Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Tree-house, anyone?

We spent our Thaipusam holiday by going out for lunch at H*lia Restaurant at S*me D**by Convention Centre this afternoon. Mak was the one who called everybody up to join her for lunch there. She insisted that she pick the tab as she said it had been a while since she had all her kids, menantu and cucu-cucu under one roof enjoying a meal outside. Ayah, the kids and I opted for the buffet spread while the rest ordered from the A la Carte menu. It could have been better if most of the food was piping hot, I guess. Imagine having cold roast beef with cold mushroom sauce, or cold spaghetti bolognaise, cold soup berempah, cold shawarma kebab, or even a bowl of cold beef wantan noodle soup...You got the drift? Suffice to say, Ayah, Hanna, Hasya and Hilman ended up being slightly woozy and unwell after that! Not sure if it was because they ate too much (despite the food!), or if the lukewarm dishes played a part in it? Anyway, that was that.

After saying our "Bye-byes" and "Thank yous" to Mak, the five of us decided to go and try to find Hilman's bedroom set for the new house. He had been asking for his bedroom set ever since we went to the new house last Sunday to do some spring, (PLUS summer, autumn and winter!) cleaning at the house. Hasya's bedroom set had arrived on Wednesday last week, and so, her room is the only one which is fully furnished now (minus the curtains, that is) And upon seeing how cosy and nice his K.Ngah's room was, Hilman started asking for HIS set, too.

The thing is, we ordered Hasya's set in July last year and they could only hold it for 6 months. We had no choice but to ask them to deliver it to the new address even though the house is still not as we wanted it to be yet. We were hoping to have all the furniture in after the renovation work is done. But, as it happens, our preferred contractor is pretty tied-up at the moment, and will most probably only be free to work on our house in the last quarter of this year! Well, I guess we can wait. As it is, not many of our neighbours have moved in yet. At least, for now we have Hasya's room to lepak in every time we go and check on the house.

Okay, back to the hunt for Hilman's bedroom set. We managed to find something at V*len*ia at SD, which I think would be suitable for him from age 8 until early 20s. We're thinking long-term, okay? We don't want to change it after only 4 years! Ayah and I have decided that we will only change the kids' bedroom set when we need to siapkan their "Bilik Pengantin" nanti. Hahahaha! Anyway, the set is only about 1/3 of what we paid for Hasya's set! Hilman liked it, and we're seriously thinking of getting that for him. However, as that was the first set that we saw, we decided to scout around a few other shops before settling on that set. We just want to make sure that THAT set is the best choice with the best deal around. We're putting a KIV on it, and hopefully we'll have time to look at other sets this weekend, before deciding on it, insya Allah.

Hilman being Hilman, he was pretty calm about the whole thing, and was very quiet. But on the way back home, he started asking questions. And as usual, one question led to another.

Hilman : Mommy, why didn't you buy me that set?

Me : We need to look around first to find if there are better ones for you, okay, dear? If we cannot find a better one, then we will go back to that shop and get you the one that we saw just now, okay?

Hilman : Okay.... (pause) But, no need la Mommy. Just buy me the one just now laa...(pause) Errr...(pause) okay laa Mommy. Never mind la...(pause) We go and find this weekend, okay? (Long pause)...If cannot find, we buy just now one, okay?

Me : Okay.

Hilman : I can't wait to move to our new house, Mommy. I can't wait to sleep in my own room, in my own bed, with the new set. (Pause) Errr....And Mommy, can we also have a tree-house there, please - just like N*deem. I can also sleep in the tree-house if I don't want to sleep in my room.

(N*deem is his schoolmate, who also happens to be the son of Mak's neighbour in PJ)

Me : Well, Hilman...We need a TREE before we can built a tree-house.

Hilman : You plant la, Mommy.

Me : We need a REALLY big tree for that, Hilman.

Hilman : Why, Mommy? So, you plant a BIG tree la, Mommy.

Me : The tree must be strong enough to support the tree-house. It has to have a sturdy trunk and very strong roots. These take time. If I were to plant it now, by the time the tree is strong enough, you will have outgrown all this tree-house thingy, Hilman. You'll be too big and too old for the tree-house!

