The day I've been dreading will be here tomoro..that's when the long weekend ends, and that's when everyone returns to work. Sighs. But of course, we mustn't kufur nikmat, and must always be grateful for the break we've had. Others like cabbies, mrt drivers, bus drivers, etc mana dapat enjoy cny ph? Kesian dorang, masih tetap kena kerja.

Anyway, although this is not the festive season for malays (of course, Muharram *is* a festive season for Malay Muslims but that's another story), I'm beginning to feel nauseous looking at food (eh, don't get me wrong, I still want to eat to live). There are so many food shows on tv, one after another. If someone's not eating some raw living thing on tv on some day, there'll be someone eating the best chestnut chicken on tv on another day. And of course, neverending photos of food on blogs. You eat at home, eat at work, eat at family gatherings, eat when you visit the in-laws. Though eating is something I like, I don't really like the idea of being faced with pictures and tv programmes, or the abundance of food itself almost every hour of the day. What's with s'pore...all the tv programmes & foodie activities these days?

Like the Friday agama classes I used to attend at Darul Aman, Uztaz once said, "Seringkali, tanpa diketahui, racun ada pada makanan yang berlemak.". I know it's ironic, but yesterday I downed several scoops of kuay teow goreng mamak, a tulang, then today I downed half a bowl of mee kuah mamak. Food glorious food that comes complete with its share of fat-inducing ingredients.
Tomoro's lunch, if you can guess, shall be free of anything in red sauce. Yong Tau Fu would be nice; but of course, there's the issue of too much sodium in the soup.

I'm worried about our health. Really. I really wanna grow old healthily, with you. You and me - health is wealth.

.....

Anyway I'm sleepy now, and I shall hit the sack. It's February in a few minutes time; how fast January has flown by. February is a special month. For someone very special will insya-Allah be turning a year older. Good night now, and I love you always [:)]

You're right. I don't have anyone. All i have is this stupid old blog.

So CNY is around the corner again. The time when all shopping centres close, including NTUC, and for non-celebrating cny people to stock up on their food supplies.

I went to the market at 7.20 am today. Too late, coz by the time I got home with the fish, prawns, vege, eggs, tauhu, it was close to 8.20 am, the time I was supposed to get ready for work. Of course the most logical thing to do was to...claim an hour of time off :p Which was worth it I thought. Siang ikan & udang is definitely what I'd prefer to do than be in office at 9 am sharp. Terok eh, depressed agaknya aku ni.

...

I'm not sure if I'm coming down with flu, but my voice sounded sengau just now during my home visits. I was ambitious enough to have planned to do a third home visit, but I told myself to get real coz it was already 8.10 pm & I got the creeps thinking about the corridors I've got to pass through, the stairs I've got to climb at night, at some unfamiliar flat. On a Thursday night some more. So I hailed a cab, and went straight home. Then walked right thru the familiar void deck, and into the familiar smell of the lift. Home... sweet home.

Actually I kinda enjoy doing home visits. You get to see yr clients in their most natural setting. In shorts, hair let down, in their baju butterfly, being so warm and friendly; something you won't get to see if they came to the office. But yah, I hate going on home visits where lifts don't stop at the exact floors and worse, when you go down the stairs and walk on to find the unit number, you find that it's a dead end, then you start walking back, going up the same stairs, and going ahead at that corridor instead...at the same time keeping track of the door numbers, until you find the right one. It's OK if it's in the day. But not when it gets dark, and all you hear is the sound of yr heels, and the occasional sounds from tv from people who don't close their front doors. Quite spooky.

My next home visit? Plenty lined up in my diary. But at the end of the day, there's only one home I love to visit. No prizes for guessing which home it is :p

When my alarm went off at 6.30 just now, AH was just about to get into bed. He had stayed up all night to do his work. I had woken up about twice in the night, asking AH to go to sleep, but obviously he decided not to, and only did so when subuh came.

Sighs, AH...AH....

I've switched off his alarm so that he'd get to sleep longer into the morning. I'll prolly catch a cab to work. I think I've overspent this month & have used up the remaining of the bonus, but I believe taking taxis is a way of distributing yr wealth (haha) to those who deserve it - taxi drivers :p

I've just finished cooking - today it's sotong onsreng & stir fried baby kailan. Onsreng?? Sounds so jawa kan? Well my late granny was jawa, so that explains all these weird sounding names. Heard of semur? That one's more common right? Well semur, onsreng..these are javanese dishes (I suppose!).

NH weds today! Lovely wedding, with lovely brownies. That completes the circle. Gone are the days where the trio hung out at the monkey bar, discussed each other's latest crushes & did other girly stuff.

It began in 2002

Then it was my turn.

Then today, NH gets hitched to SY. Alhamdulillah. Nervous member but it was easier & ended sooner than you thought right?


more photos

I suppose this is the age at which our peers all seem to be getting married. Then will come the phase where all yr peers will be inviting you to baby showers & cukur rambuts. That's the life cycle eh, sampai....sampai we all go through the full circle.

