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Monday 31 March 2014

Theory


The Little Girl turned 4 recently and I feel like time has really flown by. Her attention span has also increased slightly and she is more keen on quiet activities such as music theory worksheets. 

Bless!

Sunday Roast


The AirFryer experiment for grilled vegetables worked! Saves me time cleaning up an oven. The basket and drawer were all put into the dishwasher to wash, much to my delight.

1. Wash, cut and pat dry vegetables of your choice (photographed here were zucchini, pumpkin and capsicum slices).

2. One spoonful of olive oil to coat evenly, with pinch of salt being optional.

3. AirFryer at 180C for 18 minutes, toss half way through.

Serve immediately.

Complements the Jamie Oliver Roast Chicken perfectly!

Leaving

Rant ahead, proceed with caution.

I feel like leaving and closing my social media account. The upcoming holidays in April and August sans wifi would be test grounds for me to do so.

My last attempt to close my Facebook account was a failure. Instead of ending it and calling it a day, some friends convinced me that the white "f" sign is not that bad. It remained a research source of information and reviews for private international schools, so I stayed on. 

Now that the research is complete, will I be able to unplug the cord, so to speak?

Family and friends are online. They watch my family grow. Denying us all of that can be daunting at first. 

So I stayed back and analysed my online behaviour. 

Ex-school mates who only say "this too shall pass" can sometimes offer the much dreaded condescending tone instead of comforting me in my distress.

Stalkers online have been dealt with, privacy settings checked daily, culling and blocking became more rampant than adding, accepting and requesting. 

Silent lurkers were added to the restricted group and subsequently blocked.

In another case, an ex-pupillage era "friend" sent me a hate message, saying that my comments have hurt her (I did not agree that rain is bad traffic causation, human error in reacting to rain is) and I was further accused of being off tangent (she had sore throat and I suggested seeing the doctor and treating herself to some hot honey lemon drink). The hate message was sent to my Whatsapp at 1 am, so eventually she had to be blocked on Whatsapp too. I figured that would be simpler and costs less than applying for a restraining order against her. 

Well, what I did do as corrective action was to stop commenting on her status, followed by an apology, and friendship was removed with subsequent blocking. Is that how friends accord each other now? I am learning. Change is constant. Keep up with the times, I tell myself. Maybe not burn bridges, I have lots of emotional growth to do. 

Instead of looking outward at others, I have been nit picking at my own relection in actions, comments and controlling/editing my words. The results were immediate. No updates, no commments and my life is so much lighter for it.

If you have great tips on how to manage your social media presence, please share!

Thank you so much for reading my rant. I hope I have not wasted your 10 minutes, and if I did, I am so sorry. Please accept my sincere apologies.

Peace!


Wednesday 26 March 2014

Found, Finding

1. Found The Little Girl's missing waterplay bag containing one pink Billabong hoodie towel and Minnie Mouse swimwear at the Lost & Found Basket at the Playschool. After 3 weeks!
 
2. Found my missing confinement food photos in my lap top folder. After 9 months!
 
3. Now I really wish the Search And Rescue Team of our dearly missing MH370 can find its black box, amongst others. There is hope, there is always hope, there has to be hope. 

Al-Fatihah

MH370 ended. I am speechless. Ended?

To Him we belong, to Him we will return. May the grieving family members and friends find peace, and closure somehow. 

Al-Fatihah.
Saturday 22 March 2014

Yamaha U1

Let me let you in to one of our biggest secret (nah, the title gave it away):
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We have a new member arriving at The Flat in time for The Little Girl's 4th grand birthday!
Yes, one that has a voice. An examination worthy voice. A voice that will hopefully complete an otherwise half-trodden musical journey of the parents in this household. The Other Half was not offered formal music lessons (so he played by ear by tinkering at the old piano they had when growing up) and neither was I. Poor us. Such deprived childhood. Such unfinished agenda.
So.
We want to learn, for our own good. Maybe, we will never be musical prodigies at this ripe old age but really, that is not the bottomline of inviting music into our lives.
We want to enrich of souls, even if it is just by a little.
Some (readers of this blog can already guess who the usual naysayers are, right?) predict quite a bit of battle of the wills can and will occur in the near future as The Little Girl may refuse to practice, or have anything to do with the big black box with some keys. Maybe she will have two left hands and not be able to differentiate bass from treble.
Ahhh. Que sera sera.


