang accident."

Ha kau... terkedu ayahnya.

Please don't think because she is 4 her request has no standing. Don't think she would have forgotten about it.

Ayah sampai rumah aje, she ran to him and demanded the evidence. Ayah pun keluarkan lah kamera and tunjuk gambaq kereta tu remuk tengah2 jalan.

Baru le dia puas hati.

He heh... Tulah..... You think your daughter is not smart eh ? Nengok muka dia tahu how bijak she is....

Teringat pulak cerita Adik when she was with me at the hospital. She was talking non-stop, talking about one subject after another. The lady who sat near us must have been listening because she remarked, "Pandainya dia bercakap... Macam orang besar..... "

People had always said that about her, since she was about 3 years old ...so aku senyum aje.

Then... "Berapa umur ni ?"

"Tujuh..."

Pastu...

"La.... ingat kan 5 ke.... patut le pandai cakap dah 7 !!"

He heh ! Tak jadi lak aku senyum bangga... Tulah Adik... kecik benar orang ingat 5 tahun !

A day full of kesians..

Hari tu my sister asked f I would like to have breakfast together. Then.... I asked her if she would mind singgah KLCC sekejaaaap saja as I have to get the books Kinokuniya reserved for me.

CY came at 12 with our nieces in tow, lepak sekejap tengok tv with Kamil as our other sister CT wanted to join us. CT said to fetch her at 12.30 but knowing CT we only started our journey 12.45. Itupun we had to wait like 15 minutes for her.

Anyway CY in her delicate condition was banned from driving far by my mom so when CT sat in the driving seat, I asked, "Did you invite your mother ?" We are always like that, we always refer to our mom 'your mother' with each other.

CT's eyes went huge and CY gasped. CT said no. She said, "CY lah bagitau sebab she is living with your mother..."

CY gasped again and said "Yeah... but CPK yang ajak... So dia lah yang bagitau mak dia..."

I gasped and said "Well... your mother is always calling you so I expect you to tell her !" while pointing at CT.

The 3 of us can ding dong and ding dong the blame to kingdom come pun would not eliminate the fact that we have forgotten to inform our mother about this trip.

Yikes !!!!!!

So we hatched a plan. She would definitely call one of us from then till we get home so

* CT will not answer the phone at all
* I don't usually answer the phone during the weekend because aku selalu campak handphone aku merata-rata. And Mom would not call Kamil knowing that Kamil was sick
* CY would tell our mom that she and I were in Subang Parade. Subang Parade is not as bad as KLCC

Budak-budak ? CY said we can threaten them with whatever pun kalau Tok tanya they will still tell her the truth, Let us pray, sisters supaya jangan kantoi !

So we went to KLCC. Had lunch and then went to Kinokuniya for books then to the bank to activate my children's accounts.

Why I have to activate their accounts ? Because this oh... clever bank's rule is if one only ever deposit money and make no withdrawal at all, within 6 months one's account will be de-activated.

And what does de-activated mean ? It means one can't deposit (in another term bagi bank) one's money via the machines.

And to activate this Islamic account, one has to re-activate it in KLCC. Then one has to make a withdrawal. Minimum withdrawal RM1. So... I withdrew RM 1 from Abang's account and another RM 1 from Adik's account. I had to fill in 2 withdrawal forms then wait for another 10-15 minutes before they can give me my 2 bucks. CY asked, how long do they need to count 2 ringgit ?"

Good question.

Clever kan ? So brilliant a system it was that I now want to close my accounts and put my money elsewhere.

Anyway, aku tak larat jalan, CY also tak larat jalan lagi so went home. No trips to Zara or M&S or whatever yang ada in KLCC. Rasa rugi sungguh ... heheheh. Before that sempat buat dinner plans dulu. CY being preggers wanted to have dinner at Uptown so takut baby dia meleleh ayaq liuq kami pun okay saja.

I got ready after Maghrib and as I ushered my kids downstairs to wait for them, CY sms-ed to inform that her mother is coming with us and please remember our story.

Hehhehehe..... Haru kan kami ?

Anyway, CY came with only MJ and MI in her car. Apparently they have left their mother with our brother MP because they do not want to ride with MP's girlfriend. Not that we don't like her, we just don't like the fact that our sister Shera is being replaced.

