Bad Mommy...Bad, bad Mommy...

Ayah and I used to come up with our own mock exam papers for all of our kids every time they had their tests or exams before this - with Ayah taking charge of their Maths and Science, while I handled their English and Bahasa Malaysia papers. We would look through all their school text, exercise and activity books and would guess the types of questions which would probably be asked, and we would come up with a set of exam papers for all of their subjects for them to attempt within a specified time. The kids actually looked forward to all these, even though during these period I must admit their Mommy would most of the time be in quite a foul mood if they did not get 100%. Crazy, huh?!

Anyway, they'll be having their first tests for this year next week, but this time around Mommy and Ayah just could not find the time to sit down and work on their mock papers! So, yours truly decided to just get some activity books for them to practice on, in preparation for their tests instead.

So, right after Maghrib, the kids and I went to OneU and we headed straight to M*H. Hasya and Hilman chose 2 books for each subject while Hanna just went for a Science Revision/Activity book. Apparently her Tuition teachers had given her loads of exercises to do over the weekend yesterday. On top of these books, Hanna also bought two books by Stephenie Meyer - "New Moon" and "Eclipse", and Hilman bought his normal must-haves every time we go to M*H, i.e. an encyclopedia, and this time he chose one entitled "Tell Me Everything".

Just to make sure that the books Hanna bought were actually suitable for teenagers, I went to the Customer Service Counter to inquire. The girl at the counter seemed a bit annoyed with me when I asked her -

Me : Excuse me, adek...Could you just check if these books are suitable for my daughter, please? She's 12 years old.

The Girl : Errr....Buku ni memang pun untuk teenagers la Kak (with somewhat a disbelief look on her face as to why I asked her that question!)

Me : (Errrrr...excuse me?!! like I should know about all the books published for teenagers all over the world?!) Errr...okay, thanks.

All these while the kids were holding their own books (including the revision books) and I only asked them to put everything on the counter just as I was about to pay for them. Then only I realized that Hasya did not get anything at all for herself (apart from the activity books) which was rather strange as amongst the three, she's the one who's always with a book in her hands all the time everywhere she goes. And I asked her -

Me : You're not getting anything for yourself, Hasya?

Hasya : (A pause...) Hmmmmm....No...

Me : Why not?

Hasya : Mommy, can we go home now?

Me : ???? Why? You're not feeling well?

Hasya : No, I'm just tired. I wanna go home.

Me : Okay...but, we'll have our dinner first, okay?

Hasya : Okay (but, she was unusually and frighteningly VERY quiet. Definitely NOT her usual chirpy, choleric self)

We made a visit to Big Apple Donuts for some takeaway en route to TCRS. And Hasya did not request for any of her favourite donuts!

Upon reaching TCRS, and after ordering the food, Hanna and Hilman immediately started reading their new books while waiting for the food to come. And Hasya was still VERY quiet. I started feeling her forehead thinking that she might be coming down with something, but she was fine. No temperature whatsoever!

She suddenly put her hands across the table and rested her head on them, looking the other way. And I was asking Hilman about some of the things he was reading from his new encyclopedia when I noticed tears coming down Hasya's cheeks (and she was trying very hard to hide them from me!)

Now - those who know our Hasya would know that crying was NEVER in her vocabulary. She's one TOUGH cookie to crack. Even when she used to get REALLY SERIOUS scoldings here and there from her Ayah and myself, or when she's involved in fights with Hilman, it would be her lil' brother who would end up bawling! And when she was a baby, not even ONCE did she cry when she was having all her jabs. That's Hasya for you. So much so, I sometimes get SO frustrated when I do not get any reaction AT ALL from her when she gets a telling-off from me...

Anyway, seeing the tears on her cheeks, I immediately asked her what was wrong and she kept looking the other way and shook her head a few times. And I continued asking her.

Me : What's wrong Hasya? Do you have a tummy ache? Hasya pening ke? etc...

And THEN it hit me.

Me : Is it because you didn't get a book for yourself tadi?

I asked this a few times and she kept shaking her head.

And I asked her again.

Me : Hasya, please look at me, and tell me. Are you crying because you didn't get any books tadi?

