My family came over this evening, their first visit since we moved in more than a month ago.

Frankly I was surprised they came to hang out. My family is not the sort which spends too much time at any other place other than their own home. Maybe because Tok's attention span is rather short, or maybe it's because Bapak just tak "kerasan" kat rumah orang. But today, they spent quite some time, leaving only after the Man U & Fulham match.

Nana as usual is so jakun, going in & out of the rooms. Wan is thrilled by the availability of cabletv. Mak made some avocado drink & I made myself busy by serving them drinks, etc. Tok & Bapak just lounged at the sofa, & enjoyed the mango icecream AH served them.

I was impressed by AH too, who made the guests feel very at home. Boleh tahan jugak AH ni. Cuma I was quite nervous lah tengok dia jalan sana, jalan sini. I was hoping really hard his legs wouldn't give him a relapse.

It was nice having them over. I guess it's because it's *our* place their visiting, Tok's own granchild, Mak & Bapak's own daughter, Wan & Nana's sister, so rules/boundaries are relaxed a bit & everyone was able to make some time to hang out together.

The past few days have been quite "exciting" for us.

AH is still recuperating and though I'm looking forward to him getting back on his feet (literally), going on our daily errands & outings on weekends, I'm glad I've been given the opportunity to appreciate the good this whole experience has brought for us.

For one, it has trained both of us to be patient with one another (borrrriinnggg...).

I've been going to work on my own too (Hehe, baru 3 hari) & this has made me appreciate AH's efforts in sending me to work daily.

The good thing about going to work on my own also, is that I've been able to catch up on reading in the trains.

And I get to singgah here & there after work too (to buy mandatory household items, la).

Then I get back home & see AH looking much better & then it's all quite worth it.

I hope AH is recuperating OK at home. I suppose it's tough - your leg injury is there perenially, dormant until you get the craving to kick on that soccer ball. Then we face the consequences. The thing that bothers me is that I can't do anything to help ease the pain. I can't even begin to imagine it, but from how it looks, I'm sure it's verrrry painful. I hope my doas for his pain to subside will be granted.

Anyway I've just had lunch. One of the stall makciks has been smiling, grinning at me for the past few weeks. My only guess is that she's happy to serve a pregnant lady. And the cashier makcik asked, "Yang besar dah brapa tahun?" Before I could answer she quickly said, "Oh, ni yang pertama yerrr? Ramai sangat orang pregnant lah sampai lupa!" Keh keh...nasib baik I didn't take offence. I just told her to doakan for us lah...to which she replied "Insya-Allah."

Biasa lah eh, lepas long weekend, satu2 macam slow-mo mode gitu. Me included. I'm just lookin forward to be back home & see how AH is doing. I miss him a lot but I'm glad he's just resting at home.

The much awaited long weekend is finally here - I've been smelling it since mid this week.

The week wasn't that uneventful though.AH's turning 3X was a happy occasion & I pray for more healthy years to come.

We lost Tok's younger brother to cancer too. Something that probably developed due to old age. He was 80. It's still quite surreal that he's gone; we'd just seen him on Sunday & though he was resting, he was fit enough to sit up & talk, very clearly & coherently. I didn't know I'd actually feel it when he's gone. It was all so fast. Such a dear old man, may his good deeds for the rest of his journey.

Life goes on, we still have to meet up with people, the postman still delivers mail, and we'll still have to go to work. But for now, let the next few days be a good break for us. I've got stuff stocked up to occupy my lazy days ahead - magazines I picked up from a colleague who has dumped them into the bins (Jan 07 & Feb 07 punyer mags dia pegi buang dalam tong sampah?! What the!) & a book by Danbrown. Of course, there's the TV too, and later we're meeting up with some friends for pizza. And I plan to get some cleaning started too... sorting out of the pile of baby clothes I received from MIL 2 months ago.

Sounds like I've got quite a lot on my plate already. Enjoy yr weekend everyone :)

To save us the hassle of cooking & the aftermath of scrubbing pots, pans, scoops etc, we dug out the steamboat appliance MIL handed down to us early this yr.

Apart from the thermostat (probably) kicking in for safety reasons after about 45 mins of cooking, I think we had fun cooking & I think the friends we had over enjoyed that too.