But why they left their mother apparently yelling for them from the top of the stairs was beyond me. Their excuse was if they brought mom along, nanti MP terasa macam kami lari dari girlfriend dia sebab original plan nak pegi2 sama2. Kesian kat MP, kata depa.

Lantak korang le....I am not involved in this crisis, thank Allah for that !

So.... sampai Uptown... order makan.... We again sat in front of this Ah Soo's gerai. When we first sat there we didn't order anything from her, preferring our usual gerais. But we noticed that she wasn't cooking for anybody, so Kamil took pity on her and bungkuih maggi goreng. He then paksa MI makan kat rumah. Tak sedap, kata MI.

This time around, MI pulak kesian kat dia and even though conscious of the fact that her maggi goreng wasn't all that, he ordered meehoon hailam anyway which turned out to be very nice actually. I take it as tanda terima kasih dari Allah sebab kesiankan Ah Soo tu.

Anyway, we talked non-stop and aku yang memang over pergilah bercerita pasal something that happened in KLCC.

"Korang tahu tak tadi masa turun escalator tadi we bumped into this kid, pakai jacket merah macam Michael Jackson, plus with spek itam tenggek atas hidung macam tengah jalan waktu panas terik. Jalan pulak terlompat-lompat macam rapper mana tak tau... I noticed ramai yang tercengang tengok dia and bukannya terkejut dengan kehensemannya yang terlampau ... which I know what he was going for... So aku pun kesian lah kat dia and said to him.."Amboi hai... hensemnya.....". CY muka macam nak terlentang tang tu jugak dengaq aku cakap kuat-kuat lagu tu kat mamat tu......"

Everybody laughed out loud of course and then MI asked, "Kat KLCC ?"

"Ha lah... KLCC lah !"

CY who sat next to mom teruih geleng2 kepala frantically and I realised my mistake a tad too late and looked at my mom who was looking at her food, with a small smile on her face and I stupidly went.."Eh... bukan KLCC lah... Subang Parade....."

Which already sounded soooo damn lame... and then aku pergi mengeruhkan keadaan by saying, "Aku tadi pegi KLCC ngan CT......" which also was not part of the plan.

And berpeluh2 lah kami bertiga .... Ladies ranging from ages of 34 to 27..... because kami dah kantoi ngan mak kami.

Aduhai lah......

Ini pulak balasan Allah sebab Allah kesian kat mak kami yang kena tipu ngan anak2 and because anak-anak pi huha-huha kat KLCC tak bawak dia.

Finding authentic chips

This weekend we went to Ikea twice.

Twice !!!

First trip was on Saturday. Not because I think Ikea's stuffs are all that (I happen to think that Ikea is definitely not all that... maybe some that... just not all)but after 1 whole week in PG, eating their very unimaginative and uninspiring food, aku rasa macam naaaakkk sangat makan chips. Not fries, mind you.. but chips... Thick ones like they sell in England.

Okay, you could never find those chips sold in England over here but I reckon the usual thick chips sold at Ikea could just satisfy that kind of hunger. Anyway, it was a huuugggee mistake going there because the place was jam packed !! The lines were like 1km long, I kid you not.

So we dejectedly (I think it was just me... my family didn't give a hoot about chips or fries) troop out of there and Kamil took pity on me, ajak makan Tony Roma's. I am not really a fan of Tony Roma's but thinking surely TR would have served chips,I agreed. However I ended up feeling very much disappointed because I was munching fries. It has slipped my mind that TR is American so they would have correctly served fries. Duh !

Food was not good. I shared with Kamil because TR's servings are humongous. Even their kid's menu pun a bit too much for the kiddies. Well... the sharing is not why the food wasn't good. It was the blah burger and fish and chips that was not seasoned well. Oh yeah, there were no chips with the fish... but fries. They should have changed the name.

Anyway, aku bergolek2 ala-ala Sarimah dalam Ibu Mertuaku malam semalam sambil menyuarakan hasrat nak cuba pi Ikea lagi. Aku rasa Kamil geli gelaman Ya Rabbi nengok aku berguling macam badak sebab he quickly said yes. Hehehheheh.. Trick bagus for future use.