Hasya : (Pause...and she slowly nodded her head)

Me : Why didn't you choose one or two just now when K.Long and Hilman were choosing theirs?

Hasya : (Tears still trickling down her cheeks -) ...You...didn't let me...

Me : What do you mean I didn't let you?!

Hasya : You told me that day that I could not buy anymore books because I lost my book at school hari tu...

Me :??????!!!

Did I?! Did I really?!

Then it all came back to me. It was about three weeks ago. Hasya had brought one of her Enid Blyton's O'Sullivan Twins Series to read in school, and she accidentally left it on one of the benches while she was waiting for me to fetch her and Hilman. And when she told me that she could not find it, I told her -

Me : Hasya, if you cannot take care of your books, I don't see any reason why I should be buying you anymore books. You should love and take good care of them! NO MORE BOOKS FOR YOU FROM NOW ON!!! (I must have had a REALLY bad time at work that day...)

So, for the last three weeks she had been reading whatever books there were around the house and she had also finished ALL of the Harry Potter series. She now does not have anything interesting that she wants to read or re-read anymore. And that was why, she felt VERY sad and upset when we were at M*H just now, and she could not buy anything for herself!

But, I for the life of me just did not remember punishing her with that VERY cruel punishment for an 8-year-old girl who can't survive a day without a good book in her hands every single second of her waking time...

And I felt REALLY, REALLY, REALLY BAD...

And I felt like going back to M*H there and then to get some books for her!

But, of course, I could not just leave TCRS as we have just ordered our food!

How could I have done that to her???!!!

And I spoke to her softly -

Me : Okay...we'll go back to M*H after this, okay? That is, if it's still open, okay?

Hasya : (Nodding her head slowly, tears still trickling down her cheeks...) Okay...

After dinner and after settling the bill, we walked back towards M*H on the way to the parking lot, and just as we reached The Oval, I looked at my watch. It was 10:15p.m. I wasn't sure if M*H was still open, but, I asked Hasya -

Me : Shall we go and check if M*H is still open? We can get your books tonight if you want.

Hasya : Naaaaah...no thank you. We can come again tomorrow.

(Smart girl. She knows that she would not have had the chance to REALLY browse through and choose her books if we were to rush ourselves there tonight!)

So, tomorrow it is then...

But, I could not stop feeling so guilty, and I kept telling myself - "Oh No...What have I done?! What was I thinking?! Or rather, WHY wasn't I thinking?! I'm such a BAD Mommy...

I'm so sorry, my dear...

SOBS.... :(

Oooops! He did it again...

It was 12:03a.m and I was packing Ayah's stuff for his trip to Bangkok later today. He'll be taking the 6:00p.m flight from KLIA, and ideally he will have to leave for KLIA at 3:30p.m.

The kids will be in school and I will be at my office then, and Ayah doesn't want to push off from SD as there'll only be Daryati at home then. So, PJ it is - meaning that all his stuff needs to be packed before we hit the sack tonight, as Ayah will be bringing his luggage with him when he goes to work early tomorrow morning, and he will go back to Mak's house around 2:45p.m, and the Airport Limo will be there at 3:30p.m to fetch and send him to the airport.

Wanting to make sure that things will not repeat itself like what happened here, I went through his normal "to-bring" list and ticked off all the items which were already in the bag, until I reached the part which said "Passport".

I couldn't see the passport anywhere - not in his hand-luggage which he used when he went to Kobe early this month; not in the drawer, not on the dressing table. I spent a good 10 minutes searching for it, after which I called out to Ayah who was downstairs doing some work.

Me : Ayah! Where's your passport?!

Ayah : My passport? Errr...tak ade kat atas ke?

Me : Nope.

Ayah : (15 seconds of deafening silent, and then -) Hmmmmm...it's not with me laa!

Me : ????!!!! What do you mean it's NOT with you? You need it for your Bangkok trip esok!

Ayah : I terlupa laa - it's with B** Y*n. I gave it to her hari tu coz' she's applying for my Visa for my China trip next month....

(B** Y*n is one of the Drug Companies representatives who's arranging/organizing Ayah's trip to the CIT Conference in Beijing)

Me : (Aaaaaarrrrrrggghhhhh!!! Malas nak layan macam ni!!!!!)

And I continued packing Ayah's other stuff.

