Another new year, another year less...

On this New Year's eve, in saying farewell to 2008, and hello to 2009, I have a lot to be thankful for.

Syukur alhamdulillah, 2008 has been a good year for me, Ayah, the kids and our loved ones, and we make do'a that 2009 will bring with it more love, joy, rezqi, wisdom, success, and more importantly - good health for us to enjoy all that Allah SWT has bestowed upon us, insya Allah. And we make do'a that we'll be able to give more to others, too, insya Allah.

I have made so many new friends in the last one year through this humble blog of mine, and I have also found some long-lost friends, too. And for that, I am so grateful.

So, on this eve of 2009, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you abundance of good things in life, love, joy, laughters, wisdom, success, health and semoga dipanjangkan umur dan dimurahkan rezqi, insya Allah.

And as we leave 2008, I would like to leave all of you with this little conversation that I had with Hasya and Hilman today, and something for all of us to ponder upon -

Hilman : Mommy, why do cats eat mice?

Me : Hmmmm, I dunno. I've never thought about it, Hilman. Why do you ask?

Hilman : I dunno, I'm just curious.

Me : I guess, it's like, why do WE eat chicken, vegetables, and fish, etc.? Because we just do? Hmmmm, I really don't have any other explanation to that, Hilman.

Hasya : Errr, Mommy, do you think, MAYBE it's because mice taste like fish? MAYBE?

Me : ???!

(You don't know where this is going, do you? And I am not making any sense here, am I? Oh well,what the heck? Hehehe...))

Guys, what I'm trying to convey here is that - this new year, whenever you cannot find any answers to any questions, or when it feels like you're walking straight onto a solid wall, or when you're stuck with stuff, and when you feel nobody could help you explain the things that need explanation, and ALL THAT are pulling you down, be it at work, or otherwise, just spend MORE time with the kids.

They might provide you with the answers that you're looking for. Be it logical, or illogical ones.

But,hey, even if their answers are illogical, they will surely bring smiles to our lives throughout the new year, non? :)

And just think. Another new year would mean that we have one less year to spend with our kids, with our loved ones. Just think about it.

Just try to spend more time with your loved ones this New Year :)

And I'm sure, 2009 will be one of the best years in your life, insya Allah :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR, Y'ALL...

Wassalam.

New rooms to usher the new year...

Second Semester starts today.

And I had been on leave for the last 2 weeks. So, you all can just imagine how difficult it was for me to get out from under the duvet this morning.

But, after reaching the office at 7:40a.m., I'm feeling charged up again. I'll have about 60 students taking my courses for the next 4 months. It's not too bad - not too many, not too few. I should be able to meet my KPI of teaching at least 6-8 hours a week :)

Back at home, the girls' room is not yet fully ready. The walls have been painted though, the curtains are already up, and the air-cond unit installed. I think they just could not wait for it to be completed, and they've started sleeping up there for the last 3 nights - never mind all the boxes and stuff lying all over the room.

Their study tables and book-racks will be arriving tonight. And, Voon, our contractor will be installing the water-heater, and putting up the shelves on the walls this Saturday. Hopefully, everything will be done by this weekend, and the girls can fully enjoy their new room before school starts next week.

Hilman has also been sleeping alone in his room (used to be shared with his sisters) for the past three nights. And Ayah and I are very proud of him. We were expecting him to knock on our door in the middle of the night, but so far, so good. He has been a very brave boy, indeed :)

And today's Ayah's last day at work in PP*M. He'll be taking his annual leave from tomorrow until 14th March 2009. And he'll start his clinic session fully at TMC on his birthday - 15th March 2009. We've been busy searching for furnitures and fittings for his new clinic, too. Hopefully, his clinic will be ready by the end of February, insya Allah.

Oh ya - I've also re-arranged the furniture in my office, too, before I took my 2-weeks leave the other day. I'm a furniture-shifter, remember? ;) It has a new feeling to it now. I like :)

Hmmmmm, new room for everyone for the new year. Insya Allah, they'll bring rezqi and good things to all of us in 2009 (and beyond, of course :))

Wassalam.

Goodbye 2007...Hello 2008.....

2008 has not really started with a BANG! for us.

But, I would have to say, the LAST day of 2007 was something else for Ayah and I.