Anyway we went during lunch and again the same scenery greeted us. Aku pun dah fed-up. Kamil said maybe their hot dogs and karipap ada teluq suku kat dalam tu could do it but itupun panjang ! I mean, it is a public holiday during school holiday ! Aren't the masses supposed to balik kampung or pi picnic tang mana-mana ka ?

Jalan-jalan and as I looked forlornly where one of my favourite restaurants Fasta Pasta (they served chips these lovely Australian) used to be, Kamil remarked that "Hey ! It is Nando's now !"

And then his face lit up like he had just had an epiphany and said, "Nando's do chips !"

Hehehhe.... sian mamat ni. Okaylah, jomlah... Nando's pun Nando's lah. Okay... it is not like I don't like Nando's. I do like them as much as the next person buuuttt....... Nando's could be found where I live. Dah mai jauh-jauh, cari parking punya susah.. nak makan kat restaurant yang ada dekat-dekat ngan rumah buat apa ?

But... Alhamdullillah, their chips were good, nice and thick. I ate only half of the chicken as I wanted to make room for the chips.

But still..... hmmm... I need the Ikea chips.. with oily chicken wings (dabbed first with tissue paper to minimise the oil) and if I am lucky and the server tak garang and skema, some nice gravy. Especially memikirkan that I am going back to PG tomorrow and eat the same uninspiring food.

Okay, who wants to take me there as Kamil will be working next weekend ?

Any volunteers ?

Anybody ?

PS : Adik was singing the Jom Heboh song when she stopped to ask the meaning heboh. Err.... like you have a piece of news, then you tell a lot of people about it. Like that lah... answered this mom.

Abang said, "Oh... you mean spread the word ?"

Oh yeah... that is a better explanation.

Malu !!!

Dia buat dah........

Does a man know that when he decided to love another, his wife would be hurt ?

And the hurt is not sikit2 punya hurt but father grandfather punya hurt ? Sebab you are suppose to love her. And when you take another wife, it sure does look like you are replacing her. And please, do not even try to liken it to having more than 1 child. The intimacies of husband and wife is far greater and personal than intimicies of parents and children, kay ?

And to add salt to the injury, bila wife put a lot of conditions like a set monthly income, car and the right to keep her money to herself, buleh pulak dia pi kata bini tu busuk hati. Saja je nak demand. What the ... ? Kalau dah sah-sah tak mampu tu toksah le... There is a reason why Allah letakkan syarat lelaki yang berkemampuan saja... And do you actually know the rights of a wife in Islam ? Tempat tinggal, pakaian, kenderaan and help (maid le tu...). So... dah sediakan ke semua tu ? And it doesn't count ye kalau bini tu jugak yang tolong tampung mortgage, car loan and bayar maid. Tong-tong tak kira aaaaa.....

DO you know, oh wise man that when additional wife means additional expense and the original wife does not want to suffer financially just because you want to have a good time ? She must make sure that her needs and rights are protected first before you go and joli katak. Hang dok syok2 berjoli awatlak pulak dia kena reduce her lifestyle just for you to joli ? Joli pulak sengsorang dia tak leh join sekali.

Punyalah dia banyak berkorban for you, surrendering her money to you every month for the sake of the family that you have created together, and while you sat down to watch the telly after hard day's work she can't sit and relax with you but had to go straight to the kitchen for a hard day at there pulak.

While you already well perfumed from your bath, you commented lak how unsightly the looks of her because dia after cooking, busy with the kids so tak sempat mandi and rambut berjeragah.

Cuba ko bayangkan, while you are with your new wife in blissful embrace, she had to mind your 5-6 kids alone and go to sleep alone. You would never ever experience that because pi mana pun, you would always, always have a bed mate. And what about the exposed danger, a woman alone at home with children ? Kalau ada orang masuk rumah, who is there to protect them ? Your family ni tau, aku bukan cakap pasai keluarga orang lain.. keluarga hang ni !

How can a man be sooo selfish ?

If I don't stop now, this could potentially turn to be a 100 pager.

I am so bloody pissed off !!!!!!!

And I cry with you, my dearest friend. Sabaq na.... I really don't want you to cry for him anymore. He doesn't deserve it...