The last book I read was Desert Royal by Jean Sasson, and strangely enough, what followed was a book-drought.

Well, the drought has certainly come to an end, because I'm on the roll for some really good reads. One of which, I've been devouring almost daily each time I found some free time at home (other household chores can wait as long as I still have clean laundry to wear) at night. I've finally completed reading it just about an hour ago.

The good news is, I've got 2 more books to devour over the next few days..weeks...whatever time permits...both by her.

She spins really good suspense, and the twists that await are almost unimaginable to someone with a simple mind like me. I'm glad I found the books, thanks to someone who introduced the author to me.

I've just finished PerfectMatch, and I thought the storyline was intriguing, and though I didn't really put in much effort going through the questions posted on this site (gosh, I can't believe there are people who actually spend time trawling the net for these), I can't help but relate to the book. What if, something I handle daily in the course of work happen to someone close to me (God Forbid). Will I be able to treat it as a job, or would it be a different ball game altogether?

Though there are some bits in the book I don't agree with. Like how the 5-yr old seemed to say the smartest things a typical 5-yr old might not say.

Bored these days? Need some challenging, intriguing questions to fill your free time? Go on, try any of the books, and let me know if you like them :)

Meanwhile, I'm going to find the perfect time to start the next read, with a perfect accompanying drink too. And maybe the smell of tumtum lingering around me as well.

I accidentally left Perfect Match in the office in my rush to get out of there yesterday! It's not as if I have much time to read it this weekend, anyway, but it's just the comforting thought of having a read closeby. Nehmind, Tumtum has agreed to stop by office later for Chinchin to retrieve her read. Now all Chinchin has to do is find time to read it!

The past week has been a really busy one for everyone in AH's family (me included). AH's grandma left us last Sunday, and since then the family has been having daily tahlil for her. It was a sad moment for AH, I'm sure for I saw him shed tears for someone who was his caregiver when he was young. For me, though I wasn't close to her, I felt rather strange thinking that she's no longer around. It was like, she was just there yesterday, and the day before yesterday, and the day before that.... appreciating the little meals we bought for her every Saturday when we slept over at BB.

I know it's easier said than felt, but I think AH's grandma has lived to a ripe old age, and all she has left behind is nothing but warm, heart-tugging memories. May Allah bless her soul. Amin.

I'm just glad Saturday is here. I'm going to spend a quick moment typing up the last bits of the bloo*y reports (urgggggghhhh....!) and then I shall go on & enjoy the rest of my Saturday morning.

To everyone else, enjoy your weekend. Aren't we glad it's here?

I think I have to agree with Triomommy that my posts have been serious...

To the point of being boring too I think.

Oh no...having a boring blog is the last thing I want to have :(

I hope to be back with happier, more colourful entries soon!

For my own mental health too!

The last time I felt this way was the day I was due to fly to Europe. That day, I had so much work to clear before I could actually leave the office at about 8 pm, barely 4 hours before our flight. The discomfort I felt in my tummy was so bad... when I told Mak, she said it was feelings of nervousness. So much to do, so little time.

I am feeling it again right now. With a headache thrown in this time round too. And finding out that someone under my charge has broken a toilet system and jammed the whole thing definitely isn't helping.

The cause of the butterflies is...again, the same thing. Deadlines. Datelines. Gosh, which is it, actually? If I may choose, I'd prefer to call it a dateline for obvious reasons.

I bought 3 books over the weekend. I can't wait to find time to actually read it. I need some me time soon. I really should've saved all the retail therapy I did last week for next week.

I need some spiritual time out soon too. It has been too long..

I'll be lying if I didn't say I was a bit this disappointed. It's time to start counting properly already.

There were more kids at the place I visited yesterday night. 3, to be exact, and 1 baby in the buai.

The good news is, I was both amazed & amused! The kids, though living in poverty, came up automatically to me to salam unlike many other kids in that situation, who probably would've starede & gawked at a strange person coming to their house late at night.

