Penang 2011

School holidays has started..The kids are so happy but the mom...? Busy with budget for the holidays. We will be having our family gathering at Bayview Penang (as always, since I am a member of Bayview) from 31 May 2011 until 3 June 2011. Managed to booked 6 suites and 1 sea view deluxe..

Holidays started with sending my maid to her sister-in-law's place in Ipoh on 29th May. We left in the morning and headed to Gopeng ( my maid claimed their house is in Gopeng) Stopped by Bukit Gantang for lunch..

When we reach Gopeng, we realized that their house is in Ipoh. Actually she went there sometimes last year and the bus stopped at Medan Gopeng in Ipoh. And this clever girl thought, she was in Gopeng. We turned back to Ipoh and stopped by Kellie's Castle for a tour. Frankly, there's nothing much to see there and it was blazing hot...in the afternoon.

We, finally dropped her off at Ipoh and headed back. My son wanted to go to the Zoo...so we took another detour to Taiping. Here we are at Taiping Zoo..watching the animals and them watching us , too...hehehe..

After the train ride within the zoo...Amir wanted to

go back and watch the snakes..so, we walked towards the direction showed by the guide..after a few minutes wal

king...we still hadn't see any snake cages..Finally...we turned back as everybody was so tired... This is the last place in the zoo - the elephants..see the kids' ti

red faces plus their father's too....

We returned home straight and the kids slept in my room that night..dreamless hopefully...

The next day, we started for Penang to my MIL's house but this time

, we headed straight to Bayview Beach Hotel to check in for my sister whose arriving that day...Once settled, we headed to Balik Pulau straight...and stayed overnight..The next day we went to Prai first to collect my Ipad2 at DHL office. I was very excited...Unfortunately, it was useless because I

cant download iTune since there's no pc around.

After getting our ration at Tesco, we headed to Bayview Hotel at Batu Feringhi. My parents and younger brother has arrived and gotten their room. I checked in for our room and my elder brother who will be arriving much later...

These are some of my nieces and nephews and my kids

sunbathing by the sea....I had my feet massage (for the first time in my life)

Then, I had half body massage...My sister has feet massage but she claimed she felt the pain in her neck and worsen when she got home...

We had our sightseeing in Penang...The Herb Garden.. We were given anti-mosquitoes spray to avoid being bitten by one..

Everybody was exhausted half way through...Blame it on the heat and we had to go uphill most of the time..We stopped by the restaurant and quenched our thirst...I even bought some fresh vanilla which is still

in the packet until now...hihihi...

Amir, as usual wanted a horse ride.

And he got one.......

We all stayed there for 4 days and 3 nights. The last day, all of us received bad news - my sis in law's dad admitted to ICU..All of us then went straight to Sg Petani to visit him after checking out........

2011- Year of Rabbit

2010 went by..now we are moving into 2011..Things have changed, feelings for things differs, beliefs deepens and interests moved perspectives...

However, we remained the same self. My kids have grown and their priorities have changed. What can I expect? They cant remain as my little girl or boys forever..As they grow, there'll be no more tickling and giggling any more..they become too adult too fast.

Even my youngest 8yo is too shy to let me kiss him goodbye at school. My 11 yo is talking about boys at school. Not to mention my eldest..hmmm..My kids are my mirror. They show me who I am. They remind me of who I used to be. I hope they can be as strong as me to face all the life challenge...never say never..and nothing is impossible..

2011 brings a few changes in my working life as well.. I have different post and more responsibilities came with it. I will have to work beyond normal hours and will have to go out more often. New perspective, new priorities. then came new challenges.

I am a Wood Dragon and in this Metal Rabbit year the chinese horoscope predicts that I would have a better luck and a change in career, better health-wise..well, we'll just have to wait and see.

Holiday 2010

My younger children has never been to oversea for holidays. In fact never even got in a plane before..One day they look up to me and ask me..."How come everyone has flown on the plane but not us?" My first thought was to take them to KL or maybe Langkawi on their first ride on the plane..but that will be cheating..Their eldest bro has flown to Australia and even Korea for holidays, the second bro has flown to Mecca for Umrah and their elder sister has also flown to Australia as well..So why not them???

The first thing that came to mind was "Can I afford taking all my three children for an oversea trip?" I have always wanted to go back to London for a holiday but it will cost me a fortune to take all with me. So I looked up the internet and there it was...Singapore!! I have never been to Singapore before. So why not??? It's not that far and will not be as expensive as London.

I looked up the calendar and planned my leave a few days before school holidays coz I dont really want to get stuck with lots of tourists during those time..Then I went to the kids' school and informed their teachers on their absence later and gotten their consent. All done and I booked the tickets for the flights and hotels..Later I looked through the internet and found out that I can booked on line for the Universal Studio and I booked that as well. Now we are all ready for the holiday of their lifetime. Oh yea..of course I need to change for the Singapore Dollars as well...

The kids are all excited when I told them about their pending vacation. They cant talk about anything else but Singapore and Universal Studio. Since this is their first oversea trip, I wanna make it a memorable one for them...

By the time we got back, I booked another holiday again for them..This time to Medan. They are so excited...At least, my kids will not look at me and ask me again " How come not us?"

One thing for sure..I am happy for them to be happy..