We will still proceed with full confidence and gusto (our "success" as permitted by Allah Almighty in the breastfeeding journey has really changed our perception of negativity and doom into one of possibilities and unimaginable satisfaction from persevering whilst submitting to His will).
Therefore, let's pray that this too, will be a success story milestone in our seemingly insignificant lives. May the world be filled with more peace and love just because we have some music. Amin!
**invoking TigerMum mode, nonetheless**

Gratitude: Charitable Acts

Allah is most Kind, most Merciful. 

The Education Trust Fund that our family started is now 2 years old, and the principal sum has doubled in the said period. Alhamdulillah, we are so grateful for being able to sponsor more bright, underprivileged children in the coming years.

May Allah accept our deeds and bless us all in this journey, espcially in improving the quality of life and future of our next generation.

Here is to generasi cemerlang, gemilang dan terbilang!


Friday 21 March 2014

8 Pearly Whites

Bean has been up a few times at night being grouchy over his newly cut teeth, leaving his tattered parents with scatter brains following the broken sleep we are not accustomed to.

The upside: bright smiles decorated with his new pearls!

The downside: Mummy made silly errors on the EA forms. Now facing the music with LHDN and brushing up on Income Tax Act 1967.

How do full time working mums cope? (You have my respect!). Please share!
Tuesday 18 March 2014

Reliance


Blue skies, with some chance of rain. This makes me happy.


Haze. Frustration sets in, prayers held steadfast.


Gray clouds with chance of rain. Hope returns.

I have been as moody as the skies! Oh, Allah please be merciful on us all. Please command Your wind to blow the skies over our dams and land for rain to fall so abundantly and wash away our transgression against your creation.

Amin!


Sunday 16 March 2014

MH370

Praying for Allah's Will be done. And closure for family and relatives of those in board. Let's just stop the speculation already.

"And seek assistance through patience and prayer, and most surely it is a hard thing except for the humble ones," [Al-Quran 2:45]

Amin!


Saturday 15 March 2014

Mycoplasma Infection

Two Fridays ago, The Little Girl registered high fever whilst at Playschool. One of the teachers on duty rang me to pick her up immediately. 

By the time I parted the Red Sea that is Friday Prayers Traffic Jam in the city centre, she has been sponged for at least 20 minutes. 

So I drove her home, gave her some paracetamol syrup, bathed her then slapped on a sheet of BabyFever forehead stickers thinking that that would do it. It usually did.

But not that particular Friday. Her temperature spiked every hour, despite it all and by 9pm, we decided that PCMC ER is the only way to go.

Luckily, we did just that. Blood test was done and the results came back positive for mycoplasma infection. We even ordered the NS-1 test for dengue, which fortunately was available and showed negative results.

What followed was admission, two nights with intravenous drips, antibiotics and paracetamol.

Moral of the story is: do not take fever for granted. Get a blood test!
Friday 14 March 2014

Money Matter$

The Other Half puts away a small sum of money into my ASB account for rainy day use. Alhamdulillah for his thoughtfulness.

I really ought to resume putting away 20% of my gross salary per month into this account as well. Good quarterly financial check point for self. 

Family budget wise, we are in course this year after putting in some austerity measures. Alhamdulillah discipline and reality check works. Setting up the budget at year end was tedious but so worth it!

Let's work on keeping these simple habits for the rest of the year.

Bank statements

With the advent of e-statements, do you still file and keep your printed statements that arrive via monthly envelope?

I have one remaining bank account that does this and I wonder if it is time to inform the bank to stop? 

Point to ponder.

EPF i-akaun

The last time I logged in was obviously too long ago. 

There are new terms and conditions to accept, 3 new security questions and 1 new picture to select, inter alia.

Considering I got held up for a long time without any response from the server, I best get myself to the nearest EPF office to sort this out. 

Wish me well! 

P/S: managed to print the statement for 2013 in a kiosk at PNB HQ. what happened to the statement via snail mail?

Tax Time

They say two things are certain in life.

1. Tax: and
2. Death

Fortunately for me, it is no 1. 

Getting my act together, and so must you. Before May 15th, if filing online. Best to do it by April 30th. 

The reason why I am completing my returns for last assessment year is because I have a local holiday with the family coming up in mid April and prefer to be worry-free during the period.

Now, I pray the system is running smoothly and not hang on me!

P/S: completed on 17 March 2014, pats self on back!
Thursday 13 March 2014

Sit Up!

Bean is sitting upright! 

He has has quite a few flukes attempts before I went on course for two days. Yesterday, after the course completion, The Other Half showed me photographs he took of Bean sitting upright at home on the floor. 