Hilman : Ooooh, okay. But, why didn't you plant a tree at our house now, Mommy - when you and Ayah first bought it?! We could have had a tree-house by now, you know, if you planted a tree long time ago.

I just looked at him with my eyes wide opened. He looked back at me, and answered his own question -

Hilman : Oh ya...we don't have any space to plant a tree. It will not fit anywhere. Right, Mommy?

(In my mind - Yes, Hilman. Our current house doesn't have a proper laman. Every time you all wanted to play outside, within the compound , Ayah and I would have to reverse our cars and park them outside to give you all the space you need! Sigh...)

Me : Yes, Hilman.

And Ayah decided to chip in at that point.

Ayah : Well, Mommy. MAYBE we CAN have a tree-house at our new house. But, Hilman, maybe, it will be YOUR kids and all my other cucus who will be playing in it instead of you, Kak Long and K.Ngah nanti.

The kids all together : AYAH!!!!

Ayah continued -

Ayah : OR, maybe not. Hilman, MAYBE YOU will be playing in it, while your kids will be calling out for you to get down from the tree, and let THEM play in it instead? And MAYBE, every morning they will be calling out for you to come down from the tree-house as you need to send them to school, etc?! Hmmmmm....imagine that, Hilman.

By that time, the kids were all laughing their heads off at the back of the car!

Yeah, right, Ayah...

And MAYBE, it will be YOU AND HILMAN playing pondok-pondok in the tree-house after your retirement - and we will probably need a specially-made lift for you to go up the tree! HAHAHAHA!

Hmmmmm...Come to think of it, it's actually a cool thing - Ayah spending a Man-to-Man time with his son on a tree... Very primate, very private, very nice...

And anyway, so Hilman, do you want to sleep in a tree-house, or in your bedroom? If you choose the tree-house, then there's no need for us to go and find the bedroom set for you, huh? You can sleep with Mommy in the mean time - meaning until you're 18 at least? Hehehe!

So, Ayah - are we planting a tree next weekend?

20 comments:

Lee said...

Hello Wanshana, I was over at Zaitgha's losing one of my virtues my mother taught me, to never invite yourself to people's home for dinner unless invited. But seeing her gulai pegaga, I almost proposed to her, ha ha. Her curry puffs are deadly, I tell you!
Then about to chabut before her husband comes home, I noticed your beautiful callsign, 'Wanshana'. Love the callsign. Prounoucing it pun sedap on the lips.
Wow! You sure one eloquent writer and I enjoyed reading you looking for the bedroom set.
They way you brought out your cherita, the easy on the eyes style, I'm going to guess you took further Education in US...maybe Harvard? MIT? Ha ha.
Anyway, hope you get the bedroom set.
You have a nice day, Wanshana. Love to pronounce the callsign. UL.

wanshana said...

WOW... I'm blushing! It is SUCH an honour to have you here, Uncle Lee. Thank you for visiting, and thank you for the compliments. I'm humbled.

I have a confession to make - I've been a silent reader of your blog, but never had the courage to leave any comments - so many ace bloggers there laa... :)

Two of your postings which were my favourites which I can still remember - the one about you inviting your ace blogger friends over, with all of them arriving in sleek, shiny cars, and the one about your friend's son who sought your help to introduce his 'not-so-young' (Mat Salleh?) girlfriend to his parents! Loved those, U.Lee.

Harvard? MIT?! I wished! But, I have never ever set foot in the U.S of A. Through and through British educated (well, after SPM that is), and NO - not Oxford or Cambridge either ;)

You have a great weekend, U. Lee, and do drop by again (although I don't have any masak lemak pegaga to jamu!)

Take care ;)

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

Ehem…hellooo…

Believe it or not, I meant to leave a comment in one of your posts last year. It was something about Jamie Oliver which like you guys, I’m quite a fan too. but for some weird reason, I freaked out from sharing my thought at the last minute. But now that one of us has finally broke the ice between us, I’m so glad. And glad you did cos saya ni pemalu orangnya…hehehe…

I can feel for Hilman btw. The excitement of getting his own room can be very overwhelming. I wanted it so much when I was a kid. sharing a room with my bro was like h*ll and would cherish having it all to myself whenever he was away in boarding school and eventually, kicked out of the house.