Puasa 2010

To all Muslim wherever you are...Happy Fasting and may this Ramadhan brings us hidayah and may our prayers are answered.....

Puasa this year, 1st Ramadhan..Kedah Cuti !! At least, I dont have to apply for leave to greet this year's Ramadhan.. I called home on the 10th August from work and told my maid to pack our clothes. We are going to "Balik Kampong" to start the Puasa this year.I called all my brothers and asked them to break fast at our parent's home on the first day. All done..I called my mom and told her we are going back on the night of 1st Ramadhan. In all the excitement, I've forgotten that my husband is working on the 1st day of puasa..Well, sorry..you gotta stay back..

We slept at my parent's home and surprisingly, both Amir and Auni woke up for Sahur the first night. The next day, I started hearing complaints from Amir.."Amir Haga la Ibu.." That was around 3pm..Auni started complaining around 5.30pm to 6.00pm. Anyway, things changed when their cousins arrived.

It was a great 1st day Puasa where everyone gathered at my parent's house. Well, almost everyone, except my sister. Unfortunately, she's very far from home..

The menu was gulai lemak udang and kacang panjang, udang and sotong goreng tepung, telur masin, ayam goreng special, daging goreng and kentang, ulam-ulam and air asam and sup ayam for the smaller kids. As for dessert..it was cucur cempedak and fruits..which consists of grapes, oranges, and buah "seghalat"..Not many younger generations knew of this fruit. It is like a tennis ball , hence the name, but tasted more like apple..very sweet, indeed.

Well to all ...SELAMAT BERPUASA.................

My "OLD MAID" came back...

I used to have a maid , Rika Fatmala. She took care of my youngest son since he was a baby, for 5 years. During the 5 years of her stay with me, we had our disagreement and share some moments of joy. She loves my children especially my youngest. That was where we usually had arguments. She pampered him to the fullest and whenever I disagreed with her, we will have arguments.. Throughout her five years, she went home a few times. first, she went home to get married. The second time, she went home to take care of her ailing father for two weeks. Her father died in her care. The last time she had to go back was when her mother was sick. We had to let her go and recruit another maid. Her mother also passed away in her care.

We had a new maid for two years. During the time, she kept contact. When I asked her whether she wants to come to Malaysia again, she told me that her husband will only allows her to work here if she works with us. So, she came in and here she is ..our maid again.

Pigeon Lagoon Town Fish Pond

It was a small corner. My maid used to parked her bike or some unused stuff there..The idea of a fish pond came by from my husband's friend. He was a kind of constuctin worker and he told my husband that fish pond would look nice at the corner there.

My husband liked the idea and the work started. I didn't bother to watch the progress of the pool. After a few days, my curiosity got the best of me and I took a peek at the corner.The first thing that came to mind was....."urrrrghhhh...that was ugly..!!" But kept my mouth shut..

One day, as soon as I got back from work the kids were shouting excitedly..."Ibu! Ibu! Bestla..kita ada swimming pool..." So they pulled me to the pool..it was better than the last time I took a peek. The pool had some tiles in it and looked okay but still ugly tomy eyes..But the kids were so happy..

" Ibu..macam ni kita tak payah la pi hotel pasal rumah kita pun dah macam hotel..ada swimming pool, bilik ada air-cond..Taman mainan pun dekat..." said Amir. Auni nodded in agreement. A few weeks passed by. Yhe pond almost finished. It was time for the fish toget into their new home but the kids refused to let the fish get their new play pool..

Finally after 3 weeks, they most probably lost their enthusiasm over the pond and agreed to let the fish into the pond...

The fish get to try their new home. My husband went to get more fish. One of the big Koi was getting over excited and jumped out of the pond in the middle of the night. We found it dead the next morning in beside the pond.

More decorations went into the pond. And now it was quite nice and soothing to hear the running water from the "water fall" created by my husband's friend. They were rather creative in choosing the colour scheme.

My husband added a small pond for the guppy fish. Firstly, we had the donation from our old friend, Syed Mokhtar. Later, we took some from my mom's place.

Here's Auni ....She wanted her picture to be in this blog.

The D Day - SP here I come

The date was 5th April 2010. The new trade hub was finally being set up and running at Sg Petani, Kedah. Finally I've got my wishes to transfer back to my hometown after 11 years of travelling to work.

I was pretty excited cum nervous. Bearing in mind, that I will be facing new customers, handling new systems and working with new staffs....well what can I expect..To top it up, we dont have any support from the headoffice nor the regional office at SP. We were literally on our own on day one.

I worked all through the weekend prior to the set up meaning I did not take any rest day at all. Lucky for us the volume was manageable for the first 2 days. On the 3rd day, we had a massive increase in volumes and we had to cut short our lunch hours and going back real late to complete the job.

Frankly, the job was really interesting and I really enjoyed them coz the demanding nature of the jobs made my andrenaline pumped up real fast especially to meet the dateline and cut off times. I have not felt so alive and enjoyed my work. I supposed I have been handling one post for far too long and the challenging nature of my previous post has lost its appeals to me. With a new surrounding and job scopes, I've gotten back the challenges and looking forward to start a new day everyday.

True to what wise people has been saying..."In order to move on, you need to change first.." The workload was heavy but I enjoyed the work. That's what counts....