I guess some of you could relate to this - The "Meet-the-31st December-dateline-to redeem-whatever-points-needed-redeemed" phenomena, or rather, sickness?!

We left the kids with Daryati from 11:30a.m until 7:00p.m yesterday!

Went to pasar Taman Tun to collect Hilman's school trousers, and, also bought one papan of eggs.

Went to collect a photocopied book, and photocopied whatever documents needed for the kids' first day of school in Section 17.

Went to collect Ayah's passport at Mak's house.

Went to bank in some cheques at UM C*MB.

Went to MBSA, in Shah Alam to pay our overdue quit rent for the new house (plus fine some more!) We had to wait for more than 2 hours before we could finally pay the bill!

(All the time, my mind was thinking - the eggs...the eggs...the eggs!)

Went to MAS office at KL Sentral to collect Ayah's ticket to Surabaya, and also to redeem our Enrich points which would have expired today. Alhamdulillah, we managed to redeem some points and get tickets for a holiday a year from now, with the points.

Went to J*sco to renew our J-Card and redeem our points (which we later discovered could be done on another day. Eherks...)

(The eggs...the eggs...the eggs!!!)

Went back to SD, reaching home just before Maghrib. The one papan of eggs had been in the car for nearly 7 hours! Nasib baik tak menetas....

Anyway, after Maghrib we were frantically going through the Yellow Pages and calling the 103 operator to ask where the nearest Sen Heng/Sen-Q branch is - to redeem our points for our R*B Credit Cards which (yes, you guessed it right) were expiring by 31/12/07.

Got a number for a Sen Heng in Section 14 Jaya, and rushed there, only to find that that outlet is no longer there! Aaaarrrggghhh!!! And it was already 9:30p.m and we decided to just abandon the idea of rushing to SS2 to another Sen Heng shop. So, there goes our 44,000 plus points - gone with the wind...Serves us right for leaving it till the last day...

Anyway, so, off we went to Jaya 33 (our first time there actually) - the new hip and happening place in PJ, to have dinner at Cozy Corner. Sorry, no pictures. Food was top of our priority at that time, and I totally forgot that I had the camera in my handbag! Anyway, all 5 of us had sharks-fin soup and steaks (T-bones for Ayah and his daughters, sizzling black pepper sirloin for Hilman, and spare ribs for me - YUMMY!!!) And we're definitely going back there in the near future, insya Allah for their perfect steaks.

So, there you have it - our last day of 2007.

And now, for the first day of 2008...

What have my family and I done today?

Well, for a start, we watched the Countdown to 2008 and the fireworks display at KLCC...on TV (as always). We had a nearer-to-home fireworks display which we could have just gone to last night, i.e at The Curve, but, hello?! We prefer the comfort of our sofas at home, thank you. We could see the virtually non-moving traffic going to The Curve while we were passing through LDP last night coming back from Section 14, and said to ourselves - "Crazy people..." Hehehe! No offence meant! I'm sure those who celebrated the dawn of 2008 there had a fabulous time (but, maybe not-so-fabulous time queuing up to go home after the big party?!)

The four of us (myself, Ayah, Hasya and Hilman) ended up sleeping on the (too comfortable) sofas, with the TV watching us, and we only woke up at 5:30a.m! After sending the kids up to their room to continue with their sleep, we had our shower, solat suboh and only woke up again at 9:15a.m! The kids had their mengaji lesson at 10:00a.m, while Ayah went to the hospital for about 2 hours (well, no surprise there!)

We have no plans whatsoever for today, but the kids have been egging us to bring them to watch The Golden Compass. Hmmmm...have to discuss with Ayah. They will only start school on Thursday, so theoretically speaking, it's okay to bring them for an outing today (even though both Ayah and I will be working tomorrow after a 3 day break. Sigh...)

We ended 2007 with our own kind of "Bang!" - with me having a terrible migraine, and Ayah having a severe back pain yesterday. Maybe, we should just take the "Zen" approach to start 2008? After all, both of us are hitting the "Big 4" this year (YIKES!!!)

Hmmmmmmmmm??

Well, whatever it is, Happy New Year, y'all. May 2008 bring better and greater things for all of us, insya Allah (ESPECIALLY for Ayah ;) Amin.