Infected!

Salam my lovelies,

Our long battle staying away from the much feared COVID-19 virus has finally ended with not one but four infections! Our entire household braved it together in one fell swoop from 17 to 31 March 2022.

Here is a short account of how it happened and how we recovered from it.

Bean and Girl attended school in person on 17 March 2022 as it was their photoshoot day for their year book. They both had the most wonderful time at school and came home so happy that day, with lots of stories to share. Bean's Homeroom Teacher noted particularly that Bean was extra helpful and had gone to assist his classmates, one by one, with their cultural diversity poster. His PowerPoint presentation file was saved in his Microsoft Tab drive at home and since he had completed his entire presentation to her satisfaction the day before, he was allowed to "help" his classmates.

I was on the fence about letting them attend the photoshoot at first, but after considering that this counts as a milestone event in their school calendar, I finally relented and agreed to it the night before, at dinner time. You could say I went against my gut feeling or better judgment. Anyways.

At 7:07 a.m. on 18 March 2022, just as Bean was coming down the stairs all dressed up and smiled brightly as he anticipated another exciting day at school, he saw my face fell as I read an email that had just come in from his class teacher.

Yes, the much dreaded school email during pandemic parenting: one positive case had just been reported in Bean's class and that the class was to immediately revert to online learning with close monitoring using RTK until the following Monday. One classmate who was already at school stayed there with the Homeroom Teacher and TA until he was collected later that day. Most had to U-turn whilst on their journey to school. You can imagine the chaos.

Since we were at still at home, we quickly tested Bean and his RTK results were negative. He logged in online while Girl attended school in person as sibling(s) of a close contact with a negative RTK need not quarantine as per guidelines applicable at that time. Girl came home extra bouncy and happy that day. After dinner, we were all huddled closely for our weekly Friday movie night at home. (You will all be thinking at this point: no huddling! You all need to isolate!). 

Saturday came and went without us visiting The Grandparents that day. To err on the side of caution, we isolated ourselves from them and everyone else. Bean's RTK results were still negative and we went on to huddle up for another weekend of movie night at home. (You will all be thinking: BIG mistake! No huddling is allowed!).

By Sunday, Bean started having fever, chills and aches. He was whiny from noon onwards (he is hardly ever whiny!) and his RTK results were still negative. Suspecting something was amiss by late that Sunday night, we decided to bring him in for PCR test at Ramsey Ara Damansara Hospital first thing on Monday. 

The Other Half drove Bean there. They both got tested. They came home and we isolated Girl just to be sure - but you all know that was too late. The Other Half mentioned he had a sore throat and wanted rice porridge for dinner.

That Monday night, after Isya', the hospital rang. Both PCR results for Bean and The Other Half were positive. We quickly rang The Grandparents to inform them and worked out our isolation dates. We nursed Bean of his high fever, sponged him and tried to break his fever. Nothing worked. His saturated oxygen level dropped to 94% at one point and I do not remember sleeping much that night. I only remember constantly sponging his hot body and tried to keep his fever below 38.8C, and fed him paracetamol and water at regular intervals.

I started to have a sore throat by early Tuesday morning and as soon as Girl woke up, I got her changed and drove her to the same ER. The nurses there remember Bean and The Other Half from the day prior, and they swiftly processed our PCR tests. We came home to wait out our results. By wait, I meant care for 3 sickly ones. 4, if you counted me in. My entire day was spent rescheduling meetings.

The much anticipated phone call from the hospital lab came around 11:30 p.m. that night. Girl and I were positive too. We were told there would be no real need to isolate ourselves in the household now but to keep all touch points sanitised as best as we possibly can, and to use our own bathrooms. We were also told not to share any personal items or meals. We declared the COVID-19 party time at home had commenced and our only aim was to preserve as much normalcy and routine as possible.

My nurse duty marathon lasted 3 whole days. One by one started to feel better after that, except myself. I still have the occasional cough and thick sputum now but I am so glad the worst is over now. Having friends who have caught COVID-19 and survived to share their secrets to surviving this was handy indeed. Their WhatsApp support round the clock alleviated a lot of my worries.

