Of Maroon 5 and new furniture

I had a great night Thursday, partying with Maroon 5. Took the kids along, as Adik loves Adam Levine. When buying the ticks, I gave her a choice of The Wanted or Maroon 5 and she looked at me with this horrified face, shocked that I even have to ask.

“I don’t like The Wanted….” Said she, frown on her face which I read as, “Duh…”.

The band was awesome. Only Adam Levine could make men prancing on the stage in a sleeveless t-shirt looked cool. Him aside, I truly love the songs. I know all of them, bar one…. Haha, and was having a wonderful night singing and dancing.

He is so sexy… Sigh…. Could never put Adam Levine aside apparently.

Anyway semalam the furniture sampai. The table is awesome. Made the kitchen prettier. I now though have a problem with the old table. We pushed it aside for the moment, so the kitchen is infinitely congested.

The transporters left my mom’s gorgeous new cabinet at ours and sementara tunggu my mom to pick it up, I pushed it to a wall at the dining area. Masalahnya, it is looking good there. When Kamil saw it, he nodded his head and said, biarlah dia kat situ…

Pulak. So  now I either have to buy my mom a new one or…….. hantar ajelah kat dia. Bukannya apa, I once heard a lady commented that rumah orang Melayu, selagi furniture tak berlaga dengan lutut tuan rumah takkan puas hati… Hehheh. With the cabinet there memang chances of berlaga dengan lutut memang rather high. So… better hantar ajelah to my mom.

But my mom had always commented betapa tak outstandingnya my living room because it looked so bare… Maybe I should move the piano elsewhere ? Or… replace it with a baby grand… Ha…. Kalau masih looking bare with a huge spanking piano in the middle of the room tak tahulah…

A baby grand is about RM30k though … Ummm... I think I could live with bare.

Nanti I tangkap gambar yek…

Another merepek galore... Sorry

When I was small, still in primary school, agak-agak masa nak balik aje aku selalu berangan apalah mak aku masak hari ni. Lagilah kalau terdengar bunyi lesung batu or the sound of deep frying ikan or ayam (my school was surrounded by houses on 2 sides so on a good day you could actually hear the going ons of the neighbourhood kitchen…), walau pukul 10 pagi pun aku boleh dah start berangan.

Sebab favourite aku sayur buncis goreng and gulai telur, I will be salivating about those two dishes when I actually was supposed to concentrate on my learnings.. hahah. Aku selalu terbayang-bayang how the sayur buncis glistened with oil…. Or the deep yellow colour of the gulai. And I swear, sometimes I could smell it.

Even sekarang pun, kalau aku dengar lah bunyi lesung atau bunyi aktiviti menggoreng ikan, I will feel so right at home. So nostalgic, so safe. And aku masih akan wonder, apa mak aku masak hari ni, walaupun sebenarnya aku kena wonder apa yang aku nak masak instead.

Kadang-kadang aku rasa aku lebih anak dari emak. When segala-galanya aku masih nak mengadu dengan mak aku, masih aku nak dengar nasihat atau cadangan mak aku. Masih nak mak aku jugak bertanggungjawab dalam segala decisions that I have to make in my adult life.

When I was offered a job in KL 2-3 months ago, after at length bercakap dengan Kamil, akhirnya my mom’s two cents worth what helped me made my decision.

Specialnya jadi mak, ni kan ?

Anyway last weekend aku busy gila. Ke sana ke mari tapi I still had the time tu temankan adik aku shopping furniture. Tunggu punya tunggu dia orang datang, I suddenly heard the roar of my BIL’s Harley. Aku pun heran sebab I thought dia nak tinggalkan anak and maid dia at my house with my own maid and kids, so camno dia orang berempat naik motor dak ?

Sekali bila aku bukak gate tengok BIL aku aje atas motor, adik aku tambah 2 lagi adik aku, 1 nephew and 1 niece plus mak aku dalam kete.

