It's here again...

The school holiday.

What does it mean to me?

Well, for a start - I won't be going to my office the whole of this week. I am still on my study leave and my work time is flexible. I have brought home with me materials to work on (and HOPEFULLY) I can do some work at home. We won't be going anywhere this time around as Hanna will be sitting for her UPSR exam the first week of September.

Secondly, when I said "home", I meant our (own) SD home and NOT Mak's house in PJ which normally would have been our weekday home. We would normally only sleep over at SD on Saturday nights - that's ONE night in seven. But, we've been home in SD for three days now... and I have to admit that I have not been able to do any (official) work thus far. This is because -

Thirdly, when we're home in SD, without any maids around - that means I become the "bibik" for the whole week! So, for the past three days, I've been sweeping and mopping the whole 2 1/2 floors of the house everyday, I've been tidying up the kitchen and the rooms, I've been cooking, I've been doing the dishes, I've been doing a bit of "gardening" (to those who have been to our house they would know that this should not be a big deal because we have an extremely mini garden, BUT to me, any gardening chore IS a big deal irrespective of the size of the garden!!!) I have also been doing the laundry, BUT have not been doing any ironing! So, you can just imagine the heaps of clothings in the ironing room waiting, pleading and beckoning to be ironed...

Fourthly, I can spend more time with the kids. I can cook their favourite dishes, and I can sit down with them when they do their revision, or practise playing the piano, and I can even sit down and watch "Spongebob and Squarepants" with them. In fact, both Ayah and I even had time to bring them to watch the Finals of the Youth Champions Cup at Bukit Jalil between Manchester United and Juventus last night. We support neither team, but a friend had free tickets to give away, and we thought - "Why not?" So, off we went - Ayah in his Newcastle United jersey, Hanna in her Chelsea jersey and me in Ayah's Barcelona jersey, Hasya and Hilman, errrrrrr..... in Barbie top, and HotWheels T-shirt respectively - supporting Juventus just for the night simply because they were playing against Man U...(Hahaha!) The results - too sensitive to be mentioned here...

Fifthly, I can go on my treadmill everyday here in SD. (Or maybe I should say "I should be going on my treadmill everyday, but, so far have not had the time and energy to do so?!") Excuses...excuses...

Sixthly, our grocery bills, and our utility bills will definitely be higher over the holiday period. The kids will be opening the fridge door and checking the contents every 5 minutes. I was in TESCO just yesterday, stocking up the pantry and fridge, but, by the look of it, I might have to make another trip to TESCO again this Wednesday! And when the kids are allowed to take a break from their revision and/or reading storybooks sessions, the PC will be on, both ASTROs will be on, and not to mention Hanna's CD player blaring Good Charlotte, Green Day, Simple Plan, Avril Lavigne and Linkin' Park back to back! And of course, when we're home 24/7, the airconds will also be on (nearly) 24/7...

Seventhly, despite the above - the school holiday means BLISS to me... because I'm home! Hey, at least in my own little ways I can still enjoy the school holiday with my kids...

Hmmmm....did I mention what the school holiday means to AYAH? Well, he sleeps, he eats, he drinks and he breathes LARIAN KARDIO... Bless him. (And that's another reason why we're not going anywhere this holiday! Hehehe!) It's less than a couple of weeks to go, and he and his team have been going all out for the last one month to make sure that it will be a huge success. Have you registered for the charity run? If you haven't, please do. The guys behind the scene have been working day and night and have not had any holidays at all for the last few months, going all out, giving their all for this noble cause... And we - we just need to register, pay RM15, and run (or walk) 5.5km, get FREE health screening (first come, first served - for the first 1000 visitors), FREE CPR Demo, FREE cardio exercise Demo, FREE entertainment (Anuar Zain, Zainal Abidin and Farah Ashikin OIAM are also supporting this effort and will be singing on that day!)

You might have the whole of this school holiday to think about it, but, why wait? Make a difference. You'll probably save one heart patient's life with your contribution without even knowing it...

Wassalam...