Honestly, we were too tired to watch Netflix or read all night like some patients have reported. Even our eyes were sore and the best cure was sleep! We definitely drank a lot of water, consumed many bowls of soup and porridge, ate a tonne of fresh vegetables and fruits, applied RC essential oils from Young Living to our chests and Thieves essential oils also from Young Living with carrier oil to our feet and unbashedly accepted gifts of Manuka honey lemon drops-Lian Hua vegetarian botanical pills-masks-get well soon wishes. Only I took the Lian Hua pills. 2 tablets twice day for two days, after food. My fever broke and my nose started bleeding so I stopped. The feeling of the fever and chills leaving my body was my moment of pure gratitude so I can imagine how the other 3 must have felt too. Everything improved from that point onwards.

The Management Office where we live were most supportive with our double bagged trash disposal and deliveries - all doorstep service with great social distancing. We deeply appreciate their support during such trying times.

On the bright side, we have ticked this item off our 2022 "bucketlist" if there ever was one for catching and surviving the dreaded virus. We survived - syukur alhamdulillah! We also pray we do not catch future variants!

Oh, and we discovered our absolute love for cold soya milk treats from The Soyamilk Factory. Yums! 

The million dollar question now is: are we Ramadhan ready? Yes, inshaAllah. We would like to wish all our Muslim readers a very blessed Ramadhan ahead. Take good care and stay safe!

 

Start of T2 AY2021/22 and Omicron Uncertainties

Salam my lovelies,

Please pardon my being away from this blog. As a family, we have been making an effort to stay offline to make time for our in person presence with The Grandparents. This long drawn pandemic is starting to feel a wee bit harder than it was as we now battle the raging Omicron. Luckily, Girl and Bean have received their first dose of vaccination and we cannot wait till the next dose. Whilst we understand vaccination is not 100% protection, we also understand that reduction in symptoms and complications from infection are key to their wellbeing. I know I would feel less anxious about letting them attend school in person if they have been fully vaccinated.

School has been most supportive with offering them online schooling option even when in person lessons are available. This hybrid mode has been key in our recent "circuit breaker" for 3 days and co-existence with the virus so far. Personally, we have 6 more weeks of this to contend with and we shall review our family coping strategy again in early April. April because it will be the second dose vaccination appointment for Girl and Bean. By then, Term 2 would have come to its tail end and we hope to start Term 3 with more confidence!

On the bright side, Girl and Bean have both attended 100% of all their online lessons and we are so proud of their resilience. Their discipline in being punctual with the attendance register, access to lessons, attention and diligence have surpassed all our expectations. They keep producing satisfactory, quality work and remain happy with the occasional healthy expression of "When is it safe to go out again?" or "Can we go swimming today?" Usually, we take them out to the park.

Bean is still getting 2 hours of extra help with his English language (he is a native speaker but can do better with structure and sequence). He also keeps a two online playdates per month with his friends from Early Autism Project Malaysia. Girl spends 3 hours weekly with her artistic gymnastics coach and fellow gymnasts. They both still take piano lessons once weekly. Looking at these detailed breakdown makes me realise that they do get sufficient outside world contact, albeit done online, for now. That is also why I have not signed them on to any extra activities on top of their school CCA. Down time is crucial too.

Like most families in our community, we take calculated risks during occasional outing to the quiet, clean and relatively safer local malls. These sporadic meals at a family café and window shopping allow us all some form of semblance to our pre-COVID19 lives. Strict compliance to SOPs have worked in our favour so far, Syukur Alhamdulillah. Daily park and play time allows us some much needed fresh air and sunshine, I cannot highlight this enough. There is no denying that we miss our aeroplane travels so that is definitely still in our bucket list. Something to look forward to!

Here is wishing everyone our very best belated wishes for 2022. Stay safe, my lovelies.

Lunar New Year: Year of the Tiger

Salam my lovelies,

Happy Lunar New Year! We are happy to share our gratitude all around despite the rise of cases due to Omicron.

Reunion dinner was a simple but warm family gathering. We hosted The Grandparents for a simple Prosperity Toss, homecooked dinner and tea ceremony followed by board games. They brought over cookies, chocolates, fruits and hong bao. It was a fun evening!

On another related anecdote, Girl turns 12 soon and we are so excited for her first cycle of the 12 zodiac signs. Such a bittersweet milestone it is for her as she grows into a fine young lady with grit and grace.