Ten minutes later, Ayah came up. He was on the phone with B** Y*n. It was 12:35a.m. After getting the directions to go to B** Y*n's place, he put down the phone.

Ayah : I have to go and get my passport from her tonight la...coz' she'll be in Sheraton the whole day esok and will not be able to drop the passport at the hospital. And I have a busy clinic esok and I won't be able to go and see her!

Me : Where's her house?

Ayah : Per**na Con*o - Dama**a*a P*r**na

Me : (Nasib baik la dia tak surrender your passport to the Chinese Embassy lagi...And nasib baik la jugak dia tak duduk kat Kuala Selangor ke, Meru ke....)

And just as I'm writing this, Ayah is on his way to collect his passport from B** Y*n...

Tak kuasa...

MT Weekend...

Last weekend was a "Majlis Tertinggi" weekend.

For the uninitiated, my "Majlis Tertinggi" is an apolitical body consisting of 6 hot-looking and hard-working Mamas (Hahahaha! We wished...) whose friendship has spanned for more than 27 years from WAAAAAAYYYYY back then masa zaman "ketoye-an" when we were schooling in JB until now when all of us are settled all over Klang Valley. I posted a couple of postings on Majlis Tertinggi early last year here and here (which were actually taken from my earlier (now defunct) Friendster's blog for those who may want to be initiated... Hehehe!

A typical MT gathering would involve kids parties and/or MT's kecoh sessions in one room and our spouses watching ASTRO Channels (Sports or Movies) WITHOUT muttering a single word (except when somebody scores a goal) in another room. MORE often than not, we - ahli MTs and hubbies, would have dinner outside - followed by Karaoke sessions at R*d B*x (minus the kids) until about 4:00a.m. Sometimes, we would readjourn at K*yu Na*i Ka*dar @ Mutiara Damansara for teh tarik and would be back home in time before Suboh.We make a point to meet up at least once a month to let off steam.

You can never get a more mismatched groups like the MTs and our spouses, I tell you. You can walk in a room which is like Pasar Borong Selayang having a Kempen Pilihanraya, and when you go to the next room it's like going through a mortuary... (Ok, ok...I may be exaggerating here, but, it's not that far off...Hahaha!). However "mismatched" all of us are, collectively, we have 18 kids between us ranging from ages 14 to 3 years old. Hahahaha!

One thing we realized - all the ahli Majlis Tertinggi are very loud and kecoh (only when we're together, that is. Outside - we're pretty demure and serious. Wakakaka!!! Yeah, right...), while all our husbands are our total opposites. And we don't have any problem with that. The beauty of it all is that our men get along very well with each other, and so we never feel guilty when we have our gatherings because the men would be tagging along every time. (Paksa rela?!!! Hahaha!)

Ooopss! I've digressed.

Anyway, on Saturday, J* (a.k.a Mak Datin SS3) and Iz*am threw a birthday party for S*ra at Tr*pi**na Bowl, and the kids had fun! All ahli MTs (except for R*ha a.k.a Rasah Kemayan, who's now residing in Taman M**aw*ti) were there with hubbies and kids. We were there from 5:00pm until 8:30pm.

There were 2 coaches on hand, teaching the little ones bowling techniques, etc. (But I think yours truly needed the coaching MORE sebenarnya!). The kids were divided into 5 teams, with one parent "assisting" them. Errrr....I think I did more damage to the team, than helping them! Luckily for my Team, Hanna came just in time from her Piano theory revision class to take over my place and managed to pull the average up. But alas, no amount of strikes and spares could help my team with all the damages I had created earlier on! Sorry kids! Aunty janji tahun depan Aunty ambik lesson from Aunty Ibu (who was the highest scorer for the day! Chaya laaahh, Ibu.... Tapi, tak achi coz' Ibu dah training 2 bulan sebelum ni...Hahahah!)

From Tr*pi**na, we made our way to continue with the party at J* and Iz*am's place. Reason being, the kids tak puas main lagi, or rather - Mak Bapak nak lepas gian....The hosts had just installed a new Karaoke System at their home, and check this out - it has over 5000 songs in its list! Tak ingat dunia lah we all...Hahaha!