Ya Rabbi, ramainya. Hehhehehe……

Kebetulan Kamil had to go out sekejap to buy lunch for his parents so everybody came in and aku jamu dia orang my chocolate cake. Aku suruh jugak mak aku rasa the freshly made green curry which my mom polished off with a slice of bread. Then with 2 cars and 1 Harley, we all headed to the furniture store.

Yang nak belinya orang yang nak pindah rumah tu, tapi yang beli dining table and a gorgeous book shelf was me. Hehhehe… Then aku tengok mak aku dok belek-belek one very nice, very oommpphhh cabinet and baru aku nak offer bayarkan, my other adik offered to pay.

Sebek jugak aku tengok adik aku yang baru kerja tahu nak belanja mak. Mahal jugak cabinet tu… Mak aku memang taste dasyat dalam hal-hal furniture ni…

After that kami beramai-ramai makan kat restaurant favourite our mom. Seperti biasa Kamil went to settle the bill tapi kali ni adik and BIL aku berebut nak bayar sekali. Believe it or not, itu sangat penting untuk aku.

I have to say I love all my in-laws. Masuk aje keluarga kami, aku automatic akan sayang. And bila dia orang suka nak belanja mak aku, and termasuklah kami adik-beradik yang reramai ni, aku rasa lega sebab in a way, that shows that they do not mind us. Bukannya senang nak suruh orang belanja kan ?

Hehhe… kasih sayang diukur dengan kerelaan belanja makan….

 Apalah aku merepek ni….

Btw aku sangat-sangat tak sabar tunggu meja makan aku sampai Khamis ni…. Kamil always complained that our table in the kitchen tak cantik. And sekali bila jumpa yang cantik dia terus ambik. Aku risau jugak sebab it is not just going to be a dining table. It has to serve as my working table too, where aku karate tepung and water to become bread and pastries, where aku campak hot baking trays just out from the oven. I hope the new gorgeous table is also very durable and able to absorb all the assaults the cheap table endured.

Where will I put the old, green table ? Entah… Kamil has to figure that one out sebab dia yang beria nak beli. But saying that, the table is uber gorgeous and aku tak sabar !!! I’ll take the pics, okay ?

Selfish mum

Semalam Kamil ada Raya Open House at his office so as usual whenever Kamil tak da, we will take the opportunity to dine at a restaurant that he doesn’t like but we do.

Anak-anak was jumping and begging to go to Sushi tapi mak ni tak larat. Sangat-sangat tak larat so I proposed Asiari. Sian dia orang, they didn’t like it very much tapi sebab mak mintak sambil tercungap-cungap kan… hehehhe..

So we went there and to compensate for their obedience, I allowed them to order chicken chop. After that we went to MPH to shop for books and then home. The wind was blowing hard yesterday so we opened up the windows to feel the wind. It was so much fun.

Anyway inside the car Abang who sat next to me commented that the Aptitude Test was easy. I told him that there is no right or wrong in Aptitude Tests. It serves to gauge your competency, your way of thinking and, “if you fall within a certain criteria, they will offer you a place in boarding school…” Agaknya lah. Aku pun tak sure.

Then from behind we heard a soft cry followed by “I hope you get all Cs in your UPSR, Abang !”. “Adik !!” jerit Abangnya and aku-aku sekali.

“Well… I don’t want Abang to go to boarding school…” she said meekly.

Hehheheh….. Oh, sayang Abang rupanya.

“Adik…. I can always decline lah….” Abang said hotly.

After a short pause though, he asked me worriedly, “I can always decline, kan Mummy ?” Heheh.

Risau jugak kau yek.

Well… although as much as I would love to send my son to a boarding school to toughen it up, I realize that my time with him fully is very short. Lepas ni his time will be dominated by his friends, then girlfriends, then wife… then kids…. For him to be truly mine, where I am the best thing that ever happened to him, where he couldn’t think of a world without me is running short. Where he is just a son to me and no other titles….

So selfishly, I won’t be sending him to any boarding schools. His place is with me where I need him to be just my little boy for a bit longer……

Kids say the darnest things

Semalam my mimpi was very, very disturbing.  It was like mimpi dalam mimpi. And I sort of woke up 3 times only to discover that I was still in that dream. I mean how cruel and distorted is that ?