We are also grateful for our team success in helping the school PTA raise more than RM2000 from our cookies and crackers fundraiser for Ti-Ratana Welfare Society. It was definitely a proud moment for this community achievement considering there was a flour, sugar and egg shortage leading up to delivery time. Milky Way Food Industries Sdn. Bhd. has never let us down and we strive to continue our collaboration with them for the foreseeable future.

Here is to wishing everyone a safe and happy year filled with prosperity, good health and abundance of wealth. Gong Xi Fa Cai, Xin Nian Kuai Le!

End of T1 AY2021/22

Salam my lovelies,

We are well into the final 2 weeks of the first term. Bean is settled into Year 4 and Girl is spontaneously comfortable/bonded with her new teachers and classmates in Year 7. Moving to upper primary and secondary were definitely remarkable milestones (and school fees increment!). Parent Teacher Evenings are lined up for the week ahead so wish me luck!

The Christmas charity is up and we have sold 50 Sarawak Penan Bags to raise RM1260 for donation to Rumah Charis. Syukur alhamdulillah. The gift pledge cards are hung on the school Christmas tree and steady stream of presents are expected until 17 December 2021. Considering the economic outlook is not as bright as we have hoped, the generosity of many never fail to impress us. May this charity be long and blessed.

Last Friday, the very first COVID-19 cases was recorded in secondary school. The Senior Leadership Team, teachers, staff, students and parents have mostly remained calm and orderly. As of press time, there have been no new cases, no cluster has been formed and we will continue to trace and test. The year group in question are being self-isolated and lessons will continue online. Grit on! Our first school case since March 2020, what an amazing feat while it lasted.

Girl and Bean were in school for total of 2 days during their turn in rotation. The community we live in recorded 2 cases by the end of their second day at school and we immediately opted for online learning/work from home module with trips out to the grocer only when necessary. This self- imposed/strict discipline/err on side of caution have worked well for us as 3 more local cases were recorded. The Other Half stalks the community e-bulleting like a hawk and we will remain vigilant, inshaAllah. May Allah swt grant us all the strength, stamina, financial resources and protection while we ride out challenges of Omicron, Delta and annoying political situation in Malaysia.  

A little note to celebrate: I got my Pfizer booster dose!

Here is a quick update on my journey of luxury minimalism. Many of you know that I am an investment-conscious, work-from-home mother with no helper and have limited fund for frivolous spending. I used to purchase luxury purses and shoes using my annual bonus and this habit stuck. In 2020, I started curating my items mindfully, adding only a couple of key classic pieces so that I have a good rotation to choose from.

By 2021, my closet declutter items that were identified had been sent to a local reliable consignment company known as Labagatory. They sold some of my items in record fast time - one noir Hermes Bastia coin purse in Epsom leather which is now obsolete with e-wallet being so prevalent, one red Salvatore Ferragamo belt with GHW which I bought for Christmas and CNY "uniform" but never wore, and one pair of black Salvatore Ferragamo Vara jelly that I never quite broke in because leather shoes are so much more comfortable. I also sold a carmine red Salvatore Ferragamo shopping tote and black Anya Hindmarch work tote to another luxury reseller at Bangsar Village.

However, there were also some items from Carolina Herrera the wonderful people at Labagatory assessed and decided not to take on. I guess these will be donated, same as I had done with the bundle of Coach, Oroton, Braun Buffel, Frankitas and several other contemporary branded intems that were quickly snapped up in my neighbourhood preloved group.  

My consignment success also did not extend to a brand new Balenciaga City Classic. Maybe I will ask if I can dye the distressed lambskin from denim to all black so that I can make it work better with my capsule wardrobe closet but I know that denim colour can work just as well with my casual/weekend pieces. I just need to put in some coordinating effort when dressing myself?

I feel so light and free from having a smaller but cohesive wardrobe and those of you on this journey will agree with me that less is more. I do not understand how I ever "lost" my capsule wordrobe as I always had one since small until my early 30s. Boy, am I glad I hit my resume mode?

Pardon my rambling on. I better get back to decluttering. I bet I have a whole lot more items to donate, if I care to properly assess. I am already looking forward to less clutter.