Disebabkan saya ni pemalu, I’m gonna stop here before I start to yap away on my life story. Thanks, akak.

Oh, one more thing. Not that I’m attached with Greenpeace or anything but I’m all for tree-plantings. If the tree-house plan doesn’t work out, ayah can always tie a hammock between the trees, For his own use ofcos.

Ok, I’m gone.

wanshana said...

Dear Kerp,

Alahai, feels like I'm getting durian runtuh today! First it was Uncle Lee, and now it's you. Thank you for visiting. I'm truly humbled and honoured.

Hmmmmm....seems like we're having our own global warming in here, huh? Ice broken/melted in such a big scale today. Hahaha! Anyway, just for the record, I ni pun pemalu orangnya... :)

I think Hilman's case is worse than yours because now he's sharing with his SISTERS! High time for them to go separate ways when bedtime comes. The question is - will he be brave enough to sleep alone in his own bedroom nanti?! As it is now nak ke bilik air pun, bibik kena teman and wait outside the door. Sigh...

And about the hammock - good idea. But, we need REALLY big and REALLY strong trees which can withstand Ayah's weight for that...

(Hahaha! Just joking, Ayah. Errr... a couple of 150-year old oak trees will do the trick, I guess?) ;)

Thanks again, Kerp. Jangan serik nak singgah again, okay? And, you can yap away all you want here. I don't mind, really. I like your style - raw, and yet refined. Macam mana tu ya?

Take care.

P/S : By the way, one of your postings which I loved was the one when you wore the wig ;)

Take care.

Mior Azhar said...

Shana,
If ever any of you really want to experience how is it feel to main pondok2 on a tree house but don't have the opportunity why not pop over to our place (we lived on the 9th floor). We can pretend its a tree house lah. And to make it even more exciting we can watch Yan masak2, then we can eat-eat.

By the way, you tak suka Ikea bedroom set ker? It seems everybody (most of them that I know) gila pergi Ikea. We used to buy furniture from there too but somehow I think the quality is rather questionable. For certain stuff la. Now we only beli smaller stuff from there like pinggan mangkuk, frame bagai.

wanshana said...

Mior,

Thank you for the offer. Might just take up on it one of these days - if not for the make-believe tree-house pun, DEFINITELY for Azian's home-made dishes. Have to warn you guys, though - we all kuat makan. Hehehe!

IKEA - somehow we have the impression that the place is always jam-packed with people, and we try to avoid it. We've only been to Mutiara Damansara's IKEA once. The only IKEA stuff we have at home are a small rug/mat, and some plastic picnic sets (itu pun beli kat IKEA Newcastle dulu!)

From its catalogue, memang nampak menarik. Hmmmm, maybe can lah go there this weekend. Tapi dengan syarat we reach there before everyone else does. Ala-ala "potong riben" gitu... Thanks for the suggestion ;)

Take care.

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

Kak Shana,

No big deal about myself, I swear. I’ll drop by more often anyway and since the ice has melted I’m sure to stamp my mark with a comment or 8.

And please give Hilman a break. Move the soonest!

*The Wig. Sounds like a title of an asian horror flick. Hihi….

Anonymous said...

that last comment reminds me of days long gone. made me remember when you guys were in forest hall. and hanna was a wee toddler then!

and for some bizarre reason, reminded me when the was a leak from th heating system at yr place masa inter. igt tak?

SitiNur77 said...

Sis,

Takde gamba ke?

wanshana said...

Kerp,

I look forward to you dropping by more often :)

"The Wig" - I can already visualize the billboards advertising its Premiere - with a certain someone in the leading role! (Hint - kalau nak tengok wayang tu, kena bayar tol... HAHAHAHA!)

Take care, you.

wanshana said...

Kudo,

Wow! You still remember all those? I remember you and a few others coming over to Forest Hall, of course (in fact ada gambar pun!), but, somehow can't remember about the leakage in the heating system! I bet Haizal pun tak ingat kot? (Tanda-tanda dah tua la ni...)

Yes, Hanna was just a wee toddler then. She's taller than me now. Just turned 12 last Nov. You should come by our place and see how big our kids are now next time you balik Malaysia, okay?