From front crawl to push back to sit upright independently.

Such an important milestone! Just when I was away for a short course!

Well, to be fair, The Other Half missed most of The Little Girl's firsts too when he was working full time from an office. This sort of makes up for it.

Can I imagine missing all other milestones if I were to work full time at an office and travelling?!

I guess working from home is still the best decision, for now. Alhamdulillah for this opportunity.

Congratulations, Bean! 

Next up: cruising!
Monday 3 March 2014

Sleep Early

I used to go to bed by 9.30 pm when pregnant with Bean but lately have shortchanged myself in the shut eye department. 

It is the darn reading materials subscribed online and downloaded daily. Time to put the Apple twins (iPhone and iPad) down and go to sleep, really!

Reading before sleeping has been a habit since childhood and one that is hard to break, but perhaps this is one bad habit I will keep. Even after LASIK in 2001, I kept on reading. Work and leisure. Shopping (reading the ingredient list is scrutiny fine print work, have you tried?)

*picks up e-book*

Good night, folks!

Continued Professional Training

In line with keeping myself as a work from home mother, I also attend continued professional training at least once a year for a couple of days to earn credit hours for Licensed Secretary license renewal.
 
This year, I hope to complete mine this March before the commencement of April holidays. Really hope to get this off my to-do list so that I can truly relax in the company of family.
 
The perks?
9 am - 5 pm x 2 days without the kids - this itself feels like a holiday already!
 
I know I am truly not ready to join full time workforce just as yet, and this is my way of keeping myself employable until I consider returning to work full time. Maybe. Maybe not. The Other Half and I just had a brief discussion that perhaps our calling is in building our mini masjid with our little ummah.
 
As for now, this is good enough. It is not much, but it is something. It is not everything, but it is important. Truly, loved ones are all that matter. Contentment comes from within and now I truly get that about me.
 
38, and I finally figured another small part of myself out.

The Crawling Baby

Bean is crawling everywhere at home now. Such a cute sight! I really cherish this milestone and try to remember these wonderful moments forever (resulting in not taking much photos, sadly).
 
How do I even begin to baby-proof the playroom full of toys suitable for above 3 years old for a 8 month old?
 
When The Little Girl is away at Playschool, it is just Bean and we can scan the room, put away small/sharp toys and organise the play somewhat. However, when The Little Girl is home and is playing, it is havoc! The playroom sometimes look like a storm just passed. With everything strewn all over in an evidently happy mess, it may be a hazard to the little crawler who also likes to explore texture and taste by putting the toys into his mouth.
 
Oh, the supplication of this mother just went a tad longer for Allah s.w.t. to keep the two little ones safe from harm, safe from each other. Amin!

Gratitude: Holidays

Today I am thankful that we have upcoming holidays! 



Two local ones this April and one to a far away place in August. Sure there will be lots of packing and dirty laundry at the end of it all but, oh, the memories that we will create as a young family!



Alhamdulillah. Allah s.w.t. is so generous with His blessings.

May the weather improve with return of blue skies, wind that brings rain clouds and all of Allah's glorious creations!

Gratitude: Resolutions

Today I am thankful for resolutions.
 
I have made a seemingly simple resolution this year. No wonder it is so easy to break resolutions!
 
Mine is to tame my tongue when communicating face to face with elders; and edit my not-so-sweet remarks/comments/retort when communicating online.
 
This is now only early March and already I am making a few faltered steps. Instead of giving the laser comeback lines to the ones close and dear (usually my MIL) and being a keyboard warrior when provoked online, I now put myself in the other person's shoes and wonder how insecure/unlearned/hormonal/PMS/menopausal the person may be feeling.
 
Now, I'd find myself quite reserved in my replies. I would try to limit my time alone with the ever-provoking MIL so that I will not loose my cool. I lose the game when I do not keep my cool.
 
When I have typed out an entire perfect comeback line online, I would hit "delete" instead of posting. Then perhaps, edit the relationship, set restrictions, unsubscribe, unfollow, unlike, unfriend and block, depending on the severity of the case. I am sure you have done it too! Some call it social culling.
 
Surprise, surprise - this is doing my soul much good! I wish I knew earlier but I keep reminding myself this is to be taken "one step at a time, one thought at a time".
 
In conclusion, I am thankful that I realise and keep what is doing me good, and doing away with what is harmful to my time, energy and soul. May Allah s.w.t. accept this little ibadah, Amin!