Stay safe, everyone!

End of AY2020/21 and Summer Break 2021

 Salam my lovelies,

Pardon for the long silence as we trudged on the final term of pandemic-online-schooling. Syukur alhamdulillah Girl and Bean both did exceptionally well in their GL Assessments. Girl graduated in our living and dining room. Bean scored an award for Most Improved Student of his class. The Awards Ceremonies were surprisingly interesting! We applied for access to be granted to The Grandparents so they joined us online to watch both ceremonies. Both of the children's homeroom teachers will be returning to England, alas. They will both be sorely missed.

Girl and Bean somewhat enjoyed their online Sports Day as the novelty had worn off. We will suggest that the programme be updated next year as repeating the same routines and challenges from AY2019/20 annually were not exciting nor engaging for the most part. Morion, their sports house, did not win this year but put up a good fight. Sportsmanship can be tough under pandemic-fatigue as we witnessed first hand.

International Week came and went without much pomp and gala as the overall spirit was dampened by high daily new cases and long-drawn lockdown. Girl's class was assigned Thailand, and Bean's year group was again assigned China (same as when they were in Year 1). Girl's Thai costume arrived after International Week Dress Up Day, and Bean donned his Lunar New Year red costume. There was not much decoration of study space, except reusing all our Lunar New Year deco items for Bean's China-theme. I must remind myself to order Bean's new costumes as he is outgrowing them soon.

We cooked some masa harina pancakes (the recipe is a keeper) and ordered Thai food during International Week. Bean missed his xiao long bao and la mien so much he kept reminiscing his meal at Din Tai Fung KLCC when we could last venture out.

Summer break is finally here and we are spending every single day indoors, same as most Klang Valley dwellers. Our 9.2 acre park is still shut but we enjoy the greeneries and fresh air. This is our first holiday-less indoor long break. We ordered a whole series of The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer and a few more titles for Girl, including a new release from David Edward Williams (David Walliams). Bean is working on his Horrible Histories series, still. His stamina for reading is nowhere near that of Girl's, not that I am comparing.

Personally, I am working on re-motivating myself. I have a lot to be grateful for and reaffirm myself of this fact daily. Although The Other Half and I have been fully-vaccinated, we are not taking our chances and are very aware of the fact that both children have yet to reach their respective vaccination threshold age. We are certainly taking all precautions and coping the best we can with what we have.

On the fluffier side of life, our balcony plants are thriving and they bring much joy. Both children are painting, colouring, crafting and playing online games. They usually transition into movement breaks without cue. Dances and balloon-volley indoors are so fun with them! We must include more of our stationary bike and rower considering we have been eating well could use some extra exercise.

We hope to spend the rest of this summer break in good health and happiness. All school fees have been paid and their books for Y7 and Y4 are arriving from the warehouse. Hopefully, Girl's new secondary uniform will be available as soon as the bookstore is allowed to open (on-site at School and it is not currently permitted under Phase 1). I am still in awe she is going to Y7 and knowing me, I may get all emotional come September.

Ending this post with much love and peace to everyone. Stay safe and healthy. May happiness and joy come your way daily. 

Term 1 Academic Year 2020/21

Salam my lovelies,

Girl and Bean returned to physical school with strict adherence to SOP on 1 September 2020 and I truly enjoyed the few hours they were tucked away safely 600 metres from home. We got their books in middle of August 2020, wrapped and labelled them all by 31 August 2020 ready to be sent in to their classes.

The drop-off and pick-up points have been smooth, with the Head of Primary, Head of Secondary and Principal on duty every morning to greet children and parents. Best service with smiles! Improved traffic flow and risky pathways that used to be congested no longer annoy parents as much as last academic year.

CCA were reintroduced under new SOP which limited students to fewer choices as year groups were kept together. Nonetheless, Girl and Bean both managed to find excitement in the available options. Primary school has yet to commence swimming due to physical distancing but Secondary school was about to start.

Communication remains one of the most important features at School. Bean's IEP meeting had been conducted via Zoom, and I have met both Girl and Bean's teachers face-to-face as part of our "Meet the Teachers" practice to know one another better and set growth goals for Girl and Bean.