All the best with organizing the Sheffield April gig. Will you be performing, or just organizing?

wanshana said...

SitiNur,

Gambar? Hmmmm....okay lah. We're going to check and mop the floors and clean the house again today. Insya Allah will take some pics and post some here.

It has been our routine every Sunday afternoon - cuci rumah and have a picnic there :)

Take care, dear.

IBU said...

Hello Mommy Shana

We want a tree house too... uwaaa.... Best kan kalau ada?

wanshana said...

Ibu,

Ha-ah - memang best!

Boleh imagine tak ahli-ahli MT semua kat atas pokok, pekena teh tarik Cap Masjid, sambil dok bercerita about our latest handbags and shoes purchase?!!! HAHAHAHA!

You all buat la satu kat rumah baru . Kalau we all tak jadi built one, boleh tumpang sekaki (or rather - "sepokok"!)

Btw, went to check on the house tadi. Hilman said, "Mommy, can we have a swimming pool, instead?"

Errrr, Hilman, there's a HUGE difference between asking for a tree-house, and asking for a swimming pool, okay?!

Kmar said...

Hola Shana,

Your Hilman must be have a ´cool heart´... sebab suka hijau (tree house) and blue (swimming pool)!!!... he.he... got to look on the positive side, correct???!

Kmar

wanshana said...

Hola Kmar,

Hmmmm...you're right. Hilman does like green and blue. Sejuk le hati dia kot, ya? But, imagine the extra zeroes to be added to the cost - from building a tree-house to building a swimming pool?!! Hahaha!

Salam to Jose, please, and hugs to Daniel and Aisha.

Take care.

Lee said...

Hi Wanshana, abit free today before I start on my next construction of Irene's cherita and came over to pronounce your lovely callsign. Ha ha.
By the way, ahemm, I used to know (dated, actually) a lovely Malay girl old days named 'Wan'...hmmm, can't be you. How I know? Because I da sampai Batu enam puluh lima, dia I think enam puluh, ha ha.
Ahaa! Now I know about the mystery perfume scent wisping in my pondok at nights...we 13 hours behind you, you sneaked in, huh? Ha ha. Hmmm, I think Elizabeth Arden tu?
Wow! You mentioned the 2 stories...that long ago you have been tiptoing into my place? Eeeee!
I better go check my alarm batteries, ha ha. Ta'bunyi!
Wanshana, please...do drop in anytime, there are no ACES in my blogs, only QUEENS...like you.
Always enjoy buka cherita with the ladies, ha ha.
Nanti, I get coffee siap, sama kueh dada, kueh bingka ready you datang.
No need kumpang or lion dance? Ha ha.
Hey, you were in UK? I was there in 1962. Stayed Malaysia hall dua bulan...you should see my mother become religious then, everynight semayang I study hard, don't get hi-jacked by Mat Salleh perumpuan. Ha ha. Only son...dia takut our 300 year old pure genes, which I doubt as I think mesti ada one or two pirates and smugglers of Opium among my ancestors...ada champor, arhaaa ha ha.
Kita berjumpa lagi, Wanshana. You have a nice day, Lee.

Anonymous said...

Hi there..

M at the airport lounge. Well, actually not so much waiting for my flight out but rather counting the days before I fly back home. Can't wait...

Missing u & the kidz loads! Take care!

wanshana said...

Uncle Lee,

Reading your postings and comments always makes me smile - and this one is no exception :)

Ya looorrr... Have been your "stalker" for quite some time now. Hahaha! Elizabeth Arden? Hmmmm...Estee Lauder actually :) You must have mistaken me for another stalker then! Aiyooo...susah la macam ni, Uncle Lee. Too many peminat dalam diam ni?!

I will definitely continue visiting you, with or without kompang or lion dance. No worries. I'll also bring some apam balik and putu piring with me, so that we can have a pot luck thingy at your place.

Take care, Uncle Lee. I'm waiting for the next Chapter on Irene with bated breaths ;)

wanshana said...

Ayah,

We're already missing you, too!

Take good care of yourself (especially your back!), and all the best with the sessions.My do'a that everything will go well for you, insya Allah.

And don't forget pesanan anak nombor 2 - "Buy Sushi for us!" Hahaha!

Cheers!