Thursday, July 29, 2010

Coming Soon - Mutmainah dari Jawa Tengah...

"Ok..I want 2 do dis 4 u dear..Duit bole cari, but I want u 2 relax n chill out wen u come home. Kalau x tu habislah anak2 kena marah..+ bapak they all sekali! Haha :)"

Hehehe....

(Okay, okay... Granted. I can be so like a singa betina when I'm dead tired after a round of Bibik duties at home - and especially after a stressful day at the office).

Anyway, THAT was the SMS I got from Ayah last night after various SMSes between him, myself and Pn No*iz*n from a maid agency in SD. Even though we were quite shocked when we got to know the amount of dosh we have to part with to get a maid, we finally decided to just go ahead with it. Apparently, the amount quoted to us is the standard fee that one needs to pay for an Indonesian maid nowadays. In fact there are some agencies which charge between RM1k to RM1.5k more than that!

Really.

Really mencekedaghah more like it.

We've chosen one candidate by the name of Mutmainah, a 33 year old Mom of 3, from Jawa Tengah. She has worked in Malaysia before - there are pros and cons to that, like there are pros and cons to chosing EVERY single maid candidate out there irrespective of what are written in their biodata. So, pejam mata ajer lah. Pengemis tidak boleh menjadi pemilih... Bukankah begitu?

I was given the impression that this girl was already here and she could start straight away, and I was already planning to fold and iron at least HALF of my laundry yang dok menggunung in the back room, and also clean and tidy up the house a bit, coz' takut nanti Bibik pengsan bila sampai our house... Later I was told that it would take 2 months before all documents would be in order, etc. So, tolak campur kali bahagi, the new Bibik will only be here after Raya.

Well, I've been without a proper maid for 8 months now, what's another 2 months, kan? (I don't consider my last maid as a "proper" maid - for obvious reasons!)

Furthermore, this would also mean that I don't have to rush to iron and fold all those undone laundry, and there is also no need for me to break my back to do all that tidying up, too. At least for now ;)

So, insya Allah, we will not live like Kaum Badwi lagi nanti come end of September.

Having said that, this would mean that I can only REALLY chill out and relax at home in another 2 months time.

And in turn, this would also mean that Ayah and the kids would have to bear with this stressed out singa betina at home for another 2 months lagi...

;)

Friday, July 9, 2010

Towkay tongkang pecah...

We are living like nomads. Again.

Back in 1998 until 2003, that was how we lived. We stayed with Mak - my MIL, in PJ, as it was more convenient for us given the circumstances then. Our SD house was just our weekend home.

We had two sets of everything. One set in PJ, another set in SD. Toiletries, Clothes (different categories - homewear, sleepwear, "jalan" wear, baju kerja, towels, beddings), shoes, socks, baldi, etc. You name it. Two sets of everything. And we're talking about stuff for FIVE people, okay?! And sometimes I would end-up wearing a baju in PJ, only to realize that the matching tudung(s) were in SD. The same goes with my shoes. Major crisis, weh...

Then we decided that someone had to cut the umbilical cord, and we started to slowly settle in our own house :) The kids were getting bigger and needed the space, and Ayah and I needed our own room (Hehehe!;)) And I also needed my own kitchen :)

We still kept two sets of some of the things in PJ though, but just what the kids might need while waiting for me to fetch them after work. Furthermore they still had their tuitions and a couple of nights mengaji in PJ. But, we got used to the arrangement.

And then Mak moved to her new house early last month.

And we now have THREE sets of everything in three different houses.

As Mak has yet to move fully out of her PJ home, the house is still very much the centre of the kids' Universe. It is still the more convenient stop/transit point for the kids compared to her new house, as it's near their school, tuition centres, music class. And, they still have their mengaji there as it's more convenient for the Ustadz. And of course - it's just 7 minutes away from my office (on a jam-free day).

Mak still goes back to the old house every day to shift the barang-barang bit by bit to the new place, and I'm doing the same thing.

Some of the stuff - I have shifted to the the new place. Some - back to SD.

And our old room in PJ is already like tongkang pecah.

The same with our house in SD. Sememang sedia maklum macam tongkang pecah since my maidless status. And now - with all the stuff shifted back there, dah jadi macam tiga tongkang pecah. And it doesn't help that now we spend most of our time at Mak's new house, and I just couldn't find the time to really tidy-up/clean-up our SD house!

And our room in the new house is also like tongkang pecah as I keep bringing stuff there from PJ, and I couldn't/can't seem to find the time to unpack and kemas them properly.

So, just imagine. Living in three tongkangs. All pecah...

But, we do find it relatively more convenient for us staying at Mak's new place especially when it's so much nearer to Ayah's hospital. He doesn't have to drive that far at the end of a hectic day at work to get home, and he doesn't have to drive that far in case he gets called to the hospital in the middle of the night.

Not to mention, our SD house pun sejak dua menjak macam merajuk (macam tau we're moving out to our BJ house). Air-cond bocor, plumbing leaking, some of the lightings buat hal, etc. So much so, that we feel it to be so much more comfortable staying at Mak's place. And of course - there's Mak's AV Room, which makes our World Cup experience more gempaq the last month or so :) Hehehee!

Every 2-3 days we would go back to SD so that the kids can get whatever stuff they need for school/lessons for the next 2-3 days. And also to feed Benji and Button (the hamsters) and Jasper (the terrapin). And I would normally try to do as much ironing and tidying up as I can in the short span of time we're there.

And now, I shudder to think of how it would be when we finally decide to move in to our BJ house nanti.

EMPAT tongkang pecah?!

O.M.G.