I'm not sure if I'll get to see AH tonight. He was activated for reservist a while ago. He looked quite nice in his army outfit & I was just so tickled by that sight, that ... I just couldn't stop giggling. But for sure, I'll miss him.

I slept really early yesterday...after magrib dah konk out.

So guess what time I woke up? 3 am!!

I rolled around in the bed but got really hungry so at 0430 hrs, I ate some rice :p + 1 kuih makmur too.

And now I can't sleep! Oh well I'll just wait for subuh then go back to bed.

I think I now know why sitinurhaliza is such a best-selling artist. I used not to like her...well I still don't like her that much but she fascinates me. I like looking at her face, I like thinking about how she gets to choose the best songs.

I actually bought her CD last Sunday. Unbelievable. My 1st sitinurhaliza CD, and it's not even the latest one. It's the one with this song which was played at our wedding. Actually for a moment when we were on the dais, I groaned inwardly to myself, "Egad...dj ni pergi main lagu sitinurhaliza, urggghhh!" But then it was the moment we salam mama & kakak and I thought the song had this dramatic effect, and I've liked it eversince.

So I finally bought the CD, many months after the wedding.

I think it's a good buy, coz I've ripped it into my zen, and now, that song is a saving grace when I jsut want to switch off from hearing anything that goes around in the cube. God, it's only Thursday??? Please let it be Friday soon. I think I'm beginning to hate going to work.

I can't remember when I started looking forward to the weekend the moment another Monday arrives. I think it's a bad sign...coz it suggests I'm sick & tired of working.

There seems to be so little time to do the things I want to do...like laze around, finish up my book, surf the net, clear the laundry, fold the laundry, go to the market, cut the fish, store the fish, wash the rice, sweep the floor...

I remembered reading somewhere that if you feel that you don't have enough time for yourself, then wake up earlier in the morning to do the things you want to do. I started doing that again last week & I think it did help not sleeping after subuh. Somehow, there was enough time for the laundry, and sometimes, a page or 2 of reading too.

Today I didn't sleep again after subuh. Lazed quite a bit on the bed till I decided I really should spring to the market to stock up for the weekend. I kinda miss fish, so I bought ikan bawal for today's lunch (Tomorrow everyone's another type of fish for lunch). After cleaning the fish, some prawns, chopping the long beans and frying the vege & fish, my back ache came back. So that rules out our acrobatic moves as the reason for my ache the last time. I conclude that I'm so unfit now, that standing for more than 1 hr can lead to back aches. But worry not, I've smothered quite a bit of yoko2 on my back.

Despite that ache (which is still lingering now), I felt accomplished coz by 11 am, I'd finished all the household chores except sweeping, which I dont intend to do at all today. Heck the dust. I've finished quite a few more pages of the book. So see, you start the day earlier, you'll end up with more me time for yrself.

I'm feeling a bit sleepy now, maybe I'll take a nap. Actually I feel like going shopping too. I need about 3 pairs of new footwear. A pair of birkenstock, or a pair of chaco sandals, a pair of kitten-heeled sandals, a nice pair of strappy heels, and a pair of something nice I can wear when I want to feel pretty. (Chances are, I'll only be able to afford a pair of kitten-heeled sandals from yr friendly neighbourhood mall).

Alhamdulillah da selamat lontar jamra aqaba. Selamat hari raya korban, maaf zahir batin - sms from Mak

Alhamdulillah, all of us are so relieved! After all the papers & news kept reporting that the lontar is the most dangerous ritual in the hajj. Syukur all went fine & I pray all the jemaah are safe from any mishap too.

The men in the house have gone for solat Aidiladha @Masjid Khalid. It's still raining. It's a lovely weather, hujan rahmat for some. But I hope too that the rain won't cause too much disaster for those in banjir-stricken areas. Wallahualam.

I'm done with frying chicken using Mak's rempah. I thought 5 kgs were a lot, but boy, did the 5kg shrink or something? I hope there's enough to go around.

Taking a break now, till I re-heat the bamia & ayam masak merah, as well as cook the 2nd batch of the nasi minyak later. The ayam masak merah is a bit sweet coz I was happily adding more and more sugar semalam. Hmmm, apa lagi I can add eh to make it less sweet? :p

I'm quite scared to taste the nasi minyak. My nasi minyak's taste is totally inconsistent over the years. Wish me luck...but for now, I think the nasi minyak looks a little bit extra-yellow...whooops!

Okies, better get to work now, distributing the food to neighbours later.

Selamat Hari Raya Korban everyone, maaf zahir & batin.

Will it stop pouring at all anytime soon??

It has been raining since I woke up at 7 am....when Bapak knocked on our door, waking me up to go to geylang market to buy meat for raya haji cooking. I told him I'd go at 7.30 am & plonked back onto the warm comfy bed. 20 minutes later, which felt like a mere 30 seconds to me, Bapak sent the brother knocking, insisting I got up to go to the market. So I staggered to the bathroom, dug into the laundry for worn pants, slid into my grey worn-before nike green shirt & off the trio went to the market (bapak, wan & me). With 2 huge umbrellas.