Semalam Abang had his first UPSR paper. Mak dia yang tak sabar-sabar tanya khabar, called him right after he arrived home. Jawapannya of course le ‘I can answer everything….”

“Well… except that Pemahaman was really hard. Semua orang pun cakap sangat susah….”

Oh no, was my reply. I know, I should have been more supportive but please believe me when I said that it came out automatically. If it didn’t escape my lips, I would have said something in the nature of, “Aww… it’s okay darling, as long as you have done your best…..”

Yeah….

Anyway, after my very much accidental “Oh no..”, he quickly replied with, “It’s okay Mummy. Nanti saya doa lah banyak-banyak. Nanti Allah mesti tukar saya punya B jadi A……”

The laugh that came out was definitely not planned. It accidentally escaped my belly, throat and then my lips.

Adik pulak… well…..her.. I have a lot to tell.

Scene 1 : Argument on scrap book

One day came the decree from school that Adik has to produce a scrap book for a project. I have no idea what one looks like and after merayau MPH dengan Kamil, we couldn’t decide whether lines on the pages are accepted. So we fetched her from mengaji and took her to an independent book store in Sek 9. Kat situ they very much cater for school children therefore sebut aje scrap book, they know what kind the school curriculum required.

Ada yang dah siap bind, ada yang loose paper with the comb binder in it, ada yang all white coloured papers and there are some that came with rainbow coloured ones (and no lines, people !!). She of course chose the one with myriad of colours but she also took the un-binded one, the one with the comb binder blissfully unattached to the papers.

“Dik, I think you should take the one yang dah bind…”

“No… I want this one…” She said.

The more I insisted that she wouldn’t be able to bind the pages herself, the more adamant she is that she could. And then she said, “I can do this. Just you watch me, okay ?”

Mak oiii…. Terkejutnya aku. But I let her be….and warned her that if she couldn’t she would have to staple it instead which would not look nice and she would get a C. She just smiled knowingly and knowing she did because two days after that, she triumphantly waved the scrap book at me with the pages neatly binded.

Damn… Although, she did it terbalik so now the book would look very much at home in any Arab countries.

Ha ha. Tak dengar lagi cakap mak….

Scene 2 : Argument on the best way to buang kulit mata kucing

So there I was last night happily munching on just out of the fridge mata kucing while watching the telly and tiba-tiba came this little girl who wanted to share. Okay, no problem.

Her progress was slow as she could only manage 1 to my 5 so she had to ask for my help when the fruits were diminishing faster into my tummy and not hers. Beingthe good mother I am, showed her how to use her thumbs instead of her nails.  But alas it was still difficult for her. After a few tries and numerous coaching by me, she resorted back to her old way.

Aku jelling kat dia with raised eyeborws  and you know what she said ? The little minx said, “You use your own way, and I will use mine….”

Patut le bapak aku complain pasal mulut aku masa aku kecik-kecik…..

So … note to self : Must teach the little padawan to bite her tongue, or jenuh le kena kata ngan mak mertua nanti.

Adik's juicy story Part II

Hari ni anak aku sedang bertungkus-lumus menjawab soalan UPSR. Sian dia.

Many months Kamil and I chided him for watching the telly instead of mentelaah. We always say, Abang, you only need to do this for 12/9/6/3 months aje lagi. Lepas your exam you can go crazy. Tengok lah telly tu sampai ko fed-up , sampai pening.

We must have repeated that sentence over and over again sebab  last weekend I overhead Adik saying to Abang, “Abang… I think you should study.  UPSR dah nak dekat ni…. Lagi 3 hari aje… After this you can go crazy…”

Hehhehe….  And then she added, “If you want to run around like this pun boleh…” With that she covered her head with her shirt and ran around in circles, arms waving wildly up in the air, screaming.  Abang laughed delightedly. He laughed and laughed and laughed. And then made a request for an encore.

Hhehehe… Tak tahulah whether Adik genuinely wanted to remind Abang to study, or just want to make him laugh to ease his worries or… just want an excuse to goof around. I bet on the latter.