The PTA held its 3rd AGM on Zoom with timely notification, attendance recording, voting for new committee members and voting for constitutional reforms. I am serving as its Secretary again this academic year. The annual returns and constitutional amendments were submitted to Registrar of Societies (ROS) by 30 September 2020. The Treasurer and I wanted it done as soon as possible as the number of infection cases seemed to be rising again. We set aside time and managed to get our signatories sorted at the bank by 1 October 2020. Syukur alhamdulillah.

The Chairperson of the PTA and I meet with the Principal of the School every fortnight to discuss issues arising, before our monthly Committee meeting. The first fortnightly meeting felt fresh as the last time we had been in the Principal's office was March 2020 just before MCO to recommend on way forward to curb spread of COVID-19 at School. Notice for the first monthly Committee meeting were finalised and served then BAM!

Ministry of Education issued a press release on 11 October 2020 that schools in red zone in Petaling district were to be closed from 12 to 25 October 2020. Kids' School was included in the list.

The Principal issued a notice immediately to confirm that online learning were to commence at 8:30 a.m. on 12 October 2020 on Phoenix Classrooms. There was strong sense of calm. I briefed Girl and Bean and they understood the rules of engagement, syukur alhamdulillah. The Other Half was in fact happier at the thought of the kids being safer at home. 

Girl even professed her love for me from her overwhelming sense of gratitude of being able to stay safe at home. Bean was just happy to eat home-cooked food and not be subjected to the SOP individually-packed bento box from the meal plan... which means I may revert to bento-making when they commence Term 2. Something for me to seriously consider.

The PTA Committee agreed to postpone its first monthly meeting for this academic year to make way for the senior leadership team of School to focus on its improvement action plan to resolve various issues resulting from online learning.

Before we could even blink, Ministry of Defence announced implementation of CMCO in Selangor from 14 to 27 October 2020. 

So, here we are. 871 cases as of yesterday. We do not foresee returning to school until 2 November 2020 at the earliest as there is a mid-term break from 26 to 30 October 2020. We pray we can all flatten the curve again in this third wave. If it takes up staying home until 31 December 2020, so be it. 

Our first week of online learning was smooth from the second half of the first day onwards. Phoenix and Zoom have been working wonderfully well. We do not miss the previous method of ClassDojo/Zoom/MS Teams and email. Preparedness is what helped School transition seamlessly this time (luckily we at the PTA had requested for whole school Phoenix Classrooms training to be administered and all parents to be trained in preparation of the worst - and the School did train the students soon after that meeting on 8 October 2020!). Parents now seem more experienced and make better TAs, students are more acclimatised too, alhamdulillah.

Additionally, I am more aware of my self-care with proper sleep and light exercise. The stationary bike and rower purchase at last CMCO are huge blessings. I bake much less now compared to the last MCO and CMCO; and destress by way of reading or watching my favourite programmes (I miss Paris so much I finished watching Emily in Paris in one night) instead of binging on my bakes.

As a family:

We are grateful for our full fridge and freezer and reliable fruits supplier. 

We are grateful for electricity and water supply. 

We are grateful for sufficient data and working devices. 

We are grateful for our health and steady income.

Let's all stay safe together, inshaAllah.

Summer Holidays 2020

Salam my lovelies,

We were so fortunate and blessed to have been on two local holidays this summer.

We narrowly escaped the Sivagangga Cluster in the north of peninsula too. Penang was a lovely host and it felt like a slice of heaven in our brave new world.

MySejahtera app check-in, cashless parking app, Setel cashless petrol purchase, TouchNGo eWallet and online bookings were our usual mode of payment. We hardly ever used cash in Penang, which was a huge relief.

We booked ahead at places we intended to dine at or visit to manage expectations during this period of physical distancing. Cheong Fatt Tze and David Brown’s were both most delightful lunch venues! 

Face masks are compulsory everywhere still, except in spacious personal space or private beach and properties where we stayed at. 

Sunset in Penang. 