First stop, some rempah at the Achi's stall. I swore I heard her assistant asking, "Don't want carry?" I thought by saying that, she meant if I didn't want to carry my loot, I could deposit them at her stall & collect it later. Instantly when I said, OK (about leaving my shopping bag there, she shoved a bunch of curry leaves into my bag. So she actually meant, "Don't want curry (leaves)?" I frantically waved my hands, going, No No, and she took out the curry leaves as quickly as she had placed them in my bag.

I think I mustv'e bought more chicken than I'll need for this raya. The fridge coincidentally, and thankfully, could accomodate the 4 kg of beef I bought (I freaked out when I realised how much beef 4 kg actually was when I cleaned them at home) & 7 ekors chicken. The 1 chicken that couldn't fit, I put it in my handikeeper in the non-freezer.

I hope I haven't bought enough meat to feed my whole estate.

I bought other stuff in the market too, and the three of us lugged them all, prolly about 13 kg heavy, plus lontong for breakfast, back home, across the street.

Now I'm trying to bake apple crumble, courtesy of nur's blog-published recipe. So fun, though I'm not too confident on how it'd turn out.

Btw, did I mention I'm on wireless? On AH's laptop in our warm cozy room :P

Guess where??
No, no...not in Maldives
It's a view in Changi...overlooking another island...

I missed the sunset, probably busy yakking with the others. But as night falls, and you hear the swishing of the swash on the beach, you can almost imagine you're in Maldives. After all, in Maldives, everything looked quite similar at night. At least, I felt that way during the honeymoon dinner.

But the breeze yesterday was so fresh & I felt so relaxed. Made me feel happy (and relieved) that such a place still exists in Singapore...away from the maddening crowd(s).

Very nice.

I returned to work today.

In the morning I did brainless things like claiming transport $$.
Then the real work started an hr later & it all didn't stop till about 7.45 pm. Sighs...

I didn't cook today coz Bapak wanted to buy lunch. There was not much to eat for dinner when I got back at 8+ pm so I just cooked a simple sardines dish. That should've filled everyone up.

I shall cook tomorrow morning. Should I go to the market to buy stuff for Hari Raya Haji? Maybe I'll just go on Saturday morning. Gee, it's really not easy juggling household chores & work.

2 people really dear to me are not with me tonight. Mak & AH. AH has gone to BB as he's got errands to run tomorrow morning. Actually it might be good coz Nana gets to sleep with me tonight. And of course, Mak's far away now. We called her just now after getting ready the speakerphone. Everyone sat around it, taking turns to ask her questions. Nana of course, tanya off-tangent questions which takde kene mengene dgn Haji, ekhrhkre.. Mak has completed the Saii and she said that the amount of pilgrims were just sooooooo overwhelming. She asked for us to pray for her and the safety of the singaporean jemaah. Insya-Allah, of course we will!

Tomorrow will be another long day for me. I'll finish earliest at 9 pm. Baru first week of the new year dah macam ni. What more with the endless report submissions and home visits I have to squeeze within these 2 weeks. Good luck, to me, ma'am.

OK, bedtime :)

I'm glad I took leave today.

If not, it's gonna be quite hard facing those kids with my eyes slightly swollen, getting misty each time I think of Mak. It's not as if I can concentrate at work anyway.

I just ran about 100 metres just now, trying to catch up with Tok who was driving away from the carpark to fetch Nana from school. Nana had called me just minutes after Tok left the house to say she'd only be dismissed at 1.50 pm. Haiz... nasib Tok lah kena tunggu kat sekolah baru Nana.

Bapak & Wan are sleeping, prolly tired since they didn't get to sleep much after returning home this morning. I woke up at 10.30 am, but my sleep wasn't so good. Tido at 6 am, woke up at 7 am to see Nana off to school, then sleep again. I dreamt I went to Hajj too, with 2 other couples. Funny thing was, we actually went for a massage after the whole thing, then I decided to go back home.

Thought of getting a haircut, but after frying the kangkong, washing the eggs, hanging up the laundry, dah pukul 1 pm.

Maybe later if Nana's not too tired, I'll take her out for a movie.

Day 1 of a housewife, many more to go.

I think Mak's on the plane now, fastening her seat belt.

I wonder what she's thinking about. Us at home? Her journey to Maakah? The Kaa'bah?

For sure, we'll all miss her. Look at me, 2 hrs after sending Mak off at the airport, I'm still wide awake. I just can't sleep thinking about her. I hope Nana copes well. She cried too just now, on the way back home. After all, she's still the baby of the house & is very much close to Mak.

Mak's so brave, going there all alone. But I think Mak's quite independent and smart too. I pray she gets on well there, may Allah shelter her & all pilgrims from any harm. That's the best I can do, cling on to hope from Allah.

I felt a bit comforted after hearing Tok say that people tend to forget their homes once they reach Makkah. Hope Mak won't miss us too much. May she be blessed with good health & Haji Mabrur, insya-Allah.

30 more days and we sure look forward to her coming back.

In the meantime, I'll be the Ma'am i/c in the house, :p