Anyway, selepas cerita budak hysteria (as aptly described by Kak Puteri) hari tu, the very next day I came home to a 9 year old that was more than ready to spill the most juiciest story ever.

“You must believe my story ! You must !” She literary jumped at me as soon as I opened the car door.

“Today ada TIGA orang kawan saya nampak HANTU dalam tandas !”

“Sorang tu gemuk, sorang tu Ketua Darjah and sorang tu jaga perpustakaan. Dia aje yang perempuan and dua lagi tu lelaki.”

“Dia orang cakap HANTU tu tengah duduk mencangkul ….(“By the way kan Mummy, Abang tak tahu maksud mencangkul tu….. “ Hai, sempat pulak ada selingan. “I do know maksud mencangkul !”, Abang hotly protested and proceeded to demonstrate. “It  means squatting, okay ?” said he. “Alah, you only knew after I told you !” Aku tengok aje budak-budak tu without saying anything because I was too tired… Nak gelak pun tak larat..)…

… Mata dia kan merah, kuku dia panjang, muka dia sangat hideous and dia pakai baju kurung. Tapi… I think she wore jubah lah and not baju kurung…”

And with the end of that sentence, she looked at me triumphantly. Aku diam.

“You must believe this story !” She said, jumping up and down. Why, I asked and she came up with the best argument there is, “Sebab ada 3 orang sekali nampak. Sorang tu pengawas. AND… they are my friends and NOT budak Darjah Satu !”

Hehehheheh……

Kah kah kah kah kah !

My argument while stemming my laughter was, “Kalau dia pakai baju kurung….” “Bukan, JUBAH !” She interjected. “Fine, jubah… Who made it for her ? There is actually a tailor yang berani buat jubah untuk hantu ?”

She at least had the decency to ponder on my questions.

Weekend ramblings

I can't believe it that it is already Sunday night and 10 pm at that. Aku rasa macam baru sat tadi aje aku balik office. Sigh.....

Saturday was busy with juggling kenduri kawin and open houses  with the kids school and classes. I really had no idea planning can be tiring. Today we had a wedding in Seremban to go to tapi terpaksa di cancel as Abang is sitting for his UPSR Tuesday so I really want him to use the time for last minute revisions.

Please do not ask about his preparation. It'll just cause unnecessary panic which could turn to serious hyper-ventilation. To me. Him ? He is just fine. Don't believe it ask my friend Noreen who came to visit for spot of tea and gossips just now.

Because we want Abang to sit at home, so I had to cook lunch and dinner. I had wanted to bake really. New recipes to try but the thought of going out to buy butter....... Forgotten to get some when we did our grocery shopping Saturday.

So... sangat tak interesting cerita ku.

What is interesting is that I went to Kak Puteri's house and we lamented on the day I went to her house to get air penawar for my serious bout of pening-pening and muntah-muntah while pregnant. The only problem is we had really different versions of that visit. I remembered going with arwah Shera and she said no, I actually came with Kamil.

I vividly remember standing at the gate talking to her with Shera next to me. In the dark because it was night time. She said malam is correct but Shera wasn't there. Hmmm... to get Shera to confirm pun tak boleh... Sigh...... Please don't cry....

Aku dok asyik pening sekarang. No, not the usual reason but I think because it is a symptom of menstruation. I have been noticing that a few days before I start my cycle, I mesti mabuk. Many months I excitedly took tests only to be disappointed like a week or 2 after that.

Sigh....

By the way, we are planning our next holiday. Am sooo excited !!!

How far is her story accurate ?

My daughter came home with the most ridiculous story ever ! Actually, I came home to hear the most ridiculous story ever from my daughter.

Apa-apa pun, the story went like this.

Ada budak dalam kelas 4XX pengsan. Dia ni ada masalah sikit sebab dia ingat semua orang tak suka dia. So hari ni dia bawak pisau lepas tu dia menjerit-jerit lepas tu she wants to stab herself.

She ran away with the knife and her friends kejar dia and they all kepung dia and she was screaming AAAAHHAHAHAHARARRRRRGGHHH !