This was our treehouse at Tiarasa Escapes, Janda Baik, Pahang. The sumptuous afternoon picnic by the stream, movie under the stars and kampung walk are all highly recommended as they were most enjoyable although every often you'd find an Instagrammer doing a live feed or 1001 poses for that one perfect post. Girl volunteered to be my photographer the afternoon we arrived but she abandoned the project as soon as she met the pool and spent almost all her remaining time in the pool with Bean. We stopped by Genting Premium Outlet for lunch after checking out from Tiarasa and surprisingly bought nothing there.

We continued to research other green zones and monitored data from Ministry of Health Malaysia for other short day trips and two of the most delightful were Sekinchan and World of Phalaenopsis at Ulu Yam. 

Hope you are having a great and safe summer break too! 

Recovery Movement Control Order ("RMCO")

Salam my lovelies,

RMCO kicked in on 10 June 2020 and we have been much happier since.

YAMAHA has resumed music classes at its Subang Parade branch. Girl donned her child-sized surgical mask to class yesterday, and washed her hands immediately after class. Due to registration requirements, she now carries her first smartphone to login MYSejahtera, SELangkah and QR Code Scanner. The same routine of face masks and check-in apps will be required of her when she goes to artistic gymnastics training tomorrow. My prayer and wish is that she stays as safe as possible as I can no longer just keep her at home with screen time or the park and bicycle routine. We have all read many books and played endless rounds of board games, trust me. It is time for return to society in a brave new world.

Bean will resume music classes tomorrow, and I sure hope he can follow all the safety steps. I have in mind to brief him in 3 simple steps using simple visual cues on the whiteboard before he leaves home. He turned 7 a few days ago and we hosted a simple dinner at home to celebrate with The Grandparents. It was a joyous occasion to be gathered every once in a while. I pray extra hard for his safety as he returns to the brave new world. He wished for swimming pools to be opened and his wish will come true on 25 June 2020! Alhamdulillah! We will be cautious and maybe fill up our large inflatable pool on our roof deck instead of using the common pool, we shall see.

EAP Malaysia hosted Family Day 2020 Lockdown edition on YouTube Live on 20 June 2020 and that was fun too. Bean was given a few speaking lines and he did really well. The edited videos turned out better than when we saw them being recorded during early days of MCO. He was given free rein without any of my intervention so we could all see for ourselves pure Bean in his element. His friends were all equally impressive. Bravo, kiddos!

Both children have completed their Virtual Sports Day and GL Assessments. Next up will be Parents Evening (Report Card Day) and Year End Concert and Speech Day. School has been wonderful in many ways and I cannot applaud them enough for always innovating for semblance of life for everyone. Bravo!

Onwards and better, inshaAllah.

P/S: Girl won Role Model Award, bravo! 

Term 3 AY2019/20@Home

Salam my lovelies,

Eid Mubarak and Maaf Zahir Batin. The one single day we were allowed to have The Grandparents over for lunch and tea was magical! Absence had made hearts fonder. Video calls cannot replace physical presence.

Since the onset of Movement Control Order on 18 March 2020, Girl and Bean have been schooling remotely/online from home starting at 8:00 a.m. with adequate offline time to complete worksheets/activities/video recording/rest time and an hour lunch break at noon. They sometimes finish lessons by 3:30 p.m. and seamlessly move on to Netflix or games on the iPad which got me worried because too much screen time is simply not healthy. We ordered a pair of blue light protective glasses for each kid and they have diligently put them on. Improvement to their sleep cycle and quality improved were immediately noted, and we now recommend these protective glasses to all our friends and their children.

We do not fuss if they do not submit all worksheets, videos, projects or assignments on the dot of 4 p.m. daily simply because if we were to run this marathon of remote learning from home, we first need a happy and harmonious home. Mental wellbeing is far more important than timely submitted school work at this point in time (78 days since 18 March 2020, that is). Star of the Week, Star of the Day, DojoPoints and end of year examinations and awards are not high on our priority list right now. Girl fares excellently and that is fine. Bean prefers not to participate in every single Zoom class and that is fine too. He catches up in so many other ways.

Both Girl and Bean had earlier spent their Term 2 break at home with us 24/7. There were no complaints about not going anywhere for vacation. Staycation maximum indeed. We read, played board games, played imagination/role playing games, baked new cakes (Basque Burnt Cheesecake being a huge hit), baked Irish Soda Bread when yeast was nowhere to be found, painted, crafted, played music, sang, danced, soaked in the tub, practiced indoor exercises and watched many movies on Netflix. Like the rest of the world, presumably.