Good kids. I hope that was genuine, and I really hope I won't see you in some place bad a few years down the road. Poverty can seep through the generations, while its sufferers lay helpless. We'll try whatever we can, and though I was initially quite irritated at the thought of having to make the visit at night, I was glad I went. It sorta renewed the spark that I lose once in a while.

It's Friday & I'm in high spirits! I know I have to work tomorrow but that's one of the duties I'll call crapwork. But it's in a place I like though, so after that, maybe can go shopping! OK, maybe just lots of window shopping & very little real shopping.

For the past 2 days, I've been out on home visits in the evenings. Nothing beats seeing your cases in their natural setting. You'll be amazed, or amused, depending on what you see.

Yesterday I was very amazed at a 9 yr old's ability to serve me a cup of grape soft drink in a pretty glass without having received instructions from her mom. Then, I became amused when her 5 yr old brother, stretched himself across the length of the coffeetable, to slurp my drink! And the mom didn't say anything about that too. Being polite, I gulped the soda down without breathing. But not before I asked the boy repeatedly if he wanted the drink, coz if he did, I'd gladly let him have it.

Today, I was very amused at the antics of a 4 yr old cute girl, who stirred her drink repeatedly before slurping it using her spoon. Plain water, drunk from a metal tablespoon. These are things only a kid can do, and getaway with. Imagine an adult doing that. Oi, takde keje lain ke nak buat?! Tu file bertimbun, pergi clear dulu!

See, besides seeing what your clients do, you get to see what their siblings do too & get to fulfil your many tasks! You kill many many birds with one stone. That's what I like about home visits.

Except when they take place late at night, and at ulu places even cab drivers don't dare to venture. Like the one coming right up tomorrow evening. Malam Jumaat lagi. Let's see if this one makes me amazed or amused.

I watched GhostWhisperer for the first time and I felt something stir inside me.

OK I know it's just a show, but that gave me a new perspective in issues I face once in a while. When I meet girls who are pregnant out of wedlock, I am all for giving the babies up for adoption. I wonder why they are adamant about keeping the babies. I mean, don't they realise how bleak their babies' future could turn out to be in their care and how unfair that is to these innocent children?

But who am I to judge? I was never pregnant out of wedlock, never was I an unwed mother. By default, I have never been estranged by parents who might have come close to me upon finding out about my pregnancy. Nothing has happened to my body out of my own free will (except the getting fat naturally part) and I never had to deal with a shotgun marriage within weeks after finding out I'm expecting.

More importantly, I have never dealt with the sickening thoughts of having to give my child to someone else, and to accept that I will never have to see him or her ever again.

So what the he*l do I know? Next to nothing actually.

I'm not sure whether these girls have made the right decisions. Of course, I hope they have, and pray they will. My duty is to guide them, through knowledge & experience. I may lack true life experience, but I'll try my best for them, I promise.

The past few weeks, we've been bombarded with issues of premarital sex, loosening of values, out of wedlock pregnancies, STDs amongst our teens.

The chance has come for me to make a difference. And I'm determined to make it good this time. May Allah bless me with much hope & banish all my lazy bones away. If not now, when else?

NLB will be having its annual sale at Expo this Saturday. As I flipped through the Life! pages just now, I reminisced the times when I was a little girl...

About 18 years ago, book sales were rare. They only came about once a year & will be held at the old, non-airconditioned WTC at the now Harbourfront. Bapak used to take me there (before the 2 siblings came along) when the book sales coincided with his off days. I would think about the books, days before I actually got to the sale. And then I'd go row by row, browsing, checking out the book covers, before I decide on which 2-3 books to buy. Those books would be my precious reads for the next few days.

I'd get so excited with the new purchases & write my name on it. They'd accompany me during mealtimes, bored times & near bedtimes. Such childlike pleasure! I miss those times.

Now, book sales are aplenty. Oh heck, all sales are aplenty. Kino has a perpetual 20% sale, MPH is having a mega sale now too. Of course, periodic book sales organised by companies all year round.

Kids nowadays get whatever they want. Books are thrown all over the place, unappreciated. It's true, when things are easy to get, you don't really appreciate them.