Lepas tu kan dia pengsan.

Hmm… said I. After slowly putting my face back to its normal position (ie no raised eyebrows, forehead, nostrils etc…), the questions came.

Awatnya cikgu dia bagi dia lari pegang pisau ? Lepas tu macamana cikgu tu boleh biaqkan budak-budak yang kejaq dia ?

Iya, Mummy. I saw her. And I heard the screamings, said she.

Okay, did you actually see the pisau ?

Err… saya Nampak benda macam hitamlah dia pegang. Lepas tu kan, dia orang cakap that dia pun macam susah hati sebab mak bapak dia saman dia.

Tang tu aku dah gelak dah.

Merepek, I said. How do you know all this ?

Ada budak darjah satu bagitahu saya.

Hmm… cerita budak darjah satu ko dengar memang lah ntah apa-apa.

Bila dia cerita dekat Babah dia pagi ni, as expected he went “Isshhh…. Merepeklah…” while shaking his head at me.

Hehehhehehe……

The wonders of being small. Drama sungguh ! Hari-hari ada aje mak bapak yang terkebil mata.

Anyway semalam aku puasa. Lapar sangat. Kebetulan Kamil won't be coming back for dinner on account of a spot of badminton with his work buddies and Abang ada tuition class. So aku dok pikir what is the best solution to feed everybody and I don't know why the brilliant idea that came to mind was to cook.

Sampai aje rumah I thawed the beef bones... heheh tulang. I was thinking nak buat rendang Terengganu as per Chef Wan's recipe tapi bila teringat banyak benar aku kena blend, terus tak jadi. I filled a deep pot with water and plonked the still hard beef in it.

Korek-korek fridge tengok ada a very manky kobis and I fried them with frozen prawns. My temp maid leka iron baju, malas nak panggil. Luckily, the rice cooker clicked ready as I poured teh bunga in iced filled glass and azan pun berkumandang. While Adik set the table, I tasted the dishes (tambah garam all over) and makan.

The beef was not that soft though as I only cooked them for an hour as oppose to 2 hours at least but my children had second helpings. Sian, asyik makan luar aje...

Anyway, sebab cemburu buta dengan Konot yang has now delightfully changed her title from working mom to stay at home mom, I pestered Kamil when would be my turn.

Without hesitation he said 2 years. And aku adalah sangat terkejut as it means that he has been thinking about it too.

But.... "You must find what to do with all that time you have... Knowing you, mesti sekejap dah boring..." Err.... hehehhe.... Betul, betul....

So maybe, either aku masak and makan sendiri or aku masak and paksa orang beli or... aku ajar orang masak and soh dia orang bayar....

Hmmm.......

Nothing interesting... maybe..

So… I have nothing interesting to write about.

Abang passed his piano exams though. So yeay … but still rather boring.

I had my small raya gathering do last Saturday. Small really as I like doing mine in batches.  So that I could have leisure time talking and socializing. Not busy running around making sure food is replenished and having too many people to talk to so I only have snippets of conversation with each of my guests.

I served nasi lemak and rendang and ketupat too. Pies as usual. I got clever this time as I baked my pies in small sizes so it doesn’t dry out when the next batch of guests came. Only problem is the guests came in steady stream thus the pies did not have the time to dry out. Instead I have to keep nipping to the kitchen to bake them.

Nothing ever went to plan. The chocolate cake, the butter cuppies, the jelly custard pudding and the blondies went well, though.

Oh… okay. This might be interesting.

Yesterday a colleague approached me. Sapa tumpang kete ko tadi, she asked. Eh ? Nobody tumpang me today. Why you asked ?

“Well… sebab aku nampak orang tumpang ko tapi duduk belakang. Itu yang aku tanya tu. Apasal minah tu dok belakang ko ?”

Errkk .

Minah ?

Double errkkk .

As far as I know, aku pegi keje sengsorang tadi. I do carpool with a colleague but she is away this week.

So….

Interesing ke cerita ni ?

Yawn.. Have to plan for the next small raya do.

Ta-ra.