Luckily, Conditional Movement Control Order was enforced from 4 May 2020 onwards. They have since  mastered cycling without trainer wheels within a day without any saddle pushing or holding  (yay!). We have been heading out once daily for 20 minutes at our courtyard corridor and park for some sunshine and fresh air. This is a pleasant daily routine we all look forward to.

The Other Half has improved in efficacy of his weekly grocery trips. He bought me a zucchini instead of cucumber once and I will live to retell this funny incident, preferably not in his presence. There was one trip I made to the local mall for some clothes, office supplies, kitchen tools and it felt like a huge treat. I would highly recommend a weekly dose to maintain sanity and "me-time". How I miss my carefree window shopping and walking at the mall...it is something I feel like I will never experience again. We now use MYSejahtera, SELangkah and QR Code Scanner and have our body temperature taken before entering any shops. 

Other than cooking and baking, I picked up another necessary skill - hair styling. A set of professional grooming scissors, clips, comb and bib is now one of my best lockdown online shopping/investment items. Both kids allowed me to cut their hair. I also tidied up The Other Half's hair cut which he first attempted using an electric hair trimmer. The ultimate trust test was when I asked Girl to cut my low down ponytail. The short bob she left me with is tres chic and I love it! The lock of hair may be donated to Lock of Hope, we shall see.

My circadian rhythm has been out of whack since Ramadhan but I hope to reset it soon for everyone's sakes. It is not healthy to be nocturnal and miss out the morning or feel like a zombie before a nap.

I hope you are having a safe and healthy lockdown, wherever you may be. 

Till we meet again, inshaAllah.

School@Home COVID-19

Salam my lovelies,

Today is Day 13 of the Movement Control Order in Malaysia. 

The air is clean, the skies are blue. Alhamdulillah for these beauties.

1. School

We have been learning from home using Zoom, ClassDojo and several other online resources.

We receive daily learning objectives and tasks from class and specialist subject teachers, usually by 8 a.m. then carry them out as best we can, granted that The Other Half and I are not professional teachers.

Girl is using the main dining hall which doubles up as our home office for now.  Bean uses his therapy room as classroom so they each have demarcated work space and privacy.

Girl misses all her performing arts activities and swimming. We do not know if Alice@Wonderland will still happen this June. Swimming Gala does look like it will be postponed to Term 3 while International Day has been cancelled.

Bean misses his school field the most. He misses running as fast as Flash, the poor boy.

They are both great troopers and have not stepped outside except to our rooftop deck for the occasional outdoor/PE time/chalk mural art. The Other Half and I have certainly penciled in deck improvement into our next budget so that it can be more fun to spend time there.

2. Therapy

There will be no therapy from 18 March to 14 April 2020. We paid full fees excluding transport charges. We understand that there are overheads. At this point, Bean is fine. There will be replacement classes via Zoom next time to make up for lost time, inshaAllah.

3. Family Life

The Other Half and I have been working from home for a few years now but we do have to adjust to having the children around us 24/7. Thank goodness they have been great troopers. I cannot praise them enough for being co-operative and compliant.

We also have found ourselves in new teaching profession as School has been closed since MCO came into effect. I personally believe that I need to develop more patience and compassion when it comes to teaching. I forget sometimes that children get frustrated not being around their peers physically.

We subscribed to Netflix for the children to catch up with movies since we have stopped going to cinemas since Lunar New Year 2020. We have staved off Netflix subscription as long as possible and finally reached our threshold on MCO Day 9.

I do the weekly grocery by myself, and don the face mask and disposable gloves. Social distancing, temperature check and controlled number of shoppers have turned grocery shopping into a perceived safer shopping experience but I still take all precautions including sanitising hands before opening my car and driving home, washing all clothes and shopping bags as soon as I arrive home and not touching anything or anyone until I have had a full shower and scrub. I am still trying to find a simpler way of disinfecting all our groceries.

It feels weird that I have been preparing every single breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and supper without losing my cool (yet). Thank goodness for His Provisions and Blessings. I pray that we can all carry on without losing our minds or tempers.

Stay at home and stay safe!