Pizzas ordered, kids sorted with PS2 and computers upstairs, and after MT's kecoh sessions in the Dining Room, the party was adjourned to the AV Room, and the melalak session went on until 2:30a.m!!! This went on even after Iz*am had to leave at 12:30a.m as he had to mengiring calon-calon Pilihanraya in Kedah on Sunday. Tuan Rumah sudah pergi, guests melalak lagi...Hahaha! Most of the lagu-lagu wajib for everyone were in the list, and Ayah and Ibu's Ayah had the time of their lives crooning. But, we couldn't find a Zaiton Sameon's song for Ibu to sing that night. Dang! As for me - I just can't explain it, everytime I held the mic and sang, suara tak keluar...It MUST be the mic...It MUST be the mic...Hahaha! We left J* about 2:30a.m and reached SD at 2:45a.m, and slept at about 3:00a.m.

The next morning, we had to wake the kids up rather early as Hasya and Hilman had their traditional dance class in PJ. After Hasya's lessons, D*da - her dance instructor came to me and said,

"Hasya was not focused and was dreaming away during the lesson today. And when I asked her why, she said, she slept at 3:00a.m this morning because Mommy and Ayah were having Karaoke at a friend's place until 2:30a.m?!!"

- GUILTY AS CHARGED - Kantoi...

Anyway, here are some pics. Enjoy!

In between...

Have you all been in a situation whereby -

You feel like you have a fever, but you don't?

One second you have blocked nose, and the next thing you know, your nose is so clear (in fact, TOO clear!) that it becomes too painful to even take a deep breath in?! The air just goes right up to your brain?!

And your head feels pretty heavy and 'clogged' like when you have sinusitis?

And you have runny nose, and a lot of "near-sneezes" which frustrate the hell out of you?!

And this goes on for 4-5 days, and no amount of Beechams, Actifed or Redoxon Vit C could clear your head?

But, NO fever whatsoever...

And you tell yourself, "Kalau macam ni, baik demam betul-betul..."

Sigh...

(Mior, if you're reading this - I think I'm having your "Head Cold", minus the fever... and Ibu, I'm having your AAAAAaaahhhh CCCHHhhhoooooos now. It's definitely in the air...)

First time...

First time EVER. This year, Ayah and I did not give each other a Valentine's Card!

Not that we "celebrate" it, but every year, just as personal gestures, we would give each other a card. And Ayah would give me a bouquet of red roses - without fail. And I would also give him a little something. I guess we could have done that on any other days, but, well...we chose to do it on VD, right? Most of the times, we would go out for dinner - nothing or nowhere fancy, or I would cook him something special. And after three kids, our Valentine's Dinner would also include K.Long Hanna, K.Ngah Hasya and Hilman.

Somehow, this year both of us had been pretty bogged down with work and stuff, and we just could not even find the time to get a card for each other! And it just did not occur to us to even make any reservations at any of the restaurants. And somehow, this year BOTH of us did not expect it to be the same as previous years' VD. Hmmmm...must be the age, eh? :)

At the stroke of midnight - 0000hr 14th February, 2008 -

Ayah : Happy Valentine's Day, Mommy...

Me : Happy Valentine's Day...

(Hugs and XOX)

Ayah : Sorry...no cards this time! Tak sempat!! Hehehee...

Me : Hehehe...tak per...Sorry, I pun tak sempat beli card for you.

Ayah : I love you...

Me : I love you, too...

(Hugs and XOX and Snuggles)

Both : ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz....

In the morning, while at work - Exchanges of mushy "I-Love-You" SMSs.

In the afternoon - A phonecall.

Ayah : Hello... Hi! How are you? How's your day?

Me : Hello... okay. What about you? Busy clinic?

Ayah : I'm okay. Not so. Do we have any plans for tonight?

Me : Errr... not really. Hilman and Hasya ada mengaji, and Hanna ada tuition.

Ayah : Hmmmm...I will try to come back early. Maybe we can just go out for dinner somewhere after sending Hanna to tuition?

Me : Okay.

Ayah : Any idea where to go?

Me : Hmmm...not really. I don't mind anywhere. Maybe somewhere in Section 14?

Ayah : Okay, then. I'll try to come back before Maghrib.

Me : Okay. See you later then. Bye!