I refrain from buying books these days, mainly because I'm running out of space to keep them in. And perhaps being a scrooge is another reason. I'd rather just borrow them, or get them through yahoo, or borrow from Mak's library. Mak's an avid reader and the titles she purchases can be interesting.

But of course, when I feel the desire to get a new, crisp book, I'll trot down to one of those bookstores & get a nice new read. There have been occasions too, where I'd impulse buy on one or two books.

No matter what, childhood memories of buying books at the one and only annual book sale, will always remain sweet.

Today felt so much like Monday...that when I got home, I got a bit depressed when I realised that there won't be any Desperate Housewives on TV.

I felt like crying out loud, like that little green imp that appears everytime "Just For Laughs" ends.

I will miss that show. One of my favourites. My only hope. My salvation after a usually excruciatingly painful, motionless Monday. Perhaps slightly exaggerated, but the only Mondays I like are when they are my off days.

DH is not the only which is over for now too. So is irrisdiary! I've decided to move, actually mainly because I don't want my little sister to find me! Hehe, jahat eh kakak. I mean, kids can't handle information well, certainly not Nana.

Actually I do feel that I've been unfair. She refuses to let me know her blog address too, but I managed to find it this evening. Her blog's really funny - as funny as a 13yr old can get.

I have to work this Saturday but that's alright. I think I'll be able to get through it in one piece, coz I am so looking forward to my Monday off, which nicely falls on 14.8.06.

At this moment I am feasting my eyes & virtual senses on very nice, blissful scents. Why do they have to be so expensive?

On a happier note, alhamdulillah I'm eligible for my allowance this week after all!

Just when I told myself not to eat another dot of chocolate, Bapak returned from KL with more! With a twist of asian flavour, some more!

Sighs...no choice but to eat more chocolates now.



But that's OK, coz... I've been hopping on this twice so far! I'll get on it again when I have the mood. Perhaps during the display bits of the NDParade...hehehe...

It's Bapak's birthday today too and Mak cooked a delish meal of briyani for him (and us). More reasons to hop on the treadmill later this evening now.

My thoughts this national day? I'm just glad the weather's cooler than most places in S'pore. Such blessings. We probably have done something right to deserve this, haven't we?

A few more days before we turn 1, insya-Allah. What do we have in common eh? We've thought of about 2 things we have in common. Any other additions from you?

I went downstairs to take a bottle of icecold water...yes, at almost 40 minutes after midnight.

I saw Wan's room empty. I figured he must be sleeping in the living room. Asked him to move into his room but he didn't want to.

My poor brother...sleeping in the living room, on the sofa, probably because it's much cooler there than his make-shift room in front of the kitchen.

All because of me? :(

This house is getting crowded. It's time... it's time...

I am getting a little tired from printing the photos, and placing them onto our Prints album. Obviously I am not in the mood for it. Really got to wait for a moment of inspiration before I get it all done. I just hope not too much damage has been done to the album though...

Having a little headache now. Must be from staring too much on photos, and painstakingly placing the triangular photo edges onto the every corner of the photos.

It's a lovely day today. I can't wait to get out! Nevermind by the time I probably go out, the sun would have gone down. It's Saturday! Whether it rains or shines, I'm determined to make it a good one.

Let's see if this works. One of my mostest favouritest songs.

Now that more red (but not angry, yet) zits have popped on my face, I have no one else to blame but myself.

Because those are the results of me gobbling down a ridiculously large amount of chocolate & cocoa by-products from the stock in the photo below.



It has only been 3 days back at work but the amount of chocolates I've gobbled *is indeed* proportionate to the amount of stress I am facing. Chocolate is good comfort food and it gives a feeling of satisfaction & tranquility when I munch on some (especially the those with the sinful-no-no-to-zits hazelnuts I feasted on yesterday) when the going gets tough.

Of course, with a high price to pay - at the cost of beauty (heh!)!!

But I foresee this crazy chocolate indulgence won't last long. Stocks are depleting rather quickly, thanks to Mak, Wan & Nana. Lots have been given away to family & colleagues too. I predict by the end of next week, there'll be none left for me to eat.

Only then will I stand a chance of having less zits & slimmer thighs.