Come to think of it, we pay so much per head at steamboat restaurants when we can have the same food at less than $8 per head at home! Maybe plus drinks, electricity, it's about $10 max. Very worth it. No service charge & of course, good service guaranteed in the comfort of your own home.

Ada cake lagi! For the birthday guy. Hehe! I'll keep the wishes for tomorrow, but you know I always wish for nothing but the best for AH.

AH's hatch day is around the corner, and today some friends & I communicated via email ; posts & posts...with me having a little surprise gathering for AH in mind. Obviously, AH's email address was excluded from the mailing list.

Then suddenly, one of them, included his email address! Sighs, when AH was checking his email, my heart beat rather faster, hoping he'd delete them before scrolling down. But no...he read the whole thing. And had a good laugh at me, for trying to keep it a secret.

Oh man!

OK, AH you win this time.

Work, surprisingly, has been more manageable so far. Since my 3-day intermittent MC last week. My backlog is slowly piling up, but I dare say I was more productive for the past 3 days, then say, a month ago...whooops!

I dread tomorrow though. I'll finish late. And I'm on duty on Sat afternoon too! Oh well, at least I have a job.

AH can skip reading this post. I think he has had an overdose of taxi tales from me for the day.

Today, as usual, I embarked on one of the usual home visits I've got to make as part of my job. I hopped on a cab & requested the cabby to take me to Blk XYZ, Jln Bukit ***. Uncle cabby made small talk with me, asking about what Barang-Barang meant, when the B2 lorry drove past us. And so on, and so forth.

We finally got to the area of Jln Bt *** & started hunting for Blk XYZ. We couldn't find it after 2 rounds, all we saw was Blk XYZ, but it was a 1-storey block - which was obviously not the one I was headed for.

When I realised we were going in circles, I suggested he looked into the st directory, only to have him shove it at me and asking me to look for the location. Fine. So that was what I did. But we still ended up at the same place despite coming in from a different street entrance.

I usually have a high threshold of patience for taxi drivers, but today I felt rather annoyed. I didn't shout at him, I just well erm, ignored his suggestions that I gave him the wrong address, I overlooked the exact location of the street. He even went on to suggest whether my "friend" could meet us somewhere convenient. Finally I told him that where I was going was part of work.

In the end, I told him to let me alight at the main road, so I can hop on another cab to help in this amazing race of mine. He complied & I detected relief in his voice. When I asked for a receipt, even the machine bungled on him. To which he loudly said, "Aiyah, even the machine bully me!" He apologised again. I accepted it, after all it wasn't his fault he couldn't find the place.

I hailed another cab, after at least 45 minutes of "joyride" in the previous one. Again, the cabby took me to the same place! I finally thought, maybe I am at the right place after all, and I should walk to find it.

So I walked, and walked, for a good 15 to 20 minutes around the blocks, out onto the road, over the traffic light, etc when I decided, that's it. I can't be walking around in circles like this. I hailed a cab & headed back to office.

Argh!!

I'll be returning there tomorrow. With Bapak this time. After much ploughing through the street directory, I hope I can get there easily tomorrow. Turns out that there are more than 1 Blk XYZs in that area! Gee, how in the world could this happen??!

That was today's tale.

Yesterday, with my boss in the same cab as me, I chalked up more than $25 on taxi claims! Reason being, when I left the 1st destination to continue with the 2nd destination, we realised I had accidentally deposited some documents I needed at the 1st destination. So cabby turned around, in the busy area with plentiful ERP gantries, back to Destination 1, then off to Destination 2. Two taxi tales on consecutive days? There must be a reason behind these.

Let's see what tomorrow brings. Pleasant tales, please!

I brought home 14 pieces of yummy, fudgy, chocolatey, walnutty, pecanny brownies on Wednesday! I've eaten 2 already, or was it 3... 3 1/2? Forgot :D


Free goodies!


I want the choc fudge one...erm, make it the pecan nut one...

I was already feeling impending signs of a sore throat but ate some anyway coz I really couldn't resist chocolates. Chomp chomp...

But worry not, I've made up for that sinful treat.


Healthy treats for me & AH

Our fridge is well-stocked up now, alhamdulillah! Thanks to Mak's contribution, our own shopping & yesterday, a bag of fruits & chocolates from a kind neighbour.

Well like what AH said, now, it's starting to look like a fridge.