6:20 p.m - A phonecall.

Ayah : Hi! Sorry...where are you now?

Me : PJ (my MIL's house)

Ayah : There's an emergency and we have to open the lab for an emergency angio. If there's no complications, I'll be back by 7:40, insya Allah.

Me : Okay...(dalam hati - be prepared. There might not be any dinner out tonight!)

Ayah : Sorry...

Me : It's okay.

7:35 p.m - Ayah came back!

After solat Maghrib, we left the house and sent Hanna to the Tuition Centre.

Ayah : I tried calling a few places just now. All fully booked. What do you feel like having?

Me : Hmmm. You know me - tak kisah. Anything goes. Dekat Section 14 aje lah...

Ayah : TGIF is full. And Jaya 33...Errr...malas lah nak cross over to the other side. Sushi?

Me : Can...Errr...Kat Ipoh Kopitiam tu pun boleh.

Ayah : You don't mind?

Me : No, laahh!

After sending Hanna, we made one round surveying the eating joints at Section 14. All were packed. We managed to find a parking space near the mosque.

Me : Wanna try the Indian restaurant at the back?

Ayah : Okay. It has been a while since we last had Indian pun...

Walk walk walk - and saw "The House of P*k**za".

We ordered plain briayani with a few dishes, and some lassis and just enjoyed each other's company until it was time to fetch Hanna. Not the most romantic place to have a Valentine's Dinner, I know. But, we were together :)

Went to fetch Hanna, and then the younger ones at Mak's place, and went back to SD.

2359hr 14th February 2008 -

Ayah : Happy Valentine's Day...I love you...

Me : Happy Valentine's Day....I love you, too.. :)

(Hugs and XOX and Snuggles)

Both : ZZZzzzzzzzz...

(It MUST be the age...Hehehe...)

Hmmmm...FIRST TIME - No cards, No roses, No planned dinners...

But it still feels like when we fell in love...the FIRST TIME...

Our very own fitness centre...

Ayah was woken up at 4.30a.m on Chinese New Year Day and had to rush to the hospital and open the lab for an emergency angio procedure. He only came back around 10:00a.m and tried to catch up on his sleep - only to be called back to the hospital just before 12:00 noon. Apparently, the same patient which his team did an angioplasty on that morning kept getting arrested. (Errr...NOT by the police, by the way."Arrested" as in - his "heart arrested". Hehehe!) Anyway, Ayah came back just after 2:00p.m. Half of the day which was a public holiday gone...and this is quite normal and we're all quite used to it.

Not wanting to let the day go to waste, but, at the same time not wanting to go to any busy shopping malls in the event that Ayah might be called back to the hospital again (and I might end up with a pout 4 batu panjang if that were to happen...Hehehe!) we went to check on the new house. We normally would go there on Sundays to clean/mop, etc. and then have a small picnic there. But as Ayah was away in Kobe last weekend, we had to give it a miss. So, yesterday was somewhat like a "Qadha" for the rigmarole.

We reached the house just after 4:00pm, and Daryati and I started our exercise routine a.k.a the cleaning rituals straight away. She was in-charge of the 1st Floor, while I tackled the Ground Floor, while Ayah handled Hasya's bedroom. Or rather, Hasya's BED. Hehehehe! Well, Ayah had a valid excuse to snooze away thanks to his Sleepless in PPUM events in the last 24 hours. But, I doubt if he really got any sleep at all as Hasya and Hilman were also occupying the bed, each trying to push the other off the bed!

Oh yes! By the way, we found Hilman's bedroom set the other day, but, due to the long CNY break, they could only deliver it after 20th of this month. So,this "pushing-each-other-off-of Hasya's bed" will continue until he gets his own bed...Sigh...



*** CHEESE! Pic of kids taken in Hasya's room with her new bedroom set.



*** Hasya and Hilman - "pushing-each-other" session.

Anyway, remember in my last posting when I wrote that our neighbour, Mr. Kang, was a fish tauke? Well, we just found out that we could be taukes, too - tauke sayur! Our courtyard which sits between the main living and the dining room is full of this undergrowth/grass which I swear looks like kangkung!

And, the garden has this crawling thingy which looks like bayam!(Errrr...Ibu, can secure contract to supply to T**CO kah?!! Hahaha!)



*** Kangkung, anyone?!




*** What about bayam?!

(Note to self : Have to find a gardener to tend to the grounds until we move in)

After finishing with the indoor stuff, we went outside to work out on the grounds. Remember when I wrote about the possibility of having a tree-house at the new place? Well, Hilman had since then, changed his mind, and now has requested for a SWIMMING POOL instead (????!!!) Hahahaha! Like how many zeros do you think Mommy and Ayah have to add to the budget if we were to agree to your swimming pool, my dear?! Hmmmmm...tough choice. Tree-house? Swimming Pool? Tree-house? Swimming Pool? Hmmmm....let me see...How much more do we need for a swimming pool? Yeah, right. Another 50 sen... HAHAHA!



*** Possible site for the Tree-house (or swimming pool?!!!)

And, did I mention that there's an Exercise Ground right in front of our new place? So, every time we're there, the kids would spend at least half an hour going on the apparatus, and yesterday was no exception. They have the Waist Twister, the Single Walker, the Sky Walker, the Rowing Machine, and a few others. So, I was telling Ayah - "We have no excuse nanti if we do not have regular exercise!" To which Ayah replied, "Yeah... just like we're not supposed to have any excuse NOW for not taking up jogging seriously when the jogging track is RIGHT in front of our SD house...." HAHAHAHA! Okay, Ayah, you've got a point, there.






*** Some pics of us trying the apparatus. Ada tokoh, or not?! Notice that Ayah is still in his lab attire - just in case the hospital were to call...sigh...

Anyway, for now - our visits to the new house will only be on Sundays. When are we moving in? Hmmmm...we don't really know. It all depends on when we can start the renovation work, which in turn depends on when our preferred contractor is free to work on our house... which in turn depends on when his current project will finish. Until then, if you guys cannot find us anywhere on any of the Sundays, try finding us at our new abode. We'll surely be there - if not working ourselves out with mopping and cleaning the house, or going to the Exercise Ground, we would probably be sweating ourselves silly tending to our kangkung and bayam plots there...

Hmmmmm....No need to get lifetime membership for Cel**rit* Fi*ne*ss la like this!

Cheers ;)

GONG XI FA CHAI

GONG XI FA CHAI to all my Chinese friends, and all bloghoppers.

May the Year of the Rat bring Joy, Love, Prosperity and Everything Great to All.

A Very Special Greetings to our next door neighbours, The Kangs, (but, I doubt they read this!) who, from time to time have been our supplier of fresh fish and seafood over the years. Mr. Kang is a fish tauke at Pasar Borong Selayang and Mrs. Kang helps him with the management and the accounts of the business. Mind you, they only give the best, the freshest, and the most expensive fish to us (FOC!) - the likes of Black Cod Fish, the huge Bawal Hitam, and Bawal Emas, Tiger and King Prawns, Sea Breams, and so many more which I don't know the names! They have also kept an eye on our house during the times when we only came back to SD just for the weekends and when we were away in the UK for a year at one time.

Thank you for being a great neighbour.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Part 2 of previous posting...

Ayah just came back tonight (Yahoooo!!!) and clarified a few things :

(i) His passport would be expiring this June (and not "had expired June 2007" as posted previously) - but, of course, as we all know our Immigration Department has been cheating us all these years. We pay for a 5-year passport, but it's only valid for 4 1/2 years!

and,

(ii) He ONLY got to know that he was going to Tokyo and NOT Kobe while he was already HALFWAY through the journey - and NOT while he was still at KLIA as I previously thought!

What happened was, he realized that one of his colleagues who was with the group in KLIA was nowhere to be seen on the flight, and so, he asked one of the sponsor's reps. And this was what transpired -

Ayah : Errr...Have you seen Prof. Im**n?

Rep : Oh, he has taken the flight to Kobe.

Ayah : ?????? Flight to Kobe? (started to panic). What do you mean? Isn't THIS the flight to Kobe?!

Rep : Errrr...No, Prof. This is the flight to Tokyo...(?)

(And I'm sure, deep inside, the rep was telling himself - "Biar betul Mamat ni?!!")

HAHAHAHAHA!

This gets better and better, huh?